Éric Desmarais – Aspiring Something

The mad ramblings of an Aspiring Writer, Photographer, and Game Designer.

Health Update March 2023

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Hello,

It’s been almost two months since I updated you. It hasn’t been a particularly enlightening two months.

I did finally get an appointment for the specialty clinic. That appointment went well; I have an awesome occupational therapist and doctor who are in charge of my case. The doctor, unfortunately, is an elbow surgeon who’s not quite sure why WSIB has referred me to him, but he’s willing to send me to specialists and tests.

They sent me to a Neurologist. I was really excited to finally see one. He did the exact same test that the carpal tunnel doctor did back in August. He says I have a little bit of carpel tunnel in my wrists, but that shouldn’t be bothering me. There’s no indication that my nerves are damaged or that they’ve had any issues at all.

He ended the exam saying that I was too young to worry about it and that if it were up to him he’d say to forget all this WSIB stuff and just go back to my normal routine and then added that the whole thing was ridiculous.

When I asked him about the numbness in my face he said, “That’s nothing. Ignore it.”

I was disheartened and angry. I’m not sure if he thought I was faking or that I was exaggerating my pain, but it was really condescending.

The nice elbow doctor and occupational therapist had scheduled an MRI for my neck, but with the Neurologist saying that I don’t have any nerve damage, they canceled it.

The downside to the clinic is that I only get appointments every 6 weeks. My next one is early April and hopefully they won’t be as dismissive as the Neurologist.

Unfortunately, I’m still in a lot of pain and it’s not getting better. My face is still numb and it aches a little when I work too long. I also find the vision in my left eye gets worse when I overdo it.

Between the pain, the clumsiness, and the numbness in my face, I’m starting to suspect MS. When I had an optometrist appointment in December, he said he couldn’t get my left eye to be as clear. I asked him about the numbness and that I sometimes got blurry vision in my left eye. He said that it couldn’t be nerves and that it’s possibly a side effect of fatigue. He said the only thing he knew that would affect my eye and not be seen in his tests was MS.

I’d hoped the Neurologist would have been able to test for that, but he didn’t.

MS is a scary prospect, but I’d rather find out than not know. There are plenty of other options; Fibromyalgia, Myofascial Pain Syndrome, and some much scarier, like ALS or cancer.

So a lot happened, but nothing new was discovered. Let’s hope this is just another step to figuring it out.

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric

Gunpowder Milkshake  – JenEric Movie Review

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How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2021 film Gunpowder Milkshake.

Story

Hyperviolent with just enough emotion that you know it’s there. A classic style action movie. It’s not deep but it does have heart and a nice theme about found family.

Score: 0.5

Characters

Stoic, sarcastic, and deadly. The characters are barely two dimensional and only work through the immense talent of the actors.

Score: 0

Dialogue

Lots of quips, snark, and wonderful banter. The dialogue does double duty in needing to express the subtleties that the characters themselves don’t.

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

The style reminded me of a more colourful Sin City with a little of the surreal aspects of Sucker Punch. Overall, it has beautiful cinematography, sets, costumes, and action. The action is absolutely superb. Loved the car chase in the parking garage.

The music was a nice combination femme rock and instrumental action music.

Score: 1

Fun

I wasn’t sure what to expect and wanted something exciting and easy to watch. I wasn’t disappointed. I can see this being a comfort watch for me. Jen wasn’t as big a fan of the gore and extreme violence. The kids were in bed and did not watch, thankfully.

Score: 1

Overall

An excellent hyperviolent action movie with all the music quips and fights that make the genre fun to watch. The actors in this are at the top of their game and killing it (literally and figuratively.)

Final Score: 3 Stars out of 5

Roasting in winter

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Hello Coffee Lovers,

Yes, it’s still winter here. There are some advantages to roasting in winter. The first being that the beans cool faster. The second being that roasting things at 250-300 Celcius is a lot more tolerable when the temperature outside is -5.

The shoveling and having to stop for snowfall isn’t as much fun.

I was roasting this weekend to prepare for Mini Ottawa Comiccon. It’s at the EY centre and will be a vendors market with free entrance (Although parking is $10).

Hours are 11-6 on Saturday and 11-5 on Sunday.

Hope to see you there,

Éric

Going Home in a Writer Sort of Way

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Hello Readers,

I’ve started re-reading The Copper Tarnish. I started the novel in November 2016 and took several breaks from working on it. I’ve finished six books since then. I’ve worked on it a little here and there, but it stalled when Pegasus was born and I devoted myself to finishing The Mystery of the Dancing Lights (Elizabeth book 4, coming this fall.)

The big issue with not touching a book for nearly three years (whoa Pegasus is going to be 4 soon!) is that I forgot the story, the characters and the voices.

That meant I needed to read the unfinished book, something I’m not good at. I haven’t been reading very much lately, mostly because it’s hard on my arms, but my wonderful wife inspired me. I loaded the document in Word and used the feature where it reads it to me. I set it to fast and read along. It’s really helpful and I think it’s helping me to re-connect with the story and characters.

I’m also really liking the story and the pure snark of the characters.

The Copper Tarnish is my attempt at a monster movie style story. It’s also a little more personal, being about a bisexual in Northern Ontario. Although I never had to deal with zombie people, green goo, aliens, or rogue goverment agents.

A lot of the book is set in a fictional town that’s an amalgam of the towns where I grew up, and re-reading feels a little like going home. Everything feels smaller and doesn’t fit right.

It’s weird reading something I wrote and it feels like someone else did it. I think once I get back into it I’ll feel like it’s mine again.

I’m hoping to be done writing this by the end of summer (more realistically the end of year) so I can submit it to my publisher. I only have about 20 thousand words left to write.

Thanks for reading,

Éric

 Clue – JenEric Movie Review

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How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 1985 film Clue.

Story

The story is fun, fast, and witty. Part of that is necessity to cover the dangling threads of story. As a mystery, it’s severely lacking. As a comedy, it’s pure gold.

I was happy to see they didn’t automatically paint the supposed gay character as evil. If anything, he was the least evil of the group. However, the “real” ending having him say he was going home to his wife sucked, although I know they had to do it for ratings reasons.

Score: 0.5

Characters

Using the Clue board game names with their own special zany character traits. Each is just silly enough to be likeable and murderous enough not to be.

The characters are quite boring, but the impressive actors manage to make them interesting.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

This has more banter, quips, and witty dialogue than an entire season of some sitcoms. Some are good, some are bad, and a lot of them fall flat, but the sheer quantity ensures that there’s something for everyone.

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

The cinematography walks the line between camp and brilliance in the best possible way. The set is exquisite and the costumes are fantastic.

The music is simple but perfectly well used. Lots of nods to other mysteries and spy films.

Score: 1

Fun

This movie isn’t going to make you think super hard and it’s not so dumb it seems smart, it’s somewhere in the middle. Combined with the amazing cast and wonderful jokes, it’s a fun movie to watch. Everyone was enthralled except the 3 year old who was bored. The 6 year old did say she wished there was more time to try and guess the murderer.

Score: 1

Overall

Fast and funny this is a classic homage to the game and mystery films in general. It’s not a good mystery, but the comedy and the cinematography more than make up for it.

Final Score: 3.5 Stars out of 5

Finally Finished Something

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Hello Readers,

Last year, before my pain became too worrisome, Jen and I wrote a book called Faymous. While writing it, we added a character who showed up in flashbacks. The further along we went, the sillier her actions became, each of us adding every flashback.

The idea was that I’d write a short story at the end that would explain everything that had happened with the character, but then pain and worry about hurting myself got in the way.

I wrote it slowly, 200-500 words a session, writing 15 minutes here and there.

I was told by my occupational therapist that I could write a little more as long as I took breaks and listened to my pain levels.

So after ten months and almost 7000 words, I finally finished the story. It’s called New Year’s Eve… on repeat, and it’s another time loop, because I apparently like the challenge.

It was fun to pull together all the threads that we’d randomly spread through the novel.

We’ve received three very nice rejections for Faymous. That means I have no idea when it’ll be published, but I’ll let you know.

We are looking for beta readers. If you’re interested, let us know!

Thank you for reading,

Éric

But I’m a Cheerleader – JenEric Movie Review

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How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 1999 film But I’m a Cheerleader.

Story

This is definitely a dark comedy. It manages to highlight the absurdity of these sorts of camps while still capturing the horror of them. I have no experience with conversion therapy, but I’m thankful this leaned into the emotions and contradictions and not the psychological torture.

The message of choosing to be yourself instead of miserable is well done and sad at the same time.

Score: 1

Characters

The characters are extremely well-built stereotypes and that feeds the story.

The fact that the camp staff were all repressed made them both more human and sadder.

I’m not sure if it’s because I wasn’t part of the LGBT community in 1999 (being bisexual in a small town meant it was easier for me to hide) or because of the writing, but there were a few characters that I just didn’t understand.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

The dialogue vacillated from pseudo-intellectual drivel to deep and loving. Seeing the contrast between the two made everything feel even more surreal.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The visuals weren’t flashy, but the thought behind them was impressive. The repressed camp leader spending her evening cleaning flowers, the overcompensation of the colour scheme, the Sapphic curtains, and the large quantity of spandex/pleather add to the hypocrisy of the camp.

The songs had a 1950’s feel to it while being quite subversive. The rest of the score leaned heavily into the songs and it worked really well.

Score: 1

Fun

It was fun to see the lesbien and gay characters being portrayed as both the heroes and the more stable characters. I appreciated the bit at the end with the parents joining the support group, giving us a little hope.

I watched it with my wife only and I’m glad. It’s a little dark for a 3 and 6 year old.

It was hard to watch the pain and anguish these poor people went through at the hands of a society that wants them to hide who they are. Even in a watered-down level of hate with a lot of dark humour, it’s still very much on the nose.

It reminded me of all the times I was with people in university and heard someone say, “Bisexuals don’t exist, they’re just gay people who are scared or straight people who want attention.” Every time I heard it, I sank further into myself, and that’s just a fraction of what others experienced.

Score: 0.5

Overall

The movie pokes as much fun at the lesbian and gay stereotypes as it does the bigots who refuse to understand. It’s dark and raw and painful all at once. However, there’s a certain joy and hope in the message of being yourself and the importance of found family.

Final Score: 4 Stars out of 5

Nominate us for the Auroras please!

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Hello family, fans, people who randomly read this blog, and friends (both real and imaginary),

The Aurora Awards, which are for Canadian science fiction and fantasy writers and artists, are open for nominations! This means the LONG lists of eligible works are being narrowed down to 5-6 per category.

Once they have a list of nominated works, every single person who signed up and paid the $10 membership fee gets ALL the nominated works as downloads. That’s all the adult novels, YA novels, novellas, short stories, graphic novels, and related works (usually anthologies), so about 36 works, for just $10 CAD, which is a great deal.

Getting nominated for an Aurora Award is a BIG DEAL in the writing community. You get a nomination pin (only once, so I’m terrified I’ll lose mine!), and you’re part of an elite group of people.

How do you nominate?

  1. Go to this website
  2. Join, pay membership fee
  3. Nominate up to 5 works per category

It would mean a lot to us if you’re willing to nominate us! (Categories are in alphabetical order by work)

  • Category 1 – Best Novel
    • Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers by Jen and Éric Desmarais
  • Category 3 – Best Novelette/Novella
    • Birth of the Aetherverse by Éric Desmarais
  • Category 4 – Best Short Story
    • Ringing In The New Year by Jen Desmarais
    • Choose Your Own Adventure – Welcome to Westmeath by Jen Desmarais
  • Category 7 – Best Related Work
    • Nothing Without Us Too by Cait Gordon and Talia C. Johnson (Jen has a short story Semper Ubi Sub Ubi in this one!)
  • Category 9 – Best Fan Writing/Publication
    • JenEric Movie Reviews by Éric Desmarais
    • The Travelling TARDIS by Jennifer Desmarais

In case you’re wondering why Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers is not included in the best cover art category, it’s because our cover artist is Vietnamese! Only Canadian creators are eligible, unfortunately.

Thank you so much for your time, attention, and support!

Jen and Éric