A Post, but not a Good One

Hello everybody! I just wanted to add this post in for a couple of reasons. One to thank you all a whole freaking bunch again because Ramblings of a Cinephile has just passed 2000 views. Thank you guys so much. It means a lot to me that you keep coming back and reading my posts and that you guys actually like them. I literally cried in a corner today out of happiness. Literally? No not literally, that's pathetic, jeez. (I'm saving all my corner cries for when Amy and Rory leave Doctor Who midseason. that will be a truly sad day.) But anyway thank you guys so much. Anyway to reward you I'm going to warn you about Resident Evil: Retribution. Pretty soon my review will show up on SidewalkOnline and I'll link over to it when that happens (it's happened), but in the meantime, just take my brief word for it, don't see it. it's not worth it, no matter your expectations, it will not meet them.
Ok. That's it. Thank you for your patronage. I'm gonna go play Borderlands 2 now.

Movie Review: Prometheus

So I wrote a review for Prometheus for SideWalk Online, where I am a guest writer and movie critic. Go check it out please!
 http://www.sidewalkonline.com/2012/06/movie-review-prometheus/
Also, since I couldn't embed it on that post for some reason, here's the trailer:

Paper Towns - the Full Review

So I have two updates for you guys. The first one is that I’m on vacation from school for a week, and so that I don’t spend the whole time watching reruns of Friends and old vlogbrothers videos, I’m going to update ramblingsofacinephile every day. And each posting will be a full legitimate post, not the random plugs for halfgiant that I’ve been giving you. So I’d much appreciate it if you give me suggestions for posts in the comments, because coming up with a new idea every day is hard. The second update is that despite having already started my journey through Paper Towns as a review series, I have to cut it short because I wound up reading the rest of the book in one sitting. As a result I’m just going to write a full review of the book as my first post of the week. Here is the review:

The Summary:

Paper Towns is a novel written by John Green in three parts and a prologue. The prologue has been extensively covered here, so I won’t go into it too much in this review. The first part however is mainly concerned with a brief nocturnal adventure with our protagonist Quentin Jacobsen, also referred to as Q, and his neighbor Margo Roth Spiegelman. Margo shows up in Q’s bedroom one night and whisks him away to help her get revenge against her cheating boyfriend and Margo’s friends who didn’t enlighten her as to her boyfriend’s licentious actions. This adventure is a fun one that draws the reader into the lives of these characters and allows us to see Q’s feelings for Margo develop. And yet, just as we become intrigued with discovering who Margo has grown up to be, the night is over and Margo leaves town, supposedly never to be seen again. Thus concludes the first part of the book.

The second part is concerned mostly with Q’s attempts to find Margo based on a string of loosely connected clues Margo leaves behind for Q to investigate. This part of the book is mostly comprised of Q’s stream of consciousness ponderings, which provide insight into the way Q sees the world. Furthermore, the segment consists of lots of setting development, introducing us to Q’s parents and showing us the everyday facets of Q’s life. The primary effect of this setting development is that we the readers get to see what it is that shapes Q as a human being: the way he sees the world, how he spends his free time, and what he truly values (which oftentimes is just as selfish as you’d expect from a teenager: Q often focuses on things that satisfy his own desires far more than they do his friends’ and hopes to see one of his classmates take off her clothes). After Q has thoroughly investigated Margo’s clues, and thus the little bit of her soul Margo allows Q to see, the second segment concludes with Q discovering where Margo has escaped to and undergoing his own adventure to find her.

To avoid spoilers I will not go into details on the third segment of the book. I will just inform you that it is highly entertaining and I read it straight through from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m.

The Spoiler Free Assessment:

Now I was already familiar with John Green before reading this book via his vlogbrothers youtube channel, which did give me a level of referential enjoyment you can only get by having watched John Green talk for several hours. However, I had no clue what to expect upon reading this book, as I had never seen any of Green’s writing beforehand. That being said I was extensively surprised at how well written Paper Towns is. It being a young adult novel, I assumed it would be moderately well written, as it had won a couple awards, but probably nothing particularly special. But no, Green manages to consistently impress with his snappy and witty dialogue as well as his use of internal monologue, on which the novel (particularly the second section) relies heavily. These two things work together seemingly effortlessly to create vastly complex characters and relationships between those characters. Q and his friends feel as if they have been friends for years and Q’s relationship with Margo seems as if the two are rekindling an old companionship. Furthermore, Green paints an environment that matches seamlessly with the characters living in it. Q and his parents’ relationship helps to clarify why Q is the way he is; the paper quality of Orlando helps to explain Margo’s desperation to leave. Additionally, all the characters serve some purpose in the novel. No one is useless. Every character works together to reveal what I believe John Green is trying to say with this novel. And that is that people are complex. And limiting people to single facets of understanding endangers that person’s understanding of himself or herself and works against allowing people to be who they truly are. Q’s constant inner monologue wondering why Margo is the way she is paints her to be this supernatural girl beyond human understanding in Q’s mind, when she is in fact a complex person with feelings and fears and fervor just like Q. Every aspect of the book works to reveal that every character, even basic archetypes like ‘school bully’ and ‘popular hot girl’ are far more than the simplistic shadows they are often portrayed as. A novel in which all the parts work together so seamlessly to convey a message as powerfully as Paper Towns does is, in my opinion, the very definition of an excellent novel.

Five stars out of Five

Things to Think About While Reading:

Rather than end with a spoiler-filled nitty gritty section like I did with my Hunger Games review, I’m going to tie this novel to two other pieces I couldn’t help but think about while reading Paper Towns. The first is The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, which was fresh in my mind from having to read it for an English class. I couldn’t help but be constantly reminded of Basil’s understanding of Dorian limiting who Dorian could be by Q’s limited understanding of Margo. In both cases, that limited understanding results in creation of an impossibly perfect ideal that leaves no room for human flaw, effectively dehumanizing the character. And while I probably can’t go into the comparison too much without writing a whole essay, it is definitely an interesting comparison to think about while reading this novel (which I wholeheartedly recommend you do). The other thing Green’s novel reminded me of, particularly his exploration of the idea that certain people bring out aspects of other people that wouldn’t otherwise be there, thus increasing the complexity of said person, is a quote from the book The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis that basically states that a person brings out parts of another person’s personality that would not otherwise exist, suggesting that the specific complexities of human beings is highly dependent on the way they interact with each other. That was interesting to think about in conjunction to Green’s book because it deepened the question, “what then happens when instead of bringing out more complexity we attempt to simplify?”

My Favorite Quote:

“I understand now that I can’t be her and she can’t be me. Maybe Whitman had a gift I don’t have. But as for me: I must ask the wounded man where he is hurt, because I cannot become the wounded man. The only wounded man I can be is me.” –John Green pg 298 of Paper Towns

Paper Towns-A Review in Progress

Hello! So I know my blog is Rmablingsofacinephile. Yeah that's right. didn't know you'd been reading my blog name wrong all this time hanh? Or maybe I'm a little dyslexic after typing for the last three hours. Probably that last one. Anyway, though I'm supposed to be a cinephile, I'm really more an all around nerd, and I've been drawing a blank on what to write lately. So I've decided to share my thoughts on John Green's book Paper Towns (which admittedly I'm a little late to be reviewing due to it having been published four years ago [2008 for those of you future readers! {Like anyone is going to read my blog in the future, no one really reads it now |Man that's a lot of brackets in brackets, so many I ran out of different kinds of brackets and had to resort to awkwardly placed lines|}] However I ordered it from Goodwill Books just last week and am extremely excited to read it.) as I read it. Woo! That was a fantastically complicated sentence/thought. Anyway, so I will share a post for every three chapters I read. However, I just checked to see how many chapters there are and the three-chapter-system may become problematic due to the categorization of the later parts of the book. [Edit: Yeah, the three chapter sequences system won't work because I'm reading the book too fast. Instead, I will write a post for each section of the book, there are three, for a grand total of five posts, including this one and the spoiler free review.] We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Please be warned, this will be a spoiler-filled journey through Paper Towns so if you're like me and hate having stuff spoiled for you, don't read these posts, after I have completed the journey through the book, I will post a spoiler-free review of the book as well. Without further ado, let's begin.

I lied. Here's some more ado. I have recently been watching an excessive amount of vlogbrothers videos, a vlogger series that John Green and his brother Hank do together. If you have not yet seen them then go watch them. They're good. And I have provided you a cleverly hidden link to their youtube channel in the third sentence of this paragraph. Anyway, having established that I am reading this book upon becoming familiar with John Green in a new media setting, we can begin our step by step journey through Paper Towns.

Leave any comments in My Pants. Actually don't.
I wont get them there. Leave them in the comments section

Just a reminder...there are spoilers below this sentence - either be prepared or avoid altogether.
The book begins with a prologue that introduces the characters of Quentin, our first-person narrator and protagonist, and Margo, the "miracle" that lives next door to Quentin, or Q as he is referred to in the novel and will be referred to in this blog. After sharing his philosophy that everyone gets one miracle, one incredibly unlikely event that happens to them, Q remarks that living next to Margo is his miracle. This sets up the whole tone of the story, allowing us readers to understand that the events of this novel will be fantastical. And  that tone is even further set up through the nine year old Q and Margo happening upon a dead body. As for this section of the story I found myself engaged quite effectively, however I was unsure as to the believability of John Green's provided narration of a nine-year old boy. I found myself thinking, "Really John? A nine year old thinking about the 'circumstances of his [the dead body's] demise?' That's a little advanced. Doncha think?" Then I felt stupid because it was obviously a story being told by Q as an older human being. Upon realizing this, I became aware of how absolutely fantastically John was able to create the mind of a teenage boy and welcome his readers into it. There are thoughts of sex and selfishness and development and concern. It is quite well done.

The first chapter after the prologue is concerned primarily with establishing the setting in which Q lives. We get a sense of his friends, all of whom are independently developed characters and rely in no ways on archetypes, and his school. He and Margo are no longer really friends. He's a band geek, and she's one of the hot popular kids. If I had one complaint at all with the novel thus far, it would be that Green made all of the teenagers witty. Which, though it makes for more interesting reading, is not the most realistic portrayal of teenagers in my experience. Usually they're a little slow and kinda dumb. No offense teenagers who are reading this. You'll get better, I promise. But hey, maybe teenagers are different in New York and Indianapolis.

Chapter 2 introduces us to what appears to be the main plot, but I will wager a guess is going to actually lead into a much more convoluted plot. Margo shows up at Q's house one night dressed in black and wearing black face paint. She requests his help in completing a mysterious 11 part plan since she needs a car and Q has access to one. At this point in the novel, we have not yet been introduced to Q's family, with the notable exception of him contemplating when his parents granted him mostly unlimited access to the family van, which I imagine will serve some thematic purpose concerning authority; though I am basing this entirely on conjecture and have no idea yet since the parents haven't been introduced.

A quick analysis and review of the first three chapters:
Q is highly representative of the nerd collective. He is a virgin who tends to stay where he is comfortable: in the band room. However, the nerd is being whisked off by the interesting hot chick on an adventure unlike anything he's experienced. What is in store for him is yet to be seen, but we can expect it to be the most exciting adventure he has ever encountered, with the exception of his stumbling upon the dead body. Despite this appearing to be a get-out-of-your-comfort-zone-and-enjoy-what-life-has-to-offer anti-introverted nerd story, anyone who is familiar with the vlogbrothers at all knows that John himself is an introverted nerd. So what twists will come to reveal what John Green has to say about life as a teenager is something I look forward to (sorry for ending in a preposition but I've been going back and correcting myself all day and I'd rather stop).
If you choose to read this book, which so far I would definitely recommend, it might help to familiarize yourself with nerdfighteria (the vlogbrother's online community), as the book reading experience is greatly enriched by being able to catch references to the stuff John says in his vlog as well as to a number of things John likely included just because he likes. Paper Towns has so far made me feel really smart since I get so many of Green's allusions. If you watch the videos, you'll get that feeling too.

I am going to end each segment of this series with my favorite quote from that section. Here is this one's:
"In every room, save Radar's, their home was awash in black Santadom-plaster and plastic and marble and clay and wood and resin and cloth. In total, Radar's parents owned more than twelve hundred black Santas of various sorts. As a plaque beside their front door proclaimed, Radar's house was an officially registered Santa Landmark according to the Society for Christmas."

The Best Burger I May Have Ever Had

So I have never reviewed food before so this will be a little difficult for me. But I think the deliciousness of this burger is so great that I must share it. So today my friends and I were chatting about where to grab dinner. We had a lot of vegetarians with us so we were thinking something veggie friendly like Thai or Chinese. Then my friend suggested Mick's Karma Bar. Which is a burger joint. We laughed at him then said, yeah ok. So we went to this burger joint (Mick's Karma Bar, I'm gonna plug this places name as many times as I can so you guys go there), which is located in the restaurant section of one of those blocks filled with big businesses like Wells Fargo in Irvine, CA. Anyway we get there, and first off, the environment is just awesome. There are some weird modern art benches around this giant pond and a whole bunch of outdoor seating cafe style.  It feels totally unlike Irvine; it's pretty; it smelled good; it felt like there was actual culture (in case you can't tell I really hate Irvine). But so after discussing and agreeing that the outdoor seating was quaint and attractive, we entered Mick's Karma Bar and took a look at the menu. 5 burgers.

They had some other stuff that I'll probably never try
cause I'll always want the burger

5 burgers. I got the Karma Burger, their staple, some steak fries and a strawberry lemonade, all for a little less than ten bucks. It only took about ten or so minutes for us to get our food, and when we did. Oh my gosh. Everyone at our table had some sort of food induced orgasm. Even my vegetarian friends (you can sub a veggie patty free of charge) demanded we come back. I have had a lot of good burgers in my day. I'm a bit of a burger enthusiast. But this burger. Something about this burger - No . EVERYTHING about this burger was perfect. Amazingly high quality meat. Not cooked till after I ordered it (I know I chatted with Mick a bit after my meal). Cooked to literal perfection. Not tough nor crunchy. All the vegetables were fresh (how did they get tomatoes so perfectly plump and easily bitten into?). Good bread. Even the fries and lemonade were phenomenal. My point is the food was damn good. And then on top of all that the staff was friendly and helpful. Mick was insanely passionate about his burger joint and how important quality was to him. All in all it was just a wonderful experience. The best burger I've ever had, with great surface, and a great environment. Next time you're in Irvine and you're craving a burger, search this up on google and find it. It's worth the little money it costs and definitely worth the effort you have to put in to finding this place. And this, is the burger:

The Hunger Games Review

(An aside - so I know my posts till now have been very cavalier and mostly me just talking, which is what I want a lot of my blog to be. However, it is also important to me to get out some content that actually showcases my writing, so without further ado, my first thought out and revised piece.)

The Poster:

155 million dollars later and the tagline has become prophetic

The Summary:

We join our young heroine Katniss Everdeen (phenomenally portrayed by Jennifer Lawrence) in her home district of District 12 as she awakens to comfort her young sister, Primrose (Willow Shields), when she wakes up screaming after having a nightmare in which she is picked for the dreaded hunger games. This loving relationship is what propels Katniss through the games after she winds up as one of the participants known as ‘tributes.’ The hunger games are a spectator event in which a group of twenty-four children, two from each district, must fight to the death. The leader of the districts, President Snow (Donald Sutherland), holds these games annually in order to ensure the cooperation of the residents of the twelve districts. The rest of the film focuses on Katniss’ journey through the games and watching her desperately try to cling to survival in order to return to take care of her sister.

The Spoiler-free Assessment:

If you have read the book then there are two things you must know. 1) The original screenplay is written by Suzanne Collins, the author of the novel, as well as the final rewrite. So the script is hers. 2) This is by far one of the best book-to-film adaptations I have ever seen. The switch between mediums is honored by changing the manner in which a lot of the information about the characters and the world from description based to visual based. I will go into more detail in the spoiler-filled assessment below. For those of you have not read the book, there is a reason the film made 155 million dollars opening weekend (the third largest opening ever and the largest non-sequel): the film is fantastic, even if you have not read the book. All of the performances capture the characters incredibly; Lawrence is wonderfully devoted as Katniss and the supporting cast is just as dedicated to their roles. Woody Harrelson is particularly good as Katniss’ alcoholic mentor Haymitch Abernathy. The film’s editing works incredibly well with the cinematography to both add to the intensity of the film and the terror felt by Katniss as well as to take away from the most grotesque scenes in order to allow the film to get its PG-13 reading and thus its wide audience. This does not mean the film doesn’t suffer from a few problems. The cinematography relies so heavily on shaky handheld camera work during the opening scenes that it began to be a little annoying, though the film balances this out later during the excitement of the actual games. The film suffers from some filmmaking clichés, such as the exciting roar of the crowd drowning out all other sounds and comes off as corny occasionally, though the film's director Gary Ross does tend to make up for those scenes by following the clichés with sequences that contribute to the characterizations of Katniss and the other tributes. Despite the occasional flaws, the film is fantastic and more than worth whatever your local theater charges for admission. Go see it.

My rating: Four out of five.

The Trailer:

For the Fans:

This guy is too good

Alright. Now for those of you have read the book or just don’t care about spoilers here are some of the changes they made and greater detail on the specific performances. I read the book. It’s a great book. Not the best writing but highly entertaining. So here are the major differences. The origin story of the mocking jay pin is changed. However I like the change. In the film, Katniss finds the pin at one of the vendors at the market; she gives it to Prim, who gives it back to her just before Katniss goes to the Capitol. I like the change because I thought it provided a great addition to her relationship with Prim, which mostly gets cut out of the film because of how little time the film spends in District 12. Don’t worry though, Lawrence and Shield’s performances as sisters are wonderful and showcase how close the two are. Next change now. Throughout Katniss’ time at the games the film cuts away to the control room where we see the gamemaster making decisions regarding the game, to a commentary delivered by Caesar (who is played to perfection by Stanley Tucci), and to the president discussing the purpose of the games (to give a little hope to the masses so that they don’t rise up against him). These cuts move away from the action but they give a lot more coverage to the purpose and manipulations of the games, which helps to show the way the government manipulates and controls its people. 

And Lawrence gives such a solid performance as Katniss that these cut aways do little to take away from her portrayal of Katniss’ emotional state and our connection as an audience with her. And now for the last change, which wasn’t a particularly big change, but really irked me. When the hounds are released in the book, Collins took great care to describe their eyes in order to imply that the hounds were made from the dead tributes. The film does not do that at all. The result of this is a much less monstrous depiction of the gamemakers and is actually pretty detrimental to the characterization of the government I thought. That being said, I stand by my earlier statement that this is one of the best book adaptations I’ve ever seen and if you even SLIGHTLY enjoyed the book you should go see the film.