A bit of fiction

Just a random musing:


The world has moved on.

I can feel the dead weight of the earth, spinning slowly as the steam from the dull warm rain continues to beat down. She's cold now, I can feel her warmth bleeding away into the small puddles that rise up as the dull raindrops pound nearby. I cradle her for a moment, feeling her against me and realizing that she's moved on too. I feel my lips brush against hers for the final time, and I close my eyes, holding the taste of her, her smells, those little scents that were always present in my mind for that moment. I can taste passing....sorrow....and death.

I let her fall back gently, laying her down for a moment in the warmth of the rainstorm, and I slowly stand up, pulling my coat and hat around me. The rain falls harder, I don't feel it anymore. The rain is the reminder of the world that was, and now there is the world that is. I pull the hat tighter, shielding my eyes against the splatter of raindrops. The crack of dull thunder, muted by the world's end sounds in the distant east, and I turn my head slightly towards the sound, the flash already passing. It's time I think to myself, to move on as well.

I turn away from her, part of me uncertain as to what to say or do, and the other remembering my purpose, the necessity of moving on, if not the need of survival. She's cold now, warmed only by the rain, and I feel that coldness, that slowly frigid point bury deep inside me somewhere. Push through it I tell myself, walk away, move on.

I find myself moving without even understanding how I began, not understand how it will all end, but moving on.

The world has moved on, and so have I.

____________________________


Just a lil homage to Stephen King.

More later.

A lil review on that pesky Transformers: The Revenge of the Fallen Movie

You know what makes a good summer movie? The idea that it takes you to somewhere else for a few hours, shows a few thrills and moments that make you jump, and gives you a feeling your money was well spent. Summer has already given a good film in Star Trek and has given a few that needs a lot of work (I'm looking at you X-Men Origins: Wolverine). While the summer season isn't over, the biggest of the films has opened, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

ROTF is not a perfect movie. ROTF isn't even a perfect sequel. It's about two and a half hours of ideas strung together with a central theme of what leadership is (I think), and that it has cool explosions and robots that turn into all sorts of things. Now, I'm a fan of Transformers, I liked the first movie even if I couldn't necessarily tell Iron Hide from others, but with all the new Autobots and Decepticons running about, it's hard to see who is who. The greatest failure of the movie however is the concise nature of the plot and the lack of a convincing "Superbad" in the role of the Fallen. Literally, the guy is in the movie for less than fifteen minutes and he's supposedly the one to fear?

While it is always a pleasure to see Megan Fox, she was woefully under-utilized serving primarily as the 'girlfriend' and very little else. The Chemistry between the leads isn't allowed to grow further unlike the first movie, it seems that the real emphasis is how many explosions are in the film at the expense of character development. Yes, I know that I'm asking for character development in a summer blockbuster, but it should be there.

While the story is weakened by overload of special effects, and while the story has plot holes nearly X-men Origins large, there are many redeeming features about the film. First, John Turturro is always good in whatever he does, and his Agent Simmons has some of the best moments in the movie, and I think is allowed to go from comic relief to real action hero in a pivotal scene with the Great Pyramids and Devastator. I enjoyed seeing Soundwave and Ravage, two of my personal favorite Transformers, and despite it all, I think Shia LeBeouf does a good job. That says a lot coming from me, but LeBeouf holds his own. Some of the scenes are downright awesome, the fight in the forest between Optimus and every Decepticon imaginable is good, and I liked Jetfire as being a falling apart Decepticon who switches sides (also voiced by Turturro). My biggest issue is it takes the ending to make Optimus Prime the character he was in those old cartoons, and when it does indeed occur, the ending and especially the final duel with Megatron and the Fallen is short, anti-climatic, and sadly pointless. I won't even address the charges of racist stereotypes that been suggest on the characters of 'The Twins', that's a post for someone else.

ROTF suffers from a series of faults that stem from the old issue of adding too much to the film. I think if/when a third movie is made, it will require more detail to re-engage the audience to the elements that worked in the first film: The idea that despite the origins of the Transformers as toys, it is the humanizing characterizations that make the film work.

I give Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Two and a half Lazerbeaks out of five.

So far, the best Summer Movies:

1. Star Trek

2. Public Enemies

3. Drag me to Hell

4. Terminator: Salvation

5. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

6. Year One tied with Land of the Lost (Aren't they the same movie?)

7. X-Men Origins: Wolverine

20 years later.

It's been 20 years since I graduated High School. 20 years in which I had a vague idea of where my life would carry me, 20 years of plans and ideas that might lead me somewhere I could be happy. No, that's not quite right, it's not quite the answer that should be easily found.

I suppose I look back with a mix of stark wonder and silent humiliated rage. Too much was happening even then, although for the most part I was happily oblivious: I really hadn't dealt with my life as of yet or begun the grueling periods of young adulthood in which I would find I was perhaps woefully ill-prepared.

I graduated, but I really didn't understand what I was leaving or where I was going. Part of me was greatly relieved to escape a place that I didn't feel I ever fully belonged, and shaking the emotional scarring of classmates was a welcomed relief. For a few months, I was in limbo, truly uncertain that I had a full grasp on what I was supposed to do.

We all have that summer, that period of our lives in which things are the last of something. The last good time, the last taste of freedom, the last moments of innocence, the last time you felt awake/alive/purposeful. 1989 was that summer. That period in which I was free for a while of the problems that plagued me since I was younger and have intensified in the later years. It was the last time I felt fully wild, free, and happy. It was the summer I did a lot of firsts, and the summer that changed my perspective on the future. Until then, I had no goals, but I began to forge them ever so slowly.

I remember that I met what I thought were the friends that would carry me through the worst periods of my life, finding that only a few would be there, while the rest were pretty damned awful. It was the summer I began to go to Baltimore with regularity to 'hang out' with my friends. I felt sort of part of a group for the first time, and for a brief period of six months, I think I was the person I had at that point always wanted to be.

My mom said something once, which I guess is true now if not more so: We look back on our lives with different perspectives. I wonder at times, and as you may have noticed, at different points, if I would change elements of things that occured. The old 'If I could change things, would I' arguement. I guess in the end, I have to live with it..but for several months, it was a good time, the best of times.

I made stupid mistakes after that period that I'm still living down. I had to learn the hard way on who I could trust, how much I could trust people, and that everything I thought I had learned about myself and life was pretty much wrong. I hadn't really gone through the pains of growing up yet, and I really didn't understand that time didn't wait for things. I thought I had all of the time in the world, and I believed, honestly believed, that I had all the time in the world with the people I cared about, the ideas and dreams I held, and all of that. It was a pretty harsh wake-up call when it occurred, and it isn't something that I can put my finger on. I know that I regret a lot more than I did twenty years ago, that I feel old and not mature, and that despite it all, I'm still haunted, for there is no better word than haunted, by my past mistakes and misteps.

In the end, I guess we all look back with some thoughts on our past as halcyon days, that somewhere it was better, that things had more promise than they do now. I guess I'm there, looking back and seeing myself as I was, wishing I could impart some wisdom and knowledge to that younger me, hoping that he wouldn't make some of the mistakes I know he would.

I'm still wrestling with the idea of the reunion. I'm not committed to go as of yet, and I find myself fighting the desire to go because while I think it would be interesting to see so many of my old classmates, the people I care the most about are there anymore. I find I have less and less in common with that point in my life, and when I try to think of the good times, I find them more with people not connected to my graduating class. I guess six years together is too long that even twenty years can't change, I just don't know.


More later.

- M -

The Return.

Yet another Comic post.

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/060915-Cap-Reborn.html

With hesistation, I'm looking forward to it.

We'll see.

Flashback to the before times....

I'm often amused/amazed/stunned/left with a profound sense of WTF on the need to make movies out of old television shows.

Case in point, Land of the Lost.

Now, I recently told friends I was actually somewhat optimistic. I had wanted to believe that the movie would in fact be something nostalgic. Let's face it, if you grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, chances are you've seen the original series. I remember seeing it when it was first on, thinking as a child it was the coolest thing ever, for a lot of reasons. First, it was the first real science-fiction show geared towards children that didn't talk down to them for the most part. The storylines in the first season were actually fairly cool, even with the camp. Second, it had dinosaurs and some of the most terrifying creatures ever developed for dark shadowy places, the Sleestaks. I didn't realize until years later there were only three suits, and as such, only three sleestaks, but it always seemed like there were more. Third, the kids actually had responsibilities and were treated by the adults as equals in risk and task. Finally, the writing featured a lot of lumaries of science fiction in the mid-1970s, including personal favorites like Larry Niven.

So, why did I dig the show? I think because it was so out there from what else was on, and it had a bible for what could and couldn't occur (except for seasons three). Nothing could leave the Land of the Lost without something replacing it, and the control crystals were definately cool. I always liked the show, I admit it, and I was always a fan. Maybe not a vocal fan, but definately a fan none the less. I wanted to to see Will and Holly get home, and at the same time, never realized until I was older that the show only lasted three seasons.

So, is this a review of the movie? No, not yet, but there is one coming, along with a belated Terminator: Salvation review. The fact is, I am dubious about the movie, mainly because I do have fond memories of the show, and I thought despite the camp, it was something very cool. I'ved been checking the web and found many other people thought the same thing, and pretty much if you had to name the three or four shows that rounded out the american experience for Saturday mornings from the 1970s, you'd come up with Scooby Doo, Superfriends, the Smurfs, Spiderman and his Amazing friends, Land of the Lost, and perhaps Looney Toons. I think that Land of the Lost remains an intrinsic part of the psyche of my generation, and as such, the movie can only do right by that memory if it isn't a complete send-up.

I think the elemental fear of sleestaks still remains somewhere within my psyche. At any rate, I thought I would post something a little light.

More later, including a review.

- M -

A bit of things here and there.

It's a funny thing.

Anyone who knows this blog understands that I hold three things as complete truths: Most things follow a pattern or cycle, Most things are interconnected to one another, and karma is a strong motivator and effect of behavior. While many people may debate the validity of those things, I have so far found them to be rather true and not just for myself.

So, with the standard disclaimer of a complete lack of self-perfection, I find myself asking in general and in specific, WTF.

If you need me to spell that out, I can't here, this is a family blog.


Our entire species has devolved to the point where fear, repetition, loss, stagnation, and status quo have begun to take hold as our standards. Okay, maybe that is a bit negative, but at the moment, I'm seeing too much of that. I need a vacation. Maybe somewhere warm, somewhere not here, where people's small things are off my plate and onto their own.

What measures success? Is it the amount of what you have or the ability to live comfortably in your own skin? Is it happiness or simple realization of dreams? I would for the most part like to believe that success is pretty much an illusion. We spend a chunk of our lives trying to achieve something, and the other half maintaining it or hiding the result I'm beginning to believe.

Is this negative? Well, it's not a pollyana version of things. I think that too often people assume too much or too little about their fellows, missing the point of action for flawed perception of what occurred. I think that too often we're wrapped so tightly in our visions of where we stand we don't actually look to see what we're standing on, or that too often, we've decided all we need to know about someone without really knowing them or making the attempt to understand their point of view. That's the part that bothers me. I could say the same thing (and have) over and over again, and still have the meaning lost.

So in the words of a great thinker: BLEGH!

It's raining today, cold and rainy and I feel every drop right now. I think that the weather affects things, but there is bad news a-plenty if you went looking for it. Need to get back to writing at some point, been about a week, but I'm in no rush. I've things I need to do which takes priority. Too many irons in the f ire and then again, perhaps not enough. Regardless, It's shaping up to be day that I'm eagerly waiting to end so I could return home to hide under the bed.

Again, BLEGH!

So this post is more about a general cynicism that seems to be taking hold, which I'm not so certain is a bad thing. I would enjoy a day where friends don't act arrogant, where the news isn't all bad, and pundits would shut their fat, stinking, foul mouth for 24 hours.

BLEGH!

The long overdue Star Trek Review

It's time to admit something here and now;

I like Star Trek.

A big surprise there, but over the years, I find that I like the Star Trek movies more and more, except the bad ones....the odd ones. I think that Star Trek was pretty cool, and I was a fan of the original series and some of Next Generation.

The franchise however has been lagging and slowly languishing under prequel series and what have. Technobabble replaced the quality of stories at times, and the last movie, Star Trek: Nemesis left a lot to be desired. The problem I think has been that people who weren't familiar with the series had begun to draft the movies, and that was a problem.

While I liked Star Trek, I hated Enterprise. As a rule, I hate most prequels on principle: Prequels invariably tell a story that I think shouldn't have been told, that attempt to flesh out the characters you already know in ways that really don't do them justice. With that said, I went into the movie with a very wary attitude. Coupled with the idea that J.J. Abrahms from "Lost" and "Alias" was behind the movie, I was more than a little hesitant. When I heard it was a prequel, I became a little more agitated that I thought the ideas of what I liked were going by the wayside.

Wow, was I wrong.

Star Trek is probably the best movie I've seen this year. In one hand it's able to tell an engaging story with characters you know in settings you might recognize, but at the same time make all of it seem new and different. The movie manages to maintain the idea of continuity with the original series and TNG era by stating up front that events have created an alternate timeline, which allows Abrahms and company to plot out new adventures to their hearts content. The movie manages to be nostalgic and at the same time fresh, all the while giving the viewer access to the vast problem of Star Trek movies: If you didn't see the series, how to access the large background and make it palatable.

Simply put, Star Trek is an origin story, on how the most recognized crew of the Enterprise became such, but due to the machinations of a time-displaced villain, changed from what was the future to an alternate one. Abrahms states openly that the 'official' continuity is the TNG era, allowing him to play around with convention and presenting an exciting take on what has come before. Each character is cleverly reinvented, drawing on the original characterizations while making them very fresh. Leonard Nimoy appears to give some credence to the relaunch, and it works. Even the storytelling no-no of Time Travel doesn't have the same bite, and adds to the story rather than serving as the Deux Ex Machina.

There are two strengths the movie possesses and one weakness. The first strength is the characterization of the main characters, which is handled deftly by Robert Orzca's writing. The characters are without a doubt some of the more engaging characters out there. From Kirk's "I got your gun" to Spock's seething "Live Long and Prosper" the characters drive the movie as much as the action, effects, or any of the expectations from long time fans.

The second strength is the action, which is handled without the typical failure of 'scenes wrapped around an image' that looks cool. Certainly several of the sequences, from the opening attack on the USS Kelvin to the free-fall towards Vulcan are as cool as they come, but they serve a purpose, a stark contrast to the action in X-Men Origins: Wolverine where it seems plot was written around those images. Action is smart, and that's a refreshing change.

The greatest weakness is not a slight against Eric Bana, but the character of Nero. Nero seems that he could have been fleshed out to a greater degree rather than the simple revenge against those who have wronged him. I liked the idea of Nero, I liked the scenes with Nero in them, but I felt there wasn't enough to truly make Nero as memorable a villain and/or foil to the protagonists. Nero was still better than the last few 'big bads', but not as good as he could have been, and detail would have been a greater strength.

Even with the flaw of a superb villain, Star Trek is pretty much a essential action film that's smart, witty, engaging, and most importantly, hopeful: It's a movie that you want to see more of, and find yourself eagerly awaiting a sequel. So far, it's the movie to beat for best film of the summer, and while Night at the museum: Battle for the Smithsonian comes a good second, it's still the movie that builds the most interest and steam for a return visit to the theater.

I give it 5 gorns out of 5 gorns.