The other artwork by Rocio Zucchi! WHOOHOOOOO!!!!

Okay, guys....

CHECK


THIS


OUT!!!!

Ain't this awesome??? I SO love it! Like last time, this most wonderful and creative work comes from the creative hands of the lovely and talented Rocio Zucchi!

What Rocio has done is captured my love of unaided flight.  Yes friends, of all my superhuman powers, I love flying the most.  Sometimes, when I'm up in the air like that, I'll tumble around just to feel the breeze blowing through my hair.  Rocio has taken that particular moment -

- and frozen it!  AWESOME!!!

Ha!  Now would be a good time to answer some questions that I've had about flying.  One, I don't know exactly how it is that I fly.  Superhuman scientists have studied the phenomena of a flyer's ability to fly to theorize how those without wings or visible means of propulsion (like rocket or jet engines) are yet still able to take flight.

Part of the answer to that question seems to lie in the other trait that is common to all flyers, and that is that we all have some sort of telekinetic shield surrounding us when we fly.  It's semi-permeable, which it would have to be so that we could breathe while we fly, but there's enough there to protect us from the rigors of unaided flight - specifically wind resistance.  While flying, the wind I feel is not nearly as strong as it should be when flying at the speeds that I do.  It should feel like a hurricane, but instead it feels like a gentle breeze.

The existence of this telekinetic shield seems to indicate that flyers fly by a limited form of telekinesis; that is, we move ourselves with our minds.  The really odd thing about this is that there are almost no true telekinetics (TKs from here on) who can fly like I do!  For some reason, true TKs can move all kinds of objects with their mind - even multiple objects at a time - but when it comes to moving themselves, the most they can do is move themselves like chess pieces on a chess board.  It takes a great deal of their concentration to lift themselves up, move themselves, and most importantly, to set themselves back down *without* injuring themselves.  TKs have to practice a lot when moving themselves (and others) without causing injury. 

Superhuman scientists theorize that the reason flyers can fly with their limited form of telekinesis while those with true TK can't fly is because a flyer's telekinesis is solely dedicated to flight, while a true TK's power is not.  This means that when I fly, my flight power takes over like a sort of automatic pilot.  For a true TK, however, to make themselves move through the air, they have to be actively concentrating on themselves the whole time to keep themselves aloft.  Now imagine trying to do that to go long distances.

Ah, and one more thing:  Flyers seem to have a sort of radar that tells them how fast they are going and how far away from the ground that they are.  This seems to also be related to their limited telekinesis, and it's important to have so that we can fly, change directions, adjust our speed, and most importantly, to land.  All that takes practice, by the way, and my first few landings, I hit the ground like a meteor!  Fortunately, my flight power's shields protected me somewhat, although I did get bumps and bruises (which my healing power took care of).

True TKs, however, do not have that radar, so they can't sense how far away they are from the ground.  Yes, TKs have sight, but sight is a poor judge of distance in the ways that matter.  The best way I can explain it is that TKs can't "feel" the distance between themselves and the ground, while a flyer with their limited telekinesis can, via the "radar" that comes with their power.  So the higher up that TKs lift themselves, the greater the difficulty it is to land without injury because of their inability to sense the distance from the ground that they are, so "hopping" is the most that TKs will generally do, and only when necessary. 

This should take care of most of the questions that I've gotten about my flight power.  Thanks again, Rocio, for another excellent work of art!  Now to take to the skies!  WHOOHOOOO!!!!

Challenge to the artists!

Below is an idea that I challenge you artists to create!  Make something cool and I'll post it on my blog and praise you on my FB page!  Here's the idea:

Do something combining Angry Birds and the Red Lantern Corps, whether it's the Angry Birds being presented a red ring, them being in the RLC, or whatever. You're the artists; use your imagination! If this idea works out, then I may think of other stuff to challenge you with! I'll be a muse! LOL

Now get drawing!

New art! Check out mini-me! :-D

Ain't this great? It's a chibi version of me, engaging in my favorite activity: reading comics! Whoohoo!  This outstanding piece of artwork is brought to you by the wonderfully talented Rocio Zucchi!  She's an artist for various Manga works such as Shaman and Death Knight, so go check them out! 

When I first set my eyes on this, I loved it right away!  She's just so adorable!  And not only that, there is another artwork coming by this artist!  I promise you that you'll love it just as much as this one, if not even more!  You'll see what I mean.  :-)

Rocio, thank you thank you thank you for this most excellent piece of artwork!  It's all kinds of awesomeness!

Review of the movie, Zombieland

Zombieland is a nerd movie!  LOL 

Being a nerd myself, that alone is enough for me to watch it!  But gee, there's other reasons as well!

However, before I continue, let me add the obligatory spoiler warning:

***WARNING!***

Possible spoilers ahead!  If you haven't seen the movie Zombieland and don't want what's in it spoiled for you, then STOP READING NOW!

You have been warned!

Main thing to like, though, is that there be zombies!  Lots of them!  One debate among zombieologists is whether zombies would move fast or slow.  One theory is that they would move slow and plodding because, having risen up out of the grave, they aren't exactly in shape to be bouncing around like ninjas.  These are dead bodies, after all, and they are dead for a reason.

Zombieland (ZL), however, takes a different tack, and it's one that I think makes more sense than reanimated corpses.  The zombies in ZL are infected with what would be a human form of rabies; that is, they are the victims of a mutated mad cow disease and become like dogs with rabies in that they go mad and are no longer in their right minds - so the only "cure" is killing them.  This also means that these zombies aren't dead, just diseased, so they are the fast-moving zombie types.  This thought-out concept is logical and adds to the fun and to the fear factor of the movie.

Did I say that a zombie movie was fun?  Yes!  Even though it is a horror movie, there is humor peppered throughout, and I imagine that if any of us were in such a situation, we probably would indulge in that sort of gallows humor as well.

Word of warning to those who might be sensitive to such things:  There are a lot of scenes in which human bodies are being shot with various caliber of weaponry, so of course there are a lot of exploding heads and bodies.  But who watches a zombie movie and doesn't expect those kinds of scenes?  LOL  There is also a lot of colorful language; f-bombs and the like.  I don't think it necessarily adds or takes away from the movie, but I think if you're in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, then the fact that someone is speaking in colorful language would probably be low priority as far as the problems that need to be dealt with in such circumstances.  ;-)

My favorite part of the movie happens to be the nerd lead character.  He doesn't turn from a WoW nerd into a full-blown action hero - he stays a nerd, with all the shortcomings and foibles that go with it!  Why should that change just because a zombie apocalypse has sprung up?  Still, the circumstances of dealing with all that goes with a zombie apocalypse forces him to deal with his personality shortcomings in a logical and even humorous fashion.

There is one scene that I could totally relate to, because it's what I would probably be most concerned about if a zombie apocalypse actually hit!  It would really, really irritate me if I could no longer shower on a regular basis!  The two female leads had to remind each other to not say the S word so that they wouldn't be reminded of that!  But enough about female vanity...

Anyway, I thought the movie was well thought out and I liked how each of the nerd's zombie rules would pop up to the side as each example presented itself.  Even Bill Murray's appearance was great!  There was only one scene that I have a complaint about, and that was towards the end of the movie, in which it looks like the ladies were about to drive off again with the car! 

By this time, they had driven off two other times with the car. After being fooled twice, don't you think that the dudes would know to - keep the car keys to themselves??? Fortunately for the movie producers, that is the only complaint I had about ZL.  :-)

Again, just a caveat that there are many scenes of zombies getting shot and blown up, so if you're squeamish about such scenes, then this might not be the movie for you.  Also is the previously mentioned colorful language.  Otherwise, I think you'll enjoy this movie as much as I did, because it lived up to the expectations that I had of it for a zombie movie, and more! 

So, on a scale of 1 to 10 in which 1 is a bomb and 10 is THE bomb, I give ZL a 9!  Yeah, I think it was that good! 

Coming next week will be my review of The Kings' Speech.

Movie Review: Remember Me

Over this 4th of July weekend, I watched 3 movies! Those of you who are regular readers to my blog know that I am notoriously cheap when it comes to movie watching, because I don't want to reward Hollywood by paying their outrageous fees for their unoriginal, formulaic crap! However, thanks to a special deal, I was able to rent 3 movies for $2! w00t!

I am now about to review the first of the 3 movies I watched, and that is Remember Me, which has the vampire dude from the Twilight Series, Robert Pattinson. (pausing to allow the ladies to sigh).  I rented this movie because I had told a FB friend *a year ago* that I'd watch it.  Who knew that a whole year would pass before I got around to it?  LOL  I didn't forget, GF, I've just been that busy!  Anyway, before I continue, time for me to state this:

***WARNING!***

Spoilers ahead!  If you have not seen the movie and don't want what's in it spoiled for you, then STOP READING NOW!

You have been warned!

And what an ending to spoil if you happened to read this before watching the movie! Okay, on to my review!

First, I think Pattinson did a great job of making you forget that he's the vampire dude from the Twilight series.  He showed the right amount of emotion for each of the scenes, including one scene in which he was pissed with himself for being pwned by the father of his girlfriend.  But I found the scenes with his little sister to be especially touching.  He conveyed his brotherly love for her in a way that was sweet and goofy, and yet didn't delve into sugary.  Pattinson's looks alone will probably be enough reason for most of the ladies to watch the movie, but his acting adds a nice additional reason to watch.  I think this movie is worth watching at least once just to see him in a role other than as a vampire. 

However, I am close to saying that his acting was wasted in this movie.  There are three things that bother me about it.  For one, it begins and ends in one of NYC's subway stations, which ain't necessarily a bad thing, but I'm not sure how that ties into the overall plot of the movie.  Those scenes seem to serve only to tell us that "This is NYC" and that's pretty much it. 

Next is the most irritating part of the movie for me, and that was the evilness of Pattinson's character's father in the movie.  I get that the dad is a hard hearted ass; what I don't understand is why.  The only reason that dad seems to be considered evil is because he is a wealthy CEO of a company.  No reason or explanation is given as to why he is that way with his family; we are supposed to just accept it. 

It gets especially bothersome later when he suddenly has a change of heart at the end of the movie, and also at the end of the movie when Pattinson's character happens to catch his dad's computer running a screensaver of pics of his kids at different ages.  Oh, so he wasn't such a bad guy after all!  Hnngh!  It would have been better if the writers had made dad a complicated character instead of this cardboard CEO villain, and it might have even been shown as a trait that he shares with his son.

However, the ending is what I am still debating as to whether it works for this movie.  At the end of the movie, while Pattinson's character is waiting for his dad in his office, we suddenly discover that dad's office is located in the World Trade Center.  On September 11, 2001.  Yes, he happens to be in the towers during the terrorist attack, and we discover that he was one of 9/11's victims. 

I've been wrestling with this, and I am of two minds on it.  On one hand, the ending seems artificial and contrived; like the director said, "You know what?  I'm tired of this movie.  Let's just kill him off in the 9/11 attack."  On the other hand, the ending does kinda convey the horror of the 9/11 attack.  How many life stories were ended in a similar way?  On the one hand, the ending seems exploitative, but on the other hand, it does show that you never know how your life will end. 

I think what might help this movie is to have a sequel, set 10 years later, and update us on how the little sister has handled losing two brothers; including one who was killed in the worst terrorist attack in US history.  I understand why the advertisements for RM couldn't say: "This is a 9/11 movie", because that would have given away the ending, but now that it's been established, they can work it in to the plot of the sequel.  It doesn't have to be political in any way; in fact, it can be instructive in helping us understand what the loved one of the 9/11 victims went through - and continue to go through - in their losses.

And it can neatly tie into the first movie in this way:  In RM, the little girl lost one brother to suicide when he turned 22.  She also lost her second brother at age 22 in the 9/11 attack.  This movie's plot can reflect that she is now about to turn 22.  So what happens?  Does she also die in some sad, tragic way at age 22; or does the movie end when she turns 23?  In any case, a sequel can help tie up some plotholes and loose ends, and also convey a message about how life goes on, even after the worst terror attack in history. 

On a scale of 1 to 10 in which 1 is a bomb and 10 is THE bomb, I give RM a 7.5.  It might have been at least an 8.5 if the writers had done some explaining as to why dad was a hard-ass jerk, but Pattinson's acting helped save my rating from being lower.  If the producers of RM make a sequel along the lines of what I described above, I just might revise my ratings upwards.  :-)

Coming soon will be my reviews of The King's Speech and Zombieland.