For those of you who don't know me, I'm a TransFormers fan. I have been once since I was four, back in 1984. I've seen the highs, the lows, and everything in between.
...or so I thought.
Renowned director Michael Bay was chosen by Steven Spielberg (along with Paramount and other companies involved in the movie process) to helm the TF movie franchise. (He's signed on for 5 films, at last check, btw.)
Now, it's obvious that the films have been tremendous box office hits. Critically, not so much. The first film fared okay with them, however.
Now, some of you might be scratching your heads and wondering "What is the point of all of this? What is he blabbering about?" Well, I'm about to tell you.
The "fans" have threatened Bay's life. Yes, you're reading it right...the fans have threatened Michael Bay's life. Repeatedly. They've wished for his death, they want him dead, etc. Even though both films were a ginormous financial success (and one of them close to being a critical success).
That's not all, no. They call him foul names (which I will not repeat here...) they blame him for everything wrong with the movies (which isn't fair...) and they even stole his laptop. STOLE his personal property so they could get their hands on an early view of the script.
So, his life has been threatened, his personal space has been invaded, and his personal property has been taken from him.
And all for what? Over a couple of movies? How frightening. The fanatics (the fandom stopped being simply "fans" a while ago.) are borderline dangerous and absolutely terrifying.
So why, you might ask, does the man keep coming back for more? Well, for one, the money. Let's not lie here, he's doing it for the money. But he likes working with his cast and crew, he likes seeing the world his way, and just a few years back, we applauded him for it. Now, he's vilified for it. Am I the only one completely caught off guard by this insanity??
Let's face it: TransFormers started out as a badly made, badly drawn, bad-for-you, cartoon. A Saturday morning cartoon with the weight and legitimacy of a sheet of paper. It's there, it's real, but it ain't worth much.
Fast forward 23 years later: Michael Bay (with the help of some talented writers) pulled off the impossible. He made TransFormers not only fun for everyone, but he brought them to life for the first time in the franchise's history, and he did so with gusto. I mean, look at the robots in the film....you honestly believe they're real and you couldn't imagine it any other way. (Even if you don't like the robot designs, you gotta admit they at least look like they're really being filmed by a camera, on set. And that's impressive.)
He also did one other thing that was impossible for the past 20+ years....he made TransFormers legit. They're cool now. They're embraced by the public. Old fans and new fans meet everyday online and in person, all thanks to his directorial efforts. Before his first TF movie hit the big screen, we were ridiculed and made fun of, we were afraid to show our true fan colors.
...but not anymore. Geek is chic these days, and he had a hand in it.
Past a certain point, you can tell it's not only the money that keeps bringing him back to the camera. The threats, the ridicule, the critics, the hard work would've driven a lesser man away from this project. Bay comes running right into the middle of the storm, guns blazing and his efforts show.
Do I think he's a hero? Of course not. I think he can be abrasive, rude, and arrogant. I also realize he's a human being, awkward like the rest of us, and thrust into a world he knows nothing about. He's handed a script that caters to the freaks and geeks, but alienates the audience. He HAS to put his spin on it to make it profitable, and he has. To the tune of a billion plus on the first movie alone.
For the fact that he's a trooper and stuck with it, and the fact that he's given us a bit of street cred, a world wife legitimacy...he has my utmost respect. I don't agree with everything he's done, but he most certainly doesn't deserve such hatred over a MOVIE.
C'mon people, get over yourselves.
Leave the guy alone. If it bothers you that much, just stop lining his pockets with ticket money. Boycott the films, do something productive. Quit sitting around and whining pointlessly.
Bay makes movies, you watch them.
Shut up.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
The First Rambling....
This is the first time, in days, that I've been online for any length of time beyond checking emails. I have to say that the break really cleared my head and made me realize I was wasting far too much time on here.
If you want to see the decay of society, you need merely to log on. The depravity, the decadence, the vile voices to be heard. And you needn't look far, you merely have to read the headlines. Has it ever occurred to you folks that we're walking right into the pages of the book of Revelation, and that God's right?
I watched a special about the immorality of Rome and Pompeii and how many believe the devastation of Pompeii to be divine intervention. It spooked me out a bit because a volcano's eruption is hellfire and brimstone, or as close as we can come to it in the human realm. Pompeii's horrid ways and subsequent destruction are exactly what we're living through now, and all we're waiting for is our devastating eruption of hellfire and brimstone. We brought it upon ourselves and it is coming. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not even this century, but it is coming. (And no, not in December 2012, people!)
And this is exactly why....
I would like to be happy in the time we have left. I would like to be peaceful and joyful in the time we have left. We're not going to find it on the internet, my friends. Oh no. We'll find it in a simple, but good deed we've done for a neighbor. A shed tear of joy when we witness a miracle happen (whether it's small or big doesn't matter, just that it IS a miracle) Those moments...they make life whole. They make it better. And you can't find that on the internet. You can find bits and pieces of it, for sure, but you'll never find all of it by staring at a computer monitor, lying to yourself and being lied to by the person on the other end of that connection.
We as a people have become so disenchanted with one another, that entire families don't even eat dinner together anymore....they tweet each other....in the same house. It would be a shock if you people would actually sit at a table together and share each other's hopes, dreams, fears, and pains together...as families should.
I've come to realize why older TV and Music entice me. For all of the decadence and vile behavior exhibited in the '60s and '70s...we still had wholesome entertainment that the WHOLE family could enjoy. Sure, it's outdated and hokey by today's standards, but the people in front of the cameras, delivering those lines...BELIEVED in what they were saying. They believed in the hope for a better tomorrow, a glorious and peaceful co-existence. They taught us things we never knew, they brought us joy when we had none, we hurt when they hurt, and we shared it all....as a family.
The computer has broken down the fabric of society, and made us dependent upon it. God help us all when the time comes and technology cannot do anything for us except be a paperweight. If they were to press the reset button right now, the world would be thrown into utter chaos, the peoples of the world would fall apart. We don't need a reset button, we just need some God given common sense. How hard is it to think these days? Seriously, people. Your computer can be a wonderful companion device in a time of need (not all, some) just don't make it your life.
Go out and smell the fresh air for once. Go stand underneath that yellow ball in the sky (which, by the way, is called the Sun. Just FYI.) and soak in it's beauty. Watch the grass grow, watch paint dry, just get outside and enjoy the simple pleasures. And do it all with someone you love. Share yourself with your mate, share every piece of yourself and do it with love.
Burt Bacharach said it best "What the world needs now, is love, sweet love. No, not just for some, but for everyone." And it's true, because the Bible says "GOD...IS LOVE"
What the world needs now is God. What the world needs now is love.
Love God, love one another.
Don't waste it.
If you want to see the decay of society, you need merely to log on. The depravity, the decadence, the vile voices to be heard. And you needn't look far, you merely have to read the headlines. Has it ever occurred to you folks that we're walking right into the pages of the book of Revelation, and that God's right?
I watched a special about the immorality of Rome and Pompeii and how many believe the devastation of Pompeii to be divine intervention. It spooked me out a bit because a volcano's eruption is hellfire and brimstone, or as close as we can come to it in the human realm. Pompeii's horrid ways and subsequent destruction are exactly what we're living through now, and all we're waiting for is our devastating eruption of hellfire and brimstone. We brought it upon ourselves and it is coming. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not even this century, but it is coming. (And no, not in December 2012, people!)
And this is exactly why....
I would like to be happy in the time we have left. I would like to be peaceful and joyful in the time we have left. We're not going to find it on the internet, my friends. Oh no. We'll find it in a simple, but good deed we've done for a neighbor. A shed tear of joy when we witness a miracle happen (whether it's small or big doesn't matter, just that it IS a miracle) Those moments...they make life whole. They make it better. And you can't find that on the internet. You can find bits and pieces of it, for sure, but you'll never find all of it by staring at a computer monitor, lying to yourself and being lied to by the person on the other end of that connection.
We as a people have become so disenchanted with one another, that entire families don't even eat dinner together anymore....they tweet each other....in the same house. It would be a shock if you people would actually sit at a table together and share each other's hopes, dreams, fears, and pains together...as families should.
I've come to realize why older TV and Music entice me. For all of the decadence and vile behavior exhibited in the '60s and '70s...we still had wholesome entertainment that the WHOLE family could enjoy. Sure, it's outdated and hokey by today's standards, but the people in front of the cameras, delivering those lines...BELIEVED in what they were saying. They believed in the hope for a better tomorrow, a glorious and peaceful co-existence. They taught us things we never knew, they brought us joy when we had none, we hurt when they hurt, and we shared it all....as a family.
The computer has broken down the fabric of society, and made us dependent upon it. God help us all when the time comes and technology cannot do anything for us except be a paperweight. If they were to press the reset button right now, the world would be thrown into utter chaos, the peoples of the world would fall apart. We don't need a reset button, we just need some God given common sense. How hard is it to think these days? Seriously, people. Your computer can be a wonderful companion device in a time of need (not all, some) just don't make it your life.
Go out and smell the fresh air for once. Go stand underneath that yellow ball in the sky (which, by the way, is called the Sun. Just FYI.) and soak in it's beauty. Watch the grass grow, watch paint dry, just get outside and enjoy the simple pleasures. And do it all with someone you love. Share yourself with your mate, share every piece of yourself and do it with love.
Burt Bacharach said it best "What the world needs now, is love, sweet love. No, not just for some, but for everyone." And it's true, because the Bible says "GOD...IS LOVE"
What the world needs now is God. What the world needs now is love.
Love God, love one another.
Don't waste it.
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