Some things to avoid . . .

[Lester Curtis]

I think we've all seen some form of "Don't Do This" list for authors . . . but I've never seen one quite like this before . . .

http://www.strangehorizons.com/guidelin ... mmon.shtml

[Lester Curtis]

Hey, man, you're ruining the movie for me already, and I haven't even see it yet, ha ha!

[Lester Curtis]

(must see it in 3-D on the big screen period

Well, I wanted to, but . . . I live out east of Cleveland, and in the whole area, the only such theater I know of is the 7-story Imax in the Science Center downtown -- and they aren't playing it there! Beneath their dignity or something, I think, but that would be awesome. Besides, I avoid going into Cleveland, because I don't want to get shot.

I'll catch it somewhere, though.

[Robert_Moriyama]

(must see it in 3-D on the big screen period

Well, I wanted to, but . . . I live out east of Cleveland, and in the whole area, the only such theater I know of is the 7-story Imax in the Science Center downtown -- and they aren't playing it there! Beneath their dignity or something, I think, but that would be awesome. Besides, I avoid going into Cleveland, because I don't want to get shot.

I'll catch it somewhere, though.

I think when you go into town with a rifle held like that, you probably make people nervous. (I still think the whole right to bear arms thing is the result of a spelling or grammatical error. The Founding Fathers really intended to enshrine the right to wear short sleeves, or no sleeves at all... (Or maybe they wanted people to be able to give weapons to Ursine-Americans?)

[Lester Curtis]

I wouldn't take that gun; it's only a single-shot .22. If I had to carry something, it would probably be a six-inch .357 revolver in a drop-leg holster, with a couple extra speed-loaders in my pocket.

Open carry is allowed in Ohio, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't let me in the theater with it.

[Robert_Moriyama]

Seems to me movie theaters could put on Star Wars Marathons during the week with all 6 movies, from 7 AM to midnight. Just sit there and zone.

Yeah, but the jumps to hyperspace are too short. Now the hyperspace(?) sequence in "2001: A Space Odyssey" was supposed to be really something if you were on LSD...

[Lester Curtis]

bottomdweller, your avatar just suits you SO well . . .

[Lester Curtis]

. . . and speaking of Avatars . . . I just finally saw it last night (Netflix).

Bottomdweller, I have to second your comments about all the plot violations in this rotten turkey. If James Cameron had any sense of shame, he'd kill himself, or at least have his face reconstructed and go spend the rest of his life being a plumber or something. It was that bad.

That's really sad, too, since the plot, at its most basic, really isn't bad -- old and worn, maybe, but I'll say in a classic sense that still has value and potential. Wasted potential, sadly . . .

The plot wasn't bad enough, though -- the characterization was limp and inconsistent -- when it wasn't being offensively stereotypical.

Aggravating lack of conflict -- anywhere, or, to be more specific, in anyone. And internal character conflicts are what give life to a story. Sure, there was that big fight -- but that's all it was, just a big fight (and of course, the Good Guys won, as we all knew they would). It did give me a conflict -- I couldn't decide whether to yawn or grit my teeth. I can't stand to go into specific cases.

Couple the lack of conflict to all the Mary Sues (http://www.springhole.net/quizzes/marysue.htm), and it made it that much worse. Hell, the whole frickin' planet was a Mary Sue! A place where you could talk to the trees and get answers, not to mention the cool trick of being able to plug your ponytail into any animal and have an instant mind-meld (with you in complete control) . . . a ten-year-old's favorite fantasy, for sure.

It did have visuals going for it . . . several times, I found myself going, "Whaugh, that is soo cool!!" -- but that was just a reaction to the scenery, and not to the characters or plot. Think about it: who wouldn't want to take a stroll through a place that looked like that?

I've got to stop now. I'm just glad I didn't shell out big bucks to see this thing in a theater.