Movie Marathon

Me and my sister had a bit of a marathon.

We watched the Jungle Book 2’s second half. Pretty animation…but it is pretty much the same movie as the first. Pretty much like all disney sequeles.

The ending is…actually almost identical to the one in the Hunchback of Notre Dame…which we preceded to watch. My sister loved it. <3.

Finally, we watched the second half of Persepolis. I already read the first graphic novel, but I didn’t read the others, so it got to add to the story for me. Very good,. but it felt like it ended to quickly. Watch it if you are into biographies.

Never said that I watched the Corpse Bride, did I? That was a good film, too. It really felt like a fantasy story that came out from a children’s book. It was dark, well animated…no major problems.

My sister recognized Chistopher Lee in that film before I did. Wow.

Going to watch a bunch of stuff in the next few days. Chistmas first though.

Got an 80 B- in AP Calculus AB. I’m fine with that. 🙂

The Games Sucked

Wild Arms 4 might have been good…but it crashed soon after it started. Just like my copy of Wild Arms sometimes did. Great. The game will be returned and I will search for a working copy.

The Sega Genesis Collection sucked. Sorry, retro gamers, but I didn’t like the games. The art and music made me smile, but the gameplay just was BAD. Sorry if today’s games have wussified me, but these games are too short, too hard (although the game collection allows you to use save states), too simpliatic and generally lacked plot. I returned it.

Technology really has improved games by miles, eh?

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Angry Birds is getting its own movie.

…

…FFFFFFUCK!

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Knocked Up is getting a spin off.

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…FFFFFFUCK!

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America Gods is being adapted.

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…FFFFFFUCK!

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Oldboy is getting a remake.

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…FFFFFFUCK!

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Space Invaders is getting a movie.

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…FFFFFFUCK!

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Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is getting a sequal.

…

Actualy, I really liked the first. This sequel could be really good. But if they screw up…

What is Wrong With Our Modern Culture?

I feel like ending my rants on our culture today. So unless something really stupid comes up, this is probably going to be the final entry. I think I need to say what exactly irks me with today’s culture, why it just seems so deranged for me…

1. Originality is Waning

Imagine if all of today’s music lost its lyrics. Would you really be able to tell the difference between one rap song or another? How about modern rock? Country? If that is too hard of a question to answer, then just remember all the sequals and adaptations hollywood spams more and more each year. People are now too afraid to try something new. Companies know that if they repeat the same formula over and over again they will turn a profit. And the American people will gobble it all up, never asking “Hey, can we get something new to eat?”

Individuality also has not improved. People still make their judgements based on what other people think. Do you honestly think vampires got as big as they are because people REALLY like vampires? No. People just here they are so good and decide to go on the bandwagon because its cool. Everyone hates Justin Beiber because his music is slow, uses autotune, has poor lyrics, and sounds girly. But when a “mainstream” artist does the exact same thing, they get hoots and hollars.

I’m just tired of recycled material and emotions. We need to stop looking to the past and others in for ideas and acceptance.

2. Bad Values are Promoted

I do not want to sound like a prick, but I do not like pointless sex or violence. If it has a purpose, such as porn, video games, or an overall message, sure. But there is a limit. When a song or movie activly endorces cheating, fucking just so you can fuck, or beating up your “haters”, the song just completely loses me. The lyrics of a song are supposed to teach a lesson or tell a story, not tell you to do things that 99% of people agree on as bad.

And just before you think I am overexaggerating the problem, here’s some lyrics from recent popular songs:

‘Cause I may be bad, but I’m perfectly good at it
Sex in the air, I don’t care, I love the smell of it
Sticks and stones may break my bones
But chains and whips excite me

-Rihanna, S&M

Lil n-gga bigger than gorilla
Cause I’m killing every n-gga that
Try to be on my sh-t
Better cuff your chick if you with her
I can get her
And she accidentally slip and fall on my d-ck
Ooops, I said on my d-ck
I aint really mean to say on my d-ck
But since we talking about my d-ck
All of you haters say hi to it
I’m Done

-Chris Brown, Look at Me Now

Girl please excuse me If I’m coming too strong
But tonight is the night We can really let go
My girlfriend is out of town And I’m all alone
Your boyfriend is on vacation And he doesn’t have to know
No I won’t oh oh, oh oh
No one can do the things I’m gonna wanna to do to you
No I won’t oh oh, oh oh
Shout it out, scream it loud Let me hear you go

–Enrique Iglesias, I Like It

Of course, one could argue that these artists are satiring the people they are in the song. But then why are they painted so positivly? And do you honestly think that the guy who is spamming Family Guy/South Park quotes considers Peter Griffin/Cartman as an example of what you shouldn’t be?

3. Passion is Absent

Maybe I am using the wrong word for this. When I talk about passion in this case, I mean emotional impact. I have rarely gotten that feeling from mainstream TV and Music.  On TV, you’ve got either reality TV shows, comedies, or dramas that have done a thousand times already in the exact same manner. Music today also does not give me this feeling, partialy because I don’t like the style, partialy because of the above and below reasons.

I’m not saying to kill of all comedies and all dramas. But can we have at least something to truely impact us (or just me)? Because this formula has not succeeded for years.

4. Just Plain Stupidity  

We will like anything, no matter how moronic it is. Shows like Robot Chicken and Family Guy and barely made of anything other than pop culture references and efforts to offend as many people as possible, but people still like them. Superjail is only about people getting killed in odd ways, yet it is still going. Brainless movies like Meet the Spartans and Jackass 3D make millions of dollars. And we can’t help but endorce songs like this:

 Boy you got my heartbeat runnin’ away
Beating like a drum and it’s coming your way
Can’t you hear that boom, badoom, boom, boom, badoom, boom, bass
He got that super bass
Boom, badoom, boom, boom, badoom, boom, bass
Yeah that’s that super bass
Boom x15
Boom, badoom, boom, boom, badoom, boom, he got that super bass
boom, badoom, boom, boom, badoom, boom, yeah that’s that super bass

-Nicki Minaj, Super Bass

Who run the world? Girls! [x4]
Who run this motha? Girls! [x4]
Who run the world? Girls! [x4]

-Beyonce, Who Rule the World

Dam girl
Dam you’se a sexy bitch
A sexy bitch
Dam you’se a sexy bitch
Dam girl

Dam you’se a sexy bitch
A sexy bitch
Dam you’se a sexy bitch
Dam girl

Dam you’se a sexy bitch
A sexy bitch
Dam you’se a sexy bitch
Dam girl

Dam you’se a sexy bitch
A sexy bitch
Dam you’se a sexy bitch
Dam you’se a sexy bitch

-Akon, Sexy Bitch

…

Y’know, sometimes I want to “Hyper-Genoocide to Save the Human Race”. Its a fun, happy event where every moron is killed off. Then our culture would gradually fix itself up.

Unfortunatly, I have been told that this plan would be considered a high crime and would be illegal. Pah. Liberal pansies.

Looking at Upcoming Movies…

Its been a year since the passing of the health care bill. Yet absolutely none of the “death panels” or “upcoming communism” have appeared. That’s fear mongering at its finest.

I was looking at the list of movies coming out. Its sad how Hollywood has run out of ideas. Seriously:

Atlas Shrugged (in two parts), Scream 4, Hoodwinked Too!, Thor, PotC 4, The Hangover Part 2, Kung Fu Panda 2, X-Men: First Class, Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer, Green Lantern, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, Cars 2, Transformers 3, HP 7: Part 2, Winnie the Pooh, Sinbad The Fifth Voyage, Captain America, The Sleeping Beauty, The Smurfs (seriously), Rise of the Apes, Conan the Barbarian, Spy Kids 4, Final Destination 5, Piranha 3DD, The Ideas of March, The Thing, The Three Musketeers, Paranormal Activity 3, A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas, Puss in Boots, Immortals (based on Greek mythology), Happy Feet 2, Breaking Dawn (in two parts), The Muppets, Alvin and the Chipmonks: Chipwrecked, Mission Impossiable: Ghost Protocol, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, Underworld 4, Star Wars: Episode I (in 3D), Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, The Lorax, The Hunger Games, Clash of the Titans 2, The Avengers, Men in Black III, Battleship, The Dictator (based of a novel by Saddam Hussein),  Madagascar III, planned Star Trek sequeal, planned Snow White film, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, The Amazing Spider-Man, Ice Age: Continental Drift, The Dark Knight Rises, The Bourne Legacy, Total Recall, G.I. Joe 2, Resident Evil 5, Frankenweenie, Monsters Inc. 2, 23rd Bond film, Life of Pi, Snow White and the Huntsman, The Hobbit (in two parts), King of the Elves, Man of Steel, Iron Man 3, The Dark Tower, and Avatar 2 and 3.

The rest of the films? Primarily boring or crude comedy films of stock action or family movies.

Of course, the majority of these movies are going to make money and America’s culture will still fail to actually create new material. We will keep on eating shit, so Hollywood keeps making shit. Sure, we might buy into something original, like Inception, but, in the end, we would rather watch something that had been re-digested than something brand new.

Call me crazy for wanting new plots and ideas to be displayed on the big screen. Its just that I am an old man and back in my day, we had something called “creativity”.