Almost a year after I started, Arcanopocrypha is in a form to be downloaded (40megs) for all to view and whine about. So far, I’m getting really good responses from people and I’m excited to see what doors this will or wont open.

I blame Warren Ellis for this story. And Johnathan Hickman. And Brian Michael Bendis. And I thank them. In the last two years, they’ve been laying down some words that finally triggered in my mind to stop wishing and start doing. Specifically it’s been a combination of “now you tell ME a story” and “get off your ass and do it” and “commitment.” Since I started, and really committing to these scripts, I’ve never been nicer. Since I saw people read my stories and say, “you know, this doesn’t completely SUCK, Bob,” I’ve given myself the benefit of the doubt that I can pull this off.

I don’t think this story, Arcanopocrypha: the Journey Box, is the best. Of course, it’s not the new Watchmen, or anything other that a story that meets my emotional needs. Strangely, I don’t care if you like it… scratch that… I don’t care if you dislike it. Either it’s going to speak to you the way it does me, or it’s not. I hope it does but I’m ok if it doesn’t.

Since my work has become visible, I’m seeing a transformation - of how I see the world, how I see others, how I view myself versus what the world is, how others behave, what I truly am. I’ve always been bitter about the fact that we - humanity - could be so much more. Nicer in every way, but we deliberately choose not to. It’s very similar to the way people say things, “Like that may be so, but I believe in God so it must be wrong.” We COULD be a society that works towards the benefit of all. But we deliberately choose not it because something… else… something in OUR MINDS tells us to stop. Something in our minds is telling us to FAIL, but it’s our choice to listen.

It’s our choice to become authors and artists and creators of our future. Or we can choose to let others create the future for us, which isn’t necessarily bad, but it’s definitely less than optimal. But I’m no longer on the fence about this, and you’re welcome to come with me on this journey, but I’m going to expect you do deliver. And I want you to hold me to the same high standard.

Bob Kelly, April 2009

::snort::

Via the Grinder krewe at Grinding.be - thanks, Xutraa.

Lo, there be Spoilers here
After watching these characters’ lives be shredded, built up, re-shredded and eventually ground into a gaseous mist of blood, there was no other way to end Battlestar Galactica . These characters have gone through the fucking wringer for our amusement and we needed to pay tribute to the characters - the actors, the writers, and production team. And I didn’t mind giving them that moment, after all the “Oh Shit” moments they’ve given me.

A Child’s Odyssey… and Adult’s
From the very beginning, Ronald D. Moore’s BSG set off on a parallel path of the 70s show, and if you look at the two shows, I see one as the children’s version of BSG and the other the accurate one, comparing children’s nativity plays to the sick fucking Passion-of-the-Christ blood and gore. Even down to the Angelic version of characters in this intergalatic odyssey, there’s a kid’s version and the “warts and all” truth version.

BSG was ripe for it’s time: in moment of panic, America was about to declare war on the world to ensure tyrants never force others to obey them. There’s a kernel of painful truth in that last sentence. BSG similarly blockaded the characters into a metal box against a deadly environment. The metaphor wasn’t just spot-on, but obvious.

So, what does this mean to television?
I don’t know. I do believe that episodic TV that has no goal is mind is reaching an end. Personally, while I can’t stand 5 minute episodes like The Guild or Red vs. Blue - funny as they are, the story is never deep enough for me. And excellently written TV is now more rare, especially with the CSI/Numbers/Bones feces-infested shows that insult everyone who participates in them these days. Real science is hard. Real life is hard. Why don’t we EVER see the villain get away and the cold case grow cold, die, and be an bitter pill.

BSG gaves us plenty of bitter pills, from romances that should’ve and shouldn’t to betrayals to the worst suicide ever depicted on tv (Dualla’s). Depressing and horrific. But it made for a compelling story. End to end, BSG left it’s mark on television.

The Cautionary
The cautionary tale of BSG truly is what is the next phase of life. Where do we go from here? My opinion is we go forward. We build the robots. We make the AI. We do it early. We do it often. We do it prolifically. And we make a strong effort to not obliterate ourselves in the process. We do these things like the way we climb mountains: because we can, because it’s there. Moore’s cautionary also comes with the nature of man, questioning the religious effort of people. Having heard him speak a couple times, he’s as brazen as most people get about this.

But still we have billions of people working to perpetrate the myth machines. However, Moore has as well. Making Kara Thrace an angel - or a construct that fulfilled it’s mission and self-deleted, and implying that Caprica 6 and Baltar could see constructs/angels, means there’s a design in the chaos. It’s very ham-handed, deus ex machina, and my rational-minded viewpoint, disappointing. I believe he backed down from the wall of “your religions are lies” - spoon feeding myth-lovers a last minute backdoor so that “everything” end ok because a deity is looking out for these characters.