Books: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams (1987)

I had been reading Shada, the Doctor Who story from 1979 that got canceled due to a production stoppage at the BBC. Douglas Adams, who wrote Shada, never wanted that story novelized –mostly because he felt the serial was weak (see this posting). However, in 1987 he released Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. That novel recycled bits from Shada and another Doctor Who story he wrote, City of Death. So, after reading Gareth Roberts version of Shada, I pulled out my old copy of Dirk Gently, and for the first time since it was released 25 years ago, I re-read it. 

While the novel is nonlinear, it basically starts four billion years in Earth's past, when a group of alien Salaxalans attempt to populate the earth. But a mistake caused by their engineer – who used an Electric Monk to irrationally believe the proposed fix would work – causes their landing craft to explode, killing the Salaxalans and generating the spark of energy needed to start the process of life on Earth. The ghost of the Salaxalan engineer roams the earth waiting to undo his mistake, watching human life develop and waiting to find a soul that it can possess. 

The above plot element was part of Adam’s City of Death serial of Doctor Who.

To help accelerate things, the Salaxalan ghost encounters  Samuel Taylor Coleridge in the 19^th Century  and tries to influence the writer to add a second section to "Kubla Khan" and alter parts of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" to describe how to correct the problem that destroyed the landing craft in the distant past. The ghost later discovers that Professor Urban "Reg" Chronotis (the same, yet different one featured in Shada) at St Cedd's possesses a time machine disguised as his quarters and in the late 20th Century, during the annual St Cedd's dinner reading of "Kubla Khan", the ghost influences Reg to use the time machine to perform a bit of trickery for a young child at the dinner, while the ghost lures another Electric Monk into Reg's quarters. Upon return to the present, the ghost finds the Monk unusable for its purposes. The Monk then goes off to kill Wayforward Technologies II's CEO, Gordon Way, due to a misunderstanding.

What amazes me about this book, and about Douglas Adams, was while the plot is complicated and at times very confusing, it is also a clever science fiction novel that tries –as Dirk believes in, the "fundamental interconnectedness of all things", where many details that may appear to be superfluous, turn out to be integral to the plot. It is also, in many ways, a smart novel – the characters talk on the concept of Schrödinger's Cat, which Dirk uses to determine Richard MacDuff’s mental state, with Richard producing clear and rational arguments for why the experiment proposed in the theory cannot be carried out in reality.

It makes little sense to me. But that’s why I think Adams was way ahead of his times, and why his death in 2001 at the age of 49 (same as I am now) was such a huge loss. Otherwise, the novel is whimsical and written in typical Adams style for silly humor and thought provoking ideas. 

I should re-read this book more often.

"CinderFella" by Todrick Hall

Books: Doctor Who: Shada by Gareth Roberts (2012)

Shada was an untransmitted tale of the original Doctor Who series. It was a six-part serial scheduled to be the final story of season seventeen. But with all location footage finished and one block of three studio sessions done, there was a strike at the BBC. After it was settled, and the scheduling was done to get series back into production, a decision was made to scrap Shada, mostly because the effects for the story could not be finished on time, along with various other reasons.

Over the last 30 years, the legend of this story grew, mostly because it was written by Douglas Adams, of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy fame.  He had scripted a season sixteen serial, Pirate Planet (part of the Key of Time arc) which then earned him script editor duties for season seventeen. That year opened with one of the most highly acclaimed serials, City of Death (with producer Graham Williams, from an original storyline by writer David Fisher. It was transmitted under the pseudonym "David Agnew"). 

As most contracts with Doctor Who writers went, they were given the option to novelize their stories or have someone else do them.  Adams, however, would not allow anyone else to write them, plus he asked for a higher price than the publishers were willing to pay. So his three stories, and two that where aired during the fifth Doctor era (Resurrection of the Daleks and Revelation of the Daleks written by Eric Saward) remained unwritten as novels.

And when Douglas Adams died in May of 2001, not only did we lose one of most creative, most genius authors, many fans mourned the fact that his three Doctor Who stories would never be seen in print –though elements of Shada and City of Death were reused in Adams's later novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. 

Now 11 years after his death, Gareth Roberts was authorized by the Adams estate to novelize Shada. Roberts began his association with Doctor Who in the 1990’s, writing original novels that were part of the New Adventures and Missing Adventures, The Highest Science,Tragedy Day, Zamper, The Romance of Crime, The English Way of Death, The Plotters and The Well-Mannered War. He also wrote two original novels for the New Series, Only Human and I am a Dalek.

He’s also written 4 episodes of the new series, The Shakespeare Code, The Unicorn and the Wasp, The Lodger and Closing Time, as well as episodes for The Sarah Jane Adventures, Revenge of the Slitheen, Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?, Secret of the Stars, The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith, The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, The Empty Planet and co-wrote Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith. He also wrote what would be the series ender, The Man Who Never Was.

Shada revolves around the lost planet Shada, on which the Time Lords built a prison for defeated would-be conquerors of the universe. Skagra, an up-and-coming would-be conqueror of the universe, needs the assistance of one of the prison's inmates, but finds that nobody knows where Shada is anymore except one aged Time Lord who has retired to Earth, where he is masquerading as a professor at St. Cedd's College, Cambridge. Luckily for the fate of the universe, Skagra's attempt to force the information out of Professor Chronotis coincides with a visit by the professor's old friend, the Doctor.

It’s clear that Roberts tried to emulate Adams as much as possible, though no one can be Douglas Adams.


The story pretty much makes sense, and the plot is interesting, almost justifying what would have been a 6 episode serial (which seemed a rarity back then).  Twenty years ago, the BBC released this story on video with linking elements narrated by Tom Baker and you can clearly see the plot holes this story had.  Adams often said that the story was not very good, that he plate was full with him be the series story editor all while writing scripts for the Hitchhiker radio play and TV series and novel (which was why he recycled them for Dirk Gently). And you can tell because it has some silly humor, bad puns and looks cheap. 

And in 2004, the About Time (the definitive [albeit unofficial] guide books to Doctor Who) boys Lawrence Miles and Tat Wood took a critical look at Shada and pointed out its problems. It seems Roberts took those criticisms to heart and dealt with them in the novel. And Roberts himself is an extremely witty writer, which helps, and it’s sometimes hard to know what Adams wrote and what Roberts added, beyond the more modern references, like “fixed points in time” and Neil Gaiman’s unseen Time Lord the Corsair. He also fixes one of the plot holes by quoting from The Impossible Astronaut.

In the end, Shada is a good novelization, but because Douglas Adams is not around, it’s not the best it could have been had he decided in the 22 years between its making and his death to write his own version of it.

'American Horror Story' scores 17 Emmy nods, but can it win?

Last year, everyone’s favorite British drama, Downton Abbey was submitted in the miniseries category for the 2011 Emmy’s. It was a shrewd move, and the show scored 4 wins out of five nominations. This year, the show must compete in the Drama category, but still racked up an impressive 16 nominations.

This year, Ryan Murphy and Brad Falcuk will try the same strategy with their FX show American Horror Story. The creator’s cited that since the show is basically an anthology series versus a standard drama, it could fall under Best Miniseries category instead of Best Drama.

That thought process paid off, as the show tied with AMC’s Mad Men as the most nominated show for the 2012 Primetime Emmy Awards at 17. The interesting fact is that horror is an overlooked genre when it comes to the Emmy’s, but it’s huge haul is interesting, if only because AMC equally praised horror entry The Walking Dead was shut out.

Still, does the show have any real chance? I don’t think so.

I predict that while impressive, and a nice footnote in Emmy lore for an overlooked genre, American Horror Story faces stiff competition from the History Channel’s huge juggernaut, The Hatfields and The Mccoys. Part one of that three part miniseries drew the largest-ever ratings for a History Channel program and one of the biggest in cable TV history. 13.9 million viewers tuned into the first of three parts, making it the most-watched single broadcast on cable ever, excluding sports. That alone, however, does not guarantee a win, but the Emmy’s (like the Oscars) tend to skew older and more predicable winners. The one thing the Emmy’s do have over the Golden Globes and the Oscars (even though they just do movies), is while the do have a tendency to choose the same people again and again, they’re more open to first timers and newer shows.

So that may play against AHS in the end. The Hatfields and The Mccoys has a few things going for it: First, it had the appeal of older viewers. Secondly,  it resembled the old broadcast networks “event” style miniseries that were huge in 1970s and 80s. Nostalgia sometimes wins over the new and the shiny, especially if the cast of your miniseries is populated with the likes of Kevin Costner, Bill Paxton and Tom Berenger -80′s stars that viewers feel more comfortable with. Thirdly, the cable broadcasters have the advantage of building visibility on only a handful of original shows. Broadcast networks have a huge issues when they have to focus their marketing strategy on all their shows.

Still, Connie Britton got a nomination for Best Actress in a Miniseries, while Frances Conroy, Denis O’Hare and Jessica Lange all scored in supporting roles.But I predict that Hatfields and the Mccoys will score the wins.

So like many other shows and actors in genre of science fiction, fantasy and horror, these nominations from a mainstream award show is just, in the end, all for show. 

Books: The Way of Kings: Book One of The Stormlight Archieve by Brandon Sanderson (2010)

Massive electrical highstorms repeatedly scour the world. Kingdoms battle on the Shattered Plains for glory, power, and the heart gems of the massive, chitinous creatures that spawn there. Unbeatable Brightlords wear magical armor and wield rock shearing Shardblades. They politic and fight amongst one another even as their war against the bestial Parshendi continues. Brightlord Kholinar reads The Way of Kings, an ancient text about honor. His visions push him to try to change society, but his ideas are shouted down and insulted. On the plains, Kaladin, a soldier and healer, tries to improve the system of portable bridges used to span canyons in an attempt to save lives. A would-be scholar, Shallan, must deceive her mentor to steal a necklace and save her bankrupt family. An assassin uses his lashing skills to alter gravity and take out a panoply of rulers, sowing chaos.

Since the early to mid-1990 on, both Robert Jordan and George R.R. Martin held the pre-eminent title of epic fantasy authors. When Jordan died in 2007, it left Martin as the sole king, even though he was a slow writer –as was Jordan in his later years. After Brandon Sanderson was hired to finish Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, his earlier work –which already had a small fan base- expanded. Sanderson’s stock grew as fanboys and girls embraced his earlier work, because Sanderson was prolific, had a great buzz, and content was easy to read.

While I abandoned the Jordan series long before he died, and have held any the epic fantasy series with some regard since, I still am fascinated with them. As always, one of my reservations about them is lengths of the series. Trilogies remain the best way to keep people coming back. Once they start expanding into five, six, seven or more, you risk losing older readers who have moved on to other stuff. I’m sure there are a few people who’ve read all of Jordan’s Wheel series since it began in 1992, but I’m also guessing many have just threw up their arms in despair at sheer length of each novel –some closing on a 1,000 pages, and the years between volumes. 

When Sanderson’s Way of Kings was released in August of 2010, I looked at with even more reservations. It was huge, 1008 pages and –apparently- book one of 10!! But, I reasoned, he was known to be prolific, which meant he wrote fast. So maybe we would see a book once a year. But since he decided to expand the supposedly last book of the Wheel of Time into three books, I began to suspect he was going to follow in Jordan’s footsteps of waiting years between books. 

Sanderson has created a fully realized world and it thought out at every level. That is why, in some sense, Jordan and Martin deserves the praise they get for the worlds they created. It is only in this degree in World Building can you fully understand who the strongest fantasy writers are. 

And yet, I have huge problems with it. Perhaps I just don’t have the time to devote to these books any more, or it’s so beyond me now, I use that as an excuse to bash them. I believe there is a good story here, and Sanderson is a fine writer, yet does it need to be this long (I read the paperback, which is 1,250 pages)? Is it long because you think things can’t be edited out? Who are you trying to impress? While the characters are impressive, fully realized and interesting, the story wanders and seems to have little point. We spend endless pages with these characters and their arcs move at a snail’s pace for reasons that baffle me. 

I’ve read many great reviews, comparing him to Jordan, Martin, Terry Brooks, David Eddings and Raymond Feist and even J.R.R Tolkien. And while I’ve read all those authors, I’ve also given up on them, bored I guess with their continued dipping into the same universe again and again. 

I just think, at this point in my life, I can no longer devote decades to one series. Whatever happened to the idea of three volumes in a series? I can even understand six –unless there are years between volumes- but 10 seems pretentious (and when Sanderson finishes The Wheel of Time early next year, it will total 12 books).

Future's End

Two months from today, I turn 50.

I have mixed feelings about this. Since Borders folded 10 months ago, I've felt rather stupid, small and depressed about the possibility of starting from the bottom when I do get a job. Then I think back to the years I pissed away not going to college and even getting a stupid 2 year associates business degree. That would have given me a better chance at getting something. Anything. 

Now, as I struggle day-in-and-day-out posting my resume to 47 different jobsites and getting no hits back from the place I'm sending it to, I resent my younger self for being so cavalier to think that I would be the lucky one; that I would have a steady job until I retire.

I admit that I never fully wanted to be the Captain, so to speak, of any job. I'm a worker bee, able to take orders, but fully capable of doing things on my own. I worked hard, played fairly, praised people when they needed it and made profit for a company, that as a whole, did not want to do.

But I also pointed out the flaws, the problems that my company faced. I offered advice on how to solve them -I do have ideas- but because I was clearly not a YES man, a 100% behind the boss no matter how hot the job got, I was considered a disruptive employee. I worked for a company that basically said, yes that wall is on fire, but don't be concerned with that. It'll take care of itself.

Well it didn't and here we are ten months later. I've not been on a interview since early June, I've had no calls about my resume, I've gotten threats from EDD about how incorrect I've been filling out my forms and paying bills and watching my savings (never had a lot to begin with) dwindle down. I have an IRA that I'll probably have to cash in before the end of the year if I don't start making money.

I've tried, I've tried. Everyday, looking on the internet, sending my resume out. Nothing. During the day, I don't even watch TV, just to make sure I keep focused on the job hunting. But nothing. 

So here I sit, two months shy of the big five zero. Sure, as my sister says, its just a number. And maybe if I was working, turning into my fifth decade may have been easier. But now, now it feels I've lost the game, outlived my usefulness. But this new number scares me. It haunts and teases me. And I fear, oh I fear, I've lost some game that had odds stacked against me to begin with.

And the fact that it seems I'm more afraid of success than failure explains why I'm out of a job, why I cannot get a job, and why I'll always be single. I'm my own worst enemy and I destroy everything that could make my life bigger, grander. 

I need help, but I'm unsure who wants to do it for free. I have no money to pay someone to help me, but I need someone to push, shove and pull me towards a better future. Because this wallowing in self-pity is fucking annoying.

Just like turning 50 and having no job is right now!

Daylight

Boy Trouble

Humid

Half-a-year gone

I guess, in some ways, the not having a job thingy worked out for my getting caught up on reading. As June ends, with 6 months of 2012 gone, I've completed 23 books totaling 10, 775 pages. 

As compared to last year, where I read 32 books all year -with a good chunk read between the time Borders closed in mid September, however- by the time June ended in 2011 ( and I completed The Passage on July 02) I had finished just eleven books. 

Of course, all of these books were fiction, which takes me quicker to read than non-fiction. And at the rate I'm going, I may end up breaking out some of those titles. Of course, I want a job, but while the actual looking has become even more difficult -there is not much out there that will pay a "liveable" wage (unless I want three jobs)- reading has helped me through the dull days.

So, as the second half of 2012 begins tomorrow, I wonder how many books I will complete between July 1 and December 31. As noted, last year was a personal best in a long time, getting through 32 novels. If I just double it, that would mean forty-six. But we'll see.

Books: Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi (2008)

In John Scalzi’s Agent to the Stars we get fast paced, very humorous look at first contact between humans and aliens, the Yherajk (a gelatinous species that resemble Jell-O and speak with smells). While I’ve never read a Scalzi book before, I have sometime trafficked his Whatever blog (and have a collection of those postings in a book called Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded, which I still have not read) and found his style often humors and very personable. Little of what he says, on the site or this book, seems wasted.

Unlike most first contact stories, Agent takes a different route, dealing with issues like mind control and whether there is a soul. But it also takes a unique way of looking at how an alien, in hopes of showing they’re not hostile, would want to be introduced to humans. Hiring a PR from Hollywood was a clever idea. 

For us Southern California residents, the main character of Tom Stein visits many local venues outside of Los Angeles itself, and it often reminded me of Stephen King who sometimes did this. Still, King has often been criticized for using too much in the way of current cultural references such as TV shows and movies. Though there maybe a reason for this as Scalzi says in his forward this was his first book, and at the time, he never thought this would see the light of day.  It was originally published online in 1999, then picked up and republished in 2005 by Subterranean as a limited edition, then republished by Tor in 2008 (though the first mass market edition did not hit until 2010)

The book loses its steam towards the end, and you could easily figure out how it was going to conclude, plus the whole plot is propped up  almost entirely on coincidence –as a PR guy, he’s a bit dumb when it comes to real ideas, he sort of reacts to them. In the final analysis, the plausibility factor got skewered and its own internal logic slips the beam. And it took a while to get figure out the characters, as they seemed to talk alike (and because of that, at time I felt confused between the two female characters, Miranda and Michelle. They were not distinctly different, and having names start with the same letter added to the problem).

Again, it’s fast paced, at times really funny, and very readable. The concept of the aliens was interesting, but by the end, you realize that you’ve been caught up in a deus ex machine. Again.

Books: The World According to Garp by John Irving (1978)

What I like about John Irving is what makes me want to read more than watch TV or see movies. He’s a very literate author, with metaphors and parables designed to bring depth and nuances to his story. It may seem pretentious to others –especially the fools who digest James Patterson “written” novels over the last few years- but the simple message is just like Garp’s observation when going to pick-up his son Duncan at a friend’s house late at night. Garp is jogging to the house and he notices the flicker of TV set’s being refracted out of people’s homes and Irving protagonist, Garp, ponders that “this glow looks like a cancer, insidious and numbing, putting the world to sleep. Maybe television causes cancer, Garp thinks; but his real irritation is a writer’s irritation: he knows wherever the TV glows, there sits someone who isn’t reading.”

I don’t consider myself a writer, though in my heart of hearts, I think this is what I like to do. But as I’ve aged, the media aspects of TV and movies have lessened in my life. Where once I cared deeply for TV shows and its stars, saw movies on opening day and pushed and pulled people to come with me, now I find them dull, ponderous and pointless. Well, not so pointless. I still have a love of media, but I’m in tuned to the informational side of it now.

Journalism (and cooking) seemed to be the two things I’ve missed. Instead of working in a bookstore –since 1987, it’s been the thing I’ve done, I should’ve been writing the books that appear there. Had I known back in high school that journalism was where I should have concentrated my career choices instead of the safety of business administration I might be a happier person today.

All of my regrets are bundled up like a years’ worth of newspapers, sitting in my way. It seems I’m aware of them being in my way, but unable to throw them out. 

Anyways, The World According to Garp was Irving’s breakout novel. It seems surprising to me that 34 years after it was published, I finally picked it up. And I can’t say why I’m slowly making my way through his canon. Perhaps that is a lie. In my years of reading –mostly the late teens and well into my twenties-, I focused on fantasy novels (just as I started reading mysteries in High School). As I got into my 30s, fantasy novels were still there, but I began to read other genres, and more or less, contemporary fiction (also called pop fiction). 

While I cannot bare to read Austen, Dickens and many other of the “classics,” I’ve found that Irving is more appealing to me now. I’m slowly going through his literary canon and am simply enjoying his ability to create these hugely interesting characters. 

I don’t know; the edition I have is a mass market copy that was released in 1998. In the afterword for the 20^th Anniversary edition, Irving recalls giving the finished book to his then 12 year-old son to read in 1977 and asking him to sort of evaluate it. This book, according to Irving, was the first one Colin would be able to read. As Colin noted, The World According Garp is about death, and all parents fears of their children’s lives. In some way, Garp (through Irving) no longer seems to care about his fate, but will do everything in his power to make sure his children, Duncan, Walt and Jenny, are safe. Garp would be called an over protective parent these days as well as back then when the book was written. Which is not a bad thing, but in Irving’s world, no matter how Garp tries to protect his kids and the people around him, you can’t save them. 

As Irving’s son Colin noted a few years later when asked if Garp was, in reality, John Irving (most readers believe that all books about families are autobiographical –this author more so than others, I think)  the then 14 year-old answered “No, my dad isn’t Garp, but my father’s fears are Garp’s fears- they’re any father’s fears.”

So like all of Irving’s books, the theme of death, gender roles and sexuality are wound together like they do in real life. In 1978, this book may have been shocking –especially what Garp’s mother Jenny does to get pregnant- but today, it’s simply a reality TV series on MTV. 

Reading, for me, is what defines me. The simple act of picking up a book, turning off the TV, the computer and sitting and devoting my time to the written word has more meaning to me that anything TV or the movies. Perhaps that is why I’ve become so critical of that media of late; the written word is being denied in a world where set pieces, explosions and CGI  effects are designed to cover the flaw that most TV shows and movies don’t care about the story, the author behind the words. 

Given a choice, I’ll always read. I’ll read until I shuttle off this mortal coil. For me, the most tragic aspect of my life would be going blind or living in the world seen in the classic Twilight Zone episode Time Enough at Last. There, Burgess Meredith, a lover of books, stumbles through a busy life. When a nuclear war happens, and he discovers he has survived, he realizes now he has enough time to read. Of course, per the series, there is the twist ending.

Life is a twist; both in the world of John Irving and The World According to Garp.

Books: Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon (1992)

So, I finished the second book in this series, and mostly, I have the same issues.

Its way over long -and the each novel in the current 7 book series gets longer- and there is a lot of downtime where nothing really happens. While there adventures in France were integral to the plot, it becomes clear towards the end that most of that time could have been edited down to a few pages, brief chapter’s or two.

But what we get is a very detailed day-in-life of Claire and Jamie that often borders on tedious. It’s like this: say it’s a three day journey between point A and point B. As far as Gabaldon is concerned, we need each of those days spelled out in the most infinite detail, from what they ate, to family stories that no one could remember in the detail she describes –and most with no bearing on the plot what so ever. 

Also, I guess I know why women read and write romance, because they can create the perfect man. Jamie and Claire love each other (to the point where you swear they had Alzheimer’s, ‘cause almost 20 pages don’t go by without them having sex or babbling their love for one another. It’s tedious) and Jamie –as noted before- is a super hero Terminator, able to be beat down again and again, and never ever complain. So the author forces us believe that somehow, this guy could survive while others die easily. 

This second book opens in 1968. We learn Claire returned through the stone circle three years after she vanished in 1945. We know that she was pregnant with Jamie’s baby, but Frank (her 20^th Century husband) became Brianna’s father. Now Frank is dead and Claire has decided to tell her daughter the truth.  She’s returned to the area for the first time since her return and explains to her and Frank’s friend Roger, the story of what happened before she returned.

Part of the problem is the first person narrative Gabaldon foists on us. While I understand the underlying reason she chose to use this prose devise –the reader learns as Claire does- it becomes tedious as Claire vacillates between a smart, 20^th Century woman, into a bubbling pot of gooey love when Jamie is around –and we get her 16 year-old school girl version of it. There were times I was not surprised to see her writing Mrs. Jamie Fraser again and again with little hearts above the i’s. 

And maybe this is why the author chose 1945 for the setting of Claire’s departure from the 20^th Century. While she was educated in medicine, and knows how to heal people in 1745, her lack of knowledgeable history is appalling. And at times, Claire seems to have some idea about the past, other times she seems lackadaisical. And though she spends another 22 years in the 20^th Century, does she spend it reading history books? Nope, because it would be too painful for her. Ugh. Seriously? 

In this book Gabaldon does address the timeline issue. In book one, her and Jamie thought that a descendant of Frank was killed in 1744, and not 1745 as history had shown. But since her wedding ring from Frank did not vanish (because of the Grandfather Effect) they were not sure how the flow of time proceeded. Then, she introduces a brother (of course) and you can eventually see where this is going. Plus, while Claire encountered a woman in the past from 1968, she waits until then to even investigate her. I applaud her for not mucking up the timeline -Duncan has to go back in time- but I don't buy for the minute why she waited 22 years to figure out the whole time-loop thingy.

The book ends with a cliffhanger of sorts. For 22 years she’s believed Jamie to be dead, killed at battle that marked a turning point in history in the war between the English and the Scots. Now –because Claire changed history by telling Jamie of that battle, he appears to be alive.

So I’m guessing, she’ll return to the portal in the stone circle for book 3.

But I doubt she’ll bring a history book with her. And I doubt I'll take the time to read it.

Repost: Happy Father's Day

Below is a post I did in 2010, about my moms third husband, and what he means, at least to me:

While he’s been married to my Mom (this November) for 25 years, I’ve known him collectively for nearly 31 years. I was 17 when I first met him, when my mom, coming out of a nasty, bitter divorce from her second husband. All of us, my siblings and I, was sort of wary of him. My older sister, me and my younger sister had called my mom’s second husband “dad” because we so wanted one. 

Our real father was dead, cancer taking him in July 1968 at the age of 33.

But when my moms marriage fell apart in 1979, we all tried to rally around her, and hate the man who screwed her over. And over the years, I grew less resentful of the man who first replaced our father; we’ve seen him at certain family functions over the years. Still, its hard to fathom just what he did and still not remain bitter over it. But, for me (and I think even my Mom), I've moved on.

But this third man, this nice Italian with three kids of his own, seemed to take a shine to my mother, despite four rebellious kids of her own. Well, only my older brother was rebellious, and was the only one who refused to call my mom’s second husband “dad.” He perused her for nearly six years before she agreed to marry him.

But see, in those six years before, I kind grew to like the man, and my siblings and I got along with his three kids, so by the time they did marry in 1985 I knew this one was for keeps. It didn’t hurt that I think he kind of worshiped the ground my mom walked on, even though I felt at times it was silly for him to do that. And, I always thought my mom married Guy because she was getting older, and did not want to spend the rest of her life alone. I know that sounds mean, bitter and stupid, but after all the issues with her second marriage, those thoughts stayed with me.

That was until he had a heart attack. While it was a mild one, he none the less went through bypass surgery. I remember, with the clarity of the day, my stepfather laying on the doctors table at the hospital, my mom hovering like the mother hen she can be, while the doctor explained the situation: a bypass would be mean he would recover completely while a shunt would only prolong things. She stood there, her hand in his, looking at her husband while tears streaming down her cheeks. It was then, that I knew she really, really loved him.

Over the last 25 years, I’ve grown to love this man as a husband to my mother and the father I lost 42 years ago this July. And this man, who does not share a single gene with me or my siblings, has tried (rather successfully) to love all of us nonetheless. And that is great.

So on Father’s Day, I can remind him that while we are genetically not connected, he is my dad. And I think, and I hope, that my real dad would approve. And I have 31 years of fond memories, three step-siblings who I care for (even the one has forsaken his family due to his religious beliefs enforced by a bitter, bitter woman) and hope that my mom and dad will be together for the rest of their lives.

All my love.

Poltergeist 30 years later

This film opened on June 4, the same as Star Trek II. It's amazing to think that this one, the Star Trek film and E.T. opened within two weeks of each other in 1982, and all three were huge success. Now we're lucky if one film a month can do it.

Khan 30 Years later

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan celebrated its 30 anniversary this June. It debuted on June 4th, and in many ways, saved the Star Trek franchise.

30 Years Ago this week...

 While this clip is the "revised" version, it still holds a lot of emotional punch. When the film is released on Blu-Ray in October, it will be the original theatrical version.

Visually spectacular, Prometheus suffers from disappointing script

There came a point, about midway through Prometheus, where I realized why director Ridley Scott kept saying the film shared some the DNA with his original 1979 film Alien, but was not an actual prequel to it. Part of the problem for me was the script offered more questions than answered. And he seemed to notice that.

It was, as some have complained over the years, much like how ABC’s Lost never offered much in a way of explanation as it ended, Prometheus (written by Lost showrunner Damon Lindelof, along with John Spaihts) does the same here, giving us more questions and little answers. Of course, it’s production history offers some look into how this film was developed –first begun life as an actual prequel to Alien around 2003, then shelved until Spaihts script got Scott’s interest again in 2009. Lindelof was brought in to re-write it, making it less of a direct prequel and more of film set in the same universe. This combination of Spaihts story ideas with Ridley Scott’s and Lindelof’s ideas creates a plate full of scrambled eggs here.

Theoretically, the film should have worked, though, and it does score in all the areas outside the plot: brilliant visual effects, grand production design and all around fine performances from the cast (though Charlize Theron’s Ice Queen Vickers becomes a pointless character towards the end, and was disappointed that they did little with her character beyond make her a corporate douche bag).  Noomi Rapace gives a workman’s style performance, becoming much like Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley (and Rapace’s character in named Elizabeth Shaw, and is called Ellie by her boyfriend Charlie, played by Logan Marshall-Green who could be the younger, even hotter brother of Tom Hardy). 

The highlight was actor Michael Fassbender’s creepy android David that confirms what we always knew, that Weyland (and eventually Weyland-Yutani) would always put profit before life (and that Fassbender is horribly skinny, though I would kill to be that way).  And why no one has caught on at FAUX that this film is anti-corporate is beyond me (besides being released by their parent company?). 

Ultimately, a few of their loftier ideas end up not being fully realized, and the film offers little in the way of surprises –I not was shocked or surprised that Peter Weyland (in old age make-up that is surprisingly poor) pops up where he does, and who his child is (oh yes, every Lindelof story suffers some sort of Daddy issue). And why would even anyone support his narcissistic goals is beyond me.

Beyond, of course, the age-old chestnut that money will make people do horrible things –let other people die, mostly- in pursuant of their goals. We have that now, and sad that particular trait will follow us forever.

While in some respect, I’m disappointed that it only shares a little bit of the Alien franchises DNA, I was happy to get some glimpse –an answer here- of who the Space Jockey was from the first film.

Books: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (1992)

It’s been 20 years since Diana Gabaldon began her romance/historical/fantasy/science fiction series about one Claire Randall, 20^th Century heroine who is transported back in time (via some stone circles) to the 18^th Century. I had been aware of them for that long as well, but no matter what books store I worked, they were always shelved in the Romance section –one genre I don’t read. 

Of course, over the years, many readers (all women) have told me that the series is not really all romance, that it has equal doses of action, humor and history lesson. Still, it was considered Romance – at least to eyes of the Border, B. Dalton, Walden Books and Waterstones that I’ve worked at since 1987. Eventually, the books would be re-categorized as General Fiction/Literature I would guess more at the instance of the publishers, who always packaged them in plain, primary color covers –no half-naked men and women on the covers that was, and still is, typical Historical Romance. They obviously felt that the series sort of should not be pigeon-hold under one genre and is kind of telling men, you'll enjoy it for the violence.

But when Borders was closing down, and I was buying books on the cheap knowing it would some time before I could purchase new ones again, I bought the first 2 books in the series. So, I finally grabbed book 1 and sort of liked it.

The premise goes as this: The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon--when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach - an "outlander" - in a Scotland torn by war and raiding Highland clans in the Year of Our Lord 1743. Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into intrigues and dangers that may threaten her life...and shatter her heart. For here she meets James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, and becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire...and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

Here’s the thing. It is long -850 pages in this mass market edition. And with 7 books out in the series, each topping at close to 1000 pages (one of the later editions clocks in at 1400 pages!!), I’m weary to start another endless series (an 8^th book is due next year) that are doorstops in book format.

Outlander is a bit too long, too wordy, and vacillates between badly written and showing true talent. There is a lot of romance, or sex, and Gabaldon has created a perfect man in Jamie Fraser (who comes off more life the T-1000 in Terminator 2 very un-killable despite the efforts of friends, family and foes). And Claire does a lot of hand-wringing about whether she should leave Jamie and try to return to her own time –and seems to need rescue every 5 minutes as well. It gets old very fast.

Plus, its 25 pages to the end where she first starts pondering –after having killed two men in battle –whether she’s affected the flow of time. Did Claire enter a parallel universe? Is she caught in a time-loop? And since we find out she’s not the only one to travel back in time, who else has stumbled through? And since the one who came from 1967, if Claire returns to 1945, can she look the woman up and prevent her from going...time travel. Maybe that's why she ignores those time threads altogether? So it forces me to obsess about them.

Still, surprisingly, the book is fast-paced (even if it was overlong) and Gabaldon is a good storyteller. She has created some believable characters and they’re well developed (like George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire, each character and location seems to have lengthy, colorful background and she wants to tell us) and the author uses her three degrees – a Bachelor of Science in zoology, a Master of Science in marine biology, and a Ph.D. in ecology- well. 

Still, the next book is 947 pages. I have it, so I guess I should read it, but…well come on!!!

Musician Brian Lam

This is Brian Lam, a close friend of mine, who is looking to expand his musical career. While he's produced a CD, MY EMBRACE, and had two of his songs featured in the indie film JUDAS KISS (CRASH and IF I FALL) which I worked on, he want's to take the next evolutionary step and produce a full video for his newest song SIDEWALKS. He's started a Kickstarter campaign to get the money needed to make the video, and I would appreciate anyone's help to make his dream come true.

Listen to this video and then go to the Kickstater page and donate what you can. Thanks.

By the Pricking of my Thumbs

While behind the scenes issues made this 1983 adaptation of Something Wicked This Way Comes a little uneven -Bradbury's script got an uncredited rewrite among many other problems- this scene is creepy, well performed and is layered with lyrical dialogue and metaphorical prose about how misguided our notions on about growing old. And how some people, supernatural or just our own minds, can ruin us.

Rest in Peace Ray Bradbury. You'll live forever, just as foretold. 

As always, Jason Robarbs is great and Jonathan Pryce is perfectly cast as one of the Autumn People.

Measures

Designs

Books: Plays Well with Others by Allan Gurganus (1999)

There was a Before in the artist circles that kept New York strumming in the late 1970s, where young men of all shades, sizes and age descended on the Big Apple. Most, if not all, where escaping small town middle class life, with all their obligations, all their traditions. All came there to not only let the world see what they created, but to find love. 

If only for one night that is.

I can guess that much of Allan Gurganus’ Plays Well with Others must be autobiographical, but I can’t seem to find too much evidence of that. Still, with an inventive narrative and a sense of emotional punch that made those days seem so much fun, we meet Hartley Mins, a young writer who arrives in Manhattan just before the onslaught of AIDS. Through his narrative we get to meet composer Robert Christian Gustafson, an impossibly good-looking man from Iowa, son of a preacher. Of course, Hartley falls for him, but he gets caught In Robert’s wake because those good looks get Robert everything he wants, anyone he wants, both men and women. 

Also along for the ride is Angelina "Alabama" Byrnes, a failed debutant struggling to make her paintings mean something. And like then, as today, these friends take shelter with each other, promote each other's work, and compete sexually. And become the family of understanding souls that somehow got lost from where they grew up. When tragedy strikes, this circle grows up fast, somehow finding, at the worst of times, the truest sort of family.

Not sure this was, at the time of publication, the AIDS crises great novel, but I’m struck with the idea that while there has been tons of nonfiction books published over the last twenty to 30 years after it began, I’m guessing (though I may be wrong here) not many novels about that era have been published. Well, at least by well-known authors like Gurganus (who is also the author of the huge 1989 best-seller The Oldest Confederate Widow Tells All). Still, we lost so many that part of the problem may be that there is no one left to tell the tale. In the end, it’s a deeply engaging novel about flawed, well-meaning people; but can also be describes as a valentine to dear friendships, and a canticle to a brilliant and now-vanished world.

The Day in a Life