To Glee or not to Glee

TO GLEE OR NOT TO GLEE

I have always been a staunch supported of the arts, and Glee is a brilliant embodiment of how the world perceives most of us that are not of norm. I have watched Glee from the get go and will continue to do so until it's course runs dry, even though I do not care for the new characters.

From the get-go I have loved the trials and tribulations of Finchel, Puckleberry and all the rest of the hook-ups, match-ups and mash-offs! The songs that are sung, the relationships that were built, the life lessons taught and the fights won all build up to an awesome experience that I would trade for no other. 

Now I have to admit that I really don't like the new kids, I feel all territorial, and if I had it my way would have ended Glee after season 3. But then we would not have had the awesomeness of Kate Hudson, the ASS KICKING of Dean Gayer or the weird and wacky styling of Sarah Jessica Parker to entertain us.

And Rachel and Kurt have just gone from power to power - I mean Rachel's singing during the NYADA competition actually gave me goosebumps. 

From the beginning of Glee, all the characters meshed together quite well and the entire styling of the cast was done so you had no choice but to fall in love with Rachel, feel sorry for Kurt during the bullying, revel in the awesomeness of Santana, laugh at Puck and Brittany or model yourself after any of the characters. The new "New Directions" just seem laughable - carbon copies of the old "New Directions" and I'm sorry but none of them can hold a candle to Rachel, Kurt, Santana, Finn, Mercedes or Quinn.

With so many awesome covers done by these amazing artists it's no wonder they top the Billboards more than anyone else. I for one will keep watching Glee till I'm old and grey and will get my kids to enjoy it and learn from it, just as I have

A Gleek forevermore!!

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES - NOT SO HIGH

If I had to describe this movie in one word it would be - PREDICTABLE. The entire flow of the movie could be summed up from the first 15 min and leaving the audience with no real sense of wonder.

A fitting end to the revamped trilogy it does not disappoint on the action side of things with brilliant camera work and fight scenes, though the hand to hand combat between Batman and Bane seemed to be overdone and during the second time they fight no new moves come into play to make you believe Batman would be able to win.

I honestly cannot see how it could have beaten The Avengers in the opening stance - it was an entirely overdone movie not even coming close to the brilliance and hilarity of The Avengers. And I can confirm that even after watching multiple times - it still stays an average movie.

But let's break it down a bit more - the inclusion of CatWoman aka Selena Kyle was good, nothing like Anne Hathaway in a catsuit to get the blood pumping but unfortunately her "innocence" shines through and dims the actual essence of what CatWoman should be. Though I would have liked to see more action sequences with her in it - kicking bad guy butt, seeing her on Batman's bike was good enough (brought back flashbacks from Transformers 2 with Megan Fox on a bike).

Bane was a good villian - not as good as Heath Ledger's The Joker but good in his own right. It was transparent to everyone with a brain that the real villian was Miranda and they would try to kill everyone in Gotham. A really nice surprise was Liam Neeson reprising his role as Raz Al Gul - Batman's mentor.

A quick recap - the movie takes place 8 years after the last one, with Batman having disappeared and Bruce Wayne becoming a recluse. A new villain terrorizes the city from the underground - Bane, and the police seem reluctant to stop him. After a run-in with Selena Kyle in his mansion Bruce decides to venture out into the world again to find her and find out why she stole from him. During this he looses all his money and Bane steals most his toys. During his first encounter with Bane, Batman gets his arse kicked and gets thrown into the same prison Bane was brought up in.While Bruce tries to recover Bane takes over the city of Gotham with the threat of a atom bomb, only to have Batman return and save the day.

And for those of you that did not realize - the cop that Batman befriended becomes Robin the plucky side-kick! Muhahahaha!!

Overall a standard move - wouldn't give it more than 5.5/10

TWILIGHT - WORSE THAN .... WELL THERE IS NOTHING WORSE

TWILIGHT - SUCKS!

I recently made a deal with a friend, to read all the Twilight books if she reads all the Harry Potter books. I knew I would do it and sincerely hoped she would hold up her end of the bargain as I know that everyone that treats themselves to the brilliant world that Jo Rowling created would be instantly drawn into the fantastic reverie that is Harry Potter.

However I forgot about what I was putting myself through and throughout the entire series all I was doing was hoping and praying that it all ends soon. The mindless dribble that is Twilight is seriously rotting my brains. The descriptions of the vampire lead from the perspective of a horny teenage girl just further cements my dislike for this franchise. It seriously is a story for love-struck teenage girls who don't know their knobs from their bobs.

From the feminine descriptions of dangerous creatures to the build up of a dangerous element only to have a inexperienced writer blow it all away as a silly child would. I at one stage actually had high hopes for the second book, where the lead started interacting with the werewolf Jacob but that also just about fizzled out.

I am an avid fan of Chuck and the way chuck is written, and as all fans of that show would know, what makes Chuck special is his feelings and that he has to talk everything out, to the annoyance of his fellow spies. Now imagine having to read all his thoughts and the efforts he has to put into all his ways - not so bad hey? Now imagine having to read the diary of a stupid teenage girl who falls in love with a mythical creature (which is supposed to be awesomely cool) and keeps on describing him in ways that would make even gay men shudder.

I have noticed that I get really excited whenever Bella get herself into one of those dangerous situations, hoping that that would be it - death!! But then she pulls through and I go into another depression!

But weirdly enough - this I just have to share, Alice the hot, petite blonde sister vampire from the books made a appearance in one of my many fantasy dreams last night, played by none other than Alisson Mack, so I don't know if it is that I have the hots for the vampire from the book or Allison is just doing it for me since I watched Smallville not too long ago!

Here is some commentary I found on wikipedia and just thought I'd share:

"Many have divided the series as poor writing. While comparing Stephenie Meyer to JK Rowling, Stephen King said, "the real difference [between J. K. Rowling and Meyer] is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer, and Stephanie Meyer can't write worth a darn. She's not very good."^[63][64] However, King understood the appeal of the series, adding, "People are attracted by the stories, by the pace and in the case of Stephanie Meyer, it's very clear that she's writing to a whole generation of girls and opening up kind of a safe joining of love and sex in those books. It's exciting and it's thrilling and it's not particularly threatening because it's not overtly sexual."^[64] Laura Miller of Salon.com wrote that "the characters, such as they are, are stripped down to a minimum, lacking the texture and idiosyncrasies of actual people", and said that "Twilight would be a lot more persuasive as an argument that an 'amazing heart' counts for more than appearances if it didn't harp so incessantly on Edward's superficial splendors."

Oh, and on a last note and I know many have said it before but vampires don't fucking SPARKLE!!!!!!!!!

But none the less lets hope this crap ends soon before my mind melts!

Here are some pics I found and though I would share - absolutely Brilliant!!!!

CASTLE - Genius!!

At first I thought just another police procedural drama – and didn’t even bother watching it. I mean a writer working with cops to help solve murders, seriously? It wasn’t until someone I regarding as having sound taste recommended it as she was at that time working through it and was enjoying it. So I decided to give it a go, with only 10 episodes in the first season I thought “if only ten episodes the ratings couldn’t have been so good”. And surprise, surprise!! What a great show, with everyone on the cast delivering as they are supposed to and no scene being under developed its turning out to be one of my all time favourite shows.

I find myself prowling the web for more information, trying as every other major Castle fan to decipher the riddle of who ordered the murder of Johanna and Kate Beckett. And I seem to be getting very defensive about “my” show. My room mate is one of those that if a show is not funny he will not watch it, so watching a cop show is seriously not for him, and the comments he makes – man I wanna slap him! So I have resorted to watching Castle late at night and early in the morning or whenever he is not around – I feel like a naughty school child sneaking around. But after three weeks and four completed seasons – I have done it.

From the first episode I knew that Castle and Beckett would hook up – I mean come on, everyone saw the chemistry on screen between these two (and I would not blame them for some “off – screen” action either) and the perfect culmination of action and intrigue led us to the end of season 4.

Lets be honest – we all would love to be Castle. The women, the cars, the money, the great family and friends who would say no? I think Nathan Fillion plays Castle to the tee, and Stana Katic embodies the sensuality and passion that Beckett is all about. But you know everyone goes on about the main characters, but very few seem to recognize the supporting roles! Lanie nudging Beckett on her quest to “get” Castle, Ryan and Esposito always there when they are needed and Castle’s mother and daughter there to keep him on the straight and narrow. Without these characters the show would never have gone this big.

And then adding the continuing drama and intrigue surrounding Beckett’s shooting and her mother’s murder and you get one big pile of steaming golden glowing stuff. It’s just that good.

And now in the last episode of season 4, everything that happened at once, I was literally sitting at the edge of my seat. I couldn’t get enough! Beckett facing off with the shooter “Cole Turner” and getting her ass kicked and thrown off a building and then hearing someone call her name and her thinking it was Castle – awesomeness!

Side note – I figured out it was not Castle as I saw the hand that grabbed her, with the wedding ring on it! And then her and Castle hooking up at the end – no surprises

I have heard a few good graduation speeches in my time – e.g. Rory Gilmore’s graduation speech from Gilmore Girls, and then Alexis Castle’s graduation speech which was just as good. I have decided to put in on here as well for all those fans who would like to remember it with me

“There is a universal truth we all have to face whether we want to or not. Everything eventually ends. As much as I’ve looked forward to this day, I’ve always disliked endings. The last day of summer, the final chapter of a great book, parting ways with a close friend. But endings are inevitable. Leaves fall, we close the book, you say goodbye. Today is one of those days for us. Today we say goodbye to everything that was familiar everything that was comfortable. We’re moving on. But just because we are leaving, and that hurts, there are some people who are so much a part of us they’ll be with us no matter what. They are our solid ground, our north star. And the small clear voices in our hearts that will be with us. Always.”

— Alexis Castle

Finally the Mr. Smith angle, I always suspected that he knew Roy on a personal level and it seems strange that it took the “big bad” so long to figure it out, but I guess our former Captain could hide some secrets.

I think the new season is going to have us reeling, the writers have us just where they want us and with all the information they dumped on us in the last episode – we are just wildly speculating which is going to bum us out for the next season when it doesn’t reach our expectations.

My view for the next season – Mr. Smith kills “Cole Turner” and gets rid of the body, somehow it’s found and is tied back to Kate and Castle. With her having resigned from the NYPD, she and Castle go renegade and try to solve it. Ryan and Esposito are no longer talking to each other, even after Esposito comes back on active duty. But through it all they reconnect when one has to save the others life. Kate and Castle can go two ways – happy couple or awkward moments after amazing sex! Either can work so lets stay tuned and see what happens!!!

Wrath Of The Titans

Howza guys,

Another post coming to you live from the wonderful city of Cape Town. I know it's been a while - but I feel the need for some writing, so here goes!!

I went to the premier of Wrath Of The Titans this weekend, and even though it did not live up to my expectations or the previous movie, it was enjoyable enough!

The movie revolves around Perseus, half-god son of Zeus the king of the Olympian gods, being called into action by his father to help stem the tide of monsters being released from Tartarus. When Perseus rebuffes Zeus, he turns to his brothers, Hades and Poseidon and other son Ares the god of War to help him. Unknown to him Ares and Hades have joined forces with their trapped father Kronos in order to capture Zeus and drain him of his godliness so Kronos can be released.

Once Zeus is captured and Poseidon murdered, it is up to Perseus and Poseidons lost son, Agenor to rescue Zeus and stop Kronos.

With the introduction of three new gods and half-gods the action picked up but was very believable. Sam Worthington recently did an interview where he stated that they created their own myths for the movie and only used the characters to create a story, and that people might not enjoy the created versions.

I feel that when using the myths of the Greek gods there is so may routes you can take and so many vibrant characters you can bring to life, that the poor result delivered by Wrath of the Titans was just that - poor! I feel if they made use of a few more Olympians the story could have been made a lot more interesting, instead they state in the movie that the last of the gods fled in fear of their lives and me having studied and read alot of the Greek myths cannot believe that they would do something like that.

                                    

Overall a good movie but could be better I give it a 5.5/10