1st Published Movie Review!

Landmark published my review of Transformers!

http://landmarkreport.com/jsangster/2011/06/transformers-dark-of-the-moon-review-pure-summer-action-fun/

Transformers: Dark of The Moon Review

For me this was what summer movies are all about. A movie that has you at the edge of your seat at times from pure excitement. Just like the other Transformer movies, there was a lot of humor and tons of action, with intervals of space to allow the plot to continue. As expected from a Michael Bay film there's some over the top action shots, which aren't that believable, but are very sweet to watch. I do love how once again there were very good shots showing red white and blue and some patriotic little speeches. The best of which being at the end with Optimus Prime giving his final words and Bumble Bee standing in front of a torn and battered US flag still waving free despite the battle's destruction. There's also a sweet scene of Air Force wing suits.
Basically, you will enjoy this film if you go looking for an extremely enjoyable summer movie, if you go expecting the next big Oscar winner, you'll be sorely disappointed.

Warning: Spoilers if you continue.
From the start with the crashing of a ship on the moon in 1961, and the Apollo missions primarily being about exploring this ship, the plot was mostly coherent and sensible. The Autobots work openly and very closely with the US Military out of NEST, commanded by Colonel Lennox (Josh Duhamel). They've just successfully taken out an illegal nuclear facility somewhere in the Middle East (honestly one of my favourite parts), and then the plot for this movie begins with an encounter with Decepticons at Chernobyl. Coming back from Chernobyl they are met by Mearing (Francis McDormand) and Optimus gets a visit from former NASA space program members, including the actual Buzz Aldrin (another highlight) who fully explain to them about the moon.
Sam (Shia LaBeouf) is now living in DC, trying to find that elusive first job in today's economy. His new girlfriend (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley) Carly's place is explained, though not exactly what happened to Mikaela (Megan Fox), all we learn through the whole movie is that they broke up. Sam ends up able to get a position working for Bruce Brazos (John Malkovich) who's as odd as you'd expect from him. Jealousy is aroused when Sam seems how Carly is treated by her boss Dylan (Patrick Dempsey).
The movie continues on with the action building, with some twists (expected mostly and a few definitely not expected), until Chicago is all but destroyed with an expected outcome and Sam once again growing up to find what really matters.

John Tuturro, Tyrese Gibson, Glenn Morshower, Kevin Dunn, and Julie White all reprised their various roles. Some great additions were Leonard Nimoy and Alan Tudyk, who's character Dutch was kind of awesome. Speaking of awesome, Scott Krinsky from Chuck was in it as well as one other of the Buy More crew. Bill O'Reilly even made an appearance as himself.
Also there were some parts of the plot which didn't make sense to me like why Wheelie ("I follow warrior goddess") and Mikaela's junk yard dog Bonecrusher, are with Sam, rather than her. Also the twins who were such a slapstick part of Revenge of The Fallen were missing as well as Mojo, Frankie, and the Arcee motorcycles.
The good news for haters and fans alike is that this seems to be the last movie, and Michael Bay appears happy with a trilogy.

Poem

Wrote this, pretty much out of nowhere.

For never a heart was born that could not love
But constantly they choose to forget the above.
Hiding on wings brighter than a dove
Seeking for something dearer than what they knew of.

Hang Together or Separately

Others have said this before me, but clearly some of you need to have it reiterated again and again, so here's my turn.
Splitting the Republican, Libertarian, and Tea vote would be a horrible mistake.
Without a united front we will lose this coming election.
We saw it in Colorado's race for governor. Mays won the Republican nomination, but he wasn't "good enough" for Tancredo and others, so they split the vote. Guess what happened. The Democrat Hickenlooper won.
Now Hickenlooper is no Obama, by any means. But tis a perfect example of what's facing us. The Libertarians and Tea Partiers don't consider any of the national GOP candidates "good enough".
Well that's perfectly fine now, before the primaries. But once the nomination has been made everyone must back that candidate. And I will more than likely be right beside you in thinking they're "not enough", but I understand the importance of this election.
We've all seen the damage Obama has done already. Now imagine five and a half more years of this, instead of just one and a half. Scary image right?
What's ever scarier, is that this might be the last free election we get. If Obama wins, we can't trust we would get another in 2016. And then we would have two choices. Submit to slavery, or shed blood to gain back our beloved Republic.
For myself, I would much rather vote for someone I only half agree with, than risk four more years under the ever nearing tyrannical forms we are seeing.
As always its your vote, but remember what is at stake.
And if you won't listen to me, how about Benjamin Franklin:

We must hang together, gentlemen...else, we shall most assuredly hang separately.

Importance of Sides in The Middle East

When violence began in Egypt, Obama was quick to jump against Mubarak. And when people were being killed in Libya, whilst it took weeks, we launched missiles.
Yet every day dozens of people are being killed by the tyrannical regime of Syria, and the US government is practically ignoring the situation.
Why is it that Syrians, as well as other people like those in Yemen, are not as important to Obama and his administration?
That question is one that Obama should be facing before reelection.
Yet the right isn't pressing him on this either.
Whilst the economy, immigration, and healthcare are all very important issues, his foreign policies can not be ignored!
The government of Syria, a clear enemy of our ally Israel, Obama will not stand against? Nor will he support the Green Movement of Iran, which is one of the most democratic movements in the world, which is struggling against an enemy not only to Israel, but to ourselves. In Egypt, Obama chose a side that has already made threats towards Israel. And in Libya the side we support is known to be made up of our own Al Qaeda enemies.
Now I'm not calling for us to intervene with our own military, but we need to pick the right sides in these struggles. Whoever is going to be President of The United States, needs to make some decisions.
This is not something just the United States should be worrying about. Canada, Europe, and the world should be picking the side of right morally, not just the politically convenient.
The winners of these revolutions will be our future world partners. I can understand not wanting to piss off the wrong person, but support alone could help the right sides win.
In my opinion, choosing right is greatly more important than being politically correct.


Addit:
As I've posted this its come out that US military has in fact been launching air strikes in support of the beleaguered Yemen government, our allies, who are assaulted by Al Qaeda.

Book Excerpt

The following is a teaser excerpt from a book I'm working on...


He'd never seen a creature like this. Clearly some sort of warrior, by the weaponry it carried. He counted eleven blades of different lengths, 2 axes, and 2 spears sheathed upon its body, and then there were the claws attached to the hands. Nasty bit this was going to be.
'Hopefully its friendly' went through his head. Thing was it looked human, except it had fur, and that face was anything but.
'Ok, first contact then.' He couldn't help but inwardly chuckle at that thought. Looked over at it, doubting it would get such a joke.
So far it was just staring at him, not reaching for any of the weapons.
A very good thing that since he was completely unarmed.
Ruurrr. He was very sure it just purred or something at him.
"Hello?" he tried back. Just the slightest flick of its ears to let him know it had even noticed him.