Author: Lou W. Sytsma

A life long geek fan. My progression can be charted as thus: 1) my childhood love of dinosaurs. Brontosaurus, my all time favorite, was like a prehistoric version of a dog! 2) original Jonny Quest cartoon show - robot spider and invisible paint monster gave me nightmares 3) Garry Anderson marionette puppet shows - especially FireBall XL-5 4) Lost In Space 5) Star Trek All of these instilled a sense of wonder and joy of exploration that lead to reading and eventually to my desire to create my own as cool as worlds.

Family Fueds

On By Lou W. SytsmaIn 2013 Movies, 2013 music1 Comment

Fast & Furious 6

What can one say about this franchise?  It maintains the kinetic car carnage and mixes a team of misfits that form a family to tackle the next set of baddies. Round it out with a likable cast with liberal sprinklings of humor and this has become a franchise built to last.

Too long by 20 minutes, there is a whole section where Paul Walker’s character goes off his own to prison to find out some information, that could be excised from the movie with nary a beat mixed.  Vin Diesel growls his way through the movie, and performs one death defying feat that exceeds even the loose limits of physics established within the franchise framework.  The Rock is suitably pumped up but his cop character could be played by anyone.

The franchise is already revved up for a sequel with the ending sequence revealing who the big bad for the next installment is.  And the reveal is a biggie.  Fellow action star Jason Statham will lock horns with Diesel in FF7.

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Ghost Brothers of Darkland County – Stephen King, John Cougar, & T. Bone Burnett

My hardcover edition has been in the house for awhile and after several listens of the 17 tracks there is a lot to like in this album.  I rate at least 10 of the tracks very listenable and actually they stand on their own with no knowledge of the play needed to enjoy them.

Overall I’m happy with this edition – gorgeous sleeve to hold the book, which is a soft, dark brown pebble that looks like a photo album.  Wish it was hard cover too though.



The major knock I have is there is no full version of the play on either the DVD or the CDs.  Disappointing.  The minor knock I have is the discs are stored in cut out pockets on the inside of the back cover.  Would have much preferred jewel cases. A matter of preference.  

The book is much larger than I expected, it’s 11 x 11 inches – thought it would be more disc sized – which is great because it makes reading the Libretto so much easier with the larger text.  Reminds me of a LP album.

All in all a very nice package with 2 fumbles.

Magical Carnies

On By Lou W. SytsmaIn 2013 MoviesLeave a comment

My, my how time flies.  It has been over 3 weeks since my last update!  Wow.  Been doing a lot of things, saw a couple of movies, read a few books, and have been writing!!  WooT! Finally got an idea that excited me and looks like it has some legs that will allow me to write a short story first with an eye towards a novel(s) later on.

So, I’ll make up for the lack of posts by stringing together a series of them over the next few days which will allow me to go into more detail about the various items I want to post about.

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Now You See Me

This was an unexpected gift.

A combo heist/revenge/magic illusion movie with a great cast: Mark Ruffalo, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, and Isla Fisher.

My wife and I saw this free as part of one of the Cineplex Scene promotions and turned out to be an excellent surprise.  We both love magic and the premise of the movie is based on it.  Of course with the cinematic trickery available today the line between it and sleight of hand is even more blurred. So a bit of buy in is needed to accept that certain tricks would not be possible in a live show. With that in mind this is a fun story that explores the concept that real magic does exist.  Something that most of the characters in the film are searching for, especially the magicians.  Which is great since they know the tricks behind the supposed magic they are practitioners of.
This is a fun romp with the actors obviously having a lot of fun with their roles and each other.  The story is well written with many twists and turns and moments of triumph, comeuppance, and for certain characters – unexpected payoffs.  
The pleasant surprise of the movie was Mark Ruffalo, an actor that’s been around for awhile and made a big splash as Bruce Banner/Hulk in Avengers.  In Avengers, Ruffalo demonstrated his ability to create an empathetic character with limited screen time.  He pulls off that same trick in this flick but with a much more complicated arc; starting with a character that cliche strictures dictate will be the antagonist.  His character of FBI agent Dylan Rhodes is the cop in pursuit of the Four Horseman – the illusionists who are using their shows to pull off big scale heists.
The first heist, in which a man is seemingly transported from the US to the inside of a Paris bank vault from where the money makes the reverse journey to be dispersed to the crowd is the coolest one.  Especially when Magician Buster Morgan Freeman shows Rhodes how it was done.
A movie we probably never would have seen if not for the promo that allowed us to see it for free.  A very pleasant surprise.
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Joyland

My favorite writer, Stephen King, delivers the goods again.  A breezy 283 pages, especially for a King novel, this Hard Case Crimes paperback edition starts and ends far too quickly.

King and Carnies are something that go together naturally and it is a bit surprising he has not used such settings more often.  In Joyland the story takes place in 1973 at the titular amusement park which went out of business just a few years later; a victim of the Disney Worlds and other corporate theme parks that spelled the end for most independently owned amusement parks.

This is a story of a 63 year old Devin Jones, King’s age when he wrote the book,  looking back on a summer job at the North Carolina amusement park.  At the same time Jones is grappling with the realization that his first real relationship is breaking down and rejection is coming his way.  Throw in an unsolved murder that happened at Joyland and a mysterious woman with a wheel bound young son and all the ingredients for a King novel are there.
This novel marks the perspective that only an older man can have and the tale King weaves around Jones and the people he meets at the park is another example of his ability to create characters you come to care about.  There are some slight supernatural elements to the story.  In a way, I wish King had written the story without it because it comes across as a story telling convenience.  
That minor quibble aside, the story is so engrossing because the writing so transparent as it is crafted to service the story and not call attention to the writer’s talent.  It is all over before you know it.  I read the book in two days and it felt like I had read a short story instead of an almost 300 page novel.
Joyland is a captivating story from the bittersweet perspective of a character, and writer, who has the life experiences to put things in their proper context.  
Now the wait for Dr. Sleep – King’s – The Shining sequel – begins.  Since the accident back in 1999, the amount of work King has produced is incredible.  And at age 65 now, King does not appear to be slowing down.  If anything, he seems to be gathering momentum.

N0S4A2 – King Dynasty Is Established

On By Lou W. SytsmaIn 2013 Movies1 Comment

Blue November by Brian James Freeman

This was a quick read – a novella length story about a shared dark secret between 5 men who are High School Football Buddies known as the Lightning Five.

This bears much similarity to King’s DreamCatcher. I would have preferred a longer book length version of the story to flesh out the characters and their back story more.  Great illustrations by Glenn Chadbourne.

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Iron Man 3

Is Iron Man3 better than Iron Man2? Yes but that’s not saying much. And not by much.

Both possess half baked and overstuffed plots and the drive to turn the Iron Man suits into a toyline continues unabated.  Really dislike the change on the fly suit stuff too.  Didn’t buy the PTSD storyline either.

Movie’s strong point is how much Downey is in the flick.  And the interaction between Pepper and Stark. Mandarin turned out to be a Bane-Bust and apparently the driving motivation to become a ubervillain requires nothing more traumatic than to be left out on a cold rooftop.

At the end Tony Stark declares he is Ironman.  Too bad that declaration came at the end of a movie that just demonstrated that any videogamer with decent skills would make a better one.

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N0S4A2 by Joe Hill

I loved this book!

This one does what the best books do – connects with the reader emotionally.  N0S4A2 creates an inscape reading reality inhabited by characters that you care about more and more as the story goes along.  Joe Hill continues to create quirky, flawed characters that makes me feel positive and negative thoughts.  By the time the story ends, my negative thoughts are forgotten.  The Brat is one of the most interesting and flawed characters I have run across in a long time.

While Manx is the story’s titular antagonist, it is his sidekick – Bing Patridge – who is the most revolting and terrifying.  For he is a simple fellow that has managed to built his own complex inscape that allows him to carry out atrocities all the while believing he is doing good works. Scary.

This is my favorite type of story – bittersweet triumph tinged with sadness, gratefulness, and hope.

These are great days indeed when there are books to be read from not just Stephen King but his sons – Owen and Joe – too.

Endings – Or New Beginnings?

On By Lou W. SytsmaIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

This past week I have run across a trio of items that in one way or another deal with the ending of something.  Be it a book series, stories about the end of a life and/or lives, and the conclusion of season long story lines.

Even though all deal with endings they all also contain either the hint of new beginnings or in the case of Arrow – definite new beginnings.

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The Dark Tower Companion

Besides a personally guided tour by Stephen King himself, no one could do more a more insightful overview of The Dark Tower saga, and by extension the body of King’s works, than Bev Vincent.

Long acknowledged a master of King lore, Bev uses that acumen to succinctly tie everything together. Not only does the book include a handy reference guide to the major characters, places, themes and tie-ins, but in typical Vincent fashion, Bev raises interesting possibilities beyond the material itself.  Some are conjecture. Others of an insight that only comes to those mastered in their subject.

I’ll leave exactly what those possibilities are for yourself to discover in the book.

Bev Vincent demonstrates his King acumen with this book.

I’m doing a podcast interview with Bev about the book today and it should be up in couple of weeks.  Keep an ear out for that!  I’ll post a link here when it goes live.

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Pork Pie Hat
Peter Straub is a gifted writer who knows not only what to put into a story but what to leave out for the reader to ponder over.  This is another example of that unique talent in a novella length ghost story.

What starts out as a story about a man’s curiosity about a jazz saxophone player turns into a ghost story which became the catalyst for the sax player’s career.

Adroitly done.

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Arrow

Now that’s how do you do a season finale!

Whew!  So many great moments for each character.  Quite a feat.

I am loathe to give away story/character specific spoilers but suffice it to say the show does not drag out arcs but continually reconfigures them or finishes them off so that new ones can be introduced.  Nothing gets stales on this show.

The capper is the main threat may have been thwarted but the backup one was not and the town still ended suffering a major blow.

Well done Arrow show runners, cast, and crew.  Well done.

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Red & Blue Planet Changes

On By Lou W. SytsmaIn 2013 TV, hannibal2 Comments

Blue Planet Gets Red Hot

As expected, given the lateness of winter, we skipped spring and went right into summer.  The temperatures literally went from 28F one Sunday to 28C by the next one.  Snow didn’t just melt – it all vanished. Like ninjas into the night.

Now the good times can start rolling with daylight sticking around past 09:30 pm already and humidity-free.

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Red Planet Blues

Incorporating the first 10 chapters of Robert Sawyer’s Identity Theft into this book, the story continues in this book answering all the dangling threads.

This is a fun SF/mystery/noire mash up that pays hommage to stories like The Maltese Falcon. The ability to transfer bodies to artificially constructed bodies keeps you guessing until the end who is whom. And who will live or die.

This is a change of pace from Sawyer’s previous novels as it does not contain any big idea concepts and is focused mainly on human motivations.  It sounds like Rob’s next book returns to the big idea concept and a very fascinating one at that.  I eagerly anticipate that one but until then this is an excellent change of pace.

Will we ever get to see Alex Lomax again?  I wonder as his story does not seem finished…

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NBCs Hannibal continues to impress.  The show has avoided being a serial killer of the week show and is deeply exploring the psyches of not just Will Graham but Jack Crawford too.  The exploration of Lecter is at a much slower and more subtle pace.  The glimpses into his mind are only seen through whatever killings that take place in an episode.
This week’s installment entitled ‘Entrée’ – each episode is named after some item of French cuisine – made many callbacks to the Silence of The Lambs and served up a Clarice Starling-like FBI trainee – Miriam Lass played by Anna Chlumsky – that Crawford employs to help in the search the Chesapeake Ripper.

There is an inmate at the Baltimore State Hospital ensconced in a cell down a hall very much like the one from SOTL. The Ripper has been silent for two years and Lass has been missing that long.  The inmate is another doctor – Dr. Abel Gideon played by Eddie Izzard – who has just killed a nurse in the same ritual as the Ripper.  

Graham and Crawford are not convinced that Gideon is the Ripper and we learn through flashbacks that Lass inadvertently discovered who the Ripper was when she visited the recently retired surgeon – Hannibal Lecter.  Her discovery and the sight of a sock footed Lecter – he had just removed his shoes to sneak up behind her – happens with a shocky swiftness.  Well done.
And the scenes with Hannibal serving guests meals – has yet to get old.