2012

Alright bunch of hype over this date. I guess by now everyone has heard of the looming cataclysm. The world is apparently going to end on December 21th in that year. I don't believe it whatsoever. I am not buying it. I guess mostly because the calendar as we know it isn't even all that accurate. Our calendar is the Gregorian version. This calendar was based on the Julian Calendar. The Gregorian is flawed because it is based on the Julian. This whole deal makes the comparison of the the Mayan and the Gregorian calendars impossible. All this means that there is no way to tell when end of the Mayan Calendar will match up to our days. So take it for what you will.



The supposed event has led to some pretty good movies and songs and also wacky conspiracy theories.


First I don't care what anyone says -- Incubus has a damn fine rock song going on with 'Warning'. From what I can tell the warning is that we are all going to snuff out in 2012. Good message though - don't ever let life pass you by.



Also this year from the dude that brought you Independence Day comes 2012. It looks great even the White House being taken out by a friggen aircraft carrier. Holy Shit! I'd say I can't wait to see when it comes out but I know I'll wait to see it at my brother in law's house on DVD from Redbox for a buck in the man cave. I hate watching movie in the theater because dumbasses aways KICK THE BACK OF THE SEAT!! Anyhow here's the trailer:






And of course the nutty conspiracy theories. Apparently the event that is going to happen is a rouge planet called Nibiru careening through the universe. Load of crap really. But who knows? Anything is possible.

Promises, Promises

Yes indeed I swore updates more often and I've followed through with most of this deal. However, remember that I am a graduate student. Even though this is summer I am still pecking away at the whole 'master's degree' thing. The class I am taking is called 'Current Issues in Children's Literature'. Foolish me I thought the focus of the class would be issues as they pertained to children's literature; No Child Left Behind, Title 1 topics and the like. Turned out the class is about issues that exist within children's literature. Fascinating stuff really. Today's topic was child abuse and special needs. Anyhow I have been far too busy reading children's books to get to any of the books on The Bookshelf of Doom. But I did read several very good kid's books. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie and Olive’s Ocean by Kevin Henkes (yes the same guy who wrote Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse! sooo shocking the word prick twice! oh my) and currently I am in the midst of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon.

I do have a couple of young adult PA books to get to but I am saving them for a reward. First I have Gone by Michael Grant. I haven't started it yet. It sits at the top of my bookshelf and taunts me. If I get it correctly from the back cover it looks like all the adults disappear and leave the youths to look out for themselves. I realize this has been done before and in fact I did a post about this 'kids creating their own civilization' theme. This one is a bit different I guess. Magic is involved. Still it sort of looks like Lord of the Flies as if it were written by Stephen King and not William Golding. Should be fun. I just need to wade through some other YA books before I get to it.

The other book to tempt me is Watchers at the Shrine. The third book in the 'Plague Series' by Jean Ure. I read the first one Plague some time ago but didn't post about because I had been punishing my liver. It was good. When I finished it I was looking about on the interwebs and discovered that the book had a sequel called Come Lucky April (as published in the UK) or After the Plague (as published in the US). Under any name it didn't hold up to the first book all that well. Anyhow point being is I got hold of the final book a while ago. I didn't read it because I had been so put off by the sequel to Plague I didn't want to invest any further time just yet. I'll get to it soon and post a fitting entry about all three books.

The last PA book from The Bookshelf of Doom is a book I picked up on Paperbackswap.com. It's called The Vanished and it's by John Peel. It's book number seven in The Outer Limits series for younger readers. I don't expect much from it, but that's ok because I got the book for free on the website. May turn out to be ok even - it is Tor Kids. Tor is a pretty good publisher.

Anyhow there you have it. Previews of coming attractions and whatnot.

A Director With Balls

Here's to you Mr. No-Holds-Barred-Director-Man. You have crafted an almost perfect apocalyptic movie. On the evening of July the Seventh 2009 I sat in front of the television with a couple of Thunderhead IPAs from Pyramid Brewing and proceeded to view the film Knowing from director Alex Proyas and had a fantastic movie experience. I went into it fully aware ( ummm. Knowing ...) the star of the film was Nicholas Cage. By that I mean that almost every movie he has stared in has been nearly unwatchable (see Ghost Rider) so I went in with VERY low expectations. I even waited 'till it went to DVD. Then got it for a buck at Red Box. Anyhow turned out to be a GREAT film. I sort of wish I had seen it in the theatre. Only thing is that I would have had some mouth-breathing knuckle-dragging fugitive from evolution kicking the back of my seat the entire time. Not worth it. If the movie has any short comings they are only two.

Short Coming The First: The movie moved very slowly. At times I thought it was just going to be just a localized event. A disaster as opposed to an apocalyptic event. Like with what happens in The Rift by Walter J. Williams (not PA but disaster). I thought it wouldn't fulfill the premise of the movie. I was wrong.

Short Coming The Second: No survivors (on Earth anyhow). I have said before, the part I enjoy most is the struggle; to survive or die. In Knowing everything just ends in fire. No rebuilding and no remaking society in any way.

This movie reminded me most of the old 1950's scifi flicks. The Day The Earth Caught Fire sprang to mind almost instantly as I watched. (Also looked as thought they recycled clips from the new remake of Dawn of the Dead at the extreme end of Knowing .. sweet). Take a look you'll see what I mean. The movie is completely worth the money. Also in watching the commentary I discovered that like me Mr. Proyas was tired of movies that didn't deliver the punch. He thought it was cowardly and unrealistic. Sometimes the Earth cannot be saved by any type of heroic action. For that I salute you - you magnificent bastard. Nicely Done.

Take cover ... well maybe

Look out! Super sunspots are about to unleash some doom on us. I bet not though. Last time this sort of thing happened it just gave some fantastic aurora borealis. Anyhow according to the dudes at NASA it should be here in a day. Could be quite the show. Or the tinfoil hat guys are right about the increase in crop circles and UFO sightings. But... I bet not. In the mean time enjoy a great film.