movies worth waiting for

It amazes me how quickly people expect their entertainment to be produced these days. Three years used to seem a reasonable amount of time to produce a sequel for a blockbuster film, but The Lord of the Rings and the early Harry Potter films spoiled us with a mere year between installments. While these particular franchises didn’t seem to suffer too greatly for the rapid release schedules, and while Hollywood does generally seem to be doing better at producing decent entertainment in less time, I think it’s still safe to say that the best films generally take a little more time to create.

This is why I’m actually glad when the movies I’m most excited for are taking more than a couple of years to get made. Here are some upcoming 2012 and 2013 releases that I consider to be worth the extra wait:

• The Amazing Spider-man (3 July 2012). While being one of the most recognizable superheroes, Spider-man has been plagued by less-than-perfect treatment on both the big and small screen. The best was probably the Spectacular Spider-man animated series (full episodes on YouTube), where the only point of criticism I can raise is that it was canceled far too early and without good cause. I also enjoy a lot of elements of the Sam Raimi run. But I am very, very eager to see if this might finally be the project that solidly nails the Spider-man myth.
• The Dark Knight Rises (20 July 2012). The teaser trailer was underwhelming. People questioned whether Anne Hathaway could really pull off Catwoman. But Christopher Nolan has done an amazing job with the past two films and I’ve maintained all along that we just needed to let him do his thing one more time.
• Ender’s Game (15 March 2013). I attended an Orson Scott Card reading in 1998 where he shared the first couple of scenes from an Ender’s Game movie script he had been working on. He stated up front that the project would likely take years to develop, since he really wanted to make sure it would be done right. Still, 15 years was a bit longer than I had expected. I’ve never complained in all that long wait, but I will admit that when casting decisions started being announced a couple of months go, it did feel like getting the first glimpse of the promised land after years of wandering in the wilderness.
• Man of Steel (14 June 2013). There is a lot of reboot weariness these days, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the Superman franchise. After the flawed Superman Returns, a lot of people are rolling their eyes at the prospect of yet another iteration of the caped Kryptonian boy scout. As for me, I’m highly optimistic that, with the right approach, this iconic character can really come to life for a whole new generation.
• Untitled Star Trek sequel (2013). I remember the last Star Trek movie taking an agonizingly long time to come out, especially when the release date ended up being pushed back from Christmas 2008 to the following summer. The result: one of the best-made blockbuster films of all time. If it means getting a sequel of equivalent quality, I say let them take all the time they need on this one.

[what i've been playing] X-COM: UFO Defense

The year is 1998, and Earth is threatened by a wide-scale alien invasion. Funded by a coalition of nations and controlled by you, the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit (X-COM) is the only hope for humankind.

·    ·   ·

I’ve recently been revisiting my formative years playing X-COM: UFO Defense (a.k.a. UFO Enemy Unknown) online, through the Steam gaming platform. UFO Defense and its sequel, X-COM: Terror from the Deep, are still among some of my favorite computer/video games of all time. Despite not having the sleek graphics of the new millennium, I’ve been finding UFO Defense to be just as much fun as it was in the 90s.

walking around, looking around

You wanna know what men are really thinking? ‘Cause I could tell you. Would you like to know? All right, I’ll tell you. Nothing. We’re not thinking anything. We’re just walking around, looking around. This is the only natural inclination of men.

Jerry Seinfeld, I’m Telling You for the Last Time

Veronica Mars

They gave me a choice. I could stand by my dad, or stand by Duncan and my dead best friend’s family. I chose Dad. It’s a decision I live with every day. And you want to know the kicker? I don’t even know what’s true anymore.

Though the murder of her best friend Lilly has apparently been solved, Veronica Mars and her private eye father aren’t convinced that the right man is behind bars. This isn’t the only unsolved mystery in Neptune, California, of course; in a town like this, where the rich are corrupt and the poor resentful, where the gap between the two couldn’t be more extreme, there’s no shortage of sensational secrets to be uncovered or customers willing to drop a few bills for some skillful sleuthing. Whether doing legwork for Dad or taking cases of her own on the side, it all makes for quite the after-school job for Veronica … especially when you throw a bunch of PG-13 teenage drama into the mix.

Ramayana: Divine Loophole

Sita greeted the stranger and brought water and food for the old man to eat, as was the custom. Her graciousness was not returned in kind, for the moment she stepped out of the protective circle, the man transformed into the demon king. Sita froze at the sight of Ravana’s ten horrible heads. The demon snatched up the princess and sped away on his chariot.

As a reward for his great austerities over many eons, Ravana has been transformed by the creator into the most powerful being on earth. With his demon armies he now wages an unending war on earth and heaven. But Lord Vishnu has discovered the loophole in Brahma’s boon, and has become the mortal prince Rama, the only being capable of defeating the demon king.

musicals and missionaries

I’ve had the opportunity recently to talk with a couple of writer friends about my experiences as an LDS missionary in Kenya. You can read their resultant articles online: “Comparing Broadway’s ‘Mormon’ Hit to LDS Missionary Reality” on jweekly.com and “African Saints find hope in the gospel (and perform Book of Mormon productions of their own)” on ldsliving.com.

to my valentines

In the absence of any specific romantic interests at the moment, I hereby dedicate this fourteenth of February to the sassy southern California private eyes and vampire slayers, the cheerleading super-spies, the spearweilders of Kanbal, the reckless and fashionable shapeshifting warrior/martyrs, the alive-again girlfriends, the daydreaming bookworms, the exasperatingly outspoken scullery maids of red-gold hair and noble birth, and Alaska’s feminist bush pilots;