A Piece From The Collection: The Matrix (1999)

Alo Party Peoples.

The end of the month has come again, the time when I look at a film in my DVD collection and tell you if I think you should do the same. December 2013's choice is, The Matrix. The Wachowski's second direction job was a big hit. It was very well received at the time by both the mass audience and critics. There have been homages, parodies, analysis, and ripoffs. Let's see if it is still good fourteen years later.

Setup: Do I really need to tell you the setup? Everybody knows it by now. A computer hacker called Neo discovers a strange program called the Matrix and wants to figure out what it is. He meets a man named Morpheus who gives him a red pill and reveals to him that reality is a lie. It's not 1999, it's closer to 2199, we're not sure of the date anymore. We built sentient machines that rebelled and took over the world, and now they use mankind's body heat as an energy source. To keep us complacent they put us into a computer simulation of the late 90's called the Matrix. The reason they don't just cut out the quite energy consuming brain is because, revenge I guess. Humans are terrible canadates for this kind of generator, but if they used cows we wouldn't have a movie.

Now he must work with the few free humans left to resist the Agents of the Matrix and free the mankind from it's digital prison.

It is a good and engaging story, and there are some intriguing ideas to be mined from it. Is reality just what our minds perceive, or is there something more. Is it ethical to create artificial sentience? Is Agent Smith right that mankind is a detriment to the Earth? 

Obviously those questions are subjective and answers will vary from person to person, but my answers to them are the following. I am not a solipsist*, if you create sentience you must give it the rights that come with sentience, and man isn't the best thing for the Earth but it's stuck with us for the foreseeable future.

Presentation: This film might be starting to show it's age, but as of 2013 it still looks pretty good. 

The action here looks appropriately like a video game. Characters move with unnatural speed at odd angles and perform amazing acrobatic feats, the camera slows down and pans around them during fights as if it were a cutscene, and the Matrix itself looks like it could be the setting of a GTA game. The CG is dated now, but it is used well and with purpose.

The Matrix itself is washed out and gray, reflecting Neo's humdrum normal life. It looks like the kind of place you would want to escape from, but the real world is cramped, foreboding, and it can make you think that "ignorance is bliss" and the Matrix is a better option than "the desert of the real".

Overall it looks good.

Cast: This is where I am less impressed, but it's not terrible. Keanu Reeves is a bit too quiet i.e can you speak up as Neo, but he does okay. Joe Pantoliano is enjoyable as Cypher, a free human that regrets taking the red pill. Laurence Fishburne is great as Morpheus, Carrie Anne-Moss is engaging as Trinity, and Hugo Weaving is fantastic as Agent Smith, a program designed to hide glitches in the Matrix.


In conclusion, The Matrix is a pretty good film. Well written, well shot, acted competently, well choreographed, and intruiging. Is it dated? Sure, but not as much as I thought it would be going in. I don't know if it's the best ever, but I can certainly see why it is considered to be the best.

One last thing before I go. Before you ask about the sequels or the Animatrix, I haven't seen them. Maybe next year.

Happy New Year, And Many More To Come.

Greg.B

*People that believe there is nothing beyond their brain, and that the world is a figment of their imagination.

TV Time: Doctor Who: The Time Of The Doctor

SPOILERS FOR DAY OF THE DOCTOR

Alo Party Peoples.

Judging from Twitter and YouTube, it seems that most people enjoyed Doctor Who's 50th anniversary more than I did. I didn't hate it, not at all, but to me The Day Of The Doctor was just an average late Smith era Doctor Who story that happened to feature multiple Doctors, and late Smith-era Doctor Who has been lacking.

I wasn't very impressed. The Zygon plot just stopped without a resolution, undoing the burning of Gallifrey undermines the Doctor's character arc, it often felt like officially licensed fan fiction, and as Linkara pointed out, it felt more like a celebration of eight years of New Who rather than fifty years of Doctor Who.

Steven Moffat's contribution to the 50th anniversary was a disappointment, in my opinion. Which is sad, because he used to be one of the shows best writers before taking over as showrunner. Making such gems as The Girl In The Fireplace, Blink, and Forest Of The Dead/Silence In The Library, he was amazing. And his first season as showrunner was quite good as well, the show could have ended after The Big Bang and it would have been perfect.

But ever since the second half of Series Six, episodes that he writes have been, not that good, and generally messed around with stuff that worked fine. Overcomplicating the show, introducing temporal shenanigans that make it very hard to follow the plot, killing characters over and over again, throwing the numbers off with a hidden Doctor(though maybe that's just me), and retconning the Doctor's tragic past in a way that makes Nine and Ten's regret over it meaningless.

I will continue to watch the show, and I hold out hope that it will get better. Which brings me to today's subject, the Christmas special, entitled The Time Of The Doctor, also written by Steven Moffat. 

The story of the Eleventh Doctor's final days spent defending the town of Christmas from all his foes, to keep the Time War from starting anew, is fortunately a welcome improvement. It's not great, there hasn't been a great episode since The Girl Who Waited, but it's a good one. We have some great performances, the usual expected level of high production values, and some good moments.

The acting, top notch, it's amusing to see Matt Smith, the youngest Doctor in both age of the actor and personality, playing an old man, and doing so well. Jenna Coleman is enjoyable as Clara, Kayvan Novak is endearing as the voice of a Cyberman head that the Doctor takes on as a companion, and Orla Brady is well excecuted as an ally of the Doctor that runs the Order of The Silence.

Speaking of which, villans for this episode. We have Daleks which are, not bad by any means, but you could have had the Master taunting Eleven about his lives running out and it wouldn't have made much of a difference. The Cybermen show up allowing for an entertaining one off character in Handles the detatched Cyberhead. The Weeping Angels make a pointless if well shot cameo scene with no impact on the plot and only show up to make the trailer more interesting, and the Silence turn out to be genetically engineered priests, and we FINALLY get conformation that they are the ones that blew up the TARDIS in Series Five.

Lastly, no they didn't have Matt Smith be the final Doctor.* Doctor Who is a cash cow, flagship show for the BBC, and I doubt they will ever let it end. Instead the Time Lords give him a new set of regenerations through a crack in the universe, and with a thunderclap he becomes Peter Capaldi. How is he? That's hard to say. He is only onscreen for about thirty seconds, and it won't really be possible to gauge his Doctor until the show returns in August. But I liked him as Caecillius in The Fires Of Pompeii, so I'll probably enjoy his Doctor.

In conclusion, it's pretty good. Let's call it a 7.8/10

Happy Holidays.

Greg.B

*That fan-theory about the Doctor's severed hand that became a clone (don't ask, it's confusing) counting as a regeneration, that's canon now.

Night Vale Book

Alo Party Peoples.

Paperback book publisher Harper Perennial is working with Commonplace Books to make a Welcome To Night Vale novel due to be released in fall of 2015. For those not in the know, Welcome To Night Vale is a horror-comedy podcast that exploded in popularity around July 2013, for a while it was alternating between first and second place on the iTunes top podcast chart in the Audio category, and it is currently in fourth. 

It is an audio drama presented as a community radio news show in a fictional small town called Night Vale where all conspiracy theories are true. As well as all myths, religions, and urban legends. 

I listen to this podcast often, and I'm excited for a book about Joseph Fink's weird little town. I'll probably buy it once the reviews come in. No plot details are currently known, but I hope it isn't just Night Vale's newsprint.

http://www.abc3340.com/story/24230538/popular-podcast-night-vale-coming-out-as-a-book

Let's Go Out To The Movies: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Alo Party Peoples.

I enjoyed the first Hobbit film. It wasn't quite able to match Lord Of The Rings's massive scope, The Hobbit is not an epic story, but An Unexpected Journey was a well crafted fantasy adventure in its own right. How does The Desolation Of Smaug continue it?

It does alright. It continues the quest of twelve dwarves and a hobbit to kill the evil dragon Smaug and reclaim the Lonely Mountain, while still on the run from Azog and his orcs. Along the way they encounter a shape changing bear, the Elven land of Mirkwood where they encounter Orlando Bloom's returning Legolas, and a human settlement called Laketown.

While this is happening, Gandalf and Ratagast are investigating the returning Sauron to prepare for war. That's all I can say without spoilers, but I can say it builds and builds towards a massive conclusion, and then it just stops. 

This is certainly a well made film. Sets, great, costumes, great, effects, iffy towards the end but good for the most part. Let it never be said that Jackson isn't trying. 

The actors do well. Martin Freeman as Bilbo and Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield work well together. Ian McKellan as Gandalf and Sylvester McCoy as Ratagast interact well, Evangilene Lily is alright as a newly added love interest for Bloom's Legolas, Bennedict Cumberbatch does fantastic voice work and motion capture for Smaug, who is also designed very well, and Manu Bennett is alright as Azog.

There are certainly problems, the love story between the new elf and one of the minor dwarves didn't really do much towards engaging me. The CG on Smaug starts to deteriorate towards the end, almost as if they were running out of money, and the aforementioned halt of an ending.

In conclusion, I don't think the Hobbit needed to be a trilogy*, but they do alright for the middle segment. I'm not sure I would reccomend it, but see for yourself and draw your own conclusion.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B

*It probably needed to be one to get greenlit after Lord Of The Rings.

Merry Christmas From The Archivis.

Alo Party Peoples.

It's the time of year that is both longed for and dreaded in equal measure. Holiday Season.

Longed for because goodwill to all, family time, gifts, snow, bonuses at work, Jesus, and various other reasons. Dreaded because of expensive gift shopping, horrible traffic, freezing temperatures,and driving long distances for akward interactions with relatives you barley know. It is also semi-dreaded by students, because it is rather hard to celebrate while studying for and taking semester finals.

My family is very deeply and faithfully Christain, I am skeptical as to why an omnipotent and benevolent god would allow cancer to exist. Sure, Christmas started as a pagan holiday celebrating a good harvest, but Christianity absorbed it to celebrate the birth of Jesus. 

Today while the religious side of Christmas certainly hasn't gone away, and probably won't for a while, it tends to be overshadowed by a secular celebration of capitalist excess with the same name. Then again, said secular holiday also overshadows everything else in December.

Both of these celebrations happen on December 24/25, and both are valid as holidays, at least in my opinion. Perhaps the secular one can be a celebration of families and good will towards all mankind.

Either way it results in much traffic.

Hats off to all, have a nice holiday, and a Happy New Year.

I leave you with this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhDHtKpfP0o

Greg.B

Let's Go Out To The Movies: The Book Thief

Alo Party Peoples.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is an incredible book, one that I am glad to give the title of great to. It is a moving story of a girl growing up with a foster family in Nazi Germany that discovers the power of words. Brian Percival might have downplayed the theme of words, but he adapts it to the silver screen quite nicely.

It is a relatively faithful adaptation, some things are done in a different order, others are removed entirely, but the theme of words probably wouldn't have translated to the screen well. It is well told and well made, the sets and costumes all look great, and the emotions take center stage while the theme of the book takes a back seat.

The actors all do a good job. Geoffery Rush and Emily Watson do a good job as the Hubermanns. Ben Schnetzer makes a good Max Vanderberg, a Jew that the Hubermanns hide in their basement, and Roger Allam does a good voice job as the personification of Death. As for the younger cast, Sophie Nélisse makes a fine Lisel Meminger, and newcomer Nico Liersch is well done as Rudy. It is all well acted and never once does an accent slip. 

In conclusion, is it as good as the book? Probably not, but is is a really good and well made film that I can overall reccomend.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B

On The Subject Of Greatness.

FIRST OFF A CORRECTION TO THE FIREFLY POST. FIREFLY WAS 98TH IN NIELSON RATINGS, NOT 125TH AS I HAD CLAIMED. I APOLOGIZE FOR THIS ERROR.

Alo Party Peoples.

I reserve the term "great" for the best of the best. For the truly remarkable or well executed. I don't hand it out lightly.

For example, Avengers was a good movie, many called it great, but it isn't quite the best in the superhero sub genre. The Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole on the other hand, was an achievement, bringing shared universe genre defying comic book continuity to the big screen (and small screen) successfully, and having eight out of eight films be good, and be profitable, that is great.

See also, the Harry Potter films. As individual films they can vary in quality, but the series as a whole is really good. It's impressive that all eight films were profitable, and that they were able to pull it off even though they started the films before the books were even finished. They didn't know if the books would  remain popular enough to justify films, or if they would even remain good. They kept the same cast together for a decade. Even when they lost Richard Harris, they continued on and found Michael Gambon to play Dumbledore. That they didn't even let mortality stop them in making these films, that is determination, and it resulted in something great. Not as great as the books, but still worthwhile on their own.

Things are great when they overcome the odds and become greater than the sum of their parts. Here are some works I consider great.

- The Marvel Cinematic Universe

- Harry Potter (films as a whole and the books)

- Lord Of The Rings* (films)

- Batman Begins and The Dark Knight

- Puella Magi Madoka Magica

- Doctor Who

- The Slender Man Mythos**

- Firefly and Serenity

- Pleasantville

- Life of Pi (book and film)

- The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

- Across The Universe by Beth Revis

 

Have a nice day.

Greg.B



*They teach college classes on Tolkien's work. That doesn't happen unless you've made something worthwhile.

**I don't like it, but I respect it.

This Post Is Dedicated To Nelson Mandela. 1918-2013 May He Rest In Peace.

Weirdness of The Internet 6.

Alo Party Peoples.

Some more things on the Internet that I find weird.

Have you heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon? It is a game that involves linking an actor to Kevin Bacon in six steps or less. For example: Tommy Wiseau was in Bump with Scott Gordon-Patterson who was in Highway 395 with Diane Delano who was in The River Wild with Kevin Bacon. Here is a website that links actors in that way.

http://oracleofbacon.org

There are some stupid people out there. I don't know if this woman's ignorance is genuine, or if this was a joke. Either way hilarity.

http://youtu.be/w3qFdbUEq5s

A lot of people watched Breaking Bad. I wasn't one of them, but this guy asks if we can enjoy it.

http://youtu.be/b9QIGAHQZqQ

Have a nice day. If there is something you think is weird, leave a link for me on Twitter @GregB00

Greg.B

TV Time: Firefly (2002)

Alo Party Peoples.

No power in the 'Verse can stop us. Except Fox.

I'm doing more television.


Firefly was an American space-western drama television show created by Joss Whedon and Tim Minear that ran for four months on Fox in 2002.

I have been rolling the idea of an article on it around for a while. It seemed unfair to cover it because it was never finished. However, it's good stuff and it deserves a mention. Also, I plan to cover Serenity at some point and I thought it would be a good idea to explain Firefly first.

Firefly is a much beloved work, short lived as it was. It was well reviewed by critics, but it didn't do very well ratings wise, being 125th in Nielson ratings, but it did well in DVD sales. In 2005 it got a continuation in the form of Serenity*, a feature film that was also well received by critics, but had a mediocre box office take, which probably kills any chance of a sequel. The franchise has a vehement following that lasts to this day, and in 2014 a mobile game will be released.

Let's get to the "is this worth your time" aspect of my blog.

Setup: Earth was becoming overcrowded, so an allience between the US and China lead a mass exodus to a new star system, and terraformed it into the American Old West. The Central Planets wanted to bring everyone under their rule, there was a war over it, the independents lost.

This is the story of one of them, Malcom Reynolds, captain of the Firefly-class transport ship Serenity, and his crew, who now survive by doing odd jobs on the edges of the system, both literally in that he operates in the Outer Planets, and figuratively in that he works where the legal system can't quite reach him.

It is a unique piece. Combining westerns, science fiction, and a hint of the Orient to create an original world that could be its own post. Sure, the space-western isn't new, but this is a well done version of it.

Primary Cast: We have an ensemble cast of nine. Nathan Fillion as Malcom, Alan Tudyk as Wash, pilot of Serenity and wife of Gina Torres's Zoe, first mate. Ron Glass as Book, a passenger who is very probably a holy man. 

Adam Baldwin as Jayne, a simple and violent man working for Mal mostly because no one else has offered him more. Jewel Staite as Kaylee, Serenity's ever cheerful mechanic. Morena Baccarin as Inara, a Companion** that works out of one of Serenity's shuttles, and Sean Maher as Simon, ship medic who broke his sister River(Summer Glau) out of an Allience facility that drove her to madness.

Each of them is great in their part and interact well, it's remarkable how quickly you become attached to these characters, my personal best however, must go to Summer Glau as River, Her behavior eerily resembles autism and in that respect she has it down perfectly.

Joss Whedon intended for Firefly to last seven years. It got canclled after fourteen episodes, three of which were not aired, for low ratings that stemmed from various things, airing episodes out of order, misleading advertizing, friction between Whedon and Fox, and many others. The only real problem I can think of really wasn't Firefly's fault. Since it was canceled it didn't have a conclusion, not until Serenity anyway, and after the last episode you are just left wishing there was more.

Then again, if it's good enough that you want more, is that really a flaw?

In conclusion, Firefly was fantastic, and I reccomend it wholeheartedly. It can be found of DVD, Blu-Ray, and Netflix Instant Stream. Serenity is also worth your time and is avalible on VHS, DVD, UMD, Blu-Ray, and Netflix Instant Stream.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B



*According to Whedon Fox still owned the name Firefly.

**Combination private life coach, prostitute for rent, and philosopher.

TV Time: Agents of Shield

Alo Party Peoples.

I know that I said I would wait until the season finale, but since they are taking the week off, I decided to give a general opinion on Shield before my "Is this worth your money on Netflix/DVD?" opinion on the whole thing after the season finale.

Setup: Set one year after the Avengers, Shield Agent Phil Coulson, after coming back to life offscreen, leads an off the book team of agents around the world on various missions to investigate macguffins of the week. Sometimes that macguffin can be superpowered people. Other times it is an alien artifact.

Said setup is a good one for an action show and it works well here. Some episodes: in particular Eye Spy, F.Z.Z.T, and The Well, are standouts in quality, our weakest is the most recent episode, Repairs, which isn't bad, but is not particularly important except dealing out May's backstory.

Cast: Our cast consists of six primary crew members aboard Coulson's jet.

Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson, the proprietor of the team, Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May, the pilot with a troubled and mysterious past. Brett Dalton as Grant Ward, the teams black ops specialist with another troubled past, Chole Bennett as Skye, a orphan hacktivist that joins to find out about her parents, and Ian De Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge as FitzSimmons, our science people.

This cast works great, they have good chemistry, and prove that Marvel Studios is getting past their cited diversity problem by having a regular show with half the principal cast being women, one of whom is Asian.

In general I like the show, and I'll have a more detailed summary and review up when the season ends.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B

More Random Thoughts

Alo Party Peoples.


More thoughts from my mind.

The behavior of River on Firefly is eerily similar to autism. I recognize the wandering your home at night and the odd statements that don't make sense without the context of their thought process.

Speaking of Firefly, perhaps I should cover that, what do you think?

I've been rolling the idea of a Q&A post around in my head for a while, but I don't think my readership is large enough for that to be viable.

Inequality will always exist to some extent because we are not identical.

Pleasantville is an underrated gem and it's message is still relevant today. It still holds up fifteen years later.

Having now seen the video, What The Fox Say is clearly a comedy song. It's still a bit obnoxious, half of it feels like it was meant to teach small children animal noises, and the other half is jibberish, but I recognize what they were going for.

Lastly, an announcement. My film reviews are taking Thanksgiving weekend off. If it is any compromise, I hear Frozen is great.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B

Let's (Not) Go Out To The Movies: The Day Of The Doctor

SPOILER WARNING. IT WOULD BE RATHER DIFFICULT TO DISCUSS THIS WITHOUT DISCUSSING WHAT HAPPENS IN IT. NOTHING MAJOR BUT I WILL TALK ABOUT THE HURT DOCTOR.

SO IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHO JOHN HURT IS PLAYING, TURN BACK NOW.

Alo Party Peoples.

Today I am doing something different. I usually wouldn't cover television, but since this is a feature length episode of one of my favorite shows, I decided to try it out. In particular, the fiftieth anniversary episode of Doctor Who. However, since many of you are likely unfamiliar with Doctor Who, I will provide some background first.

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television series produced by the BBC. It is also the longest running science fiction television series ever, having first aired on November 23 1963. It is about an alien, the titular Doctor, that travels with his human companions all over time and space. Hijinks insue. He does this in a police call box, Which is actually a living and sentient time machine called the TARDIS that is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.

The classic series aired from 1963 to 1989 with a brief hiatus in 1985. In 1989 it was cancelled for various reasons that I don't have time to discuss here. There was an attempt to bring it back in 1996 with a TV movie that failed. It was then brought back sucessfully in 2005 and has been airing since.

How can a show about one person last for fifty years? When William Hartnell, the First Doctor, left the show due to his failing health they came up with the idea that when near death the Doctor's species, Time Lords, had the ability to "regenerate" healing any damage to the body with the trade off being a complete change in appearance and personality. 

This allowed them to change lead actors without having to worry about the audience thinking that this new guy wasn't the same guy. To date twelve actors have portrayed the Doctor in canon, with one being added in retroactively in between Eight and Nine. Occasionally he meets himself, usually on an anniversary.

It is rather niche in the US perhaps because the classic era was only ever imported on PBS stations, but in the UK it is much more mainstream, it's even a family show over there, and the revived series has a growing following in the US.

Overall it is a great show, and a favorite, and now I will answer some questions.

Classic Who or New Who: New Who,  I am aware of the classic series. I am working through Netflix's tiny selection.

Favorite Doctor: Out of those I've seen (2,3,6,9,10,11) Nine/Christopher Eccleston 

Favorite Episode: "Dalek" but I do have a soft spot for "The Fires of Pompeii" if for no other reason than I take a Latin class.

Least Favorite Episode: "Fear Her"

Favorite Companion: don't have one. I haven't seen enough of them to judge.

Favorite Villan: Weeping Angels

Favorite Moment: The Time Lord Victorious speech from "The Waters of Mars"

Before I begin I have something to say. Most of this will be from the perspective of a fan because, most of the people who watch it are fans of the show. Even then without the context of the last season you would be lost.

Enough talking about the show, let's talk about the show.

PREVIOUSLY ON DOCTOR WHO: Clara jumped into the Doctors timestream in order to save him at every point in his life. While there she discovered a hidden incarnation of the Doctor, played by John Hurt, in between his eighth and ninth lives.

Story: I apologize for this, but we have a very complicated story that I can't explain. Sorry, time travel stories tend to do that. I'll try anyway.

Rose/Bad Wolf(Billie Piper) opens fissures in time that bring together the War Doctor that is trying to end the Time War*, the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) who is stopping a race of shape shifting aliens from invading Elizabethan England, and the Eleventh Doctor(Matt Smith) plus companion Clara (Jenna Coleman) who are investigating a security breach in UNIT's** Under Gallery.

That's all I can say about it without spoilers, but for such a big hyped event, it's a little underwhelming.

Visuals: Sets great, costumes great, effects great for a TV budget, although for this show that is to be expected.

Acting: Matt Smith and David Tennant do their jobs well. Jenna Coleman is good. John Hurt is competent, the acting isn't bad, it's just not very notable 

In conclusion, I'm a little disappointed. It feels like a student project, everyone shows up and puts in the effort, but you can tell they weren't enthusiastic about it.

Which is odd, press concerning this thing has clearly shown that everybody was excited to be working on the anniversary of a British TV history touchstone, but the end result, it really embodies the remark "not bad" sorry Whovians.

Hats off to all and have a nice day.

Greg. B

Do you want me to cover the Christmas Special? Let me know on twitter.

I leave you now with my fanart.

Clockwise from One: William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker (no relation to Tom Baker), Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Matt Smith, Peter Cushing.

* The final conflict between the Time Lords and Daleks that wiped them both out.

**United Nations Intellegence Taskforce.

More Thoughts.

Alo Party Peoples.

Here are some more statements from my mind.

People need to beleive in something greater than themselves. Otherwise they will go insane. I don't care what you choose for that belief.

The fox dings incessantly. That is what it says.

Words have tremendous power, a good bomb can kill people, but a good speech can make them do what you wish.

On the subject of words, Justin Lookadoo's rederic had no buisness being in a public school. Students are already stressed without worrying about fitting into one guys idea of "datable" and I am proud of the students of Richardson High School for not buying it. You go Eagles! (:

That's all for today. 

Greg.B

Let's Go Out To The Movies: Thor The Dark World.

I APOLOGIZE THAT THIS IS LATE. MY FATHER HAD A BUISNESS TRIP TO CHINA AND I WASN'T ABLE TO SEE IT FOR A WHILE.

Alo Party Peoples.

You usually don't see superhero movies come out in November do you?

Anyway, Marvel Studios has by now proven to be a safe bet in terms of film quality. With good films steadily coming out, they have also been big hits, and have successfully brought comic book continuity to the big screen. They have also been able to bring the same quality and continuity to television with Agents of SHIELD*, and plan to bring it to Netflix in 2015.

They've also done this with variety. Sure they have all been action movies but think about it.

The Iron Man movies have been action-comedy, The Incredible Hulk was a high budgeted B-movie, Thor is cosmic fantasy, Captain America was a WWII pulp adventure,( and if that Winter Soldier trailer is to be trusted, the franchise is moving into all out action fare), Avengers was a scifi pyrotechnic visual ride, Agents of SHIELD is a Joss Whedon show, and the recently announced Netflix stuff might be the dark gritty and or serious wing of the MCU.

They might not be amazing, but they have yet to make a thing I have disliked. Let's see if Thor: The Dark World lives up to those standards.

Story: Here's our setup. The Dark Elves, a primordial race from before our universe, long ago attempted to destroy the Nine Realms with a super weapon called the Aether during an alignment of those realms. 

The Asgardians stopped them, but now they are aligning again and the Malekith, leader of the dark elves, wishes to try again. Thor must spring Loki from prison to both stop them and get the Aether out of his mortal girlfriend Jane.

That's a lot of plot, and the movie is paced rather quickly as a result. That's not a praise or critisim, just an observation. Other critics have sited the story's quickness as a problem, but I'm not feeling that.

Oh, and there is in fact a post credits bonus scene, for those who like that sort of thing.

Visuals: If these movies are good at one thing, it's looking pretty. It takes fantasy and seemlessly blends it with science fiction, in terms of visuals. From the ancient glyphs on the holographic displays, to the Asgardian Air Force of flying canoes, to having guys with laser guns and black hole grenades be held off by guys with shields and spears. It all looks great.

Acting: Chris Hemsworth is fun as Thor, Tom Hiddleston is, as usual entertaining as the ever scheming Loki, Idris Elba and Anthony Hopkins are fantastic as Heimdal and Odin respectively. 

Natalie Portman is good Jane Foster, and Christopher Eccleston is enjoyable as Malekith, there isn't much to play, but he does it well.

Conclusions: It's not a particularly deep or complex film, but it is very entertaining and I reccomend it.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B

*Still waiting for the season finale before tackling that. It just doesn't seem fair to review a thing that is not finished.It's been good so far

Archivis News Update.

Alo Party Peoples.

Ever since the Zimmerman post brought the wrath of God upon me from my mother I haven't blogged about things that could be seen as political. Instead I have a news thing next to the posts. But since something newsworthy happened at my school, I figure this is different.

So on November 13, one Justin Lookadoo spoke at Richardson High School about dating. The things he said proved to be controversial. Mostly supporting gender stereotypes. Here's a news article if you want to know more.

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/richardson-lake-highlands/headlines/20131113-motivational-speaker-at-richardson-school-criticized-for-gender-stereotyping.ece

I wasn't there that day, but I did research Mr. Lookadoo, and I found plenty to disagree with, but I'm mostly sad about the stereotype thing. 

In a perfect world this wouldn't be a problem, but it's not a perfect world, so it is.

You can't just fit people into little boxes labeled "datable" or "undatable". That's not how it works. People are complicated, they just don't fit into categories like that.

That's all I have to say on that.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B

Random Thoughts

Alo Party Peoples.

Money is tight again. To hold you over until the next movie, here are some musings.

Welcome To Night Vale is horror lite. I usually can't stand horror and I love it.

Did you know that Enders Game is required reading for US military personelle? Because it is.

The Davies Era of Doctor Who had a lot of campy villans. The only ones I can think of that weren't are the Empty Child, and the Weeping Angels. Both of which were created by Steven Moffat. Okay Satan and his Ood were intimidating. There is an exception to every rule.

The problem with recent DC movies is that they think gritty will work for everybody just because it worked for Batman. One Bob Chipman called it "Robin-phobia" that sums it up well.

If you don't move past your problems, you only crumble when they confront you again.

The mark of art is that it is open to interpretation. That it can spark discussion of more than just the superficial. 

Under that definition, anything can be art, like a speech, or a piece of legislation.

Law And Order is a perfect show to rerun. Each episode is a self contained story and there is little connection between episodes.

Other shows are better either rerun in a in order marathon, or watch it via Netflix and wait for the current seasons DVD release.

Internet Weirdness 5

Alo Party Peoples.


I planned to do Thor: The Dark World this week, but my father has a buisness trip to China, so I couldn't see it. If and when I do eventually see it, you will know. I have heard good things.

Instead you get more weird stuff on the web.

A website that constantly repeats the words "your'e the man now dog"

http://yourethemannowdog.ytmnd.com/

Last time was about foreign music videos, the US has made some weird stuff too. I mean, my god remember this?
WHO LET THE DOGS OUT  BY THE BAHA MENhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbt30UnzRWw
Or this perhaps my older readers remember.
WHIP IT BY DEVOhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbt30UnzRWw

Doctor Who is coming up on it's 50th anniversary (I will certainly be able to cover that) a fan made this a while back, it's hilarious. Unfortunatley it doesen't work on mobile devices.

Tenth Doctor: The Musical: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dHkbdMYpSA

What IS the difference between Trekker and Trekkie anyway?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCARADb9asE

If you don't watch Cartoon Hangover, do so. It's from the guys behind Adventure Time, they made this a while back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOG_UtLxh58

Hats off to all, and have a nice day. If something on the Internet is weird to you, share it with me, it might show up in a post.

Greg.B

Internet Weirdness 4: All The World Is Weird.

Alo Party Peoples.


If there is one thing that the Collective American Internet thinks it is this. Foreigners are funny, especailly when they dance.


For example, from India we got Tunak Tunak Tun. The first music viedo from Inida to use bluescreen.

Tunak Tunak Tun http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9qvCTdBLDs

South Korea's PSY did stuff other than Gangnam Style. Take a look.

Gentleman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASO_zypdnsQ

Right Now http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASO_zypdnsQ

From Germany, Remember Moskau from last time. Well they did another song.

Genghis Khan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAEUrp2V4ss

Here is another version of Moskau

Moskau New Years Day 2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhDHtKpfP0o

Hats off to all, and have a nice day. Let's keep the web weird. Shall we?
If there is something you think is weird. Show me on Twitter at @GregB00

Greg.B

Let's Go Out To The Movies: Enders Game

DISCLAIMER:FOR THE SAKE OF FAIRNESS I AM KEEPING MY OPINIONS ON ORSON SCOTT CARD'S HOMPHOBIC VIEWS SEPERATE FROM THIS.

FOR THE RECORD THOSE VIEWS ARE TERRIBLE BUT HE WROTE A GOOD BOOK.

ALSO SINCE BOTH THIS MOVIE, AND THE BOOK IT IS BASED ON ARE BUILT AROUND A TWIST ENDING, SPOILER WARNING. SHORT VERSION: IT IS QUITE GOOD

Enders Game the book is one of the most influential works of science fiction in recent memory, and also an incredible book. It is required reading, I decree it of you. Let's see how the new movie represents such a marvel.

Story: It's the future, fifty years ago mankind was nearly wiped out by a Formic hive mind. In the aftermath of this, we have decided to take the best and brightest of Earth's children and stick them in Battle School, where they constantly go through grueling war games to pick the best to defend mankind. 

The best ends up being Ender Wiggin, an incredibly gifted child that is soon singled out for Command School, where he and his class do simulation after simulation of a theoretical second war. After he leads them to victory on the Formic homeworld, the Stratagos has something to tell him. SPOILER WARNING, IF YOU WISH TO REMAIN UNSPOILED TURN BACK NOW. It was real, it has always been real and he has just commited genocide. 

I cannot begin to understand the burden that would place on someone's concience. The closest analog in the real world is likely being the one that had to drop the bomb on Hiroshima. That isn't even the worst part. That is the realization, it was probably the course of action that results in the least deaths by keeping the war from being dragged out.

It tells this story well, but it is also a beat for beat retelling of the book which you can probably find in a library for free. Make of that what you will.

Visuals:If anything can be said fo this movie it's that it looks great. Battle School and Command School look, approprietly, like one big video game. In fact, there are entire sections of the film that are essentaily gameplay footage. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a planned game. That might make the point hit home even harder. It all looks well organized, and shiny, and I can only assume that it looks better in 3D.

Acting: For our adult cast, Harrison Ford is quite great as Colenel Graff, Viola Davis plays a compassionate Major Anderson, and Ben Kingsley plays a wise and well executed Mazer Rackham, even if I don't quite accept the face paint. 

As for the child actors, Asa Butterfield is great as Ender, but aside from that I can't think of any standout performances. They aren't bad, but not great either. Moises Aries is not bad as Bonzo, but I can't get past the fact that he played Rico on Hannah Montana, which makes some scenes unintentionaly comical.

In conclusion, the Enders Game movie might not be as good as the book, but it is certainly a good film on it's own. 

Hats off to all, and have a nice day.

Greg.B

These people responded to my comment in one of their videos. Thanks Glove and Boots! http://youtu.be/o5desZLRuzQ

A Piece From The Collection: Pleasantville (1998)

Alo Party Peoples.

Money has been tight again, so I'm doing something from my DVD collection that you probably have never heard of.

Pleasantville was the brainchild of one Gary Ross, who hasn't done much since. The only significant thing he's done in fact was the Hunger Games movie. That is a real step down, because Pleasantville is incredible.

I love this movie, let's not waste any time.

Story: This film about a couple of teenagers that get trapped in a 1950s sitcom and their antics force it into color with the social turbulence of the sixties, would appear on the surface to just be a silly comedy, and comedy is certainly present, but it also goes for serious drama about how these people react to serious social change when Pleasantville has only ever been pleasant. And it does so with, well, flying colors.

Gary Ross creates a fantastic work that manages to juggle comedy, drama, and an actual relevant message, all at the same time.

Visuals: At the time this was made having color and black and white onscreen at the same time was a big deal. This was actually one of the first films to be shot digitally, they shot it in color and shaded the footage into monochrome where they didn't want color.

I'm sure it was impressive at the time, but in 2013 it's something anybody with moderate skill in Photoshop could do.

Acting: The actors are fantastic. Toby Maguire and Reese Witherspoon do a great job as our leads, William.H.Macy and Joan Allen do a wonderful job as the sitcom parents, and special note goes to Jeff Daniels as the owner of the soda shop that discovers art.

Music: I usually don't talk about soundtracks, because I just don't know music, but this film has an amazing one. Ranging from music from the actual fifties, to emotional heartstring pulling original work by Randy Newman.

In Conclusion: This movie is absolutely fantastic and I recommend it wholeheartedly, since you probably missed it on the big screen, go hunt it down for the small one. 

Greg.B

Sidenote- How does the director of this end up making the serviceable, but not very good Hunger Games movie?

Blog Report: Maya

Alo Party Peoples.

This isn't actually Mayan. It's Aztec and I'm not even sure its a calander.

I'm doing another one of these.

I was told by a teacher to write an essay on what makes a thing remarkable in regards to the Mayans. That is a hard thing to do because the Mayans were quite remarkable.

They had incredible architecture, the only known complete pre-contact writing system in the New World, amazingly accurate calanders that figured out the 365 day year. (Sidenote: the 2012 thing was wrong. The Mayan calander didn't have much to say about 2012 it just kind of stops there.) Amazingly good astrology without the aid of telescopes.

They made those temples without the wheel, and the only beast of burden in Classical Age Mesoamerica was Mayans. But they also practiced human sacrifice, and slavery. 

You could say that about many, many  other civilizations. 

For example, the Greeks created democracy, but they also practiced eugenics, the Romans created a republic, and unified Western Europe, a feat unmatched since. But they still had slavery. Egypt built the inexplicable Pyramids, and still had slavery. 

Even when the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk, women couldn't vote. Even now, when we can send people to the moon, and robots to Mars, there are still 27 states where someone can be fired for not being straight, and it's completely legal.

And many things that we consider great works, didn't have that big of an impact.

The Mona Lisa and the Sistine Chapel are certainly pretty, but let's be honest, would Europe still have dominated the world without them? Yes, yes they would have.

So, is mankind impressive? Certainly. But it's also kind of terrible. 

Hats off to all and have a nice day.

Greg.B

Internet Weirdness 3

Alo Party Peoples.

I didn't want to do another one of these so soon, but there has been a gap in films to cover, and I've decided to hold off on SHIELD until they wrap up the season.

So in order to hold you over until Enders Game, more weird things on the internets.

First off, we have the European equivalent of America's Got Talent:

http://youtu.be/NvS351QKFV4

I assume that, being on the Internet, you have heard of Minecraft. Well somebody made this short movie with it, and it's amazing. Take a look.

http://youtu.be/q_eH_HnHSpQ

Here's a two puppets teaching you about the heroes journey.

http://youtu.be/yZxs_jGN7Pg

Hopefully I have satisfied.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B

The Internet Is Still Weird

Alo Party Peoples.

As you all know, the Internet is a very weird place. That's what happens when anybody can say anything in relative anonymity. 

Here are some notable examples of Internet weirdness.

A YouTube channel that entirely consists of a text to speech program that narrates Wikipedia articles.

http://www.youtube.com/user/wikispeak4

This website only exists to provide GIFs of Bill Cosby.

http://www.instantcosby.com/

Did you know that "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" can be a grammaticaly correct sentence in English?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo

These people use Pokemon to explain the theories of Charles Darwin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF2mRcAoXLQ

This thing is odd. WARNING: DO NOT LOOK IF SUCEPTABLE TO SEIZURES BECAUSE SOME HAVE FLASHING LIGHTS.


http://www.theuselessweb.com/

That's all I have for you today. Hats off to you.

If you think something on the internet is weird, let me know what it is on Twitter @GregB00

Greg.B

Archivist Update

UPDATE: Hobbit 2 is being released on December 14. It will be covered then.

ORIGINAL POST IS AS FOLLOWS:

Alo Party Peoples.

Here are some things that I plan to do for the remainder of 2013.

For October I have plans to go over at least one horror movie. Because it's October and that seems to fit. I have yet to decide what. I also will do Nightmare Before Christmas because it is a Halloween movie and I can easily find it on Netflix. As well as covering anything I happen to see in theaters, and a mystery review for October 31.

November will be a quite crowded month for this blog. I have three movies I plan to see and cover. In particular Enders Game, The Hobbit: Desalation Of Smaug, and Thor: The Dark World. As well as the fact that the 50th anniversary episode of Doctor Who is airing on November 23. 

I have debated if I should cover it, because the last three seasons of the show have been building up to it, and therefore to fully enjoy it would require familiarity with said show. But since it is movie length, I plan to cover it anyway.

December will have some holiday stuff, a review of National Lampoons Christmas Vacation and a history of depictions of Saint Nicholas. 

All of which will be peppered by giving my opinion on Agents of Shield as it airs.

That's what you can expect to see for the next few months.

Hats off to all, have a nice day, and keep the Web weird.

Greg.B

Let's Go Out To The Movies: Gravity

WARNING: IF YOU EASILY SUBCUMB TO MOTION SICKNESS. I STILL RECOMMEND YOU SEE THE MOVIE BUT DON'T EAT FOR TWO HOURS BEFOREHAND. AND NOW ON WITH OUR SHOW.

Alo Party Peoples.

is a fundamental force of the universe.

This film is a little different from my usual material. There are no more than three actors on screen at any given time, for one thing. I usually don't cover serious award season stuff either. But, when I saw the trailers I was intruiged, so I went and saw it. I recommend you do so as well.

No time to waste so let's get to the bullet points.

Story-The film is the story of two astronauts*, played by George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, working on the Hubble Telescope when a Russain sattelite explodes. Cutting off communication with the surface and surrounding them in a field of lethal shrapnel. Forcing them to drift from one sattelite to the next for hundreds of miles or die alone in the blackness of the void. It is engaging as all hell, the actors are absolutley fantastic, and it illustrates the unbreakable nature of the human spirit rather well. Although one scene towards the end is a bit of a moodbreaker, which I will not spoil.

Visuals-This movie is absolutley beautiful to behold. It is very hard to make space not look pretty. Several scenes consist of single unbroken shots, that work very well. But the warning up top is quite accurate. Many of those unbroken shots consist of a lot of spinning and sattelite debris flying at the audience. However that does not subtract from how beautiful it is and it looks even better in 3D, although if you have a weak stomach I reccomend opting for 2D instead.

Acting- Like I said the cast is very small, Mostly consisting of just Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. Even then Clooney exits near the halfway mark, sort of. Leaving Bullock to do an absolutley wonderful job. Several minutes of the film is just her talking to herself while drifting and I bought every second of it. And a particular point is one of the few occasions that a film has gotten me to nearly shed a tear.

She deserves to get an Oscar nomination for this, and I will be very surprised if she doesn't. Clooney also does a very good job.

In conclusion, Gravity is a spectacular experience, and you will want to see it just to say you did. It's an experience that you just have to see.

Hats off to all, and have a nice day.

Greg.B

*Funnily enough, the government shutdown has a couple astronauts stuck up on the ISS.

The Internet Is Weird.

Alo Party Peoples.




The Internet is an amazing thing. We now have all human knowledge constantly at our fingertips. We have the ability to communicate almost instantaneously across entire continents. And, for good or ill, people can say practically anything and someone is sure to hear it.

But when anybody can publish anything, some very odd things will exist or come to light as a result.

I would like to make those things known to you. 

First off Teleporting Fat Guy: http://youtu.be/Ejc9GrooSKg

Here's Spock singing about hobbits. For some reason no clip of this I could find will work on mobile devices so no YouTube link. Here's a substitute.

http://touch.dailymotion.com/video/x2fb22_leonard-nimoy-ballad-of-bilbo-baggi_music

These ads have been popping up recently: http://youtu.be/KX4rxY94MC

http://youtu.be/fKv3pqU3ei0

And of course. Crazy Rainbow Sprinkler Conspiracy Lady. I wonder at how she doesn't call the camera witchcraft; http://youtu.be/aIYZvr3ueGw

Guys, I don't run the Internet. I just work in it. 

Hats off to all. Have a nice day. And let's keep the Web weird, or at least as weird as all of that. 

Greg.B

My Government Just Shut Down.

Alo Party Peoples.

So in case you hadn't heard. On October 1st 2013 the U.S. Government shut down over Obamacare. If you would like to know why, essentially the House of Represenatives and the Senate couldn't agree to extend the budget. I don't have time to go into more detail. Watch this if you want more. http://youtu.be/PTJubcZFA78

I'm not here to discuss Obamacare itself, which for the record went into effect anyway because healthcare is funded seperatley from the national budget. I'm here because the idea of the government shutting down sounds like a bit of a problem. After all, 800,000 people are suddenly out of a job. What else is gone that we all take for granted? Who's checking bags at airports? Who's patrolling the border? Who, dear readers, is inspecting our meats?

Let's find out.

First off things such as defense, border patrol, airport security, food inspection, Socail Security, and the postal service are exempt because they have been deemed essential. Those people get to go to work today.

Emergency services, waste management, law enforcement, hospitals, and education tend to be run on the state level, and will thus function as normal

So what is closed? Things like national parks and monuments, museums, and NASA, which have been deemed non essential to keeping the country alive.

So the Smithsonian is closed, your eBay should arrive on time, and the only thing that right wing has accomplished with this is the temporary unemployment of over half a million people.

Hats off to all, and I hope we can all get through this relatively unscathed.

Greg.B

Welcome To Nightvale (2012-) (U.S.) (Podcast)

Alo Party Peoples.

Right now money is incredibly tight, I mean reeeeally tight. So if I can experience a thing without paying, that's great. And since the Internet has a very low paywall, that is where I find a lot of my topics.

Recently one of those things has been the podcast Welcome to Night Vale. A podcast is a form of media that is presented entirely via audio, but is not music. The makers of Night Vale, however, have a unique problem. They have created an engaging, creepy, and funny podcast, that nobody can describe to their friends.

I will try dear readers, to describe it to you. Twilight Zone, plus Hitchhikers Guide, plus Lovecraft, plus X-Files, plus radio news.

It is presented as a community radio news program in the fictional small town of Night Vale. The daily news happenings of Night Vale however, are not exactly normal. For example, the taco place has been encased in amber, the glow cloud has joined the PTA, a commercial airliner has materialized in the basketball court, and the sherrifs secret police have decreed that clouds do not exist.

It is also fantastic and I recommend it wholeheartedly. It tightropes a fine line between absolute hilarity and genuinely creepy. If I can think of a con, which is my job, it is that the guest music is consistently horrible.

In conclusion, start listening to it. If nothing else, it is a unique work. It is free on iTunes. 

I leave you now with Leonard Nemoy singing about Hobbits: http://youtu.be/ZQ_duzQzS1I

Hats off to all, have a nice day, and let's keep the Web weird. Shall we?

Greg.B

Welcome to Nightvale is made by Commonplace Books.

Math Project

Alo Party Peoples. 

I thought it would be a good idea to start with something awesome as an apology.

I have to do another school assignment through the blog as the result of various factors. Sorry. Please look at it.

If you buy a DVD, then Batman smacks you in the face with a mop.

If Batman smacks you in the face with a mop, then the clockwork melts.

If the clockwork melts, then David wears a logo on it.

If David wears a shirt with a logo on it, the the markers come to life.

If the markers come to life, then Cthulu dances to show tunes. 

If Cthulu dances to show tunes, then the radios will dance along.

If the radios dance along, then Wednesday will be cancelled.

If Wednesday is cancelled, then it is because of a scheduling error.

If it is because of a scheduling error, then the lamp is an embodiment of Beige.

If the lamp is an embodiment of Beige, then you buy a DVD.

Mrs. Himler, you  didn't say it had to make sense.

Hats off to all, have a nice day, and lets keep the web weird. Shall we?

   Greg.B

Next time: Wednesday has been cancelled due to a scheduling error.

Agents of SHIELD: Pilot (2013) (U.S.)

Alo Party Peoples.

You can all relax. It doesn't suck.

Marvel Studios has lived up to its standards. And they still have yet to release a thing that I disliked. You get lots of continuity, but not in a way that makes things inaccessible. 

If you missed it, I apologize but you probably won't be able to catch the pilot until it shows up on Netflix. Sorry. It will probably be rerun though.

It is damn good. And I plan to follow it so long as it graces the airwaves. Let's hope that they don't ditch it after eleven episodes.

And I leave you with Tron Captain America:

Hats off to all and have a nice day.

   Greg.B

Glove and Boots: (2011-) (U.S.) (Internet Video Blog)

Alo Party Peoples.

Some of you might find it odd that I am reviewing another blog. Well.... money is tight right now, movie tickets are expensive and it is rare that I get into press screenings. I seldom have opportunities to acquire new discs, the school library only has so much, and Netflix's film selection kind of sucks. In other words, I am struggling to scale a paywall. 

But do you know what doesn't have a paywall? The Internet. I'm not talking about piracy. I'm talking about things that people make and initially release via the Internet for free.

Some examples include Dr. Horrible, the Vlogbrothers John and Hank Green, CGPgrey, Sf Debris (if you haven't been listening to him start doing so. He does beautifully in depth analysis of serialized formats i.e. television ) and today's topic Glove and Boots.

These guys are awesome. That's all I have to say. The only job that a work like this has is to be funny. And these guys are an absolute riot. I would go into detail, but in the words of E.B. White "analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. No one is interested, and the frog dies."

But they are also smart. They clearly understand the things that they joke about, and there are some fiercely intelligent minds behind it. With hints of something deeper going on underneath. 

If I can think of a problem, which is why I'm here. It's that when you do comedy, you run the risk of the actors breaking down in laughter from the sheer ridiculousness of what they're doing. This tends to happen with Glove and Boots, and they leave it in the final product a lot of the time.

Under different circumstances that can be a deal breaker. But said final product is so funny that it's hard to care. And they clearly have a good time making it.

In conclusion, go look at them. It's just fun! :)

Here is one of their videos to get you started: http://youtu.be/vVziBbvNVO4

Hats off to all, have a nice day, and let's keep the Web weird. Shall we?

Dr. Horrible is on Netflix.

Vlogbrothers and GCPgrey are on YouTube and are easy to find. Just type their name into the search bar.

SF Debris is on blip. A lot of people have trouble running blip but it's well worth the hassle. There are a bunch of really talented people that post there.

Assembly Of The Batmen!

Alo Party Peoples.

You know what? Last time got pretty heavy. So lets talk about something a little less charged. Okay? Okay.

So.

By now you have all heard that Ben Affleck has been cast as Batman in the upcoming Superman/Batman movie. Which hasn't got a title yet, so I'm going to call it The Dark Knight Returns until they come up with one. (Warner Bros. you want that? Take it. You own the rights already;) 

I would go over the various Batmen in the comics, like one Moviebob did with Robin. But since its Batman there has only ever been one person behind the mask. 

So what I'm going to do, is discuss every actor to play Batman. Live Action, voice work, pantomiming, or otherwise. In roughly chronological order. 

By my count there are eight.

Some ground rules. Only official versions. Only Bruce Wayne which means no Batman Beyond. I'm not going over whoever did his voice on the Super Friends. Because that is very difficult information to find, and nobody cares about the Super Friends.

Lets go.

1. Adam West. (1966-1968)

He's the one everybody's heard of, well at least he was before 2005. He was on the 60s TV show. Which is the initial reason that anybody outside of comics fandom gives a damn about Batman. Between the shows first and second season, a big-budget film version was made. Which got a wide theatrical release. 

It was pretty successful at that too. And it was well recived. I love this blustery nonsense. Still the only live action version to do Robin successfully. Unfortunately, due to some very complicated rights issues, this is the only version of Batman that you can't own.(except for the film version, which has been released on every format under the sun)

Which is a shame, because it is arguably the most significant. But fortunately, someone recorded or found all the episodes and put them up on YouTube in conveinent season playlists. :)

2. Micheal Keaton (1989-1992)

This is the guy that a lot of people associate with the role. For the record I like his portrayal. He does the best Bruce Wayne/Batman combination, while Bale does a better Bruce Wayne.

This film was a massive success. I can't think of a similar success before this other than the Richard Donner Superman.

It's funny that so many people petitioned for Affleck to reconsider. Because that's how a lot of people reacted to Keaton back in 89. On the grounds that he had done one silly comedy before hand called  "Mr. Mom" which I haven't seen.

Batman, overall holds up, it has problems to be sure, and parts of it have aged horribly, but it holds together. Batman Returns on the other hand, is terrible, avoid it. D:

3. Kevin Conroy (1992-1996) (2009/2011)

This guy did Batman's voice for Batman: The Animated Series, which kicked off the incredibly sucessful DC Animated Universe. Which many people consider to be vastly superior to it's comic book counterpart. This is a lot of peoples favorite version of the character, and for good reason. 

The animation quality was great, the writing was great. They got Luke Skywalker to voice The Joker. Awesome!

Eventually in 2009 the majority of the voice cast returned to do work on a video game. Batman: Arkahm Asylum, which before you ask I have not played, but I hear is really good. In 2011 they did so again for the sequel, Arkahm City

It's great stuff. And is well worth checking out. :)

4. Val Kilmer (1995)

After Batman Returns was deemed too dark for a mainstream audience. Warner Bros. decided to boot Burton from the directors chair and find someone who would make it more marketable. Burton did stay on as a producer and signed off on his replacement.

Enter Joel Shumaker. Who initially wanted to do a prequel. But gladly accepted the task of brightening up the property with a sequel instead.

Most of the cast got axed, except Alfred and Commisioner Gordon, the series finally found a Robin in the form of Chris O'Donnel. And Keaton left to be replaced by Val Kilmer. But I have not seen it, so I can't really judge.

The resulting film Batman Forever, I haven't seen, but it wasn't that well recived, despite being a big hit. To a lot of fans, Shumaker became infamous for supposedly ruining the Batman movies. And that infamy would only grow with...

5. George Clooney (1997)

Batman And Robin. It doesn't work. All the parts were stunt cast with famous people. Even though casting Jack Nickelson as the Joker started that tradition, at least with the villans. Batman himself was not spared from this, when Kilmer wisely decided to jump ship, they recast the part again. With George Clooney.

I'm not familiar with this actor, maybe he's been good elsewhere. But he is terrible here. 

People hated this film, and it underperformed at the box-office. Which effectively killed the DC movie business until the later years of the superhero boom, when The Dark Knight jump started them again.

6. Rino Romano. (2004-2006)

I seriously don't know why Warner Bros. decided to do another Batman cartoon. I have no idea if this series was good or not. I almost considered leaving him off the list. 

They decided to set it outside of continuity of the DCAU. It might be in continuity with the Teen Titans cartoon from around the same time. Which I really liked. If this is anywhere near as good as the Titans. Go look at it.

7. Christain Bale (2005-2012)

For long after 1997 there was a concerted effort to not repeat that asthetic. Which is why the X-Men in their first movie looked like very well dressed frog people.

Enter Christopher Nolan. Who was contacted to bring back the Batman movies with a straight up reboot. (when they tried this again with Superman it failed spectacularly, you know which movie I am referring to.) 

The Dark Knight saga is a much more serious take on the character. And it's probably the darkest they could have done while still appealing to a mass audience. The first two are great films. Rises on the other hand. Dissapointment. 

I already gave my opinion on these films. It's the only post left in the August 2013 category. Needless to say, People like these films for a reason.

Like I said Bale does the best Bruce Wayne. But as Batman..... It's the voice. It's always that voice.

8. Deidrich Bader (2008-2011)

This guy did voice work on Batman: Brave and the Bold, which was a love letter to the Silver Age of comics, and the Adam West show. It is absolute nonsense, and I love it.

Perhaps I am biased here. This being my first exposure to the character. But I mean it. 

About the show itself. Every week Batman would team up with another hero to stop a villain plot in a ludicrous fashion.

Bader himself, he does a good job. He has absolutely ridiculous dialogue to deliver, but he never shows any sign of busting out laughing. And he delivers it well.

I love the stuff. It's well worth checking out, especially if you like the Adam West show. :)


Hats off to all, have a nice day, and lets keep the Web weird. Shall we?


Greg.B