City of Ember: Review

Today a review of the above-mentioned title. Er....obviously.

SPOILERS ALERT

'City of Ember' is  about a fictional (duh) city underground, built by...a bunch of people to escape...something. It is powered by a huge generator that sustains the entire city.

(City of Ember view from above: the generator is the black dot in the middle)

What most people don't know, or have forgotten, is that the builders built a decay rate of 200 years into the generator, so that after two centuries the generator would go out and Ember would be dead. After the 200 years runs out, the city begins experiencing blackouts.

Here we meet our protagonists, Dune and Lisa. They are teens and just old enough to begin work, and thus they attend a ceremony much like the one in Divergent. Except they pick their job descriptions out of a hat.

Genius. Did I mention these are all government jobs? Figures.

Lisa is chosen for the venerable job of working in the Pipeworks. Dune gets the esteemed job of Messenger. Being dissatisfied with their jobs, they switch afterwards. And so they go to work.

However as time progresses, the blackouts become more and more lengthy. Concerned with this phenomenon, Dune decides something must be wrong with the generator. 

Meanwhile, Luna discovers a box made by the builders of Ember that contains directions to escape the city once the power runs out. It has been passed down and all but forgotten, until she finds it and makes the alarming discovery about the truth of Ember's decay, and the way out.

Luna and Dune begin to search for the exit. Along the way, they find out that the mayor of Ember is corrupt, and has been hoarding food in a safe room to sit out the city's blackouts. He doesn't appear to want to accept that Emberlight is fading. Sounds like he's swimming in Egypt, people, because he is in DeNile.

They escape the mayor's clutches and begin pursuing the exit with a vengeance, now wanted kids. Oh, did I mention that the insects and animals underground have now mutated into a huge-r version of themselves? They don't really talk about it all that much, but they do run into this huge mole. Ick is all I'll say. Said mole does devour the mayor, though, so kudos for that.

But turns out they do find the way out. They discover the sun, the world, and everything is amazing. They also find a crack that allows them to look down on the city of Ember that's far, far below. So they drop a rock with the message about the exit to the people down there, and...the end.

What did  I think?
Well, to be honest, I thought this movie was going to be mediocre at best. But as it went on, I actually got pretty interested in the plot. The characters weren't that developed, as this movie was fully advanced by the storyline. But still, it made for a nice watch. If I had to rate it on a scale of 1 - 10, I'd probably give it a 6. Not stellar, but not too bad either. The dialogue was fine, the characters - while 1D - were also fine, and the plot was pretty good.

Of course, there were a few plotholes. The main one I'll mention is the fact that they never tell you why Ember was built. There's no reason. "The good of mankind" is the closest they get to an explanation, but otherwise...movie logic.
It's rated PG, by the way, so there is practically nothing bad. No cursing, no kissing (which I was surprised at, given there's an unrelated guy and girl as the two main protagonists), and no blood or anything. This is mainly drama. And it should be totally clean for kids to watch.
Overall, I wouldn't really recommend renting it, though. You can, if you're really desperate for something to watch, but borrowing it from your local library - if they have it - is probably your best bet. Signing off, ladies gents and others!

More Stuff Thou Shalt Listen To

Earlier this year, I posted a bunch of songs that were some of the best ever composed, in my opinion. Here, I'm giving you some more; these songs are some that I especially like to listen to while writing. Not to say that I don't listen to the others while writing too, but these I listen to more.

The original Batman score was, in my opinion, the best; it focused more on instrumentals and didn't have as much added effects as the later two movies.

Clash of the Titans: epic, epic soundtrack. Is up in the top ten of my favorite list.

The Last Samurai and the Batman series have some of the best sad music ever. This track combines sadness with action, making it an extreme 'must listen' on my list.

'Unbreakable' by one of my favorite Christian rock bands, Fireflight. This song combines despair, determination, and hope all at the same time. There's a reason it's got such a good rating.

'Get Back' by another of my favorite Christian bands, Nine Lashes. This song is a jumpy, get-out-of-your-seat and fight something song.

'Stay Close' again by Fireflight. I really need to buy the album by these guys. Such wow. Much amaze. So musical. Many applause. *doge*

I will leave you with this song, which is performed in the credits scene of the first Hobbit movie. Love it.


Well, I hope you enjoy listening. You're on break at the moment, so I EXPECT YOU TO LISTEN TO ALL OF THEM. Unless, of course, you have 2 GB of downloadable memory each month, like I do. Have fun, and I hope te gusta!

Reaper's Safety Session: Electricity

Zzzat zat kicha kicha vvvvv vvvv!

kaakakaka icy icy dum dum batz!

Hello one, hello all, today we're going to discuss that all-important issue that helps keep this world in overpopulation: safety.
Topic? ZAP.

Uh...I mean electricity.

A lot of people know instinctually that electricity is not very...shall we say, friendly to humans. At least not in its natural form, untamed and unharnessed. Of course, we advanced humans have found a way to use electricity to do many, many things, the majority of which are useful. Then, of course, there's shock therapy and the fact that by producing electricity we pollute the atmosphere. And that we're completely reliant on it.

Here's a few tips for handling yourself around electricity.

1. Don't touch uninsulated wires. By this I mean wires where you can see the metal that makes them up. Zap zap twitcha twicha, mother seal! DANCE!!!

2. Be careful when handling any metal around an electric source. There's a reason lightning is attracted to lightning rods, genius. Unless you want to become a towering pillar of charred flesh, wear rubber gloves or somethin'.

3. Have backups in case your electricity goes out. If your electricity goes out, all of a sudden you're back in the Stone Age. If you have a gas-heated system, thumbs up. If you have a solar-powered system, thumbs-up. We need more people like you. Or, you can just huddle around your candle desperately trying to cook your hot dog and stay warm at the same time. Good luck, kid from Africa.

4. Don't play around telephone wires and/or circuit breakers. Touch a telly wire and zap zap twitch twicha, mother seal! HAHAHAHAHAA!!

5. Learn how your house electricity system works. Who knows, you might be in the house alone when something goes dark. You're instantly plunged into a horror movie situation. Do you: a. Get the French out of there or b. Fix the lights and then get the French out of there or c. Sit down, try not to cry, cry a lot?

Want my advice?

GET THE FRENCH OUT OF THERE!!!

BECAUSE THE ELECTRICITY'S OUT TO GET YOU...ZAP ZAP TWITCHA TWICHA MOTHAH SEAL!!! HAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!!

Question Everything

Hey, everybody. It's been quite a while, I feel.

I have several excuses, promise! Finals...er, finals, and...finals...
Yes.
But also, I've been working a lot on this new writing project with some friends, and it's also been occupying a lot of my free time: check it out at roleplayingproject.blogspot.com. This is also why I haven't posted any writing for a while, but I soon will be, hopefully.

But yes yes, down to business. You may have noticed the title of this post, if you are meticulous enough to read two hundred size font; you may have actually read what it said. Overachiever. *brofist*


We live through a large portion of our life believing what we are taught. It's natural. It's the reason you, as a small child, believe that angels are naked babies, Obama is from heaven, or perhaps Santa is real.
(Oops, I think I gave it away. Cover your eyes, it's okay! He's...semi-real!)

But as we grow older, it is also natural (or...it should be) to question the things we are taught. Anything we are taught deserves questioning; is it based solidly? Is there a good reason? Should I really believe in it?
Of course, there are some things that we accept as unquestioned because we feel certain about them through personal experience. We know left from right. We know that twelve inches is a foot. We know that certain foods are good and some are bad. These are natural standards.

What about the things we begin to see as we grow older, though? The culture we live in constantly bombards us with things expected of people our age through books, songs, TV, movies, politics, news, whatever. We can't just accept these things for granted, otherwise you might become one of those penniless, mush-minded teens who thinks that 'swag' is gonna pay the bills, and you totally don't need anything else.
Question everything. When I say 'Everything', I mean it. I'm not excluding anything. Even those things you think are amazing, awesome, and go doey-eyed whenever you think about it, question; why do you react to it that way? What makes you like it so much? You may be surprised to find what the answer was.

One of the things I want to focus on mainly is popular...anything. Anything that is popular has a reason it's popular. I find that ninety percent of the time, it's not a good reason.
There's a reason I critique even the things I like. For you who may not know, I'm a huge Star Wars geek. I have read tons of Star Wars literature, and I own all the movies (plus almost all the extra material you can get with them). Same thing with Lord of the Rings. Yet, I look at them, and I can see that they have their own problems. Just because you like something a lot doesn't mean it's perfect. By no means! Question it, examine it, find a good reason to like it.

Often, you may have to find reasons for the reasons. That's okay; go way back. Hit the root of the 'reason(s)'. I find that many people just watch, read, or listen to something and go 'Heeeey, me gusta.' and don't think much further into it. They become fans of something and if someone dare-eth to poke at it with a critical finger, they pounce on them mercilessly.

That being said, there's another side to this coin. If you start questioning things, make sure you don't just pick at whatever you can grab at. Especially if you're examining something you inherently don't like. You need to find good reasons you don't like that thing. Don't just cherrypick stuff out of thin air.

Phew! Long and philosophical post. Anyway. Have fun finishing finals, you people. Slog on. There's a light at the end of the tunnel; it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...and break! Woot woot!
Hasta la vista, readers.