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.
Books/Literature

What Happened to Orson Scott Card?

Fascinating article by Steven Lloyd Wilson and appearing on Salon.com concerning his views of author Orson Scott Card, until recently best known for the novel (and soon to be released movie adaptation of same) Ender’s Game:

http://www.salon.com/2013/03/07/end_game_for_orson_scott_card_partner/

For those who choose to skip the article (it is interesting, however, and I highly recommend giving it a read!), Orson Scott Card has gotten himself in more than a little hot water of late because of his apparent very vocal dislike of homosexuality and the concept of gay marriage (Some would call it outright homophobia).  For years now I’ve heard vague rumors about the various comments he made at different science fiction conventions…and what was once only vague rumors grew and grew until it was pretty clear what Mr. Card’s opinions regarding homosexuality were.

The issue regarding the author’s opinions reached something of a peak when it was announced DC Comics had hired Mr. Card to write a Superman story.  To be blunt, comic book fans were aghast at the notion that he could be hired to write a character whose essence is protecting the oppressed.  How could Superman, such a shining symbol of all that’s good, be written by someone whose opinions were so terribly ugly?  Soon enough the controversy reached a boiling point and several comic book shops refused to stock Mr. Card’s upcoming Superman book.  The heat only grew from there and eventually the artist assigned to the project dropped out.  Now it appears DC Comics has nixed the story’s publication entirely.

Unfortunately, just before this controversy became so public, an Ender’s Game film was greenlit and subsequently made.  It is scheduled for release later this year and, if I were one of the investors or on the staff of the studios behind it, I’d be more than a little worried. If potential audiences had such a negative reaction to Mr. Card’s involvement in Superman, how will they react when the Ender’s Game movie is released in November?

Years ago I realized that sometimes you separate the artist from their art.  The book/movie/film/painting/tv show you may absolutely love might be the work of someone who, should you encounter them at any sort of social function, might find repugnant.  I’ve been able to separate the artist from the art but only because usually these “repugnant” attributes were within the sphere of the individual themselves.  Perhaps they were alcoholics or heavy drug users.  Perhaps they were arrogant loudmouths.  Maybe they were just plain nasty.

But in the case of Mr. Card, I find his attitudes are such that they do effectively blurring my ability to separate the artist and his art.  Granted, I was never a big fan of Mr. Card’s fiction.  I read Ender’s Game a while back and thought it was a good read but not the great read so many felt it was.  But if I were a fan of his works, I might well have second thoughts about buying his material.

Of course, this is just my opinion.  To those like Mr. Wilson who wrote the above article, its clear they love Orson Scott Card’s work but find the man behind it troublesome, to say the least.  To them, I can only offer my sympathies.  It’s tough to enjoy the works of someone you can’t stomach.

Movies

Taken 2 (2012) a (mildly) belated review

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When it was originally released in 2008, Taken proved a surprise hit.  The plot was simplicity itself:  The daughter of a shady ex-CIA operative is kidnapped in Europe.  Using the skills he acquired while “on the job”, our hero mercilessly pursues the kidnappers, stopping at nothing to get his daughter back.

I suspect what made the film work so well was that Liam Neeson, the film’s star, projected such a no-nonsense attitude and was willing to not only rough up the bad guys, but also go after alleged friends (and their wives!) to get what he needed.  Neeson’s Bryan Mills became, effectively, a force of nature and would not be stopped in the pursuit of his goal.

So, four years later, we get Taken 2.  The film actually follows a logical story arc: The family of the people Mills took out in the first movie want revenge.  And, wouldn’t you know it, but Mills and his ex-wife and daughter just happen to be traveling within spitting distance in Istanbul…

When it was released, Taken 2 didn’t get quite the same level of love the original film received from both critics and audiences.  I suppose this was to be expected.  After all, there are some big leaps in logic one has to accept.  After all the crap Mills pulled in the first Taken, one would think there are NO countries that would welcome him or his family into their borders…yet the trio wind up, as stated, within spitting distance of the relatives bent on getting revenge. I suspect the film might have played out a little better if it were set on Mills’ home ground, with the villains coming after him.

But ignoring that little point, I expected the film to be something of a let down, at least based on all that was written/talked about.  I was surprised to find, however, that Taken 2, while certainly no masterpiece, was a decent little pulp action thriller.  The bad guys were bad enough and the situations were tense enough to pass the time.  Yeah, there were other problems to be found other than the setting.  Liam Neeson fights a few times in the film and, frankly, no amount of quick film editing can make him look like a fearsome fighter.  Also, the film spends perhaps a little too much time in the United States before heading out to Istanbul (was it really necessary to get into his daughter’s boyfriend and the fact that she was in the process of getting a driver’s license?  Don’t get me wrong, I feel Maggie Grace, who returns as Mills’ daughter, is a good actress.  So good that for the most part she pulled off her role in this movie, acting as if she was 17 or 18 years old despite being 29 years old while filming.  Still, there was little reason to get into the whole boyfriend stuff, which had almost no payoff in the end).

OK, OK, I know I’m starting to nit-pick and should just stop.  No, Taken 2 is no masterpiece, but as mentioned before, it is an enjoyable time killer action/adventure film that only asks its audience to sit back and enjoy the ride.  While perhaps not as sharp as the original, Taken 2 nonetheless for the most part gives you what you’re asking for…provided you aren’t too demanding.

General

Time Warner Looking to Sell All Magazine Titles…

Further evidence of the digitalization of media:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/06/time-warner-selling-magazines_n_2820894.html

I’ve felt it for a while now.  It started during the heights of the economic downturn, when my local newspaper went from being thick with advertisements to becoming an emaciated ghost of its former self.  At about that time the tablets were just becoming hot and I, like many others I suppose, gave it a try.  Since then, I’ve read most of the information I’m curious about online…though one should realize in this age of near instant information sharing there are sites prone to spreading misinformation or downright untruths.

The Sunday edition of the my local paper has grown since the worst of times a couple of years ago, but I firmly believe we’re transitioning into a time when most “paper” works, be they magazines, newspapers, and, yes, books, will be picked up by the general population in electronic versus paper format.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

I suppose there are elements of both to be found.  There is something undeniably comforting about carrying an actual a paper product and the risk of “breaking” it is far lower (especially if your reading takes you to the beach).  Further, many readers/tablets are difficult to use in broad daylight.  On the other hand, there is an  incredible ease to purchasing any book/magazine/paper you want near instantly by downloading it to your computer.  Plus, having electronic files versus physical products certainly frees up space in your home otherwise taken up by these products.

In time, I predict tablets and readers will become more weather/water resistant and easier to read in broad sunlight.  Thus, it seems to me a matter of time before paper products become a very small part of people’s lives and, therefore, it does not surprise me that Time is intent on unloading those products.

General

Karma

Fascinating read from Huffington Post, concerning a waitress who, while serving a customer, made a rather incredible discovery:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/06/brianna-priddy-waitress-stolen-drivers-license_n_2821419.html

So…what are the odds of serving a person who happens to have your stolen driver’s license on them?  Pretty long odds, obviously.  Which is why it certainly makes one smile to see the end result.

Movies

Spielberg to oversee Kubrick’s Napoleon?

Fascinating article posted on both Ain’t It Cool News and /Film concerning one of my all time favorite director Stanley Kubrick’s aborted Napoleon project perhaps being made after all, with Steven Spielberg working behind the scenes on the project:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/61262

http://www.slashfilm.com/steven-spielberg-developing-stanley-kubricks-passion-project-napoleon-as-mini-series/

While normally I’d rejoice at the news, I’m only cautiously optimistic.

As far as I know, there were two major projects left unfinished by Stanley Kubrick when he passed away.  Of the two, the one that intrigued me the most was eventually made by director Steven Spielberg in 2001, A.I. Artificial Intelligence.

As a fan of the works of both Mr. Kubrick and Mr. Spielberg, I figured A.I. would be a “can’t miss.”  I was excited by the early word of what the film was about and, as the movie’s release date approached, I was breathless with anticipation.

Then the movie came out.

The reviews were -incredibly to my mind- generally negative.  The movie was too long.  The movie was too obvious.  The movie was tedious.

It wasn’t until A.I. was finally released to home video (even back then I found it hard to carve out time to go to a theater!) that I finally got to see it and all that anticipation, all that hope…it simply dissolved.

A.I. is an ambitious film, there is no denying that.  But it was also everything the critics said it was.  It was way too long and the subject matter was simply not interesting enough (to me) to sustain itself.  A.I. was essentially an “adult”/sci-fi version of Pinocchio.  Not all that much more, truthfully.

So here I am, cautiously optimistic that, should Mr. Spielberg make Napoleon, it will prove to be a good film/mini-series.

Hopefully, it won’t be as big a disappointment as A.I.

Books/Literature, Computers/Electronics

First Book Written on a Word Processor…?

Interesting article by Matthew Kirschenbaum and presented on Slate regarding what was the first ever book written on a word processor:

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2013/03/len_deighton_s_bomber_the_first_book_ever_written_on_a_word_processor.html

Timing is a funny thing.  Ever since I was very young I’ve wanted to write but as I grew older and began doing just that, as much as I loved to sit behind the typewriter and work on my stories I quickly found this to be a very frustrating thing to do.  I would write something as small as a sentence and then realize it should come later or earlier or wasn’t written quite right…and I would be tempted to rip the paper out of the machine and start over again.  The fact is I’m not one of those people who can write something and be “happy” with it in its first draft form, as opposed to…

In his book on writing, author Stephen King notes that he writes a book, lets it sit and “cool down” for a while before going back to it for a rewrite.  After the rewrite, the book is ready to go.  Erle Stanley Gardner, the creator and author of Perry Mason, was known to knock out a book sometimes in as little time as a day, often dictating his book onto old recording instruments and having his secretary subsequently type it up.

To me writing a first draft of a book involves considerable concentration and thought.  From a plot standpoint, my stories involve many moving parts, all of which must ultimately fit together for the whole to “work”.  Thus I’m usually writing passages then having to go back and add things to the passages or put in more material before or after said passage.  I might even jump back a chapter or two and add a whole new section.  By the time I have that first draft, I’m keenly aware that this is only the first step in what will ultimately be a very long process.

As I mentioned before, I’m usually not approaching satisfaction with my work until at least getting to a fifth draft.  Most of the major plot issues are resolved in the first full rewrite and my focus gradually shifts from plot issues in subsequent drafts to grammatical issues.  Regardless, this part of the process can take the better part of a year before being fully done.  if I were limited to using a typewriter, I’m certain the process would take two or three times as long…and I can’t help but wonder if I would have the patience to make a single book, much less the eight I currently have available via Amazon.

In fact, in the first few years of writing I was using typewriters and was skirting very close to realizing the process of making a book might be simply too difficult for my style of writing.  As it turned out, I was lucky.  In approximately 1983, I purchased an Atari 800, my first personal computer.  Compared to what’s available today, the device was from the stone age.  But it had a printer (a very slow one, granted) and, more importantly, a word processing program.

I was smitten with the word processor and realized immediately this was the device I needed if I was to ever get a chance to write the works I wanted to.  I gave up on typewriters and, in the intervening years and through the various computers, laptops, and tablets I’ve owned have made sure to always have a good word processor available.

Yet I wonder…Had I been born even five years earlier than I was, what would have happened to my younger self if I had been using typewriters exclusively to try to write my novels?  Would I have persevered and nonetheless written my novels or would the frustration of the re-write proven too much?

I wonder.

Music

So…about that new David Bowie album…

The Next Day is scheduled to be released on March 12 but is now streaming absolutely free (minus the bonus songs present on the “premium version”) via iTunes.

I’ve listened to the album all the way through once and, now roughly half-way through a second listen, all I can say is:  Mr. Bowie, I’m glad you’re back.

Two early favorite songs (thus far) are The Stars (Are Out Tonight) and Valentine’s Day.

Good stuff.

Movies

The Devil’s Mask (1946) a (very) belated review

If you’re a fan of old time (and sometimes creaky) mysteries, you could do far worse than spend a little over an hour watching The Devil’s Mask.

The story, let’s face it, is lower level pulp.  We begin with a shadowy figure breaking into a museum and doing something with one (or more?) of the five shrunken heads on display recently brought in from South America.  Then, a plane crashes and one of the few things recovered from the wreckage is a box whose address and destination has been burned off but whose contents remain intact.

Inside the box?

A shrunken head, of course!

Meanwhile, two detectives -one “serious” and the other more of a “comic relief”- are hired by the wife of a disappeared explorer to check in on her step daughter and boyfriend.  The boyfriend is following her around at the behest of her stepdaughter and the stepmother fears the two want to do her harm.  You see, the explorer who brought those shrunken heads into the museum is/was the husband of the stepmother, and he has mysteriously disappeared following an expedition south.

Was he murdered?  By whom?  Could the stepmother be hiding a hidden lover?  Could she and the lover be the killers?  Or is it possible the missing explorer is still alive and lurking in the shadows…ready to strike?

As I said, the plot itself is pure pulp and either you enjoy this sort of stuff or you won’t.  Regardless, one can appreciate the lovely black and white cinematography and use of very heavy shadows.  While the plot itself was mildly diverting, even a fan of the pulps like me will admit the story itself borders on the ridiculous (the whole airplane crashing thing never really amounted to more than a way to introduce the idea of the shrunken heads and the payoff to that was more than a little silly).

Still, what can I say?  I enjoyed the film and it was short enough (as I said before, its total runtime is a little over an hour) to not wear out its welcome.  A cautious recommendation is offered to those who like these kind of old “B” films.

Others might want to steer clear.

Movies

Deadfall (2012) a (mildly) belated review

There are films that you love, there are films you hate, and there are those in between.  They may grip you for a while before fizzling out.  They may present a story that you simply can’t get into.  They may even feature all the proper elements to make a great film yet those ingredients don’t make a great whole.

In the case of Deadfall, a film barely released to theaters last year, the ingredients most certainly are there to make a potent whole.  The movie stars Eric Bana and Olivia Wilde as ambiguous (in more ways than one) criminal siblings who just scored a big haul along with their partner and are heading to Canada to get away.  But as they make their way through a snowy road, they hit a deer and their car flips.  Their partner dies in the crash and before the duo can fully emerge from the wrecked car a police officer has arrived to see what’s going on.

Addison (Eric Bana) kills the cop and flees deeper into the woods with his sister Liza.  They decide their best course of action (well, other than perhaps, you know, driving off with the police man’s car at least for a little bit!) is to split up and get back together later.  Addison, we find, is very protective of his little sister and she is a little…strange.  Because she is an unknown in whatever heist they just pulled off, Addison reasons this is why it is a good idea for them to split.  If he’s caught, he’s caught.  If she is found, there is no way to link her to the crime they just committed.

The movie segues into introducing other characters, from an elderly couple (Kris Kristofferson and Susan Spacek) to their just released from prison son as well as the Sheriff of the County and his daughter.  Both sets of parents have issues with their kids and, as the movie progresses, the characters and their fates intertwine.

I won’t go into more story detail but suffice to say that while this film features a good cast, great locations, and some excellent cinematography (there’s something, to me, magical about films set featuring a very snowy tableau), the film’s plot, unfortunately, bogs down rather quickly.  Too much information is presented in too little time, though I would quickly hasten to add that the story presented might have benefited from being pared down of at least two of the characters (the Sheriff and his daughter, alas, serve no great purpose in the film, even if veteran actor Treat Williams is quite good as the intolerant and over-protective Sheriff).

In the end, the ingredients are there for at least a reasonably good suspense film, but the execution and too many ingredients (ie extra storylines) ultimately diffuse whatever steam this film tries to build.

While the film had a limited theatrical release, based on the very bland trailer presented below, I have a suspicion the studios knew the film wouldn’t do too well and didn’t really give it a great push.

Music

The Stars (Are Out Tonight)

Second single released for the upcoming David Bowie album.  Pretty cool stuff and more “upbeat” than the first single, though the song’s topic appears to be similar (and certainly is emphasized in the video!) of looking back…

Huffington Post offers an interesting article concerning the video release, as well as noting that early reviews of the album are positive.  The full album is set to be released March 12.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/26/the-stars-are-out-tonight-david-bowie_n_2764665.html