Cloud Atlas

Cloud Atlas is a complicated movie. I like this movie in concept very much and it was a visually stunning film but by the end, I found myself feeling incredibly over-stimulated. For me it felt like standing in the middle of a small, crowded room where I didn't know anyone and was desperately trying to learn everyone's story but I was also drunk and making up stories of my own. After watching this film, I felt the need to sit quietly by myself and read simple books about food preparation. I was overwhelmed.

I would have been very happy to see this movie made into a series of movies with more focus on each individual story line but I know that wasn't the point. It was very interesting to see all of the actors portraying different roles and I'm sure it was a fantastic exercise for them but at the same time, some of the makeup techniques used were very distracting for me. An example would be turning a British man into an Asian man. Just looks funny.

I wanted very much to enjoy this movie as much as other people have but it really just made me uncomfortable. I think I am going to try to read the book and see if that makes the story a bit more digestible for me.

You should all still go see it and judge for yourself.

Doctor Who Christmas Special

In which we finally meet Miss Clara Oswin. And apparently and army of ice...

And now the torture of waiting.

Better trailer.

The Hunger Games

Young Adult Literature is a very special beast. It has to be a very specific blend of wholesome and exciting. It needs to be a quick read to keep teens hooked and it needs to be both simple enough to not frustrate a kid and also sophisticated enough that it makes the kid feel smart. There are very few authors who perfect this mixture and those who do, sell millions. As much as adults like to yell about how kids these days are distracted and no one reads books anymore! This just isn't even remotely close to reality. If teens find a book or a series of books they are passionate about they will scream about it to every single one of their friends, relatives, teachers, bus mates and random people in the grocery store. They will ridicule their friends for not reading the books and generally make life hell until they do. Teens have passion and talking about books that speak to them is far more important than adults seem to remember.

I grew up in a group of severe Potterheads. The only excuse for having not read any of the books was if someone's parents wouldn't allow them to and this was a fate to be whispered about in hushed tones. We would eventually accept that some people could read a couple of the books and just not get into them. We were pretty sure they were secretly actual wizards and just didn't want anyone to suspect. Having a book fandom like Harry Potter was so important to my youth. Instead of being out late at parties in high school, I'd be in costume at the opening night of the newest Potter movie or at the bookstore for the midnight release party for the latest book. My friends and I would call each other to tease spoilers for goodness sake! There is nothing worse than realizing that you were the one person in the group who decided to sleep after getting your new copy instead of staying up all night to read. This stuff is important to kids.

This is why I am thankful for "The Hunger Games." After Pottermania died down, there was a lot of anticipation about what the next thing would be. There were the dark days of "Twilight," which I will not even speak of and then "The Hunger Games" peaked over the horizon. These books are intellectually stimulating, packed with adventure, insight some feelings of rebellion and really make the reader think about their priorities and how they view the world around them. This is a very solid trilogy with an unambiguous beginning, middle and end. I think it is important for teens to have to think about a post-apocalyptic world. Who knows what the future may bring? They are the only ones who can make the world they'll live in. The have to be able to see consequences. I think this should be on every 15-year-old's reading list.

All of this being said, I have to admit something. I HATE Katniss Everdeen. She is a cold, whiny, brooding little twit. She doesn't deserve all the help and positive attention she gets and she should never have had the chance to choose between Gale and Peeta. She's an awful person and she doesn't deserve either of their love. Someone should have just let her die. I think Peeta would have been better off that way. The only person she shows any unabashed love for is Prim and Prim is the only person who even begins to make Katniss an almost likeable person. It's really a shame that Katniss was the narrator. I would have loved for her to be killed off in the middle of one of her little pity parties about how the government is using her.

So if you have a young adult in your life or if you need a quick and exciting read, you should definitely check out "The Hunger Games." The problem you will soon have is then trying to read any book after. Reading a book about modern, simple cooking in your Hunger Games Voice gets a little bit weird. No one has ever been that violent toward broccoli before, I'm sure.

World War Z

Do you like zombies? Are you ever seeking things to with zombies? If so, you've probably read this book. You've also probably head that it is being/has been made into a movie that is on course to be a major summer blockbuster next year! If you've read the book and you've seen the trailer, you're probably also kind of peeved.

To start, here is the trailer:

World War Z the book and the audiobook (duh) have a very distinct documentary interview style which appears to be entirely ignored in this movie trailer. Instead of getting something that resembles the book we get... Brad Pitt and oceans of speed zombies... hmmmmm...

I'm not sure how I feel about this. I will probably see the movie anyway.

The Firefly 10th Anniversary Special

It has been ten years since "Firefly" went on and off the air. This is the sad reality of network television in 2002. If a show wasn't the proper flavor of exciting and if the writing was too dark or too smart, the show got cancelled. Anyone who has been to any ComiCon in the world knows that just because Fox pulled the plug on this show prematurely, doesn't mean the fans have forgotten. Even in unrelated protests, no matter what the greater cause, there will always be one guy with a "Bring Back Firefly," poster waving proudly. "Firefly" is still a very large part of our culture. People still say something they like is shiny and and quote lines at each other on a regular basis. It would be no stretch of the imagination to say that "Firefly" is much more popular now than it was in 2002.

The Science Channel's Firefly 10th Anniversary Reunion was a beautiful thing to witness. You could tell that the cast, the writers and Joss all care about each other deeply still. The hugs were real and heart-felt and it really just felt like a bunch of long lost friends getting to meet up and swap war stories. It turns out, as fun as we all thought it would be to be a part of that show, it really was. The actors cared about what happened to their characters as much as we did not only because they wanted to keep their jobs, but because they genuinely liked the characters. What was most upsetting to the cast and Joss and really, the entirety of the fandom is that Fox cut this show off before their stories could be told. There is so much we all would like to have seen and learned about these characters that we may now never know.

One of the questions that the moderator asked Joss and the writers is where the show would have gone if it hadn't been canceled. If they show had been allowed to live out its life instead of getting shoved into a movie, what would we have seen? Joss said that first of all, he probably wouldn't have killed anybody... yet. There is so much more of Wash and Book's story that needed telling that now just can't ever be. The good news is that Joss did say that he is unwilling to close the book on "Firefly." He said he will not declare it dead and that you never know what the future may bring. For now, we have our one season, a wonderful movie and a comic book series. For now that has to be enough.


Here is a link to the Science Channel's page about the even and also the online auction to get a little bit of Firefly history. http://science.discovery.com/tv/firefly/10-anniversary/

Almost Famous

I cannot remember the first time I saw "Almost Famous," but it very quickly became one of those movies that I felt as though I had known all my life. I can't even begin to count how many times I have seen this movie. It is without question, one of my all-time very favorite movies. I feel like I should be embarrassed by how much I let this movie impact life, but I'm not. I saw this movie enough times that I really did think that my ability to write and my deep, passionate love for music would eventually translate into a career as a rock journalist. I thought I would be William and band would find me totally endearing and invite me to go out on the road with them to be their writer while lovingly calling me, "The Enemy." I thought that if I said, "It's all happening," enough it really would be.

Because of this movie I worship Kate Hudson. She is my goddess. I have tried for years to come anywhere close to her radiance and while I know I will never achieve my goal, she will always be the person I strive to emulate. Penny Lane in not a perfect human but I think that is why I love her so much. She is entirely undone by how trusting and open her heart is. If she was even a tiny bit cynical, she wouldn't be as endearing. But her love is entirely honest and pure. It is absolutely beautiful. I think I'm still convinced that if I could perfect those little looks she gives and those little lip pouts, I could have anything I want in life. I tried quite a few times to put together a Penny Lane costume but I could never pull it off. I just have to be honest and admit that I will never be as cool as Penny Lane.

While we're confessing things, I chose my major in college because of this movie. I don't know why, but I thought that the beautiful age of rock journalism that was alive in the 1970s was somehow still around when I would be graduated in 2009. It didn't matter that Rolling Stone magazine had essentially sold out years ago and was now allowing the military to buy advertisement space. When you're young and you have a dream, it can blind you to a lot of the harsh realities about your profession. Journalism as I wanted it to exist is dead and even if I were to ever become a successful rock journalist, it doesn't mean the same thing that it used to. No one new actually gets to walk into Rolling Stone all fresh faced and invited to go on tour across the county with Queens of the Stone Age. Really, the best most people can hope for is fuel their habit by living in a large, metropolitan area, diligently tending to a personal blog you probably won't get paid for and accepting that you're going to have a huge "entertainment" budget each month.

Rock journalism is dead just as Lester Bangs said that rock and roll is dead. It will never be the way we imagine was or could be but it doesn't matter. Having the memory, even if it is a somewhat shinier than reality memory, is much better. "Almost Famous," is a past and future that I know isn't possible, but it still warms me inside to know that it maybe could have been if the stars had aligned just right.

Skyfall

I am a late-comer to the wonderful world of James Bond. I adore the British, I adore smart action movie and I adore things that go boom. This means that 007 is my kind of guy. He always gets the sexy lady, he always has the coolest gadgets and if his gal pal doesn't get your heart racing, his choice in vehicles certainly will. Much like The Doctor, James Bond has had many faces and every actor brings a little something different to the character. The Sam Mendes and Daniel Craig James Bond is a very dark and haunted James Bond. Sure, he gets the girls, drives the cars and kills the bad guys but he also talks about the death of both of his parents and shows some sentimental attachment toward M and his agency. It is nice to see some humanity behind his cold, calculated stare. I know I am always the person who wonders how other people got to be the humans they are and it was enlightening to see a small glimpse of 007's past.

The other thing I love about James Bond movies are the villains. They're all intelligent, cunning, resourceful and creepy as hell. There are no mindless killing sprees. Once they have been captured, they usually don't stay captured and most of their aims have more to do with proving a point than recklessly killing everyone. People die sure, but they're mostly casualties to the bigger picture. Silva, played by Javier Bardem (also seen in "Before Night Falls," and "No Country for Old Men.") was no exception. He was brilliant at playing an absolutely mad man whose mind had been severely damaged by chemicals that should have killed him. I appreciate that the Bond villains are evolving technologically right along-side the Good Guys if not even surpassing them. Modern villains don't necessarily fight in person with fists and guns anymore. They fight from remote locations with computers and remote signals. Anything else would really just be garish.

This is why I would like to start the petition to have Benedict Cumberbatch play the next Bond villain. "Sherlock" has already given him plenty of material for portraying a crazy person. Secondly, he could spout off nonsensical strings of words and still sound goddamn brilliant. The has the cold, piercing stare that could either drop a girl's panties or send a cold chill up your spine. He's absolutely perfect! Come on, who is with me on this one?

Bond fan or not, go out and see Skyfall. It is popcorn-munching, bouncing in your seat fun.