Wi-Fi Watering Hole Update: Velocity Cafe Becomes Novel Cafe

A couple of years back, I blogged about the eclectically-decorated Velocity Cafe at 2127 Lincoln Boulevard (corner of Lincoln and Pacific) in Santa Monica. Apparently, according to this report (http://la.eater.com/archives/2009/08/17/the_temporary_shutter_the_novel_cafe.php), in August of 2009 the original Novel Cafe on Pier Street in Santa Monica closed, due to a landlord-tenant dispute; and was reopened in place of the Velocity Cafe. I'm sitting there now typing these words. The new Novel Cafe (http://novelcafe.cisco-source.com/?page_id=81) features the same decor as the Velocity cafe (and, alas, the same slow service), but has added several Novel Cafe items to its menu. And, as before, the wall outlets are plentiful, and the Wi-Fi fast and free.

Box Office and Sports Records: Inflation and Steroids

An article in today's L.A. Times (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-bigpicture30-2010jan30,0,7457451.story) points out that, adjusted for inflation, AVATAR is far from the highest grossing, or even the top ten highest grossing, movies in history. GONE WITH THE WIND, with its various reissues, remains the top movie of all time adjusted for inflation, and may never be toppled from that perch. The reporter analogizes the boost increasing ticket prices give recent movies to recent sports records that, many suspect, become inflated as the athletes become inflated with "performance enhancers."

Google Book Settlement: Sledgehammer in a Publishing China Shop?

There are many things I like about Google. The company makes the operating system for my Droid phone and my Nook ereader. It provides a terrific search engine. It hosts the very blog on which I am typing these words. It provides all sorts of services and delights on its site. And its book project is making available on the web many old, out of print books that otherwise might age and crumble on library shelves, seen by few.

But I'm not sure I like Google's settlement of a class action brought on behalf of U.S. publishers and authors.

This past Thursday was the deadline for class members to opt out of the settlement; and according to this Associated Press article, http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TEC_GOOGLE_BOOK_BATTLE?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-01-28-17-34-23 (which, incidentally, I pulled up using the Google search engine), there are several objections, primarily about impact on competition and the edge the settlement will give to Google's monetized search engine.

Meanwhile, authors and illustrators have objected to the settlement. Graphic novelist Colleen Doran has raised concerns that the settlement's rules restricting online posting of books still in print apparently don't extend to graphic novels; that Google will be able to post illustrations online without the illustrators getting compensation; and that publishers will be able to post ereader versions of material without compensating the creators. See her posts at http://adistantsoil.com/2010/01/27/google-book-settlement-thoughts-and-clarifications/,
http://adistantsoil.com/2010/01/28/more-on-google-book-scheme-reasons-to-opt-out/, and http://adistantsoil.com/2010/01/28/google-copyright-for-me-but-none-for-thee/. Ursula K. LeGuin has filed a petition with the U.S. District Court judge who is overseeing the settlement (http://www.ursulakleguin.com/GS-Petition.html) and has resigned from the Authors Guild, stating as her reason the Guild's support for the settlement (http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Note-AGResignation.html).

I have not read the settlement (and have little desire to do so; I've got enough legal work on my plate) and I'm not expressing any legal opinion about it. But my personal feeling is that the book market is in a precarious and transitional phase as it struggles to define its existence in a way that embraces the traditional paper book and electronic access. I question whether the Google Settlement is an attempt to address a delicate situation by slamming it with a sledgehammer.

The Latest on Gaiman

Today's L.A. Times features this interview of Neil Gaiman on subjects ranging from the Golden Globes to the passing of his father -- and the effect on his work.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2010/01/neil-gaiman-graveyard-book-movie.html

Anime Los Angeles 2010: Steampunk Perspectives

I didn't post a blog report on Anime Los Angeles 2010 (although I participated in a podcast about it at www.otakunopodcast.com), so I'll post some retrospectives on the steampunk programming at the con, which included the two panels I was on. Both include pictures.

http://themanticoresociety.blogspot.com/2010/01/animela-2010-report.html

http://www.facebook.com/merci.me#/note.php?note_id=255101158786&id=725473832&ref=mf (Dunno if this one will be accessible to the few folks who aren't on Facebook)

I look forward to next year's ALA (and all the conventions in between . . . .)

Missing the Point on Cameras in the Courtroom

Here's a classic example of a newspaper article that misses the point by ignoring the true issue. The L.A. Times's front-page article about the January 13, 2010 U.S. Supreme Court stay order concerning broadcast of the Prop 8 trial (http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-court-gay-marriage17-2010jan17,0,151791.story)states that the opinion is an expression of Supreme Court support for Prop 8 supporters. The actual order, however, (http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/general/2010/01/15/09A648.pdf) indicates that the true issue is concerns about broadcast of federal trials in general.

There Ain't No Cure for the Avatar Blues?!

Audiences experience 'Avatar' blues - CNN.com

Of all the false problems that people could whine about: Folks suffer post-"Avatar" depression.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/11/avatar.movie.blues/index.html

Maybe I'm cynical, but I suspect this is more of a bid for attention than an actual DMS-III affliction.

My advice for people who yearn for the beauty of the images in "Avatar": Visit (or see footage of) a real rain forest. Travel to Washington State, or (if you can) Hawaii or another tropical place. Read some science fiction or comic books, and use your imagination. Just don't whine that reality wasn't created by James Cameron.

Happy Birthday, Tod!

Happy birthday to my cousin Tod Goldberg, who in my mind's eye is still the bright-eyed 12-year-old he was around, oh, 1983.

Celebrate Tod's birthday by picking up his short story collection OTHER RESORT CITIES, or one of his growing number of BURN NOTICE novels, at your local bookstore.

Steamanime

In preparation for my participation in steampunk panels at next weekend's Anime Los Angeles, I've been compiling a list of steampunkesque anime and manga (without actually, y'know, doing research on the subject). Anyway, here is the list I came up with off the top of my head, and if anyone has any other suggestions, I'd welcome them:

Castle in the Sky: Laputa
Steamboy
Steam Detectives
Nadia: The Secret of Bluewater
Galaxy Express 999/Galaxy Railways
Sakura Wars
Last Exile
Robot Carnival (segment with Victorian English giant robot vs. Japanese giant robot)
Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee
Heat Guy J (just to the extent it features a steam-powered android)
Ponyo (specifically, Fujimoto, the 150-year-old undersea mad inventor)

I'm leaving out shonen series that have anachronistic mashups of technology with little rhyme or reason, such as OnePiece, Naruto, and Fairy Tail.

UP IN THE AIR

If UP IN THE AIR doesn't win one or more above-the-line Oscars -- particularly Best Adapted Screenplay -- somebody in the Academy is seriously out of touch.

UP IN THE AIR, like all good stories, is a tale about conflicts. Conflicts between the old and the new ways of doing business. Between electronic communication and personal interaction. Between isolation and family. Between the burden of being burdenless and the freedom gained by making a commitment. Between the goals we set for ourselves, what we really need, and what happens when the two collide. Between salemanship and sincerity, and the odd middle ground where we know we are being sold to but we go with it.

All that wrapped up in a very funny comedy that features lots of great scenery and George Clooney's dashing smile. (The guy really is the Cary Grant of our generation.) It's funny, but not at the expense of genuine emotional resonance.

I enjoyed AVATAR and SHERLOCK HOLMES quite a bit, but it's refreshing to see a movie made by and for grownups -- or rather, a good movie for grownups.

The Guy Is Afoot!

As someone who has read a good portion of the Conan Doyle Holmes stories -- and who started reading them 30 years ago -- I'm glad to say that I thoroughly enjoyed Guy Ritchie's new SHERLOCK HOLMES movie, with Robert Downey, Jr. as the master sleuth and Jude Law as an extremely impressive Dr. Watson.  I still think the best adaptation of the Holmes stories was the BBC series starring the steely-eyed Jeremy Brett; but Holmes, like Tarzan (another literary Englishman created during the time Holmes stories were originally being released) and Robin Hood, Holmes has become a staple of Western popular culture whom every generation must enact anew.  Just as there will likely always be revivals of Shakespeare plays, there will always be reinterpretations of Holmes -- whether he's battling Moriarty, Nazis (as he did in the '40's Basil Rathbone flicks), Jack the Ripper, or the menacing conspirators in this film.

Some may be annoyed by Ritchie's hyper-stylization of reality, or the pumped-up action sequences, or the focus on Holmes's manic-depressive personality (though there's little-to-no mention of Holmes's cocaine habit -- perhaps to avoid a harder rating).  Others may grumble about giving Holmes and Watson a cute dog.

But the fact remains that this Holmes is woven from threads taken from the actual stories.  Further, the movie benefits greatly from taking one of the most memorable supporting characters -- Irene Adler, the American con woman from "A Scandal in Bohemia," who to Holmes will always be the  woman -- and building up her role, so that she is an adventuress who stands on equal footing with Holmes and Watson, albeit on the other side of the law.  Holmes's Catwoman, if you will.

It's always a delight to enjoy a couple of hours of pure cinematic entertainment.  SHERLOCK HOLMES shows that there's quite a bit of life in the old sleuth -- enough to fuel reinterpretations for generations to come.

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Panels: Ssssteam Heat

If you attend the Anime Los Angeles convention (http://www.animelosangeles.org/wp/) the weekend of January 8-10, and check out the Steampunk panels Sunday afternoon, you'll find me joining a few other steam-pressed folks up at the front of the room.

Here's the tentative sched:

Sunday 1:00 PM: Steampunk on a Budget
LP 2/Suite B
     Danny Barer
     Jo Celso
     Mercades Victoria
     Michael Pao
     Rebecca Majoros

Sunday 2:00 PM: Steampunk 101: Beginners panel
LP 2/Suite B
     Danny Barer
     Eric Chamberlin
     Michael Pao

The con will be at the Marriott Los Angeles Airport, 5855 W. Century Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045.  Thanks to Michael Pao of The Manticore Society  (http://themanticoresociety.blogspot.com/) for hooking me up.

Plus, if you're in Southern Utah March 5-6, 2010 (if you've never been, you should go -- it's gorgeous), and you're attending the Fannitiku Fest con (http://animefannatiku.com/), I'll be doing yet another Steampunk panel,  on March 6, this time by my lonesome.   Thanks to Natalie Daniel for arranging this.

Now, to figure out what to talk about . . . .

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Bryan Singer on 'X-Men: First Class,' 'Avatar' and more

The Hollywood Reporter | Heat Vision | Comics | Movie News: Heat Vision Q&A: Bryan Singer on 'X-Men: First Class,' 'Avatar' and more

The Hollywood Reporter's "Heat Vision" blog has an interview with Bryan Singer about his plans to direct another "X-Men" film, along with why he's fond of working in a wi-fi watering hole (a Coffee Bean, no less) in Oahu.

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The Adventure of the Mysterious Taquito in the Night

I stopped by one of the myriad 7-11 stores in the vicinity to see if it had Sherlock Holmes slurpie cups.  It didn't, but it did have Sherlock Holmes hot dogs (perhaps understandable -- sausages were a staple in Victorian London) and taquitos (uh . . . .)  Along with "Domo" flash drives and Big Gulp cups in the shape of big electric guitars.

As much as a spectacle as the relentless marketing of the Downey/Law "Sherlock Holmes" movie is, I have no problem with it -- particularly if it leads young people to read the original stories.

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Avatar: A Blue Christmas

We saw AVATAR last night in Imax 3-D, and had a great time.  It was bravura filmmaking, and a visual spectacle.  It looked like a bunch of Michael Whelan and Roger Dean paintings come to life.  It made efforts toward scientific extrapolation and credible science fiction (even though it often took dramatic license with science), and managed to wedge in convincing dialogue and acting.

But . . . (and there's SPOILERS here)

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I couldn't help feeling unsatisfied at the plotline, which followed not only  the tropes of earlier Cameron work (did anyone think the one-dimensional corporate shill in the plot would turn out to be any better than Paul Rieser in ALIENS?) but, well, DANCES WITH WOLVES, and lots of war movies and comics.  (I remember a few weeks ago I blogged about the stereotypical DC war comic story, in which a soldier separate from his unit takes out superior forces with a few well-placed grenades.  Uh . . . .)  I kept hoping that the storyline would have some kind of twist, travel 90 degrees from what you'd expect; but it still followed its designated path.

In particular, I thought Cameron might have been building toward an interesting twist with the Na'Vi's motives for revealing their secrets to Sully.  After all, the Na'vi are smart, and they know from the outset that Sully is (a) a warrior (b) of a people that they have had skirmishes with and (c) that he returns to his people whenever he sleeps (they call him a "dreamwalker").  Wouldn't they know that he was reporting to his people everything he saw?  Wouldn't they think that was his duty?  Wouldn't they do the same?  I thought that they might be revealing this information despite their awareness that he was betraying them, to work toward some larger purpose of diplomacy based on shared knowledge -- he would learn both sides' secrets and so be a go-between.  But instead, the Na'Vi are startled that Sully has been reporting on them.

Perhaps Cameron felt that moviegoers couldn't be pulled into this incredible world without being given a storyline that followed only familiar tropes.  Perhaps I'm expecting novel-type plotting in a movie that is jammed so full of visual spectacle and action that plot twists won't fit. 

I don't want to give the impression that AVATAR is a bad movie, or that I didn't enjoy it.  But I think that it's building a base for a new kind of SF movie -- one that actually brings to life the visions that could only be written about before -- and I'd like to see its potential used to full advantage.

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Surfing the Spectacular

Last night, Amy and I saw the Brian Setzer Orchestra's Holiday Spectacular concert at the Gibson Amphitheater on Universal Citywalk. (The Gibson is filled with ads for Verizon -- which makes me wonder whether the Verizon Amphitheater is festooned with Gibson guitars.) Incidentally, the Amphitheater -- back when it was an open-air venue, and was known as the Universal Amphitheater -- was the first place I ever saw a big-name rock concert: While the family was vacationing in SoCal in 1980, I saw Jefferson Starship (sans Grace Slick) there.

As wonderful as Mr. Setzer's set was (and it was quite wonderful -- he's an amazing showman as well as an amazing guitarist), it was almost eclipsed by one of his opening acts: The Ventures, the kings of instrumental surf music and the best-selling instrumental band of all time. The lineup included two original members, Don Wilson and Nokie Edwards. They're getting up in years -- the band was formed in Tacoma, Washington in 1958 -- but they still play with the same tightly-controlled virtuosity you hear on their '60's recordings. For anyone who spent any time in the '60's (or has seen movies or TV from that era), the expressive guitars and the fast drum work conjure of images of surfers, drag racers, spies, and everything cool about that era. If The Ventures played the soundtrack for your life, what an exciting life you'd lead.

Oh, Doctor, Doctor . . .

The L.A. Times interviews David Tennant about the end of his portrayal of The Doctor on DOCTOR WHO, and the pilot he's filmed for NBC.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-david-tennant19-2009dec19,0,2333000.story

I haven't yet caught up on all of Tennant's episodes (I need to start Season 3), but I do note that both he and Christopher Eccleston, his predecessor, are younger than me. Eep.

Dan O'Bannon, R.I.P.

One of those who, for better or worse, helped shape the '80's science fiction movie -- and the movies of today.

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-dan-obannon19-2009dec19,0,4358785.story

First things in the Last Year

My cousin Tod Goldberg blogs about things that happened to him for the first time in 2009. It involves the Poet Laureate, the inaguration, Jane's Addiction, and a gray hair.

http://todgoldberg.typepad.com/tod_goldberg/2009/12/the-8-days-of-lists-top-5-things-that-i-did-in-2009-that-id-never-done-before.html#comments