Today's word: Generation

I had the dream about her. She was fine, happy, healthy. She was a filmmaker, making documentaries about her daughter, her community. I was watching her from the street corner as she set up her digital camera, an auteur for our age.

What's in a name

Tuesday night, Agent X said something which I kinda already knew about, but realize it was good to keep in the forebrain for a while.

Authors don't have all that much control on the title of the book. Sometimes, the kobolds in marketing will re-title a newbie novelist's first tome to make it more sexy or safe. Take, for example, how "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" was re-titled "Sorcerer's Stone" for the states because of concerns about readers being turned off by philosophy, poor dears. It extends into movies, too. "Evil Dead" was once titled "Book of the Dead," but was changed to ED because director Sam Raimi was warned that moviegoers might not come see a movie about a book. My favorite example is the one when William Gibson submitted his debut novel with the title "Jacking In," which was ix-nayed because the title sounded too much like male masturbation. The title became "Neuromancer" and the rest is history.

Which got me thinking, okay...let's say some marketing goon says "Babylon By Twilight" is too esoteric and I don't have the kung-fu to fight back, despite it being perfect. The best way to fight back is to keep submitting titles that are so bad that they have to stick with the original.

And, lo, "Rough Trade" was born. It's perfect. A title that a publisher won't touch, due to RT being associated with violence and male prostitution, which the novel has one but not the other. A provocative title is one thing, but a controversial one is another.

I'm still working on this, hoping to come up with at least two-dozen little minefields to make a publisher think, "you know, the original wasn't a bad idea. Let's go with that."

A dumb, private wish.

Dear Nintendo,

When you put out your new console next year, everyone knows you are going to have free downloadable titles from the old-school Nintendo library (with other second- and third-party games possible).

You and I know I'm going to buy your damn console, being the Nintendobsessed manchild I am, with disposable income and a wife who can kick my ass at Super Smash Bros.

So, since you know you will get my money, I'm asking for a little something in exchange. Please, please, please buy the rights to Elite. Revamp it for next-gen, online and everything. You want to rival GTA without the hookers and blood? This is your title. Multiple galaxies, humans and A.I. vying for cash and fame. Players can choose to be a bounty hunter, pirate, trader, cop, or dreaded Thargoid. Have a massive alien war approaching, with players picking sides. Let players form trading alliances, or go it alone in a cruel universe, visions of "Blake's 7" or "Firefly" playing in their heads. You have a sure-winner here, a diamond way to announce your online presence with authority.

A lot of gamers you are appealing to with all the retro titles you are making available remember Elite, since NES and Elite came out about the same time. Heck, it even was a title you had way back on the NES. When I found a playable version of it at the Museum of Science and Industry's "Game On" exhibit, I nearly wept. The memories of running illegal goods under the nose of the cops, the witchspace battles with Thargoids, the hazard jumps into anarchy worlds, tricking our my ship every cannon available. Those puny humans who want to use Xbox 360 to microtrade decals and rims don't remember their elders. Real-time space combat and commerce trading, that's where it's at. Come on, bring back Elite. In Widescreen. In HDTV. Show them how it's done.

Oh, and buy the rights to Rez, too.

Thanks.