Today’s good thing was the acquisition of my new 4 GB mini-SD card for my Blackberry. I have become attached to pod casts (because they donwload straight to my phone) recently and I needed some more space, so I am pretty stoked that I have room for pod casts and my music now. I was surprised how cheap it was ($18.88). It was actually cheaper at Wal-Mart than at Circuit City, which is going out of business.
I just finished watching Happy Feet and I really enjoyed it. The movie seems to be a cross between The Ugly Duckling and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Mumble is a duck whose egg is dropped during incubation. The most important thing in the life of a penguin we learn is to be able to sing in order to find a mate. Mumbles, we learn, lacks the ability to sing well, but he can really cut a rug (this is an old term for dance.) Well, Mumble is shunned from the penguin community all of his life because of his “happy feet” and isn’t allowed to officially graudate from penguin school.
While this is all happening the penguins and other antarctic creatures are going through a fish famine. The leaders of the penguins say that the great “guin” is angered by Mumble slacker ways and his dancing and is punishing them with no fish. Mumbles learns from a large bird and a treachorous encouter with a walrus (or possible a large otter) that “the aliens” (humans) are causing the problem.
After being exiled from the emperor penguins, Mumbles sets off with 5 penguins of a different breed to find the source of the problem and exhonerate his name. The travel a long way until they eventually find a large fleet of fishing boats that are taking the fish. Mumbles companions are content to turn back now because they have proven the Mumbles is not to blame, but Mumbles actually wants to help fix the problem. So, he jumps into the ocean and starts following one of the boats. He is briefly successly but ultimately ends up trying to chase the boat until he ends up in, what I assume is, Australia.
Here he ends up in a zoo and interacts with aliens. He tries to reason with the aliens, but they don’t seem to understand anything he says. He ends up becoming depressed and hullicinating about his family back home. Eventually one little girl comes up to glass and starts tapping a dancing beat and Mumbles starts to dance. This gets the attention of the whole crowd and Mumbles is ultimately sent back to his home, but he marked with a homing beacon. I’ll leave the rest for you to watch.
The animation in this movie is really good and they weave music and dance into the movie in a really fun way. The voice acting is good especially the role of Noah, the patriarch of the penguins, who is portrayed by Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith from The Matrix.) I would reccomend this movie for anyone who enjoys animated films. Towards the end the movie gets very emotional as Mumbles is temporarily separated from his family and we are not sure what is going to happen. The movie also tells a good story that could open a dialog for parents and children.
I saw Star Wars III this morning. I enjoyed it a lot. The most frustrating thing about the movie was knowing what was going to ultimately happen and to watch Anakin make choices that led him that way not being able to stop him. Another thing I find frustrating at times about the Stars family of movies is that it makes the Dark Side look stronger and better. You think Yoda is invincible and then he is defeated by the Emperor. It is kind of dis-illusioning.
Anakin starts the movie out on pretty good terms with Obi-Won, which surprised me given how they left the last episode. I expected a lot more conflict. I don’t really buy the acting from Palpatine in the rescue scene. It is too obvious that he is controlling things. Even if you don’t know, the acting is poor. He improves throughout the movie, but I think he is the weakest actor throughout.
Overall though, I was very please. You get a lot of Star Wars background theory and you get to see what drove Anakin to become Darth. It also gives you some insight into the human spirit and the lengths we go to for the ones we love. Treachery and deceit are highly present throughout the film. It becomes difficult at times to tell if people are acting on their own or if they are being manipulated by Palpatine. The story I think flows very smoothly and the you can see all of the plot and story lines weave together. The writing is really well done.
The acting is as good as you might expect from a sci-fi movie. Visually and audialy (sp?) the movie was phenomenal. The music is always very good in Star Wars and it is often described as a musical drama. The pictures and special effects are all very good. In the first fight scene, it is a little hard to follow the fighters. The light sabers also looked a little different than the first 2 movies. As always, the sword fights are a little tough to follow because of the speed, but they are fun none the less.
I was very excited when General Grievous busted out the 4 light sabers (although we were confused why he had a cough.) And you get to see Palpatine work with the saber. It is odd to think that Windu and Obi-Won would have just actually finished there fights without hesitating then the whole affair would be taken care of. But Windu stops to wait and Obi-Won just assumes Anakin will die.
I also liked the way that Padme & Anakin’s lives become intertwined as they die. You can see very clearly, as the movie ends, that when Obi-Won says to Luke, “Vader killed and murdered your father,” that Vader really is reborn out of Anakin. Also they way the battles between Yoda & Palpatine and Obi-Won & Anakin are intertwined together is very nice.
I really like Star Wars. The stories work well together and the movies are visually impressive. Most importantly, I think, is the way the music tells a story. The way the death march plays at the right times, and in the final light saber battle, the theme from the last battle in Phantom Menace starts to play.
I have more thoughts that I will share later but it is late.
I can appreciate that American Idol is trying new things and all, but I think last night was the worst episode ever. It wasn’t just the song choices, but I know there are better more famous musical songs out there (Hello, Les Mis…), but for the first several singers, the background music was way too loud. I think that they will not choose musicals again. But, I give them credit for trying to keep the show creative.
Fortunately for all of us, Carrie Underwood is still gorgeous.
I am a little surprised by the results, I don’t think the worst person left. What is interesting, is that the contestants that were in the bottom three the first week, were also the first 2 contestants to go. Week 1’s bottom three was Jessica, Mikahlah, and Lindsey. Very odd, because Jessica wasn’t even in the bottom 3 week 2. (For a complete record of the results check out my Idol Contest Page. If you watch the show, feel free to join.
Anyway, it will be interesting in Vonzell and Scott are the next two go, it would be like a pattern. Freaky!
In according with my previous post. I just wanted to add, that all music (or at least more) should be perform “Unplugged”.
The Joe Nichols thing with just one singer and one acoustic guitar was awesome. I am always amazed at home much a person can do with 1 acoustic guitar. The whole thing was very intimate, very clear, very understandable, and awesome. There is no need for all that other fluff. I want to hear the person sing nice and clearly.
The ONLY exception to this rule is if a gorgeous woman wants to dance around scantily clad and provocatively and she has a average voice (aka Britney Spears), then I will allow all of the noise and loudness.