Bryce Moore's Blog, page 205

Amazing Spiderman 2 Review

On my way out to Utah, I had the chance to watch The Amazing Spiderman 2. I’d been avoiding it, honestly. None of the trailers had really convinced me it was a good idea, and I was worried it was going to fall victim to the Spiderman 3 problem (did my reviews really use to be that short?) of having just too much in the movie. (Green Goblin and Electro and the Rhino? Not so sure about that . . . ) But the nice thing about a plane is that there literally is nothing better I’m able to do than sit there and watch something. I’m not with it mentally enough to write, I can’t focus too well on reading, so it’s movies or nothing.

My suspicions and worries were confirmed, alas.

Andrew Garfield is a fine Spiderman. I’ve got nothing against him. My beef is with the villains and the storytelling, two problems which are intrinsically connected. There are spoilers in this review, but since the movie is crummy and you shouldn’t see it, I don’t feel too bad about giving them.

Here’s the deal. The film starts with Spiderman chasing the guy who will become the Rhino. Spidey’s happy and enjoying life. He takes care of the guy with no problem. But then we discover Peter Parker’s really sad about Gwen–he’s just pretending. And they need to break up, because. Right off the bat, I’m asking a big question: what is this movie about? Is this a relationship movie? Is it Peter and Gwen figuring stuff out? Not the best topic for a superhero movie, but whatevs.

And then comes Jamie Foxx as Electro. We’ve got this huge big detour to show us how he’s picked on and ignored, and to show how he becomes Electro. And then it’s looking like the movie’s more of a Spiderman vs. Electro sort of thing, except Electro likes Spiderman. Until Spiderman shows up and Electro (for fuzzy reasons) decides actually he doesn’t like Spiderman. (I would have loved to have been present during the pitch for this movie. How in the world did they make this sound appealing?)

But wait! There’s more!

Like the proverbial infomercial of yore, we’re introduced to Harry, who’s friends with Peter but not, and also dying. Also, he becomes the Green Goblin. Spiderman beats Electro, but then there’s Green Goblin waiting to attack. And then when Green Goblin’s gone, then Spiderman still has to overcome his inner demons to show up to beat the Rhino.

Have you gotten confused yet? Fallen asleep? It’s the movie’s fault. There’s just too much going on. Three villains, several character arcs, and a plot where the goal posts keep changing. Imagine watching a football game where once they get to the end zone, they’re still not allowed to score until they kick a field goal, hit a home run, and do the hula on Dancing with the Stars.

The effects were cool, though.

I don’t know why other movie studios are having such trouble with making good superhero movies. (Batman aside.) Pick a hero. Show the hero being heroic. Add humor and a romance subplot. These aren’t terribly difficult to get right–not to make an average superhero movie. But instead they seem to think the steps are

Pick a hero
Get a lot of money
Put the money on the screen
Profit

Lame. Anyone out there want to defend this movie? Feel free. I’d love to hear some different takes on it. As for me and mine, I’m giving it a 4/10, mainly because effects and Andrew Garfield. Sigh. Waste of time.

A Report on LTUE 2015

As you know, I just got back from another sci-fi/fantasy conference, this time to sunny Utah for LTUE (Life, the Universe and Everything). One question that kept coming up time and time again was “Why did you come all the way from Maine for this?” It’s a valid question. LTUE happens the same weekend as Boskone, a convention in Boston. Why am I flying all the way across the country when I could just drive down to Boston and go to a con there? They’re about the same size, on similar topics . . . and I hate flying. Seems like a no brainer, right?

Except there are a couple of outside elements that factor into the equation. Number one, I lived in Utah for 9 years, and I have a slew of family and friends out there I like to see and get together with. True, Boskone usually attracts a few of my writer friends (and my agent), and that’s cool, but nowhere near the number of contacts I have in Utah. So being able to travel for business and see all those cool people is definitely a perk. Not only that, my writerly connections in Utah are way more robust than they are in Boskone. (Of course, this is in large part due to the fact that I spent a lot of time in writerly circles in Utah, and I haven’t taken the time to do the same in New England. Time constraints are a bummer.)

Second up is the fact that since I have so many friends and family in Utah, I have free places to stay and people who will give me rides. This means that although I have to pay for a plane ticket out to Utah, everything else is just about free. For Boskone, I’d have to foot the bill for a hotel for 2-3 nights, which is about the cost of an airplane ticket. All told, I break even when comparing the two conferences. Next year, I hear one of my writer friends is coming out from Utah to Boston for Boskone, which means I’ll probably do Boskone instead–assuming I can get on some paneling, which should be in the cards. Then again, I was on 9 panels out at LTUE. One of the main reasons I do these things is so I can introduce myself to readers and let them know I exist. Just by eyeballing the room each time and making estimates, I presented to over 600 people at LTUE. That makes the trip very worthwhile, from that perspective. Not sure if Boskone could compete in that area, but then again, I also don’t have to worry about flying with Boskone . . .

So what did I present on?

Blogging for self-promotion–Nicely attended. This one was an area where I felt like I had plenty to say, mainly coming down to three essentials: only blog if it’s something you’re interested in doing, be yourself when you blog, and be consistent–it gets better and easier with practice.
How to create a language–I was moderating on this one, which was a relief. I have my linguistics undergrad to fall back on, but seeing as how one of the panelists was a linguistics professor at BYU, that undergrad gets trumped very quickly. Still, it was an interesting panel, and I think I kept things moving nicely as the moderator. I don’t personally do much from the language creation side of things, though I did have a chance to talk about how I used language in Vodnik, which was fun.
Collectible card games–I play Magic, and I play board games, but I don’t do much from the CCG side of things other than that. I had a bit to say on this one, but my main contribution was probably strong arming Dan Wells to come appear on the panel with me. He has way more experience, and said much more interesting things.
How to revise–Probably the best attended panel I did, with 150 or so people in the audience. Lucky for me, it was also one of the ones I had the most to say about. Revising can be a real pain, but it’s also very rewarding. Great audience questions, great panelists. I was really happy with this one.
When and how to query–This panel didn’t fire on all cylinders for me, possibly because I never queried as much as I probably should have. But I also never got the chance to give my best piece of advice when it comes to querying: approach it like you’d approach getting a job. Becoming an author and being an author is very much a business. If someone told me they were trying to get a job and were discouraged, but then also admitted they’d only applied to 10 places or so, I would question their approach. Spend time researching. Yes, it’s difficult, but it also pays off.
Board games–A very fun panel that I worried about ahead of time but which I really had a blast doing once we were in it. Lots of interesting discussion. Good times.
Movie adaptations–I moderated this one, and I feel like it went well. It pays to know a fair bit about what you’re moderating, and all those years of studying film adaptations certainly helped. Nice to be on another panel with Dave Wolverton, too. Got to catch up with him briefly before and after.
YA protagonists–fun to be on a panel with Janci Patterson, especially when it’s on a topic we both have plenty of opinions about.
Hard magic vs. soft magic–Another one I moderated, thankfully. My magic systems are about as squishy as they get.

In addition to that, I played plenty of board games, went out to lunch with interesting people, squeezed in an 11pm IHOP run, signed some bo0ks, played some Magic–all while seeing a slew of family members. When you consider the fact that all of my planes ran more or less on time, and I somehow avoided the major snowstorms that have been hitting New England time and time again, then there’s no other way to look at the trip as anything other than a huge success.

Thanks to everyone who came out to see me. I had a blast, and I hope to get out to Utah again in the not-too-distant future.

Downton Abbey 5.7 Review

Yes, I have a slew of other posts to report on, but Downton does not wait in line. Downton elbows its way through the line and demands to be written about *right away*. So here I am with my gut reactions to this week’s happenings at Downton.

This week was actually another fairly solid outing for the show. Things happened, and they were things we generally care about. What a concept! Although for some random reason, the writers have decided even pets are fair game when it comes to Downton. (Either that, or they realized that in dog years, Isis was getting up there in age.)

I didn’t think it was possible. Surely, no character on earth could possibly make me want Schoolmarm to come back to Downton for dinner. And then he happened. Larry. You wouldn’t expect a guy with a name like Larry to pass muster at Downton. Perhaps that’s why he’s got a chip on his shoulder the size of an entire bag of Doritos. Or maybe he’s just disappointed he can’t drug any of the Crawley family this time (as opposed to last time he appeared, when he slipped drugs into Tom’s drink.) Why in the world Lord Merton thought he should let his sons out in public is beyond me, but I almost cheered out loud when Tom spoke up, and for a moment–one fleeting moment–I wanted to see Schoolmarm boldly rush into a cage match with Larry. I was a tad disappointed no one punched Larry, but I’m used to disappointments and Downton.
Daisy continues her campaign for “Most Easily Manipulated Person at Downton” this episode. Let’s face it. If Daisy were a Muppet, she’d be Elmo. She’s got all the smarts of a first grader.
Isobel’s gettin’ married, and I enjoyed Violet’s remarks about the change. Nice to see her show some ooey gooey filling for once.
Lady Mary has fully reverted to Season 1 condition. All traces of ooey and gooey have been hunted down and murdered in cold blood. Seriously. She’s bringing “self absorbed” to a whole new level of zen. I’m surprised when people were worried about Isis, she didn’t snark something to the tune of, “Who cares about the beast? What about my hair?” Seems like they’re overcompensating with her character, but fine. I’ll take this version over the bed hopping one any day of the week.
Rose seems to finally have made the transition from “Character We Use to Introduce Bizarre Conflicts to Downton” over to what she’s always clearly been: “Character to Replace Sybil.” Bravo, Rose. Bravo.
Bates and Anna shared a few happy scenes in this episode, which must mean they’re about to have some crushing death blows delivered in the near future. Otherwise, they’d violate what seems to be Rule Number One of Downton: No characters can ever be happy for long. Particularly not Anna.
Edith and Co. come up with a new convoluted excuse to get her daughter to Downton. Why this one should work and the other didn’t is beyond me–they both relied on the foster mother being cool with the plan. But whatever. I’m just hoping we can put this storyline to rest. In other news, is it just me, or did Edith actually look like a competent, thinking person when she was at the magazine offices? Why doesn’t she just stay there? #baffled
Why did Anna go all tattle-taley on Edith? That seemed really out of character for her. Dislike.

One more episode, and then we get the Christmas episode. Just be glad the show doesn’t operate on an American schedule. Imagine the filler episodes we’d be stuck with then . . .

Going Dark

I’m successfully out in Utah, but I’ve got nine panels and a signing to do, so I’m not going to have time to post on the blog today or tomorrow. Sorry, folks. Here’s a link to my schedule, if you’d like to see me–I’ll be at the Provo Marriott for most of today, tomorrow, and Saturday.

In the meantime, I see there’s a major snowstorm forecast for Portland right before my plane’s supposed to land. Positive thoughts about me actually getting home Sunday night into Monday would be greatly appreciated. See you all (I hope) on Tuesday!

DC Turns Seven!

It’s easy to know how long I’ve lived in Maine. All I have to do is take a look at my oldest daughter. Seven years ago, there was a big snow storm raging outside, but Denisa and I headed into the hospital anyway. Some things don’t hold off for snow, you know. That first winter in Maine wasn’t an easy one. We didn’t have a snowblower yet, we were getting continually hammered with snow, we were new to the state, first time home owners, and the proud parents of a second child. A lot of time has passed since then. This year, we’re once again getting hammered with snow, but the feel is so much different once you’ve handled it for years.

(I took a minute to go look up the post I wrote when she was born. Fun to go back down memory lane, but man were some of my blog entries pretty lame around that time. I’ve come a long way, baby.)

And DC isn’t a newborn. She’s out skiing the slopes with her mom and big brother. It’s been so interesting to be the parent of multiple children. You see firsthand how different people are, even people raised in the same environment and with the same family.

DC loves drawing, music, and (surprisingly enough) helping around the house. She loves jokes and stories, and is already an excellent babysitter as well as an up and coming Minecraft aficionado.

Very sorry to miss out on her actual birthday today. Believe me–I’d much rather be at home celebrating with the fam than to be stuck on an airplane for hours on end. But that’s the way things shake out sometimes. (Plus, she’s having her friend party today. Perhaps it’s better that I’ll be in a different state when a crew of 7 year old girls descend on my house for a dress up party. Word on the street is they’ll be doing their hair, too.

Having a daughter is a very different experience than having a son.

In any case, I just wanted to take a minute to wish her a happy birthday. I’ll have to find something cool to take back to her while I’m out at LTUE.

Happy Birthday, DC!

Downton Abbey 5.6 Review: The One Where Stuff Actually Happens

I just about had a heart attack last night. Denisa coaxed me into sitting down to watch Downton again, and I prepared myself for the worst. What could they do to me this time? My gut told me Schoolmarm would come back, arm in arm with Art Dude, and the two of them would wreak havoc on a Downton party while Rose made googly eyes at a new butler, Mary did a table dance, and Edith sat in the back, sighing and looking mopey.

Par for the course for this season, right?

I was stunned–stunned–to discover an actual decent episode for once. Apparently the writers have decided there’s been enough padding for the season. (You have to feel the pain of those poor writers. Being forced to find content for eight whole episodes a year. AND a Christmas special. I have no idea how they cope with that. /sarcasm) The episode had some honest-to-goodness highlights for once. Though it wasn’t 100% peachy keen.

 Right off the bat, let’s talk about Edith. Edith! Mopey Myrtle the Turtle Edith. The one who just sits around each episode sighing and pining for the fjords. In this episode, Edith does the Edith-equivalent of Rambo getting all the weapons strapped on and heading into the jungle to go blow up bad guys. She actually does something! My jaw is still on the floor. Of course, this being Downton, there were a few hiccups along the way. First off, I was really expecting her to commit suicide. Is that bad of me? This is Downton, and we’ve gone a whole season without a death of a major character. Edith hadn’t been doing anything really noteworthy other than look sad, so . . . But she didn’t! She went and got her baby from the she-harpy that is the farmer’s wife. (Of course, this being Downton, they couldn’t just let us feel happy for Edith finally discovering a backbone. Nope–they had to show us how much the she-harpy really loved her child, which I suppose makes sense, but it felt sort of like what would happen if, at the climax of 101 Dalmatians, we have this heart-wrenching scene where Cruela DeVille says goodbye to the puppies and talks about how all she ever wanted was just to be enveloped in an eternal puppy skin hug.) But hey–let us remember this date, for it is the date that Edith actually did something.
Mary gets a haircut. That’s right, peoples. If you guessed Season 5, episode 6 as “The Episode where someone at Downton finally gets a bob”, then you win the pool. I enjoyed seeing Mary back to her Edith-hating ways. Don’t know where it came from, but in this episode Mary somehow regressed about 3 seasons. Fascinating! But I much prefer this Mary to the bed hopping woman of the night, so bravo for that.
Lord Grantham figures out he’s a big hypocrite when Cora calls him on it. Nice, Downton. Well played.
The dog is sick. Why is the dog sick? Probably due to contract negotiations outside the show. I always thought that dog was starting to get uppity.
Mary goes for a horse race. The other time in this episode that I thought someone was going to die a grisly, horrid death. Somehow, someone kept the writers’ fingers away from the “DIE” button, and she lives for another race. Of course, they’re telegraphing her and pig man getting together, but whatever. As long as Gillypants is gone, I’m okay with things. (Note to creative types: this is how you get your audience over the death of a beloved character. Give us an alternative that’s absolutely horrendous, and then give us an out. Any out. Mary could be dating a potted plant, and I’d be better off with it than Gillypants.)
Baxter does something nice for Thomas, even though Thomas is a weasel. Yay for nice people doing nice things. Yay even more for Thomas calling Baxter daft.
Anna and Bates actually start talking again. What a concept! Though as much as I make fun of the show for it, I do believe many many struggles and conflicts in life could be solved if people just started an actual conversation. But people don’t talk about it, so the problems persist. Nice to see Bates is actually innocent. This ties up that plot line long enough for us to breathe a sigh of relief, which must mean next episode Bates gets hit by a train.
Violet hires a new maid–entertaining as always. Also loved seeing her response to Isobel actually doing things. The scene with the Prince was nice too.

It’s episodes like this that keep me from entirely giving up on the show. The sad thing is that it shouldn’t be this hard for this show to do well. Episodes like this ought to be the rule, not the exception. We’ve been doing this for 5 seasons. Don’t we have enough practice with “What Makes a Downton Episode Tick”?

Learn your lesson, writers. Please!

Getting Ready for the Meat Wagon (Plane Ride)

Oh joy. I’m going on a plane on Wednesday. This weekend, the dread has already set in. Longtime readers know how much I dislike flying. And for a guy who dislikes it, I certainly buy more than my fair share of plane tickets.

As I was prepping for the flight, the reasons to hate flying only became more apparent. Case in point: one of the few things I look forward to about flights these days is the chance to see what movies they’re showing. If I have to be trapped on a tube with wings for 6 hours, I might as well get some entertainment out of the deal, right?

Wrong.

US Airways has helpfully stopped offering any in-flight entertainment on domestic flights. Why? Because heaven forbid they might consider making some part of the trip actually enjoyable. Since 1985 (the time I can start actually remembering being on airplanes), they’ve made the seats significantly thinner, crammed them in more, taken away the (admittedly often awful) food, made it ridiculously hard to get on the plane in the first place, and now they’re taking out the movies?

THE HUMANITY!!!!

Back in the day when I was making the flight from New York to Utah on a regular basis, I remember some things I actually liked: the movies, the food (hey–I was a kid, and the food broke up the monotony of the flight), and the ability to ask for packs of playing cards from the flight attendant. (Free cards? Score!) Of course, just as I was about to start protesting how expensive plane tickets are these days, I had to go and research the statistics first. Turns out tickets are down remarkably over the years (though they have risen somewhat recently). So I guess the cheaper tickets come with consequences. Go figure.

So what am I doing to prepare for the planepocalypse? Over-preparing, as usual. If I do a lot of things to ensure as much as I can that things go smoothly, then I tend to feel marginally better about the future. For this trip that means:

Downloading 13 hours of movies ahead of time. No in-flight entertainment, US Airways? Fine. I’ll bring my own. Jerks.
Buying bus tickets ahead of time. And double and triple checking when all the departures and arrivals are.
Downloading multiple new books onto my Kindle. Not because I’ll read them all, but because what if I don’t have a book I like?
Downloading new games for my iPad. Again–spending money ahead of time somehow makes me feel more prepared.
Making out a complete packing list. (I’m pitiful, is what I am. Pitiful.)

In any case, when Wednesday rolls around, you can follow along with me as I embark on my trek to Utah. Leaving the house at 3:30 am or so. What will happen this time? Will soccer teams delay my flight again? Will I still have knees by the time the flight is over? I’ll be sure to update Facebook and Twitter with all the juicy details, so you can experience it all vicariously through me. Why would you want to do that? Because I’ve found that when you know someone out there is having a worse day than you are, your day becomes infinitely more satisfying and enjoyable.

I aim to please, folks.

Sorry Your Mom Blew Up, Ricky

I’m off to Bangor for a library meeting today, so you’re going to have to somehow make it through the day without any really insightful commentary from yours truly. To help you in this endeavor, here’s a bit of John Cusack. See you Monday!

About that To Kill a Mockingbird Sequel . . .

I love To Kill a Mockingbird as much as the next book geek. It’s a fantastic novel, and even more remarkable for being the only one Harper Lee ever published. So when they announced a sequel was on the way, I was just as excited as the rest of you, though it did strike me as odd. From everything I’d read, Harper Lee had consciously chosen not to publish anything after her first novel. For years, she’d made that decision.

Why the sudden change of heart?

It struck me as odd, and I wasn’t the only one. Someone shared this article on Facebook, highlighting many of the discrepancies in this “new book.” This piece on NPR doesn’t do much to allay those concerns. This article does even more to undermine my faith in these newest developments.

Why does it matter? It matters because an awful lot of money stands to be made, and I’m worried that it’s being made by taking advantage of a woman who (if she were still fully in charge of her future and decisions) would object to what’s going on.

An author isn’t some sort of money tree one can just shake down whenever one wants a new work. As I said, I’m a big fan of the original, but I’m also a big fan of authors having control over what they write, and what gets published.

Until I see an interview given by Harper Lee in person, on camera, I’m going to have serious doubts that any of this is above board. And as long as I have doubts, I won’t be paying money to buy a copy of this book. I’m very unhappy with how this is being treated by the publishers, agents, and editors involved, and with how it’s being portrayed in the press. The message is completely controlled by everyone but Harper Lee, the author.

Not like my opinion will count for much, but there you have it.

Trigger Discipline in Writing: When to Kill Your Characters

One of my author friends is well known online for making a big deal about something called trigger discipline. In a nutshell (and I hope I’m getting this right, Myke), it’s all about making sure people realize that you’re never supposed to have your finger on the trigger of a gun unless you’re about to fire it. Many cool posters with action heroes often get this wrong–they’ll have the hero pointing a gun casually in the air, finger on the trigger. It’s a recipe for disaster (from what I’ve been told. Remember, I am far from a gun guy.) (And by the way, Myke has a new book out you should check out if you’re into contemporary military fantasy. Hot stuff.)

This post isn’t about literal trigger discipline, which I’m sure will disappoint Myke. Rather, it’s about trigger discipline from a writing perspective. So often in fantasy (and many other books–or films), authors never really get close to pulling the trigger on their plot devices. What I mean by this is that a whole lot of energy and effort will be put into setting a character up into an impossible, difficult situation. And then, at the last moment, a miraculous way out is discovered that lets everything be okay.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that approach, I suppose. It’s the way we’ve been trained to consume media for a long time by this point. But lately, I’ve been seeing a bit of a reverse trend, inspired in large part by the success of Game of Thrones. Whatever you might think about the series (in book or television form), one thing George R. R. Martin excels at is pulling the trigger.

I remember the first time I read Game of Thrones. (Warning: spoilers for the first book ahead, though if you’re still unspoiled at this point, you’ve taken the whole “spoiler free” mantra to a whole new level of zen.) It was bloody fantasy, but it wasn’t particularly surprising or shocking–right up until Ned Stark meets the axe. I was so used to authors brandishing the gun, waving it around a lot, threatening plenty of people, and then putting it away at the last minute. To have a main character die was shocking. And not just any main character. The main character. The one we were all rooting for.

Dead.

That’s what comes to mind when I think about pulling the trigger in a novel these days: showing your audience that real things are going to happen to these people. It’s a really powerful tool that helps raise the stakes in one quick blow. So when should you use it?

Not that often.

When Ned Stark died, I wasn’t just upset. I was angry.

I didn’t want to finish the book, let alone touch the rest of the series. I managed to get over it, of course–but killing a character like that is really risky, and it’s only appropriate for certain novels. One of my writing teachers, David Farland, used to talk about the contract you make with your reader. Early on in the book, you establish what you’re going to give the reader as far as experiences go. There are conventions we’re all familiar with, and you hint at those conventions to indicate what they can expect. Then, you follow through on that contract. If you set something up as a light romantic comedy, and then you have it go all Hamlet in the middle, you’re going to anger a lot of readers. In that case, you better be one of the best writers out there to pull that off.

Of course, in hind sight, Martin was setting things up for his big gun shot. The fantasy setting is gritty and harsh enough that readers are able to overcome that shock and keep going forward with the book and series (so that Martin can continue to kill favorite characters wherever, whenever, and however he can). But you don’t have to kill characters to have the same effect of a trigger pull on a different scale. You can have the consequences for an action be more severe than anticipated, or the price a character pays for a sacrifice be even harsher. You can set up one level of expectations and then deliver something different. Something unexpected.

To make something really shocking–to have the sort of impact Stark’s death had–you need to lay the groundwork first. I’m reading a series at the moment that does the same sort of thing Martin did, by establishing a romantic interest for the heroine, and then abruptly killing him. It doesn’t work the same way as Game of Thrones, because the character never really played a pivotal part in the story. He was always filler and backstory. So when he dies, we haven’t had the chance to care about him enough to really be shocked.

Again, I’m not saying authors and writers should go around doing shocking things to their plots for no real reason other than that they can. But I do think having that possibility be there–the real possibility of a sad ending–is a tool too many of us dismiss too lightly and too quickly.

Just food for thought on this fine Wednesday . . .