Frak, Frel and Other "F" Words

Having to come in early this week because the guy who usually mans the support email is out on vacation. And dear God, I am reminded of how much I freaking hate mornings.

What do porn companies parody in a comic book universe? In this world, they do horrible parodies of comic books, but what do they do in, say, the Marvel Cinematic Universe or the DC one? Must admit, it would be hilarious to see a sort of crappy porn version of the Avengers in the MCU ... and how would Thor react? Would we see a headline about a "freak lightning storm" obliterating the Vivid Entertainment building? For that matter, what are the blockbuster movies in that universe? I could see (like "Watchmen") comics veering away from super-powered individuals in a world where those guys might live next door, but it would be amusing if the DC cinematic universe is the massive super blockbuster series in the MCU that the Marvel movies are here ... Just some random thinky thoughts...

Finished that problematic chapter rewrite for "Fulcrum." Am stepping away from that for a bit to focus on some "Vorticity" rewrites in the hopes that when I read the rewritten chapter again, I won't immediately loath it.

As stated earlier, I'm in the process of trying to force myself to get back into the writing groove and am really struggling with finding the words. I know roughly what I want to do, but man, it's like pulling teeth from an angry bear or something. See, I originally used a scene I'd written for "Transitional States," a NCIS fanfic that I've since pulled from www.fanfiction.net for various reasons (abject, utter disgust with the show; knowing that I was never going to finish it; considering raiding chapters for other stuff) even though it was already up to 200K+ words (I think), but ultimately, the scene just didn't work like I wanted it to. Hence, my decision to rewrite. Come on, Muse. Throw me a bone here.

Hmmm ... so first week of September might actually work out better. In addition to it being close to my sister's birthday (as well as one of her daughters), a friend of mine will be in Orlando ... and the Gators are playing in Gainesville that week ... Damn. Seriously thinking about planning for a road trip ...

This Monday (May 30), my mom is relocating to Florida again - she's mired in a cycle where she gets pissed off (and pisses off) one of my sisters so she moves to near the other sister - and I already mentioned to her that I'll have to try and provision a trip to FL now. And now, I'm trying to talk myself out of doing so in October where I can hit Gainesville on Saturday to watch the Gators play, then drive down to Miami on Sunday to watch the Fins play... Man, I can't afford that! But what an awesome vacation it would be...

Went ahead and bought season 1 on Amazon and am watching it. Man, I'd forgotten how good this show is. Seriously cannot wait until season 2...

Man, it's tough getting back into the correct mindset. I'm trying to rewrite a problematic chapter for "Fulcrum" (my completed but unpublished novel) and it's turning out to be a lot tougher than I expected. I think what I need to do is sit down and actually outline the chapter instead of trying to just make it up as I go ... And the rewrites necessary for "Vorticity," the unfinished sequel? Ouch. Need to find my Muse again, dammit...

A Long Time Ago, In a Hive Far, Far Away... I must admit, this is a really neat fan theory. I kind of like it.

Honestly? I thought it was kind of crap. Bollocks, one might say. Once again, Barry Allen is the Stupidest Man Alive. There was very little actual logic in this episode ... which doesn't surprise me because logic has been in very short supply this entire season. The final scenes seem to imply that they're setting up the "Flashpoint Paradox" storyline. Right now, I'm so indifferent to the series that I'm just about to quit it entirely. Sigh.

A Female James Bond Is Getting Closer and Closer to Reality Why are SJWers so fraking obsessed with transforming existing characters like this? Here's a whacky thought: create a new character and use that. Don't twist existing characters like this? Its the same kind of nonsense I see about how a tiny segment of the population who want certain characters to suddenly become gay (I've seen people clamoring for Captain America to suddenly have a boyfriend, for example, which is fucking stupid.) Create your own freaking characters, dammit. Stop screwing with existing characters! It isn't that hard, dammit. Bring on the alien extinction event, man.

You know how everyone always complains about how badly Mondays suck? For me, Tuesday is the real bastard. Every week, I struggle with getting up on time come Tuesday a.m. And ... ugh. Just remembered that next week I'll be in to work early so I can cover for one of my co-workers who is going on a much deserved vacation. I hate getting up in the morning. Yuck.

Made a terrible, horrible mistake yesterday while driving back from Missouri. It was a beautiful day in Misery and in Kansas (less so in OK; shortly after I crossed the state border, ugly clouds rolled in) and I wanted to feel the wind in my hair so I had my windows down. And my left arm on the door. In short sleeves. Ugh. I should have known better.

Back from my day trip to visit the family. While my mom & my baby sister are probably still pissd off at each, they at least spent most of yesterday pretending that they weren't for my benefit. So ... huzzah? Next mission on the horizon is personal evaluation. Need to lose weight, get more active, as well as plan for some sort of vacation that actually requires me to do some travel (preferably not in the car as I was once again reminded how much I dislike long car trips. I always forget that when I'm about to go some where...) Now ... I desperately, desperately need a shower.

Was glancing over my Facebook page today and I could not help but to notice how drastically I've reduced my presence over there and how rarely I seem to actually post politically-slanted things anymore. That got me to wondering: why? Why have I tuned out of so much stuff - the news, the entertainment sector, hell even the radio - and whether that says something about my mental state (maybe? Probably) or if it just says more about the state of the culture? So here's my thinking: I've grown increasingly tired of being lectured to by those on the left as I've grown older. Suddenly, wrong is right, up is down, men are women and so on. This ... offends my sensibilities which I will freely admit are a lot more right of center than most, less so because of what they're saying than how they're doing things. What's that? Your mom and pop cake shop doesn't want to do a gay wedding cake? Well, instead of going somewhere else  and maybe giving them a crappy review...

So ... the NRA just endorsed Trump. Well, I guess there's no way in hell that they could endorse the criminal, Clinton or that lunatic, Sanders, but Trump ... NRA guys, he is not your ally. He will say whatever he needs to in order to get elected. I'm ... forty-something and this is the first time since I've been eligible to vote that I am actively hostile to both major parties. Sure, it's no surprise that I've refused to vote for the communist ... er ... socialist ... uh ... Democrats ever, but even when I've loathed the candidate, I've been able to hold my nose and vote Republican (see Bush, McCain, Romney.) This year ... this year I honestly my vote third party. Fundamentally transformed ... congrats, Obama. You got your wish in that regard. The rest of you? Buckle up. The Age of Suckage is truly beginning...

...if someone thinks the new Ghostbusters reboot trailer still makes this movie look like a steaming pile of fecal matter, that makes one a misogynist. Meh ... whatever. Enjoy failing, you idiots. No one asked for this movie. The only people who are going to watch it are the hardcore feminazi types because everyone else - everyone! - is looking at that rancid pile of dung and seeing it exactly for what it is. As to be a misogynist ... nah. I'm a misanthrope. I hate both genders equally. Humans in general suck.

Have been giving consideration to amount of time (or really, the lack thereof these days) I spend watching television and I've started to notice a couple of things. Evidently, I have astronomically high standards in terms of the shows I watch. This year, I can literally count on one hand the number of new shows I tuned into* and, on that same hand, I can also add the shows I continued to watch and like.** Needless to say, it is an abysmally low number for all of the options available. The biggest thing that turns me off of a television show is stupidity. Not in "oh, God, this guy is such a fucking idiot" kind of stupid -  Justified  had some seriously dumb characters on it (Dewey Crowe, I'm thinking of you!) but the actual  writing  of the show wasn't stupid (in fact, it was the definite  opposite  of stupid;  Justified  had some of the smartest writing for a show I've ever seen and I miss it quite a bit.) So I require my entertainment to n...

Reread what I've got written for Vorticity - happily, it does not suck like I'd feared although now I am trying to make myself get back to writing on it. I actually have a lot more of it done than I'd expected - I'm over 70K on it and its still definitely not done yet; at this point, I feel like I need to start culling some stuff ... 85K would be a good size, but I've got 20 (planned) chapters left and none of them really feel like stuff that needs to go. I suppose I should just say "Frak it" and work on it until I'm done, then look to see what can go and what can stay ... Related problem: next month (June), I should be restarting my GURPS: Casus Belli game - characters are (mostly) Celtic types in 5th Century Wales as Arthur rises; it is nominally set in my GURPS: Red Sky universe, which is also set in the Dresden Files universe - and that does require a lot of mental bandwidth on my part since I'm not a seat-of-the-pants GM (or writer, reall...

So, there's  this ... On one hand, a course correction is drastically, drastically needed. They could start by delaying Justice League and flat out firing Snyder who so atrociously ruined both Batman and Superman in that "Dawn of Bullshit" mess. Even if they did that, though, I honestly don't know how they can recover from the disaster that was that movie. Neither of the iconic characters were anywhere remotely close to being heroic in any fashion, Batman - the Batman, who desperately does not want anyone else to die - was a flat-out mass murderer, Superman was an empty suit who appeared only interested in rescuing Lois from increasingly stupid moments of peril, and the only flash of cool was when Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman showed up to fight that CG cave troll (and even that was mostly tainted with the earlier flirting between her and Murderman.) The sad part is: they've got some very good actors! Henry Cavill was born to play Supes and he was excellent o...

So, this Saturday, I'm hitting the road for a 5-hour (or so) trip to visit my mom and my youngest sister. Evidently, my mother is moving back to Florida (with the other sister) for ... reasons and my baby sister is all bent out of shape about this. Which means I get to play the adult in the scenario and listen to both sides gripe & moan while doing my best to avoid agreeing (or disagreeing as the case may be) with either one. My hope is that I can distract everyone long enough to do my familial duties - "Hey. Let's go out to eat at Texas Roadhouse. I'll buy. Now everyone smile and pretend you're not at each other's throats!" Meh. This May has really jacked me up for some reason. Usually not this ... maudlin or depressing. Clearly, this is Zack Snyder's fault with how badly he fucked up Batman v Superman. Clearly.

I've done a big fat nothing in terms of writing in the last couple of months - I have an actual sci-fi novel completed that is entitled "Fulcrum" but have sort of stalled out on the sequel, "Vorticity" - and am trying to get myself back into gear. Thinking about trying something different this year... A while back, I wrote the novel-length Justice League story, " The Last " and it went over pretty well, and I'd like to dip my toes back into superheroes, so I'm thinking of trying to work on a novel I've had in mind for a while that I've tentatively titled "Earthfall." The core concept is this: Starship Troopers (the book by Heinlein, not Melrose Space the movie) meets superheroes. My 'Johnny Rico' would be David Fury, who is a 2nd Generation ultrahuman - flying brick, of course, because that's my favorite. And like Starship Troopers , I don't want to end it on a "huzzah! We won!" note, but rather a ...

http://deadline.com/2016/05/superman-prequel-krypton-syfy-pilot-order-david-goyer-showrunner-director-1201741635/ Honestly, at this point, I'm disgusted to think that my first thought is "How long until they shoehorn the Waynes in there somehow?" Frak you, DC & WB. Frak you.

I'm not positive ... but I think this may still be one of my all-time favorite albums ever.

This sucks. I was (and am) a big fan of his style for its Silver Age feel. RIP, man. I never met you but loved so much of your work... Almost Darwyn Cooke's Blog

As of today, there are two major comic book movies in the theaters that have some serious similarities in that two major heroes fight one another over contrasting ideologies. Fair warning: this is a pretty long post. And yeah, it is very decidedly anti-BvS and Pro-CA:CW.

Yeah. I've kind of let this blog lapse into mediocrity. Will try to do better. What have I been doing? Working, trying to write, treading water ... pretty much nothing major. Looking at the date of my last entry ... whoa, buddy. 2006! And I was bitching about X3! There have been two (superior) X-movies to come out since then, not to mention the explosion of the awesome Marvel movie franchise (spoiler alert: Captain America: Civil War was freaking amazing. It was everything Batman vs Superman wasn't, namely ... it was a good movie, something BvS most definitely was not.) Let's see, I've changed jobs like twice since that post, moved probably three times (maybe four), but beyond that, not a lot has changed. Huzzah. So, while I don't have a lot of "life events" to discuss or gripe about or that sort of thing, I'll still try to actually post thoughts and the like here. In regards to the entertainment landscape, everything has changed. It is an awe...