Movie Monday

Last movie-going year, my mom and I made a last minute dash to see the ten Best Picture Nominees of the 83rd Annual Academy Awards before they aired live. By the time of the show, we had collectively seen eight of the ten. I had seen two on my own: Black Swan and Inception and my mom had seen one: Winter’s Bone during Sundance. Together we watched five movies: Toy Story 3, The Social Network, The King’s Speech, True Grit, and The Fighter. The only two that we missed were 127 Hours and The Kids are All Right. Having collectively seen 80% of the nominees, we both felt confident in choosing The King’s Speech as the winner. I have since decided to watch the three movies that I had not seen, and re-watch some of the movies I already have. After which, I plan on giving personal reviews for what I am calling Movie Mondays. This will officially kick off Oscars Month for me (May has 5 Mondays and that would allow me to do two movies per week and therefore complete all of them in one month). With that said, I present the inaugural Movie Monday.

I will start with The Fighter starring Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Melissa Leo, and Mark Wahlberg. I just re-watched this movie because it was quite enjoyable when I saw it in theatres, and I wanted it to still be enjoyable when I saw it again at home. The story behind the movie is a great one, and seems to have been a natural choice for adaptation into a movie. The one thing I was most amazed by, was that Christian Bale was actually a new character. I’m sorry but Batman, John Connor, and Alfred Borden (The Prestige) were all the same, and this time Dicky Eklund was something new. I remember the emotion of the movie also being very tense and real in the movie theatre, it was still powerful but I think that other distractions may have minimized them slightly. I also can’t say enough about the Ward/Eklund family in the movie. The sisters were scary and very Mass-y, and Melissa Leo did a great job, but I feel that as a character, Amy Adams was stronger in her role. Plus, Who doesn’t like Marky Mark?

With the good, also comes bad, and unfortunately Black Swan is the bad that goes with the good of The Fighter for me. I have to say that I really was not a fan of Black Swan and I felt that it was wholly over-hyped. I felt that the movie was far too blatant with its parallel between Natalie Portman’s character and her role in in the ballet. Its clear from the beginning that it is drawing the comparison, it really didn’t need to beat you over the head with it. With that said though, Natalie Portman did a great job playing a mentally 10 year old girl stuck in an older body, and showed her transformation as well as maturation very convincingly. I was, on the other hand disappointed with Mila Kunis’s character, because the role of the foil was too short and not quite enough in my mind. The cinematography was beautiful in this movie and the use of images such as the blood and violence were quite striking and made a sharp impact while watching. The sexuality was also portrayed in a way that gave a very awkward feeling and was therefore successful. Finally, the character of the ballet director was quite skeevy, but in a disappointingly cliche way. Like I said, I didn’t really enjoy this movie and I wouldn’t pick it up and watch it again, but I seem to be in the minority when it comes to this movie.

Last but not least, I do plan on watching 127 Hours next. I have some expectations and pre-conceptions and this would be a good place to write those down before watching the movie, then compare them to the actual reactions I have. What I have heard about this movie is that the pivotal scene is very excruciatingly realistic. I have also heard that the music is well done. I do enjoy A.R. Rahman ever since Slumdog Millionaire so I do have high expectations. The major downside that I have heard is that the storyline sometimes gets disjointed. I am quite excited to watch this though, and expect myself to like it, as long as I don’t hurl during the arm scene.

The Hunger Games

Never have I been so disappointed by a series of books with so much promise. I wont spoil anything for the few people who have not yet read it, but will be seeing it in its movie form when it is released to the masses.

The first book was brilliant upon first reading, and because I was a late adopter, I was able to go from book one to book two without any wait. In that sense, the books sort of ran together in my mind as the books had very little time gap between them. If I had been one of the people who had picked it up as a brand new book, I may have been disappointed by the break in the books. Though Hunger Games broke in a natural place (time-wise), the story was broken oddly.

This problem only gets worse when Catching Fire was introduced. Mockingjay became more of a ploy than a necessity. If break one was natural, break two was astro-turf. It was made to look like a nice place for a break, only they forgot to put it in a proper place. Instead it was at what could easily be viewed as the very middle of the biggest climax of the first two books.

It was so poorly placed that there was no time for a recap portion of the book, just to give a quick little “I know its been a while, so here is a well-placed memory jog flashback.” It required me to instead, read the entire second book over again just to remember what led up to the events immediately preceding Mockingjay. The third book also has a very faux feel to it, like all of the emotions are being written and forced on you so often that it gets to a point of annoyance. Yeah, the conflict is clear without you reminding every two pages.

Overall, I think this series suffered from a bit of the Twilight Flu and worked the male conflict too much, and it detracted from the story a touch. On the other hand, I did love that the book took notes from both The Lottery by Shirley Jackson (so, I totally remember this story from school, but I could only remember that the woman’s name was Shirley and had to look up her last name), and Battle Royale by Koushun Takami to create the basic story. I guess the story copied everything necessary to make a pretty good book, but my major disappointment comes in the very end, much like Harry Potter, the Epilogue was a killer. I just wish that Suzanne Collins had also borrowed a sense of realism and consequence from John Green for a more fitting end.

I still recommend the book to anyone that wants an exciting story of gore (well, PG-13 gore), and a dystopian society that leads to revolution. You have been warned though, it will not please you all the way through, but there are certainly times you will find yourself caught up in the action.

Book Worm

I have, after a long absence (not counting the World Cup writing), had a desire to write again. Sadly, not much has been happening in my life as of late. I have been spending quite a bit of time watching Lost from episode 1, but blogging about that would be incredibly difficult. It would mostly be frustration about characters (at least half of them) and terrible story lines (*cough* Kate).

Instead, the second way my time is being spent, is with books. In fact, I just finished a book called The Candy Shop War by Brandon Mull. It was a really enjoyable book with an interesting take on magic. Instead of having wands and everyone running around casting spells at each other, there are only a few wizards and witches, and their magic doesn’t work on themselves. Instead the wizards and witches make candy, because magic works best on children. The candies are inventive, ranging from Moon Rocks that reduce gravity’s effect by 10 times, to Shock Bits that can send a shock to potential attackers. The Mirror Mints have to be my favorite though, as they allow you to travel to the place where reflections reside. You are able to walk into a mirror, and you no longer need to breathe, eat or drink, as reflections do not have those restrictions. While inside mirrors, you are linked to every mirror in the world, and see through them from the inside like a window.  The book takes you on a great adventure with four 5th graders as they search out an ancient treasure.

While frolicking in a Barnes and Nobel not too long ago, I found myself in the children’s section, as the store lacked chairs in all areas but the cafe and the kid’s section. I squeezed myself into an Adirondack chair meant for bodies much smaller than mine with a book that was entirely forgettable, and after I grew bored, I looked through the chapter books. I found one book I had not read in a very long time (Snowboard Maverick by Matt Christopher) but did not buy, and another that had randomly come to mind a few months back that I did buy. I was amazed to find a copy of The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling. I have not re-read it since buying it, but I remember it well, and it is next on my list now that The Candy Shop War is finished. It is a great book that parallels the story of King Midas and his golden touch, except its a boy with a chocolate touch (Yes, clearly I love candy, I know, fat kid, got it).

After the hour it will take to read Chocolate Touch, I plan on starting The Pendragon Adventure series by DJ McHale. My mom recommended the series to me, and she is generally very good with her choices (apart from the book The Alchemyst by Michael Scott). I am excited as there is time travel and other fantasy elements involved in a long series of 10 books, and 3 spin-off prequels. After Harry Potter, I have been hurting for an engrossing series with both a good story and setting, as well as its own mythology. Next time will probably be a blog gushing about the memories I have from Chocolate Touch as well was my feelings about Pendragon replacing the void left by Potter.

More recently I have finished one really good and intriguing book called Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, about a fictional terror attack in San Francisco, and the Police State ruled by the Department of Homeland Security. After being held in a secret prison and interrogated, the main character, Marcus begins to destroy the DHS with superior technology and hacking skills. If you enjoyed 1984 by Orwell, then you might enjoy a more modern version put out by Doctorow. You can find the ebook version for free on Cory Doctorow’s website, which he released through a Creative Commons License. I also recently finished Hacking Harvard by Robin Wasserman. This book was not perfect, and was at times difficult to keep my focus on, but it was still relatively enjoyable. It felt to me as if were a less sophisticated version of a John Green novel (which in my world, is pretty hard to live up to). It was a solid idea for a plot, getting a seemingly unworthy student accepted into Harvard without just hacking the computer system, instead by making him play the shining student that Harvard is looking for. It coming from a bet means that all their efforts are challenged by the bettors and complicates the situation. While it may not get a shining review from me, it may be worth reading if you happen upon it.

Musical Dreams

I have an on and off relationship with music when it comes to my sleep preparations. It was easier with my old iPod, as it could be plugged into a cheap USB plug and would charge while I slept. The newer one does not have the same ability, I think it just dies less quickly, if it doesn’t hold its current charge level. I also think I used to do quite a bit of damage to my ears when I slept with ear buds in. I would wake up and they would feel deflated and I would have to pop them back to normal. I hope that was solved when I just removed the rubber pieces that go in my ear, because it hasn’t seemed to happen since. This post is not about my medical maladies, but its good set up for what this post really is about.

While falling asleep, or maybe after waking up, I had a thought occur to me. What if dreams were determined by the music you listen to as you fall asleep? What if the very last song you heard before falling asleep was what determined what you dreamed about? The music wouldn’t necessarily match up quite how you would expect, nice calm music wouldn’t mean calm dreams. Songs by Jesus is My Savior could end up giving you worse nightmares than Hell Death Incarnate (neither are real bands as far as I know, but they make a good illustration). The question is, would you just try one song at a time, until you found an neutral or good dream, and then listen to that song every single night? Or would you be daring and try something new every night?

I personally would not settle for an average dream, or even if I found a great dream. I would certainly keep a dream journal and list songs and the dream attached to it, just in case I would want to revisit that dream, but I would live on the edge and hit that random button and go to sleep. I understand that nightmares would be part of that risk, I may see some of the very worst things ever imagined, but I would also have an opportunity to see some of the very best things that could be imagined too. I don’t have many nightmares in my dreams now, so I may not have experienced enough of them to be scared into the safe option, but I like the excitement of not knowing. Also, I think I would be bored by seeing the same thing every single time I dream. I pick excitement and the chance for failure over the safe and boring option any day.

Before its exploited in your mind, each person would have different reactions to the same songs, so you wouldn’t be able to steal my dream journal and have the dreams I experienced. This would prevent the guinea pig method of people just making someone like me test every song and then steal my experimental data. It truly would be a personal decision based on what you are willing to do and see. So, which would you choose, the safe choice or the unknown?

I guess what it all comes down to, is the labyrinth would sometimes look more like Pan’s Labyrinth, and others it would be a maze of clouds. Either way, I am excited by the idea of the labyrinth, and having it change every night. It seems as though I’m sticking with the labyrinth, and seeing what it can bring next.

30:63:14,063

Along with the new project of Blogivation, I have also become involved in a new project, to assist my uncle as he blogs from the road. He has decided to take a trip across the United States (and a quick jaunt into Canada) to visit every Major League Baseball stadium. He will be visiting 30 stadiums, in 63 days, over 14,000 miles. While on the road he will write blogs on his days off, my dad will be doing graphics and keeping the blog on schedule, and I will be doing layouts, posting, editing, and other miscellaneous tasks. You can check out the blog at Baseball Odyssey 2010.

Small side note, I have added a Life’s Library to my pages and lists, please check it out and add some must read titles for me.

Blogivate

Bishop and I have started to collaborate on a new project called Blogivation. I have been brought on as an editor and part of the idea process of this new blog, and as a result, I also have a post on said blog. The whole idea of Blogivation is to ask a question to all bloggers out in the world: “Why do you blog?” In it, explanations of why people started blogging, what they do now, and why they continue to blog are answered. It should turn out to be a great project and very informative about what motivates people to write their thoughts on the internet. You should check it out, you may find new people that you enjoy reading about.

Arbor Day

Bishop once told me a theory that he stole, of life compared to a tree. You, yourself are the trunk of said tree. Throughout life you acquire friendships and relationships, the lasting effects of these determine what part of your tree they make up.

Some are very seasonal, there one minute, the next they are gone. These people are the leaves on your tree. Others stick around much longer, they are much stronger, and take more effort to be lost. These people are the branches in your life. Finally the last group, the people that like none of the rest are there always. The people that feed your soul and support you, the people that help you grow and be what you want. The people that shape who you are, the people that make you want to be better. These people are the roots in your life.

Friendships are made when times get rough. Leaves and branches come along, make an impact, but when fires blaze, the only thing guaranteed to survive are roots. Fires leave you scarred and changed, but roots will never give up on you, they will support you through everything. Bishop had joked about becoming a root that day, little did he know how right he really was.

If a tree falls in a labyrinth and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Trick question, even when a tree is falling, the roots will always be there to hear every last word.