Let's Go Out To The Movies: Noah

Note- I am aware that the Genesis flood narrative the film "Noah" was inspired by is considered holy writ by billions of people across the world. Any criticism of the film is ONLY intended as criticism of the FILM, and not of the scripture on which it is based.-End Note

Also, spoilers ahead. You have been warned.

Alo Party Peoples.

This was a movie poised for controversy. Adapting biblical stories is going to anger certain people no matter how you do it, but doing it as an epic fantasy, that takes guts. Whether it's fundamentalists being mad that it doesn't quite stick to scripture, or at least the Christian version, or the filmmakers apparently being worried that reflexively ir-religious film geeks would dismiss it as just another Bible movie. Someone was probably going to attack this. In fact, for a while it looked like Paramount would release an edited version of the film that would have taken out the more outlandish elements. Eventually they decided that the original cut would be released to theaters with a disclaimer that the film should not be taken as a literal interpretation of scripture.*

I'd say that's a fair compromise, and it was probably necessary to take a few liberties with adapting this particular section of the Bible. I mean no offense by this, but Noah's ark is a rather short section of Genesis and it leaves out a lot of details. So they had to get creative with it if they wanted the movie to be more than fifteen minutes long. And the way they did so was, drawing from much older Jewish texts to make it less like Sunday school and more like Lord Of The Rings.

That's not just a visual comparision, director/writer Darren Aronofsky takes the same kind of approach to Genesis that Peter Jackson took with Tolkien. He certainly respects the source material, but he isn't afraid to change things to make a more interesting film even if it might anger long time adherents.

After the first murder, man has divided itself in two. The descendants of Cain have spread across the known world, building a large urban, and industrial society based around the mining of a special sparking rock called "ichor". While the descendants of Seph continue to guard the Creator's vision and preserve some vestige of paradise. -Note- Yes, in this version, the flood is as much about ending mankind's violence towards the planet as it is man's violence towards each other.-End Note- Over ten generations, the line of Seph has been whittled down to just Noah and his family, who is given strange hallucination like visions of a great flood that will wash away the wickedness of men. He goes on a trip to his grandfather Methuselah, and on the way comes across the Watchers, fallen angels that took pity on Adam and Eve and taught them the way to survive. As punishment for this they were forced to take the form of stone giants that have been hidden from the film's advertizing.

They decide to help Noah in the construction of the ark, and Tunac-Cain discovers this and decides to lead a siege of the ark. Because they are men, made in the Creator's image, and as men they will control their own fate. As you might have predicted, that doesn't work. But it doesn't end there, while looking throughout Tunac-Cain's camp to find wives for his sons, Noah sees the wickedness of man on full display and becomes convinced that the flood is meant to end humanity. He refuses the pleas of his family to let some of the rest of humanity escape destruction. It even gets to the point that he is prepared to kill his newborn grandchildren if they turn out to be girls to make sure that the Creator's plan succeeds.

But he stops just short of that. He is after all, made in the image of God, and that God is not a vengeful god. That god is love, compassion, and mercy. So he allows them to live on and repopulate the earth.

You might have noticed a couple of things. One, that I didn't use the word "God" until the end of that summary. That's because the film never uses it either. Only ever referring to the Creator, an ethereal and omnipotent force that works in mysterious ways. A being that you have to loosen you grip on reality just to interact with. And two, that this movie seems pretty intense. And it is quite challenging for a PG-13 rating. By the time that the flood rolls around, it almost feels like a psychological horror film in spots. The tragedy of mankind's wickedness destroying Noah's faith in humanity. Convincing him that it isn't worth saving.

In conclusion, Noah is certainly quite a trip. In the words of fellow online movie critic Bob Chipman, "it's brave, bold, bizarre, and kind of brilliant." That sums up the movie much better than I can. Have at it.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B

* A disclaimer that, unless it showed up after the credits, was not present at the showing I went to.

Let's Go Out To The Movies: Divergent

Alo Party Peoples.

I'm not a YA novel person. I've certainly read plenty of them, but as of late I haven't really enjoyed much of it. Usually when these kinds of things get films, I couldn't care less. In fact, if it weren't for my younger sister being obsessed with dystopia, I wouldn't have even bothered to see Divergent. But she really wanted to go, and I didn't realize that it was another week until Noah comes out, so we're talking about this instead.

About a hundred years after a non-descript but incredibly destructive war, the last of mankind has holed itself up in Chicago. To prevent another war, the survivors have divided themselves into factions corresponding to human virtues. Said factions are; selflessness, honesty, intelligence, kindness, and bravery. I know they have names, but I don't really care. As soon as children in this society reach the age of sixteen, they are psychically tested to determine which faction they belong in, and then they can just ignore the test and get into any of them. (Then why have the first test?) Our focal character, Tris played by Shailene Woodley, is born into Team Selflessness, but her test comes back inconclusive, marking her as Divergent, and that is a dangerous thing because she can't be neatly slotted into a faction. (Why does that matter if anyone can join any faction regardless of test results?) She decides to join up with Team Bravery and most of the film is focused on her training here while forging relationships with the supporting cast that has no real personality.

Eventually after graduation day, Team Intelligence launches a coup via mind control of Team Bravery to overthrow the governing Team Selflessness (okay fine, they are Euridite, Dauntless, and Abnegation respectively), and it turns out the Divergents are immune to mind control. So we have a dragged out shootout for a finale.

There is nothing to say about this film's presentation. Most dystopias are extensions of an issue of the time they are written. The Hunger Games is an exaggeration of reality television and class disparity, The Matrix was an extrapolation of the growing importance and power of the Internet, 1984 was about totalitarian abuse of advancing technology, and Gattaca was a warning that manipulating our genes to improve ourselves would create an overcaste and an undercaste. Divergent's big issue, is that there is no real issue. As Todd In The Shadows remarked on Twitter "I admire "Divergent" for creating a dystopian society which has absolutely no relation or relevance to the real world." Seriously, what about this premise is supposed to be relevant to anybody except the target audience of teenagers that don't fit neatly into a certain clique? I'm technically part of that target audience, but I just didn't give a damn.

In conclusion, it's not bad, not terrible by any stretch of the imagination, but I can't think of any reason to see this other than watching a book you love come to life. For a movie about escaping conformity, Divergent seems to have no interest in standing out from the crowd.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B

The Giver Trailer Looks Dissapointing

Alo Party Peoples.

The film version of The Giver by Lois Lowry has a trailer out. http://youtu.be/oYZxZups06w

I don't think this looks very good. I can handle it being in color. If it was done in black and white, it would probably be too similar to Pleasantville and there wouldn't be a reason to film it. But this looks, and I know this sounds pretentious, too conventional. 

I thought a movie version of The Giver would be a smaller affair. A drama, or a tragedy, or anything but an action movie. Yes, is is based on a YA novel, but The Giver is not very much like say, The Hunger Games. Sure they're both dystopias, but nobody is trying to bring down the system in The Giver. It's society works because there isn't a need to enforce the dystopia. The idea of rebellion simply never crossed anybody's mind. The oppressed people don't see anything wrong because they've never known anything different.

I'll still be covering the movie, but my expectations have been lowered quite a bit.

Have a nice day. 

Greg.B

Archivis News Update 3-19-14 (Netflix Edition)

Alo Party Peoples.

Here are a couple of movies that I found on Netflix Instant

Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan: Even though the opening to Enterprise is a source of inspiration for me, I am not a Star Trek fan. My only real experience with it has been the JJ Abrams films which, while decently entertaining, didn't have any real substance. This much older film on the other hand, is damn good. I'm not sure it's a masterpiece, but it is a solid film.

The acting is superb, the effects have held up incredibly well, it's mostly space based action is tense, and I required no prior knowledge of the franchise to understand the plot. Even if you aren't a Trekkie, I'd say it's worth a look.

Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog: Like Rubber, description should serve as an indicator of if you should watch this. It's a superhero movie that is only 43 minutes long. About half of it is presented as a supervillan's blog. It's done on the very cheap, and it is also a musical. Also, Joss Whedon wrote it. This one is actually being taken off of Netflix in a few days, so watch it while you can if that interests you. :)

Dr Strange: I actually talked about this movie way back in September, back when the blog was still taking shape. I remember it being serviceable, but nothing special by any means. Re-watching it, my opinion has not changed. Maybe look at it if you want to know what Marvel's live action version will probably be doing, but your'e too lazy to find the comics. Otherwise, you can safely ignore it.

Fire up your device of choice and take a look into the vastness of Netflix's backlog. Next time, well, I thought that the Noah movie was out this week, but it isn't. So I'll probably have to talk about Divergent.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B

Let's Go Out To The Theater: Welcome To Night Vale Live: The Librarian

Alo Party Peoples.

I own this poster now.

After much anticipation, group podcast listening, and a four hour drive to Houston, I have just seen the Welcome To Night Vale Live show. I had a wonderful time. 

For those not familiar with it, Welcome To Night Vale is a horror/comedy podcast. It is quite popular, for a few months it was the most popular podcast in America, and yet it is still quite niche. It is presented as a community radio news program in a fictional town of the same name in the American Southwest. The daily news happenings in Night Vale aren't exactly normal. In the past I've described it as "a town where all conspiracy theories are true. As well as all myths, religions, and urban legends."

I enjoy it, and millions of other people also enjoy it. Or at least enough people for them to do live tours across the U.S., and I managed to talk my parents into letting me see one. Unfortunately, by the time I was aware of one in Dallas, it was sold out. Fortunately, there was one in Houston. So we drove 275 miles to see it. How was it? I had a good time.

There is continuity to worry about, but fortunately, the only episode that you would need to listen to beforehand is Summer Reading Program. I would explain why, but I don't want to spoil it for you, and it isn't really necessary in order to enjoy the show. Short version, one of the Librarians has escaped during renovations of the Night Vale Public Library, and NVPL Librarians are predatory beasts. Hi-jinks ensue.

It really is a nice experience. With live musical weather reports, audience participation, and one particular bit where the librarian is loose in a theater. Because none of NVCR's listeners would be so pathetic as to watch live theater, right? The musical guest of the weather section, who in Houston at least was Eliza Rickman, was unique. Not my favorite weather guest by any means, but my father certainly enjoyed her music. Incidentally, my favorite weather guest would be a tie between Jack Campbell and The Mendoza Line.

If you aren't in a city where they are doing a show, well they said that they would eventually release it as a podcast episode. So be patient.

That's all for now, so goodnight readers, goodnight.

Greg.B

And to my mother. Yes, people showed up in costumes. Four Hooded Figures, two instances of Carlos the Scientist, one Cecil, Mayor Pamela Winchell, three Eternal Scouts, a Man in a Tan Jacket, and a few NVCR interns.

Archivis News Update 3-12-13

Alo Party Peoples.

This is probably going to be my last article before my trip to Houston for the Night Vale live show, so let's get straight to the news.

SOME INSPIRATIONAL MUSIC

Since starting this blog I've realized something. Writing relevant sounding stuff that's actually relevant is hard. Poor executive function (look it up) doesn't make that any easier. So whenever it ends up taking me an hour to find a quote that should have taken me at most 14 minutes to find, I just think of this song here, it really helps. Yes, the opening for a Star Trek series. And the one that, by all accounts, is infamous among fans for supposedly killing the franchise on television. Regardless of the show's infamy, this intro sequence is just beautiful. It might use the word "faith" a few too many times for my tastes, but I still think it works.

It's inspiring, a message that I support.

That mankind can do anything, go anywhere, reach any star. That our capacity for reason, regardless of whether it comes from gods, or from evolutionary chance, it can light the way to a better future. That even if it looks like the world is ending now, eventually we'll work all this stuff out, and we will finally get here to there.================>

Then I think of how we seem to have all but abandoned space anywhere further away than low orbit. And that perhaps if there is a God watching, they might as well do this, and most of humanity wouldn't care. But that doesn't mean that this song isn't good. :)

MY OPINION ON A FEW MOVIES

Elysium (2013): It's an admirable effort. It starts out strong, but struggles to find an emotional core, and it doesn't quite stick the landing.

The Artist (2011): Pretty good overall. It handles it's gimmick of being made in the style of Hollywood films at the end of the Silent Era well, and the actors are expressive enough that you don't need to hear their dialogue in order to follow the story. However, aside from one particular scene, which I won't spoil, it doesn't really do anything with that gimmick, and it didn't have to be a silent film.

Serenity (2005): It was pretty good. For compressing a the story of a season of a television show into one movie, I think it did a nice job. But you can tell that Whedon had more planned for these characters that he just couldn't fit into the film. I am aware that the franchise has continued in comic form, and if someone ever decided to revive it, I would certainly talk about it here.

Rubber (2011): It's damn weird. A description of the premise should serve as a good indicator of whether this is something you would enjoy. A telekinetic car tire named Robert goes on a killing spree in the middle of the American southwest. No, they don't explain why there is a telekinetic car tire.

That's all for now. Next time, I'll be talking about Night Vale. Probably.

Goodnight readers. Goodnight.

Greg.B

What Is Autism?

Alo Party Peoples.

I realize that more and more of my output lately is in some way related to the autism spectrum. I also just realized that the first time I mentioned autism on here, it kind of came out of nowhere. Since this website started out as a movie blog, and I'm not exactly the best at keeping up-to-date, some long time readers might think that I'm lying about being on the spectrum. Or if I'm not lying, then I started bringing it up as a ratings boost. I assure you that neither of those things is the case. Since some of you might not know what autism is, after all, how else does that vaccine myth persist unless some people think it's a literal disease, today I would like to explain what it actually is.

Wikipedia describes the autism spectrum as...

"...a range of conditions classified as neurodevelopmental disorders in the fifth revision of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th edition (DSM-5)... These disorders are characterized by social deficits and communication difficulties, stereotyped or repetitive behaviors and interests, and in some cases, cognitive delays."

                                                                               Wikipedia, Autism spectrum

Other signs include and are not limited to:

• Tactile sensitivities
• Sensitivity to bright lights and/or loud sounds
• Extreme attention to detail
• Overly literal thinking
• Apparent difficulty empathizing, but we DO have feelings.
• Lack of and/or difficulty recognizing facial expressions.

Many people consider it a childhood illness, but it lasts throughout life, and the degree of symptoms fluctuates over time as well. Not all autistic people are alike, it is after all, the autism spectrum. For example, it was once thought that autism occurred in boys four times more frequently than in girls, but more recent studies have suggested that it is actually quite egalitarian in regards to gender. We have all variety of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious views, and every other distinction you could name. 

Some of us might have extreme skill in specific areas, these people are referred to as "savants". Savant syndrome, although it is commonly associated with autism, is not exclusive to it, even some neurotypical people have it, and only 10% of autistic people are savants. The actual area of expertise is often of a logical nature, such as mathematics or law, and/or oddly specific, like unit conversion or copyright, but it doesn't have to be. I for example, while I can certainly see the appeal in hard sciences, tend more towards the humanities.

And there is a difference between a savant and someone with a special interest. A special interest is something that takes up a lot of our thoughts, it can be comforting. Cynthia Kim, who runs a blog called Musings Of An Aspie, which explains this kind of stuff better than I ever do, describes it as, and I'm paraphrasing, "like a hobby, but to a greater degree" Here are some of mine.

• Doctor Who (the revived series)
• Welcome To Night Vale
• DVDs
• the Internet
• Lego/Bionicle (faded a long time ago)
• Film/storytelling in general
• Speculative fiction
• The bibliography of alternate history author Harry Turtledove (faded)
• The "Camp Half-Blood" series of books by Rick Riordan (faded)
• Harry Potter (faded)
• the 1998 film Pleasantville (slightly faded)

I've gone slightly off topic, and I've probably reached my writing limit for the night, so here are some other things you should know about autism.

• Be patient, we think in a fundamentally different way.
• Try not to be distracting.
• Never use the r-word. (You know what I'm talking about.)
• Be specific in your language. (Especially grammar.)
• And never intentionally lie to us.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B

Archivis News Update: 3-3-13

Alo Party Peoples.

Here's some news.

Agents of Shield comes out of it's month long hiatus tomorrow. I'm in general alright with the show, but it certainly has problems. For one thing, it has had a very erratic broadcast schedule, it's taken them twenty-three weeks to broadcast thirteen (soon to be fourteen) episodes, and it's connection to the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is tangential at best. "The Well", that crossover episode with Thor: The Dark World, while it was pretty good, it had barely anything to do with that movie. Maybe it's been slow because they're waiting for the new Captain America to come out so they know what story details not to contradict, but it's still annoying. Say, you could probably compare it to a certain other Joss Whedon show, in being mishandled by the broadcaster.

For the longest time, the "Slender Man" was a thing that horrified me. So this video, as crudely made as it is, got a laugh out of me.

I've recently finished reading a series of Internet published short stories called Fine Structure. I think it is best read without any prior knowledge of the details. It is a bit inconsistent in both quality and continuity, probably due to being written and published over the course of at least four years, but the result is at least an interesting work.

I don't think I've mentioned this on the blog before, but I managed to get tickets to a live performance of the popular horror-comedy podcast "Welcome To Night Vale". By the end of the month, I will have seen that performance, and I will be able to share my thoughts about it, either on this blog, or more likely on social media. I think that the script being toured is "The Librarian", but I'm not sure.

That's all I can think of right now, so i'll see you for the next movie review.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B

Followup To My Followup Article.

Alo Party Peoples.

I emailed a rough draft of the Matrix followup post to my father, and he said that perhaps Blade Runner should have been listed as part of the science-fiction movie canon. He is probably right, and I considered putting it on there, but I haven't seen Blade Runner, or Soylent Green, or Star Trek II, or the original Japanese Godzilla. He also went into a statement about how Star Wars and Alien still hold up because the sci-fi elements of them aren't what they rely on in order to work as stories, while the "speculative" part of the speculative-fiction elements of The Matrix are central to the film's story.

He has a very good point, one that destroys my conclusion from the original article to be honest. If you retold Alien as a contemporary psychological thriller, it would probably still hold together. If you retold Star Wars as historical-fiction set during the last days of the Roman Empire, if you replaced the Rebels with Visigoths and Luke Skywalker with Alaric I, it would probably still work as a movie.

The Matrix on the other hand, is about the sci-fi elements. It's about solipsism, Neo being a sort of savior figure, the harsh, unsympathetic true nature of reality, and all that stuff. It's unprecedented degree of computer effects, harsh cyberpunk aesthetic, and edgy extrapolation of the then new Internet's slow crawl towards being an essential part of our lives, that was all new back then, and they made the Matrix special. When the rest of popular culture absorbed that, when it wasn't so special anymore, not very much was left to stand out. Trinity doesn't have any real character, the performances aren't anywhere but serviceable, and it just feels like another tread down the well worn road of the heroes journey.

And after all that, one question still remains. Why am I going on about The Matrix? It stopped being relevant around 2003. Well, the web is alight with rumors that the Wachowski's are planning a prequel trilogy, and unless they have some new visual scheme they can bring to the table, I don't think that just throwing the "Matrix aesthetic" back out again is going to work.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B

Another Thought About My Autism

Alo Party Peoples.

Yes, I'm talking about autism again. Sometimes I feel that I shouldn't talk about it, not on the Internet anyway. I'm not a psychologist, or a neurologist, or telepathic, I have NO authority in any of those fields. But I am a person on the autism spectrum, and one that is fortunate enough to be on the portion that can to communicate clearly to all of the "normal" people. So I must be able to say something about it. Anyways, enough of my worrying that I've done more harm than good, and onto my topic.

Autism can make people feel overwhelmed. This isn't helped by the fact that our "hyper-focus"* can often direct itself onto the negative. This quote from the first episode of the 21st' century Doctor Who sums it up quite well.

"The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour. The entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty seven thousand miles an hour. And I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world. And, if we let go..."

                                                                              The Doctor, "Rose"

Or you can think of it like this. Say you're at school. The last bell just rang, and you're walking to the bus to get home. When suddenly, you realize that you left your coat in the Chemistry classroom. You are filled with an urge to turn around and get that coat, but you also realize that if you do so, you will be going against the flow of traffic, and it would take you twice as long to get to the Chemistry classroom as it would to just get on the bus. You can just get your coat the next day anyways.

I know that there shouldn't be any shame in asking for help, but often doing so feels like disrupting the flow of traffic. It's embarrassing for me, and to everyone else it's at best mildly annoying, and at worst disruptive. We have to keep going, that's just how the world is, we have to go through the motions constantly. If we ever stopped, just for one second, then the rest of the world would move on without us and we would be drowned in a rushing wave of flesh and noise.

But what's wrong with going against the flow of traffic? Everyone does that at some point. Yes, even the "normal" people that run the world. Maybe you can run quickly to get to that coat and make it to the bus on time. So what if you run into a couple people on the way there, you brush up against total strangers in the hall every day and nobody gives a damn. Even if you miss the bus, you can still get a ride home, or just walk. Odds are, unless you're in an ACTUAL position of power, no-one is going to die or have their livelihood ruined if you make a mistake.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B

*Hyper-focus, for those not familiar with the term, is a little trick that some people with atypical neurology can do where we intensely concentrate on a relatively small subject. No, I can't show you how to do it. To be honest, I don't think it's something that can be taught. Even if it was, I wouldn't because it is very difficult to stop hyper-focusing, and I have very little control over what ends up being the subject of that focus.