Revolutions, Mes Amis, "Fucking Hippy Liberals", and Gaijin Samurai

I will shamelessly admit that, despite my low opinion of Matrix: Reloaded (which still stands), I loved Revolutions. Something about the movie was so… human, so real that it touched me. I don’t know why. I just liked it. I’m still against Neo vs. Smith fight scenes, as I think the whole wired flying karate/megapunching thing is a little tired and uninteresting, but the epic look the directors were (hopefully) going for was definitely achieved. So I feel better about the Matrix series now. At some point in the future, I will probably shell out bucks to buy the second and third movies (I already own the first).

I spent my last evening in Charlotte with my friends Dulin and Cleric. Following pizza and ridiculously fun video games at Dulin’s abode, we hit the nearest theater for the above-mentioned viewing of Matrix 3. One of the “ridiculously fun video games” was some Pokemon game for Nintendo 64. Now, apparently kiddos (and not-so kiddos) watch this show and keep up with the little critters, each of whom have special powers and fight (probably for “good” or something). But, according to Dulin’s kid sister, there are hundreds of these critters. How in the world does anyone watch a half-hour cartoon a few days a week and keep over two hundred characters’ personalities, abilities, hell, even names straight? Odd. But the game was fun, in that Nintendo 64 way, although my ass was royally kicked by Cleric.

The drive to and from the theater was punctuated with some fascinating conversation, including the two conservatives in the front seat ranting about “fucking hippy liberals” and the said liberals’ objections to the recent abortion law, and how liberal Cleric’s college is, and how great G. Dub the Shrub is, and how (apparently) one can still get into Heaven even if they don’t repent their sins just before the moment of death (this was a dilemma I hadn’t even thought about, quite frankly), and various aspects of the Animatrix, and absolutely nothing (that I recall, anyway) about the Massachusetts coolness that went on recently concerning same-sex marriages. I just sort of dozed in the backseat and piped up occasionally with… well, nothing of any significance to the conversation, actually, but it made for good listening anyway, despite the fact that Dulin had the music faded way to the back and I had to strain my ears to listen in over the Deftones. Now there’s a band I just can’t get into…

My flights back to Indy were fun and turbulence-ridden (whee!). The little “connection” flight from Chicago to Indy (it’s a thirty-five minute hop), however, was in a little plane with, like, propellers and only thirteen rows of seats and shit. I wasn’t actively scared or anything, but I was a bit… concerned, particularly when the plane weaved side to side during takeoff. Not “whee”.

I found the thread concerning The Last Samurai over at Uppity-Negro.com to be interesting, as it got me thinking about the possible issues surrounding the movie. (I’m catching up on my Internet reading in general right now, as that wasn’t what I was reading over my break.) I’m not particularly a Cruise fan (all jokes of cuteness aside), just because he doesn’t seem to be a particularly good actor (or, I should say, his characters seem to lack depth), nor are his movies particularly interesting. I had considered going to see The Last Samurai, though. Lauriean’s comment in the Uppity-Negro.com thread, however, struck a chord with me (as did the nastiness of the situation with the “beautiful Asian women” at the film premiere). I shan’t quote. Go read. I’m still turning the idea around in my head (and its significance to me), but I think I’ll be passing that movie over. Not that I’m a big moneymaker for the movie industry any-damn-way, but my avoidance of The Pianist (and not buying that Depp movie directed by Polaski) and movies that I consider ridiculously fucking retarded (i.e. any movie with an over-the-top Jim Carrey or Mike Myers) has significance to me, even if Hollywood couldn’t give a damn.

On a completely unrelated note, I finally snagged and read the final book in Diane Duane’s Harbinger Trilogy, and will probably review the books in a clump, as a trilogy, rather than individually. Quite frankly, they all blended together anyway. Although I liked them… Okay, I’ll save it for the review. When I finish with Dune, however (and move on to the sequels that I acquired this past week), I’ll be doing those individually. One would practically have to, after all, given all the stuff going on and being told in the book. It’s fascinating, quite frankly. My passage into the world of Dune is eased, however, by owning the Sci-Fi Pictures movie (which I loved) and having seen it numerous times.

Oh, and next term’s schedule (beginning tomorrow):

I like it. It’s beautiful, and gives me afternoons off, for the most part. And I get to sleep in on Fridays.

Editted to change a link.