Ok Ok, I generally think linking cute youtube videos is a waste of time, but jesus.
Feb 26, 2008
Feb 12, 2008
Feb 11, 2008
Feb 10, 2008
Book Reviews @ The Temple
Harry Potter 7 by JK Rowling (Read by Jim Dale) - Hey, this was not bad at all! Which surprises me I guess. I was totally into the HP thing in the beginning. This was not because of characters, or plot, or good writing. It was a great world she created, very charming and funny. Lots of little details that fill out a fictional world and make it both enjoyable and believable. I'm a big advocate of this kind of ground work in a fantasy series, I think it makes or breaks it. This, however, only lasted 3 or 4 books for me. I remember enjoying 4, but I was about done at that point. As the series went on, it became much more about the characters and the drama of the plot, and less about the world. This isn't a fundamental flaw, that has to happen in all series, it's natural. I just don't think she did it very well. In books 5 and 6, I just didn't care about the plot, or the characters. Then, allasudden, I listen to this book and I'm totally into it! And I have to think it has something to do with listening and not reading. The books just aren't written all that great. This isn't a thing I harp too much on, I'm no writer, I'm not even that smart a reader. But clearly the writing did not support my interest in the story, because I was bored, even when big things and deaths happened. Then Jim Dale reads it to me, and it's dramatic and interesting and I was much more into it. I was excited to get to the end, even though I already knew what happened! I should have listened to 5 and 6 too, maybe I would have liked them!
The Essential Kabbalah by Daniel Matt - This wasn't what I was expecting. I've previously read God & The Big Bang by Matt, and wasn't super impressed, but I wanted to learn more about Kabbalah. I thought this would be a discussion of it, helping someone as clueless as me understand. It was, instead, translated excerpts from the Zohar (mostly) organized into subject areas (such as Meditation, the Creation of God, The Ten Sefirots, etc). I'm not in the best position to say if he did a good job, this being my introduction to Kabbalah. But it seemed very nice to me. It's pretty short, I think I'll keep it around to look at again in the future. You could almost use a given passage as a meditation or something, if it spoke to you.
Yakuza Moon by Shoko Tendo - Well, this book isn't so great. I feel bad, she admits in the afterword that she's no writer. But even beyond that it's kind of really simplistic story telling. It's a tragic story, and interesting as those things go. But it's no real insight into yakuza culture, beyond "in what way does THIS brand of people go about fucking their lives up." I wanted it to be good, but it just wasn't great. Also really short, I read 40 pages in one sitting and then the remaining 140 in the next.
Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (Read by William Hope and Laurel Lefkow) - This book is hard to describe! It's really a romance book, but it's also got a kinda scifi-ish element. And it's not super romance like there's sex all the time, though they do throw a "cock" out once in a while which is kinda jarring since its so rare. The basic story is a guy who time travels, randomly, can't control it. The book is the story of how he meets his wife, in many time periods, at different ages. It's kind of confusing at first, but what I like most about this book is how well it is structured. What could be super hard to understand throughout becomes very plain and easy to follow through a really nice progression of their lives. And this is coming from someone who typically thinks time travel is stupid as a rule. There was one part of the book I found very weird, a discussion of innocence that I would like to think was put there to make you feel weird and that the characters are wrong. But I couldn't find any subtleties to prove this. I'm afraid it was just icky. It's fleeting though. I wouldn't say the book is amazing, but it is worth while if you are into this sorta thing.
Feb 8, 2008
Feb 7, 2008
Feb 6, 2008
Movie Reviews @ The Temple
Rambo - Jeeeeezus. So, yeah, there's a lot of blood here. It's actually not hard core rambo for like 3/4 of the movie. Before that it's violent, but in a way that makes you uncomfortable not because it's bloody, but because you know that shit is happening all over the world right now. Genocide, murder, rape, pillage, etc. Pretty awful. I found myself analyzing the minutia of the effects or makeup as a way of distancing myself. It was interesting, for that reason. Then the last 20 minutes happen, and it is insane kick ass amazing blow the crap out of anything that moves rambo action, haha. 's pretty cool.
Gone Baby Gone - Man, this movie has a question to ask you, and it's a good one. The movie is very well done, it's white trash city up in this hizzy. It's uncomfortable it's so good at it. Casey Affleck I am increasingly convinced is amazing. But the big plot result at the end leaves you sitting there with the characters wondering what the right answer is. Very good.
Atonement - Umm... I don't know what to say about this movie. 1 hour and 50 minutes of it are boring and forgettable. I don't think the main chick or dude are anything special. If you like this period kinda thing, you'll like this. If not (as I don't), it'll be boring. But THEN, the last 10 minutes happens. And through an amazing bit of writing and an astounding performance from Lynn Redgrave, I suddenly feel like the movie is awesome. It's so weird. I don't know, I guess you have to see it, just make sure you hold out to the end.
Dragon Wars - Maybe it was cuz I heard such awful things, but I didn't actually hate hate this. I mean, the acting is awful, the writing is awful, the plot is just stupid. But the effects, which are really the point, aren't that bad! The dragons look moderately cool, the big dragon fight is adequate. It's by no means a good movie, but the fight is worth accidentally watching I guess.
Lars and the Real Doll - Saw this on a plane, assuming it's not the type of movie that I missed much. Don't know what to say, I didn't really buy it. From afar, I will try to say that it was too predictable and silly. I guess you could argue that they know that and that that's not the point. The acting was fine, the writing was fine, I guess it's just the plot I didn't like. And there's where a disclaimer/admission has to come in. This movie is in part about loneliness. And the thing about watching loneliness is that it makes you feel lonely. And that's not super appreciated all the time. Maybe if a different person watches this, it is sweet and is actually about hope and love and human spirit. But a lonely person watching it, I would say, does not see the hope. That person sees a silly movie about people that aren't real and things that don't really happen. All the first part feels familiar, the happy ending doesn't. So I would say a person could very easily be biased watching this movie, and therefore unfair to it. /end tmi
Feb 5, 2008
New X-Men Cartoon
Here's the trailer. Stupid ass music, not really impressed by any part of it. But of course I"ll be all over it anyway :)
Jan 31, 2008
Improv Everywhere in Grand Central
I don't know why I link to these guys, you should really be subscribed yourself. But they are back again, 200 people freeze for 5 minutes in Grand Central Station, it's awesome.
Jan 29, 2008
Jan 28, 2008
Jan 25, 2008
Movie Reviews @ The Temple
There Will Be Blood - FUCKING HELL! Words cannot express how amazing this movie is. Top to bottom, it blew me away. There are no flaws! I mean, maybe tiiiiny flaws, but all completely mitigated by their circumstance. I thought the kid wasn't a great actor until his big event, then it turns out he's amazing. I thought the music was a tiny bit hokey, but it fits in the style and I can't really critique it. Also, the moaning crescendo sound? Yeah, that's LOST's sound. Sorry if you had the idea first, but that's what it is, you can't have it. Besides that? PERFECT. All the performances are astounding. Daniel Day Lewis has an amazing evolution and is brilliant. The preacher is complex and incredible. The kid should not be that good. The brother was totally unexpected and marvelous. All these characters are different but tied in and just work so amazingly well. It has beautiful locations, beautifully shot, some symbolism that even I picked up. There is parallelism in the writing that knocked me out. And I only picked up like 3 or 4 instances, imagine how many there really were! Oh my god I have no idea how to choose between it and No Country For Old Men (which I am ashamed to realize I never talked about here when I saw it). They are both perfect amazing movies. I want to see this over and over, it was absolutely fantastic. Seriously, I think I'm gonna pee my pants.
Jan 22, 2008
Jan 21, 2008
Movie Reviews @ The Temple
And here goes another 80 million movies. I realize no one cares what I think, but I rather like writing it down for when I forget in, like, a week.
Cloverfield - so cool! Really, it did everything it wanted to do very well, and it was great. There's a few dumb things you have to forgive, some forced humor, some convenient plot, the whole artifice of the found tape bullcrap that doesn't really hold up. But it was actually very funny, pretty well acted, and super cool as far as revealing things as it went along. Totally lived up to what I hoped.
Juno - This is pretty much as good as everyone says. The first 20 minutes annoyed the crap out of me. I'm so sick of bullshit old people writing dialog for bullshit young characters. "Hey man! that's the widget! yeah, that outfit is totally juicebox!" See? I can do it too, pick random words as new adjectives or interjections and you are totally cool and young. ANYway, besides that bunch of crap, the movie is great. I didn't love the main girl till the end, because the first 1/2 is laden with all the aforementioned bullcrap. But in the end she is great. And the supporting cast is universally amazing. Michael Sera (playing the same character, again, unfortunately) still does great, the step-mom and dad are awesome. Jason Bateman and Jennifer Gardner are completely amazing. Especially the latter, who is nominally playing an extreme role, but does it with perfect balance and honesty. So anyway, it's a very good movie.
The Orphanage - Wow, very very good as well! I've seen three great movies in four days. This is totally what a scary movie should be, tense and atmospheric and not dumb. I guess the Japanese movies do this as well, but I liked this more than any of the Japanese horrors I've seen. There was a bit of mystery hunting in the last 30 minutes that sorta sucked, but the rest of the movie had me all the way through. Can't say the ending, of course, but I will say that it could have been super lame but wasn't. Maybe not everyone's style, but I was okay with it.
By the way, I saw the trailer for the american version of The Eye again after having seen the original. I think this will be the first time I've ever done it in that order. But anyway, from what I can tell, I saw excerpts from every single scene in the trailer, up to and including the ending! It looks like a very direct remake, which seems sort of lame, but it will be interesting to compare, I guess.
In The Name Of The King - Ok ok, before you say anything, I have never paid money for an Uwe Boll film (for the uninitiated, his entire career is making awful video game movies). But I have also never not paid for a Jason Statham movie (unless you count War, which I don't). So you see I really had no choice. In the end, it was pretty damn awful. The production values were surprisingly adequate. Sets looked good, costumes looked alright, weapons and armor of the heroes looked proper, though some minor characters were clearing armed in tin foil. Special effects, too, were actually quite good. A couple failings (in the woods, in the last sequence), but the teleport effect is actually the coolest I have ever seen. The acting, however, is horrible. And the writing is the most god awful, horrendous, mind-splititng, puke-inducing drek ever shat onto a page. Well, maybe not ever, but it is really bad. Just ever pathetic cliche, over worked joke, unnecessary explanation, etc. If you watch it on mute, the action is good enough. Just don't listen, your ears might bleed.
Hairspray - Well, this was fun I guess. I don't understand my relationship with musicals. Chicago is my favorite of all time, I looooove it, and it's pretty corny. Somehow that music, that time period, charms me. Across the Universe & Sweeny Todd recently made me happy. This seemed fun, but I didn't love any of the music, the characters were mostly annoying. I did like the group dance sequences though.
Rescue Dawn - This was pretty tense, pretty good! It's basically a vietnam POW camp story. It looks like an old vietnam movie, though it came out last year, which is really great. It sort of feels like not a lot happens, but that's the point I guess. Everyone does a pretty good job, including Steve Zahn, surprisingly. And Bale is, as he is continually proving, great. Dunno what else to say, I think it's great, you should see it.
Resident Evil: Exctinction - What? What did you expect? It's RE. Zombie attacks, you shoot it. Zombie dog attacks, you kick it. Zombie bird attacks, you light it on fire. Then do it some more. Then ogle Mila Jovavich a little. Then some more stabby stabby shooty shooty. Then you go home. This is how it goes. By the way, this movie makes me want a Walking Dead movie, or even better tv show, SO MUCH. Walking Dead is a comic, probably the best zombie story I've ever read/seen, it's really great.
Color of the Cross - So... this is basically black jesus. Made by a company called Black Christian Films, ha. An entirely normal jesus story, retold with a black guy playing jesus, and occasionally someone says "do you think they are persecuting him because he is black?" No seriously, they say that. I mean, it would have been a legitimate question, if the messiah shows up in double digits BC and he is a different race than most of the jews. But still, it seemed entirely unneccessary, the whole movie. I suppose it's no worse than whiter than snow jesus movies, but I don't really dig them either, so wadayawant?
Jan 19, 2008
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