Brian Basham

Follow me as I run from Godzilla while trying to fight back with PEZ Guns and Confetti Bazookas.

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Sign for the bookstore display! #bookstagram #books

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Bookstore Christmas display at work featuring my book! #bookstagram #books

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Naptime! #dogsofinstagram #dog

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Review of Miss Sloane

I have a lot I want to say about this film, but first off I want to address the controversy that has been surrounding this film. Specifically the way it has been marketed as anti-NRA and the backlash of low rating reviews from people who have not seen this film. Yes this film does tackle the issue of gun control, but it is a very minor theme throughout the film. Both sides of the argument are given equal time. One of the characters is held up as a hero for shooting someone in this film. I’m not sure the actors, writers, and director all subscribe to an anti-gun stance even though the main character’s goal is to pass a gun control law that basically closes loopholes that most people agree need to be closed. It seems ridiculous to me that people are railing so hard against this film when they haven’t seen it because of this issue.

The main theme of this film takes more of a feminist angle. It shows what men in power do to women who dare to oppose them. That is the main battleground throughout the film. The main “bad guy” makes it clear that he wants a lobbyist to dress up and shoot pink rifles to sell guns to women. Then when he is opposed he doesn’t just want blood. He wants her to be destroyed financially, politically, and professionally in any way possible. The henchmen then go to work trying to dismantle and destroy the main character. I know this won’t make many of the people who are giving the low reviews want to see this movie, but the main character is the kind of strong, intelligent, assertive, no nonsense type of character that you see in other thrillers and action films that they love. That is, if you ignore gender, which is a ridiculous qualifier.

If you take away all the political angles and look at the story it is fantastic. The twists and turns throughout will keep you guessing up to the end. There are a few moments that foreshadow what is to come, but they don’t beat you over the head to the point of being predictable like nearly every film ever. This is the best political thriller I have seen in a very long time. Whether you agree with the politics presented in this film or not, the main character and the way she pushes the story are worth watching. Of course it is much easier to stick with the film if you agree with the main character or if you realize that it is a fictional story. Apparently this fiction hits too close to home for some people who think the government is going to take their guns, which is ridiculous and not what the movie is about in the first place. If you are at all interested in Miss Sloane I highly recommend you go see it.

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First autgraphed copy sale! #weeeee #books #FirstSale

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This is what I will carry the autographed copies of my novel in. #oldschool #donaldduck

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Movie Reviews!

There have been so many great movies that have come out lately that I don’t know where to start. I have been slacking on my movie reviews because they really aren’t a priority for me at this time. It is easier for me when I have films that I love to rave about. I’m going to tell you why writers should watch these movies.

Doctor Strange

Writing any story that involves time travel can be a tricky business let alone making the story entertaining on top of that. Marvel films have been able to craft a perfect mix of humorous and serious moments that deserves scrutiny from anyone who likes to tell stories. This is another in what is becoming a long line of successes from Marvel Studios.

Arrival

This is a slow moving, but still a SciFi masterpiece, I don’t expect this one to be everyone’s cup of tea. Writers, especially SciFi writers, should see this film. It spins a tale touting the power of the written word. It has some very interesting ideas about language that I feel like every writer could benefit from.

Bleed For This

This is your standard boxing biopic except it isn’t. If you are lacking motivation or people are telling you that you can’t follow your dreams then you need to watch this movie. You can do anything you put your mind to. It IS that simple.

The Edge of Seventeen

This is for all of the teen aged angst you could want. My novel is YA and I have to remind myself that young people make mistakes. They make them over and over again and feel like the entire world is against them when they fail. This film isn’t as funny as I hoped, but it is a good drama about love and family.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

This film is actually based on a novel, but probably gives the least amount of lessons on storytelling. As a writer I would suggest you read the book. You are more likely to enjoy it and get more out of it as a writer. This film is full of charm and longing and the character that best exemplifies that is played by Dan Fogler. Yes he is the guy from Balls of Fury, and yes that is the comedy about ping pong.

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This is only a test.... of the emergency awesome system.

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Voting has been done. Now puppy can go back to barking at random noises outside. #ivoted #VOTE #election2016

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Puppy thinks the box is for him. What's in the box??? #mystery #box

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LOL @ Twitter bots. #Twitter #bots

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Puppy dog logic: YOU SAID MY NAME NOW YOU HAF TO PET ME #dog #logic

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The Accountant

Meant to post this earlier, but life...so here we go. This is a decent action film masquerading as a thriller. All of the twists are predictable to the point that they are more like slight turns in the story, which I found to be disappointing. It gives you enough at a slowish pace to hold your interest, but lacks any significant payoff. The acting is good, but the film relies heavily on Affleck's performance. As much as I love Anna Kendrick, her role was a minor one. I found The Accountant to be entertaining if a bit lesser than what I expected.

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The lake that is my street currently. Water is a couple feet past the sidewalk. #hurricanematthew (at Viringia Beach Va.)

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The Girl on the Train

I want to start off by saying that I have not read the book yet. I started it, but haven’t finished it. The book is almost always better than the movie. If you have read the book already then you will probably be disappointed by the film. Especially with a story like this where part of the charm is in the twists and turns in the story.

With that said, I liked this film. The story had many satisfying twists and turns. I absolutely love Emily Blunt. She is fantastic in this as the girl on the train. What detracts from the film is how they try to show blurry memories which can confuse the story a bit. I can see how this would be an important part of the story, but they fail to consistently establish that these scenes are memories. Trying to show them in a drunken haze muddles things further and has you questioning what is real or fake. Even for me, someone who loves these kinds of stories, this movie falls short of what it could have been.

I did also want to mention that this movie features women who have been abused by men and some of the things they go through. Talking about this film gives an opportunity to talk about sexual, emotional, and physical abuse of women which all too often is glossed over or ignored. I get that it is an uncomfortable subject, but if we don’t discuss it then nothing will change. Men need to listen to and support women on this subject. All too often we ignore and dismiss their pain when other men are the cause.

[captainanaugi]

Japanese History

EVERY TIME

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oda nobunaga irl

anime oda nobunaga

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Imagine somebody doing this with Theodore Roosevelt

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I give you

anime Ben Franklin.

[nerdangels]

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i present to you, the trading card game Force of Will

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oh, how could i forget leonardo da vinci

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Please write “Sexy Anime Girl, Rasputin” as the cause of death on my autopsy.

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I’ll take the anime Nobunaga any day!! ^_^

[dreamsofamadman]

This hurts it all the right ways.

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Amazing. Love the card for Madison while trying not to stare at Rasputin

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The Birth of a Nation

I stopped posting movie reviews on my regular blog, but I have not stopped going to see them. Instead I will focus more on writing there and post movie reviews here as I see them.

Tonight I saw The Birth of a Nation. This movie tells the story of the Nat Turner rebellion. I have seen a lot of people both praising and condemning this film. I don’t want to address the rape allegations or the the other reasons people are panning this film.

What I do want to address is the fact that some people are saying that this movie is hurting race relations and they refuse to see it because of the involvement of the Black Lives Matter movement with the movie’s promotion. This is complete crap. Talking about racism doesn’t hurt the cause to stop racism. It does the exact opposite. Racist people saying racist things as a reaction to talking about racism is what is hurting race relations. You can’t blame the victims of racism for bad race relations because they were talking about how awful racism is. That’s like telling a man who was robbed that it was his fault for having a nice haircut or telling a man who was shot that it was his fault for not having enough lead in his diet.

Some are saying it is bad for race relations because it shows black people killing white people… and these people being silent about all the movies depicting white people killing black people should tell you all you need to know about that argument.

Also this is the history of this country. We HAVE TO talk about it. Ignoring history is a surefire way to ensure that it repeats itself. We can’t just remember the good times. The bad times are when we persevere. They are when we make the changes that improve this “more perfect union”. The bad times are when we show our character. If that character is ugly then we have to take strides to change that and the first step towards changing is to talk about it. Anyone that says we should not talk about racism because it hurts race relations is trying to protect racism. Screw that.

Anyway on to the film. This film has some truly powerful moments in it, but I found it to be a bit disappointing. Nate Parker takes turns overacting and underacting to give the most uneven performance I have seen. There are also portions of the film he absolutely nails. The film hinges on his performance, so the film suffers or triumphs from scene to scene. Everyone else in the film plays their roles well enough without detracting from the main character. The story kind of plods along at a slow pace and it hits a lot of the same notes as other movies like 12 Years A Slave. Birth of a Nation ends up being an interesting historical film that falls a bit short of living up to the hype surrounding it.