Pieces of Me, A Peace in Me.

Break it down bit by bit, piece by piece, what do you see? An empty shell of a man with nothing left to lose. A lonely heart standing in motion. Gone by the moment, gone by the day, fade into all that everyone sees but nobody accepts. You expect, but in return get less than put out. First you give up all, everything. Then you realize you need it all back. No worries my child, all will be well. Your wounds will be taken on in time. When the moon rises the sun does as well. Miles apart, too close for comfort. Time enough for change, the realization that you are everything you need to be. In this moment you are king. What do they make of you? What do you make of yourself? Are you everything you wanted to be? Are you at the destination of your desire? Motion stands still. Feeling escapes you and numbness is not your friend. You're wanted, dead or alive. Enter beauty. Enter the song that captures your sound, enter the girl that captures your heart, enter life. Nowhere, everywhere. Surrounding the seconds. A name eternal, but one without a name. And life will be, and you'll move closer, bit by bit, piece by peace to the soul. To morality, to intelligence, to disbelief, to sin. The motion of your heart, unstoppable, unbound. There for all to see. Gaining more than glory. Everything rushes in, and all is well.

Dreams

You ever have one of those dreams that stick with you when you wake up? I'm sure you have, I've had them. I can't be the only one who's had them, they're probably quite common. I had one of those dreams last night, or by the time you're reading this, two nights ago. I thought about it all day up until now and I'm not sure I'll be able to stop thinking about it for a while, that's why I figured I should write this. Dreams are a powerful thing.




It was quite a simple dream really, me, others, and stuff. You want me to get anymore generic? But this dream was filled with emotion and that's the stuff that sticks with you. A mix of just the right emotions and just the right imagery, well, that makes a memory and dreams like these are one's not easily forgotten.



I've seen these dreams force decisions upon people, I've seen these dreams become wishes, I've seen these dreams become reality. Perhaps that's why they are so powerful. They make you aspire, achieve, and attain. They find your deepest desires and make them a reality, at least in some world. That's what makes them so appealing, the chance that literally in your wildest dreams you can rule the world, find true love, or destroy everything around you (if you have a dark side.)




I can speculate all I want about why these dreams are so powerful, ultimately, the only answer I can come up with is: heart. Not the thing that beats in your chest. I'm talking about the existential heart, y'know, the thing Ma-Ti yells when the Planeteers call upon the Captain. Your mind, body, and soul (if you believe you have one) are all influenced by this heart. The emotions you feel in these dreams last into your waking hours, either leaving you happy about life or depressed. Your "heart" represents the deepest desires within you, conquering that world, conquering love, etc.




What you do with your heart is entirely up to you. If it's broken, mend it. If it's happy, rejoice. Accept your heart and your dreams as one. Your heart is big enough, it can hold your dreams. And always remember: don't be afraid to dream bigger.

Movie Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

I saw what can only be described as the best movie ever over the weekend, I am of course talking about The Change-Up, but Rise of the Planet of the Apes was really good too.




The acting in the film was absolutely wonderful. James Franco is so good at acting he can pull off a pot-head in one film and a scientist in the next. Freida Pinto was mostly good, apparently she was in Slumdog Millionaire, but it's been a while since I've seen that so I can't really analyze her acting fairly. Andy Serkis getting CGIified, pretty good, made me feel for the ape. John Fucking Lithgow, it's John Lithgow, he's just awesome. Brian Cox was good, but he reminded me way too much of James Lipton for some reason. Tom Felton pretty much played Draco Malfoy with a shotty American accent, eh, I guess our accent is becoming the hard one to do. David Oyelowo, possibly the most annoying character in the end, but played it well. Tyler Labine, this guy and James Franco actually made a believable science team. David Hewlett as Hey-That's-The-Guy-From-Stargate-Atlantis, loved him in this. That about covers them.




For a director with a pretty small resume, Rupert Wyatt did an excellent job. Every beat that was wanted and needed for this film was delivered damn near perfectly. This guy, he's going places.




Nothing else is really worth mentioning except the positive and negative aspects of this film. We'll start with the negative: some parts came off a little too ridiculously (forgivable moments), a few of the characters could get a little annoying at times (but I have a positive note about this), and Tom Felton's accent could have been better. The positive stuff: it ties everything into the Planet of the Apes franchise flawlessly and with love, the added bit of drama with John Lithgow's character was great, and it was packed full of moments that would make any nerd who has seen classic Planet of the Apes films nerdgasm. The ridiculous moments are made up for by all of the really great moments. As far as the annoying characters, I felt like most of the characters were supposed to be hated, after all, we're rooting for the Apes in this film not the humans. But Tom Felton, he really has no excuse, fuck his character and fuck his half-Draco Malfoy accent, I'm mostly teasing.




I give this film an A+, a must see. I think I've added the plus for one other film, I don't do it often. I'm just saying, this movie has something for everyone. Action, drama, romance, comedy, and apes. Even if your Mr. Negative Nancy Film Critic or even the Hipster Who Hates Good Movies I think you'll enjoy this film. Just see it and let me know what you think.

Movie Review: Transformers 3

Let me start off by saying that it's a Michael Bay film and has about as much depth as Bay is willing to put into his films (i.e. depth into female leads eyes and cleavage, depth into the center of an explosion, and depth into the interior of a really nice car.) That being said, this blog post won't have much depth to it either, not my fault, blame Michael Bay. Let's get started.




I have to get the annoying audience out of the way first. If this audience were watching any other movie besides a Bay film, I would have gone postal on the entire theater. I had a guy to the back left of me constantly expressing his suprise at the "awesome" moments depicted in the film. A lady directly in front of me kept clapping and acting giddy, not even kidding, she was a clapper; not a slow clapper either, a fast-paced loud clapper. The kid behind me kept kicking my seat. I kind of felt bad for the kid 'cause I could only assume he couldn't see over the seats (he was tiny) and therefore wanted to kick the seat in front of him in protest; dang that was an annoying audience. They're lucky it was a Transformers film and I really didn't care.




Now we'll talk about Michael Bay for a moment. I can't say much about him except that the guy is a good director... for what he directs. If you want an awesome action movie with explosions, car chases, and hot babes then Mr. Bay is your guy. Just don't expect depth from him, the only thing resembling any kind of depth in this film was the large chunk of exposition near the beginning that essentially explained why Megan Fox wasn't in the film and why Shia LaBeouf still was.




Speaking of the cast I really have nothing to say about any of them except the new love interest was a blonde English Megan Fox and that FREAKEN LEONARD NIMOY VOICED ONE OF THE TRANSFORMERS!!!!!!! Hells to the yeah, he was the best damn aspect of the entire film, they even managed to drop two, count 'em TWO Spock references into the film. One of them managed to twist a certain idiom Spock was famous for saying (during Wrath of Khan in particular.) Hells to the yeah Michael Bay, best damn thing you ever did to a movie was hiring this guy to lend his voice.




I've pretty much said everything I have to say about the movie in general: no depth, blonde Megan Fox, Leonard "Spock" Nimoy!!! So I'll just skip over my paragraph about the movie in general and just say it was awesome and leave you with my grade. I give this movie a C, make it a rental. It's still an awesome action flick and part of a pretty successful trilogy, so you may be able to enjoy a Friday night Transformers marathon in the future. Anyways, that's all I have to say, thanks for reading!

Nerds are hot now.

If there's one person on the face of this earth that I find more attractive than anyone else, it's me. I look in the mirror each and every day and go, "damn, you are one fiiiine modafuka!" I also look at myself in the mirror and go, "wow, I can't believe you're a total nerd." That's right, anyone who knows me has probably figured out that I like comic books, science fiction, and occasionally fantasy stuff. But how can someone as good looking as myself be something associated with pocket protectors, acne, and gigantic glasses? Oh, that's right, it's because nerds are totally hot now. I'm going to give you a few examples of famous nerds and tell you why they are hot. I also hope to get rid of the common misconception that nerds are losers that embody the "forever alone" meme.




Gentlemen and lesbians, get your google image search on, 'cause I'm about to mention some hot-famous-female-nerds. The most well known right now is probably Tina Fey, former SNL writer and star, she's won a ton of awards, and lives a happy married life with a child and one on the way: she's a self proclaimed nerd. Tricia Helfer, model, was also on the Battlestar Galactica remake series, she also dated another famous male nerd, the handsome Nathan Fillion, star of Firefly, voice of Buck in Halo: ODST, and villain/hero in Dr. Horrible. Lastly, this list would not be complete without metnioning Felicia Day. She isn't incredibly well known yet, but if you're a fan of World of Warcraft and watch a webseries called "The Guild" then you already know who this pretty red head is. Yes, she's a ginger, but damn it, some gingers look really hot.




Ladies and gay guys, this next one's for you... sort of. I can't really claim to know what's physically hot about dudes, except when I'm looking at myself in the mirror, so the men I'm going to mention are more successfully hot rather than physically hot. But in case you ladies want to google search eye candy, look up Ryan Reynolds or somebody, he's technically a nerd for having starred in a bunch of nerdy stuff like X-Men and Green Lantern.




First guy I'm going to mention is Joss Whedon, director of Buffy, Angel, Dr. Horrible, Firefly, and a bunch of other stuff that you've probably heard of but never watched. He gains a spot on this list for his famous cult following (aka nerd following) and being connected to other nerds I've mentioned like Felicia Day and Nathan Fillion.




The next guy you've most definitely heard of, J.J. Abrams. Everyone I know has seen a movie by this guy, I could also put Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Christopher Nolan in this paragraph simply because of how successful they are with non-nerds. Most non-nerds have seen Star Wars, E.T., and Close Encounters. What about Inception or The Dark Knight: Nolan films. Watch the new Star Trek movie, how about Super 8, I'm sure you watched LOST or Cloverfield, Alias or Fringe? Those are all Abrams. The non-nerd probably doesn't understand half of these films and shows, but they love watching them and that's my point. These directors have been exposing non-nerds to nerdy shit since the 70s and you non-nerds reading this, you've been enjoying nerdy stuff since the 70s, swallow that and try to make fun of a nerd.




Lastly, I'm going to mention the father of the hot nerd, Bill Gates. Wealthiest man alive for a long time and now in second place, occasionally hitting 3rd. This dude is far more successful than a lot of people will ever be. He made the nerd hot when he modeled in photos with all the computer tech he developed, computer tech you're probably using right now to read this (unless you're a Mac, shame on you). Imagine that bully on the playground making fun of Bill Gates, imagine that football jock picking on Gates in high school, imagine where they're at now. I don't care if that jock went on to be a famous football player or something, he'll never be as successful and happy with life as Bill Gates is, swimming in mountains of cash with his wife and kids.




It's been said that nerds tend to live happier, healthier, and better love lives in the long run. I just gave you a few of examples of this being true. I'm a proud nerd! I'm almost betting you are too, just a closeted one. I have one friend who loves Harry Potter and World of Warcraft, but probably wouldn't call himself a nerd. Another friend who's into computer tech more than the average person and wouldn't call themselves a nerd. I'm here to say, it's okay, you can come out now. Absolutely no one can mess with you anymore. Why? Because nerds are freaken hot now and everybody knows it.

Movie Review: Green Lantern

Yet another comic book movie review. Enjoy!




I'll start off with saying cell phones suck. Or rather, people who leave their cell phones on during movies suck. The audience was quiet and respectful throughout the movie but one lady, one lady, kept her cell phone on and guess what happened... ring, freaken, ring. I wasn't so much annoyed by this and in fact caught myself holding back laughter. It's one thing to talk during a movie because you're a person who likes to hold a conversation it's another to break the cardinal rule of ALL theaters: keep your cellphone off. I laughed because I knew that this lady had to be the stupidest lady in the world for not turning her phone off. Her stupidity was confirmed when she attempted to turn it off and apologized to the people around her because she couldn't do it for some reason then proceeded to muffle the noise. A for effort lady, F because you done fucked up.




In respects to the directing and writing of this film, it was good for the most part. I found a lot of "New Star Wars Trilogy" problems with it, like having characters randomly know each other and be close friends without any indication other than a scene were the two share an inside joke or some memory that happened off screen. Also, it was packed full of CGI, but then again, it kind of had to be in a way. It was still a pretty kickin movie otherwise, especially the last 15 or 20 minutes, those were packed with the awesome stuff you want to see in a Lantern film.




As far as casting goes I pretty much enjoyed it for the most part. I ended up liking Reynolds because he was able to play the part seriously and yet still provide a bit of humor making fun of the things that just seem ridiculous about the character. Blake Lively as Carol Ferris, she was alright, not too forgettable but not too memorable either, despite being the main love interest. Peter Sarsgaard as Hector Hammond, I don't know if the character was supposed to be a creeper, but Sarsgaard certainly pulled off playing him like one, props to this actor. Mark Strong as Sinestro, or should I say Mark Strong as the best part of the entire film, he was super boss. Angela Bassett as Dr. Waller, this lady has won a ton of awards for her acting and yet, I thought she was the worst actor in the film and that isn't a compliment to the other actors it's an insult to her. Tim Robbins was "eh", Jango Fett was a good Abin Sur, and Geoffrey Rush is just a good actor even playing a CGI Tomar-Re. Lastly, Michael Clarke Duncan as Kilowog, I thought the character was going to come off like the "big teddy bear" type that Duncan just seems to be, but his voice was perfect, it had the right amount of snarl and deepness to the it.



The most I can say about Green Lantern as a film is: if you go into looking for bad things, you'll find them. If you go in with lowered expectations but let the movie be itself, you'll be suprised to find that it isn't as bad as critics say it is. It's nowhere near the crap fest that X-Men 3 and Origins was and I ended up liking it better than Superman Returns, which I have a love/hate relationship with. The movie can be really enjoyable if you just want to watch something fun. It's not as mindless as crappy hollywood films that people watch to perpetuate the decline in movie quality, so you should be able to enjoy it without offending anyone.




I give this movie a B, see it if you get the chance. I would have given it a C for make it a rental, but I kind think people should see it for a lot of reasons: 1) You should make your own opinion of it, 2) It has a lot of blockbuster awesomeness, and 3) It needs to make money so an awesome sequel will be made (and trust me, it looks like it could have an awesome sequel.) So that's all I have to say about that, thanks for reading.

Movie Review: The Hangover Part 2

If I had a movie review for the first Hangover movie I'd tell you to read that so I could finish this blog post within one sentence. But I don't have a review of The Hangover, which means I'm going to have to actually write something for this. I promise it will be short and structured differently.




All I pretty much have to say about the film is: it's The Hangover, just a bit more extreme. Bradley Cooper cusses a lot more, Zach Galifianakis has more socially awkward moments, and Ed Helms... well, I don't want to ruin what happens with his character. I thoroughly enjoyed the film, it was funny, made me laugh. But it was The Hangover, if that drags the movie down for you then so be it, if not, then enjoy the film.




I give this film a solid C, make it a rental. You really don't need to see it in theaters, unless you're a real big fan of the first one, I mean BIG fan. It's also not worth the hassle of dealing with ID Nazis if you look like you're underage. Netflix it later, get it from the library, torrent it, I don't care, go ahead and watch it, it's funny, but you don't have to watch it now. Anyways, thank you for reading.