My Review of Star Wars, Episode VII: The Force Awakens

There are two kinds of people in the world: those who are sick to death of hearing about Star Wars and those who are so psyched about the new movie that they actively seek out 1,000,001 articles online discussing it. This post is for the latter type of person. I saw The Force Awakens last week and have been obsessing over it ever since. I feel that until I have completely spoken my mind about it, I will get no peace. In other words, this is going to be a long review/analysis. You might want to get yourself something to drink and have some snacks on hand.

Ready? Good.

I would give the film an 8 out of 10 rating for reasons that I will state below.

****MAJOR SPOILERS!!!! TURN BACK IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS!!!!****

No Goooooooooooaaaaaaal!

(Note: FIFA removed three of my videos )
First, I want to say that I know I've been gone a long time. If you really want to know where I've been, you can check out my travel blog here. I've been really freaking busy for over a year now, but I'm hoping things will settle down soon.

Now that that's out of the way, on to the post!

I'm a huge fan of soccer, and that gets me snubbed by a lot of American sports enthusiasts who think soccer is "boring." Boring?! Soccer is the sport of the world! Why is the US the only country that doesn't embrace it? This just further enhances my belief that Americans are freaks. (Note: I'm American, so I can say these things.)

Well, my inner fan has been turbo-charged this World Cup due to one factor: awesome goalkeepers. They have been rocking it out there! From Mexico's Guillermo Ochoa shutting out one opponent after another to Keylor Navas sparing Costa Rica from elimination against Greece and stopping every shot the Netherlands made during game play. From Manuel Neuer's "sweeper keeping" for Germany to Tim Howard's record-setting 16 saves in a single game for the US. This World Cup has been all about the goalkeepers. Take a look:

"Memo" Ochoa, a fortress against Brazilian strikers





Keylor Navas, savior of Costa Rica




Manuel Neuer, proving keepers can defend both in- and outside of the penalty area

Tim Howard, who was named U.S. Secretary of Defense (briefly on Wikipedia) for breaking a goalkeeping record

I almost added Sergio Romero of Argentina to this post for his great saves in the penalty kicks against the Netherlands, but I'd like to wait and see what he does in the Final match against Germany. Since I'm a fan of the German team, I hope to see more of Neuer's sweeper keeping on Sunday and less of Romero's swift saves.

Happy New Year!

Wow, I've been gone a while! Hopefully, I won't be so busy this year.

 

Why I Love The Evil Dead (1981)

When I saw trailers for the new Evil Dead remake, my first thought was "Why? Why would anyone remake that movie when the original is such a beloved classic?" Well, to make money and to recreate a cult phenomenon with modern special effects and a much bigger budget. For the record, I have not seen the remake and I don't plan to, mainly because I'm afraid it won't have any of the following qualities that I love about the original:

***Some vague spoilers are mentioned here***

The Greatest Short-Lived Shows (Redux)

There was a time when TV networks gave new shows 23 episodes to rake in viewers before deciding whether or not the show should be renewed for another season. Nowadays, networks can decide to cancel a show after only 3 episodes if they want, bringing perfectly good TV shows to an end before they even had a chance to begin. Here is an updated list of some promising shows that suffered untimely deaths.

A word on the world

I am busy working on my novel, so this post is going to be short. In light of recent world events, I feel the need to say something that I've been wanting to say for many years now:

In every country, in every religion, and in every culture, there are jackasses. And unfortunately, those jackasses speak the loudest, drowning out the voices of the more reasonable-minded individuals. These obnoxious jackasses captivate the media, which projects their image across the world for everyone to see and judge (never mind what the reasonable people are doing, because that doesn't make for interesting news). But we should not base our opinions of an entire group on the actions of its most idiotic and misguided members. Because when we do, we only help to perpetuate the ignorance and prejudice that fuel their jackassery, and we become jackasses too.

To whoever reads this, wherever you are, I hope that you can still see past the bad to find the good. And more than anything, I hope that peace finds you soon. That's all I have to say...

Moby Dick: The Novel That Stove My Heart

I don't usually take to works of literature that are considered "classics"--maybe because I don't like to go with the flow just because others keep telling me how great the flow is, or maybe because "classics" are what I was forced to read all throughout school until I felt like it would be worth inventing a time machine just to go back and punch Shakespeare in the nose. Whatever my reasoning may be, it wasn't until I read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein that I realized some books are classics because they truly speak to the innermost soul of the reader. For me, Herman Melville's Moby Dick is one of those true classics. It took me quite some time (135 chapters and an epilogue's worth of time) to decide whether I even liked the book. At the beginning, I loved it. Halfway through, I wasn't so sure, but I read on anyway and it started to grow on me. By the time I got to the end, I realized that I had become so consumed by this novel that I had to love it. But before I reached the point of discovering my true feelings, I analyzed the hell out of this novel and I feel like sharing that analysis. So if you have a lot of time on your hands, or just want to see what someone else thinks of this mind-boggling book, then sit back and enjoy.
**Spoilers abound (mainly for the very end)**

Why I Hate Alien 3

I know that a lot of people say that Alien: Resurrection ruined the Alien franchise, but I think Alien 3 killed it long before the Ripley clone had the chance. Yes, I know that I use a quote from Alien 3 on the FAQs page of my site, but the brilliance of that one line doesn't lessen my hatred for the movie. These are the reasons why I hate Alien 3:

12 Movies/Books that Every Kid Should Watch/Read No Matter How Many Nightmares They May Cause

It’s no secret that the movie rating system has changed much over the course of time. Back when Psycho was made, the Hitchcock classic was rated R, even though not a single curse word is uttered and the infamous shower scene is pretty tame compared to murder scenes in today’s TV shows. If Psycho were made today, it would probably be rated PG. Kids’ movies, on the other hand, have become so censored that I’m amazed their plots have any conflict in them at all. Back when I was a kid, we were all drawn to the most violent and horrific movies we could get away with watching. More often than not, those violent and horrific movies were actually made for children; which leads me to my point that kids today are total wusses! Here are some movies (and a book) that kids should watch (and read) if their overprotective parents would let them. (Warning: There are spoilers mentioned for these movies/books.)
 

Spy Stories

Lately, I've been quite busy reading a book called Body of Secrets by James Bamford about the NSA. It is certainly one of the most interesting books I've ever read. Along with serious information on things such as the Vietnam War and the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty, the book also has some comical moments, showing that electronic spies have a rather wry sense of humor.