Merry Christmas - 2012

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

For your viewing pleasure, I present my rendition of "We Three Kings."

Wreck-It Ralph

This movie is better than I expected.  It's as good as a Pixar movie without the Pixar animation.  It's funny, appealing, exciting, well-animated, and a really good story.

Wreck-It Ralph is a bad guy who's tired of his job.  He just wants people to appreciate him.  He decides to go visit other games in search of a medal, but this causes all kinds of problems.

This movie is full of "cookies" or references to several different video games and that whole culture.  For example, in the trailer above, you'll recognize several of the villains.  So, if you keep your eyes open during the movie, be prepared to laugh.

The game "Fix-it Felix, Jr." itself is fictional.  Though, by the end of the movie, I was nearly convinced that it was a real game I had missed in my childhood.  But alas, it is only a spoof of Donkey Kong.  Even though it's not real, you can still play it here.  You can also play the fictional "Sugar Rush" and "Hero's Duty" here.

I watched this in 3-D, and it was pretty good.  There were no 3-D gimmicks, which is okay with me.  But there was plenty of good depth and variety of distances.  To compare, I didn't get much out of the 3-D in "Toy Story 3."  And the 3-D in "Avatar" was amazing.  "Wreck-It Ralph" was somewhere in between.

I highly recommend watching this movie while it's still in theaters.  It's been out a while, so catch it while you can.

Skyfall - Bond At His Best

Skyfall was a thrill ride from beginning to end.  If you're a Bond fan, don't miss this one.  If you're not a fan, this would be a good story to enter the franchise.

The last two movies featuring Daniel Craig as James Bond were both good movies, but a little slow on the action.  In fact I fell asleep during Quantum of Solace.  Those two movies spent more time exploring a different kind of Bond ... one who isn't perfect, but rather often makes mistakes.  He's more human.

Skyfall continues with the edgy not-quite-so-perfect Bond.  Since his character had been well fleshed out in the first two movies, the writers could spend more time immersing us in action.

I watched this in IMAX, something I haven't tried in years, and it was worth it.  The movie has several breathtaking cinematic shots, with wonderful color contrasts, and playing with light on glass and water.

What exactly is "Skyfall"?  You're going to have to go watch the movie and find out for yourself.  I was expecting some cool science-fictiony device that would destroy the world ... but ... well ... it's something a little more subtle.

You can expect the normal James Bond formula--start with an action sequence, then opening credits, then some kind of exposition followed by an explanation, then find a cute girl, then the introduction of the bad guy, ... and well, you know the rest of the formula.

Javier Bardem effectively pulls off a fun and creepy villain.  He's almost as good as Heath Ledger's Joker.

How does this rank with other Bond movies?  I've seen a little over half of them--every one since Pierce Brosnan, a couple of Moores, a couple of Connerys, and the Lazenby one.  My favorite still remains GoldenEye.  I'd put Skyfall second, followed by Lazenby's On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

If you haven't seen Skyfall, I highly recommend seeing it while it's still in theaters.

The Fall of Hyperion - A Worthy Sequel

Dan Simmons' The Fall of Hyperion picks up right where the first book Hyperion leaves off.  Though, the storytelling is a little different. 

In the first book the Consul is the first person narrator, except for when the other characters tell their stories. 

In this second book, we meet a new character: Joseph Severn, an artist living in TC^2, who has the ability to view our Hyperion friends in his dreams.  During the first part of the book, we see things unfolding from Joseph's POV through a clouded lens.  At first this was annoying, but it turns out that Joseph is a very important person.  (If it's any hint, the "real" Joseph Severn was a good friend of the poet John Keats.)

But then starting with Part 2, everything becomes a little clearer with the author switching to normal third person limited.  Events unfold.  We get to see what happens to each of the pilgrims on Hyperion.

I can't say too much without giving away the plot of the first book, but I can say the following.

This second book is almost as good as the first book.  Where I would give the first book 10 stars.  The second gets 9.  There are some parts in the second where the writing seems a little sloppy, while the first is a masterpiece from page 1 till the end.

The second book ties up nearly all loose ends from the first book.  While book #1 ends in a cliffhanger, book #2 gives a satisfying end such that you don't feel like you need to read the last two books (though I probably will eventually).

Book #2 has a lot of "No way!" moments, and is a very exciting read once you get past Part 1.

Book #2 doesn't waste any time reminding you what you should remember on your own from Book #1.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Well--Simmons might do it a little, but it flows so naturally.

After reading Book #1, it's so easy to say, "I don't see how everything fits together."  But book #2 will hit you over the head with the explanation and when you're done reading you'll say, "Wow!  It makes sense.  Why didn't I see that earlier?"

There are still a few small things left unrevealed--gotta keep things open for books 3 and 4.

Dan Simmons really, really seems to like John Keats.  I don't share this great love, and I usually skimmed past all the verse in italics.  Though I gather that the whole Hyperion story seems to be heavily inspired by some specific Keats poems--as if Simmons read them and said, "Wow.  I could make a great story out of that."

And the Consul still never gets a name.  Aaaaagh!  I know ... major spoiler.

But notwithstanding, Simmons is an excellent storyteller and I thoroughly enjoyed reading these two books, and I highly recommend them both.

National Novel Writing Month - 2012

I have begun the 30-day self-inflicted joyous torture that is NaNoWriMo.  That's short for "National Novel Writing Month."  The goal is to write 50,000 (unedited) words.  I've already accomplished this wonderful feat in 2007 and 2010.  Back in 2005 (I think) I tried for the first time and fell flat on my face having only written about 10,000 words.

Right now, I am only at a mere 3,000 words, which puts me behind schedule.  Each writer should average 1667 words a day.  So at the end of Day 4, I would need to be at 6,667 words.

But hey -- I just took an actuarial exam a few days ago, and I always need a while to chillax and play NotDoppler games and unwind.  It's amazing that I got out 3,000 words.  You can see the first 1,000 words (I did say it was unedited - just to warn you of its terribleness) and visit my profile.

This year I'm going to use the 50,000 words to spit out several short stories, which I will then crank out through the big edit/critique machine over the next few months.  My goal is to sell something in 2013.

But first to survive this month ... here is my schedule (2,200 a weekday, 4,250 over the weekend, and some time off for Thanksgiving).

Week #1 = 3,000 words.  --already past--
Week #2 = 15,250 words.
Week #3 = 15,250 words.
Week #4 = 5,500 words.
Week #5 = 11,000 words.

If you haven't done NaNoWriMo yet, I belatedly invite you to join.  We can be behind together!

2012 TV Fall - The Final Wave

All my fall shows are now in full swing.

Last month I reported on the Pre-Wave shows, including Alphas, Warehouse 13, Doctor Who, and Grimm.

And then I gave my reports for the First Wave, which are the shows that mostly came out all at the same time, including Revolution, The Neighbors, Last Resort, Person of Interest, Haven, and The Office.

Here are my reports on the four shows that started relatively later ...


Fringe (2 episodes in): This last season is very interesting.  It appears that we'll be spending our last several episodes in the future, after the Observers have gone on the offensive and have taken over our planet.  The whole Fringe team had been ambered.  So, after having been revived some twenty or thirty years later, they are now trying to save our world from the Observers.

It's all interesting and all that, but some tidbits are bugging me.  The biggest being: how does this story fit into the grand scheme of things?  It was confusing enough in Season 4 to have some other set of parallel universes that was somehow orthogonal to the two existing universes in Seasons 1-3.  Why would we care about the one specific double-alternative universe?  (Much like in Star Trek where we keep seeing visits from that same one alternative Mirror universe out of an infinite number of possibilities.)

And now in Season 5, we have a time travel situation where we learn that the Observers are evolved humans from the future.  Since they messed up our world, they're going back in time to save themselves.  (This is much like one of the only two South Park episodes I've seen.)  It's an interest plot technique, but how does one beat someone who can time travel?  These Observers can go anywhere at any time.  They can stop you before you even start something.

Despite these annoying tidbits, it'll be fun to watch how our favorite protagonists fare.  Show those Observers who's boss!

Once Upon a Time (3 episodes in): It looks like the writers found a way to keep this show interesting.  Even though the curse is broken and everyone can remember who they really are, they are still stuck in Storybrooke.  Magic exists now, but no one can seem to figure out how to make it work consistently.  Plus, if anyone tries to leave Storybrooke, they'll lose their memory again.

This show remains a family favorite.

The Simpsons (1 episode in): Yes, I haven't seen the Halloween episode yet.  I'll probably watch it this week IN SEASON.  It looks like it'll be funny.

The opening episode, though, left much to be desired.  The whole family took a trip to New York so Bart could bring back the only girl who still halfway likes him.  Way too mushy for a season opener.  Plus, nothing great seemed to happy--no really funny moments beyond that racing scene at the very beginning.  I want my classic Simpsons back!
 
The Walking Dead (2 episodes in): Wow!  These first two episodes blow the entire 2nd season to the moon!  Our favorite protagonists have found themselves a prison and have decided to break in to get a really strong shelter around them.  Of course, this entailed some clearing out, and I swear they killed more zombies on screen in that first episode than they did in the first two seasons combined.

My friend jokes that it's as if AMC listened to complaints about there not being enough zombie kills.  If so, they certainly delivered.  But hopefully the kills will drop back down to normal levels so we can get back to the main reason why I'm watching ... the awesome story.

The first episode was awesome, and the second episode even more so--showing some scenes I'd never thought I'd see.  Keep up the good work, writers and actors!

PS. I still love how the opening credits music starts about 10 seconds before the credits actually appear on screen.  More shows need to do this.

Updates: Evidently, Touch has been pushed back to January, so it's coming off my Fall list.  Also, I'm still waiting to hear about Psych.  I'm guessing it will also start sometime around January.  This is all fine with me, as I have enough shows on my crappy Time Warner Cable DVR to last me a few weeks during reruns!

Also, since the 2nd episode of The Neighbors actually had some funny parts, I've decided to continue watching, though it's at the bottom of my view list.

Taking a Rest

I know the 20 or so of you will be disappointed, but I'm currently busy studying for an evil actuarial exam (#6 - the one about the financial annual statement and insurance regulation and every single boring actuarial topic you can imagine shoved into one test).

So this month, everything is put on hold.  No writing.  No submitting.  No nothing (except for maybe one or two blog posts).

But I'll be back in November to start things back up again.  First will be a NaNoWriMo Blitzkrieg devoted to writing 50,000 words of new short stories.  This will be followed by a few months of revising and submitting, and hopefully my first publication in 2013.

Happy writing to you!

2012 TV Fall - The First Wave

Never before have I had so many shows premiere at the same time!  Well, I suppose in the not so distant past, TV networks did adhere to the "premiere week," but there were only three networks.  Now with the additional networks and other popular cable channels, TV execs have been a little more strategic in their releases of shows, even premiering as late as October.  They still do this (like Touch and The Walking Dead), but what happened this last week?  I swear it feels like 90% of my shows came back in a new virtual "premiere week."

Whatever happened, my DVR is very busy and it will take me a while to catch up with all the premieres.  My DVR even missed recording Grimm this past Friday and I'm not very happy with Time Warner's system right now.  If you don't see your favorite sci-fi show listed below, give me another week or so.

A couple of weeks ago, I gave my thoughts on the Pre-Wave (shows that came out a little early or in late summer).  That included Alphas, Warehouse 13, Doctor Who, and Grimm.

Now my newest reviews ...

Revolution (2 episodes in): This show reminds me of Jericho and this is a good thing.  The world has fallen apart and governments have ceased.  Militia groups have risen up and try to gain control.  This show has a lot of potential.

But will they grab this potential?  The two episodes that I've watched were exciting enough to hold my attention, but it seems to be lacking something, which I'm still trying to figure out.  For example, just as Charlie's father dies, he sends her on a quest through the dangerous roads and dangerous city of Chicago to find her uncle ... something I would have expected to take a few episodes.  But no, after a commercial break or two, they waltz into Chicago with minimal intervention (except for those bozos who tried to rape and kill them, but no meetups with militia or anything like that) and they find her uncle very quickly.

I'll keep watching, though.  It feels like it's leading into something cool.

The Neighbors (1 episode in): This show is really missing something.  It might be called something known as "humor."  For example, in one scene, the alien wife keeps throwing plates out her window as her new-found human friend helps wash the dishes.  The human gives a funny look, but no other funny reactions?

The pacing of the jokes are very slow, and I noticed a lot of awkward silences.  These are probably meant for the audience to absorb the jokes, but when the jokes fall flat, it comes across as terrible editing.  Some music or even a laugh track could have helped.  (And if this show needs the obsolete laugh track, perhaps the show itself is obsolete.)

I'll give it one more try, but if they don't deliver, I'll be dropping this show.

Last Resort (1 episode in): There were some really good moments.  This could be an exciting show.

However, it felt like they crammed so much stuff into this one hour opening.  The pacing was very fast, and some things weren't explained very well.  I think a more effective opening would have been to take two hours to present that same amount of material with more explanations, and to give the audience more time to digest what's happening.

Did anyone understand the whole thing of the hide-your-signature device?  Was it on the submarine?  Or was it not?  If so, it didn't seem to work.  And if not, why did they bring it up?

I know absolutely nothing about the captain himself.  I don't understand why he made his initial decision to disobey direct orders.  And I'm not talking about the "it came through secondary channels" argument.  Most captains in real life would have carried out the order without hesitation, so what makes this captain so special to do the "right" thing?

The Pakistan incident means almost nothing to me, because nothing was shown other than blips on a map.  Did it really happen?  I don't know, because I didn't see it happening.

Did they really have to shove a useless sex scene in there?  And on a show airing at 8PM?  Better put your kids to sleep early Thursday nights, I suppose.

And crammed in at the very end are hints of two types of conspiracies, which are usually revealed in later episodes.  If the writers really felt the need to reveal hints of everything in the first episode, then is this all we get for the season?  Are they going to be stuck on that LOST-looking island for the whole season and fight a war on several different fronts?

But I'm assuming a lot from just one fast-paced episode.  It could be that they meet all my concerns in the next couple of installments.  There's a lot of potential in this show, and we'll see if they can maintain the energy.

Person of Interest (1 episode in): This show still has it.  It's still fun to watch Reese fight through everything.  Well, almost everything. 

Finch is now held captive by Root, some new villain.  She wants to set the computer free?  How exactly does that work? 

Reese is trying to blackmail the computer to reveal where Finch is, but will it work?

And who are those new people who fear going to Guantanamo Bay?  What do they know and what is their plan?

I can't wait to see how this season unfolds.

As an offside, anyone notice how the writer Jonathan Nolan loves to stick it to the rich greedy dudes in his stories (Batman movies and earlier episodes of Person of Interest)?  Long live the 99%, I suppose.

Haven (1 episode in): I'm really hoping this is the last season.  It feels like they're starting to wrap things up.  I like that the show still has a hint of Stephen King, but I doubt this show can last more than one season, and I want to see how it ends.

The first episode was interesting, though I must admit, I forgot why Nathan has that tattoo on his arm.  And also how Duke discovered/revealed his powers.  And when did Audrey get captured?

Who wants to bet that mysterious guy is the Colorado Kid?  Too easy, isn't it!

I'll keep watching, but probably after getting some of these other shows out of the way.  Please end the story!

The Office (2 episodes in): I'm glad this one's coming to an end.  The success of the UK series stems a lot from the fact that they only made a few episodes, and they brought it to a satisfying close in the Christmas Special.  The US series went on for so long, that for a while it hasn't had much direction.  Perhaps they'll find the direction needed now that an ending date is in sight.

A lot of people stopped watching when Michael left, but in some ways this show has gotten even funnier, as now the other characters have their chance to shine.

The first episode was pretty funny with new guys resembling Dwight and Jim.  And Angela trying to find a good home for her cat.

The second episode was okay, but as I watched it immediately after watching The Neighbors, it felt pretty dang funny.  They still got some energy going.  We'll see how things end, and hopefully see Michael Scott one last time.

Hyperion - A New Classic

Dan Simmons' Hyperion may be the best sci-fi book I've read in the last five years.  It tells the story of seven pilgrimages who desire to see the mysterious Shrike.  He (or it) is the spiky metallic personage on the book cover.  Nobody knows exactly what the Shrike does other than killing people.

When I first started reading the book, I was concerned that this was going to be a sci-fi book turned fantasy, because they start in space, and they head towards this planet, and the book cover looks like a typical fantasy cover.  The last thing I wanted was for the characters to get stuck on a boring planet.

Another concern arose when I got about twenty pages in and the seven pilgrimages made the decision to tell their life stories.  The priest got to go first.  I looked ahead and saw that his story went on and on and on for at least 80 pages, and then came the end of Chapter 1.  I groaned, not wanting to read a boring John-Galt-like treatise on religion in space.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover my concerns were unfounded.

The format of the entire book is isomorphic to the graphic novel Watchmen.  The story is told in the present as well as in the past.  A vast majority of the book consists of the recollections of each of the main characters.  The story that each character has to tell is amazing.  And with each story, the reader learns important information regarding the story of the present, and even information explaining what had occurred in other people's stories.

This technique is effective when done well.  As you not only get to really know each character individually, but you get an amazing and complex story as well.  The result is Hyperion, a very rich and compelling story.

This book counts as Hard SF, yet it is very light on the dry factor.  Fantasy SF fans may forget that they're reading Hard SF.

Simmons somehow puts everything you can imagine into this one book, and he makes it all work: space battles, action, horror, religion, philosophy, artificial intelligence, mystery, romance, the desire of getting published (yes Stephen King fans--that's in there, too), politics, and stuff that jerks tears.

It also contains some adult material, so I would classify it at a low-grade Rated R.  It contains a few F-bombs, but Simmons is one of the few authors who knows how to use them sparingly and correctly, and I did not find them to be distracting.

If I must complain about anything, it would have to be the little things.  The main character, the Consul, is never named.  There's a reason for that, but it really comes down to "because the author wants it to be that way."  There's also an epilogue that only exists "because the author wants it to be that way."  I can see why Simmons did that, but it didn't do anything for me.

But that's okay, as Simmons delivered a reading experience that I will remember forever.

2012 TV Fall - The Pre-Wave

In preparation of the upcoming Fall premieres, I'll report on how my shows are doing that started in late summer.  This is my Pre-wave review.

Alphas (SyFy - 2nd season): This show is still going strong, and I still love the chemistry between the different characters.  The "good guys" aren't all good, and the "bad guys" not all bad.  Nobody is perfect.  And what exactly is Stanton Parish trying to pull?  I'm trying to see how he could be good (and preparing the world to fight some greater evil), but how could anyone condone killing innocent people for the "greater good"?  I wish more shows would be written as intelligently as this one.

Warehouse 13 (SyFy - 4th season): I still enjoy watching this show, though I'm wondering how much longer they can keep it going.  How many different "artifacts" can one come up with?  This season feels a little stronger than the last one.  The whole astrolabe line is cool--where Artie had no choice but to rewind the clock 24 hours and release some unknown evil that has Data in a tizzy.

As a plus, one episode featured two Star Trek actors, and another episode featured two Psych actors.  It's not one of my favorite shows, but they haven't given me any reason to stop watching.

Doctor Who (BBC America - 7th series): Bow ties are still cool.  The first episode was enjoyable, though I'm noticing little tiny plot holes here and there.  I don't right much care, yet.  But I really hope Moffat isn't starting to get sloppy.  This is the year that Amy and Rory leave the show.  We know that much, but how is it going to happen?  And how long can the Doctor stay hidden?

Grimm (NBC - 2nd season): I'm really enjoying this show.  It's becoming less of a <blah>-bat of the week and more of a show with some real direction.  So far all four episodes aired this season have been excellent.  I also love the whole thing of everyone dealing with a Grimm who is somehow different from other Grimms.  I hope they keep up the good work.

My only fear: what the heck is NBC doing beginning this show so early?  A lot of people like this show, and when a network starts switching nights and pulling these shenanigans, it's usually a portent of cancellation.  ("Firefly," anyone?)  I highly recommend watching this show and keeping it on the air.

Also, one last item.  For some reason, Fox is airing a mysterious 13th episode of "Touch" this coming Friday.  I guess there was one episode they decided not to air previously.  Is there any show that FOX can show IN ORDER?  ("Firefly," anyone?)  So don't miss this episode coming on this week.  Your guess is as good as mine as to what they're going to touch on.