Month: October 2017

So I just came back from watching Thor: Ragnarok in dead-centre seats at an IMAX 3-D cinema (the ONLY way to watch superhero movies). Let me get it out of the way, it’s a good movie, highly enjoyable, loads of fun. And I’m not the only one who thinks so.

I think what makes it pleasing is that after 17 (!) movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe alone, not to mention the X-Men movies from Fox, the Spiderman movies from Sony and the D.C. movies, there’s a bit of superhero fatigue among cinema goers. So for a movie to stand out, it’s got to be fresh and different. Guardians of the Galaxy started it, with irreverent humour and off-beat music, and Deadpool showed just how far out you could go. But for Thor, a heavy-hitter (no pun intended) in the MCU to be given to a director with such comedic sensibilities as Taika Waititi, shows guts on the part of Marvel. The movie pokes fun at all sorts of things, even itself, and references funny moments from earlier MCU films.

But somehow, I feel, it misses the mark to be a truly greatmovie. A reviewer on Rotten Tomatoes, one of the 5% that gave the movie a poor rating, said it best:

As much fun as it is, Ragnarok, by treating everything as an opportunity for a goof, forfeits any chance of taking root in your imagination. Nothing matters here.

It’s like candy floss. Light, sweet, lots of fun, but not very filling. A bit more steak would have been welcome – heavy, something to chew on, richer flavours, makes you satisfied at the end. It’s not that humour isn’t welcome, it is. Nobody wants the pretentious, self-serious garbage served up by Batman v Superman. It’s just that, there should be a balance, with more serious moments. More parts where it gives you time to simply care about things. It almost feels like the director is afraid to let the movie settle into a “serious tone”, so he deliberately punctuates it with laugh-out-loud moments. They’re funny, definitely, but at some points I felt that they were inappropriate. Not “toilet-humour” inappropriate, but more like “laughing at your grandmother’s funeral” inappropriate.

It’s not impossible to find a balance – it’s been done before, in the very same movie universe. Doctor Strange was laugh-out-loud hilarious at moments too, but still retained the appropriate amount of seriousness during difficult scenes, like when Strange got into the car accident and had a painful recovery process. Or the entire third act where the fate of the entire planet hung in the balance and people were dying all over. It *is* possible to be funny and serious in the same movie, and when done right, makes a great movie, in my opinion.

Granted, my sensibilities lie towards superhero movies with a bit more emotional weight (bizarre as that concept may sound), where the stakes feel real and the characters look like they actually give a d*mn about things. Maybe because Thor is practically immortal, it is probably natural that he would not take things seriously, compared to the humans who populate the other slots in the Avengers’ lineup. Yet, it also makes us care less about the outcome of the movie because the protagonist himself is so flippant.

I personally would take a Captain America: Civil War over a Guardians of the Galaxy any day. It had everything – humour (though mainly in scenes involving Iron Man and Spiderman, and of course Ant-Man), action, tragedy, romance (kind of), betrayal (sort of). The movie really made you care. It made you feel like there really was enough difference of opinion that close friends could be torn apart. It made you sad at the end, and yet satisfied that there was a proper conclusion to this particular saga. A careful blend like that, in my opinion, led to the best MCU movie ever, and it remains hard to beat. I suspect, though, Avengers: Infinity War will surpass it, since the absolutely brilliant Russo brothers are directors for both films (as well as the pretty decent Captain America: Winter Soldier).

I guess at the end of it all, I’m probably nitpicking. It’s like saying I wish my Singapore Airlines business class seat was a bit more like a first class seat. It’s still an awesome movie, and highly recommended. And here’s hoping that this is Taika Waititi’s version of Winter Soldier – a good movie that helps him eventually make some mindblowingly awesome ones. In the meantime, I’ll continue to root for everybody’s favourite norse god and his (ex) hammer.

So one of my little girls comes up to me, grabs me in a big hug and doesn’t let go. She tells me, “daddy, I don’t wanna ever grow up, because when I grow up, I will have to leave you and mommy, and I don’t ever wanna do that. I wanna be with you forever.” These are the kind of things an eight year old says to you that you’ll never hear from a teenager. I love them both so much, how I would love for this stage of their life to never end, for me to constantly be greeted by such effusive displays of affection. And yet, I know that thoughts like those are from the selfish part of me. For I know that the kind of love I have for them, the kind of love that would make me give my life in exchange for theirs, it’s the same kind of love that will be theirs someday as well, when they grow up to become parents of their own. Who am I to wish that they be deprived of such a beautiful and priceless part of their own journey through life? And so, I remind myself, that if I truly love them, I must always wish the best for them, even if it means giving up something precious for myself. That is the lot of a parent. And I would have it no other way.

Just came back from watching Blade Runner 2049. It’s a pretty intense movie, not for everybody, but I loved it. Not because I’m a big fan of the original (which was good too, but it was just another good movie for me), and certainly not because of the incredibly slow pace of the movie, but because it touches on so many themes that resonate in the world we live in today.

 

The original movie explored the ideas about what it means to be human, and whether an artificial creation can feel love. Blade Runner 2049 jumps right in and says “yes”, because within the first twenty minutes of the movie it establishes Ryan Gosling’s Officer K as a replicant, yet he has what seems to be a very real emotional connection to another character in the movie. What is even more startling is that his love interest is even more “digital” than even a replicant – she is an AI construct, projected into the real world via holographic technology. The movie goes to great lengths throughout to “humanize” her, and to show that K does, for all intents and purposes, “love” her very much. She, for her part, “loves” him back, though it is unclear how much of that is “real” and how much is part of her programming, since she is presumably a companionship product, created to simulate the experience of having a real female companion. It does spark some interesting questions about love and freedom and even humanity itself. I won’t go into too much philosophical debate about those themes; the internet abounds with articles about them, and here is an example of a good one:

 Blade Runner 2049 review in Vox

What I want to talk about is how one part of the movie jumped out at me (no, it wasn’t the huge holograms) – in one scene, a bunch of hookers are instructed to get close to K in order to learn more about what he’s after. One of them, after realising from an audio cue that K owns a companionship product, states that he is one of those guys who prefers virtual women to real ones. It is a profound social commentary, that suggests in a world where we are increasingly attached to our electronic devices and connected to the virtual world rather than the physical one around us, it may come to pass that humans will one day shun relationships with other humans, in favour of custom-made AI that we can tweak to suit us as we desire. Want a girl that is sweet and yet strong? Put that into the shopping list. Want her to be child-like and playful at times, but mature and thoughtful at others? Tick the right options in the menu. Want her to have a great voice and a lovely smile? Adjust the sliders accordingly. Finally, when you’re satisfied, hit “checkout” and pay, and she’s ready to download.

That will never happen, we say. That’s just a far-fetched reaction of people who are ignorant and afraid of technological advancement. That’s just the kind of thinking of 21st century Luddites. Is it? It’s already happening, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not. Blade Runner isn’t suggesting something novel in a possible future society – it’s commenting on something that is already here, and growing. Already, teenagers are more hooked than ever to computer games and virtual worlds. Social media is incredibly addictive, and the modern teenager’s self-esteem is becoming dangerously intertwined with the virtual world and online “friends”, rather than the people that are actually in the physical world around the teen, including family, neighbours and classmates.

Why is this so? The answer is simple – human relationships are messy, complicated, and tiring. Who hasn’t been bullied in school, or seen someone being bullied? Who hasn’t experienced betrayal, or seen it in action? Who hasn’t felt the exhilaration of a new love interest, coupled with painful lows that come with it, all in an exhausting roller-coaster ride of emotions? Who hasn’t had to face rejection, or criticism, or the failure to meet the expectations of others?

What if we could avoid this entirely? What if we could have friends that would never judge us, never criticise us, never leave us. What if we could have a girlfriend who would be there whenever we wanted company, but would not grumble if we wanted time alone to watch football, play Battlefront on the computer, or build a Lego Millenium Falcon? How tempting that would be, especially the closer we get to simulating reality with these artificial intelligence products. Yes, most of us would still crave authenticity. But more and more of us would also someday take the easy way out – to skip the effort and pain of maintaining relationships with real humans, and to just surround ourselves with digital personalities, as many as we want.

It’s a scary thought, one brought vividly to life on the big screen by Blade Runner 2049. But it’s something we should talk about and think about seriously, before we one day wake up and find an entire planet of people completely alone, organic islands in a sea of electrons and pixels.

When people ask me what kind of book I wrote/am currently writing, I tell them, “it’s a fantasy novel.” And many of them go, “oh! that’s very interesting!” I admit, it isn’t an everyday occurrence that you know someone writing fantasy. There’s so many genres of fiction out there, not to mention non-fiction books, that there aren’t that many fantasy writers in most neighbourhoods.

Even then, within fantasy alone, there’s a lot of different types. So when I say I’m writing fantasy, I’m sure some people immediately think of a geeky guy with glasses, a magic wand, and a hot female classmate. Others will imagine stuff involving huge dragons and ice zombies. A few might think wizards and warlocks, and there’s even sci-fi fantasy where magic meets technology. There’s just so much that it’s hard to describe exactly what my writing is about.

The easiest way, I suppose, is to think of it like a cross between Lord of the Rings, the Chronicles of Narnia, and Game of Thrones.

Lord of the Rings because it set the foundation for the most commonly known fantasy “races”, namely humans, elves and dwarves, as well as those on the other side, like orcs and trolls. I decided to go with these, rather than inventing some new types of creatures, which would inevitably end up as just rip-offs of these types. “Oh, the so-and-so are just elven knockoffs,” someone would probably say. I was more interested in plot, so I decided to jump in straightaway using familiar archetypes and just get moving.

Narnia, because I love the general tone of the books, where there’s danger and mystery but always a hopeful and optimistic air about it all, that evil won’t triumph in the end, and the protagonists will grow and learn something by the end of their journey. I don’t quite have talking animals, but a lot of the themes in my book are inspired by the work of C.S. Lewis.

And finally, Game of Thrones, because I absolutely love the wit and humour of George R.R. Martin’s series. More importantly, magic plays a minimal role in it, unlike other books in which wizards and spells and runes and demonic creatures take centrestage. I like that GoT is really like a drama set in a fantasy realm, with petty family feuds and treacherous court officials, ruthless kings and brave knights. It’s like a compelling soap opera where key characters get killed off regularly, and once in a while you get dragons. The rest of the time, it’s humans and their very relatable flaws, weaknesses, aspirations and moments of heroism. Great stuff.

I do admit, I’m a little bit of a lazy reader, and I haven’t gone through some of the best fantasy work out there, such as David Eddings, Robert Jordan and the like. I like to sample a broad range of stuff, and I’m a huge history buff, so my shelves are actually stocked with way too many non-fiction books rather than the things I ought to read if I actually want to improve as a fantasy writer.

I will brag about something though, my wife and I got married with a Lord of the Rings themed wedding, so that hopefully gives us a bit of street cred!

      

So I was supposed to add more content to the blog, but instead, things caught up with me and now, the book itself is finished, but the blog is bare!

Ok, first things first. Just to let everybody know, the first book of the Fire on the Clouds trilogy, named the Prophecy of the Child, is now available on Amazon! Get yourself a copy today!