Stop Frame

Sit back, relax, join me in a thought exercise. Normally I’d ask you to close your eyes, but if you did that you couldn’t read the instructions. Imagine you are sent to a foreign city, somewhere you’ve never been. It can be for most any reason: business, pleasure, etc. You are given a map that shows you the route from the airport to the hotel where you’ll be staying. So equipped, you start walking on your way. Over halfway to your destination, you face a long stretch of dark streets. You can see, off in the distance, the lights of your destination. Between you and it, though, all is dark. You have no choice, there is no other way, you must proceed along those dark streets to reach your destination. You step into the dark. Imagine how you would feel. Imagine the emotions racing through your mind. Imagine how your senses would expand, how you would begin to pay more attention. Imagine how alert your senses might become, attentive for any sound of danger, ready to react in response to...

Seriously. I’m San Francisco born and bred, though I currently live in the Sacramento Valley. I’ve spent my entire life in California. I’ve visited hither and yon and have always returned to the Golden State. I like it here. If you’re a motorcyclist, you’re never too far from a great riding road. If you like the sea, you’re never too far from the ocean, or some vast lake. If you like the mountains, well say hello to the Sierra Nevadas. If you like the desert, it’s right down there, and if you prefer gentle rolling hills, no problem. Love cities? Fine, we can accommodate that, too. Bright lights, big city, welcome to this corner’s Starbucks, better than the next. And did I mention movie stars, glitz, and glamour? And politics? Oh, boy, do we have politics. Which is the problem. California politics aren’t just left-wing – and they’re not even extremely left-wing if you really look at them – they are insane. There is a complete sense of disconnect from reality. “Let us initiate ...

Debbie Schussel calls it depraved . Kyle Smith calls it brilliant . Barbara Nicolosi walked out . John Nolte likes it and Movie Bob thinks it may be better than The Dark Knight . A friend went to see it during its opening weekend; she was utterly confused. Meanwhile, her daughter walked out. I’ve finally seen Watchmen and I think it may be brilliant. Hard to say, though. I’ve read the Alan Moore graphic novel. This gives me an advantage over the average viewer, but I think anyone paying attention can easily follow along. The problem for the average viewer, though, is that they’ll go in expecting to see another comic book, action hero thriller, e.g., Iron Man or Spider Man . Surprise, it ain’t! Let me get some negatives out of the way. Watchmen reaches new depths of excess. One of the things I found truly imaginative about The Dark Knight was how it didn’t show us things. It was stuffed to the eyeballs with violence, but blood didn’t spray across the screen, we didn’t...

Angst - Focusing on anxiety that leaves the character full of doubt and uncertainty. The new (and reportedly final) trailer for the upcoming Star Trek is online at Apple trailers . Check it out here . The film is due in theaters 5/8/09. This trailer simply rocks, for the first time making me excited about seeing the film. And yet, I can’t help being apprehensive. I’ve been a Trekkie since before there was such a thing. I watched the very first episode when it very first aired way back when. I watched the salt vampire try and suck Kirk dry, saw Spock attempt to smack it around, and saw McCoy blast it into eternity. I was hooked. Despite that, and my continued love of the show and several of the movies it spawned (everybody scream, “ Khan! ”), I’m not so fanatical as to object to any change. From what I’ve gleaned of the plot for this film, it sounds pretty intriguing. A Romulan is apparently more than a little pissed at how things have turned out for his planet. To correct t...