Monday, March 19, 2012

Review: JOHN CARTER

JOHN CARTER REVIEW (minor spoilers):

Having never read the Burroughs Barsoom series, I can't say definitively how closely it follows the books, but it was a thrill ride almost from the beginning.

The intro and everything leading up to the eventual landing on Mars was a bit too long and slightly confusing, with a lot of disorienting editing cuts, although in retrospect, they made sense by the end of the movie.

The scenes with the Colonel were pretty damn funny, though, and that is where the move really started to take off.

The effects were simply amazing, even more so than Avatar's for the sheer stark REALITY of the vistas, machinery and all the creatures. And that blue glittery stuff.... very cooooooool!

There was not even a moment when I was bored or distracted out of the movie - I never once wondered, "How much longer??" It was full of a nice blend of adventure, fighting, pathos, a touch of humor and some heart. Oh, and a huge slobbering dog with a blue tongue that runs really fast...

A few quibbles and plot holes, and certainly the science as regards to Mars is totally wrong (considering when the books were written, it is easy to forgive those). It could have used a touch more humor (especially at the beginning) and a leeeetle teeny tiny itty bit more oomph/chemistry/playfulness/​tension between John and the Princess.

I do have a feeling I am going to like it even better the second time around. I saw it in 3D, FUN without being in your face like some others.

MY RATING: 8/10

A NOTE ABOUT PRO-REVIEWERS: Personally I think that most Movie Reviewers have become jaded and stopped really enjoying movies. What on earth is a reviewer who gives John carter a 3.5 out of 5 stars doing heading their review (and spending a lot of time discussing) "It Wasn't As Bad As Expected"???? If you stripped out the getting over her poor expectations, she seemed to really like it, with the correct reservations, and yet she seemed reluctant to give it any praise, disappointed that it wasn't awful. Dumb reviewers. Well. Forget all of them! I shall give my personal reviews of all movies that we see right up here on my blog and on Facebook, so you be able to see if they are any fun at all. Because isn't that what it is all about: FUN??


Just Musing,
Susan

Review: OUAT "Heart of Darkness"

ONCE UPON A TIME “Heart of Darkness”
Episode aired 3/18/12

(MAJOR SPOILERS):

In a TV series that delights in twists, last night's OUAT really skewered convention! Answering a very few questions and raising even more... this series' convolutions serve to interweave all of the individual Tales in unexpected and delightful ways. This week’s theme: Evil isn’t born, it’s MADE, and boy, do they make that case in this episode!

In Fairy Tale, Red fully accepts her Wolf, and uses it to give Charming time to escape - pretty awesome, although they left that there, without the usual flash to Storybrooke and some sort of parallel with Ruby's life.

Snow was verrrrry interesting; Rumple didn't just take her memories, he took her LOVE, so what was left was vengeful, angry and just plain mean. “Once you start down the dark path…” (a nod to Yoda here!)

Charming continues to be... charming (if a little moon-y) and heroic in Fairy Tale, and David just gets less and less Charming in Storybrooke. Watching Mary Margaret’s face in her cell as David tells her he believes the worst just made me mad. What a wimp; I would think that anyone in his position would think, "Hey, something's not right, there has to be another explanation!" How many times is he going to do this to her?? MM deserves so much better.

As ever, the scenes with Rumple continue to be the most interesting to watch (Aladdin's lamp!), and his involvement in the MM's case should prove to be fascinating as he never does anything without a purpose.

Intervention Jiminy, Prophetic August (just who IS this guy and what is his facination with water...??), Loyal Grumpy, keys to the city, who truly holds the real power… So many little bits of so many of the stories in this jam-packed ep. And so much teasing teasing teasing, "invested in your future"... what the heck can that mean?? And the hair, bottling True Love, how is that possible, especially if Charming's doppelganger is not so True?

Ah Rumple, what are you REALLY after? THAT, I believe, is the true heart of this series.

Episode Rating: 9/10

Just Musing,
Susan

Friday, October 29, 2010

MOTHMAN

A short short 200 word story just in time for Halloween (published in the Antelope Valley Press 10/29/2010)

*****

“Dern moths,” old man Hinkle muttered under his breath as he rummaged through the shed for a can of Raid. He impatiently batted at a faint fluttering at his ear. “Gets worse ever’ year!” His gnarled fingers closed around the can and he let out a wheeze of triumph. “Get a load of this, you…” He turned, raising the can high. The room suddenly darkened, the tiny fluttering becoming a roar. “What the…” He stood still and stared in shock as thousands of moths filled the small room like a writhing cloud. The dark mass paused for a second, then converged on the old man, covering his face, quivering in his ears and up his nostrils, writhing through his disheveled grey hair. They covered his hands, fluttered down the loose collar of his shirt and wriggled up the sleeves. An unrecognizable sound emerged from the center of the cloud as the old man gasped for air and swallowed a score of the winged horde. The mass swayed unsteadily and collapsed. The moths cheerfully disengaged and flew way, abandoning a few dying moths with vibrating antennae, and the still figure of one suffocated old man who never did like moths.


*****

Just Musing,
Susan

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

...and then came Twilight

*****

The current rage of vampire novels, TV shows and movies that pretty up these so-called denizens of the night has its genesis many years ago. Bran Stoker’s novel crystallized and popularized vampires, taking bits of legends and folk stories from all countries and cultures and distilling them into one coherent mythos, one that remains fairly intact. Everyone “knows” that Vampires drink blood, are super strong, do not like garlic, crosses or holy water, and that they will live forever if they avoid sunlight, staking through the heart, beheading or fire. Everyone knows that they have to be invited in, have cold and pale skin, and have powers to persuade or charm. The males are all excessively male and the women highly sexualized. Add to all this is the fact that their soulless state allows them to do whatever the heck they want with no regard for consequence or censure and you have a very compelling story telling device that pits all of these rather exciting gifts against the many societal and moral constraints imposed by our religions, laws and social norms.

No wonder people are intrigued with the concept of vampires.

This latest teen vampire craze, which has its genesis with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, also portrays them as possible boyfriend/girlfriend material. They are beautiful, old/wise, enigmatic, lethal, world-weary, tortured, wear cool leather coats, and, if engendered with a soul, have capabilities that make them veritable super-heroes.

They do still have to drink blood and stay out of the sun and have scary hair-trigger tempers, but that just seems to add to their mystique.

Then came Twilight.

Now suddenly, vampires are not just cool bad boys, they are beyond beautiful, able to withstand the sun, are not affected by weather or religious icons, are incredibly hard to kill and fight epic battles to protect someone they love. In addition, they seem to somehow eschew the much storied “demonizing” effects of losing one's soul and actually retain their human personalities. As such, they can choose to live ethically as “vegetarians” and seem to have no real flaws. They talk about a lack of a soul as an excuse for not wanting to change humans, but really, what is that in comparison to all that great beauty and strength and immortality, too?

Who wouldn’t want to be a vampire?

As much as I enjoyed the Twilight books, there has always been a sense that something real is absent; the lines of good and evil are carefully drawn and in the central Vampire family, the Monster is almost completely missing.

I think the vampire stories are a bit more compelling when things are not so easy, when they are struggling against their inner demons, when they feel the weight of their years and the watch the humans they love die off one by one. How long would it take before they would remove themselves from human society to protect themselves against caring for creatures who are so short-lived? How long can a being live before they begin to look at the human race with the same detached curiosity as a child watches an anthill, sun at his back, magnifying glass in hand…

Being a monster should be a bit messier than current modern pop culture dictates. There should be a price, even if that price is not readily apparent and is found centuries into the future when eternal life and beauty brings nothing but crushing loneliness and despair.

That would indeed be monstrous.



Just Musiing,
Susan

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Thursday, August 26, 2010

Do Yourself a Favor...

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I consider myself to be a pretty easy person to get along with. And with that rather gregarious personality I also have become a “Go To” person when people need all kinds of help (usually computer related) or need a question answered on many topics. Usually I don’t mind helping out, most of the time it only takes a couple of minutes and a smile and the deed is done.

Every once in a while the favor is a bit bigger, and requires a lot more time, concentration and focus to complete.

Those favors are a little harder to accommodate, although I do tend to say, “sure!” and, if possible, take care of it right away, letting my work or other projects pile up for a bit longer in order to help. Sometimes I can't do it right away, and have to take care of it later because of my own time constraints.

Again, not a real problem.

The problem that I have is that when people become so used to coming to you for help, they sometimes forget that you are, indeed, doing them a favor and their expectations that everything be dropped in order to accommodate them start to become onerous.

These are the people who seem to think that they then have the right to comment on (or even sneer about) how you plan your day in work or play, simply because they want you to schedule their little project FIRST. They pounce on me before I have even had my first cup of coffee in the bleary mornings, when I come in the door at work or at home, they ambush me in the hall or make disparaging comments about the amount of time I seem to spend on Facebook (not as much as they think – it is on in the background when I am on the computer and I pop in for a few minutes several times a day).

Sometime I have to bite my tongue. What business is it of anyone’s how I spend my time…??? it’s MY time. Just because you don’t “get” the attraction doesn’t give you the right to deride me about how I “waste” the day away. Do you follow people around and deride them about how drinking coffee or chatting over the proverbial water cooler or talking with their child on the phone is a waste of time and they should be working on YOUR little freebie project instead?

For heaven’s sake, if I have promised you that I will help you out with something out of the goodness of my heart, why would you want to antagonize me by appearing ungracious?

And leave me alone about Facebook. I like it, and apparently, judging by the number of people who tell me that they like reading my posts, other people do, too.
And if I do a favor for you, a simple “thanks!” goes a long way.

Just Musing,
Susan


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Monday, August 2, 2010

Ten Things I like About...

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There is a proliferation of TOP TEN, TOP FIFTY even TOP 100 lists out there, especially in entertainment. They always seem to spark tremendous controversy as readers agree/disagree with various degrees of vehemence.

I am CERTAINLY not loathe to jump on the bandwagon… so here’s one of mine:
TOP TEN REASONS I LOVE SUMMER IN THE AV

1. Warm Summer Nights: The days may be sweltering, but the nights… ahhhhh, pure heaven! Balmy temperatures, gentle breezes, the smells of BBQs, children’s laughter. The nights make the days bearable!

2. Pool Time: Until I had a pool, I did not realize how much just having one simply takes the edge off of the summer heat and tempers. A half an hour floating with a light read and a glass of wine after work does WONDERS for I’m-so-hot-I-could-DIE-and-on-top-of-that-I-had-a-horrible-day days.

3. Summer Thunderstorms: The few truly humid days we have during the summer sometime transform into rumbling, flashing downpours… like the sky soaked up all the moisture it can and is just letting it all loose in a torrent of rain and a marvelous light show.

4. BBQs: Suddenly there seems to be no reason to cook indoors… Fire up the Barbie, the burgers are ON!

5. Long Days: The sun is up early and stays out late… somehow the long days create an energy that fosters getting up, getting out, getting things DONE, unlike the early dark of winter that encourages yawning and cocooning.

6. Blue Skies Peppered with Jets: The clear blue sky of summer, the long hours of light seem to call to the jets to come out and play… hearing rumbles in the sky means running out to see what it is!!!

7. Desert Flower Surprises: These strange clumps of flat olive green plants randomly pop up in the desert, usually on the side of the road, that suddenly bloom into huge white and pale pink trumpet flowers in the highest heat of the summer, after all the poppies and other flowers are long gone.

8. Casual Dress/Casual Reading/Casual Movies: Up here in the AV, summer means flip flops, shorts, jeans, tank tops and everyone seems to be just fine with that! Light reading, fun movies, lots of opportunities to lighten up and give your overheated brain a little break.

9. Evening Outdoor Activities: Concerts in the Park, Thursday Night on the Square, Ice Cream Socials, Dive-In Movies at the Pool… The AV is bristling with engaging and light entertainment for just about any taste.

10. AV Fair: Okay, this is the biggie! It may always be held during the hottest two weeks of the year, but there are so many interesting things to do, to see, great concerts of name performers, local talent, livestock and llamas, terrific local exhibits of local photographers and artists of all types.

There you have it! Everyone will have their own lists, tailored to their own lifestyle, but mine is the best… because I posted it FIRST!!!


Just Musing,
Susan


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Friday, July 30, 2010

Transformations...

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Transform –verb (used with object) 1. to change in form, appearance, or structure; metamorphose. 2. to change in condition, nature, or character; convert. 3. to change into another substance; transmute.

It occurs to me that transformations are part of living. Every day we change and we adjust our way of thinking based on our experiences and our interpretation of events.

Even in breathing we participate in a remarkable transformation. We take in oxygen, noting the mundane and extraordinary smells around us. Our exhalations become part of what feeds our greenery, transforming something we DON’T want (mostly carbon dioxide) into something we DO want (mostly oxygen) via a very clever process built into the trees and foliage around us.

We see something on the news from halfway around the world and react, and maybe that reaction changes the way we perceive some person or event in our own town.

We exercise (or don’t) and eat healthy (or don’t) and our bodies become the sum of that care over time.

We age and our bodies slowly become less able to do what they used to be able to accomplish with ease… now we creak or take a few days to recover from hard exercise.

We wake up to the smell of smoke from fires miles away and realize that the difficulty breathing and the ashes in the pool are minor concerns when compared to what those who had to evacuate or who, even worse, lost their homes are going through.

We buy plants and fencing to transform ordinary yard space into something beautiful for ourselves, our neighbors, our home values, just because we CAN.

We work on a difficult project for months, and finally see it to fruition, and we adapt and learn from that experience to draw upon when something similar occurs again.

We hear of a catastrophic event or illness striking someone we know, and suddenly statistics are personal and courage has a face and a name.

Carbon Dioxide into Oxygen. Caterpillars into Butterflies. Thought into Action. Events into Experience. We are all transforming everyday.

The biggest question for each of us is … into what?



Just Musing,

Susan

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