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scottymcgeesterwrites · 5 years ago

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10 Underrated Movies of the 2010s

1. John Carter (2012)

Before Snow White and the Seven Dwarves was even produced in 1937, Disney was considering producing an adaptation of Edgar Rice Burrough’s A Princess of Mars as Disney’s first animated film. During its pre-production stage, producers weren’t quite receptive to the concept. The story was about a man being transported to Mars, where its gravity gave him super powers, and he fought with four-armed green-skinned aliens. Back then, space ideas were the last things on people’s minds in the ‘30’s. They wanted something uplifting from The Great Depression. Disney didn’t quite scrap the story; they shelved it for later and decided to go with Snow White and the Seven Dwarves as Disney’s (and the world’s) first feature-length animated movie. John Carter holds the award for the movie with the longest time spent in “development hell”. For the next 75 years, different directors and producers would try to bring back the classic tale of daring-do on the planet Mars. Growing up reading Edgar Rice Burrough’s novels, I was enthralled to hear that they finally produced a live-action film to be released on 2012 – and it was even near my birthday! March of 2012 marked 100 years since Edgar Rice Burroughs published A Princess of Mars. It was like all the stars were truly aligned for something great. The movie finally came out and it . . . didn’t do well at all. It’s also notable for being one of the most expensive movies ever made – and it was all for nothing. What happened? Most of you reading this may even be unaware of the hero John Carter or A Princess of Mars. I find that the main issue was the problem of John Carter being largely unknown because it has been long overshadowed by Flash Gordon, Superman, Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, and literally everything else that owes its inspiration to John Carter. Superman got its concept of gravity-granting superpowers from John Carter. Flash Gordon got its human-on-another-planet heroics from John Carter. Star Wars derived nearly everything from Flash Gordon. The domino effect goes on. The further you go, the more people forget the original inspiration, and we live in a world now where people don’t really care about who did it first, but who did it best.

There’s a particular scene in the movie John Carter where the titular hero has to fight monsters in an arena. Many critics were bored of the scene, claiming they saw it already in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones; which is ironic being that the arena scene was written almost a full century before Attack of the Clones. Scantily clad Carrie Fisher in Return of the Jedi? That’s a Deja Thoris reference from A Princess of Mars.

It can be difficult to judge a movie or story by itself aside from other derivative works. When that source material is some obscure adventure tale that is literally older than World War I, you should realize that probably not a lot of people have heard about it nowadays.

The film suffers from two other major points: the runtime and the combination of books one and two of Burrough’s original trilogy. A Princess of Mars is a rather simple tale of a man saving a princess on Mars. Its sequel, The Gods of Mars, goes into more complex matters as the evil Therns are revealed as a group of mysterious aliens controlling all culture and life on Mars for their benefit. The movie John Carter tries to combine the two, and I see why. Modern audiences are uninterested in seeing another adventure tale about a guy saving a princess. Ironically, that would have worked much better in the 1930’s, but the Disney board at the time was like, “Space? What’s that? Mars? What’s this newfangled spaceship business?” John Carter ultimately had the unfortunate and unique experiences of being both too ahead and too dated for its time.

I still highly recommend it because the production value is amazing and it’s still highly entertaining. The score is fantastic (Michael Giacchino), and the performances are great, albeit with some cheesy dialogue. The screenwriters added more depth to the character of John Carter that really pulls some heartstrings, especially during one particular scene where he’s bashing hundreds of aliens to a pulp.Unfortunately, the poor performance of John Carter prevented its sequel and the planned trilogy from ever being produced. At the end of the day, I’m still content with seeing the world’s very first space adventure that ultimately inspired Star Wars finally put on screen. 2. Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

I was frankly surprised when nobody else cared about a Solo movie coming out. Having read A.C. Crispin’s Han Solo Trilogy when I was a kid and having overall grown up loving the character, I thought ANY Star Wars fan would be pumped. That was the issue right away before the movie even hit theaters – Nobody. Fucking. Cared. The previous year’s Last Jedi left a sour, divisive taste in the Star Wars fandom. Toxic fans threw their hands in uproar and an entire debacle unseen since the prequel trilogy exploded. Like with Jake Lloyd in The Phantom Menace, fans had continually harassed and bullied Kelly Marie Tran for playing Rose to the point where she quit Instagram. YouTube videos nearly 30 minutes long were dedicated to bashing the film and “SJW culture” and “virtue signaling”. The entire debacle was a nightmare that makes me shudder to even think about. It was like everyone was tired of Star Wars by the next year. Some people like to say that “Star Wars fatigue” wasn’t the thing because nobody was tired of Marvel movies. I disagree. First of all, I witnessed immediate responses to people’s reactions at the trailer. They said “I don’t care” and “Why do we need that?”. Second, Star Wars and Marvel are two completely different universes. Marvel has a nearly infinite range of various stories with various atmospheres and moods and characters. One Marvel fan can “specialize” in Doctor Strange while another mostly loves Thor. Star Wars follows the same group of characters over the same damn story that we’ve already known for the past 42 years. Like John Carter, Solo had the same problem by being too confident and throwing too much money into its production. Solo also happens to be on the list of the most expensive movies ever made. Its poor performance and inability to make a return on the total costs scrapped the possibility of any more future standalone Star Wars films. Further dissections of why it didn’t work out vary. Some people hate the droid L3-37 and claim unnecessary SJW content. I disagree with that too. In my rulebook, something in a story is not unnecessary unless it proves crucial to the plot; L3-37 is the reason why the Kessel Run worked. Were it not for her fanatic desire of starting a droid revolution, Han wouldn’t have survived. The idea of revolution is also crucial and foreshadows the coming Rebel Alliance. I wonder if people would have had the same reaction to L3-37 if the movie had been released years before the current political situation; if we would have just seen her as a cool, kooky and rebellious droid instead. Solo: A Star Wars Story reveals that Han has always been around instances of rebellion, which he has tried to ignore. It isn’t until A New Hope that he finally gives in for good. I honestly don’t see why some people say it doesn’t fit with A New Hope when it clearly does. One of my favorite parts is when Q’ira tells Han, “I know who you really are.” From the trailer, you would expect her to say “A scoundrel.” But in the film, she says, “The good guy.” The film cements the idea that Han has always tried to look and act cool but deep down he gives in to doing the right thing, which separates him from the other scoundrels at the cantina. It’s because of this adventure that he ends up helping to blow up the Death Star later on. Also, like John Carter, the score is absolutely fantastic. I could go on about it but that would derail the topic for another time. 3. The Gift (2015)

I ended up seeing this movie on a whim by myself after someone bailed on me at the last minute to hang out. I had nothing to do but wanted to do something and checked what was playing in theaters at the time at my local theater. The synopsis hadn’t told me enough about what was really going on while at the same time enticing me. Jason Bateman though really surprised me in this role.I really don’t want to give anything away other than what you can find on the basic synopsis. Jason Bateman is married to Rebecca Hall and the two share a completely content life, until an old school friend of Jason’s starts visiting them. Joel Edgerton plays the school friend, and it’s quite amazing that he both wrote and directed this film too. 4. Prisoners (2013)

This movie was great – and absolutely nobody talks about it. I recall wanting to see a movie with my mom around fall of that year. We realized there was really nothing interesting in theaters. It was a lull where there was nothing really interesting playing. No blockbusters and no Oscar buzz. We chose Prisoners solely based on the fact that we like Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal, and I guess we also gathered the general sense that it was a mystery.I became glued to the screen during the entire movie. The story revolves around Hugh Jackman’s daughter supposedly abducted by Paul Dano, who plays a mentally ill suspect. Jake Gyllenhaal plays the detective tasked with finding the daughter. With Paul Dano being unable to articulate his thoughts, everyone is left distraught on how to solve this case. Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal take drastically different routes in trying to find the girl.Out of everything on my list of underrated films here, this was the most nail-biting. Highly recommend. That ending. Whoo. 5. Source Code (2011)

This movie is a real mindbender. It might be so much of a mindbender that it’s the reason why people didn’t talk about it more. They probably just thought, “Huh?” and wanted to rewatch the previous year’s Inception again instead.Jake Gyllenhaal is on a mission to find a bomber on a train in a computer simulation. That’s how it starts at least. . . Another movie I probably shouldn’t explain too much, but it explored themes about a post 9/11 world and the nature of self. 6. The Big Short (2015)

This movie was a hit and then everybody forgot about it. Heck, I know a bunch of you didn’t even see it. I find this really concerning. Brought to you by the director of none other than Anchorman, Adam McKay directed a very entertaining but distressing take on the Great Recession. It has an ensemble cast of Brad Pitt, Steve Carrell, Ryan Gosling, and Christian Bale. The movie manages to translate complicated, bullshit concepts in Wall Street into layman’s terms. Every performance delivers, yes, but it was also staggeringly prophetic in what would come a year later in the 2016 election – “I have a feeling, in a few years people are going to be doing what they always do when the economy tanks. They will be blaming immigrants and poor people.” This movie should have seriously started a riot. But it didn’t. Watch it. 7. Spectre (2015)

Many Bond fans hated Spectre, and it’s often compared to the supposed high-and-mighty Skyfall. I beg to differ. Spectre brought back the fun in Bond without also resorting to the really obnoxious misogyny. The Daniel Craig era of Bond films went back to Ian Fleming’s original intention of Bond being more of a “blunt instrument” than the tongue-in-cheek action hero he came to be known in the film series. And that’s okay. But you can’t help but be bored once and a while by the recent trend of “making things gritty in the new millennium”. Spectre brought back the evil Blofeld, Bond’s nemesis. Fans hated it because this movie implies that every other Daniel Craig movie has been tied to Spectre, ruining the standalone nature of Skyfall and feeling like Spectre was a shoe-in.

This situation requires a lot of explaining, but I’ll be brief.

The creative entities of Spectre and Blofeld were tied up in a copyright battle for almost half a century. Back when Ian Fleming was still alive, he was working on a script for Thunderball with a screenwriter named Kevin McClory. Long story short, there was a dispute on who created Spectre and Blofeld – Fleming or McClory. McClory won the dispute and MGM (the producers of the Bond films) were prohibited from using the names and characters of Spectre and Blofeld.

The last time we officially saw the character in name was in 1971’s Diamonds are Forever. Blofeld made a cameo in 1981’s For Your Eyes Only but was never mentioned by name, but you knew it was Blofeld because he was always the man with the white cat. McClory did eventually make his own version of Thunderball in 1983’s Never Say Never Again, which was an unofficial Bond movie yet it still starred Sean Connery (crazy, I know).

Fast-forward to when the Daniel Craig era started in 2006 with Casino Royale. Spectre and Blofeld were still under copyright protection of McClory. Instead of using the name Spectre, the writers had to come up with another Specter-inspired evil corporation. So they came up with “Quantum”, the evil company behind the plots of Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace.

BUT THEN, the McClory estate officially settled the matter with MGM in 2013, and Spectre and Blofeld could now be used. The writers jumped on it and that’s why to some Spectre feels like it was a shoehorned at the last minute.In my opinion, Skyfall had more issues being a standalone film. The villain Silva was supposed to be working alone and yet somehow create all these elaborate, time-sensitive plots that was just too much for one man with maybe a few henchmen to pull off. In Spectre, it’s implied that Silva used Spectre’s resources to help him plan his revenge. This would realistically make more sense. After all, it’s in the name: SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion. One would go to Spectre in order to enact revenge on someone if one didn’t have the means or resources.

And the whole Quantum being a part of Spectre thing – so what? Quantum was meant to be the same thing anyway. Lastly, there is some dispute on to the nature of Blofeld’s relationship with Bond. Bond suddenly has an evil foster brother now? Some complained about it. I thought it was fine. It gives a reason for Blofeld to go out of his way to torture Bond rather than just shoot him, which is a point always parodied in Bond spoofs. So again, it actually makes sense. I thoroughly enjoyed Spectre. It was virtually not misogynist out of the new Bond films. It treated the main girl, Madeline, very well, as well as the “other” girl Lucia. Yeah, some of the action is dumb and more out of spectacle than realism. It’s still done with the same wit and style of the old Bond films. 8. Shazam! (2019)

Yeah. I get it. Everyone’s tired of the god-awful, insipid DC Cinematic Universe (except for Wonder Woman), which pales in comparison to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But Shazam! was finally a very fresh, funny, and lively DC movie. What makes it stand out to me was how it ended up revolving around the main character’s friends standing together with him, rather than just simply being an origin story of one superhero. Nothing felt like it fell flat. The humor was spot on. The action was good. You had a really pained, terrible villain. Some of the plot may be simple but it had a satisfying ending. Shazam! has the same kind of energy as Spider-man: Homecoming, but by doing its own thing and having its own theme of what a family really means. It revels in the genre by literally putting you in the shoes of a child’s wish fulfillment. 9. Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

I saw this movie on a whim on Netflix. Nobody has made any fuss about it. I think it was fantastic. It’s a quirky sci-fi comedy with Aubrey Plaza playing a newspaper reporter investigating an ad someone put in the classifieds asking for a time travel companion. She goes along with two other co-workers, played by Jake Johnson and Karan Soni (who later becomes the taxi guy in Deadpool). I have to be honest – I don’t find Jake Johnson that funny. In most things I’ve seen him in, I feel like his reactions are forced. But his deadpan deliveries in this movie are on the spot. Mark Duplass was still relatively unknown at this time, and played the oddball guy who placed the ad and firmly believes he made a time machine. The entire movie only costed $750,000! Movies today need to spend over $10 million in order to try and make something as compelling as this. This movie alone influenced the modern indie film industry by combining forces with Netflix. Maybe Netflix and chill wouldn’t have been a thing if it weren’t for this movie. 10. The Nice Guys (2016)

I saved my personal favorite for last. The Nice Guys is my favorite underrated movie that I have seen this past decade. It has everything I love in a buddy film; wit and style. Written and directed by Shane Black, this movie has some real zingers and hilarious deliveries. Ryan Gosling plays a jittery private detective, who unwillingly teams up with Russel Crowe, who beats up people for a living. The story revolves around a missing girl who is a key witness to a grander conspiracy involving the automobile industry. This is one of those movies that never fails to make me laugh. I can rewatch the same scenes over and over and still crack up with laughter. My only gripe is that the final confrontation can be a bit unrealistic at times, which can be close to breaking that border of “Okay, is this witty satire like Coen Brothers or just outright comedy sketch like The Naked Gun?” So to me it felt a little imbalanced in the last quarter. Still, the rest of the movie really hits the right marks.

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dailycharacteroption · 5 years ago

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Roleplaying Races 7: Humans

Seven week-long specials on the various playable races, and we are now finishing up the last of the core races, more specifically the playable race that, assuming you’re not reading this from the far future when we’ve made contact with/actually created other sapient species, most readers are the most familiar with.

Humanity is, well, it’s us, their presence in a fantasy gaming system the self-insert among self-inserts. In many ways, their presence often acts as a grounding element, a baseline of normalcy not unlike having earth animals in your setting, so that you have something to compare the more fantastical elements of the setting to, though that is not something that is always necessary.

Humans are well-known for their cleverness, adaptability, curiosity, and surprising mental and physical fortitude. As a species we enjoy learning new things and solving problems, which is how they keep up with longer-lived races that spend centuries studying topics. This fascination leads them to delight in the past, the present, and the future, studying forgotten cultures, modern biology, and future technologies with equal enthusiasm, though like all things, they don’t always do so from a position of good faith.

Few things reinforce the notion that sapient races are defined by their upbringing and experiences more so than heritage more than humanity, for humans can be the greatest good or greatest evil, be petty and self-centered or extraordinarily wise and kind. Give a humanity hardship, and given the freedom to explore their options, they’ll find a way to overcome that hardship, or at least make life livable in its shadow.

Very few races are shown the same diversity of culture as humans too, though this is mostly because other races are often used as stand-ins for other ethnicities as well, for good or ill, still, that diversity of ethnicity and culture has helped inspire many a character that are not necessarily humans themselves.

Again, there’s not much I can tell you that you don’t already know, but humans are the standard template for the “humanoid” creature type, being bipedal primates with two arms and sporting a form of neoteny, remaining mostly hairless throughout their lives save for thin hair on the body and scalp hair, with beards and other facial hair being common among males. Skin tones range from pale flesh tones to increasingly darker shades of brown, and hair ranges from red to brown to blonde to black. Beyond that, bone structure and facial features may vary quite a bit depending on exact region and ancestry they hail from.

Of course, in a fantasy setting, other rarer features might be prevalent as well, such as red skin of the Akitonian human (which are in turn based on the “Red Martians” of John Carter of Mars fame), as well as being born with esoteric rune birthmarks like Varisians.

As I mentioned earlier, humanity marks the baseline for the roleplaying experience, so their motivations truly are drawn from the full range of experience, so a lot things you could say about other races could be said about humans in some shape or form given the right background, culture, and upbringing.

The ability adjustments of humans emphasize how versatile human can be, allowing them to excel at something or shore up a weakness at the player’s discretion.

The biggest attractor to humanity in terms of mechanics also deals with their adaptability and quick learning, as they gain an additional bonus feat.

Finally, they also learn skills faster, gaining more skill points during level up.

Believe it or not, there are actually some alternate traits for humans, but they mostly revolve around hyperspecialization based on a particular culture, such as enhanced awareness from being part of an ascetic society, or having a higher education in societies where knowledge is shared freely, a knack for bringing out the best in animals from societies with a history of animal husbandry, or being skilled and adapted to various environments such as a maritime mastery for coastal dwellers, or adaptation to cold environments, and so on. Other racial traits involve having a little bit of mystic blood, such as that of dragons, fishfolk, serpentfolk, giants, or the fey, and even an adoptive parentage might lead to an alternate racial trait. Some even bear the blessings of rare magical confluxes or experimentation, or just be one of a kind naturally-gifted sorts.

The true depth of alternate traits is only touched on here, but there is much more than you would expect.

True to their versatile nature, humans make excellent adventurers of any class, able to use their choice of ability score increase and bonus feat to really shine. That being said, while some min-maxers may refuse to play anything other than human for that reason, there are some stories that can only be told from an inhuman perspective.

In any case, while many humans may be content to live more peaceful lives, channeling their ingenuity in that way, humans can really evoke the story of the wide-eyed ordinary person stepping out into a wondrous world, and that is lovely in its own regard.

That does it for this week, but tune back in for more content!

#pathfinder #human #race

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galaxygolfergirl · 4 years ago

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Things to make Attack of the Clones possibly a better movie

Stuff about Anakin

Anakin would take after Matt Lanter’s portrayal in the Clone Wars in terms of charm and personality, though not that Hayden Christensen doesn’t do a good job. Here me out; when not speaking that terrible dialogue, Haydensen brings the right amount of sensitivity, physicality, and frustration in Anakin’s evolving maturity.

I’d like to think Anakin would be like a romantic-era poet in the body of a jedi (like a samurai John Keats?). After all, I can see some of Lucas’s intent with him spouting off that half-baked prose in the movies. When he’s Darth Vader, he does a better job with wordplay and Shakespearean themes. Anakin more likely resembles a Byronic hero, “Historian and critic Lord Macaulay described the character as ‘a man proud, moody, cynical, with defiance on his brow, and misery in his heart, a scorner of his kind, implacable in revenge, yet capable of deep and strong affection’”

In wooing Padme, Anakin has secretly been an avid scholar of galactic literature (reading stuff the Jedi order would frown upon) in hopes to try and meet her on her level and mature. He’s a fan of space fantasy novels (in the likes of Edgar Rice Burrough’s John Carter of Mars, but for Star Wars), and is a hopeful romantic. He wishes to explore more that the galaxy has to offer and feels constrained by the rigidity of the Jedi order. He and Padme connect on that level of Byronic romance.

As I said in my previous post, the age gap between Anakin and Padme is considerably smaller. (only about 3 years; he’s 23 and she’s 26)

Anakin is much less predatory around Padme than in the original film. I’d more rather have it that they’re both into one another but tragic pining ensues because they find out how much they get along after they’ve been apart.

I don’t know how to solve the mass murder of the tusked raiders scene; I wish it wasn’t there and I wish his mom didn’t get fridge as hard as she did

If there had to be a more docile option, maybe Anakin arrived on Tatooine and learned his mom died years before and he didn’t know about it until just then. It’s too literal to have him holding his dead mother in his arms, and I would think it’s much more cold and painful to learn that your loved one died years ago and you were unaware of it.

His “early turn to the dark side” scene could involve him being more reckless and cutting down flesh and blood enemies during the arena scene, perhaps he kills Jango???

Stuff about Padme

Padme is much more proactive and #thatbitch when it comes to standing up against the rising imperial/fascist mentality within the senate, one of the reasons why some people might want her dead; make her AOC but in spaaaaaaaaaace

Darth Sidious wanted Padme killed for her opposition to the Military Creation Act which would allow the creation of an army to fight the Separatists for the Republic. Since Sidious was manipulating both the Separatists and the Republic, he put a bounty on Padme's head as Nute Gunray's grudge against her was powerful enough that he demanded her death as the condition for secession of the Trade Federation from the Republic

However, not only because of that, but also through her own investigative journalism, Padme discovers the Trade Federation’s shady business practices and ties to the growing separatist alliance and exposes this to the public, thus causing more of a demand for her death and exacerbation of tensions

She’s been having a hard time forming true relationships because of her position of power and being under public scrutiny all the time, thus after coming to respect and care for Anakin, resolves to minimize that scrutiny as much as possible

Stuff about Obi-wan

Jedi Mullet? I don’t think so. Make it more like this

(something a little less mullety, still luxurious, and he keeps the beard)

He’s not necessarily a paragon when it comes to no attachments, and he uses his attractiveness to his advantage and he knows it.

Anakin does serve as his foil, but when he’s on his own it would be nice if he had a companion as well to mirror Anakin and Padme’s journey together. Perhaps an introduction of Satine, thus developing their relationship early on? A different female foil? Or just a buddy from work like Quinlan Vos? Idk.

He’s still in the sort of learning curve when it comes to being a master, and there can be a few times Anakin can prove him wrong. Obi-wan comes to respect his initiative by the end of the film and not be so critical of him (I mean Anakin had just lost an arm and all)

His relationship with Padme is still amicable, but meets a point of tension when discussing Anakin’s behavior and development. Their points of view differ when it comes to how Jedi can express themselves and she critiques some of the more questionable morals and practices of the Jedi

Things about the plot

Officials within the Republic government knew about the clones (and so did some Jedi). Palpatine organized a committee (engineering the pointless war behind the shadows) and they ordered the clone army after the whole Naboo crisis ten years prior to the events of Attack of the clones. Everyone knew tensions were brewing between the potential Seperatists and the Republic and the Republic wanted to beat them to the punch.

Which Jedi in particular knew?

(Ooh! Ooh! What if some Jedi, even on the council, had already turned to the dark side and were working for Palpatine, and in the end by the time of Order 66 they help bring down the order, only to then be killed themselves by Palpatine and Vader (rule of 2)?)

The fight scene between Sidious and the jedi would have them turning against each other while Sidious finishes them off to show the ineptitude and corruption of the once pure Jedi order

Syfo Dyas was the Jedi ambassador to the senate and was convinced/manipulated to assist Palpatine; he helped order the clones and was ready to defend the republic, but when the full plot was revealed to him, he tried to make a run for it and tell the Jedi Order, only to end up assassinated. The order of the clone army a secret was kept until the Separatists fully declared war on the Republic.

Count Dooku also knew when he was still a jedi and on the council. However, he had secretly turned to the darkside and was working for Palpatine/Sidious as a spy until he ultimately left the order to become the leader of the separatists. He had prior knowledge that Palpatine had engineered the war (note: an addition to my Phantom menace post, Syfo Dyas and Dooku would make appearances in Episode 1 to establish a precedent to the plot of this movie).

@whatlomalikes�� @cinna-wanroll y’all like Star Wars, right?

#aotc #Star Wars #attack of the clones #anakin skywalker #Padme Amidala #Obi-Wan Kenobi #count dooku #palpatine #syfo dyas #Star Wars the clone wars #feel free to discuss agree or disagree

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shyvioletcat · 6 years ago

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Kingdom of Ash Tour Sydney

Oh my gosh, I’m sorry this took so long. My notes were much more extensive than I thought and then just a lot of poor time management. Anyway, here it is.

A few choice bits of information/quotes:

“Being a dork pays off you guys. Who knew?”

Says Melbourne like a local

Loves our coffee. Says she’s moving here because of it.

Advice to aspiring writers: find someone to share your work with. Giving and getting feedback teaches you so much. Gives you a form of community.

Got into writing because it’s what she loves and it makes her come alive like nothing else does.

Music plays a Huge part in her creative process

Daily writing schedule. Plays with Taran then about 930/10 she starts. Gets admin stuff done first 9-8 job.

Nothing compares to sitting down and writing a scene she’s wanted to write for years and years. Describes it as time stopping and the closest thing to magic, at least for her.

Had a question about her creative circle for bouncing ideas around and talking about her stories. Sarah didn’t talk to her family about her stories at all when she was younger. Doesn’t like her parents reading her books. She referred back to writing ACOTAR and she asked the audience “do you know what it’s like to write an on the page sex scene knowing my father was going to read this?” Said it took her about three glasses of wine to deal with it.

About her dad reading said scenes: He said “I just skip those scenes.” Sarah’s reply “I’ll do you one better. I’ll just rip those pages out.” Then she talked how it was much worse when ACOMAF came out the next year.

Josh has become her creative sounding board over the last few years. He reads the early drafts of Crescent City and lets Sarah ramble to him for hours. She thinks it’s really cute they get to do that.

He thinks he’s every love interest in all her books. At events people ask if he’s what Rhys was modelled from. Josh will say yes. Sarah was very adamantly said it was a no.

Fellow writers help her from looking like a complete idiot. In particular Lynette Noni. Calls her a secret Disney Princess. Has become her can’t live without critique partner.

She said don’t listen to the people who say writing is a dumb dream. But said it’s a long long road to getting published but not impossible. “Don’t ever listen to the haters man.”

Her parents were always incredibly supportive. Her mum would leave snacks outside her door so she wouldn’t disturb her while she wrote

When her parents told her that she needed a job to support herself Sarah didn’t want to listen. But she said they were ultimately right because there are no guarantees in publishing. One of her favourite moments is when she became a New York Times best seller and she got to call and tell her parents. The first thing her mum said was she regretted telling Sarah to be realistic about the expectations of yourself. But Sarah was adamant they were right.

She thanked us and got quite emotional. Thanked us for supporting her books, she was walking around Sydney harbour and thought to herself how lucky I am to do this for a living.

Someone from the audience screamed “I love you” she said “I love you too, I love you all so much” (insert my hysterical tears). She couldn’t express how much she appreciates everything we all have done for her and her family, the fact we have allowed her to live out her dreams. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this being the loveliest group of people I’ve ever had the honour to meet”. SHE LOVES US.

Crescent city

Doesn’t think her parents can read a single page of crescent city. Joking, it’s every other page. Started as excess creative energy, a real passion project.

Describes it as taking the ToG/ACOTAR worlds and jumping ahead over 3000 years to where they have modern technologies and comforts. Magical creatures living together in complex hierarchies. Feels different because of the modern setting but has familiar aspects, e.g. snarky sassy heroines and brooding sexy muscled men. Says there are so many. So many.

Josh: “why are there so many attractive men in this book?” Sarah “because it’s a fantasy. FAN-TA-SY.”

No real defined plot yet.

Knew it was the story she wanted to tell because of an experience on a plane. Sarah was listening to a piece of music and saw a scene play out and she burst into tears. She didn’t know the characters or how they got there. The scene will be in the first book and is like THE MAJOR BIG SCENE. Kept thinking of that moment of creation and how much it overwhelmed her and that was the deciding factor that that was the next story she needed to tell.

World of Throne of Glass

World of Throne of Glass. Started off as an encyclopaedia. It will be a chronicle that exists in world and Sarah describes it like going into the library of Orynth and pulling it off the shelf. The premise of the book is that Aelin has hired this cranky old scholar to travel around all the kingdoms/continents and includes the travel logs, transcripts from interviews with the characters, insight into how they felt, letters between characters. The book itself is like the the Terrasen courts private copy so it has letters between characters. Glimpses into the future.

BUT THIS MEANS IT WILL COME OUT LATER

ALSO SAID THERE ARE POCKETS OF HISTORY SHE REALLY WANTS TO FILL IN AND THERE’S ALSO LOTS OF STORIES THAT MAYBE ONE DAY SHE MIGHT WANT TO TELL SHE JUST NEEDS TIME TO THINK ABOUT IT. SORRY I’M JUST REALLY EXCITED ABOUT THIS.

Throne of Glass/ACOTAR

The idea of Throne of Glass came to her when she was 15/16 years old. Gripped her like no other story had. Throne of glass has a special place in her heart because it’s what started her on this journey.

Sarah was changing Kingdom of Ash right up the very last minute.

Mystery questions from the lobby:

What would happen if all your villains met?

The thought of Maeve and Amarantha gave her chills to think about. Would they rip each other to shreds or form and unholy alliance? Undecided.

Did you cry during the writing of the final book? If so which moments?

Number one scene. The Thirteen.

Gave lots of details about when Manon first appeared, a piece of music from the Fright Night remake was playing and she saw the cottage scene play out. She saw Manon disembowel the farmers and how her teeth and claws came out and just thought “I love you”.

Loved witches since she was little because she realised witches were often women with power when women weren’t allowed to have power.

Sarah went to the mat for Manon. She hadn’t sold the rest of the books, only up to Heir of Fire. Writing about Manon gave Sarah her courage and came into her life when she needed her attitude. She said “Over my dead effing body” when editor said to cut Manon.

Sarah listened to a song from the original star wars and that was when she saw the sacrifice of the Thirteen. She needed to have Manon start where she did in Heir of Fire so when we all got to the scene in Kingdom of Ash is would really hit us strongly as it had hit Sarah for the first time. Sarah was sobbing at her desk when she saw them making their final run. She saw then Manon screaming and begging them to to stop because she realised she had a heart and loved them.

Sarah said she needed to lie down afterwards, she considered a happy ending for a moment, but then she thought about how the ladies never get to make the big heroic sacrifice and she really wanted the Thirteen to make the badass sacrifice and she wanted to make that moment when their exploding with light and not darkness absolutely destroyed Sarah.

Happier scene is the last goodbye between the main three, sobbing so hard. Really ugly crying not Frodo crying nicely at the end of The Return of the King, but bodily fluids spraying everywhere. So many tears.

Sarah would also get super amped up. Example: When Elide saves Lorcan she got so amped up she literally straddled her chair like she was riding a horse. (She re-enacted it on stage too). Then it was just more ladies were doing their badass thing like:

as Aelin flies down on the bird and explodes and destroys the wave and then Rowan is like that steam is going to boil every one like lobsters, got to get rid of that.

When Aelin makes her run and Lorcan sees her and he’s crying, you know if Lorcan’s crying some intense shit is going down

Then when Aelin is trying to get the mask off. That hit Sarah hit her so hard, didn’t expect it. Felt physically ill writing it. It was one of the few times Aelin was unhinged and in a panic. Seeing Aelin in a panic out Sarah in a panic.

Aelin has been like a person to Sarah and has carried Sarah through a lot of hard stuff. Sarah has said to herself “my name is Sarah J Maas and I will not be afraid”

Would say “What would Aelin do?” to give herself that swagger. Any time Aelin is in pain Sarah was in pain and would be like “My baby my baby! Let me help you”.

Such a joy to write. Aelin was telling her and showing Sarah where to go.

ABOUT THE ENDING OF KINGDOM OF ASH: Travelling in Costa Rico to a rainforest exists at cloud level. (Side note from Sarah: Vote for the environment! Do it for the golden toad). One of the most beautiful places she has ever been. Sitting in the backseat listening to music from John Carter of Mars. Sun broke through the clouds and lit up the mountains and Sarah heard the last line of Kingdom of Ash about the kingsflame blooming and she knew what the last line was and that’s what she wanted to get to. She starting crying (surprise surprise) didn’t want to tell her travelling companions so she lied and said she was crying because the view was so beautiful. Writing with Aelin at the helm guaranteed her nothing. Aelin did it though, she stuck to Sarah’s plans and Sarah got the ending she wanted.

Call out from the audience about Gavriel. Uproar from the audience. “Why did you do that!?” “Why would I do that? Because I’m a horrible person.” Any time a hot guy full of muscles dies it’s a sad day. Poor Aedion. “It would have been so hot! Not in a weird way! The two of them hanging out, the lion and the wolf and oh my heart... you mean I have no heart, that’s what you’re thinking.” Evil cackle.

Who of all your characters do you see sitting in a rocking chair and knitting and telling their grandchildren the wildest stories in their old age?

Throne of Glass. Dorian. Don’t know why.

ACOTAR world would 1000% be Cassian. Nessian book will come out after Crescent City. She started it just for fun, hadn’t planned to write last ACOWAR. Sarah was out to lunch with her editor and got a little drunk and pitched her other books, but then forgot. Agent called a few weeks later telling her the editor wants to buy these books.

She literally doesn’t have the time to get all the stories she wants out of her. Wishes she had Hermione’s time turner.

So that’s it. Again, sorry it took me so long. Sarah was so lovely and I still can’t believe I got to see her in person. There’s a lot I took away from her talk for myself, mainly just how adamant she was about being yourself is the way to go. We’re better off when we’re true to ourselves and love the tings we love without feeling bad for it.

#kingdom of ash tour #kingdom of ash tour sydney

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addictedtostorytelling · 5 years ago

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Do you have any favorite lines from ER? I saw your favorite episodes gifset

hey, @amidalas-shadow!

fun question! i am a sucker for er dialogue, so i have many, many favorite lines.

i put a bunch of ‘em under the “read more.”

_____

inspirational lines

“you set the tone.”—david morgenstern, mark greene, and john carter (at various points throughout the series)

jc: “i thought i was gonna be sick. i’m sorry.”mg: “don’t ever say you’re sorry. see, there’s two kinds of doctors: there’s the kind that gets rid of their feelings, and the kind that keeps them. if you’re gonna keep your feelings, you’re gonna get sick from time to time. that’s just how it works… people come in here, and they’re sick and dying and bleeding, and they need our help. helping them is more important than how we feel.”jc: (nods)mg: “—but it’s still a pain the ass sometimes.”—john carter and mark greene, episode 01x01 “24 hours”

ch: “i just wanna be happy—and i’m so afraid i never will be.”dr: “you will. you will.”—carol hathaway and doug ross, episode 01x25 “everything old is new again”

jc: “it’s not that i dislike surgery. it’s been incredibly challenging. the training has been excellent. you are a wonderful surgeon and a fine teacher.”da: “get to the point, doctor.”jc: “i admire surgeons and surgery, but it’s not the type of medicine i want to practice. i can be a competent surgeon; i can learn the techniques, the mechanics. but i’ll never be a great surgeon. dr. anspaugh, i can be a great doctor—a doctor who spends time with his patients, who’s there for them. i’m good at it. really good. i can make a difference in people’s lives. don’t make me give that up. please don’t make me waste it.”—john carter and donald anspaugh, episode 03x22 “one more for the road”

lk: “i thought we were saving her.”jc: “no. we were giving her her only chance.”lk: “that’s not good enough.”jc: “it has to be.”lk: “no, it doesn’t.”jc: “some patients get to you more than others, i know. but when you do everything that you can—sometimes even more than you thought you could—you gotta walk away knowing you fought the good fight. you fought the good fight, lucy. tomorrow you’ll fight another one.”—lucy knight and john carter, episode 05x08 “the good fight”

ch: “i have to go find out.”lk: “find out what?”ch: “if [doug’s] still in love with me—because i’m still in love with him. i am. i’ve been in love with him since i was twenty-three years old. he’s everything to me. he’s my life. i feel complete when i’m with him, and i feel empty when we’re apart. he’s the father of my children, and he’s my soulmate.”—carol hathaway and luka kovac, episode 06x21 “such sweet sorrow”

“forget superman; i’ll take mark greene.”—abby lockhart, episode 08x20 “the letter”

“be generous—with your time, with your love, with your life… be generous, always.”—mark greene, episode 08x21 “on the beach”

gp: “what’s up, frank?”fm: “you know, i always believed that nothing ever really changed. i’m old enough that i know that there’s always gonna be trouble—war, taxes; bad guys now are pretty much the same as bad guys have always been. but that’s not how i feel today. i feel like the world’s getting worse and worse and worse, and what we’re watching is the slow, steady descent of the human race.”gp: “no. no, i don’t buy that. i think that, um, today was just a rough day for the home team.”—greg pratt and frank martin, episode 13x01 “bloodline”

“you know, nine years ago, i had—my marriage was over, my mother was in a mental institution for the seventh or tenth time—i don’t know—and i drank a lot. a lot. and i had reached this—you know what? i—one morning, i woke up in this apartment, and i had no idea how i got there, next to some guy i didn’t even remember meeting, and he was going through my stuff, looking for money so he and his buddy could get a fix. so i ran out of there, and i went downstairs, and i tried to get a cab, but i had no idea where i was, and it was five o’clock in the morning, and there were no cars on the street, so i just—i just sat down on a stoop, and i just—i waited for something to happen. and at that moment, i’m telling you, i knew—i mean, i was positive!—that happiness was something i was never going to find. i’m just trying to tell you that things can change. they can get better. even if you don’t see it, they can.”—abby lockhart, episode 13x14 “murmurs of the heart”

sad lines

“a man came in today. he sat there and watched his wife die, and he helped her to die, because she was in so much pain, and he loved her. but we didn’t have that kind of marriage, did we, al? we didn’t love, we didn’t cherish, we didn’t respect, and now you’ve killed me!”—jeanie boulet, episode 03x05 “ghosts”

“doug? i don’t want to wake up alone tomorrow.”—carol hathaway, episode 05x15 “the storm,” pt. ii

“he’s still my baby, peter. i’m supposed to take care of him. i feel like somewhere, sometime, he’s going to be sad or cold or scared. who’s taking care of him? who’s being his mother?”—jackie robbins, episode 08x01 “four corners”

ec: “your brother believed me when i told him he’d get better—it didn’t matter where he was, how he felt, what the doctor said. i told him he’d get better. he died believing me.”jc: “no, he was pretending for you—that was another one of our secrets. i was supposed to not let you be sad. i was supposed to make you forget. to make you happy. he made me promise to make you happy. i’m sorry, mom.”—eleanor carter and john carter, episode 08x14 “a simple twist of fate”

“kem? they’re gonna come down and take us to our new room soon, and when they come, they’re gonna take the baby, and we’re never gonna see him again. i don’t know what the right thing is to say. i don’t know what the right thing to do is. it was an accident! it was nothing that you did wrong. it was nothing that we did wrong. it just happened. i love you, and i wanna spend the rest of my life with you, but we have to say goodbye to our son now. i have to help you to do that, and i don’t know how to do that. please help me. please.”—john carter, episode 10x21 “midnight”

funny lines

mp: “are you married?”sl: “no, i’m a doctor.”—male patient and susan lewis, episode 01x01 “24 hours”

“what can i say about mark greene that hasn’t already been said? i think everybody knows how he overcame adversity as a child of quakers, his years in exile, his political writings and limericks, his mod period with the turtlenecks, his blue period, and of course his ruthless march to power and the silencing of his rivals.”—doug ross, episode 02x03 “do one, teach one, kill one”

“you are wedges. the wedge is the most primitive tool known to man. that is you. you think you know what you’re doing. believe me: you don’t. breakfast with your senior surgical resident, dr. benton, will begin in fifteen minutes. dr. benton is an intern’s worst nightmare. he’s smarter than you, he never eats, he never sleeps, and he reads every medical journal, no matter how obscure. he is the antichrist, beelzebub, lucifer—a devourer of wedges! you will go to sleep at night wishing plague and pestilence on his unborn children, and you will wake up every morning praying for his approval. you won’t get it. welcome to hell, ladies and gentlemen.”—dr. melvoin, episode 03x01 “dr. carter, i presume”

sidebar: if any of my followers from the csi fandom are reading this, dr. melvoin is played by wallace langham, aka david hodges, so imagine the above spectacular rant being delivered in his voice. also, bonus points ‘cause he’s talking about “wedges.”

sl: “first of all, i order a manhattan, straight up, two cherries. he orders a ‘fruity yet selfless’ glass of carbernet.” mg: “what does that even mean?” sl: “i have no idea! then he talks for forty-five minutes about his ex-girlfriend, whose name also happens to be susan: how much he loved her, how much he wanted to marry her, how he wanted to father her five or six children—and, by the way, do i want children? do i want five or six children?” mg: “okay, tad could be worse.” sl: “i’m not even there yet, mark. i look over, and he has this drop of red wine hanging from his nose.” mg: “what?” sl: “you heard me! this puny, little blob, just hanging there. so of course, i cannot take my eyes off of it! is it gonna fall? is it gonna hang there all night? is his skin going to absorb it?” mg: “how did it get there?” sl: “mark!”mg: “no, really! how did you get your nose that far down into a wineglass? what, was he smelling it, or—?” sl: “mark, please!”mg: “okay, what happened?”sl: “i went to the bathroom and snuck out the window.”mg: “you’re kidding.”sl: “nope.”mg: “wow.”—susan lewis and mark greene, episode 03x02 “let the games begin”

kw: “did you even take the hippocratic oath?!”rr: “i had my fingers crossed.”—kerry weaver and robert romano, episode 07x03 “mars attacks”

sw: “don’t touch me!”nr: “try not to move. i’m a doctor. you may have broken your ankle.” sw: “if you’re a doctor, i want a second opinion.”nr: (to abby) “okay, dr. lockhart, would you care to give a second opinion?”al: (to snotty woman) “sure. your ankle may be broken—and you’re a bitch.”—snotty woman on l platform, neela rasgotra, and abby lockhart, episode 12x02 “nobody’s baby”

_____

there are probably tons of others, too.

if you ever want any of these moments—or any others from the show—giffed, lemme know, okay?

thanks for the question!

#answered #amidalas-shadow #asks: er #er #nbc er #let's talk shop

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vintagegeekculture · 7 years ago

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Could you please recommend what could be considered the quintessential pulp adventure work? Something you would recommend to just "get" them, like if I somebody put a gun to my head and told me to write a pulp adventure parody tomorrow, what should I watch? Thank you.

That’s a surprisingly hard question to answer because thereare a lot of misconceptions that people have about what pulp magazine adventurestories were actually like. The ��frame of reference” that modern people have onthem are the excellent Indiana Jones movies, which are great but the adventurepulp mags weren’t like that, with archeologist heroes in exotic locales goingthrough gold filled tombs with supernatural objects of historic importance. I’mnot going to say that kind of story didn’t exist, because, as you’ll see, thechief trait of pulp adventure stories were their diversity, but it certainlywasn’t common enough to be a trope. In the pulps, Indiana Jones just didn’t exist.

For an example of what I mean by that, contrary to popularbelief, there were shockingly few stories, at least before the US joined WorldWar II, where the Nazis were the bad guys. I can almost always tell if a coveris a 1930s pulp pastiche made in modern day because it has Nazis on it (and theobsession with Nazi wonder weapons like robots and flying saucers is almostalways a modern obsession). People think pulp heroes fought Nazis all the time,when they really didn’t. This is partly because, before Pearl Harbor, beinganti-Nazi was actually staking a controversial political position, which manypublishers avoided doing. Though you’ll never read about this in the hagiographiesabout the “Greatest Generation,” a large portion of Americans were actuallypro-Nazi because they were efficient and anticommunist.

Sure, that was one reason, but I think the main reason Nazis nevershowed up much is that people in the US were just plain terrified. You readenough old pulp, the fact they never mention the Nazis or European conflictstarts to look downright pathological, like a blind spot. It reminds me of oneof John Dolan’s more interesting observations: nobody ever mentioned Napoleonin Jane Austen’s body of work. Really? Nobody ever brought this up? The reasonis that people in the social category Jane Austen wrote about were terrifiedout of their minds by Napoleon, who was the greatest general since JuliusCaesar, and for most of his career, was essentially invincible.

(This is going to be unavoidably US centric since pulp magswere primarily, though not exclusively, a US phenomenon. There are someinteresting exceptions, though: the German pulp Der Orchideengarten is especially historically important becauseit was the first true fantasy/horror magazine and predated Weird Tales by 5years.)

The most shocking thing about pulp adventure stories is the sheerdiversity of story types published in them. Popular genres of pulp adventurestories included:

The Oriental/Mongol Adventure (Harold Lamb is the bestexample)

Radio Adventure (there was a whole genre of story whereradio operators were heroes, since radio was seen as incredibly high tech andcool in the tens and twenties)

The Roman-Era Adventure (Tros of Samothrace is the bestexample, a character who inspired Conan the Barbarian)

The Lost Race Adventure (the best example, though not themost famous, would be Thyra, Romance of the Polar Pit, where still livingVikings dwell at the north pole)

The Stone Age Adventure

The Scientific Detective (Archie Kennedy was the most famous,a detective who used science to catch criminals)

Historical Adventure (Zorro is one of the best known,published in the Argosy, the same magazine that gave the world Horatio Alger,Tarzan, and in its later days when it transitioned into being a paranormaltabloid, originated the legend of the Bermuda Triangle)

The Stone Age Past Life Regression Story (…too weird topossibly go into with the time we have)

The Ruritanian Romance (e.g. a Prisoner of Zenda Clone)

The Sword and Planet Romance (John Carter of Mars and itsnumerous ripoffs)

To directly answer your question…if someone pointed a gun tomy head and told me to give him the most archetypal pulp adventure story, I’dsay it would be found in the most archetypal pulp mag of all, Adventure, whichoften had stories of world travel and globetrotting adventure. The letters pageswere especially fun, because they included true life facts about what it’s liketo be bitten by a cobra, what dengue feels like, how to best survive a polarbear attack (hint: jump to the left, since most polar bears are left-handed),and even firsthand eyewitness accounts of current events like the Italianinvasion of Abyssinia (Ethiopia).

If someone told me to pick the most archetypal story ever published in themost archetypal adventure pulp, it would be Talbot Mundy’s King of the KhyberRifles, Featuring Captain Athelstan King, a secret agent in British-ruledIndia, he befriends the beautiful princess Yasmini, hinted as having bizarremesmeric powers. It has a hint of the supernatural and black magic, greatpowers espionage and intrigue, fistfighting, going undercover in the seraglio,and bare knuckle fistfights.

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imamotherfuckingstar-lord · 7 years ago

Text

Boundaries, Part 4

Steve Rogers x Plus Size!Reader

Characters: Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes

A/N: More Bucky in this one.

Summary: You just finished a two year long photojournalist stint overseas and decide to take a break from traveling. So you head back to your home town and lucky enough, your childhood friend Sam Wilson has a few rooms to rent out. So you head back to California and are met with a surprise, a very handsome surprise.

His name is Steve Rogers and he’s a shy guy from Brooklyn, New York. Dragged across the country by his best friend, Bucky Barnes - he hopes to start a new life after a pretty bad break up with his long time girlfriend, Sharon Carter.

Can the of four of maneuver the art of living together? Or will boundaries be crossed?

Masterlist

It had been nearly two weeks of living with your new roommates and things were slowly coming together. Everyone was getting along, besides the little peek show Steve had walked into one morning in the bathroom - when you apparently forget what a lock was.

“I’m so sorry!”

Steve had yelled slamming the bathroom door shut.

You laughed and continued to use the toilet. “What is this? A Fox sitcom!”

Besides that one incident, things were going pretty well. You had started work at the local photo studio, which gave you a flexible schedule and it was smack dab in the middle of downtown and across the street from a small park that was literally 10 feet from the front door

You usually had mornings opened, which meant walking around in shorts and oversized shirts until it was time to adult. Luckily, everyone was pretty much morning people - so you always had company and it also meant you could play music loud.

Well, most of the time.

Steve stood in the hallway, a mug of coffee in his hand and eyes glued to your bedroom door - which looked like it could burst off it’s hinges at any moment. Music bumped through the walls, muffled, but loud. Sam and Bucky had left early to work, leaving Steve alone with you. He had made breakfast and coffee, so he went to call you, but the music interrupted him.

He inhaled deeply and prepared to knock, feeling a hint of nervousness tighten in his chest. Steve wasn’t sure what it was, but being around you lately had him on his toes. You were so different, in every way from any person he had ever met. Truthfully, he thought it was like inhaling fresh air after a long stay indoors. Was it attraction or fascination? Both?

He couldn’t be sure, but it was nice - definitely nice.

Steve reached out a hand and knocked loudly. Twice, before the bedroom door swung open and you stood there, disheveled and with a wide smile.

The music was louder with the door opened and Steve attempted to speak, but your head was bobbing to the song and your hips were doing something he thought he shouldn’t be staring at. Your eyes flew to the cup in his hand and you smiled, but shook your head.

“I can’t drink that!”

“What?”

“Hold on,” you laughed and walked over to the bluetooth speaker and turned it off. “Bruno Mars, am I right?”

Steve’s brows scrunched in confusion and you laughed. “Jesus, should I play John Mayer instead? You’d like that, huh?”

He would, but he just smiled and offered the cup again. “I made breakfast, hope you like french toast and bacon.”

“Sounds good, but coffee’s a no go for me.”

Disappointment fell over his face and his eyes looked down at the mug. “I thought you..”

“Runs right through me,” you explained motioning for him to lead the way. “Believe I wish I could, but I’d be in the bathroom all day.”

He laughed and held up a hand. “Duly noted.”

The two of you walked into the kitchen and you eyed the two plates on the kitchen island. “Nice, roomie.”

The man smiled and asked if you’d like a water bottle from the fridge. “Yeah, thanks.”

Within minutes, the two of you were standing next to each other - eating off your plates and talking about your new job.

“I mean it’s going to be different, not traveling around,” you bellowed out - taking a bite of bacon. “But a little stability is what I need right now. And you? Any job prospects?”

Steve pulled at his blue shirt and sighed. “Not really, applied at the gym Buck works at. I’m hoping I’ll get hired.”

“You should do personal training, get on Craigslist or whatever. Make sure to use your photo, I’m sure the ladies and gentlemen would be lining up.”

He laughed and shook his head. “Not a bad idea, if the job doesn’t pan out - I might just do that.”

“I can take your picture, but know I only do nudes.”

Two weeks ago, Steve would have choked on his bacon - now he was use to your brand of humor. “Even better.”

Your eyes lit up and you playfully smacked him on the forearm. “Now that’s the spirit.”

“Alright, stay still sweetheart.”

You focused on the little face in front of you, a four year old little girl in a cute blue sundress. She sat still, a wide smile plastered over her face. Snapping more than a dozen photos in various poses, you ended the session before the girl could get restless and thanked her parents. After informing that they could come back in a week for the photos, you followed the family out and waved them off.

“You’re really good.”

“Thanks, Bruce.”

Bruce was your boss and the owner of the studio, he was a reserved quiet man, but very generous and kind. He adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose and tucked his hands into his black slacks.

“You do really well with the kids, do you think you could take my appointments this weekend? I have two weddings back to back.”

“You really shouldn’t overbook,” you teased walking over to your desk. Looking at the time on your desktop, you realized it was lunch time. “Of course I will. Don’t worry about.”

Bruce looked at his own watch and started shuffling through his desk. “Thanks. Lunch time. I’m going to close, be back in an hour.”

Grabbing your things, you followed him out and told him to have a good lunch. You watched him walk down the street and took out your cell. There was a text message from Bucky.

Noon. Park. Lunch.

Smiling you looked up and scanned the park, immediately spotting Bucky under a small tree. Crossing the small one way street, you jogged over to the man - who sat on a flannel blanket wearing a gray cut off shirt and black basketball shorts. He saw you and smiled, standing up just as you arrived in front of him.

“Hey,” he smirked and pressed a kiss onto your forehead. “I’m in between clients, thought we could have lunch together.”

“Damn, you know the way to a girl’s heart,” you exclaimed. “Is that JB’s?”

Bucky grinned and nodded. “Grilled chicken sandwich, extra tomatoes and a chocolate shake.”

You made a noise that could have been described as a moan and settled onto the blanket. Bucky laughed and followed suit, taking out the food and handing it over. You bit into the sandwich and groaned.

“I missed this so much.”

“I bet. Music?”

“Music.”

You watched Bucky take out his cell, sneaking bites from a fry as he scanned through his playlists. The afternoon was perfect California weather - clear skies and 70 degrees out, with the lightest of breezes. Sipping from the shake, your eyes widen when he pressed play.

“GAMBINO!”

He laughed and nodded. “Gambino.”

You sat there moving to the music, while eating and singing along to the song. Bucky couldn’t stop smiling, only moving his head slightly to the music.

“Got no patience, cause I’m not a doctor. Girl why is you lying, girl why you Mufasa,” you sang to your roommate and he laughed as he bit into his burger and shook his head. And when the song ended and the next one came on, you stared at Bucky in disbelief.

“Kali Uchis?”

Bucky shrugged innocently. “I like her music.”

“This is my playlist on Spotify, isn’t it. Oh my god! You’re my follower!”

You quickly took out your cell and touched the music app, while Bucky sat and tried to hold back an embarrassed laugh. Going through all your playlists, you land on the one titled ‘No Fucks’ and looked at the one follower’s handle.

“Winterdude,” you read aloud. “WINTERDUDE.”

“Figured it would throw you off, since we live in California and it’s never cold here.”

“You follow like all my playlist, you dork.”

Bucky shrugged. “You make good playlists, plus it felt like having you around again.”

Your eyes snapped up to your friend and you gripped his shoulder. “I missed you too, Buck. And also, you’re like really buff now. It’s kinda hot.”

His entire face lit up and he just roared out a laugh, throwing a fry in your direction. “I’m glad to see you haven’t changed in the last two years, punk.”

“That might be a bad thing, I’m nearly 30 and haven’t evolved much.”

Buck rolled his eyes. “We’re all nearly 30 and we live in a house together - bunch of single, attractive people. Shit, we could be doing worse.”

“Speaking of,” you changed the subject. “Any chance on getting Steve that job at the gym?”

“Look at you, caring about my good friend, Steve.”

“I’m being a good roommate, jackass.”

He pulled down the black sunglasses that had been resting on his head and smirked. “Yeah, he’s in. I was going to tell him when I got home.”

“Damn, I was really looking forward to those nudes,” you sighed.

“What!”

“Nothing,” you laughed. “It’s an inside joke. But what’s his deal anyway?”

“Steve?”

“No, Dennis Rodman - yes Steve!”

Bucky chuckled and leaned back on his arms. “He was dating Sharon Carter…”

“Fancy,” you interrupted with a smile.

“Yeah, she was a pretty good catch. They dated through high school and college, they got engaged and everything.”

“Holy shit, he was engaged?”

“Yeah.”

Bucky ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “But they couldn’t decide on date, truthfully I think neither of them wanted it. She broke it off when Steve wouldn’t move to London with her.”

“What - why? London’s amazing,” you scoffed and Bucky agreed.

“I know, that’s what I told him, but Steve doesn’t like change much.”

“Shit, how’d you manage to get him to move across the country?”

He laughed. “My good looks, my dazzling charm.”

“You’re an idiot,” you announced, packing up the leftover lunch. Bucky watched you carefully and something clicked inside his brain.

“You two would be good together.”

You looked over at Bucky and chuckled at the joke. “Yeah, okay.”

“No, really,” he argued. “You’re exactly what he needs. Someone new, someone with a different take on life.”

You listened to Buck’s words and digested them all with a grain of salt. “You can’t go from Sharon Carter to me - I’m too much for him, literally and figuratively. That man wouldn’t know what to do with me.”

You listened to Bucky laugh and smiled at him seductively. “Now you, you’d know be perfect for me. But I’ve seen you throw up like six hot dogs after the Wiz Coaster at the country fair - can’t unsee that.”

“Are kidding me,” he groaned letting his head fall in shame. “We were 16.”

“Six hot dogs, Buck.”

You stood up and held out a hand. “Those six hot dogs ruined a lifetime of dirty - and I mean downright dirty, sex with me.”

Taking your hand, he chuckled and got up. “The biggest regret of my life, doll.”

The familiar nickname made your body warm with comfort and you leaned in and went to press a kiss on his check. But he turned and let his lips touch yours. You grinned against him and pulled away, smacking him on the chest.

“Thanks for lunch, Buck.”

‘Anytime.”

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k1716553tombates · 5 years ago

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Bloog Entire Entry2

Alright so here we go another instalment of talking about stuff I like. It’s been a little while since the first entry in my second attempt at blogging and since then I finished a couple of things I was reading, and I’ve made further developments with my summer film which I will talk about this time.

First off, I finished reading A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. While I was reading this book I thought it was what someone refers to when they say “pulp fiction”, it’s really not pushing any boundaries in the sci-fi genre, it doesn’t flesh out it’s characters and the hero saves the world and gets the girl with very little difficulty. As the protagonist John Carter is from Earth, once upon Mars the lesser gravity grants him super strength, not only this but the telepathic means of communication used by the martians is no obstacle for him, as he seems to be fully capable of using the ability to a higher level than the martians the moment he arrives on the planet. You never really feel like he is in any true peril, and if the book was much longer it may have gotten a little boring, however as is the theme with pulp fiction the book is a fun read for the short time it takes to read it. A Princess of Mars doesn’t provide grand new ideas or a deeper look human realtionships, but it does give a very dungeons and dragons feeling approach to sci-fi, with monsters, duels, a war between species, dungeons, princesses, tyrants and handsome Conan style protagonist. Now, upon finishing this book I wanted to send a friend a picture of the cover, I looked at the inside cover to find an artist’s name and was frankly shocked to see that this book was first published in 1912, and what I though to be a fairly rudimentary sci-fi was actually crazy ahead of it’s time. Props Edgar.

Just recently I have finished a series I mentioned in my last entry, Akira. Katsuhiro Otomo’s mastapeece spans 6 large books each costing around £15-£20 and can be easily read in one or two sittings, so it’s fair to say Akira is not particularly cheap to read unless you want to read it online which unfortunately grosses me out just thinking about. Frankly I’m glad I splurged and bought the books, Otomo’s work is in my opinion unrivalled in terms of it’s appeal and a must have for any weeb’s manga collection. It never ceases to amaze me when reading any manga that most of what is produced is created by a single person. It seems with most manga, the artists have spent their entire lives becoming intensely skilled in illustration, and a lack of ability in writing good narratives is occasionally present. As I was saying about A Princess of Mars, not every story has to be an incredible feat in storytelling, but in more mangas that not, the narrative comprises of a protagonist who walks around and fights a guy, then finds a stronger guy and beats him, then finds a stronger guy and beats him, and so on. It clearly doesn’t deter me from reading it as there are lots or other elements of creativity outside the overarching narrative, along with incredible artwork, however Akira is the first manga I’ve read that has strayed so far from the norm, juggling many different characters with integral roles in the story, protagonists who’s moral compass is far from perfect, and antagonists with complex motivations. Not one person is solely responsible for any big plot points, and at no point does a character fully understand what has happened or will happen. This juggling of information is reflected in action sequences, often having many different groups, all with different goals colliding together in huge set pieces, there is so much going on at one time that you can’t help but read quickly, and at times it feels like such a clusterfuck, but really that’s probably how it would be in real life. The amount of information in Akira is just handled so well that I never felt lost, it doesn’t fail to answer questions then call it abstract, it is a wholly satisfying read and deserves it’s title of one of the greatest manga ever made...

The film’s pretty good too.

Finally I’ll talk a little bit about my summer project. I decided to make an adaptation of the ending of The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, as a whole the book is good, obviously with historical context this book was a huge jumping off point for story telling, however objectively it doesn’t delve into the possibilities of time travel as much as other more modern stories have done. Effectively a turn of the century scientist in London invents a time machine, travels forward to a point where humans have evolved (or devolved) to a point of being vastly different, he farts around a bit then go’s home. However just before he does so he travels further forward to the Earth’s last years, it’s drifted out of orbit and nothing grows except an algae like plant on the surface of rocks. The sun now only drifts above the horizon, and for some reason there are giant crabs and moths. The description given of the dying Earth was really appealing to me, something about it being at the very end of the story and was unintentionally witnessed by the time traveller made it feel beautiful but a little bit spooky. The evolution of my adaptation has proceeded into the production stages. Quite a few of my visual ideas have just come from making it and things coincidentally happening then deciding to go for it. I am about of third of the way through animating and haven’t made an animatic which I know is a terrible idea but I’m going with it. The found that the longer I’ve gone not sticking to any sort of plan the further away from the original text I’ve gotten, however the key things I liked about it are still there and to be honest I like that it doesn’t look like any other adaptations. From what I’ve done so far there are influences from everywhere, my time machine looks like the monolith from 2001, the rocks look like Junji Ito’s work, the time machine controls are inspired by my keyboard. I know what I still have to do and I have about a month to finish it. The only issue I see in the foreseeable future is sound, as I haven’t done an animatic I have no idea if I’m having any music or not, and what sound effects to use. I’ll probably just wing it in Premier.

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aion-rsa · 8 years ago

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INTERVIEW: Bill Willingham Channels ERB for The Greatest Adventure

When Bill Willingham was a young boy, his mother would buy him comic books when he stayed home sick to occupy him while she maintained her home-based accounting business. One day, she betrayed him (his words) and brought home “The Return of Tarzan” by Edgar Rice Burroughs instead.

Due to sheer boredom, the disheartened child eventually cracked the spine of his new paperback novel, only to discover a wonderful world of action and adventure. His mother’s betrayal led to a lifelong love of the Lord of the Apes and the collected works of Burroughs that has lasted to this day, the writer told CBR. That’s why his latest project, illustrated by Cezar Razek, has filled him with joy and some heart-felt trepidation.

In “The Greatest Adventure,” an upcoming series from Dynamite Entertainment, Willingham is set to tell a story Burroughs never managed to deliver himself: the meeting of his two most iconic characters, Tarzan and John Carter of Mars. That, Willingham revealed, is why this is the most intimidating series that he has ever done, as he first imagined the possibility of such a meeting more than 50 years ago as a young reader.

The seven, eight or possibly nine-issue series will also feature many of Burrough’s other classic characters, including Tarzan’s immediate family (Jane Porter, his son Korak and his daughter-in-law Meriem), Jason Gridley from the Pellucidar series, and Billy Byrne from the Mucker series, as well as the little known Townsend Harper from “The Monster Men” and Kolani/Jim Stone from “The Resurrection of Jimber-Jaw.”

CBR: In “Fables,” you mashed together hundreds of characters from fairytales and folklore together in Fabletown, but — am I right in thinking Edgar Rice Burroughs very much wrote these characters as if they already existed in a shared universe?

Bill Willingham: That’s right. As a matter of fact, the discovery of that was a particularly fine moment for me. At first, it didn’t quite click because I read one of the books from the Tarzan series out of order. It was called “Tarzan at the Earth’s Core,” in which Tarzan goes to the hidden, inner world of Pellucidar and meets and interacts with David Innes from the Pellucidar series. But at that time, I didn’t realize there was a Pellucidar series. I just thought these were other interesting characters that Edgar Rice Burroughs had created for Tarzan to visit.

After that, I found out that there was a whole series of Pellucidar books. At the same time, I was a little disappointed because by the next book, Tarzan was off in some other recently discovered world. I was wishing that Tarzan could spend more time in Pellucidar. I ended catching up on the Pellucidar series, and that’s when I found out all of this stuff all takes place in the same world.

I tried to read Edgar Rice Burroughs’ books in order, but to a great extent, I was limited to what order that I discovered them. I found something called “The Mad King” that was part of a little two-book series that starred a character named Barney Custer. He was mistaken as the king of one of these fictionalized, Eastern European countries. His sister gets involved with a frozen caveman in a book called “The Eternal Lover,” and at the beginning of that book, Barney Custer and his sister are hanging out in the Greystoke Manor in Africa, just having cocktails and such as you do in an Edgar Rice Burroughs novel. That’s what finally cemented to me that all of this stuff takes place in the same world. I just went with that for this series.

One of the great disappointments amongst all of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ fans is that, to anyone’s knowledge, he never wrote the Tarzan on Mars book that you know should have been written. Tarzan and John Carter really, really needed to meet each other, and yet, it didn’t happen. As a matter of fact, the issue that I am writing next is that meeting and the intimidation factor is dialed up about as high as it can be because it needs to be an important, big moment. Do I have the capability of doing it right? Probably not, but we’ll see. [Laughs]

I loved “Fables,” and a lot of that love came from your leading man, Bigby, aka the Big Bad Wolf. I didn’t see it before, but in hindsight, there is a lot of Tarzan in Bigby. What attributes does Tarzan possess that allow him to stand front and center and lead these men and women on this greatest adventure?

This is very much the book version of Tarzan. He thinks in real thoughts. By this time in his life, he knows about 30 different languages. He is a savant in picking up languages, which retroactively justifies the almost impossible task of a kid teaching himself to read with just one primer and a few books in a cabin. He is clearly some kind of mental giant, but he is also, because of the way that he was raised, almost a stoic. He does not wear his heart on his sleeve. The intimate moments that he has with Jane, thank God, are for the most part off-screen.

One of the things that I like that Edgar Rice Burroughs said early on about Tarzan – and in later books, he contradicted this – is that he seldom smiled and never laughed. He is a dour fellow. Not in a sense that he doesn’t have a sense of humor. He’s not grimly serious all of the time, but he was raised in the jungle, and if you want to survive, you don’t make extraneous noises. He learned from an early age to just keep things to himself. That’s the Tarzan that I am hoping to show here. I think Tarzan also has an internal monologue, where he is constantly weighing and evaluating things, including his opinions on the people that he is surrounded by.

Tarzan, like most, is a character I know well from TV, movies, cartoons, books and comics. Jason Gridley is someone that I didn’t know. What can you share about the character who actually brings this team together and basically appoints Tarzan to lead?

If you are going to do a take on Jason and the Argonauts, it helps to have a character named Jason. [laughs] Also, he is the scientist that invented the Gridley Wave, which is a means of instant communication that allowed Gridley to get full stories from people on Mars and David Innes down in Pellucidar. In the books, Edgar Rice Burroughs uses the Gridley Wave as a method of how he is able to tell you the story, because Edgar Rice Burroughs always wrote the books under the pretense that these stories really did happen.

This instant communication device that defies the limits of time and space also makes a very good MacGuffin in the sense that it gives the characters a reason to go on a quest because someone has taken the Gridley Wave with the intent to weaponize it. If you can communicate instantly, maybe you can do other, more terrible things, without having to worry about the barriers of time and space.

The bad guys actually capture Jason early on and try to get his cooperation in making his Gridley Wave into a death ray, but he escapes, gets a hold of Tarzan, and now we have a story. He’s essential to the story.

By setting “The Greatest Adventure” in Burroughs’ shared universe, does that mean that we also get to go back in time, to see Tarzan hunting dinosaurs in “The Land That Time Forgot” from the Caspak trilogy?

The biggest frustration with this entire series is that I have to keep it at a reasonable length. I am trying for seven issues, it’s probably going to be eight — dear God, it might have to expand into nine, but I can’t over that simply because it has to be an enclosed story. But I’m telling you, with the structure of this, and visiting all of these lands that Edgar Rice Burroughs created, I could spend a dozen issues in each one of them. Some of that stuff will have to be truncated. I will give something away: Yes, you are going to see Tarzan hunt a dinosaur in at least one point.

The best thing that was ever done on TV, animation-wise, and will never be beaten is one scene from an episode of “Jonny Quest.” Race, Johnny, Johnny’s dad and probably Hadji are in personal flying packs with bazookas hunting dinosaurs. That’s got it all. There is a nod to that fully formative moment in my life in this series, too, because as everyone who has read their Edgar Rice Burroughs knows, Martian Barsoomian tech includes something called the Equilibrimotor. It’s one of ERB’s most wonderful inventions with a terrible name, except that the name grows on me because it’s so terrible, it’s kind of charming. [Laughs]

Basically, they are flying harnesses — and they are almost never used in the books. They are used a few times, but as a reader, there were so many times in the Martian books where I was like, “This would be a good time to use an Equilibrimotor.” But who listens to me? But because that’s part of the tech available to the crew now, there will be a scene where there are a few characters flying around, hunting dinosaurs with Martian exploding bullet rifles and bazookas. Just because, why not?

We’ve talked about Tarzan and John Carter of Mars, Burroughs’ two most popular and enduring characters, but reading the scripts for the first two issues of this series also introduced me to a number of Burroughs’ creations that I never knew existed. I am very excited to go out and read “The Monster Men,” now.

“The Monster Men” takes place in Burma or one of the Far East countries. It’s an adventure where there is a mad scientist – Burroughs loved his mad scientists – and this one was doing the Frankenstein bit, attempting to create new human life from the ground up. In his case, he was growing them in vats, not sewing corpses together. The experiments were not successful, at least not right away, so you have a lot of grotesque monstrosities running around outside of this guy’s lab. Experiment Number Thirteen turns out to be the success amongst all of these failures. He looked entirely human, he was handsome, he was noble and the mad scientist’s daughter, of course, fell in love with him. In the book, and I hope I am not giving too much away, it turns out that he was human after all, and he had amnesia. He was basically clunked over the head and put in there to fake out the scientist that he had actually created a person. It’s a long and complex story, but yes, Experiment Number Thirteen from “The Monster Men” is part of the crew. [Laughs]

Just because, why not?

Exactly. If I am going to do this, why not wallow in it? [Laughs] We also have the writer from one book. We have The Oskaloosa Kid, a gunslinger from “The Oakdale Affair.” We have the Mucker, who starred in two books. He’s the closest thing we have to a thuggish brute that Burroughs ever wrote. Burroughs also wrote a morality play about what a nest of vipers Hollywood is. It was a snarky look at Hollywood after Burroughs went there with Tarzan. The book was called “The Girl from Hollywood” and so she’s in the crew. And I have to tell you, there was absolutely no reason to justify putting her in the crew other than another ‘why not’ but then it turned out — as it so often happens when you put some things in there that I know at the right time, I am confident, will pay off and I will figure out something to do with them – and that did happen with her. She became important to one part of the story at just right the time.

The Greatest Adventure,” by Bill Willingham and illustrated by Cezar Razek, begins on April 19.

The post INTERVIEW: Bill Willingham Channels ERB for The Greatest Adventure appeared first on CBR.com.

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ginnyzero · 5 years ago

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Catching the Spirit of the Times

Being an artistic person, there is one thing I can tell you that is pretty common in artistic endeavors, change. Art is expressed differently during different time periods. Movements, trends, rages and fads all meld together to express an overall feeling. In art school, or at the least the art school I attended, we are taught to try and recognize and then capitalized on these moods. They called it catching the zeitgeist or the spirit of the times. That way we could take what we wanted to do and tune it into the universal consciousness of all mankind of that moment and potentially make money. (Yeah, they were a little cutthroat about the making money bit. Granted these are artists they are talking to and ‘starving artist’ is a stereotype for a reason.)

Granted catching this spirit of the times was probably a lot easier several hundred years ago when the art scene was confined to an area the size of the United States (aka Europe) and artists didn’t have to compete with the internet age and the idea of a global economy. But now we have strange things like marketing analysis and trend forecasts! (I swear, if you want to go into an industry that is over analyzed and forecasted to death, choose anything related to fashion. This includes advertising. Oye vie.)

And still where art is a business, they will still make the same things that worked before over and over even though the market is tired of it. (Though the market doesn’t help because they keep going out and watching or buying these things. Mainly, because there is nothing else there.) This is what I feel happens when art is reduced to the bottom line of dollar and cents. The spirit of the times gets ignored in favor of things that are considered a ‘sure deal.’

Case in point, how many Spiderman Origin stories have we had in the past two decades? How many times have we seen Batman fight against the Joker or Two Face or “insert villain of the week” here?

Right now we’re in the middle of a ‘stand alones are not welcome,’ series franchising is paramount, and the summer tent pole is King. It feels we are in the middle of the era of the 1980s remake. Where the real spirit of the times is embodied in the early Marvel Cinematic Universe (and if they keep going the way rumors suggest they’re going to shoot themselves in the foot with it.)

I like watching these swings. What are people talking about? What are fans talking about versus what are critics talking about? What are average people talking about? Critics see things completely differently than how fans see it. And fans see things differently than the average movie goer. Critics are about opinion. Fans tend to be ahead of the curve. The average person can say “this is what I like, right now, at this moment.” They are the immediate temperature test to see if things are going in the right direction or the wrong direction. Because the average person might read something by a critic or view a trailer and decide to see what the fuss is for themselves and come out with a completely opposite opinion of what the critic is saying.

Take John Carter for example, the critics hated it. Financially, it was going to be a flop no matter what happened. Those who went and saw it in theatres, liked it. (You know, that is if they knew it was in theatres to begin with and had an inkling what the story was about.) So while critics and articles use John Carter as an example of a bad movie that just stank, the average movie goer gets mad because that was a good movie in their opinion and that critic and article is just plain wrong! Whereas the fans of John Carter of Mars who have read the book get angry because the movie destroyed the story of the books. They wanted a more faithful adaptation. (It’s Disney, that wasn’t going to happen, ever.) So, for every article saying that John Carter was a bad movie, there will be at least half a dozen comments on how it wasn’t a bad movie. That it never stood a chance to be a financial success. And that it is giving anyone who is involved with it a bad rap. (The fans of the books go mutter in their corner about how the spirit of the books were completely ruined and the ground breaking story ideas for that time were completely ignored.)

In the fashion world at least, we call these three different types the trend setters (Critics), the early adopters (fans) and the followers (average person). Things can work their way down from the trend setters to the streets or they can work up from the streets to the trend setters. This is the difference between Haute Couture ideas working their way down to discounter and outlet stores. (Yes, outlet stores have their own designed ranges now.) Versus, street fashion working its way into the designs of ready to wear.

There is the scene in the Devil Wears Prada where Miranda is talking to Andy about the godawful acrylic bright blue sweater she’s wearing. And how that color, cerulean, had started on the runways of an haute couture fashion show several years earlier and had worked its way down to whatever chain store Andy had picked the sweater from. And somewhere, at some time, Pantone told said designer that cerulean was the next it color. (Really, it is enough to boggle the mind, remember how a few years ago it was orchid. Orchid? Really? Fuchsia? My eyes hurt. Cerulean is just as bad. Cerulean was at least fictional.) This is the example of top to bottom.

Whereas bottom to top would be the Harajuku fashions of Japan. Harajuku wasn’t really a fashion trend in Japan. It was a place where Japanese teenagers came and wore clothes to express their individuality. This was extremely important in Japan because the culture is a total opposite of the United States. Individuality wasn’t and isn’t really encouraged. They express their individuality much differently over there, especially among the younger set. (Fashion is marketed and sold completely differently in Asian countries were branding is much more emphasized.) Harajuku and places like it were places where Japanese teenagers could throw off the constraints of their family and their schools and try to form an identity by being ‘someone else’ for a while. Well, this street fashion became something of a news story. It made it into Vogue even as something to watch. There were photo books published called “Fruits.” And then later, Gwen Stefani created a whole ready to wear line based on the aesthetics of the Harajuku. Street fashion became ready to wear. (Whether or not this was even appropriate is a different discussion.)

You see, by the time the trendsetters, or the critics in this case, are tired of an idea, the average person is raving about it. To keep your eye on the spirit of the times, you have to look ahead. (In fashion you are always designing 18 months in advance.) You need to keep your finger on the pulse by seeing what the early adopters or the fans want and catering to their needs, because by the time you get it out, that is probably what the average fan is going to want too.

Fortunately, the spirit of the times tends to stick around for several years before the average person gets tired of it and moves on to something else. In some cases, using critics as your trend setters isn’t the best idea, because like I said, they see things extremely differently than the average person does. So, in whatever area you’re trying to figure out what your ‘spirit of the times’ will hopefully be in the near future, do your research carefully.

#the zeitgeist

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hermanwatts · 5 years ago

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Sensor Sweep: D&D Cartoon, Tim Kirk, Lin Carter, Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers

Animated Cartoons (CBR.com): When CBS ordered a series based on the latest trend, fantasy role-playing games, perhaps they didn’t know what awaited them. Debuting on Sept 17, 1983, Dungeons & Dragons (inspired by the game created by

Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and published by TSR) came to air already surrounded by controversy. The game’s use of occult imagery wasn’t the only factor disturbing parents groups. Some even declared it a literal danger to young people.

Art (Black Gate): Tim Kirk, another artist who has had a major professional career, was nominated for Best Fan Writer 8 times in the between 1969 and 1977, winning the Hugo in 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, and 1976. It would be fair to say that for me, coming into contact with fandom in this period, my image of “fan art” was formed by Tim Kirk’s work, along with two more artists who won for their 1970s work, William Rotsler and Alexis A. Gilliland. (Not to slight the excellent Phil Foglio, but for whatever reason his art didn’t enter my consciousness until later. And Alicia Austin, four-time nominee and 1971 winner, was and is a favorite artist of mine, but for her professional work.)

Fiction Release (DMR Books): DMR Books is proud to present our next release: the picaresque fantasy novel The Road to Infinity by Gael DeRoane. It will be available in digital and trade paperback editions very soon (within the next few days), and the classic size edition (6.5” x 4.25”) should be released before the end of June. Read on for more:

Poised on the brink of manhood, young Aran Dyfar makes a rash and momentous decision that will either elevate him to glory or seal his doom.

History (Barbarian Book Club): “No silver, no Swiss,” commented Gian Trivulzio, a Milanese Condottiero during the Italian Wars. He was talking about the Swiss Mercenaries that served in the armies of the Italian City States. They were expensive and often sieges and sacks depended on the city’s ability to pay foreign soldiers.

A more recent quote “Amateurs talk about tactics, but professionals study logistics,” quoted to Gen. Robert H. Barrow, Commandant of the USMC.

Fiction (Uproxx.com): Martin is no casual fan of Lovecraft. He regularly cites the writer as one of his earliest reading obsessions. He’s visited

Lovecraft’s grave in Rhode Island, and even wrote some elaborate fan fiction back in 2011 pitting Jaime Lannister against Cthulu in a deathmatch. When George sat down to speak with Stephen King, their conversation kept leading back to Lovecraft’s influence on both of their writing.

Fiction (DMR Books): When I was eleven years old, I preferred Lin Carter’s Jandar of Callisto series to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ books about Mars. Sacrilege I know, and that’s not the case today, but as a kid, I liked that the Callisto books were written in modern language, and the events described not only took place within my lifetime, they were still occurring now, in the 1970s when I was reading them. I could almost believe they were true.

Gaming (Player One): What happens when you have a cyberpunk futuristic world and put in the themes of H.P. Lovecraft? You get the latest offering from Stormling Studios, Transient. Aside from this announcement, Stormling Studios also released a reveal trailer. So what is the game all about? It begins in a distant and post-apocalyptic future. Whatever remains of mankind are now living in the Domed City Providence, an enclosed citadel that was created in order for humans to survive the harsh environment. Amidst all of this, the story focuses on Randolph Carter, a member of ODIN, a hacker-for-hire group.

Robert E. Howard (John C. Wright): The Devil in Iron was published in the August 1934 issue of Weird Tales, several months after the previous story, Queen of the Black Coast. It is the eleventh published story in the Conan canon. We have reached the halfway mark of the published Conan stories completed by Robert E. Howard.

Howard here recycles elements of his own previous stories – there is a magic blade as in Phoenix on the Sword, the sole bane of an otherwise invulnerable eldritch monster, who is a resurrected necromancer as in The Black Colossus.

Comic Books (Paint Monk): Our tale begins as Conan, Bêlit, and Zula battle Stygian warriors in the catacombs of Luxor. As the fight progresses, the trio finds a secret passage that allows them to descend further into the depths beneath the city.

Zula shows some empathy toward the Stygian soldier’s fate – Conan and company are killing them simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Bêlit declares she will kill any Stygian, because they were the people who helped her Uncle overthrow and kill her Father.

History (Real Crusade History): Henry was born May 3, 1217, the third child but the first son of King Hugh I of Cyprus and his queen Alice de Champagne. (Alice was the daughter of Isabella I of Jerusalem and her third husband Henri de Champagne.) When Henry was just eight months old, his father died suddenly, while absent from the kingdom on the Fifth Crusade. According to the constitution of the kingdom, a minor king’s regent was his nearest relative resident in the Latin East, in this case, Henry’s mother Alice de Champagne. However, Alice showed remarkably little interest in wielding political power.

Fiction (Eldritch Paths): I was reading The King Beyond the Gate, the second book in David Gemmell’s Drenai Saga. I really enjoyed the larger-than-life heroes in Gemmell’s first book, Legend. Druss the Legend was an awesome character, taking on scores of baddies and coming up on top. Even the leader of the enemy invasion force respected the strength and sheer force of will that was Druss. I was expecting, no, wanting more of the same from the second book. Most of this second book seemed to deliver.

RPG (Pulp Rev): Designing for games is vastly different from designing for stories.

Readers engage a prose story through the plot, characters, and prose. The writer guides them on a journey in the mind, directing the story from start to finish.

Gamers engage a game through its mechanics. By playing as their avatar, they create their own experience.

Readers and gamers have different ways of approaching their chosen media. The requirements of these media lead to different design choices.

Writing (Mad Genius Club): Write the soldier as he (or she) is, not as you wish to caricature them, not as your narrative demands. Haven’t served in the military? Start looking through your list of friends for somebody who has. Sit down and ask them questions (bring drinks), listen and be respectful. See, contrary to popular belief, we will talk. If you show yourself to be trustworthy, we’ll tell you the unvarnished truth about life in the service. What hurt, what sucked, what made us laugh, made us cry, made us mad, made us happy, what made it home for us.

RPG (Brain Leakage): About three or four sessions into my current campaign, I noticed that my players didn’t really like the abstract nature of D&D combat. No matter how much narration and dramatizing I did, combat just felt too passive to them. Specifically, they wanted to do something besides stand there and take it while the enemy rolled against their AC. Now, one thing I’ll say in favor of D&D combat RAW. It’s streamlined. And if the players are happy enough to fill in the blanks by imagining feints, dodges, and other maneuvers happening in between declared actions and combat rolls, then it’s fine.

T.V. (Pulpfest): Rod Serling’s THE TWILIGHT ZONE ran on CBS from 1959 to 1964. It remains in syndication to this very day. A new version of the series — narrated by filmmaker Jordan Peele — premiered on CBS All Access on April 1, 2019. Sixty years after its original debut, Rod Serling’s remarkable creation is still very much embedded in the public consciousness.

The creator of THE TWILIGHT ZONE was born on December 25, 1924 in Syracuse, New York. His brother, the late novelist and aviation writer Robert Serling, said: “We were fairly close as kids and we played together a hell of a lot, despite the seven-year difference. The two of us used to read AMAZING STORIES, ASTOUNDING STORIES, WEIRD TALES — all of the pulps. If we saw a movie together, we’d come home and act it out, just for the two of us.”

Lit Crit (George Kelley): Just by chance, I stumbled across this 1976 Arkham House edition of L. Sprague de Camp’s wonderful Literary Swordsman and Socerers at my local public library. I immediately took it out and read it. De Camp’s informational essays on these fantasy writers made me want to drop everything and reread some of the great books by these authors. I’m a big fan of Lord Dunsany, but I haven’t read more than a fraction of his oeuvre. I’ve read most of Lovecraft, but I can always pick up one of his collections and find delight in its pages.

Sensor Sweep: D&D Cartoon, Tim Kirk, Lin Carter, Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/

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vintagegeekculture · 8 years ago

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Why is it you think Carson Of Venus isnt as Popular as John Carter of mars?

The short version is this: timing.

Popularity isn’t just a question of quality, but of timing,of being the right work at the right time. A bookshelf has a funny way ofsmushing time together; a Carson of Venus novel written in 1939 and a JohnCarter of Mars novel written 25 years before seem like the same kind of storywhen put side by side, but they were written decades apart, in totallydifferent worlds.

John Carter of Mars was written in the early 1910s, whenscience fiction stories were often just reskinned westerns and swashbucklers. Carsonof Venus was written over 25+ years later, in 1939, when tastes changed andscience fiction moved on to tell different kinds of stories. Carson of Venuswas almost a nostalgia piece, a deliberate throwback; it sounds strange tothink of nostalgia being a thing at all in the late 30s/early 1940s, but thereyou go.

To understand why the reaction was different, you have tounderstand why the Carson of Venus novels were written at all. The reason thatthe Carson of Venus novels and later Barsoom books exist is due to AmazingStories editor and Edgar Rice Burroughs superfan Raymond Palmer, who once hegot actual power as an editor, was such a fanboy that he used his authority asa publisher to ask Edgar Rice Burroughs to write more Barsoom stories and createa new series for Amazing Stories. Now, the amazing thing is that this wasn’tsome power move for new readers, since John Carter style planetary romanceswere starting to fall out of fashion in the late 1930s (more on that later).The reason they got ERB back to write more John Carter and create a new seriesis that Barsoom Superfan Raymond Palmer wantedto see more Edgar Rice Burroughs planet romance stories.

In the early part of this century, scifi was all aboutadventure stories that were reskinned Westerns and swashbucklers. John Carterof Mars fit right in, and emblemized the entire trend. Come the 1930s, however,the most influential writer was Stanley G. Weinbaum, who wrote a Martian Odyssey,with non-anthropomorphized and inhuman to the point of incomprehensibleMartians, deliberately as a reaction to Burroughs’ hot babe girl martians. Evenin the Burroughs-style Sword & Planet romance yarn, tastes had moved towriters like Leigh Brackett, who’s take on Mars was as an eerie nightmarelandscape of bat-winged hordes assembling for battle, crumbling, labyrinthinecities, and hard, pragmatic miners and desperados. The straight good vs. evilyarn was out of style.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that Carson ofVenus was a low seller. Far from it – ERB was the best selling novelist of theentire 1920s and had tons of name value a decade later. Amazing Stories was thetop selling science fiction pulp of its era, easily outselling AstoundingScience Fiction, and the ERB stories were the top selling issues (at least untilthe Shaver Mystery in the mid-1940s that preceded the later mass hysteria overUFOs…but that’s a topic too bizarre to go into here). Saying that Amazingoutsold Astounding won’t help you understand significant developments though.It’s a little like saying that Marvel Comics, until the 1970s, were outsold byDC Comics (DC books were viewed as quaint and old fashioned evenin the 1960s). Yeah…but look what they were doing! Look who ended upbeing more influential.

Personally, I like the Carson of Venus books very very much,not just because they are so romantic, adventurous and wildly creative, withworlds of immortality, swordfights, pirates, and evil fishmen, but also becauseyou can tell at that point in his life, Burroughs was getting tired of theformula he himself created and so he decided to have fun with it all. Burroughs’smost underrated attribute was his wonderful sense of humor. Compared to JohnCarter, Carson of Venus seems like a big goof; he screws up and ignores obviousthings, like when he built a rocket and missed the Moon. For a guy who likesgenteel gentlemen-athlete heroes, the overbred Amtorian aristocrats laugh atCarson, saying that his ancestry is unimpressive and that his bloodstream germsmake him a menace to all life on Venus.

I think this is why people today don’t respond to theAmtor/Carson stories; people read ERB stories to feel awesome and powerful, andCarson of Napier doesn’t deliver on that well. It’s no coincidence ERB’s lifestory until he started writing was as a guy who was often unemployed and hadtrouble taking care of his family (he wrote John Carter of Mars and Tarzan onthe back of letterhead from failed businesses). His stories are Walter Mittyhallucinations where Walter Mitty doesn’t wake up. They’re based on the appeal of pure, concentrated daydreams.

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