Don't Panic!
So I sat down to write a lofty review of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy but ended up typing a 10-page plot synopsis. A synopsis is not a review. So I'll just skip the fancy talk and bite into the grist.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the first novel in a series of books by English author Douglas Adams (RIP). They use sci-fi/space opera as a vehicle for satire, and Adams' dry British wit really shines with each page. The books themselves are an amazingly easy read, with pages and pages of hilarious dialogue woven into a backdrop of exposition that pokes fun at human foibles such as love, friendship, and the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. Sounds deep, but remember, this is a satire...
The movie itself is gorgeous. The special effects are flawless, and the animatronic aliens are truly amazing. Thankfully the producers decided to use as little CGI as possible (saving it for the spaceship scenes) and made the alien creatures out of actual physical animatronics (like Jabba the Hutt from Return of the Jedi). The Vogons, the movie's bad guys, are truly ugly, and they're made even more disgusting by the fact that they're ACTUALLY THERE IN FRONT OF THE HEROES, and not stenciled in with computer-generated imagry. The same goes for the rest of the aliens in the movie... One scene has our heroes on a planet with a cantina not unlike the one seen in the very first Star Wars movie (the one with Luke and an old Obi-Wan). The director could have stuffed the scene with hundreds of CGI bemmies (bug-eyed monsters), but he went the Jim Henson route and used actors in costumes, which I applaude. The lack of CGI doesn't make it any less believable... in fact, it makes the scene work even better... And for this, I applaude the production team.
My favorite scenes were with the Infinite Improbability Drive. The Infinite Improbabilty Drive is the engine that propels our hero's spaceship through all possible points and probabilities in space and time, effectively by-passing the circuitous routes of hyperspace travel. Unfortunately, it also has the disturbing effects of transforming the ship's occupants into sofa chairs, garden flowers, and, yes, even tiny little dolls made of yarn (that is, until the ship achieves "normalcy" again). Ever puked up string? You just have to see it to believe it.
The last scenes with Sartlebartfast (sp) the world builders are gorgeous. Utterly gorgeous. I'm in love with outer space; with images of airless moons set against the backdrop of tiny star, and huge Saturnalian worlds that dot the horizon. Whoever came up with the special effects for this movie should win an Academy Award. They do much to infuse the audience with the sense of wonder that is part and parcel of sci-fi/space opera.
Also of note, Mos Def, a rapper, turns in an EXCELLENT performance as Ford Prefect, an alien journalist working for the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. For those of you who've never heard of Mos Def, he's a talented street poet and master of rhymes, also a member of Blackstar, with Taleb Kwali. These aren't your typical gangsta rappers... they're socially-aware and intelligent poets who happen to use rap to convey their thoughts on the society and politics of the black man. I'm a 25-year-old white suburban kid, so I can't say I can identify with them completely, but I can appreciate what they do (and I'm not speaking out of my ass here, folks... I own a couple of Blackstar tracks). Just saying... Mos Def did an excellent job.
If you like Monty Python, go see this film. You'll be able to look past the sci-fi trappings and see the humor behind it all.
...
Mondays are my Paige days. Paige is my little three-year-old neice. I babysit her from 7:30 AM till about 5:30 PM, while Maleea, my sister, is at work.
A typical Paige day consists of cartoons, trips to the park, the mall, Yellow Springs, Young's Dairy Farm, and more cartoons.
Ah, cartoons. If you've got a kid between the ages of 2-6, then you've heard of Dora the Explorer, Spongebob Squarepants, Lazytown, Fairly-Odd Parents, The Wiggles, The Backyardigans, Jimmy Neutron, Higgly Town Heroes, Miss Spider's Sonny Patch, Rugrats, etc. The list goes on and on. And for the most part, I can appreciate the education kids receive from these shows. They teach kids how to share, how to be kind to others, how to take care of their bodies (hygeine, exercize, etc.)
But I watched the debut of one new show, called the Doodlebops, and I just had to cringe. The Doodlebops are three alien-looking dudes (well, one's a chick) with orange, blue, and red skin, wild hair, and big gangly hands. They're in a band, hence the name Doodlebops. I can't help it... but this show... it's gag-inducing. I can put up with The Wiggles (altho they have to be the ugliest Brits in the universe), but these Doodlebops... It's a Canadian show... I don't know if that has anything to do with it... But the actors who play them... They're horrific. They ooze so much saccharine sweetness and naivete that I want to projectile vomit at the screen. Actually, it wouldn't be so bad if one of the characters, I can't remember his name (he's the blue one), wasn't so flamingly gay. Now, before you all flay me alive for my (seemingly) narrow-mindedness, let me go on record as saying I have absolutely no ill-will towards gay people. I have handful of gay and lesbian friends, all of whom I love dearly. But this dude... is so FLAMINGLY gay that listening to him talk is akin to hearing nails on a chalkboard. He doesn't belong on a kid's television show, he belongs on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.
What's this trend among children's shows of including gay characters? I know they exist, I know they're there, but kids just can't understand it. They're not old enough to comprehend homosexuality. Or at least metrosexuality. The feminine lisping, the limp-wristedness... it flies right over they're heads. But at the same time, it's there... and they can't ignore it. Do you really want your 5-year-old son playing tea party while traipsing around with butterflies and ribbon-wands? WTF?! Stick a rifle in his hand, smear some camo paint on his face, and shove him outside to kill Cobra Commander.
Speaking strictly for myself, I couldn't imagine ever identifying with effeminiate male heroes as a child. I was raised on GI Joe, He-Man, Thundercats, Silverhawks, C.O.P.S., you know... MANLY-MAN cartoons. Bullets and jets and gung-ho heroes. Not Flopsy-Mopsy the Transgender It-Thing. Duke, Lion-O, freakin' HE-MAN. How much more manly can you get than Adam, Prince of Eternia and Defender of the Realm of Castle Greyskull?
Am I seriously that narrow-minded? I would like to think not. I consider myself a pretty open-minded individual. Or is this something that everyone all over the world approves of? It scares me, sometimes... Yes, homosexuals exist, and that's no big deal; and yes, it's proper to teach children to respect everyone, no matter who they are. But that's an understanding the kids need to come into on their own time... not when they're too young to really know what's going on "beneath the surface". It would only confuse them.
Needless to say, Paige is never going to watch the Doodlebops while I'm in charge.
...
At the same time, I WILL say I have serious jungle-fever for Raven Simone (That's So Raven, on the Kid's Disney Channel). She used to play the youngest daughter (not Rudy) on the Cosby Show. But now she's all grown up. And she's filled out. She's HOT, people. H-O-T.
I feel so ashamed...
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the first novel in a series of books by English author Douglas Adams (RIP). They use sci-fi/space opera as a vehicle for satire, and Adams' dry British wit really shines with each page. The books themselves are an amazingly easy read, with pages and pages of hilarious dialogue woven into a backdrop of exposition that pokes fun at human foibles such as love, friendship, and the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. Sounds deep, but remember, this is a satire...
The movie itself is gorgeous. The special effects are flawless, and the animatronic aliens are truly amazing. Thankfully the producers decided to use as little CGI as possible (saving it for the spaceship scenes) and made the alien creatures out of actual physical animatronics (like Jabba the Hutt from Return of the Jedi). The Vogons, the movie's bad guys, are truly ugly, and they're made even more disgusting by the fact that they're ACTUALLY THERE IN FRONT OF THE HEROES, and not stenciled in with computer-generated imagry. The same goes for the rest of the aliens in the movie... One scene has our heroes on a planet with a cantina not unlike the one seen in the very first Star Wars movie (the one with Luke and an old Obi-Wan). The director could have stuffed the scene with hundreds of CGI bemmies (bug-eyed monsters), but he went the Jim Henson route and used actors in costumes, which I applaude. The lack of CGI doesn't make it any less believable... in fact, it makes the scene work even better... And for this, I applaude the production team.
My favorite scenes were with the Infinite Improbability Drive. The Infinite Improbabilty Drive is the engine that propels our hero's spaceship through all possible points and probabilities in space and time, effectively by-passing the circuitous routes of hyperspace travel. Unfortunately, it also has the disturbing effects of transforming the ship's occupants into sofa chairs, garden flowers, and, yes, even tiny little dolls made of yarn (that is, until the ship achieves "normalcy" again). Ever puked up string? You just have to see it to believe it.
The last scenes with Sartlebartfast (sp) the world builders are gorgeous. Utterly gorgeous. I'm in love with outer space; with images of airless moons set against the backdrop of tiny star, and huge Saturnalian worlds that dot the horizon. Whoever came up with the special effects for this movie should win an Academy Award. They do much to infuse the audience with the sense of wonder that is part and parcel of sci-fi/space opera.
Also of note, Mos Def, a rapper, turns in an EXCELLENT performance as Ford Prefect, an alien journalist working for the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. For those of you who've never heard of Mos Def, he's a talented street poet and master of rhymes, also a member of Blackstar, with Taleb Kwali. These aren't your typical gangsta rappers... they're socially-aware and intelligent poets who happen to use rap to convey their thoughts on the society and politics of the black man. I'm a 25-year-old white suburban kid, so I can't say I can identify with them completely, but I can appreciate what they do (and I'm not speaking out of my ass here, folks... I own a couple of Blackstar tracks). Just saying... Mos Def did an excellent job.
If you like Monty Python, go see this film. You'll be able to look past the sci-fi trappings and see the humor behind it all.
...
Mondays are my Paige days. Paige is my little three-year-old neice. I babysit her from 7:30 AM till about 5:30 PM, while Maleea, my sister, is at work.
A typical Paige day consists of cartoons, trips to the park, the mall, Yellow Springs, Young's Dairy Farm, and more cartoons.
Ah, cartoons. If you've got a kid between the ages of 2-6, then you've heard of Dora the Explorer, Spongebob Squarepants, Lazytown, Fairly-Odd Parents, The Wiggles, The Backyardigans, Jimmy Neutron, Higgly Town Heroes, Miss Spider's Sonny Patch, Rugrats, etc. The list goes on and on. And for the most part, I can appreciate the education kids receive from these shows. They teach kids how to share, how to be kind to others, how to take care of their bodies (hygeine, exercize, etc.)
But I watched the debut of one new show, called the Doodlebops, and I just had to cringe. The Doodlebops are three alien-looking dudes (well, one's a chick) with orange, blue, and red skin, wild hair, and big gangly hands. They're in a band, hence the name Doodlebops. I can't help it... but this show... it's gag-inducing. I can put up with The Wiggles (altho they have to be the ugliest Brits in the universe), but these Doodlebops... It's a Canadian show... I don't know if that has anything to do with it... But the actors who play them... They're horrific. They ooze so much saccharine sweetness and naivete that I want to projectile vomit at the screen. Actually, it wouldn't be so bad if one of the characters, I can't remember his name (he's the blue one), wasn't so flamingly gay. Now, before you all flay me alive for my (seemingly) narrow-mindedness, let me go on record as saying I have absolutely no ill-will towards gay people. I have handful of gay and lesbian friends, all of whom I love dearly. But this dude... is so FLAMINGLY gay that listening to him talk is akin to hearing nails on a chalkboard. He doesn't belong on a kid's television show, he belongs on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.
What's this trend among children's shows of including gay characters? I know they exist, I know they're there, but kids just can't understand it. They're not old enough to comprehend homosexuality. Or at least metrosexuality. The feminine lisping, the limp-wristedness... it flies right over they're heads. But at the same time, it's there... and they can't ignore it. Do you really want your 5-year-old son playing tea party while traipsing around with butterflies and ribbon-wands? WTF?! Stick a rifle in his hand, smear some camo paint on his face, and shove him outside to kill Cobra Commander.
Speaking strictly for myself, I couldn't imagine ever identifying with effeminiate male heroes as a child. I was raised on GI Joe, He-Man, Thundercats, Silverhawks, C.O.P.S., you know... MANLY-MAN cartoons. Bullets and jets and gung-ho heroes. Not Flopsy-Mopsy the Transgender It-Thing. Duke, Lion-O, freakin' HE-MAN. How much more manly can you get than Adam, Prince of Eternia and Defender of the Realm of Castle Greyskull?
Am I seriously that narrow-minded? I would like to think not. I consider myself a pretty open-minded individual. Or is this something that everyone all over the world approves of? It scares me, sometimes... Yes, homosexuals exist, and that's no big deal; and yes, it's proper to teach children to respect everyone, no matter who they are. But that's an understanding the kids need to come into on their own time... not when they're too young to really know what's going on "beneath the surface". It would only confuse them.
Needless to say, Paige is never going to watch the Doodlebops while I'm in charge.
...
At the same time, I WILL say I have serious jungle-fever for Raven Simone (That's So Raven, on the Kid's Disney Channel). She used to play the youngest daughter (not Rudy) on the Cosby Show. But now she's all grown up. And she's filled out. She's HOT, people. H-O-T.
I feel so ashamed...
posted by Billy at 1:56 PM
3 Comments:
I really, really like black girls.
Hey hey! Just wanted to say that The Wiggles are Aussies, not Brits, and GOD they are HOT! I love 'em! And I am fond of many of the shows u mentioned, but they took Kipper off some time ago, and I like Blue's Clues with Steve. And the blue Doodlebop...yum. oh my GOD from the moment I saw his flamboyantly gay ways I was HOOKED. mmm mmm mmm....
anyway...i also wanted to say that u mentioned boys playing w/ tea parties and fairy wands and 2 b honest i have a brother who we tease that he's gay cuz he used to play with stuffed animals and feed them and always liked more of the stuff that's deemed feminine. but in the long run he's a good dad and he cooks and cleans, because he was never ashamed of that stuff. my other brother on the other hand is against anything even seemingly gay. and his parenting skills? he leaves filthy diapers around the house and ignores the kids. and he doesnt clean either.
is there a connection? i donno...but it seems strange to me...so maybe the whole "engendering" should be done away with, like my niece LOVES cars so we got her a big one for her birthday.
and lastly, kids might not get the whole gay thing but i think this stuff should be brought out a little more because some kids have homosexual parents, and interracial parenting used to be TOTALLY looked down upon and was even attempted to be outlawed. so i think its good bcuz even tho they dont understand it, at least they're being exposed to something that's different. im just surprised the christians havent flipped out about it. they freaked over spongebob...
anyways i enjoyed ur blog. just wanted to post a note 2 ya :)
I stand corrected. The Wiggles are Aussies. But I HAVE to disagree with you... they are UGLY. Especially the Jeff one. And SpongeBob's freakin' AWESOME.
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