Emotional Bullshit and Kit Kat Bites for the Artist in You

As an artist slash writer, my worst downfall is me--yeah, I know, cliche, but listen--as soon as I come close to achieving some semblance of success, I shut it down.  I take comfort in the childhood conditioning that deemed me a worthless little scamp, carrying that torch of failure happily knowing I'll never get where I'm going.

Too bad, cause the past is long gone, and so there's just me left, with a big question mark of what to do with the years that remain.  Every now and then, I read a book about one or more of my dysfunctional habits, usually after watching fellow artists or writers outperform me by simply doing.

Emotional Bullshit, by Carl Alasko, is one of those works.  Anything to help, right?  I figured if anything, I could get a couple pointers concerning the worst relationship I have, that being the one with myself.

I got comfortable with the book and a bag of Kit Kat Bites.  Why eat a second-rate chocolate that contains bizarre ingredients like 'wheat flour' when real tantalizing chocolate awaits me?  Well, my head games are rooted in my past and so is Kit Kat.  I remember it as a girl, growing up on the outskirts of a small hick town.  We used to take the ten minute drive by pickup to go to the convenience store and honestly, it was one of my favourite snacks.  It made a nice change from fried bologna on white toast.

Yes, with sentimental value, I enjoyed eating the candy, especially the wafer crunch of it.  Those elements made it satisfying, much more so than the questionable chocolate taste.

Munching away, I dove into Emotional Bullshit.  It's about fear and delusional thinking, how our fat egos make problems instead working with the community.  We blame others for our disappointments and avoid reality as much as possible by avoiding or attacking others.

In my own case, I blamed myself as a worthless female for letting my future go down the drain.  A waste of space.  Why write the stories or paint the canvasses with my ideas when someone else out there already has or will anyway.  My delusion that I was a loser from the start allowed me to avoid the risks required to grow as a writer and artist.

A quick read, EB thoroughly explained this common messed up way of interacting with ourselves and others.  Alasko gave tonnes of examples that showed people screwing up all over the place, but he did it in a way that I felt sympathy and understanding for both sides.

What I took away from it involves seeing me and you or somebody else as partners, whether it be in a marriage or business capacity or on a parenting level.  In our individualistic society, where the ego reigns supreme, this is tough to do.

The book offers a solution called 'constructive conflict'.  At the core, a person's needs, like maintaining healthy communication with loved ones, come before the negative desire to avoid confrontation at all costs including losing loved ones.  We have to learn how to treat all involved with respect, listen, and work together on divisive issues.

I lent the premise to my relationship with creativity, which I deny regularly and then blame myself for via guilt of procrastination and distraction tactics.  Some of us must create things because that's who we are; we have to stop deluding ourselves that we have nothing to offer and get on with it, in whatever capacity our circumstances allows for.

Like the shovel on the cover indicates,  digging away at our own crap is hard work, but it's worth it if you break through the fear and denial of what you really need.  It's inspired me to change my approach!

Emotional Bullshit:  8.5 / 10 - An easy read and quite helpful, it could have been tightened up and summarized in a shorter space, but that might be my own personal taste.

Kit Kat Bites:  7.5 / 10 - For the wafer texture and childhood sentiment, I give it a high score.  It's a tasty cookie-candy which I didn't eat for the chocolate taste.

21 Jump Street and Chocolate Redemption

I thought 21 Jump Street was going to be a half-baked movie, full of drab jokes, but it turned out I had no idea what I was talking about.  This movie rocked the laughs so much that I went back and saw it again.

I'll just refer to the first experience, which includes a difficult chocolate episode.   We went in without remembering to snag some Jones Soda or decent chocolate beforehand.  Yikes.

We ended up grabbing a combo that included popcorn, fountain pop, and a candy I used enjoyed while growing up redneck in Hick Town Canada, called Rolo.  Well, the truth of the matter is, that chocolate is sub par compared to what I snack on now. It barely had any flavour and although it didn't burn my throat like a lot of other cheap mainstream chocolate, it was so bland that after the movie, I went to Laura Secord and bought a giant Easter egg to help my tongue recover from the how ordeal.

I've reviewed the same egg here before, but in a smaller size.  Of course, it tasted delicious compared to that other stuff.

Anyway, back to the movie.  It opened up with Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) as these two high school enemies that forge a friendship in the police academy in order to survive until graduation.  They go on to be bumbling cops stuck on chump assignments and eventually find their way into the old 21 Jump Street assignment of the 1980s TV show.

The entire time, the movie laughed at itself and the unbelievable premise that these guys were passable as high school students.  Something to note here, even Schmidt's crush, Molly, played by Brie Larson, didn't come across as a teen, at least, for me.  The only main character who did was James Franco's little brother, Dave, who did an excellent job as high school year book editor slash drug dealer.

Unlike the original TV show, these guys look and appear too old and out of the loop for the high school scene.  I remember Johnny Depp, Peter DeLuise, and Holly Robinson, who have cameos here, as baby-faced cops that fit in.  Course, that was many many moons ago, so maybe I'm off with my assessment.

But that's part of the point, since it's a humorous send up of the whole concept.  Even the fictional drug, HFS, that looks like a church wafer with a pic of a pile of shit and a halo over it, lampoons the drug culture.

The attention to minute details in the film, such as the wafers, add to the high quality presentation.  A shiny Z28 Camaro, almost like the one I used to drive, Johnny Depp's long haired biker disguise, and even the villain's um, appendage, all got the right reaction from me.

One of the best elements of the movie, for somebody like me, who grew up in the late 80s and 90s, had to be Ice Cube, who rocked it as the stereotypical angry police chief, Capt. Dickson.  What a d*ck.  Yeah.

Ice Cube was part of N.W.A. which was big during the airing of the original 21 Jump Street.  Back then, a lot of us kids listened to the group.  And if you came from anti-establishment, like I did, you took on several of their anthems, like F*ck tha Police.  Jump Street's soundtrack includes songs like their Straight Outta Compton.  As backdrop to Schmidt's Slip Shady wannabe getup in his high school days, Eminem's The Real Slim Shady is also included.

So we've got lots of humor, fast paced gut-busting action, cameos from the original crew, kick-a** music, and oh yeah, several silly subplots like a play that Schmidt wants to star in and the stages of an HFS trip.

It's all good.

21 Jump Street:  10 / 10  - Nothing but praise here.  Try it, you might be surprised at how much you laugh.  And you definitely don't need prior Jump Street experience to enjoy it!

Rolo:  3 / 10 - You know I'm being too generous here.

Laura Secord egg:   8.9 / 10  -  This chocolate came through for me when I really needed it.

The Hunger Games and Why I'm Out of the Loop Even With Chocolate

Before The Hunger Games came out in movie theaters across the galaxy, I had no idea about the books, even though my son had read them all at school.   Normally, I catch wind of things, you know, like Harry Potter, pretty quickly, so I knew it had to be a relatively new series.  I did the wikipedia thing and found out that the first book was published in 2008.  Books to movies are quick these days.

I read a few reviews and found that THG is simply another take on the exploration of dystopian societies.  Well, whatever, I decided to go check the movie out, especially since the young adult novel wouldn't give me a preconceived bias of how the characters should be.

I'm glad I went.  It's from a youth's perspective;  Katniss, played by Jennifer Lawrence, is the main character, who deals with 23 other children who must fight each other to the death in an expansive arena.  It's to remind to the peoples of the districts that the Capitol bosses are king, while providing entertainment for the Capitol's rich at the same time.  I enjoyed Lawrence in X-Men: First Class so I figured she'd be good here too.

Woody Harrelson as Haymitch, Lenny Kravitz as Cinna and Donald Sutherland as President Snow provided more attraction for me too.

So off we went, to the Mall, with Jones Soda and fair trade chocolate, Camino Almonds and Raisins.  Although our local theater closed down back in January, we're still not used to spending so much more money or wasting a lot of time to get out to see a movie, so we don't go as often.

We went early and it turned out to be a good thing, since it sold out fast.  Sitting on the floor, waiting to be let into the theater was a strange experience--it made me think that THG was some sort of spectacular story.

Once settled into our seats with the smuggled goodies and cooled popcorn, we took it in.   I enjoyed the action.  Of course, the suspension of disbelief needed to be doubled with such things like Katniss getting hurt and using super powerful healing medicine, or the cat-like creatures that came out of the woods to attack them near the end.

Her relationship with Josh Hutercherson's Peeta, which Haymitch forced her to play up to the crowd, seemed forced to the point that she was uncomfortable most of the time.  I didn't buy it, but I think I was expected to.

I wanted to see more of Sutherland.  What they gave us of Woody made up for that, though.  And so did the Camino chocolate.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the movie and felt for the main characters.  As an adult, I'm not sure why there were huge lineups for it, but maybe the craze and excitement comes from younger generations. The actors did a great job of expressing teenage emotions and anxieties.  I really felt sad about Rue, played by Amandla Stenberg.

Looks like I need to read the books now! Hopefully I'll have enough chocolate to last to the end.

Ratings:

The Hunger Games:  7.5 / 10  A nice story presented with solid acting and visuals, but nowhere near as great as all the hype made it out to be.

Camino Almonds and Raisins:  8.5 / 10  Mmm, nice fair trade dark chocolate with just the right amount of almonds and raisins.  The only complaint here is single serving size, which obviously needs to be doubled.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo & My Own Cookies

It's about time I get off my tail and write a bit on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  I went to see this movie, which I'd waited for over a year for, for several reasons.  First, I'd zipped through the trilogy and second, I can't get enough of Daniel Craig.

Now, I'm not saying that in a Oh-He's-Hot kind of way; he brings a sense of emotional awareness to a lot of his characters, and okay, sure, he really does a great job of filling out his pants.  Anyway ...

We went to the big corporate movie theater to see this movie.  And since I had just enough money--yeah, I'm self-employed, so sue me--I sneaked snacks into it.  Hey, even the people with me, who weren't financially doomed, brought in goodies.

So, armed with a bottle of Jones Soda, Pringles Original chips, and my very own chocolate hemp seed macaroon cookies--wait, what?  Yes, my cookies, made with cane sugar, unsweetened organic coconut and cocoa.   No popcorn.  Sigh.

What?  Oh, the movie, right ...  I haven't seen the original movies, so I can't compare, but I can offer my thoughts on this one.  Right from the start, it was clear that the creators put a lot of effort into pulling it off; it was like they knew they were in competition with the first movie and that audiences would be using it as a marker.

For the first time ever, I actually enjoyed a cover of Led Zeppelin, with Trent Reznor's version of "Immigrant Song," used in the intro.  That's just me, though.  Although they were quite visually stunning, the graphics for it seemed to fit the style of a James Bond movie rather than the presentation of Lisbeth's story.

Onto the actors, with Daniel Craig playing a quiet Mikael Blomkvist, Rooney Mara as frustrated Lisbeth Salander, Stellan Skarsgard as the charmingly slippery Martin Vanger and Christopher Plummer appearing here and there as likable Henrik Vanger.

First off, I'd never seen Skarsgard play the villain, but his creep was spot on, especially when he toyed with Craig in the basement scene.  Mara pulled off Salander's look and reached a wide range of her emotions.  She pulled all the right strings, especially in the cringe-worthy scenes and in the end, when she ditched the jacket and road off on her bike.  Yes, me and my fellow movie pals ducked and stared at the floor during the grim rape scenes.  Could they have left those out?  No.

Craig downplayed his charismatic energy, which worked, since the audience needed to connect with Lisbeth's suffering, not his.  Although I have to note, as Vanger worked him over in the basement, it reminded me of his Bond in Casino Royale.  Ooops.

I agreed with the overall cinematography, which solidified the tone of a gritty, modern Sweden in winter against the backdrop of post-WWII Vanger family history.  And even though I already knew the outcome, which was unbelievable in the book too (Salander hacks her way into a mountain of money), I wanted to see how this film would play out.

It brought contenment.  In fact, I think I'll go see it again, on cheap night, and bring more cookies.  But we'll do popcorn this time.

Rating:

The Girl w t Dragon Tattoo:  8 / 10 - Well put together, with the right amount of action and grit.  Avert eyes for disturbing rape scenes.

Pringles Original:  8 / 10 - You can't go wrong with these chips. Salty goodness, but they just ain't movie popcorn.

My Own Chocolate Cookies:  9 / 10  - Filled with coconut, hemp seed, and chocolate yum, everybody thought they tasted good.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Goodbyes, & Sad Chocolate

A few days ago, we headed out to our local downtown movie theater, the Palace for the last time.  Choosing Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows for the last movie to see in a theater that has been rebuilt since its creation 91 years ago, we settled in for the show.

Of course, we came prepared, with Jones Soda for me and Turin's Baileys Irish Cream chocolate for everybody, which we bought at the local drugstore.  Popcorn with fountain pop rounded out the gorge-fest.

I looked forward to seeing Robert Downey Jr's Holmes and Rachel McAdam's Irene Adler interact on the big screen again.  They didn't disappoint, but Adler's time on screen turned out to be minimal, as Noomi Rapace's character, Madam Simza Heron, took over for most of the movie.

I think I felt more grief at the lack of Adler's presence than Holmes.  Don't get me wrong, Rapace did great in her portrayal of Heron, but I missed the Holmes-Adler connection.  I haven't read the actual stories since childhood --and I'm very old, so ... maybe that's the way it goes in the story, but ...

Okay, even with that reality, Holmes could have been given more than a few looks and a handkerchief to show his own sadness.  Okay, the hanky blew out to see, time to move on ...

While Jared Harris did solid work of portraying Prof. James Moriarty, I didn't feel the same suspense between his character and Holmes as there was in the first Sherlock Holmes.  Mark Strong's Lord Blackwood actually scared Holmes, who needed to figure out the villain's plan.  With Moriarty, it's simply a chess battle of moves, not a puzzle.  Sure, there is investigative work to be done, but there are no question marks.

The movie, despite those disappointments, is a fun ride, full of visual candy and more of the same style of the first.  The story takes us beyond the streets of London onto a train, out into the woods, and to places such as Sweden's Reichenbach Falls, but, complete with a fictional castle, is computer generated. The CGI is done in good taste.

Along with action, we got humorous bits.  All I have to say is, the poor pony.  Hopefully he or she had a stunt double for the scenes with Holmes. The segment where Stephen Fry as Mycroft Holmes showed us his all--and I do mean his all--proved to be less dangerous but no less funny.

Of course, the last scene --or what I think should have been the last--must be discussed.  The final chess/physical battle between Holmes and Moriarty.  Yes, Richie did an artful job of it, but he didn't end it there; he let Jude Law's Watson take over, leaving of course, a question mark on whether there will be a 3rd movie.

I say sure, but only if Adler is brought back. Hey, it's Hollywood, why not!  In the end, the movie did provide decent entertainment; we ended up going downtown one last time to see it again and say a final goodbye to the theater.

Rating:

A Game of Shadows:  8 / 10 - We got our money's worth in eye candy and action.  Plus, we saw it twice, so that says something too!

Turin Baileys Irish Cream chocolates:  4 / 10  These chocolates get a fail, even though we bought them on sale.  They did not taste like other liqueurs, being way too mild, and the chocolate itself was bland.  Never again.  Ah well... at least we had Jones Soda and popcorn!

Fahrenheit Festival of Fire Sculpture 2011

Got the chance to see Artcite's latest Fahrenheit Festival, where they brought together various artists to make giant wood-straw sculptures that they burned once the sun set.

Most of the sculptures ended up burning quite nicely. Of particular interest were the flower that blossomed and the dancing man.

As for chocolate... unfortunately, the event location ended up being changed abruptly and the vendors did not participate. So we were stuck with hot chocolate from a can (no pictures needed), and mainstream chocolate bars and popcorn. Only the chocolate bar supply lasted through to the end of the event. On the plus side, grad students bbq'd fresh sweet corn.

Rating:  

Festival ~ 10 / 10 - Quite enjoyable, and let's not forget, it's the only fire festival in Canada.  It's like a Canadian counterpart to Nevada's Burning Man.

Chocolate ~ It's not even worth grading, but hey, that's no fault of the organizers.  It happens. Besides, we went there for the Fire, not chocolate.

Here's a few pics from the night:

Harry Potter's Last Stand and Dark Chocolate Pomegranate

Here we are, about four weeks after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 has come out and I'm finally getting around to posting about it.  Well, it can't have been that great then, eh?  Nope.  Plus, well, other things distracted me, like the visual art scene.

Three of us went downtown to catch it on the first Saturday night.  Coming into the theater, we brought our own goods, of course:  Brookside Dark Chocolate Pomegranate and yes, Jones Soda -- Green Apple and Blue Bubblegum flavours.

The state of the seats directly in front of us foreshadowed our overall view of the movie.   Busted and out of order, management taped them up in black garbage bags.  Sure, HP installments have always been filmed in rather dark tones to match the whole black and white fight between good and evil, but never before did we find the magic within broken.

It came across as if the actors, especially the younger ones, phoned in their roles.  Tired, weary, and emotionless.  Honestly, I felt more sentimental before I entered the theater and bought my ticket.  After ten years of Bertie Bott's Jelly Beans and the Weasley twins' antics and the crazed killer actions of Bellatrix Lestrange, a sadness in saying goodbye surrounded me like an Invisibility Cloak.

Good thing I bought a giant bag of popcorn and my friend supplied the Brookside chocolates.  I couldn't get enough of those.  Yummy, I thought about them as I bit and chewed them instead of focusing on the dull rapport between even Hermione and Ron.  So much for screen chemistry.

Now, the electricity and passion that Alan Rickman infused Snape with, well, that became the best part of the whole experience.  More please.  Oh, it's too late.  And when Molly Weasley took down Bellatrix, I actually thought, Why, Voldemort, why?  Boring as bloody hell.  Characters like Bellatrix needed more screen time--and so did Malfoy.

Oh, they could have done so much more with this movie.  Instead, they turned it into a sleep-walker of blandness.  When favourite characters like Fred died, they didn't show it and only briefly did the camera pause on them.  So much wasted potential.

Aside from Snape's love for Lily, the presentation fell flat.  I can't say it enough.  Even the epic final battle landed on its head.  Devoid of emotion, poorly choreographed, and far from memorable, it came across like bits of World War II reenactments, the Luke/Darth Vader sword battle of the Star Wars series, and, well, a knock-off of Lord of the Rings.

Sure, you can try and guilt me: it's the last movie, don't you feel the sadness, the tears rolling down your cheeks?  No, but I did and do long for the magic of earlier HP movies.

And then to add insult to injury, the production offered us some cheap makeup and clothes in the so-called aging of the main characters, Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Draco.  Seriously?  The HP machine has brought in buckets of money over the past decade; you'd think that they could spare a couple bucks to make them credible grown ups.  Hell, even bad wigs and properly angled stage lights would have worked better.

Walking out of the theater, we felt so empty.  Just as the author, J. K. Rowling, squashed further sequels by throwing a bland coda on the end, the series finale killed it by erasing the spirit that soared in earlier parts.

Ratings:

HPATDHP2:  6.5 / 10 - Somewhat lackluster and anticlimactic, but Snape and Voldemort saved it.

Brookside Dark Chocolate Pomegranate:  8 / 10 - A tasty mix of cocoa and pomegranate juice.