Month: June 2013

Scorsese’s new movie looks as awesome as you’d expect

What I love about this trailer is that it doesn’t seem like Scorsese in the beginning, then slowly slides into the kind of stuff we expect from him. In a way, the expected stuff is somehow disappointing at the same time. I think we’re all beginning to detect a pattern to his work, not that everyone got whacked at the end of Hugo or anything. I’d love to see him go balls-to-the-wall risky at his age. I want to see him do something so damned unexpected and unique it could fail miserably. But hey, it probably wouldn’t, because he’s Martin fucking Scorsese.
I’ll see The Wolf of Wall Street, but it’s time to shake it up, Marty. Do a horror picture. Do high-concept science fiction. Prove in the grandest way possible that older artists aren’t destined to repeat themselves.

Did Einstein really give a shit about bees?

Here’s a documentary that reminds us of an “Albert Einstein quote” that I thought Mark Wahlberg made up in The Happening:

“If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left.” According to Snopes, it isn’t likely Einstein ever said that. It appears the quote was made up sometime in the 1990s. I have a feeling the people who treat environmentalism more like a religion than a science are really going to blow this quote up until the general population actually believes it. Since the quote appears in at least one Hollywood movie the damage may already be done.
So, the next time friends mention Einstein’s bee quote it’s probably a good idea to politely stop them. Ask them how’d they feel if you put words in their mouth after they’re dead. There’s always enough evidence for the truth without resorting to making stuff up.
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This work week has been a real ass-kicker so please excuse the lack of updates. We’re probably putting the movie on hold until the Oklahoman weather isn’t so much like a tropical furnace. Most of the scenes we have left are scheduled to be shot outdoors. 
At the moment I’m writing a fantasy novel. I wouldn’t call it dark fantasy, but I definitely wouldn’t call it high fantasy either. (I don’t have any dragons or elves or anything you’d specifically find in D&D or Tolkien stories.) As is such, I’m reading a lot more fantasy than I usually do. I’m trying to catch up on Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melnibone, which I should have read through a long time ago considering I’ve always admired Moorcock’s work, and I’m listening to A Song of Ice and Fire while I’m at work or doing things around the house. No, I haven’t gotten to the Red Wedding. Please stop talking about it, Internet. I get it. I should have read this shit a long time ago. I’m fixing that now so the less-discretionary television viewers don’t end up ruining it for me. Which they seem to be trying to do time and time again.
I’ve said so many times recently that I don’t want to jump back into indie publishing yet, but honestly, the story I’m writing now feels right for Smashwords. You should also know I’m a flip-flopper. Anyway, the plan is to finish the first draft of this fantasy story and then get the last science fiction novel I wrote ready for prime time.
I know. Talking about writing is about as interesting as a shoe. I’ll show myself out now.