So this 3D gem has been receiving a lot of buzz. Last I heard it was second in the box office to the greatest movie of the year, Inception (watch Inception). Anyways, I had the pleasure of viewing this Despicable Me with two friends recently. Like always, I'm going to tackle this review in a few different ways, each movie makes me want to do things differently. First, my general thoughts on the film. Second, Universal Studios vs Pixar vs DreamWorks. Third, the cast. Fourth, the audience. Finally, fifth, my grade and final note.
Okay, so Despicable Me in general was a cute movie. Naturally it is designed to be a family film. The best part about this, though, is that it doesn't dive too far into the waters of "Kids Films." One thing I like about "family" films, is how much adult humor seems to get by in them. Now I'm not saying these movies are way too adult. I am saying that a few jokes in the film seemed to go over kids heads, but their parents laughed. To put this in perspective, Planet 51, that was a kids film. Despicable Me was fun for the whole family, it deserved 2nd in the Box Office.
Second, I thought I should mention the CGI animation. When I watched the film, I was a bit surprised to see that it wasn't a Pixar or DreamWorks. From what I've researched, Universal Studios is pretty new at this CGI animated family film stuff. 9 and The Tale of Despereaux seem to be the only other 3D movies made by them. I think Universal did well with the CGI. They seemed to do so much with it. CGI companies like Pixar seem to do cute stuff with the animation such as Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Finding Nemo, WALL-E, and all of the animated shorts. Despicable Me ranks up in the realm of the less-cute-more-well-done stuff like The Incredibles and I suppose Up, although I've never seen Up. Now DreamWorks, that seems to be the direction Universal is going with CGI films. With movies like Antz, Shrek, and How to Train Your Dragon, DreamWorks tends to not do "cute" movies and decides to create popular CGI films. So my note to Universal, keep up the good work, you're doing well this early in the game, and take a hint from DreamWorks not Pixar.
The cast! Despicable Me had a surprisingly famous cast. I say it was surprising because I was really only aware of Steve Carell, couldn't recognize the voice of anyone else. Hell, Jacob couldn't recognize Steve Carell as the voice of Gru, I only knew because I follow Carell's work. Russell Brand voiced the old Dr. Nefario, and the British accent finally made sense to me after the film when I saw Brand's name in the credits. SNL's Will Arnett and Kristen Wiig contributed voices to the film, apparently as Mr. Perkins and Miss Hattie. Miranda Cosgrove herself was the voice of the eldest daughter Margo, I found that surprising. My main note here is that all of these actors and actresses can do really good voice acting apparently.
As always, the audience. Okay, so plenty of annoying kids. One kid had the most incredibly obnoxious laugh I've ever heard. His dad was one of those types of guys who grunt for no reason, that was annoying, but I digress. Chris Harper got up twice during the film. But over all, the audience was nice, even with the one crying baby. What else did I expect?
Finally, with it's nice animation, great voice acting, and an actual segment for 3D (forgot to mention), I give this movie a healthy A. See it in theaters, it's worth it I suppose. As for the note, I'll speak on the topic of 3D. This 3D phenomenon is getting to be quite pretentious in my opinion. Most movies featured in 3D don't do ANYTHING for 3D's sake, they just do it because it apparently "looks cool." Yeah, it looks cool if you want to watch the same thing as the 2D film but with headaches and dizziness. Thank goodness Despicable Me did stuff for 3D, I was getting tired of this pointlessly 3D crap. Unfortunately, however, I did not see Despicable Me in 3D, the one time I would have enjoyed it!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Something Inspired by Divinity
That title was a lie. I typed it because I thought it would send divine inspiration down on me so that I may type something epic in this current blog post. I don't even know what I'm about to say, I'm just winging this one. On the off chance that this post speaks to you in someway, well, perhaps I was inspired after all.
I'm just going to start with how I'm feeling, work from there. Perhaps this topic will lead somewhere. (Side Note: Perhaps I should make a Vlog, for the really special stuff I want to say.) Anyways, I've been feeling just a tad bit off recently. I'm not sure what it is, but a lot of things keep throwing me off balance. I receive either a feeling of anger from this or a complete sense of alienation. But it's not the type of alienation found in ignorance. I'm not trying to purposely remove myself from things that will otherwise make me angry. I feel as if I've stumbled across something, I know what it is, and I also know that I wouldn't actually feel angry if I didn't feel so alienated from it.
Now don't get me wrong, I don't get this "off" feeling all the time. It's more or less recent and it may or may not be caused from lack of sleep. I can tell you, my reader, that this feeling is manageable. I've been exercising it off, which will hopefully jump start the goal I'm trying to reach by either Halloween or next years Comic Con (read my facebook).
Moving on, I feel I should note my lack of sleep in this post. I have found that this topic may in fact extend back to my early childhood. I have come to the realization that I don't fall asleep as fast as others. In fact, I don't fall asleep as fast as pretty much everyone I know. Remember that kid at a sleep-over or camp that would always whisper to you, "are you awake?" and you would suddenly wake up from your in between sleep and wake trance to find that the kid who asked was wide awake. I was that kid and this type of thing has happened on more than one occasion. I've accepted that while some can hit a pillow and be completely knocked out, I cannot. This leads into Fall 2009.
Fall is when school starts, naturally. But I was beginning the college life. No longer did I have to function by the schedules of others, I made my own schedules. But once you realize that you're in college, suddenly you realize that you don't actually have to wake up early anymore. The second realization was what got me. I set all my classes to sometime around noon. This made it so that I could stay up until 1 and sometimes 2 in the morning without consequence. I functioned this way for an entire year. Then school ended, but my weird schedule did not. Now I went to bed late only to wake up late with nothing to do. That's what really set this bad sleeping pattern over the edge, waking up and realizing, "I don't have to get out of bed for anything," or perhaps even, "why do I need to get out of bed," or for the people feeling a little down sometimes, "what's the point in getting up in the morning?"
I'll admit that I had a brief run-in with that last one for about a week, but otherwise I suffer from the first one. I have nothing to do during the day, or at least, nothing to do until later. So moderately switching gears here, I went to my diabetic doctor a month ago (yes we get our own doctor on top of the normal one), I do this every three months. She tells me (yes the doctor is a female) that she wants me to start testing my blood sugar more often, then asks what my schedules like. She does this so she could set an alarm reminder on my blood sugar tester (very high tech), to remind me when I should test my blood sugar. At the time, I went to bed early at 11 and late at 1. She set one of my reminders to 12am. So much for earliest at 11, now the earliest I went to bed was 12. By some stroke of messed up luck and logic, the latest I went to bed became 2. Suddenly I began to wake up later and later, this adjusted what time I went to bed as well. I have been going to bed later and later each night/morning, waking up later and later each day. I have decided to set my own alarm, one for waking up. I'll set it earlier and earlier each day until I get back into a normal swing. So what if I feel tired all day? I have nothing to do, which means I won't feel tired during some test, or while working, etc. Perhaps by the time I do get something to do, my sleep will be back on track and I will thank myself for setting my own alarms.
Well, that about covers it. I wonder if anyone got anything from any of this. I just got a quick fix for my boredom. But more importantly, I was able to express myself, not only in my actions but my feelings as well. That's what a blog is for, in my opinion, expression. Take from it what you will, I only know of 4 people who read these anyways, so perhaps it helped you with something.
I'm just going to start with how I'm feeling, work from there. Perhaps this topic will lead somewhere. (Side Note: Perhaps I should make a Vlog, for the really special stuff I want to say.) Anyways, I've been feeling just a tad bit off recently. I'm not sure what it is, but a lot of things keep throwing me off balance. I receive either a feeling of anger from this or a complete sense of alienation. But it's not the type of alienation found in ignorance. I'm not trying to purposely remove myself from things that will otherwise make me angry. I feel as if I've stumbled across something, I know what it is, and I also know that I wouldn't actually feel angry if I didn't feel so alienated from it.
Now don't get me wrong, I don't get this "off" feeling all the time. It's more or less recent and it may or may not be caused from lack of sleep. I can tell you, my reader, that this feeling is manageable. I've been exercising it off, which will hopefully jump start the goal I'm trying to reach by either Halloween or next years Comic Con (read my facebook).
Moving on, I feel I should note my lack of sleep in this post. I have found that this topic may in fact extend back to my early childhood. I have come to the realization that I don't fall asleep as fast as others. In fact, I don't fall asleep as fast as pretty much everyone I know. Remember that kid at a sleep-over or camp that would always whisper to you, "are you awake?" and you would suddenly wake up from your in between sleep and wake trance to find that the kid who asked was wide awake. I was that kid and this type of thing has happened on more than one occasion. I've accepted that while some can hit a pillow and be completely knocked out, I cannot. This leads into Fall 2009.
Fall is when school starts, naturally. But I was beginning the college life. No longer did I have to function by the schedules of others, I made my own schedules. But once you realize that you're in college, suddenly you realize that you don't actually have to wake up early anymore. The second realization was what got me. I set all my classes to sometime around noon. This made it so that I could stay up until 1 and sometimes 2 in the morning without consequence. I functioned this way for an entire year. Then school ended, but my weird schedule did not. Now I went to bed late only to wake up late with nothing to do. That's what really set this bad sleeping pattern over the edge, waking up and realizing, "I don't have to get out of bed for anything," or perhaps even, "why do I need to get out of bed," or for the people feeling a little down sometimes, "what's the point in getting up in the morning?"
I'll admit that I had a brief run-in with that last one for about a week, but otherwise I suffer from the first one. I have nothing to do during the day, or at least, nothing to do until later. So moderately switching gears here, I went to my diabetic doctor a month ago (yes we get our own doctor on top of the normal one), I do this every three months. She tells me (yes the doctor is a female) that she wants me to start testing my blood sugar more often, then asks what my schedules like. She does this so she could set an alarm reminder on my blood sugar tester (very high tech), to remind me when I should test my blood sugar. At the time, I went to bed early at 11 and late at 1. She set one of my reminders to 12am. So much for earliest at 11, now the earliest I went to bed was 12. By some stroke of messed up luck and logic, the latest I went to bed became 2. Suddenly I began to wake up later and later, this adjusted what time I went to bed as well. I have been going to bed later and later each night/morning, waking up later and later each day. I have decided to set my own alarm, one for waking up. I'll set it earlier and earlier each day until I get back into a normal swing. So what if I feel tired all day? I have nothing to do, which means I won't feel tired during some test, or while working, etc. Perhaps by the time I do get something to do, my sleep will be back on track and I will thank myself for setting my own alarms.
Well, that about covers it. I wonder if anyone got anything from any of this. I just got a quick fix for my boredom. But more importantly, I was able to express myself, not only in my actions but my feelings as well. That's what a blog is for, in my opinion, expression. Take from it what you will, I only know of 4 people who read these anyways, so perhaps it helped you with something.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Movie Review: Inception
I barely know how to begin this review. Part of me wants to just keep typing the word awesome continuously. I'm going to try to make this movie review as coherent as possible, hope you can follow along. I'll begin with the movie itself of course, then cast, then director, then audience, then the grade I give, then the final note.
Okay, so without risking any spoilers, here it goes. The movie is hands down the best movie all year, when magazines say "Best Movie of the Year," they're actually talking about this film. It has so many good things going for it, original plot, great idea, and of course awesome graphics. The entire weightless stuff you see in the commercial... wait to you see it in the film in its entirety. It's just, mind blowing: all the stuff they pull off in the film. The best part is, you can't really scream "Fake!" with any of the effects, because it partly takes place in a dream world, just chock it up to that. They also filmed on location and, in one case, partly on location for pretty much every scene in the film. Also, they constructed an entire set for one of the best effects in the film, the weightlessness. So CGI was only used when absolutely necessary. That being said, the movie was awesome.
The cast was filled with a wide range of actors, a few of which Christopher Nolan has worked with before, such as: Michael Caine and Cillian Murphy. Leonardo Di Caprio is an all around well respected and great actor, he did amazing. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, from 3rd Rock to the big screen, he's growing as an actor and I totally want to see him in more movies. Ellen Page, goodness I hated Juno, but she did wonderful in Inception, which is the only other movie I've seen her in. Tom Hardy, unknown to me, but did well in the role he played. Marion Cotillard, apparently she was in my favorite movie Big Fish, this means she knows how to get roles in good movies. Cillian Murphy, loved him as the Scarecrow, I want to see him in more of Nolan's films because of this movie. Ken Watanabe, had a very dynamic role, I didn't know what to think of his character at first, but in the end, I liked him. Oh, and, Michael Caine was cool too.
Christopher Nolan. This guy practically invented Batman. Goodness this guy can make a film. Batman Begins was cool and of course The Dark Knight blew everyone's mind. Inception takes the mind blowing a lot further. All of his previous films have received incredible reviews. I need to watch this guy's work. It's going to be a damn shame if Nolan ever looses his groove. A damn shame. I don't want to see him end up like M. Night.
Okay, so the movie goers. The people behind me kept making some weird type of noise, I hate a noisy audience. The audience seemed riveted, a few whispers here and there, but that was because pretty much everyone was just immersed into the film and didn't know quite how to express themselves. Audience was good is what I'm trying to say.
I told myself that when I created the letter grading for movies I wouldn't give +'s or -'s, I'm breaking my rule for this one. I'm doing this because the movie is that awesome, I give it an A+!
Final note. Let me just say, this movie gives Hollywood the finger. For years now, Hollywood has been unoriginal and has dished out a lot of fake, and not to mention, crappy films. Pulse, 28 Weeks Later, anything beyond X-Men 3 in that franchise, all of that is crap. Movies these day's are either sequels that begin to suck, based off of books and are therefore unoriginal, remakes, or "remakes" with a "different" plot of earlier films. Inception makes up for all the horrible crap Hollywood's presented, at least within the past decade I'd say. Inception has a great cast, intriguing ideas, and an original and gripping plot. This movie deserves more academy awards than the Lord of the Rings trilogy got. But winning these awards would be an insult to Nolan, because it would be Hollywood giving out their annual "Unoriginal Movie of the Year" awards to a film that was actually original and very well done. If the Academy had any sense, they'd abolish the awards ceremony and crown Christopher Nolan "King of all things movie", then Nolan will hence forth decide what movies deserve what awards. Inception was that good in my opinion. Go see it.
Okay, so without risking any spoilers, here it goes. The movie is hands down the best movie all year, when magazines say "Best Movie of the Year," they're actually talking about this film. It has so many good things going for it, original plot, great idea, and of course awesome graphics. The entire weightless stuff you see in the commercial... wait to you see it in the film in its entirety. It's just, mind blowing: all the stuff they pull off in the film. The best part is, you can't really scream "Fake!" with any of the effects, because it partly takes place in a dream world, just chock it up to that. They also filmed on location and, in one case, partly on location for pretty much every scene in the film. Also, they constructed an entire set for one of the best effects in the film, the weightlessness. So CGI was only used when absolutely necessary. That being said, the movie was awesome.
The cast was filled with a wide range of actors, a few of which Christopher Nolan has worked with before, such as: Michael Caine and Cillian Murphy. Leonardo Di Caprio is an all around well respected and great actor, he did amazing. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, from 3rd Rock to the big screen, he's growing as an actor and I totally want to see him in more movies. Ellen Page, goodness I hated Juno, but she did wonderful in Inception, which is the only other movie I've seen her in. Tom Hardy, unknown to me, but did well in the role he played. Marion Cotillard, apparently she was in my favorite movie Big Fish, this means she knows how to get roles in good movies. Cillian Murphy, loved him as the Scarecrow, I want to see him in more of Nolan's films because of this movie. Ken Watanabe, had a very dynamic role, I didn't know what to think of his character at first, but in the end, I liked him. Oh, and, Michael Caine was cool too.
Christopher Nolan. This guy practically invented Batman. Goodness this guy can make a film. Batman Begins was cool and of course The Dark Knight blew everyone's mind. Inception takes the mind blowing a lot further. All of his previous films have received incredible reviews. I need to watch this guy's work. It's going to be a damn shame if Nolan ever looses his groove. A damn shame. I don't want to see him end up like M. Night.
Okay, so the movie goers. The people behind me kept making some weird type of noise, I hate a noisy audience. The audience seemed riveted, a few whispers here and there, but that was because pretty much everyone was just immersed into the film and didn't know quite how to express themselves. Audience was good is what I'm trying to say.
I told myself that when I created the letter grading for movies I wouldn't give +'s or -'s, I'm breaking my rule for this one. I'm doing this because the movie is that awesome, I give it an A+!
Final note. Let me just say, this movie gives Hollywood the finger. For years now, Hollywood has been unoriginal and has dished out a lot of fake, and not to mention, crappy films. Pulse, 28 Weeks Later, anything beyond X-Men 3 in that franchise, all of that is crap. Movies these day's are either sequels that begin to suck, based off of books and are therefore unoriginal, remakes, or "remakes" with a "different" plot of earlier films. Inception makes up for all the horrible crap Hollywood's presented, at least within the past decade I'd say. Inception has a great cast, intriguing ideas, and an original and gripping plot. This movie deserves more academy awards than the Lord of the Rings trilogy got. But winning these awards would be an insult to Nolan, because it would be Hollywood giving out their annual "Unoriginal Movie of the Year" awards to a film that was actually original and very well done. If the Academy had any sense, they'd abolish the awards ceremony and crown Christopher Nolan "King of all things movie", then Nolan will hence forth decide what movies deserve what awards. Inception was that good in my opinion. Go see it.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
The Ladder
Okay, so like always, I'll give a reason to write this. One reason, I'm bored. Second, I'm not sure this will help me or others in any way, but it's worth a shot. Heck, I'm not even sure if the people it can help read this blog. Anyways, I'm going to try to use a funny analogy when explaining the ladder so hopefully you can follow along. Remember this is an analogy, but the ladder does exist, just not in the way I'm using it.
Everybody likes cupcakes, if you don't you're a Communist. Everyone bakes their own cupcake and it is as unique as the person baking it. Naturally your cupcake is good, after all, you baked it. Your cupcake is so good in fact, that you'd like to share it with someone. Not just anyone though, can't be letting some anti-cupcake Communist have a taste. Here's the good part of the deal, if you share your cupcake with someone, they'll share their own with you, after all, both of you have some really good cupcakes.
Now the ladder comes into play. Like I said earlier, I'm using an analogy for all of this, the ladder is also an analogy, but a more strict one. Remember, the ladder exist no matter what analogy you use for the cupcakes. Here's how it works. You want to share your cupcake with someone, they want to share their own with someone else, that someone else has yet another person they want to share it with. See the ladder yet. A=Person, B= Another Person, C= Other Person, D= Yet Another. A wants to share with B, B wants to share with C, C wants to share with D.
Here's the kicker, I'm only using four rungs on this ladder, it's entirely possible that this ladder is bigger than that. The point is, the ladder exists and it seems everyone on it is climbing in one direction.
I can only see a few possible decisions being made on this ladder. Either you manage to climb up the ladder, which would prevent the person above you from climbing, or you decide to climb down the ladder, which would make the person below you happy but at the obvious cost of you never climbing up. Or you can just jump off the ladder, forget about it, and who knows, you may just land on a shorter ladder with a person from the previous one.
Let's go back to cupcakes now, just to clarify this. We'll use B as the first example, since they are covered on two sides by A and C. B has a choice, share their cupcake with either A or C. At one point in time, B wanted to share their cupcake with A, but A wanted to share their own with another, the ladder was reversed at the time as you can see. At one point, A and B almost did share cupcakes, obviously they both wanted to share them with each other. But now, somehow, B wants to share with C. C is great in many ways I'm sure, probably bakes a really good cupcake. But remember, C wants to share that cupcake with D. A doesn't understand why B won't just pick them, after all, it's a really good cupcake and the two can totally share, and both A and B know this. B is determined to get C, I'm sure for a number of reasons, B could be happy if they shared with A, really could be, but for whatever reason, B feels like sharing with C (hopefully for the right reasons and not the wrong, because when the ladder was reversed, A had decided to climb and that ended up being the wrong choice because it was based on the wrong reasons.) Now, I'm not quite sure how C is in relation to B, perhaps C is willing to share with B, yet really wants to share with D. D doesn't want to share with C at all. I think that clarified.
Hopefully you followed along with all of that. That was the ladder and if you haven't figured it out yet, the cupcake is your heart. If you find yourself on this ladder, the best bet and advice I can give at the moment is to talk with the rungs of the ladder you are aware of. Seriously, everyone just gets into a group discussion. Not only would that be incredibly fun if you let it, it will help a lot and might go better than you think.
Everybody likes cupcakes, if you don't you're a Communist. Everyone bakes their own cupcake and it is as unique as the person baking it. Naturally your cupcake is good, after all, you baked it. Your cupcake is so good in fact, that you'd like to share it with someone. Not just anyone though, can't be letting some anti-cupcake Communist have a taste. Here's the good part of the deal, if you share your cupcake with someone, they'll share their own with you, after all, both of you have some really good cupcakes.
Now the ladder comes into play. Like I said earlier, I'm using an analogy for all of this, the ladder is also an analogy, but a more strict one. Remember, the ladder exist no matter what analogy you use for the cupcakes. Here's how it works. You want to share your cupcake with someone, they want to share their own with someone else, that someone else has yet another person they want to share it with. See the ladder yet. A=Person, B= Another Person, C= Other Person, D= Yet Another. A wants to share with B, B wants to share with C, C wants to share with D.
Here's the kicker, I'm only using four rungs on this ladder, it's entirely possible that this ladder is bigger than that. The point is, the ladder exists and it seems everyone on it is climbing in one direction.
I can only see a few possible decisions being made on this ladder. Either you manage to climb up the ladder, which would prevent the person above you from climbing, or you decide to climb down the ladder, which would make the person below you happy but at the obvious cost of you never climbing up. Or you can just jump off the ladder, forget about it, and who knows, you may just land on a shorter ladder with a person from the previous one.
Let's go back to cupcakes now, just to clarify this. We'll use B as the first example, since they are covered on two sides by A and C. B has a choice, share their cupcake with either A or C. At one point in time, B wanted to share their cupcake with A, but A wanted to share their own with another, the ladder was reversed at the time as you can see. At one point, A and B almost did share cupcakes, obviously they both wanted to share them with each other. But now, somehow, B wants to share with C. C is great in many ways I'm sure, probably bakes a really good cupcake. But remember, C wants to share that cupcake with D. A doesn't understand why B won't just pick them, after all, it's a really good cupcake and the two can totally share, and both A and B know this. B is determined to get C, I'm sure for a number of reasons, B could be happy if they shared with A, really could be, but for whatever reason, B feels like sharing with C (hopefully for the right reasons and not the wrong, because when the ladder was reversed, A had decided to climb and that ended up being the wrong choice because it was based on the wrong reasons.) Now, I'm not quite sure how C is in relation to B, perhaps C is willing to share with B, yet really wants to share with D. D doesn't want to share with C at all. I think that clarified.
Hopefully you followed along with all of that. That was the ladder and if you haven't figured it out yet, the cupcake is your heart. If you find yourself on this ladder, the best bet and advice I can give at the moment is to talk with the rungs of the ladder you are aware of. Seriously, everyone just gets into a group discussion. Not only would that be incredibly fun if you let it, it will help a lot and might go better than you think.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
My Life as a T.V. Show
If you're connected to my facebook by any chance, which you probably are, you may have read the wall post in which I mention the stereotype I fit in Hollywood. I'm going to expand on that here.
I'll begin by listing the T.V. show's you can find characters like me on: Chuck, That 70's Show, Scrubs, Eureka, SGU. All popular at one point, some still popular. Let's look at the formula for these shows. Normal yet somehow awkward white guy gets involved in a life that's bigger than him, he knows a cast of unique characters and that special someone he can't seem to get until later in the series, gets along with all of them, ends up on normal yet somehow wacky misadventures. People laugh, they cry, and it always seems like it won't work out for our guy, but it does.
Chuck/Eric/J.D./Carter/Eli get involved in Spy Work/the 70's/Medical Work/Eureka/Space Ship, he knows Morgan&Casey&Dr. Awesome/Fez&Kelso&Hyde/Turk&Janitor&Carla/Jo&Fargo&Henry/Rush&Scott&Young, and Sarah/Donna/Elliot/Allison/Chloe, gets along with all of them, ends up on etc, etc, etc, you get the point.
Thus far my summer has been filled, hell, my life has been filled with something fun and interesting every week, just like a T.V. show. Life is naturally bigger than these characters and myself because we know so many other cast of characters and people.
I would name the certain characters of my life, but if you watch any of these shows and know me, you know who you are. I don't have to name off any of the stereotypes others fit in, they would know who they are. I just find it funny when I look at the best friend character, or "the new guy" addition to a show, and go, "I know someone like that." So perhaps it isn't a stereotype, perhaps it's just life. If that is the case, then I guess I'm the main character 4 out of 5 times, or at least the character the camera seems to follow.
I'm going to link this blog to my facebook again. If anyone who reads this wants to leave a comment here or on my facebook or message me, feel free. I'll even tell you the character in those T.V. shows I peg you as.
I'll begin by listing the T.V. show's you can find characters like me on: Chuck, That 70's Show, Scrubs, Eureka, SGU. All popular at one point, some still popular. Let's look at the formula for these shows. Normal yet somehow awkward white guy gets involved in a life that's bigger than him, he knows a cast of unique characters and that special someone he can't seem to get until later in the series, gets along with all of them, ends up on normal yet somehow wacky misadventures. People laugh, they cry, and it always seems like it won't work out for our guy, but it does.
Chuck/Eric/J.D./Carter/Eli get involved in Spy Work/the 70's/Medical Work/Eureka/Space Ship, he knows Morgan&Casey&Dr. Awesome/Fez&Kelso&Hyde/Turk&Janitor&Carla/Jo&Fargo&Henry/Rush&Scott&Young, and Sarah/Donna/Elliot/Allison/Chloe, gets along with all of them, ends up on etc, etc, etc, you get the point.
Thus far my summer has been filled, hell, my life has been filled with something fun and interesting every week, just like a T.V. show. Life is naturally bigger than these characters and myself because we know so many other cast of characters and people.
I would name the certain characters of my life, but if you watch any of these shows and know me, you know who you are. I don't have to name off any of the stereotypes others fit in, they would know who they are. I just find it funny when I look at the best friend character, or "the new guy" addition to a show, and go, "I know someone like that." So perhaps it isn't a stereotype, perhaps it's just life. If that is the case, then I guess I'm the main character 4 out of 5 times, or at least the character the camera seems to follow.
I'm going to link this blog to my facebook again. If anyone who reads this wants to leave a comment here or on my facebook or message me, feel free. I'll even tell you the character in those T.V. shows I peg you as.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Movie Review: Predators
Obviously someone saw Predators last night. Give you a hint... it was me. I've always wanted to write a review on movies, but never actually have. This blog gives me the opportunity to write one! So I'm going to break this down into a few parts. Part one, how the movie stands alone. Part two, how it stands as a Predator movie. Part three, cast. Part four, producer. Part five, audience. Part six, the grade I give the film.
Okay, so let us go on to part one. As far as normal everyday movies go, Predators ranks on my list as a very action packed awesome movie. It's totally a "guy" film, it's got at least one lady, weapons, and explosions, all it was missing was a car chase. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the film from start to finish.
Part two, stacking it up against its predecessors. Okay, so I may not be the right guy for this part. After all I've only seen the first Predator film. I saw part of the second and I'm aware that it involves a city and Danny Glover. I have seen AvP and AvP:R, so that helps. From what I have seen, I can tell you it is hands down a thousand times better than that crap AvP: Requiem. I even liked it better than AvP. (Spoiler) The whole film pretty much ignores the events of those two films, but does make references to the first Predator. (End Spoiler) The movie is a sequel to the Predator series and it delivers as a Predator film.
Casting call! Adrien Brody, ex-military guy, not buff like Arnold was but pretty damn ripped, he did well, although I kept thinking he was going to have sex with a Predator at some point in the film, thanks Splice! Alice Braga, token female Black Ops, I liked her role a lot and she did a great job, but I kept wanting her to be Michelle Rodriquez. Topher Grace, medic, despite one of the commercials showing his face, seeing him in the film took me completely off guard, he acts like Eric Foreman most of the way through, but then his role gets pretty good near the end. Danny Trejo, typecast, this guy is awesome, in real life the dude is a criminal turned movie star, he fit his role as a Mexican drug dealer. Mah Ali, death squad officer, I shortened this guys name, I knew I remembered him from a series called The 4400, but only after I watched the film, he brought some awesome realism to the character. Oleg Taktarov, Russian soldier, accent and all, what more do I need to say. Walton Goggins, criminal, I like this guy in movies and television, I liked his role in this film. Laurence Fishburne, not going to spoil this one, but he did well. The Predators, pretty cool motion acting.
The Producer! Robert Rodriguez. The only stuff I've seen come out of this guy are the Spy Kids films and Sharkboy and Lavagirl. So going from that to Predators, with movies like From Dusk Till Dawn and Once Upon a Time in Mexico under his belt, he did a good job delivering an awesome film.
But what about the audience. I have to judge who sees these movies, just to warn you. A lot of people kept getting up and walking in and out of the theater. A fat guy and stopping skinny sprinter guy kept getting up off and on throughout the entire film. Most of the audience was filled with all sorts of different types of "cool guy movie buffs" who like to talk about what they think of the film as it happens. So naturally, I hated the audience.
Finally, my overall grade. A is for awesome and a must see. B is for, see it if you get the chance. C is for make it a rental. D is for, don't see unless someone forces you. F is for, never watch under any circumstances. If you're a Predator fan, then I give the movie an A. For the rest of you, it's a B.
Okay, so let us go on to part one. As far as normal everyday movies go, Predators ranks on my list as a very action packed awesome movie. It's totally a "guy" film, it's got at least one lady, weapons, and explosions, all it was missing was a car chase. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the film from start to finish.
Part two, stacking it up against its predecessors. Okay, so I may not be the right guy for this part. After all I've only seen the first Predator film. I saw part of the second and I'm aware that it involves a city and Danny Glover. I have seen AvP and AvP:R, so that helps. From what I have seen, I can tell you it is hands down a thousand times better than that crap AvP: Requiem. I even liked it better than AvP. (Spoiler) The whole film pretty much ignores the events of those two films, but does make references to the first Predator. (End Spoiler) The movie is a sequel to the Predator series and it delivers as a Predator film.
Casting call! Adrien Brody, ex-military guy, not buff like Arnold was but pretty damn ripped, he did well, although I kept thinking he was going to have sex with a Predator at some point in the film, thanks Splice! Alice Braga, token female Black Ops, I liked her role a lot and she did a great job, but I kept wanting her to be Michelle Rodriquez. Topher Grace, medic, despite one of the commercials showing his face, seeing him in the film took me completely off guard, he acts like Eric Foreman most of the way through, but then his role gets pretty good near the end. Danny Trejo, typecast, this guy is awesome, in real life the dude is a criminal turned movie star, he fit his role as a Mexican drug dealer. Mah Ali, death squad officer, I shortened this guys name, I knew I remembered him from a series called The 4400, but only after I watched the film, he brought some awesome realism to the character. Oleg Taktarov, Russian soldier, accent and all, what more do I need to say. Walton Goggins, criminal, I like this guy in movies and television, I liked his role in this film. Laurence Fishburne, not going to spoil this one, but he did well. The Predators, pretty cool motion acting.
The Producer! Robert Rodriguez. The only stuff I've seen come out of this guy are the Spy Kids films and Sharkboy and Lavagirl. So going from that to Predators, with movies like From Dusk Till Dawn and Once Upon a Time in Mexico under his belt, he did a good job delivering an awesome film.
But what about the audience. I have to judge who sees these movies, just to warn you. A lot of people kept getting up and walking in and out of the theater. A fat guy and stopping skinny sprinter guy kept getting up off and on throughout the entire film. Most of the audience was filled with all sorts of different types of "cool guy movie buffs" who like to talk about what they think of the film as it happens. So naturally, I hated the audience.
Finally, my overall grade. A is for awesome and a must see. B is for, see it if you get the chance. C is for make it a rental. D is for, don't see unless someone forces you. F is for, never watch under any circumstances. If you're a Predator fan, then I give the movie an A. For the rest of you, it's a B.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Fear vs Curiosity
When you are looking for answers and you are afraid of what you will find, the only question to ask is: which will have greater rule over you, your fear or your curiosity?
This motto or anthem or whatever you want to call it has gotten me through a lot of tough spots. For anyone who thinks like me, you probably understand the question already. For those who don't, I'll explain.
For the longest time I feared a lot of things. My top fears: spiders, heights, and being closed in small spaces. Arachnophobia, Acrophobia, and Claustrophobia for anyone who cares. Each of these fears had a rational explanation. I didn't want to get bit by a poisonous spider. I didn't want to fall off a tall ledge. I didn't want to suffocate in a small room or pass out as I hyperventilated. But of course, phobias become irrational as well. Suddenly all spiders are poisonous, the wind itself will find a way to knock me off a ledge, and the room is somehow shrinking.
Something changed. I got to a point, one that made me not giving a crap about a lot of things. Not giving a crap about certain things can be quite healthy I must say, if you're careful. Hell, I started wearing shorts and a t-shirt instead of pants and two shirts because I didn't give a crap. But what about my fears? Did I give a crap about them? Part of me said no, another part still held on to those fears. Then I read a quote similar to the sentence I open this post with.
Needless to say, things changed again. Suddenly I realized, it wasn't about not giving a crap, it was about giving a crap a different way. I used to give the type of crap that fed into fear. I gave a crap never to pick up a spider, climb a tall ladder, or go into really small spaces. But then I transferred all of that to curiosity. The spider's not dangerous, why not pick him up and put him in a healthier environment? So many people climb this ladder, what's the worst that can happen? Air still flows into this small room, so what do I have to fear?
You have to evaluate things in an educational manner. If you live in America, no spider can really harm you, just call 911 if it's incredibly deadly and you get bit. No height can harm you, gravity is a law, it will keep you up on that high ledge so long as you don't jump off. Small spaces aren't closing in on you. Fear of needles, they poke you and hurt no more than a small pinch for all of a few seconds, they don't even leave scars. Fear of rejection, ask the crush out, if they don't reject you, congratulations, if they do, you can move on and stop worrying about it. Fear of public speaking, so you make a fool of yourself in front of people you'll never see again, big deal, that or you're a politician who's most likely taken a class or two on public speaking.
I apply curiosity to most things now. I stopped caring about my fears long enough to make them into something else, something to be curious about. I urge my readers to try something similar, you don't have to jump in just yet. All I ask is that you try to be curious about the things you fear. Because honestly, what's the worst that can happen?
This motto or anthem or whatever you want to call it has gotten me through a lot of tough spots. For anyone who thinks like me, you probably understand the question already. For those who don't, I'll explain.
For the longest time I feared a lot of things. My top fears: spiders, heights, and being closed in small spaces. Arachnophobia, Acrophobia, and Claustrophobia for anyone who cares. Each of these fears had a rational explanation. I didn't want to get bit by a poisonous spider. I didn't want to fall off a tall ledge. I didn't want to suffocate in a small room or pass out as I hyperventilated. But of course, phobias become irrational as well. Suddenly all spiders are poisonous, the wind itself will find a way to knock me off a ledge, and the room is somehow shrinking.
Something changed. I got to a point, one that made me not giving a crap about a lot of things. Not giving a crap about certain things can be quite healthy I must say, if you're careful. Hell, I started wearing shorts and a t-shirt instead of pants and two shirts because I didn't give a crap. But what about my fears? Did I give a crap about them? Part of me said no, another part still held on to those fears. Then I read a quote similar to the sentence I open this post with.
Needless to say, things changed again. Suddenly I realized, it wasn't about not giving a crap, it was about giving a crap a different way. I used to give the type of crap that fed into fear. I gave a crap never to pick up a spider, climb a tall ladder, or go into really small spaces. But then I transferred all of that to curiosity. The spider's not dangerous, why not pick him up and put him in a healthier environment? So many people climb this ladder, what's the worst that can happen? Air still flows into this small room, so what do I have to fear?
You have to evaluate things in an educational manner. If you live in America, no spider can really harm you, just call 911 if it's incredibly deadly and you get bit. No height can harm you, gravity is a law, it will keep you up on that high ledge so long as you don't jump off. Small spaces aren't closing in on you. Fear of needles, they poke you and hurt no more than a small pinch for all of a few seconds, they don't even leave scars. Fear of rejection, ask the crush out, if they don't reject you, congratulations, if they do, you can move on and stop worrying about it. Fear of public speaking, so you make a fool of yourself in front of people you'll never see again, big deal, that or you're a politician who's most likely taken a class or two on public speaking.
I apply curiosity to most things now. I stopped caring about my fears long enough to make them into something else, something to be curious about. I urge my readers to try something similar, you don't have to jump in just yet. All I ask is that you try to be curious about the things you fear. Because honestly, what's the worst that can happen?
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