The Sound and Fury of Kristopher A. Denby

Halloween Flash Fiction

2013-10-29T12:36:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again. The time of year, according to the ancient Celts, when the veil that separates our world from the fairy world is at its thinnest. They called it Samhain (pronounced sow-in). We call it Halloween. It's my favorite time of year. And to celebrate, I usually write a piece of short fiction to honor the spooky spirit of the ancient holiday. This years's story is a very short piece of flash fiction that I am dedicating to the only professor that I ever really disliked (that's putting it mildly). I thought I'd share it.

Happy Halloween,
Kris

Unraveled

A siren cried softly in the distance, a solitary voice of sorrow in the still night. The man stood and listened until the cry fell to a moan and then to a whisper until it wasn't a sound anymore. Nothing moved in the yellow light that pooled beneath the lampposts lining the campus' pathways. A puff of chill wind blew out of the north and set the rope to creaking. The man stood and watched the black Chuck Taylor's sway in the air above him. The untied ends of one dirty, white shoe lace hung limply at eye level. A lace tip was unbound, the individual strands unraveling themselves to some unknown, solitary end.

The man looked at his watch. He yawned, and thought about the stack of term papers waiting for him on the leather blotter of his desk at home.

He would go, he thought. He could build a fire. He would open the bottle of Port that his wife had given him for his birthday.

He looked, once more, into the young face. Dirty blond hair draped pale cheeks and hung like the limp ends of the shoe's laces. After a time he shrugged, turned, and disappeared into the night.

The Next Big Thing

2013-01-09T13:33:00.001-06:00

I’ve been tagged by Tade Thompson.

What does this mean? Well, first of all, it means that I had to come out of semi-retirement to compose a blog post. It’s been over a month since Tade signed me up for this, so I figured I’d better get it out of the way while I’ve still got some of the Winter Break ahead of me. Second, it means that I’ve got to bore the shit out of whoever is still reading this derelict blog with information about my current works-in-progress—written works, that is. Off to it, then.

* A note on format: The word “story” has been inserted wherever the word “book” formerly resided, as I am not currently working on anything that is novel-length. And since I’m currently stirring several of these little pots, I’ll include ingredients for a couple of them.

What is the working title of your story?

The Adventures of Buck Badd

Cro’s Run

Where did the idea come from for the story?

The idea for The Adventures of Buck Badd came to me during this past election cycle. As I watched the divide between the two main parties here in the US widen, I wondered at the thought that we as human beings are doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over again. At the same time, I’d been listening to a lot of 70’s and 80’s rock while in the garage working on different furniture projects, and a lyric from a cover of “Tobacco Road” by David Lee Roth kept jumping out at me: “Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up and start over again”. And I’d heard this lyric quoted in different places as a suggestion that the only viable solution for the problems our society currently faces is a literal reset. I began to envision just such a world where a terrible catastrophe had reset the population to nearly zero, and I asked my self if anything would actually change. It probably sounds morbid and terribly depressing, but it is actually meant to be satire.

Cro’s Run is a simple chase story that was inspired by the Dire Strait’s song, “News”.

What genre does your story fall under?

Both are science fiction, and both are set in the near future on an earth that has been devastated by some man made calamity (nuclear war, climate change, etc.) Cro’s Run is a sort of homage to Mad Max film series and to William Gibson’s Sprawl trilogy.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

The Adventures of Buck Badd

Bryan Cranston=Buck Badd

The boy=no clue

Cro’s Run

Tom Hardy=Cro

Idris Elba=Dibiasi

Mary Elizabeth Winstead=Harriet

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

The Adventures of Buck Badd

Out of the sprawling wastelands of a ruined earth, a man called Buck Badd stumbles upon a virtual Utopia, a place seemingly untouched by the horrors of the post-nuclear world.

Cro’s Run

A retired hacker and corporate thief, in our near future, speeds through the desert on a souped-up motorcycle (dear god, this is utter shit) after stealing information from the factory of a giant energy company in order to secure a better future for his family.

Will your story be self-published or represented by an agency?

No idea. But probably the former.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

A few days for both.

What other stories would you compare this story to within your genre?

What kind of self-congratulatory question is this? I guess, if pressed to say, I would say that I’d love Cro’s Run to have the impact of Harlan Ellison’s “Along the Scenic Route”, but I know it’ll never come close to achieving that. As far as The Adventures of Buck Badd go, I don’t really know what to compare it to. I guess I could point to something by Kurt Vonnegut just for the satire and sci-fi comparisons. Anyhow, both of these comparisons are ridiculous. The authors being used for comparison are titans in the sci-fi world. I am but an ant beneath their feet.

Who or what inspired you to write this story?

Redundant question. See question number 2 for answer.

What else about your story might pique the reader’s interest?

The post-apocalyptic earth theme is hugely popular in all sorts of media at the moment (Robopocalypse, World War Z, The Walking Dead, Oblivion, et al). Although I haven’t purposefully tried to capitalize on this sub-genres popularity (in reality, it is a scenario that has fascinated me since I was a child, i.e. Mad Max, Terminator, etc.), people that go in for that sort of thing might find either of these two stories worth reading.

Now Tagging:

Kim Denby

Rules of the Next Big Thing
***Use this format for your post
***Answer the ten questions about your current WIP (work in progress)
***Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.

The rise of the 80’s action star

2012-08-21T09:34:00.001-05:00

Quickly, it’s been a while since I last fired up the old typewriter and cranked out a blog post. And aside from school, work, trying to write some fiction, and working on a new side business (more on this later), I haven’t really been busy at all. But a few recent film trailers have precipitated my emergence from hiding.

I woke up this morning and glanced over the latest film news over at Slashfilm, and was interested to see that a brand new trailer for an action movie (Bullet to the Head) starring Sylvester Stallone had hit the nets. And this news on the heals of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s newest action film trailer for The Last Stand debuted on the web about a week ago. Someone remind me, please: Which decade are we living in? Check the trailers below, and let me know what you think.

Clearly, these two 80’s action stars are using the success of Stallone’s ensemble actioner, The Expendables, and the projected success of its sequel The Expendables 2 (starring nearly the entire stable of aging 80’s action films stars including Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger), which hit theaters a few days ago.

Bullet to the Head, director Walter Hill’s (48 Hours, The Warriors, Red Heat) first film in over 10 years, looks to be the most promising of these two offerings, but it will be interesting to see how these play out with audiences. Clearly, these guys aren’t trying to reinvent themselves, and are obviously playing on some leftover nostalgia for the dead 80’s action genre. But, are these guys recognizable enough to draw in the younger half of Hollywood’s 18-40 year old target audience?

Clearly, someone in Hollywood believes in reviving the brand that these geriatric heroes helped create. In addition to the aforementioned trio of films, Stallone and Calli-forn-eeya’s former governor are currently teaming up on a prison escape film called The Tomb.

Timing is everything, but it makes me wonder (and lament) what could have been done with a third Conan film, if Arnold hadn’t gotten himself mixed up with those dastardly Republicrats, and wasted nearly 8 years of his life scratching around in the dirt with politicians. Alas that we’ll never know…

But I digress.

It’s obvious these guys still have the charm and moxie to pull off the old tough guy routine. Not sure that they can do it as well as Clint Eastwood did in Gran Torino—wait, who am I kidding? Of course they can’t. But it is fun to see them play tough guys with some limitations, which is a distinct contrast to the films they made in the 1980’s, in which their characters were almost always invincible.

In case you haven’t seen it, I’m including a trailer for The Expendables 2, and some footage from a Comic Con panel that Stallone, Schwarzenegger, and Dolph Lundgren attended to promote the film. Enjoy.

See you at the movies.

Kirk out.

‘Lockout’ trailer promises nothing new

2012-04-07T13:09:00.001-05:00

Guy Pearce (L.A. Confidential, The King’s Speech) has roles in two science fiction films this year, one you’ve probably heard of already, Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, and one that you might not have heard of. And if I was going to judge the film based on its trailer (which I will), I’m not sure that you’ve been missing anything.

Lockout, written by French filmmaker Luc Besson (The Fifth Element), doesn’t seem interested in pushing any new barriers, or answering any new questions. Actually, the filmmakers behind Lockout seem pretty content to squeeze in every action film cliché and sci-fi trope they could think of to fill in the space between SFX shots—an approach to filmmaking that rarely, if ever, results in anything more than spectacle. In fact, viewing the trailer, one can’t help but wonder if writer, Besson, simply sat down at this computer while watching Carpenter’s Escape from New York.

Nevertheless, I thought it worth pointing out for those of you willing to risk the $10 bucks. Lockout is due out in theaters on April 13, 2012.

Well, what do you think? Worth the coin, or is this a rental? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Kirk out.

The Sound and Fury visits bonnie Scotland (sort of)

2012-04-05T10:43:00.001-05:00

Giddy. Tickled, even.

Not words I would usually use to describe my emotional state of being, but today, dear readers, these adjectives are perfectly apt. Because, you see, my guest post, a review of Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We, has landed on the shores of Scotland’s most terrificest genre blog (of ever), Nial Alexander’s The Speculative Scotsman.

If you’ve never been, I suggest you hurry on over there now and soak up some of the amazing content that this man puts out on a regular basis. There are a lot of great guest posts up on the site right now that you can read while Nial tours the States on holiday, but TSS is well worth book marking for a mainline to the genre world.

A special thanks is in order to Niall for having me house sit while he’s away, and an even bigger, humbler thanks is needed for the extremely lavish introduction he’s given me there. Thank you, Niall.

Now, why are you still here? Go on. Get thee to TSS!

Kirk out.

‘Total Recall’ gets a makeover

2012-04-03T08:55:00.001-05:00

On August 3rd, 2012, Len Wiseman’s (Underworld) adaptation of Phillip K. Dick’s short novel, We Can Remember it for You Wholesale, will hit theaters. In case you’ve forgotten or are too young to remember, this isn’t the first time Dick’s sci-fi story has done time on the silver screen. Paul Verhoeven (Robocop, Starship Troopers) had first crack at it back in 1990 with the venerable Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead role of Douglas Quaid. The two films, although sharing the same name, Total Recall, (an obvious attempt by the studio to capitalize on name recognition) seem to take fairly different approaches to the source material, trading Arnie’s lumbering strongman for Farrell’s more diminutive everyman. I’ve even read that the Mars aspect of the story has been completely omitted in this new adaptation. But there are a few things that are recognizable, and I can appreciate that Wiseman’s team had the good manners to at least nod in the direction of Verhoeven’s 20+ year old film.

Take a look.

And just for some perspective, here is the trailer for Verhoeven’s 1990 version. Enjoy.

Well? Are you anxious to see this new film? Will it measure up to the original? Do you think Farrell is up to the task of filling Schwarzenegger’s shoes?

Kirk out.

A few things…

2012-02-29T12:24:00.001-06:00

1. I’m really enjoying this Russian Sci-fi in Lit and Film class. A whole new world has opened up before me. I am currently reading We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin for this class. Apparently it was the inspiration for Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New World. The prose in this book is outstanding. I highly recommend it.

2. The Academy Awards=lame in every possible way (where were the nominations for Take Shelter?). Lame.

3. Ron Paul leads President Obama nationally in a new Rasmussen poll.

4. Birthday coming up. I’ve come to terms with the fact that my 40’s are nearer than my 20’s. I do not rue the time that has passed, but I do lament the time that is wasted.

5. Logan has a new section on his blog titled “Concerts”. It’s a list of concerts he’s attended along with links to reviews he’s posted. Check him out. He posts regularly and is a good source for finding new, interesting media.

6. I joined Twitter, and already I am regretting/wondering why I did so. There’s an article out now discussing the fact that Twitter has been selling old tweets to data miners. Not cool. The upside is that I find out about a lot of really cool tech-sciency stuff by following one of my favorite authors, William Gibson. Follow me here.

7. Story ideas have been popping up like bunnies in my brain lately. Think I might try a few of them out on you guys in the form of microfiction.

8. I’m almost completely finished with the study/office that I began building over a year ago (it was done in stages, not continuously). Pretty happy with how it turned out, and have shifted my attention to making the backyard look more like a yard-yard, and less like Sanford’s junkyard. Still need to do base and door trim, and replace the construction door with a finished door. But that’s about it.

Kirk out.

Politics…schmolitics?

2012-02-01T14:59:00.001-06:00

A few days ago I mentioned a possible new writing opportunity with the promise of later elaborating, if it panned out. I guess you could say it did, and so here I am telling you about it.

Several months back, I began to think about taking the writing thing beyond the borders of The Sound and Fury to see what possibilities might be out there in Cyberspace. And then I did what I always do when I have an idea that might require a bit more than just nifty thoughts; I procrastinated and did nothing at all with the idea.

Over the winter break, however, I began to think about it yet again. I mentioned the idea of freelance writing to my wife, Kelley, and she enthusiastically encouraged me to pursue the possibility. And so I began looking again for markets to start publishing material in. I figured I would stick with the things I normally write about: movies, books--entertainment stuff. But as the 2012 election season got underway, the frequency and vociferousness of my political pontificating became such that my wife felt compelled to encourage me to express my sentiments by writing and sharing them with you all. (So blame her, not me.) In any case, I found merit in what she had to say, and I thought there was an opportunity there for me to expand my horizons while “walking the talk”.

After conceding that I would try my hand at political rhetoric, I was pretty certain that I didn’t want to do a lot of that here. I had already been looking at Examiner.com as a possible starting point for some freelance writing work. After checking them out, and reading what other freelance folk had to say about them, I decided it was as good a starting point as any.

It turned out they had a few political topics available, and after a few weeks deliberation (Yeah, I tend not to make quick decisions. It’s a sickness, really.) I decided on Austin American Government. I applied, filled out forms, wrote a sample piece, jumped through a few hoops, and waited to hear back from them to see if I was cut from the right cloth. Needless to say, they took me in despite the shabby cut of my jib, and now I am quite pleased to introduce you to the new Austin American Government Examiner—me!

I published my first article there last night, and I’m still working out the kinks on my profile picture. But that’s me.

We’ll see how it goes, but The Sound and Fury isn’t going anywhere. I have lofty ambitions of posting here more frequently, albeit in shorter bursts. So for those of you still visiting, please keep doing so. But if you have the time, cruise on over to Examiner.com and say hello. Like, share, disagree, agree…whatever you want. I’d love your input.

As always, thanks for reading.

Kirk out.

School, some new reads, and news

2012-01-29T22:39:00.001-06:00

2011 has come and gone, and with it my first year back as a full-time student. It was a good year. A learning year. A year full of small triumphs and not a few minor obstacles. But with last year’s hurdles and celebrations behind me, 2012 has brought a fresh set of challenges and potential rewards with it. And so far, so good.

January marked the beginning of my first semester at the University of Texas (hook ‘em), and I have to say that I’m rather enjoying it. I’m finishing off the rest of my lower division course work this semester with Intro to Astronomy, Intro to Linguistics, Banned Books and Novel Ideas, and Russian Sci-Fi in Literature and Film. Not one of these classes have proven to be a bore yet, and I’m finding Banned Books and Russian Sci-Fi particularly interesting. These classes are right up my alley, and I’m excited to fill the voids between my ears with the kind of knowledge they promise to impart. Interesting as they are, though, they are going to significantly cut into my leisure reading. In fact, as near as I can tell, there will be no leisure reading to speak of for me this spring.

In all honesty, I’m looking forward to the required reading for Russian Sci-Fi and Banned Books so much that I don’t think I’ll mind deferring my To Be Read pile for a couple of measly months. Besides, the cool thing about these required readings is that, with the exception of a few, these are texts that I probably would never have sought out for myself. For anyone who’s interested in this kind of thing, I’m including the list of books I’ll be reading in the coming months below.

Banned Books and Novel Ideas

The Island of Dr. Moreau, H.G. Wells

Myra Breckinridge, Gore Vidal

The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood

Beloved, Toni Morrison

Russian Sci-Fi in Literature and Film

We, Yevgeny Zamyatin

A Dog’s Heart (Heart of a Dog), Mikhail Bulgakov

Prisoners of Power, Strugatsky Brothers

There are several other short readings from medieval texts to Cold War era stories that we’ll be looking at in the Russian class, and I’m looking forward to all of them. The cool thing about this class is that I’ve been developing an interest in things Eastern European for a while now, and so studying the history of the region from the perspective of science fiction and fantasy, two of my favorite genres, is like having my cake and eating it too. And cake makes Kris happy. I’ll probably be posting very short opinions of these selections here at The Sound and Fury as the semester progresses, in case any of you are interested in giving them a try.

I fortuitously (finally!) finished reading King’s Magnum Opus, It, recently, which cleared my plate for all of these upcoming, required readings. It was an amazing feat of literature. To pigeonhole this book as a work of pop-horror fiction is criminally irresponsible and just plain short sighted. It took me forever to read, but I’d hate for anyone to think that this is a result of some defect in the writing. My attention span has been very short lately, and the time it took me to wade through It should be a reflection of my deficiencies and not held against the writer. I doubt I’ll ever get around to reviewing this book (the scope of the narrative is so great that I doubt I could ever adequately distill it into a cogent review), so I’ll just leave you with the knowledge that I thought/think very highly of it, and the book only solidifies the notion in my head that King is highly underrated and under-credited as merely a horror novelist. That isn’t to say that he hasn’t had his missteps, but the man deserves a better descriptor than Horrorist. I will be watching the film adaptation of It in the next week or so, and that might present a better opportunity for a review, perhaps as a compare/contrast review against the book. We’ll see.

Despite the mountain of reading that’s about to descend upon my head like an avalanche of bound, collected ideas, I’ve got the second volume of Y: The Last Man sitting on my nightstand patiently waiting to be cracked open. The graphic novel will probably be my one respite from required reading, and I think that’s practical.

Aside from school and books, an exciting new writing opportunity has presented itself recently, and I look forward to sharing the details of that here in the next week or so. Until then, friends and neighbors, see you ‘round the nets.

Kirk out.

‘Batman: The Dark Knight Returns’: A review

2012-01-19T23:58:00.001-06:00

I was contemplating Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns after recently reading it, and trying to remember the last time hype resulted in anything other than slight-to-severe disappointment. Sure, you get a pretty respectable mix of positive and negative experiences when plain-old, garden variety expectations precede said experience. But hype is different than the plain-old, garden variety expectation. Expectations are largely the product of your own prior experience or knowledge of a thing. If the experience fails to live up to your expectations, you have yourself to blame. Hype, on the other hand, is the result of media over-exposure, recommendations from friends and peers, internet memes, and/or the established, socially accepted notion that a thing is deserving of the hype it’s received because it receives hype. And even when a thing is so good that it warrants the hype heaped on it, it rarely, if ever, turns out good for the late-comer.

This is the boat I find myself in when considering the highly praised, often reverently spoken of comic pinnacle, The Dark Knight Returns.

Now, you might be thinking that I’m about to take a metaphorical bat to Miller’s landmark book based on what I’ve said so far, but rest easy, friends and neighbors. There’ll be no metaphorical batting practice here at The Sound and Fury tonight (besides, my wife doesn’t like me swinging things in the house), but I do have a few grievances to air before we get around to the part where I tell you that I actually liked the book.

Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns was published the same year as Watchmen (1986) and is considered by many to be every bit the landmark comic that is Alan Moore’s dark, gritty twist on the superhero genre. Set in a dystopian Gotham City years after Batman has hung up his cape for the last time, a new, more savage criminal element threatens to bring the city to its knees, and Harvey Dent, the ex-Gotham City D.A. otherwise known as Two Face, is set to be released from Arkham Home For The Emotionally Troubled. From the inside out, Gotham City reeks of trouble. It oozes fear and self-loathing, too full of modern sophistication to admit that it still needs the Caped Crusader. And on the outskirts, an aging Bruce Wayne, tormented by revenge and promises left unfulfilled, once again dons the cape and mask to haunt the rooftops of Gotham, and the hearts and minds of the criminals who prey upon those who live beneath them. Malcontents emerge from every walk of life (including The Joker, of course), and like dogs, take turns trying to bite off a piece of the noticeably older, less resilient Batman.

Sounds pretty good, huh? It is, I assure you. But it’s not without its faults.

For one, The Dark Knight Returns is confusing. The narrative switches clumsily between the main storyline and TV news segments where pundits and talking heads are depicted debating the events as they unfold within the story. I actually liked the use of the device as a means of giving the reader a social context for the events in the story and for building tension, but I felt like the writing and/or pencils could have made these transitions much smoother and easier to follow with a bit of skilful editing. On my first read through, I had to keep backing up and taking closer looks at and re-reading certain panels to understand what had just happened. I don’t think there’s any excuse for this.

I also thought the Superman subplot was mishandled. It felt tacked on, alien, and just disingenuous. And it led to a climax, and ultimately an ending, that didn’t seem worthy of either characters.

Admittedly, those are two pretty sizable complaints. Despite them, though, there’s plenty to like between the covers of The Dark Knight Returns.

The art is just…fascinating. Upon cracking open The Dark Knight Returns, the reader is immediately transported to a nightmare vision of Gotham City. Panel after panel of noir imagery, subverted and augmented by the rowdy, pastel influences of the 1980’s, leap off the page. Wispy tendrils of smoke and ground fog drift out of the panels as shadowy appendages drag the reader’s gaze into Miller’s Gotham, a Gotham that is comprised of as many shades of gray as the characters who inhabit it. This ain’t your grandaddy’s Batman, boys. And, obviously, that’s part of the appeal. Part of what made TDKR stand out above the rest of the comic stories that were still doing the same, tired, kid-friendly stories they’d been doing for nearly fifty years. TDKR reflects the pessimism, greed, and fear that permeated the Cold War society of people that had been living in fear of imminent nuclear attack since the sixties.

If, for some reason, the art doesn’t blow your cape up, the writing is sharp enough to make up the difference. Miller seems to hold a magnifying glass up to the darker, grimier corners of Gotham. He shines a light on corruption and greed and self pity as if he were on some crusade of his own. In any case, it feels honest. And honesty makes for easy reading. In this case, it also makes for really good reading.

The Dark Knight Returns, though a bit confusing at times, and lacking any real wind behind its sails by the time it gets to the climax, is a great Batman story. Is it more than that? Maybe. Is it the book to end all books? The final word on Batman, Robin, and even Superman? Nope. Not even close.

See you ‘round the cave.

Kirk out.

‘They Live’: A film review

2012-01-14T15:12:00.001-06:00

I watch movies for different reasons. Sometimes I just want to watch something that’s comfortable. You know, that movie that you can pop in and watch anytime and it never gets old? Sometimes I like to feel as though I’ve been enlightened, or that I’ve learned something. Sometimes I want to be creeped out, inspired, or moved to laughter. Occasionally I even watch movies to see things that I know will be upsetting, because to ignore them would be to ignore that those things exist. And ignoring a bad thing doesn’t make it go away. Ignoring a bad thing only gives it room to grow. Most of the time, though, I just watch movies to be entertained.

It’s for this last reason that I recently decided to revisit John Carpenter’s 1988 science fiction/horror film, They Live.

Right.

It would be easy to dismiss They Live as a joke. Unabashedly campy special effects, a ridiculously simplistic narrative filled with plot holes larger than the film’s budget, and a wrestler-turned-lead actor (Rowdy Roddy Piper) turning phrases like “I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum.” would probably turn off most viewers seeing it for the first time today. Funny thing is, all of those things that should be negative strikes against the film are exactly the things that make it so enjoyable. Toss in an over-the-top, in your face social criticism about the rampant consumerism of the 1980’s (applicable, perhaps more so, today), and you’ve got most of the ingredients for a cult classic on your hands.

Piper plays Nada, a drifter looking for honest work and a chance at a better life. Shortly after jumping a train to Los Angeles, Nada finds a job at a construction site and hooks up with Frank (played by Keith David), a fellow down-on-his-luck employee, who invites him to a shantytown that provides shelter and food to society’s castaways. But Nada’s a suspicious fellow, and it doesn’t take long for him to catch a whiff of some funny business happening at the church across the street. And before you know it, the shit has hit the fan, and Nada finds himself in the middle of a horrifying conspiracy of alien world domination.

There are some great action set pieces in here, including a marathon fight scene between the film’s two protagonists that has made just about every “Greatest Film Fights” list ever created, at least one plot twist you probably won’t see coming, and enough 80’s-style gun violence to satisfy even the most blood thirsty filmgoer.

They Live, despite its humble appearance, has left its mark on pop-culture, influencing the creators of popular video game series Duke Nukem, and inspiring street artist Shepard Fairey to create the viral propaganda parody “Obey”, seen plastered on city walls all over the nation beneath the image of Andre the Giant.

Still, you probably won’t hear Carpenter’s They Live mentioned in the same breath with Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. And Piper and David aren’t going to be mistaken for Newman and Redford’s Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. But neither of these facts should deter you from dusting off this old gem and popping it into the ~~VCR~~ DVD player, whether it’s your fourth viewing or your first. Despite a few plot holes and some shortcomings in the effects department, They Live is pure fun from start to finish. I highly recommend it.

Score: 4/5

Kirk out.

Ridley Scott returns to familiar territory with ‘Prometheus’

2011-12-22T14:28:00.001-06:00

You know, it’s funny. Just a few days ago, upon the debut of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey trailer, I remarked to a friend that there weren’t a lot of upcoming film projects that I was terribly excited about (outside of the aforementioned Hobbit film). Well, dear friends, this next trailer gives us a sneak peek at one of those few films that I’ve been quietly and anxiously awaiting.

Ridley Scott marks his return to the film franchise that began with Alien, and which should have ended with James Cameron’s superb sequel, Aliens. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the trailer for Prometheus.

Eh? What’d I tell you?

Prometheus is scheduled to release on June 8, 2012.

Kirk out.

‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ trailer debuts, and a long awaited journey begins

2011-12-21T08:05:00.001-06:00

I’m not sure what sort of words that I could provide here to aptly convey my excitement, but take it on faith, dear readers; this is as about as excited as I’ve been for any movie since Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy began over a decade ago.

Enjoy, and feel free to share your feelings on the trailer in the comments section below.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will hit theaters on December 14, 2012, and is the first of two movies adapting J.R.R.Tolkien’s 1937 book, The Hobbit or There and Back Again. The Hobbit: There and Back Again will wrap up the adaptation and releases to cinemas on December 13, 2013.

See you at the movies.

Kirk out.

A night out at The Blue Starlight Mini-Urban Drive-In

2011-08-31T13:59:00.002-05:00

Well, kids, this week marks the 1 year anniversary of Austin’s only drive-in movie theater, The Blue Starlight. And being thus, I thought it’d be a great opportunity to share an experience that my wife and I had there recently.

Oh, what’s that? You haven’t heard of The Blue Starlight? You didn’t even know that Austin had a drive-in movie theater?

A bit of background, then.

The History

The Blue Starlight was founded by local author and screenwriter, Josh Frank, in a small lot on East Caesar Chavez. Since that time, the self-proclaimed mini-urban drive-in has grown such that a second Blue Starlight was opened on East 6th Street. The drive-in features a hodgepodge of older favorites (with a focus on the 1980’s), obscure films, and cult classics like Grease, The Goonies, and the original Creature From the Black Lagoon that are sure to delight any film fan.

A Night Out

Maybe six months ago, the wife and I were out tooling around on our bikes (hipsters, I know!), and stumbled across the East 6th Street location of The Blue Starlight. At that time we had no idea that Austin even had a drive-in movie theater, mini-urban or otherwise. But it sounded like a great way to spend an evening, especially with a confederation of trailer park eateries right next door. We filed it away in our to do list, and pedaled on our merry way.

We finally got the opportunity to check the place out a few weeks ago, and we jumped at the chance. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was showing and though it was hotter than tits on a beer outside, we were eager to have our first drive-in movie experience.

The Good

The Blue Starlight Min-Urban Drive-In is a laid back atmosphere. The gate attendant was super sweet, smiled, and thanked us for patronizing the theater. The lot attendant quickly directed us to a spot in the back where the trucks and SUV’s were staged. We backed into the spot, put the gate up on the 4-Runner, and headed next door to find some comida.

There were several choices at the trailer park eatery (not to mention The Blue Starlight has their own concessions, including smores that you cook on-site), but we settled on some fish and chips from Bits and Druthers, and a couple of Mexican Cokes. Audio at the East Sixth location plays through your vehicle’s FM radio, so after turning that to the correct station and volume we kicked back with our British fare and enjoyed the pre-movie entertainment.

The noise?

What might have been a negative actually turned out to be a positive. The lights from the skyscrapers downtown, the sounds of car horns, distant police sirens, and helicopters all added to the charm of the little East Austin drive-in.

With the city skyline as a backdrop, the friendly staff, the great movie, and BYOB policy, there isn’t a hell of a lot bad to say about The Blue Starlight.

But…I’ll try.

The Bad

Really, this is just nit-picking, so take everything that I’m going to say with a grain of salt.

The Blue Starlight has quite a few rules that are introduced to the patrons through some pretty awful, pre-movie, public service announcements. They’re just really poorly done, computer animated skits. Bad enough that the audience seemed to grow bored of them pretty quickly and tuned them out. The Blue Starlight needs to take a page out of The Alamo Drafthouse’s marketing playbook, and get on the stick with the pre-movie entertainment and PSA’s.

Which leads me to my next complaint. The car next to us, after ignoring the PSA’s warning that smoking and talking during the show were prohibited, proceeded to do both of those things with such vigor that we found ourselves wondering if they’d come to enjoy a movie at all (they were from Louisiana, after all). I’m not a smoker, and I don’t like to smell smoke, if I can help it. I would probably not have thought about it, if the theater didn’t have a rule prohibiting smoking on the grounds out of respect for non-smoking patrons. The thing is, the lot attendant knew these two were smoking, but never did anything about it. My point? Don’t have the rule, if you can’t or won’t enforce it.

Finally (and this is a very tiny complaint), there was a pretty annoying street light just over our left shoulder that we could have done without. This is probably out of the theater owner’s control, but elimination of that glare would make the viewing conditions a bit more favorable. It’s not a deal breaker, though.

The Final Analysis

Whether you’re a hard-core film fan, a casual movie-goer, have never been to a drive-in, or just someone who pines for the days of sock hops and B-movies,The Blue Starlight is worth checking out. Where the hell else can you take your friends, your beer, a blanket or folding chairs, and enjoy a movie all for $25? See you at the movies.

Kirk out.

-----------------------

Photos courtesy Kelley Denby Photography.

‘Take Shelter’ wins Grand Prix at Cannes’ Critic’s Week

2011-05-20T13:37:00.001-05:00

Local filmmaker Jeff Nichols’s second film Take Shelter took the top spot yesterday during the Cannes Film Festival Critic’s Week. Take Shelter is Jeff’s second film behind 2007’s critically acclaimed Shotgun Stories. Congratulations Jeff!

Take Shelter is due in theaters on October 7, 2011 and stars Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain.

Kirk out.

Goings On

2011-04-05T17:29:00.002-05:00

It’s funny how quickly a month can pass when you’re really busy. Delusions of grandeur aside, plans for keeping up with the blog disappeared down a gravity well of books, papers, family commitments, and furniture building. It hasn’t been so bad to be away, really. I think deep down I’ve known for a while that I needed to begin supplementing some of the blogging for writing down some of the numerous fiction stories that swirl around in my head almost constantly. It was a break that had to be forced on me. I would probably have never taken it on my own. The monkey had gotten too big to handle on my own.

Having said that, I’ve not gone away forever. In fact, when I’m done boring you about what I’ve been doing for the past month I’m going to publish a small piece of fiction that I’ve been writing off and on since I went away. And that’ll probably be the blog’s modus operandi for the indefinite future: quick update posts about what’s happening here, peppered with short fits of fiction that loop endlessly in the maelstrom that is my brain.

(EDIT: Okay, that sounded braggy.) Suffice it to say that I am doing really well in school. I waited a long time to go back to school, and now that I have I am of a serious mind when it comes to learning and grade point average.

I’ll join my writing team in mid May to begin contributing to the screenplay for the movie that I told you all about a few months ago. I’m super excited about that, because it means experience actually working on a film!

I’m so behind when it comes to movie news, I couldn’t begin to tell you what’s happening out in the world of celluloid. Sucker Punch and Battle: Los Angeles have both come out to underwhelming reviews that haven’t made me all that excited to get out to the cinema.

I have been reading a lot more, and that is definitely a good thing. I finished Gibson’s Count Zero and couldn’t recommend it highly enough. I’m now working on Mona Lisa Overdrive with designs on a few other cyberpunk pieces to round out my experience in that genre.

And that’s about it, folks. Please, do chime in and let me know how things are going out there in cyberspace and in your own worlds. I wish you all the best, and I’ll see you on the flip side.

Peace.

Kirk out.

A few things

2011-02-19T14:42:00.001-06:00

“Success usually comes to those too busy to be looking for it.”

-Henry David Thoreau

“The busy man is troubled by but one devil; the idle man by a thousand.”

-Spanish Proverb

A brutally busy, but gratifying week of studying, tests, and landing a new part time job has come to an end. With these new (some temporary) demands on my time it’s been very difficult to write anything of any significance. I woke up this morning to about 150 unread posts in my feed reader, and I realized that I’ve been at Ron Paul’s slim volume, Revolution: A Manifesto, for over a month now.

I suppose, in some ways, life is about trade offs. One new thing supplants an existing one. Yin and Yang, and all of that higher philosophical nonsense. So while being away from the blogosphere for over a week does suck, the things that filled the time reserved for blogging were rewarding in their own ways.

I made a high A on my first Phys Anthropology test, and I think I might have made a perfect score on my US Government test. Math and Communications are early next week, but any kinks over that material will be worked out by the end of the weekend.

I’m working again. I lucked into working for a friend of ours (she owns an upholstery shop) building frames for furniture. I get to do it from my own home, in my own time, and it is very rewarding to earn money by creating something solid and tangible with my own two hands. I spent my spare time this week building a bed frame in my garage with the likes of The Pretenders, The Ramones, Blondie, and Journey for company (yeah, I was singing along). The weather was beautiful, with sunshine and temps in the 60’s and 70’s. It never once felt like work.

Between classes this week I began writing my first screenplay. I will say that it is based on an existing Hollywood property that is currently being revitalized. With two sequels in the works, and one of my new favorite actors set to play the lead role, it has no chance of seeing the light of day. But that’s not why I’m doing it. I’m doing it because it has worked its way into my brain like those damned ear burrowing, mind controlling critters that terrorized Chekov in The Wrath of Khan. Now there’s only one thing for it: that’s to write it and get it out of there. We’ll see what happens.

There’s all sorts of movie news and trailers that have turned up in just the week that I’ve been AWOL, so expect a few updates and another issue of Trailer Time! some time next week. Movie reviews alone could fill an entire week, if I had the time to spare to write them. Here’s a list of some of the movies I’ve seen recently (some of them might not get reviews) : Bronson, Centurion, Exit Through the Gift Shop, Valhalla Rising, True Grit, The Social Network, Videodrome, Batman, Batman Begins, Back to the Future, Badlands, The Fall, Catfish, Raising Arizona, John Rabe, and Winter’s Bone. Some of these are going back in time a bit, and perhaps too far for focused reviews, but there are definitely some films in this list that I am anxious to share my thoughts on. My cross examination of Batman and Batman Begins is still forthcoming. It’s just going to require a ton of focus and more brain space than I can spare right now. Videodrome, Valhalla Rising, Centurion and Winter’s Bone are almost definitely getting reviews, so keep your eyes open for those.

View Full Album

In the meantime, please click on over to my wife’s photo blog and see what she’s been up to. She’s been burning up her keyboard since she launched last week, and I’m very proud of her.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you are all in good health!

Kirk out.

Search word SNAFU

2011-02-15T16:43:00.001-06:00

For the record, there are no “naked Klingon women” here at The Sound and Fury. But here’s a little something to tide you over until you find them. Thanks for visiting.

Kirk out.

‘Batman: The Long Halloween’: A review

2011-02-08T17:34:00.001-06:00

Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s Batman: The Long Halloween marked my first foray into the comic book world of Batman. Had it been a lesser book, my interest in the Caped Crusader might have ended when I flipped the last page. But the book exceeded my expectations on every level and served as a spring board for further explorations of Gotham City and its crime fighting Dark Knight.

It’s not that I’m new to the world of the Bat. Honestly, that would be a bit un-American, wouldn’t it? It’s just that, by time I was a kid, Batman was already an institution that had spread from the comic world into television, toys, coloring books, clothing, and other merchandising avenues. You didn’t have to read Batman comics to know what he was all about. It’s odd to think of it this way, but ubiquity can almost render a thing irrelevant. Or, perhaps, the thing becomes so relevant that it is no longer noteworthy. As I said in my post a few days ago (Rediscovering Batman: A preamble), I’ve known the Bat in just about every other medium except the one where he originated. I don’t know why, but it was time I got to know the comic Batman a bit better.

The Long Halloween is a delicious, noir-style murder mystery that depicts the evolution of Harvey Dent from crusading district attorney to the fiendish, vengeful character Two Face. The Holiday serial killer has Gotham City’s criminal underworld clamoring for justice, while Batman and company attempt to uncover who Holiday is, and why he’s bumping off mob bosses and their associates. The Long Halloween is an inclusive, far-reaching story featuring series regulars like Catwoman, The Joker, The Penguin, Jim Gordon, The Riddler, and even lesser villains from the stable of Batman foes like Poison Ivy, The Mad Hatter, The Calendar Man, Scarecrow, and Solomon Grundy. (And what a great opportunity to plug a buddy’s film. Check out Mattson Tomlin’s non-Batman related take on the nursery rhyme, Solomon Grundy.)

Loeb and Sale hand out little textual and visual clues as the story progresses, and then proceed to use those clues against the reader. The story is a great whodunit that succeeds on confounding the reader and sustaining interest for its entire 370 pages. Repetition in story and visual elements drive home the themes of faith and trust in the face of an undercurrent of stagnant corruption, while introducing the reader to the rogue’s gallery of Batman foes. Loeb’s character dialogue is spot on, and perfectly cultivates the archetypes and stereotypes we’ve come to associate with gangsters, henchmen, cops, lawyers, and superheroes.

The art is bold, effecting a convincing noir-like comic world. Color is used sparingly, serving as punctuation for particularly important scenes and as a means to emphasize recurring themes. I cannot overstate how great Tim Sale’s pencils work with Gregory Wright’s colors to create a foreboding world full of shadowy, pensive, and well drawn characters. The settings are so convincingly depicted I sometimes felt like I was stepping through a door into another, alternate time and place every time I picked up the book. The brooding, blue and black, rain slicked Gotham alleys and streets, and the stalwart, heroic, and villainous characters seemed to breathe and sweat and steam on the pages as though they’d taken on the tactile quality of the real world.

If The Long Halloween is indicative of Tim Sale and Jeph Loeb’s work together as a team, count me in for subsequent trips to the trough. I’ve already got my eye on the sequel, Batman: Dark Victory.

On a side note, Batman: The Long Halloween served as one of a few different sources of inspiration for Christopher Nolan’s 2005 Batman reboot, Batman Begins. I’ll be dissecting that film and cross examining it with Tim Burton’s record setting, landmark 1989 film, Batman in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned for more Batmania.

Kirk out.

Rediscovering Batman: A preamble

2011-02-06T12:26:00.001-06:00

I was never that in to Batman as a kid. Sure, I had the Underoos, some toys, and I watched the Justice League cartoons on Saturday mornings, but my interest in the character never extended beyond that into the medium where he originated. It’s been a sordid affair, my relationship with comics, but one I could never completely divest myself of. One of my best friends, David, was still pretty into comics by the time we were teenagers, and his devotion to the medium rekindled my interest. He turned me on to The Punisher, especially The Punisher War Journals, and I began collecting just about anything my small town convenience store would stock. It was hit or miss, but because the selection was such a hodgepodge, I developed a fearless attitude towards comic book reading.

I’d try anything, and my collection quickly swelled with titles such as Spider-Man, The Punisher War Journal, Green Arrow, Archie, Star Wars, Cable, and some offbeat titles that I can’t even recall now. Sadly, after moving from place to place in my twenties, that box of comics has been misplaced. I had the very first Dark Horse Star Wars comics, the Dark Horse reprints of the original Marvel Star Wars series (ugh) and two copies (including one sealed copy) of the #1 issue of Todd McFarlane’s Spider-Man series, and the following four issues. I hold on to to hope that the box is sitting unmolested in my parent’s house somewhere, but as of this writing it is still at large.

Nevertheless, my love for comics as an adult continued as an on again off again relationship, largely due to the availability of the collected graphic novel. Oh, I still manage to pop into a comic store from time to time, but it’s hardly a regular event. Monthly subscriptions are expensive, and just not my thing. But the graphic novel allows me to get a good dose of the comic format from time to time, and since my neighborhood Barnes and Noble stocks a wide variety of titles, I’m able to keep up with what’s new in comics without having to run the monthly gauntlet of role playing aficionados. God bless ‘em, though. That lot is the staple of the comic book store, and without their patronage the brick and mortar comic store would probably go the way of the record store.

As an adult, my comic reading has largely stayed within the realm of sci-fi or fantasy, and over the past 20 years or so, Dark Horse Comics has become my favored comic publisher. Nowhere has their commitment to story and art been more apparent , though, than in their adaptations of Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories. These books, usually borrowed from my dad, have been the cornerstone of my comic book reading for the past 5 years.

The world of the superhero, in all honesty, is a bit intimidating. Where does one start? Superhero series can go on and on for years, with multiple story arcs, reboots, and alternate timelines and universes. Which brings up another problem with the monthly comic format: When I have found something that looks interesting, it’s almost always right in the middle of the story arc. Who wants to spend their days flipping through stacks of back issues only to find that you’ve got issues #1-34, but you’re still missing #13, #17, and #23? I can’t stand coming in on the middle of a story. If I can’t get the whole thing, I won’t bother with it.

But some time in the fall of 2010, and for the life of me I still don’t know why, Batman began to steal his way back into my imagination. Maybe it was the impression that Watchmen left on me, when I finally invested my time in its pages, that reminded me that the superhero wasn’t just child’s play. I began to see titles on the shelves of comic and book stores that suddenly seemed so inviting to me, but my interest always seemed to run back to one title: Batman: The Long Halloween. For a lot of adult comic book fans, the modern adult-oriented superhero story begins and ends with the name Frank Miller. Frankly (heh heh), though, art has always been the first thing to draw me in to a comic story (isn’t that the point?), and the penciling and colors of The Long Halloween appealed more to me than did Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. Heresy, I know, but I calls ‘em like I sees ‘em.

So, I was quite excited on Christmas Day when I unwrapped a gift from my son, and found that it was The Long Halloween. My adult fascination with The Batman had formally begun. I finished The Long Halloween about a month ago, and I’ve since re-visited Tim Burton’s Batman, Batman Returns, and Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins. And I’ve got designs on several other incarnations and adaptations including the1966 Batman: The Movie, Batman: The Animated Series, Nolan’s wildly revered sequel, The Dark Knight, Loeb and Sales’ sequel to The Long Halloween; Batman: Dark Victory, and Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One.

So I invite you, dear readers, to join me as I probe the dark Gotham alleys of midnight blue, purple, and gray in search of the mythos of the winged vigilante, Batman. While Batmania grips The Sound and Fury, I’ll be publishing my thoughts and reviews on the movie adaptations and graphic novels as I get them down on “paper”. Stay tuned to this bat channel and long live The Batman!

Kirk out.

‘Die Hard’: A film review

2011-02-03T23:04:00.001-06:00

“They don’t make ‘em like they used to.”

I’ve been hearing that phrase ever since I can remember. As a kid I’d hear the old farts go on and on about the decline of the car industry, or the home appliance (pick one). Even the clothes on their backs were subject to scrutiny, and more than likely the Chinese, Japanese, or the oft cited “younger generation” were going to get bandied about as likely culprits for the aforementioned decline. It wouldn’t surprise me if 100,000 years ago some knuckle dragging proto-human grunted his disapproval for the newfangled stone tools that had begun to replace the stronger, more reliable bone tools he was used to.

But it never stops. Things are never as good as they once were.

Take the action movie. Action as a genre was at the top of its form and popularity in the 1980’s. It was an era of unforgettable heroes, the likes of which haven’t been seen since. There was Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Norris, Van Damme, Lundgren, and Seagal, to name just a few. And though these larger-than-life heroes of the silver screen are aging into the grandpa bracket now, the legacies of the tough-as-nails characters they portrayed live on in film and are preserved as icons of a bygone era. The era of the action movie.

Die Hard redefined the action star. It put Bruce Willis on the map, and solidified John McTiernan as one of the go-to directors for Hollywood action films. In the fast paced 80’s when bigger was better and more, more, more was the expectation, Bruce Willis’s John McClane stood apart as an everyman’s hero. The little guy with a quick wit, big balls, and the expertise and downright determination to back it up. Sure, we had Mel Gibson in the Lethal Weapon series (one of my favorites), but Martin Riggs was crazy and seemed hell bent on suicide. John McClane had something to live for. Something every working stiff could sympathize with: a wife and kids.

New York cop John McClane (Willis) is flying out to L.A. for Christmas to try and salvage his failing marriage. His wife, Holly (Bonny Bedelia), has apparently taken a high paying promotion with the Nakatomi Corporation, and has been living out west for the past six months. But shortly after McClane is reunited with his wife at her posh, new Nakatomi office, a sophisticated group of European terrorists seize the building and take the entire floor of Nakatomi employees hostage. McClane manages to elude the bad guys and uses his free reign of the building to wreak havoc on their plans.

Die Hard is just a good, goddamned movie from start to finish. Bruce Willis plays the straight forward, wise cracking New York cop perfectly. There’s no distinction between actor and character. As far as the movie-goer is concerned Willis is McClane. And Alan Rickman, the “it” guy for 80’s villains, matches Willis stroke for stroke. Rickman’s head terrorist, Hans Gruber, is keen, funny, ruthless as hell, and likeable. Rickman’s got his work cut out for him, though, because he has to share the screen with a whole cast of character’s worthy of the audience’s disdain.

Die Hard is replete with quintessential 80’s bad guys. Paul Gleeson (Trading Places, The Breakfast Club) plays the bullying, bungling Deputy Police Chief, and William Atherton takes a turn as the amoral, opportunist reporter, Richard Thornburg. Toss in a couple of immature, testosterone-tweaked FBI agents played by Robert Davi and Grand Bush, and Holly’s slimy, coke-snorting coworker, Harry Ellis, and you’ve got a pretty rounded stable of jerk characters to jeer at.

How to choose?

Besides Die Hard’s perfectly executed action set pieces, the writing and interactions between the characters is the sweet spot of the film. The radio conversations between McClane and Gruber and McClane and Sergeant Powell (Reginald VelJohnson) are well scripted and perfectly timed. These exchanges punctuate the film with brevity and charm, and act as a siphon for the mounting tension between the film’s protagonist and antagonist. But they also cleverly serve as a way to acquaint the audience with our hero. We get to know him as the other characters do, and the more we learn, the more we come to like the caustic New York detective. We want him to save the day, even though he’s kind of an asshole.

Die Hard is a perfect time capsule for the decadent, cocaine fueled 1980’s. The Japanese preeminence as a business power house set against a puffed up American superiority complex is on full display here. And the seeds of the now prevailing European view of Americans as a morally bankrupt, movie fed culture are sown amidst the verbal skirmishes between McClane and Gruber.

Everything gets tied up in a nice, tidy Christmas bow at the end of the movie, and that would be my biggest complaint about it. The end is just too tidy, even for an 80’s feel-good action flick. By the time Powell resolves an earlier admitted gun shyness, the film’s climax has lapsed into the ether, and the whole “Surprise, there’ still one bad guy let alive!” bit lacks the emotional resonance intended.

Still, for my money, Die Hard is as good a movie as the first time I saw it. And I guess I’ll just have to keep watching it over and over again, cause they just don’t make ‘em like they used to.

Score: 5/5

Kirk out.

Mini Blog Milestone

2011-02-01T15:33:00.001-06:00

According to Site Meter, sometime yesterday The Sound and Fury logged its 10,000 th visitor. Now that’s probably not a drop of water in the vast cistern that is the greater blogosphere, but for me, for the few years I’ve been playing at this, it’s definitely a milestone.

I’ve found recently by checking Site Meter’s recorded traffic against Blogger’s analytics, that Site Meter is missing quite a few readers. But since it’s what I’ve used to track reader traffic almost since the beginning, I’m still considering 10,000 a significant number for me. As always, your readership is appreciated and necessary. Thanks to all of you loyal readers out there, and welcome to all of the new ones. And thanks, also, to the small network of genre-minded bloggers that I’ve met along the way. You guys have become a small cluster of friends and advocates, without which, this blog might never have seen the light of day.

Kirk out.

‘Battlestar Galactica’: Initial thoughts

2011-01-31T14:42:00.001-06:00

If you’ve been reading here a while, you already know that I’m pretty skeptical of remakes and re-imaginings. Especially when it involves something near and dear to my heart. Whether it’s music (The Foo Fighter’s cover of Gerry Rafferty’s Baker Street) or movies (The Karate Kid), some things can never live up to the original.

And it’s a tricky path to find footing on when adapting, remaking, or covering another artist’s work. You get the marketing benefit of a built in fan base with a recognized brand name, but that can be a double edged sword if you alienate them by trying (and failing) to improve on the source material. Fans will turn on a franchise in a heartbeat. That’s evident over at the Conan the Movie Blog and other Conan related discussion boards right now in reference to the Marcus Nispel directed Conan the Barbarian movie that’s slated for release later this year. Let’s just say that, in general, I’m not a fan of remakes and song covers. Too often remakes and covers are convoluted and ruined by the egos of those involved or they are corrupted by visions only of dollar signs.

When I began seeing promos for the Sci-Fi Channel’s overhauled and updated Battlestar Galactica I wasn’t impressed. The first thing I noticed was that the clunky chrome plated Cylons from the 1978 original series had been transformed into human-like creatures, ala The Terminator. This sexed up version of the short lived TV series I loved so much as a child seemed to be trying to appeal to the lowest common dominator. I mean, come on, sexy Cylons? The list of grievances began to add up, and there was no choice left but to ignore the show. My pristine memory of the Battlestar Galactica of my childhood would remain forever intact.

Well, maybe not.

After finding the new Battlestar Galactica in Netflix’s Watch Instantly section a few nights ago, I decided to give it a try. That’s what I love about the Watch Instantly feature. No risk. If I hate it, I just turn it off. The thing is, though, I didn’t hate it. In fact, I was completely engrossed in the story almost from the start.

Almost.

I was reluctant. I still didn’t like that Cylons looked like humans and that the remaining Cylon robots and their Raiders had been rather lamely redesigned. Very lamely redesigned, I should say. Forgiving those two minor complaints, though, the series is quite astonishingly, amazingly amazing. Say that three times backwards.

First things first. Edward James Olmos as Commander Adama is outstanding. He broods. He simmers. And he emotes brilliantly with the slightest twitch of a cheek muscle or brow raise. The show is worth watching just to see him bring this character to life. One of the character changes I initially didn’t like has turned into a welcome surprise in actress Katie Sackoff’s turn as the sarcastic Viper pilot, Starbuck (no relation to the coffee shops). Sackoff is easy to like. She’s got a charming smile and is convincing as a rebellious, stubborn, antagonistic, and cocky young pilot. She’s no Dirk Benedict, but she chews the cigar almost as well. Mary McDonnell is good in every role I’ve seen her attempt. She brings a contemplative, reluctant, yet firmly resolved, manner to the role of President of the Twelve Colonies. The casting decisions for McDonnell and Olmos alone are strokes of brilliance, but they point to a broader purpose for this series. Which brings me to my next point.

The writing is superb. Uniquely well drawn characters are what drive the show, but the issues that the writers attempt to dissect and tackle in the format of a science fiction television show are brave, and probably the greatest thing to differentiate this show from other hollow, meaningless crap that Sci-Fi Channel tends to put out. Broad concepts like love, God, and community, which are difficult to address in an episodic format, are deftly threaded and woven into a coherent theme. The writers do not shy away from the delicate issues of the day, either. Battlestar Galactica is very much a running social commentary for the first decade of the new millennium, covering a difficult spectrum of micro-topics like terrorism, religion, science and humanity’s responsibility to and for its creations, war, human nature, and the implications of a global community.

The SFX and science for the show, to my layman’s eyes, seem a helluvalot more well thought out and better reasoned than the sci-fi space operas of my childhood. The ships, especially the Colonial Vipers, seem to operate in a more rationalized, realistic fashion within the context of a space battle, but don’t lose the cool factor while they’re at it. The space exteriors are all well conceived and used just enough to keep things interesting, while allowing the character interactions to drive the story from beginning to end. The show’s creators must have had military advisors from the Navy, because this is dead on too. Applying the age old template of a sea to space naval apparatus, Battlestar Galactica gets it right. Some of the actors really needed to learn how to salute, but in just about every way these characters conduct themselves as if they’d spent time on a modern naval vessel.

I’m only on the fourth episode of Season 1, so rest assured I’m not done talking about this. So far, though, I’m having to choke on the disparaging remarks I made about the series before I gave it a chance. And, hey, I’m only seven years late.

To be continued.

Kirk out.

File this under ‘Stuff’.

2011-01-27T20:46:00.001-06:00

Writers have to be good observers, don’t they? We have to note behaviors in people and animals and recognize the color, texture and shape of our surroundings in order to recall them for just about any kind of writing assignment. How can a writer write real dialogue, if he’s never paid attention to the nuances of the spoken language he/she is writing in?

It is in the realm of observations that I would like to dwell today. I’ve taken to jotting down some of the more interesting scrutinizations I’ve made as I adjust to this new, very youthful college setting.

-------------------------------------------------

In cold-ish weather: I’ve always found it odd that some people choose to wear heavy coats with flip flops, or heavy coats with shorts. I saw both yesterday. It seems to me to be an awful conflict of interest.

Smoking and going to college. Not investing in the future, while investing in the future. Contradictory?

Fully 1/3 of the people asked in my US Government class admitted they got their news from the Colbert Report or The Jon Stewart Show. Ah, the future of America!

I saw a young, nondescript dude walk up to the front of class yesterday to get something from the professor, and he had his pants belted fully below his rear end. How is this comfortable? Why wear the pants at all? Can someone explain this phenomenon to me? I know it’s nothing new, but I haven’t really seen it done in a while.

Same class. Saw a young, sort of preppy-dressed fellow sporting the eraser. The eraser! Remember Kid from Kid ‘n Play? I guess the styles of the 80’s are now old hat, and we are turning to the 90’s for fashion guidance. We should turn back now. Now, I say!

And finally a movie related observation. My Anthro professor showed us a video from Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, which I’d seen before, and it was very interesting even the second time around. Sagan is an intense fellow and worthy of comment all on his own, but I was astounded at how much his mannerisms reminded me of Hugo Weaving’s Agent Smith from The Matrix trilogy. See for yourself.

Sagan begins speaking on camera about 1 minute into the first video, if you want to get to the pertinent bits. But, by all means, watch the whole video. It’s interesting in its own right.

And now Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith. Excuse the subtitles. This was the only embeddable one I could find.

So, what did you think? I think the footage speaks for itself. Weaving must have used Sagan as a model for his characterization of Agent Smith. The similarities, to me, are uncanny.

That’s all I have today, folks. I’m still mulling over my thoughts on the Oscar nominations that were announced earlier this week, but I should have some thoughts up about those soon. Expect some ranting.

Kirk out.

Why I write

2011-01-25T20:42:00.001-06:00

The Sound and Fury has always been a place for me to discuss the things that I’m interested in while practicing at the craft of writing. Chief among those interests have been books, movies, and to a lesser degree, music. Movies, though, have been the giant crystal through which I’ve tended to focus most of my creative energies. When I was dispossessed from my job in early fall of last year I had a choice to make: return to school and build a stronger, more reliable platform of knowledge and skills that would, hopefully, afford me better career opportunities than I otherwise would have had without a degree, or find another dead end job, repeat the previous 10 years of my life, and pray to God that I could hang on and support my family.

Obviously, with help from my ever supportive, beautiful wife, I made the choice to return to school. But even then there were choices to make. Where to attend? How many classes should I take? Which classes should I take? What major should I pursue?

I considered the last question carefully. Part of me wanted to be practical. But part of me wanted to follow my heart. It was like those cartoons where the devil version of you and the angel version of you are standing on your shoulders having an argument over what you should do. I’m not sure which decision was represented by the horned version and which was represented by the haloed version. This I know: I chose, once again with help and support from an unbelievably encouraging wife, (who surely must believe in me to allow me on this damn fool’s errand) to follow my heart. And so I’ve begun my pursuit of an education and a degree in Radio, Television, and Film. Specifically, the film portion. And more specifically, screenwriting.

I’ve been creating for nearly as long as I can remember, whether by dressing myself up in costumes culled together from various items I’d found lying around the house and acting out scenes that I’d imagined, or through other forms of play with friends, my sister, or by myself with toys and other props. I imagined worlds through crude drawings, ever doodling in class when I should have been learning about such and such a treaty being signed or such and such amino acid responsible for such and such bodily function. Unfortunately, while the teacher droned on about these topics, I was in my head having adventures.

I began writing when I was around 14 or 15. I tried my hand at creating my own Star Wars story (which I found recently, and discovered that it’s really not that bad), fantasy stories, a tale about Vietnam, and I even did a stint at our High School newspaper, The High Standard. Some of the early stories weren’t too bad, but most of them went unfinished. They were clichéd, hackneyed stories that you’d expect from a kid, and they were sometimes poorly structured. But the message was clear: I wanted to tell stories. It didn’t really matter to me which medium I used (paper was the easiest to obtain). I just wanted to tell the stories that had been fermenting in my brain since childhood.

Movies quickly became a huge part of my life, and I often imagined my stories as though they were moving pictures. Movies seemed out of reach, though. Movies were in Hollywood, and Hollywood was in L.A., and I somehow always knew I’d never move to L.A. I’m kind of a homeboy, and I just love my family too much. But then my son came along and solidified it. Whatever I was going to do was going to have to be near him. I needed him as much as he needed me, and that’s just how it was going to be.

But Austin isn’t what it was when I moved here in 1996. This town has seen the rise and fall of the dot coms and the tech industry bust, and two real estate slumps. But the film industry is as alive as its ever been here.

Suddenly, in the early days of the fall of 2010, without a job and facing the prospect of returning to school, the idea of a career in film didn’t sound so silly anymore.

Thus I began the pursuit of a dream. A dream to tell stories. No matter how fantastical they may be. To see those worlds I envisioned as a child (and still do) realized and shared. I finally came to believe that dreams are only as real as we believe them to be. And I believe. I really, truly believe.

"For in that sleep of death what dreams may come / When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, / Must give us pause."

-from Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Thanks for reading.

Kirk out.