The League of Extraordinary Movie Characters.

Hello again everybody.
I have to say, I am beat. What with a useless track meet and then a not-so-useless sleepover ( my hammock works GREAT and is the bomb shizzle) I am running nearly on fumes. Let me know if I come across less-than-coherent.
Anyway, this is an excuse to procrastinate again. Remember back in ... oh, I don't know, February or March when I did a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen from literature? Well, this one is from movies, drawn up in the cold of the car ride up to Ithaca, NY. Its pretty cool, if I do say so myself. So, without further ado
The League of Extraordinary Movie Characters.

1). Trinity from The Matrix.
Someone said that she was one of the original female badasses. Don't know if thats true, but I do know that she could kick some serious ass. She not only holds her own against the boys, she often times puts the boys into a full body cast. yet underneath that, there is a soft heart of vulnerability that allows here to form even deeper bonds and connections with others when they need it. She would serve as a good second-in- command of the League.


2). V from V For Vendetta
This guy is awesome. He is witty, cultured and a superb knife fighter. Like the Invisible Man in the League of Extraordinary Gentleman movie, he has alterior motives and came about his powers through the machinatiosn of others.  Sophisitcated and cultured, he is at home in a library as he is in a brawl. He penchant to work from the shadows and use subtle tactics makes him the perfect 'Shadow Warrior'

3). John Grosse from Grosse Point Blank.
As he said, the money in being a professional hitman is pretty good. Hes's got the skills, he's got spunk and he's got a heart the size of San Francisco. He's got weapon skills and is proficient in many ways to kill people. However, as evidenced by his refusal to join the Hitman's Union, he might need a talking to on the merits of team playing. He will be a valuble asset for the team however.

4). Lt. Dan from Forrest Gump.
" Leiu-tenent DAN!" Thsi cry is the perfect one to introduce the leader of this band of renegades. Every League needs an Alan Quatermain type character- the anti-hero, whos abilities may be overplayed and doesn't want the leadership role. Probably doesn't hurt if he's a tad bit anti-social as well. Lt. Dan is all this and more- surly, short-tempered, yet infinitly patient with PFC Gump. He has come to terms with where he stands in the world and maybe ready to lead once more.

5). Marty McFly from Back to the Future
So...many... pop culture moments! Marty is the quintessinal American teen, concerned with his girlfriend, his band and making sure the time space continium remains whole and his parents fall in love all over again. He doesn't have much in the way of fighting skills, but with a souped up flying DeLorean ( may include time travel) allows him to either be the transportation maverick or the time wizard. Your choice.

6). Jules Winnfield from Pulp Fiction.
" I'm sorry, did I break your concentration? I didn't mean to do that. Please, continue, you were saying something about best intentions. What's the matter? Oh, you were finished! Well, allow me to retort"  Samuel L. Jackson's character in Pulp Fiction is the textbook definition of badass. If you look it up in the dictionary, his picture will be there.  However, towards the end of the movie he does a 180, and has a crisis of religious preportions. He is an excellent brawler and will only need a little prodding.

 7). Daniel Larusso, the Original Karate Kid
So I was finishing up the list, and I needed someone who had a great moral compass, but was a great fighter. Someone who could guide his compainions when the road got rough, and fight alongside them when the crap hit the fan. Then it hit me- The Karate Kid! But, since I haven't seen the new Karate Kid movie, I settled on this guy. I think he's better in most respects.

So thats it, let me know your thoughts on the matter.

Move the Mountain, or Dig a Tunnel?

Hello all you semi-autonomous carbon based life forms out there. its me, your furry lovable old pal Grover. This blog post is made possible by half of AP  Lit being out, and as a result having a study period. ( Thanks Raras!) "But Ben!" You, dear reader callously reply. " As an AP student and a full time Boy Scout who happens to be planning two major events in the next month, surely you can find some other way to occupy your time, not fruitlessly blogging." Yeah, well, here's the thing- all of my stuff is at home. AP is done on my laptop- at home. Scouting's contact lists and the packing manifests- at home. OH, and my room needs to be cleaned, and trumpet practiced- at home. ( well, not the trumpet. But I'd rather be with people, however silent, than by myself)
Then I realized I couldn't just rant about having nothing to rant about. I had a flash of inspiration. (Don't be so surprised, I can and do have those).
Here's my question, spured on by The Once and Future King, and discussions I have had recently.
Is it better to try and fail, or to not try and not fail. Or, as I see it, is it better to try and use brute force to move a mountain, or should you subtly tunnel under it in hopes of enabling the mountains collapse/ fall. Now I know, I know. This idea has been debated since the beginning of time. However, I have my own spin on it.
In the Boy Scout troop I am in, people are of the opinion that training is not suitable and unneccessary. Their idea is that it has failed in the past, so it is doomed to fail again. I say, keep trying until the sheer force of persistance acheives results. You can argue that either way has merit. Does it? Is it better to go in with preconcived notions rather than to be pleasantly surprised and hopeful? Now, the flip side. With preconcived notions, you could still be presently surprised and happy. With preconcieved notions, you could set the bar too high and be crushingly dissapointed. Does subtley work better than brute force? Is any approach better than none? In the end, you all know what side of the debate I fall upon. What are your thoughts?

Suckerpunched into Oblivion.

Okay. Wow. Let me collect my thoughts. The reason I am writing this so late is becasue I just got back from seeing Suckerpunch with my friend Connor. Let me say this. Put away all preconcieved notions about this movie. Shelve all negative or disparaging reviews. Disregard the statement of 'offensive to women' or 'sexist'. THIS. MOVIE. ROCKS. It blew my mind. ( Granted, its no Citizen Kane.) The movie is in all honesty a cheap thrill, a way to kill a lesiurly Satuerday night. Is it worth it? Heck yes.
The movie opens with an unnamed girl whos mother dies. The tone is set by the somber visuals and grey palate. Her evil stepfather ( natch) tries to take all the money, but finds the will and testement that leaves it to the two daughters. Drunken rage, attempted rape, and a gun all follow in the space of 30 seconds. The girl takes the gun intending to defend her little sister, but winds up accidentally shooting said little sister. She is committed to the Lennox House for the Mentally Insane in Vermont- though Vermont matters not in the slightest. Rapidly this girl finds a cadre of  friends and after recieving instruction from both a Russian ballet instructor, and a dream-like sensi devises a plan to bust out of the ward. It centers around five things - a map, fire, a knife, and a key, and a fifth thing that is yet to be determined. The action rapidly expands from there. The kicker though is the quest to gain each one of these items takes place in a suberbly rendered fantasy world. My favorite was the steampunk WWI. The action rapidly developes from there.

Now comes the time where I say what I don't like. The ending took a turn I didn't expect, and left me wondering what was true/not true. Also, there are some instances where it is clear that the characters are animated. Barely noticable, but still there. Finally, and biggest of all, the phsyics of the movie. Its literaly like Zack Snyder took The Matrix, Spiderman, Die Hard, Star Wars and Avatar: The Last Airbender  threw them into a blender and hit puree. What came out was the physics of the film. I would critique more, but right around the time of my pyhsics quadary my brain went OH DEAR GOD ITS A SAMURAI WITH A FRIGGIN' MACHINE GUN!!!!! WHOOO!!! and shut down execept to drink in the stunning visuals and action fights.

As a final note, the music is spot on. It takes classic songs and re-imagines them with a technoy-alt- punky electrosythy vibe. I particually like Jefferson Starships song White Rabbit blasting over the WWI scene. Mabye that's just because I like the song. Whatever the case, it works perfectly.

Oddly enough, this movies PG-13. I loved it, but if the theater today was any indication, it's not going to be around in theaters for much longer. I see it definitivly having a cult following though.