macmcentire

Conversation overheard at Best Buy:

BEST BUY EMPLOYEE: “We don’t have From Hell, which surprises me, but we have this one. It’s really similar. It’s a period movie, and Johnny Depp plays a detective.

 OLD MAN (to his adult daughter): “Hey, he found this other one with Johnny What’s-his-name.”

 OLD MAN’S ADULT DAUGHTER: “Sleepy Hollow! She doesn’t have this one. Dad, she’s going to love it.”

 OLD MAN: “Yeah, OK, let’s just pay for it and go.”

The whole  being between drafts thing bugs me. I should be excited – I’m about to put Cine  High on Amazon. It’s my big self-pub experiment. I’m also revising the super top secret project  (Currently on draft number 11) in the hopes of it landing an agent. The most  recent manuscript, Act Four Scene One, will soon begin its own second draft,  probably over the summer, and there’s certainly (hopefully?) a lot of happy  discoveries to be made in that process.

For today, though? I’m not writing. I’m planning  a little here, researching a little there, revising a little there, but not a  lot of “pure creativity” type of work.

Part of my doldrums, I suppose, comes from that  I’m not so much between projects, but between ideas. My head’s full of  characters and plots from stuff I’ve written, but not from what’s new. I  currently have no next story, the one I can’t wait to start working on. There’s  no creative “spark” right now. That’s something anyone can force, I know. I’ve  got to keep doing what I’m doing, trusting that the “spark” will hit again, and  I’ll get all excited about a story again.

Nonetheless, doldrums.

Moving forward: May will be Cine High month,  mark one. On this blog, you’ll get the first glimpse of the cover, your first  look at the story, trivia about the characters and their world, and, of course,  the release day!!!

If I’m really going to do this self-pub thing,  might as well go all out, right?

So I  went to the Boston ComicCon on April 21. First impression: So many people! It  was supposed to open at 10 a.m. I got a slow start on the morning and got there  just before 10, to find the line snaking all the way around the building. I  waited for about an hour before the line started moving and I got in.  Apparently, hours later, there will still people in that line. Around 2-3 p.m.,  I heard people saying, “I’ve been in line all day,” and “I only now just got  in.” Crazy!

Yes, there were quite a few “fight the  crowd” moments when trying to get close up to booths and rifle through the  half-off trades (Drool… half-off trades…), but it wasn’t as bad as it could have  been. At last November’s SuperMegaFest in Framingham, Mass., there were so many  people that you couldn’t walk around, you were just stuck in place with  strangers’ bodies pressing against you (and not in a fun way). So the wide  morass of people at ComicCon was an annoyance, but not so much to ruin the  experience. It’s a weird balancing act with these conventions – too few people  and it’s dreary. Too many people and it’s a pain. You need just the right amount  of people for it to feel lively and fun. Con organizers have no control over  this stuff, so whatever.

After seeing countless online photos of  cosplayers at the San Diego and New York cons, it warms the darkest chambers of  my heart to see the cosplayers in full force in Boston. The standout cosplayer  was the guy dressed as Mr. T. Not just looking the part, but in character the  whole time. This was fun for the first few minutes, but after thatI wanted to  ask him to take his “pity the fool” and “jibber-jabber” act to other side of the  room. The crowds loved him, though. I was excited to see some more obscure  characters represented in cosplay. Dressing up as Batman is one thing, but  walking around in public dressed as Mirror Master? That’s a whole other kind of  personality type. And let’s not forget the slutty female cosplayers. I saw  slutty Emma Frost (redundant?), slutty Batgirl (Stephanie Brown!) and two slutty  Elektras (original, not movie version). Why don’t I have pictures? I could have,  but I didn’t. Too much hassle, even to fumble with the phone, I guess.

Although I did buy my share of half-off  trades (ooohh, half-off trades…), I spent most of the my time – and cash – at  artist’s alley, which, amazingly, covered a good half of the con space. With own  ebook about to come out (Cine High! Cine High! Cine High!), I was naturally  interested in what the self-pubbers have come up with. I picked up comics in  various genres, such as superhero, fantasy, comedy, and even memoir. Great stuff  all around.

Artists like Time Sale, Becky Cloonan, and  Ed McGuiness were there. McGuiness’s line stretched across the con floor. But I  didn’t get in line for their autographs. Somehow, it was enough for me to walk  by and see them there, knowing I’m in the same room as them. I was wicked  excited to meet Jo Chen, cover artist for Runaways, Buffy the Vampire Slayer,  and many other comics. She signed a print of the Runaways #1 cover for me, and  said she loved working on Runaways because they gave her a lot of creative  freedom to do the covers however she wanted. I was also wicked excited to meet  Megan Brennan, co-creator of the webcomic School of World, as her Twitter feed  is always fun and exciting. She and her co-conspirator Rel were very nice and  creeped out by me at all, graciously signing a School of World book for me.

Amid all the hustle and bustle, the biggest  talk around the con was Womanthology, the Kickstarter sensation that has led to  magnificent hardcover collection of work by a variety of female comic creators.  Sadly, every copy sold out almost instantly, so I didn’t get one, but the  message was loud and clear – comics are no longer a boys’ only club. The ladies  have taken the comics world and made it their own. Womanthology was the center  of attention throughout the entire con.

To me, Womanthology means a little more  than gender roles and comics. Womanthology started life with a single Tweet – 140 characters or less – and the whole things snowballed from there, so that the  entire comics industry, if not the internet at large, stood up and took notice.  The Womanthology creators are doing their own things, and the audience generates  itself. I’m excited about that. It seems to me that this type of success is open  to any writer or artist, of course. As Cine High is about be unleashed unto an  unexpecting world, I’m well aware that sales may never rise higher than 20, or  it might go viral and make billions upon billions of dollars. I just don’t know.  If Womanthology started with a single Tweet, then it seems to me that any  self-pubbed project has the same chance.

And… that was the ComicCon experience for me.

Great. I started a blog, and then haven’t posted on it since forever. I’ve become that guy who does that.

Well no more, because Cine High is about to be released as an ebook, and, as the author, I somehow have to become obsessed with my “platform.”

Platform, platform, platform, platform. Basically, the author’s platform is his or her version of “why you should buy my crud.” For nonfiction authors, this means demonstrating why you’re an expert in your subject matter. For fiction authors, it means having a personality.

I’m trying really, really hard to have a personality. No, really.

The “author blog” thing seems backwards to me. Shouldn’t it be that a reader likes the book, and then tracks down the author to learn more? Instead, it’s the reader wants to learn more about the author before committing to buy the $1-3 (or free) self-pubbed ebook. Therefore, this blog is now officially a thing.

Where do I get off calling myself an author? Cine High will be available for the Kindle in a matter of weeks. Keep watching this site for more on what its about and when you’ll be able to read and enjoy it.

And… we’re done. Author’s blog.

I wasn’t as slobberingly in love with SUPER 8 as some others, proclaiming it to be the second coming of classic Spielberg fantasy, but I did enjoy the movie quite a lot. That enjoyment was enhanced when I got the Blu-ray. Watching a movie with the subtitles sometimes reveals little details that you might miss the first time around, and that’s the case big time with SUPER 8. Take a closer look at the scene in which the kids first ride off into the night to film their movie, just before the big train crash that kicks off the plot. This is where our heroes Joe and Alice first meet, or at least first get to know each other. The romantic tension between the two is evident. What’s less evident is how there is more than one level of story at work here, and how the disc’s subtitles show how the scene takes into the characters’ heads, without us even realizing it.

After everyone gets out of the car, Charles states, “Guys this is going to be great,” and he immediately launches into director mode, talking about shooting in two directions. Here is a little clue that this scene we’re watching is about to go in two directions.

Next, Charles speaks to his lead actor, saying he wrote a new line, saying “It’s going to be awesome,” and then promising “It’s not going to be hard.” It’s right on that last beat that Joe first approaches Alice, to do her makeup. That significant, because it’s as if the line “It’s not going to be hard,” reflects Joe’s state of mind as he approaches her, telling himself not to be fearful.

Joe asks, “Do you mind?” in reference to the makeup. Before she answers, Charles, unseen from behind her says, “You know that part where you say…” and then she answers, “No.” Charles’s line could be read in context of her inner monologue, as she tells herself it’s OK to talk to Joe, despite their shared history, so no, she doesn’t mind.

As Alice pulls her hair back to better let Joe apply the makeup, Charles behind her says the old line is gone, replaced by one that is better. “I just need this one,” he says. Joe then finishes the makeup and says, “There. Thanks.” If we’re to take Charles’s words as doubling for Joe and Alice’s inner thoughts, then “this one” is Alice’s gesture of pulling her hair back, a small act, but one that brings them some comfort with each other.

Joe continues to apply the makeup, as Charles stresses to his actor that the new lines are “Honey, I love you,” and “I love you, too.” Charles repeats these several times in the background as Joe and Alice’s eyes meet. Once more, Charles is speaking what Joe and Alice are feeling – or, in this case, want to be feeling – at that moment. Matters of the heart are never so simple, though, especially given Joe and Alice’s history. Charles’s actor says, “You keep changing things and making it more difficult for me,” while Charles insists that all he has to say is, “I love you, too.” This dialogue goes on as Joe silently applies the makeup, further illustrating what he and Alice are thinking without them having to say it.

Charles next says, “It’s like four words,” but Alice breaks the tension with six instead, saying, “My dad works at the mill.” This addresses the billion-pound elephant in the room, addressing the parental issues keeping them apart. Joe’s face goes blank as he doesn’t know how to respond, while Charles fills us in on his emotional stress, by asking, “Can you say I love you?” Joe doesn’t say it though, even though he wants to, and instead asksAliceto close her eyes. This is something of a symbolic gesture, as if trying to blind themselves from how they’re starting to feel about each other.

Finally, Charles simultaneously concludes and segues into the next story beat by saying, “So this scene is very emotional.” He’s talking not just about what he and his buddies are about to film, but, in subtext, about what we’ve just seen.

There are a lot of little details like this throughout SUPER 8, making it rewatchable, along with all explosions and alien craziness, of course.

I can’t stop thinking about TRON: LEGACY.

Part of the reason for this is because I’m a big TRON fan from way back, having had my mind blown by seeing the original on the big screen when I was a kid. So I’m hard wired to enjoy light cycles, disc battles, and lines of dialogue like “Bring forth the logic probe.” The new TRON gives us all that, and it’s a lot of fun revisiting good ol’ Kevin Flynn, and that whacked out computer world. Yeah, it’s fun, but that’s not why I can’t stop thinking about TRON: LEGACY. Many people will choose to view the movie as “retro,” but, for me, it’s the opposite. For me, TRON: LEGACY represents the future.

Future shock 1: Free info

In the first third of the movie, before we get into the funky computer world, we first have to deal with the pesky human world. It’s here that we get an interesting vignette. The snotty bureaucrats that run the fictional Encom Company are about to release an operating system for extreme profits, despite Alan Bradley’s insistence that Flynn wanted it to be free for all. The sniveling bureaucrats ignore Alan’s noble ideals and instead roll out their apparently greedier plan.

Enter our hero, Sam Flynn, who takes a stand for free information, screwing with Encom, putting the new O.S. on the web free for anyone who wants it, embarrassing the slimy bureaucrats as he does so. Plotwise, this establishes Sam as a combination of daredevil and idealist, and it helps us buy his “reckless choices with noble intent” actions that come into play later in the movie. This also reflects the changing of the times we’re currently experiencing. Everyone looks to the web for free media. Watch movies online! Watch your favorite TV shows online! Get the news online! Play games online! Instant this! Instant that! Instant! Instant! Instant!

Those in the so-called “traditional media” are terrified of this, but the mind-boggling success of sites like Facebook shows that free media and financial survival – if not success – is possible. (Though I’m still unclear as to how, exactly, Facebook made all its billions. I guess if I could answer that, then I’d be the one invented Facebook, right?) Anyway, Sam’s stand for free media, giving a metaphorical middle finger to the sterile bureaucrats as he does so, points a huge arrow in the direction that the world’s media is headed toward.

Future shock 2: The ISOs

TRON: LEGACY introduces some fascinating concepts, in between light cycle chases and flamboyant nightclub owners. You have “the grid,” which the fantastical TRON world, populated by programs instead of people. This is part of the novelty of the original TRON we all so fondly remember, but TRON: LEGACY takes it a step farther by asking, what’s beyond the grid? The logical part of the mind says there’s nothing beyond the grid. The creative part of the mind dictates that beyond the grid exists untapped potential, like a blank canvas, or, perhaps more appropriately, unused disc space – it could be used for anything you want. It’s in this unused/untapped space that Flynn makes his home in TRON: LEGACY, partially to stay hidden from the movie’s villain, but also to expand his own consciousness, via what he calls his “Zen master thing.” We’re told in a flashback that Flynn, Tron, and Flynn’s digitized counterpart Clu sought to recreate the Grid into a better, arguably perfect world. It’s outside the grid, though, where Flynn strives for inner peace, turning peace and perfection inward to his own self, rather than to the world around him.

It’s also outside the grid that we’re introduced to the ISOs, short for “isomorphic algorithms.” Who are they? The movie states that they are “self-produced programs that spontaneously evolved in the system, which carried the potential to unlock mysteries in science, religion, and medicine.” I don’t know about you, but I find this fascinating. In recent years, a lot of folks in the science fiction community have balked against the idea of life on other planets, alleging that inarguable mathematics prove that intelligent life does not exist anywhere else in the universe (What if you forgot to carry the one?) and therefore, the so-called experts say, no science fiction story should ever, ever, ever, again feature aliens from other planets, no matter how cool or fun those aliens might be. This line of thought has led to silliness like those lines about “the spaces in between” from INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL, as if to sell us on the idea that it’s more mathematically realistic for aliens to be from an alternate dimension than from another planet. I find this ridiculous, as grey-skinned aliens in a flying saucer are still aliens in a flying saucer, and who the hell cares how “realistic” that is?

This brings us back to TRON: LEGACY, which comes up with an altogether new idea. Here we have the ISOs, alien life that emerged seemingly from out of nowhere from beyond the grid. Who are they? Where did they come from? The movie doesn’t provide concrete answers, but what it leaves open to speculation is fascinating. TRON: LEGACY posits that contact with alien life forms will not be from other planets or other dimensions. Instead, we’re introduced to living beings made of pure information. After all, what is information, in a physical sense? It is electricity and light, transmitted from computer to computer, appearing on screen after screen. Both light and electricity are physical matter – we know this because both are affected by gravity. If the impulses of light and electricity at specific frequencies and/or intervals make up what we know as information, than who’s to say that information can’t grow, or, dare I say, evolve, into something far more complex, to the point where raw digital information becomes a life form of its own? Personally, in the future I envision, contact with alien life might just come from digital worlds we create and lose control of, rather than other worlds (I also believe extending our own humanity to life on other planets is integral to our survival, and that our life forms made of pure information could help us make that possible, but that’s an article for another time).

The ISOs of TRON: LEGACY are, to me, a more believable alien life form than any space aliens or alternate dimension goatee-wearers we’ve seen before. Even though I love freaky space aliens in sci-fi flicks, TRON: LEGACY says to something more. There’s a moment in TRON: LEGACY in which Flynn and Sam “hack” into Qurra, an ISO, and her disc, briefly revealing a three-layer DNA strand, as opposed to a regular human two-layer strand. How advanced she is, far beyond either program or user. Seeing this, all I can think is, this is where the future is headed.

Future shock 3: The face of Clu

It seems that any movie made during the 70s or 80s that used any sort of computer graphics, including TRON, claims to be the “first” to use CGI. For years, I believed that RETURN OF THE JEDI was the first to use CGI, but that was a year before TRON. THE LAST STARFIGHTER’s funky computer effects lay claim to be the first, but it was two years after TRON. Before TRON, things get even more sketchy. THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE, in 1986, also claims to be the first use of CGI in a movie, as does the cheesy 1976 sequel FUTUREWORLD. FUTUREWORLD’s predecessor WESTWORLD, also allegedly used some fleeting computer graphics, way back in 1973. So who was really this first? The debates among movie fans will never end.

Whether it was truly first, the original TRON, will always lay claim as an effects groundbreaker, because it had both computer effects and a computer-related storyline. First or not, TRON broke ground in special effects technology, creating visuals the likes of which have never been seen before since, not to mention those unendingly cool light cycles.

So, in 2010, when the time came to make TRON: LEGACY the creators are faced with an unusual challenge. In an age in which CGI makes any far-our fantasy worlds possible, how do you break new ground? Answer: You do the one thing that everyone says CGI can’t do – you do a CGI human.

Ever since the mid-90s, when CGI took off in a big way, everyone has pretty much agreed that despite everything CGI can do, it can’t recreate an actual human. Director Robert Zemekis gave it a halfway decent try with THE POLAR EXPRESS and BEOWULF, but those characters, stiff and glass-eyed as they were, were still fairly exaggerated (I dare you to rewatch BEOWULF and try to convince yourself that those “realistic humans” aren’t overly exaggerated. I dare you.) TRON: LEGACY goes father – a lot farther. The filmmakers have attempted what everyone in the world says is impossible – a CGI human. Can’t be done, you say? You could make that case, and yet, there’s Clu, front and center throughout the entire movie.

The original TRON might not have been the first move to use CGI, but it was certainly one of the first to gain notice for CGI used in a big way. In 1982, TRON set its foot down and said to the world “Computers are the future.” Then, in 2010, the creators of TRON: LEGACY did a comparable act, slamming their foot down and saying, “That what everyone says can’t be done? We’ve done it.” Or, at least, they’ve attempted it, more than anyone else has done. They went where all other filmmakers and special effects artists have never gone – that, to me, represents the future.

Is Clu a perfect effect? No. For that matter, is the brief glimpse of “young Flynn” in the real world a seamless effect? No. The human eye can tell it’s an effect. That said, turn the clock back to 1982. Are the CGI effects of the original TRON photo-real? Of course not. Are the images of light cycles and returners mesmerizing, and do they draw you into the story and into the fantastical world the filmmakers have created? Yes, yes they do. It’s the same thing – the special effects of the original TRON might be rough by today’s standards, but they were beyond what anyone else at the time had ever created. Those visuals might not have been first, but they represented the next step. In TRON: LEGACY, Clu might not be a seamless effect, but he represents what no other filmmakers dared attempt. What everyone else said was impossible is what TRON: LEGACY put on screen. Clu isn’t perfect, we can all agree on that, but just like the original TRON showed us where movie visuals would eventually go, I can’t help wonder if TRON: LEGACY is providing a similar road map to the future of animation and filmmaking.

Future shock: The 80s

Why do I love 80s stuff? All the neon, the sharp angles, the weirdness for weirdness sake in pop culture of the time, it was all about looking ahead, to the future. Yeah, 1960s retro was pretty big in the 80s, but even that was about taking the ideals of societal change and bringing them from the 60s into the modern time with a modern sensibility, working toward a brighter future, especially in the shadow of movements such as glasnost and perestroika. Then, along came the 90s, and suddenly everything was about retro. Fashion and pop culture became obsessed with reliving the past, even when faced with the rise of the internet and Y2K hysteria.

Throughout the years, however, TRON refused to be retro. TRON continues to represent the future, and where we’re headed, rather than where we’ve been, and TRON: LEGACY continues that trend. It has the light cycles and disc battles and arcades with Journey music to satisfy the nostalgia crowd, and that’s all great fun, but by the time the credits roll, TRON: LEGACY joins its predecessor as a movie that represents the future.

That’s why I can’t stop thinking about TRON: LEGACY.

(Originally posted on the DVD Verdict judges’ blog.)

It’s time to turn CINE HIGH into an ebook. What’s CINE HIGH? It’s the book I wrote. (It’s my fourth book, but we’ll ignore those first three for now.)