Hero

You picky picky people! Wanting to know the name of the book I loved so very much...ridiculous.

Anyway, it's Hero by Perry Moore.

The story is about Thom Creed, who is such a wonderful character you are forced to forgive him the pretension of spelling his name with an "h". Thom is pretty much your typical teen. Except that he's not. Thom has secrets; a lot of them. But we'll get to that in a moment.

One thing that is not a secret is who Thom's father is: Hal Creed, once known as Major Might, one of the greatest heroes in the world. Now, Hal is in disgrace, reviled by the public and his old comrades. He works in a factory trying to make enough so that his son can have a better life. But the story of how Hal came to be in disgrace is one that no one understands completely... No one but Hal, and he won't talk about it.

Hal has forbidden the discussion of superheroes and especially the League. He rants frequently about those with powers, and how they will bring the fall of society.

So naturally, when Thom begins to manifest powers, he keeps it to himself.

But Thom is a good kid, who volunteers as a mentor to younger kids, and works two jobs as well as juggling schoolwork to help his dad out. He's not the sort of person who can just sit back while people need help. So when the League approaches him and asks if he'd like to try out for the team, he jumps at the chance.

Unfortunately, Thom has a bad habit of putting his foot squarely in his mouth, so his probationary teammates all see him as a bit of an idiot. Not only that, but Thom also has another secret. One that you find out near the beginning of the book, but one that took me by delightful surprise, so I'm not going to spoil it here.

Along his way, Thom meets Ruth, a cantankerous old woman who can see the future and who always has a quip or bit of advice; Typhoid Larry, who can make people sick, and who looks like a walking disease himself; Golden Boy, the Silver Bullet's sidekick who has a giant stick up his ass, but may actually turn out to be a decent guy; and Miss Scarlett whose temper is not to be trifled with.

All of the characters are rich and multi-layered. Just when you think you have someone pegged, you find out another piece of their background. "Oh," you say, "so THAT'S why they've been acting like that."

The plot is ultimately predictable (though there were some twists I didn't see coming) but it's fast-paced and draws you in so it's hard to stop reading.

But what I liked most about it was the way it wore it's heart on it's sleeve. It's like one of those movies that obviously didn't have a very big budget, but you can tell everyone who worked on it had a great time and really cared about the project as a whole. Sometimes those movies are a little cheesy, there are some flaws, but you forgive them because it just looks like so much fun! It's clear that the author really cared about these characters and so you find yourself caring about them too. They're not perfect, but that's why you love them.

The heroes themselves are rather obviously molded after the comic book heroes we (or at least, I) already know and love. I think Hal is equal parts Batman and Captain America. Then there's Warrior Woman, the Silver Bullet, King of the Sea, the Spectrum, and many more. Each of them is unique, but with little winks to the audience who might know them by another name.

So, there you have it. Hero.

Tomorrow, I'm planning a trip to the Met Museum for a little inspiration, so hopefully I'll have a story about that for next time.

Jules

Physics

I think I remember from high school science that energy cannot be destroyed, only converted into different forms of energy. But can energy be created? I mean, you can light a match to create fire, but isn't that a case of transforming one form of energy into another? Or is it? And if we can't create or destroy energy, that must mean there is a finite amount in the universe. What if someone found a way to destroy energy? Poof. Gone. And if we couldn't replace that energy? Disaster.

Huh. I think there's a story there. Maybe. That's only if I got my science right. So, did I?

Anyway, this was what I was thinking about when I went to DD this morning to get coffee and a breakfast sandwich. I'm out of coffee mate, so I had to look to outside forces for my morning cup.

OK, let me just address this before things get out of hand: Yes, it has been a while since I posted. And even with the nudge from Jenna (thank you, btw) it still took me a while. In my defense, I did sit down one day, intent on doing some writing, but had to decide between working on my story and on blogging. I chose the story. Sorry. Sometimes I just don't have enough energy for both.

I just finished reading the most fabulous book, last night. I'll have to put up a review, because it was really extraordinary. I had picked it up at B&N the same night I got Chalice. It was a bargain priced hardcover for some ridiculous amount like $5. And I thought it looked like a mildly entertaining read, that I would probably be able to finish in a few days. I was right about the few days part. I finished it in two. And it's not a slim book. It was such a delightful story with incredibly rich characters. But I'll get to that.

For now, let me just say, "I'm back!" Hopefully, for good.

Jules

Honey in my Coffee

A quick entry before I go to work today- (This, of course, is now a complete lie. I started this entry on Sunday, found that I didn't actually have enough time to finish it before I had to leave for work, and have only now gotten back to it. You may continue.)

A few weeks ago, I read Chalice by Robin McKinley. I meant to put up something about it when I finished reading, but, as usual, I got distracted and forgot.

Let me start by saying that Robin is my favorite author of all time. It was actually her novels that made me interested in books in the first place. Well, I had always been interested, and really wanted to love books, but hadn't quite found the right one, yet. My sister has always been a fanatical reader, and I, who believed she walked on water, wanted to love them for her sake. She just seemed so cool to me (still does, really) and I thought that books must also, therefore, be cool since she spent so much time with them. Unfortunately, most of the books I had read up till then (I read RM's book in fifth grade) seemed to talk down to me. I wanted to be treated like an adult, someone capable of understanding complicated concepts. Also, I kept finding books where the girls stood around and waited to be saved while the boys went tearing off, sword in hand, having all sorts of wonderful adventures. It was very discouraging. Then I found The Blue Sword. My fifth grade teacher tried to keep me from reading it, so I knew it must be something wonderful.

"It's actually a very difficult book. Everyone wants to read it because of the flashy cover, but most kids your age struggle with it."

Luckily, I was just as stubborn then as I am now. He relented, and I started reading.

Finally, I thought as I read, someone who thinks the way I do.

I didn't find it difficult at all, and finished it much faster than I had any other novel previously.

Next, I read The Hero and the Crown. And everything else since then. I reread The Blue Sword every year, and still find nooks and crannies in McKinley's world that are worth exploring.

So, with that very long introduction, I bring you to Chalice.

It's a beautiful story set in a world of unfamiliar mythology and rules. At the heart of the story is a beekeeper who has become the Chalice, an important figure in the health and harmony of her land and people. And the land needs her. It has been treated badly, and left on the brink of destruction. To add to the chaos, the new Master is not entirely human, but a being who could harm his subjects with but a brush of the hand. They make an unlikely pair, but together they are trying to save this land that they love from becoming a pawn in the larger government's chess game.

RM has a way with language that is almost like poetry, and this book is no exception. Her characters are always interesting because they are never perfect. Very rarely, in fact, are they even attractive. At the most, she will say that their faces light up with intelligence, which is it's own kind of beauty.

I prefer her flawed heroines to the ones in other novels who are absolutely beautiful, amazingly clever, perfectly good and entirely unrelatable (which, apparently, is not a word, but it ought to be, so I'm NOT changing it. Take that spell-check! Boo-Yah!).

Anyway, all of this is true of Chalice, and I did enjoy reading the book, but it's not my favorite. For some reason, I felt like I only got part of the story. Perhaps it's only because I read it so quickly, but most of her novels have a nice roomy quality to them, and this one seemed slightly empty. She dropped us into the middle of the story at the beginning, and then the ending felt sort of squashed.

It did, however, make me go out somewhere in the middle and buy a jar of honey. There's a great deal of honey in this book (she is a beekeeper, after all) and you can only read about people eating honey (on toast, on porridge, straight out of the jar...) for so long before you start to crave it yourself. I even put honey in my coffee one morning. It was good. Gave my coffee a sort of wild flavor. Magic coffee. All coffee is magic, really. Liquid crack, it is. Mmmm. Cooooffeeeee.

Sorry, where was I?

Oh right, I was finishing up this post.

See you next time!

Jules

Copyright Police

The story is: I did post my video on youtube. It was up for about a week. Then, I happened to check my channel, and saw that it was gone. I investigated further, and discovered that it had been flagged as using copyrighted material. Specifically, the audio track. I thought it might be because I had left in some of the Justice League's audio. It seems that the type of videos I make are generally accepted by Warner Brothers, but if I tried to, say, put up a full episode, they would not be pleased. At least, that's the impression I get, since there are a lot of music videos which use clips from these shows.

I had a passing fantasy that my video would be reviewed by Bruce Timm, the producer of Justice League and Batman the Animated Series, (I have a bit of a crush on him) and he would contact me and tell me what a brilliant job I did, and would I like to come work for him?

Then I woke up. Why would Bruce Timm take care of little things like possible copyright infringement? He wouldn't.

There is, however, a video (not mine, but one of my favorites) which uses scanned comic book art. If you scroll through the comments, you see that the artist watched and enjoyed it. Ever since then, I've imagined that the staff of DC comics animated often sit around and watch the various videos on youtube whenever they have a break, or are in need of inspiration.

I have gone completely off-topic.

Anyway, it turns out, the problem wasn't with the clips, but with the song. Youtube has blocked my video. I can dispute the claim, but I don't see how. I am using this song without permission, although I did buy it on iTunes. In fact, I own all the material I use in these videos, and try to discourage pirating.

Someone made a comment on one of my videos asking if a particular episode of Justice League was on youtube, or some other illegal downloading site. I recommended that they buy the DVD set. "I own all four sets, and they're worth it. It's a great show." Whether or not they listened, I have no idea.

It should also be pointed out that the first time I even heard of Justice League, was on youtube. I was so impressed with what I saw there, that I went out and bought the DVDs. That's what I call 'free advertising'. I have since bought just about everything that Bruce Timm has worked on.

I have also often heard a song on youtube, that I have then gone to purchase myself. Holding Out for a Hero by Jennifer Saunders, was one of those. I heard the song used in a different video, really liked it, and ended up buying the entire album on iTunes.

Perhaps it is copyright infringement. But as far as I can see, they're cutting off their nose to spite their face. Just doesn't seem worth it.

Oh, and, just for fun, go to youtube and type in "Holding Out for a Hero Jennifer Saunders", and see how many videos come up. It looks like about 43, and that's probably not all of them because some people don't credit the artist. So, why did they go after me?

Later,
Jules

PS- You can still watch my video here. I doubt the copyright police will stumble across my little blog. And it lives on my computer, so I can watch it anytime I want. Nyah nyah nyah boo boo!