Review of TMNT

Hi everyone, I was going to do a review of two science books I've read recently, but I can't find the correct author and title for one of them so that will have to wait.

But instead I will review that movie that no one I knew wanted to see, but I saw anyway, the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! And boy was it about what I thought it would be. Nothing surprised me or surpassed expectations in any way. Let's just say its a rental or just skip it if you're on the fence about it.

First off, I loved the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, watched the cartoon, and read the comics. It's been a wildly successful and popular franchise considering Eastman and Laird basically created it as a joke.

But the CGI in the new movie looks good, don't get me wrong, the turtles look great, its just that their design looks creepy. It's the same problem with any movie that relies too much on CGI, the viewer doesn't emotionally relate to something that looks and feels fake, ex. Transformers, Spiderman swinging, etc... That said its no wonder there was an article in the Seattle Times a couple of days ago about how Hollywood has seen the worst box office attendance drop off in thirty years. This reliance on CGI to create un-relatable images is further compounded by the fact that so many movies are now either sequels or reboots; glaring examples are Robocop, Total Recall, Predators, Terminator 4, TMNT, Star Trek, and basically anything new with the word Star Wars attached to it. But there's a logical but flawed reason for remaking all these action movies from the late 70's and 80's=they are fricking, legit classics. That was the Golden Age for action cinema, Hollywood knows this, and they want to recapture it but are just going about it the wrong way unfortunately. It's sad, but I think eventually that things will loosen up in Hollywood and the CGI movement will mature to the point where maybe we can see some more classics that were creative, funny, and daring like Predator, Gremlins, Superman, Alien, and Caddyshack just to name a few.

Anyway, that's my movie rant for this week. Hopefully soon I will change topic and write about those science books I read that really were fascinating.
Until then, later.
Jake

Hey, just wanted to share some great books on cutting edge science and history. The history is only cutting edge because the mainstream establishment has suppressed it for a long time now in order to smooth out any opposition to their dogmatic beliefs.

A brief aside on that last point; these are good people that are deluded by what is called the "hubris of modern man," i.e. the unspoken cultural assumption that just because we have atomic energy, planes, the internet, and iphones that we are super advanced in all aspects of life and that all our scientific theories and theories on history and archaeology are therefore true. This takes the unfortunate form in the mainstream denying publication and press to alternative theories outside the norm, thus assuring there is no ability to reasonably quote and research them in a fair way, therefore supporting their claim that they are fringe and useless.

Here are three books I have read recently and one I am currently reading that are blockbusters in terms of inspiring facts that have been suppressed in favor of more boring, mainstream theories. And by boring I don't mean in the entertainment sense, but in the quality sense, in that these cutting edge science represents deep truths that are awe inspiring, uplifting, and just all around awesome, which is not so with most theories that are hammered into our brains and worshiped like religious dogma by the scientific elite.

Here they are;
1. Forbidden Archaeology, by Michael Cremo.
2. Forbidden Science Edited by J. Douglas Kenyon.

3. The Ancient Giants Who Ruled America. By Richard J. Dewhurst

4. The Lost Star of Myth and Time. By Walter Cruttendun.

I could go on and on about these books, but they touch on a few points that are just mind-blowing; the fact that ten to twelve foot giants lived in the US thousands of years before the Native Americans(these giants were the Mound Builders and Native Americans have no oral history of mound building.)

The theory that Atlantis was a more technologically and spiritually advanced civilization than we have now and that in that time or even many years before Atlantis there was a worldwide culture that shared many beliefs, languages, and rituals(pyramids, mummification, hieroglyphics, and many other things.)

The great Pyramid of Giza complex and the sphinx are much older than believed. There is proof of heavy rainfall erosion on the Sphinx which hadn't existed on the Giza Plateau for more than 8,000 years. There is not proof that the Pharaoh Kufu had the pyramid built.

Anyway, hope you check out some of these books. I will be sharing more in the future and they usually will be along the same lines of discussion. Until then stay frosty.

Sayonara

Jake

P.S. This maverick view towards science and the establishment is fundamentally essential to advancement. Tons and tons of advancements have come from outside the establishment, meaning they weren't bogged down in dogma and publish or perish, toe the line ideology. Ex. Einstein did his best stuff as a patent clerk(Quote from Ray Stanz in Ghostbusters ;) which is true and look what he accomplished.

The spirit of science should be creative, always challenging itself to grow, expand, and break out of its old boundaries. When human nature and psychology reach that point of critical mass, humanity will accomplish greater things than we can even dream of now.

Drum roll......My review of The Guardians of the Galaxy

     Okay, so I saw The Guardians of the Galaxy on Thursday like I said I would and well this is what I thought. It pretty much exceeded my lowered expectations a little with the humor, the great oldies music the main character listens to, and the great villain. Finally a strong, non CGI(computer graphic images) villain in a Marvel Movie(but it still had a nonsensical, cosmically confusing mcguffin, 'the orb' with the 'infinity stone', which just seems to be an incredibly powerful thing that can do anything and has no restrictions or rules. Basically a plot saving Ace in the whole for the writer who just makes it do whatever he wants it to do to move the plot along. Kind of like the ether power in the second Thor movie, which I really liked but with the mcguffin being the greatest weakness.) For those non initiates into movie Nerdome a mcguffin is an object in the plot that every character wants and is fighting over. See Tesserac, Holy Grail, Arc of the Covenant, etc....

     I think if I saw it again that maybe I would care about the characters more. Their motivation for them to be friends and stick together was a little weak, but hey this is a Marvel movie in the age of huge studios micromanaging things to death, see the comments of Jose Padilha on directing the new Robocop. He basically said the studio denied 9 out of 10 ideas he had and it was a terrible experience. But like a good employee he retracted them and apologized. So given that I don't expect a Star Wars, Lawrence of Arabia, or a Seven Samurai to come out of Marvel anytime soon. Moving on, yes the movie had an INSANE amount of CGI, ships, characters, backgrounds, laser blasts, almost everything got the makeover. Note the long list of digital artists in the credits, almost took up half of the closing crawl. But for that amount of CGI I have to say I was pleased with it. It has to be remembered that this CGI era is only sixteen years old and as an era it's still finding itself.

    I will support this last point there and then I'm done. In the Legend special features Ridley Scott said that movies should be mostly close up shots and some 3/4 shots, but very little long shots. This helps the audience can build an emotional connection with the characters. Star Wars used this to perfection by utilizing what George Lucas called "documentary style" which means lots of handheld, lots of camera movement within a scene, and mostly close ups to 3/4 distance shots. There is even an anecdote that the producers and suits at Fox were angry that he was spending lots of money creating beautiful sets but only filming a small portion by not using long shots. To use too many long shots would have worked against him. And the high use of establishing longshots by directors today is what is not establishing a connection with the characters as well as it could. There are almost too many examples to list here. Just watch any Transformers, Marvel, or Tom Cruise vs. aliens movie since 1998 and you will see that the director wants to maximize the use and full exposure of the entire CGI image rather than go back to the basics of cinematography. This also includes lack of interesting camera angles and movement which is basically said word for word by the special affects engineer on the special features to Big Trouble in Little China, whose name I just Goodled, its Richard Edlund. I love Wikipedia;) In that feature he recounts how they spent THOUSANDS of dollars on creating the floating blob head with like five eyes only for it to have like one minute of screen time. Okay, guilty on liking special features;) Anyway, this blog was too long, but I had a lot to say. Thanks for reading anyone who did and leave a comment if you like.

Next up the movie no one wants to see but I WILL SEE NO MATTER WHAT, the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Sayonara.
later
jake

Hey, everyone. This Thursday I'm going to see the new Marvel movie, The Guardians of the Galaxy. I'm kind of excited to see it, not gonna lie, but am setting low expectations because it's another comic book movie. Don't think I hate comics, I collected them as a kid and loved the art work, but now looking back I never collected them for the interesting stories or characters. Now Tim Burton's Batman and the Christopher Reeves Superman series are my favorite comic movies, but the new species of comic movies are steeped in so much CGI that something is lost I think. Plus, I'm not a fan of the new 'dark and dingy' comic movies that seem to be really popular, like the Dark Knight series. There is a quote by Jim Henson that I whole heartedly agree with where he basically says that "Life should be fun and filled with joy all the time." So, I frankly am tired of the dark and dingy look myself.

I'm totally open to liking Guardians, but my expectations are pretty low. People are free to say that it's the new Star Wars, that's their opinion and they are welcome to it. But, we'll see. I will post my opinion after I see it.

later
jake