Flowers For Algernon

Just finished another book from my reading list, Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, which won both the Hugo and the Nebula award.  Not what I would classify as a sci fi story, but there is more than enough science in it to justify the label.  

To be honest, the book was a lot better than I thought it would be.  Following Charlie's ascent from an IQ of 68 to an IQ over 180 was interesting and causes one to think about the nature of learning.  Painful for the first few pages, though nowhere near the level of Clockwork Orange (another on my reading list that I haven't been able to pick up), I was surprised at how much I liked it as it went on.  Though I have no earthly idea how the operation would work, its results seemed believable.   Reminded me strongly of Plato's Cave allegory, which is a good thing since it mentions it throughout the book and quotes it at the beginning.

The style of the book is set in progress reports written by Charlie, which normally bothers me but worked for this.  I could say something cliched and trite about how it shows how ignorance can be bliss or how intelligence (which ironically I can't spell) doesn't equal happiness.  Though I don't think either are what the book is trying for.  I'll leave that up to however picks this book up, cause I doubt that it will affect anyone the same way twice. 

And yes, you did miss me actually shed a tear for this book.  Sorry, B.I. Or whatever it is you're calling yourself now.

Wiki page for Flowers:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowers_for_Algernon

And Plato's allegory for those who weren't forced to learn it in high school English:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato%27s_allegory_of_the_cave

And I'm bad at the reviewing thing.  That's why there are Wiki links.

Panda Kung Fu - Or - Skadush

Previews 

First off, Steve Martin, I love you as an actor and a comedian, you are one my favorites, but please please please please please don't make any more Pink Panthers.  Peter Sellers is Inspector Clouseau and will forever be cemented as thus in my mind.  

And I still want to see Walle.  And after Indiana Jones and the aliens-who-decided-to-build-a-spaceship-in-the-middle-of-South-America-for-some-random-reason, as well as the new Star Wars trilogy (which, granted, I've only sat through the first one, but I've seen enough of the other two to know that I don't really want to sit through them....), I think I'll pass on the Lucas Arts productions for a while.

And omg! The Mummy is coming back.  With Jet Li.  And Brendon Fraiser.  And an actress who is not the original Evelyn?!?!?  They got all the originals except her.  I like her.  We'll see how it turns out.

Kung Fu Panda

To start with, I like Kung Fu movies.  I realize that being female and liking Kung Fu does not mix well in the real world, but I like the plots, as recycled as they may seem, and the fighting.  Kung Fu Hustle is one of my top movies, and Shaolin Soccer is somewhere in the Top 100.  So when I first heard of the movie and its premise I wanted to go.  Luckily after about the third or fourth (or eighth or ninth depending on who you ask) time I asked F.D. to go, she finally agreed.

Be warned.  This is a children's movie.  This movie does not rely on sex to sell the plot or characters.  This movie does not rely on shock value, language, drugs, gore, or over the top violence.  Instead it relies on its graphics, the humor, the over the top comedic expression and plot.  Yes, a worthwhile plot in a children's movie.  We haven't seen this since, I'd say, Shrek.  Or Nemo.  Or Meet the Robinsons.  (If I left out a movie, I apologize, I've been awake for 18 straight hours, my memory has fallen asleep already).  

IMHO, and this I stress, I'm beginning to think (with the exception of movies such as Iron Man and Caspian), children's movies are the only things worth watching in the movies theatres.  In order to keep kids in the seats, everything has to be exaggerated.  For the adults who bring the kids, humor that is over said toddlers heads and some sort of strung together plot that falls apart with one simple question (like the Dog Hotel preview?  Where are these kids getting all this money to buy the dog food?  Did I miss the after school special on knocking over banks or something?).  

This movie puts them all together and actually comes out with a movie that will be added to my library once it comes out.  Trying not to give away the plot is hard, but it is a very good movie that had the entire theatre, which was 85-90% full, and 85% of said previous percentages were college students, laughing for a full 30 seconds in several parts, only to stop to hear the next bit of dialogue.  Overall, go see it, especially when trying to find something out that isn't about 5 (3? 6? How many of them are there) women having sex and complaining, people questioning how exactly they got married in America's sin capital, and crime fighting hairdressers (though I would rather like to see the last one).

And look for the dumpling scene.  

A review from me :)

Imafish and I just got back from watching the Kung-Fu Panda, the new Jack Black animated film, and I just have to rant/rave about it as our first real post =)

To begin with, the previews sucked. I know its a children's movie, but honestly the best preview on it was the Wall-E one (I think thats how you spell it) which is starting to get a lil old to me. Other than that there was a Pink Panther 2 snippet (which imafish groaned mightily at) and a Star Wars: The Clone Wars preview... to which I took exception. To begin with the animation is odd, the background characters (i.e. the aliens and Yoda) look pretty good if not decent, but the two main humans and the main 'girl' look bloody weird, none of them look like a decent representative of their respective species. Its this girl though, this lovely token girl that bothers me the most (the feminist in me at least). She is described as being as brash as Anakin but trained in the old ways like Obi-Wan, sounds cool right? A refreshingly strong female lead character, right? Nope... as far as I can tell from these previews. She has the voice of a timid 10 year old, meek and polite, and she is dressed far too sexually, especially for a children's type of movie. While Anakin and Obi-Wan are dressed in their long flowing Jedi robes and are given primacy in the scenes and movie poster, she is shoved off to the side wearing a tube top and mini skirt that are only shades off from her skin color and thigh high boots. Yeah... great female role model there Lucas Arts, lets show the girls what it means to be a good, strong minded girl... flashing skin and pandering to the men around you.

*deep breath* Ok enough ranting... for the moment...

Now back to your regularly scheduled review folks. I absolutely loved this movie. The animation in it was so gorgeous, subtly Asian inspired with beautiful facial expressions and personalities. I have to say the turtle was by far my favorite, but mostly because he reminds me of my Papa, especially the part where he can kung-fu-ify anyone who pisses him off. The movie had a great little moral to it too for the kiddies. And I was actually rather impressed that 2 of the Heroic 5 were female (yes, I know I said no more ranting, but its been more than a moment on this side of the authorial line). Granted they were the only two females in the cast (there is like a total of 12 characters), but I was rather pleased that there wasn't just a token female and they weren't sexualized! For once many of the male characters were wearing less clothing and were more 'sexualized' than the females. Oh Hallelujah! The best part, the main female was supposed to be the heroine, the Dragon Warrior, and she was by far the most competent, graceful, and heroic of the Heroic 5. Sadly though, the blundering man (panda) managed to nab it out of her hands, silly firework chair. Anyways, really good movie. There is an absolutely hilarious part about midway through, the ENTIRE theater was cracking up for a good 30 seconds if not more.

All in all, this will definitely have to go into my library as soon as it comes out and I actually have money.... yay for being a broke college student no one wants to hire for some ungodly unknown reason.

Night y'all

Test

Imafish has no alcohol tolerance... one pink puppy and she's gone... but supposedly it was a strong pink puppy... as strong as a pastel canine can be. More bloggin to come....