What, me worry?

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Diary of the Dead (Yes, again!)

I garnered much criticism from my last post about this film because I mentioned too many movies. On in particular which I shall not mention, much, you know who you are and which film I speak of. (That doesn't read right, I know.) Here is the shortened down for the simple minded who had trouble with the last one. *cough* Joe *cough, cough* I'm not mentioning any names here.

In this film George Romero decided to start at the beginning of a zombie infestation and follow some film students who find themselves trapped in the middle. He uses the much done character carries the camera the whole time method in this film. Which I thought would be interesting to see Romero try out.

I know some say, what an ass, that guy is filming everything and not helping, but I can't say I wouldn't do the same. Why would the guy film it all and not help his friends getting attacked. This particular character is a documentary film maker, that's what he wants to do. I think this guy would have filmed no matter what disaster had happened.

It starts of with the main characters making a mummy movie. This is where Romero gets his chance to get his digs in on fast zombies. The guy playing the mummy moves too fast. The director says he's going to fast, dead things don't move fast. This is what I've been saying all along. If you are dead, you are rotting. You are still bound by the limitations your body was already bound by. Only more so, because you are dead and rotting hampers you a lot more. As I type this, that fact seems so obvious.

Anyway, while they are filming there is a news cast about the outbreak. Everyone gets scared and decide they want to go home, so they swing by the dorms and get one of the character's girlfriend and then they hit the road in a Winnebago. The mummy decides to go to his house because it's like a fortress and one of the girls go with him.

We follow the Winnebago through many ups and downs and wind up finding out home isn't always safe. I think though the idea of going home and the safety comes from the security they felt when they were growing up.

There are some really good characters and some bad ones. The girl from Texas was particularly annoying. She didn't seem genuine, like she was trying too hard or didn't really get her character.

Well once again we are faced with social commentary. This one being that in our society we see everything. Everything is filmed, caught on digital cameras, or some sort of medium. Then it is put out there for us to see. But also, he's trying to say, at least this is what I get out of it, the government manipulates the truth. But they can't really, can they? Just about everyone has a camera anymore.

This is getting too deep for me I think.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Stuff on My Mind

I have to admit I'm still bummed about the Dottie situation. It's so weird. Miss Dottie is an ex-coworker of mine. She worked in my office when I came on board. But recently the powers that be decided we didn't need her anymore. I can't really express here what she meant to me. She is an extremely good friend to me. That means a lot coming from me. I don't make friends easily and it takes a lot for me to call anyone friend. (Sounds like whining but I was dumped on a lot growing up so I have trust issues I'm working on.)

When I started we were not actually in the office. We had a cubicle at the Government Center in Indiana Secretary of State Business Services Division. She Photographed UCC filings onto micro films for our companies archives and I went over the results from our UCC searches. At first we didn't speak much but everyone else came over and spoke to her. One day we got to talking and talked every day from then on. We had a lot in common. Who would have thought that? We both had a sister that died tragically at a young age. We both had to take on a lot of responsibility for our families at a young age. Then IN-SOS went live on the internet with their UCC's and we didn't need to be there anymore so we went to the office. Fast forward to now. Years and years of laughing and crying together. She worked for the company for nearly 13 years and they called the office a few weeks ago and fired her. Over the phone.

Let me just say that I work for a small company. The Owner personally knew her family. He didn't even call himself. He had the personnel woman do it. He said Jeff was to do it but Jeff refused. He feels the same about her. It just doesn't seem right to walk in the office and all her knick knacks are gone. Her desk is empty and I can't smell her perfume ( which she wore liberally. At least it didn't smell bad.) Even worse was that the lady that fired her kept calling after Miss Dottie left. To make sure Jeff was okay. She hadn't spoken to me but asked for me at one point. I jokingly said,"Why, am I fired too?" She replied, " I heard your rude comment." I wouldn't put it past them though. She wanted to know how I was and I had to say something about how she was my friend to but it really wasn't up to me whether she stayed or went and I'd get over it. Really, her polite call was to make sure I wasn't worried about the companies financial stability and that I didn't plan to quit because of this. That they let her go so that a few years down the road we didn't run out of money and have to let her go then. Some kind of stupid spiel like that. What b/s. And even worse was the call the next day when I was at the Marion County Recorders office doing work, for her. To ask if I was okay. Why not rub salt in the wound? It only hurts a little and then goes away.

On a lighter note:
I know the family could care less about my doll collection but I do so there. (Mighty mature!) Anyway, I'm just really excited about my latest find. (I just got a new castle. Yes I know I already had one but that was the Disney Princesses castle! This one is the Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper castle. It's not the same. No it's not! But that's not what I'm excited about.) I have been building, slowly but surely, my dolls of the world collection. Which had been quite easy for a few years because Mattel was releasing them quite regularly. The last couple have been rather elusive however. I do know I'm getting one for my birthday. I'm good on the ones from the last 8 years. Thanks to Jeff and Miss Dottie. They help me search high and low for them. All the while I have been looking on ebay, Goodwill and various flea markets for the older ones. One I particularly wanted was the Irish Barbie from right around 1994-95. I wanted her so much that I bid on multiple auctions for her and lost every single blasted one. (Stupid jerky sniping jerks!) Until finally at long last I was at the Goodwill outlet store on W Washington Street and there she lay in all her glory!!!! I couldn't believe it.. She was still in her original dress missing only her shoes and cap. That's okay because in my desk at work were a sensible pair of black shoes that I put on her and set her on the file cabinet amongst the rest. (Because I keep them at work. In case nobody knew, I keep some at work. They aren't all at home. Some are in my office. I had to put them out in the front room because Jeff's superhero collection is getting quite large. It's oppressive sometimes.) I have made a few other great finds lately I found the Peruvian
Barbie from the 80's along with Russian Barbie from the 90's at the Peddler's Mall. (Peru has some slight degrading due to her age. Leg spotting.) I also finally one the French Barbie from the 90's Yay! I know, no one cares but Yay!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

"Diary of the Dead"

I know I have been behind. I always try to formulate these reviews in my head before I type them.
Probably over think them. That's probably why they are so bad. That actually makes a lot of sense. That's probably why anything I write lately turns out crappy. I didn't used to have to think about it. It just poured out of my pen onto the paper. Now I wind up starring at the screen not writing anything. I have tried. Maybe I should write it then type it. Anyway so not the point.

My problem with "Land of the Dead," and this was always at the back of my mind, is how over produced it was. Which is such an odd thing. Well I actually have other problems, the more and more I watch it the more and more Big Daddy bugs me. It would have been perfectly fine without the whole, you are killing my kind attitude of Big Daddy. Not to mention I will never understand how he was able in his rotting mind figure out that the men in the tower sent out Dead Reckoning to raid his home. He's a zombie!!! Possibly without this even the vengeful zombie angle would have been more feasible. But let's not get into a debate about the problems in the film. Over all there were many things in it I did like, so I'll say I liked it.

But this post isn't about that film. It's about the latest George Romero film "Diary of the Dead."
When I heard the concept I thought it would be interesting. A group of college kids making a film find themselves in the middle of a zombie epidemic and decide to document it. Hey they have cameras and aren't afraid to shoot! It might be interesting to see what Romero will do with the whole camera held by a character fad. I was slightly annoyed at it being set at the beginning of the epidemic or plague. I ave said before that I find that highly annoying. I would love to see another try at people living with the epidemic instead of the initial survival. This is just because I'm impatient and just want them to get on with it.

So I got the film watched it and I did enjoy it. It's much more enjoyable than the recent "Day of the Dead" Piece of filth. I judge films sometimes on re-watchablility, "Day" didn't have this at all. I don't know If I'll ever watch it again. "Diary" I could definitely watch again and again. There were some really good performances in there. There were some bad ones two. That blond girl from Texas springs to mind. I found her annoying and not at all believable as the character. Her performance was bad high school play at best. I hate when it seems like a person has merely memorized their lines and is just saying them on camera in such a way that shows they have no idea who their character is supposed to be.

The movie itself as I mentioned is about a group of kids making a film. It is a Mummy movie. This is where one of the characters, playing the mummy tries to run as his character and the director says, "Dead things don't move fast." To me this is a direct knock at recent Zombie movies most of which contain fast zombies. No fast zombies here. Dead things don't move fast because they can't. They are rotting corpses. I have to wonder if Romero started over because in his previous zombie verse the zombies were evolving to be smart. A theme they practically bludgeoned us with in the "Day" re-make. Perhaps he took a lot of flack on that or didn't like it himself? Anyway, the zombies were not fast or smart in this film. They hear a newscast and head back to college to seek safety and wind up on the road in a Winnebago. I liked the idea that they were mobile. This allowed for so many more opportunities to run into other survivors some good and some bad. Of course their journey was meant to take them all to their homes. Of course home isn't what they hoped for.

So in conclusion, I liked the film.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

I visited a Fundy Museum aka I’m not a Creationist

Over a week ago I went to The CREATION Museum.

Yeah, I know, Why?
Well, I wanted to see it with my own eyes. I had heard it was technologically top notch.
Of course I was greatly disappointed. It was crowded, not with people seeking knowledge like at a real museum, no, not there. It was crowded with people with no interest in what the museum was. They just presented their tickets and walked in a line around the exhibits until they got out and went home. Seemed like they were their out of obligation.

This is what I know, creationists believe that the world is no more than 5,000 maybe 6,000 years old, and people lived at the same time as dinosaurs. Humans were put on earth in GODS image and there was no such thing as evolution before the big flood, you know, the one with Noah and the ark, the one that created the GRAND CANYON. Humans do not evolve, animals do. Let's see, what else.... the BIBLE is literally true, literally! All of this based solely on the BIBLE. Not on human reason, they say there is no such thing, you should only believe the BIBLE not reason at all, no thinking for yourself. It's not based on actual evidence like scientific proof. They say such things can be disproved, like no human skeleton has ever been found on the same fossil level as a dinosaur skeleton/fossil, but they say this is not proof, no one's ever found a human skeleton next to a crocodile skeleton or a coelacanth, a deep sea dwelling fish. That's ridiculous if you ask me. Why would a human skeleton be down there? Unless they got their foot stuck and died. Anyway, my big impression of this place is it was quite a racquet, somebody is making some fat cash off of this place.

After we finally escaped the museum, we is Judy Jill and I, we went to the Bodies Exhibition because it was still in Cincinnati. (Ironically it's next stop is INDY, it is downtown right now!)
The big difference between the people there and the previous stop is they seemed to be interested in the exhibits at Bodies. Maybe some of the Fundy Christians knew deep down it was a sham? Really Bodies was a bit morbid, actual bodies just standing around in all their skinlessness. It was morbid and cool! But I'm a weirdo.

Anyway........I think I'm done with this post.