2015 Resolutions: Oh, God, So Much Work to Do!

The New Year is upon us, and there's far too much I didn't get done in 2014 that I should have.  And so I figure I should make one of those resolutions things to make myself feel inclined to actually complete some projects.

On that note, here are my resolutions:

• Publish a collection with Sarah Chorn (who is the awesomestest)
• Finish the SpecFic 2014 anthology with Renay (which I have to do because I said I would)
• Lose another 20 lbs (or replace it with muscle)
• Finish my dissertation by November 2015
• Finish my action adventure space opera novel of awesome featuring a female protagonist who is a tech savant and her warrior brother who fights using a mecha-based wheel chair (yeah!)
• Review 50 books
• Review 25 movies
• Finish my SFF Odyssey project
• Be awesome

I think that's a fair enough list, don't you?

What are your resolutions for 2015?

Comic Review: Drifter (Issue #1) by Ivan Brandon and Nic Klein

As I've read more and more comics, I've come to the realization that one of the things I am sorely missing is a good sense of the non-Marvel/non-DC comics worldview.  Thus, I have turned to Image Comics to find those gems that I would otherwise miss.  This is, of course, hardly a challenge for me, since I've enjoyed Saga as much as Wake and Wytches.  Still, the more I look at what I read, the more it becomes apparent to me that I'm not diversifying as much as I should -- and that I'm not reading enough science fiction that doesn't involve superheroes.  And so I have turned to Drifter #1, the first in a new series by Ivan Brandon and Nic Klein from Image Comics, where one of my comics-reading friends buys 99% of his comics because he likes the weird stuff they publish (so do I, it turns out).

I have some mixed feelings about Drifter #1.  Though the overarching narrative is compelling, its subplots are somewhat mixed, leaving an introductory issue that, while intriguing, also misses something crucial in the narrative space.  The narrative follows Abram Pollux, a pilot whose spacecraft is severely damaged, presumably by the man chasing him.  Pollux is forced to crashland on Ouro, an alien backwater world; upon extracting himself from the wreckage, he is shot by the assailant and left to die.  But he doesn't.  Instead, Pollux awakens in Ghost Town, a settlement populated by equally unfortunate rough-and-tumble humans.  In an attempt to track down his ship, and the man who tried to kill him, Pollux reveals that things on Ouro may not be what they seemed and that his notion of reality could be just a little bit false... (this is me being vague so as to avoid ruining the ending of the first issue, which is pretty awesome)

On Ridley Scott's Exodus and Bannings

The Washington Post reports that Egypt has banned Ridley Scott's controversial Bible film, Exodus (starring Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, and Ben Kingsley), due to "alleged historical inaccuracies and a 'Zionist' agenda."  You can read the article for more detail, though I would suggest extra care here given the region under discussion and the inevitable spin that will come out of U.S. news sources.  For the record:  the BBC has reported the same thing, more or less.

I should also note that I'm not going to defend Exodus from the charges that it is inaccurate in any direct sense.  Honestly, I don't think the movie should have been made.  Its white-washing of history and clear manipulation of Biblical narrative for "sensationalist imagery" -- not to mention Ridley Scott's absurd defense of the former -- have not endeared the film to me.  In fact, I'm perfectly content with never seeing Exodus, and I sincerely hope it does so poorly that Hollywood thinks again before letting Ridley Scott ruin anything else.  But none of this is a reason to ban the film.  They made it, and if theaters want to play it, then so be it.

Now, to my thoughts:

Merry Holiday Things

Merry Christmas, everyone, from my weird family to yours.

And may your new year be filled with mostly positive things and lots if pie.

On The Interview, Terrorism, and the Artistic Expression

By now, you'll have heard that Sony had opted to cancel the release of Seth Rogen and Ethan Goldberg's The Interview (2014)(starring Rogen and James Franco) in response to threats against their employees and movie theaters (many of which have refused to show the film).  They have since announced that the film will play in select theaters on Christmas Day and that they are still trying to find places to play the film so it will have a proper release.  Now, it seems, the film's future is up to theaters.

Update:  On Christmas afternoon, Sony will also release The Interview via several streaming sites, including Google.  So at least we can all see it if we want to.

Chuck Wendig has already written an interesting post on the situation, and if it's not already obvious, I have a few thoughts.  But first, a quote from Wendig:

On the World Fantasy Award and H.P. Lovecraft

(Correction:  a previous version of this post attributed the Guardian article to Damien G. Walter rather than Daniel José Older.  That has been corrected below.  My apologies for the mix-up.)

We're still talking about the World Fantasy Award and H.P. Lovecraft's bizarrely shaped award-specific head.  Daniel José Older, who created the original petition to replace Lovecraft's bust with that of Octavia Butler, recently revisited the discussion in his Guardian column, remarking that "the fantasy community cannot embrace its growing fanbase of color with one hand while deifying a writer who happily advocated for our extermination with the other."

I won't rehash the whole discussion here.  If you don't already know the happenings, then you can use the links I've provided here to fill in the blanks.  As for Lovecraft:  his racism is infamous enough that it required its own section on his Wikipedia page (albeit, a somewhat sanitized section).  I won't go into all the nitty gritty details about Lovecraft's views on race; rather, I'll point you to this post from Slate (which is hardly an extensive or thorough analysis of Lovecraft, but it'll get you on the right track).

My personal view on this subject is fairly basic:

Cancer Free Since '03

For those that don't follow me on Twitter, you'll have missed the whole "Shaun had a cancer appointment today" stuff.  As it turns out, I remain cancer free, and have done so since the conclusion of chemo in 2003.

And that's good news indeed.

So hurray to me. Good news for the holidays and all that jazz.

Now back to doing whatever I was doing...oh, right. Stressing out about work!