The Occasional Solipsist

That actually seems like a reasonably hard to live up to headline. Especially because most of King's books that have been made into movies have sucked balls. Notwithstanding The Stand, The Shining, and maybe IT. But anything else, from Christine to Salem's Lot to Needful Things; well they pretty much all sucked.

Awesome books, usually very scary and well written, but most just haven't translated too well.

However. This month The Mist came out and I have such high hopes for this one. Based on a genuinely scary short story that's basically a survival horror bit with a horrible MacGuffin just outside, you've got the makings of a decent flick. Throw in a few religious crazies and some government tests on the barriers of reality, and you've got yourself a winner. Plus, in the short story I have always remembered the part where the husband and protagonist, whose wife has been missing (and presumed horribly, horribly dead) since the opening few pages somehow finds time to cheat on her while locked in the supermarket where the survivors are cooped up. That kind of asshole bears remembering.

I might even forgo downloading this and actually pay to rent/buy this movie when it comes out. Which, since it is a Stephen King movie that no one will go to the show to see, is likely to be soon. Here's the link to the site

Labels: books, everything else, movies

I just finished reading Star Trek: To Reign in Hell, a Star Trek novel that chronicled the (so called villain) Khan's 15 years of exile on Ceti Alpha 5, and after reading it, I think I may have been backing the wrong horse all these years.

In Star Trek cannon, between the original show, the movie, and now the book, Kirk actually comes off like a real bastard.

He maroons these people, who have done little more to him than try to take over his ship, on a planet that six months after he leaves gets its orbit shifted and becomes an utter wasteland. Kirk never even checks on them once while they slowly die of starvation, inner turmoil, and horrifying death by parasites that climb into their ears while they sleep. Add to that fact that one of the people who gets killed by these disgusting bugs is Khan's wife.

I'd be in for a little wrath myself.

In all the times that I have watched Star Trek II, (and I have seen it many, many times) I don't think that it ever occurred to me that Khan was justified in his vendetta against Kirk. Not right exactly, but righteous.

But my moral center has always been more 'grey' than black and white I guess. I always play 'neutral' characters in D&D games if I have a choice, and I often end up cheering for the bad guy if the hero of the story isn't worthy. And I needn't bother with whether I'd have what it took to avenge a wrong done to anyone in my own family. Because I would.

So I guess the point of this post, if there need be one, is that I'm less inclined to back the person that says he's in the right and more inclined to back the person who actually is in the right, regardless of legalities. Funny how a post about a book can get so philosophical eh?

Either way, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan is still my favourite Trek movie.

And if you are a fan of Trek at all, and how could you get to the end of this post if you aren't even a little bit of one, check out the random technobabble generator. Its pretty amusing.

Labels: books, scifi, star trek

One of my all time favourite authors is the unabashed atheist, humanist and rationalist, Isaac Asimov. From his short story Nightfall, to the Foundation books, to all of the combined stories which defined and explored the Laws of Robotics, Asimov was a masterful storyteller.

I would go so far as to say that the genre of science fiction, as brought to life by comics, tv, movies and literature owes a huge debt to this author, whose works broke trail that many writers, talented and not-so alike, have followed. And if I ever complete anything that can then someday be published I will most definitely fall into the 'not-so' camp, and that's okay by me. I accept who I am.

I recently came across a short story of Asimov's that I had somehow missed, and notwithstanding the author's own paternal pride for this particular work, instantly fell in love with it. I highly recommend you take a few minutes to read it. It's a really good story.

Here is Asimov's best work The Last Question, selected from literally thousands of his own writings. In his own words it is 'by far my favorite story of all those I have written'.

I have mirrored the file here, in case the link above stops working. Entropy, you understand. Well maybe you don't. But you will after reading the story.

Labels: books, scifi

I was browsing through imdb.com just now to see if it is Phil Lamarr that voices Green Lantern on Justice League Unlimited (it is). While there I noticed a link to another project he's involved in, an animated film called Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight.

That's when my mouth fell open. My colleague at work noticed and I just said that my cold was forcing me to breathe through my mouth (it wasn't).

How did I not know about this? I mean, I know that they've thrown the idea of a live action movie around since '95 or so, but that pretty much got buried for good by The Lord of the Rings movies. Guess there wasn't much point in trying to follow in those footsteps. But I completely missed any announcement about this new animated feature. I feel like I've totally fallen asleep at the switch on this one.

The Dragonlance saga is my favourite fantasy series ever, and if you know anything about it, you'll know that the name of this blog has to do with one of that story's main characters, Raistlin Majere (who will be voiced by fellow Canuck Kiefer Sutherland in the movie, btw).

Up until tonight, I thought that between the original books, the forthcoming Dragons of the Dwarven Depths, and then the comics, lovingly retold by Devil's Due Publishing, that would be the last we'd hear of the companions' early adventures.

But it turns out that, like me, fans of Krynn, D&D and fantasy in general can look forward to the movie Fall 2007.

Links:

• Official Movie Site FAQ and blog
• Wikipedia article
  
• imdb Cast list

Labels: books, fantasy

Stephen King has long been one of my guilty pleasures. Yes I know that the so-called 'academic elite' calls him a hack. And maybe he is. But if being the best-selling novelist in the world, and the most financially successful horror writer in history means some people call you a hack, I'd say smile and tell the whole world to take a flying fuck at a rolling donut.

Which is pretty much what King does.

One of my favourite books of all time is King's collaborative work with Peter Straub, The Talisman. Its an epic story about a young kid on a journey to save the life of his dying mother, as he travels back and forth between our world and a parallel world full of mirror versions of us that are more different than they are the same.

Awesome book. 2nd only in my list of favourite King books to The Stand, actually.

Why the praise for this particular book? Because I just read that it will finally be getting released as a TV movie in the summer of 2008, and I for one, can't wait to see it.

Here's the link to the press release.

I wonder what my twinner would be like?

Labels: books

I took my dog for a walk earlier this evening in some of the thickest fog I've ever seen. Apparently its our local version of the same storm system currently dumping enormous amounts of snow across the rest of Canada. I'm not talking about a little bit of fog or anything. I'm talking about rolling banks of fog so thick that people wouldn't materialize out of it until they were within a dozen feet or so of us. Very eerie.

It got me thinking about a short story by Stephen King called Strawberry Spring about a serial killer that only comes out to play in very foggy spring weather. Don't get wrong. I'm not thinking about going on a killing spree or anything, but I guess I was thinking about how base we really are; how subtle changes in our environment cause us to completely lose our shit; how even though we like to think of ourselves as enlightened we are much more closely affected to environmental changes than any of us realize.

Apparently walking my dog makes me think too much.

Another good literary example would be Isaac Asimov's Nightfall. No fog, but same kind of theme: People going crazy once the lights go out.

Labels: books, everything else

I work 12 hour midnight shifts at my current job. Its not that busy a shift, but for the most part, I like it. More money, more time off.

I end up sleeping the days between shifts away, but that is tempered by getting to spend a lot of time with Superwife and Trinity on my days off.

I spent my downtime tonight working my way through finishing the novel The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. It is an absolutely amazing book.

Its a very unique love story between an extraordinary woman, and a chrono impaired man who bounces around uncontrollably throughout time over the course of their lives together.

After finishing it, (well before in fact) I made a few parallels between the husband, Henry and myself. I feel lately that I am myself a bit 'chrono impaired', forcing my body to adjust between two completely opposite schedules every 8 days, never knowing what day of the week it is. Tonight as I was leaving for work, I asked Superwife if it was garbage day tomorrow, not as a means to try to weasel my way out of it, but because it could have been a Tuesday, or a Saturday for all I knew. The name of the days don't have the significance for me anymore that they do for everyone else.

After finishing the book, a 500 page treatise on love wrapped in the guise of science fiction, I was struck by a palpable need to see my girls. I actually felt a pain in my stomach, as I was thinking about how much I missed them. I so deeply felt the need to wrap my arms around Superwife and bury my face in her long shortish brown hair, or see the look on Trinity's face when she pretends to smell something she doesn't like, her face a mask of exaggeration and giggles.

I took a drive by my house on my lunchbreak, knowing full well that both my baby girl and my wife would have been asleep for hours, and I could hardly see the house for the tears that filled my vision. Probably a good thing I wasn't sharing the road with anyone. I am aware of missing them all the time, but there are times when I miss them so much more its scary.

Anyway, if nothing else, all of this time travelling does remind me of that which is really important. Not that I really needed the reminder, but there are times when even the most important things can get lost in the daily grind. I guess it helps to take a little perspective and imagine looking back later and having missed out on anything, something I want to do as little as humanly possible.

Labels: books, everything else, trinity

Jack-o-Lanterns in the Dark
Originally uploaded by WilWheaton.

After a lengthy hiatus from reading Wil Weaton's blog due to excessive 'poker posting' I have recently begun reading his blog again regularly, and I'm glad for it. Turns out that the nerdy ensign that everyone wanted to see go up in a warp core explosion actually grew up to be a really good writer (those dark months where all he ever talked about was his burgeoning poker career notwithstanding). I highly recommend either of his books, Dancing Barefoot and Just a Geek.

And thus ends the barely concealed advertisement.

As I was reading through his latest posts, I found his flickr gallery linked and found this image that reminded me I have to start thinking about how to top last year's jack-o-lanterns. Previous years have seen the Kirk era Trek insignia, a Communion-esque alien face, and other similarly interesting (to me) designs.

This image of Wil's pumpkins got me thinking that I am going to try to carve something indicative of my status as gainfully employed computer geek. An emoticon maybe? An asterisked password? Or maybe this year should see a nod to my daughter's current fascination with everyone's favourite Sesame Street pal, Elmo?

Anyone have any other ideas?

Labels: books, everything else, rants