For the Fools…

A whole day to be foolish and silly. To trick your friends, to laugh out loud, to just be happy. What a great idea for a day! The fact that it’s in April used to confuse me, because it’s April! It’s a cheery month, the snow is melted, the flowers are budding, and the ground bees are deciding to start lazily hum around my ankles. Why do we even need a day where giddyness is mandatory? I mean, come on, It’s on the CALENDAR!

But I find myself incredibly glad it’s here. I’m viewing  it as an official casting off of the awful disaster that was my early months of 2009. It’s a day to start looking forward, and to thank those who have made me laugh, because it is with their help that I made it through the winter. And not just this winter, and not just this year. If it wasn’t for the one’s who made me laugh, I don’t know where I would be right now.

So for my Fools, my Jesters, my Jokers, to the people who held me and told me it was going to be alright, to the people who made me smile when I couldn’t on my own anymore, who saw me bend, crack and explode under pressure and misery, then stayed to help me pick up the pieces… Thank you. Happy April Fools Day.

 

Aspect of the AWESOME!

Thank you everyone for responding to my blog posts! It’s a real help, I’m really bad at blogging so positive feedback is pretty awesome. I hope to keep up with it, but my real problem is that I can’t think of anything to write! So, this is a call out to all who have read what I’ve written so far. I’m asking everyone and anyone for ideas! If anyone WANTS me to write about something, wants to see my take on an issue, whatever, just leave a comment or write me a message! I’m going to try and keep writing at LEAST 3 a week (and i’m counting this post… just cause)

Let’s see if I can do this!

Thanks again for reading, everyone!!

Oh, and on a more serious note, my server is emerald dream. I still haven’t gotten my wow card (it’s purchased, I just… don’t has right nao.) but when I do, I’ll let you know via blog post.

 

For the Horde

I haven’t played World of Warcraft in over 3 months. I thought I was clean. I had heard of “addictions” in the past to the game, so I was a bit worried that without it, my hands would fall off or i might start seeing stat bars floating above peoples head’s right next to their names brightly displayed (hopefully) in yellow or green. But none of it. The game just let me go. I had run out of time on my pre-paid card, you see, and 30 dollars seems like a LOT of food money to go to waste of such a tiny little card.

Or so I thought.

I think one of the reasons I was able to quit so easily was that my other similarly afflicted friends were also buying time cards, so we all ran out of play time around the same time. So there was no outside influence, no talk of leveling, no complaints of crappy instance groups full of n00bs, no gloating over that awesome purple dagger that dropped. Even the occasional in-character bedroom romps stopped eventually.

So why is all that it takes the sight of one loading screen and my heart beat quickens, my eyes widen and my mana start to regenerate 55% of my intellect every 5 seconds. I wanted to play. I hadn’t “wanted” to play before. It had been mentioned. But something about seeing that loading screen… the anticipation of what was about to happen. It hit me all at once. 3 months of apparently pent up desire to once again saddle up my Raptor and run across the fields of Azeroth. It’s like I never left the game. The loading bar fills, and the opening cinematic of the night elf starting area starts. And a new animosity grows within me, more barbaric and guttural than the first. Night elf? Seriously? Prancing fancy night elves, think they’re so great with their stealth and their stupid shiny eyes. I’ll show them. I’ll show them ALL! Humans, Night Elves, Trolls, Gnomes, Draenei…

FOR THE HORDE!!

 

Klaatu Barada… eh, whatever.

When I heard the news about a remake in the works for “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” I was, needless to say, hesitant. When it was announced that Keanu Reeves was to play the main character of Klaatu, I was… pretty disappointed. But now, I’m just angry.

Here is a review of the script on aintitcool.com

I’m angry because if you want to make a movie telling us that global warming will make aliens come down and try to kill us, fine. Do so. I don’t care. I don’t HAVE to see it. But that isn’t what this movie is supposed to be about! It’s supposed to be a warning to humanity. “Kill each other, but if you even think about going to other planets and killing them, well, except to be dead.” And hey, that’s a great message. But the idea of “lets change the movie to be about global warming instead!” is like changing the plot of Scarface to instead be about some guy who immigrated from Canada. Leave my movies alone! Leave my childhood alone! It was bad enough hearing Britney Spears cover the Rolling Stones, or having to sit through those new Star Wars movies.

I guess i would be less angry if the remake seemed like it was going to maintain any of the intended messages of the movie. But instead, they have removed everything awesome and everything meaningful, but everyone has the same names, so it’s the same thing, right? I mean, come on! Nobody says “Klaatu Barada Nikto?”  They made Bumbleebee a camero in the new transformers movie, but Optimus Prime still said “Autobots, Roll out!” Come on, Hollywood. If you can’t bring me something new, don’t bring me my own childhood favorites, just hacked up and warped to be more “trendy.” Don’t bring me anything at all. I’ll just save all my money for the next Batman movie.

 

Can’t he just be passionately psychotic?

I sat at the edge of my seat for the entire running time of “The Dark Knight.” I was incredibly excited, especially knowing that the major villain of the movie would be one of my personal favorites, The Joker. When the credit’s rolled at the end, however, I was slightly disappointed. It wasn’t the fault of the actors, or the story line, or the direction. All of it, in my opinion, was fantastic. I was just really hoping to see even a glimpse of pre-transformation Harley Quinn. I mean, it couldn’t hurt to bring another female into the cast, to bring the total up to three. I always thought Harley was always an important part of the Joker. Without her, he’s just an insane criminal, but with her, he’s an insane criminal with heart. He’s still unabashedly egotistical and cruel, but he does care about her… In his own special way.

Why Harley Quinn? Well, She doesn’t try to be something she’s not. Instead, shes a woman who knows exactly who she is and who she loves. Bored with the persona society had handed to her, a spectacled psychiatrist who spent her time studying those with “extreme personalities” instead of experiencing it all for herself, she decides to don another costume, a costume that shows her “true colors.” Though many consider her to be an unnecessary sex symbol, or as more of a sidekick than a real character, I choose to think of her a well-balanced character who has become an essential counter-part to The Joker. She is the only other person he even considers, other than Batman. True, He doesn’t always treat her great, considering he’s thrown her out windows and shot her of to her doom in a rocket, but it’s only because he’s confused at the very idea of caring about another person.

That’s why I think Harley should be in the next Batman Movie. Not a starring role by any means, but definitely interacting with the Joker. Many of my friends worry that the Joker won’t be used in upcoming movies, simply because the actor who played him has died. I personally view that as insulting to both the actor and all of us comic book aficionados. Yes, Heath Ledgers performance has now set the bar for what the Joker should be portrayed as on film, but that doesn’t mean the Joker stops with Dark Knight. He can’t! The Joker is an integral part of Batman: he’s the random variable in his equation, the chaos to his order, the psychotic steak to his vigilante potatoes. And now that he’s assumed to be locked up in Arkham, what better way to see some of the other sides to this many faceted character than via twisted psychiatrist Harleen Quinzel? The acting style used with the Joker will almost certainly change slightly in next movie. Even an actor imitating Heath’s performance won’t be quite exact. Introduce Harley, and it doesn’t need to be. The Joker can take on a part of himself that wasn’t in the movie: the charming liar, seducing his like-minded evaluator in hopes of escape. Of course, other villains can be running amok in his absence. I have heard rumors of the Riddler and the Penguin, both of which I’m excited to see Nolan’s interpretation of. But I would be disappointed if the Joker doesn’t make a return, and more so if my Harley isn’t right there with him, laughing at a joke we could never possibly get.