Superheroes!

It’s fan fiction time! The recent “Batman v Superman” film was recently screened earlier today and almost all cinemas have nothing but it on their slots. I intend to see it next week, when some of the dust has settled. But if what I hear is true, I’m up for a bigger disappointment than I’ve expected. You see, ever since I found out Zack Snyder was the film’s director, I never built up my expectations. I knew in my heart that it’s going to be a so-so film – at least, storytelling wise. But high-level of entertainment and flashiness? Yep, Mr. Snyder knows what’s that department and executes them well and proper – Michael Bay should take pointers and not simply blow shit up. But from what I heard, even the action was uninspired. So, I don’t know if I should throw my money away in a film I’m not really excited about, or what the hell? I guess I’ll find out next week.

On the other hand, my brain is going haywire on developing my own fan fiction film ideas for superhero films. And I would want to someday become a film director, realistically, that’s impossible. I could become a scriptwriter though, but that’s a different thing.

Anyway, for the sake of flushing out these random ideas, let me just write them out here. In the future, if Hollywood does something like anything I’ve written, it’s no coincidence. They read it here.

Let’s begin!

Batman Reboot

Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” trilogy was fantasy. It will be a hard act to follow up and Ben Affleck is up against Nolan fanatics. But in any case, if I were to make a Batman film, it would begin in the Cape Crusader’s later years. There will be two versions of this.

The first would begin with Batman initiating a rescue operation for Robin – aka, Jason Todd – ah, ah! Some of you get it by now. So yes, after an intense action scene and Jason Todd can just burn to hell, with a hardcore New 52-style Joker mocking Batman and the corpse of Robin 2.

That’s just the prologue. Years later, Tim Drake enters the scene as a vigilante wannabe. He goes chases after Batman as he goes from scene-to-scene investigating a new douche bag in town who calls himself the Red Hood. But we won’t waste time prolonging the mystery on who the fuck the Hood is. Longtime fans will know about it already and the non-hardcore people will be like, “I bet that’s Jason!” No shit. That’s why it needs to come out ASAP.

Basically, the film will focus more on Drake and the Hood. A few jokes between Bruce and Alfred about the possibility of going into prison for child labor and those stuff. While the Joker will be in it, the Black Mask will be the main villain with Killer Croc on the side. Hell, if I could cameo Bane instead, I’m all for it.

The idea is something similar to one of the Batman animated films, I think the one with the Red Hood title. In fact, an adaptation of that shit with an added focus on Drake would be the bomb.

I’m tired of another reboot where we see Thomas and Martha Wayne getting shot in an alley. I’m tired of the Bruce finding himself and all that. The 1989 “Batman” directed by Tim Burton did this perfectly. And we’ve already seen the entire origins in Nolan’s “Begins.” Unlike what Sony did to “Spider-Man” and what Fox did to “Fantastic 4.” Two origins, come on.

I like this Red Hood setup cause it 1) Dick Grayson has abandoned the Bat to become Nightwing, meaning we get a potential Nightwing film. 2) We get Tim Drake, which sets up a potential Teen Titans film series. While at it, throw in a Deathstroke film, so it collides with the Teen Titans material. If they did that though, people might point out “Hey DC ripped off Deadpool!”

ANYWAY… the second idea for the film would focus primarily on the Wayne-Todd relationship. How he got caught and how he gets killed off, so the sequel would hold a deeper emotional foundation for Todd. Not sure if Drake’s origins here would be a nice throw-in. It would make the plot convoluted. I could discuss why in length, but I wanna talk about the next superhero fan fiction!

The Fantastic fucking 4

Seriously, what the fuck was that last one? Well, whatever. The focus on this one, wouldn’t be about the F4. It would focus on Victor Von Doom. About his early years, about his mother getting burned as a witch, about him and his father being hunted down and dying out of the coldness in the mountains. A “Batman Begins” type of approach where Doom finds himself. Somehow, his genius-level intellect is heard across seas, where maybe a Storm foundation hears about Doom and offers him education. There Doom meets Reed Richards and Ben Grimm. The latter fucking Doom up, which causes him to go back to Latveria

Now, this isn’t exactly The Doom what others have expected. Jack Kirby, one of the co-creators of Doom, said so himself that Doom is evil. Modern versions of Doom depicted him as an evil son-of-bitch who skins people in exchange for demonic powers. That’s fine and all, I just want a lead up to how he became evil, at the same time sympathetic that vanishes little by little as his evilness develops. The only problem here is his mask. It will always be a better story and a better entertainment not to show Doom’s face and keep it hidden behind a mask. But meh, then again Hollywood has repeatedly showed his face, so a third one shouldn’t be all that upsetting.

Well that sums it up

What I might have said is all but garbage, but hey, it was a run thought.

On Nintendo going mobile

The Mobile World Congress is hardly interesting anymore these days.

I’ve only been in the tech business for a few handful years and already I am no longer thrilled upon hearing announcements and reveals of new phones.

What is there to expect anyway? Phones with bigger and brighter screens? Phones with more RAM and more processing power? Those things are expected. Now, if the newest Galaxy S phone ended up having 720p instead of 2K, then we’ll have something serious to talk about why that happened. Otherwise, it’s the same old thing year after year.

One positive thing here, we’re getting phones that are powerful enough to run original PlayStation games. We got “Grand Theft Auto III” in the whatever-app stores for years, and then we’re getting hit by other titles, notably “Final Fantasy VII” and “IX.” In no time, we’ll have most FF titles on-the-go.

If you check out Ubisoft, they have been making a ton of mobile apps and tossing them for download in the Play Store and the App Store. It’s good that more developers are considering mobile as their next biggest step, with VR and that, almost everyone in the world has a smartphone, which is where all the money leads to. So it’s natural the industry follows. Though I’m not saying consoles and PC gaming will go away, they will just have a reduced population.

Nintendo is starting their move to mobile, beginning with the “Miitomo” mobile app. It looks like they have joined the gold rush in mobile applications. If things go awry with the new console, then, at least Nintendo has built a small foundation to move to, at least, for the time being.

Even Konami is claimed mobile is the future. Though I think that’s just a smoke screen, what else can Konami do without Kojima anyway? None. That’s right. None. Kojima IS Konami. Besides, when Konami said mobile is the future, I think they meant mobile is Konami’s future, cause they no longer have a place in consoles and PC gaming. Anyway….

It’s also good that phone makers are taking notice too. Since the iPhone 6 and 6+, Apple has been dedicated in improving mobile gaming experiences. With games like “Monument Valley” and “Shadowun: Dragonfall,” more gamers, both casual and serious ones, are diving into mobile.

Going back to MWC, Samsung has announced that the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge will feature gaming capabilities. LG, as far as I know, despite mentioning VR, hasn’t really said anything too much about mobile games. They did however, introduced LG Friends.

If you haven’t heard, the LG G5 is a modular-ish device. A modular device allows its users to upgrade only certain components the user deems necessary. You can take out the G5’s bottom slider, which holds its battery. Separate the module from the battery and plug another module with a different function into the battery and slide it back in to the G5. The “Friends” part is the upcoming accessories and modules that will make the G5 experience flexible.

Now, this seems to be the perfect opportunity for Nintendo to start partnering with other companies. If they could co-develop new modules for the G5, they will be able to bring out the most out of their new platform.

For instance, Windows (and in extension, Xbox) is having the Oculus Rift, Vive, and HoloLens. PlayStation is getting their own PlayStation VR. What about Nintendo? We got zero information about their VR. In fact, they don’t seem interested to go into mobile for 1) They realize it will be a niche market, and their platform has already been niche as it is or 2) They don’t have the budget and unwilling to take too big of risks, which is a shame – considering Nintendo introduced VR in the ‘90s with Virtual Boy.

Mobile devices on the other hand, are getting a slew of VR headsets, the Gear VR and the LG’s own VR, seem to the most promising, until first four mentioned above take over.

If Nintendo plays ball for a while, they will have a decent market for VR. And even without all this VR stuff, it’s never going to replace standard gaming anyway, but a module that can play 3DS games will be gold. Though, that should require a lot of re-tweaking to accommodate from two-screen to single-screen. Modules that are compatible to Amiibo should make people feel their investment over these figures to worthwhile as it use continues to expand.

Then again, mobile users is a niche market. Not everyone will be interested to play Nintendo games. But, we’ll see. It looks like “Pokemon Go,” is among the first wave of experiments they are going to launch for the company’s hope.

There’s a lot of good stuff lying around for Nintendo to use. We need them to succeed. We all want to. Let hardware issues become someone else’s problem for a while. At least, this should give Nintendo some time to carefully evaluate their situation and how to tackle it. For a long time already, Nintendo has tried to turn their systems, particularly the DS, into social networking devices. Looks like they haven’t changed their plans about it, just switch platforms.

In any case, Nintendo is not giving up just yet in good old console gaming. We still have the NX to look forward to.

The Same Boat

The moment of truth is here. The episode in “The Walking Dead” that will decide the next biggest character kill. Who will it be?

Shit loads of spoilers below.

In previous episodes we got some heart-to-heart screen time with Abraham, Carol, and Glen. It’s almost safe to assume that one of them will be killed by Lucy — Negan’s trusty barbed wired baseball bat.

My money’s on Abraham. They really did go far to make Abraham an insensitive douche by dumping Rosita just like that. If I remember correctly, Abe got killed off without warning. TV shows tend to be a little more ceremonial to its central characters and Abraham has been getting a lot of attention lately. It’s an obvious lead-up to his death. He doesn’t last long during the Negan arc anyway.

In the comic series, it was Glen who got a kiss from Lucy. And that’s not far off from the bat. In the first episode of season 5, “No Sanctuary,” we saw Glen on his knees, a platinum baseball bat lingering at the back of his head. Comic fans would know that this was a premonition. Then there was the death tease in season 6 with “Thank You” and again in the episode “No Way Out.”

However, if we’re going to look at this with some ceremonial farewells. We have to take a look at Enid. A few months ago, she’s trying to escape Alexandria, and we see her writing “JSS” everywhere. To this point we don’t really know what that means. Maybe in the next season, or after the whole Negan mess. I suspect, Enid is with the Whisperers. A group led by Alpha – who has recently done some serious fucked up shit. It was so bad it made both Negan and the Governor the reasonable ones.

We’ve seen Enid and Glen developed a close relationship. If Glen were to be killed off during the Whisperers’ arc instead. That could cause emotional depth toward Enid. Plus, it also unburdens some load off from Maggie – imagine if Glen gets killed next episode, it would be all her fault for striking the deal in the first place, and it would pile up to her whole tragic character role – losing everyone she loves. That would be interesting, actually. It would also be a sort of moral retribution in some way – up until Rick’s insistence, Glen has never killed a human. But we all want Glen to hang out with us just a little bit more. And after the earlier death teases, I don’t think the fans will be able to handle a third situation so soon. Third time’s the charm, really. Either way, whether it’s next episode or by Alpha’s command, Glen will die at some point.

Now we focus on Carol. Nope. She’s way too badass. She’s already dead in the comics, and thus far, the TV show has been loyal to the source material. Except Andrea. She was the exception. She’s alive in the comics and currently Rick’s lover, instead of Michonne. I don’t blame why they got rid of her so soon. She shot Daryl in season 2, and despite good intentions, was annoying during the entire Governor arc. It’s not her fault but the people who directed her to this. Ah well. Back to Carol. It’s no doubt she will die someday but I got nothing.

It’s been a while since any one from season 1 characters died. Who else are there anyway? Rick, Carl, Morgan, Glen, Carol, and Daryl. Not much left really. Any deaths from any of them would definitely strike a raw spot.

Anyhow, place your bets, cause one way or another, Negan will be introducing himself in a way all of us will remember. So buckle up, cause someone important is definitely going to die.

Innards #12

All right, all right, hello! Welcome back! Finally, a new “Innards of an Erratic Writer” post. An update that I actually feel confident about.

I had completed my first manuscript. The first part of a trilogy, which will launch a hell lot of shit in the future. Now that my novel has its bones, it’s time to stuff it with all the meat beneath its skin, add cartilages, develop arteries and blood vessels to make it a sentient, flowing story.

The draft will be sent out to a good friend of mine who will give it a read and would design a kick-ass book cover for it.

In the meantime, the story itself is simmering, and in a few days the edits shall commence.

On other news. I have discovered Robert Rankin and his “The Brentford Trilogy.” Where had this been all my life? I am so happy to have found it just lying around.

My book mission to read the late, Sir Terry Pratchett’s “Discworld” books hasn’t started yet, which I’m ashamed to admit. I’m still reading Neil Gaiman’s “Trigger Warning,” China Mieville’s “This Census Taker,” and “Three Moments of an Explosion,” and Joe Abercrombie’s “Half-A-King.” This is after reading Brandon Sanderson’s “Shadows of Self,” which book cover I am so fond of because the image shows Marasi, and she looks a hell lot like “Arrow” actress, Willa Holland. I swear within the year to read at least five “Discworld” books. It’s the least I could do for an author so much revered.

Last thoughts for tonight. I had written three articles for a website. Each article under a pseudonym. Why? Because I was afraid to write in different styles. Writing under different names allowed me to explore and experiment. And much to my surprise, those articles were well-received and people found it entertaining and well-written. My mind is blown, really. This wasn’t the first time. In the past, I had been sub-editing tech-related articles for our technology section in the daily broadsheet. I am, by no means, an excellent writer, I understand there is much in the craft I need to practice and better understand, but the guy who submitted his article was fucking terrible. And I mean, shiiiit, what the fuck is this? A toddler can write something more creative, more insightful, more technical, and more whatever.

I had to edit it before my editor sees this. In fact, I did not edit it, the article endured a complete rewrite, under my fearless and whimsical writing style. It wasn’t my article anyway and if shit goes down, I won’t be on it.

And huh, what’d you expect, the editor and his assistant enjoyed the article. There was a small glint of pride in me as they praised the story. A little bit sad that I didn’t get credit or even made claims that I have given it an overhaul.

The fearless and whimsical style of writing only manifests itself while under the impression the story will be credited to someone else. It’s all right to fuck it up, cause, it wasn’t my story. It’s a bad habit that I’m trying to get rid off.

The last time I did so, I got scolded for bad writing. So, what the fuck? I’ll never know.