All posts by Eric Robert Nolan

Eric Robert Nolan graduated from Mary Washington College in 1994 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. He spent several years a news reporter and editorial writer for the Culpeper Star Exponent in Culpeper, Virginia. His work has also appeared on the front pages of numerous newspapers in Virginia, including The Free Lance – Star and The Daily Progress. Eric entered the field of philanthropy in 1996, as a grant writer for nonprofit healthcare organizations. Eric’s poetry has been featured by Dead Beats Literary Blog, Dagda Publishing, The International War Veterans’ Poetry Archive, and elsewhere. His poetry will also be published by Illumen Magazine in its Spring 2014 issue.

Lamenting “Star Trek: Nemesis” (2002)

I’ve been blogging my past movie reviews from Facebook — this was my own humble pan of “Star Trek: Nemesis” (2002).

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It’s easy to understand why “Star Trek: Nemesis” (2002) was the lowest grossing Star Trek film of all time. I didn’t hate it quite as much as everybody else (I’d give it a 4 out of 10), but it was a pretty big misfire.

The movie was, frankly, boring for most of its first hour. At one point the film’s villains scold its antagonist, “You promised us action – and yet you delay!!” Yeah, that’s pretty much how the viewers felt. This movie has no sense of pacing at all. There’s an admittedly neat horror flourish early on, then an action sequence cheesy enough to have been lifted from “The A-Team.” Then a good portion of the film seems to revolve around … planning …and conversations. Did the filmmakers think they were writing Shakespeare?

This is also a cobbled together pastiche of plot elements we’ve seen many times before. We have a charismatic leader uniting two groups of bad guys. He’s got an astonishing secret and a link to Jean-Luc Picard. He’s got a new secret weapon and is heading to earth to destroy it. There’s another model/clone/whatever of Data. Telepath Donna Troi is mind-raped by a creepy alien (which just might be a plot device in poor taste). Only some inspired ship maneuvers and a surprise stratagem by Data manage to save the day. If this sounds familiar, you may have seen Star Trek movies or the TV show before.

Even the special effects were average. Did this movie really come out the same weekend as “Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones?”

Then there are the nitpicks connected with the entire franchise. Why do seatbelts not exist in Star Trek’s universe? If any matter at all can be created out of nothing via “replicators,” why do mining colonies exist? Why are all the aliens humanoid, but with funny foreheads? WHY IS EVERY CREW MEMBER PERFECT IN EVERY WAY? Is the future inhabited solely by cheerful, hardworking honor students who are always home by curfew? Please watch Ron Moore’s “Battlestar Galactica,” people. There are reasons why Starbuck is a compelling character, and Donna Troi is not.

And even a casual viewer of the TV show could spot the … complete lack of continuity. This film really does contradict the “All Good Things” climax for the show (though, admittedly, the show’s writers really did paint future stories into a corner with that far-future epilogue). If imdb.com is correct, director Stuart Baird had no familiarity with show, and even thought that Geordi LaForge was an alien. Wow.

All of this is a little sad, because there are a few elements of a great movie here. Tom Hardy (Space Bane?) was damn fantastic as the story’s villain. I had no idea he was this good of an actor. The guy is intense, convincing and scary, and I love the way he delivers his lines. What a shame his face and mouth were obscured in “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012). The guy is incredible.

Patrick Stewart is also fantastic, as usual. He does just fine in the “X-Men” films, but he seems like a one-note character there, because he’s almost always serene and in control. Even the “Star Trek: The Next Generation” TV show gave him a better range to show. He’s great when he shows remorse, concern and apprehension. You can tell the guy’s done Shakespeare.

Finally, the movie’s climactic ship-on-ship battle was quite good.

This movie also had some damned interesting themes stemming from Hardy’s bad guy, who is a younger, angrier clone (literally) of Picard. (Maybe that’s a spoiler, but it’s okay – you really don’t need to see this film anyway.) The script presents this well – it actually isn’t as stupid as it sounds. Any sci-fi movie in which Hardy and Stewart comment on the duality of man, or nature vs. nurture, ought to be an automatic classic. And this movie did just fine when it let the two actors explore that.

Oh well. They can’t all be gold, right? It’s just a little sad that the cast of a decent TV show (and a couple of decent movies) had to embark on this as their final voyage.

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Lecter’s next adversary?

This is my big brother — actor and screenwriter Russell Morgan.  Look at that iconic face and that steady stare.

TELL ME THIS GUY DOESN’T DESERVE A GUEST-STARRING ROLE ON NBC’S “HANNIBAL.”

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Zombies, time travel, small towns and scary sewers — check in with me at The WIP Blog Tour!

Hello, all!

I’m honored to be able to report tonight that I’ve been accorded a rather nice honor by my fellow novelist and poet, A.K. Hinchey – nomination for The WIP (Work In Progress) Blog Tour. Ms. Hinchey is a lovely voice and a friend from across the pond, hailing from Lancaster, Britain, where she is a prolific young writer and also the busy mother of a new baby girl. Her publications include short fiction in Dagda Publishing’s “All Hail The New Flesh,” as well as Dagda’s 2013 poetry collection, “Threads.” She has completed her first novel, “Incarnate,” and is hard at work on its sequel, “Bound.” She is also a terrific supporter of the independent publishing community, with in-depth reviews that introduce readers to new voices. To get a little better acquainted, check out Ms. Hinchey’s writing blog, “The Torn Page,” right here:

https://akhinchey.wordpress.com/

The WIP Blog Tour lets readers and writers catch up with one another. When nominated, indie authors can update the community about what they are working on, and share excerpts to whet their appetites. Authors are then asked to nominate a few of their peers. Read about it here:

WIP Blog Tour – Bound, Incarnate, Teasers and More

I’m happy to say that I am still hard at work on my prose. While Dagda Publishing and Dead Snakes have been kind enough to share more of my poetry, my major works in progress include two books. The first, of course, is the sequel to my post-apocalyptic science fiction novel, “The Dogs Don’t Bark In Brooklyn Any More,” published by Dagda. While “Dogs” was primarily a character study of Rebecca O’Conner and her role in the global war between humanity and super-intelligent wolves, I hope that this new book will change the series’ pace and tone, with more action and horror to turn this into a frightening war epic.

Another project that I am quite excited about is a collection of short fiction. I began this project after being encouraged by colleagues in the community, and let me tell you, it’s great fun. “Dogs” and its sequel gave me an opportunity to take a single fictional universe and explore it in depth. But working on short stories gives me plenty of new sandboxes in which to play.

What’s ahead? Well, some of the stories will be traditional horror tales, while others will be darker mainstream fiction. We’ll take a look at what happens when time travel goes disastrously wrong, and consigns one woman to a truly unique hell. We’ll join a pedophile and child pornographer on his thirsty hunt through New York’s Penn Station – then watch as his plans go delightfully, horribly awry. We’ll tremble alongside two members of the New York City Department of Pest Management, as they discover unexpected threats in the labyrinthine subways. We’ll visit an ostensibly idyllic Virginia town, where a supernatural danger segues sadly into a horror that is all too common in the real world. And, for good, old-fashioned, gorehound fun, we’ll take a detailed, blow-by-blow look at what happens when spirited average Joes defend a supermarket full of customers from a ravenous zombie swarm.

And more. If you’ve enjoyed my writing before or want to take your first journey with me, rest assured, I do hope to please you.

Well, The WIP Blog Tour invites participants to share three lines of their work in progress. I thought I’d share the first three lines from the above-mentioned time travel story. Its title is “Today, Tomorrow, the Next Day and Forever” (c) 2015 Eric Robert Nolan.

(And, what the heck, I’ll make it four lines.)

I am going insane. I have watched my husband burn to death at least 500 times.

It always begins the same. It begins with beauty.

(c)  2015 Eric Robert Nolan

I’d like to thank AK Hinchey for nominating me for The WIP Blog Tour! I’m always grateful for her attention, and this was a lot of fun! In the meantime, be sure to check in here for my own nominations for the tour. 🙂

Goodbye, Spock.

Rest In Peace, Leonard Nimoy.

Thank you for the memories.

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‘Illusions,” by Ralph Waldo Emerson

‘Illusions,” by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Flow, flow the waves hated,
Accursed, adored,
The waves of mutation:
No anchorage is.
Sleep is not, death is not;
Who seem to die live.
House you were born in,
Friends of your spring–time,
Old man and young maid,
Day’s toil and its guerdon,
They are all vanishing,
Fleeing to fables,
Cannot be moored.
See the stars through them,
Through treacherous marbles.
Know, the stars yonder,
The stars everlasting,
Are fugitive also,
And emulate, vaulted,
The lambent heat–lightning,
And fire–fly’s flight.
When thou dost return
On the wave’s circulation,
Beholding the shimmer,
The wild dissipation,
And, out of endeavor
To change and to flow,
The gas become solid,
And phantoms and nothings
Return to be things,
And endless imbroglio
Is law and the world, —
Then first shalt thou know,
That in the wild turmoil,
Horsed on the Proteus,
Thou ridest to power,
And to endurance.

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“What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,” by Edna St. Vincent Millay

My good friend Jaine Sirieys posted this yesterday.  It’s powerful, and I love it.

“What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why”

by Edna St. Vincent Millay

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning; but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for reply,
And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.

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The Tiny Limerick (minus the sauce)

If you want a smile, then check out a few limericks written by my friend A.K. Hinchey. 🙂

akhinchey's avatarThe Torn Page - A K Hinchey's Writing Blog

During my unending years of English Language at Uni I had the honour of doing a poetry module or two each and every year. I really loved doing this as my tutors were fantastic published poets such as Carol Rumens. We studied everything from sonnets, haiku’s; all the way through to Limericks and this is what has really caught my attention at the moment. They’re just so fun to do and take very little time. They’re also perfect for the amateur poet just starting out to develop their poetic chakra. A limerick is always five lines and has a rythmic pattern of A, A, B, B, A. There’s also a tempo running through the entire poem which makes it sond almost musical. The thing that always bothered me about them however was most poets insistance on starting them ‘There once was a…’. I know this is the traditional starting…

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A very short review of “Skyfall” (2012).

“Skyfall” (2012) was a decent flick; I’d give it an 8 out of 10. I love modern movies that give us great action sequences without CGI, or at least without cartoonish and incredibly obvious and transparent CGI. The stunts were great. And it had good acting, good directing and fantastic dialogue. I love the way these characters talk.

It suffers from a comparatively weak third act, and a bizarre villain that is far more irritating the menacing. We see no evidence that the bad guy has the physical or mental characteristics to make him an equal to Bond, which is what the movie suggests. (He’s more like a rich jerk with a lisp who talks too much.)

Also … as the “Honest Trailers” gag points out … what happened to the stolen list? Wasn’t that the point of the movie?

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“I am confident in all of this; confident like a haunted doll …”

And here is another great piece by Dennis Villelmi:

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Shots report the ritual; one…two…three…four shots;
The intervals, like they might have been dictated by ritual.
A dog barks, and some tawdry love letters slip from the dry-skinned fingers
Of some anonymous soon-to-be suicidal gal.
I am confident in all of this; confident like a haunted doll, knowing it won’t be long before
I’m “welcomed” into another household cause that household has a young daughter with
A need for dollies.
I know the next ritual will be my welcome mat.
There’s a market for rituals, do long as there’s inspiration to pen those soppy mementos of
Amour.
I’m not penned, not even summoned. I’m the shadow on Fate’s balcony, and the cities are my
Shoeboxes of sundry photos.
I remove the cover from Yonkers, or, well, you name it, and there are the faces, the love letters, and the incantations.
One…two…three…four! The push pins I use to tack up those photos sure are loud. It truly is a matter of caliber.

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If you haven’t checked out the author’s Facebook page for his work, you can find it right here:

https://www.facebook.com/beastdeities

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If you have author friends, call and ask them if the blizzard-borne ghosts have driven them yet to murder their families.

It’s what I’m doing.  (Calling author friends, not murdering my family.)

Then yell “REDRUM” in that creaky voice.  It’s exactly the light-hearted humor that will lighten the stress of severe snowy weather.