Uncovered Goods

Pushed by the fact that H&H are going to be staying with me for a few days, I delved into the archeological dig site that is my bedroom closet. Amazingly, I uncovered a box that held my long missing Dashiell Hammet collection, along with my copy of On War by Clausewitz, Mekton Zeta, and my battered copy of the Striker miniature rules that GDW developed what seems to be a lifetime ago. That was an unexpected delight – as well as a sudden space crisis. I had to reorganize some shelves to find room for it all.

Truth is that I haven't actually been in my bedroom closet since I moved in some 5 years ago now. Just stacked the boxes in there, piled on some loose clothes and boots, closed the closet doors and walked away. I decided since I hadn't put on anything in there in all that time, I could safely get rid of it. 6 garbage bags of clothes later, I had room to move some of the clothes collecting out in the actual room into the closet, where they'll likely be ignored for another 4-5 years.

The other big find was my comic long box full of Suicide Squad and Legion of Super-hero comics. It's probably time for a re-read and if can find all my issues, I'll likely do some posting about the Suicide Squad. Definitely one of, if not THE, favorite comics I've collected. The Legion gives it a close run for the money, however.

 

Damn, that’s good

Spent yesterday in Vancouver with Graham doing some shopping and picking up a couple items I wanted. Finally have a decent dining table, with chairs, after around 6 years without. For most people, getting a table would be for eating – for me, it was motivated by the desire to a have tabletop for gaming. Need somewhere to set up my Advanced Squad Leader, after all. Other shopping included grabbing up a copy of the new miniatures rule set Field of Glory, snagging a collection of some Lupin III and a stuffed plush Vash (from Trigun) doll for Holly.

Graham's good people, so the trip was without headaches or much problem. All the more surprising, given how tired both of us were.

Put together the table and chairs today and they manage to look good in the apartment. IKEA was out of the black chairs I wanted, but had the chairs in red. Since I have some red highlights in the apartment, I took a chance and grabbed the red chairs. It proved a good move – the chairs look really good and set off the table perfectly. My hands are sore, though – using the hand screwdrivers is tough, especially when some of the screw holes are just starters and you're hand driving in the screw near the end. Still, for simple and clean design and construction instruction, it's hard to beat the wordless comics that IKEA produces.

The rest of the day was spent tidying up the mess and watching Season Three of The
Wire. Three episodes in and every time Major Bunny Colvin says "what can they do to me?" I wince, because I know they're going to break that poor, wise man in ways he hasn't imagined. The show is at once subtle (they are carefully drawing the differences between Sgt. Carver and "Herc", making it clear which one gets it, and which one doesn't) and blunt (every scene with Carcetti), but maintains a balance between the two that makes it entertaining.

I'm making some adjustments this coming week, as H&H are going to temporarily stay with me for a few days while their place is painted. Not sure how well this will go, since Dada's place (my apartment) is hardly the fantasy-land that Hunter thinks.

The crackdown in Tibet is a reminder that China is not a "good guy" in the world, and that we shouldn't let our desire for cheap goods blind us to that fact. Not that we in the west have a lot of moral authority at the moment to tsk tsk the Chinese for what they're doing; it's still important to remember what oppression looks like so hopefully we can recognize it when it pops up over here in some form. I'm hopeful that the political will in Tibet will remain strong.

And we’re back…

Wish I could blame a Writer's Strike or something for the long gap in posts, but the truth is I just stopped posting. The excuse is that I was sent to Vancouver for a week on a course for work, lost internet connectivity for the duration, and fell out of the habit. The reality is more that I just never bothered to resume after I got back.

In the gap, I watched the 2^nd season of The Wire. Truly it is one of the best written dramas on television, with strong characters and interesting things to tell us about the modern human condition. Of course, the downside is that it makes it hard to watch more than a couple episodes at a time. Much like with Battlestar Galactica or Angel, I find my emotional investment in the characters makes watching a draining event.

The flip side to this would be The Shield, which I've also been watching. Another finely done drama, with strong characters; however, the emotional investment here is less and the stories are just a little more fun over all. This compares well with Dexter – both shows are great, but I am able to maintain a separation from the main characters that makes them both easier to watch.

On the book front, it's been mostly more history, as I continue to plow through WWII and Roman history. On the fiction front, I've been encouraged to try some Tim Powers, so have started Last Call – almost immediately I'm in love with how it combines at least three, maybe four of my interests: mobsters, poker, the Tarot, and The Golden Bough. I'm immediately aware of why my friends have been pushing me to read his stuff, and look forward to finishing it soon.

In the local news, there's a real rumpus being raised over plans to move our Needle Exchange from its current location to a spot just down the block from the Catholic elementary school. There's been lots of protesting parents, signs up, and ruffled feathers all around. I think my favorite quote so far would be from Vancouver Island Health Authority president Howard Waldner:

This is not the way we wanted to begin the process. I wanted full consultation once we had confirmation this building was available to us.

As some parents rightly point out, that's consultation after the fact and essentially a presentation of a fait accompli. For my part, I'm thinking "No shit this isn't the way you wanted to begin the process…" Most people like to begin the process by not getting protested.

Something that also amused me is related to the reporting around the recently released Transport Safety Board report on the sinking of the Queen of the North some two years ago now. The gist of the report is that the two people on the bridge at the time of the accident were distracted. Initial reporting suggested they were involved in an "intimate conversation" at the time, but subsequent reporting changed this to "personal conversation".

Intimate Conversation = code for 'having sex'

Personal Conversation = code for 'breaking up'

It's since become clear that the pair, who had a relationship, had broken up the day before and that their shift on the bridge was the first time they'd been paired since the break up. I'd say that was likely a fairly heated "personal conversation" they were having when the ferry ran aground.

Of course, it's also being made clear that there were other contributing factors to the accident which helps deflect the possibility of BC Ferries being the sole responsible party in the event of a lawsuit. I'm mostly convinced that was the reason for the TSB investigation in the first place – to reduce the insurance exposure of the Corporation. Just a gut feeling, that.

Anyway, it's good to be back and I hope to keep this up.

Travel

I really hate to travel. Well, I guess that's not entirely true. It's not so much the travel I hate, as all the components that go into the travel. Booking hotel rooms, flights, planning to be at point X by time Y, figuring out a new city or place – all of it leaves me feeling stressed and wound up tight. Of course, once I get all wound up like that, I end up having to fight my innate 'flee' response, which leads to me becoming depressed and moody.

Once the initial part of a trip is over and I know things are going to work out, I can relax a bit more, but until that point I'm generally tired and listless. Why I'm like this, I don't really know. As a child, we travelled quite a bit – Hawaii, New Mexico, trips to Peace River and Grand Prairie, and even a Disneyland expedition. Those all seemed to work out. I don't have any specific memories of anxiety or worry during those trips, but I sometimes wonder if I picked up some kind of vibe off my mother and father that affects me now that I'm on my own and doing all this.

My main coping mechanism is to offload and delegate as much of the planning to others, hoping that in doing so I will reduce the mistakes and ensure success. I feel terrible doing it, because I am an adult and shouldn't have to rely on Mom-surrogates to accomplish something like a week in Vancouver – but there it is.

Up too Late

Richard Dansky, ex-editor of mine and a friend, has his first real novel out and published. It is Firefly Rain, and is getting good reviews. I'm waiting for my copy to arrive from Amazon right now. Hopefully you are, too.

Meanwhile, James Maliszewski continues to disassemble the pieces of the original Dungeons & Dragons to see what made it work. He's looked at the thief, cleric and the magic-user, and now he's prodding at demi-human level limits. Not too much there for me to disagree with, and in fact, much of what he says resembles my own thoughts.

I'd like to briefly discuss the magic-user in D&D, though. I mentioned in a comment on James' post that the MU (as we used to call them) was basically an artillery piece, transported over from the miniature wargame part of D&D's heritage. I'd like to expand on this a bit, before I pass out to sleep.

The traditions of magic in literature prior to the arrival of D&D were that magic was hard to use, difficult to control, and when used by the Good Guys, often subtle rather than overt. I think if D&D were being designed today, we'd see a wizard class that would conform to that image. Minor spells that could be cast-at-will would be the norm, with more powerful magics either being the result of rituals, or, if damaging, being dangerous to the caster.

The original D&D, however, was not truly designed with the literature in mind. Over on the table-top battlefield, the wizard provided a fantasy army with an artillery options akin to a trebuchet, catapult or ballista. The mighty figure wielded powerful spells that could put a unit to sleep, blast it with fire, rain missiles down upon it or shock it with lightning. While the description was magical, the mechanical effects were similar to lobbing rocks or firing small, sharpened logs into people. When D&D turned to adventure, the wizard came along and brought with him his powerful artillery spells.

In the tight constraints of the dungeon, I'm sure that the constraints on the powers of the wizard were shaped by the fact that his battlefield spells were designed to take on units, not single monsters. Spell levels were introduced as a means to balance the wizard against the hero. New spells were added, I have no doubt, as the people playing encountered new situations and would ask "what if there was a spell to deal with this?" The wizard became a utility knife character, with very big cannon.

What's interesting to me is how much the D&D wizard has influenced literary magic. Wizardry in typical fantasy is now fuller of the blasts and zorts you'd expect from the dungeon crawl, than the subtle displays of yore.

A closing thought hits me, though – in the 4e talk, they've discussed wizards as "controllers", using area effect spells or terrain modifying spells to shape the battlefield. It's an interesting definition and very tied to the clear tactical focus of the new edition. It also is a very clear break from the old utility knife wizard of the previous editions. One wonders if wizards will retain the ability to cast spells that duplicate the class abilities of others (knock being an obvious example).

On Purple and Green

As promised, a short discussion of the color coding of super-villains in old Marvel and DC comics.

In the 60s and 70s, both Marvel and DC used costume colors as a kind of shorthand for indicating a character's status. The main colors used for this activity were purple and green; often in combination, sometimes alone. The two companies made a distinct split, however, in how they presented the characters in these colors. We'll look at DC first, and then move on to Marvel's handling of the sumptuary of its villains.

Over in DC, the combination of the color purple and green was a clear indicator of villainous status. The two obvious poster-boys for this are Lex Luthor and The Joker. Lex Luthor spent much of the 70s running around in green pants, boots and a purple top with a flared collar over a green undershirt. The Joker was rarely seen without his purple suit, and of course has green hair. Brainiac, at least in his pre-floating skull days, was also clad in purple over his green skin (a color scheme maintained in his reboot appearances). Over in DC, when a character appeared with purple and green in his or her costume, you were pretty safe assuming it was a villain.

Meanwhile, Marvel uses the purple and green colors as indicators of reformed or redeemable villains: Quicksilver first appeared clad in green, Hawkeye in purple, the Prowler in green and purple, Wonderman in green. All of these character later turned into heroic characters, though some more so than others (I'm looking at you, Quicksilver). In general, when reading an old Marvel comic, if a character debuted with a green, purple, or green and purple costume, at some point you could expect them to turn out to be not so bad after all. In the case of someone like the Green Goblin, they might be bad but not entirely aware of their badness, or the best friend of the main character. In other cases, like the Beetle, it might take decades before someone would reform them and turn them into Mach V.

Of course, these weren't universally true – The Vulture and The Scorpion debuted in green, and they were pretty irredeemable. Over on the DC side, the Green Arrow and Green Lantern (well, until the Parallax thing) were heroic despite their color choices. Still, as a fair bet, you can't go too far wrong watching the color coding of the characters. Heck, when Gambit appeared, he had purple under that oh-so-cool trench-coat. You knew he had to be more evil than he was letting on…

Monday Monday

I haven't been able to shake off my cold yet, and I'm back to losing at Scrabble; in other words, another week that's the same as the last week.

Over on (postmodernbarney), Dorian had an interesting question derived from two message board quotes:

True writing talent comes from inspirational ideas, vision and creativity. The boring technical stuff can be done by others.

And

The characters are not there to serve your super-special plot. Rather, your plot should serve the characters. This a fundamental rule of writing in someone else's universe. *I* obey it and I don't even get paid, you fuckwads.

Dorian's question, likely rhetorical, was how telling these comments were about fandom in general.

I've heard the first sentiment expressed a lot, about how writing is just about putting words down on the page. It's the ideas that are hard, they say. After all, everyone always seems to ask (well, at the SF conventions I'd go to, anyway) "Where do you get your ideas?" like it's some magical process. Over the years of reading various how-to books on writing, talking with authors, hanging out with some and attempting to become one myself, I've learned that the ideas are actually the easy part. The hard part is taking that idea and expressing it in a way that others will find interesting. One of the reasons for my attempting this blog this year is to gain practice in just that.

Thus, I find that the first statement denigrates the writing process, and doesn't recognize that even a bad story (like, oh, One More Day) still takes craft, discipline and skill to put together.

The second statement is more subtle in its wrong-headedness. Assuming it's written by someone referencing super-hero comic books, it seems to ignore that the comic book characters are corporate properties. It also ignore that comic books have almost always given no more than a passing nod to characterization, letting the needs of plot drive events. The insult at the end is, however, unsubtle in its contempt for the people who are trying to put out this entertainment.

Fandom, or at least, the vocal contingent of fandom online, has grown to believe itself to be privileged to act as the gatekeeper of taste and quality. This sense of entitlement has definitely led some people to hold unreasonable expectations of the object of their fanaticism. I suspect there have always been people like this, since I can remember some of the old letter pages having the occasional missive with hints of that "how dare you do something I don't approve of" tone to them. The more extreme letters, I hope, were filtered out by the editors. Online now, there are no editors – so people like me can vent and rant and complain all we want.

I have been trying hard, though, to step back from my emotional responses and recognize that it's not my Avengers or Legion of Superheroes or Batman or Iron Man who's being "ruined". Rather, it's just a story I don't enjoy. My not enjoying it doesn't make it a bad story, or a story without merit. Nor does it mean that anyone who does like that story is instantly an idiot or loser. Other people's enjoyment of these things should not threaten or undermine my own sense of worth and self, after all. I can express why I don't like what Marvel has done to Spider-man, but I shouldn't berate, insult or call you an idiot if you disagree.

… anyway, tomorrow, I think I'll rant a little bit about color coding villains in old DC and Marvel comics.