Thursday, May 24, 2012

Dark Shadows




Dark Shadows:
...Remember That Trainwreck At The Start Of Super 8?
Yeah, Its Like That.. Kinda... A Trainwreck I Mean

I know alot of people are out there curiously waiting for my review of this film, its arguably the third most questions I get in my emails after questions about The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rising, this one just slightly edges ahead of questions about The Amazing Spiderman. And I guess that is rightly so given the screen name I have chosen to avail myself of in this vast wasteland we call the internet. Many a day have I had to answer the normal dregs "Do you think it will be great?", "Are you looking forward to it?", "do you like John Depp in the main role?", ect..  all these repeating questions, and now I can finally answer them, though I doubt if what I have to say will make alot of you out there happy. Because honestly, this film, as great as it could have been, is flawed, and I don't mean one little scratch under a caster that doesn't ruin the value, I'm talking it needs a full on repair job to fix the giant crack in it. Now I know afew of you out there will believe I am writing this in a negative light simply because I have been on record as disliking the way they've made Johnny Depp look as a vampire, and though I admit, that slightly bothered me, it was the smallest of the cracks in this rose colored stain glass window, and I am not exaggerating at all when I say that. Not one bit, though in all honesty, I wish I was, I wish I could just cover my ears and my eyes and imagine what I saw on the screen really wasn't what was given to life long fans of the first ever sci fi soap opera in hopes the cameo by the four surviving cast members of the original show (now three after John Frid died recently after making the group cameo), and not care about the rest, but the problem with that is, the rest is, well, at some points pretty bad, but at other moments pretty good, and yes before you feel the need to try and damn me for "not getting the humor" yes I am aware this is a spoof using the darkest of humor, and though many of the highlights are taken from it being in that vain, it still has so much more that it has to live up too, and so much more that it failed to do so on.


See the problem with this film isn't really the film's fault, its well shot and well acted, the real problem, as often is in cases of this nature, with in the script. See, they try to cram as much Dark Shadows related references and jokes about the goofy nature of what was once seen as high end sci fi into what should have been a better well thought out and well written plot, instead of what seemed like a half assed idea that was tossed together by people that had only seen maybe 10 minutes of the 1991 reboot of the series, and didn't bother research the rest. Its actually almost insulting how little of a story this film really tells, and how flimsy the little bit we do have is. The actual plot, if you could call it that is not only a story of how Barnabas Collins was cursed to be a vampire by the witch Angelique, who then had him locked in a box and buried, or a story of how by 1972 the Collins family had pretty much become all but died out, and barely able to afford to keep Collinwood and their family business, the Collinsport Fish Cannery open for business, thanks to rival company Angel Bay, which just happens to be across the warf from them, and how it all somehow ends up in a third act thats all fire and supernatural powers a go-go till the very end. Infact it doesn't even actually give you the implications that anyone besides Barnabas and Angelique has any kind of super natural powers until the third act, and even then they seem tacked on in a sort of "meh we've fucked it up this far along, we might as well fuck it up some more and go for broke.." like manner. Its seriously confusing and comes off really insulting to the viewer, almost as if there was ment to be alot more in the film but it ended up on an editing room floor, or atleast you hope there was such an incident of that happening, otherwise you're gonna get really pissed off really fast, like, really fast.


Now don't get me wrong, there is alot lacking here, but, its a case of whats wrong is very wrong, but whats right is very right, like I found myself laughing outloud at all of the times they make fun of common tropes in every vampire movie and television show sense Dark Shadows, I even laughed outloud at the conversation that was lifted directly from Twilight of all films, infact alot of the humor in the film is what actually kept me from taking a nap through the second half of the film, well that and how well the cast tries to make it work with how little they have in respect to actual story or plot, because they do infact really give it their all, and can at times be rather entertaining in their own ways, its both comical and kind of painful at times to watch them try and do their best, even if in all fairness, 90% of the film is just Barnabas and Angelique yelling insults and flirts at each other in what basically comes down to a supernaturally enhanced episode of Moonlighting, and yes if you don't get that reference, I am inside crying for your very soul.


I guess my major issue with the film is just how little was done with such a rich history and a plethora of characters, infact half of the characters that made up the bulk of the cast at any given time were missing. By my count, of all the characters they had to pluck from, they only literally used a handful. Its almost as if Depp or whoever was incharge of final agreement on the script had no clue who half of the cast was! Seriously, its like they didn't even bother to wikipedia up a character manifest or something, they just randomly tossed together 4 Collins family members to be family to Barnabas and could give a damn about the rest of the cast. Where was Reverend Trask? You have a film where the loosely tossed together plot is basically a 200+ year lover's spat between a vampire and a witch, who spend 90% of the film just tossing insults at each other, as they basically destroy half of a small town in Maine, and you miss the opportunity to have a bat shit crazy hellfire and brimestone preacher like Trask somewhere in the mix? Seriously? A vampire starts ripping its way through random people in town and it doesn't get the attention of local occult studies and history teacher and town historian T. Elliot Stokes? Really? Also to the point of Stokes, how doesn't he notice that EVERY woman in Angelique's family looks exactly alike, nor does he question how in the 1700s a woman could start and own a business? Nor does the film really even touch on the history of the Collins family, they just imply there are dark things in the family and its past, only really mention Barnabas as past ones, but never really going into any detail, nor do they really explain the whole set up to the third act other then the constant bitching between Barnabas and Angelique, I don't mean to lightly spoil here, but if you go and watch the film, keep this in mind, at the start of the final act of the film, when you find out an interesting reveal about Victoria Winters, followed by Angelique dropping what might be the coolest sounding fire spell ever written, and the Collins Cannery is set ablaze, NOTHING makes any sense. None of the characters that display powers at this point are even hinted at in the rest of the film to have any kind of powers, after all, why would they have such a hard time believing that Barnabas is a vampire if they all have these abilities of their own? It seriously doesn't make any sense at all, the actual end of the film doesn't fully make sense either, I honestly feel it was just slapped together lazily.


So the big question, should you go and see this film, honestly, I'm not truly sure. Part of me says go and see it, you'll get a good laugh out of the insults volleyed about between the two main roles, and the great Jackie Earl Haley does a pretty fun job as Barnabas' earstwhile henchman Willie Loomas, and there are a great deal of laugh outloud moments, Barnabas reciting Steve Miller's "The Joker" while staring into a lava lamp, and the scene where he murders a group of hippies that most have seen in the previews are both pretty funny to, as is his confusion of the not time period correct McDonald's sign and the car when he first comes out of the coffin in 1972. But the other part of me is saying to run like the wind, as far as you can from it, for unless you've no idea of the history of the show or the characters there in, you'll be most upset and most annoyed by what exactly was done to this by a "life long fan" like Johnny Depp claims he is, though how a "life long fan" could let this happen I've no idea. So I guess the final real choice on the matter is, to make your own choice, maybe wait until it hits netflix or Red Box or one of the movie channels before bothering with it, so you don't have to worry about putting out any money for this movie that tries so hard to be so much more then it truly is, but in the end, and regretfully, fails horrible at its mission.


Well, if you haven't seen it yet, or are still interested, here is the trailer....



-----

BC

Monday, May 7, 2012

The Avengers



The Avengers:
... A Bunch Of SuperHeroes Sitting Around Eating
Shwarma Together...


When Marvel Studios stated years ago, they would be making an Avengers film, the world looked on in awe, they wondered could it be possible, could they honestly be able to jam that many big name heroes into one film with enough screen time to properly give each one's fanbase love? Would they have a villain worthy of them as a whole, instead of one bad ass bad guy who fights only one of them normally? So many questions, so many moments of wondering, so many exclamation points put into online speculation statements. Marvel was smart about this, telling us it was on the horizon, and that all their films between then and now, would all be leading up to this common goal, normally with afew carefully placed small scenes with in each film itself, and a stinger scene at the end of each film's credits that connects it to the film to the one that shall be next in line, thus bridging them all together, like an epilogue scene between storylines and such, its really pretty brilliant when you think about it, and stands as one of the many reasons I'm glad Marvel Studios took over as much of its film properties as they have... now they just need Spiderman, The X-Men and the Fantastic Four back to make it fully what it can be, anyway, I degress, lets get into why we're all here shall we? You know it, you love it, hardcore comic book nerdporn...


The film starts pretty much where Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger left off, with Nick Fury arriving at a top secret SHIELD research facility where they are studying the small cube like relic that we last saw in the hands of The Red Skull before losing it to the ocean in Captain America, they call it "The Tesseract" but to us comic book people, it is ofcourse, The Cosmic Cube, the source of all knowledge and power in the universe, i guess they called it The Tesseract because "The Cosmic Cube" sounds kind of silly to non-long time comic book readers. Somehow, with their tinkering, SHIELD opens up a portal through space, and out steps exiled Norse God Loki, as if he was controlling those who were working on the project to bring it right to him. He walks through, he takes the cube, and walks off, using his super mad jedi mind control skills on several members of SHIELD along the way, including Clint "Hawkeye" Barton, for those of you who don't know who Hawkeye is, he was the bow and arrow carrying SHIELD agent in Thor, and if you haven't seen Thor, then seriously what are you doing watching this film to begin with? This attack prompts Fury to inact The Avengers Initiative, the plan he's been popping up talking to various characters about in the movies leading to this one. 


Next we see the team coming together, being brought in from all over the world, and eventually they're joined by Thor, who's come to collect Loki, and after the obligatory fight scenes and sarcastic shit talking that comes along with films of this nature and their format, they all come together against their common enemy, Loki and his army of aliens known as The Chitauri, with whom its revealed he traded the cosmic cube to a being known as The Other for. The Chitauri are infact the "ultimates" version of marvel mainstay villains The Skrulls, they're shapechanging green beings who, well, shapechange, they're pretty formidable and are seen as some of the most powerful warriors in the universe, the climatic battle between The Avengers and the invading hordes is probably the best fight scene in the last 10 years as far as I'm concerned, and possibly the greatest superhero movie scene ever filmed in general with out a doubt. Oh sure, most of this film is basically fightporn, but no one really cares, its just pure out and out special effects awesome, and really thats all you're here for, you aren't expecting anything thats going to sweep awards season were you? Its a basic origin story of a team of superheroes, oh sure it might seem kind of plotless to some, but its a movie based on one of the greatest comic books ever, thats all that matters, well that and that they won't drop the ball like DC will do with the Justice League movie, well and all their non-batman movies, but again, i digress off point.


What my major point of astonishment about this film is, and this is a purely a writing mechanic's thing, the fact that with such a big cast, and really, make no mistake they crammed alot more characters into this film then you think, and with a cast this large, you have to give each character abit of spotlight, simply because, well, every character, even down to the supporting characters, have fans who wanna see them have a moment, sure its silly, but thats just how it works, and amazingly, The Avengers give every single one of them their moment to shine, even secondaries like SHIELD's Marissa Hill and Phil Coulson, even The Other, who is an original character created for this film, gets his moment to shine, its incredible really, specially when you have such big hitters as this film does, you gotta pander alittle to each character's fans; Thor has to swing his mighty hammer, Captain America has to swing his mighty shield so that all who appose the shield must yield, Iron Man must douchebag about, The Hulk needs to smash, Hawkeye must prove using antiquated weapons is still kind of cool, Black Widow has to be insanely hot, Nick Fury has to want these motherfucking chitauri off his motherfucking helicarrier, ect.. Anyway my point is its amazing they could work it all in, because logically, it would have ended up as horrible as the fight scenes in the pre-First Class X-Men movies, which if you remember, were just an awful awful mess.. I commend them for this, it is so very hard to do.


So the big question, is The Avengers worth seeing? Honestly? With out a shadow of a doubt, there is no question in my mind that the only answer is HELL YES. This movie is everything you want in a comic book movie, as well as everything you want in a summer blockbuster, its big, its over the top, its loud, its explosions and dudes in spandex fighting and Scarlett Johanson-y, and the best part is, it isn't gonna say its sorry for it! Its just laid out flat like that, this is a film about a team of superpowered beings, beating the hell out of a trickster god and his army of shapechanging aliens who in the regular continuity are ballchinians, its just so simple of a story, and so amazingly good even though it shouldn't be by all logical accounts. But thats the biggest joy with comic book movies, you have a good guy, sometimes with powers, sometimes with tech, you see their story begin, and then its basically alot of punching and fighting and catchphrase saying, and we don't care, because they're so awesome in their simplicity and grandeur at the same time. Its truly why I love these types of film so much. 


Plus, I love that the next set of marvel movies will focus on the Infinity Gauntlet, one of the greatest things in all of marvel history... Bring on round two!!!!... and ofcourse, how can you go wrong when your trailers before the movie are for The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spiderman? Seriously, epic from previews to the very end.

But if you aren't sold yet, here is the trailer.....



----

BC

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Saying Good Bye To A True Legend: Jonathan Frid



Saying Good Bye To A True Legend:
Jonathan Frid of Dark Shadows

On April 13th, 2012, a Friday the thirteenth for those wondering, the world quietly lost one of its truly great actors, and one of its truly great people, for you see this was the day the great Jonathan Frid, star of stage and screen, passed away of natural causes in a hospital room in Hamilton Ontario Canada, his hometown, only afew months after filming his last role, a cameo in the soon to be released Dark Shadows, a film ment to be a darkly comedic but still horrific take on the television series in which Frid first came to fame playing the role of vampire, and saver of the series from cancellation, Barnabas Collins, a vampire who was freed from his crypt by a grave robber looking to loot his tomb, this would be the third and final time Frid would do such a cameo as a nod to the original series, Frid appeared in the 1991 Dark Shadows revival series, as well as the failed 2004 pilot for a relaunch series as-well, in all three cases he appears as an old man who converses with one of the key members of the new cast for only afew brief moments. But i'll get more into Dark Shadows and the mark it and Frid left in abit, but first i'd like to give you a short history of the man himself.

 
Jon grew up in Hamilton Ontario Canada, were he lived until he went to serve in the Royal Canadian Navy during World War 2, after which he returned home to Hamilton and went to university, until he was accepted to the royal academy of dramatic arts in London, England. From there Jon moved to London to study and work, and after graduating from there, he would move to New Haven Conn. where he would continue to learn and study, and eventually get a degree in directing from the Yale School of Drama, it was on his work there, that he started to use the stage name Jonathan Frid instead of his real name John H. Frid. During this time Jon also spent alot of time helping to start the Williamstown Theater in Williamstown Massachusetts, he would stay in the until 1962, when he would move to new york and continue his stage work, in 1966 while doing this, he would get a call, while preparing to move to the west coast to teach acting that Jon would get a call that changed his life, figuring it would be a short gig that would give him the extra money he needed to move and have abit saved up, he was informed he had been picked to play a enigmatic character named Barnabas Collins on a new to the air and struggling day time soap opera called Dark Shadows. This would be the call that changed Jon's life forever. Jon was amazed at how his arrival on the series not only saved it from cancellation but made him a household name almost overnight, Jon scrapped his plans to teach acting and stayed in new york through out the run of Dark Shadows, where he would take stage acting work when he wasn't filming for the series, sometimes juggling both stage and television work if the stage work was good enough.

After his time in the spotlight was over, Jon would travel mostly between both coasts and Hamilton Ontario, doing stage work and one man plays, until he officially retiring in 1994, returning back home to Hamilton for good, where he would entrench himself in the theater scene and produce, direct, and sometimes if he felt the need to do so, star in many a local production or self written one man plays. This is where Jon would spend the rest of his days until his health was to bad for him to continue to preform, though he delighted in being recognized for either his short career in the limelight, or for his acting around Hamilton. He, unlike many "classically trained actors" who took rolls on television, Jon never turned his back on his most noted role, he often would say some of the best time of his life was playing the vampire who defined television vampires until Buffy would redux the archetype in the late 1990s, he never missed the yearly Dark Shadows Festival in his last few years alive, and between 2008 to 2010 he would return to the character of Barnabas Collins in a series of Dark Shadows audio books, which reunited most of the still living original cast, and would keep the living members of the old show's cast closer knit then they were before their return to working together, and they would stay this way even in Frid's death. Frid died of natural causes in a Hamilton hospital on April 14th, 2012, he was surrounded by family and loved ones when he died, he was 87.


Now, this is is sad on its own, when a true legend and a humble man dies, but Jon's passing, much like Jim Henson's or Maila Nurmi's, hits a note with me, you see, among my prized belongings were two letters written by hand from Jon Frid to me personally, along with afew signed bits of memorabilia, all signed to me from Jon himself. Jon was asked to write and sign those things for me by cast member Laura Parker, whom I had the honor of meeting and interviewing about her offshoot of the Dark Shadows books called "The Salem Branch" which starred her iconic character, the beautiful witch Angelique. She and I had become friendly and after hearing my Dark Shadows related stories, and connection to the show, and how I got the nickname of Barnabus Collins, she mentioned she was going to see the soon to be final one man stage show and offered to not only get afew things signed for me from the surviving cast, but also afew things by Frid himself, I was elated beyond words, and afew weeks later, when a package arrived from Hamilton Ontario I was awe stuck to find signed pictures, a script from the show, and of his one man play, and a letter written to me, by Jon himself stating his thanks for being such a devoted fan, and being raised a fan. I wrote him back thanking him for what he had sent and his kind words, and he again wrote me back thanking me once more for being such a lovely and devoted fan, it was a highlight of my life for sure.


I never got to know Jon outside of the two letters he wrote me and the stories told to me by Laura Parker, and by his work I've seen on television, but with him and his ironic role playing a big part in my life, i will miss him, so good bye Jon, may you rest in peace, or rest for another 200 years in your coffin, like we all know you're really doing....

and just for the love of things... the introduction of Barnabas Collins from "Enter The Vampire"


---

BC


Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Real Steel




Real Steel:
I spent this whole movie waiting for a head to pop up and spin around..
..also I've still not forgiven Hugh Jackman for Wolverine.


I must admit, I was rather confused and abit unsettled when i first heard the premise of this film, honestly, it had made me think that someone in Hollywood was trying to get as much mileage as they could out of Hugh Jackman's at times questionable and shaky starpower as fast as they could before we sent him back to the merry old land of oz where he can be forgotten about and become a footnote, like so much Paul Hogan, Russel Crowe and Eric Bana before him, but instead of sharing the same fate as those once well known aussie chaps, Jackman pulls a sort of Mel Gibson in The Beaver, where just when you think he's done, after a string of failed movies and semi spotty PR related moments, he pulls a pretty amazing rabbit out of his hat or wherever he keeps rabbits, because lets face it, these days, even dirty magicians get work, and those rabbits could be hidden anywhere. Its a rather neat trick really, not one that should be done often in life mind you, but, one thats just brilliant enough to work at the right time under the right conditions. I say this because lets face it, after the atomic sized bomb that was Wolverine, and being able to shake the horrible and rightly canceled tv series Viva Laughton!, and really only being able to get any kind of respect for his stage work, Hugh Jackman really needed himself a winner, and though its got its flaws and pitfalls, and probably didn't do as much as most would have hoped at the box office, Real Steel might have been just enough to save Jackman from having to click his heels and wish there was no place like home just yet.


Real Steel is, for a quick explanation, basically Rock'um Sock'um Robots meets Pokemon, no seriously thats basically what it is. See, it takes place about 20 or so years in our future, just far enough to see tech advance beyond what we've got, and close enough so they didn't need to build space age background cars and stuff, and in this future, the "human element" has been taken out of the sport of boxing, which has made it the most popular sport in the world, bigger than even Soccer and Midget tossing, as hard to believe as that is. Each robot boxer is operated by a trainer, who basically just operates a giant video game controller/iPad looking thing thats got all their preset moves on it, thus basically making it a sport of who can build the best robot with the best combination of moves, thus making it devoid of the human element that makes boxing so great of a sport to watch and to make films about. But what it lacks in the allure and mystique of other films centered around the sweet science, Real Steel makes up for with a mix of mysterious allure to a world of what is basically robot fight club and not one, but two underdog stories, one being the story of Atom, the out of date junkyard discovered by accident robot with the rarest function of all a "shadow function" meaning it can learn and mimic move for move whatever the person its looking at is doing, and the story of Charlie Kenton and his son Max Kenton, Charlie is a former boxer from before robots took over the sport, he's become a trainer is isn't exactly good at it, he's down on his luck when he discovers that his former girlfriend, and mother of his only son, Max, had died. And through a series of events, Charlie and Max end up spending a summer together, where in they discover Atom, take him on the robot fighting circuit, and bond along the way as they both rediscover just who Charlie Kenton used to be, and who he'll be again. Its abit formula and cliche by some standards, but as with any trope like this, when its done right, its done right and is enjoyable, Real Steel does it right, and it is enjoyable, its never gonna be one of those movies that changes your life, well, unless you're inspired to create an entire robot boxing league, then I guess it will, but still, its a fun 2 hour ride that shouldn't leave you wondering why you bothered at all.


Now that you've had the good, its time ofcourse, for the bad. There isn't an incredibly large amount of bad, its mostly glaringly obvious things that are easy to point out and leave people wanting for more to make the film abit more rounded. There could be alot more in the explaining the origin of robot boxing, maybe abit of a flashback sort of cut away scene showing the evolution from a robot boxing a human, to full on bot on bot action, going into more detail then just "people wanted a real bloodsport instead of technical boxing" sort of half assed four or five line explanation of the whole industry, I'd have also liked to see the story of Charlie's finest moment in the boxing ring acted out over narration instead of just telling the story while holding the article, and I'd have liked to see more bot on bot boxing, the movie is about robotic boxing, but there is very little robot boxing involved at all, that doesn't really sit well with me, it doesn't really bring the drama to the few fight scenes you do see, you see a montague but thats it, no real build up seeing Charlie and Max bond, or seeing more then small bits of them both training Atom, just little things like that, things that make it a well rounded story and gives you more depth and emotion, its kind of the same problem i had with the film "Larry Crowe" as well, just barely missing the mark of awesome by means of just abit of over editing, but again, that doesn't make it a bad movie, it just really leaves you wanting more, maybe enough to get hit on the side of the head with a soup ladle all orphan styley, you know, if you're so inclined, or you know, into getting hit on the head with a soup ladle like you're in a Dickens novel, either way, whatever floats your boat, personaly, water floats mine, but I'm weird.


So the big question now, is Real Steel worth watching? Well, yes and no, if you don't mind a film where you just sit back and enjoy the not to hard to follow story and just enough action to keep your mind interested in whats going on, then yes, most definitely its worth going to see. But, if you're not up for a movie that'll really leave you wanting and wondering about the gaps and barely mentioned bits that should have been in the film, then no, its definitely not worth your time. Over all though the film was rather good, or as good as films get these days, with to much thought and prep put into the big blockbusters and the awards fodder, movies like this tend to get overshadowed, and that doesn't make them bad, just, less of what they could be. But honestly, regardless of all its faults, you should give Real Steel a shot, you shouldn't be let down.



----

BC


Tuesday, January 24, 2012

10 Movies From 2011 Everyone Should See


10 Movies From 2011 Everyone Should See...:
Or, How I Learned To Stop Bitching For Two Hours 
At A Time And Love Some Bombs


Its been awhile sense I've done one of my many lists that mojo mocks me about out of jealousy that he can't seem to formulate a list, or those guest reviews he's been saying he'll do sense 2009, but in any event,it really has been awhile, and sense I decided to forgo all the work that would be doing a best and worst list for last year, I felt it would be best, and more fun, to just share with you all, 10 films I rather enjoyed from the past year, this isn't by any means my best and worst list, just a list of 10 films I truly enjoyed and feel the need to share with you all, plus, well, its obvious i gotta blog more lol

In any event, here we go...

10. Cars 2


Now first off, I want to state, I am not saying this from the stance of a pixar fan, yes, I do enjoy most of the movies they've made, but I'm not one of those of the belief that "pixar can not falter" it is possible for them to do so, and they have afew times, seriously, how many Bugs Life or movies about that cooking rat have they made? That being said, I will also admit that I could see alot of what people were saying was wrong about this film, that its plot moves in strange confusing ways, that its too Mater focused leaving Lightening McQueen, and the rest of the cast in the background mostly, and that the world wide gran prix really isn't much more then a mcguffin, and all the rest of the complaints that have plagued this film sense it came out. And though I can see where alot of the complaints came from, and yes, they are all valid points, and I can see why someone would complain and say this movie is bad for any of them. But the thing is, no matter how much I tried to hate this movie, with all of its faults, with my hate of Larry the Cable Guy, the sadness that George Carlin was dead, but yet his character Filmore the bus plays a big role in the film, and so many more reasons I could have to hate this film, I just can't do it. I just can not hate Cars 2 no matter how many holes in the plot I try and drive Mac the Truck through, there is just something about it that makes you love it, even though its blatantly flawed on many levels, you can try all you want, but it just won't happen, you can try all day long to find just enough wrong with this film to banish it to the realm of bad movies that should be forgotten, but everytime you try, you remember just as many good things they snuck in, as there is bad. Its very annoying that way, but it also makes a film thats worth sitting down and having a nice all ages friendly laugh for 2 hours. And make no mistake, even though it will frustrate you cuz you can't find enough flaws to hate it, you will infact laugh yourself silly at the idea of a popemobile instead a popemobile.


9. Super 8


I remember reading the write up for this film, and I remember getting so very excited about it, just the concept got me worked up, and as long time readers will remember, I couldn't stop raving about this film when I reviewed it over the summer. Oh sure there have been tons of kids help an alien phone home then watch as it leaves for parts unknown out there in the universe, and many will argue that to them there are better, and that its just Cloverfield in the 1979s with kids instead of 20something douchebags and not as much first person views through the camera, and people can debate that all they want till the world ends, and honestly, i don't care, I love this film. I love that its kind of Cloverfield meets The Explorers, I love it almost as much as the fact that as you read this, 40 people just googled "the explorers" to see what I'm talking about. See, I understand that no matter what, people gonna hate, and I respect their right to do so, but the thing is, they don't see what this film really is, its a love letter to back when children's movies weren't made of complete suck and fail, to back when it was ok to have afew harsh words and some not too violent but still scary violence, and terror that was actually terrifying. If you didn't like Super 8 the first time around, give it another shot, but this time, look at it though the same eyes you'd watch The Goonies or The Last Starfighter or Time Bandits, or one of those beloved classics, and I think you will be greatly surprised by how different it looks to you when you do.


8. Rubber


Now, this might surprise alot of people, and to be honest, I am shocked bit myself I enjoyed this wonderful direct to dvd film, because often with films that never see release outside of a film festival no matter how obscure, or get no theater release at all, tend to be lazy and sloppy and really really bad, but thankfully this film proved that wrong. I love when what starts out as a hunt for a film that is gonna be so bad I have to laugh at it, becomes something I truly and wholeheartedly enjoy so much more then I ever believed that I would. It takes alot for a film to surprise me, and though you might not believe it, Rubber truly did just that. I remember finding it simply because me and afew friends were scavenging netflix for something we could all agree on watching, when the description left us all dead in our tracks and just in so much awe we had to see it. For those of you that don't know what Rubber is, its a surrealist comedy horror set in the area outside of Lancaster California where a discarded tire named Robert The Tire becomes self aware and decides he wants to explore the world, as he rolls around discovering life, he also discovers he can take life, not just by rolling over it, but he can explode things with his mind, he discovers at this point that he really loves to take life, and embarks on a killing spree. Its just crazy with its complete surreality and out of left field nature that makes you just wanna keep watching it, its falls somewhere between comedy brilliance on the level of the great Andy Kaufman and one of those high end arthouse films where afterwards you find yourself wondering for weeks, what the naked girl was doing in the field by the windmill with that donkey and the ronin mask and the bag of yukon gold potatoes, because the film never tells you, and you really wanna know cuz its keeping you up at night with confusion. So if you've never seen or heard of this film, and you want something thats just so out there that you just need to see it to believe it, or that you love lovingly made spoofs of the classic grindhouse genres. or are a believer in Wings Hauser's acting ability, give this a shot, because its so crazy you just gotta see it.


7. The Beaver


Now, before you all go off and get offended or mad here, hear me out, I feel The Beaver got a raw deal, it suffered from what i call "Powder Syndrome", meaning just before the film's release, someone involved with its production, in this case, its star Mel Gibson, did something horrible to turn the people against them and ruin their public image just before the film was to see screens. I call this Powder Syndrome because its alot like in 1995 when the brilliant film Powder was released, and completely ruined all the critical and movie going buzz Powder had gotten, and most theaters that would have shown it, refusing too, and thus the film would fade into the background and be forgotten till long after the scandal it was at the center of was forgotten, and then it would be cheered for the triumph it was. I mention this because The Beaver is another case of that instance. If you are among the many who didn't bother with this movie that, before Mel Gibson told the world he hated jews or whatever he did this time that he's done 10 times before, had a TON of ocscar award buzz as well as critical buzz like you wouldn't believe, then seriously give it a try now, and if it helps, just don't think of Mel Gibson as Mel Gibson, think of him as an aussie character actor playing a depressed man who has a mental breakdown because he can't handle life, somehow discovers through a puppet beaver that changes his life in ways he never knew were possible. Its truly a brilliant movie about how we view the mentally unstable and how life is so much harder then we all ever thought. And if you can't get past the fact its Mel Gibson, remember this, everyone hated Mickey Rourke till he played what was basically himself in The Wrestler, maybe this should be Mel's answer to that? Seriously if you haven't checked it out, you really should, if for nothing else, to see Jodie Foster argue with a beaver puppet, and all the metaphorical stuff that can mean.


6. Restless


The first thing that struck me about this little known but often buzzed about film was the fact that it was, in a sense, the closest thing we'd get to a proper remake of Harold and Maude, oh sure they could make an outright remake, where Harold is an emokid or a goth and Maude is played by some smoking hot cougar, because thats how it works in modern hollywood, but that would just not work for people who don't like being shit on by an industry who doesn't listen to them. Something akin to the way Restless works will infact be the closest we will ever get, and for me, thats just fine. Sure its abit odd, a creepy morbidly obsessed 19 year old who attends the funerals of people he's never met and is friends with the ghost of a kamikaze pilot, and then he meets this girl who does the same thing, but she's doing it for another reason, but the end result is the same, this is basically a modern retelling of Harold and Maude, which I rather enjoy. I also rather like the fact it stars Mia Wasikowka, who you all might know as Alice in the recent beautiful but flawed beyond belief Tim Burton take on Alice In Wonderland, and who I'll always remember as Lilya in Suburban Mayhem, because, well honestly, I'm a sucker for people who swear and act trashy in aussie movies lol


5.  Red State

 
As a means to prove that he can do more then just his New Jersey movies, after his attempt at a buddy film "Cop Out" failed, Kevin Smith, nerd turned cult director turned comic book writer turned guy involved with the tv show Reaper, turned director out to prove his worth, decided to write what could be one of the most fucked up horror movies made in the last 20 years. Red State is a horror movie in the sense that real life possibilities can scare the hell out of you. Basically, its what happens when bible belt beliefs become not only fanatically insane, but as crazy as they are, they're also just as well armed, and also believe they're above all law except for god, and that they can get away with murder as long as they believe its in his name. The film will touch on all things we know of as hated by republicans; homosexuality, marijuana and other drugs, belief that all races and creeds are equal, all the things that set off the red staters. All the things they spend their lives hating and trying to destroy, in this film, the massive cult like church and its leader who are the main baddies, try to destroy, right to the bitter end. This film might not be for everyone, and thats fine, but, the fact it was created by a guy who is known for his comedy and is one half of Jay and Silent Bob, will blow your damn mind out the back of your head. I know horror isn't for everyone, but, god damn is this movie something to see, even if its just once, you gotta check it out.


4.  Attack The Block


This might be the most argued over film on this entire list. Some will tell you its a brilliant fresh take on the whole alien invasion film genre, that was much needed in a world where we'd have to suffer though such recent shit as Skyline and other half assed films that made no sense, and others will tell you its totally shit and nothing more then glorifying lower class life in the estates of south London. The people who believe its total shit are ofcourse completely wrong, but chances are they're fans of Manchester United, so no one really cares what they think anyway. Attack The Block, for those that haven't seen it, is a british alien invasion action film, where after accidentally killing a small alien, a group of teenagers from a south london estate (thats like a housing project to us outside the uk), along with a young doctor they cross paths with, have to fend off an alien invasion of these eye-less wolf like creatures with glowing teeth and drool, only thing is, as I'm sure you're all aware, its not as easy to get guns and explosives as it is here in the united states, an american teenager would just go grab some machine guns and explosives at the first sign of an alien that doesn't look like its trying to phone home, kids in the UK don't have that option, so they have to use what they can procure from around the area to help them in their fight, baseball bats, frying pans (frying pans right? who knew?), fireworks, swords and machetes. This movie plays out like what could be the greatest video game in years, and is just so very fun. Its got so much appeal, the music, the concept, and the fact if this were made here in america, it would star some rappers who can't act for shit and would suck beyond belief. So if you want some nice no brain needed fun, or you wanna have a nice new take on the classic alien invasion story, or just like to see teenagers hitting things with baseball bats, then if you've not seen this you really should, its just so fun.


3. The Muppets


Yeah like this is a surprise to anyone right? lol Its never been a secret that I am huge muppets fan, being such a fan of Jim Henson I had no choice but to be honestly. And though some said there were many flaws in this comeback film, I don't care. See, for those that will get the reference, this film is to The Muppets, what Scooby Doo On Zombie Island is to Scooby Doo, which for those who don't get that reference means its a realistic modernized take that brings new life into a long lived franchise by giving it new ground to build on, as well as bringing new fans, but also staying true to its core material, in both cases, it brought some serious and dramatic elements to a comedic powerhouse that was nothing but comedy for over 40 years. Its a tricky and slippery slope they were playing on, but thankfully for them it worked out beautifully. They use the term "the film we've been waiting for" around alot, but honestly, with all its hilarity and cuteness and goofball antics, as well as getting literally every single muppet ever created in on the act even if for just a moment, this film was such a joy and delight that I am happily waiting for the next one to come along and make my life awesome by means of puppetry again.


2. Super


You know, at first glance, Super looks like nothing more then a lower budget version of Kick Ass, where in the main character gets tired of all the crime in the world and decides to fight back superhero styley, and along the bloody way becomes a folk hero beyond all knowledge. Super, though similar in the fact the lead dons a superheroing suit and fights crime, is nothing at all like Kick Ass, in Super, our lead has gone completely insane before he decides to become a superhero, using it as a way to deal with the anger and rage and confusion inside him from the horrible events of his life that led to him becoming a hero, he calls himself The Crimson Bolt and becomes more and more unhinged as the film goes, eventually gaining a sidekick Boltie, a slutty dressed girl who's even crazier then he is, which makes him more insane, and more violent, its kind of crazy, and honestly if it wasn't for the fact its a dark comedy take on the whole real world superhero thing, hidden inside the decent into insanity of the average every man, this movie wouldn't be worth anything outside of some WTF factor. But still, i can't stop watching it, its just so wrong that its so funny at the same time. So if you haven't seen it, you really should.



1. Another Earth


In science fiction its not uncommon to find stories about the idea there is another earth out there just on the other side of the sun where we can't see it, its been around for almost a hundred years in some form or another, most comic book fans will jump to marvel's "counter earth" and DC's many different earths, all of which had to be condensed into one to stop confusing people. And in the grand design of such ideas, comes one of the most common stories we all ponder when thinking of another earth out there, if our counterpart made the same mistakes we did, or if their life turned out completely different then ours did. That is the basis for this story, the story of Rhoda Williams, a young brilliant girl who seems to have the world ready to bow at her feet, until one night, she isn't paying attention to where she's going, and causes a fatal accident, which turns her life upside down, from there its a story of regret and atonement, the whole while we hear news reports of the discovery of a second earth, and everyone starts to wonder what its like, what the people are like, what the differences are, if they're just like us, things like that. And in the end, not only is there an answer to that question, but we're left wondering just how different they are deep down, and we also are left wondering if Rhoda will actually forgive herself for all the accidental bad she's done. Its an incredible film that mostly went over looked last year, if you haven't seen it, you really should, its just brilliant.


So thats my list, again, I'm stating this isn't a 10 Best list, just a list of 10 films I feel are worth watching that came out last year, some of which were big hits, some of which went rather unnoticed and overlooked by most, but still i rather liked them. So if you haven't given them a look, please do so.



-----

BC

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

SLiDE




SLiDE
"The key to happyness is, to do exactly what you want with out worrying what happens"
- Homer Simpson, Sage of the modern age.

At first look, SLiDE (yes, spelled that way) would seem to be just another of those "teenagers behaving badly" dramas, probably falling somewhere between Degrassi: The Next Generation and Skins, and though I can see how many would bring themselves to that idea, I seem to find something more too it, maybe its a secret love for shows of this nature, or maybe I just watched 10 Things I Hate About You and The Breakfast Club to much as a teenager, I don't really know. Either way, I find myself strangely addicted to this series and the inner workings of a group of friends that you really wouldn't think would be friends if not for how they all came together, which, unlike most shows of this nature, actually makes sense and could actually happen, after all, the clique that writes things into sports fields with fire together, stay together. Atleast thats how it happened for me and my friends in high school anyway.


All joking aside, SLiDE is the story of five unlikely friends; Ed Newman, Tammy Lane, Scarlett Carlyle, Eva Lee and Luke Gallagher, they were all sort of tossed together by the means of what happened on Ed's 17th birthday, a night that sort of became a local legend around their high school in Brisbane Australia, and creating a bond between the five of them, given how they all came together that night, as you would expect from that night on they became friends, all with their deep inner dynamic and tensions, as you would expect to be the bread and butter of a show like this. However unlike most shows that randomly toss cast members together for whatever reason, you can see from the start there are alot of things bubbling under the surface with all of them from the very beginning, which really makes me pretty happy really, I hate when a show like this doesn't have its plans already made out before hand and they just wing it, thats how you end up with shitty american teen dramas that no one but emokids want to watch... ok well emokids and women in their 40s that are alone and need something to chickwank too.


The promotional material says the show is ment to focus around Ed and his trying to get Scarlett, a rich girl who's just moved to the city and is the daughter of his boss, to fall in love with him, or atleast sleep with him, but i find thats rather far off the mark. Its more the story of a journey of 5 kids (dubbed "the Slide 5" in media) who honestly have no real idea who they are or what they want to be in life, and follows them as they attempt to discover who they all are inside while still being able to live the carefree life of a teenager. Ofcourse they deal with the normal things one faces as a teenager, though drinking and drugs are pretty casually done, they don't focus on them all that much, which is good, you actually see more of the after effects then the actual effects, except for when its key to the story of the character who is under the influence of either or both, and ofcourse, as there is with teenagers, insane amounts of sexual tension with in the cast, oddly though, there is none among the cast and any of the expanded cast, infact outside of parents, who are ment to either be cool, annoying, or assholes, whenever the cast are in a scene with one of the other kids they deal with in school, infact whenever you see any of them with Phillipa you have the feeling they just wanna punch her in the face, with out spoilering it, you find out why as the show goes on.


Its hard to actually write a real review of a show like this, its not like most shows of its nature where you deal with a larger secondary cast that appears and interacts with the mains and have little stories of their own, but with SLiDE you don't really have that, you have the five kids, their parents and siblings when needed, and minimal interaction outside of the group, atleast on camera, they imply they've all got friends, but you never really see them interact for more then afew lines at most with anyone thats not important to the story of that episode or the over all story in general. Now to many this might seem annoying cuz you're gonna get nothing but important story the whole way through, but infact, I rather like this about it. Because it makes you actually feel for the characters, lets you get in their heads, and not just see them as the images of various teenage archetypes, you don't just look at Eva and think "oh she's the misunderstood graffiti artist" but never see her work or understand her need for it, in this, there is actually a whole episode dedicated to understanding it, you don't know know that Tammy's all by the book and down to earth, you see why she is, and what happens when she lets loose and doesn't go by the letter to everything, and how Scarlett has does horrible things to get her father's attention because its the only way he really shows her any attention, and Luke has alot of issues at home that he keeps to himself and isn't really sure how to deal with real attraction instead of just sleeping with girls for the sake of having sex. Or how honestly, Ed would be attracted to anything female, even concrete. All these little things that make them unique and different, you feel happy when they are happy, and sad when they're sad, and when they get punched in the gut, you get punched in the gut, thats a sign of a great show, and more so great writing, because anyone can write a teen aimed drama series, but not everyone can make one that can draw in people over the age of 18 and aren't developmentally stunted in some form or another.


Now as I said before, its hard to review a show like this, and really, on the surface its ment to be the aussie version of the UK hit turned USA flop Skins, but as I said it goes so much farther, and alot funnier, i mean alot funnier, the insults and one liners traded between the cast and the hilariously stupid shit they get themselves into will actually have you laughing outloud in some spots. And I do feel like I'm phoning this in because i can't really mention much of the plot of the series, mostly because there really isn't much to it, its just the day to day lives of 5 teenagers in BrizVegas trying to live as much as they can, while under the surface everything else is bubbling, their fears, their loves, their desires, their needs, all of it, and also, that some of the show's most endearing moments happen when they all let go of the angst and worry of teendom and actually act like little children, there is a delightful scene in the pilot at the end where they're dancing in sprinklers after writing a message to the teacher in charge of their saturday detention in fire on their sports field thats just brilliant, and the scenes with them and Tammy's little brother Charlie in the second episode are just endearingly awesome. So if you are a fan of shows like Skins or those teenage dramas they have here in America, or you are looking for a new spin on the genre, then give SLiDE a chance.

Or if you're still curious, here is a promo from before the show aired


I should also note that its a pain in the ass to find imagery from this show, so if the images i posted, which were awesome high rez images off the official webpage and twitter page, are gone, sadly, they were all i could find..

---

BC


Tuesday, November 22, 2011

What I'm Currently Watching 11/22/11




What I'm Currently Watching...

Ok so, its been over a year sense I've done this last, and I figured with all the new stuff on the air, I feel I need to just get around to doing this again, plus, its either this or watching Jerry Springer's gameshow Baggage on Gameshow Network at the moment, so really, it can't hurt to get a list out, plus its been forever sense I've done a list, as Mojo likes to point out. Anyway, enough rambling, here we go... Oh and I should point out, I'm listing stuff separately, current airing, on break and ended..


Currently Airing Programing:

Drama:

Sons of Anarchy (US)
Bones (US)
Packed To The Rafters (AU)
House (US)
Burn Notice (US)
Wild Boys (AU)
Hell On Wheels (US)
Boardwalk Empire (US)
The Slap (AU)
Pan Am (US)
Love/Hate (Ireland)
Downtown Abby (UK)
Top Boy (UK)


Comedy:

The Simpsons (US)
Glee (US)
Being Erica (CA)
Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia (US)
Family Guy (US)
The Cleveland Show (US)
American Dad (US)
Heart of Dixie (US)
Auckland Daze (NZ)
the New Girl (US)
Raising Hope (US)
Suburgatory (US)
Threesome (UK)
InSecurity (CA)
Housos (AU)
Rev (UK)
Outnumbered (UK)
Him and Her (UK)
Meet Your Neighbors (Ireland)
This is Jinsy (UK)


Sci Fi:

Sanctuary (US)
Fringe (US)
Saor Sinn ó Olc (Ireland)
Thundercats (US/JAP)
Misfits (UK)
Terra Nova (US)
Grimm (US)
Once Upon A Time (US)
the Walking Dead (US)
American Horror Story (US)
Young Justice (US)
Death Valley (US)
Lost Girl (CA)
Todd And The Book Of Pure Evil (CA)


Reality:

Ghost Hunters (US)
Pawn Stars (US)
The X-Factor (US ver.)
Kitchen Nightmares (US ver.)

------------------

Shows On Break I'm Rewatching:

The Fades (UK)
Doctor Who (UK)
Torchwood (UK/US)
Underbelly (AU)
Underbelly NZ (NZ)
XIII (CA)
Haven (US)
Being Human (UK and US)
Bedlam (UK)
Fallen Skies (US)
Warehouse 13 (US)
Eureka (US)
Alphas (US)
Primeval (UK)
True Blood (US)
Beaver Falls (UK)
Slide (AU)
Raw (Ireland)
Skins (UK)
Justified (US)
Nothing Trivial (NZ)
This Is Not My Life (NZ)
The Yard (CA)
Awkward (US)
TwentySomething (AU)
Top Gear (UK and US)
The Almighty Johnsons (NZ)
Trivia (Ireland)
Weeds (US)
Wilfred (US)

-----------------

Ended Programing I'm Rewatching:

Afterlife (UK)
Trailer Park Boys (CA)
Reaper (US)
Burying Brian (NZ)
Boys From The Black Stuff (UK)
Land Of The Giants (UK)
The 4400 (US)
Demons (UK)
Kath and Kim (AU)
The Muppet Show (US/UK)
The Witcher (Poland)
Survivors [both 1977 and 2008] (UK)
The Champions (UK)
Honey West (US)
The Middleman (US)
Twin Peaks (US)
Sinchroncity (UK)
UFO (UK)
Hex (UK)
The Champions (UK)
Thunderbirds (UK)
Captain Scarlett And The Mysterons From Mars (UK)
Satisfaction (AU)
Outrageous Fortune (NZ)
The Drunk And On Drugs Happy Funtime Hour (CA)
Suburban Shootout (UK)
10 Things I Hate About You (US)
Rabbit Fall (CA)
Wilfred (AU)
Durham County (CA)
Huge (US)
Legend (Ireland)
Pulling Moves (Ireland)
The Alice (AU)
Secret Diary Of A Call Girl (UK)
Marchland (UK)
Top Gear (AU/RUS)


ok well I'm watching alot of older shows right now... this list could take awhile

Anyway, thats it for now, hope some of you have found some shows you didn't know i watched, or are curious about, so feel free to ask away...


-----

BC


Sunday, October 30, 2011

The Reality Shock 10/30/2011

The Reality Shock 2.0:
Issue #3: ..Like A God Fire Phoenix I Rise..

Welcome back once again my dear friends to the show that never truly ends, mostly because whenever I feel I've had enough, somehow, someway, sometimes through funky ass shit that happens every single day, and sometimes by means of afew loyal followers (by which I mean mostly my friend Ashley) reminding me that its been so very long sense I've sat down and wrote out one of my much beloved sermons of truth and blunt honesty. I have to admit, I had a feeling I might not be so good at this after about a year or so break, but I'm surprised to discover that not only am I feeling the energy flowing like I used too, but I'm feeling like everything is old times all over again, which is really pretty good, cuz they were good times, atleast I thought they were, but hey I could be wrong. I do know one thing though, after a year off, and the 6 prior years of writing this soliloquy of serendipity, I still have no real clue how to write a proper opening paragraph. Amazing how somethings never change no matter how long of a gap you have to bridge isn't it?

Alright, with that out of the way, lets get down to it, shall we? And away we go... A'room'a'zoom'zoom!!

So the first things first, I wanna address a movie that a lot of people have been asking me my opinion on, now, I do get asked about many things still all this time after letting my pulpit of truth fade into obscurity, and sense I've brought this out of retirement, I figure I'll answer one of the most recent and most persistent questions I've been getting, and that is, being the big Shakespeare fan that I am, what is it I think of the upcoming movie Anonymous”, where in we are expected to believe that the great bard himself, William Shakespeare, was infact a fraud, a sort of Milli Vanili of his time, with the real writer of his work being The Earl Of Oxford, who believes that his writing deserves to be shared, but feels if he were to present it himself, it would only be heralded because of his status, instead of the actual talent. Now, though I understand the logic of that sort of theory, there has never been anything supporting this theory other then the theory itself, which though often debated over the last 30 or so years sense it was first put forward, there has never really, to my knowledge, never really been anything to support it, other then the original idea itself, which though a fun debate among classic literature lovers of the world, has never really been much more then that, a fun debate, until now. Now, as for my ideas and beliefs on this, though I will more then likely find the film to be a well acted, well written, beautiful bit of briefly controversial film, I believe it will be nothing more then just that, a film of fictional record, I've always been of the belief that Shakespeare is, as he always will be, one of the greatest writers of all time, maybe I'm too stuck in my ways, but I just can't believe one of the greatest dreamers that never quit dreaming, was basically Cyrano De Bergerac with out the giant penis nose, and played for the whole world to love, not just one woman. Its just not possible. But I am sure the film will be great though, and I look forward to seeing it.

Speaking of period based films, Ukrainian goddess Milla Jovovich, who normally is one of the most easy going and friendly people in the acting world, taken it upon herself to call out the film studio releasing her recent action/adventure steampunk like revision of The Three Musketeers, for their lack of proper advertizing of the film. Saying its ment to be more of a family friendly action adventure instead of a balls to the wall action film thats not for all ages. She has been taking to every media she can to state this. Some might find it in bad taste that an actor is speaking badly of the studio in the promotion for the film, but infact, going by what many critics are saying, she has a point, and this isn't a case of a star trying to incite bad blood between them and the studio, much like Richard Dreyfus did when he called out both Oliver Stone and Lionsgate films for not “hitting hard enough and making the world feel bad for George W. Bush” in the film “W” the George W. Bush biopic where Dreyfus played Vice President Dick Chaney, Milla simply wishes to show that her film is being mistreated by the studio, and she's just trying to save the film from ruin. What makes this case sad is, the film did bomb here in the states, though it did well everywhere else, and the studio is trying to make it out like Milla's questioning of their way of promoting the film is why it bombed, because they felt letting her promote the film with such an attitude, would be bad for them, which really is a shame, because the film is actually really good. It also looks bad on Milla Jovovich, who, in all honesty is possibly one of the nicest, respectful, friendliest of all the famous person I've ever come across, seriously she answers every single twitter, facebook comment, direct message, facebook PM, sent by every single fan, as long as its not lude or insulting or disrespectful ofcourse, she even goes out of her way to bring us all into her daily life, posting pictures of her kids and husband and her doing the silliest and cutest things, or video or pictures from the set of whatever film she's working on, and talking about how she loves sharing it all with the world as she does. Making someone that nice and caring to her fans look bad really just makes the studio look like shit, specially sense she was right.

Speaking of Milla's level of interaction with her fans, in my year off, I've discovered Twitter with alittle trail and error, learned that its not the waistland of endless self whoring like I figured it would be, infact I've discovered that many a famous person who's on twitter is a lot like Milla, taking the time to interact with their fans as much as possible, it kind of amazes me really, sure most of them are from outside of the United States, but still, the point remains, fame is fame, and here in America, its unheard of for a star to personally interact with their fans via social media, sure you get ones like Ashton Kutcher who doesn't so much interact with the fans so much as preach to them and preside over them, or Courtney Love who doesn't so much interact, so much as post drunken pictures of herself mostly naked or wearing something skimpy, but there is really no attempt to interact with the fans like they're people. I was amazed at the idea of this, and I figured sense as I writing this, I was having a conversation about this very thing with my charity case homeboy Mojo, I would share it all with you as well. And after a small amount of twitter and facebook stalkery as well as fumbling through my half wrong attempts at other languages, i've gathered that other then each country's super huge high end megastars, most famous people the world over, are very nice and respectful and friendly, as long as you are the same to them. When I talk about this, I always mention Lauren Socha, BAFTA winner for best supporting actress for her role as Kelly Bailey on the amazingly good sci fi dramedy Misfits, who literally lets her fans into every single part of her daily life, often sending pictures of herself and her family and friends, or her dog out to the masses, as well as often putting on her webcam via twitter and talking with the fans for hours, often with her friends, cast mates, her family, at random times during her day, sometimes even while sitting in bed when she can't sleep, she's covered up respectfully before you pervs get the wrong idea, she always answers questions about the show, what she's doing, what her brother who is going to be a semi regular on the next series of Being Human is doing, afew times even asked for fans to sell her a car, and offering to send a weekend afternoon having lunch and watching football (soccer to us americans) with anyone in Derbyshire who could get a good friend of hers who had been fired a job, even giving out her mobile number afew times for the fans, even promoting her show by stating if she can, she'll be live tweeting and using her cam to interact with fans during each episode of the upcoming series of misfits. That kind of full access is completely unheard of here.

There are a lot of others who are just as interactive with the fanbase the world over, I just use Lauren as an example because I find myself laughing at how far into her life she tries to integrate her fans to make everyone feel like they truly know her. Steve Pizzati of the now canceled Top Gear Australia is the same way, though his mostly involves him posting videos of him driving high end supercars around exotic racetracks stuff, which is great, but just rubs salt in the wound of people like me, who actually liked the aussie version of Top Gear and wish they'd keep making it, oddly, the loss of the russian version of Top Gear, which I also enjoyed, doesn't sting as much. Ah well, thats how it goes in life I guess.

By the way, if anyone who hasn't yet, and would like to follow me on twitter, you can at @ThisBrokenMind which some of you might take as me poking some fun at the fact most people think I'm crazy, but its actually shortened from the line “I am trapped here in this broken mind, and all I can ask is just be kind, to me.” a line some of you might know from the Molly Venter song “Good Mother” about watching her other slowly lose her sanity and memories as she got old. Speaking of Twitter accounts to follow, you all should give my friend Rose a follow as well at @EloquentParrot she mostly drops stone cold bits of truth about UK current affairs shows and provides hilariously truthful and blunt commentary on the UK version of The X-Factor, but its still rather entertaining, plus she can totally use the followers. Anyone else I know with a twitter account, don't get upset I'm not ignoring your accounts, I just haven't gotten your permission to plug yours, out of respect I won't do that kind of thing without y'alls permission or knowledge.

Now that I've mentioned it, all of you who are wondering what I think of the American version of The X-Factor, don't worry I plan on getting to it in length in abit, I just have afew other other things I'd like to mention before hand, so stay tuned faithful readers... or you know, skip down if you wish, it'll be there either way if you wait and read the rest of just jump then read back.. or if you go and make a sammich then come back and read the rest. Damn its 3:45am why am I craving a sammich?

Anyway, on to other things...

I'd like to give you all a heads up on an upcoming little known and little talked about film called “Chronicle”, which I'm betting could be the next District 9 type of sleeper. By which I mean people will dismiss as looking brilliant and having a brilliant concept, but they'll wait till it comes to dvd/blu ray/on demand to watch it, then they'll kick themselves for not shelling out the cash for theaters because of how amazing and wonderful the film is. Chronicle, is the story of three Portland Oregon based teenagers, who while recording themselves goofing about in the woods outside of town, are all exposed to a mysterious chemical they happen across, and as they go around their days videoing themselves as teenagers tend to do incase something is oddly youtube worthy, they start to develop superpowers given to them by the chemicals in the woods, the film goes from lazy loser teenagers mucking about with a handicam, to the story of three teenagers working together to train themselves in how to use their new found powers, and how they slowly start to turn on each other as well. The film is shot like Cloverfield, meaning first person view, so you feel you're right there in the middle of everything, a style that most seem to dislike for some reason, but I personally love to death, because of the surreality of how it puts you in the scene, while breaking the 4th wall, with out really breaking the 4th wall. Look for it February 3rd of 2012.

Why are people making such a big deal out of the suit for Catwoman in the upcoming Batman: The Dark Knight Rises? Yes it looks like a generic sneaking suit with knee boots, but do you people not realize, that Catwoman never started out to be a master thief? The character of Selena Kyle was originally a hooker who wanted a certain necklace so bad she decided to steal it from a high end jewelery store, and she discovered in the process, she had a nack for theft, and thats how Catwoman was born, she didn't start out in the more commonly known and perfectly named leather catsuit, infact if you look into the comics, she didn't wear the trademark catsuit until AFTER the 1960s Batman tv show that starred Adam West decided to make the character into the definition of female supervillain sexy, infact Catwoman wasn't even that major of a villain until that show made her as such, and also, female villains weren't really written as sexy and flirty toward others until that show put the idea forward as well. So everyone bitching that the Catwoman suit that we've all seen on set pictures of so far looks cheap and unimaginative, remember, not every character starts out in the suit we all know of them in, but by the end, they end up in them, so shut up and wait to see what happens, you'll get to see Anne Hathoway in skin tight leather and Emma Peel sized knee boots soon enough.... perverts.

So before we continue, I have to eat abit of humble pie, which for those interested, tastes abit like Shepard's Pie, but the kind with carrots in it, not the awesome kind with corn, peas and bacon. Also, if I offended you by not referencing the type of shepard's pie you're used too, oh well, it literally changes from town to town and region to region all over america and the united kingdom, even if its a traditional united kingdom dish. Anyway... I have to eat some humble pie, because as many of you are aware, I've many times stated I refused to go anywhere near the scripted original programing produced by MTV, no I don't just mean the “reality” shows that are totally scripted, or their “documentaries” I mean the actual scripted programing, after they ruined their chance to make a daring ambitious take on UK cult series Skins, and that horrible horrible attempt at making 1980s cult crapfest Teen Wolf, which according to Kayla Patterson ripped off Twilight 20 years before Twilight was published, because everyone knows Stephanie Meyer created werewolves and vampires, into girlwank fodder for Team Jacob, and after their much hyped The Hard Times Of R.J Burger fell flat of the target, and countless other attempts I'm probably forgetting thanks to expensive therapy, I must admit, after all of that, MTV has actually put out afew quality programs, three infact, which I feel are in need of mention; Death Valley, which is basically Cops, but set in a town over run with zombies, oh sure you'd think the idea would get tired rather quickly, but amazingly it doesn't, but then again, honestly, who doesn't love killing zombies? Another actual hit they have is the show Awkward, which is basically the tv version of the amazing but overlooked movie Easy A, both of which seemed overlooked by most, but truly are enjoyable. And ofcourse, the biggest highlight I have to mention, infact if I don't my friend Ashley will hang me from a tree and toss rocks at me, is ofcourse the relauch of Beavis and Butthead, which thankfully, didn't show its age, nor did it cross the line to straight up pandering to bring back fans, their relaunch had no frog baseball, nor did it have Cornholeo roaming about, it just established them back where they belonged, mocking music videos (and now reality shows too) and pop culture in general. I can't believe I'm about to say this but, good job MTV, you're officially now ahead of NBC and CBS in my “get out of the television shithouse” program.

You know, when I did my skit with the cast of Jersey Shore when I was hosing the prime time emmy awards, we had to constantly change the script, not to make if funnier, but because those wacky macaroni rascals couldn't pronounce certain words. Serious, I'm not kidding, if you saw my skit with them, I played a mafia liaison, but because none of them could say the word “liaison”, we changed it to they would simply refer to me as The Godmother... I know it made it abit trite to some, but god bless those guidos, they tried as hard as they could, they just couldn't say that word to save their lives.... not even that little orange one that looks like a cabbage patch kid...” - Jane Lynch of the hit series Glee on her dealings with the cast of Jersey Shore.

Lindsey Lohan working in a morgue is the most hilarious thing I've ever had the privilege of picturing in my head, whichever judge in LA made that happen, I thank you. I thank you hardcore. I thank him almost as much as I thank the person who thought the idea of the show H8R, where Z-List famous people spend a day trying to convince someone that called them names on the internet they're good people... shame it got canceled three episodes in.

Some movies you all should check out if you haven't yet; Rubber; the story of a tire that lives in the outer area of Lancaster California, is named Robert and one day, not only becomes self aware and alive, but also discovers that it has an unyielding need to kill as it rolls across the California sands heading toward LA, and somewhere along the way stops to watch a lot of classic car tv shows, movies and classic nascar. Attack The Block; a British attempt at a ghetto vs. aliens film, which starts off abit silly and kind of dumb, but after the first 15 minutes picks up and becomes one of the most delightful films I've seen in the whole humans vs. aliens genre in a long time, plus it helped me get the bad taste of the film Skyline out of my memory, which was a much needed scrubbing, plus there is talks of making a tv series based on it, which I could honestly see working, not for long, but maybe a 6 episode run with as much of the original cast as I can.

Some Television you all should check out; The Fades; a story of humans with angelic powers who fight to prevent the end of the world brought about the undead, its perfect Halloween time watching. Bedlem; a UK series about a mental hospital being turned into an apartment complex, its losely based on the former Danvers Mental Institution, one of the most horrific places in america, that was turned into a high end apartment complex. Once Upon A Time; a rather interesting and dark twist on fairy tales set in smalltown Maine. A little side note about The Fades, if you saw the rather well made and delightfully trashy Stanley Park pilot from BBC last year, and you're as clever as me, you'll notice the neighborhood where they do the exterior shots of one of the character's homes, is the exact same neighborhood where that pilot was shot.

You know, I will admit, after much shock and teasing by every woman I know for the fact I didn't know Zachary Quinto, one of my favorite actors of the modern era is totally gay till he came out of the closet last week, I will say this, after seeing his Halloween costume he posted on his twitter, I would have known. Seriously, if you've not seen him dressed as “new york city's fireworks on july 4th” go hit up his twitter (giggity), seriously its the most hilariously gay thing ever, Check it out once you stop laughing at the fact I said “hit up his twitter” in a serious tone and with a straight face.

Everyone keeps telling me I should love Terra Nova, its got everything one could want; dinosaurs, adventure, that guy from Avatar everyone thinks is a good actor for some reason.. but I just can't fully get into it, I just keep looking at it and thinking of things they did wrong, like not bringing back proper building materials and equipment, or proper scientists who have actual knowledge of dinosaurs and what would be found in a world like that, or how they seem to have no issue at all destroying an entire other timeline that they know nothing at all of, because, you know, fuck those guys and their reality, no one cares about them, they can go to the shitty deny's on the other side of town from now on. All of it just adds up to me having a giant question mark and the word “Hmm..” over my head about the show. Also, I'm not that impressed with what will probably be the final season of House so far either.

I don't really care what anyone says, I'm super excited about the upcoming new movie starring The Muppets, plus I seriously love the spoof trailers, Epic. Now if I could only get someone to look at my Fraggle Rock movie script....

I know a lot of you are wondering about this, so I'll put all your wondering to rest, YES I am super excited about The Avengers the more set photos and clips I see, I love that they aren't really putting much info out there other then that they're united to fight against Loki and his trickery. I'm also rather excited that word has come down that all the ties that bind these recent marvel movies together leading up to The Avengers, will continue to bind them all together after they come together, plus word that Avengers 2 will have a different cast but cameos by the current ones, I seriously can't wait. Seriously though, Marvel Studios, buy back the rights to Spiderman, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Ghost Rider, Daredevil, and all the stray little kittens that are out there split among other studios, you need a full shared film universe, not just half of it. Plus, the marvel universe isn't the same without Peter Parker swinging around NYC, or mentions of Reed Richards inventing things, or the mention of mutants and the x-men in general, or even The Punisher and DareDevil running about the city working overtime, fighting crime, fighting crime. Plus with marvel putting out statements they feel their movies are chapters in movie sized comic books, and plan on using them as such, and that they wish to tell key storylines on the big screen, the awesome sauce is just amazing right now. So excited.

I might get flack for this, but, I would watch an entire episode of The Cleveland Show where you follow Cleveland Brown Jr. around all day just seeing what his day is like.

Alrighty, so as promised, once I finished everything else I had to say this week, I would spread forth my thoughts on the American take on the UK megahit series The X-Factor. And though I had thought of maybe just ignoring it and maybe writing about something else, like, how I hate there are 8 tv shows on tv about cake making at the moment, or 4 about midgets, or how I think its stupid the Hillsborough County Prison, where we keep pedophiles and child porn cases in my section of New Hampshire, is right on the highway, but also right across the street from a mini-golf/ice cream and burger stand, or something like that instead. But because I'm a people pleaser, I have to give the people what they want, me commenting on the rookie year of the American version of The X-Factor, and thus, because its what the people want, its what the people shall get, so lets get into it, before I start rambling about how awesome local television personality Fritz Weatherby is, which will mean nothing to all of you cuz you don't have a clue who he is... so.. lets get down into this...

Ok so, some of you might be amazed to discover, that I do not actually have any prior experience with The X-Factor, I always figured it was the same thing as American Idol, seeing as they have the same roots, assuming that, I figured there no reason to really pay attention to anything but the winner each year, after all one can only really put up with so much Simon Cowell in their life before you realize you wanna stab every douchebag in a tight dark teeshirt a haircut they stole from Richard Dean Anderson after his awesome kentucky waterfalls mullet phase, who thinks because they discovered 5ive and S Club 7 they're somehow entitled to be jerks to everyone.

I was amazed though, that though both concepts are alike, they are different in many key ways, and on theory alone, I'd actually give X-Factor an edge over the idol machine, I never liked the idea of Idol having an age limit, thats just moronic, because a music dream doesn't end at 30, and if you think it does, you're an idiot and no one cares what you think anyway you stupid Justin Bieber fan. I like that in X-Factor you have someone working with the contestants, molding them, instead of just tossing them out there on their own and expecting them to wing it, then tossing a winner out there expecting them to fly or fall on their faces, you have someone thats a go too thats in the business and can help you along if needs be, that should, assuming the mentor knows what they're doing, make for a better act by the time its over and done. I also like the sudden death aspect of X-Factor better, it allows for us to cut through all the dragging out of quarter and semi finals, though I do feel the build up rounds are abit much, you've gotta literally sing like 8 times before you make it to live tv tapings, and even at that point you can get cut one final time before it gets to the voting. That seems abit high pressure, but I guess that fits the idea of the show. I also rather like that they include groups and hip hop, I felt this gives you an all in one show vs. the many failed spin offs of the genre where they'd try to find group or rapper on their own and just failed miserably do to the lopsided ratio of shit talent picked to fill slots in a show of this nature vs. actual talent.

I only have three major issues with The X-Factor, and really two of them are more personal nitpickery instead of actual issues. My first issue, though it might sound abit narrow minded, is the lower end of the age spectrum, now I'm not saying there aren't talented young kids who could be out there putting the game on its head and making that big figga skrilla, but a lot of them at like 12 to 14 or so, aren't mentally or emotionally ready for what they'll have to deal with, plus, I just don't see how giving a not raving review of the work of someone that young could make the judges look like anything but an asshole, seriously who isn't gonna boo someone for telling a 12 year old kid they tanked a performance and then tell them the critical feedback they need to make it better? Most kids that age group, those watching live, and the viewers aren't gonna hear the important feedback to make it better that they'll be given, they'll just see a judge telling a little kid they fail at singing a certain song. No one wants to be THAT asshole, even if its important to their growth as an artist, it just looks mean. Unless that kid is Justin Bieber, then hate him all you like, specially now that its legal in most cities in the UK to hunt Bieber with a crossbow from Midnight to 6am. My other issues, as I stated are more nitpickery, I do not feel just because the judges felt the need to make two groups, to round out the groups category, that those two groups, which really aren't that good, should be pushed along to live shows simply because it seems the judges refuse to admit they might have been wrong, seriously, if you've not seen the show check on the website, they're “Lakoda Rayne” and “inTENcity”; one is a country pop girl group thats name sounds like a porn star and they all dress like slores, and the other is a random mash up of 10 not exactly talented kids that sound like a theme park show, its painful to watch. My last bit of nitpickery is in the choice of former Pussycat Doll and lover of wearing dresses so short and tight one most carefully sit down in them or they split in self destructive zones, Nicole Shrerzinger, as a judge. Ok I get it, she's hot, and not everyone is gonna wanna perv at cougartastic and completely insane Paula Abdul, but the problem is, even though she looks good in a tight slore suit, and apparently can sing moderately well, she doesn't really have the knowledge base of various genres of music or artists to properly work with the group she was given to work with, the over 30 group. It seems like a mistake to me, and that sucks because some of the over 30s could win the whole thing, infact I think the three that are left as of the top 12, have strong chances to win it all, with very few that I can see giving them a run.

Which leads me to my next point of interest, the actual talent of the show. Now, I have to admit, I see what the other critics have been saying about the show being a case of how many talented sob stories can you cram into one show, but Idol falls into that trope too, so I can let it go, but, also, unlike Idol, the talent that makes it through, thanks to the crowd, is infact very talented, not so/so with hopes of them growing in the Hollywood rounds, if you don't bring the very best, you don't have a chance in hell. As for the actual talent in general, they've got some great voices, and some I feel are just there because they're more of a package or a stage show, then a voice. Recent elimination and possibly the saddest of the sob stories and James Brown sound-alike, Dexter Haygood, for example, was more of a stage show then a singer, that doesn't make him any less talented then the others, but it makes it harder to showcase him, his unique but talented voice, and the stage show that a man who sounds like him would need, in a show of this nature, he's more of a go see them live singer then a listen to them on the radio singer, where in contrast, you have someone like LeRoy Bell, a man who was part of the short lived late 1970s soul group Bell and James, has written songs for Elton John, as well as played with Sir Elton as well as B.B King and many others, who when you listen to his voice, you just sit in wonder of how a man with such an amazing voice and such an ear for music, could have been overlooked for as long as he has been. But LeRoy is all voice and no real show, as a contrast to Dexter. Seriously, its mind-boggling, look him up.

There are other amazing talents as well that I feel have a chance at the crown, south Florida's contender for new latin diva Melanie Amaro, and lifetime original movie Stacy Francis, who will show down for the most powerful of the female voices, both have a chance at taking the whole thing if they keep with themselves on track. Other stand outs with a chance to actually make it to the winner's circle include; Rachel Crow, the youngest, and by far the most entertaining of the finalists, she might be more suited to be the likes of being an acting/singer double punch for a company like Disney that makes its own child stars then sets them loose in the wild after they grow up, but its ok, she's awesome. Other possible winners are Josh Krajcik, a guy who, when not trying to look like me, but sing astoundingly better then I wish I ever could, is normally making burritos at a shopping mall eatery. Josh's voice is amazing and has such a soulful sound to it, it just amazes me that this guy never went past the singing in bars stage of music. Another is rapper Chris Rene, who, not only is one of the most uplifting and positive stories in the competition, also set the internet on fire with his audition song, an original rap called “Young Homie”, which even had my mother, who is by no means a hip hop lover singing along and standing up and cheering by its end. As well as posibly the dark horse in this race, young soul singer Marcus Canty, who sounds like a soul singer straight out of the early 1990s, before R&B became bald idiots like Usher taking their shirts off and showing their abs more then about singing, plus, Marcus has the right to claim he sang right to a visibly turned on by his actions Rihanna, who was assisting judge LA Reid with selecting his final four, gotta put a guy who can use his voice to visibly get one of the world's most sought after women hot in the pants for him, in contention for the crown.

Fun Fact I found out this week; You might not know the name Shuki Levi, but if you were a child, or had a child between 1983 and now, you have heard his voice, or music he's composed, Shuki started out in the early 1980s as a failed pop singer, who was asked by Kenner toys to write and preform the theme songs as well as product the in show music for cartoons based on their biggest toy properties at the time; M.A.S.K and Jayce And The Wheeled Warriors, Levi wrote and recorded all the music for both series, even the themes, both of which most 1980s pop culture historians claim to be among the best themes of the era, from there Levi became in demand, creating themes and music for everything from Disney's Gummi Bears, to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (or if you're in the UK Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles) to every single adaption of The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Levi still puts out albums of his own music from time to time, though most critics find it odd that a guy that made an artform out of writing a theme to a cartoon or a show where people in spandex and motorcycle helmets do parkour to defeat people in foam rubber suits while pyrotechnics go off wildly behind them, can suck at making actual music for the masses. … And thats a fun fact, that I learned this week, and felt the need to share with you, because after all, knowledge is power, and knowing is half the battle, and knowing makes you, a superstar.

Songs I'm feeling this week: “Lucky” Katie Kole, “A Change Is A Coming” LeRoy Bell, “Dominion Road” The Mutton Birds, “Love The Way You Lie” Meghan Tonjes, “Empire State Of Mind” Jay-Z and Alicia Keys, “Shipping Up To Boston” The Dropkick Murphys, “White Trash Beautiful” Everlast, “The Transformers” Lion, “Creepshow” Kerli,“Tessie” The Dropkick Murphys, “Joline” Queen Adreena, “Feel This” Porsah Laine, “Companion To A King” Mieka Pauley, “Into The Mystic” Jason Isbell, “Self Destructive Zones” Drive By Truckers, “Sticks That Make Thunder” Steeldrivers, “Kabuki” by Aloan, “Window pain” Opeth, “Over The Hills And Far Away” Nightwish, “Akhasmak Ah” Nancy Ajram,
The Longest Road” Morgan Page and Lizze (various remixes), “From The Delta To The Golden Gates” Barbra Blue.

And thats where I'm gonna finish ride thats so wild that Mr. Toad wishes his name was involved in it, even though I've no idea why I made a Wind In the Willows reference in this day and age, with so little giving a crap about it because it doesn't involve vampires or werewolves, but for now, as I always do, I shall end it with some random thoughts, to dazzle, amaze, annoying, and bewilder you all... so.. here we go...

I seriously do not care for 98% of reality tv. At what point did the world decide Nickleback still deserves radio play? And on Canadian rock bands, why haven't Big Sugar or The Tragically Hip get the love they deserve instead? I'm thinking about giving afew followers of mine alittle segment where they give me a list of music they're listening to whenever I get around to writing this each time, kind of an interactive thing. I really feel glad I sat down and wrote this out, I forgot how much I missed it. The reason I was away so long is because nothing really interesting happened in entertainment, it was all just reality tv show “star” bullshit, and well I just don't give a fuck who Kim Kardashian's giant ass is married too now, people who are famous because they sucked the neverwas brother of a has been pop singer from the 90s off on video, really shouldn't be “famous”, thats just how I see it I guess. I'm so happy Haven's getting a third season, my life needs more Emily Rose in it. I'm getting really tired of all these Paranormal shows out there on tv, seriously, I don't care if Donny Most from Happy Days had an encounter with a ghost, because more then likely, that ghost was the ghost of his career, its been dead sense 1984 after all. American Horror Story is a lot like Marchlands, but instead of Alex Kingston hotting things up when it gets boring, you have Dylan McDermitt with out pants on, somehow that doesn't really seem like a great trade off to me. Speaking of Alex Kingston, if you haven't seen her short “River Song: My Story” from the final episode of Doctor Who Confidential, you have too, its a wonderful and beautiful thing. I'm so excited Misfits comes back tonight!!! Also, seriously I'm getting tired of waiting for the new Being Human series to start. Speaking of Being Human, I'd love a shirt that says “Team Annie” mostly because, well, Annie's awesome. And finally, one last thing I wish you all to remember, and take with you always, “Akhasmak, aah. Aseebak, la. Wi gowah ilroah hatifdhal habeebi illi ana bah-waah. Bahibbak, aah. Wa afarkak, la.” Remember it always, for its how I feel for all of my fans who love what I write, thank you all so very much.

And that is where I shall end it for this installment my fellow Indigo Children, so until next whenst we meet, I wish you all good times and blessid be your souls.


BC