Thursday, March 29, 2012

The Search and Journey

The search
from the roots,
through the vast fibrous stalks,
and wood that doesn't budge
unless you would have it

For truth,
is often a dark one.
The luckiest moments
evaporate out of the
skyward tips,

Reaching, ever reaching
for the correct contributive effort,
for the moment that
will inspire the next true poet.

Avoiding the rancid
rot that some
deciduous pillars
frequently fall to.

The journey continues,
Sun ever-beckoning.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

21 Jump St. -REVIEW **1/2


I watched 21 Jump St. last night and immediately thought of re-naming it in some punned-out fashion. Ok, let’s go with 21 Chump St. for simplicity’s sake. It would sound appropriate. I’d assume people would agree. Channing Tatum is not very funny (I don’t even think he’s that good looking, though in one upside down shot, I had difficulty distinguishing his visage from that of Johnny Depp). On the other hand I think Jonah Hill is a try-too-hard with mixed results. His character’s most common go-to moves were a bombardment of contrived slap-stick moments, as well as moments of forced awkwardness that were hit/miss to be kind. That’s a bit of an outburst, especially considering that the film itself has done fairly well in the box office as well as received some decent reviews.
I am not very familiar with the original 21 Jump St. series, and I will admit that I still feel the same way, my internet browser cautiously teetering on the edge of imdb in order to round out my opinion a little. The new movie, despite picking up on the old “undercover cops in high school” theme of the original, is different in that it is completely insane! The pervasive drug imagery in the film is interesting (the main culprit drug in the film is referred to as H.F.S. and it comes in little zip-loc bags with a logo of dog poo that is sporting a halo). Thought-provoking, I think? The film mainly operates from expanding on a wide array of known stereotypes (all sorts of ‘em), so that they become EVEN MORE stereotypical and then from there ironically funny I suppose? But I am no undercover detective. That is but a guess.
So all of this said, 21 Jump St. did keep my interest. I watched it with some pals, and the theatre was packed and laughing frequently. The laugh-camps were oftentimes split, with some people laughing more at the gross-out or vulgar stuff. I found myself laughing mostly at the reckless ineptitude of the two protagonists (which I admit, they pulled off quite well at times). Some things were gross and not especially laugh-worthy. Like a guy getting his dick shot off provided me with more squeamishness than laughter. I know it’s a comedy but that kind of humour just isn’t my bag of breakfast sausages. Ice Cube's appearance is welcome, but I don't think he made as many waves as P. Diddy in Get Him To The Greek. Out of 4 stars- Heck.. 2 and ½ maybe. (Watchable with friends.)

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Just a Thought; On Video Games, Mind You


Running on the spot- I thought we all agreed
that MC Hammer had perfected the art.


Hey blog. Pleasant tidings, etcetera. As your annals have thus proven, the sounds of my lens palace and green beetnik moniker of this page has played host to various ramblings of its sculptor (and I am using that term loosely, as I am not a sculptor of clays and molds and the like but rather of blistering syntax and scorching cadence not to mention an occasional bout of wordiness).

So, with that, here's an additional thought, just to tack on to the other thought-provoking mayhem I have strewn about willy-nilly. A while ago I got an Xbox. This post relates to that.

I've noticed that, for now at least, most of the Kinect games for Xbox are based on rather mundane situtations. As you may know, Kinect is the Microsoft version of motion-based gaming - console games in which the user's bodily movements are detected and one must wiggle around in a range of ways to play. It's difficult to describe the current selection of Kinect games without dozing off - i.e. go ahead and try this exciting running simulator, provided that you must run on the spot to play (*yawn*).

So, until that later date that may never happen, that is, when a series of partially better or at least more immersive games are made for the Kinect, I will simply get the most out of Assassin's Creed: Revelations by playing that action-packed and highly immersive game while standing. And sometimes I do lunges when assassinating NPCs. Take that Kinect!

*Note - I am currently waiting to see how Fable Kinect turns out (ETA Dec 2012)- I do have high hopes. Just nothing awe-inspiring yet - for me. And I like fiction/fantasy sorts of games. Not jogging on the spot, if I'm being honest.