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Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects

Watching Sharp Objects on HBO is sure to be a treat. The only thing better is to read the book Sharp Objects by the amazing Gillian Flynn.

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Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects
Watching Sharp Objects on HBO is sure to be a treat. The only thing better is to read the source material. The book Sharp Objects by the amazing Gillian Flynn. If you’re not convinced, keep in mind Flynn wrote Gone Girl and Dark Places. These two books were turned into stellar movies. Gone Girl was directed by Academy Award-Nominee David Fincher, starring Rosamund Pike and Ben Affleck. Dark Places starred Academy Award-winner Charlize Theron and Nicholas Hoult. Drawing in that kind of star power speaks to the caliber of the book. There’s a saying- The book’s better than the movie. If this is true, then these books will be well worth the time to read.

Getting Drawn In

Let’s keep our focus on Sharp Objects. Flynn, a Missouri-native, is masterful at weaving intrigue and suspense without going overboard with her words. This is a rare skill. As many first-time authors can attest, being able to paint a picture with words is difficult. Authors will go on and on about mundane details, only to find they’ve lost the narrative, and worse, their readers. Flynn, on the other hand, has been able to keep the details to a minimum and keep a rich narrative. This leads to the Tetris Diametric: You want more lines in Tetris than you do on a page. When you stack up lines and clear them in Tetris you get more points. On a page the opposite is true; the more lines you have, the more your story disappears. The solution to this is finding the right amount of lines to tell the story with and still allow gaps. These gaps will allow the reader to bring in their own experiences, images, feelings, and make the story their own. It involves a delicate balance. From the first page, Flynn strives to find this balance and to make it work. It’s not always easy. Reread this book to help you nail this with your own writing.

Finding the Edge

Camille, though she’s hesitant, returns to her hometown of Wind Gap, MO. As a reporter, she’s there to follow the story of a little girl’s disappearance. There was another about six months previous. Camille isn’t hesitant because of the nature of the story, but because her mother is still living in Wind Gap. Having become estranged from her mother doesn't help matters either. The relationship never really did seem to be a good one, and with the death of her sister, Marian, it got worse. Showing up to this, Camille decides she’ll simply put her head down and get her job done. The sooner the better. The story doesn’t play out this way.

Secrets

Sharp Objects and other books in this genre depend on the secrets characters keep from each other. If no one had secrets, it would be a very dull book. They also can’t give them away too easily. This brings up another important writing adage- Law Conservation of Detail. Details are important but there should only be as much as is necessary. By giving out a few details, it’s easy to hide secrets. This isn’t a guaranteed way to avoid getting in trouble with the law, but it works well in literature. Again, Flynn pulls this off by dropping details here and there, but not giving away the secrets. When done right, there's a surprise waiting at the end of the book. You can even go back, read, and find that indeed the information was there all along. Camille has her secrets and in keeping them they end up creating problems. These problems are made worse by other people’s secrets. When you build secrets on top of secrets and balance it with the right amount of detail, you can have a whirlwind story.

Camille

The best part of Sharp Objects is not the mystery, though that is what draws you in. The best part is Camille. Camille isn’t a perfect person. She’s flawed, wounded, and scarred. These traits would be nothing without her redeeming features. Camille has a hidden strength that many people have, only to think it’s not a strength, but another flaw. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Camille is what we can call a Determinator: She wants to solve the mystery or find the answer to a question, and nothing will stop her until she gets the solution. Camille’s not smooth, charismatic, or even awkward. She’s silent and still. This leads many of the other characters in the book to misjudge her and assume she’s scared. On the contrary, she’s figuring things out. It’s her personal demons that get in the way.

Worth the Read

It doesn’t matter how you read Sharp Objects, be on an eReader, an audiobook, or a real book, it’ll be worth the time. The best way, though usually overlooked, is to read it in plain ol’ paperback. The tactile sensation of a paper under your fingers, flipping the page, and getting to make notes in the margins are what set regular books apart from other mediums. This style of reading has been around for millennia and there’s not a compelling reason to get rid of it.
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HBO Should Look Forward to Childbirth

HBO is not looking forward to the childbirth jokes. John Stankey,CEO of Warner Media,said they’ll be working harder in the coming year.

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HBO Should Look Forward to Childbirth
Home Box Office is not looking forward to the childbirth jokes. John Stankey, CEO of Warner Media, spoke to 150 HBO employees at a company townhall event. The short version is Stankey said they’ll be working harder in the coming year. "You will work very hard, and this next year will — my wife hates it when I say this — feel like childbirth…You'll look back on it and be very fond of it, but it's not going to feel great while you're in the middle of it." Stankey, believing that HBO isn’t profitable enough, has hinted that they need to increase their content to compete with streaming giants Netflix and Amazon. HBO, considering itself a boutique network, is not creating enough content to match the number of hours watched on other streaming services. To compete with Netflix and Amazon, Stankey desires an increase of hours watched per day as opposed to hours per week. Stankey wasn’t talking about a real pregnancy and childbirth. He was really calling for HBO to produce more content that appeals to a broader audience.

Can Home Box Office Produce?

Many of the biggest TV shows have found their home on HBO. The Sopranos, for example. Known for its gritty style, graphic violence, and nudity, The Sopranos landed 118 wins and 301 nominations over its six seasons. The show was more than mob violence, but a poignant portrayal of personal growth in maddening circumstances. If The Sopranos had been Home Box Office’s only hit then the argument would be easy. HBO didn’t stop with The Sopranos, however. Game of Thrones, Tru Blood, Sex in the City, WestWorld the list goes of examples of HBO putting out programming that consistently draws in a dedicated viewership. For Stankey to call for an expansion of their content offers is a dicey move. HBO has long enjoyed its position of “premier content” provider. The network fought to that spot by offering bold and edgy programming that one would only see in movies. Instead, HBO brought onto the small screen, for a monthly fee, every night. When HBO became known for their content, they spawned a host of other networks offering similar programming. Of course, they also charged a premium for it. If a viewer didn’t like the content, they simply didn’t have to pay to watch it. Problem solved. This tactic has sustained HBO…so far.

Are Netflix and Amazon Producing Something Better?

At the 2017 Emmys HBO had 111 total nominations. Netflix and Amazon had 91 and 16, respectively. When the awards ceremony was over, HBO walked away with 29 wins. Netflix? Twenty wins. Amazon? Two. Crunching the numbers, that means HBO had a success rate of 26% to Netflix’s 22% and Amazon’s 13%. Based on these numbers alone, there’s little argument that HBO is doing well compared to Netflix and Amazon. It’s not the number of awards that executives like Stankey are looking at. According to a 2017 survey by Morgan Stanley, respondents were asked; “Which service provides the best original programming?” 33% of respondents answered- Netflix. Amazon doesn’t seem to be in the fight much. They may just be biding their time. If HBO and Netflix are busy slugging it out, then Amazon could sit back, relax, and wait to pick off the exhausted winner when the fight does finally end. For now, HBO needs to contend not just with Netflix, but what they stand for – streaming original content, and lots of it. Although not all shows Netflix and Amazon offer end up being winners, they seem to be playing a numbers game; the more shows produced should eventually lead to a big hit, like Stranger Things. If HBO tries to play the game Netflix is playing HBO would lose. What HBO should be focusing on, instead, is to find a way to build upon their brand.

How can HBO win?

The childbirth metaphor is fitting given the amount of work that HBO is likely to take on in the coming years. A better metaphor for “winning” would be “Can HBO capture more attention than Netflix and Amazon?” Making a breakout show and keeping viewers aren’t always the same thing. There have been great shows that were rated poorly by critics. There have been terrible shows that critics loved. There have been shows that had one good season and then they die off soon after like Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom. For HBO to live up to Stankey’s request of creating content for a broader audience, the network will have to find a way of connecting to a much more diverse audience. Not every show can have gratuitous violence and nudity. They’ll have to watch their language as well. A challenge for sure, but not impossible. HBO has already found success by tapping into books. Game of Thrones, Big Little Lies, and Sharper Objects were all based on best-selling books. This tactic has worked for them so far. After all, if people like reading a book, they’ll likely want to watch it as a show. By expanding on this logic, Home Box Office can go a few steps further by looking beyond their usual picks and try different genres. What about a limited series based on books like The Dresden Files, Soon I Will Be Invincible, and Scot Harvath? It may be as simple as visiting the local Barnes & Noble and going to a different section.

HBO is About to Get Bigger

To fill Stankey’s order, as well as compete with Netflix and Amazon, HBO will have to expand. How they expand is entirely up to them. HBO can be as creative in this endeavor as they are with their content. The road ahead is uncharted. HBO should view this as an open invitation to really push the envelope and not a decree to create babies. And if Home Box Office is good at one thing- it’s pushing the envelope.
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Which Virtual Assistant is the Smart Choice?

Virtual Assistants of today are displaying the very early phases of science-fiction virtual assistants like Jarvis. With their help,soon we'll superheroes.

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Which Virtual Assistant is the Smart Choice?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwOxM0-byvc Virtual Assistants, run by AI, are displaying the very early phases of Jarvis. True, they are not to the level of Tony Stark’s trusty assistant Jarvis…yet. The good news is we are closer to realizing virtual assistants that could outperform even Jarvis. Soon everyone may have access to a highly competent and integrated virtual assistant...even if we're not superheroes. For now, we'll have to continue taking care of our living spaces on our own. Sorry. On the upside, there are smart home devices available now for you to install in your home. These require a virtual assistant to run, either by voice or through an app. There will be some work and costs required up front, but with a little planning, you can have your smart home devices running the trivial to minor tasks of your house. This will save you time, and ultimately, some cash. Finding the right virtual assistant to help you can be a difficult choice.

The Best Virtual Assistant

Virtual assistants act like a butler or a maid. The main difference is they're automated and available to everyone. No longer do you need to pay a hefty annual salary in exchange for a “gentleman’s gentleman.” Instead, there’s Google Assistant, Apple's Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, and Amazon’s Alexa. There will be more as the demand for better and better virtual assistants increases. As of this writing, Assistant, Siri, Cortana, and Alexa are the top four available. They may not be of the caliber of Jarvis, yet they do bear striking resemblance to the Marvel Comic’s character, as well as other highly qualified, though fictional, assistants.

Jeeves

Long before Downton Abby, PBS would broadcast the hilarious British comedy Jeeves and Wooster, based on characters created by PG Wodehouse. You may not recognize the names, but you’ll recognize the stars. Hugh Laurie, playing the role of Berty Wooster, is better known for his role as the Vicodin-popping genius of diagnosis-- House. Comedy legend Stephen Fry took on the role of the ever-present, ever helpful- and ever clever- Jeeves. "Clever and helpful" is a good description of Amazon’s Alexa. When paired with the Echo and the Dot, Amazon’s smart speaker system, Alexa excels at answering questions and getting the answer right…most of the time. She can also help with finding directions, providing updates on traffic, and making calls.

Alfred Pennyworth

Bruce Wayne, the troubled but wealthy orphan, always has help from Alfred Pennyworth. Alfred, though played by many actors over the years, is the epitome of jack-of-all-trades servant. Broke down car? Alfred knew how to do that. Computer code needs writing? Alfred knew how to do that. Multiple gunshot wounds that need bandaging? Alfred knew how to do that. For the sake of this post, Michael Caine’s interpretation of the character is the most iconic. While Alfred Gough did step into the role more often, the gritty realism and paternal affection of Caine gave the character depth and elevated him to a serious part of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Saga. Sadly, Jeremy Iron’s talents are wasted on the tiny role of Alfred Pennyworth in the newer incarnation of the Caped Crusader. By setting Michael Caine as the Alfred Pennyworth, Microsoft’s Cortana most closely resembles this famed assistant. Thanks to Microsoft’s heavy involvement in the development of the personal computer, a huge database of information is available to plug Cortana into. The result is a virtual assistant who can answer more questions and answer them correctly.

 Jarvis

Born on the pages of Iron Man, Jarvis was at first a person. For Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, however, Jarvis was turned into a true virtual assistant. Integrating everything Tony Stark needed, Jarvis was every present and ready to help. All Tony had to say was “Jarvis…” and the awesome voice of Paul Bettany would pipe in with “Yes, sir.” Of course, by the second Avengers movie, Paul Bettany finally gets to flex more than his vocal chops and takes on the role of The Vision. Despite this vocational change for the character, Jarvis assisted Tony Stark through all three Iron Man films, even saving his life. Google Assistant is the closest approximation we have today of Jarvis. Scoring better than Alexa and Cortana in answering questions, and answering them correctly, Google Smart Home products are also cheaper than Amazon's.

Janine Melnitz

Played by the stellar Annie Potts, Janine Melnitz was the, ahem, below average secretary to the Ghostbusters. Competent in her work, she really complained more than anything. Annie Potts, because she’s an awesome actress, made the character funny and held her own against Bill Murray, Rick Moranis, Harold Ramis, and Dan Aykroyd. Apple Siri fits this description the best- not very helpful but can joke a lot.

Time to Get to Work

Unlike their fictional counterparts, these assistants are real and will help with tasks when asked. How well they do it is up for debate.

Alexa

Echo has scored well when it comes to responding to voice commands and working with various third-party smart home devices. Couple this with the Dot and Alexa integrates easily into your home. Setting up smart light bulbs, plugs, thermostats, and security devices can give you more influence when running your house. After installation, you can set up groups and routines. Through Alexa, you can turn off all the lights in a certain part of the house, program your thermostat while away, and monitor security. There is set up and costs involved, as well as trial and error. Once you've figured it out, you'll be saving both time and money.

Assistant

Google Assistant is second in this category. The Google products required to make your home a smart home have been rated lower than Amazon’s. On the upside, they are cheaper than Amazon, and Google Assistant has been shown to answer more questions accurately than Alexa.

Siri

Apple Siri, though there are some smart home devices, they are not as diverse as what Google and Amazon offer. And since Siri is pulling a Melnitz, it seems Siri isn’t a good choice as an assistant for your smart home.

Cortana

Microsoft Cortana, though brilliant, has no smart home devices it can integrate with. Cortana is going to be sticking with the computer for the foreseeable future.

“Is that all, sir?”

No matter your choice when it comes to picking a virtual assistant, remember that we are still very far away from our own Jarvis, Alfred, and Jeeves. There may already be a Melnitz out there though. Another downside is that we’re still stuck with the task of taking out the garbage, changing the laundry, and cleaning the dishes. Unless we hit the lottery, these are still the everyday chores we’re tasked with. Without Jeeves, Jarvis, Alfred, and even Melnitz, taking care of chores can be a superhero task.
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3 Reasons to Keep the Music Playing

Drake's Scorpion reached 130 million streams 130 million doesn't count how many times listeners repeated the album to keep the music playing.

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3 Reasons to Keep the Music Playing
Silence is golden…good music is platinum. This point was proven by Drake’s newest album Scorpion, which went out and racked up 130 million global streams in its first twenty-four hours. While that number—130,000,000— counts streams, it doesn’t count how many times the music was on repeat. Repeating the album keeps the music playing. This speaks to the force of Drake’s beats, lyrics, and style. There are those inexplicable times when a song just speaks to you and you have to hit the repeat button. Maybe it’s the lyrics, maybe it’s the beat, maybe it’s the situation you find yourself in. No matter the reason, we’ve all experienced a time filled with a single song or album that defines an emotion. These unique times, when you keep the music playing, are doing more for you than you may realize.

Soothing Notes

Happy or sad, angry or joyful, there’s music that comes to mind to help us express these feelings. And it may not be solely music that we turn to when we’ve experienced a great loss or a profound victory. These moments, nonetheless, wouldn’t be as impactful if they did not have music. When we recognize the benefits of music, we can begin to strategically incorporate it into our daily lives. As opposed to listening to music to deal with negative emotions, we can instead play a song in anticipation of those situations we know to cause us stress. Jenny Hole, Martin Hirsch, Dr. Elizabeth Ball, and Dr. Catherine Meads conducted a review in 2015 on this very idea. They checked medical records of patients who’d undergone surgery. There were those who’d listened to music before, during, and after their surgery and reported feeling less stress in anticipation of the surgery, coupled with a speedier recovery time afterward. Patients who didn’t listen to music at all found their stress levels higher and their recovery time to be longer. More interesting than that; listening to music while under anesthesia was shown to have a positive effect on recovery time. The study was inconclusive as to whether these patients were listening to Drake or one of his haters.

Coming Up with New Ideas

Scorpion consisted of 25 tracks! For Drake to produce that much music, he did more than mine his own experiences for material, he collaborated with a host of artists, both new and old, to create new music to fill out Scorpion. Music was part of the process of creating new music. Beyond creating tracks for albums, you can use music to boost your own creativity. It’s been shown that listening to happy music does, in fact, boost divergent thinking—also known as being creative. Don’t limit yourself to just Drake, however, as instrumental music does a better job of accessing the right side of the brain. The right side is where images are stored. By listening to music without words, we put the focus on the right side of the brain. The left side is where words are stored, the logical side. When we listen to music with words, we’re pulling from both sides of the brain. This doesn’t take away our creativity, our brain’s focus is simply split between the two sides. If Drake gets your creativity going, then keep listening to Drake. If you want to branch out into the more instrumental side of the music spectrum, there’s classical music. For those who wouldn’t go near classical music, don’t worry, there’s Epic Music. Epic music is the stuff you hear on trailers for movies and games. Believe it or not, there are bands out there that create such music. Just check out Two Steps From Hell, Heavy Melody, Colossal Trailer Music, Phantom Power, Brian Delgado, and much more!

Enhance Experiences

The greatest movies have spawned some of the greatest music ever. Thanks to composers like John Williams, Hans Zimmer, and Alan Silvestri, there are those tunes we hear and automatically think of Superman, Batman, The Avengers, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, and many more movies. While these movies tell a story, it’s the music that hints when we need to feel excitement, fear, betrayal, anger, happiness, and ultimately, success. Take the music away from these movies and the experience would feel significantly less. Just try it and you’ll see.

Keep the Music Playing

While silence is golden, admit it, having music playing does give even the most mundane events a bit of a boost. To ensure your experiences are never without a soundtrack, download a music streaming app today. There are plenty available; Apple Music, Prime Music, YouTube Music, Pandora, Slacker Radio, Spotify, and Tidal… to name a few. Of course, which is better is an ongoing debate... which I'll levae up to you. If Scorpion has taught us anything about music is that it is not a one-time thing. Good songs, artists, and genres do so much more than just fill the void. When we keep the music playing, we reduce stress, push our creative boundaries, and enhance experiences.
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Who Killed Your Wi-Fi?

It's Friday night,you turn on your favorite streaming service. Only to find your TV is stuck on the loading screen. Someone has killed your Wi-Fi. But who?

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Who Killed Your Wi-Fi?
It’s Friday night and you’re simultaneously turning on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu to catch the most recent binge-worthy show. This week’s flavor is...crime dramas. Yet, the TV is stuck on the loading screen. Someone has killed your Wi-Fi. The screen will only show the spinning wheel that never stops. Instead of loading your show it simply taunts you. Thanks to having watched a few police shows already, you’re confident in your detective skills to assess the evidence, round up suspects, and deliver the perpetrator to justice. It’s the Internet Service Provider. Plain and simple. Cue the end credits, no need for further investigation. Right?

Bring It Out Into the Open

Your badge isn’t on the line, but admit it, you jumped straight to the conclusion that your ISP killed your Wi-Fi. Stop and look around the room. Locate the Wi-Fi router. Is it tucked away in the corner? Set high up a shelf with books? Hidden behind your TV because you’re ashamed that it doesn’t fit with the overall aesthetic? Now is the time to move it somewhere closer to the middle of your house or apartment. Wi-Fi, like a sprinkler, does its best when it’s in the middle of the space and can be seen from each corner easily. An optimal location for it would be to install it on the ceiling. Obviously, this isn’t an option for everyone. There’s also the concern of having your Wi-Fi router hanging from the ceiling like a bat. While this option may not be feasible for most, work to locate a spot near the middle of your living space. Be it an apartment or home, there should be a spot near the center that you can use to set your router. Also, try to get it up as high as you can. Going back to the sprinkler metaphor; sprinklers cast the water out and it falls to the earth. So the higher the sprinkler, the greater the coverage of the lawn. Same with a Wi-Fi router, though the signal doesn’t fall like water, you’ll notice better reception when it is placed higher.

Appliances Are An Accomplice

Your Wi-Fi router, while sitting still and unassuming, is constantly being accosted as it tries to do its job--send and receive signals. Some of these suspects may be surprising to you.

Home appliances

This may seem obvious. Most appliances plug into the wall and are made out of metal. All that metal and electricity interfere with a Wi-Fi signal. In a way, they create their own little signals. They don’t mean to do it as they’re just doing a job as well. The problem can be exacerbated further with appliances now coming with their own Wi-Fi signals in an attempt to make homes “smarter.” Think of the refrigerators with touch screens and cameras inside. While these are meant to work with your personal Wi-Fi network, they can also end up taking more of the bandwidth and leaving you sitting there staring at the pinwheel of boredom.

Blinds

Some blinds are made of plastic or compressed board. And a lot are manufactured out of metal. Again, the metal is what will affect your Wi-Fi signal. On the flipside, there may be a new market here- “Interior Design that is both stylish and won’t kill your Wi-Fi!”

Mirrors

The reflective coating that gives mirrors their...mirror-ness, also bounce Wi-Fi signals off in haphazard directions.

Reinforced Concrete

The rebar inside of reinforced concrete will affect the Wi-Fi signal, as well as the dense nature of the concrete itself. This time it's not just the metal, but the concrete too.

Fish Tanks

Yes, there are comprised of metal too, but also a lot of water. So while Nemo is taking laps and plotting his escape, the water he’s swimming in is also making it difficult for your Wi-Fi signal to get through. Of course, you can’t take out all the metal in your home, nor can you leave the windows uncovered and tear down any walls. There will be obstacles to your Wi-Fi, but you can eliminate or lessen them by placing your router somewhere up high and near the center of your abode. There are also ways to extend your Wi-Fi signal.

The Butler Did It!

Those smart home devices mentioned earlier? Yeah, they could be the ones who killed your Wi-Fi, or they may be taking up a lot of the bandwidth. Earlier this year, it was revealed that these smart home devices were actually bogging down your home's Wi-Fi signals. A bug in the system caused a lot of data to be sent at once, impeding the Wi-Fi. Most of the kinks are being resolved right now, but don’t be surprised if your Wi-Fi is slow after you plug in your newest smart home device. There is good news; patches have been sent out in updates to fix the problem. So if you haven’t updated yet, this may be the reason. Or maybe those little boxes just got tired of you shouting at it? Maybe.

It's an Open and Shut Case

Thanks to buddy cop movies and police procedural shows we can solve the case of "who killed your Wi-Fi?" with confidence. But do not, and this is important, start trying to solve murder/arson/robbery cases on your own. Leave that up to the professionals! What it all boils down to is understanding the technology you use and how its affected by items in your home. This knowledge will ensure a proper solution to these “crimes.” The next time you see the spinning wheel of doom, take a moment to assess the room and figure out if the router just needs to be moved or if you have an appliance in the way? 
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