Rami Ungar The Writer

Review: Captain America (film)

Posted: November 3, 2011 in Review

I just had my last midterm of the quarter today, so I though I’d celebrate by going to see a free movie at the Union this evening (for those of you who don’t know, the Union is the place where the Student Government, several different important offices, and some classes are housed, as well as social events and club meetings). This week they were showing Captain America. I had virtually no knowledge of Captain America, except that he fought Nazis and that he was somehow supposed to be an Avenger in the 21st century (oh, he was cryonically frozen in the Norwegian ice? Oh, that makes perfect sense–not!). I didn’t even know that the villain’s organization was the same name as my fictional gang (I’d swear in court on that!). So, I was wondering how my first impressions would go.

Well, the movie lived up to its hype: the characters were believable and the actors that played them brought the right emotions to the screen. The villains were menacing enough (though that salute of theirs is a little ridiculous), and the scenes had the right emotion and drama. Special shout-outs to Chris Evans as Captain America/Steve Rogers, the latter person a very relatable character, Hugo Weaving for doing an amazing job as a villain again, this time as the Red Skull, and Tommy Lee Jones as the irrascible Colonel Phillips.

Just one complaint: the villain’s weapon of choice was lasers.

Lasers. God, you had to use the oldest futuristic weapon in sci-fi technology.

Even worse, they were blue lasers. And not just any shade of blue, they were fairy-princess blue! Hard to take those battle scenes seriously when you’re about to be taken out by Cinderella’s fairy godmother. I’m laughing just typing about it.

Poetica Magazine

Posted: October 27, 2011 in Poetry, Progress Report

Around January or February, we had an assignment in class where we were to take a series of prompts (I will, Then I, etc.), add some words to them, and weave them into a poem. Being me, I added some dark tones to the prompts I was given, and ended up writing “The Tragedy Too Often Forgotten”, a poem about the Holocaust.

I thought the poem had potential, so I searched online for a Jewish magazine specializing in poetry, which was how I found Poetica, a poetry and prose magazine devoted to works by, about, and for Jews and Judaism. Well, it’s been a long wait, but about a month or so ago, I learned that “The Tragedy Too Often Forgotten” was being considered for a special Holocaust edition to come out sometime next year. Today, I found out they had accepted it for publication.

I’d sincerely like to thank the staff at Poetica for accepting my poem, and I cannot wait to see it published. And to all those reading this blog interested in reading the poem, I suggest you go to poeticamagazine.com and order a copy when it comes out.

Oh and before I forget, if you’re interested in music or literature reminding people of the tragedy of the Holocaust, I’d suggest the song “Never Again” by the supremely-awesome heavy metal band Disturbed, a beautiful song written in tribute to those who died in the Holocaust.

Yes, I’m a heavy metal fan, but given my interests does that surprise any of you?

Review: Footloose

Posted: October 14, 2011 in Review

Many people were doubting that Paramount could really remake such an iconic 80’s film as Footloose and expect it to be any good with audiences. To those naysayers, I say: Go see the movie, ’cause you are missing out! The film takes a lot of liberties in order to make the remake appealing to GenX audiences, but instead of detracting from the film, it makes it better, something you can imagine happening even today. There’s no one moment where Rev. Shaw realizes that things need to change (like the book-burning scene in the original 1984 movie), but I think that this movie almost doesn’t need it. The modern music helps draw audiences in, and the more ethnically diverse cast members help solidify the film.

You can actually believe this film could happen somewhere in Georgia.
Just two comments I’d like to make before I’m done: one is that Ariel (Julianne Hough) looks and sounds like Miley Cyrus without the salvia, and Ren’s (Kenny Wormald) Boston accent is hard to find at times. Still, both could have some great careers in film, especially Wormald. Also, am I the only one who sees parallels between Bomont and the Prohibition? I keep wondering why they don’t put Prohibition in Ren’s argument! It’s a valid point about a religiously-motivated law that fails miserably and needed to be taken down.

Fall Quarter Productivity

Posted: October 10, 2011 in Progress Report, short story

In addition to all the college stuff (studying, taking classes, social life, eating, etc.) I’ve been trying to write as much as possible, and I’m happy to say that I haven’t been sitting on my bum not doing any writing this whole time. I’m pleased to say that as of this posting, I have finished and sent off two short stories. One is called Ripple and is an alien invasion story (funny subject for me, considering I don’t believe in aliens that invade our planet from millions of lightyears away, but whatever). The other is called Here Kitty, Kitty and is a short-short fiction piece (meaning it’s under a thousand words). I hope to have good news about thse stories soon, so keep looking and maybe I’ll let you know.

In addition, I’ve been working on an outline for the sequel to Reborn City. Yes, I know it seems like a bad idea, when you don’t even have the novel published, to start on a sequel, but I think it’s a great idea and if RC does get published, it’ll be good to at least have some of the next book on hand. Wish me luck, I haven’t even finished two chapters in that outline and it’s already around two pages (not so unusual for a novel, really).

Review: Castle

Posted: September 27, 2011 in Review

With the new season just starting, I got to admit, even with a change-up in cast with the death of Roy Montgomery and the introduction of Captain “Iron” Gates, ABC’s Castle is still totally awesome. Castle is still wild about Beckett, and Beckett is still dealing with trauma from her recent shooting, which makes coming to terms with her own feelings difficult at best. The person who shot Beckett is still at large, and Castle continues to delve into the mystery, even after recieving a mysterious phone call from someone who says he has all the answers (this’ll probably be a plot arc throughout the rest of the season). Alexis is getting ready to move out and go to college, much to Castle’s depression, and the addition of a new captain, Victoria “Iron” Gates (played by Penny Gerald Johnson), finds Castle and Beckett having to deal with someone who doesn’t think too highly of their partnership. All in all, I’m looking forward to the next few episodes.

By the way, did I mention that Castle is what started me watching and reading all the crime shows and novels I’m into now? I’m particularly interested in Law & Order: SVU, NCIS, and the Alex Cross books by James Patterson, along with Castle of course. Check any of them out, they all have their merits that make them great.

First Day of Classes

Posted: September 21, 2011 in Living and Life

Well, I survived my first day of classes. And you know what? It wasn’t so bad. At first, when I was waiting for Anthropology to start, I felt so nervous and excited. I had no idea what to expect! I probably hadn’t felt like that since my first day of junior high! But the teachers have been very nice, and it doesn’t seem that they assign a hundred pages of reading a class. So now I’m pumped for classes, and I can’t wait to try it out.

Here’s hoping to a good first quarter.

Move-In Day

Posted: September 18, 2011 in Living and Life

Today was move-in day at my university. I’m not saying the name of my school because I know some freaks out there might get ideas to visit me (and that’s not an LOL). It was a little exhausting, and even now I’m not done. Still, I love living in my dorm and being on my own. I’m looking forward to classes starting on Wednesday. My goal for this quarter: to get at least a B+ in every class (though if I get a B or B- I won’t complain).

Wish me luck!

Excerpt: Summers with Grandmother Fumika

Posted: September 14, 2011 in short story

When I started this blog, I mentioned that I had previously published a short story entitled Summers with Grandmother Fumika in a tea connoisseur’s magazine. The story involves a young Japanese girl performing a tea ceremony for a kitsune fox spirit. It was my first short story to be published in a print periodical, and to this day it is still one of my best works. Below I am inserting a small excerpt for you to read. If you like what you see, feel free to go online to www.teamag.com and order a copy of the Winter 2011 edition of TEA, A MAGAZINE. It is a fascinating read, including tea trivia and lore, recipes, and much more.

Here is Summers with Grandmother Fumika:

Suddenly out of the corner of my eye I caught movement. I whipped my head around, trying to catch a glimpse of what I couldn’t have seen. Was it really—?

A white foot and tail disappeared around the corner of the house, the tail swishing in the air. I stood up, surprised and confused. Had I just seen—no, it couldn’t have been, it was probably just some animal. The only reason I thought it was that was because I had been thinking about Grandmother Fumika’s stories a few seconds ago.

Nevertheless I tiptoed towards the corner of the house, in case it was either a kitsune or a normal yet very dangerous animal that had wandered onto our property. I peeked around the corner and gasped so loudly that I thought it might hear me. Lying near the koi pond was a kitsune fox spirit, a real kitsune fox spirit! Was I seeing things?

Please leave a comment telling me what you think.

Ten Years Since

Posted: September 11, 2011 in Reflections

I wish I could say I remember clearly where I was when the Twin Towers are struck. However, I don’t even remember being sent home early from school! All that comes to mind is some news footage they showed us on the TV in the classroom depicting some burning buildings, but I’m not sure if that was during the actual event or afterwards.

Regardless of whether or not I remember what occurred on September 11, 2001, I have learned what has happened since. And ten years since, we are still living out the aftermath. Terrorism has become a permanent part of our vocabulary, and New York is still scarred from the brutality of that one event. Muslims, particularly Arab Muslims, are feared because some deviants allied themselves with the religion of Islam, and we are still fighting wars so as to eradicate an improbable enemy. Still, there are more positive things to note: one of the world’s most dangerous criminals is no longer apart of this world, and the USA is hunting down the rest of his organization; Americans have been united in ways that have not been seen since post-WWII, and, perhaps most importantly, we are still going strong. That’s enough to say the terrorists did not win on that horrific day exactly ten years ago.

May the next ten years see a peaceful resolution to the war on terror and that those who would create fear and destruction to serve their own agendas be stopped and put away where they can harm no one. God bless America.

The Kathryn Stockett Criticism

Posted: August 28, 2011 in Reflections

In an earlier post, I said that “I have no right to write a gangster story (get it?)”. The gangster story, of course, is Reborn City.

Well, that bad pun has more relevance than people may think: I’ve mentioned that I’m Caucasian. Not only that, but I’m Jewish, suburban, and a college student to boot. I’m what’s known as privileged. Just like Kathryn Stockett and her novel The Help, I fear that a lot of criticism that’ll come my way if Reborn City ever makes it into the market is that it’s another white writer trying to write in the voice of minorities, and a similar novel written by a black, Hispanic, or Asian writer wouldn’t get the same reaction (I’m just assuming for the moment that Reborn City is at least as popular as The Help).

Maybe so. But I doubt that when Ms. Stockett wrote The Help, her goal was to step on people’s toes like people keep thinking she has. It’s the same with me: I started writing because J.K. Rowling inspired me enough to make me want to compete with her. I got into horror/sci-fi/fantasy because I wanted to emulate writers like Anne Rice, Stephen King, and Dean Koontz. I wrote Reborn City because it seemed like a totally awesome idea, an adventure story involving gangs and mutant-powers and shady governments. And I kept writing it, planning two sequels and sending off part of Reborn City to an agent because at some point, I realized there was an important theme here, among all the other themes I’ve laced into the story: that in the end, you, and only you, are the only person that can control your destiny.

I’m not trying to be like the great white redeemer or whatever, I’m just trying to help people through an engaging story become self-empowered. Is that so bad? And besides, the one who helps the other characters realize this important lesson is an Arab Muslim, and at least a third of the leaders of the main gang in Reborn City are white. So it’s kind of reversed, isn’t it?

And for the record, all writers write their stories becasue they love what they write and want to share it with people just for the story’s sake. Their’s no other ulterior motive behind it. I’ll keep that in mind while I attempt to find a night to go see The Help at the local theater (I’d read the book, but I cringe to think how long the reserve list is at my library!).