Monthly Archives: December 2015

General

Dragnet…

…or perhaps I should invoke one of Judas Priest’s best known songs?

Two tales of people running afoul of the law caught my eye these past couple of days.  First up is “Pharma bro” Martin Shkreli who has been arrested for securities fraud as reported in this article written by Scott Eric Kauffman and presented in Salon.com:

“Pharma bro” Martin Shkreli Arrested For Securities Fraud

Is Mr. Shkreli’s name not familiar to you?  This bit of information, pulled from the above article, tells you just about all you need to know about the right honorable Mr. Shkreli…

Shkreli vaulted into the public eye in September, when he boasted about raising the price on a life-saving toxoplasmosis treatment for unborn babies and people with HIV or cancer by 5,455 percent. Although he insisted the drug “was still under-priced,” he promised that he would return it to its original level — a promise he reneged on the last week of November. His despicable behavior has prompted everyone from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton to condemn him.

Quite a comeuppance, no?

The second story involves Ethan Couch, who was on probation and is now on the run from the law (both he and his mother cannot be found) and facing “real prison time” for violating the terms of his probation.

Mr. Couch achieved notoriety back in 2013 and following killing four people and seriously injuring two others while driving drunk at the ripe old age of 16.  As terrible a crime as that was, what happened during his trial was even worse: His lawyers stated the underage man was suffering from “affluenza”, that he was so spoiled by his wealthy parents that he didn’t have a clear concept of right and wrong.

Incredibly, the judge bought the argument and Mr. Couch was sentenced to ten years probation.  However, a video posted on twitter showed him participating in a party which clearly had liquor.  This violates the terms of his parole and could land him in jail.

Oops.

So he and his mother are on the lam and you can read all about it in this article by Mary Elizabeth Williams and also found on Salon.com:

Spare us the “affluenza” defense this time: Ethan Couch faces real prison time for violating parole

The commonality between the two stories appears to be two young, entitled men who can no longer game the system.

One hopes they eventually learn from these troubles and make more of their lives than they have so far.

General, Movies, Sports

Let’s see…what to talk about today…

Star Wars, again?  While Rotten Tomatoes has the film scoring an incredible 97% positive, I’m getting the feeling The positives reviews I’ve read (and I won’t even pretend to have read more than a handful) have been somewhat half-hearted.

Which in some ways is not all that different from your typical reaction to the works of J. J. Abrams.  I actually admire the man quite a bit: He knows how to create something that, while you’re watching it, is compelling and interesting.  But after the fact, when you stop to think about what you’ve just seen, doubts form and secondary opinions pop up.

Will this happen for Star Wars VII?  It happened, after all, with the “prequels”.  There was plenty of good cheer and great critical ratings until the warm glow of nostalgia lifted and people got a better look at the product.

By the way, I’m as prone to changing my mind as the next person.  I enjoyed Star Trek: Into Darkness when I caught it in the theaters but after thinking about it for a bit, realized the film was very flawed.

We’ll see what happens.

What else is there to talk about?

Politics?

Yesterday we had the 1,993,320,123,432th GOP debate and, like all the others, I dutifully avoided it as best I could.  Of course afterwards all those news stations (why, WHY!?!) had their anchors/analysts go over who did what and to whom and, like some morbid all enveloping black hole I couldn’t help but be sucked in.

It appears, at least to my eyes and based on what little was highlighted, that I didn’t miss all that much.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I wouldn’t vote for this version of the Republican Party if my life depended on it (check this chilling article by William Saletan which posits this question: Who would you elect President if your only choices are Trump, Cruz, or Carson?).  The latest debate -what little I saw of it- didn’t change my mind in that respect.

So forget Star Wars and forget Politics.  How about…

Football?

Bob Costas Says Football’s Biggest Problem Can’t Be Fixed

I’ve gone down this road before a few times but, like the self-driving car articles I so dearly love, this is rapidly becoming an issue I’m also intrigued with.

I’ve written about this before so excuse me while I (briefly) repeat myself:  When I was young, I had no interest in sports at all.  Let me be clear: AT ALL.

I was forced to play games I didn’t care to play (usually soccer…why the hell couldn’t you use your hands?!?).  TV was very limited back then and where I was there wasn’t a whole lot of sports aired on it.

Things changed back in/around 1984.  I started watching -and admiring- football, specifically the incredible talents of one Dan Marino.  He almost single handedly got me interested in football in general and the Dolphins specifically.

But I didn’t stop there and eventually became a full fledged sports fanatic.  I not only watched football, but also basketball, baseball, and hockey.  This all ended the year after I watched almost every single game of the 2003 World Series winning season the Marlins played.  I realized I was extremely lucky to see a team go from game one to winning the series and the likelihood of repeating this was very slim.

I also realized I had wasted waaaay too much time before the TV seeing this.

So I cut back dramatically.  In more recent times the most sports I’ve followed were probably the LeBron James Heat, but I only watched some of those games and more closely followed the playoffs.

Though it all, my favorite sport to watch remained football, in spite of the fact that since Marino retired the Dolphins haven’t done much of anything.

Having said that, I agree with Mr. Costa: Football is at heart a game that destroys not only the athlete’s body, but also, and more frighteningly, his mind.  Yes, some people come out of the game better but at this point I feel that even those who most want football to prosper cannot with a straight face say that it is a “safe” sport to play.

True, basketball, baseball, and hockey wear down athletes’ bodies as well, but the fact is that these sports don’t feature what is the staple of football: Athletes running at full speed into each other.

It happens now and again in basketball.  It happens now and again in baseball.  It may happen a little more frequently in hockey.

But the reality is that every play in football involves athletes running into each other at top speeds.  While a well-toned body may be able to absorb the hits, there is no training or helmet padding great enough to protect a person’s brain.

I’m not going to lie: I still love watching football.  But as each new study on brain trauma resulting from playing in the sport is released and the reality of what playing the game does to the athletes’ bodies is understood, I don’t know how much longer it can exist.

Movies

Yet more Star Wars…

Last night was the premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and I was curious to see how the exclusive crowds reacted to the premiere.  It would appear they left mostly happy:

From CNN:

Star Wars: The Force Awakens gets positive early reactions

Over on twitter:

First reactions suggest “overwhelming experience”

The Guardian likewise reported the same.

So for all those looking forward to the film’s formal release tomorrow (it is being released on Wednesday, right?) looks like you’ll like what you’ll see.

Movies

Star Wars…nothing but Staaarr Waaarsss…

It’s just about here and we’re way beyond fever pitch.  In a few short days, the latest Star Wars film is released and I…

…Well, I’ll pretty much ignore it.

Don’t get me wrong: If you love Star Wars and are rabid to see this latest film, then by all means do so (yeah, like you need my permission!).

And when you do, I sincerely hope you have an absolute blast.  In this life, one needs to get their pleasures as they come and if Star Wars scratches that itch, then more power (and fun!) to you.

If you’re new to this blog and haven’t read some of my posts regarding the phenomena that is Star Wars, the above should clue you in on the fact that no, I’m not a fan of Star Wars.

I stumbled upon this article by Todd Leopold for CNN and it contains many of the same feelings I have regarding the movie, though Mr. Leopold goes one step too far in condemning the whole franchise:

Please, Stop Forcing Star Wars On Me

A couple of points regarding that article:

I think Mr. Leopold was acting like a big jerk way back when he yelled out Spoilers to the crowds waiting for the next showing of the just released The Empire Strikes Back.  First, its just plain rude.  Secondly, if he didn’t care for the franchise to begin with, why did he bother to go see the sequel?

Like Mr. Leopold, I was of the right age (I was 11, he 12) at the time of the original release of Star Wars and, like him, the film simply didn’t turn me on like it did so many others.  However, unlike Mr. Leopold I was so unimpressed with Star Wars that I skipped The Empire Strikes Back when it was released to theaters and only saw it years afterwards when it aired on TV.

But, again: While Star Wars and the films that followed it didn’t particularly rock my boat, at this point in my life I don’t feel the need to berate people who do love this work.  After all, there are things I love dearly that others wouldn’t (I’m looking at you, Supernova).

Having said all that, what does irk me about Star Wars fans and may explain -to some degree anyway- why the whole Star Wars thing never really appealed to me is explained beautifully in this very positive article by Forrest Wickman for Slate.com:

Star Wars is a Post-Modern Masterpiece

Let me be very clear here: the above article DOES NOT in any way/shape/form tear down the original 1977 Star Wars film and instead heaps praise on how the film was the ultimate pastiche, masterfully borrowing so many elements from so many different films (various westerns to Flash Gordon to The Hidden Fortress to The Dam Busters) to create its own experience.

Interestingly, this may be the very reason why I’ve been so (ahem) lukewarm to Star Wars.  It’s because even as a young child seeing the film I recognized so many of these elements (the western influences, Flash Gordon, War films) and therefore couldn’t “see” the film as being an original work.

In some ways this reminds me of my equally muted feelings towards the Kill Bill movies.  While technically these movies, like Star Wars, are very well done, they are as much a pastiche as Star Wars.  With Kill Bill, director/writer Quentin Tarantino attempts to create a Kung Fu version of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly and to my mind, why would I want to see a “homage” to that superb film when I can see the original?

So too it is with the original 1977 Star Wars.  Why would I be interested in seeing this (admittedly well done) pastiche when I can watch the better, IMHO, works that it took from?

Again, this is just my subjective opinion and, again, I absolutely do not begrudge everyone’s desire to catch the latest Star Wars film (and films) when they are released to theaters.

While I may not have jumped aboard that particular cultural train, I recognize I’m among the very, very few.

Movies

The legality of posting spoilers…

As an author, if there is one thing I can appreciate is the desire to “surprise” your audience with your new work(s).  You spend considerable time coming up with your story and massaging it until it is worth releasing and the very last thing you want is someone to post spoilery information about what you’ve done and render you work pointless.

Fortunately, as an author who works alone I am a self-contained unit.  Whatever scenarios and stories I come up with reside in my head and, unless I get hacked, my computer.  Until my latest work is officially released, no one other than I know what I’m up to.  At this point, I’ve finished the second full draft of my latest novel and, apart from this one hint I offered a little while back, at least with regard to when the story takes place, you have no idea what awaits you.

Because creating a movie involves many, many people both in front of and behind the cameras, the possibility of leaks is a very real one.

A while back a very early draft of the script to Quentin Tarantino’s latest movie, The Hateful 8, was leaked to the internet and Mr. Tarantino, overcome with anger, stated he would abandon the film entirely.  He eventually changed his mind and the film will be released this December, but I totally get where he’s coming from.

Again: When you create a story, you want viewers/readers/what-have-you coming into your story knowing the bare minimum.  You want to surprise, shock, amuse, etc. them with what goes on.  How can you do that if they already know what they’re in for?

Unfortunately, because of the internet and the ability to instantly “talk” to the world at large, spoilers are becoming a big problem in the movie industry.  I recall when The Dark Knight Rises was in the process of being filmed and, when exterior shots were taken, people on the streets who happened to be close by produced videos of what was going on.  On the very day scenes involving Batman fighting Bane or Catwoman riding around on a Bat-Cycle were shot, the world at large was able to see what was going on.

Let me repeat and emphasize this: The world got to see scenes from a movie many months away from being released, much less finished, the same day they were being filmed!!!

Which brings us to the latest bit of spoilery territory.

Perhaps the most anticipated film of December (maybe even of this year) is the latest Star Wars feature.  Director J. J. Abrams and company have been extra careful in trying to keep the movie’s plot under wraps and, to my eyes, have been for the most part successful.

But spoilers come in all shapes and forms and someone at a Walmart in Iowa accidentally displayed for sale some Star Wars action figures tied to this film.  These figures, including that of the female character Rey, had potentially spoilery information.  A photograph of the toy was taken and released on the internet and…

Couple Takes Pics of Star Wars Figure They Bought, Gets DMCA Notice From Lucasfilm

Yikes.

For those who don’t know, big stores like Walmart, Target, Costco, etc. etc. receive merchandise sometimes a week or two before its “official” release date.  They hold this material and, on the date said merchandise is to be released, it is pulled out of their warehouse section and put up for sale.

As you can see from the article above, sometimes errors are made.

I’ve experienced the early release of materials before, though nothing quite as “exciting” as this.

A few years back (try to contain your excitement when you read this awe-inspiring story) I wandered into my local Costco and found the first BluRay release copy of the classic Bruce Lee film Enter The Dragon for sale.  I wound up buying it and smiled while I did, knowing that the BluRay edition wasn’t scheduled to be released until the following week and someone at Costco had mistakenly put it on sale early.

I’ll give you a few minutes to catch your breath after reading such an earth shattering story.

All jokes aside, I can’t fault Disney/Lucasfilms for being upset that a potential spoiler has found its way into general release before the film.  But neither can I fault those who posted pictures of the toy on the internet -they did legally buy the items, though it was mistakenly put on sale too early- nor the staff of the Walmart, who probably committed what was ultimately a very innocent mistake.

Just goes to show…there are many, many ways to spoil a story.

Sports

Football

I stumbled upon this article for Salon.com and by Steve Almond regarding the professional (and extremely popular) sport of football:

Let’s Have A War On Football: Greed, Brain Damage, Tax Breaks to Billionaires and the Debate We Need to Have About the NFL

The article follows some inflammatory statements ex-Quarterback Danny Kanell made in response to an editorial published in the New York Times by Dr. Bennett Omalu, a forensic pathologist who first identified chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in many ex-football players:

The war on football is real. Not sure source but concussion alarmists are loving it. Liberal media loves it. Doesn’t matter. It’s real.

“Concussion alarmists”.

It’s an interesting choice of words and echoes the same (to me) ridiculous arguments against the validity of climate change.

Look, I’ll be the first to admit it: I really like watching football.  I wish my team (the lackluster Miami Dolphins) were in contention.

Having said that, Mr. Omalu’s studies (which are the subject of the upcoming Will Smith movie Concussion), I believe, point out something that by now should be obvious to anyone: Football is an extremely violent sport that breaks down its participants’ brains and bodies and, in many cases, leaves them with a future of pain…and worse.

How could it not?

Running back Reggie Bush stated playing through a single professional football game was akin to experiencing several car crashes and the body (and mind) needed time to recover.

This point was driven home to me when a little over a year ago, while driving with my wife, younger daughter, and her friend, we slowed and stopped at a red light and the person behind us, going no faster than 15-20 miles an hour, didn’t realize we stopped and rear ended us.

The damage to our car was minimal (we needed to replace our car’s rear bumper).  The car that rear-ended us, however, had its front end crumpled and blew out its radiator.  Given the age of the car (it was an older model Civic, if memory serves), it was probably a total loss.  The couple that rear-ended us were fine.  My wife and I, as well as my daughter’s friend, were also fine.

My daughter, however, happened to be sitting with her back against her seat and looking to her right, at her friend, when the car hit us.  Because of this, she experienced whiplash and, in the days and weeks that followed, some at times very intense headaches.  We sent her to a doctor and then to physical therapy to help her.  Fortunately, after a while -and through the therapies, which were very effective- her symptoms faded and she recovered completely.

In light of that, think about the hits that professional football players receive in the course of a full game.  Not just one “hit” like what my daughter experienced, but potentially several dozen during the course of a game.

Remember, we’re talking players who are in peak physical shape running at full speed -and colliding!- with each other.  We’re talking about hits that make the relatively minor car accident my daughter experienced look like a walk in the park.

How does the human body cope with all that trauma, only to experience it again the very next week?

For that matter, think about the hits football playing high schoolers and college students receive as well.  At least the professional player is being paid for their participation in the game.  High Schoolers and University players?  Not so much.  And very, very few of them reach the pro’s and receive a paycheck.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I love watching football but I think the sport will not survive in its present form for very long.

I believe that, contrary to Mr. Kanell’s pronouncements, the medical data will eventually prove overwhelming and, as popular as the game of football is, who will want to send their kids to participate in something that slowly but surely kills you?

General

Like something out of The Twilight Zone…

Found this on CNN.com:

It seems Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Malaysia has three abandoned cargo jets parked on their lot and have posted a notice that if someone doesn’t claim them (and pay the parking fee owed) they will be sold:

Malaysia Hunts Owners of Boeing 747’s Abandoned at Airport

How…weird.  Especially the fact that no one knows who owns these aircraft and, obviously, the fact that someone would simply leave them -all three!- abandoned like that.

I’ve seen/heard of businesses abandoning products or material because they simply could no longer pay for them, but three 747 jets?!

Weird.

Music

About that David Bowie play…

Looks like they had a preview of the musical Lazarus and Chris O’Leary for Slate offers his take on it:

There’s A Showman, Waiting in the Sky

Sounds interesting.  I have to agree with Mr. O’Leary that much of David Bowie’s oeuvre does hint at his desire to have a musical, from his earliest works to his many theatrical transformations.  Now, heading into the twilight of his career, it would appear he finally has his musical show and, at least based on this review, it appears to be a culmination of all things Bowie and set on stage.

Is that a good thing?

I wonder.  I also wonder if I’ll get a chance to see it…

Movies

The Final Girls (2015) a (mildly) belated review

Can’t recall where I first heard about The Final Girls, a gentle tribute to and comedy related to the “slasher” films of the 1980’s -and more specifically Friday the 13th– but I was intrigued enough to put it on my Netflix que and yesterday finally got a chance to see it.

The Final Girls starts with our two main characters, Amanda Cartwright (Malin Akerman playing -and succeeding- in the most challenging roles in this film) angrily emerging from an audition and meeting up with her waiting daughter Max (Tarissa Farmiga) in their car.

Amanda, we find in short order, is a frustrated actress quite literally haunted/typecast by her most famous role, that of a camp counselor/victim in the “classic” Camp Bloodbath, a fictional 1980’s film which is very obviously is based on Friday the 13th.  Though bitter and knowing that her most current audition went nowhere (“He said he’d keep me in mind”), Amanda clearly doesn’t want to bring her daughter down.

It is during the first few minutes of the film, where we see the dynamic between Mother and Daughter, that the film succeeds the most.  In those very short scenes we discover that Max is very much a realist while Amanda is a free spirit who recognizes she’s made many mistakes in her life but clings to her one very bright success: Her daughter.

Which makes what happens next all the more heartbreaking (Mild spoilers, although the trailer pretty much gives this away and it does happen within the first five or so minutes of the film): Amanda wrecks the car and we’re rapidly transported to three years later.  Amanda, we find, died in the car accident while Max survived.

Now living with her aunt, Max is a high schooler who still misses her mother greatly.  When she learns there will be a theatrical presentation/tribute to the Camp Bloodbath films, she at first doesn’t want to go.  The reasons are many and obvious:  Seeing the movie means Max sees her beloved mother in the role that typecast and ultimately stunted her career.  Further, she is a victim of the slasher killer…why would she want to see her mother die all over again?

Nonetheless, she is convinced to go to the film and, while with her friends, watches along.  When the movie comes to the scene where her mother is about to be killed by the slasher, Max needs to leave the theater.  However, just as she heads to the exit a fire breaks out and, with her friends in tow, they “escape” the theater through the projection screen…

…only to find themselves within the Camp Bloodbath film!

The Final Girls cleverly and at times hilariously explores the conventions of these slasher films.  The “real” people try their best to help out the movie characters to survive and, ultimately, kill off “Billy Murphy”, the Jason-like machete killer targeting everyone at the camp.

While the film is at times quite funny, there remains the bittersweet/sad undercurrent of Max meeting up with her mother once again, even though this time around she really isn’t her mother but rather Nancy, one of the soon-to-be victims in the Camp Bloodbath movie.

I don’t want to give too much more away but the film is a pleasant, very good comedy that falls just shy of being great.

Where does it fall short?

I think part of the problem lies in the film within a film needed to be a bit closer in its look to the actual Friday the 13th films.  By that I mean there needed to be a greater sense of darkness and foreboding, something the Friday the 13th films did even when not showing graphic violence.  Speaking of which, some have argued the film should have gone the “R” rated rather than PG-13 route, that if you’re making a “tribute” to the slasher films of the 1980’s there should be nudity and graphic violence.  Given the sadness which lies beneath the laughs, I’m not sure about that.

People might have been turned off had Amanda/Nancy actually stripped or been shown graphically murdered.  Further, once I got to know some of the other characters in the movie within a movie, I felt for them and worried about their predetermined fate(s).  I didn’t need to see them then die in very graphic ways…then again, that’s just me.

Regardless, The Final Girls is very much worth a look, especially if you are familiar with the films it most gently -and at times hilariously- skewers.

Recommended.