Summer 2011 report card.

With the end of my summer unofficially coming up relatively soon (I begin training for a job on August 21, which will effectively carry into the school year thus marking the end of my summer "break") I have been reflecting on the past few months trying to figure out if I would consider this summer to be a "success" or not. In order to best figure this out I have decided to grade my summer via a breakdown of summer-related categories and I'll share these grades with all of you! I consider my "summer break" to have begun when my regular school year ended, so I'll be reflecting on the period of May through August:

Productivity: 6/10

I consider "productivity" to be things that you don't necessarily enjoy doing, but you do them because they'll assist you at a later time (they produce a future good, not the production of good in-and-of-itself). The primary measure of productivity would be wage-labour (summer employment) and this is something I have ultimately failed to do this summer. Despite managing to get 3 interviews at good jobs, and actually having to turn down a couple other jobs (for various reasons) I could not find gainful employment this summer. So why did I award myself a 6/10, even though I haven't been earning money the past four months? The answer is that I feel that I earned productivity marks in other non-employment related ways. For instance, this summer I took a course at school, earning a credit which will (somewhat) alleviate the stress this upcoming school year will inevitably bring. I also began diligently studying for my LSAT, which is also "work" in the sense that I'd rather be doing something else but it is something that must be done. Therefore my attention to studious endeavours over the summer have earned me, I believe, a 6/10 in this category. 

Social: 8/10

Another major aspect of the summer is the social one. The summer is a time when most people have less to worry about (especially us students) and therefore more time to get together and socialize. The summer is also the ideal time to catch-up with friends and acquaintances who you don't normally see during the regular year. For me, the socialization aspect of the summer has been pretty good. I managed to hang out with most of the people I wanted to at some point, and I feel like I have re-strengthened bonds with some old friends as well. There have been plenty of social occasions this summer; parties, get-togethers, trips, etc., and the only thing really left wanting in this category would be an awesome end-of-summer-bash (that I still hope someone puts on). I also managed to hang out with the girlfriend quite a bit (who I normally see maybe 4 times a month during the school year) so that was nice as well. 

Events: 9/10

More amounts of free-time plus the awesome weather means that the summer is the best time to go out and do things that you wouldn't normally do during the year. Despite not working and therefore not having much money, as well as May-June primarily being dedicated to my school course, I am quite happy with this category. Two big concerts featuring some of my favourite bands (I managed to see personal favourites Rise Against, Blink-182, Tokyo Police Club and the Arkells live), a weekend trip to Niagara Falls, two Blue Jays game, an Argonauts football game, and a day trip to Wasaga, all within the span of 6-odd weeks has left me satisfied with that summer "need" to do stuff (plus a quite large credit card bill for the month of July has effectively scared me off of doing anything more). The only things lacking in this category would be a cottage trip of some sort. I love cottage life and I love hanging out with good friends. I think combining these two things would be the ultimate summer event. If only I had a cottage...

Rest and Relaxation: 10/10

Again I can credit my low "Productivity" mark for this one and even though the break part of my "summer break" didn't really begin until July, I really feel that I have rested up as well as anyone can during the past few weeks. At this point I actually feel restless and I am excited for the upcoming school year. I have reached that point where I want to be busy, to have structure in my life again. It's a good thing as it means that I won't (hopefully) burn out with everything come October because I never really got a break. With a lot of my friends actually having jobs, plus the geographic distance I am from other friends, there have been plenty of days where I spend the majority of my time simply lounging around doing whatever. This has allowed me to catch up on my favourite hobbies (music, gaming, reading fiction, and movies, etc.) which are usually neglected during the school year.

Overall Total: 33/40 = 82.5% (A-)

I think this total is accurate, I would give my summer a low "A" rating. It's been a good few months. Nothing grand or life-altering, but decent enough that I have no major complaints. I got some work done that will help me in the future, I managed to catch up with a good number of friends, I have made memories and have been kept busy, and I ultimately was able to recharge my batteries in anticipation of the upcoming year.

I believe that these four categories adequately demonstrate all that I hope to get out of during a summer break and if you feel like reflecting on your time this summer feel free to write your own post (or leave it in the comments) grading yourself in these four areas of summer (if you agree with me and think it's an adequate breakdown of what a summer should entail. If you don't think so, feel free to create a scale of your own.). It would be interesting to see how our grades compare and contrast! 

The only band ever?

It was August 5, 2011 when I heard the news. I lay on my bed reading Orson Scott Card's Children of the Mind when I decided to check out my social feeds on my BlackBerry. I log onto my Facebook app and read this message posted by one of my friends on the home page: "Alexisonfire broke up :(". I read it again. I panic. I immediately hop onto Twitter, searching for any tweets with the word "Alexisonfire" in them. Lo-and-behold, my Facebook friend appeared to be right. Numerous tweeters were reporting similar news. One tweet sent me to exclaim magazine's site, another to Alexisonfire's site and soon enough it became clear that it was official: the "only band ever" was no more. 

Alexisonfire is - er, was - one of my favourite bands, if not the favourite. Their 2004 album Watch Out! is my favourite album ever produced by any musical act. I accidently bought it back when I was 14 years old, as I was trying to purchase the band's self-titled first album after falling in love with their song "Waterwings". It took me awhile to get into and appreciate the type of music Alexisonfire played as it was very different from any type of music I had been exposed to previously. However, once I got into their music, I got into it in big way. With their musical styling and intensity combined with powerful and emotional lyrics, Alexisonfire became a mainstay in my life growing up and continue to be so to this day.

While the band's latest LP Old Crows/Young Cardinals is good and entirely serviceable in its own right, it was not what I was expecting from the band as I eagerly anticipated their follow-up to 2006's stellar offering of Crisis. The new album was different from the band's older works, a little too different for my tastes, and my initial opinion of the album was simply tampered by my anticipation of what I thought it could have been (the band itself were anticipating this fan criticism for how this album, as described in the lead track "Old Crows"). While at first Old Crows/Young Cardinals seem to cause a speed-bump in my absolute Alexis fandom, I had eventually come to appreciate the album in its own way and understand why the band decided to take their music down this path. The band also somewhat redeemed itself in my eyes (or ears rather) by releasing the Dog's Blood EP last year which is very reminiscent of the band's old Watch Out!-Crisis musical stylings.   

Regardless of the more recent tribulations in my relationship with the band, it is not an exaggeration to say that I really was devastated by the news that the band had broken up. The initial shock was like hearing that a good friend had just suddenly decided to move away. Alexisonfire have been a mainstay in my life for the past 7 years, and I have become attached to the band as an idea, entity, and group of artists. Great bands are the ones that can so effectively target the core of its listeners and connect with them that the band and the music become much more than just entertainment. Alexisonfire was one such band and it is sad to see them go. It is also pertinent to note that I am not alone in this feeling of loss for such a great band as Alexisonfire have sold thousands of records and have even had some mainstream success in the latter part of their career. Many fans were upset the evening of August 5th.

With Alexisonfire calling it quits, music got a little suckier. With that being said, there is no point in really dwelling on this loss. Through their decade long run, Alexisonfire became one of the great Canadian bands around today (my opinion obviously), especially in the genres of alternative and hardcore (or post-hardcore) rock. As the saying goes: with the closing of one door, another couple inevitably open. Alexisonfire may have been one of my favourite bands, but they are in no way the only band making good music today (there are a few others out there, you just need to know where to look). While it is sad that Alexisonfire is no more, this leaves room for other bands to emerge and fill the void. If anything, I can find solace in the fact that while the break-up wasn't completely amicable, the band didn't dissolve due to a major fight or anything serious like that. These artists simply felt that they gave all that they could to Alexisonfire and wanted to expand their horizons. Dallas Green will go on with City and Colour, Wade MacNeil will continue with his band Black Lungs and is also joining Gallows (the move that decisively ended Alexisonfire), and George Pettit assured fans that the remaining members of the band will go onto something new. There is also talk of Alexisonfire doing one final "goodbye" tour, as well as a special album release in celebration of their 10-year anniversary. If either of these things become something substantial, I'll be the first one in line.

An audio-visual history of the band:

Music video for "Pulmonary Archery" off of 2001's Alexisonfire

Music video for "Accidents" off of 2004's Watch Out!

Music video for "Passing Out In America" (Moneen cover) off of 2005's The Switcheroo Series: Alexisonfire vs. Moneen

Music video for "This Could Be Anywhere In The World" off of 2006's Crisis

Music video for "The Northern" off of 2009's Old Crows/Young Cardinals

This summer's Silver Screen.

Last night I caught a screening of Cowboys & Aliens which was the last film I needed to see on my "summer 2011 must-see movies" list (the other four being Thor, X-Men: First Class, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, and Captain America: The First Avenger). For a nerd like me it has been a great summer for movies and instead of writing about each film individually, I decided a while ago that I'd write my thoughts about each film (and rank them by my preference) in one big post. So this is that post. The way I rank and discuss these movies is my own opinion and is therefore obviously open to criticism. I should also note that I think all these films are good, this listing is just a matter of personal preference in how I enjoyed the films or the priority in which I might recommend someone watch these movies. My rankings will be in descending order and I'll try to keep my opinions on each film as concise as possible while avoiding major spoilers (but I'll let you know if one is coming up).

5. Cowboys & Aliens

Ever since the first couple of trailers for this movie came out, I have been excited for this film. The premise of having cowboys and aliens fight it out seemed so ludicrous that I had to check it out. The direct mashing of two film genres (western and science fiction) was also a selling point. While I am a huge fan of science fiction films, I am not so acquainted with western ones. So the prospect of having a movie that would at the same time be familiar and new was very appealing. Overall the movie was decent enough. Decent action, decent effects, fun premise, etc. Seeing Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford do their thing on screen was also really great as they both seemed to really enjoy their roles in the film. Despite all of this however the movie ultimately fell somewhat flat in my opinion. The film was a little too familiar with respect to each film genre and it didn't challenge me (the viewer) in anyway. The plot was predictable, the characters were one-dimensional (for the most part), and while the film had some fun with the ridiculous premise, I felt like it could have taken the fact that these were COWBOYS fighting ALIENS to a higher level. The tone of the film never seemed to hit the mark with me and I couldn't help but notice some nonsensical plot holes (noticing and pointing out holes in the plot or premise of any movie is my Achilles heel when it comes to if I enjoy a film or not). Overall this movie is a good popcorn flick and will provide for an entertaining couple of hours. It is in no way a bad film, but in the same respect it is not one of the best that was released this summer.

My rating: 3/5

4. Captain America: The First Avenger

When I heard that Johnny Storm would be Captain America I was not happy.

When I first heard they were bringing Captain America to the silver screen I was excited. Then when I heard that Chris Evans was going to playing the dear Captain I got really nervous. Not that Evans is a bad actor or anything, I just couldn't picture him fitting the role. To me Evans plays secondary characters, usually as an outlet for comic relief. Also, he played Johnny Storm in the Fantastic Four films and it just didn't make sense for him to play another Marvel superhero (canon continuity is really important to me, and the folks at Marvel Studios thankfully avoided the Johnny Storm-Captain America-looking-like-the-same-guy issue by not including said Fantastic Four movies into the current Marvel film "universe", which is a good thing as both FF movies were awful). Upon seeing the film, I realized that my initial fears about Evans were misplaced as he did a superb job and is probably one of the best things in this movie. Really great acting on his part. Like all the recent Marvel movies, Captain America was fun. It's a good time. Action, comedy, romance (although a bit downplayed) all working together to make a completely sizable summer film. The film also scores points simply due to the fact that it is contributing to the previously mentioned Marvel film universe, whose culmination in next year's Avengers is going to be epic and probably the super-awesomely film event of the year for me. If you're a fan of Marvel comics, Captain America, or the new Marvel Studios take on superhero films, Captain America is a must see. I did have some issues with the movie however. This film suffers from what I like to call "Stormtrooper syndrome", as in all the run-of-the-mill bad guys at no time pose any obvious threat to Captain America and he mainly just steamrolls through them. This drains the action scenes from tension as you know Capt. will make it through any and all obstacles in his way. The motivation of the bad guys was a little too unbelievable for me as well. I expect a little bit more out of my villains in modern cinema than what Captain America had to offer. Also Captain America (or his civilian name Steve Rogers) is very one-dimensional as a character. He remains the absolute good guy throughout the whole film and this makes him somewhat boring (he has no character ark, he doesn't learn anything through his trials and tribulations). My biggest grief with the film though (MILD SPOILER ALERT) is that the "end fight" scene, the culmination of all of Capt.'s efforts where he confronts his villainous nemesis the Red Skull is totally lame. There really isn't even a fight between the two of them. I wanted to see a fist-to-fist brawl between these two enhanced beings (the film even makes a point to demonstrate that like Capt., the Red Skull also has stronger-than-normal strength. Just nothing ever comes of this demonstration). For me, this lack of an epic end-battle between good-versus-evil really hurt the film. Despite these qualms, Captain America is a great film for any comic book fan and again is a must see for those eagerly awaiting The Avengers like myself.

My rating: 3.5/5

3. X-Men: First Class

I didn't really know what to expect from this film, and to be honest I wasn't expecting much. The X-Men as a film franchise was severely hurt by 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand and was wholly destroyed by 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine and the initial trailers for First Class didn't make the film seem all that interesting to me either. However once the film came out and the initial critic reaction turned out to be very positive I just had to see it, and I am happy to report that I quite enjoyed myself. Great story, action, characters, and comedy (when appropriate). Like most of the recent Marvel movies, First Class was simply fun. Seeing these super-beings flying all over the screen using their powers was awesome and the special effects and scale of some of the action scenes was top notch (the culminating scene of First Class hit that "grandiose" mark that I was waiting for in Captain America). My only real complaint with this film is that it features the stereotypical characteristic moment that some films that have (and suffer from). In First Class, it is (spoilers) the black character who is the first to die (and in not even a dignified way). The film is in no way racist (or at least I don't believe so, I have read things online that would disagree with me), but the fact that the film took this route with this character was disappointing. Another criticism I have is that a lot of the supporting characters (mutants) don't really get fleshed out as well as I would have liked, but I understand that this film is primarily about the relationship between Charles Xavier (Professor X) and Eric Lehnsherr (Magneto) and the film does the exposition on these characters and their relationship superbly. See this movie if you can.

My rating: 4/5

2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

I have already discussed my initial reaction to this movie previously on this blog and as explained before, my relationship with this film is somewhat special and therefore different from what I had when anticipating viewing the other films on my list. I can't recommend or even discuss this film without talking about Harry Potter's entire story and plot, as I really feel that anything Harry Potter has to be viewed within the context of the universe as a whole and how said universe makes you feel. The Harry Potter universe is one of my favourite fictional universes and this film isn't something I can merely recommend. If you like Harry Potter you don't even need to be told to see this film. You will see it. With that being said, EVERYONE should be a fan of Harry Potter and if you aren't, then you should be. It really is as simple as that. I was eagerly anticipating this movie, not because I thought it was going to be some grand masterpiece, but because I enjoy Harry Potter. The film itself was good enough to fulfill my expectation as a rabid Harry Potter fan and that's all that really needs to be said (although I will note that it generally received good reviews as a film in-and-of-itself).

My rating: If you like Harry Potter, you'll enjoy this movie. If you don't like Harry Potter, you should like Harry Potter.

HARRY POTTER HARRY POTTER HARRY POTTER HARRY POTTER HARRY POTTER HARRY POTTER

1. Thor

I really liked Thor, and it is the movie I liked the most out of all the films I had wanted to see this summer. I've said it before in this post when discussing the movies that came out this summer, but Thor is just fun. Crazy fun. Thor is a movie that really anyone can enjoy; if you like movies, you'll find something to here. This movie had everyhing: an epic fantasy story about ancient gods duking it out for inter-dimensional superioirty, action-packed fight scenes, cool special effects, great acting (Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Idris Elba Heimdall really stealing the show), a romance subplot (in which Natalie Portman plays a dorky, typical "everygirl" who falls for Hemsworth's Thor who is totally buff and runs around half naked most of the time - a role-reversal in typical cultural portrayal of male-female sexual dynamics that I appreciated), an over-the-top premise that knows its limits but excels within them, a cool "end-fight" scene, a moral lesson, sneaky (but totally awesome) revelations into what 2012's Avengers may have in store (adding to the continuity of the Marvel film Universe), it really just  has the whole package. Thor is in no way a masterful movie, one that will greatly affect me or change my life, but it's a damn good film and I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it (well, not every bit, I feel that Thor's companions the Warriors Three could have been fleshed out a bit more, but I'm sure we'll be seeing more of them in future sequels). I think the reason I liked Thor so much was because I had a real fear that the film would be disastrous. Of all the major characters in the Marvel Universe, Thor is by far one of the quirkiest and weirdest. He's an ancient Norse god who lives in some far-away fantasy world, who speaks in Old English and fights giant monsters across mystical plains of existence and gets magical powers from some higher (but never identified) magical (divine?) source. If done improperly, this film could have been terrible. Luckily for us all, not only was the film good it was really great. See it.

My rating: 4/5.