Earth Day, Smchearth Day

As I wrap up my evening here in a cold and rainy NJ, I'm reminded that today is that grand tree hugging holiday of old called Earth Day. It's a day I don't particularly care for and not just because I'm an ignorant, crotchety, horrible man. It's actually much more than those facts. See I've always had issues with most things that the majority of people accept as the norm ( My current biggest hatred is the Bullying propaganda being shoved down the children and parents' throats of this country, but that's subject for a whole nother horrid ramble). It's not that I'm trying to go against the grain or anything remotely hipsterish like that. I just never liked things that seem to promote how great we as a society are. Here me out if you will. And if you do I thank you in advance because as I've already admitted, I'm a horrible man. We often love to create days or movements that proclaim to the world how great we are as a people. That if we collectively band together we can achieve anything with simply our own abilities. Here's the truth, we can't. People in general are selfish, prideful beings. No matter how wonderful of a person one may be, deep down inside at our core we are all about ourselves. Earth day is a perfect example of how wonderful we think we are. We as a people have spent years destroying this world we were given and now because we have grown into a more "conscious" generation of people we act as though obnoxious acts of self righteousness are going to fix everything. Walking somewhere for one day instead of using your car every April and then spending the rest of your year buying and wasting products isn't going to fix anything. It's just going to make you feel better about yourself. Now I also understand there are some who actually live as every day is earth day who only buy recycled products and the whatnot. I also notice that these are usually the most judgmental folk you can run into. I don't doubt their sincerity always, but I often wonder if even subconsciously it's less about saving the planet than it is making oneself feel that they are more elevated of a human being than others. I know I'm being quite judgemental myself here, but I will thrice reiterate, I am a terrible man. I'll close my poor excuse for a blog entry with his thought. If you really feel that your efforts are leaving an undeniable positive mark on this world than that's great, do it to your hearts content. But until we as people are willing to actually take a step backwards and completely overhaul our minds and hearts individually there is no hope for a societal change. I'm all for good stewardship, I just hate when stewards walk around talking like their the king.

Lamenting over John Carter

Its been over a month since Disney's John Carter was released in theaters and subsequently crashed and burned upon impact. As far as common knowledge goes, the film was horrible and a giant disaster that Disney will be recovering from for quite some time (don't fret though, they should more than make up for it with the ungodly amount of money that The Avengers will bring in for them over the next month or 2). The problem is, John Carter was a GREAT film. It was fun, accessible to the whole family and was the type of film that Sci Fi fans normally love to watch. While I wont get into the debate of whether this was a better made film than Avatar, I will say as a fan I find it horrifying that Avatar made almost 3 BILLION dollars in sweet sweet box office cash while John Carter is struggling to break 300 MILLION worldwide (it may sound like alot but that 300 mil is pretty much what it cost Disney to make the film).

         There's many places one could point blame when looking at this movie. You could chalk it up to The Lorax stealing away many families that first opening weekend or you could blame today's ignorant movie going masses for writing this movie off as an Avatar clone (despite it being the film version of the book that Avatar stole from most), but for me the blame lays squarely on the films parent company, Disney. There's a large fact that everyone must accept about Disney. THEY HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO MARKET SCIENCE FICTION. Sorry I shouted, Im just still upset over all of this. It just drives me insane that a film with so much potential was absolutely wasted by a company that is soooo good at marketing everything else they own. The best example I can give you is the marketing itself. Here's Disney's huge Superbowl trailer for the for John Carter.

Looks kinda like a SYFY network movie of the week right? No explanation of the character, no idea of the plot. Just generic action music and quick shots of scenes we have no investment in. Now lets try a fan made trailer that at least attempts to engage the audience.

Seriously....how much better was that? How is it that a fan sitting at home figured out how to sell this movie but one of the largest movie studios with the biggest marketing machine in the world had no clue? Its just seriously sad that the story that influenced so many of our modern classics has been reduced to a giant failure and will more than likely never see the light of day again. This film could have brought the original books (which are free on most digital reading platforms due to them being so old ) back into popular culture and had the opportunity to influence an entire new generation of readers with its fantastic stories. But instead, we just get a big giant FAIL by Disney who will brush this off and never look back. I for one will do my best to share this film with friends as the years pass and hope it reaches some sort of cult status which is the least it deserves. Such a waste.  :-(

Ill see ya when I see ya folks,