There Was a Shooting in Anchorage Today

I don't know all the details, but I do know that just outside the Mountain View Boys & Girls Club four or five shots were fired and one person was non-critically injured.

The reason I'm reporting this incident specifically here is that I was volunteering for a Vacation Bible School run by my church, and that VBS was taking place at the Boys & Girls Club.

No one was hurt. I thank God for that. There were about twenty-odd kids outside, myself and my sister included, and we were fifty to a hundred yards from where it happened. But no one was hurt. Thanks to the adults who were with us, everyone got into the Club building, we went into lockdown, and everyone was safe. Everyone was scared, granted. I was scared out of my mind. But we were okay. I'm okay, and even more thankfully, my sister is okay. And my younger brother's seemingly-selfish decision not to attend VBS is a decision I've never been more thankful for.

Thank you, God, for protecting us.

Anchorage Daily News article.

KTUU video and article.

A Layover-PSA-Update Type of Thing. [Or: Fireheart is really starting to annoy me.]

Alright, well, I finished re-reading Forest of Secrets (book 3 in the original Warriors series). And it was pretty good. Not my favorite, but it was pretty good. Did I mention that I like the OS because of its simplicity and tendency not to overexplain? The later Warriors books were good, don't get me wrong, but they explained way, way too much about StarClan. (And the Dark Forest, and the medicine cats...) Blah.

Okay, mini-rant over. Now that that's out of the way...

I've finished Forest of Secrets (and posted the first in a review series for Warriors); I think I already said that. I'd like to do the next part of that review series, focusing on The New Prophecy arc, but I think I should reread a couple books from that arc before I do. So that review probably won't be out until, say, next week. Maybe a little later. There'll probably be post between this one and the next Warriors one; they'll just be about different things.

Not that anyone will mind, I think.

Anyway. Yeah. That's what I wanted to say.

Also, Fireheart is getting kinda annoying, because all he can think about is Tigerclaw being EVIL, but nobody else knows, and I really want more ambiguity with Tigerclaw, and Fireheart, I wanna! And the other book I'm reading right now isn't helping!

Okay, now I'm done. 

On Cats [Review for Warriors, Part 1]

*Warning: Unmarked spoilers may follow. Viewer discretion is advised.*

Well, what with the arrival of The First Battle (the third book in the Warriors: Dawn of the Clans arc, and something like the twenty-seventh Warriors book overall) I've been re-reading some of the books in the Warriors series. Not all of them, mind you, but some. And I decided that since there are plenty of pros and cons to this series, I might as well review it.

So here goes.

***

 Today, I'll be reviewing the first Warriors arc, often called the Original Series. Each arc has six books; the Original Series (or OS) contains Into the Wild, Fire and Ice, Forest of Secrets, Rising Storm, A Dangerous Path, and The Darkest Hour. The OS centers around the tale of Fireheart, a former kittypet (house cat) who runs away to join ThunderClan and quickly finds that the forest is more dangerous than it appears.

Good/Favorite Bits:

• The simplicity. Reading back over the OS, I'm realizing just how much simpler it is than the later arcs. The third and fourth arcs probably have about fifteen different subplots between them. The OS is by no means completely free of subplots, but it's remarkably focused on the one main plot. (Maybe a little too focused, but we'll talk about that later.) 
• The simplicity of viewpoint characters. As the books go on, they gain more and more viewpoints. The second arc has, I think, 2-4 viewpoint characters, depending on the book, the third arc has 3 viewpoints, and the fourth arc has a grand total of 4 viewpoints. The first series, by contrast, has one viewpoint character and only one. But it also introduces characters who will be crucially important later, such as Fireheart, Bluestar, Yellowfang, Graystripe, and more. 
• The worldbuilding. The cats have almost an entire vocabulary of their own. They have names for seasons (leafbare, newleaf, greenleaf, and leaf-fall), names for humans and automobiles (Twolegs and monsters, respectively), plus legends, traditions, and their own way of living. 
• Realisticness. The later arcs--#2 & #3 in particular--tend to humanize the cats quite a bit. There's humanization here, but it's less intrusive; the cats act more realistically. 

Bad/Least Favorite Bits:

• Infodumping. You might not catch it on the first read--I didn't--but it's almost as if the author feels she needs to insert a PREVIOUSLY, IN WARRIORS paragraph into each book so the readers aren't lost. Just in Forest of Secrets (book 3), I've been reminded at least once that Bluestar let Fireheart into the Clan even though he was kittypet (house cat), Cinderpaw broke her leg in an accident on the Thunderpath (an asphalt road frequented by cars), Yellowfang is Brokenstar's mother, Spottedleaf died, Graystripe is in an illicit relationship with Silverstream... on and on it goes. And I know all this already. It would be a lot better to weave such information into the dialogue and/or narrative. 
• Clichés. The OS isn't the most cliché story I've ever read (that honor goes to My Little Pony: Equestria Girls), but it has its issues. Character archetypes, for one. Fireheart is the hero. Tigerclaw is the villain. Graystripe is the plucky sidekick. Bluestar is the doomed mentor. Spottedleaf is the equally doomed love interest. Sandstorm is the feisty other love interest whom the hero will become happily married to in the end. And all of this is pretty easy to tell from the first book alone. (Well, Sandstorm's role isn't crystal-clear until book two or book three, but still.)
• This is more of a personal thing, but I wouldn't mind a touch more moral ambiguity. Something that annoys me is that Tigerclaw is pretty much 100% EVIL, all the time. The only time he's not being EVIL is when he's pretending so that the Clan doesn't find out how EVIL he is. And of course, Fireheart is the only one who even suspects that Tigerclaw might be EVIL. 
• Conversely, Fireheart is an almost perfect main character. All of his perceptions match perfectly with what's reality--which they shouldn't--and even though he occasionally he slips up, such slip-ups are almost always made as a result of too much kindness, disregarding tradition in the name of compassion, or something like that. Unless, of course, it's Tigerclaw trying to frame him or blame something on him because he's a former kittypet and Tigerclaw is a racist bigot. I mean, if he actually gave Fireheart a sporting chance before he turned against him, however would we be able to tell that Tigerclaw was EVIL?
  #sarcasm

Conclusion:

The Original Series has its upsides, but it definitely has downsides too. I'll always be a bit nostalgic for the OS and its simplicity (not all character archetypes are bad, after all...), but overall, it's not my favorite Warriors arc. So I'm giving it three and a half stars:

***

And that wraps up my review of the Original Series! Next time, we'll go in-depth on the second arc--Warriors: The New Prophecy. Don't miss it!

Bye, and thanks for reading!

On Suspense [Review for Captain America: The Winter Soldier]

*Warning: Unmarked spoilers may follow. Viewer discretion is advised.*

Dear Alexander Pierce,

Do you know Dell Rusk? If not, you two should meet for coffee sometime. You might learn some things from each other, like how the Winter Soldier isn't actually 100% stable. If Dell Rusk doesn't exist in your universe, well, contact Kang the Conqueror (that's last name Conqueror, first name Kang). He ought to be able to take you into an alternate universe. 

Also, while you're at it, tell Mr. Jasper Sitwell that he should meet up with Hydra Propeller Guy who got shredded seventy years ago (you know the scene). I think we'll call it "The Tragic and Disturbing but Also Somehow Darkly Amusing Death Scene Club". 

Sincerely, 

A Concerned Fan

***

So, I recently got to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier again. And it was awesome. To give you an idea of how good it was, it was one of the few movies in which my "Oh my gosh" quotient went through the roof on the second viewing. Seriously, it's up there with The Avengers. 

It would be fairly hard to give a really good plot summary without giving out a bunch of spoilers, so I think I'll just jump straight into pros and cons. 

Good/Favorite Bits:

• Ah, where to start... well, first of all, characters. Steve Rogers is back (duh) and he's as morally upright and refreshingly good as ever. Alongside him is Natasha Romanoff, and the new kid on the block, Sam Wilson (a.k.a. The Falcon). Then there's the Winter Soldier, previously known as Bucky Barnes, and Nick Fury, not to mention Alexander Pierce and Maria Hill.
  The characters in this movie were great. Steve's problems with Fury's moral ambiguity were well-fleshed out, and his struggle with the Winter Soldier's identity was great. Agent Romanoff was also good. So was Alexander Pierce... really, everyone was good. 
• In relation to the above point, I'd like to give a special mention to actor Sebastion Stan, who portrayed Bucky Barnes/the Winter Soldier. His ability to portray emotion (or lack of it) through facial expression was amazing. Watch the post-credits scene and you'll know what I'm talking about. 
• The plot is quite snappy, though that means that the movie is also suspenseful and intense (see title). However, there are just enough calm, mostly-dialogue scenes to keep it from being exhaustively fast-paced. 
• The movie works well as a part of the cohesive Marvel Cinematic Universe. Agent Jasper Sitwell, who got one appearance in Thor and a few lines in The Avengers, has an extended role here. It's mentioned that after his "up-close look" at the Helicarrier's rotors, Tony Stark designed new repulsors for a second generation of Helicarriers (and those ships do feature prominently in the movie). Natasha Romanoff is here, of course, and when targets of the neo-Nazi organization H.Y.D.R.A. are listed, Bruce Banner, Tony Stark, and Dr. Steven Strange are among them. Additionally, a mid-credits scene gives us appearances from Baron Strucker, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver--all of whom have been confirmed to be in Avengers: Age of Ultron. 
• The visual effects were awesome in this movie. The fight scenes, in particular, were amazing to watch, and I had such a time watching the Falcon with his wingpack. Additionally, the Winter Soldier looks almost exactly the way he did in the comics, particularly in the rooftop chase scene with Captain America, and that's quite an achievement. 
• And that about covers most of the movie, wouldn't you say?

Bad/Least Favorite Bits:

• So I have to ask: Where was Hawkeye in all of this? All Hades was breaking loose in S.H.I.E.L.D., Cap and the Black Widow were on the run, and near the end of the movie all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets were downloaded onto the internet... so where was Hawkeye? You'd have thought he'd show up at least after everything S.H.I.E.L.D.-related went viral. 
• Um... well, there was a lot of crashing-through-glass in this movie. That always sort of vaguely annoys me, because I know that it should be majorly hurting the characters and it's not. Generally I'm okay when it's, say, Captain America doing it, but when a normal person like Sam Wilson does it and isn't hurt at all I get kind of annoyed. In the back of my head. 
• And, well... hm... um... I kind of liked Fury with his eye patch, you know... What? No! I am not grasping at straws! Whatever gave you that idea?
• Yeah, I'm done. 

Conclusion:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier was good. Very good. I'd go so far as to say it was on par with The Avengers (though it wasn't quite better). The acting and characterization was good, the dialogue was great, the plot was awesome, and the visual effects were amazing. So I guess there's not much left to say, except that I'm giving this movie four and a half stars out of five:

***

And that about wraps this blog post up! See you next time, folks!