Sensitivity cranked to eleven

Last weekend, I saw Finding Dory.  I thought it was a pleasant film.  It’s definitely a sequel that absolutely requires prerequisite watching of Finding Nemo in order to understand the numerous references from the prior film.  But it’s a film that as should be expected with most Disney/Pixar collaborations, is the definition of a good movie; decently written, with a clear and basic point and objective, tastefully humorous and has a tremendous amount of heart.

I enjoyed the film, and walked out of the theater feeling entertained and pleased with my time investment.

But leave it to The Internet to actively seek out things to find offensive and subsequently complain about it, and do their best to put a wet blanket over something good.

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Catching up with stories

During my weekend alone, I think I made it kind of clear that I wasn’t feeling too great, emotionally.  Catching up on writing about things kind of helped, but along the way, in between posts written, I found myself getting distracted.  I would check Facebook or play a League of Legends match, and then I’d chastise myself for squandering the opportunity of time that I had, and that I shouldn’t be wasting time doing what I could do at other times.

This was Saturday afternoon.  Since then, I haven’t played any League, and I closed Facebook everywhere; my browser, the tabs on both my iPhone and iPad, and on my other laptop.  More than anything, I think not looking at social media has been something cathartic and the forced separation something of a good thing.  What started as an evening became a day, and then it’s become several days, and at the time I’m writing this, I still haven’t checked Facebook.

The funny thing is how many times I’ve had to stop myself from almost doing so, especially over my phone, while I’m at work, in between assignments, or those fleeting moments where I want to not be doing work, catch my breath and see what’s going on elsewhere in the world.  I’ve frantically forced quit the app numerous times since then.  Eventually, I’ll check again, once routine settles back down.

But the time not spent playing League or looking at social media and thinking about either, I’ve actually, not surprisingly, been somewhat productive, in a manner of speaking; by catching up with stories.  And not “stories” as in hicks talking about television shows per say, although I am talking about some television shows; but if it weren’t for the fact that I finished reading one book, then I’d basically have entitled this whole thing “catching up on movies and shows.”

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I hate 3D movies

A weekend ago, mythical girlfriend and I talked about possibly going out to see a movie.  We knew what we had in mind, but what lied ahead of us was the dubious task of finding a theater within reasonable distance, and a showing time that could accommodate us grabbing a quick bite to eat without keeping us out too late, as mythical girlfriend’s schedule has work on the weekends.

Needless to say, while combing through Fandango we didn’t find many options that fit our criteria without it being just beyond the realm of leisurely capability, or nowhere near any viable dining options.  And every single time we found a showing that might work, at a location that had some decent grub nearby, it turned out that it was a 3D showing.

We then entered a conversation about how really, we both didn’t like 3D films, because one, they’re absurdly more expensive than regular films, and two, the necessity to wear glasses is a pain in the ass, and for people like me who already wear glasses, the idea of stacking on a second pair just to watch a film is not very appealing.  We agreed that the only reason we end up watching 3D films at all, is because either their showings are at times that are convenient to our agendas, or we’re amidst a group that, again found the time to be convenient, or actually likes 3D films, and group mentality dictates going with the flow.

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Furiously excited for more Fast logos

Among some of my guiltiest of guilty pleasures is my general love for The Fast and the Furious film franchise. I mean, when I was a wannabe car tuner who thought everything JDM was god-like, and wanted to do a laundry list of things to the cars that I’ve driven, I watched the first film with that “it’s going to suck, but I’m going to watch it, so I can criticize everything wrong with it,” oblivious to the irony that I was forking over my money to feed the machine regardless.

Eventually, the arrogance and false sense of superiority dissipated AKA I began to grow up, and it turned out that I actually enjoyed these terrible films. Yes, I enjoy them, but there’s little denying the fact that they’re really campy, over-the-top films. My mom would watch it and call it an “엉터리 movie,” which translated literally means “nonsense.” Whatever though, I still enjoy them, and I can admit that I have seen every single one.

Needless to say, I was amused by the announcement by Vin Diesel who used social media to drop the news that not only is the FF franchise continuing for an eighth installment, but there are plans to have a ninth, and a tenth installment of the story, so that the franchise can literally boast ten films in twenty years. Also amusing are their tentative April release dates, so I can probably pull out the birthday card and force mythical girlfriend to go see them with me. hue hue.

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Revisiting Battle Royale

Over the holidays, mythical girlfriend got me a copy of the Battle Royale novel.  Like most instances, I’ve heard time and time again about how the book was better, and since I was a huge fan of the BR film that was released in 2000, I was curious to see how the book stacked up against a film that I’d seen numerous times over.

I recently finished the book, and I’m having a difficult time in determining which was the superior, or if it’s even possible to compare.  Due to my familiarity with the film, I had a general mental picture of all the players of the game, which kind of led to ease in reading story where the imagination is already filled in for most of it, leading to where I’m basically reading words.

I guess the book was a little bit better, in the idea that they simply fleshed out and gave just about every student a modicum of spotlight to display a little bit of depth and character, before they were inevitably killed off, and there were some things that the book had that were omitted from the movie, or altered for ease of filming.  Frankly, I understand why the film did what they did in some of these cases, and in comparison to the book, there are some blatant scenarios where particular characters were used or displayed, solely for the fact that they had actor obligations to grant screen time, or something along those lines.

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I’m sure The Hateful Eight is going to be a solid flick…

But I can’t not hear the similarities in sound between “Hateful Eight” and “Chick-Fil-A.” And when an idea like that permeates my brain, there is absolutely nothing in the world that can stop the need to illustrate what I think.

Sure, it’s shoddy and sucks (mostly) on account of me using the brush tool in Illustrator with a mouse, instead of a tablet, but it gets my point across. My favorite part of making a spoof logo of Chick-Fil-A, is finding out where and how to integrate the eyes, beak and comb into any letter that isn’t a C.

But here we have it, an illustration of what goes through my head whenever I repeatedly hear the title The Hateful Eight.

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A short and spoiler-free post about Star Wars

I thought it was great.

The mythical girlfriend said it best when we were discussing it after the film, but we both agreed that it is best described as a true labor of love, by JJ Abrams.  The film doesn’t try too hard, which was probably hard to not try and do, given the vast expansive canvas that would be the Star Wars universe, but in doing so, there’s a simplicity behind the plot and execution that is just so wonderful.

Really though, as cliche as it sounds, you can almost feel the amount of care and respect that Abrams has for the property, based solely on how smoothly and well-thought out the plot and pace of the movie went.

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