I saw Star Wars when I was 7. My cousin introduced me to Burroughs's John Carter of Mars when I was 12 (I read the whole series). But when I was 13, I went to a smart-kid summer camp and took a class on Science Fiction. I was introduced to Bradbury, Heinlein, Asimov, Arthur C. Clark and Vonnegut. I read "Nine Billion Names of God", "Microcosmic God", "He Built a Crooked House", "Harrison Bergeron", "I, Robot" and "Mimsy Were the Borogoves", "A Sound of Thunder" and "Nightfall".

Talk about opening the floodgates.

Now I'm sad again because of all the craptacular film versions of these classics.

I read some short stories for Language Arts classes in junior high by some of those authors, but nothing that stuck out until I read The Hobbit in 8th grade. A year later, I got around to LotR, but that was it until the following year, when I joined a youth group and became friends with one of my mom's co-worker's kids, so we started hanging out at their house occasionally. The co-worker was a big SF fan, so when he found out I liked JRRT, he recommended Clark, Asimov and especially Heinlein. After I stopped with the youth group I lost contact with Renee and also got away from hard-core SF.

But, when I got to college, I took a feminist lit class specializing in SF/Fantasy, so I got into James Tiptree, Jr., CL Moore, and a few other more modern authors, as well as Shelley's Frankenstein, which I definitely recommend reading as an interesting contrast to the 1932 film. I also joined QPB (Quality Paperback Book club) which occasionally recommended classic SF/Fantasy, such as A Canticle for Liebowitz (great book!) and Time and Again (another great book!).

But, I've watched a lot more genre TV/movies than books, starting with Star Wars when I was 10 and on from there.

Harrison Bergeron

My personal favorite.

And, like Johnny Got His Gun, the book that single-handedly set me on my path to become a professional peace activist, Bergeron has fueled my work and my philosophy greatly.

I have carefully avoided seeing either movie. (Sean Astin as Harrison? The Hell?)

Sparky, another film that might qualify for that list of films on International Law is Mother Night with Nick Nolte, about an American spy in Germany during WWII who winds up getting a gig doing Nazi propaganda broadcasts on the radio, then later gets arrested and carted off to Nuremburg to stand trial for war crimes. Good, based on a Vonnegut story, and very depressing. Also deal with themes of identity and responsibility.

This may have been mentioned before...and may not even fit the bill, but I immediately thought of Closet Land, Amnesty International's film with Alan Rickman and Madeline Stowe. Psychological torture and stripping away of personal rights...like whoa.

"Andrew? Are you going to bring me my lemon or do I have to squeeze it from my hat?"

I don't know why it didn't occur to me until now, but international law is the backdrop for the protagonist's web of lies in Time Out, which is smart, left-leaning, and French.

Did The Third Man get mentioned in this context?

Emmett's watching A Series of Unfortunate Events and it is like an unceasing itch that everything is perfect. The production design is fantastic. The costumes are gorgeous. The look and feel, amazing. The children and and all the supporting actors are perfectly cast except... Jim Carrey. Who is not perfect.

But damn it looks great. And all of Violet's inventive escapes are perfectly put together and thought out. And the script is well made and Billy Connolly and Meryl Streep are great.

But...Jim Carrey.

And you just want to move into each and every set they show - that's how perfect they are. Even Olaf's ratty house has ratty gothic splendor.

And yet.

Sadly, I've still never seen Escape from New York.

But, but...you're missing Chef/Audrey II as the Duke of New York!

ITA with FKB's comments on the Carpenter score. And with Hec's comments on A Series of Unfortunate Casting Choices, Or Just the One, Really.

We're batting about .250. PotC 2 Friday night, which was not good. Pretty, in parts. Art Direction after my own heart, but it's always embarrassing when somebody bruckheimers all over the place like that.

Tonight, Monster House. What a pointless waste of celluloid. It's kind of a Stephen King story, is the best I can say about it. And great particle effects in the animation.