Author Archives: Eric

Watching – on MY demand

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I am not a Luddite, but I am often accused of being one because I tend to express very negative opinions about tech and the issues that result from it not working correctly.

I spend an exceptional amount of time working with technology, specifically digital tools, at my day job. I am part designer, part modeler, and part film maker when I’m working on a project. I absolutely depend on having up to date hardware and software. I am connected all the time while I am working having three screens and up to a dozen windows open at any given time on my computer. I live in the future when I’m working. When I am not at work, totally different take on things.

I have a deep seeded need for technology to simply work when and where I want it to. This is where the problem starts. There are a multitude of technology based things for any and all parts of the home these days. I find that most of them amount to solutions gone looking for a problem. Could I have voice commands turn all the lights on and off in my house? Yes, yes I could. Will I ever do that? Not a chance. I can walk over and flip a switch to complete a circuit. The only times I’ve ever had a problem with that is when the light itself failed to work. How many people can say they never have a problem getting their automated things to work properly every single time without more effort that flipping a switch? I’ve witnessed it at the office I work in. One office’s lights are connected to a digital assistant. Guess what set of lights constantly has issues? Good guess.

So, why am I on about digital tools and connectivity? I am also one of the people that still has the Netflix DVD by mail service. Yes, actual discs in the good old postal delivery service. I can’t say I’m a constant on the mailing list, sometimes not getting to my new disc for a couple of weeks, but generally I get to at least three or four per month. I also still buy actual discs of the movies that I know I really enjoy and want to go back to.

When I really want to watch an older movie that I love I follow a procedure that’s remarkably similar to the light switch… I get off my ass, walk to the shelf where the movie sits, then take the disc back to the DVD player and watch my movie. Relatively little failure there.

What if you wanted to watch Dogma tonight? Could you? Even with Kevin Smith out there all over the place promoting stuff you still can’t just get it if you don’t own the disc. Sure, there may be some digitally savvy folks out there that could come up with it, but at what cost? What system? Do you have the right service?

This article in GQ has some really excellent points on this.

My bottom line is this – If I own the disc, there’s not a service out there that can stop me from watching it when and where I want to. I don’t have to depend on Netflix having it in their rotation. I don’t have to worry that there’s some kind of transmission problem that’s bogging down Hulu. No buffering on my computer. I just watch it. Pause it, come back to it… basically all the things associated with streaming, without the need to worry about what service has the movie or IF my digital library copy is still available or not… or worse, if it’s been altered for some kind of directorial re-write (thanks for that Lucas).

IF that makes me a Luddite, so be it. I’ll still watch my movies whenever I want and not depend on some service to do it.

An Anniversary

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A date slipped past in the midst of all the holiday goings on. Back on December 27th The Pretend Blog became a teenager. Yes, this blog has been around for 13 years now.

It has not always been on my own web site. I started this whole thing back in the days of LiveJournal if you can believe it. Thirteen years of putting stuff I want to get out of my head up here.

I am forced to admit that I haven’t built the sort of readership that people who pay for their own web sites normally want. I have NO intention of stopping this however. I will continue to keep my own content, thank you very much.

So – all these thousands of words later – teenager. Let’s hope the site gives me less attitude than most teens give their parents!

For any fans of nostalgia, the LiveJournal posts are still live. I don’t remember how to get into that site, but all that stuff can still be found here.

I’m also consistent about a lot of things. I still laugh every time I watch The Ultimate Showdown (from the second ever blog post by me!).

Recommended Reading!

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I’m cross posting this one over from Failbook. I am very excited to have found out about this.

While I was busy partying the new year in, others have been working. Hat tip to Jeff Young for pointing this one out to me.

“Sympathetic” from “In Harm’s Way” was one of the noted stories (no stars, but my name was on the list!) in Tangent Online’s 2019 Recommended Reading List!

I am super happy just to be mentioned.

Tangent Online Article

A New Year? Again?

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2019 really does seem like a bit of a blur to me. I’m more shocked than any other reaction that it’s actually 2020 now.

I looked back at my new year post from this past January. I can’t say that I’ve truly shaken the slump, but I’m slowly getting better / back to where I once was. I read more (though I am still failing at the reviews thing), I caught up on more media that I had been missing out on and I’ve written a few thousand words. They weren’t spectacular words, but they were progress (and they are part of why there hasn’t been more being posted here).

Given my recent post on habits, one might think that I’d be putting something up here about resolutions and how big changes are coming, etc., etc…

Well, no. That’s not how I operate. Many years ago I made a New Year’s resolution to NEVER make a New Year’s resolution again. Guess what? Total success. Still going strong on that one. IF you want or need change in your life, the calendar is convenient, but not required. Make the change to grow or get better when you make that choice. Do what you need in order to adjust your habits.

I get the feeling that I should try to have some kind of review of the past decade, but again – not really my style. I don’t like list posts – they seem kind of cheap to me. This time of year is busy for sure, but readers that have time on their hands around travel time or in an attempt to get away from relatives want something new to read, not just another review / list.

As we all go crashing into 2020 (may you be able to live with all the vision jokes) let’s hope that the most amazing positive thing that happened last year for us is just a springboard to even more amazing in the coming year.

Habits

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Habits

Habits are difficult things to break. There are a lot of things I do that happen simply because they’re what I have always done. I have a listing in my internet bookmarks called ‘daily review’. Every time I am on the computer for any length of time I open that list of bookmarks and roll through each of the sites there. I don’t need to see any of those sites. They’re a mix of news, entertainment and web comics that I follow. It’s important to keep up on the news of the day, but there really isn’t a single one of those web sites that I couldn’t catch up with at some other point in the day OR just skip. Seeing the latest “Off The Mark” comic strip is not something that’s going to deeply change my day. I could skip all of them and not really miss anything at all. It’s a hard habit to break.

As it turns out, it’s also challenging to create new habits. Doing good things, making long term positive changes is not easy either. This applies to anything, but it is particularly difficult for me to do this with writing. My writing tends to take a back seat. There are a lot of reasons for this. The main reasons aren’t easy to pin down, but I think the biggest are lack of inspiration and fear of judgment

Writing at the level I really want is work. I tend to write when I am inspired. When I have that spark the words come pouring out. I have pages and pages of hand written notes with almost no scratch outs or edits. I become the Zeus of the story and chunks just pop from my head fully formed. The problem with that is combining inspiration and the actual time needed to sit and get all the words recorded. There’s at least a novel worth of words that have faded away because I couldn’t manage to get them to the page when the dream was fresh or the mood was in full swing. I can’t afford to wait on these pages. I need to sit and write and keep it all in some kind of recorded form, whatever that form may be. Typed, handwritten, voice recording – doesn’t matter. Get the words out there and do it all the time.

It’s easy to hear others talk about these things. I know that Ray Bradbury used to write ten thousand words a day. Sounds like the perfect recipe for writing books. I’ve often snatched a line from one of my other favorite authors. When I heard Jim Butcher talk about writing he said, “I don’t have a muse, I have a mortgage…” I knew there was truth there. Writing is work. Work needs to be done on a regular basis. I do not do enough of that kind of work.

Judgment

The other part of my inability to start good habits is this fear of judgment. If I put myself out there and claim to be a writer I will be judged by my ability to string together coherent statements with the proper use of grammar AND it will all need to be spelled right. Then, after all the basics, I need to actually have something to say.

Two main parts to that. First the spelling and grammar portion is not easy. I am terrible at spelling. I can look at this page alone and see at least 3 words with squiggly red lines under them. They are words that I absolutely should know how to spell and I just can’t seem to get them right. I don’t know why, but they don’t stick. It’s physically difficult for me to keep typing and not go back to edit while I’m letting the words continue to come out. Going back to edit can and should be something that is done after all the words are out. Too often I stop what I am thinking to go back and craft the perfect phrase or clean up all the spelling that is glaring at me in red. Breaking the flow stops the words and just as often as not they don’t start again. Grammar is worse. Grammar is one of those things that I know I should know, but I feel a bit like Gandalf in the LOTR movies, “I have no memory of this place…”. I am faking my way through it all and anyone that has half a clue about how grammar works probably cringes at the word salad I toss out.

Impostor

The second part is the judgment All this writing is out there for people to read, and very few people actually read it. The fact that I can name the people who interact with me when it comes to my writing says a lot about my success. That’s the true judgment part. It’s not having some troll throw angry words down about what I have said, it’s that all of this amounts to nothing. Getting somebody to react, somebody to actually read what I have labored to create would allow them to look at my terrible spelling and grammar and think, “this guy is a writer? I could do better…”. One of the harshest critiques I’ve ever had was at a book signing. The book signing had a line of authors from the anthology. As people shuffled along the line of authors this guy asked me, “and what story was yours?”. When I told him his face froze in place and then he said, “Oh. That one was… nice.”. I thanked him again and he stepped down the line to the next author. That really sucked. He’d read it and it did nothing for him. That was a tough one to overcome, but I’ve kept going in the hopes that I’ll sneak in with the cool kids again one of these days. It’s not easy. I am slowly slipping into the land of old men standing in the yard and yelling at the sky.

After all that

This is the sort of rambling, writerly life-style post that would normally end with some promise not to blog fade or to use the coming new year as an excuse to claim great changes are on the way. I’ve done all that before. I’m sure I’ll re-post one of my successful habits in the coming days about that. What I am going to say is that this is all a work in progress. I have seen some short videos lately that have resonated with me about habits, work ethic and the tool box fallacy. I’ll keep going. In the future somebody will dig these words up and bring them back for judgment – at least I will have made them react.

Post Script:

This is one of those “fully formed” examples. More than a thousand words that poured out all at once. Now to edit…

Reviewing the reviewer

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It has come to my attention that I am a terrible book reviewer.

This was not a mean or critical thing, it was just something that came up. I’m not sure the person that pointed this out to me even understands that was what happened.

I have more than 300 books read / reviewed on my Goodreads account. I only put books I’ve read since starting Goodreads on there with reviews. I am always honest about what my feelings are toward the book that I’m reading at the time. I give my opinion just as it is.

That brings out the two biggest problems with my reviews.

The first part isn’t really a problem as much as it is something that is common to anything posted on the internet. It’s out there and it’s not going away. I’ve given my opinion, but it’s exactly that – an opinion. My opinion on certain things has changed over time. It’s entirely possible that my opinion will change on the books over time. It’s fair for an opinion to change, but my reviews are static. What is out there, is out there. I’ve written before about the importance of reading books at the right time. This applies to me too – and there might be some reviews that were just the wrong time. I am a writer (hopeful author?) so I know the struggle of trying to get a story published. I always keep that in mind when I’m putting together a book review. Hopefully people will appreciate that about what I put out there.

The second part is the heart of the issue. I have never learned, studied or applied anything that resembles a structured critical book review.

I shouldn’t say never.

I recall writing book reports back in elementary school that had a structure. I haven’t looked at anything like that as an adult though. I should. When my friend asked me about a book that I’d read some years ago it turned out that I had posted a review to Goodreads. I went back to that review to ‘check my notes’ and see if I could answer the questions put to me. My review was something close to “meh, it was OK” and that was it. I couldn’t help. To be fair to myself, if it were a truly memorable book I suspect I could have been more help. What that did was point out a need. I need to get a better method for reviewing books and making notes to help me remember important details some years down the road.

I’ve got at least a half dozen books that I’ve finished reading and not posted anything about yet. I will have to see what I can come up with for the ‘new review format’ over the next couple of weeks.

How do you review what you’ve read?

This Site

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I am not a fan of change simply for the sake of change. Many (most?) things can simply be ‘steady on’ and I’m good with that. I frequently see solutions looking for problems in the day job and people pick these things up simply because they are new and flashy.

I really like solutions… IF there’s actually a problem to address. If things are running smoothly, why change them? I really like a certain level of consistency. I remember when everyone’s web site absolutely needed frames. Then everyone’s web site needed flash. Java. There are lots of things that have come and gone. That’s not me.

However.

I get it for certain marketing functions. I do. Sometimes things need to be freshened up and given a new coat of paint (or digital wallpaper at least).

I’m not a web designer. I know there are parts of this site that are broken and have been for some time. I know there are parts of it that need desperately to be updated. I have actually gone out and started a conversation with somebody that might be able to help me with this. Let me rephrase that – I know she can help me, the question is if I can afford her (she’s a pro). Coming from the creator community I will NOT ask somebody to work “for the exposure”. Just like winter time – you can die from exposure.

So – some small hope that things will brighten up in the near future. We’ll see how it works out together!

The Dragon Prince

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The Dragon Prince main characters

I am a long time fan of the fantasy genre. Yes, I was first hooked by The Hobbit a long time ago, but since then the heroic sword and sorcery story has always had a place in my heart. I love it.

I admit, for a while I wandered away. I’d seen plots that looked, felt and moved the same way for a long time. Before I began writing and learning what a trope was I began to see and understand the commonality among my favorite stories. I still like them.

Since then I have always hunted for fantasy stories that could give me the heroic journey without making me bored while doing it. Subtlety, nuance, shifts in the way things are presented or the way worlds are constructed are all things that catch my attention. I am a particular fan of changes to world building.

IF you’re of a similar mindset, I humbly suggest you find a way onto Netflix and watch The Dragon Prince. It is excellent fantasy – the best I’ve seen in a long time. You might look at it and think it is a show aimed at children. That is and is not true. This show takes on a number of very deep themes and issues. These affect people no matter how old they are and we all still need to deal with those things.

This article: How The Dragon Prince Became the Best Fantasy Show on Television, Animated or Not has a number of very good things to say.

This article:
The Dragon Prince Ended Season 3 With a Battle That Could Rival Any Lord of the Rings Movie is full of spoilers but also covers a lot of excellent points about the show.

My quick hits from the show?

The characters are strong and complex. There are good examples of behavior and bad examples of behavior. Both examples show the consequences of those actions, and it’s not always black and white. Clear cut answers are few and far between in this show.

The story is stronger because it can’t take short cuts. There’s something to be said for avoiding the cheap method of getting a point across. The romance isn’t punctuated with explicit sex – that’s not an option. There is no violence simply because an ‘action scene was needed’. The story needs to carry the day.

Things that are considered divergent to many people are shown in this show without needing to sledge hammer the point home. Nobody bats an eye at the fact that one of the best generals for the humans is deaf. I don’t know ASL, but I’m betting those lines are actually animated with real words. There is a creature missing a leg (trying not to be spoilery) that has been made to look ‘normal’ because of preconceived viewpoints. It’s there, but it’s not the point and that’s what I really like about it. You can’t use your standard assumptions because they might not be the case. I think that’s a very strong argument for world building and quality story telling.

IF you’re not worried about spoilers, check out those articles. Either way, do yourself a favor and go check this show out. Totally worth your time.

Vegas Baby!

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The thing about going to Las Vegas is the show. It’s very flashy. It’s very showy. It’s a massive glittering facade. Once you’ve passed the point of being overwhelmed by the shear magnitude of it all… how you perceive the place largely depends on your interests and cash flow.

Right after Philcon I headed to Las Vegas for a week for a convention. The convention was all work related – and significantly larger that most science fiction conventions I attend. There were somewhere in the range of eleven thousand people at this convention. Much like any other convention, there are good aspects and bad aspects. There are great panels and there are clunkers. There was a massive party along the way too.

Lonely looking the other way

I attended this convention alone. Nobody from my office was there. I knew less than a handful of people at the con and failed to connect with an old friend that lives in the area. Thing is, under those circumstances Vegas can be quite a different place.

I didn’t have any time to book shows or do most of the “tourist” stuff. I was also lucky enough to have traveled to Vegas with my wife earlier this year. We did a couple of shows and a lot more of the “tourist” stuff when we were there together. Being there alone, without those things going on, gave me some time to just sit and watch. There is certainly a lot to see while you’re there. Most of what I saw was people being overwhelmed by the scale of the place. They were all in for the show.

I’m not saying that there aren’t still things for me to see or do in Las Vegas, but sitting and just watching gave me the chance to be more objective about it. It’s huge and showy but it’s a vast facade. It’s a massive, glittering object in the middle of nowhere. It was definitely a more depressing view. When you sit and watch you notice things. I saw more than one person there that was busy purging alcohol from their system. This happens when you drink too much – but this was a Tuesday afternoon. I saw a lot more of the people working and keeping the facade running. I saw at least 2 ankle monitors for folks working at various places. It had the surreal aspects of the old movie version of the Time Machine. The happy people didn’t notice who was getting eaten.

Looking the other way from the high roller

I don’t know when I’ll get the chance to get back to Vegas again, but I do know that I’ll be looking at things a lot differently the next time I go.

Philcon 2019

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This was originally published in Watch The Skies November 2019 issue.

Philcon

I am always happy to be asked to be a participant at the convention put on by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society. I was given a couple of different panels to be part of and I stepped out and took on my own panel for the first time ever. It’s very easy after years of participation to become jaded and treat an event like this as work, so it was nice to shake things up a little.

Attendance this year felt light. I had the opportunity to chat with a few vendors I know and they seemed to get the same feeling. Even the book launch party wasn’t as crowded as an event like that normally is. That being said, the majority of people I spoke to had an excellent weekend. There were some that had a less than stellar experience. Putting the conventions rules and posted policies to the test is never the way you want to spend a con weekend. I was sad to see this happen, but it was something that only effected me in a tangentially.

Programs had a couple of little hiccups. IF I hadn’t loaded up the schedule app on my phone I wouldn’t have found out about the change in my schedule. Given the number of panelists, requests, rules and topics I’m a bit surprised this sort of thing doesn’t happen more often. Speaks well of the program staff I think. I was able to get it sorted out easily – no real fuss. I got to talk about introducing people to board games, introducing people to urban fantasy, methods for finding new authors along with a solo panel. That’s right, me and only me! My first ever solo panel Rosie or the Roomba was well attended – despite being scheduled at ten in the morning on Sunday. I had the room to myself as nothing was scheduled ahead of me and I was thankful for the extra set up time. Bringing my own multi-media presentation was a bit of a challenge, but the technology end worked out very cleanly and neatly. I got a number of insightful questions and some very sharp consideration from the folks that attended the panel. I consider it a success and will likely attempt to do the panel again for another convention.

One of my favorite parts of this year was a young artist displaying in the art show. This young person wanted interaction and posted a hand made sign up with his art to say so. I’m not an Instagram person, but if you are you should head over and check out the work of @eanr’sart over there. I know at least one of this artist’s pictures was snapped up and taken home. I suspect a taste of success will continue to bring this artist back.


As always it was wonderful to see various members of my ‘convention’ family that I don’t get to spend enough time with. It was a fast weekend. I was on the way home again almost before I realized it. As always I hope to be invited back again next year. You should consider signing up and heading to the con too. That, after all, is how we’re going to keep science fiction conventions rolling far into the future.