Poetry: "Dead Man's Shoes"

Poetry: "Dead Man's Shoes"

For thirty bucks I bought a pair of Dead Man's Shoes

It gave its former owner a case of the walking blues

If the first owner died in 'em I haven't got a clue

Either way, the deceased paid the ultimate final dues

I wear these shoes daily, not just a day or two

The sneakers have a grey stripe and a bright white hue

If he died in 'em, the second owner maybe knew

But he would no longer wear 'em and he left 'em by the loo

When I bought the shoes they looked brand spankin' new

What good did it do the first owner to sit within the pews

I don't mind wearin', I do not at all rue

Even if the shoes have slew

Death cursed shoes may or may not be true

Would you wear them if this were your point of view?

If shoes caused a death would they be for you?

Or, would you ignore them like a budget-bankrupt zoo?

Sci-Fi Bri's Movies: "2012"

Sci-Fi Bri's Movies: "2012"

According to the ancient Mayans, the world will supposedly end some time in the year 2012, when all the planets line up. That is the premise of Roland Emmerich's latest disaster film. Emmerich is the guy who blew up the White House in "Independence Day", and who depicted the world in deep freeze in "The Day After Tomorrow". In late 2009, a geologist played by Chiwetel Ejiofor finds out that the world as we know it will come to an end in 2012. So he rushed to

Washington, D.C. to tell the bad news to machiavellian Senator Anheiser (Oliver Platt), the villain of the movie. Governments around the world prepare for this eventuality, but most people are kept in the dark until the last minute. In a subplot, failed novelist turned limo driver Casey Jackson (John Cusack) takes his kids on a camping trip to Yosemite National Park in California just before disaster ensues. He converses with a conspiracy nut ( Woody Harrelson), who has his own fringe radio show about UFOs and other oddness. Harrelson was a hoot in this role. When Jackson returns his kids to his ex-wife (Amanda Peet), he must convince her and her cosmetic surgeon of a new husband to pack up and leave with him ASAP. Meanwhile, all hell breaks loose. Highways crumble, Yosemite becomes a volcano, and as limo driver Cusack drives, he has near miss after near miss until California starts to fall into the sea. Jackson hires a plane and rushes his estranged family to the airport. While aviation-pilot trainee Gordon (Peet's second husband) reluctantly flies the Cessna plane, the runway starts to crumble. Cusack and family end up on a bigger plane owned by a wealthy Russian, and they end up flying abroad to where the destruction isn't as bad. Meanwhile, the President (played by Danny "Lethal Weapon" Glover) gives up his seat on one of several futuristic arks. Only so many people can be saved, and many (or most) of them are wealthy or politically powerful. Although the earth's crust has shifted, there are many survivors. This is one of those movies whose special effects come before the story. This won't likely win any acting awards, other than its special effects; but it held my interest for nearly three hours. It was like a roller coaster, with the various character's stories, and then how they react to what seems like the apocalypse.

Sci-Fi Bri's Movies: "A Serious Man"

Sci-Fi Bri's Movies: "A Serious Man"

Actors: Fyvish "Picket Fences" Finkel, Adam "Sons of Anarchy Arkin, Richard "Bob Newhart Show" Kind, etc. Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen ("No Country For Old Men")

At the beginning of the movie, set about a hundred years ago, some Russian Jews invite a bearded old man into their home who may or may not be a "dybyk" (a demon from Jewish folklore). The husband treats him as a guest, but the suspicious wife, suspecting the old man is a "dybyk", stabs him in the chest. The old man just laughs, and as blood starts to flow he wanders off into a blizzard.

Immediately after this occurs, the film cuts to the late '60s. A teenage slacker listens to Jefferson Airplane on a portable radio while he is supposed to be preparing for his Bar Mitzvah in Hebrew class. All he seems to care about is getting high on pot, watching "F Troop", and avoiding a Hebrew class bully he owes money to who may be his cannabis dealer.

The boy's father, Larry Gopnik, is a Jewish physics professor at a small university who all kinds of bad things are happening to. Someone is writing anonymous notes badmouthing him to the tenure board. His jobless ne'er-do-well brother (Richard Kind) moves in and is under suspicion by the police. His wife leaves him for a widower and wants a Jewish-approved divorce and he moves into a motel with his no good brother. His daughter may be stealing money from him to save for plastic surgery, a non-Jewish neighbor bothers him, and a female neighbor entices him by sunbathing in the nude. When things start to improve, some further bad news comes, courtesy of his doctor. This movie is a semi-autobiographical film about a Jewish man and his family. Perhaps as a non-Jew I didn't understand it as much as I would have liked to. I think it may have been about a potentially unjust, uncaring or absent God, or maybe I just read that into it.

Sci-Fi Bri's Movies: "Men Who Stare At Goats"

Sci-Fi Bri's Movies: "Men Who Stare At Goats"

Characters/Actors: Ewan McGregor, Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), Bill Djambo (Jeff Bridges), Kevin Spacey, etc.

After his wife leaves him, a distraught reporter travels to the Middle East around 2006 to seek out a man who turns out to be a "psychic soldier". This reporter gets the story of a lifetime when Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) tells him about self-proclaimed real-life Jedi Knights who can supposedly walk through walls, disarm the enemy without weapons with only mind power, and who are trained to kill goats just by staring at them, among other things. Cassady tells the journalist about a soldier in Vietnam who while in combat has a spiritual awakening and becomes a hippie who implements ideas for "psychic soldiers of peace rather than war". Clooney and the other members of the "New Earth Army" are a hoot as they scrunch up their eyes to subdue the enemy, kill goats, drive blindfolded, and practice by getting clouds to disappear. Like MASH with psychics instead of doctors.

"Saw VI" (Rated R for graphic violence, torture, and depictions of death) Actor(s): Jigsaw (Tobin Bell), Costas "Picket Fences" Mandylor, etc.

Believe it or not, there is a genre of movies that are so violent and sadistic that it is called "torture porn". The two "Hostel" movies and all of the "Saw" series are in this category. In the latest "Saw" movie, master torturer Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) is long dead, but his work is far from done by his protege', (Costas Mandylor) a detective investigating the murders. At the end of "Saw V" his identity was revealed. In "Saw VI" the authorities are on the verge of discovering who is continuing Jigsaw's work with ingenious torture devices. In one of the opening scenes, two people compete to cut off the most flesh, and the 'winner' resorts to sawing off her own arm to escape a deadly fate. In this film, all of those being tortured are insurance people who think nothing of denying coverage to seriously ill or dying people. The tortured people have decisions to make to stay alive. They can either live or die, but in order to live someone else has to die (usually in excruciatingly painful ways). Not for the squeamish, or for those with a full stomach.

Sci-Fi Bri's Movies: "Astro Boy"

Sci-Fi Bri's Movies: "Astro Boy"

"Astro Boy" is an animated science-fiction film with the voice talents of Nicolas Cage, Charlize Theron, Kristin "Veronica Mars" Bell, Bill Nighy, Nathan Lane, etc.

In the near future, we rely on robots for almost everything. Also, the surface of the earth is basically in shambles, but Metro City is a sprawling metropolis in the sky. A brilliant scientist named Dr. Tenma (Nicolas Cage) allows his precociously intelligent son to be present when the power-mad President of Metro City places unstable, negative "Red Matter" in a robot for military purposes; and tragedy results. After his son Toby dies, Tenma spends every waking moment constructing a robotic replica of his child. The robot is powered with positive "Blue Matter", plus it has his son's consciousness and good heart. The malevolent President Stone (Bill Nighy) hopes to start a war with the surface of the earth, so he will be reelected. It seems Stone will go to any length to stay in power. After the disaster with the "Red Matter", Stone wants to use the "Blue Matter" for nefarious purposes, so he wants the boy robot destroyed. Instead, the robot-boy escapes to the surface and gets the name "Astro Boy". Astro Boy ends up saving everyone from the malevolent Stone's madness. A movie that both kids and adults can enjoy.

Poetry: "A Killer Has Died" A Work in Progress

Poetry: "A Killer Has Died" A Work in Progress

A killer has died.

I won't give his name

For what he has done

He deserveth no fame

Some of his victims he killed with a pin

Soaked in some poisons and mingled with gin.

Some he killed with a rusty blade

As he laughed out loud as their lives would fade

Others he slew with a makeshift gun

He pulled back the hammer as they started to run

Even sisters in habits who he killed just for fun... (to be cont'd?)

Poetry: "Waging War" A Work in Progress

Poetry: "Waging War" A Work in Progress

Waging War and War Wages

Blood on the Battlefield

Casualties are many

The enemy refuses to yield.

Waging War and War Wages

A taut bow stretches back

Arrows start to hit their mark

A lethal wound starts flowing black

Death turns the battleground quite dark

Waging War and War Wages

A poor vet steps on a mine

As his mangled legs won't let him flee

All he can do is whine.

Waging War and War Wages

Bullets strike a guy in his chest

And his body goes cold

as he dies on the side of a road

Waging War and War Wages

In Iraq an IED [Improvised Explosive Device] creates a deadly blast

It killed thirty some-odd people

Whose lives weren't meant to last... (to be cont'd?)

Waging War and War Wages

Roads are covered in Gore

Blood and violence are in history's pages

Battles ought to be shown the door... (to be cont'd?)