Why American Horror Story: Coven is THE AWESOME

American Horror Story: Coven is what would happen if Charmed and Sabrina the Teenage Witch dropped acid, took a road trip to hell, and came tearing back in a stolen hot rod fueled by burning angels. The angels may beg you to stop burning them alive, but hey, alternative fuels are too damn costly.

We've seen Tony Soprano and Walter White fight for every scrap of privilege they feel entitled to. The latest incarnation of the white-privileged antihero is an antiheroine.

Fiona Goode becomes more of a new archetype every second she spends onscreen: once you spend some time with her, you'll feel like you've known her forever. To get a picture of Fiona, start with Spike's iconoclasm: "From now on, we're going to have a little less ritual, and a little more FUN around here!" Then add Brigitte Lin at her most regal, in those achingly pure moments just before she dismembers everyone in the room. Finish it all off with the gleeful panache of Bugs Bunny when his foe plummets over the cliff's edge, and you'll have a sense of Fiona Goode's character.

Playing Fiona Goode, Jessica Lange is the sexiest, most dynamic older female character I have ever seen on the screen. And Fiona Goode isn't the only blazingly awesome female character on the show. It includes more than one three-dimensional woman of color, and a fully fleshed-out role for a woman with Down's syndrome.

This third season, Coven? It is THE AWESOME.

Chinese Ghost Stories

Just in time for Halloween, I've published a spooky, fun, and informative article about Chinese ghost stories.

You HAVEN'T seen this before.

http://www.squidoo.com/chinese-ghost-stories

SPL 2 -- with Tony Jaa???

A lot of Asian cinema fans consider the 2006 movie SPL one of the greatest kung fu films of all time -- I know I do.  Now the news is leaking that a sequel is in the works, with at least two of the stars from the original movie, and joining them is Thai action legend TONY JAA.




SPL was a great action film, but it wasn't only an action film.  It had intricate crime drama, powerful tension between cop and crimelord, and yes, it had action.  THEAWESOME action.

I trust Sammo Hung and Co. to pull off the action, but I'm concerned about the rest.  See, those two stars from the original movie?  Their characters DIED.  Both of them. 

So, will this movie be a prequel?  I hope not.  Because SPL came out in 2006, and martial arts actors age like the rest of us.  Frankly I'd find it awkward to watch Sammo pretend to be a much younger man.

I'm hoping it's not a sequel at all, except in spirit.  Because these three actors are stars, and the original name of the movie, Sha Po Long, refers to three stars, and these three carry both talent and gravitas. 

A Lexicon of TheAwesome

First: nothing matters but the awesome.  Here there shall be no whining about prequels we didn't like or series that jumped the shark. 

TheAwesome takes it as a given that nothing matters but the awesome.

To be able to discuss the awesome, we need a language that can express awesomeness.  We draw from literary terms and religious studies to find the words we need.

These are terms you can expect to see in our celebration of TheAwesome:

• The Uncanny
• Mythopoeia
• Sensawunda
• Epic
• Empathy
• Climax
• Set Piece
• VillainAwesome
• The Numinous
• The Sublime
• Genre
• Transnationalism
• Subversive

Each deserves its own blog entry, and each will get one over time.

Gunmetal Magic

Ilona Andrews' urban fantasy series starring Kate Daniels is one of my three favorites.  It ranks for me after the Dresden Files but above Deacon Chalk.  On Tuesday, as if by magic, the book will appear on my Nook (assuming the tech is up), and I probably won't sleep, eat, or blink until I've read it.

What's THE AWESOME in this series?  It's set in a world where magic returned, and now magic and technology work in alternating waves.  Creatures from myth and legend walk the streets, but the most numerous of the supernaturals are vampires and shapeshifters.

Ilona Andrews' vampires aren't like any  you've ever seen before.  They are mindless corpses expunged of fat, so their bodies are all wiry muscles, and they are psychically piloted by the mysterious group known as the People.  The motives and plans of the People are unknown, but their leader is an enigmatic, powerful immortal called Roland.

The series usually stars Kate Daniels, a young woman who has been a mercenary and an employee of the Order.  Roland is her father, and she has spent her life preparing to fight him, hopefully to kill him.  Armed with a sword named Slayer, which gives off smoke when she's angry, Kate negotiates her boundaries, cultivates her power and her allies, pursuing love and friendship in a completely compelling manner.

Gunmetal Magic is not her story.

Say what?

That's right.  This novel is an excursion into the life and voice of Kate's friend Andrea Nash, a were-hyena with a gift for sharpshooting.  I've read the beginning and it's a tense, intense opening, with Ilona Andrews' characteristically brisk and witty prose, as if Robert Parker had written an action fantasy.

And I can't wait to read it.

TRANSNATIONAL GEEKERY: The Kate Daniels series has featured a Chinese Daoshi burning a paper talisman, a Malaysian Harimau Akuan (were-tiger) appropriately named Dali Harimau, a Japanese jorogumo or spider woman, and others.

Transnational Geek gives Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels 10/10 for THE AWESOME, and 8/10 for Transnational Geekdom.