Why I died -- #GamerGate, the Pope, Honor At Stake

So, why was yesterday's post not even a freaking music blog? Because I was dead to the world at that point. Mostly because the last seven days have been ... interesting.

If you didn't hear my radio show on Sunday, the Pope's visit brought out my inner psychosis.

Then again, I've been living in a world where up is down, black is white, and words mean whatever the talking head on television wants them to mean.

I did an article on Examiner.com about How Obama dissed Pope Francis, then expanded on it slightly over over at Catholic Geeks.

Then I talked about how the Pope smacked Obama right back.

Then I explained Vatican standard operating procedure.

Then I banged my head against a wall over how many times the media has lied about the Pope.  This went over so very well, the author John C Wright cited me on his page!  Yay!

As a cure for all of this, I made an article out of a twitter Hashtag: #MakeAMovieCatholic.

Yes, that was the CURE for the insanity. Sad, isn't it?

Anyway, as of now, my sales numbers on Honor at Stake are in flux.  Yes, they're all fluxed up.  I expect that to not get any better this week.  Why?

This guy.

Yup, Jim Butcher just came out with a new book. Enter the 800-pound gorilla.

Of course, I'm one of the people buying said book, so I can't complain too loudly.

Then again, I'm at a point where Amazon is useless for giving me sales numbers, so I have to go by sales  and author rank.  Which is the equivalent of trying to divine my sales by whatever random number Amazon gives me.

And of course on top of that, Honor At Stake isn't just on Amazon, so I might find out that everyone's buying a copy on, say, B&N or some place called Kobo. I'd never know until the check comes in. And no, the check isn't coming in for a while.

However, I have 19 reviews thus far, and I'm told that's a lot, so I must be doing something right.

It's probably not a good plan to beg people to buy the book the same week as Jim Butcher.  Buy Butcher. Because he's Butcher.

If you have any left over cash, then buy my book.

Be well all.

Thanks, I'm dead -- a little #GamerGate, a little Honor at Stake

Yes, I know, I suec. I only did 6 posts last week. And now I'm taking Tuesday off.

One or two things.  Listen to the radio show.  If you don't remember who Anita Sarkeesian and Zoe Quinn are, it'll catch you up.  If you do, the short version is: damnit, they've found new ways to screw up.

Honor At Stake is doing great.  With 19 reviews already, before the first month is over with, they are all positive. I suspect now might be your time to buy it.

Anyway ... be well all. I"m going to fall asleep. I'm writing this and posting it manually. So that tells you my day.

Ciao.

Pope In US, then goes home - Please don't come back

I know this sounds anti-Catholic, but the Pope's visit has been the biggest pain in my neck in I don't know how long.  Not his fault ... but still, damn it, I've had more than enough of this crap.

I mean, good God, the amount of crap people believe about Pope Francis is insane.

Gee, the Pope doesn't hate guns, he meant WMDs (as he condemned before the UN)

If you read the actual transcript from Vatican Information service, -- notice that it does not contain the word "gun" at all. 

If you read the breakdown at the Catholic Geeks, it's spelled out even more that the Pope doesn't like WMDs because he specifically said weapons of genocide.

And to top THAT off, the Pope went to the UN and specifically mentioned WMDs. How much more do people need? How many times does he have to say WMDs before people realize he meant WMDs?

Of course, "The Pope Hates Money. He's a dirty Commie."

Oh for God's sake. the original quote was: "And behind all this pain, death and destruction there is the stench of what Basil of Caesarea called 'the dung of the devil' -- an unfettered pursuit of money." Looks like he meant greed, to me.

Oh yeah, and he talked about how the economy needs reform while he was in Latin America. Considering how many companies who invest in that part of the world plan to pull out in ten years before the government confiscates everything, And oh, look, "people come before profits." I'm shocked, shocked I say.

So, geed, the Pope doesn't hate money, he hates greed, because you know, It's a Deadly Sin.

Does the Pope seem to believe in man-made climate change, and that's annoying, but can't have everything. ...However, he DOES NOT believe in the standard nihilist bullcrap that comes with the usual crowd of fascists. Nor has he supported any of their conclusions (Earth is Gaia and Man Must DIIIIEEEEE!!!!!!)

As for the environment he keeps talking about, though, you might notice something strange. His "environment" talk includes human industry and human ecology as part of nature. Had one listened to his UN speech, his "environment" includes natural law, individual rights, the family. Because that's the only way that his talk of "war hurts the environment" that really makes sense. Toxic waste isn't part of the usual munitions.  But in his UN speech, he noted, gee, war impacts the environment by trampling on humana rights, tears apart families, which are the bedrock of the state.

Come on, human ecology and human industry as part of the environment? That's something even Ayn Rand would approve of -- or so I'm told by fans of Ayn Rand.

And then, some of my favorite right wingers are going off the rails ... though in one case that might not be his fault.

TONIGHT on Radio Show: ShadowDancer, #GamerGate, Ninjas, and Tom Knighton

 Yup. GamerGate has come to the radio show. Things will be interesting.

Remember, the show starts TONIGHT at 7PM, EST.  You can listen in here, but there is also a call in number and a chat room at the main page for the show.

Check Out Culture Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with We Built That Network on BlogTalkRadio

Review: Scream Queens

Holy Hell, that was the most bizarre show I think I've sat through (and tolerated) in years. Perhaps ever.

Imagine one of the vapid sorority girls from Buffy The Vampire Slayer ... the movie ... and imagine one of them narrating a serial killer movie. If you think it's going to be bizarre, yeah, that's about right. Including one victim who sent out a tweet as she's being murdered.

Statements I've made during this program included "Off the wall insane," "deranged."

Let's start with Jamie Leigh Curtis as Dean Munsch, who hates the local sorority, Kappa Kappa Tau. In her efforts to crush them, Munsch insists that Kappa let in everyone, without filters. The head of Kappa is named Chanel, and her minions are Chanel #2, #3, etc. And oh yes, Chanel is the narrator.

Our heroine -- I assume -- is Grace, whose mother, a Kappa sister, died giving birth to her. Grace discovers this hate-filled mean girls reunion, and plots to take them down after an incident kills their maid / cook (nicknamed "White Mammy").

Meanwhile, you have a man in a red devil costume murdering at least four people over the course of the first hour. And, yes, I stopped watching somewhere after an incident where a lawnmower decapitated "Deaf Taylor Swift" (yes, really). This doesn't include the acid bath for the first corpse. And ... well, murder #2 had the killer (in full costume) having a face-to-face text conversation with his victim -- the last text being "I'm going to kill you now." And of course, "White Mammy" had her face burned off after being thrust face first into a deep fryer.

Random line: "I Googled blood oath and this is what came up."

Sigh. Just ... part of the problem is that none of these people are really likable. Grace has some virtues, but not much of a personality. She's noble and virtuous and is going to make Kappa about sisterhood once again! (Even though it's clear from the opening prologue in the 90s that it wasn't).

The Kappa girls are strange varieties of "conservative" (backing Jeb Bush? Really?). Jamie Leigh Curtis' Dean is a former leftie who hates the Kappa girls and how "they bitch about being objectified while dressing like sluts!" ... while at the same time, she's sleeping with a male student.

Yeah, don't worry, politics aren't really a reason to stop watching. The (deliberately, and caricatured) vapid characters, an overdose of insanity, or gruesome murders, might not be your cup of tea. And oh, yes, we've got a narration peppered with enough slurs to be distracting (referring to new pledges as "gashes," sluts, the Dean as "Box-Munsch-er") unless you're really used to men's locker rooms (and I might be insulting the men's locker room.)

This might be someone of interest for people who have a high insanity threshold, or really enjoyed the satirical aspects of the Scream films. I'm keeping a wide berth of this one. And this one? I'll happily never watch again.

Review: the Player

Wait, hold on -- Wesley Snipes is allowed on television? I thought he was condemned to be doing direct to DVD films for the rest of his natural life. But, I guess that's what happens when the IRS is on ones back.

Anyway, The Player opens with Snipes over a dead body....

And then, time for something completely different. Oh look, a main character, named Alex Kane. More importantly, he can act.

Enter Ex-FBI agent Alex Kane, now a security consultant. He thinks on various levels, is observant, and is a little insane. We have the standard James Bond-like opening to show off Kane's skills -- including jumping off a roof to swing in through a hotel room window in order to foil an assassination.

In short, the opening is very much like Human Target ... another show I miss.

When Kane's ex-wife (who he is still very, very friendly with -- as in showering together with) is murdered, his pursuit and capture of the killer is interrupted by Cassandra King (played by Charity Wakefield). Kane is, of course, accused of the murder, and adopted by a Mr. Johnson (Snipes). Johnson and King run a unique gambling ring where the bored super-rich predict and bet on crime...Because they're not going to always bet on black.

Yes, someone on NBC saw Person of Interest, and decided that they could come up with something similar. But then again, so did Fox and Minority Report.

Now, while I'm all for private enterprise, but this strikes be as a little ridiculous. Snipes didn't exactly help encourage me with this particular ad campaign. And placing bets on crime because it's predicted solely by data analysis? This part of the show is far too much like Person of Interest. As long as this conceit doesn't turn into a plot with a killer AI dueling another one, this may not be a problem. We'll see.

However, the action is tight, Kane is likable, with enough character to show promise. Granted, Snipes is overacting while trying to underplay it, and he's failing miserably ... but Snipes is on for maybe two minutes at a time, so it isn't a drawback.

At the end of the day? It's fun. It's a nice, simple, straightforward action show. Almost 24-ish in nature. I'll be watching it again.

TV Review: Limitless

This show is based off of the film of the same name. While I have never seen it (nor had I heard of it at the time), I have gathered that the film Limitless  starred Bradley Cooper. In it, Cooper plays Edward Morra, a fellow who has gotten his hands on a drug called NZT. NZT is supposed to enable a person to use 100% of their brain -- because it's working on the myth that humans use only 5% of our brains (we actually use all of it, it's just used for various and sundry functions).

In the tv show, Bradley Cooper is back as Morra, and has chosen a random schlub, Brian Finch, a wannabe musician, to grace with doses of NZT. This of course brings him to the attention of the FBI, as represented by Jennifer Carpenter (Debra Morgan from Dexter), and Hill Harper (the first ME from NCIS: NY).

Anyway, Limitless starts in mid-action, backtracks to Finch's personal history as a failure, as well as his father's (Ron Rifkin, Alias) medical issues. And even though it's only a few minutes, they didn't need to layer on the "loser" factor so much. 

Yes, it took five, maybe six minutes of the episode before Finch gets his NZT and becomes interesting, but God, I hated it. I wanted to give up on it in a matter of minutes, that's how heavily they layered it on.

But, enter the NZT, and we're off to the races -- were Finch can file hundreds of personnel records, doing Flight of the Bumblebee on an electric guitar, diagnosing his father's ailment, etc..

Of course, Finch becoming interesting comes at a price. His original NZT dealer (not Cooper's character) is murdered, he's found with the body at the crime scene, and in order to get away from the FBI, Finch is off and running. And that's the 20-minute mark.

The pilot progresses to a simple premise: people who are using NZT at a law firm are showing up dead, being murdered for this super-smart pill. After a confrontation with the killer, Finch is wounded, and Morra -- now a Senator -- has to come to the rescue, providing more NZT, and a shot to prevent side effects (which includes death).

So of course, Finch finds the bad guy, the FBI recruits him as a consultant, and a tv show is born.

Really, at the end of the day, I can only suspect that someone watched Sherlock and decided "We need to go full Cumberbatch, because smart people are entertaining." Some of the same tricks are used -- the graphics to represent thought, stopping the action to go through his thought processes. He hasn't used a memory palace yet, but he's already used a perfect memory to connect a collection of dots. And it's interesting in that when the pull wears off, Finch isn't exactly a dummy.

Honestly? The show is strangely engaging. It's fun. I'm surprised. In fact, I thought I was going to turn it off in the first five minutes. But, as pilots go, it wasn't so bad. And it might go somewhere. Right now, this was a proof of concept episode. And I'm good with that.

Review: Minority Report

Having disliked the original Minority Report film with Tom Cruise, I was nevertheless intrigued by the ads for the new TV show. It looked like an interesting science fiction police procedural. In fact, it looked so good, it reminded me of Almost Human.


You know, the wholly original premise that Fox cancelled in the Spring of 2014?

If you don't remember the film Minority Report, the premise was "pre-crime," and people were arrested on the word of three precognitives. The MacGuffin for the film was simple: one of the three telepaths disagreed with the predictions, and someone considered "Hey, maybe we should arrest people for things that the actually do." The film ended with the universal agreement that the entire "pre-crime" program was a bad idea.


So, this show opens with cops complaining about the good old days when they stopped murders before they happened. Yup, that's right. Completely and utterly forgetting the point.


All I can think at that point is, well, DIDN'T YOU PEOPLE SEE THE MOVIE?


I can tell you right there, I had some problems with the show the minute they bitched about the good old days of pre-crime.


Then they decided to stop the setup references to the movie and actually start acting like cops who have some idea of how to do their job.


Of course, our story opens with one of the three "Precogs" from the film, who is still getting flashes of murders in the future. He's so concerned about these flashes, he tries to stop the murders in progress. And fails. He tips off the lead investigator about his visions, and the perp commits suicide rather than be arrested. Then, because no television cop can every be happy with a closed case that requires no paperwork, the investigator easily tracks down our Precog, just in time for him to have another vision.


That was the first twenty minutes. And I can honestly say that I stopped caring.


I have to ask, was there one good reason this had to be Minority Report? Yes, I know that it's over ten years old and that the teens who saw in in the theater are now money-spending adults. Yes, I know that nostalgia sells. But the movie wasn't even that good, and there is so little connection to the film, the name is really the only end result.


And when they try to connect it to the film, that's when the show goes off the rails (to be explained below).


I'll freely admit that Minority Report had some cute moments and some fun bits of business. The cops have contact-lens HUDs with infrared scanners and crime scene reconstruction right out of Batman: Arkham Origins, and reacted like Tony Stark's user interface in the Marvel film.


And that, of course, Batman isn't the only video game that the stole from. They also ripped off a few character designs from Mirror's Edge, up to and including an Asian female with eye tattoos.


In short, it was nice to see some of the various and sundry bits of cute technology. But at the end of the day, I'd rather have Almost Human return. DO YOU HEAR ME, FOX EXECS, YOU LOUSY BASTARDS?


The acting was ... okay, I guess. The older precog, who operated alongside Tom Cruise's character in the movie, is fraught with concerns about changing the future, blah blah, let's hide in the middle of nowhere forever, blah blah, CAN WE HAVE A STORY?


And these people ... really don't have a character. One is "cop" and the other is "plot device," and that's about the extent of it. The driving force of one is "cop," and the other is "I have to act on these visions because I get these visions." Seriously, just say "With great power comes great responsibility" and be done with it why don't you?


At the end of the day ... I just don't care. I don't care about these people, I don't care about this setup, and for the love of God, if you want a show about precrime, go watch Person of Interest and be done with it.

Music to write to: Amaranthe - Future On Hold

PARKOUR!

And some good music.

But, before we get to that, some reviews.

One ... at a romance blog.  No, really. A romance blog -- a pink, frilly romance blog -- read my book and liked it.

And at an "Awesome SFF Book and Movie Reviews" blog, I got 4.75 out of 5 stars ... yes, really.

Tonight on the Catholic Geek Radio show: Erin Lale and worldcon

Check Out Culture Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with We Built That Network on BlogTalkRadio

Remember, starts at 7PM EST, chat room and call in number on on the main page