Goose on the Move

Sometimes I park in the donut at work: this is not as delicious as it should be, but every so often I make up for this and purchase a donut at work, but not in the morning.

The donut is a small roundabout in front of one of the entrances at work; in fact it's the entrance I use all the time as it's nice and close to my office. Or perhaps I should just say, my desk. In any event this little roundabout has a bit of a circular "garden" in the middle, which serves a couple of functions. One of which I suppose is to control chaos, forcing traffic in a particular direction. The other is to look pleasant. And I quote garden because I'm not sure what constitutes a garden: I am indeed not knowing. This particular collection of plants seem to grow pretty naturally, look pretty harsh to walk through and in general, is not colourful or flowerful. But it's still nice.

So I was approaching the circle and a goose was making its way quickly to this little planted area. As I slowed to begin going around the donut, the goose was stretching it's neck to see over the low shrubbery, calculating the height of these plants and quickly looking to either side. He sought refuge, and was uncertain if he found it. 

I circled around the donut to the opposite side and stopped the car. I pop open the door and this goose is just crashing through the brush, not caring what he's stepping on yet going full speed because he's terrified of this little island of green. I just didn't understand why he didn't fly, as well as why he was alone: these things are always in gangs. He sees me and stops. Now he must face the decision of killing me or going back. His first though must have been murder as he yelled, squawking a few good times. He's harmless though. I proceeded to the building and LOL'd.  

The Box

What a ridiculous title, but what a ridiculous idea. It's impossible to tell by the previous statement but I really enjoy the concept of this device: push a button, grab a clean million, somebody dies, all is good, right? The obvious moral/ethical dilemma had me believe this would be such a boring movie, that I was caught off guard on just how...decent, the film was. I still had a lot of problems with it though: is it really necessary for Diaz to try that accent all the time?

And I was lost. I didn't know until the credits rolled that this was Richard Kelly of Donnie Darko fame and confusion. So it perfectly explains the WTF directions this movie took abruptly and frequently. The sci-fi element was injected into your skull hard before you had a chance to prepare yourself. My brain was left abused, and I wasn't sure what to do afterwards. What did the average movie-goer think of this old switcheroo as they left the theatre? Or perhaps it's that I watched the trailer, dismissed the movie and if any attention was paid, I would know it was going to be a confusing mental exercise. Hell, I watched it on a Saturday afternoon as an afterthought; something to fill the background.

So while I have nothing interesting to say about the movie, I would say it felt good to watch a movie in the afternoon, but it was tough overcoming the crushing guilt of sunny skies and a cool wind outdoors. These are the sacrifices we must make though.

True Blood

I'm now five episodes into the third season of True Blood, and I get that slight inkling that I'm going to watch this show for as long as it's on simply because it is what it is. This is to say, the first season was tremendous. The second season was great, but the characters were uneven. The third season is having a difficult time grasping me the way the previous two did. I can't quite put my finger on it; perhaps there are too many vampires in pop culture now; perhaps it's the general lack of Sookie nudity. We'll never know.

So they've introduced werewolves into the series now, which sounds great but I find lacking. Perhaps they will take on a bigger role and become more involved. But then again, I know they can't take the center stage because this show is all about vampires, after all. It's great that they have other mythical creatures roaming about and I always hope they expand on them. Werewolves seem to have the ability to change at any time, which seems odd, right?

But what's really going on are the flashbacks with Northman. The show has featured flashbacks, obviously to go into details of how a vampire was turned, but we keep going back to a wide variety of time periods with Northman and they are great. By far, this character will be the most fleshed out, involved and quite simply interesting one in the series. Which is a problem, because Sookie, and some of her friends, are just getting terrible. Essentially, the unevenness introduced in the second season continues with this one, but we can always hold out hope that it gets tied together in the end. A part of me knows the best way to watch these shows is one after another within a short period, not once per week.

All that being said, the quality of the show is still quite high and I don't want to give you the wrong impression: I look forward to it every week

In the end, what you believe is yours to decide

The Fourth Kind starts out with Milla appearing on screen and telling you that the following movie is based on events that occured back in 2000, and that the director has spliced in actual footage and audio recordings from not only interviews, but those police car mounted cameras, depicting these events.

It's so genius that I got a hint of watching the original Hulk movie by Ang Lee: the frame would get split between the movie re-enactment and the archived footage, sometimes expanding one while shrinking the other, as well as adding different angles and shuffling them around the screen. The mechanic was implemented really well, and added to the movie. The audio recordings would be played, then the movie re-enactment would pick it up, or sometimes they were being played at the same time, just to show you how faithful they were being.

When they give you the warning at the beginning of the movie that it was going to be disturbing, you are that much more engaged believing these are true events. Some of the imagery was indeed terrifying, and as I tried to sleep that night images would flash into my mind: other worldly-possession, levitation and the voices. It was all great. It's not often that movies stick with me in this way and for that, I have to give it credit. While many of the events were questionable, the idea that they actually occurred is something you can choose to lose yourself into.

Saw IV

These movies are ridiculous, but the sadist in me seems to enjoy the creative ways in which people get dispatched. After twenty some odd years of watching various genres of movies, you've seen a lot of people die on screen, and in many different ways. In fact there must be some good top ten lists devoted to the subject, and if I was a person who cared, you would get one on this very site: but I'm lazy.

Dave and I went to see the first Saw in theatres, and I'm pretty sure we thought it was terrible. Am I mistaken? Because years later I would re-watch this same film, and decide that it was OK. There must be some scientific name for this effect: the first iteration becomes better as the number of sequels increases, with each one decreasing in quality. Or perhaps the first Saw was actually a decent movie, with an original concept, decent acting and proper execution (haha...sorry).

So I watched this one, expecting nothing really but graphic murders. Perhaps it was because the air conditioning was causing too much noise, but I had no idea what was going on here. It also didn't help that I was falling asleep on and off to varying degrees throughout the movie. What's the worst though is that I don't know who any of these characters are: I get the impression they've been involved in the previous movies but I can't be certain of their significance. I was really thrown off at the end when it seems that two of the characters look almost identical: I thought perhaps Jigsaw finally cloned somebody: your doppelganger murdering you, just because he can. Damn.

I just want to throw one more thing into why I enjoy the Saw movies: they are horror movies I can safely watch and know they are not going to give me nightmares later on. Just safe,good old fashioned family entertainment.

Greenberg

I first saw the trailer for this, and was intrigued. Then I realized that it was the same director who did The Squid and the Whale, and I was sold. I'm a huge fan of the aforementioned movie: great performances, screenplay, directing, story, atmosphere: everything. While Greenberg does not live up to the quality of the Squid it was a fascinating study of a conflicted (and flawed?) character. Also, SPOILER ALERT, because I have to. Just skip the rest of this if you haven't seen the film.

One of the things I always look for in a movie like this, is character change, whether it's for the better or worse. In fact, I think that's one of the things I learned back in grade school regarding good story-telling: your protagonist should improve upon themselves in some way. But, I'm not expert. However, I did see this mechanism at work on Greenberg himself. Early in the film, Greenberg meets Florence and immediately attempts to woo her with (from his perspective) his good taste in music. And this sets the tone as this guy is just a robot right now; you know he does this with every woman he finds attractive. They do not seem to hit it off, but a few scenes later he calls her up, ends up going to her place and he goes down on her. While this is happening her shirt is removed and everything is on display, but Greenberg does not appreciate it. In fact, it's just autonomous like the robot he is, and completely in line with his self-serving behaviour he exhibits throughout the rest of the film.

Later on though, as they "take it slow" and they call the situation into question, it becomes clear that Greenberg has more of an interest in Florence, but even to him, he is unsure what it is. Then the moment: she leans over revealing quite a bit of cleavage, and he finds himself staring down her shirt. The camera focuses on her chest, then goes back to Greenberg. It's quite subtle, but it's there: he's seen "the good" before but is now just seeing her for the first time, and seeing in himself that he has fallen in love.

So there it is. The film also touches on a few other issues and in general, was a satisfying watch.

Lego Rock Band

There are too many Rock Band and Guitar Hero games out there. There are not ENOUGH Rock Band and Guitar Hero games out there. The conflict is strong.

I absolutely love going through these games, and also, enjoying them with friends. I find it quite relaxing to just go through set list after set list, blasting through some quality tunes. It's also a lot of fun playing the hits with your friends. What I do not get a lot of enjoyment from, is trying to improve my skill on these games: I'm a player who is stuck at medium; that extra colour is just asking for a little too much. However, that is not entirely true as I can play quite a few songs on hard mode, with the bass guitar only though: hard guitar is just too much. 

Rock Band came around and it was a bit easier [than the Guitar Hero series], but I don't get a kick out of endlessly practicing, which is why I'm excited when a new iteration comes out, with a selection of good songs. I will not pay full price though: I've waited until now, when the game is under twenty dollars, to pick up Lego Rock Band. I've picked up Guitar Hero Aerosmith months ago for $4.99. At such prices, they are an incredible value of gameplay.

Do you like the "Lego" games humour? Perhaps I'm too dense, but I just don't get it. I'm not a fan of it. I've tried playing Lego Batman and it's just too weird. I also don't like how I have no clear idea of what is going on in these games: why are there so many areas that I just can't get to? Perhaps I'm too used to being spoon-fed linear gameplay and I've lost the ability to play games that are geared towards children (but appeal and are enjoyed by adults, calm down)? Turns out they are pulling a Donkey Kong 64 on us all. I won't stand for it. 

The fact is, Lego Rock Band is just a skin: the note highway is the same thing, but instead of shiny bars, you get Lego bricks. You get Lego characters, who I think look terrible and the customization doesn't sit well: the bodies are always a different shade than the faces?! And you get Lego cut-scenes, complete with lack of speech and that Lego humour. I skip them.

But it's all about the music, and this game has a good selection. I'm not going out buying pop albums, but I enjoy playing through these oddly catchy tunes in game. I'm glad they are there as they give you a break from the classic rock and metal that is abundant in the Guitar Hero series. They also further refine the tour mode which is...good.

For me, these games are a reprieve from your "hardcore" titles, such as Assassin's Creed or Mass Effect. I'm actually hoping that after a few hours of this, I will be able to pick up Mass Effect II. Now, if you excuse me, I need to go download all the Franz Ferdinand tracks for Rock Band!

The Road

What a great movie. This post-apocalyptic world was one I could believe in, unlike anther movie I saw recently, The Book of Eli. This movie would actually incite some emotion from me as well, as I felt tension and anxiety as I became afraid that they were going to steal the son. The performances were also top notch, although I should say I am a terrible judge of acting ability. But Viggo, you could tell, had intensity in him.

The colour in the film was great too: without ever explaining what was causing the end of the world, or how things were going down afterwards, you could tell the devastation was rampant and consistent. All the yellows and browns were accented nicely by the colourful flashbacks, as if the world was slowly being consumed of life. You also got the fact that life was very tough in this world. Everybody is paranoid - "I wasn't following you, you were following me!" - and crazy. Cannibalism is rampant and you just want to stay away from everybody; as the man and boy need to investigate buildings for supplies, you are terrified they are going to run into somebody just waiting to munch on a femur.

The suicide/life angle was played out very nicely: when do you call it quits in this situation? Without being given a definite timeline, you are left to extract the age of the apocalypse based on the boy's age (which you are also guessing at). They come across numerous bodies, lives ended by one's own hand, others who have died a violent death, but none that seem to be dead from whatever induced this apocalypse. To me, the movie is sending an obvious message that we - humans - will always be responsible for our own demise.

There was also an excellent play on who is bad, and who is good. Put good and bad in italics, if it helps. As the movie begins, you identify that the man and boy are the good ones, that the people eating each other are bad. And this distinction is black and white; it is never this simple. How good can you be, when you need to be selfish to survive? You, i.e. humanity, can only survive when everyone is in it together. The line gets blurred as the characters progress, which is appreciated.

I was going to point out some comparisons between this and The Book of Eli, but I won't. For me, this was the superior movie in every respect, but I can understand how watching Denzel pull out insane moves on a group of creeps works better for that film (and audience?) and each has their place. As a fan of movie "worlds" I absolutely and thoroughly enjoyed this movie.