The Winds of Winter update

So George RR Martin said to an interview that there is a huge twist that will happen on the Winds of Winter that is not possible to happen in the show because a character is already dead in the show that is still alive in the books.
Possible characters George is hinting to:
1. Myrcella:
According to Maggy the Frog's propechy, "Gold shall be their shrouds, and gold shall be their crowns." In the show, Cersei's two sons did become kings, but not Myrcella. In the books, there is this Dornish plan to wage war against Tommen's rule under the banner of Myrcella. So it's possible for Myrcella to sit on the Iron Throne and be queen for a while.
2. Stannis (the Mannis)
Stannis, although already dead in the show, is still alive in the books. ADWD ended with him readying for war against the Boltons.
3. Osha and Rickon
Osha and Rickon currently settles in Skagos. Ser Davos was supposed to go to him after House Manderly's plea to get Rickon out of there to unseat the Boltons from Winterfell. Maybe Stannis will use Rickon to get the entire North to back him to tip the result of the battle for his winning.
4. Jeyne Westerling
This is a huge deviation from the books: Jeyne, the wife of Robb, didn't go to the Red Wedding and she still have with her Robb's child. Maybe the Lannisters will use her and her child to get Winterfell.
5. Mance Rayder
Mance's survival is a big twist that the showrunners didn't bother to put on the show. He was pretty much still alive in the books for it is not really him that was burned on Castle Black. It was but one of the wildlings that wears Melisandre's necklaces. He is currently in Winterfell in a guise of a musician to rescue "Arya."
6. Ser Barristan Selmy
He's supposed to be one of the POVs for the next book. Maybe he will reveal something about the Targaryen's past.
7. The Bolton Family
One of Old Nan's story is the story of a half-human half-white-walker that lives in the north. There's this huge theory that Roose Bolton is the man in Old Nan's story judging on his appearance: has blue eyes and always looks coldly. Maybe the reason why the Boltons have this culture of skinning people is that they wear them to hide their true form. It fits with another theory on the reason why they really want to have Winterfell: under the crypts is a huge thing (maybe the real Night's King) that will start the winter on Westeros.

'The Lost Hero' Review

This book is trying too hard to say that it is about Roman Mythology, that it is different from the previous series, yet the main gods and goddesses involved are just the same. The chapters are oddly separated; they're most of the time too short. The love story is very conspicuous, and I hate that Riordan didn't even bother to present it in a subtle way.
Everything is too 'in-your-face' like the author thinks his readers are too dumb to understand what he's saying. I think the problem is this: This book is for young adults but the author thinks he's still writing for children. His form of writing didn't change a bit and the choice of words and phrases are too childish, even though he's already targeting a new demographic.

Jon Snow and Ice Dragons

It is the popular belief that "A Song of Ice and Fire" pertains to Jon Snow, because he is a product of a Stark (Ice) and a Targaryen (Fire). But how can we be sure that the title implies that Jon Snow is Azor Ahai or the main protagonist of the story? When you think of it, it could be that the title pertains on how Jon Snow will be the biggest villain in the end of the story; kind of how "Lord of the Rings" pertains to Sauron.

Ice dragons are pretty much hyped in the books and the TV series, because the army of the dead will not stand a chance against Dany's fire dragons. Who is the best candidate to control an ice dragon than Jon, who has dragon's blood and a certain affinity to the cold?

Why The Hobbit felt inferior from The Lord of the Rings

Although there are lots of stuff from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy that Peter Jackson managed to incorporate in his latest Hobbit Trilogy, there are still some that were failed to be included to improve the films. The Hobbit Trilogy successfully mirrored (and most of the time improved) the technicalities of LOTR. The fight scenes are impressive and the visual effects are a lot better. What Jackson failed to integrate in the prequel series is the emotional connection of every character to the audience.

There's a reason why we didn't feel any impact when Thorin or Kili died. It is because we haven't invested our feelings for them. We saw them fighting and altogether venturing their journey of a lifetime, yet we didn't see them interact as much as Sam and Frodo in LOTR. That's why the end result felt cheap and powerless. The little things like Gimli and Legolas's funny moments, Merry and Pippin's filling around, and Sam's monologues about bravery and friendship, let us cultivate the feelings that they implanted in our hearts. Things like these made the movies unforgettable. Neglecting them made the Hobbit series as generic as all of the fantasy films that stemmed out of the The Lord of the Ring's legacy.

Probability and Sherlock Holmes

I was always concerned on how Sir Arthur Conan Doyle uses probability to justify Sherlock Holmes's evidence in indicting a certain suspect. He always assumes that the more the events there are to imply, the higher the probability for the whole scenario to happen. The truth is actually the opposite. The more uncertain events you're presenting to prove a point, the lower the probability that we get the right conclusion.

For example, if you saw a man with a dirt on his shoe. You could imply from this that the man didn't cleaned his shoe last night. You can imply from this that the man is probably tired last night and doesn't have the time to clean it up. You can imply from this again that he probably have gone to party last night, that's why he didn't get time to clean his shoes. It can go on and on until you land to a conclusion that the man has a dog in his house.

The problem arises when you put implication over another implications. Because you are never sure in every implication, the probability of the whole scenario that the man has a dog will be diminished. To address this problem you need to put another evidence to improve every level of implication. For example you know that it didn't rain morning of that day, then the event of him cleaning his shoe last night will be more probable to happen. Doyle uses this most the time. He puts more evidences in every level of Sherlock's implication. Still, we are uncertain in every conjecture that we devise, no matter what happen, the conclusion that we get that the man has a dog in his house will be more uncertain to happen. It is not the other way around that if we deal with more implications, the higher the certainty for the conclusion to be true, even if you could see that the whole story fits.

The Lord of the Rings re-release

Since The Hobbit film series already ended, are there any plans in re-releasing The Lord of the Rings film series? Kind of what they did with Titanic wherein they re-edit it to be released in 3D. I still remember watching The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in 3D and although the film is not as good as any of the LOTR films, the experience I had watching it is still great, mainly because of how good the 3D-ness was done. Imagine watching the original trilogy in breathtakingly good quality.  It could also gave them opportunity to repolish those effects they did on the original series that are not that good since the technology nowadays is better. I kind of hoping they will thought of releasing it on 2021, the 20 years after they released The Fellowship of the Ring.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child review

Albus Severus is having a hard time being overshadowed by his overly famous father, Harry Potter. In order to create his own name in the wizarding world, he and his friend, Scorpius Malfoy, will embark upon a task to change the past and save a life. Meanwhile, secrets from the past are being unravelled and new dark forces are coming about. The new generation of the wizarding world is again in deep trouble.

The first part of The Cursed Child was really nostalgic. It brings us again to the epilogue of The Deathly Hollows where Albus is first time to ride the Hogwarts Express and is discussing to his father the possibilities of him being sorted to Slytherin. Hogwarts had changed, yet certain customs like sorting students in their respective houses using The Sorting Hat is still present. The entire premise is intelligent and imaginative. Using the time turner to save a life of a deceased character is a great fun to read. It tickles the mind of the readers on some possibilities on what might have happened if Dumbledore's army lost the Battle of Hogwarts. It also lets us meet some of the characters that had passed away in the battle. The new generation of characters are colorful and they didn't drag the whole story down. Scorpius and Albus forms a great tandem that is reminiscent of the book series' trio: Harry, Ron and Hermione.

There some instances that they included plots in the book that is not on par with their universe. Things like the escape from the Hogwarts Express (seriously, that thing is dumb), the quickly made polyjuice potion just to fit the story, and somehow out of the blue conversation about fears of pigeons. I imagine lots of the diehard Harry Potter fans cringing on those scenes. Also, other key characters are not present in the story. Neville Longbottom (my favorite character in the book series) didn't join the old gang. Neville is actually a faculty member of Hogwarts now and most of the plot is in the school, that is why it is hard to understand why they didn't give him any parts of the story.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a  satisfying yet flawed continuation of the beloved franchise. It brings back all the memories we have from the original book series and gives us one last taste of the magic it brought to us, although it doesn't offer more than nostalgia.

Watchmen and Ethics

Almost three decades since it's written, Watchmen, by Alan Moore, still manifests itself as one of the best works of fiction ever written. It established graphic novels as a tool to deliver groundbreaking plot and to convey message that still echoes in the modern times. One particular topic that is still debated by the public is its ending. The ambiguity of Watchmen's final moments left a tinge to the minds of its readers, because it presents the conflict between two opposing bodies of ethics: Deontology/Kantian ethics and Utilitarianism. 

In deontology, a person believes that there are certain things that are morally right or wrong based on their nature. In Utilitarianism, a deed being right or wrong depends on the benefit it produces. Since most human beings are not absolute when it comes to detecting right deeds from wrong, no matter how many times we think about who's the person who did the right thing in the end of the novel, our mind is conflicted between Rorschach and Ozymandias. The two characters fully embodies the two ethical concepts, including their strengths and weaknesses. 

Rorschach, also known as Walter Kovacs, being the righteous guy of all the Watchmen, sees the horrid thing inflicted by Ozymandias an unjustifiable act even though it is clearly for the better. He didn't compromise because he has his principles; he will never compromise unjustifiable acts even in the face of armagedon. In deontology, it's someone's conscience that imposes what's right and what's wrong, and killing lots of people by implanting horrid images that tend to make them kill themselves is a huge ripple in one's conscience.The problem with him and deontologists is they don't think about the consequences of their act. They have certain rules that if broken, the act a person did is already a wrong thing. They will continue to do the thing that they think is morally correct even though the results will impose a greater threat. At the end of the book, if Rorschach successfully exposed Ozymandias, he will then make the deaths of millions of people all for nothing, amd yet in a way will avenge their fate.

Ozymandias or Adrian Veidt on the other hand, uses logic to know what to do next; measuring what act will impose more happiness to people. In utilitarianism, one good basis on measuring the benefit of a deed, which in the book Ozymandias uses, is the number of people that will benefit from it. Surely, it is better to have a million deaths than seeing the perish of billions of people. Also, the end of the book tells us that his plan really did work in unifying the world. It's the logical thinking that works when you are utilitarian, and most of the time you should not listen in your conscience. There are certain problems in a utilitarian thinking. One problem is the unpredictability of future. There are certain instances that we thought our deeds would improve a situation, but it does not. What if Ozymandias's plan didn't work out to be as he anticipated? One million people just died for a lost cause. Another problem is the limit on measuring the benefit of the deed. When will we stop measuring the happiness that an act would give? This weakness of utilitarianism is highlighted by Dr. Manhattan. He had a conversation with Ozymandias before he disappeared from their world. Adrian asked whether he did the right thing in the end, but Manhattan just replied that nothing ever ends. 

A lot of other works also utilizes these two concepts in order to make a big impression to the audience or reader. Another work by Moore, The Killing Joke, has an ambiguous ending that tests Batman's morality and also the readers'. The last page presents a possibility that Batman killed the Joker once and for all. Killing the Joker would violate his principles, yet letting him live may impose greater danger to the public. On the game The Last of Us, in order to create a vaccine for the pandemic tha killed almost all human beings, the Fireflies need to extract the substance inside Ellie's brain that would evidently kill her. Joel is unwilling to sacrifice Ellie, that's why he rescued her from the camp and killed the members of the Fireflies. These kinds of endings works because most of the people are not absolute when it comes to their ethical beliefs. We always use both our conscience and logical thinking that causes imternal debacle in our brain. At the same time, it also tests a person's response whenever s/he encounter dilemmas.

Game of Thrones in the Modern Times

There is probably no TV series more popular today than Game of Thrones. The medieval fantasy, based on George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire book series, has been a phenomenal success, critically and commercially. The show boasts its unique storytelling, unpredictability of the plot, and bold killings of main and supporting characters.

Game of Thrones is set on the kingdom of Westeros, governed by one ruler that sits on the infamous Iron Throne. Several families want the throne for the taking and the kingdom is separated in conflicting ideologies. While everyone is vying for the highest position, an imminent danger from the north of their lands is brewing that can bring Westeros at its knees and decimate their population.

Though the story is populated with knights, dragons, zombies, and unexplained magic, the reality that they are living is nowhere different from ours. The complicated characterization of the story encapsulates our humanity. This is not the classic case of good versus evil. We are shown with characters that make extreme decisions and experiences the consequences of their activities. Game of Thrones mirrors the different problems we encounter in the modern times and how we struggle to solve each one of them.

Religion

Westeros has multitude of belief systems. Most of their people believe in many gods. The North believes in the “Old gods” that resembles Animism. The South praises the “Faith of the Seven” that resembles Roman and Greek gods. By season 2, a growing monotheistic religion threatens the old beliefs in Westeros. This is the religion of R’hllor or the “Lord of Light.” The religion is like Christianity wherein there is a prophesized savior or a messiah to save all men of Westeros from the danger that lurks beyond the north. This shift from polytheism to monotheism depicts the sudden spread of single god beliefs in the history of the world. All of these religions are important in the fantasy series as they affect the political structure of the kingdom. Wars are also sometimes caused by the conflicting beliefs. Their power is as strong as their government since there are no clear separation between the state and church.

Sexism

The series depicts a clear picture of the ongoing patriarchy of the society. Their world is trying to impose that women are destined of either becoming a whore in a brothel or being a wife of their husband and a mother of their children. A lot of women try to break from these stereotypes. A good example is the mother of dragons, Daenerys Targaryen. Her possession of three fire breathing lizards makes her the most powerful character in the story. Arya Stark is a princess who wants to wield a sword than to wield a needle for clothe knitting. Arya is the ultimate opposite of a highborn lady. She is wild and reckless, and the story seems to head her on becoming an assassin. Brienne is a soldier often underestimated by her male enemies. But she always wins against them, because of her determination to do her duty. Women of the world of ice and fire play equal roles with men on Game of Thrones even though they are given lower status and privileges on their society.

Global Warming

Westeros is a place fueled by ongoing wars and violence. Fire and blood is the foundation of their state, and their first leaders are conquerors that used dragons and swords to unify the seven kingdoms to one Westeros. Although the main premise of Game of Thrones, from the title itself, is the fight to get the Iron Throne, we want for all the Westerosian people to unify for a single cause. The Stark’s famous words, “Winter is coming,” hints the impending danger that awaits the people of Westeros. While everyone is busy on their conquest to become the ruler, The Wall which is the only thing that separates the realm from the danger, is manned by the rotting Night’s Watch. This mirrors the modern world. Every country is fighting for economic supremacy. No one bats an eye on the environmental consequences of capitalism. Everyone in Westeros doesn’t give it any attention until the danger comes rampaging down The South. In our world, the meltdown of ice glaciers on the North and South Pole doesn’t stop companies from massive expulsion of air pollutants to the atmosphere that causes global warming. These glaciers keep the Earth cool and their decline means an imminent demise of humanity.

Economic Inequality

The clash of the few rich families trembles almost all the common people. “They are just spikes in a wheel,” Daenerys said. “This one’s on top, and that one’s on top, and on and on it spins, crushing those on the ground.” While the families play their little games, the common folk is struck with immense poverty. There is an organization who is trying to even out the rich and the poor called the Sparrows. Their leader, the High Sparrow, was given the role as the High Septon of the church and is determined to bring down the few families who are causing the ripples on common people’s lives.

Filipino Politics

Although we live in a democratic country and political dynasty is stated in our constitution as illegal, public position is still, more or less, passed by blood. Families get massive chunk of positions of the local and national government. The whole political aspect of Game of Thrones is basically Filipino politics come alive. Only highborn and rich people can sit on government positions. There are corrupt officials who uses their power to get money from the funds of the government. The throne is in huge debt on the Iron Bank because of the flamboyant lifestyle of the families. The war of kings and queens competing for the throne resembles the upcoming election. Mudslinging plays a major role in the whole game and most of the time there are violence. Personal interest drives the rich people to compete for the position. They want the throne not because they want to lead, but because they want to glorify themselves and be written on history books. In the end, after a leader rises from the war, nothing really changes for the poorest of the poor. They are still below the pyramid, crawling their way to survival.

Truly, Game of Thrones is a moving portrait of our society. Westeros is a living hell, and probably the only fantasy world no one wants to settle in. The semblance of our world with theirs is a hint that we have serious problems in our society that need addressing. The first step is to unify and solve them altogether, one by one.

The Killing Joke ending

I rewatched Battle of the Bastards and a thought came to my mind. It concerns the ending of Alan Moore's The Killing Joke. 

At the final moments of the book, we are shown Batman and Joker sharing laughter after the Joker tells a joke about two patients escaping an asylum. And then the laughter of the two abruptly ended. A lot of people suggest that maybe Batman already snapped and ultimately killed his foe by chocking him or breaking his neck.

But it doesn't make any sense if he really killed the Joker. Although there's no questioning that what he did would be for the greater good and Batman had already enough cause to kill him, it still doesn't make any sense. It mirrors Jon Snow's cause in killing Ramsay Bolton. When he saw Sansa, Jon knows that she has the right in deciding Ramsay's fate because she is the one raped repeatedly by him. Gordon has the right in judging the Joker's fate. It's his daughter that was paralyzed and (possibly) raped. It's him that was also sexually assaulted by the Joker and shown pictures of his naked daughter. Yet he still insists in not killing the Joker because like Batman, Gordon has principles and he chooses to uphold them. Before Bats confronted the Joker, Gordon says to Batman that he has to show the Joker that their way works.

That's why Batman killing the Joker doesn't fit his persona and the situation presented by the book. In doing so, he will fail, not only his principles, but also his friendship with Gordon. He should respect Gordon's decision in letting the Joker live, because Gordon has every right in choosing what he will do to the Joker, no matter how bitter that sounds to Batman.

Hawkeye by Matt Fraction

don't like Hawkeye in the Avengers films. No powers and has to rely on his paleolithic weapon, truly he is my least favorite avenger. But this book just turned the reason why we don't like this Avenger to someone we can relate to. Truly he resembles most of us: no super special abilities and not as rich as Bruce Wayne. Matt Fraction turned that bad aspect of the character as the thing that makes Hawkeye special among other supers.

It is ironic that even though the background has a feel of bleakness and melancholy, it has tons of hilarious moments. This is one of the funniest books I've read. Definitely one of my favorites.

A Study in Scarlet Review

Holy sh*t that was amazing.

This is the very first Sherlock Holmes book I've read. And man, I'm hungry for more after finishing this one. The first encounter of Watson and Holmes is fun to read. The affinity between them is well established from the first ten pages of the book. The first half of the book is narrated from the journal accounts of Watson and not Holmes himself. The other half is a fly on a wall point of view of the revenge tale of the prime suspect of the case. Both are well written and are easy to read.

The problem that I always encounter when I'm reading flashbacks is the information overload. You can't follow the story because the author is trying to give lots of plot points in a limited number of pages. This is not the case in A Study in Scarlet. The part where there is a flashback to explain the motives of the suspect is not difficult to read. Even the part where Holmes is already explaining the reason why he had gotten the right conclusion is not a pain in the mind of the readers.

A Study in Scarlet is full of absurd instances and characters but Doyle made everything in it realistic for the enjoyment of everybody.

We Stand on Guard Review

Vaughan is a genius in creating new concepts for a science fiction piece. Sometimes they're too great that they need a lot of issues to give the story more depth for the readers. That's the case with We Stand on Guard. A war involving United States and Canada needs more than 6 issues for the reader to grasp the conflict. This is also the problem with The Private Eye, which is another book by him.  It is still great though. His ideas for new technology and future environmental problems are better and more realistic than most of other sci-fi writers.

I think the book is still open for continuation for a lot of members of the rebel group are still alive and they didn't technically won over the Yankees. I hope Image Comics will pass this project to other writers because we know how busy Vaughan currently is for other series.

Jon Snow and the Prince that was Promised

The season finale of the medieval fantasy TV series, Game of Thrones, just dropped an epic twist that fans have speculated since the publication of "A Game of Thrones" by George R R Martin. The show just confirmed the theory that Jon Snow is indeed the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. The reveal not only changes Jon's legitimacy to the throne, but also the fate of the realm. What does this confirmation have to do with everything that's going on and how will it affect the "great game"? 


Winter has finally come to the Seven Kingdoms, and the the long night is brewing beyond the wall as the Night's King assembles his army of the dead. A prophecy tells that a prince will be born to fight the Night's King and save Westeros. The signs of his\her coming are:

1. S/he was born beneath a bleeding star,
2. S/he was born amidst salt,
3. S/he was born amidst smoke,
4. S/he* has the blood of the dragon.


*The prophecy is told in High Valyrian which is genderless when it comes to common nouns.

Also note that the prophecy of Azor Ahai is different from the prophecy of The Prince that was Promised. Although, many believe (example: Melisandre) that the two are same person.


The first contender for being the Prince that was Promised was Daenerys Targaryen. At the season one finale of Game of Thrones, we have seen her rebirth after she had hatched her dragons. A red comet streaked above the sky was shown, signifying that she was born under a bleeding star. The whole burning ceremony was done at the shore, signifying that she was born amidst salt and smoke. She is also a Targaryen, which means dragon's blood flows through her veins. Dany is a good contender that she was The One that was Promised.


The Tower of Joy sequence shown at the season 6 gave another contender to be the One that was Promised, which is none other than the bastard king of the North, Jon Snow.


(It is important to note that these are just my interpretations of the scene.)


1. Born under a bleeding star


The third episode of the sixth season, entitled "Oathbreaker," showed that while Jon is being born, he is UNDER the protection of Ser Arthur Dayne. Arthur was killed by Ned using his own sword Dawn. House Dayne has a shooting star as they're sigil. There you go, Jon was born under a bleeding star.


Another interpretation would be that Ned put Dawn at the foot of the bed in a position that makes the womb of Lyanna and the newly born Jon under the sword. We know that Dawn is a sword made from a shooting star, and the sword is well bloodied by Arthur Dayne. Born under a bleeding star.


2. Born amidst salt


While Lyanna says her final wish to Ned that she want safety for her son, we see her crying a lot. Maybe it's her impending death, or she is crying because of the fate of Rhaegar. One way or another, Lyanna's tears signifies that Jon is born amidst salt.


3. Born amidst smoke


This is the trickiest part. The way I figured this one is I remembered the scene with Dany being reborn in a backdrop of smoke after all the fire was extinguished. Targaryens are known to have dragon's blood, which means they signfy fire. Smoke is the only thing left when a fire has been put out. I think the smoke part of the prophecy symbolizes the death of Rhaegar or the end of the Targaryen Dynasty. Jon is born amidst smoke.


4. Has the blood of the dragon


Jon is confirmed to be the son of Rhaegar Targaryen, which means, like Dany, he has the blood of the dragon.


There you go; Jon also fits the qualification to be the prince that was promised. There is a possibility that Jon is would fight off Dany and the left survivor would be the one to save Westeros from the dead. Or maybe there are two people, not just one, who will save Westeros. Or there is also a possibility that there would be three, for there are three dragons, to fight the Night's King. Nobody really knows what will happen. That's the good thing about the show; everything is so unpredictable and no one of the audience knows how the show will end.


But one thing is sure to happen. The whole right to the throne doesn't matter anymore. Game of Thrones is now in a place where politics will not dictate who will be the knew king or queen of the realm. Because now that winter has finally come, the person who will save Westeros from the long knight are entitled to sit on the Iron Throne and win the great game.



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The Stark Family and The Faith of the Seven

The Father (Justice): Ned Stark. A just man. Killed because of betrayal and the faulty justice systen of King's Landing.

The Mother (Mercy amd compassion): Catelyn Stark. Killed begging mercy to Walder Frey on saving his first son. Brought back to life as a bitter woman hanging everyone who she thinks caused the devastation of her family.

The Warrior (Fearlessness and skill in battle): Robb Stark. Won every battle but lost the war not on a battlefield but on a dinnertable.

The Maiden (Love and innocence): Sansa Stark. Dreams of getting a life just like in the songs: marrying a gallant prince and living as a queen. Controlled multiple times by players of the great game due to her birthright to the north. Raped by Ramsey multiple times.

The Stranger (Death): Arya Stark. A faceless men wannabe but she can't forget her past. She will always be a Stark. She will never be a no one. She will then forget her dream as a faceless men for she still believes in justice. She wants to kill only the bad guy but death knows no moral prejudices.

The Crone (Wisdom): Brandon Stark. Brought north of the wall to be the successor of the three eyed raven. He is responsible in killing some of his friends (Hodoooor). Some also say that he is the reason why the mad king turned mad.

The Smith (Creation): Rickon Stark. We still don't know anything about him. But some people say that he will be the reason of the fall of the wall. Some also say that he will be responsible for the rebuilding of Winterfell, but when the long night comes, will there be any Winterfell left to be rebuilt?

Hidden Meaning in A Clockwork Orange – Earthling Cinema

Game Theory: UNDERTALE - Sans's SECRET Identity!

The Brilliant Deception of Inception– 8-Bit Philosophy

Best Films of 2015

The Big Short

Adam McKay's comedy film about the humongous fall of the world economy and how a group of people saw it already coming and profited from it is a refreshing take on its genre. Powered by its amazing dialogues and a great ensemble cast, the film will never cease to amaze. The Big Short takes the cinematic experience in an informal way, with celebrities explaining economics stuff to the audience, the characters breaking the fourth wall while inside a scene, and lots and lots of mainstream media just appearing out of nowhere. This film is the best comedy of the year.

Ex Machina

Rich on ideas about the technological advances of the world and its consequences, Ex Machina is the science fiction of the year that lingers through the mind of the audience. It successfully use its four main and supporting characters to create a character driven plot. Alicia Vikander is the star of this movie and her performance although very gentle is just a magnificent take on the silver screen. It is full of eerie, strange and claustrophobic scenes and all in all sticks to an excellent study of the human race. Also, Oscar Isaac dancing!

The Hateful Eight

It's a Tarantino film, no doubt it would be great. The movie revolves around eight strangers stuck in a cabin because of a blizzard. All hell will let lose when the eight people turn to fight each other, finding who is the bringer of the trouble. As usual, the movie boasts common Tarantino tropes: ultraviolence, tension between dialogues, nonlinear storytelling, out of this world score and music, and goddamn Samuel L. Jackson being a bad-ass motherfucker. Only Tarantino can do a western flick set on the winter season.

Inside Out

Very genius plot and colorfully animated. The film centers on the emotions inside Riley's mind while Riley is undergoing a big shift in her personal life. It's a Pixar film so expect a bucket load of tears after watching this film.

Mad Max: Fury Road

This is just epic. From the cinematography, practical and visual effects, to awesome acting from the cast, this is the blockbuster film worth watching. Visceral and haunting, Fury Road is a film that tells a message through its visual components. It is a case on case criticism of capitalism, glorification of gasoline, booming of environmental issues, ridiculous religions and beliefs, and (ironically) adoration of violence. Although this is a film fueled by brutality, the women are the center of this movie. George Miller deserves a Best Director win for this.

The Martian

Based on the book with the same name by Andy Weir, the film tells the story of a man left alone on Mars that struggles to find a way back to Earth. Although the plot seems depressing, the film has a lot of funny moments and the entire tone is light (but still doesn't make it a comedy, Golden Globes).  Overall I enjoyed this film because it brings justice to its source material. Also, the science in this movie is pretty accurate. Matt Damon is again, needed to be saved, but this time, with SCIENCE!

Room

This is just phenomenal. Room deals with a mother and a child held captive in a small room for years. The entire film is told on the kid's perspectives for the movie centers on how he cope up in the larger world he's living in, now that he have escaped the "room." Brie Larson gave great performance which I guess will ultimately win her an Oscar because she deserves it in this film. But it is Jack Tremblay's acting that won me over in this movie. I was speechless the entire time I am watching this movie because of the kid's character. And I can't believe he's just 9. I tell you, a bright future awaits for this kid.

Spotlight

Holy shit. For me this is the best film of the year. Spotlight revolves on the journalism team of Boston Globes and how they uncover the cases of Catholic priests molesting children not only on the city of Boston, but the whole world. The ensemble cast are so good and they share good performances with each other. Every dialogue in this movie will gave you the shivers, for the screenplay is phenomenal. Everything just escalates to the ending until it reaches the point of no return. Spotlight is one of the reason why I watch film, because they can practically change one's perspective and beliefs in life. The whole world should watch this film because it can change it for the better.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

The greatest treat for all the Star Wars fan is living in a generation when Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released. J. J. Abrams deconstructs what the fans like about the original trilogy, and combines all of it to recreate its awesomeness. New characters all have chemistry with every characters, old and new, the visual effects are amazing, the plot is amazing, the score is amazing, everything is amazing! Star Wars truly is back on i's feet on becoming the most influential and the best movie franchise of all time.

Straight Outta Compton

Here's a fun fact: I don't listen to rap song because for me it's a bad music genre. But because of this movie, I changed my mindset and listen now to a bunch of song in the rap genre. The movie's role was to tell the life of the members of N.W.A. and the path they took to reach stardom, centering on Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Easy-E mainly. But the film managed to do more than that: and that is to let the audiences appreciate rap music as an art, and rappers as artists. This is a musical done right with excellent direction and screenplay. Phenomenal indeed.

Remark: This is a subjective list. If one of your favorite films is not on the list, maybe I haven't watched it yet.

Make Your Own Kylo Ren Lightsaber and Costume! - Homemade How-to!

An awesome video on how to make your very own Kylo Ren helmet, costume and lightsaber using stuffs you have on your home.