Sidney Blaylock Jr.'s Blog, page 35

Avengers Infinity War — Mini-Review (No Spoilers)

[image error]

Image Source: https://www.technobuffalo.com/2018/09/03/avengers-4-where-are-the-avengers/ (Possible Spoilers-tells where everyone ends up AFTER the movie, click at your own risk!)

Not Your Typical Marvel Movie

So, I’m just going to assume that most people who are interested in Marvel movies or comic book movies has already seen this movie, but just in case people haven’t, this is a Marvel movie like no other.  It has been setting up since the very first Avengers film.  It is essentially the entire Marvel universe (with exceptions) in multiple storylines fighting against the “big bad” of the movie, Thanos, to keep him from getting the Infinity Stones (various items that have been teased in Marvel movies like the Tesseract).  However, this movie doesn’t follow the typical Marvel formula because it has multiple heroes in multiple places trying to keep Thanos (or his agents) from getting the stones. While some times wildly inventive, these multiple storylines are also wildly disjointed and make the movie feel more disjointed than it probably should be.

People Keep Dying

For me, I’m just going to come right and say it (don’t worry–no spoilers), people just keep on dying in this movie.  Here’s the thing, deaths in movies are sometimes justified (such as the death that occurs in Star Wars.  Each death of each of the characters (both major and minor–I’m thinking of the Death Star scene and the “Trench Run” scene especially) either propel the movie forward or increase the tension and make us feel that the main character’s lives and mission are in serious peril.  In this movie, characters keep dying, but it doesn’t feel earned.  It feels like the filmmakers wanted to be shocking and provocative.  See, look who can kill, now just wait and watch who we kill next.  While guaranteed to keep you glued to your seats to see who’s dying next, it doesn’t really make for compelling drama, nor does it really engender repeat viewings (I’ve owned the movie for a week now and I’ve not rewatched it once–by this time with the other Avengers and the later Captain America movies (which are essentially Avengers 1.5/Avengers 2.5 movies), I would have rewatched them multiple times by now.

Avengers: Infinity War (part 2)

Next year, we will have the resolution to this story with part 2 of this movie.  I’m pretty sure the “solution” to the movie was sown by “seeds” planted in this movie (pay particular attention to the scene where Stark and Doctor Strange discuss possible outcomes after Strange looks into the future), but it is possible that this is a misdirect by the filmmakers.  Either way, I’m not sure how much “fun” I’m going to have with the second part based on the “bad taste” the first part left in my mouth.  Unfortunately, this isn’t a case of Empire Strikes Back, where the second entry is by necessity darker than the first, but rather one where I feel the filmmakers tried to use shock value to enhance the tension rather than going with heroic and meaningful deaths.  In closing, I also have to say I wasn’t a fan of Thanos’s motivation. Genocide, for any reason (and that includes population control) is still Genocide.  While he was “a bad dude,” there was a surprising amount of sympathy given to the character for this movie that 1) wasn’t earned, 2) other movies featuring him in scenes didn’t show/highlight and 3) wasn’t actually relevant to the character. Sure, you don’t want a scene chewing villain, but in my mind, Thanos lacks the cold, calculated terror of a Darth Vader, who while there is good inside of him, does some personally horrific things to get his motives accomplished.  Thanos is from the newer, Kylo Ren school of villainy, where he has to whine, emote, and act like a petulant child before he can enact his twisted schemes because, by golly, we (the audience) gotta’ feel sorry for the poor slob as he’s only trying to do the “right” thing by his way of thinking.  Oh, boo hoo.  Sorry, I (personally) don’t care for this particular type of villain and it throws me out of the movie every time I encounter one like that (Syndrome from the Incredibles has a similar effect on me).

Overall Score: B-/C+

Okay, so I’m being charitable with the B- as there are some very inventive and terrific fight scenes (as usual for the Russo Brothers).  However, some characters do some pretty dumb things (especially for Marvel movies) and I really didn’t care for the way Thanos was sometimes handled/depicted.  It is a spectacle, no doubt, and is pretty much required viewing to stay relevant with popular culture, but as a movie, it isn’t nearly as strong as several other Marvel movies.  I’m not sure where I’m going to place it on the list, but I can give you a preview here: it will not unseat my top 3 Marvel movies currently.  Not slagging on the movie per se, but it just didn’t connect with me. Too much emphasis on cheap, unearned deaths, not enough on true characterization and story pretty much sums up my reaction to it in one sentence.  This is the first Russo Brothers Marvel movie that has been a swing and miss with me.

Writing To Learn

[image error]

Image Source: https://www.potentash.com/2018/04/02/global-blogging-industry-business-technology/

So, I’m still learning how to be a good writer AND a good blogger.  I’m not afraid to admit it.  And part of this is admitting that I still make mistakes.  The blog is a great example of that.  It’s not that I haven’t wanted to write it, but rather that the time it takes has overwhelmed the time I had to give it and I did not make allowances for it.  What do I mean by this?  Simple.  I used to get up early and write and blog entry.  However, I found that untenable because it routinely takes an hour to 1 1/2 hours to write an entry because I’m so meticulous.  To me, a blog isn’t a way of expressing your thoughts, but rather it is more of a mini-essay that I craft.  Sometimes these mini-essays go quick, but more often than not, I’m at 500, 750, and 1000 words before I realize it and then I have to cut it short because I’ve run out of time.  When I’m already pressed for time in the mornings, this created some real stress.

Solutions

So, I came up with a way around this by trying to do them all on the weekends.  This way, I get all my entries done for the week and I wouldn’t be so stressed about having to rush to get them done.  That worked, except it ate up the time that I needed for other things such as reading, gaming, and “life” outside of school and work. So, it became harder and harder to get it done during the weekends.  Now, however, I’m trying to simply work in the spare time that I have (which during August was pretty much nil).  I should be reading for class, but I’m going to finish this post and “bank” it so that it shows up on Monday and pretty much do this everyday (or at least 6 days out of the week) so that I can pretty much have content going up daily without all the stress of trying to get it done on the same day.

Short and Sweet

I’m also going to work on shortening the posts and try to keep them in the 250-500 word range by having (like a story) a beginning, middle, and end (or for you non-fiction buffs out there), an Introduction, a Body, and a Conclusion (which is what you’re reading right now).  While I may not be able to go into as much depth and detail as I (personally) would like, it will still help me to get back into writing consistently and ordering my thoughts in a way that will be helpful to get me back to writing creatively which is something I’ve also struggled with during the past month.  Mistakes happen–it’s how you deal with those mistakes and how you get back on the horse after the mistake has been made that helps to define you. I’m hopeful that readers who have stuck with me during this past month will find new and varied content in the coming months to end out the year.

Have a great day!

Word Count: 226 Words (Graphic Novel – Ship of Shadows) — added 1 comic book page to the story for a current total of 24 pages of script.

Sidney

Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora Wolf
Read Childe Roland for Free at Electric Spec

Still Life with Stop Signs

[image error]

On the Road Again

So August 2018 has been a complete wash for me in terms of pretty much everything that I do: writing the blog, writing creatively, reading, video games, etc.  The Work-Life Balance needle swung waaaaaaayyyyyyy to the work side of the meter and I pretty much got nothing done in terms of my own personal projects.  Sometimes its just like that–there’s just nothing that I can do about that except work, work, work.

However (partly due to the holiday and partly due the fact that I bought a Chromebook and I’m now “untethered” from my Ethernet cable of my aging Macbook Pro), I should be back on track for my more creative endeavors–as evidenced by this blog post.  At some point, I’d like to get one of the new Macbook Pros, but right now, the outlay of money for the technology just isn’t worth it.  When I start selling stories, graphic novels, novels, and scripts to make the investment worthwhile, I will, but right now, all I really need is 1) a basic laptop with wifi access, 2) basic word processing, and 3) basic internet surfing.  For this reason, this Chromebook should give me what I need for just the basics and then I can use the Macbook Pro to fill out the more important computing functions that I have.

OtherWorlds

So, during this time, like a lot of YouTubers that I watch, I found myself wondering if what I am/was doing had any merit.  You see, earlier this summer, YouTube changed the payment “scale” for content creators so that basically on those with mega-channels or those with a LOT of followers (millions) were seeing real revenue.  There are YouTubers who used to be able to it as a day job or a hobby job and see real results for their efforts–not anymore, however.  More and more channels are disappearing or changing format and I, like them, wondered if I should change as well.  The answer is, no, Sci-Fi and Fantasy are the genres that I love.  Writing is something that I want to do and documenting my highs and lows (mostly in the writing arena), but also in life in general, and Science Fiction & Fantasy in particular is something that I really need and want to do.  So, I’m keeping OtherWorlds mostly the same.  There will be some slightly changes, but nothing major.  I’ll probably focus on Popular Culture and little more than I have been and I (may) do something with the scholarly blogs that I’ve set up for class (which means that I may try to keep up this as a general genre blog and set-up a more “professional” site and not mix the two as I sometimes do, but I’m still formulating this idea.

Avengers: Infinity War (Part I)

Over the holiday weekend, I got a chance to watch several sci-fi movies.  Some (most), I’ve seen before, but one in particular that I got to see was the latest Avengers movie, Avengers Infinity War.  I will write a review and put it on the list of Marvel movies (the ranking list) later, but I just wanted to let you all know that it was coming.  I still have to process this movie as it does not follow the traditional Marvel movie “form.”  More on this one in the upcoming week.

Hopefully, I’m back to a more regular schedule.  I’m going to cut it short now so that I can save some time for “writing.”  See you on tomorrow’s post (hopefully)

Sidney

Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora Wolf
Read Childe Roland for Free at Electric Spec

 

An Oligopoly Does Not Free Market Make

[image error]

Image of an Arrow with Most Competitive and Least Competitive business types. Image Source: https://www.reviewecon.com/oligopoly1

Oligopoly

Oligopoly–noun–a state of limited competition, in which a market is shared by a small number of producers or sellers.

So, this blog post has been sitting around on my hard drive for a while, but I decided finally to write this as I was going through advertisements for Internet services in my area. I have a Fiber-optic connection at my home that delivers “Gig” speeds– it can transfer data at very fast speeds and I currently have it set up for 1 Gigabit transfer speeds, although they offer 10 Gigs, 100 Gigs, and I believe 1000 Gigs (but that is primarily for businesses and requires special equipment) for additional prices. Considering that Comcast Xfinity and AT&T are still in the Megabits (Megs), I have all of the speed that I need for streaming, gaming, etc. As I don’t bring my game system or streaming devices with me, I don’t really need a full fledged Internet when I’m at school (between my GTA office and the library, I have pretty much enough internet access to do schoolwork & other school-related access).  So, for me, I only need a basic internet package to check email and the like when I’m at my apartment.  But–guess what I can’t buy–yes, you win a prize! In a capitalistic country, I can’t buy the product I need, I can only buy the (over-priced) product that the company wants to sell.

Things that make you go Hmmm . . .

So, the reason that I can’t buy a simple 19.95/19.99 per month dollar internet package, but instead must buy an overpriced 40 dollar plan, is that Internet companies got local governments to classify them as a “Utility.” Once that happens, that means that only one or two companies get to be in the market and those are the only companies through which you can have service. Now, as this is local in nature, not everywhere in America does this, but in Murfreesboro–a college town, mind you–there are only 3 main choices for internet (really 2, as the 3rd is a small company that seems to have “satellite” based internet.)  The two main sources for home internet (2, mind you) are, yes, you guessed right again, Comcast Xfinity and AT&T.  Both offer, as their lowest cost packages, 40 dollars for internet (home).  Hmmmmm. Let’s see, 2 companies, who are competing for business have the same price for their respective products.  Hmmmmm.

Okay, I’ve seen this before–when two gas stations are on the same corner, they tend to have the same prices.  But, when I’ve seen other gas stations around the city, the prices are highly variable. Prices, when there are multiple competitors, vary all across the city. Internet is NOT a utility, it is a service, just like cell phones or any other consumer item.  However, the Internet service providers (you’ll notice how the term ISP has gone away since the 2000s when it was at its height because of the ability to get local governments to give them a virtual monopoly or oligopoly).  In this case, the loser is the consumer–in this case, me. I know what I want, but because of the “tricks” used by corporations, they get to bypass the normal “market forces” that economists always claim will keep capitalism rolling along.

Call me a (Free) Radical

I’ve complained about this topic before, but this is essentially why I feel that there is currently an imbalance in power between corporations and consumers. Like the post on AMC that I did last year, corporations now have too much power to side-step rules and market forces because the government no longer feels that monopolies/oligopolies are detrimental to consumers. In essence, “those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.”  The seeds for Tomorrow’s Robber Barons are being planted in these policies where the corporations are allowed to sidestep the “market forces” that would constrain their profits by allowing consumers to choose what is best for them, rather than having the corporations choose for them. At some point, these monopolistic/oligopolistic practices are going to come back and bite us all in the rear, but for now, and for as long as I can, I going to be a radical and say No!  I refuse to purchase internet service for 40 dollars when I don’t need it because I have another service that is far superior in price and speed elsewhere. Until either Comcast or AT&T offers a lower priced option in my market that is more in line with what I–as a consumer need–instead of what they–the corporation–wants me to purchase–I do not plan to participate in an oligopoly. Step up corporations, do what’s right by your consumers, not what’s right by your shareholders.

Sidney

Mini-Review: Supernova

[image error]

Movie poster: Supernova. Image Source: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/Supernova

Not Good, Not Terrible

So, I watched this movie a couple of weekends ago, and I wasn’t as disappointed as I thought I was going to be. Yes, I know that is damning with faint praise, but I found my time the in universe of Supernova to be more mindless than mind-numbing. The problem with the movie is simple: too formulaic without real thought behind what makes the characters tick and what is happening in the universe. I recognize this because (I think) this is what I do when I write and submit my first drafts. Pretty much everything we need to know is told to via dialogue (exposition) and there is a lot of telling rather than showing. The universe outside the ship barely exists and it only does so when the plot calls for it.

A Walk on the Not So Wild Side

So, what went wrong with this movie. This movie is all about concepts rather than story. For instance, in a twist on Alien and Aliens where people “hypersleep” in the underwear, in order to be titillating, Supernova, says no, in this world everyone sleeps in the nude. Now, they don’t show anything in the movie (at least not what I saw on streaming), but there’s no explanation or rhyme or reason as to why this is necessary (if there was a scene explaining this, it either never made it into the rewrites or was left on the cutting room floor). Way, way too much of the movie is like this: interesting concepts thrown out there and then poorly explained/explored, if explored at all.  It is as if there were three different sci-fi movies happening, but the creators said, “hey, Aliens was marketable, let’s take this jumble and run it through the Aliens template and see if our movie can be successful, too.” Sadly, it just didn’t work.

A Black Eye for Afrofuturism

So, one of the main characters in this story is an African American female. She is intelligent and determined. However, the story continually undermines her agency as it depends upon the main character to “save” her. There are situations in which she “saves” herself, but again, because we have formula, rather than form, there has to be a male hero (who happens to be white in the story, but any male of any race–including African American–would have been just as bad) to save her. As the male is cut from the formulaic “silent, brooding type,” the woman’s role is by far the most interesting and really could have been something special if she had to both save the ship and outwit the antagonist at the same time. This is something that I’m striving for in my own work, and I hope that I will not allow Tana (or any other female character) to be “saved” by males (and vice versa when I write male characters). Supernova needed to pick the most interesting character (the woman) and let her be the hero of the story rather than trying to delegate hero duties between the two main characters.

Overall Grade: D+

This could have been so much better had the creators just trusted their most interesting character and threw her into a situation where she had to battle herself, battle the floundering ship and possessed crew, and the antagonist at the same time. As it stands, it is just a formulaic sci-fi action movie that simply doesn’t explain its world or characters in enough detail to be truly enjoyable.

Sidney

Stop Signs, Part II

[image error]

Stop Sign (United States)

Graduate Teaching Orientation

So, apologies to all for not posting to my blog all week and especially for not letting you know about my (unintentional) mini-“vacation” from blogging. For those who don’t know, as part of my studies as a PhD student, I also teach introductory English classes here at Middle Tennessee State University (in addition to being a Science Fiction & Fantasy Writer). Every year, the English Department sponsors a week long (Monday – Thursday) Orientation for returning and incoming Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs for short). I really enjoyed my time in these, this year especially, but they do take a lot of time. They start at 9:00 am and don’t generally release until 3:30 pm or so (although they do feed us as lunch is provided!)

Sorry

Will be posting on a irregular schedule this week. Attending MTSU Orientation this week & working, so will be a little off this week. Sorry!

Hopefully, I will get back on track next week.

Sidney

Who Owns Fandom?

[image error]

Fans dressed as characters from the Harry Potter Characters. From The Associated Press.  Image Source: https://apnews.com/77daf58afa7f4bf2a45f93a93a59cdc8

Word Count (What I’m Writing); Updated every 2-3 Days (mostly)

1st Draft – “Project Dog”

Goal: 2500 Words

Current: @500 words (+250 Words)

I’ve written on it for two days and I’ve managed to get about 500 words written (I’ve hit my 250 word goal both days)!
Whale Song Revision (Fantasy Short Story) (2nd Draft)

(Researched an article on Whaling, think that I have the two characters–a brother and a sister who are on the opposite sides of the issue.  Still, no Writing so far). Need to find a place to work in revisions–I can draft new material just fine, but I don’t seem to have any time to work on “drafting” revisions.

Currently Reading (What I’m Reading); Updated Weekly (mostly)

For Fun:

Transhuman edited by Mark L. Van Name and T. F. K. Weisskopf

Just started this anthology – it was given to me at a LibertyCon some years ago, but I’ve just now gotten around to reading it. I may not finish it/read all the stories, but so far, I’ve read the first story and liked it.

The Belgariad David Eddings

Last week was NOT a good week, so I needed some “comfort food” for reading and my go to book for “comfort food” is the Belgariad (followed closely by Diane Duane’s So You Want To Be a Wizard.)
For School:

Afrofuturism (by Ytasha Womack) : This book describes the academic genre of Afrofuturism (essentially African American Science Fiction that deals with social issues in culture).  I just finished Chapter 5 today and I’m at the beginning of Chapter 6 (this book has 10 chapters).

Wrote out a fairly extensive list of possible research topics to explore from chapter 5. Really intriguing book.
For Research/Personal Development:

Great Aircraft of WWII by Alfred Price and Mike Spick (for Project Skye)

Great Aircraft of WWII is a book that I’ve had in my collection for sometime–I’ve glanced at it periodically, but never read it cover-to-cover.  Now, with Project Skye, I intend to do just that.

Warner Brothers (& Corporations) Want ALL the Moneyz

So, those who work in corporations might want to cover their ears (eyes?) for this particular blog entry because I’m going to take you to task for some of your less than savory practices. Yes, we live in a capitalistic society. Yes, content/copyright holders should make money from their content. No, others should not be allowed to profit from works that they themselves did not create. BUT . . . and this is a “big” BUT (hence the capital letters), there is a point where you can go too far, and I’m sorry, but Warner Brothers has crossed the line. What am I talking about? Well, it seems that Warner Brothers is taking a dim view of Harry Potter “Festivals” that are taking place across the country according to an Associated Press Story from June of this year: https://apnews.com/77daf58afa7f4bf2a45f93a93a59cdc8.

Warner Brothers HATES “Fandom,” BUT They Do LOVE their Fans MONEY!

Give me money to see my movies. Give me money to read my books. Give me money to buy my merchandising. NO, you may not use our characters if there’s even a chance YOU might make a profit from them, even if it is 1) for a good cause, 2) for fun, 3) not intended as a primarily-for profit enterprise. Warner Brothers wants to create a “fandom” in order to have a built in audience (consumer base) for their “franchise” (books, movies, merchandising, etc.), but they’re unwilling to let their fans express their creativity through (specifically) these festivals where they get to dress up as and “role-play” as their favorite characters from the series. Yes, as an author, I’m fairly protective of my work, so I understand wanting to “control” your creations. But at some point, you “have” to let go and allow your fans to “inhabit” your world and your characters.

Money, Money, Money . . . MONEY!

So, the above heading is the line from a song.  And this is the problem–corporations exist to make a profit . . . but here’s the thing: there’s no such thing as an APPROPRIATE amount of profit. It’s make as much money AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE. Unlike small businesses, where you need to build relationships and build trust with your clients, a corporation doesn’t need to do this. In fact, the entire Investor dynamic, encourages a “slash and burn” approach, slashing and burning the property/properties they own (or acquire) to make as much money as they can in as short of time period as they can. Where a small business is focused on growth and not extending their lines too quickly so as not to sink into a never-ending spiral of debt that they can’t recover from, corporations (because of their capitalization) rarely have that problem (their problem generally comes from not being able to assess market changes quickly enough to take advantage–K-Mart vs Walmart, Circuit City vs Amazon, etc.) Activision, unfortunately, has for last 10-15 years followed this “slash and burn” technique and they are rewarded year after by their stockholders but are reviled by gamers–and EA has tried to copy their model year-after-year.

Until corporations learn the lesson that Keanu Reeves’s character quoted in Speed that goes something like this when trying to get the wounded bus driver off the bus: “How about a little humanity?” The line goes on about having plenty of them left to kill. I would change that to: “there’ll still be plenty of MONEY for you to get from us in the future.”

Please corporations (Boards and CEOs alike), stop being Scrooge and wanting ALL THE MONEYZ IN TEH WORLD!

And yes, the misspellings are intention

Talking ’bout my Generation: Generation X

[image error]

Generation X Traits. Image Source: Karen McCullough (https://www.karenmccullough.com/generation-x-time-pass-torch/)

Word Count (What I’m Writing); Updated every 2-3 Days (mostly)

1st Draft – “Project Dog” (Exposition)

Okay, so I’m revising the way that I work. I rough drafted a new short story project called “Project Captain” (I have a title for it, but I’ll wait to unveil it). I’m now working on the first draft of “Project Dog,” a sci-fi story (I seem to be on a sci-fi kick these days). I finished the exposition last night and will move on next to the part of the story.
Whale Song Revision (Fantasy Short Story) (2nd Draft)

(Researched an article on Whaling, think that I have the two characters–a brother and a sister who are on the opposite sides of the issue.  Still, no Writing so far). Need to find a place to work in revisions–I can draft new material just fine, but I don’t seem to have any time to work on “drafting” revisions.

Currently Reading (What I’m Reading); Updated Weekly (mostly)

For Fun:

Transhuman edited by Mark L. Van Name and T. F. K. Weisskopf

Just started this anthology – it was given to me at a LibertyCon some years ago, but I’ve just now gotten around to reading it. I may not finish it/read all the stories, but so far, I’ve read the first story and liked it.

The Belgariad David Eddings

Last week was NOT a good week, so I needed some “comfort food” for reading and my go to book for “comfort food” is the Belgariad (followed closely by Diane Duane’s So You Want To Be a Wizard.)
For School:

Afrofuturism (by Ytasha Womack) : This book describes the academic genre of Afrofuturism (essentially African American Science Fiction that deals with social issues in culture).  I just finished Chapter 5 today and I’m at the beginning of Chapter 6 (this book has 10 chapters).

Wrote out a fairly extensive list of possible research topics to explore from chapter 5. Really intriguing book.
For Research/Personal Development:

Great Aircraft of WWII by Alfred Price and Mike Spick (for Project Skye)

Great Aircraft of WWII is a book that I’ve had in my collection for sometime–I’ve glanced at it periodically, but never read it cover-to-cover.  Now, with Project Skye, I intend to do just that.

Generation X

There are very few images of me online (mostly because I don’t really put the images that I take online), but if you looked at me, chances are good that you wouldn’t think that I’m as old as I am. While I look like a Millennial (or so I’m told), I’m actually part of Generation X, a generation that, I feel, has been largely forgotten in the midst of the two mega-generations: Baby Boomers and the Millennial. I wanted to take a moment to talk about my generation for a moment.

The Melting Pot

One of the problems that I see (particularly in today’s society and culture, especially in America) is the loss of the idea of the “Melting Pot.”  In fact, this was a central tenant of the new burgeoning race relations in this country after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the ending of the segregation laws. There was this idea that America was a bright and shining land in which all races could (and should) blend together in a “Melting Pot” in which we each shared in each other’s cultures, values, and traditions in order to make us a strong, unified nation, instead of the divisive, back-biting nation that we had become under the racist ideologies of segregationists. I watched in wonder growing up as this (unforced) diversity played itself out, watching the various cultures of Laverne and Shirley, Happy Days, Alice, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, American Bandstand, and Mork & Mindy to name a few. Now, let me be clear, these were not a part of my particular culture, but it was fun to look in on them to see how they lived, worked, and played. My own culture, in fact, consisted of shows like Good Times, Sandford & Sons, Different Strokes, The Jeffersons, What’s Happening!!, Soul Train, 3-2-1 Contact, and The Electric Show. While featuring a predominately African American cast or a cast of diverse races, they still brought in guest stars from other races which helped to promote this idea of the seeing the “Melting Pot” in action. This, sadly, went out of vogue toward the end of the 1980s and early 1990s and it seems this idea isn’t as prevalent or ingrained in the succeeding generations.

Technology

One of the things that stands out about my generation is the fact that we got to see many of the technologies that are now ensconced in culture, develop and mature (and in some cases die). We are very much “children of technology.”  Most of us can remember the time before there was MTV (and music videos), remote controls for TVs (you actually had to get up and go to the set to change channels, the rise (and fall) of CDs, DVDs, and (unless something changes in the near future) Blu-Rays. We’ve seen the rise of video games and seen them crash into a heap, buried in landfills, only to rise again, like a phoenix and become the titans of the entertainment industry. We’ve seen the computer morph and merge from the introduction of the original Apple computers when they were the “new kid on the block” and now (as of a few days ago), Apple is the first trillion (with a “t”) dollar company. We can remember when computers only had 64K of memory (Commodore 64) or when video game controllers only had one button. I could go on and on, but in most cases, Generation X have seen the rise of many of the technologies that we use on a daily basis.

Sure, every generation sees new technologies and progress during their lifetime, but I feel this is where Generation X is unique. Having had a period in our lives without excessive levels of technology, but gaining it early in our lives, we are comfortable with technology or without it. We don’t need it to stave off boredom, but use it to enrich our lives. We aren’t afraid of technological change, or the pace at which technology changes, but we don’t require technology. It isn’t a necessity for us, rather a tool that enriches our lives. I find, that as a Generation X’er, I am as comfortable with a book as I am with a Kindle as I am with the Kindle app on my phone. Any of the three would useful to me depending on the situation and circumstances in which I wanted to read.

Bourne to Win

Jason Bourne.  I love the character, I love the inventiveness of his characterization, and I love the pathos that Matt Damon portrays when playing the role of Bourne. However, I do have an issue with Bourne. He’s perfect–and he did nothing to earn his perfection. One thing that I feel that Generation X has learned is that life is hard. If you want something, you have to work for it until you get it. You have train and work and sweat and sacrifice, but if you do so, more often than not, you’ll find the rewards are well worth the effort.

The problem with Bourne is that we never really see him train. Sure, he’s this ultra-cool, ultra-competent fighter agent, but he “discovers” his fighting ability in the first movie, The Bourne Identity. Yes, later movies flesh this out and show more of his history, but what it took to get him to have his almost preternatural fighting ability is hidden from the audience.

In many ways, Generation X is the last major generation that got to see that hard work yields results. I can remember the training montages in the Rocky movies in particular and remember equating hard work with success. Now, with the Bourne movies, those qualities of hard work, discipline, and training are hidden away from view, making it seem that one can be (and should be) freakishly good at something without having to put the hard work to become good at it.

In closing, every generation pushes against the one before it and the ones after it. It is, perhaps, the natural order of things–the old must eventually make way for the new and this cycle continues. However, even in this cycle, I think we can take a moment to both reflect on this cycle and ways that we can temper its effects. While my generation is caught in-between Baby Boomers and Millennials, there’s no reason why we can’t all find away to learn from (and respect) each other’s ways of seeing the world.

Instead of looking back at the past and the divisions that defined us, why not look forward instead at the ways our commonalities unite us?

Sidney

Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora Wolf
Read Childe Roland for Free at Electric Spec



Read Faerie Knight in the anthology Fae, Rhonda Parrish, Ed. or the Kindle Edition
Read Ship of Shadows in the anthology Visions IV: Space Between Stars, Carrol Fix, Ed. or the Kindle Edition.
Read WarLight in the anthology Visions VI: Galaxies, Carrol Fix, Ed. or the Kindle Edition.
Read Dragonhawk in the magazine Tales of the Talisman, Vol. 8, Iss. 3, David Lee Summers, Ed. or the Kindle Edition.

Amazon Associate Disclaimer:

I earn a small commission on the purchase of these items.

Inhabiting Characters

[image error]

PowerPoint Slide showing various types of characters and topics in characterization. Image Source: The Cutest Blog on the Block (http://beccab8.blogspot.com/2015/06/characters.html)

Word Count (What I’m Writing); Updated every 2-3 Days (mostly)

Revision Month (i.e., “2nd Draft” Central)

Trying to figure this month out as I was sick and exhausted yesterday, so I worked on the rough draft of a new project, “Project Captain.” At home, I have two 1st Drafts I’d like to work on, “Project Dog,” and “Project Paradise”, in addition to three 2nd Drafts I’d like to focus on “Whale Song”, “Project Sky,” and “The Independent.” I have to decide how I’m going to proceed as there’s no way that I’m going to be able to get through all of those in one month.
Whale Song Revision (Fantasy Short Story) (2nd Draft)

(Researched an article on Whaling, think that I have the two characters–a brother and a sister who are on the opposite sides of the issue.  Still, no Writing so far). Need to find a place to work in revisions–I can draft new material just fine, but I don’t seem to have any time to work on “drafting” revisions.

Currently Reading (What I’m Reading); Updated Weekly (mostly)

For Fun:

Transhuman edited by Mark L. Van Name and T. F. K. Weisskopf

Just started this anthology – it was given to me at a LibertyCon some years ago, but I’ve just now gotten around to reading it. I may not finish it/read all the stories, but so far, I’ve read the first story and liked it.

The Belgariad David Eddings

Last week was NOT a good week, so I needed some “comfort food” for reading and my go to book for “comfort food” is the Belgariad (followed closely by Diane Duane’s So You Want To Be a Wizard.)
For School:

Afrofuturism (by Ytasha Womack) : This book describes the academic genre of Afrofuturism (essentially African American Science Fiction that deals with social issues in culture).  I just finished Chapter 5 today and I’m at the beginning of Chapter 6 (this book has 10 chapters).

Wrote out a fairly extensive list of possible research topics to explore from chapter 5. Really intriguing book.
For Research/Personal Development:

Great Aircraft of WWII by Alfred Price and Mike Spick (for Project Skye)

Great Aircraft of WWII is a book that I’ve had in my collection for sometime–I’ve glanced at it periodically, but never read it cover-to-cover.  Now, with Project Skye, I intend to do just that.

Librarians Lead the Way

So, on the first Saturday of the month, I stopped off at the Chattanooga Public Library to talk to some of the librarians who I once worked with for a few moments. I happened to talk with another librarian who also writes fiction and I was reminded about why I write and the importance of character in stories.

Swapping Stories

When I dropped off my Graphic Novel script, she happened to mention a story that she was working on that, while not genre (Fantasy/Sci-Fi), was still quite intriguing and would be something that I’m sure readers will enjoy when she writes it and gets it published.  However, I was struck by her focus on characters and characterization.  Even at the idea stage, she was really focused on how characters acted in the story, their motivations behind their actions, and the interactions between the characters. This blew my mind! And, I made sure that I told her so–her conceptions of characters and characterizations at the planning stage were light-years beyond what I seem to be able to do, so I learned from her and I’m really going to double down on characters and characterization from now on.

Developing Characters

One of the things that my librarian friend was really good at was drawing characteristics and traits from real life people and then applying them to her characters in a way that made sense for her story. She is really good at figuring out the motivations for what people do and the history involved in their lives and then applying that to highlighting what she needs to for the plot. For the rest of this year, this going to be something that I practice–looking at people in real-life and seeing if I can figure out a possible history for them and motivations of the traits that I see them exhibit. I used to be fairly good at that, but I don’t think I really applied them to characters. So, you’ll probably see lots of posts on characterization as I try to improve and get better at it.

Have a great day!

Sidney

Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora Wolf
Read Childe Roland for Free at Electric Spec



Read Faerie Knight in the anthology Fae, Rhonda Parrish, Ed. or the Kindle Edition
Read Ship of Shadows in the anthology Visions IV: Space Between Stars, Carrol Fix, Ed. or the Kindle Edition.
Read WarLight in the anthology Visions VI: Galaxies, Carrol Fix, Ed. or the Kindle Edition.
Read Dragonhawk in the magazine Tales of the Talisman, Vol. 8, Iss. 3, David Lee Summers, Ed. or the Kindle Edition.

Amazon Associate Disclaimer:

I earn a small commission on the purchase of these items.