Vorahk1Panrahk2

"Fantasy world" was the wrong term, and I realized that even as I posted but didn't go back and correct myself. I think I read that it takes place in Colorado, but don't quote me on that. There's nothing fantasy about it. Just a good old fictional western. But the nature of the film itself, 7 men against an army, and all the great tropes that come with western films (fast gun draws, typical action shootout shenanigans) is still pretty unbelievable. Can seven men really outdodge a gattling gun? ...Although the most unbelievable thing in the trailer to me was Chris Pratt. He does not look like he will be remotely convincing in this movie.

"..and Tex, well... I don't remember where Tex come from."

That makes two of us, and I am really embarrassed about that. I saw about a third of it when it was up on Hulu, but had to stop for some reason or another. Next time I went back to it, it was Hulu Plus only. So I never got to finish it. Diversity is good an' all, but honestly, as much as I love the western genre, the trailers for this look pretty bad. So while I can appreciate the diversity of the cast, it's still not getting my money. ... Not like it would get my money anyway since I won't be near a theater when it comes out, but irrelevent. Of all the things seen in the trailer, I feel like an Asian cowboy is the most believable thing there. I don't know where this movie takes place, but there were tons of Asian immigrants in California, and in the fantasy world that is this movie I don't see any reason one of them couldn't be a cowboy.

You've got three John Denver songs on here. I approve. I also have a soft spot for "People are Crazy." While you don't have any on the list, I also love me some Brad Paisley and I don't care what that says about me.

Yup. I've been watching it from the beginning, and of the four series I've watched, Frontier was my least favorite. It takes away the Digimon-partner relationship which, for me, is the core of what makes the show so great in the first place. I don't hate it, but it's only series I saw that I have no interest in going back to rewatch. Tamers, on the other hand, is fantastic.

My girlfriend is a huge nerd, and she's enjoyed going to conventions for years. I have never been to a convention before. So when the San Francisco Comic Con was set to take place at the beginning of September, it presented her an opportunity to be around a bunch of fellow nerds, and an opportunity for me to see what a convention is actually like. As a bonus, Ian McDiarmid was set to make an appearance at a Q and A session, so we made seeing him our primary goal for the day. Naturally, my first question was "should I cosplay?" Because pretty much all I know about conventions is that people like to dress up. I have an Indiana Jones costume, and for a few days leading up to the convention had a lot of back and forth debates with myself over whether I wanted to wear it or not. Eventually I decided not to. We were going to take a train to get there, and I didn't feel like sitting on a train dressed in a costume. Nor did I want to carry it in my backpack with me. My girlfriend chose not to for similar reasons. So, on the morning of the convention, with me in a Jurassic Park shirt and her in a Mara Jade shirt, we set off for adventure. My first reaction (aside from the 'why does San Francisco always smell so bad’ reaction) was that this convention was... confusing. It took place in the Marriott hotel, and as soon as we walked in the door we were confused as to where we actually had to go to get our passes. There were no directional arrows, and no maps provided. Instead they wanted you to download a smartphone app, which is annoying in itself. But the hotel also did not provide free Wifi which made downloading an app even more frustrating. Not all of us have extensive data plans. But we found the booth to get our passes (which at $40 per person were expensive compared to other conventions, I was told). By this time it was about 10:40, and we were rushing because we didn't want to be late for Ian McDiarmid. Of course there was no clear signage so we had to find someone to ask. Fortunately for us, we either got there early enough or no one else was super interested because we were one of the first people in line. We got seats at the very front of the room, with the only spots in front of us being those designated for those who needed the sign language interpreter. Except there wasn't a sign language interpreter there so... that was weird. It ended up being a really good Q and A session. McDiarmid is an eloquent, entertaining speaker and he had great stories from both his work with Star Wars and outside of it. I’m not really a Star Wars fan, but I still really enjoyed it. I would have gone to get an autograph and a picture, but it was $80 for an autograph alone! I'm sure some people were willing to pay that, but I had no interest in doing so. Afterward my girlfriend wanted to go to the Jenna Coleman panel, but unfortunately the line was super long and neither of us really wanted to wait in it. So instead we got some ridiculously overpriced pizza and then went to explore the exhibit hall. I was really looking forward to walking out with a piece of art, but there was nothing I saw that I wanted to spend money on. So my only souvenir is the convention lanyard, but that’s still cool. After exploring the hall we were both getting kind of tired. The spaces were crowded, and neither of us really do well with crowds. But there were two more things we wanted to look at: the game floor, and a prop/costume exhibit. Really we just wanted to see what the game store was offering, which ended up being nothing unless you were a die collector. The costume museum was also, to be blunt, really lame. It had some Captain America, Batman, and Iron Man props/costumes, but there were only about seven of them total. Not being a fan of those characters, it had nothing to offer me. At this point we were both getting toward the end of our energy levels. There were no other interesting panels, and nothing else really to see. So after getting lunch at a nearby restaurant, we left. She told me that this was fairly small by convention standards, and that if I want a real convention experience I should make my way to Wonder Con. Maybe one day I will. I won’t say that SF Comic Con was a bad experience, per se, but with the large crowds, the bland panels, and the not really exciting exhibits, I can’t say it was a great one either. I’d try going to a different convention in the future, but with the hope that it will be a better experience. Ian McDiarmid was the highlight, but I also sort of feel like I paid $40 just to hear him speak for 50 minutes. Regardless, with my departure from the country coming up in (at the time of the convention) just over two weeks, any time doing things with people I love is quality time. So it was still a good day.

Pokemon Mac and Pokemon PC. Yeah let's restart that war!

U-Wing looks okayish. Looking forward to seeing more picture of it. The other two I can live without.

I put my food in a take home box at the restaurant this morning and forgot it despite the fact that it was sitting in front of me. I am notorious for forgetting things. I am the most absent minded person I know.

El Dorado so I could find it and lay claim to its riches.

Were there, though? Maybe it's because I only ever watch the extended edition, but the only fadeout I can recall is the one when Frodo and Sam are on the rock on Mount Doom. And I can't imagine anyone saw that fadeout and thought "Well, that's the end of the mov- oh wait no there's more." I can see why people might initially interpret the pan up from Minas Tirith as an 'ending shot,' but I dunno, to me it was always a natural scene transfer. Even on my first viewing I never felt like I was mislead into thinking an ending was coming, only to be tricked. It ended exactly where I thought it would, with Sam's final words. I've heard this criticism enough times that there surely must be some merit to it, but I've just never felt that way myself.

As a 12 year old kid watching it for the first time, and still to this day, I cannot understand this 'too many endings' complaint. I never once felt 'faked out' by anything in the third act, and feel like the third act playing out any other way would have been a disservice to the movie. There's almost 9 hours of storytelling that needed wrapping up, and I'm glad it wasn't done quickly. I'm glad all the main characters had their stories wrapped up, and still I would have preferred seeing what happened to Legolas and Gimli. Zodiac does not get the love it deserves. Easily Fincher's best film, no question. The last movie I saw was Eye in the Sky. Loved it. A very taught and well acted thriller.

Speaking of cool names, my friend's coworker has the last name of 'Falcon.' I am super jealous.

Whenever I walk through the kitchen in socks and step in a puddle. ... Okay that doesn't ruin my day but boy do I hate that hate that hate that. For a serious answer, losing things that are important to me, or realizing that I lost something important to me.

So many places in Europe. Scandinavia looks beautiful.

I confess I don't really have much to say about this review since I never saw the movie, but: I loved this movie when I saw it, and then when I looked into the real story the next day was retroactively disappointed in it. I could tell when watching the movie where obvious liberties may have been taken, but I had no idea truth was stretched so much. I'd probably watch it again and like it, but I don't know if I'd watch it the same way.

As my avatar sort of kind of suggests, I love Disney animation. Love a lot of their movies. Love Tangled. It's the most watched movie in my collection. And yeah, I'll go out and buy the merchandise too, if it looks like something I'd enjoy. No shame. There are a lot of books generally geared to younger audiences, or at least they are books commonly ready by younger audiences. Bridge to Terebithia, The Giver, and Because of Winn-Dixie to name a few. Bounce houses. Yeah, bounce houses. I got to play in one Freshman year of college and had one heck of a good time. Haven't been in one since, though. Too bad. Silly pages... or adult coloring book pages?

Chocolate. Sunsets. Cloudy Days. Sitting on a couch doing nothing with my significant other. Tangled. In no particular order.

The California flag is kind of funny in that there actually are no grizzlies in CA anymore. Don't ask me what it should be replaced with, though as a CA resident myself I could come up with a lot of very snarky suggestions.

Buy a laptop that works. Pay off debt. Invest the rest.

Go through the next 27 months with my current relationship staying intact despite the fact that it will be long distance with infreqent communication. I'll figure out what happens after that.

I always thought astral/etheric projection would be super cool. The ability to go anywhere/see anything would be very, very handy. The government would pay me millions to be a spy.

Even among things you like it's hard to choose 'favorites.' What is my favorite movie, for example? Well, sometimes I want to watch one thing. Sometimes I'd rather watch another thing. If I chose to watch one movie over another, it doesn't necessarily mean I like it better. It just means that's what I'm in the mood for. Someone once said your favorite movie is one you can pop in on a rainy day and thoroughy enjoy it. It's an okay definition, but again, it still depends on mood. So to answer this question, I don't really base it off mood. I have list of five favorite films that are chosen because all had an effect on me. I love all five of them. So while I won't always be in the mood to watch any one of these at a given time, they are all my 'favorites.' Raiders of the Lost Ark - I am a huge Indiana Jones nut. I love the series, even Kingdom of the Crystal Skull which some people refuse to even acknowledge. Being the first in the series it will naturally have a special place, but it is also the first movie I remember staying up past my parents' bedtime to watch. I felt so cool staying up late to watch it. And I had a rollicking good time doing so. The truck chase thrilled me to no end, and always does so every time I watch it again. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - I credit this as the movie that got me into movies. I credit it as the movie that got me into film scores. It was the gateway movie, so to speak. I loved its slow pace, lengthy run time, and the fact that it was a character study. It set the bar for what I look for in a great, attention grabbing movie. Lawrence of Arabia - I've seen long films before, but unless I'm mistaken this was my first real foray into what I can only describe as the 'historical epic' films. It's amazing how the film covers such a large scope yet it still manges to tell such an intimate story of the central character. This is also the quintessential 'falling from grace' story, in my opinion, which is a storytelling archetype I particularly enjoy. Once Upon a Time in the West - If Assassination was my gateway to film and music, this was my gateway to westerns and Ennio Morricone. It's not the first film I've seen of either (The Dollars Trilogy was), but I found it to be the most memorable of their work. It set the standard from which I judge most of the westerns I watch. Tangled - There was a time in my life when I thought I was too cool for animation, around high school, not surprisingly. In my first year of college, though, Princess and the Frog came out. It grabbed my attention with its obvious throwback to the more enjoyable Disney films of old, and it got Disney back on my radard. When Tangled came out, Disney shot to the top of my interest list, and from that day forward one of my main interests in film has been animation, with a strong focus on Disney. The film is funny, charming, romantic, swashbuckling, it's everything I want in a Disney movie. If there's one movie I can pop in and watch at any point, it's this one. I've seen it countless, countless times since release, and it never gets any less enjoyable or emotional. Are these the only five movies I love? No. Heck no. There are lots, but if I have to narrow it down, these are the movies had the biggest effect on me. I am also a big fan of chocolate. That is my favorite food.

I disagree that this could really be considered a flaw. I was taught in school that there can only be one true protagonist to a film, but I can't say I agree with that. I thought Pete and Grace worked really well as duel protagonists, and their stories compliment each other. On one hand, you have Pete, who's goals (I might add) you aren't supposed to root for. The audience knows he needs to be with a real family, and that's where the drama comes from. What he wants isn't what he needs. Then there's Grace, who loves her forest and will do anything it takes to protect it. The two need each other: Pete needs a family with Grace, and Grace needs Pete to help her understand an unfamiliar element of her forest. I started out liking Gavin as an antagonist. His motives made complete sense to me: there's a big dragon out in the woods, it attacked him, he rightly thinks its dangerous, and he wants to hunt it. But towards the end when he turned PT Barnum, and I got the impression he wanted to show his prize around, I was a little disappointed. It's a bit tropy and I kind of hoped he would stay a sympathetic antagonist instead of turning into a more stereotypical money driven bad guy. I haven't seen the original, and to be bluntly honest, after seeing bits of it online I have no desire to. It just... doesn't look good. I can't say this is an imrpovement since I have nothing to compare it to, but this version of Pete's Dragon will always be the definitive one to me. It wears its sentiment on its sleeve, but (or maybe because of that) I love it. I would happily watch it again. Totally should have watched this first instead of Suicide Squad.

Having seen the film now, I have to say I agree with most of this. Really there's not much for me to add or disagree with. I feel like this was my biggest issue with the movie, and I felt like these introductions could have been cut. We learned at the prison that Deadshot was handy with a gun. We saw how tough Crocodile was. We saw the El Diablo security footage for a second time. We saw Harley's athleticism and eccentricities at work. The only other thing her intro did was highilght the Joker, who I felt was a superfluous character. I'm not sure why those first introductions were necessary aside from padding the runtime and adding Batman and Joker. The villains were also not villainous enough for my liking. Don't get me wrong, they showed definite signs of being great villains, but I wanted "the worst heroes ever," and that's not really what I got. I'm not really sure what their motivation to keep going after the bar scene. They seemed pretty selfless to keep going, while I was expecting selfish. I was also bothered when they (or maybe just Harley?) started throwing out words like 'family' and 'friends' at the end. They certainly didn't strike me as the type to grow attachments. They felt like unearned words. I feel like this was intentional, though. The writer wanted us to see that the "bad" characters could be good while the "good" characters (Amanda Waller) could be bad, but I just didn't buy it, and I didn't really want it either. I wanted more villainous characters. I didn't hate it, but I wanted to like it more than I did.