Monsters Vs Aliens

I have watched Monsters vs Aliens twice, though I did not see it in 3D. Only one theater in the area has 3D and it is the most expensive theater in the area (twice the price of the theater I usually go to, quadruple the price of the cheapest theater that releases the movies after the other theaters have had them for a few weeks), they also charge extra for 3D films. I really would like to see a 3D film but never have. It might have made me enjoy the film more since that was a major selling point for the film.

On my first viewing I did not really like the film all that much. It has a rather cliche plot; which is somewhat expected since it is based on 1950's B movies of the science fiction/horror genre. On my second watch through I enjoyed the film more, though I would not say it is anything greater than an average film. Part of the reason I liked it on my second viewing more than the first is because I expected less from the film and caught references to other films that I had missed on the first viewing. It does have a lot of references to other films. E.T., X-Files, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Independence Day, etc.

The film did have some fairly humorous parts. For example; I liked the scene with the aggressive girl and wimp jock. It also had some funny lines like this one: "We need our top scientific minds on this, get India on the phone." or this one: "Has it gotten hotter. I'd like to know. It would be a very convenient truth."

History Channel: Armageddon Exploring the Doomsday Myth

I recently watched the History Channel video Armageddon Exploring the Doomsday Myth. It is two DVD's containing four programs that originally aired on the History Channel; Doomsday 2012: The End of Days, Mayan Doomsday Prophecy, Doomsday Tech, and More Doomsday Tech. I do not frequently watch History Channel programs because I do not have cable/satellite. If the programs contained in this collection were the only programs that I have watched on that channel, I would not want to.

The first program is not very informative and is extremely repetitive, there is maybe 15 minutes of actual discussion were you to remove all the repetition. It's also the worst of the four programs by far, the information given is one sided and not all that accurate. For example the internet-based prophetic software program is a type of search engine and the more people mention 2012 and doomsday on the internet the more the program is going to spit that out.

The second program was better than the first, it actually did tell somethings about the Mayans. Really the Mayan calendar is pretty interesting and it is very accurate. The program though mentions a lot of things that really don't make all that much sense. It claims that the Mayan calendar (one of them since the Mayans used three interlocking calendars) predicted specific events such as the American Civil War, the assassination of Lincoln, the social upheaval of the 60's, World War 2, etc. which the first thing that I wonder is why would it predict things that really have no link to the Mayan's or even the area in which the Mayan's lived. Sure most of those were big events in US history but there are many events as big or bigger happening elsewhere in the world.

Look at the wikipedia article on the 2012 phenomenon or type 2012 Doomsday on google and you'll get more information then you'd get from either of those programs (and much quicker).

The third and fourth programs are part of a series called Modern Marvels and were much better than the first two programs. They make mention of Nuclear war, cyber terror, genetic engineering, nanobots, etc. Talks about how technology is a double edged sword that can be used both for good and for ill. How the advances of technology has made it so that an individual can have the destructive power of a nation one hundred years ago. Makes mention of global warming and dwindling supplies (the amount of oil is limited). Does have some interesting bits of information but plays up some things more dangerous than they are. For example, the gray goo scenario in which nanotechnology goes amuck and consumes everything. I just can't see that happening. Where would the nanotech acquire the energy to do so and how would it fair against microbes and such that have been evolving for ages. Though many of the threats listed do have merit. Pandemic's very real threats. Genetic engineering of food, while I don't really see this as large of a threat as portrayed in the video, I do think it needs to be studied more. I don't like that everybody is basically the guinea pig for this. There has been problems for example allergies to the modified foods.

Writing Emotions

I don't really know how to write emotions and a lot of people seem to have this problem as well, both professional and amateur writers. A fan fic I recently came upon expressed the characters emotions via emoticons, which I found to be very strange. O_O suddenly appearing mid-sentence was jarring.

I've also seen people express the emotions via graphical effects seen in manga and anime. I don't really have anything against this, since they appear to be attempting to maintain the feeling of the source material. The thing is using nosebleeds, sweat drops, cross popping veins, cat smile, chibification, facefaults, waterfalls of tears, etc., are means of showing the characters emotions in a different medium entirely and while it can be done in writing it often does not work all that well. Less so when they attempt to describe the action rather than just saying the effect. Example; Instead of saying something like "Joe facefaulted" they use "Joe fell over onto his face, his limbs in a twisted mass above him".

Now I'll get to the more common means of letting the readers know what emotion the character is feeling. Namely straight out telling us. Susan was afraid. Yoiko was happy. This of course does work as a way of letting the readers know, the thing is it is telling us not showing us what the character is feeling. It also doesn't really draw the reader in and is not really that descriptive. Susan is afraid; okay, how afraid is she - piss her pants scared or just mildly uncomfortable.

The best way, at least I think so, is to describe the effects of the emotion and body language. It is also the most difficult and I'm not good at doing it this way. Example: "Susan's palm's grew sweaty and her heart pounded hard enough that it felt like it would break through her chest." What I was trying to do, I'm unsure how successfully, was to describe some of the physical effects of fear (increased heart rate and force of each beat; increased muscle tension; tremors; sweaty and cold palms; nausea; etc.) instead of saying she was afraid. It is more descriptive than just telling the emotion and hopefully more engaging to the reader.

Conan the Liberator

In general I like Conan the Barbarian books, having said that, the book Conan the Liberator by L. Sprague De Camp and Lin Carter is not amongst the best Conan books. I don't really get why it was not better. I've read other books by L. Sprague De Camp and enjoyed them. Considering the topic of the book, I would expect better. It is after all a book on Conan's rise to Kinghood.

Conan had been a general of Aquilonia but was forced to flee. After several further adventures he is asked by several rebels to lead their revolt against the now mad king Numedides, who is basically a puppet of the sorcerer Thulandra Thuu. Conan uses the treasure of Tranicos, which he had found on an earlier adventure, to assembles an army with the help of Count Trocero, a nobleman of Poitain; Dexitheus, a priest of Mitra; Publius, a rebel tax accessor; and Prospero, another exiled general. The story then is about the armies trip to the capital city of Aquilonia.

A lot of this book did not make sense to me. The tactics used by both Conan and Thuu did not make much sense. Moments before the climatic battle the priest of Mitra, Dexitheus, suddenly revealed that in his youth he was a sorcerer and with his power Conan can defeat Thuu. They went through several battles, Conan nearly died, etc. and he did not mention that he has powers?

The characterization in this book is poor. Conan is in his forties and has been betrayed by women repeatedly, it makes sense for a teenage or young Conan to fall for these things, but this is not a young Conan, this is a Conan who has been a thief, general, soldier, pirate, etc. The thing I'm bringing up is a beautiful girl, Alcina, just suddenly showing up at some small town tavern to dance and then becoming his mistress and he suspects that there is a spy in his ranks but doesn't suspect her. Not only does she spy on him, she ends up poisoning him and he did not suspect her at all until she went and did that. As for her she didn't think of checking to make sure he was dead. The characters are constantly doing stupid things in the book.

The battles were not exciting and other than the character being named Conan and some of the places named this might as well not have been a Conan book. Conan does not act like Conan. Conan is supposed to be the main character of this book but he doe not get the most screen time, the sorcerer Thulandra Thuu gets a lot more than Conan does. The book is also pretty boring, especially for a book in the sword and sorcery genre; there is a lot of meaningless dialogue and pointless politics mentioned.

Blood Lite

I occasionally choose books to read at random while at the library. The thing that drew this book, Blood Lite edited by Kevin J. Anderson, was its title which is a pun of Bud Lite. The book is an anthology of twenty-one short stories. The stories are supposed to be humorous while set in a horror setting/containing elements of horror. I like stories that mix genres and since the stories are all short it is easy to read this book while doing other things such as waiting for someone/something. Some stories were good, others not so good.

Here is a list of the stories contained in the book:

01. The Ungrateful Dead by Kelly Armstrong.
- An okay story about a necromancer who is being bothered by a ghost and her humorous solution to the ghost bothering her..
02. Mr. Bear by Joe R. Lansdale.
- I did not like this story which is based on Smokey the bear.
03. Hell in a Handbasket by Lucien Soulban.
-This one was pretty good. A baby is delivered to hell in a basket.
04. The Eldritch Pastiche from Beyond the Shadow of Horror by Christopher Welch.
- A parody of H.P. Lovecraft's works about an inept writer who gets interesting fan.
05. Elvis Presley and the Bloodsucker Blues by Matt Venne.
- This one was just stupid, it's about a vampire Elvis Presley.
06. No Problem by Don D'Ammassa.
- A biochemist finds some very interesting journals of one his ancestors. Using the knowledge gained from he journals he finds a way to bring the dead back to life. This story was not bad.
07. Old School by Mark Onspaugh.
- Three pages long; to give any type of summary would give away the entire story.
08. A Sound of Blunder by J.A. Konrath and F. Paul Wilson.
- A parody of Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder". It's an average story about two idiot gangsters who read a book to solve a problem that they should not have read.
09. An Evening with Al Gore by Charlaine Harris.
- This is a really good story about what happens when supernatural creatures decide to go green.
10. Dear Prudence by Steven Savile.
- A guy attempts to writes a letter to his wife, it changes drastically on each rewrite.
11. A Good Psycho is Hard to Find by Will Ludwigsen.
- This story is based on chainsaw murderer flicks about two survivors who find surviving to be a thrill like no other.
12. High Kicks and Misdemeanors by Janet Berliner.
- I did not much like this story. It involves using Ostriches as assassins.
13. PR Problems by Eric James Stone.
- This story is pretty good about a ghoul who is upset about how ghouls are looked down upon but werewolves and vampires are viewed as being really cool.
14. Where Angels Fear to Tread by Sherrilyn Kenyon.
- I did not much like this story. Its about an office worker who is drafted to fight for heaven.
15. A Very Special Girl by Mike Resnick.
- This story was pretty good. A zombie falls in love with a very special girl and gives her three thousand dollars that was supposed to go to Benny Fifth Street. They then go to get it from the girl who while female is not human.
16. Love Seat Solitaire by D.L. Snell.
- This was pretty funny it's about a poltergeist who is not what it seems.
17. I Know Who You Ate Last Summer by Nancy Holder.
- A story about a couple cannibals who aren't as careful with their food choice as they should be.
18. Bitches of the Night by Nancy Kilpatrick.
- This is pretty good it is about Dracula and his brides. Life for Dracula is not a good as it seems.
19. The Bell... FROM HELL!!! by Jeff Strand.
- This is a rather interesting story about a guy who has a bell that he thinks is from Hell (whether it is or not is left unclear).
20. Dead Hand by Sharyn Mcrumb.
- A stock-car racing member uses Cherokee magic to bring a dead racer back to life to win for them.
21. Day Off by Jim Butcher.
- A wizard attempts to take a day off but doesn't get a break.

Nerima Wrecking Crew

The Nerima Wrecking Crew is a moniker given for some of the cast in Ranma ½ fandom. Which cast members compose the Nerima Wrecking Crew is something I have wondered more than once. In addition to who, I also wonder why they were given this title. While it is true that many of the characters can cause a lot of property damage, if they so choose, most really do not (going by the manga).

By my definition the only characters I would say were part of it are Shampoo and Ryoga, seeing as to how they are the only two regular cast members who regularly go around breaking things. Shampoo purposely breaks through walls and things when entering and Ryoga has very poor control of his strength (doesn't even make an attempt to not break things). Even Ryoga is debatable since he does not spend the majority of his time in Nerima and while his house's exact location is not given it probably is not in Nerima (since Akane took a bus to get there). The more destructive characters do not live in Nerima. Pantyhose Taro, Ryu Kumon, Saffron, Herb, etc. do not and never have lived in Nerima.

That is not to say that others do not cause damage, they do occasionally and can be incredibly destructive if they make any attempt to do so, but it is not a common thing for the others to do so. The amount of property damage they do is blown out of proportion in fanon. Most of the people who live in the area do not purposely cause damage and a couple of them have berated the others who do so for doing so and/or can be seen repairing damage (Ranma for example can be seen fixing the damage occasionally such as the Tendo's roof).

The most destructive battles do not occur within Nerima, they are in isolated places: Breaking Point Battle - out in the mountains, battle versus Herb - in the mountains, battle versus Saffron - mountains again, Ryu Kumon battle - at a shrine away from people with no witnesses except Soun, Genma, and Akane, etc. Other battles are most commonly at two locales - Tendo property and Furinkan High.

Most of the battles are not spontaneous bouts of aggression. Challenges are often issued in advance. There are a lot of prearranged affairs in which everyone knows about them before hand. Rhythmic gymnastics, martial arts dining, martial arts cheerleading, Ranma and Ryoga's ki blast battle, Martial arts skating, Ukyo's intro battle (she set up the ring before hand), Mousse's battle against female form Ranma, the takeout race (this one was even televised), etc. all were organized planned events.

For the most part, at least in the manga, the characters get along with one another and spend time doing other things besides fighting/destroying things. They do have berserker buttons but when those aren't pushed they can be civil to one another. Ranma has had polite conversations with Mousse, Tatewaki Kuno, Ryoga, all of his fiancees, etc. It is strange seeing somethings in fan fics like Ukyo and Akane fighting, since they did not have a fight in the manga and besides the issue with Ranma they get along with one another (even cut class together and help each other). The characters who attack Ranma, for the most part, do not do so every day. Ryoga and Mousse both leave to spend time training, the principal takes time to set up his ridiculous challenges, etc.

If you haven't figured it out yet, I dislike them being called the Nerima Wrecking Crew since it is not an apt nickname for them and it is unclear as to which characters are actually part of it.

Japanese fare I would not want to consume

The majority of plant and animal life on the planet is not edible (at least not in it's natural state) for humans. Many things that are edible by humans are not edible to other lifeforms, for example grapes/raisins, chocolate, onions, and macadamia nuts are poisonous to dogs. There are many things that are edible that most people do not eat. The things people consume varies by culture and availability.

An item by item list of foods that people in other cultures eat or drink that I would not, would take a long time to create, since there are a lot of things I would not want to eat (many things I do not even know about). Here is a list of a few foods/drinks that the Japanese eat/drink, that I personally find to be revolting:

1. Placenta 10000 (or 400,000)- This is a Japanese jelly drink made out of pig placenta. It is touted to be a health drink and comes in at least two flavors; peach and natural flavor. It is supposedly zero calories and is thought to have regenerative properties.

2. Natto - This is a traditional food in Japan eaten for thousands of years, exact date is unknown but some people think it dates to the Jomen period (10,000 bc-300bc). Natto is soybean fermented with bacillus subtilis (a type of bacteria). It has a sticky glue like consistency and smells like ammonia. This is thought to be very good for you and modern medical science agrees.

3. Sashimi - This is generally raw sea food, though beef and chicken sashimi does exist. There is some danger in eating raw meats, some are supposed to be eaten still alive (frog sashimi the heart is considered a delicacy and is often eaten while still beating) and some of it can very easily kill you (fugu is a very poisonous fish that extreme care has to be taken to prepare it for consumption and several people die each year from eating it).

4. Seaweed. There are many types of seaweed and seaweed is generally very nutritious. Take Mozuku, a stringy and soft seaweed naturally found in Okinawa. It looks pretty disgusting but it contains sulfated polysaccharide (Fucoidan) which is used in cancer treatment aid health supplements (also enhances T cell activity), and with the vinegar sauce it is usually served with it kills E.coli bacteria.

5. Milt - The milt (shirako 'white children') of anglerfish (anko) and pufferfish (fugu) which are considered a delicacy. For those of you who might not know what milt is, it is the seminal fluid of the fish.

6. Marine mammals. It's no secret that some Japanese people eat marine mammals such as dolphin and whales. This is mostly done because Japan is an island nation and those are some of the easiest acquired sources of red meat.

I've eaten natto, sashimi, and seaweed. Natto and seaweed, while good for you just taste bad. Sashimi is raw fish/meat; I don't much like seafood and prefer the meat and seafood that I eat to be cooked. A drink made out of pig placenta and fish semen sounds too distinguishing for me to even contemplate trying.

As for marine mammals, I can give a lot of reasons; they are fairly intelligent creatures, being at the top of the food chain has caused them to have a higher build up of pollutants such as mercury, dolphins occasionally save people, my culture finds the eating of them to be taboo, there are many foods more energy efficient and sustainable (some species of whales and dolphins have gone extinct and others are endangered), etc. The main reasons being my morals are against eating them (though I do not condemn those who do so). I eat other animals such as pigs (pork) which are also fairly intelligent pack animals. They are far more intelligent than most people credit them as being (cleaner as well) and unlike the dolphins, which live mostly a life out of captivity, pigs often live very terrible lives (that is an understatement and if you were wondering I do feel guilty for eating them).