And So the Chronicle Continues...

   Now as the last post started by saying that I finally had a revelation, and found the inspiration I was looking for, I have decided to write on the topic of The Chronicles of Riddick.  The second film starts off pretty much right where the first one ends.  Vin Diesel had escaped from the desolate planet along with the rest of the survivors, and now is getting closer and closer to reaching the capital city of the regime which had him sent to die.  The path to the throne, however, is more dangerous than at first anticipated, and Riddick is faced with many perilous encounters, and certain death, as he attempts to take down the chain of command which is taking over city by city, race by race, and breaking all in their way to follow them, or die.  At the end of the film, the climatic fight ends, with Riddick having killed the next in line to ruling the regime, and now sitting in the throne, being hailed as the leader of the dark nation.  Although this can be a fairly confusing ending, one which I didn't understand when I first watched it, it can be assessed as the pivitol moment where the good guy crosses the line, and follows suit with all that the original bad guy's strived to do.  The question arises: has Riddick now become the very think, the very symbol which he had tried to destroy his entir life?  The only way to answer this question for yourself is to watch it just the same as I did, and come to your own comclusion.  I feel that, as I felt with Inception, the unconcluded ending, leaving only questions and no answers, gives the film a sense of adventure, and allows the viewer to take out of the film whatever he felt was necessary to come to a substantial conclusion.  As for the third and final film in the series, it was a brilliantly animated comic book style movie, which, although not following the original story line, it sort of played on the more playful and action packed side of the series, and less on the dark gloomy side.  Over all however, it was a great film, and one which I would recommend as a must see.

...And My Mind Was Pitch Black

   So, as I was sitting on my couch, trying to think of what to write to make up for my week and a half of having no internet connection, and no way to write or post my blogs, I decided to do three posts on the Chrinicles of Riddick, films, starring Vin Diesel as the main charactar, Riddick.  The first of the three films was called Pitch Black, and although I didn't watch it first, as I should have to completely understand the second film, it was an epic masterpiece of suspense and blood-pumping action nonetheless.  The film takes place on a lushly landscaped and deserted planet, on which lives various disturbingly dangerous and ferocious creatures, set out to kill anything that moves.  Lucky for the films lead players, they are stuck there with no way to escape... wait, did I say lucky? They are forced to stay on the planet's surface and wait for a trasnport ot come and save them from their gloomy and painful fate.  Now, despite being filled with an amazing story full off intense and suspenseful moments, leaving you at the edge of your seat, waiting to see if the survivors will escape alive, or succumb to the inevitable fates awaiting them on the surface, the film was filled with an amazing story, as well as some very memorable twists.  All of these twists then lead into the next two films, adding to the depth and power of the story, as well as to the history behind the notorious Riddick.  This is a great film, and one that can best be enjoyed first, before starting the second installment into the series, The Chronicles of Riddick.

ERROR: Internet Connection Was Lost... Wait, What?!

   So, if you have been wondering why I haven't been posting for the past couple of weeks, there is a very logical and yet very frustrating answer.  As of two weeks ago, on the ninth of November to be exact, my lapatops wifi-connection went down, and couldn't be fixed for a week.  So, having just gotten my PC back from the local computer shop this morning, I decided to attempt what may seem impossible.  This feat involves trying to write and make up the past four blog posts, which are to be due tonight, at the stroke of midnight.  I know there was only supposed to be one post per day, but I hope my professor will be a little lenient and allow all of these from one day.  So, here goes this almost impossible stunt, and the only think stopping me from continuing at the moment is the ever resilient "writer's block."  I know there are millions of films I could write about, but none of them have come to mind, and I am still sitting here, waiting for the inspiration to spark a light, and turn on that brilliant light bulb resting over my head.  Oh wait, was that only in cartoons?  Anyway, I hope I can think of something soon, because the longer I sit here, the longer I have to watch the seconds tick away, slowly catching up to the looming stroke of midnight.

The Anti-Social Network

   Watching the, The Social Network, has brought up one major problem which I feel needs to be considered.  Now, considering the fact that I am an avid facebooker, I probably have no place to say such things, but in my overall opinion, I feel that the whole facebook boom that has taken place over the last few years has lead to a sort of anti-social atmosphere to the world of friendshisp, and, even in some cases, relationships.  I have had numerous friends who have broken up with their girlfriends on facebook, or, even, in somewhat rarer cases, met girlfriends on facebook, and never even met with them in person, before breaking up with them on facebook.  For many, I feel they see facebook as more of a dating website, as it was originally intended to be, in the sense that, it is like the easy way out of doing the hard things in life, such as actually talking to people in person, and having to get to know them the old fashioned way.  I can see where the it can be easily used to get in touch with old high school buddies, or even relatives from across the country, but when it becomes a person's main source of communication to the outside world, I see it then on the same level as such virtuality reality computer games as, namely, Second Life.  In this game, every one creates an avatar, almost as like in The Sims, but instead of simply being in a small, virtual world, you are apart of "the gird," a world populated by avatars created by people from all over the world.  Basically, you can live your second life, without ever having to leave the confines of your own computer chair.  The same sort of lifestyle is shown throught the Bruce Willis film, Surrogates, where everyone is locked away in their homes, and living their lives through what are called surrogates.  They are robotic representaions of the humans, which are controlled by the human counterpart in their own home, in the specailly designed chairs.  This, once again, takes away the social aspect of life, and gives the users the easy way out of having to ingeract with real people in the real world.  Now, I know  no one really uses facebook as their only source of real world interaction, and I also know that these two examples are very drastic and, referring to the latter, somewhat unrealistic, but, if this trend of online social networks continues to grow, the possiblities are virtually endless, and, one day, the laptop that I am typing this blog up on could become my only source of real world knowledge and experience.

The Social Network

  This past weekend, I ventured off to see, The Social Network, starring Jesse Eisenberg.  Although it sounds as though it would be a boring history of the creation and development of facebook, it is actually a highly entertaining film of wits and treachery.  It follows the creator of facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, through his beginnings as a computer geek at Harvard, all the way to becoming the youngest billionaire in the history of billionaires (excluding kings, and aristocracy of old, of course).  As the movie poster declares, however, "You don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies."  This proves true for Zuckerberg, who, along the way of establishing facebook around the world, he is accused of and sued for stealing the facebook idea, and loses his best friend in a battle of ownership over the company.  The question arises then of, if there was so much lost in the process, was the creation of this revolutionary idea really that great and beneficial for Mark?  Yes, he made billions of dollars, yes he became the worlds youngest billionaire, and yes he revolutionized the way the world communicates via the Internet, but, I would, if I were in his situation, rather have friends to support me, than a billion dollars to pay all my enemies off.  And, no, the 500 million friends don't count as real friends, considering he know's absolutely none of them.  Now that I have finished ranting, and asking these very important questions, I would like to get your feed back on this portion, before I go on with my main point (and somewhat of a tangent) regarding facebook as a whole.  If you have any comments, please feel free to post them, even if you are just posting simply to satisfy the class requirements.

It's Actually a Really Good Story

   This past Saturday, I headed off to the Movie Theatre with my girlfriend, looking forward to seeing the new Horror thriller Paranormal Activities 2, only to be met by a line out the door, and around the fountain at the Long Beach Town Center.  We thought about just waiting it out, but... we just decided to see something else, and not waste four hours of our lives, waiting to be let in to see the trailers, and trying to make simplistic and incoherent small talk with the people waiting around us.  After scouring the movie board for an alternative, our eyes fell upon, It's Kind of a Funny Story, starring, most importantly, Zach Galifianakis as Bobby, Keir Gilchrist as Craig, and Emma Roberts as Noelle.  We thought it may be entertaining, or at least slightly comical, so we gave it a shot.  From the previews, we figured all of the funniest scenes were already shown, and that the rest of the film would be stupid comments and remarks, one after another, with no real back bone to the story, other than a guy who puts himself into a mental hospital, and meets a girl there, and they fall in love... basically a boy meets girl story, with a slightly dark overtone.  Much to our surprise, however, it turned out to be a pretty funny movie, with many moments of uncontrolled laughter, and lined with enough depth to the story, allowing the viewer to fall in love with the characters, and root for them, laugh with them, and cry with them, from start to finish.  Through the film, the central lesson Bobby wants Craig to learn is to simply, "Live."  He tells Craig that if he were in his situation, there would be no end to what he would do.  His youth is his advantage in life, because he hasn't done anything to ruin his life yet, and he can still choose who he wants be in the world.  I feel this message is very applicable to many teens the world around, and i feel that this film did a great job of showing the youth of the world that the future is ours, and, in the grand scheme of things, all we need to do now is, "Live!."

Oh, Why Don't You Just Grow Up?

As a child, watching Disney's Peter Pan, brought me to the conclusion that adults were all like the notorious Captain Hook, who preyed upon the children, and tried his very best to ruin their lives, simply because he was no longer a child, and was envious of the fun they had every single day. Now, don't worry, I am not going to go on with an analysis about how Captain Hook was simply a sad old man who wished he could live once again as the children do, and that he shouldn't be blamed for all the wicked things he did. No, I feel that to commit such a heinous crime would be to do a treacherous act toward the world of children films. The beauty of Disney movies, in particular, is the fact that they all follow the same sort of plot lines, and twists, and yet, in the end, each and every movie ends up having it's own unique vibe which sets it apart from all the others, and even teaches it's very own life lesson which, no matter how old you are, can always be used to help you through any applicable situation that may arise. In the case of Peter Pan, for instance, we are taught the life lesson of never forgetting our childhood. Yes, we may grow old, and have to live in the real world for most of our adult lives, but, every now and again, it is not a bad idea to try to be a kid again. Try new things, and never stop using your imagination! I even feel it is safe to say that many parents forget this lesson once they have kids, because every time their child does something that may be somewhat more adventuresome, they treat it as a horrid act, and one which must be stopped, and replaced with some form of punishment. I feel many adults forget what it was like to be a kid, and forget that many of the things their kids do are the exact same things they once did, as well. The second we stop using our imagination, the second we lose what it meant to be as free as a kid, or even teenager, we stop living, and simply start doing. Although maybe not what most kids see when they watch Peter Pan, I feel that as a young adult, the message which was originally intended for us to see, was that we need to never lose our inner child, because when that happens, we end up dying inside of ourselves, and can no longer see the true beauties of life on this amazing planet.