Read Read Read Write Write Write Rewrite Rewrite Rewrite

I haven't done much writing, or rewriting lately, but I did read a lot. I have some thoughts about my reading.

I took the title of this post from some very common advice to writers. I picked it up in Pierre Berton's book "The Joy of Writing".

What Kind of Reading?

I don't think anyone would argue about the need for a writer to read a lot. What I wonder is, what kind of reading? When I started to make movies, I mostly watched movies for enjoyment, but also began to watch to study the movie. I'd make notes about various aspects of the movies to gain a better understanding of how to make movies.

I haven't done the same with reading though, it is still all for enjoyment. I suspect that I should try to analyze some of the material I read, as I did with movies. I have done a little of that. I remember back in high school I spent some time working through a Doc Savage book to try to suss out how it was done. I didn't succeed. All it did was distract me from the stuff I should have done for English class.

I do read some books about writing , like "The Joy of Writing", and I think that helps. However, I think that you can learn from other kinds of books.

I am unsure if reading for pleasure helps. Maybe, as you read, your subconscious picks up on the mechanics of the writing, which you can draw on later. I have my doubts if that is very effective. It would be nice if it does. I wonder if anyone has studied this.

What Have I Read?

I used to read quite a few books. Over the years I drifted from science fiction to mysteries to non-fiction. Over the last year I've noticed that more and more of what I read is eBooks on my eReader, or on-line: things like news articles and blogs.

I visit some U.S. news and opinion pages on a regular basis: Paul Krugman, Salon, and Slate. I'd like to find similar sites in Canada because I find myself thinking too much about U.S. economics and politics, which is really not my major concern. I pick up articles here and there from the people I follow on Twitter or FaceBook.

Just recently I discovered Jason Colavito's blog: http://www.jasoncolavito.com/. His main focus is on debunking the ancient astronaut theory. He writes a lot about how H. P. Lovecraft's stories have influenced AA theory. He seems to do a new post almost every day. I wish I could be as prolific; and successful, he gets more comments than I get views.

Another recent discovery was Space Archaeology, http://spacearchaeology.org/. Unfortunately the last post was back in November 2012. That said, I did find some worthwhile posts. One of these, 10 Space Archaeology Stories You Must Read (http://spacearchaeology.org/?p=219) got me to read "The Red One" by Jack London, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_One. It is reminiscent of some of Lovecraft's Yog-Sothothery stories, but was written a decade before "The Call of Cthulhu".

I do worry that the time I spend reading these blogs are a diversion from what I really want to do. Blogs can be addictive. On the other hand, I think that anything that stimulates thought is a positive thing.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

Xtranormal Rebirth and Facebook Issues

I've devoted most of my time recently to caring for my wife as she recovers from surgery, so I haven't done much about my movie and writing projects. This week I have some thoughts about the return of Xtranormal and problems with Facebook.

Xtranormal Rebirth

I used Xtranormal to make "The Barrier" last year. It was a shock when they suddenly shut down last July. I was barely able to get all the stuff I wanted for the movie done. As it was, I would have liked to make some changes to what I did have.

For the last few months the company who owned the rights to the Xtranormal technology has had it on sale. Just yesterday I learned that they've now sold the technology to a new company called Nawmal (http://www.nawmal.com/). There isn't much information there yet. You can sign up for a news letter.

It looks like they still need to work out just what they have before they can release anything. Hopefully they'll have some kind of product out soon. I just hope it isn't too expensive.

I want to make some changes to "The Barrier". I had hoped that I could redo it as live action, but I don't think that is very likely now. I would like to have a "final" version of the movie though.

Facebook Issues

I've seen a lot of complaints about how changes to Facebook have affected Facebook pages. One example is: http://www.thisistrue.com/blog-facebook_starting_to_circle_the_drain.html. I've have some of the same problems.

My Facebook page has 125 followers, but often as few as 4 or 5 see my posts. I can increase that by paid advertizing. I've done that a few times, and it does help me increase the number of people who see the post. However, since this doesn't generate any revenue, it is hard to justify the expense.

I think that pages must be primarily intended for companies who sell something. While I hope to make money from my movies and stories, the page isn't likely to generate any money.

Some people say they will abandon Facebook, but I don't want to do that. I already have an e-mail list, but I don't have a lot of people on that. I set up Facebook groups in the past and think that may be a better option for me. It seems like I can send out a group e-mail, which doesn't cost anything.

The main problem with a switch to a group is that I'm likely lose some of my followers. On the other hand I do think it is better to have a small group of active followers than a huge number of passive followers, who you can't contact. The best way would be to keep the page, but also add a group.

My to do list gets longer every day. :)

The picture of the cat has nothing to do with the post, but I heard that cat pictures attract people.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

Does My Movie "The Barrier" Pass the Bechdel Test?

This week I came across a YouTube video: The Bechdel Test for Women in Movies.  The goal is to test for women presence in a movie. I applied the test to my movie "The Barrier".

What is the Bechdel test?

The Bechdel test has been around for some time, but I wasn't aware of it until I saw this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLF6sAAMb4s. When I did some additional research I came across a few sites that discuss the test.

• http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/TheBechdelTest
• http://bechdeltest.com/
• http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-dollar-and-cents-case-against-hollywoods-exclusion-of-women/
• http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/the-bechdel-test-checking-our-work/

The test is limited to the question of if women are in the movie, and does not address how well women are portrayed. There are three questions to answer.

1. Does the movie have at least two named women in it?

"The Barrier" has a total of 18 characters in. Of these 8 are women. Five of the women characters are named and speak during the movie. "The Barrier" therefore does have a positive answer to the first question.

There are six named male characters, so the gender balance is not too far off reality. There is one women character in the movie who is mentioned by name, but she does not appear.

2. Do Women in the movie talk to each other?

There are three times when a women character in "The Barrier" talks to another women character. The longest conversation is between Ling Pang and Meera Sharma. There are no other characters in that scene.

A short exchange occurs between Mayor Taylor and Councillor Stewart. This happens in a larger scene where other characters, all male, participate in the discussion.

The third conversation might be excluded because we don't hear what the characters say. In the open house scene, Ling Pang talks to Zelda Zimmerman, but that happens in the background while Arthur Macdonald talks to George.

3. Do Women in the movie talk about something besides a man?

The conversation between Ling Pang and Meera Sharma covers a range of topics. The main topic is the technical issues with the barrier. They also talk about Ling's career prospects and issues related to Arthur Macdonald and Brandon Baker. The discussion of the barrier does not involve men at all. Men are mentioned in the discussion of Ling's career prospects, but they are not the main focus. The talk about Arthur and Brandon is of course about men, albeit Ling and Meera focus on office work issues.

The exchange between Mayor Taylor and Councillor Stewart is about the Glencoe development and if they should listen to what Arthur has to say. Although they do talk about Arthur, the issue they talk about is the development and Arthur's analysis. They do not really talk about Arthur.

Since we can't hear what Ling Pang and Zelda Zimmerman talk about, we can't know for sure if they talk about men. However, given the context, it seems most likely that they would talk about Ling's project, a traffic interchange. They do look at Arthur and George when they argue, so they might talk about that.

So, does "The Barrier" pass the Bechdel test?

This is not an easy question to answer. The answer to the first two questions is clearly yes. There are more than two named women and women do talk to each other.

The third question is less clear. It depends on how strictly you interpret what is meant by not talking about a man. In all of the conversations the women do talk about men, but they also talk about other things. I'm inclined to be generous and say that "The Barrier" does pass the Bechdel test.

Since there is a element of subjectivity to this question, and I am a little biased in favour of my movies, I can understand why someone else might conclude that "The Barrier" does not pass the test. I would like to hear if anyone disagrees with my assessment.

Does this make "The Barrier" a feminist friendly movie? I doubt that the results of this test would allow me to say so. The women characters do play a significant role in the story and some of them do come across as strong and independent. Again, I don't think that allows me to claim it is a feminist friendly movie.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

"2001: A Space Odyssey" and H. P. Lovecraft

A couple weeks ago I posted "What is "2001: A Space Odyssey" About?" (http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/what-is-2001-a-space-odyssey-about/). In it, I mentioned in passing that I saw some similarities between it and the works of H. P. Lovecraft. Since then I've delved a little deeper into that idea.

Arthur C. Clarke and H. P. Lovecraft

I was reluctant to make too much of the possibility that Lovecraft's work dad an influence on "2001", because I didn't know if Clarke was familiar with Lovecraft. A quick search showed that he did.

In 1940, Clarke wrote "At the Mountains of Murkiness", a parody of Lovecraft's "At The Mountains of Madness". In "Icons of Horror and the Supernatural: An Encyclopedia of Our Worst Nightmares" S. T. Joshi mentions the story and notes that both "2001" and "Childhood's End" both share some ideas with Lovecraft's stories.

Lovecraft and "2001" Similarities and Differences

Lovecraft's basic idea is that extraterrestrials visited Earth far in the past and influenced the development of humans. The same idea underlies "2001".

Lovecraft suggests that these extraterrestrials were the inspiration for the gods that humanity worships. This is not suggested in the movie or book "2001", but Clarke does make the suggestion in his later novel "3001: The Final Odyssey".

A major difference between Lovecraft and Clarke is the attitude of the extraterrestrials. In Lovecraft they are at best indifferent to people and can be very antagonistic. Clarke sees the attitude of the  extraterrestrials as positive to people. In Clarke's earlier short story "The Sentinel", which was the basis for "2001", the attitude of the extraterrestrial is not so clearly positive. In "3001" the attitude of the extraterrestrials is also not necessarily kindly toward people.

Is it possible that maybe "2001" could be viewed as a Lovecraftian horror story? In the book Clarke does seem clear that the extraterrestrials are benign, but that might not be true of the movie. Like many of Lovecraft's heroes, at the end, Bowman appears to become overwhelmed by what is revealed to him. The scene in the "hotel room" could be just a figment of his imagination after he has lost his sanity.

Robert E. Howard and the Monolith

An interesting parallel to "2001" can be found in another Cthulhu Mythos story, "The Black Stone" by Robert E. Howard. In it the hero finds an ancient black monolith that was set up by ancient extraterrestrials. Although a different shape than the monolith in "2001" (octagonal) it is about the same height and depth.

"2001" and the Ancient Astronauts

In his book "Cult of Alien Gods" (http://www.jasoncolavito.com/cult-of-alien-gods.html), Jason Colavito makes the case that the ancient astronaut theory popularized by Erich von Däniken in his book Chariots of the Gods? was inspired by Lovecraft's stories. A review I read suggested that the case is weak, but it convinced me.

The ancient astronaut theory predates "2001", but I suspect that it could have played a role in the popularity of the ancient astronaut theory. In 1968, "2001" was a very high profile cultural event, and even people who did not go see it were aware of some of the ideas in the movie. Chariots of the Gods? was published the same year and was more broadly promoted by a TV program in 1970.

Because of "2001", the possibility of extraterrestrials visiting Earth in the past was an idea that was "in the air". This could have made people more open to the idea when von Däniken book was released. I know that this was a factor in my own interest in the theory. I was completely sold on the idea then, although eventually my interest led me to the skeptic movement.

What Can We Conclude?

I don't want to exaggerate the importance of the connections I found, but I think the comparisons do help me to understand "2001". Arthur C. Clarke said that the book he wrote was just his thoughts about what the movie was about.

I suspect that "2001" is more of a question than a statement. The explanations of the story suggested by comparisons with Lovecraft show that the "answer" to what "2001" is about is not straight forward. I think it is the stimulation we gain from the exploration that is important.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog