Taking Care of Business

Today was all about the title and it went well for a change. There is nothing like clearing out unexpected bills and realizing you will have more money than you expected left over. In this case it was a dental bill that hit me out of the blue and had me worried.

It has been an interesting several days. Rampant silliness during Saturday night’s gaming session seems to have been a good beginning to it all. We were dangerously close to “shoe drop” territory all night so much fun was had.

Sunday was quite the day at church. When I arrived a tad late due to a combination of starting out slowly and then being in slow traffic (harvest and hunting season at the same time), I found myself in the overflow section. Which promptly overflowed and required more folding chairs brought in! It has been a long time since I’ve seen that.

Fast and testimony sacrament meetings are always different and once again I felt prodded to go up and give my testimony. Unusually, the Spirit had me scripture diving beforehand and had a very direct push for me to talk about fear. Specifically, how we are to fear not despite all that is going on. Since my fears are on the selfish side I did not go into them, but it is clear I need to work on that.

I can say that I transitioned to fight mode from self pity mode while driving to church, so something is up. Don’t know what and probably don’t want to know what.

Anyway, I was called and set apart to be an Elders Quorum instructor in addition to staying as a ward missionary. In fact, my first lesson to teach is this coming Sunday. It might be a good idea to find out which lesson we are on since I confuse chapter places with Gospel Essentials class. Having taught every lesson out of the Gospel Principles manual, I could probably do it in my sleep. However, one needs to prepare no matter how versed they are.

This morning, I ran into a deal at Amazon for The Greatest Video Game Music album by the London Philharmonic Orchestra for a whopping $2.99. There were multiple tracks I wanted so I got the whole deal and it is well worth it. Standouts for me are Mass Effect: Suicide Mission, Bioshock: The World On His Shoulders, Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, and Modern Warfare 2: Theme. Others will delight in the full orchestral versions of classic console games such as Final Fantasy and Super Mario Bros. It was a nice way to start the day off.

Time to up how much H2O2 I take in daily. Another attempt to taper off has resulted in negative consequences. It appears I can’t get below two dosages a day without things going backwards. Ah well.

At least I was able to be out and about three days in a row again.

The Effectiveness of Circular Firing Squads

One amazing thing to me is how the Republican Party manages to destroy itself via internal warfare on a nearly constant basis in recent years. The current race to be the presidential nominee is a textbook example of this foolishness. Campaigns cannot wait to tear each other down and provide ammo to the opposition in 2012 with the conservative side of the party being the worst offenders.

Furthermore, we have candidates who are even more adept at shooting themselves in the foot than their opponents. One thing for sure is that none of them can shoot straight and stay on target. So the end result will be having a moderate to liberal candidate again, just like in 2008. In this case it will be Mitt Romney, who by a small degree was just to the right of McCain.

I have not enjoyed watching conservative candidate after candidate implode. Yes, the media is working against them, but far too many “own goals” have been kicked into the nets.

The latest is Herman Cain and his sexual harassment scandal just got a lot worse. If he is innocent, his campaign has handled this the worst possible way. If you are Machiavellian about it and he is guilty, they still have handled it the worst possible way. This goes well beyond inexperience and most likely is the beginning of the end for him.

Perry is going nowhere due to his abysmal debate performances and the fact he is not that conservative in the first place. But it is the debate performances that have killed him. Supporters claim that debates do not matter, but that is where the voters usually make up their minds. Most people do not follow things until the last minute and only pay attention to the flashiest of events.

Bachman is done. Her lack of wit and inability to go past talking points sank her like a rock. Big fish in a small pond syndrome is what happened here and she has yet to realize it. She better before it damages her back at home in Minnesota.

Santorum simply does not have the personality needed to make it on the national stage.  In the days before television, he would have done much better. But appearances and performances are everything today.

Newt is unelectable. He is the prototype for what was done to Palin and is still toxic all these years later, despite having some good ideas and excellent debates. But he is not that conservative and some of us have long memories. He is good VP material at best.

Ron Paul is unelectable in every possible way. There is no way the country will hand over the keys to the crazy uncle who has been drinking too much from the conspiracy punch bowl.

Huntsman would make a good challenger to Obama – in the Democratic Party primaries. ‘Nuff said.

Which leaves us with the establishment’s choice, Romney. He carries a lot of political and social baggage. Just a few months ago, I talked to activists that sat out the last election due to McCain being too liberal and they said they would vote for anyone, even Romney, over Obama. I do not know what changed, but the atmosphere is slowly becoming one of sitting out again.

That does not necessarily mean Romney will lose. I also have talked to Democrats who would cross over to vote for him and he will get most of the crucial independents. It will be an ugly race though, with many evangelical Christians opposing him due to his being a Latter-day Saint. Having to deal with that prejudice on a regular basis myself, I can say it will be a factor.

Meanwhile, supporters of various candidates are busy vilifying other candidates in blind hero worship. This voluntary fanaticism is just as dangerous as any demagoguery can be from a politician. The passions being shown are more akin to what we used to see in party versus party elections.

It is that kind of internal strife and failure to unite against a common foe that has damaged the GOP greatly in recent times. You would think with things as bad as they are that the factions would come together. But I am not seeing it and in fact it is getting more fractious with the consequence of reasonable activists becoming burning out due to it.

Why all this division?

Perhaps that desire to deny how bad things really are getting is clouding minds. We are about to enter a time of widespread economic and social chaos around the globe. There will be wars of all kinds breaking out in the next decade.  Those of us who can see it are alarmed, but unable to affect events. The inertia of the masses is too great, the power of denial too strong, and the maintainers of the status quo too entrenched.

It is said there is a flee or fight reaction when confronted with a physical threat. What goes unmentioned is the third reaction which is paralysis. Perhaps that is the biggest problem of them all – that there are too many people who act like deer in the headlights of an oncoming semi.

Whatever the cause may be for all the internecine warfare on the political right it does not matter. I am sick of it and the unwillingness of people to deal with what is happening. I am also sick of watching the entire system self destruct.

Boy am I glad I live in the countryside watching the way the world is going.

Bleach Ep. 11: The Legendary Quincy

After an episode of nonstop comedy, an air of menace slowly comes back into the series when a mysterious stalker with an axe to grind appears. But comedy is still the main focus at this point.

Bleach can be very predictable at times, but only within its own strange rules. New viewers will find themselves surprised often in the early going before it settles into its normal pattern of weirdness, especially in the “canon” storyline. That is to say, the non-filler main storyline.  Filler is the dreaded way of keeping an anime adaptation of a manga going while waiting for the original author to produce new content.

While the previous installment of Bleach introduced what seemed to be a filler character, Don Kanonji, it turns out there is fallout from the epically silly events. Very silly fallout, of course.

Teenagers fear being summoned to the principle’s office and the entire group finds themselves there.  Being lectured to by the gym teacher who appears to be in a steroid induced rage, they are in it deep. You see, due to Ichigo and Rukia being seen on national TV causing trouble the school has been embarrassed.

Showing there are limits to friendship, everyone correctly dumps the blame on Ichigo. Attempts to get out of being lumped into the punishment are played strictly for laughs with Rukia being particularly amusing. Her ploy works all too well and there is an impression she has done this kind of thing before.

What would Bleach be without random Hollow problems? When the latest alert goes off, the group take notice of Rukia and Ichigo running off. Orihime is watching very closely and speculates about their relationship to the ire of the boys. But someone else is watching too as the sinister music plays…

There are a lot of good character moments in episode 11 and Rukia gets the best ones. From being bad cop/bad cop all by herself (wait, shouldn’t good cop be in there?) to her rant against her cellphone, the diminutive Soul Reaper is a bundle of annoyed energy. Those bits and the fake sob story she employed earlier are great fun.

I do believe I wrote that an air of menace is to be found and so it arrives. Though our hero’s do not know it, they have been followed all episode by a strange figure wearing a long jacket and glasses. Finally catching Ichigo and Rukia by themselves, he emerges from the night to reveal himself.

He is Uryu Ishida and has supernatural powers himself. They are nearly as impressive as his acid dripping condescension which is most impressive. His mockery culminates in a statement of hatred towards the substitute Soul Reaper. Just like that, Ichigo has a new menace to deal with and it turns out to be a classmate – though he doesn’t remember him. And just what is a Quincy – what Ishida calls himself?

For once, Ichigo decides to check things out before going into conflict. Just one little problem: he has already forgotten Ishida’s name. Fortunately for him, Orihime knows Ishida, since they are in the same handcrafts club. Handcrafts club?! I am not sure if that is more or less menacing to know.

The scene that follows is a hilarious spoof of fighting animes, when we are shown Ishida’s fearsome sewing skills. Like every other character in the series, there is something off kilter about the boy. But you have to admit, he is good with a needle and thread.

After school, Ichigo and Rukia split up to pursue different leads on the new threat because we all know it is better to divide your forces when confronting an enemy. Ichigo counter stalks Ishida and Rukia heads to Uruhara’s for intel. Veering off into slapstick comedy to break the mood, we are presented with Jinto bullying Ururu again. It isn’t very funny, in my opinion.

This short sequence is, however. But then again, I like utterly random silliness when it is played straight. That is probably a result of watching too many Pink Panther movies growing up.

As the mystery of the Quincies begins to unfold, it looks like Ichigo and Rukia will have their hands full…

Thoughts

The Legendary Quincy is a classic setup episode without any real action in it. That said, it is still a lot of fun as the sense of mystery is back after the previous story. Here is where Bleach’s universe begins to open up more with hints of being more complicated than previously shown.

Ishida is an interesting character, a calm and collected nerd who is incredibly arrogant. His powers are an interesting contrast to that of the Soul Reapers and he is positioned to be Ichigo’s perfect foe.

The voice work on the English dub rings wrong once again, with Ishida’s voice sounding too old and too monotone. Despite his air of maturity, the character is still young and the Japanese voice actor nails that perfectly. I will concede he is a complex character and difficult to portray.

2011 Come Back Here!

So it is November already. This year has flown by with most goals I had set out for the new year unmet and quite a few not started. Oddly, I am not alone in this and almost everyone I know have experienced the same thing. There is a modicum of comfort knowing that.

After a lousy week with health problems, this one is a bit better. Still not where I need to be, but I did survive an active weekend including a Halloween party. So far I have not escaped the need to nap in the afternoon, but I have hope that will change shortly.

I had the cheapest Halloween costume yet. It consisted of a ratty long sleeve T-shirt, jeans, and an empty box of Trix that I ran through multiple times with a kitchen knife. Yes, I was a cereal killer. I actually had something else planned but had a last minute flash of inspiration while talking to a Kwik Trip clerk.

Odd place to get an idea, but I’ll take ‘em where I can get ‘em.

The Trix rabbit’s eyes still haunt me, though.

Happy Halloween

Links to scary movie reviews for your entertainment:

Frankenstein

Boris Karloff as the pitiable Monster in James Whale’s subversively clever take on why mad scientists should get out of the laboratory more often.

The Curse of Frankenstein

Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee star in Hammer Films’ much darker update of the story.

Dracula

Bela Legosi and his Hungarian accent star in the movie that made the character famous.

Dracula the Spanish version

The vastly superior version of the movie above.

Horror of Dracula

Cushing and Lee again in ripping good story about the infamous Count filmed in lush Technicolor.

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Disney goes dark in the early 1980’s film that will make you think twice about going to any carnival.

The Watcher in the Woods

Disney’s ghost story involving the disappearance of a teenager girl decades before has chills and a twist ending.

Gojira

The Japanese movie that started the giant monster movie craze is actually a very reflective and sad film that never treats the big guy as a joke.

Godzilla

The hacked and spliced together American version of Gojira that most people remember.

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidora

Godzilla is the bad guy again in an updated take that becomes a morality fable about Japan’s responsibility in WWII and takes shots at the declining youth culture. 

Dracula (1931 Spanish Version) Review

Filmed simultaneously as the famous English language version, the Spanish Dracula is now regarded as being technically superior. Using the same shooting script and sets, but with a different director and cast, it offers a fascinating contrast in approaches. While the English version got all the fame, this is the better movie by far.

 

As the talkies took over the movie industry, demand for native language films grew in Mexico, Central, and South America. This was a sizeable market and filming Spanish language versions alongside the English version was one way to capitalize on the opportunity with dubbing being the other. People wanted to hear their native language and, better yet, see people speaking it on screen.

Universal Pictures decided to film a Spanish version of Dracula at the same time as Tod Browning’s production. Paul Kohner, the former successor to Carl Laemmle who was shoved out of his position running Universal to make room for Junior, was assigned to produce it using the same script and sets. He hired George Melford to direct and the two decided they would one up the other production in every way they could.

During the day, Browning’s version filmed on the sets and by night Melford’s used them. Even the same chalk marks for positions on set were used by the actors. Since the same shooting script was used, I will refer you to my earlier review of Dracula for the plot points. Instead, the focus will be on the differences between the films and why I believe this version to be superior.

First off, the babe factor is a big reason. Yes, that is sexist, but it is also accurate. Even the girl wearing glasses is very attractive and, more importantly, gets more of a chance to act. All the actors benefit from the better direction and pacing of this version, but the women really got a better deal. Perhaps Browning wasn’t good with handling actresses.

Take the bookworm above. In the English version, she is only briefly seen and heard. But here her role is expanded, first by having her comically fall on Renfield (Pablo Alvarez Rubio) repeatedly in the bouncing coach and then by increasing her dialogue. Note that he is not as effete as Dwight Frye’s interpretation and does not seem to mind this happening. She is also shown taking something of an interest in him and later gets a little scene for herself.

Dracula (1931) Review

What better way to celebrate Halloween than with the most famous blood sucker of them all? Supernatural horror films gained acceptance and big box office in America when Bela Legosi donned the cape of Count Dracula. Beset by production problems and an unknown actor in the main part, it was an amazing achievement in its time. Has this horror classic withstood the test of time?

When Carl Laemmle, Jr. was put in charge of Universal Pictures by his father, one of the first things he did was put into motion his plans to revamp the horror movie genre for talkies. Since Dracula was already a very successful Broadway and touring play, it was the ideal subject for introducing the supernatural into horror movies. Prior to it, horror was consisted of the psychological or deformed humans types, with nothing “spooky” allowed. It was thought that American audiences would reject such silliness.

I think we all know how that theory panned out.

Hiring the famous director of Lon Chaney’s incredibly popular silent films, Tod Browning, would insure success because it would be easy to get Chaney to play the part. But “The Man of 10oo Faces” died of lung cancer in 1930 and the studio looked at a lot of actors for the part. Oddly, the star of the smash Broadway play, Bela Legosi, was not considered for the part. In fact, he had to make a desperate concession on salary to get the role he was already famous for and this was only after everyone else passed on it.

Please park your modern day sensibilities and travel back to the more innocent era of the Great Depression to witness a movie that shocked and thrilled the American public.