…according to the folks at io9.com:
http://io9.com/11-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-human-space-ex-1521023073
The very first item is…uh…interesting? For those too lazy to click the link and read all the items (they’re worth reading!), I present that first item simply to whet your curiosity:
That’s a transcript of a conversation among the astronauts of Apollo 10.
You’re welcome.
Now go read the rest of the items already!
Back in November of 2012 I wrote the following in the review for the then just released James Bond film Skyfall:
It is a credit to director Sam Mendes, Daniel Craig, and all those in front of and behind the cameras (that they) delivered a movie that moved as well as it did. In fact…it wasn’t until after the movie was over that I realized the screenwriters delivered a truly underwhelming, ultimately silly story. (you can read the entire review here)
I might as well have been speaking of last summer’s The Wolverine as well.
The summer of 2013 was awash with superhero inspired movies and The Wolverine was a late comer to the party. Yet there were those who felt that of all the superhero related films released at that time, this was the one that merited better scrutiny and reward.
I can’t agree with that although there most certainly was a great deal of effort put into this film.
The Wolverine is essentially a “stand alone” story that takes place shortly after the last X-Men movie and, in its credits, hints at what’s to come in the next X-Men feature. The always reliable Hugh Jackman returns for the fifth time in the role of Logan/Wolverine and, at the start of the film, we’re given a window into something he experienced during World War II and as a prisoner of war just outside of Nagasaki (yes, THE Nagasaki and, yes, just before -and after!- the bomb was dropped).
Logan saves a kind Japanese soldier from the devastation of the Atomic Bomb before we move, chronologically, to the present. That Japanese soldier, it turns out, is named Yashida and after the war he became the head of a very powerful -and rich- company that is at the technological forefront of Japan and the world. He’s also very old and dying. He gets Logan to come to Japan to visit him for one last time. During this visit, he tells Logan he can make him mortal and end what he perceives as the man’s Earthly torment. This, Yashida states, is done by somehow transferring Logan’s immortality to the aged Yashida himself, effectively giving him the immortality Logan has.
Despite his torment, Logan refuses the deal and, in short order, all hell breaks loose.
Yashida dies, his son and apparent heir is up to no good, and his granddaughter Mariko (Tao Okamoto) is in mortal peril. Logan jumps into action and saves Mariko but quickly realizes that during his visit to Yahida’s estate something has happened to him. He no longer recovers as quickly from injuries as before. On the run in Japan and with the forces of evil converging on the two, will Logan have enough gas in his tank to emerge victorious…or will the two fall?
As noted above, I’m reviewing the Extended Cut of The Wolverine. If you’re interested in the differences between this version of the film and the Theatrical Cut, check out this website as it offers a terrific in depth comparison:
http://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=274643
Now, moving on to the movie itself and as I noted before, this film experience proved similar to Skyfall. I found the effort put into The Wolverine truly admirable. The movie looks great and moves like lightning. The characters presented are interesting and their motivations arouse your curiosity. Yet it was also very obvious early on who the “big bad” was. Just reading my fairly non-spoilery plot synopsis above should clue you into that.
The problem with The Wolverine lies in the fact that, like Skyfall, we have this huge/big/enormous set pieces that ultimately are revealed to be…nothing. In Skyfall, the villain’s goal was so damn small and petty and all the running around proved to be just that: silly running around.
In The Wolverine, all the running around is also incredibly pointless as (I’m going to try to tiptoe around the story without getting to spoilery) the villain had his hands on his “prize” early in the film and there was absolutely no need for all that extra crap that followed. Or, to put it another way: All the villain(s) had to do was knock their intended victim out with some kind of tranquilizer (which, by the way, they already did as the villains managed to implant something into their victim without their realizing it!), take what you need on that very first night, and -voila!- you’re done.
Silly, silly, silly.
And yet, like Skyfall, I can’t entirely dismiss The Wolverine despite its ultimately idiotic story line. Again, there’s some really good stuff on display here and its just a shame that it gets torpedoed with such a silly script. Perhaps it is a sign of these ADHD times that filmmakers are more focused on the thrills presented to their audiences rather than any logical explanation for why those thrills are occurring.
In the end, I can only offer a tepid recommendation for The Wolverine. The film is worth seeing but, whatever you do, try not to think too hard about it afterwards. You’ll only drive yourself crazy.
…On A Second Viewing:
http://whatculture.com/film/8-movies-everyone-turned-second-viewing.php
Now this is an interesting list. I’ve long been fascinated with the way people react to entertainment.
Like everyone else, I am susceptible to what appears new and interesting. I’ve jumped onto things and felt they were really really good only to have second thoughts about them later.
For example, there was a time in the very late 1970’s and entering the early 1980’s that I enjoyed Billy Joel’s music. When the 1980 release “Glass Houses” came out, I was impressed. I listed to that album quite a bit but, a few months later, I suddenly found myself not liking his music at all. To this day, hearing a couple of notes of any of his songs sends me racing to change the station.
And that’s music!
Going by this list, there are a few films listed that people “turned” on that I find fascinating.
Take for instance the very first film on this list, the 2012 mega-blockbuster The Avengers. The culmination of several Marvel Comics related works, this film roared into theaters and appeared to take the country by storm yet, according to this article, there are those who now look back at the film in far less glowing fashion.
I don’t believe I wrote a formal review to the film, though I did see it in theaters way back when (and in 3D!). Not to sound too forward thinking, but the film didn’t “blow my socks off.” I enjoyed it well enough, but afterwards I felt the plot was a complete mess. Mind you, at that very same time there were people making those very same complaints against The Dark Knight Rises, the third of director Christopher Nolan’s Batman films and a box office rival to The Avengers that summer. I felt/feel that The Dark Knight Rises (by the way, it is another entry into this list) was far from a “perfect” work but at that at least there was an effort made to make something “big”, storywise, in it. With The Avengers, however, the villains’ motivations and plan were always, at best, silly. Why engage The Avengers at all? The plan seemed to have been to confuse and bewilder them until the alien menace can make its way to Earth, but wouldn’t a more prudent plan be to stay in the shadows and bide your time until you have your alien forces already orbiting Earth (hidden, of course), and then attack without warning?
At the very least, their numbers would then be overwhelming enough to wipe out The Avengers, right?
Anyway, there’s the list. Their #1 film is (SPOILERS!) the James Cameron mega-hit Avatar. Funny thing about that film. I was really eager to see it when I first heard about it. Especially the idea of James Cameron returning to science fiction.
Then the film was released and everyone went crazy about it. It made a zillion dollars and, I believe, remains the single highest grossing film of all time (perhaps not factoring in inflation…I keep hearing Gone With The Wind would be tops if that were the case). As blown away as audiences were with it, the more I read about the movie’s story (this from before and after the release) the less interested I was in seeing it.
To this day I haven’t seen Avatar. Perhaps one day I will. Perhaps…
Still, a fun little list to consider. Bear in mind, all the mentioned films are of fairly recent vintage.
If you’ve followed my Corrosive Knights books, you know that nano-technology is a big element within them (Note: I’m not claiming to be the only person to come up with the concept or use it in my stories!).
As they say, fiction is approaching reality as scientists have developed tiny nano-motors that can move inside cells, a first step toward targeting and destroying, possibly, cancer cells…among others:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/12/health/nanomotors-cells-science/index.html
So actor/comedian Will Ferrell through his Funny or Die collective and along with creator/writers Matt Piedmont and Andrew Steele, presents The Spoils of Babylon, a mini-series parody of…1970/80’s era mini-series.
And it is quite funny…if (a BIG if) you’re familiar with the format they’re parodying and are therefore clued in on the jokes.
I suspect there are going to be many people who are not at all familiar with those mini-series of the past and therefore likely shut this show off after giving it a only a few minutes of their time. But, again, having experienced those old, sometimes turgid romantic/quasi-historical/soap-opera-esq mini-series in the past, this parody proved to me quite entertaining.
Having said that, I’ll also grant you aren’t going to have laugh out loud sessions with this like you would, say, the movie Airplane! The Spoils of Babylon at times comes perilously close, especially with its plot, to outright emulating those mini-series from the past. In fact, if it were played “seriously” and released back in the late 1970’s, I suspect it might well have been a hit!
The story involves the mighty Morehouse family and their rise from the 1930’s to their fall in the 1970’s. Patriarch Jonas Morehouse (Tim Robbins) is a low down and very poor dirt farmer hoping to find oil on his property. One day while driving along with his daughter, Cynthia (played as an adult by Kristen Wiig), they pick up the young Devon (played as an adult by Tobey Maguire). The young Devon is walking about in the sun with no memory of who he is or if he has any family, so Jonas adopts him. Because they are of roughly the same age, Cynthia and Devon develop feelings for each other. When Father Jonas finds out, he forbids the “brother” and “sister” (though they have no genetic link) from being together. It is Devon and Cynthia’s lustful temptation and forbidden love which fuels the “tragic” plot to follow.
In short order Jonas and Devon find oil on their property and the family becomes a powerhouse in the business world and hugely influential within the U.S. government. But the coming War, generational changes, and Devon’s attempts to follow his adoptive father’s orders to not get involved with his sister lead to murders, drug abuse, a bastard child, and, ultimately, a Greek-like tragedy.
You know, your typical late 70’s early 80’s mini-series story!
Those who are in on the joke will find plenty of stuff to enjoy, from Kristen Wiig’s wonderful, expressive acting (she really looks to relish her role as the femme fatale/spurned lover/feminist/murderer/temptress Cynthia). Tobey Maguire, while quite humorous in many sequences, has a more sedate/straight-man role. Will Ferrell gets to show up as the Orson Welles-esq Eric Jonrush, “author” of the best-selling potboiler novel that was the basis of this mini-series and director of the same. His introductory and concluding comments for each episode are alternately loopy, bizarre, and at times quite hilarious, as is his cameo within the feature itself. Val Kilmer also shows up for a couple of scenes as part of the U.S. Military-Industrial Complex, and his dry readings are also very funny. Haley Joel Osment delivers a loopy turn as the unhinged Winston Morehouse, the bastard child of Devon and Cynthia.
Again, I freely admit The Spoils of Babylon might not be for everyone, especially the young ‘uns who don’t have any idea of what this mini-series is parodying. Those who do, however, should find plenty to enjoy. The Spoils of Babylon may not always be a “laugh out loud” type experience, but there is plenty of dry humor and cheese to enjoy.
Recommended.
Perhaps…
http://io9.com/heres-the-first-recorded-instance-of-the-f-word-in-eng-1519247071
If you click on the link, you’ll discover the word (in this case “fuckin”) was written by a monk in this particular book in 1548, though the context of the statement is in question.
For whatever reason, I find the above simply amazing. It’s fascinating to look at how far back certain phrases/words go, and how the permutations in their meaning changed or, in the case above, apparently didn’t.
Back in the year 2000, many critics and fans expressed enthusiasm over the just released sci-fi action suspense film Pitch Black. Starring the then pretty much unknown Vin Diesel (his two biggest roles up to that point were Private Carpazo in Saving Private Ryan and the voice of the Iron Giant in that animated movie), the movie was relatively low budget and, admittedly, felt like it owed a great debt, story-wise, to both Alien and Aliens. Nonetheless, the film delivered an entertaining tale with characters who weren’t easy to pin down.
The movie was so successful it spawned video games, an animated feature, and an ambitious 2004 sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick. Unfortunately, that movie may well have been a little too ambitious for its own good. While Pitch Black was a more small scale and “intimate” monster movie, The Chronicles of Riddick attempted to create a HUGE space opera on the level of Dune, complete with a large cast of characters, political intrigue, back-stabbing, etc. etc.
After that film’s release and the subsequent critical drubbing and disappointing box office it received, it appeared the character of Riddick would grace the screen no more.
But Vin Diesel’s star was on the rise and I suspect the incredible success of the last few Fast and Furious movies gave investors enough confidence to allow Mr. Diesel and director/writer David Twohy another go around with Riddick.
Released in 2013, Riddick, the third film in the series, wisely chooses to draw the space opera stuff so prevalent in The Chronicles of Riddick waaay down, though there is no attempt to ignore the events of that film. In fact, after Riddick’s start, we find via flashbacks that our favorite anti-hero’s current predicament (he’s heavily injured and stranded on a desert planet with considerable hostile wildlife) were a direct result of things that happened to him after/because of The Chronicles of Riddick. By the end of that film, Riddick was the king of a group of dark mages. At the start of Riddick, he was unceremoniously dumped and abandoned by the same group on this planet and must now survive.
Without getting too SPOILERY, the first part of the film involves Riddick doing just that: Recovering from his injuries while figuring out how to move from the more dangerous zone he’s in to another within the planet. However, he soon realizes a massive danger is about to be unleashed and uses a distress beacon he finds in an abandoned trapper’s shelter to summon two groups of Mercs to the planet. Both are hunting for Riddick yet each group has their own unique reasons why. Meanwhile, the danger Riddick knows is coming arrives, and soon everyone is fighting for their survival.
In reading the reviews of the film, I found there are those who were very positive about the first third or so of Riddick -the lone survivor section- and critical of the later part of the film. Many felt this part of the film was little more than a re-tread of Pitch Black. I can’t argue the point. However, to me Riddick worked in spite of the less than original second half and that was because Mr. Twohy knows how to carefully build suspense. Unlike others recent action films, Riddick is almost old fashioned in its presentation. Other than one ludicrous scene involving a balanced machete, it doesn’t feature the more ridiculous ADHD “action” effects that I found so hard to swallow in movies like, yes, Fast and Furious 6. Further, Riddick keeps the characters interesting throughout.
For example, I found the character of Lockspur (Raoul Trujillo), the leader of the second group of Mercs to be very intriguing. Until the movie’s end, we weren’t quite sure which way he would go. Similarly, the character of Dahl (fan favorite Katee Sackhoff) was a two-fisted delight. I especially enjoyed the way she treated the leader of the first Merc squad. Finally, Diaz (WWE star Dave Bautista) was yet another intriguing character who showed several shades of gray…as well as a black deviousness.
Please note, though, that I saw the “unrated director’s cut” and not the theatrical version of the film. I’m not sure what the differences are or even if they make much of a difference at all.
Regardless, I enjoyed Riddick and I’m pleased to hear that because of the success of the home video release there may be a fourth film in the works. Hopefully, Mr. Diesel and Twohy has some interesting ideas for this upcoming film and, even more hopefully, they’ll be allowed a bigger budget to show it. Only, please don’t go the route of Chronicles of Riddick, ok?
Recommended.
…at least according to Green-Label.com:
http://green-label.com/sound/10-best-drummers-time/s/10-best-drummers-time/
As with most lists, I suspect readers/fans will find some they agree with (Kieth Moon of the Who, John Bonham of Led Zeppelin) with others they don’t agree with.
I was intrigued and delighted that Stewart Copeland of the Police was included in the list as I’ve always felt he was a large reason for that band’s success. Yes, front man/lead singer Sting was a hell of a charismatic presence and was responsible for much of their output, but Copland’s drum work really keep the songs moving, something that later Sting solo efforts lacked, at least IMHO.
Which, of course, brings us to the “missing” drummers, people you personally feel should have been on the list but weren’t included.
To this list, I would add heavy metal band Anthrax’s drummer Charlie Benante. This man could well be one of the loudest and fastest drummers out there…After hearing this album way back when, I couldn’t help but wonder how Mr. Benante didn’t lose his arms while making this album!
Another one: Ringo Starr from the Beatles. He did some great work in songs like these:
and…
While not necessarily a big fan of all her many literary works, I’m very much impressed with Agatha Christie’s novel And Then There Were None. Originally published in 1939 under the far more politically incorrect title Ten Little Niggers and subsequently re-titled Ten Little Indians before finally being called And Then There Were None, this is the late Ms. Christie’s all time best selling novel. It involves a group of people brought together on a remote island under various guises, all of which were tailored for them.
Once on this remote island, they realize that the stories they were offered to get them to the place were in fact lies, and that they must now stay on that island and await the return in a couple of days of a boat to pick them up. In time they find a nursery rhyme and ten Indian figurines. When the first of them die, they realize the person’s death matched the first death described in the rhyme…and they also find the figurine that matched this death broken.
So a countdown begins…who is the murderer among them and who is the next to die? And, in the end, who, if anyone, will survive?
As good as the book is, I felt the first theatrical version of it, made in 1945, made some great improvements to what was a pretty grim novel. In the movie, we had a genuine heroine and hero, something that was absent from Ms. Christie’s book. I also thought the resolution played out a little better in the film.
Having said that, both the novel and film are terrific and, I believe, have been the source of inspiration to many, many works that followed. Certainly the concept of a group of people gathering together at an isolated place and then getting picked off one after the other has been used in many works. It certainly was somewhere in the back of my mind when I wrote Chameleon.
Which brings us to the 2011 film You’re Next. The story involves the wealthy husband/wife patriarchs of a large family arranging a get together of themselves, their sons and daughters and their lovers for the weekend in a remote mansion…and the hell that breaks loose when a group of mask wearing individuals attack and start killing them off.
When this movie was originally released to the film festival circuit, it received positive word of mouth and I was curious to see it. Eventually it was picked up and released to theaters, though to a limited run. It wasn’t until yesterday that I finally got a chance to see it.
Was it worth the wait?
Unfortunately, the answer to me was a resounding “no.”
You’re Next is an at times clever, at times very gory (in fact, a little too gory for my taste) experience. It also attempts to be a mystery before turning into a black comedy. Unfortunately, all those shifts in tone hurt rather than helped. The opening bit with the family meal and first attack on them are probably the film’s highlight, though one can also find a bit of pleasure in the butt-kicking and very resourceful heroine (played by Sharni Vinson) who isn’t about to let these masked killers get her.
Unfortunately, the film is too often gory and sadistic. Considering the ultimate revelation of what it was all about, very much unnecessarily so. I don’t want to get into spoilers, but given the plot behind the whole thing, there had to be a far easier way of accomplishing what was needed to accomplish, right? Stealthy attacks would have accomplished what was needed instead of a big frontal attack that insured everyone was scurrying around from the word go.
Really, really silly if you think about it.
The bottom line is this: if you’re in the mood for a mystery featuring characters getting picked off one after the other, read Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None or watch the 1945 film version. It’s far better than spending the same amount of time with You’re Next.
Did you hear about yesterday’s exciting Superbowl? How the Seahawks pulled it off on the last few seconds to beat the Broncos?
Yeah, right.
It was one of those games where the very first play by the Broncos effectively told viewers what we were in for…
There was talk/analysis that the more veteran Broncos with multiple players who had already experienced at least one Superbowl would have the edge over the far younger Seahawks, a team of which not one single players had so much as come close to a Superbowl before this year.
Yet it turned out to be completely the opposite. It appeared Denver and their players were jittery from the get go, perhaps only too aware of the magnitude of the event while the far younger Seahawks just played hard. And the Bronco’s jitters quickly turned into a nightmare and, for them, a blowout.
As a fan of neither team, after it became all too apparent this game was over before the end of the first quarter, I was hoping at least the commercials would offer entertainment.
Sadly, that proved not to be the case either.
The only commercial I thought was genuinely clever and funny was the Stephen Colbert two part pistachio one…and that was more for the second, unexpected commercial that followed the more blah (as it turned out, on purpose) first one…
The surprise is what made it so appealing, and I’m not sure watching the two side by side this way reflects the cleverness.
As for other commercials, there were a couple of somewhat humorous ones (the Doritos one, the Audi commercial with the mutant doberhauhau and a very funny cameo by Sarah McLachlan) along with a whole bunch of very weird ones (the Bob Dylan one really sticks out, as does the Danica Patrick one where she was wearing a muscle suit(!) yet barely showed her in it, the Arnold ping-pong one).
I’m threatening to slip into complaining/whining mode but in the cold light of morning, I regret wasting all that time yesterday.
But that’s what makes sports what it is. Unscripted entertainment means you never know if you’re going to see something amazing (the Heat’s Ray Allen corner 3 to tie what looked like a championship win for the Spurs and turned out to be the impetus for the Heat to eventually win the series) or something absolutely boring like yesterday.