Sam Worthington's Eyes

I recently wrote a paper on Christopher Nolan's The Prestige using some concepts of semiotics, a field I have recently been exposed to and absolutely love. If you are interested, check out the book Mythologies, by Roland Barthes. I could go on about semiotics, but that's not the point of this post, and I don't have much time these days, so maybe I'll write about it another day. So, what do I want to write about, you may be wondering? Well, I shall tell you. It's The Prestige. And the new Clash of the Titans. And Christian Bale. And Sam Worthington. I don't think this post will contain any spoilers, but if it does, I will certainly warn you.

NOTE: For the abridged version of this entry, please scroll down.

Those of you who know me likely know that I am a HUGE fan of Christian Bale. No, not just because he's Batman. I don't even think those films have his best performances. Don't get me wrong, they're amazing performances. The crazy thing is there are lots of other movies where he's even better. I know, hard to believe. Moving on. So in order to write my paper on The Prestige, I had to watch it several times. Every time I watched it, I enjoyed it even more. Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman give us amazing performances. Now a word about Clash of the Titans.

So while I was working on my paper, I took a break to watch the new Clash of the Titans. What a disappointment. I couldn't believe how bad the film was. I think if I were to describe it in one word, it would be: odd. The acting was odd, the lighting was odd, the characters were odd, the cgi was odd, the gods were odd, the action was odd, even their hairstyles were odd! The only good thing in there was Mads Mikkelsen. He's what kept me going. Also, the trailer for the film was pretty cool. 

So, what do these thoughts on these films have to do with each other? The principal actors: Christian Bale and Sam Worthington. The more I thought about the reasons why I think Bale is such a great actor, the more I realized why I think Worthington is not. Or at least hasn't shown me that he is yet. 

First, my thoughts on Worthington, or Sammy W, as I like to call him. I want to like him, I really do. I think he's got a great face and an undeniable presence. He's a cool-looking dude. The problem, I think, is in his lack of emotive abilities. More specifically, I don't see anything in his eyes. The music, lighting, and dialogue of a particular scene might tell me that his character is upset, overjoyed, or in love, but I don't buy it in his eyes. They're just blank. Full disclosure, I've seen three of his films: Terminator Salvation, Avatar, and Clash of the Titans. Of those, I think Avatar probably has his best acting. But even then, there was something missing in his eyes. Know what I mean? That's where I think not only Christian Bale, but a lot of actors that I think are great really shine. Hugh Jackman, Clive Owen, Eric Bana, Tom Cruise, Matthew Fox, Leonardo DiCaprio, etc. They emote with their eyes to such a degree that if they're happy, I can't help but find myself smiling along with them. The same goes for all their other emotions. When that tear swells up in their eyes because they're either scared, terrified, frustrated, or furious, it blows me away. 

Like I said before, I like Sam Worthington. I want to like him as an actor. I remember around the time Avatar was coming out, there were some articles comparing him to Russel Crowe, another actor who can go up on that list of emotive actors. I think it was mainly because of the action roles Worthington had lining up and his Australian roots as opposed to his acting abilities. Part of the problem may also be attributable to the directors he has so far worked with. Compared to those other actors on the list above, Worthington has not really been involved with directors known for their films' acting strengths. Maybe that is why I feel Avatar was his best role, because James Cameron has a lot more experience as a director than Terminator's McG or Clash's Louis Leterrier. Perhaps Worthington's methods require more of an interaction with a director willing to work with him or to his strengths? 

I think this hypothesis holds some weight when we look at the other actors around Worthington in Terminator and Clash of the Titans. I think Terminator probably has one of Christian Bale's weakest performances. Helena Bonham Carter and Bryce Dallas Howard also gave us some odd bits of acting. Even Linda Hamilton's re-recorded voice sounds strange and bizarre compared to the identical lines she speaks in Cameron's original Terminator. Now let's look at some of the actors in Clash of the Titans: Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes! World-class actors who gave some of the strangest and most awkward performances I've ever seen. Gemma Arterton, who I'm not too familiar with, was also the focus of some seriously bad acting. And was that Danny Huston who played one of the gods for a single line of dialogue? What?? 

This is not meant to be a bashing of Sam Worthington. It would be more accurate to call this the response of a disappointed but hopeful fan who sees a lot of potential in an up-and-coming actor whose films have mainly been action spectacles that have failed to show his dramatic range. The next few films he has lined up definitely look promising. The Debt, where he plays an Israeli Mossad agent is being directed by John Madden, who among other things directed Shakespeare in Love. He also directed Proof. A really good film, based on a play, that was all about the acting and the drama. While The Debt definitely has action in it, it looks to have a lot of drama as well. The screenplay was written by Matthew Vaughn and others. Worthington will also be in the remake of that old Schwarzenegger film Commando, to be written and directed by David Ayer. Ayer wrote Training Day and wrote/directed Harsh Times, which starred Christian Bale in a particularly explosive role. Here's hoping he can get the same intensity of performance out of Worthington.

ABRIDGED VERSION: Sam Worthington, get your act (and eyes) together!

...time to nut up or shut up

Return of the Niblog

Hello dear readers,

Munib Rezaie here, coincidentally coming to you exactly one year since my last post. As you can see, I have redesigned and revamped this blog and will likely be making more tweaks in the coming weeks. It's been a long time since I have regularly updated this thing, but I'm hoping that will change soon. I'm beginning my doctoral studies at Georgia State University this week in Moving Image Studies. My area of focus is in Chinese and Hong Kong film. My hope is that I will use this space as an outlet for my studies as well as a means to keep myself writing regularly. We'll see how this goes.

Thank you all for your support and enthusiasm in reading my blog and wanting its return. I hope you enjoy where this blog takes me. I'm certainly anxious to see where it goes.




...Wing Chun, Ip Man

Jon & Kate Plus Backbiting

Man. It's been a long time since I've updated this thing. Well, I'll get right to it...

NOTE: For the abridged version of this entry, please scroll down.

A few weeks ago, a dear friend of mine asked me the following question:

"How do you feel about the current situation with one of your favorite TV shows Jon & Kate [Plus 8], plus the intense media scrutiny that followed all of the dramatic events?"

So I answered his question with quite a lengthy reply that I decided I would use as the basis for this post...which will be longer. The topic is one which I have considered on several occasions to write about in my blog. It's something I feel pretty strongly about. I suppose I just needed a push. So thank you, dear friend of mine. I'm not keeping his identity a secret for any reason. It was Louis. Louis O'Neal.

Several years ago, I came to the sudden and now seemingly obvious realization that the tabloids, celebrity gossip, and talking about celebrities' personal lives and attitudes with my friends is considered backbiting. Before I go any further, I should perhaps elaborate a bit on my own personal understanding of backbiting, a topic which I find to be infinitely fascinating.

In the Bahá’í Writings, there are an incredible number of quotations on the subject of backbiting. I would like to share a handful of them to help frame my discussion of media scrutiny.

Abdu'l-Bahá states:

“The worst human quality and the most great sin is backbiting, more especially when it emanates from the tongues of the believers of God.”
(Quoted in Star of West, Vol. IV. p. 192)

The worst human quality! Most great sin! That’s crazy!

Bahá'u'lláh goes on to say:

“Backbiting quencheth the light of the heart, and extinguisheth the life of the soul.”
(Bahá’u’lláh: The Kitáb-i-Íqán, p. 193)

“O Son of Being! How couldst thou forget thine own faults and busy thyself with the faults of others? Whoso doeth this is accursed of Me.”

Extinguishes the life of the soul?! Accursed of God?! That’s intense! And you may be thinking to yourself, “I’m ok, I don’t backbite.” But if you are a passive listener to other people’s backbiting, you are also doing yourself a disservice. Abdu'l-Bahá expands on how the hearer is affected:

“If any individual should speak ill of one who is absent, it is incumbent on his hearers, in a spiritual and friendly manner, to stop him, and say in effect: would this detraction serve any useful purpose? Would it…be of any possible benefit to any soul? No, never! On the contrary, it would make the dust to settle so thickly on the heart that the ears would hear no more, and the eyes would no longer behold the light of truth.”
(Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 230)

Wow.

So those are just a few examples of how seriously I take backbiting. So as I was saying, one day I realized that celebrities were people too. They have souls just like the rest of us. They are also innately spiritual beings, just like the rest of humanity. I wouldn’t like to talk crap about a friend, or judge the decision of a friend’s friend that I never even met, so why would I want to discuss the private lives of a celebrity? Once I truly took this to heart, it became a lot harder for me make any kind of serious or extreme commentary about a celebrity. It created a certain amount of moderation in the way I spoke about movies and actors and actresses and the like.

I’ll give an example. After the original The Fast and the Furious came out to much success, there was obviously talk of a sequel being made. By this time, Vin Diesel had made several other films and gained quite a reputation. I read somewhere that he was asking for $30 million to sign on for it, and that’s why he was not in the sequel. I believed it, and even changed my view about Vin Diesel, who I had liked up to that point. However, now he was too cocky and greedy and I didn’t like that. What a terrible thing to think about a person after reading just a few sentences about them. Didn’t even bother looking for the source or anything. Just believed it. Fail.

Now I stay away from celebrity news of all sorts. I still read about films and film development news, but I try to stay away from the articles that have to do with their personal lives or what store someone was seen shopping at, or who made out with who, or who beat up who. It doesn’t matter. Additionally, don’t actors’ acting just seem better when you DON’T know much about their personal lives? I don’t think that it’s just a coincidence that some of my favorite actors also tend to keep their private lives private. Robert DeNiro, Kevin Spacey, Christian Bale, Matt Damon, George Clooney, Clive Owen, Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett, and Johnny Depp, just to name a few.

And if I do catch something, which I inevitably do, seeing as how the backbiting industry is literally EVERYWHERE, I try to keep whatever I read or saw away from what I think of the actor. So I don’t get the people who all of a sudden turned against Tom Cruise after he had a few awkward interviews and decided they didn’t like his movies either. Or just cause he’s a Scientologist. What? How does that make sense? He’s still the same awesome actor. Or that whole Christian Bale rant against the cinematographer thing. Seriously? You’ve never cursed out or yelled at anyone in your life? Then the media gets and runs with it and everyone who reads about it or sees it on TV in shows devoted to this stuff like Access Hollywood, Inside Edition, Entertainment Tonight, Extra, just about anything on E! or VH1 these days, and even CNN (why is it even on CNN to begin with?) forms an opinion and judgment of you. That’s just rude, dude.

Which finally brings us to Jon & Kate Plus 8. A relatively new kind of celebrity; ones from a reality show. They’re even more ordinary than the ordinary celebrities that get their faces splattered on magazines everyday. So how do I feel about that, you ask? I feel sad. The same sadness I feel when there’s news of any couple who, whether I know them or not, gets a divorce. Divorces are always sad. Especially when there are kids involved. So my thoughts, when I see their faces all over the magazines stacked at every check-out aisle in every store I go to is: “What do those 8 kids feel like right now?” How does it feel to go into a grocery store and see your mom and/or dad’s face on a magazine with words and quotations attributed to them that are probably made up, saying that they hate each other, or that their dad is having an affair? Most recently I saw “Jon’s a dirtbag” in huge letters over his picture. That’s heavy stuff. I wouldn’t wish that on anybody, and most definitely not on anybody’s kids.

If you agree with what I say, here are a few things to keep in mind when reading or watching news related to celebrities:

1) All or at least part of what you are reading is false, an exaggeration, or a misinterpretation of what actually happened
2) There is absolutely no way that anyone can know exactly what happened, except for those were there when it happened, even then, you don’t know what those involved were thinking when it happened
3) There’s no reason why anyone else should want to know what happened because these are human beings we’re talking about here, involved in their human lives just like everyone else

ABRIDGED VERSION: Backbiting sucks! Celebrities have souls too!

Whew, all this talk about backbiting is getting me down, so I’ll end with a quote about how amazing it would be if we didn’t backbite:

“If, however, a person setteth about speaking well of another, opening his lips to praise another, he will touch an answering chord in his hearers and they will be stirred up by the breathings of God. Their hearts and souls will rejoice to know that, God be thanked, here is a soul in the Faith who is a focus of human perfections, a very embodiment of the bounties of the Lord, one whose tongue is eloquent, and whose face shineth, in whatever gathering he may be, one who hath victory upon his brow, and who is a being sustained by the sweet savours of God.”
(Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 230)

That’s good stuff.



…keep moving forward

The Dangers of Trailers

Hey. It’s been a while. I might be a little rusty at this writing thing, so give me a break.

NOTE: For the abridged version of this entry, please scroll down.

How many people here like to see movie previews? I remember days of old when that was one of the best parts of going to the theater, and the reason you always made sure to get there on time. But where does this fascination over watching previews come from? If I were to guess, I’d have to say that a big part of it is simply for the bragging rights. Just having the knowledge of what was shown in a preview has always been a legitimate source for a conversation. Heck, I remember being filled with pure excitement over the purchase of a new Disney animated feature on VHS, cause they always had a sneak peek at their next big cartoon. Then I’d go off and tell all my friends about it who hadn’t gotten the film yet.

But times they are a-changing. Used to be that theaters were the only place you could go to get a taste of the movies coming to a theater near you, and every now and then on the telly. Nowadays, with the ridiculous reach of the internet and all kinds of cross-media advertising and promotions, I feel that trailers have lost a lot of their importance and excitement, and unfortunately have started going the other way and become damaging.

The internet has essentially placed the world at everyone’s fingertips. Information is distributed endlessly and consumed at superhuman speeds. Instead of satiating people’s hunger and making them stop, it seems to have given them an even bigger appetite that cannot be satisfied…ever. People just want to know. They want to know more and more, and fast. Which results in a decreased level of patience. Anything that takes longer than what their bandwidth allows is an eternity. Therefore, one single trailer in the theater for a movie that will come out in a year is unacceptable. Everyone will forget.

So what’s the logical answer? Release more and more trailers. With each one that follows revealing more and more of the story. You’ll basically see the whole movie before it’s even out. Or at least the best parts. And then they show it on TV over and over and over again. And then you get these ones that are like over 3 minutes long that reveal waaaaay too much of the story. There’s no mystery anymore. Doesn’t anybody like to be surprised by what they see?

I’d like to hear other people’s thoughts on this matter. It’s something I’m kind of passionate about. I honestly don’t get it. Now it’s become a bragging right to know spoilers that others don’t know about; or even having seen the movie online somehow before it’s even released in theaters. It doesn’t make any sense. Help me understand!


ABRIDGED VERSION: Trailers suck.



...i'm sorry my sister turned your parents into pigs

The Red Sun Rises...

Blood has been spilled this night.

So, as I have said in last post, the Wii is the only way to go. Sony is just not looking good. As if the uselessness of having the Blu-Ray format wasn’t enough, there have been recent developments that I found out about at IMDb that will only harm Sony.

And I quote:

“In the latest embarrassment to strike Sony Corp., the company acknowledged today (Wednesday) that many games designed for the original PlayStation and PlayStation 2 consoles are not compatible with PlayStation 3. News of the problem follows the rash of bad publicity over production delays involving the device, consumer hesitancy over the company's Blu-ray high-definition DVD devices, and especially a recall of laptop batteries that the company had manufactured. Sony had been hoping that the hugely hyped Casino Royale, due out this weekend, would produce revenue to offset the earlier ordeals. Sony managers were in London Tuesday to demonstrate how they planned to integrate the marketing of their products with the new film. Later in the day they attended the premiere of the movie at the Odeon Leicester Square theater -- along with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.”

Then there’s the price. They’re releasing two different versions:

1) $599 for 60 GB hard drive; built in Wi-Fi; flash card reader; and a chrome trim
2) $499 for 20 GB hard drive; no Wi-Fi; no flash card reader; and no chrome trim

Pretty friggin lame, if you ask me. And if you don’t, well, that’s what I would say if you did.



…I’m a soldier of the apocalypse, man!

Wii Will, Wii Will Rock You

Something wicked this way comes. Something big is going to happen in the videogame industry in the coming months and few years. Something big involving the 3 major players in the industry: Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft. We’re at a cliffhanger that J. J. Abrams would be proud of.

NOTE: For the abridged version of this entry, please scroll down.

But first, a brief history:

I am sure that many of you out there have heard the terms “next-gen” or “next generation” when referring to videogame consoles. A generation for videogames usually lasts about three to four years or so. History has shown that every generation improves on the previous one, and every other generation brings along with it a huge innovation. Allow me to illustrate further. Let’s look back to the late 80s. Nintendo had the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and Sega had the Master System, both of which were 8-bit systems. Their big thing was 2D games that were quite advanced for the time.

The next generation of consoles brought Nintendo’s Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and Sega’s Genesis (Mega Drive in Europe and South America). Both of these systems were 16-bit and basically improved on the graphics and technology of 2D games.

Remember how we said huge innovations come along? The next era was the 32-bit era where the people were introduced to real 3D gaming. Sega came out with a very poorly marketed yet amazing system called the Sega Saturn while Sony released its now infamous PlayStation. The games were also played on CDs. The Sega Saturn was quickly forgotten by the masses while the PlayStation continued to grow in popularity with an older crowd as its target audience.

Since we are now in the 3D world, what do you suppose the following generation of consoles did? 128-bit systems were on the loose. Sega released its awesome yet once again poorly marketed and ill-fated Dreamcast, Sony had PlayStation 2, and Microsoft joined in a bit late in the game with its Xbox. The three systems simply made 3D graphics smoother and more realistic while also introducing the world to online console gaming; an innovation that few remember was originated by the Dreamcast.

Which brings us to the generation we find ourselves in at this very moment. However, unlike the past, this generation seems to bring no innovation by its apparent major players. The Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 will only make games look more realistic than before. Unfortunately, not every company has the available budget to make games that take full advantage of the power of these systems. And seeing how many delays the PS3 has gone through, as well as its seemingly wasteful use of the Blu-Ray technology, I believe it will be out of the console wars by the end of this generation. The Xbox 360 will suffer too, but might not fall off completely.

Which finally brings us to the saving grace of this generation: The Nintendo Wii. You might have noticed that Nintendo was not mentioned in some of the above paragraphs. While Sony and Microsoft, and even Sega were doing their battles trying to outdo the other, Nintendo was always off to the side doing their own thing. Their target audience was usually much younger and always appealed to the whole family. The Nintendo 64 had some amazing titles. The GameCube, as well. They have also always been the undisputed leader in handheld portable gaming. And nobody can deny that their games are just plain fun.

But I get distracted, I am here to talk about the Wii. The Wii is the way of the future. The Wii is what will save the videogame industry. The Wii will get every single person in the household playing video games. It is the only console of this generation that is actually trying something new and innovative. The controllers are…well, just see for yourselves. By making it accessible to virtually everyone, Nintendo is going to beat out its competitors who offer the same of the old for about twice the price. That’s right, the Wii will be sold for only $250, and that includes a sports games pack.

Yessir, the Wii is the only way to go. Forget the PS3 and the Xbox 360. They’re not doing anything new. Sure the games look stunning, but we’ve seen it all before. Put your money on the Wii, I know I will…or should I say, I know I Wiill.

ABRIDGED VERSION: The Nintendo Wii will kill the PS3 and the Xbox 360.



…are you watching closely?

The Da Vinci Code?

More like…The Crapinci Code. Ha!

NOTE: For the abridged version of this entry, please scroll down.

So I saw the movie the other day and I didn’t really like it. Here are some of the reasons why:

Sophie Neveu: what was her function? Except for having gotten Langdon safely away from that cop, she didn’t really do much. We’re told she was being unknowingly trained by her “grandfather” her whole life so that she could take over his duties. Then Teabing busts out with that thing about the songs her grandfather probably sang to her that he also knows. Here’s where we’re shown a flashback of a little girl dancing to her grandfather’s singing. The fact that she’s supposed to have been trained her whole life is brought up a bunch of times, and yet is never one put into action. She doesn’t solve any of the puzzles and basically serves as the audience – us – to whom Langdon can explain every little bit of information to so that we won’t get lost. GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

The flashbacks: what the hell was the point of them? They mostly showed me what they already told me. Or they happened the other way around. They told me something, then later they showed a flashback of it. What the crap?

For example:
Robert Langdon: When I was a boy I fell in a well and thought I was going to die.
Sophie: ::blank stare of uselessness::
CUT TO: flashback of a boy in a well.
BACK TO: some other random scene.

Unless the flashbacks have something important to show me, I don’t think they’re very necessary. Specially Sophie’s flashbacks, as mentioned above.

The French Cop Guy: that cop guy played by Jean Reno, whose name I can’t remember. So I’m supposed to believe that this guy who has such strong belief in that priest – so much so that he clearly went against all police procedures – this guy will just turn and let him take the fall at the end? With no hesitation? Merely a “you used me”? I dunno, that seemed kinda weird to me.

Before you people who are fans of the book start going crazy; NO, I have NOT read the book. It doesn’t matter if the book was amazing. Film is a different media. Things obviously have to change. This was an adaptation of a novel. As such, I do not believe it was adapted very well. It felt like to truly understand what was going on, I needed to have read the book. Sure, that will help in any movie based on a book, but it shouldn’t be essential. Also, there are certain expectations when you hear “A film by Ron Howard, starring Tom Hanks”; expectations that I do not believe were met.

ABRIDGED VERSION: The Da Vinci Code was a 2 ½ hour introduction to the last 5 minutes of the movie...and it sucked.

Challenge me...Please. Specially those of you who have read the books and seen the movie.



...the perfect blossom is a rare thing

Studio Church

Greetings and salutations to all.

I would like to direct everyone's attention to a new link i have added to my links section: "Studio Chuch - Sculptures by James Church". Anyone and everyone who considers themselves to be an appreciator of the arts simply must check it out. I've always had a fascination with sculptures, but mainly those really classical ones by Michelangelo, Bernini, Rodin, and the like. I never got into any of the more contemporary peoples. But let me tell you, I just looooove his stuff. Oh man, especially the suspended ones. And i'm not just saying that cause he's my cousin. No siree. They're so beautiful that i can't even think of adequate words to accurately represent my feelings with. This doesn't happen very often. I don't know what it is. The figures seem to just carry sooooo much feeling and emotion with them that it boggles my mind. So check it out, enjoy, and let me know what you think.



...if he'd just pay me what he's paying them to stop me robbing him, I'd stop robbing him

Easternlight Films acquires Dayyan Eng's Waiting Alone

*****************************
Easternlight Films has acquired world rights to WAITING ALONE (Du zi deng dai), the first feature by Chinese-American helmer Dayyan Eng (aka Wu Shixian), whose BUS 44 was the first Chinese short to win at Venice and Sundance fests.

This urban comedy sports an ensemble cast of upcoming Chinese talent and a cameo by Hong Kong superstar Chow Yun-fat.

The tale focuses on an aspiring author who goes to absurd lengths to make a woman fall for him. Pic was voted best local film of the year by more than 50 Chinese newspapers.

The Australian-U.S. sales outfit negotiated the deal with Wu's Beijing-based production shingle while en route to Hong Kong Filmart. Pic will be presented through Arclight's recently established Asian label, Easternlight, headed by Ying Ye and Arclight co-founder, Gary Hamilton.

Taiwanese-born Wu is an American citizen who is part Chinese, part Scottish and part Persian.

He was the first foreign national to receive a best picture award at the Chinese Academy Awards last year and claims to be the only foreign helmer in the Film Directors Guild of China.
*****************************
You can find that article here

How freakin awesome is that? That's my cousin, by the way, for those who don't know. So congratulations to him! Check out the site for Colordance Pictures for more info on this amazing movie.



...I'm being toyed with by a bunch of depraved children

Searching...

I haven’t done one of these updates in a while, so I thought I’d do so before a real posting. Also, this time around, I must say it’s some of the best entries ever. For those of you new to The Niblog, the following is a list of search entries that led people to this very blog.

They are:

- people v lucas
- chef munib
- antonia banderas clothes
- tyler durden pictures
- top 50 chick flicks
- recent good chick flicks
- 50 top chick flicks 2005
- ayyami-ha song
- chick fliks
- most popular chick flicks
- recent chick flicks
- divine secrets of the yah yah sisterhood
- niblog movie
- the best chick flicks

Yes, that says Antonia Banderas. NOT Antonio.

What I love the most about this list is that people are coming here looking for info about “chick flicks”. My sincerest hope is that these hapless souls leave my site enlightened with new knowledge and information about the ridiculousness of the term. Sheesh. Some people.

And divine secrets of the yah yah sisterhood. That just rocks.

Again, if you are not familiar with my loathing of the term "chick flick" feel free to direct your attention here and here. Go ahead. You deserve to know the truth.



...good swords are kept in their sheaths

This Should Be Interesting

I want to try this here and as my title says...it should be interesting.

Leave a comment. I'll:

1. Respond with something random I like about you.
2. Tell you what song/movie reminds me of you.
3. Name something we should do together.
4. Say something that only makes sense to you and me (or just me).
5. Tell you my first/clearest memory of you.
6. Leave you a quote that is somehow appropriate to you.
7. Ask you something that I've always wondered about you.
8. If I do this for you, you must post this on your journal so you can do the same for other people. You MUST! (unless, of course, you just really don't care)




...I've seen your picture in the paper and wondered what you looked like

V for Vendetta...and Viewing Movies

NOTE: For the abridged version of this entry, please scroll down.

Recently I have noticed something different in the way I see movies. One thing I have always known is that I have more patience and optimism for a movie than the average moviegoer. By this I mean that I have generally been willing to sit through a slow-moving film in order to see if it will be paid off in the end or not. But that’s besides the point I’m trying to make here. Lately my whole frame of mind for watching movies has changed. This all came to me as quite an epiphany as I watched V for Vendetta on Friday. As I sat there, I found myself automatically drawing up parallels between the movie before me and the great cinematic mastery of Kurosawa. As I sat there, I found myself far more interested in the cinematography and lighting of the film than almost anything else. The experience was both exciting and somewhat annoying at the same time. As I sat there, I felt like Neo in the end of The Matrix after he gets up from being shot by Agent Smith. He looks around and sees the world around him in a new and clearer way. Neo rocks.

So yeah, the difference in my viewing became most clear when it ended and we all met up outside to discuss what we thought of it. It seemed to be the general consensus that the movie was “freakin awesome!”, but all I could say was “it was pretty visual…beautifully shot.” So here’s my review of the film, if I may. It was visually stunning. You could definitely see how well it was adapted from the visual media of comic books. In terms of the plot and such, I gotta say it didn’t really do much for me. The movie gave me very conflicted feelings. In some parts, it seemed like they tried to compress a lot of information within a short time, but at the same time, the movie as a whole felt pretty empty. A lot of things were left unanswered and the characters were kinda static, now that I think about it. Also, if you’re expecting non-stop action, just know that you’ve pretty much seen it all in the previews. I think the film’s been getting a lot of attention and hype for several reasons:

1. It’s being sold as the first movie from the makers of The Matrix since The Matrix, even though all they really did was write the screenplay. They had nothing to do with the directing. You won’t hear that in the previews because everyone knows who the Wachowski Brothers are, but no one cares about first-time director James McTeigue.
2. People seem to have this tendency of relating the issues in the film with current world events and calling it “controversial” for doing so. As everyone knows, anything that’s called “controversial” will sell like Oreos.

So go out there and see it for yourself and choose to agree or disagree with me and/or the critics out there. If you’re a long time reader here, you should know my feeling towards critics. If you are not, then please do so. Personally, I am now intrigued to read the graphic novel. I’m curious to see how much they left out and how much they added into the film.

ABRIDGED VERSION: V for Vendetta was alright. I see movies differently now.

If you have seen the movie, please share your views by leaving me a comment or two.



...mankind united with infinitely greater purpose in pursuit of war than he ever did in pursuit of peace

Picture Perfect

Before I begin this post, I’d like to discuss something that’s been brought to my attention several times. I’ve been getting some complaints about the length of my posts. Actually, quite a few complaints, so I’ve decided to try something new this time. And if it works out, I’ll stick with it. I don’t really plan out the lengths of my posts, but if it’s something I get excited about, they tend to go for quite a while. So this is what I’ll do. If I see that the entry is pretty ridiculous in length, I’ll add a brief summary of it at the end. So in the beginning of the post I’ll have a disclaimer saying something like: “For abridged version, scroll down.” and then at the end of the post i'll have an "ABRIDGED VERSION" sign or something like that. Let me know how you like it.

NOTE: For the abridged version of this entry, scroll down.

So. The topic of choice today is the often overlooked phenomenon of photography. A picture. Does anyone actually take the time to think about the genius behind it all? It boggles my mind every time I do. Let’s take a very brief and completely incomplete history of the camera. With its roots in the camera obscura: essentially a room with a hole in the wall that projected whatever was on the outside to the wall across it upside down. Then of course the camera became much more accessible. Then jump over to Eadweard Muybridge who was the first to take a series of consecutive pictures and essentially discovered what we still call motion pictures. Now it’s almost mandatory to have a camera in any electronic device and no one thinks twice about the awesome power they have in their hands. The power to take a picture. To treasure forever less than a second of our reality. A perfect reproduction of an exact moment in your life on a piece of paper. A piece of paper that immediately transports you to that instant no matter how many eons ago it took place. How? No matter how many times I read about the science behind it, I am still marveled by its workings.

As you may already know, it’s kind of impossible to talk about the impact of pictures without talking about movies. And like I mentioned above, they are in fact called the motion pictures. As in, moving pictures. As in, pictures that move. But they don’t really move. Pictures are pictures. Which brings me to yet another phenomenon. And you can’t say it’s not a phenomenon because it’s actually called the phi phenomenon. This is what makes us think that pictures move. You’ve seen it at work all the time in traffic signals when they have those lights in the shape of arrows that turn on and off in a specific order to make it look like the lights are moving. Are they actually moving? NO. But the illusion is created, and the brain is fooled. Isn’t that freakin amazing?! Or am I just completely alone in this? But that’s not even the best part. No no no no no. The best of all is the persistence of vision. That’s the real trickster in movies. A lot of people seem to not realize that when they watch a movie in the theater, they’re actually watching a series of pictures rolling in front of them in succession. These are called frames. Generally, they go by at 24 frames per second. In between each one of these frames, there is a black, empty space. So really if you think about it, every second, you look at 24 pictures, along with 24 black spaces. You may be asking why you can’t see these black spaces. Well, it’s thanks to the persistence of vision. When the brain sees one frame, it briefly holds on to it long enough so that it’s overlapped by the next frame, interpreting it as continuous and completely overlooking the black space in between. If anyone doesn’t find that amazing, leave a comment. And if you do find it amazing…also leave a comment.

ABRIDGED VERSION: Pictures are cool. Movies are cool too.



...she was like the water that freezes inside a rock and breaks it apart

Congratulations Mr. Jordan Streiff & Co.

So I would just like to take this opportunity to congratulate my good friend Jordan Streiff on winning the Best Comedy award for his short film A Meditation on the Speed Limit. This congratulating also extends to Amanda Hunter who worked with Jordan on this project. She is also amazing. I'm pretty sure there were other people who helped them out, but uhh...they're the only ones I know...so yeah.

But anyway, without further delay, I strongly suggest everyone go download their film. You will not be disappointed. Unless of course, you DON'T check it out. So that's all for now. Expect a more thorough update soon.



...uncommon beauty is commonly overlooked

A Request

So I realize it’s been a ridiculously long time since I’ve updated this here blog. I think it’s probably because I’ve been kept so busy during the break that I didn’t have much time to be bothered enough by anything to write about it. As such I will ask you all to wait just a bit longer for a truly real post. School is starting back up tomorrow so I’m sure I’ll plenty to write about again.

Anyway, till then I would like everyone to leave a comment telling me of a time when someone was incredibly annoying or rude to you. No names need to be given about who did what. Even if you want to leave a comment anonymously, feel free to. But please think about some time that you got really pissed at someone for something they did, no matter how miniscule it was. Even if that person was me. Just say what the situation was and all that jazz. You’d be helping me a lot by doing this. Thank you.



...all the ladies are wanting to get carnal with me because of my premium dance moves

Death of a Legend

Rest in peace Richard Pryor (1940-2005), you are already missed.

Chick-Flicks With a Vengeance

Recently, a friend left a comment on this here blog in regards to my entry on “chick-flicks”. This comment, along with a recent happening at Best Buy, has inspired me to once again post on the topic. This friend, who shall remain nameless for the sake of making him sound more mysterious, attempted to define what a “chick-flick” is. And I quote:

“The best definition i can think of is a movie that inherently appeals to, and is marketed to a female audience. An addendum to that definition would be a film that is too girly for me to enjoy.”

Now I ask you, oh mystery friend, how does a company decide how to market to a female audience? What is it that has classified a movie “too girly” for you? What ideas and attitudes have led you to these conclusions? My answer would have to be the decades of brainwashing by the media from the moment you are born! Every aspect of commercialism and advertising has been given specific gender roles and characteristics. Things like having baby boys wear blue and baby girls wear pink. Or how about the mass industry of baby fashion? Where the clothes for boys are pretty much the same as for adult men but miniaturized as if to say “my baby is a little man”, while girls are dressed to look like little fragile princesses. What, I ask, is “too girly”? I guess the answer to that pretty much depends on the person, but that’s not even the point I’m trying to make here. My point, and what bothers me the most about the casual use of “chick flick” is that it is being used as a genre. It is NOT a genre. The genre of what most people call “chick flicks” is in fact a romantic comedy. “So what about those movies where all the lead characters are female?”, you might be inclined to ask. Well I’ll tell you. They’re a rare case of Hollywood stepping out of its sexist shell and believing that a group of leading ladies can carry a film.

Allow me to pose a scenario. Under what genre would you categorize a movie with the following plot:

Two disparate siblings who have lost a parent go on a journey of discovery as they come into conflict with each other in almost every scene until ultimately they see just how much they truly love each other and establish a bond like no other.

Would you say drama? Or would you say chick flick? Think about this one for a second, and then consider the following: when released under the title of Rain Man, the above movie went on to become one of the most powerful dramas ever put on screen. But, when this story came out as In Her Shoes, it was regarded as one of the most unsuccessful “chick flicks” to ever hit the movie world. It became the “what was Cameron Diaz thinking?” movie. The problem, all the “experts” said, was that it was too much of a girly movie. There is something seriously wrong with that.

So this is what happened at Best Buy. After I wrote about How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days here, they showed the movie on tv like 10 times in a week and I realized how much I really enjoy the movie. So I go to Best Buy to get that movie and anything else that might catch my attention. I ended up coming out with the classic King Kong Collection and How to Lose a Guy. This is how it all went down at the register:

Cashier Lady: [picking up How to Lose a Guy] Is this for you?
Me: Yes.
Cashier Lady: haha and you said yes! Are you serious?
Me: Yeah…it’s a great movie.
Cashier Lady: It’s a chick flick.
Me: Don’t get me started, I can’t stand that term. It’s a great rom-com.
Cashier Lady: [calling over the greeter] hey, what would you call this?
Greeter Guy: A chick flick.
Me: [to greeter guy] Chick flick is not a genre. A good movie is a good movie.
Greeter Guy: hey man, there’s no shame in it.
Me: hell yeah there’s no shame. I’m proud of buying this great movie.

True story.

You know what really bothers me? The fact that I just wrote this 700+ word post in about 10 minutes and it took me about 38 hours to come up with 480 words of my 1250-word essay due Wednesday.




...hold my watch, because if it breaks I'll kill everyone on this train

X-Men 3: Holy Crap

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my glorious pleasure to present to you some storyboards of the new X-Men movie tentatively titled: X3. As you may or may not know, Brett Ratner is directing this sequel. You may know him from Rush Hour 1 and 2, or Red Dragon. If you don't, then you're dumb. Normally, I tend to stay away from knowing too much about a movie I'm anticipating too much in advance. X3 would fall under the category of such a movie. However, when I found out about these storyboards, I just had to see them. Anyway, I'm pretty sure that if I really wanted to, I could find out about the plot in detail, but that is something i will most definitely NOT do. But, as these storyboards show, some pretty exciting things are in store.

The first trio are from a scene where Magneto is releasing a bunch of prisoners from their cells:

Man he rocks. Just look at him. Bursts through that hallway and just keeps on walkin.

The following pair of storyboards I'd have to guess also involve Magneto, though I can't actually see him in the picture. Can you guess what's happening in these pictures?

If you guessed that the above storyboards were depicting the destruction of the Golden Gate Bridge followed by its redirection to Alcatraz, then you were right! Good job. I don't know about you peoples out there, but that is going to be one crazy scene. The movie's not supposed to be released until May 26, 2006, so for all we know this scene may very well be cut by then. But if it's not, you can say you heard it here first...unless you didn't.



...drunk and tone-deaf, never a good combination

Search Entries Update

So here are all the search entries that have brought people to my blog since the last time i made such an update. I excluded "niblog" because it was coming up a lot, and upon further investigation, i discovered that it was my sister's doing. So here it goes:

- she makes a pez dispenser out of him
- curl http_referrer spoof
- over the river and through the woods music
- mahtab good charlotte
- www. the effect of first impressions
- band queen origin of name
- get paid to watch movie previews
- soundbytes from revenge of the sith
- over the river through the woods broadway
- muniba
- tyler goes to the bathroom
- what happened to chivalry
- clerks campaign slogan
- batman begins soundbytes
- antonia banderas

Tyler goes to the bathroom. That's just weird.



...he killed his whole family one weekend and then the next day killed five people that looked like his family

The Brink of War

That’s where we’re at right now and the masses don’t even know it. Allegiances have already been established. The two camps are ready for battle. In a few months time, businesses will be destroyed, companies will strike each other with poisoned tongues, people will pick sides against their own brothers and sisters, and the destruction will not end until one side succeeds in obliterating the competition. I speak of none other than the format war with the next generation of DVDs: the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD.

If you’re one of the losers who hasn’t been following all the breaking developments, then you’ve come to the right place. For I, too, am a loser and I’d like to welcome you. You’ve been missed. So Sony and Phillips began developing the Blu-Ray while Toshiba and Hitachi have been working on the HD-DVD. Both formats, by the way, have plenty of support from major companies…but more on that later. When you get down to brass tacks, the Blu-Ray can hold almost twice as much data, which obviously makes it a lot more expensive to produce. There have been plenty of unsuccessful negotiations between the two parties to try and reach a compromise. There were even talks of a Summit being held with all the major players. It’s pretty much gotten to the point of no return though, with each assemblage of companies gearing up for this inevitable all-out brawl. Ultimately, you will be the deciding judge in a battle the likes of which have never been seen. Not even Aragorn and his army of the dead can help us now. .

From all that I’ve read so far, my bet would be on the Blu-Ray. However, I am strictly against gambling…so if anyone who is reading this isn’t, just put down some money on the Blu for me. Thanks. Here are some of the reasons for my prediction:

1. Sony, its developer, will be releasing their PlayStation 3 in a few months. This piece of hardware will be the first machine to make use of the Blu-Ray. And if the PS3 can do everything they’ve been bragging about, well then…it won’t be pretty for Toshiba. Microsoft has said that it will eventually develop an HD-DVD-compatible version of the Xbox 360.

2. Blu-Ray has the backing of Dell and Hewlett-Packard, who together control something like 30% of the computer industry. Oh, they’ve also got Apple on their side.

3. It can hold more. Somehow they’ll find a way to stuff over 40GB-worth of information on them and sell them by the buttload because that’s just what we like. There’s no such thing as “too much” in the technological and/or entertainment industry. Sad sad world.

Honestly though, I don’t see how the image quality can get any better for movies. How much more detail do we need to see? At what point does sharpness become ludicrous? It seems like a change in the ways movies are actually shot would also have to come about. Having to take into account the fact that audiences will be able to see the most tiniest of pimples on the super sexy female in a resolution of 1080 really changes things.

Right now, it would make more sense to me if it was just strictly a video game format. Especially since the Blu-Ray can hold such a ridiculous amount of data. Now that I think about it, it may very well end up that way. Maybe the HD-DVD will win in home theater and the Blu-Ray in video game entertainment. Only time will tell.

I don’t know man. It’s gonna be ugly. Money will be the only deciding factor in this war. Godspeed. May the best coalition win.



...do you think the average storm-trooper knows how to install a toilet main