In my last post, a rather long time ago, I posited something along the lines of how the ongoing existence of the human race is something that might not be accomplished on this planet, but on some other yet-to-be-explored planet whose exploration will, hopefully, be enabled by technology one day. So, you can imagine how excited I was to watch Interstellar. This is a non-spoiler post. The fricking tagline is, "Mankind was born on earth. It was never meant to die here."
And in truth, while I am obviously no expert in the science and technology required for the exploration of the stars, I loved that the movie was trying to take this idea further. The movie attempts to be thematic, like most of Christopher Nolan's movies, but perhaps more subtlety would be in order. That said, even if it does beat the idea of exploration into your head, if you haven't yet wondered about the future of humanity in the universe after watching this movie, I think it's a thought experiment worth considering.
We always say stuff like, "It really makes you feel so small in the grand scheme of things" or, "We're just specks of dust in the universe." Yes, they are both entirely true. But that's what makes it exciting, no? A 99.9999% unexplored thing is way more intriguing and exciting than a 99.9999% explored thing. It's at times like these I wished I was an astronomer professionally; to make it my life's work or, my undying love, to explore the stars. Right now, all I am is this 'dabbler':-
I should admit that, yes, right now, I just think space is pretty. But I do wonder - and perhaps it's one of the key counterfactuals of my life - what would have been had I chosen astronomy for a field instead. It's just too bad you can't choose both roads.
On a related note, so some people look at the stars and they think, "I wonder what the Big Bang was like." Some others look at the same stars and they think, "Praise the Glory of God Almighty." Let me be clear - I am an atheist, as I've said many times. I'm not a belligerent atheist, I'm just an atheist. An agnostic one at that. Although, in fairness, I am belligerent about the use of the word 'agnostic.' And, really, I do get why people believe in religion and a higher deity and I do recognize the value of religion. In fact, I would venture to suggest that I am uncomfortable with the idea of a secular government insofar as I believe the notion that policy should not be influenced by 'religion' to be false. The simple reason for this is that if the people care about religion, then policy should incorporate what these people care about. Yes, it needs to be tempered by the non-religious bunch of people, but I think it is a valid concern in the policy space that requires addressing.
That said, it is unlikely that I will ever believe in a God or some higher deity. Personally, if I were to believe in an all-powerful being, I'd go with Zeus. Homeboy has lightning bolts. But, some of the concepts from Christianity are just so goddamn beautiful that it's hard to, sometimes, just fall on your knees for 'redeeming grace.'
You see, I get a kick out of Christmas songs, both the religious and the non-religious stuff. Stuff like Silent Night really moves me. Not so much because I believe in Jesus Christ and all that stuff, but because the power of faith and belief in people is just so strong. I have all the respect in the world for people whose faith in whatever they believe is so strong. I mean, they are staking their whole lives and culture on something that can never be proven to exist. How does that work? I suppose it's the same for most scientific studies - the Big Bang Theory, String Theory etc - but the amount of faith just blows me away.
I think it's good to have Faith. Faith requires the ability to believe in something larger than yourself which, I think, is always a good thing. It could be some abstract value, it could be a God, it could be a community, whatever. Faith is a good thing. And Christianity is (obviously) all about faith.
It is also about Grace. Amazing Grace is one of the most beautiful songs ever written and I agree with the main message - T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far, and Grace will lead us home.
I mean, how beautiful are those two lines? Sure, the song means God's Grace. But if we think of Grace as something else, which is just kindness to our fellow people, I think it encapsulates exactly how we all should treat each other. With Kindness. With Forgiveness. With Grace.
In my "Entertainment" folder on my computer, I have a folder called "Movies." In this folder, there are 110 movies. These are all movies that I've watched before and are all movies that I think are worth keeping on hand just in case the mood strikes me and I want to re-watch them or in case I want to re-watch specific scenes from them. Of these movies, I have a sizable collection of "Teen" movies too. Way back from the first movie I ever watched with my friends in a cinema - the classic "10 Things I Hate About You" - to the more recent "21 Jump Street" - where Brie Larson steals my heart and gets punched in the boob - to "Superbad" with the scene-stealing McLovin to the totally fetch "Mean Girls" to the all-time super-provoking "Breakfast Club" with a Brain, a Princess, a Basket Case, an Athlete and a Criminal, I do have an affinity for teenage movies.
Within the realm of "teenage" movies, there are different types of teenage movies as well. There's the more stoner type like "Dude, Where's My Car?". There's also the quintessential teen movie, "10 Things I Hate About You" (I say quintessential because there are many such examples as this movie - Can't Hardly Wait, Never Been Kissed, She's All That etc - where the plot is generally based on the same formula but only just varies slightly). Then there's the more smartly written stuff like "Mean Girls", "Superbad" and "Easy A" which are quite clever and have a different type of angle to it while retaining the general "teen" spirit of teenage movies. I think this is particularly true of "Superbad" which I think is the most tender of the lot. Also, having Emma Stone doesn't bloody hurt.
But, after having recently watched two teenage movies, I was led to the conclusion that I am particularly fond of "teenage" movies for two reasons. First, I am old and these movies tend to make me nostalgic. Take "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" where Kat Dennings first appears on my, "Good God, I love this woman" radar. In the movie, Nick and Norah basically spend the entire time gallavanting around New York City till the late, late night. Watching the movie, at the first time, made me sad because I think it's a sort of cool youth/innocence thing that only really exists when you're 17 or 18. I think, as you get older, you get over that kind of stuff so that it becomes very mundane. Nights out until 6am can still be super fun at 25 or 26, but they don't have the same wonder and magic as nights out until 6am when you're 17 or 18. So, yes, I do kind of miss the wonder of being 17 or 18.
Second, I love character development in stories. I will automatically dismiss a story as being rather crappy (despite great acting, despite great CGI, despite great cinematography, despite great locations, despite whatever) if characters are not being developed meaningfully in movies. For example, I don't consider Captain Kirk in the two most recent Star Trek movies as a character whose character was developed meaningfully throughout the movies. For one, we used two movies to hash out the same plot - Rash but brave young officer learns from his mistakes (which arose through his hot-headedness) to lead everyone to victory and grows up in the process. For two, it's just too easy. I don't believe that people switch 180 degrees just like that in personality. If you're going to develop a character, do it properly. Go each step of the way.
Anyway, when you're a teenager, lots of shit happens to you that develops your personality. This is true in stories and in real life (not necessarily mutually exclusive). So, it is natural that teenage movies are sort of a natural habitat for coming-of-age stories, which are, to me, the best types of character development. Sure, you can have great character development like the rise and fall of Michael Corleone in the Godfather series (another top, top favorite) or like the evolution of Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne in the Batman Trilogy or, in books, Jack Torrance in The Shining and other such non-teenage examples.
The difference is that the teenage stories have that extra sweetness about them simply because they remind us, or me at least, of a time that once was - a time of a great deal of innocence and honest mistakes. And so, I am especially fond of teenage movies that explore this character development of the age where we are the most malleable, and the most easily influenced by a shit load of factors. The great thing is, we can all relate as well since we've been through that stage of life. We know how a lot of things feel like and we feel that they are super poignant to us. Maybe we will never ever know how it feels to have our character corrupt slowly like Michael Corleone (I highly doubt anybody I know will be a serious Mob boss) or to have the character evolution of fricking Batman, but we sure as hell can know how it feels like to want desperately to fit in somewhere, to feel as if a boy's love or a girl's love is the only thing in the world that matters or how it feels like to be unfairly suspected for things just because we've made mistakes in the past. We know all that.
And I think we therefore can identify quite strongly with movies that show us just that. Those that really make those feelings come 'real'. Those that show rather ordinary characters in rather ordinary lives but trying their damned best to face ordinary issues. The movies that do these best are those that tell the stories patiently without skipping steps. They explain why characters make the decisions they do, what events force incremental personality changes in characters. That sort of stuff. And so, if you haven't gotten my point yet, you're in for a treat.
Rather than making my point shorter and summarizing it, I am going to beat my point down via the lens of my 5 favorite coming-of-age teenage movies, ranked of course. To put all cards on the table, I was okay with "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" too, but in that movie, Charlie got to kiss Sam (played by Emma Watson) and grope her too. So, now, that movie just brings back horrible memories for me.
5. The Way, Way Back
Issues Confronted: Mom re-marrying a tool, step-sister who thinks he's a complete loser, almost complete lack of social skills, constantly feeling like a wallflower and feeling anonymous.
Why It's Poignant: For the most part (except maybe the family bits), describes nearly every teenager ever, with the exception of the cool kids. Sometimes, we just need to find a place where we're appreciated and where there's someone who just accepts us for who we are and we can find our place. Look, being 14 and a loner is kinda crappy, especially if your (step) sister is a popular kid who doesn't want to be seen with you. You're now forced on a 'family' vacation with no friends and it's hard for you to make friends cos you don't have adequate social skills. How the hell are you going to grow that way?
Look, maybe I didn't really have this problem. But I know tons of people who did. And it's very real. I'm sure we can all think of that one kid at school who kept to herself all the time or just to one friend all the time and never really fit in anywhere. How would a person like that discover herself? How would she gain confidence? How would she feel appreciated?
The Way, Way Back tells this story exceptionally well. [Because this movie is new, I am not going to say anything about the ending]
4. The Breakfast Club
Issues Confronted: Stereotyping in high school, the need to feel like you belong, dealing with people of other 'stereotypes' that you're not comfortable with, "What happens next?"
Why It's Poignant: Okay, this shit is true for nearly every teenager. When I was in Form 2, the first year classes were streamed, I was put in a class with students who were perceived as the largest nerds/geeks in school. For whatever reason, I wasn't (yet) included in this group. One of my classmates who was placed in this class actually said to me, "We need to get out of this class. It's like the Malay saying, [translated] if you enter a chicken coop, you'll come out smelling like chickens." Then, I thought, "Wait, I'm not a nerd? Sweet!" [NB: I have later on fully embraced my nerd-ness]
Now, this person who made this comment was a Scout. And believe me, there were stereotypes of these people as well. Was this fair? Of course not. Did we care? Of course not. All we knew was that there were the Cool Stereotypes and there were the Uncool Stereotypes. And we didn't want to be in the latter. Did we care that we were all idiots and roughly the same anyway? Of course not! We thought we were completely different. This movie felt real to me for that reason. It explored how different stereotypes respond to one another in a closed setting (detention on a Saturday morning) and how these different stereotypes found that they were really not that different after all. They smoked weed, they danced, they learned about each other, sparks flew. And then, detention ended. And they left. We don't know what happened after.
Well, we know this happened.
Now, if were were to do an epilogue to this, how would it go? I'd like to quote Cracked on an epilogue for this movie:-
"Did they remain friends when they went back to school on Monday? Or did they immediately return to their respective social circles and continue ignoring each other? The Brain character, Brian, actually raises this point in the movie when he accosts the rest of the group because he assumes they'll go back to ignoring him when school starts up on Monday. Was he right, or did everyone change? This is important to me, because it can turn The Breakfast Club into either an amazing movie or a shitty movie.
If the kids show up to school on Monday and form a new clique that breaks down social barriers and challenges conventional high school's idea of archetypes and popularity hierarchies, that makes The Breakfast Club a piece of shit movie. If the Jock and the Brain become best friends and the Criminal and Princess start a relationship and have a family and a million babies, we'd lose the realism and honesty that was present throughout all of The Breakfast Club's non-weed-related moments. The Breakfast Club was great because it was just a slightly heightened version of reality. Throwing in a big huge happy ending makes The Breakfast Club a cartoon.
The right ending would have the kids all going back to their own cliques, because that's how you survive high school. The Criminal goes back to being high and making fun of the Brain, the Princess goes back to ignoring everyone, and the Jock continues doing whatever popular Jocks to in high school (probably some cool, outside-the-box sex act that I still know nothing about). That ending makes The Breakfast Club heartbreaking and real and kind of a perfect movie."
Erm, yeah. Exactly whatever they said.
3. Stand By Me
Issues Confronted: Family problems (abusive alcoholic father), Bullies, Oppression by adults, Unfairly victimized because of family reputations, What it means to be more than friends
Why It's Poignant: If I was a kid again, and I knew there was a dead corpse somewhere I could hike to, abso-fucking-lutely I would go look for it. It's an adventure, in a more 'realistic' fashion. Even now, if there was a corpse somewhere, I would do it. So, there's that part.
But here's the other part - why this movie just fricking takes a sledgehammer to your heart. These kids all have issues, serious adult issues but the problem is, they're stuck where they are because adults use these issues against them. One of the characters gets blamed for stealing money from the school cafeteria just because his father and his brother have terrible reputations when, in fact, it was the cook herself who stole the money. But no one believes him. He is saddled with a reputation he does not deserve for seriously arbitrary reasons. Twisting this a little, can you imagine yourself gaining some sort of reputation for whatever by virtue of making a dumb mistake when you were a kid or by virtue of hanging out with a particular friend?
The best part of this movie is how serious the conversations between the boys get as they go along when they explore each other's issues and learn how effing difficult it is to be each other. Look, we all have the tendency to believe that our lives are the hardest, and it may very well be, but I also think we lack the capacity to be honest about how hard our lives actually are. I think we hide many, many demons under the surface despite all these demons keeping us Up All Night (sorry, had to include a Blink 182 reference here - was feeling it). And the acting by the child actors is top-notch; the depth of sincerity and honesty in which they discuss their experiences.
And also, in the epilogue of this story in the book (Stephen King's "The Body"), the main narrator states that they drift apart after a while, as friends are wont to do (we all have been through this) and he tells of what happens to the kids in the coming years. He ends with this line, "I never had friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"
I had to have a moment when I read that line and when the narrator says it at the end of the movie. Because it's bloody true. I will meet people throughout my life and some of these people will end up being close to me. But, you can't really ever replicate the connection you had with the people with whom you were close when you were going through puberty. People with whom you grew up. Because those are the formative years of your life and those people, more than anyone, formed who you are. It's like Cartman says in "Casa Bonita":-
"I know we argue all the time and I give you tons of crap but we also have been through a lot together. And maybe that alone doesn't make us friends, but that makes us something."
You cannot ever replicate that something. And so, for me, I never had friends later on like the ones I had when I was thirteen. Jesus, does anyone?
Why It's Poignant: Covered as well, so I shall do a two sentence summary. First, this movie is a rarity in the sense that it has a fairly happy ending (which fit!); most of the movies I like tend to have more realistic endings (as I think happy endings for everyone are very unrealistic). Second, this movie can remind us of our triumphs, despite opposition from many and the support of only a few and how it only really takes one person or one event to truly inspire us.
Why It's Poignant: Again, a two sentence summary. First, the main character in this movie (to me) is Todd Anderson, as he is the only one with serious character development in the movie. Second, I think we can all relate to the feeling of having our parents control our lives (as teenagers) and feeling completely helpless by it all with no escape clause as the establishment (in this case, the school) obviously takes the parents' side, and all we can do is show our loyalty and support to our cause without really being able to change anything.
So, there you have it - my favorite coming-of-age teenage movies. I think if you notice the themes, you'll note that the reason I treasure these movies so much is because they feel real. Like they could actually happen to people we know. I think October Sky and Dead Poet's Society may have their sense of reality heightened just a tad but, in general, I think many of us can relate still. I personally believe The Way, Way Back, The Breakfast Club and Stand By Me are almost as real as it gets, and that's why they're so heartfelt. Because we can identify with those kids in the movie who we can see as ourselves. And like Stephen King says, maybe those children we once were weren't the best version of ourselves, but they were the repository of all we could become. And to think that we went all through that, and the friends we shared those experiences with, it makes this genre especially poignant.
There's a movie coming out soon which I believe will add to this sense of nostalgia, innocence and, dare-I-say-it, love. Here's the trailer for "The Spectacular Now." Do yourself a favor and watch the trailer, and then watch the movie.
I came across one of the best soundtracks in memory from the 2004 movie, In Good Company. The movie itself was solid. I liked it - nice feel-good movie without being overly corny. And, of course, it featured the lovely Scarlett Johansson.
Hoodies are the way to go.
Anyway, on the soundtrack. The soundtrack gave me the introduction to Iron and Wine - notably, Naked as We Came (interpret that how you will) and, more notably, The Trapeze Swinger. Listen to this in the dark. Don't think about anything else. Just soak in the song. Listen to the lyrics. It'll be worth it. Another song from that soundtrack is David Byrne's "Glass, Concrete and Stone." I hadn't thought of that song in a long time.
Tonight though, I was overlooking the skyline of some country at 10pm. And it was breathtaking. Whoever says that glass, concrete and stone (connection made!) lacks aesthetic qualities needs to have her or his head examined. I wish I could say I took a picture, but the Constant Reader knows how bad I am at all that. Anyway, city lights, when done right, are one of the world's best sights. Don't believe me? Fuck you. I have always loved the city lights on the water (snigger).
Anyway, beyond just the aesthetic of an amalgamation of concrete, glass and stone and lights, I thought also of Jay-Z's line in Empire State of Mind. Side note, I can rap the whole song without referring to lyrics. Just ask me. Anyway, the line goes, "8 Million Stories, out there in the naked." It's essentially what a city is, no? A dense agglomeration of people, all with their own stories, all with their own lives, hoping to achieve whatever it is they want to achieve, fighting every day (for most people at least) hoping just to make it through the week, hoping that one day their efforts will make the lives of their kids better. But like Jay-Z says, "It's a pity half of ya'll won't make it."
I cannot be fairly described as some paragon of humility, despite my best efforts, but I do believe what Jay-Z said, or rapped. In a city of 8 million people, there are 8 million stories. It felt rather peculiar looking down tonight at the city below, seeing the various lights from office buildings, homes, roads, cars whatever and thinking that each person contributing to those lights were living out their own story. Maybe they were rushing home to watch the latest Mad Men episode. Maybe they were taking on another shift as a cab driver to help put food on the table. Maybe they were trying to close a deal in some office. Maybe they had just reeturned from a date. I don't know. But it's quite humbling, I think. When you recall that in the grand scheme of 8 million people, one's life is just that. One. Out of 8 Million.
And the thing is, each of those 8 million stories is unique. Well, nearly all anyway (accounting for siblings who grew up in the same family, attended the same schools etc etc). I have never believed that just because you're unique, you're therefore special as I've made clear before. But that uniqueness is still something that is interesting. If each person is a story, which admittedly appeals to me from a poetic sense, then each unique story makes that person the only person in the world who has lived that tale. I think it's fair to say that hardly anybody is special, but everyone is unique. It's like the following two quotes from Watchmen (by Doc Manhattan):-
"Themodynamic miracles...events with odds against so astronomical they're effectively impossible, like oxygen spontaneously becoming gold. I long to observe such a thing. And yet, in each human coupling, a thousand million sperm vie for a single egg. Multiply those odds by countless generations, against the odds of your ancestors being alive; meeting; siring this precise son; that exact daughter...Until your mother loves a man she has every reason to hate, and of that union, of the thousand million children competing for fertilization, it was you, only you, that emerged. To distill so specific a form from that chaos of improbability, like turning air into gold...that is the crowning likelihood. The thermodynamic miracle."
"Yes, anybody in the world...But the world is so full of people, so crowded with these miracles that they become commonplace and we forget...I forget. We gaze continually at the world and it grows dull in our perceptions. Yet seen from another's vantage point, as if new, it may still take our breath away. Come...dry your eyes, for you are life, rarer than a quark and unpredictable beyond the dreams of Heisenberg. Come, dry your eyes. And let's go home."
I think cities remind us of stuff like that. A collection of stories, each one nearly entirely unique, coming together to try and make things work. It's humbling. Even the most reprehensible person has a story and even the most tame of people has a story. And that's life. And Doc Manhattan says we must remember that.
Speaking of life, may I interest you in a new scientific hypothesis - life began even before the Sun existed. The arguments make sense. Next comes the proof. But this is baller.
There are things in life that are easy to let go. And there are also, naturally, things in life that are not easy to let go. While Don Draper's quote - "Just get out of here and move forward. It never happened. It will shock you how much it never happened." - is great life advice for nearly every conceivable situation, there is still one particular thing that continues to bother me to this day. That particular thing is the ending of the Dark Knight Rises.
I wrote about this in an earlier review of the movie. But, I'm not through. And, yes, spoiler alert. But if you haven't watched the movie yet (it's been half a year), and you're going to be all, "Don't spoil it for me! I still want to watch it!", I have two responses. The first is that you probably don't care about it enough anyway, so it's no big deal. The second is, go screw yourself. Cheerful remonstrations aside, the reason I am returning to this issue is because I had a micro-mini-Eureka moment about 5 minutes ago juxtaposing why the LOTR ending worked so well and TDKR ending didn't.
Here's what I wrote about the ending of TDKR:-
"...I agree it covered up all loose ends and was a very neat ending to the Trilogy (more on this later). But to me, it's a bit too neat. At the end of the movie, Bane was defeated. Talia Al'Ghul was defeated. Gotham was saved. Lucius Fox got what he wanted. Alfred got what he wanted. John Blake got what he wanted. James Gordon got what he wanted. Bruce Wayne got what he wanted. Hell, even Selina Kyle got what she wanted. But how likely is this? In a world where I can suspend belief to believe that the Batman is real, I'm still finding it difficult to believe that after an epic war/battle such as this one, all the major 'good guys' got happy endings.
No one fell from grace. No one died. No one faced a moral dilemma and came out of it for the worse. In short, no one lost anything. I have never been in a war. Fine. But I find it hard to believe that everyone, even the "good guys" can come out of it never having lost anything. Even if it's just a little part of themselves. How is it that all the "good guys" can just move on so easily? Yes, I know Rachel died in The Dark Knight but that was a different "war". I'm talking about the "war" just in the context of TDKR. How can you go through so much sacrifice without it having a Dent on who you are? It was just too neat for me. I would have liked to have seen an ending like in the Godfather series, particularly in Godfather 2 - Michael Corleone sitting in his cabin at Lake Tahoe, on top of the world but bitterly alone (before you crucify me on a spoiler for Godfather 2, the movie has been out for 38 years. It's your fault if I spoiled anything for you). Sure, the man got what he wanted, but not without losing a huge part of himself."
It really does still strike me as incredibly unlikely that there is really no character character development (not a typo - I mean the character of a character) after such a huge battle between the forces of Bane and the Arkham Asylum-nites and Batman, future Batman, Selina Kyle and Gotham's finest. How does one really not evolve? How does one not be scarred for life? After going through so much, it seems exceedingly unrealistic for me - from a character development perspective - that everyone gets a happy ending. My bet is that it's meant to cater to wide layperson audiences who, as is expected, would prefer neat, happy endings for all our heroes.
BUT, just because it's a happy ending doesn't mean it's the appropriate ending. Yes, yes, 'appropriate' is subjective. Yes, yes, this is just my opinion (I hate rebuttals that go, "It's just your opinion." Well, thanks Captain Obvious. Who else's opinion is it?). However, it's still a legitimate argument. If a person has been a lousy athlete for the first 18 years of her life, what are the odds that she'll be an excellent athlete in College? Pretty shitty odds right? But, in movies, that person somehow becomes a star athlete in College, through the virtues of determination and hard work. She wins the State championship. Everyone's happy. Moviegoers feel good. You know what sucks about that scenario? First of all, if she was a lousy athlete her whole life, she probably will still be a lousy athlete in the future - athleticism is hugely dependent on natural endowments. Second of all, this shits in the face of all athletes who were good athletes their whole lives AND have put in the requisite effort to be successful AND have strong determination to succeed. What happened to them? Why shouldn't the story be about them? For more of this bullshit-type endings, please watch South Park's Stanley's Cup episode (Season 10, Episode 14). It's a mistake to believe that we, or the people who star in movies, are necessarily the protagonists of every story.
This leads me to a juxtaposition between the ending of the LOTR series and TDKR series. I've already described, in very brief terms, what happened at the end of TDKR. At the end of the Return of the King, we see that after the deed is done, the hobbits return to the Shire, about a year or so after their long journey. Here is a step-by-step version of what made the ending so brilliant (again, this movie has been out for 9 years), based on the movie. The book stuff comes a bit later.
1. The Hobbits return to the Green Dragon Pub. It's dusk in the Shire. Frodo brings 4 mugs of ale to the table, where Pippin, Merry and Samwise are seated. The 4 hobbits look around the table - they see their other fellow hobbits of the Shire, having fun, having a good laugh, enjoying the night, just like how they have enjoyed it so many nights before and will so many nights henceforth. But our 4 hobbits know what the other hobbits don't know which is how hard the battle was fought to ensure that there are many more nights like these. They look around solemnly, knowing how much loss and sacrifice they've had to go through (Boromir, Theoden, Haldir etc etc) and they're thinking, "Wow, we understand things and we are privy to things that these other hobbits will never have to know." In short, they're just like the stories World War veterans tell. They've been changed, for better or for worse. They toast.
N.B: It's one of the most beautiful scenes in the entire trilogy. In fact, I think it's Movie Kaki Karen's favourite scene in the trilogy.
Here is some dialogue from the book as the Hobbits approach the Shire on their return.
"Well, here we are, just the four of us that started out together," said Merry. "We have left all the rest behind, one after another. It seems almost like a dream that has slowly faded."
"Not to me," said Frodo. "To me it feels more like falling asleep again."
2. Frodo feels the stab of the Morgul blade on the 1-year anniversary of the stabbing. Frodo has been stung by Shelob, had his finger bitten off by Gollum and has been stabbed by the Witch King. Did anyone really ever think he could ever be the same again? Anyway, the movie shows that he's struggling with this.
This bit is explained even better in the book. Here's the bit between Gandalf and Frodo.
"Alas! there are some wounds that cannot be wholly cured," said Gandalf.
"I fear it may be so with mine," said Frodo. "There is no real going back. Though I may come to the Shire, it will not seem the same; for I shall not be the same. I am wounded with knife, sting, and tooth, and a long burden. Where shall I find rest?"
Gandalf did not answer.
BOOM! If I had just been as succinct as this in writing this thing out, you'd have finished reading this 10 minutes ago. This is essentially my point. Frodo is no longer the same. Neither is Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle, Alfred, Commissioner Gordon, John Blake and Lucius Fox. How could they possibly be?
3. The Hobbits meet Bilbo, believing they're about to send Bilbo off Into The West. To the surprise of the Hobbits, Gandalf and Frodo leave as well. Here is the bit that kicks in. A neat ending would be everyone lives happily ever after in their own homes but they meet every now and then. Gimli goes back to Erebor, Legolas goes back to Mirkwood, Aragorn and Arwen go back to Gondor, Eomer goes back to Rohan, the Hobbits go back to the Shire, Gandalf just wanders about as usual. Tolkein could have done that. But no. He chose an ending which was the best fit. Frodo, jaded by everything, had to leave. He couldn't stay in the Shire after everything that happened. To the dismay of Merry, Pippin and especially Sam, Frodo took the ship into the West. Here's what he told Sam (who was devastated and distraught, as was a fair bit of moviewatchers who thought he should have stayed to complete the happy ending - you know who you are):-
"Where are you going, Master?" cried Sam, though at last he understood what was happning.
"To the Havens, Sam," said Frodo.
"And I can't come."
"No, Sam. Not yet anyway, not further than the Havens. Though you too were a Ring-bearer, if only for a little while. Your time may come. Do not be too sad, Sam. You cannot always be torn in two. You will have to be one and whole, for many years. You have so much to enjoy and to be, and to do."
"But," said Sam, and tears started in his eyes, "I thought you were going to enjoy the Shire, too, for years and years, after all you have done."
"So I thought too, once. But I have been too deeply hurt, Sam. I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them."
Again, if I was as succinct, we would have been done long ago. But please ponder the wisdom of these words and please realize the truth in them. Life isn't a series of happy endings for everyone. People lose things. And sometimes, the right ending is the ending where somebody starts over, as Jennifer Connelly's character says in 'He's Just Not That Into You.' Damn right I quoted that movie. But it is true. Just because an ending is neat doesn't make it the right ending. It can be, but it's not necessarily so. The neat ending worked in the Harry Potter series. It works in most Disney movies. But sometimes, stories shouldn't end on a neat or happy note, simply because stories need to end in the way that life generally dictates that it should end. Consider the movies Zodiac, Se7en, the Godfather series and so on. Their ending works because it was what the setting of the movies called for. Or consider the Watchmen story. Or Stephen King's "It" where the Losers Club kills "It" but they end up losing memories of their childhoods and the friends they spent them with. The "It" ending kills me because it's so goddamn moving and sure, I wish they all could still hang out or whatever, but that ending would not have worked. I mean, after everything the kids in the Losers Club have been through and after all they've experienced and sacrificed together, it sucked that they all had to forget each other. But in the context of the story, it had to happen.
Before I end, please appreciate this quote from Stephen King, taken from one of his books.
'And will I tell you that these three lived happily ever after? I will not, for no one ever does. But there was happiness. And they did live.'
So, remember. Sticking the Landing (or ending for the non-metaphor inclined) is critical to any story. But the landing must fit the story that was told, rather than having a neat or happy ending just for the sake of having a neat or happy ending. Go with what fits.
At the end of 2011, I listed the 12 Things I was Looking Forward to in 2012. Admittedly, I picked the number '12' simply because it was going to be 2012. If I were to continue in that vein of consistency, I would have to pick '13' for 2013. '13' isn't a lot of things, in all fairness. But, in the event (however likely or unlikely) that I continue blogging up till, say, 2030, for example, I'd have to list 30 things. 45 things in 2045. And, quite frankly, I don't look forward to THAT many things in general. So, there's another form of consistency - keep it at 12! So, 12 it is. As per last year, it's heavily movie-based.
12. San Antonio Spurs playing exquisite basketball
I watch a fair amount of NBA games throughout the season, thanks to NBA Broadband League Pass. I've seen the Heat play, I've seen the Thunder play, I've seen the Clippers, I've seen the Grizzlies and, of course, I've watched a heckload of Boston Celtics games. But only the Spurs can make me feel that when I watch them play basketball, I'm watching artists paint a masterpiece. Pure unselfish, team-oriented basketball - everybody knows what they're supposed to do, what they're not supposed to do and how they can contribute. The ball moves, people set screens, resulting in wide-open jumpers. This is really the most beautiful and elegant basketball I've seen from a team, ever. If the Celtics are going to crash out (more on this in a bit), I'm rooting for the Spurs to win the title. Tim Duncan (21) is one of my 3 favourite current NBA players alongside Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo in some order, and I would love to see him get another title before he retires. Anyway, some evidence of Spurs passing in the Youtube video below. It's worth watching even for those of you who don't really follow basketball - it's good to see what beautiful basketball is like.
11. Gangster Squad
Pretty sure I don't need to explain why I'm looking forward to this.
10. Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters
Loved the series. Gotta catch the movie. I really did quite like the first movie - Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. I thought it was good fun and great entertainment. Granted, I'd only watch it once in the theater, but I've seen watched it a couple of times after on DVD and I still really enjoy it. If the second movie is anything like the first, we should be in for a good time. Also, Logan Lerman looks to me like a young Jim Sturgess - for those of you who know me, you should know what that means. 9. Kick-Ass 2
I know this is super unoriginal, and I know this is quite terrible, but the first movie kicked ass. It was such an obvious statement to make that I just had to get it out of the way. That aside, the first movie completely blew my expectations away - it was a hell of an action-comedy type movie. Violent as anything, sure, but great fun. This movie should be rated R and, if it's based on the Kick-Ass 2 Graphic Novel, there will be some serious violence in this and some really messed up shit too. We should be in for a rocking time.
(Hopefully the Censorship Board in Malaysia doesn't ban it. It really is super duper violent and super duper disturbing. But, Malaysia tends to be okay with violence - decapitations totally okay - but bans even a simple kiss. Go figure.) 8. Paranoia
Commissioner Gordon, Thor and Indiana Jones as your leading men. Wicked. The last time Gary Oldman played an espionage-type character, we got Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy which is a really quite brilliant movie. That said, I am rather biased towards this movie because aside from coming-of-age movies (see: Dead Poet's Society, October Sky, Stand By Me, Hugo, Super 8 etc etc), my favorite movie genre is Spy Thriller (my other favorite genre is crime movies). Not in the James Bond sense, but in the mould of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Where it's super dark, there's limited action, and you feel like you're watching a chess game unfold, but your interest in the movie is piqued up by the suspense of the espionage game. I hope Paranoia will live up to this. 7. Lebron's Quest for Immortality
This man completed a brilliant 2012 where he won MVP, the NBA title, the Finals MVP and a Gold Medal. I'm looking forward to him continuing his path of evisceration towards taking his place as one of the game's all-time greats. If he has any real Michael Jordan-Bill Russell type DNA in him, we're set.
6. Carrie
Stephen King is my favorite fictional author. One of these days, I will rank my favorite Stephen King books. Carrie will be somewhere on the list. The first Carrie was a classic. And, sure, classics should be allowed to remain classics, but I see no harm in a remake, and I may even look forward to it when Chloe Moretz is involved. For those of you who are horror-movie averse, this isn't really a horror movie. I promise you. Fire-y times ahead.
5. Celtics Blood Basketball
The Boston Celtics play with an us-against-the-world attitude, a real Eff-You attitude that I absolutely love. The players don't care if they're assholes to the opponents, as long as they fight for each other. Yes, the Celtics aren't doing that great right now to my immense frustration, but you would not want to play them in the Playoffs. The 2012 Celtics was my favourite Celtics team because you knew that if they were going to go down, they would go down having given everything they had. I don't think they will be NBA Champs again this year, but I'm looking forward to the Playoffs when they battle through everything. Go Celts.
4. Man of Steel
Superman is in the building! Superman is my favorite superhero and this remake looks to be very promising. Especially if it's benchmarked against Superman Returns. I mean, there's no way it can be that bad, right? Also, we have Amy Adams as Lois Lane. I adore Amy Adams. Evidence:
3. Mad Men - Season 6
The ongoing development of Don Draper - where he becomes the original Don Draper again. Season 5 was like most Mad Men seasons - it built towards a real climax at the end based on small nuances and scenes from earlier episodes (seriously, sometimes it would just be one line in Episode 3 that could make all the difference in Episode 9). But my favorite scene was still the end of Season 5, where we see Don realizing how lonely he actually was, despite everything. Chilling. 2. Sherlock - Season 3
Molly! They don't look alike, but she's essentially another version of Fred Burkle.
Unfortunately, the Hobbit has made production of Sherlock pushed further back and chances are, Sherlock will only air in late 2013. But that's okay. Sherlock will be worth the wait. Especially with the cliffhanger from The Final Problem. Holmes and Watson will be back in full force, with delicious stories based on "rat, wedding, bow." My take - Sumatran Rat (a story that just only got a mention in the Canon), Watson's wedding and Holmes' Final Bow. I hope to Robbie Fowler I'm wrong about the last one. MOAR! 1. The Hobbit - The Desolation of Smaug
I was thinking of a way to sum up my thoughts about a whole bunch of things that I watched, read, saw, experienced, whatever-ed in 2012. As most of you know, I like structure. And it does kill me when I can't figure out a storyline that fits the facts I have. This methodology is Sherlock Holmes approved, by the way. Holmes said, "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly, one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts." So, yes, it annoys me when I cannot fit a story to a bunch of facts or ideas I'm trying to tell. It doubly annoys me when these facts or ideas are not arranged in a consistent manner. In other words, screw this. I'm just going to arbitrarily run through 2012.
A basic metaphorical summary of everything you need to know about Don Draper
Wtf man. Way to drop the ball. In my defense, it wasn't a certainty that Mad Men was going to be aired at all. In my offense, I dropped the ball. I saw this description on Grantland that best encapsulates why Mad Men is so great, by Chuck Klosterman:-
"This, I think, is what makes Breaking Bad and (especially) Mad Men so vastly different: When nothing happens, nothing is lost. The quiet moments are better than the loud ones. There is subtext in everything - the language, the clothes, and even the semiotics (once, on a JetBlue flight, I watched an early episode of Mad Men without audio and was amazed by how much could be deduced, simply by the various characters' posture and where they happened to be around the office). A week in which nothing happens might still be the apex of an entire season."
You gotta love any show that doesn't rely on "events" happening to still be an intensely rewarding series.
2. Wreck It Ralph
Dropped the ball again. This comes up again later.
Top 5 Books that I've read in 2012
Again, this only covers books that I've read in 2012. This doesn't mean, necessarily, that the books were published in 2012.
5. Dream Team by Jack McCallum - A book about the 1992 USA Men's Olympic Basketball team, otherwise more commonly known as the Dream Team. It goes through, in good detail for any basketball fan, the events leading up to the Olympics, how the team was chosen, what went on during the Olympics, and a fantastic recap of the greatest basketball game ever played. If you like basketball, you will like this book.
4. The Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan - I wrote about it before here. A criminally underrated series vis-a-vis Harry Potter, Twilight, the Hunger Games and other such brand name book series. Good clean fun, well-written (doesn't abuse adverbs), quite funny and, at times, quite deep. Also, it does help with remembering or identifying the different Greek Gods. 3. Poor Economics by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo - A wonderful book on the new in-thing in Development Economics - randomized control trials. Loads of magnificent insights, particularly ways in understanding just how similar the poor is to the rich and as such, why we are more likely to find televisions in the homes of the poor but not necessarily food. A must read for anyone interested in the field.
2. Justice: What is the Right Thing to Do by Michael Sandel - A brief survey of the various political philosophies across time. From Aristotle to Bentham to Locke to Kant to Hayek to Rawls, it provides an excellent way in thinking of different issues in today's world. A great reminder that economic reasoning shouldn't be the only perspective with which we view issues - values should be brought to the table as well. A really thought-provoking read, perfect for the layperson who wishes to learn some other ways of thinking about things.
1. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman - My book of the year. It does a fantastic job in highlighting the various systematic biases that we, as members of the human, face when we think. Does brilliantly in describing the various biases to thinking that affect us, despite how rational we believe we are. I learned an immense deal from the book, and I'm looking to apply that to my own thinking, just to make sure that I correct for or, at the very least, take into account the possible biases that may be structurally biasing my thought process. If I were lord and emperor of the free world, I'd make everyone read this book.
Honorable Mention (because I'm still reading it): The Social Conquest of Earth by Edward O. Wilson - I'm only about 1/3s of the way through the book. It's essentially a description of how evolution and natural selection has shaped the homo sapiens species into becoming the dominant eusocial species on earth and how it, via its social abilities, came to take control of the world over the other animal species. Gives a better description than any I've found about the improbability of the homo sapiens species dominance, actually.
[Before the creationists rejoice, I should add that any scenario in which we could have ended up was just as improbable as the other. By virtue of events turning out, it just so happened we ended up this way. And that's why things seem so improbable - the likelihood of things turning out this way is minimal, BUT, the likelihood of things turning out another specific way is just as minimal. We just happened to turn out this way - it's difficult to imagine what would happen if events unfolded in other ways.]
My Top 5 Most-Played Songs of 2012
Again, the songs need not have been released in 2012. It's just simply the songs that got the most rotation on my playlist throughout the year. If you listen to them and appreciate the lyrics, I think you can notice a certain pattern to the type of songs that get a lot of air time on my playlist. But here we go:-
5. Thrice - A Song for Milly Michaelson
An oldie but goodie. Since I was introduced to it in 2008 or so by Zain, this song has become one of my top 5 favorite songs. The lyrics are really sweet and I'd venture it to be one of the best love songs there is.
Cool lyricism: Here we go, hold on tight and don't let go, I won't ever let you fall, I love the night - flying over these city lights, but I love you most of all.
4. Pavement - Spit on a Stranger
Also quite an old song. But it has great staying power. There's another version by Kathryn Williams that's more reflective, I suppose and some may enjoy it. But I think this is the best version. A generally introspective song.
Cool lyricism: I've been thinking long and hard about the things you said to me, and now I see the long, the short, the middle and what's in between. 3. The Explorer's Club - Forever
Taken from HIMYM. It's the scene where Marshall and Lily get back together in Season 2. HIMYM actually has quite a lot of brilliant songs on it's soundtrack. There's a track called "Rivers and Roads" by the Head and the Heart which should get an honorable mention but it just wasn't played enough. But it's good to give it a go. "Forever" is very sweet though - the vocals fit the song very well. They sound very innocent, hopeful and that sort of thing. A good short 2.5 minute track that tends to leave a feel-good notion.
Cool lyricsm: She's the kind of girl who's in my thoughts all night, and she's the kind of girls who makes your wrongs all right.
2. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
This is the type of song with which you can lock yourself up in a wooden cabin for a month and just contemplate, life, the universe and everything. Maybe the "forever ago" bit adds to the whole melancholia and nostalgia sensations that kind of pervade the song. It's very soulful. A great end of the year song. But I did listen to it throughout the year, in fairness. Also, bonus points for the name "Emma." The vocals are really haunting.
Cool lyricism: I toured the light, so many foreign roads, for Emma, forever ago.
1. Lupe Fiasco - The Show Goes On
Uses the hook from Modest Mouse's "Float On" to great effect. "The Show Goes On" is a terrific song for any occasion. If you're in a good mood and want to pump yourself up, play it. If you're down and you want a lift, play it. If you're bogged down with tonnes of crap, play it. It's a song that's sure to encourage. If you choose to listen to it, which you really should, take some time to appreciate the lyrics. I should add, though, that Lupe himself didn't particularly want to do this song, which does sadden me a little, but the song is still good. And he did add a bit of retribution in the lyrics to the producers. But anyway, give it a listen and try to go along with the lyrics.
Cool lyricism: So no matter what you've been through, no matter what you in to, no matter what you see when you look outside your window, brown grass or green grass, picket fence or barbed wire, never ever put them down, you just lift your arms higher. Raise 'em till your arms tired, let 'em know you there, that you struggling and surviving, that you gon' persevere.
Top 5 Movies I've Watched in 2012
To be clear, I know that I've rated some of these movies before in other posts. But after the benchmarking and the normalizing of the ratings, I cannot find myself agreeing with some of the ratings I made earlier. The Dark Knight Rises is not an 8.5, for example. Neither is Hugo an 8.8. I have adjusted these ratings. I must also note that I should watch The Dark Knight Rises again some time in the future, this time, with my expectations managed so that I can evaluate it as a movie on its own. 5. 21 Jump Street (8.0/10)
A movie in which Channing Tatum was more hilarious than Jonah Hill. Overall, a very funny movie - comedy of the year. I think it's the type of movie everyone can enjoy - it's not overly 'bro' like The Hangover, neither does it take itself too seriously that it becomes unintentional comedy like most Nicolas Cage movies. T-3. The Cabin in the Woods (8.3/10)
A really smart take on the classic horror/slasher genre. Hell of a ride, great entertainment with loads of laughs. And, it has Amy Acker:-
Still my dream girl after all these years.
T-3. Wreck it Ralph (8.3/10)
As I mentioned earlier, I dropped the ball on this. I'm not even sure why. Maybe it wasn't on the IMDB releases list at end-2011. But in any case, a lot of nostalgia and familiarity with this one. Particularly poignant to you if you used to play a lot of old-school video games. But even if you didn't, the characters are easy to like and the story is easy to follow, and it will lead you to a good sense of satisfaction at the end. Very smartly-written and the graphics are great too.
2. Hugo (8.5/10)
I did say I reduced Hugo's ratings. But of course, not by that much. As I wrote before here, this was a really well-done adventure-imagination movie. I am quite the sucker for these types of movies, particularly if they're adventures by children and particularly if they go back in time to the mid 1900s etc. I mean, there's something really quite beautiful about a kid's adventures, I think. Maybe they hit the nail on the inner child's head in all of us. The world in which Huge was crafted to live in was rather magical (in the railway station), Chloe Moretz becomes more and more pwntastic each time she's on screen, and I do like that Hugo's own mini-life-goal was part of a bigger plan and bigger purpose for the movie. I strongly encourage you to watch the movie, you will like it.
1. The Hobbit (9.0/10)
Radagast the Brown!
I've already watched this movie thrice - 2D, 3D and 3D Imax. Just bloody go watch it.
At the end of last year, I wrote a post about the Top 12 Things I Looked Forward to in 2012. Fortunately, I have managed to experience all 12 of these. Given that the world is supposed to end, according to the Mayans anyway, in a couple of days time, I figured I should at least review these things before the world comes to an end. If we're still around on the 22nd, then I'll start thinking about the things I'm looking forward to in 2013. For those of you scoring at home, if the world is going to end, it should end at 8pm Malaysia time (7am EST) for the simple reason that all regions of the world, according to the time zone lines, would have hit the 21st of December. But of course, it'd be 1am on the 22nd of December in Samoa, so, yeah...Haven't really figured out how it would work.
But anyway, here we go. I'm introducing a new 3-tier ranking system for evaluating these 12 things. I figured, anytime you have to add yet another convoluted method of ranking things to all the previous convoluted methods of ranking things you've done before, you got to do it. Even that previous sentence is convoluted. Anyway, it's pretty simple. We're going either by Underwhelmed, Whelmed or Overwhelmed. Underwhelmed just means that it was below expectations. Overwhelmed means it hit above expectations (obviously this means a lot more as we more higher up the rankings). Whelmed is just that. That feeling when things meet your expectations but all you can go is, "Oh, okay."
Onward ho.
12. American Reunion
This one was always about nostalgia for me. It was fun to see the crew get back into it. It was exactly as I expected, so I can't complain.
Verdict: Whelmed 11. The Avengers
I think that one of the saddest things to come across is to see someone with so much potential fail to make the most out of their potential. This is essentially my problem with the Avengers. There was so much room to do stuff with the characters. I understand the appeal behind the final product of the movie - it was good fun, nice rock and roll type thingy. But I think it could have done a lot more, plot-wise. Also, Loki didn't cut it for me as a villain.
Verdict: Moderately Underwhelmed 10. Rise of the Guardians
In fairness, I was always going to be a bit biased towards this movie because of its premise. I think it's pretty kickass to have the Sandman, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Jack Frost and Santa battle the Boogeyman. While the plot was fairly standard cartoon-y stuff, I did like the theme of believing. I still believe in Santa, in all fairness. (If you're wondering why I can let this plot go, it's only because the Avengers had way more potential).
Verdict: Very slightly overwhelmed 9. The Amazing Spiderman
It's really not even fair how Emma Stone can have such an effect on males and females alike. She stole my heart completely, again, in the movie as loveable Gwen Stacy. In the sequel, shit is going to be flipped by me. I don't want to spoiler things but in my defense, the comic series has been out there for ages. In any case, I thought the movie was alright overall. Nothing really stood out but Emma. Not the biggest fan of the Lizard, but I can see why they pulled a Batman Begins thing by only introducing the archvillain in the sequel.
Verdict: Whelmed 8. The Raven
I watched this on a plane ride somewhere and it's just as well. The movie tried quite hard to be all dark and stuff, but it didn't really reach a level of darkness I felt would be good for the movie. It's hard for me to take John Cusack seriously anyway, what more as Edgar Allan Poe. Again, I expected it earlier to be dark along the lines of Se7en or Zodiac. But it probably only reached along the lines of some generic ghost story.
Verdict: Underwhelmed 7. Lob City
Did not disappoint. Got treated to an incredible array of dunks and lobs throughout the season. Granted, my respect for Chris Paul, the lobber, grew more than my excitement for Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, the lobbee-s, but Lob City was still great fun. More to come for sure.
Verdict: Overwhelmed 6. The US Olympics Basketball Team 2012
Of the 12 players I tipped to be included in the team, 7 were in - Lebron, Kobe, CP3, Deron Williams, Kevin Durant, Kevin Love, Carmelo Anthony. The remaining 5 were all injured. And I gotta say, my 5 picks were spot on. The ones who came on after were replacements for the 5 that were injured. Russ West for Derrick Rose. James Harden for Dwyane Wade. Andre Iguodola for Blake Griffin. Anthony Davis for Chris Bosh. Tyson Chandler for Dwight Howard. Anyway, it was good fun watching the team play. And great fun watching Kevin Durant showing his all-world scoring skills. And much greater fun watching Lebron own the team and the Olympics.
Verdict: Overwhelmed 5. Lebron and Wade with the Eff You Edge
I do love it when athletes play with a real Eff You Edge. D-Wade does that on a regular basis anyway but Lebron did it this year, which I wrote about here and here. We saw a transcendent basketball player in his prime as a result. As a Celtics fan, screw you Lebron. As a basketball fan, I was a Witness.
Verdict: Significantly Overwhelmed 4. Euro 2012
For the 2010 World Cup, I decided to try and be unconventional and pick Brazil to win in my betting pool, assuming of course that gambling is legal. For the 2012 Euros, I decided to go with convention and pick Spain for my betting pool. I finished a close second. It was the right choice. What does this tell us? Firstly, people like picking the unconventional decision because if it pans out, you look like a genius. But there's a reason it's unconventional. Secondly, conventionality tends to win because the odds are in its favor. Like so many things in life, unless you feel very strongly against the odds, just go with the bloody odds. Go with convention. In other news, the football was okay - it was fun watching a transcendent team get down and boogie. And I love watching Xabi Alonso.
Verdict: Only Slightly Overwhelmed 3. BBC's Sherlock
Well, I wrote about this here and here. You know what I think about it. If you don't watch it, you're just seriously denying yourself a fricking blast of a TV show. I would like to make a correction though. In my review on "The Final Problem", I did say Fuck the Hobbit. Well, that was premature as I now know. But even so, I can't bloody wait for Season 3. This is the best show on TV right now.
Verdict: Magnificently Overwhelmed 2. The Dark Knight Rises
My full opinion on the movie is here. For the purposes of a review of things I looked forward to, here is 1 important thought - I sincerely believed that this movie could be my greatest movie of all-time. The potential was high. Expectations were high. And as we know, things tend to regress to the mean and maybe basing the Dark Knight Rises off a reference point of The Dark Knight made it significantly more difficult for the movie to whelm me, what more overwhelm me.
To reiterate, this was my main problem with the movie:-
"In a world where I can suspend belief to believe that the Batman is real, I'm still finding it difficult to believe that after an epic war/battle such as this one, all the major 'good guys' got happy endings...It was just too neat fore me. I would have liked to have seen an ending like the Godfather series, particularly in Godfather 2 - Michael Corleone sitting in his cabin at Lake Tahoe, on top of the world but bitterly alone (before you crucify me on a spoiler for Godfather 2, the movie has been out for 38 years. It's your fault if I spoiled anything for you)."
Verdict: Significantly Underwhelmed 1. The Hobbit
Hand on heart, I will be watching this movie for the third time in 7 days in just an hour's time. I will post a full review once more people have watched it. But this should give you an inclination of what I think and how I feel about the movie. I picked this particular picture because it's the White Council - the Council of the Wisest beings on Middle-Earth. This would naturally appeal to me. And after the meeting, Gandalf has some amazing words of wisdom that should be kept to heart. In any case, you can also tell given my seriously substantial love for Sherlock, I did admit that I was wrong about "Fuck the Hobbit." That was a mistake. The Hobbit is, well, deserving of my number 1 spot. (Hint: If you can't guess who takes my Number 1 spot for the year 2013, assuming no apocalypse, you need to evaluate things).
