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Monthly Archives: April 2017

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Brick

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By now you’ve probably seen Director Rian Johnson’s movie Rogue One.  Yeah, I agree, it’s amazing. Especially the last few minutes with that Vader in the Hall scene.  Bad ass Vader is back!

But have  you seen Rian Johnson’s first film Brick?  

It’s one of my favorite films from the early 2000’s.  It’s a neonoir style mystery set in high school.  Of course it’s a story that revolves around greed, sex, and murder.  Like all good noir and high school stories should.

It’s primarily inspired by Dashiell Hammett’s Glass Key and Red Harvest. If you haven’t read either of those, go pick them up. They’re great.  Red Harvest was the inspiration for the Kurosawa classic Yojimbo and the American film Last Man Standing.  It’s also inspired by the now classic anime Cowboy Bebop.

Which you should definitely  see. Bebop is an amazing series. It’s so good, I even own the sound track on CD.  And I don’t buy soundracks.

One of the things that I like the most about Brick is the command of the noir-style language. It’s something I’m very conscious of when I write a Jack story. It’s amazing how well the patios blends with being in High School.  I mean, it opens up with the protagonist Brandon looking for his ex-girlfriend Emma. He keeps asking everyone who she’s eating lunch with now.  Which totally sounds like a noir slang for who she’s spending time with BUT since this is High School, it really does mean he’s asking who she’s sitting with during their lunch break.

It stars a Joseph Gordon-Levitt and, as I mentioned, it’s written and directed by Rian Johnson.  If you like hard boiled action, noir patter, and some action you’ll probably like Brick.

If you don’t like any of those things…I wouldn’t watch it.

TTy’all Later!

~W.H. Lock

 


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Cloak and Dagger comic cover

Cloak & Dagger

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The original Cloak & Dagger comic mini series was one of my favorite series as a kid. It’s a bit dated in its portrayal of characters, but over all it’s a really good. Two kids run away and get swept up with dangerous people.

Cloak and Dagger comic cover

original comic cover

And get superpowers.

Which normally doesn’t happen to runaways, but this is comics so that happens.  Like all the time.

But it’s a good one that covers drugs and drug addiction.  Not in the jokey way that comics had done before with Speedy and Green Arrow yelling about Speedy being a JUNKY!!!!

Comics History note: many people claim that the first use of drugs in comics appears in Spider-Man with Harry Osborn popping some pills or DC Comic’s Green Arrow’s sidekick shooting something up. They’re wrong, drug use stories appeared in Pre-Code comics like Detective Comic’s Johnny Law #25 published in 1937. The earliest one I know of was titled The Marijuana Racket. It’s a 7 page comic story in the vein of Reefer Madness.

Anyway, Marvel Studios is continuing the take-over of all media by launching a new hero TV show.  They’ve turned Cloak & Dagger into a cable TV series. they recently released a trailer.

I’ll be honest after the trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5hrFVQiGyk&t=6s

So, in terms of accuracy to the source- I think they’re nailing it. The two actors in the lead rolls look like the characters. they have a specific origin story that involves both of them running away. So far, looking good.

But there’s something off here. I can’t put my finger on why I don’t like this trailer. Maybe it’s the crap music.  Maybe it’s the lower special effects budget. I don’t know but I’m seriously underwhelmed.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll watch every episode of the first season.

But right now I’m a little wary.

 

~W.H.


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Under a curse

Category:blog,Book,Recommendation,Reviews

So, I go through this cycle when I start a new project.  I think of it as my very own personal creators curse.

  • Step 1 is “Wow, this is a really good idea!”
  • Step 2 is “This is just so much fun! I love this idea.
  • Step 3 is “Huh. Hm. Well. This is a good idea. Well, I mean, I like it. But…”
  • Step 4 is “OMG, why do I even think I can do this! This is the WORST IDEA EVER!”
  • Step 5 is “Okay, I’ll just finish this draft and that’s it. No more.”
  • STep 6 is “Well, this isn’t so bad. I mean, with a little work…”
  • Step 7 is “You know, this is actually pretty good. Not amazing, but…yeah…”
  • Step 8 is “I AM SO SICK OF LOOKING AT THIS THING! Whatever! It’s done! I don’t care!”

Right now, I am firmly in Step 4.  The “creative doldrums” usually hits me in the outline stage. And I’m right in the middle of the outline stage. About two weeks ago or so, I really loved this idea.  Now that I’m working it out, I’m less enamored.  I know from experience that I go through this every time. What it takes to get out of this slump is to keep working on it.

I just gotta power through it.

If I switch to working on a different project, I will end up in the same place with that new project. So, I know it’s best to keep working on this project.

There’s a lot to be learned every time you complete a book. You get better at creating sell-able ideas. You get better at writing.  You get better at finishing. Being able to finish writing a book is an incredible valuable skill. There are an endless amount of books that have been started and never finished.

No one buys an unfinished book.

So, if you’ll excuse me, I have a book to go finish.

TTy’allLater.
~W.H.


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Obsidian Son (The Temple Chronicles #1)

Category:blog,Book,Recommendation,Reviews
3 star rating

3 out of 5 stars

 

cover image

#1 Nate Temple series

I’d be remiss if I criticized this book for having an unlikable protagonist.  My protagonist, Jack Story, is designed to be unlikable.  However, I do have to say that the protagonist in Obsidian Son is unsympathetic.

A lot of people think that you have to make your protagonist likable for the audience to root for them.  You don’t.  Two examples right off the top of my head are the MCU’s Tony Stark and Mel Gibson in Payback.

Tony, despite how charming RDJ’s performance is, is not likable. He’s rude. He’s a jerk to his friends. He only keeps people around based on how useful they are for him. His treatment of women is deplorable.

Mel’s character in Payback is a straight up bank robber. There’s nothing likable about this guy.

But we root for both of them, finding them sympathetic, because they do what we consider to be “the right thing.”  Sure, Tony is all those things I said he was, but at the end of the day he straps on the Iron Man suit and goes up against the forces of darkness.  Mel’s character just wants his cut of the money from the bank he robbed. Not all of it, just what’s due to him.

Things we think we would do in that same situation.  Thus we find them sympathetic.

This isn’t the case with Nate Temple. He’s got a Batman Origin, his parents were murdered. He’s a billionaire. He’s got magic at his disposal. But unlike Batman, he doesn’t do the sort of things we think we would do in that situation.

Imagine if you had magical power and essentially unlimited money.  Now add in the certain knowledge that your parents had been murdered. How would you spend your days?

Hunting down your parent’s murderer or would you run around collecting rare books for clients?

Exactly. Nate  doesn’t do that. He isn’t Batman. He is living his life as if no tragedy had touched him. And has a rare book store.

But there are some good things about the story. The use of the Minotaur from Greek myths is fun. The bookstore sisters are interesting. The action is fun. But I found Nate to be unsympathetic.