When I was a boy, just a strange enchanted boy, I saw many a cartoon. These cartoons typically were of an action variety and offset their violence by offering helpful moral tips after each show which later in life I found to be hilarious. They just keep on giving. My favorites growing up were He-Man, Transformers, GI Joe, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and with the exception of the last two all of them have made horrible ventures into the live action moive world.
Recently I saw the 2nd attempt at making a live action Transformers flick and it got me thinking. I understand why they want to do it, both from a financial and fan standpoint, but some things should just be left alone and preserved in the form for which it was made famous.
This mainly goes for cartoons, because you can't really duplicate what a cartoon can do with live action....yet. Lord knows they try. Michael Bay, for all the shit he's made and plot he's neglected, is doing his part to make it look like robots can really fight alongside real people. It was some of the most amazing effects I've seen in any movie...ever! But that's not enough, you also need a crucial part of any cartoon, characters. People forget that the stars of Transformers are....the TRANSFORMERS!! Shia LeBeef (or whatever) and Megan "such a" Fox are great and all but they have NOTHING to do with the real Transformers and I'd much rather see the character developement of Starscream, Megatron, Soundwave, BumbleBee, and (praying on my knees) the Dinobots! Basically a more advanced cartroon with a small side of real people.
Enough of Transformers for a bit. Now this may be a bit premature, but the GI Joe film set to come out fairly soon, looks like a joke. The trailer shows all our favorite characters: General Hawk, the Baroness, Duke, Scarlet, and of course SNAKE EYES!!! It's got cool military planes, cars, boats, subs, and .... super suits? WTF?! GI Joe don't need no damn super suit! I would much rather have 5 to 10 characters from GI Joe and Cobra duke it out Ramb style than have them doing flips off of planes in a $%@#ing super suit! The only saving grace as far as I, or anyone else for that matter, can see is...SNAKE EYES!!! Lemme say that again....SNAKE EYES!!! Ah, that will be sweet.
Going back to my original point, SNAKE EYES!!! aside, the movie can't hold on one character alone, no matter how crazy, ridiculous, Godly awesome he is. So although I haven't included it yet into the pantheon of cartoons-turned-films-that-suck, as the ghost of Christmas present once said, "if these shadows remain unchanged" then I see fans of GI Joe wailing and gnashing their teeth...or something.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
What we are is what we are (sort of)
An ode to the geek....
When in need of service in tech,
there is no one better to call.
In an argument over Star Trek,
many facts they can recall.
If your computer runs slow,
or game is too hard.
Never shall you fear,
they will help you although,
they may proclaim you a "retard".
The geek is home in the final frontier.
You must excuse me because that was my first shot at an ode which is supposed to be in iambic verse, but I at least got the rhyming scheme right (it's ababcdecde if you'd like to know).
This is my blog, and although today's post is about geeks I assure you that it is not the entire focus of the overall blog. There may be a few more posts on the matter and of course the subjects I will normally choose are "geek" subjects, but there it is. This is an idea I had today as I was sitting at home watching the live coverage of Comic Con '09.
For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, Comic Con is a convention (Con = convention in nerd speak) that is entirely comprised of comic book themed material. Now it's been a long time since I've picked up a comic rag and taken a look at some crazily dressed and ridiculously bodied superheroes/heroines duke it out with their arch-nemeses, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the festivities.
Comic Con is about so much more than comics. As we all know, comic book hero movies do incredibly well with "The Dark Knight" taking home at least 1 Oscar as well as "Iron Man" grabbing one for special effects, they have been taken more and more seriously in recent years. Not to mention the HUGE box office numbers that they put out, it's safe to say that we'll keep seeing more and more of them. Television is seeing its share of comic book influence with shows like "Heroes" and even "Lost" having some sci-fi/fantasy roots. Also the very channel I'm watching this coverage on, G4 TV, has a huge section of its programming (almost all day) devoted to the Con. But why all the commotion over something that sounds to be a small microcosm of society?
To put it bluntly, its a geek's world. Technology and pop-culture make up a huge part of what makes this nation and thereby a good chunk of the world. Because geeks (and nerds, which before you ask there is a difference) are statistically 42% smarter than the average person according to a survey that I made up ten minutes ago. Being smarter means better jobs, higher pay, and therefore higher disposable income. That coupled with the "obsessive" gene that all geeks posses makes for a huge market that advertisers and movie execs take advantage of on a regular basis.
To go back to the whole point of this post, I am proud to be called a geek. Being a geek is something that once upon a time people were ashamed and often afraid to admit, but no longer. The numbers are there, the people have spoken, and now is the time for us as a people to take our rightful place as leaders of this nation!
Ok maybe not that, cause we also have a tendency to not really want to do much in politics unless it's....INTERGALACTIC POLITICS!! Maybe when we discover life on other planets geeks will want to become more involved in government. Until then we'll just continue doing what we've been doing all over the world. Making it safe for people of color....or a severe lack thereof.
When in need of service in tech,
there is no one better to call.
In an argument over Star Trek,
many facts they can recall.
If your computer runs slow,
or game is too hard.
Never shall you fear,
they will help you although,
they may proclaim you a "retard".
The geek is home in the final frontier.
You must excuse me because that was my first shot at an ode which is supposed to be in iambic verse, but I at least got the rhyming scheme right (it's ababcdecde if you'd like to know).
This is my blog, and although today's post is about geeks I assure you that it is not the entire focus of the overall blog. There may be a few more posts on the matter and of course the subjects I will normally choose are "geek" subjects, but there it is. This is an idea I had today as I was sitting at home watching the live coverage of Comic Con '09.
For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, Comic Con is a convention (Con = convention in nerd speak) that is entirely comprised of comic book themed material. Now it's been a long time since I've picked up a comic rag and taken a look at some crazily dressed and ridiculously bodied superheroes/heroines duke it out with their arch-nemeses, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the festivities.
Comic Con is about so much more than comics. As we all know, comic book hero movies do incredibly well with "The Dark Knight" taking home at least 1 Oscar as well as "Iron Man" grabbing one for special effects, they have been taken more and more seriously in recent years. Not to mention the HUGE box office numbers that they put out, it's safe to say that we'll keep seeing more and more of them. Television is seeing its share of comic book influence with shows like "Heroes" and even "Lost" having some sci-fi/fantasy roots. Also the very channel I'm watching this coverage on, G4 TV, has a huge section of its programming (almost all day) devoted to the Con. But why all the commotion over something that sounds to be a small microcosm of society?
To put it bluntly, its a geek's world. Technology and pop-culture make up a huge part of what makes this nation and thereby a good chunk of the world. Because geeks (and nerds, which before you ask there is a difference) are statistically 42% smarter than the average person according to a survey that I made up ten minutes ago. Being smarter means better jobs, higher pay, and therefore higher disposable income. That coupled with the "obsessive" gene that all geeks posses makes for a huge market that advertisers and movie execs take advantage of on a regular basis.
To go back to the whole point of this post, I am proud to be called a geek. Being a geek is something that once upon a time people were ashamed and often afraid to admit, but no longer. The numbers are there, the people have spoken, and now is the time for us as a people to take our rightful place as leaders of this nation!
Ok maybe not that, cause we also have a tendency to not really want to do much in politics unless it's....INTERGALACTIC POLITICS!! Maybe when we discover life on other planets geeks will want to become more involved in government. Until then we'll just continue doing what we've been doing all over the world. Making it safe for people of color....or a severe lack thereof.
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