Monthly Archives: March 2016

Books/Literature

The (re)writing game…

As an author, this article/review really fascinates me even if the author and book in question are complete unknowns and, based on the plot description of the novel’s re-release, I would probably not buy and read it either:

Dark Debts: Revised Edition by Karen Hall, a review by Laura Miller

Why the fascination with this particular review?  Because the novel in question, Dark Debts, was originally released in 1996 and, in a rather unusual move, it is now being re-released in a “revised” edition.  According to Ms, Miller’s review, the novel is…

extensively rewritten, with a new character and a changed ending.

The author of the novel, Karen Hall, is a veteran writer for TV programs such as M.A.S.H. and Moonlighting and Dark Debts is her (so far anyway) only novel.

I’ll spoil the review a bit by stating Ms. Miller ultimately feels that while the new version of the book is more polished the original, less polished version had, in her words,

the feverish air of a dispatch sent directly from the field of battle, complete with bloodstains, a whiff of gunpowder and a vivid sense that the stakes are life and death, even if it’s not always clear who’s on which side.

So the original work, in Ms. Miller’s opinion, while less polished just feels more alive and dangerous than the “cleaner” work now released.

Which brings me to the whole issue of artists releasing “revised” versions of their previous works.  While it is something of a rarity in the novel industry (Ms. Miller notes this in her review) it is something we’ve seen plenty -maybe even too much of!- in the movie and music industry and to varying degrees of success.

Look, I’m all in favor of an artist going back to their original work and “fixing” things they were dissatisfied with…as long as the ORIGINAL work is still available to be seen.

Many would site Example A of “How to absolutely piss off fans of a popular work of art” in the way director/producer George Lucas has handled the original three Star Wars movies.  Mr. Lucas, according to many interviews and statements, was never satisfied with the movies as originally released and soon began tinkering with them.

Today, audiences cannot legally procure a “original” edition of 1977’s Star Wars as originally released to theaters.  Similarly, the original theatrical versions of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi are also unavailable and Mr. Lucas has again and again stated he would not release them, much to the chagrin of many who long to see the version of the movies they originally fell in love with way back when.  If you want to see these films, you’re forced to purchase the “Special Editions” which, effectively, are reworkings with added (often unnecessary) special effects.

In the music industry, there have been many “remastered” editions of popular albums and their quality varies.  I’m a fan of the early works of the heavy metal band Megadeth and, a few years back, “remastered” editions of those early albums were released.  Even though they were supervised by Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine, I found the reworked songs for the most part inferior to the original versions.  Thankfully, I had the original releases so I could ignore the reworked ones.

Others may not be so lucky!

For my own part, I too indulged in a little revision of my past works.  While on a small break from writing new works, I took the time to revise Haze, my very first novel.  While it may not be the most popular work I’ve done, it has a special place in my heart because it was my first attempt to make a complete story in novel form and, I believe, I did a pretty good job for the first time out.

However, I knew the book probably needed a polishing.  I’ve become a better author -I hope!- in the time between writing that book and now.

However, I decided going in that I would *only* do polishing where need be and try hard not to change the story in any radical way.  In the end, I discovered only one section of the book, a section early on involving the protagonist having a bizarre nightmare, that as it stood was confusing and needed to be worked on for clarity’s sake.  Otherwise, any other changes I made were grammatical in nature and didn’t alter the book at all.

As an artist, it’s safe to say you view your works as never “quite” being done.  You can always do better even if others vociferously argue you’ve already hit the proverbial ball out of the park (I’m looking at you, George Lucas).

Part of gaining experience in whatever artistic field you’re involved in is, hopefully, getting better at your craft so naturally when you look back at the works you produced beforehand you feel they could have been better.

The temptation to return and “fix” those works is strong but so too is the desire to move on and create new works.  I suspect the revision (small though it ultimately was) I did on Haze will likely be the only major revision I do for any of my works.  Sure I may go back and clean up grammatical errors (I’ve spotted a few in my previous books…it unfortunately happens to the best of us!), but otherwise I’m too focused on producing my next work to “go back” and revise something I’ve already revised so many times while in the process of making it “releasable”.

Speaking of which, I’m almost half-way done with entering the revisions for the 7th draft of Corrosive Knights Book 6.  Because I’m looking at being busy next week, I’m trying mightily to finish the corrections on the computer and printing out that revised draft.  If I can start up draft #8 by this weekend I’ll be a very happy man…

Books/Literature

Corrosive Knights, a 3/18/16 update

As of yesterday, just a little over two weeks after printing it out, I read through draft #7 of Corrosive Knights Book 6.

Corrosive Knights series

By “read through” I mean read it from start to end while making considerable notations, corrections, and additions. This process, in the earlier draft stages, can and has taken me sometimes as long as a month or more to do.  Therefore finishing the read through in a little over two weeks (and one of those weeks had my daughter over for Spring Break) is very good news indeed.

What it means is the draft and the story I’m telling “read” quite well.

While there are certain things I still have to fix, I’m pleasantly surprised by how little re-writing is necessary.  I’d say a good 70% or so of the book is, plot and storytelling-wise, done, with the other 30% requiring some rewriting and revision.  Of course, there’s also those pesky grammatical issues to deal with as well.

The bottom line is that as of today I’m back on the computer correcting those errors and/or revisions that need be done.  My hope is to get through this process in the next week to two weeks (we’ll see…I’ll once again have my attention drawn away from writing and towards other non-writing affairs at the tail end of March and into the first week or so of April.  How quickly I finish the revisions on this draft of the book depends on how much time is going to be sucked from my schedule during these days).

Second bottom line: I feel this book will be finished after no more than two further drafts.  One to make sure all the changes/revisions to the story are proper and one final draft to sort out any lingering grammatical issues.

Will the book be ready by May?

I really hope so but, because of some of these outside/non-writing time killers, I can’t be totally certain.  I’ll most certainly give it my best!

More news when I have it…

Comic Books/Graphic Novels, Movies

Superheroes and fascism…

Interesting article from i09 written by Charlie Jane Anders regarding the upcoming Batman v. Superman and Captain America: Civil War films and how they appear to share the same general storyline (I noted this before as well), ie that the heroes have to account for the destruction they wrought in the previous movie(s).

Interestingly, the similarities only grow: We have a “true blue” patriot type character in Superman/Captain America fighting against a corporate billionaire/genius (in armor!) in Batman/Iron Man.  All deal in some way with the concept of Superheroes representing a new form of fascism, at least according to Mr. Anders.

Anyway, the article’s link follows:

This year’s biggest superhero movies are all about America’s descent into fascism

While for most comic book heroes exist firmly in the realm of fantasy and wish-fulfillment, it is my belief we’ve gradually moved to the point where writers and audiences have taken a “realistic” view of what it means to have Superheroes.

One is tempted to say this began in the late 1960’s, particularly with the then hard-hitting Denny O’Neil/Neal Adams Green Lantern/Green Arrow stories which, among others, addressed issues of drug abuse…

Religion…

And, in the very first story done by the duo, racial equality/racism…

However, there has always been a sub-context of exploring the “reality” of superheroes in society.  Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, et al in the early through the 1960’s established a relatively new view of superheroes via Marvel Comics by creating a somewhat cohesive universe where characters interacted and, at times, engaged in almost soap opera level loves.

However, one need not look too hard to see the first “real” interactions between Superheroes and society.  The following images, presented in the very first Superman story which appeared in Action Comics #1 and were written and illustrated by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, featured among other scenes the following:

Yup, that’s a wife beater getting his just desserts.  Then there was this, also from that very first Superman story:

In the above scene, Superman forces himself into the Governor’s home and, eventually bedroom to get the man to call off an execution of an innocent woman!

After this start, however, comic book superheroes would take a step back from harsh realism and vigilante escapades…

and featured less “heavy” themes and more garish, “fun” adventures.  It was at this time that comic books became viewed as “children’s” literature, though there was always those who tried to move the art form back into a more adult realm.

With the 2013 release of the Superman movie Man of Steel, something else changed.  The mass destruction presented at the end of the film was jarring to many viewers and director Zach Snyder appeared to make no effort to minimize the potential loss of human life in that movie’s climax.

While many were troubled by this, the fact is the Marvel movies, particularly the two Avengers films and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, also featured a startling level of large city-wide destruction, though they did make an effort to explain away/minimize/excuse the potential loss of human life.

It would appear, however, the destruction presented in Man of Steel not only made the makers of that film feel the need to address the topic but it also did the same for the makers of the Marvel/Disney films.  Both Batman v. Superman and Captain America: Civil War appear to at the very least have similar concepts behind them: The idea that the destruction wrought by our heroes needs to be addressed and the heroes take different views on how to address them and ultimately clash.

As with so many things, there’s evolution of concept here.  For now, this is where the creators of movies seem to want to go.  In a few years, superhero movies might become passe and we might have new topics which engage the public.  Or perhaps the more joyful “all ages” and/or campy superhero will re-emerge to the forefront  (One can see some of this, especially the more joyful superhero, in The Flash TV series).

Regardless, for better or worse and for this summer film goers will deal with the destruction superheroes create and their impact on society…and fascism.

Movies

More Indiana Jones

News came out yesterday that director Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford would return for a fifth (and I’m presuming last) Indiana Jones film.  It would be the fifth film and follows the monetarily successful but critically panned Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls.

Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg return for Indiana Jones 5 in Summer 2019

I say “presuming last” film in the Indiana Jones series because -and brace yourselves here- Harrison Ford will be 76 years old when the film is being made and be turning 77 when the film is actually released.

Mind you, Mr. Ford has maintained himself very well -if only everyone could look as good as he does when they reach that age!- but the reality of seeing a 76 year old man in a high octane action film, frankly, makes me wonder.

Years ago I wrote the novel Cold Hemispheres, a story set in The Dark Fringe universe which features an elderly protagonist on what amounts to his “last” hurrah.

For many, many years the idea of presenting one “last” story for a “hero” has intrigued me, well beyond my writing Cold Hemispheres.  The concept is not unique, of course.

Mythologies are full of heroes who have one last adventure.  There are story finales involving Robin Hood, King Arthur, Don Quixote, El Cid, and Beowulf.  Robert E. Howard provided a magnificent ending, in poem form, to Solomon Kane.  In comic books, there have been story finales offered (though they are called “elseworlds” or “imaginary” tales) for Batman (Frank Miller’s original The Dark Knight Returns) and Superman (The Alan Moore written Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow).

Whether tragic, exciting, humorous, or depressing, every story featuring a strong protagonist eventually ends and, if the protagonist appears in multiple stories, there is a temptation to explore their mortality and where it all ends.

Many years ago I took a sequential art (ie comic book storytelling) class with comic book legend Will Eisner.  This was somewhere around the time or shortly after the full release of Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns.

When my friend and I left one of the classes we wound up taking an elevator ride alone with Mr. Eisner and I gathered my courage and asked him if he ever considered writing/drawing one last Spirit story.  I noted The Dark Knight series (again, it was very much on most comic book readers’ minds at the time) and wondered if he ever considered making such a story.  I further stated if such a story were considered and created, it didn’t need to have quite as large a page count as Mr. Miller’s Batman story but rather could fit in with the usual Spirit stories which often ran no longer than 7-8 pages.

Mr. Eisner, at least to my mind, was either intrigued with the notion or, more likely, had been asked this question many times before and rather than shoot me down politely stated something along the lines that it was an interesting idea but that he had other works he was more interested in pursuing.

Mr. Eisner would ultimately pass away in 2005 and, to my knowledge, never did create a formal “finale” Spirit story.

Following the critically reviled Kingdom of the Crytal Skull, Mr. Spielberg and Ford are given a second chance to create an Indiana Jones finale (unless they feel they can make yet another Indiana Jones movie after this one!).  I hope with this film they create something magical thought I will admit beyond Raiders of the Lost Ark the other Indiana Jones films are, IMHO, lesser works.

Regardless, I’ll most certainly be there to see!

Movies

I’m glad someone else noticed…

Haven’t seen the movie, but every commercial and still I’ve seen for the film 10 Cloverfield Lane features…well…read the article by Laura Bradley which appears in Slate.com for yourself:

What Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s exposed bra straps mean in 10 Cloverfield Lane

I know, I know…we’re talking about but one aspect of the movie but Ms. Winstead’s character in the film is the protagonist of the piece, and, as I stated, whenever I see clips or images from it all I see is the (strategically) exposed bra…

Maybe exposed bra/bra straps are the new lens flare for J.J. Abrams produced works?!

General

Looking for a new car…?

Then you may want to avoid these cars, presented on autoblog.com:

Five Least Reliable Cars

I’m happy to say that none of the five cars presented in this list were ever on my radar.  In fact, of the five, the Jeep Cherokee is the model I’m most familiar with, though I’ve never actually owned one (or know anyone who has).  Nonetheless, I like the look of the vehicle and, if I had an interest in getting an SUV, I might have considered it.

After reading this report, I can safely say it’s off that hypothetical list now!

Sports

It was only a matter of time…

From CNN and written by Scott Polacek:

NFL Acknowledges Link Between Football and CTE

I’ve stated before that I’m a fan of Football (though my Miami Dolphins have been mediocre and far worse for an awful long time).

I’m also a realist.

Football is a wild, emotional, and fun sport to watch but its clear those participating in it are doing considerable damage to their bodies and, by extension, their future.

Because there is so much money involved in the sport now, we have players whose bodies are at near peak shape.  They couldn’t be much stronger or faster and they are involved in a sport that essentially takes these peak athletes and has them run at each other as fast as they can.

The collisions do damage to the bodies but padding can help.  Somewhat.

The problem is that as strong as you are, as built up as your body is, there is no way to further protect your brain.  It essentially floats within one’s head and even with the most high tech helmets out there, a hit can and will cause damage.  Damage that sometimes doesn’t manifest itself for years.

A few days back the whole sad, sordid O. J. Simpson saga made it to the headlines again when a knife reportedly found on the estate years before was turned in (you can read about that here).

I recall the entire sordid O. J. Simpson saga but now, with the benefit of hindsight, another element of the sordid affair comes to life.  Mr. Simpson, who was a famous running back for the Buffalo Bills before furthering his celebrity in movies, commercials, and sports commentary, may well also might be exhibiting symptoms of someone suffering from CTE.

This might explain -but certainly not forgive- the horrific abuse he inflicted on his wife which, in my and many others’ minds, ultimately led to her murder and that of Ron Goldman.

There is simply no happy ending to this story.  As repugnant as I find Mr. Simpson, I also know now versus back then how other ex-players for the NFL have been affected by CTE.  Some have withered away.  Some, like superstar linebacker Junior Seau might well have been driven to suicide.

As much as I enjoy watching professional football, someone far wiser than me noted the sports is today what the tobacco industry was in the 1980’s…a giant industry desperately trying to deny the undeniable, that their product is potentially deadly to those who actually participate in it.

Movies

Spectre (2015) a (mildly) belated review

Oh….my.

When word came the latest James Bond film, Spectre, was about to be released, I made it a point to clear up free time to see it while it was still in theaters.  When the movie was first released in England, the reviews were kind and I got doubly excited to see it.  When the movie was given its world-wide release shortly afterwards, those initial wildly enthusiastic reviews from England were met with far less enthusiastic reviews elsewhere. (The movie has a 64% positive rating from critics and a 63% positive rating from audiences over at rottentomatoes.com)

Unfortunately, I read a few of the reviews at that time and my desire to see the film cooled considerably.  I finally gave up on seeing it in theaters after reading one particular review which SPOILED the relationship between Bond and the villain of this piece.  (You can read my original post regarding this here.  And a more in depth, SPOILERY post here)

Despite my negative reaction to the reviews, there was never a doubt I’d see Spectre eventually.  Good, bad, or indifferent, I’ve seen all the James Bond films, sometimes many multiple times.  As good as some of the great ones are (Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only, The Living Daylights, Goldeneye, Casino Royale), there are also some really bad ones (You Only Live Twice, The Man With the Golden Gun, Moonraker, A View To A Kill, License to Kill, the other Pierce Brosnan Bond films).

With all due respect to the ratings over at rottentomatoes, Spectre for me falls deep into the “bad” category.  In fact, I’d rank it among the very worst of the James Bond films.  And you know what the most amazing thing about that is?  What irked me so much about the film before seeing it and what kept me from seeing it upon its initial release, ie the stupid, unnecessary relationship between Bond and the villain, turned out to be one of the film’s lesser sins.

Seriously.

So much was wrong with Spectre that by the time we got to the “big reveal” of Bond and the villain’s relationship I was numb.

But as bad as it got, Spectre nonetheless starts off quite well.  The opening action montage, set in Mexico during their annual Day of the Dead festival, is exciting and visually appealing.  After this opening act the film manages to keep up its interest but only because of the momentum provided in that opening.  As soon as that momentum is gone the film sputters and dies.

Yet like the living dead, it goes on… and on…. and on……. and………. on……….

At the 1 hour and 30 minute mark I had to pause the film for a bathroom break.  On the TV screen was displayed how much of the movie we’d seen and how much was left.  We still had an hour of Spectre to go.  Yes sir, ladies and gentlemen…not only is the film not good, there’s plenty of it.  It runs an astonishing 2 hours and 28 minutes.

Let me offer an example of how unexciting Spectre was.  During what was envisioned as one of the movie’s big action set pieces, a car chase through the streets of Rome, James Bond (a really bored and surly looking Daniel Craig) is being chased by Hinx (Dave Bautista).  They are both driving high powered sport super cars and, you would think, these scenes, in the right director’s hands, would be brimming with excitement.

Not so.

The “action” is apparently so non-threatening to James Bond that, DURING THE ACTUAL CAR CHASE he places a phone call to Ms. Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) to get her to look in on some information.

I repeat:  James Bond makes a phone call DURING THE CAR CHASE SCENE to get someone else to look into something…and his call is never frantic or interrupted to any great degree.  There’s no yelling or cursing or, you know, anything else one would think might be involved in racing at breakneck speeds in super sophisticated sports cars while trying not to kill yourself/be killed.  In fact, I doubt Ms. Moneypenny even realized Bond was in any danger.

As Moneypenny goes, so did I.  How could I feel Bond was in danger when he himself didn’t seem to feel he was?

But there’s more.  Boy howdy there’s more.

The plot of Spectre also proves surprisingly unengaging and, frankly, piecemeal.  I noted how the previous Bond film, Skyfall, was an odd bird of a film that had you on the edge of your seat while it played out but afterwards you couldn’t help but realize how the plot made absolutely no sense at all.

What saved Skyfall was the breakneck pacing that didn’t allow you to think about how stupid the plot was.  The glacier pacing of Spectre, alas, does the exact opposite: It gives you too much time to think about what a pointless story we’re dealing with.

That story, as it is, goes something like this: Over video, James Bond is given one last task by the previous M (Judi Dench in a cameo appearance as her character -SPOILERS!- met her end in Skyfall):  To kill a person and then attend his funeral and see who shows up there.

Not all that much, eh?

The person Bond was to kill is the man he takes out in the film’s opening minutes.  So, Bond subsequently goes to the funeral and senses he’s getting close to a mysterious and powerful organization.  The dead man’s wife, Lucia (Monica Bellucci in what amounts to a very small cameo) points him toward a get-together and, from there, Bond essentially follows a series of breadcrumbs which eventually lead him to Spectre, the evil organization which the Sean Connery Bond had to deal with for most of his run.

In the meantime, we have a secondary story involving the possible disbanding of the 00 spy network as a newcomer seeks to upgrade British Intel with powerful new computer surveillance equipment.  Of course, both stories eventually intersect.

Returning Skyfall director Sam Mendes gets precious little out of his actors this time around.  As mentioned, Daniel Craig appears both surly and bored in this feature.  Bond “girl” Madeline (Lea Seydoux) is never much more than a pretty face and a damsel in distress.  Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) is surprisingly unthreatening as the lead villain.  Even Hinx, the movie’s big, supposedly scary henchman, is surprisingly dull.

But the worst thing about Spectre remains that nonsensical piecemeal story.  Even as the film plays out audiences are left with so many unanswered questions and silly frustrations.  There is not one, but TWO separate occasions in this film where Bond has incapacitated his enemies (in both cases they’re unconscious and helpless) and Bond stands only a few feet away from either of them.  Rather than take a few seconds to check to make sure they’re dead (and if they’re not, put a bullet in their heads), he just walks away which allows them to come back and annoy him some more.

There’s also a scene later in the film where Hinx and Bond go mano-a-mano in a train (a clear homage to train fights presented in Bond films dating back to From Russia With Love).  Hinx is clearly trying his best to kill Bond yet, immediately afterwards when Bond meets up with Blofeld, it is equally clear our main villain wanted Bond to get to his lair so he could personally kill him.

Was Blofeld’s henchman acting on his own?  I mean, seriously…are employer/employee on different pages?

Later still and in the movie’s climax, Madeline leaves Bond and, inexplicably, walks away alone down a dark London street.  Everyone knows there’s danger all around them and yet Bond simply lets the “love of his life” walk away alone and unguarded into the night?!?  I’ll give you a single guess as to what happens to her.

I could go on and on (seriously) but all I’m accomplishing is raising my blood pressure.

Spectre, in the end, is Bond at its absolute worst.  A too long “action” film with little action and a un-engaing -and nonsensical- plot.  Sure, there are some nice scenes here and there and the movie clearly had a large budget and was filled with actors who normally do pretty good work but the end result, alas, is a dud.

Too bad.

Movies

My 2 cents…

1 Comment

Yesterday Disney released a new trailer for Captain America: Civil War and, while the trailer showed us some stuff we’ve seen and other, lengthier takes, we were also treated to some interesting new material.

Of the new material presented, the most intriguing occurs at the tail end of the trailer where we finally get to see a certain web-slinging wise-guy make his first formal appearance in the Disney Marvel Universe films:

And the fanboys go wiiiiillllllldddd!

Seriously,  People went crazy for this.  Over on i09 James Whitbrook offered an entire post dedicated to screen grabs/gifs of Spider-Man’s appearance in the trailer:

Here’s our best look at Spider-Man’s fabulous new costume

And for the most part comments were positive.

For the most part.

Me?  I’m not all that impressed.

In fact, and I hate to say this considering how much I enjoyed the Rousso brother’s previous Captain America film, The Winter Soldier (I consider it one of the best superhero films ever made, second only to Richard Donner’s Superman), but the trailer left me rather cold.

Perhaps to some it’s going to sound like heresy but here goes: I think the above trailer is weak soup compared to the latest/last Batman v. Superman trailer.

To begin, the visuals (we’ll find out soon enough how the stories compare) alone blow Captain America: Civil War away.  The B v S trailer, further, just feels a hell of a lot more exciting.

But let’s get back to Spider-Man and his new costume.  Thanks to Jaren Cole over at Byrne Robotics I can cut-n-paste his handy reference regarding the various Spider-Man costumes presented over the previous few years:

Spider-Man 1-3 (Sam Raimi directed films)
The Amazing Spider-Man 1 & 2

and finally…

Spider-Man from the Captain America: Civil War trailer

If I had to pick which one I liked the most, I’d go with Amazing Spider-Man 2, then the Sam Raimi Spider-Mans, then Amazing Spider-Man 1.

Alas, I feel the Spider-Man presented in the Civil War trailer, while certainly not horrible, is nonetheless the version I like the least, though I will admit I liked the way the whites in his eyes narrowed (this is a cool tip of the hat to the comic books which hasn’t been used in the films -at least to my awareness- until now).

So there you have it.

While people will no doubt soon enough argue the merits (or lack thereof) of the film to come, at least to me the “new” look of Spider-Man -as well as the overall look presented in Captain America: Civil War– isn’t doing all that much for me at this point.

POST-SCRIPT: It suddenly occurs to me that both Batman v Superman and Captain America: Civil War seem to be dealing with roughly the same idea: How does humanity react to super-beings capable of inflicting mass destruction as presented in previous films?

Interesting…

Music, TV

That’s entertainment…

…I guess.

Stumbled upon a pair of articles regarding two individuals in the entertainment biz and the troubles they are currently embroiled in.

First up, Austin Russell, aka “Chumlee” from the A & E TV show Pawn Stars was arrested…

Pawn Stars regular Austin “Chumlee” Russell arrested on gun and drug charges

For a few years I watched and enjoyed the Pawn Stars show.  It was fascinating to see what people brought in and find out its history and what it was worth.  That show, in direct and indirect ways, spawned a series of other shows, many of them featuring Pawn Stars’ central conceit: Finding potential value -or not- in oddball items.

As my family and I watched more and more episodes of the show it became all too clear the show was as far from “reality” as could be.  It was obvious even from the beginning that many of the “humorous” asides were scripted.  After a while, however, I began suspecting (I have no proof of this but it just seemed this way) people were sometimes bringing in items the store already possessed for evaluation.

Still, I couldn’t deny the show’s main foursome, consisting of three generations of the Harrison family (Grandfather, father, and son) and “Chumlee” were pleasant enough to watch.

From left to right, Richard Harrison, Corey Harrison (above), Austin “Chumlee” Russell, and Rick Harrison

Now, with the above article, we’re offered a decidedly darker view of the “lovable goof” Chumlee represented in the show.  Granted, one shouldn’t view what you see -even on supposed “reality” fare- as truly representing the people in their individual series’ in real life, yet it is nonetheless depressing to hear the incidentals of this case, especially for one who has seen plenty of Chumlee on the tube.

From the article it states Mr. Russell was already under investigation for sexual assault.  As bad as this was, it wasn’t the reason he was arrested.  Again, and from the article, police served a warrant at Mr. Russell’s home and searched it.  When they did, they found guns (which apparently he’s not supposed to have…though I’m not clear on this) as well as methamphetamine and pot.

According to the article, Mr. Russell remains in jail as of today.  A sad state of affairs.

And speaking of sad state of affairs…

Sony Music to Drop Dr. Luke Amid Public Pressure Over Kesha, Internal Headaches

As someone very much on the outside, especially when it comes to all things related to modern music, I found the whole Kesha vs. Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald story both sordid and depressing.

For those who, like me, are perhaps not as (ahem) in tune with modern music, Kesha is a singer who now refuses to work with her longtime producer Dr. Luke.  While Dr. Luke took her in and helped her create some of her most famous music and she signed a very long term contract with Sony which forces her to continue working with Dr. Luke, Kesha claims he also drugged and raped her.

While it is my understanding at one point Ms. Kesha did deny any impropriety on Dr. Luke’s part, she now vociferously claims he is a predator and will not work for him.  Unfortunately, and because of the longterm contract she signed, she is effectively barred from creating any new music because it will be under Dr. Luke’s umbrella.

A tense court battle ensued and a judge ordered the contract between the parties enforced even in light of the highly salacious details of her supposed violation evident.

Again, I -and pretty much everyone outside the circles of both Ms. Kesha and Dr. Luke- don’t know what really happened here but it is telling how so many high profile female artists have come to Kesha’s defense…and I’m hearing virtually no such spirited defense for Dr. Luke…other than his own.

The above article, which states Dr. Luke will be dropped by Sony, has been denied by Dr. Luke’s representatives so the story may well be a non-story.

Still, if even a portion of Ms. Kesha’s claims are true, it is monstrous, regardless of the contract signed by her many years before, to force this still very young lady to work with a person she considers a predator.  It is even worse that her only alternative to fight this is to not create any new music, something that could very well kill her career.