May 16, 2009

World in the Satin Bag

Movie Review: Star Trek (A more optimistic view of Abrams’ future and his film)

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I would love to insert a witty (A.K.A cringe-inducing) quote from previous Star Trek installments here to start this review off but unfortunately, if this movie is any indicator at least, I have no prior knowledge on any star trek canon beyond the simple “Beam me up Scotty” and Spock’s death grip. Even though I had no knowledge on the matter I still wasted no chance to ridicule anyone who showed a particular liking towards the series or anything having to do with the series. I unfairly mocked Trekkies and upheld Star Wars’ superiority; an upheld opinion I still see as true. Today I am glad to report that all my previous judgments have been turned over and I send an apology to any Star Trek fan I may have mocked in the fan because I believe, unlike my good friend Shaun, that this movie was amazing and beyond anything I could have expected. The film starts off immediately with U.S.S Kelvin (I apologize in advance for any misspelled ships or creatures since I have no idea as to anything about them prior to hearing about them in this movie) being attacked by a Romulan ship led by the evil captain Nero (Eric Bana). Right off the top the visuals are stunning with Nero’s ship, which is this massive mining vessel that just reeks of evil, emerging from a lightning storm in space in front of a miniscule by comparison Kelvin. Nero summons the captain onto his ship and immediately kills him upon learning that he knows nothing about anyone named Spock, who Nero is searching for, and proceeds to attack the ship. The new captain George Kirk valiantly flies his ship into Nero’s giving his wife enough time to escape and give birth to their newly christened child Jim. Fast forward years later and we are introduced to the characters of Spock and Kirk as children and then adults ready to enlist in Starfleet which sets the movie in motion. There is much to rave about this movie and it has been hyped up since the beginning, but the first place that really succeeds, or the backbone of it all, is the story. It’s a complex tale revolving around the introduction of all the original crew members and also adding to the mix a time travel bit which sets up an alternate existence. Without getting too much into spoilers let me quickly remark that while some people (cough cough) have found parts of this time travel arc ridiculous beyond any means or reason, I myself found it extraordinary not only in the fact that it serves great purpose to the story itself, but that it also manages to set up this prequel perfectly by having the time travel create this set of characters as an parallel universe to the original characters and storylines. So in the show apparently Spock was never captain and Kirk’s father never died, well this new movie changes that and it allows for introductions of all of the characters once more and wonderfully builds those characters from the ground up which is I why I think someone like me, who had no previous knowledge, could enjoy it so much. So you have the story and you have the effects, and that’s better than most movies get these days (I’m looking at you Wolverine), but it’s not over yet. People still had to worry about the acting and how these new people were going to revive or ruin the characters that they had grown to love and after seeing this movie I have to say that I don’t think any one of those characters could have been replaced. (With the exception of maybe Uhuru.) The acting was just so good in this movie that you could probably sit down watching these characters talk to each other in a white room and you wouldn’t get bored of it. First you have Chris Pine as Kirk, who is really just a stupid college kid who gets into trouble a lot and has no real goals in life. I never really bought this guy as someone who could lead a starship or do anything (in other words, he was NOT Kirk.) Especially since he seemed to get his ass kicked in every scene that he fought in, but then at the very end you can see that he has grown as a person, and as he majestically takes his seat on the enterprise you know that he is now Kirk. Eric Bana isn’t amazing as Nero, but he does an ok job, and I bought him as a villain, although if we’re going to nitpick and I had to find something wrong with this movie I would have to say this; If you watch your planet get destroyed as Nero did and then get sent back in time (Way back in time) wouldn’t the first thing you try to do be… save your planet and not wait around looking for a man? That’s might just be me though. Of course while Kirk may be the lead character in this film, the big show stealer is his future partner in crime Spock played by Zachary Quinto from Heroes, and Quinto is, well, amazing. There was not a second that went by in this movie that I doubted him as Spock, and I didn’t even know who Spock was. I just knew that every line that he delivered was perfect and by the time he pulled the infamous Death Grip on Kirk I was jumping up and down my seat with the knowledge that if all else fails, at least there was one amazing performance that came with this. Apart from the major characters all of the side characters get their parts done well too. What I like particularly is that none of the crew members that we are introduced to are expendable. They are each shown to us and instead of disappearing into the background immediately to be used

World in the Satin Bag

To Shut Up or Not to Shut Up: Should Authors Respond to Reviews?

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I think this whole discussion needs to be prefaced by an entirely different discussion on cause and effect. Nobody has the right to tell you that you are not allowed to do something. You can do anything you want in this world, but you must always face the consequences of your actions. If you murder someone you cannot expect that there will be no repercussions, particularly in a place like the United States where you will be prosecuted and either imprisoned or put to death if you are caught and found guilty of such a crime. The same can be said of how an author behaves. Yes, you can act any way you please, but you also have to acknowledge that your actions will create certain responses from your would-be readers. This is a reality that all authors must face, and it isn’t helped by the fact that already the process of getting and being published is like going through a meat grinder that never turns off–there will always be people who dislike your work and possibly even dislike you. With that in mind we can return to the original point of this discussion: should authors respond to reviews? If they want to, yes. The problem with author responses in the blogosphere isn’t so much that bloggers don’t want authors to respond, it is that some of us have had bad experiences with it and would rather you keep out of it if you’re unable to act in a manner that is becoming of an author (a great example of a horrible situation can be found here). Not all of us can be Harlan Ellison who, let’s be frank here, gets away with behavior that most people couldn’t get away with if their lives depended on it–a fact, I suspect, has something to do with a strange fascination people have with a man who is not at all afraid to say whatever the hell he wants. Authors should consider how they are going to respond to a review or a discussion of their work. Bloggers are not at all against the idea of an author coming in to get a better understanding of a particular point, and if your intention is to understand the criticism in order to improve your writing, there is no contention with that either. But if your intention is to argue with a blogger, that’s where the problems arise. Nobody wants to have to deal with an author who can’t accept that an individual’s opinion is their own. We don’t want to hear why we’re wrong in our review and why clearly we didn’t get what you were trying to do. All of that is irrelevant, because we all have unique reading experiences. As an author, you need to ask yourself a question: Is sacrificing your career worth it in order to argue with a reviewer over some point they made? And if your intention is not to argue, but to understand, a good way to go about this would to be preface your questions with that information. Bloggers are not going to universally pan you for trying to get a better understanding of the criticism lobbed at your work. In fact, they may even praise you for trying to be active in the reviewing community, particularly because that tells them that their opinions actually matter to you, that you give a crap what they think, and that you may, in fact, take much of what they have said to heart for your next work of fiction. But be conscious of the consequences of argumentation in the blogosphere, because what you do online can and does have an affect on you as a professional. You will be looked down upon if you act childishly, and for good reason. What do you all think about this? If you’ve written blog posts about it, let me know in the comments. P.S.: Some other instances can be found here and here.

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