Juxtaposition of Words

Eulogizing Social Media

2018-05-31T20:55:00.001-07:00

Not to betray some kind of unknown truth about me or anything but...I’m closer to 40 than 30 and what that means is that I grew up in a world that pre-dated common internet usage. In fact I didn’t have a computer till I was 16 and back in those days it was basically AOL chat rooms, AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) and slow...oh so slow...with buffering, adult entertainment.

Some of this was great - AIM allowed me to be dark and moody, thought provoking and unironically insightful about the universe (in away message form) while creating opportunities (though I cannot even remember how this happened) to talk to lots of random new people. It was like twitter before twitter because I didn’t really know any of these people and they would come and go from my sphere without warning and you had no idea what happened to them. There wasn’t a community sense to it, we were all just islands.

The advent of Social Media as it was constructed had two major players in the early days - Facebook and the hip alternative version “Myspace” which had the “Top 8” and music and all sorts of other random crap I don’t even remember anymore. And Facebook back then was a place to just talk to your friends and plan events, bitch about classes and somewhat similar to the old days of AIM, post unironically insightful thoughts about the universe.

Obviously Facebook has become an engine designed to sell you things and try to maintain as much of your attention as possible throughout the day. The funny thing is, and I imagine I am not alone in this, the changeover from what Facebook was to what Facebook has become actually drove me to lessen my presence there to the point I’m at now...where I’ve basically scrubbed my existence from the site and am only there so I can get rewards in app games I play.

Instead I had given my social media eyes and ears over to Twitter; it was a cleaner and easier to digest platform that made it fun to engage with new people and see what was going on in the world very quickly. The realization that Facebook was my past (about 95% of the people I’m “friends” with there are people I haven’t engaged with in years) whereas Twitter was my present. Which drove the point home that Twitter was the platform more likely to keep my interest.

And it did. For years I spent hours a day scrolling through my feed looking for funny comments and interesting retweets. But at some point a few years back it became apparent that I wasn’t seeing all of Twitter...I was basically seeing the same 10-12 people’s posts. I sought out the other people in my following list and sure enough they were actively tweeting...I just wasn’t seeing them. Algorhythms had decided that they were less important and thus would not be actively presented to me, apparently. So I found work-arounds and ways to still see the people I was interested in but was frustrated.

Similar to the uproar that still exists with Instagram, Twitter had decided (and still maintains) the belief that they know better what we want than we do. Which isn’t actually true though...it’s not that they think they know what I want, they know what they want to show and sell me. If it was just that they thought they knew what was best and didn’t have a vested interest in this new version there would simply be a setting to go completely chronological and to see all tweets. Instead, there’s a main focus on retweets (which can be turned off) and posts other people have liked (which cannot be turned off).

I’m sure Twitter isn’t going to hear the death nell anytime soon; but for me it’s a dying platform. I’m currently on a hiatus from it and don’t know when/if I’ll come back. Their decision making in regards to adjudicating complaints is laughable at best and accounts that post horrible content and free to continue their racist, xenophobic diatribes with impunity (because they have lots of followers and thus drive active users to want to see the content of these accounts). Whereas lesser accounts are suspended or even banned completely based on a single interaction that “violates” their rules. It’s crap and it’s done so that they can say “hey look, see this is how many offensive people we’ve banned”...”but...what about all these other”...”Don’t know about any of that but see all these accounts we’ve banned? We’re making Twitter safe!”

I don’t really need social media anymore...it’s not healthy (actually) and as a full-fledged adult who can source his news independently. I’m sure I’ll miss some of the memes (though only like ¼ of them actually made sense - who is that weird yellow blockey looking guy with the skinny legs?) but in the end my mental state will be improved and I won’t objectively hate people as much because I won’t have their ignorance shoved in my face quite so often.

I would encourage everyone, not to abandon social media on my instruction, but to take a long look at your own consumption habits and analyze whether spending time on those sites are actually providing you with benefits and not just a way to kill time. There’s much better ways to kill time - read a book, take a walk, play some video games...fucking write.

It’s been a good run, social media, over 8 years on twitter, but it has run its course for me and the time has come to let the reigns go loose.

Guns - why the Second Amendment doesn't mean what you think it means

2016-05-24T20:23:00.000-07:00

We live in a society that is completely idiotic sometimes. I don't completely blame the idiot people who think the idiotic things they do...society has made them this way by creating a situation where they're lead to believe things that are completely false. It's like religion; people will proclaim the complete and undeniable nature of their god...except...there are no facts; only beliefs, hopes and desires. But at least with religion the damage is less than with guns (at least since the end of the crusades and ACTUAL religious persecution ended).

Our country was founded on the idea of laws outlined in the constitution and its ten initial amendments, ratified by congress these documents set in motion a nation that has grown beyond anything any of those men could have ever imagined.

The Constitution and Bill of Rights was written at the end of the Revolutionary War in the late 18th century...in case you're not counting we live in the 21st century...meaning it's been over 200 years since these documents were created. Since that time we have grown from 13 colonies to 50 states and a number of territories and protectorates. Numerous wars have been fought (winning most of them) and its citizens have been leaders in technological achievements from the cotton gin to the personal computer.

And yet...we still hold on to this 200 year old document as if it is infallible and the perfection of all things political whilst simultaneously twisting its factual information for our own personal reasons.

There's a great seen in the show The West Wing where an argument is being had over the nature of the Constitution and whether or not it is archaic in regards to the census here's the transcript - it's worth reading - my part continues below:

TOBY
Every single expert, including the census bureau itself, which is a
bipartisan
commission, has said sampling is better.

GLADMAN
We've heard these arguments many times, but in this country we have a
constitution.

TOBY
We are aware of that.

SKINNER
The Constitution's very clear on this.

TOBY
I don't think it is.

SKINNER
Until a court rules that sampling is Constitutional-

TOBY
The article is arcane.

SKINNER
Come on, Toby. The article is not arcane.

TOBY
Let's take a look at it.

SKINNER
No. No. We don't have time-

TOBY
Let's take a look at it!

GLADMAN
Toby! None of us is a Constitutional scholar. And we honestly don't-

MANDY
It's not gonna take long!

TOBY
My staff managed to unearth a copy.

SKINNER
Toby, come on, we've been here for six-

TOBY
Mandy, would you read please from Article 1 Section 2?

GLADMAN
This is silly!

TOBY
Still, in all it is the owner's manual and we should read what it has to say!

MANDY
[reading] 'Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the
several
states, which may be included within this union according to their respective
numbers.
Which shall be determined by adding the whole number of persons including
those bound
to service for a term of years.'

SKINNER
Well you said it right there. It says which shall be determined by the whole
number
of persons. The whole number of persons! Not the end of an equation that some
statistician got off a computer. It says so right there!

TOBY
Actually that's not what it says.

SKINNER
What do you mean?

TOBY
Mandy left out a few words. Didn't she Mr. Willis?

WILLIS
Yes.

TOBY
Mr. Willis teaches 8th grade social studies, and Mr. Willis knows very well
what the
article says. It says which shall be determined by adding the whole number
of free
persons. And three fifths of all other persons. Three fifths of all other
persons.
They meant you Mr. Willis. Didn't they?

I cite this because it's important to understand that a document written over two centuries ago, regardless of what it is, is arcane and it is undeniable that the world has passed it by; in this case in regards to the value of HUMAN BEINGS.

So let's talk about guns...

The Second Amendment - included below unabridged says:

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to keep the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

This gets interpreted by society today...and for a long time, sadly...that guns are a right for anyone and everyone to own and carry around. Many states have gone so far as to allow ordinary citizens the right to walk around with a gun concealed on their person...ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS!

The Second Amendment is pretty clear on the subject: if you are part of a militia which is necessary to keep the security of a free state you have the right to bear arms.

Let's dig into that a little deeper.

When the "army" was founded in 1775 it was not intended to be a constant long-standing entity. It was created to fight the British and everyone was conscripted. Additionally, the armed forces have always been an external fighting force, not a police force to be used to control the populace.

Anyone know how many cities had police forces back when these documents were created? Yeah...how about none; they didn't come around until the 1830's.

Militias were farmers and merchants and clerks who banded together into service defending their towns from, namely, British invaders and those members of the Continental Congress felt obliged to specifically grant them rights to own weapons. The fact that there is a specific provision for how arms were to be appropriated would indicate that the Framers did not intend to allow what currently exists in regards to gun ownership to occur.

Militias, as outlined in the text of the Second Amendment, do not exist any longer. All cities, big or small, have some sort of municipal or county or state police force regulating their area to maintain law and order. From that simple fact alone, the Second Amendment becomes completely obsolete and unfounded as a currently applicable right.

There is a reality to the fact that guns are an ever-present fact in our current society and they will never, ever go away because politicians would never have the stones to actually do anything about them anymore, but if you want to not look like a complete fucking moron point to that sad fact and stop misappropriating the laws this country was founded on to justify your desire to own something so inherently dangerous that every year hundreds of people die from accidental shootings.

Oh, and let's not forget the dozens upon dozens of school shootings that have happened over recent years and the one thing that rings true more often than not when these events are being reported and in the aftermath investigated: the guns were obtained legally. That is fucking insane.

Agree with my stance or disagree with my stance on guns...but it's pretty impossible to deny the facts I'm presenting; open your eyes and see.

Tb

Free Speech - why it isn't what you think it is

2016-04-19T21:06:00.001-07:00

We live in a country of idiots.

Over the nearly 240 years since independence was declared this country and its inhabitants have seen a number of highs and lows. We've seen wars and we've seen desecration. We've seen peace and prosperity (for some). And often, far too often, laws are used to incorrectly reinforce ideas; whether that's under the guise of a purported right to own firearms (which when reading the ACTUAL TEXT of the Second Amendment clearly outlines the requirements for such things to be true, and virtually none of the gun owners meet these requirements) OR the right to freedom of speech as outlined in the First Amendment which will be our topic today.

There is an incredible misunderstanding in this country about what Freedom of Speech means. People make the assumption that they can say anything they want anywhere they want and they are covered under this law from any repercussions. This could not be further from the truth.

For those of you not familiar with the specific verbiage of the First Amendment I am including the unabridged text here:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The key phrase that people fail to grasp from this statement is right at the beginning, "Congress shall make no law..." this is explicitly indicating that a law shall not exist which infringes on free speech. Laws are executed by government agencies and maintained by states and the federal law enforcement agencies within this country. Laws of this sort do NOT extend to public or private business or spaces. People CANNOT simply say whatever they want and wrap themselves in the cover of the First Amendment and be "OK".

Here's a good example of the idiocy of people. My drive to and from work is primarily on toll-roads and the primary road I take has numerous bridges and two walking path bridges that the road travels under. Over the past few years I have been caught up in dozens of traffic jams, some of which extend 10 or more miles back, due to dumbass fucking people camping out on one of these walking path bridges and putting up stupid signs like: "Impeach Obama" or "Abortion is Murder" and other conservative right-wing shit like that.

Over this past winter the local government decided to put up shaded netting - the kind you find on good tennis courts to keep wind from blowing through - which was clearly done specifically and explicitly to keep these dumbass people from massing on these paths and causing massive traffic issues. I was extremely excited about this since traffic is bad enough without these fucks adding to it.

Well, today on my drive home I was experiencing random traffic issues and I thought, "there must have been an accident - it couldn't be those assholes; there's that netting now". Well, guess what...yeah, it was the idiots. They had signage above the netting and off to the side of the path and this signage, instead of being some crazy conservative hate-speech it was various versions of complaints about their freedom of speech being infringed upon and demanding the right to be there and put their signs up. Oh, did I mention that in several places these people destroyed portions of the netting? No, well, they did.

Ok, so let's get one thing straight - I don't have to like or give a fuck about your message to hate you for causing traffic issues for me and thousands of other people JUST SO YOU CAN SAY THINGS NO ONE CARES ABOUT EXCEPT YOU. But the fact that these people think that the netting is an infringement on their rights is TOTALLY FALSE AND IGNORANT!

The netting is not a law enacted to limit their speech. The parties involved in placing the netting there were attempting to merely prevent unwanted affects from their demonstrations.

You have the right to assemble. You have the right to protest. HOWEVER other people and organizations have the right to inhibit you from adversely affecting the surrounding area. Add to this the fact that you destroyed public property and I hope these assholes got arrested today.

I have dreams, no kidding, about making my way to the bridge where these people are with a paintball gun and just shooting everyone there, repeatedly at close range - pelting them with high-velocity rounds of paint. Cause pain but do no permanent or deadly damage. The satisfaction I have during these dreams is outstanding.

People will continue to unabashedly misunderstand and ignorantly invoke this law; of this I have no doubt. But my hope is that somewhere along the way someone may stumble upon this post and learn a little something.

For now; please please please don't just assume something is true - investigate and learn.

Batman v Superman - A Voice in the Void Review

2016-04-04T19:54:00.000-07:00

A lot of people whose opinions I appreciate and respect on a number of topics have been, in a manner of speaking, up-in-arms over the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice movie which was released Friday before last. I'm here to tell you; their thoughts, discourse and opinions are lies or, perhaps it's better, instead to simply say: they fucking missed the point.

In my aging state I tend to prefer to avoid opening weekend release viewing of major films. Gone are the days of sitting online for hours to rush into the theatre with the hope of getting a decent seat. Now we can buy seats, specific seats, in advance and never concern ourselves with spending any more time waiting to view the film than we decide is desired. As such I waited till today to see BvS.

I wasn't worried about spoilers; I've read the stories these characters are loosely based on (Dark Knight Returns, Death of Superman) and so I waded knee-deep into the minefield of Twitter seeing posts about how Rotten Tomatoes rated it terribly and numerous, numerous people stabbing at both the writer David S Goyer (Blade, The Dark Knight) and the director Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead, Sucker Punch).

Let's touch on some important things that people completely missed the boat on. First, the decision to "retell" the Batman origin story. Yes, they show Thomas and Martha Wayne be gunned down but that isn't the point of the memory; it was in fact a dream and it was a dream about how Bruce first encountered bats and how in this dream they saved/killed him and brought him into the light. It's a metaphor for who he had become but it also showed that this version of Batman that Goyer and Snyder were portraying was truly broken. And despite what people will tell you mainstream American (you know, those millions and millions of people who went to see the film that have never read a comic book and may have never even seen prior Batman or Superman movies) they needed to be able to connect Martha Wayne to Bruce in the story.

Second, on that note let's talk about Martha Wayne and Martha Kent (a story line crossover literally decades in the making). Batman is broken, like...seriously and unimaginably fucked up in this version of the story. Unlike previous incantations where Bruce used his parent's death as an excuse or even a driving force; this version seems to see that occurrence as a mere stepping stone along a path he was destined for. Batman is the core of the Justice League; he is their human moral center. He, unlike all other standard members of the League, is a flesh and blood natural human and he's been broken for a long time. But guess what; at his core he is still a good person who wanted to do good for the people of Gotham and when Clark utters Martha's name Bruce has an awakening. He realizes that Superman isn't some god who needs to be feared and destroyed, he's someones son.

You can call that cheesy. You can call that a cop-out. But as someone who's read Batman comics for more than half my life; through dozens and dozens of versions of his personality based on differing writers and their construct of him, I can tell you that his reaction was something I expected.

I can't tell you that this movie is perfect; it's not. There are plot points that seem rushed or at the very least lacking; such as, Diana Prince being in Metropolis to get back a photo of her from when she was fighting in Belgium (along side Chris Pine...) is both naive and somewhat hokey...it's 2016 (even in this movie) and it's a digital image...even if she stole the original and wiped every hard drive she could find he could still have copies...so there's that. There's the Superman killed people story. It kinda doesn't make any sense...they were killed with bullets...untraceable bullets, but still...bullets. Superman would have obliterated them with heat vision if he wanted them dead. Plus; though this isn't covered in the movie, I am positive that he didn't kill the guy who was holding Lois hostage with a gun to her head so...yeah.

Let's talk about some things that people hated on that aren't plot holes. First, Batman missing what Lex was really doing. Bruce had his suspicions and knew Lex was up to something; but I remind you that Bruce is BROKEN mentally and he is absolutely focused on Superman and the need to take him out before he destroys every one and every thing. Plus there was the Diana women distracting him and weird dreams involving the Flash (which he doesn't know is the Flash yet) and a basically drunk Alfred who wants him to spawn instead of fight.

Second, Superman not seeing the bomb in the during the hearing in DC. I read a review where the person actually said "why didn't Superman hear the bomb"...I don't mind this person voicing a rather stupid thought, but I do mind them clearly never having watched Fight Club! "Modern Bombs Don't Tick" is real and the bomb was most likely triggered by a remote device set off by Lex. There seems to be a side-story in that as well where he allowed his close assistant to die; perhaps he knew that she wasn't able to prevent Bruce from stealing his file, perhaps she knew too much and had to be disposed of.

Batman v Superman is an action-packed film which does a solid job of establishing the DC Universe in characters beyond just Batman and Superman (introduction of Aquaman, Flash, Cyborg, Wonder Woman) and the link between Lex and Darkseid is so...comic-booky that I LOVED IT. People have been hating on this version of Lex...why? Because he's a weirdo creep rather than a maniacal psychopath bent on Superman's destruction? How do you think he got that way? This movie was Lex Luthor's origin story. How's that for irony?

I really enjoyed this movie; every film has flaws and plot holes and something for everyone to dislike. Critics didn't understand it (yes, I realize what I mean when I say that) but it's true. I'll give you a parable; George Lucas craved the acceptance of Hollywood and critics so much that when he made the prequels he basically said "the true fans will love anything I make but I'm going to try and make this for the masses to enjoy!" and so he went out and did the complete opposite both stylistically and managerially than he had previously by bringing on huge named actors to star and wrote BORING crap stories hoping to appeal to a wider base rather than just focusing on making good movies. This movie was made with a head nod to the comic book fans specifically. The story lines are deep rooted in the core of these fanbases. The Death of Superman and The Dark Knight Returns are some of the most famous stories ever and this film took pieces from both to connect the characters and bring them together.

Is there a better version of this movie? Possibly. But this movie didn't disappoint me and I think a lot more people enjoyed it than not. The fact that on a midday showing the second Sunday after its release I was still in a full theatre is telling. People love big action films - whether they're about some terrorist trying to take over an airport (Die Hard 2) or superheroes battling a demon monster and each other.

The most important thing I can tell you is this: don't let other people tell you a movie is good or bad; you have to decide that for yourself. But what's important is that you go in with an open mind. And also that you listen to me and what I say most of all...I kid..I kid.

Movie Review: Star Wars - The Force Awakens

2015-12-21T20:04:00.000-08:00

The films of the original Star Wars Trilogy are iconic, generation-bridging parts of science fiction lore and likely never to be supplanted from their place in history. There have been other epic series' that have come since; the most impressive of which would be Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. But given the fact that these were merely adaptations of existing works and not original stories it falls even that much more short.

Lucas, for all his later stumbles and faults, had a vision for Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. He scoped the arc of each character and developed the plot with an emphasis on drawing the audience in and making them genuinely care about Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie, C-3PO and R2D2. This is something that so many other filmmakers have tried to do and failed; he should be applauded for his creativity, vision and foresight.

With the sale to Disney the franchise was put in the hands of the most competent director in Sci-fi films right now. Six years prior JJ Abrams had resurrected the basically dead Star Trek franchise with a new cast. He forged his own path going so far as to put his version in an alternate universe from canon to maintain what had come before without letting it influence his vision.

Disney, perhaps in collaboration with Abrams, did a similar thing in the SWU - all the books, comics, etc. that had been produced since Jedi were expunged from canon. I was among those fans who had hoped without reason that Episodes VII-IX would be the Timothy Zahn story; by far the best series of the Star Wars Expanded Universe (SWEU) but those hopes were dashed. If you haven't read this series, known as the Thrawn Trilogy, I would highly, highly recommend picking it up.

Unlike restarting Star Trek, which had already produced numerous television series and nearly a dozen movies, Star Wars was living on the gasps of what the original trilogy could still command after the debacle that was the prequels. There are certainly SW Fans who will stand by those films as they are zealots and ravenous fans too blind to recognize failure in their messiah. I don't mean to cast aspersions upon all SW Fans who enjoyed episodes I-III, but if you can't see the obvious flaws, storyline errors and insanely contradictory plot points these films created you are not someone whose opinion on film that will hold any weight with me.

So here was the task set before Abrams: resurrect the Star Wars Universe, bring together fans of the original trilogy (meaning: don't ignore that which came before) and draw in a whole new generation while simultaneously set up a franchise which Disney plopped down $5.5 Billion (will a B).

I chose to keep myself rather distant from the rumors and stories out there about the film's plot, characters and story. It felt important to me that I go into this experience with my eyes as unclouded as possible. I watched the trailers, yes. But I ignored all goings on and chatter out there. When I sat down in that theater today I had an open mind and no expectations.

I've spent much of the day replaying the film in my head and even considered not writing anything up until I saw the film again; but initial reactions can be solid from a writing perspective.

Let's start with what I didn't like: I was definitely disappointed in the lack of screen time for Captain Phasma. It is entirely possible that her character will play a much larger role in the subsequent films but for me her absence was noticeable. The characterization of Luke was not to my liking. A bad thing happens and he runs away? That's not the Luke I knew from the original movies; which is all we're supposed to know. As much as I tried to disassociate what I know from the SWEU the use of lightsabers by non-force trained persons was bothersome to me. It's a hurdle I don't think I'm easy to clear. Who's fighting who and why; there's an established government (the presumably good guys - The Republic), the First Order - who rose from the ashes of the Empire, and the Resistance...which is apparently the guerrilla fighting arm of the Republic? It is not at all explained and we are left wondering why it was set up this way.

What I did like: the character dialogue was brilliant at times. When Poe Dameron and Kylo Ren first meet, Poe's little glib remark, "Do you speak first, or do I speak first?" is spot on and hilarious. Though Poe doesn't have an excessive amount of screen time this line is perfectly in line with who he is as the "new Solo" (calling it now). The relationship between Rey and Finn - two people who have not lived the life they wanted and are drawn together by forces beyond their control make a distinct and pure connection. The story of Han and Leia; its construction helps at a reality to the time that came before and puts a human face on the Universe-spanning story line. The fact that unexpected things happen regularly and without fear of the repercussions; Abrams isn't afraid to anger or disappoint fans - which is the exact opposite of where Lucas had taken the franchise, I have to give him credit for that.

Because Star Wars has been such an influential and impactful part of my life and since I was left feeling burned and scared by the prequels I realize that judging this film too harshly is a very real possibility. I remember walking out of Episode I thinking, "The next one is going to be awesome - this was the set-up move, like A New Hope and the next one will be dark and full of kickass fight scenes, like Empire" and that hope was not fulfilled. So whereas there is absolutely no comparing the quality of The Force Awakens with the crap which was Jar Jar Binks and the trade embargo story of The Phantom Menace, there is still those lingering concerns.

I fully reserve the right to amend this review after seeing the film a second time if I come away with a much happier feeling. But for now I leave you with this: Star Wars is alive and well. And that is something we can all be happy about.

Tb

Being a Star Wars Fan

2015-09-07T09:06:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Disney & Lucasfilm

Being a Star Wars fan of my age is a bit terrifying right now.

I grew up on the original trilogy. I consumed them frame by frame, imagining myself on Hoth battling AT-ATs, running through the halls of Cloud City and the forests of Endor.

I spent inordinate amounts of money on the Star Wars CCG and Role Playing materials (though the stories that came from those experiences I will treasure forever).

But I had never seen a Star Wars film on the big screen until the mid-90s "remastered" films. I was still relatively young at the time so my level of angst was minimal (don't worry, it grew quickly) but even then I was annoyed at the tinkering. I was expecting to see a higher quality big screen version of my favorite films. Instead I saw randomly inserted new creatures and ridiculous dance scenes.

Proof that NOBODY liked the tinkering is that when they finally released the films on DVD they were a package deal. To buy the original you gotta get this new shit too. I've never once watched those versions.

Then Phantom Menace is announced. I remember buying tickets to see one of the Analyze movies with Deniro because the new trailer was being shown on that movie specifically (talk about a ridiculous crossover of audiences) and when that music started up and that first scene appeared: chills.

My friends and I sat in line for 6+ hours opening night to watch that pile of garbage with 6 minutes of great Jedi on Sith action. Afterwards, sitting at the Dunkin Donuts we discussed how, like A New Hope this had a slow start but the next one...the next one will be great!

Those dreams died very quickly with Attack of the Clones (which had no attacks of clones or by clones).

I'm not even going to spend time on Revenge of the Sith.

Cast and Crew of SWEPVII Meeting to discuss the film
Courtesy of Disney & Lucasfilm

Things are different now. Lucas has sold his influence away. Disney has kept the key players from Lucasfilm in place to guide the ship and they went out and got Abrams who resuscitated the Star Trek universe with grace and a tip of the cap to all that had come before.

But still I proceed with cautious fear/jubilation. They're saying all the right things; separating themselves from Lucas' vision for this next trilogy and are centering the film on new characters with a nod to the original star warriors.

It's not just about Ep VII though. With Disney at the helm they are determined to get their 5Billion and then some out of their investment in the greatest science fiction saga in film, screen and page.

Spin off films are already in the works and the sky is the limit.

Over-saturation is a common concern I have heard coming from a lot of fans but if done well the myriad films have the ability to do in movie form what the books of the Expanded Universe have done for years: create a more well rounded and magical view of the Star Wars Universe.

New characters are good and important. When I originally head the original cast was returning but they weren't using anything from the EW canon and were in fact dissolving that canon to allow these movies to exist with the encumbrance I was frightened. Old Luke, Han, Leia and Chewie battling the empire seemed cliche and interminable.

But you add in fresh faces to alter the course and boom; magic restored.

I have a lot of hope left in me and I am thankful for the opportunity to still believe in the magic of Star Wars. No longer will I utter the words, "I have dreamed a dream and now that dream is gone." The dream has returned and with it comes lightsabers and wonderment.

Below are some images from the The Force Awakens in Theaters December 18th

Courtesy of Disney & Lucasfilm

Movie Review: Fantastic Four

2015-08-14T17:12:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Marve/20th Century Fox

Story points and plot is divulged below...read at your own peril.

The Marvel universe has been taken in a lot of good directions over the past 15 or so years. The X-Men franchise - though had some middling along the way - has overall been very strong thanks to some great directing work. The Avengers (including Hulk and Iron Man movies) has also had some issues but again the strength is still there making the franchise a billion dollar entity.

All of this was possible because Marvel stepped up and basically created their own production house - not satisfied with letting others take the lead on their own characters. Which is what makes this film so surprisingly bad.

Actually, let me take that back...it's not bad; it's worse than bad - it's boring.

Fantastic Four is a reboot to the previously failed franchise staring Ioan Gruffudd (King Arthur), Michael Chiklis (The Shield) and Jessica Alba (Sin City) which held true to the original story of how the team got their powers. The first movie wasn't bad, a typical Origin Story to introduce an audience not all that familiar with superhero movies back in 2005. Where the train went off the tracks was in the second film when they decided to follow the Silver Surfer/Galactus storyline (an utterly famous arc in the comics which has spawned hundreds of stories since) but apparently deciding that a giant pink and purple humanoid with amazing powers and gadgets they made Galactus some kind of cloud creature with tentacles...yeah.

So, is the new Fantastic Four worse than tentacle monster Galactus? Sadly, yes.

The film dives into the childhood of Reed Richards and Ben Grimm where, in fifth grade, the two collaborate on an amazing device that can transport matter into another dimension. Fast Forward seven years (so that makes Reed like...17?) and one of the top minds in the world is trolling high school science fairs looking for talent? Yeup.

Courtesy of Marve/20th Century Fox

Richards gets brought on board at the Baxter institute where Franklin Storm (Sue and Johnny's father) runs a prestigious (although apparently secretly funded) institute for gifted youngsters.

Oh, and Von Doom is there.

Richards and the team, along with Doom who is apparently a badass with a past (that isn't gone into other than in random asides) and whom is in love with Sue (gotta keep that part of the continuity, right?) work to complete a large-scale version of Reed's original machine to travel to this new universe.

After testing it and confirming it works the team gets benched in lieu of professionals (a novel concept) but the boys get drunk and decide to use the device themselves. Predictably that endeavor goes awry leaving Doom presumed dead in the other universe and the other three transformed. The trip back causes some sort of disruption field which affects Sue as she's wildly and RANDOMLY TYPING A MILE A MINUTE ON A KEYBOARD because we all know that the faster and more random you type into a scientific computer the more likely you are to be successful at what you're trying to do. Not blaming Mara for bad acting necessarily...though she seemed to do kind of the same thing in House of Cards a couple times...

So now they've got powers and are going to team up to save the world, right?!?!? Wrong.

Courtesy of Marve/20th Century Fox

To apparently create heightened and never actually fulfilled drama to this story Richards runs away from the complex the team is being held at. He disappears, naked, from a hidden and totally off-the-grid military installation in the middle of winter...just, why?

The story skips ahead a year. They've all gotten better control of their powers and a new device is ready to transport a team back to the other universe...where Doom is alive and has been busy cultivating world-altering powers!

In the end the movie culminates in an all-to-short fight between the Four and Doom where predictably and incredibly easily they are victorious. The world is saved!

I was genuinely excited for this reboot. The FF are one of my favorite teams as they are origin of my favorite Marvel character the Silver Surfer who has played a prominent role in their universe of the decades of comics. It seems really unlikely the studio will green-light a sequel given how much this movie has been panned; which is unfortunate. And if Twitter is to be believed even the Director thinks the final product is shite...intimating that there were outside influences at work that destroyed his better vision.

Courtesy of Marve/20th Century Fox

The cast had promise but the story was flawed. Buried in the minutia of character development. Why does there need to be a origin story movie for all superhero characters? Where is that written? Jedi have the Force - it's explained (albeit briefly) and then it's understood and accepted. There's no damned origin movie explaining how Jedi's got their powers or why. Just make a movie that's entertaining and shows the characters in their element. If people don't understand why so and so has these powers and what's his name has those powers they can FUCKING GOOGLE IT.

It just feels that these movies more often than not fail due to the hindrance of having to spend screen time devoted to explaining things that don't really need explaining. Just tell us a fun, entertaining, action laden story!

Sadly FF is a big pass. Don't waste your money. If you want to see it, wait for streaming of DVD. The graphics and fight scenes don't even require the big screen like most action movies do - there's not enough of them to warrant it.

True Detective: Season 2

2015-08-10T17:16:00.000-07:00

A word of warning - if you haven't watched the entire season yet or haven't watched the final (which aired last night) yet then I would not read this post...yet, come back once you have and comment on whether you agree or disagree with my assessment. I always love a good back and forth.

As for the rest of you, come take a journey with me...

Courtesy of HBO

Season 2 of True Detective was one of the most highly anticipated television shows in recent memory. There was so much speculation about who the cast would be as they would have a lot to live up to; McConaughey and Harrelson played the lead role so very well in Season 1. The cast was announced: Vince Vaughn, Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams on the marquee with Taylor Kitsch rounding out the main quartet (four detectives?). Nope, three with Vaughn playing the role of a gangster.

The people who argued initially that the series diverted too much from the first season as their reason for complaints early on failed to understand what creator and lead writer Nic Pizzolatto was going for and had said from the beginning: season 2 was not season 1. And you wouldn't want it to be. The premise wasn't that this entire series would take place in the Bayou with crazed hillbilly madmen killing people; that would get boring.

Courtesy of HBO

But there is a reality to the fact that this season was much more like a procedural cop show (Law & Order, NCIS, et al) than the inventive and catch you off guard show we'd seen before.

Southern California was a much more traditional setting - big-city life has its standard tropes, many of which were here. There was definitely an interesting mystery involved. In the first episode a major player within the seedy government of Vinci, CA is murdered by an unknown assailant. His body is found by an off-duty highway patrolman (Taylor Kitsch) who happened to have been recently suspended pending allegations of propositioning a woman he had pulled over. The state wants a special investigator appointed (McAdams) and the local cops want to make sure they're involved (since the town is as crooked as an Allan Wrench) and they assign their own detective (Farrell). Vaughn is involved on two fronts: he had business dealings with the deceased wherein about five million dollars of his goes missing (embezzled most likely) and he has his hooks in Farrell due to a prior dealing years back.

So that's the set-up: three cops from different divisions all looking to solve a murder of a city employee from some tiny little town in California...so tiny that their only residents are businesses - there's no real population.

Along the way there's a number of twists and turns. Kitsch has homosexual undertones within his military history. McAdams has a fucked up past where she was lured away from the hippie colony she was raised in by a creep who held her and molested her for four days before returning her. Farrell's young wife was raped and through Vaughn he's given the name of the attacker, whom he murders. And Vaughn is a self-made gangster who rose through the ranks to be the top of the food chain...but as is so common in that world the guy at the top of the hill is just the easiest to knock off because he has the least amount of ground to stand on.

Courtesy of HBO

There are definitely interesting parts of the story along the way. But in a lot of ways there's too much. There's side-stories that either never pay off or when they do payoff it feels like a letdown. By the final episode the characters who tie everything together, the ones who actually killed the city worker which set all the other cogs in motion, were people who had been randomly mentioned a couple of times a few episodes back so instead of tying the story together it just left you thinking: wait, why did they kill this guy instead of any of the other people who were involved in what had happened to them? It's akin to a scooby doo episode when all along you think the lighthouse keeper is the guy doing all the weird stuff and it turns out to be old Mr. Olsen who owns the hardware store in a rubber mask.

Then there's the dialogue...it's like watching a David Lynch movie. People say things, they talk and I literally had no idea what was happening. Several times, EACH EPISODE, I had a distinct and specific thought of, "who actually talks this way, is this a way people talk and I just don't know it?".

There's a part of me that thinks Pizzolatto felt the pressure of living up to Season 1 and didn't really know how to make it happen. And there's another part of me that thinks that this is just what Pizzolatto was going for. He wanted to move in a dramatically different direction but stay within the same general world of law enforcement.

Though the ratings definitely took a hit from the prior season it seems that Season 3 is most likely to occur. I will be curious if HBO requires Pizzolatto to give up some of his writing power and let others take the reins for some or all of the episodes with him fading back into more of a Producer role.

In the end I had several major problems with how the season ended as the last two episodes played out. First, Kitsch's character is murdered in a way that makes NO SENSE. He's ushered into an underground tunnel and manages to escape from the five guys with guns but as he surfaces through a totally random doorway (not the door he went in) a Vinci officer is waiting and kills him as he walks away. There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY this makes sense. First, it presumes that the guy knew he was going to escape from the other group AND it presumes that he knew exactly which of the dozens of doors Kitsch could have come out of. This is one of those epic fail moments for the series. It's like: we need this guy to die but we want him to have that hero moment and make you think he's going to make it only to kill him in the most annoying way possible.

Courtesy of HBO

Second, Vaughn's death in the desert...he probably would have made it, not easily and definitely could have died from exposure but at least he'd have had a chance...but he makes a really dumb fucking move and attacks one of the guys in the crew that dragged him out there after they'd decided to let him live. And why does he attack? Because the guy wants his suit. WHAT? Do they think that anything they've shown us of this character before would justify this act of idiocy? It doesn't. Not even close.

Third, Farrell's death. He decides it's important that he see his son one more time before making the run to Venezuela...ok, I'm willing to admit that my thoughts here are a bit skewed by the fact that I fail to comprehend the desire and want of children who, in reality, are nothing but a parasite and then a leech on the existence of a family unit but the fact that he takes a side-trip to the one place they could actually spot him, the ONLY place that would be as stupid to go to as his own home...and he goes there. DUDE YOU JUST STOLE MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS just send him a fucking plane ticket to come visit for fuck's sake.

If Season 3 happens I will watch it with cautious optimism but put away and true hope or expectation of quality. For now, I sit in wait of Season 6 of Game of Thrones...

Tb

Movie Review - Jurassic World

2015-06-22T19:46:00.002-07:00

Courtesy of Universal

There are some movies out there that have you leaving the theatre scratching you head asking "What the hell did I just watch?" - I'm looking at you Mulholland Drive. And then there are movies that have amazing twist endings like Fight Club or to a lesser extend Identity.

Jurassic World (the fourth installment of the Steven Spielberg Jurassic Park series) is neither of these kinds of movies. It's a straight forward action movie and if you go into it assuming anything else you're setting yourself up to be disappointed.

There aren't twists (unless you somehow assumed the rugged guy and the uptight girl weren't going to kiss) though there are interesting ways that the story diverts from the norm along the way.

The premise of the movie is that on the same island as the original Jurassic Park - Isla Nublar -the park has been realized and opened as Jurassic World. It's not 20 years since the tragedy of Hammond's original park and the world has accepted Dinosaurs in all their majesty as nothing more exotic than African White Rhinos or some other creature they'd probably never see in person. They have a baby dinosaur petting zoo/riding park...yeah.

Courtesy of Universal

So, even though the park has run smoothly for years - even with Raptors and a T-Rex - it's about time for that all to change.

Claire (played by the stunning Bryce Dallas Howard) is an uptight control freak genius who runs the day-to-day at the park. A lot has been made of her "lack of feminism" as a female lead character. I saw it more as a caricature of that kind of woman than as an advertisement for that sort of person to truly exist. She's a damsel...but not really. She reacts the way, I imagine, anyone who isn't insane or an idiot of some kind would if confronted by a ten-ton monster dinosaur who's trying to eat you.

Courtesy of Universal

Owen (played by the blue-eyed dreamboat Chris Pratt) is the prototypical Han Solo rip-off, right down to the scene with him bemoaning his failed date with Clair whilst absentmindedly working on his motorcycle (which he uses to lead a pack of Raptors, by the way). All you needed was talk of hydro-spanners and failed hyperspace jumps and it would have been Star Wars. He doesn't react the way a person should when confronted by a ten-ton monster dinosaur...but earlier in the movie he is clearly established as INSANE when he jumps into the Raptor paddock to save a fellow crew member.

Courtesy of Universal

The story centers around a new dinosaur which was genetically engineered from a secret concoction of other dinosaur and assorted species (secret until the plot warranted it's inclusion) escaping from it's paddock and running wild across the island killing anything it comes in contact with.

Oh, did I forget that the main characters of the movie are Claire's two nephews? Well...they kinda forgot to include a plot point in the beginning of the movie explaining anything about why the kids were coming to the island. And throughout the movie they keep putting the boys in peril but failed to create an appropriate bond between the boys and the audience to establish why I would care that they, instead of an extra in the background, are picked up and carried away by a Pterosaur.

Courtesy of Universal

At it's core this movie is about badass dinosaurs getting into some serious showdowns and there are plenty of great action scenes. It had me thinking about the failed Alien vs. Predator movies or Predators where the story spent way too much time on the human characters and not enough time with the Aliens and Predators kicking ass. Jurassic World should have been 105 minutes of dinosaurs rampaging and fighting to the death. The human element should have been merely fodder to help the audience understand the size and scope of the dinosaurs might.

That is a movie I would have enjoyed.

Jurassic World isn't bad, it's a fun and entertaining action movie. I think the choice to bring on an art house director showed in how they tried to add a greater level of drama to the movie but unlike the original Jurassic Park they failed to do so. When you sat in that theatre and saw the T-Rex pushing that car further into the mud you were worried about little Timmy and when Ellie was running from the Raptors in the bunker you were FREAKING OUT. Jurassic World had no moments like that, at least not for me. It could be that I'm older now and more jaded to films...but, nah, it's the director's fault.

This is a movie worth seeing and worth seeing on the big screen to fully appreciate he sheer size and awesomeness of the creatures. But go to a matinee and save yourself a few bucks.

Tb

Game of Thrones - Season 5

2015-06-16T15:05:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of HBO

So...we've come to the end of another season if Game of Thrones. There have been laughs and there have been tears and lots and lots of killing.

For those of us who were not book readers (which I would classify myself since I read the first book years ago and did not continue the series) we have finally reached the end of where those people whom we partake the show with can say "well that's not how it was in the books". Now, I know there are claims that Martin will have the next book out before next season...but if what I have been told is true there are parts of these story line's in the show that take place outside or beyond where the books left those characters so...some of Martin's work has already been done for him (or hopefully with him and the showrunners).

I was asked by someone who is hasn't watched any of season 5 yet (she's catching up, slowly) what I thought of the season five finale and to summarize I said, "I'm intrigued by there Martin has put some of these characters. There's a lot to be said for taking known characters this far into the overall story and continuing to change their direction."

It goes against everything I know and have learned as a writer but I feel confident in this thought: Martin has no idea how this is going to end and he never did. Which, when you think about the enormity of the universe he created; even without the television show, having no true ending is pretty insane.

But maybe he had one originally and then as the story developed and characters became more entwined it got muddied and he had to change course leaving himself rudderless.

Courtesy of HBO

Ok, now...from this point forward there are going to be overall season five spoilers so if you're not caught up yet you've been warned.

One thing became clear throughout season five - people should give up on any non-main characters showing up at this point, even ones they expected to. So much of the story has been altered to maintain the core group of still-living characters.

Things like: Sansa being at Winterfell when in fact it was her childhood friend, propped up by the Lanisters and Boltons to pretend to be Arya. Jorah Mormont getting grey scale...how's that going to play out. Plus, he touched the damn queen! Stannis, that wretch of a human, I was so happy to see him die; especially after he allowed his own daughter to be set aflame...all in the name of his pointless and impossible to win rebellion.

Courtesy of HBO

As we now wait the long darkness until March 2016 when presumably season six will premiere on HBO we are left wanting; but we are left wondering what will really happen and those people waiting for the sixth book; will what you read shape or have been shaped by the upcoming shows?

It's an interesting idea to wonder if Martin; who has already allowed large swathes of his original story to be altered, omitted or otherwise ignored for the sake of shaping 1100+ pages or backstabbing, murder, war, rape and pillaging into ten hours of television, will be influenced with his ongoing story by where the characters have been driven in the show. It seems like it would be confusing trying to mash it all together. Especially when characters are in places they've never been in the book (Sansa, Jorah) or are dead when they aren't in the book (Myrcella).

And whereas this bothered me but not the book reader I watch the show with, where the fuck was Brandon this season? His story completely does not exist - never once does he appear on screen. The kid is going to be twenty years old by the time he appears on screen again. Additionally, and having not read the books I am unfamiliar with how often the White Walkers and their movement towards humanity is noted/discussed, but the fact that since season one we've had this thrust at us, the fact that they haven't even reached the wall by the end of season five is like...get those fucking guys some GPS already!

I leave you with this...sorry ladies; he dead.

Now we all sit, twiddling our thumbs waiting to see what next will happen in the lands of Essos and Westeros...but at least it's worth it!

Tb

FIFA: An Organization Out of Control

2015-06-02T20:16:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of FIFA

With the recent presidential vote victory of incumbent Sepp Blatter amongst indictments and arrests of several high-ranking officials within the organization FIFA proved itself to be the worst sporting organization in the world. Many people would compare FIFA to the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and though bribery and unfair practices have been part and parcel with the IOC for years, nothing to the magnitude of what has happened recently within the ranks of FIFA.

Today brought a new bombshell: Sepp Blatter (just four days after "fighting" his way to a presidential victory) has announced he is stepping down as president; walking away from what would have been his fifth term as the world's Football organizational leader.

This is great and terrible news.

Sepp Blatter

I'll start with the great. This is a huge win, mostly due to the FBI oddly enough (considering this countries striking indifference to the sport but our government agencies due love to investigate stuff) because it means that a man who has been at the center of significant controversy including but not limited to the three most recent World Cup announcements (Brazil, Russa, Qatar) will no longer be in control or part of these decisions going forward.

FIFA as an organization is meant to help regulate and oversee the game of Football throughout the world; to inspire and grow the sport for the betterment of the sport. If any of you are MLS fans, you have FIFA to thank for that. During the bid process for the 1994 World Cup (the last to be held in the US; a country with the third largest population in the world) a requirement was put in that the US had to create a sustainable Soccer league; and in the 20+ years that followed there have certainly been some ups and downs but recent years have shown expansion and growth in the sport. Sure we get great players way past their prime (Beckam, Kaka) but some of our own homegrown players are choosing to play here rather than abroad to help foster the sport here.

Courtesy of Major League Soccer

Now the terrible; at this time there is no plans to eliminate and replace all members of the governing body's congress (made up of representatives from the included nations). These are the same people whom just four days ago elected a man who; within the next few years if he doesn't completely disappear off the face of the earth, will be in US Government custody being brought up on any number of major criminal charges. These people, who felt that a man whom was so obviously corrupt was their best option as a leader will be selecting the next president.

Anyone else immediately seeing a HUGE problem with this?

Now I realize that not everyone within FIFA is corrupt and it may seem unfair to summarily eliminate every member but it seems like the right decision. At least eliminate everyone who voted for Blatter in the last election. That would be a start.

In the end FIFA is one of those things that CAN cause trouble, and does, but outside the World Cup events they are mostly seen and not heard. Each region has it's own governing body and major leagues oversee their own rules. Europe - clearly the most powerful region of football organizations, is mostly controlled by EUFA (those people who run that Champions League everyone loves to watch - June 6th final...ahem) where the US is part of CONCACAF (don't even ask, it's insane).

My hope is that this new age without Blatter running things will create an opportunity for those FIFA agents in charge to right the ship and display a greater level of transparency in regards to selection processes and how funds are managed. Perhaps the new people in charge will even manage to limit the insane amount of power FIFA tends to exert over World Cup host nations...though I wouldn't hold my breath on that one.

I realize this is not what this blog is usually about, but as a HUGE Football fan this was something I was compelled to write about. I promise to return to my normal nerd talk in the near future.

For now; go watch some Football (soccer to my Yank readers) and enjoy the beauty of the game.

Tb

Avengers: Age of Ultron Review

2015-05-05T20:04:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Marvel Studios

Marvel Studios has once again set the standard by which all other movie Universes will be measured against. They've spent the last ten years building franchises from the ground up (Iron Man, Thor, The Avengers) all leading towards movies as-yet unreleased that may simply destroy the world with their awesome.

The Avengers: Age of Ultron movie brought us one step closer to the Infinity War movie Marvel Studios has been lording over our heads for years. Like a kid who knows what he's getting for Christmas in June and can't touch it till that fateful day; Infinity War will be the culmination of events the Marvel Universe has been setting in motion for a long, long time.

But, let's focus on the present.

Courtesy of Marvel Studios

Avengers: Age of Ultron has a basic theme - we must protect the whole world. Tony Stark, still dealing with the mental demons of the battle of New York, develops the framework of the Ultron program. The Ultron program is meant to be a fully function A.I. designed to protect the world from threats too big for the Avengers alone to battle.

But, as we've seen with countless other A.I. movies and books humanity is judged to be an unworthy inhabitant of Earth; a cancer necessary to be eradicated.

Moving past the cultural undertones of this film and looking at just the fun parts, and there are plenty, we see that the witty banter is at a heightened level. Whedon pulled no punches even making fun of Captain America's age with a joke about foul language, There was the on-point humor of Tony Stark making us all remember why he's the most fun to hate hero we have in Marvel.

The new characters introduced: Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver (though he was already introduced in X-Men Days of Future Past - different actor) and though their history is different than that in the comics it is necessary to ensure a separation from the X-Men universe and the Avengers universe. In the comics Magneto is their father. We are also introduced to one of the most powerful, and completely undervalued characters, Vision (Paul Bettany).

In a year that promises to be epic in terms of monster hit movies (Jurassic World, Star Wars), Age of Ultron set a proper tone and a high standard by showing that on-screen chemistry and comedic timing can make a huge difference in the quality of a film. I hope Snyder and Singer can pull of the same with 2016's next big comic movie installments.

Courtesy of Marvel Studios

One of the complaints about the first Avengers movie was that the only action came at the end and though it was outstanding the sequence was stunted. Age of Ultron should leave no one wanting for action and the scenes we've come to expect from big-budget action movies. The final chapter of the film is both stirring and moving. Your heart will break and immediately be mended only to break again.

Marvel Studios has this franchise headed in the right direction and by using it as the sun in their universe of movies all other films are enhanced by its over-arching story line.

This is a can't miss in the theatres and should be seen multiple times to catch all the nuance of story playing out in each scene. Enjoy!

This is your bin fodder movie review guru signing off!

Courtesy of Marvel Studios

Trying Something New...Continued

2015-04-28T21:44:00.000-07:00

Prologue

Day 27

We have landed on Gamma Prime - Thomas' named it that because it was the biggest planet in the sector. Official records will refer to the planet as Gamma 4.

The sky here is purple. We suspect this has something to do with the molecules in the air but we have been unable to confirm that. Though the ship's sensors verified the atmosphere was non-toxic and breathable prior to our exiting, it was unable to identify seventy-two of the seventy-eight components that made up the atmosphere - Earth's atmosphere has only four main components.

Artimus, our navicomputer, has advised us that our orders have allocated ten days to explore and sample this world. Thomas and I are eager to begin.

Maybe we've found our next Eden!

N. Velvet

Day 32

This planet is nothing like I've ever seen. We've been here five days now and as yet we have only explored roughly 1/100th of the continent where the ship landed.

Thus far we have discovered and cataloged over 400 species of flora and fauna of all variety. The largest animals we've observed are herbivores that would be best described as a ferret mixed with a beaver but scaly like a snake. Thomas believes the evolution of this planet is still millions of years too early for any large mammals or sentient creatures, but I'm not so sure.

I saw something last night. Something that appeared to be walking upright in the woods. Thomas said it was the plants moving in the breeze, but I know what I saw.

Thomas says that when we leave we will need to take a multi-orbit trajectory out of the system in order to survey what we can on the surface of the planet.

I don't want to leave.

To hell with the mission. The scientific discoveries awaiting us here are immeasurable.

N. Velvet

Day 34

I have switched on my DigiMem voice and optical recording devices for today's log entry.

We are sleeping inside the ship tonight. Last night something, an animal or several of them, trampled through our camp destroying numerous samples and pieces of equipment.

I don't think it was an animal. I think it was whatever I saw walking through the trees.

BANG

Thomas, was that you?

BANG BANG BANG

Oh my god, I think there's something trying to get inside the ship. I'm going to turn on the exterior lights and check the monitors.

What...what the hell is that! Thomas, get up here.

Thomas, do you see this? That thing...that thing has hair, it's walking upright. Wait...did it just look at the camera? Holy shit, it did. That fucking thing is sentient.

We have to go out there, we have to try and communicate with it.

Star Wars The Force Awakens First Official Trailer

2015-04-19T09:39:00.000-07:00

Back in November of last year Lucasfilm/Disney released the first teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens (SWVII) to rave reviews and mass speculation. Who was this prominently featured storm trooper? Why was that girl riding a Popsicle? Wait, did that lightsaber have hilt blades?

Now the first official full-length trailer has been released and my first reaction is "JJ Abrams has restored all the faith that Lucas had, sadly, pissed away. This film will be outstanding."

There isn't going to be any JarJar's in The Force Awakens. It looks like the dark, gritty space-drama Ep II should have been.

I don't want to go frame by frame and talk about the trailer. Mostly because I think that's boring but also because if you want to do that there are plenty of other options out there. Instead I want to hit on the high points, questions raised and speculate on what this all could mean.

From the beginning: we are once again on Tatooine (presumably - though there are other sand-planets in the Star Wars Universe, it seems most likely that they would return to their roots). The opening scene shows a speeder in the background racing across the landscape with a downed X-Wing in the foreground and a crashed Imperial Class Star Destroyer half buried in the sand.

Now, we all know that the story is meant to take place several decades after the end of Jedi - in keeping with actual time-space continuum logic to explain the main characters ages - and it seems evident that even though the Emperor and Vader fell at the battle of Endor the Empire still holds sway in the Universe. It also makes sense that, if this is Tatooine we are seeing, that battles would have raged here. Tatooine is a planet in the outer-rim section of space. If the Empire, spread to the winds after Endor, would regroup in areas further from the Capital and harder to maintain control for the fledgling republic. (hard to confirm Coruscant became the Republic's capital since all canon was vacated from reality last year - but for the sake of argument we will assume).

We then experience a voice over from Mark Hammel (as Luke) giving the same speech he said to Leia on Endor about the force being strong in his family. Curiously it refers to his father in the present tense and not the past...foreshadowing??? Probably not, seems really REALLY stupid to "resurrect" Vader; can't see that happening. Most likely just a choice in language with no specific purpose or value. Part of this sequence shows what appears to be Luke handing a lightsaber to Leia. In the books Leia was never able to achieve significant Jedi powers and handling a lightsaber, though not impossible even for a Jedi with limited powers, seems like an interesting choice for the direction of the film.

It's after the voice-over sequence that the trailer really takes off. Lots of fast-cut scenes showing X-wings in formation flying low over a body of water, A dark Jedi wielding a lightsaber in battle. Ranks of Storm Troopers on an ice planet standing before a raised stage with a leader that can't quite be made out clearly. The tie-fighters present on the ice planet have white wings (instead of the traditional dark gray metal color) presumably to blend in better with the surroundings. Space flight scenes. A badass Storm Trooper in chrome armor. And of course a scene of the Millennium Falcon flying through a crashed spaceship on Tatooine, presumably the same ship we see earlier in the clip, being chased by a TIE Fighter.

The trailer ends on a scene showing Han Solo and Chewbacca on the deck of the Millennium Falcon in such a way as to lead the viewer to believe that this scene is reflective of the first time they've been on the ship in some time. They are both brandishing weapons which leads one to wonder what they were expecting to find OR what they had to do to get on board in the first place.

The trailer is everything you'd expect it to be. I imagine this feeling is similar to what people felt when seeing the first trailer for The Empire Strikes Back in theaters back in 1982. The pure joy of anticipation is never stronger than at this moment.

If you haven't seen it, or just want to watch it a few dozen more times, check it out below!

Bin Fodder Move Review: Furious Seven

2015-04-04T06:11:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Universal

It would be my guess that the writers/producers/directors of the Fast and Furious series sat around in pre-production meetings saying something to the affect of: "People just want to watch fast cars, hot women and shit blowing up" and they're not wrong about that. The F&F series has been wildly successful warranting a now seventh installment (putting it up there with the likes of the X-Men series).

Unfortunately, this kind of thinking tends to lead to situations where the story and plot line of a movie is so convoluted that you're left wondering why they even felt the need to pretend to build it in. But the fast cars, hot girls and shit blowing up distract most people from this fact.

This is not to say that the movies have not been enjoyable, even for someone like me who doesn't get a chub over cars. I think they're neat and they definitely look cooler in these movies than I would ever expect them to be in real life. But, in reality, it's the core cast and the ideals that this movie presents: family and loyalty, that grounds this movie in reality against all odds.

There is an added level of sentimentality with this installment as it was Paul Walker's last - he'd been with the franchise since its inception as a mainstay character. If you didn't know, he died last year in a car accident. Not giving anything away, but there's a really nice montage with a voice over from Vin Diesel to wrap up the movie; pulls on the heart strings.

Realizing that when watching a movie of this type you have to through you concepts of what could actually happen in reality versus fantasy right out the window; but there was one moment involving The Rock Dwayne Johnson where I said. "This is a bridge too far!". The guy runs an ambulance off a bridge to destroy a flying vehicle which is trying to destroy one of the cars...like...seriously?

Courtesy of Universal

That being said the movie is very entertaining. It has the requisite T&A show along the way and even some surprise guest stars. The cars look cool, run fast and are very furious. If you've like the other movies in this series I would definitely recommend viewing. If you've never seen an F&F movie before this is not the place to start - there's a lot of story which hinges on your knowledge of things that have happened previously (including who characters are, why Letty can't remember anything, who Shaw was, who Mia is, who Han was, etc.).

However, if you'd like to join the fun and watch the previous installments - this is the commonly held belief of the appropriate order at this point: The Fast and the Furious, Fast &Furious, Fast Five, Fast and Furious 6, The Fast & the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Furious 7. The second movie: 2 Fast 2 Furious doesn't involve the main crew and can be ignored.

Happy Rides!

Tb

Trying Something New

2015-03-30T20:08:00.000-07:00

I've been struggling lately for inspiration in my writing. The ideas in my head don't seem to gel and though I'm still drawn to comics it doesn't seem a likely avenue for me at this point. Thus, I've decided to return to the writing that has always been my favorite: prose.

My intention is to use this blog, interspersed with the other reviews and tidbits I put up here, to write the story I've been hankering to write for a long time now. Sometimes it will be plot driven, action laden adventures! Sometimes it will be a stream of consciousness as I try to work out the next part or arc. I can't promise that it'll always make sense. And I can't promise it'll always be good. There will be times that I just end, in the middle of an event in the story...because I simply don't have the next part, and I might not even pick-up the next time from there, I may jump ahead.

This is the writing process. Much like a movie it doesn't come together all in order, not always.

Anyway, the one thing I can promise is that what you'll experience, if you stick around for the ride, is my best effort and *hopefully* a good story. Below is the high concept, though some of the moving parts are bound to change along the way:

Worlds in Space

Thomas Farkaïnd and Nicholas Velvet are two scientists contracted by the OEA (Outbound Earth Alliance) to survey and report on the viability of all the planets found in the Gamma Sector of space, 24 planets in all. Expecting this to be a nominally dangerous expedition the OEA has decided to send scientists alone into the unknown rather than waste capital like Shock Troopers. The mission is to record extensive data on weather and the condition of possible living areas of the planets as well as soil and foliage samples to determine whether any of the planets are suitable for colonization. Also to be included in their report is any information on life forms encountered, though the OEA directive lists this as a secondary protocol due to their being a lack of evidence that any such creatures would ever be encountered. The story begins with Thomas and Nicholas approaching Gamma Prime, the 4^th world of exploration. Expecting this world to be the same desolate wasteland they had found with the previous three; the two men quickly find they are in for a surprise that may cost them their very lives.

More to come...

The Most Anticipated Movies of 2015

2015-02-13T23:09:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of StarWars.com

When I first started developing this article I wanted to take the angle that 2015 was one of, if not the most, anticipated movie year ever. But when I thought about what that meant I realized that…well duh, of course it is – with social media and the 24 hour a day news cycle everything is hyped to the nth degree at a near constant rate. So, instead I took a look at the list of expected and potential blockbuster movies coming out in 2015 and wanted to A) compare that against a period in history and B) dig into what Hollywood has become. I’ll start with the latter.

This year should prove to be spectacular with the myriad of comic book, sci-fi, action and adventure movies coming out. But when you take a step back and look at the laundry list of films on the docket for 2015 you see a very specific trend: retread. This is most assuredly nothing new for Hollywood – but this year seems particularly pervasive. For example we have new: Jurassic Park, Friday the 13^th, Mad Max, Terminator, Fantastic Four and Star Wars movies coming out. Now, don’t immediately mistake my comment of retread as all bad…Star Wars alone makes my slip into a mild excitement induced comma all by itself; but with some of these series (FF & Terminator – as of recent) that were failed attempts the last time(s) out it’s frustrating to see Hollywood fall back on such titles to fill an already jam-packed year with movies that will most likely fail utterly in the face of their competition.

Looking at Friday the 13^th and Mad Max; the elder-statesmen of the bunch and their respective reboots have the potential to be grand gestures to their genre…but this is unlikely and again – where’s the originality? I never much cared for the SAW movies, but at least they were trying to be different for their time. These two films are trying to get tickets sold on name recognition alone and that is a bad formula.

Courtesy of Universal Pictures

Then we have Jurassic World and Star Wars; undoubtedly the best two films of this group and I even hesitated to put them in this category but facts are facts. Jurassic World will be the 4^th installment of the series and this time the park is FINALLY OPEN! Clearly with all the kinks worked out (at least enough to get the park up and running this movie will probably be pretty boring, right? Just two and a half hours of smiling people hanging out with dinosaurs!). Nope; apparently they went and bread some new super smart dinosaur that can like do calculus and your taxes while you wait…plus eat people. The cast is outstanding and I wait with bated breath.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is pretty much the holy grail of retreads. People have long anticipated the continuation of this classic saga. But that anticipation was mostly riddled with fear that George Lucas would once again take a giant shit on our childhoods and we’d be forced to suffer through more trade embargo debates while watching whiny children sob about their intergalactic troubles. Not much is known about the story of the seventh installment with only most of the cast known and a mere teaser trailer to go off of; and I wouldn’t have it any other way. This movie SHOULD be shrouded in mystery; it SHOULD be something that when you walk into the theatre your eyes and ears are working at peak efficiency to soak in every morsel of what it’s about to partake of.

As retreads go 2015 has some definite possibilities for quality flicks and I sincerely wish them all the best at the box office.

Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

If you’re wondering why Spectre – the next James Bond movie isn’t in the retreads list it’s because this series (aside from the occasional hiatus for recasting) has been ongoing and would not fall into that category.

The other avenue that is popular in Hollywood these days is: stories that are for kids turned into movies for adults. The Avengers movie is something that huge swaths of people will see, millions and millions – of which only a fraction will have ever read an Avengers comic. Years ago this would have angered me intensely; like when Episode 1 of Star Wars came out and people all went to see it, but I was still the geek kid outcast for being a fan and reading the SW EU books…because that makes sense. But now it’s exciting and I am hopeful that even a small percentage of them will become interested in the comics and keep that industry thriving. Marvel is also doing another classic “let’s take a not-so-popular/totally unknown character and make a movie” bit with Ant-Man. I don’t mean to come across annoyed at the direction the company is going, especially considering how much better a job they are doing than DC in that department overall, but they may as well have made a Moon Knight movie. The only hope for this movie is that they make significant Avengers overtures throughout with the plan to be for him to join that next installment.

Then there are the teen novels that are rolling out into theatres: Insurgent, Hunger Games, Paper Towns. I’m super happy that teens are able to experience the books they enjoy in another medium and in the case of Paper Towns, a book I personally am a fan of, very happy for the author as well. This explosion of the last few years was no doubt ushered in by the success of Harry Potter and we will have to see what direction this goes in the future.

In the annals of history 2015 may stand alone with so many top-flight movies on the horizon; but let’s take a look and see. For consistency’s sake I decided to limit my spectrum to ten-year increments starting with 1985.

As years for movies go ’85 was pretty damn good. It had a solid mixture of teen related films (sound familiar?) with The Breakfast Club, Better off Dead, the Goonies and Mask. There was a splash of Sci-Fi with Back to the Future and Re-Animator (and to a much lesser extent Cocoon). 1985 also saw the release of the second Mad Max movie as well as The Color Purple. By far the best comedy movie released was Fletch which helped solidify Chevy Chase in the hearts and minds of America’s youth. And it saw the second-to-last Akira Kurosawa movie, Ran.

Skipping ahead to 1995 we start to get into epic territory; here’s a breakdown: The Usual Suspects, Casino, Leaving Las Vegas, Braveheart, Toy Story, Apollo 13, Seven, Heat, 12 Monkeys, Kids, Mallrats, Dead Presidents, Friday, and many others. Now, it’s easy to look at this list and say: wow, clearly 1995 was the greatest movie year ever! But you may be looking at this with the eye of hindsight. For example: the Usual Suspects wasn’t some highly anticipated blockbuster – this is pre-Xmen Singer and 1995 was Kevin Spacey’s leap onto the Hollywood stage – before that he’d done little in the way of big movies. Leaving Las Vegas was a surprise drama hit and shocking winner of Academy Awards. Toy Story was one of the first of its kind in the full-length animation stories from not pre-existing characters and no one knew if a non-Disney movie would be received. Seven, Heat and 12 Monkeys are all kind of out there movies; and though in retrospect their casts look amazing – at the time the main stars (other than Heat) weren’t that well known. Kids, Mallrats, Dead Presidents are all on the independent, not for everyone side of movies but have become cult classics.

So that leaves us with Casino, Braveheart and Apollo 13. These are the blockbusters of the year – these are the movies everyone was waiting for. Gibson. Spielberg, De Niro. Hanks. This is where the real rivalry with 2015 lives. At this point I’d still take Avengers and Star Wars over these three…but we’ll have to see how it all plays out.

And finally, 2005 where a more artistic turn in moviemaking appears with films such as: Brokeback Mountain, Good Night, and Good Luck, Capote, Munich, Broken Flowers and Thumbsucker. But there were also blockbuster movies this year: King Kong, Batman Begins, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Sin City, V for Vendetta and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. Amongst the “blockbuster’s” it was pretty hit or miss. Batman Begins was a shockingly great movie – I say shockingly because of where the Batman franchise had been left previously would not have led anyone to believe it could be revived so amazingly. Harry Potter continued that fantastic series and was expectedly very good. V for Vendetta blasted (pun intended) onto the scene and continued to push Hugo Weaving into stardom. King Kong, Sin City and Star Wars III were all disappointments; each would have been better off never having been made.

It’s fair to say that each of these periods in history have claims to fame and quality movies that were released. In the end, though, it boils down to the confluence of quality that 2015 is bringing to the table. It would be hard to argue that 2015 does not have a healthy lead – at this point – in expected quality movies and whereas 1995 could give it a serious run for its money in total great movies, we will have to wait and see what surprise films come out and make a big splash.

For now, sit back and enjoy the year ahead.

Movie Review: Interstellar

2015-02-11T16:52:00.001-08:00

The world is dying. Humanity, in its splendor and ignorance, has finally driven the planet past the breaking point.

During the 1930s in America the people of the southwest experienced a Dust Bowl; a multi-year drought which created massive dust storms that killed the agricultural abilities of that region.

When we meet the main characters of Interstellar: Cooper, Murph, Tom & Donald, it is a dark time for crop production. Virtually all cash crops have been made extinct by the blight and now all that humanity has left is corn. Cooper (Mathew McConaughey) is an engineer/pilot/genius turned farmer and he and his family have made the tough decision to stick it out and keep producing corn in an attempt to continue feeding the world.

The first part of the movie sets the tone for why humanity needs to act as desperately as they appear to do later in the film. The director, Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Inception) does an excellent job of maintaining the human element throughout the movie. Far too often the audience has the need for an emotional connection to the characters thrust at us at some point in the film and then the idea is abandoned and it is simply expected that it will continue to exist. Like a sapling dropped in the ground, loosely covered in soil and given no water or nourishment; it will not grow.

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

Let’s talk about the story. NASA has detected a wormhole in the space around Saturn. Prior to this story’s beginning they sent twelve individual manned missions through the portal to land on and explore the planets that had been discovered. If the world was found to be habitable and of good quality the explorers were to report back and NASA would begin the process of sending the rest of our race to follow after them. Cooper and his daughter Murph come upon the installation NASA is running this operation from in secret.

Despite the long runtime, 169 minutes, there is not much dilly-dallying. From the point where Cooper finds NASA to when he is on a spaceship heading into the unknown is roughly eight minutes of screen time. It was as if Nolan was saying to the director of Armageddon, “I could have done your movie…better…an in about a quarter of the time”.

Let’s talk physics. Christopher and his brother Jonathan Nolan, whom have partnered on several script writing undertakings in the past: The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Memento, and it is clear that these brothers know their physics. Far too often in science fiction films that are supposed to be based in reality the impossible is set as merely a tiny hurdle to be jumped (I’m looking at you Gravity!). But Interstellar uses actual science to discuss potential risks and dangers involved in the mission. For example: when visiting the first planet after coming through the wormhole the team must decide how to approach the planet, which is incredibly close to a black hole, because the closer they pass by the anomaly the more slowly time will move for them. Because the planet is so close to a black hole time operates differently; an hour on the planet is seven years of real time. This is both totally fucked up and cool at the same time.

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

Often times with science fiction movies that involve present day humans there is a tendency to use the “everything that could possibly go wrong will go wrong” mentality; a good example of this would be Mission to Mars. Interstellar doesn’t do this. Sure things go wrong and sure there are problems to add drama to the film but they are more believable because they are not so damned predictable.

There are portions of the movie that you just have to take on faith. Faith that Nolan will explain himself and his vision at some point. Like how when a dust storm kicks up and Murph forgets to close her window so her room is covered with dust. The dust coalesces into lines which spell out coordinates in binary…which Cooper realizes and identifies. This isn’t TOTALLY insane since Cooper has already been portrayed to be exceedingly smart and inquisitive, but it’s a bit of a stretch for the audience.

At times movies can be either ruined or significantly enhanced by their score; movies like Gladiator and Star Wars are examples of the latter. Interstellar has a score that completely draws you into the story. The moments of tenderness are soft and inviting and the moments of pure adrenaline driving intensity are represented by roaring crescendos that will drop your jaw without you even realizing it.

Nolan has proven himself to be an outstanding creator and he did not let us down with Interstellar. You don’t have to be a fan of sci-fi to enjoy this movie; because in truth it’s not a science fiction movie. What occurs is rooted in fact or theory…with a little bit of imagination added to it.

If you missed this in the theater I feel for you, but make sure you catch this as soon as possible!

As always, thanks for reading!

Remembering a Friend

2014-11-23T20:31:00.001-08:00

Over the past few weeks I've been trying to think of the best way to honor the memory of a friend who left us far too soon. Matt Jordan was a phenomenally talented artist that I had the honor of working with on a few occasions. I decided that the best thing I could do was to publish something he worked with me on that has never before seen by the public. It was meant to go into an anthology that has, in the last three years, failed to come together. I'm proud of this story because it forced me to use my ability to describe a scene to an artist without using characters to push the story along. Enjoy..MONSTERS AMONG US!

Netflix Catch-Up: Arrow Season 1

2014-08-09T15:58:00.003-07:00

Courtesy of CW

Arrow is a new and interesting take on the Oliver Queen - Green Arrow story. For this iteration Queen was stranded on an island for five years after the yacht he was on with his father and others went down. His time on the island changed him; from the vapid, partying playboy he was into a dark, vengeance seeking night stalker.

The show, in and of itself, has intriguing stories that happen along the way. Seeing Queen leaping around, shooting arrows by the dozens with precision and accuracy is neat - those moments are like the comics come alive (without the boxing glove arrow - I know, it was my favorite too dammit!). But the majority of the show leaves much to be desired.

My biggest issue with the show is really two issues - first: the cast; it's way too daytime soap drama acting with the pouty faces and furrowed brows. Then there's sub-plots. The overall story makes sense: Ollie's dad was in with some bad people who were doing to do bad things to the city - he leaves Ollie a list of names to guide him on his quest to right past wrongs. The sub-plots with all the "romance" and "character growth" is bad, just...bad.

Courtesy of CW

I realize that it's hard to write a show that's one-hundred percent about the hero character doing hero stuff (I remember Lois and Clark) but being a CW show, Arrow goes too far in the opposite direction. Additionally, it's like the writers oftentimes were trying to inject some "comic style writing" into the show with cheesy one-liners and bad puns but they just fall flat and make the show look like it's written for children.

Those things being said - the show is entertaining and one thing the writers are really good at is leaving you at an episode ending cliff-hanger. The end of season one's final episode is the culmination of it all.

This isn't a show I would seek out and watch religiously on a weekly basis but as a Netflix binge-watching show it suits a lot of needs. It's worth checking out; if only to watch Emily Bett Rickards in hot nerd glasses talking all techy.

When season two is posted I'm sure I'll watch; hopefully the acting improves with time...but I don't have the highest of hopes. For now, watch a trailer for Season One here and see for yourself:

Movie Review - Guardians of the Galaxy

2014-08-06T19:00:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Marvel

Marvel has done an interesting thing in the last 15 years or so of movie making - they've gotten a lot of things right. In the comic book movie making business; that's a rarity. From the terrible, and I mean god-awful, made-for-tv Justice League movie with the FAT doctor from M.A.S.H. as the Martian Manhunter, to just plain awful television programs (The Incredible Hulk, Wonder Woman, The Flash) the comics industry has tried and failed on many occasions to bring their product mainstream.

There are the occasional success - mostly in the form of animation (Justice League, Teen Titans, Spiderman, X-Men) but it wasn't until the Brian Singer X-Men movies (despite the terribleness of the third installment) that the industry turned a corner. Then Sam Raimi's Spider-man came along and everyone sat up and took notice.

It was as if everyone had forgotten after 1983 that nerdy movies could be mainstream cool. Do you honestly think the "cool" kids didn't see the Star Wars movies? Of course they did, EVERYONE SAW THOSE MOVIES!

But what Marvel has done so successfully is take ancillary characters (such as Blade) and make successful, interesting, money-making movies. Thus we have: the Guardians of the Galaxy.

I've been reading comics since the early 90s and I can honestly say I've never read a single Guardians story. I like space, Silver Surfer is my favorite character - but they didn't cross paths a lot.

The characters aren't known. They aren't Wolverine or Professor X. They're gritty. They're criminals. They use a lot of guns and they kill a lot of people. But that's not why this movie is so good, that's not what makes it worth seeing.

It's what the characters ARE that does that: they're interesting and they stay true to who they are. Giving yourself over to the suspension of disbelief - being an outer-space movie where a central character is a gun-toting, talking raccoon - there is a true sense of believability about these characters. They have history. They have emotion. They've all felt the depths of pain that loss at a core level inflicts on a person.

Courtesy of Marvel

I could sit here and write a detailed account of the movie and the twenty-seven reasons why you should go see it (the soundtrack would EASILY make the top five of that list by the by) but that's not what this is about - this article is to help you understand why this movie is so important.

We are on the cusp of the greatest five-year stretch of this generation's movie-making history (with Avengers 2, Batman v Superman, Star Wars VII, Captain America 3, JLA "possibly", and others) and it's movies like this that will help bring in that broader audience. Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana - these are actors people like and are willing to go outside their comfort zone to see...and that's the hook.

We are entering a golden age - look back at the late 70s early 80s with Star Trek and Star Wars enthralling audiences worldwide. The industry has struggled, filler movies like the Matrix trilogy has tried to filled the void, but now we've survived the paltry portrayals of our beloved characters and ascended to a place where the right people (JJ Abrams) is looking out for the interest of fans - and we can all be thankful for that.

Bin Fodder: Grounded

2014-07-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

Hello! Welcome to another edition of Bin Fodder! This week I review Grounded, written by Mark Sable with other original works to his credit such as Hazed and Rift Raiders. The art is by Paul Azaceta who has a slew of credits both at Marvel and in the indie world.

Courtesy of Image Comics

Grounded is set in a world where superheroes only exist in comic books. At least, that’s what the general public is led to believe. The story’s main character, Jonathan Shepherd, has grand aspirations of being a superhero himself; he just needs to find out what his superpower is. He starts out thinking that he’s secretly super-fast, but that dreams ends rather quickly. He runs through myriad other power aspirations culminating in a belief in an ability to fly causing him to jump off the roof of his house. This ends in the inevitable failure of flight and broken bones.

Skip ahead to high school and Shepherd is still a comic book loving nerd and social outcast clinging to the belief that superheroes are real. Turns out, they are. And not only that, his father’s one of the most powerful ones! He happens to find this out while his dear old dad is sleeping with another woman, a superheroine. Yeah…pretty crappy day overall. But it only gets worse.

Courtesy of Image Comics

For Shepherd’s protection his father takes him to the high school for super heroes where he must now attend. So he goes from being the only kid in school who wants superpowers to being the only kid in a school full of superpowered kids not to have any.

What ensues is a somewhat strange and often times confusing storyline involving mind-control, evil teachers, strange technology and invisible skyscrapers.

Azaceta has an uncanny ability to seamlessly flow between his modern style and the classic format used to depict flashbacks or in-story comic book tales giving the story a lot of added quality. The writing is a little sloppy. It seems like Sable was trying to tell too many stories at once and everything just gets jumbled.

Sadly it seems like the project was abandoned almost as quickly as it was finished, since the homepage for the site only has updates through when issue three (of six) was expected to hit shelves. Additionally, the cover specifically calls this story Grounded Volume 1: Powerless, implying that a follow-up story was to exist but never came to fruition.

In the end, I found myself lost several times in the book because of the confusing mixture of stories and characters.

Until next time,

This is Bin Fodder Guru Tim Blacksmith signing off!

Movie Review - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

2014-07-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

A long time ago, in a place called 1968 there was a revolutionary movie called Planet of the Apes staring Moses (I mean: noted gun-nut Charlton Heston) wherein the world had long ago plunged into a technological darkness and apes had taken over as the dominant intelligence on planet Earth. Heston, an astronaut returning from a mission, lands on what he thinks is some other planet where evolution went horribly wrong...and in a stunning display of terrible acting (shirtless on a beach no less) he views a partially destroyed Statue of Liberty and realizes it was Earth all along. This "epic" scene has been mockingly used many, many times since then.

The failed 2001 relaunch of the franchise had a similarly idiotic scene at the end - this time with the Lincoln Memorial being replaced by an ape Lincoln (like they'd still have had an ape Lincoln...) statue. This movie was much more militaristic; showing apes as ruthless aggressors bent on the destruction of all humanity.

Luckily, a decade later, Twentieth Century Fox revitalized the story with better acting (yes, I know it's James Franco) and better CGI work. With forethought for a franchise they built the first movie as exactly that; a first movie. Caesar is an ape exposed to experimental drugs meant to cure Alzheimer's but in him the affects were amazing and he became hyper intelligent for an ape; capable of understanding and solving complex problems.

Jump ahead ten years (in the POTA universe) and the Apes; with guidance from the mighty Caesar have made a community in the vast forests outside San Francisco. Caesar has sired several offspring; the oldest and strongest - Blue Eyes - he is grooming to eventually take his place. Teaching him to use his intelligence as a guide to being a good, kind leader.

The opening sequence of the movie shows the apes in a massive pack hunt of elk - it's amazing watching the coordination and sequences rendered of the apes swinging through the tees. If you've watched any of the previews you have probably seen the bear attack...yeah, it's awesome.

In Dawn humanity is on its last legs in San Francisco. They've cobbled together a meager civilization at the heart of the city but have no power source and are running low on fuel. Their solution: restart a hydro-electric dam and bring power back to the city. Thus enter the plot.

The movie is decently well written - with few plot issues. There are a few "too convenient" situations but they are mostly believable given the characters and situations involved. An excellent scene occurs when Koba (one of Caesar's most trusted advisers and human-hater) "plays ape" to seem non-threatening to some humans he happens upon at a weapons depot. Little do they know...

The ape society is built on classes with Caesar at the top as the smartest and the strongest. But unlike most animal class systems there is no battles for supremacy because the teachings of Caesar are that "ape not kill ape". This mantra works...right up until the point that one of the ape's decides Caesar likes humans too much and is weak because of it.

Often times with movies that should focus on non-human characters (like Alien vs. Predator) the human characters always seem to take over and overshadow/drown out they main characters. But Dawn did a good job representing both equally and well. Time was spent with just the apes; of them having conversations and discussing serious topics.

There are a few scenes that are very impactful; like when Caesar and the entire ape society show up at the doorstep of the human refugee camp as a show of strength with a warning not to venture into their woods before. When Caesar speaks - the reaction of the humans in the crowd is outstanding. And, as you've no doubt seen in the previews - seeing an ape on horseback shooting an automatic rifle is pretty amazing.

As a second installment in the movie franchise Dawn is excellent. It's not just a plot piece, moving us to the next film - it does so much more than that. The struggle for the planet is real and Caesar realizes this at the end. Humanity will not be coming back - now is the time for the ape to rule; and he will lead his people to victory.

I, for one, can't wait to see where the next movie takes us. Hail Caesar.

Thanks for reading!

Tim

Bin Fodder: Marvel – 1602

2014-07-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

Hello! Welcome to this week’s edition of Bin Fodder. Today I’m dipping back into the mainstream to talk about Marvel Comic’s 1602. I do this for two reasons: first, because it’s Neil Gaiman, one of comics’ most celebrated indie writers with books like Sandman and Books of Magic to his credit. Gaiman, like me, has dipped his toe in the mainstream waters before having done spot-writing on Batman and Detective Comics. He teamed with artist Andy Kubert of the famous Kubert family of artists to create Marvel 1602. And second, because I have yet to review a Marvel book and it seemed only fitting that I do so.

The story of Marvel 1602 sets many of Marvel’s classic characters, including the Original X-Men, the Fantastic Four and Daredevil (Matt Murdoch), in early-modern Europe. The premise for the existence of these characters is divulged by the Watcher Uatu to Dr. Steven Strange through a very Gaiman-esque style of linguistics magic. Essentially, a hero from modern times (our present) is displaced into the past which creates a rip in the time/space continuum. The Universe, in an effort of self-preservation, sets in motion the events which establish a force strong enough to stem the tide and fix the problem (the classic hero characters). There’s just one problem with this: he rip in time takes place fifteen years prior to the beginning of the story and many if not all of the hero’s are far older than fifteen. But, it’s comics, so we let that go and move on. In an effort not to give away the ending (since I am not one to have spoilers in my articles) I will simply say that working together the combined forces of the X-Men, the Fantastic Four and many others save the universe, as is to be expected.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

To go along with Gaiman’s well-known and much ballyhooed style of writing, Kubert does an outstanding job of designing the characters to fit in with the motif of their surroundings. In many ways Marvel 1602 is the company’s attempt at doing what DC Comics did back in the mid-nineties with Kingdom Come stylistically if not symbolically, which is to show very established characters in new forms and in a new light. With Richard Isanove doing the digital illustration which, of course, pales in comparison to the paintings of Alex Ross, nonetheless is magnificent in its own right.

In the world of Marvel 1602 there are two villains, the first and main is Otto von Doom (a.k.a. Dr. Doom) who is still set up as the iron-fisted ruler of Latveria. The second, and much more minor, is Richard of Scotland, who sees fit to supplant the queen and rule all of the United Kingdom. Doom, much like his modern counterpart, is desirous of knowledge and bent on ruling the world. In this alternate reality he has captured the Fantastic Four and uses fear of reprisal against the others to force Richard Reed (a.k.a. Mr. Fantastic) into aiding in his scientific endeavors.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Other characters play large roles as well, such as Sir Nicholas Fury (a.k.a. Nick Fury), Thor and Peter Parquagh (a.k.a. Spiderman), though he does not assume the role of Spiderman until volume two of the story (not covered here). And some make very minor appearances such as Sister Wanda (a.k.a. Scarlet Witch) and her brother Petros (a.k.a. Quicksilver) as well as Vulture Fliers, who are in fact assassins who appear to be genetically engineered clones.

Marvel 1602 does a good job of taking the reader into that period of time with colloquial terminology and staunch religious doctrines. Where the story falls a little flat is, as stated previously, in the timeline but also in the use of the characters. Gaiman does what I think many of us sometimes wish to see, superheroes acting super, but he shows his lack of experience in the field during this story. Gaiman has too many characters for an eight-issue miniseries and it shows in the lack of time that the majority of them see action. I can see where he was compelled to include the Fantastic Four in the story since it could prove somewhat more difficult to have the X-Men battle a villain they’ve not regularly, if ever, faced. However, that’s the fun of alternate reality stories! Go outside the norm, go beyond comfort levels! I don’t know if I am to blame Marvel Comics or if I am to blame Gaiman for this fault, so I shall blame them both equally. The story of Marvel 1602 could have been so much greater had he not tried to squeeze in so much.

Overall, the art and the dialogue of Marvel 1602 rate four stars, but lack of imagination and faith in the readership brings that down.

So, my friends, go Bin Diving and find this and other gems!

Until next time,

This is Bin Fodder Guru Tim Blacksmith signing off!

Bin Fodder: Random Encounter

2014-07-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to this week’s edition of Bin Fodder! In this installment I’ll be taking you into the world of Random Encounter, created by writer/illustrator Nicc Balce. Random Encounter was produced by Viper Comics a company that is probably best known for releasing the very popular books Dead @ 17 and Middle Man.

This four-part miniseries has something for everyone. If you’re a geeky fanboy who loves “hot” anime-style comic book ladies, if you’re a fan of RPGs (Role Playing Games for you non-true nerds out there), or if you just enjoy a quality comic with an interesting and engaging story chock full of outrageous action and humor, then this is the book for you.

Courtesy of Viper Comics

The high concept of Random Encounter is top notch. Take three ordinary people and put them in an extraordinary situation with monsters and crazy action sequences. Throw in a heroine who has the innate ability to fight said monsters but lacks the conscious memory of how she can or even why she’s doing it. Mix it all together with some RPG style overtones and you get an exceptional story.

Random Encounter has four main characters: Migo, the Kwik Mart clerk who turns out to be more than meets the eye. Mica, who dates Migo and basically lives at the Kwik Mart, who also turns out to have powers that are not entirely known to her. Mona, plays the role of the overbearing, controlling friend of Migo and Mica who takes photos and dreams of glory. And Goggles Girl is the heroine who has lost her memory after landing on the roof of the Kwik Mart.

Courtesy of Viper Comics

The first issue starts out with Migo, Mica and Mona doing what it would seem they are always doing, hanging out at the Kwik Mart playing video games and watching television. But a random encounter introduces Goggles Girl and an inky monster creature that attacks her, Migo, and Mona as they try and help. Acting on what turns out to be instinct Goggles Girl fights off and eventually destroys the creature, but not before Migo is injured.

He’s rushed to the hospital where, after coming around from his head injury, he is attacked by another inky creature. This one ends up possessing one of the nurses in order to continue its assault but Migo is able to fight it off with the help of Gummy. The introduction of Gummy brings along with it the detailed explanation of what is truly going on in the story.

Gummy is a “Nede Harvester”, and once again I find the internet lacking for any kind of proper definition of what this is so I will do so here. Nede is referred to as the “Tree of Life” and its leaves have the power to heal once allowed to properly dry. The leaves can also be used to create “Nede Cards” which, when placed inside an item, can add special powers to said items. Gummy explains all this to Migo along with informing him as to that the monsters are called Bindlings and that they are released by Nede trees as a defense mechanism when leaves have been stolen. The Bindlings start out as level one monsters (the kind seen in the first two issues) but then they can latch on to another tree or combine together to upgrade themselves to become larger and more dangerous creatures (as is seen in the last two issues).

Courtesy of Viper Comics

Migo and Gummy return to the Kwik Mart to find Goggles Girl tangling with one of the larger creatures while Mona looks on taking photos of her skimpy outfit hoping to become rich and famous from it. After Goggles Girl gets knocked out Gummy and Migo step in to take on the monster. It’s during this scene that the truth of Migo’s importance and ability comes out. He has powers, he was simply unaware of them, but a kiss from Gummy brings them out. After the kiss his right hand enlarges and his punches deal out a massive amount of damage. In the end Migo, Gummy and Goggles Girl work together to take down the creature and then together with Mona and Mica leave town.

The story ends very open ended leaving the possibility for future adventures but as of yet none have come to fruition.

Courtesy of Viper Comics

The first issue contains interesting little notations in the form of videogame style directional-pad use and buttons to push to achieve some of the action/fight moves that occur. But much the same as Dade Murphy’s techno-visions in Hackers, these notations just fade away, which was somewhat sad to see, because I thought it to be a very cool concept and thought it added an interesting quality to the story. It reminded me of how Blue Monday made notations throughout of recommended music for that part of the issue. The fact that this little part of the writing disappears is the only part of this book that I didn’t like.

Overall Random Encounter has a great story with really cool art. It has enough of an anime/manga feel to draw in that crowd of fans but not so much as to turn off those who don’t dig on that style.

So, my friends, go Bin Diving and find this and other gems!

Until next time,

This is Bin Fodder Guru Tim Blacksmith signing off!