Avatar RAWKS!

WOW! I gotta say, Avatar was impressive to look at. As long as your brain wasn't turned on too much it was a great ride to the movies. Visually it was absolutely stunning. I enjoyed it a great deal.

(Now to the shit. [That means spoiler alert!])

HOWEVER, I have trouble turning my brain down too much, especially in the face of laziness and very little imagination. (Huh? What? Little imagination?) Yes. VERY little imagination. I like Jim Cameron. He's a huge sci-fi geek with Hollywood clout. And he is definitely an innovator when it comes to the technology of films/movies. But story-wise he's a bit lazy. (Interestingly I read a blog by Steven Barnes that kind-of, sort-of explains this. Here's the piece 'cause it's a long blog and I don't feel like having you find the part I'm talking about:

"This is such a lovely trap, really. It works like this: in general, the deeper the characters, the simpler the story. And the more complicated the story, the shallower the characters. It isn't that people deliberately set out to do this: it is that a writer only has so much talent. Let's say they have a hundred cubic units of talent to expend upon a project. If they go for a story with wild twists and turns, and serious extrapolation...that uses up more units, and they just don't have as many left over for their characters, which often come out shallow and unconvincing...but WOW! That plot! And the stories with deep, resonant characters are usually stories of everyday life, small drama writ deep and wide. Scathingly real human beings against a backdrop of the mundane.")

And here, with Steve's reasoning, we have a somewhat obvious explanation (except in this instance there's nothing deep about the story or the characters, with the exception of the Na'vi people as a whole a bit. The divide here is Cameron's focus on tech/SFX versus story/character. He's so focused on pulling this shit OFF that all elements of the story suffer.) However there is also another. And that is that this is the exact same story that white people (men) KEEP TELLING OVER AND fucking OVER!!! (Here's a rather good article on this particular storytelling problem. Ironically, and [maybe] thankfully, written by a white person.)

I mean I was kind of cool with Cameron's portrayal of the Na'vi up until Sully gets captured. When the Na'vi warriors ride off to home tree what do I hear? The same exact shouts/calls/hoots I've heard in every film/movie that had some depictions of Native american warriors/braves/people. I mean THE EXACT FUCKING SOUNDS. These are not human beings. Yeah, they have two arms, two legs, a torso, a neck, a head, and kind of speak like we do. But they use their voices in a way so much more involved than humans, especially english speaking humans. Damn James, you could turn fine ass Zoe Saldana into fine ass Neytiri, a ten foot tall blue alien, but you couldn't come up with some alternative sound tech as well as film/visual tech to make her and all the other Na'vi sound different than us? That shit really bothered me for the whole damn movie. Basically the Na'vi were a combination of pretty much ALL non-white peoples on earth.

And then here comes some humans, mostly white, to take shit over. But a choice few, like less than ten among hundreds, want to learn and co-exist peacefully and ONE has to learn the hard way. And of course that one, is an outsider to those choice few but is an infiltrator among them as much as the natives. And "naturally" it's a MAN and he's WHITE. And too late he realizes he was wrong and switches sides. And LEADS the natives against his own kind, 'cause you know, they're wrong and just need to be shown the error of their ways. Check this here man: http://www.battleforterra.com/. Same exact movie, just the details were a bit different. And obviously more money was spent on Avatar.

OH YEAH, almost forgot the biggest twist of the knife: white boy gets to fall in love with the daughter of the local chief and life mate with her.

Don't get me wrong, there are some things I did enjoy though.
--I like the fact that it was a corporation that was there to rape the natural resources from this planet for profit. Earth is dying or dead and humans are still chasing money. SO US.
--I like the fact that the two humans, non-avatars, that helped the human-avatars against the corporate army were NOT WHITE, a female soldier and a male scientist. Michelle Rodriguez is so cool. I find it funny that the women who turned on the humans died but the two human-avatar white males lived. But the female soldier, Michelle, and the female LEAD scientist, played wonderfully by Sigourney Weaver (SO GOOD to see her back in Sci-Fi!), were BOTH killed and both by the same asshole, the leader of the coporate army. (Note: The ladies dying is something I DON'T like. At least Michelle's character. I understand why Sigourney's character had to die.)
--The humans get their ASSES KICKED!!!
--The one black dude, who seemed to be a kind of NCO, lives. He's light-skinned and had a really small part but he's black and we don't see him die, so that's like a first for James Cameron. Thanks James.
--Sully has his consciousness fully transferred to his avatar body, completely leaving his humanity behind. I'm not sure if that's the unspoken ultimate white people fantasy but I thought it was cool. Did notice he waited until AFTER the big battle to do it though. Even though he knew it was possible before the battle.
--Reminiscent of one of my favorite Alan Dean Foster novels, Midworld, which is a very good thing.

Ultimately James Cameron did what he does best, delivered some super-duper kick-ass sci-fi on screen. And I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Oh yeah, one thing I wanted to put down. For those who know me, for obvious reasons I didn't write about the 3-D aspects of the film.

For those who don't know me: I only have sight in ONE eye. Therefore the 3-D aspects really had no affect on my enjoyment of the movie. All the glasses did was make the movie look normal to me. Thank god. I wasn't sure what would really happen. It was interesting though because obviously so much more is being projected and is designed to be taken in by two eyes, so about halfway through the movie my eye got real tired. I had to close it for like a full minute to give it a break and then I periodically blinked on purpose just to avert more fatigue.

Even though I just saw it a few hours ago, I'm tired. I think I got everything I needed down. SO, aside from the seriously obvious and tired old story mold here, I enjoyed the hell out of watching it. There are bangin' SF novels out there and it would be nice if just ONE of them were properly adapted to screen.

All for now. LAterz.

T

One of the best movie scenes ever!

I love this movie. One of the best war films ever done! C'mon son!, he said, "You're so ugly you could be a modern art masterpiece!" There's like mad classic quotes in this scene! There's more classic quotes in this scene alone than most other whole movies! And this is over twenty years old and still holds up well. (Thanks to my big Bro' for bringing my attention back to this joint.)

More Bluray madness

Last week I stumbled across Best Buy having a super duper sale on BluRay movies. Ooooookayyyyy. We know of my consumerism weaknesses. Also when that sale ended, it was only for a week!, I came here, cruising around to see if my other favorite places to buy shit were having a BR sale as well. WELL, lucky (unlucky?) me! Amazon just so happened to be having a BR sale, too. I didn't go super crazy, though. I have some standards. Usually before I buy a movie on bluray I check this website, which is pretty good at rating BR discs. Mostly I check it for movies that came out before the advent of Bluray to see how the transfers are. If the dvd I have is pretty good and the transfer isn't that great then I don't need the BR. Also, I mostly want movies with serious action and/or super fx on BR. Don't really need dramas on BR. I do, however, have some on BR but they're newer. I really don't need The Color Purple or Girl, Interrupted, or The Joy Luck Club on BR. I'm sure they'd look great (maybe) but big deal. BR is mostly for the newer films being made that will/can take advantage of the tech. (Perfect examples: for drama, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button [a must own on hd digest] and for action, The Dark Knight.) BUT with modern tech some older movies actually transfer to BR very well. A very good example is Enter The Dragon. Yes, THAT one. The movie that made Master Bruce Lee a truly international star. 1973!!!!! The transfer is actually very good. For an old ass film. Also, I absolutely REFUSE!!!!! to buy a barebones BR disc! I have super duper editions of dvd's and I'm going to pay for a less than mediocre BR disc?! C'mon Son! Fuck outta here with that shit! (For those of you who have know idea what barebones means, it is when a disc just has the movie and no extras whatsoever. Not even a bullshit making of. Nothing!) This is the 21st century! I need extras, damnit! ESPECIALLY if the the dvd release had extras. Anyways, because it was a super duper sale I figured I'd mix getting some double dips with new purchases:

Double dips:
Casino Royale- GREAT on BR!
Quantum of Solace- Makes know sense how good this movie looks on BR! Also, I feel the need to mention this is a REALLY good movie. Really good!
Serenity- Gotta love the sci-fi goodness.
Sin City- This movie was MADE for BR!!!!!! Sick how good this looks on BR and a big ass screen!
The Bourne Trilogy- GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Batman Begins- Couldn't resist. Worth it though.
The Dark Knight- I already know this is going to look AWESOME on BR!
Ghost in the Shell 2.0- Don't let the title fool you. This is the original anime just redone a bit. That's what the 2.0 is for. If I had previewed this first I probably wouldn't have gotten it. It's still good though.
Enter the Dragon- Nice!
Twister- I like this movie. The review was good so I figured what the hell. Plus it's kind of fx heavy, what with tornadoes everywhere and shit so it fits my criteria.
Big Trouble In Little China- One of my favorite movies of all time! This is kind of old, too, but it actually transfered really well. (That is an unbiased opinion in case you were wondering.)
New:
Jumper- I liked this movie so I got it.
The BBC Earth Collection: Planet Earth and Earth: The Biography- I likes learning! Plus, hd digest has this as recommended, which means it's really good. (And do not mention the Disney earth joint that came out please. That was actually compiled from the footage in the BBC Planet Earth. I like originals!)

Yesterday, I also got 3 more BR's. They were on sale at BJ's for really cheap so I was like okay. Damn my consumerism minded mind!

Wyatt Earp - I love this movie and the price was right.
Dark City - I actually can't remember if I saw this. I think I did. The description on the back seemed familiar. hd digest actually has this as recommended so I lucked out. Plus it's Sci-Fi.
Alexander Revisited: I did like this. And it was recommended. I actually remembered that while I was in the store so it was an easy decision.

That all for now. LAterz!

OMFG!! WTF!!

Okay, I am seriously not liking the entertainment industry right now. First we have this bullshit that my man David blogged about here. I mean really?!!! Highlander is just too fucking cool to be messed with. Yeah it has some little plot issues, what movie doesn't? But a remake?! WTF! I gotta do the Ed Lover right now: C'MON SON!! GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE WITH THAT SHIT! Why must hollywood and tvland remake everyfuckingthing! All the novels, stories, and screenplays being written and published out there and they still go back to fucking up perfectly fine films and shows and damn good MEMORIES! And now we have this bullshit as well! (That's two separate links if you didn't notice.) TEEN WOLF?! FOR REALZ?! And MTV, too?! I mean forget the cheese of it being an 80's movie, it's classic! If for know other reason that it was a completely new take on the werewolf mystique. I mean, they already did a not too bad sequel. This is SO unnecessary. I am certain there are a few more things on the horizon that are being touched that SHOULD NOT BE but these executive assholes and nostalgic idiots can't seem to help themselves. And I just don't have the heart to go looking for any more right now. I mean I know there is some good and new stuff on the horizon but not enough to make this shit okay.

Movies: District 9 and inglorious Basterds and other things

Well it has been about two weeks since the last time. I know you missed me. Anyways, I've been to the movies twice in that time. Saw District 9 and Inglorious Basterds. I enjoyed both immensely while I was watching them and immediately afterwards. They are both very different films and therefore cannot truly be compared, which I will not do, however I did like one more than the other. Let's get to it:

District 9

I really, really liked this film. The story was good, the FX were wonderful, and the action was great. My Sci-Fi geek was completely satisfied. My action junkie was totally pleased. My social conscious was not so easily appeased. And my social conscious is a rather strong part of me so I couldn't even switch it off while I was watching the movie. The most I could do was put it as far back in my mind as possible and let the other two enjoy themselves.
First: The aliens looked GREAT! The CGI used for them was absolutely phenomenal. Their social behaviour not so much. The story begins after they have been on earth for twenty years. A bit of backstory in the form of interviews tells how they got here and were established on the land alloted for them, designated District 9. Well after twenty years these aliens seem to have become the stereotypical sloppy, nasty, uneducated, and violent inhabitants of a slum. (Being an american of African descent these stereotypes strike a particular soft spot. Not so long ago the collective white populace thought this way about all non-whites. Some of 'em still do.) It's inferred that they were just workers on the ship they came on, so, I guess that is the reason for their apparent unsophistication. Personally I don't buy it. I don't care if they are just workers, they are workers on a SPACESHIP! That alone, to me, tells me they are more advanced than us. This intelligence I know should be there is exhibited in three of the aliens. THREE! And one of them is a child. These three for the entire twenty years were the only members of their race stuck on this planet trying to get off. For real?
Second: The humans were shown pretty much the way they needed to be with one exception. The Nigerians, the human criminal element among the aliens, were stereotypically and quite offendingly completely uncivilized. To properly explain this I gotta reveal the main movie plot so, you know, SPOILER ALERT for those of you who haven't seen this or don't know the story yet. Basically the main character, Wikus, is supposed to get the aliens ready to move to a new location. While going in and out of their 'homes' he finds something of interest in one of them with some liquid in it. Moron sprays himself with it. Begins turning into an alien. For the majority of the movie the extent of his transformation is his left arm has become an alien arm. And here's the rub. The aliens weapons are basically genetically coded so only they can use them. The company Wikus works for is private not gov't and they want to dissect him once they prove he can fire the aliens' weapons. Typical corporation. He gets away. Only one place to go. Distrct 9, of course. Things happen while he is hiding out. He needs weapons, goes to the local criminal element, the Nigerians. His arm is discovered. The Nigerian warlord wants to cut his arm off and EAT IT to grow one like it so he, too, can use the weapons. DOES THIS MAKE ANY FUCKING SENSE?! Now, to Neill Blomkamp's (screenwriter and director) ignorant credit, he ESTABLISHES this scenario a bit earlier by showing the warlord taking the advice of his, I guess, female spiritual adviser/witchdoctor and eating killed aliens raw to absorb their power. Oh realllllllly asshole. Don't get me wrong. I know those beliefs existed and still do. BUT this is a man who runs a rather SUCCESSFUL criminal enterprise, has the presence of mind to stockpile a cache of the aliens' weapons even though he can't use them, just like the big evil corporation, so there has to be some above primitive intelligence here, yes? And when his solution walks right in his front door, UNLIKE said corporation, his solution is to eat the arm. WHAT THE FUCK? You couldn't come up with anything MORE INTELLIGENT than that. I came up with a very usable and more intelligent solution as I was watching the damn movie and was DUMBFOUNDED though NOT surprised at what was used. Real simple: cut the arm off, hollow it out, and use it like a glove. I mean COME ON! Wouldn't that have been more intelligent not to mention more FUCKING BELIEVABLE! I mean, it's not like the warlord was going to achieve his goal anyway, right? He just gets to blurt out his intentions before they get thrashed, right?! So where is the harm in making the man sound just a little bit intelligent as befits his status as a warlord running a SUCCESSFUL CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE! Can you tell I'm completely disgusted about this? (Don't get me wrong. I understand that people like this probably exist but it wasn't necessary to put them in this supposedly intelligent sci-fi flick.) I shouldn't be surprised as this tale comes out of and was filmed in the land of apartheid. I'm not saying Neill Blomkamp is a bigot or racist, but certain stereotypes and old cultural norms have a hard time dying. American cinema is not much different, still, and we know the history of this country, don't we? The excellent movie Alien Nation and it's even better television series did this scenario much better.
Otherwise, though now it doesn't seem like it to you, I did enjoy the movie. I've been dealing with shit like this in movies my entire life so I know how to roll with it. But I don't view quietly, so to speak.

Inglorious Basterds

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Quentin does the damn thing once again. Let me open with this: I went to see this in the daytime, early afternoon. When I see new films the day they open I like to see them then because most people are still at work or wherever and not at the movies. Opening nights are a hell I can't stand. NO patience for waiting in line for tickets, only to wait on another line inside just to get into the theater I JUST bought a ticket for. I find that obviously annoying. Also, the theater is FULL, which isn't bad unless you are at the back of the second line. And if you're with someone it's worse. Anyways, I like the afternoon. So I buy my ticket an hour early, go burn about fifty minutes and get inside about ten minutes before, like I usually do. I almost didn't have a seat. Imagine my surprise! That has never happened before, and I've been doing this for a while now. SO, I get my seat and I'm looking around and I notice a LOT of white hair and old faces. I'm still oblivious until I hear the couple on my left speak. The woman has a bit of an accent and it dawns on me: There's a LOT of old Jewish people here to see Quentin's re-imagining of WWII. My brain continues to work. They've been WAITING for something like this FOR A LONG TIME! I understand. They've never had a conscious communal catharsis of the massive amount of fear and anger they must harbor within. I mean, look at how they've protected the memory of what happened to them as a people. Every film dealing with their holocaust has been so meticulously dour, melancholy, and damn near depressing. Even the recent film, Defiance, which was about a small band of Jewish resisters, was not really a catharsis of negative emotion. Just another factual reminder of how little resistance was given. Who wants to see that ALL THE TIME! I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with those true to life factual depictions of such a horrific period, but something has to give! And to be perfectly honest there was no one better to open the floodgates of such emotion than Mr. Quentin Tarantino. Talk about catharsis! It's human to want revenge, even if it is fictional. TRUST ME! I know. My own ancestors had their own holocaust right here and to be perfectly honest there is no way to take revenge for such things other than fictionally, other than educating those that follow so that the same things don't happen again. Back to the movie. Yeah, brilliant. No one could have played the part of the leader of the Inglorious Basterds better than Brad Pitt. I guess that's why Quentin wrote the part just for him in the first place. Brad is hilarious in this. (SPOILER ALERT) Especially near the end when he's pretending to be Italian along with two of his Basterds. I was cryin' I was laughing so hard! The one thing I really, really liked about this film was that Quentin didn't make the nazi's evil caricatures. They were people, misguidedly evil yes, but they were people with real human emotions and real human reactions. The main antagonist, Col. Landa was wonderfully acted and developed. He was a detective and his main job in the beginning of the film is to hunt Jews in France. And he is good at his job. This, among other things, is why I think the catharsis truly works. You see the monsters are just people and can be dealt with. And they were dealt with! Col. Landa, upon finding out a woman he actually likes is a traitor, is crying as he kills her. That scene was really well done and acted by Christoph Waltz. You could see and feel the betrayal he felt when he jumped up and wrapped his hands around her neck, and the tears running down his face as he strangled her to death. Another nazi, Zoller, is portrayed as a regular young man who wants a girl, Shosanna, to like him. At the end, the nice guy role drops as he gets tired of being rejected. He's a nazi war hero, the film she's showing in her theater is about the event that made him a hero, and his arrogant superiority comes out because of his frustration of being turned down by this girl who should be flattered he even gives her his attention at all. The nazi minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, who made the film about Zoller, is given the highest compliment he's ever received from the man himself, Adolf. Adolf tells him as they are watching the film that it is the best work he's ever done. Joseph actually breaks out in tears and can barely thank Adolf for the compliment, he's so overwhelmed. See? Human. Just really had fucked up views of the world is all. And they needed to get dealt with. And in this film they get DEALT WITH! In particular Quentin style the story is told from the multiple viewpoints of the protagonists. With the exception of Lt. Aldo, played wonderfully by Brad, all of the Basterds are Jewish soldiers except one who's German. And though the title of the movie is the name of their little group the film is not just about them. It's very well fleshed out and well done. The story of Shosanna is set in motion because of the actions of Col. Landa. He kills her family and almost kills her, so, when she is presented with the opportunity to take out a bunch of nazi's, including Landa, she takes it. It's the opening scene and you get to see how intelligent Col. Landa is. The Inglorious Basterds are terror style shock troops and they do their job well! I'll leave the rest alone, just go see it! I will repeat though, Jewish people have been waiting for a film like this for a long time and they needed it. (They were all clapping at the end so I feel confident in my assessment.) I'm happy for them and I'm happy with them.

Now to the other things. My blogging anniversary passed and I didn't even notice until my best friend David mentioned his was coming up. Since I started mine before his I realized my anniversary had just passed. Well, I'm actually glad I got to do this post for my blogging anniversary. I'll be starting classes again at Fordham University in about a week. I'm dually looking forward to it and dreading it. But I'll be fine. I always am. Things are moving along. I'm still looking for a new place to live but I'm good. That all for now. Thanks for checking in. Until next time, LAter.

SF spree

Okay, so a while ago my best friend David mentions that amazon.com is having a sale on everything SF on the site. Pretty much half off of everything SF! You KNOW I couldn't resist that! Me being the SF freak that I am and the admitted consumer that I am I had to go and look, knowing I would not be able to resist a mini buying spree. Now usually when I get into one of these spending modes I just pick damn near everything I feel like buying at the time, which is ALWAYS a lot. Then right before I'm ready to purchase, I begin to wheedle down the items I have usually according to what I really really want and the prices. I do this online and in the store as well. Anyways, since I was online and it was a super duper sale I put everything that I wanted in my wishlist 'cause I didn't want it all in my cart and then make a bad mistake. I picked from my wishlist and still got rid of stuff after it was in my cart just cause I'm so weak and gotta push it to the absolute limit. SO, what did I get? Here's a list:

1. Eureka - Season One
2. Eureka - Season Two
3. Eureka - Season 3.0
4. Shigurui: Death Frenzy Complete Box Set BluRay
5. Firefly: The Complete Series BluRay
6. Patrmony: A Pip and Flinx Adventure (book)

You'd think I was done, and so did I, however about two weeks later I get an email from amazon.com telling me that it's the last days of the big SF sale! Needless to say my mind was blown! I can get more?! See, I thought the sale was over. In stores the sales usually only last a week, so, I figured I got what I really wanted at the time so cool. WELL! It had been just over two weeks! I have MORE MONEY!!!!! See where this is going? I'll just get to the second list now:

7. Crossworlds
8. Supernova
9. They Live
10. Alien Nation - The Complete Series
11. Alien Nation - Ultimate Movie Collection
12. Stargate (Extended Cut) [Blu-ray]
13. Samurai 7: Box Set (Viridian Collection)
14. The Arrival [Blu-ray]

Well that's it. A bit about the purchases. I've only caught a few of the episodes of the Eureka series but every one I've seen I've liked, plus I'm a huge admirer/fan of Salli Richardson and Joe Morton, so I got 'em all. I saw the trailer for Shigurui on my Afro Samurai 2 dvd and was blown away, so I just said fuck it. And you know the trailer had to be REALLY good for me not only to buy it but get the BluRay, too. Firefly, because, you know, it's just GOOD. David had it already and showed me all the good episodes and I loved Serenity, so, no brainer here. Been a Pip and Flinx fan since the early days, been reading these a LONG time, so, again, no brainer. Always liked Crossworlds, mostly 'cause Rutger Hauer is in it, and when I first saw it I hadn't seen him in a film in a LONG time. Ever since Blade Runner I've been a Rutger fan/admirer. And I really liked the way they portrayed dimensional travel. Supernova is a space sci-fi film starring Angela Basset and James Spader. No brainer! It was also really good. I'm not one of those crazy fanboys that will just get something 'cause someone I like is in it. I'll check it out for that reason, but I'll only buy it if it's good. Where am I? Oh yeah, They Live. Do I really need to explain this? No, I don't think so. If you don't know, I can't help you. One word. CLASSIC!!!!!!! Onwards. Alien Nation: I got both of these because I am a huge admirer of the series and the tv films and I loved the original film. It is still one of the best Sci-Fi films to me and the series actually pulled off continuing the storyline very well. Which is rare. Usually a tv show and tv movies made from a studio film suck. These did not. Stargate: Now, you know, I really, really, really, really, really like this movie, right?! I mean this is a triple dip for me. I have NEVER triple dipped before. I rarely double dip. IF you check my dvd list out, you will see that I have this movie TWICE already. A very barebones edition and a really super duper Ultimate edition. Neither of which has an ENGLISH subtitle option. I know, I'm weird. I get it. I know you're saying, who gives a shit about subtitles?! Well, I do, thank you very much. I LIKE subtitles. They come in very handy sometimes. And I just like them. So I really like them for a movie I just LOVE. Stargate is one of those movies. Not a big fan of the show though. And I only got it 'cause it is BluRay. If it had been another regular dvd edition with english subtitles I would have just been pissed but I wouldn't have bought it. Anyways, moving along. Samurai 7 'cause I heard it was cool. It wasn't a definitive coolness so I didn't get the BluRay of this and also the BluRay edition was twice as much, so, no. I better like it ;-). And lastly, The Arrival. Now, I remember way back when when this movie came out. I heard so many bad things about it. So it took me a long time before I got around to seeing it. When I finally watched it I was PISSED! It was one of the BEST Sci-Fi films I had ever seen! I mean it was straight sci-fi all the way through. Most sci-fi films do well because they're about 20-15% sci-fi and 80-85% action. The Arrival was like 95-98% SCI-FI! That just doesn't happen very often. And when it does usually the movie suffers for it but in this case it didn't. At least to me. I was thoroughly impressed and entertained by this film. And THAT'S why I got the BluRay version, too. I just can't believe this film isn't more popular than it is. Oh well, I like it. And David likes it so whatever.

Anyways, just thought I'd share. LAter.

The Dragun iz back. A bit Drained

It's been over a month since I posted anything. My posting has been rather spotty for the whole year so far actually. Didn't even have a single post in my Bornday month, April. Weeeeeell, school has been kickin' my ass. I was actually trying to take it serious for once. Especially one class which I'm not sure if I'm going to pass. This is rather disheartening but quite possibly a necessary wake-up call for me. I'm fairly certain I will pass all my other classes. Though I am not anal and obsessed with making the best grades, as far as classes(or anything else for that matter) are concerned, I am NOT used to failing in any way. I'm smarter than I used to be but not quite as intelligent, I think. I think my higher power may have my back though, but I think that's only for this semester. Next school jam I get in I am sure I'll be on my own. We'll see. I won't let myself get in a academic jam like I did this semester ever again,though, no matter what happens.

Anyways, I did post about all my excitement in March, so no need to rehash that stuff. Except, I FINALLY MET STEVEN BARNES!!!!!! Just had to get that out. If you can't tell I'm still kind of STOKED about that. But for my Bornday, which is April 1, I went to the Museum of Natural History here in NY. Yes, I am an April Fool. I am THE April Fool and as such the whole month belongs to ME!!! My bad, slight megalomania moment there. My dominant personae likes to show himself now and then. Like I was saying, went to the museum which used to be my FAVORITE place to go when I was a child. Here is why: I loved wearing my white suit there. The old human history display was in a long dark hallway that had blacklights running along the floors. The light would turn my white suit purple. This delighted me immensely, I thought that was so cool. Still do:-). I have not been to that museum in YEARS!! and figured I might as well go to my old favorite born day place. And I wore my current white suit, too, you know, as an homage to the child inside (pics at the end). Wow has it changed!! That display has changed quite a bit as has the whole museum. I like it. I need to go back on a regular basis just to check everything out. Maybe I will do that over the summer. Anyways, I bought myself a book and a Playstation 3 for my Bornday gifts. I mostly wanted the Playstation for the blu-ray player. I am more a movie/film fanatic than I am a gamer though I do enjoy playing games every once in a while. They have to be very interesting to me though. I much prefer to watch someone else play a game as long as they play it well, as my best friend David does. For me, watching David play is like watching a movie, he's that good at these things. Cool for me he's my best friend then, huh? So, I have a bunch of blu-ray discs already but only one game. I haven't actually had the opportunity to play it because, like I began above, school was kickin' my ass. I need to work on my time management skills big time! Blu-ray movies look freakin' AWESOME!!! by the way. If you haven't acquired a blu-ray player, along with an HDTV, I highly suggest you save your pennies and go get them. Together they are so choice.

Nothing else really happened in April. Oh wait, I went to Connecticut. Went for a friend. I won't put her business on the net but I went for support. Actually stayed at this minor resort hotel at Foxwoods casino. It's nice up there. Visited a friend of my friend who has a house and some land on the Mohegan reservation land. It was really nice out there. Though it was my first time there and meeting these people I felt at home immediately, which is super rare for me. I look forward to going back.

Went to the world famous Apollo theater for the first time this past Wednesday. My friend, Wisdom Supreme, was performing at amatuer night. It was an interesting and very cool experience. I lost my voice cheering. Interesting observation from this experience: girls really do mature faster than boys in certain ways. There was a large group of kids from a school in Philly in attendance. The boys were rather a bit unruly and the girls seemed to have a better sense of decorum for the venue in which they were in. They were still kids though just a bit better behaved. Interesting to witness that as an adult. I ain't old, forget ya'll!! Wisdom did a great job by the way. He didn't get booed at all, which I was kind of worried about, being he was doing a spoken word piece which was rather deep, and you had all these pre high school kids there looking for fun performances. I was thoroughly impressed: with Wisdom as well as those school kids. They listened. Great night.

My Big Bro came up to NY on Friday. Hung out with him and my nephew Mikey. We went to see Wolverine. I am so not impressed. I know they had to take liberties to make it work, like they did with the three X-Men movies, but they went a bit overboard in my opinion. I think making Logan and Victor brothers was great though. Their relationship has, to my knowledge, never been explicitly explained in the comics. You know, it wasn't that bad but it really should have been better. Post Dark Knight and Iron Man this should have never seen the screen in the form they had it. I know it takes a LONG time to make films, so I can only assume that the script had been approved and principle photography had already begun WAY before the Dark Knight and Iron Man films saw the light of day. Completely fucked up the character of Deadpool, too. He's rather cool for a slightly insane assassin in the comics and they just messed him up in the film. They kind of covered that after the credits, though, but it's still kind of retarded what they did with him. Actually liked the live realization of Remy LeBeau, Gambit, though. Look forward to seeing that character in future X-films. Loved the way they SFXed his powers, too. That was way cool. Yeah, I'ma get it on blu-ray when it comes out, but mostly because I'm an X-men fan.

And yesterday, I helped my brother help my nephew's mom move out of her apartment. Got to spend some time with Mikey, too, which is always cool. I like my Nephew. Reminds me of, well, me ;-). Just a bit. Played catch with his football. He's got a pretty good throw for a kid.
That all for now. I won't be stranger. Especially since, Schooooooool's Out For Summer!!!!!!


Bornday pics
First pic on my Bornday!

Happy to be going to the museum.


Gotta do the hard rock pose.


Greater Koodoo. That's the name of these creatures. Thought that was cool. And they look pretty cool, too.

Petrified wood. When I was little they had a single slice that was longer than I was tall. I always thought that was so cool.

Had a happy day! (Yeah, my room is a bit messy. So?)

MY minor Quantum of Solace Review

I really, really don't see where people are having a problem with this movie. For those who are OLD and like the way the Bond films used to be done, GET OVER IT. Yes, for the first time in the Bond films they've done a real sequel. A story arc that continues from one movie to the next. For those stuck in the old Bond ways, welcome to the 21st century! I couldn't be happier. Now, I've read that there weren't any scenes of Bond dealing with the emotional aspects of Vesper's death in Casino Royale. My only question to people who say this is, "What the fuck movie were you watching?" 'Cause from what I was watching the whole damn movie, Quantum of Solace, was Bond dealing with the loss of Vesper! I mean, this is NOT a normal world and Bond is definitely NOT a "normal" individual, SO, he is not going to deal with the emotional loss of a loved one like the average person in the real world. If you're looking for a private break down of a man lost deep in the throes of loss go watch Magnolia or some other drama. THIS IS BOND!!! WE DO NOT DO GIRLIE-MAN SHIT!!!! I'm all for emotion in films, as long as it makes sense within the context of the STORY! I loved the return of Jeffery Wright as CIA agent Felix Leiter. Despite the short screen time he was wonderful and fit nicely in the story. And I really loved the return of Giancarlo Giannini, reprising the role of Mathis. This was wonderfully wonderful and a superbly performed performance. I liked Mathis in Casino Royale and was really disappointed that he "seemed" to be a double agent. The fact that this particular story arc was addressed in QoS was a VERY welcome surprise. Talk about emotional growth on screen and all that. I loved the screen time and dialog between Bond and Mathis. It was worth the film being made for that alone, personally. The introduction of Olga Kurylenko was actually pretty cool too. I wasn't too impressed with her in the movie Hitman, but she really shined in QoS. Her story rolled along nicely with Bond's without taking away or distracting from Bond's story. I do admit that they relied on action a little too much, most likely from rushing the script to avoid the writer's strike, but it still worked for me. There was still an excellent story here. As a follow up to Casino Royale, I'm not sure how much more really needed to be done in QoS. For the next film, yes, there definitely needs to be more between the action lines, but this WORKS. If you want a slightly less vitriolic review of QoS go to my man David's blog, The Bimillenial Man.

To recap an important point, in order to TRULY enjoy QoS you need to have seen and REMEMBERED Casino Royale because this IS a sequel. It is a well done sequel. If you don't like it, get over it or shut the fuck up if you do not have any intelligent reasoning. And so far I haven't seen any intelligent reasoning for not liking this film.

Quantum of Solace is a great addition to the Bond legacy. This is Tarrell Childs and I approve this message.

I am Legend

I finally bought this damn movie. And I bought this edition. Why did I wait so long to buy this film that I thoroughly enjoyed when I watched it in the theaters and which came out almost a year ago? One really simple reason: This freakin' "Special Edition" has NO making of the film on the disc. What. The. FUCK! I mean, what the hell is the point of a special edition if there is no making of documentary on the disc. There a weblink for it. I don't want to sit at my computer looking at this shit. It should all be on the disc when I put it in my player. They have these 4 bullshit animated comics. Please! Those should have been on the damn weblink. I know bullshit barebones releases that have some form of making of ON THE DISC! The making of docs are on the BluRay discs but not everyone has a damn Bluray player yet. That shit is relatively new. I really was not going to buy this damn movie at all because of this shit. Know what changed my mind? It was in the $10 bin at Virgin. $10!! TEN DOLLARS!! It's still a relatively new release and it was a moneymaking blockbuster! Why is it in the discount bin already. I 'm willing to bet money it's because of the reason I refused to buy it when it came out. NO MAKING OF! People weren't buying this damn version and Virgin needed to get rid of the damn things. ( For a goof, after I bought it I looked for it in Best Buy and they didn't have ANY versions of this movie at all on DVD. I didn't check the BluRay section 'cause I don't fucking have a player for 'em yet. Best Buy just sent them shits back 'cause I KNOW, like Virgin, they didn't sell 'em all!) I almost still didn't buy it. I'm really that pissed about it, if you can't tell. Warner Bros. fucked this shit up from jump. Now, I just found out they have some bullshit "new" "collector's edition", coming out for the holidays, on regular DVD which has all the BluRay features but, too late. I already bought the fucking thing. I am NOT double dipping on this one. Maybe next year when this new edition winds up in the discount bin I might consider it. As I've mentioned before, I'm a movie buff and a consumer but I have my damn limits! Even for movies I really like. I think that's enough of a rant on this. I'm still pissed off though.

Film/Movie Scores

Film/Movie scores are our modern day classical music. The composers of your favorite movies and films are the Beethoven's, Mozart's, Bach's, Strauss', Bartok's, Rachmoninov's, Vivaldi's, Tchaikovsky's of our times. I mean what musicians do you know who compose music for full orchestra's anymore. Movie composers are the only people I know of making modern orchestral music. I mean really, I love many of the aforementioned, yet old (read dead and gone), composers. My man Beethoven was just sick with it, Wolfgang was just ill, and Bach's Toccata and Fugue is still one of the BEST pieces of music I ever heard and basically it was a throw away piece at the time he made it. All these guys, plus many others, were great composers. But, usually, once one finds a version of a particular symphony, or opera, or other composition, they're kind of biased against any other versions. I mean, really, there are WAY too many versions of classic compositions. And all the world's instrumental virtuoso's and philharmonics and orchestras play the same shit over and over and over ad infinitum!! Don't get me wrong, that old music is great but play some new shit! It is out there. As far as I know the only modern composer who's music gets played on a regular basis is John Williams. Which absolutely makes sense as he is one of the best of the modern composers. The days of composers having concert battles is gone. Composers of today have contract battles for films! And all of this has been leading up to this: I LOVE FILM SCORES!! Even game scores have upped the ante and get mad props nowadays.
So now we get to some of my favorite modern composers: John Williams (Of course!! elite master. Stands alone); Michael Kamen, R.I.P.(his film work was excellent but I really like him 'cause he worked with Metallica. METALLICA!!! How COOL is that?!!!), Danny Elfman (simply awsome. has an affinity for funky ass bass!! Probably from being in a rock band once); Hans Zimmer (though the recent Pirates of the Caribbean series gets a bit repetitive the main theme is off the chain!); Howard Shore (jumped straight into John Williams' level with the Lord of the Rings); Graeme Revell (He did The CROW!! Come on! He definitely has a dark edge to his compositions, just like Elfman. Wildy different but a common darkness); Trevor Jones (Last of the Mohicans, done with Randy Edelman, is in my top five favorite scores); Joel McNeely (did a score for a game/novel which was a Star Wars connect and he did an AWESOME job!); Bear McCreary (TV scoring for Battlestar Galactica which is, hands down, the best music scoring on television PERIOD! He uses ALL styles of music and instruments. This is what modern music composition should be.); KODO (this Japanese music group get props for the 1995 film The Hunted. Awesome movie, awesome music); A.R. Rahman (Bollywood super composer); Tan Dun (Chinese super composer); Andrew Lloyd Webber (though I don't follow scores for theater and play productions too much you can't really have a list like this and not mention Mr. Webber. He's the MAN for theater music); Harry Gregson-williams (for Kingdom of Heaven. Great film. At least the director's cut is); RZA (Wu-Tang Abbott is getting nice with the film scoring); Jan Hammer (another TV master. The title piece for the Miami Vice series was my favorite shit!!! My mom had it on VINYL and it had like 8 different mixes. I loved that shit!) Quincy Jones (master, period); Isaac Hayes (Come on...SHAFT!!!); Jerry Goldsmith (Great composer.Done MAD movies); Tangerine Dream (Mostly for the american score for Legend. I love that score! Jerry did the original that Ridley loves, which is excellent); Terrence Blanchard (I LOVE this man's compositions); James Newton Howard; there are many more but I named the major composers. Oh one I left for last, Basil Poledouris. I left him last for this reason: He made THE BEST SCORE EVER FOR A FILM. Conan the Barbarian! I know, I know. Not the best film in the world. Some mediocre to bad acting, some bad editing, and other minor things BUT as a whole this film WORKS! I LOVE this movie! Why? Basil. His score is damn near a character in the movie. It's awesome how absolutely seamlessly the music melds with the visuals. Best score EVER!! It's even wonderful without the film. I've listened to it countless times. Simply the best score ever! (Did I say that enough times?) I'll do a list of my favorite scores and soundtracks another time. I'm tired. LAter ya'll.

T

Film Critics

I learned a long time ago, when I was very, very young, that film critics do NOT have my viewing interests in mind. Therefore, I never took their opinions/criticisms seriously. I was taught to think for myself in all things, so... I watch what I wanna. This article I found quite amusing, talking about critics. I agree with about 98.5% of it. I actually like a lot of arty, serious, intelligent films as well as the pure action, pop-corn movies. However, I don't want to listen to some old geezer wax bullshit philosophical about old shit compared to new shit. It's all shit. Make up your own mind what kind of shit you like. Here's the article.

Speculative Fiction films

Interesting premise here. I admit that for an SF admirer, both literary and film, I haven't seen much of the older and/or more obscure of some films on these lists. I agree with most of the ones I have seen though. I was immensely thrilled that Enemy Mine was on the list. That is still, I feel, one of the best Sci-Fi films ever done. Louis Gossett Jr.'s performance is superbly excellent. One of the films I think should have been on the list is Waterworld, though I'm sure the reasoning for it not being on there would probably be about the same as for A.I., though for the star instead of the director. I was also pleased with Gattaca being on the list as well. Very rare we SF admirers get an SF film that is almost purely cerebral and not be completely boring but entirely engaging And, yeah, Aeon Flux was never going to match the damn anime so, those who use that as an excuse for not liking the movie go suck a rhino's balls. It was actually very decent for what they did. And yeah, Strange Days should have been on the original list. I have a very personal reason for that AND it was a damn good film, period. I get the writer's comments about Equilibrium. Even agree to a degree. But I still really like that movie. Yeah it's fluff with a purpose, but it's good SF fluff!!!

http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/editors/115/Ten-Truly-Underrated-Sci-Fi-Movies

http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/editors/116/Underrated-Sci-Fi-Movies:-Five-We-Missed,-Five-We-Didn't

What we learn from TV

My man, The Bimillennial Man, has a very interesting and poignant post up on his blog. It is actually quite similar to a piece I've been working on for quite some time now, that I just never got around to completing. His deals with "father figures" because of his life growing up. My unfinished piece deals with the examples from television and film that formed my style of friendships. I just had an idea: I'm going to stretch this into a series of posts. I figure this will be better so I can go in depth, beyond just the friendship angle, with each example without you reading forever and coming back trying to remember where you left off. So let's start!

NUMBAAAAA 1! Beverly Hills Cop



This movie is one of the single most important films in my film watching experience for my WHOLE LIFE. It is still one of my favortie films of all time, for numerous reasons. First and foremost because Eddie Murphy singlehandedly changed the way Black males acted and were perceived on the big screen. He was NOBODY'S sambo. He was NOBODY'S sidekick. In fact, for the first time in my movie watching experience the white characters, ALL OF THEM, were there to support Eddie as Axel Foley. He was genuinely the STAR of the movie! And he looked like ME! My father! My uncles! WHAT!!!! This was absolutely MINDBLOWING for a 8/9 year old Black boy, who was consciously aware of the racist history and practices of the country he lives in. And the premise of the film is what kind of solidified the sense of loyalty I hold for those I choose as friends. Axel's childhood best friend shows up out of the blue and after a night of catching up, he is knocked out and wakes up to find his friend murdered beside him. He embarks on a quest to find the man responsible and exact revenge for his friends death. AND he achieves it. He actually gets to kill the man who put a bullet in his friends head AND the man who sent that man, Victor Maitland. Now, since Axel got to kill the henchman that actually killed his friend, they couldn't let him kill Victor, the main antagonist, on his own as well. That would be just a bit TOO much progress for the white viewing audiences. So they had Lt. Bogomil, played expertly by Ronny Cox, shoot Victor WITH Axel. They STILL let Axel shoot the big white bad guy just with help, which fit the story anyway. But Eddie was, like, THE first Black action star in a real big budget hollywood film. Absolutely wonderful. See, in depth! But yeah, Axel chasing down the men that killed his friend and not stopping until he got them, despite the obstacles, and there WERE obstacles, was kind of the genesis of how I deal with my friends, the level of loyalty I give.

Like my man Dave asked in his post, what screen media has influenced who you are and in what ways?

Subtitles

I just feel the need to mention: I HATE WHEN THE FUCKING SUBTITLES DO NOT MATCH WHAT THE ACTORS OR ARTISTS ON SCREEN ARE SAYING!!!! I mean I REALLY fucking hate that shit. Especially when it's like the concert or videos of hip hop/rap artists. I always get super annoyed then wonder what fucking nimrod non-black person they got to do this shit! I realize most of you out there don't care one fucking whit about subtitles but I do, for various reasons. The main one being that sometimes you just can't understand what a particular character is saying in a particular scene. The other being the sound mix could just be crappy as hell. I HATE THAT SHIT, TOO!!! The damn, score and sound effects are LOUD AS HELL and the dialog is just low as shit. FUCKING HATE THAT!!!! But I really hate when the subtitles don't match. Now on foreign films I KNOW the subtitles never really match but I know they make a much better effort to translate as close as possible. At least on the better productions, just like here really. I entertained the idea of starting my own subtitle company but you know...that's too much like work. I mean I enjoy watching movies so much I'd hate to have something like that take the joy out of films for me. Maybe I'll do it one day though. Oh yeah, one really good reason why I like subtitles is this: One of my best friends, Chris has a daughter. Chris like myself is a movie/film lover. So, naturally, he watches them with his daughter. Now, he always put the subtitles on when they watched movies. The result? This young lady's reading levels skyrocketed. Chris,again like myself, also loves to read. So, again, naturally he passed that love onto his daughter. And she is a wonderful young lady, too. Highly intelligent. Can't wait to get out to Cali and see them again. That all.