The Rambler's rambles

So I already stated how I was not entirely satisfied with this movie. It's one of those movies that's perfect...but just isn't. To summarize my main points of discontent, I just said that the cliche of Kristoff as the true love was pretty bad and the idea of having Hans as the bad guy was also extremely flawed. Anyways, this movie is obviously constrained because it is a Disney movie and the bureaucrats running the show just made sure these cliches were still in place. What I would do to make this movie "perfect" is just three steps: make Kristoff female, make Hans a misguided man instead of a "bad guy," and get rid of the trolls. My reasons for doing this is that first of all Kristoff was obviously the "true" true love from the moment we saw him. We weren't sure exactly how Hans would fit into all of this but we knew that the development of Kristoff made it so that he was going to be the one. Anyways, I think there would be a more empo...

Art has a unique place in our society. For all of our emphasis on concrete ideas that is exemplified in media like books and television, we often don't care for pieces of art. The idea of art seems to abstract and we try to apply our complexity to it as if the piece of art can be deciphered through our internal processing. In fact, art has changed yet again to reflect our thinking. More often that not, art is more realist to allow the audience to get a clear picture instead of a sweeping feeling or impression. Art also has multiple interpretations by artists themselves since they identify art in a different way. Because of this, art is multi-faceted and our "rectangular" way of thinking can't fit into the "oval" that is art. Before moving on, art is defined as a diverse range of human activities and their products which means that even the definition is ambiguous. It's hard to describe art in its entirety and limiting art to just visual art still mak...

Many people have seen the whole debate with Bill Nye and Ken Ham. Many also agree that Ham's Austrailian accent was pretty awesome. In fact, I think most of his followers were attracted to Ham because of that sexy voice. Regardless, the debate was pretty laughable; Bill Nye just tried to rally a bunch of evidence to prove that evolution was true as a historical science while Ham was just saying the Bible is the source of information that was the ultimate truth. Nye realized pretty quickly that Ham was just going to say that his model was true by refuting Nye's points and by saying that the model is the "only" reliable source of historical science. I especially loved it when Nye asked Ham for specific information and Ham said we would have to take it on faith when Ham attacked Nye's evidence all this time. Nye's evidence was pretty sound and Ham could only call technicalities to hopefully trip Nye up. But Ham still had some good points that he brought up. He ...

Religion has always been a controversial topic. Many people who have a specific faith tend to believe their belief to be completely true and reject others who have different beliefs. Religion is a powerful tool and I'd argue that religion is a form of propaganda. But the question I pose is if God created man or man created God? Of course, it doesn't have to be God, it could well be Allah, the three Hindu Gods, or any other deity. So who actually created our world and does that group of individuals or person actually exist? The problem we face now is how people tend to disregard religion because of the new scientific knowledge. It's no mystery why creationists are usually misguided and plagued with misconceptions. So many scientists or well educated people tend to regard these devoted people as inferior for being so ignorant to the overwhelming mass of information. The force that attempts to connect the two beliefs are the people who try to revise Scriptures or religious...

The epic third novel in this gargantuan series delivers on its title. It's bloody and brutal with many characters dying over the politics of this realm. I think this book in particular exemplifies how brutally honest and ruthless Westeros really is as events like the Red Wedding and the death of Oberyn Martell give this sense that Westeros is a turbulent and cruel place to live in. This novel also progresses extremely quickly with new events happening all the time to ensure readers will have the same feeling of wanting to learn more about one character but forced to see through the perspective of other characters (see Daenerys, Jon, Arya, Tyrion). Martin gives another great work unto us that illustrates the world even more and progressing the plot. I also noticed that politics weren't as big of a thing as in the second book which meant that this book focused more on social issues and events occurring in a specific area. Like I said before, this novel is brutal and I like ho...

I finally decided to watch the movie that everyone loved from last year. When I was watching the trailers, I thought this movie was just one of those generic space horror movies and that everyone would disdain it like they did for "Apollo 18" or the recent Alien movies. Imagine my surprise when I found that critics and audiences alike were raving over this movie and that the Academy even gave the movie a huge number of Oscars. This movie seemed to be phenomenal and I wanted to watch it since I was interested in the concept. So I finally did it. I'll say right off the bat that Sandra Bullock was amazing in her role. I loved her character as Bullock portrayed the broken feeling the protagonist had. Our entire journey revolved (no pun intended) around her as we felt every single emotion she was going through. Most of the time all we needed to hear was her panicking to draw breath or screaming at the faulty machinery to feel what she was feeling. It also helps that Bulloc...

Equality. This word signifies something we've been fighting for since the beginning of human civilization. We all know what equality means, or do we? Equality has such a profound cultural and social impact on today's society yet we seem to define equality differently. Equality is something that will never be obtained or understand completely. Equality is something generations and generations have fought for but society rarely ever turns out the way we want it to. We never know what equality means and I think deep down we're scared what it could represent. There have been numerous attempts at equality with socialism and communism but they never were that...well, equal. So why is equality so hard to get? Aren't we all humans in the end? The definition of equality is the state of being equal especially in rights, status, and opportunity. This seems like a simple state to have in communities but on the global level it proves to be impossible. There is a huge difference ...

It's been around half a year since I watched a Doctor Who episode. Let me just say that I'm incredibly lazy and my TV watchlist is already backlogged as it is. I was just done with "Blink" and about to finish season 3 and then I just stopped and moved onto Breaking Bad. So this is still technically my primary thoughts since I haven't watched the new series in its entirety and I also haven't watched the old Doctor Who in the 20th century. Doctor Who has a huge following that is almost religious. Every single person on the internet seems to be a fanatic and love the show. People are claiming that David Tennant is a god while other claim that Matt Smith is the better Doctor. Anyways, the whole pandemonium served to make me more intrigued by the whole phenomenon. There had to be something about the show that appealed to so many people. To cut to the chase, Doctor Who did interest me at first that I continued watching until season 3. I liked the fiction side ...

I finally got around to playing this acclaimed game of the past year. Multiple gamers and game critics have put this game on their top 10 games list for 2013 which made me curious for why this innocuous Japanese series finally obtained a legitimate big title. Fire Emblem loyalists rejoiced as this game was announced to come to Western audiences and this game apparently did not disappoint. So with all this hype surrounding a strategy, turn-based game, I wondered what was so appealing about this game to so many people. Well, it's an rpg that plays just as well as its predecessors. The Fire Emblem series has been notorious for its extreme difficulty since characters that die stay dead. This game actually has a difficulty setting as one can simply set it so that character deaths aren't official and reduce the difficulty of the game overall. In this way, the game is already accessible to all audiences yet playing the game on casual and normal which is the easiest mode is still a...

Sorry for the brief break there. Just a quick update since many don't understand the normal grading system applied to media in general. I'll just list how I feel about each number in general. 10: Masterpiece, nothing more I could ask for. 9: Amazing, near perfect and immensely satisfying. 8: Great, an enjoyable experience that fulfilled wishes though could polish up a little. 7: Very good, not as great as expected though still fulfilling and good enough. 6: Good, could've been better but did fulfill basic needs to be considered an art form. 5: Okay, has promise but doesn't do anything. 4: Meh, didn't really do anything and waste of time. 3: Bad, doesn't seem to have any sense of finesse or touch whatsoever and made me want to turn away. 2: Horrible, makes me nauseous seeing something so bad that was actually created by people. 1: Atrocious, bottom of the barrel type of awfulness that makes me want to gouge my eyes. Essentially, I kind of have a +/- ...

You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension - a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You are moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed into the Twilight Zone. *Cue suspenseful blaring brass sounds* There's no doubt "The Twilight Zone" has had a tremendous impact on us. This was the  show of the early 1960s and everyone loved it. Critics everywhere were praising its visual style and its underlying messages attached with each episode. While this show may not seem so special to today's audience due to the effects seeming cheap, the show still holds up surprisingly well but most importantly "The Twilight Zone" tells a tale of humanity. It tells a tale of how humans can be subjugated to horrible conditions given the right amount of pressure. The convoluted plot with the various plot twists kept the audience waiting for the eventual resolution. Ev...

I'll come right out and say I was underwhelmed. Now I hear people saying that I "don't understand the experience of legos" or "never had a childhood." That's fine, I guess, because I honestly don't care. I've never really played with legos but I have played with toys and I loved my childhood. I loved "Toy Story" and the sequels. I understand the appeal of nostalgia and there is some merit to approaching the movie in a nostalgic fashion. But this movie was just forgettable and I didn't really care too much for what it had to say at the end. It's fine if you like it but I just didn't get the same kick out of it everyone seems to have. First of all, I'd like to address the aspect that it was pretty forgettable. The jokes that were made seemed to be a bunch of pop culture jokes and the only jokes I actually laughed at were the more subtle ones. Everything was fast-paced and trying to absorb every environment, every set ...

The idea of objectivity and subjectivity always gets confused. There was an age where people actually believed everything there was to know about the world could be found using observable facts or raw evidence. Bias is in everything, however, and all of us see the world in a uniquely different way. Bias can't be gotten rid of entirely though many do try to avoid bias in their tone. Objectivity is impossible yet we have this fantastical notion that one can actually be completely adherent to the facts and the facts alone. Every single sentence has a bias. If one person says a statement, then another person in the world will have a different opinion. Even what I'm saying could be irrelevant to your opinion. In this way everyone can't avoid having bias in their lives. Bias is what makes us human. We can't get rid of our emotion from what we are observing and that tints our vision to see what we want to see. In a sense, even the most innocuous of phrases can be another o...

Humans. Humanity. Mankind. All of these words carry such importance and underline our entire species. Each word conjures up an image of a distinct human being. Yet humans are limited. Our species will probably falter. And when we look deep within ourselves, we'll realize that we aren't so very different from the creatures around us. Humans are perhaps the most developed creature to ever come upon the face of earth. Our human history is only a blink on the yawning existence of the universe but we've impacted our surroundings in a dramatic way. Society is such a complex thing yet it really only embodies nature itself in a sense. We were meant to cooperate as a population and having a perfect society is impossible. In the end we're only human. Throughout our history we've seen that we are a species capable of destruction. We've seen wars, we've seen famine, we've seen all the lows of humans. And yet sometimes we don't care. Sometimes we forget. So...

Star Trek is one of the biggest cult phenomenons to occur in our human history. The Trekkies, fans of the show, were perhaps the biggest geeks of the time and they blazed the way for the subculture of fandoms. Star Trek introduced a new era of science fiction and the fallout of this show was the focus on space exploration. Yet Star Trek didn't even have to occur in such a futuristic setting to portray its intent, it could've happened in a prehistoric era or somewhere else. Gene Roddenbury, the creator, only wanted to depict the human nature and have themes of morality and ethics litter the episodes, similar to how Rod Sterling envisioned "The Twilight Zone" to be. Of course, Star Trek blazed its way into our culture today with its idiosyncrasies. So I finally got the time to start watching it and I've started with the original series. Keep in mind I've only watched two episodes: the pilot and the first episode. So after coming into the show expecting so mu...

One of the major issues facing present-day developed countries is the idea of the gender disparity as many people are opposing the divide. Gender division has existed for as long as humans have existed and only recently have we given more consideration to how each sex has a different environment or lifestyle than the other. In general, we tend to regard the female sex as the less fortunate sex though males also have issues regarding their upbringing and social environment. The huge inequality present throughout the world is one of the most glaring issues. If we preach equality, why is it that equality can't be ubiquitous? The issues is multi-faceted and analyzing the depths of the social stigma is a nigh impossible task though I'm going to attempt to dissect this problem. Starting off, there is the biological aspect that created this gender division in the first place. Men used to be regarded as the hunters while women would stay home gathering food and nursing the children...

It's another Japanese animated movie. But it was not made by Miyazaki who is known for classics like Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away. So I was kinda apprehensive of the movie since it was drastically different from the magic Miyazaki typically captured. Nonetheless, I was pretty optimistic for this film since I love animated movies a lot and I also liked the distinctive anime style that was a feature of the film. So to start off, the animation was a little jarring. There were moments were the animation was just plain and a little boring on the eyes but there were also some scenes were the animation was truly breathtaking. I don't know if this is just an aspect of anime in general or if Japanese people are used to this kind of flair but it definitely deviated from the creativity and finesse of Miyazaki films or American animated films. It didn't matter in the long run but the entire style seemed mixed. Next we get to the plot. The whole reason why time trav...

Another quick status update. I finally received my sister's old laptop so I'm not entirely debilitated. Expect a new post later tonight and I'll try my best to follow my old schedule!

It's been about a week since I last posted anything. I apologize for my inactivity but my computer has been down and it seems unsolvable. So I've been relegated to using my tablet or anything else to get to the internet since my parents don't want to give me a new laptop. I'll try to get stuff out but understand that this is gonna be a bottleneck for me since I can't pump stuff out anymore. So bear with me. Thanks.

I'd first like to apologize for taking so long to post another post. I've been pretty busy over the weekend with the tournaments. Anyways, I've just decided to revisit a show that I loved in middle school. At that point, "The Powerpuff Girls" was already done with its six seasons. So my sisters bought the DVD set for Christmas so they could watch it again but I eventually watched the show again. And I loved it. The writing, the animation, and the characters were spot on. So let's go right in. But I'd like to have a bit of background. This show has had such an impact that almost everyone heard of it as a kid. So this started off from a concept from the great Craig McKracken who made three cartoon girls as a gift to his brother. His brother encouraged McKracken to pursue making a television show and eventually "Whoopass Stew" was created. At first, this show was gritty and dark with disgusting imagery. The test audience didn't like this...

One of the biggest questions that gets raised throughout our scientific era is whether or not the human race will become extinct. The sun will burn us all off in a few hundred million years and we need to build our light-speed technology to visit a habitable planet quickly. However, our current record is laughable since we can barely get to Mars. But a lot can change in a few million years and it can be possible that we survive by colonizing distant planets. So is that possible? Will we live long enough that we can actually build technology great enough to surpass even light speed? Well, maybe. It depends on our research into space exploration which already has a very low budget. And the human race can be exterminated in a plethora of ways. We could unleash nuclear armageddon. We can die because of natural causes due to mother earth bucking us once and for all. We can have our technology surpass us which ultimately kills us. We can have global climate change create a mass extinctio...

Two songs I had stuck in my head throughout this movie were "Ice Ice, Baby" and "True Love." Yeah, none of the songs that I just heard were in my head, just those stupid songs. Yet they fit pretty well. Well, here we have Disney pull out another animated film after their huge flop with "Planes" this year. And what do you know, John Lasseter was executive producer which means that this was kind of a collaboration between the Disney and Pixar staff. This is seen from the short flick before the film where it has the Mickey Mouse cartoon that has a recent update and toys with the fourth wall. But how does the main film hold up? This movie is like a conglomeration of Tangled, Beauty and the Beast, and Wicked. You've first got this film trying to emulate Tangled with Anna looking like Rapunzel and the whole theme of freedom along with true love. Then Beauty and the Beast is seen with the whole idea of prejudice against this film's equivalent of th...

I have a dream. As soon as Martin Luther King, Jr. started his speech everyone knew it was something to be remembered. The hundreds of thousands of people at the crowded Lincoln memorial had gathered for the civil rights movement. Almost everyone in America knows how important King was to this country. So why am I talking about it? Because today is a day of remembrance and we owe it to the legacy King created. Today we remember all of King's accomplishments and we remember the civil rights movement. Indubitably, the world would've never been the same if it weren't for this man. King was an ordinary person. But then, he became remembered forever in history for his legacy and the trail he blazed. He was one of the most important leaders in the civil rights movement and the equality we value today comes from this man. He became the most important person involved in the civil rights movement and was remembered along with Dizzy Gillepsie and Rosa Parks for being so influen...