Tonight’s yarrtwork is uncredited, unfortunately, but awesome nonetheless.
It sounds like such a downer phrase, but I really don’t mean it that way. This week has been helter-skelter, this is no doubt about that shit. But, despite all that, I am hangin’ on. Hangin’ in there. I’m doing alright. My goals for the week are *still* in my sights. Doable. Attainable.
So, yeah. Given all the extra stuff that pretty much hijacked my first three work days of the month, I’m still on track. Got my writing done today, with the exception of the novel reading/writing. I’m a decent amount behind on that, but honestly, it’s nothing that can’t be solved by a couple uninterrupted hours this weekend. Something I can totally grab for myself, and I *will*. The pilot writing, though, continues to move along. I’ve worked on it enough consecutive days now that I’ve found a rhythm.
That’s really the trick, isn’t it? Finding a rhythm. If one can merely find a rhythm with their writing, the quality goes up, or at least the confidence goes up. I’m not actually sure if what I’m writing is objectively better, but my *feelings* about it are better. It’s coming out clearer from my imagination than it was before. Characters are actually coming to life and having opinions on things. Finally, it’s starting to be fun to write. I almost cringe to say that because I still know that I’m going to show it to various people and I know they’re going to rip it to shreds…but show it I must, and those shreds will end up making the script ACTUALLY good. It shall be painful, but it is necessary and ultimately rewarding.
The editing work didn’t even get started today till almost 5pm. That was a bummer. I got slightly less than a half-days’ work done, but I had slightly less than a half days’ hours to do that work, so it makes sense.
I decided yesterday to put on the original Trek in the background while I work. Try over the next several months to see if I can “watch” the entire set of series from beginning to end. Original, TNG, DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise.
I do have to say that it’s starting out ROUGH. And, I don’t just mean in a hokey kind of way. I mean that Original Trek is SEXIST as I can’t even believe. I mean, like, really REALLY sexist. There’s this episode where Kirk is duplicated into his rational half and his irrational half, and he straight up rapes Yeoman Rand…essentially. It’s was TV so all you can show is kissing, but it was sexual assault. And then they joke about it in the end when Kirk, for some reason, has to reintegrate the RAPING part of his psyche in order to be an effective commander. Which makes no fucking sense, the reintegration part…and the joking part with Rand? SHE WAS JUST RAPED. How is that even remotely appropriate. And the next episode after that? Mudd’s Women, which is a sex trafficking episode. But, it’s okay, because they “want” to be sold to husbands.
I mean, jesus. And, it’s the very first pilot. The very first SCENE. Pike oogling over a yeoman on the bridge, talking about how she doesn’t belong there.
It’s rough, guys. Really, really rough. I just had no idea when I was younger, but it’s been a pervasive aspect of EVERY episode so far. Just really, really uncomfortable treatment of women. I yearn for the days where it’s as simple as Kirk just putting the charm on whatever new pair of tits we’ve found this week, and they make out. At least that’s not RAPE, or sexually harassing your coworkers. Fuck.
Anyway…think Roddenberry had women issues much? Yup. We’ll see how it progresses. I *do* seem to remember that the writing does improve some after those first few episodes. It falls apart over and over again, but there is some fun to be had. And, I’ve never actually seen ALL the episodes, so there’s that too. We’ll see.
That’s all for tonight. Rapey times. Always a good way to end an evening in the 60s (apparently). I’m off to read a few pages of my novel. Blessedly no sexual assault in THAT thing…although there is a tense encounter with a ner-do-well that tries to steal one of the main characters. That’s what happens when you hang around with Space Pirates, after all.
Good night!