The movie, originally known as the Wrath of Holmes, or How I Learned To Stop Hating and Love The Triblle, ultimately was renamed Into Darkness. I guess this is a reference to certain actions taken by certain individuals throughout the film, and I don't mean those taken by Khan.
To be completely honest, I think we saw a little glimpse of Mr. Abrams Star Wart part 7. At the beginning of the movie when Krik amd Spock get called to Starfleet Command HQ and they are wearing the very militaristic grey uniforms with the officer's hats, I thought, "all we need to see are the plans for galaxy's greatest weapon and it's Star Wars", and I of course meant the Death Star, but as soon as they walk into the Admiral's office we pan along a line of space ships from the current day up to the Enterprise and this monstrous gun-metal grey ship right after it. I was waiting for a fade-out to the Jedi Temple where any Jedi Knight that isn't called by name in the Star Wars movies to be telling a Jedi Master of the same ilk about a rumor they had heard about the Senate building an army.
There were many inside jokes for the Star Trek fanbase, most of which I actually got. Well, I got all that I got and am assuming that there were ones that I didn't get. In fact, every scene that Karl Urban was in was like he wasn't playing Dr. McCoy as much as he was playing DeForrest Kelley as Dr. McCoy, and was very entertaining while doing it. Despite this I didn't really feel like I was watching a Star Trek film. I half expected Tom Cruise or Colin Farrel to come on screen at any moment and introduce the sub-plot that would prove that I was watching just anothyer big budget science fiction film. This is not a complaint. I really quite liked this film. Benedict Cumberbatch acted the crap out of the role of Khan. People had told me that he was so far beyond the other actors, who were not slouching mind you, that it was like a professional in with dinner theatre troupe. I don't think that was far from teh mark. I would love to see him opposite Patrick Stewart - in anything, it doesn't have to be Star Trek related. Maybe they could find a role for Mr. Cumberbatch in the upcoming X-Men film. That. Would. Rock.
The main weak point of this film was the way it used it's female characters. Unfortunately, it used them teh way that classic Trek used famele characters - as scenery and second-class characters. I felt that way about all of the women in teh movie, but the Adniral's daughter, what the fuck? It appears that the whole point of having her in the film was so that she could say, "Daddy, please don't kill them." All she had done before then was make statements like, "I am too a science officer" and "Why yes Captain, I will have sex with you later." An homage to Star Trek is one thing, but this would have been the chance to show us just how important Uhura was in running the Enterprise.
Star Trek: Into Darkness on IMDb
Showing posts with label Peter Weller. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Peter Weller. Show all posts
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse
Steppenwolf
by
Herman Hesse
read by
Peter Weller
This is the book you get if you are are smoking crack while trying to use the library's reservation system. There is no Magic Carpet Ride here. However, it did present an opportunity to tackle a book I never would have thought of reading.
I have read many books and listened to many audiobooks. Very few of these, perhaps only a handful have prefaces by authors explaining how everyone seems to have misunderstood their work. Almost none of these books in my experience are works of fiction. This is one of those rare few, and you should really wonder when the author has to add a few pages to explain that the majority of the people who have read this book have found it a very depressing story, and that he contends that they miss the point. He says that not only his critics, but the fans of the book have all missed the point. I find this more than a bit daunting, especially because the narrator's forward spends 30 minutes setting up that the main character is very much the embodiment of Nietxche's philosophy.
If I had realized how prevalent a couple of words would be throughout this book, I might have been tempted to keep track from the beginning. It is hard to say which he used more - bourgeois or middle-class, Steppenwolf or lone-wolf - but it is a rare minute that goes by without one of these terms being uttered. It's really quite annoying, though I realize that he is using this to set and shape the character of the narrator and the main character. I am sure if these words were removed from the manuscript, it would be at least 10% shorter.
The structure of this book is interesting and a tad reminiscent of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. There is an outer shell that is the narrator, then the main character telling his story and then much time spent relating books he read, especially the Anarchist's Treatise about the Steppenwolf at a third level. This makes large chunks of the story very removed from the audience, which goes in tandem with the nature of the story.
I listened to this book with the author's note in mind and fully understand why he felt it necessary to add it. This is an extremely depressing book. The main character finds himself in a situation of his own creation where the only options are suffering, both physical and psychic, or suicide. Great sections, especially early on are spent on how one might come to accept suicide as an option and how that can actually make some stronger and deal with life longer. And did I mention that this is Hesse's attempt at putting Nietzche's philosophy into a character?
I've only read one other work by Hesse, that being Siddhartha. Interestingly, it is another book full of human suffering, but with the opposite conclusion. They do both have the same expository and over-explaining style.
If you've had to read Steppenwolf for some reason, I hope it was for a class which could then act as a support group (or maybe that you didn't actually read it but faked it). Otherwise, I couldn't imagine any reason why someone would put themselves through this. So much for card catalog happenstance finds.
Steppenwolf at Powell's Books
Steppenwolf Audiobook at Amazon.com
by
Herman Hesse
read by
Peter Weller
This is the book you get if you are are smoking crack while trying to use the library's reservation system. There is no Magic Carpet Ride here. However, it did present an opportunity to tackle a book I never would have thought of reading.
I have read many books and listened to many audiobooks. Very few of these, perhaps only a handful have prefaces by authors explaining how everyone seems to have misunderstood their work. Almost none of these books in my experience are works of fiction. This is one of those rare few, and you should really wonder when the author has to add a few pages to explain that the majority of the people who have read this book have found it a very depressing story, and that he contends that they miss the point. He says that not only his critics, but the fans of the book have all missed the point. I find this more than a bit daunting, especially because the narrator's forward spends 30 minutes setting up that the main character is very much the embodiment of Nietxche's philosophy.
If I had realized how prevalent a couple of words would be throughout this book, I might have been tempted to keep track from the beginning. It is hard to say which he used more - bourgeois or middle-class, Steppenwolf or lone-wolf - but it is a rare minute that goes by without one of these terms being uttered. It's really quite annoying, though I realize that he is using this to set and shape the character of the narrator and the main character. I am sure if these words were removed from the manuscript, it would be at least 10% shorter.
The structure of this book is interesting and a tad reminiscent of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. There is an outer shell that is the narrator, then the main character telling his story and then much time spent relating books he read, especially the Anarchist's Treatise about the Steppenwolf at a third level. This makes large chunks of the story very removed from the audience, which goes in tandem with the nature of the story.
I listened to this book with the author's note in mind and fully understand why he felt it necessary to add it. This is an extremely depressing book. The main character finds himself in a situation of his own creation where the only options are suffering, both physical and psychic, or suicide. Great sections, especially early on are spent on how one might come to accept suicide as an option and how that can actually make some stronger and deal with life longer. And did I mention that this is Hesse's attempt at putting Nietzche's philosophy into a character?
I've only read one other work by Hesse, that being Siddhartha. Interestingly, it is another book full of human suffering, but with the opposite conclusion. They do both have the same expository and over-explaining style.
If you've had to read Steppenwolf for some reason, I hope it was for a class which could then act as a support group (or maybe that you didn't actually read it but faked it). Otherwise, I couldn't imagine any reason why someone would put themselves through this. So much for card catalog happenstance finds.
Steppenwolf at Powell's Books
Steppenwolf Audiobook at Amazon.com
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