How to Read S.

Well I am almost 100 pages into S and I think I have decided on how I am going to read this book. Maybe it is my ADD talking but I can't bring myself to ignore all the marginal notes and read just the text itself. Even if I did that, there are still footnotes by the translator to look at. 

So I am reading everything on each page. This encompasses (1) the book text itself, (2) the translator's footnotes, (3) three versions of marginal notes by Jen and Eric, and (4) miscellena of inserts spread throughout the book. Perhaps if I had the audio version of the book, which covers just the text itself, I'd be able to stick with that. But too late now!

I did take these inserts out and used post it notes to flag their locations and numbered them. It makes it much easier to read the book and I can refer to them as needed. The cardboard slipcase is being put to good use in holding all this stuff.  

This is a fascinating read and one I can already highly recommend to people. I am not expecting to be able to solve the mystery or even for there to be an actual solution. Having watched all the seasons of Lost and being immensely disappointed by the conclusion, I've learned that to enjoy a J J Abrams creation, one most be more focused on enjoying the journey and less so on final resolutions. 

Oh and I strongly advise against getting the ebook version of this book. You really need the physical copy to truly experience this work - plus the production values are phenomenal!

Avatar? Who Cares?

Ok, I have to confess that part of me is happy. I am not a James Cameron fan. I think he thinks far too highly of himself and that his films aren't as good as he thinks they are. 

I didn't see Avatar. I didn't want to see Avatar. Despite all the hub bub about the special effects and 3D animation, the trailers seemed to me to be a movie that desperately wanted to be the next Star Wars. The plot line read like a stereotypical story from the political left. It did not seem inspiring or thought provoking.  

I was disappointed in how well Avatar did in the box office and that it unseated Star Wars from its box office perch in the record books. 

Now I hear that Disney is continuing its development of Avatar-land at it's Animal Kingdom theme park in Orlando. It seems to me this whole effort was driven to answer Universal's smash hit Harry Potter land at the nearby a Islands of Adventure theme park. I believe they went searching for intellectual property to build their own immersive attraction and decided on Avatar. 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/14/travel/avatar-land-animal-kingdom-disney/

The opening of this park expansion is to coincide with the release of the first of three - yes, three - Avatar sequel movies.  All of which got me thinking. Who is even talking about Avatar anymore?

You don't hear about it at conventions or Comic Cons. Avatar cosplayers seem to be few and far between at best. There are no cartoons, comics, books, or large online communities about the Avatar world. This article on Slate really hit the nail on the head for me:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/08/05/avatar_sequels_three_no_one_cares_here_s_why.html

With the acquisition of Lucasfilm, I was really expecting Disney to quietly announce that the Avatarland project was being axed. I was thinking an Ewok Village or even a world taken from the upcoming Episode VII film would replace it. It looks like that isn't happening. 

Now I can take comfort that an immersive Star Wars area or two is coming to the Disney parks - perhaps a full size Millennium Falcon at Disneyland and a full size Mos Eisley Cantina at Disney Hollywood Studios. But things will also be awkward with having a competing franchise, releasing movies at the same time as  the Star Wars films at the Disney parks. 

I just think striking with Avatar is a mistake. 

Order Placed for "S."

Here is another indirect Star Wars blog post. I saw this book in a post on the excellent SW news site jedinews.co.uk. It is a book co-written by J. J. Abrams himself. 

If you want to know what the heck this is, check out this post on Wired:

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/11/j-j-abrams-s-book-review/

I won't go into specifics here. You can read about it yourself with the above link. It takes me quite awhile to get through books because I don't have a lot of free time. But this one looked too good to pass up. 

I'm sure I will have future blog posts on this once I get it and start reading it. More than likely they will have spoilers but I will warn you appropriately. 

Pick up a copy yourself and feel free to post comments! I expect there will be a lot to unpack and discuss about this work!

Rising Gun Violence

I am very concerned about the growing amount of gun violence in American entertainment. I know I hold an unpopular view but I truly believe the horrific incidents of gun violence in movie theaters, schools, and shopping malls are linked to the pervasiveness and permissiveness of gun violence in entertainment. 

I do not claim that people who watch such violence turn into violent criminals. Nor do I think gun rights of responsible gun owners should be taken away. In fact, I believe such rights are guaranteed by the Constitution. However I do think there is some detrimental effect on the viewer who is exposed to a lot of this style of entertainment. Such a person is, I believe, desensitized to gun violence. Also, studies have shown a correlation between this exposure and higher levels of aggression. 

A recent study has established that gun violence in PG-13 movies has grown significantly and are now more violent than even R-rated movies: http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-78139868/

Now movie studios know that they need the teenager market to be profitable so there is an economic incentive for them to push as much adult content into a PG-13 movie as they can get away with. This is why I think the whole idea of self-regulation, via the MPAA, is laughable. But they are politically well-connected and thus better oversight won't happen. 

So what is the Star Wars connection? Well it is something I struggle with. There is plenty of gun violence in the Saga. Yes it involves fantasy-style blasters, but that is more of a technicality. 

I have most of the seasons of the Clone Wars on DVD and now that my son is showing an interest, we are watching them together. It seems to me that there is much more violence than what I am accustomed to in the original trilogy or Episode I. 

Granted the name of the series is called Star WARS for crying out loud so it's not like there should be pillow fights. Yet in the back of my mind I keep thinking that this is much more violence than what I was exposed to when I was my son's age. 

I don't really have an easy answer to my dilemma other than to moderate the frequency of watching these shows. Perhaps the future movies will see more weaponry that is not as clumsy or as random as a blaster but more elegant weapons for a more civilized age. 

One can always hope. 

MCU, I'm In!

I know this is a Star Wars blog but since Lucasfilm is now owned by Disney, as is Marvel, I figured it wouldn't be too far afield to venture into the Marvel Universe every so often.

I saw Thor 2 this past weekend and really enjoyed it. I've seen all the recent movies in the series which is dubbed the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) - except for the Incredible Hulk remake. I think it is an ingenious idea to carry story line threads through several different movies. It provides an extra incentive to see the latest installment even if the particular movie is not one of your favorite characters. 

That is how I felt about Thor 2. I am not a big fan of the first film. It had just a little too much fantasy for me. But having loved all the Iron Man movies and at least enjoyed the other MCU films I wanted to see how things continued with Thor 2. The box office numbers show I wasn't alone!

This inter-connectedness of stories reminds me very much of the marvel comic books I read as a kid in the 1980s. I would discover new characters and new  books as the stories would intersect with my favorite titles. It's pretty incredible to think that this same concept that involved a handful of writers, artists, and editors is now being used by hundreds if people across a wide spectrum of disciplines to achieve the same result. 

This is also a brilliant move in what it leaves out. There is no mention of Spider-Man, the X-Men, or the Fantastic Four. This is intentional as Disney does not have exclusive or perhaps even direct rights to those properties. As the MCU continues to build on itself, now including the Agents of SHIELD television series, these other characters will seem increasingly isolated and thus less attractive. This could ultimately play out that the other studios that own the rights might end up cashing them in rather than compete with the coming juggernaut. Disney has the inside track and I am on board with it!