There’s an opening section of the movie where the actors and writers apologize for the movie taking so long. They say it was worth the wait. You know, they actually were right. The Incredibles 2 really was a fantastic movie and oddly enough, it was worth the wait.
Without going into spoilers, the movie tackles the ideas of good and evil, of what it is to be different, and most importantly, of what it means to be a family. It does all this through a humorous prismatic lens that keeps things entertaining throughout.
It’s a kid’s movie, but it addresses themes of responsibility and duty without getting preachy. The cartoonish heroes and villains have to deal with the consequences of their actions. There’s never a point that bumps you out of it, and as a whole, there’s enough tension and worry about what’s going to happen that the audience can worry but still enjoy themselves. I thought the release on father’s day was apt, as well.
The humor was fantastic. It bears repeating… this is probably one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen… even as it addresses some pretty scary thoughts in concept.
I quite enjoyed it and I plan on seeing this one again. If you liked the first one, I recommend this movie. Go see it yourself. It’s simply incredible.
So the Dragon Awards are coming up. These are fan awards for the books that readers of Science Fiction and Fantasy like the most. They’re hosted by Dragon Con, they don’t require membership to nominate or even vote, and the award is a fantastic thing for all of us.
There have been a lot of good books by tons of authors released this year. Support the authors you love and vote. This is an awesome award that belongs to all of us as writers, readers, and fans of science fiction in general. The great thing about it, all it requires is an email.
Here’s some works that I’ll be nominating (if you haven’t read them, give them a look, I think they’re pretty good):
Uncharted (Alternate History) by Sarah A. Hoyt and Kevin J Anderson
Monster Hunter Siege (Fantasy) by Larry Correia
As a note: I’ll be at Dragon Con this year. You know what would be an awesome gift from my readers and fans? A Dragon Award nomination! (Seriously, I know I’m not going to win, but y’all can nominate me and get my name in the running!)
Here’s what I’ve published this past year that’s eligible:
June is here. The year is halfway over. Where did the first five months go, anyway? At this point, I’ve finished three novels this year, though only one has seen the light of day, just yet. Last month I released Valor’s Duty and wrote a book for a publisher (I can’t go into specifics until I hear back from him, but I’m excited about that one). This month I’m working on Valor’s Cost, the 4th book of the Children of Valor series. I’m making great progress on it and I hope to release it early in July.
Later this month I’ll also be attending Liberty Con in Chattanooga, TN. I’ll be posting my schedule next week, but I’m really looking forward to it, it’s probably my favorite convention (even including the flight out there from Colorado).
In other news, I’m working on setting up a Patreon page. If you’re not familiar with the site, it’s a way for creators to share content and get paid directly from their fans. I’m not sure yet of the extend of what I’ll be doing there, but I will for certain have copies of yet-to-be-released novels (yes, novels, I have 4 or 5 I haven’t released), short stories, artwork, and some other things. Feel free to comment here if you’re interested and tell me what you’d like to see.
I see a recurring theme on social media of late. If someone doesn’t like what an author/creator is doing or the direction they took, the first response seems to be “I hate you and everything about you.” Some of this seems to be politics and identity based, because God knows, we’ve become a fractured society of late, where every comment and complaint has political overtones whether meant or not. Some of it is that there’s just a whole lot of negative attitudes about everything.
So what’s the point I’m getting at? Enable other people to succeed. If you aren’t happy with the status quo, make the world a bit better, a bit brighter. A little bit at a time. Don’t like a book or movie? Send them personal feedback (I get some almost every day, I really appreciate it). If you *do* like something, tell them that you like it. Write a review. If you have your own ideas of how to do it better, write the story or create the art yourself. If you know someone who’s got great ideas, enable them! Tell them they should write that story. Put them in contact with writers (or artists, or movie makers, or whoever). I found my current narrator for Valor’s Child that way. I’ve helped friends to get books finished and to get published. You know what? It feels really fucking good to do that.
When you constantly bash things, this is what people think of you.
Bashing something that someone likes (be it books, movies, games, whatever) is not going to win you friends. It’s not going to make anyone feel better, except in the miserable sort of hey, “we-hate-everything-too,” sort of way. Embrace the positive in life, because the world is plenty full of suck as it is.
There’s a whole world of wonder out there people. We launched a God-damned Tesla into space. How freaking cool is that? We live in a day and age where more information and entertainment is at our fingertips than we know what to do with. The world isn’t ending. The vast majority of my readers have a roof over their heads and don’t live in terror of warlords and bandits.
Being positive is hard. Helping others is hard. Building stuff instead of tearing it down is also hard. But that’s how we all get better. I’m not saying you have to like everything (Trust me, there’s plenty I hate), but it’s generally good for your mental well-being to focus on the positive. Be like Deadpool. You don’t have to get it all right. You don’t even have to get it mostly right. Just trying a little bit, every day goes a lot further than you may realize.
At the end of the day, when all is said and done, how do you want to be remembered? Do you want to be the person that everyone secretly came to loathe… or do you want to be the person that everyone has a good story about? Helping other people is a way to help yourself.
Some people want to burn it all down. They’re called the bad guys for a reason.
Kal Spriggs 