Avatar

Oh yes. Another exciting Eric review of movies. What more, THE self proclaimed movie of the century, Avatar. Hell, maybe not just the century but of ALL TIME. Now, I'm sure that everyone who will care to read this, has probably read the dozens of reviews written by many other critics much more qualified than me, but my Xbox is currently in the shop and I'm bored so I might as well throw in my two cents.

Like my other movie review notes, I'll probably be having some spoiler comments in here so if you haven't seen the movie don't read.

So here's how the whole movie thing played out for me. I was closing at work, feeling a little stressed out and just wanting to go home and sleep. However, my roommate tells me that he got tickets for James Cameron's Avatar opening night at 10:15 or whatever. Frankly, I'm a little annoyed. I've seen only one trailer for it and other than that, saw a reference in Southpark. My analysis and conclusion: James Cameron spent more than 200 million dollars to make "Dances with Smurfs". Needless to say, I wasn't too hyped about seeing the movie. I love seeing movies and I've seen an endless amount opening night and I gotta say that 2009 had only a few ups. It didn't exactly please me either when we arrived an hour early and I saw the line go all the way down the stairs.

I harassed my roommate, asking him questions like, "Wtf is the hype about Ben? Why the hell are people getting so excited for movie that has a fourth grade storyline?"

Ben told me to stop whining and he said that there was a ton of hype about this movie and I had apparently been completely ignorant to the endless stream of advertising about this movie.

About three hours later, it was about 1 in the morning and I was completely blown away. I really, honestly can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's cause I'm a sci-fi geek but Avatar was a complete win for me.

Okay so yeah, the storyline pretty much was dances with smurfs, Pocahontas, Last Samurai, all put into one. Rather than critiquing the story for being a well used thread, I actually applaud James Cameron for taking a well known idea of side switching, identity confusion, and learning more about nature, and truly taking it into his own. I'm thinking that since a large part of the movie drew you in because of Jake's story in becoming one of the people that made you feel really connected to the characters and gave the characters a more relateable feel.

Even though the movie was about two and a half hours, I felt like some of the story development was hastily skipped. Especially towards the middle-end with Jake's return and the whole climaxing conflict upon discovering his true intentions and then leading to him uniting the Na'avi clans. If I could hazard a guess, it would be that James Cameron got bored and just wanted to skip to the fighting scenes, which were totally worth it. Even though I think some of the story had holes in it, or were skipped altogether, I liked how every theme sort of tied together. For example: Grace's death and then leading to Jake's final assimilation in the end, or the tale of Turuk Makto and then Jake's "solution".

The Graphics. James Cameron gets an A+ in my books for the graphics. While I'm not a big fan of 3-D, I think that Cameron is essentially paving the way with what we can expect from 3-D movies. All the artwork was amazing and I still can't get over how realistic everything was. That's the problem with the introduction of technology and graphic stimulation, is that sometimes you can over-stimulate an audience just by having too much, or having it so outlandish, it gets to be like a regurgitated Scyfy original movie. I think James Cameron did well here, because while he pushed the envelope, I don't think he ever went beyond his limits.

James Horner is one of my favorite movie musical conductors. I'm in love with the soundtrack and that's all the really needs to be said about that. The music and the movie were meant to be together.

To me, the ending of a movie is one of the most important aspects to a movie. It's about finishing the story and leaving your audience with a lasting impression. I hate the sequel effect, I hate endings that just confuse people. Endings are a lot more simple than I think many directors think they have to be. Deep thought and pondering are for the beginning and middle of movies, not the end. Avatar had a feel good ending, which wasn't too corny, but still left a content feeling that there wasn't going to be a Disney sequel.

So what did I think? On a personal opinion, I have never walked out of a movie feeling like that since I first watched the original Star Wars on VHS. It might have been that this movie was right down my alley, or I just had extremely low expectations, but especially in relation to 2009's movies, I'd give Avatar a 9/10 stars. If I were to be more critical and look at it from what I think professional critics expect out of movies, it'd be either a 6 or 7 out of 10.

The Good. The Bad. The Fallen.

Oh dear. Transformers 2 came out. I don't know what it was. Maybe I was bitter going into the movie. Or maybe I just had extremely high expectations. All I know, is that Transformers 2 was kind of a let down. Now, as I write this, I'm currently sleep deprived from trying to steer a retarded chocobo through a rigged map of hell seeking birds and balloons that defy the laws of gravity so this might be more bitter than what I originally intended it to be but oh well.

The Good: I liked the action. And the big guns. And the giant robots.

The Bad: So categorically I can break it down as to why this was no bueno.

1. Lack of a story: I realize that this was Transformers so I really shouldn't have expected a story to begin with but what I did not expect was a shit ton of copy and paste and then multiple themes blended together hoping maybe you'll get something. You did not. Action, comedy, legacy, sci-fi, love story, destiny and "learning a more important life lesson" were all jammed nice and snug in the 2 and half hours between shots taken from the last movie and explosions. Seriously. I swear I recognized the same exact military mustering that was done in the last movie. And the plot was exactly the same. Start sequence/fight/humans don't trust robots/looks like everyone's gonna die/find solution/get to solution/someone nearly dies/everyone's saved/end. The only thing different was "What I've done" wasn't playing in the background at the end.

2. Michael Bay: I realize now that Michael Bay isn't really a director. He's just some demolition junkie who happens to have a megaphone and sits in a director's chair. In short, he uses his powers as a director to see how many tons of dynamite he can use every hour of film he does.

3. Megan Fox: She didn't take off her clothes.

4. Shia Lebouf: Louis Stevens will never grow up to be a man in my eyes.

5. Graphics: So one of the reasons why I liked the first Transformers was that it was AWESOME seeing giant robots fight, but it seemed to be in a bit more...moderation. In Transformers 2 there was overstimulation of flashing lights and confusing battle scenes in which you couldn't really tell what was going on, you just kind of accepted the fact that the tornado of metal and bright lights was some robots fighting. Unfortunately this movie had an almost cartoon feel to it which makes me a sad panda.

6. The Sequel Effect: Whatever happened to letting a movie stand on its on feet? Why do directors insist upon just stoping movies instead of actually ending them. There is a difference between leaving your audience guessing as to what will happen to the main characters and pulling down your pants, smacking your ass and saying, "want more where that came from?". Okay. We get it. You're gonna make another one. Instead of putting in another two year gap how about you just make this one better then the first one. I think that in itself will be enough to get me to come back for more.

Anger

I think I might have a problem in anger management. See, I think for normal people, they get angry, express it, then get over it. But for me, if it's the slightest thing that can push me over the edge and then I'm full blown angry at everything. I guess it's cause I hold grudges? I'm not so sure.

One of the WORST employees to ever put on a hat and apron at my work is coming back. Now I know people say "Oh there will always be those employees that you just won't get along with".

Well me and this employee did not get along. At all. Better yet, she was fired last summer and I stayed which means I did something right and she just failed for all the reasons I disliked her.

Well. She's back. God only knows why. I'm trying my hardest not to make assumptions. But if I were to make an assumption, it would be that this is yet another thing to add to Mark's list of fails.

Case in point, I'm pissed. I can't think straight, I can't see straight. And in the midst of me getting all huffy and puffy over this, justifying on why I have every right to be pissed the fuck off, I stop for three glorious seconds and ask myself: "Wait. Wtf. This is Jamba Juice. Why the fuck are you so pissed off? WHO GIVES A SHIT?"

I guess if i were to break it down logically into categories this is why I'm upset:

1. I NEED hours for the summer: this might be selfish but if Jamba Juice is gonna be my Job over the summer I need to milk as many hours out of it as I can especially with living expenses and what not. And I will of course cringe at the fact that someone who was previously fired is coming back and taking 25 hours that I could possibly be working.
2. I was the reason she was fired: I cited her on numerous occasions as to when she was slacking her ass off and it was mostly through my efforts that I saw to it that she would never work at my store again
3. Jamba Juice is my workplace. It's filled with people that have become my friends and I do everything I can to make sure that it's a success whether I'm working with them or working for them. And we've come a long way since the summer when we were struggling horribly and I would just hate to see all that work and effort being flushed down the drain.
   

Respect

Sometimes I get the feeling that my lack of maturity catches up with me. Especially when I look back at my development phases for the last week or so and I realize that probably most people go through these 'revelations' in high school, but hey, at least I'm waking up now instead of later. Or never.

I've realized a lot of things. Sadly, most of it was through my work place habits, but oh well. First of all, I've learned I'm a bit dramatic. I usually despise people who make things out to be a bigger deal than they actually are, but I do that. Way too often. And it's rather irritating when you can't even stand to hear yourself talk. I believe it's because I live a boring life where I don't try new things or step out of the ordinary and also because I am an overall, un-creative person. So what do I have left in terms of social tools? Amplifying things and making them a bigger deal to seem like life is more interesting. When really, I'm a drama queen. Sick.

I'm stubborn. I hate it because I like to think I'm open minded but I'm stubborn as a mule and I wish I were not.

I really can't handle new challenges. This is part of me being stubborn but I can't handle challenges that I think are beyond my reach. For example: becoming a shift manager at Jamba Juice. Whether or not the personality changes necessary for me to become an ideal manager were possible or not, it challenged me to my very core and instead of rising to meet the challenged, I take the meek, the low road, the easy path.

On friendship. I am one of the worst friends a person could have. I'm not the most reliable, I'm bad at picking up my phone, I'm never really there for people. I have lots of accusations as to why this is the case. Why I'm so socially inept at making friends or being a good friend. When in actuality, I really have only myself to blame.

Recently, I came up with the idiotic idea of trying and patch things up with Sam, one of my best friends in high school and my ex girlfriend. I had hoped, that maybe through Sam, I could prove to myself that I had matured since high school and that somehow I was a better person. And more of an underlying reason, I thought that maybe I could get my old best friend back.

But I have made a realization. People change. The old me is dead and gone, the friendship I had with Sam died years ago and it is madness to even think of trying to bring it back from the dead. I guess in my defense, it was a mad and desperate grasp to recover a friendship I guess I still miss.

I won't be ashamed of my lamentation for my past, but I think from now on it won't affect me so much. Or distract me from the now and what great friendships I have. To me, friendship is one of the most important things ever. To be my friend I think is relatively easy. A person just has to amuse me.

But respect. Respect goes a long way and there are very few people I have respect for. Often times, I choose not to respect a person for what they have or haven't done, but their motives behind it. Why? Because honor is not something that can be taught, bought, stolen, scammed, faked, or made. It is an integral part of a person's characteristic that they have or they do not. And often times it takes years of hardship, empathy and experience to beat and engrave honor into someone's character.

Sports.

I hate professional sports.
To some degree, I even hate collegiate sports too just because it further promotes the idea that sports-figures are 'god-like'.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not generalizing about athletes. Honestly, the physical and personal commitments athletes have to undergo are no less than those committed to a craft or an art. And if they're lucky and really good at it, they'll receive the attention they deserve.
I also am not judging against sports themselves as I love to play soccer, board, even shoot a few hoops every now and then.
What I hate is how misguided this country's values are. I understand to an extent, the United States' firm policy of self interest. That's fine. That's what most countries do anyways it just so happens that the United States turns out on top most of the time.

No. What I hate is that there are whole pages/magazines/news channels simply DEDICATED to sports. And what more, male dominated sports.

Frankly, it's disgusting. I'm willing to bet 1 of every 5 people you ask could tell you some random ass stats about some college football nobody from three seasons back, but when asked who the prime minister of Canada is or maybe the president of Mexico, two of our neighboring countries, they would be clueless.

USA Today and Seattle Times and probably alot other newspapers as well, thought that Michael Vick's suspension from football merited front page attention, but on the same day when hundreds of people are dying in Greece because of forest fires, the birthplace of Western civilization, it got pushed back to what, page 10? 11?

I absolutely despise die-hard fans. You know. Most of the players on your "home team" were imported from all across the country, and in the Mariner's case especially: from Japan. Look, I might understand it a little bit better if say, the Seattle Seahawks or the Mariners had only players from the state of Washington. THAT would make sense. But instead, you have professional teams, mixed with people all over the country, drafted together under:

1. Different contracts that guarantee players multi-million dollar salaries for playing a fucking game

2. Team names that happen to include the name of the city you live near and a cute mascot to go with it.

I think if we had as many sports analysts and reporters invested in worldly concerns like war, poverty...I feel like Americans would be much more knowledgable about things that actually matter.

Still think I'm retarded? Let's put things into perspective shall we?

In South Korea, they have three seperate channels for watching Starcraft tournaments. These people have huge crowds to watch them live, and then hundreds, if not thousands more watching on TV. They have endorsements, contracts all to play a game. Sounds stupid doesn't it? That people devote so much time and energy, practicing hours a day, reading magazines about different strategies, watching different game play to get better, spend countless hours watching strategies of those before you...for a game that they'll probably stop playing in 20 to 30 years anyways. You would say what to these people, "Oh wow, get a life"

Now just imagine. A country that idiolizes athletic players, most of whom can't string together coherent sentances, for playing. a. game. No one knows who wins noble prizes anymore. No one cares about people who give their lives everyday to causes greater than themselves, whether it be humanity, religion etc. No. What America cares about, is who wins the fucking superbowl. Goddamnit. Does anyone even remember who won last year? Or the year before that? Or before that?

Often times religion is cited as being opium for the masses. Because it 'numbs the senses'. There is a world, that right now, is wrapped up in so many fake values, colorful banners, flashy television, screaming fans, mascots, that to look outside is unthinkable; impossible.

Plane Day

So my mom and dad called me to tell me happy plane day. In my family, Plane day is the day, 20 years from January 13th when I arrived in my plane, a bundle of joy, from Korea. And as corny as it is, I did a lot of thinking about myself. Most of it was on the John yes, but a lot also happened when I was working.

So my manager told me that I have an issue with doing everything myself and not asking other people for help. I brushed this off as, "well I do things better/faster than most people I work with" or the more modest "I lead by example and hope other people will follow"

When in actuality, it has a lot to do with me growing up. Ever since I was little, or as far back as I can remember, I always felt different. Well not just because I was the only person in my family with black hair and small eyes, but also things were just fundamentally different.

My interests, which were definitely more Asian than my brothers or family in general, already separated me when I was younger. Now, psychologically people could analyze that and say it's not because I'm Asian but just because that's my preference. I disagree but until I get myself psycho-analyzed I'll stick with my own theory. Anyways the point is I've always felt different.

And then I realized that it was not just because of how I acted, but how I was treated. Don't get me wrong, my parents cared and loved for me as much as they did for my other brothers. I never doubted that for a second. But now I think I know. I think my mom and dad gave me special attention and treatment because of my adoption. Not because we had similar interests, but because I was adopted and they felt like I needed more attention. Or when they reserved their anger on me but not my brothers because I was adopted.

My whole life I've been singled out and sympathized with by my family when I have this ignorant, and rather stubborn pride where I'm not satisfied until I'm treated as an equal. That's why I work so much, not cause I necessarily need the money, but to prove to myself and to my parents (in some way) that I can handle myself and don't need help. I HATE it when people feel the need to baby to other people because they feel sorry for them. As stubborn as it sounds, I know people, like my parents, have the best intentions for me, but is it so bad to want to be respected? Or even treated the same as your peers? I dunno. I don't know how to gauge it unbiased but that's just how I am now. Why I like to do things on my own, without anyone's help, or the need to pay and not have any people feel obligated that they need to watch out for my needs or whatever, because I can do it myself.

Eastern Zhou History

In ancient Chinese history there was a time period when main China was ruled by what is known by the Zhou Dynasty. Since the landmass of China is so huge, when analyzing from a historical standpoint, one often divides this dynasty into two fronts of East and West.

The Eastern Zhou Dynasty had three main schools of thought which affected the leadership and how the culture of China was to be shaped in the present. There were the Daoists, Confucianists, and Legalists.

Daoism: Fundamentally, and very generalized, is the belief that leaders should not put emphasis on anything and should instead seek to inspire virtue and tranquility within their kingdom. The idea behind it was that if the leadership didn't promote competition there would be no greed and deciet for if there are no defined terms of value, then what would be the point of stealing?

Confucianists: Practiced vigirous ritual and sought to establish the gentleman. To honor your ancestors and practice fealty to the divine Emperor was to shape the human behavior and thereby establish peace. The divine Emperor was above the law and everything would be balanced out by Heaven and Earth.

Legalists: Those who practiced the strict following of rules. For without rules to define human behavior then humans would go amiss and not work together for the common good. Strict laws to move to the greater good would always look towards the long term good of the people, even if they may resent it now.

We can learn alot from history and as I learn more and more about the philosophies in Ancient China, sometimes, on the very rare occurance you can actually take what you learn in the classroom and model your own life after it.

I won't pretend to be a philosophier or to be completely knowledgable about these schools of thought at the time, but the more I think about it, I'd have to say that if I was a Zhou scholar at the time, I would be Daoist.

Daoism is hippy ridiculous nonsense because everything has value to it and I believe it is a very basic instinct for people, especially in America to automatically assign value to things, and thereby shapes how one acts. But I think that that's the problem. Everyone is so caught up with what is valuable, what isn't. What's ugly and what's beautiful, when in reality, in defining and voicing what one thinks is beautiful or ugly, you really are finding what is ugly in the beauty.