doombot » Dan

Short Movie Review: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (Dan’s Take)

Dan — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 14:23:03 +0000

Tony has already regaled you with the tale of our adventure to see *Scott Pilgrim vs. The World* and [his review](http://doombot.com/2010/08/05/medium-movie-review-scott-pilgrim-vs-the-world/)—as with *most* things Tony says—is spot on. In some ways, as we discussed after the film, it would have been better not to have the comic so fresh in your head, because you find yourself waiting for jokes or looking for characters. That said, the film stands on its own, with plenty of quips and situations that are more “inspired by” the comic than ripped directly from the page. The casting is pretty much spot on for the most part, though it’s also worth noting that in many ways Michael Cera’s portrays a fundamentally different Scott Pilgrim than the protagonist of the comics (he lacks the manic energy of the latter). As a long-time fan of director Edgar Wright’s work, though, I maintain that the man is [three](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365748/)-[for](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425112/board)-[three](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6803Gu8tpuw) in feature filmdom. At the same time, though, I found myself thinking about halfway through that I couldn’t wait until somebody inevitably adapts the series to a television show so we can see all the parts that got left out.

Breaking News: Michael J. Fox says hoverboards aren’t real

Dan — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 18:00:04 +0000

But really, can you trust him? The man’s a trained actor, people.

The Year in Numbers

Dan — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 03:55:35 +0000

Or, a random assortment of things that I can quantify, though perhaps not 100% accurately.

12 Number of flights taken
411 Number of bylined Macworld articles I wrote
32 Number of [books I read](http://writeology.tumblr.com/tagged/book/)
3 Number of books I read that were graphic novels
45 Number of movies I watched
37 Number of *new* movies I watched
2 Number of Dungeons & Dragons adventures completed as DM
5 Number of Xbox 360 games purchased
4 Number of above games completed (for reasonable definitions of completed)
50,574 Number of words written [for NaNoWriMo](http://doombot.com/2009/12/03/five-writes-dont-make-a-wrong/)
84,508 Number of words written in non-NaNoWriMo novel
1,089 Number of [photos taken](http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmoren/) (not including iPhone)
1 Number of [spoof movies](http://fireball-the-movie.com/) produced
10 Number of [Doomcast](http://doombot.com/category/doomcast/) episodes released
2:55:17 Length of total Doomcast episodes

Five writes don’t make a wrong

Dan — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:24:00 +0000

Well. *That’s* over with then.

It’s December 2nd, and if you’ve ever met me, you know what that means: I’m in the throes of the post-[National Novel Writing Month](http://www.nanowrimo.org) hangover, trying to find something to fill the now gaping void previously occupied by furiously concocting new ways to torture my characters.

In the preceding thirty days of November, I produced a 50,000 word piece of fiction which, I’m going to be honest, nobody will ever likely see. That’s by choice though; like a dented can of soup past its expiration date, I would not wish it on my next-to-worst enemy. Worst enemy? Totally.

I also think this will be my last year of NaNoWriMo.*

I started thinking about this blog post shortly before this year’s NaNoWriMo, when I found myself wondering *why* exactly I was planning on taking part again. I’d planned to finish [last year's project](http://doombot.com/2008/12/02/the-difference-between-write-and-wrong/), which I dubbed *Everything Is Fine Until It Isn’t, Part II: You’re A Good Man, Charlie Stokes*, mainly because I wanted to prove that I could *finish* one of these stories. (Dirty secret: The last novel I actually *finished* was the one I started for NaNoWriMo in 2005.)

Let me be clear: I’m not giving up writing. If there’s been one good thing to happen to me since I first put fingers to keyboard back in 2005, it’s that writing has become part of my life, both professionally *and* personally. I relish those days when I can slip out to the café in the early morning hours of the weekend and spend a couple hours doing nothing but immersing myself in a cup of tea and another world.

That’s good. That’s what NaNoWriMo is *supposed* to do. But having reached that point, I feel a bit like I’ve outgrown the exercise. In March of this year, I started working on a new novel, tentatively titled *Resurrection Men*. The idea for this book has been uncoiling in my head for several years now—the characters first came to me in 2001, if you can believe that, at which point they stood around impatiently waiting for the right plot to arrive.

In the seven months leading up to November, I wrote just over 70,000 words in that story—it’s funny to think that I wrote more than two thirds that amount in the last month alone. But unlike the breakneck pace of NaNoWriMo, about 10,000 words a month seems pretty reasonable.

The problem with NaNoWriMo is that it isn’t sustainable. Most professional novel writers don’t work at those speeds (and *it’s their job*). As positive an exercise as I think NaNoWriMo is, there’s a priority of quantity over quality that I’ve moved past. I couldn’t have produced 50,000 words of *Resurrection Men* in a month and maintained the level of writing that was my aim, so I did the only other thing that seemed to make sense: I set it aside for the month.

That turned out to be an incredibly frustrating and, in retrospect, foolish idea. For most of November I was *itching* to work on *Resurrection Men*, but instead found myself having to pound out my daily quota for my NaNoWriMo project. That’s not to say I didn’t do some good work in *Charlie Stokes*; there were definitely scenes and lines of dialogue here and there [that I was proud of](http://twitter.com/dmoren/status/5784137064).

But I ended up running headlong into the same problem as last year: when it came right down to it, what was the story actually *about*, other than being a sort of therapeutic quasi-autobiographical mishmash? And all the while, on my morning walk to work, my mind would spin with ideas for the story I *did* know.

Still, I felt dedicated to seeing NaNoWriMo through, even though the only person who probably would have faulted me for stopping was, well, *me*—just like you don’t want to throw in the towel on mile 16 of a marathon. I managed to sneak in one day’s work on *Resurrection Men* during the month, which was just enough to keep myself tuned in to that story. But every day I continued the slog on *Charlie Stokes* so that I could feel like I’d accomplished my goal (and, *most* importantly, get that little badge to stick at the top of this post).

But, unlike Marc Antony, I came here not to bury NaNoWriMo but to praise it. These past five years have had a huge impact on my life, and to anybody who has ever wondered if they have a novel in them, NaNoWriMo is the excuse you’ve been looking for to give it a shot. At its best, NaNoWriMo is about [cutting out the bullshit](http://www.43folders.com/2009/11/02/nanowrimo-advice) and getting to the act of writing—as such, I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Me, I’ve long held the belief that the curse of talent is the ability to recognize genius. I’m just smart enough to know that I’m not a writing prodigy whose first work is going to be tearfully lauded by reviewers, readers, and every single person who so much as glances at the cover, but I *also* know that I’m good enough to produce a solid piece of fiction—if I put in the time to work on it.

That’s what [the](http://doombot.com/2005/12/01/breaking-the-embargo/) [past](http://doombot.com/2006/11/30/victory-is-mineand-a-whole-bunch-of-other-peoples-as-well/) [five](http://doombot.com/2007/11/29/write-on/) [years](http://doombot.com/2008/12/02/the-difference-between-write-and-wrong/) of NaNoWriMo have taught me.

Five years ago, I would have laughed long and hard at the idea that somebody might one day pay me to string words together—and I’m sure I did. Nevertheless, here I am. If nothing else, it makes the idea that I might someday get to tell stories for a living seem not so preposterous after all.

\* I do reserve the right to change my mind about this at any point.↩

Doomcast: Season Two Premiere

Dan — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:12:08 +0000

After the lackluster ratings of our first season (despite the thrilling cliffhanger season finale), it’s understandable that the network was touch-and-go about greenlighting an entire second season. In order to get the go-ahead, Tony had to agree to some…unorthodox changes to our format—changes that required him to take the editing reins, a task he undertook with aplomb and verve. And so we’ve returned from hiatus refreshed and ready to discuss the pressing topics of the fall season, to wit:

matters administrative
youthful indiscretions
the dangers of vagrancy
falsification for fun and profit

[podcast flashvars="titles: 'Doomcast: Season Two Premiere'"]http://doombot.com/d-cast/doomcast2-1.mp3[/podcast]

Download, for your listening enjoyment. [17m 39s]

Subscribe via iTunes

Short Television Review: Kings

Dan — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 20:11:30 +0000

*Kings* was an ambitious, well-made, unique piece of television and thus, doomed from its very start to cancellation at the hands of the network. As such it still wins my choice for best show of the season, an (dubious?) honor it shares with past ventures such as [*Pushing Daisies*](http://doombot.com/2007/10/23/watch-this/) and [*The Middleman*](http://doombot.com/2008/07/22/short-television-review-the-middleman/). At turns biblical, Shakesperean, with a dash of both *The West Wing* and even *Carnivale*, *Kings* was a complex epic set in a world that sported many of the trappings of our own whilst maintaining a distinctly alien feeling. The complex relationship between King Silas Benjamin (Ian McShane), a once-honorable man who united his nation, and David Shepherd (Christopher Egan), the young hero who is destined to succeed him, twisted and turned, but portrayed a bond that was believable and even, at times, touching. The show was further enlivened by supporting performances such as Eamonn Walker as man of God Reverend Samuels and—my personal favorite—Brian Cox as Silas’s deposed predecessor.

*Kings* carved itself a difficult path: some speculated it was the heavy biblical allusions that were the problem, but I give the show kudos for being willing to take on the role of religion in a way that was neither sappy and sentimental nor out-and-out castigating. While the series at least got to complete its 13-episode first season, the final episode left plenty of room for the plot to continue onwards (in that, it reminds me of another early-cancelled NBC shows, *Kidnapped*). The show’s poor ratings made it hard to justify its renewal—though the *cause* of those low ratings could be laid at least partially at the feet of poor marketing by the network—but it does make me wish once again that more viewers *and* networks would take a chance on something that’s not just a police, medical, or legal procedural.

Short Television Review: Torchwood: Children of Earth

Dan — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:02:02 +0000

*Torchwood* always had trouble finding its bearings. The first season was wildly uneven—there were some very promising episode (to my mind, ["Countrycide"](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countrycide) remains the series’s creepiest episode to date)—but for the most part the show was a solid “meh.” Still, I stuck with it through the second season, which improved notably, especially with the three-part arc of “Reset”/”Dead Man Walking”/”A Day in the Death.” Apparently I wasn’t the only person who thought there was promise in the series, as it as renewed for a third season. Instead of a full 13 episode run, however, the BBC commissioned a five-part miniseries, *Children of Earth*, to be broadcast over the course of a week.

In some ways, this is the perfect format for *Torchwood*: there’s no time for filler episodes or extraneous plot details—everything is focused on a single story arc: cutting down both the number of episodes as well as the main cast means that the show is much leaner, and that lends it strength. The plot of the miniseries involves all of the world’s children, which begin speaking in unison about what appears to be an imminent alien invasion—an invasion that someone really doesn’t want *Torchwood* investigating. *Children of Earth* is at turns funny and dark; the final episode includes at least two very powerful, disturbing scenes that made me shudder, and leaves off with an uncertain future for the series and its eponymous team.

Doomcast: Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You

Dan — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:39:25 +0000

Spin that noisemaker; blow that party horn! We hereby celebrate the tenth episode of the Doomcast, proving once again that persistence is the better part of valor—or, at least, ignoring people’s repeated pleas to stop assaulting their eardrums. As we party down, we invite a special guest to join our [tin anniversary](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedding_anniversary) and discuss such important concerns as:

the terror of the skies
Podcasters Against Dinosaur Driving (PADD)
matters reminiscent
at the intersection of science and evil

[podcast flashvars="titles: 'Doomcast: Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You'"]http://doombot.com/d-cast/doomcast9.mp3[/podcast]

Download, for your listening enjoyment. [19m 59s]

Subscribe via iTunes

And a merry Day of the Tesla to you, too

Dan — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:49:00 +0000

If you opened up Google today, you may have noticed [the header background](http://www.google.com/logos/tesla09.gif), indicating that it’s the birthday of noted Serbian inventor [Nikola Tesla](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla).

As we here at Doombot have long celebrated Day of the Tesla, we thought you, the readers, might enjoy partaking in some of the more time-honored festivities of this highest of holidays. As always, we perform the ceremony of failing to electrocute an elephant with alternating current (we use symbolic [plush toy elephants](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Y4DNRK3CL._SL500_AA280_.jpg), of course—this is no diabolical, hedonistic Edisonstravaganza), followed by the traditional viewing of Tesla biopic [*The Prestige*](http://doombot.com/2008/08/11/short-movie-review-the-prestige/).

Finally, the evening is concluded with a live reading of our award-winning[*](#footnote1) children’s book, *Tesla and His Pigeon: A Children’s Story of Love and Loss in the Electric Age*, based on Tesla’s [relationship with his favorite creature](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla#Tesla.27s_pigeon).

Afterwords, the kids are sent to bed with the reminder that the spirit of Tesla won’t appear to deposit [Serbian dinars bearing his likeness](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:20CSD_Coin_Tesla.jpg) unless they are fast asleep.

If this is your first time celebrating Day of the Tesla, you might also wish to partake of these classic episodes of our podcast adventures, [The Scrimshaw Meme](http://doombot.com/2009/06/30/doomcast-the-scrimshaw-meme/) and [TMYK](http://doombot.com/2009/05/19/doomcast-tmyk/), in which we pay homage to Tesla through the deepest respect of humor.

Finally, the most devoted of Tesla followers undertake—at least once in their lifetime—a trip to the laboratory of the man himself, [Wardenclyffe Tower](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardenclyffe_Tower), where the prescient inventor intended to pioneer the field of wireless communication, were he not dastardly foiled by the dark lord Edison.

And so we wish you a happy Day of the Tesla, and to you and your kin, we say: may the eternal [peace ray](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla#Directed-energy_weapon) shine down upon you.

\* *Tesla and His Pigeon* was the recipient of the 2006 award for Most Promising New Children’s Book Involving a Historical Inventor of Serbian Descent, by the National Association of Serbian Inventors Whose Initials are “N. T.”. It was also on the short-list for the Newberry Award in the same year, though it was narrowly beat out by [*Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow*](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_Youth:_Growing_Up_in_Hitler%27s_Shadow) ↩

Doomcast: The Scrimshaw Meme

Dan — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:04:16 +0000

With the end of June comes the height of summer, and with the height of summer comes podcast adventure nine, a meandering tale of glory, villainy, the epic fight between good and evil, and the downfall of modern society, vis-a-vis the Internet. Join us in our mental perambulations as we consider:

ye olde podcastinge
Mad Mel Beyond Northampton
Law of the Boy Scouts
matters scientifically humorous

And for you lucky blog-post readers, enjoy your special bonus content, a pair of outtakes from this episode.

[podcast flashvars="titles: 'Doomcast: The Scrimshaw Meme'"]http://doombot.com/d-cast/doomcast8.mp3[/podcast]

Download, for your listening enjoyment. [17m 16s]

Subscribe via iTunes