Fairy Tale Spotlight: We're Civilized! [Short Story Review]

"We're Civilized!" is a short science fiction story written by Mark Clifton and Alex Apostolides. It was published in 1953. I don't know who that other guy is. I came here for Mark Clifton and got a duo somehow. Whatever the case, this story wasn't very good.

The problem that sometimes happens with these scifi short stories is that the science often crosses paths with politics. Whenever it does, there is a good chance that the story written is only good for tossing in the waste basket. "We're Civilized!" us just such a story.

Humans are finally landing on/conquering Mars. There is an alien race there that looks primitive, but they aren't. We take their land because they seem primitive and different than us. It's basically the whole thing with the Indians all over again. It's dumb and not all that interesting.

The sad thing here is there is a very real concept for being advanced while looking primitive. I have seen it done well a few times before. My author friend Shawn O' Toole did it, and Stargate SG-1 did it pretty well too. But this entire story is entirely unimaginative because the whole point of it is to make us feel bad for what we did to the Indians. That's all.

I do not recommend this story. I hope the next ones by this guy are a lot better.

This blog was written on September 27, 2024.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Land of Oz [Amusement Park Review]

I feel like this blog was in the making for my whole life, or at least most of it. I have heard about this place since I was very young, and I never really thought I was ever going to actually go there. But the truth is that after reading all of the canon Oz books, it would be really good to top it off with this one final special visit.

"Land of Oz" is an amusement park found on top of Beech Mountain in North Carolina. It was established in 1970. It is almost entirely based on "The Wizard of Oz" movie from 1939. It has very few references to the books, but it does make a few of them here and there. It may actually be one of the most inconvenient parks to get to in the world. The amount of driving and bus-taking we had to endure to get to the very top of a mountain was crazy. I did it though. It was pretty much the only thing on my bucket list.

The beginning of the park does not drop you in Oz. It starts you off in Kansas. What was really genius about this section is that they leave you on a Kansas farm for quite a lot of time... enough time to get used to it. You almost forget about Oz entirely, even though you know you are there to see it. Actors portraying the characters from the sepia section of the film's beginning put on a show for you roughly more or less like what is seen in the film. They do take a few liberties.

After the storm begins (on a perfectly sunny day, I might add), we all went into Dorothy's house which was such a delight. It felt like I was in a perfectly kept house from the early 20th century. Aunt Em guides you into the basement to get away from the tornado. The area downstairs simulate the dream sequence when Dorothy was passed out on the bed. When you come back up, it seems like the exact same house, but everything is torn up and the floor is tilted in such a way that it is hard to walk. This was a strange illusion because it felt like you were going back into the same nice and clean house but after a tornado had dropped it down somewhere. Really cool.

The scene where Dorothy goes out of the door into Munchkin Land happens to you. You walk out into the light, and you're in Oz. Although the witch was right at the door to say mean things to us. And I want to mention her. She was so cool. The actress who played her was probably having a blast. She was literally there to be horrible to everyone. She would often try and jump-scare people with a puff of smoke. One child actually broke out into tears and wept, and the witch laughed at him and said, "Music to my ears!" Heck, she was there to play the witch, and there was no breaking that character.

The next section was a little hit and miss for me, but it was not the park's fault. My dad, who was with us on the trip, had a minor medical emergency. He was still going along with us as we saw Dorothy meet the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion, but I was distracted by what was happening to him. I still say that they did reprise the songs really well. The actor who played the Lion was probably the best I had ever seen. His voice matched the one from the movie flawlessly. He even likewise used his tail as a security blanket.

The other character who looked and sounded near flawless to the film was the Emerald City gatekeeper. Now, this character was actually played by more than one person, but the one we got was perfect. I loved him so much.

After you make it to the Emerald City, you have one final show to go to which is a recreation of the final scene of the film, meeting the wizard and all that. You can go to this final show whenever you like, but before you do there was a really nice food court. We ate and talked there for a while. It also gave us a chance to help my dad out. He needed to eat. The final show was great. They even used a projector to show the giant face of Oz before the real wizard was revealed.

The only downside to leaving Oz is that you have to go back down the mountain. That means a long bus ride that curves back and forth down a bumpy road. It was kind of crazy, but it was all worth it.

"Land of Oz" is not what it used to be. It isn't just a park where you can go wherever you want anymore. You have to get a reservation in September, and you have to show up on time. Once you are in you have a long time to explore before you have to leave. It's still great and worth the trip. Everyone there was so nice. When my dad started to have issues, both the tourists and the people working there all tried to help him. Everything was so happy and wonderful. Although you cannot be fully immersed into a theme park, there was a certain happy spirit to it all that still made it feel like we really had, in some strange way, made it to Oz. And as inconvenient as the journey there might be, I still wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone of any age.

This blog was written on September 21, 2024.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Possum That Didn't [Book Review]

"The Possum That Didn't" is a short children's book written and illustrated by Frank Tashlin. It was published in 1950. It is kind of a sequel to "The Bear That Wasn't." I actually stumbled over this one. I didn't know there was another book like that, and as soon as I realized it existed... I bought and read it.

Honestly, I think Frank Tashlin may be my favorite young children's author. I was mystified at how well "The Bear That Wasn't" was able to communicate certain problems with humanity to both children and adults. I really hoped that its successor would be more of the same.

It was.

"The Possum That Didn't" is built upon a very simple visual illusion or gag. It is the perception that a smile turned upside down looks more like a frown. The possum of this story likes to smile, but he also likes to hang upside down by his tail. When humans find him hanging there, they are flabbergasted that the poor creature is frowning. When the possum tries to explain to these random people that he is actually smiling, they call him stupid and relentlessly uproot his life in order to try and force a smile out of him.

Without going into further spoilers, the story was written to point out how many people can be busy bodies. They tend to obsessively try and fix other people as if they have the right or necessity to do so. And it's never about the person they are trying to help; it's more about building themselves up artificially as a ethical and moral animal. I know firsthand how this works, because I've caught myself doing the same thing. It sucks.

I'm just going to say this: This book is every bit as good as "The Bear That Wasn't." It really is. I loved it about equally as much, because it dealt with a different human problem in a new and clever way. It was both similar and fresh at the same time. Brilliant.

This book is easy to find, and it is also very cheap. I recommend it. I should also say that his illustrations in this one were very good, as good as the ones in the former book. The only downside is that there is one more of these books called "The World That Isn't," and it is horribly out of print and unfindable for a reasonable amount of money. If I can get my hands on it, I will read and review it. I am now entirely interested in reading this man's entire body of literature (which is only three books.)

This blog was written on September 21, 2024.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Day of the Dissonance [Book Review]

[I do spoil some major things in this book, but I don't reveal the ending.]

"The Day of the Dissonance" is a book written by Alan Dean Foster. It was published in 1984. It is the third book in Foster's "Spellsinger" series. I already reviewed the last two books which were "Spellsinger" and "The Hour of the Gate." My main complaint of those books were they they were presented much too slowly which made them feel like they would stall out. The second book's main issue was that it was much too serious, after the first book was mostly comedy and fun. So how did book #3 turn out?

"The Day of the Dissonance" is still very slow. I suppose they all must be like that. But in this case, I didn't mind. The story is so relaxed and adventurous, I was always entertained and looked forward to see what happened next. Sure it stalls out a lot, but the scenes where it does stall out were genuinely fun and interesting.

The story here is that Clothahump the wizard has fallen ill, and he sends Jon-Tom on a long journey to find a fabled town with an even more fabled shop that will have his cure. Along the way, he joins back up with Mudge the otter and a few more new characters which included a an old ferret, an Amazonian tiger woman with a southern accident, and a unicorn... a gay unicorn.

The gay unicorn was named Drom, and telling you he was gay was a major spoiler. I just could not help doing it since it was one of the best characters in the story, and the fact that he is gay is actually really fun and hilarious. I won't go into how him being gay actually factors in, but it does, and it is handed really well.

The characters get into some of the most dangerous situations in the story yet. Cutthroat pirates, vicious bandits, overweight fairies. They also face off with a magician who was quite a devilish antagonist. All this just to get some medicine!

You know what? I think this book redeems the series so far. I had a lot of problems with the first two, but I really liked this one. It doesn't rely too much on the first two. It recaps you enough so that you can pick it up. I do recommend it, and I may read more of them later on. I am going to take a break from the series though. They are huge commitments and I like to keep up the variety. I am very happy to see one make me so happy though. I am hopeful that the series keeps this up for its remainder.

This blog was written on September 21, 2024.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Kenzie Report [Short Story Review]

[This blog contains spoilers.]

"The Kenzie Report" is a short science fiction story written by Mark Clifton. It was published in 1953. So far, Mark has done good by me. I've been enjoying his work.

This is an amusing "at the office" story about a man named Kenzie and an associate who are so obsessed with ants that they will not stop talking about them. Have you ever had a fellow employee that is so obsessed over one thing that you just begin to get annoyed whenever they go on their usual rants about said subject? Kenzie is one such person. He believes that ants are more intelligent than they seem, and he thinks that communicating with them is an important step in science.

Kenzie works on some sort of gadget that is ultimately able to do just that. He communicates with the ants but accidently uncovers that the ants are actually alien creatures that just colonize planets across the galaxy. I know that seems kind of silly, but I just found this story very endearing and entertaining.

It is rubbish, but imagine if it wasn't. Ants do control a considerable portion of our planet after all. They are everywhere, and we can't actually get rid of them. The story is a bit more nuanced on the matter, but I just think the whole ant/alien angle is super fun.

I do recommend this story. I have enjoyed the first two Mark Clifton stories. Will they stay good? I sure hope so! At least I'm not reading Harlan Ellison stories anymore!

This blog was written on September 18, 2024.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Anomaly Report [Video Game Review]

"Anomaly Report" is an unofficial map pack for Doom II. It was released in 2022. It has 32 maps in it, the same as Doom II. It is not canon, but I had a blast with it.

The story here is honestly the same as Doom II. Even the text scrolls are the same in between episodes. This is sort of an alternative Doom II. A what-if. All the maps are different and the music is brand new. It's all very solid and fun and feels official.

On the music, I really was impressed with the new tunes this one had. A lot of it was very creative. There was one called "Mummy Rags" that ended up being my favorite. It made really interesting use of the harpsichord. I ended up looking it up on YouTube, and I occasionally listen to it just for fun.

The map design and enemy placement were superb. One thing that I really appreciate is that all enemies are facing away from you when the mission starts. I wish this was a rule for the official missions. I never did like starting a map only to suddenly find myself under attack.

Just like in official Doom II there are three main episodes and two secret missions. I could not find a walkthrough for where the secret missions were, BUT I blundered into both of them by chance. The secrets were not as cool as they were in Doom II (being that you ended up going back to Wolfenstein in that one) but they were good enough! I had fun.

The final mission was... interesting. It was kind of easy once you figured out what you were supposed to do. They basically have you fight the Icon of Sin again, which is actually a way a lot of map packs for Doom II end. Surprisingly very common. But I guess I can't complain since the original fight with this glorified wall texture was kind of stupid. I liked it.

If you happen to have the new Doom+Doom II Remaster, you will be doing yourself a disservice if you avoid downloading and playing "Anomaly Report." I do recommend it. Don't worry about it not being canon; it was made extremely professionally. You will feel like you are playing a licensed Id product from beginning to end.

This blog was written on September 13, 2024.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Star Bright [Short Story Review]

"Star Bright" is a short science fiction story written by Mark Clifton. It was published in 1952. I actually was able to predict a couple of things in this one, but it wasn't too bad.

This is a story about a little girl named Star who was a child prodigy. She was insanely intelligent well beyond the years of any humans. In fact, nobody really ever gets as smart as she did. She basically was super human. Her mental powers also involved ESP, telepathy, and eventually she found a way to teleport and travel through time.

The story is told from the perspective of the father. He is not at all anything like her, but the interesting thing is that he can kind of do those things by observing her. He does not fully understand it, but seeing is believing. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Remember anything from the Bible that may be similar to this?

Anyways, I predicted very early on that she had found a way to access a tesseract in order to teleport and travel through time. They were not using that word, but they were describing it to a point where I was just figuring it out. They do actually use that word later, leaving me fairly satisfied.

I think this story is actually pretty cool. It deals with ideals that have a basis in reality. I think people should read it. I don't want to spoil it though. I think there's enough reason here for people to seek this one out. It was pretty cool and kind of shocking that it came from 1952. I recommend it.

This blog was written on September 13, 2024.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Wizard of Oz [Movie Review]

"The Wizard of Oz" is a movie produced through MGM. It was released in 1939. It was filmed in both sepia and full color which was unusual for the time.

This movie hardly needs any introduction. By this point, just about everyone has seen it at least once. I've seen this movie a lot of times in my life. I had a good reason to go back to it, since I had recently read the screenplay. I still really enjoyed it.

I guess, in brief, I should just say that it is a brilliant production, great acting, great cinematography, great music, and really it is just an all around great movie. An easy recommendation for anyone of any age. I'm just here to let you know that I agree with everyone, and there isn't really anything else to say about a movie this famous.

Or is there?!

Actually I did want to say a few things. It was a little weird watching this after reading the screenplay. You can see some of the bits that got left in after a number of scenes got cut. For example, Hickory half mentions he is working on an invention at the beginning. This was some sort of wind machine that was cut from the movie, but he still mentions it.

When the Wicked Witch sends the flying monkeys down to grab Dorothy, she also mentions sending down an insect as well. This remark was supposed to lead to the missing "Jitterbug" song. Yet, despite the song being cut, she still mentions it, although now it doesn't lead to anything.

When Dorothy is saying her goodbyes to everyone at the end of the movie, she turns to the Scarecrow and says that she will miss him most of all. That's a leftover from a cut love-interest with Hunk, who is the Scarecrow's counterpart in Kansas. She would have actually felt a strong love for the Scarecrow throughout the film for this reason, but all that's left is that one remark.

One final thing I want to mention is that Dorothy really defends that she was in Oz when she wakes up. Either she's crazy and they are just putting her on, or maybe she really was there. It's hard to say, but she doesn't give into their claims that it was just a dream. I didn't remember it that way, but I kind of like that she defends it.

That's it. Consider the movie reviewed. I enjoyed seeing it again, and I look forward to whatever else Oz has in store for me. Maybe I'll end up going there myself someday...

This blog was written on September 11, 2024.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Mission Impossible [Book Review]

Wait! Stop! It's not what you think! I actually bought this book by accident. I wasn't even going to read it, but I finally decided to go through with it. I was trying to buy the very first Mission: Impossible novel ever written, and I ended up with this. This is a Christian book. The difference in title has to do with the missing colon.

"Mission Impossible" is a book written by Wesley E. Smith. It was published in 1969. It has absolutely nothing to do with spies, espionage, masks, and the IMF. It is a Christian book about a man who tries to start a ministry for the wayward youths in his city.

It tells the true story of Wesley E. Smith. It takes place shortly after he is saved, and he immediately tries to bring a kid on the street to Christ. It was like an impulsive thing, but it works and he just keeps trying to do it. The story is not just about the kids he saves but also about him learning how being a Christian works at the same time.

The one thing I can absolutely relate to in this book is the snooty aspect of some churches. He has a horrible time trying to let these gang members into the churches because nobody wants to see them there. It breaks up their mojo or something. Jesus hangs out with thieves, but these church-going Christians can't be bothered to let a kid with a leather jacket come in to listen to what the preacher has to say.

Much of the story goes into how faith in God can lead to a lot of really surprising "coincidences." Wesley has trouble believing in the unseen, but he tries his best. I did like how he just sort of gave himself to the Lord in hopes that he could reach these kids.

Not everything in this book is particularly accurate to source material [the Bible], but I didn't mind it too much. I should say that I have read better Christian books than this, and honestly I prefer fiction.

I can put up with mostly anything I read, even if I don't agree with it, but people are temperamental these days. You might like it; you might hate it. What I say is... don't worry about it. Read something else. I read this book because I accidently paid money for it. I got out of it what I needed, and now I am moving on. No recommendation today.

This blog was written on September 11, 2024.

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