I was actually going to write a post. An honest to goodness post. But when I logged in I noticed i had about 3000 spam comments so I spent a couple hours deleting all of those and now it’s bed time. So instead of the brilliantly witty post I had half constructed in my mind you get this junk.

I’ve really been wanting to read more science fiction, ever since last fall when I realized I was so poorly read in that genre. In response I read Starship Troopers, The Forever War, and Flatland over Christmas break. Since then I haven’t really read anything. Last night I bought Watchmen, Wanted), and Dune. Wanted you might recognize as graphic novel that was adapted for the recent move with Angelina Jolie. “Watchmen” is probably the most widely praised super hero graphic novel and the only comic book to win the Huge Award. It is apparently being made into a movie and will come out next year.

That’s what I bought. Two graphic novels (comics) and one of the most important science fiction novels ever written. Don’t worry, I have a long list of books on my Amazon wish list.

That’s all for now. Perhaps I will post again soon and I’ll tell you about what I’ve been doing this summer.

So yeah...

I watched it last night for the first time. I had to finish it alone. :(

Very good movie though.

Wow, Leeroy Jenkins makes it into Jeopardy!

And those guys are all newbs. None of them knew the answer.

I saw Serenity Saturday night. It is a fantastic movie and I recommend it to everyone, and if you are planning on seeing it I highly recommend you get your hands on a copy of the Firefly DVD set and watch all of those first. The world of Firefly really isn’t about the setting or the technology, although the setting plays a large role. It is about the characters. In very few shows have I really cared enough about the characters to want to know their background.

To be able to pick up in the first few minutes of Serenity that the characters are acting a little strangely and be perturbed about it, is a testament to their development in Firefly episodes.

Every single character is unique and has a rich character with an intruiging background. Even shallow characters like Jayne grew from the first episode to the last. I watched a few bits of the pilot episode last night for fun and was surprised at how much all of the characters had changed. The people in the first episode were not the people in the last episode.

It is unfortunate that Fox canceled the show. In some of the special features on the DVD set it mentioned that Fox was unhappy with how Joss Whedon was doing the plot. They wanted to throw the characters into the middle of the story and quickly introduce them to the audience. I don’t believe that Firefly really does that and I am glad. Instead of introducing the characters and then running through through a series of independant events. You learn who they are over the course of the 14 episodes. Each episode has its own independant plot, but the character development flows across each one.

This is driven home even more after seeing Serenity. If one had not seen Firefly before watching the movie, so many elements would be lost.

So, go watch Firefly, and then go watch Serenity. And hope that Joss Whedon gets a chance to continue telling the story of these people.

Memento

I saw the most amazing movie last night. I have long been encouraged by friends to see Memento, but the cover made me think it was a horror movie and I delayed. I finally saw it and I am enthralled. It is not a horror movie, instead its a sort of detective thriller. The plot itself is… unique. I’m not sure if its even worth discussing the plot because it depends so much on the way it is presented. The plot twist takes place halfway through the story.

Let me explain. The first scene in the movie is the last in the story. The next scene is in black and white and is the first scene of the story. The next scene is the scene immediately before the last scene of the plot. It alternates back and forth, color then black and white. Let me explain another way. If the story is in 10 chronological chapters, you watch then in this order: 10, 1, 9, 2, 8, 3, 7, 4, 6, 5. Once the “future” and the “past” as it is easy to refer to the color and black and white sections, get close, a “past” scene fades into color and you watch it continously from there. Do not assume that this is most of the movie. Only the conclusion is done that way. Practically the entire movie is edited in this swapping form. Most of the real action is done in color, while most of the black and white is sort of backstory.

Why is the movie edited this way and how does it contribute to the plot? The main character suffers from a condition where he cannot make new memories. He remembers everything that happened before the “incident,” but anything after that fades within a few moments. He write notes to himself, mostly on the back of polaroid photographs. His other form of “communication” with himself are the tatoos he has of the most important notes. I won’t tell you what they say, or what the conflict is, its not too terribly relevant to realize the brilliance of the movie. I will just say the hero is looking for someone. Because most of the actual plot happens in color, and thus “backwards,” you know as much as the hero about what happened five minutes before. Several times a scene begins with the hero asking himself why he is doing something, which is revelealed in the next color scene. But until then you have as much of an idea as to what happened in the previous time, as the hero does. The format may seem cumbersome, and it very well could have, but it was brilliantly pulled off.

The brilliance is truly giving the viewer a sense of not knowing what happened a mere minute before, just like the hero.

The plot is very messed up. There are hilarious scenes, that are only possible because of the editing, but these are the exception. The movie deals with violence and drugs and language is present, though I wouldn’t say any are excessive. Due to the editing, this movie requires more concentration in order to figure out what happened. It is one of those movies you watch and then immediately want to watch again so you can understand all that happened. Like I said, the plot is messed up. It’s not disturbing in the way that you feel sick after you watch it, but there are scenes that you cannot believe a character just did what they did. Because of this I cannot recomment the movie to everyone. On the other hand do not get the impression that this is an emotionally difficult movie to watch. It simply requires a greater concentration than most movies, and is not light.

If you are interested in a truly original artistic movie, executed in a near flawless manner, go watch Memento. In what other movie is the plot twist halfway through the storyline?

I would first like to apologize for the last post not having a link. I won’t go back and add one now, that just doesn’t feel right. To be honest I couldn’t come up with a link that fit with the theme of the post, and then forgot about it.

My week home has been a whirlwind. Friday night my mom picked me up at the airport. We ended up at my friend’s house that evening because my dad and sister’s were out doing something that night. Saturday was a DSS night. I was able to see almost all of my friends. Sunday I hung out with Daniel, played games. Monday the orthodontist adjusted my braces and my mouth still hurts. That evening my group of friends had a LAN party all night. It is luxury to bring a laptop instead of a desktop to a LAN party. I played my first Warcraft III melee game in months. I will need to play this again. Today I recovered from last night by sleeping from the time I got home till about 4:00. This evening we had dinner with some good friends who I hadn’t seen yet. When we got home I watched some tv with my mom and then read Xenocide, the third in the Ender’s Game quadrilogy.

I am realizing that even though I don’t leave for four days, my time here is limited. I am assuming Saturday will be mostly spent preparing for and traveling. Thursday is of course Thanksgiving. This leaves Wednesday and Friday to see all the people I want to see and do all the things I want to do. The first being the one concerning me.

I haven’t really felt like I’ve been away. Nothing is different. The importance of seeing people is more intellectual than emotional right now. In Xenocide the characters can travel at light speed. A journey that takes 6 weeks at lightspeed takes over 20 years for everyone else. On would travel to a far planet and arrive a few weeks later and all their friends would be decades older. My time in Indiana feels like this. The quarter went by so fast it’s like I was in a time bubble. I haven’t felt like I’ve been away, but I’m sure since nothing else changed here, my friend’s notice my absence. This paragraph feels quite awkward… I am far too lazy to proofread my blog posts however, to do anything about it.

I suppose I should justify the link for this post. I am taking my little sister to see The Incredibles for her birthday tomorrow.

I just watched City of God . It is definately a worthwhile movie to see. I can’t remember the last movie I saw that impacted me like this, but it was not a truly enjoyable movie. I feel horrible now. Worth seeing if you can handle it.