I have been pretty excited about Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming release of Inglourious Basterds, but the more I read about it, the more I become worried that I’m not going to like it.
I realize that the tail is entirely fictional, however I really worried about being able to overcome the backdrop that the story takes place. I am hoping that I can turn off my ‘historical accuracy detector’ throughout the film. I am in love with movies like the Longest Day, which retell what happened without using too many creative liberties with the history.
Tarantino has said that the film is “”spaghetti western but with World War II iconography”, and watching the trailers leaving me wondering how clearly it comes across in the film. Quentin hasn’t let me down yet, however I hope that he is back in his amazing Pulp Fiction form, compared to his most recent effort, Deathproof.
I will post my thoughts after I see it (probably on Sunday) and I’m looking forward to it, good or bad.
Posted in Film.
Tagged with Film, tarantino, trailer, ww2.
By Greg
– August 18, 2009
Recently, I have been thinking a good deal about putting my hand at writing some short stories – science fiction stories to be exact. I have a lot of interesting ideas that I would like to put down on paper, but I have been having a tough time on the process. Everywhere I read on the internet, they say ‘write, write, write’ without worrying about editing, but I end up with about 1-2 pages of semi-coherent story which is much more of an ‘info dump’ than an actual story. I realize that I am not alone with this problem – so many of the science fiction stories and movies that I consume get bogged down in creating the details of their world (history, technology, culture, etc.) rather than an actual plot.
In order to help me get on the right track, I have signed up for a creative writing course at a local college. I haven’t written any fiction seriously since high school (7 years ago) and even then it always seemed like a chore to me. I hope that this will help me with the structure to create an interesting story. Also, it has been a good 3 years since I have learned in any sort of ’school’ setting and I am hoping that learning in a more structured environment will help me succeed and help prevent this writing bug as another failed creative effort.
I’m going to try my best to share some of my journey on here – win, lose or draw!
Posted in Writing.
Tagged with college, Fiction, sf, short story, Writing.
By Greg
– August 18, 2009
Read any interesting article on the Toronto Star today regarding the future of professional spectator sports. It outlines a theory of Dr. Robert Brown, who foresees a move away from crowds of middle class spectators attending live sporting events due to a terrorist type attack which will targets the large stadium crowds.
I don’t foresee this as being a possibility – a “precipitating event” seems like too easy of an answer for what the future of sports might look like., especially in this often fearful post 9/11 world. With the increase of ticket prices, and the brand new crop of upscale stadiums it seems that the demand for these tickets will only increase in the foreseeable future.
Sure, an attack of this magnitude would effect the crowds at sporting events the short term, but think about how society as a whole got back to ‘business as usual’ in the aftermath of 9/11. It was a terrible, devastating attack but it did not stop people from going to the targets of the attack – New York City or large public/office buildings. It would take something very far reaching (world wide?) and devastating to affect the deeply ingrained love of sports of an average person on a permanent basis. There is a emotional, almost primal need for fans to gather in groups to share their excitement and common interest in the sports/teams.
Overall, although the games and rules might change based on technology and state of society- think of the zero-gravity Battle School of Ender’s Game, or perhaps the high flying antics of Harry Potter’s Quidditch – I simply can’t foresee our culture getting away from our attachment of seeing and being seen at sporting events.
I think that if anything, the stadiums in the future are going to be bigger and better in order to maximize the amount of revenue that can be generated . Even today, there are a number of NFL teams who could almost sell as many seats as they wanted if they could do it at a reasonable price, and ensure a positive viewing experience for the fans. If they were able to build stadiums of 250,000 plus seats, many of these teams could leverage the crowd for a real ‘home field advantage.
Rather that partaking in virtual reality at home ala video games to enjoy sports at home like the article outlines, I see professional sports leveraging technology to allow for in seat virtual reality to allow the viewer to see what they want, from where they want – by almost being their own television director with any angle your heart desired. This would allow them to see all the action, and share the experience with others as well.
Please post your thoughts on the future of the specetator experience.
Posted in Sports.
Tagged with future, sf, Sports, technology, virtual reality.
By Greg
– August 17, 2009
I have been experimenting using Clerkdogs to discover new and interesting films that are similar to the ones that I love. The site is described as ‘human powered movie recommendations’, to give you a experience similar to discussing films with a knowledgeable and helpful video store clerk. I can’t vouch for that statement because most of the video stores around here solely employ pimply faced teenagers, but Clerkdogs delivers some on the money suggestions.
What I particularly enjoy are the one liner descriptions that explain why the recommendation was made which allow you to understand the thought process behind the pick. This is in sharp contrast to other recommendation sites where you have no idea WHY the site picked the film was picked for you and exactly HOW the calculations were made. For example, a match for The Departed is Serpico which is described as a gritter drama. Or a more offbeat match for Clerks is Slacker. In addition to these straight up matches, there is also a feature called ‘Supermatch’ where you are able to adjust sliders to get the perfect match. For example if you want a movie that has more character depth, and less suspense than Mystic River, Clerkdogs recommends Good Will Hunting and The Woodsman among others.
Overall, the recommendations are excellent, I have 2 small issues with the site:
- It over-recommends films that share the same director. To me, that seems like a very obvious place to start for looking for your next film to watch, especially for the big name directors. I would like to see more of the deeper, well thought out recommendations for these films. For example the page for Bottle Rocket lists 4 other Wes Anderson films. The same issue has it me recently looking at films from directors like Kevin Smith and Martin Scorsese.
- It tends to be rather slowly updated with new films. I realize that that is a byproduct of the manpower involved, but I have become some reliant on Clerkdog’s recommendations that I am often disappointed when I check the site when I get home from the theatre only to find nada.
Clerkdogs is an incredible site to find new and interesting films by picking out the best qualities of your favourite film. The site is still in beta and I look forward to the new features and additions they make to the site.
Posted in Film.
Tagged with clerkdogs, recommendations, video store.
By Greg
– August 16, 2009
I went to see District 9 yesterday afternoon. It is the first time in a long while that I have been to a movie on opening day. I was extremely excited to watch this movie based up the trailers, and I think that it lived up to the hype. In District 9, South Africa has become a haven for refugees–from outer space who have been forced into the slums and live as second class citizens, often called the derogatory term ‘prawns’ by the locals. The story follows Wikus van der Merwe, who is tasked to move 1.8 million aliens to a new camp. I don’t want to get any further into the plot to ensure that it is not completely ruined for anyone out there.
Overall, Peter Jackson and Neill Blomkamp created an incredibly compelling world that left me wanting more. The beginning of the movie starts out in documentary style which sets out the backstory. They outline the story of how the Aliens came to Earth, and the incredible tensions that are ongoing between the Aliens and the local population. While this is a great way at getting all the facts out in a hurry to really give you a sense of the world, it felt somewhat forced to me. I would much rather be shown gradually the ’state of the world’ in a science fiction movie in order to feel like I’m really a part of the ‘future’, rather than having all the backstory over explained at the beginning of the film . After all, I imagine that first contact would be a remarkable news story of which everyone would be extremely well versed in the intricate details. A documentary on the subject wouldn’t necessarily need to rehash everything.
Although the backstory might have suffered, the movie masterfully created compelling aliens that you end up siding with and feeling sorry for. I don’t remember another movie that was effective at creating aliens that were so believable. There ignored all the usual silly alien cliches – there were no odd tentacles, or diamond shaped eyes that we’ve seen so many times before. That being said, the Prawns definitely look like Aliens – but vulnerable, exploited Aliens. This is helped by the creation of the multinational company MNU which is responsible for herding the Aliens into the slums and at the same time attempting to exploit their technology for military game – in the end the ‘Prawns’ ended up feeling more human than the humans.
When I first saw the previews of this film I was concerned that there would be an obvious social commentary forced upon the viewer. While the attempts to drawn comparison between the treatment of the ‘Prawns’ and South Africia’s own apartheid of recent memory are clear – they are not overdone. About 30 mins into the film I had pretty much forgotten that the film was set in South Africica at all.
Overall, I would highly recommend this film as a must-see for any any science fiction movie fan. While the ending is fairly obvious about 1/2 way through the movie, getting there is an exciting journey. The ending sets up a potential sequel, District 10 and I am already looking forward to it!
Posted in Film.
Tagged with aliens, district 9, Film, science fiction, sf.
By Greg
– August 15, 2009
I am going to take the opportunity to introduce myself to the world. My name is Greg, 26 years old and I live in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. I work in the Transportation industry… which means that I work odd sometimes unpredictable hours, and I’m constantly stressed. I spend hours upon hours in the middle of the night partaking in popular culture – movies, television, and literature. I would like to share any opinions/interesting tidbits that I find along the way.
I have had many experiences on the internet and writing blog, and I am opting to make another run at it to provide myself a creative outlet. I’ve decided that I don’t particularly care how many people read the site, or how many links that I get.. those are the things that have completely discouraged myself from various blog and sites in the past. This time I am going to write for me – about things that I think are interesting, and hopefully some folks out there share my sensibilities. If not… I guess I have a problem.
I hope to get to know a bunch of my readers, so please stay tuned!
Posted in Life.
Tagged with me.
By Greg
– August 15, 2009
