Procrastinating!

So as I sit here, "packing" and "getting ready to go back to school tomorrow," I'm doing what I do best, procrastinating, and what I do moderately well, blogging (in my opinion.) I can't help but be nostalgic on this summer, which in my books will be known as the summer of SVU.

Sure, the beginning of the summer held trips to Los Angeles, Amherst, and the movies, as well as heart-breaking losses, cherished covers, and theories about Zombies, as well as books galore. I read about 8 or 9 books, plus about 9 or 10 graphic novels. And then, on June 3rd, I was bored, and found that 10 seasons of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit were on Netflix. OOOOHHHH BABY. It took me approximately 74 days, to finish SVU but man, was it worth it. I'd always liked the series, and watching all of the seasons really made me like it that much more. I got to see plot lines beginnings and ends, the characters grow and mature, and the series progress ten years over this summer which has been really cool. Now I miss it. But new episodes start up this fall! :D

I was able to watch this much TV in this much time because of my work schedule. Don't get me wrong, work was all well and good, but every Friday and Sunday for the last half of the summer, I had to get up and go to work, which was definitely a damper when Friday and Saturday nights were the only nights of the week when the guys could hangout. So when they were working Monday through Friday, and not wanting to hang out cause of their early mornings during the week, I had a bunch of time to sit around and hang out with my good friends Elliot, Olivia, John and Fin.

But that's not to say that I wasn't active. I went and gym'd it up for a majority of the summer. Monday through Thursday for reasons already explained. That was a good thing! Right? And work was fun from time to time. Two of my co-workers, Daria and Zack as well as myself decided to make Lacrosse Pennies for the Garden Center. The first ones we ordered were too big, and the second ones aren't done yet but no worries. Next summer.

Next summer will be bigger, badder, and a lot more fun. I'll be 21, friends will be off interning in various places I can visit, and they'll be 21 too! That's not to say I want school to fly by though. With a schedule first semester as sick as this, and roomates like Jake, Andy and my bro-host Kevin (Late Night Window returns Tuesday mornings at Midnight this fall!) this is going to be a fun year. SO PREPARE YOURSELF FOR MORE NERDVENTURES COMING YOUR WAY! UNTIL NEXT TIME!

VIVE LE TROIS DE FIN DE LA SEMAINE!

Review: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

A while back, I saw the trailer for the movie, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. I thought, "Wow, that looks pretty cool." Then I stumbled upon the internet, where everyone was, how do you say, FLIPPING OUT. I hadn't been made aware of Scott Pilgrim's basis in the realm of comic books, which, needless to say, only made me like it more. It was drawn and written by Bryan Lee O'Malley, who though I hadn't heard of him, had a really cool style that appealed to my cartoon loving self. This happened to be all around my birthday, and with not much else on my birthday list, I decided to ask for the first 3 books. I was hooked. The protagonist, Scott Pilgrim, is a 20 something, with no job, a few friends, and is lost in life with the exception of his band. He's also comically slow witted. I took a liking to him immediately. I bought the next 2 books, and eagerly awaited the 6th and final book to come out last month.

With such a great love for the books, having now read and enjoyed them all tremendously, the trailers (one in particular) were increasingly amazing as scenes from the movie were almost panel for panel with the comic books. With such a faithful representation, and being directed by the awesome Edgar Wright, who some of you might remember from directing Shaun of the Dead, and Hot Fuzz, the entire nerd community, yours truly included, was throughly stoked.

After letting the movie marinate in my brain juices all weekend I have decided that they had every right to be. Due to time constraints, the story of the movie closely parallels the first three books, then takes its own course, but it remains very faithful regardless. The story is about the previously mentioned Scott, played by Michael Cera, who meets Ramona, and in order to date her has to defeat her Seven Evil Ex's. Video game and pop culture references commence.

The little nods and the amount of references was incredible and vast, from Zelda's Great Fairy Fountain to the Seinfeld scene switch music. The cinematography was also incredible, mimicking the stylized drawing of the books, but at the same time making it aesthetically pleasing and often times hilarious. The mash up of movie stereotypes and the line blurring of comedy, drama and action film with a handful of references interspersed was incredible.

The action scenes were equally as well done. The fighting was as good as I've seen in kung-fu movies nowadays, but was done over a layer of video game stylization, which was what really made me like it. I caught myself during a few of these action scenes thinking, "Wow. I love this movie." I mean, when you have Micheal Cera fighting a legion of bosses, while getting 64 hit combos and coins for defeating them, you know you've just made fanboys' days worldwide.

As I said earlier the subtle sound clues are really good, but at the same time, Scott's band, Sex Bob-Omb plays an integral part in the plot, so there's a lot of music played in the movie, almost all of it written and performed by Beck. I'm no Beck fan, but boy! I really dug the music in this movie. To the point where I am deeply considering downloading the OST off of iTunes. It's that good you audiophiles.

However there are a few detractors. I loved this movie, because I got all the jokes, the subtle little nods, and could kinda empathize with the characters' situation being a 20 year old myself. But if you haven't played a video game in your life, you'll be missing out on a lot of these jokes. The movie is still good on the surface, but it was the little things, and emphasis on detail that really made this movie, "An epic of epic epicness."

If you're in the teens, twenties, or thirties possibly, I'd say this film is right in your wheel house if you like romantic action comedies. Yes, that is the label I am giving this film. Actually, I'm going to call it a romantic nerd action comedy. I am also going to give this film a 9.5 out of 10. I could really watch this movie again. And again. And possibly again. But I might need to pee at some point. But then I'd definitely watch it again. Go see it.

GAME OVER

I Watched Way Too Much TV As A Kid

Or, How I spent my Saturdays for the Majority of my Life.

So I'm hanging out in Amherst, at our brand spankin' new apartment, fighting the router, and lounging around au naturel, when (via Digg.com) I stumbled upon this neat article, listing the 50 Greatest Saturday Morning Cartoons. So of course, I go into this experience knowing that chances are good that I've seen at least a few of these shows.

Turns out a few of these shows meant 36 out of the 50.

And those were just the ones I had seen a few episodes of. I hadn't heard of 5 of them. 45 outta 50 is an A- last time I checked. So naturally I got to thinking, "Wow, I can't imagine how many hours I put into these shows," which of course just got me trying to imagine how many hours I put into these shows. Television was a huge part of my childhood, and probably for a lot of people in their 20's and 30's, but it's weird to think that it wasn't always this way. Our parents somehow managed to go through school every day, walk through their front doors and not crash on the couch in front of the TV. I don't even know what they did when they woke up early on Saturdays.

My routine would be going to school, coming home, "doing homework," (let's be honest here, prime homework hours were before school started the next morning, and in class), and then Toonami would come on Cartoon Network, and I would tell my Mom I was done, even if I wasn't so I could catch my daily cartoon fix. I can remember more than one occasion where I woke up at 6, or 7 on Saturday morning, and sat 5 inches from the TV watching Steve Irwin or some other Australian animal guy talking about animals until the 'toons came on at 8, where I would then plan out my time between Cartoon Network, Fox and The WB. I also remember more than one occasion where my Dad came out to yell at me because the TV was too loud, even though I was sitting 5 inches away.

I've grown up, and I couldn't get up at 6 or 7 on a Saturday morning if I wanted to now, but all that time with these cartoons really did shape my childhood. Cartoons were what got my imagination going. Watching everything from Pokemon to Thundercats to Ninja Turtles, I was always thinking about "What if?" What if I was a ten year old, who left home, alone, to go travel the world, fighting little monsters against each other in an attempt to trap and fight every species? What if I was an anthromorphic lion, with an extendable sword, that got longer everytime I yelled out my team name, who was a king with a mummy for an arch-enemy? What if I was a normal baby turtle who got splashed with chemicals, so that I became human-esque and was taught by a ninja-master-turned-ambilatory-rodent to patrol the cruel streets of New York and protect the citizens from an evil ninja warlord?

The "What if?"'s really became a big part of my life, and while now I'm more into thinking what if this became a career, or I got a job doing that, in the end cartoons really opened the door into a world of unending possibilities that in generations past had only been opened for the fortunate few by books and then radio. I was watching Cartoons way before I got into video games and comic books. So even though a lot of the big hoopla is about getting kids out to play, and getting them off the couch, all I'm saying is I spent a lot of time heavily immersed between the intergalactic peril on TV and the middle cushions of my couch. Letting kids watch Cartoons is a good thing, in moderation. Don't underestimate the potential of letting your kid get lost in some show about a pretty boy, a rich girl, a nerd girl, a stoner and a dog, because when they eventually do get outside, their only going to want to stay there if they can pretend that they're not just in their own backyard, or at the playground, but on the surface of an alien planet, fighting bad guys for possession of 7 magical stones.

So next time you're trying to shuffle your kid out the door, tell them to think happy thoughts... about cartoons.