All posts by ERTorre

E. R. Torre is a writer/artist whose first major work, the mystery graphic novel The Dark Fringe, was optioned for motion picture production by Platinum Studios (Men In Black, Cowboys vs. Aliens). At DC Comics, his work appeared in role-playing game books and the 9-11 Tribute book. This later piece was eventually displayed, along with others from the 9-11 tribute books, at The Library of Congress. More recently he released Shadows at Dawn (a collection of short stories), Haze (a murder mystery novel with supernatural elements), and Cold Hemispheres (a mystery novel set in the world of The Dark Fringe). He is currently hard at work on his latest science fiction/suspense series, Corrosive Knights, which features the novels Mechanic, The Last Flight of the Argus, and Chameleon.
Sports, TV

…and that’s why they play the game.

My thoughts on Super Bowl 50, if you’re interested:

Lady Gaga’s rendition of the National Anthem was quite spectacular.  Couldn’t tell you about the halftime show as I was busy doing a few things and missed it completely (I could have rewound and watched it but as I don’t care for either Coldplay, Beyonce, or Bruno Mars all that much there seemed little need to).

As for the final score, I was very surprised by it.  Going into the game I thought this would be a blowout with the Carolina Panthers winning.

While I knew the Denver Bronco’s defense was damn good (it was rated #1 this year), I felt Peyton Manning’s QB play was so very weak that it would ultimately prove a liability the Broncos could not overcome.  The fact is Mr. Manning’s body is broken down and he is, at best, an average to below average QB at this point.

Add to that the fact the Carolina Panthers looked to be an far better rounded team and you’ll understand my reasoning.  Carolina’s defense, while obviously not ranked #1, was nonetheless still a damn good unit and in combination with an overall better offense had me feeling this would be an easy win for Carolina.

Boy was I was wrong.

Denver’s defense essentially won the game while Manning, though he committed a few errors (and potentially more…there were times his passes were up there for grabs but Carolina didn’t get them), nonetheless didn’t sink their ship.

After the game, one of the announcers repeated my exact thoughts by noting he never thought a defensive performance alone would be sufficient to win a Super Bowl but that this game proved it could indeed be the case…provided your defense is as good as this one.

In the end, the better team won and in this case it was because of their incredibly good defense.

So much for the game.  How about…The commercials?

Ho boy.

What was always a side tradition of watching the Super Bowl was seeing a parade of clever and sometimes outrageous commercials.  This year, it was nothing more than a bust.

Of the commercials I could remember:

The Prius commercial.  This was the worst.  I mean, who thought it was a good idea to present a group of “lovable” bank robbers as protagonists in these commercials?  For those who didn’t see the commercial, it starts with the bank robbers’ car being towed and they are forced to steal a car to make their getaway.  They find a Prius and take it but, hey, it’s all good: They leave behind a bag of stolen money to pay the owner for the stolen car.  The commercial then has them getting away…and away…and away as the Prius is not only fast, but so fuel economical that it keeps the police from capturing them.

Of course in real life the police would blast the living shit out of that Prius and take the bank robbers down hard.  Further, other than the people behind the making of the commercial, who in their right mind would look upon bank robbers as being “lovable”?!

The Snickers commercial.  Last year Snickers presented one of the all time best versions of their “You’re not yourself when you’re hungry” commercials by having Danny Trejo (Machete) and, at the end of the commercial, Steve Buscemi (Broadwalk Empire, among many others) appear as the “hungry” versions of Marcia and Jan of The Brady Bunch.

This year we had Willem Dafoe playing a cranky Marilyn Monroe as s/he’s filming her famous “white dress being blown up by the subway air” scene from The Seven Year Itch.

On paper the idea of seeing Willem Dafoe in Marilyn’s dress and doing that scene must have felt like a home run but in watching it I couldn’t help but cringe.  Didn’t work at all.

The superhero commercials:  Unless I’m missing one, I believe there were five in total.  The Deadpool one was ok.  They’ve done better.

The Captain America: Civil War trailer was…only OK as well, IMHO.  I’m curious why they didn’t just call it Avengers 3: Civil War, considering the fact all the main superheroes (plus a few new ones) are there.

The Hulk/Ant-Man Coke commercial…Cute concept but ultimately played out too long.  And a part of me was thinking: All that destruction and potential human life lost/injured because of one stinking can of Coke?

The Batman v Superman/Turkish Airways commercial.  Though many have dumped on the film before its release, I’ve felt that up to this point the clips/trailers I’ve seen have me optimistic the film will be good.  But this whole Turkish Airways cross-promotion has me scratching my head big time.  I mean, what’s the point of this commercial?  Use Turkish Airlines whenever you want to go to fictional cities like Metropolis and Gotham?!  Very weird.

The X-Men Age of Apocalypse trailer…Again, I thought it was only OK.  It was so average, in fact, that I forgot entirely about it until I did a search for the superhero ads placed in the Super Bowl.  Not a good sign.

Other commercials:

The Bud Light Seth Rogan/Amy Schumer commercial.  Too long and not as funny as it could have been.  But I did like the Paul Rudd appearance/joke.

The Amazon Echo commercial featuring Dan Marino…I chuckled at that one, especially some of the zingers at the end.  The follow up/morning after commercial, though, wasn’t quite as good.

Weirdest commercial by far: The Puppy Monkey Baby commercial for Mountain Dew.  How do I even explain it?  I can’t so I’ll conclude this blog entry by showing it.  Gaze in wild wonder at one of the most bizarre commercials I’ve seen in quite some time…

Books/Literature

Corrosive Knights 2/6/16 Update

Back in November I wrote an update on my work with Book #6 in the Corrosive Knights series (you can read the update here).  Re-reading it today, I urge anyone who has read some/all the books in the series thus far look at what I wrote there as I get into the series’ wonky chronology.

Corrosive Knights series

One thing I also said back in that November update was that I was hoping Book #6 would be ready by February.  Well, we’re in early February and I can say without any doubt and with not an inconsiderable amount of frustration that I won’t have it ready this month.

This, however, is not an entirely new thing.  In January I provided another update (you can read that here) and noted my hope was to have the book ready by May.  While I still hope to get it done in and around that date, I will further note I was hoping to finish the current draft I was working on by January but it looks like I’ll be finishing it by next week, ie the middle of February.

Having said all this, despite the frustrations and time spent on the revision process, I’m optimistic I’m very near the point where I switch from rewriting/reworking the book to having all the story elements in place and focusing on grammatical/spelling issues.

This is significant because once I get to that stage, things move very quickly and we’re rapidly approaching the end.  Will it be May?  I really hope so!  I just have to make sure I get all the parts together into a very coherent whole.

Speaking of which…

I hope what I write doesn’t sound like a boast, but my stories/novels tend to be not unlike the pieces of a machine.  If you want a more poetic description, my novels and the stories I tell are not unlike the components of a watch.  When looked at individually, the parts may not seem to come together (at first!) but when all is said and done, they do.  If I’m on top of my game, it is my hope there isn’t a wasted page or event presented and every word and paragraph is necessary to tell the story I’m giving you.

I probably mentioned this before so forgive me if I’m repeating myself:

Back when I was in College I took a Literature course and while I don’t remember much about it, there was one particular lesson regarding author Henry James’ view of a novel that really, really stuck with me.  I’ll let Mr. James’ words speak for themselves:

A novel is a living thing, all one and continuous, like any other organism, and in proportion as it lives will it be found, that in each of the parts there is something of each of the other parts.

Mr. James’ ideas, often referred to as the view that a good/great novel presents an “organic whole”, urges authors to not waste a single word or create any scene(s) within their work that is superfluous and doesn’t contribute to the entirety of the work/story you are telling.

Thus in the “perfect” novel a reader is given a work wherein not even one single word is wasted.  Each and every one of the words and sentences and paragraphs and chapters, etc. move the story forward until it reaches its end.

I took this lesson very much to heart.

So whether you like, hate, or are indifferent to any/all of my works, it is my intention to never waste your time as a reader.  I try my best to make sure every element I insert into a novel has a reason for being there and ties into the larger story I’m telling.

And it is indeed a large story and one I couldn’t be prouder of.

Sports

If you ain’t cheating you ain’t trying…part deux

News organization Al Jazeera created a mini-scandal when they reported on HGH (human growth hormone) deliveries to the home of professional quarterback for the Super Bowl bound Denver Broncos Peyton Manning.  This report was furiously denied by the Manning camp.

Now some more unsavory details regarding this case, and Mr. Manning and his people’s actions following becoming aware of the investigation are coming to light, as well as the revelation that, yes indeed, the HGH was sent to his house after all:

Private Eyes Spook Parents of Manning HGH Accuser in 911 Call; Broncos QB Admits Drugs Sent to House

First thing’s first: The revelation the HGH was sent to the Manning household after all was explained as it being for Ashley Manning, Peyton Manning’s wife, and not for her athlete husband.  No further details were provided as the Manning’s cited Ashley Manning’s medical privacy.

While Mrs. Manning certainly has every right to her privacy, the HGH medication being sent to the Peyton household, even if it was sent under her name, raises all kinds of questions.

Let’s face it, many athletes use whatever means they can to gain that “extra edge”.  It is the difference between making it and being banished to the sidelines…or never being part of the game itself.  Further, this story cannot be viewed as a stand-alone instance as it inevitably becomes part of the sports doping continuum.  For years now there have been stories regarding star athletes who were reported to have doped.  These stories were inevitably followed by stern, finger-wagging denials by the athletes before the weight of the evidence against them was too much to deny and the athletes finally admitted what they did.

We’ve effectively gone through these very same steps with Mr. Manning, the only difference being that his camp is admitting the drugs were sent to his house but were for his wife rather than for Peyton.  Sadly, this explanation sounds like a variation of the old “the dog ate my homework” excuse.

But putting that aside, we get to something even sleazier: It is very troubling to hear that Manning’s people sent these two bruisers to the home of the parents of the man who was taped making the accusations against Peyton Manning.  What, other than intimidation, was the reason for sending these people there?  Even if we are to assume Peyton Manning is totally innocent and these charges are totally outrageous, what was the purpose of sending these people to that man’s parent’s home?  This cowardly, bullying action reflects very poorly on Mr. Manning and the people he employs.

For years Peyton Manning has had a sterling reputation among NFL athletes.  To many, he’s a star athlete, a family man, and an all around good guy.  As of this day, he’s two days away from playing in the Super Bowl and, if other reports are to be believed, this will be his very last professional football game.  Should his team win this Super Bowl, it would make for a truly legendary exit for one of the league’s superstars.

And yet this story lingers just behind the scenes and, thanks to these new revelations, soils what could be a crowning ending to a magnificent career.

I’ll grant you the timing of the release of this report is also suspicious and feels like it was timed for maximum exposure.  Having said that, it is difficult to excuse or ignore the alarming accusations within it.

General

Earth is actually two planets…

Incredibly fascinating article by Kristen Bobst for Mother Nature Network explores the new theory that our very own Earth may actually be the result of a fusion of two celestial bodies, Earth (as it was 4.5 billion years ago) and the head on collision and subsequent fusion of it with a Mars-like proto-planet called Theia…

Is Earth Actually Two Planets?

This idea is not new.  In fact, most scientists feel that evidence of that collision lies in our Moon, which appears to be a residue from that very collision.  But the theories were that Earth was “sideswiped” by this planet and the resulting debris caused by the impact caused the Moon to be created over time.

Now, based on close examination of the composition of material from the Earth and Moon, scientists now think the collision was more direct.  The debris from the collision still caused the creation of the Moon but now it is thought our planet is actually the direct merging of what was the Earth and Theia.

Which makes one wonder: What was the Earth like before the collision?  What was Theia like?

Fascinating, fascinating stuff.

Movies

4 Movie Heroes Who Would Be Villains Today…

Amusing video, if you have about 8 or so minutes to spare, in which Tom Reimann explores the above, movies which, over the course of time, have made us re-evaluate the “heroes” of said features…

I find the notion fascinating and the examples he gives quite accurate.

Well, with one sorta/kinda exception: Dirty Harry.

While the character of Harry Callahan, introduced in the original Dirty Harry film, became a “hero” in subsequent releases, I’m not so sure his presentation in the original film was quite what it seemed.

Don’t get me wrong: There is clearly a glorification of this character who is exactly what the narrator above describes him as: A racist, nasty individual whose worldview problem solving involves using a gun…or fists…or whathaveyou.

The opening sequence involving the bank robbery is the first clue.  We should be horrified by the mayhem Harry creates in that opening scene, yet the movie plays to our bloodlust.

In effect, I always felt the film wanted to push audiences to root for a fascist cop.  I believe we were supposed to feel uncomfortable in his presence and uncomfortable with the things he did.  Further, his methods don’t always work.  He has the killer captured but because he goes above and beyond what is allowed by the law, the killer is released.

I’ll grant you the film stacks the deck in Harry’s favor but as a work it nonetheless, at least to me, is an interesting curio which presents deeper questions about our need for law and order and our feelings regarding the world being out of control…and the way a fascist longing plays to those fears.

While I enjoyed a couple of the sequels, none of those subsequent films were anywhere near as interesting as the first.

Having said that, I did think back to which films I felt my opinion of them changed over time.

I would have to say the earlier Sean Connery Bond films have aged especially poorly, in particular regarding his character’s “handling” of women.  In the third Bond film, Goldfinger, which many people consider the best of the Bond films and the one that established the blueprint for subsequent films, Bond is particularly vulgar when it comes to women…

Yikes.  And this wasn’t even the worst scene showing Bond’s uh… dated way of dealing with women.  That would probably be this one…

The scene is, in a modern context, especially cringe worthy as Pussy Galore (yep, that was the female character’s name) is presented subtly as being a lesbian and what Bond does, effectively force himself on her -or if you prefer, rape her- he makes a “real” woman out of her.

And the way its presented in the film itself!  Almost comically!  Look, they flip each other while having some clever banter!  Great foreplay!

As I said, it makes me cringe more than a little seeing it now.  Then again, there are those who feel the character of James Bond should be looked at as a villain but, not unlike Harry Callahan, one who happens to be working on our side.

Movies

American Ultra (2015) a (mildly) belated review

Neither fish nor fowl…

The above expression was exactly what I thought of when I finished watching the 2015 box-office flop American Ultra.  Did the film deserve such a cruel fate?  Was it as good as its trailer (at least to me) suggested it could be?

The answer to the above questions isn’t quite as black and white as one would think.

To begin, the above trailer does a good job telling you American Ultra’s basic plot.  You have a stoner named Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg, pretty good in the role) and his girlfriend Phoebe Larson (Kristen Stewart, also quite good) who live in a small, dead-end town and smoke pot and work in their dead end jobs.  When we first meet them, Mike wants to take Phoebe to Hawaii and surprise her with a marriage proposal.  But at the airport he has a panic attack and is unable to leave the town.  It turns out he’s had many of these panic attacks before and they keep him in this town.

Meanwhile, over in Washington D.C., an agent named Victoria Lasseter (Connie Britton, yet another actor doing good work) is tipped off that her subject, Mike Howell (natch) and the entire operation he was a part of is about to be shut down.  And by shut down we mean “killed”.

Lasseter confronts a fellow agent, the young and obnoxious Adrian Yates (Topher Grace, providing another great acting turn), and he admits he has initiated the shut down of Lasseter’s old project and that Mike Howell will be dead before the day is out.  Lasseter, however, does an end around the obnoxious agent and shows up at Howell’s small town and, shown partially in the clip above, tries to “active” him so that he will be able to defend himself.

What follows is plenty of action, blood, and, especially with Mike Howell’s character, confusion as this mellow stoner finds he is suddenly a killing machine.  The body count rises as Yates seals the town off, intent on killing not only Howell but also Lasseter, whom he instantly knows has activated this agent.

Sounds good, right?

Well…

Ok, I started this review by posting the “neither fish nor fowl” quote.  The quote refers to something that either isn’t easily categorized or something that does not rightly belong or fit well in a given group or situation.

That later definition, in a nutshell, is what keeps American Ultra from rising up from a “good” film to being a truly “great” film.

Mind you, I like the four main actors.  I like the situation/story created by screenwriter Max Landis.  Further, I can understand his twitter expressed frustration when the film was released and didn’t make much money at the box office.  Clearly there was great thought placed in this screenplay and, frankly, the movie should have done better than it did and one hopes it can do so in the video market.

Having said that, the film unfortunately does have flaws.  To begin, there are plot elements that make you scratch your head.  I don’t want to give away SPOILERS, so I’ll leave some of those elements from this discussion, but suffice to say when you learn of certain characters’ identities you think maybe there was an easier way of giving Howell a head’s up and/or sprinting him to safety.  Also, agent Lasseter makes it to Howell’s town in record time, no?

Worse, unfortunately, is that as humorous as the film is at times, it is never really a “laugh out loud” funny-type work.  It felt as thought the movie’s creators were trying hard to clean things up and they did this a little too well.  These stoners -and their friends- are never as grubby as they could have been (see Cheech and Chong).  Also, the action/killings presented are never as graphic as they could have been.  Rather than bouncing between extremes -laughs versus gore- the film tries to create an even keel and sometimes being middle of the road is not where you want to be with comedy or action.

Having said all that, American Ultra is, nonetheless, an at times clever and humorous film with good to great acting, sympathetic leads and hissable villains.  Perhaps its box office problems were more a result of when it was released, the competition it faced, and how it was marketed more than anything else.

In the end, I would recommend the film but note that while a decent bit of entertainment, I left feeling it could -and should- have been even better.

*****

POSTSCRIPT: Getting back to screenwriter Max Landis, he also received quite a bit of negative attention, again because of his twitter writings, regarding his view that the character of Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens was a “Mary Sue”.

Not having seen The Force Awakens, I can’t comment on that particular opinion, but I will say this: Mr. Landis created a very interesting character in Phoebe Larson (the Kristen Stewart character) in American Ultra but then he just went and made her a typical “damsel in distress” with the movie’s climax.

Mr. Landis: You may well be right regarding the character of Rey in The Force Awakens, and it appears to me you have passion regarding storytelling and an awareness of cliches.  Unfortunately, you fell for one here and, in a movie that could have been better in many ways, the damsel in distress role the character of Phoebe eventually takes is one of the film’s most egregious errors.

Had you recognized that cliche, I’m certain you could have turned it on its ear and made something more with her.

Hell, not only could you have, you should have!

Sports

Rare Super Bowl I recording results in clash between owner and NFL

This article shocked me.

It is from the New York Times and is written by Richard Sandomir and concerns Troy Haupt, a North Carolina man who likely has in his possession the only almost-complete copy of the TV broadcast of Super Bowl I between the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs…and how the NFL is playing hardball with him regarding its sale and use:

Out of a rare Super Bowl I recording a clash with the NFL unspools

The upshot of the article is this: For reasons unknown, Mr. Haupt’s father recorded most of the television broadcast of Super Bowl I back in 1967.  The copy is far from perfect, according to the article, and the colors fade in and out and there is a choppiness to it resulting from Mr. Haupt’s father cutting out the commercials (the recording equipment of that era, understandably, wasn’t as good as it is now).  Further, he did not record the half-time show and, to save tape, much of the 3rd quarter.

Having said all that and noting the lost material, this nonetheless appears to be the ONLY existing copy of the first Super Bowl’s television presentation as all other copies were destroyed.

At the risk of giving away everything in the article (you really should read it!) Mr. Haupt, understandably, wanted to make some money from his father’s foresight and sell the recording to the NFL.  After all, it is a historical recording and the NFL itself tried to recreate it with film clips this past year but they don’t have the real thing.

So Mr. Haupt contacted the NFL and told them he was willing to sell the tape for one million dollars.  The NFL counter-offered $30,000 and, when he refused, essentially went “nuclear” on him.

They forbid him from selling the tapes to anyone else as they deem the material on the tapes their copyright material.  Further, when CBS offered $25,000 to interview Mr. Haupt and show some clips from his tapes the NFL apparently shut that down completely.  The NFL claims they didn’t do so, but one can’t help but wonder.

So Mr. Haupt has a piece of history he is forbidden by the NFL from making a dime off of…unless it is the NFL who gets the material in the end and at the price they want to pay for it and a historical record ages ever more.

Bear in mind, the NFL is a multi-BILLION dollar operation.  The Commissioner of the NFL, Roger Goodell has reportedly made some $210 million since 2007.  Obviously, they could/should easily afford the one million to pay Mr. Haupt for his historic -and very unique- tape.  As incomplete as it is, the recording is obviously legitimate and the price he’s asking for it, at least to me (a big caveat: hey, it isn’t my money we’re talking about!) doesn’t seem too far out of the realm of reason.

The strong-armed tactics the NFL is employing to keep Mr. Haupt from benefiting from his unique recording, on the other hand, does seem petty and bullying.  Further, you would think the NFL could turn around and make money from this recording by cleaning it up and releasing it with their “reconstruction” in a video/digital format.

Hopefully the fact that the story has come out and the negative attention it is sure to draw toward the NFL might make the people there change their minds.

We’ll see.

General

Technology tuesday…

Just blogged about Microsoft testing of underwater data centers and now comes this equally fascinating article regarding the potential end of compact florescent lights, or CFLs…

It’s the beginning of the end for CFL bulbs

Having (coincidentally, I assure you) just bought a pack of CFL bulbs, the above article by Lily Hay Newman for Slate.com nonetheless does not surprise me.  I’ve noticed the growing presence of LED bulbs…

…and heard they were an even better energy usage and light producing alternative to the CFL bulbs, which in turn were a much better, long lasting, more energy efficient bulb than the old filament bulbs.  What kept me from buying them was what kept me from going into CFLs at first: Price.

But the price of LED lights is dropping and becoming more competitive to the CFL bulbs.  They are clearly a better choice than the CFL bulbs as even GE, a company that makes many electronics including light bulbs, has already decided to discontinue making CFL bulbs.

While the CFL technology is dead quite yet, the writing is clearly on the wall and I seriously doubt we’ll be seeing CFL bulbs for all that much longer.

Perhaps what amazes me the most is how quickly we’ve moved from the regular, not so long lasting (and very hot) bulbs to CFL bulbs to, now, LED bulbs.

Sometimes technology moves at a breakneck speed!

Computers/Electronics

Data centers of the future…?

1 Comment

Given the rapidly exploding use of the “cloud” for computer/smartphone related data storage, it is no wonder that large companies invested in this technology are looking for ways of making it more efficient and less costly.

Having said that, I really didn’t see this coming:

Microsoft Just Put A Data Center Under Water

The above linked article, written by David Goldman and appearing on CNNmoney, is exactly what the headline states.  Microsoft, in the interests of expanding and making their cloud services better, are experimenting with creating water tight “pods” that are put into the oceans and using them for their cloud based services.

You would think electronics and water, especially salty sea water, would not mix, but the article points out the potential benefits of underwater tech like this.  For one, these pods could be fitted with turbines and thus use the ocean’s currents to create the electricity for their use.  Given the colder climes underwater, it also solves the need for high energy use in air-conditioning server rooms.  Thus, the “carbon footprint” of these underwater units could be considerably smaller than those currently housed in buildings.

On other potential issue, the noise pollution created by these apparatus, may similarly not be a big problem as, according to the techs quoted in this article, the sounds are “drowned out” by nearby shrimp and crabs.

Read the article, it is quite fascinating and shows at the very least the future may wind up being a wild and interesting place.

General

If you ain’t cheating you ain’t trying…

If there’s one thing you can count on regarding professional sports it is that if one can improve one’s standing in their sport by cheating while -of course- not getting caught, they’ll do so.

Sports is a cutthroat business measured coldly with fraction of a second stop-watches and fractions of a millimeter tape.

We’ve dealt with steroids, under-inflated balls, corked bats, etc. etc. but the story below may well take the cake.

In an article by Chris Mills for Gizmodo.com, he notes how a young, professional cyclist was found to have hidden engine in one of her racing bicycles.  The terminology used for this form of cheating is amusing, to say the least:

Cycling Has Moved From Actual Doping to ‘Mechanical’ Doping

What did Femke Van den Driessche, the 19-year-old Belgian cyclocross star at the center of this controversy have to say about this?  From the article:

(Van den Driessche claimed) the bike (with the hidden motor) belonged to a friend, and mistakenly found its way into her race-day bike lineup.

Uh huh.

I’m sure that’s exactly what happened.