Geek vs Life

I have to admit that the only reason why I picked up this book is because I have a thing for Guillermo del Toro. From Cronos to Pan’s Labyrinth and including both Hell Boy films. He has a visual style that is excessively appealing to me. (News flash Gaiman fans, he is rumored to be attached to a “Death: The High Cost of Living” film. You may now stop drooling.)

Del Toro is not the sole name to grace the cover of The Strain, Chuck Hogan, author of “The Killing Moon” and soon to be a motion picture, “Prince of Thieves” also penned the book.

I have another confession, I didn’t expect much. Which is always fantastic as you get a small reward for making it from page one to 400. Vampires have been done and redone so many times, that you don’t know what supposed to kill them anymore. Is it power tools or silver bullets? Can we still use wooden stakes like Buffy did? No matter, these baddies are less Dracula and more blood sucking zombies.

The story starts off in post 9/11, modern New York (you’ll be reminded of that about every 25 pages), as a passenger jet incoming from Germany lands on the JFK tarmac with everyone on the flight dead. A call goes out to the CDC and Dr. Eph Goodweather and his Canary team are sent into the fray to investigate. After an solar eclipse that seemed to have lasted longer than it did, they soon discovers that someone should have just set the plane on fire and be done with it.

What works for me within the story is the highly visual aspect of the story telling. The authors create tension and let it go at the right moments dragging the reader along for a great ride. The mix of science versus folklore which have been trademarked in Del Toro’s films are well represented here. They take old world fables and explain it scientifically, rather than just let things be because that’s the way they are. On the other hand, some parts feel almost as they were cut and pasted out of college text books. If we really needed more info about about solar eclipses, we could have wiki’d it, thanks. Also I now know more about rats than I ever intended too.

The book is good mind you. I liked the zombies/vampire amalgamation they used (Zompires? Vambies?) In a literary vampire world where glowing vampires are kings, and goth kids still worship at the throne of Rice and her sexually ambivalent children of the night, I like the fact that the blood suckers take the back seat to the vamp hunters, much like in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The movie anyway. I prefered my Scooby gang, without fangs thankyouverymuch.

Got this from ICv2, via the Anime Conventions Mailing List (ACML):

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has signed on as consultant to the defense of Christopher Handley, an Iowa collector who faces up to 20 years in prison for possession of manga that he ordered from Japan. The CBLDF will add its First Amendment expertise to the case, which is being managed by the United Defense Group’s Eric Chase, and the CBLDF will also be providing monetary support towards obtaining expert witnesses.

Handley, who is 38 years old, faces penalties under the PROTECT Act for allegedly possessing manga that the government claims is obscene because the books include what the government claims are depictions of minors engaged in sex acts (no photographs are involved).

CBLDF’s Charles Brownstein finds the Handley case especially troubling.  “The government is prosecuting a private collector for the possession of art,” he said. “In the past, CBLDF has had to defend the First Amendment rights of retailers and artists, but never before have we experienced the federal government attempting to strip a citizen of his freedom because he owned comic books.”

Handley has a collection of over 1,200 volumes of manga; he’s being prosecuted for images that occur in just a handful of the volumes in his collection. Putting the case into context, Burton Joseph, CBLDF’s Legal Counsel says, “In the lengthy time in which I have represented CBLDF and its clients, I have never encountered a situation where criminal prosecution was brought against a private consumer for possession of material for personal use in his own home.  This prosecution has profound implications in limiting the First Amendment for art and artists, and comics in particular that are on the cutting edge of creativity. It misunderstands the nature of avant-garde art in its historical perspective and is a perversion of anti-obscenity laws.”

Eric Chase and his team at the United Defense Group have already scored a major First Amendment victory when the judge ruled that portions of the PROTECT act are unconstitutional, but Handley still faces charges under surviving sections of the act, which will require a jury to determine if the material in question is legally obscene and meets all three of the criteria of the Miller test for obscenity: (1) would the average person find that the material appeals to the prurient interest; (2) does the material depict, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable state law; (3) does the work, taken as a whole, lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. The jury will have to find that the material fits all three of the criteria in order to convict.

So basically, he’s got a few volumes of manga (maybe doujinshi, maybe not), where probably high schoolers are likely non-explicitly having sex. And he could go to prison for 20 years for it.

Maybe all those “normal” people might not realize it, tomorrow (May 25) marks the date of three important holidays for us:

Universal Day of the Jedi
Geek/Nerd Pride Day

and, of course

Towel Day

The first two, of course, picked the date because of May 25, 1977, the release of the original Star Wars movie.

The latter picked it’s date, because it was 2 weeks after the death of Douglas Adams, author of the wondrous series “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. However, here’s a bit of fun trivia:

Open up your computer’s calculator and set it to View > Scientific. Then set it to Hex. Add together the numerical date of Towel Day (5+25). Then switch it back to Decimal mode. ^-^

Whichever day you’re celebrating, have fun, and don’t forget your towel!

Well, this is my first time writing a movie review, so bear with me. ^-^ (or wait, did I do one for Harry Potter? Don’t remember. It’s still my first for a movie that hasn’t yet been released…)

Anyway, I got a chance to attend the advance screening of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian down at Pacific Place theater last night, and man was it awesome. I do consider myself a fan of the books, although, truthfully, I can only remember a definite reading of three of the seven books in the series (The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, Voyage of the Dawn Traeder, and The Magician’s Nephew). I do have some vague memories of watching at least part of the BBC rendition of Prince Caspian, but that far back and in elementary school is too long ago for me to remember clearly.

What this means, is that I pretty much went into the movie with a clean slate, not having preconceptions of what should (or shouldn’t) be in the movie. I also didn’t have expectations on what the plot would be or anything. And I thoroughly enjoyed myself. As did the rest of the audience, if the laughter, applause, and other cues of audible enjoyment were any indication.

Warning, there be spoilers ahead.

The movie opens in the Telmarine castle, where the wife of Miraz is giving birth to a son. Miraz is the brother of the dead King, and seems to be serving as regent for his nephew Caspian, the rightful heir to the throne (honestly, since Caspian seems to be “of age”, I don’t know why Caspian hadn’t been crowned king, and the position that Miraz actually held was never quite explained… However, I didn’t notice these things until almost three hours after I got out of the movie, which is a good thing). Since he now has an heir of his own, the only thing keeping him from claiming the throne for himself is Caspian, so he sends out guards to take care of him. However, Caspian’s tutor, Cornelius, gets to Caspian first, and helps him escape from the castle, entrusting a small bundle to him. He doesn’t tell Caspian what the bundle is, just that it should not be used unless the situation is desperate. While escaping, Caspian is felled by a low branch in the forest, and, thinking that all is lost, uses the precious bundle, which was Susan’s horn, given to her by Father Christmas, to use in the battle against the armies of the White Witch.

Meanwhile, in the real world, Lucy is trying to reach Susan, who’s reading a magazine. She says it’s important, and it turns out that Peter has gotten himself into a fight, and the girls can only stand in the crowd as he is beaten up. After the fight is broken up (given the uniforms and the time period, I’m thinking it’s Nazi martial police), the four wait for their train, but as a train passes them, they see that the station is slowly disappearing, and after the train has gone, they are in a cave on a beach. After frolicking in the waves a bit, they notice some ruins, and begin to explore them. Not remembering ruins during their last trip to Narnia, the siblings realize that these ruins are Cair Paravel, and wonder at how long it’s been since they were last there.

Meanwhile, Caspian has been taken in by Nikabrik the black-Dwarf, and Trufflehunter the badger, who are friends of Trumpkin, a dwarf who was captured by Miraz’s forces while keeping them from finding Caspian. Caspian convinces the two that if they can help him defeat Miraz, that he’ll free Narnia from the control of the Telmarines, and they set off to find other Narnians who can help them.

The Pevensie children, at the same time, encounter Trumpkin as he’s about to be drowned by two Telmarine soldiers, and rescue him. He grudgingly recognizes them for who they are, and show them that a lot has happened to Narnia since they left. In fact, most of the troubles started after they left and Aslan disappeared. While the children travel to find the Narnians’ stronghold, and Caspian begins to organize the Narnians for revolt, Miraz makes his plans to get rid of the Narnians once and for all, finishing what his ancestors had started.

Peter and Caspian, both seeing themselves as the “alpha male,” disagree on how they should face the Telmarine army. Eventually, Peter, reminding everyone that he is High King of Narnia, leads them in an attack on the Telmarine castle. Edmund would be dropped onto a tower first, and then signal for the others to advance. Peter, Caspian, Susan, and Trumpkin would then be dropped into the castle, where they had two goals: Open the gates to the castle, and get Miraz. Reepicheep, a talking mouse swordsman, led his mice in lowering the drawbridge. This would allow the Narnian army to storm the castle. Unfortunately, due to a confrontation with Miraz, the Telmarines are able to fight back, and end up trapping and killing half the Narnian army in the courtyard of the castle.

Back at the Narnians’ stronghold, they prepare for their final stand against the Telmarines, as Lucy and Susan rush off to find Aslan. Caspian informs Peter that, now that Miraz has become king (as Caspian was known to be part of the invading force, and declared a traitor), that there are certain traditions that Miraz has no choice but to comply with. Int his vein, Peter sends Edmund to the Telmarine camp with a challenge for Miraz: One-on-one duel to the death, with the losing side surrendering. However, after Miraz loses, and both Peter and Caspian refuse to kill him, he is killed by his own Lord Glozelle, who declares to the army that Miraz was murdered, and the battle begins. Susan (who had separated from Lucy to fend off pursuit, and was subsequently rescued by Caspian) led the archers, Peter and Edmund led the ground troops, and Caspian led the calvary underground, both to get behind the enemy army, as well as to create a sinkhole in the middle of the battlefield, to take out the enemy’s calvary.

The battle was not going well for the Narnians, until the trees joined the battle, Aslan having awakened them during his meeting with Lucy. The Telmarines retreated to the river, only to face the Narnian army one one side, and, on the far side of the bridge, one little girl, armed only with a dagger. Well, one little girl and the large lion next to her, whose roar summoned a water spirit to take out Glozelle and the bridge, effectively ending the war.

After much celebrations and Caspian is crowned king, Aslan tells the Telmarines of their origin, and offers to send any who wish it back to their original world. A few take him up on his offer, but others are wary that they’d be sent to their demises. To prove that Aslan was trustworthy, the Pevensies decide to go back, even though Peter and Susan know that they will never return to Narnia, although Edmund and Lucy may. They pass through Aslan’s portal, and are back at the train station, just as their train arrives.

As I said earlier, I haven’t read the book. But my roommate, who has, was there with me, and was able to fill me in on changes to the story. The first one was when the horn was blown. Apparently, in the book, the horn wasn’t blown until after the siege on the castle, and, thus, the children didn’t come to Narnia until then. Also, the sub-plot (very sub-plot) of a budding romance between Susan and Caspian was added as well.

The graphics in the movie are awesome, although the scene between Lucy and what I’m assuming was a forest spirit/wood nymph of some sort was a little jarring, since the CG didn’t look as natural as I would have expected, but the overall graphics were great.

I’ve never been one to really notice the music in movies unless it stands out (which is ironic, since I do for anime), but I never caught a bad spot in the music, and there were a few points that really stood out as good.

Overall, I highly recommend the movie. I have half a mind to go see it again this weekend.

We met Wil Wheaton at PAX this year. While we were standing in line, all of us wearing our Geek Vs Life shirts (available now from the store, all except the faux Atari shirt that’s part of this story), Jon says to me “We should have brought a shirt for Wil.” “Well, damn. I guess we’ll remember for next year to be more prepared.”

This year’s PAX was our first real foray into on live journalism as it was for the site. When we finally made our way to the front of the line, Mr. Wheaton says “That shirt is AWESOME!” I look down, muttering a curse at myself and our lack of forethought, and can feel Jon’s eyes burning a hole in the side of my head. We talk about gaming for a bit, got a picture and some video, and I promised to send Wil one of our shirts. He was kind and courteous, probably from his years doing the convention circuit, so at the time I couldn’t tell if this was practiced niceness or genuine, but it didn’t matter all that much. He was cool.

I suppose I was nervous. I was a huge fan of TNG, and had only just started reading his blog. The entire incident threw me off slightly. I packed up the shirt after the convention, and using the card he’d given us his address on (the best piece of swag from the weekend, IMHO) stopped by the post office on my way to work and sent it down. Over the course of the next few days, I’d wished that I’d put more on/in that small pouch. I’d wished we’d written on the shirt, put in a letter or something to make it more personal. So I’m doing this to attempt to make up for it, as a thank you for sharing his life with us. Here’s my review for his book, The Happiest Days of Our Lives.

Wil Wheaton is blessed with incredible articulation. His voice is inviting and close. As you read his work you feel like you’re sitting at the other side of the kitchen table from him, after the dice have been laid to rest for the evening, just talking. Not a celebrity, but just a geek putting to type what’s on his mind. You can’t help but feel close, and not alone.

Many of us don’t have the drive or talent to put down what we feel or what we’ve been through, nor do we feel comfortable enough to share it. Reading what Wil has put in his blog makes the big bad world seem smaller and kinder.

The Happiest Days of Our Lives is a collection of stories that can be found in his collection of digital work on the web. Most short and funny, one sad, all touching. It’s a quick read, and I found that I haven’t laughed as much with a book since Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman. It was simply a joy. It made me remember my own past; what I look back at fondly, what I look back at and want to kick myself for, and what I look back at and break down. It also reminded me that the happiest days of our lives are still happening.

Thank you for sharing, Wil.