Camson’s Corner

I just re-watched an episode of Pushing Daisies called “Smell of Success.”  I think the ending is very similar to the ending of Superman II.  Spoilers after the break.

Here is another re-post from my Top 10 blog. I removed the clips for easier skimming. Enjoy!

This was a very fun list to make. I relied on the movies’ ratings on www.rottentomatoes.com to determine if the movie was “bad.” I did not include anything higher than 50%, even though there were some movies I thought got a little too much love on the old tomatometer. These are ranked based on the level of love I have for the movies, and not necessarily the level of guilt. The number in parentheses is the rating on the tomatometer.

10. Volcano (42%)
Why do most people not like it? A volcano erupts in downtown Los Angeles. Most moviemakers/critics are from the LA area. Nobody likes the idea of their hood being destroyed, ergo most critics don’t like Volcano.
Why do I like it? We learn that lava is one of the most badass villains ever. It’s only weakness? Concrete and Tommy Lee Jones. Also, more on lava later.

9. Meteor Man (31%)
Why do most people not like it? They are racist and don’t like the idea of Robert Townsend playing a Superman-like character that can also learn everything a book says instantly, but only retain that knowledge for a brief time.
Why do I like it? The 90s had a severe lack of Superman movies. When I was younger this was a great replacement. As I aged, I came to appreciate the magnitude of Meteor Man’s power. Talking to dogs, green thumb and learning things from books = god-like.

8. Zorro: The Gay Blade
Why do most people not like it? Anti-gay, obviously.
Why do I like it? This classic comedic revamp of the Zorro character shows that movies can be made about old characters, and made funny. We don’t have to resort to movies re-enacting scenes from other movies with people falling down at the end, in order to have decent comedy. We are better than that, and Zorro:The Gay Blade proves it.

7. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (39%)
Why do most people not like it? I’m assuming there are two reasons. First, they didn’t like seeing Zordon get so disrespected. Second, they didn’t like the new zords.
Why do I like it? This movie finally explores the link between Zordon and the power of the rangers. It forces the heroes to push themselves farther than they have before if they want to save Earth. It’s realism and grittiness are a great pre-cursor to films like “The Dark Knight.”

6. Bad Boys 2 (24%)
Why do most people not like it? People probably got a little tired of the genre. After several runs of “Beverly Hills Cop” and the first “Bad Boys,” the action/comedy had already had its day at the box office when “Bad Boys 2″ came out. That, and they foresaw that Martin Lawrence would completely let his acting career go, and they wanted to punish him prematurely.
Why do I like it? I did not have my fill of the action/comedy. I also love buddy comedies. I don’t have much to say besides that. The clip is a “best of” compilation that speaks volumes.

I am definitely a fan of Barack Obama’s overall embrace of evolving technology. He has everything from a Facebook Page to a Twitter account. However, today Obama announced that he would announce his Vice Presidential choice via text message. People who subscribe will be the “first” to know Obama’s pick, sometime between now and the Democratic Party convention. But is the text message announcement taking the technological embrace too far? While the use of text messages have grown, they are still primarily used for late night booty calls short messages when you don’t feel like calling. Is that really the best medium to announce the person Obama wants to be the Vice President of the United States? I think it may be a bit too casual.

I realized recently that I no longer have any sense of what is considered common knowledge and what is considered nerd knowledge of one kind or another. The other day I was out to dinner with some friends and I mentioned that I had seen Son of Rambow. Nobody knew what it was, but I was understanding since it is a small film and didn’t get much publicity. When I followed up that I was looking forward to the new Judd Apatow movie, Pineapple Express, I was expecting everyone to nod in agreement. Instead, the reply was “Who is Judd Apatow?”

That is not even something super nerdy, in my opinion. A much better example happened last week. I was watching an episode of the acclaimed British comedy Peep Show, and one of the side characters mentioned that they had gotten into LARPing, which brought on teasing from another character. I started cracking up. When I looked to the person I was watching the show with and inquired to their stoic state, they asked me what “LARPing” was. I was too embarassed to explain.

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Many people know that Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card was my favorite book as a kid, and it has held up over time. Recently, I’ve gotten back into comic books. That is why I was delighted to hear that Marvel would be turning Ender’s Game into a comic. According to the Marvel release, Card will be overseeing the project. So far, so good, right? The problem came for me when I was at my local comic shop and saw the advertising poster that Marvel has released (see to the right. Image from marvel.com via majorspoilers.com).

To launch into a bit more nerdiness than normal, I’m going to explain why this poster dampened my hopes for the comic. It obviously shows a bugger (the bad guys in the book) and Ender in a flash suit. The bugger is one of those things that would be hard to mess up. It is just supposed to be a giant bug, and they don’t get much ’screen time’ so to speak, in the book.

The flash suit is an integral part of the book. The characters wear flash suits when playing the game in the battle room, a primary part of the story. In this picture, it looks like Ender is wearing some sort of armor. In the book, the flash suit is described as a heavily padded jumpsuit. I’m hoping that this is just a preliminary drawing meant to entice fans and force us to hold our breath until the comic is published. For me, it raises all sorts of doubts and concerns about Marvel taking one of my favorite franchises, and shitting all over it. Only time will tell.

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I had to come home to get my wisdom teeth out last week. Overall, I would say the experience was not bad at all. I recovered within 48 hours and now just have to avoid nuts and popcorn and things of this nature for ages. The only reason I’m posting this is because apparently when I had become conscious after the procedure, apparently I was quite the little talker.

They had moved me into a very small recovery room and my mom was sitting in the corner.

Me: Mom, I seem to be in some sort of small room.
Mom: Yes, you’re in the recovery room.
Me: But it’s a really small recovery room right?
Mom: Yes
Me: And it’s not the room I was in before, right?
Mom: Right.

I drifted back to sleep then. Fast forward like two minutes. I wake up and notice that in the corner of the room there is a security camera.

Me:Mom, there is a camera in the corner
Mom: I know
(my mom comes over and sits on the side of the bed to see how I’m doing)
Me: Mom, don’t say anything. They’re recording us.
Mom: It’s OK
Me: Seriously, they’re recording every word we’re saying. Don’t say anything.

A few minutes later the nurse came in and was telling me/my mom what I had to do and not do over the next couple of weeks. Apparently I was cognizant enough to make a self-deprecating comment about myself.

Nurse: OK, you can’t do any heavy exercise or weight lifting for a few days.
Me: I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not really the exercise type (patting my stomach and putting “exercise type” in air quotes, all while barely conscious.)

Then they had me walk out to the car, but hold on to my mom’s shoulder. Now, I don’t know if you know my mom, but she is like 5′4 and a tiny little thing. I told them the only thing she would be able to do if I fell was fall with me.

I didn’t fall.

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When I decided to attend law school, I was told by many that it would be hard work. While the work is challenging, it is not unbearable. After four years of college I have managed to curb my inability to avoid distractions, and that has helped enormously. One of those distractions has always been television. What can I say? I love television. Now more than ever there are a ton of great shows on the air. I had established a routine where the next morning while exercising I would watch whatever shows were on the night before, enjoy them and that would be that. However, the WGA strike changed all of that.

A few weeks after the writer’s went on strike, shows began to drop off the air. One of the first to go was NBC’s The Office. That show is amazing, and has been getting better and better this season. However, as The Office and other shows I watch began to go into re-runs, I was forced to go elsewhere for my entertainment. My friends soon discovered that CBS’s Kid Nation was available free on demand from Comcast. Oh. My. God. We all quickly became obsessed. Instead of other shows where I would watch weekly and that was the end of it, I found myself watching episodes of Kid Nation multiple times in one week. I was reading College Humor articles about the show. I was joining Facebook groups and playing drinking games. Instead of refining my outlines or quizzing myself, I was lost in wondering who would get that week’s gold star, worth it’s weight in gold……literally.

Luckily, this week was the lack luster season finale of the show. I’ve already taken two finals, and I am sure the grades will reflect my obsession. Two bad grades will then keep me from getting a good job. And it is all because of the WGA.

While watching Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip I wondered out loud to my friend Kevin what it would be like to hang out with all professional comedians. His response? “It’s probably a lot like hanging out with us but a lot more brutal when you tell a bad joke.”

So I’m walking down the street and I walk past this guy and his girlfriend walking hand in hand.

Guy: If you think Harry Potter is big here, think about England. There’s like a whole set of social norms in that book that we’re only tangentially related to.

Unfortunately I was walking by them, but I’m very curious to know what the follow up was to that.