Death, and Other Happy Things

I wanted to post something on Thanksgiving day, but I got distracted and didn't get around to it. Perhaps there was a reason behind that, because Yesterday Paul Walker, star of the Fast & Furious films (next to Vin Diesel) has died - rather ironically - in a car accident (What? Too, soon? - look, I'd rather laugh in the face of death than treat it like it's something that we can never talk about).

September 12, 1973 - November 30, 2013 (40 years old)

I'll be the first to admit that I am not the biggest fan of Walker outside of the F&F films. They were his masterpieces, his acting chops shown through in them, as much as they could. Needless to say, Walker will be missed and considering they are still filming Fast & Furious 7, it's a wonder as to what they are going to do with his character and how they are going to write him out - don't you dare recast, or I will find you  Vin, and I will get my ass kicked by you - but I will still come after you. Don't doubt me!

In other, less serious death related news, Brian Griffin died on Family Guy, and the internet is up in flames about it. Me, I'm not pissed about it, I kind of figure that he'll be back before the end of the season, possibly even before mid-season. But as for now, Brian is dead, and the world is very sad for whatever reason.

I keep forgetting that Family Guy started back in '99 - it's the few years where they were cancelled that keeps throwing me off

My guess is that he'll be back by the Christmas episode in a few weeks. I also hate Vinny, mostly because he is "replacing" Brian, my favorite character, but also because the character is just weak, he has nothing special about him other than the fact that he's Italian - which honestly makes him more annoying than special, because he isn't the awesome mafia boss Italian.

Look I don't have a problem with Italians, he's just an over-the-top characterization of every Italian stereotype, we are almost told, "Hey viewer, you see this character that we replaced Brian with, there's nothing redeemable to his character, you aren't supposed to like him." But maybe that's just my speculation.

In other news, I saw The Hunger Games: Catching Fire this past weekend. That movie has quite a few deaths in it - to continue the somewhat grim topic this blog post seems to be all about. It was definitely better made than the first film, which utilized shaky cam to the umpteenth degree. So here's a mini review:

Based on the second book in Suzanne Collins' series, Catching Fire, deals with the aftermath of Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark's victory in the 74th annual Hunger Games, as well as the 75th annual Hunger Games, and also sets up what is to come in the third and fourth films, based on the third book, Mockingjay.

The 75th Hunger Games, or the third Quarter Quell of the games were held in a different manner than the prior games shown, and even more different than the previous two Quarter Quell's. Previous victors of the games were now reaped for the games, meaning that district twelve only had Katniss, Peeta, and Haymitch, who is drawn, but then replaced by Peeta when he volunteers himself as tribute.

Unlike the 74th games, these games have no victor, as the stadium is destroyed by Katniss and then the plot of the final two films is revealed. As previously mentioned the film is much better made, it's a solid film, the action is easy to follow, well, easier. There's still your typical action movie quick cuts that make it a little difficult for those not used to this trend to follow. The performances are also a lot stronger this time around, especially from Peeta, who did very little in the first and actually stepped his game up. Jennifer Lawrence was, as always, strong and not much can be said about her acting chops that hasn't already been said.

There isn't that much fancy camera work, or anything, the quality of the film is all really centered on the performances, nothing really special is with the camera or lighting to amaze. All of that being said:

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire gets an 8.5/10 - Because it is that good.

I'm not about to get into the things, and "controversies" surrounding the film. Where one half is praising the way it is treating sexuality and gender, while the other half is saying it isn't doing enough. Honestly, the movie is giving exactly what its source material can give, and it's doing it justice, and to me that is all that matters.

So Thanksgiving came and went, I don't know if I understand Thanksgiving or not, in the holiday sense, and why we even need a day to say what the hell we are thankful for. As if we couldn't do that any other day of the week, month, year. We need one day to do this, and we choose a day where we brought plague and famine to the new world, good choice.

I'm also writing this during the mid season of The Walking Dead, why do they insist on changing so goddamn much? I understand that it's different, but seriously, this is not the way this shit went down in the comics, unless this keeps going and it kind of levels itself out. But seriously Rick's group DESTROYS, literally, De-fucking-stroys, the Governors invasion. And here they are losing to The Governor - who is supposed to... never mind, Michonne got him did I mention spoilers? Sorry, spoilers, you should know this about me, this is stream of consciousness after all. But thank God they are at the end of the Prison era, and we can move on to bigger and better things, Like Neegan. Also, Rick need to lose his hand, and Carl needs to get shot in the eye, all of this needs to happen. But the hand thing isn't going to happen unless they make Neegan do it, the Governor was supposed to do it in his first confrontation with Rick, but no, we can't have similarities now can we. Tyresse won't die here, it's Hershall, Neegan won't kill Glenn, he'll kill Tyreese or some nobody that people don't care about. Andrea won't be a total bad-ass, because that wouldn't be right. No, I will not let this go, they ruined my favorite character from the comics.

So back to Thanksgiving. The only thing I am thankful for *cue mushy music* is my lovely girlfriend, whom I am waiting for right now. She's still on her way back to the college and it's 10:03 right now, and I don't care what time it is when she gets here, I am going to see her tonight.

See, J-Law understands

I don't have much of anything else to talk about, so here - have a video - next time is the final part of "a brief history of my life." That should be up by the end of the week, time permitting. Farewell.