E.R. Torre's Blog, page 22

Coronavirus Diaries 33

It feels as if -at least around where I am- there’s a sense of things just about to slip back into some kind of normal.

We’re not there, but the COVID-19 numbers are dropping quite a bit and the amount of vaccinations is high. However, the number of people vaccinated each day is starting to… drop.

In early/mid April we were getting to the point of having 3 million plus vaccinations per day, but the latest numbers have gone down to some 2 million per day (check out the stats here).

The thing that worries some is that there are those who are resistant to getting a vaccination. Be they anti-vaccers (sadly, I know at least two) or simply in some kind of political denial (looking at you, Ted Nugent).

Regardless, according to the latest statistics, 32.3% of the U.S. total population now has gotten the full vaccination(s) (ie, if you had Moderna or Pfizer, you got both shots versus the one shot for Johnson & Johnson). Obviously, the number is higher when talking about people who have had but one shot and are waiting for the second and final one.

Regardless and according to this article, the so-called “Herd Immunity” for COVID-19 is expected when some 70-80% of the U.S. population has been vaccinated. Given where we’re at, we’ve need to double the current amount of people vaccinated to be approaching this level.

Plus, there remains the problems outside the U.S., particularly in India, which present the scary possibility of the COVID-19 virus mutating and maybe becoming resistant to vaccines.

This hasn’t happened yet -current vaccines appear to work against the variants- but it could happen.

At times and while reading the various articles on the subject, It feels like we’re on some kind of razor’s edge, with the possibility things moving either way.

I try to be optimistic but notice that less and less people seem interested/willing to mask up. Though I have already had both my vaccinations, I still mask up whenever I’m around others and do try to keep my distance even then.

I’ll be really curious to see where we are in one, then two months’ time. It’s possible we’ll see considerable drops in both infection rates and (crossing fingers) deaths but, again, it depends on how many people decide they should get vaccinated versus those who are resisting.

We’ll see.

…Wow…

After a few failed attempts, SpaceX’s Starship makes its first successful landing…

I’m of the generation -though I arrived to it very late- that’s still blown away by technological advances in the space program… a program that, sadly, seems to have been on the backburner since the heady days of the Cold War.

I also know that for all the grief -some very much self-inflicted- that Elon Musk gets, one can’t help but be impressed by both Tesla and SpaceX. It’s truly incredible that someone has managed to make a successful car company -not an easy feat on its own as countless other attempts by other individuals have failed!- but also change the paradigm of what cars can be by moving to electric…

…and with SpaceX, the company is pushing the U.S. space efforts forward into fascinating new directions.

If it weren’t for this damn pandemic and global warming (which seems scarier and scarier with each new scientific revelation), I’d be yelling out at what a fascinating time it is to be alive!

Omega Doom (1996) A (Apocalyptically Belated) Review

Ah, .

Probably one of the bigger influences on my creative works through the 1980’s. The character of B’taav, the Independent who is one of the protagonists in my Corrosive Knights series, was based on Rutger Hauer and French actor …

I loved his appearances -brief yet stunning as it was- in Blade Runner, which will probably be viewed as his seminal role. But he was so great in The Hitcher, Ladyhawke, and Nighthawks.

He was also great, IMHO, in lesser films like Wanted: Dead or Alive and Split Second.

If you go over to Mr. Hauer’s IMDb page, you’ll find a massive 175 acting credits to his name. Looking over the many works he did post 2000, it was clear that though he remained quite active and in demand, his greatest days were behind him before he passed away in 2019.

The reality, sadly, is that even in the later 1980’s Mr. Hauer was beginning to appear in lower budgeted films, some of which were …uh… questionable in quality.

In 1996 he appeared in the film Omega Doom, which some consider the absolute nadir of Mr. Hauer’s starring films. Here’s the movie’s trailer:

Let me start by saying until yesterday I never saw this film. Further to that, my understanding is that the film is related, perhaps obliquely, to the 1989 Jean-Claude Van Damme film Cyborg. This is because the movie’s director, , was behind both films as well as a few others set in the Cyborg universe.

Anyway, let’s get this out of the way: The film is quite terrible.

It features a meandering plot which directly lifts -or rips off, depending on how kind you want to be about it- Yojimbo/A Fistful of Dollars.

The plot is that in a post-apocalyptic world, the sole survivors are robots that were built to destroy humans. The robots have formed their own “tribes” and fight against each other but one robot, Hauer’s Omega Doom (yeah, that’s the character’s name!) sustained an injury to his head which made him lose his original murderous programming. He’s effectively become a “good guy” who roams the apocalyptic world and happens to stumble upon a small town which has two robot sides -who would normally be fighting against each other- living in a weird uneasy truce. There’s also a bartender and a robot “head” being kicked around.

Omega Doom enters this town and, like Yojimbo/A Fistful of Dollars, he will work both sides against each other. But the story is presented almost incoherently and at the end two prominent characters introduced early on simply disappear, never to be seen again.

What happened?

Further, the movie’s effects are mostly amateurish at best and downright embarrassing at worst. Oddly enough, I would have been more forgiving had the film been released in the 1980’s rather than 1996.

…and yet…

The acting in the film is actually pretty damn good. Much better than one would think.

Then there’s Rutger freaking Hauer.

He’s very good in a role that, as I mentioned before, is essentially a re-tread of Toshiro Mifune in Yojimbo and Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars. Don’t get me wrong: He doesn’t necessarily goes outside his comfort zone yet he’s got his charisma going and is an intriguing presence.

As I also mentioned, most of the small cast around Mr. Hauer are pretty damn good as well.

is very sympathetic as the Bartender who wishes all the violence would stop. Likewise, is fun as the “Head”, a decapitated robot head that is battered around but is helped by Hauer’s Omega Doom.

The other actors -and there aren’t that many!- playing the various villains are also quite good.

One can’t help but wonder if the film had a better budget and stronger effects along with a more polished script this movie might have a far better reputation than it does.

As it stands, though, I can’t recommend Omega Doom to anyone out there other than big fans -like me- of Rutger Hauer.

Coronavirus Diaries 32

As bad as news has been about COVID-19 in Brazil and especially India, news in the United States regarding cases and hospitalizations/deaths are looking up.

Nicole Karlis over at Salon.com writes how…

We’re about to hit an “inflection point” in COVID-19 cases — here’s why

Though we’re not completely out of the woods and there are still dangers lurking around us -particularly regarding variants of the COVID-19 virus- it appears the numbers of people both getting infected and being hospitalized and dying are generally trending downwards.

The “inflection point” is the point where we may have finally gotten control over this virus, where enough people have been vaccinated to the point where we may be seeing the beginnings of the end of the virus and the return to “normalcy”.

There have been a hell of a lot of people vaccinated and unless you’ve been living under a rock -or are a little too enamored of the right wing punditry- the credit for this goes almost entirely to the Biden administration which, going into office, made it a priority to both manufacture and distribute vaccines.

As of today, we’re somewhere around 42.38% of the U.S. population which has been vaccinated and its been noted that we should have on the higher end 80% of people vaccinated to truly decimate/defeat the virus once and for all.

However, simply having this large figure -and vaccines are being administered at a blistering pace (On Saturday, some 4 million shots were administered!)- is damn good news.

I’ve noted before that perhaps we’re starting to see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, and it all starts with the vaccination process.

I’m glad the United Stated -and especially the Biden administration- has been so on top of this. There’s word they’re going to start shipping vaccines to other countries and, frankly, this is also to be commended. We won’t get this virus under control until a good chunk of the world’s population is indeed vaccinated, and the quicker the better.

Hopefully, that light at the end of the tunnel grows brighter and brighter as the next few weeks and months pass.

Elon Musk… hosting Saturday Night Live?

Sorry I’ve been away from these parts for a few days… been busy moving my daughter -who finished her University studies- and is moving out of her apartment and needed help doing so.

…My back this morning sure does appreciate that fact…

Anyway, there’s been interesting news and events and we’re still in the middle of the Coronavirus Pandemic and I remain disheartened to find some people in other parts of the state ignoring using masks. For example, there’s this terrific Pizza place near my daughter’s apartment -how I wish I had this place close to home!- and I was totally shocked when I went into the place to pick up our order and found the entire staff of the place -a smallish, closed in restaurant- operating without using any masks.

In fact, the only masks I saw were from people who came in to pick up their orders!

Anyway, as I said, there’s been other news, perhaps things more important than this, but Elon Musk, the CEO of electric car maker Tesla and SpaceX, will host Saturday Night Live on May 8th (right around the corner!) and Dean Obeidallah over on CNN.com feels…

Elon Musk doesn’t deserve to host Saturday Night Live

While acknowledging the fact that having someone as high profile as Mr. Musk as the show’s host, Mr. Obeidallah feels:

(Saturday Night Live) should do better than bestowing that honor on Musk, given his irresponsible statements about Covid-19 and his insensitive comments surrounding the transgender community.

“Honor” being invited to host SNL.

I mean, I can see his point. When the Pandemic was first raging, Mr. Musk did indeed make some outrageous comments regarding the pandemic. Indeed, he seems to me like the people at that Pizza place I mentioned above, someone who discounts the seriousness of Coronavirus.

But…

His statements may well be silly -or well beyond- but they’re not quite as outright stupid as some others I’ve heard. Looking at you, MyPillow Guy and Ted Nugent, not to mention one Donald J. Trump… who actually has hosted the show, though I would grant you it was before he became the nightmare president we’ve had to deal with.

Besides, SNL is, like it or not, a show where they can do what they want within the parameters of what is allowed by the station it runs on.

Having said all that, and acknowledging that I love my Tesla Model 3 even as I sometimes cringe at what Elon Musk says… I wonder if the episode will be any good.

Elon Musk, as clever as he is with his businesses, is something of an awkward public speaker, at least IMHO.

I can’t help but wonder that his appearance, regardless of some of the controversial things he’s said, will be a dud only because I don’t know if he has the acting/comedic chops to be a successful host.

We’ll certainly see in a few weeks, won’t we?

Book Reviews

Over on Reddit they had an interesting discussion regarding negative book reviews (you can check it out here) and it reminded me of my own personal book review horror story.

As an independent author, I very much appreciate and love when readers take time to review my books. Thankfully, the bulk of the reviews have been positive and, again, I so very much appreciate it.

However, there was this one time I had a review on Amazon.com for one of my novels that really set me off.

While I don’t have the exact quote (I’ll explain in a moment) the reviewer stated something to the effect of: “This was not the book I wanted to order” and gave my novel a 1 star review.

The reason I don’t have the exact quote is because I wrote to Amazon and requested they remove this review.

What the reviewer was essentially saying was that they somehow mistakenly ordered my book instead of whatever they wanted, were pissed off -I can only suppose!- that my book was out there confusing them, and therefore I deserved a 1 star review for being a pain in the ass… or something.

I told Amazon.com that the review made no sense. They were not reviewing my actual product but were somehow upset by their own actions and were taking my book down (the overall stars went down as the book had just been released and had few reviews) with their 1 star review.

To give credit to Amazon, they took the review down.

But I know there are many other bad reviews out there that make no sense.

Perhaps the one I see far too often involve giving 1 star reviews for delivery of books, where the package is mauled or wet or the book is damaged in transit… and that somehow is the fault of the author of the book how?

Ah well.

Derek Chauvin

Yesterday the jury returned a verdict of guilty to all three counts against ex-police office Derek Chauvin who was infamously filmed during the arrest -and subsequent death- of George Floyd.

George Floyd’s death was caught on film, a grisly nine minutes plus of Officer Chauvin pressing his knee against Mr. Floyd’s neck.

This was the reason for the trial and the verdict of the jury finds Mr. Chauvin guilty of choking George Floyd to death.

There was elation, and I could certainly understand it.

There have been too many cases where officers -and others- have done harm to people of color and subsequently the justice system declared their actions either justified or innocent, despite their heinous nature.

Some have noted this is a first step in what will likely be a long process and I feel like that will be the case.

The times, as the saying goes, they are a changing and it certainly feels like this is the case.

With the rise of the internet and cell phones, actions are easier to record than ever before and accountability, one hopes, will become better.

I’d like to think that people are not inherently bad and they genuinely do try to do good.

But looking over the footage of George Floyd’s last minutes, one can’t help but wonder if said footage did not exist, would the outcome have been the same?

Adding Product Advertisements Into Old Films…?

Ran across this fascinating article by Jonty Bloom and presented on bbc.com:

How product placements may soon be added to classic films

The upshot of the article is that computer graphics have advanced to such a degree that it is possible to digitally “place” products into old works that didn’t have them.

The article uses as an example the classic sequence involving Steve McQueen jumping his motorcycle in The Great Escape, and noting that at this point in time they could digitally add a billboard in the background of that sequence advertising… whatever the company paying wants to advertise.

It’s not limited to “just” old movies. Even current films could show different advertisements depending on which country they’re showing them.

As horrified of the concept as I am, I have to admit its ingenious as well: Its another way a studio can profit from an older release!

Having said that, this bit from the article intrigued me the most:

Product placement in films is almost as old as the movie industry itself. The first example of the phenomenon is said to be the 1919 Buster Keaton comedy The Garage, which featured the logos of petrol firms and motor oil companies.

Wow…!

I never really considered how far back product placement might go and its intriguing that it may go back as far as 1919…!

I suppose this newest development is simply a sign of the times and… its too bad yet not unexpected.

On Writing: How I Do It…

I’ve always been fascinated by how authors write.

I’ve bought books by some noted authors who go into an explanation of their writing techniques and I’ve found that, for the most part, they have similarities and differences but one thing is clear: They put in the work.

As much as its presented at times as some kind of diversion, writing is hard work, at least for me, which involves considerable concentration and thought.

I’ve said this before but it bears repeating: When I set about writing a novel, it becomes something of an obsession. In quiet times, when driving, when eating, showering, you-name-it, my mind wanders upon whatever story I’m currently writing, often thinking through scenarios and bits and pieces of the book and, at times, coming up with new/interesting material to add to the whole thing.

It’s almost like going into an OCD trance, where your focus for months can be upon elements of your book.

But let’s take a step back.

How do I begin the whole process?

This is the part that truly is the hardest: Coming up with a concept you feel is worth pursuing.

It’s so easy to say this but so very hard to put into practice. At any given time I may think -when I’m not thinking about whatever novel I’m currently writing- scenarios and possibilities for future stories.

Sometimes, I did back into works I’ve done or not quite completed and revisit them and see if they’re worth giving a second look. Other times I’ll simply come up with an interesting new concept and work from there.

There are no hard and fast rules about this, other than the fact that the initial idea, however it came about, is one that I feel is worth it.

In the novel I’m currently writing, I did a little of both. The story begins with a short story I wrote quite literally many, many years ago and always felt like it would make a cool longer story.

Only problem was that at that time I had no place to go with the story.

I subsequently got involved in my Corrosive Knights series and, following finishing that off and looking around for what to follow up with, I recalled a story title I always liked but never could write a story around it. Then I recalled that original short story I always wanted to expand upon and, like magic, the gears within my head started to turn and I had an initial concept.

But, just because I had an initial concept doesn’t mean I have the whole story, start to end, planned out and ready.

I started writing and, as I did so, the story started to morph, sometimes in directions I couldn’t have anticipated.

This is part of my process of writing: After I come up with that initial set of ideas that appeal to me enough to pursue, the story inevitably goes into all kinds of new/interesting directions.

Why?

Because I can’t stand the idea of writing something that isn’t to some degree original/interesting to me as a writer.

See, this is part of what makes for a successful book in my mind: I want to be surprised and excited by new and interesting ideas. I don’t want to go through an “easy” route and write something that repeats many other stories. I want to give my readers -as much as I’m able to- something they may not have read before.

That’s not to say I’ll always succeed at doing this, but I try.

If I’m very lucky -or in a good groove- I’ll have the first full draft done in a matter of 2-4 months or so, usually the later and sometimes longer.

The first draft of my novel varies wildly but it usually represents a point where I’m comfortable enough with what I’ve written -start to end- that its time to print it out, read through it, and add notes and new material while getting rid of any extraneous material.

There have been times I’ve decided to print out a “first draft” with significant chunks of the book not yet written. Sometimes its because I’m unsure what will go into these sections and I want to get a clear look at the book “as is” to figure out what it needs. Sometimes I realize that sections of the book are out of order here and there, and this sequence should be before another.

By the time I finish the read-through and have put the material into the computer, I have what should be a book that’s closer -plot wise- to the finale. These early drafts are all about that: Getting the novel’s sequences in order and adding any new sequences that I feel should be there.

When we get to the third draft, its more of the same: Going over the book, trimming whatever fat there is, and adding or subtracting what needs this. In some instances I may realize that there are two or three separate sequences that work better if they’re merged together into one.

It’s like having Lego blocks and swapping out pieces here and there as well as sometimes moving bigger sections to other places.

This will go on and, soon, I’ll have the novel’s story pretty well “locked” down. One part will flow into the next and the next, on and on, until we reach the conclusion.

When I’ve gotten to that point, my revisions tend to move into the storytelling itself. In this part of the process, I’m interested in streamlining the writing and making sure its as sharp as possible.

The fact is that I’m an impatient reader and this informs my writing. I don’t like when novels waste page after page with what winds up being pointless dialogue or description. Sometimes it works but more often than not -for me anyway- it seems like the author is in love with their writing and can’t “trim the fat”.

While the page/word count rises from the first draft until I have the story itself “locked down”, the opposite happens when I reach this later stage of writing. I start to cut things down, making sure that I’m not repeating myself and offering the reader the essence of the story I’m trying to tell without the bloat.

And when that part is done and I find my red marker is being used very little from page to page in whatever draft I’m on, that’s when I know the book is just about ready to be released.

And that’s when the reward for all that hard work comes.

The moment I hold a fresh copy of my latest novel and flip through it.

It’s an absolutely beautiful feeling!

…And so it begins… Again!

Last week Wednesday I flew to Texas to deal with some family business. It was a short flight and I was back home by Sunday morning.

However, before taking the flight, I was determined to finish off the first draft of my latest novel. It was a tight thing but I managed to do so, creating a more than adequate first draft before flying off and, on Monday, I printed the whole thing out.

Alas, Monday through Wednesday have been something of a nightmare. I’ve been super busy with other work and the stresses associated with it -and they have been just beautiful, let me tell you- and I haven’t been able to give the new novel as much time as I’d like.

Today, Thursday the 15th of April, I finally had some time to devote to it and I managed to work through a few pages. Not a lot, granted, but I feel like the book’s opening is pretty solid.

I also feel the novel is not unlike Terminus Island, my last novel, in that I feel we’re moving quite well here and I have a book that’s much closer to done than some of my previous ones that required up to 12 or so drafts before I felt they were good enough to be released.

In the case of Terminus Island, I wound up doing some five or so drafts of the book before I felt it was good enough for release.

I’m hoping the same happens this time around. If that’s the case, its not inconceivable that this new novel will become available later this year.

Oh, and in case you were curious: This novel will be an independent story and not part of the Corrosive Knights series.

I may well return to that universe after this novel -I still have story ideas!- but this concept proved too much of a draw to let go!

I’ll tell you more as I go along!