Things that I've been doing this summer.

So when it comes to my vacation and my activities, I have to say that project-wise I've managed to be rather active this summer. I've managed to surpass my expectations that I had with my book writing project and me becoming a better pianist.

After all, once my vacation started in early June, I wasn't feeling that confident that I would manage to do these things. The idea that I would start writing every single day and that I would also practice playing piano was not something I would necessarily bank on.

Yet, as I'm about to get back to my 'real' job in less than two weeks, I can say that I managed to do both these things surprisingly well. My book project progressed considerably and it can be said that my piano playing skills got better too. 

So first, when it comes to my book writing project, in my last update I had only written the first chapter and was starting to write the second one. I had gotten my character on a journey that took her out of the 'starting zone' in Paris to the countryside. 

Currently with the project, a couple of days ago I started writing the fifth chapter in the book. This means that story-wise my protagonist and her partner have already managed to experience quite a few interesting things in their adventure. 

At the same time, story-wise, just because so far I've managed to write 180-200 solid pages, that doesn't mean that I'm close to finishing the book. I still have probably 150 more pages to write before we're done with the story (might even be a series of books). 

Another thing to keep in mind is that since I haven't structured the story beforehand, I don't know how the whole thing is going to end. I still have to come up with tons of story ideas and beats (chapter by chapter) that are hopefully character based, organic and plausible.

Music-wise, even though playing piano is not as important as writing the book is at the moment, I've also found time to keep my routine going. Over the course of the summer I've managed to learn to play some new songs that I've found to be worth my time.

Indeed, these new songs and melodies include stuff like Queen's 'Don't Stop Me Now', 'Uncharted', 'Blinding Lights', 'Transformers' movie theme and 'Mission Impossible' theme song. There's been a lot to work with these songs and they've kept me busy.

Progress-wise, the good thing about many of these songs is that they have helped to improve my overall skills. Especially when it comes to playing octaves, 'Blinding Lights' and 'Mission Impossible' have been really useful at making me better. 

In that sense, when it comes to this summer and my activities as a whole, I have to say that things have gone pretty well. I can't say that 'artistic-wise' I could have realistically speaking done that much better than I've done over the last eight or so weeks.

After all, even though the total amount of time that I have spent on these activities hasn't been more than maybe 2-3 hours per day, that's not all there is to it. That kind of daily routine requires consistent effort and isn't something that should be taken for granted.

Still, especially when it comes to the book project and considering that luck plays a part in the process, I hope that I continue to get lucky. I hope things go well, because in the end, writing good stuff isn't easy and isn't something that you can completely control as a writer.

Amazon Prime's 'The Terminal List' review.

Last week, after seeing some ads for a new action series called 'The Terminal List', I have to say that I got somewhat excited. Since I didn't really have anything better to do during my vacation, I knew that I was going to give this miniseries a chance. 

After all, even though I had read that the series hadn't gotten particularly good reviews from the critics, the fact that it had Chris Pratt in it was enough for me. There was a good chance that I would be able to enjoy the series and not be too critical of it.

Having now watched 'The Terminal List', a series about 'a navy seal veteran avenging the deaths of his team mates', I have to say that I have a bit mixed feelings about it. The series managed to be rather entertaining, although there were some problems with it too.

So the premise here is that Pratt's character is on a covert mission in the middle east trying to kill a terrorist leader. However, as they try to infiltrate the premise where the leader resides, his team gets ambushed, which results to most of his platoon getting killed.

Later on, as he returns back home, it doesn't take long before he notices that something more sinister is going on. The surviving team members end up dying under suspicious circumstances, which makes him think there's a conspiracy to eliminate him too.

Not surprisingly, as things get worse when he gets framed in a incident in which his wife and daughter are murdered, he's out for blood. He thinks that those who were behind the conspiracy must be punished, so he comes up with a 'terminal list' to eliminate them.

Quality-wise, when it comes to the overall quality of the series, I have to say that story-wise, the first two episodes are easily the best in this eight episode miniseries. This is when the episodes are full of suspense, easy to follow and the focus is on the main character. 

However, as we get to episodes three and four, we're introduced to a whole list of new characters, that doesn't work that well story-wise. More or less out of nowhere the series changes its focus - to bad guys - which leads to the story losing pretty much all of its momentum.

Indeed, as the series 'reinvents' itself, I had difficulties in being interested in what was going on. The fact that series also gets needlessly violent at this point and that Pratt's character's kill list targets aren't well explained bothered me quite a bit.  

Fortunately, as we get to the latter half of the season and we get to know what the 'big picture' is about, the focus comes back to our main protagonist. This is when I got interested in what is going to happen and the story is more entertaining again.

After all, as Pratt's character goes survival mode and flees from law enforcement & special forces (episode 6->), you can't help but to root for him. This part and the finale episodes, in which he unravels the conspiracy successfully is something that is worth watching. 

In that sense, when it comes to the season as a whole and whether I would recommend the series, I guess I can't deny that there were a lot of solid aspects about the show. There no question that since I managed to finish it, it cannot have been that bad.

After all, among other things, the series admittedly looks pretty good and does have solid production values. The cast is also pretty high quality and even though people have a lot of opinions regarding Chris Pratt's acting abilities, he does an okay job here.

Still, in the end, the real issue with the show has to do with its writing, that especially in episodes 3-4 is questionable at best. The poor exposition in these episodes, the lack of focus and the excessive violence is something that cannot be completely ignored. 

In that sense, whether one is going to enjoy the series as a whole depends. There's a solid chance that you'll find 'The Terminal List' watchable and enjoying, but there's also a chance that these flaws are too much and prevent one from liking the show.