As enjoyable as it was, the thing that kept it from going from “good” to “great” was its inability to decide what kind of movie it was. And when you don’t know who you are, you don’t know how to behave, and therefore your pacing is very disjointed.  If someone had told me that this was another bird film, “The Crow” or another Bela Lugosi piece like “Plan 9 from Outer Space) and had to limp along with the styles of several directors or a dead actor, I would have understood and forgiven the final creation more.

John Cusack was enjoyable as always, and put in a great effort. However, it was a noticeable effort, versus an effortless performance. And I think a lot of that had to do with the writing and pacing of the moving. Luke Evans was definitely the strong-jaw looker, but his delivery was sometimes stilted or overacted.  Others in the film gave acceptable performances, although I think because their characters were treated secondary, their abilities were not as striking. Alice Eve was very pretty, but I found it amusing that she spent much of her time in a box, as that was where they placed her acting ability as well, often using her more for her other. . . ahem . . . assets.

The cinematography was beautiful and the costuming was lovely. The ballroom scene was breathtaking. It was an enjoyable movie, but something that you can wait for on DVD.

The movie seemed to hint at a Jules Verne sequel. Hopefully if they pursue that route, they will take the time to go back in his Time Traveling machine and fix this film first so they have a better foundation to draw from.

I would give this movie 3 out of 5 stars.

And then, the coolest thing happened.  Peter Mayhew, the man inside the Chewbacca suit, commented on my post!  Now granted, he shares his Facebook with his wife Angie, and it might of been her, and not him, or one of his assistants.  But the fact that someone of such great presence would take the time to comment on my post, out of all his 5,000 facebook friends, and have my post not even be a geeky post at that. 

Well, that, my friends, is just awesome.

This is a fine action film which I think will leave both those who have read and those who have not read the source material pleased. It’s largely quite faithful to the source in its broad strokes, if slightly disappointing in leaving out some key scenes I felt made the book special. I was surprised they kept in as much of the ending as they did, but felt they did it well, considering what they excised in getting there.

When a movie is adapted from a well-known book, some people will always have anxiety that lines of dialogue, characters, actions, pieces of jewelry will all have some deep hidden meaning that they are somehow missing out on fully appreciating if they have not read the book.

Some people recognize that the way to fix this is to read the book before they see the movie. Some people, alas, do not. Instead they see the movie with someone who *has* read the book, and at every change of scene ask, “What is that, is that important?” apparently completely forgetting the simple dictum of films made for the general public that IF SOMETHING IS REALLY IMPORTANT IT WILL BE EXPLAINED TO YOU.

A person of the latter type and his enabling date were sitting behind me for The Hunger Games, and it was during the tracker jacker sequence that I nearly had to turn around in my seat and remind him of this simple dictum. In the book, Katniss has a page or two to explain, after she spies the hive, what tracker jackers are. It can take a few minutes to read. In the movie, it takes literally a few seconds for the broadcasters of the Games to explain what is going on, and yet somehow there was time for the anxious gentleman behind me to ask his date, “What are ‘tracker jackers’? Are they important?” *and* for her to actually start answering him before the 0.4 seconds of screen time passed that it took for the characters to answer his question for him.

Turning this simple dictum to a later point in the film, I would say that the wild dog beasts are sufficiently well-explained as (a) created by the Gamemakers to (b) provide a new challenge to the Tributes without going into the Muttations as they are explained in the book, and without needing to add the emotional conflict created by the specific origins of these Muttations.

At lunch after the show, it was explained to me that some of the extra elements in this film which are not shown in the source (the rioting in District 11, for example) come from events described in later books in the series, which I have not yet read. That works for me, because I suspect at some point in sequels to this film we’ll get a better understanding of the Muttations and get to see Avoxes, and that sort of thing, which there just wasn’t time for in an action film.

(I can’t help but notice that the IMDb credits for this film include a credit for “Avox Girl,” which leads me to believe we’re in for a nice extended edition DVD.)

As a complete aside, I have to say, two fine points of Suzanne Collins’s writing from the source did not strike me until I was watching the movie. One is related to the wild dog Muttations and Peeta’s desire to die “as himself.” The other is the nice touch of the final outcome of the Hunger Games being decided by something they choose to eat.

Grade: A-

Hey gang!  Please note the following email from Geeker Louis Diaz from ConCarolinas 2012:

Greetings fellow Geeks! For those that don’t know me, my name is Luis and I am director of security for ConCarolinas. For ConCarolinas 2011 the staff had decided that they wanted to host a blood drive to help give back to the community. Since I work for the American Red Cross I was asked to organize the drive for the con and it turned out to be a big success with over 50 people presenting to donate and we collected 36 usable units of blood.

I wanted to let everyone know that we are starting to pre-register people for the 2012 drive a little earlier this time around. We would like the 2012 drive to be a bigger success than the 2011 drive was and that all starts with you. If you are able to donate then please pre-register. If you can’t then please check with friends or family and see if they would like to donate. Why have a blood drive? Approximately every two seconds someone in the United States needs blood. One blood donation could help save the lives of up to three people. More than 38,000 blood donations are needed every day to treat patients in need. Just 38% of the population is eligible to give blood but only a fraction of those people actually do.

There are a few changes for 2012 that everyone should be aware of. First, because of a scheduling conflict for the 2011 drive the day of the drive had to be moved to Friday. For 2012 it will be on Saturday, June 2nd. Right now we are looking at the time to be from 11am until 1:30pm, although that is subject to change. We also had some issues with long wait times once a donor had checked in. This time we will be getting everyone’s cell phone number when you check in. If the wait time is going to be longer than 10-15 minutes then go enjoy the con
and we will call or text you when your number is called.

We will also be having a raffle again! Everyone who presents to donate will be given a raffle ticket. At the end of the drive several prizes will be raffled off including a BRAND NEW XBOX 360!

What I would like is anyone who is interested in donating and would like to pre-register to please email me your name, phone number and email address. The phone number and email will only be used to remind you as the drive draws near and will not be given to anyone outside of the American Red Cross.

Please check out this web page if you are a first time donor…

http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood/first-time-donors

Please check out this web site to view donation FAQ’s…

http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood/donation-faqs

Please check out this web page to view eligibility requirements…

http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood/eligibility-requirements/eligibility\\-criteria-topic

I work at the American Red Cross Donor & Client Support Center in their eligibility department. If anyone has any specific questions about eligibility requirements please feel free to email me and I will be able to answer your questions. You can also send your registration info (name, phone & email) to the same address. It is Tuskenfan@…. Any eligibility information, plus your contact info, will be strictly confidential.

You can also go to http://www.redcrossblood.org  to get more info on donating blood.

I know with everyone’s help we can make this a huge success!

Respectfully,

Luis Diaz

Taft 2012, by Jason Heller, is a novel that begs the reader to question the political motivations of today’s wheelers and dealers, through the imagined actions of President William Howard Taft, who somehow has come back from the past.

Here is the synopsis from Quirk Books:

He is the perfect presidential candidate. Conservatives love his hard-hitting Republican résumé. Liberals love his passion for peaceful diplomacy. The media can’t get enough of his larger-than-life personality. Regular folks can identify with his larger-than-life physique. And all the American people love that he’s an honest, hard-working man who tells it like it is.

There’s just one problem: He is William Howard Taft… and he was already U.S. president a hundred years ago. So what on earth is he doing alive and well and considering a running mate in 2012?

Heller presents readers with a Rumpelstiltskin tale about America’s 27th President William Howard Taft. This is the biggest hurdle to get through in the book, as it is left extremely ambiguous. Alternative history lovers will even have a hard time with this part, due to lack of sufficient explanation, but if the reader can make it past the ambiguity of his return they are in for a treat.

The meat of the story boils down to how would a former President, with what many would consider old fashioned values and morals, cope in today’s world and political arena? Heller employs a historian, a secret service agent, a political commentator, an old woman (who was a child when Taft was President), and a host of other characters to force feed the 21st century to the former president. The world wind of information he has to digest leaves him both hungry for more information and longing for what he viewed as simpler time.

The author achieves his most basic of purposes – to make the reader think. Do modern marvels cause a disconnect with humanity? How much does the media influence what happens in politics? And, what came across as more the author’s agenda than Taft’s, how the prevalence of processed foods has invaded every level of American culture, and how bad it is for us.

The author has made politics palatable for those of us who do not mentally digest it easily. In his objective to bring a sci fi/fantasy twist he has not done such a good job, as he glossed over how it all happened. This will be its downfall for many geeky readers, but if you can make it past this flaw, Taft 2012 turns into an delightful and thought provoking read.

One enchanting romance. Two lovers keeping secrets. And a uniquely crafted book that binds their stories forever.

When Evelyn Morgan walked into the village bookstore, she didn’t know she would meet the love of her life. When Brendan Thorne handed her a medieval romance, he didn’t know it would change the course of his future. It was almost as if they were the cursed lovers in the old book itself…

Book collectors and lovers of the unusual will appreciate this book for the simple reason that it is uniquely crafted. Reading from one side of the book presents Brendan’s story exclusively from his point of view. The other is dedicated to Evelyn’s point of view. Readers can choose whose story to start with, and when finished keep going through the next. The accordian folding enables the continuous flow, but be forewarned this book will require two hands or a hard flat surface, or the reader runs the risk of damaging it.

The story of star-crossed lovers is as old as time and that is exactly what The Thorn and the Blossom is. Goss has woven the modern story of Evelyn and Brendan with the medieval tale of The Green Knight, in which Gawan (Cornish spelling) and Elowen are madly, deeply, and truly in love but cursed to be apart for a thousand years. The modern lovers’ paths cross twice in this novella and give the impression that they are destined to meet again, over and over, until the time of the original curse has run its course.

Evelyn’s story is elegantly written with bits of elemental magic bursting through, adding a darkly ethereal feel to the story. Brendan’s view is a bit more pragmatic, but no less heartbreaking. Goss makes sure to include background stories for both characters making them more complete, as well as what happened in between their first and second meeting. Goss has written a complete tragic love story and done so in 82 pages, the amount for each character to tell his and her tale.

TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY, THAT IS THE QUESTION. If you are a book collector this is a great buy for your collection. It is unique in its design and construction. If you enjoy a tragic romance, then this is an excellent novel to buy. It is a quick read, and well worth reading twice in order to better piece their stories together.

I don’t normally read nonfiction, but when I do it is about really strange and and wacky people, who accomplish amazing things. John (Jack) Whiteside Parsons was one such person. George Pendle took it upon himself to write a biography of man who lived a larger than life existence, and he did so until the day he blew himself up.

Here is the description provided by the Mariner Books:

ROCKET SCIENTIST KILLED IN PASADENA EXPLOSION screamed the headline of the Los Angeles Times. John Parsons, a maverick rocketeer who helped transform the rocket from a derided sci-fi plotline into a reality, was at first mourned as a scientific prodigy. But reporters soon uncovered a more shocking story: Parsons had been a devotee of black magic.

George Pendle re-creates the world of John Parsons in this dazzling portrait of prewar superstition, cold war paranoia, and futuristic possibility. Fueled by childhood dreams of space flight, Parsons was a leader of the motley band of enthusiastic young men who
founded the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a cornerstone of the American space program. But Parsons’s wild imagination also led him into the occult- for if he could make rocketry a reality, why not magic?

With a cast of characters including Howard Hughes, L. Ron Hubbard, and Robert Heinlein, Strange Angel explores the unruly consequences of genius.

Pendle begins Parsons’ tale from the very begining with his parents and his subsequent birth, all the way through to his untimely death due to an explosion in his home. Now don’t be shocked by that last fact, if you have ever read anything on Parsons, or choose to read this book, you would be wondering how it didn’t happen sooner.

Pendle gives a brief overview of Parsons younger years, which weren’t the typical Ozzie and Harriet or Leave It To Beaver existence. He moves through Parsons’ younger years quickly to get to the Jack Parsons that was a combination of mad genius, determined inventor, intellectual elite, dreamer of the impossible, and explorer of things unknown.

Parsons was a self-taught scientist who went on to co-found Jet Propulsion Labs, which became partly responsible for the creation of the first fighter jets and fuel propelled missiles. His scientific methods and uses for fuel engines were far outside the box for the times he was in, but with the help of a few friends, he force-fed other scientists the value and plausibility of rocketry until what they believed was impossible became possible. Some became so enamored with his new thinking that they joined him; while others fought tooth and nail, calling it a foolish and pure fiction.

He was also a member of the Church of Thelema. Not familiar with them? This is the religion founded by Aleister Crowley. Intrigued yet? Parsons was also friends with L. Ron Hubbard, Isaac Asimov, and James George Frazer (The Golden Bough). He devoured science fiction and was a part of the first sci-fi con in America.

Pendle does a good job covering Parsons’ life until his untimely death. He includes outside information on many of the people and the beginning of rocketry science that made Parsons who he was. There are times when it gets a bit tedious, but slogging through it is totally worth the time to find out more about this man ahead of his time.

This is a great read for dreamers of the impossible for the simple fact that Parsons was a man with a dream who refused to give up and saw it through to fruition. He opened his mind to new and sometimes exciting ideas. He thirsted for knowledge and drank in whatever he could get his hands on.

This is not a book that can be picked up easily at a bookstore, so if you want to give it as a gift be sure to leave plenty of time for shipping.

How hard was it to find a rock-a-billy guitar player that was in to sci-fi esoterica? How did you guys meet?

Krekel was surprisingly easy to find – we met via a mutual artist friend in an attic apartment in a historic old house. Actually the house would be the perfect setting for a horror movie. It was destiny.

We just put out a free download of a monster song called Batratspidercrab. It’s inspired by the 1960 horror flick “The Angry Red Planet.” You can download it from our website, www.themadtea.com.