Archive for the ‘Reflections’ Category

The Sequel Problem

Posted: July 6, 2012 in Reflections
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I was watching Marvel’s The Avengers last night (review to come after this post), and I started thinking about how sequels have become such a part of the movie industry. Every horror and sci-fi movie is made with the possibility that there will be a sequel should the film be successful. It seemed that once upon a time, filmmakers made a film just hoping people would like it and see it. Now, it’s all about “how much money can we make off of this, especially if we make another film or seven?” Heck, when Bridesmaids came out and Kristen Wiig said she didn’t want to do a sequel, filmmakers called her “ungrateful”, while the rest of the world applauded her for not making the same mistake as the makers of The Hangover! You see how bad it is!

Some of the worst culprits are horror movies, which always seem to have a part 2 or 3 or 67. Of course there are dramas and comedies that make a few sequels, typically just two for a nice little trilogy, but thankfully the number of movies that do this are small. And of course, you got your action films like The Expendables which get sequels because the filmmakers are banking on making money off the big names in the film.

Of course, I do believe there are some films that should get sequels. Movies that are based on book series such as Harry Potter or The Hunger Games make great franchises, and as long as they don’t change too much, shove too much in, or don’t divide too many books into two separate films, people will mostly stay happy. Other films are good enough that a sequel is warranted, such as The Matrix or Star Wars. And a few just bring delight, no matter who watches them (I’m thinking kiddie films like Shrek, Madagascar and Alvin and the Chipmunks).

However, there are several film series that should never have had sequels, and I can name a reason or two for each of them. I’d rather not, so I’ll just leave you with this: is it more important to make a film that people will enjoy, or a film that will generate lots of capital and sequels that will bring even more capital? You tell me.

4th of July, 2012

Posted: July 4, 2012 in Living and Life, Reflections
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I don’t know how my readers outside the United States feel, but within the USA, it’s a pretty big day. 4th of July, or Independence Day, the day we commemorate the great event of Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum taking the extraterrestrial equivalent of a Prius and using it to blow up an alien mothership.

No, but in all serious, this day is pretty important for Americans: it’s the day when our Founding Fathers got together and decided to start their own country since Britain was not giving them the rights they deserved as citizens. This was the first act of rebellion of its kind: an actual colony declaring independence, forming its own country, and defeating the homeland. It was bigger than the attempt in the 16th century by Puritans to turn Britain into a commonwealth (failed miserably by the way), and wouldn’t be matched until the French Revolution, which Romantic thinkers hailed as the beginning of an age of understanding and freedom (oh, how they must’ve felt when Napoleon became emperor; egg on their faces and all that).

I think the reason why the American Revolution went well after independence had been achieved was that while they did have excellent military victories, they also had an early version of our government in place, even during the war. Other revolutions, you see the armies and the leaders, but you don’t see any proto-government willing to take the reins after independence or liberation has been achieved. Maybe that’s why so may dictators come to power after revolutions in many countries.

And before I know it, this post just fell under the category of “Reflections”. Well, hope you have a nice 4th of July. Enjoy the fireworks and parades, don’t party too hard, and if you see an alien, let me know.

Why I Hate Deus Ex Machina

Posted: July 2, 2012 in Reflections, Writing
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In my last post, I mentioned that I’d lost power. So I was reading a book by flashlight, a book that I’d been looking forward to as it was the last volume in a really excellent sci-fi trilogy, and I was wondering how they were going to resolve the seemingly-unsolvable plot. What happens? No big battle; no jump into a black hole to stop the destruction of Earth; no combining of psychic powers in order to create a super-psychic power and save the world. Nope, just a deus ex machina, leaving me feeling a little cheated.

For those of you who don’t spend their time obsessing over terms like bildungsroman and deus ex machina, the deus ex machina is a plot device, usually a person or an object, that is inserted suddenly into a story in order to solve a seemingly-unsolvable plot. However, plenty of writers don’t like to use these plot devices, as they feel that they are not only cheating the readers out of a good resolution to the story, but also because the writers might feel they are cheating themselves.

You may be familiar with some famous deus ex machinas (I’m not sure if that’s actually the term’s plural form but whatever): the ending of Huck Finn is a well-known example. Lord of the Flies’ ending is also a deus ex machina, along with the ending for War of the Worlds. And I’m sure that if, given the time, I tried to look for more famous examples, I’d come up with a whole list of them.

Fortunately I don’t have the time. But if you want to put up your least favorite deus ex machina, and the emotional reaction you felt when you read/watched it, by all means tell me. I’d love to complain about it with you.

Names, Names, Names

Posted: June 25, 2012 in Reflections, Writing
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You ever come up with a character, give them a background, a personality, give them certain scenes where certain character traits that you just admire and adore in them really shine? And then you realize this character of yours shares the same first name as somebody you know? Becuase it’s happened to me twice that I can remember.

The first time was in my early years of high school, when the vampire craze was still in full swing (or was it just taking off?). Anyway, I was writing this great character, a vampire desperately trying to find a cure to become human again and kill the vampire who’d turned him, but I realized he shared the same first name as a friend and classmate of mine. When my friend found out, he kept saying whenever the subject was brought up that I’d named the character after him, and when he found out they both had brown hair (but different shades and styles), that conviction only got stronger. Well, I decided to hold off on the story until vampires were in an in-between-bursts-of-popularity period so I wouldn’t look like some hack trying to hitch a ride on a bandwagon, but for a while it was annoying.

The second time involves Snake, actually. I had this wonderful character in mind for the female lead. I’d already planned out her role and her character traits, and wanted to find a name that began with an A to match her (she just seemed like an “A” person to me). It must’ve been three weeks after I’d settled on a name that a girl in my dorm whom I’m friends with shares the same name. Luckily, she hasn’t found out yet, creating no misunderstandings, and I’m not sure if she has my blog’s address, but it’ll be interesting if she finds out and asks if I based the character on her. To which I’ll reply, “Are you eighteen and a redhead?”

Has this ever happened to any of you? Please let me know if it has.

Looking At Old Posts

Posted: June 21, 2012 in Reflections
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You know, I always find it interesting when I see that someone has been reading an older post. And you know, this happens a lot, to tell you the truth: not a week goes by that it doesn’t seem like someone’s been reading one of my Saturday Night Live reviews, and it’s either the bad one I gave Lindsay Lohan or the good one I gave Jonah HIll.

And just yesterday, someone was reading one of the earliest posts I’d ever written, back when only my parents and a few friends knew I’d set up a blog. I can’t help but wonder how people stumble across these posts and what they think of them. And if they’re from a non-English speaking country, what do they think of the post, whether or not they speak and read English? To me, it’s an unsolvable mystery, but it’s one I enjoy contemplating very much.

Oh, a few updates for you readers, before I go:

1. I’ve heard from some magazines and an agent recently, and they all say they’ll have their answer to the work I submitted to them soon. So excited.

2. That short story I came up with while meditating? I finished it last night after Jon Stewart. I won’t get to editing it for a while, but I think it has potential. After all, I put psychic phenomena and the 2012 End-of-the-World theory into it. What’s not to like?

3. This afternoon, after I leave work and volunteer for a little while at the Obama campaign, I’m going to go see Prometheus! I’m almost bouncing in my seat, I’m so excited. I’ll write a review about it later tonight if I have the time.

All for now, blog to you later.

The E-Book Age: How It’s Affecting The Already Published

Posted: May 14, 2012 in Reflections, Writing
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Alright, so I’m talking to my dad on the phone yesterday, and he says there’s this article in the Columbus Dispatch about writers and e-books that I should check out. I go online and I find the article (the link for which I include below). The article, titled “Not 2 Be Missed; So you want to write for a living?”, talks about how most authors, particularly mystery, thriller and romance writers, used to publish one book a year.

According to the article, not anymore.

With e-books, and our youth becoming so fixated on having the latest stuff now, authors are pressed by their publishers to put out more novels, and even short stories and novellas, in order to keep interest in them and to keep sales up (the biggest concern for any company or manufacturer). It’s a sound strategy, as a teen with an iPad or Nook might be more interested in buying a 99 cent short story first rather than a $14 dollar e-book or a $26 hardcover. And heck, a short story is a good way to get people excited for the novel, right?

In an age where we’re used to getting what we want in an instant at the tip of our fingers, it’s made things harder for writers to say the least. Getting the novel just right (or just “done”, as my English teacher in high school would’ve said), has taken a backseat to meeting demand and keeping attention on yourself.

I’m trying to enter the industry at an interesting time.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/national_world/2012/05/13/so-you-want-to-write-for-a-living.html

Politicians Comparing the Holocaust: CUT IT OUT!

Posted: May 2, 2012 in Living and Life, Politics and Leadership, Reflections
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Today I check the news on AOL, and what do I find? Two stories where politicians and ministers have been comparing legislation to the Holocaust and Nazi Germany. My plea to all politicians, on both sides of the political spectrum: please stop! For the love of my family and my people, please stop making those comparisons! It’s trivializing the Holocaust and the memories of those who were victims of Hitler, turning a tragedy into a political cudgel akin to what socialism has become.

I know there are people out there who are passionate about the issues, but to compare the issues to what Hitler did is upsetting to a lot of people, and I think it’s an overreaction. You can’t take an issue, even one like laws regulating child labor on farms, and turn it into the Nuremburg laws. It’s taking both the former and the latter completely out of context and turning them into something they are not. Nor can you compare laws trying to protect the health of women to people getting loaded into cattle cars and sent to Auschwitz or Dachau, because it’s taking these two different things out of context. You wouldn’t want me comparing an issue or a piece of legislation to the terror attacks of 9/11, right? I didn’t think so.

So, to all those elected officials and to all those who try to guide people through faith, I ask you to stop with the Holocaust references. It’s offensive, it’s taking a very dark event in our past and marginalizing it, and it’s counterproductive, especially if you want to stay in office and a large part of your constituency is Jewish. Besides, people prefer leaders who unite other leaders and help their people, not politicians who divide other politicians and who offend their people, so not using the Holocaust is actually a pretty sound strategy.

On an unrelated topic, yesterday I reached one-thousand views on Rami Ungar the Writer. Thank you all who have been reading my blog and staying with me all this time. I hope we’re still together a thousand views later.

Dropping and Rue: Two Things That Have Been On My Mind

Posted: March 30, 2012 in Reflections
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It’s been a while since I’ve really done a post to reflect on anything, but some stuff has been on my mind lately, so I’d like to talk about that.

First, Tuesday was the second day of the new term at school. I get an email concerning one of the classes I took the day before, a literature class I found interesting and intellectually stimulating. The email is from another student in the class, and it basically says, “Dropped out of this class. Anyone still haven’t bought books yet?” I don’t know why, but somehow I felt disappointed in this person. I mean, it was only a single day in the class, and you’re already giving up? I tend to stick with a class, even if I think I won’t do well in it. Granted, that may have been why my Linguistics grade last quarter wasn’t so good, but at least I can say I tried, right? I’d feel weak or like a loser if I dropped a class without giving it a real go.

What are your thoughts on this? Is it okay to drop a class after the first or second day?

Another thing that took me by surprise and has been on my mind lately:

I read an article about one of the actresses from The Hunger Games film. The little girl who played Rue? Apparently some extremely devoted “fans” are pissed off that the actress playing her is black instead of quote-on-quote “some cute little blond girl”. Really? I’ve never even read the books, but apparently Rue was supposed to have light-brown skin, so the actress is actually a pretty good portrayal. And people, it’s 2012! Don’t say that kind of stuff on the Internet, those tweets will come back to haunt you! And what does race matter anyway? I mean come on, they have a black guy playing Felix Leiter in the last two Bond films.

Race should be a thing of the past.

What do you have to say to these comments on race?

Ridiculous Charges

Posted: December 7, 2011 in Reflections
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Like many of you, I’m worried about America’s school system. But what’s got me writing this post? I mean, there’s a whole list of problems that are associated with our illustrious public school system. I’ll tell you: in two days, I’ve read two news stories where kids were given sexual harassment charges. Kids were given sexual harrasment charges! Haven’t heard of this? Allow me to make you wonder:

1. In Michigan, a kid was telling a friend during lunch that he thought a teacher was “cute”. That’s all he said, he thought she was a cute teacher. A subsitute teacher overheard the conversation–a substitue teacher–and went to the principal. Now the kid’s on a two day suspension. I don’t think he’ll get a criminal record, but still…a little overboard, don’t you think?

2. In Boston, a kid was being choked by a bully on the back of a bus. The bully was trying to get the kid’s gloves, and would do anything to get them apparently. The kid couldn’t breathe, and kicked the bully in the groin in self-defense. Apparently at the kid’s school though, that doesn’t count as self-defense, but a form of inappropriate touching. Now he and his brother are afraid to go back to school after his suspension is served. Is there something wrong with this picture?

Look, I understand we want to create environments where people feel safe from harassment of this sort. But this is ridiculous! At those kids’ ages, I didn’t have any concept of what sexuality was! I’m not sure what these kids’ schools are doing, but if I were a parent at one of these schools, I’d call the principal and ask what the heck is going on. I mean, really?!

I hope this stuff gets into the Weekend Update jokes on SNL. The principal(s) is going to hang his/her head in shame if it does!

Ten Years Since

Posted: September 11, 2011 in Reflections
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I wish I could say I remember clearly where I was when the Twin Towers are struck. However, I don’t even remember being sent home early from school! All that comes to mind is some news footage they showed us on the TV in the classroom depicting some burning buildings, but I’m not sure if that was during the actual event or afterwards.

Regardless of whether or not I remember what occurred on September 11, 2001, I have learned what has happened since. And ten years since, we are still living out the aftermath. Terrorism has become a permanent part of our vocabulary, and New York is still scarred from the brutality of that one event. Muslims, particularly Arab Muslims, are feared because some deviants allied themselves with the religion of Islam, and we are still fighting wars so as to eradicate an improbable enemy. Still, there are more positive things to note: one of the world’s most dangerous criminals is no longer apart of this world, and the USA is hunting down the rest of his organization; Americans have been united in ways that have not been seen since post-WWII, and, perhaps most importantly, we are still going strong. That’s enough to say the terrorists did not win on that horrific day exactly ten years ago.

May the next ten years see a peaceful resolution to the war on terror and that those who would create fear and destruction to serve their own agendas be stopped and put away where they can harm no one. God bless America.

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