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.
General

Fast, cheap, and out of control, part deux

Yesterday I made reference to a wonderful article by Mark C. Taylor for salon.com regarding our current fascination with what’s “new and shiny” and the dangers lurking in this form of purchasing.

I noted a bad experience with the iPod touch, which I bought for my daughters years before, and how only a few months after doing so a new and much improved model was suddenly announced and released, which angered the hell out of me (Apple knew this item was coming out but kept quiet so they could sell their inventory of iPod touch machines for the Christmas season and then started the marketing campaign for their new version of the machine).

Mr. Taylor’s article so fascinated me that I couldn’t get it out of my head and I thought back even farther, to where (perhaps) the genesis of the whole disposable tech industry began: With the desktop PC.

Many, many years ago, I purchased an IBM desktop computer with an 8086 processor.  It looked something like this (no, that’s not me in the picture):

 

I absolutely loved the machine, but a year or so later a friend of mine purchased a new machine that had a 286 processor.  It looked very similar to the one I had, but the internal mechanisms made my machine look like it was a Model T compared to a state of the art Ferrari.

I didn’t buy the 286 as much as I wanted to.  Turned out I did the right thing as the mighty 386 models were released shortly afterwards.  If the 286 made the 8086 seem like it was from the stone age, the 386 made the 286 look like it came from the dawn of time!

I bought the 386 model and chucked my 8086 and was mighty happy…until the 486 model appeared.

I eventually purchased a 486 model computer but realized something curious: The difference between the 486 and 386 wasn’t as pronounced as the 8086 vs the 286 vs the 386.

Then came the various Pentiums..

…and I came to realize that the PC tech industry had reached something of a ceiling.  Yes, the newer machines were better and faster, but to my eyes not significantly so.  Unless you were a heavy duty gamer, the “older” Pentium machines were good enough to accomplish the things you needed to do (in my case, web browsing, writing, email, etc.).

At about this time I noticed there were articles about the “fall” of the PC market, and that desktop PCs would go the way of the dinosaurs.  A curious concept.  As much as I liked laptops, the bulk of my computing was still done on my desktop.

The only difference?

My current computer was so good that I didn’t need to swap it out for a new model after a year of usage.  In fact, the desktop computer I’m writing this very blog on I believe is at least five years old.  Maybe more.

It works perfectly fine and, apart from buying a new video card, a modem plug, and exterior hard drives to protect my files, I haven’t had the desire or need to go out and buy a completely new machine.

The point here is that perhaps, perhaps, Apple and company noticed the way people like myself were willing to shell out thousands of dollars back in the day to buy the latest, best available desktop computers as they grew from infancy.  What they might have missed, however, was the reason we were so willing to buy the next generation model: Because it was significantly better than the previous one.

Can the same be said of the latest iPhones or XBoxs or Playstations?  In my case, is the Samsung S5 really all that much better than the S3 that I’m currently using?  Is the iPhone 6 truly a major step up from the 5?

Or might we be reaching a point where buying the latest, newest thing doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting something far, far better than what came before?

General

Fast, cheap, and out of control…

…an absolutely terrific article by Mark C. Taylor examines today’s “hyper-fast, hyper-modern” markets and the inherent problems with them:

http://www.salon.com/2014/11/02/fast-cheap-and-out-of-control-how-hyper-consumerism-drives-us-mad/

Ladies and gentlemen, this could well be THE article regarding today’s markets and consumers, something I’ve personally found worrisome for a very long time.

There used to be a time we would buy a product, say a television, and if it went “bad” you would call a TV repairman to come over and check it out.  Not so today.  Today, we simply throw the old away and buy the cheap, new, “better” product, thus putting us in more debt and adding to a tremendous amount of waste products created annually by consumers.

I first noticed this trend of throwing the old away, even if it still works pretty well, with Apple and their i-products.  How many times have we had the Apple marketing folk unveil their newest, “greatest” product only to go through the same thing the very next year?

For me the realization came when my daughters were younger and the “must have it” item near Christmas time was the touchscreen iPod.  Commercials for the product were everywhere and it was one of the hottest items on sale during that Christmas season.  I bought them for my daughters and, not even two or three months later, was shocked when the company announced it would soon release its next itineration of the very same item, and this one had cameras which users could use to communicate via wi-fi and actually see each other as they talked!

I was furious with Apple because here they were, only three or so months earlier, promoting the hell out of their iPod and they knew damn well the next version would come out very soon and they would happily go through the process all over again and were hoping to force people like me to simply chuck the previous iPod and buy the next, better one.

Needless to say, I developed a great skepticism for Apple and their products from that moment on.  I may have, but others either haven’t or don’t care.

Apple has been following that same game plan for years, and so far there remain millions of customers drawn to their products.  The Apple iPhone 6 is but the latest example of something “new” that clever marketing makes desirable to its clients but which maybe we don’t quite need or isn’t quite as big a step forward as marketing would have us believe.

Not to pull out my fuddy-duddy card, but I use a Samsung S3 phone.  I bought it when it was first released sometime in 2012 and it still works fine for me.  Currently, the Samsung S5 is available and the S6 is expected to be released in early 2015.

Will I get the new phone?  Unless mine develops some serious problems, I don’t think so.  Yet companies such as Samsung and Apple live and die on the basis of “planned obsolescence”, something Mr. Taylor’s article points out and which I realized back when I bought those iPods.

We’re living in a time when it has become desirable to buy whatever is new and improved and toss aside whatever is “old” and which the magic of marketing makes us feel is suddenly useless.

I worry, as does Mr. Taylor, about the economic, social, and environmental impacts of this hyper-consumerism.

Read the article.  It’s pretty damn interesting.

Movies

Horror Movies…

Given the date, I figured I’d link up to my list of favorite horror films but, lo and behold, it doesn’t appear I ever made one!

Strange.  I could have sworn…

Anyway, I’ll offer this list.  If I did make a favorite horror film list before and just proved how inept I am at finding it, consider this the 2014 edition of E.R. Torre’s Favorite Horror films.

Without further ado, in no particular order…

Nosferatu (1922) The very first version of Bram Stoker’s famous novel Dracula is, in my opinion, the best.  While Bela Lugosi made a great Dracula, Max Schreck’s Count Orlok is positively chilling.  This is a great, timeless film, made all the more incredible because film itself was in its infancy during this time.  The film was recently restored and released on BluRay.  Very much worth checking out if you haven’t yet!

Duel (1971)/Jaws (1975).  Yes, a bit of a cheat here, including two films at once, but I’ve always felt these two films were part of a single whole.  Both were, of course, directed by Steven Spielberg and the first put him on the map while the second made him a superstar.  Both films are also, in my opinion, thematically similar as they follow a “common” man’s attempt to destroy a murderous, seemingly unstoppable monster.

In the case of Duel, the monster was a truck bent on killing our hero…

…while Jaws featured a giant man-eating shark.

Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) Perhaps my all time favorite “siege” film.  Director John Carpenter, just before hitting it big with Halloween, delivers a tense, unflinching suspense film that does not let up.  A group of prisoners are held overnight in a Police Precinct that’s about to be shut down.  A skeleton staff watches over them, unaware that the shadowy, deadly gangs of L.A. have united and are intent on terrorizing the city.  Their first target?  Take a wild guess.

The movie is essentially a modern day western with elements of Night of the Living Dead.  A terrific piece of work.  Whatever you do, don’t bother with the remake…

The Warriors (1979) Director Walter Hill delivered a terrific, suspenseful reverse siege film with The Warriors.  In this case, we have a gang that’s deep in “enemy” territory trying to make their way home while every other gang out there wants them dead.  The climax of this film -and the villains taunts- are the stuff of legend.  Unfortunately, Mr. Hill returned to the film a few years ago and made a bunch of changes, delivering his “Director’s Cut” of The Warriors.  This version is the only one available on video nowadays and…well…it’s not as good as the theatrical version.  Perhaps one day we’ll get it back.

Alien (1979)  The years may have somewhat dulled this movie’s impact, but it remains one of the all time best Lovecraftian horror films.  Director Ridley Scott presents an almost cinema verite horror film, complete with another unstoppable force of evil.  Even the theatrical trailer freaked me out…

The Shining (1980)  When I first saw this movie in theaters back when it was released, I didn’t find it scary at all.  At the time I was just starting to recognize certain names in the industry, and director Stanley Kubrick was, to me, an unknown.  Shortly afterwards I discovered -and grew to absolutely love– his movies.  The Shining, however, remained a curiosity.  Perhaps, I figured, Mr. Kubrick simply misfired.  Then, over the years, I would catch bits and pieces of the movie on TV and I’ll be damned if the film’s eerie horror didn’t gradually work its way into my blood.  While The Shining may not be one of those films that grabs you by the throat on its first viewing, its one of those horror films that festers and grows.  A terrific piece of moody horror.

Dawn of the Dead (1978) George Romero shocked the world with the low budget 1968 Night of the Living Dead but, to me, his follow up truly took the Zombie genre into legendary realms.  A movie that is alternately horrifying, gory, dramatic, and…humorous?!… Dawn of the Dead has it all.  A movie whose influence is still being felt today…I’m looking at you Walking Dead.

The Terminator (1984) / Aliens (1986) Another double feature, this one via director James Cameron.  In these two films Mr. Cameron delivered his unique, crazy vision of the ultimate in action and horror.  Once things get going, they never stop…

There are those who think Terminator 2 is the better Terminator film.  I disagree.  The original, though made on a far lower budget, is to me far more relentless.  As for Aliens, Mr. Cameron another great (and scary) roller coaster ride!

Evil Dead II (1987) While Mr. Cameron proved adept at mixing action with horror, director Sam Raimi proved just as adept at mixing horror with what would appear to be a more unlikely genre: Comedy.  The first Evil Dead, a very low budget affair, shows glimmers of humor, but with Evil Dead II, Mr. Raimi and lead actor (and cult favorite) Bruce Campbell take things several steps forward, creating a movie that’ll have you laughing out loud just before screaming!  A terrific, twisted piece of work…

Whew.  I think I’ll stop there, at least for now.  I’m sure there are dozens more I could add, though.  Give me some time…

Movies

Just in time for Halloween

The Horror Movie Music Quiz!

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/10/28/horror-movie-theme-music-quiz-guess-the-horror-film-from-its-soundtrack.html

I managed to get 10 of 13 (making me just slightly above the average of 9 out of 13).  I probably would have done worse but the Wheel of Fortune way they make you fill in the movie’s title allowed me to figure out at least two soundtracks though I had no idea where the music was from (one movie’s name is very long while the other has an apostrophe, which helped to figure out at least one of the letters!).

Anyway, good stuff!

Books/Literature

Writing update…

A few days back I wrote about where I was with various new writing projects and how, creatively, my mind basically exploded with new story ideas following finishing off Ghost of the Argus. (available now!)

Ghost of the Argus

So much so that I suddenly had four novels in the works simultaneously, three of which were new and one of which I wanted to finally get “done”.

As of last Friday, October 24, I finished the first draft of that later novel, a story that is effectively the conclusion/postscript to the whole Corrosive Knights saga.  I had a “rough draft” of this story done years beforehand in the form of a graphic novel/comic book but felt since the other Corrosive Knights stories were presented as novels, I might as well make this story a novel as well.  Earlier this year I began converting the graphic novel into an actual novel.

So last Friday I finally got the first draft of this novel done.  It’s a little on the skinny size, clocking in at a mere 50 pages, single spaced (in comparison, my other Corrosive Knights novels run about 170-200 pages).  This is obviously a bare bones work at this moment and there’s much more work to be done with it.  I suspect when I’m properly done with the novel, it will be closer in size to the other Corrosive Knights novels.

The big question, therefore, is: When will this novel be ready and released?

That question is a tricky one to answer.  Now that I have this first draft done, I intend to put it on the back burner and work on it with whatever spare time I have while focusing more exclusively on Corrosive Knights books #6 and 7 and my standalone novel expanding on a short story in my Shadows at Dawn book.

The fact is that this “final” Corrosive Knights story is just that and I want to have it completed but I don’t feel it appropriate to release it until the other Corrosive Knights stories are out.

While tempted to pat myself on the back because of my ability to get something done and save its release for another day, I’m certainly not the first author to do something like that.  During the London bombings of World War II, mystery author Agatha Christie wrote Curtain, the final Hercule Poirot novel, because she feared she -and England!- might not survive this war and she wanted to have a final story for her beloved sleuth.  The war ended and Ms. Christie kept that novel in a safe until the 1970’s, when she was very old and knew she would be unable to write any other books.  It was then that Curtain was released.

I’m hoping my final Corrosive Knights novel won’t stay hidden quite that long…

We’ll see.

General

Premonition…

When I first saw a couple of the very…odd…Matthew McConaughey Lincoln commercials…

…I just knew it wouldn’t be long before we’d have a long line of people ready, willing, and able to parody it.

Given how weird those commercials were, I couldn’t wait.

And sure enough…

General

From Cracked…

…a couple of interesting Halloween themed lists.

First up, 17 Most Unintentionally Funny Moments in Scary Movies:

http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_1120_the-17-most-unintentionally-funny-moments-in-scary-movies/

The gifs are good.  My favorite is probably the very last one, regarding Friday The 13th Part 3, which was filmed for 3D but which some of those 3D effects didn’t look quite as scary when put into regular old 2D.

Next up are 5 Real-Life Horror Movies Deleted From Your History Books:

http://www.cracked.com/article_21742_5-real-life-horror-movies-deleted-from-your-history-books.html

#3, found on the first page of this link, is particularly gruesome as it details (and in one case shows!) a person who “survived” a scalping.  I’m tempted to include the photograph of the scalping survivor below, but it truly is quite revolting. Besides, if you really want to see it, you can do so by clicking the link above.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you, as this stuff is not for the faint of heart!

Movies

Cold in July (2014) a (mildly) belated review

I first heard about Cold In July when it was making the film festival circuit earlier in the year.  People said very good things about it and, given that it was based on a story by Joe R. Lansdale (Bubba Ho-Tep), I was intrigued.

The film was barely released to theaters but when it arrived on the home video market (without too much fanfare, sadly), I needed to see it.  Yesterday I finally had the chance to do so.

What I saw was a film that started somewhat slowly, taking its time to build the central character and going in a certain direction only to make several interesting twists and turns before, unfortunately, ending on a rather bland note.

The plot of the film, at least as much as I’m willing to reveal without getting into spoilers, starts with Richard Dane (Michael C. Hall) awoken by his wife late at night.  His wife heard something and, sure enough, it is apparent someone has broken into the house.  Richard goes to his closet and gets his handgun, then makes his way to the living room.  There, the very nervous homeowner confronts the robber and, without meaning to, kills him with a single shot.

Afterwards, the police arrive and go through the procedure of writing their reports.  They assure Richard that what he did was self-defense and there won’t be any problems afterwards.

They are quite wrong.

Richard is wracked with guilt at his actions.  So much so that he goes to the robber’s funeral.  There, he is confronted by the man’s father, a recently released convict named Russel (Sam Shepherd), and the elderly man makes menacing statements directed at Richard’s son.  At this point it appears we’re dealing with an “eye for an eye” situation…

Only things aren’t always what they seem and the story goes through several clever twists and turns.

To me, this was where the movie really started to soar.  Despite the obvious low budget and the filmmakers attempts at emulating early John Carpenter films, I was fascinated by the developments and, in particular, the scene stealing turn by Don Johnson.  His P.I. Jim Bob was easily the highlight of the second part of the film.

Unfortunately, and as I stated before, this intriguing film builds up to a climax that is neither terribly suspenseful or original.  Rather than leave me breathless and amazed, I was left thinking I’d seen this type of climax many times before…and better done (think Rolling Thunder).  Assuming the movie was true to Mr. Lansdale’s story, one gets the feeling that he came up with a lot of clever concepts but didn’t have a terribly original or clever way to wrap it up so he went for something tried and true.  And, unfortunately, not terribly great.

In the end, I can only offer a mild endorsement for Cold In July.  For most of its runtime this film is clever, original, humorous, and surprising but unfortunately gives you a very unsurprising ending.

Too bad.

General

Jury Duty, part deux

So last week I was summoned to Jury Duty and found myself in a rather small Jury Duty pool, certainly smaller than the previous crowd I was involved in several years before.

As the morning unfolded, I was surprised by how many times and in how many ways the people operating this offered apologies for our being there.  It began with their public service video that described the Jury Duty experience and what you could expect.  It noted attending this was a small sacrifice to make for this great country.  Yet, again and again, the message of pride was prefaced and/or followed up with profuse apologies for the disruption to our lives.

After the video was over, a lady appeared at the front and center of the room and essentially went over much of the same, including, yet again, offering profuse apologies for this disruption to our lives.  When she was close to being done the first two waves of potential jurors were called in and, once they were accounted for and gone, the movie The Blind Side began on the various monitors and the remaining pool of potential jurors, including me, sat back and waited to see when/if we were called.

In my case, the call came close to 11 A.M.  At that point, I kinda knew it was coming.  As I said, the jury pool this time around wasn’t all that large and, after four or so groups were called in and given the small amount of potential jurors left over, I figured my odds of getting selected were high.  I was right.

Thirty five of us were lined up and assigned numbers (I was 26) and taken downstairs and to the opposite end of a corridor from the trial room itself.  We waited around for nearly an hour before being let in and introduced to the councils and judge.

Then, it was off to lunch with the admonition to be back in that opposite end corridor by 12:45.  We were all back by then, but wound up waiting until nearly 2 P.M. before finally, finally being taken back into the chambers.

What followed was the process of council Q & A.  It was there that we were given some idea of what this upcoming trail was about.  Basically it went something like this: The defendant was a convicted felon allegedly found with bullets in his possession.

Not handguns.  Not machine guns, not mortars.  Not BB guns.  The man was accused of being found in possession of bullets, obviously a no-no for a convicted felon.  Reading between the lines (and making an assumption on my part), I had the feeling it wasn’t even a terribly large amount of bullets.  This assumption, by the way, was based on the questions asked by both Council members.

Now, I’m not a gun nut.  In fact, I feel there are way too many guns out on the street and, further, that people who quote the 2nd Amendment, including politicians and judges, too often ignore the whole “well regulated militia” statement.

Still, based on what little I heard about this case from our questioning, it was just as well I wasn’t selected to the final seven jury pool.  I don’t know how I would have reacted as a juror, but in the end it seemed the entire trial was a lot of fuss made for what amounted to a relatively small matter.  A matter that perhaps should have been dealt with before the trial itself.

Had the convicted felon been caught with a gun, on the other hand…

By the time I got out, it was a little before 5 P.M.  I, along with 34 others, had spent the whole day there, for the most part sitting or standing around and doing not all that much.  Seven of these people would now have to return the next day and perhaps the day after that for the trial itself (the judge felt the case might take 2-3 days).

Tough going.  No wonder there’s so many apologies offered.

Movies

Supernova (2000) coming to…BluRay?!?

File this under “I didn’t see that one coming”:

Shout! Factory, the company whose focus appears to be in releasing quirky, cult films of yesteryear, will be releasing the 2000 sci-fi horror film Supernova to BluRay in January of 2015 (read about it here).  Considering Shout! Factory’s previous releases, I’m expecting some pretty interesting bonus material here…perhaps even the film’s original Walter Hill rough cut.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Supernova is a film with a very peculiar history, one which you can read about here:

http://movie-memorabilia-emporium.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Supernova

According to the above, Geoffrey Wright was the movie’s original director but dropped out.  The legendary Walter Hill then took over and, effectively, “made” the film.  However, toward the end, when it was in the process of being edited for release, there were clashes between the director and the studios and Walter Hill abandoned the project.  Francis Ford Coppola (yes, Francis Ford Coppola!!!!) then came in and, using the footage available, assembled the theatrical cut which was unceremonially dumped into theaters with the directing credits listed to the pseudonym “Thomas Lee”.

The movie, at least in its theatrical incarnation, is a trainwreck, yet given the talent both in front of and behind the cameras, a most curious one.  I reviewed the film a couple of years ago here:

http://ertorre.com/randomthoughts/2012/12/16/supernova-2000-a-very-belated-review/

You should check out the above link, if only to see some alternate sequences that were presented in the original DVD release of a few years before, including the movie’s original, far darker alternate ending.

What makes Supernova even more fascinating to me is that it seemed the general theme and certain elements within are not unlike that of 2012’s controversial Prometheus.  In fact, I’d be bold enough to say that Supernova, if not a “first draft” of Prometheus, in some ways had to be an inspiration to that later film.  And why not?  Director Walter Hill is the producer of all the Alien films, from the classic Alien and Aliens all the way to, yes indeed, Prometheus.

Perhaps the inspiration was subconscious.  Or perhaps Mr. Hill was still smarting from the failure of Supernova and felt the general story (or rather story theme) deserved a second shot.

I don’t know, but I’m damn curious to get my hands on Shout! Factory’s BluRay the day it is available!