Here's hoping all my friends and readers have a merry Christmas.

And you other people too.

Current Mood: happy

Stacy and I went to check out the early afternoon Imax 3D screening of Avatar today. I went into it unsure whether or not it would hold up to the hype.

Avatar is absolutely worth checking out in theatres. It's a visually stunning film that breezes past the "Uncanny Valley" effect in a way that I'm still trying to process. The world is fully realized and jaw dropping, the characters are substantial and never feel detached from their surroundings and the detail holds up to 6 story high Imax scrutiny with ease. It's absolutely clear that although this movie broke the bank in terms of budget, it's all up there on the screen. It's world building, through and through. The directing is brilliant, utilizing the 3D effect as a way to bring us fully into a place instead of firing out lots of spatial depth "gotcha's" as a gimmick. The visuals are encompassing and detailed without ever getting cluttered or unfocused.

The story, on the other hand, is so bland and straight forward as to be almost unmentionable. It's a Frankenstein monster stitched together from every "White Guy Becomes One With the Natives, but Teaches Them a Bunch of Shit Too" and "Nature Spirit Knows Best" story you've ever seen before. There are absolutely no story surprises and every single character fits into their rigidly defined archetype without fail. Stacy and I agree that given the budget involved every single compromise likely came from the story department, making the film obvious as a way to ensure the widest appeal across as broad demographic as possible. It's unfortunate that so much money went into its look without engaging a similar complexity in its story and characters.

I kept wanting to dislike Avatar when the dialogue came out in cliche gobs without any subtlety at all, but the richness of the world and the intensity of its vision kept me interested and engaged even when I didn't really feel like I should be. I'm a huge story prick and the eye popping visuals and texture of it carried me past 1 dimensional characterization that would normally be a game breaker for me.

Avatar is a technical milestone. You should go see it. Absolutely realistic fully formed digital characters are now a reality.

Back when Lisa was a Park Service Ranger she had an archeologist friend who got bit by a rattlesnake while hiking at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. He was hiking alone in the days before cell phones, off-duty so he didn’t have a radio to call in anyone with higher medical skillz. He ran the three miles back to his car. He had a six-pack of beer in his car, so he drank it in order to dilute his blood to slow down the poison. Then he drove to the hospital in Page. Where he was treated for alcohol intoxication. Because, of course, the rattlesnake hadn’t injected its venom. The running-and-drinking cure would have become the running-and-drinking-and-dying experience if the snake had chosen to add venom to the bite. It was appropriate that this was the friend who introduced Lisa to the works of Hunter S. Thompson.

Tags: ecdote, nature

SUICIDE KINGS is out in hardcover (see below) and BUSTED FLUSH has been released in mass market. Meanwhile, I've delivered the additional content -- three new stories -- for the first volume of this storied series, WILD CARDS itself, which Tor will be reissuing later in the year. Since the first volume was historical in nature, telling the story of the wild card from 1946 to 1985, adding some original material to cover some of the "lost years" seemed like a natural.

The three new tales:
-- "Captain Cathode and the Secret Ace," by Michael Cassutt,
-- "Powers," by David D. Levine,
-- "Ghost Girl Takes Manhattan," by Carrie Vaughn.

No publication date yet. You'll know when I do.

As for FORT FREAK, the twenty-first volume in the series that WILD CARDS began, first drafts are all in, I've given the usual editorial note, and the writers are all off revising. This one looks to be a lot of fun. The Class of 2009 is doing some great work, and the old-timers ain't half bad either.

On other fronts, Gardner Dozois and I are very close to delivering our original cross-genre anthology STAR-CROSSED LOVERS, to Pocket Books. We're waiting for some minor revisions from one writer. Once those are in hand, the book will be delivered. Only it's not STAR-CROSSED LOVERS any longer. Pocket's sales force did not like that title, so the anthology has now been rechristened SONGS OF LOVE AND DEATH. Got a great line up of writers for that one, including Diana Gabaldon, Jim Butcher, M.L.N. Hanover, Peter S. Beagle, Marjorie Liu, Jacqueline Carey, Carrie Vaughn, Robin Hobb, Neil Gaiman, and many more.

Everybody's talking about AVATAR, which I haven't seen yet... but I have been going to movies. While the crowds queue up for Cameron, I've been catching up on some of the other films now in release. I enjoyed THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG, and liked INVICTUS as well, but the one that really impressed me was ME AND ORSON WELLES. The guy who plays Welles should get an Oscar nomination for that performance.

As usual, I am way behind on my Xmas shopping.

Where does the time go?

Current Mood: busy

Today was the official publication day for the latest Wild Cards book, SUICIDE KINGS.

Run, don't walk, to your favorite bookstore and getcha copy now. And hell, while you're there, get copies for all your friends as well. All you Xmas shopping in one swell foop.

Tags: wild cards
Current Mood: chipper

Well, that was fun. If only every game was like this...

(Maybe it is, if you're a Colts fan).

These were the Giants I remember. The swarming aggressive D, the sacks, the knockdowns, the hurries, the interceptions, runners tackled at the line of scrimmage. And on offense, long time-consuming drives ending in touchdowns. Eli looked terrific, spreading the ball around. Nicks, Smith, Manningham, and Boss all had big catches, and even Derek Hagan scored a touchdown. The running game was back, especially when Ahmad Bradshaw had the ball. The O line opened gaping holes, and the D line was so relentless that our wafer-thin secondary was never threatened.

Yeah, these were the real G-Men.

I have no idea who those clowns in the Redskins uniforms were.

That fake field goal the Skins tried at the end of the first half had to be one of the most bizarre plays I've ever seen. Watching Steve Young talk about it in the postgame was hilarious.

I do feel sorry for Jim Zorn, whose postgame press conference was... well, obviously, no one ever taught the guy Coachspeak. Poor guy is not long for D.C.

But it was a great win.

Now we need two more like it, coupled with a Cowboys loss.

(Or a Packers loss, maybe... but while I know the G-Men have the tiebreaker over Dallas, no one has ever mentioned who wins a tie between New York and Green Bay).

Next week, the Panthers. Who beat the Vikings yesterday. Let's hope the real G-Men show up.

Tags: nfl
Current Mood: happy

My first two industry trips of 2010 have been announced. Here they are:

- I'm a Guest Speaker and running an art workshop at Animex UK in mid February. I had an absolute blast at the Animex festival last year at Teeside and expect 2010 will be no different. Their programming is top notch.

More details on the workshop and presentation soon once the festival has everything locked down, schedule-wise.


- I'm an industry guest at the Emerald City Comicon in mid-March. Omar and I will be in Seattle premiering the new Street Fighter Legends: Ibuki comic with a con-exclusive cover. I've been wanting to attend this show for a couple years so I'm glad it's finally a reality.

More details and artwork once everything has been approved by Capcom.

I need help from the hive mind.

I want a coat for Estrella, I have the pattern and now have the fabric.  The problem is that the fabric is the wrong color.

I have a nice reasonably thick off white/cream colored lambswool to use as a warm lining - honestly it might be a bit soft, but I guess time will tell, and anyway I've bought it now :)

The lining was chosen far more based on it's weight rather than it's color - they had a red, but it was 50% more expensive.  So I was wondering about dying it.  However, I really don't know anything about dying.  Don't know what sort of dyes to use, don't know if I can just dye it in my front loader or whether I should try and use a tub of some sort etc. (I'm a but shy about using the bath, it's an old ceramic one, and pretty scratched - I'd hate to dye it too).

Any suggestions?  There's got to be someone out here who knows more about this than I do :)

Tags: sca

Life is meaningless and full of pain.

I saw this one coming. Three missed field goals will always come back and bite you in the ass.

Great D, but Mark still has a lot of maturing to do.

With the Colts and the Bengals yet to come, I think we can kiss the playoffs goodbye.

And I'm not feeling good about the Giants game tomorrow either.

Tags: nfl
Current Mood: crushed

Pat's Fantasy Hotlist is doing one of their famous contests, for two Advanced Reading Copies of SUICIDE KINGS signed by all of the contributors.

For details as to how to enter, go to

http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/2009/12/win-autographed-advance-reading-copy-of.html

Good luck to all.

Current Mood: busy