ALL OUTTA BUBBLEGUM…AND ADRENALINE

            I remember during grade school two brothers I knew, James and Andy, that absolutely loved wrestling.  I would hear stories about Monday Night Nitro parties and all the excitement about these wrestling Gods flying off the turn buckles into each and all the moves with zany names that they would perform.  I like to think that I have a pretty open mind but wrestling was something that I just couldn’t get into.  Maybe it is my lack of enthusiasm for the sport that translates into my ho hum response to John Carpenter’s They Live.

            They Live is a commentary about how the rich and wealth keep the poor and middle class America from succeeding.  From the beginning, our main character John Nada (get it, he’s nothing) wanders the dirty streets looking for a means to survive.  His lack of skills and education means few job prospects and has to beg for a simple construction job.  The doors slamming it his face about lack of education echoes in today’s society about how a high school degree doesn’t cut it anymore.  From Nada’s view, he also sees America from a view point that doesn’t want to acknowledge the homeless.  The homeless are portrayed as peaceful while anyone in authority, such as the police, are shown as cold and ruthless.

            Later on in the film, when he gets the sunglasses he can see how the humans are being controlled by the aliens with subliminal messages about consumerism.  A magazine or a dollar bill has the hidden terms “no independent thought” and “this is your God”.  This revelation is commenting on how society has become dependent on products and big business.  The aliens control over the middle class and attempt to obliterate the poor from uprising can be compared to today’s healthcare system.  The policies people can afford barely cover anything and the poor that can’t are now taxed to death.  Instead of everyone being on a level playing field, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

            The film rides the line between action thriller and science fiction.  For example, any point of view through the sunglasses is filmed in black and white.  This harkens back to the sci-fi invasion films of the 1940s and 1950s.  Film such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers played into people’s fears about not being able to trust anyone because the enemy could be anyone.  They Live plays into that same fear with sunglasses showing who is the alien but without them they look like a normal human being.  With They Live also being filmed in the 1980s, the aliens aside from evil were also bent on controlling all aspects of American life.  Twenty years later, we started having commercials advertising drugs people started to think they needed.  I’m pretty sure you don’t need sunglasses to see how consumerism was starting to take a big turn at that point.

            There are a lot of wide shots in the film to make it feel like a big grand experience, mostly like a western.  Having our main protagonist look at the bright lights of the city skyline creates an atmosphere about not belonging but wondering what is on the other side.  It’s like not being invited to a party but looking across the street at the house it is being held at and wondering about what great time is being had without you, just as how the homeless in the film gather around television sets to pass time.  That’s the irony that these less than fortunate people were put in their current living situation are still idolizing the aliens unknowingly.   

            Overall, the film is the equivalent of Zebra Stripe Gum in the sense that it starts out very tasty but quickly loses its flavor.  Roddy Piper is a serviceable action hero but the one key ingredient he lacks is charisma to make him a great action hero.  His muscles upon muscles don’t have the strength to carry the movie through the slow periods of the film.  If one compares They Live to another average man in an intense situation film like say, Die Hard, Bruce Willis’s John McClane made you feel for the central character by emotional monologues about just trying to get to his wife and kids.  The audience was thrilled during the action set pieces worrying that McClane may not make it to his ultimate goal.  Piper’s Nada drifts into the story from the very beginning but it is unclear what he his goals are.  Even though we see his character hitting the wall with society in the beginning of the film, there isn’t a payoff for the audience when he starts fighting against the aliens.  He just kind of does it because the script needs him to.

            You can also compare the 1953 film Shane which was about a drifter coming to a town to try to better himself by escaping his past.  The main protagonist is simply named Shane, no last name just Shane.  He is befriended by a family of ranchers who are trying to be run out of town for their land by hired gun hands.  Shane’s dark past as a gunfighter makes him reluctantly use his gun fighting skills to save the family and ride off mortally wounded into the sunset.  What made it heart breaking to hear his young friend yell “Shane!!! Come back!!” was that the audience cared about Shane, and like the young boy, were heartbroken he tried to make right in a world against him but couldn’t escape his demons. 

They Live doesn’t achieve this level of emotion but if I close my eyes and listen really hard I can faintly hear James and Andy yelling for Roddy to come back.   Unfortunately, like grade school, I can’t get past my lack of enthusiasm.

Batman v Superman Review

*THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS*

     I'm 30 years old and I remember watching Batman as child.  Whether it was the corny Adam West version or the style over substance Tim Burton and Michael Keaton years, I just loved the myth of the character.  Which I am proud to say that "Batman v Superman" gave me the little kid sense of excitement every time Batman was kicking ass onscreen.  Unfortunately the rest of the movie remind me of how being a grown up sucks.
     In this new DC universe it's been two years since the event of "Man of Steel".  Apparently Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) was in the middle of the 9/11, I mean the Metropolis disaster of "Man of Steel".  After seeing how alien super beings can pretty much end mankind if they choose too, Wayne sets off on a quest to stop the son of Krypton.  With the help of Alfred (Jeremy Irons) who is really there to just bitch about Master Bruce's obsession, Batman finally has a plan battle plan.
     Meanwhile the libtards, I mean congress and some protesters are unhappy with Superman (Henry Cavill) using his power to rescuing people in a beautiful montage that reminds you about what makes Superman so heroic and noble.  Unfortunately he gets into trouble because the script calls for Lois Lane (Amy Adams) to be in situations that required his assistance.  After some super sex she sets out to get to the bottom of what or who is trying to frame Superman for deaths of people with bullet holes.  Lex Luther (Jesse Eisenberg) is there to chew scenery and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) is also in the movie to remind you that it's setting everything up for the Justice League.
     That in a nutshell is the movie which is 45 minutes too long in my opinion.  Just like the "Transformers" series the long running time starts to wear a little thin on a person.  What doesn't wear a person down is Ben Affleck as the caped crusader.  I know when Ben Affleck was casted in the role the internet responded with a big NO!!!!!, but he is actually the best thing about the movie.  His Bruce Wayne of course dark and tormented, but he lives like real person.  Having him actually drink and indulge in the occasional fling to me made him believable to the audience.  Of course we, sigh, have to be remind with another version of his parents murder, but it's done in such a different style that it actually helped with why the character is tormented.  Another refreshing thing about this Batman is that he doesn't mind if a the bad guy gets killed.  If other Batmen sent the criminals to the hospital, this one doesn't mind putting them in the morgue.
     Henry Cavill still isn't Christopher Reeve, but this Superman does stand for truth, justice, and kind of the American way.  Man of Steel had Superman be traveling bum with different exposition every 20 minutes about how he is Jesus, but Batman v Superman fixes most of those problems.  We need to see Superman save innocent people from harm to remind us of what it means to be Superman.  His relationship with Lois is more believable than forced this time and there was actually a sense of vulnerability this time that was lacking with Henry Cavill's first go around.  Zack Synder is still under the impression that Superman needs to be filmed in the same style as Passion of the Cross, but its the other moments that make the character great again.
     The rest of the cast is typical play by the numbers game.  Jesse Eisenberg did a great job pretending the movie was The Social Network 2, Amy Adams's cleavage looks great in a bath tub, and Gal Gabot makes up for not being cast in the last James Bond movie. Diane Lane wears a gray wig,  Laurence Fishburne's role is reduced to comic relief, Holly Hunter makes sure you know her character is from the south, and Jeremy Irons shows up for a paycheck.
     While the movie was a lot better than I hoped for there are still problems that make if far from being "The Dark Knight".  The length of the movie really needs to be trimmed a half hour if not 15 minutes.  I know that since the success of Marvel's Avengers that DC wants to cash in on the formula of having each superhero have their own spin-off, but Batman v Superman beats the audience over the head with this it at times.  The movie isn't exactly subtle about implying the future of the franchise the same way Marvel was with each "Iron Man" or "Captain America"was and to me that would take me out of the movie at times.  I know that they were trying to accomplish this with Wonder Woman, but the problem is that she is just kinda forced in there to remind the audience about the upcoming Justice League.  "Batman Begins" set up the next movie with a simple shot of a joker playing card, but imagine if both the Joker and Bane were in "The Dark Knight" and you understand where I am coming from.
     What I still don't understand is Zack Synders obsession with 9/11 and handheld camera in the wrong scenes.  The movie opens with the attack on Metropolis and once again building after building is turned into ruble with characters saying prayers before their doom.  The end finale of "Batman v Superman" doesn't go to that extreme, but just like Michael Bay, Synder makes sure he is getting his money's worth with the CGI.  The handheld camera has aways been a thing that screams early 2000s to me.  Scenes that aren't intense come off like an episode of Law and Order because of this technique and I wish out of the 250 million dollar budget someone would have ran to Best Buy and got him a tripod.
     Overall I did enjoy this movie, but I wasn't mesmerized like I was with The Dark Knight which is still the best Batman movie.  But I have a feeling if Mr. Affleck signs on for another picture with a more restrained director, he could give Mr. Nolan and Mr. Bale a run for their money.

*** out of ****

The Oscar Magic is Gone

     I use to truly get excited for the Oscars during the 90's.  I was twelve years old in 1998 when Ben Affleck and Matt Damon won best screenplay for "Good Will Hunting".  It was exciting because I loved that movie and a lot of the nominations were movies I had actually seen that year.  "Titanic", "As Good As It Gets", and so on.  Fast forward eighteen years later and something is definitely missing from the ceremony. It was a little thing called magic.
     Now this has to be the most unbiased opinion about the 2016 Academy Awards because I didn't watch it.  I didn't get a bunch of beer or make snacks this year because the show was ruined when #Oscarsowhite started popping up all over social media.  It's a shame that every single thing is made about race now because you would think in today's society that this wouldn't matter, but for some reason it does.  Watching Chris Rock's opening monologue on the internet pretty much sealed my descision of whether to really care or not.  Rock was hilarious no doubt, but when he was practically begging for actors of color to be casted in "better" roles was uncomfortable to watch.  Now it isn't about the craft of being the best a film, it turned into a participation award ceremony from here on out.
     This is an industry award show, that is all.   Just like how the ESPYS are for players in the sports industry, it is about the best of the best.  Just because someone isn't nominated doesn't mean that it is all about race.  Today's P.C. police refuse to acknowledge how there are purely Latino and African American award shows that don't nominate any white people, but since no one of color was nominated for an Oscar the whole internet starts an uproar about it.  Here is a better example, Von Miller was the Super Bowl MVP of 2016.  Now is it racist since he is black and a white player wasn't awarded the MVP?  If there was a threat of players not returning would everyone get an award to shut them up?  If a white player was MVP so many times does it turn into #NFLsowhite?
     And what would that tell people if a film from Netflix was up for an Oscar?  Just like how ratings of prime time television has gone down after internet shows started being up for Emmys is that the public don't have pay for cable anymore to get quality entertainment.  Why do you think the theater owners were against "Beasts of No Nation" being played on the big screen just long enough to make it for Oscar guidelines before streaming.  Because you are telling people you don't need to spend $10 on a ticket to go to a theater when you can just spend $7.99 a month and see all the movies you want from your couch.  When Netflix movies start getting nominated that will be the beginning of the end for art house films.
     The Academy has noticed that viewership has been going down over the years and that is why they started doing stupid gimmicks.  Two hosts and ten best picture nominees weren't really enough to boost up ratings.  The films and actors that do win may as well have played on Netflix before the show because no one really heard of them in the general movie going public.  Just how next year we will get beaten over the head about how diverse Oscar is now and how much of a win it is now.  For who?
     The world is already an ugly place with all this political correctness going on.  Cops are killers, white women can pretty much be any race they choose, and gay black men can shoot two reporters on live television and it turns into gun control, not mental illness.  The Oscars were my refuge from all this kind of ugliness that I didn't care to see.
     But I'm sure blogs like this one will be looked at as irrelevant when the same thing happens to the Oscars a few years from now.

Financial aid letter

This is a copy of what I typed for financial aid letter when I first when back to school.  I would hope that people can read this understand the struggles of what it's like when someone tries to better them self around people who don't want too. 

I've Never Received Financial Aid

I have never received financial aid. Not once in my life have I ever applied or received financial aid from the start of my academic career up until now. This is my first year doing this because of the layoffs at US Steel Granite City Works. I didn’t choose to get laid off nor did I want to wonder how I will be able to support myself. I thought that going to school part time would help me, but I was only half right.

My records say that I have a whole bunch of credits, but I don’t think that people are looking at the details of them. When I went back to SWIC in 2005 I took the welding certificate program to advance at my old job, American Steel. The foundry didn’t have a tuition reimbursement program so I paid for it out of pocket. Unfortunately after that layoff I couldn’t find a job with only a welding certificate. Most places wanted more advanced types of welding that I didn’t know how to do. Let’s just say it was a bad period in my life.

In the winter of 2007 I started my second “real” job at Olin Brass in East Alton. But just as you can count on having to go pee in the morning I got laid off from that job also. Not once, but twice I was laid off with no formal education. During my Olin years I started going to school part time, but could only take one class a semester because of swing shift and unknown overtime. I made a killing at Olin, or so I thought, because I lived at home and everything was awesome. I was young, had a nice car, and was too arrogant for my own good. I paid for all of these classes too out of pocket.

The recession of 2008 thru 2009 was my first layoff I experienced. The whole country was pretty much out of work and I was working part time where I could. All the mills around the area were laying people off and I did the best I could. I was 24 years old and while I didn’t think I was old, I was seeing that my lack of education was hurting my job prospects. I was laid off again in 2011 and now it was clear that the industry was a sinking ship. Unfortunately I didn’t have a degree or any specialized skill so I had to make ends meet by working various part time jobs. Everyone would tell me to go back to school, which was easier said than done because I didn’t have any money to pay for classes. I didn’t receive any financial aid.

So as you may have guessed if you read this far, is that I worked at US Steel and was recently laid off. During my employment there I took advantage of the tuition reimbursement offered by the union. Overtime and swing shift were against me once again and I could only take one class a semester and online at that. It was a personal goal to get my associates degree to just prove to myself that I wasn’t just another mindless zombie working in a factory setting. That may sound narcissistic, but after working at Olin and US Steel I never understood how people could make $50,000 plus a year, but still have teeth that were literally rotting away. The sad part about that last sentence is that I can prove it.

Now that may sound pretty rude, but it’s true. The overtime at the steel mill was unreal, but also rewarding. Everyone got use to the big paychecks and of course had to spend the money on really nice stuff. Any mention of schooling or bettering one’s self usually resulted in being called a “fag”. Any mention of education usually was shot down with this response and I’m assuming that people thought that the mill was forever. It’s pretty sad when you think that people want to spend their whole lives with their head in the sand and not try to think about tomorrow. I can’t even begin to write stories about mill life and the entitlement that people had. I think that “Allegory of the Cave” is a great read to kind of sum up how factory people are. They are afraid of what they don’t understand and live in the dark, making up what they see in the shadows.

Not everyone was a total waste, there were good people, but it’s the majority that made the job a living hell. As this is being written there are contract negotiations and major changes happening at US Steel. Industry in this country is becoming a dying art and I just don’t feel that I can drink the Kool Aid any longer. All the hours I worked along with the sweat and tears, I’m man enough to admit it, are basically for nothing because I can’t use those skills out in the real world. We were basically glorified laborers who used proprietary equipment that no other place in the job market has. One could argue about my welding certificate, but that was the barebones of welding skill which I haven’t used in over ten years and got constantly turned down jobs because of my lack of skill.

The TAA program has allowed me a final chance to restart my life and pursue something I’m actually interested in. I had to change my major to graphic communication instead of associates in art. I love all the Adobe products I get to use and that I’m able to learn in a comfortable environment. I have a lot of generals done, but the rest of the credits I have are practically useless. I’m learning different aspects of graphic design that I can actually use towards a future career. I have a challenge to prove my theory about steel mill work and graphic communication future employment. Go to indeed.com and type graphic designer, graphic communication, web designer, and count how many results come up. Now type steel work and utility technician (title at US Steel I had) and count the amount of results that come back. If you think that the steel worker search got more job listings please contact me immediately because I have some real estate to sell you.

I’m not a welder, brass worker, or steel worker, I am a student. I’ve paid my way through college and never submitted or received any kind of financial aid. Please lift the appeal and give me a fighting shot at a career path that doesn’t involve having to lie to myself that everything is ok and gives me skills that I can actually use in modern society.

Sincerely,

Ricky Jankowski        

Best Film of 2015: The Final Girls

     I was saying that Furious 7 was the best picture of 2015 and stood by that claim for simple reasons.  I was thoroughly entertained and the film held my attention the whole way through even through the cheesiness, I thought it was great.  Tomorrowland had great potential, but fell flat on it's face and Star Wars 7 while good, was a bit of a let down.  The Final Girls however, was one of the best surprises I've had with film in a long time.
     Anybody that knows me personally knows that I have a soft spot in my heart for slasher movies.  I'm not talking about torture porn that seems to be an excuse for horror like Hostel or the Saw series, I'm talking about the classics like the original Halloween and Friday the 13th.  Films that I use to stay up late watching either during the childhood sleepover or that were hosted on USA Up: All Night and Monstervision.  The 80's slasher genre would never be nominated for any Oscars or (except 1978 Halloween) come on any top ten movies of the year lists, but did provide a few scares and mindless popcorn thrills for the audience.  The Final Girls is a love letter for fans of this while surprisingly having a great amount of heart within the humor and violence.  I don't want to use the term gore because the film is rated PG-13 and while I thought this was going to be a corny let down, I couldn't believe the mastery of director Todd Strauss-Schulson for making me more emotionally invested in the characters than blood on screen.
     The film is about Max (Talssa Farmiga) whose deceased mother (Malin Akerman) was a former screen queen of the 80s in a slasher camp movie.  During an anniversary showing at a theater a freak accident cause Max and her friends to be transported into the actual slasher movie.  There Max meets the character her mother played in the original and to me that is where the strength of the movie is.  The film does have it's tongue in cheek humor like Scream about how to survive a horror movie, but it never feels pretentious.  Tucker and Dave vs Evil is a movie I would compare The Final Girls too, but while Tucker lost steam and ideas halfway through, Girls keeps finding ways to surprise and keep the viewer entertained.
     It was refreshing to not have over the top violence or nudity, which both are almost absent.  Like an early Tim Burton picture the visuals are striking and create a perfect tone for set pieces in the movie.  It kills me how some films can cost millions of dollars and look like garbage visually, but a small budget film like this looks on par with something that cost ten times as much.  With a competent story and rich characters really do help make a complete movie.
     I really don't want to give too much more away in terms of plot because of spoilers and also I want people to be surprised.  This film was great on many levels, but how I judge a film is whether I am entertained or not.  The Final Girls moves at a decent pace, has a clever story, and keep me emotionally invested the whole time.  I loved all the nods to 80's slasher films and pop culture, but mostly I loved how I wasn't expecting much with this film and got so much more in return.
     To me, this is the best film of 2015.

If it isn't broke, then fix it

     I don't understand why these companies have to always cheat their base of customers with some kind of new program or interface that either has a steep learning curve or loses past applications.  So it's no wonder that Windows 10 isn't taking off as fast as Windows 7.  Windows 7 is arguably the best modern interface for doing simple tasks, nothing is hidden or was hard to get too.  The interface is still used by companies and schools because of it's proven success.
     The reasoning for this rapid movement is because of tablets becoming super popular with the public.  Laptops are great for intense stuff like gaming, writing, and designing, but most people don't do all that and really just want something a little more than a typical smart phone.  With Windows 10 a lot of features such as windows media player don't apply like they did before because of films being digitally downloaded now.  But what about the other million people that don't have a tablet and need these features?  Windows get nagging everyone to download it and when people finally did, the word of mouth is what slowed the process.  Besides Windows 7 is suppose to be good up until 2029 so I think the world will be able to manage until then.

Link Here

Streaming=Killing cable, but not my wallet.

     Tonight I made a decision I was trying to avoid, getting rid of cable.  Granted we had over a hundred channels, but I really only watched maybe ten of them.  The kicker was that our cable was out and Charter wanted to still charge $129 for service.  How can you justify spending that much on cable you ask?  The answer is simple, we liked the children's programming for the little one.  So instead of Nickelodeon in the mornings he will have to watch Netflix.
     Netflix hasn't been around as long as say Pay Per View, but now what started as an online DVD rental company has changed the way people watch movies and television programming.  If Redbox killed Blockbuster, then Netflix is slowly killing cable.  Every kind of show you want is now available for only $7.99 a month with no commercials.  Granted it's not like they have absolutely anything you want, but there are hours of different things to capture someones interest.  Netflix is becoming more of a network like the channel USA Network where they brag about how much original programming they have and how great that is...for somebody I guess.
     I remember dating this chick back 2009 and she would order new release from Netflix.  We would sit there and cuddle for hours watching what ever and just really enjoying each others company.  She had both Netflix, plus cable with all the premium channels to boot.  Video streaming wasn't quite there yet so we had to wait for those magic DVDs to come in the mail.  Things didn't work out and I'm often reminded of here throughout my week.  I hope things are going well for her and I'll never forget those moments we had that seemed like something out of a movie.  She was a strong willed puma that was stuck in here ways.
     I don't know, maybe she finally gave up cable.

Link Here