Ben Batfleck is not such a bad thing
StandardLast night Twitter (and the rest of the internet) had a bit of a freak-out about Ben Affleck being cast as Batman in the new Man of Steel movie. Most of them were all: “Have we watched Daredevil and died in vain?”
But hey, remember when this guy was cast as Batman?
Good times, good times. Everyone thought he would be completely wrong for the part, and you know what? He was!
But it wasn’t his fault. Tim Burton made a Batman movie but he didn’t actually like Batman.
Remember this guy?
Head quirks aside, George Clooney was a terrific Batman, but his movie was even more ridiculous and off-putting than Keaton’s. There’s a case to be made for calling it a camp classic, I guess, but it didn’t do much for the franchise and it certainly didn’t help Clooney.
But what about Batman Begins? That was a great Batman, right? Hey, did you know how hard it is to find a picture of Bale in the mask with his mouth open? I think this is why:
Look at that damn tongue. When he’s playing other roles, t’s not such a big deal that Bale talks with his whole freaking tongue right at the front of his mouth, but the Batman mask focuses people’s attention on the actor’s mouth because that’s the only human part showing. It was the most distracting thing about the movie, even beyond the voice.
But you know what? It was still a good performance. Even better, it was a pretty good movie with a pair of good/pretty good sequels.
And now the terrible Affleck Daredevil is the cause of a lot of shirt-tearing. Well, I’m going to come out and say it: The problem with Daredevil was the movie itself, not the performance. Affleck’s name is the one everyone knows, but he wasn’t to blame for that script (with Murdock kung fu fighting in his civvies to flirt with Elektra) or the ridiculous cgi and sound effects. There were several scenes that worked, and part of the reason they worked was Affleck’s performance (I’m thinking about the aftermath of the fight in the bar specifically).
I wanted to drop in a clip of the more egregious fake effects here, but Fox is careful about yanking its IP off YouTube.
So Affleck’s performance as Batman will be well-received in large part depending on how the script is written, how the scenes are shot, and a thousand other factors. Batman movies have reached the point of being franchises, like James Bond; it’s no longer enough for most of the audience to say “Batman movie!” and get people to line up. You need to make an actually decent movie. Like Clooney, Affleck will be remembered by the quality of the film he’s in.
Did I mention it’s being directed by Zach Snyder?
Added later: io9’s 50+ greatest tweets about Affleck being cast as Batman
When the cat’s at home the mice bust their asses
StandardThis week my wife’s workplace is shut down for their annual week of cleaning, which means that she can take kid patrol duties from me. A whole week.
I haven’t been around much lately but this means I’ll be on the internet even less as I try to get work done. My list
Finish and send short story
Finish KS video
Get KS up and running
Finish Lightning Source Registration
[Thing]
Send emails
Start revising The Great Way
Not in order of importance, obviously.
I expect this will keep my hopping while she’s gone and while she’s here, too. Hope you guys are doing well.
New page on my site: Kid Reads
StandardYou know how some parents are always talking about what prodigious readers their are? “My little eight year old just loved 100 Years Of Solitude! Now she’s moved on to Russian poetry, but that’s fine. She’s entitled to her beach reads.” What books their kids read and how many they consume are like ornaments for their parents.
My kid, he’s not like that.
He’s fussy, easily-bored, and emits a high, uncanny keening when forced to read something against his will. That noise isn’t a whine; it goes beyond whining into a kind of shared pain that only parents truly understand. He doesn’t impress people with his books. He just enjoys them.
So we often have people ask us what he reads. I’m guessing they think that, being the son of a writer, he will walk away from a Minecraft session of his own volition for his love of books.
Nope. He wants books that are fun, funny, and fast-paced. So when people ask what sorts of books we recommend for their own reluctant readers, those are the books we recommend.
Anyway, to make things easier on us, I’ve put together a page called “Kid Reads” which contains lists of books he really enjoyed.
Check it out.
Randomness for 8/12
Standard1) A really wonderful webcomic. Seriously. Check it out. You might have to scroll down a little.
3) Whale nearly swallows divers. Video
4) Comedian hides funny/absurd messages in hotel rooms.
5) Ten coolest things you can make with a 3D printer. Yeah, it’s a slide show, but this one’s worth it.
6) Copy machine changes numbers when making copies. h/t Making Light.
7) Very interesting: Husband takes photos to convince wife that her hallucinations aren’t real, but wife sees them in photos, too. After being put on a new drug, the hallucinations mostly go away, except in those photos.
First draft of The Great Way finished
StandardYesterday, Saturday, I put in a 4,334 word day to wrap up the rough draft of my epic fantasy trilogy, The Great Way. I’ve even come up with a third title for the individual volumes:
The Way Into Chaos
The Way Into Magic
The Way Into Darkness.
If I were smart, I’d switch the last two around so the series order would be alphabetical order, too. We’ll see how smart I am.
Anyway, I had several long days in a row to reach the end, and I think it’s a bit odd for the end of an epic fantasy. I think it works for the overall story, but I’m used to seeing a clash of armies at the end of a fantasy trilogy and in this story there are no armies left.
But that’s me, immediately thinking of all the ways something is wrong. I think they’re good books, and they’ll be much better when I get a revision done.
The Kickstarter to pay for art, editing, and design will be coming soon. Maybe as soon as a couple of weeks. I just have to work out a few questions regarding time and money budgets and do the video.
Holy shit. Kickstarter. This is a scary new world for me.
How will Jeff Bezos change WaPo?
StandardHow long before
1) Bezos uses the power of WaPo to slam law makers who pass regulations Amazon doesn’t like?
2) Bezos makes Amazon pay licensing fees to him personally to carry the WaPo on Kindle tablets?
3) Lets YOU, the average member of the general public, write your OWN news to be published on the WaPo site without all those gatekeeping editors standing in your way?
RIP Michael Ansara
StandardMost people will be remembering for the years he spent playing a Klingon or many other roles, but this was his most powerful role to me.
I didn’t have a lot of interest in superhero cartoons until this episode and this performance. After years of quipping villains, his Mr. Freeze was electrifying.
A great performance on a terrific show. Rest in peace.
A Cool Opportunity for Anyone Interested in Film FX
StandardCinefex Magazine is going to digitize their backlist, and this Kickstarter gives you the opportunity to pick up, say, all of their stop-motion issues, or all of their Star Trek or Star Wars issues.
Anyway, FYI.
My last Clarion West writeathon post
StandardIt’s my last because I’m done. I wanted to add 40,000 words to my epic fantasy to reach 180,000, which I’d hoped would be the end. I’ve done that. If you pledged, thank you very much. If you haven’t, you still can here. Clarion West. It’s a good thing.
Unfortunately, I wanted to have this book wrapped up by now and I haven’t. That sucks. I have to say that, as the first fantasy writer to ever write long on an epic fantasy, my embarrassment is pretty huge.
Also huge is my desire to be done with this story and on to the next. I did 1600 words today and hope to double that tomorrow and Saturday. There’s a Kickstarter coming, and ebooks, and POD, and so on. Then it’ll be something new.