Mood:  bright

This is a good movie...

In fact, it's one damned fine film, indeed.

Go see it, if you haven't. Sweedish, this, and of course one has to be able to read subtitles (given the current state of 'average' intelligence, that can be a stretch these days...)

Anyway: Let the Right One In. Vampire movie, that, but that's a misnomer that only scratches the surface of the themes and moods the movie wants to elicit. Like any well-crafted art it transcends the trappings of any genre you might want to place it in and hammers you in the teeth with neato drama (and rather fine acting by the girl vampire... who's actually a boy, apparently, according to the novel upon which it's based, I think...)

...hmmmm...

And the boy actor who's supposed to be a real boy is a bit of a dramatic drag, but hey: nothing's perfect.

Well, the central tenant of the film does somewhat tug at my own heartstrings: as someone actively trying to make a genre story that transcends its own trappings  (couldn't resist the segue) I'm attracted by the idea.

This is a grown-ups' version of that trashy "Twilight" nonsense that got its start from prepubescent fangirls pouring over their internet chatrooms and fansites. Ironically that book series focuses on characters on the cusp of maturation, and is written for mentally-disabled fangirls, while this movie (Let the Right One In) focuses on a pair of 12-year-olds but delves into waters more suited for people with all their marbles in their head (or at least most of 'em... a few of mine are rattling around under my couch...)

And, of course, when I say "12-year-olds", you have to remember that one of them has apparently been 12 for "a very, very long time..."

Just go see the damned thing, if you can. It's not the Merchant of Venice, but it is intelligent. And in an age of nearly unabated idiocy from our Hollywood, it's most certainly the right film to come out of the cold for.

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 1:45 AM MNT

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So what're the perks of associatin' with a BYDO organism for an extended period of time?

It can f**k up your genetic code and seriously tweak your 'human limitations'...

And what're the downsides to associating with a BYDO organism?...

...It can f**k up your genetic code and seriously tweak your 'human limitations'...

Yeah...

Anyway, this is more of a 'stylized' look at the TSS demon forms (with faces 'half-changed', and all that...) When I say 'stylized', it's a fancy way of saying that I don't have the artistic hoo-haas to put together a more... uh... 'accurate' picture of what the trio would look like.

Interesting side-note: the mesh overlayed on Samantha's face is a chain mail stock image, the marring on Chenine's mug a texture ripped from a picture of duct tape (and all the razzle-dazzle on her body, including the protowings, ripped from a series of fractal art images...), and the spines on Justin's dark side courtesy of a picture of a rose.

I'm nothing if not symbolic...

Don't know if I like how everything turned out, exactly...

But I do know that I like saying 'protowinged'.

Hell, I even like typing the word 'protowinged'...

"protowinged, protowinged, protowinged, protowinged, protowinged"...

Right, I'm got that out of my system, I think.

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 9:53 PM MNT

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Mood:  cool

T'art (TYPERS art...): it's what's for dinner.

My latest personal artistic challenge is rendering up the demonic/"Novanjo" forms of my protagonists (ie: the Czech Hedgehog, Bound Angel and Sabre Dancer).

Easiest first. This one's still a work-in-progess and the full image also contains a juxtaposition with Justin Storm's more human form, but the idea is to eventually make a nifty flash file with lighting going back and forth. This would be one 'half' of the finished product, then (I've blacked out the parts that aren't tweaked out, yet)...

...meh.

Chenine and Samantha's demonic forms will provide more of a challenge, I'd think...

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 3:47 PM MNT

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Mood:  a-ok

Happy Halloween, Western Hemispherians...

And an early happy Guy Fawkes Day to all you UK-ers.

I thought I'd celebrtate the day by uploading the next chapter of TYPERS to the website...

...but it's not ready, yet...

...hmmm...

on the plus side, the segues between these last few chapters of HMA are such that, once this one's out, the others should be rapidly finished as well.

...'rapidly', in my case, being some time before the end of time...

God willing...

Shane Kent, Shane Kent; t'was his intent to make you wait for updates...uh, 'ments'...

Anyway: have a ghoulish night. 

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 2:26 PM ADT

Updated: Friday, 31 October 2008 2:29 PM ADT

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Mood:  lyrical

"...       The good doctor got to his feet and stretched. He retrieved the envelope addressed to Bydo Labs and crammed it in his pocket, but then he stopped. He opened the top and wedged that playing card [Queen of Hearts] into the fold, grinning all the while. He motioned to the live video feed with his head:

            “That spectacular little piece of tail is really just a card in our deck, anyway. Let her wear her suit with pride! Anyway, Wraith: as for your Committee and all, I’m sure that when all’s said and done there’ll be more than enough credit to go around.”

            Wraith was still staring down at the video feed. The nurse-phantoms, steam rising out the sides of their ugly rebreather masks like hot stink pouring out a wild hog’s snout, were busy holding down the young girl pinned to their operating table like a butterfly. Presently the girl’s entire body went to spasms. A silver knife— more accurately a spear— flittered about against the child’s writhing back as the doctor went to work on her.

            Doctor? Tch! Butcher, more like…

            A mop of hair flailed about, silver streaks dancing a manic chorea and a head turned around. Teeth— perfect, white and salivating with terror— yawned around a black chasm of a mouth, the tongue inside writhing like a snake. Above that a button-nose ran snot and two delicate eyes lay cemented shut, bleeding mighty rivers of water between them, the tears flying in beads from her wriggling head like a melancholy tempest.

            Wraith sighed:

            “Credit? Yes, there’ll be enough of that, I think. That and blame…”

            “What?” Roont turned around.

            The subcommander shook his head and sat up in his chair:

            “A name, Roont; a name. I think I have a name for our squadron, if you’re still interested…”                ..."

                                                                  From page 10 of TYPERS Chapter "If one Wake at Midnight..."

Whaddya think of flashbacks, huh?

I myself am somewhat divided about their efficacy, and Lord do all the proper book-writin' elites have their opinions. More often than not it's a general mantra: flashbacks are lazy writing, cheap and- on top of it all- break your reader out of the action just so you can f**k with the flow of time and give away important plot details you should have more carefully crafted into your narrative flow.

I agree with all those sentiments... to a point...

That snippet from the next chapter of TYPERS is part of the start of the chapter: an in medias res drop into the past without provocation or explanation (that's how I like to do flashbacks, anyway). So, while I agree in principle with the flashback-hating sentiments all around us I do still think they have their place. Here's why:

Third-person limited point of view...  for a given part of a given chapter (for me, specifically, during one of the roman numeral breaks) the narrator is inside a character's noggin and experiencing and commenting on what's going through that person's head. Now, organic flow of thought and conversation being what it is, humans tend to look to the past quite often (that is, the actual character is musing on his or her history; the narrator goes along for the ride). 99.9 percent of the time it's sufficient for the narrator to make a throwaway comment about such musings ("...he remembered the day they first met; she was eating a fig newton..."). Thus the reader is informed about a point's significance and the plot still advances in the here-and-now.

So... what about that .01 percent?

Well, actually, to dredge up some info from a previous post: it's about knowing when to 'show versus tell'...

...don't worry: no more rants about that again...

Basically that flasback up there segues into a present-time meeting between Wraith and Chenine (ie: the girl he's watching endure medical torture). Anyway: she's gonna say... something... in this meeting that prompts Wraith to nearly kill her, unbeknownst to the girl (ie: a 'twitching-trigger-finger-at-the-back-of-the-head' scenario) and he doesn't, even though logically he should.

Why not? Well, if I didn't include the flashback I'd literally have to include this kind of paragraph:

 "...  Wraith felt his actions were justified 'cause he was really, really mad at his daddy (Senior General of the Allied Commanders, blah, blah, blah...) and Wraith wanted to get back at him, but he also felt a little sad about how he was treating his squadron members, who he was technically supposed to be protecting   ..."

Doesn't quite seem as strong somehow, does it?

I honestly don't think it's a question of if flashbacks are appropriate- they can be- but rather when they should be used. Admittedly I use them way too often, probably, and while I usually stick to opening chapters with them (not 'interrupting' the flow of a chapter, in other words) these things should probably only be done a few times in a book, if that. I've only done it once in ROE (my other book) so far, and I don't anticipate another one.

The fact that I do it so often in TYPERS might be a problem, I don't know. Or it might be a product of so much head-jumping: I've got to always be mindful to link people's motives to actions, and sometimes the only way to do that is to follow their trains of thought back to the past.

And, of course, the most important thing to remember is to do it quickly and then get back to the future... running through a flashback at 88 miles per hour is nothing, but that 1.21 giggawatts of electricity can be a real bitch, at times...

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 1:36 PM ADT

Updated: Thursday, 23 October 2008 1:38 PM ADT

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Look alive, mammals!

Unknown to me until this afternoon, it seems that the IUCN (ie: people who determine what lifeforms are endangered or thriving on the Blue Marble) has finally put out an official conservation status for Homo Sapiens sapiens.

...uh, if you're wondering: yes, we're doing fine, apparently.

It's a bit inaccurate, that "least concern" rating, though: apparently the IUCN doesn't have an "overpopulated" category, or anything. And it doesn't take into account the more "realistic" threats we face compared to other happy-as-a-clam animals... like... well, clams, I guess. All that report tells us is that... well, the human animal is not in any immediate danger of being eaten to extinction by anything else out there.

Thanks for the heads-up, eggheads...

In related news, Scientific Progress begins a study to find out why water is so wet...

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 8:10 PM ADT

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Mood:  don't ask

Well, the story goes on...

What do we have, then? Millions upon millions of dollars spent to bring cutting-edge CGI technology and top-billed actors into a top-notch fantasy world of grit, crime, and salvation (ie: the clever Max Payne franchise) and what do we get?

Crap. Naturally...

I've hit upon the concept before, so I will avoid the racuous ranting and all, but this is another proof of the rule:

Hollywood can not, will not, or simply is not fated to ever make a decent VG adaptation.

So it is written, so it is shown.

Now, to do my part personally, I would think about ways to even the odds for these films (putting a hit out on Uwe Boll would be a start, I suppose...) but there simply isn't anything that can be done: it's all hack directors getting studios to greenlight a fortune in royalty fees to the VG producers so the studios can put out a slipshod product and move on to other venues.

With the amount of cash needed to cover those royalties, well... only the most unimaginative and bottom-dollar minded folks around can afford to take a shot at these projects (people whos tailored suits "cost more than my education", to take a line from the Jurrasic Park franchise). And with the quality we get from it, well... it shows. The badness of these films would earn perpetrators the death penalty in most countries.

Previously I talked about the Lengend of Zelda and that little scare that IGN gave us as an April Fool's prank. Well, if this method of producing VG movies continues then the day they ever do come out with an LOZ movie might be the one day I seriously contemplate suicide...

...or homicide, anyway.

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 7:29 PM ADT

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Mood:  irritated

People are...

Well, people... people are...

...yeesh...

The preface for this post is that, personally, one of Shane's most-favorite things in the world is caffiene, and one of my most-favoritest beverages of the caffinated variety is a simple little drink I call a Quint (fancy that, huh?).

It's a latte, btw, and can you guess how many shots of espresso go in it?

Huh? Anyone?

Yeah, a five-shot espresso latte. Delicious (and yes: even the chain-smokers sitting outside of Starbucks are staring at my and saying that I should cut down...).

Why do I share this nugget of goodness, you ask? One reason:

Nobody on the whole f**king planet seems to understand what the hell the word QUINTUPLE means!

Here's a tip for all our coffehouse friends: a "quintuple" is not four... a "quintuple" is not six (and if drank it with six, I'd probably just call it a "six shooter", or maybe even a "sex-presso" haha...)

I don't think it's too much to ask for people to know the basic tuple series for single digit numbers. This isn't friggin' esoteric information or minutae: I'm not asking you to laugh at any jokes about Schrodinger's Cat or obscure 80's cartoons (and lord knows I do barely well enough keeping the basic information down myself, but still... these are simple numerical placards, for God's sake!)

Next time I go for a beverage I might have to order like this:

Me: "gimme a latte with as many shots in it as that poor woman on the news recently who took fertility drugs to get pregnant and ended up with way too many kids than she can support but got her picture in the paper anyway."

Coffee-guy: "Oh: then you want quintuplets!"

...sigh...

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 3:18 PM ADT

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Mood:  down

Does your life seem a little vapid? Maybe a little empty? Maybe a little lonely?

There might be a reason for that, scientists say:

The entire Earth might exist in a giant region filled with... well... a whole lot of nothing.

Scientists today say that our local area is generally devoid of matter (including that miraculous bit of handwavium, "dark matter / energy")

How do they know this? Well, see, matter in OTHER distant places isn't accelerating towards / away from us at the right speed (hence the reason for the "dark matter" phenomenon in the first place) but now even THOSE predictions of gravitation are coming out wonky.

Conclusion? Well, of course, we just don't HAVE any dark matter / energy in our neck of the woods. The next step in this tortuous process is for them to claim that, because we don't seem to have much matter in our local area, this proves the existance of dark matter in OTHER regions!

...confused? Yeah, me too.

Why the hell is it that cosmologists never seem to "get" the tenants of Occam's Razor when they probably should? Now, I don't have a doctorate or anything, and I'm not saying that "dark energies" don't exist in our universe (trust me, they do...) but why doesn't anyone ever stop to think of the alternative explanation...

...ah, hell: nevermind... I'm done belaboring that point...

Jeez: we're just stretching ourselves thin all around, aren't we? Given some paranoid wankers' predictions, though, we could have really "consolidated" all our matter in the local area if the Large Hadron Colider were to misbehave (it didn't, naturally, but neither did it detect "teh Higgs boson" either...)

In case you didn't know, there were concerns that the Large Hadron Collider would  produce a small black hole which, left unchecked, would engulf the earth in a material so dense and with such suckage that nothing, not even light, could escape the inane densiosity.

That void would have been small: say, on the order of five feet tall or so... and we don't need one of those around...

After all, we've already got one of 'em nipping at our heels, don't we? Two would be a crowd.

Scientific Progress eats a three-foot long hoagie to compensate for the extraordinary emptiness within...

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 2:11 PM ADT

Updated: Wednesday, 1 October 2008 2:20 PM ADT

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Mood:  a-ok

Shane recently got a tiny promotion at his J-O-B.

Tisn't a fireworks and confetti moment, mind you, but maybe a cheap domestic champagne moment (oops: that's an oxymoron, actually, ain't it?)

The result will likely prove to stabilize my schedule more than anything, actually, and my free time won't be increased by any stretch of the imagination, but it'll be easier to regulate.

That's a fancy way of saying that I'll gonna get to write more, soon, among other things. Whether that's a good thing or not... well... depends on your point of view.

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 4:26 PM ADT

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