Walking Dead: Recap of season finale “Last Day on Earth”

(Season 6, Episode 16)
**Spoilers**

The season finale is upon us…

As someone who doesn’t read the comics and didn’t read any spoilers, I had no idea what to expect. And when it ended my heart was racing and I was sicken.

What the heck just happened!! OMG!!

So Carl and Morgan had a side adventure with Carol nearly dying at the hands of a man she fought with on a previous episode. Morgan saved her even though she didn’t want to be saved.

Now, let’s get to the Rick section. With Maggie sick and on the verge of losing her baby, Rick, Abe, Sasha, Rosita and Eugene drive the trailer to find a hospital.

This proves difficult as the road leads to a detour of Negan’s men. They try another route and there’s another detour. This goes on all day and they are left with no other choice but to leave the trailer and carry Maggie through the woods. Eugene was left behind to drive the trailer, allowing the others to flee undetected.

However, the plan turned out to be a trap.

The group wanders into Negan’s group to find that Eugene was taken hostage along with the trailer.

A van opens and out comes their friends Daryl, Michonne and Glenn. The good guys are forced to their knees (including a sick Maggie). 

And so it begins… The moment when you realize that they may have met someone worse than the Governor.

This scene is eerie like something out of a horror movie. Tension builds as Negan steps out and finally reveals himself. He speaks with a psychotic charm.

And you just know it won’t end well. The look on Rick’s face, the defeat, the fear. He wants to kill Negan, but he can’t. He’s feeling something he hasn’t felt in a long time… helplessness. He’s at Negan’s mercy and Negan doesn’t have mercy.

So now they work for Negan. Negan takes half of everything they own and will continue to do so forever, much like the group they met up and tried to help. One could understand why that other group paid Rick to kill Negan.

But before Rick’s group is free to work for Negan they must pay a price for the people they killed.

Negan says: “I do not appreciate you killing my men. Also, when I sent my people to kill your people for killing my people you killed more of my people. Not cool, not cool. You have no idea how not cool that {bleep} is.”

And so comes that moment that builds and builds until the viewer finds themself holding their breath. Negan holds a bat wrapped in wire designed to inflict damage. And someone is going to get a beating, a beating so bad they may not live theough it. It will be brutal and it won’t be swift.

But who? Who will pay the price?

Negan toys with the group and the audience. “inni minnie minie mo…” each member flinches, sheds tear, trembles except Abe, who’s prepared to die for the others. But the choice isn’t his. That honor belongs to Negan.

The bat points to person after person until he makes his choice. He bashes one of the group, but who? We still don’t know. The camera takes on the view of the victim. Blood pours down the frame. Another swing… fade to black.

And it ends…

We will have to wait until next season to see who died.

But there is a hint. It probably isn’t Rick or Carl because Negan says “Anybody moves, anybody says anything cut the boys other eye out and feed it to his father”.

Legends of Tomorrow: Recap “Left Behind”

 

(Season 1, Episode 9)
**Spoilers**

This was a second part of a 2-parter. Previously on Legends of Tomorrow, part of the team (Ray, Sara and Hawkgirl) were stranded in 1958 when the other members are attacked by Kronos and forced to flee in the ship.

At the start, the group is further divided when Capt. Cold is kidnapped by Kronos.

The earth bound team feels a sense of hopelessness regarding the return of their friends as time passes and the ship hasn’t returned.

Jump two years later and the ship returns to collect Hawkgirl and Ray, who have created a life. Ray seems content almost reluctant to leave it all behind. After all he’s a teacher and he has students. Hawkgirl, on the other hand, is all too eager to leave that behind. This causes some tension between the couple but that’s resolved quickly enough.

But where is Sara? She parted ways and went where she was most comfortable… the league of assassins. And of course, in her training, she’s ahead of the learning curve because she’s done it all before.

It was nice to see Ra's al Ghul again. And in 1960 his daughter, Sara’s ex-lover, isn’t born yet.

The group (sans Capt. Cold, who we will get back to) go to gather Sara but it’s not as easy as it would appear. She’s totally ingrained in her life, so much so that she rats them out to the league willing to watch them die.

I didn’t really like this part. Sara had made friends with them and now she’s back to her assassin status, ready to kill them. But she snaps out of that and returns with her ship mates.

So let’s get to Capt. Cold. He’s handcuffed to the bridge with Kronos standing there, looking all Darth Vadar. Capt. Cold wants to know why he was kidnapped and not Rip. The answer should be obvious to him but it isn’t.

And here comes the surprise. Kronos removes his helmet and there is Heatwave, who was supposed to be killed by Capt. Cold… OOPS!

In the world of TV, if you don’t see someone die, they probably aren’t. And I’m quite okay with that. Heatwave, along with Capt. Cold, is a fun character.

A flashback shows us that Capt. Cold didn’t kill Heatwave and was planning to return and get his friend. But time went by with Heatwave being saved by the time masters instead. They trained him, brainwashed him and now Heatwave has been the killer Kronos all along, traveling through time.

Kronos attacks the ship and a battle ensues. Meanwhile, Capt. Cold freezes his hand, cutting it off, to free himself.

The team traps Heatwave in jail and decide to try and unbrainwash him or maybe re-brainwash him to their advantage. Either way, they see value in him.

And what about Capt. Cold’s hand? Luckily they have some kind of cloning and gave him a fresh new one. 

Walking Dead: Recap “Not Tomorrow Yet”

(Season 6, Episode 12)

**Spoilers**

How many walkers have you killed? How many people have you killed? Why? - these are the questions Rick asks newcomers to assess if they’re good enough to join his group.

Why do I bring this up? I’ll address that later.

This episode has Rick and company coming back to town and holding a meeting in the church. And what’s on the agenda? Certainly not a prayer and communion. More like, hey we have to go murder some peeps, ya’ll in?. After all, they can always come back and do confession time, except that, well… the priest is enlisted in this mercenary mission.

This season has done a great job of surprising us. For Rick and his group to come this far. This demonstrates just how ahead of his time Shane really was.

In all fairness, Rick’s group is doing what it has to to survive. This group, led by Negan, nearly killed Abe, Sasha and Daryl just awhile back. They are threatening Jesus’ people while holding one them hostage. Negan’s people need to be stopped because as we know in this apocalyptic world, if you let evil be they’ll only find you and take you out later.

And so they decide to attack Negan’s group and “kill them all” (for those who’ve seen Spartacus). However, before doing so, there’s a break up and a hook up.

Abe dumps Rosita. When she asks why, he replies “when I first met you, I thought you were the last woman… I was wrong.” Ouch.

Meanwhile, Carol is falling in love and kisses and Alexandrian. Her character was softer in this episode then  before. She baked cookies, put a cookie on Sam’s grave, decided not to rat out what Morgan did during the invasion and didn’t want a pregnant Maggie going on the mission. She even woke up in the middle of the night to scribble her kill count into a note book. It wasn’t something she did lightly. It felt like it had taken an emotional toll on her.

Fast forward to the mission. A series of events lead them to the moment. And the killing begins with Maggie and Carol waiting at the road. It’s a blood bath with shot guns rattling off and bodies dropping.

But it’s the quiet moment, the moment when Glenn enters a room where two people sleep, that packs the punch. Knife in hand, he does the unthinkable and takes one of them out, knowing this will stay with him forever. Standing over the second body is Glenn’s friend (an Alexandrian) who pauses and Glenn, who is at a point of no return, further hurts his already damaged soul and makes the kill for his friend. This was a horrific moment for Glenn and it weighed heavy on this audience member.

With a group we have been following taken to murder, the sun rises, morning comes and as we settle in to ponder what we just witnessed, a survivor exits on a motorcycle. Daryl nabs him. Beside this man is a walkie talkie with a female voice coming through.

She says she has Maggie and Carol. And now the game has changed. They probably should have scouted the area a bit better. But that’s how it goes.

So next week with Carol and a pregnant Maggie kidnapped what is our group going to do? I can’t wait to find out.

Now back to the questions Rick asks potential newbies:

How many walkers have you killed? How many people have you killed? Why? -

The first question is easy. The two that follow, not so much. After what they just did, do we hear these questions from Rick again?

Legends of Tomorrow: Review “Fail-Safe”

(Season 1, Episode 5)


**Spoilers**

This episode is the second half of a two parter that finds our heroes or “legends” separated.

We begin with Dr. Stein in Star Labs talking science with Cisco; though it’s quite evident to Dr. Stein and the audience that this isn’t Flash’s Cisco. Instead the room dematerializes in what could be described as something out of a Jordi La Forge hologram. It was a ruse to get Dr. Stein to reveal the formula for firestorm with Dr. Stein really in a Russian lab talking to a sexy scientist. A bit far fetched, but heck I’ll bite if it gives me a cameo of Cisco.

Ray and Heat Wave are new residents in an all but glamorous Russian prison. This couple were the interesting pair-up. Complete opposites: Heat Wave aware of his surroundings and avoided conflict, Ray acting like he’s in his first day at College trying to make friends and instead finding himself on the wrong end of a beating. One couldn’t help but speculate if this is the episode where Heat Wave learns a lesson… Let’s hold that thought.

Rip plans a rescue mission which has Hawkgirl and Firestorm sitting out. One has to wonder how many times Hawkgirl may have to sit out missions where Savage is close by.

The rescue mission does involve Cap. Cold, who’s just in it for Heat Wave, and Sara. However, Rip has given Sara a secret mission—if she can’t extract Dr. Stein then she must kill him to save future earth. And so as the mission goes on, she is left with this very choice with Cap. Cold as her voice of reason, which lends itself to the obvious irony. This was nice because we get to see these characters bonding and going out of their emotional tendencies. Sara, who would have taken Dr. Stein out in the past, finds herself with an internal struggle and the realization that Rip is not like her past boss.

Back to the odd couple: The Russians torture Heat Wave and Ray in the hopes of getting Dr. Stein to give up the scientific goods, though it looks like Heat Wave is getting the brunt. But just when Heat Wave is about to get the hammer treatment (literally), Ray interjects and ends up, as Heat Wave called it, being used as a pinata. So when Cap. Cold rushes in to the rescue, we have that internal dilemma we were hoping for. With a passed out Ray, does Heat Wave leave him behind and save himself as per Cap. Cold’s request OR risk his life to save Ray? He chooses to save Ray.

These are the moments that make Cap. Cold and Heat Wave the most fun characters. They’re bad guys who, not only have the coolest lines, but offer the most character growth. Two thieves who deep inside have a heart and we want to see it.

Meanwhile, the sexy Russian scientist merges with Dr. Stein. Firestorm and Hawkgirl refuse to remain behind and join the fight.

The good guys win. They celebrate with vodka with Ray thanking Heat Wave getting all sentimental. Heat Wave  responds with “less feeling, more drinking” and they do until Boba Fett zaps their ship, which ends up back in Sara’s home town—but in a different time and a whole new Arrow…

Scrivener: Adding Pictures and Research Links (windows)

For many, the ability to store information in your scrivener project is a very handy functionality. 

For example, if you're writing a historical novel and you have a lot of research to keep track of, instead of filling up your browser bookmarks, you can save links inside scrivener that you can:

1) open up in your browser
2) view in your scrivener project w/o leaving it


So how do you create these links?

1) Go to the folder you are interested in storing the links. In this example, I have stored mine under "Research". Add  "New Text" 
 
I have already added one and called it "Planting Veggies". 



2) Click on the "References" icon

As you can see below. I already have links added. You can have more than one link. So you don't have to keep creating "New Text" to create additional items.

3) To add a link, select the "+" button. And then "Create External Reference".

4) For this example, I am adding a link from The Old Farmer's Almanac on the subject of lettuce. Add the title for your link (I added Lettuce) and then just below add the url.

5) Once you've done that, Right Click on the link you just added.

Choose "Open in Current Editor." The webpage will open up right there in scrivener.

If you select "Open link", your url will open up in your browser.

What if I wanted to add a link to a picture or some other file in my computer instead of from a webpage link?

 Go back to step 3. Instead of choosing "Create External Reference", choose "Look Up & Add External Reference"

 

Your file folder will open up for you to find and select your file. You will see a link to that file and it will have the same name as the file you just added.

What if I want to add a picture that will stay there (no link)?

1) Open up your file folder to the location of your picture. 

2) Drag and Drop directly onto your folder. In the example here, I used my Reference" folder.  

3) This will create a layer underneath your folder with a picture attached. The title will have the same name as your file.

Keep in mind that the more pictures you add the larger your project gets. Using links instead could be a better option.

  

NaNoWriMo 2015: Completed!

101728 words in 30 days. 

SCRIVENER: How to Convert Your Format (Windows)

How do you set the format (font & paragraphs) or change the format you already have?

We are all different and like to work in different fonts. So let’s say, the font is set to Courier New and you want to see your project in Verdana because it’s easier on your eyes. It’s not obvious how to do this.





 
Here are the steps:

1) Change the Default settings.

A)On the toolbar: TOOLS→OPTIONS




B) Once in options, select “Editor” then the “A”, which is located next to the “B” (Bold). This will change the font.





So now everything you type will have that new format.

But what about the text you already wrote. How to you convert that to the new format?

2) Under: Documents→Convert→Formatting to default Text Style

You should be able to convert everything. But in my case, either due to windows or my version, doing this only changed the one scene I was in, not the entire document.

My work around goes as follows:

A) On the left pane, MAKE SURE ALL FOLDERS ARE OPEN then select a scene. Do NOT select a folder. Once your scene is selected, you want to “select all”. 

If you don't have all the folders open when you "select all" then the scenes inside the closed folder might not be selected and won't change.

Either do a A or you go tot he toolbar Edit→Select All.

Now everything is selected.

B) Now you can do:
Documents→Convert→Formatting to default Text Style

Make your selections or don’t select anything and press “OK”



You are now done!

NaNoWriMo is over. Now what?

Time to set my post NaNoWriMo goals.

First: Finish the novel. I'm at the 76K maker and just coming to the end of Act 2. But I hit a little snag. My story was originally planned out as a potential TV series with 5 years and cliffhangers spread out over the life of the series. It has since been changed to a trilogy and during NaNoWriMo 2014 I have started Book 1.

But the first book shouldn't have a cliffhanger. I am writing it to be a self-contained book; however, since it has a thick mythology (like LOST) everything won't be explained. In fact, Book 1 will sprinkle in the mysteries of the town and each book will delve deeper. So there will be some things left untold, but the main issue will be resolved.

In order to resolve it, I want all my main characters to come together. But one character was a little harder to play with. So I had to pause and start to plan a bit and change up what would work in a season finale but not for a Book 1 ending. And the light is starting to shine!

Second: Edit, Edit, Edit! Did I mention I need to edit? Thank goodness for Scrivener and all the little keywords and labels I have set up.

• Make sure there are no plot holes
• No subplots left hanging (so I will probably need to add a couple of scenes).
• I wrote so plainly to get everything down fast. Better known as vomiting out words. So I need better sentences. Dissect every sentence and make them better.
• Make sure I don't head-hop. 5 MCs and I am using 3rd person multiple. Make sure each scene has one POV. If it really needs 2 then I will be doing a hand-off. Start with POV 1, go to POV 2 and not return to POV 1
• Dialogue. I need to go through every person's dialogue, character by character and make sure they have a distinctive voice. Really hard when I have 5 MCs. 

Third: Peer reviews. I will be going to Scribophile to get some critiques

A lot of work to do... #AmWriting

NaNoWriMo 2014 - Completed!

Last year I squeaked by, starting off slow and making a great comeback. This year I reached 50K on November 14 then proceeded to march to the 75K mark

The first draft is not finished, but I'm 75K closer to completion than I was a month ago.

Ciao!

NaNoWriMo - 2014

That time of the year is fast approaching where everything else gets put on the shelf. I completed NaNoWriMo last year and will strive to do the same this year... 50K words in a month!

Ciao!