I hate to admit when I get too attached to the television, but these last couple weeks of September going into the month of October has me planted rather firmly in front of the television for a variety of reasons. When November gets here I’m sure I’ll back off a little bit to work on NaNoWriMo. For now though, I can rave about the slew of television that I have been enjoying in my spare time (it’s so much cheaper than heading out every night).

Baseball Playoffs - After the one game playoff between the Colorado Rockies and the San Diego Padres (which I watched intensely while my friends enjoyed a trivia night at a U-district bar) I’m fully invested in the baseball playoffs. This gives me a solid month of baseball games almost every day, after which basketball season starts up and the cycle can continue onwards. Even the games in which no one I know is playing (nor do I care about the game) I feel compelled to keep watching.

Fall Season - All sorts of new shows have returned this year for me to get engrossed in. Heroes and The Office are particularly good this fall, while Family Guy, The Simpsons, and a half dozen other shows are good old fashioned favorites. On top of the old favorites, there are dozens of new shows that have arrived just in time for the autumn rains. Of the many new shows, a few stand out as great new offerings. I’m particularly intrigued by Chuck, Reaper, and Pushing Daisies. The summer seasons were not bad either, giving me new episodes of Psych and Eureka (two of my favorite new shows), but fall is shaping up to be one heck of a time waster.

As summer’s memory dissipates (see Hawaii pics below) it’s all too easy to lay back and watch TV all day. I’m doing my best to be picky and choosy so as to keep it to a minimum, but for now I think I may just lay back and enjoy it until November comes along…when I’ll try to juggle some extra writing along side The Office.

I was on a bit of a hiatus for a few days. I took a short vacation to Oahu and when I got back decided to take a few more days off from the computer and give myself a bit of breathing room before I dove back into all of my side projects - the blogging, the noveling, the websites.  Fortunately, it’s still raining outside, so it’s about time to start writing again and share all the pent up wisdom I pretend to carry around with me. But first, some pictures of sunny Oahu, because it was so much nicer than Seattle.

Saturday mornings are interesting beasts. They often enjoy a carefully set out collection of plans and a goal somewhere in the middle of the day. They usually end up being completely slept through and then thought back on wistfully as I stumble around at noon trying to wake up just a little bit more. But, as a freelance writer, it’s important to set aside those off days in the week, because it’s very easy - when you work at home - to start working every day and not think of work as a scheduled event but as an often times endless cycle of revisions and invoices.

So, take two or three days off every week and enjoy them because if you don’t, you’ll go insane. That’s not to say you don’t have those days to work on if something comes. Feel free to finish a big project on a Saturday if your procrastinated on a Friday, just don’t do it all the time.

That’s not why I started writing this post though. Consider the lecture over. No, I started because it’s a nice day off and with the last couple of weeks being what they’ve been, I’m happy to get out of the house and enjoy these final sunny days of summer. It should be fun. I’ll post more intriguing, deep perspective for your perusal in a day or two…for now, enjoy my shameless reposting of articles I’ve written or stories I’ve read elsewhere.

As my eyes continue to water from staring much too deeply into this computer screen all day, trying to complete a deadline early so I can enjoy my Labor Day weekend, I’m going to take a short break and (while still staring at the screen) at least stop working for a few minutes.

I have a couple of new projects in the works that will likely prove to be too much work for me in the long run, but are at least keeping me entertained at the moment. The first I have mentioned before and is my freelancing website at SeattleFreelance.com. The site has been live since early July and does not quite work yet, but the cogs are still turning and it will hopefully be operational in the coming weeks (as the work load lightens). My hope is to create a situation in which I am free of the grips of sites like Elance to garner myself work. We’ll see how it works out.

Second, I’ve started a blog novel at BrutusWeaver.blogspot.com. It’s a new project that sprouted up when I was working on an Elance project (there’s that name again). I basically thought it would be interesting to try and write a novel while people watched, commenting on my new additions every day. My goal is to write 300-500 words every day and have a few people share their thoughts. It’s been done before, but I’m not really aiming to be original, just entertained. So, if you read this (what few of you there are), please stop by and read the first few pages of my newest endeavor and leave some comments to let me know what you think.

Well, that’s it for now I suppose. I have 2500 words left and a massive proofread to undergo before I’m “officially” done for tonight. The sooner, the better.

This past weekend, the 33^rd annual Seattle International Film Festival kicked off in Seattle, the annual collection of a few hundred films from all the corners of the world’s many film producing countries to the Northwest for my ecstatic perusal. As far as film festival’s go, I’ve always had a sort of reversed mental image in which grand premiers and galas are held every night within a central theater in which directors and movie stars from around the world arrive.

Technically, this only occurs in three or four film festivals around the world, and it often only occurs for a small handful of films participating in the film festival. I generally have no idea what a festival like Sundance or Cannes feels like to attend as I’ve never been, but I do know that in Seattle, the festivities are much more reserved, much less apparent, and for those not participating, only mildly obnoxious.

With the highest per capita movie attending city in the nation, Seattle has managed to wrangle together the biggest film festival in the country on an annual basis, this year consisting of 405 films. However, the festival is not privy to the kind of exciting new world premiers that Cannes gets, because so few people know about it. Wong Kar Wai’s first English language film for example, the opening film in that world famous French festival, will not make its North American debut for months to come.

It doesn’t help either that SIFF starts at the tail end of Cannes, crossing over its tail end and losing whatever international recognition it might be able to muster up in the first place. But, lasting for almost a full month, SIFF is the kind of city wide event that any movie adoring public would just gobble up. And we do. It’s a long time coming each year, but when that first schedule arrives with it’s 400+ movies, I sit down and start sorting through them, looking for the next big feature that I’ll be able to say I saw way before anyone else.

What is it about the film festival atmosphere then that so captures the hearts and minds of a city and gets everyone so involved? It’s not the prospect of so many new films. To be truthful, most of the best films screening at SIFF will be screened in a few weeks at any of the dozen or so art house theaters scattered throughout the city. Once again, this is a big movie going city. No, it’s more of a dedication to the manner in which you’re seeing these films. When you walk up to the theater, wait in the ridiculously long lines, pull out your special SIFF tickets and sit down in a packed house to a film that very few if any people have seen in America yet, it’s a special feeling.

My first film this year for example was this beautiful French compilation film called Paris Je T’aime. Comprised of 18 short films by internationally renowned directors like the Coen Brothers, Alfonso Cuaron, and Gus Van Sant, each film was a speech on love and the nature of love in Paris. It was not only a great movie, but a fun movie and the place was sold out. I had bought my tickets on the day the schedule showed up, so I was set, but more than 300 people stood in the reserve line to get extra tickets, and that’s not including the pass holders who got turned away. To make a long story short, this was a popular film and with most films at SIFF getting 2 screenings, it was amazing how quickly it sold out.

Sitting in that tiny Capital Hill theater, watching a film with no previews, personally introduced by a staff member, was a great deal of fun and the kind of thing I look forward to every year, and despite that massive line, Paris Je T’aime opens in a regular run in a University District theater this Friday. It was all for the experience.

What I’m trying to get to here is that the point of a film festival is not to show off the best new films from around the world (though that is a great side effect), nor to posh up the city with a bunch of overindulgent stars and directors. It’s about the film goers, the people who make these films popular by spending their money to see them. It’s about the experience of going to a movie, the spectacle of sitting down with a few hundred people and watching a film as though you’re the only people on the planet doing so.

There’s something to be said for the blockbuster atmosphere, standing in line with millions of others to watch the next chapter in the world beloved series of pirate, superhero, or green ogre films too, but it’s just not the same. And when you pay that much money and sit with that many people to see a film that just plain fails, you might become a slight bit jaded to the movie industry. To which I say, go to a film festival if you can; it will reignite your passion for the cinema.

Politically, this country has been a tad on the divided side the last few years. Ever since a certain Supreme Court intervention and four years of national tragedy and national travesty, mentioning your political affiliation is akin to announcing to the world which side of the cease fire you belong on.

Appropriately, the world of the arts has reacted in kind, producing works of derision and political cynicism that capture the national energy of the moment. Rather than pretend that everything is okay, or that it is absolutely horrible, the world of popular entertainment has taken to declaring that everything is political and their films and television series have been critiqued in kind.

Were one to flip through a newspaper’s film review section, it’s nearly impossible not to find at least one film that has a “political message” meant to jab at the heart of the Iraq War issue or to undermine the “Stability of the American Troops” as the opposition will say it. Either side is enmeshed in a high stakes game of who is more observant of things that don’t exist.

The answer is neither side. While wishful movie critics conjure up dozens of possible scenarios in the films they are watching in which a director (who often specifically denies doing so) has instilled some political message or another, pundits and the like do the exact same thing, trying to counteract the effects. There isn’t a single year since the start of the Iraq War that at least one major Hollywood Blockbuster hasn’t undergone the scrutiny of which faction represents George W. Bush and which represents whatever subsection of people he’s destroying.

It’s a natural progression though, to project political angst and anger from the immitigable presence of the President and his administration onto the very accessible films that millions of viewers absorb every day. Star Wars Episode III, while a film that surely had many parallels to the situation in Iraq and here at home is clearly not a political allegory, if only because that storyline was set almost 10 years ago, before anyone knew who George W. Bush even was, other than a failed baseball team owner and new state governor.

And yet the critics started a buzz, mentioning that the situation was very similar to our own and that Lucas was very harsh on the “evil side”. Of course he was harsh on the evil side. It’s Star Wars. I’m not by any means saying that I wish to support the administration or contradict the message that these critics took away from Revenge of the Sith (believe me I’m not). I am however, slightly annoyed that every time a major blockbuster is released, meaning a film with lots of explosions and often times a war of some sorts, the immediate conclusion of every major film critic is that it is a political allegory of some sort.

It’s a lazy way to categorize a film to automatically compare it to something so prescient in everyone’s minds that they have no choice but to agree. The ability to look at something and make broad comparisons to a real life counterpart is not movie criticism, it is basic observation. I can do it too. I recently saw Bridge on the River Kwai. Recently Seattle has been arguing over a particular stretch of highway and how to rebuild it. And voila, I’ve compared a 50 year old war film chronicling the plight of POWs in World War II to the infighting of a few council members and entirely too vocal citizens of Seattle. I’m a movie critic now.

Of course, saying that relying on the easy parallels is an easy out is not the same as saying that films are not actually tackling these subjects head on. As I mentioned early in, there is a rapidly growing political awareness in film these days. However, in films that attempt to make such statements, the allegory is slightly less subtle (and denied by its directors). Films like Syriana or Good Night, and Good Luck targeted specific political actions that have not worked well for this nation. Even children’s films, such as Happy Feet, the otherwise happy tale of a penguin who only wants to dance, is under the surface an environmental call to action.

Film is one of those mediums that can reach every human being on the planet when done properly. Films are made with specific intent, and most of the time that intent is to make money. However, those money making machines are projected with dozens of interpretations, hoping to create a public awareness for a message that isn’t necessarily there.

Other films, those that are specifically created to portray a particular message are not nearly as popular, regardless of how good they are. However, it is in these important message laden films that I find the most poignant displays of free speech and derision, not in 300, a film that relays a specific, ages old legend and absolutely does not support the failing doctrine of a president without the nation’s trust.

As one of the greatest video game nerds this side of Lake Washington, I spend a decent amount of time every week digging up classic snippets of gaming history, loving dedications to the greatest games of all time, and reading up on news that could not possibly matter less. Regardless, today was a good day for random video gaming goodness, all those bits and…bits of information that I so love to uncover.

First off, God of War II was released today and I was happy to get my copy in the mail. I’m not a rabid fan of this genre of game, usually more frustrated than not with difficulty levels and repetitive gameplay, but as a fan of ancient Greece, and the fact that God of War was such an incredibly awesome game, the second one is here and I’m enjoying it as well. Of course, I still have a dungeon and a half of Zelda left to play and at least 10 hours of Final Fantasy XII to finish, but for now rabid, Spartan killing sprees will hold me over.

Second, I found these links on Transbuddha and Fimoculous. The first is a myspace clone of Zelda characters called Hyspace (as in Hyrule). It’s a goofy collection of all Link’s pals over the years, an epicly nerdy collection, but pretty damn funny for those that are in the know.

Another sidesplitting link I found was a classic snippet of Mario on Ice from the glory days of the Ice Capades, starring Jason Bateman of Arrested Development fame and Alyssa Milano. It’s so incredibly bad, I can’t possible describe it any better than if you just watch it. Be warned. This is awful (and so damn funny).

Finally, long before the YouTube portal opened up, I remember scouring the net for speed clips of video gaming glory. I’m sure anyone who’s done the same has seen the 11 minute Super Mario Bros. 3 clip or the Metroid Prime clip, or even the Ikaruga mastery, all of them Japanese. I found a website though that collects all the best time clips from every game and keeps an archive of them. There’s something humbling about watching these masters destroy any notion of a speed clear you might have accomplished (though I think I could almost rival that Super Mario World time).

And now for a foray into something that will only enhance the entire world’s perception of me as an incredible dork. For the record, I’m okay with that. And for my fellow dorks, flame away, if you dare.

I’m treading in dangerous waters, some of the more dangerous nerd infested waters around. I’m familiar to the dangers that lurk, but I still must be wary. And so, looking over both of my shoulders and all around, I step out and ponder the question of which is the best Star Wars film. Let’s start from the top.

It definitely isn’t Episode I.
Ironically of all the films, I’ve seen this one the most, because I was a 13 year-old kid when it was released and thus entirely engrossed in the goofy antics of a computer generated stereotype and a 10-year old delivering the stilted lines of Mr. Lucas. It’s just not that great of a movie, though. George Lucas managed to suck the energy and life out of the original trilogy, replacing it with beaurocratic rambling and pod races.

The characters are unfamiliar and not entirely interesting in the first place, while the layover on Tatooine feels like a not-so cleverly crafted plot device to bring everything together. A lot of coincidences, along side a lot of poorly written dialogue, topped with a pretty cool lightsaber battle make this a disappointing movie that still entertains on a basic popcorn munching level.

Bringing us to Episode II.
Attack of the Clones is a better made film, but still a little too attached to its governments maneuverings. Lucas created a plot point that required a whole lot of filler in the middle to complete, and because of that the first two films were stuffed with all the Trade Federation, Counts, Dukes, Viceroy mumbo jumbo that none of us really paid any attention to. The thing he forgot is that in the original films, all the politics were safely presented in the classic rebellion plot.

Two important things come out of those plots; bad guys and good guys. In the prequels’ political maneuvering we have insurgency and splinter factions, shady dealings and back alley wars. They’re boring as we wait the entire film for the big battle. Episode II does a better job of introducing the familiar elements that we know and love so well, Boba Fett, Obi-Wan as a Jedi Knight, Anakin with a lightsaber. Unfortunately, one of the worst love sequences in the history of popcorn cinema sits in the middle, alongside a completely unnecessary factory escape sequence, and all those political dealings. Of course, the end of this film really kicks things into gear and almost salvages the entirety of the film. One of the most exciting scenes in the entire series (Yoda can move) brought the theater to its feet, and a whole lot of Jedi with a whole lot of light sabers.

Which leads into Episode III.
I’d say the ending of Attack of the Clones leads directly into the beginning of Revenge of the Sith, in which Lucas finally got it right. I’d say it’s probably a matter of so many open plotlines finally filling in, every little bit of the puzzle the audience has been waiting for figuring itself out. The characters we know and love finally appear in their full formed glory and there is a lot of action, really good action, and the trademark humor that the first two films bogged down with hokey plotlines.

This was a good film and the most exciting of the three prequels by far. The return of Vader was on the horizon for 6 years, and when he finally arrived, it was everything promised (minus the Nooooo at the end. How cliché was that). But, could it possibly match up with the original three films. In some ways yes, but in others, not as much.

Episode IV is the original.
Thus it’s a classic for all the obvious reasons. It’s started the whole saga, and no one can forget the first time they saw it. But, is it the best. I don’t think so. In fact, in terms of how good of a movie it is, it probably falls somewhere in the middle.

t’s all exposition and beginning, introduction to the action we see later in the series. We meet the whole cast of characters and witness the beginning of the evolution of a Jedi Knight. We get the smarmy exchanges between Han and Leia and the antics of C3PO and R2D2, but it’s all a few degrees cooler than the later films. Vader’s introduction is a classic moment in film history though, and the destruction of the Death Star still one of the greatest audience cheer along climaxes you’ll ever see.

Episode V is the original depressing piece.
You can’t honestly consider it the worst after the destruction of the Republic and multiple murders of Revenge of the Sith, but it was a major downer after the successes of A New Hope. But, The Empire Strikes Back was just that, the Empire striking back, and hard. Everything about this film was great. From the monumental revelation by Vader to Luke of his heritage, to the secretive dark training on Dagobah with the quirky little Jedi.

Luke’s development truly takes off in this film, and we begin to see Luke the Jedi Knight instead of Luke the whiny farmhand. Han and Leia’s relationship takes on a new level as well, as the two become closer than they expected and the whole thing ends with Han in carbonite, Luke’s hand missing, and the rebellion in disarray. Leading into the concluding film, this one did everything right. But, if you don’t like to be depressed, I suppose this might have been a tough one to swallow.

But Episode VI remedied everything
For those depressed by Empire, Return of the Jedi starts off with a bang and keeps running until the end. Luke is now a full fledged Jedi, and Han is still in the clutches of Jabba the Hutt and his retinue. Enter the infamous gold bikini scene, some Boba Fett action and a giant Sarlac and we’re off to the races.

Return of the Jedi immediately fixes all the problems of Empire and just keeps on chugging until the end where Luke and Vader defeat the Emperor. We learn of one more secret of lineage in Luke and Leia and take one more run at a brand new Death Star. Even Lando’s decided to turn a new leaf and help out the good guys.

And there you have it, a rundown of all six films with what made them good and what made them bad. Which is best? I suppose I still didn’t answer that one did I. I’ve always been partial to Empire as the best film, when watching the series as a whole, but then again, Jedi was always more exciting and ultimately satisfying. I won’t consider the prequels, if for no reason other than that I have much more affinity with the original Trilogy. But on this argument I’m going to have to go with the mood of the day. Today, I’d rather watch Empire. But when I’m in a depressed mood, Jedi might find it’s way into the DVD player first.

I was reading the Amazon bookstore blog for whatever reason earlier today and noticed that they’ve been focusing a lot lately on top 10 lists and whatnot. I’m a sucker for Top 10 lists, as you can tell from my playlist section. I write them all the time, not only for myself, but for other sites as well. But, I don’t necessarily enjoy reading other peoples’ lists unless I’m learning something new and interesting.

But today they posted about an article from Jessica Allen at the Washington Post about her top 1000 books, that being a list of books she’s read since 1989, totaling around 1000. I thought to myself for a second about the concept of reading 1000 books, then immediately scoured my own file reserves for my list of books read. And I was surprised to see that since 2004, I’ve read over 200 books myself. That’s incredible by any means. It’s roughly the same pace as Allen and her 1000, especially considering the dearth of reading material I managed to sit down to last year after I graduated and stepped away from most academic thought for a few months.

However, the idea that in a lifetime, I might read upwards of 4000 books in intriguing to me. More so when I think about the fact that there are hundreds of new books released every year and I want to be among those. And there are always every book in existance already released waiting to be read. For that matter, there are a few dozen books on my shelves waiting to be read.

There’s no way to ever read everything of importance in a lifetime. The volume of literature is too great, so it’s necessary, like anything else to pick and choose what you experience. My choices tend to be rather willy-nilly; whatever looks good at the bookstore…or for most of the time between 2004 and 2006, whatever I was assigned in class. I feel a certain honus to read the great pieces of literature before I run out of time to, but that said, why? To look smarter to myself…or to leave that list laying around for the first historian to stumble upon my great and illustrious notes and compile them.

I don’t think so. And by the way, filling in the list with short, easy books just to make it longer is just as cheap. I shall never do that either…..anymore.

I have a moderately large and steadily growing book collection. I started it only three years ago after settling into my new home and city and found that it was growing rather quickly. I decided that rather than having stacks and stacks of books with no story other than that I’d read them, I’d try and get as many of them autographed (by the living authors at least) as possible.

So far, I have more than 75 of my 400 plus books autographed. The act of getting an autograph may seem daunting, especially if you live in a smaller town or city where you don’t have access to author readings and specialty bookstores, but here a few tips for everyone for getting all those contemporary pieces signed while you can.

1. Get all the fliers from your bookstores – check often, usually every month or so for the new signing schedule at your local bookstore or bookstores. They’re usually posted online too. You’ll want to know ahead of time in case there’s a need for a ticket that might sell out. Often with big name authors you might not be able to just walk up and get your book signed.

2. Bring a friend. The friend is a good tag along when you go to get your books signed. Often they’ll make a rule of one book per person which means you have to usually buy the new book and get that signed. If you bring a friend, he or she can bring along whichever old book you want signed as well.

3. Bring everything anyways. Sometimes the list says only one or two books, but often times the authors are nice people and will sign everything you have anyways. The rules are usually set by the agents and bookstore staff trying to keep a schedule. The author may or may not care about their schedule, so if they don’t, take advantage of it. I attended a Chuck Palahniuk reading a while back and brought seven books with me. The sign said two, but I brought them anyways and he happily signed them all for me

4. Ebay is a great place to pick up old signed copies of books that may or may not be in perfect condition. If you’re not a super picky collector trying to build monetary value consider going the Ebay route and picking up some of the old pieces you haven’t had time to get signed yet.

5. If a writer rarely comes through and you can’t get tickets try and ask a friend or a colleague, or a teacher if you’re in school to help you out. You might even be able to get a book on hold with the bookstore sponsoring the event to be signed. They always sign extras for the stores, so if you can sneak in a copy with an extra helping hand, you might be able to pull it off without making it into the signing.

6. Local bookstores will sometimes carry extra signed copies of books by an author who lives in the area. Look up where your author lives and check local bookstores to see if they sign books for their showcase. Once again, Chuck Palahniuk signs excess books for a local bookstore in Portland which in turn sells them online to willing buyers for normal MSRP. It’s a good way to get a brand new book signed by your favorite author without having to spend all day in line and not even make it in.

The art of book signing is half skill and half luck. I was lucky to see that Bill Clinton was signing at a certain time in Seattle three years ago and I got tickets, but sometimes it’s also a matter of who you know. I’ve missed out on tickets before and asked a professor of mine to get a book autographed by Salmon Rushdie. She did and now I have a book signed that very few people do as Rushdie spent the years before and after writing it in seclusion. It’s all in the dedication you show.