Star Wars Episode VII.V: The Force Stretches And Turns On The Coffee Machine

Posted on April 19, 2015 by Kelly Sedinger

I haven’t said anything about the new trailer for Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens yet, so a few thoughts.

:: First, here’s the trailer, just in case you somehow missed it.


:: A Star Destroyer and an X-Wing fighter, both wrecked on the desert planet which we’re being told is not Tatooine. OK.

:: Voiceover from Luke Skywalker. Interesting. I wonder who he’s talking to.

:: Vader’s melted helmet, distorted to the point of looking skull-like. Again, interesting.

:: Lots of quick visuals. X-Wings in a combat configuration, but on a planet surface. Lots of new-ish stormtroopers standing beneath a flag we haven’t seen before. Quick glimpses of the red lightsaber in action.

:: My favorite shot in this trailer? What looks like a TIE fighter just hovering above a landing bay, blasting everything in sight.

:: “Chewie, we’re home.” Oh yeah, babe. That helps a lot.

I’ve seen some commentary to the effect that “This trailer makes us feel like we’re eight years old again!” I don’t know about that, and even so, I’m not sure being transported back to that age is really possible. I think it’s that expectation that partially caused people to elevate their desires to levels no film could match, not the least of which would be the three Prequel Trilogy movies. Besides, I don’t want to be transported back to when I was eight.

And, as usual, any new bit of Star Wars news seems to bring out all the folks who want to sharpen their anti-Lucas axe at every opportunity. I almost dread new Star Wars stuff for that very reason.

But anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing this in December. It feels a bit odd, really, having new Star Wars on the way for which I have virtually no investment in terms of the characters or idea of what the story is doing. This is almost virgin territory for me!

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A Casting Coincidence

Posted on April 19, 2015 by Kelly Sedinger

I don’t tend to spend a lot of time — at all — thinking about what real-life actors might play the roles in the inevitable movies which will be made from my books. First of all, I don’t want to get locked down in my head to a single look or voice, and second, well…that’s the writer’s equivalent of the kid with the bat stepping up to home plate on an empty neighborhood field and saying to himself, “It’s the bottom of the ninth. Game seven of the World Series. Timmy steps up….”


But like all rules, I don’t follow this one specifically, and there are two roles in the Forgotten Stars books that I have mentally filled with specific actors. One is the stern, business-like, and highly competent Lieutenant Penda Rasharri, who serves as an unplanned mentor to Princess Tariana Osono, giving the Princess her first lessons in what it is to be a Stardancer. I’m not sure why, but the actor I’ve always had in my mind as playing Rasharri is Taraji P. Henson.

But here’s something weird: via SamuraiFrog’s blog, I literally just learned — after loving Henson’s work on Person of Interest for the first three seasons — that the ‘P’ in her name stands for Penda.
(And who is the other character for whom I’ve had a specific face in mind? Hmmmm…any guesses. folks who have read Stardancer?)
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Bad Joke Friday

Posted on April 17, 2015 by Kelly Sedinger

Today, a visual pun!

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Something for Thursday: In remembrance of the Shoah

Posted on April 16, 2015 by Kelly Sedinger

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The Daughter has, this past week, watched Schindler’s List in school. I don’t know if this is because of Holocaust Remembrance Day, or if it’s a coincidence that their study of the WWII and the Holocaust period happened to line up with today. Schindler’s List is a favorite film of mine, a deeply human testament to the evil that can arise out of simple human nature and the good that can also arise out of the same thing. What begins for Schindler as an easy way to make money over time becomes a mission to save as many lives as he can, and he’s never even aware of the shift; there’s no moment when he sits down and says, “I am going to save them.” He just…does. By the time his mission has become humanitarian, all the Nazis around him are so utterly convinced of his skill as a businessman that it never even occurs to them that he’s not making money and that he is literally buying their lives.

Likewise, the film’s flip side is the staggering banality of its evil. Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes), kills sometimes because he is enraged and sometimes because he clearly loathes the Jews, but other times, he is shown killing because he has nothing else to do. He’s up one morning and shooting Jews with his rifle and then he leans back to pop his spine a few times and then he shoots a few more and then he goes to the bathroom and so on. Much has been written over the years of how the Nazis managed to elevate their evil to industrial levels, and no scene establishes that in this movie quite so well as the scene when Goeth is ordered by Berlin to have his men dig up the mass graves and cremate the bodies instead. The shots here are jaw-dropping in their horrific nature: giant piles of bodies being set aflame, and a conveyor belt thing being used to drag them from the carts and dump them on the pyre. A horrified Oskar Schindler arrives on the scene, and Goeth turns to him and says in the tone of an annoyed and overworked office worker, “Can you believe this? As if I don’t have enough to do, they come up with this?” That’s when it hits me, in this movie: the Nazis didn’t just make one of the most egregious evils of all time into an industry. They made it people’s jobs. People showed up to work, punching a clock and bitching about their workloads at lunchtime, to kill six million Jews.

Here is the scene where the war has ended and Schindler, technically a fugitive, must go on the run. It’s my understanding that this did not happen in history. I don’t care.

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Thoughts

Posted on April 15, 2015 by ksedinger

As I write this, I’m entering the climactic part of the story in PRINCESSES IN SPACE III: PRINCESSES ON PARADE (not the actual title), and as the story starts to wind up, some things have been on my mind. As I’ve noted many a time, I only usually have the vaguest idea what happens in a book when I start writing one, and I half-pants, half-outline my way through it, figuring that an ending will present itself at some point, as will the story’s general flavor. At this point, just about everything that is yet to come is pretty much settled in my mind, and all I have to do is work it from my mind into the computer.

That said, I’m also realizing something else: that this third book in this series is not that much like the first two, other than being an extension of that story. In much the same way, the second book had its own flavor and focus that set it aside from the first book. I think and hope that the fact that I didn’t basically write the same story three times, and that I changed things up in terms of focus and style, will be good for The Song of Forgotten Stars as a series. More than ever I’m thrilled to see this tale slowly unfold!

And now, back to the Startrails….

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A Random Wednesday Conversation Starter

Posted on April 15, 2015 by Kelly Sedinger

Hey folks! Yup, another blogging slow-down. Work at The Store is calming back down a bit, so that’s good, but what isn’t calming down is Princesses III, which is now starting to really get into the meat of the climactic bits. And that’s great! But most of my writing fire is going there right now, and rightly so. Bear with me!

(In a procedural note, I’m thrilled to see that this third book is markedly different in tone and style and content from the second, which was likewise different from the first. I seem to be avoiding the trap of basically telling the same story three different times, and I’m deepening the mysteries and broadening the canvas each time out. Structurally, I’m hoping for each book to tell a slightly bigger story than the previous one, until by the end of the series, I’ve got a Galactic Epic going. We’ll see how that goes, but that’s the foundational idea, at least.)

Anyway, here’s a picture. This is a large-ish (about a foot tall) action figure of Han Solo that we’re selling at The Store. It looks, as I think you’ll agree, almost nothing like Harrison Ford. Problem is, it does look like somebody.

OK, who does this Han Solo figurine resemble? 'Cause it ain't Harrison Ford. #StarWars

Who does this figure look like, folks?

(And note the Disney branding….)

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Sunday Stuff

Posted on April 12, 2015 by Kelly Sedinger

Oddities and amusements for your Sunday pleasure….

:: Hmmmmm:

The man behind me in the queue was trying to be helpful: “It’s true, though, right? They are used as weapons in Asia. I go there a lot and I’ve seen them do it—they’re lethal.” He made a sudden gesture, like Spiderman throwing a web.

I was torn between asking this stranger to unpack his astonishing assertion and trying to prevent the airport security guard from unpacking my luggage. I resolved the impasse by laughing nervously, which had precisely the wrong effect. The security guard studied me suspiciously. “You’ll have to come with me, sir.”

What weapon did this guy try bringing on a plane? Would you believe…a yo-yo?

:: Why Sherman was right to burn Atlanta.

:: New research methods have resulted in Shakespeare’s output going up. Wow. Of course, I’m afraid that if they ever study my stuff, the conclusion will be, “Wow, this dude stole from everything!” Because I did, and do. Im shameless.

More next week!

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Answers, the third!

Posted on April 11, 2015 by Kelly Sedinger

So, continuing to play catch-up with questions asked two months ago, reader Josh asks this:

What are your thoughts on the Star Wars Clone Wars CGI TV series? Do you think they improved the Prequels?

I really hate this question, but not because it’s a bad question. I hate it because it forces me to make an embarrassing admission: I’ve only watched three episodes of The Clone Wars thus far. And that’s just stupid, because (a) I’m a Star Wars fan; (b) I’ve heard all kinds of good things about the series; and (c) the individual episodes are only twenty-two minutes apiece, so it’s not like I don’t have time. I just end up doing other stuff, be it reading or writing or whatever.

I know, this answer is terrible. I’ve been impressed by the three episodes that I have seen; even that small number gives an idea of big places that show wanted to go, and I do intend to start watching them more faithfully. Sometimes I’m just not that good at being a geek.

Next up, Roger starts asking stuff. Let’s go!

Are you Charlie Hebdo? 

Yes. The notion of violently attacking, by any means, anyone at all for voicing dissenting views even in an offensive way is staggeringly appalling.

And I think it very much worth noting that one of the police officers on the scene, and killed for his trouble, was a French Muslim of Arabic descent.

Thinking about Mario Cuomo: rank the governors of New York State in your lifetime, and a little about why. Heck, if you want to add the governors BEFORE your lifetime (the Clintons, the Roosevelts), feel free!

My lifetime? That goes back to 1971, and we didn’t move to New York State until 1981. I’ll only rank the ones whose administrations I have any functional knowledge of, and in all honesty…I’m not really in love with any of these guys, Mario Cuomo included. Cuomo the Elder was a brilliant speaker, but he was a wonderfully eloquent voice for liberalism at a time when liberalism was at its lowest ebb since the 20s, and the political nature of New York State is such that he really couldn’t push those policies quite as well as I might have liked. Not one of these Governors has thus far been able to put the brakes on New York’s decades-long outflow of population, for one thing, which I think exists mainly because Albany policy tends to be deeply skewed toward New York City and thus often creates a less-than-hospitable business climate to the places that are not New York City. Aside from that, there’s always been a sort of built-in dysfunction in Albany that does not show any signs of going away soon, even if they’ve at least figured out how to get the friggin’ state budget done on time. (Seriously, for years it was an annual thing that the New York State budget was always late.) Ultimately, I honestly can’t say I’ve ever really, really admired one of the governors during my life here.

Here’s how I’d rank these guys (and seriously, isn’t New York, one of the bluest states and supposedly a stronghold of liberalism, about due to elect a woman to this office?!):

1. Mario Cuomo

2. Andrew Cuomo (And I am not a huge fan of Cuomo the Younger. His education policy is a tire fire, his actions in dealing with New York’s legendary corruption are deeply disquieting, and even in matters of policy on which I agree with him — guns being a good example — there’s just always something smarmy about the guy.)

3. George Pataki (We had twelve years of this guy? Really? Nobody better? You couldn’t come up with a blander flavor of Meh if you tried. He kept a sure and steady hand on the wheel, that’s for sure. Never mind that the ship was anchored in port the entire time.)

4. David Paterson (I never had a feel for this guy. But I’m not sure he did, either. Every vibe I got from him screamed, “GAHHH get me out of this job!” I wonder why the hell he ever wanted to be the LG in the first place. It’s a thankless, crappy job.)

5. Eliot Spitzer (So much promise, which he tossed aside for the stupidest of reasons. Ugh. I do, though, sometimes wish the same rules that apply to Republicans when they have sex scandals also applied to Democrats.)

ISIS had beheaded several of its captives, and immolated one. The videos can be found. Have you watched one (or more)? Why or why not?

I haven’t watched any ISIS videos, and I don’t intend to. I did watch one of the beheading videos from the post-Iraq invasion turmoil, years ago, and…well, one of those is enough. It wasn’t gory, really; you couldn’t really tell what was going on as these masked guys clustered around the poor victim. Lots of shouting and some screaming. Utterly horrific, obviously. And it’s a particularly cowardly evil, isn’t it? If you’re that certain in your religious fervor that what you’re doing has the backing of God himself, then why would you need to wear a mask while doing it?

It seems clear to me that the methods of execution are being selected for their shock factor and their ability to get attention. Just shooting the victim in the back of the head has little to no shock value, but beheading with a machete does. So does locking a person in a cage and setting it on fire. So does leading blindfolded victims onto the roof of a building and pushing them off.
I don’t want to end on so depressing a note, so one more:

What’s the first rock/pop concert you ever attended?

This may sound bad, but…in reality, I suppose it would have to be the Trans Siberian Orchestra four or five years ago. Seriously. I’ve never been to an actual rock concert of any type, nor even a pop concert, really. I’m not sure why, to be honest; there are a lot of bands and artists that I would have liked (and would still like) to see in live performance. I suppose it’s mainly an issue of expense, ultimately; because of ticket prices, I’ve never much seen live music as a huge priority, except for Buffalo Philharmonic concerts. I did want to go see Neil Diamond when he was in town a couple weeks ago, but we weren’t free that night, alas.

More to come!

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Bad Joke Friday

Posted on April 10, 2015 by Kelly Sedinger

I want to get a job cleaning mirrors.

I mean, I could really see myself doing that.

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Tank You Very Much

Posted on April 10, 2015 by Kelly Sedinger

Is it ever OK for sports teams to lose on purpose?

I’m sure we’d all say, “Probably not”. After all, there’s a very real reason that gambling is strictly forbidden in baseball, and there’s a very real reason one of the game’s greatest players — Shoeless Joe Jackson — will likely never get in the Hall of Fame. It has to do with losing on purpose.

But is it OK for a team to be purposely assembled by management with the goal in mind of being bad?

Well…if you’re in Buffalo, the answer is almost certainly a resounding “YES!!!”

Our NHL team in these parts, the Sabres, is virtually beloved. It’s entirely possible that hockey fandom is a bigger thing here than football fandom, although I suspect that’s because the Sabres had a brief period of being awesome eight or nine years ago while the Bills have been crappy for fifteen. But right now, the Sabres are awful. With one more loss, they will clinch the worst record in the NHL this season, and most fans here are fine with that.

Why?

Because the NHL Draft has not one but two astonishing prospects lined up to very likely go first and second in the first round. If the Sabres finish dead last, one of those two kids will end up playing in Buffalo. These guys (Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel) are referred to almost universally as “generational” players, the kinds of players who only tend to come along once every ten years or so. We’re talking Sidney Crosby and Mario Lemieux territory here.

But why would the Sabres be interested in both of those guys if they finish dead last? Well, that’s because the NHL does not do what the NFL and Major League Baseball do with their drafts. Those leagues slot their drafts strictly according to order of finish: the top pick goes to the team with the worst record, second pick to the second-worst, and so on, using various tie-breaker formulas to distinguish between teams with identical records. The NHL, instead, uses a lottery to determine the top pick, so this year (the lottery rules change next year, for some reason), the team that finishes dead last has only a 20 percent chance of picking first, that team is guaranteed to pick second if they don’t get the top pick. Which means that the team finishing dead last is guaranteed one of these two amazing players, who are both the type of talent that hasn’t resided in Buffalo in many moons, or maybe ever.

And the Sabres this year are bad. Really bad. Cataclysmically bad. Some sports people have determined that the Sabres are, statistically-speaking, historically bad. Ouch.

And they’re this bad, this year, on purpose.

Is that wrong? Is it wrong for a sports team’s management to purposely field an awful team?

Well, here’s the thing: I don’t think it is.

First of all, there’s nothing new at all about this. In hockey terms, they call it “tanking”, but a football team would likely refer to the phenomenon as “bottoming out”; you see it fairly often, when football teams whose rosters are aging and getting prohibitively expensive have a big purge of talent, resulting in a pretty bad team that has decided to go into “rebuilding mode”. Rebuilding almost always involves being pretty bad for at least a year or two (or so the team hopes; NFL history is replete with rebuilding projects that failed, resulting in another rebuild three or four years after the first one). “Bottoming out” is a pretty common idea in the NFL, and in fact, in recent years a lot of local sports commentators have called for the Bills to “bottom out”, so they might pick higher in the draft and maybe land on the best quarterbacks.

Meanwhile, the Sabres are definitely rebuilding. They have jettisoned virtually every high-priced player and every player who was due to become an unrestricted free agent, often in return for draft picks. This, too, is nothing new; baseball teams have been doing this for years. Over there it’s commonly called “having a fire sale”, when baseball teams that are pretty much out of contention start trading away players who are either going to be free agents or who command a high enough price in return that a team can use a trade to restock its minor league system with prospects. Are such teams “embracing losing”, as some have accused the Sabres of doing? I find it hard to see how. Same with the football teams who have elected to enter a rebuilding process. Is it “embracing losing” to enter into a period where losing is almost certain?

And why is it that sports commentators — columnists for the Buffalo News are notorious for this — so often call for rebuilds, call for “blowing it up and starting over”, call for “bottoming out”, only to harshly criticize the team when the process of rebuilding, blowing it up and starting over, or bottoming out results in a period of losing?

Who knows, but it seems to me that there are conflicting impulses at work here. We expect the players on the ice, or the field, or the diamond, to always put out their best effort. But the problem is that sometimes the best effort of management actually involves being bad for a while. The players may expect to win each time, but management has a different job, and sometimes it means being bad for an entire year in hopes of landing a very, very good player on the other end of it.

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