Category: Entertainment

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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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.

Small Favor

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In this book, the tenth in The Dresden Files series, Harry finds himself facing down some surprisingly powerful new foes as well as some incredibly powerful but familiar ones.  And as usual he has to get through the day using a blend of cunning planning, quick thinking, and deadly improvisation.  But this time around, not everyone comes out the other side unscathed (well … I guess it’s not like everyone does any of the other times either).

In Small Favor, it is about a year after the events of White Night and things are going well – Molly has been progressing well with her training, The Para-net has been very successful, and Harry has even learned some new tricks by virtue of his own tutelage.  But it seems neither court of the Sidhe are content to let him rest for long and it seems that Murphy brings him a case that has fallen angels written all over it.  Through the course of dealing with these issues, he manages to take down a handful of gruffs (large, strong fairy creatures that look like, well, bipedal goats), an obscene number of hobs (violent monkey-ish creatures that are adverse to light), and a half a dozen Denarians – all without using a lick of fire.  And while Harry rarely goes through these things alone, this time around he calls in almost the entire Scooby gang – Molly, Michael, Murphy, Thomas, Kincaid, the Archive, Luccio and the wardens, as well as several of Marcone’s associates (since it seems that it is Marcone playing the part of damsel in distress this time around … again) – he also ends up getting some unlikely and unique forms of help along the way.

In the end, Harry hands the bad guys their collective asses and gets the girl (for real – on multiple levels).  And while a certain Knight of the cross finds himself compromised, an unexpected candidate becomes apparent.  If you’ve read the series up to this book, this volume is a must-read.  If you’ve stopped some number of bookx back, catch up.  If you’ve read this already, I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.

I’d like to note that (in case you hadn’t noticed) I’d gotten into a pattern of doing book reviews on Wednesdays.  Unfortunately this one will likely be the last one for a while.  I have yet to even pick up book 11 (I’m cheap) nonetheless read any of it (btw, if you want to get it for me as a birthday present – it is called Turn Coat by Jim Butcher and my birthday is in mid July).  I also haven’t picked up anything else to read, so this column will be shelved for a while.  I’ll try to fill in the gap somehow, but likely by starting some other regular pattern (say on Tuesdays) so this slot can remain open.

Friday 5: Pigs with Rhythm

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I like doing these lists of songs – music says a lot about people sometimes.  But of course, today’s list of songs are five songs that I have greatly enjoyed over the years dispite their fairly blatant chauvenism.  I’d like to say that most of them I just enjoyed for the music, but many had catchy lyrics as well.  So, in chronological order:

  1. What Girls Want by Material Issue:  Okay, I’m already embarrassed about this one.  Mostly because it is a very dated style that I can’t remember why I liked, but I did (in high school, though – I was young and stupid then).  And generally the lyrics portray women to be pretty flaky and senseless … but to a peppy beat.
  2. Heterosexual Man by The Odds:  This one I’m actually not at all embarrassed about.  This is not really negative towards women so much as pointing out how sex-driven man can be.  The characterization is sadly not far from the truth.  I first saw the video on 120 Minutes on MTV (back when they still showed music videos) and was hooked on the song and the band.
  3. Closer by Nine Inch Nails:  Again, this one doesn’t really demean women, but it portrays men as essentially a a few social conformities away from screwing anything that moves.  The video was f-ed up, but in a kind of awesome/train-wreck kind of way.
  4. She Hates Me by Puddle of Mudd:  As with others, I had gotten hooked on this song due to the video – I loved the build up with the fry cook and the kid in the classroom.  And whenever the song comes on the radio in my car (when I’m alone) I can’t help but belt out every word at the top of my lungs (the unedited lyrics of course).  And for those who are unaware, the theme of this song is of a guy pissed off about being blue-balled.
  5. Darling Nikki by Foo Fighters:  I know this is a cover of a Prince song, but I heard this version first and enjoy it a lot better.  Unfortunately, Dave Grohl wasn’t proud enough of this performance to include it in any U.S. releases and the only videos I could find were concert footage.  I suppose this song doesn’t really depict women badly so much as depict a questionable member of the gender (though that is even debatable depending on your stance on acceptable behaviors).

I’m sure there are plenty of raunchier songs out there, but these are my picks.  If you’ve got some, feel free to add your thoughts.

White Night

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Now nine books into The Dresden Files series, the plot thickens.  It appears that someone is targeting witches and the perpetrator is trying to frame Harry for it.  Fortunately very few believe him the likely suspect, but as Harry investigates the case a lot of the evidence seems to start pointing towards his brother.  Not able to believe that possible, Dresden must go to some great lengths to find the real culprits and keep his brother off of the radar (at least until he can confront him on the issue himself).

In this volume, Jim Butcher brings back a lot of past support team including Murphy (as usual), Thomas (as previously noted), Elaine (still maintaining a low profile), Molly (still working on getting her mojo in order), and … Marcone (hey – the devil you know, right?).  The cast of bad guys also includes a number of repeat players, but the angle is far from old hat and Dresden will need to play his cards carefully.  As matters unfold, it becomes apparent that this mission is about more than just saving burgeoning magic-wielders from being whisked away in the night.  It seems that if Harry doesn’t rein things in soon, the result could be a White Court power play that could lead to the extinction of wizard-kind (and as a result, mankind would not be far behind).

Luckily Harry has a number of cards up his sleeve (including but not limited to his status as a Warden, connections within the White Court, a powerful team of loyal wingmen, oh, and there is the shadow of a fallen angel in his head).  As usual, Harry gets a slew of hard knocks and finds himself against several adversaries more powerful than himself.  But that has rarely kept him from Forrest Gumping his way into a victory (or from getting knocked out a half-dozen times on the way there).  I’ve already got book ten queued up and I’m looking forward to what adventures might come next (and after that, and after that, …).