Man of Steel

I've been feeling rather...faithless lately. Barely saying 2 words to anyone. Been sleeping a lot, too. Well, not so much "sleeping", as "lying-in-bed-because-I've-got-nothing-better-to-do". I feel weary, weary of everything. Some might call it depression. Maybe it is, but I don't think so. I just find it difficult to go on, year-after-year, watching everyone else take for granted the things I never get to have. Friends, families, children, love. I try for these things, but never get to have them. Not sure I can even try anymore. After all, who wants to be with someone like me?

It's like the proverbial dangling carrot in front of my nose. Always out of reach.

After awhile, the world seems less like Earth, and more like some kind of Hellish wasteland - where I'm slapped in the face with the things I desperately want, but can't have. The weight is extremely hard to manage now. I can barely carry it. I've been looking to put a plan in action to euthanize myself in the next year-and-a half. I'll cut what few ties I have, retreat from the world, and quietly fade away...

Should have time enough to squeeze in Man of Steel. I always idolized Superman.

We'll see...

Trailer 2

The Hobbit - An Unsolicited Review.

Hrm. New year. So far, not impressed.

Moved to a new place, and still recovering from that.

Got a new phone. They it's "smart". A new order of intelligence.

*stares at phone, waiting for it to annihilate the world and spawn evil robots to take over what's left*

Not that smart, I guess. But I'll be keeping an eye on you...


Also saw the Hobbit, the other night.

Sadly, I wasn't impressed.

Seemed to be missing the "magic" that made the Lord of the Rings trilogy so spiffy. I liked that the Dwarves were all given their own personality/defining characteristics (which aren't really elaborated on in the book) - but overall felt that the Hobbit suffered from "prequelitis".

Much of the drama and tension is lost when I know Gandalf and Bilbo aren't in any real danger. After all, they make it through the later films. As for the Dwarves, I didn't really care too much for them. I wanted to - but there were too many of them to really keep track of, and they seemed more tweaked to be comic relief.

I also found it rather redonkulous that with all the shit that went down in the film, not a single 1 of the 13 dwarves died. That sort of defied credibility. But I can't remember if if that's how it went down in the book.

Also found it strange that the goblins, orcs, and wargs all looked different from the prior films. So much so that I was actually kind of taken out of the film. They looked cool, and were done pretty well - but the change was drastic enough that I was distracted when they were onscreen. I understand that the look of them should be updated with the newer technology that's come in the intervening years between the previous films, but it seems more like they were redesigned rather than updated. The discontinuity bothered me.

Lastly, I felt the film lacked scope. I suppose that's understandable. Lord of the Rings was a sweeping, epic tale about the possible end of the world - while the Hobbit is more a small-scale (pardon the pun) adventure.

Overall, I'm not chomping at the bit to see the other films that come out. And to be clear, I love me my Tolkien. But all the above issues combined with the Hobbit (a single book) being spliced into 3 films. I smell another studio plot to milk the fans. I don't see how this couldn't have been just 1, 4-hour film - like the extended cuts. I also feel that the Hobbit is rendered largely redundant by having the Lord of the Rings trilogy precede it.

Might own these someday, but I can certainly wait.

I have the unabridged audiobooks to tide me over...

At the Movies...

In the last little while I've watched a bunch of movies.

Dark Shadows
the Amazing Spider-man
The Dark Knight Rises
Prometheus

I've watched some more than once. And yet, not a single one of them really wowed me.

Dark Shadows was too campy. And had a great cast wasted with very small roles. Then again, I'm also not a fan of Mr. Burton, though I did enjoy Sleepy Hollow.

Spider-man was very hit-and-miss with its take on characters. Spider-man seemed more like an asshole, than a person of playful glib wit. Parker seemed a borderline emotional wreck, because of his "parental issues" - despite the fact that he had 2 very supportive, loving, blood-relatives looking after him for most of his life.

I got the impression that either the writer(s), or the director, were trying waaaay too hard to infuse realism into a character that is fundamentally supposed to exist in a genre that exploits wish-fulfillment (comic books). The juxtaposition of trying to empathize with Parker really diminished the buzz of him being Spider-man.

Dark Knight Rises had some peculiar casting with Tom Hardy (whom I usually like), Anne Hathaway (whom I despise), and continued use of Christian Bale. I've liked Mr. Bale in other films, but he in no way embodies the traits of Batman OR Bruce Wayne to me.

Prometheus was ambitious and full of great performers (Noomi Rapace, and Michael Fassbender especially), but overall, it seemed like it didn't know if it wanted to be a prequel to the Aliens franchise, or be its own stand-alone film. That wishy-washyness continually pulled me in, and then cut me loose, as I watched it.

Maybe I just have the "movie meh's".

The straw, the camel, and something about a back.

Got home from work about 45 minutes ago.

Rough day. Not so much from work, just from....stuff. I won't bore you with details. They don't matter.

For the record, when you've been quietly contemplating suicide continuously for an entire day - there's nothing worse than having a roomie hear your key in the door, rushing to it, taking a look at you and going "oh, it's you".

I nearly burst into tears on the spot.

Above

Finger Eleven - Above

Inside, I'm gone.
You knew that all-all along.
Without the distance, you never get away-yay-hey yay-hey.

Plastic bag image.
It's over now, it's over now.
The color fading, is all the way to grey-yay-hey yay-hey.

We-ee-ee are strong, but we're dumb.
We look above, we look above.

We-ee-ee are strong, but we're dumb.
We look above, we look abo-ove.

Trusting the instinct.
It's not about what you think.
The one reaction is only to obey-yay-hey yay-hey.

And I'm-I'm staring,
All around, not far down.
Judge the distance from the ground and pray-yay-hey yay-hey.

We-ee-ee are strong, but we're dumb.
We look above, we look above.

We-hee-ee-ee are strong, but we're dumb.
We look above, we look abo-ha-ya-ove.

We-ee-ee are strong, but we're dumb.
We look above, we look above.

WE-EE-EE ARE STRONG, BUT WE'RE DUMB.
WE LOOK ABOVE, WE LOOK ABOVE.

WE-EE-EE ARE STRONG, BUT WE'RE DUMB.
WE LOOK ABOVE, WE LOOK ABOVE.

WE-HEE-EE-EE ARE STROOONG, BUT WE'RE DUMB.
WE LOOK ABOVE, WE LOOK ABO-OVE.

WE LOOK ABOVE.

Hey-yay-hey yay-hey.

WE LOOK ABOVE, WE LOOK ABOVE.
Yay-hey yay-hey-yay.


I've been away. Don't think anyone's noticed. I didn't really notice, either. I've been kind of killing myself in increments over the last several months, with no end in sight. School fell through, various attempts at dating fell through, interpersonal responsibilities fell through. It sort of seems life (at least for me) is designed to continually fall through. I've got no energy to see anything through anymore. They don't have outlets for me to plug into so I can recharge. Can't decide if I should continue to get up, and keep on, or not. This might sound self-pitying, but it's not. I don't feel sorrowful, just disappointed. Nothing has any lasting substance. It's all intangible. All I can do is work, come home, work, come home, etc. When I'm home, I just sit at my computer and stare at the monitor, waiting for something.

Anyway, the above song has basically been rattling around my head for the last little while.

Link on YouTube.

The Muppet movie

I went to see the new Muppet movie yesterday.

It was EPIC!!

Or better yet, described thusly...

Most Sensational!

Inspirational!

Celebrational!

Muppetational!!

I grew up watching the original Muppet Show, and the few incarnations from between then and now. If you ever liked the Muppets, at any point in time, you will absolutely love this film. The well-written musical numbers, the cameos, the several mature sub-plots, and overall positive (but not maudlin) feel of this film, make it an absolute joy to watch.

You'll laugh, get teary-eyed, and laugh, and get teary-eyed some more. There needs to be more quality films like this put out into the world. It really captures the spirit of Jim Henson, and what the Muppets are about.

If you haven't carted your sweet patootie out to see it yet, you're seriously missing out. But if my word isn't enough to sway you, Rotten Tomatoes gave it 98%. That's over a hundred reviews from all over, averaged together. That many reviews can't be wrong.

Hopefully, Disney won't ruin it by riding it into the ground.

*crosses fingers*

Burt FUCKING Reynolds!!

Hello Blog.

I've been playing Saints Row the Third for the last few days, and that's what the title of this post refers to.

More accurately, it's a literal line of dialogue from the game, and an example of how sheer awesomeness can blindside you when it's unexpected.

Burt Reynolds actually voices his in-game counterpart, and the reveal of him was totally a surprise, and done in such a way as to imply coolness galore. I think any time something unexpectedly awesome happens, I shall forevermore say "Burt FUCKING Reynolds!!".

Long-story-short, I'm really enjoying the game.
<: ) In non-Burt related news: I've joined up to a paid online dating site, Match.com. I'm not posting a link - mainly because it's about as non-exciting as my other forays in online dating. 'Nuff said. I've been hearing some talk about an upcoming Superman movie, titled "Superman: Man of Steel". To be directed by Zack Snyder (who did Sucker Punch, Watchmen, Dawn of the Dead, and 300), and executive produced by Christopher Nolan (director of Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and Memento). Not sure how I feel about this, especially because Superman is something of an idol of mine, and has been since I was practically a fetus.

While at work the other day, I thought of a personal checklist of things that should happen in a Superman film, as follows:

-No explanation of his origins. EVERYONE knows who Superman is.
-Put him up against a credible threat. And not a threat that Supes has fought a buhjillion times.
-Showcase aspects that show how Superman is "super" - both in his awesome powers, and in his life and mindset.
-Other superhero cameos! Establish that Superman is in a larger world, one potentially filled with other heroes, like the Justice League.

Personally, if I told the story, I'd start the film with Superman going through his routine as Clark Kent. He might be down at the Daily Planet, trying to think of some kind of story to print, when he hears something with his super hearing. Peeping around to make sure no one's watching, he uses his super-speed to quickly hammer out a story based on what he's about to do, and rushes off into a series of brief vignettes showcasing him triumphing over various members of his rogues gallery.

I'd even toss in a few moments hinting at the founding of the Justice League. Maybe lifting parts of a space station into orbit, with glimpses of a few soon-to-be-members using their powers to help in the background.

Maybe there could even be a moment where we see Supes just flying around, when he spots a scuffle in a back alley. Cut to a black clad man in a cape, pummeling a group of obvious thugs - and there's a reveal that it's Batman, kicking some ass. Just as things look safe, a thug looks like he's got the drop on 'ole Bats. As the thug is about to strike/stab/shoot/hug(?) Batman - we see a brief zap of Superman's heat vision that temporarily stuns the criminal, alerting Batman, who then incapacitates him. Batman then turns, flashing a dirty look to Superman (implying familiarity), as Superman glides majestically off into the sky, with a happy salute and smile.

That's got to be enough for perhaps the first 20 minutes, and now we can settle in for the main plot.

In my take, I'd like to see Superman helping S.T.A.R. Labs with research on some kind of extradimensional power source. Something goes awry, and there's a quasi-dimensional "hiccup" in the experiment - and the results cause ripples of time-displacement around the surrounding area, which Supes must contend with. Maybe Supes gets another brief actiony montage dealing with the holes in our reality that are drawing forth some minor dangers. Dinosaurs, aliens, nazis, evil grannies, whatever. And after Superman is done fixing things, we get a reveal of something he missed. A figure, that in silhouette, seems exactly like Superman. And for a good chunk of the story, we'd only get tiny reveals of who this is, implying that it might be another Kryptonian - possibly an evil copy of Superman.

And it is, and it isn't.

I'd choose Ultraman, who is something of an alternate timeline/dimensional counterpart of Superman, and comparable in terms of power. At which point, I'd expect at least 1 more massive action setpiece, where Superman and Ultraman face off, and level, an area of Metropolis. I'm talking skyscrapers falling, hitting each other with buses and cars. An all-out super-brawl.

I see a moment where some bystanders witness 1 of the combatants bounce off a building and crash into the pavement. As they rush to help, it would be implied that it's Superman, but it isn't. As he rises from the asphalt crater, Ultraman cooks them with his heat vision. At least we insinuate that he does that. A close up of the bystanders backing away, with Ultraman's eyes starting to release energy.

I don't have any idea how it should end, exactly, but I do think it needs a twist. I think it might be cool to have it seem that Superman wins. Maybe he makes some kind of deal with Lex Luthor, acquiring a chunk of Kryptonite to use on Ultraman. But in an epilogue, we could show that Superman did not win, and exposing Ultraman to the kryptonite gave him the power to mimic Superman's appearance.

Credits.

Guaranteed need for sequel. It could involve an injured Superman teaming up with the heroes who will become the Justice League.

Could shoot both stories back-to-back.

BAM!