Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief

 

 I saw Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief almost a week ago, and since then I've been stalling and putting off writing any kind of analysis about it. After pacing around for a while tonight, it finally hit me. I can't figure out what to say about this movie because I actually have nothing to say about it. Good, bad, indifferent... I can't seem to get a firm handle on anything about this movie. I sat there the full 118 minute run-time, got up, went about my day, and never gave the experience another moment's thought. I always come out of a movie feeling at least a little something, whether it be joy or angst or pain or disgust... but never have I come out of a movie-going experience so apathetic to what I just watched. Congratulations, Percy Jackson. If nothing else, you've opened up an entirely new movie experience to me.

Caprica Recap - Episode 4

Things are starting to pick up in this episode. This one's my favorite so far. It was almost, dare I say it, exciting. Waiting an extra week might have helped as well. The episode begins with Sister Clarice in bed with her spouses, all comfy cozy, when her phone rings with a warning. The police are figuring out that someone is recruiting youngsters into STO and are trying to track down the recruiters. They're planning to raid the school and dump lockers to look for STO goodies, and the creepy Sister is barely able to warn her little minions in time. Apparently in Caprican schools you can get away with storing dynamite in your locker. Nothing is found, but Clarice is not very happy that she was so close to being found out.

Doctor Who

My decision to watch this show was on a whim, because it was the middle of the night and I couldn't sleep. I dropped in on episode 11 of series 2. Despite being completely confused, I was drawn in, and now want to watch the other episodes I've missed. At least from this season. From the beginning there's mystery, intrigue, spooked old ladies' sixth senses, creepy singing children, Are You Afraid of the Dark? vibe. As well as just the right amount of comedy. It gave me that fuzzy sentimental feeling of getting to stay up late on weekends. I'm vaguely familiar with this show; strange alien in a space/time traveling police box. Also, that it's been on television as long as there's been television. Luckily, that's about all I needed to know. I know of it like I know of most other ancient shows, from my parents. I'm sure one of them has mentioned it at some point. Or maybe it's just so prolific that it's entered the great static cloud of collective human consciousness.

Valentine's Day

Maybe it was because when I saw the movie, I was an emotional wreck and my judgment was off. Maybe it was because the movies I've seen so far this year have been so utterly atrocious that it doesn't take much effort to impress me anymore. Maybe it's because Sarah Palin's memoir had some kind of brainwashing technology hidden within the pages and I'm slowly losing my pretentious taste in movies. Either way, I watched the new pre-packaged, fully processed, assembly line, ensemble cast "date movie" and as much as I knew I wouldn't like it, I kind of did anyway. Don't get me wrong, Valentine's Day isn't a particularly good movie; I just managed to enjoy it anyway.

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

I don’t usually do the movie reviews here, and I realize I saw this movie well out of timeliness, but I needed to express how repulsive I found it. I realize that the repulsiveness was kind of the point, but in order for me to accept that this was a movie about hideous men and not a hideous movie about men, I think the structure needed to be quite different. I haven’t read the book, nor have I read anything by David Foster Wallace, so I only have its Wikipedia entry as a vantage point for understanding how the movie could go so horribly wrong. It seems that trying to make the individual stories easier to absorb by intertwining them in a  flimsy story line made the whole movie a monumental failure. The weak plot and token interviewer character seemed to support the interviewees’ thoughts and stories rather than contrast them in a way that seemed to me to be overtly hostile.

82nd Academy Awards Preview: Who Will Win?

For the first time in a few years, there's a good deal of mystery around these Academy Awards. Best Picture seems to be a complete toss-up, as does Best Director. The Best Actor and Best Actress awards have switched their front-runners over the last few weeks. And the predictive awards shows leading up to the Oscars didn't seem to be in agreement over very much. The Best Picture list expanding from five to ten nominees for the first time since 1944's Oscars is something that's going to be up for debate. It allowed movies like The Blind Side and District 9 to receive nominations when it otherwise wouldn't, and without saying so explicitly it was done so that movies like The Dark Knight don't get excluded in the future. But realistically, only five movies have a shot this year. The other five movies just reek of padding, and will likely cause the awards show to drag on even longer than it usually does. Even considering the five movies that have a shot, only two of them are serious contenders. And considering that those two movies are directed by a couple of people that used to be married to each other, and this Oscar show has a level of intrigue that's been missing from previous awards shows. If nothing else, it will definitely make for an exciting night! Without further adieu, the nominees, and who I think will be taking home gold statues on March 7th.

Gossip Girl

Well, this was interesting. Not the show, no, that was terrible. The interesting part is the fact that I watched it and now have to summarize it. There’s really not much to talk about, and not because it’s vapid. Oh it is vapid, but also character driven. And since I watched a random mid-season episode I probably missed out on a lot of important character development. I know the books were popular though terrible while I was working at a book store, but I didn't make it past the first chapter of one. It was surprisingly easy for me to follow; I thought I would be confused about which characters were which. Luckily everyone calls each other by their names, and their contrived ‘rich people’ last names are easy to remember. After a few minutes I figured out the story lines revolve around groups of three people, who are all in some sort of love triangle/power struggle. The episode I watched was number 10, from the third and latest season, and entitled ‘The Last Days of Disco Stick’.

The Math Instinct by Keith Devlin

This is the closest thing to a feel-good math book I’ve ever encountered. I decided to read it because I’m just terrible at math. Numbers don’t even register in my head the right way for some reason. And in my quest to be a well rounded individual I feel like I should at least master the basic math skills. Even though I’m pretty literate, I’m very innumerate. So I was surprised to find from the book that our mathematical ability stems from the same part of our brain that is in charge of language. In a way it made sense; I’ve always thought of sentence structure as a sort of equation. Especially when learning other languages. After learning that little tidbit, I was even more confused about why math and I have had such a terrible relationship. But by the end of the book I was starting to realize we had just gotten off on the wrong foot.

Going Rogue: An American Life by Sarah Palin

 A few of my friends thought it was odd for me to read Going Rogue: An American Life and my boyfriend was even a bit upset with me for "supporting" her and her message by renting it from the library. No, I didn't pick up Sarah Palin's memoir because I suddenly became a different person. I've always been curious by the thoughts of people with whom I starkly disagree. I'm not so much curious about Sarah Palin as I am curious as to why people are curious about her. She's much loved by conservative moms everywhere who think they can relate to her. She's much loved by the media because she is so easy to pick on, having a personality that's almost cartoonish in nature. But politically, is she all that important?  She just doesn't seem that impressive a politician to me. Of course, Palin makes it a point not to look like a typical politician. She makes it a strong point. If there is anything I took away from Sarah Palin's memoir, it's that I doubt her sincerity more than I had before.

Caprica Recap - Episode 3

This episode was better than the last by half, I think. I'm now almost sure this series will turn out to be good. The tone of the show and the pacing came together and really started growing on me. In this episode, I think the pacing was better because it wasn't quite as scattered as the last episode. It seemed to be moving forward in a definite direction rather than still introducing the main characters and conflicts. Split into roughly three intersecting story lines, more of the story was revealed and explained.

The episode picked up in the public relations aftermath of Amanda's revelation of her daughters involvement in the Soldiers of the One. Amanda takes a bottle to the forehead while attempting to leave work amid protesters and reporters. The Graystones are an extremely prominent family, owning a large technology research corporation and a Triangle team.

Lost

When the first season of Lost came on, I didn't have time to watch it because of school and work. By the second season I was still busy, and for the third I didn't have television. The fourth and fifth seasons I saw random episodes of, but was so confused by them I didn't watch more. I deduced that one couldn't start in the middle and that eventually I'd have to watch all of it, before the finale. I did the same thing with Battlestar Galactica, and was really glad of it. For someone as lazy and uncommitted to television watching as me, this was a perfect way to watch a series. Not having much else to do with my time has been very helpful in catching up on all the shows I was missing while I was being a productive member of society. And so after years of disdain and avoidance, I've finally spent some time becoming acquainted with the phenomenon that is Lost. I've watched all of it in about a week, and was surprised to find that I liked it.

Caprica Recap - Pilot and Episode 2

I don’t even know what I want to say about this show. In a way, it’s interesting and engaging. I just feel like so far there’s something missing. That something is most likely suspense. It’s not that it’s not enjoyable to watch; I just don’t find myself as interested in it as I thought I would be. Perhaps it’s because instead of sci-fi action adventure it’s more like a sci-fi drama and I get too much of a Laguna Beach vibe from the teenage characters. The show is about Caprica and the other un-united colonies in the years before the Cylon war and the genocide that led to humanity wandering the universe. In it, we get a closer look at the developing Cylon technology and the culture of the colonies at the time. Caprica itself is stunningly rendered as an austere and serene planet, home of a bustling metropolis. Everything is modern with clean lines and cool colors; the city itself being diverse and busy.

Edge of Darkness

No lie, I hadn't realized that it had been 7 1/2 years since Mel Gibson has starred in a movie. Seriously. The last movie he's been in was 2003's The Singing Detective, and longer since he's been in something that had a wide release (2002's Signs). Now, say what you want to about Mel Gibson's directorial efforts and the controversial things he's said in the past decade, but the man can act. And for his return to the screen, one would assume that Gibson would go for something that really showcased his ability.