TV and Book List

 I previously stated that I do not watch a lot of TV.

But I thought it would be good to talk about what I do watch and read.

Let’s start with the TV.

I am an anime fan and have been for as long as I can remember (the early 80s). In recent years, though, I’ve become much more discerning in the anime I watch. It sort of exploded, and with that came a host of crap anime simply not worth my time (many of which are quite popular). One anime I am currently watching is Spy X Family. Not sure if that “x” is pronounced, I usually skip it. It’s about a fake family consisting of a spy husband from a neighboring country, an assassin wife of incredible strength, and a telepathic little girl that may be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen (sorry kids). Of course, none of them can let the others know the truth. The spy is wanted and his current assignment requires him to infiltrate the social circle of a certain politician, which is best done by having a child join a specific school and excel in their studies. So he adopts a girl who was experimented on (he doesn’t know that) and can read minds (and she’s deathly afraid that if anyone finds out, they’ll give her up and experiment on her again) to enroll her in the school. But the school requires a complete family, so he had to get a wife. The wife is worried that her solo lifestyle will become suspicious and she’ll get turned into the secret police. She was one of the best candidates on the spy’s list of potential wives, so when she showed interest, he asked if she’d help him make a fake family (she thinks it’s just to get the girl into school). And, of course, her brother clandestinely works for the secret police. The entire thing is wonderfully contrived and hilarious. One thing I noticed while watching it was that I would think “If I wrote this, I’d have such-and-such happen” and then THAT HAPPENED. So of course I want to see more.

I’m also watching One-Punch Man, an anime about a bald superhero who is a hero “for fun” but wants some sort of recognition… and challenge. The problem is, he’s so incredibly powerful that no one can hurt him and he can defeat any opponent with a single punch. I was worried this would suffer from some sort of power creep (as I call it, Dragonball Z syndrome), but, in reality, it makes fun of the power creep, as well as a bunch of famous stories and animes. It’s funny and worth checking out.

Beyond anime, I finally started watching Good Omens on Amazon Prime. The story, based on the novel by the same name, is about an angel and demon who are attempting to stop the end of the world because they both LIKE it here. But Neil Gaiman (who wrote the novel with Terry Pratchett) is taking it further than the book. I must see this. Plus David Tennant is one of my favorite actors.

It would be remiss of me to leave out the show I probably “watch” most often: Bob Ross’ Joy of Painting. Of course it is mesmerizing to watch a splash of color suddenly become a mountain. But I don’t really watch it as much as leave it on in the background while I am working. It’s not intrusive and provides enough background noise to distract the ADHD part of my brain.

There are several shows that I cannot recommend enough, but as I am not currently watching, I will talk about them later.

As for what I am reading…

I am pleased to say I finally finished The Hunchback of Notre Dame (unabridged) by Victor Hugo. It only took me 30 years. Granted, I stopped halfway and only came back to it recently.

I’ve been reading some light novels, Spice & Wolf by Isuna Hasekura. There are 24 or so as of this writing. They are short, easy reads, but I enjoy them. The premise is that a wolf “goddess” of harvest, Holo the Wisewolf, left her village and began traveling with a 25-year old merchant, Kraft Lawrence, to her homeland far in the north. Of course there’s a romance angle, but mostly Holo just loves teasing him. The reason I particularly like this series, though, is that it tackles something I’ve never seen in a novel before: economics. It’s almost entirely about business and economics and how they would work in a fantasy world and the ways people might try to work the system. Sounds boring, but it’s quite fascinating. There is an anime, but that only covers the first 4 or so books. 

The next thing on my reading list is Her Unwelcome Inheritance by J. Aleksandr Wooton. This is the first book that my publisher released, and I know the author so I owe it a good reading. I will let you all know my impressions. (Of course, if I get the 10 or so Spice & Wolf books that I asked for for Christmas, it will be hard resisting their temptation.

My New Years Resolution this year will be to read at least one novel a month. I might adjust this goal depending on how it goes.

The Dragon Prince

I have been watching some kids' shows (which is something that I get to do quite often given my occupation).  I thought I would give some of them some reviews.  My qualifications?  I'm a writer.  And as such, I will judge them on their writing, and possibly a bit on their acting.  And perhaps my poor opinion on their art.


So here it goes.

Netflix's The Dragon Prince
(with very mild spoilers)


I was pleasantly surprised.  You might look at this and see its animation as modern-day rotoscoping, but to be honest it works.  And as such, I expected it at first to be nothing more than a simply fantasy with dragons and elves.

But it is so much more.

First, the writing is truly exemplary.  The villains are good people in their own eyes, as they should be, and it is more than possible to see their points of view.  Some are even capable of heroic acts.  But they are capable to truly villainous acts that you wouldn't normally see in a kids' show.  The heroes are also flawed, but in very human ways.  However, it's the ways in which the characters are strong, and represented, that make this show extraordinary.

Like Avatar: The Last Airbender, and The Legend of Korra, The Dragon Prince pushes the boundaries of what is allowed in childrens' programming.  We start out with an interracial royal family, nothing too major... only to fid that the king's sister-in-law is deaf.  Yet, despite being deaf, she is strong.  She's a general who takes on foes even when she is at a disadvantage, because it is the right thing to do.  We have Queen Sarai, the closest advisor to her husband and a warrior like her sister, but who stands up against her husband when it is the right thing to do - and then supports him even when she disagrees with him.  Then, there are the two queens of the neighboring kingdom who are in love and even share a kiss on-screen.

The show deals with some heavy issues as well.  Sacrifice, the loss of loved ones, betrayal and redemption, trust, loyalty, truth, broken families, love.  Actions have real consequences, something rarely seen in a show for kids.  Halfway through Season 2, one of the characters gets paralyzed.  The characters almost all have to deal with real grief, and they do it in realistic ways.

Beyond that, the writing deals with the fae in ways that you usually only hear about when reading stories as an adult.  I am truly impressed at the research and ingenuity.  Magic is not just something that you do - there is sacrifice.  I do not wish to go into details, as I do not wish to post any real spoilers, but I am simply in love with how they write the elves. Especially Aaravos.  And I really like Rayla.  She's the sort of hero that is perfect for the story and for today.

It also is funny, not just to kids but to adults.  It makes modern references for the sake of jokes, but not enough to bring you out of the story.  It can make fun of itself, as well as you, the audience, without being insulting.  The epitome of this is "human Rayla" where she pretends to be a human and in doing so points out all the ridiculous things that we do.  As Ezran puts it, I am a big fan of human Rayla.

A little on the animation and acting.  They really are both good.  The animation is different, but it's not bad.  The characters have incredible expressions.  The magic is awesome.  The character design is wonderful.  And the voice acting is wonderful.

So, in short, I highly recommend watching this show, even if you don't have kids.

How not to be distracted

Wife sits down after putting the little one to bed and gets out her laptop to work on something important.

I turn off The Office so as not to distract her.

Several minutes pass.  "Dear," wife says, "let's put something on.  We don't have to sit in silence."

"Alright," say I.  I proceed to turn on Netflix's newest sci-fi, Lost in Space.  Wife does not like sci-fis. I figure we are safe.

We are not safe.

Netflix did a good job and wife is watching Lost in Space.

"Dear," wife says, "this is too distracting.  Put something less distracting on."

"Alright," say I.  I turn off Lost in Space and start scrolling through the vast library of things Netflix has to offer.  My list.  Action.  Comedy.  Action.  Action.  Comedy.  Intriguing Documentary.  Action.  Action comedy.  Time to look elsewhere.

"Dear," wife says.  "Why not try a nature documentary?"

"Alright," say I.  Perfect idea.  A dry British man droning on about fish.  Even when you're watching it you're not really watching it.  I go to nature documentaries and pick the first one.  Round Planet.  I figure we are safe.

We are not safe.

"The mother Polar Bear gives her cubs a taste of what nature has to offer by repeatedly biting them on the bum...  You just want to cuddle them don't you?  But you better not, or their mother will tear you open and spread your innards over the snow like water paints..."

What the hell did I turn on?

"Dear," my wife laughs.  She cannot say anything else over the giggles.

Alright," say I and quickly turn to something with David Attenborough.  We are finally safe.

British documentaries.  You never know.

Reality TV

I despise a vast majority of reality TV.

I despise it for many, many reasons.  The editing.  The manipulation of its audience.  The subject matters.  The lack of morality.  The fact that it is only so prevalent because it is cheap to make (little writing + high ratings = $$$) and because of a writer's strike.  There are a few that at least attempt to be educational, and I can stand those.  Heck, I enjoy some of them, but they aren't your normal "reality TV" fare.

The reality TV I watch is usually things like Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs, Deadliest Catch, Storm Chasers... picking up a trend?  These are all on Discovery.  There are a few that aren't on Discovery as well.  I had thought that these kind of reality shows were immune, or at least resistant, to most of the negatives that surround other reality shows.  There's no sex, little violence, it teaches you stuff, and the editing can't go THAT far, can it?

Apparently, it can.  Now, for some shows, like Mythbusters and Survivorman, there are hundreds of hours of footage for one one-hour episode, so of course lots is going to be cut out.  But they aren't cutting things out in such a way as to make you think that Jamie and Kari are in a tempestuous relationship when they aren't.  And I really, REALLY hate it when my emotions get manipulated in such underhanded ways as editing.  It is one of the reasons I am skeptical about commercials, previews, and trailers.  And sex... I'm not a prude, but I don't need someone to use sex to sell me something.  This is why I can't really get "into" Game of Thrones.  I'm sure it's well-written and entertaining, as all my friends enjoy it.  But they introduced me to it on what has been dubbed the "porn-episode."  And my gut reactions was this: if the writer(s), whoever they may be, feel that they need to turn to such blatantly gratuitous sex and nudity in order to captivate and entertain the audience, then I don't need to waste my time on the show.

But all that aside, I found out today that, no, Discovery is not able to resist the allure of questionable editing.

I have been waiting for the second season of Gold Rush to hit Netflix, and it just did.  So I watched the first episode.  If you are not familiar with the show, allow me to sum up the pertinent parts of Season 1, as the audience was shown it.

A group of 6 men, Average Joes desperate for money, lease a gold claim in Alaska and have a hard time figuring out how to work together and dig the land.  The owner hires one "Dakota Fred," a seasoned mining veteran.  Fred and the Hoffman crew (the 6 guys) do not get along at all.  At the end of the mining season, the crew finally discover "pay dirt" (gold), and Fred drops the bomb that he wants to mine the land on his own next year.  The crew makes very little, only $20k.

At the beginning of the 2nd season, the crew makes as much in 3 days as they made in most of the season the year before.  They have found the pay dirt.  While they are doing that, Dakota Fred goes to the owner and it looks like he convinces the owner that the Hoffmans are bad for the site, so the owner sells Fred the property.  Because they didn't pay their lease at some point during the winter, Fred doesn't have to honor their lease terms.  He essentially kicks them off the land and decides to mine it for himself, after they did all the hard work.  That is the end of episode 1.  I have not seen further, yet.

Well, that sounds like a rather underhanded thing to do, doesn't it?  I figured there had to be more to the story than that.  So , I did a little online digging.  Fred released a statement about the situation a while back.  I will not claim that this is the truth, but it is closer to the truth than what we have been shown.  Apparently, the Hoffmans asked to be let out of their lease.

Now, that certainly makes him look less villainous, doesn't it?  It's all about editing.  And it is a little annoying that Discovery would do that for their ratings.

I have to ask, however, why they asked to be let out of the lease.  I can think of several other pieces of information that are still missing from the picture.  I would be grateful if anyone could fill me in.

1) Did Dakota Fred convince the previous owner of Porcupine Creek to sell by providing him with... selective information?
2) Did the crew decide to be let out of the lease, or was it all their leader's decision?
3) What fueled the decision?  Was it an animosity towards Fred (who got under their skin because he knew what he was doing and they didn't, but, like many people I've recently discovered (including many on the crew), has poor social skills)?  Was it because they had a better offer?  They needed ratings?

The editing leaves so much out it irks me.  The facts could paint Dakota Fred as anything from a relatively innocent victim of reality TV editing to a walking, talking douche with glasses.  Not surprisingly, people are keeping quiet about the matter.  And this begs another, even more vitally important question.

So what?

So what if Dakota Fred made an underhanded fiscal decision that will land him big bucks?  Does it matter if he's a saint or a sinner?  The REAL truth is that I will never meet the man, I will never talk to him, and this has no real impact on my life.  It is once again a manipulation of my emotions, trying to get ratings by painting someone as a villain.  It is a temptation to sin by trying to make me hate a man based on lies and deceit.

And that is why I hate reality TV.

The other reason?  It can be addictive.  I may still end up watching the rest of Gold Rush, despite the nasty editing.  But I will most certainly be keeping that skeptical eye on things.  Remember, we see what they want us to see.