The Six Sacred Stones

The cover of my favourite Australian author Matthew Reilly's latest novel, coming out in hardcover in October 2007: The Six Sacred Stones.

Waiting for his new novel is like waiting for J.K. Rowling's final Harry Potter book to be released!

If you haven't given Matthew Reilly a try, here is a list of all his action-packed novels, start at the beginning and work your way to the latest out in the market right now.

My favourite novels of his are highlighted in bold:

Contest (1996)
Ice Station (1998)
Temple (1999)
Area 7 (2001)
Scarecrow (2003)
Hover Car Racer (2004)
Seven Ancient Wonders (2005)

If you ever read this blog Matthew, please send me an advance copy of The Six Sacred Stones, so that your biggest fan can be your greatest reviewer who gets first dibs at all your latest novels, now and in the future!

Moderately Fantastic

I just got back from an evening of watching Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer. As things have it, the movies are not exactly the way the comics have them. Characters have slightly different origins, and they look different. I heard so many negatively mixed reactions from friends and family alike that I had to watch it myself. I know that the first movie wasn't too fantastic, but like the X-men, they had to establish the characters, their origins and powers before developing them, and that will take at least a trilogy to accomplish.

Caution: Some Spoilers Below! Read At Your Own Risk!

When you deal with 4 characters, plus supporting casts, you have to develop them all, so that the movie is balanced. Although this movie concentrated more on the pair of Susan Storm and Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), their wedding and their expectations on family values, they could have concentrated on all of them. I can understand having to develop movies for the younger generation, I felt that the movie was catering to the younger kids than to the developed, advance comic readers in general.

The movie did stress on the importance of teamwork and how, if one of the team members don't plan according to the plan or rules, it does affect the other members of the team and break them up. Everyone in the team is interconnected.

Susan Storm's (Jessica Alba) blond hair was just wrong, they could have let it look more brown than bleached blond. I particularly laughed at Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) breaking out the Fantastic Four blue suits complete with all the endorsement company logos attached, almost like one of those F1 racing suits that Kimi Raikkonen wears when racing. The subplot about the Human Torch touching everyone and exchanging powers with them was a little ridiculous, but worked well into the main plot of the movie.

Technology using visual and special effects was top-notched again as per all sci-fi action flick. I never really knew that the Silver Surfer's powers came from his board or that Galactus, who was a giant in the comics and now appears as a swirling cloud of mist, needed craters in the Earth for his misty powers to enter to the Earth's core to consume the planet.

They never really explained how Victor von Doom (Julian McMahon) was reawakened, was it from the Silver Surfer flying over Latveria, his home town that re-empowered the cosmic power within him? All his metallic blemishes vanished from his hands and face instantly, it went unexplained. However, they did deal with the fact from the comics that Victor von Doom has always been trying to steal the Silver Surfer's cosmic power for personal gain - a good link to the comics, for those who read Fantastic Four. The actor did look a little more plastic than he's used to.

One more thing that I noticed in this movie that is commonly introduced in the comics, is that when a character loses his/her powers, they become skinnier, or they lose some kind of colour. This is mainly to show that the power(s) was a part of their body and that it made them what they are and gave them a figure or shape. In this movie, when the Silver Surfer lost his board, he lost his metallic sheen and became a duller shade of grey. So the writers did actually adhere to some of the Marvel comic book rules when writing this movie, or it was just a complete coincidence.

Overall, I was rather entertained for the entire movie, I didn't once yawn or try to feel like the movie was going nowhere, so that should explain quite a lot. Do not go and watch this movie expecting it to be exactly like what you've been reading in all the comics ever published on Fantastic Four, if you do, you'll be sorely disappointed. The creators and screenplay have been developed as closely as they can to the comics, but not completely similar.

7 out of 10 stars

Remember Everything, Forgive Nothing

The final installment to the Bourne Trilogy,
The Bourne Ultimatum, starring Matt Damon as Jason Bourne.

I hope it's good because the novels and the movies are very different.
On top of that, this year's movies which are all the final installments of
trilogies haven't been any good, well, except for Ocean's 13.

Death Penalty Deters Crime?

Has it taken them so long to figure it out? That only when you give the death penalty to someone for their crimes, is there a deterrent from performing the crime itself, or at least make them think twice before they perform it. It needed a study as proof to show that the statistics drop once you implement the death penalty. This century is big on these things now - studies and statistics.

I know that all around the world, all European countries (except Belarus), Australia, New Zealand, Timor Leste and Canada have abolished the death penalty (aka capital punishment to some). Also in Latin America, most states have completely abolished the death penalty, while some countries like Brazil still allow for it only in exceptional situations like treason committed during wartime.

Does this violate some form of human right (what utter rubbish!)? Perhaps in these areas, especially in Europe people tend to be more docile, where there's more open space, more family, more entertainment. They're not so stressed and high-strung as say in Asia.

In Asia, the population density can be much higher than usual because of growing urban societies and a competition to have a job and stay out of the unemployment sector. Stressed, homeless and unemployed, people will turn to crime to survive, it's genetic and built into us to survive no matter what. But does having a death penalty in that country really deter the criminals from performing the crime? Is the crime rate higher or comparable in Europe than in Asia?

Not having a death penalty in itself is a crime. Remember the good old days of public executions? Guillotines, hanging, flogging (not capital punishment but it helped and some died from it!) and beheading? Well, there are some countries in the Middle East that still practice the latter, but perhaps for a completely different reason altogether.

Countries without the death penalty have their justice system twisted (NOT the same as corrupted) to suit reform, but can one really reform? They always believe that this criminal can be redeemed, that he saw the light and saw God and will repent from his sinful ways. Perhaps to a certain extent, but the seeds for crime have already been planted, the experience and rush of the crime is already there and it is addictive! Without the death penalty, once criminals serve out their sentence and are released from prison (or a correctional facility), they would want to experience this rush all over again, even if it means them landing in prison again with a harsher punishment and longer prison time. Without the death penalty, it doesn't end there, it just becomes a vicious cycle and when they're released, it starts all over again.

Which brings me to the subject of temptation. Temptation is always a flashy nice sports car, a new computer, an expensive watch, jewellery, an iPod or something that people want but cannot have. Dangling the carrot always leave us with a certain temptation to want but unable to have, therein lies the seeds of crime.

There were several conclusions to the study (they just love statistics!):

• Each execution deters an average of 18 murders, according to a 2003 nationwide study by professors at Emory University. (Other studies have estimated the deterred murders pe execution at 3, 5, and 14).
• The Illinois moratorium on executions in 2000 led to 150 additional homicides over 4 years following, according to a 2006 study by professors at the University of Houston.
• Speeding up executions would strengthen the deterrent effect. For every 2.75 years cut from time spent on death row, 1 murder would be prevented, according to a 2004 study by an Emory University professor.

These professors, all theory and number but nothing really practical, I really wonder if these findings are even remotely accurate. So far, I've known of nothing accurate when it comes to predicting the human condition.

Will these findings really push governments around the world to rethink their stand on the death penalty?

Only time will tell.

Their War, Our World

Trailers of the new Transformers movie are flooding
the Internet, especially on youtube.com.
I actually got to see it when watching Pirates Of The Caribbean 3.
Something to look out for since Transformers was the most watched
cartoon during my younger school days.

At Wit's End

I was so tired after a long day's work that when I heard the movie was going to be about 3 hours long, I almost gave up watching. However, I was glad that I didn't and went through with it. I had read reviews in the newspapers days before on this 3rd movie being bad, the critic (who only knows how to appreciate artistic movies and doesn't give a damn to thrillers or action-adventures) wasn't too kind to this one. I could understand why. However, critics criticize according to their taste and not the taste of the general audiences. Spoilers below, read at your own risk!

I can say for a fact that I forgot all about work for 3 hours and was thoroughly entertained. Don't forget what Pirates of the Caribbean is originally; It's a water-ride at the original Anaheim Disneyland, one I'll never forget riding, it was worth the queuing time of about 1 hour. You have to understand that because it started off as a ride, it had to involve treasure, so that's where the first movie came about, chasing the lost treasure of Cortez. However, when a sequel and subsequently a trilogy came out, they had to continue the story and also add in mythical elements into the movie. Granted that the special effects were a little over the top, but it was also indistinguishable from normal props and explosions in the movie. The way the ship splinters when hit by cannonballs and cannons and pirates being flung around the deck was absolutely brilliant, but ultimately all computer generated.

I can say for a fact that the plot was written to conveniently make Tia Dalma as Calypso. And for her to become a giant hag and change into crabs and fall into the ocean, was just a little incomplete for me. There were loopholes within loopholes within loopholes for the plot. And yet, I was thoroughly entertained by the pirates, especially Captain Jack Sparrow, who managed to just make you laugh for no reason with his witty, savvy dialogue.

Allegiances shifted back and forth between all the characters to the point of confusion. I was confused why Will betrayed his fellow pirates to the East India Company and why Jack Sparrow also made a deal with Lord Cutler Beckett, why Governor Swan had to die just because he outlived his usefulness. How conveniently Admiral James Norrington had to die, and poor Chow Yun-Fatt, after welcoming everybody to Singapore, ultimately he met his end impaled on splintered wood! A shame because although he was one of the pirate lords, his character could have had more potential for development. Also, how rocking a ship till it's upside-down allows you to return from Davy Jone's Locker alive. I guess this is all part of some mythology that was written in to confuse and entertain us all at the same time.

You also have to stay till the end of the credits to watch a little snippet of Will Turner's younger son 10 years later together with Elizabeth Swan awaiting on the cliff-top for Will Turner's return after 10 years at sea, it sort of gives the ending a nice little round-up.

Mixed reactions on this movie for me. I didn't fall asleep, but I was entertained. However, although the villains got their just desserts, there was still something lacking in the story, character development was only so-so. And twirling and shooting cannonballs at each other while circling a maelstrom is hardly something that's scary or fascinating, just comical in that the rest of the ships nearby didn't get affected at all, almost like the term, circling the drain!

7 out of 10 stars