For The Programmers Out There

A funny list of 30 examples of new programming jargon.  # 10 naturally made me think of Jimmy Hinckley, who we all miss dearly.

Mark Waid Nails It

While I liked Man of Steel a bit more than Mark apparently did, his spoiler-laden review of the film touches on every one of the aspects that didn't work for me.  Although I'll definitely watch it again (unlike Waid), I agree that the soul of the character that I've known and loved for nearly 45 years wasn't on display in Zack Snyder's movie.  In the same way that Snyder came up short in turning Watchmen into a film when he failed to understand some of Alan Moore's more subtle nuances in the original material, he falters here in grasping what makes Superman so special: his own invulnerability is what makes him care so much about those who can't survive a building falling on them as he can.  And Vicki will attest to the fact that, at least once during the final act of Man of Steel, I muttered under my breath, "Now go rescue some of the people in the rubble, dummy!"  The fact that he didn't, more than anything else, reveals where Snyder and screenwriter Goyer lost their grip on the character.

Still, for all that, it's a Superman movie worth watching, much more so than its predecessor with Brandon Routh.

In Other Amazon News

Today seems to be Amazon Day here at Kimota94's Place!

As a followup to a post from last month about the introduction of fan fic site Kindle Worlds, there's this news today about Kindle Worlds expanding to include some comic book universes!  Specifically, several titles from the Valiant comic line are now available to be 'fan fic'ked, so to speak.

I'm starting to believe this is actually going to become 'a thing' in publishing.  I just can't tell if it's a good thing or a bad thing.

Do A Brother A Favour?

I've laboured under a particular delusion for a while, and only today learned the error of my ways.  I always believed that you could only do a review of something on Amazon if you purchased the item first.  I think my mistake stemmed from the fact that I've been prompted many times to provide reviews of items I'd bought, and that formed the connection in my brain.

Anyway, now that I know the truth, I'd like to ask any readers out there who enjoyed No Brother of Mine to please take a few minutes and leave a review of it on Amazon.  It looks like it requires a minimum of 20 words to constitute a review, but hopefully that won't pose too much of a challenge!  (No Brother of Mine, after all, is around 90,000 words so it can't be that hard to come up with 20 words to describe your reaction to it, can it?)  Probably the most important thing is just getting more reviews, period, out there, especially 4- or 5-star reviews (hint, hint).  So please consider helping me out in this fashion if you can.

No Brother of Mine on Amazon can be found here, and then click on the (# customer reviews) link near the top of the page to start your review.

Thanks!

P.S. Obviously the same goes for any of my other books that you've read and liked.  I'm just trying to push No Brother of Mine right now as it seems to be the most popular of the bunch.

Off To Have Dinner With Another Author

Elaine Cougler, who was nice enough to do a 2-part author interview with me late last year, has just released her first novel, The Loyalist's Wife.  Vicki and I have both been reading (and enjoying) it, and tonight we'll be lucky enough to have dinner with Elaine and her husband, Ron.  There should be lots of author-talk, I hope! 

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The PS4

Read all about it!

P.S. I've already pre-ordered mine!  And it wasn't even half as exciting as when I pre-ordered my PS3 back in December of 2006.

Quit Blaming Video Games For Violence In The Real World

Here's a good article that shows just how weak the argument that "video game playing leads to violence" really is.

A Few Minor Writing Points

(This sort of post is likely only relevant to me, as a form of journal entry that I can refer back to later.  But anyone out there who still follows this blog is certainly welcome to find whatever entertainment value in it that they can!)

As I get ready to start the 2nd chapter of novel # 4 (once I've finished here), I've come to recognize certain patterns in the way I write.  I may have mentioned some or all of these before, but at least now they'll be collected in one place.

For instance, I've learned how to tell a good story idea from a substandard one.  When I'm trying to come up with the next plot point, the best ones always feel as if I'm remembering them, rather than making them up.  It's like that feeling you get when you're struggling to recall the details of something - maybe a conversation you had, or a memory from many years ago - and suddenly it clicks into place and you know with certainty that you've recalled it correctly.  That's what I've found to happen with the best parts of my novels so far.  And it's a great barometer for me to use in evaluating each new idea that comes along.

Also, I think I now understand why the writing always goes so much faster toward the end of the book.  I'd always assumed it was because each of the various subplots had been set in motion by then and all that remained was to resolve them.  I imagine that's part of it, but there's also an element of knowing the characters so well by that point that they practically write themselves.  As a corollary of that, things tend to go slowly in the early stages because I'm not entirely sure which direction some of the characters are going to advance in just yet, and that makes the process harder.

And finally, I've had a revelation about my work ethic when it comes to writing.  I've suffered from a lot of frustration over the past several years because I haven't been as disciplined as I'd like about actually sitting down and writing.  I've gotten very down on myself about this, at times.  However, I think I may have been selling myself short in that regard.  A lot of the time I spend not-writing, especially when I'm not engaged in some other activity, is actually devoted to figuring out what happens next, or what motivates this character or that one, or what the best structure is to use for that next revelation.  In other words, I'm writing a hell of a lot more often than I'd ever given myself credit for.  It's simply happening in my head, rather than on the keyboard.  Vicki and I have started referring to that as "percolation time" while working on this current book, meaning the periods during which all of the various ideas are percolating around in my brain before they're fully formed enough to be written down.  Julie had pointed out something similar on an earlier book project, but I hadn't appreciated just how significant that part of the process was at the time.  Now that I do, it feels like a large, guilty weight has been lifted from me.

Anyway, now it's time to go do some of the type-type-type writing, as Chapter 2 feels ready to go!

Why Some Animals Swarm

I'd never thought about it before reading this article, but it makes sense: animals evolved to swarm because swarming confuses the predators and allows more of the prey to escape (and hence survive, to have more offspring).  Like all things evolutionary, a random mutation at the DNA level must've led some animals to react that way when predators approached, and because it worked better than the usual "run away!" instinct, it eventually became a new trait, over generations.

I love how the universe always makes more sense when you view it through the lens of evolution!  I can't imagine how people who don't believe in evolution ever make it through life. 

Fukushima Power Plant Not A Disaster After All

For anyone who watched the coverage, back in March of 2011, of the Fukushima nuclear facility in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan, it seemed like a full-scale disaster: the cooling systems weren't functioning, workers were being sent in on suicide runs, and the area around the plant was going to be irradiated for generations to come.  Some Americans even worried that the radioactive cloud from Fukushima was going to contaminate the west coast of the U.S.!

Well, two years later, a couple of reports have come out of independent studies, and the results are surprising, to say the least!  No one died from radiation sickness, many of the areas surrounding the nuclear facility are already safe to return to, and even those brave workers who entered the plant during the immediate aftermath of the tsunami have been spared the awful fate we'd all ascribed to them.

It'll be interesting to see if the good news represented by these reports gets anywhere near the same level of coverage that the drama back in March 2011 received.

A Bit Of Brilliance In The New Star Trek Film

We went to see Star Trek Into Darkness a couple weekends ago, and both of us enjoyed it.  It's certainly got its share of faults and no shortage of plot points that make you go, "Huh?" but overall it's a fun, action-packed adventure of a film.

There's one thing in it that really impressed me.  Unfortunately, I can't describe the scene without giving away not one but two surprises from the movie, so consider this a SPOILER WARNING before you read on any further.

OK, so if you're still with me, you've either seen STID or just don't care if I spoil a bit of it for you.  Here's the part that I loved: they set up the Khan character as being greatly superior to 'mere humans,' just as they did in the original TV series and in Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan.  And yet, of course, once again the Enterprise crew has to somehow outsmart him.  In this case, it's Spock who has to get the upper hand on Khan, specifically by beaming a bunch of armed torpedoes into his ship.  Logically he shouldn't be able to come up with a plan that Khan couldn't predict and be able to thwart, right?  The way they made it work, however, was pretty clever, I thought: Spock contacts the older Spock, left over from the first JJ Abrams Trek film and the original (now obliterated) Trek universe, and gets him to break his vow not to divulge information from his own, destroyed timeline.  It's that unexpected play by new-Spock, which Khan presumably couldn't have anticipated, which basically allows the current crew to cheat (by using other-timeline information that they shouldn't have had access to).  That little twist made the movie for me because it provided a rational explanation for how they could pull off what should have been impossible.

On Learning How To Learn

One of the folks I follow on Twitter just posted a link to a great article by scientist Carl Zimmer.  It's on the topic of students e-mailing Mr. Zimmer questions relating to his field of expertise, obviously trying to get him to do their homework assignments for them.  He shares a few of the e-mails he's received, and several things stood out as I was reading the article:

1. The Internet really can encourage laziness.  Strangely, I've found that it's had the opposite effect on me, as my natural tendency is to be lazy and not look anything up, but when it's just a few keystrokes away, I can't justify that attitude any more, and so I do more research than I ever used to. But for the average high school student, not the least bit interested in the topic he or she is studying in school, the Internet holds out at least the possibility of learning absolutely nothing while still achieving a grade that would seem to suggest that some smartification did occur.

2. People (not just kids) continue to struggle with remembering how they began a sentence by the time they're writing the end of it.  Or, to put it in modern terminology, like they do.  (Ha.)  So, for example, you get the kid who writes, "I am doing a research paper on evolution and how evolution and the Galapagos and evolution are related."  Had this teenage really tuned out between typing "how evolution and the Galapagos" and then "and evolution are related?"  Is the attention span really that short nowadays?  It seems like it might be.  And speaking of that...

3. Wow, did this part ever resonate with me: "Once you find an article on, say, carnivorous plants, you need to read it deeply. Let the ideas sink in. The first time through, you may not appreciate how all the pieces of the story fit together into a whole. Read it again. Resist the urge to click away to Facebook after every sentence."  I've witnessed the context switching to Facebook every thirty seconds phenomenon first hand over the past little while, and it's scary to consider where that sort of thing is going to lead us, as a species.

Anyway, it's a great read, especially for anyone who's a parent or teacher.

Portrait Of An (Enigmatic) Artist

If you have a Netflix account and want a real treat - and I mean a very special, amazing treat - then watch Searching for Sugar Man.  Don't read up on it or even stop to scan the Netflix blurb for it; just start it going and you'll soon by hooked!  The less you know about it, the more you'll enjoy it.  It won the Best Documentary Oscar last year, and now I can see why.  One of the most captivating and moving films I've seen in years.

So Long, Torts!

Another one bites the dust in New York!  Tortorella had a respectable regular season record with the Rangers but a lousy postseason mark.  I guess we'll just have to wait to see how the next guy does, as always.  The Blueshirts have looked better on paper than they have on the ice for most of the last few seasons, so that's either an indicator that the coach couldn't get much out of them or that they just don't play well with each other.

Going To The Fringe Festival This Year? If Not, Why Not?

As noted on this blog previously, Vicki and I have become big fans of the whole Fringe Festival phenomenon.  We tried it for the first time 3 years ago, thanks to our friend Susan, taking in just 2 plays to see what it was like.  The next year, we went to about a dozen or so shows (again with Susan), and enjoyed it so much that we followed that up a month later by traveling to Hamilton to spend several days taking in their Fringe Fest!  Last year we went to another raft of shows here in town, and even got Julie out for one evening (that she said went well).

This year, I'm taking it to yet another new level.  Since Susan is now professionally involved with the festival, I've been volunteering a little and will even be acting as an usher (or some such thing) for several of the performances.  So I'd really implore anyone reading this to give the event a try this year, as a show of support for the many talented performers who will be appearing there.

For those who don't know, the festival runs from Thursday, June 6th through Sunday, June 16th this year.  There are over 40 shows being presented across about 10 venues in the downtown area.  You can view the newly-posted master schedule on the main site, and I encourage you to do so.  Shows generally last about an hour, and cost about $10 per person.  In other words: short and sweet!  As I always say in regards to Fringe, if you try one out and it doesn't rock your world, you'll probably love the next one!  It can be hard to tell, from the brief descriptions in the master schedule, just what you're in for, but that's also part of the fun of Fringe. 

If you have any questions about Fringe Fest, or just want someone to take a show in with, give me a shout.  In case you haven't figure it out yet: I love Fringe Fest!

Fan Fic Goes 'Big Time'... Or Does It?

The news today about Kindle Worlds, where writers of fan fiction will be allowed to legitimately create new stories for properties such as The Vampire Diaries, is interesting on a whole bunch of levels.

Here's one take on it, which I definitely found to be worth a read.  I've been thinking a lot lately about the prospects of trying to get published (rather than self-publishing), especially in light of how well received last year's book (No Brother of Mine) continues to be.  What I always come up against, as I worry the idea around in the admittedly-limited confines of my own brain, is a fear that I'll end up having to give up some degree of control and/or ownership, if I were to go that route (assuming anyone was even interested in publishing me, that is).  I love the fact that, as of right now, every character and story element I've created, between Game Over, No Brother of Mine and Old Wounds, as well as the very exciting 4th novel whose 1st chapter I finished this morning (!), are 100% mine mine mine.  I can do whatever I like with them, and nobody has a say in the matter except me.  That's one of the key enticements that writing holds for me, among many other benefits.

Just as the article writer (above) mentions, I wouldn't want to waste my creative juices on work-for-hire terms, either.  But I'm not producing fan fic now, so I suppose my feelings on the subject don't really matter, anyway.

When Insider Jargon Enters The Mainstream

I have to admit that I still get a bit of a thrill when some hitherto obscure comic book fact - say, the origin of Captain America's strength stemming from the World War II 'Super Soldier' project - becomes common knowledge (thanks to a popular movie, in that example).

Here's a similar but different sort of example, coming from economist and Nobel prize winner Paul Krugman:

"I very much agree with Avent and Smith that Cowen, who worries that such a policy would largely lead to inflation in Germany rather than a boom in Portugal, is completely missing the point; that’s a feature, not a bug."

See what he did at the end there?  He used an expression that's been prevalent in our software industry for decades, and which has apparently now become recognizable and accessible to the general public: it's not a bug, it's a feature!

I love that sort of thing.

No Brother Of Mine Continues To Win Hearts And Minds

In the last few days, I've received a pair of unsolicited (and unexpected) responses to No Brother of Mine.  One came from a person who's had the book for months but only just recently began reading it, while the other was from someone who'd borrowed my brother's copy to read.  Both gushed about how much they'd enjoyed it, with some of the feedback really jumping out at me:

"IT HAS MY ATTENTION AND TRULY LOVING IT" (followed by a heart symbol)

"I love a good book and this one is!"

"WHOA!!! HOLY SHIT!!!! WOW!!!!"

"Highly creative and a damn good mystery!!!!"

"Simply, I thought ‘No Brother Of Mine’ was a great read!!!!!"

As you can see, there was no shortage of upper case letters or exclamations marks... both of which I take as being indicative of a great reading experience.

Making Money Off Old Wounds

As of an ePub sale that happened this morning, my 3rd novel has now turned a profit!  It's always a nice feeling when I get to that point, as it means that that particular writing project will remain in the black from now on.  The only book of mine that hasn't done that is No Kid of Ours is Failing at Math, and that's only because I over-ordered on the initial print run, assuming that it would be more popular than the pre-orders had indicated (it hasn't been, so far).  Both AgileMan books and all three novels have now made money for Vicki and I, and I thank all of my readers and supporters out there for that happy fact!

Speaking of sales, there was another milestone passed this morning as No Brother of Mine became my top selling book, surpassing the first AgileMan volume.  Both of them have 'moved' well over 100 copies now, which I know isn't much compared to non-self-published projects, but I'll still take it.

Now I just need to get started on novel # 4, which I keep procrastinating on.  Bad Matt!

A Few Notes On Old Wounds

I've now heard from two people who've finished Old Wounds.  Both seemed to really like it, with one of them telling me that she thought it was perhaps my best novel yet.  That's extremely gratifying to hear!

As anyone who's even read the cover blurb for the book knows, the main character is asked to write the eulogy for his great-uncle after the old man dies in his sleep.  As I working my way through the book, I wasn't 100% sure whether I would actually include the eulogy in the story.  In other words, I knew the narrator would end up creating the eulogy, but I didn't know if I wanted or needed to provide it to the reader.  The further I got in, though, the more convinced I became that it could serve a powerful purpose if I wrote it well enough and presented it at the right point.  (Funny story: the first draft had it in the Epilogue, and Vicki asked why I'd put it there instead of at the end of Chapter 13, which was already entitled 'Famous Last Words' at that point.  In trying to answer her question, I immediately realized that she was completely right and I'd simply been stupid in my original placement of it.  Thank goodness for wise and insightful spouses!)

Anyway, as soon as I decided to include the eulogy itself, I realized that I had no idea how to write one!  I've only been to a handful of funerals in my life so far (fortunately), and I'm usually too overcome with emotion at them to pay much attention to what's being said about the deceased.  I considered researching famous eulogies - JFK's, or Einstein's, or whatever - but instead just sat down and started writing.  It took me about two hours, but by the end of that time I had something very close to the final version of Uncle Howard's send-off by his great-nephew Michael.  I haven't had any specific feedback on that portion of the book yet, but I personally thought it came together quite well.  I'd definitely like to hear what readers out there think, once they've gotten that far.