And in case he decides to delete it…

The following is a response to this post by my brother – duplicated here in case he thinks he can censor me, and to get my own readers’ feedback on the subject:

How about I want you to sleep at night instead of staying up chatting all night? The 18 thing is that theoretically since you’ll be an adult you can be trusted to make your own good choices, though I doubt a birthday is going to change anything for you.

You have to fucking sleep at night and you have to pass your fucking classes and you have to do all that damned correspondence work, right? You can be sitting around chatting with your friends (and enemies) online all night, every night until who-knows-when in the morning.

Porn? I don’t care. Obviously. I’m practically a porn addict. That isn’t the point.

And wanting to use your computer IS a factor, and I’ll admit that, but it isn’t the primary one.

As with anyone I care about, I want the best for you. I want you to succeed. I want to do whatever I can to help you to succeed, and while I can, I want to do whatever I can to force you to succeed. Do you homework! Get enough sleep that you can pay attention in your early classes! And so that you can feel better and not be so angty and/or depressed all the time!

And then there’s the whole issue of “privacy” which I don’t believe in, and I don’t support people wanting to have.

If you want to do something and you feel like it should be kept a secret or done in the “privacy” of your room, youprobably shouldn’t be doing it. Anything you do that you feel ashamed of in any way, anything you do that you don’t want other people to know about, almost anything you do or want to do that you don’t want to do right out in the open – you shouldn’t be doing.

Without religion, without laws, without a moral code, you inherently know right from wrong – just like every other being in the universe. Without anyone having to teach you, you know what things you should be doing and what things you want to do in secret – the ones you want to be doing in secret you shouldn’t be doing at all.

This applies to everyone. Everywhere. Not just you. So the question shouldn’t be why I want your computer out in the open, but why YOU want your computer in private. What do you think you’re doing in there that you can’t do out here?

Oh, and I think we determined to just move Angela’s computer to the next room and put yours here on the desk. No need to switch it – that would mean Angela would never get to use her computer, since you go to school at the same times she works (and are off at the same times, of course).

As far as deleting your blog/login, you’re silly. I have never censored anyone on Modern Evil. The only times I’ve ever removed accounts were because either people asked me to, or after providing over a month’s notice that inactive accounts would be removed, I removed inactive accounts and blogs. And your blog qualified as “inactive” according to even the loosest interpretation of my guidelines (5 posts in July) but I didn’t delete it after speaking to you about it.

In fact, the only time I can remember being upset with what someone was doing on Modern Evil was when one of my users was censoring people’s comments. I don’t like censoring on my site.

So if you still don’t understand why you can’t have your computer in your room, let me know. Because you need to give a valid explanation as to why you SHOULD have your computer in your room.

Site shuffling

Quick post before passing out.

Put the relevant entries from “Time Forgets…” (the blog that transcribed my 1995 journal entries from my ENG102 class) and from the deleted “Ramblings” section into the appropriate places in FYTH. Looks like around 50 new posts, back in time.

If I can find more dated journal pages or files or the like, especially dated between 1995 and 2000, I will see about getting them online as well. Don’t know what kind of luck I’ll have. A lot of what I wrote in that period was letters and otherwise sent-to-someone-else pages that no longer exist (or are simply as inaccessable to me as the people I originally sent them to). SO. We’ll see.

I’ll get links to the archives of the sections I pulled from the site on here soon. I’ll also work on getting all the Modern Evil sections updated to stop reflecting bad/broken links to the removed sections. Quickly, the sections no longer part of the site are as follows:

Angel From Heaven
Pit of Geek
Ramblings
Non-Fiction
Photoshop PingPong
Dumb Shit
Heaven
low bullshit tolerance
the City
Time Forgets
Book of Days
Anyone But You
Self Defeatist

Oh, and to mention it publicly, I’m hoping to get the ‘Mouse’ Project page updated ASAP. The project is over a year old now. It will likely be another year before it gets done.

Anything else?

Maybe something personal like mentioning that I met four new people tonight and I think we’ll be fast friends? Good times, and good times ahead. Maybe I’ll say more later. One of them may begin a blog on Modern Evil soon. We shall certainly see.

And now, to go pass out.

The Village – totally NON-SPOILER review – safe and recommended to read by anyone

So, regardless of what you may already have heard or read about The Village, I want to say a little something about it myself.

The most important thing I have to say about it is to make it clear that the dominant story thread in this movie, the defining element of the entire piece is the central romantic/love story. It is not (strictly speaking) a “thriller”, though it does have some quite shocking moments here and there. I’ve seen it twice so far, and for me most of the shocks were only intense because of the emotional hooks built up by the dramatic core of the movie – not because the wicked witch jumped out from behind whatever, but because I was genuinely engaged in the trials the characters were facing.

Trying to pick apart this movie, trying to figure out its twists and turns before they are revealed is like trying to use forensics to determine why a flower is beautiful. Also, importantly, figuring out through forensics that the flower is, in the end, a flower, does not tell you anything of its beauty.

I recommend that you go into this movie expecting only a finely crafted dramatic piece with amazing settings, skilled actors, beautiful cinematography, careful writing and powerful direction.

If you go in looking for a shocking twist that must be figured out, for a thriller with aliens or ghosts around every corner and central players’ roles dramatically changed by the man behind the curtain in the final scenes, you are very likely to be disappointed. Assuming you go to the movies to enjoy them, AND that you do not enjoy being disappointed, this is not a good route to take.

For those of you who have not already heard, the real star of The Village is a relative unknown, Bryce Dallas Howard. She lights up this film in a way few expected, and adds depth and character to the slowest, quietest, least visually interesting scenes with the subtleties of her performance. Some actors in this piece could have been replaced without harming the overall picture, but were Bryce removed from the cast, The Village would have fallen flat. I can recommend this film on her performance and presence alone.

The rest of the cast is very powerful and does an amazing job. William Hurt’s performance is limited in a careful way by the director, but it only works to force him to find his character through the limitation. I didn’t notice it the first time through, but then read so many people point it out that I watched for it the second time – you never see a closeup on his face, and only rarely see his face beyond profile, then only at a distance. Considering he plays the “leader” of the entire village – inasmuch as they have a single leader – this is an interesting and complex choice.

There are too many excellent players in this piece to list them all and all their shining points – watch it for yourself and enjoy.

The music, particularly the violin pieces that are the cornerstone of the aural-emotionscape of the film, give real power to a lot of scenes. You will feel it.

I will do a discussion soon in my blog about the deeper meanings and potential deeper meanings in The Village soon. Right now I just suggest you go watch it with an open mind.

The Village – a conversation – with EXTREME SPOILERS – do not read this unless you have seen the movie!

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:14:35 PM)
I’m working on a better non-spoiler review for The Village (where I reveal that it is, in fact, a dramatic romance, NOT a Thriller, as advertised!) and … well, a comic for today.

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:14:43 PM)
hehehe

iain says: (9:15:42 PM)
I agree, I am about to post my own sort of review of the Village, where I reveal that people will probably not ever have the same experience as they had with Sixth Sense while attending a M. Night movie, and how that’s okay

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:16:01 PM)
Good, good.

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:17:19 PM)
Interestingly for me, considering that Unbreakable barely had a twist and as far as I can tell Signs didn’t have a twist at all, expecting that sort of thing seems silly to me.

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:17:58 PM)
Have you see the Village, then?

iain says: (9:18:17 PM)
yes yes

iain says: (9:18:23 PM)
I thoroughly enjoyed it

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:19:18 PM)
Also, I have spoken to more than one person who, apparently missing the gravestone, thought we were looking at a modern, secluded, Amish-type community, it never occurring to them that it was supposed to be set in the past, and thus, thinking the only “twist” was that the elders were the creatures.

iain says: (9:20:06 PM)
I think the twist in Signs was that there actually were aliens, and that it wasn’t anything else, it was… just aliens

iain says: (9:20:12 PM)
pesky aliens

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:20:44 PM)
I liked it a lot. I think I liked it more the second time than the first, because I knew what to expect, more. Less twist, less thriller, more romance and drama and excellent acting. Really, less expectation, but more accurate expectation.

iain says: (9:21:35 PM)
I was actually spooked by the movie a lot. And thought it was a good thriller. But, having someone clawing my arm off half the movie may have had some influence on that

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:21:42 PM)
Huh. I uhh… I thought it was assumed that it was an alien movie, with … aliens. And then I watched it and … there were these alien things going on, and at the end, an alien, and … well, a good enough movie, but … nothing surprising there.

iain says: (9:22:13 PM)
I watched it thinking it was really about the Rapture for some strange reason….

iain says: (9:22:19 PM)
so when it wasn’t that was a twist lol

iain says: (9:22:42 PM)
and now I watch it and I am really interested in the different characters coming to grips with their beliefs

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:23:11 PM)
The spookiest thing for me were the creatures themselves. When I first saw them and thought “oh no, they’re real! I have no idea how that’s going to work out, they’re clearly monsters!” and then when it was revealed they weren’t real, but there was one threatening her again! Damn!

iain says: (9:23:18 PM)
and ultimately, I thoroughly enjoy his movies, over and over again

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:23:31 PM)
YES. Signs is an excellent movie about faith.

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:24:13 PM)
That scene where Merril… errr.. Lucius ducks around the corner and you first get a good look at the creatures, MAN. Got me both times.

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:24:43 PM)
Like “Oh my gosh! There are really real monsters!” Even when I knew there weren’t.

iain says: (9:25:48 PM)
yes

iain says: (9:26:35 PM)
when they had shown the suit, and she was out in the woods, and then she was all freaked because her cloak was muddy and we were reminded that there were rumors of the creatures in the woods, I was all “OMG there might really be creatures still!”

iain says: (9:26:41 PM)
he got me

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:26:56 PM)
Yes. Exactly. I was almost in tears the first time, emoting with her.

iain says: (9:27:01 PM)
then I saw how the creature was moving, and instantly recognized it was Noah

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:27:28 PM)
Oh, I didn’t. But … what clues?

iain says: (9:28:03 PM)
the way he moved was just like how the creature moved, all sort of.. off

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:28:08 PM)
I was confident or … mostly confident that she knew it was him … but assumed so on her superior senses.

iain says: (9:28:32 PM)
we should post this conversation as a Spoiler Review

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:28:37 PM)
Excellent.

iain says: (9:28:42 PM)
shall I?

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:28:51 PM)
Let us finish it, maybe?

iain says: (9:28:55 PM)
okay

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:29:14 PM)
I’ll post it later, with my no-spoilers whatsoever review. Then I’ll have three levels of spoilers.

iain says: (9:29:16 PM)
she was, as the reviews all said, fantastic, Ivy that is. Stole the show

iain says: (9:29:21 PM)
heh

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:29:28 PM)
Yes. Bryce Howard is amazing.

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:30:23 PM)
I am tempted to just keep watching it. If not for the whole money issue, I probably would see it several more times in theatres. As it is, I shall simply have to patiently wait for the DVD.

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:31:01 PM)
(Oh, and probably try to dl it – so I can see it between now and the DVD release, like I did with the matrix Reloaded.)

iain says: (9:31:59 PM)
heh

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:32:03 PM)
And mostly for her performance. She is mesmerizing and excessively … believable? I mean, she draws me into the picture in a way Joaquin failed to.

iain says: (9:32:13 PM)
yeah

iain says: (9:32:17 PM)
not that he was bad

iain says: (9:32:29 PM)
but I can imagine others maybe doing as good a job in the role

iain says: (9:32:32 PM)
and I cannot with hers

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:32:38 PM)
no, no. Just that … his character was not the sort that would draw anyone toward them in so short a time, I think.

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:32:50 PM)
yes, that is a reasonable and agreeable statement.

iain says: (9:33:17 PM)
oh, and I recognized M. Night’s voice immediately

iain says: (9:33:28 PM)
that was fun

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:33:44 PM)
Absolutely. My sister didn’t recognize him at all, even when they “showed” his face in his trademark reflection shot.

iain says: (9:33:49 PM)
lol

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:34:24 PM)
I’m quite interested to know what the originally shot ending was like. Hurt is quoted as preferring the original cut better.

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:34:42 PM)
I suspect, from watching the film, that it is something subtle.

iain says: (9:36:40 PM)
and there was supposedly more explored with Sigourney Weaver’s character that the let in]

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:36:54 PM)
But it could be something as major as (my favorite of speculations I’ve read) this: When Ivy kills the creature, Noah’s face is not shown, there is no scene of his escaping/having a suit, and the last scene is a little different (with the elders), plus a shot of Noah in the quiet room (perhaps having injured himself somehow – that being an idea I’ve just had now). Implying that the creatures are real.

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:37:07 PM)
that definitely seemed cut down.

iain says: (9:38:09 PM)
or it was really all about the Rapture

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:38:17 PM)
perhaps even with one of the elders missing from the final scene.

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:38:44 PM)
implying that one of the elders tried to kill her, Noah’s father, perhaps, to prevent her from contacting the outside world.

iain says: (9:39:58 PM)
oh, and Judy Greer, whee!

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:40:09 PM)
Of course! But when isn’t Deadly girl excellent?

iain says: (9:40:18 PM)
I didn’t know she was in it until I showed up at the theater and saw her name in the opening credits

iain says: (9:40:23 PM)
right, well

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:40:34 PM)
I saw her face in a trailer, and was excited.

iain says: (9:40:56 PM)
I saw her a million times in the trailer and didn’t notice it was her

iain says: (9:53:46 PM)
oh, and the doctor’s ethnicity seemed odd to me for the setting and supposed time period when I was shown him, and some of the things they had seemed a bit much. Like their greenhouse

iain says: (9:53:58 PM)
but I still didn’t guess the secret “twist” outright

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:54:06 PM)
ethnicity?

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:54:23 PM)
What ethnicity should a doctor have been?

iain says: (9:54:38 PM)
he didn’t look European, I mean.

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:54:52 PM)
You know Leeuwenhoek had greenhouses in the 1700s, right?

iain says: (9:54:56 PM)
everyone else seemed like the sort that would have settled that area

iain says: (9:55:05 PM)
no, I did not

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:55:16 PM)
I think that’s right.

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:55:51 PM)
Actually, here: “The earliest recorded greenhouse was built about 30 AD for the Roman emperor Tiberius.”

iain says: (9:56:02 PM)
huh.

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:56:11 PM)
So the tech existed.

iain says: (9:56:16 PM)
kk

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:58:36 PM)
Actually, upon further research, all-glass greenhouses like the one seen there were not popular until the early 1800s.

iain says: (9:58:57 PM)
okay

teel@modernevil.com says: (9:59:10 PM)
sorry. Google is too useful sometimes and too useless others.

iain says: (9:59:15 PM)
lol

iain says: (10:03:41 PM)
well, I suppose I should sleep now. sigh. stupid @#$%^ sleep

teel@modernevil.com says: (10:03:53 PM)
okie-dokie. I’ll get this up soon-ish.

iain says: (10:03:58 PM)
k, seeya

teel@modernevil.com says: (10:04:02 PM)
night