Transformers; Dark of the Moon (SPOILERS)

Today, I saw Transformers; Dark of the Moon with some friends.  Those who know me know I adore the previous two installments in this series.  I found this installment to be much less carefree than the previous two.  Though Bumblebee's capture in the first movie was sad, the death of Optimus Prime and subsequent Decepticon invasion easily overshadowed it in the second.  This new film features new emotional depths.  In it, Optimus' mentor, Sentinel Prime is discovered.  However, it is discovered he turned to the Decepticons since he believed Cybertron was so important, that they had to ally and rebuild their planet using human slaves.  This revelation and the subsequent reveal of Soundwave and Laserbeak as beings that brought humans to the Decepticons for their own politics was much more impactful than even the death of Optimus Prime.  The film also features a scene where it appears all the Autobots have been slaughtered by the Decepticon Starscream, further showing the darkness of this film.  Ultimately, the film is truly engaging, the characters always impressing me.  It's got a few twists at the end, especially involving the commanding trio of Optimus Prime, Sentinel Prime and Megatron.  Fans of the first two movies and Transformers should check this out.  The only major question I have for the film is the presence of Decepticon star fighters.  The fights were plenty engaging on the ground, and it just felt odd that they never used them before now.  As for the rumors of the possible Spielberg-directed sequel, well, I never saw Soundwave die.  In terms of Faith, we could talk about how some of our best heroes are willing to sell their souls to hold onto the past and strike out against a possible future.  Sentinel only cares about Cybertron, not his subordinate Optimus or the humans he cares about, and was willing to become evil for Cybertron rather than accept Earth as a possible new home.  Similarly, we are sometimes willing to surrender our souls in order to preserve that which is familiar. 

Super Smash Bros. 4!

I found out today Super Smash Bros. 4 (tentative title) is going to be released to the Wii U, Nintendo's new console, as well as the 3DS, Nintendo's new handheld.  Ignoring the fact that it sounds like a college for Nintendo students, I'm going to get to the nitty-gritty, what do I want to see.  Something that interests me in fighting games like the Naruto series and the VS Capcom series is the tag-team aspect, where in the middle of a team battle, you can switch out characters.  I am not sure how this would fit in the Smash Bros. gameplay, it's just an interesting idea, I just purchased two Wii games from the aforementioned serieses, Naruto Shippuden Clash of Ninja 3 and Tatsunoko VS Capcom.  The next thing I'd like are the following characters, Jill Valentine (from Resident Evil), and Daisy, Paper Mario, Paper Peach, Paper Luigi/Mr. L and Paper Bowser (from the Mario series).  Not sure if either of these things are present, but Sakurai has proven to be a game programming genius and he is in charge again.  I really hope the Wii U lets you transfer all your data from the Wii, I'd hate to plug in and unplug the machines over and over just to play them with all the save data, that plus the game coming to the 3DS may make me not buy the Wii U (though New Super Mario Bros. Mii does look fun).  Anyway, this is good news for all Nintendo fans and this game should be lots of fun.  For those who know me personally, I will not change the plot of my 3rd Mario movie to fit this new game, but I might/probably will bring the characters from SSB4 in.  I have written out three Mario movies I'd love to make with Nintendo and the Cyrus family, listed below.
-Super Mario: Legend of the Seven Stars, the Movie (based off Super Mario RPG, released for the SNES, 1995-1996, also available from Virtual Console).
-Super Paper Mario, the Movie (based off Super Paper Mario, released for the Wii, 2007).
-Super Smash Bros.; the Movie (based off Super Smash Bros. Brawl's Subspace Emissary Mode, with all characters from Brawl and Melee in the plot, released for the Wii, 2008).
The idea is to have bigger and more evil villains that require teamups between Mario, Bowser and Peach, culminating in Tabuu, who made the two previous movie's villains (Smithy and Dimentio), as well as villains from the Kirby and Metroid serieses.  If Square-Enix is not interested in movie 1, a new plot featuring Fawful will be made.  Any suggestions for it would be cool, I've kind of had some writer's block.  That's all for Nintendo news.
On a sadder note, I've heard the new Yellow Submarine movie has been canceled.  Apparently, the silly-looking Mars Needs Moms' success was directly tied to Disney's funding of the project.  Since the film flopped, Disney pulled the plug.  So, I guess we won't see 3D models of John, Paul, George, Ringo and the Blue Meanies.  Also, Godzilla's 2012 film appears to have been pushed back to 2014.  On a positive note, there is less than a month until Transformers; Dark of the Moon.  I'm excited to see the battles involving old favorites like Optimus Prime, Megatron and Starscream and newcomers the Wreckers, Shockwave and Sentinel Prime.  Michael Bay has directed quite a good series, and I look forward to seeing the conclusion unfold.

Finding Faith in the Movies 1: Transformers

As a huge fan of the Transformers Film Series, I've applied a little Biblical knowledge to it and found some pretty impressive parallels.  I've already mentioned that Optimus Prime is a Christ-figure, dying and returning to life, but in the first film, it is revealed that Optimus, the main hero, and Megatron, the main villain, are brothers, like Cain and Abel.  In books for the second film, it is revealed that Megatron is a villain because he feels cheated of the "Prime" title Optimus holds, Primes being the royalty and descendants of the original 13 Transformers.  Many people have pointed out that like there were 13 people at the Last Supper, there are 13 original Transformers, and one is a villainous backstabber.  In Transformers lore, he is called "The Fallen," paralleling the devil, and he was the main villain of the second movie, Megatron's boss.  The Fallen takes on an "Emperor Palpatine" role with Megatron, misleading him to further his own goals, like his namesake.  Of other interest, the Decepticons sacrifice an unwilling participant in the second movie to revive Megatron in a scene highlighted by the line "need parts.  Kill ze little one!"  This calls to mind, on some occasions, how enemies in the Bible participated in human sacrifice.  By contrast, when Optimus is revived, it is through self-sacrifice.  In fact, after he is revived, the dying Jetfire sacrifices himself to give Optimus enough power to succeed.  Of other interest in the second film, Sam Witwicky states "This will work, because I believe it," about what is revealed to be his destiny, use the Matrix of Leadership to revive Optimus.  In fact, throughout the film, Sam's bizarre behavior could resemble a prophet (is drawing symbols ceaselessly and traveling around the world for something that disappears really any more strange than smashing pots and staring at models?).  Sam also has the name of a prophet and acts as the voice of morality throughout the film, truly making it "more than meets the eye." 
This is just something to think about when you watch these films.  I look forward to seeing Dark of the Moon and seeing just how Biblical concepts can be reflected in sci-fi.  Also, I saw part of "All Dogs go to Heaven" today and that my Dad (who's a minister) is following me, so I felt I needed to do something spiritual.

Political views

This is kind of going out on a limb, but here we go.

                I tend to try to be independent of either political party, but I have some pretty strong opinions of both.  I harbor some animosity to Democrats due to what I’ve seen in my Democrat Uncle and considered self-righteousness, their belief that whatever they say is right due to science and that the Republicans are all idiots.  I fear the extreme leftism I’ve seen in my college days, it is directly inspired by Marxism and believes that Christianity is a lie that is holding back the nation.  I fear this perspective since I am a Christian, such a perspective gaining power would revoke my freedom of religion and send me to the gulag.  I never fell into Obama-worship, though I do think he has some good ideas on how to lead, especially in terms of crises like health care and the economy.  However, I despise his war policies.  I do not mind the withdrawal from Iraq, but we need to be in Afghanistan until bin Laden is in prison.  When I woke up that morning, hearing of the planes destroying this country, I knew whoever was behind it had a heart of steel, a hatred of America.  When I read the statements bin Laden has released, gloating of his glory, the folly of America and a racist attitude to Israel and the USA’s Freedom of Religion, I know this is a man that cannot be let free to roam, or he shall attack us once more, with renewed vigor as he believes himself to be partially successful.  I also think Obama is way too self-righteous and tries too hard to make everyone like him.

                On the subject of Republicans, there is still much animosity and tension.  Whoever decided to make Sarah Palin the poster woman of the religious right ought to be slammed into a wall until their nonexistent brain forms.  It disgusts me how it feels that they have besmirched us Christians by showcasing hatred and coming across as highly unintelligent.  People who should represent the Faith should be people with love, honesty, a blend of science and Faith and a willingness to admit flaws while still being true to themselves. (People like Tory Belleci, Robert Bakker, my minister and the Cyrus family and Lovato family readily come to mind).  We need morals, but we don’t need to be Pharisees, we should be reasonable, not condemning.  On the subject of Evolution being taught in schools, I don’t know if it is necessary, to me, science was best when it was more about the joys of experimentation, the fun of seeing things melt, dissect and form.  Human origins should be taught to children based upon their families in my opinion.  Some angry people may argue for evolution by opposing the miracles of God.  There are still miracles going on today, a house loses heat the week of Thanksgiving and gets it fixed on Wednesday, a man nearly loses himself to drugs, but is led to the light, I nearly committed suicide, but a voice within told me my life was still worth living.  On the subject of homosexuality, I do not belief it is sinful, however, I am not sure if I support gay marriage since I am unsure what’s the difference between a civil union and a marriage.  To me, marriage is when two people exchange rings and vows with the intention of sealing each other together for the rest of their lives, completing one’s life with a sexual partner who you desire to see every day for the rest of your life.  I guess I started off Republican, became Democrat due to the Iraq War and Wiretaps, then became Republican the more paranoid Democrats became, then became independent when the Republicans became paranoid over Obama.  On a related note, I once put stock in the conspiracy theory that Bush had made the 9/11 attacks happen in order to gain emergency wartime powers, however, around 2007, when he seemed to just wait out the end of his presidency, I decided it made no sense that he would kill 3,000 people in a day, then back down from trying to seriously subjugate the American people.  Then History Channel aired their “debunk the conspiracy theories of Kennedy and 9/11” specials, which put all the nails in the coffin.

                For me, the ideal president would be like Optimus Prime from Transformers, the leader of the heroes.  He fought boldly and with self-sacrifice, leading his troops against evil that desired to see them dead.  He was somewhat of a Christ-figure, since he was murdered and resurrected, but to me, he had that humbleness, earnestness, boldness and cool-headedness that leaders need.  Good quotes by him; “Freedom is the right of all sentient beings” “Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing” “We will not share our weapons with you, we have seen your capacity for war” “If you desire to see us leave, we shall, but first, ask this.  What if we leave, and your claims that we are responsible for the continuing war are wrong?”