Writing Revisited

Every so often I like to remind myself (and thus, my readers) that I fancy myself a writer. That is, until I came upon a tweet that went something like this: "A writer is too afraid of failure that he never finishes anything is not a writer..."

Now, I know what you're thinking. "Mr. Kellen, if you look a it that way, you are too a writer. You've written stuff, even if it isn't very popular..."

And that's true, since I have finished some stuff (you can find it here and here), there are a number of unfinished projects that I'm sitting on for a variety of excuses (don't have the time, can't think of how to end something, etc.) and those might all be good and valid, but it can't help but make me think: am I afraid of failing?

Again, I point to my first finished work and say, I submitted it to publishers, agents, and the like, with little to no success (I had one whole agency pass it around to every agent before telling me every single one took a pass on it). So I have finished something and made the attempt to get it published traditionally before going the e-distribution route. But, what after that?

I swore up and down that A Plague Upon Thee was going to be different, that it was a unique idea that no one else in the world would think up. Yeah, you can read how I feel about my chances now here. Part of that, I would say, is that I sat on the manuscript for too long. I finished the second draft in early '10, but I always meant to go through and polish it up before submitting it to publishers and agents.

So...is that it. Is my early rejection leading to a fear of failure and therefor, a fear to even complete something so that I won't be rejected again? Not saying it is a certainty, just something to think about...

The Simpsons: Black Ops

I've had a couple (read: almost all) of students ask me why I passed on Call of Duty: Black Ops since I had let it slip that I played Modern Warfare 2 (that was a huge mistake, since now they don't want to talk about anything else).

I had a difficult time putting into words exactly what it was about Black Ops that made me go, "meh, I think I'll skip this one..." and then it hit me. "But she's got a new hat..."

So, bear with me, if you will, whilst I explain the "But she's got a new hat" principle. You see, in a classic episode of the Simpsons, Lisa becomes disenchanted with the way Malibu Stacy (the Simpsons' version of the Barbie doll) has been portraying women. So she, along with Stacy's original creator set out to create a new doll, one that is a better role model.

Just as the Lisa Lionheart doll is about to hit it big (in a scene where a mob of young girls and Mr. Smithers are rushing towards a display), a new Malibu Stacy doll is set down in front. While Lisa tries to explain that it's just the same Malibu Stacy, but with a new hat, Smithers points at it and screams, "but she's got a new hat."

Now, if you're still at a loss as to why I use this as a metaphor for why I didn't purchase and don't plan to purchase Black Ops, I'll try to break it down. Adding one or two "features" to an existing model does not a new product make.

So adding the ability to actually pilot the vehicle (as opposed to merely being a gunner, like in the MW games) is not enough to make me believe this is a wholly new product. Now, I might sound hypocritical because I have played both Modern Warfare and its sequel, but I did that to continue the story and because MW was such a solid game that I didn't mind getting "more of the same." But, and it's like this with sports games (who would've thought they put FPS' on yearly installments?), adding one new thing and releasing it year after year is going to get old, really fast.

On that note, Modern Warfare 3 is probably going to be coming this year with what is left of the fracture Infinity Ward team, along with other Activision studios. We'll see if this, too, has a new hat...

A "Fantastic" Last Stand *Spoilers Ahead*

Fantastic Four #587 was released today. You may have seen it on the news touting the death of one of the beloved first family of Marvel.

Well, I read it. Haven't picked up an issue of FF in, well, maybe ever. Think I might've gotten one as a gift once (as part of our XMas stockings, my grandmother use to get my brother and me about a half dozen comic books), but I digress.

While it may not have gotten the coverage that the Death of Cap got, it was still on the frontpage of Yahoo! news as well as any comic related site, CNN, etc. It's been a long time in the works, this story, and by the end of the issue, one of the Fantastic Four does die.



***SPOILER ***


Maybe. Probably. It is a comic book, after all. These guys are notorious for characters magically being alive (sometimes literally brought back to life by magic...).

So who is it and how does it happen?



***SUPER SPOILER ALERT***
After having the ending spoiled for me by IGN, thanks a lot (but to be fair, the interview did have spoiler alerts), I couldn't really see it really being a question of who, but as an inevitability. The whole issue builds up to the death of the character and it's fairly obvious who it's going to be. You sure you want to know?



***SERIOUSLY, THIS IS THE LAST SPOILER ALERT***
The tension probably would've worked more effectively had I read at least the rest of the arc. I know, it's stupid of me to only read the final issue, but I couldn't help it. I wasn't going to read it at all, but after reading who it was, I had to know how.

Instead of guessing which character bites it, it was kind of like that feeling of watching a scary movie. You know, the part where you know someone's going to die, you have your hand over your eyes, and you want to look away, but you don't? It's like that.

You see, the issue builds up to the death of Johnny Storm. Yep. Human Torch died. But don't worry, maybe the rest of the team'll pay God another visit and force him to rez up ol' matchstick head (I say again because the Thing once died, and that's how they got him back)(No...seriously, go look it up).

And it wasn't even with the team all there. No...for reasons I don't know (again, haven't been reading FF lately), the team, except for a de-Thing'ed Ben Grimm (yeah, that happened. Again), were off doing their own things. Reed was on an artificial planet with Maestro (evil future Hulk. Or is it just an evil Hulk now?), a couple of people named Castle, and one helluva giant brain (it contains all the memories and brains of all the non-sentient people of the planet). Sue was under the ocean and is now the ruler of an ancient Old Atlantis sect (and arousing Namor in the process. How many books is that guy in, anyway?).

So that left human Ben and Johnny alone in the FF's HQ (is it still the Baxter Building?) to fight off the Annihilation wave (which I thought was something that the cosmic Marvel U had already dealt with, but whatever) and protect Reed and Sue's kids. And Leech. And a dragon. And some characters that I don't know who they are.

The first wave is fought off successfuly after the daughter (I think her name is Val) figures out that Leech wants to be knocked unconscious so that his powers won't affect Franklin's reality altering abilities. This allows Franklin to use his powers to make a lot of the bug things go squish.

The ragtag team o' misfits figure out that the energy barrier will fall during the second wave's attack and for some reason have to go to the other side to try to put up the Vibranium door. I gotta figure this stuff makes more sense to a longtime reader. So they do that and WHAT'S THIS!? The door has been programmed so that once the code to reactivate the barrier has been put in, the code scrambles and no one knows what it'll be. Oh, and they can't get the Vibranium door to work either. Go figure.

Someone needs to stay behind to put in the code to buy the team enough time to build a bomb (I think that's the option they went with) to stall for more time until the Avengers show up. Johnny tosses Ben through the door, punches in the code, yada yada yada.

Then the Torch tells Ben to tell Reed that this is where he (Johnny) made his last stand. Then he tells the huge ass swarm of bug things that he isn't afraid, yells flame on, and then we can only assume that it's pretty gruesome from the way the Thing (yeah, Ben turned all rocky. Again) reacts, since we aren't given much from Johnny's point of view after that. And really, we only see Johnny once after that. We're supposed to believe he's dead, but he's still lit up (unless the alien bug things lit him on fire as sort of an ironic kill type thing), so yeah.

My question is: If Franklin is so powerful, how come they just couldn't get him to destroy the incoming enemy wave, like he had the first one? Or move the Vibranium door into place? Or reinforce the energy barrier? Or any number of things?

So yeah, they killed the Human Torch. And kind of in a punk way, too, being offpanel and all. At least it wasn't like, he was all happy because he survived and the last one sent some sort of bug thing through him and he died. I was actually half expecting that. I've liked a lot of Jonathon Hickman's other books (like Secret Warriors), but this was a bit of a letdown.

As I am not a long time reader of Fantastic Four, I will say that perhaps my opinion doesn't matter as much, but as a long time reader of comics, I'll say that the book was almost methodical in its approach (building up the who's it going to be, how, having Ben and the kids there watching without sort of being able to do something about it, etc.).

On a side note, I picked up the latest issue of New Avengers (a series that I've been following since the beginning. The first time) and I have to say that I'm already enjoying this story much more than the first arc of the new volume. It may just be a return to form for Bendis.

Sackboy's Odyssey

Every so often I fall into the hype of an upcoming video game and rush out to snatch it up the second it's released. It happened to me with Goldeneye (Wii), CoD: MW2, Batman: Arkham Asylum (though that was an early birthday present), and others. The results have varied: Goldeneye was a total meh, MW2 was great for a couple of months until the hackers really took over and Activision stopped caring, and B:AA might still be my favorite game of all time.


So I was a bit apprehensive when Kelly pushed me to pick up LittleBigPlanet 2 (LBP2) the first day it dropped (this past Tuesday). What's more, she wanted to get the Collector's Edition, an extra twenty dollars. The package includes a 7-inch plush replica of SackBoy, the game's main character (kind of) and Sony's would-be mascot (as adorable and awesome as he (it) is, he (it) never really caught on), book ends (they've been advertised as "game ends" and it even puts "game ends" in parentheses on the box), all of the DLC that was offered by various retailers as a bonus for pre-ordering the standard edition, and the game itself.

After watching a trailer for the game and a couple of reviews, I decided I had to have this game and that the CE was probably worth it just for the extra DLC stuff alone (each DLC costume runs 1.99-2.99, so that alone "justifies" the extra cost). Plus, it comes with a SackBoy. It was time to hit up local retailers to see if they had the CE in stock.

First, I started with Best Buy because I had some credit left over on a gift card (that I got for Xmas, but was labeled as Kwanzaa). The closest store was out of stock, but the next closest (almost equal distance from my house) Best Buy said they had some left. While placing a pick-up order, that Best Buy apparently sold off the last one.

Next, I tried looking at Wal-Mart since there's a Wal-Mart superstore that recently opened in the city I live in, but, like with Mario All-Stars, the WM website was less than forthcoming about which stores carried the product. So Wal-Mart was a no-go.

After that, I tried GameStop. Because the inventory on their website doesn't update until the next morning, the site listed every store as having the game. But, again, the ability to place a pick-up order was cut off while I was trying to set one up, so I had to call. It was either that or run from GameStop to GameStop to try to find one that had the game. The first two stores were sold out and were very apologetic. As an aside, there's about five GameStop stores within a 15-mile radius of my house.

The third GameStop I tried, however, was the real winner (read that as sarcastic as any teenager. Ever). Even though the store is just off a main road, it isn't very popular. Now I know why. It took about a minute for someone to answer the phone (I wasn't being impatient. As a comparison, the busier stores picked up on the first couple of rings). The employee who answered asked if I had pre-ordered it and I said that I had not, and she replied that she'd have to check to see if they had gotten any extra.


And she never came back.

I was on hold for over twenty-two minutes before I hung up. Seriously? It takes 22 minutes just to check to see if you have one item? I've had less of a wait time hold for tech support. I could see them not having any, but to take 22 minutes to check and then not bother to tell the customer who is on hold is unacceptable.


My theory is that the employee had figured that after ten minutes or so of leaving a customer on hold, it was probably unwise to pick the phone back up at all. Like poking an already angry bear. I shot off a complaint to GS' customer service department (I still haven't heard back from them, not that I expect to) and went back to searching for LBP2.

While I was on hold, I looked at Target's and Toys R Us' websites and both only had the standard release listed.

I double-checked with Best Buy and finally found one at a store that was a little further than I had wanted to drive, but since there was no guarantee there were going to be second shipments of the CE (also, I have a short attention span and would not have the patience to place an order), I placed the order and then sat there for another half hour until I got the OK to go pick it up (that's not complaining. I know that pick-up orders are something that sometimes take time to fulfill).


The drive there was painless (I've seen so much shit lately that I've been tempted to record my driving just as proof it really happens) and I even got a chuckle when I asked the greeter where to go and he pointed me towards customer service and added, "...where there's no one standing..."

Someone was there, but with the way the store was laid out, the employee could not be seen from the entrance. The whole process was very quick and pain-free (kudos to BB for once).

The game required a small installation, which I was worried about since I have a 60GB PS3 and a lot of games require 4-5 GB for installation. But, no, LBP2 was quick and easy. That's 1 point for MM and LBP2.

I don't know about anyone else, but my experience with the first game was a mixed bag. The single player (or more with more controllers and online friends) game seemed more or less a showcase of what could be done with the level editor. The problem with that was that I found good player made levels to be few and far between. I heard from other users to look for this or that but rarely found the levels they so lauded.

So how is the setup for this game? Exactly the same. It's the same adorable little customizable SackBoys running around collecting stuff in levels loosely connected together as a showcase for what you can do in the level editor. I've been told that the new level editor is a bit easier to use, but found the first's to be so daunting I haven't yet gathered up the courage or patience to give this one a shot.

So is the game worth it? Were you a fan of the first one? If you answered yes to the second question, then the answer to first is yes. The new elements (like the grabber and the grappler) are hilariously entertaining and the side-bits are a bit more varied (like the button tap mini game I've found in numerous Mario Party's and a literal Rat Race), and I hope people can find excellent uses for them in the custom levels (which can now be strung together to create whole games).


LittleBigPlanet 2, like LittleBigPlanet, is a platformer (think Mario for the NES). The platformer to end all platformers even.

The controls are a mixed bag, as I found them to be in the first game. And some of the new gadgets just compound the problems. Like when trying to grab onto something and you latch onto the other player instead. Yeah, imagine that with a grapple gun. Don't get me wrong, like I said above, it can be hilarious. It can also be very frustrating.

I loved the first game, it was an intelligent platformer (even if we weren't so smart when playing it) with a few bugs (unfortunately, a lot of those bugs are still present) but was still good fun for most of the family (I could see little kids or grown-ups getting frustrated at the difficulty level of the end portions of the game). Hopefully, this time there'll be more to keep me around once the story-mode is finished...

Even the Spider-logo Looks Sad...

A while back I wrote an entry detailing my feelings on changes being made to comic book costumes both in books. And in film.



In the second post (about Cap's movie costume), I said that I wouldn't talk about costume changes again unless someone decided to really screw with the design. It's like both DC and Marvel read that and took it as a challenge. It wasn't, guys who designed the movie costumes for comic book films. It really wasn't. The offenders this time are Green Lantern and *sob* Spider-Man.



I've already said how I feel about the CG-costume for GL, so I won't wax on about that. Instead, I'll focus on the recently revealed picture of Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man. The one thing that I thought the Sam Raimi-directed Spidey films got right was the costume. Sure, the thing was latex instead of spandex and they added the web & texture design, but overall, it was the red and blue costume that Spidey was famous for.

While the picture isn't 100% clear and the mask isn't present, there are some changes that are notable. The spider logo on the chest has been change so that the lower four legs are stretched and the two outer legs bleed into the border of the red section. Which brings me to the red section. It appears to taper off and does not have what many call "the belt" of the Spidey suit. There is a section of red on the back right (his left, our right) that just...ends, so it could be that because the picture is of a battle-damaged suit, the belt has been torn off. That we'll have to wait for the final product to verify. It is clear that the gloves are no longer a solid piece of red, but are broken up by the blue, and it just doesn't look good.. Someone else pointed that there appears to be metallic material on the inside of the wrists, which Emma Stone has confirmed to be web-shooters.

So, yeah, somehow the makers of the reboot managed to make even the costume Emo. Congratulations. First, you cast another ugly 30-year old (yes, I know Garfield is 27, it was an exaggeration) to play a teen Peter Parker (Petey was 18 in the first film), but then you make him something straight out of Twilight (check here to see him with Robert Patterson-quaffed hair).

That was something that bugged me about the first film. Apparently, Peter Parker is smart enough to be able to fashion that latex thing with its ornate raised webbing and scaly material, but can't create webshooters. So, really, in Raimi's trilogy, Parker wasn't a genius, he was a seamstress. A master seamstress.

The argument for the new suit is that if the studio made the film exactly like the comic, then that would alienate non-comic book fans as an audience. Yeah, that argument would be valid...if the year was 1999 (when the only popular comic book film at the time was the first Blade. No, Spawn doesn't count and the Batfilms were in the toilet). But, now we have comic faithful films like the Iron Man and Batman (current franchise) films. So, yeah, that argument doesn't really fly anymore. IM blended together several storylines and Batman borrowed heavily from stories like "Year One."

The reason behind the reboot was to wipe the bad taste of Spider-Man 3 away. And what was it replaced with? Something worse. The best we could've hoped for was that Marvel made a deal to co-finance the film and allow Sony to ditribute like it did with Universal (or was that Paramount) and the Incredible Hulk and maybe, just maybe see Spidey in the Marvel-produced films. At worst, we could get something to pander to the teen Twilight crowd. I think we all know which one it's shaping up to be...

Baby You're a Firework

So...2010 is over. Long live 2011! Not a whole heckuva lot happened.



As I said on Twitter, 2010 marks the first year since 2007 that I haven't completed a full-length book. That makes me sad, since the one I'm currently furthest along in is 1) by far the longest work I have attempted and 2) Been in the works since I finished the second Project Zero book in 2008 (I skipped a year to write A Plague Upon Thee). Even though I learned from writing the first book to keep copious notes, I still forget stuff. I might have written a page of note back in '08 that I look at now and go, "what the heck does this mean?"



But I felt bad about not finishing the third Project Zero book, even if I haven't gotten around to giving part two a thorough edit. So...Kelly's suggestion? Why not finish two books in 2011? My response? Challenge accepted. Seeing as how I'm 3/4 of the way through book 3 in the series, I'll either tackle four right away (I've already written the opening) or take a short break and work on one of my other ideas. I have tons (including one that involves use of a certain public domain character), so it shouldn't be too hard.



But...I'm lazy. Plain and simple. When I have free time, I usually choose to spend it doing things to relax...other than writing. Like video games. I think it'd be apparent by now that I enjoy playing video games. And, if not, you are probably just finding this blog for the first time. So...thanks for stopping by. I hope you stick around.

A friend of mine asked me if I was planning on publishing (or e-publishing) anything beyond Project Zero: Bulletproof. The answer is a definite maybe. While I would love to find an actual publisher, it is free to epublish through Smashwords and other similar sites. I just need to get through the latest edit on PZ:BP and then I think I'll move onto other works.

This was meant to go into other things from 2010 that I liked/disliked, but it's late and I have to work tomorrow.