The Lonely Light of Morning

Happy Feet and Women in the Media

2008-06-15T00:34:07Z

    I love this movie. Seriously. Most of the negative reviews I've read on it regard it as something like Fern Gully. Well, I loved that movie too. And honestly, the only thing like it is the hint of environmental consciousness. But, unlike Fern Gully, Happy Feet has -so- many other messages to send that are really popular for children's movies these days. Messages about it being okay to be different, being true to yourself, having the courage to do what's right. It's really a sweet movie. And with Green being big, the environmental awareness bit should have been better accepted. Movies like this and Fern Gully open children's eyes to such issues, and even if you're not an activist or a tree-hugger (like me), I think there's something to be said about teaching children to respect the planet.

    These things are important for kids, especially with all the changes society is going through constantly-- gay marriages are acceptable now, geeks are getting cooler, and people like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears are getting less popular. People like Queen Latifah and Laila Ali are getting screen time and making appearances on shows that are popular to show women that it's okay to be heavier set-- and that you can still be damn sexy while doing so. I was absolutely -amazed- at how hot Laila looked on Dancing with the stars. As a boxer, you don't expect her to have the bod and the moves for dancing, but I doubt there was anyone who could tear their eyes from her when she was. I know my dad was stunned by how hot she looked-- he even mentioned it a couple of times when my mom and I had the show on.

    Of course, there is something incredibly alluring about a woman who could kick a man's ass. Even for someone as heterosexual as I am, it's hugely attractive. I think that's why my favourite stars tend to be the ones who play women who can take care of themselves. Milla Jovovich, my one true love, is admittedly not conventionally pretty. But to me, she's probably the hottest person on the planet. It's not just the badassness, but that certainly helps. The same for Kate Beckinsale, though she's definitely more of the conventional attractiveness. The nice thing about Kate, though, is that she can shed the kickass fantasy genre character and still look stunning-- Click is what actually turned me on to her, though I afterwards realized how gorgeous she was in Van Helsing and Underworld.

But it's the diversity of body shapes and skin colours that are becoming attractive that really makes me smile. I sincerely hope America continues down this path, because this kind of acceptance and love could really change the world. ^_-

Resident Evil

2008-03-26T16:55:48Z

Allright, so, here's something I've been thinking about a lot. Shino does this Podcast called Interactive Distractions, and their question of the week last week was about video games made into movies. I mentioned, during my response, that Resident Evil was brilliantly written and got guffawed at a little for it (not by him, but by one of the other people on the show.). Instinctively, I agreed that I'd been a bit dumb to say that, but...thinking on it more, I really do believe it was brilliantly written.

Taking into consideration that it's a zombie movie and a video game movie especially, they did a fantastic job. They made a zombie movie that wasn't cheesy, and a video game movie that wasn't awful-- something that's damn near impossible to do.

Putting that aside, though, I still think it is a well-written series. Especially the first movie. There was enough action to keep your interest, enough story to make you really think, and the characters had enough focus you really -cared- about them, unlike most action movies. I was -so- upset when Rain died that I wanted to throw something at the screen. And my heart broke for Matt when he was taken away after being bitten. And poor Alice-- she just wanted to do the right thing and got slammed in the middle of all of this.

In the later movies, Alice continues to be a well-written character. I love her depth, and that they managed to make a chick who was tough and strong but not heartless or evil. My heart absolutely -broke- in the third movie when (SPOILER IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT)

Oded Fehr's character dies. I love that she saved -him-, and yet he still wasn't entirely a 'damsel-in-distress'. He just got about as good a part as most female characters get these days, being rescued all the time, while not entirely helpless. But no, in RE, Alice does the rescuing. And she does a damn fantastic job of it.

((END SPOILERS))

I loved the Nemesis project in II and how it broke your heart when you find out he's Matt. I love the disgusting creepiness of the zombies. I love the whole virus storyline.

I -didn't- like the virus mutating from airborne into blood-transmitted, because that seemed to be stretching it out so that they could infect the whole building quickly in the first movie more than actually believable.

I -didn't- like the way they did the T-Virus in the storyline with the little girl, because it wasn't really explained very well how and why the virus helped her. And I didn't like the random disappearance of both the girl and Valentine in the third movie, because um...wtf? I think they at least mentioned that Valentine died, but other than that, we have very little idea of what happened between the movies and why they disappeared.

Overall, though, it brings up some really hard issues. I mean, what -do- you do when a quickly-spreading infection is killing people? Lock up the city and let healthy people die so that you can control the virus? And what about killing your friends so they don't turn into brain-eating monsters? While it's not something you're likely to run into, it's really an interesting question. Could you kill your friend if the alternative was something that evil?

While it's not Blockbuster material, I think movies like this get a bad rap because people don't look at fantasy or science fiction, or horror as well-written simply because of their genre. People think that movies can only be good if they deal with generic every day life settings or if they're Lord of the Rings-- a classic and epic sort've tale or Pirates of the Caribbean, which probably only made it up there for stunning special effects and Johnny Depp. (not that I don't think those two series aren't beautifully fantastic, but with the way critics and the general public seem to think, this is the only way I can see that they've done so well.)

It just really sucks that a lot of good movies are cast aside because of the type of movie they are, rather than being looked at for their actual content.

Just an update

2008-03-26T16:38:01Z

To make sure that everyone's clear-- I've decided to start using this journal again...but not for the same purposes as before. My Shandriz journal will hold all the information on what's going on in my life. This is just going to be for me to write about things that interest/intrigue me. At the moment, these are gaming related, but there may be other things too that I bring up eventually.

Feel free to de-friend me here if you're not interested in the stuff I post about. I promise I won't be offended. XD

Introduction

2004-04-05T20:19:14Z

This journal will be for friends only. And by that, I mean actual friends, not just people who want to put me on their list of people whose journals they read. If you're just looking for another name to add to your list, my other journal shandriz incorporates all my less personal information, and therefore is suitable for people who don't want to know me so much as read about what I do.

This journal will serve the express purpose of allowing me to jot down my thoughts, thoughts that may or may not lose me friends. I fully expect that, over time, I may very well lose some friends over this journal. But if I do, it is only because they don't really want to know who I am.

If those of you who are listed ever want off the list, just post and you will be immediately removed. If you want back on, you'll have to discuss it with me. If you want on to begin with, you'll have to discuss it with me. People won't be added to this journal lightly. I don't want everyone knowing about my own issues.

You have been warned.