You are staying in a remote log cabin for a weekend, completely alone and totally cut off from the wider world. You have a camera and a phone, but you need to hike for two hours down a wooded trail to get reception.
On the first morning of your stay, you’re awoken by a loud crash. You go over the hill to investigate, and you discover a wrecked vehicle. It is, in fact, a classic flying sauce, which has struck the ground hard, tearing a long furrow in the earth and ripping a wide gash in its side.
2) Patton Oswalt on the Star Wars prequels. Video (but really just audio).
3) This is so friggin’ funny, and it so perfectly encapsulates the utterly irrational gonzo appeal of comic books. Even if you don’t think you’ll be interested in the subject of this article, give it a look: The Greatest Dinosaurs in Comics.
My local radio station, KUOW (yes, I’m a member), just sent notice to their usual weather guy that he wouldn’t be appearing on the show Weekday any more. They had him on to talk weather–which he is really, really good at–but had asked him several times not to veer off into other subjects, including Math education, which is something of an important subject for him, since he’s suing the local school district because of their choice of text books. They’ve had him on the air other times to talk about it, but they asked him, during those weather segments, to stick to the weather.
Last week he took it upon himself to “set the record straight” regarding something a previous guest (now off the air) had said about UW admission policies, and the Weekday folks told him enough was enough and he wouldn’t be a guest any more.
There is a predictable minor outrage among listeners, including Facebook pages to “like” and letters to sign, and they hosted a call-in discussion about it on a different show this afternoon.
What so many of those callers didn’t seem to understand is that, when a news show covers a topic like Math education (or whatever) they will often try to have opposing viewpoints. If a regular guest continues to offer one side of an argument without the other side having a chance to present their case, it starts to look like the station is taking sides. They don’t want that.
It sounds to me as if Mass became so comfortable in his role on the station that he felt free to offer up whatever opinions he has that seem relevant. He was warned not to do it, didn’t listen, and now he’s not going to be on the air. I don’t see what the big deal is.
Last week I took my son to see THOR. He loved it, while I only liked it, but the most annoying thing about it was the way it reminded me that every big-time Hollywood movie nowadays has to feature a protagonist who’s all twisted up with Daddy Issues.
I’ll admit that I don’t see as many films as I used to, but I’m already sick and tired of watching movie stars struggle to win their Daddy’s approval. It was in SOURCE CODE, IRON MAN 2, STAR TREK, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, THE HULK (John Woo version) and so on and so on.
What the hell, Hollywood? When did someone decide that this was a solid story beat that had to go into every movie? Can’t we stick with a romantic subplot and GTFOI?
Which started me wondering how much of this was cultural. Continue reading
For those who don’t want to click, (and you probably don’t because that video is equal parts hilarious and creepy) it’s a clip from the series finale of Smallville, in which Clark Kent finally gets his Superman suit, flies, saves Lois, and saves the world. And while that plays, the guy watching offers his quite vocal… “enthusiasm” for the show.
Actually, it sounds like he’s masturbating, shouting “YES! YES! YES!” several times, and “Do it right! Do it right!” and “AMERICA!” and generally having a really, really intense sexual experience. I suspect that, if the camera had been pointed the other way, he would have had to post the video on YouP*rn instead of YouTube.
I linked to it in a “Boy, people sure can be creepy!” sort of way, but several people responded by saying stuff like “What’s wrong with a little extra happiness in the world?” and “I think it’s great that he’s enjoying the show, and what’s wrong with that?” I haven’t quite figured out if it doesn’t register as a stroke video to them, or if they think audible orgasms to shitty TV shows are part of the wonder and joy of the human existence, or what.
Still, I think it’s creepy and a little funny. I hope the actors never see it. I do wonder if the guy taped this with his pants pulled up and zipped tight, not realizing how it would sound. His bio says he’s a devout Christian, so maybe he…
Ah, who knows. Anyway, I think it’s pathetic and funny and extremely creepy to post “fan love” audio online.
This morning I spent about half an hour on the phone with my agent going over her notes for Twenty Palaces aka “book zero” aka “the prequel.” They were mostly pretty straight forward and will not require much work to fix. One note, though, was a biggie. It gets at the heart of Ray’s actions and motivations in the last part of the book, and it’s yet another example of me failing at the craft because I wanted to make a point rather than keep to the characters.
Still, I took a long walk in the hot sun and I think I have a solid, sensible way to address it.
Black Gate #15 is out, and I have a story in it. The story is called “Eating Venom” and it’s about political rivalries, bitter resentment, and basilisk fugu. Order your copy here.
If you’ve never read BG before, know that it’s a fat magazine: 384 pages long, with over 150,000 words of adventure fiction. The print edition is $18.95 plus s&h (you can get a discount w/ a 2-issue subscription) or you could order a .pdf for nine bucks.
The winner of the Suvudu Writing Contest (who will receive an edit from my editor, Betsy Mitchell) comes from my county. Check it out. The book he wrote sounds pretty cool.
