Randy Ray

The wife and I have been watching the Damages TV show on Netflix, starting from episode 1. So far, we’re enjoying this show as much as anything we’ve enjoyed since we started watching Breaking Bad. I don’t think this show is as good as Breaking Bad, but the wife and I both love courtroom drama, and Damages is a fresh take on the genre.

Glenn Close steals the show as Patty Hewes, a morally-questionable (to say the least) attorney who’s acting as a mentor to a young attorney named Ellen, who’s portrayed by Rose Byrne. Ted Danson co-stars as the defendant in a case clearly inspired by the Enron scandal. Danson’s performances on Damages are surprisingly good. There’s clearly a lot more to his range as an actor than playing a bartender on Cheers.

Unlike other courtroom dramas like Boston Legal or Private Practice, Damages is spending an entire season on a single case. On those other shows, each case is usually wrapped up in a single episode, but there’s occasionally a two-parter. This is more realistic and more interesting.

The first three seasons of Damages  are available on Netflix, so it’s worth taking a look at if you like courtroom drama. I understand that there will be two more seasons, and then Damages will wrap up at the end of the fifth season. If the show remains as good as this, then I’ll keep tuning in for more episodes.

I know this is late, but here’s my Superman #1 review. The New 52 is being billed as not really a reboot, but in the case of the Superman titles, it’s hard to describe it as anything else. This new version of Superman wears armor, he’s young and brash, and he’s not nearly as powerful as readers remember. I like some of these changes and dislike others.

Superman #1 is set during the present of the “New 52″ continuity, while Action Comics #1 and Justice League #1 are set approximately five years in the past.

The first thing I noticed about Superman #1 is how dense the book is. I complained in an earlier review that Justice League #1 didn’t have enough story to warrant the cover price. Superman #1 contains enough story and words to make up for it and then some. We’re re-introduced to most of Superman’s supporting cast, including the new Morgan Edge, the new Lois Lane, the new Jimmy Olsen, and the new Perry White. I’m going to write about each of them below.

The new Morgan Edge is a bald black man with a goatee. I don’t have a problem with black characters, but I think trying to become more racially diverse by changing the races of existing characters is just silly. There was nothing wrong with Morgan Edge being a rich white guy. Since he’s also one of the more minor characters in the Superman mythology, he’s the one with the race change. If DC were really interested in becoming more diverse, they would have made Lois Lane a black woman.

Edge is presented as the head of a media empire that recently bought the Daily Planet. He’s a Rupert Murdoch sort, and it’s clear that Clark Kent dislikes him and the way he does business. The other media properties who owns and operates are gossip rags and don’t represent the kind of honest journalism Clark Kent approves of.

The new Lois Lane isn’t a reporter for the Daily Planet anymore. She’s the head of new media for Edge’s new conglomerate, and she’s apparently spent some time as a news anchor on his television station too. I like the artwork on the new Lois–she looks more like the old Lois Lane from the 1970′s than the brown-haired Lois of recent years.

The new Perry White didn’t smoke a cigar in this issue, which I missed, since it was something of a bit with him. But I guess comic books can’t portray people with actual addictions to things like tobacco anymore, for fear of ruining our youth. He’s also younger than we’re used to, and he has one of the squarest, most macho jaws in all of comics. At one point in the book, he uses the word “ain’t,” which for some reason really struck me as odd and inappropriate for his character. He is the editor in chief of a major newspaper; I’d expect his grammar to be pretty good. Not sure what that was supposed to do for his characterization, but it didn’t make me think of Perry White.

The new Jimmy Olsen doesn’t seem much different from previous iterations of the character, although he’s lost the bow tie and freckles.

Some new characters were introduced, including Miko, a colleague of Olsen’s at the Planet, and Jonathan Carroll, a new love interest for Lois. (Not only are Lois and Clark not married; they’ve never even been a couple in the new continuity.) I like the idea of Clark having some competition for Lois.

Superman is presented as younger and more brash than previous iterations. I have mixed feelings about this. I don’t think an experienced, competent Superman is necessarily less interesting than a younger, less competent Superman, but from what I’ve read in some interviews, it seems like the editors at DC disagree. But I don’t want to read Superboy when I buy Superman #1.

I hate the new costume. The original costume was a classic. I’d have preferred something more retro than something more futuristic. But they didn’t ask me.

It was a good comic book though, in spite of my preferences. George Perez is a solid writer, and he packed the issue with story and character. I’ll be sorry to see his run on Superman end in a couple of months.

The title of this issue was “What Price Tomorrow?” George Perez wrote the script and plotted the issue, while Jesus Merino did the pencils and inks. Brian Buccellato served as the colorist. Carlos M. Mangual did the lettering.

Neal Adam’s Batman Odyssey #1 was too confusing to be entertaining. It’s unclear whether the book is set in the “New 52″ continuity or not. I haven’t read anything about this book and its relationship to the rest of DC’s books online yet, because I didn’t want to spoil my review with others’ opinions. Also, I don’t think I should have to look something up on the Internet just to figure out whether or not it’s in continuity or not.

The book seems to jump around from time to time. On the cover, it’s listed as the #1 issue, but after a 10 page prologue, the big splash page with the credits on it says that this is “Chapter 7.” Maybe the story is being told in reverse chronological order?

Spoilers ahead–caution.

The first four pages of the book consist of a shirtless Bruce Wayne drinking coffee and ranting about conspiracy theories with some unnamed and unseen character. They seem to be in the Batcave. In fact, this section is drawn from the point-of-view of some unseen character who is never named. All we know is that he has a bandage on his hand. We can assume that he’s not Dick Grayson or Commissioner Gordon, because Bruce Wayne talks about both of them as he’s talking to the unnamed figure.

Then we’re treated to a scene in Arkham Asylum where Ra’s al Ghul’s son, Sensei, is breaking out of his room. Several goons seem to have some kind of bet with him about whether or not he can break out. When he finally does escape (as the Penguin and the Riddler observe), he has his four goons fight until there’s only one left standing. That one, he says, gets to accompany him under the earth.

Then we get the big double splash page, where Batman is flying on a giant bat, and several other characters are riding on dinosaurs. This is presumably another flashback. Batman eventually gets knocked to the ground, blood rushes to his head, and the scene changes again.

In THIS new scene, Alfred is serving Ra’s al Ghul tea in Wayne Manor while Bruce Wayne is doing some kind of gymnastics above his bed. Wayne takes Ghul to the Batcave, where Jamroth Bok, Primus, and Dick Grayson (Robin) are waiting. They’re planning an expedition to some kind of hollow earth which can be reached through the Batcave, but Bruce insists on leaving Dick Grayson behind, much to Dick’s dismay.

Ra’s al Ghul also stays behind, and Alfred gets mad at Bruce for “mis-using” Dick in such a manner. Alfred goes to Dick Grayson’s room and explains to him that Jamroth Bok is a neanderthal, and his sidekick Primus is a highly-evolved dinosaur. (I should mention that Jamroth Bok looks like a giant purple Batman, and Primus looks like a blonde Robin with slightly lizard-like features, but otherwise human-looking.)

The issue closes with another double splash page of Batman, Jamroth Bok, and Primus underground, looking around them in awe at the scenery.

If this DOES take place in the DC’s New 52 universe, then it must have taken place years ago, because Dick Grayson is no longer Robin in the DC Universe.

This comic book cost $3.99, and from the perspective of getting plenty of pages of story, it’s worth the money. There’s plenty of text on the page, and it was involved enough that I read it cover to cover twice. But I didn’t read it twice because I was entertained; I read it twice because I was confused.

I’m not sure what to make of this book. The art was nice, but this Batman doesn’t really act like any Batman I’ve ever read before. For that matter, none of the other characters act like themselves either–not Robin, Ra’s al Ghul, or even Alfred. The artwork was good, but what was happening and when should have been made clearer.

Neal Adams plotted, scripted, and penciled the issue. Inks were done by Bill Sinkiewicz, Neal Adams, Paul Neary, and Michael Golden. Colors were done by Ginger Karalexis, Cory Adams, and Moose Baumann. Ken Lopez lettered. Neal Adams also did the cover artwork.

Week before last, I watched a movie via On Demand called Barneys’ Version. The movie stars Paul Giamatti, Dustin Hoffman, and Minnie Driver. I loved the film so much that I found a copy of the novel to read in hardcover, which cost me a little extra, but it was so worth it. I’d rather read a novel in hardcover than in any other format, although I’ve read many books in paperback and on the Kindle.

Mordecai Richler, a Canadian author I’m not familiar with, wrote Barney’s Version, which was published in 1997. Much of the novel concerns some political goings-on in Canada that I’m not familiar with. It had something to do with a conflict between some of the French-speaking people there and the English-speaking people there, but I’m not a history buff, and I’m especially not a Canadian history buff, so I think I missed out on a lot of what the novel has to offer a reader.

The plot revolves around the main character’s failing memory and his relationships with his three wives. The story covers his life from the time he’s in his twenties, which he spent in Paris, to his seventies. At some point in his life, he was accused of murdering his best friend, Boogie, and another of his friends has written a book about that. The narrator (Barney, the novel is written in the first person), is telling HIS version of his life story, hence the title of the novel.

Barney is a classic example of an unreliable narrator, and his memory lapses are obvious from the first chapter of the novel. The main character’s son has included footnotes to correct his father’s errors, but not only is it clear that Barney has trouble remembering things, it’s also clear that he has no qualms about lying when it suits him.

I enjoyed this novel very much. The only complaint I had with Barney’s Version is that a lot of sentences are written in foreign languages, mostly French, and so I was unable to understand some of it. (I don’t have the patience to Google Translate every sentence I didn’t understand, and I don’t have a French-English dictionary handy.) Since the book was aimed at a Canadian audience (presumably), I’m sure they have no problem following the French in the book.

That’s a minor criticism of a rare and wonderful novel though. This character study of Barney is unflinchingly honest and sympathetic at the same time. The movie stayed in my thoughts for several days after I watched it, and the novel has done the same thing. I recommend Barney’s Version to anyone who enjoys detailed character studies and biographical novels that cover several decades. The novel is sad, funny, and infuriating at the same time, as is the main character and narrator. It’s a well-written novel.

I don’t know that RandyRay.name has ever had what one would call a large following, but it’s possible that at some point in the past, someone out there used to read this site regularly and wondered why I stopped writing here. The truth is, I’m not exactly sure why I let things slide here, but I think it’s silly to have this website and never post anything here, so I’m back. But even though I haven’t been writing on my personal blog, it doesn’t mean that I haven’t been active on the Internet. Here are a few things I’ve been working on for the past couple of years.

A Horror Bookstore

I opened Eerie Books, an all-horror bookstore located in downtown Wylie, Texas. This hasn’t been one of my most successful business ventures, not if you define success by how much money you make. In terms of how many friends I’ve made and how much fun I’ve had, then Eerie Books has been an unqualified success. This chapter in my life will be closing soon. If you’re interested in seeing some of the stock that we’re now offering on eBay at unbelievably low prices, visit this page for listings. Some of the more interesting auctions right now include a couple of games, Mutant Chronicles and Android. The Buy-it-now price for Mutant Chronicles is $12.99, and for Android, it’s $23.99. Some of the audiobooks we have listed are tremendous values too, like Stephen King’s Full Dark, No Stars, which we have available with a buy-it-now price of $16.99.

But my purpose with this post is to catch up, not to try to sell you something. We have over 50 auctions listed though, and almost everything listed is over 60% off the retail price. It would be silly to not point that out to people who are interested.

Poker SEO Forum

I’ve been writing a blog and running a site aimed at webmasters doing search engine optimization for the poker industry for several years now, but we launched an actual forum there not too long ago, and I’ve been lucky to play host to so many intelligent and thoughtful people. You can find the main site at Poker SEO, the blog at Poker SEO Blog, and the forum at Poker SEO Forum. (Unlike this blog, I’ve actually posted a bit at the Poker SEO Blog over the last year or two.) Even though the target audience for the site consists of poker webmasters, the lessons on SEO there apply to most industries.

Other Websites I’ve Been Working On

I’m not just a writer; I’m also an editor and a publisher. Right now, one of my most successful sites is a Scrabble fan site, which gets a good amount of traffic. The content there that I’m most proud of is on the Scrabble Blog, which includes articles about words with Z and words with V.  I did not write most of the content there; my friend John Clifton wrote most of it. I did edit some of it, but luckily, John’s work doesn’t need a lot of editing.

We also recently launched a site about collecting roleplaying games. I wrote some of the content there myself, like the page about Star Trek roleplaying games, but John Clifton wrote a lot of the content there too. It’s a fun site, and it takes a somewhat different perspective toward the hobby than most sites. (Most RPG sites cover whether or not a game is fun to play, or they offer information about how to have more fun while playing. Our site focuses mostly on which games and game supplements are rare and collectible, and how much they might cost if they’re hard to find.)

On a Personal Note

My family and I still live in Texas, where my twin daughters are about to turn nine years old. My son is a junior in high school now. We have two dogs, a rabbit, and a green-cheek conure now. My wife has gone back to college to finish her degree. We’ve been blessed with a great family and a lot of wonderful friends, and I couldn’t ask for more from life than I’ve been given.

I’ll try to write more tomorrow with some more specific updates on my activities. This might be a good place for me to start sharing some of my opinions about books I’ve read, movies I’ve seen, and television shows I’ve watched.

So last night I took the 14 year old boy to the movies, and we made it a double feature with a theme. The Crazies and Crazy Heart were both playing at the Cinemark Legacy, which is the movie theater we visit when we go to the movies. We saw both of them, Crazy Heart first, followed by The Crazies.

Crazy Heart was a fine film, more because of Jeff Bridge’s acting than any other innate goodness in the movie. He plays Bad Blake, a country western singer who’s seen his better days. Think Merle Haggard or Waylon Jennings. The plot is essentially boy-meets-girl, although it also involves boy-drinks-too-much-but-gets-his-career-back-somehow-eventually-anyway.

The film boasts some beautiful cinematography, great acting, and competent writing. The soundtrack was excellent. Unfortunately, the pacing is pretty slow, and the plot is predictable. Before I saw the movie, I was surprised that it hadn’t been nominated for Best Picture, but now that I’ve seen it, I understand why: Crazy Heart is a very good film, but it’s not a great film. (On the other hand, that didn’t prevent The Hurt Locker, another good-but-not-great film, from getting nominated.)

If you’re looking for a movie about country music singers, Tender Mercies, with which Crazy Heart has drawn some perhaps-inevitable comparisons, is a far superior film, one of the only films I’ve ever seen which seemed perfect in every way.

The Crazies is a remake of a 1973 George Romero film about a town that’s quarantined by the military because of a disease that makes the people there act crazy. I haven’t seen the original, but this remake is pretty good stuff.

Timothy Olyphant is always entertaining, although he’s a little too earnest in this film. His performance reminded me of his Deadwood performance, where he was again very earnest. I prefer my Timothy Olyphant a little edgier, like he was in The Girl Next Door, Die Hard with a Vengeance, or A Perfect Getaway.

Ebert had it right when he said that The Crazies was a so-so zombie movie for people who want to watch a so-so zombie movie.

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. I’ve been busy doing stuff. What kind of stuff? All kinds of stuff. For example, I’ve written and published a couple of new microsites, which are one or two page websites which provide a laser-focused answer to a single question. These new microsites include:

• Country Music Love Songs – This site takes a look at some of the best country love songs from the past 50 or 60 years, and it’s organized by decade. Some of the songs are included because they’re favorites of mine; others are included because they’re notable. It was a fun page to put together.
• Fight Club Quotes – I thought the movie and the book Fight Club were terribly quotable, almost to a fault, so I thought it would be fun to collect some of the better quotes in one place.
• Funny Life Quotes – Obviously I enjoy quotes and quotations, so putting this page together was a lot of fun too.

I’ve also spent some time posting at Twitter under my new account related to my bookstore: @horrorbooks. Feel free to drop by there and befriend me if you like; I’ll definitely follow you back. (Unless you have a super-lame Twitter profile page. I tend to not follow Twitterers who don’t include any detailed info on their profile page.)

I also want to give a quick shout out to a couple of new horror authors that I’ve become acquainted with lately:

• Brian Keene – I just finished his novel The Rising, which I thought was entertaining as hell. I’m looking forward to digging into the sequel, City of the Dead, starting today.
• Ray Garton – I’ve become acquainted with him at Twitter, and I can’t wait to start reading some of his fiction. I think I’ll probably read Live Girls first, since I think vampires and strippers make such a great combination.
• John Everson – Another horror writer I haven’t read yet but plan to start on this week. Since I own a horror books store, it’s kinda pitiful that I haven’t read any of Everson’s books yet. I’m getting through a novel every day or two right now though, so that problem should be rectified shortly.

I saw Paranormal Activity. Yes, it’s as good as everyone is saying it is. Even my son Drew was impressed with how scary it was. It’s nice to know that Katie Featherston (who, IMO, is one of the most beautiful women to ever grace the big screen) is from right here in the DFW area too. She went to SMU. If she’s reading this, I hope she’ll consider doing an appearance some weekend at my store.

One of the books that I read about recently in the Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine’s book reviews section is a graphic novel titled Curse of the Were-Woman. Here’s my review.

Curse of the Were-Woman is an original graphic novel from writer Jason M. Burns and artist Christopher Provencher. It’s a classic “high-concept” story, the kind of thing you’d see in a movie. Christopher Dalton is a womanizer and power-hungry ad exec who has constant one-night stands. Some kind of Wiccan that he beds one night gets her feelings hurt and curses him to turn into a woman every time the sun comes down. He’ll remain a “were-woman” until he becomes less of a chauvinist.

I could see Curse of the Were-Woman playing out as a movie with a traditional leading man type (Vince Vaughn maybe) with someone like Jack Black as his best friend. And I think it would make for a successful and probably funny film. I left the graphic novel with the feeling that the writer really enjoys Ben Stiller and Judd Apatow movies.

Unfortunately, the kind of formulaic storytelling didn’t work well in the graphic novel format. My expectations from a graphic novel are different than my expectations of a movie. I come to a graphic novel looking for surprises. Curse of the Were-Woman offers no surprises to anyone who’s seen as many Hollywood movies as most people have.

The other problem I had with Curse of the Were-Woman is that the core assumption is that a man who likes having sex with a variety of women somehow has a lesson to learn. That’s a pretty old-fashioned attitude. The main character didn’t seem to be a total chauvinist ass to me; he just seemed like a guy who enjoys sex with multiple women. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it’s a pretty common thing.

But the artwork was excellent, and the writing was workmanlike if not inspired. I’d not hesitate to recommend this to someone as pure entertainment. At least Curse of the Were-Woman is trying to do something other than be a dark parody of the superhero genre, which is an overwhelming trend in the graphic novel/comic book field today.

There’s a great interview and plot synopsis of Curse of the Were-Woman available on the Comic-Con message board here:

• Curse of the Were-Woman Review, Discussion, & Interview

I’m on a bit of a reading binge this weekend, and I’m catching up on my Fantasy and Science Fiction back issues. I want to start blogging about some of the stories I read there because that way I can look back at some of my notes here and remember some of what I’ve read. These are my notes/review for Fantasy and Science Fiction December 2008:

“A Foreign Country” by Wayne Wightman

“A Foreign Country” by Wayne Wightman is probably my 2nd favorite story from this issue. It’s about a self-described not-too-bright reporter who covers a third-party candidate for President who miraculously wins the election. His solutions to the country’s problems are unorthodox in a fantastic way, and the characterization of both the main character is handled deftly. “A Foreign Country” is a short story worth re-reading.

“Leave” by Robert Reed

I’m sure that I’m not alone in my admiration of Robert Reed’s short fiction. Every story I read in F&SF by Reed is excellent, and “Leave” is no exception. It’s about a young man at some point in the near future who has decided to leave Earth to fight in an alien war for 30 years. Or, more accurately, it’s about the people he leaves behind and how they cope with his decision. Top notch stuff.

“A Skeptical Spirit” by Albert E. Cowdrey

“A Skeptical Spirit” by Albert E. Cowdrey is a twist on the traditional ghost story. It’s a cute enough story, but it’s mostly just a fluff piece. I thought it was one of the weaker stories in this issue.

“How the Day Runs Down” by John Langan

“How the Day Runs Down” by John Langan was my favorite story of the issue. It’s a post-apocalyptic zombie story told as a one-act play of sorts, and the stage manager is more than just a stage manager. It’s a haunting, lyrical tale with a final sentence that was thought-provoking. This is a story that will stick with you.

This story was also featured in an anthology called The Living Dead, and you can read an excerpt from it here: “How the Day Runs Down” by John Langan – Excerpt.

“Falling Angel” by Eugene Mirabelli

“Falling Angel” by Eugene Mirabelli is what I understand to be an excerpt from a longer work, and it doesn’t make much sense as a short story. I’m not a reader who needs EVERYTHING made clear to me, but I do like for SOME things to be clear. So much is untold in this story that it’s hard to care about anything that happens. And honestly, other than an angel falling from the sky and having sex with the guy who finds her, not much does happen. I enjoyed the eroticism of the story, but I wished it had more of a plot. (“Falling Angel” intrigued me enough that I’ll probably look for some of Mirabelli’s novels though.)

“The Alarming Letters from Scottsdale” by Warner Law

“The Alarming Letters from Scottsdale, like “A Skeptical Spirit”, is a trifle of a story. I won’t spoil any of the plot here, but it reminded me of some of the older pulp fiction I’ve read. Had it not been for the fantasy element, it would have been a good fit for Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine or for Alfred Hitchock’s Mystery Magazine. The story is a reprint from the early 1970′s.

I’ll refrain from reviewing the nonfiction columns like Gordon Van Gedder’s editorial or Lucius Shepard’s film reviews. Suffice it to say that the nonfiction content of every issue of F&SF that I’ve read have been exceptional and well worth reading.