Friday, February 24, 2006

The Length Between a Question and an Answer

A regular guest here Mrs. P finds out her homeland is under emergency rule after a coup attempt. It's chilling to see someone wax nostaglic and rosy about a democractic revolution in her home country 20 years ago suddenly amend her blog to say "School and work are cancelled. All permits for scheduled rallies are revoked. Police are now authorized to make warantless arrests."

Thousands of miles away, sitting in Seattle, I'm stunned. A shared moment of terror. Not knowing what to say or do. Unable to move, trying to comprehend. I think of her and her family, and hope for the best. There's nothing else I can do.

I think it has to do with the sudden shock of it all, what was once a relaxing event now laced with a gasp, then a held breath, waiting for the next shoe to drop. I link to Riverbend, who writes with razor clarity about the ongoing apocalypse around her Iraqi home. Riverbend's been stepped in the destruction for nearly three years now, and I'm ashamed to admit it's grown a little too routine for me. You need something big to suddenly get my attention again, say the destruction of a shrine. The ongoing carnage is a bloody white noise I've been lulled by, and reading the short entry from Mrs. P's blog, I realize that it's the squealing tires before the crash, and not the crash itself, that's the most terrifying. It's that split second before the horror comes to full fruition, and the gamblers have that last-second to place their bet, and nature and physics give it one more variant which could make the crash a mere scrape or the unholy grafting of metal and skin. You don't know if this is an annoyance or the end of a life. You are powerless to see the result, and you wait, finding a thread of faith and a lump in your throat as you ponder what comes next.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Lines Being Drawn

From SF Gate

After more than six decades fighting the Joker and Two Face, Batman is getting ready to take on perhaps his most complicated foe yet: terrorism.

Frank Miller, who changed the way people looked at comics with his noirish 1980s Batman graphic novel "The Dark Knight Returns" and his "Sin City" series, says he's started work on a book where the caped crusader will "kick a lot of al Qaeda butt."

"Not to put too fine a point on it -- it's a piece of propaganda," Miller told a group of about a thousand fans this weekend at the WonderCon comic book convention in San Francisco. "Batman kicks al Qaeda's ass."

Miller says the book will be called "Holy Terror, Batman." While there's no telling when it will be released -- Miller is known for taking his sweet time with his best projects, and he's in the middle of a different Batman series -- it's clear that the writer of "Sin City" is passionate about tackling the subject.

"I wish the entertainers of our time had the spine and the focus of the ones who faced down Hitler," Miller said. "I just think it's silly to have Batman out chasing the Riddler when you've got al Qaeda out there."


Wow, Frank Miller isn't going to be happy until he's deconstructed Batman into a hyper-violent, sociopathic shadow of his former self.

A few things stand out.

1) If "Holy Terror" (really clever name, Frank) is anywhere in quality as "Dark Knight Strikes Again" (which turned Robin into a gay pedophile serial killer) to "All Star Batman and Robin" (in which Miller bizarrely sounds as if he's a third-tier author trying to parody Miller), then this thing is going to be toxic. Will Batman use "I'm the Goddamn Batman" on terrorists?

2) Which Batman is going to show up? The vigilante who attempts to being his own sense of order to the streets? The scientist? The detective? The one who married the daughter of eco-terrorist Ra's al Ghul? If the vigilante shows up (Dark Knight Returns/Strikes Again), the "Holy Terror" is going to be pages of smash and crash, pain and suffering. The detective? Oh, just what would Batman do if he peered deeper into the al-Qaeda network and followed the money? Maybe took a look at just where Osama bin Laden got his early backing for his activities? Finally, is this going to be a flag-waving Batman or the cynical one from his "Dark Knight" series? Will he go from one to the other? Can he?

2.5) Has Miller forgotten that in his "Dark Knight Strikes Again," his Batman played violent terrorist revolutionary on the streets of Gotham City?

3) Will Wonder Woman take on anti-abortionists next? Will she go to South Dakota? Seriously, I remember when the Joker worked for Ayallotah Khomeini. Are we going to go "real" in comics from now are, or will al-Qaeda just be another villain of the week, akin to capturing the Joker, who will escape a few issues down the road so Batman can capture him again?

I understand there is a pull by an artist to respond to what is going on around him. Personally, I thought Miller did a potent job with his contribution to "9/11 Artists Respond." Somber, moving, brief. Miller joined his writer/artist comrades in trying to create a diverse, yet focused response to the terror attacks. Now, I don't know what to think of this. I can smell the bloodshed coming on this one, where Miller brings his "Sin City" pain and channels it through a character he even admits is a "dick." The trouble is, this isn't the Riddler anymore. This is terrorism, this is real, with attacks coming to the proxy New York of Gotham City. Do we need to revisit the pain and suffering almost six years on (street date for "Holy Terror" is slated for 2007)? Are we just looking to sate some primal feelings of revenge with an enraged Batman swinging his fists for us?

They're just comic books, you say. Sure, but comic books are a near-perfect arbiter of archetype. Samuel L. Jackson's comic-obsessed character in "Unbreakable" notes that comics "are our last link to the ancient way of passing on history" and follows up with "The Egyptians drew pictures on walls about battles, and events. Countries all around the world still pass on knowledge through pictorial forms. I believe that comics, just at their core now... have a truth. They are depicting what someone, somewhere felt or experienced. Then of course that core got chewed up in the commercial machine and gets jazzed up, made titillating - cartooned for the sale rack."

And that's what worries me about Miller, a man who does not write half-hearted or meek prose. If this is Batman swinging away, I'm wondering just what the message is going to be. Where was Batman before all of this in the War on Terror? Will he get shitty with Superman again, as Miller's Batman loves to do, saying that ol' Supes didn't do his duty on 9/11 and protect America? Is Batman going to be angry at American politicians for exploiting 9/11 for their own gain, or even making very questionable security deal with entities linked to the terror attacks? Is this Batman tale going to be just a disposable adventure? Miller is treading into the real here, and I wish him luck. He's viciously talented, and saying he has an eye for the visceral is an understatement. But there's delicate ground here, and Miller is going to have to figure out how to pack a three-dimensional world into just two.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Live shirt blogging



Wearing this right now.

With pants...in case you were worried.

A couple quick notes for today before I go back into my job.

1) If you don't read Cursor every day, you really should.

2) I don't know what kinda of technological hoodoo that's involved, but the new Gorillaz CD is packed with some code that won't allow me to take the imported music from iTunes to my Shuffle, which is so backwards and frustrating that I flashed back to the ghastly Dark Ages of the 1990s where you had to *gasp* buy the CD and listen to it. On a CD player. Pre-CD burners. Pre-mp3. Pre-iTunes. I hate going backward in tech, especially when every other CD on earth allows me to swiftly import the disc and drag the files onto my Shuffle so I can listen at the gym or at work. Very simple. Technology works best when you don't have to think about it.

A couple nights ago, I tried again with the CD, loaded it, then dragged the files to my Shuffle. Resistance. As if the files weren't there, or just stubbornly stomping its wee paddies and not wanting to go. Could almost hear the whining.

So, I logged on, bought one of the new Gorillaz's songs from Apple Music Store, downloaded it, and -whoosh- it dropped into my Shuffle with no questions asked.

Now, if I had bought the CD instead of getting it from the library, and then I found out I had to, say, buy it all over again to get it to go on my Shuffle, I'd be so pissed I'd sharpen the CD down to a shuriken and fling it into the forehead of the first musical company executive I saw. If this is how new CDs are going to be coded, where you can't put them on mp3 players, then a) it's going to kill the physical-media music industry (good!) and b) I'm going to start listening to Chet Baker or the golden age of jazz or something instead. Guessing there's no ninja code installed on the early works of Miles Davis.

And sharpen some CDs. Just in case.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Bite The Hand That Feeds

From the Independent Online.

Booker winner's robot brainwave may spell the end of the book tour

Novelist's invention means that authors on one continent can autograph volumes on another

By Anthony Barnes
Published: 19 February 2006

The bizarre, futuristic device would not be out of place in one of Margaret Atwood's sci-fi novels. But next month the Booker Prize-winning writer will unveil a machine she has invented which means authors will never have to meet their adoring public again.


A few reasons why this won't, or shouldn't, fly. One, book signings (albeit fraught with peril and opportunities for humiliation) are a great way of meeting readers, who, in turn, let other readers know about your book. "Oh, if you like X, you'll love Y," they'll say. A few more books get sold. Book tours give authors, especially newbies, a chance to meet fans and make new ones. It's not glamorous, but if my writing teachers have drilled anything into me, it's you have to tour and go to conferences and conventions. Shake hands, smile, go on junkets, make the same lousy jokes at every stop. It's sometimes a pain, but it'll pay off in the long run.

Two, going on book tours and signing books can be a great way for authors to get to know store owners. Make friends with the people who are displaying your book. Chat them up. Be friendly. Sign a couple extra books even if you don't want. Be someone they would want to invite back when your next novel drops.

Three, as mentioned in the article, no one knows who will be really signing books anymore. Almost three years ago, I watched as William Gibson scribbled his name in my copy of "Pattern Recognition." I know he did that. I have an autographed copy of Cliff Stoll's "Silicon Snake Oil," and even if I wasn't there, I'm pretty sure he signed it based on the manic scribble on the page, mirroring the writer's wacky personality. There's a clear humanity in the blue ink. With a tele-pen signature, will the personality be there? Perhaps, but we're just dancing around the 800 pound hamster in the room. Fraud. It's not that uncommon anymore to see scandals erupt around sports memorabilia signed by someone other than the star. When you find out that the Hank Aaron baseball you bought wasn't signed by ol' Hammering Hank, the value is going to drop fast, leaving you with an expensive piece of trash. Same goes for books. A local indie bookstore by my house has an impressive wall filled with rare editions as well as autographed copies. Some hover for $100 while I remember spying a first edition Dune by Frank Herbert topping $1,000. If the tele-pen goes through, who knows who really signed that book.

I can see why Atwood loves this device. Atwood, at 66, doesn't need to tour anymore. She's a respected award-winning author who has little to prove, and perhaps the strain of touring is getting to be too much. Like teleconferencing in the business world, the long-distance autographing does save on travel costs. Audiences will still be able to see Atwood via monitor, signing away via remote stylus. But something is going to be lost if this takes off. Writers spend much of their time in seclusion, and the book tour is the way for the public to see their literary idols up close. While I don't believe Atwood means this out of spite, I see a message here, long distance, of "I don't want to be near you, dear reader." You can't be a hermit and accessible at the same time. It's a mixed message, something all authors try to remove in those early drafts in order not to confuse the readers.
Happy Birthday to You (now, go save Hyrule)



Slashdot this morning has one of those articles that makes you feel old just looking at it. One of those milestone articles where you look back and go, "no, it can't be." And it is, and the gap of 20 years comes rushing at you in a cold, merciless whoosh.

"The Legend of Zelda" videogame series turns 20 today. For those of you not versed in gaming lore, it's safe to say two things: 1) The Zelda franchise is Shigeru Miyamoto's third smash creation (after Donkey Kong and Mario) and 2) Zelda not only helped ensure Nintendo's success in America, but it's also one of the best franchises in video gaming history. While Mario saved the video game industry in the 1980s, Zelda gave it style.

Why? It's the reason why the Lord of the Rings films worked. Strip away all the magic and monsters, and it's about heart. A young child (all named Link) is picked every generation to defeat the encroaching forces of evil, and the player (you) controls Link on his epic quest, which encompasses moments of awe, terror, and even humor (go hit a chicken with your sword a few times, see what happens). Zelda games work in that everything makes its own sense. You get a living, breathing world where (as found in good novels) the stakes constantly get raised, until you have to take on the evil that's just about to win. People hear about your deeds, respond to you as the good guy, giving you (the player) a sense of rising from obscurity to some fabled status that only the best and most noble reach. In short, you are the hero, the one true force of good in the world, and you are enchanted with this purpose to rise to meet the evil. It's the fever dream of all of us wandering in some mundane life to have just one moment where we make a difference, saving the world and winning the girl along the way. We become Link, and we carry Link's task of saving his pastoral Hyrule each and every time a new Zelda game hits shelves.

You want to know how good this game series is? I've been playing behind one deck or another since the Atari 2600, and "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" is the only game that made me tear up at the end. I didn't want to wave goodbye to a tried-and-true companion as he floated up and away from my Link. I wanted to see what came next, to turn an invisible page and continue on. But like all good stories, it has to end. And like all those good books, you go back to the beginning, ready to begin the quest again, taking those first steps to be a hero and set things right. In the end, that's why the Zelda franchise will live beyond what's temporarily hot and hip. In video gaming today, it's cool to be an anti-hero, a gangsta, a brooding killer....and yet gaming message boards are ablaze with anticipation over the upcoming (and oft-delayed) Zelda title "Twilight Princess." Why? Simple. It goes back to something any Zelda title gives you in that unspoken way.

Why play the thug when you can be the hero?

Sunday, February 19, 2006

80

A brief note from the weekend. Today marks 80 months that my wife and I have been married. She's back from her horse lesson and we have elected to spend the special day at home, resting with our blissfully overweight cats. It's the first weekend we've had to ourselves in a while, so we are off to enjoy every tranquil minute of it.