Okay, not much to report here other than to say that "Master and Commander" is a kick-ass movie, much better than I'd expected (someone else said it was like reading a historical novel, and that is an accurate assessment), and "The Last Samurai" sucks big-time in a typical Tom Cruise movie kind of way (but hey, we didn't actually PAY for the movie, so it was no loss -- those ushers don't check what's going on behind the scenes at the local megaplex).

I just finished reading (or re-reading, really) the first book in Stephen King's Dark Tower series, The Gunslinger. This is cool, cool stuff. At times this novel dragged a bit, as it's lots of set-up for what's to come, but it still has some incredible ideas and nifty scenes. I'm reading the "revised and expanded" version, which has a couple new scenes and some tightening throughout. Good stuff.

In an effort to save my sanity and recharge my batteries, I'm taking a break from the novel-revising for a week or two and just reading the books in the Dark Tower series -- I've got four more to go. And each book gets fatter, so I'll be quite busy.

I'm hoping all the reading will help me get focused on my own writing plans. Right now I feel like I have too much to do that I feel overwhelmed and unable to focus on anything. That's what I get for trying to revise a couple of novels as well as start work on another one, all in one month...

Oh, and I got the tix to "Return of the King" for next week, so all's right with the world. Of course, I could use a job as well, but that'll come. Got to be zen-like and all that. Ohm.