The Hobbit 2D: A Review

Er, not the 1970's one, the new one by Peter Jackson.

I had the honor and duty of seeing The Hobbit on its opening day last week. This was a massive ordeal for me, as I list The Hobbit as one of my favorite books, and Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy as three of my favorite movies. I will start off by saying, no, I did not see it in the three-dee. Sir Jackson is always trying to push things forward in his field, sure, but that doesn't mean I always have to agree with him. The 48 frames-per-second that the 3D version of the movie is shot in didn't really sit well with me, and I did not want it distracting me from my Hobbit-viewing experience.

Especially the view of their freakish, man-like hands.

I'll just go ahead and start with the things I disliked. It was very formuliac; it had talky bits followed by action bits followed by talky bits. Start. Stop. Start. Stop. Start. Stop. Plot, fight, plot, fight. The action seemed like a mindless way to segue into the next plot point and I feel like a lot of those action scenes were unnecessary. For example, the mountain giant rumble-tumble get-to-Bilbo's-feelings scene.
I also had a problem with one of the characters, specifically Jar Jar the Brown.

I honestly can't tell which is which.

Radagast the Brown's entire character consists of just a few lines spread out between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring. The books make little mention of his character and absolutely no mention of his rabbit-sled, hyperactive obsessive compulsive disorder, or stoner tendencies. Many compare the character to Radagast's prequel-partner Jar Jar Binks, and I tend to agree.

However, despite my gripes, I enjoyed the movie thoroughly. I liked it a bit more than Fellowship of the Ring, to be honest, mostly because of the overwhelming sense of foreboding was just crushing in FotR. The atmosphere was drawing, the songs were well done, Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis were especially amazing in their roles, and the movie left off with me wanting to see the next one. All in all I give the movie an 8/10.

Keep fanatic
Aaron

Silent Hill Revelation 3D: A Review

Last Friday, Megh, my friend Ian, and I were hanging out at an All Hallowe's Eve party, (Halloween for the uninformed) when got it into our heads to see the premier of Silent Hill Revelation. The trailer had been playing on loop the entire evening where we were and I guess the subliminal advertising finally got to us.

After playing around in traffic for a while, you know, doing wheelies and stuff since we took two cars and ended up driving next to each other, we made it to the theater. The three of us were still dressed in our party costumes; Ian was a Hobbit and Megh and I were both dressed as escaped asylum patients, which is funny because Ian is a foot taller than either of us, and with our masks off Megh and I looked more like butchers or very sloppy house painters.

I'm not sure who would be worse to meet in a dark alley.

Upon approaching the ticket stand, if you still call them that because this isn't the 50's, Ian immediately asked the ticket-stander for one ticket for The Hobbit in 3D, his face falling when the ticket-ticketer-guy informed him the movie would not be out for several months. We all had a good laugh and told them we would settle for the midnight premiere of Silent Hill, then went in and stalled for time by looking at the popcorn we were all too poor to purchase. With thirty minutes before the movie started, I figured I would kill four or five minutes by emptying out my contents in the nearest bathroom. As a natural-born World of Warcraft-player, my bladder can hold nearly six quarts of urine before I even begin to get that  tingling have-to-go sensation.

The restrooms were deserted, the premier having garnered the attention of exactly three people. Now, here is where I have to stop for a bit. You see, Silent Hill was really terrible. Really, really terrible. But the movie was so bad that I have already forgotten it. So instead

Rave Motion Pictures Yorktown 15 Cinema Bathrooms: A Review

The restrooms belonged to one Rave Motion Pictures, a theater known for being "edgy" and "fresh" and "hip", with bathrooms to match. I was there at off-peak hours, but with closing time so close it was likely that they hadn't been cleaned for a few hours. Most cinemas choose to wait until the moviegoers leave before they have the final wipe-down of the day, a trait I share with them. I feel like I really got the full restroom experience with this one, so let's begin with:

Atmosphere 3/10

 Upon entering, the first thing I noticed were the lime green walls and navy blue stalls. The floor was covered in an offwhite tile with flecks of brown and blue in it. The color scheme was very abrupt and a little disconcerting, I had a bowel movement to make and I wasn't certain if I would be comfortable in a place so visually assaulting.. They were trying to put a bright neon veneer on old-world charm, and failing. The classy blue stalls and the stainless steel sinks went poorly with the bright fluorescent lighting and brighter green walls. It was chaotic, and that was the biggest problem. It's hard to be classy and edgy at the same time. They really need to pick one and go with it; offend one group of people instead of everyone with eyes. I would also like to note that it was dead silent in the stalls. Out in the lobby area the air was full of sounds from the arcade, even when it was empty, but in the restrooms they really needed some sort of ambiance. I was expecting a chain-wielding rapist to pop out of a trash can and go to town. But then I guess I usually am.

Cleanliness 9/10 

After shaking off the initial decorative terror, the next thing I noticed was how clean everything was. The air smelled of bleach, that oh so familiar and comforting smell. Bleach has always smelled like victory to me. Victory over microbes that would stop at nothing to do us harm.
There were no puddles on the floor, no water around the sink, no paper litter, and most importantly no offal to be seen. Hooray!
The stall that I used was well supplied with toilet paper and even seat covers, although they were not needed as the seat was clean.

Ease of Use 8/10 

Being the bathroom critic that I am, I took it as my right to use the handicap stall so that I could live the full restroom experience. It was very spacious and the walls nearest the toilet were festooned with several handrails. The toilet was equipped with a motion sensor that accurately flushed when I was done. The faucets were a trouble though, they were motion-activated too, but only while your hands were directly underneath the faucet head and not moving too much. I had a hard time washing my hands. Oddly enough, they had no air dryers to speak of, Jet Towel or otherwise, and the paper towel dispenser was NOT motion activated, which threw the whole thing out of whack.

Total Score: 6.6/10, Not the Ritz, but would go again.

Stay Fanatic, you folks.

Insomnia Halloween Party!

Hello Fanatics!

 Aaron and I went to our first Halloween party last night at the fantastic shop, Insomnia Video Game Culture. Before I tell y'all what happened at the party, I'd like to take a minute and tell you about Insomnia.

It's a little shop in North Houston that deals primarily in vinyl dolls, figures, Japanese toys and snacks, trinkets, and artwork inspired by video games. They also hold video game tournaments about every other week, and Munny and Dunny decorating contests every other month or so. I'd been wanting to visit the shop for a while, for reasons that I can no longer remember, and I am very glad we did. The atmosphere was friendly, the owners were familiar but still professional, and it seemed like a nice, laid back place to hang out.

The party started at 7:00 pm, and we got there a little past 8:30. Aaron and I were wearing matching asylum themed costumes, and we met up with our friend Ian, who was dressed as a hobbit.

Ian and Aaron, respectively.

The store was already pretty full of people (about 20) and there was no available place to sit immediately, which was totally fine, considering they had shelves and shelves of stuff for us to check out. We paid our entry fee, $3.00 for each of us since we were wearing costumes instead of the standard $5, which covered entry into the three tournaments they had going on through the evening, pizza, entry into the costume contest, and a raffle. Since Silent Hill: Revelations premiered yesterday, they also gave out movie passes, posters, and Silent Hill t-shirts via raffle. Aaron won a t-shirt!

Silent Hill nurses!

 

They also gave out DVDs to the first 28 people to the party. The people who run Insomnia are pretty cool.

I got Killer Swarm, while Aaron was stuck with Hostel: Part II

After playing a little Super Smash Bros, chatting with people, and checking the store out for a while, Ian suggested that we go see Silent Hill. Probably because they had promos playing on one of the big screens throughout the night. Aaron got me this cute little pug button before we left!

awwwwww.

Overall, I would say that last night was pretty great. Even though we left a little early, we had a blast, met some neat people, and had some really greasy pizza. I mean, seriously, it was dripping orange pizza oil. How do they do that?

Keep it fanatic,

Megh

Ian is also the frontman for the progressive rock band Witherwing. Check them out.