I Am Number Four
--- Sarah Luo
Movie: I Am Number Four
Director: D.J. Caruso
Rating: PG-13
Starring: Alex Pettyfer, Dianna Agron
“You only fall for one person in your entire life. Ever.” is the last line of the entire movie. Yeah, I have to admit, that’s cheesy as hell. The movie itself though, is ok overall. Based on the novel I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore, the story follows a boy named John Smith (Number 4) as he seeks his peers and dodges death over and over again.
The storyline itself is very interesting. John Smith, played by Alex Pettyfer, is from a different planet. John is from the planet Lorien and is basically considered an alien on Earth, even though he embodies all the characteristics of an attractive 15 year old. The only difference between the Loriens and the humans are their inhuman abilities like how John can control light in his hands and Number 6 is fire-proof. There are 9 of these high ability teenagers that were able to escape when their planet was destroyed by the Mogadorians (Mogs as they are called), the creeps that are now seeking to kill them. Their names are basically Number (insert number here). John is Number 4, but in order to maintain a humanly profile here, his name is John Smith and all of his real identities are well hidden by his guardian Kevin.
These 9 high ability teens are the last that’s left of Lorien and the Mogs go after them one by one, in order. By the time the movie starts, Numbers 1-3 are already dead and John is next. The audience follows John as he escapes from death a couple times before he realizes his abilities to control light. Through all of this however, he still manages to meet a girl in high school, which...is quite unlikely, but it’s a movie so what the hey.
John meets Sarah, played by Dianna Agron, and they fall madly in love. Although the love story plot is relatively shallow and ridiculously cheesy, the action scenes are definitely worth watching. What’s interesting is that this storyline calls for older actors, at least in their late teens to early 20s, but the characters in this story are all in their early teens ranging from 15-17, which makes it all the more impressive when you see a "15" year old defeat a gigantic animal that’s 10 times his size and all kinds of deadly.
Anyways, the movie is highly science fictional and is definitely made for teenagers that like to stare at Alex Pettyfer’s body. There are quite a few shirtless shots which we all know is specially made for those loyal fangirls of his. Regardless, the plot is very well done and complex enough that the book would probably be great, but in terms of whether the movie did the book justice, I’m not at liberty to say.
TV Show Spotlight: Hawaii Five-O
--- Angela Zhang
Hot guys (and a hot girl) kicking baddie ass in Hawaii? FUCK YEAH! Hawaii Five-0 is CBS's new action-packed crime drama that airs Mondays at 10 pm. Well, the show is not completely new; it is actually a revamp of CBS's old Hawaii Five-O, which was popular during its run from 1968 to 1980.
In the new Five-0, former Navy SEAL, Steve McGarrett, played by Alex O'Loughlin, is put in charge of a special police task force. Special as in they have complete immunity to take down the biggest and baddest criminals on the Hawaiian islands. McGarrett's team consists of three others: Chin Ho Kelly, a skilled ex-cop who resigned after his career was ruined by false charges of corruption; Kono Kalakaua, Chin's cousin who recently graduated from the Honolulu Police academy; and Daniel (Danny/Danno) Williams, a New Jersey detective who transferred to Hawaii after his ex-wife moved to the islands with their young daughter.
The cast is star studded considering that Danny is Scott Caan (AKA Turk Malloy from the Ocean's movies), Kono is Grace Park (AKA Number Eight/Sharon from Battlestar Galactica) , and Chin is Daniel Dae Kim (AKA Jin-Soo Kwon from Lost). Sadly, Alex O'Loughlin hasn't hit it as big as the others, but he's making his way up! Their looks aren't just for show; they also flaunt their moves in Five-0 with their guns blazing and fists ready to dish out a serious beat down on anyone who dares threaten the peace of their beloved islands.
Aside from the smoking hot cast, Five-0 is filled with epic crime-fighting action! I've watched my fair share of action shows, and Hawaii Five-0 has some pretty badass fight scenes (Steve is such an ass-kicking ninja-beast, you don't even know). The stories not only focus on the team solving crimes, but also on the back stories of each member, adding a more personal and 'real' feel to the show. Another aspect that makes the show feel more authentic is the fact that they bring in real-life native Hawaiian attitude and language. It's pretty entertaining to watch the Hawaiian natives Steve, Chin, and Kono poke fun at Danno's haole (foreigner/white man) ways (like how Danno calls putting pineapple on pizzas blasphemous and how he wears ties, dress shirts, and leather loafers to the beach). The chemistry between the characters is smooth, natural, and charming. Steve and Danno have an epic (and hilarious) bromance going on, and Chin and Kono know how to hang close with the team and hang loose on the waves.
I can't really think of anything that is terrible about the show. I guess you could say 'oh man, not another crime-drama', but it brings a fresh twist to the overly used genre. One thing I'd like to point out is how incredibly inappropriate the timing of the opening theme song is sometimes. It's rather hilarious: something horrible happens to someone in the first few minutes, and then the cheery Hawaiian tune starts with the opening credits. Other than that, the action levels are high, the characters are being fleshed out well, and I'm finding myself looking forward to Monday nights .The first season is looking good so far, and I'm hoping it gets picked up for a second season.
Celebrity Spotlight: Matt Damon
--- Sarah Luo
Celebrity: Matt Damon
Birthdate: October 8, 1970 (Age: 40)
Birthplace: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Years Active: 1988-Present
**biographical information obtained from wiki and imdb.com
I don’t think that there’s much I could say about Matt Damon that isn’t already widely known. But I digress, anyways, so I’ll give it a shot. Before we get into his acting career, some random facts about him. He went to Harvard and studied English from 1988 to 1992, then dropped out right before graduation so he could pursue his acting career. He’s married to Luciana Barroso and has three baby girls, one of which was recently born in October. In other news, Matt Damon is perhaps one of the most qualified and well known actors in the celebrity circle. At 40, he’s already been nominated for two Oscars (winning one), secured a Walk of Fame Star, and was also People’s 2007 Sexiest Man Alive. It’s safe to say that Damon is considered high up the celebrity scale, right up there with George Clooney and Brad Pitt.
Which leads me straight into one of his most famous movie series. The Bourne Series...no, just kidding, although that is also a very famous series (we’ll get there, hold on), I mean the Ocean’s series. Damon first did Ocean’s Eleven with Clooney and Pitt back in 2001, only cast as a supporting character. As his fame began growing however, especially with the Bourne series, he began to play a more important character in the Ocean's movie franchise.
Damon is more famously known as Jason Bourne of the Bourne Identity movies.They were also some of his most renowned works, which secured his high status within the acting community. In the series, Damon plays a member of the CIA who was involuntarily put into a top secret project that wiped away his identity, instead equipping him with several different identities and top notch fighting skills. In essence, he was an assassin, secret agent, and spy all rolled into one. The series traces his steps into finding out who he really is and taking down one mother of an illegal operation. Also a high action series, Damon displayed his vast range of abilities in the acting realm, fluidly moving from slick, polished, casino criminal to awesome, beastly justice fighter.
Some other big motion pictures he has been a part of include Saving Private Ryan where he played none other than Private Ryan, The Departed with Leonardo DiCaprio, The Informant!, Invictus, Green Zone, and True Grit. Evidently, Damon has skill like no other and he’s just so good, he’s been in pretty much every giant blockbuster out there.
In more recent news, his next part is playing the main character in The Adjustment Bureau, alongside Emily Blunt, to be released on March 4, 2011. The story is essentially about fighting your fate. Damon meets Blunt and before he can pursue his “fate”, he is stopped by the people “behind the curtain” who make sure all fates align in the end. Basically, his destiny is planned for him and he must follow it in order to achieve the final goal, which doesn’t include Blunt. Naturally, Damon goes against the plan and refuses to let Blunt slip away from him. The story itself is a very interesting concept and will probably be a blockbuster like many of his other movies.
Damon rocks and we all know it too. Look forward to the Adjustment Bureau, but also get ready for the Bourne Legacy. I know, it’s gonna be the bomb.
YouTube Spotlight: Charlieissocoollike
--- Stevie Chang
Well, folks, I must admit I just had the almost imponderable joy of watching charlieissocoollike… which makes me, like, cool. Charlie McDonnell, or charlieissocoollike, as he is known on YouTube, is one of the most popular vloggers on the web, with 818,706 subscribers (since the last time I checked). Based in England, Charlie’s videos are followed by viewers from around the world. While his earliest films on the site date to three years ago, he has kept up with a more or less stable schedule of producing a new video every one or two weeks.
Apart from his personal charm and cute looks, Charlie attracts his subscribers because of his humorous videos and witty commentary on everything and anything he finds interesting. He has uploaded footage of himself drinking ketchup, painting himself purple, dying his hair red (and subsequently half-regretting it), changing himself into a superhero named Cloning Charlie, finding embarrassing pictures and gifs of himself on Tumblr, and giving a mini-lecture on the Earth’s moon. Meanwhile, his fans have also been actively helping him in creating videos by participating in Challenge Charlie, where subscribers can, well, challenge Charlie to perform and film some sort of request. Charlie is also a huge fan of Doctor Who and has shared his passion with his viewers in multiple videos; he was then invited to the set of the actual show, where he hosted an online Doctor Who Confidential series.
Did I mention that he also sings? Duet with Myself, is Charlie’s most popular clip with over four million views where Charlie, with the help of some clever digital editing, sings a song with himself… about himself. All of his songs were written by himself and performed on the ukulele, and most of them are about everyday occurrences and predicaments, some of which include acne, his favorite animal (the monkey), rhyming, and his imaginary girlfriend in America. In fact, he recently released a self-made album called This is Me.
At the present, he lives in London with his friend and fellow Youtube vlogger, Alex Day, another popular British vlogger known as Nerimon. Charlie values his fans and their feedback to his videos, and will even hand out “I Found Charlie” pins to all those who manage to spot him in person.
Check out more charlieissocoollike videos on his YouTube page and his website!
Book Spotlight: Masque and Wolfsbane
--- Paige dePolo
Sometimes, the story behind a novel is almost as compelling as the novel itself. Two books by Patricia Briggs, Masques and Wolfsbane, have one such story. Masques was the first novel Briggs ever wrote. She sold it to a publisher. However, it was wildly unsuccessful. She dropped the series and began to write other adventurous fantasy tales. Then humanity reared its ugly head. As Masques grew older, its popularity increased. The book that was unknown became extremely popular. Briggs then pulled out a floppy disk that had lain forgotten for over a decade, and the sequel, Wolfsbane, then met the whirring cylinders of a printing press.
These two novels almost never saw the light of day. Personally, I don’t know why Masques wasn’t more popular. Although the style is clearly indicative of an amateur writer, the characters are masterfully developed. Aralorn, a battle-scarred mercenary turned spy, finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy to control the minds of the world’s mages. Her companion, a rather enigmatic wolf, is forced by circumstances to interact more fully with her. As the pair aids a group of magically inclined rebels, their abilities burgeon.
Wolfsbane channels the brilliance of its predecessor. The plot grows in complexity (a sign of a writer more in control of her story), and the characters take on new dimensions. Aralorn and Wolf find themselves reassessing the very nature of magic. The two must then discover the difference between human magic, green magic, and black magic in order to save the life of Aralorn’s estranged father.
My favorite aspect of the series (aside from an absolutely entrancing leading man) was the monsters that Aralorn and Wolf faced. Instead of one’s run of the mill zombies, Uriah were utilized to provide the fear of being eaten. Baneshades, howlas, and a beast called the Dreamer all wander into preeminence over the course of the series. The diverse adversaries lead to amazing fight scenes. It's interesting to see how a shape-shifter (one of Aralorn’s skills) matches up to a howla (essentially, a polar bear on steroids with the power to harness the winds in order to cause insanity).
I unequivocally recommend these books for any readers (especially those more inclined towards fantasy). My only warning: give the writing time to develop. Keep in mind that Masques was Briggs’ first novel. It shows in her very bold decision to barely modify her work before it was reprinted. Regardless, these books are fantastic escapes from the normalcy of our existence. Happy reading, denizens of the internet.
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