Hi ya’ll! I haven’t updated here all year! I’ve been working so much I haven’t had time for doing so. Yay being a healthcare worker during the pandemic.
I finally got a chance to see Kong: Skull Island. Yes, this movie came out in 2017. Yes, I’m finally writing about it now. However, this movie was so much better than it had any right to be that I HAVE to say something.
This movie is really fucking good. The blockbusters that I’ve seen in 2018 and 2019, such as Aquaman, Infinity War, Solo, Skyscraper and others, seem to exist purely to entertain for a few hours. They do have themes and messages, but these messages always felt hollow and cliched to me. This movie didn’t.
The premise follows a group of soldiers and scientists on a journey to explore a newly found island, as the Vietnam War ends. There they encounter Kong, a giant gorilla. They also discover the island is a hellish landscape filled with large insects and other beasts that want to kill them. They have to fight for survival and try to escape the island.
From here on out, there will be mild spoilers for the movie in this review. You have been warned.
This is a war movie as much as it’s a monster movie, but it doesn’t just say “War bad. Peace good.” and not dig any further the way a lot of movies do. It looks at the effects of war and the people it leaves behind. This is most strongly seen in the colonel leading the the team of the soldiers in this movie, Preston Packard, as he struggles to find purpose and stay relevant with the Vietnam War being over. Packard is a proud supporter of the Vietnam War, and he in denial that America lost. He even says America “abandoned the war” rather than admitting the loss. Packard going to the island as a great way to save face for himself and America. He leads his already war weary team to Skull Island to protect the scientists, even though this is a dangerous situation. Thanks to his choice most will not return home.
The movie draws interesting parallels to the Vietnam War and the nature of warmongering in one particular scene where one of the soldiers, Earl Cole, talks with the head scientist. He tells him “Sometimes there isn’t an enemy unless you go looking for one.”
This applies to Kong in that he’s really not a threat to our characters unless they provoke him first. He is the protector of the island, and takes care of the people who live there. He only attacks the soldiers because they bomb his island and attack him. Throughout the story it’s revealed that Kong is necessary to protect the world from an even greater threat. Yet Packard, fueled by revenge over his fallen men and his need to be a hero, refuses to back down from fighting Kong, even at the cost of his sanity. It’s an interesting and thrilling dynamic.
It would be easy for a movie exploring these themes to feel stuffy and pretentious, but this movie also stays as entertaining as the typical popcorn flick. There’s a lot of engaging action scenes. Death comes for these characters without warning or discretion. It honestly had me on the edge of my seat.
All this makes for me my ideal movie and I’m glad I watched it. I didn’t enjoy the 2014 Godzilla movie but this one gives me hope that Godzilla: King of the Monsters will be a lot better; If this next Godzilla movie has even half of this movie’s depth, I’ll be pleased.
As for this movie, if you haven’t watched it yet, I definitely recommend it. Also if the comics for this movie are any good, please let me know in the comments.
Hi! So I have wanted to do more content on my blog. The problem is I’ve changed dramatically as a person. While I still like anime and books, they don’t take up my life the way crafting and cross stitch does. I’m trying to write what I’m passionate about, so I’m going to try to add some content related to my needlework projects. Happy reading!
FULL DISCLOSURE: I received this pattern for free in exchange for doing a test cross stitch of the pattern. I was not asked to do a review.
I recently decided to read The Intern Blues. For those who don’t know–and there’s no way you’d know unless you were a medical junkie– this book was a project conceived by medical doctor Robert Marion (known as Bob) back in the 1980’s. At orientation he met three interns, Andy, Amy, and Mark, and came up with the idea for each of them to chronicle each month of their internship into an audio cassette. Through it, they detailed the experience of working at the different pediatric hospitals throughout New York. What results is probably one of the truest experiences of working in a hospital I have ever read in a book.
Disclaimer: I am a certified pharmacy technician who works in the ER. I am not a doctor, and definitely not an intern.
Synopsis: Senior Ariel Stone is the perfect college applicant: first chair violin, dedicated community volunteer, and expected valedictorian. He works hard – really hard – to make his life look effortless. A failed Calculus quiz is not part of that plan. Not when he’s number one. Not when his peers can smell weakness like a freshman’s body spray.
Figuring a few all-nighters will preserve his class rank, Ariel throws himself into studying. His friends will understand if he skips a few plans, and he can sleep when he graduates. Except Ariel’s grade continues to slide. Reluctantly, he gets a tutor. Amir and Ariel have never gotten along, but Amir excels in Calculus, and Ariel is out of options.
Ariel may not like Calc, but he might like Amir. Except adding a new relationship to his long list of commitments may just push him past his limit. — per goodreads
Well, it has been about four months since I posted a real update on my blog. I could go into the long story, but the short story is — I came down with some mysterious viral crud, that may have been Coviid, and never got better. I ended up getting a Coviid test back in March, and the results were negative. At the beginning of July, I got an antibody test, and it was negative, which should prove that I didn’t have coviid. However, it’s common knowledge in the medical community that coviid tests have a false negative rate of about 30% and not everybody develops antibodies. So maybe I did, maybe I didn’t???
I am finally getting around to writing my thoughts down about the current Black Lives Matter movement. To skip the tl;dr, I and this blog support Black Lives Matter. I have no interested in debating what is essentially basic human rights, if you disagree please kindly show yourself the door.
George Floyd was murdered by the police. He is one of many people who have been murdered by the police. Police officers who have murdered black people simply do not face consequences, and go on to terrorize and hurt more people. This needs to stop. We need to stop militarizing the police, we need to demand better training for police officers, and we to hold our officers accountable. (I have thought on this long and hard and I don’t think this goes far enough. Abolishing the police is really the only answer.) In my profession in the hospital there are consequences for us inflicting harm on a patient. The fact that police have weapons and less accountability then the people I work with is wrong.
Police Departments are disproportionately targeting black people. This is a national crisis. The lack of response by the people in Washington is unacceptable, and I will call my representatives and demand change.
I support the protesters. I think they’re right. Unfortunately due to my health conditions, I cannot go out and protest, but I am doing whatever I can to send money and supplies to those who need it. I will support those on the front lines in any way I can. And while a majority of the protesters are peaceful, I also think black lives are more important then property, so if destruction of property happens, so be it.
Now here’s the honest truth. I am white as fuck. I do not have black friends. I do not know what it truly means to be black in America, or what it means to be a good ally. But I am committed to learning. I am going to read articles and literature. I am going to strive to be better. I am self-centered, but I will learn to understand when I need to shut the fuck up and let black voices speak instead.
While I’m not the best at updating my blog, I am also going to focus on highlighting projects from black people that I think look cool whenever I can.
This is my statement. The time to complacent is over. Change needs to happen.
THIS BLOG SUPPORTS BLACK LIVES MATTER~ NO IFS ANDS OR BUTS.
I would like to get an actual post out about this, but two things. One I am very sick (fighting a kidney infection). Two, I don’t want to write a lengthy post and talk over black voices, especially when they’re saying what needs to be said and doing it much better. I’m still trying to find a balance between speaking out and not overshadowing.
So, I wrote a rough draft for my week in review around Monday, and then had to scrap it because so much had changed. As everyone knows, there’s a pandemic. I live in Ohio, where Governor DeWine has been handling our response. He’s been cited by various media outlets as being proactive and showing the rest of the nation what needs to be done to keep people safe. Unfortunately, to help Ohioans practice social distancing, he closed different businesses daily. First it was schools, then restaurants, movie theaters, hair salons, and other places soon followed.
So, for the first half of the week, not too much to report here on my end. After having 4 days off last week (woohoo), I went back and worked the next five days, the last two being the second shift. I had one day off, which I mostly spent sleeping, and then it was back to work. Work is the same old same old, and I even signed up to pick up a few extra shifts in April and May. Most of them will hopefully not be overtime, but if they are, hey, more money isn’t a bad thing? Pour one out for me if that ends up being the case though!
