Guest Post by Ddog from Gamerscene – The Amazing Spiderman: An Amazing Idea?

Today I’m lucky enough to have my friend Ddog, from Gamerscene, over here at my blog! He’s a fellow movie junkie, and I love reading his movie reviews. But he’s got so much more than that! He also reviews video games and books, has some opinion pieces he calls “rage segments,” and even has polls every once in a while (and who doesn’t love a good poll?). It’s great having you here, Ddog, thanks for guest posting for me!!

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Hello everyone! Ddog here from gamerscene.wordpress.com, and it’s an honor to be here at Karen’s blog: The Midnight Novelist!

Spiderman…a name that brings mixed emotions. I grew up watching the first one, fascinated by the costume and the sinister Green Goblin. Didn’t we all enjoy the first? It’s a classic. But then the second and the third Spiderman movies came out, and they visibly declined in quality each time. But I’m not here to talk about how terrible Spiderman 3 was. I’m here to do a bit of an analysis, answering the following questions: Why did this movie get made? Is this the correct time to release this movie? Will it be successful? These are questions that I’m sure everyone is scratching their heads to.

Why is a Spiderman reboot being made? Well, Spiderman 4 was supposed to be created, until the Spidey himself said no to another installment. But why? The Spiderman movies were always the top at the box office! Tobey Maguire would rack up a ton of cash, so why would he deny another opportunity? Well, the script of Spiderman 4 sent Peter Parker back to high school, and Tobey didn’t want that. He refused to join in, being 34. The director of the first three films dropped out of the franchise with him.

Word was always going around that the cast of the original three dreaded the work, too. They supposedly hated working on the movies. Why? That’s been kept under wraps, but everyone knows that when people don’t enjoy their work, they don’t perform their best. Maybe it was a good thing that Tobey bailed. I never liked the guy anyways.

Let’s take a quick break. Do you remember how Peter Parker beat up the goons chasing Mary Jane? And after that, he kissed her upside down in the pouring rain? Well, that scene was extremely difficult to film. Tobey Maguire kept getting water in his nose. On the topic of Spiderman, I have to bring that up.

BUT…back on topic. Is this the correct time to reboot the Spiderman franchise? It’s been ten years. We have to introduce the youngsters to the friendly neighborhood Spider Man, right? Unfortunately, the youngsters aren’t the ones who purchase movie tickets and popcorn. The adults have to flock to the film, but will they?  At the moment, there’s a grand coffee stain on the jeans of Spiderman. Not even Oxi-Clean can remove it. That stain is the Spiderman Broadway show, Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark.

 

This production has been a train-wreck since it premiered. Concussions and injuries and technical issues are crumbling its reputation. It has been postponed and delayed as well. But who cares about Broadway productions? What does that have to do with the movie? Well, it could have some effect. I highly doubt that those who saw the musical are extremely eager to see the film. But that’s just a small population of people. Will it have a huge impact on the film? We can’t know until the movie is released, but there are other factors that lure (and repel) people to the theaters.

The actors. Let’s talk about the faces in this flick. There’s no Leonardo DiCaprio or Tom Hanks, but a more youthful, fresher cast. First, let’s start with the new Spidey himself, Andrew Garfield. What’s he from? He’s worked on some TV shows and movies, but his biggest film is The Social Network, the movie telling the story of Facebook. I greatly enjoyed his performance, and I feel confident that he could pull of emotional scenes in this movie. Spiderman is an emotional superhero, after all.

Emma Stone. I will be honest, I know her film history, but I haven’t seen many of her big movies. I cannot make an opinion fairly, so I will leave that for you to think on…I liked her in Zombieland, however. Moving on. Martin Sheen is highly prestigious. Other than those three names, no other star caught my eye. This can be an issue. People don’t know who Andrew Garfield is. He is the leading man, after all. Luckily, the name “Spiderman” is known to us all, so the cast may not be a big factor to reel people in.

Now, let’s look at the timing of this release. July 3^rd of 2012. That’s two months after The Avengers is released. I have a strong feeling that the success of The Amazing Spiderman financially relies on the success of the Avengers. But why? Spiderman isn’t in it. But there is speculation that he could be. Here is a post I recently typed up on Peter Parker possibly being spotted in the Avengers trailer, which is right here. But anyways, The Avengers will leave a taste in the viewer’s mouth concerning superheroes…either a good taste, of being satisfied and entertained, or a bad one, showing the atrocity of superheroes. If this movie is bad, I don’t think that people will be so eager to dive into another superhero franchise. After all, it’s been years of cinema leading up to The Avengers. People have high expectations. The Amazing Spiderman seems so tiny in comparison to The Avengers. One hero opposed to six…two months after the huge project.

This, of course, is just speculation. Who knows? There’s always a dark horse every year at the box office, and 2012 has yet to see one. Who would have guessed that Avatar, a movie with a plot as generic as it gets, would make as much money as it did? Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved that movie, but who honestly expected the lines that suddenly sprouted infront of theaters and the hype that emerged after opening night?

Thanks for reading!  But it’s not about me, it’s about you. What do you think of this reboot? Is it a good idea to launch the Spidey franchise once again for round two?  Let me know in the comments and check out my blog for reviews, rage segments, and polls. Thanks for having me, Karen!
~Ddog

Rising Stars: George Watsky

I’ve sort of let this particular series fall by the wayside, but it’s time I brought another great person to your attention! Now, before we really get into it, I just have to warn you that this probably won’t be for everyone. Give him a chance, though, and let me know what you think of him!

George Watsky is a brilliant, brilliant guy. There’s two distinct sides of him: the spoken word poet and the rapper/musician. I like them both just about equally, but I can understand how some people lean to one side or the other.

George is a 20-something recent Emerson graduate from San Francisco, California. He’s a 2006 Brave New Voices National Poetry Slam champion and has released several albums, some of them even for free! He’s peaked at #7 on the iTunes hip-hop charts and has even been on the Ellen Show…twice!

Here’s a nice little timeline of how I got to know him.

(Language warning! Nothing too horribly bad, but you’re going to want to send the kids out!)

First, I found him via this interesting little video, (apparently, formerly) titled “Pale Kid Raps Fast”:

Then I watched some of his spoken word videos. Here are two of my favorites:

V is for Virgin

S is for Lisp

He’s also got a few music videos out. This one is probably my favorite:

“Man of Constant Sorrow” featuring Dylan Saunders (which makes my Starkid-heart skip a beat!)

So, why do I like Mr. Watsky so much? For one, he’s incredibly intelligent. His word play is fantastic, and he has a real talent for make you think while you listen to his poems/songs. I also always have a soft spot for someone who has self-deprecating humor such as he does. He’s a real person and has no problem admitting to his obvious dorkiness. He’s great at interacting with fans, and he’s not in it for the money. You can’t help but like someone who wants to create art simply for the sake of creating.

Here are the various places where you can find him:

Facebook

Twitter

Youtube

Website

If you’re weird and a nerd like I am, here is the Rap Genius link to all of his songs. You can look up his lyrics and learn the meanings.

What do you guys think of him? Which side do you like better, the poet or the rapper? Which videos are your favorites?

Word Wisdom: Phrases I’ve Misinterpreted

As writers, we generally have a pretty good hold on the English language. We like pointing out other people’s dangling participles (IYKWIM). We enjoy using random words like ennui or susurration in regular conversations. Or, my personal favorite, constantly correcting people when they use double negatives. (It’s probably my biggest pet peeve.) So, as writers, we generally have a pretty good hold on the English language.

Except when we’re wrong.

Have you ever heard a phrase over and over again – even used it yourself – then one day went, “Oh! That’s what that means?” or “That’s how you say that?” I know I have. And, for your viewing pleasure, here are my top five:

I might as well

I always said, “I mind as well,” then one day I realized that made absolutely no sense. Oops.

Lactose intolerant

Or, if you were me, you thought it was “lactose and tolerant.” I never did understand why people said this when they weren’t tolerant of dairy products.

Don’t take things for granted

I suppose always hearing “don’t take things for granite” could be much worse. I mean, even if it doesn’t have the same exact meaning, it still gets the point across.

Amber waves of grain

Imagine always singing “amber waves of gray” and wondering how waves were gray, and why they were gray if they were really amber…

Up and at ‘em

For the longest time I didn’t know who Adam was and why we had to get him up every morning.

Come on, I know I can’t be the only one. Have any of you grown up saying something one way, only to realize you’ve been wrong all of these years? Were you lucky enough to discover it on your own, or did you have someone point it out to you?

ROW80 – R2C1

Ah, first check in of the round! I’m feeling sort of nostalgic. It’s nice to be back in the swing of things again!

First the updates, then a bit fun and trivial news.

1. Exercise for half an hour a day, five days a week. Incomplete. I managed four days, so it wasn’t too bad. I’m also having trouble sticking to a full half hour. I just have so much I want to do that exercise feels like a waste of time. Plus, I think I’m getting bored of it again. I must find a way to keep it interesting!
2. Each Sunday, visit Writer’s Market for at least a half an hour. Incomplete. Nope, didn’t even attempt it. I WILL do it today. If I come back next week and tell you that I didn’t do it again, feel free to beat me with your keyboards. Seriously.
3. Write every day. Incomplete. I missed Monday and Wednesday, but I’m not that bummed about it. I wrote quite a bit yesterday, on a few different projects, so I’m pretty happy. I like the idea of counting any sort of writing for this goal. It gives me a lot of freedom to work on what I feel like working on at the moment.
4. Read every day. Incomplete. I missed Monday and Wednesday with this goal. I’ve been reading about a page every night. I do not feel like picking up this book and finishing it. (For those of you from the last round, I’m still trying to get through Tiger’s Voyage.) I know I just need to grit my teeth and do it, so I can move onto more interesting books. (And, for the record, I liked the previous two books and the beginning of this one. I’m just tired of love triangles and indecisive teenagers. I think (read: desperately hope) the next two books will be better.)
5. Plot L2. Complete. This is the only one I actually completed! It’s a very rough outline, but it has allowed me to figure out where all the holes in my story are. I’m going to call this “done” and move onto my next goal. The next one is finish writing “The Necklace,” which is one of my short stories. I hope to get this done in the next week and have a brand new goal to start working on by the following Sunday.

I really enjoy having a fluctuating goal, since that seems to keep my interest a bit more than the other ones. It feels strange to not have a blogging goal, but the last round really cemented that as a habit, so I don’t actually need to make it a goal. That’s a great feeling!

The teeny bit of news I wanted to share was just that I’m now on the staff page for Hypable! Check out my bio here. Hope you like it!

Happy ROWing, everyone!

Movie Review: Chocolate

Bottom Line:

Watch it.

Details:

[Minor Spoilers]

About a month ago I talked to you about Raging Phoenix, which has the same female lead as this movie. This movie is pretty different and about a hundred times better! Chocolate is about Zen, an autistic girl that has the ability to learn martial arts just from watching movies, playing video games, or watching other people. Her mother is very sick, and in order to get money for her hospital bills, Zen and Moom, her best friend/cousin (I’m not sure if he’s actually her cousin, but he does call Zen’s mom “auntie”) decide to get it from people that owe money to her mother’s old gang. Zin (the mother) has long since fallen out from the gang, so this doesn’t sit well with its leaders. Either way, it puts Zen in the perfect sort of situation to really kick some butt!

This movie is so full of lovely and perfect things, but let’s start with the obvious: the fighting. The fighting in this movie is very Jackie Chan-esque (this could also be because I watched Rumble in the Bronx on the same day). It’s got the same sort of flare for comedic moments, and the same style that finds the protagonist using ordinary objects to beat up her attackers. (Technically she’s the attacker and they’re just unfortunate, but I’m not going to split hairs.) Just like with Raging Phoenix, I found the fight sequences much more engaging than in most American made movies.

Jeeja Yanin is a great actress. She did an incredible job portraying an autistic child in the movie, and some of her scenes were really heart-wrenching and beautiful. On top of that, the other characters were likeable (or hateable, respectfully), and I really liked Moom. There’s a scene where she first starts fighting and the way she imitates the movies she’s seen is both hysterical and incredibly adorable.

The writing for this movie is much better, and the storyline is much more concrete. There wasn’t any pacing problems, and it was much less cheesy. And although the ending is still a little sad, it is much more hopeful and realistic than Raging Phoenix’s.

I have very little to say on the negative side. Some of the fight sequences dragged a little bit and you really start to wonder how long these people can last after being beat up so many times. On the flip side, though, I think it’s much more realistic than them getting punched once and then never getting up again.

I’m sitting here trying to balance this out a little more, but I honestly can’t. I really, really enjoyed this movie. Even though this came out before Raging Phoenix, I suggest watching Chocolate after you see the other one. That way you don’t get your hopes up for Phoenix, and you’ll appreciate this one more.

Here’s the trailer if you’re interested. It is definitely worth your time!

 
Also, I’m posting this now realizing that it is Autism Awareness Month. How perfect is that? I’d be interested to know what they did “right” and what they did “wrong” in this film. I know Jeeja did a lot of research for her role, so I hope that it’s believable to someone who has a little more experience with autistic children than I do. Let me know what you guys think of it once you’ve seen it!

Lucky Number Seven

So, I was tagged THREE times for this meme. And I was so worried I was going to miss out on all the fun! I’d just like to thank Jessica O’Neal, Debra Kristi, and Laura Stanfill for tagging me. I really appreciate it!

Here are the rules:

1. Go to page 77.
2. Go to line 7.
3. Copy down the next 7 lines, sentences, or paragraphs as they are written.
4. Tag 7 new authors.

Easy enough! I’m actually following in Fabio Bueno’s footsteps and posting one snippet per tag. I switched it up, too. I decided that the first one would start on the 7^th paragraph and go for 7 additional paragraphs (this one doesn’t have 77 pages anyway). The second one started on page 77 and went for 7 sentences, while the third one started on page 77 and went for 7 paragraphs.

And here I thought everything was going to be fun and exciting…and now I’m just really scared! They’re not perfect, and I know they’ll be confusing since you don’t know any background information, but I hope it won’t be a complete waste of your time to read them.

Deep breaths. Deep breaths!!

Okay, here we go:

Here’s a snippet from one of my short stories called “Taken.”

The mother does not notice her daughter straining against her grip. She is deep in conversation with the teacher, one arm on her swollen belly. The baby is moving around a lot, and it is uncomfortable. She releases her daughter’s hand in order to place her own against her face. The teacher looks worried, but the mother reassures her. Everything is fine. She just feels a little dizzy.

At the same time, I lean forward so that my hand is closer to the little girl. I do not want her to have to walk so far to get to me. She looks at me with trust in her eyes, and I know that I am doing the right thing. There is no guilt and no sadness.  She understands far more than she should. I am happy.

The moment her hand touches mine, I feel a surge of victory. This is fate. This is destiny. It was meant to happen as it is happening now. The little girl grips my hand firmly and I begin to take her away from her family. She does not struggle to go back to them.

I hear the body fall behind me, but I don’t think the little girl does. It isn’t until we both hear the scream that she turns around. For the first time it appears that she feels some panic because of what has happened. I take a moment’s pause, then turn my head slowly in the direction of the mother.

It was she that screamed when she saw her daughter’s body fall to the ground. She screamed in terror and panic and hatred at what I had done. I can feel the fear emanating from her in thick coils. But it is too late and there is nothing that can be done.

“Are they going to be very sad?” asks the little girl. She looks up at me with wide eyes, deep brown in color. The curiosity is still at the forefront of that gaze, but she looks a little sad too.

I kneel down next to her, not wanting to see her looking that way. I don’t like it when they turn around and see what they are leaving behind, but sometimes it is inevitable. And it is important for them to understand.

Here’s a section from D1.

Surely he had known how dangerous it was to go into the forest alone to see a stranger. In more peaceful times, no one would give that idea another thought. But these times were perilous, and Society members were going missing left and right. Max had definitely known more than he was letting on. He wouldn’t have underestimated someone, even if this person appeared to be a friend. He had known exactly what he was getting himself into when he left last night. But if that was truly the case, why would he have risked his life by leaving the safety of the house?

And here’s a section from L1 (newly edited for you guys and everything!)

When I got to breakfast half an hour later, I could barely curl my right hand around the serving spoon. I had to use my left one instead, and that made for slow-going. A few people gave me knowing and sympathetic glances, but most just walked around me as if I didn’t exist. I didn’t know what I hated more, pity or indifference.

I sat down at the same table as before, across from David. He took one look at my hands and shook his head.

“I don’t know if I can take this seven days a week,” I said, trying to steady my hand enough to put a piece of potato in my mouth.

“Six, actually,” he said. “We have Sundays off. Which reminds me.” He reached into his pocket and drew out a little calendar. It had kittens on it. I laughed, but took it with thanks.

“Sundays off, huh? Day of rest?”

He laughed. “More like day of partying, mischief, and rule breaking. Most of us go out, looking for something to do. We spend a lot of time at Base. The only time we’re not here during the week is if we’re out getting rid of Sids. You start to feel confined after a while. Sunday is the day that we can let loose a little.”

“The only thing I’m going to be doing tomorrow is lying in bed all day.”

There you have it! Please be gentle!!

I’m not tagging anyone else, because this meme has been going around a lot lately. If you haven’t been lucky enough to be chosen, consider yourself tagged.

Featured Video: Britain’s Got Talent

Never, ever judge a book by its cover.

ROW80 – Round 2 (FIGHT!)

Okay, so Round 2 of ROW80 is starting on April 2^nd, and I’m here to lay down my goals for the next few months. I did pretty well last time (link), so I’m all ready to go for this round!

(P.S. If you have no idea what ROW80 is, click here. If you’re a writer, just be aware that this is one of the best ways to help yourself and stay on track with your writing goals. You can join anytime and it’s super easy!)

My goals:

1. Exercise for half an hour a day, five days a week. This is going at the top of the list in the hopes that it gives me more incentive to make sure it gets done. During the last round I tried exercising every day, but found that it really wore me down. I like having the weekends off (something to look forward to), so I’m sticking with five days a week.
2. Each Sunday, visit Writer’s Market for at least half an hour each day. This goal did not work out well last time, so I’m giving myself a specific day to complete it, hoping that it makes it easier to follow. I really love this site, but I’ve developed some sort of apprehension for going onto it. I really need to just get over that and start using it. It really is an invaluable resource!
3. Write every day. It doesn’t matter if it’s on my novels, short stories, or blog posts. Editing can also fall into this category. As long as I’m working on something each day, I’ll count it as completed.
4. Read every day. This will be easier once I force myself through the ending of the book I’m currently not looking forward to reading. Near the end of the last round I fell back on “blogs count as reading,” and although I still believe that, I want to be more specific. My To-Be-Read list is the size of Everest and I really want to start the climb to the top. I can only do that if I force myself to actually read from a physical book each and every day.
5. Plot L2. I’ve finished editing L1 and it’s off to its first Beta Reader. While awaiting feedback, I want to work on its sequel. I have some major plotting to do and I want to be prepared before I just jump in and start writing it.

Those are my goals – for now. The first four are stationary, mandatory. They won’t be changing, although I will allow myself to tweak them if necessary. The last one will change as I complete the various goals. This is the wild card, the project that I currently want to work on. As I check each one off the list, a new one will replace it.

So, there you have it! The main lesson I learned from the last round was to not run myself down. It just wears you out, and you end up not completing your goals. I think this is a healthy list – definitely enough to keep me busy (like I have trouble with that anyway, ha!) but just enough that I still get some time to myself.

Who of you are joining ROW80 this round? Any newcomers? If you’ve got any questions, feel free to post them in the comments below!