but i digress

a place to post all the rabbit trails where I inevitably lose my mind.

[katfrench]

Who lives, who dies, who tells your story

Some thoughts on complicated people in your own history, the complex feels of the holiday season, and what happens when life imitates art.

I’ve been thinking about the excellent video from Make Stuff about the use of motifs in Hamilton. I’m going to embed the video, but the tl;dr version is that by repeating words, phrases, musical notes, etc., in a work, you can create layered meaning to evoke complex emotions.

I’m thinking about it in relation to writing, (

View On WordPress

[katfrench]

Prologue

View On WordPress

[katfrench]

Taking a second look at the stories you take for granted

Taking a second look at the stories you take for granted

We tell ourselves a lot of stories about our past, to make sense of our lives, how we got to where we are, and how things might have turned out differently. Every now and then, it’s a good idea to consider whether – or to what extent – they’re true. (more…)

View On WordPress

[katfrench]

How Will The Flash Beat The Thinker?

It’s time for me to make this year’s “how they beat the bad guy” theory for The Flash. Spoilers ahead for last night’s episode, “Think Fast,” and other episodes from Season 4, so … proceed with caution.

And also, I’m pretty good at this theorizing thing, so even though what follows is JUST MY BEST GUESS, my guesses are … usually pretty good.

Okay. Here’s my theory: The minds/memories of all 12…

View On WordPress

[katfrench]

Dark Phoenix Movie Redux

So, they’re making a movie of the Dark Phoenix Saga. Again. At least this time, they have enough respect for the source material to not make it a side plot. It’s the whole damn point of the movie. As it should be. Even so, it’s a lot to bite off in one film.  As a huge fan of the character of Jean Grey, and this particular story, here is what you’d need, IMO, to do even the most stripped-down…

View On WordPress

[katfrench]

It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday

I would love to say it’s been a busy summer, and in some ways that’s true. Mostly, it’s been a summer when I didn’t feel much like talking. Or writing, although I did it anyway because I like being gainfully employed. My eldest moved out in June, and my youngest is starting 8th grade today. I’m feeling melancholy that by the time I was able to work from home, both my kids were too old for it to…

View On WordPress

[katfrench]

A world of pure imagination

"A world of pure imagination": wherein I decide to tackle a new medium. #interactivefiction #textgames

One of the hardest parts of writing for me is making choices. I’m an INFP, and the “P” means I prefer leaving things open-ended. Every story has multiple paths it could take. Many of them are equally interesting. A few months ago, I read an article on SWFA.org about Twine, a program for creating interactive fiction. It brought back all my memories of text-based videogames like Shadowgate and…

View On WordPress

[ebookporn]

The Amazing Story Of Kentucky's Horseback Librarians

In the years after the Great Depression, President Roosevelt enacted The New Deal to help get people back on their feet.  This allowed for some truly creative projects to spring up, and one of them was the Pack Horse Library Project of Eastern Kentucky.  

The people of the Eastern Kentucky mountains had been hit hard by the Depression, and many of them had little connection to the outside world.  This project brought in librarians from around the state and charged them with establishing routine library services in the remotest of towns.  Though many were skeptical of the program at first, demand for books and magazines could barely keep up with demand; further, the librarians also brought news, comfort, and contact to a struggling people.  

READ MORE

[katfrench]

Every now and then, I read something extremely cool about the commonwealth where I was born. This is one of those moments. 

[katfrench]

The Flash - Thoughts after “Infantino Street”

This is not a recap, because I have zero time to write one. Just a few thoughts in the aftermath of “Infantino Street. Spoilers ahead, y’all. 

1. My “How Team Flash Can Beat Savitar” theory survived the episode mostly intact. The basic idea that the only way to beat him would be to let him (and Barry) believe he’d killed Iris is still viable. But instead of a time remnant or a shape-shifting meta, the smart money is on H.R. using his transmogrifier to take Iris’ place while Savitar was running around and Barry was attempting to shoot him with the bazooka. H.R. had means (transmogrifier), motive (guilt over ratting her location out) and opportunity.  I am now upping my confidence in this amended theory to like, 85 - 90%. 

2. If that’s the case, they’ve already defeated Savitar. He told Killer Frost the reason he can’t avoid killing Iris is “It’s her or me. If she doesn’t die, I’m never born.” By that logic (such as it is) the minute Barry sees Iris alive and discovers what happened, Savitar should cease to exist. Even if he doesn’t, we’ve closed the loop and avoided a paradox, Iris regains at least the possibility of regaining some agency, and H.R. makes amends for his mistake and justifies his presence on the team. 

3. So if all that happens, Tracy steps in as the new Caitlin (dorky female genius) and Julian becomes the new Wells (cranky male genius). We start Season 4 with a very similar team dynamic to what we had in the first season. Yay! Barry and Iris can still get their happy ending. Yay! We get to keep fun and evil Killer Frost. Yay! WINS ALL AROUND, GUYS. 

I mean, H.R. was okay, and I love me some Tom Cavanaugh, but we still have Harry to drop by every now and then. This feels like our best case scenario.  

Aside: I’ve seen people griping about Barry going back in time to get Snart, but Snart was already time traveling. It’s not like he was supposed to be in 1892 Siberia in the first place. 

[katfrench]

How #TeamFlash Can Defeat Savitar

...without deleting Barry’s brain.

Y’all. It is a little wrong how much I enjoyed happy, goofy “Bart” in this week’s episode “Cause and Effect.” Like Iris, part of me wanted to just keep this cheerful puppy version around as long as possible.

Also, I am fully here for Julian putting emojis in self-aggrandizing teleprompter scripts. Even if it did lead to releasing a violent arsonist. Without the release of said arsonist, our team would have lacked the necessary motivation to reboot Barry’s tragedy-drenched brain. See? Cause and effect all over the place. 

ANYWAY... After last week’s Big Reveal that I WAS TOTALLY RIGHT, I’ve been thinking about how Team Flash can save Iris and defeat Savitar. As with my “Savitar is Barry” theory, I’m grounding this in (what I think are) clues the writer’s have already laid out for us. 

Note that I didn’t say how Barry can save Iris and defeat Savitar. Because I think we’ve established there’s no way Barry can save her. Anything he cooks up, or even is aware of, Savitar will know about and build a contingency plan. 

Which is why Team Flash will have to plan it without telling him. In fact, it’s critical that he not only not know about the plan in advance, but (for at least a time), believe Iris has died. 

To save Iris West, the team will have to kill her. Or at least, a reasonable facsimile. And Barry will have to believe he’s watching the love of his life die in front of him, so Savitar remembers it that way, to preserve the chain of cause and effect and close the loop. 

The easiest way to pull this off is for Wally or Jessie to carry Iris fast enough to create a time remnant. We’d also end up with a bonus Wally or Jessie, but that’s not too terrible, assuming they learned from what happened with Evil Remnant Barry. If they give Bonus Speedster some support and love, I’m sure there’s an Earth out there who could use a bonus Kid Flash or Jessie Quick. 

The real Iris goes into hiding. Savitar kills the time remnant while Barry watches in horror, closing the loop of cause and effect. HR shoots Savitar with Tracy’s Speed Force bazooka, which if you’ll remember, we already saw him holding on a nearby building. 

BOOM. Our season is wrapped up, folks. It sucks for remnant Iris, but it’s also a way for Iris to literally save herself, and the rest of the world from Savitar. By making an extra self to sacrifice. Which, yes, is weird.

Admittedly, there are some problems, but creating a fake Iris a different way could avoid those. I mean, we have a team of geniuses who can access the multiverse. Maybe Fake Iris is a shape-shifting meta who isn’t even injured by Savitar, because s/he can just wrap her molecules around the hole in her chest like Play-Doh. Splatter pack in her clothes = Problem solved. 

But I think the general theory of “the way to defeat Savitar is to let him and Barry believe he killed Iris” is solid. This not only ties up the whole Savitar story nicely, it fits the season’s theme: that it’s Barry’s relationships, not his powers, which make him a hero. He’s not a god, and he can’t fix everything all by himself. Teamwork makes the dream work, and all that. 

Which, assuming we haven’t reclaimed Killer Frost by season’s end, sets us up nicely for a “Rogues Gallery versus Team Flash” season 4. Which would rock.

My one niggling doubt about this theory is that I don’t know what that second thing Savitar needs to become “God of Speed” might be. If it’s something that he gets after killing Iris, that’s ... a problem. 

But maybe he needs the alien battery pack Flash is teaming up with Snart to steal next week? (Aside: How happy am I to see him back? Almost as happy as I was seeing Smilin' Barry back). 

If so, I think we’re good here. Savitar will just steal it from the heroes immediately after they steal it, and they’ll all be like, “Damn. This is literally exactly what happened with the Philosopher’s Stone,” and then things can proceed as I’ve described, with a brief side mission to steal the battery for Tracy’s bazooka back.

I have less confidence in this theory than my “Savitar is Future Barry” theory, because HOLY COW, people, did they ever foreshadow the sweet bejeezus out of that. It does play nicely off the pieces they’ve set up, but it’s not a total lock. I would say I’m about 60-70% confident in this theory. 

We shall see. 

[beyonslayed]

Azula was one of the best written static characters on ATLA

[guacamoolie]

And they wanted me to believe Zuko weak ass could beat my queen ? TUH

[beyonslayed]

they had to make her have a mental breakdown to give Zuzu the edge smh

[guacamoolie]

*prepares thinkpiece on ATLA*

[beyonslayed]

I just think it’s funny how the only representation of mental instability and neurodivergence on the show led to the downfall of the most powerful female character

[c-merk]

Ummmmm? The most powerful female character was blind though and didn’t have a mental breakdown?

[beyonslayed]

Azula can fly with fire and therefore can avoid detection by Toph’s seismic sense

[innercityblackkid]

CLEARY yall forgot about this lady

she can fucking bend blood… like don’t tell me she isnt the most powerful character 

[guacamoolie]

Not powerful enough to stop her top lip from looking like the crust of a beef patty but ok. Why you so loud for ?

[yeahsheloveshes-deactivated2017]

O m g

[angel-of-death-2015]

Things are heating up in the Avatar fandom

[ourqueenfelinefatale]

Anyway…even Zuzu knew he couldn’t take her on by himself that’s WHY he brought Katara along. But then his dumbass thought “Oh she’s ‘slippin’ so I can take her” but my queen was like YEET! 

[eronthebender]

So we gonna act like Katara didn’t bring Aang back from the dead and stop the rain in a whole ass area? And mastered Blood Bending in like 3.5 seconds, y'all tripping Remember Katara went toe to toe with Azula in the crystal caves and had her ass yanked up in the air like she was about to pull a Mortal Kombat finisher. Zuko had to bring her cause he knew he’d get that ass whooped and needed Katara to win. Respect her gangsta. Also Hama lip looking like Beef Patty crust 😂😂😂

[forza-tricolor-deactivated20181]

[skysworn-deactivated20190803]

[sodomymcscurvylegs]

Katara fucking WRECKED Azula and snatched her entire soul in like five minutes flat.

[goosewithajob]

Not only that, Katara fucking wrecked Azula back in THE SEASON 2 FINALE

She was fighting Azula, Aang was fighting Zuko

She had Azula on the ropes and panicking the entire time. If Zuko hadn’t knocked Aang temporarily away and jumped in to help, Katara would have beaten Azula then too, even when Azula was fully mentally stable.

Even with the power of Sozin’s Comet kicking Azula’s bending up by a thousand, Katara was able to beat Azula in five minutes. Most powerful female character my ass. 

[jennawynn]

I just love that there were enough ridiculously powerful female characters in the show that we can have arguments like this.

[katfrench]

Love this whole thread. Also, I legit included a character in a novella who is my response to the fact that Azula should have been the rightful heir over Zuko. She was a better warrior, a bending prodigy, a more effective diplomat and strategist, and frankly, just more fit to rule by pretty much every criteria. Zuko was a hot-headed tantrum-throwing kid who couldn’t even win the respect of a single ship’s crew without Iroh’s support. Azula managed to overthrow the Earth Kingdom based on sheer charisma and the ability to talk their whole damn secret police into the idea she ought to be in charge.  It always struck me as a shame how her character evolved from merely ruthless to outright evil, sociopathic and eventually mentally unstable. Instead of developing Zuko’s character, they chose to diminish Azula to the point of mental incompetence and moral repugnance to justify Zuko’s ascension. 

[resplendentgoldenwings]

I Like Into the Speedforce and I Totes Ship WestAllen

Barry isn’t looking for distance from Iris, he is looking for distance from his own feelings and the way they have been driving him to make mistake after mistake since his father was killed. 

He still hasn’t learned his lesson from Run Away Dinosaur. He’s closer, he’s grasped the fact that he can’t be driven by his fears, but he doesn’t know how to do that. 

What he needs is time to be calm and think and not be a slave to his emotions. This is actually really interesting. I like this episode, probably the only WA shipper that did.

[katfrench]

Nice complement to my theory post earlier. I agree. Barry is putting himself in a time-out, which, considering his go-to tactic is to forge heedlessly ahead, is a refreshing change.

[katfrench]

Why I think Barry Allen is Savitar

In the last couple of episodes, the villain drops a lot of clues to his identity. As if he almost wants Team Flash to figure out who he is.

And I think it’s because he’s a future version of Barry. Why?

Two times, Savitar says “I am the future, Flash.” And anytime the writers have a character repeat a line, you should pay attention. I think he said it that first time they hooked up poor Julian as their human Ouiji board, too. But is that really what he said?

Or did he say “I am the future Flash.”

I think it’s the latter. I think he’s literally telling them who he is. And if that’s the case, he’s either Barry or Wally. And while I think we are supposed to believe it’s Wally, I am leaning towards Barry himself.

What else does Savitar tell us about himself? That he has ALWAYS been Barry’s greatest enemy, not Reverse Flash or Zoom. If that’s the case, how can it be Wally, who just appeared recently?

Who did Barry just spend an entire episode in the speed force blaming for every terrible thing that has happened, all the way back to his mother’s death?

What if the Speed Force wasn’t trying to tell him that he has to save Iris, but once again, that he can’t save everybody? That Eddie, Ronnie and Wally made their own choices, and he needs to stop with the god (of speed?) complex, believing he’s responsible for everything?

Barry is - and has always been - his own worst enemy.

One last clue, which is sort of a cheat in that it happened in a different show (although we did hear about it during the crossover). When Jax and Grey stumbled on that message in the Waverider from a future Barry, telling them not to trust him. 

We’re meant to think it was just the writers’ way of letting the other Arrowverse characters know about Flashpoint. But what if it was also planting an early clue to Savitar’s identity, long before we were looking?

Was that a version of Barry who was slowly losing his grip after too many losses? Was he trying to warn his friends of what he was becoming?

Savitar says he created himself. That’s intended to make us think Wally, because Savitar did give Wally his power. So is the line about Barry having everything, and deserving none of it. It’s supposed to make us think of Wally’s early jealousy of Barry, who essentially took his place in his family. But Barry also carries a lot of guilt, and doesn’t believe he deserves everything he has.  

If Barry’s losses and mistakes are what push him over the edge, it could be true that Savitar creates himself by giving Barry the final loss he knows he can’t get over. Maybe he’s just doing it decades ahead of schedule.

Supposedly Barry imprisoned Savitar in the Speed Force in the future. What if he once again blamed himself for some tragic loss, (maybe Iris’ eventual death) and imprisoned himself after sending the Legends that cryptic warning?

And in the madness that ensued, turning him into Savitar, he decided to go back in time to create himself sooner by killing Iris, before his “heroic” version could do any more damage?

If Iris is supposed to die much later, Savitar is screwing with the timeline. That *should* provoke a time wraith, which we haven’t seen (except for that Speed Force vision…hmmm).

Which brings us to Savitar’s armor. The final piece of the puzzle. According to Team Flash, it “both does and doesn’t exist.” What does a time traveling invincible speedster, who has easily beaten every present day hero, need with armor?

The armor isn’t to protect him from them. It’s to cloak him from the speed wraith.

Because future Barry Allen - the future Flash - is once again trying to change his own past. That is why the Speed Force doesn’t trust him. They weren’t talking about Flashpoint, or at least, they weren’t just talking about Flashpoint. That is what they mean when they say he keeps saying one thing and doing another.

Because there are two Barry Allens. A hero and a villain.

I may be wrong. It could still be Wally, or HR, or another character. But I don’t think so.

[katfrench]

Digression - March 4th 2017

I've been thinking a lot lately about changing my approach vector. I am a very direct person. Some people like that about me, and some people are put off by it. But one of the strategies I learned a while back is that not every problem can be solved, or solved best, by attacking it head on. Sometimes, you are better off looking at it from a different angle, or looking away from it entirely. When the direct assault isn't working, intentionally switching focus to something else usually results in one of two outcomes. Either my subconscious sparks on an unexpected solution out of the blue, freed from the sometimes wilting glare of my conscious mind. Or in forgetting the problem for a while, the problem goes away. Sometimes, that's because it was never really a problem outside my own head in the first place. Sometimes, my efforts at control and fixing everything was actually what was creating or sustaining a real problem. It reminds me of one of the maxims of Constructive Living. "Feelings cannot be controlled directly by force of will. Behavior wags the tail of feelings." You can't make yourself happy by sheer willpower. But you can willpower yourself into doing things that can influence your feelings indirectly in a positive way. Sometimes, we overreach seeking control, and ignore the power of influence, which is often more effective.

[chrisriddellblog]

Make Good Art by Neil Gaiman.

[katfrench]

Stuff I want to tell my artist kids.

[americasgreatoutdoors]

Take a moment and remember the beauty in this world. This perfect sunset over Bowman Lake at Glacier National Park in Montana will sooth your senses.

[katfrench]

Writing on Rails

A couple of years ago, Amtrak offered a “Writers Residency” based on a random tweet from a writer. I submitted an application for that program, but didn’t get accepted. Still, ever since then I’ve wanted to do my own “Writing Retreat on Rails.” I love trains (at least, I loved them in Japan). I love writing. It just seemed like the perfect combination. This March, my family is traveling to…

View On WordPress