Fast Five Review

When The Fast and The Furious originally debuted 10 years ago in 2001 it was made for gearheads and teenage boys. Relying more on cars and barely dressed women to make the box office money needed to make it a success.

What happened next I don't think was expected. A sequel was approved but Vin Diesel who played Dominic Torretto, a main character, decided he didn't want to go back to the franchise. The producers decided to try and go a different route and 2Fast 2Furious was released to tepid reviews by both mainstream and fans.

After a short break they decided to do things with the 3rd film much like the Halloween franchise did and focus on new characters, new situations and see if that helped. The barely dressed women were there, the cars were there and 'drifting' a style of racing that is popular in some sectors took the forefront in the movie. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift was probably the worst received movie of the bunch. However to be fair, if watched for just a movie instead of an installment of a franchise, it's a good movie.

After a trilogy that continued to loose steam with each installment the studio took a step back from the series and let it rest. When Fast and Furious came out a couple of years ago something happened. Along the way in this series it matured. The barely dressed women were fewer, the cars were there but they weren't the main attraction to the movie. Instead the studio focused on something that 2 out of the first three movies failed to have...a plot.

It went from a gearhead movie to a murder mystery/seeking justice type film with characters that were familiar to the audience. Creatively, at the time, one of the best movies of the series that actually allowed the characters to grow, show new facets and move along the story that had begun in the original movie. The ending tied up loose ends and introduced something new. Diesel's character, wanted for several crimes in the US stood trail and was sentenced to twenty five years in prison. The last minute of the film Torretto is in a prision bus headed to his new home when three cars come into view driven by his sister, his best friend and one other to break him out.

Now two years later Fast Five was released and I can say that the franchise has peeled off its old skin and brought forth an idea that should have been introduced years ago. While the characters are still there, they've evolved. The old issues have been buried, they have matured as people and as a family. They've spent the last couple of years on the run and end up in Brazil. Hunted by the United States as wanted fugitives, they have no choice but to try and disappear. The way to do that is to pull off the biggest heist they've ever done.

The franchise has done away with the women (There is one scene that lasts less than two minutes with a half dressed woman), toned down the cars and stopped using them as the creative device to move the story along. Instead they have worked on the angle that originally made the franchise possible, theft. Torretto and his crew were pulling off long haul truck heists in the first movie, which is why they were chased and wanted. In this movie they embrace that aspect of the stories and give the audience one of the best heist movies since The Italian Job some years ago.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson became part of the series in this movie and his character is the perfect foil to Torretto. A man that believes in justice and focuses on his task and doesn't care about personal situations. A bloodhound built like the Hulk and willing to do whatever it takes to make his arrestt.

The other interesting thing about this film is that they've drawn from the background of the series by bringing in characters from all of the previous movies to take part in the job much like the Ocean's Eleven series. It's a nod to things that have happened in the past but also a way to flesh out the characters that were one dimensional in the past.

A sixth movie will definitely happen with some threads from the fourth being followed up. Personally I can't wait for it. If you enjoy movies where the situations continue to seem dire as the main protagonists are still trying to complete a job, then you should give this movie a chance. Definitely not the same series that it was ten years ago and better for it.

DC's Reboot

So yesterday DC Comics dropped a bomb that after the ending of their company wide crossover going on right now, Flash Point, they were going to be restarting all of their titles at #1. This included the possibility of new origins, younger versions and a plethora of other things that haven't even been considered by most fans. 

There's outrage from one corner of the internet and there's jubilation from the other end. 

The thing is...they've done this before. 

The thing with DC Comics is that every ten years or so they have to go through this. I don't know why exactly but bear with me while I go through this with you. 

Crisis on Infinite Earths (COIE) is considered the grand father of all company wide crossovers. It was done in the mid 80s as a twelve issue series. At the time DC comics had probably hundreds of different Earths running around. The thing is this: At the time when a new series started, they didn't always co-habituate with other characters. The thinking is that if a character was good enough to have its own title then it would be good enough to stand on its own. So you had Earth, Earth 2, Earth Snickers, Earth Candyland... All of these different creations were just running around on their own. The point of COIE was to trim that down and bring all of the different characters under one Earth...a New Earth. This concept stuck for over twenty years. 

What DC did figure out at that time as well was that some of the origin stories appeared antiquated and they felt that perhaps readers would have a hard time identifying with the characters if they didn't update them. Plus they understood that if it was 1980 and the origin for Superman was still based in 1920, well then the suspension of disbelief wouldn't exist and readers just wouldn't care. 

They started with Man of Steel a mini-series aimed at updating Superman their flagship character. 

So with COIE they killed two birds with one stone. They brought all the characters together on one Earth and were able to update characters that needed to catch up. (like Batman and Wonder Woman, for example)

Ten years later DC comics did it again with Zero Hour. It was another company wide event. The basis of this one is that someone went to the beginning of time, mucked with everything and altered the course of history. This basically erased the entire backstory of DC. The heroes won the day and rewrote the history of DC as close as they could...making Batman younger, bringing a new version of Hawkman from the ashes... 

Ten years after THAT they had Infinite Crisis which was billed as a direct sequel to COIE...again someone managed to gain fantastic powers that could alter the universe. In the tampering that happened New Earth was copied...51 times. This gave DC 52 Earths with 52 different possibilities living on them, with heroes who made different choices and gave other characters a second chance at life. 

Now they do this. 

From what I've read of Flashpoint so far it's the same kind of story. Someone has altered events in time. Things are different. If anyone knows Batman's origin it began with him having to watch his mother and father gunned down during a robbery. In this new crossover his father survives and Bruce and his mother die instead. 

Little changes that are going to drive this mini series and make it readable. The thing is, they've mucked with characters again so when things get put right again, this will bring about the "Reboot" of DC comics. 

A Gimmick? Yes more than likely. The question that all readers ask is this: Will the changes last? Will they only be superficial? Will they be written out within the year? 

As much as any other reader I'm curious. But 52 new restarts and on going series is alot to ask of any reader. The possibility of this bombing is huge... I'm glad I don't write the checks. 

The Face of the Pond

You know there are times when something is going to happen and you think you’re prepared for it only to find out, not so much.

A little over five weeks ago my wife brought into the world our two daughters Zoey and Paige. Now we didn’t find out we had twins until we did the ultrasound for gender, which means that we didn’t have much time to prepare and even less to come to terms with what that would mean to our family and to us.

I was there for Jacob’s birth. I remember the feeling of elation and awe and wonder at the miracle that is birth. (It is a miracle. Science may be able to explain the logistics behind it but can never explain how each child is their own person and not just a carbon copy.) With the girls I was there as well but my senses weren’t heightened, they were dulled. The fear and dread that every parent never talks about when bringing a child into the world was palpable to me in that time between labor and birth. Normally anything can go wrong in a delivery and in the instance of twins, that’s twice as likely. Anything could have happened to any of the three of them, mother and children and how do you live through that?

People continually say, “Well you come to terms and move on.” Yes, intellectually that’s correct but how do you have your heart and soul mend at the loss of any life? At the change in your status quo so drastic that it seems insurmountable?

Daily we make choices that have a ripple effect on ourselves, those around us and the outside world in some instances. Do we sit and trivialize over those decisions? Do we think about how ordering a book from Amazon may bring that small mom and pop book store down the road one missed sale closer to having to board up their doors? Do we grasp the fact that perhaps the UPS man just had someone close to them pass on and still he’s trying his best to put his brave face on at work?

Changes happen everyday but we never realize just how much they may impact us until we’re in the midst of the turmoil that the change may have done.

With the girls, and that’s what we call them “The Girls” because while they’re twins they look nothing alike and act even less so, the change came in understanding that their personalities are so polar opposite that sometimes it can be hectic.

Zoey was born first at 3:12. She bulled her way into the world and made little to no noise for a while, just taking in the sights and wondering what the brightness was. Paige arrived at 3:21, late for the party and mad that she was even there.

Who they are has already begun to show. Zoey is more high maintenance, not wanting to be moved quickly, demanding what she wants and how she wants it. If you get her what she wants but not in the way she asked, well then prepare to hear about it.

Paige on the other hand seems to adopt a live and let live personality. Are you holding her? Is her tummy full and her diaper clean? Well then, that’s alright, she’ll just sit there and practice holding her head up.

In the time that they’ve been in my life I feel like more has changed than just the addition of two little lives. Instead we have two people who have already begun to enrich our lives with their presence and their voices.

They are more ripples in the pond of my life, continuing to morph and change me into a, hopefully, better man and better father. With them here, I understand the meaning of the term, growing pains.

The Tiny Terrorist Strikes again

On the first of March I had officially had my Blackberry for two years. Anyone who knows me well knows how much I LOVE electronics. Mind you that with a family, bills and other responsibilities, it's not often that I go out of my way to get some new gadget, but I drool over them more than most. I'm an APPLE lover, always have been. Something about them calls to me, probably because I love comics and Apple computers are known to have the best graphics of any computer in the market. While I've always had a soft spot for the iPhone for that very reason my carrier is Sprint and they've missed out twice on the iPhone sweepstakes. The closests I can get to it is the HTC Evo. A nifty little touch screen phone with all the bells and whistles. I've been drooling over it since it was released. So needless to say that when my two years came up it was like Christmas in March for me.

Crystal was nice enough to pick me up after work and head over to the Sprint store with me so that I could drool over phones and make my choice (though she already knew what I was dying to have). Now I get out of work at about 5:30, usually when I get out we have dinner and spend some time with the kids before they go to bed. So this was a bit of a change to the schedule they were used to. We were taking a chance but our schedules for the rest of the week didn't really allow for the trip to happen many other days plus Crystal actually had energy and we wanted to take advantage of that.

After a short deliberation the HTC got the nod. Usually picking a phone doesn't take long. It's the rest of the process that eats time. The paperwork, the additional things (A hard cover) that need to be chosen, the transfer of information from one phone to the other. You probably end up spending about an hour with just that stuff alone being done.

We were fine for about the first...forty minutes. Then Jacob decided he was DONE. He didn't want to crawl around, he didn't want to be in my arms or Crystal's. He just wanted out. He wanted to be home in his comfort zone and he wanted food...NOW.

We were only halfway through the whole process, it's not an easy little thing to do and stopping halfway through would be both heartbreaking for me and a PITA for the service rep. So we had to think fast on how to handle the little guy before things went south fast. We were already getting glances from other customers, not angry glances but pity glances (which is almost worst) and because he's cute people have even more sympathy and look at us like, fix it.

Usually he'll be thrilled with Saltine minis (life saving little crackers that they are) but nope, not this time. He didn't want his binkie either and we didn't think to bring toys with us, though by that point I don't think that would have helped either.

In case you didn't know I'm a diabetic. It's in check with meds and healthy (for the most part) eating but there are times when my sugar goes a little lower than it should and I get the shakes, the sweats and things like that. So for this reason Crystal always keeps something sweet around as an emergency stash. The last thing that we had in the diaper bag as an emergency stash was a ziploc bag of Chocolate chips (you know the kind you put into cookies) because they took little room and it didn't really matter if they were jostled or broken.

Drastic times call for drastic measures. Out comes the bag. We figure we give him a few, he'll take his time savoring them and he'll be happy afterward.

The little terrorist wouldn't hear of it.

He put the first one in his mouth, savored it and when he was done his eyes were HUGE and his little pudgy hands darted out for some more that I had laid on the counter. He wasn't taking them one by one, oh no, not this kid, he was grabbing two and three at a time. When they were gone? The bombing shelter siren that he keeps in his lungs went off again and out came some more chips.

It seemed like the more he saw, the faster he ate, the louder he screamed and the more I put out. This is in the span of twenty minutes mind you. Twenty minutes to finish the paperwork.

By the time we were done the little terrorist had eaten the remainder of the ziplock bag (about a fourth of it was full). His little eyes were huge and he wanted off Crystal's lap and onto the floor. The kid had rocket boots on cause he scooted the fastest I've seen.

You would think that a child who is only 13 months old would move on and not think about it again.

Well this morning Crystal's in the shower and it's just he and I. He's playing on the floor in the living room and spots the diaper bag. He makes his way over there, starts pulling things out of the diaperbag and finds the empty ziplock bag. Looks at it, makes his way over to me and throws it on my lap with an indignant cry.

He was looking for more.

With a sweet tooth bigger than he is, there is no doubt this is my son.

Thank you in any language...

For those of you that don't know I'm hispanic, which means that I'm bilingual. I speak English and Spanish fluently and always felt that it's something that I should pass on to my children when the time came. (If you're wondering, I'm not mexican...regardless of the jokes that some people might throw out there) So when Jacob was born, it was natural to me to begin exposing him to Spanish. It's well documented that children that hear two or more languages early in development will have an easier time grasping them as they grow up.

Now I'd say that right now the ratio of English to Spanish in my house is about 80/20. It's not for lack of trying but in all honesty when we watch television, it's in English. Crystal's dominant language is English, she knows some Spanish and can understand me for the most part when I go off in Spanish but she worries that she isn't saying the words perfectly and refuses to sound silly. So for the most part the Spanish spoken is either me or one of the bilingual toys that Jacob has.

For the most part when it comes to things to watch there's two catagories, kid movies and then everything else. It's pretty easy to find a kid movie, they saturate the market with things that they believe witll entertain a child for about 80 minutes in various forms. Anyone with chidlren will tell you though that each child has a preference for WHAT it is that's on the television. Knowing our kids the way that I do I'm always on the lookout for something that I think will tickle their fancy.

It's with this in mind that I found a copy of Megamind for them. Grace, thanks in large part to me I'm sure, has an enormous love for superheroes and the battles they wage against the forces of evil. So it was a no brainer to get the movie for her viewing pleasure.

In the last two years or so I've tried to get Grace to learn little bits of Spanish, things that I think will help her along. See in my mind's eye I hope that the kids do end up being bilingual and with the younger ones I have a better chance. With that thought I've told Grace that she should try as well since there's nothing worse than knowing your sibliings could be talking about you in another language while standing in front of you.

Six year olds though forget most everything in life except what they love and what they want to have. So I constantly get asked "How do you say (insert word here) in Spanish again?"

Jacob and Grace were being watched by Grandma for a little bit while I went into work for a couple of hours and when I picked them up I told Grace, "Come on, I've got a surprise for you at home!"

Now Grace is a brilliant kid. I don't just say that because she's my kid, she's REALLY a brilliant kid. She reads at the fourth grade level and is doing math at the second grade level.. she's only in first grade. She is only held captive by her own imagination and desire to learn. Obviously it didn't take her long to figure out what it was that I had waiting at home.

We head into the house from the car and I have to change Jacob's diaper. For Christmas one of our family friends was nice enough to give Grace a White board/Chalk board easel which she uses to play or write us notes.

So when I came back out into the living room with Jacob she had written:

Dear daddy-

  I (heart) you. Thank you (in Spanish) for getting me the Megamind movie.

                                                           Grace

I've been focused on getting her to undertstand how to SPEAK in Spanish, usually when she tries she sounds like a Texan talking to someone from across the border (which is beyond hysterical because she's never been to Texas). So she wouldn't know how to write in Spanish at this stage. It didn't stop her from trying though....

If you're unsure why this is funny... Thank you in Spanish is spelled Gracias.. So even when she tries to spell in Spanish, she does it like a Texan.

Where there is Peace...

If you have children you know something very basic, the moment they start talking they don't really stop. Sure they take a breath or perhaps have something to drink, but those are small obstacles for a child that has something to share, even if it's absolutely nothing.

The older that kids get, the more nothing they have to say.

Grace, my six year old, is blessed with the ability to continually carry on about anything that pops into her head. I don't think she was born with that filter that most adults have and children begin to learn early on. This can lead to some very tense moments when we've had to teach the value of being polite. There are other times though when what comes out of her mouth is nothing but pure gold and we sit and cackle like mad scientists who have perfected the ultimate experiment.

One of those times happened about a month ago.

I was off of work and went to pick up Grace from school. Jacob (the terrorist) was in the car with us and we took the shortest route between two points. However, as any parent will tell you, any road trip is going to be filled with non-stop chatter, even if it makes no sense.

For the majority of the voyage she'd been talking about her friends, the things that they'd done today and some of the lessons that she'd been taught that day. Then the following exchnage happened:

Grace: Daddy?
Me: Yes?
Grace: Today we learned about PEACE! I love PEACE!
Me: Really?
Grace: Yea I think it's great!
Me: What is peace?
Grace: Peace is like, when Jacob's asleep and no one's talking and I can just say anything I want and no one will interrupt me and I can just talk on and on and everyone will listen and then I can be happy!

(Note: I realize that the above caption for Grace is a complete run on sentence but it is how she speaks.)

Me: That's very nice sweetie but that's not really peace.
Grace: It isn't?
Me: (chuckle) No honey. Peace is when no one is talking, there's no noise and you just enjoy the silence. You try not to break the silence so you can enjoy the peace.

I looked in the rearview mirror and watched her come to terms with what I had just explained.

Grace: I don't like peace anymore.


Sigh, someday she'll appreciate it.

Problem solved

So my buddy Ryan informed me that my blog layout was lacking readability.  So he fixed it.  All is well.  He's basically my Oracle.