Film Review - Suicide Squad - Reblog from Tumblr
Janice Flint • February 15, 2023
So lets get into this spoiler free review right away. I’m taking a stance in that so far 2 for 2 DC movies have failed to move me. And it’s not because I’m just a marvel fan girl. It’s because I just don’t like the DC cast that much. My brother was like “Let’s go see Suicide Squad” a movie I’d actually thought had already come and gone. My resolve was to watch this movie when it came to Netflix because I really didn’t want to pay for this.
But on a scale of 1 to Better than Batman V Superman it was Better than Batman V Superman. Not to say that’s hard. Punisher Warzone is a better quality movie than Batman V Superman. I’d be willing to go on a limb and say that Nick Fury: Agent of Shield is a better movie than Batman V Superman. What I’m saying is that BvS is shit. And this movie is a mediocre 2 out of 5 stars. Flat out the best part of this movie is the music. The soundtrack and score are the only things that I’ll remember from this movie.
The next that I’ll say is that of all the actors Will Smith is the best there, and compared to some of the roles I’ve seen him in he’s on the right track but he’s still not back on his A game. I’m thankful that the amount of screen time Jared Leto’s Heath Ledger impersonation is short, maybe only 25 to 30 minutes of the movie, I didn’t time it but it’s like a quarter of the movie. And it’s suffered through the entire time he’s on screen, for me. And I’m sure Alex Ross was incredibly happy that Jared and Margot got to pervert one of his iconic pieces of art. I wasn’t also a fan of this harley quinn. Nothing against Margot, I liked her in Wolf of Wall Street but personally I could have done without her. And don’t get me started on the completely useless Captain Boomerang. It was like “We need to show Flash somehow… how can we do that? Hey isn’t there a guy who throws boomerangs or something? Yeah! let’s do that!” Now I know in the comics Boomerang and Harley were in the S.S. but frankly this Boomer is just lame.
As far as the movie goes it’s a very long drawn out action movie. The bad guys that they’re being fought can’t really be seen clearly and the action is almost nauseatingly quick in certain places. And the amount of liberty that is taken with this plot is kinda silly. Like seriously how much freedom are you going to give to Deadshot? Oh, how about all of it? I understand based on Burn Notice’s episode where Tyler Brennen kidnaps Nate that he’s only got one shot but seriously the interpersonal “conflict” between Floyd and Flagg are just silly.
The only character I genuinely cared for was El Diablo, he’s the only character who’s trying to grow and change in the course of the movie. Deadshot is the same person he is at the beginning as he is at the end. Harley and Boomer don’t change, Killer Croc only changes cursorily because he wants BET. Which great he’s I guess african american in this world. Frankly couldn’t care less, Croc’s a batman villain and I never really cared much about him one way or the other. When you’ve got huge rogue galleries like Bats and Flash it’s hard to care about a fifth of them.
The villains of this movie are just CGI. Enchantress minor rhyming is kinda annoying, I found that annoying in Child of Light and I found it annoying in this movie, and she danced. For like no reasons whatsoever. And this is an example of an all powerful villain who isn’t using her powers to the best of her abilities. They literally show her teleporting around and going invisible and messing with people’s heads and all other deus ex machina stuff they needed her to do. That fight at the end of the movie should have lasted literally two seconds.
In Invincible there’s a joke about what the characters would do without space to knock out super tough baddies? Frankly if you can teleport and do the stuff this character is seen to do warping these guys to Toledo, Miami or the moon wouldn’t have been out of sync. But how do you defeat all powerful villains? You make them stupid. I’m sorry but I hate terrible villains. It’s my major beef with a lot of movies. And this movie is nothing but villains/anti-heroes and really they’re all just terrible or mediocre. There’s a few scenes where we get to see the characters show off and I’m just like “Uh huh, Ultimate Magento would take these jokers apart.” He was written to make people say “Oh shit…” And he did for a little bit. But like all comics it’s hard to take a villain serious for multiple episodes.
All in all I kept checking my watch and thinking when was this movie going to be done? I didn’t do that once with Captain America: Civil War or Ant Man or Avengers Age of Ultron or Deadpool. So it didn’t captivate me enough to make me lose track of my sense of time or make me suspend my disbelief all that much. I was tempted to walk out at the 1hr 5 mark. Halfway through the movie because it just didn’t grip me. I can only count a handful of movies that make me want to leave and ask for my money back. Batman V Superman, Suicide Squad and Wings of Desire. And I didn’t even pay for Wings of Desire. I wanted to start a crusade on that film and make the studio give everyone money back for it even existing. Needless to say Wings of Desire is my absolutely most hated movie ever.
So my advice, this movie isn’t piratable, you’re welcome to pirate it if you like. But I kind of wish my brother and I hadn’t wasted our money to see this in the theater and had instead waited until it hit Netflix, if it ever did.
So it's been a while since I've done a spoiler-free review of a movie. These days, I really only see superhero movies in theaters. Mostly because you know exactly what you're getting when you drop forty bucks on tickets, popcorn, and soda. It's not really that expensive, but it's certainly not a cheap evening anymore. Between the theater and dinner, it's almost become a luxury. Don't get me wrong, I like other movies. I do. But my brother and I have become choosey. I'm not even sure I'm going to see James Gunn's Superman - it's really hard for me to give a crap about The Man of Steel. Anyway, Thunderbolts! First off, this was a much better movie than Captain America: Brave New Frontier. I have to sort of agree with Filmento when he compares it to Captain America: Winter Soldier. There are a lot of beat-for-beat similarities that make it feel familiar, but Thunderbolts almost felt like a breath of fresh air. I'm not a huge Thunderbolts comic fan - always been an X-person, so I tended to focus on those franchises. But I knew enough to be curious. And I wasn't disappointed by the lineup: US Soldier Walker, Task Mistress (and I refuse to think of that poor character as Task Master), Knock-off Widow Sister, Phantom Girl, and Bob. Because no story is complete without a Bob. Oh, and Bucky the Winter Soldier is here. Soviet Red Guardian too. Marvel/Disney was really hoping you took the time to watch the Captain America and Hawkeye shows to provide some background. I remember having that problem with Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith - they expected me to have watched all the Clone Wars content between Episodes II and III. Thankfully, this time most characters were already introduced in prior movies, with Walker being the only real newcomer. Plot-wise? Pretty forgettable. Evil woman does evil things with evil people, decides to clean/cover up those evil acts by killing more evil people. Spoiler: that goes wrong, and boom - you've created your nemesis group. It's a tried and true method. And then there's Bob. Oh, comic book nerds, you know what I'm talking about. In the comics, Bob AKA The Sentry, The Golden Guardian of Goodness, with the power of one million exploding suns, which one Sun exploding is 10 to the 44th power Joules you can do the rest of the math, is arguably the strongest Marvel character who isn't The One Above All. We're talking telepathy on Jean Gray's Phoenix level, strength that... well, let's just say comics are complicated. Did you do the math yet? Cause if you got 10 to the power of 50 Joules your googlefu is strong. This is a character who can survive vacuum, reentry, probably move at lightspeed. So here you have a bunch of no-name "heroes" and Bucky going about their day, then suddenly they've got to contend with Bob's alter ego: The Void. Now that's a villain concept. Someone who does the exact opposite of the hero - save a life, Void takes it. Save a plane, Void crashes one. In this case, The Void makes you relive your worst memories, which... yeah, that sucks. It was nice to see these would-be heroes do some heroic actions by attacking the problem at its source - Bob's mental issues. Not to make light of trauma and PTSD, but in this case, that's all they could do. I mean, in the comics, Sentry has ripped gods in half. So what are three discount super soldiers, a girl with "unstable molecules," and a former Black Widow going to do? All in all, this is a return to the tried-and-true Marvel formula. Put some folks with problems together, crack some jokes, crack some heads, call it a day. And I think that's why it worked better than the new Cap movie. The writers understood these characters were outclassed, so they had to think of a way to resolve things without a literal punch-out ending. I'd give it three and a half out of five. I'm sure others would disagree, but it's enough that if prices were a bit lower, I'd go see it in theaters again. It's been a while since I've wanted to watch a movie a second time. And I think that's about as good a review as you can expect for a popcorn flick. Incorrigibly yours, J.E. Flint
I'm not going to lie, the last week has been kind of hard for me to focus on writing. Sometimes that's the case, but this week has been really bad. I started off last week not really feeling my cyberpunk novel I'd been working on and moved to one of my young adult ideas that I had kicking in my head. And managed to get a bit done on that. And by a bit done, I mean only a mere 26,238 words. That was just two chapters. My cyberpunk novel and some of its side stories are sitting at 70,785 words. Not bad to get 100,000 words in roughly five months. I know I did a bunch of writing last year, but I don't recall everything I touched. I know for I Am Not a Kobold! I have over 11 chapters and 81,531 words. But right now, I'm working on the history of my Cyberpunk world. I'm 13 pages in and just a few words shy of 6,000 for the history of my Esper Fade universe from 1905 to 2200. I still have things to put into that, so I expect it to balloon to 30 pages. And who knows, I might include it in with my novels. It really depends on how that goes. When the Motivation Tank Runs Dry But anyway, the reason for being temperamental while writing is that sometimes no amount of motivation can get your butt in gear. I'd been watching Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, White Collar, Person of Interest, Burn Notice, and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, and it just wasn't helping. So I had to switch gears for a bit to work on something that was kicking around in the back of my head. And it worked, though Monday I didn't get anything done. But I'm slowly cooking this up, and we'll see how it goes. I'm certainly not going to envy my pocketbook when this stuff gets sent to an editor. Writing stuff is easy; editing it out and keeping the meaningful stuff is hard. I think I've mentioned it before that cutting away the fat from the meat of the story is difficult. Of course, in my cyberpunk novel, I have a character who is British, and he uses about ten words when he doesn't need to. Polite and unflappable, he's a chatterbox, and his particular speech is just chock-full of words that could probably be trimmed down. The Project-Switching Dilemma Switching gears mid-project can be a terrible idea for some. I'm certainly one of them, as I have a plethora of work unfinished. From Spring Break to Servant of the Gods to Adventures Adventures to The Chronicles of Loth, I do not suffer from lack of work to do. I've been trying to be better about working on just one or two projects at a time. Some folks use AI to help with the writer's block. And it's certainly an option as long as you remember that it's a tool and that the more you rely upon it, the weaker that muscle gets. Creativity, I've always felt, needed to be nourished and taught so that everyone could experience it. But you don't want to take shortcuts to your writing career. Says the writer who has no idea what she's going on about. Finding Your Own Tricks But in theory, if you have a good writing habit where you write a few hours a day, that'll help. The big thing to remember is that writing is a process. Nothing is coming out completely clean and without needs for revision. If it does, what are you doing with your life, and can you teach me to be that good? One of the best tricks I've found, and it sounds a little silly: Go back and reread the book that inspired you to try writing this. I make it a habit of at least once a year rereading some of my favorite works. It's probably silly, but I've reread the Thrawn Trilogy and The Avery Cates stories at least 10 times. When I'm in the mood for some fantasy, I go and pick up some of David Eddings' works. It helps, but like I said above, it might not work for you. It's best if you can find your own trick to get that stalled engine going again. Try talking it out with your dog or cat. Not your parrot, though. Those mouthy SOBs will give away the plot, and you can't have that, now can you? Maybe read it as a bedtime story to your reflection while you get ready for bed? Could it work? Maybe that's what we're attempting here. To break through that brick wall keeping you away from your delicious writing. The Numbers Game Whatever the method, keep at it. We'll get there in the end. We hope. There's always a million struggling writers for every one author you know. Don't look up the numbers; it's probably way more depressing than that. Incorrigibly yours, J.E. Flint
Anime while I was growing up was largely considered to be controversial and looked down upon. American audiences in the late 80s and early 90s didn't see the appeal of Anime, or as it was commonly referred to in my neck of the woods: Japanimation. Probably because most of what we were getting in America was heavily censored Sailor Moon where we couldn't have LGBT references or the violence. Cartoons in America sold products and so they were seen for the realm of children to buy sugary breakfast cereals or the newest toy from Hasbro. Never mind that in Japan they could do that as well as tell a story. Now granted, you weren't going to get Vampire Hunter D on the TV suggesting you try the D cereal. But the Japanese knew for a time that cartoons could grow up with them and could have multiple genres. And slowly those multiple genres came to encompass virtually everything. I wasn't really aware of the term Isekai for a number of years, even though I'd watched Fushigi Yuugi and El~Hazard, which are arguably versions of Isekai because they get transported to a fantastical realm. But while we had those two, we had Slayers; we had Lodoss; we had Gundam, Ranma ½, and Fist of the North Star. But over time, the fields changed and Isekai began to flood into the market, so much so that it was pretty much excluded from contests for a while. And why is that? Because no one wants to work in an oppressive sweat shop day in and day out and just waste away into nothing. It's a very real escape many of us have had since time began, I'd imagine. Those times you wish you were born in another era? Or escaping into comics? Into books? That's a hard genre to fight for anyone. And by the time Toonami had started on Cartoon Network, America was now getting into anime and seeing that things like Cowboy Bebop were there to whet the appetite. But Isekai are literal escape fantasies where you are removed from the world that doesn't value and care about you and your smack dab in a world where you have the power to be a king or god. An unrivaled juggernaut as you stride through the lands. For me, that's boring. And yet, I found myself working on an Isekai. I have written 11 chapters for "I Am Not a Kobold!" In which a pair of college-aged students are walking home and are struck by truck-kun and pulled into a fantasy world where there are Orcs, Minotaur, Dwarves, Dragons, and other various fantasy races. I wrote it, much like The Chronicles of Loth, to be tongue-in-cheek humor. But I kept coming back to the fact that how do you really challenge Superman? And really, you don't challenge him physically, even kryptonite only works so well. You must challenge him via mental manipulation or by taking hostages or the like. So I built in some weaknesses in Kobold. Weaknesses that made sense to the story. And I found I was enjoying the challenge of telling the story without making Angel, my main character, absurdly and brokenly overpowered from the jump. The goal is that yes, she will be Ains Ooal Gown or One Punch Man strong by the end, but it's the journey. So it's less Isekai and more the hero's journey. I'm not sure when it'll be done and so I've not really been trumpeting about it. Altered Realities took me 10 years, rewrites and reviews and revisions. But that was solo without ever having a test audience to see it after that initial 30 page draft. I didn't hand it off to an editor until I was sure it was in a good place. Kobold I've had help along the way, but sometimes help isn't enough to get a task completed. I am not a typical writer, A Goddess's Gifts was a smut commission that I needed to have a story too. I focused and polished that story and created it. Arguably, I'm something of a weirdo, an indie artist looking to get that right brush stroke. It's my hope when I finish up Kobold I'll release it to the world and everyone will nod approvingly as they go about their day. That's all I need, a nodding approval from the masses. Or millions of dollars, you know, whichever helps my ego. Incorrigibly yours, J.E. Flint
"Picture a ball." Easy, right? For most people, a sphere, maybe a basketball or a baseball, pops into their mind. For me? The letters B-A-L-L scroll across my mental screen like a stubborn typo. I’ve mentioned this quirk to friends since high school, usually sandwiched between my other failings: a poor sense of smell, a zero-tolerance policy for stupidity, and this literal lack of vision. In the ’90s, people just blinked at me. "You don’t see images? At all?" Nope. My brain works in dictionaries, not galleries. The Creative Tax of a Word-Bound Brain This isn’t just a party trick—it’s a creative handicap. Without mental templates, I can’t "see" characters or worlds unless I stare directly at references. When my brother worked on The Chronicles of Loth, I spent a year secretly trying to draw. Result? Stick figures so bad they’d make a kindergarten teacher wince—and only if I was looking at an example. This is why my art commissions required dozen-piece collages for a single character. My fursona, Rose, needed 20 reference images (now lost, tragically). Felicia? Twenty-six. Her girlfriend Kit? Six. Every detail, hair, physique, clothing, had to be physically seen before my brain could grasp it. Blank Templates and Trashed Drafts No surprise, my early novel characters all looked identical. They started as generic mannequins until I painstakingly dressed them via Google searches and mood boards. Maybe it’s odd I became an author without "seeing" my stories. But it explains why I abandon half-finished drafts so easily—I just rename them .old and move on. (Reading them later is a special kind of masochism.) The Paradox of a Non-Visual Writer I fight hard not to mirror whatever I’m reading/watching, which is its own battle. Yet here’s the twist: words are my images. My "visualization" is dense description, tactile metaphors, the sound of a scene. Google fills the gaps, but the scaffolding is always language. So What’s the Point? Confession? I don’t know. Maybe it’s a footnote on process. Maybe it’s just another excuse to talk about myself. You decide. Incorrigibly yours, J. E. Flint
So, last night I was watching a video about one of my favorite horror movies. John Carpenter’s The Thing which is loosely based upon the short story Who Goes There? I’ve not read that story, it’s always been on my to-do list, and last night I found out there was a Kickstarter to get the notes and whatever that was Who Goes There by John W. Campbell turned into the whole novel Frozen Hell. But the author of the video pointed something out that made me decide not to invest in it. And the current times and quick ability for authors to get their words out there, for good or ill, is making me realize. When I was originally thinking of this I had better, more witty ways to say this. But I’ve slept and so this is the post you get. Guess I should have struck while the iron was hot. Oh well. So, John W. Campbell was racist, I say that because he’s deceased. But he’s not the only author who has tanked their product with views that the rest of the world doesn’t get along with. For instance, I love Altered Carbon. The idea and everything about it. But like J. K. Rawling he’s come out as Anti-Trans. And boy oh boy is Rawlings really wrecking her brand by continuing to keep yapping. Orson Scott Card nearly tanked Ender’s Games and had to go on numerous shows and say that he had little to do with the movie and maybe you should forget he’s horribly homophobic and give the brutal oppression of children in space a chance. Lovecraft is a pretty well known horrible individual, but it could be argued that was the time. What excuse do these current folks have? The thing is, once you open your trap and start spewing shit, it sticks around. And I know my stuff doesn’t stink, but I’ve never said anything that I view that controversial. But then I’m a nobody and no one cares what I think. My thoughts on taxing billionaires out of existence, and healthcare for everyone and a future that’s better for everyone is only in content with those who are, generally, horrible people. I’ve seen plenty of people who feel bad about buying Rawling’s books in the past, or watching the movies, and then feeling bad when she keeps shooting off her mouth repeating TERF talking points and recently something about non binary. Frankly I don’t pay attention to the bigot because I have far more important things to focus on. But it’s meant that I won’t ever support anything she’s done. That revenue stream isn’t going to impact her big picture at all. But here’s the thing, if you bought it and liked it before the author became a whack job, that’s great. Keep enjoying the work, but think long and hard about continuing to support them. I’m a huge fan of Persons of Interest, and I knew Jim Caviezel was right wing. I mean, he’s played Jesus in something more than once. And there is nothing wrong with being proud of your religion and acting on it. That’s why we have Battlefield Earth with John Travolta. But when I started to hear that he as an actor was rough with the dog, to the point where they had to cut scenes with him and Bear I was a bit disappointed, but chocked it up to him being maybe one of those guys who doesn’t really interact with animals much so he’s not as gentle as he could be. Then he started strumping for Trump and stating he’s the next messiah not to mention his love of QAnon. And well… I’d already bought all of the Persons of Interest and there was no point getting rid of a perfectly good series cause the dude was a fuckwit. But his latest movie Sound of Freedom, something I was actually interested in, gets a hard pass. I live in a capitalist society. So there’s only two ways I can really protest something. Vote against it in the voting booth, or close my wallet. And that’s something I don’t think a lot of author’s realize. Is that when you start spouting stuff you should take a good hard look at what you stand for and if you’re ok with those people supporting you. I know if I published a novel and suddenly white supremacists or racists started using me as a talking point I’d not be comfortable with that. I know it sounds stupid when I say, “I have some black friends,” but it’s true. I have 2 good African American friends I still talk to. One would probably be my best man if I hadn’t transitioned. I grew up in a mostly white suburb, so my interactions with people of color was minor. But regardless I made friends with others outside my immediate circle and I’m glad for it. And in the case of my Hispanic friend, she’s an extravert, and being an introvert, she basically adopted me into her friend circle. I guess I’m just trying to say, don’t be an asshole. Think before you speak, because you will be judged by others. And while I don’t want to be loved by everyone, I’m more than happy burning some bridges, I do want to at least be something of a role model. Someone that a young kid could pick up my books and say “I get this, I relate.” And when they go to do research on me find that the worst thing I did was litter or that I jaywalked. That I wasn’t advocating for ripping babies from their mothers arms to throw into a fire to power some infernal capitalist machine that made some sort of drink. Now, for those of you who don’t like litterbugs or jaywalkers, I profusely apologize for my inability to obey traffic signals and signs about staying off the grass. Incorrigibly yours, J.E. Flint
Prolific Writers My brother reads more than I do, which is rather humorous. He's an artist who has a nine-to-five job where he has to go somewhere to do physically demanding work. So on his breaks and on his lunch, he reads books on his phone. And an author he reads a lot is Brandon Sanderson. I have nothing against the guy, I haven't read it. But my brother mentioned that in COVID he had created four or five novels. Sanderson is, by all rights, a prolific writer. Just a quick glance through his Wikipedia page shows he's got at least 18 novels. Not counting the work he did for Wheel of Time and others. Publishing Beyond Death And this brought up the topic of legacy of a writer. Many years ago I worked with a guy who had roomed with one of Stephen King's nephews or nieces, I don't recall which, and he said that King was so prolific that he had books locked in a vault not to be released until his death. Because he didn't think they were up to his current quality. So like Tupac, King will be releasing best sellers for years after his death. In theory Sanderson has something similar. Apparently he has full outlines for his works that his chosen protégé can pick up and run with. Which is both fascinating and disturbing. Outline Approaches I outline a little, not a lot, because I tend to wing a lot of what I'm doing. I do world building and character backgrounds and soundtracks but I'm not sure someone could pick up my outline for say Tormented By A Goddess and get it across the finish line. It has the key beats but I feel like planning outlines too far out into the future you're likely to start straying from it when you finally get there. If you're super detailed and specific you certainly make it easier for someone to come and pick up your work. But if it's just the barest of outlines, hitting the high points, you can lose something in the translation. So it makes me wonder what Sanderson is doing. Does he script everything to be super tight and they can just be picked up and chunked out? Or has he just hit the high notes and he's hoping to get there while still alive? Writing Longevity The life expectancy of humans is supposed to be going up, and in theory, as long as your brain is still working you can write, or dictate, for a novel to be written. But I know in the case of the mockingbird author, Harper Lee, there are rumors they kept writing even with dementia. But short of some sort of mental inability to, a writer can write well into their twilight years. And it's not uncommon for a son/daughter to continue the legacy. Take Dune for instance. Famous Unfinished Works So, if Sanderson dies unexpectedly we can still expect to see that his name or at least his ideas will continue for awhile. Now, the true question is… What about George R. R. Martin? What's his backup plans for his Game of Thrones series? He's been taking longer and longer to get his work finished so I wouldn't be surprised to see that he's going to have to pass the torch on to someone else. As for me? Well I'm a nobody, so let's see if I ever get published instead of self-published before we start wondering who is going to take my silly ideas and run with them. ________________________________________ Incorrigibly yours, J.E. Flint
The Indie Writing Circle When I was in the indy's writer group of Indianapolis, meeting every Saturday at the main branch of the Indianapolis public library, it struck me as odd that the people in the group stayed in niche markets. Not calling out any names, I consider them friends, and I generally thought they were all good authors in their own regards. But it struck me as odd that they didn't seem to have a desire to try other genres. Now, at the time I wasn't really any better. I kept throwing alien Sci-Fi stories. Mostly because when I was in college sharing work I was frequently told to "stay in my lane" when it came to writing certain things. For instance, I suck at poetry. I absolutely can't do them. Doesn't mean I don't appreciate a well-constructed Haiku or a stanza about radishes. But it always struck me as very odd that the people didn't want to share their genre. The Multi-Genre Dream I knew early on that I was going to write a horror novel, some romance, maybe a thriller or two. I didn't want to tie myself down to just one genre. Now in certain professional cases, Stephen King and J.K. Rowling, they developed a nom de plume to hide their other works for a time. Rowling with Detective Novels and King with Bachman writing Bachman stories. I didn't like the idea of moving from pen name to pen name for a genre. But I knew also that certain genres were very demanding as to what went into them. For instance some of them absolutely won't let you join their little club as long as you're a member at another writing club. I tried long ago to join the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America when I was working on The Chronicles of Loth webcomic. But because it was self reported and a webcomic that didn't count to join the club. I probably still can't join because my three novels combined have earned I think 500 dollars. Which isn't a lot. The Specialization Problem So why then, did so few of these starting authors stay out of other genres? Why is it that a mind or style gets so siloed that they only work on a particular type? Not that this is wrong. Tolkien was an absolutely fantastic fantasy author, if you like stories about tree leaves and walking. Asimov had great and fun stories, such as the I, Robot items. I think it's because just like most things in life, the Jack of All Trades is dying. There isn't much call for a person to write a horror novel and then turn around and publish a mystery thriller. Anymore you're going to get a blend of the two, but it's going to be heavily featured in one area or the other. And so early on the writer thinks they must be true to a certain genre. Freedom in Obscurity But most of us aren't getting paid, not seriously paid, to write. So why shouldn't we have fun and write a story about throwing a love potion at a werewolf? Why shouldn't we write about the kids who are solving the mystery of where their neighbor went only to find out it's a straight up horror thing and they're now locked in a life and death battle with a set of mannequins that have come from the future? The other thing, because the literary market is filled with somebodies hoping to be found that experimentation can potentially hurt your burgeoning career. Which is why folks like King wrote under the name Bachman. Because for a bit, it protects them and lets them hone the craft in multiple ways. But no secret like that can be kept for long, at some point you find out that the detective novelist wrote a thrilling coming of age story about some poor English boy that sold millions and was made into a movie. Maybe it was intentionally spilled that they wrote detective novels, maybe some super sleuth put together that a particular turn of phrase seems very on the nose for another author. Or maybe it's as simple as the checks going to the same bank account. The Market's Narrow Vision So, my dear reader. Why aren't we letting authors flex their mental might? Why aren't we encouraging them to become the next Grisham AND George R. R. Martin? Because the market doesn't want an average author in multiple fields. They want a super author in their field, be it science fiction/fantasy, romance or detective novels. As for myself, since I'm nobody I don't have anyone but the people who bought my book to disappoint. So, bear with me while I meander my way through the creative world. Incorrigibly yours, J.E. Flint
The Great AI Debate I'm a no one, freely admitted. There is no reason to follow me or even listen to my words. But I will say that I have watched a very spirited debate in the reddit writing communities about the latest tool in our arsenal. That's right. I'm talking about AI. There are folks who view this as akin to selling your soul to the devil for even daring to think about using this. And there are others who argue that it's not evil and is to be used and turned into a tool for your use. I, gentle user, am of the opinion that why should a tool not be used when it's needed? The False Arguments Against Tools Some folks, myself included, write while listening to music. I can't tell you how often I've seen an article that has stated that if you need a playlist you're not serious about writing and not to waste anyone's time. I present you another argument. "If you use an Agent to get published you're not serious about this." Absurd right? Anyone who knows the industry knows that if you don't have an agent you're not likely to get anywhere. Sure we have outliers like Stephenie Meyer who can submit an entire book and get luckily picked. Most of us aren't that lucky. The industry is generally against the independent. The Value of Tools in Writing So why would you throw a tool away? A good editor is 50+ dollars an hour and you have to tell them specifically what you want from them. Be it mechanics, be it plot, be it syntax. And the editor focuses on specific things and if you want them to look at something not in their wheelhouse then you're going to get charged for it or you're going to be out of luck. My first novel didn't get an editor and it shows. A Goddess's Gifts and Altered Realities got editors and they're much better books for it. I still haven't broken even at the time of writing this for either of those works. Should I discard the editor as a tool? Of course not. AI as Another Writing Tool AI in most of its applications is a godsend for us. Is it wrong to have it produce a 50,000 word youth novel? I believe so. Is it wrong to be an alpha reader? No. Is it wrong for it to help you with your grammar? No. I was using Grammarly for several years for my writing; it's gotten noticeably crappier now that it's more AI dominated. AI will not replace your fundamentals. If you don't have creativity then it's going to be a pretty lackluster story. How I Use AI Anymore I use AI for help with plotting stuff out. I throw out a question to it, and because it's 2 or 3 in the morning and I know no sane person would be up to answer me, it can. I pay for it. And I know that in some cases I'm training the program for others. This isn't necessarily a problem. I've tried a number of AI writing programs. My favorite is SudoWriter. More because I can throw all my stuff into an organized "folder" and it's there. It's essentially a backup for my Google Drive. The Limitations of AI AI from what I've seen is a thirsty creature, it loves to write smut. But it's not good at it. I like to think I know a thing or two about smut since I wrote two novels where that was pretty heavy in it. That's probably because the people who are using it are writing fan fictions and self-insert stories. I tried using NovelAI to rewrite a Ranma 1/2 lemon I did from my youth. And let me tell you, it took a lot to keep it on task. It would forget within a paragraph that something had happened to Akane and have her show up in scenes that were between say Shampoo and Uchan. The Bottom Line AI isn't going to take your creative job if you don't let it. The people who are churning out AI stories to flood the market are the same type of people who rush a Direct to DVD movie of something that sounds similar to the movie you want to watch. For instance when Transformers came out I saw a ton of stuff for Transmorphers. Just be smart about using the tool at hand. A hammer is a hammer. AI is a tool, it's not to the point that they are perfectly capable of mimicking human emotions. At least that's what I should say as a human who is clearly writing this and not having a program do it for me. Incorrigibly yours, J. E. Flint
The Blogging Struggle I always make the excuse I'm bad at blogging and social media. It just requires me to be more consistent about it. I can set schedules on my phone to remind me that I should publish a blog every week. That's what I'm going to have to do. I've been learning Spanish and Japanese with a refresher in German on Duolingo for the past 100 days, and it's become a healthy habit. They say it's 30 days to make something a habit, but my brain is not wired to work that way. I only do the Duolingo thing because it pops up on my phone at 7am every morning. I expect that at any time, I'm going to just swipe away the Duolingo thing and go about my day. There have been a few times where I've come close, but instead, I hit remind me later. Learning for Learning's Sake And what does that say if the only reason I started on a task to better myself, learning Spanish and Japanese, was to give my brain some much-needed learning? No one forced me; I recently added French into the mix, and I can't wait to upset multiple people with how bad my French, Spanish, and Japanese are. It's not like I'm going to use them in my day-to-day life. I only know one person who speaks fluent Spanish, and we do not talk on a daily basis. I don't know anyone who speaks French. I took German in college and high school and just want a refresher. As for Japanese, I have a friend who's learning it with me, but we don't really speak Japanese to each other. Just silly stuff like "Nani?". You know, typical anime crap. The Learning Habit I like to learn, and that might be the only habit that's stuck in my childhood. From documentaries on serial killers, true crime, and lore drops on Warhammer 40k. I watch videos about finance and crypto markets. But none of that will really ever go into my writing; at least, I don't think it will. Oh, and leveling up in video games. Just sitting there grinding Albinaurics in Palace Overlook in Elden Ring for an hour or two while I talk to friends on Discord. It's not like I need to kill those frog people things... and they're only dropping like 6,000 runes. I just do it. I certainly didn't need to be level 333 to beat Elden Ring for the third time, but I was. I was 111 for the Ranni achievement and 222 for the Frenzied Flame achievement, and I only did the normal one because that was all that stopped me from playing a game. Redirecting Habits to Writing I could have put that time into Editing, a task I don't like. It's way more fun to write. But again, that's a habit I have to get into. So, the habits I've got to improve on are Social Media engagement, Blogging, and Editing. In some of those, I have tools to help. For social media, I use Buffer to post to the vast majority of my feeds with a single click. It makes it so much easier to go to one site, write it up, and then push a button to schedule them all. For Editing, I primarily use Grammarly to catch mistakes. I've been working on my latest of many novels, I Am Not a Kobold, and editing them chapter by chapter after I finish the next chapter. For instance, I just finished chapter 9, and I have been going back through chapters 1 through 5 so far. Reviewing what's going on, expanding in areas, clarifying in others. There are tons of AI tools I could be using to help with my grammar, I'm sure. Gods know there's tons of AI for writing. I've tried more than a few of them, and they all have certain flaws in them. I only use Grammarly to avoid the 50 dollars an hour for a professional. I'm not made of money. I wish I was, but I have a nine-to-five job to pay for my house, and that takes precedence. The Stream of Consciousness I don't really know what this blog post was supposed to be. It just goes to show I'm not a professional writer who can look at a blank page and say, "This is my blog." I originally was going to talk about Elden Ring and its lore, but then I was like, I can talk about mental help. So, just expect weird blog posts until I have an idea of what is going on. It's like the Livejournal era all over again. Incorrigibly yours, J. E. Flint
Setting Expectations Like a lot of people I went to see Age of Ultron opening weekend. I'm not going to be blasting the film, but I will put out there point blank that one of the best movies I've ever seen was Iron Man and I only gave it four out of five stars. I'm a notoriously harsh critic, just ask my friends. And this post is probably not going to earn me any cred with most people because I'm going to bash icons in it, and I won't give away spoilers while doing so. The Villain Problem First off, from a fangirl perspective Ultron was the wrong choice to have for a 2nd movie villain. I wish that in the marvel movies they'd sat down and planned and made better use of their villains. A few devious lines of dialogue some nearly off camera shots of Kang the Conqueror would have been a true treat for those fans who know about the avengers and set us up for Avengers 3. Now that said Ultron is a big villain in the Avengers continuity and has been fought multiple times. The image I'm using for this is part of the Annihilation Conquest, it's a cool picture. But he's certainly not the baddest villain they could be fighting. On an aside I'm honestly going to be disappointed when Thanos gets taken apart by the Guardians of the Galaxy, which I have issues with the portrayal of those characters in the movie to begin with. I honestly don't know who I would have picked for a follow up villain and I'm glad it wasn't Loki. I don't want them going back to the well too often with him. Ultron's Character Misstep The reason I don't believe Ultron should have been the second villain is simple, build up. He comes out of left field in this and just sorta acts like a wrecking ball with a snarky attitude. I instantly began to dislike Ultron in the movie when he started to be jokey. You pull me out of the movie when a character who is normally pretty straight laced becomes a jokester. What has happened to Hollywood where the smooth sophisticated villain is now seen as being unworthy of their time? My only complaint about Daredevil is Kingpin and how he stutters through his lines and generally acts like he doesn't want to be there. Just my opinion but the only thing the Kingpin teaches me as he is now is dude has an impressive temper and he's somewhat capable of planning. Ultron who should be this force to be reckoned with comes off as half cocked and perhaps a little bit insane. Which kudos for making him seem insane, insanity is a very hard thing to hit for bad guys. You either get lame attempts like Heath Ledger's Joker, deal with it he was a terrible Joker and only got vaulted into super stardom because he died, or you get jokes like when Gollum had his heart to heart. Plot Predictability All in all the movie isn't terrible. It's perhaps pretty tight, except that it suffers from the fact that because Marvel has announced which sequels are coming out you know whose not dying. Oh no they killed someone within five minutes of the movie and over the top foreshadowed that someone's going to die, but it's not that person!, that it's sort of laughable. RDJ and Evans are coming back for respective movies, Thor's going to have a new movie. The only characters not mentioned in having direct movies are Widow, Hawkeye and Hulk. And thank god we're not getting another hulk movie. It's the friggin' Hulk. He's a boring character with little to no character growth nine times out of ten. Let him sit on the back of the bus like he did in this movie and lets give more time to… I don't… the guy who was playing Galaga. In my heart I'm calling that guy Eric O'Grady for he shall always be an irredeemable ant-man to me. So why should we care that Ultron's going to destroy everything we've built in the previous movies? Good question, I can't answer that because I know even before going to the movie that Ultron is going to be defeated. I don't have to give you spoilers. If you're paying attention to the marvel release schedule you already know Ultron is a stop gap. The best you can hope for is that he's a good villain. Style Over Substance? And AoU doesn't really let most people down on that. His styling is cool, his voice is awesome but for me he's not as menacing as he could be. He's like Cobra Commander. You know he's trying, but you're just not expecting much out of him. I mean he is a world class buffoon, Destro told me so and how do you argue with a man whose face is metal? Without giving any spoilers away the Age of Ultron is a good popcorn movie, and for the casual marvel fan it's good. But for the fangirl in me it's not quite there yet. Now don't get me wrong. I loved Loki in the first Avengers. But Loki has always been a character about mischief and I expect a certain amount of levity. Whedon's terrible on the whole for story development, but credit where credit is due, man is great at snappy one liners. I could be wrong, it's been known to happen. But I keep expecting the Marvel Cinematic Universe to unravel. The Comic Book Movie Challenge Comic books can make great movies but they have to be done just right. And I suspect we're about to watch DC try this and flop because they're not approaching it as what you need to do to make these series work. Same with Sony and spider-man. When you've got a comic book you have to walk that fine balancing line of movie and comic book story. For instance everyone was clamoring for Venom in the 3rd spider-man movie. Less is more. Dropout Sandman, tease the black Venom suit. Make James Franco, so good, into the movie villain. Have him use the power of media, his money and his supervillain go get'em attitude to really put the screws to Petey. Pete kills Harry in his new emo suit and then in the 4th movie… and only then when this new black suited spider-man has gone too far do you reveal that Pete's no longer in control. You make the entire fourth movie about Venom. Final Verdict Now back to AoU. It's a good movie, you should see it. But it's only a good movie. It's not great its story doesn't really do anything but move from point A to point B. Heck there's a number of fights I couldn't watch because it was just left right left right drop the mike, of course that could have been because I had some idiot teens trying and failing to MST3k the movie, and it's off to the next scene. On the whole I don't believe you'll be disappointed. As for me, I'll probably see it again if my friends ask to go see it again but I won't go out of my way to rewatch it. So at best it's a solid 3. At worst it's a 2.5 out of five. Incorrigibly yours, J.E. Flint
