Michael Offutt's Blog, page 162

Excited for the return of HBO's A Game of Thrones

I think that I would be remiss in not admitting my outright excitement for the return of this Sunday's "Game of Thrones" on HBO. I know that I have, from time-to-time taken different looks at Mr. Martin's books. I was not impressed with A Dance With Dragons as an example...but that comes from me being frustrated that I feel Mr. Martin has turned into a capitalist who seeks to milk every penny from his franchise as opposed to giving us the story that so strongly permeates the first three books of his series.

Season two is all about the book A Clash of Kings. And this my friends, is a masterpiece. For those of you who haven't read the books and are concerned that there is no one to step in and fill the void left behind by the death of Ned Stark, I want to assure you that the tales of Westeros do not stop with him. I'm looking forward to seeing Tyrion, Cersei, Jaime, and Daenerys develop. I'm interested in new characters...Milisandre of Asshai, Stannis Baratheon, and Daenerys' dragons (which will become characters unto themselves).
If I had to say one thing about George's fantasy, it's that it got me interested in reading the genre again.  I had wandered into general fiction (which still makes up the bulk of my reading list).  I'd read most of Vonnegut's books, I'd explored non-fiction by reading Hawking, read some young adult (and didn't find it necessarily to my liking), but I hadn't read fantasy (the stuff that I read as a kid) in years.  George changed that with his books. And he seems to be the one that I kind of stick with because, as I've explored other fantasies, they all strike me as knockoffs of what George managed to do, and I wonder how long that trend is going to continue.
I'm really not a fan of knockoffs.  Just to illustrate what I mean by this term, I've heard that "Divergent" is a knockoff of "The Hunger Games"--I've read the Hunger Games...but not Divergent. Again, it's only what I've heard from reading what people write online. I honestly don't care because I'm not going to read Divergent anyway. But it may serve to illustrate my point.
George's story is first and foremost about power. It's an epic that really kind of reinvented fantasy by introducing a psychological component. Instead of a black and white struggle of good vs. evil, it is a complex examination of real world characters who pursue their own interests. I'm excited to dive back into this backstabbing, power-grubbing, drama-filled murderous tale of the most flawed human beings and their struggle to outdo one another by screwing each other over in the most hate-filled ways. Really...it's like looking at our own government. I shall be participating in the A-to-Z challenge starting this Sunday. Have a great Friday and Saturday.

One man's journey down the path of atheism, part 2

Last week, Mr. James Salmonsen spoke of the first part of his journey down the path of atheism. You can find that post HERE.  Now he is ready to talk about part 2 of his journey.

*****

Greetings readers. In my previous article, I told of my first steps toward anti-theism. I left off as I went into college where I identified myself as "spiritual" instead of "religious".

The next leg of my journey took me a few years of school and study. I had left the LDS church, although I still found myself defending it from some truly IGNORANT people. When I say ignorant, I don't just mean they "just didn't know". I mean they had a few scoops of dipshit in them too. I had one guy ask me if it were true that when Mormons were married in the temple, doesn't the guy performing the ceremony get to have sex with the woman first?
During this time, I took my first astronomy class. (That's the one without the horoscopes). This was the first time I realized exactly how BIG the universe was.

Big is such an inadequate adjective. We do not have a word that can describe how large the universe is, because with our limited human minds, we cannot even CONCEIVE of how large it is. I could throw a number at you – 28 billion light years in diameter – 300 sextillion stars – a large factor of that number in planets and moons. All of this is irrelevant, because humans are not capable of visualizing such space. And this, my fellow insignificant specks – is just what we can see with our most advanced technology. It is possible there is more. There has been speculation (no proof) of layer upon layer of alternate dimensions. What if our universe is to the whole of reality as a single galaxy is to our known universe? No proof as of yet, but an interesting thought. Suffice to say, what we DO know of the universe is quite enough for my point.

Before you go catatonic thinking of that, I'm going to go into reverse. The same concept of infinite outward space going the other direction. The SMALLEST thing visible to the naked eye is just the start of what we have learned about the (lets call it) microverse. Things we can can only see with an optical microscope are huge compared to things we can see with an electron microscope. We can drill down further to protons and neutrons and make accurate hypothesis toward their nature. And, we have hypothesized things even smaller. But, you get the idea. The normal human brain cannot conceive of these things.

Next, we can talk about other forces. Gravity: force so strong that light can't escape. Temperature: 15 million (estimated) kelvin in the heart of our teeney weeney star we call Sol. (100 degrees Celsius = 373.15 kelvin) Mass: Stars so great they almost equal the diameter of our entire puny solar system. Time: Billions of years (estimated) from the birth of this universe until now. With the possibility that we are simply in a cycle of expansion and contraction of our universe that has been going on infinitely.

Please click HERE for a nifty animation demonstrating size. Don't play with this while under the influence of hallucinogens.

I remember explaining this idea to my LDS mother during a visit home from college. This was the same trip where she asked me if my girlfriend thought I was a virgin, and I burst out laughing. (Mother had some revelations that day.)

The sum of all human knowledge in reality is small. It is fragile. It is incomplete. Much of it may be wrong. We have expanded that knowledge and applied it in ways that would have been inconceivable to people even 200 years ago.
Faith had no part in the construction of this marvel, at which I sit to impart
this supreme knowledge to you, instantly, from hundreds of miles away.Do not tell me that being an atheist means I do not believe in something bigger than myself, or that the world holds no joy or wonder.

At this point in my life, I could no longer believe in a higher power. I was no longer "spiritual" in the sense that I believed in some entity out there watching over us. It makes no sense that an entity so powerful - so impossibly unknowable – cared if any of the billions of human beings:

Went to church on Sunday.Had sex before marriage.Stole items from each other.Mumbled wishes in the night.Believed in one or another of the hundreds of religions on the planet.(Insert any religious belief here)
At this point in my life, I was agnostic. But, I still had a way to go.

Thanks for reading.

Discussing the A to Z challenge with Ms. Tortured Artist

I am sitting in Cafe Pretentious and talking with Ms. Tortured Artist.

"How's it goin?" I ask.
"It iz going," Ms. Tortured Artist replies.
"Good. Good. Are you joining the A to Z challenge?" I ask. "I'm gonna have a Pixar theme with goofy dancing gifs!"
"Pleaze. I am a real writer. Real writerz...they do not do thiz thing...theezze childish blog memez and blog awardz. I only put thingz on my webzite that speak of my writingz...which no one in ze werld has zeen before. I bare my zoul, and people will someday know I am ze next Ztephanie Meyer. I am ze next Zuzanne Collinz."
"Oh. Well in the meantime, you don't have a job right now and have plenty of time. Since you're a nobody like me, maybe you could do these memes and participate so people don't view you as stuck up. You know...kinda like working at Wal-Mart is beneath you even though there's lots of people that work at Wal-Mart."
Ms. Tortured Artist glares at me.  "I'm not ztuck up! I'm just mizunderztood. My writing...it evokez pazzion. A young woman...she lozes her first love to the zea, but he comez back...only zhe iz in love with another. He comez back from the zea for her."
"Ah! Mermaids. I love great mermaid stories. There's a gazillion of those. I read one where--"
"--HOW DARE YOU? It iz notz mermaidz! How dare you dizzmizz it az if someone haz written thiz before!?"
I swallow. "Uhh...There's something like 900 mermaid stories alone on Goodreads..."
"When I get an agent. When I getz my book deal. You will all zee. You will all be jealouz of my zuccezz. I zhall be famouz! And it iz you who will ztill be doing theze memez while I am zigning bookz for my fanz. No one can write like me!"
*****
Don't forget to sign-up for the A to Z challenge ladies and gents. There's only a few days left. Unless...ahem...of course you are the Tortured Artist. Then I wish you well with your massive agent and book deal plans. But let's be honest, if you were the Tortured Artist, chances are you wouldn't even be visiting my website as that would be "beneath" you. :P If you don't know where the sign-up is, click the button on the right sidebar. It will take you to Alex J. Cavanaugh's website and from there, it's easy peasy.

Wanted: Dead or Undead by Angela Scott

This weekend, I read Angela Scott's book Wanted: Dead or Undead, and I loved it.

I award it five stars out of five. It's a quick, smooth, entertaining read. The first thing that amazed me was the language. Angela creates a southern accent in everything, including the prose between all of the dialogue. It isn't annoying. Rather, for me it immerses me completely in the atmosphere of this apocalyptic world.

Several times, I found myself picturing some of the old west skits in the classic Star Trek series.  The zombies were so gross and so evil, that even when they weren't attacking, I could feel their presence in the world. I knew that this wasn't a traditional western...and that's why I kind of pictured the Star Trek westerns in my head as opposed to real westerns (like the kind Clint Eastwood makes). Things were just different. One stepped removed from what I was used to. And it had the effect of making everything fresh and exciting.

Angela approaches zombie lore in a brilliant way. Her heroine (Elisabeth a.k.a. Red) is like a composition of Michonne from the Walking Dead and Sara played by Shirley MacLaine in the movie Two Mules for Sister Sara.

Angela approaches her zombie apocalypse like most writers. She doesn't explain it. And the story is about survival. Where it gets clever, is how the characters survive and through the strange powers that Red manifests.

The tale doesn't get too scary. But there are definitely some shocking moments. And Angela does not hold back on the gore. But honestly...who reads a zombie story and doesn't want gore?

Buy Angela's Book HERE
Visit Angela's Blog HERE

Showtime's Shameless. Writing so good, it soars.

Shameless is one of my favorite shows. It's created for Showtime and is the story of a very dysfunctional family that somehow, manages to find love and function despite extreme poverty. It's a story of survival and opportunism and is probably one of the most heart-breaking, yet uplifting shows I have ever seen. The scene below, in the pilot episode, made me tear up. This writing is incredible. Please watch the embedded clip and get ready for some seriously heavy romance. Grab a tissue. This is a conversation between Fiona and Steve (who loves Fiona so much). Fiona is a girl who has been denied her childhood because she has to care for her brothers and sisters. Mom left; dad's a drunk, and it's only her. And life hasn't been kind. Not one bit.
FIONA played by Emmy Rossum STEVE played by Justin ChatwinSteve: "Hello"
Fiona: "If that wasn't bullshit, what was I wearing?"
Steve: "Huh?"
Fiona: "First time you saw me...if that wasn't a lie."

Steve:  "Black top with gold trim, black shiny jeans, thin shoes...straps...sandals...with your hair pinned high. Dangly gold earrings that made me smile. A big watch...too big. So subtle arm movement looked great. And you were dancing next to a red-haired girl in a green dress."

Fiona: "Yeah yeah. Jenna. It was Jenna's birthday. So you were...were watching her...who's a lot better lookin' than me."

Steve: "You think so? Really?"
Fiona: "Yeah...so how come you're not stalking Jenna?"

Steve: "Because you-y-you think like that and Jenna doesn't. Jenna dances for an audience and you dance like there's no one else in the room. Your life's not simple, Fiona and you can't stop it from showing me 'cause you're no fake, you're not lost, you don't need finding. This whole city belongs to the Jennas, but I'm sick of them. I swear Fiona you're nothing like anyone I've ever met! You make me want to enjoy my life again! Are you there?...Fiona?"

It's writing that's so good, it soars. Please please watch the clip. You won't regret it. The embedded video is unwatcheable on Apple iPad and iPhone. I assume it has something to do with flash. Also the video comes from a Chinese server because YouTube had embedding blocked for the exact same video clip. So I went to a lot of trouble to show this to you guys!

Happy Monday.

The noble houses of A Game of Thrones

I'm getting very excited that HBO's Game of Thrones is returning with an action-packed, fantasy-filled, second season. I do like the world of Westeros, so I wanted to chime in on the different houses. HBO did videos for each one to get people interested in picking a side. But, I'm not going to show those even though I watched them. As a reader, I haven't picked a side as much as I've enjoyed all the story arcs. Here are the houses from my perspective.
House Lannister. The only one of the Lannisters that I like is Tyrion. He's clever and smart. Yet Jaime has shown remarkable growth after he had his sword arm cut off. I still don't much like him though. The Lannisters are smug and pretentious. They all have lily white skin, blue eyes, and blond hair. I would liken them to Hitler's "master race" with all the superiority that issues from such a statement. I think that this house would appeal to anyone that could identify with the need of feeling superior to someone else exclusively because of beauty or wealth and not ability. Lannisters are manipulative. They are the people that plot and plot if not against you...then each other. You can't trust a single one of them.
House Baratheon. I did like King Robert even though I thought he made a terrible monarch. I also like Renly (his younger brother) because he's gay and that (in my book) makes him more open-minded and understanding, because he has had to live in a world where people just assume that everyone is straight (and that this is natural). The Baratheons are a tough, honest house. This means that they won't lie to you. It also handicaps them because they assume everyone is like them and that's not true. They tell it like it is whether or not you care for their opinion. And they do know how to party. A Baratheon is the kind of person that would have your back in a fight. They have honor and I think that would be important to me in this world.
House Targaryen. Daenerys' brother died in season one and he was condescending, pompous, demanding, and evil. Daenerys herself has these same traits, but to a much lesser extent. Like about 5% of what her brother had. This I think seems to be at a tolerable level for someone that is a ruler of many people.  She's also cool-headed, intelligent about what she does, and seems to be quite calculating.  She's also fiercely loyal to anyone that serves her just so long as you do not cross her.  I also like that.  She's got your back even more so than a Baratheon.  I like Daenerys (not necessarily her house) and if I had to choose, I'd be in her camp and would predict that she would make the best ruler on the Iron Throne.
House Greyjoy. I hate this house. I wish George had not included it. Theon is a waste of skin (the irony is that he gets skinned). Asha sucks. They are a bunch of backstabbing, power-grubbing, rapists and murderers who live on the sea like pirates. I just really can't say anything I like about the Greyjoys. They are as likeable as a squid (shown prominently on their banner). I honestly can't say anything good about this house. There only existence, it seems, is to get involved with Daenerys at some point because as it is, her story has gotten boring.
House Stark. I loved this house. They are romantics. Loyal, honest, knightly, and hard-working. The decimation of the Starks leaves a sour taste in my mouth because they were legitimately good people.  And in A Dance with Dragons, Bran is doing some weird spiritual thing with trees that makes me wonder if George is smoking weed. I don't get how any of Bran's powers are even remotely tied to the story. Everytime he goes off on a Bran chapter, I think, "Okay another waste of fifty pages where some crippled boy flies around and teleports through trees but doesn't do anything and no one cares because...well...no one cares."

Anyway, Season 2 starts on April 1st. I'm really excited because it's sexy, romantic, cunning, dangerous, and all around riveting. And I'm most excited about the new character of Melissandre (sp?). She's just dang cool.

Which house are you?

One man's journey down the path of atheism

James Salmonsen at the BellagioToday, I am having a guest post written by my best friend, James Salmonsen. I have known James almost twenty years, and he is a very intelligent, articulate man. He wants to talk about his atheism. But I do want to tell you that James has many facets. Another of them is his cooking which is as good or better than Rachael Ray.

James does not mean to offend with this post (he can be snarky). Merely he seeks to explain his beliefs and the events that occurred in his life that made him believe that there is no God. If you are interested in one man's journey down the path of atheism, please read on and comment below:

* * *Greetings readers.  Myname is James and I am proud to say that I am the source of some inspirationfor Mike.  For those of you who have readMike's blog for some time, you will have undoubtedly read something posted byMike that we have talked about and it subsequently became a blog post.  Mike is one of the three roots in my life,and he has asked me to guest blog occasionally. "Go off on an atheist rant" I think were his exact words.  I may guest-blog about other things in thefuture, but for now.....I shall rant.

To start, I would like to tell the story of my path toanti-theist. All people on earth are born not knowing and therefore notbelieving in Gods.  The random chance ofwhat family one is born into usually determines which religion one believes in– if any.  My random chance placed meinto an LDS family living in Montana.  Iwas made to go to church on Sundays, I went to seminary before school andattended different LDS functions up into high school.   As a Mormon, I grew up knowing that other religions in theUS viewed my religion as a cult.  I knewfrom my study of the Bible and the BoM, that Mormons believed everything thatmost Christians in America believed in, plus a little bit more.  I remember often wondering why these sweatyevangelical preachers on Sunday TV were so full of hatred towards us when wewere so similar.  This thought inretrospect was the first yellow brick down the road to anti-theism.
I do clearly remember when I started to lose faith in myreligion.  It was because of Jim Bakkerand Jimmy Swaggart.  Younger readers willnot know those names - but fortunate you! - there is Wikipedia.  Go ahead. Look them up.  Also – here is apicture of that toxic, crypt keeper look-alike Tammy Faye Bakker (wife of Jim)for your viewing pleasure while we wait.
BEFORE:  AFTER: I believe it is quite possible she contracted cancer fromall the make-up she wore.
Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart are the #1 and #2 reasons whyI left the LDS church.  It certainlywasn't because they had any relevant arguments against the LDS faith.  It wasn't due to fear of their version of theall-mighty sky-father sending me to eternal torment.  It's because both of these religious leadersat the time were caught in sex scandals and Bakker was caught embezzlingMILLIONS as well! 
At first, my mind said, "HA! Take that you hypocritical twats! You are on TV ranting about the immorality of MY religion, and you areout committing adultery, stealing and lying? You are the leaders of your churches and you're just a couple of conmen!  Mormons believe in the same thingsyou do, and you're supposed to tell us how God wants us to behave?  How dare you try and instruct anyone on howto live right!  Hey.  Wait. We believe in the same things you do......Hold on just aminute...rewind."
Before that time, I was too young to realize something.  We are all just people.  All of us. Preachers and Bishops and Elders aren't special.  They have no special knowledge.  I saw these two con men fall, and that mademe look at my own church's leaders.  Theywere just people too!  Once I realizedthis fundamental (pun intended) truth, I stopped taking their word as authorityand started looking at the ideas they were teaching me instead.  The more I looked, the less I believed,because it simply didn't make sense.  Itlooked more and more like fairy tales, mythology and fantasy writing.  I started THINKING CRITICALLY – and knowledgeis the death of faith.
From this time into my early college years, I had officiallyin my mind left the LDS church.  Iidentified myself as "spiritual" and not "religious". 
The next breakthrough concept I had, cured me of that"spiritual" phase.... and will be the subject of my next guest-blog.
Thanks for reading.

The Star Wars Blogathon Challenge

Today, I'm posting my entry into Briane Pagel's ingenious Star Wars Blogathon that is happening at his blog located HERE . The goal is to post a 250-word story in which a character from one of your works in progress tries to write a Star Wars fan fiction. The key is to get this done BEFORE March 25th, so I'm squeaking in a few days under the wire. My entry is 248 words.

***
    "What are you working on, Kat?" Jordan asked his sister.
    "An 'ode to Luke's face'," she said. "He was so handsome in Star Wars that it was difficult getting used to how much he changed when we watched Empire right afterwards. I still liked him…it's just his nose was all I could notice for like the first hour of the film."
    Jordan chuckled. "Yeah. He got messed up because of a huge car wreck in Corvette Summer. That's why they invented the whole Wampa ice creature sequence. It was Lucas' attempt to explain away why Luke's face got all mashed up."
   "So that wasn't originally going to be part of the film?"
   "Nope," Jordan said.
   "Well that sucks. Instead of reissuing Star Wars, Lucas should reboot the first three films and just hire actors with faces that aren't messed up. Then there'd be no need for a Wampa ice creature."
   "Who would play Luke?" he asked.
   She took a long hard stare at her brother who had sandy blond hair, blue eyes, and a slender build. "You could, but I doubt you could act."
   "And why do you say that?" he asked defensively.
   "Because jocks don't have the head for it."
   "Okay, you either grossly complimented Lucas just now by saying that the actors that he hired for his Star Wars films were really good, or you just insulted me by implying I can't possibly act with any ability. Which is it, Kat?"
   She smiled and said nothing.
Before the accident in "Corvette Summer" After the accident from "Corvette Summer"

H.R. Giger's Alien movie concept art revisited in Prometheus

H.R. Giger is in my opinion, a mad genius. I own a couple of his "coffee table" art books, and they are scary stuff. I own Biomechanics, H.R. Giger's Alien, and his Necronomicon. In reading about him, I discovered that within his lifetime he has rubbed elbows with just about every major artist in the world including Ridley Scott and Salvatore Dali. He's had a girlfriend that committed suicide, is the atypical primadonna with huge demands and uncompromising work ethic, and is notoriously difficult to work with.

But his art captures my imagination the same as artist Michael Whelan (if you don't know who this is, you could google his name). Or, you could just visit my post that I wrote on Michael Whelan HERE . I also talk about him extensively on a post on general cover art featuring books by Patrick Dilloway, Cindy Borgne, and Andrew Leon. You can find that post located HERE .

In my ever growing excitement for this summer's Prometheus, I revisited the afore-mentioned H.R. Giger's Alien, and it looks like to me, from the trailers that are now available for viewing online, that Ridley Scott is revisiting the ground-breaking artwork that this crazy guy created for 20th Century Fox (that was scrapped from the 1978 film). Here are my comparisons.

First off the Alien Pyramid concept in which H.R. Giger originally wanted 20th Century Fox to use on the planet LV-426 (NOTE: You can click on these to make the picture bigger for your viewing pleasure).
Contrast this image above with the one that I pulled from the Prometheus trailer below:
And then there is H.R. Giger's Alien Heiroglyphics which also got scrapped from the original 1978 film:
Compare this with the heiroglyphic sequence that I captured from the theatrical trailer in which Michael Fassbender utters "Tell me that you can read this..."
And of course, they are still going with the original design for the derelict spacecraft, the space jockey pilot, and the interior of the ship--all of which was designed by H.R. Giger. Since the derelict spacecraft features so prominently in the trailer, I'm not including screen captures of it. But it is identical to the drawings below. Note the odd shape of the portals that lead into the derelict spacecraft from the original Alien movie. They are intentionally shaped like a vagina because H.R. Giger uses a lot of phallic symbols and vaginas in his artwork (and I mean tons).
Interesting, eh?

A King has his reign, and then he dies.

Those are the words spoken by (I believe) Noomi Rapace's character at the start of the amazing second trailer for Prometheus, which was unveiled at Wonder Con just this weekend. Knowing just a smidge about this film, I think that the words are chilling because the context may be a double entendre.  The "king" may also refer to man's domination of the universe and how it may eventually end:And here is the viral Weyland Industries birth of David the Androidthat was also released this weekend.For those of you who are new to my blog, 'Prometheus' is a sci-fi film based on the Alien universe. It stars Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace and was shot on the RED Epic cameras and the Element Technica ATOM 3d rig. It releases in June 2012.

Director: Producer: Cinematographer:
Dariusz Wolski had this to say about the Epic camera and his work on Prometheus:

"In my opinion, the new Red Epic camera is about to revolutionize all spectrums of the film industry.

I am amazed with the quality of the image and the fact that you can shoot 5k at 120fps without compromising resolution, and...most of all...the size of the camera. 

Combined with the Element Technica Atom 3d rig, we will be able to shoot a 3d movie with the flexibility of a conventional cinema camera. 

I don't see anything that comes close to it at the moment. I can't even imagine the potential Epic will have on the big blockbuster industry as well as independent cinema."

HERE is my post on the TED video wherein Peter Weyland explains the myth of Prometheus.
HERE is my post showing Prometheus fan art.
HERE is my post of the entire Prometheus plot. Warning: SPOILERS! But it's epic.
HERE is a link to my Christmas Post wherein I embed the first Prometheus trailer.
HERE is my first post on Prometheus.