Books are an apocalypse in a plain wrapper - A love letter.

“I have always imagined paradise will be a kind of library” - Borges

And oh! The way they smell! When I was a youngster, still in braids, not yet in braces, I vividly remember our weekly trip to the library with my mother. She once told me when I was little that, "if you're a reader, you'll never be bored, but more importantly, you'll never be lonely." As an avid reader herself, I cannot imagine that she thought this to be anything but the TRUTH, and thank goodness, even though I was a child, she caught me at the that magical time when parents know everything, so I took it to heart.

Oh, how right she was. Reading is a magical place to escape and connect simultaneously, and if it weren't for books, well, I would probably be in a rubber room right now. If not somewhere worse. It sounds like hyperbole to non-readers, but you know what I'm talking about. It's that and music. They can save your life. There's this great Smiths lyric that always pops into mind:

But don't forget the songs that made you cry,

                                                    and the songs that saved your life.
                                         Yes, you're older now, and you're a clever swine,
                                          but they're the only ones who ever stood by you. -The Smiths
Swap out "books" for songs, and the simple message is still there. Books DO stand by you. They will never leave you, and they're a tangible thing you can carry with you long after you close the cover because it's an idea. And ideas have the power to change you. I cut my teeth on "Nancy Drew" -- she fed my innate curiosity and a great female role model, looking back. I liked them for that, but I couldn't have articulated it. I just knew that The Hardy Boys couldn't quite hold my attention the same way.
I remember being so riveted by Tiger Eye by Judy Blume that I didn't want to go on some "lame" family outing that day on summer vacation. Before I could even read I remember being captivated by the illustrations in Maurice Sendak and Edward Gorey's books. To this day they are still my top two illustrators/artists on the list. Which came first in Devon? The art with the subversion or the subversion that was encouraged by the art? I do know I asked a LOT of questions. And that I still do. And that I learned from the best - Nancy and Blume's protagonists, to name just a small sample.

Another magical thing about books? They tend to appear in your life when you need THAT idea at that particular time. I can't count the number of times that a book has suddenly appeared in my life and did so much to elevate me out of my funk, or shake up my worldview. Time and time again, a book appears and before you know it, *poof*, you're someone just a little bit more clever or informed or just simply NOT ALONE in your thoughts. Which -- especially as an adolescent, spending a lot of time in your thoughts and feeling alone are natural, but too much of a brooding mind can be a very dangerous thing. I've lost count of the time that I felt the author reach across the table and grasp my hand simply to say, "I've been there, and I'm here now." Talk about a powerful, intimate connection. And that's not even taking into account that words are powerful things. The use of language is not to be taken lightly, and in the right hands, can soar higher than the most beautiful hymns by a choir. A choir only for you.

I'll never forget my sophomore English teacher pulling me aside after class and handing me a heavily Xeroxed copy of "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut. That simple wisp of a story did more to warp my worldview than I can I even say -- having now read everything in the Vonnegut canon, most of them at least twice, most of them many, it was a crack in a wall between me and the people I went around with at school that just didn't get it. Forget Holden Caulfield, the whiny, privileged little snit. Give me Harrison and his bravery and his decision to be himself any day. It made it okay, in that unique way that adolescence makes you view things, it made it alright that I was different from them. And rather than try my hardest to match them and embrace that type of life -- of fitting in, of conforming, I should embrace my different-ness. It made me special. Let's be clear, I didn't ditch my pearls and throw away my pom poms -- I wasn't trying that hard. But it almost hit me with an audible THUD that not only was it okay to be different, it was something to be celebrated. In a cliche -- it put me on the path. And I never looked back. That way was madness. It was liberation, escape, and validation.
I devoured Vonnegut, Twain and Salinger in a gulp -- his others are so much more lively, loving and much more at ease with themselves. Vonnegut did the most to put things in perspective. Twain, I felt could reach through time and space and reassure me that I could be both a romantic and a cynic at the same time. And it was okay to be broken-hearted about parts of it, too. Not to diminish the fact that he was dead funny. And I once read a critic say that, "Salinger loves his characters more than God loves them." I remain steadfast in my love for the Glass children, and imagine them in my own head-canon as the family that he WISHED he had, and/or could be a part of.
I wrote a senior thesis on Anais Nin and nearly got in big trouble about it. Catholic School - senior with a 4.0, well, I did get a talking-to about "appropriate vs. Inappropriate". My final paper was a heavily edited compromise. It helps the teacher liked me, and it was a damn good paper. Looking back on my 18 year-old self, I wish I could tell myself that IT JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER. I didn't get Candide the first time around. But by the time that one rolled back into my life? Boy, howdy. I didn't know it at the time, but Margaret Wise Brown's The Runaway Bunny is an allegory for the soul. BOOM. Another audible thud was Douglas Adams' holy series, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It's always perspective, and if you want to test a nerd? Just say "SEP" and see their reaction. Margaret Atwood's The Handmade's Tale launched me into her wonderful and erudite vision of the world, concluding with The Flood Trilogy which, to say the least, left me shaken and wanting a WHOLE lot more. The list goes on and on, and I'm a speed-reader at that. I don't skim. I've just had a little practice. Chuck Palahniuk up until Rant, which I admit, I just don't get, is our generation's Hemingway and I never get tired of his tone and brevity, especially in his first three. Beautiful in their simplicity and economy of language is TOUGH. He's masterful. I took his message to heart, perhaps a little too literally at times.
There's a huge dollop of non-fiction, too: Mary Roach, especially Stiff and Bonk, but she could write about toilet paper and I'd be compelled. Anything by Richard Zacks is both elucidating and entertaining as hell. And a special mention for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot -- not just a hell of a read, but a fascinating journey into medicine and ethics, among other toughies. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver will change how you think about your food, and therefore, probably your life.
Oliver Sacks, for whom there is no equal and I recently learned has terminal cancer has so affected my world-view and what it means to be a healer that I cried at my desk when I learned it. You don't know you know him, but you do. Look him up and read EVERYTHING. That should keep you busy for a while. Don't worry, I'm full of them.

And just so there's no confusion -- The Dark Tower series by Stephen King is my Tolkien. And yes, I'm admitting it out loud here -- it's better, to me, than Lord of the Rings. Not to mention, almost every single Stephen King book is tied into the universe that is The Dark Tower series. That's a hell of a rabbit hole, and so worth the journey. There's no mad hatter at the end, it's much, much more of a twist.

We will shine, and we will be magnificent. -- Roland of Gilead, the Gunslinger

Benewski's House of Leaves left me so unsettled that I still can't quite articulate it. And the Ass Saw the Angel by Nick Cave upset me so much I still don't like talking about it. By the time I discovered Hemingway, forget about it. I'm a junkie. I have a problem, and it isn't any problem at all, except if I have nothing to read. And that's not even delving into my addiction to crime fiction/detective stories - I always have two or three I'm reading at once. To name a few -- Chandler's so good they named a trope after him. I have read every single Robert Crais novel there is, and will continue to do so until he up and stops. Which will be a sad day. And probably my favorite mystery writer working today - Harlan Coben, oh, what a delight. Every book is a treasure, and he is a masterful writer. It's hard to balance funny and serious, and he changes tone so smoothly, it appears effortless. That's a feat.

Books keep me sane, brimming with ideas, connected and intimate with a person who put those words on the page and with a sense of kinship that perhaps those words were put down just for you, just that moment. Books are magical things. As I said, they're an idea and they have a power to change you. So, I suppose this is my love letter to them. All of them, and all of those that had the courage to lay themselves naked on the page for all to see. Look close enough, and if you're lucky you'll see yourself reflected in the whites of their eyes.

Our upcoming podcast, which you can find ALL OVER that magical internets and keep track of our amazing and rich lives of culture, coolness (because we all know that part of the definition of "cool" is liking what you like and not giving a whit about what people think about you), nerd/geek culture, and the magic that happens when we take over the airwaves. It's our therapy, and it's all for our and your entertainment. Enough said. We have a heck of a great time. I guarantee you will, too. Go have a listen, and then engage with us - we're pretty easy to find.

Meanwhile ...

Keep Calm and Geek on.

#geeklife

"Ready Player One" Succeeds in beautifully combining the future and the past.

Full disclosure: I am a child of the late 70s and early 80s. I graduated from high school in 1987, so I have a love of anything from those decades.

It's quite possible, Ready Player One by Earnest Cline was written with my generation in mind.

The story line without being to spoiler-y: It's 30 years in the future, and things aren't going well. Poverty is rampant and the corporations have for the most part assumed control. On the plus side, technology has advanced to include a virtual reality world known as OASIS. The fully immersive world was created by James Halliday who was born in 1972, so, like me, he had an absolute love of the 80s. At the beginning of the book Halliday, who is incredibly rich after inventing OASIS, dies and leaves his entire fortune to whomever can find the secret hidden within the program which consists of thousand of worlds and locations.

The quest for Halliday's "Easter Egg" creates a new found love of anything from the late 70s and early 80s especially in the realm of science fiction, role-playing games, music and video games.

There are wonderful mentions to things I held dear as a young person, like WarGames, Dungeons & Dragons and Joust, but even if you were born after the 80s, it's still an enjoyable book. Cline does a wonderful job of explaining the references so the reader doesn't feel lost. I admit there are things I didn't always get, especially some of the Japanese Television shows, but I was still able to understand it.

Nostalgia for the 80s appears to be fairly common currently. Big Trouble in Little China and Edward Scissorhands both have returned in comic book form, new movies are coming out based off National Lampoon's Vacation, Ghost Busters and Star Wars and there's even an appearance in Seth MacFarlane's Ted 2 by Sam J. Jones who played Flash Gordon in 1980.

But, just having awesome 80s references in a distopian future isn't enough to make a great novel. Earnest Cline makes Ready Player One a fantastic read through great character development and wonderful story telling. I felt like I was on the adventure with the main character as he sought clues to the puzzle. I even had dreams trying to figure out the riddles until the next time I could return to reading the book.

I highly recommend Ready Player One (in fact I handed the book over to my wife as soion as I turned the last page) and look forward to seeing your comments...

Transmissions from the Buffyverse, an introduction

Hey guys! Welcome to the Hellmouth! I'm embarking on an adventure, and dragging you along for the ride. 

I promised I would, and here I am, ankle-deep in the Buffy Universe. For those of you who missed it: I'm a Buffy virgin. Or, I was until about two weeks ago (Was it that long ago? My goodness!) when I took it upon myself to take a nosedive into watching ALL of Buffy, including the movie and give my thoughts on this piece of pop-culture geek love that had missed me by miles. The final straw was a gang-up by friend and fellow podcaster, Joshua Unruh, and my husband Kevin, who has been hinting around at this idea for awhile. They finally accomplished convincing me of something I have thus far avoided.
I do have some personal bias, I admit. I am also a bit of a contrarian. Those were two contributing factors, and the fact that myself and roomie had no TV nor the time, the primary was -- and I know this is possibly unfair, but Julie Powell, author of Julie & Julia and Cleaving is a huge fan. She talks about it frequently and passionately in her books. While I find her to be a first-rate writer, I don't particularly care for her as a person. Julie, if you're reading this, maybe we could sit down and talk about it and find some common ground. But while I adored both books, I am a bit judgy about your personal life. Like I said, perhaps a bit unfair. But as people know, I have compulsive honesty. And while the people in my life get a pass on a lot of choices they make, most of them, in fact, it's much easier to judge.
So, here I am, having waded through season one and, well -- I'm in. 
I needed something light-hearted, but with some depth and the timing couldn't be better. I have so far enjoyed the show, am already invested in many of the characters, and season one shows glimmers of Joss Whedon's narrative talent and strength. World-building is not an easy task. Supernatural world-building is the booger of the bunch, and he does it with a style all his own. From the dialogue to the exposition, which is basically the entirety of this season, his strengths are already shining. And I have trust that I am not jumping on a plane to nowhere, a la Lost, which I am still angry about. 
So, here we go -- and I am pleased to say that there is nowhere to go but up. I'll get into the technical details about said season soon, but I know already that my time will not be wasted. 

That's all I've got time for right now, but hey - we're in no rush, right? Thank you for coming with me. Maybe I'll add something fresh to the discussion, which is now almost 20 years old - WOW. I welcome feedback -- critical or otherwise. Hell, I'm just happy to have a chance to engage in this and have you along for the ride. 

In the meantime, I leave you with a question: go back. All the way back, to the days of day-glow and Doctor Martens and riddle me this: who was your first love, character-wise? 

We'll talk more, and soon. Until then -- break's over and back out into the real world. Although I don't think I'll be making any special trips to Sunnydale anytime soon. And damn, I miss Firefly. 

Devon

What Superhero Means To Me

If you're reading this post, it's likely that you've heard at least an episode or two of the Okie Geek Podcast. If that's the case, then you've probably heard me wax poetic about one superhero or another. If I'm still describing you accurately, it is entirely possible that one of my statements on superheroes rubbed you the wrong way.

The bad news is, I'm not sorry about that at all! If you disagreed, then it means we can have a discussion. And there is almost nothing I love discussing more than superheroes. I love the actual stories, the theories of them, why they work and when they don't. I love it all.

But I also come at these conversations from a very specific view of superheroes. I firmly believe it's an informed opinion, but when I say that I mean informed by objective things like history (both in- and metafictional), but also extremely subjective things like my own tastes.

At this stage of my life as author and cultural partaker and commentator, I'm way past the point of apologizing for my tastes. However, it occurred to me that it might at least illuminate my future podcast commentary on superheroes if I spelled out a few things I feel are fundamental to the concept.

Conventional Wisdom on Genre Conventions

Genres are pretty fluid things. But while an individual genre is pretty malleable, they can be knocked all out of shape if you work hard enough at it. There's a moment after you strip the wings and jet engine from your genre that it starts to resemble a car way more than an airplane.

You all followed that analogy, right? Okay, good, carry on.

Superheroes are one of my favorite genres. I learned to read on superhero comics and have done more thinking about that subject than nearly any other in my life. I have spilled more ink and more pixels about superheroes than any two other subjects. In doing so, I've developed some absolute bare minimum requirements of the genre.

I've discussed on my own blog how superheroes are almost infinitely malleable. But while you can keep adding things to a superhero story and still (probably) have a superhero story, there must be a point where subtracting elements leaves you without one. Otherwise the words don't mean anything. So what are these bare minimum elements? I'm glad you asked!

First, a caveat. Although each of these elements is important, a story doesn't have to have every single one of them to be a superhero story. Neither do all the elements have to be of equal intensity. But you do require a quorum of these elements and at least a few of them turned up to 11. Otherwise your jet is just a car.

For instance, Batman has no super powers, but he's demonstrably a superhero. The Fantastic Four don't have secret identities, but they're also still squarely in the superhero genre. Sherlock Holmes and Doc Savage fight crime, but they are not superheroes.

Will there be fringe cases that could go either way? You betcha. But I think they're going to be the minority because I am aiming squarely for a baseline definition of superhero that makes sense with the history of the genre as well as pointing into the future of superhero characters.

Superheroes Must

• Possess Super Powers - Superheroes must have powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Concussive force fired from the eyes. The proportional strength and speed of a spider. Unbreakable knives popping out of knuckles. Titanic strength, flight, freeze breath, et al. Bottom line, the superhero is super.


• Possess A Colorful Costumed Identity... - Superheroes wear costumes. You can call them uniforms or action suits if that makes you feel better. Whatever you name it, the superhero has a unique and visually striking outfit she wears when fighting crime (we'll get to that one) that could not possibly be confused for street clothes.
• ...Which Hides Their Civilian Identity - Only a handful of trusted associates or dedicated allies can know the true identity of our hero or heroine. Naturally, this brings with it the attendant hiding-a-double-life shenanigans.


• Fight Crime... - Superheroes punch muggers, bank robbers, mobsters, terrorists, Nazis and whoever else is foolish enough to commit nefarious deeds in front of our hero.


• ...Which Also Cloaks Itself In Colorful Costumed Identities - Run-of-the-mill gunsels and fourth columnists are fine for a while, but eventually a superhero needs somebody who does evil as flamboyantly as the hero does good. Superheroes simply must have supervillains.


• Battle Internal Conflicts Literalized Externally - This is admittedly a little esoteric. It also might be easier to explain with examples. Peter Parker's internal conflict is deciding what is the greatest good. On one side of town, his loving, ailing aunt needs the pills Peter just picked up for her. On the other side of town, the Scorpion is blowing things up and robbing banks. Peter is literally faced with the dilemma of having great power, yet not knowing where the greater responsibility lies.
  
  Or to take another example, consider a slowly dying Superman who has always been empowered by solar energy literally facing his own mortality by fighting an evil computer in the shape of a sun. The source of his power is killing him at both the micro and macro scale. That's pretty heady stuff.


• Be Better People Than Us So As To Inspire Us - For some reason, I feel like this statement is going to be the most controversial. But it's also the one that most defines superheroes. Superheroes are selfless. They sacrifice to protect their fellow men and women. And while they are people (albeit fictional ones) and far from perfect, they are still heroes. I'm going to quote Chris Sims of Comics Alliance at length here for a minute.

...superheroes are a fundamentally optimistic proposition. They all descend from Superman, a character who’s built around the idea that this person with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men would use them exclusively for the benefit of others.

They have to be better people, because they serve to inspire us to be better people.

Optimism. Inspiration. Selflessness. An example of how to be better. I'm down with that stuff. Somewhere along the line it became cool to be cynical. Like, hoping for the future or having compassion for your fellow man became less important than how hip you are.

To hell with that noise! I want to be inspired! I want to be inspiring! And if optimism is the new counter-culture, then Superman is the most punk rock thing in the universe! It also means all those guys who think they're too cool for superheroes the way they ought to be are really just sad sacks who want to drag down an ideal. Good luck knocking down a guy like the one pictured below. And me too, super powers or not.

It Was a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Weekend

Yes. The only connection between Mad Max: Fury Road and Mad Men is the word mad. But, flimsy as the connection may be, I’m using it to justify a post about both the film and the series finale of one of the best television dramas of all time.

I joined fellow Okie Geek Podcast panelist Devon and her husband Kevin at a screening of Mad Max: Fury Road; the long-awaited fourth entry in Director George Miller’s post-apocalyptic franchise.

I’m not going to spoil the plot, because you should invest two hours of your life and see this film in a real-live theater — preferably in 3-D — but its sparse dialogue, punk rock world-building and action packed chase scenes were so beautifully bizarre I can't wait to see it again. George Miller must be a student of silent film because the first third of his movie features a soundscape reminiscent of the fast-paced music associated with movies of that era. Plus, the action scenes have the same stylized herky-jerky sped-up look of an early Laurel and Hardy film. Charlize Theron steals the show. Tom Hardy was absolutely fine in the role, but I was surprised to see how marginalized his Max became as the story progressed.

Fury Road is everything I’ve hoped a big-budget blockbuster summer action movie could be. Thank goodness this movie exists in the world.

As a viewer who had been with the series since the very beginning, Sunday’s Mad Men finale had me feeling all the feels. In marketing/advertising speak, the finale "successfully leveraged content to create maximum impactful engagement”. In non-buzzword speak, it hit all the right notes and had a good mix of happy and ambiguous endings.

Again, no spoilers, but I felt the finale was ultimately true to the series while being somewhat optimistic about the potential for people to change for the better. Unlike many series enders, it didn’t exist solely to service the viewership with happy endings and neat tidy conclusions. My one quibble (and honestly, it’s so minor I worry I’m diminishing the greatness of the episode by mentioning it) was the scene where Joan and beau Richard try cocaine on vacation in Florida. It seemed to exist only as a cultural signpost that screamed, “WE’RE IN THE 1970s NOW!” and served no real purpose to the greater plot.

Don Draper, the main protagonist, the “good guy”, is a serial cheater, an identity thief, a drunk, a negligent father, an unreliably employee/boss and a bad friend. The fact that so many viewers (myself included) still want to see this seemingly terrible person succeed and thrive after seven seasons of two steps forward, two steps back character development is a testament to the acting ability of Jon Hamm and the storytelling genius of creator Matt Weiner. I said on an earlier podcast that Mad Men has done for television what The Great Gatsby did for literature.

I don’t believe the world will ever again see a show as complex and challenging as Mad Men or a series that so acutely captures the inherent contradictions of the American dream.

New Contributors to the Okie Geek Blog

The Okie Geek Blog is getting new contributors.

If you haven't heard the new Okie Geek Podcast, click here.

The podcast features new additions to the Okie Geek Blog: Devon Green, Chase Harvick and Joshua Unruh.

They are very knowledgeable in the ways of the geek, and I value them coming along for the ride.

They are also great writers, so I look forward to seeing what they will bring to the blog..

From here on out they will be joining in the conversation here which I haven't always been able to do on a regular basis.

Also, now that you've listened to the podcast you can rate and review it on iTunes.

The better the feedback, the more we can produce the kinds of content you enjoy.

And please, leave us a comment anytime.

Meanwhile, Keep Calm and Geek On!

First Okie Geek Podcast

The first ever Okie Geek Podcast with Joshua Unruh, Devon Green and Chase Harvick can be found on SoundCloud:

https://soundcloud.com/okie-geek/okie-geek-episode-1