What Has Been Happening?

So I've been writing, I started a new story this time it is probably best described as a space adventure. Nothing like Mission Critical and horror of horrors I have decided to try writing in the first person. First impressions of that is it is very difficult and confusing but I write to get better.

Nothing has stirred on the job front in the last couple weeks which means no interviews on the horizon. That is as scary as it sounds but I have my application count up at 9 for this month and I am continuing to look ti is all I can do.

On the Seetec front things are slowly moving forward, just today I had a letter from ICE, Independent Case Examiner telling me about some letter they sent which I did not receive and apparently have done a turnaround and will consider my complaint to Seetec as I did get a final response from them which was worse than a joke.

Health stuff is a bit of a concern but hopefully I will get a doctor's appointment and move forward with that as it is going to take a lot of time and luck to sort out.

As you can see things are pretty quiet around here except for some new blog posts I have done so you feel free to check those out. My new blog is here comments are appreciated.

FILM REVIEW: The Human Race

The Human Race is a 2014 horror film directed and written by Paul Hough. It is set to be released in the US on the 21 June 2014. The film stars Paul McCarthy-Boyington, Eddie McGee and Trista Robinson

PLOT 

Veronica suddenly finds herself in a surreal and horrifying marathon race. The rules are simple: If you are lapped, you die. If you step off the path, you die. Many will start but only one may cross the finish line alive.

WHY I WATCHED 

Trailer porn plain and simple. Those who often read my stuff know that as a rule I like to stay well away from trailers though that does mainly apply to trailers for TV episodes which only serve to ruin the interesting spins that happen more than you think on TV. I think I found this particular trailer when I clicked an embedded YouTube video somewhere.

WHAT I THOUGHT

I was confused at the beginning, which I blame on the trailer it leads into thinking this film is more straightforward than it actually is. Not being straightforward I think is a good thing especially given the subject matter and the film certainly holds your attention while you try to figure out exactly how things fit together.

The characters in this are an interesting bunch they are fleshed out enough that you start playing favourites despite yourself because describing most of these people as likable would be somewhat of a stretch. Still though by the time things really get cooking, most likely you will have one or two people you want to see more of if not someone you want to see survive. The Human Race does a lot with a little, proving effectively that when a film keeps things type the budget doesn’t have to spiral out of control.

The plot allows the film makers to keep things reasonably small but still with a wide enough scope that you don't feel the story is dragging or not going anywhere. I don’t want to go into the details of what happens suffice to say it is gory and poses the usual questions about what people outside of society, outside of normal rules will do when given the chance and the results are bloody. The Human Race is a horror film with an interesting twist and an engaging plot more than worth your time and certainly one for the horror fans to take note of even.

TV REVIEW: Star-Crossed Pilot Episode

Star Crossed is the new and very heavily trailed CW teen drama. The show premiered on 17^th February 2014 in the US and stars Aimee Teegarden, Malese Jow and Chelsea Gilligan. The pilot episode was shown at last year’s San Diego Comic Con to mixed reviews. This review will contain minor spoilers from the pilot.

PLOT

About an epic romance between a human girl and an alien boy when he and eight others of his kind are integrated into a suburban high school 10 years after they landed on Earth and were consigned to an internment camp.

WHY I WATCHED

Malese Jow who I first saw as Anna in The Vampire Diaries is the reason I paid attention to this show back when it was known as Oxygen and was being paraded around in the run-up to Comic Con. I kept hearing about the show as she tweeted out details and behind the scenes photos.

WHAT I THOUGHT

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this, the problem with all the hype is that you get the major media outlets trying to pigeon hole a new show into something that viewers will understand, as if we viewers have absolutely no imagination. One of those pigeon holes that stuck out to me and almost sent me to the hospital with an eye rolling injury was that Star Crossed was a “Romeo & Juliet” tale featuring an alien boy and a human girl, this was indeed somewhat accurate it could be argued but I think that sells things short.

I can only hope that there will be a decent amount of plot time dedicated to the differences between the culture, like West Side story but with less singing perhaps. On a more serious note the performances so far have been pretty good, I know it was just the pilot but I’m optimistic that they are going to keep it at this level. I have to make special mention of Malese Jow who has at least in the pilot the most emotional range to work through as her character contemplates her own mortality.

As for the rest of the cast we have more placeholders than real characters as to be expected as this is only the pilot, we have the racist bully, queen bee and of course the competing love interest with a few actors that CW fans will recognise from other network shows. Those I know I think more than capable of bringing and some of the new ones I find intriguing, what can I say? I’m a sucker for a tough girl.

I am not sure where this will go, though the pilot does suggest something very close to war at least brewing after the fallout at the end of the episode. Furthermore, I am not sure about how this will fare in the endless chase for ratings but I for one am happy to watch as many episodes as CW choose to release.

Pretty Little Liars - Shadow Play

I surprised myself when I started seeing the advance previews of the black and white PLL episode I was instantly excited for it. I usually don’t go for gimmick episodes of shows because they can get a little silly and seem like a waste of a good episode. For instance don’t get me started on the Heroes episodes set in the future and the past which often went nowhere in the end or that Smallville episode that did it in the Noir style but made literally no sense.

Maybe that Smallville episode might have fared better if it had loyal Twitter fans getting behind the scenes pictures tweeted at them from the stars of the show but that was then and this is now, now seems to be working. The hype is one thing but how was the actual episode? Well that was pretty good too the key was that it was canon, part of the ongoing story that PLL fans have come to love and hate even if it took place mostly in Spencer’s drug addled brain.

The setting was great and this new world was easy to understand as all the essential connections were made, the nod to Emily and Paige being in the closet due to the era it is little things like that that make me love Pretty Little Liars. Mona looked amazing which is different from usual in my opinion as sometimes they seem to force too much makeup onto her.

Obviously this whole thing serves to let Spencer sort through her genius level intellect, though you might question her smarts given her recent run of depression, being committed and now hooked on prescription drugs. It is great to see a popular show do something a little different it doesn’t have to be a musical episode every single time it seems.

Personal Blog - Seetec and Other Stuff

So things have not been going great lately. This whole ongoing back and forth with Seetec is going to give me grey hair, it is most certainly denying me my fair share of regular sleep. Add to that the pushback I am getting at my Seetec interviews is not helping, apparently I am being stubborn and not cooperating. Not that my advisor can tell me in what way I am not cooperating so I find that hard to take seriously.

She also has this way of constantly questioning me which is unhelpful, mostly regarding interview feedback where I am sometimes described as serious, apparently she knows me so well that I must be failing to put my true personality across. There are a few things more condescending then someone who sees you once a month telling you about your own personality.

The back and forth argument with her pretty much starts with her saying "Smile more" and "You're not putting your personality forward during the interview" apparently there is this huge blindspot where serious people are incapable of working in an office but that is a subject for a different time and I have to move on or I will wind myself up.

In terms of the complaint I have sent it off to Indepenent Case Examiner they now have the full details but I have not heard from them in about a week or so I will chase it up because they didn't do a very good job explaining the timeframe. I will keep you informed. Something worth mentioning with Seetec and their complaint procedure is that their so called final complaint is sent back to the local Seetec branch to be dealt with.

So let us look at that let us say there was an issue with staff bullying you, which happened to me at Seetec when I was a part of the New Deal, if I made a complaint at the local level which would be unlikely in the first place as it was the local manager who was bullying me but if I did and she rejected it I would send it to the head office... only for her to be the one to reject it again ending the formal complaint process.

FILM REVIEW: Ender's Game

Ender’s Game is the 2013 film adaption of the Orson Scott Card novel. It was released on the 1^st of November 2013 and stars Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford and Hailee Steinfeld. Ender’s Game is one of the most well known and popular science fiction novels around.

PLOT

The Earth was ravaged by the Formics, an alien race seemingly determined to destroy humanity. Seventy years later, the people of Earth remain banded together to prevent their own annihilation from this technologically superior alien species. Ender Wiggin, a quiet but brilliant boy, may become the saviour of the human race. He is separated from his beloved sister and his terrifying brother and brought to battle school in orbit around earth. He will be tested and honed into an empathetic killer who begins to despise what he does as he learns to fight in hopes of saving Earth and his family.

WHY I WATCHED

I was definitely late to the Ender’s Game novel which is huge in the sci-fi literary community despite the questionable views of Orson Scott Card. The book sucks you in despite being one of the largely depressing stories I have ever read, the thing is though the story is grim for a reason so it is ultimately an enjoyable experience.

I could be considered a book freak and I have a chequered past, we will not speak of most of the Harry Potter films, in fact the only shining example of a book to film translation I can think of is Odd Thomas. So I went into Ender’s Game slightly worried that it would be more of the same especially given this is a story that takes place almost entirely in Ender’s head I shouldn’t have been worried though because even though there are significant changes from the book you aren’t left puzzled by the plot developments or character motivations.

WHAT I THOUGHT

So if you have come this far into the review and are planning to go check this film out then let me point out something that I would have liked to know going in though it would not have stopped me watching. Valentine and Peter are pretty much after thoughts in this film and are included only as much as they are needed to march on Ender’s plot. So their plots back on Earth where they pretty much take over are gone, the stuff after the final battle also gone.

OK now that is out of the way we can move on to what made it into the film which is still rather a lot despite a little compression to fit it into a film. If you think that they took the violent stuff out of the story to lower the rating well actually they didn't and those scenes should make even the toughest person wince.

Apart from the bucket loads of young male angst in Ender’s Game there is also the awesomeness of the matches to break up the monotony. I must confess to absolutely geeking out when I saw the first zero gravity battle. The battles are everything you could hope for after reading about them and they help to show off best Ender’s creativity especially given a lot of the back and forth in Ender’s head is cut from the plot.

So far I have talked a lot about the reader’s probable reaction to Ender’s Game but I feel like should look at things from the perspective of someone who hasn’t read the book and knows next to nothing about the book. If I were such a person I would ask the following, does the plot make sense i.e. has the translation to screen resulted in a storyline that can no longer be followed if you were not familiar with the original story. 

Ender’s Game the film is probably best thought of as an action adventure with a brain, strip away all the layers and it is a film about the harsh reality of war and what it does to the soldiers invested in it, granted though when I describe it like that is sounds a lot more sombre than it appears in execution.

In closing Ender’s Game is a good book to film translation it could have been excellent with the inclusion or even significant mention of Peter’s and Valentine’s story but their exclusion is understandable, fans of the book should come out of the film reasonably content with what made it to screen and their friends and family along for the ride should be rewarded with an entertaining film with a central character struggling with the darkness he fears is inside him.

FILM REVIEW: Carrie (2013)

Carrie (2013) is a 2013 horror film based on the story by Stephen King, there was an earlier film adaption starring Sissy Spacek. The film stars Chloe Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore and was released in the US on 18^th October 2013. It was directed by Kimberley Peirce and written by Lawrence D Cohen and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.

PLOT

A reimagining of the classic horror tale about Carrie White, a shy girl outcast by her peers and sheltered by her deeply religious mother, who unleashes telekinetic terror on her small town after being pushed too far at her senior prom.

WHY I WATCHED

I can barely remember Carrie but there isn’t a lot to remember when you think about it, the plot is concise it is the scares that bring you to the theatre. I’m a fan of Chloe Grace Moretz and when I did the sums I figured it was hard to do this remake badly so I took the plunge.

WHAT I THOUGHT

Does what it says on the tin is probably the easiest way to sum things up. What this film succeeds in doing is taking a plot premise in this case revenge and dressing it up in a believable way. For instance it was just hard watching ‘the’ scene where between Carrie’s ignorance and the cruel streak of the girls around her the darkness inside and her powers are formed.

One of the most interesting things is the boyfriend of the popular girl, Sue who is actually a pretty stand up guy and calls her out on the prank and is initially very against the whole prom date but then when he agrees he treats her properly. Sue’s apology is more from a place of guilt than anything.

We need him to balance out the bitchy, evil and crazy that is most of the other characters in this film. We feel sympathy for Carrie but she is far from normal thanks to her severely messed up childhood and as the finale of the film shows she carried a darkness too.

The final act of the film from Prom onwards is pretty spectacular though I don’t think I would call it scary, tastefully gruesome? Yeah but nothing that is likely to give you nightmares, no that would be more likely from the opening act than of the final one. The effects are wonderful and draw you in just like they should in brief moments it could be compared to Chronicle which blew my mind.

All in all I would say if you have seen the original Carrie it is worth taking a look at this one, it offers something unique and well-made not just another lazy remake, if you have never seen Carrie then you should check this out as a Horror not likely to trouble those of a delicate disposition and hey there’s Chloe Grace Moretz so you might as well get on board with that hype train because she is destined for huge things.