Long-delayed Thoughts on Recently Experienced Media

I know, I haven't written anything in over a month and it isn't like there hasn't been a ton to write about.  Let's ignore all of that.  What have I been watching/reading/etc.?

Movies

"Jurassic World" - There really isn't much I can say about this movie that hasn't been said before, except that it exists and it's in our world and it's somehow already one of the top five movies ever (???!!!???) and there's going to be a sequel and there's nothing we can do about it.

"Inside-Out" - I'm just so *happy* that this movie exists and is amazing and being *appreciated* for how amazing it is. This movie is going to be a formative experience for a lot of kids.  I know I'd probably be in a better headspace right now if there was a sad movie for sad girls reassuring us that there is nothing wrong with being sad back in the day.

"The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" - (Trish just makes a long, drawn-out raspberry.)

Okay, seriously.  There is no reason at all why this inch-thick children's book had to be three bloated movies long, Wyvern!Smaug looks dumb as hell from the neck down, I cared more about what Beorn was doing during the battle than the filmmakers thought I should (and I cared several orders of magnitude less about Bard's stupid kids than they thought I should).  I could go on, but I can't wait for the reasonably-lengthed single movie fan edit, and if anyone is checking in from the timeline where Guillermo DelToro made "The Hobbit", please tell me it wasn't any better than this.  Look right into my eyes and lie.

"Into the Woods" - And meanwhile, here's a movie that had every reason in the world to be split into two movies (covering acts one and two respectively) but wasn't.  What the hell?  It wasn't that bad, but boy did it ever feel rushed.

"Jupiter Ascending" - I really wish that this was another "John Carter" situation where I could say, "Hey, remember that crazy-looking fantasy space adventure that bombed spectacularly?  It's actually really good and even better, in some respects, than a similar, far more popular movie."  And I just cannot, in good conscience, do that.  It's not even fun-stupid (ladies, let's promise that if anyone wants to make us Queen of Earth where the other option is Normal Girl - especially if we can tell the villains to sod off and leave Earth alone in either case, let's all decide to be Queen of Earth).

I did like the part at the end where Channing Tatum transformed into the humanlike version of literally every unimaginative kid's DeviantArt Original Character.

"Chappie" - Now this movie was something else.  I liked it well enough, and the robot was adorable, but... well, Matt Singer said it best:

CHAPPIE left with me one or two questions about the nature of consciousness and a million questions about Die Antwoord.

— Matt Singer (@mattsinger) March 5, 2015

"Ex Machina" - Great, great movie.  I wouldn't dare spoil it, so watch it already.


"Predestination" - Another really good science fiction Indie.  Honestly, I'm just impressed that anyone managed to adapt "All You Zombies" into a film, and an excellent one at that.

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Television/Streaming

"Bojack Horseman" - This might be the best kept secret in all of made-for-streaming television.  It's weird and hilarious and full of surprising pathos.  Lisa Hanawalt's character designs are incredible and that "Chicken for Days" episode is unreal.

"Sense8" - Get through that first episode.  Trust me, that isn't what this series is.  Like the best science fiction, it's focused more on how the fantastical element affects the characters in their everyday lives.  It's really good.

"Wet, Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp" - It doubles-down on the craziness of the movie, that's for sure.  Some folks will love that; some will hate it.  Personally, my opinion is a little mixed but I *died* during the third episode.

"Rick and Morty" - Do you miss "Futurama"?  Did you enjoy the more bonkers episodes of "Community"?  You might dig this.  It's dark, weird, and God damned awe-inspiring.

"Seigfried and Roy: Masters of the Unbelievable" - There was a rumor going around the Something Awful forums that the "We Hate Movies" podcast was going to do this as part of their Animation Damnation series.  I watched it only because I had extremely vague memories of seeing a commercial for it as a kid.  This show was either (a) a failed pilot, (b) the longest, weirdest early "Final Fantasy" cutscene ever, (c) an entire failed SERIES awkwardly mashed down to one 90 minute special, or (d) delirium tremens.  Anyway, I don't want to make the We Hate Movies crew watch the New Kids on the Block cartoon anymore.  You can watch the whole shebang here.

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Sketch of the Day

I have also been watching many Let's Plays and doodling along.

Yeah, Links of Interest.

I may have big news for the end of the month and therefore I am quite busy.  This, of course, means you get some Links of Interest.  And since it has been a while since I last did this, you are going to get a lot of them:

* - You have to admire Don Bluth for never giving up on the "Dragon's Lair" movie he's been trying to get off the ground for years and years.  He recently talked to Cartoon Brew about it and other projects.

* - Just recently launched is the wonderful website A Mighty Girl, a huge list of fiction recommendations for mothers and daughters to share.

* - You may file "Ask A Velociraptor" under Ideas I Wish I Had Thought Of First.

* - Brian Switek recently pleaded with the mainstream media to, you know, maybe chill out about dinosaurs for a while.

* - Brian also watched an episode of "Ancient Aliens" so that the rest of us wouldn't have to.  (And oh, has he gotten some interesting comments on that one...)

* - Brian also recently appeared as a special guest on "Science Sort Of"!  Dude's been busy!

* - Kate Beaton shared this lovely autobiographical comic that I think a lot of us will sadly relate to. 

* - The Onion AV Club created a Primer to the works of Studio Ghibli.

* - In sad local news, one of Boston's most beloved radio stations (and IMO, the last one left that's worth a damn) was sold to the dreaded Clear Channel.  I got to listen to WFNX in it's death throes on Friday.  Fun times.

* - In happy local news, Franklin Park Zoo is celebrating it's 100'th year anniversary!  This article has several intriguing vintage photographs.

* - The Urban Pantheist is participating in a very interesting citizen science project that... OK, seriously, half of me wants to do this too and the other half does not know what my OCD would do with the resulting data.

* - Niroot recently finished his so-gorgeous-you-will-cry illustration of Thecodontosaurus.

* - People have been buzzing about Toniko Pantogia's short "Crayon Dragon" recently and for good reason; it will make a rainbow in your heart.

* - Although it has since become bittersweet, Adam Yauch's Criterion Collection recommendation list is a hilarious read.

* - Best Week Ever dug up this very strange commercial that reminds us all what life was like before you could buy your favorite songs a la carte for about a buck or two.

* - Deep Sea News shared some insight into the amazing footage of the "Abyss"-like Deepstaria jellyfish that's been making the rounds lately.

* - TetZoo reported on a fossil nesting colony of Enantiornithines.

* - Scott C.'c well-loved "Great Showdowns" illustrations will be collected into a book sometime this October.

* - And Life Before the Dinosaurs just celebrated it's one year anniversary!

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Sketch of the Day!

Let's Read Every Harry Potter Novel in a Row!

A repost from my old MySpace blog.
I was unable to attend the release party at Harvard Square for Deathly Hallows (I was there entirely by accident for the Halfblood Prince release and to this day it remains one of the times I most regret not having a camera on me.) So instead, I decided to build myself up to reading the last Harry Potter novel by reading every piece of literature related to the saga I happened to have with me.
Originally posted 6/29/07.

I'm glad I did this. Not only was I able to appreciate for the first time how much deeper this series is than most people appreciate, I was also more able to appreciate the scope of the final novel (which gets it's own spoilerrific post after this one). And since I'm crazy and have a bit of a self-indulgent streak, here's the play-by-play:

Day One (July 14): Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Thoughts from the very first chapters:
* - Harry ain't gonna die. If he does, I will -er- do something silly.
* - I'd forgotten how Roald Dahl-esque the series really is.
* - Raise a pack of Lemonheads for Albus. <:( * - Already with the spiders! And she's introduced Sirius and Miss Figg too! J.K. loves her foreshadowing. * - Note the obsession with food. And Draco is already a racist little sh*t. And did Scabbers just save Ron? * - Snape is definitely on the Chaotic Good side. No doubt. (Maybe a little.) * - I'm a bit worried that we really may be headed for an irony-soaked, very confusing ending a la "Fullmetal Alchemist"... This is probably the longest I've ever taken to read a book I have already read before. It's a hell of a lot better than I remember.

Day Two (July 15): Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
I've always been a bit lackluster about this particular book. But it is supposed to be one of the most important from a plot-building stance. It is better than I thought, but it does play out like "Harry and the Attack of the Foreshadowing". If nothing else, it's cool to notice that she introduces Mundungus here.
Incidentally, I do not buy the argument at all that the saga has gone "dark" (whatever that means) only in the last three or four books. There's some heavy stuff going down already here in Book Two. (Moaning Myrtle is just an overall creepy character. There's also giant man-eating spiders and Dobby's self-flagellation.) Whatever, it's time for Book Three which is the point where I first admitted we were reading something special.

Day Three (July 16): Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
This is the one that got me hooked. Not much else to say there.

Day Four and Five (July 17 and 18): Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
The first of The Bricks. I got way too much sun reading outside on Day Four so fortunately it rained on Day Five. You'll notice I was cutting it very close to Release Day, so I had to remind myself that I was about as isolated as I could get, I'm not really an obsessed Person of Fandom who needs to know how the saga ends right away, and basically I can take my time if I want. Still, it bothers me a lot when it takes a great deal longer than expected for me to read a book I have already read before.
Fortunately, I got to the ending of Book Four by the end of the day. Fans call this the "Empire Strikes Back" part of the Potter saga. I call chapters 32-35 the "Holy Sh*t" scene. I'm sure it inspired more than a few nightmares. And thank goodness for that. Really. It's so much easier to tone a villain down these days. It's actually a lot more satisfying to have a villain who really is evil, therefore the hero's conflict is far more tense.
In other words, I take back all the detracting things I have said about the saga over the years. Aww.
(Well, almost all of them.)
I topped off the night with the two little interlude-like "Textbooks" (Magical Beasts and Quidditch Through the Ages). World-building is fun.

Day Six and Seven (July 19 and 20): Hary Potter and the Order of the Pheonix
I finally finished the 870 glorious pages of Book Five on Release Day! Reading this book at a leisurely pace is a fine reminder of just how damn long it is. I remember blitzing through it the first day I got it. Not a good idea. There is a metric buttload of information to digest here. All I can say is that if bacon and Crumple-Horned Snorkacks do not figure into the finale somehow, I will be sad.

Day Eight and Nine (July 21 and 22): Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince
Joy and rapture, I received my package from Amazon at 11:00 AM on Day Eight. While waiting, I read Book Six. Basically, this book, while good, is "Fast Times at Hogwarts School", juxtaposed with a massive amount of exposition and topped off with a tragic ending. At this point, I felt like I was vacationing with the characters.

So.
So there I was ready to read the final book in the Harry Potter saga. At once, I was excited to see how she'd wrap everything up and rather bummed to see the story end.
Thing is, as a fantastic fiction fan, I've been in this situation before. Lord knows how the eleven-year-old fans are feeling.
My reactions to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be in the next post, and there will be spoilers. Until then,

***Drinking Game!!!***
Take a sip for...
* - Bacon!
* - Something unpleasant happens during a Quidditch game;
* - Harry gets somebody "Monologuing" (one sip for villains, two sips for good guys);
* - Every time somebody gets sent to the Infirmary;
* - Harry breaks out his Invisible Cloak, Marauder's Map, other handy magical plot device;
* - J.K. first introduces a character who dies later (take a sip and then pour one out for the character);
* - Voldemort does something that indicates he has not read Pete's Evil Overlord List (just glancing at it, he violates 5, 34, 92, ect.)
* - Drink for every special day (Harry's Birthday, Christmas, ect.);
* - Drink when J.K. gives us a recap of past events;
* - Drink yourself into a stupor if you correctly predicted a plot twist in the last book.

But why wait? Here are my Book Seven reactions right now. Originally posted 6/29/07.

Round about the nasty jolt of "oh sh*t, Hagrid's dead!" at the end of chapter four and then "no, he's okay!" right at the beginning of chapter five, I said, out loud, "This is going to be the entire book isn't it?
Indeed, by the halfway point, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is an insanely stressful read for the most part. For every cheer-worthy bit of fanservice (lots of plot holes are filled in and yay Norberta!), there's a very long scene of... well the idea that the saddest thing that could happen is Harry dying is just quaint by the halfway point: Harry's in exile, Ron's buggered off, and pretty much everything has gone to hell. Even the familiar "a year in the life of Hogwarts" format is gone.

I'm reminded strongly of the ending to "The Sound of Music", a movie I have no great love for. But I do tip my hat to it's ballsy final act, barely hinted at in the opening hours of "Favorite Things" B.S. There's a term in the animation fandom for an ending or final episode that deviates dramatically from the style or tone of the series as a whole, almost to the point of confusion: "Gainax Ending". I'd never in a million years have expected that J.K. would give us a Gainax ending to Harry Potter's story... and I love this book for that. It's an incredibly ballsy move for such an insanely popular series.

Even so, Lord knows how the eleven year are feeling about all this. I like what Stephen King wrote in his incredibly good Entertainment Weekly article about the end of the saga: for many fans, this is the end of a crucial part of their childhood. The last book really does seem to be all about the end of childhood. Heady stuff for summer vacation, no?

When I finally got to the ending at three in the morning, rest assured that I came away feeling that this was one of the most downright satisfying endings to a story I have ever read, seen, or whatever.

My Disorganized Reactions:

* - Yay fanservice! I can't count the number of times I cheered out loud.
* - Speaking of fans, it amazes me how many plot twists the fans predicted correctly. Some of them did not pan out quite the way anyone expected, but I'll get to those in a bit.
* - Did I mention that bacon and Snorkacks are in it? <:D Now for the real spoilers:
* - For instance, who'd have guessed that Snape was Harry's real father? XD Ok, really. But that one very moving chapter where the story is retold from Snape's point of view will get overanalized by the really crazy 'shipper fans.
* - I'm surprised at the way some subplots played out. I had expected a MUCH bigger payoff to the Wormtail subplot - he had a Life Debt after all. I figured he may do something really heroic and instead he just kinda dies. And never mind him, how much more satisfying would it have been for Neville to go all Inigo Montoya on Bellatrix? I'm amazed that didn't happen; I don't even think the characters were ever in the same room.
* - Now, the pre-release hype told us to brace ourselves for two characters dying. Rumor has it that there's a support line for one of the characters. That said, the death toll is actually much higher than two when all is said and done. What surprised me was that most of these were characters I'd never have thought about (Hedwig especially). Dobby's passing was very moving and well-handled. On the other hand, I think we can all pretty much agree that killing off Tonks and Lupin almost arbitrarily and right after having their baby was just mean. That goes for Fred as well. And they really were arbitrary because J.K. glossed over the details of their deaths so completely, they might as well have never happened.
* - And as for Harry's death - you can't say he doesn't die now can you? As for that scene, I gotta love existentialism in a book that a lot of eleven-year-olds are going to read over summer vacation. Awesome.
* - And how about that epilogue? I can't recall anything so fan-wanky that was also totally sweet. Not sure how many "Son of Harry" fanfics we'll be able to take but it is a fine cherry on top of a very satisfying conclusion.

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In my defense, that last bit was written immediately after I read the last book. <:/
By the way, I think we are going to see a lot of the same kind of, "We serious movie critics cannot be bothered to watch the previous film after having to wait so long for the next one" kind of reviews for "Halfblood Prince" as we did during the long, L-O-N-G summer of 2003, when "Matrix Reloaded" finally came out. (I think I lost my faith in mainstream movie critics that summer.)
But what of people who did do the research? Well, here's a review on /Film from a guy who watched every "Harry Potter" movie in a row. (There is a crucial distinction there, as you will see.)

If you are in the Granby, CT area, go to Free Lunch Studios this Sunday for their benefit auction. More information at their Facebook page.

Hilarious Harry Potter Fan-theories, plus two more Potter lists.

First of all, I did not draw this, but I wish I had. Best fanart ever.

There will never be anything quite like Harry Potter within our lifetimes again. That's kind of a heavy thought to start out with, but what I mean is that we'll never see anything like the Harry Potter fandom again (sorry Twilight fans, you don't count).

The reason is simply because all the books are out there in the world for new fans to discover and read in order one after the other with no waiting. Let's not forget that it took so very long for each new book in the saga to be released. This was the first such book series to be released during the Web 2.0 revolution, and so fans were able to easily share their guesses as to what would happen next.

Some of the resultant fan-theories are pretty hilarious in hindsight, now that we know what actually happened in the story. And so, as you get pumped for the "Halfblood Prince" movie, here is my brief, humble tribute to my favorite such theories, in no particular order:

Lily Potter was an Animagus and Hedwig is her alternate form.
This one might just be my absolute favorite silly-in-hindsight fan theory. It is only matched by...

Ron Weasley is actually a time-traveling young Albus Dumbledore.
Curiously, this theory hinges not on the fact that Harry has such a close friendship with both characters - but because of the events surrounding the chess match in Philosopher's Stone. And because they both have (or had) red hair.

Neville is actually the Chosen One.
This hinged on Trelawney's -shall we say- less-than-reliability as a source of information. To be fair, the Prophesy could have been taken either way. Note that Neville's life sucks only marginally less than Harry's.

Neville is the Half-blood Prince.
Or, better yet...

Neville's pet toad Trevor is the Half-blood Prince.
Heheh, I still like this one.

Neville will be the one to defeat Bellatrix LeStrange. Poetic justice considering what she did to his family.
Yeah... about that...

Sirius Black is just hiding!
"And he's really Stubby Boardman! And the Veil really doesn't kill you for real; we don't even know what it was! And he can come back somehow! And Ponch from the Young Wizards series totally is really Sirius! And and and..."
Man, you'd think no beloved character ever died in a book before. (Where were these people to console me after I read Mostly Harmless?)
On a similar note:

Dumbledore will continue giving advice through his portrait.
Death, it turned out, really didn't stop Dumbledore from raining exposition on Harry -- though it didn't happen the way fans expected.

Speaking of the Portraits, we'll finally learn how the intellectual paintings actually work.
Whether they contain a bit of their subject's consciousness or if they're a direct line to the afterlife or something like that. We never really learned anything about how the paintings work and/or are produced. That's been kind of a disappointment for me.

Harry is a Horcrux and he dies in the last novel.
The second half of this theory isn't too out-there (and as we all know, Harry doesn't stay dead), but the first half is crazy enough for it to be genuinely surprising that it turned out to be true. Sort of. It was complicated.

Mrs. Weasley will go all Lt. Ripley on Bellatrix LeStrange.
Actually... I don't think any of us saw that one coming.

And for more fun, here's a repeat from an old MySpace blog post:

Things I hope do not happen in Deathly Hallows.* - Surprisingly, Norbert reappears and eats everyone.
* - A spell goes awry and everyone is transformed into different species of iguanas. The rumored spin-off series takes off from here.
* - Harry and Ron are riding their broomsticks around when out of nowhere, two a**holes in a passing truck shoot them both.
* - Kurt Russell meets everyone in an elevator in some mysterious building, where he calmly explains that they're all dead and dreaming the whole thing. (Yes, "Vanilla Sky" still has the most insulting cop-out ending ever.)
* - In a shocking twist, Draco flies down out of nowhere are skewers Ginny with a sword longer than she is tall.
* - Voldemort reveals the terrible truth of his tragic past and mysterious connection to Harry - immediately before he suddenly kills Harry. Harry finds himself in a strange world wracked by war and devoid of any magic whatsoever. Also, somehow Fritz Lang is involved.
* - My favorite character dies.
* - As the Universe is rebuilding itself after the destruction of Voldemort's evil, Harry promises Ginny that he will find her somehow even though they are seemingly being stranded in separate worlds (cause Harry is suddenly unable to jump a three foot gap).
* - Your favorite character dies.
* - We flash-forward to three years hence when Harry has a secret meeting with Ginny and he cries and cries at her "Why did we leave Hogwarts! It wasn't meant to happen! We have to go back, Ginny! WE HAVE TO GO BACK!!!"
* - Two words: "Sopranos" ending.

And, what the hell, an old LaGremlin list:

Rejected Titles for the last Harry Potter Novel
"Harry Potter and the Magic Mushrooms!" (I guess you can already tell what direction we're going in here. I apologize.)
"Harry Potter and the Fantabulous All-Powerful Nose-Hairs of Mythra Khan!!!"
"Harry Potter and the Skull-Cracking Hangover!"
"Harry Potter and the Altar of Blood!"
"Harry Potter and the Evil Within!"
"Harry Potter and the Miami Sound Machine!"
"Harry Potter and the Golden Pot Bowl!"
"Harry Potter and the Granny Broth!"
"Harry Potter and the Hot Goth Chicks!"
"Harry Potter and the Burning Wizz!"
"Harry Potter and the Hella-Boring Low-Paid Dead-End First Job!"
"Harry Potter and the Acidic Booger!"
"Harry Potter and the Long Stream of Drug References!"
"Harry Potter and the Poison Arrows From the Sky!"
"Harry Potter and the Restaurant at the End of the Universe!"
"Harry Potter and His New Roommate Saruman!"
"Harry Potter and the Caverns of Steel!"
"Harry Potter and the Mystery of the Fifth Beatle!"
"Harry Potter and the Nothing!"
"Harry Potter and the Estate of Roald Dahl's Lawyers!"
"Harry Potter and the God-Damned Riddle-Man!"
"Harry Potter Gets Schooled by the Elric Brothers!"
"Harry Potter and *S-O-O-O-O-O-O* Many Unresolved Plot Points." (It was funny for "Star Wars", it's funny here.)

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Off-topic, so consider this an addendum to Monday's post. You know how I said that the reputation of an excellent work of fiction that is a semi-obscure cult hit (like "Avatar") can be all but destroyed by a sh**ty film adaptation? Yeah. Meet the teaser trailer for the long-in-development-limbo film of The Time-Traveler's Wife (FYI, the last science fiction novel that made me think), which appears to have been filmed in Glorious "What Do You Mean it Wasn't Written by Nicholas Sparks?" Vision.

Happy Towel Day!

As you're reading this, I am having an excellent excuse to carry my towel around, which I will explain later. It's also why there won't be any other updates this week.

In the meantime, enjoy this fun essay about Tex Avery. And for those wondering what the true meaning of Towel Day is: Ye Olde Wikipedia.

HMNH and Lanks

Lank!
Originally uploaded by Babbletrish
Pencil and watercolor. Click the picture to see the larger version.
Just a bit of fun inspired by my archive binge of the wonderful Tetrapod Zoology blog. The Lank is an animal featured in Dougal Dixon's The New Dinosaurs. It a "speculative biology" text (for those who don't read enough sci-fi: yes, that is an actual sci-fi subgenre) that, conceptually, *does* look rather silly today (the similarly-themed Specworld pretty much owns it). But the illustrations are very nice and it's one of the books that got me interested in science fiction illustration back in Middle School.
That said, I haven't read it in a while. As I recall, the Lank is the second most anatomically improbable animal in the book. Your challenge now is to guess what extinct group of animals the Lank is descended from.
I'll give you a hint: look closely at her forelimbs.

Had kind of an interesting visit to the Harvard Museum of Natural History the other day. I went with my cousin, who is an architect. We wound up seeing the entire museum. I never realised the Peabody museum was so huge. MCZ has a very nice temporary exhibit about color in nature, and the glass sea creatures are still on display for another month (I think). Even though we had a whirlwind tour, I was able to do a few quick sketches.
About the only disappointment was this: the second floor of the hall of birds and mammals was closed. No bird studies for me.