Cohost of the TransMissions Podcast. Writer, Blogger, Musician.
Like last year the city of Juneau put on their fireworks show at 12:01 AM, July 4th. They do the fireworks at that time because it’s dark enough to see them. Just about any other time is to light out. For the first time since I have lived in Juneau the weather was great this independence day. My pictures turned out a lot better then last years also.
Yup, I saw Transformers 2, and it was a cinematic abortion. A phrase I have used on Twitter, and Facebook when asked about the sequel to the first live action mistake that Micheal Bay directed in 2007.
Now I know I have said I would never pay to see Transformers 2. I started saying that shortly after seeing the first film. Truth be told I didn’t. A good friend of mine paid for my ticket to see the movie. Partly as a joke. Partly because of the friends we went with like to see me rant and rave about it. But mostly to celebrate the birthday of a good friend.
The movie so rudely, and blatantly went against the 25 year history that Hasbro has with Transformers. Micheal Bay probably can’t tell you a thing about the Transformers mythology. Rather then reading up on it, he reinvented it, changing just about every single aspect of the Transformers story line. He would talk on his website, and forum, explaining his process of auditioning a couple of the original voice actors for the movie parts. It came off as if he was doing all the fans of Transformers a huge favor. As if auditioning them, and giving the voice actgers a roll in his movie would make all his re-imagining of a 25 year old beloved mythology, acceptable to the fans.
I think not.
With the release of Transformers 2 I can easily say I am not the only one who was disappointed with this movie. Professionals in the industry are also not happy with it.
…a horrible experience of unbearable length.” “The day will come when Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen will be studied in film classes and shown at cult film festivals. It will be seen, in retrospect, as marking the end of an era. Of course there will be many more CGI-based action epics, but never again one this bloated, excessive, incomprehensible, long (149 minutes) or expensive (more than $200 million).” Roger Ebert
Transformers 2 has a shot at the title Worst Movie of the Decade. Peter Travers of Rolling Stones
for the uninitiated, it’s loud, tedious, and at 147 minutes, way too long. Ray Bennett of the Hollywood Reporter
it is Bay’s worst-reviewed movie, topping Pearl Harbor. The Washington Post
As I have said before I hope that these Transformers movies bring some interest to people to go back and read and watch the original stories. I hope before I die someone comes along and makes a Transformers movie that should have been made.
For the last couple of months, Hannah and I have been looking for a new apartment here in Juneau. The two of us have been talking for a while now about getting into a place that gets a little more sun light then our current basement apartment does. We were also recently told by our landlords that they are planning on selling the place we currently rent. So these two things combined have pushed us into high gear apartment hunting mode.
We spent over a month looking for a place. We followed up on newspaper ads, Cragslist postings, and just plain old word-of-mouth trying to find a new apartment. We saw several nice places both furnished and unfurnished.
At the suggestion of our friends, we eventually contacted a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Race Realty. After contacting the Realtor and letting her know what we were looking for, it only took her 24 hours to call us back to let us know she found the perfect place.
Our new apartmen is located 5 minutes from where both Hannah and I work. This is a huge plus for us. The apartment is unfurinished. This is kind of a negitive for us. Our old apartment was fully furinished. We don’t own anything to fill up our appartment other then cloths and movies. The apartment is a two bedroom two bath, with a fire place, and water baseboard heading. It also comes with a heated garage, which will be great in the winter time for us. It also comes with a storage closet in the garage.
We get the keys to our new place on July 15th. The wait is driving us both a little crazy, but it will be worth it because it such a nice place.
Shantaram is a novel influenced by real life events that occurred in the life of the author, Australian Gregory David Roberts while living in India.
This is not something I would normally pick out and read on my own. My brother Abe, strongly recommended I read it after he had read it himself. Jokingly he told me that when I go to pick it up, the 900 plus pages are going to look and feel very intimidating. He told me he just could not put the book down. Reading over 200 pages a night he quickly finished it.
Being dyslexic, and working a job that requires me to be on call most nights, this book took me the better part of 6 months to read. But it was worth it even though the last few chapters of the book became way to descriptive in my opinion.
Shantaram is a novel influenced by real events in the life of the author, Australian Gregory David Roberts, filled with mostly fictional adventures. In 1978, Roberts was sentenced to nineteen years’ imprisonment in Australia after being convicted of a series of armed robberies of building society branches, credit unions, and shops, which he had committed to feed a heroin addiction after his marriage ended and he lost his daughter. In July 1980, he escaped from Victoria’s Pentridge Prison in broad daylight, thereby becoming one of Australia’s most wanted men for the next ten years.
In the fictional story, Roberts’ main character arrives in Bombay carrying a fake passport in the name of Lindsay Ford. Bombay was only a stopover on a journey that was to take Lin from New Zealand to Germany, but he decides to stay in the city. Lin soon meets a local man named Prabaker, who he hires as a guide but soon becomes his best friend and renames him Linbaba. Both men visit Prabaker’s native village, Sunder, where Prabaker’s mother christens Lin with the name Shantaram, meaning Man of God’s Peace. On their way back to Bombay and after a night out, Lin and Prabaker are robbed. With all his possessions gone, Lin is forced to live in the slums, giving him shelter from the authorities and free rent in Bombay. After a massive fire on the day of his arrival in the slum, he sets up a free health clinic as a way to contribute to the community. He learns about the local culture and customs in this crammed environment, gets to know and love the people he encounters, and even becomes fluent in Marathi, the local language. He also witnesses and battles outbreaks of cholera and firestorms, becomes involved in trading with the lepers, and experiences how ethnic and marital conflicts are resolved in this densely crowded and diverse community.
The novel contains several other characters, notably a number of foreigners of varied origin and local Indians, highlighting the rich diversity of life in Bombay. Lin falls in love with Karla, a Swiss-American girl who refuses to love him back, befriends local artists and actors landing him roles as an extra in several Bollywood movies, and is recruited by the Bombay underworld for various criminal operations, including drug and weapons trade. Lin eventually lands in Bombay’s Arthur Road Prison, where he endures many beatings and other physical and mental abuse by guards, while existing under extremely squalid conditions, along with hundreds of other inmates. However, thanks to the protection of Afghani mafia don “Abdel Khader Khan”, Lin is eventually released, and works in black market currency exchange and passport forgery. Having travelled as far as Africa on trips commissioned by the mafia, Lin later goes to Afghanistan to smuggle weapons for mujahideen freedom fighters in Afghanistan. When his mentor Khan is killed, Lin realizes he became everything he grew to loathe and falls into depression after he returns. He decides that he must fight for what he believes is right, and build an honest life
After reading up on the author, and a little more info on the book’s Wikipedia page, I have come to learn that a movie should be coming out based on the book in 2010. I am pretty exited to see it and I hope I get to see it with my brother.
In the mid-1970’s parents were nervous about RPGs. Concerns were fuelled by inaccurate and sensational media reports that re-branded D&D as a cult. This may have increased sales of D&D at the time but it also left tabletop RPGs with a reputation of begin a bit ‘out there’ or ‘niche’. Any school or library that tried to encourage RPGs risked complaints from parents.
Thirty years on most parents would be delighted to see their kids unplugging themselves from super violent console titles to read rules books, meet up face to face with real friends and enjoy imaginative storytelling.
What do I love about Dungeons & Dragons? It has to be the socializing. The funny banter between friends. That is by far the best thing about Dungeons & Dragons. Getting together on a lazy Saturday afternoon to hang out and talk with friends. Maybe having a BBQ. It’s just all in all good times. That aspect alone makes up why I love playing Dungeons & Dragons.
I find that the week or two I have to prepare for a game as a DM (Dungeon Master) is a great creative outlet for me. I draw and plan out maps, encounters, battles, and wars. I even find myself sometimes picking out the background music I would like to have playing when the game actually starts. If the weather permits I will try and sit outside with a couple of rule books, some colored pencils, graph paper, my iPod and just go to town.
Since Hannah and I started playing Dungeons & Dragons it has become one of the big highlights of our weekend. It will be a great distraction for us here in Juneau when the weather turns cold and we enter the darker months.