M. Night Shymalan: What Goes Up Must Come Down

I remember watching a scene from The Sixth Sense in one of my college literature courses because that's just how intense and multidimensional it is. I remember sitting on the edge of my seat during almost all of Unbreakable because the duality of a superhero and intellectual villain onscreen against the backdrop of such a true to life plot and setting transfixed me to the screen; not to mention the exceptional acting of Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson and stunning cinematography. I remember jumping at almost every moment of Signs in the theater, clutching onto the arm of my brother thinking, "I really need to invest in a baseball bat." The aforementioned movies provided supernatural elements that were compelling without being cheesy or superficial. Then there was The Village where I remember saying, "Are you kidding me?!" upon the conclusion. Yep. 2004 became the year I started questioning Shymalan's staying power. As a fan of fairy tale-esque type stories, I gave Lady in the Water a chance and regretted it. Not only did the story move way too slowly, but the acting chops of the star studded cast was underused while Shymalan's painful acting was overused and difficult to watch. Let's just keep it down to Stan Lee style cameos, Shymalan. Ok? I avoided The Happening and read numerous outraged articles and reviews about The Last Airbender on the use of white actors for parts based on various ethnic characters. Shymalan, did you learn nothing from Dragonball Evolution?!

M. Night Shymalan provided the story concept for Devil, which had potential, but only fared a little bit better than The Village. Devil is the first of a trilogy of films Shymalan is looking to make using what could be a masterpiece of a sequel for Unbreakable and a return to impressive film-making for him, as the plot for the untitled third installment. Seriously?

Below is a screenshot of the critical reception of Shymalan's movies since the critically acclaimed Sixth Sense in 1999. The percent column represents Rotten Tomatoes and the fraction column represents Metacritic. As you can see, Shymalan started off strong with the three movies which I consider his best, Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs. After that, he started on a downward spiral that didn't pick up until this year's After Earth, which can probably be attributed to the star power of Will Smith and "Big Willie Weekend" for helping bring in a marginal increase in viewership. Emphasis on the word "marginal".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._Night_Shymalan#Critical_reception

  
After Earth has received some pretty scathing reviews despite Smith's star power, and I couldn't seem to find anyone to pay to go watch it with me. I guess that means I'll be Redboxing it in a couple months. People tend to say there's no where to go but up, but I think it's safe to say Shymalan, much like Rose Royce's classic song, "I'm Going Down," needs to hang up his screenplay writing pen or tap into the formula that made The Sixth Sense so excellent.

Scandalicious

A month or so ago I overheard my mother catching up on Scandal episodes as Olivia Pope’s voice roared through the speakers like an Amazon among women asserting, “If you want me, EARN ME!” to her fictional lover, the President of the United States. I dropped my book, threw my hand up, stomped my foot and shouted, “You GO Girl!” In that moment I just knew that my dating life was about to get a dash more sassy and assertive. Then I regretfully remembered that Olivia Pope is a mistress on the show, and the oxymoronic desire to be earned when she’s already tolerated the role of being sidelined and loved in secret threw me. I’ve noticed that the media increasingly portrays a dichotomy of women in which they can be strong, powerful, and fierce in many facets of their lives, but only when juxtapose to a romantic moral confliction or subservience to a male partner’s requirements.

 

I haven’t really kept up with Scandal since season 1, but I have heard and read conversations about how much empowerment a woman in Olivia Pope’s position can truly exhibit when she has and continues opting to sleep with a married political figure that requests and expects her presence at his beck and call. However, from what I saw in season 1 and hear about now, it sounds as if Ms. Pope doesn’t let her relationship with the president affect how she does her job or who she helps. How can this woman who champions and stands up for others not stand up for herself with intolerance for the sloppy seconds of affection from a married man? I know this plot is for entertainment purposes because my news feed is continually exploding with posts of 'Olivia and Fritz' on Thursdays, but I would like to see Olivia Pope hair flip this whole mistress role behind her and keep taking care of business.

 

True Blood Season 6 (Update)

Update 6/11: So it appears that Sookie's love interest in season 6 will not be the sexy Quinn, but rather a fairy named Ben Flynn. Perhaps you tried to get witty with the rhyming, True Blood, but not cool. Not cool at all. In the short story "Gift Wrap" in A Touch of Dead Sookie has a Christmas Eve one night stand of passion with a fairy named Preston. Nothing else really came from it. Chronologically, this story takes place after book 8 in the series but hey, what the heck True Blood? Since everything else plot-wise is out of whack let's throw this random Ben Flynn plot in, too. 

If you keep up with my blog then you know that I’m a huge fan of the Sookie Stackhouse novel series. It’s no surprise then that when the show True Blood started 6 years ago, I was immediately hooked. The series started off keeping close to the plot of its predecessor novels, representing each season, respectively. However, as the seasons have progressed, the show has gone off the tracks and has become a new beast entirely (no pun intended). I understand the need for minor plots, storylines and characters on screen, but too many and it’s overkill. That’s how I feel about True Blood now; somewhere between seasons 4 and 5, for me, the show seems to have lost its raison d’être. 

Therefore, I may be one of the only fans of the HBO series who isn’t that excited about this upcoming season and may not tune in consistently, opting to check out new summer programing and catching the replays. I wasn’t too thrilled with season 5 which had a cluster of fairy hybrid babies, an acrobatic birthing sequence, fire/shadow monsters, multiple personalities of Lafayette (which is always acted to perfection, but was all over the place plot wise) and vampires on what seemed like steroids. Also, if we reference a connection to its respective novel, Definitely Dead, there looks to be no Quinn, no Amelia, no Pelt family revenge and kidnapping (which was one of the pinnacle points of Definitely Dead’s plot), no reason to go to Louisiana, because Hadley is in fairy land, and the queen is already definitely dead, so no crazy violent ball brawls. Jason still isn’t a werepanther (a plot line eliminated which I’m still begrudging), although he did tap into his inner Van Helsing. There does, however, look to be a lot of running from uber-vamp-Bill, now imbued with Lillith’s blood, vampires being hunted by mortals…again, and a whole lot of Alcide shirtless. We’ll see how the shortened season (12 episodes down to 10) goes. You can be sure I will be blogging some feedback as the season progresses.

 

Are you excited about the premiere of True Blood next week? What are you hoping to see or not see?

Game Of Thrones - 'It's a Rough Day for a Red Wedding'

Have you ever seen or witnessed something that gave you chills and goosebumps you couldn’t shake for days? I have:

• In high school when a boy punched a hardened substance in a beaker, but the beaker shattered and sliced his entire hand open
• When a vulture gave me the stink eye while standing over its prey
• When the blonde lost her fingers in House of Wax
• When all those women died in the car in Quentin Tarantino’s Deathproof
• When my BFF showed me a Google search of ‘types of spiders’, from across the room
• And last night when I stumbled upon the infamous “Red Wedding” episode of Game of Thrones

So there I was minding my own business, eating my dessert and watching TV. I had paused the live TV on one of my fave shows “Veep” so Game of Thrones started a few scenes into the episode. I had never seen this show, mind you, but there was a boy controlling wolves and a young girl promising meticulous violence to a man poking fun at the death of her father. Obviously, I was hooked. And then…there was the wedding. Despite never having watched the show, I could feel when something was amiss and then all hell broke loose in the hall, literally. The good guys, starting with a pregnant young woman, were slaughtered, mercilessly, as a barrage of arrows peppered the screen. I couldn’t believe my eyes, and if I, as a new viewer was this taken aback, I can’t imagine the reactions of longtime viewers. It’s safe to say that I can’t get the scene out of my head or get rid of the chills sporadically creeping up my spine, and I will definitely be tuning in next week for the season finale (what more can happen?!) which I can only imagine will leave viewers breathless on the edge of their seats.

'I Have Come Here to Chew Bubblegum and Pump Gas ...And I'll all out of Bubblegum'

There are fewer things I hate more than going to the gas station. I seem to have a penchant for attracting male characters that missed the memo that I'm a single woman only there to fuel Colt, my car, as quickly as possible. No, I won't drive you to Walmart or buy you a meal at Red Lobster. Read about one of my past experiences here. So you can imagine I do NOT go to gas stations at night if random encounters are occurring during the middle of the day. The freaks come out at night, you know. Today a man who was approaching me made it a point to first advise me to smile, despite the fact he was a strange man - with no car in sight - approaching a lone woman. I had noticed him before and saw his approach that included everywhere but inside to the clerk or to a male customer.

I thought I'd provide some helpful tips, if you're not already using them, for women to stay safe during trips to the gas station. It might seem silly, but the gas station is one stop where people, most often women, are vulnerable.

1. Leave your purse in your car.
2. Keep your keys with you and lock your car whether you're using a debit/credit card or going in to prepay with cash.
3. If you crack your windows, make sure there's not enough space to reach in and grab your belongings.
4. Keep your money hidden as you're walking if you're paying in cash.
5. Keep your back to your car and observe your surroundings, or who may be approaching from the sides, as you're pumping gas.
6. Be prepared to utilize your keys or a kubaton as a possible weapon (nothing that can cause a spark or you'll blow everyone's butt off).

Are you as apprehensive about the gas station as I am? What safety precautions, if any, do you take when you go get gas?

Kimster in the Kitchen 06/01

In an effort to maximize my budget, I have eliminated fast food and have started taking to the kitchen more. I have always been an avid baker, but I have been trying my hand at entree dishes and recipes. If you've been keeping up with my blog then you know I'm the Sookie Stackhouse series' number 1 fan! I own and have read each novel, which includes The Sookie Stackhouse Companion. Within the companion is a novella, trivia, a map, and a recipe guide of down-home Southern Recipes! Yum.


Between Paula Deen and my Sookie Stackhouse companion, I'm about to be cooking up a storm. My first SSC meal consisted of Stackhouse Smothered Pork Chops, white rice, cornbread, and Wicked Peach Cake for dessert. The pork chops were succulent and the scrumptious cake turned out marvelously, if I do say so myself, and was a hit with my parents. I will definitely be making that again soon. Sorry for the lack of photos for that meal, but as I continue on my foodie journey with you, I'll document my yummy dishes. 

Next on the menu: Antoine's Fried Pickles to snack on and French Market Beignets for breakfast!