Funny. My best friend’s name was Scott when this was on TV.
Monsters for latentblue.
Rage Against the Al
Two great tastes that taste great together.
Super Heroes!
This American Life has an episode with a super hero theme. Once again, this amazing radio show kicks my ass.
You can listen to it here.
(Thanks to Daniel Friggin’ Solis.)
D&DD
Scary crazy.
LA Con
I planned on making it out to the LA Con this year, but circumstances have conspired against it. I even took time off from work, planned on grabbing my stuff out of storage and moving it all out to my new place. Lost the deposit on the rental car, the deposit on the truck.
I was looking forward to seeing folks, running & playing games, and getting my drum kit back. No luck.
for Jared and Becca
Darkpages: Wicked Heroes
As soon as I get a final copy of Jared’s Darkpages, I know what setting I’m using.
(Heroes/Aberrant/Rising Stars similarity caveat.)
Everybody makes a character. Normal, average, everyday Joe. Cop, cheerleader, Federal agent, painter, whatever.
Then, the Event happens. Each player draws a power out of a box.
Here’s the trick. Everybody is Syler.
Kill a hero, steal his power.
Let the game begin.
Rush: Far Cry Video & Lyrics
Pariah dogs and wandering madmen
Barking at strangers and speaking in tongues
The ebb and flow of tidal fortune
Electrical changes are charging up the young
It’s a far cry from the world we thought we’d inherit
It’s a far cry from the way we thought we’d share it
You can almost feel the current flowing
You can almost see the circuits blowing
One day I feel I’m on top of the world
And the next it’s falling in on me
I can get back on
I can get back on
One day I feel I’m ahead of the wheel
And the next it’s rolling over me
I can get back on
I can get back on
Whirlwind life of faith and betrayal
Rise in anger, fall back and repeat
Slow degrees on the dark horizon
Full moon rising, lays silver at your feet
It’s a far cry from the world we thought we’d inherit
It’s a far cry from the way we thought we’d share it
You can almost feel the current flowing
You can almost see the circuits blowing
One day I feel I’m on top of the world
And the next it’s falling in on me
I can get back on
I can get back on
One day I feel I’m ahead of the wheel
And the next it’s rolling over me
I can get back on
I can get back on
It’s a far cry from the world we thought we’d inherit
You can almost see the circle growing
You can almost feel the planets glowing
One day I fly through a crack in the sky
And the next it’s falling in on me
I can get back on
I can get back on
from thelastmehina
3 things from my interests list: Duty, Harlan Ellison, Loyalty.
Duty and Loyalty first. They go together.
A long time ago, I learned about Aristotle’s trinity of virtue: Compassion, Temperance and Courage. Compassion is the ability to understand the suffering of others. Temperance is the ability to say “no.” Courage is the ability to know that some things are more important than you.
These are Aristotle’s big three. I can’t really argue with those.
On the other hand, there are his other virtues. One of them is Duty.
Duty is the compulsion we feel to do what we feel is right. Compassion, Temperance and Courage are virtues, but Duty is our desire to be virtuous. Aristotle argued that every human being feels this compulsion, but weakness leads us away from proper action.
Loyalty is something else. Not Aristotle, but the virtue I learned reading the Arthurian romances. The difficult path–the sword bridge–between duty and love. Selflessness and desire. All the romances–all of them–break down to this basic conflict. Loyalty to your liege or the love of your heart.
That particular conflict still fascinates me. I don’t think I’ll ever get bored exploring it.
___
Now. Harlan.
I met him. Briefly. The Museum of TV & Radio in LA. He was there as part of a “Speculative Fiction on TV” talk along with a bunch of other people. Afterward, he was signing books. I bumbled the whole thing. I wanted to say something important. Bumbled.
Harlan is a brilliant, troubled man. Medicated now, he’s better. I understand that kind of pain. Compassion. His writing pushes me to be better. And his refusal to compromise on what he believes is right.
It’s interesting to hear people talk about who he hates. Ask the right people, he hates whites, blacks, women, Jews, whatever. When I ask those people, “Have you read what he actually wrote?” they usually lie and tell me they have. A few quick questions and I know they haven’t.
He’s funny. He’s scary. More than that, I think he cares too much. So much, it hurts him. And it hurts the people around him. I know how that feels, too.
HEROES FINALE (This Will Not Win Me Any Fans…)
Sometimes, the ideas talk back.
Last night, I watched the season finale of Heroes. At the end, I felt sad. Let me tell you why.
Writers are supposed to be true to their characters. Supposed to be true. Sometimes, the ideas talk back. We send out signals to “ideaspace,” to “imagination,” to the place where characters and stories come from. And sometimes, the ideas talk back. They send us signals.
Robert E. Howard did not create Conan. He summoned the Cimmerian. Felt the Barbarian was over his shoulder, watching. Listening. Alan Moore talks about the time he met John Constantine in a pub. The bastard smiled, winked at him. Don’t ask me about Kachiko.
We send out the signal. Sometimes, the ideas talk back.
Ideas are just as real as we are. Made from the same stuff. (Lord Strange talked about this months ago.) We are all made from the same stuff. Even our ideas. Even our characters. Huck Finn and Sherlock Holmes. Hannibal Lecter. Jesus, Buddha, and Aslan.
All just as “real” as you and me.
So when I watch the season finale last night, this is what I saw…
They’re all supposed to confront Syler. The scene is there and everybody’s there. The Psychic Cop, the Cheerleader, Tylera Durden, Mary Sue Hiro, the Absorbing Man. They’re all there. I think to myself, “Aha. Here’s how it works.”
The Psychic Cop gets shot with his own bullets. Okay, he’s gonna read Syler’s mind and tell everyone else what Syler is going to do before he can do it. He’ll shout it out, bleeding to death, using his last minutes on Earth to save that same Earth.
The Cheerleader takes the punches. She can do that. She uses the Psychic Cop’s shouts to cut off Syler’s every move.
Tylerna Durden kicks the crap out of him.
All the while, the Absobing Man is using all the powers he’s absorbed to knock around Syler.
It’s almost not enough. Syler keeps getting moments of advantage and takes advantage. Because that’s what he does. He sees how things work. And then, finally, Mary Sue Hiro gets him in the gut. And he has the opportunity to kill Syler…
… but he doesn’t. Because that’s not what heroes do. “I’m a hero, not a killer. That’s not what heroes do.”
“No,” says Cheerleader’s dad. “That’s what I do.” And then, he kills Syler.
That’s the ending I saw. That’s not the ending we got.
Instead, the Psychic Cop gets taken out of the fight at the very beginning. If that’s your favorite character, fuck you. Your favorite character’s lame.
Then, Tylerna Durden smacks Syler around for a little while, but he takes care of her quick. She’s out. Too bad, chumps.
Then, here comes Hiro. He’s gonna save the day. He guts Syler. Great! The Mary Sue character wins. Syler is on the ground, bleeding to death. And what happens next?
For no reason at all, the Absorbing Man is gonna explode. The Cheerleader has the gun. “Holy shit!” I think. They’re gonna do it. They’re gonna put her in the position of having to choose. Who is she? Hero or villain?
Oh, wait. She doesn’t have to choose. Because big brother flies up and takes that choice right out of her hands. And he flies away with little brother.
Say… wait a sec. Can’t the Absorbing Man fly himself? Can’t he just absorb his brother’s power–even if he hasn’t already–and fly away himself?
Lame. Lame, lame, lame.
And then, to top it all off, Syler’s really not dead.
Suck it, Hiro. Suck the big fat cock of you weren’t even smart enough to kill Syler when you had the chance.
Nor was anyone else. Not Psychic Cop, not Cheerleader’s Dad, not Cheerleader, not Tylerna Durden, not nobody. NOBODY bothered to check and see if Syler was really dead.
The heroes of Heroes were cheated out of a smart ending. Cheated with lazy writing.
No, sir. I did not like it.