The First Doctor Strange Trailer Is Here!

By now you guys already know I'm a huge Doctor Strange fan, have been since I was a wee little tyke. He's been my avatar on Blogger, Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, Disqus, Pinterest, and about every other social media website I've been a part of, even GetGlue.

I was a little worried when I heard Benedict Cumberbatch was going to be playing him in the movie, the movie I've been waiting for my whole life.  They released the first trailer on the 12th, and now that I've seen the trailer, it's not his casting that has my concerned.  I'm still not sure what I think of him, but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt still.  Instead it's the casting choice of the Ancient One that I'm overly confused by.

I'm used to Marvel changing the race of classic characters in order to make a cast more diverse.  They cast Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, a character that was a traditionally a cigar chomping, grey streaked white guy.  Idris Elba was cast as Heimdall, the guardian of Asgard, and the movie version of Doctor Strange has another casting change, Chiwetel Ejiofo will be playing Baron Mordo, another traditionally white character.

What I'm puzzled by, is the casting of Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One.  It's not the idea of this character becoming a woman that bothers me, though I do think it's a rather odd choice to begin with.  Rather, it's changing the character from a really old Asian guy, into a bald white woman, that I find to be perplexing.  I get changing the race of a character to make a movie more diverse, I don't get changing a minority character into a white character though.  I really don't get changing a character who is supposed to teach Doctor Strange the mysteries of Asian mysticism, to someone who isn't Asian. Makes no sense.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still super excited for this movie, and it will be one that I will see on opening day.  To put things in perspective, I have never felt that I HAVE to see a movie on opening day.  I'm just hoping the casting doesn't distract me from what I'm hoping will be a terrific origin story.

Joss Whedon's New Movie: Much Ado About Nothing

First of all, I can't believe I never heard of this project before.  I'm such a huge Joss Whedon fan.  Between Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Angel, Dollhouse,and Firefly, he is responsible for four of my favorite TV show of all time.  Add into the mix that Nathan Fillion, Alexis Denisof, and Amy Acker are in the movie, and I'm already in seventh heaven.  But it gets even better!  Not only is Much Ado About Nothing one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, but the trailer at least is in b&w.  I am convinced that not enough movies are in black and white.  It looks like the release date on the movie is June 7th, and I will be seeing the movie on that day, or at least within the week.

Interesting Links and Useful Information

It's been a while since I've shared some of the stuff that has struck my interest or has me adding to my wish list.  So I thought I would take a few minutes and let you in on some of them.

I've been rather lax in my NPR listening, but I try to catch The Diane Rehm Show as often as I can.  For whatever reason we have a bunch of people at work who like to discuss religion and their feelings on it.  For the most part the discussion stays civil, but I think all of us are rather set in our beliefs, though I also think most of us are willing to listen.  Interestingly, in the last few weeks I have heard discussions over two new books that talk about religion and the way it is changing in our society.  Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics by explores the idea of how people have changed away from "traditional" Christianity and how that is hurting the country.  The New Religious Intolerance: Overcoming the Politics of Fear in an Anxious Age by Martha Nussbaum explores religious persecution and the fear it instills in everyone.  They are both fascinating discussions with the authors, and I know I really want to read both books now.

Two "newer" social media sites have been sucking my times lately, though one more than the other.  If anyone is on Pinterest or GetGlue, please feel free to follow me on those two sites as well.

And while I'm mentioning other websites to waste time, I have to mention Pogo.com.  Now I know it's not new, nor is it a new find for me, but I've found myself going back more often lately to play my favorite games.  Whether it's Monopoly, Boggle Bash, Scrabble, dominoes, or hearts, I'm loving the game play on there again.

A few weeks ago I was complaining to a friend of mine that I don't see many butterflies anymore.  I remember being a kid in MN and seeing tons of them all the time.  Well needless to say, a few days ago a ton of them showed up out of the blue in my neighborhood.  Now I've never been very good about identifying them, so I looked up this website, Butterflies and Moths of North America, and got to work.  I sort of suck at this by the way, and I'm still not sure what I'm supposed to be looking for.  First of all, they are very hard to take pictures of when the winds are blowing, and this is Kansas so winds are always blowing.  I did manage to get three decent pics though.  It's a new camera so the pictures aren't the best.

And last, but not least I would like to share a song that I've been listening to a lot lately.  When Anne Rice wrote her novel, Violin, there was a soundtrack put out as well.  Leila Josefowicz was the violinist chosen to perform on the album, and my favorite song on it was "Moon Over Bourbon Street," which was composed by her and Sting.  I recently started listening to it again.

Homer's Odyssey by Gwen Cooper

OK, this is not a book review for the simple fact I've not read the book. Actually I hadn't even heard of it until this morning. I was in the car on my way to the DMV and I was listening to NPR which is normal for me. The Diane_Rehm Show had just started and the first hour was all about this book.

Now I'm not a cat person. I would never go out and adopt a cat but at the same time if one showed up on my doorstep I wouldn't turn it away either. So with that being said I'm seriously thinking about reading this book. If it was about blind puppy I would have been in tears and at the store today buying the book. As it was I was smiling the whole time I was listening to the story.

What I did want to do was post about the book here because I know there are a lot of cat lovers out there that would love to read this book. I will paste the synopsis of the book from the publishers website at the end of this post. If and when you do read the book please come back and let me know what you thought. I have a feeling everyone will love it and that I will end up reading along with all of you.

From the Publisher's Website:

The last thing Gwen Cooper wanted was another cat. She already had two, not to mention a phenomenally underpaying job and a recently broken heart. Then Gwen’s veterinarian called with a story about a three-week-old eyeless kitten who’d been abandoned. It was love at first sight.

Everyone warned that Homer would always be an “underachiever,” never as playful or independent as other cats. But the kitten nobody believed in quickly grew into a three-pound dynamo, a tiny daredevil with a giant heart who eagerly made friends with every human who crossed his path. Homer scaled seven-foot bookcases with ease and leapt five feet into the air to catch flies in mid-buzz. He survived being trapped alone for days after 9/11 in an apartment near the World Trade Center, and even saved Gwen’s life when he chased off an intruder who broke into their home in the middle of the night.

But it was Homer’s unswerving loyalty, his infinite capacity for love, and his joy in the face of all obstacles that inspired Gwen daily and transformed her life. And by the time she met the man she would marry, she realized Homer had taught her the most important lesson of all: Love isn’t something you see with your eyes.

Homer’s Odyssey is the once-in-a-lifetime story of an extraordinary cat and his human companion. It celebrates the refusal to accept limits—on love, ability, or hope against overwhelming odds. By turns jubilant and moving, it’s a memoir for anybody who’s ever fallen completely and helplessly in love with a pet.