“You Changed My Life” review
by V.E. on September 6th, 2010
filed under recap/review
You Changed My Life: Stories of Real People with Remarkable Hearts by Max Lucado
Thomas Nelson Publishers
September 2010
You Changed My Life is a hardcover gift book by Max Lucado, a best-selling Christian author and preacher. (A gift book is intended to be given away rather than be read by the purchaser.) The book is just 6″ by 7″ and only 190 pages: great for coffee table, waiting room, or bathroom reading. The 
pages are full of beautiful photos and colorful formatting. Each short-short story (more like mini-memoir) is three pages or less and falls under one of eight uplifting categories: Love, Kindness, Commitment, Compassion, Hope, Courage, Wisdom, or Friendship. There’s even a page at the beginning for the purchaser of the book to write who it’s for and, briefly, how that person changed the gift giver’s life. Also, 100% of the author royalties from You Changed My Life benefits children and families through World Vision and “other ministries of faith-based compassion.” Cool, right?
Well, it’s a nice idea, but in my experience, people don’t read gift books. Mostly, they sit on someone’s coffee table or shelf and take up space but rarely does the receiver of the gift actually sit down to read a gift book all the way through. And, actually, that may be okay with this one because the stories are short and unconnected; it’s possible to pick up the book, open it to a random page, and read a heartwarming story that may or may not make an impact on the reader’s daily life.
The stories from history struck me the most; the ones from Lucado’s own life, the least. My favorite story (from the “Hope” section), I think, is as follows:
Nathaniel Hawthorne came home heartbroken. He’d just been fired from his job in the custom house. His wife, rather than responding with anxiety, surprised him with joy.
“Now you can write your book!”
He wasn’t so positive. “And what shall we live on while I’m writing it?”
To his amazement she opened a drawer and revealed a wad of money she’d saved out of her housekeeping budget. “I always knew you were a man of genius,” she told him. “I always knew you’d write a masterpiece.”
She believed in her husband. And because she did, he wrote. And because he wrote, every library in America has a copy of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Honestly, though, I thought many/most of the stories were sentimental (and not in a good way) and mundane. (Another reviewer called Lucado’s work “fluffy”, which seems apt, at least in this case.) And I know why Lucado is donating all his proceeds to charity: all of the stories are taken from many of his other books, including A Gentle Thunder, Just Like Jesus, Next Door Savior, and Outlive Your Life, among others. You Changed My Life is essentially a compilation of the uplifting stories about which he’s written in his other works. Also, many of the pages have verses from the Bible (ie: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20, NKJV), so if you’re not a Christian—or rather, if the person to whom you’re considering gifting this book isn’t a Christian—it’s probably not the greatest choice.
DISCLAIMER: I received You Changed My Life free from Thomas Nelson Publishers in return for a review of the book. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
“Toy Story 3″ review
by V.E. on September 5th, 2010
filed under entertainment, recap/review
My family and I just got back from Toy Story 3 (wiki). It’s the third (and final, I assume) installment in the Toy Story franchise, which began in 1995 with the original Toy Story and continued in 1999 with Toy Story 2.
I liked this new one. It was heartwarming and while I don’t think I’d go so far as to put it on my list of all time favorite movies, I will agree that “For me the happy ending that they settled on actually was the most painful of all, because I am such a keeper of stuff, and I do have toys still from when I was little because they mean things to me. Andy’s flinch when the little girl reached for Woody, it hurt because it was perfect, because YES, Pixar GETS IT.” I agree with that 100000%. So bittersweet and I’ll admit I cried during parts of it. I’m a sucker for pulling the heartstrings. I’ll watch it again, probably, but not anytime soon. I can take only so much heartache at a time—you know?—even when it’s all good and happy at the end.
It’s a kid movie, but it’s a kid movie about growing up. Indeed, the people who were kids when the first Toy Story came out—namely: my generation and me—are all grown up and may even have kids of our own. Toy Story 3 taught the importance of family—sticking together, even under the harshest circumstances—and that family is what you make it. Those toys weren’t family in the traditional sense; they weren’t related by blood (if that’s even possible for toys, anyway), but they knew what was important. That’s how I feel about my waterbrothers.
Thankfully, Toy Story 3 passes the Bechdel Test. There are multiple female characters: Jessie, Barbie, and Mrs. Potato Head, who are dolls; and Andy’s mom, Bonnie, and Bonnie’s mom, who are all human… among others. The humans talk to each other, but they only talk about Andy, so it doesn’t pass on that count. However, there is one part where Jessie and Mrs. Potato Head comfort Barbie about being abandoned by Molly (Andy’s little sister). Still, that “conversation” is less than a minute long, so take that as you will.
“Happy Yaoi Yum Yum” review
by V.E. on August 28th, 2010
filed under anime/manga, recap/review
Happy Yaoi Yum Yum (google) is one of the best hardcore yaoi mangas I’ve ever read. Seriously; I’ve read it over and over since I bought it. I picked it up on a whim (along with a bunch of other yaoi stuff) at Anime Expo 2009 and briefly chatted with Yaoi Press‘ publisher Yamila Abraham (though I’m sure she doesn’t remember it since I’m not exactly a memorable character in a sea of other fangirls). I’m happy to say that it’s completely worth the $10 (or whatever) I spent on it; it’s quickly become a yaoi that I return to again and again.
Happy Yaoi Yum Yum is a compilation of four short pieces (the longest is 32 pages; the shortest is 21) and an artbook-type section in the middle that shows boys doing various naughty things to other boys in various naughty positions. I enjoy fairytale retellings, as any of my friends will tell you, and I especially like HYYY‘s version of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” near the end. (“You like it big, don’t you.”—”Yes… ahhh… YES!” *grin*) There’s also a variety of artists and authors, so it really is a good cross-section of hard yaoi for ladies (and gents!) who like it hard. ^_^
The entire back cover is a warning. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to buy the manga. It reads:
WARNING: Book contains explicitly explicit sexual sex scenes of explicit sex.
2ND WARNING: If you are a straight guy who picked up this book because you think those are flat-chested girls on the front, put it back. They’re dudes.
Book contains numerous depictions of full frontal nudity, full backal nudity, and in one panel you can kind of see inside a guy’s butt.
Depictions of sex with tentacles, corn vines, beans, coins, a harp, fingers, a giant, a giant strap-on, a cat boy, lamb boy, puppy boys, more tentacles, a merboy, some bird boys, and then that lamb boy again.
If you’re that supposedly straight guy we mentioned in paragraph 2, why the Hell are you still reading this?
Let there be no mistake: this manga is made up of hardcore, sexually explicit material. And not explicit in the way that a lot of other yaoi mangas I’ve read are. That is, nothing is insinuated or covered by fig leaves or anything… it’s right out there in the open. (“It” being, y’know, penises.) This manga isn’t for the faint of heart. If you think you may not be ready for hard yaoi, try another good yaoi manga and work your way up. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. (As if the warning above wasn’t enough or something?)
I’m sad to say that the print edition is out of print, though you might be able to find it used at Amazon or Buy.com or something. I wish wish wish I could get another hardcopy because I dropped my copy in a puddle of water and now a lot of the pages are warped. T_T (I guess I should be happy I didn’t drop it in mud, right?) But there’s hope: you can read it on your Kindle, and—if you have a Kindle (and like yaoi)—I highly recommend Happy Yaoi Yum Yum. And if you don’t have a Kindle? Well… you can’t borrow my copy; sorry. I’m afraid you won’t give it back.
“Soukou no Str.A.In” review
by V.E. on August 26th, 2010
filed under anime/manga, recap/review
OMG I finally got to watch some (subtitled) anime (on my own time and in my own space)! It’s about time, right?
I first learned of Soukou no Str.A.In. (wiki) from Anime Expo 2010, which I attended for two days this year. Sara Werec stars as the series protagonist; her mission is to go to war to rejoin her brother, Ralph Werec, who left when she was a child and has since become the Union’s greatest hero. Since they live in a universe where many ships are capable of sub-lightspeed travel and the frontline of battle is 130 light years away, even if Ralph survived and returned home, Sara would be long dead as a result of general relativity. So, she decides to follow him as soon as she’s old enough so that she’ll be able to see him again at all. And she does.
Lower right: Sara Werec and her Mimic, Emily. Upper left: Ralph Werec
Next time we see her, Sara is about to graduate from the academy training facility as one of the Union’s greatest Reasoners, aside from her brother, who is touted as a hero in her history and strategy classes. (A Reasoner is a STRAIN pilot; a STRAIN is a type of elite flying combat ship capable of carrying one passenger, the pilot.) Each Reasoner, including Sara and Ralph, has a Mimic, a machine created the Reasoner’s brain cells from before that person was even born. If it’s destroyed, it can never be replaced. One night, the academy is attacked and Sara and her friends head out in their STRAINs to fight back. Her friends are killed in battle and Sara’s Mimic is destroyed.
While searching for the pilot of the enemy STRAIN, Sara discovers that the pilot is none other than Ralph Werec, her brother. He’s changed and seems to barely recognize her. He revives a young girl and takes her with him back to his STRAIN, where he leaves Sara standing in the dirt without any answers. Sara’s new mission is to catch up with Ralph and make him explain his traitorous actions. She changes her name to Sara Cruz so she won’t be recognized (and demonized by her association to her brother) and enrolls in another academy as a GAMBEE pilot. (Since her Mimic was destroyed, she can no longer pilot STRAIN fighters.)
Ralph Werec, episode 1
She works hard and isn’t very social, and the other GAMBEE trainees bully her and make fun of her. Eventually, she discovers a broken down STRAIN on the ship where she’s staying and a doll named Emily which has a Mimic built into it. As events progress, Sara finds out she can pilot the STRAIN with Emily, even though Emily is not her Mimic. She attracts the attention of the higher ups and, slowly, her story comes to light. While all this is happening, Ralph is in league with the enemy but has an agenda of his own and even betrays the enemy ship’s crew to protect his childlike charge, a(nother) girl named Emily.
Str.A.In. (meaning “Strategic Armored Infantry”) is just thirteen episodes, running about 25 minutes each. It’s not a huge time commitment (as opposed to, say, an American TV show with multiple 20-episode seasons or something), and I definitely recommend watching it. I found out after finishing the series that it was inspired by Frances Hodgson Burnett‘s novels, including A Little Princess and The Secret Garden. I can see some influences, but honestly, I wouldn’t have the connected the two unless someone pointed out the similarities (as Wikipedia did).
There’s a minor character in the series who, because of the way time in sub-lightspeed works, is physically younger (that is, has aged less) than his younger brother. I was willing to go with it and just suspend my disbelief for the sake of the story, especially since it was only a minor plot point, but afterward it confused me. My father, sister, and I even had an extended conversation about general and special relativity because I was confused about how subjective time and objective time (in the series) worked. I think I get it now, but I ended up getting a crash course in Relativity for Stupid People at like 11 PM a couple of nights ago so I would understand it.
Ralph Werec, episode 13
I’ll admit right now that I was in it for Ralph. His story intrigued me much more than Sara’s did, but I understand why the creators focused on her (rather than him) and actually, I think it worked out better that way. There is, however, a moment in the 11th episode when one of the characters says, “Sara, you aren’t permitted to go out yet. But I think if Ralph Werec is coming, you should fight.” Sara was wounded in the last battle and her history (including her relation to her brother) has just come to light for all the other characters. She’s even suspected of being an enemy spy. I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt in most cases, especially when I just want to have a good time, but this line really got to me. It was completely unrealistic, even within the constraints of the series. If I were Sara’s commanding officer, my first reaction would be lock her in the brig until shit had been sorted out and we’d either [1] beaten the enemy (Ralph) or [2] died trying. I wouldn’t let her out to presumably fight him if I suspected she might be a spy. That said, I understand where the character was coming from, but I just have to believe that they didn’t really suspect her of being a spy in the first place and just tossed the accusation around to scare her.
In the last major battle, all the STRAIN units were piloted by women, which I thought was awesome. (Although there had been men pilots as well, they were either killed or seriously injured earlier on.) Multiple women characters have multiple conversations about things other than men, so this series definitely passes The Bechdel Test (though, admittedly, much of the driving force behind the two main women characters’—Sara and Lottie—actions is their love for their respective brothers).
A good, solid show. Recommended if you like mecha sci-fi. (Also, it’s a mech series with female protagonists who are not simply love interests! YES.)
“Tales from Earthsea” review
by V.E. on August 21st, 2010
filed under anime/manga, recap/review
My sister and I shuttled down to the Landmark last Saturday to see Tales from Earthsea (wiki), a film by Goro Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. (We’d have seen it somewhere closer, but the Landmark is the only theater in the area showing it, so it was there we went.)
Before I go on, let me say that it’s a good movie and you should see it in theaters. Seriously, if you’re in a place that’s showing it (Los Angeles, New York City, etc.), you should just haul your ass to which ever theater is showing it and pay the insane ticket price and see it. Not because it’s a good movie (though it is that, too), but because we as consumers want to encourage American companies/theaters to bring over, translate, and distribute as much anime and manga as possible, and watching Tales from Earthsea in theaters will help show that our money is where our mouths are.
Right, so moving to the actual content, etc., of the movie. Actually, let me preface this (again; will I ever get to the goddamn review?) by saying that I don’t generally like work produced by Studio Ghibli. With the exception of Mononoke-hime, I really haven’t liked anything I’ve seen by Studio Ghibli. I didn’t like Spirited Away, for example, or The Cat Returns, or My Neighbor Totoro. Kiki’s Delivery Service was just eh; I could take it or leave it. I can’t speak for Nausicaa, Castle in the Sky, and Grave of the Fireflies because I’ve never seen them, but (most of) the Ghibli films I have seen… well, I didn’t like them. That said, I actually liked this movie.
Since it was in American theaters, it was dubbed into English. I prefer to watch my anime (or anything, for that matter) in its original language with subtitles, but seeing Tales from Earthsea on the big screen kind of made up for the fact that it (probably) just wasn’t as good in English as it would have been in Japanese. (Now that I think about it, actually… that may be at least partially why I dislike Studio Ghibli films in general: because I’ve only ever seen them dubbed, except for Mononoke-hime, which I made sure to watch subtitled because I didn’t want to ruin the potential experience. And which, now that I think about it, is the only one I’ve liked. Hmmm… I may be on to something here.)
Aaaaaanyway… I learned of its opening in American theaters from Inside Anime Expo (where you can find out where the film is playing, by the way) and noticed two of the American voice actors (noted below) who I wanted to support, dubbing or no. The film focused on five major characters: Arren, a fleeing prince; Sparrowhawk, the archmage who takes Arren under his wing (no pun intended); Tenar (Mariska Hargitay), an old friend of Sparrowhawk’s; Theru, a girl being taken care of by Tenar; and Cob (Willem Dafoe), the primary villain whose goal is to find the Fountain of Life and never die. It becomes clear part way through that Arren is the protagonist (though I suppose it could be argued that Sparrowhawk is, at least until the end, or Tehru is) and Cob is quite clearly the antagonist from the beginning, though there are other minor villains working under Cob’s direction to make things more difficult for Sparrowhawk and, by extension, Arren.
I knew nearly nothing of the film before watching it, though I did see the English trailer and thought there’d be more dragons in the films. Not that I’m complaining—it was a good film without an excessive amount of dragons—but I think the English trailer was a little misleading in that respect. (The Japanese trailer is much more well-rounded.)
Honestly, I didn’t understand a lot of the backstory since I haven’t read any of the Earthsea novels, and I kinda feel like I should read everything I can get my hands on and then try watching Tales from Earthsea again (maybe subtitled this time?) and see if I can pick up more from the film that is just brushed over for lack of time and unwillingness to make it too complex in two hours. No matter what I didn’t understand, though, Tehru’s Song was heart-wrenching in both Japanese and English. I think I may have cried when she sang that, just about like Arren did listening to her.
As I’ve read after seeing the film, Hayao Miyazaki (the director’s father, who is also a famous film director) and Goro Miyazaki were basically embattled during production, and in 2006, Ursula K. Le Guin, who wrote the original stories, told Goro Miyazaki that was a good movie, but “It is not my book. It is your movie.”
All drama aside, though, I really would see Tales from Earthsea again if someone wanted to go with me. As I mentioned above, I believe in supporting anime in the United States, and this is a good enough film to warrant seeing it twice. (Also, it passed the Bechdel Test with flying colors; Tenar and Tehru have an entire conversation that doesn’t have anything to do with men about midway through the movie …so that made me a little happier.)
“Moon” (2009) review
by V.E. on August 10th, 2010
filed under entertainment, recap/review
Okay, so Moon (wiki) wasn’t bad. It wasn’t horror, as my father and I suspected at the beginning, and that’s a good thing, as I don’t do well with horror. My dad’s sister had given him the movie as a gift and said, “Watch this” as if she knew he’d like it. Well, it had been brought up before but was always out-voted for something else until this past Sunday night.
The story follows Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell), a man living on the dark side of the Moon sometime in the future who repairs the machines which extract helium-3 from the lunar surface. He’s alone at the base save for his robot assistant, GERTY 
(voiced by Kevin Spacey) and has left his wife, pregnant with their first child when he leaves, on Earth while he completes his 3-year contract on the Moon. When the movie begins, he has just two weeks left in his contract. Cue plot.
My dad had some issues with the science in the science fiction, but I decided to suspend my disbelief until the end. Well, by the end I was like, “WTF is this?” But in a good way, if that makes sense. Rockwell must’ve had a hell of a time talking to himself (which his character does a lot, as the main plot involves possible clones and weirdness). He literally carries the entire film since he’s basically the only one in it, GERTY notwithstanding. Near the end, my dad said it reminded him of The Prestige, but that’s a movie I haven’t seen, so the comparison will have to wait for another time.
Speaking of, GERTY had a striking resemblance to HAL, though the robot in this film was much less antagonistic than I remember HAL being in 2001. Moon is not a robots vs. humans film, something for which I’m thankful, even though I kept expecting it would turn into that at any moment. (Remember, I had no idea what the movie was about before I watched it; I didn’t even get to read the back of the DVD case.) GERTY is, however, one of the most patronizing robot characters I’ve ever seen, but it proves itself when it becomes clear that it actually does want to help Bell midway through the movie (and then proceeds to do so).
There are two female characters in the film, Sam Bell’s wife and young daughter, Tess and Eve, though their parts are so small it might not even be worth mentioning. It safe to say it fails the Bechdel Test.
Overall, it was an interesting case study in What To Talk About If You Ever Find A Clone Of Yourself. If you like sci-fi and have some time, it’s not a bad watch. Don’t expect any great revelations, but I admit it made me want to know more about what happened after the credits roll than was implied by the ending scene.
“Inception” review
by V.E. on August 3rd, 2010
filed under entertainment, recap/review
I went to see Inception (wiki) with my little sister last Thursday morning before work. It was… pretty good, actually. I wouldn’t say it’s the kind of movie that would blow my mind (ie: The Matrix) or that I’d obsessively watch again and again (ie: The Dark Knight), but I may just be hard to please, at least in terms of film expectations. I really like Joseph Gordon-Levitt, I like Leonardo DiCaprio, and I can take or leave Ellen Page. (Not that she’s a bad actor or anything, but Juno was a huge turn-off for me, and I can’t look at her without thinking of that, which is not what I want.) I also like Cillian Murphy, but I can’t say I’ve ever seen him in any other movies except Batman Begins before this one.
Okay, so the basic premise is that the characters live in a world where secrets can be stolen directly from the mind (from a dream, actually) of the person who holds them. It might even be this world, but regular, average-joe-type people don’t have important enough secrets to warrant anyone else wanting to steal them or, for that matter, having enough money to have someone teach us how to protect against that kind of mind/dream invasion. DiCaprio plays a man named Dominic Cobb who is the best information stealer on the planet. A man (played by Ken Watanabe) hires him to do what most of the other characters deem impossible: instead of stealing an idea, this man wants Cobb to plant an idea in someone else’s mind. Cobb insists that it’s possible, but it requires serious amounts of dreamwalking (three or four levels deep, even, meaning that he must go into a dream within a dream within a dream, and so on). Because of his extenuating circumstances, Cobb accepts the risky job against his instincts and the advice of the other characters and assembles a team. Arthur (Gordon-Levitt) and Ariadne (Page) are among those he assembles, and Fischer (Murphy) is their target, the heir to an empire that could become a monopoly if it isn’t broken up after his father dies.
I don’t want to ruin the story for anyone who still wants to see it, especially since it’s still out in theaters, and anyway it was difficult enough for me to explain the above paragraph to set up the story in the first place. Once the characters go down into the dreamspaces (within dreamspaces within dreamspaces), it gets even more confusing. Seriously. You just kinda have to watch it to really understand it, and even then it’s kind of a crapshoot. I’m not saying it’s a bad movie—it isn’t—but if you’re not paying close attention for the entire 148 minutes (which was a long time for even someone like me to be sitting still), you could miss something that could throw off the rest of the movie, and that’s not a good thing. So, if you have ADD, ADHD, or an otherwise short attention span, I wouldn’t bother seeing this movie unless you’re willing to see it numerous times (in the theater) or have on DVD so that you can pause and go back as needed (after it comes out on DVD).
Generally, I’m a fan of having characters who have names that lend something to their character (as opposed to having a character with a random name like Joe or Anne just because you have to name the character something). In this movie, though, both women had character-enhancing names—Ariadne and Mal—and they just seemed cheesy to me.
In case you don’t know: in ancient Greek legends, Ariadne was a daughter of King Minos of Crete. She helped Theseus kill the famed Minotaur by giving him a sword a ball of red string so that he could find his way out of the Minotaur’s labyrinth. In the movie, Ariadne’s role is to create the dream worlds in which the other characters inhabit and make sure that those worlds are mazes so that the target doesn’t figure it out too soon and trap the other characters there.
Much more simply, mal in Latin means “bad” or “evil” (as in malevolent or Maleficent). The character Mal acts as a serious foil for Dominic: a person who haunts him even in his deepest dream-state (maybe even especially there) and causes havoc for the other characters because Dominic can’t keep a handle on his emotions or subconscious around her.
(Though, admittedly, these two characters, cheesy names or not, managed to help Inception dubiously pass the Bechdel Test. There’s a scene in which Ariadne goes into one of Dominic’s dreams and she and Mal have a conversation that does not involve talking about a man, at least not directly. However, it’s revealed as the story goes on that the real Mal is dead and the one in Dominic’s dreams is basically just a shade of her former self—all that he can remember of her. So, does that mean Ariadne was talking to a female character, or a female subconscious part of a male character? It’s debatable.)
At least the effects are seriously A+, right?
I also agree with the reviewer who said that every question poised by the characters seemed to have a ready-made answer.
Each question asked by Cobb’s dream team…is answered a la the official “Inception” owner’s manual: quickly, predictably, and as if it were all being made up on the fly. There is indeed an answer for everything: The sedative that doesn’t allow a dreamer to return from the dream? I’ve adjusted it, says the team pharmacologist. What happens if someone is killed in dream but is sedated at the same time? Uh, he goes to Limbo, or “unconstructed dream space.”
It was as though there wasn’t enough time to fit all the questions in there and still have a story; like maybe it would’ve worked better as a miniseries or one-season TV show. The time given—even though it was 148 minutes—wasn’t enough to explore all the crazy things people inside dreams are capable of, and so on.
The ending (the very end, I mean) wasn’t really surprising, but it was appropriate. I’m not going to ruin it by explaining what happens, though I will say that I really liked Fischer’s part near the end in the vault with his dying father. That was really touching. If I think about it too much longer, I’ll just confuse myself, so I’m going to stop now and call this review done and done. Overall, I’d give it a watch, if only for the (admittedly amazing) special effects and the puzzle it presents to viewers.
