tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4407645935808487942024-03-17T22:02:09.353-05:00Scott D. Parker: WriterOne Gen X writer examining life, liberty, and the pursuit of pop cultureScott D. Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293540073601809197noreply@blogger.comBlogger1339125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440764593580848794.post-75774807651907847282023-05-28T08:49:00.001-05:002023-05-28T08:49:16.980-05:00I Still Write Blogs…<p> …but at two other sites.</p><p><a href="http://dosomedamage.com/">Do Some Damage</a> - Every Saturday, I contribute to this group blog.</p><p><a href="http://scottdennisparker.com/">Scott Dennis Parker</a> - My official author website. </p><p><br /></p><p>Join the conversation and share your thoughts.</p>Scott D. Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293540073601809197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440764593580848794.post-37839909034194212422023-03-13T07:00:00.003-05:002023-03-13T07:00:00.163-05:00Pushing the Old Guys Aside: HBO's Perry Mason Season 1 <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbrgqFWT9LUJwunUyuTWm244zPnrvaUX7kJ8t51fQxx_A5qCSj8KgiisVXoZComUt-FUyMjyeD_cQ-m0mPuPm8xAHoYjMUR9J8rPmQ6l476_wKOSOtROZxtY-iEh0pFvND3ExFX5ZPn9nubWICXVjQKC7kIBSFspm8ocxqPCkILM9lT3Hx1lB1HNDi/s383/Perry_mason.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="259" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbrgqFWT9LUJwunUyuTWm244zPnrvaUX7kJ8t51fQxx_A5qCSj8KgiisVXoZComUt-FUyMjyeD_cQ-m0mPuPm8xAHoYjMUR9J8rPmQ6l476_wKOSOtROZxtY-iEh0pFvND3ExFX5ZPn9nubWICXVjQKC7kIBSFspm8ocxqPCkILM9lT3Hx1lB1HNDi/w135-h200/Perry_mason.jpg" width="135" /></a></div>I finally finished Season 1 of the updated and re-imagined Perry Mason TV series on HBO Ma. Yeah, I know: I’m two years behind. There’s just too much good content to watch and not enough time.<br /><br />Here’s a funny thing: when I pulled it up on HBO Max late last week, my time stamp was halfway through episode three. I asked my wife if she’d be up for watching. She was and, without going back to re-watch the opening two installments, we forged ahead.<br /><br />The cheeky summation I’ve heard about this show is that it is not your grandfather’s Perry Mason. That’s certainly true, both in the language and the personal relationships. The moment where Della Street, assistant to E.B. Jonathan (Jonathan Lithgow), the nearly-too-old-for-this lawyer defending Emily Dodson, climbs into bed with her girlfriend, my wife asked about it. Cue said cheeky comment.<br /><br />I enjoy the old TV show quite a bit, but I’m nowhere near an expert. It’s just good comfort television. As for the books, I’ve only read the first one. What’s fascinating about the first book and the 2020 series is how much alike they are. If the only Perry Mason you know is Raymond Burr, well, he’s not like Matthew Rhys but Burr is also not exactly like the character <a href="http://scottdparker.blogspot.com/2008/09/forgotten-books-case-of-velvet-claws-by.html">we first see in 1933</a>. Rhys and 1933 Mason are scrappers, not afraid to poke a hornet’s nest and see what happens. It’s rather remarkable how well that type of character fit both in the Depression as well as ninety years later. <br /><br />This being an origin story, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing how far down Mason was when this series began. Employed by E.B., Mason drinks way too much, is estranged from his wife and son, and constantly is threatened to have his family’s house taken away from him. <br /><br />But the core quality of Perry Mason is his drive for justice. He can’t let things go when he knows there is something just under the surface. To quote Mason’s own self description when asked what he does, “He snapped out two words at her. “I fight!””<br /><br />Rhys fights, both with his fists as well as his brain. The problem is that he often goes a few steps too far and says things to people like Della or his investigator, Pete Strickland, who are trying to help. I appreciated seeing Rhys try and smooth over Mason’s rough edges by the end of the season and never quite finishing the job.<br /><br />It’s also fascinating to see how they inject 21st Century themes into a show set in the Depression. It’s obvious that same sex relationships and racial prejudices existed in the 1930s (and the 1950s era of the TV show) but it’s good to see it out in the open. Paul Drake, Mason’s main investigator by the end of the 2020 series, is now portrayed by Chris Chalk, an African-American. That itself brings up a lot of possibilities of narratives and themes. But I liked that Drake, a beat cop when we first meet him, has an inner integrity that is stronger that any position or job. Ditto for Della. The old TV show always showed her as all but an equal partner, but she always remained a secretary. The 2020 Della is an assistant, but she’s already enrolled in school and plans on becoming a lawyer. “A woman lawyer,” Mason says at the end. “A lawyer,” Della replied. “No modifier.” <br /><br />Author Erle Stanley Gardner’s books are famous for their intricate nature. This 2020 season lives up to that bar. I did not see the ending coming and I really liked how the trial was resolved.<br /><br />Oh, a quick shout out: Stephen Root, known for his comedy chops, plays the smarmy, publicity-hungry DA is all of his greasy glory. It made me want to see how many other non-comedy roles the actor has done. Loved him as I did Lithgow. <br /><br />I suppose, with any origin story, you have to have older characters in places of authority that the younger characters seek to overcome. It’s pretty much the same in Season 1. So, in a very literal sense, the young Perry Mason beat a couple of old guys. You know, so it really isn’t your grandfather’s Perry Mason. <br /><p></p>Scott D. Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293540073601809197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440764593580848794.post-10587442171136800122023-02-20T07:00:00.002-06:002023-02-20T07:00:00.166-06:00Springsteen, Showing Your Age, and Knowing Your Truth<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixnYG_-LM05sUGQS9Mn46RXPMsvdbT7f8SsGHAT4GpRCQgZvS_IfLBRyKs7nI39gh9QJRE-vV8ZTSg7EtxsyKqz1OLDHkFjK157r_IckAbUqPz1yJUKz_YQOpqeHCvmq_-e4UbaG8El_bwHO1VqNE-IgjM9SAqDFPNPIBXIO7fGT_MoHsIgLbNLU3_/s2016/Springsteen%20in%202023.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixnYG_-LM05sUGQS9Mn46RXPMsvdbT7f8SsGHAT4GpRCQgZvS_IfLBRyKs7nI39gh9QJRE-vV8ZTSg7EtxsyKqz1OLDHkFjK157r_IckAbUqPz1yJUKz_YQOpqeHCvmq_-e4UbaG8El_bwHO1VqNE-IgjM9SAqDFPNPIBXIO7fGT_MoHsIgLbNLU3_/s320/Springsteen%20in%202023.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>“I’m getting a certain vibe here,” my twenty-one-year-old son said as I drove my car on the streets leading to Houston’s Toyota Center. With less than thirty minutes before showtime, the traffic crawled and the sidewalks were jammed with people heading to the arena to see the 2023 version of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.<br /><br />Yes, there was a vibe. Lots of middle-aged people, many with all-gray hair and loose, baggy clothes worn to hide bodies no longer as thin as fit as they were when The Boss ruled the airwaves in the Seventies and Eighties. Some wore concert t-shirts from ages past while others sported more modern Springsteen attire. A decent number of the concert goers were like me: attending the show with a younger person, hoping to introduce what it was like to see Springsteen the Showman fill an arena with sound and lead the fans in singing his songs. I chuckled as my son and I made our way to our seats. So many people my age and older crowded the hallways. Not like when he and I saw the band Ghost in early 2022. Then, I was in the age minority. <br /><br />But there was a moment before the lights dimmed and the music started when I looked around at the people who sat near us and lots of the people we had seen coming into Toyota Center: they were old, or at least they looked old. But if they were old, that meant I was old, too. Right? I’m not one who takes my age into account on any given day. Looking out of my eyes, I’m like a perpetual twentysomething person. Looking in the mirror, I see the truth. Looking at all these older Springsteen fans, I see their truths.<br /><br />And when Bruce himself got on stage and started the evening with “Night,” his face was broadcast on four screens hung over the stage. We had decent seats, but it was nice to have the professional camera folks giving us close ups of the Boss and the members of the E Street Band. When the camera often zoomed in on Springsteen’s face, you could see his truth as well.<br /><br />The man is seventy three. Yes, he’s aged well. I hope I look as good as he does when I’m that age. Yes he has access to medical and dietary resources that help him age gracefully, but you can still see the age on his face, his eyelids, and the wrinkles around his face. You can tell that he’s not as animated as he used to be when he ran across stages, sliding on his knees, and leaping into the crowds. <br /><br />But he was still thrilling, and he still put on a helluva show.<br /><br />And yet I never expected to tear up at a Springsteen show. Well, I should have expected it, but when it happened, it actually moved me.<br /><br />Every rock star I discovered in my youth, teens, and twenties have aged right along with me. Of course they have, you say. We’re all human. Yes, we are, but when you spin a record that came out in 1992 or 1982 or whenever, your mind can time travel back to that year and you can remember how you felt hearing those songs. In those moments, you can be that age again, even if you’re driving an SUV and taking your kids to band practice. <br /><br />We got that sense of time travel on Tuesday evening with Bruce. So many of those songs are all time travel songs. That’s what they’ve become. Some songs never get old. “Born to Run”, sung at full volume with the house light up, everyone punching the air with upraised arms, will never, ever get old. But twice on Tuesday, mortality and truth entered the room and reminded us that time never stops.<br /><br />In a long, spoken introduction to “Last Man Standing,” Bruce told us about he was the last person who was still alive from his first band, The Castilles. It was in this story that Bruce uttered a particularly great quote: “Death’s great gift is expanded vision.” None of us knows how many days we have, so it is necessary to make sure the lives we live are the best possible version. <br /><br />The final song was just the two of us. By that I mean it was Bruce, on stage with an acoustic guitar and a harmonica, singing to everyone but, in reality, he was singing to each and every one of us like it was just him and us in a room together. “I’ll See You In My Dreams” is a song about mortality and aging and loss. But it’s also an inspirational ode, especially with the line “For death is not the end and I’ll see you in my dreams.”<br /><br />On the record, it’s the last track and the last time he says those words, he talking, to us, individually and collectively. On stage, the same vibe could be felt throughout the arena as the crowd was mostly silent, listening to Bruce Springsteen tell us that he’ll see us—his fans, his friends—in his dreams. The implication is that when he finally calls it a day and stops touring, he’ll have dreams about the fifty-plus years he’s experienced life on stage. <br /><br />And we’ll have memories of concerts like this as well. <br /><br />When I listened to that song on the record back in 2020, I wondered if those last few words would be the last time I’d ever hear a new Bruce Springsteen song. I should have realized that his restless spirit will always create new material even if he doesn’t tour it. <br /><br />When I listened to that song live in 2023, I wondered if that would be the last time I ever heard Springsteen in person. Maybe. Maybe not. But if it was, what a way to say goodbye, not with a loud, bombastic anthem, but a quiet, gentle song about aging and mortality yet filled with hope, joy, energy, and the truth that shows like this will last a lifetime.<p></p>Scott D. Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293540073601809197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440764593580848794.post-29777930283576136942023-02-13T07:00:00.005-06:002023-02-13T07:00:00.163-06:00Poker Face and the Spiritual Reboot<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1_MFr9waSOh7pQc8Z8L74eldh5val3oXhPop4XUFPv2Gs2rrE3nJJPgA6DZfvNQ8YT-KYHAv8bLnMI03DaNsRDkviOFdtWhuLfNurKpaMdoprM_fMawTcHoZFe1gL6N879qBRUZ-VKf_avvNLtwT83oT148wdCjJekUx5RLW2L8Is_nJNQ9H2TV4L/s2016/image0(1).jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1_MFr9waSOh7pQc8Z8L74eldh5val3oXhPop4XUFPv2Gs2rrE3nJJPgA6DZfvNQ8YT-KYHAv8bLnMI03DaNsRDkviOFdtWhuLfNurKpaMdoprM_fMawTcHoZFe1gL6N879qBRUZ-VKf_avvNLtwT83oT148wdCjJekUx5RLW2L8Is_nJNQ9H2TV4L/s320/image0(1).jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>Poker Face had me at Rian Johnson. But had I not known it was his brainchild, the show would have had me at the title font.<br /><br />That yellow font on the title card, the year represented by Roman numerals. What decade are we in? Well, the headspace of creator Rian Johnson was the 1970s and 1980s with shows like Colombo and The Rockford Files. I suspect he gets nostalgically triggered when he sees the title cards of those shows and others and wanted to bring sensibility forward to the 2020s.<br /><br />What sensibility is that? A traditional crime-of-the-week series. But not just that: a new crime every week with a whole new cast. Which brings me to another 1970s TV it reminds me of: The Incredible Hulk. Both feature a lead who is being chased across the country, meeting new people every week.<br /><br />Now I know what you’re thinking: there are plenty of crime-of-the-week shows from Law and Order to Castle to all those shows on CBS I don’t watch. That’s not new. No, it’s not, but the laid-back aesthetic is a refreshing return to a modern TV landscape full of season-long streaming shows to modernized takes on old tropes.<br /><br />Both of those things are fine, and I enjoy them, but I also appreciate the slower paced TV shows that used to dominate networks with stakes that are not really that high. And I very much applaud Johnson for channeling that vibe into something new rather than a modern reboot of an old franchise.<br /><br />He could just have acquired the rights to, say, Colombo (the obvious ancestor to Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie Cale) and created a story around Colombo’s grandkid who is a rumpled detective just like Peter Faulk. I’d watch that and chances are, you would, too. But we’d constantly be comparing the new actor/actress to Faulk, much to the detriment of the new show. Also, we’d probably have the admittedly fun “sequel” to some random episode that no one remembers save the dedicate Colombo fans.<br /><br />No, what Johnson did was take all those elements and, crucially, made something new, unique, and his own. That last bit is probably the key factor for Johnson. Given the opportunity, he’d probably make a Colombo sequel or adapt some Agatha Christie novel in to a movie, but with Poker Face and Knives Out and Glass Onion, he gets to revel in all the stuff he loves while playing in his own sandbox.<p></p>Scott D. Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293540073601809197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440764593580848794.post-31837598798889423342023-02-06T06:00:00.002-06:002023-02-06T06:00:00.179-06:00 It’s Never Too Late to Restart Resolutions and Habits<p>How are your New Year’s Resolutions coming along?<br /><br />I saw a statistic that said by today—Day 36 of 2023—a shocking 80% or more people have already given up on the resolutions they so fervently made at midnight on 1 January. Eighty percent. I think the figure is higher, to be honest. There’s even a holiday to help folks who waver on their resolutions. It’s called National Quitter’s Day and that was back on 13 January.<br /><br />As I wrote back in December, I had certain personal goals—okay, let’s just call them habits, okay? That’s what they really are—that I wanted to do in January. I started re-reading the Psalms (one a day for 150 days), I re-read the Proverbs (31 chapters for 31 days in January), and have started to re-read Ryan Holiday’s Daily Stoic. Taking a cue from Bryon Quertermous, I bought a weekly planner and kept track of every habit I wanted to set.<br /><br />So far? Success. It’s feels very nice to have reached the last day of the why-does-it-feel-so-long January and all my boxes were checked.<br /><br />The other thing that also was checked? The writing habit. My writing goal for January was simple: start a new project and write on it every day. I had no word count goal but I tend to zero in on 1,000 words per session. Again, 100% success. <br /><br />Now, it wasn’t perfect. There were a couple of days when I had to slog through the writing, but I sat down and did it.<br /><br />By the 31st of January, I had amassed approximately 39,000 words on the new novel. That’s not quite NaNoWriMo speed (50,000 words over 30 days) but considering the dismal writing I did in 2022, I’ll take the win. You know how I knew the new habit was locked in? When on that first Saturday morning, I opted not to watch a movie before I finished my words for the day. That Saturday Habit has continued. That, my friends, is a fantastic feeling.<br /><br />But what do you do if life threw you curveballs in January and you’ve had to catch them, dodge them, hit them, or let them hit you?<br /><br />Start again. Seriously it’s that simple. Just start.<br /><br />What’s great about February is that it has the fewest days of any month. If you’ve wanted to start a new habit and have fallen off the wagon, start again on Monday. Do the writing, do the exercise, do the reading, do the calling of your friends or family you haven’t spoken to in a long time. There are only 24 more days in February. It’s a nice, short length of time to get back to the habit you know you want to ingrain in your brain.<br /><br />Start today or tomorrow and do that new habit every day for a week. Your reward? The Super Bowl. Then aim for the next week. You make it that far, you’ll only have ten more days until the end of the month.<br /><br />You know you want to create that new resolution, that new habit. I’m here to tell you that it’s never too late. But you will have to do one thing:<br /><br />Start.</p>Scott D. Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293540073601809197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440764593580848794.post-23121284166300653152023-01-30T06:00:00.002-06:002023-01-30T06:00:00.166-06:00Reading Into The Dark<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglMuVKYRzsi72P-z4qA7sJuxcyvvQugaSF8P3A0TfK4CylH1HXEsukRRDvwYipkR7HggfhSLn1CC1kMRNkU-rYY7xDnBa808uLdRv7_77mlcZYpjzIZdFx5gwgMPZdrz6EOtAqV_8F4UpBpOFLRCIc2ZUURZcI1A5PDvIlV4c9ts7zPTVxzCKyE6nf/s640/pexels-mo-eid-8347500.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="640" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglMuVKYRzsi72P-z4qA7sJuxcyvvQugaSF8P3A0TfK4CylH1HXEsukRRDvwYipkR7HggfhSLn1CC1kMRNkU-rYY7xDnBa808uLdRv7_77mlcZYpjzIZdFx5gwgMPZdrz6EOtAqV_8F4UpBpOFLRCIc2ZUURZcI1A5PDvIlV4c9ts7zPTVxzCKyE6nf/s320/pexels-mo-eid-8347500.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>At least nine times a year, I start a book with zero knowledge about it. And it’s wonderful<br /><br />We’re all readers here, right? How do you usually pick that next book to read? If we’re in a brick-and-mortar store, we look at the cover, we note the author, read that all-so-important description, and then maybe a few pages of chapter one. If we’re online, all of that is still present, but we get the added bonus of that preview. We can actually read the entire preview before we make that purchase decision. Oh, and then there are the reviews—from professionals as well as amateurs.<br /><br />In every step of this process, we constantly build on what we think the book is going to be about, especially if you’ve got a good book description.<br /><br />When’s the last time you started a book without any of that? Okay, you can throw in the author, title, and book cover because you actually have to pick it up or download it, but nothing else.<br /><br />For me, three out of every four months, I get to do that.<br /><br />I’m in a four-guy science fiction book club that has lasted now over twelve years. We take turns picking the book, we read it during the month, and then gather on the first Tuesday of the next month to discuss. It is at the meeting where we offer our grade and then the Picker gets to explain why he picked the book. When it’s my turn to assign a book, I’ve already gone through every step mentioned above.<br /><br />Sometime in 2021 (or maybe 2020), I started going into the books picked by the other guys cold. Nearly every selection is on audio so the day the new book is picked, I download it (via Libby and my local library or Audible) and start playing. In this manner, I experience pure story. Sure, I’ve seen the cover and read the title and author, but that’s it.<br /><br />I love it. With so much of our lives dictated by a myriad of decisions—including the books we read—it’s great to have that choice offload three out of every four months.<br /><br />What I really love is when there’s a book by an author I don’t know. It happened with this month’s selection: Dead Silence by S. A. Barnes. Knew nothing about it and it is the book to beat for 2023. It’s a rare trick when a book’s spooky nature and a narrator’s excellent performance literally gives me chills and compels me to turn around on my nightly walks to make sure I’m alone.<br /><br />I find having a book picked for me quite fun. It also happens every month with my <a href="https://www.murderbooks.com/cozy-corner-0">cozy mystery subscription</a> through Houston’s Murder by the Book. I do read those book descriptions because I think they are among the best, pun-filled descriptions out there.<br /><br />With the monthly SF book and the cozy book already picked for me, it frees me up to make my own selection with more care. After all, even with audiobooks, there is only so many story hours in a month.<br /><br />Note: since there are so many hours in a month to read or listen to stories, if the book is bad or isn’t capturing me, I pull the rip cord and stop. I do not feel compelled to finish. The other guys in the club used to question me and my response remained constant: Life’s too short to read bad books or books you don’t enjoy. Thus, when I give it a grade—officially an I for Incomplete—I’ll explain why the book failed me.<br /><br />So, have you ever read a book without even reading the book description or reviews or anything? You should try it sometime. Get into a book club, but if that’s not an option, have a spouse or friend select your next book and just read.<p></p><p></p><p>Photo: Mo Eid via Pexels.com </p>Scott D. Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293540073601809197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440764593580848794.post-54972058312335062832023-01-23T07:00:00.004-06:002023-01-23T07:00:00.170-06:00The End of New Amsterdam and the Twilight of Network TV for a Gen Xer<p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSeZsd1EkUG-Be2zP05FznKYroeiQjgInBWk0B7zAQN2GGyWYiAb829o4S-aIDxU-Gn2qL1uQ16FB906mKF6pQ1HrL058vJL1aYDxuBQnWwXcaYFqxBOg-sTMQkSpXxp8tk8DZ5CGvuLmlseT56bA9c4DhFfMyCx9yQUNlgjF-3uE3QmHLam3fNAiG/s1763/images.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1763" data-original-width="1175" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSeZsd1EkUG-Be2zP05FznKYroeiQjgInBWk0B7zAQN2GGyWYiAb829o4S-aIDxU-Gn2qL1uQ16FB906mKF6pQ1HrL058vJL1aYDxuBQnWwXcaYFqxBOg-sTMQkSpXxp8tk8DZ5CGvuLmlseT56bA9c4DhFfMyCx9yQUNlgjF-3uE3QmHLam3fNAiG/s320/images.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>One of my favorite TV shows ended its five-year run on Tuesday and I’m wondering if it’ll be the last great network show I watch.<br /><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">New Amsterdam</h3><p style="text-align: left;"><br />Like Castle, New Amsterdam had me at the <a href="https://youtu.be/4pmG-c-P824">trailer</a>. The show starred Ryan Eggold (whom I knew from The Blacklist) as Max Goodwin, the new medical director at New Amsterdam, the oldest public hospital in America (based on the real Bellevue hospital). Eggold’s performance on The Blacklist stood out, especially when he was in the same show as series star James Spader, but with Max, Eggold had a role to which he could bring his considerable charm and humanity. It didn’t hurt that he had Max’s mantra as a north star: How can I help? <br /><br />If you watch the trailer, you get what the series was about: helping people despite the massive forces standing in the way. Over five years, and through a pandemic, Max and his colleagues kept running up against seemingly insurmountable odds. Sometimes they’d win, other times they’d lose, but they kept trying, striving to do what they can. <br /><br />New Amsterdam ran on Tuesday nights on NBC right after the massive hit This is Us. My wife watched that show from the jump and, like many viewers, often ended episodes with tears in her eyes. I didn’t watch that show, but New Amsterdam proved to be my weekly dose of heartwarming tears. <br /><br />Storytelling-wise, the writers of New Amsterdam often used a very small story—often a single patient—to tell a larger tale. Like all good TV shows, the supporting cast each had their time the spotlight. A particular favorite was Tyler Labine's Iggy Frome, a psychiatrist, who often ran up against the pillars of big medicine just as much as Max did. A season 5 recurring theme for Iggy was the crumbling of his marriage and having to come to terms with himself before reaching out to his ex-husband and asking him for a simple date, to try again.<br /><br />Sandra Mae Frank's Dr. Elizabeth Wilder was the Chief of Oncology. The actress is also deaf. She became a love interest to Max in the last season and I found it wonderful not only to see how a deaf surgeon navigated the world of the hearing in the operating room but also how the writers showed a burgeoning love often in silence and sign language. <br /><br />I enjoyed seeing Jocko Sims's chief surgeon come to terms with things he could not easily fix--like his personal life as well the relationship with mostly absent father--and how Jocko imbued Floyd Reynolds with deep grace and understanding. And Janet Montegomery's Lauren Bloom, a character who grappled with addiction and showed how the messiness in life can be dealt with, but that it's hard and it takes one day at a time, one decision at a time, and the struggle never ends. <br /><br />The writers and directors brought all their resources to bear in fun way, sometimes using time-honored tropes quite effectively. They did so for the finale episode, adding a nice twist that pulled all the tears from my eyes. [I’ll add my thoughts about the finale at the bottom of this post.]<br /><br />But what really got me thinking about the end of New Amsterdam is what it might signal for me as a viewer: Would this be the last network TV show I watched on a regular basis?<br /><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Network TV for Generation X</h3><p style="text-align: left;"><br />Born in 1968, I remember when there were three networks, PBS, and a local UHF station here in Houston. By the time I got to middle school, we had two more local stations, but that was it. Every fall, the three networks would roll out their Saturday morning cartoon lineup, showcasing them in specials that aired the previous night. There'd be articles in the local papers for the new fall TV shows (including a side-by-side grid) and big splashes on TV Guide. I remember scanning all those resources and then making a schedule for what I'd want to watch.<br /><br />This practice pretty much continued through the publication history of Entertainment Weekly and the birth of the internet when information was much easily found. I'm always game to see what the Big 3 had planned.<br /><br />With the birth and rise of streaming TV, however, things began to change. Netflix would drop every episode of a new show and you could binge them all in a weekend. Other services followed suit. It was a different way to watch TV. Not wrong, mind you, but different. Just because I grew up in the weekly format doesn't mean I don't appreciate having all episodes of a season at my fingertips. Ever since last summer, my family has been watching the entire run of Friends, an episode a day at dinner, something that would have been difficult prior to streaming. But there is something to having a week to think about and digest plot elements and revelations of any given episode. I remember when Lost was airing, the morning after, a group of us would discuss the newest episode over coffee. It was quite fun.<br /><br />Things change and I change with them. That's how life is, but I will say I dug when Disney+ opted to drop episodes of its Marvel and Star Wars TV shows on a weekly basis. Sure, it meant the company would secure subscriptions for a longer time, but it was fun to think and read about what the latest revelation about Wanda (WandaVision) or The Mandalorian or Andor might mean. <br /><br />As Fall 2022 approached, I did my usual thing that I've done all my life: I scanned what was returning and what new shows would debut. New Amsterdam was top of my list even though I knew going in it would be its last. And a shortened 13-episode season at that. It was, however, the only returning show I watched and cared about. The only other network show I watched live--SyFy's Resident Alien--wouldn't be returning until 2023. <br /><br />That left the new shows. As I read about them and watched previews, I experienced something foreign to my experience: none of the shows appealed to me. Granted, I'm a middle-aged guy now so that might be a thing, but you'd think the shows at CBS would be in my wheelhouse. Some of them probably should be. I'm looking at NCIS or FBI, but for whatever reason, I just never started.<br /><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Future of Network TV</h3><p style="text-align: left;"><br />So what's next? Network TV is not going away, but perhaps that majority of its viewers are. The Boomers are slowly dying and us Gen Xers are now in middle age. Millennials grew up in the 1980s and 1990s so they remember what it was like to be in front of a TV on Thursday nights (or set the VCR) but for Gen Z, the ones born in the late 1990s, I don't think network TV barely registers. My son, now twenty-one, rarely watched anything on "live" TV after he stopped watching Blue's Clues. His network is YouTube and streaming. When he moved out of the house, I made sure to load the apps of the local TV stations on his smart TV. "It's for the weather at least," I told him. He just showed me his phone. "I get the weather here."<br /><br />And he gets his TV there, too.<br /><br />Now that New Amsterdam is gone, network TV is now the place I watch Stephen Colbert every night. And football until the Super Bowl and then golf on Sunday afternoons without football. If you throw in ESPN, it's also the place I'll catch NBA games, but I think you're seeing the trend. Network TV might become the place for live events where scripted TV shows are things I'll catch on a streaming service.<br /><br />Might network TV have lost a viewer? Unlikely. Come next fall, I'll still read about the new shows. There might be another New Amsterdam, a new This is Us, or a surprise sitcom that comes out of the blue. I will always be curious to see what network TV has to offer. <br /><br />But it has been a fascinating realization that the end of New Amsterdam likely marks a point in my lifetime of TV watching. <br /><br />What about you? Do you still watch network TV or are all your favorite shows on a streaming service?<br /><br /><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">The New Amsterdam Finale with Spoilers</h3><p style="text-align: left;"><br />One of the tropes the writers used in the finale was to give each character their origin story via flashbacks. We see how Max, Elizabeth, Iggy, Lauren, and Floyd each found their way into the practice of medicine. I'll add that I kind of hoped for a flashback to Anupam Kher's Dr. Vijay Kapoor but, as my wife suggested, perhaps the show and the actor didn't part well. Ditto on both accounts for Freema Agyeman as Dr. Helen Sharpe, Max's previous love interest. <br /><br />In one of those tricks via editing, you see Max's last day at New Amsterdam with his young daughter, Luna, as they try and get out of the hospital. Max has resigned the position of Medical Director in order to spend more time with Luna. There is, of course, a major emergency that will harness the powers and abilities of all the staff and it forces Max to miss the mermaid parade yet again (it's something Luna always wants to attend but they kept missing it because of Max's job, thus the resignation).</p><p style="text-align: left;"> </p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsC4JKQ6ywmdBbcPysPLbqbyX7laqIz7tiOgoxzxy2M5E1z7OYqgDwYi00DxCkcy2JalF7j0HfHwooCpTimMteLdVzYpHTWCq9R_KNFMGcc6JJGancfWi-HRfMSWO9Re4cu67lDRz5cKTbF0AU-FyFESqbXGzbX0dHFaGigED3V64fIC6o0hJH71uW/s1825/luna-goodwin-new-amsterdam-513-2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1217" data-original-width="1825" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsC4JKQ6ywmdBbcPysPLbqbyX7laqIz7tiOgoxzxy2M5E1z7OYqgDwYi00DxCkcy2JalF7j0HfHwooCpTimMteLdVzYpHTWCq9R_KNFMGcc6JJGancfWi-HRfMSWO9Re4cu67lDRz5cKTbF0AU-FyFESqbXGzbX0dHFaGigED3V64fIC6o0hJH71uW/w200-h133/luna-goodwin-new-amsterdam-513-2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: left;">The editing trick is where you see what is presented as the next medical director, a young woman who showed up and has to deal with whispered rumors about her. Halfway through the show, as Max's edict of "How can I help?" has been uttered more than once, I looked over to my wife and said, "If the final four words of this entire series isn't 'how can I help?', then the writers will have missed a golden opportunity."<br /><br />They didn't, but they went one better. My wife figure it out first and suggested it: "I think that new medical director is Luna all grown up."<br /><br />Boom! That is exACTly what it was. Some writer I am. I didn't even see it coming (although, to be fair, I rarely try and guess stories while I'm in the middle of them because in that moment, I'm a viewer/reading rather than a writer).<br /><br />Turns out, Luna's origin story was Max's last day at New Amsterdam. And it is she, looking directly at the camera, who speaks those famous four words: How can I help? Cut to black and cue the tears.<br /><br />Oh, and props to the writers for not showing us older versions of the same characters. I first thought I might've wanted to see a gray-haired Max, to see him be proud of his daughter, but then realized my error. And here's the veteran writer tip: you don't have to see Ryan Eggold in old person makeup to know he's proud of his daughter. If you've written characters well, stuff like that is understood and doesn't always have to be shown. Besides, New Amsterdam no longer belonged to Max. It's Luna's story now.</p>Scott D. Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293540073601809197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440764593580848794.post-72847490810517729302023-01-17T06:00:00.002-06:002023-01-17T06:00:00.169-06:00Intentional Reading<p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsWpEoc2CWvGmXogRFsDT4r1ClTdq8CnPaa85B4RtvmXfmiL1AfDGBhGlEZF8rp3TE2ieqB8Z4nGbmO4_OwtX9NRI1RvXitW0f5TuDiMAcxElk5PmPcLwdB7jARHRikJw7bk0TJW8sltF7tpyUZW3bjT4uxmMBK2xBN0iuyXjpWXp3y_xXU-FRxKla/s500/everybody%20knows.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="322" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsWpEoc2CWvGmXogRFsDT4r1ClTdq8CnPaa85B4RtvmXfmiL1AfDGBhGlEZF8rp3TE2ieqB8Z4nGbmO4_OwtX9NRI1RvXitW0f5TuDiMAcxElk5PmPcLwdB7jARHRikJw7bk0TJW8sltF7tpyUZW3bjT4uxmMBK2xBN0iuyXjpWXp3y_xXU-FRxKla/w129-h200/everybody%20knows.jpg" width="129" /></a></div>Do you ever feel left out of a conversation?<br /><br />It’s only mid-January and while the year is still brand-new, the old year still has a few remnants lingering. The biggest me for is the various Best Of lists still readily available. I read many of them—books, TV, movies, music—and made an interesting observation about the book ones: I read few of them and could not contribute to the conversation.<br /><br />I’m an avid reader I have anywhere from 2-5 books going on all at once. Well, let me clarify: I’m re-reading Ryan Holiday’s The Daily Stoic in 2023 so I’m only reading a page a day, but it’s still active. I’m blazing through the audio of Dead Silence by S. A. Barnes (for my SF book club), I’ve started Vinyl Resting Place by Olivia Blacke (from <a href="https://www.murderbooks.com/cozy-corner-0">Murder by the Book’s Cozy Mystery subscription service</a>), I’m re-reading P.D. James’s Talking About Detective Fiction, and I’ve bought a copy of The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene. The Blacke book is new and the Barnes book is just shy of a year old and the rest are older.<br /><br />I have always liked my rabbit-trail way of reading. I’m easily influenced, be it from podcasts, news interviews, Twitter, or recommendations by my fellow writers at Do Some Damage. But when it came to reviewing the Best Mysteries of the Year or the Best Non-Fiction of 2022 or just about any other book list from 2022, I found myself woefully behind.<br /><br />And it’s not even close.<br /><br />As such, I created a resolution specific to reading and it boils down to a single phrase: Read Intentionally.<br /><br />What does that mean as a practical habit? Well, it means I’ll be more aware of books that are released throughout this year and make active decisions to read more new books in 2023 than I did in 2022. I still get to made judgement calls—I’m aware that Prince Harry published a book this week but I have zero interest in it.<br /><br />On the fiction side of things, this week saw the publication of Jordan Harper’s Everybody Knows. I can’t tell you how many fellow writers read this book pre-publication last fall, but it seemed like it was everyone. The praise was universal. Throw in the blurbs you see on press releases and the book cover and you’ve got yourself a contender for a Best Of list in 2023 right out of the gate.<br /><br />Harper’s book was the first can’t-miss book of the year, and I didn’t. I download the audiobook on release day and am looking forward to giving it a listen.<br /><br />Later, as the year goes on and more books like Harper’s are released, I plan on keeping up. Then, come December 2023, I’ll have a list of favorite books that will include newly published ones. Why the emphasis on ‘newly published’? Because I still find myself drawn to older books and I don’t want to leave them behind.<br /><br /><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Agatha Christie</h3><p style="text-align: left;"><br />For the past few years, in light of the success of the Rian Johnson films (Knives Out; Glass Onion) and the Kenneth Branagh adaptations of Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, I’ve been curious about Agatha Christie. 2020 celebrated the century mark of her first book and the yearly reading challenges started. I didn’t do very well before but I intend to change that. I plan on reading—intentionally—the books on the <a href="https://www.agathachristie.com/news/2023/read-christie-2023">Read Christie 2023</a>. This year’s theme is “Methods and Motives.”<br /><br />Good news: I’m one for one. Sad Cypress is January’s book and I’ve already listened to it. Even better, if you check out the website, they’ve listened ten of the twelve books on tap for the year. That way, you and I can stay abreast with the new challenge and read at least twelve Agatha Christie books. I’m particularly looking forward to February’s book, Partners in Crime, the second book in the Tommy and Tuppence series.<br /><br />Oh, and you don’t have to read the books they suggest. They have a particular method of murder or a motive and you are free to pick any of her books. But as a Christie newbie, I’m just going with the flow.<br /></p>Scott D. Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293540073601809197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440764593580848794.post-35412922664989506912023-01-09T09:00:00.002-06:002023-01-09T09:00:00.162-06:00When Life Throws Curve Balls at Your Resolutions<p style="text-align: left;">How are those resolutions coming along?<br /><br />It’s Day 7 of January 2023, a full week after many of us toasted the new year at midnight and resolved to make changes in our lives. Back in December, I wrote about making resolutions—or habit changes—with the guiding principle of “<a href="http://www.dosomedamage.com/2022/12/new-years-resolutions-just-try.html">just try</a>.” Most of us want to change something about ourselves—to become a better version of ourselves—so the first step is to decide to try. The next (and the next and the next) is to follow through.<br /><br />Depending on where you get your data, a large percentage of folks who make new year’s resolutions fail by February. One statistic I found was 80%. That means 80% of people who want to change decide to renege [yeah that’s spelled correctly; I actually had to look it up] on their promises to themselves. January 19 seems to be the date most associated with throwing in the towel on resolutions. One fact I read claimed that 23% quit their resolutions in the first week. Hopefully you are not in that number.<br /><br />So far, neither am I.<br /><br />Most of the changes I want to implement are habits. I fell out of taking a multi-vitamin in the latter half of the year so I’m starting to take them again. Six for six as of this writing. Ditto for consuming a daily dose of apple cider vinegar, performing daily push-ups, getting up and moving [either walking or the rowing machine; walking won this week], and daily readings [Psalms, Proverbs, and the Daily Stoic]. The principles found in James Clear’s Atomic Habits provided me the tools necessary to maintain the habits I want to implement.<br /><br />And, inspired by fellow writer Bryon Quertermous, I bought a weekly planner to keep track of everything. I make daily notes when I perform the habit. I don’t anticipate having 365 days of check marks saying I took a vitamin because after a certain number of days, the habit becomes ingrained. It’s how I started and maintained my flossing habit.<br /><br />But here’s the key metric for any new habit: inevitably, one day you’ll miss or forget or somehow not do the new task. Let that roll off your shoulders and stay focused on the overall goal. Adjust if you have to and try not to miss two in a row. It was a lesson I applied yesterday.<br /><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Writing Resolution</h3><p style="text-align: left;"><br />The year 2022 was not a good one for me writing-wise. As such, a major resolution for me was to get back in the habit of writing. Taking a cue from key message from author Mary Robinette Kowal at her <a href="http://www.dosomedamage.com/2022/11/mary-robinette-kowal-and-five-words.html">book signing here in Houston</a> back in November, I’m starting the year off with a brand-new story. Yes, I have multiple unfinished stories, but am channeling Kowal’s theory of why NaNoWriMo works for her: the writing is Novel, Interesting, Challenging, and Urgent.<br /><br />So, for me, the new book is novel (as in brand-new). I’m interested in the story I’m telling. I find it challenging in that I’m starting from a story pitch and a general sense of what kind of story it is and how I want to tell it. As for urgency, I would love to finish the story by 31 January, but I’m allowing myself a goal of six weeks. I’ll grant myself until 28 February if things get complicated.<br /><br />Crucially, I don’t have a set writing goal in terms of word count. All that matters is forward progress. I started the year with 1,028 words, a great start considering I haven’t written fiction in months. I topped 1,600 words twice this week, both on days in which I went into the office (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays). By the time yesterday rolled around, my first work-from-home day of the year, I was excited: with no commute, I could wake at the same time and get a substantial chunk of writing done before I logged into my work computer.<br /><br />That was the plan. Didn’t work out that way.<br /><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Friday Curveball</h3><p style="text-align: left;"><br />I had Alexa set to sound the alarm at 5:30am. As a bit of background, the Christmas break was not as restful as I wanted and I’ve been trying to catch up on sleep. I’ve been tired this week and, despite my attempt to get up at the alarm, I was still catching up. “Alexa,” I said yesterday morning into the dark, “set an alarm for 5:45.” With those words, I rolled over for an extra fifteen minutes.<br /><br />Forty-seven minutes later, I woke. Still in the dark. I smiled at myself for thinking I was so excited and ready to get to writing that I had beaten the alarm. I checked my digital watch. 6:17am. What the heck? Did the power go out? Nope, the ceiling fan was spinning. Puzzled, I asked Alexa what the alarm was set for. “5:45pm.”<br /><br />That brought a huge sigh from me. Sure, I needed the sleep, but I had slept through my writing time. I only had time to get up, take out the dogs, shower, eat breakfast, and get to work. What would become of my new daily writing habit?<br /><br />I adjusted.<br /><br />I worked really hard on all my day job activities, got them all complete, and, late in the afternoon, I opened up my writing computer and picked up where I left off during my Thursday lunch hour. To be honest, it was weird writing so late in the day. I became a morning writer ten years ago—lunch hour writer when I have to go into the office—so it’s been a long time since I wrote fiction so late in the day.<br /><br />But you know what? It worked. I made forward progress, clocked in 1,694 new words, and my writing resolution remained intact. All is good.<br /><br />The key takeaway: Life will throw curve balls at your resolutions. Take the hits if you can and adjust accordingly. Just stay focused on the end goal: becoming a better you.</p>Scott D. Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293540073601809197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440764593580848794.post-27754365068170559482022-12-19T07:00:00.001-06:002022-12-19T07:00:00.161-06:00New Year’s Resolutions: Just Try <p>Do you have your New Year’s resolutions planned yet?<br /><br />Yeah, yeah, I know it’s still two weeks away but this will be my last post at Do Some Damage until January. But I’ve already started thinking and planning the things I want to accomplish in 2023 and it is really important to kick off the year on a good note.<br /><br />On the <a href="https://dailystoic.com/">Daily Stoic podcast</a>, host Ryan Holiday wondered why we constantly make New Year’s resolutions and he brought in a quote from Samuel Johnson: “Reformation is necessary and despair is criminal.” I looked up this quote to see if it is part of something larger and it is: “When I find that so much of my life has stolen unprofitably away, and that I can descry by retrospection scarcely a few single days properly and vigorously employed, why do I yet try to resolve again? I try, because reformation is necessary and despair is criminal. I try, in humble hope of the help of God.”<br /><br />I know lots of folks have a good first week in January and then, by around the six-week mark, most folks have given up on their resolutions. But you don’t have to.<br /><br />Which I why I’ve been structuring my own resolutions around smaller yet quantifiable goals. The key for me is to have a good January so that I can maintain the newly formed habit. For me, any new resolution I make I will do during the 31 days of January. I will keep track of the new habits daily and mark them on my calendar. Then, by 1 February, the bulk of the new habits will have become ingrained. It’s how I started my flossing habit and there isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t floss.<br /><br />But let’s circle back to the Johnson quote, the longer one. What he’s basically saying is that when he examines his life, he sees where he’s faltered and then questioned why try again. For many, that’s reason enough not to make resolutions For me, however, I am always optimistic that new habits and resolutions can be made and kept and maintained. I’m always looking for ways to improve my life—as a husband, father, writer, friend—and I’ll always make New Year’s resolutions. <br /><br />Because what’s the alternative? You get older and then you look back on your life and wish you would have started something. Which ties right back to a quote I have pinned to my cork board: A year from now, you will have wished you started today.<br /><br />Make “today” be 1 January 2023, start something new, and make your future self proud.</p>Scott D. Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293540073601809197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440764593580848794.post-16659202621628487432022-12-12T07:00:00.002-06:002022-12-12T07:00:00.344-06:00The Urgency of Now and Knowing Who You Are<p>Well, by my own definition, I’m officially in my mid-fifties.<br /><br />For any given decade, I consider the years ending in zero through three to be “early.” Four, five, and six are “mid” while the last three years are “late.” I turned fifty-four on Tuesday.<br /><br />You might think that would be cause for a great, big sigh. Sure, there’s a little of that as well as the realization that there are more years behind me than in front of me. That, my friends, is just a sign of mortality.<br /><br />But here’s the giant cherry on top of this sundae we call life: I’m alive! So it is always good to recognize and respect and cherish that simple fact.<br /><br />And yet, as I took stock of what I had accomplished and all that happened in my fifty-third year, I started to wonder what I would do in my fifty-fourth. It was the latter thought that gave me a sense of urgency.<br /><br />Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor who was also a Stoic, wrote the following opening paragraphs in Book 5 (or should it be V?) of his Meditations (as translated by Gregory Hayes):<br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote>At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I am rising to do the work of a human being. What do I have to complain about, if I’m going to do what I was born for—the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?”<br /><br />—But it’s nicer here…<br /><br />So were you born to feel “nice”? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands?</blockquote><br /><br />Much of that passage reflects on what it is like to be a human. Heck, I’ll be honest and say that the spirit of these words permeate my brain when the alarm goes off at 5am and I need to get up and get to writing. Usually, but not always, they are enough and I get up.<br /><br />When it comes to the writing side of things, re-imagine that same passage but substitute “Writer” for “human being”:<br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><blockquote>At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I am rising to do the work of a <b>Writer</b>. What do I have to complain about, if I’m going to do what I was born for—the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?”<br /><br />—But it’s nicer here…<br /><br />So were you born to feel “nice”? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a <b>Writer</b>? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands?</blockquote></span><br /><br />My fiction self fell apart in 2022 and I’m largely (partially?) to blame. That’s what <a href="http://www.dosomedamage.com/2022/12/taking-stock-and-looking-ahead.html">I wrote about last week</a>. I mostly shrugged it off, chalking things up to life experiences (my son moved out of the house), the day job (the most creative day job I’ve ever had), and a willingness to consume stories rather than produce them.<br /><br />But I turned fifty-four this week. I’m in my mid-fifties now. Time is not infinite, so why the heck am I not writing more? Because when I boil myself down to my essence and set aside the crucial qualities of being a husband and father and child of God, what am I?<br /><br />A Writer.<br /><br />I go to concerts and take notes. Ditto for author events. I keep a notepad in the car so I can jot down ideas and notes during my commutes. When I read books at home—including fiction—I take notes. When I take trips, I make sure I have pen and paper. When I go to conventions, I take notes on what I see and what I want to buy. I am always writing.<br /><br />Why? Because that’s who I am. And now, at fifty-four, there is a sense of urgency spurred from Aurelius’s quote (with my modification): “And you’re not willing to do your job as a Writer? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands?”<br /><br />Okay, okay, okay. I get it, Marcus, I get it. I am who I am. I’ll strive harder to be more myself from now on.<br /><br />All of this begs the question for you, dear reader: do you know who you are? And are you doing it?<br /><p></p>Scott D. Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293540073601809197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440764593580848794.post-55429028890861766662022-12-07T07:00:00.015-06:002022-12-07T07:00:00.252-06:00The Sea of Tranquility: One of My Favorite Books of 2022 That Made Me Cheer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOMrJ6QhgCqn2Jjuw_KJcbyrsFI7WJPgBVeIWcr-jInU3UMpVYIjjS3C9v9hf4FsjlvpOERHZmWMkBs3wYUSpDDPs6YUUOI6lK2qg3MoLafiKq52uHKQmPwEb0aUXfF_-4CLLFfW6uGma0y52MRpUOmaY0iZRF9_kzSI_5kBwSDIEmM439uz-s-oltvw/s376/Sea_of_Tranquility_(Emily_St._John_Mandel).png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="250" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOMrJ6QhgCqn2Jjuw_KJcbyrsFI7WJPgBVeIWcr-jInU3UMpVYIjjS3C9v9hf4FsjlvpOERHZmWMkBs3wYUSpDDPs6YUUOI6lK2qg3MoLafiKq52uHKQmPwEb0aUXfF_-4CLLFfW6uGma0y52MRpUOmaY0iZRF9_kzSI_5kBwSDIEmM439uz-s-oltvw/w133-h200/Sea_of_Tranquility_(Emily_St._John_Mandel).png" width="133" /></a></div>This might be my favorite book of fiction for 2022 and I didn’t even pick it.<br /><p>I’ve been a part of a four-guy science fiction book club since 2009. Each month, one of us picks a book and we meet the first Tuesday of each month. Over the past year or so, I’ve started a new thing: on the books I don’t select, I don’t read the book description. I just download the audiobook and start listening. <br /><br />I want the book to reveal itself it me without any preconceived notions. Now, typically, around the 20-25% mark, I might circle back and read the description but not always. I ended up doing that for this book because after the first section, I was genuinely curious what kind of book this was.<br /><br />Think about it: when you hear the words “Sea of Tranquility,” what do you think of? The moon, right? Me, too. Well, there are scenes in this book set on the moon, but I think the title speaks to something more.<br /><br />So, what is this book about? Well, it involves multiple characters over multiple times. Oh, and there’s time travel (but don’t worry: there’s not a lot of science to get in the way of a good story).<br /><br />In 1912, a British scion from a prominent family is walking in the woods in British Columbia when, suddenly, he has the feeling of being somewhere else. He’s inside a great room he interprets as a train station. He hears something mechanical that he cannot identify. And he hears violin music.<br /><br />In late 2019, at a party in New York, a woman is approached by a man. He asks her about her brother, a performance artist, who includes a snippet of video they shot in the forests of British Columbia when they were teenagers. On the video, the camera catches something that appears to be a hanger, and a few notes of violin music.<br /><br />In 2203, a famous author is on a book tour and she’s in an airship terminal in Oklahoma City and, as the airships disembark, she sees a man playing violin and she has the sudden feeling that she's in a forest.<br /><br />And in a future time (honestly I forgot what year this part takes place in), a time travel agent volunteers to research the strange anomalies that may or may not link all of these people. <br /><br />Had I read the description, I would have been all in, but experiencing it the way I did—just the opening chapters set in 1912 then instantly jumping to 2019 with a reference to the upcoming pandemic—was a bit jarring. But I was hooked.<br /><br />And the book didn’t let up. With each shift of characters, Mandel also shifts the point of view. Oh, and the audiobook was fantastic: with each POV change, it was a different narrator, so if you enjoy audiobooks, you’ll love this one.<br /><br />I am not going to give away any more details because if I do, you might be able to infer the ending. I’m happy to say that I didn’t see it coming, but when it did, I literally cheered in my car as I drove to the office. It is a great ending to a wonderful book. <br /><br />In the days since, I’ve told the story to my wife, my parents, and to a fellow saxophone player in my orchestra who went out and bought the book herself. <br /><br />Of all the books I’ve read in my SF book club, if I’m measuring by emotional impact, then <a href="http://scottdparker.blogspot.com/2012/09/book-review-club-redshirts-by-john.html">John Scalzi’s Redshirts still takes the prize</a>. But The Sea of Tranquility will now be ranked as one of the best books I’ve read, both this year and of the entire and ongoing book club. <br /></p>
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@Barrie Summy</div>Scott D. Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293540073601809197noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440764593580848794.post-46508415079605337352022-12-05T07:00:00.003-06:002022-12-05T07:00:00.184-06:00Taking Stock and Looking Ahead<p>Are you ready for 2023?<br /><br />I’m a firm believer in constant renewal, be that daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly resets. That is, after all, what New Year’s Resolutions are: a reset. A chance to start a new habit or break an old on.<br /><br />But it is a good idea to plan ahead and be ready for your start date, and that’s where it’s good to review the current year. I actually started the process this week at my office during my lunch hours. I found an empty conference room with a large white board and started taking stock of 2022 in terms of my writing. I made various lists including the following:<br /></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>What went wrong?</li><li>What is changing?</li><li>What to change</li><li>What kind of writing system works best?<br /></li></ul><p>For those that top line item, I was brutally honest with myself. Why had I not produced as much writing as I wanted to back on New Year’s Day 2022? I dug into my answers, looking for ways to improve. Because if something isn’t working for you, have the courage to confront it, ask why, and then change. That’s vital to having a sustainable, repeatable system.<br /><br />I realized my paltry fiction output in 2022 was a combination of two things: my son moved out of the house (and I wasn’t prepared for the pre-move/post-move emotional wallop that produced) and my day job is the most creative day job I’ve ever had. These past few weeks, I’ve recognized how these two threads play into my psyche and have adjusted.<br /><br />The Changing/Change list are the positive aspects of my life I’m implementing to address all that went wrong. I made sure that the items on these lists are all positive. I went through a terrible time in the beginning of the last decade where I’d chastise myself when I faltered and that didn’t lead to anything good.<br /><br />The system part is the nuts and bolts part of writing. I’ve tried various ways to write novels and stories. Some don’t work. Some do. My challenge to myself is to take stock of what works and implement it and make it repeatable.<br /><br />The good thing about taking stock and looking ahead, at least for me, is that it makes my excited to start. I’m purposively limiting my start date to New Year’s Day 2023 to build up anticipation and excitement.<br /><br />But I pave the way by a month’s worth of preparation.<br /><br />Have you started?<br /></p>Scott D. Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293540073601809197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440764593580848794.post-59046242043528343132022-11-28T07:00:00.004-06:002022-11-28T07:00:00.167-06:00When a Movie Stays the Same But You’ve Changed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCOxEYCbUcvMs-4Dx-7ecnc0gxrXIfc2v5-kYXqQCV1m-NyWIcC0W7TwwkpzpTje0Nxf9AKAnbc8gIlHxeE9Wie08UKQ92qESgKvL09MInkHMXdAzW7chhCsEpSWPq282BcgfqqH-YPUzl67y0jbbNfmIPsfr643g4D4BQL7iMEDig9--SMekcL4V6/s365/Home_for_the_Holidays_film.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="273" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCOxEYCbUcvMs-4Dx-7ecnc0gxrXIfc2v5-kYXqQCV1m-NyWIcC0W7TwwkpzpTje0Nxf9AKAnbc8gIlHxeE9Wie08UKQ92qESgKvL09MInkHMXdAzW7chhCsEpSWPq282BcgfqqH-YPUzl67y0jbbNfmIPsfr643g4D4BQL7iMEDig9--SMekcL4V6/s320/Home_for_the_Holidays_film.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><p>For six years now, my family of three have watched “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” the night before Thanksgiving. And yeah, it is still a funny and heartfelt as it as always been. Heck, minutes before any given scene or line of dialogue shows up on screen, I’ll find myself laughing at it. Case in point: when that pickup truck driver arrives to drive Steve Martin and John Candy to the train station. <br /><br />The other movie tradition is “Home for the Holidays,” the 1995 film directed by Jodie Foster. Holly Hunter stars as Claudia, a forty-year-old single mom who travels from Chicago back home to Baltimore for Thanksgiving. She’s just lost her job, her sixteen-year-old daughter matter-of-factory announced that she’s planning on sleeping with her boyfriend at her boyfriend’s family house, and she’s just counting the hours until she can get back on the plane and fly home. In between, she has to survive being with her empty nest, retired parents (Anne Bancroft and Charles Durning), her straight-laced, bitter older sister (Cynthia Stevenson), and her hyper, over-the-top, gay younger brother (Robert Downey, Jr.). Tagging along with her brother is Leo (Dylan McDermott) who Claudia assumes is with her brother but is actually there to meet her.<br /><br />The family is dysfunctional and the first time I saw it, that dysfunctionality bothered me. You see, I’m not from that kind of family. I’m an only child of only child parents so growing up, if all the grandparents showed up, there was only seven people in the room. But even when I think about my extended family, I can’t think of any member who doesn’t get along with everyone else. <br /><br />As the years have gone on and I’ve watched some truly wonderful acting, many of the film’s little moments stand out. It could be an off-hand remark Claudia says to her brother or Downey Jr.’s eyebrow raised to say more than words could say or Durning’s chance answering of the phone and hearing his son’s husband on the other end of the line and this straight-laced, old fashioned man summon up the words to congratulate him while softly touching his son’s face. <br /><br />But on Thursday night, another scene just walloped me and I should have saw it coming. Late in the movie, on the morning after Thanksgiving when Claudia has to fly home, she walks down to the basement. There she finds her dad, sitting alone, watching his home movies. There, flickering on the white screen, are the images of his past, his children as kids, and he and his wife as they used to be. The film is made to look like it was shot in the Sixties, with slightly overexposed colors.<br /><br />Her dad, having just experienced the latest in a probably long line of difficult Thanksgiving dinners with his adult children and their families, starts to give his daughter life advice. He recounts a day that he considers one of his best memories. It took place back in 1969 when his family watched as a 727 took off and he and Claudia watched with eyes wide open. They were fearless and that’s his advice to his adult daughter: be fearless and go after Leo.<br /><br />The subtext of that scene is bookended by the home movies and the last words he says that ends the scene: “I wish I had it [that 727 moment] on tape.” Durning is a retired empty nester whose family has grown up, moved away, and changed. He can’t get back what he had, so he’s comforted with memories and home movies. <br /><br />Last year when my family of three watched this movie, my son still lived with us. This year, he returned home from his own apartment to stay with us these few days. My wife and I are empty nesters now, and while that scene of this wonderful movie has not changed, we have. We all three have. Life always moves on.<br /><br />So cherish each and every moment of your life for it won’t ever happen again. And take as many pictures and videos as possible to help you remember. Because one day, we’re all going to find ourselves watching home movies or flipping through a photo album (physical or digital) and remembering our favorite moments of life. <br /><br />And always be fearless. <br /></p>Scott D. Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293540073601809197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440764593580848794.post-19811368376483535912022-11-21T07:00:00.004-06:002022-11-21T07:00:00.165-06:00Mary Robinette Kowal and the Five Words That Sold Me a Novel<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnMczATnAoNVUrC9C0hJ6_He6XOnDpfvdJvla1bHWL-Wc8LwKam1pxpaqSybo3OJVqO_Y-_nKbapzDz1eqh3h_YvhlwTVvVKdIAi3ZAn43LAcOlcM5Jaerexwot1HAWxQckGI30iB_6O0bKn6YyEMl8eada-bcpkFiT_4exp2INvU2hX7p_oUw2VVL/s1920/TheSpareManMaryRobinetteKowal-scaled.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1249" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnMczATnAoNVUrC9C0hJ6_He6XOnDpfvdJvla1bHWL-Wc8LwKam1pxpaqSybo3OJVqO_Y-_nKbapzDz1eqh3h_YvhlwTVvVKdIAi3ZAn43LAcOlcM5Jaerexwot1HAWxQckGI30iB_6O0bKn6YyEMl8eada-bcpkFiT_4exp2INvU2hX7p_oUw2VVL/s320/TheSpareManMaryRobinetteKowal-scaled.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><p>She had me with five words: The Thin Man in space.<br /><br />Still, I hadn’t read the book yet so I honestly waffled over whether or no to attend <a href="https://maryrobinettekowal.com/">Mary Robinette Kowal</a>’s author event promoting her new novel, The Spare Man, at Houston’s Murder by the Book. I ended up saying ‘yes’ and I’m so glad I did. Not only was the event one of the more entertaining I’ve been to, but the writing advice—and the personal advice—was more than I could have expected. <br /><br />Knowing next to nothing about Kowal other than she wrote The Calculating Stars (a book I’ve not read but know it won multiple awards), one of the questions I was going to ask if I got the chance was how she came to be the narrator of her own books. Well, that question never needed asking because soon after her event began, she did a reading. Or, rather, she performed a passage from her new book. She had a narrator voice, a female voice as her main character, and then a good male voice as that character’s husband. Not only was she reading, she acted as well as she could holding up her laptop. Moreover, unlike some narrators who are challenged when speaking for the opposite gender, Kowal does a great male voice. Now that I've started listening to The Spare Man, I can say that not only does she do good male voice, she does multiple ones. I know I'll have a lot of great listening time as I consume her audiobooks.<br /><br />(Speaking of the audiobook of The Spare Man, literally as I'm typing this post (on Thursday), Kowal just posted on Instagram that Audible has named the book one of the Best of the Year.)<br /><br />The folks in the audience were clearly existing fans of Kowal because they asked specific questions almost as if it was a continuation from an earlier speaking event. A curious one was about her cat, Elsie, who, evidentially, can communicate with her. At the live event, Kowal described a panel of buttons in which a word (spoken by Kowal) is activated when Elsie presses the button. It is a fascinating idea and I had to see for myself. There are multiple videos on her Instagram page (<a href="https://www.instagram.com/maryrobinettekowal/">MaryRobinetteKowal</a>) and it's so fun and cool to watch. The funniest story she told to those of us gathered at the bookstore was a time when Elsie pressed the buttons to say "lie down, sleep" and Kowal interpreted that as Elsie wanted a nap. When her cat hadn't joined her on the bed after a few minutes, Kowal investigated and discovered Elsie eating Kowal's sandwich. <br /><br />But this is an author event and the focus turned back to books, the writing of books, and how her experience as a puppeteer helps her create good prose. Using a small stuffed dog--to represent Gimlet, the little dog the two main characters in The Spare Man own (modeled after Nick and Nora Charles's dog Asta in the Thin Man movies)--she explained how puppeteers create emotion with only movement. Her ingrained knowledge of that craft permeates into her fiction as she breaks down the body language her characters show and reassembles them into words. <br /><br />When I rose my hand, I asked her how she came up with the concept of The Spare Man. After all, I told her, she sold me the book in five words. She revealed she often has an elevator pitch to describe her current writing projects because it gives her more focus on what the story's DNA is. Too often, we writers, when asked about a book we've written, start to blather on and on about this character or that setup. It happened to me just a few weeks ago. Having the story's idea condensed to a few sentences at the beginning of a project can sure streamline the writing. I've actually got that in mind on my current work in progress and I'll admit, it's a great idea. <br /><br />If these pleasantries were all that Kowal offered, it would have been worth the trip. But what I wasn't expecting was some excellent writing insight, and it was prompted by a question about NaNoWriMo.<br /><br />Kowal was diagnosed with ADHD at age 49. Like many folks with ADHD--I likely have it although not formally diagnosed--there are moments of hyper focus and then there are other moments when you just can't get things done. One of the reasons why Kowal mentioned she enjoyed NaNoWriMo so much was of four factors: Novel, Interesting, Challenging, and Urgent. <br /><br />In this case, Novel is both the literal novel someone is writing as well as the other meaning of the word, 'new.' Typically, writers who do NaNoWriMo start a brand-new novel in November. Thus, we're all excited. Interesting is self-explanatory. You have to be interested in your story for you to actually write it. Challenging is also self-evident. It is challenging to write a book, but it is even more challenging to do NaNoWriMo which is 50,000 in the 30 days of November (that's 1,667 words per day). I've done it numerous times but I have also failed so I know what it's like to be on both sides. But when you hit the groove, boy is it something. And Urgent. Again, with the 1,667 words-per-day threshold hanging over your head, if you miss a day or two, it can be daunting to catch up. Thus the urgency embedded in NaNoWriMo is a motivating factor.<br /><br />When Kowal mentioned these four things, a light bulb went off in my head. It helped to explain, in part, why I've been so challenged this year in regards to writing. There are other major factors as well, but her short list helped me see myself in a different light. <br /><br />It also made me wish I'd have started NaNoWriMo this year. But there's always next year. <br /><br />In my research on Kowal, I found two immensely helpful posts. One is an interview on the Strange Horizons website entitled "<a href="http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/writing-while-disabled-2/">Writing While Disabled</a>" (2021). In this lengthy interview, Kowal uses her own experiences and diagnoses to explain how she works through her challenges and produces the award-winning works she does. I ended up printing it out and highlighting multiple passages.<br /><br />The second is from her own website (and it's referenced in the interview). In a 2015 post called "<a href="https://maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/sometimes-writers-block-is-really-depression/">Sometimes Writers Block is Really Depression</a>," Kowal describes how her depression knocked her away from writing and the tools (both tech as well as interpersonal) she uses to overcome her challenges. The links she provides might be helpful to some writers who might be struggling.<br /><br />To top off this wonderful author event, in each chair were the best handouts I've ever seen. Here's what she provided.<br /><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUvaW4MP97bBk6vYDpusCR9pHXwDugVDuJwL0XcsJayT4QW0cbYPaxF5geo30r2pNJFppaCgYos9tZgHZBnkCPsxCBlJ3zYHINdt0CCMmQh7ZJAMuh_rKHMPgMr21Ykh6tEv9Vm5NosmE8gB7jRgjofY0ZY3E4vb_YW5C_Emnm-LOn-LkYgSCdQ2AS/s640/The%20Spare%20Man%20Swag.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUvaW4MP97bBk6vYDpusCR9pHXwDugVDuJwL0XcsJayT4QW0cbYPaxF5geo30r2pNJFppaCgYos9tZgHZBnkCPsxCBlJ3zYHINdt0CCMmQh7ZJAMuh_rKHMPgMr21Ykh6tEv9Vm5NosmE8gB7jRgjofY0ZY3E4vb_YW5C_Emnm-LOn-LkYgSCdQ2AS/s320/The%20Spare%20Man%20Swag.jpg" width="320" /></a><br /></p><p><br />That's a "brochure" for the inter-planetery cruise liner the characters in The Spare Man are in. That's Gimlet, by the way. The laminated card on the left is a "baggage tag" while the center one is a "boarding pass" (the number on which was used for a drawing to give away the plush of Gimlet). And, of course, an actual "do not disturb" door hanger (with "service requested" on the back). Seriously, how cool is that? Plus check out the design. It is so 1930s.<br /><br />Mary Robinette Kowal has been on the peripheral of my radar for a few years now, but with The Spare Man, she is firmly in my sights. In fact, I already have my next selection for my science fiction book club already picked. Have a look at <a href="https://maryrobinettekowal.com/">her website</a>. I bet there is something there that you'd like to read. For mystery fans, I'd recommend starting with The Spare Man. <br /><br />I mean, why not. She sold me in five words.<br /><br />How about you?<br /></p>Scott D. Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293540073601809197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440764593580848794.post-34749630159417482702022-11-14T08:00:00.001-06:002022-11-14T08:00:00.173-06:00Do You Re-Read Books?<p>The new Bruce Springsteen album, Only the Strong Survive, was released yesterday. It’s an album of soul and R&B covers, most of which I don’t know. The album is wonderful, brimming over with joy that’ll just make you smile, get up out of your chair, and dance.<br /><br />This new record marks Springsteen’s third album since 2019’s Western Stars (fourth if you include the live, slightly tweaked versions of the Western Stars album) and I know this new one will be one I live with and listen to for months to come.<br /><br />The idea that I’ll be listening to this album over and over got me to thinking about books. The average album more or less lasts around an hour. After sixty minutes, you’ve heard all the songs and then you’re ready to move on or listen again.<br /><br />Books are a different animal. I’m not sure how fast you read, but my reading speed is just average. I’ve never actually timed myself reading a book. Judging by all the audiobooks I listen to via Audible or the Libby app that is tied to my local library, however, many books range from seven hours to ten. Lots of them land in the 8.5-hour range.<br /><br />So, it certainly takes longer to read/listen to a book and you certainly have more “first time” with a brand-new book, but how often do you go back and re-read a book? For me, it’s pretty rare. Usually when I re-read a book, I’m studying how it was written, structured, and marking up the pages with annotations and post-it notes. I’ve done this with The Da Vinci Code and Naked Heat, the second Richard Castle book, but I can’t remember the last time I re-read a book just for fun.<br /><br />What about you? Do you return to favorite books and re-read them?</p>Scott D. Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293540073601809197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440764593580848794.post-38833622855283182712022-11-07T09:00:00.004-06:002022-11-07T09:00:00.157-06:00 Why Do You Not Read Non-Fiction?<p>At my science fiction book club meeting this week, I learned a surprising fact: the other three guys in the group rarely read non-fiction.<br /><br />We’re all middle-aged Gen Xers and we’ve been doing this book club every month for about a dozen years. I followed up, asking them why they don’t read any non-fiction and then wondering how many non-club books they read.<br /><br />To answer my own questions, 2022 has become the Year of the Memoir. Starting with Dave Grohl’s memoir in February and going on up to now with Matthew Perry’s book, I listened to about a half dozen memoirs. They’ve been a nice change of pace from my normal non-fiction selections which are mostly history written by historians. Most of them, including Grohl, Perry, Steve Martin, and Ron and Clint Howard have the audiobooks narrated by the people themselves so that’s an added bonus.<br /><br />On the regular non-fiction side of things, three books stand out. The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman and Watergate: A New History by Garrett Graff got that history itch scratched while James Clear’s Atomic Habits served to give me a template to help my daily life.<br /><br />Beyond the non-fiction, I’m almost always reading another non-club book. That’s where my mystery love is served. In fact, I’m following up my first Leslie Meier book (Back to School Murder) with another seasonal offering: Turkey Day Murder. Throw in magazines, short stories, and a ton of news items and I’m basically always reading something.<br /><br />One of the guys mentioned he reads about 1.5 books a month with the club’s SF book always one of them. He just prefers fiction to non-fiction. Another literally has a stack of books on a bedside table but just doesn’t seem to get to them. His excuse: “too much streaming.” My wife is an avid reader herself—she probably read a book a week in 2021—but her pace slowed this year partly as a result of watching instructional YouTube videos on jewelry making and gemstones so she can improve in her jewelry-making business.<br /><br />One huge reason why I get through so many books is that I’m an avid audiobook listener. I get to listen to a book while in traffic, dusting the house, or going to Trader Joe’s. That does lend itself to having more time to read other things when I’m actually holding my Kindle or a physical book in my hands.<br /><br />And maybe that’s the key. Maybe it’s as simple as audiobooks filling in the gaps of time when we have to do other things—grocery shopping, driving to and from work, cleaning the house—and we can’t sit and read a book. Because sitting and reading a book is and has always been wonderful.<br /><br />But these anecdotal facts got me to wondering: how much non-fiction do you read?<br /></p>Scott D. Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293540073601809197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440764593580848794.post-63852803694115275992022-10-31T08:00:00.004-05:002022-10-31T08:00:00.167-05:00I’m Not a Professional Bookseller But I Kinda Was Last Week<p>I used to work in a bookstore back in the 1990s. It was a Bookstop and I enjoyed many days during my tenure as a professional seller of books.<br /><br />In the late 2000s, I started a blog and began writing reviews of books I had. This included all the crime and mystery books I was introduced to as I started to see just how broad and deep the genre was. In the written word, I go into great detail about the authors’ style, the plots they developed, and how much I enjoyed the book. As an aside, I rarely write about a book I don’t like so if I’m reviewing it, chances are all but certain I loved it.<br /><br />I received lots of comments over the years. Many agreed with my take while other thanked me for letting their authors know about a book that they could add to their To Be Read pile. It always made me feel good to connect readers with books.<br /><br />But there’s something special about doing it in person.<br /><br />Last Sunday, my church had their occasional book fair. These are all used books, most in boxes used to deliver reams of paper, and they run gamut of genres and styles. The folks who are in charge of laying out the books are readers themselves. They collect certain authors—James Patterson, Nora Roberts, Jodi Picoult, David Baldacci, Clive Cussler—in the same box or rolling cart while other authors are collected by genre.<br /><br />An older lady and I had struck up a conversation about mystery books. She already had a small pile she was moving around. Since we were standing right next to the Picoult box, I pointed out that my wife has read all of those books. She thanked me and we parted.<br /><br />With my interest in cozy mysteries now—<a href="https://www.murderbooks.com/cozy-corner-0">thanks Murder by the Book</a>—I was delighted to see one of the rolling carts featured just those books. I happily knelt and started to read the titles. Having just finished my first Leslie Meier book, <a href="http://www.dosomedamage.com/2022/10/my-first-visit-to-tinkers-cove-will-not.html">Back to School Murder</a>, I was hoping I would find one of the Lucy Stone novels.<br /><br />Well, I found one and only one: Back to School Murder. Seriously? I want a different book, something I hadn’t read. But then a lightbulb went off in my head. I grabbed the book and went back to the older lady. She had selected one of the Picoult titles as it was on top of her stack. I literally put Meier’s book in her hands and started to explain the story, the series, and how I had literally just finished reading it the prior week. The lady smiled, seemed pleased that Meier’s catalog was twenty-eight books deep, and added the novel to the top of her stack. She thanked me and I hustled back to the sanctuary to sit in with the orchestra for the second service.<br /><br />That smile was worth me not finding a Meier book. That smile told me Leslie Meier just might have a new reader.<br /><br />Telling people about books is a lifelong joy to me. Telling them in person is even better. </p>Scott D. Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293540073601809197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440764593580848794.post-11991198608061558112022-10-24T08:00:00.002-05:002022-10-24T08:00:00.161-05:00Give Small Businesses a Chance<p>Do you absolutely, positively have to have a brand-new book the day it is published?</p><p>Okay, for some, yes you do. I remember the Harry Potter years when folks would line up to buy a book at midnight. Ditto for many of the best-selling authors I’ve read over the decades.</p><p>But for many of us, our To Be Read pile is so huge that even if we did rush out to a bookstore on publication day, that new book might first find a place on the TBR stack vs. in our hands (even if its place is in the prime position of Next Book.</p><p>Note that so far in this example, I’ve been talking about going to a physical bookstore. What about ordering a book and having it delivered?</p><p>Well, there’s the obvious option: Amazon. If you really wanted to pre-order and book and have it delivered on publication day, Amazon would most likely make that happen for you. The other online book sellers could also fulfill your request and you’d have that brand-new book in your hands the day of release.</p><p>You can have whatever opinion you want on the omnivorous nature of Amazon. I think it’s a great service, and I use it as a writer and a consumer. But as an indie author, I’m aware that there are other options.</p><p>So when, Discipline is Destiny, the latest book from Ryan Holiday was announced, I was all in. Even though I’ve not read them all, I plan to read all of Holiday’s books. They are really good and chock full of great, thought-provoking advice.</p><p>In the days leading up to the book’s publication, Holiday went on social media and let folks know that if they per-ordered the book—from any vendor—you would receive some bonus content. It was in that moment I opted to order direct from Holiday’s website, The Daily Stoic. Why not? I would be supporting a small business. </p><p>When I placed my order, I received a confirmation email with the following. <br /><br />"PS: We appreciate your order and want to remind you that we're a small shop. We use local manufacturers and family-run businesses as our partners here in America. While this means we can feel good about everything we make, it sometimes means that products take a bit longer than expected and creates the occasional logistical issue. We don't have a massive supply chain or a massive team of people working 24/7. It's just us...doing our best...just like you. Thank you and enjoy!"<br /><br />I have enjoyed the book. It’s the new book so there was high demand. Ultimately it took about ten days, but those days were spent finishing another book I was already reading (<a href="http://www.dosomedamage.com/2022/10/my-first-visit-to-tinkers-cove-will-not.html">Back to School Murder</a>) so I didn’t mind at all. And I helped a small business.<br /><br />So, as our attention turns to Christmas shopping, I would like to encourage everyone to support as many small businesses as possible.<br /></p>Scott D. Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293540073601809197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440764593580848794.post-69082625845582264252022-10-17T09:00:00.001-05:002022-10-17T09:00:00.172-05:00My First Visit to Tinker’s Cove Will Not Be the Last<p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsxcXb98ZC6W36KyXpqBMcvaN0ojs0ZTUpfVvxVQsn0oMDCSkwFWmcmDAnNhtoWgb0G7WKLdmmZkQy1I2FonscmZ4YLMFtSKjsRstFR0YJjzBFZ34oZ2bXrK5xXIRMM1dcT3hotBfvVqdpfRCjTBtOS6Ym6wrZYMJ8K2X7cKTF7Rqa9N-QTsasH0Yv/s346/51iykRE-piL._SY346_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="210" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsxcXb98ZC6W36KyXpqBMcvaN0ojs0ZTUpfVvxVQsn0oMDCSkwFWmcmDAnNhtoWgb0G7WKLdmmZkQy1I2FonscmZ4YLMFtSKjsRstFR0YJjzBFZ34oZ2bXrK5xXIRMM1dcT3hotBfvVqdpfRCjTBtOS6Ym6wrZYMJ8K2X7cKTF7Rqa9N-QTsasH0Yv/w121-h200/51iykRE-piL._SY346_.jpg" width="121" /></a></div><p style="text-align: left;">The books of Leslie Meier first popped onto my radar in 2020 when John McDougall of Murder by the Book here in Houston binge read them. But I didn’t read any. Last fall when I searched for a mystery to read during the Halloween season, I saw her name again. Didn’t bite. Even when John selected Easter Bunny Murder earlier this year as part of Murder by the Book’s excellent subscription service [There are 3 options; <a href="https://www.murderbooks.com/murder-box">have a look</a>], I still didn’t start a Meier book.<br /><br />But I have now.<br /><br />I’m a seasonal reader. When it’s summer, I want a summer-type book. Ditto for the holidays, so when September rolled around, I got to think “I bet Leslie Meier has a Labor Day book.” Well, she doesn’t, but she’s got the next best thing as illustrated by the title: Back to School Murder.<br /><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">A Great Marketing Hook</h3><p style="text-align: left;"><br />Starting in 1991 (!) with Mistletoe Murder, nearly every book in the Lucy Stone series revolves around a holiday. Chances are pretty good that you could go through and entire year’s worth of holidays and there’d be a Lucy Stone mystery ready for you. It’s a great marketing strategy and I wonder if Meier had that in mind from the jump or if it was an organic process.<br /><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">A Delightfully Real Protagonist</h3><p style="text-align: left;"><br />Lucy Stone is her amateur detective, but that’s not all she is. In Back to School Murder—published in 1997, it’s the fourth book in the series—she is a forty-year-old woman, wife, and mother of four kids whose ages range from younger high school to toddler. Her husband, Bill, is a carpenter who specializes in restorations.<br /><br />As the story opens, Lucy is filling in (for a friend who is helping her mom with chemo) as a reporter for The Pennysaver, a weekly publication for the small town of Tinker’s Cove. Up until the reporter gig, she is a stay-at-home mom who finds herself at a crossroad of life: is being a mom and wife all there is? The reporter job gives her a glimpse of a life beyond the home and one she puts to good use when a bomb goes off in the school.<br /><br />Yeah, I’ll admit that for a book published in 1991, a bomb in a school struck close to home as I was reading in 2022. But the bomb was only a part of the story. It turns out that one of the teachers, Carol Crane, is seen rescuing a handicapped boy who somehow was not evacuated with the rest of the children. And it’s just in time, for no sooner did all the bystanders see Carol running out of the building that the windows are shattered.<br /><br />Imagine Lucy’s surprise, however, when a few days later—and after a contentious school board meeting in which Carol stepped on a few toes—the news comes in that Carol was murdered in her bed. Now, Lucy the reporter starts to work on the tribute for the paper…and things don’t add up.<br /><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">A Murder in the Middle of Real Life</h3><p style="text-align: left;"><br />Well, like every good amateur sleuth, Lucy starts to look for more information, sifting through new clues, trying to find out more about Carol and her past. But here’s a key aspect of this book: Lucy does all of this around her real life. There were chunks of this book where Meier just followed Lucy in her night school class or dealing with sick children, the mystery not even top of Lucy’s mind.<br /><br />Turns out, I rather enjoyed that aspect of the story. It certainly doesn’t hurt that Lucy Stone is a fun protagonist, a real person, not some super detective or stalwart police officer. She does what most of us would like to think we’d do: keep asking questions. Partly it’s to protect her community, but it’s also to find the truth. I liked it when she was just a mom taking care of the kids. I liked it when she gossiped with her friends. I liked it when real life interfered with her tracking down the killer.<br /><br />In fact, I liked this story so much that I’m already looking for the next holiday so I can return to Tinker’s Cove. And with 28 books, I’ll have many happy visits.<br /><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Funny History Realization</h3><p style="text-align: left;"><br />As an aside, I had to laugh when Lucy’s editor hand carried a floppy disk to the printers so the weekly issue of the Pennysaver could be published. What mad me laugh was my own realization of just how far we’ve come since 1991. When I read a book from the 1940s, for examples, I intrinsically know that there are no cellphones or internet or computers. But somehow, with the somewhat modern setting of this 1991 mystery, I had forgotten that the internet barely existed in that year. And yeah, you couldn’t just email a file to the printer.<br /><br />My how times have changed. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Cozy College</p><p style="text-align: left;">It's been awhile since I wrote about my enrollment in Cozy College. Start <a href="http://www.dosomedamage.com/2021/02/enrolling-in-cozy-college.html">here</a>, then keep going <a href="http://www.dosomedamage.com/search?q=cozy+college">here</a>.<br /></p>Scott D. Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293540073601809197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440764593580848794.post-13999392111787467312022-10-03T08:00:00.003-05:002022-10-03T08:00:00.167-05:00The Surprising Depth of Ted Lasso<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixK9NequrbJ2EPRdvtDL_6rXLkOWQVpz40XZEsQiE--prcWaap3-agJRltSOUQn9gshIh3FnT_aSPKYw6n_J31kRVgCJYjdOq-Rb_4lVo_XrwvMie32GOuOA5wSTwbZGKX6mMfAFAM0LY1C1mwkP6bsuoIXA7C3_maHj8jjr2mUSrwmXvuWgSChyaj/s2610/l.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2610" data-original-width="1740" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixK9NequrbJ2EPRdvtDL_6rXLkOWQVpz40XZEsQiE--prcWaap3-agJRltSOUQn9gshIh3FnT_aSPKYw6n_J31kRVgCJYjdOq-Rb_4lVo_XrwvMie32GOuOA5wSTwbZGKX6mMfAFAM0LY1C1mwkP6bsuoIXA7C3_maHj8jjr2mUSrwmXvuWgSChyaj/w133-h200/l.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>I expected the laughs. I kind of expected some drama. I did not expect the characters and their relationships.<br /><br />The wife and I finally watched both seasons of Ted Lasso, the Jason Sudeikis-fronted program on Apple TV. From the outside, it looked like just a sitcom about an American football coach brought over to England to coach a soccer team with the end goal being to drive said team into the ground. This being the plan of team owner Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham) as a get-back to her ex-husband who left her for a younger woman and loved the team.<br /><br />That might serve as the how-it-started part, but that’s nowhere near where it ended up. By the end of the 22 episodes to date, what we got was a show that could make you crane your ear at the TV to make sure you got the joke a character said in an off-hand manner and then next moment have you mute with emotion, with tears likely rimming your eyes.<br /><br />Each character has a moment to shine, usually in multiple episodes. With Lasso himself, I expected a overly optimistic, shuck kind of guy where nothing much phases him. That’s certainly Lasso’s exterior, but on more than one occasion, Sudeikis lays bare the coach and reveals him to be a man who hides much behind his veneer of happiness.<br /><br />That’s not to say his joy isn’t contagious. It was fun to watch his outlook on life wash over all the people in which he comes into contact, ultimately making them better people. Or more real, if you want to get down with the truth of this show.<br /><br />There are so many things you could say about each character and after I watched the last episode, I got on the internet to read some.<br /><br />Pro Tip: Never go on the internet when you are catching up on an existing show unless you want spoilers. I learned that lesson long ago and now I watch all my TV shows without my phone in my hand. Well, unless I’m watching the live broadcast of SyFy’s Resident Alien because the cast live tweets and they are hilarious and engaging. (But even then, I put the phone down during the show itself.)<br /><br />But as much as I enjoyed each character’s moments in the spotlight, what I really appreciated was the depth of their relationships with each other. How great is team owner Rebecca and model/publicist Keeley Jones (Juno Temple). On screen, it’s like their sisters who only discovered each other in adulthood. Unlike other shows where these two might be pitted against each other for, say, to get the same guy, Keeley and Rebecca come to really love each other. They bolster each other when one is feeling down and there’s nary a mean things said between. Super refreshing.<br /><br />The group of guys surrounding Lasso are also great to see on camera. Dubbed the Diamond Dogs, they consist of Lasso, assistant coach Beard (yup, the character’s real name and not just because actor Brendan Hunt sports facial hair), Director of Football Operations Leslie Higgins (Jeremy Swift), and Nathan Shelley (Nick Mohammed), the guy who went from being a kit manager to an assistant coach. They also keep things together between them and, most importantly, allow themselves to be vulnerable with each other.<br /><br />By the end of the second season, I found myself thinking about the show over and over while mowing the lawn or commuting to work. The stories, the characters, the depth just stayed with me. Like <a href="http://scottdparker.blogspot.com/2022/08/the-surprising-humanity-of-resident.html">I wrote about in a review of Resident Alien</a> a few weeks ago, I’m just glad there are shows like Ted Lasso that demonstrate you can have a light and funny show while still delivering the depth and nuance you might only think exists in dramas.<p></p><p>There's a reason so many people respond to this show. <br /></p>Scott D. Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293540073601809197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440764593580848794.post-80240007271074005472022-09-16T16:45:00.006-05:002022-09-19T07:10:11.801-05:00I Finally Saw Clerks III<p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Eu0M9w46qzyMyALF9ErC5ZqRQL7Vl79JcMh4qyMh3612FYDIbmvso23TRsWzPb08ToThtFng8J75otm7pwqcWRnjpA4xv-UluNniWEdvLUomSNqt5H-t-2jXFFEFtPqtUt7wIPb2NvCFtI-zygYa7bQ4PiCMXAskjvCf7KCYlbgqOnTZ1qBIAM_kmw/s370/Clerks_III.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="250" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Eu0M9w46qzyMyALF9ErC5ZqRQL7Vl79JcMh4qyMh3612FYDIbmvso23TRsWzPb08ToThtFng8J75otm7pwqcWRnjpA4xv-UluNniWEdvLUomSNqt5H-t-2jXFFEFtPqtUt7wIPb2NvCFtI-zygYa7bQ4PiCMXAskjvCf7KCYlbgqOnTZ1qBIAM_kmw/w135-h200/Clerks_III.jpg" width="135" /></a></div>What did you expect from Kevin Smith, a man living on borrowed time?<br /><br />Back in the summer of 2019, I set out to watch every Kevin Smith film leading up to the release of Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. It was a fantastic experience where <a href="http://scottdparker.blogspot.com/2019/08/i-finally-watched-kevin-smiths-films.html">I wrote about the movies as I watched them</a>, watched no trailers ahead of seeing the film (leading to a shocker in Jersey Girl), and then <a href="http://scottdparker.blogspot.com/2019/10/i-finally-ranked-all-of-kevin-smiths.html">ranked my favorite films</a>, <a href="http://scottdparker.blogspot.com/2019/10/favorite-performances-in-kevin-smith.html">performances</a>, and <a href="http://scottdparker.blogspot.com/2019/11/top-10-favorite-scenes-of-kevin-smith.html">scenes</a>.<br /><br />Being the pop culture geek that I am, folks are surprised to learn that I only started watching Smith’s films 2019. Up until then, he was only a podcaster (and that only since 2012). So I’m watching all of these films as a guy in his early fifties rather than the younger person I was had I watched these movies in real time. As a result, they strike me differently (<a href="http://scottdparker.blogspot.com/2019/10/i-finally-ranked-all-of-kevin-smiths.html">just look at my favorite Smith film</a>), yet I suspect Clerks III will affect many of Smith’s fans in a poignant way.<br /><br /><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Where We Left Off</h3><p style="text-align: left;"><br />At the end of <a href="http://scottdparker.blogspot.com/2019/09/i-finally-watched-clerks-ii.html">Clerks II (2006)</a>, Dante (Brian O'Hallaran) and Randel (Jeff Anderson) had steered their lives full circle and purchased the Quick Stop convenience store, the setting of Clerks. Dante finally realized he loved Becky (Rosario Dawson) and opted to stay with her, especially since she is pregnant with his child. “Today is the first day of the rest of your life,” quipped Randal as the camera panned back, shifted to black and white, to the wonderful Soul Asylum song, “Misery.”<br /><br />Little did we know how much misery was in store for our pair of clerks.<br /><br />Spoilers from here on out.<br /><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Where We Pick Up</h3><p style="text-align: left;"><br />Just like the first two films, Dante opens the Quick Stop, complete with gum in the padlock. The warm feelings you get from seeing this family setting are immediately doused with water when you see an obituary on the counter: Becky, Dante’s fiancée from Clerks II, died. Not only that, but she died in 2006, the year the film was released. What the hell? What about the happy ending we got at the end of II?<br /><br />Well, there was an ending to that movie, but life went on. And life can throw you curveballs, something Smith himself knows all too well. Back in 2018, after the first of two shows, Smith experienced a heart attack, a widow-maker, the kind of heart attack only 20% of people survive. Smith survived and changed his life, his diet, and his vision of life. He’s living on borrowed time, he says, something that Randal comes around to as well as he survives a similar heart attack.<br /><br />Unlike Smith (who had an established body of work by 2018), Randal laments what he’s made of his life. “You saved my life,” he tells Dante. “I just wish I had a life worth saving.” These two friends—hetero life mates—love each other (in a total hetero way) and Randal gets the idea to make a movie about the life of a clerk at a convenience store. Naturally, he centers the movie on himself, and he uses all of his experiences (i.e., the events of Clerks and Clerks II) as grist for his mill. Then, just like Smith did in real life, the process of making a movie commences.<br /><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Making the Movie Within the Movie</h3><p style="text-align: left;"><br />There are lots of in-jokes and familiar nods and winks back to earlier Clerks films and other Smith movies during the middle part of Clerks III. I probably missed a few but I got the gist of them all. They’re all fun Easter eggs for long-time fans.<br /><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Heart of the Story, Part 1: Dante and Becky</h3><p style="text-align: left;"><br />It’s one thing to see Becky’s obituary on the counter. It’s quite another when you see Dante heading through a graveyard and you know exactly what’s about to happen. But I guarantee you might not be prepared for the emotional reaction to the ‘talking to a tombstone’ scene, especially when Dante talks with Becky’s spirit. It is here we learn the true cause of Becky’s death: a drunk driver. Dante tells Becky he’s stuck, that he can’t go on in life, but she tries to redirect him. She tries to get him to understand that he’s still living, that he still has a chance to do anything he wants. It is simultaneously heartbreaking and inspirational, and Brian O’Hallaran does some great acting here, the kind of acting that comes from living with a character for nearly thirty years. Sure, it’s only been three movies, but O’Hallaran is pretty much synonymous with Dante for me and a lot of other people.<br /><br />Dante and Becky have three total scenes together and you get banged over the head with one of Smith’s central themes: life throws you curve balls. You can let them knock you off course, but if you don’t reset, you will wallow in misery, despair, and melancholy. Up until the events of this movie, that’s where Dante’s been for sixteen years.<br /><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Heart of the Story, Part 2: Dante and Randal</h3><p style="text-align: left;"><br /><a href="http://scottdparker.blogspot.com/2019/09/i-finally-watched-clerks-ii.html">I wrote in my review of Clerks II</a> about the surprise I felt when I saw how Smith broadened and deepened the relationship between Dante and Randal. This pair of decades-long friends truly love and care for each other. In this movie, you see it on Dante’s face when Randal is rushed to the hospital. You see it on Randal’s face later on in the movie, but that doesn’t mean they don’t bare their souls to each other. Randal had a fantastic scene in Clerks II, so it’s Dante’s turn in Clerks III.<br /><br />Brian O’Hallaran and Jeff Anderson might not get a lot of attention in the acting community but they both knocked it out of the park in this movie. Randal turned his speech from Clerks on its head with his new outlook on life, but it’s Dante’s monologue in the Quick Stop that resonates. It is raw, laying bare the agony he’s endured in the years since Becky died. He had his happily ever after but it was ripped away. When Randal counters with “I almost died,” Dante retorts with “Some of us did die.” O’Hallaran delivers these lines as if he endured Dante’s life personally. This scene will find a place on the list of my all-time favorite Smith scenes, but I wasn’t expecting what happened next.<br /><br />Dante falls victim to a heart attack.<br /><br />Now, you might roll your eyes at that, but it was foreshadowed earlier in the film. And it compelled Randal to reexamine the type of movie he was making. He realized Dante, not Randal himself, who was the star of the film. He quickly re-cut the movie on his computer and showed it to a bedridden Dante. Then, you see all the old scenes from Clerks, but you also see a present-day Dante in a movie theater watching the movie, a wistful smile on his face. A hand reaches out and takes his. It’s Becky. And it’s then you realize that if Becky and Dante are holding hands, Dante himself is dying.<br /><br />And he does. There are a lot of good last lines in movies, but for Dante, his final words are incredibly poignant. When Becky asks if he wants to stay and watch the rest of the movie, he replies with utter calmness and pride: “I trust the director.”<br /><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Overturning of a Famous Quote</h3><p style="text-align: left;"><br />I’m not sure how many of the folks in my theater were crying when Dante died, but I sure was. Heck, my voice broke a couple of times when I later told my wife the events of the story. Yes, I cry at a lot of things, but these movies and these characters, even over just three years, have come to represent something. I think lots of fiftysomething folks, guys especially, find pieces of themselves in the lives of Dante and Randal.<br /><br />But leave it to Kevin Smith to take one of his most famous quotes and change it. A running gag in Clerks was that Dante came into work on his day off. To just about everyone, he kept lamenting that “I’m not supposed to be here today.”<br /><br />Now, in Clerks III, at Dante’s funeral, it’s Randal looking down at his friend’s coffin for the last time and he laments that he [Dante] isn’t even supposed to be here [at his own funeral] today.<br /><br />That’s a fantastic piece of storytelling.<br /><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Closing Voiceover</h3><p style="text-align: left;"><br />As the credits rolled to the deep baritone voice of John Gorka singing “I’m from New Jersey,” the music faded out and Smith returned. He talked about how immensely happy he was to have made this third clerks film and to the career he’s had. But he goes on to reveal a little bit of a scene that didn’t make the movie. It was a voiceover of a 90-year-old Randal Graves reflecting on his own life and all the movies he made after his celebrated debut, “Clerk.” “I always thought that jobs would have been great if it weren’t for the f*cking customers. But as it turns out, these jobs are great because of the f*cking customers.” Smith return and sums it all up. “He [Randal] means it, and so do I. Thank you to everybody who ever walked through that door of that store and made me think ‘Somebody ought to put this in a f*cking movie.’ Somebody did. Thank you.”<br /><br />Thank you, Kevin Smith, for making movies like this. I may have been super late to the party, but I’m so glad I joined.<br /><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Verdict</h3><p style="text-align: left;"><br />Clerks III is a good film with some outstanding moments that should resonate with its audience long after the credits fade to black. It still has some cringe-worthy moments, but none like the donkey stuff in Clerks II. But it is utterly fascinating to watch this film (actually all three Clerks films) about two characters at different stages of their lives by a filmmaker in those same stages. It’s not quick like Richard Linklater’s Boyhood (in which he filmed an actor over a decade actually growing up) but it’s in the same spirit. <br /><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Ranking</h3><p style="text-align: left;"><br />Back in 2019, right before I actually watched Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, I ranked all the films. After Reboot, I ended up putting it at number 4. I have honestly only seen Reboot one time—during the tour when Kevin and Jay were on hand to take questions—so I’ll have to go back and watch it again. But Clerks III is going to be side-by-side with Reboot. Both deal with getting older and becoming more sentimental, but in different ways. I might give the edge to Clerks III for its ultimately inspirational theme that no matter how old you are, it's never too late to try something new.<br /><br />In terms of scenes, the Dante and Randal fight and subsequent Dante monologue in the Quick Stop is one of the best written by Smith and acted by O'Hallaran and Anderson. Dante’s scene with Becky at her gravesite is also right up there. And the short moment at end, with Dante and Becky, also ranks as one of the best moments and lines in all of Smith’s films. <br /></p>Scott D. Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293540073601809197noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440764593580848794.post-7241722177218288132022-09-05T08:00:00.002-05:002022-09-05T08:00:00.170-05:00Getting Through The Writer’s Drought<p>Remember back on Memorial Day when I <a href="http://www.dosomedamage.com/2022/05/the-great-summer-writing-season.html">wrote a post</a> about The Great Summer Writing Season? I said that in the 97 days between Memorial Day and Labor Day 2022, if you keep up a decent writing habit, you can get a book written or a number of short stories.<br /><br />How’d you do? <br /><br />Better than me, I hope, because I failed. Badly.<br /><br />And the thing is, I’m not sure why, but there were a number of factors, the primary one is the change in the house. My son moved out of the house in July, heading out for his junior year in college. I was not prepared for the emotional wallop that event delivered. In the days and weeks before he moved out in late July, our family centered on being together and a series of Lasts. In the days and weeks since, we’ve experienced a series of Firsts. All of those things churned through the emotions and the end result was a shift of focus.<br /><br />Then there was the reading (and listening) of books, comics (and audiobooks). I don’t know about you but I have seasons (not the best word but I’ll go with it) with my reading. I’m always reading something but sometimes, the desire to read more and more things consumes my attention. Couple that with the limited amount of time I have to write and/or read and as the summer progressed, I found myself opting to open a book a read in those precious minutes before work rather than writing. The thing was, I didn’t mind.<br /><br />The reading material was not all fiction or comics either. I ended up on a run of self-help, creativity books. Having read the first <a href="https://stevenpressfield.com/">Steven Pressfield</a> creativity book, The War of Art, I kept going with Turning Pro and Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants To Be. Both short volumes had great nuggets that subtly began to shift some of the ground beneath my feet and started edging me to getting back into a writing habit. I mean, the title of that third book pretty much says it, right?<br /><br />But it was the concepts and philosophy behind James Clear’s <a href="https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits">Atomic Habits</a> that really did the trick. I’m a latecomer to Clear’s book but I picked it up in July and began reading it, annotating it, and compiling my own set of notes and takeaways from this excellent book. I highly recommend it (a couple of folks in my office are now reading it). It’s kind of put some guidelines around this new life my wife and I find ourselves in: empty nesters. It’s a big change, to be sure.<br /><br />One of the crucial ideas Clear makes, um, clear, is that to start a habit, you have to make it easy. If you leave the dental floss out on the counter next to your toothbrush, then you’ll be more likely to floss when you brush. If you have a desire to become more physically fit, start with something so easy—like one push up—that the barrier is basically nonexistent.<br /><br />This applies to writing as well. And, truth be told, I pretty much wrote the same thing back in May, but somewhere along the summer of 2022, I forgot it. That is write whatever you can in the time you have per day. Don’t get hung up on striving for a certain word count—at least if you are getting back into the habit.<br /><br />That’s where I am now: getting back into the habit. I have a project I’m actively working so that’s a nice on ramp to the writer’s superhighway and I’m taking it.<br /><br />I hope your summer writing season was productive, but here’s an important thing to understand: if it wasn’t, that’s okay. We can’t always be on all the time. Droughts happen. I’ve been through a few myself and I’ve come to learn that they will pass. It’s better to just get through them—enjoying whatever it is that’s taking you away from writing—so you can be supercharged on the other side and hit the writing with a renewed sense of optimism and excitement. <br /></p>Scott D. Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293540073601809197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440764593580848794.post-88395180989067266442022-08-29T08:00:00.002-05:002022-08-29T08:00:00.151-05:00 What Do You Do With Your Book Annotations?<p>I write in my books.<br /><br />There, I said it. Ever since I can remember, I read my school books with pens or pencils or highlighters to mark passages and help me learn them for exams or papers. Heck, I’d often read magazines with a ballpoint pen and underlining special lines of text or ripping out pages that had recipes.<br /><br />As I started writing and publishing in earnest, I eventually started reading fiction with a pencil in my had. For this, it’s almost always pencil. I actually like the sound and feel of a pencil scraping across the pages and I’m underlining a particular good turn of phrase. <br /><br />I have also been known to markup books as I break them down and try to figure out why, say, Dan Brown’s prose seems so effortless or how a Clive Cussler novel was structured. It’s like homework, but, you know, fun homework.<br /><br />When ebooks popped into my life, I kept up the practice. What’s nice about the Kindle Paperwhite is that you can go into your own account via a browser and see your annotations and, most importantly, copy and paste them into a word file.<br /><br />Why? So I can have my own personal reference notes for anything I read.<br /><br />But for those of you who write in your books, what do you do about all those annotations? I recently finished a trio of similarly themed books: two by Steven Pressfield (Turning Pro and Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be) and Atomic Habits by James Clear. All three of these books are fantastic and are chock full of great action items.<br /><br />I marked up Clear’s book a LOT. I bought the physical copy of all three of these books and now it’s time for my next step of archiving my annotations.<br /><br />I dictate my notes and passages from the book into a text file via my iPhone.<br /><br />I strictly use a text file on the phone mainly because I don’t want to mess with formatting. I just want the words. Later, I’ll copy the plain text into a word file and apply some formatting like chapter headings and sub-headings. Since Clear uses a few charts and diagrams, I’ll also likely snap photos and insert them into the word file.<br /><br />That might sound like a lot of effort, but I find that (a) I don’t mind and (b), it enables me to digest the content at least three times. The first is when I read it. The second is when I dictate the text, and the third is when I format it. And, yes, old-fashioned person that I am, I will also likely print it out and keep it in the book. I also keep the digital copy in a Dropbox file so that I can access the content wherever and whenever I am. <br /><br />Anybody else do something like this? <br /></p>Scott D. Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293540073601809197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440764593580848794.post-6553262438202433502022-08-22T09:00:00.002-05:002022-08-22T09:00:00.162-05:00The Surprising Humanity of Resident Alien<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeRz0ybRuk1W5IJAjYONA_6njwV7lSQivNhtwGj_BsXD5h8ITxf_1lnLH9JTk5e11YhsKzH6DY3wIpFlCHiYYrJK47L5a_Byn0dIGz9PiS_XUFXaT72iLu-oEYg3PgmLuzcivjsdTKVYfN08uV3FK2t3UQmaJMm0NJLhBZMkQGiv9Rk7CE8AMK-NaT/s714/resident.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="714" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeRz0ybRuk1W5IJAjYONA_6njwV7lSQivNhtwGj_BsXD5h8ITxf_1lnLH9JTk5e11YhsKzH6DY3wIpFlCHiYYrJK47L5a_Byn0dIGz9PiS_XUFXaT72iLu-oEYg3PgmLuzcivjsdTKVYfN08uV3FK2t3UQmaJMm0NJLhBZMkQGiv9Rk7CE8AMK-NaT/s320/resident.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I really enjoy being surprised by stories and characters.
<p class="MsoNormal">I started watching the TV show Castle because of
the premise and Nathan Fillion, but over time realized that Stana
Katic’s Beckett was a deeply emotional character that arguably <a href="http://scottdparker.blogspot.com/2019/03/castle-ten-year-appreciation.html">had the biggest character arc of the entire series</a>. John Scalzi’s
novel Redshirts was advertised as a Star Trek parody but ended up
<a href="http://scottdparker.blogspot.com/2012/09/book-review-club-redshirts-by-john.html">delivering an emotional ending</a> so vivid that on the day I finished the
story, I couldn’t even talk through the ending to my wife without
breaking down.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Add to this list the TV show Resident Alien on the
Syfy Channel (still dislike that styling). Billed as a starring vehicle
for Alan Tudyk, Resident Alien follows Tudyk’s alien character as he
crashes in a small Colorado today. He assumes
the physical form of the town doctor—Harry Vanderspeigle, a human who
does not survive—and attempts to go about his mission to destroy all
humans. In the process, however, he meets and interacts with the
residents of Patience, Colorado, and learns what it
means to be human and all the messiness therein.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let’s be honest: Tudyk is a gifted actor who can
make you laugh so hard you’ll stomach will ache. A great example of this
is the movie “Death at a Funeral,” the original British version. Here,
Tudyk’s Harry has an odd way to “smiling,”
a childlike wonder at the world, a love of “Law and Order,” and a
penchant of saying exactly what he’s thinking without any nuance. In
every episode, there will be moments that will definitely make you laugh
out loud.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A show like this might need someone of Tudyk’s
caliber to get it greenlit, but the supporting cast is what makes the
difference, and in Resident Alien, the cast is wonderfully just…normal.
And human.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sara Tomko plays Asta Twelvetrees, a Native
American nurse who works with Tudyk’s Henry very close. She’s a town
native—nearly all the characters are, a trait that plays into the
interactions—who gave up her daughter when she got pregnant
in high school, the father being a pretty abusive guy. That decision
haunts Asta as it would anyone, which is especially hard when the
daughter is now in high school herself.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Asta’s best friend, D’Arcy Bloom (Alice
Wetterlund), owns the town bar after a skiing accident at the Olympics
derailed her career. She’s a borderline alcoholic who so often makes the
wrong decisions that you basically think her lot in
life is already cast. She thinks that, too, so when she interacts with
everyone, there’s general assumption D’Arcy will just always choose
wrong.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sheriff Mike Thompson (Corey Reynolds) and Deputy
Liv Baker (Elizabeth Bowen) provide a steady dose of comedy (just in
case you think I’m only zeroing in on the everyday drama). Mike’s a
veteran cop from Washington, DC, who left the big
city for the small town after his partner was killed. He often doesn’t
have the right ideas but hides that fact behind over-the-top bluster.
Liv is basically ignored by Mike even though she has her brain in the
police game and is often correct about the central
mystery of the story: what really happened to the real Harry and why
are the government officials snooping around. Bowen deadpan delivery,
laced with a real-world resignation that she knows she’s too good for
the department but doesn’t know how or where to
move.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The mayor is a young Ben Hawthorne (Levi Fiehler), a
slight man who likes to make candles and takes a backseat in nearly
everything and from everyone, especially his more dominant wife, Kate
(Meredith Garretson). He dated D’Arcy when they
were in school together and Kate sometimes wonders if there’s still a
spark.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There a pair of child actors work mentioning as
well. Judah Prehn plays Max Hawthorne, the only child of the mayor and
his wife. He and his best friend, Sahar, (Gracelyn Awad Rinke) can see
Tudyk’s true alien form. Initially they’re scared
but soon some to realize they can get things just by threatening Henry.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This may seem like a lot but the story lines are
woven pretty well. There is the overarching story of Tudyk’s true
mission and which humans ultimately come to know the truth. That’s
almost always played for laughs and the laughs are full
and genuine. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But it’s the small moments that makes this show
rise above others and shine, and this week’s episode was a great
example. Asta did a thing that tormented her so Harry used his alien
ability and wiped her memory of the incident. The ripple
effect meant she missed not only that memory but other things as well,
things that hurt others. It was then that Asta told Harry that
everything humans experienced, the good as well as the bad, is equally
important. For Harry, he’d just as well just be happy,
yet that’s not always possible.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">D’Arcy’s actions the past few episodes,
relationship-wise, were like walking on thin ice. Would she keep making
the bad decision and self-sabotaging her life? That’s what she’s always
done and there was a moment in this week’s episode when
she fell back into the same habit. She had a moment of reflection and
made her choice.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Lastly, there was a recurring theme of death,
specifically end-of-life. Henry doesn’t understand it and wants to just
have it happen away from him. But as a doctor, he needed to be with a
dying man who told Henry how good his long life
was and how ready he was to see his deceased wife. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Within the span of about ten minutes of the
episode, I went from laughing and literally holding my sides to wiping
away the sting of tears.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That’s the kind of show Resident Alien is because that’s the way life is. This is a great show and I highly recommend it.<br /></p>Scott D. Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15293540073601809197noreply@blogger.com0