On American Remakes of International Films

I've decided one of the best ways to decide what movie to watch is to find out what international movies are being remade by Hollywood, and then watch the international version instead. Denisa and I watched La Chevre the other night (IMDB rating: 7.1), a very fun French film that was later remade as Pure Luck, with Martin Short and Danny Glover (IMDB rating: 5.1. See a difference?).

I had seen the remake years ago, and I remembered enjoying it as a light piece of fluff. So when I saw La Chevre pop up on Netflix Instant, I decided to give it a whirl, and I'm very glad I did. The premise is simple: a very unlucky girl goes missing, and so a very unlucky man is sent after her to find her. They're both unlucky in the extreme. If one chair is broken among fifty, they'll inevitably choose that chair to sit in. Accidents happen wherever they go. All the time.

The French original has a lot of really creative bits in it. Not quite a family film (Pure Luck was, as I recall)--it's got some risque elements, but nothing that pushes the PG-13 boundaries. Definitely a fun three stars, where the remake was maybe 2 or 2.5.

So many people complain that film adaptations are never as good as the books they're based on. That's debatable in my book--comparing oranges to apples. A fair fight is American remakes to their international counterparts. I've watched a fair number in my time, and they're always worse. 13 Tzameti, La Femme Nikita, Seven Samurai, Let the Right One In, The Orphanage--all great movies. All remade for America, because apparently American audiences don't like to read subtitles.

Sigh.

What's so bad about subtitles? They're tons better than dubbing, which just ruins a movie for me. You can still get a sense of the original acting, the emotion, the mood, through subtitles. A sense you lose when you dub. And when you remake the entire film . . .

Look at it this way. The original was made by people who felt passionate about the material, typically. They created the idea from infancy on. The remakers? They took the idea fully formed, then xeroxed it into a different language. A copy is never as good as the original. Sure, you have cases where the remake is done with care and effort. Sometimes you end up a with a really good end result, but more often than not? Dreck. Take a 4 star movie and turn it into a 3 star. It's a travesty.

Or am I just a film snob?

Such is my lot in life.

Anybody out there got any remakes they really loved? Or ones they just hated once they were remade? Please share--what to watch, and what to avoid.

On Being Interviewed by a Reporter

As some of you saw in my Facebook and Twitter feeds, I had an interview today with a reporter from the Lewiston Sun Journal. She plans on having an article in tomorrow's paper, so you can check there in the morning and see how it ended up.

It wasn't a particularly long interview--maybe 25 minutes or so. But it did feel kind of surreal, in a "why in the world does this woman actually want to interview me" sort of a way. Don't get me wrong--I'm glad to have been interviewed, and I'd happily do it again. It's just that I still don't really feel like an "author."

Of course, I'm not sure when that feeling will finally set in--or if it ever will. When I go to conferences and sit on panels, when I go to dinners with other authors, I feel like an author then for a bit. An hour or two. But then I leave the dinner or the panel ends, and I'm back to just being me.

I think that's the way life is a lot of the time. You think that when you get something you've wanted for a long time--when you finally reach a goal or finish a long task--that you'll Feel Different. Not that trumpets will blare or someone will pop out from around a corner with balloons and confetti, but that something will change. There will be a difference in the you before that event and the you afterward.

There's no difference.

I wrote for 11 years without being published by a New York publisher. I've now had a book in print for a little over a week. I've got 10 years of experience being an aspiring author, 1 year of experience being a soon-to-be-published author, and now 1 week of experience being a published author.

I guess it makes sense that I still feel like a pretender.

Or maybe it's that I keep waiting for someone to pop out from around the corner with a camera to tell me that this was all an elaborate prank.

In any case, that's all I have for you today. See ya'll tomorrow. (Or not--I'll be in Boston for much of the day. Not sure if I'll have something for the blog or not. So keep an eye out for that newspaper article. It might be all you get from me.)

And mega-kudos to you if you get the movie film reference for today. I went pretty out there this time.

A Ramble on Race, Violence, and Uninformed Opinions

Ah geez. I'm probably going to hate myself for posting about this later, but what's the point in having a blog if you don't wade into controversial subjects now and then? Trayvon Martin. I know not all of you who read this blog follow the news too closely, so let me sum up the case as I understand it right now. Trayvon, a 17 year-old black kid, was walking home near Orlando. He had on a hooded sweatshirt, and he was carrying a bag of Skittles and a bottle of ice tea. A half-white, half-Latino man (George Zimmerman) saw Trayvon and thought he looked suspicious. He called 911 to report this suspicion, and started following Trayvon, despite the fact that 911 told him he didn't need to do that. Oh yeah--and Zimmerman was carrying a gun.

Something happened in the next few minutes. It's not clear what. What is clear is that at the end of those minutes, Trayvon was shot and killed.

In the aftermath, no small number of people have spoken out about this case, and it's proving to be quite the firestorm. You've got people accusing the media of painting Zimmerman in an unfavorable light. He wasn't racist. He was a loving father. They're using unflattering pictures of him to make him look like a criminal. And other people launch in on the other side. The press is being too light on Trayvon. They're using flattering pictures of him to make him look innocent. He'd been suspended from school. And so on and so on.

I'm not here to say what side is right and what side is wrong. Why? Because like almost all of the people commenting on the case, I don't live anywhere near Florida, let alone Orlando. I didn't know Trayvon, and I don't know Zimmerman. It's understandable that after the fact, both Trayvon and Zimmerman have all sorts of people speaking up about what great people they were or are. That's what people do when bad things happen to people they like. The thing is, there's always something good to say about people. It has no real bearing on what the person was actually like in that moment.

Do wonderful people murder in a moment of rage and fear? Yes.

Do wonderful people strike out at strangers in a moment of rage and fear? Yes.

Did that happen in this case? I have no idea, and neither do you, in all likelihood.

But wait--I'm not done. Because to all the people saying "This case is irrelevant," because of various and sundry reasons, I'd say anytime you get something that causes this big of a firestorm, it's hardly irrelevant. What is irrelevant is why it started, at this point. Trayvon could have beat Zimmerman within a breath of his life, with no provocation whatsoever, and that wouldn't matter at this point. (Please note--I'm not saying he did. Please note--I'm not saying he didn't.) The boulder's rumbling down the mountain, and all the "But ______ is what really happened" in the world ain't gonna stop it.

And why did it get to this point?

Because this case sheds light on a reality. Minorities are judged and forced to live by a different set of standards than non-minorities.

Fact.

You can clamor all you want that you're not a racist, and that the world has moved on, and that everyone should just be judged by their actions, not their skin color or sexual orientation or gender. Ain't gonna make a difference to that singular fact.

Let's take race out of this for a moment, and see if it look any different on either side. I'll paint two scenarios, trying to make them as one-sided as possible. Seventeen year old kid is walking home wearing a hoodie. Adult male thinks he looks suspicious, calls it in. ('Cause hoodies, like it or not, freak some people out apparently.) Adult male follows the kid.

Scenario A: Kid tries to get away. Adult confronts him more. Kid defends himself by taking a swipe at the adult (Zimmerman's nose didn't break itself, people), and adult shoots and kills the kid.

Scenario B: Kid goes up and confronts adult. Knocks him to the ground and starts banging his head into the pavement. Adult shoots and kills the kid.

Now, let's take away the fact that Zimmerman looks like a guy who can take care of himself in a fist fight. And the fact that Trayvon looks like he'd have a hard time going up against a guy of Zimmerman's size. I can see scenarios where both of these play out. Where Zimmerman's the victim who narrowly escaped, or where Trayvon is the victim who died. (As much as people like to say 17 year-olds are children, I've met some pretty darn scary 17 year-olds. Again--not saying Trayvon was one, but at night, in the dark?)

Back in the day when I read gas meters, I wasn't allowed to carry mace with me, despite the constant threat of dangerous dogs. (And ooh boy, do I have some dangerous dog stories.) Why wasn't I allowed to carry it? Because if I had it, I'd be macing the heck out of some pooches. I never was bit--though there were some scary close calls to being mauled. I never ended up needing the mace.

My point is that if you've got a gun with you, you're much likelier to end up shooting someone than if you don't have one. Did Zimmerman need to shoot Trayvon to save himself? Darned if I know.

But I don't want to turn this conversation into a debate on gun control laws. At this point, I'm not even sure where I want this conversation going.

I suppose my point is that I hope this all ends up helping the situation some. I hope all the attention this brings to racism helps further reduce the overall level of racism in this country.  I don't think it's going to wipe it away. Nothing will do that. I'm fairly certain that the more we know of the facts, the more muddled it will become.

It's easy to paint a villain when you don't know who the villain is. Once you know who that person is and what his background is--who is family is, what his hobbies are--once you make him an actual person . . . It's hard to see villains anymore.

What do I think of the Trayvon Martin case? I think it's a sad situation. One that's repeated across the country every day. Maybe not with Skittles and iced tea. Maybe not with bullets and bodies every time, but if you want to sit back and say that racism doesn't have a huge effect on this country, then I got a bridge I want to sell you while we're at it.

To the country as a whole at this point, the facts don't matter. Where we go from here, does. Instead of devoting so much energy to find out "what really happened," why don't we find out ways to keep thing like this--either Scenario A or B--from happening again?

Movie Reviews: Hugo and the Help

Two movie review days in a row. Whaddya know? Hugo and The Help have been sitting on my shelf waiting for watching for a week or two each now, and we can't have that, can we? Yes, I realize I'm hopelessly behind the times in reviewing these movies, but I'm betting I'm not the only one out there. Maybe you're behind, too? It's all good here at Bryce's Ramblings. We aim to please.

Ready?

First up, Hugo--a movie you sort of feel Obligated to Like, after all the tremendous buzz about it. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Did I think it was an incredible movie? Not by a long shot. It's just too slow, in my opinion. Slow to get going, plot-wise. Slow to resolve. It's a deliberate movie. For those of you who don't know, it's the story of an orphan boy and an automaton. Takes place in Paris. Lots of gears and clockwork going on, with a touch of steampunk (just a shade, though). The visuals are fantastic. This is one I regret not having seen 3D, because I think it would have been stunning, and the 3D might honestly have aided the film. (But if you're relying on 3D to aid the film, what does that say about your film?)

In the end, it was too sappy for me. Too filled with manipulation of the ol' heart strings. If I feel sad or happy in a film, I'd like that film to earn that emotion from me. This one? You feel bad for the main kid because he's a poor orphan trapped in a train station. I'd like to think I'm human enough to feel bad for any kid in that situation. Period.

I found the characters contrived and flat. There was no meat to them. I was told how to feel about them, and so that's how I felt.

I don't know--maybe it was an off night for me. The kids liked the movie. Denisa liked it. I thought it was just so so. Two and a half stars, and only that because of the visuals.

The Help, on the other hand, I really enjoyed--although I wasn't inclined to at the beginning. Something about the premise: rich white girl interviewing black maids in the segregation South--didn't sit right with me. I think it's the way the movie was introduced--with the girl starting the first interview right off. She comes across as so . . . snooty and oblivious, and I didn't like that. If the movie had kept that up, it would have lost me.

Thankfully it didn't. It had the sense to veer off and start exploring the lives of the maids themselves, which were much more interesting. (Whenever the movie came back to the white narrator, I lost some interest--that story line just wasn't nearly as captivating.)

What did I like about it? I liked the slice of life. It's the same thing that attracts me to Mad Men and other period pieces like Downton Abbey. I like seeing how other people lived, how they thought. Of course, I realize that this is all pop culture, and the depiction I see may be very different from what it was really like, but it's still something different--foreign to me. Does it have to be true to be instructional? I don't think so.

Watching the Help, and seeing the reaction people had to segregation in the south, makes the recent racist Hunger Games remarks that much more appalling. You'd like to think things like that don't happen anymore. You'd be wrong. Shocking and sad sad sad.

I wonder how a movie like The Help plays to a racist. If they see it and just turn it off, or if some of them watch it and are appalled by the behavior of the people in the film, not realizing they do the same thing themselves. Probably a bit of both, which then leads me to wonder if I do things like that. Judge people, treat people according to how I think they are rather than how I experience them to be, if that makes sense.

I must do it. You can try as hard as you like, but I still think that sooner or later, we all treat other people as objects and obstacles, rather than as people. The trick is being aware that you have a propensity--a lazy inclination to classify people into pre-made categories.

Sigh.

I'm getting too meta for myself, and I'm out of break time. Anything I say strike a chord or make you want to say something in response? Please feel free.

Movie Review: The Hunger Games

Denisa and I went to the movies this weekend once I was back from my conference. (Yes, I'm back. Yes, it went well. Yes, I'm glad to be back.) We were worried we wouldn't be able to get tickets to The Hunger Games, but we went to the late show, and got right in easily. (The theater was packed, though--we just were there in time for the tickets, then waited in line and got seats.)

But you don't care about that. You want to know what I thought of the movie.

First off, I loved the book. It was riveting--I read it in a frenzy of turning pages. (The second one wasn't as good as the first, but was still quite good. The third wasn't as good as the second. More on that later.)

The movie is an extremely faithful adaptation of the book. For some of you, that will be good news. For me and Denisa? How to put this? It was like opening a Christmas present for the second time. You can love that Christmas present a ton, but you've already opened it. The surprise--the joy of unwrapping--is gone. It's still the same present, but it's different. And in the case of the Hunger Games, that difference is big.

Most of what drives the first book--the whole series, for that matter--is Finding Out What Happens Next. Yes, Katniss is involving as a main character, but we really just want to know who dies next. Does she live? I watched the film version, and it was so faithful that I knew everything--everything--before it happened. I knew how people would act. I knew when it would be tense. I knew when I could take a bathroom break, if the need should arise.

Again, for some of you, that's just what you wanted to hear. For me? I couldn't help feeling a bit let down.

It's not that I wanted an extreme adaptation. No need for singing cats, or turning Katniss into a cyborg or something. But . . . I already read the book. Experienced the plot. Loved it, but I'm not going to reread the book tomorrow. No need. I still remember it. And watching this movie was much like rereading the book.

Don't get me wrong. The acting is well done. The action well constructed. It's tense, and moving. Seeing the action first hand--how these games are treating children like toys on a chess board--made an impact. (Although as a side note, can I just say the Shaky Cam was way overdone? Seriously. I could have filmed it with my iPad, and it would have been smoother. Not cool.)

It's the book, on film. But I can't help thinking some of you will notice the same thing. So many people clamor for a movie to recreate the book exactly. Will some people watch this and note that getting what you wish for isn't always all it's cracked up to be.

Some of you are asking what I would have done differently. I'm not a film maker, but I would have put some of myself into the movie. The plot doesn't have to change, but there's such a thing as artistic flair. I know this is making some of you bristle--it's not up to film makers to change the book when they're adapting it--but I'm telling you. 100% faithful ain't all it's cracked up to be. If I knew every movie adaptation I'd see was going to be like The Hunger Games was, I'd stop going to movie adaptations.

Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt.

All told? I give the film about 3 stars out of 4. Maybe 2.5. The thing is, a 2.5 or 3 star adaptation of a 4 star book is a let down. By definition.

So that's what I thought. Now how about the rest of you tell me why I'm wrong.

Thoughts on Washington DC

Last day at the conference. This is my second time at this conference in DC, but the last time, it was farther away from the city center. I somehow assumed the same was true this time--didn't even bother to check where the hotel was in relation to the rest of the city. Then I was planning on going to meet a high school friend down at his office, and I looked up how to walk there on a map. Bam! There was the White House, right next to it. I had no idea how easy it would be to get to the city center--I'd been doing it the past few days without even knowing it.
In conversation with my friend and others, I also discovered I'd come right at the peak of the Cherry Blossom Season. So that's what all those flowery trees are all around the city. Go figure. I took a walk over to the White House, checking out the trees and the Washington Memorial while I was at it. Definitely beautiful. (Little known facts I learned: LaFayette is not in the middle of LaFayette Square. That's Andrew Jackson. And the front of the White House is the one without the curved part. That's the back.)

We ate at a place called Old Ebbott, which is pretty much right next to the White House. I looked for famous people (a lot of Congressmen and big wigs go to eat there, or so I've been told), but I soon realized that I wouldn't recognize a famous Congressman or big wig if I saw one. Obama wasn't there. I can vouch for that. The food was fantastic, although that might also have been because I was wicked hungry. Who knows?

I've been to a lot of cities, relatively speaking. Not as many as some, but more than a lot, probably. I've spent multiple days in (let me think) New York, Prague, Munich, Vienna, Salzburg, Jerusalem, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Boston, Cairo, Amman, Leipzig, Dresden, Weimar, Bratislava, Paris, Dublin, London, Chicago, Albuquerque, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Austin, San Diego--I think those are all the cities of note I've visited. (Kind of a fun game, thinking about that.) Now I can add DC to the list, since I've been trekking around the city. Not exhaustively, but quite a bit.

My thoughts? I like it. I don't like it as much as the European cities, but it's got a lot of cool architecture, and there are tons of free things to do. (I'm all about the free things.) I think I'll try and come down again this summer with the fam. My kids would enjoy checking out the sights, and since my brother lives here, it's kind of a cheap trip. Drive down, stay for free. (The same goes for anyone who wants to come up to Maine. It's just that it seems not many people end up coming up to our corner of the country--although from February to May, we'll have had seven different people stay with us for about a month and a half of the time. So maybe more people visit us than I give them credit. Or maybe--more likely--that's an aberration.)

I'd love to go to the Smithsonian and the mall. The zoo. The capitol. Summer will be hotter, but such is life.

Why do I like DC? I really like how easy it is to get around. The Metro is extremely well done, and the city's also very walkable. (What's up with people not walking more? I walked a mile and a half from the hotel to the White House, and several people expressed surprise I'd walked that far instead of taking the Metro. It was gorgeous weather, and walking is free--remember, I'm all about the cheap. Plus--free exercise.)

I like that the buildings aren't terribly tall, so you don't really have the feeling of being in an enormous city the whole time. The people haven't been particularly friendly, but they aren't usually when it comes to big cities.
What could the city use more of? Open air cafes, and good ice cream. But then again, I'm a sucker for European cities, and those are some of the things I like most about those. That and the tendency of people to be in less of a rush. Here they are, living in an enormous, beautiful city, and so many people seem dead set on just getting where they're going as fast as possible.
In any case--it's been a good conference and a good trip. It helped to distract me from the burning wreckage that used to be my NCAA bracket. Sigh. Enough of that.

Question for you: have you been to DC? What did you think? What's your favorite city in the world? Why?

Help Me Design a Vodnik T-Shirt!

Still at the library conference, but what would a week be like if I didn't post something Vodnik-related? By this point, you're all addicted to those updates, aren't you? Probably getting the DT just waiting for a new one.

Well wait no longer.

I need some advice from you, actually. Since the book came out--strike that. Since the cover was announced, a response I keep getting from people is "Where can I get the T-Shirt the kid's wearing on the cover?"

That's actually a good question, and it's trickier to answer than I'd like. See, the Reaper Dude graphic from the book wasn't done in house--it was licensed from another artist. For me to be able to make a t-shirt version of the reaper dude, I'd have to pay for additional licensing fees, and that would set me back to the tune of hundreds of dollars, at least. The thing is, I'm not in the t-shirt selling business. I can't afford to pay that kind of money for something that's essentially a fun way to market the book. And a killer t-shirt (no pun intended).

But I'm not one to just sit back and give up. You want that t-shirt, and I want that t-shirt, honestly. If we can't have that exact t-shirt, could we have something that's just as good--or even better? I contacted the illustrious Shawn Boyles (who illustrated by alpaca fantasy novel back in the day and is currently doing some illustrations of some of the creatures of Vodnik for Tu's website. (They're awesome, but the way. Once they're finished, I'll have to see if there are other ways to share those with people, too.)) Shawn was kind enough to sketch up a few versions of his own take on Reaper Dude, and he also gave me permission to use them for a t-shirt. I love his style, and I think one of these could make an awesome shirt. But there are so many to choose from!

That's where you come in.

Could you please help me decide which one of these to t-shirt-ivize?



Please--discuss. Tell me what you think and why. Would one of these be as cool as the shirt Tomas is wearing on the cover of the book? Which one? (These aren't the final versions that would go on the T-shirt, by the way. I'd do a slick, finished version.)

One other item--I'd like to have something about the book on the t-shirt, too. Because as awesome as they are, if I don't have at least something on it that mentions the book, they'd probably be a bit too subtle when it comes to marketing efforts. (Right?) But I don't want to change the front of the shirt--if the Reaper Dude is already different, I'd rather not change it any more than I have to. So I'm thinking of something on the back, or something on the sleeve. Maybe a cool quote from the book, maybe a QR code that takes you to the website or Facebook page. Any thoughts on that?

Please share!

Wanna Know What Happens at a Library Conference?

Here at the library conference, so my blog isn't exactly going to be mindblowingly well formulated today (left the laptop at home). But you're all okay with that, right? And you promise to ignore all the spelling errors, of course. Because I have no spell check on this interface. A lot of people have been asking me what sort of a conference this is that I'm attending this week. (WARNING: Library-oriented stuff to follow. If you're into the whole library scene, or curious what exactly a librarian would do at a library conference, read on. Not sure if it'll be interesting, otherwise. Then again, as we all know, any time I put my fingers to a keyboard, fascinating things happen. Right? Right? On we go.) It's a tech conference, primarily aimed at how technology is used in libraries. So far, it's been much better than when I went two years ago. Of course, this could be because I've only been to three sessions, and two of them happened to be good ones. But I'm hopeful that it's a sign of good things for the rest of the time. The key note was all about innovation, and the presenter wasn't really library-related. More of a talk on innovation in business, and it left me feeling a whole lot of meh. The first session I attended, on the other hand, was 7 Essential Elements for an Awesome Website. I was quite apprehensive about this one. There are six tracks going at once, and I'm having to decide carefully what to attend and what to miss. Some of the choices are easy--Unleashing the Power of Your People sounds like a motivational speaker nightmare. Pass. But do I go to the Awesome Website panel, or the Strategic Approaches to Mobile. I've been to Awesome Website panels before, and they've been anything but. However, that hasn't stopped me from hoping that I'd finally go to one that was worth while. That paid off today, as the presenter (David Lee King) had actual, real, helpful suggestions on how to make a library website work. Highly useful, and I actually found myself (gasp!) taking notes. What was surprising to me was how many things seemed like "Duh--why am I not doing that" elements--things like sharing good book suggestions on your library's Facebook feed--and asking for book suggestions from your users. The second panel was about using website search logs to figure out what users are searching--and what they're doing wrong--and then use that information to help users find information more easily. Not sure if I can apply this info to my own library--I'm part of a library system, and it's hard to do things at a library-specific level. But it's good to know stuff like this is out there. So--there you have it. What I Did at My Conference Up to Now. If you can't tell, I do a lot of techie stuff at my job. Web design, tech trends, marketing--in addition to other stuff like teaching classes, doing collection development for the DVDs and media, cataloging books. I work at a small university library, which means I wear a lot of different hats, all at once. I like the variety, though. And on that note, it's time for me to go back to conference land. Lunch break is almost over, and I'd like to try and get some creative writing in while I have a few more minutes. (On today's agenda? Figuring out the voice of the main character in my next book, tentatively titled the St. Valentine's Day _______. Not sure of the last word yet, even for a tentative title. Heist? Affair? Job? Caper? Mission? Time will tell. For my books, so much of the book's success rests on getting a voice down--in Vodnik, it was an introverted movie-obsessed teen. For Tarnhelm, a teen who views himself as a modern day Sam Spade. This book? I'm thinking the main character is somewhere between George Clooney and Brad Pitt in the Oceans series. I know generally how he acts, but how does he narrate? There's the rub . . . )

Headed to DC for Super Secret Ninja Library Conference

I'm heading off to Washington DC for the Computers in Libraries conference. (Yeah--I guess it wasn't that super secret after all. Also, no ninjas. That you can easily see, at least. Oh well. "Headed to DC for Library Conference" seemed so boring.) Yes--it's true. All my talk about being a librarian isn't just fluff. I actually go and do library stuff from time to time. (Now if I could just figure out a way to shill my books while I'm down there, then I'd really be cooking with gas.)

What does this mean for you? Well, I might be light on an internet presence for the next few days. (Or not--you never know, with conference internet. Last time I went to this conference, the connection was totally craptacular. Then again, it's at a new hotel this year, so one can always hope.) I'm going laptop-free on this trip. Just bringing my trusty iPad and a bluetooth keyboard. (It helps that for writing, that's pretty much all I need. It's not like I'm going to have to be doing any massive Photoshopping while I'm away.)

In the meantime, I expect you all to get along just fine without me. No fighting, and nobody break the internet please. As long as it's still standing when I get back, then everything's A-OK.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with a reminder. Just 778 more Twitter Followers and/or Vodnik Facebook Likes, and you'll get to see me doing this:

The more I look at that, the more I'm thinking I went about this whole contest the wrong way. I should have said, "Unless I get 1000 likes/followers, I will post a video of me doing the Truffle Shuffle online." It's more of a threat than a promise, is what I'm seeing. Oh well--live and learn. :-)

Movie Review Catchup: 5 for 1 Deal!

 In all the book release madness, I'll bet you thought I wasn't watching any  movies. Well, you thought wrong. I've been watching them, and I'm here to review them for you. All of these are on Netflix Instant Watch right now, and there are some pretty decent ones to choose from. I'm light on time, though--so let's launch right into it.

Broadway Danny Rose--A Woody Allen pic from 1984. He's an agent for the down and out (a crystal goblet player, a singing parrot, a bad ventriloquist). But he's a dedicated agent--he makes these acts his life. Has them all over for Thanksgiving dinner, picks their outfits for them, mourns with them when their top singing birds pass on. Very quirky movie, somewhat marred by the framing device Allen chose to use for the film--it's introduced by snippets of a group of other agents talking about Danny Rose in a cafe, and they tell story after story about him, culminating in one big long story focused on how he tried to get his last really good act a shot at the big time. I enjoyed the snippets, but I didn't like the sporadic nature they lent to the first third of the film. That said, it's still a very good movie, notable for the only shootout scene I've ever watched where mass amounts of helium were inhaled at the same time. (Might explain some of Allen's later life choices.) Plus, it culminates in one scene where Allen really has a chance to show some heart. Three stars, and maybe more for Allen afficiandos.

My Girlfriend's Boyfriend--Complete dreck. Full disclosure--I didn't finish the film. It starts out with the main character: a struggling aspiring writer, meeting with an editor at what seems to be a reputable house. The editor's read all his work, and she's just so torn up for the poor guy, but let's him know he needs to move on. This got things off on the wrong foot right away. Editors do not meet with aspiring authors in their offices. The film made it seem like the guy just dropped by her place, and she made time for him. Not going to happen. But I trooped on, and it didn't get much better. You've got the requisite cute waitress who somehow can't get a boyfriend, despite being Alyssa Milano. And then the writing schlub meets her, and they hit it off, and right after that, she meets a handsome blah blah blah. Click. The end. Maybe other people can stomach it. Not worth my time, though I can't give it an official rating, since I didn't finish it.

Here Comes the Groom--A Bing Crosby musical from 1951. It won the Oscar for best song (for "In the Cool Cool Cool of the Evening," which was quite catchy). Also scored a nom for best writing. Bing is a war reporter who wants to adopt two French kids. Only problem? He has to be married to do it. So he goes home with the kids in tow, and he has a week to get married--except he finds out his girlfriend is already engaged to a rich millionaire. A fun, cute story, although the fact that most women in the film are treated like mindless lemmings does tend to detract from the general freewheeling spirit the movie's trying to create. (The women come off as nothing more than empty headed people just waiting for the nearest man to tell them what to do and how to behave.) That said, Denisa and I enjoyed it. Three stars.

Bottle Shock--Chris Pine (in his pre-Star Trek days) and Bill Pullman are California wine makers. Alan Rickman is a British wine critic out to see if California wines are any good. Go figure--it actually is. Based on a true story, and we enjoyed it, even knowing not a blessed thing about wines. If I drank wine, I'm sure this would be even better. Three stars. Fun, also quirky--it has a sort of an art film feel to it, and I liked that. Bill Pullman's character annoyed the living daylights out of me, but the fact that I enjoyed the film in spite of that says a lot in its favor.

The Great Buck Howard--Colin Hanks (Tom's son) is a young man who doesn't know what he wants in life. He ends up being the personal assistant to The Great Buck Howard (John Malkovich), a once-popular mentalist who has since been reduced to touring the not-so-popular towns. (People love him in Akron.) Another movie with a strong art film vibe, and another one I enjoyed quite a bit. Three stars. (Popular rating for today--what can I say? I saw a lot of good but not fantastic movies the past bit.) Through the course of the film, Hanks learns a thing or two about people and how to get along with them. Malkovich (who usually bugs me for some reason) is quite good in his role--probably because he's supposed to bug you, so that worked for me. Hanks does a fine job, as well--though he lacks the immediate everyman feel of his father. Maybe I'm expecting too much. A good movie, all told. Funny and entertaining.

Feelings of a Newly Published Author

I know--I know. You all are getting sick about hearing about my book and what's going on with it. At times I feel like a total suit, trying my best to jam all this stuff down your collective throats. And I'm sorry if it's coming off that way. It's not my intent. But my blog is here to talk about the things that are going on in my life at the moment, and as of this second, my book is taking up the majority of that.

So deal. :-)

I haven't really been nervous until the last little bit. I knew the book was coming out, and I knew that there would be some excitement around it. But that's all it really was--excitement. Now? The nerves are starting to  kick in more than they have in the past.

What if it tanks? What if no one likes it? What if I never get another book published again? All these self-doubts start creeping in, and there seems to be little I can do to exorcise them. The thing is, a lot of being a writer is learning to ignore the self-doubts. You write something, and as the words are flowing onto the paper, you doubt they're any good. Then you read them over, and hey--they're not too bad. Then it comes time for your writing group to read it, and you doubt once again if any of them will like it. And yes, they have some issues, but they point those out, and you fix them, and then you're back to feeling like your book is looking good again.

Until you send it to agents or editors. And of course that causes you to doubt yourself all over again. You look at published authors, and you think it must be so easy for them. They're published. They know they're good. Well, they might think they do--until it's time for reviews. And after reviews come actual people buying your actual book. What if they don't like it?

The farther into this process I get, the more I think that the self doubt never ends. Depressing, isn't it? Because even if your first book sells like hotcakes, who's to say your second will. (Or, worse yet, what if your first only sells so-so?) There's always something to worry about. Grass is always perfect the next lawn over. But then you get there, and the next yard looks even better. And so on and so on.

I've been busy the last week or so. Really busy. Because this isn't all I do. I also have this thing called a full time job, and a family, and church responsibilities. And Vodnik isn't my only book--I've got a new one my agent will hopefully be shopping around in the not too distant future. But on top of all that, I've been answering interview questions, obsessively checking to see if Amazon has the book available to order yet, and worrying about if I'm bugging all of you too much with info about my book.

I know I should be more Zen like in my approach. And I try to tell myself that on a daily basis. But I've been waiting for this for so long, wanting this . . . it's hard to take it all and stay calm.

(And here it is once again--if you're looking for ways to support Vodnik, check out this post.)

Any published authors out there want to chime in with some words of wisdom?

Broken Elbow Update

Hard to believe it's been almost two months since I slipped and broke my elbow. Also hard to believe how much one slip like that can affect your entire life. Because of it, I was stuck in bed for a week, had to sleep uncomfortably for a month, couldn't go skiing or sledding--it all sounds so whiny, especially when I consider how much harder so many other people have it. This is just to say that if something which seems fairly minor can cause so much trouble, I hate to picture how much something major can affect you.

However, time marches on, and people keep asking me how the elbow's doing today. I'm very pleased to be able to report that it's pretty much fully functional. I can't ski until the end of the month (and I'm kinda doubting there's going to be any snow left to ski on by then, the way this winter is going), but I'm back to bringing in wood, picking up my kids, and doing everyday things with little difficulty. Even playing guitar. :-)

So--what else can we learn from this? First off, don't think you're immune to the power of gravity. If it's slippy out, slow down. (Rocket science, I know.) Second, it's great to be able to have others to turn to when things go south. Denisa stepped in wonderfully as the family snow blower, wood fetcher, and fix it person for the month I was out of commission. Finally, thank goodness for iPads. When I was stuck in bed that long, my iPad was about the only thing that got me through it. :-)

In any case, thank you all for the well wishes. They were all much appreciated. When I left the physical therapy place for the last time, they told me to avoid doing anything that might make me fall down. Since the thing that had made me fall down was walking, maybe I should try crawling everywhere for the next while.

Anyway--yay for working elbows!

Book Giveaway: The Basic Version

I had some complaints yesterday that my giveaway was too convoluted. So I'm going to describe it in very basic terms today.

Like my book's Facebook page (by clicking here) or follow me on Twitter (by clicking here).

Once I get enough likes and followers, I will do the following:

• Give away a signed hardcover of the book (Vodnik) to a random liker/follower
• Give away 2 advance eCopies to random likers/followers
• Post the fifth chapter of the book on its Facebook page (chapters 1-4 are available to read here.)
• Commit to posting chapter commentaries to all 33 chapters of the book (cool extras, like deleted scenes)

That's it. Let me worry about the math. (Or go here for a complete rundown.)

The takeaway? Like the book's Facebook page and follow me on Twitter, and encourage others to do the same. Help me raise some buzz, and maybe win yourself some loot in the process.

(You can also enter to win a free eCopy of Vodnik by joining my March Madness Tournament Challenge. Details here.)

Oh yeah. And if/when I ever get 1000 Facebook likes and/or Twitter Followers, I will film myself doing the Truffle Shuffle, and then post it here for your ridicule and delight. Do I think I'll get that high? No. That's why I'm making such a ridiculous offer. :-)

A New Vodnik Contest and Promo Extravaganza

It's time for another contest to give stuff away. But this time, I'd like to give more stuff away to more people. None of this "many will enter, one will win" garbage. I'm in a giving mood. I'm also in a brainstorming mood, and I've come up with something that will hopefully keep things interesting around this event for the next while.

How interesting?

I'm going to do a kind of "tiered reward system," similar to what they do with Kickstarter. In other words, I'm going to set up a number of tiers. Once certain thresholds are met, then new tiers of prizes are awarded.

I'll use Twitter and Facebook-metrics to keep track of which tier we're in. Points are awarded for Twitter followers or Facebook page "likes." Maybe this will make more sense as I describe the various rewards.

Ready?

Tier 1--The entry tier. We're here right now, without having to do anything. As of today, the Facebook page has 95 likes, and I have 110 Twitter followers. 95 + 110 = 205, so we start the game at 205 points. The reward is that I will give away an electronic Advance Reading Copy (eARC) to one of the participants. If you participate ("like" the Vodnik Facebook page or be one of my Twitter followers), then you're automatically entered in the drawing. So right off the bat, you know that somebody's going to get an eARC. Yay for that.

Tier 2--If we can get to 300 points (total number of FB likes and Twitter followers), I will add in a second eARC. I have two to give away, anyway (in addition to the one that's being given away over in my NCAA Tournament Challenge), so I set the bar for this quite low. 95 more points than we're at right now (and that includes extra credit--see below).

Tier 3--If we can get to 400 points, I will post chapter 5 of the book onto the Facebook page. (Chapters 1-4 are available on scribd even as I type this, so this will give everyone one more chapter to read.) You'll have to "like" the page to be able to read it, but that makes sense, doesn't it? I'm really optimistic we can get to this point. We'll see. (It'll also help that I'm allowing for extra credit--see note below.) Everybody wins with this one, not just a select few.

Tier 4--When we hit the 500 point mark, I'll give away a signed hardcover of the book. Yup, I'm even ponying up the postage. Will we hit this? I have no clue. It means 295 likes or followers (or less, depending on the extra credit.) To me, that seems like a lot. Having never done something like this before, I'm not sure if I'll set it all up, only to see us never crack the 250 mark. But hey--nothing ventured nothing gained, right?

Tier 5--Once we reach 600 points, I'm going to work on releasing chapter commentaries for the entire book. My friend Brandon Sanderson has done this for all of his books, and I think it would be a fun thing to do, too. It's a ton of work, though. Vodnik has 33 chapters. Think of chapter commentaries like the special features on a DVD. They'd include discussions on how the story was shaped, what decisions I made, and extras like deleted scenes or pictures of places in the book. Whatever's relevant to each chapter. And once again, all fans of the book win--not just the people lucky enough to get the eARC or hardcover.

How do you get extra credit? Easy. Share this post on Facebook nets 5 extra points. Retweeting it gets the same. (Limit of 1 share and 1 retweet per person.) That basically boils down to just 80 shares and/or retweets to hit Tier 5. If 40 people both share it and retweet it, we're set. From my blog stats, I know way more than 40 people will read this post. You can do it!

Once you know that, then you see that I really do want to giveaway all of the above. The Tiers are just a fun way of keeping track of how it's going.

However.

I also like a really good challenge, and so I'm going to add in another tier. One that has something I don't want to do. I'm not afraid to embarrass myself publicly for the sake of a few likes and followers.

Tier 6--Enough with the book-related tiers. No extra credit allowable for this tier. We've got to reach it by cold hard numbers--followers and likes. If and when that ever hits the 1000 mark, I hereby formally commit to doing the Truffle Shuffle (Hawaiin shirt, plaid pants and all), videoing it, and posting it here for the world to see. (If you're lucky, my dieting will have been going quite poorly at that point.) Not only that, I'll do my best to recreate the following scene from The Goonies, ideally using Brandon Sanderson and Dan Wells as special guest stars to fill in for Corey Feldman and Sean Astin. (I haven't talked to them about this idea yet. Also, I live on the opposite side of the country. But if they're up for it, I would be. Dan? Brandon? How 'bout it? Or would there be too big of a fight over who gets to play whom? Or do I need to rope other authors in to do this, because you guys are too cool. What do I have to do to get you to agree? The Truffle Shuffle?)

Note that this final Tier is a long-standing commitment. If I ever hit 1000 points, I will follow through on this. Maybe I'll wish I hadn't decided to when it comes time to film, but oh well. This is my past self telling my future self to suck it up (or in, as the case may be).

So start retweeting and liking. Participate by March 21st at midnight to qualify for whatever rewards are unlocked by then. Other awards will be doled out as they're reached, to whoever qualifies for them at the time.

Blog Tournament Challenge: Win an eCopy of Vodnik!

March Madness time, baby! And faithful reads of the Ramblings know what that means--time for another tournament challenge. I'm going to be running a separate Vodnik-specific contest (details coming later today or tomorrow, hopefully) that will have 2 eCopies of the book up for grabs (2 winners! Can you believe it?), but I wanted to earmark one for the Madness.

Here's how it works. To play, just follow the link below. Create a bracket, join the group (name: Bryce's Ramblings, password: bryce)

Once that's done, sit back and watch the madness unfold. I'll be sure to keep you all updated on who's winning and what the odds are.

That's it. Short. Sweet. To the point.

So click on over and join today! Spread the word. The more, the merrier!

Get in the action now:
http://games.espn.go.com/tournament-challenge-bracket/en/group?groupID=101165

Group: Bryce's Ramblings
Password: bryce

Movie Review: Midnight in Paris

Every so often, you watch a movie where you realize early on that you're watching a perfect film for you. A movie that you're going to enjoy and remember for the rest of your life. I don't mean to talk a movie up to much, but this is something that's happened to me on a couple of occasions. For me, it's the equivalent of watching a perfect game pitched in baseball. You just get that sense of rightness--that the movie isn't going to let you down at all.

Naturally, this isn't always the end result. There have been movies that started out so well, only to go so wrong somewhere in between. Other movies mess up the ending, leaving you with a bitter aftertaste, despite how great the rest of the movie was. Yet others finish strong, but didn't manage to pull off the beginning just right.

Midnight in Paris was a perfect movie--for me. I'm not saying that everyone will think it's perfect, but Woody Allen couldn't have created a better film if he'd sat down with me and I listed off everything I like about cinema. It helps, of course, that I tend to really like Woody Allen movies. Bullets over Broadway, Purple Rose of Cairo, Vicky Cristina Barcelona--all fantastic movies, right up my alley. Yes, he's made some stinkers, but I'm always up for an Allen movie, because they're always at least worth discussing.

For those of you who don't know, Midnight in Paris is about an aspiring author who idolizes the writers of the 20s--Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Eliot. He and his not-quite-in-love-with-him fiance take a trip to Paris. He loves it. She? Not so much. He loves it even more when he discovers a way to travel back in time to the 20s each night--to bump elbows with his idols.

I don't want to say much more than that. This is one of those movies that work both as Film (with a capital F) and entertainment. It's got a theme that weaves well with the plot, and it's all very well executed.

The movie is gorgeous to watch--Bluray had it shining. Allen departs from his traditional old-music-with-credits opening to instead insert a long montage of various scenes of modern day Paris. It really helps set the tone for the movie. If you don't want to visit Paris at the end of this film, you don't have a soul.

Why else was it perfect for me? Because it pushed multiple buttons at once: I also love the authors of the 20s. I'm a writer. I've been to Paris and loved it. It's quirky in the same kind of quirky I like. The message resonated with me. (The only thing off? The main character likes walking in the rain, and I--for those who know me-loathe getting wet.)

I really can't recommend this movie enough. If you have a chance to watch this, do so. Four stars out of four.

Anyone seen it? What did you think?

And the Winner of the Groundhog Haiku Contest Is . . .

After 74 votes over the space of a week, some pretty intense campaigning, and allegations of voter fraud, I'm proud to announce a winner of my Groundhog Haiku contest. Ready?

CONGRATULATIONS, CANDIDATE 1--Debbie Kinney-Dearden

Her winning haiku, in its entirety:

A groundhog I am

Call me Punxsutawney Phil

I'll eat your garden

Debbie gets to have a character named after her in my current book, TARNHELM. In fact, I've already picked out the spot for her to reside, and I'm presenting you with her scene in its entirety, right now. (Debbie, your name can appear however you'd like--just let me know.) To give you all some context, the main character (Vee--a new kid in the school) is going up to talk to a girl (Victoria--Miss Popularity). The book's told from Vee's point of view, and he's patterned his life after film noir. So it's supposed to have a sort of Sam Spade flair to the text.

Victoria was surrounded by a court of cheerleaders, with a select few jocks peppered around the table to make things cordial. I stood in the doorway behind her, observing for a spell before I spoke to her.

She was clearly the alpha cheer. Every detail at the table screamed it. The way the other girls’ eyes would flick to her for approval or cues about what to do, the way she managed the emotions of the group with a flirting smile in one direction, a well-placed hand on a shoulder, a tiny frown of confusion. No one at the table was allowed to forget her for a moment. If she could have it her way, the whole room would be devoted to her.

Their table sat right in the middle of the cafeteria. Lines for hoagies on one side and pizza on the other. You couldn’t eat a school lunch and not pass by her coterie. It was almost enough to make a man want to start brown bagging it.

I left my post by the door and strode over to the table, tapping the doll to Victoria’s right on the shoulder. “You’re wanted in the guidance counselor’s office,” I said.

The girl turned and frowned at me. “Excuse me?”

“Guidance counselor sent me to get you.”

“Me?”

“I’m pretty sure,” I said. “What’s your name?”

“Debbie Kinney-Dearden.”

I snapped my fingers and pointed at her. “That’s the one. They’re expecting you.”

“Why?”

I shrugged. “Didn’t ask. Not my business.”

Debbie got up and grabbed a few books and her purse and then hustled out of the room. I sat down in her now empty seat. “What are we talking about?” I asked loudly, smiling at the rest of them.

I got a sea of disapproval in return, a wall of disgruntled fake noses and perfect teeth. Victoria defused the situation by laughing. “Everyone, this is Vee. Vee, this is everyone. He’s doing an article about me for the school newspaper. Weren’t we going to do the interview after school today, Vee?”

“Sorry,” I said. “Must have slipped my mind.”

One of the cheer squad must have taken that as a sign of weakness—a chance to pounce. “You’re not in seventh period lunch,” she said, her lip curled up in revulsion for who knew what reason.

“Beautiful and observant,” I said. “What a winning combination.” I turned to Victoria. “Now if you don’t mind, Princess, you and I need to have that interview.”

“Now?” She was still smiling, but there was an edge around her eyes—I didn’t know her well enough to know if it was panic or fear or something else.

“No time like the present. Would you like to do it here, or is there some place more . . . comfortable?”

“I know just the place.” She pushed back from the table and stood up. As we left the room, I heard conversation start back up in her court. No doubt the rumor mill about us would be churning away happily by now. To the best of my knowledge, our school didn’t even have a paper.

So there you have it. I won't tell you what the rest of the book's about, but that's a nice sneak peek there as a thank you to all who voted. I'll make sure to keep everybody updated if the book gets picked up for publication. In the meantime, remember: less than a month until Vodnik comes out!

The "New iPad"

Apple just got finished announcing the new iPad (not the iPad 3, it seems. Just "the new iPad," which could get mighty confusing when next year rolls around and you've got the new iPad and the new new iPad. Maybe it would be the new^2 iPad? New iPad Squared? Who knows?)

First off, a run down of the new features:

• Better camera--5 megapixels on this puppy, same as on the iPhone. Should be a really significant bump up.
• Faster processor--Plenty faster than the iPad 2
• Same price--Actually, they're keeping the iPad 2 around, and it's dropping in price to $399 for the base model. So cheaper iPads there, and the new ones are still $499 (for a non-3G, 16GB model)
• Better screen--Better than 1080p HD, actually. About on par with the iPhone retina screens. Word is, it'll blow you away. And cook you bacon, which would be nice. I'll have to see this to appreciate it. The screen, not the bacon.
• Still 10 hour battery life--Commendable with all the bump up in specifications. Although the new iPad is slightly thicker and slightly heavier as a result. (That 1.5 pounds will be so much heavier than 1.4)
• 4G speed--If you use the wireless feature, this is supposedly a huge bump up. I'm too cheap to pay for this, so I can't speak to how good it'll be, one way or the other.
• Integrated Voice to Text--Another one of those "I'll have to try it out to evaluate it" features. But could be handy. Not Siri, though.
• Same cover as iPad 2--No need to buy a new one

They also announced a new 1080p version of Apple TV (naturally just three months after I bought the old one).

So the question then becomes, "Will Bryce buy a new iPad?"

Seeing as how I initially said I wouldn't last year when the iPad 2 came around, then folded and bought one less than a month later . . .

I'd say the odds are good. I just can't tell  you how much I use my iPad. I love love love it. For games, writing, internet, movies, music--it's an inherent part of me. Yes, that means I'm an uber-Geek, but I've given up avoiding that label and embraced it, instead.

Come on in, the water's fine.

That said, if I do buy one (and it's not a foregone conclusion yet), the question then becomes, "What is Bryce going to do with his iPad 1?" Because the iPad 2 will of course go to Denisa, who now has the 1.

I could sell it. That's a possibility. I could also keep it on hand so that when the kids want to use my iPad or Denisa's, they can use it instead. But then again, I'm not sure how I feel about having my 7 year old have his own iPad. Actually--I do know how I feel about it.

I'm against it.

If I do keep it around, it would still be the parents' iPad. The kids could just use it from time to time, as we see fit.

Any of you interested in buying a well-cared for iPad 1?

Read the Beginning of Vodnik--FREE

You know Vodnik? That book I won't shut up about? (That book that comes out this month?) Well, how would you like a chance to actually read the first four chapters, free of charge?

Right now.

That's right, shoppers. For your reading pleasure, you can now check out the beginning of Vodnik over on scribd for free. All you have to do is click this handy little link.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/83955152/Vodnik

and you'll be whisked away to a world where watery creatures collect souls in teacups and where Death is addicted to throat lozenges. You'll also find out the answer to the age-old question: is Vitazoslav really a name? (Well, I can answer that one for you right now, I guess. Yes, it is. And I did not make it up. Interesting story behind that. Did you know that in Slovakia, there's a name calendar? Basically, it's a list of every name in Slovak, each with its own date. (You could theoretically name your kid something different, but everyone would think you were kind of strange, and quite non-traditional.) So naming the characters in Vodnik was relatively easy, at least on the Slovak side. I just went to the name calendar and found one I liked. End of digression.)

Plus, you can see if all the hubbub I've been making about the book is worth it. So come on--give it a try. You know you didn't really want to file that TPS report or make that sprocket. Click click click!

Finally, if you're on Netgalley, you can read the whole darn book right now. (For those of you who don't know, Netgalley is an electronic Advance Reading Copy delivery service for book reviewers, sellers, and librarians. See? There are perks to being a librarian. Beyond the awesomeness of being able to work with books every day.)

And finally finally, be on the lookout for another giveaway in the very near future. Because not all of you are on Netgalley, and I'd like to spread the eARC love.

Tell me what you think once you've read the beginning!

Moving When Growing Up: Permanent Guest Star

I was thinking the other day--as I do from time to time. I was looking at other people's Facebook friends, taking a trip down memory lane. And it was really interesting to find out who was friends with whom still. Who still  kept in touch. There were some people in high school or junior high that I was surprised to see friends on Facebook.

But why was I surprised?

For a couple of reasons. First, when I was in high school, I made the assumption that the world revolves around me. If I didn't know something, it wasn't worth knowing. (Of course, as everyone well knows, this didn't become a reality until 2002, when the United Nations passed an official The World Revolves around Bryce resolution. Which was nice of them, but really unnecessary.) In other words, it didn't occur to me--and still hadn't until the other day--that people might have lives outside of the life I saw them having.


Case in point. In my never-ending Quest to Find People to Play Games With, I reconnected with an old friend from high school. We hung out quite a bit in high school, but it was almost entirely in a band setting. Marching band, Dixie Band, Orchestra, Symphonic Band. I was in some classes with him, too--but most of our interaction was band-related.

We'd had some back and forth over Facebook over the years--mainly still about music-related stuff. Because that's what he was in my head. All about music. I noticed peripherally that he liked to play some Flash games online, but I'm pretty dense when it comes to making actual observations.

And then I discovered the guy actually liked to game. Not only that, he was a gaming fiend. And he'd been one since high school. When I knew him. But I had no idea he liked to game. And now that we play online regularly, I discover he also knows a lot about tech--works for a university, in fact. We've got a lot in common. But since high school, I thought all we had in common was band.

When I see friends being friends with people I didn't even know they knew, let alone were friends with, I have the same sort of epiphany. It happens in day to day life, but it happens even more when I see or talk to old school friends. I think one main reason for this is that I moved around a lot when I was a kid. Until high school, I was never in a school district longer than three years or so. I came into areas where people had grown up their entire lives. They had History there. They'd been friends with some people in elementary school. Some people in middle school.

Not me--I was the permanent guest star.

Buffy analogy here: I was Dawn the entire time. The girl that randomly got inserted into the plot ex nihilo. (Except I wasn't a girl, obviously.) Everyone else in school had past lives. They had a communal sort of memory that went way past me.

I'm not saying that I didn't fit in or anything. I felt well accepted and popular enough--as popular as a guy who played the bassoon could be. :-) I'm just saying that it's different when you move in to a place vs. when you grew up in that place. Different in ways that I'm still discovering today.

My kids have a fair chance of living in just one place the whole time as the grow up. There are some good things about that. They can have life long friends--people they've know their entire lives, other than their family. I don't have that. Do I miss it? Hard to say, since I have no idea what it's like.

There are some disadvantages, as well. I never had the option of growing into the wrong crowd--meaning that because I moved so often, I just kept hitting the reset button on friendships. I would always find friends with similar values and interest to my own, as opposed to having old friends find new interests for me. I'm not sure how often that happens. Again--hard to analyze a way of life so different than the one that I grew up with.

Not really sure where I'm going with this. In the end, it was a train of thought I felt like riding for a while. Does anyone have anything to add? Any of this strike a chord with any of you? What's it like growing up in the same place? How do you view the people who move in? To an extent, I still see the same thing happening in my life today. In my part of Maine, you're either born here, or you're "From away"--and no amount of living here will ever make you native.

Thoughts?

Movie Review: Being Elmo

I'd heard a ton of really good rumblings about Being Elmo, the story about the man behind the muppet--enough that when I saw it pop up on Netflix Instant Watch, I had to see it. No choice about it. Because as much as I'm an old school Sesame Street kind of a guy, I've learned to love Elmo by watching how much my kids love Elmo. (Well DC loves Elmo. TRC never liked Elmo, because "he has no teeth." I don't know what that doesn't disqualify all other Muppets, but there you have it. Elmo. No teeth. Can't be loved.)

So Denisa and I watched the movie last night, and we both really enjoyed it. It's not a perfect documentary, but it comes close enough to count. Kevin Clash is the man in question, and he always wanted to be a puppeteer. His life is an example of a guy who saw what he wanted, and then just dove in with both feet. Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead. And while they don't make documentaries about the people whose lives go down in smoldering flames after living according to that kind of mindset, then do make documentaries about Kevin Clash.

He started making his own puppets. Learning by doing. He was obsessed, and the movie traces how he went from that obsession to where he is today. If you're a Muppet or Sesame Street lover at all, you owe it to yourself to watch this movie.

What did I learn? For one thing, it doesn't hurt to be passionate about something--to force yourself out of your comfort zone in order to attain your dreams. In fact, I'd be willing to say that if you don't force yourself out of that comfort zone, those dreams won't be attained. Dreams don't land in your lap. You have to work for them--and work hard.

I also learned how important it is to pay it forward. Kevin did a ton on his own, but if it weren't for some very open, nurturing individuals in his life, he wouldn't have gotten very far. I really enjoyed seeing how much Kevin does to help new people in the puppeteer industry now. He remembers what it was like, and he's doing his best to do to others what others did for him.

Finally, I learned that I could never be a Muppeteer. They had a scene where Kevin and Elmo greet and comfort a series of Make-a-Wish children. Children whose one wish was to be able to meet Elmo. And he's so good with them--able to just be Elmo and be cheerful and happy and comforting and nurturing and . . . I think would just be breaking down in tears the whole time. And I'm not a guy that cries. It's ironic that in his devotion to helping other children, his own child suffers some in the process--but I'll let the movie illustrate that.

In any case, it's a quick watch--just 76 minutes, as I recall. A very nice, uplifting watch. Highly recommended. 3.5 stars out of 4.

How to Support Vodnik

It's March, people--and that means that the official launch date of Vodnik is just around the corner. Hard to believe that it's finally here! I've had quite a few people ask me what they can do to support the book, and I thought I'd give a comprehensive answer here.

First off, buy it! (I know--pretty obvious, isn't it?) But did you know there are good ways of buying the book and not-as-good ways?

DISCLAIMER: All of this information is just for people who are really interested in this process. If any of you buy the book, I'm very grateful to you--regardless of how you buy it. I appreciate the support. Thank you, thank you, a thousand times thank you.

Got that?

Then onward!

When to Buy

First off, one of the key indicators of how well the book performs is first week sales. If those first week sales are strong, then bookstores perk up their ears more than if first week sales were average. In other words, if I'm going to sell 1000 copies, it's better to sell 750 the first week, then 250 the second week than it would be to sell 500 the first week and 500 the second. Make sense? (Even though it probably doesn't--ours is not to question why the book business behaves the way it does. Ours is simply to smile, nod, and buy the first week.)

Where to Buy

So getting the book the first week is a very good thing. (I believe Amazon pre-orders are counted toward first week sales, for what it's worth--but I'm not certain of that.) However, the next question is where to buy it. The answer? In person, at your local bookstore. Yes, Amazon is very convenient, and undoubtedly cheap. But they are also doing their darndest to put other bookstores out of business, and I'm not cool with that. Just this week, one of my local bookstores has gone under, and that's a very sad thing. If you love reading, you want more bookstores out in the wild, not the opposite.

Another nice thing about brick and mortar bookstores is that they pay attention to what people are actually buying. So if you go and find the book's not on the shelves there, ask them to order it for you. They might buy a couple, and then other people will see it on the shelves, and they'll buy more, and THEN EVERYONE ON THE ENTIRE PLANET WILL WANT ONE. Okay, maybe not really, but you get the point. People can't buy my books if they don't see them on the shelves, so the more bookstores that order copies, the more books can be sold.

In addition, if you'd like to support a local, independent bookstore--but don't have a favorite one nearby to support--I've worked out an arrangement with my local indie (Devaney Doak & Garrett). You can buy the book online from them (here), and I'll go by and sign your copy before they mail it to you. So if you want an autographed copy, you can get one. Just leave a comment in the comments section of their order page when you buy it--where you want it sent, and how you'd like it personalized (ie just my signature, or a "To ______" or anything else you'd like me to write in it). You'll pay for the shipping, but you'll get the signature. And you'll be support an independent bookstore out in Maine.

(And on a side note, while most author's royalties are based off of the cover price of the book, mine are based off the actual sales price. So if you pay more for the book, you can at least be reassured that I get more for that sale. Doesn't that make you feel better?)

If you absolutely want to buy it on Amazon, then buy it through the many links I have to it on my site. Links like this one. Why? Because it links to my Amazon account, and I get extra money from the sale. Money which then allows me to focus on writing more books. Honest. I swear. Hey--if The Man's going to get your money, why not make sure they get as little of it as possible?

What Else You Can Do


Of course, there's always more you can do (besides buying more books to give to all your many friends and relations). For one thing, you can go to your local public library (you do have a card, right?) and ask them to buy the book. A lot of people don't realize that public libraries pay a lot of attention to what their patrons want to read. If you ask them to buy something (not just my book), they often will. They have budgets set aside for just that purpose. More of my books in libraries mean more of my books read. It's a circle of readers, and anything we can do to help that circle grow is a good thing.

You can also help promote the book. Word of mouth is key. Anything you can do to help other people hear about the book is great. Here are some ideas:

• Write an Amazon review once you've read it. This is huge. Lots of people and libraries use Amazon to do research for which books to buy (even if they end up buying the books somewhere else). We've all been on Amazon and seen a book with one or two reviews and that's it. If you see a book with a lot of (hopefully good) reviews, then you automatically think more of the book. Go figure. It also helps if the reviews are well-thought out and not obvious shills. I don't want you to lie about the book. But if you read it and genuinely like it, please do review it.
• Write a review on the book's Goodreads page. Lots of readers on that site. The more positive buzz there, the better. If you're not a member of Goodreads, sign up--it's quick and easy to do, and it's a great site for people who love reading. Even if all you do is give it a 4 or 5 star rating and don't write an actual review, it still helps. (Though of course you'll give it 5 stars, because it's The Best Book in the History of Mankind. Well--religious holy texts excepted, I suppose.)
• Blog about the book
• Share the book on Facebook or Twitter
• Tell your friends how awesome it is, and how they must buy a copy for them and their dog. (Makes an excellent chew toy!)
• See if your local school wants to have me come visit--or do a Skype visit. I'm happy to do either. (Well, if your local school isn't very . . . local to me, then I think I'd rather do the Skype visit. But still.)
• Like the book's Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/vodnikbook)--and share it on Facebook
• Really--anything you can do to make the book more visible helps.

So there you go--plenty of ways to support the book in the coming months. You can start by sharing this post with others. :-)

Thanks again for all the interest and support, people--I really appreciate it!