Week-In-Review 7-29-11

Oh Hell, this has been a crappy week. You'll notice in the paucity of articles that have been posted.  However, I've been doing some research, and I've got a good start on articles for the week to come.

Okay ... to start with, I did two Examiner.com articles this week.

One was on the trials of Dominique Simone-Khan, the Frenchman from the IMF, and Rape. It is a subject I am very touchy about.

Levi Aron, Leiby Kletzky, and "stranger danger".  It's a local event. If you don't know about it, you'll soon know ... well, enough.

Anyway ...

My first blog of the week was another list, the Writers blogs of A Pius Man ... thus far.

I did a little article on the terrorist attacks in Oslo, Norway.  An article that already has a follow-up.

And, the Worlds of Jim Butcher.... in which I explain some of the genius that is the creator of Harry Dresden.

And, in other news, Masks has a new chapter up.

Enjoy

Books to Enjoy: The World of Jim Butcher.

Last week, I had mentioned my friend Rebekah Hendershot, and her book Masks, describing it as something Jim Butcher might have written if he were into traditional superheroes....

Now might be a good time to explain who Jim Butcher is.

Jim Butcher wrote the books which loosely inspired the short lived sci-fi channel series "The Dresden Files" ... let's just say that he was so thrilled with the way the tv series turned out, when the SciFi channel became the Syfy channel, he referred to it as "the syphylus channel."

And, when asked at the DragonCon Panel about when the rights revert back to him, he rattled off a number down to the days and the hours left.

Not that he's bitter or anything ... though he might have a countdown app.

The premise of the Dresden File novels: think of one parts Philip Marlow and one part Gandalf on meth; Wizard as Private Eye.




The series starts with a serial killer in Chicago who kills people by magic ... and lightning.

So, of course, the title has to be Storm Front.

To be honest, I wasn't very thrilled.  It was fun, that was certain, but it seemed a little ... lacking.  It may have just been me.  However, I got a 3-in-1 volume, so I figured I would give it until the end of the volume and see exactly where Butcher thought he was going with the entire series.

It turns out that I chose wisely.
[More below the break]

Oslo ... Nazis, I hate these guys.

I'm sure that many of you thought the same thing that I did when I heard that someone bombed Oslo, and shot up a retreat in a little island off the coast of Norway.

Who would want to blow up Norway?

Okay, so maybe we all didn't have the same reaction.  My first thought was to write a column for Examiner.com.

Also, it was to analyse the whole situation. Seriously, who would want to blow up Norway? It had all the hallways of an Al-Qaeda operation: coordinated strikes, but still missing the target.

But, still, why Norway?  If AQ, then it would be because .... well, it was there ... or because Norway supported a Danish cartoonist several years ago during European-wide rioting.  But even those felt sort of weak.

All in all, it was just weird.

So, of course, the perp turns out to be ... a blonde-haired, blue-eyed fascist.

Do you remember when I mentioned the Europe has problems?  I said that Europe seems to have two settings, cower in a corner, or go fascist. Their idea of a Left and a Right are not America's.  Their Left is Socialist. Their Right is Fascist.  They don't really have a middle.  Well, not much of one.

Consider politics as non-linear.  Politics is not a straight line.  In France, they have their parliament set up in a horseshoe-like arrangement, for each of their two hundred political parties. Because it is a curved horseshoe, the extreme right and the extreme left are very, very close to each other.  The end result of the fascist and the socialist systems of the 1930s and the 1940s are the same -- they killed more of their own people than they ever did of the enemy.

Unfortunately, I'm waiting, just waiting, for some utter and complete idiot to say that this fascist schmuck is the symbol of everything wrong with the right, therefore it must be destroyed. All of them.  Which is in itself its own kind of fascism.

I should probably rewrite that -- since there are people on the internet who are already doing just that. However, they don't count, because the Internet seems to be a gathering place for the loudest and the most ignorant. And the person who screams the loudest is the one who gets all of the attention.

So, a rewrite: I'm waiting, just waiting, for some utter and complete important idiot to say that the right must be destroyed.

However, right now, I'm going to make a bet. Someone is going to read the above, and they will dub me a right-wing extremist of some sort or another. No matter how many times I've noted my hatred for politics, politicians, and that my own politics depends on where the jury is sitting.

But, being a cynical SOB, right now, I want to see how the investigation goes. Because, as I noted above, this had all the earmarks of an AQ attack ... and there was talk some time ago about AQ having links to the Oklahoma City bombing.

I could just be paranoid, but I'll be interested to see where the trail ends. 

The Writers Blogs of A Pius Man ... so far.

Over the past year or so that the blog has been up, I've put together a lot of thoughts on writing in general.  This is, more or less, the summary of that work.

To start with, there was how the book came to be.  Including the inspiration, the writing, how to sell a bloody book, as well as the fact that there's a love story in there.

There's another blog on the Mind of the Maker .... better known as "characters are a bastard to control."

There is also, the dreaded question: "Oh, where do you get your ideas from?"  This is the answer.

And, I did a two part essay ... one on sex, the other on violence.

I also had one or two issues on other people's writing ... namely Marvel Comics, and their former Editor-in-Chief, Joe Quesada

And, I had one nice little discussion on blowing up public places. ... In novels, of course.

There's one on writing philosophy in a novel, and one on Conspiracy theories around Catholics.

Then I took a hammer on writing cliche's that just flat out annoy me.

And then there's how to be a cynical romantic. 

Be well all

Week-In-Review 7-23-11

Well, this week has been interesting.

Monday

The week started with Killing Captain America ... again! Those bastards.  Let's just say that I expect a movie tie-in is at work.

The music blog was all about flying cars and Babylon 5.  You'll see.

I also did a nice little article over at Examiner.com about martial arts and childhood obesity.  I'm told it's quite good.

Tuesday

This was the day I learned the good Muslims can't be good Americans ... well, if you believe one army private. I don't, but what can you do?

It also came the same day that Hollywood once again has proven to me that if I ever do a film on A Pius Man, I'm going to take the money and run very, very far.

And music blog for the day was Harry Potter, Pirates, and Mass Effect. Long story.

Wednesday

This was the day I was proud to announce that our friend, Rebekah Hendershot, started posting her novel Masks online.  For which we wish her luck. We might be joining her.

The music of the day was taken from the soundtrack of Mass Effect.  Enjoy  It's really rather neat.

Thursday

The day that, once again, all my irritation of politics is justified, as someone at Salon.com tries to examine the Politics of Captain America.

A note on this one: The author of the article tripped over my blog post, and insists that the whole "fiscal policy of Captain America was all tongue-in-cheek."  Read it yourself. See what you think.

The Politics of ... Captain America?

I don't think words can really convey how much I hate politics.  Even though I've done at least two blogs on the topic, around the Ground Zero Mosque, and the politics of my novel, and I would like politicians to just shut up already.

But now, someone had to go putting their politics into my comic book movies.

Before I continue, this is nothing new. Every time a superhero movie comes out, it must be metaphor for modern politics. The Dark Knight was seen by some idiots at the NYTimes as a commentary on the War on Terror.  Which is odd, I thought it was merely "the Joker is evil, and if we're going to catch the bugger, we're going to have to break a few laws to do it."

The Times were also instrumental in discussing the Lord of the Rings as metaphor as well, with the theatrical release of Return of the King's absence of Saruman being likened unto a missing Osama.  Instead, everyone who saw the Return of the King, special edition knows that Saruman was deleted from the film because of time issues.

Spoiler alert:

Saruman the White is dead.

So is Grima Wormtongue.

So is Osama bin Laden.

The end.

Now, somebody at Salon  has decided to make Captain America into something ... else.
[More below the break]

Music Blog: Video Game Music Mass Effect.

I decided to take a little break from Tom Smith's amusing filk songs, and figured I'd go for some nice, quick action music clips from the video game Mass Effect.



So, sit back, relax, and if you're at work, get the headphones. It's going to be fun.

Masks ... Didn't I do this blog already? Not quite.

[If you read the first blog, you might think this is a bit of a rehash .... it's not, trust me.  If you remember the blog from January very well, skip to the break. ]

At the start of the year, I noted that constant readers of this blog will have noticed several posts that link back to the Masks blog. It's all over the place. My story "God Hates ... Superman?" is actually stolen from her original blog title of the same name. It appeared in “So, you want to be a writer?” and Disasters to Marvel At: A Comic Discussion, and others.

Madam Hendershot inspired Writer's Rules For Villains; and The Masks Blog beat up on Fred Phelps before this blog did.

Masks also made a brief appearance in one of the first stories on this page, Boys of the Old Brigade.

Now, what the hell is Masks?

Masks is a novel series written by Rebekah Hendershot, who has been a friend of this blog and its supporting pages since day one.  Seriously, she provided the first comment on the entire blog.

Masks is, essentially, what would happen if you had someone who wanted to seriously write an original novel about superheroes.  She's it.  Unlike some novels, like Soon, I Will Be Invincible, or other novelists who spend more time making fun of the genre than actually enjoying it, Rebekah is having fun with it.  Imagine if Jim Butcher wanted to write an original comic book, you get Masks. 

Masks also tries to make superheroes "real"-- step one, NO SPANDEX.

It's a book written for those people who want something more edifying than Twilight, and without a retarded fanbase... Rebekah is far too polite to beat up on Twitards. Obviously, I don't have that problem.

Her premise:  Something killed off the superheroes of Los Angeles.  And it's still there.  Cue Dracula theme.

Now, the only thing standing between the civilians of LA and supervillains is .... a sixteen-year-old girl with a snark function permanently set to "kill," Rae Masterson, a girl so smart, she can take college courses while still in high school, and still has time for a little sideline at night as Peregrine.

In the opening, we see Rae foiling a robbery by her regular nemesis Captain Catastrophe.  There's a reason for that, he's a bit of a loser .... a loser who invests in death rays.  Taking him out is no problem, but getting into the costume might be.

And then, after the villain is nicely tied up into a little bow ... Rae hears a horse. In the middle of LA.  It's the Black Mask, a cowboy grim reaper who appears whenever superheroes in LA disappear or simply die.  The villain runs back into the store he just robbed so he can hide. When Rae herself hides, she's a witness to a crime -- a superkid who is kidnapped right in front of her.

And then the fun starts .....

How do I know this?

Because chapter one is online. She's posting the entire book.

Yup, the whole book. Online. It's an idea I'm considering myself. It might make my life easier.

In future chapters, you get to meet a screwed up Tim Drake meets Winter Soldier, a lycanthropic feline, the super-kids training program, a werewolf, and the return of the demonic cowboy. And his horse.

The official Mask-cot: The Url is Pockcoyote.com

After all. :)

Over the last year or so, she has supported gamers, comic books, and Young Adult fiction that men can read (YA fiction that isn't Twilight.)

When you check out her blog ... and what are you still doing here reading mine? .... you might notice some common themes between her blog and this one.  A lot of writers are similiarly warped. We're weird that way. 

One day, Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden will come up against a mad scientist, and it'll look a lot a Masks novel.  Or, Butcher, or even Laurell K. Hamilton, will try to write something that is a solid mystery, and it may be as good as the Agatha Christie-like Zephyr Street.

All in all, it's a fun ride.  If you have the time, you might want to get on. And buckle up.

Music blog: Tom Smith Does Harry Potter, Mass Effect 2

Apparently, JK Rowling made the birthday for one of her characters the same day as "Talk like a pirate day."



Guess which one it is.

And, as you've probably noticed, I have a great respect for Video Games lately, especially with voice acting, and particularly music. 

So, Mass Effect 2 makes it on today.

Jack Reacher, Lee Child, and Why I hate Hollywood.

A while ago, I mentioned how I thought that Hollywood was improving in the adaptations of novels to films.



I'm certain I've mentioned author Lee Child a few times on the blog.  His main hero is Jack Reacher, a former Military Policeman who specialized in arresting special forces operators who committed crimes, also a homicide detective.  And, considering that this is the army, Jack Reacher is built like  amiddle-weight wrestler ... if a middle weight could be 6'5" and 280.



Now retired from the army, after a live of rules, regulations, and fitting into a rigorous bureaucracy, Reacher has become a drifter. He lives off of his army pension and his savings, hitching rides, taking buses, wandering through middle America, with the occasional trip to New York. He's done the math, and figures that buying cheap and disposable clothes and living on the road is cheaper than living in a house with a washing machine, et al.



And Reacher thinks.  Good God, does he think. A fight scene that takes about ten seconds requires two pages to describe, because he thinks out every, last, move. His deductive abilities rely on heavy analysis, and quiet, thoughtful diligence.  If he were less conspicuous, he would be the quiet man in the corner who solves the crime by quietly moving around in the background, just listening.



Now, Hollywood is considering looking at making a Jack Reacher novel, One Shot, into a movie. Even though it's book number nine in the series. Probably because they have a Gulf War sniper veteran accused of being a killer.  Right now, I'll be happy if they keep the ending to the book, as opposed to going for the Hollywood's popular "crazy veteran" plot device.



So, who would you cast for the massive, silent, thinking man's detective?



I like Adam Baldwin .... he's tall, built like a brick wall, and has played military men for practically his entire career.  I can see Adam Baldwin playing a man who has put in his twenty years, and who just wants to be left alone.  I've seen him do more with a glare than some people who speak only in rants. He's not 6'5", but he'll do.



And Adam Baldwin is a thinker. At least in real life. He maintains his own political blog, and every argument is well reasoned, and thoroughly thought out.



So, he'll do.



And, Hollywood being Hollywood, they took Jack Reacher, and they cast ....



Wait for it ....






Tom Cruise.



Yup, a thoughtful, insightful, 6'5" wall of a man, and they cast a 5'6" guy whose major real life moment was him going insane on the Oprah Winfrey show.



Just what the hell are these people thinking?



Obviously, that presumes that they are thinking.



What does the author have to say about this travesty?



To quote from Lee Child: "Reacher's size in the books is a metaphor for an unstoppable force, which Cruise portrays in his own way."



I'm sure that if I were being given God knows how much money to make one of my novels into a book, and I absolutely had to comment, I'm sure I'd say that too.



If you ever wondered why I spent so much time on casting blogs for my novel, now you know. It's so that, should something like this ever happen to me, I'll be on record already.  And I wouldn't comment on any movie project .... I would take the money and go into hiding.



With any luck, Tom Cruise will fall down a manhole before filming.

Muslims Can't Be Good Americans ..... Huh?

A long while ago, I discussed one Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter. He was, at the very least, one of the candidates most likely to be kicked out of the US Army, having given a June 2007 PowerPoint presentation that discussed “adverse events” that would occur if the Army did not accept the precepts of Islamic Shariah law and grant Muslims serving in the Army conscientious objector status.

I'm sure Maj. Hasan would be quite, quite happy to learn that the US Army has now taken his advise.

Enter Pfc. Naser Abdo, 21, a member of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky. He refused to deploy to Afghanistan, claiming that Sharia law prevented him from killing other Muslims.....

Ahem ....

Let's start with the fact that Sharia is the sort of thing used in Sudan to justify hacking off limbs for theft, stoning for adultery, and crucifying members of other religions.  This is the sort of thing that makes you arch an eyebrow and wonder "What the....?"  

All in all, this is a generally Bad Idea.

Not to mention that it is pure and utter garbage.[More below the break]

Music Blog: I want my flying car & Babylon 5

I think the title says it all on this one.

The main theme for the tv show Babylon 5 ... all five of them.  Believe it or not, I think it's the only tv show that deliberately changed its theme for every year it was on.

Oh no, they killed Captain America (again) ... those bastards!

It's almost time for the Captain America movie.

Yes, I'm sure that's obvious for almost anyone with access to a television, or who has noted the movie posters plastered all over the place. For me, it's obvious for a different reason.

Marvel has started the movie tie-in.

As I noted many moons ago, Marvel liked doing special events so that they could pimp their films through the comic books. I'm not sure if anyone went to see Spider-Man 3 because the comic book Peter Parker was "Back in Black," but, mysteriously, that six-month story arc happened to overlap the three month period that the movie was in theaters. Funny that ....

And I don't know about you, but I will be quite happy to see Captain America: The First Avenger even though the main character, Steve Rodgers, was not Captain America in the comic books at the time.  The film looks fairly awesome.

Don't believe me, take a look.




However, true to form, Marvel took a good idea and smashed it against a rock.

When Joe Quesada, former Editor-in-Chief of Marvel, was "promoted" to creative consultant, I practically sang Hosannas.  No more Civil War / Siege / other massive events that do and change nothing.

My only worry was that, well, comic book companies tend to approve story lines months in advance.

In cases like a massive, mega event, they do it over the course of an entire year (except for Civil War, when they discovered that "darn, we don't have an ending. Hey, Ed Brubaker, we're going to take your idea for Captain America and stick it into Civil War, okay?")

Ironically, it was the aftermath of the Civil War decision that led up to the recent Marvel "event."

When Captain America Steve Rodgers "died" at the end of Civil War (long story), the shield of Captain America was taken up by his former sidekick, Bucky Barnes. Buckey had been kidnapped by the Soviet Union, brainwashed, and kept on ice ... when he wasn't being used as an assassin.  After a few issues of deprogramming, and making Bucky look like a sane human being, Steve Rodgers was shot, and presumed dead. Bucky took up the shield, and we were off to the races.

That was 2008. Even after Steve Rodgers came back, Bucky was allowed to keep the shield, and Steve Rodgers was off doing ... something to do with Siege.

In another Joe Q-approved stunt, in the last massive, multiplayer event, Fear Itself, Bucky Barnes is beaten to death with his own cybernetic arm.

Before the corpse is cold, Steve Rodgers takes the shield back ....

Just in time for the movie, coming out this Friday, where Steve Rodgers is Captain America ....

I'm shocked, shocked that there should be such convenient timing.

So, once again, Marvel has screwed something up for the sake of a movie tie-in. Bucky has had a good run as Captain America. And, in all likelihood, I can't imagine this stunt moving one more person to go see the Captain America movie. Now that I have cable again, I'm tempted to wait for a tv premiere.

The amusing thing is, in the current Captain America story line of the regular series run, Bucky was still in a Russian gulag, and still alive, even though he had been killed in the latest "event."  It's one of the same problems I noted in my first major blog on Marvel.

Someone get the plumber snake, there's some of Joe Q. still in the pipes....

Week-In-Review 7-14-11

Another week is shot to Hell. Welcome to the Week-in-Review.

Monday 

We started off the week with Holy Terror .... Batman?  It was a writing blog where I examine the possibilities behind the defunct Frank Miller project of Batman vs. al-Qaeda.

The music blog was not up that day.  However, I did post three self-defense columns over at Examiner.com

Meeting people from online in real life, part one A two-part series on how to make certain you don't go from okcupid.com to meeting an axe-murderer. 

Self defense in New York. Again. Or: Killing people isn't fun. Defending yourself?  Be careful with the aftermath.

Tuesday 

There was a review of mystery and thriller authors, everything from James Rollins to Matthew Reilly.  And more.

And the music blog: I decided that if people wouldn't like Tom Smith's "Talk like a Pirate Day" they would enjoy Dragonforce.  And vice versa

Wednesday

Some more Tom Smith, and some more Dragonforce lead the blog. 

And I found a Maureen Dowd post I didn't utterly despise.

Thursday

The music blog: whether or not you hate the Blue screen of death, or you prefer the Fury of the Storm, I had some of each.

And my friend Jason had posted a little something on Egypt. I blogged a bit about it.

By the way, before you leave, check out some of our sponsers' ads ... please. We can use the money. :)

Axes and Allies: Wither Egypt?

My friend Jason has done an interesting blog on Egypt. Funny enough, it looks a little like my blog on Hashim Abasi from a while back.

Axes and Allies: Wither Egypt?:

Music blog: Fury of the Storm & Blue Screen of Death

Have issues with Bill Gates? You're not the only one.







Dragonforce ... more music to blow stuff up.

A Maureen Dowd Column I like. World to end.

I don't know how many of you are familiar with Maureen Dowd, a "journalist" for the New York Times. If you've never heard of her, I'm not surprised. The Times has been hemorrhaging readers like a hemophiliac with Ebola.



Normally, I find Dowd to be a far, far, far Left wing nutjob whose hangups with George W. Bush ran into psychotic screeds every other day. And if they weren't every other day, they sure felt like it.



However, for once, I found an article of hers that was amusing, on the Catholic Confessional App.



Maybe someone has put her on her medication?

Music Blog: Rich Fantasy Lives, & My Spirit Will go On

I thought this would be the only thing I posted today. Then I got the Dowd column in the mail. Who knew?



Anyway, onto the music.



A Tom Smith song ... dedicated to all those people who live better lives in their heads than most people do in the real world.







Another Dragonforce song .... again, this is music to write fight scenes to.

Music Blog: Dragon Force, & Talk like a Pirate Day.

Tom Smith is a regular on these posts. I think he's going to be a good balance to the Dragonforce music clip below.



Let's just say that "Talk like a Pirate Day" is something for September ... but I have no idea if I'll still be doing these in September.

Starfire, by Dragonforce .... I like it. Again, this is music I write to. Though this is one of the few Dragonforce songs than I think I can understand without resorting to the lyrics. 

What I read: Thriller/ mystery authors

A few weeks ago, I did romance.....

Now, enough of the mushy stuff. Now we blow stuff up.... Thriller/ mystery authors.

Keith Thompson. Once a Spy .... if Jason Bourne had a son, and if Bourne had Alzheimers.... My review here.  There's a sequel called .... wait for it ... Twice a Spy.

David Morrell: Yes, he created John Rambo in his novel “First Blood.” However, I would suggest that it is not his best. In The Spy Who Came For Christmas, a spy tries to keep a baby from the mercenaries he'd been undercover with.  Wounded, he seeks refuge in a home while being chased; to keep the occupants calm as he prepares for war, he tells them a spy's version of the Christmas story.

In “Creepers”, a group of urban explorers enter into an abandoned hotel, onto to discover that they're not alone. “Scavenger,” the sequel to Creepers, finds the survivors of the hotel incident trapped into a deadly game—a real life role playing game, set in a hostile wilderness filled with booby traps.

Vince Flynn-- He writes about a CIA assassin named Mitch Rapp, and the first one was about terrorists taking over the white house. This was before terrorists became popular (1999), and he does a wonderful critique of what went wrong during the 1990s in the intelligence world.  In his first novel with Rapp, terrorists have taken over the Clinton White House, and he's sent in for recon. Now all he needs to do is not kill all of the terrorists himself.

One of the nice things about Vince Flynn is that he always has a domestic element to his novels. Domestic as in "do we have to kill the politicians before they get us all killed."  Again, Flynn has had politicians as antagonists since the 1990s, so he's not some sort of Tea Party individual. He came like this
[More below the break]

Holy Terror ... Batman? A writing Blog.

Frank Miller is a name you might be familiar with.  He wrote the comic books that would spawn the movies 300, Sin City, several Batman titles, including the annoyingly omnipresent Batman: Year One, and he had a very popular run on Daredevil, and even created the character of Elektra, the assassin with father issues.  Miller was also the director on The Spirit-- and has a small lynch mob after him for that, I'm sure.

So, Miller gets around.

Several years and a few lifetimes ago, Frank Miller said he wanted to write a graphic novel called "Holy Terror, Batman!" a play on a line from the 1960s Batman TV show with Adam West.

Miller has debuted his Holy Terror and ...

It doesn't have Batman.

Miller decided to work with a new hero, it wouldn't be a DC comics project, etc, etc.

On the one hand, I can understand that Frank Miller has had issues lately with DC.  His All Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder was, as I understand it, universally panned by reviewers, except for those who seem to want Frank Miller's baby. They weren't pretty, either way.

Miller's version: it was more Dirty Harry than Batman. It just didn't work with Batman.....

Really?

I guess Miller has a bit of a point. After all, why would al-Qaeda want to blow up Gotham city? Aside from the fact that it's a major metropolitan area, high-population density, the potential for massive body counts if they did it right .....

Oh wait, that would make Gotham a perfect target.

My friend Jason said that it wouldn't work because the larger DC universe would make it impossible for al-Qaeda to exist. After all, there's "The Society," Lex Luthor, Ra's al-Ghul, and a whole bunch of others who operate on an international scale.  It's like the problem someone had with Straczynski's Amazing Spider Man 9-11 issue, where he wrote that even the villains like Doctor Doom were offended by 9-11 .... to which someone replied online that "If Doctor Doom were offended by al-Qaeda, they'd be dead within 48 hours. All of them."

However, I must disagree with Jason in one respect -- this is Frank Miller, the continuity of the DC universe means about as much to him as it would to Franz Kafka.  He plays fast and loose with the universes as he pleases. The only hard and fast rule he would have to adhere to would be the layout and rules of engagement of Gotham city....

At which point, that becomes one of my short stories.... It would take too long to explain here, but for the Gotham universe, an al-Qaeda attack would probably go as follows.

Within the week, they would be out of money .... Catwoman would have robbed them. Repeatedly.

The first time they blew up a building with any amount of plants ... Poison Ivy would hunt them down and feed them to her vegetable garden.

The Joker would probably meet up with al-Qaeda .... for about five minutes. And then he would gas them because he didn't like their sense of humor, since, from what I can tell, they don't seem to have one.

And then, after the Joker starts killing them en mass, the organized crime outfits of Gotham would machine-gun the rest on the principle that al-Qaeda was muscling in on their territory.

Then, if al-Qaeda was really lucky, Batman would arrest whoever was still alive.

So, I guess I could see Frank Miller's problem. Gotham city would eat the terrorists....

And now that I've suggested it, I'm fairly certain that someone is already starting to write the fan fiction (If that's true, then I ask you to please link to the blog. Other than that, have fun.)

Right now, I'm just hoping that Miller's writing ability hasn't completely failed him. Because if he puts out another piece of quality work like The Spirit, I think the lynch mob after him might get larger.

Week-In-Review 7-8-11

Well, this week was a little tough. I've had a few projects kicking around that came down on me at the same time. I'm surprised I got as much done as I had. Despite that, the blog got well over a hundred and twenty views. I'll take what I can get.

Now, on with the week.

Monday. As I've mentioned, being an article writer for Examiner.com has gotten me into lists. Top ten lists for one. And, so, I compiled the top ten most read blog posts.

Tuesday: I spent some time looking at the works of author Jefferey Deaver, possibly the most manipulative s.o.b. in novel writing.

The music blog was the last of the epic music of Babylon 5 from last week, as well as Tom Smith doing all of B5 in five minutes.

Wednesday: I had discovered a movie trailer online, and decided that this was the perfect opportunity to explain what I mean whenever I reference

George Smiley and Scott Murphy..I thought it was fun.

I managed a music blog -- basically, the music version of Poe's Tell-Tale Heart. It's sick, you might like it.

And, I finally managed my posts for Examiner.com --

Pens as weapons. (EDC Tools) An EDC tool is something for Every Day Carry. I stole the acronym from a friend of mine. It was a variation on the "Scott Murphy notebook" posts from last year. You might find it amusing.
Top ten "improvised weapons." Ever wanted to know what sort of weapons you carry around in you pocket every day? I provide some answers here.
Are you a target? Situational awareness: Basically, there are some people who don't have a lot of survival instincts. This is for them. 

Thursday: this was a bit of a Hail Mary. A Jewish businessman decided to come to the defense of the Catholic Church.  However, while I liked his  points, he could have used an editor. I took it upon myself to undertake that role.

Yeah, I cheated a bit this week. Let's hope next week is better.

Have a good weekend, all.

By the way, before you leave, check out some of our sponsers' ads ... please. We can use the money. :)

Redemption Comes Through The Jews… Excerpts

This was interesting when I found it on the Facebook page of Ann Margaret Lewis (of Murder in the Vatican), so I figured I would post a few excerpts.

I especially found it interesting that the numbers presented here are similar to the ones I posted a while ago.

You can find the full text here:

But the edited version you can find below.

Music Blog: A bit of Poe,

Ever read The Tell-Tale Heart, by Edgar Allan Poe?



Now, imagine it done in under two and a half minutes

Tinker, Tailor ... Mossad Murphy?

I'm a little behind this week, so, sorry that everything is slow.  This post will be a short one.



Numerous times when writing about Scott Murphy, I've made reference to another fictional character, George Smiley.  Originally a character in a John Le Carre spy novel, Smiley was a plain little man, in a plain little suit, who tried to offend no one, only answered questions with questions, and was no one really important.



Except that he was a spy.  He taught them, he ran them, he designed plans for them.  In some of Le Carre's books, Smiley ran the entire plot from behind the scenes, and never once made an appearance.



Many, many moons ago, three of the novels that starred Smiley were put into film.  Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy was one, as well as the sequel, Smiley's People.  Both times, it starred Alec Guiness.  A third film was made, called simply A Murder of Quality, starring Denholm Elliott .... if you've ever seen the Indiana Jones films, you might know him better as Marcus Brody, one of the sidekicks.



Now, granted, Scott Murphy has a lot of differences.  He's got all sorts of tricks and tips for committing mayhem. Just don't ask him to punch anyone ... or shoot anyone farther than ten feet away ...



So, why am I explaining all of this?



Well, because they've remade Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, with a whole bunch of interesting actors. Since Guiness is dead, he's been replaced by Gary Oldman -- who I mentioned as this generation's Alec Guines not too long ago.  Smiley's sidekick is played by one Benedict Cumberbach, who BBC fans may recall from last year's Sherlock.



Now, it should be interesting to see how they play the movie, considering the original was six hours long, though my family has estimated that three hours could have been easily sliced out due to the speed of the film (eg: see Smiley walk. Walk, Smiley, walk), or due to the fact that much of the film was told in flashbacks, and stories, and interviews. The original film was interested in the methods and mechanisms of spycraft ... if one cut out a lot of that (which is repeated over, and over, and over again), then there's the plot and the character.



We'll see how it works.

Music blog: Babylon 5 & Tom Smith

This is the last cut of the music from the aborted Babylon 5 video game from last week. It was fun while it lasted.

And now, the parody version

Influential Author: Jeffery "Devious" Deaver

Jeffery Deaver has a wonderful way of messing with one's mind.

In my household, “to Deaver” something means to put a backspin on a storyline so hard that the audience gets whiplash. When I mean thriller, I mean it doesn't slow down-- at least not for long.

In my house, the man is so well known for screwing with his readers in surprise twists that whenever we see a writer radically twist everything we thought we knew about the plot, and do it fifty pages away from the ending of the book, we say that he "Deavered" the plot, or "pulled a Deaver."

The man likes to play games. Then again, he's a Fordham law school graduate, so that may have something to do with it.

Over the course of the years, he's released numerous one-shot novels. A story with no series behind it, but they're quite, quite fun. And, over time, Deaver has a nice little universe to call upon from time to time.

One of these one-shots is The Blue Nowhere, a thriller with dueling hackers. One hacker is pulled out of jail to hunt the "Black Hat" Hacker from Hell -- because he's playing a real life video game, where everyone he kills is worth points in the game that only he is playing. And he has a mysterious sidekick named only Shawn. This one has a twist that disturbed a few people, mainly because the killer himself is a little disturbed.

There is Deaver's continuing series of Lincoln Rhyme, the ultimate armchair detective -- because he's a quadriplegic forensic scientist.  Before there was CSI, there was Lincoln Rhyme.

While there was a movie made out of the first novel, The Bone Collector, I can only implore you to ignore the film, and buy the book.

Some of the others in the series were ....

 The Coffin Dancer, where Rhyme comes up against an assassin who cleans up after himself by leaving booby traps for the forensic teams.

The Vanished Man ... basically Deaver with a psychotic magician on a murder spree .... Be afraid.  CSI: NY fans might recognize this premise from an episode starring Chris Angel as a psycho magician on a murder spree.  This novel came first.  And I think I know what they read on CSI: NY.

Once you leave the Lincoln Rhyme series, there are more one-shot novels.


A Maiden's Grave while this was made into a fairly good movie staring James Garner and Marlee Matlin, called Dead Silence, this book was fun. Premise: three convicted killers (and one rapist) have broken out of prison.  They have a little accident, and crash into a school bus full of deaf children. They take the children hostage in an old, abandoned slaughterhouse, while the hostage negotiator tries to talk them down, outwit, and out think them. In this one, the leader of this merry band of psychopaths happens to be smart enough to follow the negotiator's own handbook.

The Devil's Teardrop follows a killer called The Gravedigger.  Another psycho with an eye for mass murder,  the only clue to stopping him is through the letter sent to the FBI. This one will pretty much have more than you ever wanted to know about the forensics of handwriting.

Oh, did I mention that he's the new author for James Bond?  Yeah, sorry, that was careless of me.

Though given Deaver's writing style, he'd need to have Bond's IQ shoot up exponentially.
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