The Muse

I have been fighting off sickness for almost a week now.  It comes and goes in waves.  Some days, I'm fine, others, not so much.  The one thing I hate the most about being sick is the drain on my energy levels.  As my body fights off infections, I am unable to move much, or to think very clearly.  God forbid if I try to write something coherent during this time.  So, as a result, despite having a lot of time to myself in the last few days, I have produced just about nothing.

Yesterday, I had the first essay due in my class.  I had started it last week, before getting sick.  The beginning was strong, and I think I stated my intent clearly, and backed it up logic and reason.  And then I got sick.  Yesterday I was home with several symptoms which muddled me so bad all I wanted to do was lay in a tomb and mummify.  But, the essay was due, so I dug in and did it.  All in all, it probably isn't as bad I think it was.  But, I guess we'll have to see.

This morning, I am feeling much better.  So, in between work tasks, I usually have Word open to any given story (if I am properly inspired).  Today, Word was open, but the page was blank.  I couldn't start writing, or continue writing because I am still kind of in a fog.  So, I opened the WIP of Scott Oden's latest work, A Gathering of Ravens.  I am honored to be among a few beta readers, helping him keep on track as he converts a detailed synopsis into a finished novel.

Anyways, aside from enjoying his writing immensely, and being so engrossed in the story that I hated it when I reached the end, I was also inspired.  As most of you know, I am working on an Historical novel in fits and spurts about King Agesilaus II of Sparta.  Well, today I was inspired to create a new character that would serve as a temporary POV character during a battle scene.  As I thought about the character more, I realized he could be much more important to Agesilaus' story.  Oddly enough, when I opened my "notes" file, I found that a similar character had already been thought of many months ago, but completely forgotten. 

Or, was he?

I have come to the conclusion that this is how my Muse works.  I will get a germ of an idea; I jot down my initial thought; and then it percolates.  Eventually, something sparks renewed interest in that idea (consciously or subconsciously), and I begin to flesh things out again.  In time the idea will fully come to fruition and mesh with other, similar ideas, and a story will emerge.  At least, that's how it should work.  I'll let you know if/when it does.

In the meantime, let me ponder the implications of the events at the Battle of Mantinea, in 418 BCE...

As an interesting aside, tomorrow is my wife's birthday, and in celebration I am taking her to see a group called Muse on Monday.  Funny, that is. :)

Crappy weekend!

It was just as cheesy as I remember it.

It all started on Friday, at around 10:30 or so, when I suddenly felt chills and feverish at work.  I tried to fight it off; put my coat on, ate some hot food, drank lots of fluids.  But it was only delaying the inevitable.  Managed to shuffle through a fun little D&D session that evening, but by the end of that I was wiped, and spent most of Saturday in bed with a fever.  Yesterday looked promising, as I was no longer sick. But then I made the mistake of expressing an unpopular opinion.

THAT all started because I had noticed that over at The Action Elite there was a trend of these guys giving high praise to movies I didn't quite remember being so good.  I thought maybe it was me, and that I just hadn't watched them in a long time.  So, I decided to pick a couple, Van Damme's Hard Target and Lundgren's The Punisher, and re-watch them. 

Jean Claude Van Damme is almost deified over there.  And while I like him a lot, he is not nearly my favorite action star, and I particularly didn't care much for Hard Target when I saw it 20 years ago.  I mean, I remember liking it well enough, but was not all that wowed by it.  However, most of the bloggers at Action hail it as his greatest film.

Well, to make sure I was being fair, I watched it again yesterday (it's available on instant view from (NetFlix), and the long story short is that my initial assessment was confirmed.  It is an over-the-top cheese-fest.  There were so many little things wrong with it, that I found myself laughing at parts where I was supposed to be shouting a manly "Hell yeah!"  Here's a short list of some of the elements that I found laugh-worthy:

1. That ridiculous mullet.  It was extremely distracting.  And while I know it was in style in the early 90's, it does not stand the test of time.
2. An overabundance of slo-mo shots.  Van Damme walking, Van Damme turning his head (mullet waving like a patriotic flag), Van Damme ballet-kicking someone in the face, Van Damme somersaulting in the air away from an explosion, etc, etc...
3. The Roman Candle explosions.  Whether it was a grenade, a moonshine still, dynamite, or even just bullets impacting the ground, everything exploded as if it were stuffed with Roman Candles (and usually in slow motion).
4. The inept combat veterans.  Ok, this was more of a story-point that irked me, but every military vet was supposed to be a decorated combat soldier (they made a point of mentioning that in the film), and yet they all acted like recruits right out of Basic (except for Van Damme, of course).  The black guy was a former Green Beret, and the best he could manage was to disarm some schlub millionaire who didn't know one end of a rifle from the other, and then, after killing him loudly, he sprays and prays at the main villains, completely missing!

This is not to say it was a "horrible" movie.  I've seen much worse, even from Van Damme.  But this film was by far not his best (I much prefer Double Impact or Lionheart, myself).  But, that's not the point.  The point is, I voiced my opinion on my own Facebook page, and the Action site owner saw it, and immediately banned me from the page, from the site, and removed all of the content that I had written for it.  All because I didn't properly proselytize at the Altar of Van Dammage.

At first I wasn't even angry.  I was hurt.  That stung, because I thought I had been building a rapport with these guys.  I liked them all, and even when I disagreed with their opinions, I could appreciate where they were coming from.  And it was in this spirit that I had posted my status.  And yet, it was apparently taken as an insult, and caused me to be banned without comment or discussion.  Ouch.

Now I'm just angry about it.  So, I guess they can have their little JCVD circle-jerk over there, and I'll just be over here watching what I like.  By myself.  Just like I did before.

Though I still want to re-watch The Punisher again.  Because, it's Dolph Lundgren.  I actually like him better than Van Damme anyways.  Always have.

Modern Essayists

One of America's original Essayists.

When you read about many historical figures from the past few hundred years (particularly the Founding Fathers), one thing you notice when the historian lists the occupations of these people is the use of the term “Essayist.” What was an Essayist, exactly?

As a History major, you would think I would know how this worked. However, my focus is on ancient cultures, and my knowledge of history beyond the Middle Ages is pretty thin, and not much better than High School level.

That being said, I can postulate that these men (and let’s face it, the vast majority of them were men) probably published in small newspapers, and maybe later in scholarly journals. In short, they wrote for a limited audience. And yet, as their historical significance grew, these papers and musings have become canon for our (mostly) literate world.

This begs a question: What of today’s “Essayists?” Are there people who write and muse about important topics that may one day impact (or even create) whole schools of thought? One might be tempted to point to bloggers, to which I would humbly wave my hand and shake my head.

Bloggers, for the most part, are not essayists. We are public diary-ists (ok, that sounds kinda gross), armchair journalists, or, generally-speaking, attention whores. Even though there are probably tens of thousands of blogs out there, a relatively small portion have anything of “global” value to say. Most of us are either regurgitating what we read/heard/saw somewhere else, or discussing subjects that, despite being very personal to us, are generally of little matter in the grand scheme.

Then again, I could be 100% wrong on this, and could very well be pissing people off as I type this. Sorry for that!

All that being said, is there opportunity for modern Essayists to earn a living with their musings? One would think that getting published would be the answer. However, the publishing industry (even the non-fiction industry) has to guarantee some rate of return on their investment, so they have to pick and choose what to publish. Consequently, very few are willing to take the bet on someone with something radical and new to say. Or even someone with a radical way of presenting something old.

But then, there is self-publishing. Amazon’s Kindle program has opened a floodgate that allows anyone with a computer, and the know-how to operate it, to be a writer/essayist/novelist/what have you. And you know what? I love it! As you know, I have a handful of stories out there myself. I even have plans for more. And mine are just little escapist fantasies, yet they get great reviews, and I feel accomplished in doing them. Can you imagine if I had something important to say?

I have a friend who is a genius at politics and social issues. He and I differ in our opinions on some issues, but I am hard-pressed to find any fault in his logic. Though I may disagree, I can always completely understand why he thinks the way he does. This guy has a blog, but he has let it slip away. Personally, I think he’s missing an opportunity. And I intend to start pressuring him to self-publish some essays. I think he’d be surprised by the reception he would get.

Anyways, this was just some musings I had today, and I thought I would share them with you. This also illustrates why I don’t consider myself an “Essayist” as I tend to ramble along, and at the end, I usually find myself wondering if there was a point to all of this, and if so, did anyone get it besides me?

Oh, hey, look. There’s the Executioner novel I was reading…

Yep, still here

This one is still my favorite Punisher movie.

It's been over a week since I rambled on here, so I thought I should pop in.  Because I just know all of my devoted fans out there are hanging on every word I say, right?

Life is simply moving forward here.  Some days it feels stagnant, and others it feels like I need off this crazy train.  But usually, it's somewhere in the middle.  I just started my new term, and I had forgotten that I don't care for this instructor.  I had him for an Historiography class, and he gave me a C (but that's not why I don't care for him, let me make that clear).  I actually got an academic warning for that one.  Fortunately, haven't gotten any more since.  All A's and B's for me.  Anyways, this instructor comes across as rather conceited and self-important.  In his syllabus he states that it is vitally important for us to know his background, and provides a link to what is basically his CV.  I'm not really sure how it is relevant to a survey class in World History.  And I just found out today that he is currently teaching 24 online courses at once.  Either he has no life, or he is a glutton for punishment, IMO.  Anyways, I think I can do ok in the class, as long as I keep up with his odd scheduling habits.

Work is work.  And in the interest of not causing my readers to fall asleep, I will say no more about that.

Writing is still hit or miss.  With all of the personal stuff that is going on lately, writing has taken a backseat.  Plus, I'm just lazy.  I wish I could blame something or someone else, but the fact is I am just an unmotivated individual.  I'm not clear on why that is, but I'm sure a good psychologist could pick apart my past and my personality and tell me exactly what causes me to be a mental layabout.

I have noticed that most evenings, I just want to veg in front of the XBox, or watch a movie.  Unfortunately, even these experiences are often trumped by the fact that we have one good TV, and 4-5 people at any given time vying for its use.  Add to that the fact that most of the movies I want to watch are not age-appropriate for my son and younger daughter, so they have to wait until after the two of them go to bed.  Last night I watched the Extended Cut of Thomas Jane's The Punisher (which I reviewed today at The Action Elite), but it wasn't done until nearly midnight.  And with the alarm set for 5:30 am, you can imagine how I feel today.

Honestly, that's probably half my problem.  Life is kind of on hold in the evenings until after the kids go to bed.  So, in order to do anything for myself, I have to stay up late.  The lack of sleep tends to catch up with me some days.  Another big part is my fitness.  This cold weather always makes me lethargic.  I'm fairly certain I'm part bear, and need to hibernate.  I'm looking for ways around that, but honestly, until it warms up a bit, my options are limited.

But, despite all of the Resistance I encounter, I have managed to get bits and pieces of writing done; a few hundred words on this story, a few hundred on that one.  I figure in a couple of months I'll have a handful of completed works.  Today it's my Orc Vigilante story.  This is mainly due to my recent obsession with The Punisher, and the fact that I am currently reading a pretty good Mack Bolan novel.  Who knows what tomorrow will bring...

Bullet to the Head

We got to see this on Saturday.  In short, I loved this film. It was a gritty, old-school actioner, with a lot of cool lines, good fights, and neat twists and turns. Stallone was brilliant (as always), and I thought the entire cast was excellent. Jason Mamoa came close to stealing the show, and I liked seeing him on screen as much as I liked seeing Sly.

Now, when I say that the “entire” cast was great, I have to include Taylor Kwon (Sung Kang). Other reviews have pointed to him being the weakest character. That he was whiny an annoying. And I agree he was annoying at times. But I think that was the point. In my opinion Kwon was a great foil to Jimmy Bobo. They are complete opposites in almost every way. Bobo is like that grizzled dog in the yard, and Kwon is like that yippy little pup who wants to look good for the older dog.

Kwon is a product of his generation. He is young, a bit naive, very tech-savvy (even to the point of being tech-dependant), and cocky without having the experience or ability to really back it up. But, he is a good cop, determined, focused and willing to buck the system when it is important enough for him to do so. In short, I thought he was a great character.

In fact, his only flaw was that we weren’t shown enough of his back-story. I would have been much happier had we been able to see more of his past. And maybe something there would have given him an impetus to decide to buck the system this once, and work with a known hit man with a long record. In my opinion, that is really the only spot where this film fell short. And I’m not sure why it was left out. With a running time of just over 90 minutes, they had plenty of room to add it in.

Despite this minor shortcoming, it did little to detract from the film. I actually found myself more annoyed with the amount of rounds being shot into guys. I know it’s been a standard of action movies to pump goons full of lead, but whatever happened the cool professional who uses the double-tap? Still, that’s just a personal quirk, and I doubt most people would even notice it.

Days Off

This is not actually my character, Chak.
However, Chak looks very much like this.

Due to unexpected problems with our daycare provider, we have been having to juggle time so Connor is taken care of during the day.  It hasn't been TOO difficult, as my wife can set her own hours.  But, even that reaches a breaking point.  And that point came this week.  So, in order to allow my wife to work some long hours (and make some choice scratch), I took Wednesday and Thursday off.  No worries, I have the time.

Well, my plan was to clean the house up, and do some laundry.  But the siren's call of Skyrim grabbed me, and I could not pull myself away.  So, basically, I spent the last two days trading time on the XBox with Connor (who is a Minecraft addict).  When he wasn't playing, I was.

My character is an Orc named Chak.  Right now he is level 38, and besides being the Dragonborn, he's also a Thane in two separate realms, a husband (to a fine-ass Orc female with a husky voice), a home builder, and, as of yesterday, the leader of the local assassins guild.  He's taken down the leadership of the Stormcloak rebellion, and then turned around and assassinated the Emperor.  He's been quite a busy chap.  And the level cap is 81.  What the heck is he gonna do for another 43 levels???

I have to say, this is probably my all-time favorite video game so far (it's right up there with HALO 3 and HALO 4).  It should be noted that I don't play a lot of video games, and am not including MMOs in that.  I see those as more "social" games than just video games.  That being said, I am kind of excited for Elder Scrolls Online.  Basically it's a Skyrim MMO.

I have kind of been hankering for a fantasy MMO again lately.  But, none of the ones that are out appeal to me anymore.  I mean, I was really into WoW for a long time.  But, after so many changes and additions, and the fact that my account was hacked, it has lost its appeal.  Star Wars - The Old Republic had me for a while, and it is a fun game.  But, I recently cancelled my paid subscription, since I just wasn't playing it.  I could go for Guild Wars 2.  But, I dunno.  Something about it doesn't really grab me.

Eh, it's not like I have time to invest in another MMO right now.  I mean, Skyrim can be a time-suck.  But the last couple of days were an anomaly.  I'm usually lucky to get a couple of hours every few days on the XBox.  Right now, at any given time, there are 3-5 people competing for it.  And I am usually content to just let others have it.

So, there you go.  My days off were spent in Skyrim, that harsh realm of wild beasts, undead horrors, dangerous assassins, brutal weather, and the occasional random dragon attack.  I fought, I slayed, and I am content.

Time to pass the torch

This coming Saturday several small, prepubescent girls are descending on our small apartment for a sleepover party for my 10-year old daughter.  In an effort to escape such torture, my plan was to take Connor to a friend's house, and then Isaac and I were going to catch a double-feature of The Last Stand with Arnie, and Bullet to the Head with Sly.  Well, best laid plans, and all that...

Apparently The Last Stand did so poorly in its opening weekend, that it has been pulled from many theaters, including all of the ones in my area.  I suppose I could expand my search to find somewhere else it is playing, but why should I have to?  Add to that the closer theater to me is only showing Bullet twice a day.  This really pisses me off.

And to rub salt in my Action Fan wounds, the "Oscar-worthy" films that have been out for weeks, even months, are still getting full play.  Fortunately, Parker with the Stath is still playing, so I guess that will have to substitute.

All of this has me thinking, and as much as it makes me want to cry manly tears, I think it may be time for the old warhorses to retire.  Sly and Arnie were IT back in the day.  When Action Cinema was in its heyday, they were the Kings.  Then Arnold went off to be in politics, and Sly shouldered the burden of Action Movies as best as he could.  Then the Bourne hit the fans.

The Bourne movies are great (well, the first two are), but they represent a turning point in Action movies.  Action movies are now the purview of actors who consider themselves Actors first, and do action movies just for kicks, or for a fast buck.  Gone are the days of true Action Heroes; actors who make action movies because that's what they love to do.

Ok, I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record here.  I've been whining about this a lot lately.  But I think I have finally felt that last straw.  Arnold just has no screen-presence anymore.  He doesn't make people want to see him on screen these days.  Everyone has their reasons, and each of them may be slightly different, but the net effect is the same.  He's done.  And while Sly still has some draw, mainly with The Expendables, his day is waning as well.

Personally, while I love Arnold, I am not nearly as invested in him.  Admittedly, I felt a little betrayed when he went off the be Governor.  But, he had to do what he had to do, so I guess that's fine.    He is planning on another Conan film, more or less a sequel to his first one (thankfully ignoring his second), so there is that last glimmer of hope, as it is supposed to be age-appropriate for him.  But, I think after that, he's done (aside from the 2 or 3 he has in the pipe right now).

Stallone, on the other hand, should move behind the camera.  He should focus on writing and directing, and usher in a new era of Action Stars.

Where would I like Action Cinema to go in the future?  Dwayne Johnson, Vin Diesel and Jason Statham should continue to do what they are doing.  They are really my last hope.  All fine actors, but ones who are more interested in Action movies, than other genres.  Meanwhile, Hollywood needs to start paying attention to the DTV market.  There is a gold mine of real Action talent out there.  Scott Adkins is a fine example.  Mainstream audiences got a good taste of him in The Expendables 2 (he fought Jason Statham in the hangar).

Eh, maybe Hollywood should just do what it does best, and feed the masses their CGI-laden thrills, and leave the real Action to people who actually work on their films.  For the foreseeable future, the only films that will get me in the theater are the superhero movies, and maybe a couple of the Sci Fi epics.  I really just have no interest in sitting in a theater for two hours of touchy-feely and overly-dramatic chic flicks.