Kell does Earnest Hemingway

I meant this to be quite a bit longer, but my opinion on it is so curt and to the point, that there's really no need.

I have one question for you all -- WHY? WHY is this man held in such high regard in the literary community? Plenty of other writers are infinitely better than this quack, and they're scoffed at in a literature class. I would go so far as to say that the infamous Stephenie Meyer has more of a grip on proper writing than Mr. Hemingway. His books are nothing more than a gigantic run-on sentence lasting a hundred pages and bound.

His stories, such as A Farewell to Arms, have potential, but the characterization is splendidly awful. When reading, it seems that every few paragraphs, characters are having bipolar personality changes. Reading through A Farewell to Arms, I find myself not really remembering anything about it. It didn't stick with me like a good book should. It was drab, and the run-on sentences were extremely distracting.

In short, if you want a good classic, toss Hemingway aside and pick up The Great Gatsby.

Naoki Urasawa's Monster

Is, not even exaggerating, the best manga I've ever read, and I'm only on Volume 5. There's eighteen total, an anime, and a live-action movie in the works.

The manga tells the story of a Japanese doctor, Kenzo Tenma, who gets wrapped up in the politics of working in the hospital. When the mayor needs surgery performed on him, Tenma is asked by the hospital director to abandon the surgery he was scheduled to do on a little boy in order to get the hospital more recognition for saving the mayor. Sick and tired of politics being more important to the director than actually saving lives, Tenma risks his job and promotions to perform surgery on little Johan Liebert, instead of the mayor.

However, years later, Johan is grown up, and has become a serial killer. Tenma realizes that, in a cruel twist of fate, his choosing Johan over the mayor was the wrong choice after all. If he had chosen the mayor instead of Johan, than he could have saved the lives of dozens of people. When Johan kills several people and frames Tenma for the crime, the doctor becomes a fugitive, making it his mission to hunt down and kill the monster that he feels he created.

Reasons this manga rocks my socks off:

It's set in Germany instead of Japan, which is really refreshing. Even in the Japanese version, the notes that Johan writes Tenma are in German and translated at the bottom of the page.

Not everyone is pretty! A sad trend in manga that I've noticed is that almost all of the characters are depicted as looking cute, beautiful, or handsome, some of them even looking exactly like each other, except with different hair. In 'Monster', most of the characters are actually ugly, or, at least, not gorgeous. A few of them are, of course, because in real life, some people ARE pretty, but the majority of them have different face shapes, different sized noses, wrinkles, and it almost makes the art look more realistic. It certainly makes the story more believable.

The story is absolutely amazing. It's the perfect mystery and crime drama, in that the mysteries and murders are all really well planned out, and it's impossible to predict what happens. It reminds me a little bit of Death Note, in the whole 'Good VS Evil' mindset, with Tenma representing all that is good, and Johan representing evil and bad things. Also, I think that making the detectives and Tenma more imperfect-looking and Johan really handsome is kind of symbolic, although I could be wrong. Like how sometimes the bad, immoral way seems like the easier and more appealing path. This might be me overthinking it, however. XD

Everything people normally complain about in manga has been eliminated. Mary-sues? None. Big eyes? Nope. Cliches? Can't see any. Everyone gorgeous? Nope. This is a manga that I think even people who HATE manga would like.

Anyway, I absolutely, positively encourage anyone and everyone who likes manga to read this.

Jesus Christ Superstar

Wow, so being the musical lover I am, I checked Jesus Christ Superstar out from the library. And it was completely different than what I thought it was going to be. In a good way.

It's looking at the story from the other side of the tracks. Instead of looking at Judas' betrayl from the Jesus side of things, its showing that Jesus really kinda did fuck up a little, and Judas was doing the things he did out of love. Its like what the people at church aren't telling you.

And the music, oh, dear lord. It's amazing, of course, because it's Andrew Lloyd Webber. It's just awesome. The singers are phenomenal. The dancers are wonderful. It's just a really well-done show.

I cringe because I know that the majority of the people I know personally are going to skip reading this review because it has the word 'Jesus' in it, and that makes me sad. It's not about Jesus, really. It's mostly about Judas, I'd say, and his relationship with Jesus, and how everything went down the tubes, and it WAS Jesus' fault, really, something that Christians are hesitant to admit. He let things get out of control. He could have prevented his own death.

So, really, it's not a religious musical. It has Bible figures in it, yes, and it is a Bible story, but it's not religious. It doesn't preach, and in fact, a lot of Christians have complained about it.

Oh, and it's a rock opera. Yes, yes, yes. So no stereotypical musical crap. This is really good, awesome music that could be on the radio if the lyrics were more generic.

Nicholas Howey for CAT'S-EYE LLC's Production of 'Cats'.

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to see a performance of one of my favorite musicals, 'Cats'. This was my childhood! There are still makeup stains on my blinds! So, on one end of the spectrum, I may be a bit more critical than the average person when it comes to this production. However, on the other end of the spectrum, I am an actor myself, therefore I consider myself knowledgeable of the workings of theatre, thus creating more understanding as to why changes were made, and whether they were for better or for worse.

'Cats' is a musical made up of three primary elements -- singing, dancing, and acting. For a truly amazing performance, the cast must be entirely skilled at all three. However, for most, that's a bit much to ask. Some of the actors, including Lucy Horton (Jellylorum), Tug Watson (Munkustrap), and Philip Peterson (Old Deuteronomy) were excellent singers. Others, including Chris Mackenthun (Mistoffelees), Sarah Bumgarner (Victoria), and Stephanie L. Campbell (Cassandra) were beautiful dancers. And some still, such as Nathan Morgan (Gus), John Jacob Lee (Skimbleshanks) and Aubrey Elson (Sillabub) were wonderful actors, breathing life into these characters that may only be seen as 'part of the group' otherwise. In short, they may not have all been perfect, but each member of the cast brought something to the show that made it mesh together into something that an audience could give a standing ovation to.

Like every show, there were, of course, plenty of things that could be improved on. Some of the female singers' voices were far too squeaky, and their prioritizing of clarity often made the quality suffer. Some of the characters were unrecognizable, which wouldn't make a difference to first-time viewers, but meant a lot to long-time fans. Some of the singers overused their vibrato, and it was clear that most rehearsal time was spent with the choreography. Adam Steiner as Rum Tum Tugger was, to put it bluntly, horrendous, and it seemed like the entire show had been drained of the sex appeal that it once had, making it 'kid friendly', some of the characters acting so cute and fluffy that I'm sure Andrew Lloyd Webber just woke up in a cold sweat.

However, the bad parts were far outweighed by the good parts. The lighting was excellent, probably the best lighting I've seen for a show, using strobe lights and hanging lights in creative ways. The props and effects were amazing as well. Brian Bailey (Mungojerrie) was absolutely brilliant, with a strong voice and body. I later found out that he'd played Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast, which certainly explained why I took such a liking to him. Mistoffelees' song was probably the highlight of the show, utilizing every part of the stage as well as all of the dancers. The actors singing in harmony gave me goosebumps, and even the curtain call made my heart swell.

As an audience member, it was awesome. As an actor, knowing how difficult it is to pull things like this off, it was astounding.

Movie: Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, begins with the famous detective catching an occultist criminal named Lord Blackwood. A few years in the future, Blackwood is finally about to be hanged, and Watson is about to leave Baker Street to be with his fiancee, Mary. As the movie progresses, Holmes immerses himself in both problems, trying to solve the mystery of Blackwood's reanimation and trying to keep Watson close to him, and away from his wife. They're assisted, and foiled, by the scandalous Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams) and Inspector Lestrade. The movie is a perfect balance of drama, action, and mystery.

Okay, first thing's first. This isn't the lame-o nerd with the hunting cap and magnifying glass you grew up with. This is the REAL Sherlock Holmes, and the REAL John Watson. Holmes isn't a condescending snob, and Watson isn't a complete and utter dumbass, because they were never really like that in the original stories. The figures of Holmes and Watson that we see in pop culture today were cultivated by the public, not based on the characters in the stories. Guy Ritchie gets back to basics with this movie. Holmes is an intelligent, but rather dependent man, fond of boxing and user of various drugs, most often morphine and cocaine. Watson is more than his sidekick; the two men need each other more than they can possibly imagine. And that's why I think that this movie wasn't as well-received as it could have been. The audience walked in expecting a kick-ass action movie, and they realized as the movie progressed that the movie didn't focus on the action at all. There was the mystery, of course (it wouldn't be Sherlock Holmes without it) but the main focal point of the movie was to analyze the relationship between Watson and Holmes, something that isn't often done.

So fans of action-packed, gory, edge-of-your-seat movies will lay back and snore, while those of us with more intellectual tastes will give this film a standing ovation.

Novel - Mr. Timothy, by Louis Bayard

All children, no matter how sweet and innocent, must grow up. They must tear themselves away from their idealist views and accept that the world around them for what it is, even if it turns out to be gruesome and unforgiving. Some retain their innocence, but most become at least slightly affected by their new surroundings. This is what has happened to the famous 'Tiny' Tim Cratchit in Louis Bayard's novel, Mr. Timothy. No longer the endearing youth he was presented as in A Christmas Carol, the novel finds Tim in his early twenties, no trace of his disability remaining but for a slight limp. His parents deceased, Tim is alone on the streets of London, sheltered by a whore house and shadowed by the ghostly image of his father. More complications arise when he crosses paths with a young Italian girl, Philomela, a young inspiring singer, Colin, and becomes involved with a terrible underground operation that may result in Philomela's death.

A real highlight of this novel was its characterization. In first person novels, characterization is often twice as difficult than in third-person. The author doesn't have the advantage of omniscient description, and hearing the thoughts of many characters involved. The characters in this novel are so vivid that Tim's descriptions of them alone is enough to conjure a clear vision of them in a reader's mind. Tim himself is also a wonderfully dynamic character: he bursts into tears when confronted with sexual contact; he makes himself responsible for the wellbeing of Philomela and Colin even when the latter is unbearably annoying; he pushes himself out of his cripple stereotype and manages to save the day, with help from his Uncle Ebenezer.

The plot is twisting and alluring, albeit a bit difficult to follow at times. There are many false climaxes (perhaps too many) to keep readers on their toes. To those who enjoy fast and simple reads, this particular piece would definitely not appeal. Its story is complicated, and just when one thinks it must be ready to end, another problem arises. I found it frustrating at certain points, but once I was finished with the novel in its entirety, my opinion had changed, and I saw it as simply a plot device to create suspense.

Another positive element to watch for while reading this lovely novel are the descriptions. Tim describes his disability as, "not a limp but a lilt, a slight hesitation my right leg makes before greeting the pavement, a metrical shyness" and sees his unorthodox home in an odd sort of light, mentioning that fantasy, not necessarily sex, is "the prevailing trade". Bayard has a way with words that, several times throughout my reading, made me stop and say, "Wow, that was a good phrase! Why didn't I think of that?"

In short, Bayard's interpretation of such a classic character was fresh and new without being disrespectful to Dickens' original text.

Film - Iron Man (2008)

Not anyone's first choice for a hero, Tony Stark is materialistic, conceited, and carefree, until he's ripped out of his perfect life, critically wounded, and snatched away by a terrorist group known as the Ten Rings. While in captivity, he forges a friendship with a second prisoner, Yinsen, and the two proceed to conspire an escape under the guise of constructing one of Stark Industries newest weapons, the Jericho. Stark uses his injury to his advantage, creating a makeshift suit of armor, powered by a miniature arc reactor that acts as a heart regulator, powering the electromagnet that's keeping his heart going. Once the armor is completed, the two attempt their escape. This suit of armor is upgraded once Stark returns to his home in Malibu, and becomes the famous armor worn by Iron Man. Inspired by Yinsen, Stark chooses to turn his life around and help people for the good of mankind. However, he soon finds out that such an immediate and socially-shocking switch isn't as easy as he'd anticipated.

As a film, Iron Man has the assets of an epic without the length and unneeded detail. The stretch of time when Stark and Yinsen are in captivity has a completely different sensation than the rest of the movie, making for an intense change, almost a similar feeling of captivity. Performances by Robert Downey Jr. and Jeff Bridges are outstanding, breathing life into the hero and villain like no Marvel comic book movie has before. The armor's design is simple and sleek, and the scenes of Tony suiting up produce a jaw-dropping quickness and efficiency. Superhero movies have a reputation for being plot-lacking, and sometimes feel like one big inside joke for fans of the comics, but this film breaks that reputation -- with style.

No matter how brilliant, no film is without its faults. Gwyneth Paltrow's performance as Stark's assistant, Pepper Potts, is significantly dull compared to the film's other characters and elements. Whether the fault is the writer's or the actor's, the bright and individual characters of Tony Stark, Yinsen, Obadiah Stane, and James "Rhodey" Rhodes all soar high compared to the stationary, unnoticeable character of Potts. In fact, it seems as if the filmmakers were merely searching for an excuse to insert romance into the film in order to attract a broader audience. Although Potts did play a significant role in the comics, her role in the movie was so underplayed and stereotyped that it may have been better to leave her out altogether. If not, more attention should have been payed to the role, for leaving it as it is simply appears that her inclusion was an afterthought.