Month: November 2005

The Madness of King George

It’s in the news:

Echidne has the report from Bushworld, where his aides are nervous, no one can get through to him, and Sy Hersh suggests that Bush is listening to his voices, which are apparently telling him that Nixon got it right in Vietnam so that’s the way to go. (“I’ll tell you, the people that talk to me now are essentially frightened because they’re not sure how you get to this guy.”)

And Hersh’s article in The New Yorker, Up In The Air, is now online, and full of creepy quotes. Like Patrick Clawson, the deputy director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy: “There is a very deep feeling on his part that the issue of Iraq was settled by the American people at the polling places in 2004.” And as to advice from wiser heads: “Many of the military’s most senior generals are deeply frustrated, but they say nothing in public, because they don’t want to jeopardize their careers. The Administration has “so terrified the generals that they know they won’t go public,” a former defense official said.”

(Via The Sideshow.)

Which is most unsettling to you:

* We have a leader that seems to be heading more and more into insular insanity;

* We have a majority of the population that seems to be incapable of recognizing these symptoms;

* We don’t have a majority of the population that believes that, but we have an election system that is so screwed up that the will of the majority is not properly counted;

* We have 30% of the country or so still voicing support for this nutter. I guess these are the same people who take “the War on Christmas” seriously. Quoting Elvis: “In America, it is a proper role of government to decide which gods are worthy of worship and which are just a figment of the imagination…. We wouldn’t be having all these problems if those crazy Kansans just believed in the right kind of god.”

There’s a bright golden haze on the skyline…

Looking out my hotel window this morning, I finally get what Rodgers and Hammerstein were talking about. A beautiful haze with the Vegas skyline rising from it, and then the mountains off in the distance, even gauzier.

I hereby apologize to all regular readers of this weblog for not bringing a digital camera with me and taking a photo of it. If I really feel the urge, I’ll try and recreate it in Photoshop one of these days.

Usury, Vegas Style (and Utah, and South Dakota, and…)

One of the things I’ve noted at casinos– much more at off-track betting parlors– is that smell of desperation, combined with the firm faith that the big score is just around the corner– or at least big enough to stave off disaster and allow for one more spin of the wheel.

But apparently, there’s enough demand in Vegas that it makes sense to advertise for this place on TV, a joint called Dollar Loan Center.

They loan you money at 7.5% weekly. Not annually, not monthly. Weekly. How bad is that? The disclaimer at the end of their site reads: “Although our loans are not set up on an annual basis, the federal government requires us to tell you that if you did keep this loan out for an entire year, your annual percentage rate would be 392%.” Oh, and for customers without an open checking account, the interest rate may be higher.

And people wonder how poverty is perpetuated sometimes.

Go and check out their website at the inappropriately named dontgobroke.com. No, they aren’t getting a link.

The strange things you find in spam

ChristianMortgageUSA, “a leading mortgage advisory site… however, in an effort to find you the best loans and rates, your applications may be submitted to multiple lenders or brokers, some of whom may not be of the Christian faith.”

Nice picture of a nice white couple on the front page too. Sheeeesh.

Action!

More notes on the tendencies of people I know to fast forward:

Brandy has been DVRing Alias from the beginning of the run on TNT, playing catch-up. But she’s been going through them rather quickly– by fast-forwarding through all the action scenes.

Paraphrasing her: I don’t need to see another scene of Jennifer Garner kicking butt. She does it well, and it’s empowering, blah blah blah, that’s not what I’m watching it for.

Josh Friedman talks about it here:

Movies are too violent because violence in movies is easy to do and boring to watch. And by easy to do I don’t mean easy to commit to film–the people who coordinate fights and car chases and plane crashes and alien attacks are absolute stone cold geniuses at what they do.

The people who are fucking lazy are the writers. Honestly, what does an action scene do to move a story ahead? Nothing. What does it do for a characters’ journey? Nothing. What does it do for the movie itself? Take up a chunk of time that now doesn’t need to be filled with character and story.

And you know why? Because character and story are hard things to write. And it’s easy to write an action scene. I know. I’ve written hundreds of them. They bore the crap out of me. But at least I know they’re gonna take up some pages in my screenplay without me having to figure out the hard stuff. Action sequences are the junk food in any writer’s kitchen. That’s not to say there aren’t good action sequences–ones that literally take your breath away–but those are few and far between. For me, when the tripod in WOTW comes out of the ground and starts blowing shit up with no mercy–my jaw dropped open and my heart actually raced. And I bring that up exactly BECAUSE I was involved in the movie. I knew it was coming and yet it still got me excited.

And shouldn’t the point of action sequences be excitement? No one wants to admit that–but violence in film is supposed to be EXCITING. It rarely is. But that doesn’t stop people from jamming a movie full of it for no reason other than lazy writing.

And thus boring the shit out of us.

They both have a point. I actually find action scenes tedious to write for precisely that reason, and anyone who’s read what I laughingly refer to as my ouvere knows that I have precious few action scenes in my body of work. Most of the action takes place off camera, unless it reveals something about the character or moves the plot along. I always view it as an extension of Elmore Leonard’s dictum: Avoid writing stuff the reader tends to skip.

What it boils down to, of course, is revealing the characters by what they do. Scott McCloud posited in Understanding Comics that expression of art is anything that doesn’t relate to survival or procreation. Most action sequences only concentrate on the survival aspect– and the reason we love James Bond and John McClane is what they do during the survival aspect part of it, the flourishes of style. Because at that moment, we see their character– it’s not just that they overcome adversity, it’s how they do it.

Of course, it’s also possible to have suspenseful action, scenes where action is pending, but how the characters act in those situations also reveal much. Think of the three-way standoff in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, or the preparation scenes in Ocean’s Eleven, or the Super Posse chase in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

But I do find it fascinating what people are getting bored by. One could suppose that one reason Bush’s approval ratings are hitting the ground and beginning to dig is because he’s perceived as doing nothing. No action at all. And no potential for action, as he’s too tightly constricted– and the actions that he’s taken are ineffectual and wrong. And for someone who’s positioning himself as a man of action, that’s deadly. (Oh, you knew there would be a Bush reference somewhere in here.)

Speaking of Alias: there’s a piece on J.J. Abrams in this month’s GQ (the one with Jennifer Aniston on the cover). Worth a quick read, particularly when he talks about story and characters.

In the air tonight, hold on

So I’m composing blog posts while sitting in a 757 on the runway at Newark, on the way out to Las Vegas for work.

No, I’m really going to Vegas for work. Stop laughing.

Okay, I’m staying at a casino. But it’s all that’s really available. Yes, the room is being comped for me.

And yes, I will be spending time with known gamblers. No kidding. It’s Las Vegas. The city is full of them. Sure, some of them are high rollers.

No, I’m going alone, no supervision. No, I don’t know how I’m going to be spending my evenings yet, although I’ve heard something about going out with some sports guys. Maybe a few party happy millionaires– oh, and a few pro poker players who could make livings as professional models.

But it’s all for work. Honest. Why don’t you believe me?

I’m composing all this now, and we’ll get to see what this looks like when I make it to Vegas, as I won’t be able to upload this until I get to someplace with a net connection. Lord only knows what this post will look like when I’m done. Think of it as a catch up for all the stuff that I haven’t posted in the last week or two, since work started getting hectic.

I’m sitting on the tarmac, listening to the piped in music, and just as there are Bad Songs For Weddings, there are Bad Songs for waiting for take-off.

It’s Too Late and Eternal Flame… oh, such lovely omens.
Midnight Train To Georgia… a train song on planes? Sure.
What Are you Doing New Year’s Eve? The way things are going, still sitting here.
Take It To The Limit… hmm. Put me on a highway?
Free Bird. Oy. And not even the real version, but the one combined with “Baby I Love Your Way”. Heresy. Of course, if they were going to choose the Skynyrd one, you might thing about– oh, heck, you might as well start playing Buddy Holly music then. Maybe some Stevie Ray Vaughn.
Could It Be I’m Falling In Love? Okay, that one’s pretty innocuous… we’ll let them go from there.

Speaking of Buddy, Stevie, and so on: isn’t it stunning that it’s been 25 years since John Lennon was shot?

Want to know what’s even more amazing? Since then, over 800,000 people have been died from firearms in America.

Shutdown now, time for takeoff–

–back. Still not King.

Seems that the in-flight movie is Batman Begins, which is a good choice. I’ll let you in on an admission: Ducard got me. I was expecting something entirely different, and it was written just to sucker in fanboys like me.

Of course, some readers are wondering why I’m watching the movie instead of working on the writing I’m supposed to be doing for them. Patience, I say– this is a warm up exercise. A long warm-up exercise. An exhaustive warm-up.

That was weird. Something just made the same ping-pong noise that gets made when they’re closing the doors on a subway car. What doors are closing here, and why didn’t I feel the draft?

What was that West Wing about night flying? It’s annoying to not be able to get my hands on scripts and/or net access from six miles up.

Good grief, what am I talking about sometimes? As I sit in a pressurized metal tube flying across the planet, going non-stop over 2500 miles, typing on more computing power than they used to land Apollo 11, watching movies and being blase about it all.

Yet more to be thankful for.

I think as I grow older, Thanksgiving is becoming my favorite holiday. I think I know why– it’s secular, there’s really no religious component to it; but most of all, there’s no acquisition to it. We don’t go out shopping for gifts, we don’t spend time figuring out what we want for gifts so that people can get something appropriate for us, we don’t fake smile at the stuff we don’t want and get and we don’t panic about when we get a really good gift that ours is inadequate.

All this holiday is a bout is being thankful for what you have and sharing what you have with others, both people you care about and people who you barely know. What a pleasant change of pace.

Which reminds me: there was a fellow posting in the comments on Peter’s blog about how he was thankful for nothing– everything he got, he earned. What an amazing ego. He must make his parents very proud, earning their genetic heritage and all. Even if you have no one to thank, be thankful for what you have. Heck, be thankful for all the things you didn’t want and didn’t get.

I hope you’ve had a good Thanksgiving, and found something to be thankful for.

Continuing on inappropriate in-flight entertainment: All right, now they’re running a Hope And Faith episode where, if I’m viewing this right, Hope and Faith fake being stewardesses to sneak aboard an aircraft and find their mom. Wackiness ensues.

Do the airlines really want to be showing an episode showing how easy it is to sneak onto an aircraft?

Got in a half hour early, drove around the city a bit in a PT Cruiser, registered, unpacked, got some food at the all night restaurant in the casino, and won enough money to pay for my internet connection all week.

More later.

Giving Thanks

It’s that time of year again.

A time when you need to remember just how got you’ve really got it– because no matter how annoyed or inconvenienced or sad you may be, somebody else out there has got it as bad or worse.

Just consider that somewhere tomorrow:

Somebody will be missed because they’re out working because they have to.

Somebody was in that car accident that kept you stuck in traffic for an extra hour.

Somebody will be sharing dinner with someone who molested them. Maybe earlier that day.

Somebody will be wondering how they’re going to pay for this dinner when the plant’s just closed down.

Somebody will be able to smell the turkey, but not be able to see it. For the first time. Others won’t be able to hear the dinner conversation. A few won’t remember the people that they’re eating with.

Somebody will have to make do with hospital food. Many of those folks will have to have help in being fed.

Somebody won’t be able to keep their food down because of the chemo treatments.

Some families have no kitchen to cook a dinner this year. Some have no homes to have a dinner in.

For many, this will be their last Thanksgiving ever. Some folks will know it and savor what they can. Others won’t know it’s come and gone until it’s too late, and they won’t make the next one.

And somebody– too many somebodies– just won’t have any dinner at all.

For you and yours, have a happy Thanksgiving. Be grateful for what you have, mindful of what you have taken, and share what you can. And even though it may be hard to remember all this when you’re stuck on the road, just remember– the traffic behind you is worse. Be thankful.