Tuesday Reviewsday: World War Z (Film)

I admit to going into this film with a distinct bias.  I've read WWZ a few times, being that zombies have been something of a hobby of mine since I watched Night of the Living Dead when I was ten.  Those years were very formative for me and created some strong opinions that remain with me to this day.  In a similar vein to how my first games of D&D cemented first edition as tops among the available options, NotLD showed me how zombies were meant to be portrayed.  Plodding, mindless and dangerous in large numbers.  I've adapted a bit on this in the years since, as I've found plenty to enjoy in the variety of zombies presented to us in the modern era, but WWZ as presented in the trailer seemed like too much of a jump from the source material.  I imagined a series of smaller films detailing individual's experiences during the outbreak.  Something similar to the interviews that made up the chapters of the book.

I can honestly say that I walked out of the theater surprised at how my tune had changed.  Yes, it isn't exactly WWZ as Max Brooks presents it to us.  The film follows one man as he travels the globe in search of a way to combat the outbreak and return to his family.  The zombies aren't what the book gave us, and the film doesn't cover the entirety of the war, but that doesn't make it bad.  It does give us the fall of New York, the Israeli quarantine and the UN presence.  It isn't a perfect WWZ adaptation but it does do a number of things really well.

The film feels like one man's story, like it could fit in the novel as one of the interviews even though we see it unfold first hand.  It was able to maintain that personal feel by tying the main character to his goal of returning to his family even as he flies halfway across the world.  The opening scenes where he and his family try to flee the outbreak work well to cement that.  The fact that he does so much globe trotting helps to show us what I always felt was the most important part of the novel; the global pandemic.  We are shown how various areas of the world have fared against the onslaught and the often drastic steps they have taken to defend themselves.

Brad Pitt's performance is standard for him, so if you're a fan you're likely to enjoy it.  I found the side characters that accompany him during his trip to be more compelling.  A cocky virologist seeking clues, a hardened military commander who does his job, a tough but young Israeli soldier.  I was interested in the varied personalities as they entered and exited the story, keeping a fresh perspective available.  The movie keeps moving at a pretty decent clip, pausing only a couple of times to let the tension build again.  Pacing, acting and direction are all handled quite well here.

World War Z is not a great adaptation of the source material, but it's a solid example of how one man might have experienced an outbreak.  It takes liberties and I can imagine Max Brooks might have some legitimate reasons to dislike it, but it does manage to maintain that mix of personal and globe-spanning that I found compelling about his book.  As far as it being a zombie film, it's among the better ones we've been given in recent years.  It presents the intensity of an assault by endless waves of rabid undead more acutely than most and as a fan of the genre, I can safely recommend it.

Clarion Write-A-Thon Voting

Clarion is officially upon us, and that means I need to start putting in work.  This week will be largely devoted to putting the finishing touches on a few things and getting my blog posts up consistently, so that gives us all time to do the voting I previously mentioned.  To recap, here are three projects that I've done prep work on.

A sci fi/western/dystopia (think Alien meets Firefly meets Blade Runner...and they fight crime) tale about siblings who seek justice after they lose their father and their land to a corporate robber baron. This one has it all; cybernetics, alien technology, a giant pterodactyl.  I am clear on where I want this story to go, but I'm sure where I want it to sit in terms of readership yet.  I do feel like there is a lack of space-based Middle Grade and Young Adult fiction out there, so I might shoot for that demographic.

A crime thriller noir erotica (noirotica) about a crime family courier trying to clear her name after someone frames her for theft.  This one is more along the lines of Sin City meets Red Shoe Diaries.  It has everything you could want; dark streets, a cynical protagonist, steamy sex in the snow.

A southern gothic horror story about two generations of a tainted bloodline returning to their ancestral estate just in time for terrible things to occur (and some monsters, cause that's always cool).  I've wanted to delve into southern gothic for awhile but I didn't have an idea that seemed to fit.  You want it, you got it; ancient curses, deep south blood feuds, a drunk cousin with a gun.

So, anyone got an opinion?  Drop a note in the comments with your thoughts and I will get started on the most popular option.

The Grand Experiment

I have been wrestling with how seriously to take writing for awhile now.  I go through fits and starts, long stretches of creativity and equal gaps of suckage.  People write through mind numbing, sixty hour a week day jobs and my hat goes off to them but I've never been able to manage it.  I can't keep my brain rolling forward with ideas when I have a desk full of paperwork and half a dozen sites to visit.  The decision on whether or not to take more time away from a paying gig in hopes of turning writing into an equally paying gig is a difficult one.  I'm in a situation now where I would be able to reduce my hours and still cover my bills with my present job but I wouldn't have much else.

So, I will be using the Clarion Write-A-Thon this year as a measure of how viable it might be.  Not from a monetary perspective, but rather as a productivity factor.  If I can consistently produce creative work at the stated minimum of 1,000 words a day, five days a week while maintaining my current workload it stands to reason that I can put out twice as much with less work on my plate.  I would need to approach writing as a job, which would mean I couldn't work exclusively on creative stuff.  I'd need to supplement my finances with article writing via a work-for-hire system like TextBroker or Elance.  If I can get myself into a position where I write every day and make money consistently (no matter how little), I think I can put myself on a track to something better.  Something that I'd genuinely enjoy doing.

Feel free to stick around and follow my progress.

Clairon Write-A-Thon 2013

As you may remember, last year I participated in the Clarion Write-A-Thon to raise funds for the Clarion Writer's Workshop.  If you don't remember, I talked about it on my blog here.  I found the experience to be extremely successful at boosting my motivation and word count.  I was able to interact with a group of other writers in a team and share success stories, get helpful tips and just have it reinforced that other people struggle at this whole writing thing, too.  In the end I raised a nice chunk of money for a program that I'm very excited about and got many thousands of words done on some of my projects.

So I'm doing this thing again.  The same goal (30,000 words) as before, since it seemed to be a nice challenge without being overwhelming.  Things kick off on June 23rd this year and run for the usual six weeks.  I have a couple of possible works that I can focus my attentions on this time so I'm putting the option out there for anyone to weigh in.  The prep work has been done for a sci fi/western/dystopia (think Alien meets Firefly meets Blade Runner...and they fight crime) tale about siblings who seek justice after they lose their father and their land to a corporate robber baron, a crime thriller noir erotica (noirotica) about a crime family courier trying to clear her name after someone frames her for theft, and a southern gothic horror story about two generations of a tainted bloodline returning to their ancestral estate just in time for terrible things to occur (and some monsters, cause that's always cool).  You can drop comments on this blog or hit up my twitter here to cast your vote.  Don't forget to follow the excerpts I'll be posting to my profile page on the Clarion website.

So, if you have money to spare and would like to support the efforts of budding writers I would ask that you check out the link below and consider sponsoring me or one of the many writers on the list.  You can donate a set amount or sponsor for an amount per goal achieved.  Sponsoring can be done in increments as tiny as .0001 cent per word so don't let the high word count goals scare you.  They are always looking for writers to fill the roster, too.  If you have any interest in putting words on paper to tell a story this could be a good way to find the motivation.

Link here: http://clarionwriteathon.org/