So I saw Michael Moore's last movie, Capitalism: A Love Story. The man is a very talented filmmaker, but the more of him I see, the more comparisons I tend to draw between him and Rush Limbaugh.
They're both gruff and overweight, and very talented entertainers, by all accounts, but obviously but there's more to it than that. They're both quite intelligent, in their own way, and they both have an uncanny knack for presenting just the right parts of a story to get their point across. They present this material, quite frequently, out of context, because they sound more right when they do. They are also both rabid, foaming-at-the-teeth supporters of far-wing agendas. Now, all things being equal, I may be more likely to agree with Moore than I am with Limbaugh, but that doesn't change the fact he's batshit crazy. In his latest movie, he spent several hours attempting to rope off the AIG building with crime scene tape, because they stole America's money. Now, that's funny in a way, but I think it would work better as a Family Guy bit than a documentary.
I don't think anybody who bothers to read my blog needs to be convinced that Limbaugh pulls this shit on a regular, but just in case a far-right conservative has wandered in, let me just make this disclaimer: I gave the man three chances. Three different times, I listened to his show, and on each occasion he either blatantly lied, or took some facts insanely out of context. Long before I felt that I had a political identity to speak of, I found him offensive not because of the points he tried to make, but because of the blatant falsehoods he was willing to put forth in order to make them. I took it as an insult to my intelligence, as if he was saying "I don't think you're smart enough to call me on my BS, so I'll just tell you whatever."
After seeing some Michael Moore films, however, I think I can understand why some people I consider to be quite intelligent might still listen to his show. If you already agree with the general position, you're a lot less likely to question the facts that support it. For example, I decided that I didn't care for the way Bush was running things towards the end of his first term, and I wanted him to lose the election. As a result, I didn't have many bad things to say about Farenheit 9/11. But even then, as I watched the movie, there were niggling doubts in the back of my head.
For example, Moore spends a good bit of time talking about how the Bin Ladens were flown out of America with the government's help just hours after the attack. He presents the information in a very thinly-veiled accusation that we knew Bin Laden was responsible, and we were still backing up his family because of some oil deals. Or something, I was never clear on the motive. I can forgive this kind of rabid blame-throwing to a very limited point, given the general hysteria that a lot of us went through in the aftermath of that event, but Moore's not stupid, and so I hold him to a higher standard than some guy screaming on a street corner. His movie did not mention that the Bin Laden family had effectively excommunicated their wayward son Osama long before this incident. He also doesn't pick that moment to point out the brief but very intense spike of violence against Arab Americans that occurred on that day. He's not dumb enough to have not considered it, he specifically didn't mention the information because it would have made his conclusion seem less plausible. And that's a very dishonest way to make a point. It relies on the audience being too dumb or too lazy to think outside the line of reasoning you're feeding them. I get that the plan is to gather to your side all those who are too dumb or lazy to do that, and then let some of the more moderate campaigners turn the intelligent people. And hey, it's awfully effective. The existence of Moore and NBC, just like the existence of FOX and Limbaugh, allow people who don't want their beliefs challenged to feel more confident in their beliefs without actually being exposed to any real information. This allows both parties to pick up the "zombie vote."
His latest movie, like Farenheit, hits on a few potentially valid points, but there were so many questions that he very conspicuously did not answer that I had a hard time buying anything he said. He would show some truly gut-wrenching scenes of a hard-working family being kicked out of the house they lived in for 40 years because they couldn't pay their mortgage. Presumably, this was due to predatory lending, and honestly, given the crap that got pulled in the banking industry, Moore wouldn't have had to look very hard to find a perfectly legitimate example of exactly that. But he almost completely avoids explaining why the bank is foreclosing on their home. I'm not trying to suggest that that family deserved it, but all the information he doesn't give his audience eventually became so present that, for me, it overshadowed most of his general thesis. Which is a shame, because I think his intentions really were pure. I believe that he genuinely feels for the plight of those chewed up and spit out by our economic system. And had two whole hours of my time to explain his viewpoint, but he wasted those hours largely on what boils down to propaganda. As far as I'm concerned, when somebody does that, they're wrong. Even if they're actually right.
Unfortunately, I've come to feel the same way about Bill Maher, who used to be one of my more favorite comedians. At first, it was just little "hey, I'm not sure that's fair" moments when I watched his show, but then those moments came more and more frequently, and then it culminated when I saw his movie, Religulous, and I found his logic wholly unsatisfying. He's still funny, but his humor is so heavily interspersed with poorly supported arguments that it takes most of the fun out of watching it.
My distaste for the crap spewed by people like Rush or the garbage that FOX likes to call "fair and balanced" has not lessened by any stretch of the imagination, but I feel I'm growing more centrist as I age, and that distaste is suddenly spreading to the left-wing psychos as well.
In other news, Brutal Legend comes out today. I specifically made sure that my latest game was returned earlier this week, and that it was the only available game in my queue, and wonder of wonders my plan seems to have worked. Gamefly mailed it to me this morning, and I should have it in my hands on the very day that I take my last midterm. I have the entire following day off, and the day after that is the final weekend of the Ren Fair. Enough people have found time to make the trip to KC that it will be a verifiable party.
Life is good.
-BS
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
Dracula Vs. Macguyver
Lately, it seems, I've been undergoing a vampire renaissance of sorts. It started one particularly boring Spring afternoon, when I decided to pull Buffy the Vampire Slayer up on Hulu.
It actually took me a little while to warm up to Buffy- most of the dialogue, especially in the first episode, was too corny even for me. However, Allyson Hannigan has a cute smile, the fight scenes were pretty entertaining for network television, and Anthony Stewart Head's voice is downright sexy. In, y'know, that not-gay kinda way. Don't judge me.
So after season 1, Buffy picked up, and I moved much more Season 2. Half of Season 3 had shown up on Netflix when Hulu uploaded it, and after that I was watching them about as fast as Netflix could send them to me. Once Buffy was done, it was on to Angel. Again, the first season was a little awkward, but once Charisma Carpenter learned how to act and the writers got more comfortable with what they were doing, it was pretty good.
Somewhere in the midst of that, I picked up a game called Vampire: The Masquerade. I did a whole blog post a while back about how much fun I had with that, but the short version is that I played the hell out of that game.
Last week, I started watching the second season of True Blood. Last week, I also finished the second season of True Blood. Even though the writers couldn't resist the temptation to reduce most of the storyline to a live-action Anne Rice novel, and despite the fact that I will never be able to stop staring at the gap in Anna Paquin's teeth, I find myself looking forward to the third season.
And this week, I played through Dracula Origin, which Liz bought me a couple months back. Next weekend, I'm going to the final week of the Ren Fair, during which all the Canterbury characters will be vampires (in addition to being knights, squires, etc) in honor of the coming Halloween. I've also still got to start the final season of Angel.
I didn't really stop to take stock of it until recently, but I've been on a serious vampire kick since, like, June. Fittingly, I predict that this shall peak during October, as I am quite frankly out of vampire-ish things to do, watch, read or play, and I absolutely refuse to stick my nose into Twilight. I also don't know how I'm ever going to do better than a vampire Ren Fair.
And now, because for some reason I like writing about video games, a few short words about Dracula Origin.
I've spoken before about how I often find myself enjoying B movies, simply because the laughably low production quality entertains me. Well, for the first time, I've seen that same effect in a video game. Dracula Origin is so bad it's funny.
For starters, there are no fights or action sequences in this game. It's all puzzles and logic problems, like an old school DOS adventure game. It basically boils down to "Dracula Vs. MacGuyver". At one point in the game, I was required to gather some holy water, but a local priest could not bless water that had touched the polluted earth around us. So I had to use a barbecue, a camel trough, a broken mirror, and a casserole dish to produce some condensation to pour into a whisky flask. Another time I used a funnel, a drainage pipe, and a dead beaver and a conveniently placed hole in the ground to quickly empty and hide the contents of a wine cask so I could hide myself inside a cask before the carriage driver got back. This was right after I fooled an innkeeper with a fake key I put together with some silver wrapping paper, a wad of gum, a boar's tooth, and a couple of pretzels. The game climxes when I use a chain mail shirt, a curtain cord, and a vat of grease to strike at Dracula's undead army with a bolt of lightning. I can't make this up.
The writers and voice actors worked very, very hard to make the game dark and moody and intense, which serves to make it all the more hilarious that it all comes off as pure camp; the only thing missing is Bruce Campbell to play the role of Van Helsing.
The game has, however, made me somewhat curious as to the original story, as told by Bram Stoker. What little experience I've had with ancient fiction (The Pearl and Frankenstein) have struck me as overly verbose and poorly paced, so I'm not setting my hopes very high. Here's hoping I'll be surprised.
[EDIT] And if it is awful, I only spent 99 cents on it. So no major loss there.
It actually took me a little while to warm up to Buffy- most of the dialogue, especially in the first episode, was too corny even for me. However, Allyson Hannigan has a cute smile, the fight scenes were pretty entertaining for network television, and Anthony Stewart Head's voice is downright sexy. In, y'know, that not-gay kinda way. Don't judge me.
So after season 1, Buffy picked up, and I moved much more Season 2. Half of Season 3 had shown up on Netflix when Hulu uploaded it, and after that I was watching them about as fast as Netflix could send them to me. Once Buffy was done, it was on to Angel. Again, the first season was a little awkward, but once Charisma Carpenter learned how to act and the writers got more comfortable with what they were doing, it was pretty good.
Somewhere in the midst of that, I picked up a game called Vampire: The Masquerade. I did a whole blog post a while back about how much fun I had with that, but the short version is that I played the hell out of that game.
Last week, I started watching the second season of True Blood. Last week, I also finished the second season of True Blood. Even though the writers couldn't resist the temptation to reduce most of the storyline to a live-action Anne Rice novel, and despite the fact that I will never be able to stop staring at the gap in Anna Paquin's teeth, I find myself looking forward to the third season.
And this week, I played through Dracula Origin, which Liz bought me a couple months back. Next weekend, I'm going to the final week of the Ren Fair, during which all the Canterbury characters will be vampires (in addition to being knights, squires, etc) in honor of the coming Halloween. I've also still got to start the final season of Angel.
I didn't really stop to take stock of it until recently, but I've been on a serious vampire kick since, like, June. Fittingly, I predict that this shall peak during October, as I am quite frankly out of vampire-ish things to do, watch, read or play, and I absolutely refuse to stick my nose into Twilight. I also don't know how I'm ever going to do better than a vampire Ren Fair.
And now, because for some reason I like writing about video games, a few short words about Dracula Origin.
I've spoken before about how I often find myself enjoying B movies, simply because the laughably low production quality entertains me. Well, for the first time, I've seen that same effect in a video game. Dracula Origin is so bad it's funny.
For starters, there are no fights or action sequences in this game. It's all puzzles and logic problems, like an old school DOS adventure game. It basically boils down to "Dracula Vs. MacGuyver". At one point in the game, I was required to gather some holy water, but a local priest could not bless water that had touched the polluted earth around us. So I had to use a barbecue, a camel trough, a broken mirror, and a casserole dish to produce some condensation to pour into a whisky flask. Another time I used a funnel, a drainage pipe, and a dead beaver and a conveniently placed hole in the ground to quickly empty and hide the contents of a wine cask so I could hide myself inside a cask before the carriage driver got back. This was right after I fooled an innkeeper with a fake key I put together with some silver wrapping paper, a wad of gum, a boar's tooth, and a couple of pretzels. The game climxes when I use a chain mail shirt, a curtain cord, and a vat of grease to strike at Dracula's undead army with a bolt of lightning. I can't make this up.
The writers and voice actors worked very, very hard to make the game dark and moody and intense, which serves to make it all the more hilarious that it all comes off as pure camp; the only thing missing is Bruce Campbell to play the role of Van Helsing.
The game has, however, made me somewhat curious as to the original story, as told by Bram Stoker. What little experience I've had with ancient fiction (The Pearl and Frankenstein) have struck me as overly verbose and poorly paced, so I'm not setting my hopes very high. Here's hoping I'll be surprised.
[EDIT] And if it is awful, I only spent 99 cents on it. So no major loss there.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Urban Center of Nocturnal Avians
So there was a "free" Owl City concert on Thursday night. I use quotation marks because I still ended up spending 32 bucks on booze and CDs. The first opener, Audiovox, was not even the tiniest bit impressive to me, but the second, Roman Numerals, were just interesting enough for me to drop five dollars on their CD. I haven't listened to it yet, but if it turns out to be noteworthy I'll mention it in a later post.
For those unfamiliar with the group, some basic background. Owl city is not what you would call "high art." They don't deal with serious subject matter, their lyrics are not deep or insightful, and they aren't trying to change the world. For example, I'm currently listening to a song called Dental Care. It's not a commentary on health care, it's just a song about a guy who's afraid to go to the dentist. They're whimsical and fun to listen to, and that's all I'm usually looking for in my music. But I digress...
When I arrived at the show, I saw an enormous line wrapping all around the block. It was an outdoor show with a lot of space, but not everybody got in. A lot of folk were gathered in a nearby parking garage, watching from their apartments, or just hopping over the fence every few seconds to get a glimpse of all the fun they weren't having. However, when I asked if this was the line for Owl City, I was told that if I was 21 or older, I could skip to the front of the line. The good news was that I was definitely getting in and I didn't have to wait. The bad news is that the place was apparently going to be packed with minors. I had no idea Owl City was so popular with the high school crowd. Good thing I'm not one to be held accountable for my tastes.
I smugly sauntered to the front of the line, loudly asked the man at the door if it was alright for me to not wait in line, and walked past all the people who had probably been waiting there for an hour or so. Because seriously, how many times in my life am I going to get to do that?
One look around confirmed my suspicions. The very thick scent of weed being smoked in public. Girls who wore miniskirts to an outdoor show in October bitching about how their legs were cold, more than one kid dressed like a Matrix extra (this one girl did not take her sunglasses off all night) and several parents standing at the outside of the crowd, waiting for the show to end so they could drive their kids home. Yep, I was at a high school party.
I've never actually gone to a concert without bringing a friend along, and that night I learned why. So many times I had something I wanted to say, some comment I wanted to make (see Matrix girl, above) or just somebody to listen to me bitch about the crappy warmup band (see Audiovox, below) but there was nobody around to say it to; being all alone in a room full of people sucks. But hey, at least there's going to be some music to distract me from that, right?
In theory, once the warmup bands get done with there thing, it's about time for us all to hear the band that we all actually came for, but for some reason there was a forty-five minute intermission. After a sound technician came on stage and repeated "check 2" for five minutes without any noticeable change in her mic (If somebody had been with me we would have been making jokes about Waynestock) I began to suspect that they weren't even going to show. I strongly considered leaving, but I ended up hanging around for another ten or fifteen minutes, and when Owl City finally did get on the stage, they made everything better.
Adam Young's on-stage performance looks like something between an orgasm and a seizure. He pretty much randomly flails around, but damnit if he doesn't seem to be having the time of his life doing it; that energy caught on with the crowd, and everybody got into the show. And after all that wait, I was impressed that the group had the decency to play a very large setlist. Usually, when I go to a free show, I expect the headliners to phone it in a little (like Ludo at Rock the Vote last year) because they're not getting paid. they played a lot of stuff new and old, and they saved Fireflies for last. They got the crowd to sing the chorus, and we displayed a remarkable harmony for a quarter past midnight.
Overall, I call it a good night.
For those unfamiliar with the group, some basic background. Owl city is not what you would call "high art." They don't deal with serious subject matter, their lyrics are not deep or insightful, and they aren't trying to change the world. For example, I'm currently listening to a song called Dental Care. It's not a commentary on health care, it's just a song about a guy who's afraid to go to the dentist. They're whimsical and fun to listen to, and that's all I'm usually looking for in my music. But I digress...
When I arrived at the show, I saw an enormous line wrapping all around the block. It was an outdoor show with a lot of space, but not everybody got in. A lot of folk were gathered in a nearby parking garage, watching from their apartments, or just hopping over the fence every few seconds to get a glimpse of all the fun they weren't having. However, when I asked if this was the line for Owl City, I was told that if I was 21 or older, I could skip to the front of the line. The good news was that I was definitely getting in and I didn't have to wait. The bad news is that the place was apparently going to be packed with minors. I had no idea Owl City was so popular with the high school crowd. Good thing I'm not one to be held accountable for my tastes.
I smugly sauntered to the front of the line, loudly asked the man at the door if it was alright for me to not wait in line, and walked past all the people who had probably been waiting there for an hour or so. Because seriously, how many times in my life am I going to get to do that?
One look around confirmed my suspicions. The very thick scent of weed being smoked in public. Girls who wore miniskirts to an outdoor show in October bitching about how their legs were cold, more than one kid dressed like a Matrix extra (this one girl did not take her sunglasses off all night) and several parents standing at the outside of the crowd, waiting for the show to end so they could drive their kids home. Yep, I was at a high school party.
I've never actually gone to a concert without bringing a friend along, and that night I learned why. So many times I had something I wanted to say, some comment I wanted to make (see Matrix girl, above) or just somebody to listen to me bitch about the crappy warmup band (see Audiovox, below) but there was nobody around to say it to; being all alone in a room full of people sucks. But hey, at least there's going to be some music to distract me from that, right?
In theory, once the warmup bands get done with there thing, it's about time for us all to hear the band that we all actually came for, but for some reason there was a forty-five minute intermission. After a sound technician came on stage and repeated "check 2" for five minutes without any noticeable change in her mic (If somebody had been with me we would have been making jokes about Waynestock) I began to suspect that they weren't even going to show. I strongly considered leaving, but I ended up hanging around for another ten or fifteen minutes, and when Owl City finally did get on the stage, they made everything better.
Adam Young's on-stage performance looks like something between an orgasm and a seizure. He pretty much randomly flails around, but damnit if he doesn't seem to be having the time of his life doing it; that energy caught on with the crowd, and everybody got into the show. And after all that wait, I was impressed that the group had the decency to play a very large setlist. Usually, when I go to a free show, I expect the headliners to phone it in a little (like Ludo at Rock the Vote last year) because they're not getting paid. they played a lot of stuff new and old, and they saved Fireflies for last. They got the crowd to sing the chorus, and we displayed a remarkable harmony for a quarter past midnight.
Overall, I call it a good night.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Midgets, Jobs, Ninja Cheerleaders and Fireflies
Some inane musings:
A group of midgets have founded their own midget village, in which it is unlawful to reside unless you are under 4'3". Theo, you and I need to dress like Godzilla and King Kong, and wage a battle in this city.
Last night, I was flipping through channels and there was a movie on called Ninja Cheerleaders. The plot seemed to be about a group of ninja cheerleaders banding together to rescue their master from a crime lord, who is holding him hostage until they steal the deed to a strip club that the IRS took away from him. Going from this, I'm fairly sure that this was a porn, but I was flipping between it and Scarface and I either missed all the sex scenes or this was an ultra-low budget version of DEBS. In any event, the bits I did catch were quite entertaining, in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way.
I had an interview this morning, and I think it went well. I also got a response from somebody at Rubin Brown, who I met at an MSCPA function last month. This is relevant because Rubin Brown is hiring for auditors in St Louis next summer, and the firm I interviewed is hiring for a Spring internship. If I get the internship, then get an interview with Rubin Brown, in which I can mention that somebody is already going to give me some basic training for 4 months prior to the summer, and a million other things land juuuust right, I might actually make it back to STL before 2010 is out. My fingers are crossed to a most painful degree.
I've just learned that Owl City is doing a free show about 2 miles from where I'm sitting. Totally going to that tonight.
A group of midgets have founded their own midget village, in which it is unlawful to reside unless you are under 4'3". Theo, you and I need to dress like Godzilla and King Kong, and wage a battle in this city.
Last night, I was flipping through channels and there was a movie on called Ninja Cheerleaders. The plot seemed to be about a group of ninja cheerleaders banding together to rescue their master from a crime lord, who is holding him hostage until they steal the deed to a strip club that the IRS took away from him. Going from this, I'm fairly sure that this was a porn, but I was flipping between it and Scarface and I either missed all the sex scenes or this was an ultra-low budget version of DEBS. In any event, the bits I did catch were quite entertaining, in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way.
I had an interview this morning, and I think it went well. I also got a response from somebody at Rubin Brown, who I met at an MSCPA function last month. This is relevant because Rubin Brown is hiring for auditors in St Louis next summer, and the firm I interviewed is hiring for a Spring internship. If I get the internship, then get an interview with Rubin Brown, in which I can mention that somebody is already going to give me some basic training for 4 months prior to the summer, and a million other things land juuuust right, I might actually make it back to STL before 2010 is out. My fingers are crossed to a most painful degree.
I've just learned that Owl City is doing a free show about 2 miles from where I'm sitting. Totally going to that tonight.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Thanks for the Memories
So I took the last trip to St Louis that I'm going to be able to afford for a while. Incidentally, I managed to keep myself within budget for the entire weekend, thanks in no small part to a now-wealthy friend with a penchant for spoiling me.
It just so happened that a midnight showing of Serenity was scheduled at the Tivoli, which was a nice surprise. After a thoroughly mediocre tribute band blew out our eardrums with a sound setup that had no business in a movie theater, I watched Serenity start to finish for the first time since learning of the existence of Firefly.
SPOILER WARNING!!!!
It's funny how my perspective changes. Up until Friday night, I had always built Zoe up to be a character that was dead inside. In my interpretation, she had lost everything worth fighting for long before the audience meets her. After the battle of Serenity she, like Mal, continued to exist out of pure spite. During the series, she finds somebody who makes her feel just some tiny spark of life once more, and Joss "I-hate-my-characters-and-want-them-all-to-suffer" Whedon kills that somebody off suddenly and unceremoniously. Shortly after this, Zoe charges headlong into a group of rabid monsters, very obviously trying to get herself killed.
Again, it was always my interpretation that the only reason Zoe was still walking around and hand't simply laid down to die was that she was a warrior to the core, and she couldn't not be fighting something. I thought this theory was supported by the fact that she only tried to kill herself when she could do it while fighting something.
After seeing the movie, having a brief conversation with Evan about it, and thinking it over, I find this interpretation to no longer be supportable. Yes, Zoe is a warrior, but her suicide attempt was a momentary break from her usual self, rather than a culmination of it. Looking back, I can see all kinds of little things that prove this, but none quite so much as the final scene. At her husband's funeral, we see her in a white dress. White is a universal color of hope, and a symbolism of the unknown (and therefore potentially good) clean slate that the future always brings. If the writers had truly intended to portray her as someone who would never again be happy, she would have been wearing black.
END SPOILERS!!
So yeah, my mind was mildly blown as I learn that I was misreading my favorite character in Firefly. Not really interesting enough to be worth the three paragraphs I spent explaining it, but nobody reads this thing anyway, right?
See what I did there? That's irony. It's funny.
I had lunch with Terra the following day, we went to a Thai restaurant. We are both in agreement that, while tasty, their noodle dishes use actual, store-bought Ramen noodles. Then we went to some thrift stores. I found the perfect shirt for three dollars, but it was just a tiny bit too small. I did buy Dreamland, because it has that guy from the Mac commercials ("I'm a Mac, he's a PC, notice that I'm young and attractive while he is old and stupid") and because it was only $3. Also, I want to know how a movie recognized at Sundance could end up in a bin.
That evening, I went bowling with some of Renny's friends and Dre's old college friend Brian. I don't know if it was the Thai food or what, but I wasn't feeling well at the outset of the evening. I should have politely declined the bowling and drinking frenzy that was promised, but it was my last night in St Louis and I wasn't about to be stopped by a little exhaustion/headache/oh-crap-is-this-H1N1!!?!?
So out I went, and I bowled one of the best games of my life. Although that's not to say that I bowled well.
Dre and Brian hadn't seen each other in years, so they spent the whole evening catching up. I didn't really know Renny's friends very well and I have a hard time making impressive introductions when my cranium feels like it's giving birth to Athena, so I ended up spending the majority of the night nursing a drink. Oddly enough, however, I enjoyed it all the same. After we bowled a game, we headed out to a rooftop bar on the strip, and I think I must have spent nearly an hour just sitting by the railing taking in the view. See, I really love St Louis. It may be the friends and the memories that make me love her, but the brick and mortar that make it up have always symbolized them. Since I didn't have any of said friends to hang out with, I just looked at the city I used to call home and happily reminisced with myself about good times. I'm sure it sounds boring, but I had this really nice introspective brood vibe going on, and in the end it was certainly better than staying home.
All in all, it was a fun and eventful trip, and I look forward to the day I can do it much more often.
This has been,
BS
It just so happened that a midnight showing of Serenity was scheduled at the Tivoli, which was a nice surprise. After a thoroughly mediocre tribute band blew out our eardrums with a sound setup that had no business in a movie theater, I watched Serenity start to finish for the first time since learning of the existence of Firefly.
SPOILER WARNING!!!!
It's funny how my perspective changes. Up until Friday night, I had always built Zoe up to be a character that was dead inside. In my interpretation, she had lost everything worth fighting for long before the audience meets her. After the battle of Serenity she, like Mal, continued to exist out of pure spite. During the series, she finds somebody who makes her feel just some tiny spark of life once more, and Joss "I-hate-my-characters-and-want-them-all-to-suffer" Whedon kills that somebody off suddenly and unceremoniously. Shortly after this, Zoe charges headlong into a group of rabid monsters, very obviously trying to get herself killed.
Again, it was always my interpretation that the only reason Zoe was still walking around and hand't simply laid down to die was that she was a warrior to the core, and she couldn't not be fighting something. I thought this theory was supported by the fact that she only tried to kill herself when she could do it while fighting something.
After seeing the movie, having a brief conversation with Evan about it, and thinking it over, I find this interpretation to no longer be supportable. Yes, Zoe is a warrior, but her suicide attempt was a momentary break from her usual self, rather than a culmination of it. Looking back, I can see all kinds of little things that prove this, but none quite so much as the final scene. At her husband's funeral, we see her in a white dress. White is a universal color of hope, and a symbolism of the unknown (and therefore potentially good) clean slate that the future always brings. If the writers had truly intended to portray her as someone who would never again be happy, she would have been wearing black.
END SPOILERS!!
So yeah, my mind was mildly blown as I learn that I was misreading my favorite character in Firefly. Not really interesting enough to be worth the three paragraphs I spent explaining it, but nobody reads this thing anyway, right?
See what I did there? That's irony. It's funny.
I had lunch with Terra the following day, we went to a Thai restaurant. We are both in agreement that, while tasty, their noodle dishes use actual, store-bought Ramen noodles. Then we went to some thrift stores. I found the perfect shirt for three dollars, but it was just a tiny bit too small. I did buy Dreamland, because it has that guy from the Mac commercials ("I'm a Mac, he's a PC, notice that I'm young and attractive while he is old and stupid") and because it was only $3. Also, I want to know how a movie recognized at Sundance could end up in a bin.
That evening, I went bowling with some of Renny's friends and Dre's old college friend Brian. I don't know if it was the Thai food or what, but I wasn't feeling well at the outset of the evening. I should have politely declined the bowling and drinking frenzy that was promised, but it was my last night in St Louis and I wasn't about to be stopped by a little exhaustion/headache/oh-crap-is-this-H1N1!!?!?
So out I went, and I bowled one of the best games of my life. Although that's not to say that I bowled well.
Dre and Brian hadn't seen each other in years, so they spent the whole evening catching up. I didn't really know Renny's friends very well and I have a hard time making impressive introductions when my cranium feels like it's giving birth to Athena, so I ended up spending the majority of the night nursing a drink. Oddly enough, however, I enjoyed it all the same. After we bowled a game, we headed out to a rooftop bar on the strip, and I think I must have spent nearly an hour just sitting by the railing taking in the view. See, I really love St Louis. It may be the friends and the memories that make me love her, but the brick and mortar that make it up have always symbolized them. Since I didn't have any of said friends to hang out with, I just looked at the city I used to call home and happily reminisced with myself about good times. I'm sure it sounds boring, but I had this really nice introspective brood vibe going on, and in the end it was certainly better than staying home.
All in all, it was a fun and eventful trip, and I look forward to the day I can do it much more often.
This has been,
BS
Monday, September 21, 2009
None of these came from Fark.
I have nothing terribly relevant to relate right now, so what follows is some odd news from the past month.
A Frenchman, imprisoned and awaiting trial for the murder of two young girls, escaped prison by hiding inside a cardboard box.
What I find particularly interesting here is that the man has been in prison for five years, and his trial is still not scheduled until some time next year. There is also some DNA evidence that at least one other person may have been at the crime scene, and he continues to profess his innocence. It seems that being Solid Snake may have just been a faster way to get out of prison than being innocent.
I'm calling this one now: he didn't do it, and he broke out of prison to track down the real killer in the action-packed summer blockbuster of 2010.
But seriously, substantial evidence of another assailant and he spends 5 years without a trial. What's the deal, France? We thought you guys were cool...
Recently, scientists discovered a predecessor to the T-rex. Apparently, it is 100% identical to the T-Rex we know and love from Jurassic Park, only really tiny. Relatively speaking, anyway. About 150 lbs. Awesome. Judging from the picture, it was a punk rocker.
A bear mauled 9 people in Takayama, Japan. The Japanese victims, it seems, were not able to fight back with Kung Fu, ninjutsu, or samurai swords. I’m beginning to suspsect that many poorly dubbed movies may have lied to me.
Fortunately, while Japan is slacking in random acts of samurai, America is apparently compensating. A college student defended his home from an intruder by going all Darth Vader on a would-be robber, slicing his hand off with a katana. For extra measure, he proceeded to slash the man across his torso. FATALITY!
And finally, the creator of Shin-Chan is dead. Details currently unknown. Let those of us weep who know why we should.
A Frenchman, imprisoned and awaiting trial for the murder of two young girls, escaped prison by hiding inside a cardboard box.
What I find particularly interesting here is that the man has been in prison for five years, and his trial is still not scheduled until some time next year. There is also some DNA evidence that at least one other person may have been at the crime scene, and he continues to profess his innocence. It seems that being Solid Snake may have just been a faster way to get out of prison than being innocent.
I'm calling this one now: he didn't do it, and he broke out of prison to track down the real killer in the action-packed summer blockbuster of 2010.
But seriously, substantial evidence of another assailant and he spends 5 years without a trial. What's the deal, France? We thought you guys were cool...
Recently, scientists discovered a predecessor to the T-rex. Apparently, it is 100% identical to the T-Rex we know and love from Jurassic Park, only really tiny. Relatively speaking, anyway. About 150 lbs. Awesome. Judging from the picture, it was a punk rocker.
A bear mauled 9 people in Takayama, Japan. The Japanese victims, it seems, were not able to fight back with Kung Fu, ninjutsu, or samurai swords. I’m beginning to suspsect that many poorly dubbed movies may have lied to me.
Fortunately, while Japan is slacking in random acts of samurai, America is apparently compensating. A college student defended his home from an intruder by going all Darth Vader on a would-be robber, slicing his hand off with a katana. For extra measure, he proceeded to slash the man across his torso. FATALITY!
And finally, the creator of Shin-Chan is dead. Details currently unknown. Let those of us weep who know why we should.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Aaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back!
So I've been maintaining radio silence for nigh on two months now. Why, if you hadn't seen me at the pirates vs ninjas party (and you might not have- I was a ninja) you might be wondering if I was lying dead in a gutter somewhere.
But no, I've just been occupied. Jumping from one full-time semester to another may not be as taxing as, you know, an actual job, but I've been spoiled over the last year so it fits my definition of being very busy. In a couple of months, however, I'll be finishing my last full-time semester. After that, it's just a couple of Spring classes and the CPA exam standing between me and those precious sheets of paper that say "hire this guy, he knows stuff." For those just tuning in, those pieces of paper would be a master's degree in Accounting and a CPA license.
Recruiters are interviewing at my school, and this is a mixed prospect for me. On the one hand, I should be absolutely pumped, because it's the best chance I'll have at a job with a big-name firm in my chosen field. On the other hand, that firm will most likely hire me out of their KC office, leaving trapped for another year or two in the horrible, awful place I call home. To be fair, KC isn't so horrible, but it is frightfully boring, and the people here just aren't as cool.
Speaking of cool people, the Pirates Vs. Ninjas party was awesome. The costumes were awesome, the decorations were awesome, and the people were awesome. I apparently looked a good bit less ridiculous in my costume than I expected (in spite of the frosted hair), but I think I drank enough to compensate. It was great seeing old friends, and it was equally great meeting some new ones. Terra, you are an epic party planner. Every clique of friends needs to have somebody like you.
In other news, the KC RenFest is going on, and there's an open invitation through mid-October for anyone who wants to attend and would like a free place to crash. My family has spare bedrooms and we've been itching for an excuse to use the basement for something festive ever since we remodeled it last century. The weekend of the 17th and 18th is apparently some kind of vampire night, although the friendly KC RenFair staff doesn't seem too sure on the particulars. The flyer specifically advertises it as a night involving vampires, however, so I for one plan to run with that. Anybody know a cheap way to get some fangs molded?
That's about all I wanted to say regarding myself, the rest of this post only applies to you if you own or have access to an Xbox and have not yet played Batman: Arkham Asylum.
Go. Go now, to Blockbuster, and rent Batman. They finally did it right, and it is glorious. This game has stealth, action, exploration, and puzzle-solving, and it's all done beautifully.
The stealth, for the most part, can be taken or left at your leisure. There's none of that Splinter Cell malarkey where somebody sees you and calls in 50 armed guys on his radio. They shoot you, but Batman's a resilient fellow and just so long as you aren't charging headlong into a group of armed thugs, you'll muddle through those segments with minimal effort. If you enjoy it, however you can play up the stealth bit, bypassing any actual combat almost entirely by ninja-ing all over the room, taking your foes out one by one. The fun part about this is that as their numbers dwindle, the enemies grow increasingly frightened. The more you spook them, the more they forget to work as a team. One guy might freak out and break away from the group, giving you a chance to nab him by himself as he rounds a corner; naturally, this serves to further scare the bajeesus out of his comrades, and by the end of the fight they're actually crying as they randomly empty their clips into shadows while you sneak up behind them.
The hand-to-hand combat, as is usually the case, takes a little bit of effort to get the feel of, but once you realize how it works you can seamlessly string together long, intricate combos. The game particularly does a good job of balancing good play control with a cinematic camera. The combat flows well, feels visceral, and looks good.
As the game begins, Batman is the same badass he always was. You can batgun around a room to hide from your enemies, you can fistfight half a dozen men without breaking a sweat, and right from the get-go you feel like Batman. As the game progresses, Batman acquires ever more wonderful toys that, when used properly, give you new ways to explore the game world and reach new areas. Riddler has busted out of Arkham and hidden random trophies for you to find, which gives Batman's new gadgets a number of creative applications over and above a new method of stomping people into the ground.
What might be my favorite part of this game are the puzzles Riddler leaves for you. It's utterly ancillary to the game's storyline and can be completely ignored if you don't like it, but the more intellectual players will have a wonderful time solving his obscure puzzles, especially if you can do a good Adam West impersonation while you're at it.
The game's story starts off with Joker tied up in the Batmobile as he is dragged off to Arkham. He is being dragged there because somebody thought it would be a good idea to take all of the genius, super-powered, villains that Batman fights and shove them all into one complex in the center of a heavily populated city. While the inevitable jailbreak would have made the perfect excuse for Batman to fight every classic villain from his old books in one day, the game's writers exercised a remarkable amount of restraint. Most of the mainstays such as Mr. Freeze, Catwoman, and Penguin have all seem to have high-tailed it while they had the chance in hopes of starring in the sequel.
While several minor (and less fruity) characters factor into the game, Joker is the only headliner, and Mark Hamill absolutely knocks it out of the park on the voice acting. If you've never read Batman comic books, Hamill's performance will give you a good idea why everybody thinks Joker is such an awesome character.
This game's only real drawback is that most people won't find themselves playing it twice, which makes it a little unwise to invest the $60 and shelf space required to own it. I strongly recommend renting it the next time you have a long weekend with nothing better to do.
But no, I've just been occupied. Jumping from one full-time semester to another may not be as taxing as, you know, an actual job, but I've been spoiled over the last year so it fits my definition of being very busy. In a couple of months, however, I'll be finishing my last full-time semester. After that, it's just a couple of Spring classes and the CPA exam standing between me and those precious sheets of paper that say "hire this guy, he knows stuff." For those just tuning in, those pieces of paper would be a master's degree in Accounting and a CPA license.
Recruiters are interviewing at my school, and this is a mixed prospect for me. On the one hand, I should be absolutely pumped, because it's the best chance I'll have at a job with a big-name firm in my chosen field. On the other hand, that firm will most likely hire me out of their KC office, leaving trapped for another year or two in the horrible, awful place I call home. To be fair, KC isn't so horrible, but it is frightfully boring, and the people here just aren't as cool.
Speaking of cool people, the Pirates Vs. Ninjas party was awesome. The costumes were awesome, the decorations were awesome, and the people were awesome. I apparently looked a good bit less ridiculous in my costume than I expected (in spite of the frosted hair), but I think I drank enough to compensate. It was great seeing old friends, and it was equally great meeting some new ones. Terra, you are an epic party planner. Every clique of friends needs to have somebody like you.
In other news, the KC RenFest is going on, and there's an open invitation through mid-October for anyone who wants to attend and would like a free place to crash. My family has spare bedrooms and we've been itching for an excuse to use the basement for something festive ever since we remodeled it last century. The weekend of the 17th and 18th is apparently some kind of vampire night, although the friendly KC RenFair staff doesn't seem too sure on the particulars. The flyer specifically advertises it as a night involving vampires, however, so I for one plan to run with that. Anybody know a cheap way to get some fangs molded?
That's about all I wanted to say regarding myself, the rest of this post only applies to you if you own or have access to an Xbox and have not yet played Batman: Arkham Asylum.
Go. Go now, to Blockbuster, and rent Batman. They finally did it right, and it is glorious. This game has stealth, action, exploration, and puzzle-solving, and it's all done beautifully.
The stealth, for the most part, can be taken or left at your leisure. There's none of that Splinter Cell malarkey where somebody sees you and calls in 50 armed guys on his radio. They shoot you, but Batman's a resilient fellow and just so long as you aren't charging headlong into a group of armed thugs, you'll muddle through those segments with minimal effort. If you enjoy it, however you can play up the stealth bit, bypassing any actual combat almost entirely by ninja-ing all over the room, taking your foes out one by one. The fun part about this is that as their numbers dwindle, the enemies grow increasingly frightened. The more you spook them, the more they forget to work as a team. One guy might freak out and break away from the group, giving you a chance to nab him by himself as he rounds a corner; naturally, this serves to further scare the bajeesus out of his comrades, and by the end of the fight they're actually crying as they randomly empty their clips into shadows while you sneak up behind them.
The hand-to-hand combat, as is usually the case, takes a little bit of effort to get the feel of, but once you realize how it works you can seamlessly string together long, intricate combos. The game particularly does a good job of balancing good play control with a cinematic camera. The combat flows well, feels visceral, and looks good.
As the game begins, Batman is the same badass he always was. You can batgun around a room to hide from your enemies, you can fistfight half a dozen men without breaking a sweat, and right from the get-go you feel like Batman. As the game progresses, Batman acquires ever more wonderful toys that, when used properly, give you new ways to explore the game world and reach new areas. Riddler has busted out of Arkham and hidden random trophies for you to find, which gives Batman's new gadgets a number of creative applications over and above a new method of stomping people into the ground.
What might be my favorite part of this game are the puzzles Riddler leaves for you. It's utterly ancillary to the game's storyline and can be completely ignored if you don't like it, but the more intellectual players will have a wonderful time solving his obscure puzzles, especially if you can do a good Adam West impersonation while you're at it.
The game's story starts off with Joker tied up in the Batmobile as he is dragged off to Arkham. He is being dragged there because somebody thought it would be a good idea to take all of the genius, super-powered, villains that Batman fights and shove them all into one complex in the center of a heavily populated city. While the inevitable jailbreak would have made the perfect excuse for Batman to fight every classic villain from his old books in one day, the game's writers exercised a remarkable amount of restraint. Most of the mainstays such as Mr. Freeze, Catwoman, and Penguin have all seem to have high-tailed it while they had the chance in hopes of starring in the sequel.
While several minor (and less fruity) characters factor into the game, Joker is the only headliner, and Mark Hamill absolutely knocks it out of the park on the voice acting. If you've never read Batman comic books, Hamill's performance will give you a good idea why everybody thinks Joker is such an awesome character.
This game's only real drawback is that most people won't find themselves playing it twice, which makes it a little unwise to invest the $60 and shelf space required to own it. I strongly recommend renting it the next time you have a long weekend with nothing better to do.
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