Jobs Vlog Review (Parts 1-3)

revrezner and I talk about Jobs (2013) starring Ashton Kutcher.

The World's End Vlog Review (Parts 1 & 2)

revrezner and I talk about The World's End starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

The Green: Epilogue

I got special attention that I felt I didn't deserve. I had given Earth a final chance at being saved and people overreacted. Couldn't they see that I had let a great man die. I had let my lover suffer a fate of insanity and then killed him. I didn't see, now that I was able to be in a calm environment, how killing him was a good or necessary deed.

I'm sorry, Plague. I'm so sorry.

The nurses in the hospital were kind to me and patched me up as best they could. They, of course, made sure that no Gralg was on my body and that I was not going to be a problem. One nurse tried to talk to me about sports but I didn't answer. He eventually gave up and left the room.

I couldn't talk to anyone. I didn't know how I could ever talk again. I could talk to a Superior, but I didn't think I could do small talk anymore.

I was on a small cot and dim sunlight came in through the window. It was a cloudy day that fit my mood. I was living with Plague dead and the Gralg outbreak didn't seem like it was ever going to be stopped. At least not by me.

It was my duty to fight Gralg, but I didn't have the strength to do so with Plague gone. There was no one to replace him and I didn't feel like trusting someone else with my emotions.

Hours passed and the only interaction I had was accepting food and some pills. No one else spoke to me after the nurse tried talking to me about sports. I don't think they had any great dealings with soldiers or else this was their way of working through the problem.

Finally someone I could barely remember seeing stepped through the door and I just nodded at him.

"My name is David Cafil, Clohn." He said and waited for my response.

He looked like a Specialist in the Army. After seeing that I decided I had to say something. I had to at least have an exchange of information and then I could go back to contemplating.

"Did Plague's final mission mean anything?" I asked as I didn't want to label the Winchester, Kentucky mission mine. I had to pay respect to my lover somehow.

"It gave us information about combating Gralg that we didn't have before." David said without answering my question. But it was an answer in a way.

"So it didn't mean anything." I said and turned away from David. "He died for nothing."

"It will be useful in the long term."

"But will it stop Gralg? Will it be the key that we need?"

David's silence was enough.

"I need to rest." I said without looking at him.

When he exited the room and shut the door I looked over to where he had been standing.

The last things I remembered before falling asleep were a woman yelling about the end of the world and a young woman in white. She was the same one I had hallucinated in my cell in Nuscon, Arizona.

She smiled at me and touched the palm of my hand. My hand turned brown and green before returning to its natural color.

I fell asleep more peacefully than I thought possible.

-THE END-

Author's Note: Thank you to all my readers who were with me from day one to the end. As well as those that joined along the way.
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Read All of The Green
The Green Main Links

Continuum (Season 2)

Show: Continuum

Season: 2

Episodes: 13

Created By: Simon Barry

Released: 2013

Rating: 4.5/5

Basic Plot: Kiera Cameron continues to try and make sure her future survives while Alec Sadler comes to terms with the revelation from the Season 1 Finale.
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Expanding the Universe
In series it's good to expand on boundaries. Such as Fringe deciding to go in the direction that there is more than one universe. In both Fringe and Continuum, expanding on the universe answers questions rather than creating more for the sake of mystery. In Season 2 you find out that it might not have been an accident that Kiera got sent back in time and that Alec (his future self) had something to do with that decision. I really loved Alec's backstory being expanded upon this season.

Should The Future Be Changed
Throughout this Season the question is raised if the future should be changed. Kiera Cameron believes in keeping the future the same so that she can return to her son and husband. Alec Sadler, who received some interesting news at the end of last season, thinks it should be changed. I believe both believe their position to be right because they have a personal stake in their answer being right. For Kiera, she has her family at stake (since I'm never going to have children I can only connect to her returning to her husband). For Alec, he is trying to avoid the mistakes his future self made.

More Than Two Sides
In the first season it was Kiera against Liber8. There was right and there was wrong. True, both sides were heavily in the grey but there were only two sides. In the second season there are more sides. It turns out Alec's future self has some dealings with what is happening in the past and had a hand in sending others back. There are the freelancers whose side isn't very clear, just that they aren't on Liber8's side. Julian is also changing and gets his own group of people.

Final Thoughts
One of my favorite parts of this season is when Kiera finally tells Carlos about who she really is. I admit her first go-around telling him didn't go well, but when she finally did it was great. I enjoyed seeing the continuation of this series and think this Season brings this series higher instead of taking it down. The finale for this season really shook me and I can't wait until next season. What happened to Alec? What the heck is going on with Kiera and some other people? I must have answers now!

Animorphs Re-Read: #1 The Invasion (Chapters 5-8)

Chapter 5

A Hork-Bajir starts to search for the kids and Elfangor tells them to be silent. The space cows can't see well in the dark but their hearing is wonderful.

The Hork-Bajir is very close to the kids and Jake is more than afraid. He imagines how the creature will kill him. He goes on to describe what fear can do to you and says everyone is the same way. That no matter how brave you think you are, everyone experiences extreme fear the same way.

To help the children, the dying Andalite gives them some of his strength. Jake says the feeling is beyond words.

When the Hork-Bajir goes away Jake sees the Taxxon and Hork-Bajir Controllers turn towards the ship. He says that they're standing at attention and Marco points out that none of them knows anything about aliens.

Visser Three appears and the kids notice him and Elfangor look alike. In other words: Visser Three has an Andalite host. Elfangor says that Visser Three is the only Yeerk to ever take an Andalite host.

Jake remarks that Visser Three and Elfangor feel different though they look similar.

Cassie and Rachel are worried that the Visser can hear their thoughts. Elfangor says that if you don't direct your thoughts to someone then they can't be heard. I would like to point out how thought-speak works changes after the first book. It is common knowledge that Applegate changed her mind after The Invasion was published. So what Elfangor is talking about here was probably meant to mean something more than using thought-speak in morph.

Visser Three shows himself to be a little drama queen. He pretends not to know Elfangor to show how much he hates the Andalite. He goes on and on about how much he rules.

Elfangor asks why the Yeerks would bother with humans as the parasites already have Taxxon allies and Hork-Bajir slaves. The Visser replies that the reason is because there are billions of humans and that they have no idea of what's happening.

Elfangor stands up since he refuses to die lying down. The Visser continues to taunt the Andalite by saying he'll hunt down Elfangor's family and have his most loyal lieutenants infest them. Elfangor strikes Visser Three with his tail-blade! AND Elfangor's fighter shoots a bug fighter!

The Visser angrily orders for the Andalite fighter to be destroyed.

The children see the outlines of humans and they wonder if the humans are prisoners.

The Visser orders some Hork-Bajir controllers to hold Elfangor. They could kill him but that 'pleasure' is for the Visser only.

Jake remarks that they all saw why a powerful Yeerk would inhabit an Andalite. I'd like to point out that Visser Three wasn't that rank when he got Alloran's body.

The first morph of the book and it'll probably give children nightmares!

Cassie is the only one to say anything and she just keeps repeating 'no' while Jake is busy whimpering. Cassie takes comfort by taking Tobias' hand.

Even when Elfangor is picked up by the monster Visser Three has turned into, he keeps striking with his tail-blade.

The chapter ends with the Visser opening his mouth.


Chapter 6

Jake finally snaps and starts to make a move to try and stop Visser Three from killing Elfangor. It takes Elfangor and Jake's friends to not get himself killed before he can become a fearless leader.

Visser Three eats Elfangor and at the last moment Elfangor cries out. His scream haunts Jake and the boy doesn't think that nightmare will ever go away.

The Hork-Bajir Controllers laugh and the Taxxon Controllers go to eat any piece of Andalite that falls down.

I think it's telling that Tobias is the only one who has to cover his eyes. Since Elfangor is Tobias' father and they seem to have a strong connection to each other.

The Human Controllers are also laughing and Jake seems to recognize one of the voices. At least he thinks he does...

Visser Three demorphs and reveals that the creature he had morphed into is called an Antarean Bogg. The Human and Hork-Bajir Controllers laugh again. Jake hears the familiar laughter and Marco vomits.

The teenagers start running and Jake says to split up. Rachel and him are the fastest runners so he decides they should be the distraction.

I love how in this book and the Harry Potter series curse words are always described in a funny manner. Jake hadn't realized Rachel could cuss.

Jake, our fearless leader, falls down. Rachel doesn't realize he's down. When she does he tells her to keep going.

Jake runs into an unfinished building he remembers and hopes that the others escaped alive.

Navigating the buildings is harder than usual when scared, Jake finds out.

Jake hears a human voice that sounds familiar telling the Hork-Bajir Controller to just kill whoever it finds.

Jake bumps into a homeless man whose fate is uncertain, but most likely dead, and then runs away once the Hork-Bajir Controller is distracted with the man.


Chapter 7

Jake makes it home and checks up on the others. Good man, check up on your friends even when all you want to do is curl up in a corner and forget everything.

That morning Tobias comes over to visit. Jake is confused as to why bird boy has come over. When Tobias enters Jake's room, Jake notices that his friend is very excited.

Tobias said he had become his cat (Dude) earlier. Jake, not having had his morning coffee, is very confused.

 Tobias says that he didn't know exactly how to morph so he made sure his door was locked. This leads Jake to talk about Tobias' messed up family life. Tobias never knew his father (remember, he doesn't know Elfangor is his real father), Loren left bird boy all of a sudden, and he's now moved between his aunt and uncle.

Why do I always have to love the hurt ones?

Tobias says that he just had to concentrate on Dude to become him. He mentions Dude getting freaked out and clawing him. This is confusing as Tobias still has an injury from that little attack.

Jake is still confused and tells Tobias that he probably imagined it happening.

Tobias then goes on to describe what being a cat felt like and how much he enjoyed that morph.

Jake still insists that Tobias dreamt that he turned into a cat. Bird boy says that Jake just doesn't want to believe they can morph now. Jake replies that of course he doesn't want to believe the truth.

 Tobias then brings up Elfangor. Jake realizes that he can't just dismiss the Andalite.

Tobias then decides to morph into Dude to help Jake decide what is real. It takes a few seconds for the morphing to have any big effects. Jake says that he feels like laughing but if he started he couldn't stop.


Chapter 8

Jake and Tobias learn the general rules of thought speak. Such as you have to direct your thoughts to someone so that they can hear you.

This is a problematic scene if you put it up against the rest of the series. In this scene Jake is able to talk telepathically to Tobias (while bird boy is in a morph), but that's not the case in #2 The Visitor. This was very confusing to me upon first reading the second book.

While Tobias is in cat morph he starts experiencing some of the instincts of one. He wants to play with string. Such a cat stereotype!

Jake points out to Tobias that he's playing with strong and that makes bird boy stop for a second. They then discuss the fact that Tobias hasn't just assumed the form of a cat but has BECOME a cat. With all the instincts of a feline.

Jake tells Tobias that he should demorph and bird boy agrees.

Tobias then tells Jake that maybe they can figure how to make it so when they demorph they aren't naked. Jake is taken aback by the assertion that he's suddenly included into this saving the world from the Yeerks business.

Tobias explains that Jake has to be the leader. He is the only one who can be.

I like the line about Jake only being able to see Tobias' human eyes in memory. I know Tobias will eventually regain his ability to morph as well as his human form, but I doubt Applegate knew about this when writing the line. However, it still foreshadows that Tobias will become a nothlit by the end of this book.

And with Jake accepting his role of leader he decides to try out the morphing ability for himself. He decides to morph into his dog Homer.
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Animorphs Re-Read Table of Contents

The World's End (2013) Ending

This post will be spoiler filled so if you haven't seen The World's End I'd suggest doing so now. I wouldn't want to spoil the awesomeness.

Now onto the main show:

As I said in my written review of the film (don't worry, the vlog with revrezner has been filmed and will be edited and released on the interwebs), the ending is both hilarious and sad at the same time.

It is hilarious because Gary King refuses to consider The Network's offer. He does his gag of never admitting that he's wrong. The funniest part of that scene, at least for me, is The Network giving up arguing with King and agreeing to leave. As The Network leaves it whispers, "Fuck it."

Looking at the conversation between Andy, King, and The Network brings up some good points in humanity's favor. Even though King is an idiot because he never admits he's wrong, the fact is that I found myself agreeing with his point that humanity should be free. King says it because he's shitfaced and he won't let an argument go. But, really, the only way humanity can thrive is if it is free.

If the world is going to be peaceful it should be because humans made it that way and not because some outside force made it so. This is why I think Stephenie Meyer failed in The Host by making the invading aliens into saints.

Humanity will probably never achieve world peace (all the sexist, racist, transphobic, ect. people out there that don't even seem to realize what they are outnumber the sane people), but I would never bow down to alien overlords that seek to manipulate and force the world into peace.

It's even brought up that The Network hasn't been able to achieve peace without the methods shown in The World's End.

So I'm glad that King argued so fiercely for humanity's freedom, even if it wasn't his real intention to do so.

After The Network leaves Earth, the world ends. Every technological thing seems to go away. In the NBC show Revolution the electronics don't work because of nanites, but The Network just stopped humanity's technology in a bid to stop humans from causing problems for the rest of the universe.

When the world has ended, Andy gets back with his wife. Sam and Peter get it on. And King...doesn't change at all. Well, he drinks water now but that might just be because that's how the world is now.

I find the outcome for King to be the most heartbreaking. Over the course of the movie you learn that King has cut and was trying to use the pub crawl as a way to get what he couldn't in his youth. I've heard people bring up the theory that if the pub crawl went the way he wanted, that he would have committed suicide.

So King does succeed in getting to The World's End (but doesn't get to drink that final pint) and lives his fantasy of being in his youth. He takes the Blanks of his friends as they were when they were younger and goes to different pubs.

Why I consider this heartbreaking is that King is shown to be unable to grow and develop. He will be the same person to the day that he dies. While you should keep yourself young at heart, you also have to realize that sometimes growth is good. It might not be easy, but it will be for the best.

On one hand I'm glad that King is now happy (even if the world has ended), but also sad that he'll never grow or develop.

The World's End (2013)

Title: The World's End

Director: Edgar Wright

Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Martin Freeman

Rated: R

Released: 2013

Personal Rating: 5/6

Oscars: N/A

Plot:  Five friends who reunite in an attempt to top their epic pub crawl from 20 years earlier unwittingly become humankind's only hope for survival.
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Great Humor
I am not a comedy person. Comedies are just hard for me to either watch or enjoy because I am confused on what is supposed to be funny about the movie or show I am watching. Hell, even in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book series the humor was hard for me to pick up. No disrespect to the great Douglas Adams intended. In this movie, however, I was able to fully enjoy myself. In fact there was one scene, can't recall it now, where I laughed so loudly that people in China heard me and the dead awakened. But the nearly packed theater's audience was laughing too so I wasn't noticed. Though I was embarrassed for my outburst.

Ending Both Sad and Funny
I can't say much about the ending here as I don't want to spoil the movie for you. Suffice it to say that the final confrontation between Gary King and the robots (though the movie's terminology for them are Blanks) is hilarious. Throughout the movie King has been painted as someone who you can't argue with and that is played up to great effect in the confrontation. But after you leave the theater you start to realize the implications about King's arc and it made me a little sad. I might make another post talking about the ending so that I can talk without fear of talking about major spoilers.

End of the World
In the trailers it seems that reaching The World's End is an end goal to save the world. In the trailers the plot seems to be that if they reach the that pub then they can work on saving the world. While reaching that pub does bring along the final confrontation, King's reason/obsession to getting there isn't to save the world. I don't think he really cares about saving the world at any point during the movie, really. He wants to get to the pub to do something he couldn't when he was younger and to bring solace to himself.

Final Thoughts
Out of the few movies I've seen released this year, this is my favorite. I haven't seen Iron Man 3 or Man of Steel yet so I can't say for certain what my favorite movie of the year will end up being. For now, though, this is my number one. The humor is done extremely well and fans of the Cornetto Trilogy will be happy to note the presence of some returning gags. Being a fan of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's works I had expectations that had to be met. They were.