Ramble's Ramblings on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

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Argh, matey, there be spoilers dead ahead. Read at yarrrr own risk.........

I went to the movies for the first time in a LONG TIME this past weekend. I mean like the Avengers, the first one, long time (Kids. All I can say, kids.) My son's birthday coincided with the release of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Jurassic World is what started the dinosaur obsession that lasted years. Years and years and years. While we've since moved on to Pokemon, we still spend a lot of time playing about dinosaurs and talking about them, while just not quite as much as Charmander and gang.

I was afraid he wouldn't enjoy the movie since he's not as into it as he was.  This was also his first movie in the theater.  We got there at the time the movie started, as I didn't want to have to wait too long through previews and him get impatient. 30 minutes later........ 30 MINUTES? when did previews start lasting 30 minutes??? He's looking at me, "Mom, is the movie ever going to start?" I keep reassuring him it will be around minute 21 I start looking around, pinching myself, wondering if I'm dreaming What if THIS is the new movie coming out, we are people trapped in an infinite movie preview loop, forced to figure our own way out? Not fair! We didn't even stop for popcorn!

Finally the movie gets going and YAY he's happy. The first few scenes we got some decent dinosaur action. Not necessarily by prior movies in the Jurassic series, but I figured they really had to build the story up since we're what, five movies into this franchise? Shortly after the few action scenes on the island, we started a lot of conversation.  There were scenes back at the Lockwood compound with the fossils and displays and those types of versions of dinosaurs that we, outside of the movieverse, are familiar with.  Not much excitement right?

I felt like the whole movie was like those inanimate fossils. There were a few scenes with the dinosaurs out and running and running and running from volcano, from the bounty hunter guys trying to chase them down for their Dark Noah's Ark thing they had going, and then the dinosaurs were pretty much locked up - the entire movie.  So... YEAH.  We saw this in 3D, and I had pumped my son up that this was going to make it even cooler. I thought for sure we'd see Blue jumping out from somewhere, or the TRex's tail would come lashing at the audience or...SOMETHING.

There was a nice long action sequence with the Blue and the new and improved creation of Dr. Wu. The IndoRaptor was cool. I really liked this dinosaur.  The way that Dr. Wu explained him, I was like this guy, this guy is going to do some damage.  With Indominus Rex in Jurassic World, we saw some buildup, we became somewhat acquainted with the dinosaur, how he operated, his cold blooded killing of other dinosaurs, etc. IndoRaptor held high hopes, but alas, we were EXPLAINED what he could be and tossed a couple bones what he could do.  Granted, he was just a prototype, they weren't done yet.  But that fight scene fell flat for me. The plot line with the granddaughter did, too. We are introduced, over and over to her. There's buildup to the picture of her mother. We get to it, we get to the admission, and then it's over. She releases the other dinosaurs to save them "Because they're like me", but... WHAT? Like I felt like this was kind of a big deal to skim over. Or will this be explored in future movies?

I felt like this was a filler episode-we are gearing up for another movie, setting the stage for the next great one, and this was just a layover movie.  The important part? My kid loved it, regardless. Cos there were dinosaurs. For me, that's all that matters, so when it comes out on Blu-Ray and he wants to get it, I'll inevitably watch it so many times I'll have every word memorized (My personal favorite-Don't...Move...A Muscle!") and that will be ok.



Besides, look at this lil guy, isn't he cute?








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Milton's Balls

Anyone catch The Talking Dead after tonight's The Walking Dead? How do we feel about Milton? Ballless nerd? Snapped arsonist? Mad scientist mastermind? Todd McFarlane's perogative on The Talking Dead seemed far fetched, but seriously, how badass would that be if Milton was really trying to figure the zombies out to manipulate them? (Insert maniacal laughter) it would obviously deviate from the comic, but that's nothing new there. Any opinions? What would you do with a horde of zombies under your control?

Ramble's Book Review: True Confessions by Rachel Gibson

On our typical Friday night date night, my fiancee and I went to dinner, Best Buy for a movie for him, and Barnes and Noble for a few new reads for me. With the belly continually bulging, I went for a few (more) books on pregnancy and new babies, but also had to cave to my desires of some good ole' fashioned escape fiction, after recently finishing a couple historical non-fiction finds. I opted for True Confessions for the same reason I opt for any other escape fiction: The cover was pretty in pinks and yellows, and when looking for a retreat, aesthetics sells.

I read the book in about a day and a half. I loved the premise, cliche as it was, a small town shaken up by the arrival of the big city's Hope Spencer, a writer cloaked in mystery, who keeps running into the small town's Sheriff, Dylan Taber, also cloaked in his own mystery. And thrown in the mix, the house she's rented was once home to the old Sheriff, who committed suicide inside the house under mysterious circumstances. The book had potential.

Now, let me clarify something. While I say I needed "escape fiction", I don't necessarily mean I'm a sucker for the "throbbing members" or "supple breasts" repeated over and over in romantic novels. I like a little bit of romance, but am more interested in the twists and turns the story takes. True Confessions had all the mystery, lies, and S&M secrets to lead one to think it was going that direction, but about halfway through the novel, I could see that was not the case. There was a lot of the above mentioned verbiage that had me rolling my eyes, and skimming the pages until it was over. I know this is a great appealing quality in a romance to some, but not this gal. I was really hoping to see how the story with the old Sheriff would develop, what her research would uncover, but it turned out to be a very shallow sub-story thrown in the mix. No development, much like the characters.


All in all, it was a quick, fun read, which I guess is what I was looking for, but still left me wanting a little something more. Until I can find that perfect escape novel, I'll return for now to my Dr. Oz book on parenting, hoping it leaves me with a better feeling than Gibson's novel.

Amy Winehouse Dead at 27

Well I know she wasn't the surest bet to make it to social security, but finding this site was kinda sad. I guess on the brightside, someone may be the proud winner of a new Ipod.

Here's a list of some other famous people that died at 27:
Robert Johnson (May 8, 1911 – August 16, 1938)Sold his soul to the devil.... thereby being the first "sell-out". (I kid. I love Robert Johnson)

Brian Jones (28 February 1942 – 3 July 1969)One of the founding members of the Rolling Stones, first of the next 3 to die within a 2 year timespan
Jimi Hendrix, (November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) I named my guitar Jimi, and almost broke a tooth trying to play like he could.
Janis Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970)The creative inspiration behind every female with a horrible voice thinking she can sing Bobby McGee (myself included) Janis was awesome. I used to play "Pearl" on my record player for hours around the age of 11. I think she was the inspiration for all of my musical tastes to follow.
Jim Morrison,(December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971)I love his poetry books, and the movie spawned the Crush On Val Kilmer that would last until, well, his most recent movies.
Kurt Cobain (February 20, 1967 – c. April 5, 1994)The first big celebrity death I remember, and still sad to think of how Nirvana could have been had he lived. But then we wouldn't have had the Foo Fighters.


Jonathan Brandis (April 13, 1976 – November 12, 2003)Yeah, he doesn't really fit into this musical sphere, but I had every teen beat with his face on the cover during a period of the 90's (along with Brad Renfro, who died at 25...Thank God JTT is still around.)

Season 7 Weeds: More Thoughts From Ramble

Well we've gone from Agrestic to the beach to Wyoming and then to the clink. Well, Nancy went to the clink while the rest went to Amsterdam. And as Shane recreated the Agrestic bedroom for his recentlly sprung mother, it feels as though Weeds has come full circle. Sort of. Nancy is back with nothing, Shane seems to be regressing to a little kid over his guilt from his mother going to jail for him. His need for approval is almost sickening to watch, as we not so long ago watched this kid kill a grown woman with a croquet mallet. Doug has gone back to working for the man, though those men are all potheads too. Andy is still the playboy we first met, still casting sidelong glances at Nancy. There is a lot of self loathing in Andy, for try as he might, he still loves Nancy. And speaking of self loathing, Silas has tried, tried, tried, harder than any other character, to break free of Nancy. Or at least he acts like it. Him coming home from Amsterdam surprised me, but Silas' character always has. In some ways, he seems to have evolved the most, standing up to Nancy at the apartment, telling her they were equals now. Then, they meet for lunch and he gives in and gives her his food, after rubbing it in her face what he had to eat. He is in an eternal struggle with his soul how to deal with his mother, but he came back. So obviously we know he hasn't completely broke free. He, along with every other man in Nancy's life, is still very much Nancy's bitch. Nancy is that person you hate because somewhere, deep inside, you want to be here. You think, "Damn, I wish I could get away with that. I wish I could say things like that. I wish Aidan Quinn would look at me like that" (Well, maybe not entirely.) Now matter what the situation, she keeps her cool, the lady gets her way nearly everytime, and the men can't seem to resist her. Now, with this lesbian twist, sounds like the ladies can't resist her either. Or maybe they just got bored in prison.



I know that as the seasons progress, in any show, the criticism draws sharper and harsher. I think Weeds has done a great job of new, crazy storylines to keep the plot going. This may also be why I don't see much development in the characters; they've been able to keep us entertained by twists like Nancy killing her DEA boyfriend, then getting knocked up by a Mexican drug lord/politician, Andy dating Alanis Morissette, Shane whacking that crazy Mexican brawd, and Richard Dreyfuss. Yes, Richard Dreyfuss. However, the characters remain somewhat stagnant and one dimensional. I miss the Hoades family, which to me seemed to have the most character development. I mean, c'mon it's three years in the future from where we left off, and the guys don't seem to have changed a bit. It will be interesting to see, as this season progresses, if Nancy's "You're adults now" speech will hold, and if Shane will get off his mother's tit, if Silas can finally free himself of her grasp, and if Andy can move on from this fruitless crush. The real question: If Nancy gets her wish for her boys to grow up and move on, can she survive without them? The freedom sounds nice, but the thought of Nancy minus her groupies may be more than she bargained for. What do you think of this season? Has it jumped the shark or are we just getting started?