This on DVD today, and because I wrote this and forgot to post this back when the movie actually came out, I figured I might as well post it now.
X-Men: First Class has a classic story arc, above average performances, and it does a pretty impressive job of weaving its own story into that of the (inarguably compelling) Cuban Missile Crisis. Unfortunately, the virtues that make the X-Men so interesting fifty years later–tolerance, celebration of diversity, and self-acceptance–are embraced, it seems, only by the villains.
Though we are always meant to sympathize with Magneto (who can blame a Holocaust survivor for losing faith in humanity?), I’m a little baffled by the idea of recasting him as the hero for mutants. His violent methods should hurt the mutant cause more than they help it. Everything he does reinforces the stereotype that mutants are dangerous, and inflames public sentiment that mutants should be hated and feared. And yet, by the end of this movie, the audience is with him.
And this is why the movie ultimately fails. [Cut for spoilers.] Read more »
The months of April and May were entirely consumed by insane hours at work, and then recovering from said work. I generally feel like I don’t have time for anything, but it’s not until you seriously do not have even a moment for anything else that you realize how liberating the usual routine can be. I’m finally starting to get back into the rhythm of a normal life. Part of getting back to that routine has been the launch of the Star Trek: The Animated Series Re-Watch, which formally began today with “Beyond the Farthest Star.” I’m really excited about this one, mostly because I don’t know what to expect.
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"One more step, Mr. Hands," said I, "and I'll blow your brains out!" Illustration by N.C. Wyeth for the 1911 edition of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. Image from the New Britain Museum of American Art, via Wikipedia.
Over the weekend I saw an excellent stage adaptation of Treasure Island, adapted and directed by B.H. Barry. Barry, of course, is a world-renowned fight choreographer, but this was his directing debut. Thanks to some lukewarm reviews I wasn’t expecting much beyond some excellent swordfighting (fine with me!), but I absolutely loved it.1
In addition to solid performances, the show was beautifully staged–dynamic and exciting, with the same elegant grace Barry brings to all of his fights. Versatile set pieces and lighting left enough up to the imagination, while the costumes sent most of us attending into fits of jealousy. (Those coats!) But really, the best part was the songs–sea shanties that made the transitions something to look forward to. I found myself ever-so-slightly disappointed every time the scene had to begin again. (Thankfully my new thirst for sea shanties has been fed by the inimitable Megan Messinger, sea shanty-monger extraordinaire.)
Two things struck me while watching this, though. The first is that I desperately want to replay both Sid Meier’s Pirates!, one of my favorite addictive games, and The Secret of Monkey Island, less addictive if far more clever. The second is how much young adult fiction2 has changed. Read more »
Well, this is it. Almost two years later, Eugene and I have finally finished our Star Trek Re-watch. This last episode was the most difficult post I’ve had to write. Partly it was just a messy episode to tackle–how do you talk about “Turnabout Intruder” in a way that’s fair?–and partly it’s that I’m so sad to see this go.
Before the Re-Watch, I had blogged only very rarely. I’m a little internet-shy. I live in comment threads and yet rarely post anything myself. (Lifetime lurker.) I much prefer to edit and promote others, who can say it better than I can, and I was more nervous and scared than excited about the whole idea. I was also worried about partnering with Eugene, who was the real writer between us, with plenty of published short fiction under his belt (I don’t write fiction) and a dozen episode reviews of experience, too (we had him reviewing “Pushing Daisies” at Tor.com). I’d never written for an audience. Surely readers would like him better, and then I’d feel like I was just tagging along for the ride.
But it was never competitive. Together, we have a really good synergy, and it was apparent right away that our initial format–switching off episodes–wasn’t going to work. Even when we agreed we liked episodes for different reasons, and the things we found worthy of discussion were sometimes completely separate lists of topics. So we wound up both tackling all the episodes. I have never had to work collaboratively in that way before, and it’s been such a satisfying experience. Eugene’s insane work ethic and high standards have definitely pushed me to try and meet his stride. It’s impossible, of course, he’s like some kind of writing gazelle, but like Star Trek says, the struggle is where we find meaning and are our most human.
But every end is a new beginning, and I’m excited to carry on. The folks who join us from week to week are without a doubt the finest folks on the internet, and the thought of going week after week without their company is just too sad. Neither of us have seen The Animated Series, and of course we’ll do the movies, so those will likely be our next projects. We’re both big TNG fans and will probably do at least a limited re-watch of that series. Beyond that? The sky’s the limit.
This weekend I headed out to PAX East, the Penny Arcade-inspired video game convention out in Boston. I went last year and was put off, but decided to give it another go. Overall it was, well, just okay.
Thursday night we headed to the PokeCrawl, a Pokemon-themed bar crawl intended to help you meet some of the people at the convention. I had a reasonably good time given that a) I don’t know anything about Pokemon b) I’m not a fan of bars and c) social situations are mildly terror-inducing. But everyone was really nice and approachable and the bar games were fun and fostered light interaction. The drinks were weak, which seems to be a Boston thing?
Read more »
Tags: atlantis, betrayal at the house on the hill, boston, conventions, fire emblem: radiant dawn, kinect, marvel vs. capcom 3, pandemic, PAX, penny arcade, pompeii, video games
Uncategorized | Torie | 
March 14, 2011 6:00 pm | 
Comments (2)
Hello hello! Things have been kind of insane ’round these parts since I got back from vacation. We’ve covered three Star Trek episodes: “The Cloud Minders” (like The Time Machine or Metropolis, only crummier); “The Savage Curtain” (where else could you see Abraham Lincoln and Genghis Khan wrestle?); and today’s “All Our Yesterdays,” a kind of poor man’s “The City on the Edge of Forever” which I really enjoyed nonetheless. It let me talk about Macbeth, so it gets bonus points for that. I realize the screencaps I picked out above seem to tell a narrative about Honest Abe interrupting Spock’s lady time, but… well that isn’t that far from the truth, really.
This weekend I’m headed to PAX East in Boston. I went last year, but had a fairly mixed experience. The event was insanely overcapacity, so much so that I barely made it to any events. This year they’ve picked a larger convention center but now I’m disappointed that 99% of the programming is focused on breaking into the gaming industry. Not relevant to my interests! I’m also not sure if Wil Wheaton will be there this time. He was the keynote last year, but because of aforementioned overcapacity I didn’t make it in to the theater to see his keynote address. This year’s keynote is Jane McGonigal, who I will gladly skip–she drives me crazy. I share her general idealism and think gamers are pretty big-hearted folks, but anyone who claims that World of Warcraft, in its guilds and group missions, is a paragon of social connection and communality has clearly never been screamed at over Teamspeak or harassed for “pix” in global chat. As an avid gamer, I think games can be unabashedly positive forces in a person’s life and can foster real communities. But something about online multiplayer brings out the primal douchebag in us all–the evil doppelganger that makes you want to kick your roommate in the nads for taking your mother!&%@# sheep port in Catan.* So, you know, it’s a mixed bag at best, and it would take a serious bender to convince me that gaming is as profoundly motivating as she claims it is.
But I digress. Here’s hoping this year’s PAX East is better than the last! I’ll be kicking things off with the PokeCrawl. (Also, nothing makes you feel older than having to look up the Pokemon Wikipedia page because you have no idea what it is beyond “those cute hamster things in balls.”) Brilliant plan or regrettable mistake? We’ll find out tonight!
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* Theoretically.
Or don’t, really. Our re-watch finally came upon “The Way to Eden,” one of the most awful pieces of television ever created. It deserves a special place in your subconscious between The Star Wars Holiday Special and all of the kids-oriented Jim Carey movies. But we’re having a lot of fun talking about it, though, so that helps.
I’m still in Mexico, which remains sunny and beautiful. I went snorkeling and ocean kayaking on Las Marietas islands, and have been drinking by the pool every day of the week. I can say with confidence that as a cure to what ails you*, this is a perfect course of treatment.
* Assuming what ails you is “The Way to Eden.”
This week we take another look at immortality and androids in “Requiem for Methuselah.”
I really liked it while Eugene hated it, so your mileage may vary.
Next week I’ll be escaping the psychological trauma of “The Way to Eden” by heading to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico with my mom and sister. (It still doesn’t seem far enough, does it.) It will be my mom’s first international trip in almost 40 years and my sister’s first, so we’re very, very excited. Unfortunately, space hippies might be inescapable on this trip because I haven’t finished my review…
It feels weird to be approaching the end of the series so quickly! I had been begging for this season to end pretty much since it began, but now I feel like I’d be willing to put up with anything just to get some more Star Trek. It doesn’t help that this week I had to say goodbye to Eugene, who is moving to Philadelphia while I’m on vacation. The end of an era approaches…
Scotty gets to shine in last week’s in “The Lights of Zetar,” a seriously creepy outing penned by none other than Shari Lewis (of Lamb Chop fame) and her husband. It’s a standout of this season so far, which means even less than you probably think it does.
More importantly, Eugene and I are supremely proud to announce the launch of Laugh Treks! This has been a long, long time in the making and we really hope you enjoy it. The full commentary track is up now and available for download, so please share it with friends (and strangers on the internet!). And don’t forget to let us know if you liked it!
Stay tuned this week for “Requiem for Methuselah,” which has the distinction of being the episode Eugene and I have most disagreed over in the course of the re-watch. We’re usually not in total agreement (see: “Arena”), but never so many light years apart. Different strokes…
Next week I’ll be on vacation to sunny Mexico with my family, so I’m getting a head start–which means watching “The Way to Eden.” Don’t worry, I’ve prepared for this:
I will work my way from left to right, if necessary. Wish me luck!
This week’s re-watch: “That Which Survives,” famously underutilizing the beautiful Lee Meriwether as a rogue computer defense program. Like most of this season’s efforts, it has an intriguing premise that it entirely fails to deliver on.
The real news, however, is that this week Eugene and I will be launching Laugh Treks. We had talked last summer about ways to make the third season more palatable (not just to our readers but for ourselves!), and we kept falling back on our instincts: mockery. We had hoped to launch it with the beginning of the third season to coincidence with our review of “Spock’s Brain,” but do you guys have any idea how long these things take?!? I’ll talk about this more once it’s launched on Thursday, but this project is one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done. We’ve got a trailer up here if you want a taste of what’s to come. We really hope that people enjoy it and spread the word to their friends!
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