Ethan Parke Author Blog

 The new movie, Sisu, is a straight-forward action movie telling the story of a gold prospector in Nazi occupied Finland. He finds a large cold nugget and tries to sell it but is disturbed by a team of Nazis. At first, he tries ignoring them, but then after they kill his horse and capture his dog, he starts to fight them. He then sees young women they are holding prisoners and determines to rescue them.  The protagonist has little to no dialogue and they go straight for the fighting. There is not much high art in it, except that it shows how being determined to rescue somebody, nothing will end your life. I intend to write stories like that, and here's a link to download, The Penitent Warrior.  Smashwords.com  

 The Batman stories have always had a similarity to Charles Dickens literary works. There is no knowing if that was always the case, but in time, writers have acknowledged it. There were several episodes of the animated series in the 90s that where the villains were obviously inspired by the ones in Oliver Twist. In the end, the whole reason Bruce Wayne took up the mantle of the bat was because he saw his parents murdered and didn't want anyone else to suffer the same trauma. Many of Dickens' novels are about orphans overcoming neglect and abuse and trying to encourage society in to helping them. That said, I think it's cool that the Dark Knight Rises was inspired by A Tale of Two Cities. You will see influence from Dickens in my literary works as well, but fist you have to read them. Smashwords.com

 With a sequel to The Batman in production, director, Matt Reeves, is talking about introducing Robin. A lot of people are split on this, considering Robin, even if he is the most famous superhero sidekick, to be Batman's Jar Jar Binx. That is, his only purpose is to sell more toys and make kids laugh. But if you look back on why he was written into the comics, you will find he is an important part of Batman's character growth. He helped him see once and for all that not all of Gotham City is corrupted by crime and regain his sense of humor. That said, if they introduce the character, make him at least eighteen, so things won't feel inappropriate. An adult hanging around a kid in the 1940s may have been acceptable, but this is a new century. And also keep the tone, mainly serious. That is all I'll say about it.

 I have written several times about how heroes are as strong as the villains they fight. It is how they remain interesting. It is no secret that I based Jack Stamper mainly on Frodo Baggins, Aragorn, James Bond, and myself, but another hero I used as inspiration is Batman. Jack has a similar origin story to Batman, having his life changed after a night at the movies, the difference is it was his girlfriend that was murdered not his parents. While Batman lives in a city corrupted by crime, with only a few police who actually try stopping it, some working with the crime lords. Jack lives in an alternative version of our world, where the Dark Warlord Janus, is trying to unify all terrorist groups, so he can spread anarchy across the globe, making it a dystopia, similar to what the Joker plans to do in Gotham. Aside from the Joker, Janus is also modeled on Two-Face, as you can guess because of the Roman demigod he's named after, as well as Ra's Al-Ghul, because he is Middle Eastern...

 Guy Ritchie's The Covenant is one of the best movies about modern warfare, I have seen in recent years. It shows the effects it has on the lives of the people our soldiers protect. It shows the power of friendship, just like the kind of story I write. If you are interested in reading them, my latest book is available on any Barnes & Noble Nook device, and at smashwords.com.  Smashwords.com

    J.R.R. Tolkien has said he is a Hobbit in everything but size, and I feel the same way. I enjoy a typical routine of working, bike riding, reading, writing, and watching movies, and am not unhappy with it. The Hobbits carefree and loyal personalities is what drew me to them. I was amazed reading about people who have no qualms about an easygoing lifestyle. I thought it would be cool to live in a hole, that will have no effect on the environment. I suggested the government should try that, and maybe one day they will listen. 

 Ever since I was a kid, I felt the lack of support from my friends. A lot of times, when people were picking on me in school, my friends didn't stick up for me, and I felt deflated. My counsellor told me it was because they were afraid of being picked on, too. I was often furious that the kids picked on me right in front of teachers, and there were no repercussions. As my years in high school progressed, things got better, and I was able to get it to stop.  If that didn't happen, I would not have material for stories. It helps make the characters more textured and develops the relationships. It gives the depth, the action-adventure story needs. If you are interested in seeing the stories that inspired, you know what to do.  Smashwords.com

Renfield was a fun horror/comedy. Nicolas Cage was a good choice to play Dracula in modern day New Orleans. Nicholas Hoult did good as the title character. It also has a nice commentary on what it could be like being immortal and how working for a corrupt boss. It nicely paid homage to everything relating to vampires in the history of cinema and played with all the ways one can kill a vampire in mythology.  It reminds me of how in my books, I often pay homage to classic action-adventure tropes. I am always working on thinking up creative monsters, which is always a challenge. Even so, with a hundred pages surpassed in The Primal Realm, the follow up to my last book, The Penitent Warrior, so if you want to see what leads to the Covert Militia's current adventure, its predecessor is available on any Barnes & Noble Nook device and at Smashwords.com.  Smashwords.com

 I have written the last few days about the worst experiences I had in Middle School and will now talk more about the good things it helped me accomplish. I wrote about how in eighth grade, I had a resource teacher that spent at least half the class time ranting about what he thought was wrong with the current youth than actually teaching. Every time the most minor of rules was broken, he would belittle students. The worst blow he gave me, was one day, in one of my only regular classes, I told a joke I didn't get in trouble for telling two years earlier. He then belittled me saying people in the hall did not respond when I greeted them, and blamed it on the joke, not letting me explain I didn't get in trouble for it previously. After the first time that year, when I was kicked out of my first homeroom, he warned me, in unfriendly voice, that if I didn't convert, I would be put in the behavior modification class. I was furious because nobody would tell people to stop bullyin...

I still don't have anything in the way of movies and literature to talk about, so I will talk more about my inspiration. Despite having a fair share of friends, I was still bullied nearly everywhere I went. I wrote last night about how if my friends were there they did not stick up for me. It is related to what I said about being afraid they would be picked on, too, and I felt deflated. One the only people that ever did try to get it to stop, was my best friend that I had a crush on. She always gave me, advice about how to be more like a regular person and didn't act like Asperger syndrome was fodder for jokes. I always confided in her about that, and the only thing I did wrong was I did it, too, much, because I didn't know when to stop. A year before eighth grade, my worst year in school, a girl I had a crush on but was too nervous to talk to about it, moved, and I didn't see her since. I thought doing the opposite would help me keep her, and it didn't. After I was...

I don't have a movie or show to write about right now, so I will talk about things that inspired my writing. It always amazed me how the worst, most hurtful things that happened to you, inspire you to write books. Then again, if they don't happen, you will not have material for books, so you should remember things that happened in your life the good and the bad.  I can't count the annoying experiences I had in school, growing up with Asperger syndrome, when nobody knew what it was. Despite having, a fair share of friends, I was still bullied, and my teachers often had a casual attitude towards it. They always told me just to ignore it, which was not bad advice, but they should have done something about the people tormenting me. My friends seldom stood up for me, and my former counsellor said it was because they feared getting picked on, too. I had several friends, who would only do certain things when I was present, or only pull particular jokes on me. They had no idea, I d...

 Con Air is one of the greatest action movies ever made, even if the plot makes little sense. It is a nice to see an action movie starring Nicolas Cage, where except for his accent, he is not the over-the-top part. John Cusack was entertaining as the voice of reason along with Cage, and it was pretty funny seeing him argue with the Colm Meaney's character. John Malkovich was perfectly cast as the main villain, and it was obvious he ad-libbed a lot of his dialogue. There was, however, a lot of parts of the story that made no sense. In real life there is no way you can transport thirty of the country's most deadly criminals. It was stupid the way the prison guards ignored Cusack when he told him not to touch anything in Malkovich's cell. The story about why Cage was incarcerated makes no sense, when in the end all he had to do was call the police. But it was still a fun movie.  Like every movie I have on DVD/Blue-ray, it has inspired me in some way. What I will use as my infl...

I haven't played a Mario game since I first got my Nintendo 64, unless you count holidays at my grandmother's house, where my cousin kept his original NES console, before she was hospitalized. I had fun playing them with my cousins, and fun playing it unless my little brother directed me and griped about things I had no control over in the game, but I am trying to keep things pleasant. Those were fun games, even if I never actually beat one of them.  The movie paid homage to pretty much everything Mario related, ever since he was created. At the very beginning, when Mario and Luigi first appear they are at a pizza restaurant in Brooklyn and a Jumpman arcade game is next to them. They have fun with things that happened in the game, and commented about how it was not logical. There were funny moments when they joked with the game's power ups, and the games music. They also referenced the theme song to the Mario cartoon series. Chris Pratt was fun as Mario, and Jack Black was ...

 Most movies that have to do with Easter are about the crucifixion, which is important. But what is more important is what happened afterwards, when Jesus was resurrected. There are not many movies that have to do with the latter part, or just have fun with the holiday. The reason I am watching Ready Player One, as I write this, is because throughout the movie, they talk about Easter eggs.  I did not read the book it was based on, but I enjoyed the movie, even if I don't watch it much. The action scenes were fun, even if they were obviously fake. There were a lot of things that were inconsistent, and the villains' schemes could have been explained better. It was still entertaining, though. That likely had something to do with Spielberg's direction. I am not saying he is a bad director. He is good at camera directing, setting up scenes, and creating an atmosphere, but not as good at directing actors, or explaining storylines in short. Even so, he did direct one of my favorit...

 Every Easter Sunday, I watch Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I always felt it fit the holiday, being about a quest to find the Holy Grail. The main reason is, near the end, when Indy uses the Grail to save his dad. The heart of the movie, however, is Indy's relationship with his father. Throughout the movie, the two of them argued, with Henry always calling Indy "Junior" to his chagrin. That gave me an idea I abandoned about Jack Stamper's father call him the same, but abandoned it, to avoid plagiarism.  When I saw it in the theater, just before turning seven, I enjoyed every minute of it, from when the Paramount logo turned into a real mountain. My favorite part, though, was with the tank. I first saw it, with my dad, my brother, my aunt, and my cousins, and when it fell off the cliff, the older of y two cousins asked, "Did it break," and always think back to that whenever I watch it. It also gave me inspiration to write a story that can be an unoffici...

  Since I started writing these blogs, I have said countless times that Lord of the Rings is my favorite story ever written. That does not mean it is my only inspiration as an author. If there's a book I read or a movie in my DVD/Blue-ray collection, it has in some way influenced me. One of the characters that insp8ired Jack Stamper, aside from Frodo Baggins, Aragorn, and James Bond, is Indiana Jones.  What is my most obvious about that inspiration is Indiana's fedora. I wrote already that I have had a penchant for headgear since I was in kindergarten, which is why so many characters in my books, often wear hats. Like Indy, Jack always gets his hat back, if it falls off during a fight. It was how he can easily be recognized, and unique. Other elements of Indy that I added to Jack are his sense of humor. Because everyone has a fear, or a flaw, I made Jack, at least in the beginning, afraid of rats and mice. Though I am not as afraid of them as when I was a kid, I still deem the...

Nobody talks about the movie Free Guy much, at least since it left theaters. I can see some people thinking it would be stupid, but from the advertising I had a feeling it would be a pretty creative action comedy. I like the premise, about artificial intelligence in a video game, and you can believe the title characters reaction to realizing he was part of a game. In addition to that, there was commentary on capitalism. What I mean by that is, there is commentary about how game developers and the media in general, think people will only be interested in stuff they are familiar with. They talked about making a game that is not a sequel or reboot, and the C.E.O. spurned it. All the same, there is no way of knowing there will be a sequel, and I am OK with that, but will also not mind it happening. That said, it reminds me of the way I am trying to find people interested in reading my books. I have gained followers on my Facebook author page, thanks to these blogs. But if you are intereste...

 I nev3er played Dungeons & Dragons, but I enjoyed the new movie, subtitled Honer Among Thieves. The game clearly took influence from Lord of the Rings. That makes it pretty evident why I felt obligated to go see it.  I enjoyed the action and the movie's sense of humor. A lot of it played with cliches, which is always fun. The dialogue was clearly based around what people do when they play the game. That was done when Chris Pine's character talked about the strategies, and if they didn't work, he would make another. There were jokes about wizards and magical artifacts. The dragons were outstanding.