Girls on Film: Brave, Beasts, and Female Leads

July 23, 2012 15:00 ⋅ 4 Comments ⋅

Over the last week, I happened to see two new films that shared some interesting ground: Brave and Beasts of the Southern Wild. Both films are led by strong-willed, female children, in an age where American filmmaking still seems to struggle with the concept of a female lead. They are very interesting companion pieces as well as simply being decent films, so I recommend catching both, if possible.

(The discussion below is spoiler-free, so feel free to proceed if you haven’t seen one or either film.)

BRAVE

I’ll begin with the film you’re more likely to have seen already.

Brave is the tale of a young girl, Merida, who is the princess of a Celtic warrior clan. She is headstrong, uninterested in girly things, and skilled in archery. When her family proposes she choose a suitor for a future husband, she is completely uninterested. The plot goes from there.

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Posted in: Best of the Blog, Movies

The Dark Knight Rises (No Spoilers) and Other Bat-Things

July 19, 2012 15:00 ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅

Thanks to Fes Works and Twin Cities Comics, I got to see Christopher Nolan’s latest flick, The Dark Knight Rises, on Wednesday night. I expect most of you already have plans (and possibly) to see this movie, but that won’t stop me from giving my Completely Unsolicited Opinions upon it.

THE MOVIE

There has been a lot of fan rage recently about good reviews and bad reviews, mostly coming from people who haven’t even seen the film yet. So here’s my curveball:

It was okay.

Seeing it in the theater is an undeniable thrill, because this is a BIG movie. The plot, cityscapes, and thematic scope are all BIG. Epic is an overused word these days, but here it fits in a proper sense. This is an epic closure to the series.

It’s also really dark and grumbly. I’m fine with dark and grumbly stuff, but the film doesn’t seem to be much fun. In fact, the main characters have gotten so dark and grumbly, that I far preferred watching the plot aspects that didn’t involve Batman or Bane. The dark streak served the previous two films well, but you also got a sense of fun from those films. This one is pretty humorless.

Bane is a pretty uninteresting character, and Tom Hardy is lost behind the face-covering mask. I think the biggest flaw of this final trilogy entry is the fact that the villain isn’t very dynamic. At no point in the film, did I sit up and say, “Wow, this is an amazing moment.” The film was a series of very competent moments, but I didn’t feel transcended beyond the film. The Dark Knight, by comparison, was fuelled by a legendary performance from Heath Ledger, and thus yielded many truly iconic scenes.

There are some nice little bits in the latter third of the movie, mostly involving supporting characters that you may or may not have expected to turn up. One bit actually drew an audible cheer from the audience.

There are some nice story elements. There are a couple truly boneheaded things about the script. The way the ending tied up made me wanting to see more of that world, but I didn’t really want to know more about the one I just watched.

TO IMAX OR NOT TO IMAX?

I often get questions about which format certain films should be seen in, given that ticket prices are expensive enough without 3D or IMAX thrown in.

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Posted in: Movies

New Geek Life: Lollipop Chainsaw

July 19, 2012 14:00 ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅

…and other things. Check it out!

Posted in: The Geek Life

CONvergence PowerPoint Karaoke Favorites

July 17, 2012 13:00 ⋅ 3 Comments ⋅

Since our now-yearly CONvergence audience is by far our largest and geekiest, the CVG PowerPoint Karaoke show last week was jam-packed with slides too nerdy for general audiences. Bill and I went a bit into overdrive.

For those of you who weren’t there (or even those who were and are feeling nostalgic), below the cut you will see some of my favorite slides from the show.

(By the by, I just wanted to announce that PowerPoint Karaoke will be returning to the Bryant-Lake Bowl on a monthly basis in September. I’ll post details when I have ‘em!)

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Posted in: CONvergence, PowerPoint Karaoke

Slaying the Debt Monster

July 16, 2012 12:00 ⋅ 4 Comments ⋅

Fortune #70Folks who’ve known me for a few years know that my life went through upheaval in 2009. My relationship of seven years ended; my home went into foreclosure (and I eventually lost it); my already bad debt problem went into overdrive as my finances plunged into the abyss with my house; and I was unable to file for bankruptcy.

As they say, sometime you have to hit the bottom before you can come back up.

Since then, I’ve paid of $48,600 of debt the old fashioned way. I’m still clawing my way out, but the end is now in sight. The final consumer debt piece will be killed in about 3 months, and I will be completely debt free in 12 months. By the end, I’ll have paid off $62,000 in debt since June 2009. ($10,000 of that number is interest paid.)

Those are terrifying numbers. That’s more than I make in a year. That’s a debt hole of dizzying size to me. I fell like I’ve been chucking bricks into the Grand Canyon for three years. But here’s the thing: if you chuck enough bricks into the Grand Canyon, it will eventually fill up.

I posted these numbers on Twitter a couple days ago and got quite a response. I’m not shy about posting these numbers; while I’m ashamed my life got to that point, I think it’s important to tell others that it is possible to slay this monster. It’s not easy, but you get used to the routine, and it’s pretty thrilling when you start to see results.

Below are some nuggets of advice that I can give. Please keep in mind that I’m not a finance professional, and I know that not all of these tips will work for everyone. These are simply things that worked particularly well for me. Continue Reading →

Posted in: Best of the Blog, Life