May 28, 2021

 I'm on an airplane! Headed to Austin. Using that Southwest wifi, which is not great. But hey, it has to go to space. Also they don't have coffee on this flight, and I woke up at 5:30 this morning. I'm going to drink some coke to make up for it. Wild times. 

Went skating on the beach path yesterday. It went pretty well. My new wheels and bearings are so much faster than my old ones, and my wheels light up! But I did fall on my butt -- maybe even on my back? I went all the way down, is the point. It didn't hurt too much, fortunately. I didn't break a wrist. Mostly I was embarrassed. Hopefully I'll feel confident enough to show my face on skates ever again. 

I've felt meh lately. Several days in a row. Not sure what's tripping me up these past few weeks, and maybe there doesn't need to be a reason. Going to try to keep doing things that make me feel good, like exercise, writing, seeing friends, trying new things, hanging out with Mitch. 

Slog Time! 

**SPOILERS** 

SECOND ACT LIBRARY

2020 Blood List

Written by: Kimberley Elizabeth

Read: 5/27/21 

This is a meta-horror script about various characters – from different movies – meeting up in the library to try to research the monsters/evil that are chasing them. The crew runs throughout the labyrinthian library, running from monsters, many characters dying. Eventually there are only three characters left: the smart ambitious guy, the final girl, and the girl with the locket/witchcraft. They battle against the big bad which winds up being the librarian and her coven of witches. 

I wanted to like this script more than I did. I love a horror comedy, but it didn’t seem to have a lot more to say on horror stories than, say, what Cabin in the Woods already gave us. The script is well-written – this writer can clearly write – but it does have a lot of cheekiness in the action lines. I would say a distracting level of cheekiness. It’s like we get it, you have voice. My main issue with the script is how from the very beginning, the teenagers seem nonplussed about a bunch of their friends dying (which has happened to them right before this story begins). It’s an issue I have with a lot of meta horror: you get too removed and it loses the scariness, the reality, the fantasy. It’s like watching something through an extra layer of glass. If the characters aren’t terrified by this point and don’t seem to care about the people who have died, why should the audience care? Also, the script in its dialogue feels very Buffy. And unlike Video Nasty, which has a similar-ish premise and tone, this script lacks the sense of joy. It lacks the clear love for horror. 

Plus the villains and their plan don’t really make any sense. I never really got if these were characters from movies or if the witches were putting them in a movie and what the library had to do with that. 

Second Act Library has a good premise, great setting, and some good scenes, but the overarching story and the depth to each of the characters needs work, I think. 

Rating: ★★1/2