Mark L. Van Name's Blog, page 49

Snowden

is exactly the movie you'd expect Oliver Stone to make from the extremely interesting and controversial case of Edward Snowden.  Stone delivers great shots and excellent pacing as he paints a picture of Snowden as a hero and the government as a massive collection of scheming, Big Brother bureaucrats.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt turns in a strong performance that never goes over the top, and Shailene Woodley delivers a too good to be true girlfriend.

Everything, in fact, is too good to be true.  Everyone likes Snowden.  He never does anything seriously wrong.  His motives are noble.  He's nearly perfect.  The government is almost equally perfect, except evil.

After all, it's an Oliver Stone movie.

Having said all that, I enjoyed it.  Stone is a master craftsman working here in fine form.

I'm also in the group that feels that ultimately Snowden is a whistleblower who did Americans a service by exposing widespread government lies and abuses.  I absolutely wish he had not jeopardized others, and I don't consider his case simple, but I share with Stone a sympathy for Snowden.

I just would have liked a more human portrayal of the man.

If you're interested in the case or like Stone's films, definitely check out Snowden.

If you can stand looking at me for thirteen and a half minutes

then you might want to head over to the Buzzy Mag site, where you can find
My thanks to Jean Marie and the Buzzy Mag folks for including me in their SF/F author interview series.

I hope you enjoy it.

Where I've been

I vanished from these pages for four days, for which I apologize.  By way of explanation, this past Saturday was my daughter's wedding, an event that consumed a lot of my time and even more of my heart and mind.

Over the next few days, I'll catch up with posts about the rehearsal dinner, the wedding, and other topics you might find interesting.

For now, I'm still wiped out, so I'm going to try to get a bit more sleep than usual tonight.

See you tomorrow.

The first Kickstarter I've plugged here

I've participated in a number of Kickstarter campaigns, and I've always been happy with the results.  I've never, though, openly plugged one in this blog.

Until now.

I think everyone who loves illustration or who still has a child inside should consider supporting Omar Rayyan's Goblin Market art book Kickstarter.  Go ahead and follow that link.  I'll wait.

Now that you're back, let me explain why you should jump on this book:
It's beautiful.  You've seen that.Rayyan is a great guy.  I own several of his originals, and I've gotten to talk with him on a few occasions.  He's always been intense, fun, funny, and genuinely nice.  Rayyan's work deserves a huge audience.  If you've followed the link, you probably already know that.  (For more examples, go to his site.)The book is from a Christina Rossetti poem!  I could go on, but you get the point:  this is a book you should own, a campaign you should back.

Enjoy!

Though in this trailer Ben Affleck talks a bit too much

I still very much look forward to the movie and expect it to be big fun.



I'm hoping that the filmmakers show some sensitivity as they focus on the action, but I have to confess that even if they don't, I'll go just for the action.

Durham's Picnic hits and misses

I'd been meaning to try Picnic, a fairly new barbecue restaurant in Durham, but I hadn't gotten around to it.  After reading Greg Cox's recent review of the place, though, I made a point of getting a variety of take-out items for a recent UFC gathering at home.

I'd love to be able to report that I agree with Cox, but I don't.  What I sampled ranged from excellent to mediocre to weak.

To be fair, before I dive into specifics, I must note that this was a take-out meal, so I wasn't tasting the food under optimum conditions.  I picked up the many styrofoam containers on a busy Saturday night, which might also have caused some troubles.  Nonetheless, I've done the same from other local barbecue joints, notably Bullock's, with better overall results.

The star of the show by far was the pork barbecue.  Everyone who tasted it liked it, and to my palate it's one of the very best local versions of this NC classic.  So rich and moist and flavorful that it didn't need sauce, I would (and will) go back to Picnic for this dish alone.

The other meat we tried, the fried chicken, was a favorite of Cox's but a very weak sister on my plate.  On the dry side and with breading that had still visible flour--a clear kitchen misstep--the plates of fried white chicken meat bombed overall.  I also hate that no dark meat was available.  I'm hoping we just caught a bad batch, but had I not read Cox's review, I would never try the chicken again.

The sides and accompaniments ranged from straight-from-the-bag (the buns; nothing home-baked here), to okay but no better (the pimento mac and cheese, which I had expected to be better), to solid (baked beans), and even to unexpectedly good (the simple but perfect slaw, not a normal favorite of mine).  The hush puppies were a huge disappointment, bland and dry even when we ate a few right at the restaurant.  We threw out most of them, a rare occurrence in our house.

With so many other great barbecue places dotting the local landscape, Picnic needs to raise its game considerably if it wants more of my business.

A reminder: If you don't vote for Clinton, you're helping Trump

It really is that simple.

If you're a Trump supporter, someone who really believes he should be the next President of these United States, then I'm not talking to you.  I strongly feel you are choosing poorly, but that is your right.

The following choices are also the right of the people making them, but I want to make sure we're all clear on what those choices mean.

If you stay home in disgust at your choice of candidates, you're giving Trump a greater chance of winning than if you pick the lesser of two evils, which is clearly, at least to me, Clinton.

If you vote for Johnson, who cannot win, then you're giving Trump a greater chance of winning.

I mention this again because of Clinton's recent screw-up: her choice not to be open about being sick.  As countless analysts have observed, Clinton has an unhealthy tendency toward secrecy, and that tendency is part of what has led so many people to distrust her.  She should have been open about her illness, as her campaign ultimately agreed.

Even so, though, the choice in this election is clear:  either we put Clinton in the White House, or we let Trump win and live with all that he so obviously is.  To me, every bit of available data about the man makes it completely obvious that we should never let him lead this country.

Yes, you can talk about casts a protest vote, joke about wanting a big meteor to end it all, and be legitimately appalled at having to pick from among two candidates you don't trust, but in the end, choose the one who is a rational human being who at least cares somewhat about other humans.

Choose Clinton.

(By the way, I think rather better of Clinton than the above entry might suggest.  I think she will make a solid President, and I absolutely will vote for her.  I wrote this entry as I did to highlight my very strong belief that even if you don't like Clinton, you should vote for her because she is a vastly better choice than Trump.)

Fifteen years ago today

I was in the Westin Burlingame on a business trip when I learned the news.  Gina, who was in the same hotel on this trip, pounded on my hotel room door, woke me up, and we watched in horror as the plane hit the second tower.

I wasn't in New York.  I lost no friends in the attack.  Yet I still feel sick about it.

That Friday, I flew home on the first flight to leave the Bay Area since the attacks.  We had to arrive over three hours early for the flight.  Lines were huge.  Everyone was somber.  Most were shell-shocked.  No one complained.

Almost everyone on our flight sighed in relief when it took off, but people remained tense the whole time we were in the air.

On Monday, I flew into La Guardia on a business trip.  As we drew closer to the airport, I could see out the window--I was on the left side of a small commuter plane--the smoldering ruins and the helicopters still patrolling the airspace.  The anger in the plane was palpable.  I felt it.

The ripples of that day have cost a probably unknowable number of human lives and an also probably unknowable amount of money, to our country and to others.

I wasn't in New York.  I lost no friends in the attack.  Yet I still feel sick about it.

In praise of CM Punk

If you don't follow MMA, this entry is probably not for you.

Earlier tonight, CM Punk (the wrestling name of Phil Brooks), a former WWE wrestling superstar, made his UFC debut.  After a long career with WWE, he decided to give real combat sports a shot, signed with the UFC, and started training.  He trained for about a year and a half, part of which time he was injured, and then the UFC booked him a fight with another UFC newcomer.  The newcomer, Mickey Gall, was younger, had won two pro MMA fights, and was a BJJ brown belt.  The MMA world was abuzz with discussion about Punk, and he almost certainly helped the UFC sell a lot of live tickets and PPV buys.

The fight itself proved to be a bit of a sad affair.  Gall took down Punk early in the first round, dominated him, and eventually punched him long enough and hard enough for the ref to stop the fight and Gall to get the TKO.  Punk was never in the fight.

In the octagon post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, Punk looked horrible.  His right ear appeared to be on the edge of exploding, and he was clearly badly beaten.  Yet he gave a great interview, praised his opponent, and said how much he had enjoyed getting to fight.

I ended up respecting Punk for trying to achieve what at least appears to be a real dream and for being a class act in defeat.  I don't expect him ever to be a strong MMA fighter, because he's already 37, but I am glad he gave it a go.

We could all do worse than to try to achieve unlikely goals and be gracious if we do not reach them.

Meat Loaf and Angelina Jolie

Another bit of popular culture I had missed was a Meat Loaf music video that starred Angeline Jolie.  That's a duo I would not have guessed had worked together, yet they have, as you can see.

Meat Loaf - Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through from BetaLucho on Vimeo.

What a strange piece of work this is, full of savior imagery and mullets and sidecars.  Odd indeed.

I ran into this bit of triva because Meat Loaf's new album appears late next week.

Enjoy.