Game of Thrones

HBO’s adaptation of this sprawling novel was right up my alley and immediately deemed unmissable.  I’m not familiar with the books, but for a fervid lover of The Lord of the Rings saga it seemed like I’d really enjoy it.

Needless to say, Game of Thrones is spectacular.  Grandiose sets, great costumes, excellent scripts, very good acting.  What more could I ask for?

The show covers so much ground, it would be impossible to write a simple synopsis so I’ll just quote Tfilm78 and Cajunman who posted this to IMDb:

Seven noble families fight for control of the mythical land of Westeros. Political and sexual intrigue is pervasive. The dominant families are the Houses Stark, Lannister, and Baratheon. Robert Baratheon, King of Westeros, asks his old friend Eddard, Lord Stark, to serve as Hand of the King, or highest official. Secretly warned that the previous Hand was assassinated, Eddard accepts in order to investigate further. Meanwhile the Queen's family, the Lannisters, may be hatching a plot to take power. Across the sea, the last members of the previous and deposed ruling family, the Targaryens, are also scheming to regain the throne. The friction between these clans, and with the remaining great Houses Greyjoy, Tully, Arryn, and Tyrell, leads to full-scale war. All while a very ancient evil awakens in the farthest North. Amidst the war and political confusion, a neglected military order of misfits, the Night's Watch, is all that stands between the realms of men and icy horrors beyond.

As you can see, there is enough going on there to make one’s head spin and raise concerns about confusing plotlines or rushed development, but this show is in capable hands.  I was looking forward to each episode and can’t wait for season two now.

The Bottom Line: I really liked the first season of this show and can’t think of praises too big for it.  If you like the fantasy genre, don’t miss it!

Grade: 10

Treme

Finally caught up with season two of Treme and happy to report that it’s indeed a keeper.

I was really looking forward to its return after almost a year of waiting to find out what would happen to all these characters trying to make a living in a post-Katrina New Orleans.

The many storylines grow thicker and deeper and the actors all seem to have firmly taken root within the world of their characters.  Like in the first season, there are going to be both tears and laughters, happiness and despair, all splashed with a generous helping of gorgeous jazz music.

We are treated to another Mardi Gras parade (I wonder if this is gonna become routine for the show, but it’s so great I don’t know if I even want to criticize it) and this time to Jazz Fest as well.

New York City is also featured, since now 2 main characters live primarily there, but it’s New Orleans and its daily life that still have the lion’s share, as it should be.  The crime rate skyrockets and it really doesn’t seem like the city will be able to come back from the brink of destruction since one wonders how people can live in a place where you can pretty much be the victim of a violent crime at any point of the day or night.

But there are so many bright spots too, like school kids learning how to play an instrument in the school band, or a musician discovering songwriting, or another one helping a guy not to make the same mistakes he did out of the goodness of his heart.

The Bottom Line: Treme is a very good show that, like The Wire before it, familiarizes us with a bunch of regular people and their daily lives, while at the same time analyzing the corruption within the police and city hall, and the scheming of criminals both big and small.  Watch it.

Grade: 8

A Quote By

Justin Timberlake, musician, producer, actor, about the recent marriage equality decision in New York state:

"I was stoked. I mean, I was stoked that that happened. I think it's just ... we're people and we're different, all of us. And we should be using our differences to bring ourselves closer together. You know? Not be afraid of something that we don't know. Like Mila said, and you know, I have a lot of guy friends who are gay. Two of my best friends are a couple, and my conversation with them is, like, it's unfortunate that things take a while to progress like this, but it was a great, great victory for equality. I’m proud that New York has balls to stand up for what’s right."

SHAME!

Just read on Towleroad that Italy’s Parliament voted down an anti-homophobia bill:

Activists are calling on the European Union for help after Italy's Parliament rejected a bill protecting LGBT people from hate crimes and discrimination, by a vote of 293 to 250.

Italy already bans discrimination on the grounds of race, religion, ethnicity and nationality but campaigners say rising numbers of homophobic and transphobic attacks means LGBT people need more protection.

“This Parliament has betrayed justice and civility and has decided to support the violent,” said Paolo Patane, head of gay rights association Arcigay. He called on the EU “to help us face this extremely dangerous rise in homophobia, xenophobia and racism that the Italian Parliament has decided to legitimise.”

Because homophobia is so helpful isn’t it?

Assholes.

The Banner: # 1 & 2

I love taking pictures (and people usually tell me I’m a good photographer), but I’m sort of a purist when it comes to photography, meaning that touching up a picture to make it perfect for me isn’t the same as actually taking the perfect picture, if you know what I mean.

Legendary photographers like Ansel Adams, Herb Ritts, or Robert Mapplethorpe (and I’m not comparing myself to those Gods mind you) didn’t have Photoshop to ‘fix’ their shots.  Sure, they played with light and filters and who knows how many other techniques, but once they took the shot, that was it.  Not much could be done during or after the film had been developed.  Nowadays, software like Photoshop allows you to edit and format a picture so much, the final product might have very little in common with the original shot.

On the other hand, I’ve always wanted to learn to use Photoshop, precisely for how it allows you to manipulate images, but I always felt intimidated by the sheer size of its options and settings.

Hence, taking a page from Andy Towle, who runs the website Towleroad, I’ve decided to occasionally refresh the look of my blog by uploading a new banner.  The banner will always display the blog’s name “BlogElution – The Blog Evolution,” but the background image will always change.

I’m planning to always use a picture I’ve taken myself and then have some fun with it in Photoshop.  Once the banner is ready, I’ll upload it and give a quick explanation of what I did to the original to obtain the final image.

I looked for the original image I had used when I created the first banner but since I cannot find it, I’m assuming it was just a sunset I had downloaded off the Internet:


For the second banner, given the season, I wanted something very summery and since I love taking pictures of flowers and I love sunflowers, what screams summer louder than sunflowers?

For my first foray into picture editing I didn’t want to go overboard, so I simply cropped the original image and squeezed it vertically.

This picture was taken with my first ever point and shoot digital camera, a Canon PowerShot S400 (that worked great till it finally died), on September 16, 2004 in Stratford, CT.  In fact, that was one of the sunflowers I had planted that year in our backyard, right in front of our lovely little porch.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Guillermo del Toro’s follow up to his successful Hellboy manages to actually greatly improve on the predecessor.  Thanks to what was likely a bigger budget, Hellboy II: The Golden Army delivers a fun, engaging adventure that doesn’t disappoint.

Synopsis: given the environmental devastation inflicted on the planet by men, an elf prince decides to break a truce between elves and humans that his father had put in place many years before.  He then wants to use the unstoppable Golden Army to wipe out the human race.  Hellboy and his friends are all that stands between Prince Nuada and our genocide.

Ron Perlman once again does a great job as Hellboy.  Unfortunately, Doug Jones’ Abe Sapien has a less prominent role (he was my favorite in the original) while Selma Blair’s Liz, now much less insecure, comes across as charming and tough.  Her powers also come in handy and are applied effectively.

The great Jeffrey Tambor is all but pushed to the margin, allowing the entrance of a new character, Johann Krauss, who is likeable and quite funny.  Luke Goss and Anna Walton, who play Prince Nuada and Princess Nuala respectively, are a great pair as well both for their performances and their characters.

Hellboy II also features an organic script that cleverly and smoothly navigates us through different landscapes, confrontations, and plot twists.  Furthermore, the visual effects and makeup are spectacular and the most wonderful thing for me are all the different creatures and locations del Toro brings to life that are so original and integral to the story (like the Elemental, the Troll Market, the Golden Army hideaway, or even just the door to access it).

The Bottom Line: whether you saw the first Hellboy or not, you should definitely check out Hellboy II.  It’s an engaging, visually stunning, action packed movie that should please just about anybody.

Grade: 8

See Ya DADT!

Last Friday President Obama and the Pentagon certified the repeal of the discriminatory statute known as Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.  In 60 days the repeal will become law.

Obama’s statement:

Today, we have taken the final major step toward ending the discriminatory ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law that undermines our military readiness and violates American principles of fairness and equality.  In accordance with the legislation that I signed into law last December, I have certified and notified Congress that the requirements for repeal have been met.  ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ will end, once and for all, in 60 days—on September 20, 2011.

As Commander in Chief, I have always been confident that our dedicated men and women in uniform would transition to a new policy in an orderly manner that preserves unit cohesion, recruitment, retention and military effectiveness.  Today’s action follows extensive training of our military personnel and certification by Secretary Panetta and Admiral Mullen that our military is ready for repeal.  As of September 20th, service members will no longer be forced to hide who they are in order to serve our country.  Our military will no longer be deprived of the talents and skills of patriotic Americans just because they happen to be gay or lesbian.

About time.

More at Towleroad.

Frio

Ricky Martin’s latest single, which Danny loves to sing (he actually loves several of the songs on Ricky’s latest album, Musica, Alma, Sexo):

We Love You Shuttle!!

A modern day love letter put together by Nature Video:

In Memoriam

Amy Winehouse (1983 – 2011)

I cannot say I was surprised when Ray told me Amy Winehouse had died this past Saturday.  She had been abusing drugs and alcohol for a while and had been in and out of rehab several times, without ever being able to fully wean herself away from those addictive substances.

According to Wikipedia:

Her 2006 follow-up album, Back to Black, led to six Grammy Award nominations and five wins, tying the then record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night, and made Winehouse the first British female to win five Grammys,including three of the "Big Four": Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

[…]

Winehouse was credited as an influence in the rise in popularity of female musicians and soul music, and also for revitalising British music. Winehouse's distinctive style made her a muse for fashion designers such as Karl Lagerfeld. Winehouse's problems with drug and alcohol abuse, and her self-destructive behaviours were regular tabloid news from 2007 until her death.

While not a big fan, I liked her voice and style and will certainly miss her.