Tuesday, February 22, 2011

AllMoPs 21

All Manner of Plugs: Issue 21 (2.20.2011)
a weekly informing and recommending email

Written by J.S. Lewis

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PLUG IN

I am happy to report this is just a week after our last issue! Prepare to be informed and recommended.

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MVOTW


Just a plain nice song with a simple video to showcase it in. The song, band and genre are all pretty new to me. Jared Hess directs.

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A LIST

Dear readers, whether you were born in the 1920s or the 1930s, have I got a list to share with you: "All-TIME 100 Greatest Toys."

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NEWS TO ME

Breaking news just doesn't get better than "the naked sausage thief."

And, in regards to those who break such news, check out anchors and co-anchors in brief verbal feuds.

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MONKEY DO

Last October a baby gorilla was born in the London Zoo, these days he is just taking his first steps, a video of which has just gone viral this week. It is darling. I had no idea that gorilla infants waited months until walking.

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POLICE BEAT

Disorderly Conduct

Feb. 10: A Heritage Halls CSA reported being followed by a red laser dot while roving the area. Police located the source of the laser, and confronted a female resident who had been shining the laser out her window. Officers warned the student about her actions.


Suspicious

Feb. 8: Custodians discovered a suspicious-looking male reading magazines in the Maeser building before the building opened in the morning. The man told custodians his wife worked in the ESC and he came to the building in the early morning to read periodicals. He was ushered out of the building


Theft

Feb. 9: A male student was caught on security cameras removing a class packet from the bookstore. The student was followed into the HFAC where he was confronted and confessed to having previously taken an additional class packet. The student was cited and both packets were recovered


Threats

Feb. 8: A female student reported feeling threatened after she refused to eat with a man who sat next to her on a bus and followed her to the CougarEat. When she told the man that she did not want to eat with him, he reportedly told the woman that she had better watch her back.

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RANDOMONIA
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GAMERAIN

One of the games I am most looking forward to this year (third to "Skyrim" and "Portal 2") is "L.A. Noire." Made by Team Bondi and published by the ever-reliable Rockstar, it is shaping up to look stellar. Check out this interview with Rob Nelson of Rockstar juxtaposed with plenty of gameplay action. The technology behind the game (especially the secret behind those state-of-the-art facial animations) is legit. The "L.A. Noire" equation in my head? Take "Mafia," set it in Los Angles and you play as a detective instead of a gangster.

I did not even know of the video game series "You Don't Know Jack" until now. GameSpot gave the latest a 8.0 (for "great") in their video review. It is a trivia game that gets a little a flippant about its duties (as one might suppose from the title). GameSpot is not alone in heralding the zesty game, it currently has an 84% on metacritic.

Check out the powerful announcement trailer for yet another zombie video game, "Dead Island." It is beautiful and it is disgusting. That sounds ridiculous, I know, but see it and you will know what I mean. It left me pondering if the only way a zombie tale can have a happy ending is if you are telling it in reverse. Personally, I am sold based on a few words in the description for the game: "open world... survival on a zombie-infested island." Well, I guess the correct phrasing would be it is an "open island" game. Some dedicated journalists at IGN have recut the trailer to chronological order and analyze it in this 8-minute video. "Dead Island" is made by the folks at Techland who are otherwise noted as the makers of "Call of Juarez" series, which I have not yet played and will therefore not comment on. "Dead Island" is due sometime this year.

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THE FILM TOME REPORT

THE TRAILER ROUND-UP

"Apollo 18" bears the tag-line, "There's a reason we never went back to the moon." I never knew that we had stopped sending men to that rock, but according to the synopsis the last time was 1972. The synopsis goes one to claim that Apollo 18 went to the moon a year later and apparently the two-man crew never returned. The "actual footage" that makes up this film is the reason for that tag-line. Essentially, this looks to be "Paranormal Activity" (a series a really like) on the moon. The '70s look and feel, especially as seen through their myriad cameras, is a nice touch. It is interesting how alike products always seem to emerge at the same time. Compare this with the impressive teaser for "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" (which, by the way, got a 30-second spot earlier this month during the Big Game) and Duncan Jones's indie masterwork "Moon" from 2009.

Ridley Scott's daughter (Jordan Scott) will now get her film distributed in the states. Apparently filmmaking runs in the Scott family. "Cracks" does not quite seem to be my cup of tea, but it sure looks beautifully photographed. Might it be the "Picnic at Hanging Rock" of our generation?

The next trailer comes with a bit of a personal experience attached. I saw "I Saw the Devil" at Sundance this year. I knew then it would never merit an "R" rating (it is among the most violent films ever made, making the likes of "Saw" and "Hostel" seem like Saturday morning cartoons in comparison), so it makes sense that they are releasing it as "Not Rated." It is for that reason I cannot recommend "I Saw the Devil." Still, the filmmaking and acting was on another level of excellence that one truly does not see everyday. It is a mixed bag of fruits: wildly disturbing, ever-so-thrilling, sometimes inspiring, usually distressing and ultimately thought-provoking. I still contemplate the film's title and the decent of our protagonist. I took the experience as a self-evaluation and learned a lot about myself that evening in the Egyptian Theater and in the days after.

Toss of the Week: Ever since I first heard of "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives" I have wanted to experience it. Uncle Boonmee is on his deathbed and his visited by family members, both living and dead. It looks chilling, bizarre and beautiful. It won the Palm d'Or at last year's Cannes Film Festival. (For those not in the know, that is the highest prize at one highest regarded film festivals in the world. Past winners include "The White Ribbon," "Elephant" and "Pulp Fiction.") Uncle Boonmee's tale surely will not hit theaters around here and Netflix says the DVD availability date is unknown. It appears I have some patience to implement.

THE GOOD AND THE WEIRD

I have already addressed the "Spider-Man" reboot (still a bewildering notion), but now there is more news. Sony Pictures has officially announced that it will be called "The Amazing Spider-Man." JoBlo has the story and here is the film's official site.

2011 will break the all-time record for most film sequels in a single year with 27. Wow. Box Office Mojo with the tale.

KEEPIN' IT SHORT

"The Monk and the Fish"
Written and Directed by Michael Dudok de Wit.

Excellent use of colors and underscoring of music to match the action in this silly yet poignant tale.

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UNPLUG

Falling slug cakes! If you have any comments, questions, requests, complaints or threats please let your voice be heard by allmops@gmail.com. If you wish to be removed from the AllMoPs send-list, let me know. If you wish to add someone, let me know. Remember, all previous AllMoPs are available at my blog, All Manner of Posts. Have a jolly President's Day weekend and thanks for plugging in!

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