Idiocracy (movie 2006)

Oh My God, What a stupid movie. I mean I have seen comical movies that are meant to be stupid in order to get in some laughs from the viewers. But this was just beyond stupid, I'm just glad that this movie wasn't very long, I don't think I could handle it. What I think the movie went wrong was that they were trying to hard to be funny, which made it boring (for me) and not funny. I like the idea of the story, of having these two people that were meant to sleep for a year and prove that people can be frozen. Then having them trying to find a way back home. If someone told me that story, without seeing any visuals of what the films version, I would say that it could be a good movie with some interesting visuals. But after watching this movie, I went and watched other movies to make me forget about this movie (I watched Narnia The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and Dark Knight, both good movies with great story and characters. The way movies are meant to be).  Looking back at this movie, it has a similar comedy level as the Dodgeball movie, I bet it was made by the same people.

I think this movie should be under the horror section, the fear of that future being true, that we are all going to be idiots. Maybe in the films own way it's trying to tell us that "If you don't want to end up like these fools, read books and go to school."

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

   This was a fun audio book/radio show podcast I have listen to. each episode was very entertaining and funny, that at times I forgot about it as a book but as a show playing in my head. I like the depress robot, I think I laughed at his scenes the most, because when ever he said something in that down in the dumps tone of voice, I can imagine the people around him rolling their eyes at his poor life story, when he is the smartest one out of all of them. I have never seen the movie adaptation of this book, but I do know that the voice of that robot character is played by Alan Rickman, and when I was listening to this story. I can see why the director would cast him for the role. The way the narrator voice the robots is similar to Alan Rickman's voice.

    There was another thing about this book that caught my attention, that was when someone mention the people/planet of Beetlejuice. I don't know if that is the right spelling, from how I heard it, they were saying Beetlejuice. But for me, when someone says that name, I immediately think of Tim Burton's Beetlejuice movie and the cartoon series. So I was laughing a little when they said that, because then I was thinking of my favorite scenes form Burton's movie. It's strange, but this isn't the first time I heard the word Beetlejuice used in book. I forgot which book it was, but it was one of the sci-fi reading list for this class. And one of the books said something about Beetlejuice, but it is spelled differently than how Burton spelled the name.

I wish I had read/ listen to this book in the beginning of the sci-fi book reading weeks, because it might have got me more excited about what other sci-fi stories their are. Also I would have less blogs of me explaining why I'm lost in the story. I do wish that this podcast of the book was longer, it was so exciting listening to it, that I didn't want it to stop. Now I must go and find the dvd and watch it, and see if it's as good and if it holds up to the original story.

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

 This was an interesting story out of the other books I have read in the sci-fi range. It was interesting in a way that it both confused me at time but in some ways I was able to follow along with the main character's story.

 What I found to be the most entertaining was the different kind of mixed creatures (animals) that live in this new civilization. These creatures were "Genetic Engineered," they combined different animals and made something new. For example, there is a creature called "Rakunks" that is a hybrid of a raccoon and a skunk. They make great pets. The main character Snowman, in his past his real name was Jimmy and he named his "Rakunk" Killer. In this story there are many other genetic engineered creatures and some of them can be pets or wild animals. This is also a common theme used in the sci-fi themes. Sometimes "Genetic Engineering" can be  animals or humans, and it can be viewed as a good or bad things to humanity in the sci-fi world. But in our world today we are kind of doing that already with our pets, mostly dogs. There are people that have mixed breeds of dogs. True it's not a mix of other animals, but we are combining other breeds of dogs so that a family can get the perfect dog. I don't know if this is just a rumor or an idea I heard once, but pretty soon people can customize what gender their baby will be and what they look like. I find that to be more wrong than animal genetic engineering. I feel that if people are going to be picky on what their child should look like, then they should not be parents, because it is shows that they only care about looks and not caring about their child.

 This story was being told in a flashback type of style. We are introduced to Snowman and these children are calling out to him and asking him tons of questions, which he is getting tired of answering and explaining, because these children don't know the simplest of things. Then Snowman goes back to his childhood with his parents and the fights that went on between his parents, his mother leaving, and him being questioned by some men about his mother (like does Jimmy a.k.a. Snowman know where his mother is and is there anything they can get out of him to get some answers.)  Even though the whole idea of telling the main character's story in a flashback is an interesting way of reading, I did get lost at moments when I was thinking "am I still listening to Snowman talking about the past, or am I still in the past with Jimmy explaining what's going on in the present?"

 Another part of this story that I like and thought to be funny is when (back in the present) Snowman is getting a little annoyed from these kids not leaving him alone. These kids wanted to know more, but at the same time they didn't know what anything was and asked him to explain more. On and on they kept asking him "what is this" or "what is that?" I can understand the frustration of trying to explain something to younger kids, you have to have patience and try to remember when you were that age and how hard it is to understand everything.  My only question I have after listening to the whole story is why didn't the author explain why Jimmy is called Snowman? Maybe I might have missed that part somewhere in the story, but it would have been nice if they would have repeated that part at the end of the story, after viewing his past. My imagination is already imaginating the new animals of this world, but it is strange imaging a snowman telling a story when it not winter or Christmas, plus I think Snowman (Jimmy) and the children are on a warm Island with other people.

Children of Men (2006 movie)

 I remember hearing people talking about this movie when it first came out into theaters.  At the time I didn't see it for two reason's. The first one is that it is not my type of movie, and I thought I would have a hard time following along with the story line. It seemed to me that it would be a movie with a lot of complicated dialogue for a movie that wants the audience to take it seriously, like if this event could happen.

 Recently watching it, it felt realistic for a different type of sci-fi movie. While most fans of sci-fi like stories and themes with aliens, far off distance planets, and galaxy battles, the type of sci-fi stories that I enjoy are the ones that can be believable, not flashy and show offy. This movie is a great example of what I'm trying to say. In the future on earth, no one is having children (something to deal with the government) and there are tons of fighting, anger and rage with the people.  I can believe that the government can go that far as to ruin humanity and life on earth, and the people are fighting to get revenge on them. Movies about the future should be something that might happen and have a traumatic affect on the people, instead of just placing the characters in a crazy out of this world future with technology far more advanced than our own.

 I'm glad that this movie changed how I originally thought of it. I like the main character and the African American girl who is pregnant. What I like about this movie is that you see how everyone reacts to life. In the beginning of the film, everyone is watching the news about the death of the youngest citizen left on the world (the boy looked to be around the age of 20). Every is very emotional about it because he was the last young human left, everyone else is older there were no little kids seen in the movie. Just that beginning opening of the film got me thinking of why is this future the way it was, why aren't there people having children. Is this the government's way of decreasing the number of people on earth. Which brings me back to why I can believe the government would do something so cruel to humanity. Because in our world today, earth is over populated with people and when there is more people in the world, there are more problems and messes that the government needs to clean up. After other obstacles in the beginning of the film, the main character is introduced to a young woman and for the first time in many years, he see's a pregnant woman and he is left without words. It is his job to help bring this girl to a boat and to this group called the "Human Project" and it is there that she and her baby can be safe.

 It was a little bit scary to watch the movie at times, with all the shooting and the worry of this African American girl and her baby. The film takes you on this journey of the hard life of people and seeing the determination and will to continue forward to seek shelter and to bring hope for the future. The hope of bringing life back to the world. I think that this is what the movie was trying to tell us and having the girl pregnant was a symbol of that. I really like how at the end of the film after she has her baby girl, everyone, even the guards/ soldiers (that were shooting earlier) stop and look at the little baby. Some of the people went on their knees and praised and blessed the baby and the girl. The guards hold their fire and made a path for the girl, her baby and the main character. There were even some guards that went on their knees and bless the lord for this miracle.
   

Bloodchild Short story (in class reading)

 I'm not finish with this story, but I do have a question about it.

1. What are the characters? Are they human, alien, monsters? Within the story one of the characters (I think it's the mother) talks about the different limbs and stinging till you fall asleep (Are they bug creature that feed of humans?). This is what throwing me off, I'm getting a confused image in my mind, yet at the same time I think I understand what is going on. Are we still on earth? Are the humans slave on another planet?

2. I think that this story is showing us the perspective of the monster, alien, whatever it is that is attacking humans. One of the family of monsters doesn't sound like he wants to be part of the killings. My question for this story is how old are the characters, who is younger and oldest, and how long do they live. Do these creatures need the eggs to survive?

3. After seeing the photo of the author, I wonder what was her reason for coming up with the idea. What there anything from her life experience that she included in her story. Is she one of the characters or is her personality in one of the characters? I can see that there is a lot great detail and thought put into this story. I would like to know where she got the ideas and and what inspired her.

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

 The reason why I chose this book was that the title caught my attention and set my imagination busy with ideas of what the story could be about. I know that you should never judge a book by it's cover or title, but sometimes you have to takes chances and see if a story appeals to you. The first thing that came to me was that this might be sci-fi book that I can easily follow, just like the fantasy book, meaning not as much scientific detail and complicated words. Long story short, I thought that this book would be as easy to visualize in my mind, like the fantasy books and the other books we have gone through in the class.

 I don't know if this the same in the book version, but when I listened to it on the audio version, the author of the book Paolo Bacigalupi telling the listener of how he got the inspiration of the story. Out of all the audio books that I have listen to, I think this is the first one that included the author to tell a little bit of how the story came to them. I like it because it tells me that the author cares for the viewer and his fans and wants to reach out to them and tell them the insight of how the author got the ideas. It's a good connection between author and reader/fan. I think it would be cool if more authors did that, especially if they are popular in the literature field. I can imagine tons of Harry Potter fans going crazy to hear J.K. Rowling at the begining of her Harry Potter audio books, especially the last book and hearing her thank all the fans that keep on reading and love her characters and stories. and how if it wasn't for the fans, Harry Potter might not have gotten as far as it is today (there wouldn't be any theme park or anything if it wasn't for the loyal fans). Listening to Bacigalupi did help me to get some visual of the setting of the story. He got the idea of this story when he went on vacation and he got more than he bargained for. He went to a place that in some parts of the area was in chaos and things were not as it seemed. Also that things like food and water were hard to come by. All these problems were included into his story The Windup Girl.  

 Sadly though, like the other sci-books I have read so far, this one also was hard to follow at times. Not that it was bad writing or story. It's just that there is too much detail that it's hard to tell it apart from the other crisis in the story. I like the theme of the story being that it's in the 23rd century and organic food like plants aren't around as much as there use to be, and everything is artificial (factory made kind of food). But there is rumored that there is a place that has seeds of real plants, and this guyAnderson Lake is undercover and is trying to things back to normal. There are other character in the story that have important parts as well, but like I mentioned before, It hard to follow along to who is talking about who.

The one character that really got my attention and I had feelings for this character was the windup girl Emiko, a Japanese designed windup girl. The cover of the book doesn't have a picture or illustration of this windup girl, so when the story talked about her, I imagined that she was a girl with a fragile and innocent looking face (the ones that can do no wrong) and you can see some mechanical parts of her on her body. Like you might see on her back, the windup that makes her function. These function of the Windup girls (there are more than just Emiko and I think there are some boy Windups also) is to find a master and obey their commands, they have to obey any command given to them. When the story introduces the listener to Emiko, it was well decriptive of where she was and what was happening to her.  Emiko was in a club type place that men can abuse her and do things to her. Through every detail of it, I imagined how terrible that felt and to have men view a woman that way and not being able to do anything about it, I felt so sorry for Emiko. But towards the end of the story it was a surprise that she also designed as a weapon, she killed a man with her hands. At that point it change my idea of how Emiko might have looked if here was an Illustration of her. Know I can imagine her having the gentle looking eyes of wonder and hope, and some bruises or marking for fighting off people, and maybe she has a weapon or two on her or as part of her design.

The Brother From Another Planet (1984 movie)

 This movie is probably the most strangest and odd movie I have ever watched. When I rented it from the Ringling School Library, one of the guys that works there said that "this is a funny movie." So I took his word for it, thinking it was going to be a comical movie. But after watching the whole movie, I was left speechless and in my mind I was thinking "....What the Heck is going on." There was no intro description of where this "Brother" came from, what planet, what was his reason for flying in space, and does he have a purpose. It all seemed forced and no real plot that caught my attention as strong as other films I have seen.

 I understand that this is a 1980's film, so back then it might have appealed to people at the time. But I didn't feel like this guy was an alien, as the movie forced the viewer to believe that he came in an alien spaceship and crashed landed on earth. They made that begininng scene very quick, with quick sound effects. The parts in the movie that tried to make us believe he was an alien was that "This Brother" had three toes on each foot and he can take out his eye and record what he sees. When he puts the eye back in his head, he replays everything in his mind. He can also repair things and heal without any tools. Before I saw the parts where he took out his eye, and I saw the three toes, what came to my mind was that he is not an alien, he's one of those curcius people with something strange about their appearance.  I'll give the movie credit for making him mute, that brings more of a mystery to a person and makes them more alien from everyone else. What I notice and what also got on my nerves what that whenever he was around someone, they will go on and on talking, knowing that he can't talk back, but he can listen. At times I wish the people would be quite like the alien. I think this movie would be better as a silent film and you figure out what is going on by watching the body movements of the person, just like the alien.

 From looking at IMDb.com, the ratings of this movie is 6.8 out of 10. In my vote this was a 4 out of 10. My reasons for giving it a low rating was that there was no real story to follow, the main character wasn't engaging, the side characters talked too much and everything was forced onto the screen, like if we already know the rules of a sci-fi film and aliens.

Snow Crash

 I'm glad that this book was a bit more entertaining than the past sci- fi books (maybe I'm getting better with understanding the literature world of sci- fi). This type of sci-fi book is a cyber punk type of story that follows these two main characters. One is named Hero Protagonist and YT a 15 year old girl with a lot of attitude and that "girl punk" personality. While listening to this book on audio book version, it helps me to understand what is happening with one of the main characters , the person narrating did a  great job at that part. I'll admit that there were some parts in the story that I got lost in the information, but the rest of the book got me interested in wanting to know whats going to happen with Hero and YT.

 YT (her name means Yours Truly)  is my favorite character and I enjoyed listening to what was happening on her end. She was a girl that seemed very street smart and a fast talker, meaning she wouldn't let someone talk over her. If she had something to say to someone, like if they were doing something wrong, she would speak out and not be the innocent young 15 year old. Another thing that I liked about YT was that she was making the best of what came her way. I think any girl at that age would love getting all that attention from guys, even if one of those guys kidnapped her and made her his girl, that would be the Raven character.  I wish I could say that the parts with Hero were just as entertaining to listen to, but I found myself being more drawn to YT. I think that's because I wish I were that type of person with a strong backbone personality and have fun, something that most girls don't do as often.

 At some parts of the story, when it talked about the Mafia and the Pirates I would forget that this is a sci-fi story. At times when the story goes into talking about the character's avatars and how the drug "Snow Crash" is effecting both the user's brain and in the computer and in reality, it reminded me of this Japanese Manga and Anime series that has that same affect on the people. The show is called .Hack Sign (there have been many version of this series). It is similar with this story because, both stories have people going into a cyber world, they have their own avatars that they can customize, and some kind of virus that seriously hurts them in both Digital and reality.

     



 I would like to see someone make a movie out of this book. I think it would be a cool movie and it would bring more sci-fi stories on the big screen that most people haven't seen before, something new. I would like to see what this cyber world looks like, compared to how I imagine it, but nothing like how Tron looks. I can imagine the director going far and beyond with design and details on  creating the cyber world.

Blade Runner (movie 1982)

 Blade Runner was a hard story to follow, even if it has Harrison Ford as the star. Ford's character is a cop that is tracking down these 4 replicants and kill them on sight. These 3 of the replicants are dangerous, but one of them, a woman replicant (that is seen in the beginning of the film) isn't out to kill their creator like the others. That part of the film I could understand, what was hard to follow was the pace of the film. Most sci-fi films are longer in film length because it's the only way to make sure the information can show well to the viewers. But this film seemed to have a lot of scenes where it was just watching the actor's movement, and listening to the background music; not speaking or doing anything scientific. It felt like the movie was going to go on and on, and here I thought another movie with Harrison Ford was going to be exciting.

 Ford's character in this film is different from how I have seen him in the Indiana Jones films, the personalities are different. In Indiana Jones, Ford has a more adventurous, exciting and thrilling personality while still being a man that loves and respects history. In Blade Runner though, I didn't feel attached to his character, like I'm suppose to feel for this character in a way like we connected to his character in Indiana Jones (like how most films develop their main characters, so the audience can relate to them). In this movie, Ford doesn't seem  outgoing enough to go and find these replicants. He seems that he was unwillingly thrown into the job.

 There was another thing that kind of bothered me about this film. It said that it was in the future 2017 (or 2019) in Los Angeles. But it looked like it was in China or Japan, because almost everyone in the film (not the main characters or supporting characters) were Chinese or Japanese. I have never been to LA, so I don't know if in some parts of that city they have China town like the one in New York City. But I just found it odd that I saw more Chines or Japanese things like ad signs and music (playing in the background of the film).

 The one thing that I was glad to see in this 1982 movie, was that the film director and producer didn't make the replicant look like some fake robotic human. Knowing that back then the special effects weren't as good as they are today. To me, along with a good story the design and set also makes the film something more to the viewer. The things that they did to show who was the replicants is their strength, and in their eyes. I noticed that in their eyes, there would be a small circle that glowed, like if it were recording.

Ubik by Philip K. Dick

    Reading more and more of these sci-fi books, I find myself getting more lost in the words and even listening to them through the audio book version. This isn't the first time that I have gone through a whole book and when finishing reading it, I'm confused as to what has happened. It has happen to me in the past when I buy a book that I think are good from reading the title and the summery on the back. But then reliaze that I was wrong. I would try to find something about the story to hang on to like the characters and see that if I can stay with it from beginning to end, then maybe I will find something that I end up liking.

    The one thing that I found to be odd about this book is that at the beginning of each chapter they make an advertisement for Ubik. It seems that Ubik is everything and does anything, like some wonder product. Also that when the characters were in the half life, I was making the connection to the movie Inception. The reason why I make this connection is because the people in the half life aren't there, their bodies are in a building and one by one they are dying by someone. In the beginning of the book, they talk about this world and how the people in it have some abilities like telepathy or changing the past (one of the characters can think of an event in the past and change it without time traveling). That part was interesting and I was hoping to hear more about the characters and their powers and how far they can go with the idea of people with that kind of abilities (not relating to the X-Men series and movies).

But sadly I didn't find anything beside those few things that I mentioned. The book was only 17 chapters, and it seemed to rush in writing of getting to the main plot of the story and ending the book. I may have mentioned this in my last blog, but I like books that take their time to describe the story and the characters so that you as the reader can grow attached to them. Also (and sorry for repeating myself from my last blog) when the characters were talking about something scientfic it was hard to understand. This may not be the book and the authors fault. I'm a visual learner and the difference from how I can see things clearly when reading a fantasy book than sci-fi book is because I have been reading more fantasy books and have seen many movies and looked at fantasy artwork to get the visual of a fantasy magical world. For sci-fi, there is not much for me to help visualize. I know that sci-fi is in some ways still fantasy, but I'm not a fan of science and it was not my favorite subjects in school. So that might also explain why it is hard for me to get into it.

I hope that I won't be faced with this kind of problem with every sci-fi books. I like getting back into reading books, it became fun again like how I would love to read a book as a kid.

The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976 Movie)

    To be honest, I didn't care much for this movie, it was hard to follow and it seemed to drag on. This movie stars David Bowie, which surprised me to see that he did a movie before Jim Henson's movie Labyrinth, which I think people remember him more from that movie than this one. In this movie Bowie's acting is good, his character Thomas Jerome Newton has a mysterious, odd and quiet personality. Thomas is an alien, a humanoid that came to earth to get water for his dying planet. But we don't know that till near the middle and end of the movie. Thomas become a billionaire by starting a high technology company, he does this so that he can use the money to build a new space ship and return to his home planet.

    For a movie made in the 1970's, this is a good idea for a story, more original than most sci-fi alien films today. But the thing that I didn't care for was the annoying girl Mary-Lou and that half of the movie was her and Thomas  or some other characters that we never see again, having sex. It really was just a movie of people having sex and a girl having sex with a alien, and the movie had to make those scenes go on forever. Long story short, it was just plain awkward.

    There was one scene that did catch my attention. When Thomas was in the bathroom, he starts taking tweezers and taking something out of his eyes. His human eyes were only a cover up of what his true eyes looked like, and with his alien eyes and his bone face structure, he definitely looked out of this world. I'm glad that they didn't make this alien have different color skin or something silly like that. His alien eyes look almost like snake eyes with the whole eyeball colored orange/red.


    All in all, I think this movie isn't terrible for those who like sci-fi movies, but for me it's not something that I would hunt for in a movie store and buy it on dvd. To me I rate it as a "OK" (4 out 10)  movie. If they did a better job editing scenes and making sure the story isn't loosing its interest, then maybe it can be better. I like Bowie's acting (and I'm not just saying that because I like his part in Labyrinth), but loose that annoy sex craving girl Mary-Lou, she is just embarrassing herself.

Serenity (2005 movie)

The movie Serenity was an interesting movie that kept me interested from begining to end. For anyone who is familiar with the TV series Firefly, this movie relates to that show. I have never seen the TV show, but this movie did superise me that I would like another sci-fi movie other than Avatar and Star Wars. What I liked about this movie, is that they didn't treat this as scientific as I thought. They didn't go on and on about some scientific thing that no one would understand. They call their space craft a ship and the people on the ship are called the crew. It seemed like if they were on a real ship, a pirate ship with a group of different kinds characters (different kinds of personality and skills), on the run and are embarked on a adventure, an adventure that they didn't expect.

There are two characters that I liked in this movie, the captain of the ship (played by Nathan Fillion) and the young girl named River (played by Summer Glau). I've seen Fillion on tv shows like Castle, but didn't think I would see him in a sci-fi action film. His character is Mal and his personality is staying focused. He only cares for him self, the ship and maybe the people on his crew (which is not a lot of people).  He is also a man that is focused on getting a job done, even if its a job that is against the law, as long as it comes with pay, Mal will take the job. Through out the movie there are parts where you can see that he does care for the people on his team, but he makes sure that he still shows authority to the crew to remind them of who the leader is on the ship. Mal also comes across as both a friendly and funny person but also a person that remembers to stay focused on the job. He also becomes interested in River after he sees her go biserk (almost like she changed her personality) and took out everyone in the club. Now he becomes interested in knowing why River was able to do that and why a special forces is after her (and try to kill her). From that point he becomes the hero character in the story, the one that won't let the secret service continue to kill good innocent people just for getting River.

The character River was a hard character to figure out at first. What was hard to read from her is that she showed little facial emotion other than fear and anger. She went from being innocent to a dangerous weapon, a killing machine (she isn't a robot). Most times in the movie she was very quiet and her face seemed to stay on one facial expression. River is a special girl with incredible powers, she is a telepath, who can read people's thoughts and she is skilled in combat. She also knows a secret that wasn't meant for her (or anyone) to find out. We are introduced to her when we see her being forced with experiments on her, a lot of the experiments were focused on her brain (because she is a telepath). River is also a dangerous weapon, she is skilled to fight and kill (if something triggers her to. Like hidden message that is broadcast on tv). The big secret that she knows is that the people that were experimenting on her, know the real reason why a planet called Maranda and why there aren't any people living on it (compared to the other planets).

Besides those characters, I thought it was interesting to finding out what the special forces were trying to keep hidden and the reason for all those experiments on not only River but other people as well. The special forces were doing experiments on people to control them, to make them behave and stop fighting (control their actions). And unfortunatly they succeeded, and the experimet turns against them. The people on Meranda are either dead or have become cannibals. So the secret service has made sure that no information about this planet and their failures gets out. The crew finds out that they have never heard of this planet and it's not in their computers. The reason why River knows of this planet is because she has memories of other people inside her brain, she has other knowlegde that is not hers. Also while being experimetented on, she was reading the scientist mind, but keeping silent to make them think she's not aware of their past failure. It seems that man is always trying to control and contain something (or in this case people) and they know that it's out of their control. And soon it will come back to haunt them or kill them.

I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy this movie, because I haven't seen many sci-fi movies or tv shows. Plus, when people start talking very scientific I just get lost in what they are talking about (science isn't my best subject). But I like the movies story, of these people on ship going off to help this girl escape from the special forces and find out what they are hiding. It's always interesting to me to see what writers and film makers do with the idea of people wanting to control something and play the role of God. Which always ends up a being a big mistake and proves that people should mess with things, and they should leave thing were they are. Also I thought it was interesting that the experiments were to make people behave (no fighting), but you can't have a world without some kind of violence. If everything just stayed peaceful and quiet then that would be a boring world. I'm for world peace and everything, but I don't believe in forcing people to do something that they don't want to do. Also forcing experiments on people, especially young people like River, is very cruel. I thought the action scenes were good, and that the film didn't go over the top with special effects, just because it is a sci-fi film. Sometimes a film like this will get to carried away with the 3D special effects, that it takes away from the main focus of the story and the characters.  This film had the right balance of special effects and live action scenes.

The Sirens of Titan

     This is a book that I could not get into. It was more confusing to understand what's going on with the characters than Neil Gaiman's book Anansi Boys. So I hate to say that I won't have much to say about this book, compared to my blog on Warbreaker. I think the reason why I couldn't get into this story, is because I haven't read many sci-fi books. I think this is my first sci-fi book. I guess what I can say about this book, is that it was formatted differently than most books. There are only 11chapters and it seemed like they squeeze tons of information and characters in every chapter, that it was hard to take it all it. I would prefer a book that had lots of chapters and giving it more time to form the characters and the setting. This story felt like it was rushing at hyper speed. The only characters that were sotra interesting was Winston Niles Rumfoord and his dog, Kazak. Rumfoord is a wealthy man and has his own personal spacecraft and he and his dog travel through space. Rumfoord seems to really enjoy being a space explorer.

  Just like the Anansi Boys, I got lost in who was the main character. Also I don't think this book had a real villain like the past books I've read. At first I thought Rumfoord was going to be our main character, then we get introduce to other characters that to me became forgetful. In the begining chapters there is a character called Constant. He is the richest man and he goes on a journey from Earth to Mars for the preparations of a war that Mars was going to have against Earth. Even when the story mentions about a war with Earth v.s. Mars, they didn't build it up, and that would make the story more exciting. Long story short, there was too much talking and detail in each chapter. My reason for choosing this book was because when I read the title The Sirens of Titan, I had an idea of the story being a planet that inhabits siren aliens. And when a traveling space ship crash lands on the planet (like all sci-fi stories, the ship has to crash on a dangerous planet, unknown to mankind), one by one the space men are drawn to the sirens beauty and hypnotic voices, but slowly walking into their deaths. When I reads a story (any story) I get a image of what is happening in my mind, like my own movie or illustration of the story, that way I can understand the story better and have a fun way of reading a story. Unfortunately, this book didn't project any images in my mind to help me follow along the story. So I guess this was a lesson learned experience, just like the saying "don't judge a book by its cover" my saying is "don't judge a book by its cover title."

WarBreaker

This is an incredible book, from reading the title I didn't know what to expect  or what kind of fantasy story it was (like is it going to be another story with talking animals or a prophecy story). From the beginning chapters in this book, I was hooked to the characters and their world. And continuing reading chapter after chapter, I was always thinking that I knew what was going to happen next. But I was proven wrong, and I didn't mind it. I like it when a story makes you think one way, but then it turns around and surprises you with something that you never saw coming.

Warbreaker is a fantasy book that has no talking animals, magic rings, young kids on a prophecy. This story has Gods, two royal kingdoms, mercenaries and a talking sword. The kind of magic that is most talked about in the story is the power of breaths. The magic of breaths can keep you young, give you life and give life to object (or dead things) to control. This story felt like it was meant to be read by older teens  and adults, no kids stuff in this story. The kinds of things that goes on in the book would be difficult for a young teen to understand. They should stay with the Narnia books for a while. They discuss war between two kingdoms and how the king sent his younger daughter to marry the enemy kingdom's God King (arranged marriage). There are also parts in the story that tell when the older sister (that was suppose to marry the God King) goes to try and rescue her younger sister. Things don't go the way as she had thought and she has to do things that she doesn't want to do, in order to get money to survive (she almost had to be a prostitute to get money). Also that the only reason why the princess was sent to the God King was so that she can have sex with him to have a new heir to his kingdom. A lot of the characters, mostly the two princess had to do things that they didn't want to do and through that they changed who they are, and it was for the better.

My favorite character is Siri, she is a different kind of princess. She is the youngest of her siblings and she had an easier life of not have to be trained with everything that her older sister Vivenna had to learn in order to be married to the God King. This Agreement was made before Vivenna was born, and since she has been born, she has be trained and waiting to fulfill the agreement. But when their father decides to send the youngest instead of the oldest, both girls feel out of place. For Siri, it's not being free to do as she pleased and has to act more proper in order to not anger the God King. For Vivenna, she doesn't know what to do with her life now. After years of training and to see her youngest sister sent, makes her feel like she is useless and unimportant. To me it seems like the two girls are in the other person's shoes. Siri learning more and more about the political issues and following orders, and Vivenna learning what she can do on her own without someone telling her what to do. Vivenna learns a lot when she is in the world outside her kingdom and about herself.

Why Siri is an appealing character to me, is because I see a lot of her personality in myself. Just like her, I can be stubborn at times and I tend to do what I want, and I hate being orders what to do or where to go (like being herded like sheep, I am no sheep). And if someone pushes me too far (or if I can't take it anymore) I will speak out. My favorite part in the book is when Siri is in the God King's bed chamber and it's been weeks now that she has been ordered to stay on the floor naked and wait there till the God King desires her. But she's tired of the weeks just staying there and he's not doing anything but staring at her. So she doesn't take off her clothes, she goes on his bed and jumps up and down and makes noise. To make it seem that she and the God King are having sex, because she knew that the God King's Priest were probably listening (the priest have been telling her over and over that she must have his child). I laughed at that part and could imagine her acting like a kid jumping on the bed and the God King looking at her in both confusion and the look that says she is crazy.

I also like when she and the God King get to know each other better. Even though the God King can't talk (the priest took his tongue out so that he couldn't use his powerful breaths), he writes to her on a board and they start to grow closers together in their relationship. When at first Siri hated the fact that she was forced into coming to the enemy's kingdom and only be forced to marry the God King so there can be a new heir.  The God King is another character that I like just as much as Siri. For a man (he looks like he's around his 20's) with so much power and name to himself, he's really a kind, shy person who has had his whole life been ordered around and things done for him (not having to lift a finger to do anything). Siri is a good balance for him. She was someone that he couldn't figure out and that is why he liked her. She is outspoken and smart and she brings such life to him when they "talking." He seems really happy to have someone finally talking to him.

There are many other things that I could write that would show how much I really enjoyed this book. But that would be a very long blog and it probably would sound like a book review. I can honestly say that this a book that I will come back to again and re-read it. I don't do that with some of the books I have read, but this book really captured me into the story and the characters. That I want to read it again. I hope that some director is thinking of making this book into a movie. I can see this being a great movie, just don't put it in the hands of M Night Shamalan or Steven Spielberg. Their recent films haven't been that great in the box office (or movie reviews). I can see Jerry Bruckheimer doing the movie justice, just as it is in the book and not disappointing any fans.

Mirrormask

    This film The Mirrormask, was very stunning with the visuals and the story. The idea of using the reversal of what a mirror does and make it work for a fantasy world (the world of a 15 year old girl that was created from her drawings) was interesting. Gaiman has a talent for creating stories of strange fantasy that can also be a bit scary or threatening to the main character. One of the things that I liked about this movie was that is was made under the Jim Henson company. Even though it not a film of placing an actor with puppets, it's nice to see that the Jim Henson studio is still working and maybe it's just the start of future films from them (I really hope so, next to Disney films I grew up with watching all the muppets and their films. Like Labyrinth, Dark Crystal).

   I like how in this mirrored world was a relfection of Helena's world. While Helena is in this other world, the Shadow Princess is in Helena's world. The Shadow Princess is the reflection of Helena and while the Shadow Princess in the world of Helena's life. She is ruining Helena life and destroying her drawings that connect to the kingdom. Helena must find the mirrormask to save the kingdom from destruction (by the shadows) and return to her world. It like the story is fighting the darker side of yourself (or at least that's how it looks like when I  was watching Helena confront to the Shadow Princess, telling her that she doesn't belong there.) Also to be greatful of what you have and when you are ready, you can handle life on your own.

    In the begining of the film you see that Helena is living with her parents and they run a circus, but Helena is tired of it and yells at her mother and wishes that she was "the death of her." When her mother then falls ill, Helena is angry and upset that she yelled at her mother and wants to tell her that she's really sorry. This is similar to what's going on in the kingdom. In the other world there are two kingdoms, one is light and the other is shadow. The Kingdom of Shadow, their Princess ran away from her mother (the Queen) and wants to have her own life. This is probably what Helena thought and felt at the time when she was angry with her mom and wished she was done living the dream of someone else (it's her father's dream to run a circus and she is thrown into it).



    To me this movie is similar to Gaiman's other story (that also was made into a film) Coraline. Both stories have a main girl character (the heroine) and she has relationship problems with her parents, mostly towards her mother. They both long to escape and that's what they get (weither they asked for it or not). But the wonders of the other world turn against them and they must defeat the villain that's keeping them from returning to their real world (both villains are female).

The Anansi Boys-by Neil Gaiman

   This book was kind of hard to get into, unlike the other books I have read/ listened to on audio books. The thing that made this story hard to get into (hard to follow along) is that it just drags on and on. Also our main character Charlie (aka Fat Charlie), has a plain and simple character. He was a boy that didn't like his father very much and has grown up to be a simple, but happy man with his new fiance. Then when we get introduced to his brother, named Spider, his character is strange and kind of annoying sometimes. I guess that works well for the reader to get the sibling rivalry between them.

Sometimes in the book Spider can be pretty annoying to Charlie as most siblings can relate to that annoyance of their brother or sister. When Charlie talked to the spider (insect) and asked to find his brother, at first it was a surprised that Charlie had a brother. But soon, all Charlie wants is his brother to be gone from his life. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen, Spider says that he has a plan. He goes to a new place, stays there for a while, and when he feels bored then he leaves and goes to another place. The more time that Spider stays in Charlie's life, the more miserable it is for Charlie. Spider even goes as far as pretending that he is Charlie and goes into his work and goes out with his fiance, then starts to have feeling for her (he's in love with her). Spider is taking everything that Charlie has.

    There seems to be a lot of things going on in the story, that get all tangled up, kind of like a spider web. Or, at least that is how I see it. Because there are so many characters that keep popping in and out of the story and sometimes taking up more time than focusing on Charlie's problem with his brother. To me it seems like I am getting more confused  with additional story lines over lapping the main one.  Somewhere in the chapters Charlie goes to a cave that has people acting a lot like animals (or maybe they are half human, half animal). I did think that it was kind of cool when Charlie was in the caves and he goes to this bird lady and asks her if she can get rid of his brother. The reason why I say that it was cool is because when you look back to the Animal Planet show, people know that birds eat insects (as well as worms and other bird food), so having this bird woman chase away the spider was a cleaver idea.

     Maybe I have to go back and re-read this book but I just didn't enjoy this book as well as I had originally thought. I guess the fault is mine because I know most of my friends have read some book by Neil Gaiman and they swear to it that his books are the best. Also after watching the movie adaptation of his book Coraline, I was expecting something close to that dark and mystery story. I know that some people can say that this book was mysterious, but for me it was just long and confusing.

Narnia The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

     Next to The Lord of the Ring, Narnia is the next best fantasy movie that explores far and beyond the term fantasy, and how far one's imagination can go. To be honest (again) I never knew about Narnia as a kid. What I mean is, that I was in a different kind of English class and my class read different books than the rest of my grade. So back in middle school (or high school), most of my friends knew the world of Narnia. I didn't know that I was missing out on a great fantasy adventure. My dad took me to see this movie when it came out, and together we enjoyed everything about this movie. I watch this movie over and over and never get tired of it. It's like when I put the disk into the dvd player, I'm journeying back into the wardrobe and to Narnia with Aslan, Mr. Tumnas, the Beavers and the many other creatures and animals that live there.

   This movie has great detail that captures a world that is ruled by creatures, spirits, witches and a lion. I like the Pevensie kids just as much as the creatures. But if I had to chose one, I would pick Lucy. The look on her face when she first enters the snow covered Narnia lands and taking in all the wonder and beauty of this strange land beyond the wardrobe. Also the care and the friendship she has with Mr. Tumnus. Even though at first he was going to follow the orders of the White Witch, he knew that what he was doing isn't right and he still believes in a free Narnia. He risked his own safety and protection from the White Witch's power in make sure Lucy (or any of her sibling) get in the hands of the White Witch. Another character that I like is Aslan. In Narnia, he is the true ruler and creator of Narnia (in the world of Narnia, he is God).  He can be both gentle and fierce when he needs to be, but above all he wants his people to be safe and the world of Narnia to be at peace.

 

    I would say my favorite scene in the movie is when winter is ending and Lucy, Susan, Peter and Mr. and Mrs. Beaver enter the camp ground of where the rest of creatures prepare for battle. There are centaurs, fauns, dryas and other creatures and animals that will serve their kings and queens (the Pevensie kids) and Aslan. I like it when everyone see's the three children walk to meet Aslan and everyone stops what they are doing and watches them pass. They are all happy that the hope to save Narnia has come (the prophesy). The designs of each creature was amazing and they looked accurate compared to the old illustrations of these creatures. They looked believeable, especially the centaurs. The centaur's design has always caught my interest. I like the look of the combination of half man and half horse. Next to the Lord of the Rings movie (The Fellowship of the Ring), Narnia, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe will forever be my favorite fantasy movies and a great source to get inspiration.

   What this movie (and in the books) has that fits well in the fantasy theme is that it has adventure, magic, talking animals and mystical creatures, and having the kids go on a journey and the change in them from being part of that world. Someday I'll read all the Narnia books, but I think that if C.S. Lewis saw this, I think he would be amazed and proud to see how well everyone that worked on this movie, captures that magic, beauty and wonder that is the Narnia he created.

The Golden Compass

    This was a very entertaining book. The main character in this story goes on an incredible journey and through her journey, you can see the changes in her personality and emoitons. What I really liked about this book is that everyone has their own demon, an animal that can change. These demon's are apart of the human's souls. When the demons felt pain, so would their human. I think it was cleaver of the author to have the demons change into different animals when their human partner was still a child. When the children grows up, their demon can no longer change into different animals, but must settle on one animal. It's this kind of fun and creative ideas that are great material for fantasy stories. I know that while reading about Lyra and her demon, Pan, reading their friendship and how he will fight to protect her. I thought if I had a demon, what kind of animal would he or she be. Would the demon have a similar  personality as me, or would my demon be the opposite, but still be strong/ strong hearted and will protect me (a protector/fighter demon).

    The character Lyra was a character that I've never come across in my other books. Instead of the main girl character (the heroine) being scared and weak in the begining. Lyra was a stubborn, kinda wild, smart girl and would not let anyone push her around. Living in a college for most of her life (she's about 11 or 12 years old), she never had any real parental guidance to teach her things. Lyra is the type of girl that would go off and find the answers herself. That is what she did when the Gobblers were taking children, and when they took her good friend Roger. She wasn't going to let that pass, as many of the adults in the college seemed to act. She traveled far with gypsies, rode on a polar pear and many other dangers and she did all this with the focus in mind to rescue her friend and the rest of the children and return them home. I give Lyra all the credit for having such courage to take on this adventure. Also the fact that she has to learn how to read the golden compass (when you ask a question, it gives you the truth), filled with symbols that she has to learn on her own.

    Once we get to know more about what Dust is, we see why the adults, like Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are so desprate to know more about it and destroy it. In the story, Dust is sin, that is why Dust attracts more to adults than the children (children are too young to know or do anything sinful). There was a part in the story that was hard to get through. That part was when in the north, where the gobblers are keeping all the kidnapped children. They are doing experiments on the children and cutting them off from their demon. The detail of the pain that both the children and their demons were feeling, was vert visual in my mind. Then the sadness of once they are cut off from their demon, the children die and the demon vanishes.

    I listened to this book on audio book and I really enjoyed how they read the story. Instead of one narrator changing his voice for the characters. This audio book had many different people to read the roles of the characters. There was a young girl doing the voice of Lyra, an older man for Lord Asriel, a kind, sneaky voice for Mrs. Coulter, etc. It was like if I went back in time and I was listening to a radio show, listening to these different actors read off their lines. It made the book even more enjoyable to listen and follow along to. It was so much better than their movie adpatation. It's like what everyone says when a book is being made into a movie "the books are better than the movie."

The Fellowship of the Ring (movie)

To be honest, I never saw The Lord of the Ring movies. I have heard of them, but didn't know much about them at the time that they were popular. I do remember that the people that went to see the movies knew the books first, and as usual, the best way to see a movie that is based off the original book. Sometimes I would see parts of The Lord of the Rings movie on tv, but I would catch it at random times so I never bother to watch it without knowing more about what's going on (and the story that it's based upon).

If I hadn't read The Hobbit, I would have not understood some key points in the movie (that only the ones that have read the book would understand). My original thought was that this movie was going to start off with Frodo, but I was surprised to see Bilbo again and to find out that Bilbo and Frodo are related. Once I saw the character Bilbo in the movie, he looked just like how I imagined him to be. I was also surprised by the power of the ring that Bilbo took from the Mist Mountain. Also its affect on the holder of the ring, it was scary when Bilbo was acting greedy and angry and would not give up the ring to anyone. He even said that the ring was "his precious," the same way Golom had said it. Not only did the ring have the power to make the holder become obsessed, but also keep them from aging. This was Gandalf's first notice when he saw Bilbo for his (111th year old) Birthday part that the other hobbits were throwing for him.

Another thing that caught my attention is that Frodo is different from how Bilbo was on a journey. In the Hobbit (book), Bilbo didn't like the idea of going on an adventure, but then he grew into it and loved the experience and the places he'd seen. In the beginning of the movie, Bilbo has become the opposite of what Hobbits are known for (staying in one place). After his birthday party, Bilbo decides to leave his hobbit hole and go off somewhere on another journey. To me Frodo is the reverse of Bilbo's personality. Frodo has heard of Bilbo's adventures and he longs to go on one of them with Bilbo. But when he gets his adventure to return the ring. Frodo seems to be very afraid and it seems that he doesn't have the same cleverness and wit as Bilbo had when getting out of problems. But I do see that Frodo has the same will power to continue on the journey that he started.

The rest of the movie is with Frodo, Gandalf, a few other hobbits, and elf, man and dwarf going on a journey to bring the ring to the mountain where it was born and destroy it in the mountain's volcano. But the movie doesn't end with them getting to the mountain so soon. There's more to be continued from this movie and story. The movie ends with Frodo and his friend Sam journeying alone without the rest of their group to get rid of the ring once and for all. The situation with Gandalf is very suspenseful.

This has now become a favorite movie that I will add to my collection of movies. I'm a fan of fantasy films and like to try and draw fantasy work. This movie has inspired me even more. The visuals and the looks of the characters and environments (like the elves homes in the forest) was better than I could have imagined.

The Annotated Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Hobbit, is a story that any who enjoys the themes of fantasy will appreciate. Tolkien has written a wonderful story that takes the reader into another world with hobbits, wizards, elves, and goblins.  I love the amount of detail that was put into each chapter. It helps the reader to have a better visual of this other world, the people and creatures. By listening to the audio book, I was able to get more of a detail visual of the setting and character.

What I liked most about this book is that you see the main character go through changes from how he use to be. Bilbo the Hobbit is our main character and he was so use to his daily routine and being safe in his little hobbit hole that he was not enthused to go. But Gandalf, a great powerful and respected wizard puts him on this quest with 13 dwarves. In the beginning Bilbo protests the idea of going on any adventure, because hobbits our known for not being adventurous. Also Bilbo doesn't see how he could be of any use to the dwarfs. But despite what Bilbo and the other dwarfs (lead by Thorin), Gandalf knows that the little hobbit will become of great use to the dwarves even if Bilbo doesn't know it yet.

There are times in the story that Bilbo has come to save his friends in difficult situations. I like how through each chapter you can see the changes in Bilbo, that he's becoming braver and slowly becoming fond of being on this adventure. Of course having a magic ring that turns him invisible to also helpful in his adventures. I also saw that this story also shows how the other dwarves work together and start to respect Bilbo and are grateful for his assistance, and sorry that they didn't realize that sooner. Bilbo showed great courage and wit that was very useful, when it involved coming up with a plan and getting out of trouble. By the end of the story when Bilbo returned home, Gandalf could see that Bilbo had changed from being the scared and not adventurous hobbit he met before the journey. Bilbo was happy about this change as well. When he got back home, the other hobbits notices this change in him and didn't like it. Bilbo had lost the reputation of what hobbits are known for, staying in one place and not going off on adventures.

I think this was the first time I've read a book that has a lot of songs in it. Reading those lyrics were fun and it connected well to the time era of the story. Most people from long ago would tell some stories in song. Some of those songs would be about a hero, a warning of some danger to be feared and so forth. I could picture the dwarves and the elves singing these songs, because the narrator did great job using different tones for each character. If I didn't listen to this book on audio and listened to the song, I probably wouldn't enjoy the songs as much (I'm not a good singer).