Looping the Hen

Queen of Jewels

Yay, Kaylee-blog. Her home here.

The Nightmare at Christmas

So are we bad for planning on going to see a horror movie on Christmas?

Firefly Redux?

There are a lot of bad MMOG's out there, but I hope this doesn't end up being one of them.

Mama B and Daddy B and Tammy and me and the Tarpster could all play and be geeks together!

Creepy...why I hate the MPAA, reason# 57

Very Orwellian.

Deep, Dark, Pitch Black

Bethany's right, I get more blogging done when everyone leaves me alone! Or I just got home early tonight...last one!

A certain person I know has dark fetishes also...Look Tammy, your true love needs to grow up too! Keep your pants on!

Foxy in Dogville

I went through several emotional stages as I watched this frustrating, if entrancing, film. Dogville stars Nicole Kidman as the beautiful Grace, a woman on the run from both the mob and police in depression era Colorado. She makes her way to the near-invisible town of Dogville, a picturesque community nestled in the Rocky Mountains. Immediately she meets Tom, played by the ever-delightful Paul Bettany. He is the resident philosopher and self-proclaimed moral guide of the community; he empathizes with her dilemma and offers her sanctuary pending a town meeting of the 16 resident adults. They give her two weeks to earn her keep and find a place.

The movie is basically a filmed play; sparse scenery consisting of several house frames, a window, a bell tower. In most scenes you can see through to other parts of the town, and what others are doing. At first it was distracting, but the quality of the acting and the focus on the characters quickly envelopes you.

The 2nd chapter lulls you into a sense of security as Grace befriends the town. She becomes well-liked and her job quickly becomes to visit each party in Dogville every day and attend to their various needs. She helps teach a family with 7 children, a handicapped woman with getting around the house while her mother was out, and in the orchard with a rough apple-picker. In the beginning It does not seem much of an imposition, as each family barely scrapes by themselves, and there is not much else Grace has to offer them.

Chapter 3 quickly disabuses the notion of an easy little family film. After the police and mob both show up in Dogville looking for Grace, the townsfolk determine she needs to do more to maintain their protection. Her work schedule is doubled, and contrasting nicely with the easy cinematic flow of her day in chapter 2, chapter 3 is a frenetic jumble of exhausting hours and the beginning of her exploitation by the now not-so-pleasant townsfolk.

Grace's situation rapidly degrades until she is first raped in chapter 6, is bound in chains in chapter 7, and becomes nothing more than an animal. As the story progresses toward its conclusion, she is regularly abused during her working hours and then raped by each of the men in town at night.

At various points in the film I didn't know how to feel; it invoked viciousness toward the townsfolk, and frustration at Grace's passivity. She refused to judge them, even after their vileness bubbled up from below their simple country mannerisms. Were I Grace, I hope I would have gone on a hunger strike, or killed myself, or jumped off the mountain. Every day, Grace simply endured; it was in some moments horrifying.

It didn't help that the movie was just under 3 hours long; still, I stayed up long past my bedtime, convinced that I was witnessing some director's disgusting vision of moral relativism gone wild and an incomprehensible defense of the indefensible. (Unlike many of the folks in Hollywood, some of us redneck folks still believe in right and wrong.)

I won't give away the ending except to say that it involves a sometimes incoherent conversation between Kidman and mobster James Caan. This was perhaps the lowpoint of the movie, if only in that it took a tortuous 3 hours to get there, and I had hoped for a little more.

Still, the finale works well and I went to bed surprised that I could still be surprised by Hollywood. Overall I would give it 4 out of 5 stars, but it is definitely a 'love it or hate it' film.

At least every 30 days...

I have to do something to embarrass myself. Thus tonight I found myself in kick-boxing class, and it wasn't a pretty sight. Your average paraplegic has better moves than I do. Still, it got my heart rate up, and I did it after 40 minutes on the elliptical, so my huge Japanese Steakhouse dinner didn't make me feel quite so guilty! It is my friend ****'s birthday, and it is one of his and his girlfriends favorite places. (His GF is Bebop, who used to work for me many years ago)

Anyhow, Happy Birthday Thug! Since he is one of the two people I know who watch Galactica (used to be the only one until I finally converted G-Max), I thought this would be a good b-day pic, (plus I haven't put up any sexy pics lately).

It's Piracy for Thee but not for Me...Pot, meet Kettle

It appears that the storm troopers at the MPAA have been caught making unauthorized copies of a copyrighted film.

Oh, the lovely irony. The LA Times news account seems pretty even-handed (for them anyway).

To be honest, I don't fully understand or pretend to comprehend what the current copying standards are. However, I do know that if the MPAA thought they could manage it they would chop people's hands off and cane them for even thinking they have the right to make so much as a backup copy without paying some sort of outrageous fee. Considering if they have their way, you won't be able to even own electronic equipment capable of copying your own property.

I figure with the MPAA leading by example, I am going to go make a copy or 10 of something. Actually, according to them: "The courts recognize that parties are entitled to make a copy of a work for use as evidence in possible future proceedings," she said. Maybe I will sue them in the future for attempting to deny me Fair Use rights for property I own; according to them I will be then within my rights to duplicate at will. Neat.

Flux won't make you sick, promise

Aeon Flux is an interesting post-apocalyptic flick with strong (if not breathtaking) visuals, decent acting, and a deep, if convoluted (and not necessarily coherent), plot. To be honest, I am not sure what the deal is, as it has tanked even further at Rotten Tomatoes, often a decent judge of films. For those who thought the previews were good, they were indicative of the film, and it is not one of those where they show only the best parts.

Flux was better than many of the last several years' big-budget sci-fi flix, including Van Helsing, Underworld and Hellboy. Sure, there were times where Theron looked a tad uncomfortable, but in no way did it sound like she was 'on 'ludes', as one of the Tomatoes reviewers put it. Although I have to say I thought she looked hotter
in The Italian Job.

Most of my friends like similar movies (at least in this genre) as I do. For those into the genre, don't go to Flux and expect a masterpiece. However, don't listen to the hype of how bad it is supposed to be either. It is a solid piece of entertaining filmmaking. Lots of interesting outfits, kung fu style fight scenes, and at the end, a fairly cool gun battle.

A thousand words is sometimes better

I don't really read much anymore, although I used to be a fiend, blowing through up to 10 novels a week. I've been chewing a few pages a day on this. It is fairly standard fantasy fare, though the writer self-published his first novel and sold it to a major house after it did well. I like to stick up for the underdog. It is an easy enough read that 10-12 year olds could work their way through it, and it's family friendly. For those looking for a quick, easy and oftentimes enjoyable story, pick it up (though read the first novel in the series, Eragon, first). If you are looking for heavy plot and crafty machinations, this series is not for you.

For those liking their fantasy a little more passionate and a little deeper, try Mercedes Lackey's best (and may be her first?) trilogy, what I and some friends affectionately refer to as the Gay Mage Trilogy. Magic's Pawn is the first book in the series and introduces the first (as far as I can tell) homosexual protagonist sorcerer in a popular fantasy series. What I found so unusual about it was the fact that Vanyel's sexuality is just another part of the story, not the story as much of our culture and media have made it. A good deal of Lackey's work since is formulaic, as are most newer novels by Jordan, Rice, McCaffery, and Goodkind. That doesn't make her newer stuff bad, it just doesn't have the fire of her earlier, darker works.

(/on tangent) I remember the days years ago when after finishing a good trilogy, I often wished for more books in a series. Nowadays, I understand why 3 books is where most larger stories ended. I gave up years ago on The Wheel of Time as Jordan began to replay plots and storylines ad nauseum, and I am getting to the same place with the up-till-now superb Goodkind novels. I am becoming a firm believer in too-short series than too-long. At least trilogies I can look forward to re-reading beginning to end if the mood strikes. (/off tangent)

Even trilogies as long as another of my favorites: Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, which although labelled a trilogy, comes in 4 very large books. The first novel is A Dragonbone Chair. Although it starts very slow (VERY slow; it took me several tries to get through) and uses many of the same fantasy touchstones as I have read a thousand times, the tale woven becomes much greater than its parts, and most of its peers. The climax of the story is reminiscent of the better of Terry Brook's tales, though more fulfilling and with better denoumont.

For a wonderful series one can finish beginning to end (of the first 3 books) in a weekend (or even a long day), Ursula K LeGuin's Wizard of Earthsea trilogy is among the very best. Very few authors will ever match this simply written, but compelling and engrossing masterpiece. Book two, the Tombs of Atuan, remains my favorite of the three. In it, LeGuin crafts as rich a dark fantasy religion as has ever been created, complete with rituals and secrets. Were the story presented only from the side of the hero of the original book, the story would have likely failed. However, her presentation of the story from two sides is ingenious and makes for a greater tale.
For those who saw Sci-Fi's atrocious adaptation, please discard any judgement's on the value of the sourcework. Night and day is not a great enough divide to explain the difference in quality between the TV and hardcopy versions.

Although I cut my teeth on Fantasy (is it that obvious?), nowadays a good hard science fiction series can often grip me much easier than its equivalent fantasy brethren. I hate to say it, but I believe the science fiction folks come out with a much wider array of plot schema's, even though fantasy and science fiction universes are equally limitless. For those who have never read any science fiction (other than maybe Star Wars), the first I read, and still the most memorable, remains Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. I won't even try to briefly summarize; just buy it, read it, and enjoy it.

Rounding out my 5 recommendations for tonight is a book out of the imaginary realms altogether, and is considered by many to be one of the finest novels of the 20th century. Most of the time, I find books with those types of accolades miserably droll (War and Peace?) or exceedingly, breathtakingly, almost painfully boring. (Grapes of Wrath, ugg) Of course, I speak of Lolita, a book I only ended up reading after researching the reference to Nabokov's masterwork in the Police song 'Don't Stand'. Lolita is as close to a perfect novel as I have ever read, made even more astonishing by the fact that English was a 2nd language to Nabokov. (Russian was his first) His instinctual use and understanding of language, pun, and imagery puts 99% of writers (even good writers) below him.

At least for me, (and for G-Max if I remember), I could often only read the book a page or two at a time. I sometimes compare it to fudge. Almost painfully sweet, rich, and thick, but oh so satisfying. It took me almost 3 months to read through it the first time, even though it is probably only as long as a standard novel. (300 pages or so) The story is about one of the strongest-held (but most fantasized about) taboos in our society: older man and very young girl. Even the protagonist (also the narrator) knows what he is doing is questionable, yet he stills revels in his dark obsessions. One takes turns at being engrossed, disgusted, and bewildered, as the story could easily be (and is probably, in a thousand real life cases) true. Although not for the faint of heart, I recommend and often give this book to to the hard-core and openminded readers in my life.

Music tomorrow! Night!

I am a conservative...

But that, these days, is hugely different than being a Republican. The sponsorship is bi-partisan, but it looks like much of the dissent is coming from the right side of the aisle.

Blech.

MPAA/RIAA: Truly Suckful

The two antitheses of Fair Use are at it again. It is crap like this that makes many of us (or me at least) want to pirate music or movies. The recording industry has no idea how big a hole they are digging for themselves. People who want to make sure artists are compensated justly for their work will eventually become fed up with a neverending string of new technologies that stifle our ability to use our own property. I'm all for revolting against our Musical Overlords.

I think this is the most important graf:

These laws aren't about piracy, and anyone who thinks they are needs to stop, look, and listen. Once the MPAA and pals have their way, you're going to pay through the nose for even the most basic of Fair Use rights. You're going to pay for the right to rewind and "re-experience" content. The Copy Prohibited Content class, complete with its asinine insta-delete feature is nothing but a back door into attacking what the content industry hates most: your ability to timeshift content. Yes, Jack Valenti said the VCR would destroy Hollywood, and while these moonbats no longer believe that, they do know that the rhetoric works.

Umm, yep.

Semi-related article here that I hope hurts profits for Sony. I'm so glad they have decided to start including deep-level spyware with their CD's, I don't get enough from Neopets.

A History of Aragorn's Butt

(Warning: Spoilers for A History of Violence and a little bit of risqueness, read at your own risk)

Not that I have anything against Viggo's butt, truly. However, like much of this movie its appearance is, well, abrupt. I may have lived too long in Tennessee or something. The two in-your-face sex scenes in this movie, although almost nothing worse than I see on Galactica, took me by surprise. And by the reactions of the other folks in the theatre, I wasn't the only one.

Viggo's politics are your typical lefty-pink rhetoric (Impeach Bush, blah blah blah) almost unworthy of a good savaging (and not very welcomed by most Vols either), but his acting has plainly gotten much better in the year since I saw Hidalgo and The Return of the King. Although movies with leading equines have a place in my heart, his acting in Hidalgo was pretty stilted and he left it to the horse to carry the movie.

He carried off A History of Violence with a stronger performance than any of the Fellowship of the Rings films, and appears to have found his stride. With both Hidalgo and A History of Violence under his belt, he may escape type-casting as the Ranger turned King of Gondor. The fact that all of the characters in A History turned in strong performances may also have buoyed his. The first scene in which the family (Viggo, mom, brother) consoles Tom Stall's daughter seems a little forced, however under Cronenberg's direction the dynamic develops into something appropriately dysfunctional (ie. realistic), quirky, but with a loyal and affectionate bond.

I don't remember theatre audiences being quite as expressive in Connecticut as they are here. I could hear audible gasps from mothers with their teenagers when Tom (Viggo) and Edie Stall (the sultry Maria Bello) slid into a classic 69. (And her in a cheerleader outfit no less!) Their second go-round, an almost-rape as mom finally gets the bad boy routine from her normally passive husband, is where Viggo's backside makes its larger-than-life appearance. I much preferred the full frontal of Bello, but I fear it is not what will be scalded into my cerebellum come bedtime.

Although no one walked out due to the heavy sex, the movie brought out huge grumbles with it's non-ending. In the South, we like meat and potatoes. We like barbecue, football, and beer. We don't, however, like our movies to make us think about what could have happened after the credits close. Although I think I interpreted Cronenberg's ending correctly, I don't think many others did (or just didn't want to), and you could hear it in the disappointed conversations as patrons left the auditorium. To most there, it was almost a perfect movie: strong violence with a generous helping of gore, erotic and unusual sex scenes between two strong actors, a bad-guy-gone-good backdrop, and a solid (again, if abrubt) climax had everyone on the edges of their seats. Then it had one of those artsy make-you-think endings in direct contrast to the straightforward tempo of the rest of the flick.

Overall, I'll give it 4 out of 5 stars; my main complaints tend to be related to minor flaws, such as the lawyer wife's lack of research into her husband's past after the first run-in with the mafia guys and the lack of a true law enforcement presence after Viggo goes Schwarzenegger on a bunch of known mobsters and leaves them dead on his front lawn. Still, I'd say the movie is a must see for its entertaining, straight-forward film-making and its sublime use of pom-poms.

WB Week 2

At least they didn't get it all wrong this week. Everwood was passable; still a couple of odd moments that didn't quite fit. Hannah and Amy both chilled out slightly and back to looking mostly normal.

Smallwood, for all its several lapses in suspension of disbelief, had the fact that Lana and Clark finally went at it; Tom Welling and Kristen Kreuk actually have some chemistry, and it almost looked like the kissing wasn't scripted. Might watch the tabloids for Kristen's Krypton love child.

Biggest surprise of all was last night. One Tree Hill, usually my fallback when I need some random drama (and the fact that I have a huge crush on Brooke), was the best WB premiere this season. The characters were crisp, the soundtrack was right on, and there was just the right mix of sap and tragedy. (Which is the secret behind every successful WB show)

Maybe there is hope after all; more next week.

I hate AOL but their new ad had me in stitches...

Guy giving a presentation in front of a crowd, mild English accent:
...
"Who here has heard of the 'I love you virus?'
Now, have you heard of the 'I just want to be friends virus?'
Or the 'I love you but I'm not in love with you virus?'

Neither have we, but we'll be ready!"

That's not exact, but close. If anyone ever finds the link, please pass it on and I will post it.

Strike 2 for the WB

Feels like the start of another suckful week on the WB. Unlike prior seaons, everything just seems so...scripted. Gillmore Girls was almost as bad as last week's Everwood. Supernatural didn't seem quite so bad, but most likely that is because I don't have such high expectations. However, I'll go out on a limb and say it won't last the season if it doesn't click in the next couple of episodes. The first episode remains the best of the three (and not just because it had a sexy ghost that sucked the life out of people...err, but mainly).

I turned to FX and Nip/Tuck is on. I have only seen a couple of episodes across seasons, but it has always been as intense a show as I have ever seen. Maybe I just need something with a bit more bite. Huh...a little link-clicking and it looks like Nip/Tuck is made by Warner also.

If they extended Battlestar Galactica to 52 episodes, all would be well with the world.

Big Screen Television (Includes Serenity Spoilers, beware)

I'm almost glad my Friday shows (the two Stargates and Battlestar Galactica (the best show on TV)) had their season finales the last two week because it gave me a chance to go see Serenity in the theatre opening night. I was interested for several reasons. First, I have been recently watching the show on the Sci-Fi channel and enjoying it a good deal. Second, I was curious if the Blogosphere's overwhelmingly positive reaction to the movie after their early viewings would generate enough buzz to turn people out.

The movie was as good as the buzz, however at least at my location (Carmike Cinema in Madison (Nashville) Tennessee), the theatre was only about a third full for the 7pm showing, generally the best time slot here. Science Fiction movies tend to do poorly here, with the only heavy showing I have attended in the last year being for Batman Begins. (which for my dollar, was the best flick of the summer; I should also note that I skipped Mr. Lucas' frenetic finale) I can almost always get to the theatre after the previews start and still get a prime seat in the back row where I like to watch from.

The acting was equivalent to the series, which is to say generally good, and I got just enough of my favorite character (Kaylee). The movie may have been a little violent for some of the younger folks in the crowd, however anything racy tended to be lightly played and went unnoticed by the several under 10-year olds sitting next to me. (The worst offender being Kaylee's laughline: 'Been more'n a year since I had anything twixt my nethers didn't run on batteries! ')

The visuals were as fine as anything I could have expected, with the flight through the Alliance fleet in the set-piece finale leaving me bobbing and weaving slightly as Serenity dodged through the melee. The Reaver fleet scene surrounding Miranda was another spectacular visual; I could feel the claustrophobia as they tried to reach the planet, which I must say is pretty good for a space scene.

Overall, the story felt complete, a lack thereof which is to me often my largest complaint with otherwise good movies. I was a little surprised by the number of deaths among the crew of Serenity, as I had been harboring a faint hope that the Sci-Fi Channel would rescue the show as it did Stargate SG-1 from USA Network. Considering it's recent success at the theatre, on video, and on Sci-Fi, maybe it still is a faint possibility.