Movies I Saw In 2008

Here are the movies from 2008 that I've seen, in alphabetical order. If it's not on this list, I didn't see it.

1. 21
2. Baby Mama
3. The Bank Job
4. Be Kind Rewind
5. Charlie Bartlett
6. Cloverfield
7. The Dark Knight
8. Eagle Eye
9. Forbidden Kingdom
10. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
11. Get Smart
12. The Happening
13. Hellboy II
14. The Incredible Hulk
15. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
16. Iron Man
17. Journey 3D
18. Jumper
19. Kung Fu Panda
20. Penelope
21. Quantum of Solace
22. Rambo
23. Run Fatboy Run
24. Son of Rambow
25. Speed Racer
26. Strange Wilderness
27. The Spiderwick Chronicles
28. Step Brothers
29. Tropic Thunder
30. You Don’t Mess With the Zohan
31. Wall-E

Review: Brisingr

After my last experience with Christopher Paolini, I had given up hope on him ever becoming a good author. I stand by every word in that review – in fact, if anything, I think I was too kind to that book. Eldest was absolute hackery; sheer indulgent derivative garbage. It was astonishingly, amazingly bad, so full of hubris that it could be described as a literary Tower of Babel.

I would even go so far to call it magnificently bad. Gloriously bad.

It was with this in mind that I first opened Brisingr. I was eager to see just how bad Paolini could get. (After all, everyone loves a trainwreck.) Consider me shocked and surprised when I realized that, well, it wasn’t all that bad. The writing is better, there are fewer scenes that seem ripped from superior sources, and it seems like Paolini is having a bit more fun in his world. There are still a few extremely awkward attempts at humor injected, and the “romance” scenes in the book are really, really bad – but there’s far less here that’s worthy of scorn or derision.

The problem is, there’s nothing much that’s worthy of praise here, either. While Brisingr isn’t bad, it certainly isn't good. It avoids much of the derivative prose and plot points of the past two books, but it’s fairly paint by the numbers – we know everything that’s going to happen, at every point along the way, and we just have to sit and watch it unfold. It’s like reading a book for the second time – only without having any investment in the plot or love for the characters. There’s no resonance, no impact, and no depth. The characters are nothing more than action figures in Paolini’s hands; the world of Alagaësia is nothing more than a sandbox in his backyard. There’s nothing here that you haven’t seen (done better) a dozen times before.

Paolini has indeed improved his craft. But with nothing to elevate it to something of worth, yet absent of anything truly bad, Brisingr can sit comfortably on the shelves of the Sci Fi / Fantasy section in bookstores everywhere, keeping happy company with books that hold appeal only to those who love dragons like little girls love ponies.

Christopher Paolini, congratulations – you’ve reached the level of mediocre fantasy writer.

a few words on banned books

When I was young, a visit to the library was a weekly event. They knew me by name - Jason, the little crazy boy who checks out 20 - 30 books every week. I *devoured* books. Tore through anything that was placed in my hands, whether it be kids books, adult books, young adult books, or even non-fiction. Even if it wasn't something a young 10 year old boy would typically read, I'd read it.

And then one week, during my weekly visit, there was a display in the front of the library saying "Celebrate Banned Books Week!" This immediately sent my Good Little Christian 10 Year Old Conscience into a tizzy. They had BANNED BOOKS in this library? Nearly sputtering, I went to my Mom, eager to show her that her good Christian son had discovered something horrible, and that from now on we'd simply have to find another library to frequent, one that didn't support such filth.

However, instead of outrage, my mother simply led me over to the banned books display. She pointed out several books I had already read (and loved.) And then she told me to pick out one to take home and read.

Needless to say, this is not what 10 year old me expected.

That day she explained something to me that was one of the most important lessons I would ever learn, and that was this: Freedom means choice. If you decide what's bad, or wrong, or filthy, or just plain Not Right for someone else, then what's to stop them from doing the same to you? It's up to you to decide what is Good for you, and what is Not Good. Go in with an open mind, with what you've learned by your side, and choose for yourself.

From the American Library Association's website:

[Banned Books Week] celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met.

I couldn't put it better myself.

Some banned books of note:

Harry Potter (All 7)
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Catcher in the Rye
Bridge to Terabithia
The Giver
To Kill A Mockingbirg
Beloved
His Dark Materials series (Golden Compass, Subtle Knife, Amber Spyglass)
Gossip Girl series
Brave New World
Slaughterhouse Five
A Day No Pigs Would Die
Julie of the Wolves
Fahrenheit 451
The Lovely Bones
Anastasia Again!
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

This is, admittedly, a very short list. Your library will most likely have a much longer one. And, if you're like me, you'll find some of your absolute favorite books of all time on that list.

Imagine if someone had taken the choice to read those books from you? Imagine never having read Bridge to Terabithia. Or Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. To Kill A Mocking Bird.

A world without these books would suck.

Go to your library, pick up a banned book, and celebrate the fact that we live in a nation where we can choose ourselves what we should, or should not, read.

thatoneguy's vegas adventures! (spoiler alert - they're pretty lame and boring)

Yes, I am in Las Vegas - I'm here on business until Thursday morning. Here are some crappy pictures taken with my cell phone to prove it!

Also, you can follow me on twitter (seriously, sign up if you haven't yet - it's free!) and live vicariously through my adventures (and misadventures) - it's just like being here, only without all the cigarette smoke!

Paris Hotel and Casino

New York New York Hotel and Casino

Ceaser's Palace (sorry, I know it's a crappy picture.)

The Bellagio, and its famous water show. (I'm going to try and take some night pictures tomorrow night - it's pretty dang cool.)

oh yes. two things.

1.a - You? Need to subscribe to my twitter feed. (and if you don't have a twitter account, SIGN UP! Seriously, it's a blast.)

1.b - Also, for some reason, whenever I twitter from my phone it doesn't get published until 7 hours later. So, you know, if I have woken you up with a tweet at like 3am I AM SO SORRY. If anyone knows how to fix this, let me know!

2. I am seeing Jurassic Park on a huge screen at the local theater tonight for a midnight showing, and I am beyond excited - I've never seen it on the big screen, so I'm like a 11 year old all over again.

catching up, part 1

One of my New Years resolutions was to write a review for every film I saw in the theaters this year.

I am, if you have not noticed already, a little behind. Time to catch up!



Cloverfield (PG-13)

A relentless roller coaster that consistently deals out emotional sucker-punch after emotional sucker-punch, Cloverfield is the brave film experiment from the minds of J.J. Abrams, Drew Goddard, and Matt Reeves. It's America's Godzilla, a statement on today's Facebook/MySpace/Twitter generation, a daring film experiment, and a breathtaking thrill ride. You may have heard from people who hated it (you might even be one of them) - I'm here to say that they're wrong. Yes, there are reasons to dislike Cloverfield (two of them, by my count) - you could get motion sick, or you could dislike how cruel it is to the characters in the film. That's it. Anything else, and you're probably wrong. (Seriously. I'm willing to argue this in the comments, so, you know, try to prove me wrong. I dare you!)

It takes a brave film to find a group of people, and stick with them - we don't get to see the scientists trying to save the day, we don't get to watch the President make decisions in the White House, we don't get to see the big military battles, we don't even get an elaborate backstory or explanation of what's going on - just one group of friends trying to stay alive throughout the night as a huge-ass creature rips it's way through New York.

This is enough for me. And, my friends, it should be enough for you.

By taking this approach the tension stays high throughout the film - we know we won't be leaving this group until the very end, and we're fairly sure that the end in question isn't going to be a happy one. The film takes the brave approach of not giving us a typical resolution - we get a perfect emotional resolution, but not the resolution we expected. (In the words of Joss Whedon, "Don't give the audience what they want - give them what they need.)

It's exciting, brave, funny, and unlike any other film you'll ever see. Completely worth checking out, and highly recommended.

the whole deal with the adoption thing

It's been a while, hasn't it? And I really apologize - things have been crazy as of late, and I've avoided blogging because I didn't want this place to become a dumping ground. I get nervous writing about the darker times of life, simply because something I write in the span of a few minutes is suddenly viewed as a summary of my entire life at that very moment. So, if I write about one area of life that sucks, suddenly that becomes "our life sucks." And this simply is not so. I mean, I could be grumpy for like 10 minutes, but if I wrote something during that time it'd seem like life was simply this horrible awful thing. Thankfully, it's not.

However, I'd be lying if I said everything has been roses, sunshine, and kittens the past few months. And there's one particular area where I feel I owe an explanation, because I still get asked a lot of questions about it. The adoption. This is going to be quite hard for me to write, and I think that I'm writing it just as much for myself as I am for all of you. We've accepted what's happened, and we know God is in control, but I'm still trying to figure out how to feel about the whole thing.

A few things before I start - first, all names save for my wife and I's have been changed. This is both to protect the privacy of those involved, and to protect my wife and I. There has been quite a bit of legal action accompanying this adoption. Luckily, none of it whatsoever has involved my wife and I. We'd like to keep it this way. Everything is done and settled, but they've said that before, and it started all back up again. And, as we all know, The Internet Is Forever. Anything you type here is available to anyone in the whole wide world from here to one thousand years in the future. So yes, names have been changed, and some details have been condensed and/or changed as well. Also, I will be trying very hard to keep what I "thought" or "felt" out of it - it's just a simple timeline of events. Also, it might get a little long. Just saying.

Also, the entirety of this blog post is not a legally binding statement, and should not and can not be used in any legal proceedings. It is a personal recollection of a chain of events, and it is not meant to be a factual or literal statement. (Besides, if your court case rests on something written by a guy with MS you might want to re-evaluate your case.)

Now that that is out of the way, here's what happened:

Early this year, my mother called me. On of my distant aunts, Janice, had called her earlier that day. Janice has two daughers - Laura and Linda. Both have had several children. Both have been to jail at least once. Both of them have had all of their children taken away by social services. Laura had just had another child, a boy, and she was about to be sent to prison. Her child was once again taken from her. Janice had called my mother, asking if they would be interested in adopting the boy. My mom said "no, but my son and his wife can't have kids, and really want to adopt, so they might be interested." She called me, and let me know about it. We talked to Janice, and found out that if we were interested, we would have to call Social Services in a certain county in California first thing Monday morning.

It was Saturday night. We had about 36 hours in which to make our decision. We prayed about it, and both agreed that it was a door that God presented to us - and we'd see if it was open. As long as God kept presenting us doors to go through, we'd go through them. That way, it'd always be a God thing - and never an "us" thing. We called Monday morning. They took our info, asked us questions. We were in line to adopt this little boy.

Previous to us, they had already tried to place the child with his paternal Grandmother. She didn't pass the background check. We were now on the list, along with Linda, the boy's aunt. Linda has cleaned up her life in the past few years, is attending (and involved with) church, and is engaged to get married. She's not able to have kids anymore, and she wanted to adopt her sister's boy. Janice wanted Linda (her daughter) to be evaluated first. They begin to evaluate her. Fast forward a few weeks - Linda does not pass the check, and does not qualify at this time for adoption. We're told they'd be moving on to us. So, home free, right?

Not so much. Apparently, when this boy was placed with the family he was currently with he wasn't placed as a foster child - he was placed as an adoptive child. That is, Social Services told this family that they could *adopt* him. They had had him for several months already. A conference call is scheduled by Social Services, involving all the parties involved. It's nearly 3 hours long. It was long, difficult, and exhausting. At the end of it it was decided by Social Services to leave the boy with the family he was with, and not to move forward with us. Around this time Janice (the boy's grandmother) had called in another family to try and adopt the boy. (She did not tell us this.) This family was closely related to us and her, but also actually lived in California. After this meeting Janice pushed for a hearing. Apparently, Laura had (years ago) signed a statement with Social Services that family members were *always* to be given first evaluation when it concerned her children being put up for adoption. Janice argued that the child could not be left with the family that had now had him for over six months until every family member was exhausted.

We did not know any of this was going on, with us being in Washington State and all - we thought the child was happily growing up in a loving home. We then got a call from Social Services at 7:30am one morning - they were beginning to work with Washington State to go forward with our background check and home study. We were shocked, surprised, and excited - God had once again opened a door that was completely closed. We had been at peace with the situation, bummed but still happy that the kid was in a good loving home. Now, we were being evaluated again.

Several weeks pass. We receive word from extended family members that we won't be getting the child, but the other family that had come forward would be instead. We heard from Social Services again - there was going to be another conference call. And, at the end of it, the boy was taken away from the family that wanted to adopt him and placed with the other related family that was in the running. Not us. The reasoning was this - their background checks could be done quicker, since they lived in California. Also, Janice could help raise the child and he'd get to see his birth mother often.

There is more - far, far more, but if I tell those parts then I begin to say things I will probably regret. And I don't want that. We were, and are, completely crushed. I know the family that will be raising this kid - they're good people, and will raise him wonderfully. But it's not us. God has firmly closed the door, and I am having a really hard time with that. We're trusting Him, we want to adopt in the future, but it's just so hard to see so many of our friends having children and then to have this opportunity not work out. We'd love your prayers - we're doing pretty well, all things considered, but prayer is always wonderful.

This post has been written over the past two weeks. It's about half the size that it used to be. It's still too long, but it should give you a very small glimpse of what went on over the past six months. I'm sorry it wasn't happier. To cheer yourself up, go see Wall-E. You deserve it!

don't freak out.

I mean it. You might have to calm yourself, but once you've steadied your breathing, check this out:

A new film review has been posted over at my wife and I's sadly neglected film review site. I take a look at the skittles blended with pop rocks and chugged with Red Bull experience that is Speed Racer. Did I like it? Click for yourself.