Now Very Bad…

Category: Posts

Ford Feeney and the New Hong Kong Cavaliers
Today I published my 500th review since starting a little thing at nowverybad.blogspot.com in 2012. (The review was The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension…)

There weren’t many reviews at that point, as I was just starting to experiment with blogging, including random thoughts and opinions.

Started off doing book reviews mostly. The first review was for my friend Steve Himmer’s debut novel, The Bee-Loud Glade.

It wasn’t until September 5, 2012 that I started doing the 140 character reviews. The first film review was, of course, Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope – my all-time favorite movie. (I actually still haven’t revisited that review to update it.)

Only about 25 film reviews on the blog that fall, although I was already trying to tie into anniversaries and such. Let it drop for a while, then on June 3, 2013 I found out that it was the 30th anniversary of one of my favorite films of all time, WarGames. I quickly put out a new #140RVW on the blogspot site and simultaneously resolved to create a new site, nowverybad.com.

On June 21, 2013, after back-filling the site with some of the reviews I ported over, I published reviews for a few of the Superman films. From that point until summer 2014 I published at least one review every day. To be honest, in 2013 that wasn’t all that impressive, as I was still only writing 140 character reviews. It still took a fair amount of dedication, though, since the business of gathering trailers, posters, stills, quotes, formatting and preparing for social sharing was pretty time consuming, despite the brevity of the reviews themselves. Not to mention the fact that I actually had to watch a two-hour movie in order to have anything to write about.

For that reason (in addition to an increasing dissatisfaction with being limited to a couple sentences) I started writing longer reviews as 2013 wound down, beginning writing full reviews exclusively at New Year’s. The challenge of continuing to put out something every day now that I was writing much longer pieces was still exciting.

Unfortunately I had simultaneously fallen into a habit of trying to match the reviews to major anniversaries. This soon became unwieldy, and eventually sort of sank the daily project. Too much coordination. So after a stumble last fall/winter, the reviews are once again flowing and I’m enjoying them again. I hope you are too…

Some numbers:
- Reviews: 500
  - Number of reviews that are only 140 characters: 231 (46%)
- Types of Reviews:
  - Books: 31 (6.20%)
  - TV: 26 (5.20%)
  - Games: 1 (0.20%)
  - Movies: 442 (88.40%)
Now that I’ve hit the milestone I was aiming for, I feel I can change things up a bit and not feel so locked into any one pattern. You’ll start to see more long-form articles in addition to the reviews.

I’ll try to get back on track with book reviews (there’s a pile of finished books queuing) and maybe some more music posts. I’d still like to get into some interviews and I still need to figure out how to work some Tumblr-style micro-blogging into the architecture of the site so I can post more frequently without the back-end stuff involved in posting a full piece.

Also, I’m taking this opportunity to announce a new group I’ve been planning for some time:

Ford Feeney and the New Hong Kong Cavaliers

With the help of my band of hard-rocking scientists, I plan on breaking through the next dimension, adding video reviews and commentaries. And yes, I have a few openings…can you sing?

Thanks for reading. I hope these posts are interesting and fun for you…

And remember, NMWYGTYA…

MTFBWYA,

Michael Ford Feeney
March 31, 2014
March 31, 2015
On biting off more than I could chew…or, “man’s reach exceeds his grasp”…

On biting off more than I could chew…or, “man’s reach exceeds his grasp”…

Yeah, the posts slowed nearly to a stop for a long while. Sorry about that. Was a busy fall and it’s not slowing up this winter. One of the main reasons I tried for so long to keep to a routine of a review every day was that I know me; once I fall out of a schedule like that, it’s very hard to get traction again. I tend to over-analyze things and let great be the enemy of good.

The real trouble I got in was that when the days were getting shorter and I should have been happy to just knock out some short posts and keep the momentum going, I let myself fall into the trap of over-scheduling. There were a ton of anniversaries that I felt I needed to hit before the year was out and instead of just reviewing what I wanted or had just seen I was obsessing about getting all the ones I “needed” to do in as I was running out of days of the year. I made the further mistake of starting up a couple of series that would require more work and didn’t publish stuff I had already written to focus on the series. Finally, I was stressing myself out with trying to time the reviews so my rapidly approaching 500th review would be something memorable.

So I’ve definitely got my New Year’s Resolution sorted for me. No more worrying about what movie is celebrating its whatever anniversary and syncing reviews to topical events and that kind of stuff. I’m also likely to start using less imagery in each post – I’ve slowly gone from 140-character reviews with 1 still to hundreds of words and as many as 10 pictures per review, not to mention trailers, posters, schema, database info, quotes, Representation Test, Bechdel Test for EVERY post. It’s too much.

So to get back on track and build up some momentum again, I’m going to just knock out some 140 character reviews and fill in with full reviews. You’ll start to notice that some of the reviews seem out of time, like the reviews that I wrote for major anniversaries but never published or completed in time. Tough.

“A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow”…

February 8, 2015
Now Very Bat…75 years of Batman

Batman turned 75 years old earlier this year (2014). In recognition, we are rebranding our site for one week to Now Very Bat… and focusing on the blockbusters, the smaller films, the comics and the video games that feature the Dark Knight.

The first superhero I was aware of may have been Spider-Man. I remember seeing him in a department store as a kid – he gave me a Spidey ring that I may still have somewhere. I saw him on The Electric Company and maybe the newspaper. I will always have great affection for the web-slinger. And I loved Supes. I knew the music from Superman: The Motion Picture as well as any of John Williams works and still love the Man of Steel. (The man, not the movie Man of Steel – that sucked.) But Batman was always my favorite.

Partly it’s because he’s just a man. Incredibly strong billionaire, yes, but still just a human without superpowers. Partly it’s because he fashions himself as a detective. The idea that his first instinct when fighting crime is to use the same methods as the police somewhat lessens the vigilante stance. He uses his head more than his fists.

But more than anything, he’s just cool. He looks cool, he has cool gadgets, he hides in the dark and scares people. He was the first superhero to choose to do what he does; he had a backstory, not an atomic-era accident that turned him into something. That darkness is what keeps the character fresh.

Most of that darkness is thanks to Bill Finger. I won’t be reviewing it here, but check out the 2012 kids book Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman by Marc Tyler Nobleman & Ty Templeton. Amazing that it would take a children’s book to truly bring the full story of Bill Finger to life. As the title suggests, Bill was the unsung co-creator of Batman. His part in bringing to life one of the most popular and beloved comic characters of all time was unknown to most people, and even those who were aware there was a story there likely didn’t realize how instrumental he was.

The Batman figure and the Batmobile pictured here were left for me by the Tooth Fairy after I lost my first tooth!

Batman had the best writers and best storylines, and he had, by far, the best villains. The Joker is the single greatest comic book villain of all time, and the rest of Batman’s Rogues Gallery could successfully populate any other 5 series you name.

Over the 7 days, we’ll be looking at a Batman title in each of 4 categories: blockbuster film, other film, comic book & video game. So stay tuned to this Bat-Channel!

December 14, 2014
Now Very Beholder…40 years of Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons turned 40 years old in January of this year (2014). In recognition, we are rebranding our site for one week to Now Very Beholder… and focusing just on the films that star or in some way revolve around D&D.

I love Dungeons & Dragons. It was a big part of my life as a kid, it was one of the main ways I kept out of trouble as a teenager and despite not playing in years still holds great interest for me as an adult. I may not have had an active game in decades, but I still consider myself a D&D gamer. It’s the lens through which I view fantasy novels and films, and I still feel protective of the game and the way gamers are portrayed.

I was lucky to grow up in an open-minded, supportive town and school system that never fell in with the hysteria surrounding the supposed dangers of the game. I was even luckier to have two attentive, loving parents that not only weren’t swayed by the ridiculous claims that the game was dark, occult propaganda, but took the time to take an interest in what this thing was that my sister and I were so fascinated by. I remember a lot of miniatures under the Christmas tree in our house.

Games are important. Whether sports, board games, card games, tabletop role-playing games (RPGs), live action role-play (LARP), fantasy football, dice, or playing cops and robbers in the backyard, games are arguably human-kinds greatest pastime. Whether for diversion, entertainment or profession, engaging in games develops vital skills and abilities for life.

Many learned people more erudite than I can and have written pieces on how vital role-play is in the development of imagination, confidence, identity, strategic thinking, and emotional growth. I’ll just say that I consider RPGs in general and Dungeons & Dragons in specific fantastic tools in developing creative and interesting members of our society, regardless of how they experience or participate in the games.

But whether LARPing or sitting around a table, there’s something truly special about the human interaction that really is the root of all of these experiences. I am an avowed tech geek and have long wished for the creation of a great technological system for enabling people to belly up to a digital table and really recreate that experience. (There’s lots of workarounds and tools, but I have yet to see something that really works seamlessly and feels like a suitable replacement for meeting in my friend John’s basement with a group of friends.) But whether you’re in the same room or on different corners of the Earth, all that matters is the human connection.

It’s just a ton of fun. Play Pathfinder or Candyland. Just play…

December 8, 2014
#live

#live: New feature – thoughts & memories on concerts I’ve gone to. Certain to be uneven.

July 9, 2013