Star Trek and Me: A 50 Year Journey (Part 2)

William Shatner arrives.

So in this 50th Anniversary Year of Star Trek, I wanted to tell you what it was that recharged my passion for what may debatably be the most influential pop culture icon.  I know. I know there are others and some which are bigger and even a few, like Doctor Who, which is older, but from cultural impact, few have had the impact that Star Trek has, and the thing that reminded me of the love I have for this particular franchise was that I went to a Star Trek Convention. 

A cosplayer recreates
Captain Pike

It was not just any Star Trek convention.  I am not saying that I will start going to other Star Trek conventions, but that I was given the opportunity to go to a huge -a bucket list kind - Star Trek convention. I went to the Star Trek 50th Convention, Las Vegas. As a nerd, I go regularly to the comic con in Denver and also added to my bucket list when I went to the grand comic convention in San Diego. While I must admit I was thrilled and awed by San Diego Comic Con as I wandered through it in awestruck wonder, the Star Trek 50th in Las Vegas was very, very different. When I go to comic cons, I know some of the things going on and I also know very little or nothing about some of the other events and panels.  While I enjoy going to celebrity panels, I must admit there are some celebs that I have no idea as to how they are connected to the nerd community. It’s fun to find out, but there is plenty in the pop culture arena that I don't know about.

Star Trek Rat Pack

At Star Trek conventions, I know these people. They are my people. I get them. I've been there since the beginning. Now I admit that I am not as detailed obsessed as a few Star Trek nerds. I cannot discuss the show by episode number nor tell you who was the second camera man or the first red-shirt actor to die in Star Trek, but I get it. I get Star Trek.

To understand, let me tell you a little bit about the five days I spent at this wondrous convention.  People I did not know existed still were there, and it wasn't Q and A sessions with Star Trek actors and a cosplay contest and an auction, it was more. Yes, those things which are staples of the Star Trek conventions were also at Star Trek 50. 

Robert O'Reilly

While there were events like those above, there were also the entertainment events. It is, after all, Vegas and Vegas is about the show. Every night, there was an entertainment event. On the first night, there were the actors in full Klingon make-up. J.G. Hertzler (Martok), Robert O'Reilly (Gowron) and Gwynyth Walsh (B’Etor) were all original Klingons in Star Trek The Next Generation and Deep Space 9. Not only did they come out in full costume and make-up, but they also responded to the audience as if they were their original characters. It was funny and an astonishing exercise in improv theater as these three actors performed as if they were on an Earth-bound, Klingon talk show.

Max Grodenchik

They were not the only entertainment in full make-up and costume.  There was The FERENGIS! with Max Grodenchik (Rom) and Aron Eisenberg (Nog) from Deep Space 9. While they were a little more sedate than three Klingon's on stage, they were also moving as Aron Eisenberg talked about health problems he'd had and what make Max Grodenchik such an amazing human. 

At night, we could go to Quark's Bar. This room, which during the day was a place where attendees could buy lunch and snacks, was also the home to the Roddenberry stage which hosted each night a band called the Roddenberries and also had actress Chase Masterson from Deep Space singing old lounge songs. Yes, she can sing. Attendees could also buy real Star Trek-themed drinks in the bar each night. It was also the place where Rod Roddenberry, Gene Roddenberry's son, hosted a 50th birthday party supplying cake and champagne to every attendee in the room. 

Jonathan Frakes joins the audience.

In addition to this entertainment, there was also the night when the Nevada Pops Orchestra played music from Star Trek with one song being directed by award-winning composer Jay Chattaway. On another night there was the Star Trek Rat Pack with Max Grodenchik (lyricist and producer), Armin Shimerman, Vaughn Armstrong, Jeffrey Combs, Casey Biggs and Bill Burchell as the satiric forms of Frank Sinatra and the old Vegas gang. Add to these events like cakes decorations, or decorate your own cookie or coloring contest or learning to play Star Trek Ascendancy the board game, you get an idea of what the atmosphere was like.

Tribute banner to Anton Yelchin

To these entertainment events, we can add things like places for photo scenes and even a transporter which would make a video of the person being transported. There were astounding cosplayers. There was the art inspired by Star Trek traveling display. There were vendors and banners and even a large banner dedicated to the memory of Anton Yelchin, which attendees could sign. There were demonstrations like Oscar award winning Michael Westmore showing how a Borg is created. Last but not least, there were the panels.

Whoopi and Cosplayers

Almost any major player from every Star Trek series, with perhaps the exception of Patrick Stewart, was there. They were almost always grouped with other members of the same series. They did more than answer fan questions. They created moments for fans to remember. There was the arrival of John and Bjo Trimble who led the charge that kept Star Trek from being canceled. There was the moment that one of the actors from the original series apologized for having difficulty remembering because he was recovering from a stroke two weeks before. There was the moment when Jonathan Frakes kept roaming around the audience and hanging out with the fans. There was the introduction to the actors who had played iconic Star Trek monsters like the Gorn and the Salt Vampire. There were moments when Walter Koenig and in a later event George Takei both seemed to want to make peace with William Shatner. There was the moment that Scott Bakula came out and proved he really is deserving of his nice and genuine guy reputation. There was the moment that Whoopi Goldberg invited all the Guinan cosplayers to the stage and later came out and hugged Nichelle Nichols for her contribution to opening the door for women of color in the 1960's. There was the moment that Adam Nimoy paid tribute in film clips to his dad, Leonard "Spock" Nimoy and Rod Roddenberry's toast to his dad's creation. 

Whoopi and Nichelle

In short, the convention was not just about stuff and celebrities, but about the moments that were created for fans. Most of the questions were ones that every hardcore fan had read about, heard about, or had seen asked at other conventions. What it was that made this convention different was that fans received a gift of memories to take with them. And that is what the events of Star Trek 50 Las Vegas were like, and it is how I renewed my passion. 

So why? Star Trek and Me: A 50 Year Journey (Part 3) is coming next.

Star Trek and Me: A 50 Year Journey (Part 1)

I was nine-years-old when the original Star Trek aired on TV on September 8, 1966. My dad did not like science fiction, so I had to watch it on the other TV in the house.  It was a black and white TV.  That was okay because a lot of shows were black and white.  In fact, I am not sure that I even knew that the show was in color. Little did I know with that show, my life would change because of my love for this show.  There is no explanation for this.  It would be another couple of years before I read Tolkien's masterworks. It was this one show that got me involved forever in the world of nerds and geeks. 

You must remember that this was when nerds were not even close to popular. We were the kids that were picked last for kickball and ganged up on for dodge ball. We weren't ever the accepted kids and in the small town where I was raised, there just weren't that many other nerds.  And that was exactly what Star Trek offered.  People belonged.  Without question, everyone was accepted and each had gifts, however small, that were valued.  Star Trek offered incredible hope for humanity.  I didn't know I was witnessing history like the first interracial kiss on TV or discussions about civil rights, racism, the dangers of nuclear weapons or forgetting the meaning of history. Sure there were other shows that would occasionally take on these issues. They were shows like the Twilight Zone or maybe Outer Limits. Science fiction, especially TV Sci-Fi, has always been able to discuss human nature before most other entertainment media with its outsider status. Up until Star Trek, none offered the hope for us. None offered the belonging. 

After its second season, Star Trek was to be canceled for poor ratings. There was, however, a core of people who loved the show. It was two of these people who would commit to keeping Star Trek alive. There weren't any on-line petitions or even hand written ones. There was John and Bjo Trimble who spearheaded a letter-writing campaign to save the show. This was not the first time a show was saved in this manner, but it is probably the most famous. It was so successful, that in 1968, NBC did a primetime voice-over announcing that Star Trek was not canceled and asking for people to quit writing letters. Star Trek got a third season and then it was canceled.  

Life went on. There weren't a bunch of other channels. Perhaps a few independent channels and there was also a need for programs to be shown it the time slot after school but before the news. So, syndication was born.  It was widely believed that for a series to go into permanent re-runs, it needed to have at least five seasons worth of material.  So those of us who loved held little hope of ever seeing it again. There would be rumblings. James Blish adapted the screenplays into short stories and there was a small amount of "fan" items, but very little.  I had read the Blish book so many times that I had to eventually replace it.  

Then NBC decided to try to bring the show back but in a weird way. It would become a Saturday morning cartoon.  The cartoon never really caught on.  Still, it was something.  Then it all changed. It was discovered that with only three seasons, a show could go into syndication.  College students started watching Star Trek. What is more, not only was the show so popular in syndication, but these college students were actually scheduling classes so they could watch the show. The other thing that changed was a little thing called Star Wars was released. According to legend, Paramount started looking for something, anything they could use to compare to Star Wars. It seems they had the rights to that old TV show Star Trek, and they could get the entire cast to be in the show. By the time Star Trek the Motion Picture made its way into theatres, the show had become a phenomenon. There were actually studies done on the Star Trek phenomenon.  

The movie was boring. It was long and tedious and lacked the luster of the original show. It did make enough money and had enough buzz to get a sequel. Had the magic worn off? Legend has it that Leonard Nimoy hated making the movie so much, that he agreed only to return for a sequel if he could kill off Spock.  Arguably, the best of any of the Star Trek movies was born: The Wrath of Khan. Again legend has it that Leonard Nimoy enjoyed making Khan so much that he agreed to bring the character back providing he could direct the next two films. Khan was a hit.  The search for Spock only mildly so and then The Voyage Home brought back not just the action but the humor that made the show work. The magic was still there, it just needed to let people who understood the franchise to work. 

And so it went. Twenty-one years later The Next Generation was born, followed by Deep Space Nine and Voyager and finally Enterprise. Many felt that perhaps because Enterprise did not run for seven years before it was canceled, that perhaps Star Trek had finally run its course. Enterprise seemed to have lost its way.  What was supposed to be a prequel to the original series actually ended up giving its fans very little in the way of the formation of the Star Trek world and a new villain called the Xindi that had nothing to do with any of the original worlds of Star Trek. By the time the series tried to behave as a prequel, it was too late. UPN was floundering as a network and the ratings were just too poor for the show to continue. The show had been gutted by over commercialism, too much product, and too little substance.  I feared the magic really had died.  

I'd gone to Star Trek conventions for several years, but slowly they became less and less about the fans and the show and more and more about the money groups could rise from the fans. It is probably still true, but the feel is different now than it was then.  I quit going to conventions. I was not alone. Slowly, the passion I had was not as strong. I still collected, but I was more selective.  I liked collecting. I even played an on-line game that was for a bit attached to Paramount, but that too began to wane in numbers. By the time I quit, once fully crewed ships were struggling, including my own. I also watched the series in reruns, but I held little hope for the series to return and the Next Generation movies would most likely be the last in theaters.

Nothing ever dies in Star Trek. As surely as a red shirt will die on the away team or a series regular will return to life or in another form, Star Trek like a phoenix will rise again. Hope does not die. Star Trek was reborn with a new cast and a new timeline.  In something of a controversial move, the new director, J.J. Abrams reset the entire Star Trek universe by creating a new or alternate timeline. Gone was all that history, or baggage, that came with all those other series.  Star Trek was going to create new magic. What is more, there will be another TV series in 2017.

For me, it was not just the new movies and cast but a recent event that would rekindle my passion. That is for my next blog.

Florence Foster Jenkins: Solid Acting and Great Storytelling

Today's adventure was off to see Florence Foster Jenkins with Meryl Streep in the title role and Hugh Grant as her second "husband" St. Clair Bayfield. The cast is supported by Simon Helberg as her Foster's accompanist, Cosmé McMoon. The movie, based on the real-life, tone-deaf soprano and New York socialite, is solid storytelling with quite a memorable performance by actress extraordinaire, Meryl Streep. 

The story is loosely based on Florence Foster Jenkins and her one appearance at Carnegie Hall in 1944.  There are some details left out and probably some pretty liberal stories added especially for the supporting cast.  The actual details of Jenkins life is a bit more complicated, but historically it is pretty clear that her second husband, a Shakespearean actor turned manager, protected her from actual critics and surrounded her with friends who would go to great lengths to protect her. It seems that she really was completely unaware of how badly she performed, but among her admirers were Cole Porter and Enrico Caruso. There is even a story that Cole Porter would dig his cane into his foot during her performances to keep from laughing.  It is also clear that all the real news critics who attended her one public performance at Carnegie Hall were less than kind.  It was not just one critic as the movie would have us believe.  The real Jenkins collapsed five days after the performance from a heart attack while shopping and died a month later.  During her life, she released nine songs on five 78 records from 1941 to 1944. 

The center theme of the Florence Foster Jenkins is clearly about love and passion.  Jenkins' marriage to her second husband was a complicated one both historically and fictionally.  It is clear though that he loved her, and there was very little he would not do to protect her from discovering that her music was often a source of amusement for those who heard her or had her records.  She was clearly driven by her love and passion for music and the elaborate costumes that she designed and wore.  While the movie does mention much about her long-time struggle with syphilis which was given to her by her first husband. It leaves it to the audience to decide how much the disease had affected not just her cognitive abilities, but her ability to actually hear what she sounded like. It is clear that she did have some musical ability having actually played the piano for President Hayes before she had damage to one arm in the late 1800's.  The portrayal of her in the movie make pulls no punches about how ludicrous she sounded, but by the end, we all understood the beauty that she heard in her own protected and musical world.

The acting by Streep, who can actually sing, is as usual stellar.  She creates a complicated and layered character which we find both amusing and moving.  She is eccentric, self-absorbed without being egotistical, and a truly loving character.  Hugh Grant is, well, Hugh Grant.  He plays once again that caring and careful leading-man character that he always plays. Simon Helberg is the third part of this interesting performance bringing to life the soft-spoken pianist who in later life became interested in of all things, body building.  It may be unfortunate that Helberg has such a memorable character as his Big Bang Theory's Howard Wolowitz, but the gentle and caring Cosmé McMoon also makes his performance a wonderful surprise. 

Florence Foster Jenkins, while a bit predictable, is a good story.  We laugh and tear up just as we should. It is well worth your time.

 

Suicide Squad: Action, Humor, and a Little Plot

Is Suicide Squad the great movie so many hoped for? The simple answer is no. Is Suicide Squad as horrible as many "professional critics" think it is? The simple answer is also no. Look, folks, Squad is a comic book movie and not necessarily from the top of the card for DC. I've read a few Suicide Squad comics, and there has even been a form of the group on the CW's Arrow. I've also read  Harley Quinn and remember her creation for the original animated Batman series in the 90's. What do these comics have to do with the latest movie version? It's simple. These comics are driven, at least the ones I've read, by the randomness and craziness of the characters. The same is true of the movie Suicide Squad.

Suicide Squad has very little plot to get in the way of the action.  To expect much more than this is not really within the realm of the comics.  You must remember that most of these villains, with the exception of the Joker, don't have that big of a story arc. They have always been minor villains. Deadshot is the oldest of the characters. He made his first appearance in 1950. The rest of the group didn't really start appearing until the 80's and 90's, with El Diablo in his current form being the youngest created in 2008.   

Suicide Squad has the same dark overtones of the DC Universe, so no surprise.  Will Smith (Deadshot) has his usual quick one-liners. Margot Robbie plays much the same Harley that we recall from the animated Batman, and the rest of the cast meets expectations. In other words, the movie is heavy on the action, predictable, and filled with fairly two-dimensional characters. It is a fun movie that you can let wash over you. It's not complex or deep nor does it have bizarre scenes that need explanations. 

The story is simple.  We get some quick back stories of who these villains are. We learn that Harley is crazy; Deadshot is kind of a gray area bad guy; Killer Croc is just mean; El Diablo is a gang member who would become better; Kitana has a sword that drinks souls; Boomerang is all about himself; Flag is a super soldier; and the baddies are ancient aliens. Jared Leto, who plays the Joker, delivers a tonally good Joker if a bit over-the-top. My biggest issue with Leto's Joker is the look. 

Following the backstory, the Suicide Squad is sent out to stop the baddies, the Enchantress and her brother.  The Joker is trying to free Harley Quinn, and we learn that the person, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), who would use the bad guys as throw-away heroes, is as bad as the Suicide Squad. 

Suicide Squad is a fun enough movie, held my attention, and I didn't feel like I'd wasted my money. The action sequences and the special effects are entertaining. It was, more or less, what I expected having read the comics. No, it's not one of the great films. It's a comic book movie, plain and simple. I will probably buy the Blu-Ray.  

Let's Blow-Up the Enterprise, Star Trek Beyond

When J.J. Abrams took over the Star Trek Movie franchise, he did one really smart thing: he reset the Star Trek Universe.  Some fans hated it, but in one fell swoop, Abrams got rid of the weight of the Star Trek cannon which had become a cumbersome beast.  It was, I thought, brilliant.  He then made a blunder or two.  He blew up Vulcan which was a change that was just too much and kind of unnecessary. He also tinkered with the nature of the relationship of crew members, most notably giving Uhura and Spock a love relationship that hadn't been there before. He also gave us some new and really good back story as to who some of these characters were and something of an interesting villain in the character of Nero.  

Flash forward, Abrams made a great movie but again he made the blunder of trying to remake one of the most popular storylines in Star Trek.  Yes, the timeline had been reset, but one does not change the very nature of Khan and "Space Seed" and Wrath of Khan and completely reset it. All he actually had to do was just not name the character, played brilliantly by Benedict Cumberbatch, Khan and not steal lines from Wrath.  True, they were nods to The Original Series (TOS). 

Don't get me wrong, I loved these first two movies. They were creative and more action/adventure oriented for a new generation of Trekkers. There were some things, I just wish had been done differently, and I wanted new adventures, not retellings of TOS episodes. I have loved this series since it first appeared in 1966. Yes, I am that old a Trekker.  With Star Trek Beyond, we finally get one of those new adventures. While some of the unnecessary character tinkerings are still there, Beyond takes us to a new world where the Enterprise is in its third year of its five-year mission, and Kirk (Chris Pine) is starting to wonder what his place is in the Federation.  Meanwhile, Spock (Zachary Quinto) struggles with his own issues as we are none too subtly reminded that Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy), one of the icons of TOS, has passed away.  

The movie is original and well balanced with action and humor, something that has always been a mark of the Star Trek franchise. Star Trek Beyond has both that old familiar feel and new creativity that will make the movie work for both old and new fans. The trope of blowing up the Enterprise is used well.  Ever since, Star Trek III, it seems like every few movies, it comes time to blow up Enterprise so there can be a new one. It's like destroying the Astin-Martin in Bond movies.  I hope we get to keep the next Enterprise for a bit. 

Star Trek Beyond has a new director.  J.J. Abrams has moved on to direct Star Wars, so Justin Lin, best known for Fast and Furious movies, has taken over "helm" duties. Gone are the lens flares that I personally found pretty annoying in Abrams cinematography.  The movie also was re-written when the first script was found to be unacceptable.  The new script was created by Simon Pegg and Doug Jung which explains the inclusion of a much stronger humor element. The new TOS cast has returned, and we have an interesting new villain and possibly a new character to add to the crew. I must admit, it was at times, given his recent death, difficult to watch Anton Yelchin.

Kirk and company are drawn into a trap by the insane Krall (Idris Elba) who wants a weapon to destroy the Federation.  We also meet Jaylah, (Sofia Boutella) who is both natural warrior and engineer. Jaylah is a fun and interesting character, and it's clear that she could return in the next movie. If there was any major issue I had with the movie it was Krall's make-up but mostly delivery which reminded me a bit too much of Jerry Shigan (Louis Gossett Jr.)  in Alien Mine. Then again, that could just be me. Still, Krall was the right level of maniac and killer making him a pretty good villain.

The movie reminds us why we love Star Trek.  It isn't just action and adventure.  It is also about acceptance and the strength that happens in unity. Individuality may make us stronger and independent, but unity makes us unbreakable.  All the cast have integral parts to play. It's not just Kirk wins or Spock saves the day, but each, from Chekov to Sulu to Uhura to Scotty to McCoy, all has a part to play. We see the relationships that we came to know and love with Shatner and Nimoy and company are now forming with Pine and Quinto and company.  After fifty years, Star Trek seems to be in pretty good hands. I will buy the Blu-ray. 

And now in the Center Ring...

Now that the clown car is almost empty, I am sure you are wondering why, oh why, I have not blogged about the politics and the reason is simple: until the candidates were settled there was little to say. I would point out that before Ted Cruz was supposedly the first candidate to announce, there were actually 194 other candidates, including 55 Republicans, who beat Cruz to the punch. Still, the clown car on the Republican side was so overflowing with candidates a few were required to ride on the running boards or grab on to the bumper while riding a skateboard.

Bernie Sanders

I watched in fascination as they railed against the front-runner of the moment even before Trump led the pack. It was fascinating to watch them attack each other, especially Trump on everything except for the fact that all of them held pretty much the same opinion. Trump and extreme points-of-view are monsters of their own making. The same is really true on the left, too. Let's face it, the Grand Old Party began courting more than evangelicals a few years ago. They also wanted the less lovely groups more . As ye sew, so shall ye reap. The establishment candidates ranted and raved that they would not support Trump, and as soon as the loyal base elected him, the party leaders announced that maybe they would support him after all. Sad to stand on such principles as to vote for the party before country.

On the left, the clown car was more spacious. It was fascinating how Bernie Sanders, essentially a one-issue candidate, convinced people he was a Washington outsider, even though he has been in office in D.C. since 1990, has been in politics since 1980 and became a Democrat in 2015 just before announcing his run for President. Since his loss, he has maneuvered to control what goes into the Democrat platform. The platform whether Republican or Democrat is that wondrous thing that most folks running for office tend to ignore. It's there for the base. It is true that Sanders has moved Hillary to the left which is about as much "Feeling the Bern" anyone is actually going to get.

Gary Johnson

So now there are two. Donald J. Trump, Republican, and Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat, will be the major contenders.  I am actually in a somewhat interesting position in that I actually know people who know both Trump and Clinton. There is actually I think only one other candidate that hopes to be on the ballot in all 50 states besides these two: Gary Johnson,Libertarian, about whom I know very little.

It has been a long time since two candidates were so disliked by the general electorate.  Hillary has long battled the trust issue which, in all honesty, is a narrative that has been constructed by her and her husband's opponents over many years.  Is it well deserved? Saying that a politician doesn't lie is like announcing sharks are vegetarians.  Is she guilty of poor judgement? With the email thing, yes. Then again, private emails were used on a regular basis by several Secretaries of State, or for that matter, by many government officials.  John Kerry is the first Secretary of State to use solely a U.S. government account. The separate server is not new either.  There was even one in the George W. Bush Whitehouse that some 22 million emails were deleted from when congress asked for information about the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys. 

Hillary R. Clinton

I also know that up until the email scandal and the Benghazi incident, perhaps the most investigated incident in congressional history which has pretty much come up with nothing new, Clinton was actually pretty popular as Secretary of State and New York voters were satisfied with her as a senator, but then again her polling has always been up and down since she first came into the spotlight in 1992.

Still, the trust issue is very real, although, despite all the memes and pundits, she has not been convicted or even tried for anything. Like it or not, in the U.S.A. we still have a presumption of innocent until proven guilty, although you would think of late that isn't true, at least on social media. Nevertheless, she will still carry the "Teflon" Clinton name.

What people who know Hillary think, or so I am told, is that she is smart, and it is all about Hillary when she is in the room. 

Then there is Donald Trump.  Trump has zero political experience.  He is litigious by nature. He or his companies having been involved in at least 3500 court actions.  His record on lying is not much better. According to Politifact, 180 statements made by candidate Trump, only 19 fell into the true or mostly true category while a whopping 135 were rated  "mostly false" to "pants on fire." He even won the 2015 "Lie of the Year." He was a major supporter of the Birther movement. He has regularly attacked women and minorities in his speeches and on his twitter feed. While some think that his statements are just an appeal to the base, I wonder if that's a base to whom we really want to appeal.  It seems to me that at some point, Trump's seeming racist and misogynistic statements cease being appeals to baser beliefs and begin to reflect true beliefs of the candidate.

Donald J. Trump

He has announced different positions on the same ideas often within days. Like Bernie convincing people he is not a Washington insider, Trump has convinced people that he understands what it is like to be without money, despite the fact that Trump's father, also a real estate developer, was worth between $250 to $400 million dollars at his death. Trump has never lived pay check to pay check.  He did take his part of his inheritance and build it into his fortune of today, although no one is actually sure what the real numbers are. He is a billionaire but what he is worth depends on who you talk to. Trump says 10 billion while experts like Bloomberg and Forbes say it is more likely between 2.5 and 4 billion dollars. 

There are no economists I could find who believe that his statements will do anything but lessen the tax burden on the wealthy even more and not cause a massive recession.  How does one become a master at economics when his companies have used (or abused) the laws to file for bankruptcy four times. 

His wall is, to put it bluntly, ridiculous and so is his idea that he will somehow make Mexico pay for it.  His ideas on trade are not the only thing that will create massive economic problems. His ban on Muslims would be unconstitutional, harken back to the days when we put another group of non-combatants into camps in WWII, and it would also prevent the Mayor of London from entering the USA for any negotiations, since he is Muslim, not to mention other Muslim leaders and business people from around the world. 

He has claimed to be a moral leader, despite the fact that he is on his third marriage.  Look, I get it, people are angry at Washington. Putting support behind the one true outsider, whose trust quotient and obvious lack of understanding world events, is not a good answer-it is the wrong answer.  

What people who know Trump think, or so I am told, is that Trump thinks he is the smartest person in the room and he wants it to be all about Trump.  

We have much at stake to put it simply. 

A truly disturbing picture, and
yes,it blinks. 

Warcraft Lacks Craft

I've played World of Warcraft for awhile.  I wanted to love Blizzard's newest franchise, Warcraft.  I wanted to like Warcraft. I don't.  It is a spectacular CGI movie, and the actors all did fine considering what they had to work with.  The battle scenes are huge although more than a couple of times I noticed CGI characters in the background that seemed to be set to attack, but they seemed to be caught in a kind of Gif-like loop.  You know like that one guy in the group fight scene in a kung fu movie waiting for his turn in the choreography?

The problem I had is that the movie wanted to be a broad and epic scope of Lord of the Rings, but it lacked important elements like story and character.  It was not from a lack of trying.  It had moments where there was an attempt at backstory, exposition, and other ideas, but after an attempt to reveal, it turns to just telling the viewer.  Then there is the sudden appearance of things like "a demon" or that the bad guy requires the help of the demon, but even after the demon is dead, the bad guy still glows green for some unknown reason.

Take for example the relationship between the main character Lothar and his son.  Lothar's relationship appears protective and somewhat strained.  Lothar finally just announces the history of his relationship with his son.  There is no story there, no reveal, no real feeling between the two.  The closest anyone comes to showing a relationship is between the Orc, Durotan and his wife but the moment is fleeting. Then it is announced that Durotan is a chieftain. As I said, the movie does try.

The ending, which I will leave spoiler free, is inexplicable.  Obviously set up for a sequel, it still makes no sense.

The problem is that the movie is the game. I've played World of Warcraft off and on for three or so years, and the game's storyline works because we are participants in the world.  The problem with the movie, Warcraft, is the story is now viewed from the outside.  The audience is not a participant as they are if they play, but the movie makes no allowance for this.  It's the game and unfortunately, the game is not enough of a story, and we have no feel for who these characters are or why they are important.

Sorry, but as much as I wanted to like this movie, I just didn't.  I won't be buying the dvd.