Reading
So I got a Kindle, and have been reading a heck of a lot more than I have in recent memory. Probably more than I have since middle school, when I constantly was reading some Dragonlance novel or something along those lines.
I first started out by reading The Maze Runner trilogy. It was a decent series, although the ending of the third novel (The Death Cure) certainly had a few missing pieces that just drive the reader crazy. There's a prequel coming out that might help clear things up, or it might just make you even more annoyed by the ending of The Death Cure.
But The Maze Runner is usually mentioned in the same breath as The Hunger Games, which shares it's dystopian future society themes. And so with all the recent buzz about it, and the movie (which came out yesterday), earlier this week I began reading this book. So far so good, although if you held up Maze Runner and Hunger Games to each other, the former focuses much more on action, puzzle solving and combat, while the latter focuses much more on romance, fashion, and descriptions of food. Not to say there isn't a lot of crossover of some of these topics among both.
I'm hoping to finish the book today, then maybe it'll be off to the movies tonight!
Penn State and JoePa
As a Penn State alumn and someone who currently lives in State College, I may have a different perspective on the events of the past few weeks than some. I personally witnessed the riots that took place after JoePa was fired. Here's a photo I snapped of the overturned news van sitting on College Ave just across from Urban Outfitters.
There are a few things that should be cleared up though. A lot of people in the media have vilified Penn State students for their handling of this. They ask "where was the riot for the victims?" Anyone who would ask that has no idea what Joe Paterno has meant for this community for the past several decades. It's not like the students forgot about those victims. Look at the turnout at the candle-light vigil about 2 nights later for proof of that. But this riot was about what they saw as an injustice that was being made against a man who was a fatherly figure, a man who has gone out of his way throughout his life to do the right thing in so many instances. It is why TV specials were made about him, why books were written about him, and why he was looked up to as the model of what coaches should be about.
His handling of the Sandusky situation, however, has put a cloud over all of that. I am personally holding my judgement until we know more. That is more than can be said about the media and much of the public though, who have already made their judgement that he is to blame here. While the actual crimes against children were made by Sandusky, the media coverage would go for tens of minutes before they even mention his name, instead choosing to latch onto the public face of the University, who is only indirectly involved.
The riots were directly caused by this, and the resulting firing of Joe because of the external pressure to do so. They were directed towards the media for their handling of the situation, their targeting Joe when Sandusky was the real villain, and when Joe was fired it all came to a head. I was there, snapping up photos and reporting back through social media what I saw. There were a few knuckleheads who were climbing up on light poles, breaking a few down, and tipping over that news van, but the vast majority of people were just there peacefully chanting three main themes:
1. Unwavering hatred towards Sandusky, over and over again.
2. Support of Joe Paterno, who was fired based on his proximity to these allegations.
3. Vitriol against the media, for putting their hero in that position, as they saw it, unfairly.
The series of events that occurred in 2003 will eventually come to light in great detail, and only then will we have enough understanding of what each party knew to make a rational judgement.
Regardless of the outcome of the current investigation, the damage has been done. If those kids were in fact victimized it's a tragedy. The most rock-solid reputation in sports has been cracked, and a proud University has had its name tarnished.
shit
So I really dropped the ball on Halloween movies last month. It's not that I wasn't watching them every day, my girlfriend can attest to the fact that every day when she came home from work I had some horror thing going. I just got tired of writing those writeups. But really, nothing of value was lost.
It's been a shitty past few days though considering all the drama here at Penn State about Joe Paterno and more importantly his ex defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. JoePa announced his retirement today and honestly nobody could have expected it would come this way. Drama and scandal have not been common with the PSU coaching staff and the extent that this has gotten to is just crazy.
I'll be at the game on Saturday, which JoePa may still be at. But I won't be surprised if the last home game turns out to be the last JoePa game. Sad and shitty.
Spook Fest 2011 – Movie 12 – Bats
When a movie stars Lou Diamond Phillips you know it's going to be good. And by good I mean that in the "so bad it's good" type of good. Bats is a cheesy film about a swarm of bats that have some type of infection that makes them aggressive. The only people who can stop them are local police officer Lou Diamond Phillips and bat researcher Dina Meyer, along with her colleague who (in real life) goes by the single name of "Leon". Yeah.
Now, when I was probably 16 I had a huge crush on Dina Meyer after she got nekkid on Starship Troopers. We don't get so lucky in Bats, and instead we get some silly bat special effects.
I can't complain about this type of movie too much because I really actually like these cheesy monster attack movies. This is no "The Birds", and it doesn't try to take itself very seriously, but it's actually pretty fun to watch. There's a bit of gore, a few one-liners, and chest-deep bat guano. Basically, what more can you ask for?
Sure, Bats is a terrible movie. But I guess that's what I like about it.
3 pumpkins out of 5
Spook Fest 2011 – Movie 11 – Trollhunter
Troll Hunter is awesome. It's from Norway, and should really be watched in the original language if possible. My girlfriend got me this on Blu-ray for my birthday and the English dub is just silly.
It's a movie format I love: Found Footage. Basically in all of these movies you follow a film crew around as they actually do the filming of the movie. In Troll Hunter there's a camera man, a sound girl and the interviewer, and they follow around a grizzled old Troll Hunter as he tries to kill various trolls that are wandering around the Norwegian countryside.
The setting for this movie is breathtaking and it's all the better in HD. I really want to visit Norway on vacation someday now.
The trolls are really well done too. Sure they kinda look silly, but considering this didn't have a huge Hollywood budget I was impressed. There's a good sense of danger too, as you don't even see the trolls until far along into the movie.
This is a film, like most successful non-English films, that some studio snatches up the rights for a remake, and of course an English version is in the works. But the original has a lot of charm and is definitely worth checking out!
4.5 pumpkins out of 5
Spook Fest 2011 – Movie 10 – Death of a Ghost Hunter
This movie was half good, and half atrocious. You see, I liked the story. A guy inherited an old house and he hires a Paranormal Investigator to check it out and determine if the rumors of it being haunted are true. You see, a horrible series of murders took place in the house 20 years prior, and ever since it's been full of hauntings. Only a cleaning lady goes in anymore, and she only goes in once a month and leaves as quickly as she can.
The Paranormal Investigator wants to work alone but the owner of the house also hired a camera man and a local reporter to stick with her over a few days. And of course, weird, terrible things happen to these people.
But the problem with the movie isn't really the writing or the story or even the dialog, which isn't that great btw. It's just the delivery of the actors. It's so awkward and unnatural, for the entire movie. At no point did they sound comfortable or at all believable, and it just takes away from the movie. There is some awkward nudity that comes out of nowhere. And it has a bit of a twist ending, if that's possible with this movie that tells you the ending in the title.
3 pumpkins out of 5
Spook Fest 2011 – Movie 9 – Population 436
Population 436 is about a census worker who has to travel to a small town and clear up what must be a paperwork problem: the town of Rockwell Falls has had a population of exactly 436 on every census on record.
I would NOT want to be a census worker. This guy (Jeremy Sisto) has to drive to this tiny town that has only one road going in, and come on... you know towns like that have to be messed up. There's some communities like that in my neck of the woods in Central PA and there's all sorts of local stories and such about the "locals".
Well in Rockwell Falls has a town tradition where it is required that the population be kept at 436. So every new birth, or any new member of the community has to be accounted for by removing someone else.
And I guess the townspeople are okay with this? There seems to be some sort of brainwashing going on that people other than the town's one hot chick aren't all up-in-arms about it all. I mean they literally have a lottery to see who will be the next person to go when somebody is about to have a baby. And they're happy when they win!
This is a pretty good movie, and Jeremy Sisto is a pretty good actor. Oh and that cop you just saw (if you just watched this trailer)... it's FRED DURST. Yep, Fred Durst as in Limp Bizkit Fred Durst. Gone is the goatee, and instead you've got a wholesome, naive country police officer who never is seen without long sleeves. I was pretty darn impressed by his performance too.
All in all, Population 436 was a decent movie and worth watching on Netflix anyways. It's a good reminder to never go to small quaint towns.
3.5 pumpkins out of 5
Spook Fest 2011 – Movie 8 – The Thing
The theme for a lot of this year's Spook Fest as you might have noticed is to watch as many classic films I hadn't ever seen as possible, and The Thing is yet another of them. The other motivation for this one is that the new version is in the works which is supposedly a prequel, so watching this one was a no brainer.
Another thing I've realized over the past few weeks is just how much I dig John Carpenter's movies. They're not all exactly gems but I have really grown to enjoy his style.
So if you are also a "The Thing" novice, you may not know that it too is a remake of the 1951 film "The Thing from Another World", with both films taking place in a frozen research facility (the older one in the Arctic and the other in Antarctica).
One team of researchers dug up a... Thing, which is able to shapeshift into other living beings. It then infiltrates another research camp and, once people realize what it is capable of, the scientists all become paranoid that everyone else is actually a shapeshifted monster and not really who they say they are.
Being out in Antarctica in the winter (with a radio that doesn't work of course) makes for a less than ideal environment to combat a shapeshifting killing machine, but it sure was fun to watch. Overall I thought this movie was really well done, and I think the prequel-remake thing is going to be worth checking out. Considering how nice and gory the 1982 special effects were, I can only imagine what they'll look like this time around.
4 pumpkins out of 5
Spook Fest 2011 – Movie 7 – Dreamcatcher
Dreamcatcher could have been awesome, and it had some really good build up. But when you kill off your best character and then have a crazy space alien ending... well let's just say mistakes were made.
It's originally a Stephen King book, and from my expertise from reading the book('s wikipedia entry) I know that many things were changed for the movie. Why do they do that? I realize some cuts have to be made in the interest of time. But Dreamcatcher basically changed the entire ending. I think the thing post people would have a problem with in this movie is not the action, the CGI, the character design, or even the sorta fruity way they portray the "memory warehouse", but that the ending was just over the top and unfulfilling.
Basically it's like Stand By Me, but replace Corey Feldman with Jason Lee. Oh and add a kid with mental problems (who seems to be a psychic). Then fast forward 20 years and they're going camping out in the wood to drink (although they didn't invite Duddits their challenged friend) and of course it's the forest from hell, where a huge alien fungus is spreading and killing everything. The US military (led by Morgan Fucking Freeman) is there using too much aggression to deal with it. And, everybody has super powers.
Oh and that mental disability kid? When he grows up, he's played by Marky Mark's brother. Yes, Donnie from New Kids on the Block. No lies.
I liked the performances from most of the adult actors, but all the child actors had horrible lines and horrible delivery, and it was pretty cringe-worthy. The CGI was solid, with some pretty toothy creature designs. Let's just say it's a step up from the monsters in the Langoliers.
I guess I mostly liked Dreamcatcher but I think it needed another couple of passes over with the script, and they really should have considered keeping the ending from the book. It wasn't scary though, but I suppose had a pretty positive tone to it. I guess what I'm trying to say is... I didn't HATE it.
3 pumpkins out of 5
Spook Fest 2011 – Movie 6 – Leviathan
I watched this whole movie waiting for that scene with the 80's CG water to touch the guy. Yeah, wrong effing movie Scott. That of course was The Abyss which I also haven't seen. But what I did see was a pretty lame movie called Leviathan that was not even about a big sea monster leviathan (which could have been cool) but instead was about a virus or something that they caught from a shipwreck, and that ship was named Leviathan. Considering like 2 minutes of the movie took place on that ship I would have picked a different name.
So basically what happens is the guy who plays Robocop is underwater in a base where they're mining, and the company is run by the chick with the crazy white eyes from They Live, and one of the bumbling unprofessional miners (because every movie about people who work in some remote isolated environment immediately have to have somebody who acts completely unprofessional and reckless, right?) falls over an underwater cliff and finds his way into a shipwreck. Somehow he catches a disease that turns him into a monster later on. And it spreads to the crew and so on and so forth.
I felt like Leviathan has some promising moments, but overall I was unimpressed by the design of the monster, and I pretty much wanted it to eat most of the cast.
2 pumpkins out of 5