Book Review: The Warlock by Michael Scott

Posted on May 23, 2014 by C.A. Jacobs

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series has been so addictive that I finished The Warlock (Young Adult Fantasy 376 pages) by Michael Scott a couple days ago and am only now writing the review. As with all the previous books in this series, if you have not read any of the previous books and you have not read The Warlock, don’t read this review, as there is no way to discuss the contents of this book and my reaction to it without giving away major plot points. I also started and finished the next book in the series today, so it might be a bit of an effort to remember what happened here and keep it separated from what happens in the next book.

“Alcatraz: Although their ally Dr. John Dee has been declared utlago, Machiavelli and Billy the Kid will follow the plans the Elders have laid before them: they will loose the monsters of Alcatraz on the city of San Francisco, thereby triggering the end of the humani race.”

“Danu Talis: The Shadowrealm that Scatty and Joan of Arc have entered is far more dangerous than they could have ever imagined. And they haven’t landed here by chance – the warriors were called for a reason. So were Saint-Germain, Palamedes, and Shakespeare. The group was summoned because they must travel back in time to Danu Talis and destroy it. For the island must fall if the modern world is to exist.”

“San Francisco: The end is finally near. Josh Newman has chosen a side, and he will not stand with his sister, Sophie, or with the Alchemyst, Nicholas Flamel. He will fight alongside Dee and the mysterious Virginia Dare. Unless Sophie can find her twin before the battle begins, all is lost – forever.”

This series just keeps getting more and more addictive and moving so much faster. I’ve enjoyed every book in the series so far, including this one. I really am impressed with the artwork and the details on the cover of the book. Just as the previous books contained different cover designs, so did this one. I’m pretty sure the designs on the cover give away some of the things that happen in the book and they might actually have bigger and broader meanings. It almost motivates me to do some symbol research. And that’s true with the rest of this book and series as well. There are so many nuances that I’m sure I could catch and understand a lot better if I did some mythology and history research. Maybe someday I will.

This book starts with Josh willingly taking sides with Dee and his crew. Throughout much of the book, you see the strife between the twins and it’s so frustrating because everything always boils down to a communication breakdown. It’s the same with any type of relationship. Everyone has their own perspective on things and their perspective must be the correct one, so of course, they never give the other person the opportunity to actually talk to each other and figure out what’s really going on. Then, when there is a communication breakdown, we tend to listen to the wrong people and make mistakes and less-than-stellar decisions, which often make things worse. The rift between Josh and Sophie is very well done, however, and it’s easy to see from both their perspectives as to how they are reacting to the events in their world.

The addition of Osiris and Isis in this story starts putting an even more interesting spin on the events going on, though I’m not quite sure who they are or how they fit into things. And the book definitely ends in a very uncomfortable place with those two. In fact, I’m again happy that I had the next book in the series when I finished this book, as this book made me actually say out loud, “You can’t end a book there!”

Overall, this series is creeping up into the four or five range on my scale. I’m fairly certain I will wind up reading them all again, and probably even faster next time.

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Movie Review: War, Inc

Posted on May 18, 2014 by C.A. Jacobs

I made the mistake of watching War, Inc. tonight. In all the reviews I have so far written, I have never written what I’m about to say. I would not recommend this movie to anyone. Ever. This is probably also going to be one of the shortest reviews I will ever write because I’m not really sure what I could say about it.

The politics in the movie were very blatant and not really amusing. I’m sure that some of the scenes were designed to be so obvious as to be amusing, but I just didn’t get any laughs out of it. While I do realize that this movie was probably intended to show an exaggerated sense of what happens after a war, but this was just ridiculous.

Overall, this movie was a one on my rating scale, which means that even if someone else is already watching it, I’m likely to leave the watching area or find something better to do with my time. Not a movie I ever need to see ever again.

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Movie Review: Wreck It Ralph

Posted on May 18, 2014 by C.A. Jacobs

I originally purchased Wreck It Ralph on the recommendation of someone I barely knew but who seemed to have fantastic taste in movies, books, and music. I had wanted to see the movie and I randomly purchased it without first having seen it based solely on that person’s recommendation. And I’m absolutely happy that I did because I enjoy this movie greatly. It also turns out that my initial assessment of that person was spot on and they are the most amazing and awesome person I have ever met with marvelous taste in movies, books, and music.

“For decades, Ralph has played the bad guy in his popular video game. In a bold move, he embarks on an action-packed adventure and sets out to prove to everyone that he is a true hero with a big heart. As he explores exciting new worlds, he teams up with some unlikely new friends including feisty misfit Vanellope von Schweetz. Then, when an evil enemy threatens their world, Ralph realizes he holds the fate of the entire arcade in his massive hands.”

One of the best parts of this movie was how much it reminded me of my past and the games from my childhood. There were references to Q*Bert, which I didn’t really play, but it reminded me of a game I did play called J-Bird. I knew all about Q*Bert, though. Super Mario Bros, Metal Gear, Street Fighter, Pac-Man, Tapper, Sonic, and some others all made appearances or were mentioned. I remembered how much fun I used to have playing all the old games with my brother and how hard those old games were. I really enjoyed all the subtle references to gaming throughout the years.

It’s really easy to sympathize with Ralph during this movie and it really brought me something of a new viewpoint. If there weren’t bad guys in video games, what would be the point of the game? “Who will crash men’s skulls like twigs between thighs?” I thought the bad guy motto and the zombie were both highly amusing. Watching a zombie talk about how labels don’t make people. “Me. Zombie. RRAAAAARRR.” It amused me 🙂

I really enjoyed how this movie took a bunch of video game tropes and turned them on their heads. Ralph’s comment when Hero’s Duty starts, “When did video games get so violent and scary?” and the fact that the first person shooter is a young girl with glasses amused me greatly. Calhoun is hilarious throughout the movie, especially at the beginning of Hero’s Duty and how one of her soldiers says that she was given the worst back story ever was both amusing and sad at the same time. Often times, the main protagonist for video games these days is the large, white, male hero who has experienced the loss of his wife or daughter or girlfriend or someone of that nature and it was nice to see that same role being reversed and having Calhoun’s about-to-be-husband the one who gets killed and how that motivates Calhoun to become a solid leader and soldier to kill the Cy-Bugs.

This movie has so many random puns that it’s hard to keep track of all of them. But these puns also amused me greatly.

I could go on and on about why I think this movie is great, but really, it’s the whole movie. The only thing in the movie that I dislike (and the only reason I don’t watch it more frequently) is that super annoying, yet highly addictive “Sugar Rush” song.

Overall, this movie is easily a high four or maybe even a five on my rating scale. Since my rating scale only goes to five, that’s pretty much as high as you can get. The “Sugar Rush” song is the only reason this movie isn’t a solid five on my rating scale. I own the movie, I’m happy I own the movie, and I watch it very frequently.

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Book Review: The Necromancer by Michael Scott

Posted on May 17, 2014 by C.A. Jacobs

I finished The Necromancer (Young Adult Fantasy 385 pages) by Michael Scott today and unlike the previous books in this series, I am actually writing my review immediately following my completion of the book.

Again, I feel strongly compelled to put the warning at the beginning of this review that it is no longer possible for me to write generic reviews about this book or about this series without giving huge amounts of spoilers. So if you haven’t read the previous books in this series or you haven’t also read this book, stop reading this review.

“San Francisco: Sophie and Josh Newman are finally home, but they’re more confused than ever about their future. Can they trust Nicholas Flamel? Can they trust anyone?”

“Alcatraz: The island could not hold Perenelle Flamel. And if the Dark Elders have their way, it won’t hold Dr. Dee’s menagerie of monsters much longer, either. Machiavelli has come to Alcatraz to loose them on San Francisco. And the Flamels’ fight to protect their city from these horrors will surely kill them both.”

“London: Having been unable to regain the two final pages of the Codex, Dee has failed his Elder and is now an outlaw. But the Magician has a plan. All he needs is the help of the Archons. For his plan to work, though, he must raise the Mother of All the Gods from the dead. For that, he’ll have to train a new necromancer.”

This book shows how absolutely insane or clever or brave Dee is because it shows what his plans are now that he has all four of the power swords, the Codex, and has been declared an outlaw by the Elders. I once read something, and I can’t remember where I read or when, that said the worst thing you can ever do is betray those who are loyal to you. And this clearly demonstrates exactly how dangerous it is to attempt to kill someone who was a loyal friend or servant because they probably know a good deal of secrets and things that would be slightly uncomfortable for enemies to know.

Dee’s plan is completely crazy. He’s going to use Josh to summon the Mother of All the Gods and then unleash her in the Shadow Realms and let her kill and eat all the Elders and Next Generations and anyone else that gets in her way. At the same time, he intends to unleash all the monsters from Alcatraz and let them go crazy over the world and then come in and contain them or kill them and have humanity see him as a savior. That’s a huge amount of ambition. Destroy all the Elders and then save and rule the human world. I guess that’s one of the reasons people are often warned about how evil begets evil and how those with absolute power will be absolutely corrupted and always be greedy for more.

I’m normally not very keen on books that jump around from one set of characters to another because I’m usually only invested in a couple characters and the rest of the storylines don’t really matter to me, but that’s absolutely not the case here. Each chapter ends at a very unpleasant point for whomever is involved in that chapter, and every time I turned the page and found that the story had character hopped again, it didn’t really matter to me because I wanted to know what happened to ALL of them. The action and the characters are really starting to speed up and move forward at a very fast pace. That’s a good portion of what makes this whole series brain candy books for me. I’m reading them so quickly that I get annoyed or frustrated when I have to stop reading long enough to do things like go to work or eat. That really shows how much I’m enjoying this series and the characters in the books.

I really liked the new characters of Aoife and Niten and I really wanted Aoife and Scathach to be given the time and opportunity to work things out. The theme between siblings and twins is definitely strong throughout these books and it makes me unbelievably happy and relieved to not have any sort of annoying team romance going on throughout the story. As I mentioned in my previous review, I really like how this series is showing the power of all the different types of love. The love of family, the love of spouses, and even the love of knowledge.

I also greatly enjoyed the interactions with Niccolo Machiavelli and Billy the Kid. I thought the two of them combined were rather hilarious, especially Billy the Kid and the way that he clearly portrays the brash, young American from the Wild West. I think the two of them make a great pair and I’ve enjoyed reading the sections with their adventures almost as much as the main characters throughout the book. I kind of hope that they turn out to be more on the side of the good guys and less on the side of the bad guys as the series continues.

The one part of this book that stood out for me the most was when Prometheus told Josh, “Never call upon the Magic of Fire when you are angry. Fire is the one magic that must be called upon only when you are calm; otherwise, it can rage out of control and consume everything – including you.” And this is absolutely true of fire. I used to think of myself as a raging inferno – beautiful to gaze upon from a distance, but the truth is that it burns up all things living and of beauty around it until nothing is left but ashes. But at the same time, those ashes are often necessary to create new growth. I don’t see myself this way anymore, but I do have a very healthy respect for fire now.

This book really ended in a terrible place, though. As I closed the book, I actually said out loud, “What? You can’t end a book there! That’s so wrong!” Josh continues to make questionable and not exactly healthy decisions and he’s ignoring obvious things like how Sophie should be the only person he should trust, which means he probably shouldn’t just walk off with people who just want to use him and have unclear motives. Now, Dee has the full Codex, all four of the swords of power, plus Josh. He can do some very, very, very bad things with that full combination.

Overall, I’d easily rate this book as a high three or a low four on my rating scale. I’m happy that I own this book and will likely read it again in the future.

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Movie Review: Godzilla

Posted on May 17, 2014 by C.A. Jacobs

I absolutely went and saw Godzilla last night on opening night and it was well-worth seeing the movie in a packed theater. I think this is actually one of those few, rare movies that’s made better when you see it in a theater filled with strangers. This movie clearly knew its target audience very well and there were a few times where I felt like they put things in there specifically to push the boundaries of what they knew the audience was likely to want to see or what the audience might react to.

I have to admit that I got a little confused by the timeline. I understand fully why they used only timeframes along the lines of “15 years ago”, but it was a little confusing to have several of those. So I wasn’t sure if it was trying to say that the whole thing took 30 years or more or if everything happened only 15 years ago.

The movie was not what I was expecting. Granted, I’m not really sure I had any expectations whatsoever, but when you first see things that are out of the ordinary, you think to yourself, “Huh. That’s not what I thought Godzilla would look like.” Or thinking about how that’s not how you thought the movie would start. I have to admit, the first part of the movie really was rather depressing, and not in the way I thought it would be. I think they did a really good job with showing the relationships between people and how much love can move a person to do either the extraordinary or be absolutely viewed as insane to the outside observer.

I was a little annoyed when I found out that the main character was a Lieutenant. Haven’t we had enough movies with young, brash Lieutenants? But then it was revealed that he was a Navy Lieutenant, which is actually an O3, meaning that this guy had actually been around for a bit and that he knew what he was doing, instead of being the Army / Air Force / Marine Corps Lieutenant, which is an O1 or O2, and generally is someone who is either fresh out of college or fresh out of training and hasn’t been in the military long enough to have real military experience. I think they did a really good job with this character and I actually liked him and wanted him to succeed.

Another minor oddity I found with the movie was I really thought Godzilla‘s head and teeth should be bigger. I mean, really, the first time you see all of Godzilla, I laughed because it looked like a giant bear. Godzilla‘s got this HUGE body, but then this tiny little head with questionable teeth. Those teeth really didn’t look like they could do any damage to anything. I’m sure Godzilla has great jaw strength, but the head really did look too tiny for the body to me.

Overall, I liked the movie and thought it was a lot of fun with great special effects, characters you can cheer for, and a logical timeline and course of events for this type of movie. I will probably buy it when it comes out and would probably rate it around a three on my scale.

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Book Review: The Sorceress by Michael Scott

Posted on May 17, 2014 by C.A. Jacobs

I finished The Sorceress (Young Adult Fantasy 483 pages) by Michael Scott sometime in the past week. Again, I got so wrapped up in reading the next book in the series that I neglected to write a review for this book. So hopefully, this one is fresh enough in my mind that I won’t confuse what happened in that story with what happens in the next book.

Obviously, I am getting more and more addicted to this series as I continue to read through these at a very healthy rate. Unfortunately, it is no longer possible for me to speak in generic terms about the books and there will likely be spoilers from this book, as well as key plot elements from the previous books. If you have not read the previous books or this book, I recommend that you don’t read any more of this review.

“Paris: Dr. John Dee has torn the city apart in every attempt to intercept the immortal Nicholas Flamel and Sophie and Josh Newman. He has the Book of Abraham the Mage, but he’s still missing the last two pages – the pages required for the Final Summoning. Without them the spell cannot be cast, and the Dark Elders will not rest until they are in power and the human race is destroyed – or Dee is.”

“London: Sophie and Josh Newman show every sign of being the twins of legend, and Flamel will stop at nothing to protect them and the pages from the Dark Elders. But Nicholas grows weaker with each passing day. And now the small group has Clarent – the twin sword to Excalibur – a weapon so sinister that darkness seeps into the soul of whoever wields it. If Nicholas hopes to defeat Dee, he must find someone who can teach Sophie and Josh the third elemental magic – Water Magic. The problem? The only being who can do that is Gilgamesh, and he is quite, quite insane.”

This book focuses mostly on Perenelle and her adventures on Alcatraz. The sections of the story with her are very intriguing as well as slightly frightening. I never doubted that she believed her actions were intended for the greater good, and though I see traces of mistakes and dark deeds in her past, I don’t see any sense of evil. I guess for me, the difference between good and evil is more defined along the lines of selfish and selfless. Most stories throughout history portray disputes between “good guys” and “bad guys.” The truth of that, though, is that bad guys rarely see themselves as the bad guys and are usually the hero of their own stories. So we see the thoughts and feeling in Perenelle throughout this story and we get hints of her motivations, which seem completely altruistic, but she is also extremely intelligent and powerful. Power is a very, very dangerous thing, even (or especially) when held in the hands of those who mean well. While I cheered for Perenelle and her resourcefulness and reluctance to kill the creatures on Alcatraz, I sometimes wondered if she was going to become an enemy or if she already had. It’s a very interesting thought process in my head as to likely or possible courses of action for her. It’s also interesting to contemplate some of the less-than-pleasant things she easily could have, or perhaps already, accomplished in the past.

I dislike spiders. This has been true most of my life. I was therefore a little intrigued at the intensity of this story over me, as I found myself cheering for Aerop-Enap, a giant spider. I was uncomfortable and a little sad when the poisonous flies seemed to be killing Aerop-Enap. I didn’t want the spider to die, especially not after she had proven to be a friend to humans and fighting for our freedom throughout the centuries. I’m not quite to the point of disliking spiders, but I will work harder to simply evict them from my home from now on instead of just making flat blood-splatter patterns out of them. Maybe.

The villains in this book are really fascinating. Dr. John Dee heads up the worst of those pursuing Josh and Sophie because he has the ability to convince Josh that he might be fighting on the wrong side. Every time Dee gets a chance to talk to Josh, Josh winds up questioning more and more which side of the conflict he should fight on, and that’s hazardous on a lot of levels. This goes back to my thoughts about how easy it is to become one of the “bad guys” who starts acting more for their own self-interest than for that of the greater good. I do realize that there are very few people, both in the real world and in stories, that are not selfish and do not work on things for their own gain.

Cernunnos, the Horned God, and the Wild Hunt are brought forth into the streets of London to help capture or kill Nicholas, Josh, Sophie, Palamedes, and Shakespeare. The action in this section of the book, where Dee, Cernunnos, and Bastet face the heroes gets rather good. I enjoyed the chase and the hunt, and the addition of Gilgamesh. I don’t think Gilgamesh is nearly as crazy as everyone keeps thinking he is, and I think he might have a bigger role later in the series, but I’ll just have to keep reading in order to find out.

As the story progressed and Scathach and Joan get ready to go rescue Perenelle, I was getting all ready to start believing that the good guys might be able to gain some ground and maybe save the world. But then they wind up millions of years in the past and I was stunned with the thought process that really made me wonder how the good guys were going to make any sort of progress at all. Then I started thinking about it again, and I got a bit excited thinking about how Josh and Sophie probably find a way to go back in time and rescue them, which is why Cernunnos and Gilgamesh both say that they have met one of the twins before! So it will be interesting to see if I’m right about that.

And then Josh throws away the sword and Dee combines them! Wow! Maybe the whole prophecy wasn’t talking about Josh and Sophie (or other, human twins) at all!

Overall, this book is probably a high three or a low four on my rating scale. I’m definitely glad I bought the entire series all at once before I started reading them and I would say that it’s highly likely that I will read them all again in the future.

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Movie Review: Howl’s Moving Castle

Posted on May 15, 2014 by C.A. Jacobs

I first watched Howl’s Moving Castle on my most recent extended research trip and I thought it was pretty fascinating. When I found it while shopping on day, I decided it was a good movie to add to my own collection.

While I’ve been typing, the main screen is up on the tv and it keeps playing the same music over and over again. I think that’s going to be my absolute favorite part of this whole movie. Unlike every other movie that I’ve watched, I’m enjoying listening to the music, as it loops perfectly, and is a wonderful piece. I wonder if there are soundtracks out there with just the piano portions? I shall have to make note of that and do some research in the future.

I’m finding that I really do enjoy the Studio Ghibli movies, though I also find them to be somewhat melancholy. Howl’s Moving Castle deals a lot with war and how destructive it is to everyone, but most especially the random civilians. The movie gets to the part where they see one of the bombers flying nearby into the valley and Sophia asks which side they’re on and Howl asks if it matters. And that’s pretty much the entire concept of war right there. Governments send their soldiers to war and the citizens get caught in between. That’s not to say that there aren’t fully justified reasons to go to war, that’s just to say that sometimes the cost is inconsistent.

It is a bit creepy to me that Sophia goes straight into cooking and cleaning and being seen as a mother figure to Marco. I guess that’s a huge part of the cultural aspect of this movie and the societal norms that I see so often in the modern media. On the one hand, I do appreciate that the desire for community in any respect is deeply imbedded with most of the people I’ve met. On the other hand, I would like to hope that we are all looking for equal partners to share our lives with. I guess they do wind up being partners in some way, so it mostly works out.

I really enjoy this animation style. As much as I think the new animation style is fantastic, I think that sometimes I find more beauty in the old-school animation. I see the detail that goes into making signs and titles on books and small pictures scattered across Howl’s castle. I see how much love Sophia put into being a hat maker and it both inspired me and made me feel sad at the same time because I don’t often see people today who clearly love what they do. It feels like we’re all just making a paycheck and not really attempting to invest ourselves into our work. And that kind of makes me sad.

Overall, I’d say this movie is a three on my rating scale. I’m glad I own it and I’ll probably watch it multiple times in the years to come.

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Book Review: The Magician by Michael Scott

Posted on May 15, 2014 by C.A. Jacobs

I actually finished The Magician (Young Adult Fantasy 461 pages) by Michael Scott last week, but instead of writing a review on it, I moved straight to reading the next book.

I am highly addicted to this series. Though, I think these next two book reviews might get a little confused, as it might be difficult for me to remember which events happened in which book. So I strongly discourage you from reading this review if you haven’t read the first book.

One of the things I’ve noticed about these books is that each of the covers is different, with symbols that provide clues and hints as to the main focus and new characters in the story.

“California: In the hands of Dr. John Dee and the Dark Elders, the Book of Abraham the Mage could mean the destruction of the world as we know it – if Dee can get the missing pages. His only obstacle? Twins Sophie and Josh Newman.”

“Paris: After fleeing Ojai, Nicholas, Sophie, Josh, and Scatty emerge in Paris, Nicolas Flamel’s birthplace and first home. But his return might mean the city’s destruction. Immortal author Niccolo Machiavelli lives in Paris and is working with Dee in hot pursuit of the twins. Meanwhile, time is running out for Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel. They grow weaker by the day. Yet the prophecy grows even clearer. It’s time for Sophie to learn Fire Magic. The only main who can teach it to her? Flamel’s old student the Comte de Saint-Germain – alchemist, magician, and rock star. Sophie and Josh Newman are the world’s only hope. If they don’t turn on each other first.”

Again, I feel like I’m not getting as much out of this book and the story in general as I could if I knew more about mythology and legends. I feel like there would be a lot of moments where I could be excited and more impressed by just the names of the people in the story when they first encounter them, but I just don’t have that kind of background. And my time feels so limited that I don’t really know that I want to spend more time learning about everything. Regardless of the fact that I didn’t feel like I didn’t have enough of a background in legends and mythologies, the story gave enough information to clue me in with the necessary information without being an information dump.

I am also greatly enjoying the different aspects of love and how there isn’t any teenage melodrama swooning involved in this story.

The absolute best part of this story so far, for me, is that this series completely lacks any sort of romantic element. Nicholas and Perenelle have been married for hundreds of years and they are obviously in love with each other. They are fighting to save the world, but also to get back to each other. In my mind, that is absolutely love and not romance.

The other main aspect of love demonstrated in this series is the love of family. Josh and Sophie are twins, and it’s so rare for me to find books these days that shows how strong the bond between siblings can be.

Even Dee shows a love for learning, knowledge, and curiosity.

Overall, this series is definitely a four or even a five on my rating scale, which means that I am going through these books entirely too quickly, I am highly likely to read them again, and I am very happy that I purchased them.

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Book Review: The Alchemyst by Michael Scott

Posted on May 3, 2014 by C.A. Jacobs

I spent my day reading The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel (Young Adult Fantasy 369 pages) by Michael Scott on the porch. I have to say, this was a fantastic way for me to spend my day.

“The truth: Nicholas Flamel was born in Paris on September 28, 1330. The records show that he died in 1418. But his tomb is empty.

“The legend: Nicholas Flamel lives. The secret of eternal life is hidden within the book he protects – the Book of Abraham the Mage. It’s the most powerful book that has ever existed, and in the wrong hands, it will destroy the world. Which is exactly what Dr. John Dee plans to do when he steals it. And if the prophecy is right, Sophie and Josh Newman are the only ones with the power to save the world as we know it. Sometimes legends are true. And Sophie and Josh Newman are about to find themselves in the middle of the greatest legend of all time.”

This book, and the entire rest of the series, was recommended to me by a young gentleman that I met in the bookstore a few weeks ago. We chatted books, authors, and series rather extensively and each took turns going to specific aisles and pointing out things we liked about certain books or books to steer clear of. When he showed this series to me, I was a little confused because the only time I’ve ever heard of Nicholas Flamel was because of J.K. Rowling‘s Harry Potter books. The young gentleman assured me that Nicholas Flamel was actually a real person from history and that these books were not some sort of bizarre Harry Potter spin-off. Because I like books, I purchased the entire series to date that day and only just now got around to reading the first book.

I am absolutely positive that there is more going on in this book than I actually caught, and I’m completely okay with that. History and science are typically not subjects that I study extensively and I have this nagging feeling that I could or would get a lot more out of this book if I invested the time and energy to do huge amounts of research. But even knowing that my knowledge is severely lacking, the book was still written in a way that I was able to easily keep up with the story.

I really enjoyed the mythical references that were mixed right in with pop culture references including modern music and television shows. My grasp of pop culture is not what it used to be, as I’ve gotten considerably older and it seems to me as though those people in my life that maintain awareness of pop culture are those that tend to part ways with me. I just don’t devote the time or the energy to keeping up with some of this stuff, but most of it wasn’t relevant to the story as a whole. Most of it just made me smile or laugh a bit at some of the comments. I think this series is going to use pop culture as entertaining amusement and not as key plot developments, which definitely worked for me because I found many of the references amusing 🙂

I really liked how the story focuses on siblings and the bond shared between twins. It’s unbelievably refreshing to me to read a story that has absolutely nothing to do with a romantic subplot, but that the story still contains love and shows how powerful that love can be.

Overall, this was a really quick, brain candy read. I haven’t yet decided if I will read the next book in the series tonight or if I will save it for tomorrow.

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Movie Review: The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Posted on May 2, 2014 by C.A. Jacobs

I think I had this same reaction to watching the Amazing Spider-Man 2 as when I went to see the Winter Soldier a few weeks ago. I am absolutely NOT in the correct place in my life to be watching super hero movies.

I think I’ve only watched the Amazing Spider-Man twice now – once when it first came out in theaters and I think we watched it for one of our movie nights on my last extended research trip before I was sent home early for my injury. But even so, that was months ago. So I’m very glad that they had a lot of scenes from the first movie in the second movie because it really helped to jog my memory with some of the key parts that I might not have remembered.

I guess the biggest thing that stuck with me about both these movies is what a strong pull the every day people had on my emotions. In the Amazing Spider-Man, I have teared up both times I’ve watched the movie at the part where all the average, every day construction workers work together to make it so that Spider-Man can get to where he needs to go in order to save the city. The same thing happened with the Amazing Spider-Man 2, where there were several times average people were saved and it made me very moved. The movie really showed how a person could be living their normal life and how something could happen that’s completely out of their realm of responsibilities that could kill them just because they chose to take the bus that day, or because they wanted to see a movie, or some other very small and simple reason for them to be in the exact wrong place. And I was happy for every average person Spider-Man saved, and even more so for those who were saved because other average people were diligent with their own jobs. Average people, helping and saving other average people. For me, these two movies and their subtle shift from the life and times of the super hero towards the average person being able to make a difference and help other average people out really hit me hard.

The reason I said at the beginning of this post that I really am not in the right place to be watching movies like this is mostly because of how hard things have been for the last several months. And in that time, it hasn’t been those that matter to me the most that have been there to help me – it’s mostly been strangers or professionals. People who have no vested interest in what actually happens to me as a person. People who are designed to be disposable and temporary. And as the days pass by, I realize more and more that I really am supposed to accept that friendship isn’t a binding contract and that I am supposed to work harder to not form emotional attachments. But then I watch movies like this, where strangers help each other out, but also where the intense bond of real love breaks beyond the limits of temporary relationships.

I guess that’s part of what makes this movie so emotionally draining for me right now. I know exactly how that kind of love feels. It’s addictive and powerful and doesn’t like being denied or ignored. It’s been my experience that trying to deny it or ignore it only makes things worse, but at the same time, emotions that intense sometimes need a break or they will consume everyone involved.

Which brings me to the really interesting part about this movie.

This movie demonstrated the villain-creates-hero-creates-villain loop that causes so much emotional heartache and bystander confusion. And, in my opinion, that’s what makes movies with villains and heroes so powerful to the average viewer.

I’ve written a couple entries here where I talk about what makes a hero or a villain and how those labels tend to affect the interaction between the characters. It’s a topic that I feel strongly about, but that I often feel I am not articulating correctly, so I’m going to try again here.

SPOILERS:

In this movie, we meet Max. Spider-Man is Max’s hero. Spider-Man saves Max and makes him feel important, needed, and noticed. Spider-Man is doing the best he can to save everyone, even kids getting bullied. He doesn’t just save them, though, he also tries to help them put their own lives back together by providing those small tidbits of encouragement and telling people things that are positive and useful. And this is what he does for Max. I felt sorry for Max right from the beginning for the situation that he was in, and I’m fairly certain there are so many people in so many places that are in similar situations. Jobs where they are underappreciated or not noticed. Lives where it feels like you’re a nobody and no one would notice if you just disappeared.

And then, suddenly, poof! You’re given this remarkable gift or this incredible curse. You find yourself fighting your hero in the center of downtown and just as suddenly, you’re the villain. You have brand new powers that you really don’t understand and those powers came with some sort of cost that you haven’t figured out yet, or are potentially completely oblivious to. Your hero doesn’t actually remember you and somebody takes a shot. You feel like the world is turned against you. The crowd is cheering for Spider-Man and booing you. Everyone perceives you as the villain, and so the villain is what you become. You’ve gone from being in a world where no one sees you to being in a world where everyone sees you and judges you and no one believes in you.

The same thing happens with your childhood friend. You realize that your father had a terrible genetic disease and that you are now dying. You ask your friend to help you and your friend tries to save you by preventing you from becoming a monster. But that’s not how you see it. You see your friend walking away and basically saying that you mean nothing to them. That they would rather see you suffer and die than to help you. The old guys that ran your father’s company betray you and lock you out of everything your father built. The world totally sucks. Your father’s dead. You lost your job and money. And you’re going to die in a slow and painful way because your old childhood friend won’t give you something you feel could save your life. Your world is completely black and white and the only solution to your problems was for your childhood friend to save you, but he refused. You’ve been discarded by your father and now your old friend.

Peter is trying to do the right thing when he saves Max from the car, and again when he refuses to give his blood to Harry. He sees what kind of damage his blood could do if it fell into the wrong hands. But in trying to do the right thing, he creates the villains in the movie.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man is the hero of the story because the people in the city believe he is the hero. It’s a perpetuating cycle of hope and heroes. Because the people believe in him, he believes in himself. Because Gwen believes in and loves Peter, she gives him hope. Because she gives him hope, he gives hope to the people in the city.

It seems to me as though the difference between what really makes a hero or a villain is sacrifice. The villains may have originally started out with good intentions, but in the end, their motives are purely selfish. Harry doesn’t want to die and Max wants to get revenge on Spider-Man for setting him up to be the bad guy. Neither one of them care how much damage they cause to the city or to other people. They don’t think of anyone except their own needs and wants.

Everything that Peter and Gwen accomplish is because they are attempting to save the lives of the people in the city. But it all comes down to sacrifice. In both movies, Peter and Gwen are both willing to risk themselves to either save the city or each other. It’s a lot harder to watch the person you love sacrifice themselves than it is to sacrifice your own self. You know that what you’re doing is for the best and that you are trying to save people, but it’s so hard on your heart to even think about losing the person you love. Gwen chose to take a risk and help Peter restore power to the city and save countless lives. She knew the dangers involved and that she didn’t have Peter’s special powers, but she also knew that he needed her help. She was every bit as much of a hero in both movies as Spider-Man because she used her knowledge to save the city. She just didn’t use super powers and a costume to do it.

There seems to be this trend in comic books and movies that the hero isn’t really a hero until they’ve lost everyone who matters to them. I feel sometimes like the message these stories send goes along the lines of how you must be isolated and alone in order to truly be a hero because you will lose everyone you love and it will be all your fault. But then when you are on your own, your perception of humanity changes and you become less likely to help people. You become darker because your cause for hope is gone. And so, eventually, the hero becomes the villain. The hero makes a mistake and saves the wrong person or fails to save someone completely. The hero is then ostracized and people’s perceptions change the hero to a villain. But someone has to stand up to the new villain, so new heroes are created. It’s a very emotionally exhaustive cycle.

Overall, the movie was okay. Obviously, I seem to get more out of the philosophical aspects of movies like this than was probably originally intended. I’d have to rate it as a low three. It’s good to watch and I’ll probably buy it when it’s on sale when it comes out, but I’m not entirely certain I’ll have the heart to watch it repeatedly.

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