Errol Flynn and Cinda Chima

Two things you should really check out if you are a fantasy/old-timey action lover are Errol Flynn films, and Cinda Chima's Seven Realms Series.

Errol Flynn is probably best known for his brilliant portrayal of Robinhood, in the 1937 "The Adventures of Robinhood," but he has a number of good pirate films, "Captain Blood," and "The Sea Hawk" to name a couple. The 1937 "The Prince & the Pauper" is also a marvelous film. He doesn't star in it, but it's a great movie. It's also one of the few films I know of that actually has twins in it. No camera tricks to make one person look like two, these boys are really identical twins, and they're good actors too. So if you want to see some good action/adventure films in which you don't get bombarded with stupid explosions every five seconds, then take a lot at some of these older films. They are very compelling, mostly b/c they rely on strong characters, as opposed to special FX, to tell their stories.

As for Cinda Chima, I have absolutely no idea why she isn't more popular. She's out there, right now, and her books are very good. She has strong, fascinating characters who manage not to fall into every single cliche fantasy trope, though she does use some... that doesn't bother me too much. I'm picky... but overall her writing is quite good. She also manages to avoid the broad brush villain/hero problem that plagues so many modern writers. She has characters who exist on the margins, between good and evil, and it is nice to see that. I only wish she were more popular. I really wish someone would make films of her stories. While The Hunger Games explodes, these stories still seem to languish in obscurity, and in my opinion The Hunger Games is truly awful when you look at it closely. It again, like Harry Potter, promotes a bad sense of morality, and just feeds into the gore-fest it purports to be against. No. It's the same good vs. evil story we've heard time and again. It is time we move on and recognize that all people are more complex than that, and Cinda Chima provides this in her stories. I can't wait for the final book in this series, although at the same time I wish it weren't the last one.

Also... that girl in the Hunger Games... she FAILS at being Robinhood... the main female character in Cinda Chima's books, Raisa, succeeds at her Robinhood-esque endeavor.

So PLEASE!!! I call upon you, Fantasy lovers!!! Help support Cinda Chima. :) Also does anybody out there want me to blog about my fantasy writing?

Poop Power Saves the World!!! :)

Our current primary source of energy is actually really old biomass from ancient swamps that had dense foilage. I am talking of course about oil. 

But why drill for oil? It is costly, dangerous, and has the potential to cause huge spills like the recent one in... just name a place they happen frequently. Is oil carbon neutral, of course not. Is it cheap, well maybe in dollars, but overall it is killing us. So why do we continue to use oil, and coal, dirty sources of fuel that pollute our air, and water. We cannot get rid of this pollution. The only effective way to suck up Co2 is to contain it within plants, and I don’t mean the nuclear kind. 

All green plants use Co2 and contain it as part of their biomass. Animals, such as human beings, dogs, cats, etcetera also contain carbon in our bodies. However, a lot of this fuel cannot be used by our bodies, and so we excrete it in the form of exhalation, and excretion of urine and fecal matter. 

Poop is everywhere. We already have sewage plants for treatment of waste, why not add a little conversion into electricity? Finally, and at long last a renewable and clean energy source. Why has it taken us so long to discover it? Poop works. In total environmental impact something we think of as dirty is actually a cleaner form of energy than solar, wind, hydroelectric, nuclear, oil, and fracking (natural gas extraction from deep underground), none of which are truly carbon neutral. We know about the dangers of fracking, drilling for oil, burning and mining coal, but we don't talk much about the total environmental cost of things... a lot b/c down the line it gets very complex. Solar and Wind are efficient, but not carbon neutral. Wind is generally difficult, mostly because wind is hard to calculate and areas with the correct amount of wind are very few.

Solar is fairly available as the sun is everywhere... all our energy comes from the sun anyway... but the way we are able to harness that energy is still not as efficient as it would need to be to be carbon neutral, and a lot of it has to do with storing energy. It is hard to store electricity, and batteries are not good for the environment. Solar panels also require mining to produce. 

Nuclear power is not carbon neutral yet. It could be if we went all nuclear, but... where would we put all those horrible, toxic chemicals? ICK... more horrible pollution.

What about hydroelectric? That seems clean... but it isn't good for the environment either. There are few places to put big dams, like the Hoover Dam... and if you put up such a dam it has huge consequences for the plant and animal life in the area that could on a large scale be totally detrimental to other species, and humans of course.

So how can poop save us from ecological ruin without sending back to the dark ages... not the literal dark ages, but the ages pre-electricity, etcetera.

Well it's simple, actually, we already have infrastructure we can modify to create massive amounts of biogas and hydroelectric fuel from sewage. We could probably also add in other waste, if properly managed, such as the stuff in your green garbage can, and waste from your precious pooch, or cat, and animal waste products from farming. Big companies like Google, Microsoft, and L’Oreal are already investing in this new technology. So let’s take a trip back to our childhood and remember that everybody poops, and that poop can be used to cleanly power our computers, heat our homes, and get us to all the places we want to go without choking our planet with Co2 emissions, without dangerous and limiting mining, without the horrifying dangers of nuclear plants, and without killing our rivers. We could fairly easily convert sewers to generate hydroelectric power on its way to being treated, and refined into biofuels without adding more pollution to our environment. So I ask you... why do you think people are resisting this? Is it because they are ignorant about it? Is it because they still think of poop as being dirty? You tell me. 

HISTORY!!! YOU ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT IT!!!

Some facts of history we all need to know:


Fact one: America was founded on the values system established during the ENLIGHTENMENT PERIOD, and the Founding Fathers did know their history. They knew about the hundreds to thousands of years of viscious wars in Europe and the Middle East because of RELIGION. They knew that tying RELIGION to POLITICS was not just a BAD IDEA... it was a CATASTROPHIC IDEA. 


I am somewhat encouraged to see that the Republican Party in America currently seems to be disintegrating from the inside out. 


Here is Fact two: Republicans do not seem to understand that in terms of actual ideological beliefs, Mr. Lincoln was basically a democrat of today. Of course, they do not care about facts, though. 


Fact three: The "official" motto of the US, "In God We Trust," was established VERY RECENTLY... in 1956, actually... we had another motto before this, a much MUCH wiser one, "E Pluribus Unum," which means "Out of many, one." This motto was never adopted as "official," but it was used very widely. Frankly, I cannot stand how our country is becoming so religiously oriented. IT'S DANGEROUS!!! Now I will quote Mel Brooks, 
"The inquistion 
Let's begin
The inquistion 
Look out sin
We have a mission 
To convert the Jews 
(Jew ja Jew ja Jew ja Jews)
We're gonna teach 
Them wrong from right
We're gonna help 
Them see the light
And make an offer 
That they can't refuse 
(That the Jews just can't refuse)

Confess (confess, confess)
Don't be boring
Say yes (say yes, say yes)
Don't be dull

A fact 
You're ignoring 
It's better to lose 
Your skullcap 
Than your skull

The inquistion, what a show
The inquistion, here we go
We know you're wishing
That we'd go away
But the Inquistion's here 
And it's here to stay 
The inquistion, oh boy
The inquistion, what a joy
The inquistion, oy oy

I was sitting 
In a temple
I was minding 
My own business
I was listening 
To a lovely Hebrew mass
Then these papus 
Persons plunge in 
And they throw me in a 

Dungeon, and they shove 
A red hot poker up my ass

Is that considerate?
Is that polite?
And not a tube 
Of Preparation H in sight

I'm sitting 
Plicking chickens 
And I'm looking 
Through the pickings 

And suddenly these guys 
Bring down my balls
I didn't even know them 
And they grabbed me 
By the scrotum and 

They started 
Playing ping pong 
With my balls

Oy, the agony
Ooh, the shame
To make 
My privates public 
For a game

The inquistion, what a show
The inquistion, here we go
We know you're wishing
That we'd go away
But the inquistion's here 
And it's here to 

Hey, Torquemada 
Whaddaya say?
I just got back 
From the auto-da-fé
Auto-da-fé 
What's an auto-da-fé?
It's what you oughtn't 
To do but you do anyway

Skit skat voodely 
Vat tootin de day

Will you convert?
No, no, no, no
Will you confess?
No, no, no, no
Will you revert?
No, no, no, no
Will you say yes?
No, no, no, no

Now I ask in a nice way 
I said pretty please 
I bent their ears 

Now I'll work on their knees

Hey, Torquemada 
Walk this way
We got a little game 
That you might wanna play
So pull that handle 
Try your luck
Who knows, Torq 
You might win a buck
Alright

Put it in the car 
(In the car 2x)

How we doing? 
Any converts today?
Not a one, nay, nay, nay
We've flattened 
Their fingers
We branded their buns
Nothing is working
Send in the nuns

The Inquistion, what a show
The Inquistion, here we go
We know you're wishing
That we'd go away
So, c'mon you Moslems 
And you Jews
We got big news 
For all of yous
You better change 
Your point of views today
'Cause the inquistion's here 
And it's here to stay"

So all of you who think Religion and Politics belong together, like Man and Wife, how would you like to be tortured to death for not believing in the magical sky god that loves you and hates you at the same time? 

JOBS! JOBS! JOBS!

It seems like everyone keeps saying things like "the economy is getting worse," and people are starting to believe it... BAD... the economy is GETTING BETTER, and we cannot sacrifice our long term morals and happiness for a minimal short term boost in jobs.

Here's a little song that I think we need to start singing together (parody of the song "Girl Watcher," which I do not own, nor claim to own):

     I'm a trust buster
     I'm a trust buster
     Waving trusts goodbye
     My, my, my

     I'm a trust buster

     I'm a trust buster

     There goes one now

     Mmmm, mmm, mmm

     I was just a boy

     When I threw away my toys

     I found a new pastime

     To dwell on

     Whenever I detect

     Members of a monopoly

     I play the game I do so well, oh

     I'm a trust buster

     I'm a trust buster

     Waving trusts goodbye

     My, my, my

     I'm a trust buster

     I'm a trust buster

     There goes one now

     

     Hello there, rich man

     My, My, I really want to ban

     Those shady deals

     All through Congress

     I wonder if you know

     That you're gonna lose real soon

     In shady deals

     I'll surely catch you

     I'm a trust buster

     I'm a trust buster

     There goes one now

     Mmm, mmm, mmm

Tax... man this stinks...

I am not for the Republican Party. You must have guessed that by now. However, I am rather fiscally conservative. You see, I'm not against taxation, however, the principles that currently govern our tax laws are a little bit tricky. For example:

I have 100 dollars. Over a year inflation is 5% and I get taxed %15... I am now effectively down to about 81 dollars, instead of 100 dollars in a year. This system would be fine, if not for inflation. Because the government prints money and inflates the value of the dollar every year, all money is worth less every year. It does not matter whether you have 10 dollars or 10 billion dollars, inflation effects EVERYONE EQUALLY. So I must say that if I had the power to change one thing regarding money in this country, it would be to minimize inflation AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, if not get rid of it entirely. If that happened people could just keep their money. They would not have to invest just to keep the money they have already. People complain that people who get money from their investments are not being taxed enough because these gains are not taxed at the same rate, but this is actually a case of double taxation by the government. If you have 100 dollars, and put it in an investment so that you can not lose that %5 or more each year to inflation, then the government taxes the money you get out of this investment at an equivalent, or higher rate than the rate of inflation, slowly your money gets sucked away in either case. I say that if the government wants to tax these kinds of gains they also need to STOP PRINTING SO MUCH MONEY! And that is not fair.
So while I think it is MUCH MORE important in the long run to protect trees than it is to reduce inflation, money does matter, and double taxation isn't fair.

Communication Problems

So I'm fairly sure I mentioned this before, but seeing as so many of our legislators seem hopelessly confused as to what the problems are with the SOPA and PIPA bills, I think it bears mentioning again. I expected the Republicans to be stupid enough to fall for this BS, but I was suprised to see it's actually mostly Democrats that support these awful bills.
The problem is that this legislation would effectively give the government wide ranging powers to censor and control the internet in the name of "protecting jobs." It would actually kill jobs if these powers were to be used. It puts huge strain on internet start-ups like Thatguywiththeglasses.com, which is a site for reviews of movies, video games, etc. Sites such as this would effectively be put completely out of business by this bill simply b/c they use some short clips and images from the titles they review. This is not harmful to BIG COMPANIES... such review sites are HELPFUL to them, as they provide FREE ADVERTISING over the web for their products, which people can legally purchase in their entirity if they so desire. If Big Companies refuse to provide their products in legally purchasable ways to the consumer, should the consumer really be blamed for trying to find alternative sources to access these products? Before I mentioned that Disney, one of the biggest supporters of SOPA and PIPA, STILL refuses to release Song of the South b/c they fear backlash of racial criticism. On the other hand, WB has released many of their "racially insensitive" Looney Tunes Cartoons on DVD, with a disclaimer about the times in which they were made.
It seems to me that the Big Companies that support this legislation do not really understand what it could do to them. After all they have a cycle of fear regarding new technology, and it always seems to have worked out for them in the past. Is it illegal to record things off TV? NO... it's CALLED: DVR. What is the difference between DVR, buying a blank VHS tape, and downloading a video off Youtube? Not much... really, and yet nobody gets threatened with jail time for purchasing DVR service or blank VHS tapes... they are readily available.
So why do companies like Disney, Viacom, etc. think that crippling the internet is good for business? And why do our legislators think that these bills will not lead to INTERNET BLACKLISTS, KILLING JOBS, and MASSIVE BLOWS to FREEDOM OF SPEECH.
We already have to work on repealing: THE PATRIOT ACT, CITIZENS UNITED, & NDAA... we cannot allow this disintegration of our democracy to continue, or it will soon be too late to undo the damage. SOPA and PIPA will kill our power to organize over the internet and have our voices heard. Would you rather wait until words are no longer powerful enough to stop the growing PLUTOCRACY... in other words a government run by a small group of wealthy people?

STOP SOPA, PIPA, CITIZENS UNITED, and all other FREEDOM LIMITING legislation. Loss of FREEDOMS is a slippery slope that not even those Big Coporations would want to go down. We can make our government see why continuing these policies PROTECTS NO ONE, and only serves to HARM THE FREEDOMS OF ALL, including those who support it.

2012

Well it's now 2012 and things are still going along... I just felt like rambling... I know nobody reads this thing... Hi Dave!!! :)

I wanted to say something about Copyright, and Trademark law in the US, and about this recent SOPA thing... so basically we've got a lot of big corporations that make a lot of money claiming that people are stealing their intellectual property by downloading music, movies, etc. over the internet from people who did not create this content. The companies then claim they are protecting the rights of the artists, writers, creators, etc. of this property. I have recently thought of starting a small line of plush toys based off of some creatures that exist in the fantasy world of my book, "The Quest for the Emerald Leaf." However, in order to get "fully protected" I would have to go through a fairly arduous process of getting a Trademark from the Government, which costs upwards of over $400.00 and with no guarantee that I will get one just b/c I paid and filed in advance... etc. etc, so I think we small business creators, artists, etc. need to pick a bone with large coporations that it is difficult to get fully protected by the US government for new products not backed by huge corporations and that if the big corporations concede they are being stolen from they must in return help and nurture all of us artists not currently affiliated with a large corporation so that we too may be reasonably protected. But of course I don't think what these companies really want is protection for artists. Disney doesn't mind stealing the idea of whales swimming through the air/starlight from someone I know, and who is a fantastic animator whose work has been seen by so many other animators it's fairly clearly a decent case to be made on his part that SOMEBODY borrowed this from HIM, an ARTIST... this segment can be seen in Fantasia 2000, as well as in my good friend, John Teton's animated film "Brae She'et," which came earlier. Disney doesn't have to pay him b/c they have the money NOT to do it.

Who wants to go through an arduous legal battle with a corporate giant even if you do have a valid case? It sucks... so we should not let them sway us with their "POOR US... we can't pay our artists b/c people illegally download things..." besides... there are statistics on both sides. By this statement I mean that though they have their "we lose money stats..." they totally hypothetical anyway... basically they go to the government and say something like "10,000 people illegally copied/downloaded this song, and I could have sold that song for $1.00 each on itunes so they stole $10,000.00 from ME!!!"
But they CANNOT prove that ANY one of those people would have paid them $1.00 for the song had they not had they option to get it FREE, so this statistic is FALSE.

On the other hand there are REAL statistics that DO PROVE that people who download stuff "illegally" are more likely to actually buy the products and/or related products if they enjoy the thing they got for free. So maybe a better strategy for the big corporations is to STOP WHINING about the cake they made and didn't sell by not giving a free sample, and just give the FREE SAMPLE so that we can taste the cake and we'll probably BUY IT after we do. After all... what costs the most money in Hollywood is NOT PRODUCTION COSTS... it's PR... and that's the truth. After all... they give free samples in the supermarket... I don't see Nabisco complaining about people trying their cracker recipes... you see, many of these big media companies just do not provide certain products for "wide release" anyway... so they only way to get them AT ALL is to find them online somewhere... so Disney... stop complaining about the theft, and release stuff like SONG OF THE SOUTH on DVD... then maybe we'll respect you more. In other words... don't antagonize your customers... it's not good for business. And BTW... you also need to watch who you're "borrowing" from.