Posts Tagged ‘entertainment’

Oh, If I Were An Addams

Posted: October 21, 2012 in Reflections
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You guys think I could be one of them? Because I would dig being Pugsley and Wednesday’s older brother.

I ended up watching the last twenty-five minutes of the 1991 movie The Addams Family, which would lead to me watching some old reruns from the original show on my computer during dinner. It made me realize two things: one was that I was born the year the sequel came out, which might explain another reason why I’m so creepy (though mostly I’m this way because of something that happened in a synagogue); and two is that if I weren’t an Ungar, I’d probably be an Addams.

Now, before you start wondering what my family will think when they read this, rest assured they’d probably agree with me. In fact, I’d make a great Addams: after all, where else could a horror author learn first-hand how to torture people without consequences? Probably in the playroom with Uncle Fester. And if I wanted to know a thing or two about magic? Morticia and Grandma Frump. And sword-fighting? Apparently Gomez and Morticia are both experienced duelists. It’d be a blast.

Not to say my folks aren’t great or strange. On the contrary, my family does have some similarities to the Addams. For instance, my siblings are all a little creepy and plenty kooky, though not as much as me. The sister closest to me in age definitely reminds me at times of Wednesday (though don’t tell her I said that). My mom did once try to spray me with a fire hose, but instead settled for the hose from the kitchen sink. My dad is very affectionate to his wife, my stepmom, almost to the point of comedic. And we have some very unusal pets in the house, even for cats. Add me into the mix, you’ve got some crazy sitcom material. Oh, and one of my uncles does remind me of Cousin Itt, for which I blame on his alma mater.

You know what? If the Addams were real people, I’d like for my family to be neighbors with them. That would be the best. We’d have so much fun, blowing stuff up and scaring people silly. And I’d have a constant source of inspiration and critique for the stories I write. It may only happen in my head, but it’s still swell even there.

Equation for a successful Burton film: 1 Burton + 1 Depp + 1 Bonham Carter = a blockbutster film (usually).

Speaking of which, I hear that Illumination Entertainment is set to do a stop-motion remake of the creepy-kooky-spooky Addams family, with Tim Burton doing the writing and possibly doing the directing. Even though no details about the story or the cast or whatever has been released, I can garauntee two things: one is that it should be fun for both kids and adults; and two is that since Tim Burtons’ in on it, they’ll have to give Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp roles in it if they want it to be successful at all.

Ohio State Goes Gangnam Style

Posted: October 20, 2012 in Living and Life
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My grandmother, who’s an alumna of Ohio State University, sent me this video (thanks so much, Nancy!). It shows everybody’s favorite mascot, the poisonous tree nut Brutus Buckeye, dancing to Psy’s “Gangnam Style” with the awesome OSU Cheerleading Squad. I hope you enjoy it, it’s just so much fun. O-H I-O Buckeye Style!

Some Thoughts on “Dodi Li”

Posted: October 18, 2012 in Living and Life, Progress Report, Reflections, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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For those of you who have no idea what that title means, Dodi Li is a short story that I started this summer and that I’m rewriting before National Novel Writing Month starts in two weeks. It means “my darling” or “my beloved” in Hebrew and should not be confused with a popular Jewish song that is sung sometimes on Friday nights by Jews everywhere.

Dodi Li features a succubus, a demoness who visits men at night as a beautiful woman and steals their sperm in order to create demonic children or steal pieces of their soul through fornication, depending on what myths you believe. However my succubus, who I’ve named Umuruk (sounds like a name a succubus would have, right?) is not the antagonist of the story. Instead, she struggles to protect the other protagonist, a male she’s fallen in love with. Succubi have fallen in love with humans before, according to the folklore and stories I found by people who say they’ve had experiences with succubi (it’s on the Internet, so I can’t be sure if the writers are crazy or not, but I try to keep an open mind), and I decided to tap into that for this story.

The first draft was very plot-oriented, and sucked immensely. I decided to leave it alone until I could think of a way to make it better, and if I couldn’t, then it’d make a great learning experience. But yesterday in creative writing class, my teacher gave me an idea on how I could improve the story. So I went back and started to completely rewrite it, going until half-past ten last night, and then resuming for a little while this morning before class.

As I was heading to class, I realized something about my story: the main character, whose nine years old, and the antagonist, a 40-something with some mental issues, are the only male characters. All the rest are female: the doctor, the head nurse, the head of neurology, a possible detective character, and of course the succubus Umuruk, are all women, and all are women in positions of power that they use to help people.

I started to wonder if that might mean something, if my psyche was trying to tell me something through my writing. If it’s that I respect women in positions of power and that I think there should be more of them, that doesn’t surprise me at all; I grew up in a house full of women, my mom’s a rabbi, my boss is a woman, her boss is a woman, and I took a Women’s Studies course my first year at Ohio State, which I did very well in. So no surprise that powerful women show up in my story.

However, if it has something to do with the fact that Umuruk is able to help the main character more than these women, then I wonder what that might be saying. Perhaps even if women are educated and in positions of power, if they don’t occasionally open their minds to the impossible, then a mentally unbalanced man will hurt an innocent nine-year-old? That’s also a possibility.

In any case, once I finish the story I might understand more, and if I manage to get it published, you might be able to read it and give me some suggestions on what my Muse is trying to tell me.

Anyway, I’ve got some homework to do before I go to work, so I better get that taken care of right now. Have a nice day.

Oh, before I forget, something funny I have to tell you: I was talking to my history teacher after class today, and we had a really great discussion on the way out the building. You see, at the beginning of the semester, my teacher, whose focus is African History, told us that if any of us intentionally failed his class, he’d used magic he learned from tribal priests to enter our dreams and scare the heck out of us. Ever since then I’ve been trying on and off to get him to agree to teach me how to enter people’s dreams (can you blame me?).

At some point during our conversation, my teacher revealed he’d been joking, but I thought he’d been serious because he said it in such a serious way. This led to a discussion on witchcraft in different cultures, which led to a discussion on using magic and summoning stuff. That led to a discussion on spirits and possessions, and in the end, I ended up recommending my teacher to go see The Possession, which I reviewed back in September. Turns out, he agreed to see it. How about that?

Anyway, I think it’s funny, I have no idea what you think.

Review: Taken 2

Posted: October 14, 2012 in Review
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THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS. PLEASE BE AWARE YOU MAY NOT WANT TO SEE THE MOVIE AFTER READING THIS POST.

Before I start, I just want to say one thing: I loved Taken. I loved Liam Neeson in that movie (he’s great in every movie I’ve seen him in, but he’s especially amazing here), I thought the story was amazing, the action was fresh and awesome, and the movie helped inspire my serial killer Snake.

So I feel a little sad that I have to write this review, and a little disappointed that the makers of Taken 2 couldn’t top Taken. In fact, they did several things that just sapped the excitement from the film and made it boring. For instance, the opening of the movie would’ve looked more at home in a sci-fi film about a conspiracy than the sequel of a thriller involving lots of shooting and killing. And then when they show the funeral, they make it explicitly clear that it’s an Islamic funeral while the antagonist vows revenge for his fallen friends. Seriously, I get that Albania’s mostly Muslim, but could you wait until after the funeral to discuss your evil plans? Or did you want the racist freaks out there to nod and say, “That’s just what Muslims do at funerals”?

Second, the action just seemed a little too…familiar. Even if Liam Neeson gets captured and beaten a little, it’s all the same, shoot people up in a foreign place, take them all by surprise, end up with very few wounds by the end of the film. And what was with the end of that bad guy? Honestly, you just kill him after offering to let him go. Makes no sense to me; I would’ve done it differently.

Unfortunately, this movie’s doing well at the box office, so perhaps some people disagree with me. However, I’m calling it as I see it, and I see this film as a 1.4 out of 5. Yes, that low! Hopefully when I see Alex Cross next week, they’ll be able to do a better job of doing a thriller than the makers of Taken 2, even if they’re not including the character of John Sampson in the former.

An Awesome Book: A Self-Publishing Story

Posted: October 14, 2012 in Living and Life, Reflections
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I saw an ad for Google Chrome today that I wanted to share with you. Normally I wouldn’t waste your time with a Google Chrome ad, especially since Internet Explorer is more my type. But this one has to do with a self-publishing success story:

In the video, Clayton Dallas wrote a children’s book for his son that encouraged him to dream big. Mr. Dallas wanted to publish his book, but publishers turned him down. He decided to do self-publishing, and over time, his book, titled An Awesome Book, caught on. Before he knew it, Mr. Dallas was touring the country and abroad, reading his book about how any child can change the future if they put their minds to it.

Well, that’s pretty interesting. Not only am I self-publishing Reborn City, but one of the overarching themes of RC and its two sequels is that one can better their lives and change the world if they work hard and they put their minds to it and never give up. I like that idea, and I think it’s one that not enough people believe in these days, and many people put down all too willingly, which may be why it can be difficult sometimes to get people to vote in elections (a possibility).

So Mr. Dallas, I wish you luck with your book. I hope it inspires a whole new generation of young people. As for myself, I’ll work to get my book out too, and maybe somebody will be inspired enough to try and make a change after reading RC and its sequels (fingers crossed).  I also hope that if publishing companies haven’t taken your book seriously yet, then after the Google Chrome commercial they are! Otherwise, they are just dense.

Talk to you guys later. I’ve got some homework to do and then I’m going to see Taken 2, which I’ll review afterwards. Spoiler alert: Someone gets taken and Liam Neeson has to go save them. But we already knew that, didn’t we?

My Favorite Fantasy Stories

Posted: October 8, 2012 in Living and Life, Reflections, Review, Scary Stuff
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Anyone else wondering if Mickey Mouse is hiding behind a corner?

Lately I’ve been reading a lot of of books based on Celtic and Arthurian mythology. Knights, faeries, dragons, magic and wizards. I’ve been on a bit of a fantasy binge. So I’d thought I’d devote a post to some of my favorites…not including Harry Potter. Or Tolkein. Or Lewis. Or Game of Thrones. Why none of those, you may ask? Mostly because everybody’s read them and I don’t want to just tell people what everyone know. That, and I’ve only read two of the four mentioned.

So here’s my fantasy favorites, all for your enjoyment:

THE AGE OF MISRULE by Mark Chadbourn

Honestly one of the most interesting fantasy stories I’ve ever read, weaving together both Arthurian and Celtic myths with New Age philosophy and beliefs. In modern-day Britain, strange things start happening. Dragon in the sky…electricity failing mysteriously…technology going haywire…stepping out at night becoming an extreme sport. What’s happening is the ancient gods, demons, and magical creatures of days past are returning to our world, and the only thing standing in the way of humanity being bulldozed by this change is the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons, five ordinary humans who’ve been gifted with the Pendragon Spirit, a power given to them by Existence itself to help humanity weather the coming change. Together the Brothers and Sisters must learn to work together and help humanity adapt, especially when the demonic Fomorii are working to bring their master Balor back to life and wage war on the god-like Tuatha Da Danaan.

I really enjoyed this trilogy, not only because it’s unique and Mark Chadbourn knows how to write a compelling plot and characters, but because even though the world is full of supernatural dangers, I’d want to live there. Heck, I’d want ot be a Brother of Dragons, helping to bring the change to humanity. After all, it’s a simpler life, one where if you’re not working on the land, you’re learning to be in harmony with nature and the spirits around you. And you get to learn magic, which is pretty cool.

 

 

 

 

EARL AND THE FAIRY by Mizue Tani

A series of light novels, the story follows a woman named Lydia Carlton, who is one of the last few fairy doctors around (fairy doctors being people who mediate between humans and fairies). Unfortunately for her, humans in 19th century are not too predisposed to seeing or believing in fairies, so Lydia’s kind of an odd duck to other people. That is, until she meets Edgar Ashenbert, a cunning, manipulative, and mysterious nobleman who enlists Lydia’s help in reclaiming his heritage, which includes a sword that belonged to the Blue Knight Earl, a warrior who had holdings in the realm of the fairies and Edgar’s ancestor. Torn between falling in love with Edgar and hating him for using her in his schemes, Lydia becomes embroiled with supernatural events that seem to gravitate around her and Edgar, sometimes endangering both their lives.

The series is quite popular in Japan, with 29 volumes out already, and a manga and anime series based on the books out as well. Unfortunately, only the manga is available in the US, and only the first 3 volumes as of last month. Still, it is worth a read, especially if you’re looking to get into manga and need an opinion on a good one.

 

 

 

MERLIN

A TV miniseries starring Sam Neill and Miranda Richardson, Merlin chronicles the life of Merlin in his battle against the supernatural Queen Mab. The story starts several years before King Arthur, beginning with Merlin’s birth, his magic training, his animosity with Mab, the rise and fall of Arthur and Camelot, and the final defeat of Mab and the death of magic. I saw this when I was younger, and I always thought it was an amazing story, though now that I think about it I’m not sure how pissing off Merlin and doing everything you can to hurt him is supposed to save your kingdom…oh wait, now I see what Mordred’s purpose was! I really need to rewatch that series now.

The special effects aren’t Avatar or Inception-grade, but the story is compelling and even if the effects aren’t top-notch, they do look believable for their day. Sam Neill is great as a pensive, all-knowing Merlin with anger issues, while Miranda Richardson is the ultimate femme fatale, a hoarse-voiced queen of magic with spells galore and a thousand and one tricks up her sleeve. You’ll love it if you watch it.

 

 

FAIRY CUBE by Kaori Yuki

Kaori Yuki has a reputation for powerful stories with Gothic and supernatural elements. Here she upholds her reputation with Fairy Cube, a story about a boy named Ian who sees spirits and fairies and is haunted by a spirit named Tokage. When Ian is killed by his father in a drunken rage, Tokage possesses Ian’s body and starts romancing Ian’s childhood friend Rin. Determined to get his body back, Ian teams up with a fiery fairy named Ainsel and a mysterious shopkeeper named Kaito in order to get his body back and save his friend. At the same time, Ian starts to become aware of a company called Gotoh that has ties to the spirit world and has sinister plans for the human world (I always knew corporations were up to no good).

Exciting and with Kaori Yuki’s awesome art and storytelling, Fairy Cube is an exciting read for all those interested in dark fantasy in general. I certainly enjoyed it.

 

That’s all I have right now. If I think of any other stories I’d want to put up here, I’ll let you know. If you have any suggestions, if you’ve read any of these works and want to give your review of them, or if you think I’m crazy because I haven’t read Tolkein or Game of Thrones, let me know.

The Biggest News I’ve Ever Written About On This Blog

Posted: September 30, 2012 in Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Writing
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The Jewish New Year recently came to pass. And with new years in any culture, we wish to make changes for the coming year so that hopefully, this year will be a good one. Well, I’ve decided to make a change.

As you well know, I’ve been trying the traditional publishing route for some time now (write and publish a bunch of short stories; write a novel; get an agent who can refer you to the best publishers; company publishes your novel). This process has been the norm for several years, but it does have its flaws: for instance, the big publishing companies are ruled by the need to make money, so they only publish work that they feel could be profitable, which can lead to numerous rejections for authors whose work doesn’t meet one criteria or another. Not only that, but the companies themselves have a lot of control over the author’s work, having the author edit it fifty different ways so that it can be more commercial or more profitable or whatever. All so that the author can reach the highest number of people possible.

But, self-publishing is on the rise, and people who have been reading Rami Ungar the Writer for some time are probably aware that I’ve been toying with the idea of self-publishing. Self-publishing allows an author to have more control over his or her work, recieve more profits from sales, and not be obligated by big corporate contracts. The pitfalls include that most self-publishers don’t make a lot of money off of self-publishing, and when they do it’s usually because a traditional publisher has made some sort of deal for their novel (this is what happened with Fifty Shades of Grey). Self-published authors also have to do most of their own advertising, and with the power of the Internet, anyone can upload anything, even if the work looks like a kindergartener wrote it.

But still, self-publishing is becoming more and more popular with every single day among writers, and now it’s got a new adherent. That’s right: I, Rami Ungar, have decided to self-publish, and since one of my classes has given me more confidence with computers, I’ll be doing it without the help of a service, instead compiling the whole thing myself and putting out my work as e-books (at least until I have the money and knowledge to do my own paperback).

My first self-published work will be my science fiction novel Reborn City, which I hope to have out next year at some point. I plan to take one more look at it for editing purposes, have someone else look at it afterwards (probably someone really into science fiction) and then, based on that person’s suggestions, edit again. After that I’ll set up my own independent press, one that’ll be dedicated to horror, thriller, science fiction, and fantasy, and which will allow me to have the most control over my work. It’ll be like how Akon has his own label, Kon Live and Konvict Muzik, but uses big labels like Universal to distribute his work (in my case, the Universal will be Amazon and B&N and Smashwords and such). I won’t say what I’ll name my press, but I do have a name for it, which I’ll reveal to you after I get the necessary legal paperwork out of the way to set it up. That, and a website and possibly a Facebook profile (yes, I’m considering using Facebook to get my work out there, please don’t make a big deal out of it).

I will then get a cover made for Reborn City, format the whole darn thing for an e-book, get RC copyrighted (and ISBN-ed; I’m not sure if one of those are necessary exactly but it’d be good to check), and on a release date that I will choose once I’ve formatted RC into an e-book, I will let the whole world read my work for a mere $2.99 per download.

I hope all of you will show me your support in this endeavor, and possibly consider reading RC when it comes out and letting your friends know about it. If you have any tips on how to do all this, please let me know, as your feedback is always helpful to me.

I’ll let you know when my new press is up-and-running, and when Reborn City will be released. Thanks for reading, and I hope you’re as excited as I am!

What Would You Remember If You Went to Rekall?

Posted: September 24, 2012 in Reflections
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Rekall: So good, you’ll never want to come back. Unless your name is Douglas Quaid, of course.

So last night, I decided to watch the original Total Recall, and let me tell you, I liked it, my only problem with it being that the terraforming scene at the end of the movie was a little too ridiculous for me. However, I’m not here to review Total Recall (whose remake, from what I heard, can’t really compare to the original). I’m here to discuss Rekall, the company at the beginning of the film that gives you false memories of wonderful vacations for a price. I was watching the scene where Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character is getting the spin from the doctor about the wondrous packages he could recieve, the memories that were only a few hundred credits away. It made me think, What sort of memories would I pick up if I went to Rekall?

Okay, most of you who know me probably think they know what I would get if I went to Rekall. And now you’re thinking, Of course we do. And now you’re wondering if I’m psychic or something, to which I reply I’m not. I’m also going to tell you that my dream vacation would not be becoming the leader of a demon army and taking over the world. Nor would it be becoming a slasher serial killer and having my own scary movie. Did any of you guess either of those? If you did, then what sort of deranged person do you think I am?

Anyway, this is what I’d want to do if I went to Rekall to get some memories implanted in me: I’d be just a normal human who one day discovers I have magic powers. I would gain a cool magical weapon and a spirit familiar, and I would soon discover that my magical powers mean I am prophesied to stop an evil army from taking over Earth and a magical realm in a parralel universe to Earth. Reluctantly I would take on the mantle of hero and I would go off to fight the demon army, which is comprised of wicked humans who believe they’re controlling the demons, but in reality it is not that simple.

Along the way, I would meet a really cool girl with fighting skills and magic powers and we’ll become friends and fighting partners. I’l also make some more allies, a few rivals, and some more enemies. I’ll train under various masters of magic and combat, learning all I can, and I’ll even discover some amazing things about my friends and about myself along the way, including that my fighting partner is also a princess from a lost kingdom who disappeared years ago and is unaware of her own parentage.

There will be cool fights, a couple of plot twists, one or two love triangles, and maybe a betrayal, but of course, in the end the bad guys get their asses kicked, I get the girl, and we all live happily ever after as Earth and the magical realm come into contact for the first time and learn to live with each other.

Okay, now I showed you mine. You show me yours. What would you do if you went to Rekall to get memories implanted? Would you go on an adventure? What kind? Or would you rather spend it doing something ordinary, maybe spending a couple of weeks in an exotic country? Touring your favorite vacation spot? Maybe you’ll go back in time to an era you’ve always wanted to visit? Let me know, I’d love to hear it.

Review: Joseph Gordon-Levitt on Saturday Night Live

Posted: September 23, 2012 in Review
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Yes, I’m doing another SNL review. But before you groan, let me just say, I got some very positive responses on the season premiere, and the SNL cast and writers are doing very well on fulfilling expectations. So I’ve got four words for you: can you blame me?

Alright, on to the review part of the post. Joseph Gordon-Levitt; oh my God, I think that guy became a sex symbol for both women and gay men this evening, when he not only did an impression of Magic Mike during the opening monologue, but cross-dressed during the latter half of the show. I think someone out there might’ve fallen in love with that guy. But that wasn’t all; he was funny, he could do various accents and impressions, and he reminds me of guys I knew at Jewish summer cap, so that’s a plus in my book. Add all the serious roles he’s done lately, and I think Mr. Gordon-Levitt could have a very long career in Hollywood as a star who can do many different roles. Just don’t go weird Scientology on us or jump on couches while on a talk show and we’ll be good.

As for the skits…damn! The writers seem to be thriving under the pressure. That cold open was great! And having Mumford & Sons, the musical guest, play a song during one of the skits was just great, especially when the writers somehow manage to work in an actually decent Jerry Sandusky joke. And Kate McKinnon on Weekend Update as Ann Romney had me laughing so hard. I hope she plays that role some more before the election is over. A special mention goes to the Republican-sponsored birth control fake ad and the rapper’s fashion talk show where it showed two rappers slowly becoming effeminate. Also, I’d like to say the “Powers & Powers” skit was great, though I was sad it had to be cut short due to time constraints.

Final score on the review scale: 4.7 out of 5. Join me for another review of SNL in two weeks, when Daniel Craig tries his hand at comedy (and if they really do have Jennifer Lawrence of Hunger Games fame afterwards, like the rumors are saying, I’ll review that too. Oh don’t roll your eyes, I like this show, and it’s doing really well so far this season!).

Review: Seth MacFarlene on Saturday Night Live

Posted: September 16, 2012 in Review
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Now, you all know I’m a huge horror fan. But I do like a little comedy every now and then, and I have been known to do a little reviewing on SNL every now and then. So, since there’s been some changes in cast and it’s an election year in the United States, I decided to do a review of the season premiere of Saturday Night Live!

First, let’s start with the host and the musical guest. Seth MacFarlane was awesome, doing numerous voice impressions throughout the show and at one point playing a stuttering Army sergeant (was not sure if I should laugh, or object over the fact that I’ve been to speech therapy before). I was not impressed by Frank Ocean as musical guest though, remarking that he reminded me of Usher trying to be Ne-Yo. But hey, I don’t really know his music, so whatever.

The  actors were pretty decent this episode: Jay Pharaoh took over the role of playing Obama with a stellar performance, which I approve of, seeing as he was underutilized last season. Taran Killam also did well as Paul Ryan, and Nasim Pedrad was able to match an impression for every one of MacFarlane’s. I did not see enough of the new cast members (Cecily Strong, Aidy Bryant, and Tim Robinson, for those of you who don’t know) to really form an opinion, but I think they’ll make the transition to SNL okay, if they jsut keep their heads about them.

The skits were also decent: during the cold open, Pharaoh and Jason Sudeikis (whom, I’m convinced, did not tell people whether or not he was rejoining the cast until the final week before the new season just to get interest for the new season) were playing off each other to get plenty of laughs from the audience. Weekend Update was phenomenal as usual, though I don’t think “Innocence of Muslims” is something you can make a joke about. And in one skit, YouTube sensation Psy (I didn’t know who he was until this episode either, but down below is the video that made him famous) made an appearance, which was hilarious.

I did think that the Amish website skit was too short for my tastes, and the commercial breaks were too long. Also, I thought the new opening credits for the show was interesting, if a little heavy on tranistion use. Other than that, very few objections, bringing my rating of the episode a 4.2 out of 5. Let’s hope they can keep up the yucks for the next episode, with musical guest Mumford and Sons and guest host Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

And if you’re curious who Psy is and why he was featured in an SNL sketch, here’s his video. Trust me, it’s great; he’s dance like me, except possibly worse!

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