A. Lee Martinez's Blog, page 71

Monday Musings

Saw Couples Retreat last night.  I didn't find it especially great, but I enjoyed it enough for a Red Box rental.  I did like the message that the swingin' single life can get old, and that while all of the couples learn things, it's not as if their relationships go from terrible to great.  The theme of the movie can be summed up as this:  Relationships aren't always easy, but what in life is?

I did have one complaint though.  Each of the male leads are played by rather ordinary-looking guys (...

Untitled

I'm really beginning to hate the labels liberal and conservative.  Both have worn out their welcome as far as I'm concerned.

It's not as if I don't believe their is any such animal.  There are liberals and conservatives, individuals and organizations that embody those philosophies nearly perfectly.  Yet most of us are more nuanced, more interesting than that.  Only when we admit that we ourselves or those with whom we disagree are more than labels can we ever hope to achieve genuine...

Money Money Money

Do you know what I love best about being a professional novelologist?

The paychecks.

Yes, getting paid to write is just fantastic.  I highly recommend it.

This is not to imply that I don't love lots of other great things about writing.  I do love making up stories and characters and getting to be creative.  I love it when fans tell me they've enjoyed something I've written, that it's enlightened their souls or merely made their day just a little brighter.  I like going to conventions, meeting...

Media-to-Media

If you take nothing else away from this blog post today, take this one thing.  Lockjaw & The Pet Avengers was just released in a digest form collecting the original mini-series, the follow-up one-shot comic, and the official Marvel Pets Handbook.  I know I tend to give comic books a hard time, so let's just say that this is a great all-ages superhero adventure book.  Buy it.  Enjoy it.  Thanke me later.

Onto the business at hand.

So from what I've heard, The Losers has turned out to be a box...

Blank Slate

Hi.  So I know I'm a guy who writes stories about robots and monsters, but, for better or worse, I am vaguely famous.  Between blogging about dinobots and comic books, I sometimes like to talk about more important things.  Although is anything more important than dinobots?

Let's talk about race.  Let's rap, as the kids say.

As a writer, I wrestle with race.  It's not something I particularly worry about, but it is something I have to consider.  Since most of my characters are weird creatures...

Adaptable

Watched the animated Batman/Superman: Public Enemies.  Like nearly everything done as part of the DC Animated stuff, it's exceptional.  Stuff like this tends to remind me why I used to like superheroes, before the 90's came along and ruined it all with realism and grittiness.  Really, what the hell do superheroes have to do with realism?  One only need watch Kick-Ass to realize that realism and superheroes are so opposed to one another that even a film that claims to have "Superheroes with...

Go Go Gadget Blog Entry

People read this stuff.

Frankly, that amazes me.

Why anyone would care what a humble novelologist has to say about . . . well . . . anything is beyond me.  I suppose my thoughts on writing are worth noting.  Although I think even that's a stretch because there are plenty of popular books, movies, TV shows that I find absolutely dreadful and scads of maligned books, movies, TV shows that I think are genius.  If I was truly a master of storytelling, I could explain to you why people like...

Musings

Doesn't it strike anyone else as strange that we have products to straighten curly hair and other products to make straight hair curly?  Basically, society is telling you that no matter what you look like, you need to look different.

My mind is abuzz with blog topics, but one above all dominates my mind.  Why the hell did they make a Marmaduke movie?  Really?  Why, why, why?  I'm trying not to be judgmental here, but was there a pressing need for this?  Were people clammoring for more...

Almost Famous

Everything good about modern action adventure cartoons can be traced directly to Batman: The Animated Series.  There's no arguing that, so don't even bother.  But that's not what I'm really here to post about. 

The DFWWW had our annual conference this year.  This was the third year, and it was a smashing success.  A lot of people worked hard to make it happen, and things went smoothly.  I gave a presentation that seemed to go well.  At least, nobody yelled at me, and everyone seemed happy to s...

Respected

Today, I talked to Hollywood.  Twice.

It's strange.  I never imagined that I'd be involved in this sort of business.  Probably because I never really gave it much thought.  I was so busy trying to get published, I never even bothered fantasizing about where it might go when I finally was.  Yes, for an imaginative guy, I tend not to day dream about my own future.  The future is too difficult to predict.  So I didn't bother.  I still don't.  I just take it a day at a time.

And today, Hollywood.  ...