Random Thoughts 3/1/23
No, I can’t believe it’s already March, either. Or that it’s March of 2023.
I have seen just about any fifties sci fi/monster flick you can name, but for whatever reason never caught TARANTULA. Yet.
Great movie that gets ignored by “Best SF Movie” lists: THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN. Directed by the guy who directed TARANTULA and CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, and episodes of GILLIGAN’S ISLAND.
Jill Biden’s litany of Joe’s accomplishments makes you wonder if dementia is contagious.
J.J. Abrams and Joss Whedon seem to have faded away.
I hope COVENANT isn’t Ridley Scott’s final ALIEN film.
The violence of the ‘Summer of Love,’ AOC calling for tracking of Trump voters and supporters so they can be denied jobs, the hate spewing from folks on CNN and MSNBC towards certain types of people show that Progressives are not bothering to hide the hate that drives them. The latest position, which would get any conservative banned, is saying that it’s fine for the Biden administration to deny support for the folks whose town was poisoned by a train derailment because of who they voted for.
Movie music is kinda bland these days. A lot of popular culture seems that way. Is it my age, or is the stuff today’s folks creating actually lacking in substance, originality and energy?
If you want to write short stories, you need to know how good such stories can be, which means you need to read A LOT of short stories. This is especially important if you want to write in the SF/Fantasy/Horror field, which has a lot of okay stories that are enjoyable, but some real gems that are hidden by the mass of averageness.
Some great short story writers you should read:
Edgar Allan Poe
Anton Chekov
Ernest Hemingway
You MUST read those three.
Then:
“MAINSTREAM”
John Cheever
Alice Munro
Andre Dubus (Sr.)
Ethan Canin
SF
Philip K. Dick
Roger Zelazny
Fritz Lieber
Theodore Sturgeon
Alice Sheldon, a.k.a. James Tiptree, Jr.
Connie Willis
Ted Chiang
Lisa Tuttle
FANTASY (which encompasses a LOT more than elves and magic)
Clark Ashton Smith
Jorge Luis Borges
Ray Bradbury
Shirley Jackson
Harlan Ellison
Kelly Link
HORROR
Algernon Blackwood
M.R. James
Robert Aickman
Karl Edward Wagner
Dennis Etchison
H.P. Lovecraft
Thomas Ligotti
Joyce Carol Oates
Great post-Anne Rice vampire novel that deserves more love: VAMPIRE JUNCTION by Somtow Suchariktul.
The most annoying people in the world use the word “aggressive” when they’re losing an argument.
Trump has long been bashed because of his love of junk food. Maybe that’s why he’s more comfortable around the folks who eat it than Brownbag Joe is.
The state of journalism is what it is, in part, because journalists loathe the Average American.
I don’t think you should be penalized for saying something I think is retarded. This includes Scott Adams, who might want to meet a black person someday.
I can think you’re a terrible person who says hateful things, and still think you have the right to say your terrible things. This used to be accepted by pretty much everyone.
An example of such a person to me: Noam Chomsky. I don’t want him silenced because once a decade he has a coherent, non-commie, non-insane idea.
The democrats supporting the administration’s approval of setting fire to dangerous chemicals would have lost their freakin minds if ‘the last administration’ did that.
I know I talk about cancel culture and Wokeness a lot. I always will, because it’s the most insidious, dangerous cancer on honest communication.
The ‘journalist’ who thinks a miscarriage is an abortion is so telling. Having the correct opinion is infinitely more important than the truth.
It certainly shows the idea that leftists are just naturally more informed is a myth.
Geraldo Rivera pathetically saying you can’t criticize Biden because he’s commander-in-chief is one of the lamest defenses of the Boob I’ve seen. I can’t recall Geraldo saying Trump was beyond criticism even once.
I’m so old I can remember when Democrats were against the U.S. fighting ‘endless wars’ that weren’t about defending the U.S. Joe Biden was one of those Democrats.
THE FOUNTAIN was included on a list of ‘underrated’ sci fi movies. It’s underrated, but it’s not science fiction. Sorta big spoiler about why below at the *
Where are the apologies from all the folks who ruined lives and reputations of people who were correct, who were the ones on the side of actual science, and who didn’t buy the laughable Wuhan Bat Virus fantasy?
Robert Wise won Oscars for co-directing WEST SIDE STORY and for directing THE SOUND OF MUSIC. I saw WSS once and have no desire to see it again, but it certainly was memorably directed. I didn’t get through TSOM.
My favorite Wise flicks:
THE HAUNTING
THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN
ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW
EXECUTIVE SUITE
THE BODY SNATCHER
THE SET-UP
If you really want to write, get up early and get 500–1000 words down before you start your day. That alone will give your day an unexpected lift.
The folks who keep telling us they hate Trump because he lied, never admitted a mistake, and was a bully sure do lie, never admit mistakes and LOVE bullying those who aren’t as powerful.
“There is no trap so deadly as the trap you set for yourself.”
Raymond Chandler, THE LONG GOODBYE
*
[SPOILER for THE FOUNTAIN:
The science fiction ‘future’ scenes are, like the scenes set in the past, part of the book being written by the heroine.]
