My Biases That Shape Opinion

Alo Party Peoples


When writing, I try to be as objective as I possibly can about a subject. This does not always work. As exemplified by the Zimmerman post (which I still have not put back up, I am waiting for a time in which it would be relevant to do so.) No matter how hard people try. Nobody is completely unshaped by their opinions, beliefs, morals, culture, upbringing, and preferences.


Today, I would like to bring up some things that inform and shape my world view. If you don't like it. You don't have to agree with me

Let's roll.

1. I was born in, grew up in, and currently live in the United States. In particular Texas.

And considering things that have happened there over the past few months, and the resulting stereotypes about the state. I sometimes feel embarrassed to admit that.

2. My political affiliation, Anti-Republican.

That's all I can say without rambling in an infuriated fashion. 

3. I have ADHD and I am on the high functioning end of the Autisim spectrum. Specifically Asperger's syndrome.

That actually explains a lot. For example I tend to feel like the world is a bit slow. Like everybody else is that one guy in the drive thru line that can't decide on a topping. And I just want to scream "MOVE!!!!!" at the top of my lungs.

Another example? Autisim allows those who have it to perform a little trick called "hyper focus". What it does is allow you to pour all your attention into a topic (if its interesting enough) to the exclusion of everything and everyone else. Sounds awesome right? Wrong. 

So whats the catch? 

Once you hyper focus, its quite difficult to stop. And you tend to latch onto stray thoughts and hyper focus on them. So try sleeping when you can't stop thinking about the report you wrote three hours ago. Or take a test when you just can not stop your mind from drifting to the subject of..... the heat death of the universe! 

It's kind of an awesome curse.

It's depressing at times. But maybe that's just me. Maybe it's just me that feels alone in the world. Like I'm constantly surrounded by screeching idiots. That just don't get how serious it is, when I ask for assistance coping. And kindred spirits, if they exist at all, are few and far between. But I'm getting off topic.

4. I only speak English. But I am taking a Latin class.

Which is why you won't see talking about anime any time soon. I know that subtitles and fan dubs exist. But I'm nowhere near familiar enough with it. Culturally, linguistically, or otherwise to discuss it.

5. 

You know what? Writing this is making me sad. So I'm going to end it here before I start to cry.

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

Greg.B

Latin Report: Caligula(37AD-41AD) (Roman) (Julio-Claudian Dynastic Series)

Alo Party Peoples

 et hoc ipsum exitio omnes, et erigens se a populo Romano in regulum Phaeton mund*

Okay my friends. And my Latin class. This is going to take some explaining. So please be patient with me.

Context for my Latin class. I run a blog, and I usually talk about things I find on the internet, recent movies, or whatever is milling around my brain at the time. I decided to use it productively and here we are.

For my readers,

Right now I am a sophomore at a high school in Dallas, and I take a Latin class. Said Latin class has issued a project to do a report on one of the Roman Emperors. (because the Byzantine don't count even if they called themselves Roman) I was going to do Nero, but someone else took him, so I chose Caligula. Since I spend a lot of time thinking, I decided that I could combine using the Internet as a supplement for my studies, with analysis of topics and publishing said analysis through the aforementioned Internet. (Sidenote, if you want a drinking game that will have you dead in a second, take a shot every time that one of these "*" shows up)


I asked my Latin teacher permission, and he said I could do my report on Caligula in the form of a blogpost. I didn't have to mention him. Just do the report. 

Germania is around the dark red area.

I've decided to go throught with it and I am most definitely going to mention him for two reasons. One, to provide context for the sudden change of topic. And two, because I think the Internet has great potential to educate, while also entertaining or at the least engaging.


So here we are. Let's not waste anytime and get started.

Shall we?

Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, better known by his nickname Caligula, was born in 12AD, in Antium to Germanicus and Aggripina the Elder. He was the third of six surviving children. He had two brothers. Nero, who would later become emporer himself and is known mostly for being insane i.e. watching Rome burn while playing the violin, and Drusus. He would become the Third Emperor of Rome, and would go insane as the result of various factors. He would become the first emperor to be assasinated, and was killed as part of a ploy to restore the Roman Republic.

Early Life.

At the age of two or three, Gaius accompanied his father on campains in northern Germania, where the soldiers were amused by the miniature soldiers uniform he wore. This got him the nickname by which he is better known today Caligula, which translates to "little boot" from Latin. After the death of his father from being poisioned in Syria* by an agent of Tiberius, he was transfered between many places of residence, which I won't get into here for the sake of time.

Eventually, in 31AD, Caligula ended up in the care of Tiberius. Yes the same Tiberius from earlier, on the small Tyrrehinean** island of Capri. He lived there for six years, and due to being a natural actor, was able to hide his resentment towards, and be spared by Tiberius.



Early Reign

Tiberius died on March 16 37AD of natural causes*, and left his estate and titles to Caligula, and his (Tiberius's) grandson Gemellus. Caligula entered Rome on March 28, to great praise by the people. He was loved by many for being grandson of the popular Germanicus, he built public works projects, held lavish spectacles, even allowed democracy on a local level. He was popular even though he (Caligula) wasn't the most appealing sport***, as well as being a really weird dude. For example*, he had a pontoon bridge built across the sea, on a distance of two and a half miles. Which he had covered with dirt, before he, in full gladiator attire on horseback rode across it. Before getting off on the other side and going back in a two horse chariot. And he repeated this for two days.

 Marutenia is in the dark red area beneath the Iberian Peninsula.

Would you like another example? Okay, in 40AD, he expanded his empire into the kingdom of Marutenia, which was located in what is now Morroco. While doing this he challenged Neptune**** in his campain, and ordered his soldiers to throw all their spears into the ocean. They came back with a bunch of fish.*

In October of 37AD Caligula became very sick. He was so beloved that this concerned the whole kingdom. He recovered soon, but something had clicked out of place in his mind. And Rome soon found itself in a living hell.

Descent Into Madness

Since childhood* Caligula suffered from epilipsy, which was a much bigger deal back then because, in laymans terms, they didn't have MRI's back then, so they had no idea what it was.(His very distant cousin Julius Caesar, no, not that Julius Caesar, occasionaly had these attacks too) His disease, we have no idea what it was, must have done something to... something, that drove him over the edge. He had trouble sleeping, and when he did get sleep he had terrible nightmares. He would often wander the palace at night, waiting for the sun to rise.*****

While conquering Marutenia, he was also leading a campain in northern Brittania (I really hope that I don't have to tell you where that is), near the end of this campaign,* there were reports of Gauls dressed as Germanic tribesmen and Roman soldiers at his triumph. Who were ordered to collect seashells as "spoils of the sea from Neptune" needless to say he was not a stable individual.

He even began to think himself a god. In 40AD he began implementing policies that were controversial then, and would be even more so now. The temple of Castor and Pollux in the Forum was linked to his palace and dedicated to him. And he had several statues of various gods decapitated, and their heads replaced with his own.

I could go on for several chapters about this facinating individual, but I would like to keep this under the length of an English Language Dictionary. So I will provide you with a list of highlights of some of Caligula's crowning moments of insanity.

Caligula's Crowning Moments Of Insanity

-Keeping his favorite racehorse,Incitatus, in the palace in an ivory stable.
-Inviting his guests to his palace in the name of said horse.
-Forcing his guests to eat food made of small rocks and wax.
-Considering making his horse a consul, and even bringing him before a priest.
-Thinking himself a god, to the point that some records refer to him as Jupiter*
-Forcing a close friend through an invountary castration to serve as a replacement wife.******
-Having himself represented as a sun god on Egyptian coins, because he wished to be worshiped as Neos Helios.
-Making it punishable by death to mention a goat in front of him.

There are many more that I could list, and I encourage you to look for yourself, but we are running out of time, so I have to wrap this up.

Death.

Needless to say, Caligula's tenure as Emperor was, for lack of a better term, a complete train-wreck.
On January 22* AD Cassius Chaera, lead a portion of the Prateorian Guard in a sucessful assasination attempt. Some of his Germanic guards rushed to his aid, but in vain. He was dead, as the result of an unsucessful attempt to restore the Roman Republic, that ended up causing Rome to have four Emperors for a year, before Caligula's uncle Claudius eventually took his place. It's complicated and we're out of time anyway. Just look it up.

In conclusion, This man is fascinating, the world is fascinating, and I strongly encourage you to look into the history yourself.

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


Greg.B





I have culled information from the following sources:

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

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

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

http://www.roman-empire.net/emperors/caligula.html

Google Translate

My Latin teacher, who will remain unnamed to preserve privacy.

And the deep recesses of my own mind.





*Maybe. Sources disagree, which tends to happen a lot when you look this far back into the past.

**The Tyrrehinean Sea is located between the northern coast Sicliy, the west shore of Italy, and the east coast of Sardina.

***He had a hairy body, and it was punishable by death to mention goats in his presence.

****Neptune is the Roman god of the sea, better known by his Greek name Posideon

*****Say this Caligula bloke isn't that diffrent from me. Draw from that what you will.

******I remember hearing that somewhere, but it might have been Nero.

Live Action Toy Story (2013) (YouTube)

Alo Party Peoples.

In my downtime I'm usually either watching stuff on Netflix and YouTube, or rummaging through the Internet for information, trivia, and potential topics, and occasionally I use that time for schoolwork.
(Coincedentaly I tend to spend a lot of my nights this way as well.) 

While doing this I come across many things. From really good fan stuff like Doctor Puppet, to just plain trippy buckets of fun like Cartoon Hangover, to really really funny and also very well thought out and intellegent with hints of something deeper going on under the superficial guise of humor like Glove and Boots. 

(Sidenote-If you haven't been watching Glove and Boots, START watching Glove And Boots.  These guys are funny as hell, I could probably give them their own post and I cannot reccomend them enough.)

This time I've found another topic. A shot for shot live action reenactment of Toy Story with actual toys. I like Toy Story. I saw it when it came out into theatres again along side the sequel. I saw Toy Story 3 in theatres. You all have seen Toy Story so you know that it is a great film. And all things considered. These people did a pretty good job with it.

Hats off to all and have a nice day.

Greg.B



If your curious you can find the live action Toy Story here: http://youtu.be/CirIz3j4ixU

You can also watch Doctor Puppet Here: http://www.youtube.com/user/HelloDoctorPuppet

Or Cartoon Hangover Here: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIA9jUDnKVMYc4SmqTxcwqg

And Glove and Boots Here:http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1qC39KQoTG6LqgL_YnjSSQ 

An Interesting Advertizment.

I have found something that you might find interesting.

It's an animated music video about a scarecrow. It is also a jab at factory farming(which in my opinion is unfortunate, but with the population of the world being what it is, also a necessary evil at this point) It  set to a somber remix of Pure Imagination that is very ironically fitting. It is a very well made advertizement, and I congratulate the design team and marketing department. 

You can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUtnas5ScSE

Wait until the end. And then contact me on Twitter.

Movie Magic!: Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme (2007) (PG-13)(Direct to DVD)

Alo Party Peoples.

You might remember that at the end of Trilogy Month I said that I would enlighten you about something. I planned to do so the following week. But then I had technical issues with the site that resulted in a couple posts being deleted. And then I ended up finally seeing Pacific Rim. 

Then I got press screening tickets to see Rush.... Anyways the point is the technical issues have blown over and I'm back now. So lets not waste any time now. Shall we?

Best described as Iron Man with magic instead of super science. Doctor Strange is a fictional superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel. He was an arrogant neurosurgeon who got in a car crash and wrecked his hands. 

After spending his fortune on surgeries to try and fix them. He ends up on abridge ready to commit suicide when a mysterious old man appears. He gives him an ancient map that will supposedly lead him ho a man who can fix his hands, and he spends the last of his money on a one way plane ticket to Tibet.

There he gets lost in the Himalayas and finds the old man there. He reveals himself to be a wizard and takes him on as an apprentice.

There are some other details and events afterwards, but those are the essentials. Dr. Strange has always been pretty well liked. And my father is/was a big fan. There was a TV movie in the 70s ,which I haven't seen, but was only aired once, and only survives now because someone out there recorded it and, eventually, they put it up on the Internet. 

If your curious just type "doctor strange tv movie" into the search bar on YouTube and you should find it in ten minute parts.

The 1992 film "Dr. Mordrid" was going to be a live action Doctor Strange movie, but the license expired before they started production. 

And eventually Lionsgate did a direct to video movie in 2007. Which is today's subject for review. Marvel and Lionsgate actually did a bunch of these during the later years of the initial superhero boom. Before Marvel started its own film studio to do movies based on their characters in house. Overall they average out as being pretty good. 

Lets get started. I'm trying out a new review structure today so let me know what you think.

-Animation Quality: Design wise it looks almost animeish and is quite good. Character models are distinct, backgrounds are very well drawn, and action scenes are very smooth. On the other hand sometimes movements can be quite choppy. 

Maybe it was meant to be like that to show that his hands are screwed up, but it also happens in other scenes when Strange is in no way present. 

I know that animation is very dependent on budget and I shouldn't judge this by Disney standards, and considering said budget restraints they did a great job. But I'm not going to hold back a thought to make the Internet trolls happy.

-Sound: The voice actors do a great job, even if lip movements don't quite keep up with them. And the soundtrack is very fantasy.

-Story: This is a tough one. I like this movie. It's good. But it feels just a bit generic. Maybe it's because a majority of superhero movies are origin stories. In fact the only non sequel ones I can think of off the top of my head are The Avengers and Watchmen. Even then, Watchmen was adapted from a graphic novel, and Avengers was the feature length finale for Phase One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

I might have liked it more if the car crash was just a freak accident, instead of Strange being distracted by magical visions. Maybe if magic only started to show up after his accident, because it jostled his brain and made him able to see through the Mist.

But review the movie you have, not the movie you want.

In conclusion, it's perfectly serviceable and I was entertained. Just not enough for me to actually recommend it.

But if your curious, the DVD is easy to find on ebay. And it's on Netflix Instant Stream, which is how I watched it for this review even though I do own it. And Marvel Studios is doing a live action movie to be released in 2016 after Avengers 2 and Ant Man.

Hats off to all. And have a nice day.

Sidenote: Russia? I know that someone in Russia has read my blog. They haven't been around recently. But on the off chance that they read this. Would you kindly tell Putin to knock it the hell off. You know what I'm referring to.

Greg.B

Rush (2013) (R)

Alo Party Peoples.

Sorry for the delay. I got into another press screening. So lets discuss Rush.

This film based on the real events of Niki Lauda and James Hunt's rivalry/bromance on the Formula 1 racing circuit in 1976 brings it to the screen very well.

Director Ron Howard makes a very engaging, if slightly long, film that makes you forget it's based on true events, to the point that you immerse yourself in it and think it's real again. That makes sense trust me.

Lead actors Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl are great as James Hunt and Niki Lauda respectively. Olivia Wilde does a fine job as James's wife Suzy Miller. And in general they all do a great job. (sidenote. You wouldn't know it from the trailer, but it's much more focused on Lauda than I would have thought.)

The racing scenes are intense, with a well done aesthetic of looking like broadcast footage of the actual events, and I'm sure that a lot of it is. It stays consistent without feeling repetitive. And is well made.

If I can think of a criticism, which is the definition of my role as a critic, it's that it feels a bit long towards the end. But I can't think of anything that they could have cut.

In conclusion, it probably won't change your life, but I recommend that you check out Rush when it hits theaters on September 27.

Hats off to all. And have a nice day.

Greg.B

Sorry

I forgot to prepare a blogpost this week. Sorry. But I finally saw Pacific Rom. DO the same.