Dissecting books and movies

I read a lot. When I read, I tend to pick apart things in the books. I find the plot holes, the poor characterization, the tiny editing errors that were missed. (I read a lot of ebooks that have been self published.) One of my favorite writers completely screwed up her own timeline. I still read her books because I love the stories, but now I have to read them with a more open mind because of that. If the characters are too flat, the story showing a poor build up within the first five chapters, I'll put the book down and not pick it up again. I'm very picky with my books. I have over 200 Kindle books. I don't necessarily have time to read all 200. (All but four of them were free, and I already knew I'd like the four I actually paid for.)

Himself does this with movies. It doesn't matter if it's his first time or his tenth. He will pick it apart. He's been known to walk out of movies that have plot holes and bad characterization because they were so terrible he didn't want to watch it anymore. He's as bad with movies as I am with books. Occasionally I can get him to sit through the whole thing because I like the story, but he grouses about it when we leave. If there's a sequel it gets worse because he's comparing it to the first movie. If there's a remake of a movie, he tends to compare it to the original. Character development is something he focuses on, as well as moving along a storyline. Just like I do in a book series.

I am an author, unpublished though I may be. I look at books that I read as research material. If I love the story, I want to figure out what it was that drew me into it. I want to find out why I'm so fascinated by the characters. What is it about the setting that appeals to me? What's the plot and how does the author have it progress? Everything gets analyzed and filed away in my mind to be used for my books.

Not every book I read to the end is a good book. Sometimes the plot is weak but the characters are so fascinating that I'll push through. If the plot and setting are good, I'll somewhat forgive weak characters. But there has to be something compelling about the story or I won't stick with it.

What do you look for in a book/movie? Is there something that will get you to put it down/walk out? What are some of your favorite authors?

Geeky fandoms for movies/tv series

How many of you have seen the meme going around that says something along the lines of “being a geek means you're passionate about something”? I've seen that one on my feed on Facebook several times over the past couple weeks. It made me think. What science fiction/fantasy shows/movies am I passionate about?

The first things that came to mind, and if you've known me for a while you should be able to guess this, is Firefly and Star Wars. I came to Firefly after the series was canceled but I would have been one of the voices screaming at Fox for canceling it if I'd seen it then. But I love the way the story progresses, and how the movie Serenity expands on the story (even if they possibly make a continuity error at the beginning).

Star Wars. I've been a huge fan since I was a kid. I think part of it was my mom went to see Episode IV while she was still pregnant with me. I saw all three of the movies before I was ten many times. My parents owned them all on VHS (does this date me or what?) by the time I was a teenager. We must have worn through them more than once because I know my parents replaced them several times before finally buying the trilogy in a gold box.

When the prequels came out, I saw each of them on the opening day. I'm one of the many who thought Jar Jar Binks was annoying and the movie could have progressed without him. I also watched the animated Star Wars Clone Wars so I know how the story progressed between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.

Another two shows I loved are Farscape and Babylon 5. Farscape is what happens when a human is thrown into a distant galaxy by an outside force through a wormhole and ends up on a living ship full of escaped prisoners. He's forever trying to get home but things don't always work out the way he wants them to.

Babylon 5, if you haven't seen it, shows a more political side to science fiction. A lot of it is based on the interactions between several races. It's such an intricate pattern of storylines that I just can't describe it very well. It's also got several movies and a short spin off series that came of it. It's really amazing.

It's too bad but too many of the fantasy series haven't had much of an impact on me. I haven't seen Once Upon a Time or Sleepy Hollow, and both of them I've heard are good. I'll have to see what they're like. OUAT is on Netflix so I'm hoping to get a chance to see it soon.

Movies, on the other hand, I can list a lot of fantasy movies that I love and tend to geek out about. The obvious choices are of course the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I'm not as fond of The Hobbit, though I've only seen the beginning of the trilogy. I love the grand scape of the movies, the way they cast it, and how they filmed it. I have a lot of favorite scenes, but the one that brings me to tears every time is the end of Return of the King where Aragorn tells the hobbits that they bow to no one and kneels before them.

I'm an animation fan too. I love Frozen, Brave, How to Train Your Dragon. Anime is something else I'm fond of, both series and movies. The list goes on and on with visual media. Then there are so many I could go on and on for hours about it.

What are your favorite fantasy/sci fi movies/tv series?

(We'll talk books and authors in another post. :) )

G is for Growth

Growth.

Everything grows. People, plants, animals, even single celled organisms can grow into a colony which is greater than the whole. Our minds grow too. With every word we read, every syllable we utter, with every image we see, our minds expand with knowledge and wonder.

It pains me to hear people say they don't read, they're not into reading. I don't read as many books as I used to but I'm forever reading articles online, researching and learning new things. I know someone who doesn't even do that. He won't play games that require too much reading because he finds it hard.

I don't know if he has problems with his eyes, if he's dyslexic, or if he just doesn't like reading. There are many reasons why someone wouldn't read. But there are other ways to expand your knowledge. The new Cosmos has a website here where you can watch full episodes. I don't have tv so I go there to watch. There is a desire here to learn more.

Physical growth is inevitable for the majority of people. But mental growth, that's something controlled solely by the individual. In school we are taught many things, but retaining them or finding some passion in them to continue learning long after we've been taught the lesson and the teacher has moved on. Devouring books, papers, even videos if we can find them. Yes, I know today on YouTube you can find just about anything. But think back to when you were in elementary, junior high, or high school. Did you have the tools we have now?

Learning is so much easier now. A quick search on Google gives you answers you didn't know you wanted. YouTube offers videos on how to do so many things. Facebook and Twitter can be sources of links as well, as you monitor your feed for fascinating tidbits you can then research on your own later. So much information is out there, it's up to you to find it and expand your knowledge and your mind.

Interestingly enough, I feel movies and video games can do the same. Movies can inspire you to go further, to reach for distant stars and motivate you to find a new way of seeing things. Video games – and yes, I know there are some terrible games out there – can teach you hand/eye coordination, how to solve puzzles, and give you social interactions.

There are so many ways to grow your mind. Do something today to give yourself some new knowledge. Play a game. Watch a movie. Use all of these things to be inspired and to grow.