18 Jan 10 Movie Review: Avatar
So, at this point, what hasn’t been said about James Cameron’s blockbuster Avatar? I can think of a couple things. For starters, I don’t get the entire concept of going to a huge, blockbuster movie that is playing through a vast, multi-billion dollar system of theaters, food, movie production and financing and the message is about being one with nature and respecting the environment. It seems really morbid to me.
Stylistically, the movie was a big old mess. Cameron’s typical ’space marine’ setup has been around since Aliens and expanded upon by games like Starcraft–so only consistency here but no originality–but when it comes to the alien plant life and Na’vi, it could have come straight out of the Star Wars prequels. Nothing too fancy here, but plenty shiny to look at.
Technically speaking, why is it the mid 2100’s and we are still strip-mining? I mean, come on–at this point, were I the corporate guy in charge, I’d set my brilliant researchers to creating some von Neumann machines and disassemble the entire planet, Na’vi and all, and ship it back to Earth for reprocessing. Really? Conventional rockets to bring down a massive tree? No nukes could be spared to vaporize it into dust? These humans deserved to be beat.
As I mentioned before, James Cameron’s Aliens style of space marines played a definite role in shaping the Terrans in Starcraft. So it’s only the life-imitating-art-imitating-life cycle when I see lots of World of Warcraft references in Avatar:
- Blue-skinned people at one with nature? Night elves.
- A gigantic tree at the center of their existence that they live in? Teldrassil.
- A weird mushroom forest with scrazy wildlife? Zangarmarsh.
- Floating mountains with waterfalls? Nagrand.
There was even a point where this little exchanges happens
- Jake (upon seeing the gliding mounts the Na’vi use): “When will I get one of those!?”
- Neytiri (sagely): “When you are ready…”
- Thomas: “Yeah, when you fork over 5,000 fucking gold pieces!”
So, James Cameron’s writers and designers apparently play WoW.
So the story, acting, style and plot were all fairly weak. It was only something nice to look at for a few hours, in mind-splitting 3D. But, really, when I want to look at something visually stunning I head to the MIA and look at Quiet Seascape or The Carpet Merchant. I walked away feeling kinda bored.
Grade: B-
Tags: Aliens, Avatar, james cameron, Na'vi, Starcraft, weekendery, World of Warcraft
25 Oct 09 Weekend Recap: Puzzles, Muggles, Costumes, Cars, Boyfriend (not in that order)
Friday
On Friday, Catie and I decided to head out of the apartment to look for beds and stop at Target. Our venture was cut short by a car accident on West Lake; we rear-ended someone. While the damage was minor and no-one was injured, the airbags deployed and somehow, managed to strike a sensitive area upon my person. I was pretty sore, and still am a bit…ouch.
We went back home, shaken but alive, and I continued to work on Bryan and my Halloween costumes. In the end, I finished with an awesome Grim Reaper costume for Bryan and completed the light-up sword for my own. Friday was rounded off by being given an invitation for an interview on Monday for a new web project manager position.
Saturday
Knowledageable Ravenclaws on the way to their next objective in MN Puzzle Quest 7: Muggle Quest.
Saturday was going to be a busy day. At noon, I had Minnesota Puzzle Quest 7: Muggle Quest, an event being put on by my friend Claire. A Harry Potter-themed puzzle quest, participants were running around the University of Minnesota campus, solving some pretty advanced puzzles. I was the official photographer for the event. There was a logic puzzle to start off, a rock-paper-scissors 7-way variant puzzle, a grid puzzle, and some CSI-like investigations of props and codes. All in all, I was really impressed with what some of the participants brought to the game–it required a good set of legs, a good brain and some excellent critical thinking skills.
Later that night, I was an actual participant in my friend Nathan’s Annual Halloween Party. His Halloween parties are of great renown–he typically spends and entire year preparing, setting up, writing, and creating props and decorations. His house was transformed into an 80’s horror/thriller/slasher movie mayhem theme! The quiz was to try and find Jack the Pumpkin, who had been abducted by one of the horror movie creatures. Bryan and I did a good job–and were on track to finishing it–but we got way too tired. Once we hit a couple impasses we lost our energy and instead, spent our time with the Endless (Dave, Kameron, Jeremy et al) upstairs, making campy comments on The Fog.
Sunday
Bryan and I woke up early and made some good breakfast (eggs, toast, bacon) and then I made him sit through Trauma: Life in the ER. This was a burn episode too, and included debriding, and injured kids, and huge scalp wounds. Bryan was a trooper and watched every minute…well, almost every minute. I spent the rest of the day editing the photos from the Muggle Quest, getting those ready for submission and publication later this week. I hear that the group that runs this might be moving towards non-profit status, and if that’s the case, then I’ve just done my first official photography work!
Catie is moving out tomorrow to her new place in Maplewood and slowly has been packing. I’m taking over her room once she leaves and haven’t even begun organizing for the move into the other room. It’s only eight feet…but I am thinking I can make this very easy or very hard on myself.
All in all…a good weekend. And if you haven’t guessed it, Bryan and I are now officially dating. After two and a half years…finally in a relationship.
Tags: car accident, costume, halloween, Muggle Quest, photography, weekendery
15 Jan 09 The New Mirador
Originally, I had a blog on Livejournal under the title “Mirador” where I would write about everything. Livejournal is a bit more than Wordpress, because of its integration of community and social tools–but so far, I’m really enjoying my development work here on Wordpress. Some of the main users that I have had over the past few months are kinda moving away from the environment, and I’d really like to pull them over to Wordpress. Now it’s a matter of increasing readership and getting my content online!
Some of these first posts will be directly related to how Wordpress is running and how the rollout is going. I’ll also be posting some of my short stories that I’ve been writing for your enjoyment.
Are you a geek? Do you love the science fiction? How about gaming, or maybe fencing? Or perhaps you’re a Youtube addict, like me? You’ve come to the right place.
Tags: bloggery, facebook, friends, livejournal, weekendery, Wordpress, youtubery
