Ridin’ The Range, Ya-HOO

Hunger Games – man, if that doesn’t make you wanna reread the book. GAH. So good. Music, story elements. Gets better every time I watch it. For me this book was nothing about Team Gale or Team Peeta. Team Katniss. She. Was. Awesome. I have rarely been so taken in by a protagonist. Some books are just books, some characters are only alive in their story. This is a girl I wanted to know. But for real, for real? Effie. Cannot WAIT. Already loving the frightening Mad Max take on beauty. MANICANNOTWAIT.

Snow White and the Huntsman – they played to their strength. Charlize Theron. I cannot wait to see this witch. Epic and beautiful. I’m not a Kristin Stewart hater – although I have to say I thought she was pretty nonexistent until I watched The Runaways, which I really liked and will watch again. I thought she was great at Joan Jett, but something tells me she was playing at least part of it as herself. Meaning they had a lot in common. I’m not sure of her range or whether she can play someone who isn’t quite as outsider as she seems to be. They didn’t give her a single line in this trailer. I was about to be like, you tell me what that means. Then I remembered this is my blog.

 It means she might have the right look (which I can grant her or else they made her look the part) but um. They know better than to try to sell a movie based on her chops.

Word to the director: If you’re not Guillermo (which you aren’t)…at least give big ups. Otherwise it looks like you’re a fanboy who is less than classy. And WHAT is worse than unclassy fanboys? O_O

Mirror, Mirror…. it. wouldn’t even be fair to comment. It’d be like stepping on a crippled puppy baby. And. I don’t want this to turn into Everything Julia Roberts has done wrong in the past ten years. Let’s just leave it at…Mirror, Mirror. I mean, WHOSE idea was it for her to fake an accent SOMETIMES? WHOSE idea was it to pit these two movies against each other?! TWO retellings of the SAME fairy tale? Lemme give you a clue as to which one will rock: the one that looks like it’ll rock. O_O I know, personal preferences means amazing lead actresses and dark storylines win before they leave the gate, for me. But that’s not even the half of it!

Who is M2 even *for*? Seriously? If it’s for kids, why the Nathan Lane/Julia Roberts heaviness? Do kids love them? If it’s for adults, why is it so dumb? It doesn’t even have the good sense to go full Bollywood, so it ends up slipping into turn-of-the-century-corniness (I get to say that now and you realize I mean 2000, right?). Yea god, man. Horrible.

Oh and also

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Getting Back To Neutral

When everybody’s done camping out in the name of Occupy[InsertCityName], can we spare a minute to discuss the thing we still haven’t gotten right so what makes you think we can improve the class division? Seriously, are you ready to give up your seat of privilege for real or just so long as we get to have drum circles? No disrespect to the spirit of Latifah’s-had-it-up-to-here-ness going on internationally but: If you condone the mindset that any one group is the default, most important and privileged racial/social class in this country – and hate to break it to you, America World, but you do – who the heck is supposed to care about the 1%? What, because you’re not in it? If the problem’s just that you wanted to be *part* of that 1% – not that you wanted to create a more equal and honest distribution of wealth and demand equitable treatment of the working folk – then perhaps you should let the people of color who’re camping next to you know so they can get back to their lives, which have pretty much always been in threat. Welcome to planet Earth.

Which brings me to this. [LINK] In case, you don’t click that – people hate when Black people are cast in anything, ever. As a writer, this is almost disgusting enough to make me want to set myself on fire and hurl myself into a crowd of these people. Now the gross part is that they have freely offered up the reasons *why* they didn’t think Rue was Black and Cinna could be played by a Black man – despite the fact that he is only vaguely described in the book. Often ignoring the obvious descriptions given by the author (and given again in interviews regarding casting), they went on ahead and imagined Rue was white. Because apparently, it doesn’t matter what I write. I can’t change the script inside your head. (Darn you, Sociology, do you EVER cease being relevant?!) And, dontcha see, Cinna was supposed to be “loving”! Not Black, loving! O_O

Then this happened. And I feel like I have to tell you: Yes, this garbage is this upsetting.

*There’s a comment below that’s not entirely visible: I had a male friend all through high school – come senior year, he overheard me talking to someone and interrupted, “You’re Black?!” I kid you not. He was dead serious. WTF?! So, in order to maintain your ingested belief that Black people are ____ and not have to denounce your closet-klan upbringing, you’ve left the reservation and decided to deny I’m Black if I don’t fit the stereotype?! Cuz that’s easier than saying, “Hey, maybe I’m dumb”?!

You know what keeps those innocent dogs safe? That after really being upset and disgusted by the pervasive nature of racism, I remember I’m at my house. Where people are people and love is a many-colored splendor. And I remember what God thinks while I reject the ugliness of man. And I seriously thank God that my identity begins and ends in Him. I also thank God for interracial families and adoption. Nothing grants perspective like loving someone else.