The Dark Knight.. who?

X-Men: First Class is fantastic.

There was not a single flaw in this movie.  The only gripes I've been able to come up with have been things only hardcore, die-hard X-Men fans like myself would complain about; but even then it's things extremely insignificant, like I wish they didn't favour random characters over having Cyclops and Jean (a sequel, I say) or I wish Moira and Banshee had their Scottish accents.  Like I said, I don't care at all about minor things like that: this movie is as close to comic book or superhero movie perfection as possible.  It is, at least, on par with The Dark Knight; I feel that TDK, while technically flawless, didn't have nearly as much fun with itself like XM:FC did.

Astounding to me is that First Class finds its believability in its roots in history.  It's tough to make a movie grounded when the protagonists can read minds, turn to diamonds, manipulate metal and shapeshift.  First Class finds its antagonists - a group of high-rolling mutants known as the Hellfire Club - actually instigating the Cuban Missile Crisis.  How awesome is that, seeing Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw in a Russian war room convincing the Soviets to move their nuclear missiles to Cuba?

It was a joy to me to see a devastated franchise get a new life.  It was troubling to me, an X-Men fan, to think that the only way I'll ever see my favourite characters onscreen again would be in Wolverine sequels.  (by the way, I HATE Wolverine: he's already monopolized the original trilogy and it's bad enough we'll keep getting shit movies starring him with characters who have no business being in them - take Gambit in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  What the fresh hell?) In a similar sense, it was awesome to see older characters like Mystique and Beast again, played by really talented young actors.  It didn't hurt that my favourite naked blue character was played by Jennifer Lawrence.

Move over, January Jones.  You may not have worn many clothes in First Class, but your acting was kinda mediocre.  Besides, Jennifer Lawrence is my age.  SOULMATES

First Class was absolutely riveting.  I couldn't look away during the entire final act.  Throughout the whole movie my friend Amy and I constantly looked at each other and whispered "badass!" after a really, well, badass display of superpower.  (pretty much anything Magneto did.  Or, hell, even Emma Frost turning her hand into diamond to cut off a piece of glacier - yeah, glacier - to get ice for a drink.  It was the 60s and all; I believe Shaw's line was "now be a doll and fix me a drink")

It's very strange, re-watching the original trilogy (which I have been, forcing my friend to watch them so that I have an excuse to go see First Class again), knowing how the characters started off.  It's hard to watch Xavier and Magneto become friends when you know they're destined for enemies; similarly it was particularly difficult to know that Mystique was an innocent young girl considering in X-Men and X2 she's sliding around naked kicking ass and licking her lips at men as a villain.

X-Men: First Class works as a finely crafted film.  It works - and then some - as a prequel to the original movies.  It completely blows other superhero movies out of the water with its innovation (set in the 60s and in history, to be specific) and visual wonder.  I cannot wait to see it again.

Let's play a love game

I'm 20 and single.  While I would never say I'm bothered by the fact that I don't have a girlfriend, I would say that from time to time I remind myself of my bachelor status and can't help but feel a little bit lonely.

This past year marked a new sort of romantic revolution for my closest friends.  Quick background: I have an extremely tight-knit group of friends, the same friends that I've had since kindergarten (it certainly helps that we all live in the same neighbourhood and are walking distance from each other, save for one); as it stands, I'd say that they're all my sisters.  Wait up, put the breaks on: yeah, they're girls.  I'm going off on a major tangent, but the fact was that in grade school I was part of a larger circle of friends - had a handful of "best" guy friends - but by the time we got to high school the guys were the ones who drifted and the girls were the ones who stayed constant, and now, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Anyways, of my group of friends, three of them got boyfriends this year (one has since broken up with her boyfriend - for good measure), and I was left alone as "the single one" along with another friend of mine.  I'm truly as happy as ever for my committed friends, but in a time where I was blatantly more single than ever, sometimes it stung.

Like I said, I'm not angry or upset with being single around people who aren't.  At this point in the summer, now, I don't even look at the two remaining couples as couples, given that we're all around each other all the time anyways so it's getting to be far more natural.  But as I said, I'm sometimes reminded by the fact that I don't have someone, and I can't help but feel a little discouraged in myself.

I would never say that I've ever been overly confident in myself.  In addition to that, I seem to be extremely particular in the girls I decide I like, and because of that the chance that that one girl will like me back is slim.  I've always said that I'll never be the type to hook up: when I do date someone, I truthfully wouldn't be surprised if that'll be it - I'm not looking for something casual, I'm looking for meaning.  I'm such a hopeless romantic it's absolutely disgusting.

One of the more upsetting things I've ever been told in my life was that I was looking for a girlfriend for all the wrong reasons; that I was so desperate for someone (a few months back when my friends' "boyfriend boom" was in high gear, yeah, I felt the loneliness or even jealousy the greatest) that I was looking for a girl just to label them as "mine."  That would never, ever be the case.  Even in the time where I was heavily influenced by being one of the sole single ones, I would never date someone for the sake of it; it would've been all the same aside from a minor sort of internal pressure I was dealing with to find someone.  That pressure's since been alleviated.

Now that it's the summer, I don't find myself overly concerned with being single.  Yeah, it would be very nice to have someone, but my activity this summer is so limited that happening upon someone outside of who I normally see is next to impossible. But then, you never know.

Re-reading this post, it's a bit of a clusterfuck.  I can't even draw my own conclusions.  The best I would say in a nutshell is: I'm single, people around me aren't, that doesn't bother me, but sometimes it does, and I always want someone, but sometimes not, and sometimes it's a more pressing want, but mostly I'm good.  In the meantime I'll just pine for Jennifer Lawrence.

The devil

This set of stairs in my house is the devil.

Satan's Staircase has caused multiple injuries throughout the years.  My aunt notably fell down the entire set; various extended family members have missed a few steps; and a few years ago my mom tripped on the sixth step from the bottom while going down, causing her to crash down and break her foot.  My sister and I have even taken minor spills.

Just three weeks ago I broke my knee on the devil (as some may be aware of).  Thankfully it's seeming to heal, but I have my good and bad days.  For the most part, I'm okay.

That is, until last night: when I fell at the EXACT SAME SPOT in the EXACT SAME WAY (my foot was flat on the cursed step and then slipped out from under me) with my bum leg - in some flash of desperation I turned mid-fall so my whole left side took the blow rather than landing on my broken knee.  I felt a little bit winded but I'll take anything if it means keeping my knee away from receiving the brunt of a fall.

I'm calling an exorcist.

Spoilerama

There is exactly one week left until X-Men: First Class comes to theaters.  In other terms, a very Matt-specific rapture is occurring on June 3rd, 2011: this movie is, pretty much, the second coming of Christ to me.  I'll be in my seat in the theaters and then suddenly I will literally float up to the screen.  Probably at the sight of this woman:

I am, really, one of the biggest X-Men fans on the face of the earth.  While I like most superheroes (except for Superman), there's just something about X-Men that has always set it apart for me from everything else.  Maybe it's the team dynamic or the diversity in the grandeur - there's not just one guy with superstrength; instead there's psychics and shapeshifters and masters of magnetism and a blonde woman who can read your thoughts and turn into diamonds oh god.  Naturally, following the absolute disappointments that were X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (I hate Wolverine and the movie did nothing aside from shit all over the franchise), I was desperate for anything.  Imagine my excitement at the announcement of a prequel / reboot, a la Batman Begins.  I've been waiting for this movie ever since I heard about it first being in development over a year ago.  I pretty much died every single time a casting announcement was given (James McAvoy!  Michael Fassbender!  Kevin Bacon is the villain, what?  January Jones!  ...oh my god January Jones is Emma Frost).  With every bit of new footage in the new trailers my heart started beating like crazy.

And then the commercials started showing up on television.  I immediately shushed my family and watched even though I seem to have only seen the same one over and over again.  With a week left until the movie comes out, the reviews have begun flooding in, and I'm overjoyed to hear that the reception is fantastic, and that it is, allegedly, on par with The Dark Knight (which I, too, consider to be the greatest comic book movie ever made).  With the reviews came spoilers.

I actually know nothing of the plot.  Okay, that's a lie: I know it's the origin of the friendship (and that relationship's subsequent demise) between Xavier and Magneto; I know they create the first group of X-Men; I know they somehow have a falling out.  Aside from that: I know nothing.  The creators have changed the "first class" completely - instead of it being Cyclops and Jean Grey among others, it's now Banshee and Havok and Beast and Mystique, an integral villain in the original trilogy.  They've put the action of the plot in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis.  There's the Hellfire Club as villains, too.  I don't know how it all comes together, and that's exciting to me.

I started reading spoiler after spoiler.  I know that one of the characters dies - I'm not heartbroken, I could tell by their relative unknown status and lack of appearance in the released footage.  I read about a massive cameo.. and then another.. and then a third.  I literally threw my computer when I started to read about how Xavier gets crippled (okay we all know it happens) as an act of desperate willpower.  It's so damn hard to avoid spoilers!  I've ruined movies in the past by reading absolutely everything about it thereby ruining the wonderment of finally seeing it in the theaters.

I have, therefore, taken a vow to avoid everything with any connection to X-Men: First Class until I am sitting in a theater Friday night (or Thursday at midnight, if my city provides the show).  I've limited myself to watch only one promo clip aside from the trailers - naturally, the scene with Emma Frost at the window as pictured.

My vow hasn't gone on without a hitch just yet.  I just saw a commercial which, I think, ruined the "money shot" of the movie.  If you've seen anything and can recognize it when I say "missiles" - well, it showed the missiles shot I'm familiar with from the trailer, and then some.  Damnit, FOX!

Just bring on June 3rd.  I'm literally dying.


UPDATE: In the words of Ke$ha, I blow-ooooh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oooooh.  NOOOO!  So naturally I completely disregarded my vow the moment I woke up and I am now reeling from the punishment of knowing 1. how Xavier gets crippled, 2. what happens to some of the villains, and 3. that one of the characters is mind-wiped in the end.  I repeat: NOOOOOOOOOOO!  I get what I deserve.  I have, therefore, deleted every X-Men related website from my browser.  Maybe in knowing I'll have to type the entire address out will be a deterrent.

Dance with your hands above your head like Jesus said

(quick note: hello to everyone / the little monsters who have googled the lyrics to Lady Gaga's Bloody Mary [there's been a huge influx of the lyric as a search term directing here].  No such luck here, just a title.  Great song though!  My fav, actually)


What is this rapture business?  Apparently the world is coming to an end at 6:00pm today.  Wait: in what time-zone?

I thought I'd be a lot more terrified about an impending apocalypse.  The idea of natural disasters frightens me to no end and after the movie 2012 I've only come to expect that the end of the world will be due to hurricanes, explosions, and John Cusack's poor acting.   To be honest the idea of 2012 makes me uncomfortable, though not entirely because I believe it (much like I don't believe the shit I'm hearing about my demise coming in just eight hours.. that is, if the rapture is happening in Eastern Standard Time) - instead I'm afraid of the massive amount of hysteria on the day before (I guess that makes is December 20th, 2012), what with believers going psychotic amongst other scary acts of panic.  I don't feel any of that fear about today: all I can think to myself is bogus, bogus, bogus.

Ah well.   If it is, it is.   Luckily I'll be dying having heard Born This Way.  Too bad I'll be missing X-Men: First Class and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II..

I'll be spending my day listening to Judas on repeat until I burst into flames.