In case you’ve been living on another planet (or perhaps one of its moons), Avatar is a big budget blockbuster chock full of spectacle that marketing folks at 20th Century Fox have been telling us will change the way we see movies forever more. Normally, that kind of hyperbole is – well, hyperbole. However, in this case I have to agree.
It’s easy to be critical of something. It’s more difficult to offer constructive criticism. After watching Avatar, I thought the plot and characters were bland and predictable. Here are some ideas I came up with while watching the movie. Mr. Cameron, if you’re reading, please don’t be angry.
Who were the ad wizards who picked Sean Kingston’s Beautiful Girls? I tried to imagine a bunch of kids singing “su-i-ci-dal, su-i-ci-dal” without generating some vast parental s%^&storm in the process.
If you have ever wrestled with a box of ice cream, trying to pry out a chunk with a cold metal scooper, you would have been impressed too. It reminded me of watching the guys flip pizza dough at Italian restaurants when I was a kid.
Each Pokemon has a name. If you don’t catch what the name is, the little monster will helpfully tell you all the time. That’s how they communicate. Dogs bark, cats meow, Pokemon say their name.
I was of two minds driving to the theatre to see the new Star Trek movie Friday night. Part of me really wanted to like the movie. The “regular guy” part likes to kick back and relax with his Star Trek DVD’s; it’s like touching base with an old friend. The other part of me, the “comic book guy”, walked into the theatre fully prepared to dislike the movie.
The first show I caught was the sunrise over Machu Picchu in South America. Slowly, the scene shifted and I could see the lichens growing on the rocks of the buildings and the low grass on the paths where alpacas roamed unmolested (after a few moments, unobtrusive white text in the lower left corner of the screen corrected me: they were llamas, not alpacas).
It turned out Burger Shots are small hamburgers, smaller than the regular hamburgers at Burger King. I had a flashback to high school. We sold a similar product when I was on the other side of the counter. Back then we called them “Burger Bundles”, which was almost as stupid of a name as Burger Shots.
My web browser of choice these days is Firefox, but I am always interested in other alternatives. When I came across Safari for the PC a few weeks ago, I got a bit excited. I have not drunk deep from Apple’s well of Kool-Aid, but I admit their software offerings tend to hit pretty close to the mark when it comes to speed and usability.
There was a big business area and several conference rooms. I got up to the third floor and checked out my room. The bed was soft and the room was clean. However, I found it rather basic and lacking some of the things I’m used to.
As to what it all meant is anyone’s guess. In their battle to uncover the secrets of the other side, neither Number Two nor Number Six was willing to divulge much of anything to the audience.
Belvidere is – technically – the City of Murals. However, the number of visitors that come specifically to Belvidere for the murals probably equal the number of visitors who go to Casablanca for the waters.
Belvidere – of course – is home to the Belvidere Oasis on the Northwest Tollway. This is how I describe where I live to people not familiar with the area (next time you drive past, wave; that’s basically my backyard).
She was on the show, hawking her new book about how to write a blog. I haven’t read the book myself. To be fair, she didn’t write the book, just provided the name and the introduction.
Just because I haven’t read the book, doesn’t mean I can’t hold a strong opinion about it and write a few hundred words to that effect. That was one of the “secrets” divulged during her appearance.
The first Star Trek movie is definitely falls under the definition of guilty pleasure; I feel a little guilty for liking it! My favorite part of the movie is when the Starship Enterprise finally confronts the gigantic alien probe that is heading towards Earth. The scene consists of approximately forty-seven minutes of special effects intercut with brief shots of the crew of the Enterprise staring at forty-seven minutes of special effects.
I retired my old Pentium III desktop back in the summer. I was quite content to use it forever, but an application I needed would only work in Windows XP. My machine had… Read More
I don’t eat at Kentucky Fried Chicken all that often. I think the last time before last week was in 1982. We have one of those combination stores in Belvidere. It’s a KFC… Read More
“I started a joke, which started the whole world crying. But I didn’t see… that the joke was on… me? I don’t normally like to issue blanket declarations. There are usually two sides… Read More
I got the Original Chicken Sandwich (from what I’ve heard it is The Original Chicken Sandwich; they invented it) a large piece of fried chicken on a white bun with a dash of butter and a pickle slice. It was tender and juicy and cut thick enough to be a pork chop. I accompanied it with some waffle fries (one of my favorites… when they are done correctly) and a slice of lemon pie for dessert. I washed it all down with a Diet Coke. After all, I didn’t want to go overboard!
I’ve been a big fan of Star Trek since before I was born. My mom was busy writing letters to NBC to keep the show on the air while pregnant with me. I… Read More
First, let me explain that I don’t know anything about yoga. I don’t do yoga. I’ve never done yoga. I don’t think I can even be casually mistaken for someone who does yoga. But I came in Sunday morning to a book waiting for me in the classroom: My Daddy is a Pretzel.
I find myself walking around with the phone and a charger, so I can plug it in a wall socket anywhere I go; kind of defeats the purpose of a cell phone in my opinion.
Nick’s serves up a salad. You have probably seen this salad before; you may have even ordered it yourself. My wife had it. She says it was good. It has a bed of lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, olive oil and crumbles of feta cheese on the top. Generally, this is described as a Greek Salad.
At Nick’s, it’s an Albanian Salad.
Cut to a few weeks ago. The final minutes of the New Orleans game are winding down. I’m in the family room with Daniel, watching the game and Meka’s behind me in the kitchen.
“So, what kind of TV are you getting?” she asked. I had no idea what she was talking about at first. Honestly, I had been joking about the HDTV. Of course, I didn’t mention that out loud.
The two-set DVD has the four Ed Sullivan shows, complete with commercials, from February, 1964 and September, 1965. All I can say is… wow. The shows themselves feature a variety of acts, but they all share one thing in common: they are all totally lame compared to the Beatles.
Things happen in this movie, characters change, characters besides “Ensign Smith” die. Good TV results in the same characters and the same situations week after week. Good movies result in characters developing over the course of the movie. This is a good movie.
Have you ever seen one of those action movies where you have pretty much figured out what’s going to happen after about ten minutes: who will die and how, who’s going to be in trouble, etc.? This book reads like that. It’s like a rejected Ah-nold movie script, completely lacking any joy, imagination, originality, etc. In about half an hour, I had pretty much guessed how the book would turn out and I got it all right except for one guess.
The entire plot of the book gravitates around Man’s addiction to sapphire. Sapphire? You know, that blue stuff in rings. You know how the fate of nations (and in this case) entire worlds hang in the balance if they can’t get enough of it. No? Actually, neither had I.
