The Prime

The Prime. I shall get more into who, and what he is at some other point. Oh he (though perhaps ‘he’ is not the correct term… ) is not always connected to wherever he happens to be connected to just now. The Prime does have legs, should he desire to use them, but most of the time, he… IT really, enjoys being plugged into the Universe…

And yes, he has two fingers and an opposable thumb.

 

 

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None-Humanoid Robot: Death’s Head

This is a Russian, Death’s Head model destroyer droid. Just its head. Working on the other body parts and then I’ll assemble the parts. Colors might not be final.

Built by Eden Rhys…

*Clarification: When I say none-humanoid, I mean a mechanical being that does not attempt to mimic human behavior or is not able to procreate sexually but are assembled on a manufacturing line. Morningstars are Robots after all, (in the original sense)  but so to is this Deaths Head and Falcanian ThunderStrike battledroid. Just lesser beings compared to their Morningstar cousins.

You may notice, these mechanical creatures have heads but not ‘eyes’  (they have sensor plates) or mouths, even though they can speak. That’s on purpose.

Casshern Sins!

Created as a reboot of the Casshern franchise, Casshern Sins tells the story of a world where robots subjugated humanity after becoming self-aware. Their leader, Braiking Boss, ruled over the world with an iron fist. One day, a mysterious girl named Luna is summoned by the people, in order to bring the salvation of mankind. Fearing her as a potential threat, Braiking Boss sent three of his most powerful cyborg warriors to dispose of Luna: Casshern, Dio, and Leda. Casshern, the strongest warrior, manages to track down and kill Luna. However, this triggers a cataclysmic event which sets into motion the end of the world. Hundreds of years later, the world’s atmosphere is filled with poison, and, due to the inability of most remaining humans to reproduce, as well as the constant threat posed by the robots, humanity is on the brink of extinction.^[3]

Robots fare little better, fearing death as much as humans do: the poisonous environment quickly causes their mechanical bodies to rust and corrode, forcing them to constantly replace their damaged parts, if spare parts in good condition can even be found. In this wretched time and place, Casshern, who had disappeared following the assassination of Luna, returns with no memory of who he is or what he had done. As he embarks on a journey to find out the truth about himself, will Casshern discover his true purpose and destiny?

This has to be one of the greatest animes, EVER!

I’d caught the tail end on Toonami probably a year or two ago. Recently I was looking for a Robot focused movie to watch  and had a vague recall of an anime about a desolate Earth populated by dying Robots.

The art is gorgeous! The story is compelling.

Now many of the Robots are humanoid and seem to have both mechanical and biological traits, there’s even a Robot child. Though there are also many none-human looking ‘bots who really want to eat Casshern so that they might gain immortality and put an end to the Ruin.

This is actually giving me new ideas about my Morningstars as well! Be sure to watch this, you won’t regret it.

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Stupid Stuff I See On Facebook (Publishing Related)

Image via CrunchBase

OK. Its been awhile since I did a “Writing Post”. Writing about writing, is actually totally blah and writing about the politics of writing and modern publishing ends up like smashing one’s head into an iron wall. The headache is just not worth it.

But I came across this link (shared  by Goodereader) in my feed. It’s hard to tell if its supposed to be parody or not…

http://goodereader.com/blog/commentary/self-published-authors-are-destroying-literature/

WOW! The arrogance. I wonder if this person knows, they probably wouldn’t be writing for a website called Goodereader without self-published authors… Becuse the rise of Kindle (E.reading) went hand-in-hand with self-publishing.

It’s not the mainstream publishers who made the Kindle hot, it’s all those cheap reads put out by the illiterate rube authors this guy is bashing that lit the fuse. Had the mainline publishers got their way, they would have killed the Kindle. Ever look at the price difference between a NY published book and a ‘self-published’ book? The NY publishers want us addicted to paper. It’s why they jack up the price of an ebook compared to its hard copy… and mind you, the paper version is not cheap these days.

Look. I do this because I want to tell stories which mean something to ME. Sure I like selling books as well, but you might have noticed I really don’t go around shouting “buy my books”. I hardly, if ever go to writing groups/pages on Facebook though I’m part of many.

The only places I hawk myself are this blog, or Donna Yates Pinterest authors board. I also know some authors can be really gung-ho about pushing their wares – But that also applies to so-called “real” authors as well. I follow more than a few mainstream writers pages, they don’t mind plugging themselves.

I do wonder if this person who wrote this commentary for Goodereader has heard of Twilight, or its countless knockoffs? Junk like that fills bookstore shelves. I wouldn’t exactly call it ‘literature’ in the way this guy means the word. How is that not having an adverse effect on ‘literature’? If anything, mainstream junk like that does more to kill good writing than anything some mostly unknown writer publishing on Kindle or Smashwords does.

You know why? Recuse the publisher and agent handling the publishing of these many Twilight knockoffs are probably throwing some otherwise great books into the slush pile, for one reason only – The Twilight stuff is easier to sell. And the only people who can be blamed for that are those who consume it.

No one will ever turn back the clock – Mmm well maybe Iran, with an EMP blast. But short of that, places like Kindle and Smashwords are here to stay.

If you get annoyed at an author (and thats what they are) pushing themselves. Kindly ask them to maybe not be so aggressive. OR don’t follow them.

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Overhype!!!

OK I’m noticing a mistake filmmakers seem to be doing a lot lately, be they JJ Abrams, or Zack Snyder – Over hyping their projects.

And its having an unintentional adverse effect upon what they’re turning out.

Star Trek Into Darkness suffered from this after it came out. Part of the problem was the needless SECRECY which was destined to cause some people to be disappointed with the end product no matter the revelations. There were far better ways to market Star Trek Into Darkness then being all coy about who the villain was.

That was actually part of LOST problem, such grand expectations that the series finale became a letdown and to a lesser extent it happened with Battlestar Galactica as well. No resolution to BSG would have pleased everyone. In that case I was glad Ron Moore went with his gut…

For those of us paying attention, we already knew “John Harrison” was Khan Noonien Singh. Being coy about it did not enhance the movie and might have even hurt the films bottom line. A more straightforward – Rematch between Khan and Kirk marketing scheme probably would have worked out better overall.

Moreover I think the secrecy helped raise undo (and unachievable) expectations of the movie.

And I am seeing much of the same thing going on with Man of Steel.

The thing of it is. Both these movies can be perfectly awesome, yet still not be perfect and I think hype has caused people to expect (flawless) perfection. Not just with these two films, but entertainment in general: Books, Movies, TV Shows…

*Mark my words: Game of Thrones is destined to be the next letdown whenever it ends its run. I see it with the third season already. Not because it actually sucks, but because its been so hyped.

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When Falcanians Were More Kryptonian…

Jor-El and Lara, Man of Steel

Despite the picture (Looks like the Christian metaphors are still in play for this movie) this is not a Man of Steel post.

There was a time when my Falcanians were very akin to Kryptonians, though their abilities remained the product of genetic engineering. They were wingless, yet could still fly by defying gravity.

In many ways some of this is still at play. I imply that Falcanians can manipulate gravity because of an element in their bones. Yet did not think that alone could provide them with the power of living flight. In that way, they’re sort of a smashup of Magneto and Hawkman.

Of course, as the series progresses, you’ll find that they (and the Morningstars) progress to the level of godhood, each taking up dominion over different aspects of  the universe by means of technology.

The Falcanians also end up on a (artificial) planet with a red sun.

Hey, it was not a Star Trek Into Darkness post… Though there might be a few more of those on the way. Plus, when it comes out John Harrison/Khan comic book posts to follow.

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