SF/F Links: April April April
Nothing like a few more links to make you grin with joy, right? This time I have quite a few really interesting ones, which isn’t to say that the ones I had put up in previous posts weren’t interesting. I’m just trying to make you more excited about these particular links. Here goes: Vandonovan presents possibly one of the worst examples of purple prose ever thrust onto the public. To make it more entertaining, though, there is fanart (make sure to scroll down for the link, because it’s hilarious). Robert J. Sawyer has some interesting answers to questions about technology (meant for a Turkish newspaper/magazine apparently). Thoughts By Ted asks whether it is ethical to pirate the e-text of a book he already owns for travel convenience (so he doesn’t have to lug the dead tree book around). What do you think? A really awesomely detailed diagram of a sailing ship from back in the day. Check out the website for Iron Sky, a new alternate history movie in which Nazis fled to the moon and then came back to fulfill Hitler’s mission! Discovery has a story about a computer called MEXICA that actually writers fiction stories. I don’t know how good they are, but that’s pretty cool in my book! Here is an interesting chart called the Trilogy Meter, showing (I think) the relationship between the different parts of various famous movie trilogies based on popularity and rating. It’s simple, so don’t be overwhelmed. Scientists studying the human brain and its reactions to the process of reading have made some fascinating discoveries, particularly this one that suggests that we create simulations within our minds of the world presented within a story (not necessarily a fantasy story, but any story). Here’s an interesting post defending readers. It talks a lot about the solitary experience that is reading. I have no idea who the author is defending readers against, but so be it. Elizabeth Willse asks “What Makes Good Fantasy?” Well, what do you think makes good fantasy? I’ll have more links later on. For now, this is it! Anywho!
Quick Movie Reviews (2009): Volume Four
And here are some more quick reviews from GeorgeMichael. Okay, so only the first four are from him, but still. He’s apparently seen a lot of movies this year. As have I! Anywho, enjoy: Bride WarsPros: Both Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson are great actors who do their very best with the mediocre script that they’ve been handed. Their performances are the highlight of this otherwise disposable movie in which two best friends get their weddings planned on the same day in the same place and fight with everything they can to ensure that their own wedding wins out. Let theoretical hilarity ensue.Cons: It’s not funny and it’s not romantic. Anything that you could possibly want in a rom/com is completely absent here. You have a two hour long catfight for sure but it’s all loosely wound by a poorly written script and horrible execution.Rating: 1.5/5 I Love You, ManPros: Paul Rudd and Jason Segel give amazing performances as Peter and Sidney in the most recent bro-mance for all to enjoy. The premise surrounds Peter getting engaged and realizingthat he doesn’t have a best man so as a result he begins his search for male bonding. The script is amazing and the movie works flawlessly. Paul Rudd is great as the awkward “only had girl friends” guy who gets nervous around Sidney when he tries to be cool. Jason Segel is equally impressive as the yin to Paul’s yang as the outgoing party dude.Cons: Like many Apatow-like movies (he has nothing to do with this particular film) the movie runs a tad too long but other than that it is an amazing movie that is easily worth double the price of the admission ticket.Rating: 4.5/5 Last Chance HarveyPros: Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson give great performances in this substantial feel good film. Harvey (Dent… he he…) is a commercial jingle composer who travels to England for his daughter’s wedding and everything goes wrong. First he finds out that he has been left at a hotel all alone because his entire family are staying at a house that his ex wife rented out. Then his daughter tells him that she wants her step father to walk her down the aisle. To place a cherry on top of it all he gets fired. While sulking at a bar he comes across a delightful woman in misery named Kate. The feel goodiness begins.Cons: The movie moves a little slow at times and can drag in certain places. It plays the plot safe for the most part and in any other instance would be a pretty general feel good movie. What elevate Last Chance Harvey above the rest are the superb performances of Hoffman and Thompson.Rating: 4/5 Slumdog MillionairePros: A perfect love story set in the slums of India that tells the tale of Jumal Malik as he searches his whole life looking for the girl that he lost as a child, Latika. The movie is perfectly cast, directed, written, and shot. To add to all of that the movie has amazing music to go along for the ride. A movie that opens with the main character being tortured turns into one of the happiest and greatest movies in recent years. Who knew?Cons: A perfect love story. There are no cons. All Oscars were deserved.Rating: 5/5 Sex DrivePros: A couple hilarious moments, but really this is sort of a typical teen comedy/romance. Not much else to say, unfortunately.Cons: The best moments were the ones we already saw in the previews. The Amish scenes were mediocre at best and the plot was pretty much an idiotic “I’m a teenage virgin male and I need to get laid” rehash. Basically it’s unoriginal and overdone. We need more interesting teenage comedies…Rating: 1/5 And there you go!
Reader Question: Current Events and Reader Preferences and Experience
TruGenius recently left a comment asking me the following: How do current social events shape readers preferences? I’m going to start this off by saying that I am in no way a genius on this subject. I haven’t spent years studying book sales, trends, etc. So everything I am going to say on this subject is going to be based on what I know and think I know either through my readings on the Internet or interactions with friends, family, and readers. One thing that has always surprised me about the publishing industry and readers is how unpredictable they can be at times. I imagine someone saw the boom in urban fantasy coming from a mile away, but I don’t think anyone could have accurately predicted that young adult fantasy and science fiction would explode as it did, nor that young readers would be so eager to set aside their video games and cell phones to dig into a book. Looking at YA numbers is usually a jaw-dropping experience for me–I’m used to seeing 50,000 units sold as the “big number,” rather than the massive 500,000 to 1,000,000 that seems relatively common in YA these days. But is any of this indicative of social trends in response to the events of the last decade? Some of it, perhaps. There is certainly something to be said about recession and book sales. We saw the sale of e-readers spike (as well as ebooks), and polls have shown that people are reading more now than they were before the initial crash of the economy. I can’t say if these increases have remained steady: I suspect that the sales have not, but the reading has. And there isn’t anything there to indicate any specific trends (such as in genre). But this post is more about the influence of current events on reader preferences–specifically what kinds of books people are more likely to read during social, national, or global stress. From what I understand about trending, the economy can have a big influence on what kinds of books sell and what movies will succeed. io9 had a post a while ago about the trends of dystopias during economic booms and recessions that showed a correlation between strong(er) economic status and the success or rise of dystopic movies. The same thing seems true about books: dystopian fiction seems to do better, or at least is more prevalent, during economic booms (or stable trends in the economy). But this isn’t always the case. Recently we’ve seen a flood of Mayan doomsday novels (and films), most of which are doing quite well, even in these difficult times. I suspect that our relative proximity to 2012 has a lot to do with this and don’t be surprised if 2011 is filled to the brim with written works all across the board. With all that in mind, I think it’s safe to say that dystopias will shrink during this recession, Mayan doomsday fiction will remain steady, and other forms of fiction (possibly more optimistic forms) will see an increase. I could be wrong, though, and probably am. The one thing I’m not wrong about is that we will see an increase in desire for adventure-based fiction and highly escapist literature. This may not be reflected in sales, particularly because the economy is hurting just as bad as individual people are, but it will be reflected in readers themselves, who may or may not spend more time at libraries or reading their backlist of books they’ve bought, but never read. I would also suspect that Obama’s historical presidency would have some influence on books in the U.S., but I haven’t seen much in the last year in the way of future ground-breaking U.S. elections. Maybe we’ve yet to see Obama’s influence on literature. I think what I’m trying to get at here is that it’s sort of impossible to truly know what the market will do at any point (the market, of course, responds to sales, which leads directly to reader preferences). We can look back and see how major events in the world have influenced literature and reader preferences, but can any of us say that we could have predicted those changes, or that we can use what happened in the past to reflect upon the future of trends? I don’t think so. The problem is that each event is relatively unique from the one that precedes it. Current events do shape literature, but it’s hard to tell where that shaping will go. Sure, bad times seem to produce greater desire for escapism, and happy times produce greater desire for depressing fiction, but that might be the only trend we can actually pin down, with the exception to war. There are, I think, two trends in reader preferences during war: one is a boom in war-based literature with clearer indications of good and evil, and the other is a boom in war-based literature where the boundaries turn grey. We get that boost of patriotism in the beginning, and then when things turn out to be different than we imagined, we begin to see that fade. We saw this happen with the Bush Administration (at least I think so). At first, when 9/11 happened, we saw patriotism explode: readers wanted books on the subject, even when it was in their fiction; they wanted heroes of all shapes and sizes. But when things started turning ugly, when we began to see what was wrong with the war in greater numbers, then readers seemed to want something else: they desired fiction proposing “the truth” (and sometimes conspiracy theories or propaganda); they wanted stories about wars going in ways unexpected and characters who were flawed, imperfect people. This is more based on what seems “dominant” than one whether one exists and the other does not. Both exist and always have, I think, but they shift back and forth depending on what is going on in the real world. With all that I have
Quick Movie Reviews (2009): Volume Three
Well, my good friend GeorgeMichael has seen quite a few movies this year and he was kind enough to write up these quickie reviews. And with that, here they are: AdventurelandPros: A quirky, charming coming-of-age film about a college grad who has to take a summer job to be able to pay for his New York Grad School and misses out on a Europe trip that he can no longer afford. The nostalgic eighties vibe has good intentions and warms you up inside as well as these well written and perfectly cast characters do.Cons: Drags a bit for a while, with a slightly predictable plot. Could have shaved off about fifteen minutes, but overall the movie was well acted and proved to be entertaining and induced enough chuckles to be well worth the ticket.Rating: 4/5 Yes ManPros: Jim Carrey is back in his insane vibe which still, after all these years, hasn’t lost its entire magic spark. Carrey and co star Zooey Deschanel light up the screen with their oddball characters and enough jokes are thrown our way that many are bound to make us laugh out loud at least once. If this is the beginning of a new wave of Carrey movies it’s off to a fine start.Cons: A predictable plot and semi weak premise make this film a bit too obvious to really immerse yourself in it. The gags are great and the acting above expectations, but nothing is entirely surprising or shocking. The movie never really elevates above “safe” comedy and as such comes out as a funny, but routine movie.Rating: 3/5 Miss MarchPros: I apologize, and swear to readers that this will hopefully never happen again, but I can’t think of a single damn thing.Cons: The acting is horrendous, the plot and characters outrageously insipid, and the gags so juvenile that the entire movie barely elicited a single chuckle from my throat. Quite possibly a movie so bad that it rates among the worst of the century and easily on par with Disaster Movie and it’s predecessors.Rating: .5/5 Marley and MePros: An adorable puppy love movie based on a best selling book with two great actors cast as the leads. Although the movie is told from Owen Wilson’s point of view this really is Marley’s movie and the Labrador does not disappoint. The movie is sweet and funny when it needs to be, and outrageously cute when it chooses. All charm leads up to the inevitable end which drew tears to me and all my friend’s eyes. Ironically the girls in our group showed no signs of emotion which settles the argument as to why it is called man’s best friend.Cons: The movie is predictable, unfortunately, and can run a bit slow during its runtime but two hours of well done sappiness is better than anything you’re likely to get these days. Marley and Me is a joy to watch and a pain to endure afterwards. Rating: 4.5/5 Paul Blart: Mall CopPros: Kevin James certainly proved he can carry a movie on his own with this funny flick about a security guard whose mall gets taken over by hostile, bike riding terrorists. This is a light fluff movie that will most likely leave you smiling so it has that going for it.Cons: The acting is acceptable and the gags passable as well. Nothing in this movie truly shines above average. You don’t leave this movie quoting anything or wanting to discuss it at all. You see it and then you forget it, it’s simple as that. The plot is predictable and it’s all very mediocre.Rating: 2/5 And there you go! There are some more quickie reviews coming up. Hope these help you find something to watch in the upcoming weeks!
Nine Reasons Why Airports Should Offer Free Wireless
…or at least dirt-freaking-cheap wireless that doesn’t require you to pay for twenty-four hours of service when you’re only going to use, at most, a few hours… With all my airport problems over the weekend, I figure this is a most fitting list to place here. I wrote it while in the airport (or in the plane) and had it sitting in my blog folder on my desktop for a few days. Here goes: Airline tickets ain’t cheapI mean, I know the recession has dropped ticket costs some in the last few months, but it still costs an arm and a leg to fly from the U.S. to any major western country. I only have two arms and two legs. I can’t keep lending them to the airlines only to have to trade them for pieces of my soul later on. And have you tried to walk in any major airport without a leg? Not fun.I think wireless should come with the cost of the ticket. Free of charge. Security in the U.S. blowsIf you’ve flown anywhere recently you’ll have had the distinct pleasure of experiencing the crapfest that is the security line. Now, Manchester International Airport (not in the U.S., but necessary here for comparison purposes) has become an enormous efficient airport, with what look like busy days being reduced to the business of dead days (it took me all of five minutes to get through security there).The U.S., however, is completely and utterly disorganized. The lines are long, you never know which one you’re supposed to get into, the people in the line smell, the machines are (with exception to SFO) antiquated monstrosities from some far-gone era of pre-9/11 crappiness, and, well, they just suck.Just for that, we should be handed free wireless like candy. Or they could hand out chocolate bars or something. That would be a nice start to repaying us for having to sit through that crap. Airline stores are expensive for no reasonAnd those stores make a lot of money, by the way. It’s not like they’re concerned about business. But we’re still forced to pay ungodly amounts of money for stuff we could get for pennies on the dollar in the real world. That wouldn’t be a problem if it was easy to head off into the real world and buy some cheap burgers, but since we can’t, it sucks. The least these damned companies could do is offer an hour of free wireless for a purchase. Coffee shops do that. Seems only fair, right? Wireless is cheapI mean, come on, it’s not like having a couple wireless routers in an freaking airport is going to cost them mass amounts of money, right? The wireless they do offer charges you outrageous prices for service you can’t really use anyway (cause who spends 24 hours in a freaking airport anyway?). Why couldn’t they just offer cheap wireless instead of this expensive crap? At least then I wouldn’t have much to complain about. I’m awesome and deserve itEnough said. Airplanes suckThey’re frequently uncomfortable, loud, cold, stuffy, hot, and full of screaming children. It’s bad enough to deal with that kind of crap for an hour or two, but when you’re flying to Europe from the West Coast it’s like putting your head through a salt grinder. The least the airlines could do is appease you with free wireless while you sit through the gruesome waits for boarding, the screaming children, and the exceedingly old people who stink up the plain with their elderly farts… Delayed flights and other airport/airline evilsNothing worse than missing a connection because your flight was delayed. Okay, so Hitler and people who think vampires actually exist are worse than that, but delayed flights and missed connections are certainly in the top five hundred worst things ever…I’ll say no more on this subject, since the next one is directly related. Stupid people run airportsThere is some exception to Philly, I think, and SFO (to some degree, at least), but in writing up this post for WISB I experienced the full brunt of airport stupidity. Newark International Airport decided, on the day of my domestic flight back to San Francisco (on a Sunday), that it would change it’s procedures for arriving and departing airplanes. I suspect it had something to do with making the airport more efficient in getting planes up and down (it’s an enormous airport that puts through a lot of planes and people).Well, unfortunately the folks who run Newark are about as intelligent and George W. Bush. Their new-fangled system not only didn’t work, but it blocked up all the runways to the point where they could no longer let planes come in or leave…period. I’m currently sitting in the plane, in the queue, waiting for the airport to tell us we can leave…only we don’t know when that will be. For all we know it could be next Thursday.Now, I’m not sure why this turned out like it did. You would think that such a large airport would have used some sort of simulator for such a change in the system. Apparently not. I definitely think wireless should be given for this…not cool at all. Because it’s stupid not toI mean, come on, you’re a freaking airport, the one place where people of almost every culture are forced to intermingle and never communicate with one another. Airports are supposed to be relatively high tech, fun, and exciting, right? Or is that an illusion from my childhood? Give us the wireless! We wants it! We needs it! With that, I’ll ask you what reasons you think airports should offer free wireless. Leave a comment or send me an email!
Top Five Tools For Writers (in today’s writing environment)
Every writer has tools. Back in the old days they had a dictionary and/or a thesaurus—typewriters too, of course. When computers came around, it changed things, making it easier for folks to type up manuscripts and print them. Now that we’re easily over two decades past the invention of the personal computer (and I’m guessing because I’m writing this from England and currently have no access to the Internet, which was something I took note in this post) it’s interesting to think about all the various tools that have become staples in a writer’s life—or at least in mine (since not all writers use all these tools and some even stick to older writer’s tools).So, I started to think about what might be considered the top five tools for writers in today’s world, based exclusively on my personal opinion and on what I know are used by a majority of writers out there. I’ve intentionally left out things that I think are obvious: computers, laptops, word processors (of any description), and other things that have been around in some significant capacity.Here goes (in order): Web or Software-based Dictionaries/ThesauriPossibly the best tool for any writer who makes use of the computer primarily for writing, these handy tools (such as WordWeb or Dictionary.com) put at your disposal an arsenal of definitions. I particularly like WordWeb, which makes getting definitions or spelling corrections as simple as a click on an icon in your taskbar, but pretty much any tool that makes it easier to find words while writing, without dragging out the process like the old dead-tree forms did, deserves to be on this list. Duotrope, Ralan, and Other Online Market DatabasesIt used to be that not too long ago you had to either already know about the places you were going to submit to or you had to buy one of those Writer’s Digest Market Guides in order to figure out where to send your work. Now we have all sorts of market databases, some of them specific to certain genres (Ralan) and some pretty much wide open (Duotrope). These have made it not only easier for writers, but also easier for small publishers (particularly magazines) to make themselves known to all sorts of writers out there. Critique Services, Forums, and Social NetworkingI don’t know how writers managed to get along without places like Critique Circle or the various forums dedicated to improving one’s writing (such as Young Writers Online—shameless plug). Such places have truly revolutionized how we do writing groups and critiques. Add into that the incredible tool that is Social Networking, in all its various forms (Facebook, Myspace, or even writing specific sites), and you have a collection of endlessly useful things for any writer in today’s highly tech-based world. Database and Note-Taking SoftwareEvernote, StickIt, Freemind, and even Microsoft’s various versions of those programs have all contributed, in my opinion, to making the writing world what it is today. Such programs offer a wide range of ways of keeping track of your writing, and even ways of organizing information about one’s SF/F worlds. Wasn’t too long ago that a writer had to waste reams of paper and countless hours in order to develop and organize all the necessary world building bits. Now all you have to do is have the right program and typing skills (handy knowledge of quick keys doesn’t hurt either). The InternetThis is number one only because I am intentionally ignoring the drawbacks. As a tool, the Internet puts at any writer’s disposal everything from marketing to research. There are encyclopedias, forums, blogs, music sites, databases, etc. (the list is literally endless). No matter what kind of writer you are (whether you write genre fiction or literary fiction), the Internet offers just about everything you could possibly need as far as improving your writing is concerned (or improving the realism of your prose). Now, if only you could cut out all the drawbacks (the Internet is a time sink, after all), then it’d be the perfect tool. What tools do you use for writing? Leave a comment and let me know. I might discover something new and interesting!