Wednesday, October 04, 2017

It's a Wild World

I awoke to another glorious Indian Summer day. Did an episode of Garfield and Friends from the first season with a mildly spooky short while I ate breakfast. Garfield finds himself in "The Lasagna Zone" when he gets tomato sauce on Jon's new satellite dish and ends up trapped in a barrage of TV show spoofs. Orson would love to be "Sleepytime Pig," but the Sandman was late, and nothing the others can do will get him to fall back into Dreamland. In "Yojimbo," Jon takes martial arts in order to impress Liz after a bully tries grabbing her. Garfield thinks there's a better way to deal with him.

Headed off to the laundromat around 11:30. They were once again fairly quiet. I saw one couple almost the entire time I was there, and their clothes were in the drier. I listened to The View talk about Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Action News discuss the shootings in Las Vegas and the humidity that's coming in the next few days. I had another small load, anyway. I was in and out in 40 minutes.

As soon as I got home, I put everything away, then went right back out. First stop was Phillies Phatties for a quick lunch. Ordered my slice of cheese pizza, slice of mushroom, and can of Dew SA while listening to ESPN (ironically, considering the current news) discuss the how competitive the new expansion NHL team the Vegas Golden Knights will be in their division. It was so nice, I took my pizza and soda outside to the wooden tables on West Clinton Avenue and enjoyed my meal in the warm sunshine.

Took Newton Lake Park to Westmont. I was far from the only one out enjoying the weather. I dodged another biker, folks out for a walk, and a mother pushing a stroller. While the weather's been great for us humans, it hasn't been as wonderful for the local flora. The grass is dry, brittle, and yellowed. The only color the trees are turning is brown. At least the wildflowers sprouting along the sparkling lake still add a bit of color.

Haddon Township Library was quiet as can be when I arrived. There were a few people on the computer and a mother reading to her daughter and not much else. I put away a couple of kids' DVDs and organized the kids' titles, shelved adult titles and pulled TV sets and foreign films, and shelved CDs and newly released books.

No books this week, but I did take out more movies, since I have plenty of time to watch them. Wanted to finish out the Divergent series with Allegient. I liked the Tim Burton Alice In Wonderland enough to try last year's sequel, Alice Through the Looking Glass. Continued my exploration into the changing American cinema of the late 60's with Easy Rider. I've watched Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein during the first week of October for the last couple of years. It's just spooky enough to  to inaugurate my Halloween season.

Dodged the beginnings of rush-hour traffic on Cuthbert and the White Horse Pike long enough to stop at WaWa for a treat. I was thirsty, so I grabbed a Pumpkin Spice Caramel Smoothie. Yum. Now this, I could actually taste the pumpkin spice in. It felt so nice going down as I made my way home.

Worked on writing for a couple of hours after I got in. Everyone attends the City Council meeting, including Senator Martha Mothma. Officer Chris Madine, one of the head cops, says he's using local citizens to help him keep an eye out for trouble during the Labor Day Weekend festivities. To the surprise of his friends, Hank Solokowski reveals that he's volunteered. Luke and Leia arrive with Yoda and Ben in time to join his team. While they join their friends, Ben accuses Ocean View's blue-clad mayor, Hector Thrawn, of taking bribes from Palpatine in order to fund the resort/mall project.

As they watch Ben and Thrawn argue, Luke sees smoke coming in through a window. City Hall is on fire! He, Hank, and Leia see four Imperial Gang members take off. Hank knocks out two while Leia and Luke take off after the others in their Mazda.

Broke around 6:30 for leftovers and tomatoes for dinner. Watched some East Side Kids while I ate and after my shower. Spooks Run Wild when the Kids find themselves spending the night in a haunted house after one of them (David Gorcey) was shot by an overzealous local. Could the man in the dark suit with the odd accent (Bela Lugosi) be the serial killer they've been hearing about on the radio?

Ended the night online while watching Allegiant. Having rescued her brother Caleb (Ansel Egort) from the Erudite faction, Tris (Shalene Woodley) is ready to find out what's beyond the wall surrounding Chicago. No sooner do they get out than they're captured by the Bureau of Genetic Welfare. This group claims that people have "damaged genes" and were placed into "experiments" like Chicago. They want to find people with "pure" genes (like Tris) and recreate their gene structures. Tris becomes friendly with David (Jeff Daniels), who knew her mother. Four's lest trusting of the group after he finds out what they're really doing with their prisoners. Meanwhile, skirmishes between Evelyn's (Naomi Watts) Factionless and Joanna (Octavia Spencer)'s Allegient are starting to get worse. When Tris tries to point out to the Council that they're not doing anything about the violence, they ignore her and David reveals his true plans - he's going to encourage Evelyn to erase every mind in the city! Now the small group of Divergents have to keep Evelyn from following through, or they're not going to remember much of anything come tomorrow.

Ok, this was...really bizarre, and not nearly as bad as I thought it would be from the reviews. Woodley still does well as Tris, and Watts and Spencer are also decent as the two very different leaders on opposing sides of the war. Others don't fare as well; Daniels is an especially bland villain. The CGI is pretty cheesy, too, especially the flying sequences.

My biggest complaint is...what is this supposed to be? This series has completely gone off the rails plot-wise. The whole "faction" thing at the beginning was pretty interesting...but now, we have Allegient and Factionless and the Bureau people and the Council, and what in the heck are they all doing? You don't linger long enough to get to know any of them very well.

The real problem with this series has little to do with plot difficulties, and everything with its audience losing interest. This didn't make anything resembling as much money on its release last year as the first two did. At press time, they may do the finale as a TV movie or direct-to-DVD movie...if they do it at all. (Woodley reportedly dropped out of the project after it was announced for TV.) This series was made for its time and place, and it would seem that its time has passed.

I don't think that's quite fair. While not the greatest series ever, as Hunger Games imitations go, this was actually pretty well-done. Woodley eventually grew into her role, the general plot had promise, and the supporting cast in the first two movies was first-rate. If anything, I thought Insurgent was much better than the two Matrix sequels, and it was by far my favorite of the three.

I don't really recommend this series for anyone besides major fans of the cast or Hunger Games nuts or those who have read the books, especially since it looks like it may not be completed. All others will want to try The Hunger Games series before coming anywhere near here.

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