I’m not usually one to pay attention to the short film circuit, but I really enjoyed this one:
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I personally found this disturbing and insulting: Yes, yes, the ad was intentionally absurdist. But with a myriad of environmental laws already on the books, and proposed laws against everything from light bulbs to paper bags, how far is it from the truth? I hear Australia is in already in the process of banning incandescent light bulbs, with failure to comply meaning criminal charges. Does it not disturb anybody else that a group that could be called an “environmental SS” is portrayed in a positive light? This even disturbed people who self-identified as environmentalists; with one New York Times writer saying, “This misguided spot put the ‘mental’ in ‘environmental.’” Update: This could be unintentionally more disturbing then I thought; somebody on the Audi Facebook page brought up this historical tidbit:
I did some quick research via Wikipedia and verified this peice of history (at least, as much as Wikipedia can verify something.) So, now we have a fascist police force with the same nickname as a group that helped carry out the Holocaust breaking into peoples homes, using spies to gather intel (at the market), searching random homes and cars apparently without warrants, and hauling people away to God knows where to face God knows what punishment (and did anybody see any hint of miranda rights?) And these are the good guys? I know I’ve said this too much already but: disturbing.
The story follows Alex, an unsuccessful artist living in modern America who one night, saves a women’s life; after which some crazy stuff happens and he’s pulled into struggle that could decide the fate of humanity and blah blah blah. I won’t ruin the story for anybody, because there’s some exiting stuff here, and a decent amount of peril (unclimatic ending notwithstanding.) The best part of the book, set in an insane asylum, works perfectly. Unfortunately, there’s a good deal of stuff that doesn’t work. Alex is a painter, which should have come of well considering Goodkind is also a painter, but it simply falls flat. A good character should bring you into the mindset of their passions; like Howard Roark in The Fountainhead or Merthin in World Without End. Alex seems more like a retiree that took up painting as a hobby rather then a man who devoted his life to his craft. The love story is fun, but I never felt myself getting overly involved. While this is a fantasy novel at heart, it’s paced very much like a Lee Child novel. A thriller novel must be written differently then a fantasy novel; certain indulgences that work in fantasy stop thriller novels in their tracks (like multi-page speeches that are not integrated with a theme.) When writing a thriller story that only spans a few days, the writing must be tight and always purposeful, or else you risk losing the tension. And that’s when the central flaw of this novel comes to light. Goodkind clearly wants to write a thriller novel in the vein of Vince Flynn or Lee Child (sprinkled with fantasy elements), but the story is too epic for the narrow focus of the novel. It’s like Lord of the Rings being turned into a cheap soup opera; it just leaves you unsatisfied because of the unfulfilled promises. This is a novel with grand scheming, epic wars, a coming dark age, and monstrous villains; most of which are only hinted at, and all of which are solved by a couple of bullets and a last minute trick that lacked any cleverness. As I said above, the story is a shocking parallel to Wizard’s First Rule, so much so that I think there is meaning behind it. I have a few theories, and Goodkind does well to lay the foundation and hint at what is to come without distracting from the story. I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt to this book; and this is just act 1 of a much wider story. But as it stands, this is a very average modern thriller novel that was very clearly written by a fantasy writer with little experience in the genre. It interested me enough to read the whole thing; and despite my less-then-enthusiastic opinion of the novel, I’ll probably pick up the sequel, should there ever be one. What can I say? I just can’t quit Goodkind. A little earlier then I promised, but I wanted to share some of these before they got stale: 1. How Obama Got Keynes Wrong. Just becasue Keyne’s ideas are used as justification for a myriad of statist ideas doesn’t mean Keynes himself was a bad man. 2. Politicians in Wonderland. It’s fun to talk about how politicians spew contradictory nonsense, but in the end you have to realize that it is the public that lets them get away with it. 3. Looking into the Past. This is incredibly clever, and very poignant.
4. Axe Cop. Have you ever wondered what would happen if you took a story written by a five year old and had it illustrated by his 29 year old brother? Me neither, but as it turns out, it’s pretty funny.
5. The Renewed War Against Freedom of Speech. I find that if a politicians says the right things, they can get away with just about anything. Anti-cooperate messages have been the vogue for more then a century, though I sense they are beginning to become unpopular. Like posting quotes, I feel links are something of a waste of room. I was gonna use Twitter to give out new links, but I can’t get Twitter on my phone and simply don’t go on it enough. So, I decided to devote a post about every two weeks to links that I enjoy (unless, of course, I come upon something really exiting.) 1. Will Creativity Rule the World? A little light on valid references but his thinking is sound. 2. Old and New Environmental Myths When I was in grade-school, I was told by my teachers that, by the time I was an adult, I would have to wear thick sunscreen if I ever wanted to go outside because of the depletion of the ozone. I wonder what kids are learning today. 3. Decriminalizing Marijuana. It’s hard to think of any policy that is more of an obvious failure then this nations drug laws. I’m glad there is a trend to get rid of modern prohibition. 4. Improve, Don’t Protect, the Environment. The ‘leave only footprints’ brand of environmentalism has hogged the limelight for too long; I’m glad to see people drifting away from it (Though I’m willing to admit I hang around too many Transhuminists.)
I’d really like to see animation develop as an art form in America. I’d like to see animated movies as just another stylistic variant producers choose to employ. Luckily, I live in a wonderful time where this seems to be happening, at least to some degree. Hugely successful movies like Avatar (which is essentially animated) are bridging the gap, and producers are starting to see adult oriented animation as less of a risk. But I want to make one thing clear: when I talk about “mature animation” I don’t mean “adults-only animation”; I mean that it has evolved beyond the “just for Kids” label that has been stuck with it for years; that it deals with advanced characters, stories, and themes. I consider Pixar’s Up ‘mature animation’, even though it is appropriate for nearly all audiences. Of course, breaking that ‘PG barrier’ is a part of animation’s evolution. Exemplified no better then this proposed project: Now, there’s no guarantee that this project will make it to the big screen, but if it did, it would certainly be a great deal different then what American audiences have seen before. An animated movie for adults that doesn’t attempt photo-realism is a rarity. Ultimately, its the story that will determine its success, not its format, and I know very little about A.D.; beyond its tone and style. Still, I find myself wishing it will be made, if only to advance animation one step further. As for other trends that I think are positive: I like that we are starting to see more variety in the types of animation used. For awhile there 3D animation ruled the coop, but this seems to be changing. This year the Oscar’s “best Animated Film” features two stop motion pictures, two hand-drawn, and one 3D. Also nominated is The Secret of Kells, which shows you what animators can do with a small budget and a clever adoption of style and voice-acting: I know I promised that I wouldn’t fill up my blog with ‘quotes of the day’ and the like, but since making that promise I’ve realized that I really am quite lazy, and quote-posts are very easy. Plus, there are so many good quotes out there, I really can’t resist. So, I decided a quote-post about every two-weeks feels just right. Here’s the first:
See, that was fun. So fun - in fact - that I think I’ll give you a bonus quote. Here you go:
I thought the classic political spectrum had a few flaws, so I made my own:
In all seriousness, some people have already tried to re-work the political spectrum. This has been my experience, at least:
I love new technological ideas, even if they turn out to be wrong; no failure is wasted in the world of technology or science. Progress tends to come of a lot of people trying a lot of different things in an independent environment; in the world of technology this is even more so. This ‘new’ idea is actually an old one; it involves shooting a projectile into space from what is essentially a 3,600 ft long gun.
I don’t know much about engineering for space-travel, or the physics behind such proposals, but I have ask some basic questions. First, how is the object going to be retrieved once in space? Is the rate-of-acceleration going to hurt the contents? And is their any control once fired? I’m sure there’s tons of reasons why this might fail or why it might be impractical; but I like it. It’s at least as realistic as any space elevator idea I’ve ever heard (which, granted, isn’t saying a great deal.) |
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Copyright © 2010 Ryan’s Rantings - All Rights Reserved |
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When reading The Law of Nines, I have to admit I felt a bit lied to. I was promised a “stand alone modern novel” and ended up getting a novel that was: 1) very much a fantasy story and, 2) completely connected to Terry Goodkind’s other works. In fact, it’s more then connected, its almost reflective. The book’s characters and plot so parallel Wizard’s First Rule that I have to believe that it was intentional.
