Author: SilentBen

Not often silent, but undoubtedly always Ben.

Friday 5: For MJ

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In honor of the late King of Pop, here are five songs that I can appreciate of his (in no particular order):

  1. Billy Jean – Back in the day, this is the song that stood out among his popular hits. I enjoyed Beat It and P.Y.T. as well, but this one (though I didn’t really get it at the age of 8) moved me more than any of his other works at the time.
  2. Thriller – this was a classic. While most artists were trying to come up with videos to showcase their music, Michael wrote this song with the video in mind from the beginning. I’m not even sure what the message of the song is or if there really is one, but the visuals it stirs are vivid and clear (and obviously a bit spooky).
  3. Smooth Criminal – I have to admit, I never really knew or appreciated this song until Alien Ant Farm remade it recently. But having heard their version, I have a better appreciation for this song in general.
  4. The Way You Make Me Feel – ok, this one is a little hokey. But being 12 at the time, it had a feel-good sound I could appreciate.
  5. ABC – a Jackson 5 throwback (apparently actually before my time), this song just has pep and a fun sound to it. It stands up well, as far as pop songs are concerned.

Blurbsday: A-Wii We Go

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We have been Wii-ed. I bought a Wii system (complete with several accessories and games including the Fit) from a friend and spent part of my evening setting it up and the rest playing around with it with my daughter. After creating Miis for each of us, she and I tried our hand at bowling, golf, and Super Mario Party (the last of which ended up eating up a couple hours of time). She is only 5, so she can’t read the screens and has trouble getting the motions right, but she is learning and having a blast. Funny that before this system hit the market, I was one of the many who assumed they wouldn’t stand a chance against the competition (since the Wii is pretty much just a jazzed up GameCube with motion control). In hindsight, it was kind of a brilliant strategy on their part.

Transformers: Rise of the Fallen

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transformers-poster-big

I did something I don’t tend to do – I went to a midnight showing of a new movie – the Transformers sequel. While I greatly enjoyed it and I’m glad I went, a movie of nearly 3 hours in length is a tough mid-week pill to swallow. Though my boss was sympathetic to my late arrival at work since he was at the theater with me last night. Anyway, I’d seen the trailers and I’d heard some musings about who or what things were supposed to be in this movie, but I try to leave all that baggage at the door with these types of things and let the movie stand on its own. And it did – big-time. From start to finish there was not a dull moment. While I’m generally not a big fan of pointless action, this never felt like that type of movie – all the suspense seemed appropriate in measure.

Comparisons: Michael Bay’s second outing with this franchise definitely got into robot-based action much sooner. Within the first minutes of the film there were Autobots chasing Decepticons through the streets of Shanghai. And while in the first movie much of the dramatic tension (and comic relief) was among the human characters, in this chapter the robots offered more of the drama and comedy. The one thing that seemed a bit like a departure from the first film, though, was that the Transformers seemed a little less impervious – while I expect bot-on-bot carnage, the military arm involved seemed to be taking down a lot more targets on there own this time. Perhaps it went unspoken that the troops involved were defaultly equipped with more effective weaponry. But all-in-all, this was a solid sequel to the first and carries the story forward well.

Contrasts to the Source: While I was a huge Transformers fan as a kid and looked forward to these movies like a fanboy, I’m not a purist. In truth, adapting the cartoon as it was to a movie would have been cheesy and lacked realism in a lot of areas (e.g., scale issues with several of the transformers, body styles that were a bit too dependent on the vehicle forms). But for you purists out there (assuming you are even interested after the first movie), this movie deviates even further from the canon. For instance, there are several new members introduced with names from the show but that had little resemblance in shape or personality to their source. It was clear that the writers used the source material very loosely and in some cases only included recognizable names to give fanboys a momentary grin. But given how well the story is written, I have no issue with that whatsoever.

Things to Know Before You Go: (1) This movie is around 2 hours and 45 minutes long – so be sure you and anyone in your party are prepared for that kind of sitting. (2) While there are definitely elements in the movie geared towards a younger audience (such as a comical pair of Autobots referred to as ‘the twins’) younger is really teen/tween. I will not likely be taking my 5 year-old to see this (though she has seen the first) – I might let her see it on DVD when it comes out, but the immersive nature of a cinema multiplies all the violence and drama to a level that could be too much for the grade school crowd (plus at home you can pause for potty breaks). Plus there are some sensual elements that they wouldn’t likely get and don’t need to see plastered across a huge screen. (3) Unless you and your SO are into these types of movies, I wouldn’t call it a date movie. When my cohorts suggested the showing, a thought that didn’t cross my mind was ‘should I pass and see if my wife wants to see this with me?’ She was never into the Transformers as a kid, she only mildly enjoyed the first movie, and oddly isn’t nearly as aroused by Megan Fox as I am. And I think that Bay knew his audience was mostly male as he did include in the middle of some major melee some Baywatch-esque slow-motion running scenes with Megan and Shia (at least I assume he was in those scenes).

Those are my two cents. I hope they help. By the way, if you were expecting a book review today (a) you obviously didn’t read all of last weeks book review and (b) I’m sorry to disappoint. I DID get the 11th Dresden Files book as a Father’s Day gift and I’m about 120 pages through it already. If I finish before next week, you will have your review. But most likely it will be the following week or later. I will do my best to fill in the gaps. Thanks for reading.

Friday 5: Auto Motivation

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Having been a driver for 18 years and having driven numerous cars in that timeframe, there are some things that I’ve learned over the years.  Here are a few of them:

  1. A part that costs less than $30 will give out when you least suspect it and gladly cause another $1000 in damage when it does.
  2. While individual drivers may be intelligent, a group of cars driving together is only as smart as its weakest link.
  3. Never underestimate any driver’s ability or likelihood to do something unexpected or stupid (including when you are a passenger).
  4. Nobody likes getting pulled over and most people don’t likely shift their habits much or for long due to being stopped.  That aside, if you get stopped, be polite and respectful.  If you want to fight it, fight the system, not the cop – the former often works, the latter almost always doesn’t.
  5. Don’t assume, no matter how competent the mechanic, that small details won’t get overlooked (e.g., forgetting to tighten the drain plug for the transmission, forgetting to tighten the lug nuts after hand tightening).  Check their work – especially if it is your work.

Bonus:  If you are driving down a 25 degree include on a country road at over 60mph and come upon someone going slower than you’d prefer – especially if you are towing a camper with a sofa tied to it – don’t try to tap the guy’s bumper to get him to let you past.  Conversely, if you are the slow guy in front, get the hell out of the way.

Blurbsday: Diction

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Maybe it is my age (nearly 34 – getting up there, I know).  Perhaps it is my ethnic background (I happen to be of the ruling minority – white males).  Maybe I’m a bit stuffy or stuck up (I try to be a tolerant individual), but no matter what, “Where you at?” will never be a phrase that I can picture leaving my mouth.  It is simply the epitome of improper grammar.  You don’t need to be an English scholar to find the faults, but it lacks any form of verb and ends with a preposition (last I checked those are big no-nos of basic sentence structure).

So when I got asked the previosuly noted question by a co-worker over the phone, the only thing the kept me from hanging my head and sighing was the fact that I was attempting to park my car at the time.  Upon pointing out the fault and answering the implied question, snickering from my passenger elicitsa follow-up of “Who you with?”

Day by day I make progress.  Meanwhile my 5-year-old daughter is fluidly integrating words like apparently, conveniently, and recently into her vocabulary.  So I have some points of solace.