. . . and now for something completely different. . .

We have a treat today. A guest review of a the new Disney film The Princess and the Frog by Alex Dale - Teenager. :)

Without further ado I give you Alex.

Dear humble readers of this blog, what you are about to read may have a little teenage angst in it but I'm sorry. I could not hold my tongue about this film. The film to which I write to you about is Disney's "The Princess and the Frog" (sigh), yes folks my life has hit rock bottom I am reviewing "The Princess and the Frog". There are very many reasons why this movie has royally ticked me off enough to leave my teenage lazy state of being, and write on this wonderful God-given vacation. Disney, Disney, Disney, tsk tsk tsk where do I begin. Since when did Disney start becoming political in what movies they made I mean come on we all know why this movie was made, it was to calm down a certain group of Disney fans from having an epilepsy attack about not having their own princess; hence why this movie was made! Well, well, well, where’s my beautiful Latina princess, ooooo can she be played by Salma Hayek and in the end have a song performed by the Gypsy Kings. This is when Disney says "No I'm afraid we cannot do that young man it might be offensive to some of our viewers." BULL$H!+ its because Disney won't feel a big hit in their pocket books if my group of people stop coming to Disneyland, buying costumes, or stop buying Disney films. Hence we have Mulan, Pocahontas, Jasmine, and all of the rest. Don't get me wrong in this review I am not a racist I just don't like the fact that political statements are now coming in the form of Disney Movies (well I guess they always have been). Any one seen Disney's "Der Fuehrer's Face", Donald Duck is a Nazi for Christ's sake check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZcs1SHVbz0 . Don't let me stray off topic; another thing that pisses me off about this film is the fact that the whole movie was one big freaking stereotype. I mean come on did Disney honestly think nobody would notice the accents, jazz playing, or the fact that only the white people in New Orleans lived in a mansion, I don't think so. How about at the beginning of the film when we found out that Tiana grew up without a father. That was offensive to me. What about the fact that there were no in the middle white people in that film, none that weren't really greedy and stuck up, or really retarded and uneducated. To finish off this very strong-willed review I would also like to add why did Ne-yo get to perform a song in the credits. Ne-yo? Really? Why not BB King or Stevie Wonder or even John Legend? Apparently Disney must have got a great deal in the price Ne-yo was asking for, because he is just awful. In total this movie was very fun for children who do not comprehend the concept of stereotypes. It was complete eye candy with all of the beautiful colors and such, and I guess the moral isn't half bad (hard work doesn't pay it is only true love that will get you what you want). The soundtrack wasn't so bad either. So I definitely wouldn't boycott the film I just would take my kids to see it and make sure that they have a good time, and that is it. All and all this movie was not terrible just minor errors that need to be addressed. Anyways thanks readers to listening to my review.

Sincerely Your Guest Writer,

Alex Dale

For two of my favorite people!

A friend of mine sent me this video a few months ago (thanks, Jan!)and I decided to re-personalize it with new pictures. Enjoy!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Avatar - This is why we GO to the movies.

I don't really know where to begin with reviewing James Cameron's Avatar but we'll get to that in a minute. First, the plot of Avatar is basically the story of Jake Sully, a marine in the not too distant future (2154) who has lost the use of his legs in combat. Jake had a twin brother who was a brilliant scientist working on the Avatar project but he was killed and now Jake has the opportunity to take his place since they were twins and share the same genomes. Anyway, Avatars are 10 foot tall human/alien hybrids that have been created to try to bring a sort of peace between the earthlings and the aliens that inhabit the moon of Pandora. The earth people are there because our planet is dying and there is a mineral on this moon that we really need to be able to save our world. This is really all the setup you need for this movie and pretty much all you are given going into it.

Now, when I said that I didn't know where to begin in reviewing this movie it wasn't because I am not sure how I feel about it but because I am torn about how I feel about it. I am a fan of James Cameron's movies and in fact Aliens is my favorite movie of all time. That being said I was disappointed with this movie. When you watch other James Cameron movies there is a level of suspense that he is so good at creating, almost better than any other filmmaker out there. Aliens is a roller coaster of a film from start to finish and you didn't know who, if anyone, would make it out of there alive. During the Abyss I bet many of you were on the edge of your seat (I know I was) when Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (sp?) had drowned and Ed Harris was beating on her chest to bring her back from the brink. Hell even though you KNEW how Titanic would end there was still a sense of suspense of what would happen and who would survive. Well unfortunately there is no suspense to be found in Avatar. Any movie fan out there can see exactly where this movie is going to take you the moment it starts. There are no surprises.

Now you might think from reading this review that I hated the movie. Not at all I loved it while I watched it. As predictable the story is and how bad the acting and characters were at times I still sat in the theater dumbstruck. This is why this review is so tough, because I would recommend that you go see this but I cannot recommend it as a movie.

You may be asking yourself what the hell I mean and I will do my best to explain. Whenever I am watching a movie that I really like I find myself thinking how I cannot wait to own it on DVD and watch it over and over. I never felt that way about Avatar. Not once. But, this movie does deserve to be seen in theaters and 3D is a requirement believe me. For the almost 3 hour running time you will be completely transported to another world and isn't that really why we go to the movies?

James Cameron has created a spectacle that needs to be seen in theaters and I as always cannot wait to see where he goes next as I think it will be much better than Avatar.

In conclusion see it once in the best 3D you can find and then dream about where we will go from here.

writing

I have wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember. It has always been a dream of mine to be able to make a living as a writer in one form or another. Whether that would be writing stories or reporting I cannot think of a more rewarding way to work than to write. Unfortunately actually living your life and providing for your family has a way of encroaching on ones dreams and the older I get the farther away the dream of being a working writer becomes. I have decided then that I am going to take all the things I have ever written (since high school that is) and all the ideas I have had in my head and begin posting them here. I think I am going to just put them on as is without editing them in any way. Along the way I will offer up notes as to where my mind may have been at the time of writing the pieces that I post.

I don't know about any of you but it seems that Hollywood has had a direct feed into my brain and I will post notes where applicable about when I came up with an idea and show where Hollywood seems to have rooted around my mind and made my ideas come to life without me.

The very first example that I can show for this happened probably around the sixth grade. When my mom would take my brother and I to Kmart I would tell her that I would be at the electronics section while she shopped. We were learning about computers in class and Kmart had Apple IIe's on display that I could practice super basic coding on. 10: you suck, 20: goto 10, 30: goto home. Or some such stuff. Anyway I ended up discovering that the computer had a word processor on it and I would write up little stories as I waited for my mom to finish her shopping. Well one time I was writing a story and was trying to come up with a name for an alien planet. I came up with Zorgon or something like that. Nothing original but at the time I had never heard it before. Wouldn't you believe it, not more than 2 weeks after that I was watching Bosom Buddies and they said "planet zorgon" I could have shit. Ever since then I have tried not to share my ideas over the phone (paranoid much?) just in case my ideas would be stolen. As you will find in the coming days it didn't stop them.

I hope you stick around to read the work of a wannabe writer. I will begin posting shortly!

Comic Con 2010

I AM SOOOOO FUCKING PISSED!!!!

It has been less than 4 months since Comic Con ended and 8 months still to go until Comic Con 2010 and guess what? IT'S ALREADY SOLD OUT!!!! Are you kidding me? This is unprecedented. You can normally get your 4 day pass until Feb - Mar and now in November it's too late to get passes. My best friend and his kids and I have gone to Comic Con for the past 4 of 5 years in a row and now it looks like we are going to be sitting this year out. Why the sudden overwhelming popularity for the con? Why are die hard fans now not able to attend? FUCKING TWILIGHTERS!!!! These tweens and their parents have taken over.

Here is a photo I took last year at Comic Con.

This was the general consensus last year by all the CC veterans.

I don't want to begrudge this new generation of CC fans their right to be there but it's damn hard to be understanding when they prevent me and my friends from enjoying our yearly time together.

Our "geek Christmas" is now on hold until 2011.

Go Team Silver Bullet and Team Wooden Stake.

Where's fuckin Buffy when you need her?

2012

Roland Emmerich hates the planet. 2012 marks the third time he has tried to destroy the earth and this time he pretty much succeeds.

Now I LOVE me some end of the world destruction movie and I had a good time at this movie but it is one of those films that I consider a bi-polar picture.

When I say bi-polar what I mean is that I watch a movie like this with 2 brains. On the one side is the movie lover in me that enjoys a good popcorn movie for what it is - mindless fun; on the other side though is my intellect that screams out to be heard whenever something happens in a movie that just strikes me as wrong. Well, during 2012 the intellectual side was going CRAZY!

The movie is enjoyable and I think that if you can disconnect your brain for the 2:40 running time then you will have fun at this movie but here are my problems with it. Your experience will probably vary.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!

1) The most charismatic character in film is killed off much too early.

2) Toward the end of the film when one of the main group dies it is sort of shrugged off by the other characters in the group. "Where is so and so?" "He didn't make it." "Oh noez! Well I love you so let's keep going" Ummmm what???? Really? I felt terrible for the poor guy that his death was just a footnote in a conversation.

3) I am a Christian and as such I have certain beliefs and I put my faith into God and his teachings (i.e. the Bible). Now in the Bible, in the very beginning of the Bible, seriously I don't think it is more than 30 pages into the book, God tells Noah that he is going to destroy the earth with a flood (he was the original Roland Emmerich you see). Well he sticks to his word and floods the earth and the only survivors are those that Noah was able to put on his ark.

(At this point I understand that you that are non-Christian are probably rolling your eyes but I believe this so it is relevant to my point so bear with me.)

Anyway after Noah and his flock find dry land (Waterworld anyone?) God creates a rainbow as a covenant to man that he will - and this is important - NEVER AGAIN FLOOD THE WORLD!!!

So as you can see when the movie starts coming to an end and the world is flooded I am screaming on the inside because in my rational and faith based side of my mind I am screaming that THIS WOULD NEVER HAPPEN!!! I feel like Kathy Bates from Misery screaming that 'He never got out of the COCK-A-DOODIE CAR! If you don't understand the reference I suggest that you go watch Misery right now as it is one of the best movie adaptations from my favorite author of all time. The best adaptation being the Shawshank Redemption. But I digress.

So the giant flood pulled me right out of the movie and I kind of watched the rest of it with my arms folded but at that point it was almost over anyway so it wasn't too bad.

The last thing I have to say about this is certain to ruffle feathers and I apologize in advance but I have to get it off of my chest. As probably everyone out there knows there is a certain religion in this and many other countries that does not want to have it's leader shown or spoken about or defamed in any way. These people will actually threaten to kill you if you do any of these things and if they can get to you they WILL kill you. The reason I even bring this up is that in the film there are a couple scenes of religious icons being destroyed - the statue of Jesus overlooking Rio De Janeiro and the entirety of the Vatican. I have no problem with this. It's a movie after all. The problem that I have is that there is a scene of this group of people praying and facing their holy place but it never shows that place being destroyed. I know this is splitting hairs but it feels like the producers of the film did not want to offend and incur the wrath of this group by showing their holy place being destroyed. Why? Why is it okay to show other sites that are holy to one group being destroyed and not this other site? The answer is simple. Hollywood is afraid of this group. I have the solution for them though instead of trying to placate these people and not offend their whacked out sensibilities (this is my opinion) why doesn't Hollywood ,and it would be nice if we could all do this, just ignore them. Pretend like they don't exist. Instead of trying to only portray them in a positive, non-offensive light why not just not show them at all. Wouldn't that make them happier? I don't know if that would or even could work but I am tired of watching everyone bow to the will of this one group of people who worship someone you cannot even mention. EUREKA! We can just refer to them as the deatheaters since they follow the teachings of "He who cannot be named". Yeah that's right I just equated the extremists in the east to characters created by J.K. Rowling.

Argh!!!

2012. Go see it.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book made a huge impact on me. It was given to me by a friend who had really enjoyed it and when I read it, I immediately fell in love with the books and it's characters. It's one of those rare books that you can't put down and you really become invested in the characters' lives and adventures. I've recommended this book to many people but only a few have loved it as much as I do. Others, have yet to take the plunge! I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves adventure, traveling, history, and romance. Not to mention time travel!! It's set in Scotland, England, the Caribbean Islands, and North America.

I'm currently re-reading this series since the latest addition, An Echo in the Bone, was just released this past September. So far I'm finding myself just as enthralled as the first time I read this book and I'm falling in love all over again with the one and only James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser, AKA Jamie, the tall,Viking-sized, red-headed Scotsman who steals the heart of Claire Beauchamp!

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