Thoughts On A Tragedy

It's been just over a week since that horrible tragedy in Aurora, Colorado, and pretty much everything that could be said about it probably has been by now. I've actually been debating whether or not I should add my two cents to the discourse, since in the grand scheme of things, my opinions on what happened really aren't all that important at all. I mean, who cares what I have to say about it? But I've been thinking about it off and on at different times during the past week, so I figured I might as well do something to collect those thoughts.

I don't know how closely any of you reading this have been following the case, if you even have been at all, but it's sparked a number of arguments about it. The big one has been gun control. One side says the shooting is proof that guns need to be kept out of the hands of citizens, from the biggest machine guns to the tiniest pea shooters. The other side argues that doing that would be a violation of our Constitutional rights. My opinion tends to skew towards the middle of this argument. Don't make gun ownership illegal, just make the bigger weapons harder to get. If a guy walks into a gun store and wants to buy an Uzi or AK-47 or something, then make him jump through some serious hoops before he can get it.

The other argument regards violence in media and how it affects violence in real life. This argument has been around seemingly forever. Go back to 1999, and you'll see Marilyn Manson and the video game Doom get the lion's share of the blame for the Columbine massacre. Because Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold couldn't just be two psychos that killed everyone at school one day, no sir. It had to be because of heavy metal and video games. Ever since the Aurora shootings, I've heard people blaming the Batman movies for what happened. Really. I can't even begin to comprehend just how unbelievably stupid that sounds.

Blaming music, movies, and video games for violence is one of the most preposterous things I've ever heard. I've been a fan of the Friday the 13th movies since adolescence, but you don't see me running around in a hockey mask hacking people up with a machete. I will confess to thinking it'd be neat to try backyard wrestling at the end of the '90s when that sort of thing was in fashion, but my friends and I at least knew pro wrestling was fake and would go out of our way to avoid intentionally hurting each other. And even then, there's an enormous gap between imitating pro wrestling in your backyard and walking into a crowded public place and opening fire. If violent media really influences you so much that you want to go out and kill a dozen people in real life, then you're probably already mentally disturbed to begin with.

And of all the things to make the Aurora shooter go crazy, it's friggin' Batman?! Really? Batman? The shooter had his apartment booby-trapped with explosives, so maybe he was hoping to become a supervillain and fight Batman in real life or something. Combining that with the shooting, this guy should probably be locked away for the rest of his life, whether it be in an asylum or a regular prison. Because he's completely bonkers.

No matter what was running through this psycho's head, if anything, it won't change the fact that twelve innocent people had their lives ended for no good reason. If movies really did inspire this guy to be a supervillain, I wish they'd inspire a few superheroes. Because the world could use some right now.

Nights of Fright

I promised another post, and I shall deliver.

I've spoken on occasion in the past that I'm a fan of the Scarefest, a horror movie convention in Lexington, Kentucky. But it isn't the only horror convention in the state. A week ago today, myself, my mom, and a couple of friends of mine made the trip up to Louisville to check out Kentucky's other horror convention, the Fright Night Film Fest. To tell you the truth, I probably would have skipped Fright Night had it not been for one person: Bruce Campbell. Yes, the man himself, Bruce effing Campbell was at the Fright Night Film Fest and I got to meet him. It's been a week and I'm still very happy because of it.

The experience had its highs and lows, though. Meeting some movie stars was fun and I really enjoyed chatting with some of the filmmakers there. And though I've been waving the Bruce Campbell flag, the real highlight of the whole thing was my mom talking my favorite online movie reviewer, Brad "Cinema Snob" Jones, into giving me a phone call about an hour after the doors opened up. Jones had a booth at the show and he was the first person I wanted to meet, and my mom found him before I did and had him call me. That, plus the fact that he was a genuinely nice guy to boot when I actually did meet him, has really made my whole week.

But there were lows to counterbalance the highs, unfortunately. The event seemed uncoordinated and disorganized, like the staff didn't know what they were doing at any given time. Throw in overcrowded corridors and a lack of air conditioning in some parts of the building, and you have an experience that was really unpleasant on occasion.

Did I enjoy myself? Yes, I did. Would I go to the Fright Night Film Fest? Hell no. Not unless they could fix their problems and had guests that I absolutely had to meet. Otherwise I'm sticking with the Scarefest. If you're a fan of horror conventions and you live in the Kentucky area, you can't go wrong with the Scarefest. But as for the Fright Night Film Fest, it was okay, I guess. We'll just have to wait and see what happens next year before I make attending it an annual thing like I have with the Scarefest.

Everything's Better With Bears

So now that we're a few days into July, I really should get around to posting something. And I actually have a few things to talk about, too! I'll break them up into separate posts, but you'll definitely be hearing about all of it.

First up, I wanted to talk about my recent voyages to the movie theater. I caught the midnight showing of The Amazing Spider-Man on Monday night, and I'm working on a full review of it for the S@TM blog, so I'm just gonna tell you to follow that blog because my opinions of Spidey are coming in a few days (hopefully). So with this post, we'll be discussing the other movie I saw, Seth MacFarlane's Ted. Long story short, the movie is awesome. I'm usually on the fence about MacFarlane's output (I dislike Family Guy but enjoy the occasional episode of American Dad), but I can in fact say that I enjoyed Ted a lot. It's sweet, hilarious, and entertaining, and it gets four stars on my usual scale along with a solid recommendation.

Meanwhile, I have another post coming up. Stay tuned.