SEVEN POUNDS.

When I saw the trailer for this, I thought it looked really good. However, as I was going into the movie, I still didn’t know what I was going to be seeing. Unfortunately, I still didn’t know what I was seeing until about halfway into the movie. Ben Thomas (Will Smith) is supposedly an IRS Agent going around doing a bunch of really big favors for seven different strangers, and for reasons unbeknownst to the audience. The first we meet is a blind man named Ezra (Woody Harrelson), who Ben is a complete jackass to. But then we come across Emily Posa (Rosario Dawson), a young woman with congenial heart disease. The relationship between Emily and Ben builds until they become more romantically linked. But Ben still has his mysterious mission to complete, even if it’s now become slightly complicated.

Let me start off by saying I thought the film was really good. I enjoyed it quite a bit. However, it tries to be too much of a mystery to the point where you really have no idea what’s happening… ever. Is Ben really the douche he seemed to be within the first ten minutes? Why is he helping these strangers? How are they connected? Or are they? Is he really helping them out, or is it part of something greater? What the hell is his plan, anyway? Everything about it is spoken in such ambiguous terms, it was almost like hearing “You know that plan about that thing we talked about that one time at that place? Well, it’s the next one’s turn now in the process of the thing I’m doing which you know of because of our history together… you know, because we know each other from sometime back in the day.” There were really moments where the movie almost felt like it was going out of its way to stay mysterious. Though the second it shows one of the first flashback glimpses of what occurred, everything snaps together and the movie becomes easier to follow. But this is two-fold, because this moment happens at the middle of the film (or so). So you’ve just gone through the first half of the film shrouded in confusing mystery, but now you’re going through the last half of the film with everything easily figured out.

However, those were really the only issues I had, and they really didn’t bother me all that much. I’ve read other reviews stating things like the movie is very slow moving, or it’s overly sappy or whatever. I didn’t have any of these issues. I felt that maybe the first 10 or 15 minutes or so were a bit confusing, especially in trying to figure out what kind of person Ben Thomas is (douche or saint?), but besides that I didn’t find it slow moving at all. And there’s some romance in there, and there’s a lot of heartfelt moments (no pun intended) that add up, but I didn’t think it was overwhelming at all.

In fact, Will Smith has shown once again that he can carry a movie. He did a very fine acting performance here. You never know what’s going on in his head, but you can always tell how conflicted or sorrowful or happy or whatnot he is just by looking at his face. He really dug himself into the character. The same with Rosario Dawson, too, who really showed that pain of not being able to live her life to the fullest because of her heart condition. But the one person I want to give the shout out to here is Woody Harrelson. He’s not in the movie very much, but he’s always a presence in the back of your mind, and I think that says something about how he pulled off the character. I constantly wanted to see what was going to happen next with his character, and he’s really only in the movie about 3 times, each time less than 5 minutes.

So besides some editing (or possibly writing) issues, I thought the movie was very good. It does tug at the emotions. It makes you happy when you’re supposed to be, sad when you’re supposed to be, and even uncomfortable when you’re supposed to be. I think that says something about the actors and actresses, because it was really all about the acting once you got the story figured out.

I Am McLovin!

LKMYNTS: I'm A Cyborg, But That's OK.

So I’ve wanted to see this movie for a very long time, and I finally got around to doing so. Though this movie is incredibly hard to come by (even outside the US), so finding a way to watch it was that much more difficult. But it was written and directed by Chan-wook Park, the same guy who did one of my favorite movies, Oldboy. However, it couldn’t be any more different (including the fact that Oldboy was an action/drama, and this is a comedy… for the most part, anyway).

I could attempt to give you a plot summary here, like I usually would, but that’s incredibly difficult for one major reason: there’s really no plot. The best I can describe it is thus: Young-goon (Su-jeong Lim) is a young woman who loses touch with reality after her schizophrenic grandmother is taken away (basically leaving her in the care of her overprotective mother). Young-goon, highly affected by her grandmother's fate, also seems to gain schizophrenia and suddenly believes she’s a cyborg, and she makes a promise to her mother not to tell anybody about it (so they couldn’t keep her locked up). Well, they put her in an insane asylum wherein she talks to electronics and meets a young man by the name of Il-soon (Rain), who is a thief that wears different masks in order to take people’s souls (and, in essence, their mental disabilities). But when Young-goon refuses to eat any food in fear of breaking down, Il-soon takes it upon himself to try and get her to eat before she starves to death.

But with a movie that is just shy of two hours long, that miniscule plot really doesn’t stretch itself over the whole time frame. No, what the movie really banks on is its cast of characters. The whole movie is more of a character study than a plot-driven tale. All of the other asylum inmates each have their own mental issues (obviously), most of which get their own moments to shine. And it’s really the attention to detail that this movie really pulls through. The camera can be just steadily going down a hallway or through a courtyard, and in the background you see each character doing their own thing and staying perfectly in character, even if they’re not even remotely close to being the focus of the scene.

But of course the two main characters are those of Young-goon and Il-soon, who form the almost heartbreaking romance (heartbreaking because of the circumstances) of the film. To me, Rain stole the show as Il-soon. Whether he was hopping around like a rabbit (and digging out his wedgies immediately after), stealing other people’s ‘souls’ and taking over their character traits, fidgeting with his masks, or earnestly trying to help Young-goon stay alive, he was really the most interesting character of the entire movie. And what I really loved about both the characters is that there were a lot of hints as to what happened to both of them in their pasts to bring them to this point, but it’s never just spelled out for you. And there’s always that hint of sadness linked in with the comedy. And that’s really the genius of Chan-wook Park, because if you’ve seen Oldboy, you know that his movies are very psychological and never only one layer deep.

Though this really brings me to one of my only issues with the movie: sometimes it tried a bit too hard to give another metaphor (because truly, the movie was nothing but metaphors and symbolisms). You know that everything is fake and all the fantasy elements are just happening in their heads, but there were moments I felt didn’t need to be in the movie and could have been trimmed down a bit. They were few and far between, but they were there. Because a movie with so little plot—as well as the fact that the first half of the film and the second half of the film don’t really match up in what’s been focused on (the other patients all but disappear in the last third of the movie)—doesn’t need to be almost two hours long. Other than that, the movie was golden.

At first I also really disliked the ending. It ends, and I’m staring at the screen like “what the hell?” But after a couple minutes to digest it and think about it, the more brilliant it became to me (and this was before I read about a part I actually didn’t catch, which just adds to its brilliance). It’s a lot like Oldboy’s epilogue, to me. I didn’t much care for that at first, either. But both endings are very open-ended, leaving you up to so many different interpretations. And I really don’t want to spoil anything (so if you’ve seen the movie, leave a comment so we can discuss it).

I also wanted to talk about the visuals and cinematography of the film, which were just beautiful. There’s a lot of use of color pallets all around. The movie is just very bright and colorful and really gorgeous to watch. The only iffy visuals were the CGI moments during the cyborg fantasy with the guns. Otherwise, it looked really good. And the camera work was great, as well. There were a lot of interesting shots with mirrors, and there were some good long-shots down hallways and such (nothing as epic as the side-scrolling battle in Oldboy, though).

Really, my last notes about this film are that you can’t go into it expecting your brain to function properly. Most people who have disliked the movie have straight-up said they disliked it because it didn’t make any sense. Well, after the brilliant opening 10 minutes (confusing at first, brilliant in hindsight) that basically foreshadow the fact that nothing can be taken logically or at face value, you should know what you’re getting yourself into. It’s a movie about crazy people, and you’re going to be submersed into their world fully. The best I can describe it is that it’s like at the end of that Robin Williams movie, What Dreams May Come: the guy says not to stay in the house too long or he’ll start to lose his mind and go crazy, too. Well, the longer you stay with the movie, the crazier you have to think in order to keep up with the utter randomness and chaos of the film. But in the end, the movie is really beautiful and touching… if you can understand it.

A Keanu 'Whoa'

So, I suppose it's official now...

Between the hours of 11 AM and 1 PM (or thereabouts) today--December 13, 2008--I attended a ceremony that, for whatever reasons, decided to bestow upon me (and a bunch of other people) a Bachelor's degree (mine, specifically, in English... teaching certificate should be coming shortly, as all I really have left to do for it is register to receive it and get fingerprinted).

So I suppose I'm officially a college graduate now. Hoorah!

40 Inspirational Movie Speeches In 2 Minutes.

This is just freakin awesome. I had to share it. This guy really had some time on his hands. It almost inspired me to do something like it myself...

R2D2... The One With Five Trailers.

I haven't posted anything in a couple days, I know... but just to appease everybody, here are some interesting trailers!

- First, we have the ever-so-popular (and newest) trailer for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Even the music is epic!

- Now, this trailer for Fast and Furious is pretty cool... it shows how all the original cast are back, too... and there's just something about the music that pumps me up.

- Dragonball Evolution? Almost nothing like the show, but at least James Marsters is Piccolo... and to hear Goku powering up for the Kamehameha at the end is pretty fun.

- Is it just me, or is The Unborn actually looking to be a good horror movie? It's just so rare for that to happen these days (I think one of the last great horror movies to grace the silver screen was 28 Weeks Later... though I might be forgetting one). Maybe it's just the fact that Gary Oldman is in it that gives it some form of credibility. I mean, Gary Oldman wouldn't be in a crappy movie, right? ... right?

- Finally, I'll leave you with the newest of the trailers (next to the Dragonball one), Terminator Salvation. The full trailer just was released the other day, and it actually looks pretty good. It doesn't even look like it's being directed by a guy named McG. Although... it does kind of set up the whole mystery of the film... and then spoil it by giving us the answer about a minute later.

Thoughts On The Original Star Wars Trilogy.

So this weekend I did something that I haven’t done since I was a little kid: I watched the original Star Wars trilogy. Granted, they were the updated versions (which I’ll get to momentarily), but the original trilogy nonetheless. Now, let me prelude by saying most of what I have to say has probably been said thousands of times by more avid Star Wars fans than myself, but I now want to put myself among the (lesser) ranks with my own opinion now that I’ve re-watched the first ones at a more recent time in my life.

There’s really no reason to do a movie-by-movie focus. I can talk about all three at once. The first two are obviously the best (with Empire inching out on top, of course). Return of the Jedi wasn’t terrible, but it had a lot of problems with making me want to actually focus on the film. The whole first part of the film at Jabba’s was great. And the speeder chase through the trees is awesome. The final showdown between Luke, the Emperor, and Vader? Good stuff. The rest, though? It was… alright. And I’m not gonna riff on the Ewoks, either. I think the biggest issues dealt with the fact that the first two films were these gritty, religious, Hero’s-Journey epics, while the third was more of a light-hearted romp into the land of slapstick and fantasy. It just didn’t feel like it fully belonged (outside the specific scenes previously mentioned).

And speaking of religion, I now understand where people are coming from in some annoyance with the prequel trilogy. The Force is symbolic for religion, obviously, and you have to have faith in it in order to be strong with it. And then there’s the ‘good’ and ‘dark’ sides of it. But then you get into the prequel trilogy, and it’s midiclorians? The Force has gone from religion to science? That just doesn’t seem right (or as awesome).

And another thing that made me question the prequels was the fact that in the original, Luke was able to become a Jedi in a matter of a year or so (I’m not sure how long is between Empire and Jedi, though I figure a good chunk of time). However, in the prequels, Anakin is said to be way too old to even begin training (granted, Yoda says the same of Luke), but Anakin was only like… 8. Luke was much older than that. And not only does it take over a decade for Anakin to become a full-fledged Jedi, but they blame starting his training too late (I believe) on him going to the dark side. If it was so late for Anakin at his young age, then Luke really must have been God-like to withstand the Emperor.

But anyway, back to the original trilogy. The biggest issue I had with them mainly started in Empire, which was Han and Leia’s relationship. It comes mostly out of nowhere and doesn’t really develop. It just happens. But besides that, the only other issue I had came with the revamp of the special effects. Because when the stop-motion looks better than your re-done computer graphics, you know something’s up. I would have much preferred seeing the original versions. Not to mention the whole Han versus Greedo issue that stemmed from it. I wasn’t even a hardcore fan, and even I felt like adding in Greedo’s initial shot diminishes the character arch of Han from anti-hero to hero. Though that will annoy me when people say “Han shot first!” Because technically, Han didn’t shoot first. He just shot. It requires two people to shoot for there to be a first or second, and if you say Han shot first, you’re acknowledging the re-vamped version as the appropriate version, in which it is actually Greedo that technically shoots first. So congratulations, you’re stupid in two different ways (sorry, I just felt like making a Role Models reference).

I really don’t want to beat a dead horse here, though. I’m pretty much in agreement with the vast majority on almost every aspect. My opinion doesn’t differ much from anybody else. I’d say the only differences would be that I don’t find the Ewoks to be annoying (just out-of-place), nor do I dislike Jar Jar Binks from the prequels. But the prequels aren’t really supposed to be the focus of this Thoughts On… though I really think I’ve already messed that up. Oh well. Might as well stop while I’m ahead. Though if you’d like my opinions on any of the films or certain aspects of any of the films, just hit me up in the comments, and I’d be happy to converse with you about it (in fact, that’d be quite loverly).

So until next time!

Book Review: "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" by J.K. Rowling.

Yesterday (12/4/08), J.K. Rowling's newest 'book' was released: The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Now, for those of you who haven't read the Harry Potter books, this probably won't make any sense to you. The Tales of Beedle the Bard played a huge role in the final installment of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, specifically the story "The Tale of the Three Brothers." The book is supposedly a translation from ancient runes by Hermione Granger and includes an introduction and specific footnotes by J.K. Rowling, with special notes on the stories (along with his own personal footnotes) by Albus Dumbledore.

But this book wasn't always going to be up for sale. At first, Mrs. Rowling only made about 7 bejeweled copies that she was giving to those close to her, and the final one up for charity auction. But due to a giant fan uproar that nobody who wasn't filthy rich would ever be able to read it, J.K. Rowling decided to mass produce it, though give all proceeds to charity (as she has always done with her other companion books, Quidditch Through The Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them). There were two versions available for buy: the regular hardcover copy, or the leather-bound, bejeweled version for $100+. Needless to say, I went for the regular.

The book is a quick and easy read, at only a little over 100 pages (and huge font). There are only five little fairy tales, and all of them include notes afterward by Dumbledore. Let me first discuss each story.

"The Wizard and the Hopping Pot" comes first and is an interesting and highly moralistic story. In fact, it's probably the most straight-forward and obvious with its moral. It's about a bad-tempered wizard who inherets a magical cauldron from his father, though refuses to use it to help the people of his village.

"The Fountain of Fair Fortune" is second and probably the most lighthearted of the five. And as it is the most lighthearted, it is almost the most uninteresting and predictable (with one exception... I really didn't see the last line coming). It's about three witches and a knight who journey through the trials and tribulations before them in order to get to a fountain that is supposed to cure all their ills, even though only one of them can be selected to be cured.

"The Warlock's Hairy Heart" is the third and easily the most demented and dark of the five. There are some descriptions in there that I really didn't expect to find, especially after following a story like "The Fountain of Fair Fortune." It's about a man who finds love trifle and silly, so he performs a specific dark magic to make himself invulnerable to it... but then decides that he wants to attempt marriage after all.

"Babbity Rabbity and Her Cackling Stump" is fourth and, despite the oddest named of the fairy tales, is one of the more entertaining ones. It made me wonder what was going to happen next. It's about a foolish king who threatens death to all who use magic, but wants to be the only (and therefore most powerful) wizard in the land, so he hires an apparent sorcerer to teach him, though he's nothing more than a con man.

"The Tale of the Three Brothers" is the final story and the one that each Harry Potter fan should know if they've read the seventh book. The story is much like something one would find by reading the Canterbury Tales, I've always thought. It's about three brothers who cheat Death and, as a reward, each choose an item to better themselves: the Elder Wand (the most powerful wand ever created), the Resurrection Stone (a stone that could supposedly 'bring back' the dead), and Death's own Invisibility Cloak (which would never wear out).

All five stories are unique and entertaining in their own way, but I found the true entertainment of the book came from Dumbledore's notes. These extended my knowledge into the magical world and its vast and expansive history. It was always interesting to read about the different 'people' that lived in the past of the magical world and how they helped to establish how things came about in the modern day. There's really not much more to say about this. The stories were entertaining, but it was all the extra notes that made this read very much worth it. I can't wait to see if they're going to model the look of The Tales of Beedle the Bard in the seventh/eighth movie(s) after the $100+ version of the book. I think that'd be pretty cool.

Overall, if you're a fan of the books, you know you'll have to get this. If you follow the movies instead of the books, I'd stick away from this for now, as it is slightly spoilerous to some of the future events that have yet to occur in the films. But if you prefer the movies over the books to begin with, there's no point in addressing you, as you wouldn't go out to buy this anyway. But for those who are book fans... check it out. It's worth it.

(Note: Just keep in mind, even in the realm of Harry Potter, these were stories (fairy tales) for little kids, so don't go in expecting HP-level depth or anything. The most you'll find is discussions of morals and slight racism/equality in Dumbledore's notes).

The Student Teacher Chronicles: The Last Three Days + Epilogue.

I had a week off for Thanksgiving and had to come back a little more. It’s time for the last three days. Here we go!

Monday

So I didn’t do much first period, as usual. Then I taught for about half of each period for second through fifth. We finished up the unit of vocabulary we had been on, talked about the new week of homework, and then discussed how everybody needed to actually finish what was actually due the Friday before Thanksgiving break. Then my mentor teacher took over and talked to them for a little while before letting them loose to work on stuff. The only class that really didn’t do much was fifth period, which my mentor got on them about. But the really weird part was sixth period, which I’ve been used to teaching on my own since nearly the beginning of school. Well, my mentor teacher basically took over completely, so I just sat back and observed the entire class period (occasionally inserting a random comment or joke) as they started a new one-act play. But it was completely bizarre (and slightly frustrating) not to do anything for that period. Then my mentor had to go to yet another meeting, so I was left alone for a while with instructions to leave at 4 PM and close the locked door behind me. Well, I did… but then I went into another teacher’s room with a couple other students who had been in there with me and talked to them for another 30 minutes just randomly, so I didn’t actually leave until about 4:30. But it was good fun.


Tuesday

I started off Tuesday by giving my mentor a thank you card (with 10 special lines written in it of why I was thankful for her… and I made 10 because I know she’s OCD and would want an even number, which made her happy. She also complimented my use of anaphora) and a small gift card. Then first period, I basically sat back while they finished up a quiz and then gave some biblical allusion explanations. I did, however, have to grade the last presentation/question set for that class, as they didn’t go before the break.

Second through fifth period was totally random. All the periods got pretty much the same announcement speech (about what was due this week and about the next day being my last day and how we could all just party). But what each class got accomplished was different. Second period worked on different things (depending on what was owed), and we got into some interesting and fun discussions about random things from math to religion. Fun times. Third period went to do that physical training thing that first and fourth periods had to go to during my solo teach, but then came back and talked a little bit about literary term stuff. Fourth period got the most done (mostly because it’s a split lunch/long class). They got pretty far with the lit terms discussion. But the one guy who gets on most everybody’s nerves finally took my mentor over the edge, and she was forced to send him out of the room. Fifth period was mostly a discussion between my mentor and the class on how she can help make the class better as there are so many people failing (due to laziness, really). So in other words, I didn’t do anything but sit back and chat with some of the students throughout the classes.

Then sixth period was fun, even though I still wasn’t doing anything. Of course, I had created my biggest bonds with the students in this class, so I had some of the biggest reactions to the me leaving/party time discussion (and some of the funniest). But they finished up the play, though the reading of it was hilarious as always.

And during seventh period conference, a woman came in to work with my mentor teacher on something for her Safe and Civil Schools group, which took the entire conference. I about fell asleep while they were talking (because not only did I have no idea what they were talking about, but I wasn’t included in any of it, nor did I have anything else to do). But as soon as the bell rang, the room was bombarded by students wanting help for stuff (most of which was stuff that was due WEEKS ago). By the time everybody had got stuff in order and my mentor had a couple talks with some parents (both on phone and in person). But throughout the day, it was funny, because she got permission from two different parents of two different kids to feel free to beat them if they act stupid in class (ironically, both for students in fourth period).

But then my mentor teacher got a call from her husband and had to leave, so we just left then, which was about 5. Oh, I also had another teacher come in and give me the whole congrats/best wishes/glad to know you thing since she wasn’t going to be there the next day. And that leads us to…


Wednesday – The Final Day

So, did I fail to mention that on my last, final day of student teaching, my mentor teacher is also NOT there all day due to yet another meeting? Nor were half of the other teachers, either. A rather ironic way to end student teaching, but still… Well, my mentor teacher was there before school, but that was it. Then she left for meetings all day off-campus.

So first period we finished up with biblical allusions (which was fun). One of the girls also brought cupcakes (chocolate), which is—of course—a hearty breakfast. I took the one with a yellow smiley face ring on it. At the end of class, I started them on what they would need for the next day.

Second through fifth periods didn’t bring anything for the class, though. But second period, one girl (and a quiet one I didn’t talk to much, at that) brought me this large baggie full of what looks like powdered-sugar-covered chex mix, but tasted more like Reese’s peanut butter cups chex. Awesome stuff. Otherwise, all the regular classes did was study for and take their vocab quiz and then work more on essay/project stuff. The only other real thing of note was the in fifth period, all we really did was riff on each other the whole time, though I did gain a lot more respect for not only being able to dish it out, but for being able to take as much as I did.

On the other side of that spectrum, the Crazy Girl in sixth period can dish it out, but cannot receive it. While everybody else was saying how much they’d miss me, she was saying stuff like “I’m not going to miss you. I’m happy you’re leaving,” and other things like that. So when we started new vocab words, I had her read number 12, which just-so-happened to be the word ‘obnoxious.’ She wasn’t thrilled, and she threw a fit. Then she was in a really bad and grumpy mood for the rest of class. And at times, she resorted back to her "I'm the best writer in the world and will be famous someday" thing, in which I would roll my eyes at her and continue doing whatever. But another thing this class did was put together what my mentor called the “Book of Jobe” (get it?) and passed it around the room to say nice things about and/or to me. I’ll get to what Crazy Girl said shortly (because it was special).

But what I was most surprised about was them giving me a gift bag (which happened to say “New Baby” on the front) and some…interesting stuff inside. The most interesting is a tall red candle with a picture of Pancho Villa on the front. Then there was an un-opened VHS tape of an old Zelda cartoon show. And then a Napoleon Dynamite birthday card with things written in it by almost everybody in the class. It was the most random gift bag ever, but it completely personified that creative writing class.

The only other major thing I did that day was proofread a 15-page research paper for one of the other teachers, which I gave back and talked to about during seventh period conference (just briefly). Then I just cleaned up the room a bit and left, just in time to see that new teacher walking down the hall, so we just walked out together. I was out by about 2:55 or so. And it was a melancholy joy (also known as a bittersweet moment), because while I was glad to be done with student teaching, I will miss some of the students a lot. But life goes on, and so does teaching, and I’ll meet new sets of kids every year. That’s just something else I’ve learned during this experience. And that leads us to the last thing I want to say…


Epilogue

I knew I wanted to give my final thoughts in an epilogue at the end of all of this, and I figured I would just write about everything I’ve learned in this experience. But after today, I found out exactly what I want to say here, which is the most important thing I probably could have learned in the whole experience.

My biggest issue was that I was too nice and too laid back, which let them run all over me at times. I wanted everybody to like me as well as do well, which just wasn’t going to work. And I realized that early on with one particular student, so I knew I had to do something special, something different in order to get through to this person. And I couldn’t have been happier to read Crazy Girl’s final words to me in the “Book of Jobe” after they had all gone on to their last classes of the day. The following are her own words:

“Bye.
I really don’t think I have anything nice to say. I won’t remember you or miss you, but you will remember me. I will prove you wrong. So have a nice life.”

What you might see as arrogant or rude, I see as success. I knew early on the only way to get this girl to succeed was to play at what she treasured most: her ego. The more I pushed her and tested her, the more she hated me, but the more adamant she was at succeeding. And regardless of the fact that she never picked up on the reverse psychology (even better that she didn’t), I am glad to know that I did what I set out to do with her.

So what I learned was this: It doesn’t matter whether or not they all love you; if you can get them to the point where they will do anything to want to excel in life, even if it involves hating you to get to that point, then you have succeeded in your job. Because teaching isn’t all about making long-term friendships; it’s about getting individuals to want to learn and excel in life. And if you can get them to do that, you are a teacher.

And right now, I feel like a teacher.

Can You Believe It? It's Been A Year!

About one year ago, I was browsing the IMDb homepage when I saw the daily poll about some guy known as Fletch from Blog Cabins who wrote an article on why old movies were basically overrated (at least according to him). So I checked out the article, then browsed the rest of the blog, as well. You see, I wasn't a big blog reader or anything (in fact, I never really did it at all). But I just wanted to check out what else this movie lover thought.

Then I found his weekly posts on what was then the current season of Survivor. They were absolutely hilarious and spot-on. Now, I don't know what went through my mind at that point, but something whispered in my ear (perhaps the voices... who knows) that I could start my very own movie blog! I knew nothing of blogging and never read blogs (outside MySpace)... but it seemed to be a fun idea.

On December 2, 2007, Boomstick Reviews was born. It was very basic, and my first post was a Top 10 that I had written before and posted on my MySpace. Five days later, I posted my very first movie review on Boomstick Reviews: The Golden Compass. From there, I began posting different movie reviews and articles and Top 10 lists, etc.


On December 9, 2007, Fletch inducted the blog into the Large Association of Movie Blogs (also known as the LAMB). I was just member number 17 back then, and now the LAMB has over 200 members. I'm glad to say I got in on the ground level and have been able to help out with it as much as I have.





Then, on January 15, 2008, I was really bored and made a post entitled "Random Ramblings of a Demented Doorknob" (also known as R2D2... no relation), because I had a bunch of different things I wanted to talk about that wouldn't fit under a specific topic. I, along with Fletch over at that 'Blog Cabins' place, mentioned how we really loved that title. In fact, I liked it so much, I began pondering with the idea of changing Boomstick Reviews to this better-sounding title.

So on February 1, 2008, I figured I'd give the place a bit of a makeover. With some counsel from Fletch, I changed up the ratings system, the title, the color scheme, and basically everything else. The ratings system put in place was similar to the one used over at Blog Cabins, with pictures and movie quotes to symbolize the particular rating.

The next big event to occur was on my birthday, February 20, 2008, when R2D2 hit the IMDb Hit List with my quite popular yet controversial article "10 Years, 10 Great Screenplays" (mostly controversial because I can't count, and it was actually 11 Years/Screenplays... and also because I hadn't actually seen all of one of the films I chose). Regardless, this event shot up my readership from basically nothing to around 14-20 (after the IMDb linkage went away, that is).

Over the next few months, I would introduce different article/review styles, some of which stuck, some of which didn't. The more popular of which included Little Known Movies You Need To See (LKMYNTS), DVDs Or Death!, Thoughts On..., Short Review, A Week Of... Blog-A-Thons, 2 In 1 reviews, and Pre-Emptive Strike Thursdays (AKA P.E.S.T.).

But on June 12, 2008, my readers decided that they wouldn't mind if I included book reviews on the blog, as well. Also, around that same time, I joined Unheralded Reviews, as well, posting what was essentially the reviews I posted here over there. But anyway, on June 19, 2008, I posted my first book review, a review of Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I continued posting book reviews every now and then, and I also added in a special article type about Page-To-Film adaptation reviews. The Twilight book reviews brought up my readership a little bit more.

Then, unfortunately for my enraptured readers, I began student teaching in August, which took away a lot of time for movie watching and reviewing. But to keep everybody updated as to how things were going with me, I began posting The Student Teacher Chronicles. The months continued tiringly, but I kept at it as best I could. And now, finally, it is once again December 2, but now a year later. My student teaching ends tomorrow, as well, so you will be getting the final Student Teacher Chronicles then.

So now this blog (for all intents and purposes, as everything from Boomstick Reviews is still here) is one year old! Over the past year, I have reviewed and scored numerous films (130, I believe). 99 of them have been given above-average scores, 13 have been given average scores, 15 have been given below-average scores, and 3 couldn't be given scores due to particular peculiarities (Those three being Sunshine, George Washington, and North). Needless to say, I apparently enjoy more movies than I dislike (either that, or I just watch films that I'm nearly positive I'll enjoy).

In conclusion, I would like to thank all of my readers who have stuck around this long or who are brand new and are just beginning to get use to the randomness. And I want to specifically thank Fletch over at Blog Cabins for helping me out so much in the beginning stages of my blogging adventure, for getting me into the LAMB and letting me do everything I have for the LAMB, and for just being a friend.

And now that the sappiness is overwith, let's eat some cake!... What? There's no cake? What the hell kind of party is this? Oh well. Anywho, happy one-year to the blog and a big thanks to everybody who constantly keeps up my readership count to around 30. Now let's try to at least double that for this next year!

(By the way, you might notice a couple new things on the sidebar... primarily, scroll-boxes that include all of the reviews I've done for both books and films in alphabetical order... they were a pain to put together, so you better enjoy them!).

Short Review: Blood & Chocolate.

Premise: A female werewolf in Bucharest falls for an American graphic novel artist. However, the leader of the pack also has a thing for her, and doesn’t like that she wants somebody else.

Starring: Agnes Bruckner, Hugh Dancy, Olivier Martinez, Bryan Dick.

My Reaction: The acting wasn’t terrible. The story wasn’t terrible, though starting to get very old and overused now (think Twilight, but primarily with werewolves instead of vampires… yes, I know there are werewolves in Twilight, but that’s why I said primarily. So in other words, it’s much more animalistic than flowy/showy/pretty). The romance could have been more believable, though. The special effects were very basic. The werewolves themselves were simply wolves (like… real wolves). So no costumes, (blatant) animatronics, or CGI was needed, though the transformation special effects were cheesy. Some decent suspense, too. All in all, not a good movie… not a terrible movie.

Stop Saying Okay! Okay.