Cultural Christianity

“The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.” - Tom Clancy

It’s not really fair of me to compare this year’s The Incredible Hulk to Ang Lee’s 2003 film which was simply titled Hulk. It’s not fair, but I nevertheless found myself comparing them throughout the new film.

It’s only fair to point out that I’m one of the seven people not directly involved with making the film that actually liked the 2003 version. I found the rather lyrical visual style engaging, I enjoyed finally watching a comic book movie that looked like a comic book. Maybe that was why I was able to more readily accept that films rather cartoony looking Hulk more than I was able to accept this new one, which just didn’t look natural . . . or at least he didn’t look as natural as a nine foot tall green monster can.

Edward Norton is a fine actor, and given his performances in Fight Club, Primal Fear, and American History X the role of Bruce Banner would seem to have been tailor-made for him. But as Banner, Norton fizzles. How can a man who has mastered the art of dramatic duality fall so flat in this, the best distillation of that concept since The Strange Case of Dr. Jekell and Mr. Hyde? How indeed? Nevertheless, fall flat he does, or at the very least, his considerable talent was squandered by an inattentive production and writing team.

This is not to say that the film was bad; it had great effects, paid plenty of homage to the source material, while still retaining its own identity, and unlike Lee’s film, the phrase “Hulk SMASH!” did indeed find its way into the dialog.

If the movie was missing something then, it was missing believability. Not in the basic science (which is Happy Meal science, anyway) behind the premise of the series, but in the characters. I had a hard time believing in Liv Tyler as a scientist (and I still think that Jennifer Connelly made a way cuter Betty Ross, by the by). I had a hard time believing anybody, even a career special ops soldier like Blonsky (Tim Roth), would want to do to themselves what they saw in Banner. (And, yes, I know people do things just as crazy in real life, but the film didn’t give me any good reason to believe that Blonsky would.) And I had a hard time believing that the Hulk was really very incredible.

The Hulk is supposed to be an enormous three-year-old boy throwing a temper tantrum. This one just seemed kind of annoyed.  In the end, so was I.

So I’d long told myself that sci-fi conventions were one geek line that I’d never cross.

I love science fiction.  Reading it, writing it, watching it.  It doesn’t even always have to be very good; I just love science fiction.  But to come to a place where they hold competitions on people in Stormtrooper armor . . . well, that’s something else.  I took a break today, as I mentioned in the previous post, to get away from the chaos a bit.  As I was walking back to the con site, I was accosted and forced at spear point (I wil maintain this lie until my death) by Indiana Jim, Scott Breakall, his wife and a few others to go to a showing of the new Indiana Jones movie.  It’s funny, when Chris invited me to this con, I was afraid that he’d end up being super busy and I’d be stuck wandering around alone, knowing nobody.  However within hours of meeting many members of the podcasting community (or as they call themselves, the Tribe), I felt accepted and even liked.  Now I’m being spontaneously invited to movies.

Last night, I was sitting in the bar, engaged in a conversation with Nobilis about theology and fast food (though not at the same time).  I sat in on panels this weekend about lasers, religion, space exploration, and more and have found this community to be open, engaging, and intelligent.  Finances dictate that I will not likely be able to attend very many cons for the foreseeable future, which is too bad; I like this community, and I want to continue to be a part of it.

It’s day 3 of Balticon 42.  I’m tired.  We were up late last night, later than I wanted to be, but I made some personal connections in the podcasting tribe that I’m hoping will be beneficial later.  Friday night, I went back to my room early, thinking that the quiet was a wonderful respite.  Now I’m in a Panera Bread, and it’s not much quieter at all than the convention is in most parts; but it is less chaotic.  It’s the chaos that’s been getting to me, so now, I’m some place that’s else.

But I know I’ll have to go back soon.  The power of the nerd compels me.

I should be in bed, but I’m blogging.  Why?  Because I’m an outlaw now, and outlaws don’t live by society’s rules.  I blame the schools.  I blame Indiana Jim and Tee Morris.  I do not blame myself.  I was an innocent bystander.  But, yes, while at a late night hangout with Scott Brekall and his wife, we did manage to get the police called on us.  Sure it may have been 3 am, and it’s possible that we were making enough noise for a small concert, but by golly we were talking about important things, like The Superfriends, arch rivalries, and how Jim’s upcoming Star Wars based podcast syncs up nicely with old Get Smart! movies.  Still, the police came, and I’m sure that they saw me wearing my shirt in outlaw black.  They’ll be coming for me soon.  When the postings stop, you’ll know why.

Either that, or I’ve just gotten lazy again.

So . . . yeah; I’m at a science fiction convention.  This has long been one of the geek lines that I’ve yet to cross, but now, the future is simply anyone’s guess.  There’s a party going on (there’s always a party going on at these things), but I’m back in my room because I’m tired.  I’m not about to fall over, but I’m getting there, and I figured it would be easier to come back now, than to drag Chris out of a party that was in full swing.

So now, for the first time since about 5 this morning, it’s quiet where I am.

Two friends of mine come over every week for dinner and geekery (we’re going through the entire series run of Babylon 5). We trade off cooking, but last week was my turn, so I decided to retry a recipe that I’ve had to reverse engineer from an entree I had in a now closed restaurant. The problem was, the restaurant closed down (and I don’t know why, ‘cuz it was really, really good) before I could go back and remind myself of what the cheeses were in this sauce. As such, you’re stuck with my improvisations.

And about the cheese measurements: yes, those are ounces by weight. Trusting volumetric measurements of cheese is risky business, so I recommend going by weight whenever possible. It’s how you will find cheese in all of my recipes (and yes, there will be more to come), and by gummy, it’s how you should measure it at home.