Man time.

 So there are just some things that need to be said about this movie. This would be my [un]official review of “The Last Airbender.” 

So, as an adamant fan of the show, “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” I was naturally stoked when I heard about this movie coming out. Then when I actually went and saw the movie, I was severely disappointed, because the director messed a lot of things up in my opinion, and that’s what I’m gonna list for you here. Feel free to leave if you disagree, because all of this is strictly my opinion only.

1. Names

Ok, so obviously if you watched the show at all you know that the director changed a lot of the character names in the movie. Aang, Sokka, and Uncle Iroh were some of the names changed, but I think there were more. Actually it was just the way the names sound, not a different name all together, but it still bothered me a lot.

2. Casting

The characters in this movie were all wrong too. First of all, Aang, the “last airbender,” was casted from the internet. This kid sent in an audition tape of him doing some martial arts with a staff and somehow gets the part. My question is, did anyone check to see if this kid could act? Because from what I saw in the movie, the answer was no, no one checked, and no, he can’t act. I also didn’t like the fire nation and how they were some kind of Indian nationality. Not that I’m racist or anything but that’s just not how it was in the cartoon. Lastly the Fire Lord was just not intimidating enough for me. In the show, all you saw of him was his silhouette surrounded by huge flames until season three, and that helps add to his character, which was a huge let down. 

3. Plot

Now I know that Shyamalan didn’t have that much time in the movie, but it still felt really rushed to me. Sure he had to fit an entire season into a two hour movie, and I’m not saying that I could do any better, but I still felt like it could have been longer, and included more. Oh yeah, and in the movie, Sozen’s comet is mentioned at the end to return in THREE YEARS, when in the show it returns in only EIGHT MONTHS, which adds to the pressure for Aang to learn the four elements, because he doesn’t have that much time. It just adds, ok?

4. Others

Ok, last thing and I didn’t know a category title it would fall under, thus: others. In the movie, only the most powerful firebenders could create fire, with the other firebenders only able to manipulate the fire that is around them, like the other element benders. In the cartoon though, all the firebenders can create and bend the fire, which again, isn’t a big deal, but it’s the little things that add up.

So this is all I’m saying: Shyamalan, how hard was it to just make things like they were in the cartoon? The show was extremely successful, so why would you not to do things like they were originally written? Now you just look like an idiot, and you’re basically the laughing stock of Hollywood. So good job M. Knight, thanks for basically ruin one of the awesome things in my life with a live-action movie FAIL, when it had so much potential to be awesome. 

This actually happened last night and you should read it. 

So there was a large group of people, some that I knew and some that I didn’t know, going to New York for some kind of conference or something. Some of the people I remember were Kat Gordon, Emily Meade, Lindsey Thomason, my mom, Addison Harrelson, and John Locke from Lost (the bald guy). John Locke only carried a small knife to defend himself, and I always criticized him, saying that he should carry a bigger weapon, which will be important later. New York looked a little different though, because there was three levels to the city. So when we got there we went to the coast first for some reason, where we noticed some people acting weird. They attacked us and we didn’t have any weapons or anything, so we had to fight them off with our bare hands. This is when we realized that some kind of virus had spread throughout New York and turned a lot of people to zombies. So we all piled back into the van and worked our way to the city’s first level. So as we realized that a lot the city was infected and that there was no way out, we decided to go to the third level to escape them. We went to the third level and as I got out of the van a zombie ran at me so I punched it in the face and it ran away. Then another one ran up and started talking to me so I grabbed and it said, “I’m not a zombie!” So I looked at him and he had yellow blotches on his face. So then he explains that the whole third level has bone marrow cancer and it’s severely contagious. So we got back in the van and used hand sanitizer to make sure we weren’t infected with bone marrow cancer (now I realize that this is completely ridiculous, but I did dream it). At this point, the bald guy from Lost said it was stupid to be in a big group, so he split and went on his own. After losing him, we decided to go back to the first level, where there had been a lot of people that weren’t infected earlier. But the way was blocked by soldiers so we tried the second level. That didn’t work either because there were giant steel doors that sealed off the second, with the exception of one of the doors that was cracked open. One of the guys in our group decided to go through the opening, and as soon as he went through, the doors shut and he was torn apart by zombies on the other side. Well now that the doors were sealed we went back to a bridge on the first level and jumped from the bridge to a truck below. Some people in our group didn’t want to make the jump though so we split up, with half of us on the second level and half of us on the first. The group on the first level continued on and we found a bunch of weapons and I grabbed a sword. But after we found the weapons, someone started shooting arrows at us, so we all took cover and then John Locke came into view. He had obviously lost his mind and said that he was going to kill us and put us out of our misery. So he charged me with the knife and we had an epic battle but I ended up beating him because I had a sword and he had a small knife. Then I said, “told you that you would need a bigger weapon,” and I woke up.

Honestly, I had this dream, and I’m not sure what I ate last night, but I did have an enormous amount of coffee with Chris Evett. Which might have had something to do with it. Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed dreaming it.

A panda walks into a delicatessan. He 
orders a sandwhich and begins to eat 
quietly. When the waiter gave him his 
check, the panda suddenly stood up and 
pulled out a gun, shot out all the 
windows, then began to leave the deli, the 
manager said “Hey! You have to pay for 
all the damage you did AND the 
sandwhich!” Then the panda said “Hey! 
I’m a panda! Look it up!” So when the 
manager got home, he did. The dictionary 
said “Panda: a bear-like creature with 
black and white markings on its face. 
Lives in China. Eats shoots and leaves.”

I would like to share a story that is an amazing example of steadfast faith. My grandpa is one of the strongest Christians I know. He has taught me so much just through his example. While running Anna’s Christian Bookstore 24/7 for 13 years, people from all over Loganville and the surrounding areas have come to him for spiritual guidance and Christian materials. He is what I would define as not only a “good person”, but also a man after God’s own heart. But sometimes bad things happen to good people. 

Barely a year ago, my papa’s brother passed away. This came as a major blow to my entire family, because they were very close and he was important to everyone. But my grandpa showed amazing faith during this trial and continued to follow Christ without question. Where my faith would have probably wavered, his was completely unmoving. 

Just recently it was decided that Anna’s Christian Bookstore, which has been his ministry and entire life for the last 13 years, would be closing by the August 1. This also struck our entire family hard, because we have all invested countless hours into the bookstore, helping my grandparents daily. My brother Joe, my cousins, and I practically grew up there, so it’s like a part of our childhood that is being removed. People come in daily to express their regret that the store has to close, and explaining what an impact that my grandparents have made on their lives. These experiences are very difficult for both my grandparents, with mixed emotions running wild. But throughout all this, working all day trying to close the store, paying bills, tying up loose ends, my grandpa never once questioned why God was doing these things and he never cursed God for his problems. He is a perfect example of a modern-day Job. 

Yesterday was the most terrible of all. My grandpa’s other brother, who we knew was in the hospital for pneumonia, past away due to kidney failure. None of us were expecting this, and it crushed us all. My grandparents were actually planning on going to see him the next day. So why do all of these things happen to someone so in love with God? When I think about it i think of a couple verses. John 10:10-The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy; I came that you may have life, and have it abundantly. While this is true, my grandpa seems to have a firm grasp on another verse. Romans 8:28-And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose. Even though we may not see what the “good” is, God does and it is in our best interest, we just have to trust in Him that He knows what’s best. Because He’s the only one that can see the whole picture.

So throughout all of these trials, my grandpa has demonstrated amazing faith and perseverance, not questioning once God’s reasons for allowing things to happen.

So I’ve never used this before, but recently read a post that I thought was interesting, and it inspired me to start actually using this. I can’t say exactly how deep or intriguing that my posts are going to be, because if you know me at all then you know that I CAN be serious when I need to be, but I would rather not. So my ridiculous to serious ratio will probably be somewhere around 60%-40%. I hope you can handle it. 

I’m not sure why I haven’t used this before. I think mainly it’s because I don’t think there is anyone out there that would want to read the daily rants that run through my head. But I’m breaking down and just gonna write stuff, even though I’ll probably be the only one to read the posts.