Reid Picks: Little-Known Robot Movie (Enthiran) is Blazing Good

Robot (2010) from Amazon.com

I recently came across this little-known movie from 2010 called Robot (or Enthiran in Hindi), and I'm glad I did. I first saw a YouTube video of the action scenes and then watched the movie in Hindi (I later found out that there is an English subtitled version). Although I didn't understand a word they said, the pictures say thousands of words.

The action concepts are just amazing (even though the CGI isn't the best), plus it's surprising that the movie actually has a strong love story, which I didn't expect but which worked quite well with it. I think I love it because it reminds me of my Vecto character and the outlandish types of action scenes I come up with.

I couldn't embed the over-the-top action clips from YouTube on this site, so here is the link to it:

http://youtu.be/yysbbPStfWw

What do you think of the movie's action scenes?

Read Chapters of My 'Vecto' Book for Free

Vecto is the first book in a trilogy that I'm writing. I'm posting chapters for free on Wattpad.com, but they're not the final versions. If you want to be a beta reader, visit my page at wattpad.com/ReidKemper and make sure to leave a comment and vote for it. I'd love to hear your opinion!

Art by Rafael Fitzgerald.

The book stars a character that I created in 1996 named Vecto--a robot made of floating parts who has emotions. I created him for a collaborative universe I helped start called the Alpha Squad. The stories have always been something my friends and I enjoyed creating, and I'd like to share that universe with you.

In the storyline, Vecto was created in the year 3,005 by a scientist named Vic who is part of a midget race of beings called Dinishmen (the race is small and frail because they are optimized for brain power with less resources provided to their bodily form). His being consists of an orb that projects layers of form-fitting shields around a body of floating parts. Although he helps fight in a war, he is eventually disowned by his master and is recruited by a group of fighters called the Alpha Squad. The A.S. was created with the sole mission of eliminating a nine-foot-tall cyborg called Morphaal, who is considered the most dangerous being alive.

Years later, Morphaal is killed and the Alpha Squad no longer has a purpose. Even after Morphaal's death, his henchmen live on and Vecto's best friend is killed. The Vecto book starts off with Vecto trying to deal with his friend's death. To top it off, he hears that Morphaal has been revived and is looking to conquer a hidden planet called Zendora, where Morphaal plans to move his base of operations.

The story chronicles Vecto's quest to find Morphaal. However, the loss of his friend causes him to obsess over finding Morphaal to exact revenge. This results in rash decisions and violent behavior. His noble journey soon becomes a killing rampage, and his Alpha Squad teammates must find a way to stop him.

I'm writing the story in chapters that mimic TV episodes. Similar to light novels, which are popular in Japan, the story is focused on dialogue and action to maintain a quick reading pace. I don't take three minutes of your time to elaborate on a three-second scene. I try to match reading speed with the actual time taking place. Although it's written with older teens in mind, it's a good read for adults as well. If you like action-packed stories with unique characters, comic book movies, RPG video games, anime, and other media, you should read the book ... and let me know what you think!

Reid Review: Ender's Game Movie Lives Up to Expectations

Ender's Game movie poster.(

(Update: March 2, 2014)

So many people have reviewed the Ender's Game movie with very different opinions. Some love it; some hate it. Some like it better than the book, and others think it pales in comparison. There are even reviewers who have never read the book and enjoyed it or hated it. As a science fiction fan who's favorite book is Ender's Game, I equally enjoyed the movie.

Here's a one-sentence description of the film from the Internet Movie Database: "Young Ender Wiggin is recruited by the International Military to lead the fight against the Formecs, a genocidal alien race which nearly annihilated the human race in a previous invasion." You can learn more about the basic plot from the book description (click the Amazon link below), so I won't bother explaining.

The movie stars Asa Butterfield as the protagonist boy Ender Wiggin, Harrison Ford as Colonel Graff, Hailee Steinfeld as Ender's friend Petra Arkanian, and Abigail Breslin as Ender's sister Valentine Wiggin among others. It's based on the book of the same name, which won both the Nebula and Hugo awards. If you haven't read the novel, you should read it. Below are links to the book and movie, which is now on Blu-ray.


So here's my review:

Will Oyster, the "Netflix for books," be successful?

It's called the Netflix for books. Oyster has arrived and seems to be on track to pull off the all-you-can-read-buffet of books after so many other companies failed. The company charges $9.95 a month, in which you can read more than 100,000 books from companies such as HarperCollins and Smashwords. However, it's only an iPhone and iPod Touch app for now.

Here's a news video about Oyster:

I thought about a subscription model for books a few years ago, but I knew it would take a big publisher to come on board for it to be successful. HarperCollins, which had aquired the Eos line of science fiction books and renamed it Harper Voyager, will be the key to Oyster's success because it provides quality books. Smashwords, a distributer of indie books, on the other hand, provides the volume of books that Oyster needs to justify its subscription price and attract customers. I couldn't find information detailing the pay model for publishers and ultimately authors, so I'm not going to get into that discussion, but I assume it's by the number of views.

Here's how I think Oyster has great potential:

Imagine Reading on Flexible and Transparent Screens; It's No Longer Science Fiction

I may be a little behind in new technology updates, but I saw a report about a bendable e-reader device called Wexley Flex One. Imagine reading books on this thing (science fiction books, in my case) without worrying about dropping it and breaking the screen. Here's a video of the device:



But this is not the only thing that utilizes this technology. Samsung is making smartphones that use it, and I'm quite impressed. It seems that bendable screens from science fiction stories have finally come to reality. Here's a video of some concept phones that will use this technology and what you can do with it:



Soon, we'll get transparent screens, but it may take a bit longer for them to become widely used. I wonder how that will affect reading. Will it make text easier on the eyes or just provide distractions from what's behind the screen? I love videos, so here's one on transparent screens:



What are your thoughts about this new technology and its implication for reading books?

No Games Here. Check Out the "Ender's Game" and "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" Trailers

I've been working on a science fiction book trilogy for young adults, so it's been a long time since I posted anything, but don't worry, I'm back to blogging! First, I want to share some movie trailers.

There are two books I've enjoyed that are coming to movie theaters soon. They are Ender's Game and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

Here's a trailer for Ender's Game:

I've been waiting for the movie adaption for Ender's Game for years and am glad that it's finally coming to theaters. There is a reason that it is the highest-selling science fiction book of all time. It's a great book and hopefully will be a great movie.

And here's a trailer for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire:

 

I read the books and watched the first movie, and although I wasn't too impressed with the first movie, I'm hoping this one will be better.

What do you think? Are you looking forward to any of these movies?

'Your Favorite Martian' Band Cancels Album

Have you ever heard of the band called Your Favorite Martian?

The group was going to come out with an album, but the project recently was canceled. However, the band's songs are still on YouTube, and it even had the No. 1 music channel for a while. The group uses fictional cartoon characters for its videos, which gives it a unique flavor. Although I don't like some of the songs because their content, I picked out a couple science-fiction-related music videos that are among the cleaner ones and posted them below.