Joshua P. Simon's Blog, page 31

Music Monday - Bruce Dickinson

Everyone knows Bruce Dickinson from his time fronting Iron Maiden. However, if you aren’t familiar with his solo work, you’re really missing out. In my opinion, several of his solo albums are actually better than many of Iron Maiden’s studio albums.

As you can tell from the number of videos below, it was next to impossible to choose just a couple of songs to showcase. There’s a good mix of style below so give each song a shot.

Traditional Publishers Aren't Perfect

One thing I haven’t done on my blog yet is discuss why I chose to independently publish my work. I never submitted Rise and Fall to agents or publishers. I’m not ready to get into all the ins and outs behind how I reached my decision, but I wanted to share some thoughts on the common view that traditional publishers know talent.

“Publishers can spot a good story better than anyone else.”

“If your story has been rejected, it’s because you can’t write.”

“Independent authors just don’t put as much effort into a book as traditionally published do.”

“Traditional publishers know what kind of books readers will enjoy.”

Contrary to popular belief, traditional plublisher cannot pick the next big bestseller any more than you or I can. They get it wrong much more than people assume they do.

Have you ever heard of any of these books? Harry Potter? Peter Rabbit? Twilight? Carrie? Animal Farm? The Hunt for Red October? These titles were initially rejected by traditional publishers. Many times more than once! Click here for a list of 40 famous manuscripts and you’ll be appalled at some of the big name books and classics that were turned down repeatedly before someone took a chance on the manuscript.

So what does this mean? It means that traditional publishers make a lot of mistakes and they aren’t always the best judges of talent. Trust me, I’ve read plenty of AWFUL traditionally published work. Traditional publishers can simply tell if a manuscript is right for them.

Top 10 Favorite DC Characters

I originally planned to do my top 10 comic book heroes, but realized that almost all of them were DC. Therefore, I decided to split the DC and Marvel characters into two different blog posts. Sorry Marvel fans, I’ve always enjoyed the DC characters more. I’m not giving any specific reasons behind my choices since that could make this blog post a bit longer than it needs to be. However, I will be more than happy to debate anyone in the comments. Ha.

Here’s the list:

10. Black Canary

9. Aquaman


8. Wonder Woman
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7. Martian Manhunter


6. Robin (I actually think Tim is probably the best in this role)


5. Batgirl/Oracle (Barbara is awesome in two different personas)



4. Nightwing (Dick is a much better character here than as Robin, IMO)


3. Superman


2. The Flash (Wally West in particular…though I do love some Walter West)


1. Batman


Honorable Mentions: Plastic Man, Green Arrow, Green Latern (Kyle Rayner), Big Barda

Who are your favorite DC superheroes?

Music Monday - The Monkees

Based on past Music Mondays it might be hard to believe, but I not only like the Monkees, but I also own their greatest hits. So today is a walk down memory lane…

Theme Song – I remember doing the Monkees “walk” with my sister in our living room as kids while watching the reruns on Nick at Nite


Last Train to Clarksville – probably my favorite song by them.


Two good songs that really get overshadowed by their hits.

I’m not your Steppin Stone


Pleasant Valley Sunday

Movie Reviews - Lockout and Hunger Games

Last Saturday, Leah and I had lunch and saw a double feature at the movies for our anniversary. Below are my quick thoughts on LOCKOUT and THE HUNGER GAMES.

WARNING: Minor spoilers follow…

LOCKOUT
The trailers for this movie looked really awesome as I love nothing more than a super sarcastic anti-hero in a fun action movie. The previews reminded me of all of the great 80s movies I loved and watched as a kid.

First off, this movie has a LOT wrong with it.
The editing is super choppy which makes for uneven scene transitions.There are plotholes all over the place.The special effects aren’t exactly top notch.There aren’t going to be any Academy Award nominees for the actors here.Flat out wrong information.Cheesy lines.Clichéd characters.The few twists/surprises they attempt suffer due to a poor setup.Yet, I would still recommend the film to those who like movies such as COBRA or ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK. LOCKOUT, like ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, is worthwhile because of the lead actor. Guy Pearce definitely carries this movie and reminds me of Kurt Russell or even a younger Bruce Willis. I really hope he gets into some better budgeted/casted/directed action movies where I think he would really shine.

Leah didn’t like the movie, but it brought back a lot of memories of watching COMMANDO AND BLOODSPORT over and over as a kid on WGN.

Here are the first 5 minutes of the film if anyone’s interested.



THE HUNGER GAMES
I read the trilogy about a month ago in anticipation for the film. First off, the books are great and although there is a romantic element (not a bad thing), it’s not the focus of the series at all (a good thing for me). One thing I really liked about the series, especially the first book, was that the protagonist was a strong female who had to deal with very adult issues.

The film is well done, but overall I feel the book was much better.

Pros:
Casting for the most part was great, especially Jennifer Lawrence as KatnissThe tone/feeling of the film was perfect.The look of the districts and the capital really came across well.The emotional impact was top notch, especially during the Reaping. Tough scene to watch.The inclusion of scenes with Seneca really added more depth to the games and better set up the second book in the series…..as did another scene or two that was only talked in subsequent books.
Cons:
Although the movie is over 2 hours long, I felt that another 15-20 minutes would have done it some good. Really, most of my complaints relate to cuts from the source material.Some of the early scenes in the capital really failed to capture the motivations of Katniss/Haymitch/Peeta’s strategy in my opinion. If I hadn’t read the book before seeing the movie, it would have been hard for me to understand who’s idea it was to do what and why exactly they were doing it in order to survive.The games themselves seemed a bit rushed.Food is such a HUGE part of the books that I would have liked to have seen a few comments about why it was important to the characters rather than showing it once or twice in the beginning.Cinna’s assistants are really downplayed in the movie (minor quip)The casting of Peeta grew on me, but overall I felt that the guy seemed a bit small for how he was described in the book. The guy who played Cato looked more like how I imagined Peeta (at least in size).Didn’t care for the handling of Peeta’s injury...though I did like the way his role in the games was portrayed at the end.Found it odd they never once used or mentioned Effie’s name. She was just there.
Hopefully, we can get to the Avengers in the next couple of weeks…

No More Original Ideas

You know what they say, “there are no more original ideas.” And here is more proof of that. Fantasy author, N.K. Jemisin recently announced that she will be writing a new trilogy. See below:

[T]his will be a postapocalyptic epic fantasy trilogy, set in a world of seismic magic users and enigmatic nonhumans called stone-eaters. I’m experimenting with writing the kind of trilogy that follows a single character through mutliple [sic] books.

So why do I say there aren't any more original ideas? Simple. About a year and a half ago I came up with the idea of a post-apocalyptic fantasy setting I want to pursue after I finish the Blood and Tears series. I thought, “You know, most, if not all, post-apocalyptic work is set in a future earth and I've never seen anyone tackle that subject in a true secondary world.” From there, ideas rolled and I've got a bunch of notes and possibilities scribbled down until I have the time to organize and make decisions on which direction I want to go with the story.

So, what does this mean? I guess I should have written faster. Ha.

Though Jemisin is in my TBR, I haven’t had a chance to check out her work. However, I know she is well-respected and has been nominated for several awards so I’m sure her series is going to be worth reading.

On the plus side, from the samples I have read of her writing, the short blurb above, and what I know about her from interviews, I feel pretty confident that her approach is going to probably be much different than my own. I won’t say anymore than that since I’m still months away from starting the project and don’t even know if it will fall flat or not when it does get underway.

Anyway, just thought it was interesting.

Music Monday - Rainbow

I’m a big Ronnie James Dio fan and a big Deep Purple fan. Therefore, it only makes sense for me to be a fan of the band Rainbow. I personally feel like the first few albums with Dio are the best, but I also really enjoy the music with Graham Bonnet. (Sorry Joe Lynn Turner fans, I don’t care for that era of the band.)

The first three songs below are from the Dio years and the last two songs are with Bonnet singing. If you only listen to one song, I encourage you to check out “Catch the Rainbow.” It’s a really beautiful ballad that showcases Dio’s range as a vocalist.

Man on the Silver Mountain


Stargazer


Catch the Rainbow


The coolest thing for me about Bonnet’s style is that it’s drastically different than Dio’s. The band’s music reflects the change in vocalists as well.

All Night Long


Since You’ve Been Gone

5 Years

Tomorrow is my five year wedding anniversary and I wanted to use today’s blog post to simply state how much I love my wife.

God knew it would take a special woman to make me happy, someone who could challenge me while overlooking my plethora of faults and quirky behavior.

We’ve been together for a pretty short amount of time in the grand scheme of things, yet it’s hard to imagine life before Leah and I got together. It definitely wasn’t as enjoyable. I guess it’s easy to weather a storm when you have someone you love standing beside you.

I love you babe! I hope I never have to learn how to live without you.

What Makes a Great Story? Politics

To see the previous posts in this series on what makes a great story, check out these links:
Openings - Part 1
Openings - Part 2
Description
Characters
Plot
Dialogue and Internal Thought
Prose
Humor
Romance

Politics play a large role in many of the stories I read. In fact, it’s hard to write or read any story, especially a fantasy story, without some political elements involved in the main narrative. Just look at Game of Thrones. The entire series, above all else is based upon various factions fighting for power through war, politics, marriage, etc. and just when you think you know who holds the power, you find out they don’t.

However, politics on the grand scale of Martin’s series doesn’t have to be duplicated in every story in order for it to be effective. When it comes right down to it, a good political subplot is dependent upon the characters themselves and the relationships they have with each other. The group affected can be as large as an empire or as small as a military squad. It can be as impersonal as a school board or as personal as a large family.

Here are a few quick things I believe is important for the political part of any story to work.

Make it personal. I need to care about the point of views (POV) involved and if possible the non-POV characters as well. What are their motivations behind their behavior? How did they reach their decisions? What are they concerned about?Try to establish what’s at stake as soon as possible. Why should I care about this subplot? Who stands to gain and how? Who will be hurt and how? Giving the reader this information will help raise the level of tension in the story.Don’t let politics be the complete focus of your story. Like any other story element, a writer needs to find balance. Even if the entire story is centered around politics, like a senate election set in modern times, it is important to throw in a bit of action, suspense, romance, humor, etc. in order to make those political scenes stand out to the reader.
What do you think makes a good political subplot work? Any authors you feel handle this element better than others?

Music Monday - Tainted Love

I know Soft Cell was a one hit wonder from the 1980s, but I still like their version of this song.



And just for fun, don’t forget about the version from The Coneheads. Ha.