Nerdy Pursuits

5 Twists On Alice

2011-07-11T15:20:00.000-07:00

Lewis Carrols famous wonderland tale has been re-imagined many times over. Generations continue to go back to this almost one hundred and fifty year old book for inspiration and new artistic direction. The original story isn’t much of a story at all, more of a random collection of poetry and absurd images. Alice’s wanderings through a dream world act more as a structural frame rather than any sort of plot. This may be why there is so much room to inject other stories into Carroll’s world. Provided with an outline of character’s and settings, all the artist has to do is decide what story he or she wants to tell. Here is a list of some of the more original versions of Alice I have come across, in no particular order.

Alice (SyFy TV miniseries)

From RHI Entertainment, the people who brought you Tin Man, a unique adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, comes an equally immersive fantasy world that leans more toward the science fiction. In this version, an Alice has visited Wonderland in the past and has become a legend among its inhabitants. In the present, long after Alice of legend’s visit, Wonderland has become a dystopia, ruled by the Queen and King of Hearts and her suits. They control the population with emotional tonics or teas that have a drug-like effect and that are extracted from people from our world. Alice Hamilton, another Alice and judo instructor, follows her kidnapped boyfriend Jack into Wonderland where she gets mixed up with the Queen and a Caterpillar led Resistance, set on combating the drug’s effects on their world. She teams up with a street-smart Hatter, her love interest, and together with an absent minded white knight, Charlie, they try to uncover Jack’s secret and take down the Queen’s tyranny.

I was blown away by the details in the sets and characters, from Hatter’s teashop and grass carpeted office, to the medieval ruins of a chessboard city, to the 1960’s Hearts Casino where the Queen rules. The costume and sets are all styled in 60’s mod that captures all the fun and drama of the era.

American McGee’s Alice (Videogame)

This game has developed a cult following since its release in October 2000 and is celebrated for its visuals, gameplay, and psychologically themed story. In Victorian England, ten years after the events of Carroll’s original books and after a devastating fire that killed Alice’s entire family, Alice is in an Asylum being treated for the mental illness she developed due to the tragedy. Alice goes back to Wonderland in her maddened state to find that it has become as twisted and damaged as her own mind. Guided by the Cheshire Cat, she must travel through different sections of the game and defeat several characters, such as the Mad Hatter and Red Queen, who’s current power has been fueled by Alice feelings of guilt and pain for the loss of her family.

The look of the game is a wonderful Victorian horror theme that gets creative in its grotesque and bloody style. There are no straight lines in this Wonderland as it takes the term twisted through every aspect of the game.

Malice in Wonderland (Film)

This British film takes place in a hyper reality version of urban England that seems more like one long drug trip than an orderly sequence of events, though it is a rather imaginative journey. An American girl, Alice, runs away from her rich and powerful father but ends up getting run over by a disreputable but well meaning cab driver named Whitey, who becomes her love interest. Due to a head injury (and some inopportune drug use) she remains out of it for most of her wanderings as she is passed from one shady underground character to the next. When word gets out who Alice’s father is and that he has offered an award for her return, she becomes a target for every lowlife in the city. After they are separated, Whitey goes looking for her while evading the mob boss, the Queen, and his cohorts.

This movie is quirky and dark and fun. It isn’t the best or most coherent movie, but its interesting seedy take on the storybook source merits it a try.

The Looking Glass Wars (Novel)

I have yet to begin reading this fantasy series by Frank Beddor, but its premise was very intriguing to me. Beddor’s Alyss is a Wonderland princess, and heir to the throne, who has been stranded in Victorian London. Lewis Carroll is written into the series, only the books that he has published turns out to be the highly inaccurate retelling of the very real Wonderland’s history. Wonderland has gone through a civil war and the Queendom has been usurped by Alyss’s Aunt Redd. She was forced to flee Wonderland to our world where she is separated from her trusted bodyguard, Hatter Midigan.

I look forward to seeing how Alyss gets back to Wonderland and if she can set things right.

Alice is Dead (Videogame)

This has to be one of my favorite flash games that I have come across in recent years. Alice is Dead is a point and click adventure game that spans three episodes. In the first game, you are stuck down a hole, with no knowledge of how you got there or even who you are. Alice’s corpse lies beside you in skeletal form and you must piece together your identity and the events that lead you into this trap.

As you progress through this quirky game, more gangster elements along with a few surprises are uncovered. The puzzles were challenging, but admirably clever and the walkthrough is always on standby for when a player gets stuck. The art for the game was very impressive for an independent title, using gruesome and whimsical images. It reminded me of an old Sierra game, complete with a compelling story and stylized personality. It’s free online so I recommend giving it a try.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1 Premiere Reflections

2010-12-27T21:29:00.000-08:00

Warning: Contains some spoilers.

My friend, Natasha, and I went to the theater two hours early. We expected a lot of people, but it didn’t seem so crowded because they were letting people into the theater already. Only one line, for a later showing, was still outside. It seemed like they were playing Harry Potter on all the screens, with a showings starting ever five minutes after midnight.

Our theater was only half full, but more and more people came in as the minutes passed. A few dedicated fans were dressed in costume and others had drawn lightning bolts on their foreheads. Natasha and I had used make-up to make our lightning bolts look more like real scars. She had even put fake blood on her forehead to make it look like an open wound. Three girls in front of us were dressed as the characters Moaning Myrtle, Professor Trelawney, the Dobby. They were homemade costumes but they were very well made.

When the movie started, everyone applauded, but their cheers faded when the first scene began. This movie was so different from the rest of the series. It had a darker tone and the whimsical joy was almost completely drained from the story. But Rupert Grint’s Ron Weasley kept some scenes light. He really shined as the comic relief and he also came out as the best actor out of the three main stars. There was this monologue he gave after he returns to help Harry, that sounded ridiculous in the book, but he pulled it off and managed to give it some weight.

Towards the end of the movie, there is this scene that caught me off guard. I had forgotten that Dobby, a minor but popular character, dies in the book. His death scene in the movie hit everyone hard. I heard people sniffling all around me, especially the three girls in front of me. I choked up too and I looked at Natasha and saw that she was wiping her eyes.

When the movie ended, everyone clapped and cheered. We made our way out of the theater and overheard everyone talking about what we had just seen. They were also talking about how only one more movie was left. Natasha and I talked about how much of an event this was for our generation. It seemed special to us because we had grown up with Harry Potter, from the age of eleven into our semi-adulthood. I didn’t think I was going to see this type of loyalty and love for a pop culture event again.

Inception Review

2010-07-16T22:27:00.000-07:00

Note: I've left out many details (and whole characters) in this review so there isn't much as far as spoilers go, but if you don't want to know anything about the plot then don't read beyond the first paragraph.

I just got back from watching Christopher Nolan's most recent mind bending creation and his trademark complex story telling skills are still as acute as ever. Inception runs a bit over two and half hour, but it felt like a thrill-filled five. Nolan manages to pack so much into a plot that builds up speed until it takes off into a sprint before it literally falls off the edge. The acting is very sharp; many of the actors, including Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ellen Page, draw you in and make the world believable with virtually no back story. And the accompaniment of Hans Zimmer's score moves with the action, making you hold your breath in dramatic anticipation.

The story revolves around the concept of a technology that allows people to share and construct dreams. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Cobb, a man hired to extract secrets from a mind through dreams. Saito, played by Ken Watanabe, instead hires Cobb to plant an idea in Robert Fischer's (Cilian Murphy) mind.

The film begins like a heist movie, which in many ways it is, gathering a crew and setting up a plan. And like a heist movie the characters are fleshed out as they try to accomplish their respective tasks, but the aspects of the dream setting add a complexity to each new revelation. Cobb's emotional journey parallels Fischer's as they go deeper into there own minds and the dream makes it more difficult to determine which is really real and which is the fabricated real.

Bring Back Snake

2009-07-04T13:24:00.000-07:00

Remember those simpler days, before Twitter and full keyboard and even color. These were the days when you couldn't cure boredom by updating your Facebook status. You usually only had two options; actually give someone a call and beg them to entertain you or try to beat the high score on Snake. This was the golden age of Snake, a short-lived but memorable era. Much as Pong was for home consoles, Nokia's simple and addictive game was just the beginning for cellphone entertainment.
Nowadays, I'm lucky to play through my entire demo before my game of Diner Dash gets interrupted by a Buy Now button. I may be able to get Resident Evil 4 on my Iphone, but these things come at a price. So my suggestion to Nokia is; instead of trying to compete with the application kings out there, bring back Snake and maybe cheapskates, like myself, may hold that as the deciding factor when choosing a solid basic featured phone (oh and you might want to work on the design of some of those too).

Coraline 3D review

2009-03-06T12:03:00.000-08:00

Beautiful and creepy. This handmade movie is filled with stunning details that leave with a how-did-they-do-that feeling that can't always be explained with CG means. Everything on the set from the popcorn garden trees to the painstakingly micro-knitted gloves was made with human hands. The creativity that went into this film appears to have carried every scene through a world of storybook fantasy.

The story is a fresh take on a familiar little girl journey, but instead of Alice or Wendy Darling, or even Dorothy, you get Coraline, bitter, unpleasant, and full of spunk. Coraline moves with her parents, gardening workaholics, to an apartment building in rainy dreary Oregon. Coraline, board out of her mind and ignored by her parents, then finds a mysterious little door which she has to open (of course). But on the other side is a Wonderland set in Plaesantville. Button-eyed (creepy) copies of the apartment's inhabitants greet Coraline with a pleasant and here-to-serve attitude (creepier). And (of course) everything is not what it seems.

The plot is a bit borrowed from other works (though what story isn't!), but the characters hide this fact with their original design (Wybie and Other Mother, to name a few). Overall the film was not what I expected from the trailers, but I should have know better when they said it was from the makers of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (which If you loved and don't care that there are no songs then you'll love Coraline). Once again it's a kid's movie that's not really a kid's movie. Some parts were a bit disturbing (in a good way) and a few moments were a little...well... just watch the scenes with the two crazy sisters from downstairs and you'll see what I mean.

As a whole, Coraline is a truly inspiring movie. I can't wait to see some fan art on this one and to get the DVD. I also hope that they release the songs They Might Be Giants created when the project was a musical. I fully recommend watching it in 3D if you haven't already; once you see the setting, you'll want to walk around in this strange colorful world.

Top 4 Standalone Episodes

2009-02-16T20:20:00.000-08:00

A standalone episode refers to a single episode (or two parter) that deviates from the normal format of a series and, sometimes, puts a hold on the progression of the plot altogether for one specialized episode. Characteristics of these episodes may be a lack or absence of the main character and instead focusing in extremely minor characters or new characters introduced within the episode. I like to offer up these episodes as mini movies or as a hook to get one of my friends to start watching a show. You don't need to know anything about what's happened in the series so far since the episode can 'stand alone'. So my friends who don't want to bother to finish an entire series can just sit back and enjoy the characters and worlds I have come to know and love with me.

(note: the list is not in any particular order)

1. "Double Lips" - ep. 3 from Paranoia Agent

This was actually the first full episode I saw from the series. I caught bits and pieces scanning past adult swim and never gave it a closer look. It seemed too weird. But after I finally sat down and watched this entire episode, I was hooked. The weirdness finally made sense and this episode is great example of the series' psychological exploration. The episode focuses on Chouno Harumi struggle to maintain the life she's created, but with the angle of a psychological thriller.

2. "Blink" - ep. 10 s. 03 from Doctor Who
The interesting thing about this episode is that I think it might be more mysterious if you haven't seen any other Doctor Who episodes. Though he's barely in it, the Doctor pops up as this mysterious figure who the main characters of the episode know nothing about. The plot is full of twists and unexpected turns and borders on horror toward the end. The suspense of the final scene had me literally leaping out of my chair and pacing the room yelling "What the hell's gonna happen!".

3. "Expose" - ep. 14 s. 03 from Lost
This episode takes a break from main plot to explore the backgrounds of two minor characters; Nikki and Paulo. In keeping with Lost's non linear storytelling, Nikki and Paulo's story starts at the end. Then it weaves the events before the opening scene with even deeper flashbacks telling how they got on the island in the first place. It tells you how their story ends at the beginning of the episode, but all is not what it seems.

4. "Serenity" - ep. 01 from Firefly
This one might be cheating a bit since it's the first episode and therefore an introductory episode, but I truly believe that it can stand alone. The two part episode (considered a single episode as a whole) almost seems more like a micro-mini-series or tv movie. It has a beginning, middle, and end and, though it ends with out fully explaining every mystery, it still leaves you with the sense of a conclusion. It is especially fun not knowing who the villain of the story is in the beginning since the plot focuses on Mal's (the 'hero' of the series) trust or lack of trust for the people on bored his ship.