Band of Brothers

Now for a review of the miniseries Band of Brothers.

While my personal knowledge of warfare is about as informed as my understanding of drug enforcement in Baltimore, I feel that Band of Brothers in probably the most realistic war movie I've ever seen (I say 'war movie' since that is what the series is: essentially, a 10 hour film).

The sequel, in spirit and style, to Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers shows the story of several soldiers during their campaign through Europe. Like Saving Private Ryan, the audience is not provided the usual scenes and dialogue that defines characters, instead being forced to follow along not completely knowing who you are going into battle with. This feeling of uncertainty is what, I suppose, many of the characters are going through also. The few character focused episodes are only provided later in the series, giving us time to gather our own opinions of who the people really are. This growth of familiarity is what essentially makes the men become 'brothers', much as I felt I was part of their brotherhood by the time I had reached the end of the series.

The haunting scenes of war and hardship (particularly the Battle of the Bulge and the concentration camp in Landsberg) provide such a visually engaging story the necessary tragedy and drama, making this series moving to a high degree. I give the Spielberg/Hanks production two thumbs up and a ring finger to boot.

Top Nine Reasons to Not Live in Minnesota

I just found out its going to snow here again, and my heart has sunk a little deeper. Yes, I know my climate isn't as cold as Canada or Antarctica, but at least those places don't give you some small amount of spring-hope by getting above freezing and melting all the snow before suddenly throwing in a blizzard [well, maybe those places actually do this also without my knowledge, but let me rant, please...]. These current conditions have caused me to take some retrospective analysis of my days and nights in Minnesota and mull over whether a migration to a warmer climate might be a boon to me emotionally. So, without further ado, here are the Top Nine Reasons To Not Live In Minnesota:

9) The last time I could have had pride in one of our sports teams was when I was one year old.

8) Our only Hollywood Governor was a Schwarzenegger wanna-be.

7) We are famous for having one good hospital.

6) Very hilly terrain combined with large amounts of ice equals many sprains and bruises.

5) Stand-up comedians have a fair chance here at being U.S. Senators.

4) It's probably a bad idea to have a 'loon' represent our state, even if it is only the state bird.

3) Apparently, every Minnesotan is in some part Lutheran.

2) Lutefisk... Issshhhhh!

1) If I ever hear another joke about a Minnesotan airport bathroom stall, it would be too soon.

Star Trek: The CGI Picture

Well, J.J. Abrams just began an Eastern Asian Tour to promote the new Trek film. The film has been promoted on a number of continents (though I am unsure of which ones) and is looking to pull in the biggest Trek audience yet.

From what I've seen of Eastern Asian films (granted I have seen so little that I probably should not be coming to any conclusions; however, I'm a white American and judging people is in my blood) there seems to be higher ratio of action and stylization to narrative. So that leads me to conclude that if they are gearing this movie to accept an Eastern Asian audience as well than this movie will be nearer to the Star Wars spectrum of the Sci-Fi world than Star Trek. I understand that in this day and age it is easier to make big booms and bright lights than the past, but when has Star Trek ever had any of that? [Excluding episodes of TOS that actually had a budget and pretty much all of the later series and every movie] J.J. is killing Star Trek!

I liked Star Wars enough, but I will be a tad disappointed if this movie has a Star Wars slant. I need moral quandaries! Plus prosthetic foreheads! And dialog ripped directly from the pages of Shakespeare! There better not be one science-fantasy plot hole, they would take up screen time from the misguided scientific-based plotholes!

Right now, the only way this film could disappoint me would be if Jar jar Binks showed up to tag along with Pike/Kenobi and Kirk/Anakin. Other than that unhappy circumstance, I would be fine if they stole from Star Wars, War of the Worlds, and the Wide World of Sports or if it even had a super-secret Shatner cameo. Just as long as the franchise doesn't end with Nemesis.

The Wire

Due to the fact nothing of note is occurring in my life, I have decided to begin reviewing different pieces of media. It might be television, movies, books, newspaper articles or music (though I usually have little criticism for music other than whether I enjoyed it or didn't). I will start with a review of the first two seasons of The Wire, which I just viewed. Here goes nothing...

The Wire - Season One

A depressing, grim, pessimistic series involving death, drugs and violence, and it happens to be one of the most fulfilling shows I have ever seen. In a world of cops catching bad guys after an our of investigation (counting the commercials), I finally found a show that demonstrates all the messy details of police work.

Plan on arresting the ring leaders of a crime organization? Well, you better follow the small time gangsters for ten episodes first. Want to try some tricky legal maneuver to get a legal wiretap? You better prove that you did your homework before hand and not just to the judge but also to the audience. Want to drop Benjamins while rollin' with your homies? You better sell your red-tops all day in the pits with the dope fiends first.

The most impressive aspect of The Wire has so far been how it turns the mundane of the police work and drug dealing into the fascinating. My favorite scenes from this season involve some pretty boring stuff: Detectives McNulty and Bunk investigating a crime scene (where the perpetrated crime was already described in detail by another character) using continuous profanity as a way to quell their boredom; another scene involves D'Angelo (a drug dealer) teaching some of his drug dealer minions how to play chess ("The King stays the King"). Both scenes would have been cut from a run--of-the-mill procedural drama to fit in more exposition about the case, but The Wire was wise enough to let them remain.

Overall, with the twists and turns of a roller-coaster, the season finished off a bit too easily (I still have trouble understanding where all the money went to, but I guess I will find out during Season Three). This easiness though was not a bad thing at all, but instead continues with the theme of being so undramatic and yet dramatic at the same time that you feel like every ending is both a cliffhanger of the story and an ending of a dozen others. This Season deserves a good score, so it will get one: 10/10

The Wire - Season Two

The reason I did not mention characterization as the best part of Season One (which it was) is because Season two showed growth of characters even better, and repetitivenesses is a bit annoying, and I mean really annoying.

Though I was at first concerned about the addition of a boat load of new cast members to the already filled out show, The Wire continued its trend of taking nobodies and making them somebody. Several characters that I couldn't stand the first few episodes (Ziggy especially comes to mind) were so substantially changed by the end that my heart went out to them.

The section of the story I was most interested in was the continuation of the Barksdale story from inside and outside the joint. Whether it was Stringer Bell (who I felt was the one character I didn't enjoy this season, though he improved vastly in what I have seen so far of the third) manipulating circumstances or D'Angelo's issues, their story logically progressed from where it left off at the end of Season One and was able to stay on it's own two feet without the benefit of the cops discussing all the plot twists immediately after they happened (at least until the last episode).

While the season didn't grab me as firmly as the first, it still had more of a hold than even the best trials and tribbleations of Law & Order. Season Two deserves: ****and 1/2 of a *.

Now if only Season Three would start heating up...

Welcome!

Welcome all! This blog will soon contain the simple musings of a small town farm boy: Prepare to be enthralled!

To let you further understand the ramifications of reading any blogs past this one, I will expedite your knowledge of my character and personality by listing out the Top Nine Things You Should Know About Alden:

9) My current place of residence is the icy steppe of Central Minnesota.

8) I am, and forever will be, a Trekkie.

7) My musical preferences include: anything but Country.

6) If I could visit only one place in the world, it would be New York City. Or maybe Los Angeles. Though London is pretty nice, too. Eh, I would probably stay in Minnesota anyways.

5) I am currently studying to be a Math Major. So yeah, I lead a pretty drab life.

4) While many of the world's troubles cause me discomfort, I am far too lazy to do anything about anything, except of course to rant about it in a blog.

3) I love comedy in any form, discounting the rare joke about airline food.

2) Though I speak frequently, I have very little of consequence to say.

1) I am unoriginal enough to not think of an even ten things to describe myself with, and lets face it, most of these factoids were rather boring to begin with.

I hope you all found yourselves enamored with this post an will thus follow this blog regularly!