Category: Reviews

Reviews of books, movies, tv shows and other items

We Have to Change with Them

photog Book Reviews, My Fiction, photog's Corner, Reviews, Science Fiction / Fantasy, SF&F Book Reviews , ,

I watched a YouTube video that described how a book that was struggling to sell a few hundred copies suddenly caught fire and ended up selling 1.5 million copies.  Well, the secret was that they gave away 150,000 copies of the book for free.  And then enough of those readers loved it that they got their friends excited enough to buy it.

Now I’ll have to say, on the face of it, this sounds insane.  I’m not even sure how you would go about giving away 150,000 copies of a book.  I guess you’d set the price to zero on Amazon and then e-mail 150,000 people to let them know they can have the book free that week or something.  But where do you even get an e-mail list with 150,000 science fiction fans?  But then again, I have read a lot in the last few weeks about how even traditionally published books mostly only sell a few hundred copies altogether.  That can’t be considered success, can it?

This has really got me thinking about how limited my little world of friends and family is in the larger scheme of things.  Even on the web I only communicate with a few hundred or maybe a few thousand people at most.  I guess these proverbial “influencers” may have a reach that extends into the hundreds of thousands and possibly a few million people but I’m not sure how much this translates into marketability.  Of course, I don’t discount the youth market and how suggestible teenagers are.  But that’s not a market that I’m currently interested in.

But it was fun thinking about my book reaching millions of people.  Hordes of adoring fans lining up on the highways leading to Dunwich all with the single fixed idea of having me sign their personal copy of “The Sniper” so that it would become an heirloom that they could pass down to their children and their children’s children unto the eighth generation.

It kinda gets you, … right there.

Well, anyway, I definitely have a lot to think about in anticipation of actually publishing this magnum opus.  I still think I’ll look at traditional publishing first because that is the traditional thing.  And I am a traditional guy.  But it’s tempting to think of trying to break out into the big bold beautiful world out there and get as much feedback from the readers out there as I possibly can.  After all P.T. Barnum was successful because he knew how to catch the public’s attention.  Possibly a lurid cover that has little to do with the plot of the book may be part of how you attract the great unwashed.  Then again, covers cost money and maybe I’m better off spending that on a huge e-mail list of science fiction fans.

So, as you can tell I’m staring out into the abyss and finding it abysmal.  When I was a young fan of science fiction, I assumed that finding readers was not a problem.  I thought getting published was the trick.  Times change, priorities shift and we have to change with them.

The Dresser (1983) – A Movie Review

photog Movie Reviews, Reviews , , , , ,

“The Dresser” is a very odd film.  It’s based on a stage play and since it involves the staging of a performance of King Lear, you could say theater suffuses the movie.  It takes place in England during WWII.  Albert Finney plays Sir; an aged Shakespearean actor of the old school, full of exaggerated gestures and overblown histrionic elocution.  He leads a company of actors travelling around Britain performing Shakespeare to the wartime population.  But it’s not going well.  Because of the draft, Sir declares that he must find his actors from amongst, “old men, cripples and nancy-boys.”  And he says this to his dresser Norman even though Norman is obviously one of those nancy-boys.

Tom Courtenay plays Norman as a somewhat flamboyant homosexual who assists Sir in preparing for his performances.  He bathes him, helps him apply his make-up and if necessary, reminds him of his lines from the wings.  But this assistance has of late become much more difficult because Sir seems to be having a mental and physical breakdown.  He becomes incoherent and agitated and is liable to run screaming through the streets shouting that he can’t go on.

On the day of his first performance in a new city he is hospitalized because of one of these fits coming upon him in public.  And the company and especially Madge the business manager are convinced that Sir has reached the end of his career and must retire to a rest home.  But when he shows up back at the theater Norman uses all of his knowledge of Sir’s psychology to calm him and orient him into the mental state needed to perform the part of King Lear.  Using visual and vocal cues he walks him through the ritual by which the make-up and costume of Lear bring Sir back into the mindset needed to perform.

And that is the film; Norman coaching, praising, wheedling and sometimes chastising the old man into producing a performance of Lear that the audience receives enthusiastically.  And during the performance and the breaks in the play when the Lear character is not on stage we learn about Sir’s relationship to his troupe; Madge’s basically unrequited love for Sir and his relationship with his wife; “Her Ladyship” who is playing Cordelia and how he stands with the other members of the acting troupe, who mostly fear him for his cantankerous temper.

And by the end of the play when Sir dies peacefully in his dressing room with only Norman there to witness his end we find out that Norman loved him too although it was completely unexpressed in life.  And he weeps over the body of Sir.

Now this is a very strange film.  And if it’s a pro-homosexual movie then it’s a very odd one.  Norman takes abuse by anyone outside the theater who sizes up his obviously gay speech pattern and mannerisms.  He’s told to “sod off,” “get stuffed” and “bugger off” by three different characters.  One of the actors who knows of his friendship with a homosexual actor who has been arrested, notes to Norman that, “The pansy fraternity is always upset when one of their own is caught.”  And even Sir, when discussing this actor’s arrest with Norman states that he himself “holds no brief for buggers.”  So obviously this is not one of the modern paeans to gayness.

But I found it quite entertaining.  Albert Finney’s portrayal of Sir is by turns; interesting, humorous, sad and extremely human.  The character of Norman is also well-drawn.  He’s a fussy, neurotic but loyal friend to Sir and a hard-working part of the acting company.  You can see that this acting troupe is his whole life and Sir’s death represents the end of his own small world.  He will be all by himself.

Recommending this film is difficult.  The gay identity of Norman may put off some viewers.  So, let’s put that in as a caveat.  If that doesn’t preclude someone from watching the film then I can recommend it from the point of view of entertainment.  The play within a movie keeps your attention and the characters are well-drawn and interesting.

31AUG2025 – And Then, Quite Suddenly, Summer Was Over

photog Book Reviews, Current Events, Quote of the Day, Reviews, Science Fiction / Fantasy, SF&F Book Reviews , , , ,

Bradbury understood summer to a boy.

 

“And then, quite suddenly, summer was over.
He knew it first when walking downtown. Tom grabbed his arm and pointed gasping, at the dimestore window. They stood there unable to move because of the things from another world displayed so neatly, so innocently, so frighteningly, there.
“Pencils, Doug, ten thousand pencils!”
“Oh, my gosh!”
“Nickel tablets, dime tablets, notebooks, erasers, water colors, rulers, compasses, a hundred thousand of them!”
“Don’t look. Maybe it’s just a mirage.”
“No,” moaned Tom in despair. “School. School straight on ahead! Why, why do dime stores show things like that in windows before summer’s even over! Ruin half the vacation!”
― Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine

 

“June dawns, July noons, August evenings over, finished, done, and gone forever with only the sense of it all left here in his head. Now, a whole autumn, a white winter, a cool and greening spring to figure sums and totals of summer past. And if he should forget, the dandelion wine stood in the cellar, numbered huge for each and every day. He would go there often, stare straight into the sun until he could stare no more, then close his eyes and consider the burned spots, the fleeting scars left dancing on his warm eyelids; arranging, rearranging each fire and reflection until the pattern was clear…
So thinking, he slept.
And, sleeping, put an end to Summer, 1928.”
― Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine

 

The yearly ritual continues.

 

Writing’s Easy.  Selling is Hard.

photog Book Reviews, Life in Dunwich, My Fiction, OCF, photog's Corner, Reviews, Science Fiction / Fantasy, SF&F Book Reviews , , , , ,

As I mentioned a day or two ago, I’ve finally finished my story about the sniper.  Of course, it still needs a spell check and another read through for errors and any “infelicities” of style that I may find.  But for the most part I’ve brought it to a close.

But now comes the really hard part.  Self-publishing versus traditional publishing.  And for me it’s especially difficult because the story is unacceptably “right wing” from the point of view of anyone in the traditional publishing industry except for one or two houses like Baen Books who cater to stories from our side of the great political divide.

I have just begun doing my research on some kind of order of operations to maximize my chances to publish the book so that the largest number of people will hear about it.  And my level of knowledge of the whole publishing process is pretty darn close to absolute zero.  I’ve only reached out to one guy I know of who writes in the same general universe with me but I think I’ll have to feel my way around by reading and watching content that is meant to educate the public about trad publishing vs. self-publishing and then get a better handle on what writers on the right generally do.

So far all I’ve read makes the whole process seem incredibly slow and painful and chock full of interactions with gatekeepers and unsympathetic literary agents who will never return any of my correspondence but will dismiss me as a talentless hack.

But maybe I’m completely mistaken and instead I’ll be embraced by the publishing world as the next Cormac McCarthy and be showered with accolades and surrounded by business agents fighting one another to get me to sign book and movie deals.  Within months I’ll be quoted by millions of readers who will flood my website with messages of delight about my brilliant writing and demands that I “take their crowdfunding money” for my next writing effort.  The millions of dollars will pile up in Camera Girl’s sewing closet (she likes cash) and I will become a recluse and start wearing outlandish clothes to reflect my new status as a global phenomenon.  I can hear it now.  The crowds chanting at DragonCon, “photog, photog, photog!”

Okay good.  Now I’ve got that out of my system.  I’ll go back to finding out whether the “hybrid” publishers I’ve read about that cater to right and libertarian authors are legit or really the infamous “vanity press” scam artists that take all your money and ship a few boxes of print-on-demand paperbacks and tell you to, “Go market the damn things yourself!”

Well, I wanted to try writing a book.  Now I’ve done it and I better find out how to get other people to know it exists without spending a million dollars doing it.  And that’s another thing.  Now that AI can draw covers maybe I can save some money by using it.  Of course, I understand that I’ll anger all of the artistic community that does book covers for a living.  Hmmm.  Maybe I should find out what it costs.  There are already so many people mad at me in the world, adding to that number sounds like a bad idea.  Well, we’ll see.

Moneyball (2011) – A Movie Review

photog Movie Reviews, Reviews , , , ,

Moneyball is a somewhat fictionalized story about how Oakland Athletics’ General Manager Billy Beane (played by Brad Pitt) brings advanced statistical analysis (sabermetrics) to the management of a major league baseball team.

When the A’s are beaten in the fifth game of the 2001 ALDS series by the New York Yankees and subsequently the Yankees and Red Sox steal away the two best players on the team (Jason Giami and Johnny Damon) through free-agency and the A’s owner tells Beane that there is no money to replace these stars, Beane searches for a way to overcome the unfair disparity of his team’s poverty.  Beane discovers a young statistician in the Cleveland Indians management team; Peter Brand (played by Jonah Hill) who understands sabermetrics and brings him to Oakland to help him compete for the American League championship against teams like the New York Yankees who have three times the salary budget.

(Spoiler Alert – Skip down to last paragraph to avoid spoilers and read recommendation)

The movie chronicles Beane and Brand battling with the team’s scouting personnel and the A’s manager Art Howe (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) while being crucified in the press and social media by fans and pundits because of the unorthodox trades and policies that they institute.  Everything is based on what statistically will reduce the number of outs and produce more runs and more wins.  They forbid players from bunting or stealing bases.  The assign a badly injured catcher (Scott Hatteberg portrayed by Chris Pratt) as the team’s first baseman because he has a slightly higher on base percentage than the All-Star first baseman they already have.  They hire a pitcher who can only throw in the 80-mph range because his price tag is a bargain.  And the first half of the season is a catastrophe.  But Billy sticks with Brand’s system and before the end of the season the A’s gel as a team and even break the record for longest winning streak in AL history (twenty games).

But of course, statistical success is a long-term concept and in a short series like the playoffs big money still buys baseball heroes who hit lots of home runs in October.  And the A’s lose in the playoffs again.  But their success with the meager resources provided catches the attention of more well-funded teams and the owner of the Boston Red Sox; John Henry offers Beane an unheard-of salary of $12.5 million to be general manager of his team.  Ultimately Beane remains in Oakland for personal reasons (being close to his daughter) but sabermetrics wins over major league baseball and is now the standard method for building a team in baseball.

I’ve read that many of the entertaining details of the story are fictionalized.  And I can believe that.  But this is a movie not a history lesson so the real question is whether the movie entertains.  And the answer to that (in my opinion) is absolutely.  Pitt portrays Beane as a former player who has a grudge against the scouting system that lures kids, who won’t be successful baseball players, into the game.  He gave up a full scholarship to Stanford to play for the Mets and then wash out.  He sees a scientific evaluation of players as the way to avoid all the chaos that, in his view, the scouts seem to cause.  Pitt has a good script and he makes the most of it.  And Pitt and Hill have a very amusing Mutt and Jeff relationship with the confident Beane mentoring the awkward and inexperienced Brand in how to work with the athletes.  Philip Seymour Hoffman as Art Howe gives a disgruntled old-timer portrayal that fits the story well.  And there are more than a few very strong performances among the actors portraying the scouts and ball players.  All in all, it’s a very interesting baseball story and I think well worth the time to watch it.  Highly recommended to baseball fans and movie fans in general.

29AUG2025 – The End of an Era

photog Current Events, On-Line Article Reviews , , ,

I clicked on the link to the ZMan’s website to check out whether anymore comments appeared on the his last post and found the above copied error message from his webhosting service.

So that’s that.  It finalizes a sort of empty place in my internet routine that is now reinforced by corporate schedules.  A bank account is emptied, a bill isn’t paid and a website disappears.  And the world moves on.  I guess we all leave a small footprint when all is said and done.

Hail, hail and farewell.

The ZMan has Died

Eulogy for the ZMan

ZMan search

28AUG2025 – Country Song for the Morning – Cody Jinks – In MY Blood

photog Country Music Reviews, Music Reviews, Reviews , , , ,

Yesterday was a very long day.  I had to take a series of eight on-line course exams and then a qualifying exam for all of them for a job requirement. But it turned out they were all due this week so a very long and boring day.

No time for a post.  But a good friend whose a country musician said this was a very good song by Jinks so i gave it a listen.  I haven’t made up my mind on it but I figured I’d put it up here for everyone to hear.

One piece of good news for the week, I finished my book.  Now I just have to figure out how to publish and market it.

The Honeymooners – Complete Series Review – Episode 5 – A Matter of Life and Death

photog Reviews, The Honeymooners, TV Reviews , , , , , , , , ,

This episode is basically a comedy of errors.  The same week that Ralph goes for a physical examination at his doctor, Alice’s mother’s dog Ginger is brought to the vet by Alice.  Alice hides the vet visit from Ralph because it cost ten dollars and she knows Ralph will resent the expense.  When the vet’s report is delivered to the house Ralph assumes it’s his diagnosis.  The report says the patient has only six months to live due to a condition called arterial monochromia.  His symptoms will be loss of hair and blue tongue.  It is recommended that he be kept comfortable on the floor near the stove for warmth and given a daily pill with a saucer of milk.

After lamenting his fate he decides that he must provide for Alice by selling his sad story to the newspapers, thus providing her with $5,000 in her bereavement.

And unbelievably he is successful in his plan although the newspaper warns him that if he doesn’t die in six months they will prosecute him for fraud.  Eventually Alice gets wind of the plan and when she reads the vet’s report she starts laughing hysterically and tells him it’s the dog’s diagnosis and that arterial monochromia is called by excessive scratching at fleas..

Ralph is at first ebullient when he finds he’s not dying but immediately panics when he realizes he may be sent to prison for fraud.  Of course he immediately comes up with another scheme.  With Norton dressed in a checked jacket, wearing glasses and carrying a doctor’s bag the boys head for the newspaper office where they inform them that a miraculous therapy will cure Ralph.  He returns the check and heads for the door.  But the editor raves that this story is even better than the old one and begins pumping “Dr. Norton” for details of his medical history.  Of course disaster ensues and finally Ralph has to admit that he mistook the report from a veterinarian for his own diagnosis.

All turns out well when the paper realizes that a story making fun of Ralph’s stupidity will be more entertaining than the original story.

I believe the highlight of the episode is Norton finding Ralph fainted upon the floor and believing him to have died suddenly.  He starts mourning for the poor little fat kid who’ll never wear his little hat or his little socks and finally he picks up a pair of Ralph’s pants and says. “He’ll never wear these little pants again” as he spreads out the huge pants across the screen.

Definitely a good episode all around.  And I believe Doctor Norton may have been the inspiration for Cosmo Kramer’s Dr Van Nostrand.

Guest Contributor – Tregonsee – 24AUG2025 – Hollywood

photog Guest Contributors, Movie Reviews, Reviews, SF&F Movie Reviews, Tregonsee , , ,

Sadly it seems that Mr. Whedon wants to get a little more, shall we say physical, with the talent if the Rumors out of the Buffy Series are true. This has always been an issue in Hollywood, sometimes they chase the ingenues and sometimes they chase the beefcake.
That aside what Whedon did is loved the material. He loved Captain America, he loved the Avengers and he wouldn’t change the material (more than a smidge or two). This strategy doesn’t always work. Brad Bird Loved/Loves the Barsoom mythos (and clearly knew it well based on how he plotted it). He gave Dejah Thoris more of a part (and far more of a costume) than in the original books, but he didn’t eviscerate/geld John Carter as a hero to do it. Here the issue was the Disney Princess based marketers couldn’t bring themselves to market A Princess of Mars . They couldn’t even bring themselves to call it John Carter of Mars they had no clue how to sell it and so its existence and nature was known only to the more rabid part of the Barsoom fans (e.g. myself). I took my wife and daughters (college/high school age for the girls) and they loved it. They wondered why the heck there was practically no one in the giant IMAX theater on a Saturday PM showing.

Loving the material is a start but is NOT enough. Peter Jackson LOVED Lord of the Rings but was constrained to make 3 movies (albeit nearly 9 hrs in standard form). He loved the Hobbit too but was given FAR to free a rein. In the interests of adding female characters and filling out 3 long films, he padded the heck out of The Hobbit and made a sloppy mess. George Lucas made the original 3 Star Wars films and loved his material and did fairly well until the damnable Ewoks. This is likely because he had his wife (later divorced) riding herd on him as editor. When he made the Prequel Trilogy no one could tell him no and loved himself a little TOO much and he made crap. Many years later Disney said “Hold my beer” and made the sequel trilogy that makes the prequels look like Casablanca or Citizen Kane.

So it looks like the recipe is get a director and/or screen writer that loves the material. Then make sure there is a check to their choices so they don’t go straight up fan boi/fan grrl.

And for heavens sake Disney, please try something NEW. There’s like 20+ marvel movies/tv shows, at least 11 Star wars movies plus hours of TV, Princess movies by the dozens and 4 Toy Stories with a 5th on the way. Try something new and exotic (for you) it can’t hurt more than the last dozen or so flops. And for the love of all that is Holy Send Kathleen Kennedy on an all expense paid 1 year trip to an isolated portion of Borneo with no phone or internet connections. And let Star Wars lie fallow for a couple years that horse (or wookie) is well and truly dead.