Steven Barnes's Blog, page 7

The Best Gift I Can Give

For the next few weeks, Jason is helpless, with a broken leg. I have to empty his pee bottle, which is embarrassing for him.   He wants to just play video games, but he needs to do at least two sessions of homework every day.  He tries to push the time back and back, promising to do multiple sessions the next day, begging and pleading and accusing–all raving fear. And if he is pushed too hard, he shuts down, hiding under his blankets or so freaked out that he shakes and sweats.  All the terro...

“Monster From Green Hell” (1957) and the M.A.G.I.C. formula

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Boy, this one is a stinker, but I loved it as a kid, and actually searched for in on Netflix and Amazon on and off for about a year. All I remembered was that it took place in the jungle, involved REALLY big wasps, and had a scene where a wasp stung a big snake, and venom came drooling out of the puncture. I thought that was icky cool, and wanted to see it again.

An article I dug up suggested that it was uber-cheap, stitched together with footage from an African safari movie. I finally fou...

Skipping down the “Road of Trials”

Just got off the phone with my wife Tananarive, who has been teaching in Santa Barbara while I’m taking care of son Jason down here.  A sick or convalescing kid takes a huge amount of energy of course, but you make do.

 

We have a film script   in play, for which we have a meeting coming up at a studio  next week (probably just a general meet-and-greet), while other companies are reading.   I’ll tell you though–if I think about it, my guts will churn.     That script is one of those “this is...

“You don’t know what love is.”

Trigger warning.  This one is rough.

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Ever have one of those stories in your head where you can’t remember if it really happened, or if you read it in a book or saw it in a film?  I have a bunch of those.   I remember a story about a deadly feud in the Ozarks, something that had claimed dozens of lives over multiple generations.   The thing that was notable is that each side said the other had started it, and each side said that their violence was in retaliation for what the other side had...

“Sex and the City” (1998-2004) and the “Throw Down”

“Therefore, Arjuna, you should always think of Me, and at the same time you should continue your prescribed duty and fight. With your mind and activities always fixed on Me, and everything engaged in Me, you will attain to Me without any doubt.” — Bhagavad-gita

This conversation takes place on the morning before a great battle, where the warrior Arjuna is troubled by the fact that, if he does his duty, he will have to kill his own relatives. And Lord Shiva tells him to keep his eyes on duty....

The Day I Escaped the “Incel” trap

Reading a post yesterday from a pitiful guy who is certain that people oppose communism because, with a level economic playing field his superlative masculine characteristics would allow him to dominate all the soft girly-men and he would get all the nookie.  Really.   And I can’t count how many men and women I’ve heard complaining about the way the world judges them for insufficient power or beauty.   The fact that THEY are judging potential partners in precisely that way seems to escape the...

“Mr. and Mrs. Smith” (2005) and on ending the “war” between men and women

I’ve been reluctant to directly state some of the things I’m saying today, but as we approach the “Soulmate” class, I realized that there is no way to speak of healthy relationships, or human sexual psychology and philosophy, without goring a sacred cow or two.   Sigh. There just isn’t.

 

So…consider this an article and a form of manifesto.  A new opportunity to open the door to new potential in human relationships by understanding how the past created our present without believing that it mu...

“It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946)

“It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946) is probably my favorite Christmas movie, and I’ll watch it every year until the day I die.

 

 

We all know the story:  George Bailey is a kid who adores his father’s commitment to service, but dreams of leaving the tiny town of Bedford Falls.   He wants to travel the world, but the needs of others constantly impinge upon his personal desires, starting with the rescue of his brother from freezing water, which leads to a damaged eardrum, and the subsequent 4-F cat...

“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” (2018)

I’m going to do something a little different.  I’m going to quickly review “Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse” and then I’m going to speak of an aspect of it some of you might not want to dive into.  You’ll be warned.

 

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First, “Into the Spider-verse” is a revolutionary piece of  cinema.  The tale of an alternate Earth Spider-Man, Miles Morales, is told in CGI animation that ranges from realistic to Loony Tunes 2-D, depending on the mood and tempo of the scene. And what at first is jarring...

Walt Whitman, Will Hunting, and James Bond

One of the most powerful scenes in “Good Will Hunting” is the moment when the psychiatrist (RobinWilliams) corners Will (Matt Damon) saying the simple phrase: “It’s not your fault.”  Again and again, until Damon breaks down sobbing.  Ias first it is as if those words are blows, lashes, and Damon recoils, responds with anger,and then fear, begging him to stop.  Williams comes closer and closer, ultimately wrapping his arms around Damon.  “It’s not your fault,” he says, again, and we see all of...