Ethan Parke Author Blog

 I talked yesterday about the movie, Grand Turismo, showing the art of video games and what you can learn from them. I also talked about how Red Dead Redemption 2 has some of the most tearjerking moments in any game. I would like to talk now about how it has been five years since it has been released and there are still things you miss in it. I can't list them all because some of them I have not played through, so I will not talk about them. It showed me information about horses and horse terms I did not know about that I can use in books. It is one of the first games I played where taking care of your guns is critical. I have a particular way of playing it, and that is I always play for high honor, so when Arthur Morgan goes on his tearjerking last ride, it will really touch you. A lot of people are not sure if Dutch Van der Lind was always a sociopath or became more of what he already was, but either is possible. That is something I don't think Red Dead Redemption 3 should sh...

 I never played a Grand Turismo game, and when I saw the trailer for the movie, I thought it was about gameplayers competing in a real-life race. It turned out as the true story goes, the people competing in the race were the best players of the game. It was awe inspiring, how David Harbour's character initially thought the gamers would not know anything about cars, but it turned out the one who won did. It was interesting to see how the driver saw real-life as if it were in a game. That said, it was about proving yourself, like my stories are, and that is why I would recommend it. 

 I never heard of the Blue Beetle comics. I have always had fun seeing superhero movies in the theater, however, and it was fun to see. The actor playing the title character gave a good performance, George Lopez was funny, and Susan Sarandon played a good villain. The part when the alien technology chose the protagonist as its host, was funny, as most scenes like that are. The action was creative like most movies like that. The thing I appreciate most though is how one of the villains was somebody who Sarandon told what to think and do after losing his family, which is something I intend to include in my books, but first you will have to read them.  Smashwords.com

 Whatever Amazon has planned for Lord of the Rings, and whatever Disney has planned for Star Wars, nothing will beat the original trilogies of those sagas. I did not get the chance to watch The Rings of Power, and I know people are split on it. I, however, will appreciate anything based on Tolkien's work, being the stories that were my primary inspiration. I am intent on seeing the upcoming anime film, The War of the Rohirrim, next April, mainly because it remedies one of my only issues with Helm's Deep in Peter Jackon's trilogy. That was the enemy forces were only Uruk-Hai, there were no orcs, wargs, and wild men like in the book. In this, the wild men will be the villains. As for, Star Wars, nothing will ever top a New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi, but that doesn't mean there will never be another good Star Wars movie. I thought the prequels were not good movies, but movies with good things in them, and the sequels were good sci-fi, fantasy, a...

 The Last Voyage of the Demeter was fun for any classic horror fan. Based on the opening chapter, in Bram Stoker's classic novel, it tells the story of the crew on the Demeter, transporting coffins that turn out to possess a vampire. There was a lot of gore, which will turn away those who are not horror fans, if you are a horror fan, it is what you expect. That said, being based on a chapter in the most famous novel about vampires, it reminds me of how I study what inspired my favorite authors. I incorporated a lot of that into my books, and if you are interested in reading them, here is the link.  Smashwords.com

In the decades since its release, The Hobbit trilogy, has been split among people. I always thought it got more hate than it deserved. I agree some of the digital effects were used to excess, and maybe it did not need to be made into a trilogy. Too be fair, a lot of it was not Peter Jackon's fault, because they did not give him enough time to think up his vision for it, after Guillermo del Toro left. Even so, one of the additions they made that was controversial in the begging was the character, Tauriel. People were annoyed because a modern audience would feel like a story would need some female characters, which were nowhere in the book. I personally did not have a problem with her. The only thing I could do without was leave it the love triangle, which Evangeline Lilly was opposed to anyway. The trouble was they did not give Peter enough time to think of a point of having her there. What they could have done was have her show King Thranduil he needed to put his side his bigotry w...

 A lot of people thought the first Meg movie was a rip-off of Jaws, but with a Megalodon instead of a great white. That maybe so, but it was still entertaining. You would think it would be the same with the sequel, but there was a little more than that. There were terrorists and more prehistoric reptiles on land. That may have bene the only things they did different in the sequel, but it was still entertaining, and Jason Statham is always entertaining. That said, the monsters and the terrorists reminded me of the books I write and if you are interested in them, and other books like them, click on the link provided.  Smashwords.com

 I am rewatching Disney plus's Obi-Wan Kenobi miniseries. Ewan MacGregor did a great performance as he always does. The action scenes were great like they are in any Star Wars movie or show. The only real problem was the writing. A lot of it would have been better if it were used in the prequels. I would have preferred if Obi-Wan did not fight with Darth Vader. The only reason they included that, was so that he can come to see that Vader destroyed Anakin Skywalker, and therefore he could not call him Anakin anymore. That was to explain why Obi-Wan was calling him Darth in A New Hope. The reason he was doing that was it clearly was not until either the original trilogy or the prequels were being written that, Geroge Lucas decided Darth would be a title, not a name. It is also likely that at that point Lucas had not concluded if Vader was Luke's father. That said, a lot of that is what it is like with my writing. A lot of the things I did not conclude until I get to writing it, a...