Meme: Every Frakking Animated Movie Ever Made (Almost)
I stole this from Andrew Wheeler, who stole it from someone else. Should be fun! All the animated movies in the world, sort of: – X what you saw – O what you haven’t finished/seen or saw sizable portions – Bold what you loved – Italicize what you disliked/hated – Leave unchanged if neutral (I’ve added a final thing to these: a grade–good, average, and sucked. I might as well, right?) CLASSIC DISNEY ——————————- [X] 101 Dalmatians (1961) — Good [X] Alice in Wonderland (1951) — Good [X] Bambi (1942) — Good [X] Cinderella (1950) — Average [X] Dumbo (1941) — Good [X] Fantasia (1940) — Good (and trippy. Every time I see this movie, I feel like someone has inserted an extra ten minutes. No joke. My experience watching this as a kid involved frequently feeling as though I missed something the last time I watched it.) [X] Lady and the Tramp (1955) — Average [X] Mary Poppins (1964) — Good [X] Peter Pan (1953) — Good [X] Pinocchio (1940) — Good [X] Sleeping Beauty (1959) — Good (I liked it, but I’ve only seen it once.) [X] Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) — Good [X] Song of the South (1946) — I barely remember it, so I can’t grade it. (Note: My grandma pretty much made me grow up with most of the Disney movies. I’m not complaining, but I’ve pretty much seen every classic and semi-classic Disney movie ever made, even if I can’t remember seeing it. That is, except for new Disney, which I’ve mostly been avoiding.) DISNEY’S DARK AGE ——————————- [X] The Aristocats (1970) — Average [ ] The Black Cauldron (1985) [X] The Fox and the Hound (1981) — Good [X] The Great Mouse Detective (1986) — Average [X] The Jungle Book (1967) — Good [X] The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) — Good (They were on constant re-run when I was a kid.) [X] Oliver and Company (1986) — Average [X] Pete’s Dragon (1977) — Good [X] The Rescuers (1977) — Good [X] Robin Hood (1973) — Good [X] The Sword In The Stone (1963) — Good THE DISNEY RENAISSANCE ——————————- [X] Aladdin (1992) — Average [X] Beauty and the Beast (1991) — Average [X] A Goofy Movie (1995) — Average [X] Hercules (1997) — Good [X] The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) — Average [X] The Lion King (1994) — Good [X] The Little Mermaid (1989) — Average [X] Mulan (1998) — Good [X] Pocahontas (1995) — Average (the manipulation of history is rather annoying) [X] The Rescuers Down Under (1990) — Good (I loved this one as a kid for some reason) [X] Tarzan (1999) — Average DISNEY’S MODERN AGE ——————————- [ ] Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) [ ] Bolt (2008) [X] Brother Bear (2003) — Average [ ] Chicken Little (2005) [X] Dinosaur (2000) — Sucked [X] The Emperor’s New Groove (2000) — Sucked [ ] Fantasia 2000 (2000) [ ] Home on the Range (2004) [X] Lilo & Stitch (2002) — Average [X] Meet the Robinsons (2007) — Average [ ] Treasure Planet (2002) (You’re probably noticing a trend, what with Disney films progressively becoming worse as the years went by. I don’t know if that’s because I grew up and lost interest in the Disney style, or if they simply got bad.) PIXAR ——————————- [X] A Bug’s Life (1998) — Average [O] Cars (2006) (I refuse to see it. I’ve seen five minutes or so and just couldn’t stand it.) [X] Finding Nemo (2003) — Good [X] The Incredibles (2004) — Good [X] Monsters Inc. (2001) — Good (one of my favorites, actually) [X] Ratatouille (2007) — Average [X] Toy Story (1995) — Good [X] Toy Story 2 (1999) — Good [ ] Toy Story 3 (2010) [X] Wall-E (2008) — Good (top three for sure) [X] Up (2009) — Average DON BLUTH ——————————- [X] All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989) — Good [X] An American Tail (1986) — Good (loved the Fieval films) [X] An American Tail: Fieval Goes West (1991) — Good [X] Anastasia (1997) — Average [X] The Land Before Time (1988) — Good [ ] The Pebble and the Penguin (1995) [X] Rock-a-Doodle (1991) — Sucked [X] The Secret of NIMH (1982) — Good [X] Thumbelina (1994) — Average [X] Titan AE (2000) — Matt Damon! [ ] A Troll in Central Park (1994) CLAYMATION ——————————- [ ] The Adventures of Mark Twain (1986) [X] Chicken Run (2000) — Average [ ] Corpse Bride (2005) [X] James and the Giant Peach (1996) — Good [X] The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) — Average [X] Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) — Average [ ] Coraline (2009) CGI GLUT ——————————- [X ] Antz (1998) — Average [ ] Bee Movie (2007) [X] Happy Feet (2006) — Good [X] Ice Age (2002) — Sucked [X] Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006) — Sucked [ ] Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) [ ] Kung Fu Panda (2008) [X] Madagascar (2005) — Sucked [X] Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008) — Sucked [X] Monster House (2006) — Average [X] Over the Hedge (2006) — Sucked [X] The Polar Express (2004) — Average [X] Robots (2005) — Average [X] A Shark’s Tale (2004) — Average [X] Shrek (2001) — Good [X] Shrek 2 (2004) — Good [X] Shrek The Third (2007) — Average [ ] Shrek Forever After (2010) [ ] Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) IMPORTS ——————————- [ ] Arabian Knight (aka The Thief and the Cobbler) (1995) [ ] The Last Unicorn (1982) [ ] Light Years (1988) [ ] The Triplets of Belleville (2003) [ ] Persepolis (2007) [ ] Waltz With Bashir (2008) (I actually read the graphic novel) [X] Watership Down (1978) — Average [ ] When the Wind Blows (1988) [ ] Wonderful Days (2003) [ ] Yellow Submarine (1968) (I have no intention of seeing most of these, to be honest.) STUDIO GHIBLI/MIYAZAKI ——————————- [X] The
Future Plans: A List
I’ve been thinking about things I’d like to do on this blog over the next few months (or year) and decided to write up a list for your perusal. Some of these things are pretty much set in stone, and others are flexible. If you have suggestions for things you’d like to see on this blog, please let me know. I’m always open to suggestions, whether of the “we want more of that” or the “you haven’t done this” variety. Update: I added some things to the list which I had previously forgotten. Here’s the list: Upcoming Projects A video review of the Barnes & Noble Nook. I recently purchased one and plan to review it, but not for a few more weeks. I want to get used to using it first. The sort-of-final post in my New Weird and Scifi Strange series. I expect I’ll come back to it again, but this third post will be enough for now. Pick My Next Read Polls. I’ve done them before, but I thought it would be fun to do it again. I’m not sure how I will run it. Either I’ll pick the books from my to-be-read pile, or perhaps I could open it to your suggestions. What do you think? Book reviews of The Reapers Are the Angels by Alden Bell, The Misadventures of Benjamin Bartholomew Piff: You Wish by Jason Lethcoe, Angel Dust Apocalypse by Jeremy Robert Johnson, City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff VanderMeer, and Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 by David Petersen. I have a dozen other books I’m reading, so this list will likely get longer as the weeks go by. A post showing the before and after state of my bookshelves. I bought a new bookshelf a couple weeks ago, and things have shifted significantly around these parts. My apartment still looks like a cheap library, but so be it. Possible Projects Discussions centering around my research (expatriate Caribbean science fiction, to be specific). This may be focused specifically on science fiction, or it may look at cultural elements and theory. Think of it as an on/off ordeal. Worldbuilding progress on Altern, one of my fantasy worlds. I’m not treating the worldbuilding in the same way as Tolkien, primarily because the world I’m writing in is post-Elizabethan and pre-coal in design. The people there are on the cusp of their version of the industrial revolution. There is a hint of magic, but its presence is severely limited to the point of being impossible to discern from natural phenomenon. Mythological creatures do exist, though (not all of them; no dragons, yet). Discussions and reviews of non-traditional speculative literature. By that I mean non-Western in a limited sense. One of the professors on my M.A. committee is judging a translated SF award right now, which is part of what led me to this idea. More discussion of books that aren’t released by major publishers, or books by major publishers that simply aren’t receiving much attention (which almost amounts to the same thing, since, as I see it, books that don’t get as much attention are often the kinds of books I really enjoy, and which I think most of you would enjoy learning about). A little more current events/real world stuff. Maybe a post every couple weeks about something that needs to be addressed. I’ve avoided politics as much as possible, but I don’t think it’s worth hiding away from the things that matter to me on this blog. A discussion of my experiences reading The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis in Spanish. Yes. I am doing this, and it will be an experience. That’s what I’m thinking right now. What do you think? Do any of those things sound completely uninteresting to you? Is there anything you’d like to see on the list that I haven’t put there? Let me know.
Meme: Book Title Communication
WrittenWyrdd has apparently started up a new book meme. Since I haven’t done a meme in a while, I thought I’d do this one (it looked silly and fun). If you’d like to join in, feel free to leave a comment with a link to your version. The challenge: Complete the following sentences with book titles that you have read this year. Put the author of the book in parenthesis. Simple enough, right? I am: The Palm-wine Drinkard (Amos Tutuola) I will never be: Harbinger (Jack Skillingstead) I fear: The Left Hand of God (Paul Hoffman) My best friend is: Ray in Reverse (Daniel Wallace) What’s the weather like? This World We Live In… (Susan Beth Pfeffer) Best Advice: Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe) I’ve never been to: The City of Saints and Madmen (Jeff VanderMeer) Favorite form of transport: Flight (Kazu Kibuishi) I’ll never fit in at: In the Castle in My Skin (George Lamming) How I’d like to die: An Idle King (J. W. Benford) You and your friends are: The Reapers Are the Angels (Alden Bell) Thought for the day: Why Darwin Matters (Michael Shermer) Your soul’s present condition: Irreligion (John Allen Paulos) A few of those don’t fit so well, but I did my best. Any thoughts? Update (the following are folks who have added their own versions to their blogs) The Mad Hatter’s Bookshelf and Review
Question: What do you look for in a review?
(Note: I am still working on another post on the whole New Weird/Scifi Strange thing. I’ve been busy, and those posts tend to take a lot of time that I currently don’t have. Derrida is killing me. The next post will be up this week, though.) Jeff of Genre Reader has a post up on his blog about reviews and what we look for when we read them. Part of his blog contains a series of questions intended for his listeners, but because I think the questions are worth addressing among readers everywhere, I thought I would post them here along with my answers. Here goes: 1) Do you prefer informal reviews or formal reviews? When I am shopping for books, I prefer informal, but detailed and honest reviews. Vague information is useless for any review, but too much detail turns me off. When I read reviews, I’m looking for a reason to buy the book; if the book was awful, or the reviewer doesn’t give me the information I want to figure out if the book is worth buying, then I move on. (I do read OF Blog of the Fallen, but he is an exception, rather than a normality for me.) 2) Do you prefer short, medium length, or long reviews? Medium length. Short reviews usually lack detail, and long reviews usually fail to hold my attention. 3) Plot Summary: Do you prefer just a simple copy of the summary from Amazon, or do you want the reviewer to use part of the review to write his/her own summary of the book? Or would you prefer the summary is left completely out of the review? Honestly, I don’t care either way. I usually skip over the summary, or I’m already aware of the summary on the book cover, which gives me little reason to read a paragraph on what the book is about. Having a summary in the review doesn’t bother me, though; I just don’t read it. 4) Is it important if the reviewer liked the book, or do you read reviews to get a sense of whether YOU would like the book (no matter what the reviewer says)? I know this answer seems obvious, but if you think about it, some review readers do indeed see a negative review and won’t take the time to determine if the negatives apply to them (the potential reader). Of course it’s important if a reviewer liked the book. Knowing which side the reviewer stands will determine what that reviewer writes about, and if it’s a good/bad book, I want to know why. Reviews will always be subjective, and reviewers/readers all need to understand that. At the same time, however, I read reviews to figure out if I’m going to like or dislike the book too. That seems to me to be a requirement for reading reviews. I don’t always agree with the reviewer, though. Some reviewers have different tastes in terms of major details (genre) and minor details (themes, specific elements, character types–such as homosexuality). You can usually tease out that kind of information by reading the review, though. For example, if you read some of John Ottinger’s reviews over at Grasping for the Wind, you’ll notice that he has particular dislikes related to certain social conditions; I don’t have those dislikes, but the fact that he brings them up in his reviews shows me what things I might like about the book in question (this is not a slight against Ottinger, but an observation). 5) Are there certain reviewers you trust almost absolutely? By that, I mean if Reviewer A likes a book, that is good enough for you and you will buy the book despite what other reviews say? Or if Reviewer B dislikes a book, you immediately remove the book from your to-buy list? No. There are reviewers I am more likely to agree with than others, but my particular literary tastes are personal, complicated, and unique. Most people are the same way. You might like a type of science fiction novel that I’m not into, while at the same time we’ll both gush over Battlestar Galactica. That’s just the way it is. That’s not to say I don’t trust reviewers; what I’m saying is that there are no reviewers who inspire me to buy everything they review positively (in fact, I’ve purchased a few books that were reviewed poorly by reviewers who I know have the exact opposite tastes as me). Sometimes I will buy. Sometimes I won’t. Sometimes no matter how much a reviewer likes a book, I know it won’t be for me. And that’s it. Feel free to answer the questions here or on Jeff’s blog. The more responses the better. P.S.: Is it just me or does it seem like there are missing questions to this thing?
10 Gut-wrenching Songs From Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies/Shows
Anyone who knows me well enough to call me their best friend also knows that music destroys me emotionally. Not all music, just some music. Certain songs have something that hits me at some strange emotional core, shaking my innards in just the right way, like striking that perfect note on a cello or violin. These are the kinds of songs that I listen to over and over, but also take breaks from, because they really do get my emotional side reeling (which helps a great deal when it comes to writing). Now that you all know this, you can call me your best friend. Before I get into the list, I need to make one thing clear: some of the movies listed below are not science fiction or fantasy in a traditional sense, but are still part of one or both of those genres in some way. With all that in mind, I present to you my list of the ten most gut-wrenching songs from science fiction and fantasy movies or television (in no particular order): “Gentle Execution” from Battlestar Galactica, Season Three, by Bear McCreary “Gentle Execution” is one of those songs that uses just the right combination of instruments and the right tempo to create an incredibly depressing feeling. It’s also a perfect tune for hammering out sad scenes in your writing. It also helps to know that this song from BSG appears in an awful scene in which Saul Tigh has to kill his wife for collaborating with the Cylons. “Time” from Inception, by Hans Zimmer I’ve already written about “Time” in another context, but here I’d like to point out that the way the song builds up its layers produces tension and, for me, hits an emotional chord of sorts. I’m not sure how to describe it any better than that. “The Surface of the Sun” from Sunshine, by John Murphy For the same reason that I love “Time” and “Gentle Execution,” so too do I love “The Surface of the Sun.” The most depressing thing is that we had to wait for the longest time before they released the soundtrack; legal mumbojumbo and all that. If you’d like to hear an alternate version containing a fan’s addition of vocals, see here (yes, the alternate is quite good, too). “Trinity Definitely” from Matrix Revolutions, by Don Davis I’m going on the assumption that the primary instrument in this melody is an oboe, because it sounds like one to me. The oboe is one of those instruments that can only be played in two ways: so well that it sounds absolutely beautiful, and so awful that you want to kill yourself. In the case of this song, the oboe melody is so gorgeous and melancholy that one gets the impression that the best part of Matrix Revolutions wasn’t the film itself, but the music (an opinion I actually hold). “A Small Measure of Peace” from The Last Samurai, by Hans Zimmer Say what you will about the movie (it’s awesome, by the way), but the soundtrack is quite beautiful. “A Small Measure of Peace” is no exception. Zimmer knows his string instruments. See for yourself: “A Way of Life” from The Last Samurai, by Hans Zimmer There’s a reason why two songs from the same soundtrack are on this list. I love “A Way of Life” for the same reason that I love “A Small Measure of Peace.” Some of the same themes appear in this particular song, but the finale is intense (it’s from an equally intense scene from the movie, which might be the only movie that I think Tom Cruise really belonged in outside of Top Gun). “Into the West” from Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, by Fran Walsh, Howard Shore, and Annie Lennox There are few songs with lyrics that grip me in the same way as the non-lyric-based songs on this list do. “Into the West” (and one other song on this list) is an exception. The lyrics make sense when set against the movie and Annie Lennox sings it beautifully. Oh, and have I mentioned that I absolutely love the French horn? Yeah. “Anakin’s Betrayal” from Star Wars, Episode Three: Revenge of the Sith, by John Williams John Williams is probably the best thing about the prequel Star Wars movies, and I wouldn’t be the first to say so. “Anakin’s Betrayal” hits me deep mostly because of the scene it comes from, which consists of Anakin killing children and Palpatine ordering the destruction of the Jedi. The music fits this moment perfectly. All you have to do is listen. “Come What May” (Original Film Version) from Moulin Rouge, by David Baerwald and sung by Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman Have you seen the movie? Then the song should make sense without me having to explain why it hits me deep. Just listen and remember the ending of the movie… “Dumbledore’s Farewell” from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by Nicholas Hooper I didn’t care for the movie, but Nicholas Hooper really hit the nail on the head with his music for the final scenes after Dumbledore’s death. Brooding, increasingly melancholy, and just all around sad. If you haven’t heard it, then here’s your chance. And that’s it, folks. So, what are your favorite gut-wrenching songs from science fiction and fantasy films or TV shows? Let me know in the comments!
5 Things the Government Can Learn from Bio-Disaster Films
I’ve been watching a lot of bio-disaster films lately, particularly ones involving a virus or mutated bacteria that infects and kills people instead of turning them into zombies or vampires or whatever. These films are actually quite interesting, because they’re usually low budget, but also strangely much more fascinating than a lot of zombie films in terms of character development and the examination of the human condition. In watching all of these films, however, I’ve discovered that there are quite a few repeated themes that indicate the incompetency of authority in a time of crisis. This acknowledgment led me to create a list of the five things that governments today can learn from bio-disaster films to survive a serious infection. Here are those five things: Don’t treat people like filth, especially when they’re infected. Almost every bio-disaster film I have seen has made this point painfully clear: if you want to maintain control and keep the infection from spreading at an astronomic rate, you have to treat every single person with care and respect. Why? Because the second you give people a reason to run away from authority figures, you’ve lost. Take the film Right at Your Door as a prime example of this. When the government realizes that the attack in downtown LA contains some sort of biological agent, the first thing they do is start rounding up people at gunpoint. Nobody knows what is going to happen to the people being shoved into black vans–maybe they’re getting medical care?–but it doesn’t really matter. The damage is done. The fact of the matter is that the government does not have enough manpower to control a serious infection with force. They need the people to be willing to cooperate with officials so that the infection can be controlled. If you can’t control the infection, then you can’t survive. Plain and simple. Don’t lie or keep valuable information from the public. Most people are not stupid. They can usually tell if you’re lying or keeping something from them. Worse yet, they already know that something is going on, and that it’s not good news. The best thing the government can do is provide some truth and useful information to the public. Tell them what is going on and explain to them what they should do. If you’re already treating them with a certain level of respect, then they’re very likely to follow instructions and use what little information you can give them to make sure they can survive. But if you lie to them or intentionally keep silent about things that they’re demanding to know, they’ll panic.1 Respond quickly. This particularly point is one we should already have learned from recent non-bio disasters, such as the New Orleans/Hurricane Katrian fiasco. But bio-disaster films have been making the case for quick response times for decades. If there is a biological threat, whether in the form of a zombie-style virus, a bio-weapon, or a mutated bacteria, then reacting quickly is the best and only way to go about things. The longer it takes for you to control the spread of the infection, the better chance the infection has of moving into the general populace. You have to keep the infection contained to one area, and do so as fast as possible. Infections spread like wildfire, and firefighters know how bad those can get. Provide food and medical supplies. There are two things that people care the most about during any sort of crisis: food and medical supplies. It should be pretty obvious why. We need to eat and drink, and some of us might be hurt, or infected. In the movies, both of these things are impossible to come by, either because the government refuses to hand them out, people steal them, or people are too afraid to leave their homes to acquire the supplies they need (maybe because the government shoots them if they are found wandering the countryside). This can be solved, if not entirely, then at least to a certain degree. Providing care packages to people, whether delivered door to door or dispensed at special locations across the city (the former is preferable), can go a long way towards making sure people survive, are less afraid, and are more cooperative. Starving people or people who need meds are not happy people, and people who are not happy are the kinds of people who tend to steal, become violent, and so on. All that is bad news for anyone trying to control an infection. Have a well-developed, and practiced, contingency plan for a bio-disaster. Reality #1: Biological weapons exist. Reality #2: Viruses and bacteria continue to evolve and super-strains do exist. Reality #3: Police and other public protection services need to be prepared to handle all of these. Officials should be trained in handling the infected or the potentially infected and in infection containment. Otherwise, it’s quite likely that all four of the things that precede this point will occur. And we don’t want that. So, what things do you think the government should learn from bio-disaster films? ———————————————— 1. The irony of this particular point is that the reason for lying to the public or keeping silent about pertinent information is usually to keep people from panicking. Yet in doing so, they end up producing the panic they were trying to avoid.