When I Get Mad (vent art)

This is how I troll people, apparently.
Some self-affirming hack on DeviantART was using a template editor to take artwork from the likes of Genzoman (one of the most recognizable artists on DA apart from SpaceCoyote or JollyJack) and make custom MAGIC: The Gathering cards (complete with a copyright notice attributed to Wizards of the Coast, making the whole "not affiliated" disclaimer more than a little suspect). After calling him out on padding his gallery with 60 of these things, he retorted with the classic, "I'm a fan paying homage." excuse that may have held water if he was just showing a tutorial or a single card as an example (another claim he made in his defense) of using the editor. I pointed out how broken his logic was, and asked why he didn't ask permission of the artists in question if he was so certain his intentions were pure. He proceeded to disable comments on all 60 of those uploads. In the few minutes between when he did that and when he actually took down all the cards, I made this one card-like object in about five minutes with a Sharpie and about half my full attention.
When I came back and saw he'd cleared away his padding, he asked a favor of me, that since I'd trolled him with such animosity (five comments on sixty uploads, one of which was suggesting he make a tutorial is trolling in his mind.) that I do the same for "everyone else" who makes cards as he had done. This makes two very stupid assumptions, that "everyone else" doing something diffuses his own responsibility, and that I haven't already confronted others of his ilk, thus singling him out. Well, when you try and justify your bullshit behavior with weak excuses and broken logic, of course I'm going to respond to tell you how broken and weak said counterpoints are. That's not trolling, that's a discussion. You just refused to realize you had no high ground, that the conversation wasn't going your way, and that on the whole it was about the only attention your gallery was getting.

Frightened, but Brave

Just got back from Snow White and the Huntsman, and I'm not even going to make a comment about Mirror Mirror leaving bad taste in my mouth and this being the cleansing swig because it's an unfair comparison.

In short, loved it. Awesome. Highly recommended.

In the interest of full disclosure, let's address the elephant in the room: I have never seen the Twilight movies. Actually, that's a lie; I've seen five minutes of a scene with two groups of vampires comparing notes on feeding habits and it pretty much told me all I need to know about what I'd be in for if I stayed and watched the rest. I bring this up because my roommate has seen the Twilight films and as such her biggest hangup about seeing the film was Kristen Stewart, fearing a wooden performance.

I think she gets a bit of a bum rap. Granted, the only thing I've seen her in prior to this was Zathura, where she played the older sister of the two boys. Not much meat to the role, but I liked her in it.

Something most people will probably notice right away regarding performances, hers as well as others, is that dialogue is rather sparse, and given that Stewart has a fair amount of screen time in the first act, people might be led to believe that her part was toned back because of fear about her ability to deliver dialogue. This really isn't the case; overall, it's a very visual film with very long passages of silence. I think that's one of the film's greatest assets, not feeling like it has to hold the audience's hand or keep spouting little throwaway lines of expository dialogue. What little dialogue there actually is serves almost as padding. Seriously, this would make a dandy silent film.

At the risk of sounding like I'm gushing, and going back to what I was saying about Kristen's performance, I think she's one of the best female leads I've seen in a fantasy film. She's got a very rare quality that I first heard leveled at the late Elisabeth Sladen by former Doctor Who producer Barry Letts. He said of her:

"She could be frightened and brave at the same time. Most actresses can only do one or the other."

This is also how I felt about Naomi Watts in the Peter Jackson remake of King Kong, someone who has a confidence and inner strength, but is also a human being with a full emotional palette. On that note, I think my favorite scene in the film (stop reading if you don't want any spoilers) is one where she stares down a monstrous troll that's just made a rag doll of the Huntsman and sets its sights on her. Admittedly, it waxes incredibly silly, but it made me smile and, frankly, if I made a fantasy film, you bet I'd have a scene like this. It's Dorothy slapping the Cowardly Lion, but done better. It speaks to her character, saying, "Look, I'm cold, tired, and terrified, but damned if I'm going to run now!"

Sure, not a terribly deep review, more just first impressions, but it's a very good first impression. Again, highly recommend it.