Drifters Episode one

First, I'm going to apologize for the slow updates (all 3 of you). Between moving and the youngest in the hospital for seizures. He’s doing better now. So, thanks for being patient.

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I once had a high fever, took some medicine, and was fighting to stay awake during history class. If you smashed the fever dreams I had with Hellsing the end result wouldn’t skim the surface of Drifters. If you have ever seen Hellsing you'll notice Drifters looks familiar. That's because Kouta Harano the same person that wrote and illustrated Hellsing did the same for Drifters.

The instant I saw the shade of red and the characters' eyes there was no doubting this was the person that created one of my favorite anime.

Obviously don't expect historical accuracy

Drifters is an alternative history fantasy. Various historical figures from battle of Seilacher. The battle between Ishida Mitsunari and Tokugawa Ieyasu was the decisive battle which is often said to note the beginning of the Tokugawa hegemony. Two guesses who probably won. If you really want an in depth historical background on the battle just Google it.

Okay so now that you have your basic historic background done and over with let's talk about the actual anime. The anime starts out with the battle mentioned in the previous paragraph. The main character Shimazu, Toyohisa being an all around one man army destroying badass. Unfortunately, like so many sarcastic heroes on the battle field he dies on the first episode. Who knew being impaled by several spears would make someone bleed out and die?

Toyohisia is shocked to find himself in a brightly lit hallway with several doors to the left and right of him. In the middle of the hallway a blonde man that might as well be a younger brother of The Major with an unimpressed look on his face. Our hero is quickly sucked through one of the doors and is discovered unconscious by elves.

Mother wasn't pleased when he didn't go into dictatorship like his brother.

Will I continue to watch Drifters? I don’t know. Hellsing is one of my favorite anime and I was excited to see something new from Kouta Hirano, but something about everything after the battle and the hallway scene just left me bored. I forgot I began to watch this and it became buried under other shows. I’m crossing my fingers that the show will become more interesting as it goes on, but I’m not betting on any horses yet.

The Great Dictator

"'Corona veniat electis.' Victory shall come to the worthy. Today, democracy, liberty, and equality are words to fool the people. No nation can progress with such ideas. They stand in the way of action. Therefore, we frankly abolish them. In the future, each man will serve the interest of the State with absolute obedience. Let him who refuses beware! The rights of citizenship will be taken away from all Jews and other non-Aryans. They are inferior and therefore enemies of the state. It is the duty of all true Aryans to hate and despise them. Henceforth this nation is annexed to the Tomanian Empire, and the people of this nation will obey the laws bestowed upon us by our great leader, the Dictator of Tomania, the conqueror of Osterlich, the future Emperor of the World!"

-Garbitsch


Charlie Chaplin, master of the silent film format, second only to Buster Keaton.  In his second speaking role, Chaplin chose to skewer a growing threat to the world, to the initial criticism of most of the western world.  

When this film went into production, western Europe was still reeling from the effects of The Great War, the Great Depression, and the possibility of a repeat of the horrors less than a generation gone were so horrifying, that most reasonable people living at the time would do or agree to anything to avoid that.  Hell, there were even some who thought that the fascist regimes coming into their own were models of efficiency to be emulated, trimming the fat of the undesirable elements from their societies in a completely non-foreboding or threatening manner.  At least they weren't communists, right?

But some took notice of the rhetoric and sentiment.  And, in the tradition of the great satirists, decided that the best way to bring attention to it was to poke fun at them.

When The Great Dictator was being filmed, there was condemnation coming from all sides.  Why would Chaplin choose to attack the Nazis and the Black Shirts in such a manner?  Why antagonize them?  What was wrong with a country setting itself right, and who had the right to tell them how they did it was wrong?

The film was condemned and banned before its release in Britain and the US, but they made it anyway.  And by the time of its release, Britain was already under attack by the Luftwaffe, its expeditionary force in France defeated and evacuated.  The British needed to laugh.  And a message that this too would pass.

***

"This is a story of a period between two World Wars - an interim in which Insanity cut loose. Liberty took a nose dive, and Humanity was kicked around somewhat."

The Great Dictator concerns the fictional nation of Tomania, and opens on the Western Front of the Great War.  Charlie Chaplin plays a Jewish barber turned soldier whose exploits result in some hijinks, including a dud shell from Big Bertha following him around, an antiaircraft gun spinning out of control, an attack in the wrong direction, and a plane ride in with a pilot (Reginald Gardiner as Schutz) whose sense of telling which way is up is somewhat impaired, and then the surrender of the Tomanian forces.  All in the first ten minutes.  As a result of the ill-fated aeroplane flight, the Barber has a bout of amnesia that apparently lasts a dozen years.

He misses out on some important developments, like the rise of Adenoid Hynkel (also Chaplin) and his party of the Double Cross, and the suppression of the Jewish population in Tomania.  Hynkel has a loyal inner circle, including his propaganda minister, the conniving Garbitsch (Henry Daniell), and the leader of his air force and object of much abuse, Herring (Billy Gilbert).

"Any resemblance between Hynkel the dictator and the Jewish barber is purely co-incidental."

But global politics don't take place within a vacuum.  One of Hynkel's "Dictator Buddies" is the affable caricature Napaloni (Jack Oakie), the leader of Bacteria.  Both have designs on neighboring Osterlich, and both are engaged in a constant, dangerous game of one upmanship at the cost of their nations and the world.

Chaplin's use of fake Tomanian language, largely improvised and filled with enough actual German-sounding words to lend it credibility, is both comical and terrifying.  Of note is a particular scene where Billy Gilbert accidentally says "Banana" while suffering Chaplin's wrath.

This man is apparently dangerous.

But back to the Barber.  After walking out of his mental hospital, he makes his way back to his barber shop, now located in the Jewish ghetto.  Having missed out on the events of the previous decade, he fails to return a stormtrooper's salute, refuses to defile his shop to denote its Jewish ownership, and gets into a gentle misunderstanding, resulting in his near lynching.

He's rescued at the last moment by Schutz, who had joined the Double Cross, but who had not entirely drunk the Kool-Aid.

Also of note in the Ghetto is Paulette Goddard as Hannah.  She has no time to spare for fools, and calls others out on their malarkey whenever she gets a chance, especially in a scene involving some coins and puddings.  She's also an optimist in a time of reality, and her effect on the Barber is notable, from bringing him out of his shell, to apparently inspiring him during the film's climax.

The negatives are few.  There are some glaring continuity errors, not all of the performances are top shelf, and the love story doesn't strike me as entirely necessary (if they'd just stayed friends and not pursued a relationship, I don't think anything would've been lost).  But the overall film is great enough to overcome its detractions.

Events unfold, two wars and one peace are declared, identities are mistaken, and the debate of whether citizens exist for the benefit of the state, or if the state exists for the benefit of its citizens is brought up.  Slapstick, wordplay, inspiring, and terrifying, this film transcends its setting in place and time.

***

Hitler, believe it or not, was a fan of Chaplin's, and had a print of this film smuggled into Germany by way of Spain.  Reportedly, he saw the film twice, but it's unclear how he actually felt about it.  

After the events of the Holocaust became known, Chaplin stated that if he'd known about how terrifyingly horrific they were, he'd have never made this film.

This film may have been one of the reasons that Herbert Hoover and the FBI went after Chaplin years later, not because he was obviously against the Nazis and fascism, but because he was against them too early.

  -Rambler

"I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible; Jew, Gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone, and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. The airplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men; cries out for universal brotherhood; for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say, do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. Soldiers! Don't give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you, enslave you; who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines, you are not cattle, you are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don't hate! Only the unloved hate; the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers! Don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the seventeenth chapter of St. Luke, it is written that the kingdom of God is within man, not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people, have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy, let us use that power. Let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill that promise. They never will! Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfill that promise. Let us fight to free the world! To do away with national barriers! To do away with greed, with hate and intolerance! Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness. Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us all unite! Hannah, can you hear me? Wherever you are, look up Hannah! The clouds are lifting! The sun is breaking through! We are coming out of the darkness into the light! We are coming into a new world; a kindlier world, where men will rise above their hate, their greed, and brutality. Look up, Hannah! The soul of man has been given wings and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow! Into the light of hope, into the future! The glorious future, that belongs to you, to me and to all of us. Look up, Hannah. Look up!"

-The Jewish Barber

D Gray Man Hallow Season one

This review is a bit late....

D. Gray-Man Hallow continues to follow Allen Walker(voiced by Todd Haberkorn) a young 15 year old exorcist with a cursed eye and an arm that transforms into a claw to defeat artificial creatures known as akuma. Though Allen is the "hero" of the story the writers and creators didn't forget that he is a teenager. A sarcastic still trying to make his place in the world teenager.

   Creature probably isn't the best word to define akuma. The word translates into demons, but they are not demons of the biblical sense, They're machines capable of blending in with society. Weapons that are powered by tormented human souls. The Maker (Millennium Earl) seeks out those who have suffered a great tragedy. They infect their victims with a virus that kills quickly. Black stars begin to cover the skin as the body fills with darkness. Nothing is left of the victim except their clothes and a pile of ash.

The first akuma is Moa's brother Mark whose wife died after being crushed under a chandelier on their wedding day. Filled with grief and anger The Millenium Earl finds him and promises he can be with Claire again, all he has to say is her name. When Mark calls Claire's name a metal skeleton comes forward with a single world "Marx" on its forehead. In Claire's pleading voice the metal skeleton cries that he had doomed her to become an akuma. The Millennium Earl commands Claire to kill Mark and use his body to blend in.

     The Millennium Earl is the main antagonist in the anime. He supplies the metal skeletons and dark matter needed to create the akuma. He uses the akuma to spread the virus or darkness as it is interchangeably referred to as. We are first introduced to him in the first episode and now I know what would happen if The mayor from Halloween Town, Serena, Manbat, and tuxedo mask had a drunken orgy full of regret.

But he looks so happy!

Dubbed by Jason Liebrecht and Todd Haberkorn....Okay I'm a fan of Haberkorn, Tatum, and Mignogna, I enjoy their work they are some of my favorite, but I wish fresh faces err voices were brought in. Give the new kids a chance.

              Take a shot whenever an anime uses the same five voice actors over and over...cry 

I have to admit between moving, Halloween, and just an overall filling of meh and bleh I almost gave up watching D.Gray-man Hallow. Probably why I'm over a week or more late with this review. Apologies for my laziness and procrastination. Still I pushed through to the second episode. I'm glad I did,

The first episode just seemed to drag on like a long introduction. The Black Order/Exorcist Headquarters was not what I expected it to be. Lead by Komui Lee The Black Order are a rag tag gang of misfits you can't help but enjoy.

If you begin to watch this anime hoping for a serious good versus evil or a light hearted show that will make you smile you won't get that. What you will get is a bit of both. My first opinion to the anime left a lot to be desired, I would suggest that you just push through the first episode.

        See you Ramblers later when I review Drifters!

Trick 'r' Treat

Trick 'r' Treat is an anthology movie of different characters experiencing different events through the night of Halloween.  Each storyline connects to the others in some way, whether it be characters from one showing up in the background of another, or just Sam (a burlap-headed little kid in a ratty onesie.  It makes sense within the context of the film.  Trust me!) popping up in the background or fully participating in the story.

This little kid is the scariest ball of hatred in the world.

Don't mess with him.

One way to analyze this film would be as an indictment of the sterilization of Halloween in recent years.  They even go into the origins of Samhain, the pagan festival celebrating the time when the spirits of the dead and the living would mingle, hence the need to dress up in costumes and deceive the dead.  This simple rule is the guiding force for what happens throughout the film.

Someone tries to take down their decorations before Halloween is over?  Not a good idea.  Abusing the trust of others to satisfy your urges?  That can bite you in the ass.  Choosing a hyper-sexualized costume?  You may want to rethink that.  Or don't.  It's your body and your decision.  Anyone who tries to take advantage of that deserves whatever backlash they get.

Released in 2007 directly to DVD, this film was originally supposed to receive a theatrical release.  Why it didn't, I don't know.  It's just one of those tragedies of studio politics.

The entire cast, including Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, and Leslie Bibb, do a great job of fitting into their roles.  Not Oscar-worthy, but the horror genre doesn't usually attract talent of this caliber these days.

Michael Dougherty, the writer and director, doesn't rely on jump scares, but on atmosphere to build up suspense, and some impressive creature effects and makeup instead of overly relying on CGI.  There's even a smattering of torture in there.

Sorry for the brevity of this review.  I don't feel that I can go too deeply into the film without spoiling it.  Seek this one out and watch it.

And don't hand out toothbrushes for Halloween.  There's a special place in Hell for people who do that.

Seriously, don't make this little guy angry.

Another

Even though there are only a total of twelve episode those episodes are packed with some of the gut wrenching death scenes I have ever seen. It goes without saying that this anime is one definitely not for kids.

   

The anime starts out with students explaining how the curse began. In 1972 Misaki, popular girl died in class 3-3. One day a student says dead student is still in class. The other students and teachers go along with the student even giving a reserved seat for graduation. Alright so here is my first gripe. This whole thing could have been prevented if someone just told the student who "saw" the dead girl to sit down and shut up. What do they do instead? They go along with it.

      

Continuing on with how the curse works. There have to be a certain number of people in the classroom not one too many or too few. Every year a student is picked to be ignored. If the ignored student is acknowledged the curse is activated.

     

 A new student, Kouichi Sakakibara transfers from Tokyo. Due to a collapsed lung he is in the hospital. The student council president, head of countermeasures, and two officers from student council. Tomohiko Kazami is the stereotypical unemotional guy in glasses. Izumi Akazawa is snobbish and irritating. Yukari Sakurgari is the shy cutesy little sister type. I am already bored with the characters. 

       

 Izumi Akazawa the head of countermeasures keeps asking Kouichi if he has lived in town before. She asks him over and over and gets to the point where I just want to yell "GET TO THE POINT ALREADY".  This gets annoying quickly. Kouchi eventually gets her to back off by telling her she was born in town before moving to Tokyo. His mother died giving birth to him and they moved soon afterwards. 

    

 Remember the rule to ignore the designated student? The hospital would have been a great time to warn the main character. So when walking around the hospital he runs into Mei who he develops an interest in.The head of counter measures is really bad at her job. 

     

Mei turns out to be a student in class 3-3. The other students ignore her and so do the teachers. She frequently skips class to draw in the art room or just wander through the school. Kouichi asks other students why Mei isn't in class which they don't answer or just look frightened. By talking to Mei ,Kouchi activates the curse. Mei tries to warn him. The problem is that she did so in a vague way by telling him not to talk to her or something bad may happen. Alright so maybe she has a jealous boyfriend. Maybe she's some secret government agent. So Kouchi keeps talking to her, because uh reasons I guess.

     

 Mei turns out to be the cousin of Misaki who died in 1972. That's convenient I guess. The other students won't tell Kouchi about the curse they just tell him not to ask questions. One classmate tells him not to mess with things that don't exist. Mei tells him that she doesn't exist. If I was constantly interrogated about where I lived I'd ask questions.

      

(No everyone saw it coming a mile away)

The first death is Yukari Sakuragi the cutesy little sister from the hospital. While running in the hall she reacts to Mei and runs off with her umbrella. She trips down the stairs and gets impaled by her umbrella after she reacts to seeing Mei. Mei was the student designated to be ignored and yet the students can't seem to follow simple instructions

    

    There are other deaths throughout the anime. At this point I stopped feeling any sort of sympathy for the characters excluding Mei, Kouchi, and the nurse. The students could have solved their problem too many ways to count, but no that would make too much sense. It's never explained why they don't just learn to count before forming the class. In the end it turns out that the odd one wasn't Kouchi or Mei, but the teacher. Maybe the curse wasn't detailed in the wording.

(Class? Classroom? Oh well there's no way they'll get confused, right?)

     Kouchi and Mei try to challenge the curse by trying to get the other students to acknowledge her. They dance in class. He yells her name and they act like goofballs. These scenes seem out of place with the seriousness of the anime. I'm not complaining about them though. They're a bit of a giant F you to the curse and other students.

    I love a good ghost story. This was at the most an okay attempt. Throughout the anime there were several obvious solutions such as moving out of town, telling the student at the beginning to shut up, and knowing how to freaking count. There are way too many plot holes in this anime. It's hard to form any attachment to the characters before their deaths. I had quite a few  questions that weren't answered throughout

~Why don't they just move?
~Why don't they just keep the classroom closed?*
~What happened in those 15 years after Misaki's death?
~If a student has to be ignored why don't they just pick one and send them home?

*They changed the name, but that didn't work.

The Twilight Zone

Submitted for your approval...

Many shows attempt to hold a mirror up to humanity and demand that the viewers take a deep, long look at themselves more effectively than Rod Serling's seminal classic series The Twilight Zone.

Almost every episode is a standalone narrative, and most present an ordinary world, but then throw in a Shyamalan-type twist, only thought-provoking instead of bludgeoning.  Serling himself presents the opening narrative and the moral lesson at the end of each episode, addressing the viewer in a fourth wall breaking manner, but not in a condescending tone.

In half hour runs, the show effectively presents a cast of characters, makes the audience care for them, and then pulls the rug out from under them both.  It's rather rinse, wash, repeat, but it's done in such a way that it never gets old.

The special effects are... sometimes painful to watch.  This was never meant by the studios to be anything approaching its classic status, and the budget constraints are obvious, but that forced the staff to rely on great writing, and the actors (everyone from Burgess Meredith, to Lee J. Cobb, to Robert Redford) to do a great job.

The characters could be anything from a bank teller who loves to read, to a convict stranded on a distant planet, to a salesman cheating Death.  The theme could be mortality, fatalism, racism, government, or just a lesson in being honest.  The only limit was the imagination of the writers and their ability to hide their message in such a way that the censors couldn't see it because it was just Science Fiction mumbo-jumbo.

Yes, this series ran from 1959 to 1964, a turbulent time in American social and political history.  The writers had to dress up their morality plays in a way that couldn't be immediately understood at face value.

So, while the entirety of the series may seem outdated from a technical aspect today, its use of universal themes give it a timeless feel that is every bit as relevant today as it was over fifty years ago.

Do yourself  favor and watch this series.  Do it now.  Or you just might find yourself trapped in... 

The Twilight Zone.

  -Rambler

Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Tim Burton has a distinctive style that lends itself well to certain stories.  Luckily, it works very well when he's imitating the classic Hammer horror films of the 60's and 70's.

One of the ways that this is obvious is in the use of BLOOD.  Burton likes his color pallet to be somewhat subdued, it seems, from the pallor of his actors' faces, the blued background, the heavy black, browns, and light blues of the costumes.  But when that BLOOD shows up onscreen, it's bright, super-saturated with oxygen, and it makes its presence known.  And, luckily, there's a lot of BLOOD to go around.

Most Americans used to be familiar with the stories of Washington Irving, one of the first popular writers in American fiction.  Whether he's still read in school or not, or the story has been perverted in your mind by reimaginings and reinterpretations, I'm not sure;  so I'll just give a quick rundown of the original Sleepy Hollow story:  

Ichabod Crane was a schoolteacher in Sleepy Hollow, New York, an outsider in the heavily Dutch community.  Despite looking like the bird of his surname, he became popular with the local ladies, especially Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter of a local bigwig.  This put him on the wrong side of Brom Bones, typically pictured as the head jock of the area.  Ichabod, a superstitious man by nature, may or may not have met his end thanks to the Headless Horseman, a Hessian soldier who lost his head to a cannon shot in the late kerfuffle between Britain and its former colonies.  It's left to the reader to speculate whether it was the Hessian, Brom, or heartache that expedited Ichabod's speedy departure.  You'll note that there is a distinct lack of BLOOD in the story.

"You wanna know how I lost my head?"

Burton's version... deviates from the classic tale.

This is in line with the Hammer horror films, which treated the source material as a framework to spring off from.

The film opens with Danny Elfman's score forebodingly playing over events that culminate in a man (Martin Landau) and his coachman receiving an enthusiastic haircut from a man on a horse.

Ichabod is a police inspector with the New York City Police Department, and he's an unusual character (unsurprising, since he's played by Burton's friend Johnny Depp).  He subscribes to the silly notion that by investigating the evidence and bodies in murder cases, the murders might actually be solved.  But such thinking is not exactly appreciated by his bosses (which is disconcerting when one of them is Sir Christopher Lee in a cameo as an intimidating judge sporting an impressive baritone), so he's shuffled off to solve a series of murders up the Hudson Valley in the hamlet of Sleepy Hollow.

When this man tells you to do something,

you'd bloody well get it done toot-sweet, Sunshine.

Depp plays Ichabod as being nervous and out of his depth.  He gains confidence in his abilities as the plot progresses and as he puts the pieces of the puzzle together, but always ready to pass out.  I also suspect that Burton was sitting just off camera holding a syringe full of BLOOD just so he could shoot his friend in the face with it.

Katrina Van Tassel is played by Christina Ricci in a blonde wig.  While her performance is not bad, she seems to have trouble with some of the dialog she's given.  Her character's motivation stems from a need to protect those close to her, and she conveys this rather well.

The residents of Sleepy Hollow are rounded out with veteran actors for the town elders (Michael Gambon, Jeffrey Jones, Michael Gough, and others), Casper Van Dien as Brom Bones, newcomer Marc Pickering as Young Masbeth, and Queen Bess herself, Miranda Richardson, as Lady Van Tassel.

The plot follows Ichabod investigating the deaths of the residents, who shuffle loose the mortal coil in a single way:  Decapitation!

Which brings us to the true gem of this film.  Christopher Walken as the Headless Horseman is not so much chewing the scenery as he is using his filed teeth to tear chunks out and swallow whole.  He never utters a word, unless you count "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH" as dialog, yet he conveys the utter joy that the Hessian takes in the slaughter.  Walken is onscreen for precious few minutes, but his double, Ray Park, who did most (if not all) of the stuntwork and swordplay for the character pulls off some great screen fighting and bifurcating.

This is pretty much the only time when he isn't screaming for either joy or ice cream

throughout the entire film.  And it's not a drawback.

Which gets me to the special effects.  Mr Park wore a hood over his head, and the SFX team seamlessly removed it from the shots, as well as adding a stand up collar.  And then there are the subtle ways that the practical effects were blended with CGI.  When the CGI is leaned on a little too much, it becomes noticeable and slightly cringe inducing, but it's forgivable for the time that the film was released.  The color, fog, sets all come together to create an atmosphere of claustrophobia and oppression.  Bravo to the set designers and SFX teams, job well done.

Now, tone is a bit of a tricky topic here.  At times, the film feels like a straight suspense horror.  Then a head spins several times before falling off its perch and rolling down a hill to come to a rest in Johnny Depp's crotch.  It's unpredictable, as the plot tries to be, but it leaves me feeling like I should seek help for laughing

What else can I say?  If you're looking to watch a Tim Burton film (and all that entails) with plenty of GRASS-GROWING AGENT, decapitations, Johnny Depp being weird, Christopher Walken looking like he's having the time of his life, a whodunit with a touch of the supernatural, along with an impressive production in regards to set and costume design, then this just might be the film for your October viewing.

Have fun everyone.

  -Rambler

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Gravity Falls

     I love the strange and quirky. That's probably why when I saw Gravity Falls that I fell in love with the show. Even though it's only two seasons those two seasons I have and will probably watch over and over again.

    Created by Alex Hirsh Gravity Falls is the story of Dipper and Mabel Pines' summer vacation at their Gruncle (Great Uncle) Stan's house turned tourist trap The Mystery Shack. When Dipper finds a journal with a six fingered hands things begin to get weird.

      Dipper Pines is always looking for others approval whether from his Gruncle Stan or his crush Wendy he tries to be the mature one. Afraid to embarrass himself he often finds himself in embarrassing situations. The younger Pines twin Mabel is the polar opposite or her brother. She is carefree and highly spirited. A bit on the boy crazy side her crushes tend to get her in trouble.

                          (Skittles anyone?)
                                                     

       The first season is a bit of a polite introduction to the characters. It's cute but not in a in your face glitter vomit and puppies sort of way. In the first episode a boy shows an interest in boy crazy Mabel. Norman's movements are slow and erratic. When Dipper sees Norman's arm fall off he takes it upon himself to save Mabel from becoming one of the undead.

      This is where things get weird and down right hilarious. Gravity Falls is a town full of mystery and the journals that Dipper finds document the weird and strange, How strange are you asking? Norman. the boy who might be a zombie trying to turn Mabel into one of the undead, he was a group of garden gnomes trying to force Mabel to be their queen.

             (Leaf blowers bad for kissing practice, great for the persistent creep.)

   
        If you have young kids I would not recommend having them watch the second season. If you do let them watch I would suggest do so with caution. The first season was what draws you in thinking it's a cute and safe cartoon. Bill Cipher takes your safe normality and turns the weird all the way to eleven for Weirdmaggedon.

        The second season is all about the weird. It starts out as Bill's season when he takes over Gravity Falls with his friends. Bill Cipher is dangerous and enjoys the suffering of others for his amusement. His ultimate goal is to find and make a deal with the author of the journals.

               (This is your new normal)

      Guest stars lend their voices in the second season. Danielle Fishel more famously known as Topanga does the voice of Pyronica. Nathan Fillion or as us browncoats lovingly refer to him Captain Tight Pants does the voice of Pacifica Northwest's father Preston Northwest. The biggest surprise I had was the voice of the bread loving Tad Strange.

           (Enjoy that wheat or wheat byproduct while you can. The Sheriff's secret police will be there momentarily)

     Even with all the weird and mysterious stripped away you are left with the love and loyalty between friends and family. With humor, mystery, and a story that keeps you interested Gravity Falls has something for the whole family. Life is weird, but if you find people to be weird with it makes it worthwhile. Still weird, wonderfully and incredibly weird.

              

The Big Bang Theory

 ---I Like things brief and to the point-----

  I wouldn't exactly say I hate The Big Bang Theory, but if I had to choose between eating worms or watching The Big Bang Theory just hand me the hot sauce while I swallow a few squiggly ones down. If anyone is curious it's like swallowing sandpaper.

     

    I like to think of myself as an educated nerd. I grew up on Star Trek, Ms. Frizzle was my favorite teacher, and watching anime was my way of rebelling as a kid. With a science degree and years of immersing myself in books, TV, and movies I think I'm smart enough to get the jokes. 

        The problem is that there are no jokes. Big Bang has quite a following and for the life of me I cannot figure out why. Before anyone comments yes I know who Wil Wheaton is. I don't mind laugh tracks. The majority of the time I can simply ignore them, but with the audience's cued laughter at forced pop culture references it's hard too ignore.

 (Even Janeway is tired of your foolishness)

      

         The idea of having a show geared toward nerds and their interests excited me. I had such high hopes. Finally a show where instead of being the clowns that were poked and laughed at for our interests we were going to be viewed as smart and funny, but did Big Bang Theory deliver? No.

     

  Watching Big Bang Theory just made me feel uncomfortable. I understood the references, but a reference is not a joke. I felt like I was the popular girl or the jock looking in. Instead of providing humor for nerds Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady just made us the butt of the joke again and I wasn't laughing.

        The characters seem forced and more like over stated caricatures. The women in the show seem more like a passing thought. There is no point to Penny other than someone for viewers to poke fun at. The other characters are given names and treated as equals, but Penny is the dumb blonde whose full name isn't important enough to even put on Imdb. Bernadette is for lack of a better term a bully, but because she was bullied she's seen as the victim. The saving grace for the women is Amy Fowler played by Mayim Bialik, but even with her intelligence (Mayim Bialik is a neuroscientist) she falls into a mother role handling the others' immature behavior.

       I'm not even going to worry about spoilers. The show is too predictable and they keep regurgitating the same jokes. Pretty ditzy girl marries one of the nerdy guys, but not the leader of the group because that will be too obvious and....

 (Called it)

     I want to like the show. There are some great moments, but they're quickly ruined by an unneeded pop culture reference and the laughing at the wrong time. If I were to suggest anything is this; lose the laughing (it becomes annoying)and tone down the references(it gets boring).

     

    Now I know a lot of people love Big Bang Theory. It's a pretty popular show. I know different strokes for different folks. This show is simply just not my cup of tea.

                              -Mouse