The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach

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  • It must be tough being a film critic

    and always having to say something supposedly original and hopefully contrary. The thesis of this article in Deadspin is that Avengers Endgame suffers because it dives headfirst into the mythology and doesn’t pause or slow down for any non-fans watching. I’m just gonna say it: That’s just dumb.

    (No spoilers for Endgame — it’s safe to keep reading.)

    “The Mount Doom scene is well-staged but really makes no sense to someone who hasn’t watched the previous movies.”

    “The Battle of Camlann is satisfying thematically, but what if you aren’t a full-blown fan of Arthurian legend? Why didn’t Mallory write for the people who’ve skipped the backstory?”

    Any franchise risks becoming insular and unaccessible. Continuity can get tangled and collapse under its own weight. But come on. Some things are meant to pay off earlier work. Endgame is not a stand-alone film and makes not pretension to be one. Neither does any of its marketing. It’s not for people who’ve skipped the previous movies, and that’s OK. I follow Ebert’s philosophy: Judge a movie on whether it succeeds at what it sets out to be. Anything else is self-serving navel-gazing.

  • Jeribon

    Jeribon

    Update 2019 May 8: Here’s Jeribon’s 3rd-level character sheet.

    I’m getting back into D&D, hopefully, and I’m starting with Jeribon, a gnomish rogue. In the best traditions of the Internet, I’ve just stolen this image (from http://wow.blizzgame.ru/gallery/hazlow-mudshuggle-by-matt-cavotta/ ) until I can figure out one for myself.

    Backstory

    Jeribon was a young gnome at the time of the Sundering (ten or so years old).  His earliest memories are of escaping the chaos and destruction by fleeing westward.  He has vague, nostalgia-tinted memories of bona fide gnomish communities, rather than the scattered and diffuse enclaves that exist now.  A lot of his memories are sepia and warm and, he knows, probably idealized.

    Jeribon was the youngest of three children.  The middle child Amya (aged 35, or “teenaged” for gnomes) did not survive the passage to the west; her absence is a chasm between Jeribon and his oldest sibling, and was a millstone for his parents while they lived.  The eldest, Bero, had just attained gnomish adulthood (40 years) and had been about to embark on his own independent life when the Sundering hit.  Jeribon’s parents were middle-aged (about 150) at the time.

    After some time wandering as tinkers through the west, Jeribon’s family ended up in Ironkeep, joining the small gnomish enclave there and offering their tinkering and inventing skills to the diverse population.  Jeribon’s mother eventually secured a place with a minor noble and the family settled on the noble’s land a short distance from Ironkeep.  On reaching maturity (40 years or so old), Jeribon undertook the usual gnomish rumspinga, flitting from enclave to enclave to learn gnomish culture in the diaspora.  During this time he picked up his scar and lost his earlobe, but he doesn’t talk about it.

    A couple of years later he returned to the noble’s estate and settled in as part-time tinker and part-time archivist.  He and the noble shared a minor obsession with the written or printed word, and both enjoyed amassing a store of “wisdom” both obscure and trivial.  Bero, feeling constrained, eventually went off on adventures and he lost track of him.  Both Jeribon’s parents passed away a half-century or so after the Sundering – somewhat sooner than the usual gnomish lifespan.  Though they had found peace and a semblance of joy in the diaspora, the loss of the gnomish homelands had diminished their spirits and they simply didn’t hold onto life with as much gusto.

    Jeribon remained at the estate through several more generations.  He spent most of his time squirreled away in the family’s library (ever-increasing, if at a slow rate), serving as archivist, librarian, and sometimes-tutor.  Quick to dispense what knowledge he has (whether you asked for it or not), Jeribon was generally regarded more with amusement than respect, but since his role as tutor was informal and backed by no actual power, he was remembered fondly by the various scions of the noble family.

    Alas for them, the family fortune declined with time.  Almost imperceptibly, the noble line found itself shunted aside as the Iron Confederacy stabilized, recovered, and expanded.  Their rough-hewn ideals fit less naturally into a maturing polity.  Eventually, the line dwindled to a single female heir.  When her parents died, she was foisted off on a fosterage and the lands confiscated by ruthless, but entirely legal, means.  Jeribon found himself on the streets.  He had enough means to live comfortably, but his beloved library (which, after all, wasn’t actually his) was broken up and sold piecemeal.

    Unimpressed by the niceties of the legalistic maneuvering, Jeribon made off with his two favorite volumes – one, a history of the kingdoms before the Sundering and the other, a compilation of swashbuckling fairy tales.  Although he probably could have found a comfortable similar posting, he found himself repelled by the thought of settling back into a nice conventional life.  He’s seen the powerful make the rules to their favor and break them without a moment’s hesitation, and he’s decided he’s going to be a free agent from now on.  And if along the way, he can liberate some of the ill-gotten gain from the powerful and shameless, that’s all to the better.

  • The Orville v. Discovery: Small reference Pools

    I was watching a YouTube video comparing The Orville to Star Trek: Discovery. As it went on, it became almost surreal. At first, it was fine. The YouTuber likes The Orville over ST:D, because it feels more like “classic Trek” — which is a reasonable opinion, and one I more or less agree with.

    But when the YouTuber turns to Discovery, it all goes off the rails. First, he’s upset that the show has Michelle Yoeh, whom he assumes was cast to make the show more marketable in China(?). Then he gets worked up because this China-sellout allegedly continues when the captain quotes “classical Chinese texts that now even aliens seem to recognize quotes from”. Oh noes! Creeping Sino capitulation in Hollywood! What obscure Chinese text does ST:D use, to force on us its China-loving sympathies?

    The Art of War, by Sun Tzu.

    This was the first sign that this yahoo is simply bloviating without having a deep enough reference pool. The Art of War is not really “obscure” and it’s far from unlikely that a Starfleet officer might recognize it. Heck, Fortune 500 company CEOs spout off on The Art of War. This isn’t some Sino-sympathetic debasement; it’s a recognition that the world is bigger than Western Europe. That, it turns out, was my first clue.

    Next, the YouTuber is upset with the redesign of the Klingons. The Klingons in Star Trek have undergone evolution as makeup and budgets improve. From TOS (where they were essentially just human) through the motion pictures to Discovery, they’ve been made progressively less like just humans with rubber bits stuck on. Apparently, the YouTuber dislikes this because it makes it harder for him to imagine human/Klingon sex. Yes, really — that’s his problem.

    He’s also upset that the Klingons speak, well, Klingon. I agree that Discovery might have gone overboard with this in the pilot and first few episodes; there really is a lot of text to read onscreen whenever there are only Klingons present. I think it was an artistic choice, to help make them alien, and I respect it even if I don’t think I’d have made it. Still, this doesn’t really torpedo the show and the YouTuber gets worked up way out of proportion.

    The YouTuber begins to get worked up over the alleged fact that the Klingons in ST:D are modeled on supporters of Donald Trump — a claim he wildly overstates, drawing over-broad conclusions from articles like this one in Rolling Stone. He reassures CBS that they need not worry, because this symbolism went “completely over my head until I read about it online” — a phenomenon, I suspect, is quite common for him.

    Next up, the YouTuber is aghast that Discovery starts with a female captain and a female first officer. Two women at the top of the chain of command? How unthinkable! (He actually calls it “forced”). Of course, if 50% of the population is female and if you’ve reached a point societally that gender is non-determinative for advancement — meaning that there are equal numbers of qualified men and women for jobs like starship captain — then a pair of officers will, on average, have a 25% change of being both female. The ship-based Treks so far are TOS (mm), TNG (mm), ST:V (fm), ST:E (mf), and ST:D (ff). So out of five possible examples of captain/first officer, we have 1 case of female/female. This is only 20%, so Trek is still a bit behind. (Aside: I’m a little tickled that, if you include only “modern” Trek, you get a nice Punnett square. ?).

    It’s important to note that Discovery quickly breaks this anyway, since the actual captain for most of the season is, safely, a white male.

    Why is this even a problem? Well, the YouTuber is quick to point out that most sci fi fans are male. This is actually not clear, since the metrics used generally favor male over female respondents. For a long time, women weren’t welcome as public fans anywhere. His “evidence” is that the metrics of his channel show overwhelmingly male subscribers. But considering his approach, I suspect he simply drives off women viewers.

    An aside: He holds up Captain Janeway as one of the top two Starfleet captains, which by itself disqualifies him as a true Star Trek fan. ?

    YouTube guy is also upset that the main character in Discovery is named Michael but is female. Apparently any time her name is mentioned, it took him out of the episode for 10 seconds or more. It’s fine to have non-human names, even nigh-unpronounceable ones, but don’t dare cross any gender lines!

    YouTube guy is concerned because, even though the captain of the Discovery is a white male, he’s not a clearly-heroic exemplar of Starfleet virtue. He’s not, as Youtube Guy bemoans, a “positive male role model for us guys”. The Orville has a strong male role model and strong female characters, too, he says — but here, it’s clear he simply means strong as in muscular strength.

    Overall, this video was both disappointing and mildly disturbing. It’s particularly annoying because I happen to agree with the ultimate conclusion, that The Orville feels closer to classic Trek than Discovery. But how it gets there and why he feels that way, seem way off to me. I find myself agreeing with someone I don’t want agreeing with me.

  • Movies 2019

    Movies 2019

    • Aquaman (12/27/2018)
    • Bumblebee (1/3/2019)
    • Teen Titans Go! To The Movies (2/16/2019, Google Play)
    • Captain America: The First Avenger (3/15/2019, rewatch, amazon rental)
    • Captain America: The Winter Soldier (3/16/2019, rewatch, amazon rental)
    • Captain America: Civil War (3/17/2019, rewatch, amazon)
    • Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse (3/20/2019, amazon rental)
    • Captain Marvel (3/21/2019, AMC Southroads)
    • Little (4/22/2019, B&B Starworld)
    • Avengers Endgame (4/29/3019, B&B Starworld)
    • SHAZAM! (5/17/2019, B&B Starworld)
    • Men in Black International (6/23/2019, B&B Starworld)
    • Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (12/28/2019, B&B Starworld)
  • Books 2019

    Books 2019

    A Song for Arbonne by Guy Gavriel Kay

    This was a re-read for me, as it just became available on Kindle.  It in fact wrapped up my complete re-read of Kay’s fiction, which I mostly handled in 2018.

    Grant by Ron Chernow

    After reading the award-winning (and musical-inspiring) Hamilton by Chernow, I was moved to pick this one up — especially after a positive review by the Grant-fanatic in my life.  I’ve only read through the start of his presidency, but Chernow delivers the same unaffected but impactful style and brings his subject to life.  Incidentally, there are a lot of books about the Civil War; they often neglect the western campaigns. This book covers the War, of course but its subject requires Chernow to pay attention to that part.

    The Prophecy Con by Patrick Weekes

    Book 2 of the Rogues Of The Republic, a follow-up to The Palace Job

    The Paladin Caper by Patrick Weekes

    Book 3 of the Rogues of the Republic.

    Taken together, these three books are a decent if low-impact fantasy series. Intentionally or not, they have a real Leverage vibe (especially the third one), although they’re not quite as polished as John Roger’s classic TV show. Con jobs in fantasy settings are becoming more common (The Lies of Loch Lamora, the Mistborn series) but they all seem to veer into straight up combat at some point. Weekes does a decent job moving the plot along and the (huge) team of players is well-constructed, with everyone getting sharply-drawn personalities.

    The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu

    The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas pere

    Solaris Rising Vol. 2 anthology

    Tales of the Dying Earth by Jack Vance

    A People’s Future of the United States anthology

    Ancillary Justice by Anne Leckie

    A Brightness Long Ago by Guy Gavriel Kay

    Raymond Chandler’s Phillip Marlowe ed. by Robert B. Parker

    The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu

    Thrawn by Timothy Zahn

    The Raven Tower by Anne Leckie

    Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang

    John Quincy Adams: Militant Spirit by James Traub

    An excellent biography of the 6th President, whose term in the Oval Office was in fact one of his lesser accomplishments in the fields of diplomacy and public service.

    James Madison

    The Clockwork Dynasty

    Neverwhere

    The Collapsing Empire

    The Consuming Fire

    A Wizard of Earth-Sea

    Fall, or Dodge in Hell

    The Collected Works of Arthur C. Clarke

    The Map of Knowledge

    Nevernight

    Everless

    The Fifth Season

  • America is a Choice

    It’s been two years since I woke up to a country I didn’t recognize, and I’ve spent a lot of time wrestling with what that means.  I suspect that won’t be ending any time soon.

    Over the course of this administration, my social media feeds have been peppered with reactions to outrages that were virtually unimaginable (in my bubble) before — an accelerating dash toward authoritarian or even dystopian policies and attitudes: Endorsing political violence.  Calling for imprisonment without trial or even evidence.  Designating a free press “the enemy of the people”.  Caging children.  

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  • Agents of SHIELD meets its “End”

    Agents of SHIELD meets its “End”

    It took only a week for me to catch the Season 5 finale of Agents of SHIELD, fittingly called “The End”. It was pretty fantastic, actually, even if it barely tied into the Avengers flick. Agents of SHIELD has been the little show that could, toiling away while the MCU bounces from spectacle to spectacle.
    Spoilers, of course.

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  • The best thing about The Last Jedi

    I finally got to see The Last Jedi (after two previous failed attempts, both amazingly sold out afternoon shows, a month after the premier).  I liked it a lot.  My personal rankings of the “main” Star Wars movies is now something like

    1. The Empire Strikes Back
    2. Star Wars (A New Hope)
    3. The Force Awakens
    4. The Last Jedi
    5. The Return of the Jedi
    6. The Revenge of the Sith
    7. The Phantom Menace
    8. The Attack of the Clones

    But there was something that really stands out.  Spoilers ahead!

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  • The power of the dark side

    [amazon_link asins=’0785192557,0785192565,0785199772,0785199780,0785197893′ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’gilroy0-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’0a4327d5-eb7a-11e7-a142-c169eec473c4′]

    No, this is not a political post.  🙂

    I absolutely tore through the omnibus Kindle editions of the Darth Vader comic (one of several in the rebooted Marvel line).  I guess it really paid off for Amazon to make Volume 1 free to Prime members because it hooked me fast.  I ended up buying Volumes 2 through 4 as well as the crossover event Vader Down.  Combined, they cost me about what a standard novel would, and they were well worth the money.

    Oh, spoilers below.

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  • Happy New Year and Happy 2018

    Just a quick maintenance post.  In the new year I intend — as anyone who writes does — to write more frequently and more broadly.  I don’t expect it, but I intend it.  🙂