Inside the Brain of E.C. Henry

E.C. Henry Remains Open for Business

Don't have a lot to say this week.  But I'm still open for business.  Sounds kinda crazy to say that, but sometimes during the lean times you just need to remind others (and yourself) that YES, I'm still a creative writer who is trying to get something going where my stories get made into movies.

Since I haven't made any money with the screenwriting or novel writing I don't have a choice BUT to have a day job to support myself.  Thankfully I have a very good relationship with my parents and can live pretty cheaply.  

Wish I was making faster progress ediing my novel.  Feels like I've been in rutt for a long time.  I'm a very slow line editor, and that's a big focus and point of emphasis in bringing this epic fantasy novel up to a higher level where it's worthy of being published.  

Still, I'm open for business and ready to sell my writing!  Hopefully, someday I'll have some heat where buyer are actully having meetings with me concerning the purchase of my stories.  I write better stories that most feature releases.  Just saw "Gravity" (2013: staring Sandra Bullock, directed by Alfonso Cuaron) and "Sicario" (2015: staring Emily Blunt, writen by Taylor Sheridan) this weekend.  Both of those movies TOTALLY SUCK!  Yeah, ANY story I've writen is better than either of those two duds.  I HATE survival stories, and that's escentially what "Gravity" is.  Their is no human villain in "Gravity" it's just Sandra Bullock bobing about in space going from one space ship to the next.  "Gravity" is ALL aobut the space shot visuals.  And after about a minute you're sick of seeing it and check your watch to see how much longer this dud has.  

Ooops!  Hope you can stomach watching someone float around and bump into shit for the next two hours, 'cuz that's the show here, folks!

"Sicario" suckage is little different in it's flavor than "Gravity".  This show is about how bad the drug trade is.  Very heavy handed and totally boring message.  I went into this show looking forward to this big showdown scene at the U.S./Mexico border, but even that scene was dull.  "Sicario" really only has one interesting character in it, and that's the wildcard character played by Benico Del Torro.  This show really needed a good villain, and none was provided.

Shit, girl, you gunna point that thing all day, or are you finally gonna shoot somebody!

It's when you realize how uninspired so many of these Hollywood offerings are that you realize you really need to stay in business, because the movie-making industry desperately needs creatives who have a higher brand of taste.  

Yo, I'm Joe Cool and everybody still loves me, right?

Hearing Will Smith want to boycott the Oscars for their "lack of diversity" is a joke to me.  Now, I'm all agaist prejudice, and don't think it's fair for anyone to be disciminated against for the color of their skin, but I don't support ethnic quotas in award cermimonies.  Wan't your work to get Accademy recognition, Will?  Then get beter roles, dipshit!  I think WIll Smith feels snubbed because he wasn't nominated for best actor for his work in "Concussion" (2015: writen and directed by Peter Landesman".  I haven't seen "Concussion" nor do I have any interest in seeing that dud-for-a-premice movie.  From my way of thinking "Concussion" is best served as part of "60 Minutes" news expose, as opposed to a feature length film.  I LOVE Oprah Winfrey quote:

No one descriminates against greatness

Therin lies the key, Will Smith.  Be great.  I can't stand the thought of ethnic quotas to fill out the roster for awards.  Either your resulting artwoork is great, or it is not.  The truth of the matter is, Will Smith IS a headlining acto, who can open movies, and is someone that I like watching perform.  I think Will Smith is very tallented, and I like him, a lot.  And I'm not alone, people of all different colors love Will Smith and the personna he's carved out for himself.  But just becasue your movie doen't get the critical acclaim that YOU think it deserves that doesn't mean the public will justify your stance for a broader range of ethnic films being considered as "great art".  

This country has come a long ways in creating a fair playing field where the color of your skin is no longer an issue.  We need to keep it that way, and not start putting ethnic quotas on things.  Let the art stand on its own merrit.  If it's good, let's laud it.  If it sucks, we should have the right to say so.  

And so this writer moves on.  Moves on to a week of new challenges.  Leaves his least favorite month of the year behind, and looks to the furure with a sense of optomism. This opptomism comes from my relationship with the Lord, and is not of human agency.  Last week I had a blast listen to church sermons from a Christian radio station that broacasts a lot of pastors recorded sermons.  I'm more hungry for pastor's sermons than any time prior in my life.  I just love hearing inspired minsitry bring forth the Word of God in truth.  

Will talk to you again soon.  Till then, just know that I'm keeping on, keeping on.  E.C. Henry remains "open for business" and still looks forward to the day when I get my big break and become a player in the movie-making industry.

Sincerly,

E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

Dilly Dally Delights

I am a hopeless romantic.  WHERE I chose to dilly dally proves that.  Don't know if I'll EVER get done with this epic fantasy novel I'm working on.  But boy o boy am I ever having fun rewriting it.  

Sure, it's tendious.  Sure, it's been a long time coming.  But it's good.   It's very good.  

I LOVE what I'm re-writing right now.  I had what I thought was a "throw in" love story in the Prolog chapter.  1st draft this was a cheap throw in, love story.  An inconsequential couple of lines that was a minor throw in.  But now after SLAVING away on this chapter and really thinking about the set-up, I know see this "throw in" love story as a nice prequel and foreshaddow to a much bigger love story that comes in later.    

Cinderella, you are a great model.  But I'm going to one up you and then some.  In the midst of an epic dragon fight there will be a Cinderella in waiting in my story.  

I guarantee you, you have NEVER seen a dragon flight like the one I'm penning in my epic fantasy novel.  My dragon fight(s) are are going to trump ANYTHING you've ever seen before.  Their going to be epic, and they are going to be highly personel as well.  And when all has been said and done you're going to marvel over how good what I'm writing is.  

Cinderella, you are welcome into to my story, BUT I'm going to change your narrative conserably.  Hope you're able to recognize yourself, sister!

But getting there takes a considerable amount of dilly dallying.  It's more than just peeling back the layers of an onion.  It's considering the story as whole and seeing how this part fits it and can best accentuate the overall story.

E.C. Henry is in a good place right now.  He's listening to a prophetic servies on the end times from Olive Tree Ministires and really getting a lot out of it.  I really want to grow deeper in my relationship with the Lord.  I love Jesus more than anything.  Sometimes it's good to listen to some good old fashion preaching from good people who love the Lord.  Do you love the Lord?  If not, why not?  Best decision I ever made was to ask Jesus to come into my heart and be my Lord and savior.  Don't relly on your own goodness to save you.  Honor the Way, the Truth and the Life that is the Holy Father's plan.  Don't be afraid of all the bad stuff happening, be aware, but not afraid.  Why?  Because even if gets real bad, I'm talking mark of the beast or you can't buy any food at the store bad, God is still good.  God is still God.  And someday evil will be put in its proper place, the lake of fire.  

Here's one of my favorite songs right now.  I don't listen to Christain music as often as I should, but this song really ministers to me.  It's called "Flawless" by a group called Mercy ME.  These guys, Mercy Me, have really put out a lot of GREAT music over the years.  Here's one of my recent guitly pleasures by them:

 

Don't know where you're walking in life or in your faith, friend.  But I'm glad you gave this post a read, and hope you're alive in Christ Jesus.  I can write about a bunch of stuff, but a life in Christ trumps all that.  Speaking of Trump...

If you vote or favor that CLOWN, I pitty you.  Wanna talk about the downfall of America?  Look no further than that CLOWN.  I absolutely HATE Donald Trump and wouldn't vote for him if you paid me a million bucks.  I am convinced this guys thinks nothing about anyone else other than himself.  I can't believe that can back that blowhard CLOWN.  Democrat, Rebublican, Libertaian or otherwise, I pity the party that has Donald Trump running in it.  What a joke that guy is?

Does ANYONE talk about issues and their proposed solutions anymore?  American poletics is wracked with insults and clowns.  What we need are good, strong Christain men of valor who stand for what's right AND have a brain to pose solutions to the problems that ill us.  

I HATE Donald Trump.  That guy is an embarrassment to America and not worthy in the least of being our next president.  He most certainly does not represent me or any values I hold sacred.  Donald Trump is a windbag clown, posing as the hope for America, when all he is capable of is getting us in more trouble.  DON'T vote for Donald Trump in the 2016 elections in any format, the guy is a loser and will only bring this country down.

Okay, wssshew, got that off my chest.  Can't stand Donald Trump.  Can't believe an idiot like him is considered by so many people a man who is worthy of the highest office in the land, really I can't.  Don't like Hillary Clinton either, but I can understand why people like her and gravitate towards her.  Donald Trump? Differntent story.  I get that people like his boldness and bravado, but that's part of the package that I reject.

- E.C.Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarittu's "The Revenant" What A Cool Follow-up to "Birdman"

Sometimes you just hafta sit back and admire the daring choices some creatives make.  Such is the case with Alejandro Gonzalez Inarrirtu's choice to have a movie like "The Revenant" (2015: staring Leonardo DiCapro and Tom Hardy) be your follow-up to "Birdman (or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance" (2014: staring Michael Keaton).  These movies could not be more the polar opposite--and I love that about Alejeandro Inarritu.  Wow, to have the BALLS to follow-up your Oscar winning DRAMA film, with a gritty, out in the wilderness tale of life out in the frontier with people in the fur trade.

I LOVE IT!!!  Shows range.  Shows skill with action.  Shows BALLS!

As you should know by now I loved the movie, "Birdman (or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)", I thought it was a very clever, dark drama.  Now as for "The Revenant", I'm not going to lie I didn't like it half much as "Birdman" but my big takeaway from "The Revenant" was how good of a director Alexjandro Inarritu is.  He knew exactly what to put in this movie and how to make it work and leave the audience with a certain feeling--the feeling of actually being out in the wilds freezing yur ass off!!!.  And the Indian raid at the beginning of the movie was AWESOME, hands down best part of the film.  Unfortunately, the story was WAAAYYY to SLOWWW for my liking.  Gritty and realisitic, YES!  And for that I have nothing but admiration for Alejandro.  My big problem with not ranking this film as one the year's best was that after Leonardo's character survives the half burial the Tom Hardy villain character gives him, his survival in the wilds was really, really boring.  Having said that I have NO PROBLEM with Leonardo DiCaprio getting an Oscar for that role, but watching him freeze his ass off for 2 hours wasn't a fun journey for me.  I like my movies to move more and have a greater interaction between the protagonist and the main villian.  I like action.  This movie, "The Revenant" didn't have enough action in its 2nd act to keep me engaged.  It's more mor of a struggle to survive story, and I'm not a fan at all of stories such as those. I liked Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight" MUCH more than Alejandro's "The Revenant", but I have a much higher respect level for Alejandro's work in "The Revenant", than I do for Quentin Tarantino for his work in "The Hateful Eight" which it easy be argues that it was little more than "Reservoir Dogs" a cold day in the Colorado frontier.   

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is a very, very talented man who knows what belongs in movies and really knows how to create a unique feel in the movies he puts his name on.  I'm so in love with this guy right now it's embarassing.  Alejandro Inarritu is my favorite person making movies right now.   Whatever he's making next is must see entertainment.  If he ever was willing to take one of my scripts and direct it, I would weclome that honor with open arms.  Alejandro's mastery of gritty action and dramatic moments is right up there with Quentin Tarantino as the best ones going these days.  The hope for GREAT movies to come out of Hollywood is something Alejandro has proven he can deliver, and for that I have nothing but the highest level of respect and graditude for.  

Sincerly,

E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

P.S. This last week was a VERY BAD one for me, my 66-year-old aunt had to be rushed to the hospital on Tuesday, where we learned she has congenative heart failure following her recovery from cheomotheopy and radiation to shink a mass that was attached to windpipe.  I love my aunt dearly, but right now her immediate healthy is a BIG WORRY at our house.

P.S.S. Bad weekend for me too watchig all 4 teams I was rooting for in the NFL playoff lose their games.  With my beloved Seattle Seahawks getting elliminated, along with Green Bay, Kansas City, and Pittsburgh.  

P.S.S.S.  Bad week of wrtiing too.  Not making enough progress.  Hopefull this upcoming week will be beter.

P.S.S.S.S. Work got stalled on cleaning the garage too, though I'm still comittied to cleaning it up.  

Home Projects

(view from the east, looking at the weathered side of our family garage)

2016.  How's it going for you so far?  For me I already have a good bead on how 2016 is going to go.  And one of the biggest focusus for me in 2016 is going to be some home improvements arround the house.  For years I left the home improvement leading to my father.  My rationale was that now that he's retired he's going to have a lot of time on his hands to make home improvements.  Unfortuantely, my dad doesn't have the will or want to, to make the very needed improvements that need to happen, so it's really on me to do that.  

The first and foremost project that I'm focusing my energies on is cleaning up our garage.  When my dad build this garage over 30 years ago, he NEVER completed it.  The facing side STILL doesn't have siding on it.  And as for what is inisde of it...  Think 30 years of past project that weren't properly cleaned up--and some of that can be directly attributed to me!  Owch!!  Like a carborator to a motorcyle, and engine pieces to my old Toyota Hi-Lux pickup, which was a truck series that was discontinued sometime in the early 80s, I think.  Anyway, it was my first car I owned and it did last all that long.  

Over this past weekend I did two, full truck loads to the dump.  All kinds of shit: an old crab pot whose metal was exposed making it so that no crabs would go in it, my parents old bed, some skis, wood, an aquarium, a completely decomposed set of my mom's old rollerscates from when she was a teenager.  

I must have found fifteen 1/2 gallon jugs of antifreeze scattered all over the place, and probably another 20 individual quarts of motor oil.  Besides that I found a smattering of LOTS of other chemicals too.  Right now I have a dedicated three tier table JUST for the chemicals that I found.  

So what's "the plan" for the garage?  Well-p, right now the focus is cleaning out a spot in the southeast corner so that I can build an area to house all the wood we've accumulated.  Probably won't have to pay a dime out of my pocket either to make this happen either, as I'm find TONS of scrap wood lying around to make this happen.  

On the other side of the garage I HOPE to set up a bunch of racks.  15+ years ago, when working a temp job, I was allowed to take home a bunch of warehouse racking from a business that was shutting down.  Not sure what shape that's in some 15+ years later, but now's the time to find out.  

Still gotta make some decisions on a couple table saws my dad acquired some 15+ years ago, and just left in the garage, unused.  My thought right now is keep one, and breakdown the other and throw it away.  

(cut some logs on Saturday to gain access to some gravel that was burried underneath it)

(more wood, this one in pile from when my dad put a modular house on on our propery for my bother and his family to live, roughly 6 years ago)

Besides the garage I also have various other wood-cutting projects to do.  One of which I started yesterday, cutting away some fallen logs which were covering up a gravel pile that dad provided years ago to make seasonal repairs to our 1/8 mile driveway off the main road that leads to our house.  The next wood-cutting project is going to have to be cutting up a tree that fell over our drain field.  A drain field is a place where your septic goes when you don't have city lines carrying it away to a treatment facility.  

And somewhere down the line I need to tear down my dad's old motorcycle shed.  It actually has tree growing up in the middle of it now, and is complete embarassment.  Similarly, in another area of our propery I need to tear down and get rid off an collapsed, old woodshed that my dad built some 25 years ago.  The support beams rotted and now most of that shed is on the ground.

Later in the spring and summer I hope to dispose of two old truck canopies we have as well, one in the garage, the other is overdown in the brush.  Then their's the issue of my brother's old glass bottles.  YEARS ago when we were kids he brought back a bunch of old Purex bottles and other antiques.  I think all stuff dates back to the 1920s.  Don't know if their valuable or not... but I need to find that out.

Another big developlement I hope to see happen in 2016 is to help sell my dad's boat.  Now for that we should get a pretty penny.  May need to do some work on the motor and wiring.  Last year my dad had some fabrication work done on the hull and it looks a lot nicer now.  

(not all bad: here's one ex-pile of wood that I cleaned up earlier in 2015)

Keep praying for my aunt.  She's not out of the woods yet.  I think she's cancer free, but she wakes up coughing all the time, is very weak, and their is a fear that her heart was weakened by all the chemo and radiation treatment.   

In the near future I think I'll put up a seperate sidebar page off to the right to keep you udpated in how I'm faring with my home projects.  Wish I wasn't the one who had to helm these projects.  Wish my dad had a heart to do it, but I just can't let this place go to pot.  Someone has to care.  And that someone is me!

Sincerly, a dilagent and hardworking, 

E.C Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

P.S. In one funny development on Saturday I uncovered and found a chainsaw that my dad had missplaced in the garage underneath some garbage.  About a month ago we had a severe rain and windstom which hastened the need for a chainsaw which we couldn't find so I bought a new one for $600+.  

 

Was 2015 a Good Year for Movies?

Not really.  I didn't see a single movie in the 2015, movie release season that I thought was better or on equal footing than "Birdman (or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" which deservedly won the Oscar for 2015 in the best picture catagory.  

Overall I saw a lot of movies that were good, just not iconic great.  Spent a lot of time in the movie theatre over my weeklong break.  Did get to see Quentin Tarantino's "The Hatefull Eight".  Parts of that movie were best movie of the year worthy, but overall--especially at the end when Daisy Demogue is getting teeth punched out then having blood puked all over her face was just too much gross for me to stomache.  HUGE fan of Quentin Tarnatino.  What a stud.  Love his mind and the way he crafts his stories.  Loved the snow shots of the rural, Wymoming scenrery, and the musical score for "The Hateful Eight" was the best I've heard, maybe ever.  Yes, it's that good!  The background music SHOULD win for best musical score in the 2016 Oscars, that alone is worth the price of admission.  I don't thnk I've ever been as impressed with the orchastra score in a movie as I have with "The Hateful Eight", it accents the movie and slow burn action PERFECTLY.

I loved the rich assortment of characters that Quentin fills "The Hatefull Eight".  This movie is A LOT like "Reservior Dogs" (1992), which was Quentin's first and best movie, imo.  "The Hatefull Eight" is another robbery-gone-wrong film that keeps you guesing as it builds up to memoriable, but overly bloody conclusion.  I like the savy way Quentin toys with the audiece's expectations for each character.  Are Kurt Russell's character and Sameul L. Jackson's characters going to remain friends, or will they turn on each other?  The mysterious caretaker, Bob.   Who is he, and did he really kill of the owners of the inn?  And who is Joe Gage, Michael Madsen's character?  In "Reservoir Dogs" he was the wild hair that went off and caused all kinds of trouble--is he going to do the same here, under similar circumstances?  

Therein lies Quentin Tarantio's BRILLIANCE and the core of what he does right, and why people like him so much (like me).  He gets and understands dramatic, realisitic tension that oftentimes goes to a dark places and to unforseen extreames.  He's a risk taker, and I'll always admire that about him and his movies.

So was "The Hateful Eight" E.C. Henry's favorite movie of 2015?  You'll see soon enough.  But it was my 3rd favorite Quentin Tarantino movie off all-time: 1) "Reservoir Dogs, 2) "Pulp Fiction"  3) "The Hateful Eight".

If not "The Hateful Eight" what were my favorite movies that were released in the 2015 movie-going season?  

Well, the following are E.C. Henry's favorite movies of 2015 from lowest to best:

 

"Joy": 6.0 stars out a possible 10.  Wow, did David O.Russell recyle the cast of "Silver Linings Playbook" or what!?  Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Robert DeNiro, and I even recognized one of the gambling buddies from that show too.  I kinda liked this drama about a troubled housewife's oddesy to get back to her enterpernial roots as a creative child.  The best part of this show was the wild card reationship between Joy and her estranged, divorsed ex-husband, as played by Edgar Ramirez, who was the main villain Bodi in the "Point Break" remake.  Anyway, in this show I thought the not quite knowing/understanding/or trusting the Edgar Ramirez character was the best part of the show--and that's not really saying much.  Still, Jennifer Lawrence does a great job acting as always, and I really liked how Bradley Cooper's character helped Joy turned the corner and get her magic mop idea to sell.   Note: this was a late edition to this post as I saw this movie, "Joy" AFTER I had already done an intial post of this on Sunday, January, 3, 2016.

"Ted 2": 6.5 stars out of a possible 10.  The smoking pot teddy bear character still works, as does Amanda Seyfriend's charm and appeal as John Bennet's new love interest.  Some laughs.  But overall the fight for Ted's rights really comes across as ludicrous.  Bad choice made there by Seth McFarlene.  Also John Bennett's character arc was severlely lacking and not nearly as strong as the one he had in the first movie.  

"Jurasic World": 7.0 stars out of a possible 10.  Kinda fun to watch the dinosaurs wreck havok again.  Plot was a little boring and mirrored the first "Jurassic Park" movie too closely.  My 70-year-old father saw the climax of this movie in the fist act: the crocodile dinosaur fights and takes out the generically altered dinosaur.  Too predictable.

"Mad Max: The Fury Road"  7.5 stars out of a possible 10.  GREAT action set peices.  Looses some momentum with under-developed characters such as Mad Max and Immortian Joe.  Great new thoughts brought in on the villain clan's cities, but then when you meet those villains those worlds kinda fall apart and seem more and more unbelievable.

"The Hateful Eight".  8.0 stars out of a possible 10.  Great musical score, outside scenery shots, and collection of characters that keep you guesing untill this master of dramatic story-telling reveals their true intentions.  A little too bloody for my tastes.  Had Quentin dialed that back, just a scotch, I would have vaulted this movie to either a 9 or 9.5 rating, he was very close to having the best movie of the year.  

"Star Wars Episode XII: The Force Awakens".  8.0 stars out of a possible 10.  The blending of old Star Wars characters to the introduction of new ones was FLAWLESS.  And the confrontation between Kylo Ren and his estranged father, Hans Solo on that long bridge was probably the best, on-the-edge-of-my-seat scene of any movie released in 2015.  Sure "The Hatefull Eight" kept me guessing and had some good tension, but Kylo vs. Hans Solo takes the cake. And the acting by Harrison Ford here was his best--EVER!  Unfortunatly, this movie has some lulls in it, like late in Act II where I actually looked down at my watch wondering how much time was left in the movie.  The world-building in this movie was the weakest of ANY past "Star Wars" movie, and I thought the main shoot-out scene needed some work.  Also, I didn't buy the Poe Dameron character.  He needed more build-up, and INTERESTING backstory.  Where did he come from, and why should I care about him?  

"Trainwreck": 8.5 stars ot of a possible 10.  BEST Judd Apatow movie since "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" (2005).  La-oved the ending of this movie, Amy and Aarron make-up and make-out underneath the basekball hoop then you pull away to credits.  THAT is how you end a rom-com.  Laughed a lot at this movie, though I was pretty revolted by the blow-by-blow sex seen between Amy Townsend and Steven the muscle-bound love interest.  This is a rom-com of substance and will get you to think about destructive life-style patterns--and this show has considerable heart too: like Amy's heart-felt tribute to her father at his funeral.  Good stuff!

"Inside Out": 9 stars out of a possible 10.  A great coming-of-age movie, with a real cool real life application to the trauma kids feel when their family relocates to a new city.   

"The Duff": 9 stars out of a possible 10.  This is an EXCELLENT, teenage romatic comedy.  I venture to say THE BEST, teen rom-com of all-time.  I really liked the Bianca Piper character as played by Mae Witman.  She's funny, she's believable, she feels insulted by being labeled "the duff" (designated, ugly, fat friend) as is determined to carve out her own unique identity.  THIS is kind of story that teens today need to hear and connect with.  Why?  Because it can get them to stop, think, and then live happier and more fulfilled lives.  I LOVE it when movies have this kind of affect on people. 

 

So there you have it, my favorite movies of the year.  And as a bonus the following is brief assement of some other major releases that I saw in 2015 that didn't fare so well:

I wish, Bodhi, who ISN'T played by Patrick Swayze, I wish...

"Point Break" (the 2015 remake): 3.5 stars out of a possible 10.  The belief system of the villains is stupid, and that's a key buy-in to this movie.  The villainous group in this remake can't hold a torch to Patrick Swayze and his gang of crusading surfers in the original movie. The hero however, the extreame sports motorcyle guy, was an improvement over Keanu Reeves, but then again, that too isn't saying much, because I never liked Keanu Reeves vocals in speaking his lines, especially as a front-line hero that I'm supposed to be rooting for.  Did like the machine gun shootout and coresponding chase, but in the end since I don't care about the villian's fool-hearted quest, my investment in the story is limited.  

"Teminator: Genysis": 3.0 out of a possible 10.  Liked the new angle on the Sarah Conor/Klye Reese love story.  Thought that was some good re-imaging.  Arnold works too... But recycling the rest of this, just dindn't prove intentive enough for my liking.  Not worhy of either achieving good to great sci fi.  Rather this movie aims more at rip-off medicorcity, so that's how I'm going to score it. 

"Specter" 2.5 out of a possible 10.  Can they PLEASE stop making James Bond movies.  It.  Is.  Totally.  Played.  Out!!!   And, NO, casting a new actor as James Bond isn't the answer.

"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2".  2.5 out of a possible 10.  Never undstood how the gaming traps worked that slowed down the resistance's march on the captal.  The underground monsters were a totally out-of-the-blue distraction that looked misplaced.  Very uninteresing love triange between Katnis, Peta, and the other guy.  Needed a stronger villain presence too.  

"Avengers 2: Age of Ultron" 2.0 out of a possible 10.  Already totally sick of this mish-mash collecton of superhero and their only on the 2nd movie.  Morton Downey Jr.s' "Tony Stark/Iron Man" is still worth watching as is Scaret Johhanson's character, but the the rest of them?  Bag it.  They all suck!  And as for the villain, not interesting enough, and that's sad because I'm a HUGE fan of casting James Spader as a villain, as I still remember his acting in "Wolf" (1994: Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pffifer). 

Ran out of things to bash and praise.  Overall, I think most movies I saw in 2015 were good ones, but their are no iconic, lock-solid classics in this group, though though charms of "The Duff" and "Inside Out" do come the closest.  Sorry to report but looking ahead to 2016, I don't see much hope of better releases on the horizon.  Was really looking forward to the new Star Wars movie coming out in 2015, and that that's come and gone, I don't see anything else on the near horizon that's of special note.  Now I am looking forward to seeing how the filmmakers chose to contiue the story of Derek Zoolander in "Zoolander 2", but lets face it, that curiousity is not even in same ballpark with the "Star Wars Episode VII" antisipation that I had.  Curious to see what J.J. Abrams choses to do next.

I'll close this post with a special highlight of who I consider the biggest, breakout star of 2015 to be.  And that would be Amy Schumer, the writer and star of the hit, raunch-com "Trainwreck".  Really hoping that Amy goes back to her 1/2 hour comedy varriety show on Comedy Central, "Inside Amy Schumer".  I was really enjoying watching her perform in skits.  Still, whatever she does in 2016 and beyond, she has one fan in me who will be tuning in, curious to see what other tricks she has up her sleeve.

 

Mining the Mindfields of the Mind

Sooo glad that 2015 is over and a new year has begun.  2015 was a bad year for me on a creative, productivity standard.  My ONLY goal for 2015 was to make progress editing my epic fantasy novel, of which you learn more about by clicking on my sidebar link--if you really want to know.

For 2016 I really have no additional goals.  Much of my goals are dependant on how productive I am editing my novel.  Like the breakdown into a three-part movie.  Gunna happen eventually... BUT the real drawback for me now is the FACT that I'm drawing so much more out of what I've already written and adding some key, new details to the story that I think are gong to take it to much higher level.  But in order to get there I must...

Mine the mindfields of my mind.

Is that a bizzare way to put it or what?!

Okay, so in 2015, and even earlier than that, what was holding me back from getting more out of my mindfield...?  Easy:

• Booze.  I drink too much.  Not so much that I consider myself a raging alcholic, but enough so that it affects my progress and writing productivity.  Like now on New Years Day as I sit here, I'm hungover as fuck.  When I've had too much to drink the night before its easy to lapse into "lazy rewriting" where I just re-listen to my work and dink around trying to improve the sentence sound and flow.  
• Organization and goals.  I don't really have an organized plan or enough intermediate goals other than just finish the story and writer a three movie adaptaion.  

O-kay so what kind of innermediate goals COULD I have which would lead to greater prodictivity?

• Print-out my character bios, then later update and expand upon them.  Too much in my head and not enough on physical paper right now.
• Start a chapter-by-chapter synopsis summary featuring the beats of the story.  Beats are where plot points or descion places happen. 

Ideally I would like to have more done on the three scripts that going to come out of this novel too.  BUT with the deepening of the story and how I'm improving it, it would be kind of stupid and counterproductive to work on that right now.  So as I write I occasionally write myself notes of what needs to be changed in doing the adaptation.  

I have been camping on in two places for a long time.  But its only because I'm mining those areas of the story..  Seeing what's in the walls where I'm walking on both sides, both the heros and the villians.  Though my progress has been slow, sometimes the ONLY way to find gold in the mind you're in is to camp out and do some digging.  Knowning all the pathways through the mountain is not enough.  You can have a elaborte trail, but if there's no gold or silver found along the way, what's the point!   And every time you shake your gold pan, doesn't mean you'll find gold.

There is a throughness in writing well that requires time.  Maybe it's taking me so long because I'm not a very good writer.  I'm willing to accept that critisism and live with it.  But what I'm not willing to accept is leaving the mind shaft before I've mined all the gold out of it that I'm capable of getting.  So what a better writer would be furhter along with this story than I am.  God didn't give THAT writer this story, He gave this story to me!  I'm a very happy with what I've got--it's just not as deep and rich as I BELIEVE I can make the final product be.  

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.  I win when this story I'm working on is compared favorably to C.S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia" and Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings".  THAT is the brass ring.  The gold standard.  My ultimate ambiton.  If I acheive that, I'll be happy.  Winning an award means nothing to me.  Fame and prestigue mean little to me.  Being compared favorably to the all-time greats is what matters.

I have very lofty goals and ambitions.  I want to affect society in a positive way.  I think America and the world had drifted far enough away from God, and I want them to go back.  Go back to the loving arms of the Father.  Realize that salvation through Jesus Christ is His plan, not man's.  I have heard unbeliever's agruements about trying to justify their own atheiesm, and take shots at Christians for their faith.  I try not to judge such people, because I don't know all the contributing factors that led them to take up such beliefs.  Truth is truh.  Either Jesus is the Son of God, or He isn't.  I belive he is, AND that the Holy Father's plan of redemption was a good one. I chose not to find faults in the Godhead's logic, but rather put myself in place where the Godhead can used me for Their glory and as a choice, yeilded intstrument, rather than being a cantankeous, fault-finding jackass, who make likfe harder for everyone around them.  

The mine fields of my mind are rich.  Rich with creative thought, and iconinc character with legedary character arc that going to bring great joy to billions of people someday.  E.C. Henry WILL make this world a better place by the stories he writes.  I am a Thomas Kincade of this generation.  I will not leave this generation in a darker place, but rather will alway seek to fill the room with awe and wonder.  

A new day is dawning.  Someday my time in the mine will be complete.  And when I come out there will be abundant gold and riches for all the world to see.

Happy 2016!  I hope this is great year for all you readers of this blog and that you contiue to come back periodically and see what progress E.C. is making, mining the mindfields of his mind!

E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA