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This writing thing is so much easier when you have no other commitments - like dinner with friends (which was excellent, btw. Mmmm.... steak....). And the rest of the week is shaping up to be even worse. Still, so far I'm making my targets, so I can't complain too much.

Mini NaNo Counts
Yesterday: 837 \o/
Today: 611 words
Story Total: 3301

It is slightly sobering to think that in the first week I've made less than two days target for NaNo proper.

On the Hercules-watching front (yes, I'm still going), I think I have mentioned before the joys of catching 'before they were stars' roles in B-grade series. Today's guest star is Catherine Bell (Mac from JAG), and the notable guest on yesterday's episode was none other than Karl Urban - shirtless, in leather pants, leather harness, and wings. With blond hair. I can provide screencaps as proof if required - it's quite a look!

Today's Hercules also includes a dragon terrorising villages. Now I have 'Trogdor the Burninator' stuck in my head, something I could definitely have done without as I try to go to sleep.

I was finally able to make it up to the post office and pick up my copy of Hercules . I never knew Acient Greece looked so much like Middle Earth. And wow - so much B-gradeness in such a short space of time. Rubber monsters, cheesy plots, and as much subtlety as a hammer to the head when it comes to their theme-of-the-week.

Of course, it didn't help when they offed Iolaus in the first half hour (don't worry, he comes back) - but at least they are starting as they mean to go on. (I wonder who dies the most - Daniel or Iolaus? We'd have to adjust for the different number of episodes first, I guess, but my money would probably still be on Daniel.)

For all that, the major failing of the first movie is that it lacked the self-aware humour I remember from the series, it was too busy trying to convey deep and meaning messages. Not that this stopped me from immediately watching the second movie :)

For either movies, I don't think they even bothered hiring actors for the supporting cast, they just grabbed random people on the street and stuffed them into costume. On the other hand, it was disturbing to see the number of recognisable faces showing up in the cast.

Movie 1: Lucy Lawless plays the 2IC of the amazons - nice to see she didn't get herself typecast early on :)

Movie 2: The lead actress was Gabrielle (Renee O'Conner). Ironically, the character she was playing was Deianeira, who (depending on the version of the myth) was the third of Hercules' wives. I spent the entire movie going 'Hercules marries Gabrielle!' which was a little distracting. This movie also featured Robert Trebor (Salmoneus in both The Legendary Journeys and Xena), playing an unrelated character. And then you had Eric Close (Now and Then ) in there as well...

I know genre TV is notorious for reusing actors (Stargate, I am looking at you) but come on.