Midnight showings and X-Men: DOFP

Business stuff: This week you can expect more posts since I'm done with all my graduation celebrating and that there are a-many things I want to talk about in regards to some new games that have come out!

Tonight, it is more than likely I will be seeing X-Men: Days of Future Past for the third time. However, I'm not going to talk much about the movie (I might later, but it will clearly be marked with a spoiler warning), instead, I want to talk about the dwindling culture of the midnight showing.

The theater I live next to shows new movies not at midnight the day before release, but sometimes as early as seven. Already, this takes points away to the culture of the midnight showing. But what is the midnight showing?

For as long as I can remember, when the really nerdy movies came out--you know, the movies that everyone was looking forward to--you (sometimes) dressed up and went to the theater. I know I have seen almost all of the Harry Potter movies dressed up in my cloak and Slytherin tie (except for Order of the Phoenix, I was too busy with other things) at midnight with my friends. I had watched the very first X-Men in the mall theater in the town I grew up and it was awesome. The entrance way to that theater was a long walk and many times there were tents set up the night before. I remember the release of the last Star Wars this way. I actually drove for six hours to see it with my best friend after a school final. Judge the second trilogy as you may, but I have very fond memories of that night. Actually, all of my memories of midnight showings are great. The last one I went to before I felt the excitement of it all die away was Avengers. The crowd was so pumped and we were delirious because it was so late. We laughed together, we cried together when Coulson died, and we stayed for schwarma.

Those feelings are gone when I go to these early showings and even when I see the midnight-goers, it doesn't look the same. Is the excitement still in other places? Do you go to midnight shows that the whole crowd gets really pumped to be there?

I have a theory as to why many places no longer feel this kind of excitement and I guess we could all agree that James Holmes ruined that one. But did he? (My home theater is a Century 16, so as someone who is paranoid about similar circumstances, this worries me every time I see a new movie late at night.) I think we all ruined the midnight showing by not being excited by much anymore. Instead, a whole mess of internet culture has ruined the excitement seeing a movie ridiculously late at night with our friends. Or maybe we're all too poor to see it. Or we are adults with adult things to do. (I don't believe that last one. I believe in making time for yourself to do things you want to do.) Granted, many people have young kids and that's something that keeps you from going to these things, pumped up on coffee or energy drinks knowing that tomorrow at work and/or school you're going to feel like absolute shit, but if the movie was good, it might be worth it.

I guess what I am asking for is even at these "early" midnight showings, or any midnight showing, be a little more excited that you're there. I know it's hard because it's late, but you marked out that time for a reason. You are sacrificing precious sleep for something you maybe care one iota for. Celebrate that, dammit.

NOW FOR SPOILERSSSSSSSS!!!1!!!!!

ERHMERGERD. I still have a hard time talking about this movie without going into a puddle of incomprehensible drool. Not only was I really excited about Bryan Singer being back to direct the series (as it should be), and also utterly bat-shit-crazy-hard-on for Michael Fassbender returning as Magneto, but this was a good fucking X-Men movie that we have all been waiting for.

I'm not going to go in to detail about how this was totally like the comic, because I don't know. I have not read the graphic novel the script is based on, but I plan to purchase it on Comixology soon. If you're going to give me shit for it, then you've obviously never been a grad student studying English. (See: previous post about no life.)

What I CAN go into detail about is how Bryan Singer basically did this to the previous movies:

RIGHT?!? (Except First Class because it's awesome.)

Not only did awesome time-travel save the day, but it saved the franchise for a sustainable future until a satisfactory number of movies have been made to make up for the abomination of the third movie. (See: Wolverine's indestructible pants.) Of course, the end has the lead-in to the next movies based on the Age of Apocalypse and I know this story from growing up watching the animated series. I loved that shit growing up and now I get to see it in movies. I love living in the future.

Although a friend of mine was quite upset with the surprise of a skinny Apocalypse, I have a feeling we saw a young version of Apocalypse. I think we can count on some sort of accuracy from Singer, but that is yet to be seen.

I feel very strong about this movie, and while my same friend said it felt like the movie was missing something at the end, I think I know what:

Kissin' Fassbender.

There are two parts where two characters should just smooch that German/Irish god. Firstly, Eric and Charles get all up close and personal in their argument and all I can think about is Mike Tyson saying, "now kithh" while pushing their heads together. This leaves the viewer who wants to see this sort of thing ultimately disappointed when the bromance is not fulfilled.

The other part is when Eric and Mystique are in that bizarre French phone booth drowning themselves in sexual tension. From what I know of her character, Mystique is a hardcore killer, precise and a little bit disconnected from the rest of her fellow mutants because she is so different. Since the first movie, I have been a great fan of the Mystique/Magneto pairing (whether this is something the comics orchestrated first I have no idea, someone please fill me in!) and it is only until Fassbender and Lawrence have fulfilled the roles that we have had a chance to build that tension properly.

I wanted them to smooch so bad. I wanted it with every fiber of my being because those love stories where both people have to work for what they want are my favorite stories. Love unrequited and later fulfilled is what really drives my hamster on the wheel. But she was pissed at him (and rightly so) and it would have been too unbelievable and a discredit to Mystique's focus on killing the man who orchestrated the death of her mutant-kin. There was a tension unrelieved between them and it continued through to the end when she leaves Eric to the whims of Charles. She leaves them both, but we all know she will return sometime later.

The big question is whether this some time will reprise Fassbender once again as Magneto. Granted, Sir Ian McKellen is AMAZING and probably the best choice for the later Magneto there is, but Fassbender is so utterly charming as this young, struggling mutant that I need him to fulfill that role again. (JUST ONCE MORE, FOR THE LOVE OF ODIN.) Will he? (Imdb says YES.) GOOD. Perhaps they will finish off that tension and I can breathe easy once more, but until then, this is one of those movies that I can watch again and again, expecting something different to happen each time.

Post-Grad Life Mediation

In my post last week, I talked about how much grad life sucks. Or, sucked, rather. Last week I finished my last graduate class for the foreseeable future. I say "foreseeable" because at this point in my life I do not want to pursue any more degrees, at least not yet. In 20 years my student loan debt will have grown to about 150k and in these last few days after my last class, I have been wallowing in the glory that is no homework, no deadlines, and lots of time for things that I love to do.

In this newfound time I got to see the new Godzilla this week, not once, but twice. In the movie (without giving spoilers away) there is a line that is said to the main character, Ford, before he is reunited with his family after being away (military) for 14 months. The guy tells him to, "Take it slow, it's the one thing they don't train you for." Or something like that.

The movie aside (I enjoyed it enough to see it twice, but I'll leave it at that), I feel like that statement applies to your life after graduate school. Although not nearly as tough as military service (or at all, for that matter), grad life sucks your time away from the things that you love to do, the people you love to be around, and your "normal" life. When you finish, you are suddenly imbued with the power to do all of these things you put off. Things like, reading books that are not a part of a syllabus; painting your nails; going for a walk; splurging on as many episodes of Supernatural as you want on Netflix; seeing a newly released movie (i.e. Godzilla); or even something as simple as sitting on your bed in the morning while having coffee without having to turn on the computer to get a quick assignment in before work. 

But this is also a very dangerous thing.

So I was thinking about how there should be some sort of cool-down program for graduate students. Maybe some little getaway that keeps you from overindulging on all of the things you were looking forward to once free from the structure of academia. You take one book, or perhaps just a few movies, and you go where it's relaxing, low-maintenance (people cook for you and stuff so you don't have to) and you ease back into your life you had before, or maybe you didn't have the life before, you just get to do all the things you dreamed of doing when you were stuck writing a paper at 3am or in a class you didn't particularly care for. Suddenly all of those, "I can't wait until..." sentences get to come true.

I have a stack of books in my bedroom that I want to read, along with a list of comics I have been meaning to check out. My movie watch list is miles long, and I'm still not caught up on all of the episodes of Hannibal. There are numerous writing projects now in my head. Ones I want to get back at, and new adventures that I want to embark on. This blog, even, is one of those things that I am excited to make time for. Too many things, almost, are tearing me into different directions and the whole thing is starting to overload the senses and the desires. Even laundry is something exciting and I want to clean all of my washable things, fold them neatly, and be cheerful about it because I have the time.

That is what has been on my mind lately, thinking about how much fun it is going to be now that school is finally over, but also, trying to remind myself not to get too out of control, either. 

You don't learn how to mediate fun in grad school, but gosh darn it, we probably should.

Let's just make this a yearly thing...

My last blog post was about how I wanted to post more blogs.

That was almost a year ago.

Life took over after that. I had all the intentions of making writing a weekly thing (because writing blogs daily does seem like an extremely large amount of work that I just don't give enough shits about) but when you're a graduate student, life sucks.

There is this really cool guy who I have had a few classes with in the last three years of my program. We take a fiction workshop together. The class is in the evening and everyone is pretty much winding down from their days when we get out around 10 PM or so and usually our spirits feel a little silly. On a night when we were discussing our stresses a few months ago, I stuck a cigarette in my mouth and with it dangling right in the corner, I responded to something my friend had said about grad school (which I cannot remember what he said) simply with:

"Grad life sucks."

With some emphasis on the word, "sucks." He laughed. No, he doubled over and laughed the kind of maniacal laughter that happens when you watch those fail videos on the U Tubes. At the time I had been wearing my usual garb of black and was in one of those "don't give two shits" kind of moods.

After he stopped laughing, there was discussion about how your first 4-years of college (if you decide to do as such) can only be described as a kid with his mouth attached to a bong with the caption, "College life rocks." Despite the popularity of the following meme to represent lazy college students, I am of the belief that his face really captures all the frustration of graduate school:

And, grad life does suck. I'm not going to emphasize all of the political problems with going to school in the US, we've all heard the song and dance about that. What I do want to emphasize is how much graduate school takes you away from the things that matter. If it is the path you decide to take after your first program, be prepared to lose your grip on life. In the pursuit of a professional degree that is usually a signal to employers that you are dedicated and can survive through nuclear academic turmoil, you will face panic attacks (emphasized heavily in the last year of your program), loneliness, drunkenness, too much procrastination, back pain, severe illness, mental illness, exhaustion, insomnia, depression, and nothing but lint in your pockets (because you've spent too much on commuting gas, printing credits, and car repairs).

In graduate school, your grades matter more than they did before. If you get a "C," that's not passing, and even seeing those nasty "Bs" on your transcript make you cringe. Judge me if you like, but I have spent some time gawking at why I was given an "A-" instead of the full "A." You spend a lot of time thinking about these grades and what they mean as well as how they reflect on you as a person. The way you perceive the world around you begins to warp and you lose touch with the things that matter most.

Like writing. The atmosphere of a writing program allows for writing that tries to engage with doing something and the propulsion of your skills rather than savoring the act. We write for assignments, we write what is challenging, but between reading and write about what we read, writing emails and for some teaching classes, we lose the motivation to write for ourselves. Or, we just lack the time.

Blogging is one of those things that most people do for themselves. It's of a certain level of narcissism that gives the immediacy to publication gratification. You can write a blog, send a link, and say, "LOOK AT WHAT I WROTE." I am not against this. While many people blog because they have something interesting to say (I browse many interesting blogs and I do enjoy many of them) many people blog because it is one of the ways you get your writing out there, no matter how narcissistic the act actually is.

Blogging (if done well) is important to your career.

That's why I NEED to do it more often than once a year or so. I NEED to find a subject that suits my writing interests and stick with it. I NEED to blog because grad life sucks (I have about 12 days left) and there NEEDS to be some salvation in the turmoil that I slogged through to get to this point where I can say:

I'm a writer. Now what?

I'll blog more, I promise. While some of it may be narcissistic, I don't really care because I still feel like I have a lot to say about things and have been conditioned not  to give in to that desire to do as such. We have been taught (and yes it should be withheld to a point) not to fall in love with ourselves or just be wrapped up in our own business. I'm tired of not loving myself as a person and as a writer. I am the most important person there is to me (my cat might be slightly more important) and I am tired of people denying my desire to call myself awesome.  We are all our own awesome people and we should strive to be the coolest cats in town. We should love each other's own separate coolness, because the more we like one another, the happier everyone is.

I've spent a lot of my life being unhappy and it's time to change that.