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Randomness for 3/17

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1) My son’s latest Lego stop-motion movie. Actually, it’s part one of a longer story, and yeah, I provide voiceover work. (But just a little).

2) Margaret Atwood sings!

3) Did you know that Amazon.com sells cans of uranium ore? Here’s one of the customer reviews: “I purchased this product 4.47 Billion Years ago and when I opened it today, it was half empty.”

4) Teal and Orange – Hollywood, Please Stop the Madness!

5) Rob Liefeld’s Dreams Are One Step Closer To Reality “You know, I really like shooting this machine gun, but I really wish I could be shooting another gun at the same time,”

6) “Die Hard in a tattoo” Someone’s a little crazy for that movie.

7) Dan Savage talks to the young woman at the center of the “Lesbians made us cancel the prom!” scandal. Also, you can find ways to help at the end of the article.

“I write it because I want it to come true”

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A few discussions and comments online have prompted me to revisit some old ideas. For instance, Charles Stross recently brought up the whole fantasy-is-a-pro-monarchy genre idea, and James Nicoll touched on writers working in genres where the “core political assumptions” (such as contempt for the rule of law in UF) went against the writer’s personal beliefs.

Leaving aside the Stross comment, which I’ve sniffed at before, let me throw a question out to you: Do you read/watch/consume entertainment because you want your real world and real life to be modeled after it?

I think of this as a specifically science fictional protocol: Writers creating worlds in which they want to live (or, conversely worlds they don’t want to see come true, as in “If This Goes On…” stories). I don’t read or write that way, personally. I don’t read war stories because I want to spend time in a bunker. I don’t read gritty crime fiction because I want to have a knife-fight in an alley. I don’t read fantasy because I think hereditary heirs really make the best tyrants.

I think most people feel this way. Does the true thrill of a Spider-man comic come from the way he circumvents the judicial system? Not for me.

Still, sometimes a book will go in a direction that pushes my political buttons. Nick Mamatas has said he will not cheer for a cops who catch the bad guys by breaking the rules. That’s fair enough, although I enjoyed the hell out of the first Dirty Harry movie when I was younger and less aware of the implications. But does that mean I wanted a real-life Harry Calahan? Not then and not now.

So, is it just that we, as a culture, have certain blind spots to iffy political assumptions in our entertainments? Do our individual subcultures have institutions or norms that we like to see rejected or portrayed as baddies (like environmentalists, or the military, or government bureacrats)? Do writers have an obligation to create stories that are true to their belief system? Rule of law=good thing. Flouting rule of law=not so good thing? Or are we free to do something else entirely with our fiction, and to hell with the so-called message?

Because lemme tell you: I may write about vigilantes, but that doesn’t mean I’m pro-vigilante. But do you see Child of Fire (if you’ve read it) as a pro-vigilante novel?

I’m curious what others think.

Cage matches

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Suvudu has been running “cage matches,” a sort of March Madness for sfnal heroes and villains (check the left sidebar). They’re all in fun, pitting Vlad Taltos against Dumbledore, or Harry Dresden against Conan, and many others in fights to the death. Several authors with characters in the fight have contributed here and there, explaining why their character would win (although I think it’s hilarious that Jim Butcher is all “Conan would kick Harry’s ass!”)

But you know what? I don’t like it.

Maybe it’s ridiculous (okay, no maybes about it) but depictions of Hermione Granger being stabbed to death are distressing. In fact, I find most literary depictions of violence distressing; they only “work” for me because of the context. The context for the cage matches–“Let’s you and him fight to the death for no reason”–makes me want to stamp my foot and shout “No fair!”

Yeah, it’s ridiculous, but this is my gut-level reaction.

It doesn’t help that the “tournament of fighting” bit is one of the most snooze-inducing structures around, and is one of the reasons I gave up on anime.

Weirdly, I don’t have this same reaction to visual portrayals of violence. I’ll laugh like a hyena at The Three Stooges, and I’m as happy to see Batman punch a gangster in the face as any self-respecting comics fan. But in text? Nah.

(BTW, Ray Lilly would probably be seeded just above Lyra Belacqua, but only barely :).)

Imagine you don’t have a cell phone

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And you just signed up for Twitter: (byharryconnolly). How do you manage it? Tweetdeck? Something else?

Advice welcome.

Today’s quote:

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“I am ready for the transition.”
–Denard Manns

Mr. Manns was executed in the state of Texas on November 28, 2008, having been convicted of rape and murder. His entire last statement, and the last words of every inmate executed in the state of Texas since 12/07/1982–some 450 in all–are available on a single web page maintained by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Randomness for 3/12

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This is my 666th post on my WordPress blog. Continue reading… if you dare!

1) Would you recognize Der Fuehrer?

2) Money as motivation: “It’s certainly true that motivated workers need to feel that they are being paid fairly and adequately. Pink’s thesis, however, is that beyond that threshold, performance bonuses may actually be counterproductive, particularly when the work requires initiative, judgment and creativity.” The article directly addresses Wall St bonuses, but it covers a lot of other interesting ground, too. I have the referenced book on hold for my wife, but maybe I should read it, too.

3) How to make an origami swan.

4) Nathan Bransford’s Choose Your Own E-Book Adventure.

5) A pseudonymous TV writer/producer on Florida’s new morality restrictions on filmmaking in the state. This link will expire within the next two weeks. Update: Link dead.

6) Korean man marries pillow. In all my life, I never thought I would be in a position to type a sentence like that, but this is the internet age, and we must share all manner of human oddity.

7) New book reveals evidence that infamous French hallucination epidemic was actually CIA LSD experiment. In school I did a report on MKUltra, but I never heard of this incident before (not surprising, since so many of the MKUltra files were destroyed.

Watch the green lava!

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I did my first voice-over job today. The writer/director trusted me quite a bit when he gave me this role, and I hope I did a good job.

My son made his first Lego stop-motion animation all by himself. He even did the editing; I’m planning to ask him for tips on using iMovie later. Comments on YouTube are disabled because he’s eight, but any kind words would be welcome here.

Reader, I lol-ed

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I’m pretty critical of Republicans and conservatives on this blog, but I want to give a fair shake to the whackawoowoo Democrats we see.

For instance! Democrat Kesha Rogers won the primary for 22nd District of Texas (covering Galveston and some surrounding areas), running heavily on a single issue: President Obama must be impeached.

Candidate Rogers is a proud Larouchite. May I quote the statement her campaign made after her victory? Wonderful.

The victory in the 22nd Congressional District yesterday by LaRouche Democrat Kesha Rogers sent an unmistakable message to the White House, and its British imperial controllers: Your days are numbered. Kesha’s campaign hit relentlessly at a single theme, that President Obama must go, that his attacks on this nation – with his dismantling of the manned space program, his efforts to ram through a fascist, killer “health care” policy, his endless bailouts for Wall Street swindlers, while demanding budget cuts which will increase the death rates among the poor, the sick, the elderly and the unemployed – are not acceptable, and will not be tolerated.

Skeptics said that LaRouche’s approach is impractical, it won’t work, that Democrats will never support someone who is calling for the President’s impeachment. Obviously, the voters of the 22nd district disagreed with those skeptics, as Kesha received 53% of the vote against two opponents. As Kesha told the Galveston Daily News last night, when a reporter asked if she expected support from the Democratic Party in the fall election, “I am leading a war against the British Empire. I’m not worried about what Democratic Party hacks say or do.”

Read the whole thing, if you like. FYI, the acronym “LYM” stands for “Larouche Youth Movement.”

The 22nd district is Tom Delay’s old district.

Here’s her introductory video. I can’t watch it because I’m day jobbing, but does she really promise to “take our troops out of the war zone and put them into space”? Look out, British Empire!

Randomness for 3/4

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1) Admiral Akbar leading the votes to become new sports mascot at Ole Miss. Shockingly, this particular “rebel” has students threatening to transfer if he shows up at games. Because that’s what important about college: the sports mascot.

2) Major retailers caught selling used lingerie. Oh, Victoria’s Secret, you’re so sexy!

3) Another way to lower health care costs. Quote: “Only about half of patients who are prescribed a medication for a chronic condition are still taking the drug regularly after a year, says Daniel Touchette, assistant professor of pharmacy practice at the University of Illinois at Chicago.”

4) Comic artist accused of copying another artist, with added moral complications. Lightbox ftl.

5) All 137 years of Popular Science Magazine in a searchable online format.

6) Quote of the day: “The problem with hockey is that everyone has a stick.” From http://www.postcardsfromyomomma.com/

7) Movies condensed into six-panel comics. Spoilers for various and sundry.

As a followup to my previous post

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That comment I made about sending a book to a reader who has a grandmom with a blog? Totally not a joke. So I’ll have a contest. Post a link to your grandmother’s[1] blog and I’ll mail you a copy of Child of Fire, anywhere in the world. I’ll look at all the blogs, and whoever posts the most interesting one will win (Yes, I have Sekrit Reezinz for this).

Additionally, I’d ask that you review the book yourself online–positively or negatively, it doesn’t matter, as long as it’s an honest opinion.

[1] It does not have to be your actual grandmother. Or a real grandmother at all. Just post a link to an interesting blog written by a woman over 65–it could be your own!–and you can consider yourself entered.