I Want to Write

A story about a catastrophe in the greater San Fernando valley.

So.

A small (tiny) asteroid or a large meteorite smacks one of the north faces of the valley. Depending on where it hits, there might be flood or fire, definitely earthquake. Hmm--so building / infrastructure damage. Communication?

It will intefere with traffic (freeway damage? destruction?), tie up the 5 / 210 / 405 consolidation.

LAPD, LASO, CHP--California National Guard? Governor (not Arnold!) declares disaster after touring the area (by helicopter? Humvee?), then governor vanishes from story. Mayor attempts to seize spotlight--worthless promises, touring the area, muscling in.

Militia rises, asserts itself--local emergency response clubs...Hmm...Some become leaders, some become food agents, some lead the way out of the area...Hmm.

So. "The Great San Fernando Valley Disaster"? Maybe.

Thoughts Upon Having Read Jon Land's "The Seven Sins: The Tyrant Ascending"

My God, this is terrible writing. And he's a successful professional writer...

Thoughts Upon Having Read John Ross' "Unintended Consequences" For the Fourth Time

Gah. That's a big book. More minor details stood out--FN continued to develop the Browning automatic rifle, culminating in the model D (Wikipedia has an interesting article on that)...gosh, I don't know what else.

Thinking about the plot, that's big too. But we're not at that point yet, and I hope we never get there. Purposeful, self-directed, political / bureaucratic assassination is somewhat too anarchic for my taste.

The writing is terrible. But Ross finished the book, told an exciting story, created memorable characters. I still read it, so what's he got that I haven't?

Last night on TV

I haven't watched TV on a regular basis for quite some time, because I've gotten out of the habit. But last night I had the time and I watched some or most of three shows:

Supernatural, on the WB

Invasion, on CBS

and Law and Order: SUV, on NBC

So what did I think?

In no particular order:

Law and Order has been telling grim fairy tales for a long time, and is now targeting younger and younger teens as its audience.

Plus the usual liberal kool-aid...

(But remember there's no media bias!)

Supernatural is chasing the X-Files audience...scary enough without being stupid about it, worth another look I suppose.

But Invasion left me dumbfounded. In last night's episode, the good guys chase a rich man's beautiful wife because she's pregnant with an alien baby. (That's bad.)

In the end, she's reported dead (missed how) and the team blows up her expensive, beautiful house. The final shot of that was a good guy walking (walking!) away from the house, down the slope, as the house explodes in the background--no distress, no fear, no remorse, no doubt. (That's good.)

What the--?

Okay, if the slasher movies of the '70s and '80s taught us all anything, it's that having sex kills.

So bad SF of the '00s teaches us that...we learned nothing?

Secondly, the good guys are, um, dweebs. Biologist Girl (Carla Gugino) spent all her time pursuing a Ph.D., Computer Guy 1 lacks social skills (just a guess), Computer Guy 2 is a dwarf with an on-line gambling problem, Charles Dutton is big and black, and the token white guy is very unmemorable.

Nobody on the good guys seems to have sex.

Indeed, they are concerned--obsessed--with people who do have sex.

That is, the bad guys. Well, bad girl in last night's episode.

She's beautiful, sexy, strong, smart, seemingly one step ahead of the team, and married to a rich, powerful older man.

God, this sounds like high school: The cheerleader and the football captain, in other words.

And the nerds completely destroy the hot girl who's having sex--kill her and burn her house to the ground.

So the slashers are the good guys, out to keep anyone from having sex?

I don't watch TV anymore on a regular basis...