This was previously published in Watch The Skies fanzine – January 2021
The lost Star Wars film.
A very Star Wars look, right?
Diving into 2021 does not mean we’re charging forward and looking at something new. In fact, this is a retro view that I had somehow missed along the way. Like 40 years missed along the way. I admit I’m not a super fan when it comes to all things Star Wars. Yes, I saw the original films when they came out. Yes, I had a ton of the toys. No, I’m not a member of the Jedi church. I love them and they hold a place within me even if I don’t keep up with every single release. It’s a film (and TV show and book and toy…) franchise like no other and it turns out that something really interesting was tacked onto it. Fantasy.
That’s right, fantasy. George Lucas commissioned a fantasy film. He wanted this fantasy film to be shown before or in association with Empire Strikes Back. You read that right. Empire Strikes Back – tied directly to a swords and horses fantasy film. It was made, it was shown, then it was lost.
Recently, during the preparation for a discussion about the influence of films on fantasy gaming I was digging for clips and information about various movies I’ve watched or heard about over the years. There are a lot of excellent films out there is you love fantasy. Then I stumbled onto a thread about fantasy and Empire. That’s how I came to know about Black Angel.
The age of Black Angel is part of why I wanted to put it here, along with the story of how it was made, lost and subsequently recovered. It is a very moody piece. The scenery is amazing. The background music is haunting. There is a look and feel to this film that is undeniable. In the notes about the film it was revealed that parts of the crew for the movie Excalibur watched this and took copious notes. The look and feel of Excalibur and Black Angel are quite similar. Some of the techniques used in Black Angel were picked up and used in Empire as well.
As a fan of the history of science fiction and fantasy it’s a neat treasure that’s available for free. The mood, the look, the sound all make Black Angel worth the short run time.
I’m so happy to have gotten this book as a gift. While the text is not lengthy, it does give an excellent primer on the life of the photographer. I suspect many people see the name and think something like, “Oh, yes. Tree pictures…” and then move on. Well, the essay in here gave me a lot more things to dig up and sink my teeth into.
If you’re looking for a quick hit of biography, just enough to get you interested, and you can get a copy of this book, I recommend that you do.
I had every intention of being very busy and productive over this past weekend. Some of what I planned on doing was being on here and getting more posts lined up. Clearly I failed at that. I was thinking about it and I genuinely believe it had everything to do with a level of addictive behavior from me.
I know there are folks out there that will think this is a pile of nonsense. I half agree honestly, but I want to put it out there because edging toward understanding is important.
I really think that I have addictive behavior and tendency when it comes to watching television. It’s a feeling I have. Don’t know how to explain it. I’m not generally an addictive personality but I AM a complete child of media. When you see those memes about GenX being that “lost” generation that were the first of the latch key kids? That’s me. Come home, let yourself in, lock the door and entertain yourself until we get home from work. It’s not good or bad – not trying to judge here, just giving context. It’s also when MTV started (among many other networks you may feel have “always” existed). I watched a lot of television, saw a lot of movies and this learned behavior has stuck with me ever since.
So what I’m saying is that, as stupid as it sounds, I really can’t break away from TV. I find myself floating back to it even when I *know* there’s not a damn thing worth watching. Then I get all depressed and disappointed when the stuff I watch is total shit. I know this probably sounds even sillier when you couple it with the facts that I was a Nielssen household member at one point AND I write a monthly piece for Watch The Skies called “You Should Be Watching” where I suggest fandom related content to go and check out.
This past weekend I estimate that I watched somewhere between 16 and 20 hours of TV. Maybe more. I lost track of all the stuff I streamed across YouTube. That’s way, way too much. I know this. I couldn’t help myself. I lost all productivity as I jumped from movies to football games to binge watching a cartoon series on Netflix (yes, both seasons of it). Football is really tough to sit through these days, but I did it. All four playoff games. Yes, some of it was likely to become history as very famous players end their careers, but it’s just a mess to watch. The ad time alone has stupid marketing stuff swirling in my head (OK – I’ll give the Tag Team ad props – it makes me laugh more than it should). I saw the new film “Outside the Wire” and it wasn’t bad… it wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad. I watched Bill and Ted Face the Music. I had really high hopes for it… and those really high hopes weren’t matched.
In the end I just came away sort of sad and numb with nothing to show for my time.
I am thankfully not addicted to other things in that way, but this is a small step toward understanding what folks struggling with addiction deal with. It’s not easy to deal with. It changes how I feel physically and emotionally. I’m going to work hard at shrugging this episode off and try to limit how much time I spend with the TV. Yes, I’m going to keep working the Should Be Watching stuff. No, I won’t take the TV out of the house (the only way I know to stop an addiction – take away the thing you’re addicted to and don’t have access). I am not the only person living here with a desire to be passively entertained from time to time… I just can’t let it be ALL the time. Thankfully this IS something that can be controlled.
IF you’re struggling with something, stick with the plan you have to be better. Keep working at staying away. There will be tough days, but don’t let those days beat you. Be strong.
I try to stay away from political things on my site. I don’t want to deal with all the BS that comes along with saying anything political on the internet. There are far too many people out there that only use their time to try to start fights over the inane details of anything one might say. This is MY site and I do with it as I please. It pleases me to stay away from the massive shit show that is the US political system of late. That is not just nationally. It is also right here in the state of Pennsylvania where I now reside.
This is the normal for me. I don’t want to talk about it, so I don’t. Books, movies, gaming, crafting or whatever else catches my fancy, sure. Those are the posts that go up here. That does not mean I am unaware or that I don’t pay attention, I just like to stay away. Today… today was not normal. It feels like something that needs to be marked in much the same way that the September 11th attacks and the start of the global pandemic needed to be noted here.
Today “protesters”, many of them carrying signs in support of the individual currently residing in the office of the president, stormed the capitol building in a (successful) attempt to stop the duly elected officials there from carrying out their jobs. In America. People stormed the capitol.
This is not some third world country. This is Washington DC.
Calling this unacceptable seems like the negligent misuse of understatement.
I, and anyone else that joined the military swore an oath. We signed on the dotted line stating that we would pay any cost up to and including our own death to defend the constitution and our way of life here in the United States.
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”
I will defend unto my dying breath the right of any American to shout at the top of their lungs in support of the thing I most despise. That is what freedom means. It is not free. It’s not even cheap. It requires hard work and a lot of personal responsibility. You have to be paying attention and working toward making things better. Every day.
The people that believed what they were doing was the right thing today are the core of the problem. They have not done the work nor have they understood the limits of what can be tolerated. The self righteously over privileged that did this need to be brought to justice.* This was not my initial reaction, but if I claim to be in favor of the rule of law this is the course that must be taken. My initial reaction was one of a significantly more stern reaction. I am still not sure the significantly more stern option should be taken off the table. There are a lot of folks on social media (that gigantic echo chamber) throwing around some big and serious words. Words matter and the ones you pick should be appropriate to the action/event you are discussing. Sedition, treason, instigating violence are all out there at this point (for the people that did the action as well as the person Tweeting them on). Those are big words with serious consequences. They are also not wrong. The penalty for treason against our nation goes all the way up to death. That was my initial reaction and I’m not sure it’s the wrong reaction still. These people DO NOT get to take away what we have here in this country. They need to become an example. The fullest extent of federal law needs to be brought down on as many as can be identified. I don’t care how long it takes. This includes the person Tweeting them on.
What we have here in this nation is special. It’s important. It matters to everyone that lives here, but it also matters to all of those people viewing our nation from the outside. Today a group of people not only made us look like the buffoons we have become, but they have made us look weak and chaotic to those who would plot against us. We must do better. We need to embrace scholarly endeavors, civil discourse and the sort of actions that show us as leading the world in freedom, fairness and compassion. We need to embrace the concept of studying hard and working hard to back that up ~ no matter what it is that you love to do. I love this country and all that it is supposed to be. Today hurt. Today was scary. Is this the world I want my daughter to live in? Today will be marked in history ~ let’s work hard to be sure that it marks a turning point toward a better place for all that choose to live in this great nation.
*Side note – I am also not unaware of the difference in treatment based on color of skin. This deeply embedded racism is also unacceptable. A systemic issue that I feel others have better, more insightful things to say about it.
I have said for a long time that I don’t like the ‘wrap up’ posts or lists or resolutions whenever the calendar flips at the end of the year… and I have posted a similar sentiment for a number of years in a row. I guess this passes as my end of year wrap up that I hate to see everyone else do. Can’t escape it, might as well run with it.
Once again, I missed the date. This past Sunday was the 14th anniversary of my blog. It hasn’t always been hosted here, but it’s been going on all those years. It’s a challenge to think of it in those terms. I’ve been operating the Pretend Blog (and pretending I have followers / readers) for almost as long as I’ve had a daughter. I would like to think that my writing, style and commentary have advanced and gotten better over that time, but I’m not a great judge of that. I tend to believe most of the words I toss into salad are a struggle. Writing is work. Finding, selecting and using the exact right word(s) is a constant challenge to me. There are a lot of days when I really wish I were super prolific, I just can’t seem to figure that out. A few hundred words at a time seem to be my best level of output ~ just need to string some of those together and keep putting stories out into the world.
Also, artwork. I still do that too. I’ve put a couple of pieces out there this past year, including a contest entry or two. It was good to have some projects that pushed me to get better at particular parts of art that I enjoy. The contests pushed me to be willing to show off my art as well. I know that I was somewhere around 8th place in the one competition I entered. Maybe some day I’ll place higher. I’m going to keep doing various artistic projects. It’s part of who I am. Art is a thing I do.
Bob The Skull
Being a fan. Yes, I’m a fan. I have gotten back into watching various forms of science fiction and fantasy. My reading has picked back up too. I had been in a terrible slump for a long time. This year my Goodreads account popped up a little message that told me how many books I’d managed to finish during this calendar year. I was surprised at the number. It’s not 300+ (yes, I know people that read that much) but 39 is respectable. That’s just over three books a month on average. Hopefully I’ll keep finding good stuff to read over the next year and that number will stay up around there.
The totals
I expect that 2021 will bring big changes in the world. I stay away from the political and world news type things on here as much as I can. I tend to agree with the general opinion that 2020 has been a colossal dumpster fire, but that’s an opinion based on the difficulties of others. I have, very thankfully, avoided a lot of the effects that have made 2020 such a difficult year for so many. My day job field was deemed important enough to allow me to keep my job and keep getting paid this year. That wasn’t the case for everyone. My health (and the health of my family) has been shaky, but that’s nothing new. I admit it’s been a while since we’ve been impacted the way we were here at the end of this year, but we’re working on it. Not our first rodeo as the saying goes.
Will I make predictions about what’s going to happen in the coming year? No. If nothing else this year has taught everyone the folly of that. Will I make resolutions? Nope. Still keeping the resolution to never make a resolution again. Totally winning at that one. What I will say is this:
I hope you have a happy and healthy year (and more) to come. The changing of the calendar is a convenient marker for such things, but it shouldn’t be a limit. Start something on the 30th. Keep something rolling until February. Create. Do things. Be awesome, and help others to be awesome too.
I actually finished reading this a couple of weeks ago but haven’t gotten to the review part until just now. I’m glad I picked this book up and read it. Adding stories to the world built by the author in the Iron Druid series could have been really good or really bad.
This story, describing the world of magic as inhabited by those who can use alchemical ink combinations to create magic follows one of the members of this secret society. Al is a gifted worker of inks but struggles to pass on his lore as his apprentices keep dying in odd ways. Al sets out to discover what happened to his most recent apprentice and uncovers an entirely different mystery to solve along the way.
There were some nit-picks that some people might not have trouble with. I really didn’t want or need the primer on Scottish slang. The explanation of it felt like it got in the way. There’s a little bit of a feeling like you’re missing out if you haven’t read the Iron Druid stories. Al even has a section of the story that describes meeting the character from the other series. I suppose it’s difficult to get away from such a dominant character in the world building, but this was just a blip in the story to me. It may have had deeper meaning to those who have read more, but it was lost on me. I really liked the magical ink mixes, the curse(s) and the modern lives of fairies in our world. It was fun.
All in all, I really enjoyed the story. I’m glad I picked it up. I’ll be interested to see if there are more on the way.
It’s been a long, weird year. While I don’t think vilifying a year will change how things unfold in the coming months, I do understand it.
Take some time, celebrate if it’s your holiday, relax if it’s not. We’re still here and there are lots of wonderful / amazing things coming our way ~ we just have to get there.
I am not a professional. I am not a professional. This is just a hobby.
I need to keep reminding myself of these things.
I have been working on a miniatures / craft / terrain project for a while now and it is consuming a significant amount of my time and creative energy. I went big right away. Really big. Doing all kinds of things that are well outside my known abilities and comfort zone. I have to remember that so many of the videos I see on line are, in fact, professional artists or crafters. They’ve got years of experience and they get paid to do what they do. There’s a reason they’ve got a new thing every week. There’s a reason they’ve got thousands and thousands of followers.
I am not them. I am forging ahead with my ONE project and when it is done I will move ahead with the next one. It’s a hobby. I CAN learn to be patient (and actually finish an entire project).
Here’s a sneak preview – the black skeleton of it all:
I have written in the past questioning the “we won” thought process of geekdom taking over the world. I am happy that there are so many geeky things in the world now. I love that so many things have cropped up and made their way to the public eye. Seeing so many things creates this feedback loop wherein I start to wonder if I’m really seeing fandom or if what I’m seeing is a naked cashing in on something that has reached the level of ‘fad’ and will soon fade into the background again. I will say now that I work very hard at NOT being that fan. You now, the one that claims if you didn’t suffer enough or if you aren’t a fan of precisely the right thing or you haven’t been into it long enough that you’re not truly a fan. That’s a load of crap. If you took up your geeky hobby or fandom last week you’re still a fan. You don’t have to be a fan of the same things I am, nor do you have to enjoy them the same way I do.
As with anything that pushes to the forefront of popular culture, levels of quality come into question as well. Sure, I saw a full set of Dungeons & Dragons dice the other day at the dollar store. Does that make them good dice? Does that make them bad dice? I didn’t buy them ~ I have no idea what the quality is. What it does mean is that if there’s a kid out there that wants some new gaming dice and he can scrounge up a buck, he can buy some. I’m happy for that. The dice may or may not meet my quality standard, but my standard has evolved over time. I’m really digging for quality now.
I am looking for high quality when it comes to the game I hold dear and how it is represented. A while back I posted wrote a couple of pieces about sword and sorcery films. I listed the top ten, and then added to (or amended) that list when I went hunting for newer material. One film conspicuously absent from my list was the Dungeons & Dragons movie.
Yes, blue lipstick guy.
Insert heavy sigh here.
For anyone that doesn’t know about it, New Line Cinema put out a Dungeons & Dragons film back in December of 2000. I was really excited to see it. I wanted it… I was willing it to be amazing. My Jedi mind trick failed or my will was not strong enough or maybe the time just wasn’t right. I loath that movie. It’s terrible AND didn’t do much more than pile ridicule onto fans at the time. Bear in mind this was a full eight years before the MCU’s first film came out (Iron Man – 2008) and still a year before the first of the LOTR series hit theaters (Fellowship of the Ring – December 2001). This movie did every single thing I feared about putting D&D forward into the public view. Big names were in this film. Jeremy Irons won an Oscar. Seriously. I’m not a fan of Mr. Irons, but they got an Oscar winner in there. I was also not a fan of casting one of the Wayans brothers in the movie. It has nothing to do with diversity – I think there should be more of it. It has everything to do with putting a stand up comic in as comic relief and not writing *any* clever lines to help him. He was hands down the worst character in the film – and yes I’m counting blue lipstick guy. The movie was just not good. Seriously, on a $45M budget it made back less than $16M domestically. That’s a bomb. I think it speaks to the strength of the brand that they were able to get funding for another two films (and YES, the third one did drop direct to DVD). It didn’t help matters that the following year’s release of Fellowship showed what a fantasy movie could look like. LOATHE IT.
What brought all this bile up you might be thinking.
I am filled with trepidation. A big name utterly failed to help the last one. There’s a lot of interest in D&D since the Stranger Things series came out… but… it could just go so very, horribly wrong. I find myself right back where I was twenty years ago. I so very, very much want this movie to be amazing. I want it to be “Fellowship” good. I have no faith in Hollyweird. The crusty old people pulling the purse strings will mess this up somehow. I say this based on the film adaptation of Ready Player One specifically, but not exclusively. There was an entire segment of that movie that could have (and should have) revolved around the D&D part that was written into the book. It’s not like D&D is unpopular right now. Rather than use that an entirely new section was written in as a homage to some other director and a film adaptation from 40 years ago (The Shining). My only glimmer of hope is that Joe Manganiello has also been said to be attached as one of the story creators. Joe has been very public about his love of the game and the fact that he continues to play.
A lot of people claim they love, respect, adore, play Dungeons & Dragons but I don’t see it. They’re going to screw this up… again. I don’t want them to, but I fear they will. I so very, very much want this to be amazing. I’ll have to revisit this post after I see the movie. It’s scheduled to release in the US in May of 2022.
I’m almost certain we’ll be back in movie theaters by then.
