On G.I. Joe and a new Doorstop of Doom
Aug. 14th, 2009 02:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kamreadsandrecsSo I managed to catch G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra last Tuesday with Max. Since she doesn't have a job yet and I only have one class on that day, we decided to swing by MOA after lunch and catch the movie together.
I won't give any spoilers, so I won't put this under a cut, but I think I can share a couple of interesting insights into the movie:
- Christopher Eccleston might have been hot as Nine, but he is ten times hotter when he's wearing a suit, surrounded by slick tech and weapons of mass destruction, and has a Scottish accent as deep as Loch Ness. As Destro, his hotness factor goes from a simmer (as Nine) to outright sizzle (as Destro).
- Channing Tatum can dance, but he does not have the acting thing down yet.
- Ripcord is played by a Wayans brother. That should tell you enough about what his character's like.
- Dennis Quaid cuts an impressive figure as General Hawke - and I do mean that. He has the attitude of a man you do not disobey: if he tells you get down on the floor and give him twenty, you do just as he says, and add another ten to that twenty, too.
- The best fight scenes are the ones between Snake-Eyes and Stormshadow, bar none. The explosions are impressive, I'll say that much, but absolutely nothing comes close to the hand-to-hand (or steel-to-steel, really) combat that these two engage in.
- Snake-Eyes is so awesome, he does not need no accelerator suit to get the job done. Because, you know, he's Snake-Eyes.
- The Baroness is hot. That is all.
Oh, and for those who haven't seen it. Keep an eye peeled for a surprising cameo, and try to guess who that cameo plays in the world of G.I. Joe.
... And I just had another thought: when will Hasbro produce a Transformers/G.I. Joe crossover? Because that sounds like mind-blowing fun to me.
And speaking of Hasbro: now that Transformers and G.I. Joe have their movies, are they going to be putting a My Little Pony live-action out?
--~*~--
In other news, I have a new Doorstop of Doom, and it's titled Anathem by Neal Stephenson. Stephenson has a great track record with me: ever since I read his Baroque Cycle and Cryptonomicon, the man has been a byword for fascinating endurance tests of reading and understanding. Reading because... Well, the entire Baroque Cycle is pretty thick if stacked together, and Cryptonomicon is no different. As for understanding, Stephenson likes playing around with ideas connected to economics, politics, science, math, and code-breaking - all of which are present in his Baroque Cycle, on top of the lush descriptions he uses to set the tone for the period, plus extremely period-accurate references and language. When Stephenson writes, he goes for big, epic, and lush - which is something I'm totally onboard with.
And now I have Anathem, which is set in a world that looks kind of like medieval Europe, but with math as the focus, and not Christianity. Think Name of the Rose, except bigger and heftier and generally more. Not to say Name of the Rose isn't huge: it is, for such a small package when compared to Anathem. But it must be noted that Stephenson is coming from a different place, compared to where Eco was coming from. Eco is historical fiction; Stephenson is speculative.
So I beg your pardon while I go dive into it; Stephenson always requires a lot of focus, and I plan to give it that now - at least until I get to the next chapter.
I won't give any spoilers, so I won't put this under a cut, but I think I can share a couple of interesting insights into the movie:
- Christopher Eccleston might have been hot as Nine, but he is ten times hotter when he's wearing a suit, surrounded by slick tech and weapons of mass destruction, and has a Scottish accent as deep as Loch Ness. As Destro, his hotness factor goes from a simmer (as Nine) to outright sizzle (as Destro).
- Channing Tatum can dance, but he does not have the acting thing down yet.
- Ripcord is played by a Wayans brother. That should tell you enough about what his character's like.
- Dennis Quaid cuts an impressive figure as General Hawke - and I do mean that. He has the attitude of a man you do not disobey: if he tells you get down on the floor and give him twenty, you do just as he says, and add another ten to that twenty, too.
- The best fight scenes are the ones between Snake-Eyes and Stormshadow, bar none. The explosions are impressive, I'll say that much, but absolutely nothing comes close to the hand-to-hand (or steel-to-steel, really) combat that these two engage in.
- Snake-Eyes is so awesome, he does not need no accelerator suit to get the job done. Because, you know, he's Snake-Eyes.
- The Baroness is hot. That is all.
Oh, and for those who haven't seen it. Keep an eye peeled for a surprising cameo, and try to guess who that cameo plays in the world of G.I. Joe.
... And I just had another thought: when will Hasbro produce a Transformers/G.I. Joe crossover? Because that sounds like mind-blowing fun to me.
And speaking of Hasbro: now that Transformers and G.I. Joe have their movies, are they going to be putting a My Little Pony live-action out?
In other news, I have a new Doorstop of Doom, and it's titled Anathem by Neal Stephenson. Stephenson has a great track record with me: ever since I read his Baroque Cycle and Cryptonomicon, the man has been a byword for fascinating endurance tests of reading and understanding. Reading because... Well, the entire Baroque Cycle is pretty thick if stacked together, and Cryptonomicon is no different. As for understanding, Stephenson likes playing around with ideas connected to economics, politics, science, math, and code-breaking - all of which are present in his Baroque Cycle, on top of the lush descriptions he uses to set the tone for the period, plus extremely period-accurate references and language. When Stephenson writes, he goes for big, epic, and lush - which is something I'm totally onboard with.
And now I have Anathem, which is set in a world that looks kind of like medieval Europe, but with math as the focus, and not Christianity. Think Name of the Rose, except bigger and heftier and generally more. Not to say Name of the Rose isn't huge: it is, for such a small package when compared to Anathem. But it must be noted that Stephenson is coming from a different place, compared to where Eco was coming from. Eco is historical fiction; Stephenson is speculative.
So I beg your pardon while I go dive into it; Stephenson always requires a lot of focus, and I plan to give it that now - at least until I get to the next chapter.
