Sequels and series

Posted on November 19, 2010

I’ve been watching a lot of sequels lately and trying to do haiku for each film in different series. Sometime after finishing volume 2 of Review Haiku I’ll probably do a separate book where the haiku of film series are compiled. At the moment though, there are a lot of film series where I’ve only watched one or two films, and some series where I haven’t watched any. I still haven’t seen any of the Harry Potter films :-/

One question to resolve is if a series is supposed to have a minimum number of films. There are lots of trilogies, but what about those with two films? Could they really be considered film series? Before Sunset came out nine years after Before Sunrise, but I don’t think it was originally intended to be a series. I think it just occurred the people involved that it might be nice to see what the main characters were up to several years later. Kill Bill is sometimes described as one film in two parts, further muddying the waters.

Another question is what to do about unofficial or non-canonical films. There are many films in the James Bond series, but there are also a few films that weren’t official parts of the series. I’m inclined to include them, but put them as extras or mark them as separate somehow.

Luckily there’s plenty of time to decide. Until then, I’ve got plenty of movies to watch.

How Amazon failed authors and customers

Posted on April 12, 2009

Probably the best place to start is here, with Mark Probst’s description about how Amazon has treated LGBT books – by delisting them from sales ranks. He points out the books were lumped categorized as ‘adult’ even if they had nothing to do with erotica. Meta-writer has been collecting a list of the delisted books, showing that it includes non-fiction books dealing sexuality.

So the Twitterverse has sort of exploded in #amazonfail. Reactions range from regret, anger, and disbelief. Generally, I like Amazon, but this idea is as misguided as it is misapplied. Doing my own research shows the delisting is inconsistent – quite a few books have different editions, so some editions appear to be delisted, while others are not. Still, it’s hard to see how Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Story of O can be delisted, while Tropic of Cancer still has its sales rank. Even some editions of Brokeback Mountain have been delisted. What delisting means is that it doesn’t matter how well a book sells, Amazon will not list it if they think it is ‘adult’ themed. If a book is not listed, it won’t show up in a general search of a topic, or it will appear very low in the search rankings.

I look forward to Amazon correcting, or at least clarifying their position. It’s a PR mess, so I expect they’ll get on it soon.

In the meantime, while I’m not a big believer in boycotts, I’m beginning to think Amazon doesn’t want my money, because they apparently don’t value my taste in books. Twitter hasn’t failed, because the twitterers have offered many alternatives, such as:

• Amazon Bookstore – A feminist bookstore in Minnesota
• Powell’s Books – An independent bookstore in Oregon
• Tattered Cover – One of the biggest things I miss about Colorado *sniff*

Of course, there are many, many more alternatives. Just check your local phone book and see.

Can’t forget to mention Smart Bitches Trashy Books idea about Amazon Rank, and here is a direct link to the definition itself. You can spread the word by passing this URL http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/amazonrank/ to your friends.

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