On The Dark Tower
So a few days ago I finished Stephen King's The Dark Tower. I began the journey through Stephen King's magnum opus around September of 2010. It has been a long and harrowing journey for the main characters of this series, and I don't regret taking the journey even after the shocker of an ending. Don't worry, I wont ruin it. Now that it's over I can breathe a sigh of relief. No more guessing about what will happen next. Stephen King is good at bringing forth new ideas, but allowing them to come to a natural and rightful end is difficult for him.
That is by no means an excuse. If I were to rate the falling action of the Dark Tower, I wouldn't rate it that high. He seemed to want the book to end so quickly that he just started making things happen. At one point in the novel before the last 100 pages he mentions a Deus ex machina. Later I realized that he employed that very literary device as the Greeks would in their plays. As you will see in the coming months, I will rate all of the things I review on a 1 to 5 scale (1 being poor, 5 being excellent). The Dark Tower was a great book in the beginning, picked up quickly in the middle, and almost lost steam at the end. For this, I give Stephen King's The Dark Tower a 4/5.
Entertainment
On Cowboys And Aliens
I have to admit that I wasn't completely stoked for Jon Favreau's (Director of Iron Man 1 and 2) Cowboys and Aliens. It seemed like it might be an entertaining film, but it wasn't worthy of opening day viewing. A friend and I went to view the film this past weekend. The film started off interestingly enough, and the cinematography was very good. Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig acted well in this film, but the story didnt hold up to high standards. I'm not here to rehash the entire story, but needless to say some townspeople are abducted by aliens. Craig and Ford head off on a journey to find their people. Along the way they fight some aliens. It sounds pretty straight forward. Craig has a weapon on his arm that gives them a fighting chance. The story from this point gets a little convoluted. There was a whole lot of unneeded machismo. Ford's character was probably one of the most memorable, and I wish he had been the main character. It is hard to see Craig as anyone other than rogue off the reservation James Bond. He does his thing and the movie comes to a sluggish end. Yay! I was kind of happy the film ended, because I was ready to leave. As you may have gauged, Cowboys and Aliens could have been great but got hung up on poor writing. The main character was played by someone who just didn't fit the part. Overall Cowboys and Aliens gets a 2/5.
On Captain America
God Bless America! It is finally good to see a film that honors America in a non-politically motivated way. Okay, so maybe the film wasn't awesome, but it had the right message. Captain America: The First Avenger follows the story of Steve Rogers as he is enlisted to be part of a super soldier project. That is a very vague description, but it is as far as I wish to go without ruining it for you. The main character, Steve Rogers, is played by actor Chris Evans. Evans is best known for his obnoxious portrayal of Johnny Storm in The Fantastic Four film adaptation. In this film, he seems to be having a good time with the role. Good for him. I knew very little about Captain America, and I still don't know enough to write a biography on the fictional character. The main attraction to this film for myself was Agent Smith erherm I mean Hugo Weaving's portrayal of The Red Skull. Weaving was byfar the most interesting character. I also didnt mind looking at Hayley Atwell for long periods of time either. The story was pretty straight forward. Stop the bad guy, save the world. Throw in a little bit of history (World War II, Nazis, Secret Weapons) and you had a pretty good time. The fact that Hugo Weaving was in this film as a Nazi baddie was a plus. The story was really just a vehicle to get to my favorite part of the Marvel universe, The Avengers. Stay after the credits for a trailer of The Avengers coming July 2012. The film's direction was helmed by Joe Johnston which was responsible for the 2010 atrocity that goes by the name The Wolfman. I will not provide a link for fear that you may become interested and find the movie to watch somewhere. He seemed to redeem himself with Captain America, but only because of the heavy pro-American sentiments portrayed throughout. For this I give Captain America: The First Avenger a 3/5.
Current Events
On the London Riots
What is world news without a little rioting every now and then? As I write this, the streets of London are calming down a bit, but the past few days have been eventful for our friends across the pond. In an article on Sfgate.com the prime minister, David Cameron, claims that the, "order would be restored by whatever means necessary." The riots started during a peaceful vigil of the death of one local man. From then, all hell broke loose in Birmingham resulting in the death of three local men.. The link enclosed contains a detailed blow by blow of the rioting as it occurred. What do I think about rioting? Well, for starters I feel sorry for the businesses that were damaged during the craziness. Starting and maintaining a business in America is hard. Starting a business in England is even harder with strict government regulations. Rioters looted many stores and shops.
Great support for your countrymen rioters. Just because your friend was shot by police during a shootout doesn't mean you should destroy property that hardworking people use to make their living. To me rioting is selfish. If I were to rate the rioters on their stupidity I would give them a 5/5. They were completely stupid and should have directed their anger towards the internet to speak out on their displeasure. That way, no one would be injured or have property destroyed. Hopefully England will get back to business as usual, and the people who have had their property destroyed will be able to rebuild before another group of people find something else to riot about.
Sincerely Yours,
Mr. X
Sincerely Yours,
Mr. X
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