Amber Heard is NOT Samantha Jones

If it were up to looks only, Amber would be perfect for the role of
Samantha Jones in Killer of Killers. Take this photo for example.
This is exactly how I envisioned Samantha Jones to look. Is there
a more beautiful woman in Hollywood? I don't think so.

I browsed some of my past entries here on the blog and found a post entitled Amber Heard is Samantha Jones. So, I thought I'd update that post with this one. Amber Heard is NOT Samantha Jones. And I base this new conclusion on her performance, however small, in that last Justice League movie. She plays the wife or significant other of Aquaman. And, well, short as her screen time was, it was not anything that would make me think she can act.

I think the movie people knew that, too, which is why her screen time was so painfully short. I mean talk about a bit part. It was nothing more than a cameo, really. And any opportunity for her to shine was not used to her advantage. In fact, her lines, few as they were, were delivered with no credibility, no convincing tone, and were nothing to write home about. And ditto from what I've seen in the new Aquaman trailer.

So, yeah, I was suspecting there was a problem with her acting for a while now. I began to suspect it when I saw her in that B movie Machete Kills. I was thinking, well, it's a B movie, and it was tongue in cheek, to boot, which is very hard to pull off, and mostly no one in that movie outside of Danny Trejo was able to pull it off.

At that point I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. But after her farcical marriage to Johnny Depp, and the debacle that turned out to be, and the unwillingness of casting directors to cast her in any decent movies, (Aquaman excepted) I have been changing my mind about her. The benefit of the doubt is no longer viable. Amber Heard is NOT Samantha Jones.

And that is really because, if Killer of Killers were to ever be made into a movie, the role of Samantha Jones has got to be given to a beautiful blonde woman who can ACT. Someone who has screen presence, which Amber does NOT have, and someone who can command an audience.

Jessica is not the looker Amber is, but she's a better actress.
She was actually my first choice for the part.
Sadly, the years are taking a toll on her. 

I used to think Jessica Alba could be that woman, but the years are not being kind to Jessica Alba. Her most recent movies reveal an aging woman, sadly, which is normal, of course, but not kind to actresses who made their mark on Hollywood as young and beautiful up-and-comers.

The years have put that part of Jessica in the past. She is now a middle-aged actress, and her appearance shows it. Not even the magic of the movie set cameras can hide it. It doesn't mean Jessica's career is over. But she's not the "hot babe" she used to be, and, again, that's just the way it goes. It happens to the best of them.

So back to who is Samantha Jones. I don't know. My first choices are now dismissed, so on to the new young and beautiful blonde up-and-comers, of which there seems to be no shortage. I'll keep my eyes open. They are many. Just need one who can act.

Another Year Almost Up

Wow, it's December again. My birthday is near, and of course the Christmas holidays are coming up. It's time for family and good tidings, and hopefully that means good tidings in the publishing world when it comes to my three available novels. They are The Vase, which is one of the books that had been popular with publishers. John Dunn; Heart of a Zulu, which I would think would be popular with UK publishers, since it directly involves UK history. And Second Chance; a Football Story, which could be a book for Young Adult audiences, or anyone who love a good football story.

In any case, I'll keep submitting as much as I can. I submitted The Vase and John Dunn to a UK publisher just today. So that means another three month wait or thereabouts. Time is up for the other publishers I had submitted to. And of course there is that publisher that contacted me. They are called JustFictionEdition Publishers. They are a European publisher. I can't think of any good reason why I shouldn't go ahead and publish with them. So I'll make a list as follows:

Reasons for going with JustFictionEdition:
1- As I mentioned. they are a European publisher. And The Vase and John Dunn might be more appealing to European audiences. Especially John Dunn for UK audiences.

2-They make their books available on the international market. And The Vase and John Dunn might be more appealing to international audiences because The Vase takes place in Israel, and John Dunn takes place in South Africa.

3-I have an offer on the table. Well, no contract as of yet has been offered, because I haven't yet submitted to them, but the outlook is good.

4-The royalties are a little higher.

Reasons for not going with JustFictionEdition:
1-American bloggers on publishing seem to frown upon them. Why? I don't know really. I've researched them, and no one seems to have a real reason. The foremost reason is that they are not one of the Big Five publishers. But a lot of publishers aren't Big Five publishers, but they're still good publishers. So what the heck...

2-There is a misperception that they are a Vanity Press. But they are really NOT a Vanity Press. Because a Vanity Press or Vanity publishers make YOU, the author, pay THEM to publish your book. JustFictionEdition does NOT make the author pay them to publish their books. They cover all costs, just like any real publisher. So therefore, they ARE a real publisher if that is the criteria. So it's a misperception only, and not a real reason to not go with them. So, what the heck...

3-The bloggers almost unanimously agree that an author should never go with a publisher who solicits THEM to publish their book. But again, they don't provide a reason why. Again, they suggest that all publishers who solicit authors are Vanity Presses. And it IS mostly true. Vanity Presses DO solicit authors to publish their books, because that's how Vanity Presses make their money. Not by selling books, but by getting authors to pay them to publish their books. But I've already covered the fact that JustFictionEdition is NOT a Vanity Press. So again, what the heck...

4-The royalties are a little higher. But that would be a reason to go with them, so what the heck.

According to my lists, then, maybe I should go with JustFictionEdition. I think I'll email them and ask a couple more questions. Maybe they are the real deal. I mean who said they aren't? A bunch of snobs who've been lucky enough to find Big Five publishers? Or have they? Maybe I don't need to listen to them. Hhhmmnnn....

Working on Music Again

So the publishing news is slow. I do have three manuscripts submitted, but still waiting for answers. I might go with a European publisher. They want to publish my books. But some people say I shouldn't. I can go with my current publisher, Melange. Just might do it.

In the meantime, I'm back into my music. I have written 13 albums with ten plus songs on every album. I have no singer, so I tried singing on three of the albums. Volume 2, 12, and 13. I have Volume 12 on SoundCloud right now. It's really a good album, too. Just wish I had a decent singer on there.

But while I'm waiting out the publishers, I'm redoing a lot of my other albums. I had written the music on these albums about twenty years ago. Volumes 2, 12, and 13 are good, but the others need to be arranged again. I completed Volumes 3 and 4 by now, and I'm working on Volume 5 at this time. I suppose I'll try singing on them if I can't find a real singer.

And then I would like to put them on SoundCloud too.

I wonder if there are agents that submit songs to real recording artists, like literary agents submit books to publishers. That would be exactly what I need. Time to find out.

A Star is Born - Here We Go Again

Hollywood - here we go again. I've lamented that Hollywood has been promoting the concept that the woman is the competent one, the brave one, the strong one, and the winner. And I would have no problem with that if not for Hollywood's flip-side, which is the concept that the man is the incompetent one, the coward, the weakling, and the loser.

It's bad enough Hollywood has transformed great franchises like Star Trek and Star Wars into feminist versions of the prior shows. Especially bad is the brainwashing of our children by the constant portrayal of male characters in cartoons as stupid, cowardly, incompetent and degenerate, while the female characters are the opposite. But it's not just cartoons anymore. And it's not even a new thing, evidenced by the many times remade movie, A Star is Born.

So don't watch these shows, right? I don't. But it's still disappointing. For example, I used to like the Star Trek franchise. Well, the original series, anyway. The Next Generation version was the start of its downfall. When TOS had a captain who was brave, dashing, competent, and self-assured, Star Trek was great. But then TNG had a captain who was the opposite. He needed "counseling" for practically every command decision he made. (And, oh, yeah, counseling from a woman.) Which, imo, brought the franchise down. Way down. Way, way, way, down.

It was a slow downward spiral, but it bottomed out with the current Star Trek which now features only female heroes. A female captain. A female first officer... etc... etc... In Star Trek now, the males are relegated to secondary characters with no impact. I stopped watching after the first episode.

I also stopped watching Star Wars. In those movies, the male characters are cowardly and/or incompetent fools. It's only the female characters who are the heroes. I've made the point already, that a woman can be as heroic as a man. But when it's only female characters who are the heroes, like in every single Star Wars movie since Disney bought the franchise, it's like, what the hell?

So back to A Star is Born. Sure, with this twisted Hollywood mindset, what better movie to remake than the ultimate Hollywood story of a man who is incompetent, stupid, drug-addicted, and self-destructive next to a woman who is talented, competent, self-determined, brave, and virtuous? Of course it's A Star is Born. Its fourth rendition to boot.

Which underscores my point. It had already been done three times. But hey...like I said, it's the ultimate depiction of the male vs. female scenario Hollywood has been promoting for more than two decades. Which begs the question: why does Hollywood want male characters portrayed as stupid, incompetent, degenerate, weak, and cowardly? Hollywood is run by men. Isn't that right? I keep hearing that. The feminists keep lamenting that. I think it's a good question.

Apparently, the answer is they want to see men as weak, degenerate cowards and women as strong righteous heroes. Is Hollywood catering to women? Not if you listen to the "Me-too" movement. Women have been abused by these high positioned freaks in Hollywood like forever, there's no questioning that. But it's weird and plain disgusting to me when a 120 pound woman beats up twenty men all at the same time without breaking a sweat. I just can't buy into that.

Sure, Supergirl can and so can Wonder Woman. That works because it's comic book fantasy. But here's the kicker. Iron Fist is comic book fantasy, too. But with Iron Fist, instead of just a woman who's a hero, we have to see a man who's too cowardly and insecure to be the hero, and thus passes his power to...a woman, who's not too cowardly or insecure. I mean how many times do we have to put up with this same concept? And this "Black Sky" character? Please...no.

So through it all, the solution is simple. I'm sticking with Killer of Killers. And Killer Eyes. In those stories Trent Smith is a strong, self assured, and self determined male hero. And he stays that way. He is the righteous one, and he has no insecurities in his quest for justice. Apparently it's up to me to write about a male hero who's brave enough and competent enough to be a hero. And to stay a hero. Unless there's  more Jason Statham movies in the works. Or John Wick. Speaking of which, I can't wait for John Wick chapter 3. Thank goodness, someone in Hollywood hasn't wimped out.

TV's Male Heroes Nothing But Wimps

So, I've complained about Arrow...where the hero saves peoples' lives but after doing so, those same people hate him and put him in jail or want to kill him. And indeed the hero goes to jail for the crime of saving lives. And he goes willingly. For those same people who hated him.

We saw Flash go to jail for the frame job put on him by the villain The Thinker. And I had complained about the "hero" Red Reddington who saved Lizzy's life multiple times, (and the lives of most of her friends also, btw) only for her to then hate him and put in motion a plan to "destroy" him.

Now, I'm watching this new show Iron Fist, and guess what. He turns out to be a wimp. He had already said that possessing the "iron fist" was so important to him like it was part of him. But now he no longer wants it. Say what? Yeah, he says he doesn't have the strength of will to possess it without it "consuming" him. So who does he want to have the iron fist? Who is it that's strong enough to possess it? Well, his girlfriend, of course.

I mean what the heck. So why do I want to watch a show about a "hero" who doesn't want to wield the power to be a hero because he believes he isn't strong enough? He's a cowardly wimp. Why do I want to watch a cowardly wimp? I don't. It seems only the girl is strong enough and brave enough to wield the power.  Likewise, why do I want to watch a show about a chump who goes to jail? I don't. Why do I want to watch a show about a chump where everyone he saves hates him and wants to destroy him? I don't.

So yeah, in the show Iron Fist the woman is now the iron fist because the man is not strong enough or confident enough to hold the power. This is bullshit. What is going on with Hollywood? The men who are supposed to be the heroes are instead wimps and cowards. They are weak and they are chumps. They go to jail for saving lives and saving entire cities. Like the Green Arrow. And who was it that put him in jail? A woman, of course. Who is it that wants to destroy Red Reddington? A woman, of course. And who is it that's strong enough to hold the power of the iron fist when the man who had it wimps out? A woman, of course.

This is an extension of the cartoon shows. Most if not all the cartoon shows for the last twenty years feature male characters that are stupid beyond belief. In addition to that, they are cowards and degenerates. Whereas the female characters are the smart ones, the brave ones, and the ones who have all the answers. It's like Hollywood is trying to brainwash America's kids to believe that if you are a boy, you are stupid, weak, and a coward. On top of that you are also a degenerate and a detriment to society. If you are a girl, then you are smart, strong, and determined, even more so than men. And it's like that in most of these shows, like I said, for the last twenty years.

I don't get it because that's not the reality. Look, I know women can be as smart and as strong as men, generally speaking. But this Hollywood nonsense is just going too far. It's the same thing over and over again with every show, seemingly. It's nauseating. I don't buy it. It makes me very glad I created my own hero: Trent Smith, the world's greatest martial artist. He's featured in two of my books, Killer of Killers and Killer Eyes. No one can match him in a fight, male OR female.

No Woman would last one second against Brock Lesnar

One point I want to make clear. As strong as women can be, there is no woman in the world who would be able to last more than five seconds in a ring against the best male fighters. Take Brock Lesnar as an example. No woman in the world would last one second in a ring against him. And I don't mean this to be an insult to women. I know they are strong and many women are trained to fight. But against a man with equal training? It wouldn't be a contest. Not even close.

So all this crap about how men are weak and cowardly and don't possess strength of will, like we've been seeing in Iron Fist, Arrow, and even the current Star Trek and Star Wars franchises is just that. Crap. It makes me want to go back and continue my Trent Smith series. I think I will.

Arrow - Getting tedious and tiresome

When I decided to watch some of these DC comics TV shows, (without ever being a DC comics fan, that is) I decided to give Arrow a try. That was a few  years ago, and I like the show. Stephen Amell was a great actor for the main character who becomes the Green Arrow, and the show was gritty, filled with action and quite dramatic. I started watching The Flash soon thereafter and felt the same charm I felt from Arrow, but I still liked Arrow better. It seemed more serious.

But this season the shows have reversed. Now it's the Flash that's better written. And I'll tell you why. Mostly it's because the story lines in Arrow have become tedious and tiresome. Arrow had accrued a team of fellow crime fighters by this the seventh season. And after several years of fighting crime together, saving one another's lives in the process, the team has quit on the Green Arrow. This is something I can't buy into. Why? For the reason they left. That's why. The team of three disgruntled members are acting all butt-hurt because Felicity, (Arrow's wife) had tracked them on her computer for the reason that one of them was going to betray Arrow to the FBI.

And it turned out to be true. One of them was. But all three of them quit the team because now they say they can't trust the Green Arrow. This is a load of crap. I mean, when you've been fighting wars as a team for years, saving lives and each others' lives for that long, you don't let a simple "tracking" for the reason explained split you up. But it did and it's bullshit.

And then Arrow's best friend and closest ally quits because he too is all butt-hurt because the Green Arrow won't let HIM be the Green Arrow. Say what? Well, yeah, that is exactly it. I mean is this guy still in kindergarten? John Diggle was his first partner in fighting crime and most loyal, except, um, he's not so loyal as it turned out.

I mean it's all so petty. And ridiculous. If the writers wanted the Green Arrow to go solo again, they should have written the stories a lot better than that. So yeah, they suck now. A shame, really, as I did like the show before this latest season.

As for Flash? Like I said in an earlier post, it's been pretty dark lately. Gritty and serious drama here. This latest villain is a little whacked. His goal is to "enlighten" humanity, he says. But by killing dozens of innocent people in the process? I mean, there's something wrong with that picture. It's like you want to save the world by killing people. Um, that doesn't really work. Reminds me of the stupid plot in the latest Avengers movie. The bad guy wants to save the universe by killing half of it. Pretty stupid plot if you ask me.

But back to the Flash, we've seen the demise of some good characters. I liked the Elongated Man. But he was killed recently. I hope they can bring him back somehow, like they did in Arrow so many times. I didn't really like it in Arrow when they did that. I mean Arrow brought Black Canary back to life, and he brought back his sister from the dead as well, and it was getting to be too much.

But if they can bring back Elongated Man somehow, that would be okay with me. In the meantime, I am enjoying Flash more than Arrow this latest season. Will it end up that way? I'm almost through with the full season of both shows. We'll see when I'm finished.

Flash Show Turns Dark

I'm watching the fourth Flash season now, along with the fifth Arrow season. I don't bother with Supergirl or Legends of Tomorrow. I've never been a DC fan. But I have to say the Flash show taking a dark turn makes it an intriguing show to watch.

What I appreciate mostly is that The Flash show not a goofy show like the Marvel movies have become. The Marvel movies and their characters are worse for that goofiness. But the DC shows have not followed suit, to their credit. Flash, particularly, has evolved into quite the dark show. Meaning the events are grim and even scary. It reminds me of the darker Twilight Zone episodes or Outer Limits episodes of some years ago.

It's not really new either. From the beginning the Flash TV show has had some dark episodes. From the Reverse Flash villain, to the Doom villain, to the Savitar villain. The fact that all of these villains were speedsters like the Flash was redundant, and lacked imagination, but the story lines were dark, and not goofy. Which was refreshing. Facing speedsters all the time is along the lines of the kind of villain a hero like Flash should fight. But season after season, especially the first three seasons, made for some questionable storytelling.

In season four we don't see another speedster except for a brief reappearance of Reverse Flash in the crossovers of episode eight. Which is a good thing. And speaking of that crossover thing, fighting Nazis? Sheesh... Talk about recurring villains. We've seen Nazis and Neo-Nazis as villains more times than I can count over the history of Hollywood. But at least the shows weren't goofy. Well, wait a minute. The fact that all the Nazis were shooting blanks from their machineguns was goofy. It was downright comedic. The Nazis were shooting literally thousands of rounds over the four episode crossover and only once did they hit a target....an old man...and it was comical.

But I digress. We see an even darker villain emerge in season four of Flash. A professor with an artificially enhanced IQ. But he also has ALS. Because he's becoming paralyzed, he takes over a younger dude's body. Meaning he transfers his mind into the body of a much younger and healthier man. Which all in all was pretty scary. I'm not into horror, but the darker stories are preferable to the goofy slapstick comedies Marvel's been putting out recently.

My only complaint is why is this "professor" guy so evil? I mean when you wish ill will on others for no reason, that's an evil thing. And this guy is doing that. Killing innocents for no reason? I mean, where is the guy going with this? What are his reasons? He's supposed to be a teacher. And his mind is supposed to be so smart with his enhanced IQ. Whatever. I suppose the show will answer all the questions when it pans out. I'm only on episode nine, so we'll see. I hope.

My point is serious drama beats dumb comedies any day. That's not to say all comedies are dumb. Inspector Clouseau was great. But superheroes, as Inspector Clouseaus, are not great. They're only dumb. And to me, at least, dumb is not funny. And far from great.

Mission Impossible Fallout - Action Packed

Mission Impossible Fallout Poster

Talk about never a boring moment. The new Mission Impossible movie, Fallout, was action packed. And I enjoyed every minute of it. I like action movies, as I'm a writer of action novels, especially my two Killer books, and I'll say Fallout never failed to impress.

Tom Cruise is getting up there in years, but he still pulled off a series of stunts that would make a man in his prime proud. I heard during the course of production he had broken an ankle on one of those stunts and it reminded me of Robert Conrad of Wild Wild West fame. Conrad had insisted on doing his own stunts until the inevitable day came when he got hurt.

So I don't blame actors for using stunt men as fill-ins for the more dangerous scenes. I'm guessing Tom Cruise learned his lesson. But the scenes were seamless and the movie top notch. I have one critique, or one complaint--SPOILER--and it is this: Henry Cavill of Superman fame does not make a good bad guy. Meaning he's not convincing as a bad guy. Meaning, when you see Henry Cavill, you see Superman, the ultimate good guy.

Henry Cavill in MI: Fallout

I'm not suggesting Cavill is typecast as Superman, but I am suggesting Cavill is typecast as a good guy. And that's not a bad thing. After all, in every Tom Cruise movie, Cruise is a good guy. There are other actors like that. Jason Statham, Vin Diesel, and Ben Affleck are good guys in every movie they've been in. Same with Christopher Reeve, the other Superman actor. The list goes on and on. So making Cavill a bad guy in Fallout didn't work for me. But it didn't ruin the movie. The only thing that might have ruined the movie was Cavill's mustache. (Cavill with a mustache? Please, no.)

Another reason I hated seeing Cavill as a bad guy is the fact that if my book, John Dunn; Heart of a Zulu were ever to make it to the big screen, Cavill is my first choice to play the lead role of John Dunn, the white chief of Zululand. I had posted comparable photos of the real Dunn and Cavill, each with a beard, and they are strikingly similar in appearance. Apparently Cavill sports a full  beard much better than a lone mustache. Even if its accompanied with some stubble as shown to the left

But whatever. I don't know if Cruise as the years remaining to make more MI movies. This was, what, the sixth or seventh? That's a pretty successful run of a franchise right there. I suppose he might make one more. Maybe two. And I'm betting they'll both be good.

Antman and the Wasp movie - Too Goofy

I don't know why the latest trend with the Marvel movies is slapstick comedy. Or an attempt at slapstick comedy. It ruined the last Thor movie. I had posted that Thor's latest movie made him seem like another Inspector Clouseau type of character, instead of the god of thunder.

Well, this latest Antman movie did the same thing. The entire movie was slapstick comedy. It made me think I was watching the Three Stooges. The first Marvel movies, although not perfect, were at least not ridiculous efforts of comedy. They were serious dramas. Which they should be. It was a removal from the tongue-in-cheek movies that Hollywood used to think comic book movies should be. If you'll recall the fist Bat Man and Superman movies were tongue-in-cheek. And bad tongue-in-cheek at that. They were so cheesy that they didn't appeal to the serious comic book fan.

Now that doesn't mean all tongue-in-cheek movies are cheesy. Tongue-in-cheek is one of the hardest genres to make. If you can do it well, it can be a good movie. But the comic book tongue-in-cheek movies were not done well.

Then Hollywood got wise, (which is rare, but it happens,) and made some good comic book movies. The first Marvel movies were pretty good. Now they have regressed and are back to bad humor. If you can put a little humor into a serious drama, that's fine. Even better. But it has to work. This latest Antman movie, as a comedy, like the last Thor movie, didn't work. My sons didn't even like it.

My oldest son was shaking his head saying the movie sucked midway through the movie. I agreed. That's not to say there weren't some good moments in the movie. But overall it was a thumb's down rating. A disappointment. Too bad. Antman is a good character. So is the Wasp. But not in the Hollywood universe. They are cheesy, dumb, and stupid. Like the movie.

Arrow - Same Stories - Flash - Corny Ones.

I'm back to watching Arrow and Flash, and, well, I'm disappointed in the same story lines. Like before, Arrow has a son who he's worried about, and like always, the father-son relationship is strained. The mother was killed, it seems, in the prior season finale, and Oliver Queen, (Green Arrow) has to raise his son as a single father now. But of course, the son is acting like a jerk, and gives little credit to Oliver for his efforts.

Glad my sons aren't like that. It makes for an uninteresting show. You can't help but dislike the character of the son. But whatever. At the same time we have another recurring story line. Once again, Oliver's identity as the Green Arrow has been revealed. And once again he's under investigation by law enforcement for the "crimes" of the Green Arrow. This is so old it's ridiculous. The show has already done this. And it's not interesting to go through it again.

Another reason, besides redundancy, is the fact that everyone recognizes the Green Arrow as a hero. But of course, not the investigators. They always seem to think he's as bad as any street thug, and not the guy who's saved countless lives, and has even saved the entire city multiple times. But does any of that matter? Why, no, he's got to be brought to "justice" for the "crime" of being a good guy.

It's so pathetic, I'm finding myself wondering why the hell am I bothering with this crap. At least Flash isn't rehashing the same story line over again. He's got a new suit which seemed pretty cool with the Tony Stark-like implements that Cisco put in there while Barry was in Limbo. But of course, there's got to be a new baddie who has the power to manipulate the techs in the suit.

Yeah, it's all corny, but at least it's not something they did before on the show, like Arrow. Maybe I'm too old to be watching these shows. My students are watching these shows, and some of them think it's cool that their teacher watches the same shows, so I'll keep it secret that I'm not really enjoying them anymore.

I guess it's true. After about three seasons, shows just seem to run out of stories that made them good in the first place. It happens to almost all shows. I used to love The Blacklist, but it turned into a stupid show. Even Homeland got lousy after season five. At least it had two seasons past it's third that were still tops.

Writers only have so much in them, it seems. Maybe they end up grasping at straws. Maybe they need more collaboration. Maybe they need to think outside the box. Or maybe that's what got them into trouble in the first place. I wonder if the creators are involved. I would think that would be important, meaning the person who created the characters might have the best insight into what should happen to them and how they should respond. Maybe that makes too much sense.

The Vase, Second Chance, and Heart of a Zulu

Since two of my publishers have gone out of business, three of my books are out of print. The Vase, Second Chance, and Heart of a Zulu are no longer available with two exceptions. On Amazon, there are two more books left of Second Chance, and one more book of Heart of a Zulu.

Because of that, the price of Second Chance has skyrocketed. Two hundred forty-nine dollars. That hasn't happened with Heart of a Zulu yet. So if you're inclined to read a true story that takes place in South Africa during the nineteenth century, you'd better jump on that. It's still listed at 14 dollars.

As for Second Chance, well, I don't expect anyone to pay over two hundred bucks for a book. Even if there are only two copies left. I am, after all, trying to find new publishers pretty soon. Unless some collector wants to get the now rare copies of first editions. There are collectors who do that. Usually they are well-to-do people who have the money to spend on thing like that.

The first issue of Superman sold for over a million dollars. And that was a ten cent comic book. So you never know. In fifty years, or a hundred years, anything goes.

Agents? I Wonder

Trying to land an agent again. My first effort resulted in finding an agent but that was short-lived. And nothing happened as a result. I went straight to publishers after that, and had some success. The Vase was seemingly the most popular. It was accepted by five publishers. I went with the publisher I thought would be the best, and it was in several ways. They taught me a lot about writing a novel. And I took that knowledge and applied it to all of my novels, and they are all better for it.

Killer of Killers drew a lot of interest as well. Not just from agents but from publishers. Although only one publisher offered a contract, compared with the five contracts offered for The Vase. But that publisher is still kickin'. Two of the publishers who offered contracts for The Vase, and with whom I signed, folded. Thus the rights are reverted to me. Another publisher with whom I signed had internal trouble, including lawsuits by former staff. I chronicled all of it on the blog here, so I don't need to get into it again. It was a frustrating experience

The bottom line I discovered is that people don't really care about you, or your contracts or your money. They only care about themselves. Of course, I knew that already. So it was no surprise. You can't really trust anyone. Not in the publishing business. Not in any business. It's what I teach my sons. As a matter of fact, my youngest son asked me recently what my most important advice to him would be. I said without hesitation 'Don't trust anyone.' I've told him before. Both of my sons. Many times. You just can't trust anyone is this world and it's a shame really.

Which means being an agent is an oxymoron. An agent is supposed to be someone you can trust. But you can't trust anyone. Still I'm seeking an agent. It's the best chance to make the Big Five. And I do want that. So I have no recourse. We'll see how that goes.

For me, it wasn't an agent, but a publisher who became an untrustworthy entity. Here's a lesson I learned and I did apply it the second time. You cannot trust a publisher who doesn't sign his own contract. I chronicled the happenings here on the blog some years ago. And when a later publisher tried to do the same thing to me, I told them that.

Here's the trick. A publisher will send you a contract unsigned by them. A first time author will sign it and send it back, thinking the publisher will then sign it and send you a copy. But that didn't happen. So I learned a lesson. Then when a second publisher did that to me, this time I knew better. I told them that publishers who don't sign their own contracts are publishers who cannot be trusted. I said that. Straight up. So then they got on the ball and signed it and sent it back to me.

See? Lessons learned and applied. But sadly three of the other publishers who offered contracts for The Vase simply folded. So that's another reason I'd prefer the Big Five. They won't fold.

But you take what you can get. When will I give up? Who knows. You keep trying. The Vase, Heart of a Zulu, and Second Chance will find homes again. We'll see which homes. Soon I hope.

Homeland - Done - Okay

All right. I'm finished watching Homeland. Not because I didn't like it anymore. I'm done because I've watched the final episode of the final season. Or at least the final season that had been aired. Is there going to be a season eight? I don't even know. As far as I'm concerned, it's okay if there is. I'll probably watch it if there is. As for the season I just finished? Season seven? It was okay. A bit better than season six at least. Well, the two seasons were really one big season, meaning the story arc covered seasons six and seven.

It was about the first woman president more than anything else. Don't know if the producers and writers of the show expected Hillary to win and made their show a parallel story for that scenario. My guess is they did expect Hillary to win, because everyone did. But whatever. The show was on the decline, and even though it leveled out for season seven, I was not much interested anymore.

And that's because of what they did to Peter Quinn. He was a great character, and like I said before, was half the show. Carrie is able to carry the show by herself, but like I said before, without Quinn the show was only half as good. Which was still good, though. And like I said it ended okay.

That is if it is the end. My guess is there will be a season eight, and will pick up where they left off. With Carrie being returned to America in a prisoner exchange with the Russians. After seven months of imprisonment and no meds for her bipolar condition, she looked like a wretch there at the end. Totally off her rocker. Again, Claire Danes is a fabulous actress. I don't think anyone else could have been better for the part.

So now what? Flash? Arrow? Or another show that's been out for years that I haven't watched? I didn't last more than a couple episodes of Empire, nor did I last for more that two episodes of Westworld. And I ended up hating Counterpart. I absolutely loved Limitless, but it was canceled after one season, so there you go. Not much more in the TV world for me, it seems. Not when the shows I love are canceled. Or they just run out of gas like The Blacklist did.

Maybe I'll go back to writing my own stories. But probably not. I'm still trying to find new homes for The Vase, Heart of a Zulu, and Second Chance. And while I'm doing that I'll be improving the prose for them at the same time. Might as well. A book can always be written better, I've found. So I will keep making them better until they are published again.

At that point I may go back to writing new stories. Or maybe not. But I probably will.

Homeland Still Not Predictable

I'll say this much for Homeland. It may not be as good as it used to be, but it's still not predictable. That's a good thing, btw. It seems that that Wellington dude is not the guy who made the murder of the general dude happen. It seems he was set up. And it seems to be a good story arc after all.

But so what. The show still blew it with the demise of the Quinn character. He was half the show. And without him, as I said before, the show's quality has been halved. It seems that this Wellington dude is a good guy, but a sappy good guy. He was "played" by a Russian spy to take the blame for the murder of that general who was sent to prison.

So, Wellington, although amiable, is more like the sap I had called him. He was duped by allowing the Russian spy to make it look like he was abusing her, when he wasn't.

Right now I'm about half done with season seven, and once I'm finished with season seven I'll be done with the series. Unless there's a season eight. Not sure if there is. If there is, I may watch it. But I won't miss it if there isn't. That's what happens when you ruin what once was a great show. People stop watching. So whatever. Still have to see the latest seasons of Flash and Arrow. Let's see how they turn out. Haven't been so pleased with them lately either. We'll see.

Homeland-First Two Episodes Season Seven

Well, after watching the first two episodes of season seven of Homeland, my theory of the new president being drugged seems to be wrong. This Wellington dude does not seem to have taken control and I'm not sure this makes the show better or not.

It's turning out that the other option is what is happening. The new president turned loony. Ultra paranoid might be a better description. And as far as Wellington is concerned, he might be the loony one. Well, insofar as he was willing to murder someone to keep his job.

But none of that matters. My biggest complaint is that the show has turned America, and/or Americans into the bad guy(s). So since season six and now into season seven, we have Americans fighting Americans. It's all a domestic scenario now instead of an international one.

And again, it's not what I signed up for when I started watching the show. One of the reasons I liked the show so much was that Peter Quinn was a bad ass assassin. But now that he's gone, the show seems one dimensional. It's now only about Carrie.

At first Carrie was good enough to "carry" the show. With Quinn's addition, it made the show twice as good. But the character of Quinn was so good, he was stealing the show as I've pointed out before. So they get rid of Quinn and we're back to just Carrie. It was like they tried to improve the show through subtraction. That only works when you had a character who was a detriment to a show. And that was NOT the case with Quinn.

He was an equal hero to Carrie's hero, and now the result is the show's quality has been halved. Add that point to the point that they are changing gears as to the show's antagonists it makes for a huge disappointment to a show about which I had been raving.

No more raves seem to be in store for Homeland. But with seasons one through five, I suppose it had a great run. It seems most TV series tend to run out of gas eventually. It happened to Blacklist after its third season. So there you go.

Homeland Season Six

It sucked. Really. They ruined my favorite character and then killed him off. Yeah, yeah, he died as a hero saving the lives of Carrie and the president-elect, but so what.

To me it was like this. Carrie was the star of the show. No doubt. From the beginning. And Claire Danes did a fantastic job of acting. I believe no actress could have done better. She was tops.

Rupert Friend as CIA assassin Peter Quinn

But then they introduced a new character. Peter Quinn, played by Rupert Friend from Hitman Agent 47 fame. And just like he was in Hitman Agent 47, he was a hitman. An assassin. For the CIA. Rupert Friend is a great actor too. He was great as Agent 47, and he was great as super assassin Peter Quinn. I was thinking he might be great as Trent Smith from my Killer Series. (But no, he's too tall: six foot one.) But the character of Quinn was so great that he was stealing the show from Carrie, (Claire Danes.)

But of course we couldn't have that. Meaning we couldn't be allowed to have someone steal the show from Carrie. So what do they do? They turn him into a brain-damaged, handicapped, near crippled sideshow. And then they finished the job and killed him.

Right. So there goes my interest in the show. The entire Season Six sucked. From start to finish. All twelve episodes. In Episode One we saw Quinn's disability, and in Episode Twelve we saw him die. Just great. Not my cup of tea for a fictional story that had a great hero.

Make no mistake, I still believe Carrie is a great hero. Sure she makes mistakes. It was her mistake that turned Quinn into the brain-damaged person he became. And that was not what I ordered. I don't mean any disrespect to any brain-damaged persons out there, but watching the antics of a brain-damaged person was not very appealing to me.

So the two characters who were there from the beginning and are still there going into Season Seven are Carrie and Saul. And what does Season Seven have in store? It seems this new president is going loony. At least that's the impression the final shots of Season Six's finale implied. We see her sitting at her desk with this loony look on her face while everyone who had helped her avoid assassination, including Saul but not including Carrie, is being arrested. It could be she was drugged. No further clues were given.

My feeling is this: There's a new character by name of Wellington. And I predict it's this Wellington guy who is taking over the presidency while keeping the president in a drug induced haze. It's not original. It's been done before. Sheesh, it was the plot of a Star Trek episode from the original series. It was the episode when Captain Kirk and the Enterprise visited a planet that had copied the Nazis. A Federation guy had implemented the Nazi system of economic growth to bring stability to an otherwise floundering native population. But then the Federation guy's chief of staff drugged him and kept him in a drug-induced haze while he took over and proceeded with the original Nazi "policy" of extermination and war.

Yeah, it's a plot that we've seen many times since. So is that what's going on? Is the president drugged, or is the president really going loony? My guess is the former. Will it be worth watching? Don't know. Season six wasn't. That's for sure.

Homeland Peaks, then Flops

I watched through season five of Homeland, and as good as it already was, it was only getting better and better. By the time Season five ended, I really thought it was better than ever. Then came Season Six. Just like Blacklist, it flopped. I've watched the first two episodes, now, of Season Six of Homeland, and....BORING! BORING! BORING!

Sheesh, what a let down. I had been raving about Homeland ever since I first started watching it. And I was all set to continue raving about it after the last episode of Season Five. But now.... YUCK!

First, the star and heroine of the show, Carrie, is no longer working for (or with) the CIA. It's been an on again off again thing the last few seasons, which was frustrating, but they made it work. But now, not only is she not working for or with the CIA, she's working against them. And the show has actually made the CIA and the FBI the bad guys. And to me, that's a load of crap.

Why? Because that's NOT what I bargained for when I signed up to watch this series. But wait. It gets worse. Yeah, you guessed it. The MUSLIMS are the good guys. Or let's put it this way. They are the aggrieved party now. They're the victims.

Look, I know full well there are good Muslims. They are human beings like any other group of people. Good, bad, wonderful, horrible, and everything in between. Like any other people. I've known quite a few myself. But the premise of the show was fighting the radical ones. The ones who are the TERRORISTS. It's no secret that there are radical Muslim terrorists who kill and brag about how they want to kill Americans, and Jews, too, and anyone else for that matter who doesn't subscribe to their version of Islam. Even other Muslims!

And through Season Five, those were the bad guys. And by the way, kudos to  Homeland for including in their story-lines, not only the radical bad ones, but the good ones as well. There was a doctor who saved Quinn, for instance. A good man. A good Muslim man. I had no problem with that. But now to turn everything around? For what? For (god forbid,) political  correctness? Just like I said with Blacklist and Taken, when they did that, it's BULLSHIT. Why can't we do away with this political correctness crap? It ruins everything, and we didn't need it.

Why? Because Homeland had already established that there certainly are good Muslims out there. Good ones who help America fight the bad ones. Remember Fara? She was a Muslim woman who was also a CIA agent fighting the bad Muslims. Until one of those bad Muslims murdered her. Which I was saddened to see. I really liked Fara. She was one of my favorite characters. Yeah, a Muslim woman was one of my favorite characters. But in Season Six they've made the Muslims the victims and made the CIA and FBI the bad guys! I don't buy it.

Can it get worse? Yes. Another of my favorite characters was Peter Quinn. A total bad ass, who was a great fighter, and a great killer of bad guys. And that doesn't just include Muslim bad guys. One of my favorite scenes was when he had sneaked into the CIA director's personal residence, and warned him that if anything happened to a particular someone, the director would find him in his residence again. Because he "kills bad guys!" You see, Quinn was supposed to kill that particular someone until he realized that that particular someone WASN'T a bad guy.

Of course I loved that scene and that line. It was almost a scene straight from my own book, Killer of Killers and Killer Eyes. Trent Smith could had said the same thing word for word.

But now, in Season Six, Quinn is reduced to a brain damaged, handicapped, drug addict. And it is very annoying to see him in the scenes they have written for him now. It's more than annoying, actually. They've reduced Quinn from a terrific character who was very close to stealing the show from Carrie, to an uninteresting sideshow. It makes me want to stop watching the show.

So, like I said. I'm only two episodes into Season Six. And there's a Season Seven as well. So will I make it that far? At this rate, I'm not sure I'll finish Season Six. They better fix Quinn. And fast. Or I'm done. And they better stop trying so hard to convince me that Muslims can be good guys. Because I already knew that. They had already established that. All they're doing to the show now is turning it into bullshit. And that's a shame. It was so good.

Homeland Three Seasons Down

Okay, so I've completed watching season three of Homeland, and it wasn't what I expected. None of this has been what I expected. In fact, this show has been the least predictable show I've ever seen. That's a good thing, btw.

So the Marine dies. This is the guy who was a Marine turned Muslim suicide bomber, turned CIA plant, turned Muslim asylum seeker, turned  CIA assassin. Say what? Well, yeah.

This show is full of surprises, and for the U.S. government to betray the dude was a surprise to me. I mean what happened to leaving no Marine behind? They left this guy to get hanged. Wait, they actually told the Iranians where he was so they can catch him. That was so their other plant could be more believable, and I don't think it was necessary. It was somewhat of a disappointment.

Still, Homeland delivers. It is filled with suspense, twists, and turns. I am caught off guard often during the course of this show. Unlike Blacklist, which I can't help but find myself comparing it to. Blacklist is so predictable. Thanks to the Dizzy Lizzy character. I mean has there ever been a dumber female character who is supposed to be a top FBI agent? I don't think so.

I mean look at it this way. The dude Red, has saved this dizzy dame's life multiple times. And he's saved her friends' lives multiple times. And their careers too, btw. Yet Dizzy Lizzy is quick to believe she has to destroy the man due to some mealymouthed explanation from one of Red's top enemies. It is hard to swallow, and I won't anymore. If they can't fix this ridiculously stupid character, the show is doomed. Of course Megan Boone's lack of credibility as an actress doesn't help.

Which brings me to what makes Homeland a success. It's not just the writing and the plots and the story lines. It's Claire Danes' acting ability which I've already pointed out is spectacular. I don't keep up with acting awards, like the Oscars, the Emmy's, or the Tony's, or whatever. I mostly can't stand actors or movie stars. I think most of them are spoiled idiots living charmed lives. And when they spout off their mouths about things other than acting, they reveal their idiocy.

But I will say that Claire Danes deserves a best actress award if anyone ever did. No, I won't bother looking it up to see if she ever got one. I don't care that much if she did or didn't. I only say in my opinion, shes' the best actress I've seen since...well since...oh yeah, since Amanda Hale from The White Queen show. Yeah, that actress was top notch. I remember blogging about her once upon a time. Intense acting. That's the ticket. Wouldn't mind finding an intense actor playing the role of Trent Smith in my Killer books. That would be a dream come true.

Crazy Carrie vs. Dizzy Lizzy

Megan Boone

I have talked somewhat about the shows Blacklist and Homeland. Blacklist had been my favorite show, mostly because of the stellar performances of James Spader. He's an actor who I've appreciated, and I've liked all of his work. Megan Boone, on the other hand, is the co-star of Blacklist, and she is not a very good actress at all. It's been hard watching her sometimes, but I like the premise of the show, and I've been satisfied with the show for the most part.




The last two seasons has seen Blacklist fall in quality, as I've mentioned in prior posts, meaning the storylines have been wanting. I mean they're bad. Still, Spader keeps the show afloat, and it's not easy for him. The reason is because Megan Boone's character is a dizzy dame. Not to sound misogynistic, really, but anyone who's seen the show knows what I mean. The character Lizzy Keen is whacky. But not a good whacky. She's like the nickname I gave her. Dizzy whacky. Thus Dizzy Lizzy.

Claire Danes

Homeland, on the other hand features a woman who is also whacky, but not in a bad way. She's always right. Even when she thinks she's wrong. But the actress Claire Danes is such a superior actress, the difference is like night and day between her and Megan Boone. Claire Danes performance as the crazy Carrie Mathison is so good, I'm feeling every breath she takes, feeling every emotion she exudes, and it's like I'm experiencing every scene she's in. Wow. Claire Danes is the best actress I've seen in a long time.

Compare that with the near emotionless performances from Megan Boone. Her character, Lizzy Keen is so dumb that it seems that Megan Boone is at a disadvantage right there from the get go. But Boone offers nothing to advance her character. Her acting is wooden, stiff, and blah... Whereas Danes performances go through the roof!


I used to think that Amber Heard would be my actress of choice to play the role of Samantha Jones if Killer of Killers were ever to make the big screen. But I've since changed my mind. Amber Heard, based on the little I've seen of her on the screen is not a good actress. And if you want to see the difference between a good actress and a bad actress, just watch a few episodes of Blacklist, and pay close attention to the performance of Megan Boone as Lizzy Keen.

Then watch a few episodes of Homeland and check out the performance of Claire Danes. The difference is such that it will jump out at you and make you say wow. Danes has the unique ability to express every emotion in the book. She can convince you that she IS undergoing exactly what she is undergoing on the screen. That's a great actress. Kudos to Claire Danes.

As for Megan Boone? Well, it's a good thing James Spader is in the show. Otherwise, it would suck. And the last couple of seasons, it has sucked. In spite of Spader. But Spader, at least, keeps me watching. Can't say that will continue past next season though. Can't say it will continue past the first two episodes of next season. We'll see.

Homeland Season One - Ended Okay

A believable female hero in Homeland

So, yeah, I watched the season one finale last night, and it didn't disappoint. But it wasn't a "wow" type of episode either. I couldn't believe the dude would go through with blowing himself up, and he didn't. The way it was written was that he tried to, but the bomber vest malfunctioned. And his attempt to fix it took so long that a call from his daughter delayed him just enough so that the opportunity to blow everyone up passed.

But it could be argued that the call from his daughter did, in fact, change his mind. Whatever. He didn't go through with it just as I believed he wouldn't. All in all it was okay.

But I'm not without problems. Besides the one about how I can't believe a Marine would commit suicide by blowing himself up "terrorist fashion" like the chumps in the Middle East.

Another problem I'm having with Homeland is the same kind of problem I've been having with Blacklist. That is the on-again, off-again, on-again, off-again, back and forth with the MC Carrie who at first believed the marine dude was a traitor, then she didn't, then she did, then she didn't, and now, once again, she does. Sheesh.

I had to go through that, (and am still going through that) with the ever-dizzy and ever-fickle Lizzy Keene in the Blacklist. First she hates Red, then she loves him (as a father), then she hates him, then she loves him, and now she hates him once again. I can't stand this. Can't anyone make up their mind? Apparently not these two chicks.

But unlike Lizzy Keene, Carrie does come across as a hero, and I still consider her a hero. And I mean a realistic hero. A real true life-like hero. Not some super-chick who beats up dudes by the dozens every episode. When shows do that it makes it look like Hollywood is glorifying violence with women physically fighting, not with their minds but bare-knuckle, knock-down, drag-out fighting with bloody noses, broken bones and death blows.

I never believed women were made for that type of thing. I never believed women would WANT to be involved with that type of thing. And they shouldn't. Why? That's easily answered. It's because a woman would stand no chance against a trained male fighter. None. I've explained why many times already. And when I see it happen in almost every action show nowadays, it turns me off.

But Homeland is giving us a real believable woman hero. Not because she's not beating up people, but because she's smart and clever, and oh so flawed. As I touched on in yesterday's post. She's bipolar. And even though I don't think it was necessary to make being bipolar a part of the show, they did anyway, and they are making it work.

So yeah. Season One of Homeland gets a passing grade in my book. As I recall, Season One of Blacklist got not just a passing grade, but a stellar grade. And it got better in Season Two and it peaked in Season Three. Season Four, however, was hard to watch and Season Five completely tanked. I don't expect it to rebound with Season Six. Although it could. We'll see.

Homeland...Okay

So with my sad dismissal of The Blacklist show, and the fact that it's currently mid-season right now anyway, I started watching Homeland. It's okay. So Far. I like the main character. Of course, the MC is a woman, but at least I don't have to suffer through multiple scenes of her beating up men.

Actually, there hasn't been a single scene where she beats up a man. (Unlike the impossible depiction of Lizzy Keene beating up men a couple times in Blacklist. Or that ridiculously impossible-to-believe Shaw chick beating up men in every episode of POI.)

But that doesn't mean that the character Carrie in Homeland isn't a hero. In fact I think she's a great hero. One thing of note is that the writers of the show have made her into a very flawed individual. Imagine that. A flawed female hero. She's bipolar, and single, with the realization that she will always be single, and her attempt at preventing that has actually jeopardized her job and career.


Pretty good stuff there. But flawed as she is, she's still a hero. I'm watching the final episode of season one tonight, so I hope my appreciation of the show is not ruined. I do have some criticism of the show, however. First, I find it hard to believe that a U.S. Marine who has a loving wife, and two kids, (a son and a daughter who are still teens,) would agree to become a suicide bomber for radical Muslim terrorists.

I mean the guy has a beautiful wife who loves him. Two great kids who need him. And a promising career ahead of him in politics. Add to that that the American public loves him and you have a recipe for a great American life that supersedes any American dream anyone could have.

Yet the guy seems to be fully cooperating in a terrorist plan to put on a "bomber vest" and blow himself up in an act of terror. I happen to know from my own research when I wrote my book The Vase, which involved radical Muslim terrorists, that radical Muslims convince youngsters who don't know any better, or even mentally retarded people to carry out these "bomber jacket" or "bomber vest" suicide missions. How else might someone be willing blow him/herself up?

So the fact that this guy is a fully grown man, seemingly in full control of his mental faculties, and with everything a man might want in life, just doesn't make any sense that he'd become a suicide bomber. Sure he was captured by radical terrorists for 8 years, tortured and manipulated. Sure the little Arab boy to whom he was charged to teach English and then bonded with was a cute little boy with an adorable accent. And sure the explosion that killed the little tyke was as tragic as you can get. But still. I don't buy it.

But again, I haven't seen the last episode of season one yet. As a matter of fact, I'm getting ready to see it right now, since my wife is calling me to come down and watch it with her.

So I'll get back to you tomorrow.

Can Blacklist get worse? Yes.

As much as I've trashed Th Blacklist TV show recently, I am compelled to come back and trash it one more time. I had stated that The Blacklist show, this past and latest season, (season 5) had bottomed out. Meaning it can't get worse. Well, after reading some of the Blacklist forums, I have come to the conclusion that it can indeed get worse.

Other "fans" or perhaps I should call them "soon-to-be ex-fans" have been complaining about it as much as I have. But there is a scenario that many of these "soon-to-be ex-fans" have been putting out there. And this scenario has to do with that bag of bones. I had predicted, correctly, that the bag of bones belonged to the real Red Redington, and that "Spader Red" as I call him now, that is, the character played by James Spader, who until now was known as Red Redington, was some dude who had killed Red Redington and assumed his identity to take his place as the king of the underworld.

Now I hadn't been too against that, because the Spader Red character was actually a good guy, although not squeamish when it came to killing any of the bad guys. Which I liked. It had been made clear that the real Red Redington was a bad guy, so yeah, I can buy that. As long as he was the real biological father to Lizzy, that is. But to my eternal dismay, that is once again in question. Which is another reason why I am hating this show. I can't stand the on-again, off-again, on-again, off-again element this show keeps perpetuating. It gets very tiring. And boring.

But I digress. I am supposed to reveal how this show can get worse. As I was saying, it's being bantered about on the forums, that Spader Red, is a "tranny." Meaning he was a woman who had a sex change operation. Meaning he is really Lizzy's mother, who became a man. "Spader Red" as I refer to him now. And if that turns out to be the case, then this show has really turned into Bullshit.

Here's the clues the "soon-to-be ex-fans" will cite as Spader Red being a tranny. He told Lizzy he never lies to her. And when she asked him if he's her father, he told her no. What might he have said if she asked are you my parent? Then might he had said yes? When a bad guy once asked Spader Red if Lizzy was his daughter, he said yes. So that is their evidence. And it could be right. I can't argue with that. Well, I could argue that Spader Red did indeed lie to Lizzy, but that seems unlikely.

So I am almost fearful that these "soon-to-be ex-fans" are correct. Spader Red is a transexual. He is a her and the mother of Lizzy. This is too weird for me. Maybe not for the LBGQT world. But that's not my world. And if The Blacklist is pandering to that world, it's not for me. Goodbye Blacklist, until all this Bullshit is cleaned up and I can enjoy it again. We'll see.

Blacklist Flops Again - Sigh

Well, I called it. The bag of bones, I mean. I had predicted those were the bones of the real Red Redington, and as of the season finale, it turned out to be the case. But even though I was right, that doesn't mean I liked the episode. Or even the series anymore. Which is saying a lot. Because at one point I dared believe The Blacklist was my all time favorite TV show.

Which is saying a ton. My all time favorite TV show returns to being Star Trek, tos, even though there were only three seasons, and only of which two were really good. The third season, of ST-TOS was only sporadically good, but good enough to return it to being my all time favorite TV show.

At one point Banshee took over that slot. But the last season of Banshee flopped big time, and I mean way more than the last season of Star Trek, tos. And this last season of Blacklist is even a worse flop than both. Which means this past season of Blacklist turned out to be a real stinker.

So...I had said that if I was right, and the bones in that bag were those of the real Red Redington, I would be okay with that as long as the James Spader character, (whoever he is) remained the real father of Lizzy. But Lizzy is acting like he's not. In fact she has now taken an over the top hating of Spader's character, so much so that she vows to "destroy" him, much like we had to suffer through in the season that featured "Mr. Kaplan's" sudden hatred of Spader's character.

I mean, that was bad enough. When I used the words 'suffer through' I meant it. Now, if the series continues next season, we'll have to suffer through another ridiculous storyline of a close associate of "Red" (this time his daughter, or supposed daughter, Lizzy) enacting a crusade of destruction of Red, or whoever Spader is supposed to be now. (From this point, I'll call him Spader Red.)

But really, I am so tired of this storyline. They can't come up with a different storyline than someone close to Red turning on him and trying to bring him down? I can't suffer through that again.

But the sheer stupidity is another factor. I mean, like, how many times has Spader Red saved Lizzy's life? At least half a dozen times throughout the duration of the series, I'd say. So does that mean saving your life mean's nothing? Apparently, to Lizzy it doesn't mean squat. Spader Red saved her life....I mean he SAVED HER LIFE....like a whole bunch of times, and all she has is hatred for him? And why? Just because she thinks he's not the real Red Redington?

This is all bullshit.  And btw, he saved Tom's life a couple times too. It was not Spader Red's fault Tom eventually died, it was his own fault. And oh yeah, Spader Red also saved the lives of every one of those FBI agents Lizzy works with, including Dresler and that FBI chief dude. They all owe their lives to Spader Red, and it all means nothing to Lizzy. Again. Bullshit.

One more thing. Why does Lizzy even believe that Spader Red is not her father anymore? It wasn't the NAME she was matched to with the DNA test in a prior episode of an earlier season. If I remember correctly, it was Spader Red's blood from which they made the match. That should mean that even if he's not the real Red Redington, he is still her real father. But Lizzy seems too stupid to connect those dots. But it's simpler than connecting dots. It's as simple as two plus two equals four, and Lizzy is unable to complete that equation? More Bullshit.

No, if Blacklist is canceled, I won't miss it. It's too stupid at this point. At least Lizzy is. And the only thing that can save this stupid show for me, is if Lizzy comes to realize that WHOEVER Spader Red is, HE IS STILL HER FATHER. And if that doesn't happen fast...I mean, like, within the first two or three episodes of the following season, I will quit this show once and for all.

The best Blacklist shows were when Spader Red and Lizzy were on the same side with a common goal, and a working relationship. I want to see Lizzy KNOW that Spader Red is her father, because he IS her father. Her real biological father.

Because you know what? If he isn't, then all five or six seasons will have been nothing more than bullshit. Being Lizzy's real father is the ONLY thing that can explain Spader Red's obsession with Lizzy. Otherwise, he's some kind of freak nutcase. And I don't want to believe I've been following a freak nutcase in a TV show over five plus seasons. That would be a joke on me. And that's not why I watch a TV show.

Avengers Infinity Wars - Ho Hum...

I've been hearing all the hullabaloo about the new Avengers movie for the past three weeks, and I finally saw it last night. I sat through the two plus hour movie, and I was more bored than anything else. They had so many attempted tear-jerker scenes it bordered on ridiculous, and especially because none of them worked. Not for me, anyway. The writers clearly were trying too hard. Emotions, I suppose were the call of the day for that movie, and they failed to make it happen.

It was more along the lines of disgusting that anything else. And how Stan Lee can put his name, and his face, on movies like that is beyond me. First of all it started lousy. The movie began at the tail end of the Asgaard spaceship being destroyed. We see an already defeated Thor and Loki, and a near dead Heimdall at the mercy of this Thanos dude.

I had stopped collecting comics by the time this Thanos became the new super heavy bad guy in the Marvel universe. It used to be Galactus, but whatever. Thanos it is. But during this opening scene in which we don't even know how Thor and Loki were defeated, the Hulk shows up out of nowhere. But this Thanos beats the Hulk in a relatively quick and easy scene. Which to me was bullshit.

Whatever happened to "the angrier I get, the stronger I get" trait of the Hulk? But in this scene the Hulk didn't even get angry. He just gets pummeled by Thanos as if he were a lightweight. Again. That was bullshit. No one can beat the hulk. Haven't we heard that time and again?

But Thanos does and after that we find out that the Hulk is afraid to come out from Bruce Banner. Why, because he got beat up? That's not the Hulk. I don't know how they explained that in the comics if this story line was ever in the comics that is, but it's pure bullshit. The Hulk is never afraid. He relishes a fight. It's what he exists for. But whatever....

Another bothersome aspect of this movie was the continued efforts of the writers to instill comedy into the movie. It didn't work. On one hand, they were trying to give us a heavy drama, with tension, conflict, and tragedy. But on the same hand, (not the other hand, mind you,) the writers were trying to make the movie into another slapstick comedy, much like they did with that latest Thor movie, which was utterly ridiculous. I had called that movie a complete flop because they made Thor into a character that more resembled Inspector Clouseau than a Thunder god.

Finally the entire purpose of Thanos was bullshit. His entire reason for seeking out the "infinity stones" is to kill half of all the living beings in the universe. That's right. The entire universe. Never mind just the Milky Way Galaxy. It's got to be the entire universe. And why? Well, so as to restore "balance" into the universe. Huh? I mean, what? Balance? By killing half of all life in the universe? Does anyone know how that works? Did they explain it? A feeble attempt was made, I suppose. So there would be no more hungry mouths to feed? That was as far as the writers got, at least from the mouth of Thanos, you know the one who's obsessed with doing this thing.

And by the way, who the hell is Thanos anyway? Son of Elaas, or something like that? We got that from a surprise appearance of the Red Skull on some far off world where the "soul stone" was kept. I mean, what is Thanos? Is he some last survivor of a destroyed planet, like Galactus was? I don't know, and it is never explained just who he is or from where he came and why is he hell bent on bringing "balance" to the universe, even it it means killing half of it.

So, bottom line, we had bad writing, bad acting, bad directing, and a boring movie. Of course Disney won't care. They're getting their billions of dollars from all the sheeple who will see their favorite superheroes in action. Even if they die. Which makes me think that Marvel is trying to outdo DC. It was like, DC killed Superman, so Marvel will do them better. They'll kill half of their superheroes in one shot.

But they'll all be back int he next movie. Superman was after all. And so will they.

Blacklist Gets Worse

Just when I thought Blacklist couldn't get any worse, it did. I thought the episode from the week before was rock bottom. Wrong. This week's episode was worse. I can't believe a TV show that I had dared believe was my favorite TV show of all time is now a show that ranks with the worst of all time. Meaning the worst of shows that I bothered watching, that is.

It was a follow up show to the previous one that I had called the worst, so that is part of the reason why. It still included remnants of that "wacky cult" from the previous show, with a nut who was the dude in charge of making people "disappear." But aside from all of that nonsense, we, the viewers, were forced to watch Aram act like an idiot. Again. He was overly emotional, overly nervous, and the actor playing the part was over-acting.

If the show is going to kill off a main character, (meaning that Muslim female agent, who Aram loves, whose name I still can't remember,) they sure have chosen the most stupid way to do it. But wait. I don't believe she will die. I have no doubt at this point, that in a future episode she will emerge from the coma she is in and will be just fine. That's called predictability.

But that's where the show left off. With that lady in a coma and Aram putting a ring on her finger having proposed to her while she was unconscious. All too ridiculous, and very hard to watch.

Meanwhile, we, the viewers, are forced to watch Lizzy and Red engage in a "race to the finish line" as Red put it, toward the acquisition of the suitcase, which continues to be ever-elusive. Now it's in the hands of another "enemy" of Red Redington, and of course, Lizzy is still obsessed with getting it, even though: 1-she has no clue what's in it. 2-Red has already told her it has nothing to do with her. 3-it cost the life of Tom, Lizzy's husband who stuck his nose into the affair. 4-it could cost Lizzy her life, too, as Red has already warned her that pursuing this suitcase is very dangerous as Tom already found out. And 5-Red has also made it clear to Lizzy that he does not want her to continue looking for this suitcase, as it is very personal to him, and he deserves the privacy of his "secret."

But, of course, Lizzy disregards all of that. Her reasoning as she explained in the show is that it was Mr. Kaplan's dying wish for her to know the "secret." And then of course the fact that Tom died in his attempt to get the secret to Lizzy fuels her obsession to find the suitcase and learn the "secret" of Red Redington, which again Red told her has nothing to do with her.

For me, when Blacklist is at it's best, Red and Lizzy are on the same page, on the same side, working together toward a common goal, like a real father and daughter. But instead the show's writers take us, the viewers, back to the tired old story line of Lizzy hating Red, and opposing him, and working against him, and I'm sick of that. I suppose next week's season finale will be the last Blacklist episode, since I fully expect it to be canceled. And I won't miss it.

Blacklist bottoms out

I'm about done with Blacklist. The stories just aren't interesting anymore. They keep coming up with these stupid stories that are both demeaning to Americans and insulting to anyone with intelligence. It makes me wonder about the intelligence level of the writers and producers. Do any of them have an IQ above 100? Based on the episodes this season, I'm thinking no, they don't.

I had mentioned wacky cults in one of my posts in which I was criticizing the story in the episode that began this current season. I was saying that in America only wacky cults would have old men married to young teen girls.(e.g. the Branch Davidians.) Well, in this last episode, that's just what they threw at us. (Us being the TV audience, of course.)

Yep, dipping to a new low, Blacklist has a wacky cult in the main story line. A wacky cult which is isolated in a forested wilderness, led by a failed novelist who forces his wacky community to live under the false pretense that a virus has destroyed humanity. Of course his wife is complicit, albeit he has another wife in the real world who only knows her husband had disappeared.

But a small community, maybe a hundred people, perhaps less, are totally duped by the stupidity, believing that normal people (the outsiders) are infected with the virus, and thus cannot be contacted in any way because of a contaminant, which, when you're infected shows no symptoms, other than allowing you to live in a normal, modern world.

Oh, and anyone who does make contact with a normal person, i.e. an outsider, is therefore sentenced to death via being burned alive. Complete bullshit, you know.

So you have a father who finally decides to not believe the bullshit and he takes his cancer stricken daughter to the outside world so some real doctors can treat her. But of course the wacko cult "guards" or whatever you want to call them, track him down and capture him, but not the girl.

But of course, the girl is eventually captured, (or abducted, see below.) And of course, quite predictably, we get to see the father burned alive, and just as predictably, the cavalry arrives in time to save the little girl. The cavalry in this case being Agent Keene, who else? 

I was never in any suspense, seeing as how it was already so obvious the father would die, but the little girl would not. Not that I wanted to see any little girl die, no one does. Which is why, of course, she didn't. All too predictable. For a change, perhaps we could have had BOTH of them saved. But no. The father had to die, so as to preserve the predictability.

Meanwhile, Red's newly discovered daughter, (newly discovered to the TV audience, that is,) is full of spite and hate and of course never wants to have anything to do with Red, even though he explains, quite feebly I might add, that he had to abandon her to "keep her safe" from the Americans and the Russians who were chasing him.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And of course Lizzy is no closer to learning the secret of the suitcase, although she is still bent on learning it, and the TV audience is no closer to learning the secret either. Except perhaps it's in Costa Rica at this point.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the Iranian girl, whose name I forget, (you know the Muslim FBI agent whom Aram loves in his ridiculously inept way,) is kidnapped. But that was bullshit too. Yeah, I know I complain that a woman should not be able to physically overcome a man who is twice her size, and she didn't. But after knocking her out, the man inexplicably puts her in the van in which he is abducting the little girl. He could have and should have just left her unconscious body on the sidewalk and drove off with his mission being successful. (Abducting the little girl to take her back to that wacky cult.) But for no apparent reasons he throws her in the van with the little girl

Sheesh. Dumb, dumb, and dumber. I suppose I'll finish the season, but I'll expect Blacklist to be canceled once this season is done. With stupid writing like we've been seeing this season, it will deserve to be canceled. A better word would be killed. And it would be a mercy killing at that.

Blacklist - dropping fast

So I was criticizing Blacklist for being inconsistent recently, but I was also allowing it time to recover its former greatness. However, this last episode did not do that. It wasn't a complete flop, but the holes are many.  As in...

When confronted by his "new" daughter, Red seemed to remember her. He said, "Jennifer" which means he knew who she was. That doesn't really confirm she is his real daughter. It only confirms he knew who she was. So we're left with the possibility that she could be his daughter, but there is still room to make it that she is not his daughter.

As for the ever-ridiculous Lizzy. I mean, come on. The writers are doing her no favors. She is bent on this seemingly never ending quest to find out the truth behind Red's "secret" of the suitcase. And this is even after Red made it clear to her that it has nothing to do with her. Lizzy's reason? Well, her reason is because her husband died trying to find out about it.

But Red made it clear that it was none of Tom's business either. It has nothing to do with him or Lizzy. Yet in this latest episode, Lizzy says she's willing to kill Red, her own father, to prevent him from keeping the secret from her. This was when Red is pointing a gun at Ian Garvey, who Lizzy actually WANTS dead because he killed her husband, but now she says she will kill Red if he shoots him. Can you see the ridiculousness in all of this?

Again. Come on. How can I still call this my favorite TV show when it continues to try its best to make me hate it? So then, Garvey pulls out a gun he's been hiding in his pants, and shoots Red, after which Lizzy plugs three bullets into Garvey's chest. Then, instead of going to her father, Red, to see if he's okay after being shot by Garvey, she runs to Garvey yelling, "Don't die," over and over again. And this is all the while not even knowing if Red, her own father, was killed or not.

And all this for a "secret" that she has no clue about, other than the fact that Red has already told her it has nothing to do with her. Or Tom.

So Lizzy is side by side with Garvey, the murderer of her husband, trying to talk him out of dying, so he can tell her this "secret" which Red told her  has nothing to do with her.

By the end of the show, it looked like Garvey did die without telling her the secret. We'll have to wait until next week to see if that is the case for sure, but the ridiculous behavior of Lizzy is almost cringe-worthy. And it makes me wonder if I can still call this my favorite show. As long as James Spader remains the star and main character, I suspect I will still call it my favorite show. But the writers are trying their best to make me think all the less of Lizzy. And now this Jennifer? Can it get any worse? I suppose so. And if it does, then I walk.

The Vase - Book revised

As the second book I had written, The Vase had already undergone several revisions. It was my first book to be revised with the lessons I learned from a real editor. Meaning not just a Beta reader. The editor was from the now defunct publisher Penumbra Publishing, and the lessons were vital to my future as a novelist. And with five novels under my belt at this point, it was indeed vital.

It's true that Melange - the publisher for my first book, Killer of Killers - advised me on much of what the Penumbra editor taught me. But it was Penumbra that really drilled the lessons home. And from that point on I became a much better novelist - an author who writes novels.

I went back and applied those lessons to Killer of Killers, of course, and Melange was gracious enough to allow me to do that. And since Penumbra folded, I have been going back over The Vase, time and again, revising and revising, improving the prose, and yes, even making better judgment calls on the original edits.

The Vase is being rewritten, not only in the application of the lessons I learned, but with the original intent on how the story unfolds. The editor had his own ideas, and applied them to a small degree to my story line. I made it back into the way I wanted it, with one exception. I had originally intended for Professor Weiss to relay his version of the climactic events in a flashback scene, as if the reader was experiencing the event "live". But the editor wanted the events "told" by the professor after Captain Mathias caught up to him and asked him what happened.

I think that was the better option. And the reason is because the events Weiss relays contain some controversial, or even questionable, occurrences, and when those controversial and/or questionable occurrences are told after the fact, then the reader can use his or her own judgment as to whether those event really happened the way the professor told them to the captain.

Otherwise, the reader will be experiencing the events as did Professor Weiss, and they would be more akin to seeing it as what really happened, and then there would be no questionable aspect involved.

So yeah, the editor did contribute much to that book, not only in teaching me all the current rules for writing a novel, but made the right call for that particular post climax scene.

And as I revise The Vase for the umpteenth time I am greatly improving the prose, making every single paragraph on every single page the best writing as humanly possible. It's truly a work of art at this point. I can't wait to resubmit to publishers when I'm finally done. Multiple publishers had accepted it for publication in its original state. Cant wait to see the results when I submit it now that it's a vastly superior book to what it was then.

The Blacklist - Up and Down

Since I'm reviewing TV shows, I might as well chime in on what had become my favorite show. The Blacklist. This latest season seems to be chugging along with the writers behind it suffering from writer's block. They don't seem to know what to do with the story line now that everyone knows what they already knew from season one, that Lizzy is Red Redington's daughter.

I already complained about the feeble attempt to make Lizzy look and act tough. She single-handedly killed four assassins from the mob. And that was in the current season opener, so I was thinking this season might have some problems. Then you have the weak stories that followed, which bottomed out with the episode from last week which depicted teen girls married legally to men in their forties and fifties - in America. Since when do teen girls as young as fourteen marry men in their forties or fifties legally here in America? I figure it happens in third world countries, but not in America. And if it does happen here in America, it's because people from third world cultures that came to America brought that custom with them.

But in this show, even though the first depiction was an Indian couple, the next couple was a white man and a white girl, who were AMERICAN. To that I say Bullshit. That doesn't happen legally here. I guess the show's producers didn't want to be accused of racism, so they made sure a white couple was also involved in that farcical situation. I cannot accept that. It may happen in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, but it doesn't happen with indigenous Americans unless you're talking about David Koresh of the Branch Davidians and other wacky cults which we've seen now and then. But those were NOT legal marriages, so my argument remains valid. And besides, a wacky cult was not the case in this show. The dude was a regular dude, working a regular nine to five job, with a teen as his regular wife. That was bullshit. And when a show throws bullshit at me, it becomes just that. Bullshit.

The latest show contained a new revelation. (Spoiler alert) Red Redington has another daughter, which means Lizzy has a sister (or half-sister.) That whole scenario sucked. Why? Because the man who she says saved her from a state adoptive service was the man who has already established himself as the latest scumbag villain of the series: Ian Garvey, the man who murdered Tom, (Lizzy's husband,) and he also murdered the black cop who was a good guy.

But this new character who says she's Red's daughter has this impression that Garvey is such a great guy. She says the FBI goes after good men, like her surrogate father, (Garvey) and not the really bad men like her real father. (Red Redington.)

So once again we have a completely backward situation, since we know that Red is really not bad, and Garvey really is bad. But it brings me to a new suspicion. I am now thinking that that suitcase of bones that Red is so obsessed with, contains the bones of the real Red Redington, and the man who is pretending to be Red Redington, (actor James Spader,) is the man who killed him and took over his ID. Thus, Spader's Red Redington is the good guy, whereas the real, (and now dead) Red Redington was the bad guy whom this new "daughter" is talking about.

It's getting a little too complicated, but if I'm right, it will be a big twist in the story line. Why? Because everyone to this point believes the suitcase contains the bones of Lizzy's mother, who was Red Redington's former lover. And the reason he is hiding that from Lizzy, and everyone else is because Lizzy's mother, according to Red had committed suicide by drowning herself in the ocean and her body was never recovered.

So if those are her bones, that means his story is false and that's why he is so secretive about those bones and why he so wants to recover that suitcase, to make sure the secret is preserved. But wait. We saw in a flashback of Red, that she did indeed walk into the ocean to commit suicide. So that suggests his story is true, and if it is, then whose bones are those if they're not Lizzy's mother's?

Which brings me back to my new suspicion. Those are the bones of the real Red Redington, and Spader doesn't want anyone to know that he isn't the real Red Redington. Why doesn't he? Heck, I don't know. Maybe to maintain his image as the world's most famous criminal, thus retaining the respect of all the other worldwide criminals with whom he works to varying degrees.

As far as I'm concerned regarding this suspicion, I look at it this way: as long as the James Spader Red Redington is the real father of Lizzy, I guess I'll be okay with that. Even if he's not the real Red Redington. As for the new girl, well, she can be the daughter of the dead Red.

Sheesh. I liked Blacklist a lot better before. As for now? Let's see how this new scenario plays out. If I'm right, then okay. But how long will it take to find out if I'm right? Until then...