The Endless Wars: The Descent

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20121213

The Clean Room

Whenever I get ready for another big push on a book, I go back and re-read/edit the preceding chapter or two. It helps put me in the right mindset, and gives me some great momentum for that day's push.

In today's case, I actually went back to the 'zero' chapter of this piece, and started pushing all the way through. I'd put this book down for a bit while I tended to some time-sensitive professional commitments, but I also needed to think through a complete overhaul of a character's thread through the first few chapters. I wasn't really sure what to do with him at the outset of writing this novel, so I just kinda had him doing nothing, which I thought maybe would be an interesting change for him from the last Endless Wars novel.

Yeah, not so much.

However, I did finally realize what his role in this novel was.

So, in going back through the beginning, I had a chance to slip back into his head, and in that moment, realized that we were very much on the same page, to an eerie extent. So, I plunged in, cut his sections open, did some major surgery, and just rode that wave.

What was great about today's lunch time session was that I really got to remember why I love writing. In pushing through this character's arc, I was just letting the story guide me, I was just letting the words fall out of me, and before long, looking over some of what I'd just written, I realized that I was really expressing some frustrations and disappointments I had, and in doing so, realized that much of this book is a reexamination of where I am in life.

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate my life, I don't regret anything. I'm where I need to be right now, but it's great when working on art really gets you thinking about what you were put on this planet to do, and reveals some potential futures.

The Clean Room
I am constantly distracted. My attention is constantly in demand. I make myself available nearly all the time.

It's funny, because, at heart, I am an intensely isolated person, and my lifestyle very much matched that. If you wanted to hang out, you needed to come to me. If you wanted to talk, you needed to call me.

Now, though, little of that has changed, except I'm a father, husband, sysadmin, friend, counselor, mentor, and many other things, all of which constantly lay siege to my time, and I can really see it in my writing.

Writing fiction while distracted is a fucking terrible thing to do. In editing some of my stuff today, I could see that I'd started and stopped and started and stopped many times in a small section, because I'd have thoughts repeating themselves. I'm glad I'm one of only three people to ever see that edit, because it's embarrassing, but it also highlights a change I need to make in my life.

One, I need to put a process back into place, and two, part of that process needs to involve some 'me' time, something for which I used to fight ferociously, and with the advent of being a family man and professional, I let slowly starve, wither, and die. That needs to change.

I need a mental clean room. I need to be able to go to a place, at least in my head, that tunes everything else out. I used to be good at that, but I'm just so fucking distracted all the time.

I'd still like to have a mobile solution to this, too. I'm constantly on the move, I travel quite a bit, and nearly every day is a crushing load of stuff. There's some paring down that can be done there, but not a lot, if I want to keep losing weight, maintain a happy marriage, connect with my child, and show some level of proficiency at my job.

Writing every day needs to be in there.

I've even given thought to writing first thing in the morning. I've heard Toni Morrison talk about doing this, and she's had success, so maybe there's something there for me. I dunno, though. Even being two years sober now, I'm still not a morning person.

We'll see. Thoughts from other writers or artists are welcome.

Other Projects
I put everything else on hold. I need to write this book, and I need to write it now. I've got some musical and game-related stuff in the pipeline that I'm really excited to work on, but this Endless Wars novel is very much front and center. I've got some downtime planned this winter, and I'd love to crank on this thing hard.

Yup. Just checking in.

Blaine

20121121

Winter = Seasonal Bed-Shitting

To state that 'winter is a harsh mistress' is, for me, profoundly off the mark, as it implies that I have even a little appreciation for the bitch. I do not enjoy seeing the world slowly die and freeze over every year, like some. I regard those people, even the ones I love, as somewhat sickened and horribly misguided individuals. To relish in the death of life is a massive perversion, and what is winter, if not the most clearly painted symbol for death that we have?

It may sound funny, but I really am a sunshine + birds chirping kinda dude. I wanna be a fuckin' Disney princess, singing next to an open window while birds flutter around. This Hoth bullshit can just fuck off.

Of course, bitching about the weather is petty, futile, and I really wish it was beneath me.

I really need to rebuild my writing process. I've tried for a while not to be one of those oversensitive 'oh, things have to be just right for me to write' pansy-ass writers, but it's stupid to pretend like there's not something to the concept of having a process. I can write in nearly any circumstance, but I think that the process isn't so much about being able to write as fostering a circumstance in which you want to write. I've got a lot of things that take my attention, as well as a lot of real-world responsibilities. I'd like to rebuild my process so that it's built into my day.

I think something that would help, too, is having deadlines. I'm good at deadlines, and have done some great writing when under the gun. I may have an idea here. We'll see.

I've thought through some creative solutions to this, and I'm curious to see how this works out.

Blaine

20121018

Lore and World-Building

I play a lot of RPGs and I read a lot of huge, sprawling science fiction and fantasy series. Among my favorites are Bioware's Dragon Age and Mass Effect series, as well as George R. R. Martin's 'A Song of Ice & Fire' ('Games of Thrones' on TV), and a handful of others. In each of these properties, there's a huge amount of lore and fully fleshed-out worlds, both of which make the experience so much more immersive, and really give it more of an 'escapist' feel, something for which I strive, given how much I enjoy it myself.

When I started crafting the Endless Wars universe, I approached it with a blissful naivete that very much empowered me to write the first novel with very few concerns, and even less caution. It's a great story that's supported by a youthful lack of foresight inherent to the 'fuck it all' kind of young man I was at that time.

Now, being a more seasoned writer whose tastes have expanded beyond Star Wars and Lethal Weapon (though I still love both dearly), the second novel has demanded that I actually start organizing and more fully fleshing out the world(s) of Endless Wars. This novel is so much bigger and more ambitious than the first, it's frankly somewhat intimidating.

The first challenge I had was finding when to start the current story in the series' chronology. If you've read the first book, you know that the series extends over a vast expanse of time, as well as universes other than this one.

See, the hard part was that I'd written the first novel when I was in my very early twenties. I then moved on to some film and music projects, dabbled with some short stories, wrote big chunks of other series, and false-started on the sequel several times. The next thing I knew, I was in my mid-thirties and wasn't the same man I was over a decade before.

After a lot of thinking and tinkering, I finally found my way back in, and the writing has been progressing.

What became apparent, though, was that I'd never actually written out a lot of the lore or the rules of the world(s). I had it all in my head, or in the first book, but I didn't have strong documentation. Having an IT background, such is anathema.

I knew what the relationship was between Lord Dell and Ravindranathan, but hadn't really fully articulated it. I knew what Raphael's true mission was, but hadn't actually written it out. I had a rough history of the various guilds and covens, but hadn't fully organized their hierarchies. I knew what had happened to Layne, but couldn't remember what his girlfriend's name was.

That first novel is, by my standards, a fairly lean, but well-toned, book, and it contained a wealth of knowledge that I'd never compiled into a single, easily-searchable database.

To that end, I started two side projects. One was a OneNote notebook that I could easily edit on the fly, and the other was a wiki (that I've yet to touch at all.) The OneNote is ... coming along. Sort of. It's getting there. Well, it has to.

***side note - if you want to pitch in and help with the wiki, I'll be very, very thankful and throw you a shout-out in the next novel! Just let me know!***

What I've been finding is that it's one thing to have a very strong vision for a world, but it's another to take that macrosopic view and drill down to the microscopic details.

I've just never been an organized writer. I don't really work with outlines. I tend to just be guided by feel and instinct. I have a rough idea of where things are going, but I love the thrill of getting there organically, and surprising myself. That's a fine way to work, but when world-building, you have to have rules, you have to have knowledge ready to go. Otherwise, you can commit the most grievous of sins: a lack of continuity. Nothing shatters the fiction like contradicting your own world.

Another thing is that this book isn't as tidy as the first. There are concurrent storylines in it, and that makes the organization all the more necessary. I need to make sure that all these threads don't tangle. Well, that, and I'm playing a dangerous game with two of the storylines that is bound to cause confusion for some, but will hopefully be a beautiful 'aha' moment for many.

Well, maybe. I floated a rough draft of the first few chapters by a very smart fellow writer and that person didn't at all grasp the trick I was playing, which of course led to a tantrum on my part. This person is a brilliant individual, and yet missed a few key, but very subtle details that kept them from fully enjoying the story.

That raises another question. Do I write for the audience or do I write for me? I know that seems like a 'duh' question to many, but it's a question with which I've wrestled for years, and is probably the main reason I'm so sporadic in my publishing. I always set out to craft the book/film/album/game that I've always wanted, but haven't been able to find, which implies that I'm writing for me. However, doesn't that defeat the purpose of then sharing and monetizing the project when I've finished it?

I usually find that the truth lies somewhere in the middle. I suspect that's true here, as well.

The E-Book
So, I've been asked when the first EW book is making its way back to Kindle, Nook, and iBooks. It's coming, but not tomorrow. First, I need to buy another ISBN for it (which is my choice, so that I own all the rights to it instead of  my publisher), then I need to redo some of the formatting so that it makes a nice .epub file. The .epub conversion is a pain in the ass, and because of other commitments (the second novel, plus some musical work this winter), we're looking at spring 2013 at the earliest.

One thing I've always wanted to do is borrow from what visual media does with things like 'extras.' I'd like to pack in a 'commentary track,' so to speak. Right now, I'm thinking about, in the .epub file, at the end of each chapter, having a button for 'next chapter' and a button for 'commentary.' The commentary will be a brief write-up of some interesting insight and ramblings on the content of the previous chapter, while the 'next chapter' button jumps over it. At the end will be an essay about writing the book, editing it, publishing it, and all the 'life' things that went along with it.

I'm not sure, though. I'll have to play with it a bit. I guess the idea would be that you'd read the book without the commentary, and then go back, skim the chapter to refresh yourself, and then read the commentary. I dunno. I'm just spitballing at this point.

I've also considered adding 'deleted scenes,' but they're so fucking awful (to everyone but John) that I'm not really feeling that at this point. I mean, they got cut for a reason. Because they suck! Who wants to read that shit?

We'll see.

In Closing
I like writing about writing here. Sometimes it feels a bit masturbatory, and I think I got a little self-conscious about that. I'm friends with other writers, and some of them work really hard at having a 'writer' image, which I've always found a bit obnoxious. It's like they put on a uniform in order to be part of something larger, and I've never really been comfortable in that space. I shouldn't judge, though. If it helps someone write amazing shit, then the world is a better place for it.

That being said, I'd like to come back here and just write more often. I'm far more self-conscious than I'd like to admit, and I need to get over that. This is probably good therapy.

Anyway, that's all.

-Blaine

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20120903

Hey. remember that Taran guy?

Yeah, so I finally put the pieces back together and wrote fiction today. I wrote well, I wrote comfortably, and I wrote sober. It was the first time I've ever been able to reach into myself and put the words on the page like that while in a sober state. To say I was fucking ecstatic would be putting it lightly.

Anyway, I sat down to work on a video game I've been tinkering with and ended up completely righting the ship on the Endless Wars sequel. I was pretty pleased.

I realized today, too, that I have a really fucking hard time keeping the universe straight in my head, so I broke down and started a wiki for the series. Please feel free to contribute. I really do need the help.

I also started an ongoing web-based meta-fiction weird-shit series that takes place alongside the current novel. It's fun.

And yeah, I think there will eventually be a web-based adventure game of some kind at some point. I've prototyped the basics, but I'm still laboring over the scope of the project. I may farm some of it out. We'll see.

In any case, the sequel novel is back on track after a two-year lapse.

I'm pretty pumped, enough to curse myself and say that I hope the next book will be out by spring 2013.

In that time, I do plan to finally do a proper ebook release for the first one. I may throw some extra shit in there, too. We'll see. Would anyone be interested in a 'commentary' in the ebook? Not sure what that would like yet, but it's something I always wanted to do.

Anyway, it's late, but I wanted to drop a note in here.

Shit, I almost forgot. I also started a G+ page for the series here. Check it out!

 Not much there yet, but there will be.

Thanks for reading!

-Blaine
Buy my book!

20120615

Triplets

So, in rapping with my dear friends Iris and Bucho in the comments of my last post, something about which I'd been quietly meditating for a few days came up.

Iris indicated a reticence to work on more than one project at once, while Bucho made a great point about how multiple projects can, in a cool way, inform each other.

See, I've got three unfinished novels lying there, and a deep passion for each. One is a sequel to my last novel, another is the first steps into my own space opera, while the third is, I think, another horror/suspense piece. I think.

In any case, I'd been contemplating attacking two at once, and either alternating days on them, or just letting my passion go where it takes me, so long as I bang out that all-important page-a-day.

What's influenced this, as well, is my contemplation of how 'me time' works nowadays, as this would be the window in which I would tackle such an enterprise. The context of 'me' changes drastically not only when you partner with a mate for life, but when the two of you collaborate on an offspring or several. Being that I've extended what I 'need' in order to continue a reasonably palpable existence by bringing these two under my 'great umbrella of life,' this fundamentally alters what 'me' is, and thus 'me time' becomes something that is paroled with a severely diminished fervency. View this not as a complaint, but as a topic on which I'm meditating.

In any case, I just want to fucking write.

If I want it badly enough, I'll do it. Kinda like my recent surge in body maintenance.

I commented, previously, that I'm interested in trying to write first thing in the morning. I may have some quiet time in which I've not quite piqued the interest of the rest of the world, and the timing is in such proximity to the dream world, that I can't help but wonder if that aspect might be conducive to some pleasant surprises in my writing.

Alas, I despise getting up before 7AM, so we'll see. Otherwise, mayhap I'll just make some time in the hour or so before bed.

Yeah, so I'm eager to get cranking on something. I've got solid footholds on two of them, and some reworking to do on the space opera. I just made some odd decisions in its first few chapters, and need to clean that up. I'm thinking that one's shelved for a bit, while I'll push on the other two immediately. I may even fold the 'horror/suspense' novel into the Endless Wars universe. We'll see.

When do you write?

-Blaine

20120613

Too Much

Yeah, I'm definitely struggling with having taken on too much.

I don't think anyone can properly frame or provide a comprehensible context for which to explain to youth, 'You will literally run out of time every day when you're an adult.'

At the same time, it seems like tempting fate if I were to complain about it.

Really, it's something that's being sorted out by attrition, and if there's one thing I learned about myself in those first couple years of being a father, it's that your real priorities will always bubble up to the top, and you'll discover if you're a good or a terrible fucking human being real quick. I'm glad I came out a good man. I've seen some other guys do the opposite.

It's one of those 'good problems to have,' or as trendy classist dickwads are fond of saying, it's a 'first world problem.' I've got a goob job, a great family, and a fair number of people that wish to engage me in various activities. I just wish I had more time for the writing and gaming.

I guess the opposite would be that I'd be unemployed and everyone would hate spending time with me. I'm glad to be on the positive side of that scale.

I've gone about a week straight with being serious about dropping weight. I've been exercising, I've been improving my diet, and I'm seeing results. I plan to continue this behavior and do what I can to finally make women jealous of my wife.

I got a great story idea last week after an odd encounter with a gruff neighbor who's rather fond of a bizarre lawn ornament. It's something about a neighborhood that welcomes some rather bizarre hillbilly neighbors that bring with them the scarecrow from hell. I imagine it being made form some badly twisted black wrought iron and maybe it comes to life at night and shit. I dunno. I banged out a page or two, and am eager to get back to it. Just not enough hours in the day.

Not much else to say.

-Blaine

20120525

Get Over It

I take great pride in the fact that I don't whine or cry about silly things on the internet. Or really anywhere, actually. I am terrified of being one of those types of guys.

That makes it very hard to write about myself or my writing on this blog. I've false-started a few times on here the last couple weeks because I started sounding too whiny and 'pay attention to me' and that's just not my style. I roll my eyes when other people do it, and I won't contribute to the slow erosion of masculinity that we see all over the US now.

So, to circumvent this issue, I will present, instead, bullet points. This will allow me to cut right to the point without the emotional lubrication that my provocative vocabulary can offer to my emotional weaknesses.

Here goes:

 - I've been posting almost every day on my multitude of blogs, and have enjoyed the process, probably much to your personal detriment
 - I've already been trolled once for my self-promotion, and as usual, it was a nearly-incomprehensible manner; honestly, being trolled is a good sign
 - I'm amazed how busy I am now, and I'm concerned about the status of a couple projects I have in early stages; nothing to report about them unless they actually get off the ground
 - I'm sometimes tempted to talk about my in-progress fiction on here, but I never think that's a good idea; it works for some writers, but not for me; there are certain things in my brain that I never talk to anyone about, for fear that they might have feedback on it, and stories are among those, now; I had more than a few stories that were workshopped to death back in college, and I'm never doing it again
 - I've, over the last few weeks, unshackled myself from being one of those oversensitive twats that claim that they have to have exactly a particular environment, or they just can't write; I've purposely made myself write some of these posts in less-than-ideal environments, and there was only one that, physically, I couldn't do; I always disliked this quirk about myself and other writers, and I'm glad to have murdered it
 - this has also, and I just realized this, to find that I can write without boozing; I've been a little concerned about that for over a year, but it's coming together, and the rusty old fiction gears are finally turning again, and I've birthed my first good science fiction idea in years in the last couple weeks
 - going to check out the Chernobyl diaries today; there's a whole lot of great fiction that has sprung from what happened in Chernobyl, so I'm eager to see Oren Peli's take on it
 - been traveling a lot, and I enjoy the expansion in perspective that forces; I don't like being pushed out of my routine or comfort zone, and this is a way to make that exercise fun and enlightening
 - really pissed off a buddy with a post I put up the other day; has me questioning where to draw the line between life and art; I love writing, but it's not worth fucking up friendships

Questions for other writers
 - where do you draw the line in including your life and your friends' lives in your non-fiction?
 - how much do you discuss your in-progress fiction?

Questions for the rest of you knuckleheads
 - any feedback on the blog posts?

Thanks for reading!

Blaine
Buy my book!

20120523

Blogging About Blogging

It's been interesting writing every day again, and I must say that I've enjoyed it, and I've been pleased by the feedback. Traffic has ticked up nicely, and new opportunities have been borne of the efforts.

One of those opportunities can be found over at the Galaxy Next Door gaming site. Give it a read, and I hope you enjoy it. I'll be writing a column for them every Wednesday, and it seems like a pretty good fit thus far.

That will replace my Wednesday updates here. I'm not going to be actively promoting this blog anymore, but I will still be updating it. I'm guessing it may be lots of brief updates throughout the week. I'm not sure. I'm intentionally not having a plan for this space anymore, so that I have at least one blog that has no pressure or expectations attached to it. I know that sounds silly, but I like the idea of having a space in which I'm not looking at numbers or refining my craft. Though I'll still be looking at numbers because I'm obsessive about numbers and I think in numbers, and numbers rule my world in ways that would make you ask me to stop having sex at you.

That is all. Check out the new column and comment away over there!

-Blaine

20120511

What The Avengers Did Right (part 2)

Where was I? Oh yes.

So, this one time, I was trying to write this entry on my netbook (remember those?) while in bed. It was so funny.

I'm back on the mega 19-inch laptop, and driving in comfort. This is the greatest not-really-for-a-lap-laptop ever. It's great for everything but portability, even if I do lug it up to my in-laws every time we visit (portable SWTOR, yo.)

But I digress ...

So, previously on Self-Indulgence Manifested, I rapped a bit about the films that led up to The Avengers, except for Thor, which was so middle-of-the-road that it somehow escaped my acerbic droppings. Now, since I'm a full week late, let's talk about the actual film.

First, let me start by explaining something about the writer and director (yes, Zak Penn also somehow got his name attached to the screenplay, but there is no way that the dumbfuck who excreted the script for X-Men: The Last Stand and the equally stanky 2008 The Incredible Hulk had more than a passing involvement here. Well, I guess he has a lot to do with the excellent show, Alphas, so maybe he suddenly learned that characters and story is integral to a decent script. Whatever.) Joss Whedon is the greatest creative mind of the last 20 years. No shit. I can prove it, too.

Take a moment and go watch the TV series, Firefly, and then the film conclusion, Serenity.

See? I told you!

Joss Whedon has mastered several key things over the years: playing characters off each other, showing not telling, and timing. He was already pretty good at this when he started the Buffy series years ago, he got really good in the later Buffy/Angel years, perfected it on Firefly, backslid somewhat on Dollhouse, and then made the greatest superhero film I've ever seen with 'The Avengers.'

Yes, yes, Batman fans, I know your boy, Nolan, made the best superhero film ever when he made Dark Knight, and yes, there's gonna be a better one this summer when Darker Knight: Knight Harder comes out, but let's be real here for a moment. The Dark Knight is a great film, no doubt, but I really can't watch it all that often. For one, Christian Bale, when he's doing 'the Batman voice,' sounds like he's having an orgasm while a kidney stone is stuck in his urethra, and really, I don't think the film is all that enjoyable. It's a great film, but I just don't love watching it. It's dark as hell, and I need relaxation now more than ever. The Dark Knight isn't relaxing, but I'm so glad that I've seen it, and that I own it on Blu-Ray. So I can watch it about once a year or two.

The Avengers, on the other hand, is fun without being idiotic. That's a rarity these days, in an age in which every 'summer film' has to cater to the lowest possible denominator (thanks for that, Michael Bay), and the closest we ever get to edgy anymore is yet another fucking Tim fucking Burton film (series of dark, silly image sans narrative coherence) that's all black and goofy and dark and whatever and ... zzz ...

The Avengers is the Kobe Bryant of summer action films. It doesn't give a fuck. It's going to take this whole goddam mess of Marvel characters, and whatever else Disney wants to dump on it, and it's going to win the fucking championship. This film, in 2+ hours, held a clinic for all the preceding films on how to do it right.


Even Captain America was interesting, and he's the most boring comic book hero ever.


While yes, I still mourn the disregarding of the excellent portrayal of the Hulk from Ang Lee's film, the Hulk here is as great as established cannon will let him be. Tony Stark is even better than in his own film. Thor was fun. I was actually startled by how compelling Black Widow and Hawkeye were.

However, the strength of these characters and their arcs was how well Joss played them off each other. Yes, the action was amazing, but the best scenes were when these characters were just interacting (except for one god-awful massive argument scene that is mercifully brief). It takes guts and mad skillz to make dialogue interesting in a film like this, and Joss makes it look perfectly natural.

A lot of credit goes to the actors, too. They play these scenes with grace, and look like they're really having fun.

I thought Mark Ruffalo was perfectly cast, by the way.

The best things about this film, though, was the pacing and the timing. The pacing of the film was spot-on. Lately, I've come away from one film after another feeling like I just got a clip show of the highlights of the beginning of an interesting story. When I finished this film, I felt satisfied. I felt like I'd seen a full story, and none of it felt rushed or abbreviated.

The timing within each scene itself aided that tremendously. Many people give Joss a lot of credit for being great with dialogue, and while that's true, I think his ability to time not only lines, but actions and moments, is his best in-scene ability. Think back to the most enjoyable Hulk moments in this film, and you'll know what I'm talking about.

Joss Whedon handles structure better than anyone, which is what ties all this together. He's able to see the, literally, the 'big picture,' but he's also able to zoom way in, break a scene down, beat for beat, and have every moment count for something. I think the audience picks up on that, and is then more than willing to buy in for the whole ride.

I railed about 'character arcs' a lot in the previous entry, and as I alluded to before with my Kobe Bryant analogy, there is more done in this film with six character arcs than in any one previous 'Avengers character' filn, except for, maybe, the first Hulk and the first Iron Man.

OH! BY THE WAY! NO STUPID-ASS SHAKY CAM WITH EXTREME CLOSEUPS! NOT EVEN DURING ACTION SCENES! I COULD ACTUALLY TELL WHAT WAS HAPPENING ONSCREEN! I imagine this aided in my enjoyment of this film, as opposed to, I dunno, The Hunger Games, which was ruined by the camera work.

In closing, this is purely great storytelling, and I can't think of higher praise for a film.

If you haven't seen it, do so, and let me know what you think. AND STAY THROUGH THE CREDITS!

If you have, what'd you think? On top of that, what'd you think of it relative to the preceding character films? How has your favorite Avenger fared so far? What do you want to see in the future from this franchise?

This has made me all the more excited for Shane Black writing and directing the next Iron Man film.

I have no idea what I'm writing about next here. Any ideas? Whatever it is will be here next Wednesday (but check out my other blogs on the other weekdays!)

Thanks for reading, and please leave a comment!

-Blaine
Buy my book!

20120509

What the Avengers Did Right (part 1)

Real quick - I'm hoping to crank out something writing-related here every Wednesday and maybe something a little extra on Fridays.

The Avengers, leading up to the theatrical release, became a very big deal in my house among the male populace. My son and I sat down and watched every film that leads to this film, so that we could be ready for opening night.

It is odd, when looked upon from afar, that so many explicitly heterosexual men get extremely amped up about dudes in tights, especially given the bigoted & religious attitudes in the United States.

However, not all superhero films are created equal, and I seem to disagree sharply with the general populace about what makes a great superhero film.

I really enjoyed Ang Lee's 'Hulk,' but thought the second one, 'The Incredible Hulk,' was a rather generic exercise in 'going through the motions.' In Ang Lee's film, Bruce Banner has an incredibly complicated set of relationships with his father, his girlfriend, and himself. We see him work through these and confront issues, and we really take the time to let Bruce sort out what it all means. It's a thoughful and moody film that harnessed the visual medium wonderfully.

The second film was a series of tentpole action scenes with some dialogue in between. The Bruce Banner in this film has none of the complexities of the man in the first film. In this continuity, he inflicted everything on himself, which makes him a very different man. The biggest problem with the film, though, is that Bruce doesn't really have an arc. He's the same guy at the end of the film that he was at the beginning. We don't see any kind of struggle, we don't feel anything visceral about this character.

My feeling is that in a superhero film, the most interesting hero is one that needs to be heroic to overcome his circumstances. This is what separates him/her from 'us.'. They need to be able to do something that is impossible for any of us, and that ability is something that needs to be earned. They can earn it through the struggle to achieve it, or they can earn it by struggling to control it.

Look at Tony Stark in the first 'Iron Man.' His arc is fantastic. He starts out as a wealthy, entitled jerk-off that symbolizes everything that's wrong with the 1% in this country, but when faced with an extraordinary problem, finds that he feels compelled to fight for what's right. His transformation is a riveting and inspiring tale, and that carries all the way through to the completely shitty-ending final battle.

As a note, if you have your hero 'win' by accident, it just sucks. Nothing annoys me more that not having the hero earn the win. That 'right place, right time' shit is okay in real life, because it's what we're stuck with, but let us see our hero kick some ass, please.

And, Captain America sucked. Just flat-out. Yeah, there's an arc there, but it's not a compelling one. Maybe Steve Rogers isn't a sympathetic character? I don't know. I just never bought into or cared about his character, and his arc wasn't one that I found believable or compelling. His relationship with the super-hot gal from 'Pillars of the Earth' was kinda interesting, I guess.

What happens in that case is that I come away from the film feeling like not much happened in the two hours I spent watching it. Yeah, I know several plot points happened, but the character still feels flat and unrelatable, and my time and money just got wasted.

Congrats, Joe Johnston, you just made the first bad film with Hugo Weaving in it. Hugo Weaving is money, man. How do you fuck that up?

Pistol-whipping the Captain America film is a blog entry unto itself. While the film did, unequivocally, shit the bed, this is not the time or the place. That will come some other time.

Ultimately, I felt that film fell into the same trap as the second Hulk flick, in that it was a series of tentpole action scenes that were briefly interrupted by dialogue. It was boring.

At the same time, these films just make a shitload of bank, and you can't argue with return on investment.

Nothing, however, prepared me for what would happen when the studio allowed the greatest creative mind in Hollywood to write and direct 'The Avengers'.

What was your favorite of the films leading up to 'The Avengers?' How would you rank them? How'd you feel about each of them?

I'll continue this with part 2 on Friday.

-Blaine
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20120504

Post-Colonoscopy Word Dump

soundtrack - new-ish Asteroids Galaxy Tour - 'Out of Frequency' record

I had a colonoscopy yesterday. Just making sure there was no cancer in my butt. There wasn't. At one time, we had reason to think that there may be a chance there was some cancer up in there, but after several steps, we assured that there is not.

I will say that the whole thing was a very interesting and memorable experience. I'm not sure how much to say, since I often sound holier-than-thou when it comes to dealing with potential crises. I guess I'm just kinda 'zen' about things that are non-work-related. I dunno. I was a little nervous about the colonoscopy aspect of it, since I don't have a great love for the current state of the medical industrial complex, plus I'd never been 'put under' before, and wasn't wild about surrendering so much control to someone. Blah blah blah.

Enough about that.

So, I've decided I'd like to do some blogging again, but I want to refine my process before I really jump back in. What I've found is that my old approach, which is the blunt, imprecise imposition of my views upon the unwilling horde was neither practical nor terribly rewarding. While I'm quite certain as to the veracity and solidity of my opinions, there is the perception that even though they're mine, they're still just 'opinions,' and little more. While I find that I have little appreciation for this attitude, it has given me cause to reexamine why I would want to even continue blogging.

I've often found that blogging is akin to a masturbatory session that ends very badly, but nets little more than a shrug from its unfortunate witnesses. All three or less of them. And two of them are automated searches from eastern Europe.

So why even post here anymore? Well, I haven't in months. I wanted to shift my attention to my more literary pursuits (the Endless Wars sequel), plus work got real busy, and oh yeah, Star Wars: The Old Republic came out.

The main thing, though, is the time commitment. I'm not someone who just throws any old shit up here (despite how it may read). I really put effort into it, and I labor over what I present to you. Both of you.

So, yeah, what I need is a refined process and demonstrable return on investment. Frankly, the opportunity cost is not to be underestimated. I work a very demanding, stressful job, and my off-hours are precious to me.

Yeah, the easy answer is, 'shut up and move on with your life,' but there's a lot of aspects to blogging that I enjoy. Some great discussions have come out of my posts. Blogging is a worthwhile writing exercise. There's also the potential monetization aspect to consider.

I'm thinking about trying out a refined version of something I tried a few years ago. Post every day M-F, but have a variety of topics, each of which is assigned to a particular weekday. So, like sports would be Mondays, technology would be Tuesdays, gaming would be Wednesdays, and so on. I'd probably also have a different blog assigned to each one. The entries would be shorter than I usually squeeze out, since I probably suffer from some of the 'too long, didn't read' thing that plagues us nowadays.

We'll see. I may build it all out this weekend.

What do you think?

Blaine

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