Had a pretty interesting experience today. This morning as I was getting ready to leave the house for my meditation class when I had an idea for a short story. I wanted to write it down, but I was about to leave the house though, so I couldn’t write it down. Instead I made a promise to write it down as soon as I had the opportunity to do so.
Just one problem: a good percentage of what passes through our five senses and through our thoughts gets forgotten pretty quickly if we don’t really grab onto the details and keep it in the short-term memory. And guess what? I didn’t seize a hold of this idea and now I’ve completely forgotten it! (I have a feeling it has something to do with the movie Pacific Rim, but other than that I cannot remember a single detail). And when I realized that, you know my beat myself up over losing it.
So I spent my meditation class trying to meditate my idea back to myself. I went over my morning, trying to find the moment where I had that spark of inspiration. However, I didn’t catch it. Whatever that idea was, for now it’s been lost to the darker recesses of my memory.
However, the day and the meditation wasn’t a total wash. I did manage to come up with a second idea that was just as good as the first (I think). I remembered a story I read last night, about a man from my state who had chained up his German Shepherd to a tree for four years and had neglected, abused and tortured the poor thing during that time (as hard as it is to read, I urge you to check out here). I thought to myself, what if the police hadn’t intervened and something happened to the dog? I recalled a certain belief from Southeast Asia about what happens when you abuse certain dogs, and I decided to turn that into a short story.
So while I would like to still get that idea back (and maybe someday I will), I think this idea is pretty cool as well. And it gust goes to show how ideas keep bubbling up in a writer’s imagination. It also shows you need to write them down as soon as you get them, but I think I already mentioned that. If I have any other good ideas, I’ll let you all know.
By the way, has anything like this happened to you? How did you feel about it?
Today is October 1st, 2013. The countdown for Reborn City‘s release begins. On November 1st, war will break out, a great conspiracy will be unraveled, and I might stop writing this like it’s the script for a Hunger Games trailer or something!
But truth be told folks, I’m really excited. It’s been nearly four years since I first sat down and started writing Reborn City, and now it’s finally hitting the market. And I don’t care that the government here in the United States has shut down, impacting my chances of getting my copyright notification by that time. It’s still coming out, and it’s going to be awesome!
For those of you who haven’t seen the Reborn City series page yet, here is the summary of the book, which is the first in a trilogy:
Zahara Bakur is a Muslim teenager recently moved into the gambling town of Reborn City. After her parents are killed by gang violence, Zahara is forced to join the Hydras, an interracial gang whose leaders have supernatural abilities. As the violence in Reborn City escalates and Zahara becomes closer to the Hydras, including the quiet but stern Rip, she finds herself drawn into a dark conspiracy involving the origins of the leaders and the shadowy corporation that rules over Reborn City.
Sounds cool, right? Right? Anyone? Bueller?
Anyway, I’m really looking forward to publishing this. Only one other person has read it in full, and tat’s my friend and fellow author Matthew Williams, who enjoyed the book very much when I asked him to take a look. Coming from a full-fledged science fiction novelist, that’s mighty high praise.
I’m going to be doing all sorts of advertising promo posts during the coming month. I’m even going to be doing interviews with the characters. Yes, you read that right. I’m going to be doing interviews with the actual characters of Reborn City. They’re going to appear in my messy bedroom, and we’re going to have a nice chat and talk before I send them back to the year 2056. It’ll be cool.
In the meantime, please check out the Reborn City book trailer video below. I hope you get as excited as I am just from watching it.
Oh, and before I forget, I’m working on RC‘s sequel Video Rage even as we speak. It’s coming along great. I’m somewhere around halfway done with the first draft. Once it’s done, it may take a year or two to actually publish, but I hope to get it done soon, so people who like the first book won’t have to wait long. Wish me luck!
This past week, I’ve seen some things on my Twitter feed that’s got me a little concerned. A few of my friends whose feeds I followed have said or posted some things that I’m not sure they’ll be proud they posted a few years down the road. One acquaintance made references to drugs she wanted to try. All that, plus the crazy Twitter uproar where people said very racist and inaccurate things about the newly elected Miss America, who’s Indian-American, made me decide to do a post reminding people of things they should and should not post on social media.
Now, people who know me personally know that sometimes I have trouble with keeping my mouth shut when it should stay shut. And I know for a fact that regular readers of Rami Ungar the Writer know rules of internet safety like the backs of their hands. But I think sometimes that we’re not doing enough to keep people safe on the Internet, and if this post helps even just one person from making a stupid mistake, I think writing and publishing this post will be well worth it.
Besides, some of the people whose Twitter feeds I follow might bite my head off if I brought up these posts, so this is a safer way to go about doing it.
So to start, here’s some basic things that we should all remember about the Internet and posting stuff on it:
1. Once something’s on the Internet, EVERYONE can see it. Yes, I know your Facebook has a privacy setting adjusted so that only your friends can see it. But honestly, anyone with a computer these days can learn to hack into someone’s account, so don’t delude yourself into thinking your profile is safe from Internet weirdoes.
2. Once something is on the Internet, it NEVER goes away. Yes, I see the Delete button too. But have you ever seen crime shows? The data is never really erased, it’s just been buried. And as any gravedigger can tell you, something that’s been buried can be dug up again.
So now that we’ve established that, let’s go over some common-sense rules of Internet safety:
1. Before you post something, ask if you would say/do this in public and/or in front of complete and total strangers. If the answer is no, then don’t post it. I know, you may feel that airing a couple of N-words and saying sh*t about your ex on your Facebook or Twitter feed may be therapeutic and can get the message across that you’re upset. But people will really see this stuff, people you don’t intend to see it, and they may not like what they see. Would you like a prospective girl you really like to tell you she saw your Twitter feed to tell you she’s not interested in a relationship with a racist bastard who says horrible things about his ex’s vagina? I don’t think so.
2. If you usually hide something under your clothes, don’t take a photo of it! You’d think that this one wouldn’t need to be stated, but as Anthony Weiner and plenty of teenage and college girls have learned, that’s not the case. Every year, people take pictures of their genitals and send it to their lovers thinking they’re being sexy or naughty or risqué. In reality they’re setting themselves up for trouble. These photos have a tendency to get out to the public, and it can lead to all sorts of trouble, including ruined reputations, loss of families, friends, and even jobs, and even legal charges in some cases! So folks, don’t use your phone’s camera to take a picture of your sex characteristics, primary or secondary. It could come back to bite you in the ass.
3. Tweeting/Posting about actual or possible criminal activities is not cool. Don’t even do it sarcastically! I’ve read two stories in the past six months about people who had made passing jokes on their social media accounts about blowing up airports or shooting schools. They got arrested! Also, their was a guy in my state who murdered his wife and posted the proof on Facebook. I think you can guess what happened to him! And even if the police don’t show up on your doorstep, employers these days do look at social media when considering prospective employees. Trust me, they don’t like references to crimes. It makes you look bad in their eyes.
4. Drugs and alcohol should not even be mentioned. Doesn’t matter if it’s excessive or not, employers (and the police) don’t like to hear how you partied it up while drinking a ton of vodka or how you tried shrooms and coke together. For employers, they’re worried that you’ll cost them money coming into work high or drunk, and the police…that’s fairly obvious, isn’t it? So yeah, stay away from those references.
5. That comment you made about minorities or someone in a minority will come back to haunt you. Yeah, we may not think much of calling someone by a term that comes with a connotation of prejudice. In some minorities, these terms are used as an inside joke. But really, it will come back to haunt you when someone sees your racist tweet on Obama or your sexist post on a coworker and posts it on Reddit! Trust me, they will trace it back to your account, and you will be embarrassed.
In addition, if you see something about another culture that baffles you, don’t put it online as a way to ask questions or to ridicule someone. A friend of mine who’s a practicing Sikh has a beard on her face even though she’s a woman. She does it as a show of faith. Someone, perhaps not meaning any harm, posted it on Reddit with the words “What do I make of this?” The photo got some negative attention, and so did the poster. <My fiend though came out of it beautifully, not letting anything hateful get her down and ultimately forgiving the person who took the photo face-to-face.
6. If you usually hide something under your clothes, don’t take a photo of it. Yes, I said that already. But judging how often people forget it, I think it needs repeating.
7. Think about how this could hurt someone. Any time you say or do something, it has the potential to hurt someone. Maybe it’ll hurt you personally, maybe a friend or family member, or maybe someone you’ve never met who lives on the opposite side of the world. Either way, think about that when you post. It’ll make you a bit wiser.
I’m going to finish with that last one and wish everyone luck in future posting. And to the reader who may learn something important from this post, I hope you don’t have any negative experiences in the future with Internet postings, whether they be posted by you or someone else. God bless, and have a nice day.
Today I was walking back from running an errand. The streets were packed with people here to see the game between Ohio State and Wisconsin and drink and have a good time. There were people selling food and T-shirts and Buckeye gear all over the place. I barely noticed any of it. My mind was turning over other things: money and school, my two biggest worries in life these days.
I’m not going to unload my problems on this blog, at least not this post. That’s not what this post is about. But I will say that even with a job and some side gigs and the little money I get from writing, life’s still expensive. Tuition, rent, and groceries is what I pay for the most. And I wonder, as plenty of other people around the world and from all walks of life wonder, how I’m going to write it all.
And as I’m turning all this in my head, walking to the ATM to make a deposit and then head home, an idea for a short story pops into my mind. It’s more magical realism than horror, but I think to myself, this sounds like a crazy good idea for a short story. I can base it around my own life, giving it an authentic touch. And I get to include some monsters in this story too! Imagine how much fun it’ll be to write that sort of story! A bit therapeutic too, that’s always good for the mind, body and soul.
Now I’m at home, writing up this post before I start on a paper for my English class. I have to say, writing about this had made me happier, even as it had occurred to me that it make my family worry about me because I’m blogging about money woes while talking about an idea for a short story involving my money woes. But like I said, I feel better writing about this, and if it guilt trips someone into buying my work, all the better.
I probably shouldn’t have written that last sentence. Oh well.
Now I’m wondering, does anyone else write about their problems? Do they use fiction of any sort to release and share their problems? I’m pretty sure there are plenty of literary authors who do just that, but I don’t usually read literary fiction. I bet there are plenty of other writers who include their problems in their genre work,, but none come to mind at the moment. But I think that stories like those are probably some of the best. It’s someone sharing their life, having a conversation with themselves and with others through a fiction story. It feels real, even if there are vampires or knights in shining armor or other weird things in their stories. And those sort of stories are the ones where people can really identify with the authors and the characters, because they’re thinking to themselves, I’ve been in that situation before, and it sucks.
Well, I’ve got the idea stored away now, so when I’m done with Video Rage and Laura Horn I’ll be able to remember it. I’ve got a little over thirty different ideas for short stories written down right now, so I’ll definitely have plenty of stuff to write about when I finish my two current works-in-progress. I could even write another, longer collection of short stories if I wanted to.
Hmm…another collection of short stories. Not a bad idea.
Until then though, I’ve got a paper to work on. Wish me luck! I’m aiming to get an A on this paper. I’ll settle for a B if I have to, but an A’s the goal at the moment.
Do you ever incorporate your life’s problems into your fiction? How do you do it? And what has been the result of that?
God, that’s a long name for a TV show. Oh, and before you read any further, the following review contains multiple spoiler alerts. Reader discretion is advised.
At first I thought this show would seem like a bad Marvel version of Torchwood*. And it’s definitely the Marvel version of Torchwood. Agent that came back from the dead under mysterious circumstances, team that all seems full of problems, saving the world from weird stuff the public shouldn’t be anywhere near. Heck, their character for diversity’s sake is a female Asian agent who doesn’t always do the field work in the ops! All you need is a dinosaur and two guys making out and BBC can sue.
That said, it’s not bad, and it’s certainly got a lot going for it. Each agent seems to be not just stereotypes (though Ward and May on the surface seem like it), but there is room for plenty of character development. The Marvel gadgets are in supply and there’s even some cool techy stuff near the end of the first episode. Plus just from this episode, we can see room for plenty of original stories that may or may not cross over into upcoming Marvel movies. And there’s plenty of self-referential humor and speculation on the various superheroes in this kooky show. There’s appropriate humor when it’s needed, a few enjoyable twists, and plenty of chemistry among this still-raw cast. I’d like to see where this show goes.
For the first episode, I give Agents of SHIELD a 3.9. I’ll watch a few more episodes to see if they impress me. Good luck, Mr. Whedon, Marvel and Disney. You’ve got a lot of work ahead of you, but if it ends in an awesome series, it’ll be worth the work.
Join me Saturday night (or Sunday morning) for the Saturday Night Live season 39 premiere. Tina Fey’s hosting, and my keyboard’s ready for reviewing.
*Torchwood is a Doctor Who spin-off that aired from 2006 to 2011, it’s first season airing after the second season of Doctor Who, which involved an alien attack on London (sound familiar?). Starring John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Burn Gorman, Naoko Mori, and Gareth David-Lloyd, the show revolved around a team of government agents based in Cardiff, Wales that investigated alien activity in the UK and was led by a guy who had a habit of coming back from the dead (does it sound familiar now?). Officially it’s on hiatus, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up of another season, especially since Barrowman’s on Arrow these days (based on a DC comic, to boot! So much irony).
In a recent interview for his new book Joyland, Stephen King mentioned that one way he starts a story is that he starts with an image. In the case of Joyland, the image was of a boy on a beach with the sun setting. It took a couple of years apparently, but that image expanded to include a theme park and that’s how His Scary Highness came up with what would become a summer bestseller.
These past 24 hours I had a similar experience that allowed me to come up with an idea for a story. It started last night as I was going to bed. I was hypnotizing myself to sleep (yes, I know how to do that) and one of the commands I gave myself to help facilitate sleep was to let random images form in my head, “as if from a dream”. And among the images that formed was one that just struck me in a deep, deep way, like a line from a book that seems to resonate with you on so many levels, that for reasons you can’t understand, you find that becoming your favorite line in the whole story.
I wish I had an illustration or something to show you what I saw in my head. Unfortunately I don’t have the time to draw an illustration, let alone draw one and scan it into my computer, so I’ll try to describe it for you as best as I can: a girl, in her mid-to-late teens, with shoulder-length blonde hair and a black crown on her head with two twisting spires poking up to the sky. She wore a glittering black dress, like Glinda the Good Witch gone Goth. She stood on a glowing white staircase made of glass, and stars were shining aroundher. Her smile was warm and confident, and her eyes were alive with happiness.
Amazing what sort of things you can get from dreams. Am I right?
Well, you know me. If I can get an idea for a story, I will. So I quickly added to those hypnosis instructions, “If you see something you think you can use for a story someday, you will remember it in the morning.” When I woke up the next morning, I didn’t remember the image at first, but I did remember as the day went on. And as I had a rather unusual day (don’t ask, you don’t want to know), I had plenty of opportunities to develop a story from this image.
I thought that the image would work best at the end of the story, I had to figure out how to get this story from the beginning to the end. For that matter, I needed a beginning! Not too hard, I have a way with coming up with sh*t situations to put characters in at the start of their stories. I thought of a way for this girl in the black dress to start out, even gave her a name that I thought suited her. Then I worked on a catalyst…how about she meets a guy? No, it’s been done. Attacked by a monster? No, I’ve used that for stories before. Let’s go back to meetings. What meeting haven’t I used yet? Oh, that one will work (I can’t say what because that would give away just too much).
So what next? We’ve got a set-up. What happens after that fateful meeting? Something happens, something scary. Should I use an original mythology of my own making or taken from someone else’s mythology? Let’s go with the latter. Greco-Roman? Jewish? Celtic? Egyptian? Japanese? Native American? Okay, why not a combination? Mix and match…now we’re cooking.
In the end I manage to come up with a pretty nice story that uses some interesting monsters from mythology, come up with some interesting ideas for characters, conflicts, and even a monster or two (or three). And I wish I could go into details here, but that would give away too much. You wouldn’t want to read the book when I actually write it.
Did I actually do something he couldn’t? Probably not. But it’s nice to think so.
But isn’t it amazing? One image, and I have a wonderful idea for a story. I wasn’t sure exactly if you could come up with a story like King said he did, but I ended up doing the exact same thing…while saving a lot of time. I mean, King took years to come up with Joyland! I’m glad I saved the time on coming up with the story. And I hope someday I can do it again.
In the meantime, I’ve got a chapter of Laura Horn to start. I seem to have all the time in the world to come up with ideas, but none of the time to actually turn them into full-length novels. I should use the time when I get it.
Has this ever happened to you? How did it work out?
Adam & Eve: the original sex story that’s been denounced as evil and immoral.
I’m actually kind of sick while I’m writing this post, so if it’s not up to my usual quality, I apologize. Also, if you want to make me matzo ball soup or something, please make sure it’s prepared in a manner that is acceptable under the laws of kashrut. For an easy guide to cooking kashrut, please contact your local rabbi or read a guidebook to Jewish cooking.
Okay, enough rambling that unfortunately we cannot blame my current condition on. I don’t know if anyone’s noticed this, but the horror genre–whether it be books, movies, comic books, or TV shows on FX–has a lot of sex. It’s one of the draws of the genre, and it’s also one of the things horror authors are criticized for the most (besides the whole–you know–the fact that we write about scary, bloody things that often kill/maim/cover us in blood). Sometimes it seems that there’s more sex in a horror movie than there is horror.
The question is, why? Why is there so much sex in horror stories?
Well, I’m not exactly sure. Besides demons that use sex as a weapon in ancient legends and folklore, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of material on this subject before the 19th century. I do know that works by early horror writers like Edgar Allen Poe and Mary Shelley, who wrote around the same time, didn’t have a lot of sex in their work, and any that did was only subtly hinted at (for example, “The Fall of the House of Usher” hinted at an incestuous relationship between Usher and his sister, but never exactly came out and said it). However things started to change around the turn of the century. Dracula contained several themes about Victorian sexual mores, and theater productions of horror stories often used sex to draw crowds in. I’m not as familiar with the works of HP Lovecraft as I should be, but I bet there might be some naughtiness hinted at in those stories.
(And if I am wrong, I apologize and ask that you please notify me immediately of the fact)
“Bleh! I am so chaste! Bleh!”
Early horror films like the original Phantom of the Opera film with Lon Chaney, Nosferatu, the Universal horror films and some others skirted around sex (mostly because Hollywood had much more stringent censorship back then), but it was still present in books and comics of the time, which led to comic books being censored as well. However with the fifties and sixties came the sexual revolution, and mores surrounding sexuality loosened. This started being reflected in horror, with Stephen King in the seventies debuting with Carrie and Salem’s Lot, which had plenty of sex and sexual themes in them. Slasher films made use of sex as well, showing sex alongside blood and gore well into the late eighties and nineties. Buffy the Vampire Slayer debuted in the late nineties, during which the connection between sex and horror was often explored and commented upon within the show and by its viewers.
Fast forward a little bit, and you have the Scream movies, which poked fun at the supposed “rules of horror movies” (see video below), the Friday the 13th remake which had so much sex, it kind of lost the point of the film till near the end (but still couldn’t salvage the story), and American Horror Story, which actually manages to use sex in an artful way without taking away from the terror of the show.
(If anyone feels my history lesson in horror and sex is lacking something, once again I apologize.)
But like I said, all this sex in the horror genre has its consequences. Some will say that horror is using sex to draw in its audiences, like when you have a pretty girl being tortured while in her underwear (I think that’s a new way of looking at torture porn). Others say that horror authors are making a morality statement when they say “sin” like sex, drugs or booze causes you to die horribly, and the sweet virgin is the only one who survives (albeit with severe trauma). Plenty of critics believe that all the sex, along with the gore and killing, are warping the minds of children and teenagers (I don’t believe that for one minute). And feminists criticize horror authors for objectifiying and sometimes demonizing women and their sexuality in their work.
For that last one, I have to admit, we’ve been guilty of that a few times. So has certain evangelists and nutcases and whatnot, but yeah, horror authors have done this a few times. The video below provides some examples on this.
But this still doesn’t explain how sex has gotten to be such a part of the genre of horror. Maybe it serves as a relief for audiences. After seeing something so scary, a little sex can actually serve to relax people. In some funeral parlors, they’ll actually have lewd statues or paintings in order to make the grieving feel a little better (not kidding). At the same time, sex could act as a way to ramp people up, show them a little nudity, and then when they’re excited, scare them silly with some blood and death.
Personally, I’m of the opinion that if there’s more sex in a horror movie than there is horror, it’s probably because the filmmakers realized they have a pretty weak story to begin with, and need something to draw the audiences in with. I don’t know if anyone else shares that opinion, but I definitely believe it. And it certainly would explain a lot.
And occasionally, sex serves as part of the plot, like how in AHS: Asylum Kit and Grace having sex is used to further certain elements of the story. So occasionally sex can be used in a good way in the horror genre, instead of just making us worry that the people behind the story you’re watching or reading about just needed something after a very bad dry spell.
Here’s another question to ask yourself: Is my story more likely to get this rating than an R or PG-13 rating if I use sex?
I’m still not sure why sex is so intrinsically a part of the horror genre. However, because it is, I think it should be used more wisely. If you write horror stories, unless you’re trying to use sex as part of your story in a tasteful way or as a tool to further character development, then you should probably leave the sex out. Ask yourself this: what does this story gain from me using sex in it?
If you can’t think of a valid reason, then don’t put the sex in. (You can also ask this question for gore, and I highly recommend that you do).
Well, I’ve got some news. You know how I created a page for The Quiet Game a while back? Well, I decided that since I’ve got Reborn City coming out in November and Snake coming out sometime next year and whatnot, it didn’t make sense for me to have pages for all of my books. It’s just too much work for a college student who already has a pretty big workload, and I can’t afford an assistant (plus I don’t really need one). So I decided to condense everything into a single page: Rami Ungar the Writer.
Yes, just like this blog. Makes sense, right? I plan to post links to my blog there, as well as some updates and other things happening in my life that I can’t put into a blog post for a variety of reasons. And I’m hoping to get plenty of people interested in my new page, talking not just things in my life or my writing, but also thinks happening in the media and in the world, links to the works and blogs of friends, and…well, the possibilities are endless.
If you’d like to subscribe to my Facebook page, you can follow this link here. Also, I still have a Twitter account, so you can click on this link here and check that out if you wish. You don’t have to, but I’d really appreciate it if you did. I’ll also be setting up the links on the About Me page, so they’ll be there if anyone wants to check them out after reading future posts.
All for now. I’m going to try to get some work on Video Rage done. Maybe even get half a chapter written! Let’s see how I do.
I love it when I get nominated for these meme things! Thanks to theimpossiblegirl123 for nominating me for this award. And as with these memes, they’re are some rules to go with it (isn’t that always how it is?). First, I’ve got to thank the person who nominated me and link back to them (did that!). Next, post the Leibster Award symbol on my blog (it’s up above). Okay, next I have to…name 11 facts about myself. Haven’t done that yet. Okay, let’s do it:
1. I’m a Gemini
2. I meditate twice a day, usually in the morning after breakfast and in the evening before I go to bed.
3. I’m psyched for the premiere of the new Sleepy Hollow TV series tomorrow, as well as the Under the Dome season finale tomorrow night.
4. Despite my scary fiction writing, I can be funny on occasion.
5. I am able to do hypnosis on others and on myself, though I haven’t done it on others in a long time.
6. I have four younger sisters.
7. Both my parents are rabbis.
8. I read about 8 graphic novels a week on average.
9. My first PG-13 movie was Daredevil, and I still think it’s awesome, despite the detractors who hate it.
10. I find myself very confused and terrified by the phenomenon known as Bronies (if you don’t know what that is, you can Google it, but be warned. There’s a chance you may not come back the same from it).
11. The movie I’m looking forward the most to seeing at the moment is the remake of Carrie next month.
Alright, now I have to answer 11 questions from impossiblegirl123’s blog. Here I go:
1. If you could be a part of any story (book, movie or TV), what story would you choose? Ooh, that’s a tough one. I wish I could just one. There are a couple of manga and anime I would love to be a part of, including Neon Genesis Evangelion and Negima. Plus I’d love to guest star in an episode of Castle as myself. But if I have to choose, let me be the Doctor or one of his companions. That would be great! Danger, wonder, fun and wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey adventures! What’s not to love?
2. Tea or Coffee? Tea. I can’t get through the day without some tea.
3. Which fictional character bears the most resemblance to you, either in physical appearance, character, or both? Good question. I look a lot like Draco Malfoy, no doubt about it. But I think I’m very much like the Doctor (one-track mind, I know). If I were to play him, I wouldn’t be acting, I’d just be me with some very big words.
4. Summer or winter? Summer. I love the warmth.
5. Would you rather watch exclusively TV shows or movies for the rest of your life? If I have to choose, I’ll take TV shows. Always inspiration for great stories, characters, character development, and always room for further stories, rather than having to fit in everything in two-and-a-half hours. However, if one of my favorite shows has a tie-in movie edition, I want to see it!
6. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? I’m going to assume based on the language that I can make this an extended trip with multiple stops, so I’m going to say: first a couple of weeks in Japan, then fly over to Europe for a tour of the continent, starting in England and ending in Poland, stop in Bolivia and Argentina for some fun, and then finish it off with a month in Israel, the home of my soul.
7. Gummy bears or chocolate? Chocolate. DUH!
8. What’s the first movie you really remember? And what made it so memorable? I don’t know! I’m seriously not sure!
9. What song do you listen to on repeat for hours? Can’t say I have any song like that.
10. Comedy or Horror? Horror, of course! That’s the whole purpose of this blog.
11. Which Big Bang Theory character are you? I’m a male version of Bernadette with writing skills. My roommate is a cross between Howard Wolowitz and Leonard Hofstadter. We get along very well.
Next, I have to nominate 9 other blogs for the award. I hope I can come up with 9 bloggers.
Okay, I’ve run out. I managed to come up with 6 blogs though, so it’s good right? Right! Now I have 11 questions for the nominees. You’ll have to answer this on your own blog, and then come up with 11 questions of your own for your own nine bloggers. Ready? Okay! Here are your questions:
1. Do you consider yourself a spiritual person?
2. If you could meet any historical personage, who would you meet and what would you say to them?
3. What scares you the most in the world?
4. Morning, afternoon, or evening person?
5. What was the worst job you ever had the displeasure of holding?
6. If you could dress up as anything for Halloween this year, regardless of price, what would you dress up as?
7. What’s your dream job?
8. If you could be somebody else for a day, who would you be? (This could be anything from an actual person–President Barack Obama or Vera Farmiga, for example–or it can be anything as simple as “a dancer” or “a music producer”)
9. What is your favorite color?
10. What do you think you’ll be doing in 10 years?
11. If you had to brave some sort of apocalypse or natural disaster in your city/town/village, who would want to brave it with?
Alright. There are my award questions. Good luck nominees and let me know when you write up your own post.
(This is the sequel to my previous post The Rabid Fans. In this installment, the fans are nuttier, the anger is much more bloodthirsty, and the references to Charlaine Harris’s work…is basically not part of this post. Sorry, but it’s an old story, and frankly there’s more to this phenomenon than vampires in the Bible belt. Onto the sequel, which may or may not be better than the original, depending on your opinion)
He’s Batman, deal with it.
Hollywood is being terrorized. Well, not really terrorized. More like annoyed. A few weeks ago, Warner Bros. announced that in the Man of Steel sequel, good ol’ Bats will be played by Ben Affleck. Now personally I have no problem with Affleck. He’s a capable actor, I liked him in Daredevil, and I’m sure, given the chance, he will break new ground in the role of Batman (if they force him to play a Bale copycat or something else that’s been done before, then God help the producers of the film). However, some fans were not so happy with the casting decision, taking to Twitter to voice their discontent in a tweeting storm. Many sent angry letters to Warner Bros. to tell them they hated their casting decision, and some even started a petition on the White House We the People page to get the White House involved.
That petition was taken down because, for all the obvious reasons, the White House isn’t going to take part in a casting call in Hollywood. They’ve got some bigger problems to deal with, in case you haven’t noticed. But then things got crazier, when this past week Universal Pictures and Focus Features announced that Sons of Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam and Ben and Kate actress Dakota Jonston were cast in the roles of the leads for the upcoming film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey. Moms and middle-aged women and a former neighbor of mine who just happens to be a fan weren’t happy when the announcement came out. Instead, they started a petition, this one on Change.org apparently, asking that instead of Hunnam and Johnston, Matt Bomer and Alexis Beidel play the roles.
I’m surprised this is being made into a movie, but hey, if it makes money, why not?
Obviously, Hollywood ignored both outpourings of fan reactions. And I’m not surprised. After all, a lot more goes into a casting besides good looks. Talent, availability, willingness to play a role, chemistry, and a bunch of other factors go into the casting of a single character. And if the fans don’t like it, that’s their decision. In a meantime, there’s a movie to make, and not enough time to bother with annoyed men and women on their computers.
That’s Hollywood’s line of reasoning, anyway. But honestly, I think even the elites in LA are a little annoyed and worried. Heck, I find it worrying. Fans these days seem so…entitled. It’s not just casting calls, but demands for sequels (or threats should a sequel/remake be made), certain characters be made couples or else. It’s insane.
So let me take this moment to let all you rabid fans out there know one very important thing: THERE’S A F***ING LIMIT TO HOW MUCH OBLIGATION HOLLYWOOD HAS TO YOU, AND YOU’RE BLOODY WELL OVER THAT F***ING LIMIT!!! I mean honestly, the people who make these pieces of entertainment don’t have to make these films/shows/books. They could easily find other things to do or make. Yes, they’ll try and stay close to the original vein of the story, and they will do what they feel is best. You may not like it, but to assume that you know better than the producers and directors and writers is just plain snobbish arrogance. I mean come on! They have money and creating a brilliant story on their minds when they make these things. To assume they’re not trying to make the best story possible or that for some reason a simple fan knows better, well before the story is even made, seems imbecilic to me.
Yes, I understand there are people who want sequels to John Carter or Dredd 3D despite their miserable box office intakes (I wouldn’t mind the latter personally). And I know you want the characters you love to be portrayed by competent actors who look like they would fit the parts (I’m a little skeptical because the person playing Sue Snell in the Carrie remake isn’t a brunette). And I know you want certain characters to end up with each other at the end of the series (I was a Harry-Hermione supporter until Book 5 or 6, I’ll admit it now). But listen, you’ve got to let these things go. Give the filmmakers and writers and directors a chance, and stop thinking you know better. I’m willing to see if the new Sue Snell can impress me. I want to see if Affleck can break new ground at the Dark Knight. And I think Harry-Ginny and Ron-Hermione has a sort-of harmony to it.
There will not be a sequel. Harassment must cease. Failure to comply will result in the ultimate punishment provided by law.
Besides, the world won’t end if there’s no sequel to your beloved film. People won’t die if the favorite actor/actress plays a certain part. The universe won’t cause a storm if Character A and Character B end up in love and having cute babies together. The world moves on, because everything I’ve listed above–50 Shades, Superman vs. Batman, Carrie and John Carter and Dredd 3D and others–they’re all FICTION. Not real, fake, born from the imaginations of people who are paid to lie. Yes, they feel real and I understand that, but at the end of the day, it’s all fictional and therefore irrelevant to the workings of the world.
Help those being treated like mutants now.
Stop Assad with me!
If you must get angry about something, then think about this: people in Syria are being killed like humans when faced with General Zod. In many nations, LGBT communities and women are treated like Marvel’s mutants. In many nations, women can’t decide between two hunks who look good without their shirts on or have sex with mysterious and tortured partners. They get married off to men sometimes much older than them by their parents and if they protest they can get tortured or killed without any protection from the law.
Now that’s something to get upset about!
But if you still disagree with me on all that I’ve discussed above, I’ve some friends I want you to meet. They’re very animated, but I think they’ll take good care of you and you’ll learn a lot from them and their foundation.
Get the picture? Good. Have a lovely evening, everybody. Hope you’re not planning on sending me hate comments or discussing casting and writing decisions for the latest Star Trek movie (yes, there were obvious flaws in that movie, but that’s a post for another time. Probably never).
Rami Ungar The Writer 