Tonight is #DieHardEve

ETA (1:00 PM): MOAR commentators, and embedded Twitter search results :)

Tonight, starting at 9:30 PM Pacific Time, you're invited to our first ever...

Christmas Eve DIE HARD livetweet extravaganza!

Search for #DieHardEve on Twitter to see commentary from various Portlandians, including:

• Mindy Bardon
• Robin Catesby
• Curtis Chen
• DC Drunk Audience
• Mary-Lynn
• JD
• Maria Fisher
• Taylor Fisher
• Aubrey
• Justin

...and you, dear viewer, are also invited to contribute! Feel free to jump in using the hashtag #DieHardEve if you get inspired at any point.

#diehardeve Tweets


IMPORTANT: you're responsible for synchronizing your own viewing! If you don't own the movie, here's where you can rent it online—looks like the going price is $3 (make sure to verify rental terms and whether it's HD, if you care about that):

http://gowatchit.com/movies/die-hard-46265

Watch for an official movie sign tweet at 9:30 PM Pacific Time tonight, but don't worry too much about precision. I'm not saying there will be large amounts of alcohol involved, but I'm not saying there won't be, either. (ObPSA: DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE.)

Meanwhile, please enjoy this artifact from the 1980s:


https://youtu.be/QIOX44m8ktc

BritPics

So the British Library has over one million public domain illustrations on Flickr, organized into albums for easier browsing. I've only made it through six pages of the "Fauna" collection so far but have already found some real gems:


An otter eating a fish.


Possibly an aardvark?


Side-eye dog.


Devious cat.


Demanding kittens.

Anyway, lots of images, free to use, no copyright restrictions. Enjoy!

I Have a Voice Too

Dear Pitch Perfect movies,

I love you, but we need to talk about diversity.

Let me start by saying that I harbor more affection for both of you than a straight man in his forties probably should. Yes, I'm a weirdo: I sang choir in high school, was an a cappella groupie all through college, performed with The Richter Scales for eight years, and actually watched an entire season of The Sing-Off. It's kind of in my blood at this point.

Now, I do appreciate the presence of so many non-white faces in your cast, but I wish that at least one of them—any of them—was more than just a punchline.

I really wanted one of those persons of color to have a character arc in Pitch Perfect 2. Lilly seemed like a perfect candidate, since her personal growth was actually a plot point in the first movie; but no, she was rolled back to the old "I can't hear you" joke, which stings more than it evokes knowing laughter for some of us. And the new "ethnic" character, played by Chrissie Fit, is little more than a series of one-liners which feel exploitative even as they poke fun at #FirstWorldProblems.

It's doubly ironic that as an actress, Elizabeth Banks' commentator character hangs a lantern on every one of fellow commentator John Michael Higgins' blatantly insensitive on-air remarks, but as director, Banks seems to have a blind spot for the subtle but constant affronts suffered by all of PP2's non-white characters. I know, it's a very broad comedy (no pun intended), but still. Some of us don't get to laugh about certain things.

Here's what Wesley Morris had to say in Grantland:

The movie invites you to celebrate its diversity. The Bellas are, indeed, not all white. But none of the characters of color has been promoted to do more than act like a weirdo. The other new addition, besides Steinfeld, is a Guatemalan named Flo (Chrissie Fit), who caps every exchange with a tale of poor-migrant suffering. Hana Mae Lee returns as the mousy Japanese girl, Lilly, with no scatological boundaries. The songwriter and producer Ester Dean plays the black girl and lesbian, who, when she isn’t flirting aggressively, actually has to quip, “What kind of white shit is this?” Asking a question like that in a film about a cappella singing is like working in a barn and complaining about the hay.

There are other issues with PP2, to be sure: the whole thing is scattershot, what with having to work in characters who are no longer in school and wanting to play up romantic storylines at the expense of other, arguably deeper themes. Personally, I would have loved more of the "legacy" story between newcomer Emily and her mother, especially since (no spoilers) it figures into the musical finale. That payoff would have played even better if there had been more setup for it.

It's like Atomic Fangirl says:

Halfway through I felt like someone had slipped E into my water bottle. I knew where I was, I knew I was having a good time, but I didn’t understand a bloody thing that was going on.

On that level, it's about good storytelling, plain and simple. But at this point, at this moment in 21st-century America, consider that including token minority characters without being mindful of their place in the overall narrative can be more damaging than not including POCs at all. Are you thinking of those characters as fully realized people, or are you only using them to prop up some other part of your story?

Yeah, yeah, I know, Kobayashi Maru. No matter how sensitively you handle it, somebody's always going to complain that you did something wrong. But at least make the attempt and learn something from it.

And by the way, please own up to your mistakes when you make them. (Yes, I said when, not if. We're all human.) Don't double down on defending a weak position just so you can claim righteousness. No criticism is fatal, and growing as an artist is more important than sales "velocity" on release day or appealing to the "real fans" who worship with blinders on.

There are seven billion people on this planet. Don't you want more of them to love your work?

I'll let Geoffrey Stueven deliver some closing thoughts:

The tentative promise of that scene reaches its fulfillment a bit later, when the group gets its groove fully back, seated around a fire with each member declaring her plans for the future, then harmonizing with her comrades. Crucial moments of self-actualization follow. “I never pictured myself running a retreat,” says group alum Aubrey (Anna Camp), happy in her post-grad job, the implication being that she did picture it, eventually, and was pleased with the image. And future music producer Beca might be awaiting the validation of her boss, but her relationship with her muse, new a cappella recruit Emily (Hailee Steinfeld), is much more meaningful. Here’s the rare recent movie, mainstream or otherwise, that not only passes the Bechdel Test but also fails the opposite of the Bechdel Test: There’s no conversation between the film’s male characters that isn’t about a woman or at least seen through the prism of a woman’s aspirations.

It's true, by the way: Girls run the world. And watching these characters find themselves, realize their own unique abilities, and combine to form a winning team—that's as powerful as any superhero origin story.

I still love you, Pitch Perfect movies. But I'm not in love with you.

Let's just be friends, okay?

Hugs and kisses,
~CKL

I Have Not Seen Most of These Movies

But I still have opinions about this year's Best Picture nominees. I'm talking about the Academy Awards, of course. Feel free to stop reading now if you don't care about any of this.

I won't say too much about the whole #OscarsSoWhite thing, except this: it's Hollywood, man. It's always been white. You know, like most of mainstream America. Being angry about injustice is fine, but I've gotten over my anger and am now looking for ways to actually make things better. Yelling at people isn't really the best way to change their minds about anything.

Anyway. Let's talk about the eight Best Picture nominees. In alphabetical order:



Actually, let's not talk about that one. Because reasons. Moving on:



DeeAnn and I saw this with our good friend Matt at the lovely St. Johns Theater. I enjoyed it for what it was: a moderately pretentious exercise in omphaloskepsis (SEE WHAT I DID THERE) featuring some great performances, technical flair, and a somewhat unsatisfying, "literary" ending. I mean, I understand what the filmmakers were going for. I just didn't dig it as much as some other folks did. Diff'rent strokes and all that.



Yeah, it's a stunt, but it's a very impressive one. And even if people haven't seen the movie, they've certainly heard about how it took twelve years to make. I expect it'll be a talky indie like all of Linklater's stuff, which probably works against it; Oscar voters tend to like stuff with a little flash and fanfare. But I wouldn't be surprised if they chose to reward the effort here.



Haven't seen this one either. Expect it'll be like all of Wes Anderson's stuff: quirky and twee. Long shot for Best Picture.



We saw this with our friend Karl during last year's #XmasMovieThon, and it was very good, despite a few patches of lazy writing (I mean did they really need to hammer this exact line three times) and playing fast and loose with actual history (as all biopics do; not a complaint, just an observation). I suppose I'm partial to stories about intelligent people solving hard problems—what some might call puzzles—but still. I'd call this one the frontrunner.



Haven't seen it yet, but IMHO it's pretty ridiculous that anyone has rustled up controversy around this film. See above (and below) for how movies are not journalism. There's a federal holiday and a road in every major American city named after this man, for fuck's sake. Get over it.



Haven't seen this one, either, but again, I don't expect it to be a precise and accurate accounting of Stephen Hawking's life. (DeeAnn thinks it's weird that they made a biopic about someone who's still alive, but that's nothing new.) Judging from the marketing, though, I suspect it's too "soft" and/or esoteric to win, especially against Imitation Game, which also features a genius Brit protagonist, and—let's not mince words here—is literally Gay Benedict Cumberbatch Fighting Nazis. Would you bet against that?



Missed this one in theaters. Yeah, I'm sure it's good, but Best-Picture-good? I'd put money on Grand Budapest Hotel before this one, simply on apparent scope. Small stories don't win big at the Oscars. Would peg this one for Supporting Actor (J.K. Simmons doing that thing he does), maybe Film Editing or Adapted Screenplay (Damien Chazelle, who also directed the movie), and possibly Sound Mixing. It is about drumming, after all.

And that's all my blathering for now. If you're hosting an Oscar Party on Sunday, feel free to print some Acceptance Speech BINGO cards, and watch for my #OscarTrivia posts on Twitter!

I Support Movie Reboots with All-Female Casts

And I have been thinking about it probably too much, thanks to this sidebar from the August 15th issue of Entertainment Weekly (click for larger version):

Yeah, I know, that's pretty tongue-in-cheek. The online article "Would all-girls 'Ghostbusters' be a stealth 'Bridesmaids' sequel?" goes into a little more actual detail (though come on, EW, it's "women," not "girls") on the Ghostbusters thing, which is all very preliminary.

But here's the one that really got me going:

YES. FUCK YEAH. SRSLY. It's been thirty years since David Mamet won a Pulitzer for the stage play, and there have already been two different Broadway revivals of Glengarry, both featuring all-male casts (as written). Isn't it time someone tried doing something more daring with the material?

Approach it like Shakespeare. See what happens when you change the gender behind the same exact words. Mamet's hyper-masculine dialogue is so stylized that it already verges on satire. What does it look like when it's women spouting those profanities, swaggering around the stage with those attitudes, fighting tooth and nail for that modicum of status? That, I would argue, is more interesting and relevant than putting another group of angry men in the center ring.

And apart from a few gender-specific pronouns, you wouldn't have to change a single line of dialogue. Not even the character names. Ricky Roma, Shelly Levene, George Aaronow? Those could all be women's names. "John" Williamson and "Dave" Moss are more of a stretch, but those could be ironic nicknames. How's that for adding subtext?

Really, though, I just want to see Tina Fey let loose and fucking own the "coffee's for closers" bit:

Blake's Speech - Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) from chewisniewski on Vimeo.

(Before you nitpick: yes, I know that scene was written for the movie and doesn't appear in the stage play. But it's spawned such a strong pop culture catchphrase, I would argue you couldn't leave it out of any filmed version now.)

So who's in your dream cast for an all-female Glengarry? Leave a comment below!

I will not watch most of these TV shows

But I am an interested observer during every fall TV season. My household has not had a cable or satellite TV subscription for seven years now, but we have the Internet. And that's all you need to watch TV these days, especially with my viewing habits: I don't surf, I research.

The five broadcast networks just announced their fall schedules, and out of the twenty-five new shows, there are three I'm definitely interested in, seven others I might try out if I hear good reviews, and three descriptions that make me cringe. (Note that those last shows might still become very successful, since a one-sentence logline can't possibly capture the nuance which buoys or sinks a weekly series. Hell, I thought Veronica Mars sounded stupid before it premiered, and I ended up loving that show.)

Anyway. My top three want-to-sees:

1. If Gotham the TV show is even a quarter as good as the Gotham Central comics were, it'll be worth your time:


http://youtu.be/0d1zpt6k5OI

2. If the new Flash TV is half as good as Arrow, I'm in. And I love that they're starting the show with a Scooby Gang right away:


http://youtu.be/Yj0l7iGKh8g

3. I'm not quite as bullish on Constantine, but you know, I even liked the Keanu Reeves movie, so I'm cautiously optimistic:


http://youtu.be/uPE2oBnzROY

It's not a coincidence that these are all based on comic books. TV and comics have more in common with each other (and classic pulp fiction) than many other forms of storytelling. Let's talk about that sometime.

And here are the seven new shows I might check out if I hear good things:

• Scorpion could be interesting if it maintains its "(Hackers + Leverage) * Fast and Furious" vibe.
• State of Affairs because I still miss The West Wing.
• Selfie has John Cho so it's automatically awesome.
• How to Get Away with Murder because it's Shonda Rhimes!
• Gracepoint, starring David Tennant, which is a remake of the British series Broadchurch starring... David Tennant?
• Madam Secretary because West Wing. And this.

Identifying the three cringe-inducing blurbs in Entertainment Weekly's Fall TV complete schedule 2014 is left as an exercise for the reader.

One last thing: can we all agree that CSI: Cyber is the most 1990's title ever? Including actual shows from the 1990's?

I Have Watched the Entire First Season of "Betas"

And you know what? It's pretty good. I'll admit it: I even teared up a little during the finale. Sure, the payoff was a cheap shot at Zuckerberg (and shamelessly rode the long coattail of The Social Network), but setting it up and turning it around in just two episodes? That's some tight scripting.

The first three episodes are free to stream on Amazon (entire season available to Prime members). One and two are a bit shaky, but the snappy dialogue carried it for me. And honestly, if you're not sold by the time Avinash says "Aunties were involved" in episode three, I can't help you, man:



Also? It's fun to pretend that Ed Begley, Jr.'s "Murch" character is actually Henry Starling from VOY "Future's End." And hope that Sarah Silverman will show up at some point. Hey, a kid can dream.

Of coure, it's not perfect. My second biggest complaint is the aggressively indie theme song. My biggest gripe is the casual sexism that pervades the series.

To wit: I know comedy must always tread the Very Afterschool Special line carefully, but devoting an entire episode to "Crazy Misogynist Guy" becoming a meme and not actually addressing the issue is either irresponsible or head-in-the-sand myopic.

The most interesting and well-developed female character on "Betas" was written out after just four episodes, reducing the number of regular/recurring female characters by a full third. Kelen Coleman's guest shot as another startup CEO was a welcome change, but all too brief. And I would love to see another Mikki-centric episode that is actually about her job—you know, the premise of the series—and not her family issues.

(Aside: actress Margo Harshman made the most of a limited role, and I would love love love to see a spin-off about Lisa's adventures in Seattle. MAKE IT HAPPEN, AMAZON.)

Meanwhile, I'm still trying to figure out HBO's "Silicon Valley." I know Wired slobbered all over Mike Judge's geek cred, and some of the satire is spot-on (we'll leave aside the crass racism for now), but it's just not very... funny. And there is only one substantial female character on the show, who is just now—in episode five—starting to demonstrate any agency. Not cool.

I was a software engineer in the San Francisco Bay Area for over a decade. I worked at a startup where fully half the employees were women, and the company could not have survived without them. I don't want more shows where women don't matter, because that's not real life. And that's not the world I want to live in.

I Have Anger Issues...

...and I love Superman. Those two things are related. Let me explain.

Last Saturday, I rewatched Man of Steel, because why not. And it turned out to be a more enjoyable film on the second viewing, partly because I knew what to expect and was thus able to think more about the filmmakers' intentions—to reverse-engineer the storytelling, so to speak.

It's not a perfect movie. It's probably not even a great movie, as far as such things go, but I have to give producer Christopher "Dark Knight" Nolan and director Zack "300" Snyder credit for their audacity: they did not, in fact, make a Superman movie. They made a science fiction movie which leads to Superman. And they did a pretty good job of setting up what I hope will be a halfway decent movie series.

First, let me acknowledge all the bad stuff:

• Yes, there was excessive and senseless destruction of property (and loss of innocent lives).
• Yes, Zod talks too much, and most of it is ham-fisted exposition.
• Yes, the gratuitous callbacks to Superman II are distracting.
• There are too many flashbacks.
• There's not enough humor.
• And yes, the movie is about 20 minutes too long, mostly at the end.

Now let's talk about the good stuff. In roughly chronological order:

• Weird-science Krypton!
• That smash cut from spaceship to fishing trawler is genius, and you could only do it in a Superman-origin movie.
• Clark's first X-ray visions.
• "You are my son."
• Lois Lane, the smartest person in the room.
• Learning to fly in the Arctic.
• "The truth about you is beautiful."
• The whole surrender sequence.
• Emergency Holographic Jor-El.
• Clark not giving up intercut with Perry not leaving.
• "Welcome to The Planet." (Or, as I prefer: "Welcome to the planet.")

That, by the way, was a perfect ending line for the whole damn movie. Because it's a prequel, you guys. (Even the music signals a prologue: we never get an actual fanfare, but we get a slow build toward something.) As my friend Tom says, this title character is not Superman yet; this Clark Kent has never even considered becoming a caped crusader. The movie is about why Clark becomes Superman. And its thesis revolves around what, for me, are the two most resonant things about the Superman character: anger and choice.

Man of Steel cribs quite a bit from the Superman: Birthright books. There's no Lex Luthor in the movie, but there is an alien invasion of Metropolis, and Clark is first introduced to the audience during his "angry young man" years. He's immature, inexperienced, and struggling to find his place in a world where he can't really be himself. As we saw in Frozen, it's not enough to have amazing superpowers; you have to know when and how to use them—and you have to control them even when you're angry.

We all have powers we're not using. We all have abilities that we can push to the limit when we want to, or when we feel we need to. We can run faster when we're threatened or chased; we can think harder when there are great rewards or dire consequences on the line. And we also choose whether to use a particular skill or talent for fun, for making money, or not at all.

Some people complain that Superman isn't an interesting protagonist because he's too powerful. But for me, that's one of the most interesting things about him—he's not a hero because he's compelled by some inner demons or past trauma or external pressure. He's practically invulnerable; he can do whatever the hell he wants. (Which, by the way, is the question explored in the classic Red Son and the intriguing Irredeemable: what if Superman went bad?)

I have a temper. I've put my foot through a door and my hand through a plate glass window (I still have the scar). I've kicked in a minivan door. I once made another kid piss blood after a schoolyard fight (I didn't see it, but he told me about it the next day, and I felt terrible). In a very real sense, I have—as the saying goes—used my powers for evil. But I've learned from my youthful indiscretions.

And so does Clark Kent. As Superman, he chooses to fight "a never-ending battle for truth and justice"—and he is driven to that choice by his anger.

Those two motivations collide in that train station at the end of Man of Steel, during Clark's final confrontation with Zod. I hope the filmmakers address that in the next movie, even if it's just one line of dialogue. I hope that they intentionally set up that defining moment to explain why Superman doesn't kill people. (Linked image from Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, the brilliant "imaginary tale" which wrapped up DC's Superman titles before the 1987 reboot.)

I have anger issues. I recognize that, and I'm working on it. Meanwhile, I do my best to avoid being a dick.

Friday Flash Fiction: "Overtones"

Read "Overtones" at 512 Words or Fewer

Why, yes, I am working through some personal issues this week. WE DON'T HAVE TO TALK ABOUT IT OKAY

Seriously, though, you should try this online exam (free registration required) to see if you can tell the difference between Chinese, Japanese, and Korean faces. The results may surprise you.

One more thing: did you know that Marvel is releasing a special "Chinese version" of Iron Man 3 (opening today) for distribution in China? (Insert your own joke/complaint about Ben Kingsley playing the Mandarin here.)

SnoutCast #125: Action is His Reward

And now for something completely different.

[ Download mp3 - 28 MB ]

00:59 - "genetic"
02:34 - spoilers!
04:37 - rice?
08:29 - girls
11:06 - stupidity
16:36 - violence
21:04 - endings
23:41 - praeterition
29:55 - The End

Tell us we're wrong on the Internet! E-mail podcast@snout.org or post a comment at snout.org/podcast .

Music: instrumentals from "Code Monkey" and "Ikea" by Jonathan Coulton

[ Subscribe to SnoutCast / iTunes link ]

 

Friday Flash Fiction: "This is Not a Clue"

Like it says on the tin. Although this piece was inspired by WarTron, since I didn't consult with the rest of Game Control before writing it, you should not consider it canon. You know, like most media tie-ins. But I hope you enjoy it regardless.

Read "This is Not a Clue" at 512 Words or Fewer

Paint and View

Last weekend, we went to GameStorm 14 and had a great time. On Saturday, we brought along our friend Darla (it was her birthday), and also gave her a gaming miniature we'd picked up for the con's mini painting contest on Sunday. She didn't enter the contest, but she did end up painting the mini and gifting it back to DeeAnn.

Before I show you the photos, I want you to understand that the original object was just a tiny hunk of gray plastic. It looked something like this:


(image from halforums.com)

That's not the actual mini (I didn't take a photo, and I couldn't find it online), but it's similar in that the monochrome plastic obscures a lot of the detail that was sculpted into the figure. Also note, that circular base is just one inch across. It's tiny. Painting one of these things is all about tiny brushes and getting the details right.

Now, this is what Darla produced, four days later:



Notice the terrain? She added that. Rocks and grass. The base used to be just a flat circle.

As for the painting, did you notice how the individual buttons and stitches pop, and all the different textures on the clothing, skin, and weapons? Click the image to embiggen:



I'm telling you, that girl got skillz.

SnoutCast #50: "For Your Consideration"

Many movies, including but not limited to Midnight Madness, have inspired puzzle hunts. Do any of this year's Best Picture nominees have Game theme potential?


[ Download mp3 - 50 MB ]

00:59 - "cinematic"
05:20 - Black Swan?
08:30 - The Fighter?
11:40 - Inception?
19:40 - The Kids Are All Right?
24:38 - The King's Speech?
26:33 - 127 Hours?
30:27 - The Social Network?
32:50 - Toy Story 3?
36:27 - True Grit?
39:17 - Winter's Bone?
50:27 - upcoming events: Puzzled Pint (PDX, 2/8); GC Summit (bay area, 2/12); Chinese New Year Treasure Hunt (SF, 2/19); Iron Puzzler (bay area, 2/26-27).
53:42 - The End

Music: instrumentals from "Code Monkey" and "First of May" by Jonathan Coulton

[ Subscribe to SnoutCast / iTunes link ]

 

FaceTronChat

DeeAnn and I saw Tron 2: Electric Boogaloo on Sunday, and weren't that impressed:

Feel free to continue the conversation in comments below (or on Facebook, if you insist).

Fifteen Authors

flickr.com/ajourneyroundmyskull

Today was the third time I've been tagged in one of these notes by Facebook friends, so I finally caved and made the damn list. I'm posting it here because I see no reason not to share it with the whole world:

XV Auteurs

Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen authors who've influenced you and that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes...

1. Isaac Asimov - I read every damn robot story I could get my hands on in middle school.
2. Ray Bradbury - I don't remember anything specific about Dandelion Wine, but I get a certain ineffable feeling whenever I think about it.
3. Harlan Ellison - probably wouldn't want to run into him on the street, but "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" is a classic.
4. Dan Simmons - yeah, the Hyperion cantos gets a little crazy at times, but it's an amazing epic.
5. Pat Murphy - one of the pro instructors in my first writing workshop.
6. Ursula K. LeGuin - the other pro instructor in my first writing workshop.
7. Connie Willis - I don't need to explain this one, do I? It's Connie Willis!
8. Neil Gaiman - personal trivia: I used to work with his son Michael at Google. Nice kid.
9. Daniel Keyes - "Flowers for Algernon," which my high school produced as a one-act play.
10. Robert Heinlein - I couldn't believe how well Have Spacesuit, Will Travel worked as a novel, but it did.
11. John LeCarre - I always found his politics and relationships more interesting than Ian Fleming's derring-do.
12. Larry Niven - the recipient of my first actual fan mail (and request to reprint some of his old non-fiction in our high school club zine. He said yes! My faculty sponsor talked me out of it).
13. Vonda N. McIntyre - I used to read a lot of Star Trek novels.
14. Douglas Adams - the Hitchhiker's books, Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, Are You Being Served?, and Red Dwarf forever altered my sense of humor in high school.
15. Orson Scott Card - again, not sure I'd want to meet him in person anymore, but Ender's Game is unforgettable. And Speaker for the Dead was even better. Don't talk to me about your subtext conspiracy theories.

Comic Book Report: Wednesday Comics

Another reason I love my local library: because I can check out oversized hardcovers like this for free, instead of spending $50 and not having bookshelf space for them.

This was DC's tribute to the full-page Sunday newspaper comics of yore. The results are a mixed bag, but definitely worth a look. There's a wide range of storytelling talent and art styles on display here. Neil Gaiman's Metamorpho tale gets a lot of mileage out of tweaking genre tropes and panel layout conventions. The Wonder Woman pages were too busy for me, visually, but I was pleasantly surprised by the stories featuring lesser-known characters like Kamandi and Deadman. And I think someone may finally have found the right tone for a Supergirl story.

Buy the book: Powell's, Amazon

Friday Flash Fiction: "GirlFightClub"

I'm pretty sure this week's story passes the Bechdel Test. Whether it's any good... well, that's a matter of opinion, innit?

Read "GirlFightClub" at 512 Words or Fewer

Postcard #5

 

 

Despite working her ass off at OnLive and/or nursing a newborn child, Jan still found time to hand-craft this delightfully terrifying vision of life in the bay area.

Comic Book Report: Iron Man: Extremis

Much has been made of the quality of the artwork in this book, but let's be clear about something: if you pick up a comic written by Warren Ellis, chances are you're going to enjoy the ride--every goddamn insane panel of it. (Except maybe that part when he goes on way too long about using drugs. I admit I'm not the target audience for that, but still. Talk about bringing the story to a screeching halt.)

British artist Adi Granov produces his first rough sketches digitally, and it shows; the characters look like posed 3-D mannequins, which gives their bodies perfect size and proportions but can leech some of the emotion out of them. It only really bothered me in a few instances, and overall the consistency and added realism was a plus.

The story itself is pretty standard, and serves mostly to explain how Tony Stark acquired that crazy Extremis suit--which, admittedly, is not as crazy as what comes next, but it's still pretty crazy.

Buy the book: Powell's, Amazon (affiliate links)

Pastis Loves Feghoots

Because I'm usually checking my e-mail, playing with my iPhone, or staring off into space during breakfast, D tends to read through the morning newspaper much faster than I do. (She also skips the opinion section, but that's another story.)

This morning, while reading the Sunday comics, she did a facepalm, shook her head, and turned to me and said, "You'll enjoy today's Pearls Before Swine."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because it's terrible," she replied.

She was not wrong:


http://comics.com/pearls_before_swine/2010-08-15

On a related note, I find that I often enjoy reading Stephen Pastis' blog more than his daily comics. I kind of wish he'd do more writing. Not that he's a bad artist, but his brand of humor actually works really well in a prose format. You can see it in the way he composes his panels. One might call him the Kevin Smith of syndicated comics: all about the dialogue (but without the constant profanity).

Compare that to, say, xkcd or Dinosaur Comics, which also feature minimalist artwork, but in which the art serves a specific purpose. xkcd wouldn't be the same if it featured people with faces, or full-color strips; the few times when Munroe does use color, it's to make things pop. Just as his stick figures say something about the nature of his work, so does Dinosaur Comic's use of the exact same artwork every single time make a statement about the malleability of interpretation. And when it does stray from the template, it's for a reason--like now, when Ryan North is on his honeymoon and guest artists are supplying their own riffs on his creation.

Those two webcomics also have something else in common: they make liberal use of ALT tags, which cause a little block of text to pop up when you hover your mouse cursor over an image. In some cases, it's a pretty big block of text. Sometimes that text is a continuation of the joke in the comic; sometimes it explains what inspired the comic; sometimes it's just a wry parenthetical. Geeks love making oblique connections.

What was I talking about? Oh, yeah, writing instead of drawing. I'm not saying Pastis should give up the comics thing, just that there's a big gray area where words and pictures meet. Just as people still call television "radio with pictures," due to the tendency of TV shows to emphasize dialogue over imagery, I find that the comics I enjoy most tend to punch with text more than art. Guess that says something about why I'm a writer.