Robert Duvall Passed Away

I remember Robert Duvall from these movies:

To Kill a Mockingbird

True Grit

THX 1138

The Godfather Parts I & II

Apocalypse Now

The Great Santini

The Natural

Falling Down

Deep Impact

I think it was Gene Hackman who said when he and Dustin Hoffman were trying to break into Hollywood, they were roommates in an apartment. Robert Duvall also lived with them, but he slept on the floor. Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman would discuss endlessly their dreams of making it big. I don’t know if Robert Duvall ever discussed that phase of his life.

John Mathew Smith & www.celebrity-photos.com

Book Haul

 

Okay, it’s two books and a magazine. Give me a break.

Movie Review: Mercy

Detective Chris Raven (Chris Pratt) wakes up in a metal chair. In fact, his wrists are locked in to the chair arms. In front of him is a huge flatscreen showing a close-up of a woman’s face (Rebecca Ferguson). She turns out to be an AI.

The AI informs Chris he is on trial, but he already knows what this is. In Los Angeles, the crime and homeless problems have become so bad, the traditional courts were overwhelmed. A new system was put in place: Sophisticated AI judges preside over criminal cases now. A case only lasts 90 minutes, which has cleared the caseload. Oh, and the accused is presumed guilty and has to prove his innocence. The chair nicely doubles as the execution spot.

Chris is accused of the murder of his wife Nicole (Annabelle Wallis). Chris is shocked. He didn’t know she was dead. The courtroom has multiple screens that zoom in, zoom out, and project in 3-D. Footage shows him pulling into work, but abruptly pulling out. He goes to his house, where Nicole forbids him to come in, saying it’s not his house anymore. He goes in. After some minutes, he comes out.

Nicole was stabbed to death. Her blood was found on Chris’ clothing. No one else went in an out during that time period, since their daughter was away. Chris doesn’t remember what happened.

As the case unfolds, it turns out Chris is a lapsed alcoholic. Videos show him in violent bouts of rage. Chris is crushed. He starts to wonder if he did kill Nicole.

But he makes requests for other video footage, as is his right. The AI judge snoops into files in a way we would currently find intrusive—especially with so many cameras around. Think your doorbell cameras are your business? Think again. It turns out Nicole was seeing another man. Chris contacts his partner, Jaq (Kali Reis), as is his right. Jaq takes off on her mini-helicopter, which is slightly larger than a motorcycle. Will this new development help Chris?

I was intrigued by this movie because of the sharp divide in reviews. A very popular site showed the professional reviewers gave a positive rating of only somewhat over 20%. But average viewers gave it over 80%. It’s true that every audience is a selective audience, so it can have its own bias. And yet, this is a science fiction mystery and detective movie starring Chris Pratt. Not a bad bias.

Mercy was an enjoyable thrill ride. The story unfolds in real time, so we watch as Chris desperately tries to figure out what is going on in 90 minutes. It’s interesting to watch Chris Pratt struggle in the chair he’s locked into at each plot twist, looking like his blood pressure is jetting up. And speaking of jetting, the mini-helicopter looks completely real when taking off, flying, and going into a hard landing. Chris sees all this on the multiple screens in the courtroom, while other developments play on others.

Rebecca Ferguson is fascinating at the AI Judge. Her beautiful face says outrageous things to Chris about the judicial process without changing expression. But she suddenly shows emotion at various developments, which is disorienting, as it’s obviously meant to be.

Does the investigation get breakthroughs a little too fast at times? Yes. But they are good at doing some information overload to cover that.

So I’ll side with the rest of the audience in saying Mercy is an enjoyable but disquieting view of a future with Ais given too much of a role in society. As a caution, Chris Pratt’s first few sentences are filled with vulgarities as he tries to figure out what is going on. Thankfully, the rest of the movie doesn’t sound like that.

Book Purge

I sold several paperbacks and hardbacks to a used bookstore. In return, I received a pittance. It wasn’t enough to pay for lunch.

Sorry, George, but I just wasn’t going to read it.

Reindeer

I just missed the twelve days of Christmas.

Charlie Brown: The Hero’s Journey

If you love “A Charlie Brown Christmas” as an ideal children’s story, you might not want to read this. Analyzing something beloved can take the magic out of it. If you’re afraid of that, you shouldn’t even look at this. Don’t peek.

***

SITUATION NORMAL: The Peanuts kids, in this case ice skating. Some children’s stories have children interacting with adults or magical creatures, but this will only have children.

CHARACTER IN A SITUATION WITH A PROBLEM: The situation was described above, with the overall context of Christmas. Our protagonist is CHARLIE BROWN. He feels depressed, but the deeper problem is he does not know the meaning of Christmas.

SIDEKICK: Linus, his friend who carries a security blanket, listens carefully to Charlie Brown. He will turn out to be the sidekick.

ANTAGONIST/EARLY CONFLICT: Snoopy, the antagonist, snaps Charlie Brown from ice skating into a tree. Note the importance of trees in this story.

MENTOR: Lucy plays a number of roles, but here as an amateur psychiatrist, she is the mentor. She tells Charlie Brown that his recognizing he has a problem is important.

HERALD/DENIAL OF CALL: Lucy is now outside her psychiatrist booth. She tells Charlie Brown he should be the director of the Christmas play. He is not sure.

DARKNESS PRESENTS ITSELF: Charlie Brown observes Snoopy decking out his doghouse with a multitude of decorations. Snoopy hands him a flier that announces the true meaning of Christmas is in decorations, and a contest will have “money, money, money” as the prize.

ACCEPTANCE OF CALL: Charlie Brown tells his little sister Sally that he will direct the Christmas play.

ALLY BECOMES ADVERSARY: Sally tells Charlie Brown she wants a multitude of gifts. As an alternative, she would accept a lot of money. Charlie Brown runs away in frustration.

FIRST INCITING INCIDENT: Charlie Brown arrives as the director.

THRESHOLD GUARDIAN: Snoopy howls disapprovingly at Charlie Brown.

FIRST TRY/FAIL: Charlie Brown tries to direct the play, but the children only want to do their own dances to music.

TRUE FACE OF DARKNESS: Lucy, as an antagonist, reveals to Charlie Brown that Christmas is a “big commercial racket. It’s run by a big eastern syndicate.”

MIDPOINT/SECOND INCITING EVENT: Charlie Brown decides to get a Christmas tree to establish the right mood. He sets out with his sidekick, Linus.

SECOND TRY/FAIL: Charlie Brown and Linus continue on their quest. Linus points out the numinous: searchlights in the distance. They enter the land of the fantastic: shiny aluminum Christmas trees. Charlie Brown sees a little wooden Christmas tree. He thinks it needs him, and out of compassion, chooses it.

Charlie Brown and Linus return with the little tree. The other children react with anger. Then they laugh at him.

REVELATION: Defeated, Charlie Brown cries out, asking if anyone knows what Christmas is all about.

Linus goes on stage, and in a soliloquy, tells the actual Christmas story. (This is Luke 2:8-14.)

Charlie Brown walks out with his little tree, happy.

REMINDER OF DARKNESS/THIRD INCITING INCIDENT: Charlie Brown sees Snoopy’s doghouse, which is extraordinarily decorated. He sees that Snoopy won first prize. 

THIRD TRY/FAIL/DEATH: Charlie Brown takes an ornament from the doghouse and puts it on top of the little tree. The top of the tree keels over to the ground. Charlie Brown says, “I’ve killed it.” More depressed than ever, he walks off.

CLIMAX:

Sacrifice; Linus, the sidekick, sacrifices his security blanket to revive the little tree.

The children despoil Snoopy’s doghouse and decorate the tree with it, turning it into a glorious tree.

Adversary reverts to ally: Charlie Brown’s sister Sally participates.

Antagonist become ally: Snoopy allows his decorations to be transferred.

Charlie Brown returns, and is astonished to see his little tree is now glorious.

The children cry out, “Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!”

RESOLUTION: The children sing “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” verse 1.

***

In writing this, I was not trying to make people mad by referring to Snoopy or Sally as adversaries. I am convinced that the staying power of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is based on Charlie Brown going through a mini-hero’s journey. It is not just a series of cute scenes, like a couple of the lesser efforts of Peanuts’ specials.

So if you feel an irresistible desire to watch “A Charlie Brown Christmas” every year, there is a deep reason for it.

Movie Review: Back to the Future

Back to the Future was recently screened in theaters for its fortieth anniversary. Suffice it to say, I never saw it in a theater until now. As for the plot: Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox), a cool high schooler, goes back in time from 1985 to 1955. Hilarity ensues. I can’t think of any way to summarize the plot without giving away too much. If you see it, remember to say “Calvin Klein” at a certain point.

So just to give a few “meta” comments: Through a stroke of genius, they used a Delorean as the time travel machine. It’s probably the most well-recognized time machine, at least in America (no offense to Doctor Who). When many people see a Delorean, they think of the movie.

It’s hard to describe how this movie affected the zeitgeist of the time. Grown men in offices would imitate Marty’s skateboard moves (with their feet on the floor). Women would talk endlessly about how cute Michael J. Fox was in the role. People in business meetings would talk about scenes in the movie not just before the meetings, but during them. 

Also, Erica is played by Lea Thompson, who previously was the quiet girl Erica in Red Dawn. 

As a minor note, the phrase “Great Scott” had pretty much died out, but Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) used it a number of times, which briefly brought it back into use. For some reason, I didn’t like Doc Brown at all the first time I saw it on TV, but I liked him really well while watching it in a theater.

Back to the Future had a massive influence on the culture of the 80s. No other movie was as influential until The Matrix came along in 1999. If you’re not old enough to remember Back to the Future when it came out, just think of the impact of The Matrix.

image by LSDSL

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Hard Words

I am having the worst time with my science fiction manuscript in the terminology and names.

I first called their version of the internet the ethergrid, figuring no one would combine an ethereal term with an abrupt term for something physical. But some years ago a company called their new product the ethergrid. I had to put in a lot of thought on what new word I would use. I finally settled on a word in common use, but which no sane person would use for their product. The common theme here is finding a term that is not copyright or trademarked.

I came up with a fruit called chuppa. But I didn't do my homework before using that in my story. So it turns out there is a fruit called chupa in the Amazon rainforest that looks nothing like the chuppa I describe. Also, it can be a vulgar slang term. So, after a little research, I changed it to a word that some people already use as a harmless slang term.

The name of the planet in my story was Vallannadren, and the inhabitants called Vallannans. But a gamer invented a fantasy land called Vallanna. I could not believe it. A friend suggested I use a name in his family that begins with a V. I was tempted, but decided not to. One might wonder what Finnish people named Härkönen think of the Dune book and movies. So I simply made up a name I can’t find on the internet.

Two hapless ensigns will be sent down to the planet. To humiliate them, their shuttle gets renamed "Space Cadets," and they have to use that as their call sign. But people pretty much agree that Robert Heinlein invented that term.

Now I have to invent some other demeaning term that has not already been taken. Believe it or not, Space Kittens, Space Puppies, Space Pigs, Space Beavers, and Space Unicorns have all been used. (I wouldn’t use Space Unicorns anyway, since they couldn’t handle the controls with their hooves.)

So be careful when creating terms for your invented worlds. All I can say is the internet is your friend for finding out if a word is taken.

PNWA Conference 2025

I attended this year’s Pacific Northwest Writers Association conference, organized by hard-working volunteers to help aspiring writers. Instead of a typical picture of the hotel, here is the pool I had no intention of taking the time to use.

Before the serious stuff, here is the omelet I ordered. It had cheese, mushrooms, bacon and pineapple. Yes, that’s right. The waitress laughed at my asking for pineapple.

The main conference room. Right now, tables are designated to discuss mystery, fantasy, science fiction, romance, etc.

These three writers have all had books turned into movie or TV scripts. (Sorry, I no longer have access to the conference guide, so I don’t have their names.) Once the contract is signed and the writer is paid, the writer no longer has any control of the story. The woman on the left was distressed when the main character in her novel was killed in the movie version.

The main events for many writers were the pitch sessions. Editors and agents sit along one side of a series of long tables. Writers stand in line for the desired professional. At the sound of a bell, the person at the head of a line has four minutes to walk forward, sit down, and pitch a manuscript. The usual advice is to summarize one’s novel in thirty seconds. I took forty-five, since I had to describe the science fictional setting. The rest of the time is spent answering questions from the professional.

This is half of the long conference room

I had an advantage, in that I could say that two developmental editors had looked over my manuscript. This showed I was serious about becoming a writer (it cost over three thousand dollars), and that I was willing to make changes (I deleted three scenes).

Here are the two agents I pitched to, Katie Reed and Lydia Caudill.

I was almost blinking

One of them requested I send pages to her. Which one? That would be telling.

I recommend going to conferences where one can pitch. It can be nerve-wracking, but since I had done this before, it wasn’t bad at all.