The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

I'm probably the last person in the neighborhood to see it, but I finally made it out to see 'The Hobbit' movie today. I've been excited to see this movie for a while since the book is the main reason I initially wanted to become a writer.

It wasn't the first book I read. I enjoyed reading before that. I can't remember what all I read, other than lots of Hardy Boys books and some Boxcar Children. They were fun and all, but it wasn't until I saw the cartoon of The Hobbit made around 1978 that my reading interest exploded. I believe it was a Friday night that the cartoon aired on TV. The next day, I went into a Book Cache (a chain of bookstores in Alaska that, sadly, no longer exist) and snatched up a copy of the book.

It blew my mind. The world was so different than anything I'd read before. The book opened up a reading frenzy within me, leading me to quickly consume The Lord of the Rings and any other fantasy novel I could get my greasy little hands on. But not only did I want to read of those worlds, I wanted to create them, too. Thus, the initial seeds of being a writer were born. So, The Hobbit is very near and dear to my heart and I was a little nervous what Peter Jackson would do to it.

Now, as for the movie, I was not disappointed. In fact, I was surprised how much Jackson stayed with the book. The additions to the movie, like Azog the Orc and the threat of Dol Guldur, can be found in the appendix of The Return of the King. Even the tale of how Thorin Oakenshield got his nickname is found there. Jackson still took liberties, but they were mainly to keep the story flowing well and to create some character development.

Yes, the movie is long, but there were only a couple of places where things seemed a little stretched to me. Jackson is telling more than one story here. Not only is there the original Hobbit story, but we're getting the beginnings of the War of the Ring. We see the behind the scenes activities of Gandalf, Galadriel, Elrond, Radaghast, and Sauruman as they investigate the necromancer of the forest. We also get the deeper tale of the dwarfs and of the time they lost their kingdom of Erebor under Lonely Mountain.

I saw the HFR (high frame rate) 3D version since I was curious what it would look like. It was a little odd, I'll admit. I'm not sure if I liked it or not. I does have a little of a 'soap opera' look to it. At the same time, the visuals were very vivid and the action super smooth. What impressed me the most was how difficult it was to tell the real actors from the computer generated monsters. In fact, most of the time I couldn't. The scene with the three trolls blew me away at how life-like the trolls were and how seamlessly they were blended in with the actors playing the dwarfs. Not long ago, when watching the DVD of 'The Two Towers', I was disappointed in how the CG creatures stood out as not matching the lighting of the real-life footage. The monsters looked great by themselves, but you could tell they weren't real because of the contrast. Well, you don't see that contrast anymore.

Final verdict: great movie, go see it. Should youngsters? Probably not since there are some dark scenes, a lot of decapitations, and other violence that may be too much for little ones. There wasn't much blood, though. The PG-13 rating is deserved. This ain't the kid's version.

Update: Wandering Weeds

Whoa. Holy cow! I'm blogging.

Yeah, I know I don't get to this very often. It's not that I don't have anything to say, its just that my main focus, when I have time to write, is to produce stories. And I've got a lot of things happening in that department. Here are a few of them:

For starters, I have a short story called 'Of Weeds and Wizardry' that just came out in an anthology called Wandering Weeds: Tales of Rabid Vegetation. You can find out more about it here: http://wanderingweeds.blogspot.com/ The story I have in it is the third in my 'Tales of Myrick the (Not-so) Magnificent' series, a YA fantasy/comedy. You don't need the other stories to enjoy this one, but if you want to, they are available for free (yes, free) on Smashwords. The first in the series is called The Princess and the Privy and the second is called The Crypt of the Undead Sorcerer and Other Vacation Spots.

Some more good news on the Myrick front, I'll soon have a fourth tale coming out on December 17th on Big World Network. It is called The Lord of the Socks. It will be a longer story broken up into 12 episodes. They start up just after where 'Of Weeds and Wizardry' leaves off. This story will bring back the entire cast of characters: Myrick, Nut-boy, Nonac the barbarian, Princess Frederica, Bum-stabber, and Lord Korac.

Also on Big World Network is my novella Delroy Versus the Yshtari. It is a sci-fi comedy with a smidge of romance. It is in 'reruns' and is still free for the moment. You can get pdf, ebook, and audio versions (narrated by yours truly) of it. After February, the story will also be available in print.

And there's the full-length superhero sidekick novel I've been working on all year that I'm now calling A Sidekick's Saga. It is finished, but I keep looking over it again and again as I try to polish it. I know, I know, I need to kick it out the door and get the thing published. And then, after that, I plan to get back to seeing if I can get The Dragon War Relic sequel published.

So, as you see, I've not been idle. Right now in my life, it seems its either blog or write stories. I'd rather write stories.

Review: The Kindling by Braden Bell

Last year, I exchanged manuscripts with Braden Bell. He read an early rendition of Time Gangsters while I read a previous version of The Kindling. I found the book to have an original twist on magic involving middle school age kids and it was a blast to read. When he asked for people to review the final version of the book for him, I gladly volunteered. Now, some people can read the same book over and over again and still enjoy it. I don't, normally. But The Kindling was so much fun that I didn't mind reading it again so soon. I usually like to put ten or more years between readings of the same book, which I guess that means I'm about due for another reading of The Lord of the Rings.

Braden mixes humor and adventure well in this novel. He also has developed a new twist on a magic system that makes sense and brings the kids interesting powers. It starts off with one boy, Conner Dell, accidentally accessing his magic powers by setting another boy's shorts on fire. Joining him in this adventure is his twin sister, Lexa, and her friend Melanie Stephens (nice last name, by the way. No relation). Their normal lives are soon disrupted when a creepy guy they call 'the stalker' shows up and causes weird things to happen. Even weirder is the reaction of the teachers at their school, who might be helping or hindering the stalker. The kids eventually learn that there are two powerful forces that have been at odds for centuries: the Magi and the Darkhands (take a guess which side is good and which is evil).

There were some fun characters in the story, too. My favorite was Dr. Timberi, who is the choir teacher and musical director. I could tell that Braden put part of his heart and soul into this person. The kids also all have distinct characters with good strengths and weaknesses.

This novel had all the things I like about books: fun, lighthearted, adventurous, free of language and 'questionable' situations, and it places people in positions where they have to dig in deep to overcome their problems. I can easily recommend this book to any middle grade reader and above without any reservations.

One complaint, though. Why did the adult who turned out to be the biggest pain in the neck have to be Mr. Stephens? Mr. Stephens should be the nice guy; a kind, easy-going, gentle, and rational type of personality. Oh well, he must be an English Stephens. My Stephens ancestors came from Prussia.

Scene It

I feel like I've reached a writing epiphany. I don't know if it's really that earth shaking, but it seems like it to me. Lately, I've read a few books on screenwriting, like McKee's Story. Screenwriters think in scenes, not chapters. So, I started trying to break down my current project, Memoir of a Teenage Sidekick, into smaller units.

I started reading a novel and decided to take notes on what happened in each scene.When I did that, I found I could easily see the 'Three O's". I learned this idea James Scott Bell's book Plot & Structire. The three O's stand for Objective, Obstacle, and Outcome. Objective is the characters goal at the moment. Obstacle is what creates the opposition and conflict to that goal. Outcome is what happens as a result of goal versus opposition.

As I read the novel, it surprised me when I saw these 3 O's multiple times in each scene. When I've applied the principle, I usually just thought of it in terms of one set of O's for the entire chapter. It taught me that the three O's should be happening more often.

As I'm working on my outline now, I'm breaking it down into scenes and figuring out the three O's for each one. I'm finding a few that naturally have the cycle happening three times in a short amount of time. Anyway, that's my exciting discovery. I need to study this some more in other books. It's kind of like doing a measure by measure analysis of music.

Unaffordable Care Act

They used to say that you shouldn't talk about religion or politics when in polite company. I usually try to abide by that rule. I definitely have opinions and feelings and I'm happy to share them in a more private setting, but in public I believe in being more reserved. Today, though, the Supreme Court of the US has disappointed me to the point where I feel a need to vent about it. Now, probably half a million people are doing the same thing as I write this, so what makes my opinion different? I don't know, but there are a couple of takes that I have that I don't see discussed much.

The first point I'll address has been discussed some, but I have an analogy that I think explains it. Do you remember hearing those reports about the Pentagon paying $300 for a hammer or screwdriver? The paperwork was so thick that unscrupulous people were able to pull a fast one on the government and overcharge for something that might only cost $10 so that they could pocket the profit. Well, what the 'Affordable' Care Act doesn't do is lower the prices of health care. If anything, it raises them. Instead of dealing with things like tort reform or lowering insurance rates for doctors or allowing competition or cutting out paperwork for insurance companies, the government has, in essence, just made it so all Americans can buy the hammer for $300 instead of lowering it back to its real cost. This is stupid. A system like this can only eventually fail, leaving people in worse of a health care situation than they are now.

I do believe we need health care reform. It needs to be made affordable. It needs to be made so that there is no such thing as an uninsurable person. There should be provisions for people who need medical help but can't afford it. I agree with the attempt, but not the result.

I think back to my parents. When they were young newly-weds, my dad was diagnosed with Hodgekin's Disease. At that time, it was a very fatal disease. My dad only had a high school education and worked as an auto mechanic. He ended up going to the Stanford Medical Clinic in California and had a series of tests and experimental treatments done. Of his test group, he was the only one to survive. The thing is, though, my parents paid for all of this on just my dad's income, without any insurance. They were able to pay for everything out of pocket on a mechanic's salary. That would be impossible today. Granted, there is a lot more technology available that may raise the cost some, but in my mind, health care reform should make it so that people on average incomes should be able to afford to pay regular medical bills out of pocket just like our parents and grandparents did.

Okay, here's my second point and one that I don't hear mentioned very often. What if I don't subscribe to the philosophy of Western medicine? What if I want to put my time into eating right and exercising as a way to cut down on my health costs? What if I'd rather put my health money into herbs, acupuncture, traditional Chinese or Indian methods? Those things can be expensive, but they are affordable out of pocket. That is how I'd rather spend my money.

Now, don't get me wrong, I do believe in doctors and will use them, but my philosophy on dealing with illness is to first try and solve it naturally, only using Western medicine as a last resort. But if I have to put my limited funds into an insurance that I don't want, it will limit my freedom of how I want to take care of my own health. Will the 'Affordable' Care Act cover herbs and acupuncture? Heck no. So I would be hosed.


This the course I'm pursuing to deal with the health conditions I do have: diabetes and psoriasis. I've been very successful fighting the diabetes and have managed to keep it under control with diet, exercise, and herbs. I haven't fared so well with the psoriasis and I am on the verge of seeing a doctor about it. What gripes me, though, is my current insurance will only cover regular practitioners so I can't go to a skin specialist who focuses on psoriasis unless I pay for it. I don't think the 'Affordable' Care Act will change that.

Okay, I've got that off my chest. I'll still fume about it, though. Bottom line is, I just want to have the freedom to take care of my health the way I want without the government telling me how to do it.

Review: Clockwork Angels by Rush

I've surprised people over the years when they find out that I'm a fan of the Canadian rock band Rush. After all, I'm a hard core jazz guy with a masters in saxophone performance. 90% of everything I listen to is jazz, and 50% of that is Michael Brecker. (I suppose some time I should blog about my favorite musician in the universe, but another time)

So, there's the other 10% that I like. A lot of it is the music of my youth, stuff from the 70s and 80s, with some classical and salsa mixed in. Rush qualifies as music from my youth, but they've held a higher place in my mind mainly because all three members of the band are consummate musicians with intelligence behind their music.

This week, they released their 20th studio album, Clockwork Angels. I've had the opportunity to listen to the whole album twice now, so I'm only barely getting to know it. What I'll share here is mostly first impressions.

For the long-time Rush fan, you won't be disappointed. It is vintage Rush fine tuned with superior experience and musicianship. Sometimes while listening, I felt like it hearkened back to the old days from albums like Caress of Steel and Fly By Night. There seemed to be more of the complex time signatures that were prevalent in their earlier material. As a musician, this makes it fun for me which is why this is one of the few rock groups I still listen to. It seems most rock bands are enslaved to the tyranny of 4/4 meter.

This album also gets back into storytelling and is a concept album. In this day and age of 99 cent downloads from iTunes, people don't look at the whole album any more. To me, this is akin to only listening to one movement of a Beethoven Symphony. The artistry is in the whole work, not in a single part of it. Rush is making an effort to counteract that.

I definitely am enjoying this album. Is it one of my Rush favorites? Probably not, but I'll put it in the middle somewhere for now. Of course, Rush is one of those groups that it takes several listenings to be able to determine more accurately how much you like it. That's a sign to the depth of their music. Where pop music (I accidentally mistyped it as poop music, which is probably more accurate) makes everything obvious so that it can be evaluated in one listening; classical, jazz, and . . . well . . . Rush, have several levels of music that can take years to discern.

Here are my first impressions: too much distorted guitar. I have nothing against it, but I was hoping for a little more variety. Also, when I did a quick read-through of the lyrics, I was confused about the story line. There's a protagonist and a villain, but it didn't seem like a coherent story. Maybe I need to listen to the album while reading the lyrics for it to make more sense. Several of the songs are quite catchy and enjoyable, though. I liked "Caravan" and "Headlong Flight." I also really liked "The Garden" because of the contrast it had with the rest of the album.

The most exciting thing that I'm anticipating is the book that goes along with it. I haven't read it yet, but I got a chance to have dinner with Kevin J. Anderson, the author of it, last month. I was already a fan of his Star Wars books, but when I found out that he was writing a novel to go along with the album of my favorite rock band I have to confess, I geeked out. Kevin told me that he's been good friends with Neil Peart for over 20 years. Something that struck me as interesting was that he said that none of the US publishers wanted to touch this project. They had to go with a Canadian publisher for the book.

Anyway, the album is great. Traditional Rush fans will love it. If you like vintage Rush, you will feel like you've traveled back in time (I'm a fan of their middle-era). And here's some great advice for all artists from the song "Caravan": I can't stop thinking big.

Big World Network

I'm a little slow on reporting this, but a few weeks ago, a series of stories of mine called Delroy Versus the Yshtari started going up on BigWorldNetwork.com. And the stories are FREE. That's right: FREE. They are available in several ebook formats as well as an audio book. So far, the first three episodes are up with the fourth one coming out this Saturday. The best way I can think to describe my story is that it is a sci-fi semi-romantic comedy.

This story came to life in February as just a form of writing practice. I was killing time to let Memoir of a Teenage Sidekick to settle in before I started another draft. When I finished Delroy, I thought I ended up with something fun. I'd heard about Big World Network from some friends so I pitched it to them. To my surprise, I got a quick acceptance. That was exciting, but the scary part was that I only had one rough draft made of it. So, for the last few weeks I've been frantically preparing the first few episodes for publication while trying to work out new drafts of the complete story. Yesterday, I finished the third draft and feel like I can take a little breather. This is part of the reason I've blogged even less than normal.

One fun aspect of this is that I'm trying my hand at narrating the audio book version. I've never been much into audio books myself. The only one I've enjoyed is the Eric Idle version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I'm usually too ADD to listen to things. I have to have print in front of me or my mind wanders. One other thing about the audio portion, though, is that I wrote the theme music. It's actually a song I wrote for Dragon War Relic that I called Galactic Journeys. It is a spoof of the Star Trek theme.

Anyway, I want to encourage you to check out Delroy Versus the Yshtari. And tell your friends.