Friday was going reasonably well until I saw a black and white police SUV come down the driveway. When you live out in the countryside, it means something is very wrong. In this case, it was the bearing of news that my father had rolled the car and seemed to be okay, but was being taken to the hospital.

It turns out he lost control just as he was calling me to let me know he was nearly home and would pick me up to visit an ill member of my church. Those plans were dashed with the need to get a ride to La Crosse ASAP. Fortunately, my neighbor Randy was home and so began a tired night at the hospital.

Talking to the police officer, I’d heard that the car was airborne for at least twenty feet. Today I got a chance to see where the accident happened and can say it was at least twenty feet and quite an impact coming down. My father is extremely lucky to have survived going off the road in that location.

Back to last night, we got to the ER at Gunderson to find my father finishing up being questioned by a state trooper. Speaking to the trooper I was told that Dad’s cellphone had been destroyed in the crash, which explained the old fashioned method of being notified in person.

Dad was lucid and alert, so began our entertaining the doctor and nurses involved. It might not be the wisest idea to make a doctor laugh while stitching up lacerations, but that’s what we did anyway. Two areas at the eyebrow level required some stitches and more were needed on the right hand where skin had been peeled away by a deep gouge.

At the time, I guessed the windshield had shattered since it was already weakened by the deer collision in June. Today I discovered otherwise, adding to my testimony of the ruggedness of Suburu products. Amazingly all the doors were able to be opened after the accident.

The wounds were caused by my father’s destroyed glasses and cellphone, which was torn in two by the airbag! This was a ruggedized Samsung, so the power of a deployed airbag is something fierce.

Observation is required for any head injury, so my father had to stay overnight. He got the all clear this morning and we retrieved him this afternoon after salvaging the contents of the Outback. Brand new tires did not survive the event as the photos show.

An outpouring of support and aid has made this a less traumatic event than it could have been. Friends and acquaintances have helped out with me particularly grateful for people visiting my dad during his brief hospitalization. Food being brought has been most welcome as neither of us feel like doing much ambitious.

Looking back over the years, it is a minor miracle the Subaru survived this long. Far too many miles and collisions with deer happened, but we managed to somehow keep it going. A new round of repairs were planned, but alas we have lost the best car we ever had.

It will be impossible to replace.

Just a short report this time around on a strange referral spam that showed up briefly on my Blogger statistics. This time it was http: // dailydeal . de / gutschein-freizeit-ruhrgebiet-alpincenter-ski-tageskarte-060913

Checking out the spam in my trusty virtual machine setup revealed a professional site that held up under further scrutiny. A little research revealed Google owns the company which is a typical special offer promoting kind of place. DailyDeal was purchased by Google in 2011 and is based in Germany. Of course I’m not German, so talk about hitting the wrong target!

Now why would a false referral from a Google company show up in the first place?

This is where things get murky and necessarily go into the realm of speculation. My first thought is that the provider of the deal is trying to goose the results by paying a runner of a botnet to spam the listing. However, it is more likely a competitor to the tour outfit is engaging in negative SEO.

What is negative SEO? Search Engine Optimization is the process where a website builds up presence in Google, Bing, Duck Duck Go, Yahoo, and other search engines on the Web. Much is done by trickery in the HTML coding of a site, making sure keywords (short matches on content) are present in certain amounts.

The most tricky and dangerous optimization involves link exchanges so that it looks like the site is popular. Google has automated algorithms that periodically hunt down any behavior that looks like that. When a detection is made (real or false) an automated penalty is assessed against the webpage. This is all done by software and appealing to a human to quickly straighten out a false penalty is nearly impossible.

That means you can frame a competitor for building up paid links by purchasing said links. This is part of the “black hat” methods to boost your business on the Net by lowering the rankings in search results of your competitor. They can be dropped many pages in ranks by negative SEO.

While it is speculation, there is a higher probability that this referral link is pushed by someone other than the seller of the ski trips than something they did for themselves. However, they may have paid someone for SEO and that company may have engaged in bad practices.

So there is a mystery here that I won’t see solved. There are other possibilities including Blogger/Google getting the stats system screwed up to the point that an error caused the referral to show up.

At least this isn’t a dangerous or hostile site spreading malware.

An early attempt by Hayao Miyazaki to step back from directing led to this soulful adaptation of a manga about a stubborn middle school student trying to find a direction in life. Filled with trials of school, friendship, family, and even romance, her journey takes her to the most controversial ending in Studio Ghibli history.

Adolescence is a turbulent period in the life due to all the new and confusing situations you encounter. Most of the trouble is in dealing with others while trying to figure out just who you are. This is a tricky balancing act in even the best of circumstances.

In our current culture, that time has extended well past the teens through the twenties to encroach on the thirty something’s. But in 1995 when Whisper of the Heart was released, there was still a desire to mature at an early age though it was fading.

Set in a Japanese city, the film greets us with a montage of urban life after the sun has faded and the lights have just flickered on providing the glow that can make night life possible. It’s that period when responsibilities have mostly ended with the promise of things possible wafting through the summer air. Ironically, the Olivia Newton-John version of the song “Country Roads” is used as a backdrop for the cityscape.

Eventually we follow a girl leaving a market and accompany her home to a small family apartment. Shizuku Tsukishima is enjoying her summer break by burying herself in books about fairy tales. But a mystery arises for the middle school student when a name on the checkout card of a book she’s reading seems vaguely familiar. Sure enough, the same name appears on all the books she’s checked out from the library: Seiji Amasawa.

It may be summer break, but Japanese students have homework, cram schools, and other activities to deal with unlike kids in the United States. Shizuku heads to school to get permission to borrow a book only available in its library and meet with her best friend, Yuko. Strangely enough, the tome turns out to have been donated by another Amasawa compounding the mystery for the bookworm.

Life is not all mysteries, so it’s time to check in with Yuko to run something by her. Not just a reader, but a writer, Shizuku has been busy translating the song “Country Roads” from English as part of an assignment. Frustrated, one of her attempts is “Concrete Roads” which is charming in its own right.

A bout of forgetfulness leads to a fated encounter, or at least an encounter with a member of the opposite sex. Confident and flippant, the boy lands a parting barb that utterly infuriates the too serious girl.

It’s the perfect setup for a terrific continuing rant that lasts all the way home and well after. Shizuku’s anger is marvelously believable, conveyed with a passion only as a teenage girl can. Something more is roiling under the surface, for she can tell something is changing in her and she doesn’t know what.

The teenage years, how I do not miss them.

As if the Amasawa mystery wasn’t enough, another chance encounter leads Shizuku down twisting streets and alleys. This time it is a cat riding on a commuter train, a startling sight far too tempting for a fairy tale lover not to follow. The persuit is a delight as is the accompanying music that brings out the sheer joy of a magical experience.

How many bookworms have dreamed of something like this happening to them?

All journeys come to an end, even magical ones. Fortunately for us and Shizuku, this is instead a case of moving from one delight to another when our heroine finds herself in an antique shop. Led there by the fat feline, she comes upon a Victorian era doll of a humanoid cat. Entranced by its beauty, she wonders if the other cat transformed into it.

Cue the appearance typical scary old person in Ghibli films. Except Shiro Nishi is anything but scary. The elderly gentleman is an immediate warm and comforting presence as soon as he speaks, which he does before he’s seen. Pleased to watch someone admire the cat doll, he informs Shizuku that it has a name, the Baron Humbert von Jechingen.

That’s not the end of the wonders. The shop owner also shows off a special grandfather clock from Europe that bewitches the girl with its sad, romantic story. It also has a curious name inscribed upon it. Yep, that’s Porco Rosso on there as a nod to Miyazaki’s prior film.

Overjoyed to have had a beginning of a story kind of event happen to her, Shizuku rushes out on the errand she was supposed to be doing in the first place. Note to all teenage girls: dancing out of joy across a street in traffic is not smart.

Also not smart is forgetting the package you are to deliver. Once again, the irritating boy shows up with something she has left behind. Once again, his barbs leave her in an angry state.

Ah, youth.

In the library, Shizuku finds out that the mysterious Seiji Amasawa has beaten her to yet another book. A stray thought upsets her greatly in an amusing bit, but the mystery continues. How can this Amasawa always beat her to the books?

Summer ends and the new school year starts, the final one for junior high school. Being a senior there in Japan is the equivalent of a freshman in high school in the States and is a time of great stress in preparation for entrance exams. High school costs money to attend there, which combined with limited slots in good schools leads to fierce competition.

Facing study for entrance exams along with regular school issues would be a heavy enough burden, but revelations about the name Amasawa and the realization that the annoying boy from before is in the same grade make Shizuku miserable. To understand how she would have never seen the object of her ire being in the same grade, a little explanation of Japanese school life might be in order.

Conformity and rigid organization are classic Japanese traits and nowhere is this more apparent than in their education system. Your class is your life, the source of your only friends, and after school activities outside of the family. Crossing the line between classes is difficult due to the logistics involved in how organized your life is for you as a student.

But let’s get back to Shizuku’s misery, which intensifies when she finds herself dealing with boy/girl relationship issues popping up in her class. Shaken to the core by the confusing events along with her cluelessness, the girl sinks into a blue funk.

Seeking some of the magic she’d enjoyed before, Shizuku returns to the antique shop hoping to see the Baron again. She gets more than she bargained for when the irritating boy turns out to be Nishi’s grandson. More surprising is the sudden awkwardness that occurs when they finally talk to each other in words other than barbs.

It all leads to one of the greatest scenes to ever come out of Studio Ghibli. Sweet without a bit cheesiness, it involves the fact that the boy is an aspiring violin maker. Of course that intrigues Shizuku so she wants to hear him play. He does on the condition that she sing and when he first starts playing the familiar notes you will start smiling, I promise.

Afterward, she finds out his name is Seiji. Yeah, that Seiji. She doesn’t take this news well.

Night has fallen, so he walks her home and they talk about life seriously. There is nothing superficial about their discussion and his dream of becoming a professional violin maker impresses her greatly. It also reinforces her worries about being directionless.

Teens being teens means the rumor mill is already going at school the next day. Seiji’s coming to her classroom to find Shizuku only adds fuel to the fire for the embarrassed girl. However, watching the rain end and the sun reappear from the roof leads to further revelations that trigger a desire to change for the girl.

The change she has been afraid of now becomes a necessity in the determined girl’s mind. She must find her talent and push it to its limits to match what Seiji plans to do. Since she is good at writing, it is time to find out if she can really write a novel.

It won’t be easy, but Shizuku has a title for it: Whisper of the Heart.

So begins her quest to find her aspirations so she can feel every bit an equal to Seiji. But will the all too serious girl destroy her future in an attempt to be with the boy she loves?

The controversial ending will reveal all, but not after further reveals, spectacular interludes in the world Shizuku is creating, and much tribulation.

Thoughts

Over time this has grown to be one of my favorite Studio Ghibli films and perhaps even second only to Only Yesterday. Watching two very serious teens actually planning for the future is a welcome relief from the flight away from adulthood that is strangling our culture. Shizuku and Seiji still manage to be believable kids, but their twin quests to excel is something very special. It’s a great message for those adrift nearly twenty years later.

Shizuku upholds the traditions of strong female leads from Miyazaki’s pen, though some feminists diehards will most likely bristle at some of her motivations. That would be a mistake, for she is her own woman despite her tender age. Contrast her behavior with that of her best friend Yuko and you’ll see another case of Miyazaki’s devotion to feminism. Actually, the best example is in the spoilers section, so I’ll leave it at that.

Seiji is just as interesting a character, though we don’t get to spend as much time with him. He’s focused, driven, and proves to be quite a romantic by the end of the film. Being a rebel against the constraints of cultural expectation makes him a border line bad boy by Japanese standards, though he is anything but in behavior.

The supporting characters are all well developed, so much so that I feel guilty having short changed them in the review. In fact, the entire movie is made up of multiple character studies in parallel with Shizuku’s. From her family to Nishi, all are distinctly human presences with moments that strike just the right tone for each.

Whereas most Miyazaki films are beautifully visually and capture the childlike wonder of magic, they aren’t exactly subtle. Whisper of the Heart has occasional moments of visual beauty that are worthy of his best efforts, but the really beautiful aspect of the movie is how the story is presented. Delicately handled moments evoke genuine emotion thanks to director Kondo’s more sensitive approach.

Writing this just after Miyazaki announced his final retirement from directing anime films makes this even more interesting to me. More than once the legendary director tried to get out of the burden of overseeing everything only to step in again. For this movie, he only wrote the script and designed the characters.

Despite Yoshifumi Kondo’s brilliant work on Whisper of the Heart, Miyazaki was upset with how it turned out and especially with the younger man’s directing. In particular he didn’t like how certain scenes were storyboarded. It is a sad fact that many a brilliant artist has an ego that matches the size of their talent, so perhaps this shouldn’t have been surprising.

As for the English dub, it is pretty good. Harry Gould was particularly good casting as Nishi, having that grandfatherly kindness so needed for the part. I really can’t register a complaint about it except for some of the dialogue changes at the end.

The movie is rated G and there is no offensive content to be found in it. Little kids might be bored with the introspective passages in it, but there will be scenes that will appeal to them. Make no mistake about it, this is a thoughtful movie so it is slow moving compared to something like Spirited Away.

I highly recommend this movie to teens and up. Simply a wonderful movie for one to behold, it has a warmth that is utterly charming. Hey, it made me love “Country Roads”, a tune I used to mock as a kid. That’s the kind of magic it contains.

Technical

The best thing about the Blu-ray releases of Studio Ghibli films from Disney is that they have all been digitally restored from original film elements, not just remastered. This means they look better than they ever have in home video release. Colors are incredibly vibrant, contrast is sharp, and everything is clean as could be visually.

I will note that Whisper of the Heart is a little over sharpened from the restoration process, however this is only noticeable if you are looking at an HDTV from about six inches away. Or a computer monitor when making screen captures, though it won’t be noticeable since I down scaled them to 720p.

Presented in 1.85:1 widescreen ratio, the picture is excellent on both the 1080p Blu-ray and 480i DVD included in the set. Animated content benefits the most from high definition, so you’ll want to a Blu-ray player to fully appreciate the gorgeous animation. But the DVD version is as good as that format gets.

Audio is equally pristine with DTS-HD used for the Blu-ray and Dolby Digital 5.1 for the DVD. The original Japanese dub and English dubs are available on both discs. While mastered in surround sound, it is mainly used to carry music in the surround speakers rather than sound effects or dialogue. After all, it is a mid-90’s film.

Subtitles are available in English, English SDH, and French. I’m kind of surprised Spanish was left out in a North American release.

Most of the extras are on both discs with an additional two on the BD.

Original Japanese Storyboards– Only on the Blu-ray, the entire film is presented in storyboards drawn by Kondo. His style of storyboarding is quite a bit different than Miyazaki’s seen on other releases. This will only be of interest to those fascinated by animation or story blocking. It’s all in 1080p, amazingly enough.

4 Masterpieces of Naohisa Inoue– Again in 1080p and only on the BD, this is a collection of time lapse paintings by the fantasy artist responsible for look of Shizuku’s story. It is an impressive display of neo-pointillism that had me wondering how one could begin with the first capture and end up with the final one. They are set to music so the whole thing becomes a relaxing meditation for about half an hour.

Behind the Microphone– This consists of interviews with the actors who dubbed the English version. It is in 4:3 DVD format, but the quality is closer to videotape. Using young actresses from their stable at the time, Disney real life best friends Brittany Snow and Ashley Tidale as Shizuku and Yuko, respectively. Proving they are indeed actresses, their personalities couldn’t be more different than their characters if they tried.

Jean Smart and James B. Sikking do bang up jobs as the very patient parents of Shizuku and for Smart it was the opportunity to do voice work on a movie for the first time. Cary Elwes is perfect as the Baron and also gives an insight into the differences voicing the dapper cat in the two films he appeared in.

Seiji’s voice actor, David Gallagher, seemed to have a great time recording. Seeing Harry Gould play Nishi is a lesson in how an old pro knows how to do things better than any kid, however.

Trailers & TV Spots --  Just what it says, the original Japanese ads are presented in 4:3 format and are not restored. Not much can be said about them since there are no glimpses of alternate scenes or early production art.

BEWARE! HERE BE SPOILERS!!!

Nishi’s gentle guidance using the geode as a teaching tool about uncovering one’s hidden talents is terrific stuff. Not only did it well represent a principle, it inspired Shizuku to create a world made from gems.

Of course, we had to have a flying scene in the movie since Miyazaki wrote the screenplay. While not as good as similar scenes in Howl’s Moving Castle or The Cat Returns, it is a visually lovely introduction to the world of Shizuku’s novel.

The library scene is so well done. From her finding the line drawing of the prisoner carving a violin to her sudden realization that Seiji has been sitting across from her for some time it is great insight into how unaware of the world Shizuku has been. It’s also a nice tie in to the earlier reveal that he had checked out all the books in an effort to get her to notice him.

Then there is the promise to come back from Italy to be with her once he’s done with his apprenticeship in three years. It is like something out of a story book romance, but slightly more plausible.

Typical of many an author, Shizuku takes elements from what she has around her and tries to stitch together a narrative. Using part of the story told to her by Nishi about the history of the Baron, she begins weaving a tale of lost love in a world of magic. Along with the story of the fairy princess and dwarf king from the clock, there is a lot of foreshadowing of impossible love.

That calendar freezes the movie in time, doesn’t it? Utterly driven, she crosses off the days as she writes her story with it becoming her entire life. Of course that has consequences at school, leading to her mother being summoned by her teacher. This is a nice illustration of how kids really don’t understand the problems they cause for those who care for them.

Speaking of consequences, I thought the family distress Shizuku caused to be very realistic. Older siblings do act the way Shiho does, though her parents are unusually tolerant and compassionate. Yet the subtle way the family conference unfolds show just how worried they really are.

I liked how Shizuku’s nightmare from her novel exposes her fear of failure. She’s so determined to match Seiji and be worthy of him, but is in unknown territory with no clue as to what she’s doing. The scene is a perfect metaphor for her current emotional state. The brief dead chick moment is a bit jarring and the only thing that might upset younger viewers.

Another dream hints at what the Baron really means to Nishi and is terribly poignant. Once again, love lost takes center stage when he dreams of a woman named Elise only to awaken to her not being there. It’s a deep pain exposed that adds depth to both the character and movie.

Shizuku’s having Nishi read her story unlocks his heart and helps him reveal the pain that has haunted him for so many years. A world war separated him from his college love and the Baron from his companion doll, never to be found again. It’s more grim foreshadowing of impossible love.

The sudden reappearance of Seiji having returned from Italy early breaks the feeling of impending doom. He’s not going to spend his high school years there despite proving his talent. Instead, he’ll be in Japan with Shizuku.

I liked how the two are completely in tune with each other by this point, despite the physical distance between them. His putting his coat around her in the cold morning air and her resting her head on his back is a sweet payoff after the negative foreshadowing.

The subtitled version is superior to the dub in accurately telling the story, especially at the end. Seiji had vowed to take her up the hill on the bicycle under his own power and this irritates her no end. Shizuku jumps off and declares “I’ll never be any man’s burden!” before pushing from behind. That’s lost in the dub.

It was quite a feminist statement back in 1990’s Japan.

Together they watch the sunrise and Seiji proposes to her. She nods in assent to marrying after high school and he declares his love for her. This is watered down in the dub.

It was also very controversial at the time of release with many decrying it in the Japanese media . Accusation were made of promoting teen marriages, when Miyazaki simply wanted to encourage young people to be serious about life in an era of declining marriages and birthrates.

Personally, I think young people need to truly grow up by becoming responsible in their teens like it used to be. Now everyone acts like a child well into their thirties and society has decayed due to immature behavior. So I’m with Hayao on this one.

There’s another sweet payoff near the very end of the closing credits. Watch the people at the top for cameos and a resolution to Yuko’s romantic problems.

Despite still needing to replace the car, things have gotten close to normal now. A slew of things need doing and are slowly being stricken off the to-do list. So what does normal mean?

Well, I’m sick again, this time with an earache that slowly developed over the weekend in time to become a problem yesterday evening. My sense of balance and perception had been off, but I’d attributed it to being overly tired. No such luck.

It made driving the borrowed pickup truck interesting yesterday since I still don’t have the “feel” for driving large vehicles. As a result, I took out the mailbox while frantically backing out of the top of the driveway when confronted with a UPS van charging up its steep slope. I haven’t felt that way since being chased by a protective cow when I nearly stumbled into her calf.

Suffice it to say the back end of a full size pickup is a lot longer than I realized. Now we need a new mailbox.

Normal also means I can allow my dad to drive on his own and do repair calls solo again. The only reason I was driving on Monday was due to his eye exam for replacement glasses. Irony is that with his pupils artificially dilated, he gets to experience what I do normally in regards to light hurting the eyes.

Still haven’t gotten the headphones apart and will have to wait for my balance to return to mess with them. The way my aching left eardrum reacts to bass, there is no way I’d be able to tolerate them anyway.

Box Elder bugs are out in force, which is yet another sign summer is over. I’m hoping to get some photographs of fall colors later this week since the maples are turning yellow and orange now. My suspicion is that autumn foliage was going to be disappointing again this year, but hope springs eternal.

Not everything has been negative or mandatory the past week. Various Hammer Films DVD sets had their prices lowered on Amazon and I’ve gotten all the early horror films they made I liked, aside from one oddball. The Vulture is a rarity and one of their more absurd movies so I doubt I’ll find it. Correction: Hammer didn’t make it, which explains its lack of availability!

The best thing about this is I get to review my favorite Hammer Film for Halloween. It will be my surprise review and the next one to go up.

Another sign of normality was the coming around of General Conference again. For once I had trouble picking out favorite talks due to the exceptional quality all the way around this time. If I were forced to pick one out it would be Elder Bednar’s talk on tithing which should be mandatory for every Latter-day Saint to see. Anyone wondering how money is handled in the Church will find out it is the same model as how we are advised to run our personal finances.

Well, the ear is hurting so I’m going to wrap the post up. At least doing screen captures doesn’t require sound!

Known for its revival of the old horror franchises it was odd that only one stab was made at the werewolf subgenre by Hammer Films. Starring a novice actor named Oliver Reed and loosely based on a lurid bestselling novel of the 1930’s, it was something of a gamble. Fortunately for audiences, what they got was a portrayal of the warring sides of the human psyche and what I view as the best werewolf movie ever made.

Director Terence Fisher (Horror of Dracula, The Curse of Frankenstein) was unquestionably Hammer’s go to guy when it came to directing reinventions of Universal’s old monster films. Adept at handling action, moody tension, and able to get serious performances out his actors, Fisher once again was called on when it was time to bring back the werewolf to the silver screen.

Adapted from a novel, Werewolf in Paris, the movie takes huge liberties with the source material and all for the better. The biggest change is in setting, which is moved to late 18th Century Spain. This is made very clear by the bold lettering that was considered so stylish at the time. After seeing how that screen capture turned out, I couldn’t resist using it. In fact, it’s the only reason for it to be in the review.

Time to get more serious and write about the story. But I still am amused by the screenshot.

All stories have a beginning and the prologue for one is longer than usual. Voiced over by an unseen narrator, the tale begins when a filthy beggar (Richard Wordsworth) makes his way into a town filled with the sounds of bells ringing. Knowing it isn’t Sunday, he inquires to discover it is a mandated holiday in celebration of the local noble’s wedding. From the disdain and fear the townsfolk show in equal amounts, it should have been adequate warning to the man that he should leave well enough alone.

However, the lure of possible charity leads him on a trek to the local castle where the marriage feast is already underway. Marques Siniestro (Anthony Dawson from Dr. No) is a very nasty piece of upper class work complete with a short temper and sadistic attitude toward the help. Even the doorman (Desmond Llewellyn aka Bond’s Q) tries to warn the beggar off, but it is too late for Siniestro has spied the feckless pauper.

Eager to have some fun at the expense of the beggar, he taunts the bewildered and not terribly intelligent man. Eventually he offers to buy the beggar to be his new bride’s pet dog, which the fool accepts eagerly. The pretty young wife (Josephine Llewellyn) tries to use her wiles to help the poor man, but to little avail.

Having nearly gotten away with his drunken behavior, a leering comment from the beggar seals his doom. He finds a new home in the dungeon of the castle, left there to be forgotten by all but the jailor and his mute daughter.

One of the better touches is the makeup employed to show the deterioration of the beggar. I noticed his teeth seemed too good in the party scenes, but sure enough they get progressively worse as also he grows more hirsute over the years.

His descent into a feral state is deftly portrayed with the passing of time. While befriending the mute girl, there is something creepy about his wordless flirtations with the child. In fact, there are a lot of hints of him being less a victim and more of a predator.

As children are wont to do, the mute girl grows up and in this case develops into a lovely young woman (Yvonne Romain). Too lovely for her own safety as the diseased and debauched Siniestro notices her. Looking like a ghastly Ebenezer Scrooge, the Marques attempts to molest her, but she is a feisty one who resists.

Her violent rejection is met with punishment, of course. Thrown into the dungeon until the mute’s more compliant, she’s raped by her “friend” before finding a way to exact bloody revenge on the nobleman. So far nothing but the dark side of human behavior has been shown, making the movie very grim.

Then something surprising happens, for a ray of light enters in the form of the previously unseen narrator, Don Alfredo Corledo. Played with warmth by Clifford Evans, the upper class gentleman stumbles upon the nearly drowned servant girl and rescues her. Aided by his devoutly Christian servant, Teresa (Hira Talfrey), he takes in the wretched girl to nurse her back to health.

It turns out the girl is pregnant, but there is a problem according to Teresa. She’s due to give birth around December 25th and according to folklore an unwanted child born then is cursed as an affront to Heaven. Sure enough, that’s when the boy is born only to have his mother expire shortly after. Oh and to make things worse, that Christmas is one with a full moon.

There are other signs of things not being right with the infant. Amongst them is the slight problem of the holy water in the baptismal font roiling when the local priest tries to dip his fingers into it. Credit has to be given to the man when he persists rather than freaking out and successfully performs the ceremony.

More time passes and the baby grows to be a lad who bears an eerie resemblance to Oliver Reed in a very nice bit of casting. Problems have arisen in the area due to a suspected wolf or dog tearing out the throats of goats. Assigned as the local warden or watchman, Pepe (Warren Mitchell) comes under a great deal of pressure to protect the local livestock.

His story is a secondary one that runs through a good chunk of the movie to its benefit. A very believable character and likeable soul, Pepe’s travails help ground the story in reality despite the supernatural core.  His attempt to kill the attacker results in a large blood trail that abruptly ends with no corpse in sight.

Shortly after, Don Corledo and Teresa make an awful discovery involving Leon that raises a lot of questions. Their concern for the boy is palpable and each goes off to investigate in their own way. While they do that, Pepe finds himself the equivalent of the boy who cried wolf with the townsfolk disbelieving his story.

Corledo consults the local priest (John Gabriel) who explains the basics of possession and rogue spirits. With gentle careing, he describes how under the right circumstances a spirit can enter the body of a newborn resulting in a battle between the soul of the child and the spirit. All that is carnal and bestial will strengthen the evil animal spirit. Conversely, the power of love is able to do the same for the soul.

Therefore the only cure for a werewolf is love and a child of Leon’s parentless circumstances will need even more than usual. Vowing to provide that, the Don makes preparations to save the boy from certain doom. It’s just in time, for the full moon has risen, the goats are being stalked again, and Pepe is now armed with a silver bullet.

Again time passes and we see that Leon (Oliver Reed) has been raised in a loving household and turned into a serious young man. It is time for him to seek his fortune in the world and so he ventures off in search of his first job. That he finds and more at a vinery run by Don Fernando (Ewen Solon) thanks to the Don’s pretty and very betrothed daughter, Cristina (Catherine Feller).

Soon engaged in wine bottling and an illicit affair with an unattainable girl, Leon is happy if frustrated. Fortunately he has a new friend and coworker, Jose (Martin Matthews) who has a plan to get rid of that frustration. Unfortunately, it involves going to a local bordello for a night of wine, women, and dance – not necessarily in that order.

Succumbing to Jose’s pressure to go, Leon finds himself very uncomfortable in the den of iniquity. Ignoring the blond whore procured for him and feeling unwell, he exits to find some fresh air. There he finds a full moon outside.

Fastened on to by another prostitute, Leon finds himself in a place he should not be. There her efforts to awaken the beast inside him succeed all to well and the killings begin…

Can true love save the tormented young man or will his own weaknesses be his undoing?

Thoughts

The Curse of the Werewolf is a morality fable, which is about as far away from the book it was based on as you could get. As I wrote earlier, this makes for a better story in my opinion. Instead of being a political commentary and descent into one grotesque perversion after another, the film is a depiction of the struggle between the animal side of our nature against the nobler human side.

This focus adds quite a punch to the third act and the events that unfold there. More on this can be found in the spoiler section below.

At the start of the film, the worst of human behavior is depicted with greed, sadism, weakness, and lust all present. Painting a dark and hopeless picture of the human conditions, it then changes gears for the middle of the tale by showing that there are truly good people in the world.

Don Corledo is a marvelous adoptive father as depicted in the scenes involving him and young Leon. An apparent bookworm and intellectual, we never get his backstory but his good nature shines forth with great warmth.

Providing a feminine touch, Teresa is the doting surrogate mother who may be superstitious and uneducated, but is a sharp cookie. Watch her scenes with Cristina in the final scenes of the movie and you’ll see some excellent acting.

Cristina is a sweet and strong young woman rebelling against being trapped into an arranged marriage to a true upper class twit. While the beginning of the romance is completely omitted, her commitment to Leon comes off as genuine and you can’t help but root for the moon crossed young lovers.

Pepe and his wife are also good people that I found myself getting very attached to. Believable is what they are and I’ve known many like them over the years. Watching the subtle interactions of the couple is one my favorite things in the movie, to my great surprise.

Finally, there is the unnamed priest. Rather than being the hellfire and brimstone or cowardly hypocrite normally found in horror movies, he’s another humane presence in the film. Knowledgeable, caring, and filled with mercy, he’s the character relied upon to explain what’s going on and voice of hope.

These excellent characters and terrific performances by the actors playing is what makes this film a cut above most horror films.

I suppose it is time to write about Oliver Reed’s debut performance. Truthfully, he’s a bit over the top, but it works since he’s playing a very sensitive and overly emotional character. Leon is unstable though his intentions are good and hiring someone with the personality of Reed was great casting.

Reed in reality was much like the beggar character in the beginning. A drunken womanizer always in search for a good time, he drank himself to death in a bar back in 2000. Sex and booze was what he lived for, which is pretty much describes the beast in Leon.

Using lust and dark emotions as triggers for the werewolf transformation rather than just a full moon was a brilliant idea that allowed for the exploration of the war between the animal and human in Leon’s soul. It also made him a much more interesting character than your average victim of a werewolf bite like in other flicks of the genre.

Paired with that is the theme of responsibility. Having to do what one should do is a repeated throughout and it is here that Leon achieves a form of nobility at the end. It’s a wonderfully adult story and not childish in the least.

This is not a movie for kids thanks to copious amounts of bright red blood and adult themes that while not explicitly stated are implied. The version I originally saw was the theatrical release and this DVD version has five minutes of restored content that was cut to appease censors of the time. Teens on up can handle it and I’d rate it as a PG-13 film due to what I listed before. No profanity or nudity is to be found, unless you count a topless and pasty Oliver Reed.

I recommend the film to Hammer Films fans, werewolf aficionados, horror movie buffs, and those who enjoy an intelligent parable about the internal struggle with human nature. Curse of the Werewolf is my favorite Hammer movie, so I think highly of it.

Technical

The copy of Curse of the Werewolf I have is part of Universal Studios’ The Hammer Horror Series set. Consisting of eight movies on two double sided DVDs, the quality is better than expected given that it is wedged in as half of one side of a disc.While I’m happy to own the film and the others in the set, I worry about the durability of the discs since I’ve never been a fan of flip DVDs.

The discs are held in fragile clear plastic holders glued to cardstock that unfolds to give a synopsis for each movie. A slipcase with a printed clear front makes for a nice three dimensional effect and the looks of the packaging outclass the quality of its materials.

So how does the movie look despite only taking up approximately 4 GB of space on the disc? Far better than it should, I’m happy to report. Presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, it has good contrast and vivid colors. Both are musts for showing off Hammer’s sets and costumes which were quite colorful.

However, this is a digitally remastered movie, not restored. This means that there are specks, scratches, and other artifacts present. Thankfully, I did not detect any obvious compression induced artifacts.

Sound is good and in Dolby Digital 2.0 mono. All the grunts, growls, and screams come through perfectly as does the quiet dialogue and dramatic score.

There are no extras.

BEWARE! HERE BE SPOILERS!!!

The stunned reactions of Don Corledo and Leon after his first adult rampage were well played. I particularly liked how the camera followed Corledo while he wandered around Leon’s room trying to absorb what was happening. Subtly, the bent in iron bars are never mentioned, just shown.

Leon’s freak out at the news he’s a werewolf was very angsty. But if I awakened with blood on my hands with no memory of what had happened, I’d be more than a little on edge myself.

The brief moment of composure where he thanked the priest for not revealing his secret to others over the years was a nice touch. Of course he flips out at the suggestion of being chained up and ruins it.

The night spent with Cristina proved the priest’s old prediction right: the true love of a young woman could cure him. Leon’s panic and frantic effort to chase her off was one of Reed’s better scenes.

When their plan to run off and elope is foiled by his arrest, Leon decides to do the right thing and ask to be executed immediately. Responsibility as a theme is at its strongest here. Also adding to it is the skeptical magistrates questioning and refusal to order the execution based on a conspicuous lack of evidence along with Cristina’s testimony of his normality.

Pity the old sot stuck in the cell with the sun setting, he never had a chance. It’s an atmospheric shot that I thought was striking.

It was an interesting decision to save the transformation for the final minutes of the film. Starting with the hands and using time lapse photography was also a nice nod to the 1940’s The Wolfman.

The reveal of his appearance was worth the wait. Instead of looking like the dog faced boy, Leon’s appearance is closer to a gargoyle as foreshadowed in the baptism scene. A plausible mix of beast and man, it may look quaint to those used to the more lupine humanoids introduced in movies like The Howling. I think this is more realistic, if such a term can be used for a film like this.

Reed was always a physical actor, so the scene of his breaking out of the jail looked very convincing. It also demonstrated the immense strength of the werewolf. Listen for the whimpering of the jailor before he dies, it is a chilling touch.

My favorite line of the movie comes from the chastened magistrate, “It is as you said.” When’s the last time you heard an admission like that out of a government official?

Leon’s roaming the rooftops of the village was another nod to the gargoyle reflected in the font. The beast’s fear of the assembled mob again felt plausible, for he was a mindless animal showing no signs of human intelligence.

I liked the burning hay bale part and thought it was a very well done stunt.

Cornered in the belfry, Leon barks and snarls at the villagers. The fact that he didn’t sound just like a wolf or dog, but like a human trying to sound like one is another thing I felt added to the plausibility.

When a villager gets clever and rings the bells, Leon’s total panic betrays not a hint of humanity. Neither does his attempt to attack his father, who dispatches the tortured soul with Pepe’s silver bullet in a realistically bloody scene. The death throws of the werewolf were like that of a wild animal too.

The theme of responsibility comes to its necessary conclusion at the end. A grieving father has to kill his son and it’s a sobering moment made sadder by the turning over of the body for a last look at his face.

Leon’s blue eyes are the only human part of his body and I suspect the original intent was for Reed to wear brown contacts while as the werewolf so that this would have more impact. If the opening credits are any indication, the hard contacts were just too uncomfortable to wear.

The last shot of the film says everything without any need for dialogue. No exposition or narration is used and the events speak for themselves. Not a happy ending.

While there hasn’t been a lot of new spam hitting this blog (been a lot of vampirestats lately), there has been one showing up under two different links and one that showed up on another blogger’s site.

First up is the worst offender. Coming in as www . seoanalyses .com or under its real address,  ourmeets . com , this is a pornographic “dating” site. As you can see, it was blocked by OpenDNS, which I use to pre-filter anything coming into the house. Don’t click on it as it is exceedingly unsafe to visit.

Next up is one that commenter Sarma listed.

kallery . net out of South Korea looks like a real site at first glance, but digging further reveals that it sends you off to other sites where art is for sale. That’s a traditional tactic of cross promoting links used to generate ad revenue or of black hat SEO to up search engine rankings. Appears relatively harmless, but I advise avoiding.

Notice the art quiz winners on the right hand sidebar of the first screenshot. What are the odds that four of them would be links promoting the site? The mind boggles!

I wonder what percentage of Web pages in the world are actually spam sites? The search engines have enough trouble keeping up with the legitimate content being put up.

Without anything special planned such as going to a party or some such thing, tonight I’m going to go see Plan 9 from Outer Space at the Spring Grove Cinema near by for a Halloween treat. Twelve miles is what I consider “near by.”  Now why would I pay money to watch the worst movie ever made (or so many think) after having seen the RiffTrax and normal versions of it within the past couple of years?

It’s going to be shown in 3D, that’s why.

Yes, Tor Johnson will loom larger than life out of the screen, fake Bela Legosi will jump out at slowly approach us, and flying saucers will zoom by realistically. I’m hoping for the wires to show up in three dimensions.

So it will be a welcome break from watching quality movies and taking notes on them for I will be abusing my sanity and lowering my IQ by watching Ed Wood’s gloriously awful masterpiece…

IN 3D!

Some time much later…

Well, that didn’t happen. I really need to stop planning to do things, especially things for fun. Unfortunately for me, the trip to the movie theater instead turned into a five hour detour into a nightmarish repair call of my father’s. So I’ll never see Plan 9 in 3D.

I really need to stop wanting to do things, all it does is cause me grief.

One of the most irritating con jobs on the Net is selling links to people desperate to get traffic to their websites. This is part of what is known as “black hat SEO” with SEO standing for Search Engine Optimization. So it was rather interesting to get two false referrals from seoairport . com / site / product / in my Blogger stats today. UPDATED, see below the fold.

Firing up the trusty virtual machine, I checked it out. Remember folks, don’t click on strange links and leave that to daredevils or those of us with more than one operating system on a machine. The name told me what to expect out of the site and I wasn’t disappointed.

The home page above is of basic design, which will be important later on.

The direct link left behind in my stats goes straight to the money page where they lay out what they do and how much is charged for it. Note the spelling errors which indicate an amateur site or that the author is not a native English speaker. The inability to spell “domain” correctly doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in the skills of creator to deliver.

Also notice the blogs shown and how basic their designs are. Not a whole lot going on there, which isn’t what you would expect of highly trafficked sites generating follows to your site. This isn’t a professional level operation, that’s for sure.

I very highly recommend avoiding this site and any like it selling backlinks. Not only is it shady, it will set you up for a very hard fall down the road. Why?

Google has been targeting link sellers lately and have been working constantly at refining their search engine algorithms to week out suspect sites such as these. In fact, they shut down a link farming group last month by delisting them from their index. They also like to turn loose cute animals that penalize websites for having unnatural links.

Look up “panda” or “penguin” in relation to Google’s search engine and you’ll find a lot of interesting if technically arcane information about the damage these special sweeps can do to even legitimate websites. We are talking about being lowered in rank or even being deranked in Google.

So it is best not to get involved in this kind of SEO linking in the first place and most of these operations will give you a brief boost in traffic then demand more money when it invariably crashes.

Google’s new software engine under the hood (so to speak), Hummingbird, is thought to have enhancements to detect artificially generated traffic as well. Please think twice, even thrice, before paying for backlinks.

UPDATE:

One thing I like about StatCounter is that it filters out all the fake referrals. Until now, that is:

Note how the visits supposedly come from around the world. Either a wide variety of traffic headers are being forged or we are looking at a botnet being used to spam.

Using this last one as an example, notice how the browser and operating system aren’t listed. However there are operating systems listed in some of the other hits along with varying screen resolutions. The only constant is the unknown browser with Javascript enabled which makes me suspect a botnet using infected PC’s.

Out of curiosity, I checked out seoairport again using Tor this time around to see if the site had changed at all or had anything something connecting to my blog. Nope! Not a thing. I also checked the blogs you could buy backlinks from and they are just as amateurish as the main site.

It appears this isn’t just a shady enterprise, but possibly a criminal one as well.

A high budget love letter from director Guillermo del Toro to Japanese science fiction cinema, this story of giant monsters and titanic robots failed to light up the domestic box office. Yet it was far from a failure becoming a massive hit worldwide. Aimed squarely at twelve year olds (including inner ones), a simple heroic story told mainly visually also targets the human heart despite being a brutal slugfest. Beautiful to behold, packed with action, and supported by a good cast it is a whole lot of fun.

A last minute decision was made to add this review to my Halloween lineup since it was time for a giant monster movie in the rotation. Featuring kaijus (giant monsters) fighting with mechas (giant robots) rendered with the most modern of effects, it certainly fills the bill. Also, I love this flick and wanted an excuse to do a full review of its Blu-ray release. Thanks to a large amount of extras, it turned into a Herculean endeavor.

But hey, better to go large, right? Speaking of which…

Pacific Rim launches straight into a prologue packed to the gills with action and information narrated by a rueful voice looking back at the events. Set in the near future, a huge amount of exposition both verbal and visual comes at the audience at a furious rate. In summation, giant toxic monsters have emerged from a dimensional rift called the Breach in the ocean floor of the Pacific, towering robots were built in an international effort to stop them, and humanity thought they were winning.

This data overload is presented in the form of news clips, flashes of monsters called the Kaiju (Japanese for giant beasts) trashing cities, and scenes of Jaegers (German for hunter) being built. Not only does it set things up, but the montage gives glimpses of Kaiju and Kaeger designs that didn’t make the final cut. More interesting is that del Toro did not direct this portion of the prologue. Not one to use the “found footage” or pseudo documentary style, he instead assigned it to a trusted friend and was delighted with the results.

It has been awhile since I’ve seen a big budget movie dare to start in the middle of a story and while it might not be what people are now used to, I’ve always felt that it adds to the suspension of disbelief. After all, most of life is about wandering into a situation as it messily unfolds rather than being there from the beginning.

With the setup explained the movie really begins.

Dropped into the middle of a war success has bred a sense of security to the point of toys being made of the Kaiju, we are shown a pair of brothers who pilot one of the jaegers, Gipsy Danger. Due to the deadly strain of the Jaeger Program’s cybernetic interface on nervous systems, the load has to be spread to two pilots and this becomes a major plot point. Not everyone is compatible, so Raleigh (Charlie Hunnam) and Yancy (Diego Klattenhoff) Becket being brothers make them an easy team.

That’s important, because once connected, the pilots enter something called “the Drift” which is where their minds and memories mix together. They get completely into each other’s heads, so there is no such thing as privacy. All of this is conveyed with a minimum of dialogue, setting a precedent in the movie of blazing through explanations without slowing down.

Rather than directing a stream of words at the audience, much is told through actions. Watching the brothers suit up and prepare for combat explains more than having a scientist drone on at length about how things work like how a 1950’s movie would. Of course, they didn’t have the budget or effects to pull this off either back then.

Not only are their nervous systems connected to the Jaeger, they are physically connected through attachments to their arms and legs. Much like a controls for a robotic arm are used, they make the metal behemoth move through great effort. This is an effective visual device allowing the audience to believe that the pilots really are making the robot move.

The Becket’s are put on alert from their base in Alaska to defend against a Category 3 Kaiju codenamed “Knifehead” by command. Kaiju are so destructive that they are numbered the way tornados or typhoons are. They could be considered natural disasters from another world.

Ordered to protect Anchorage, the cocky brothers disobey orders to rescue a small fishing boat. Off the Beckets stride into a tempest of freezing rain in an impressive display of effects. They also walk into a brutal battle that costs the life of one of the siblings and marks the turn of the war into a losing fight. There is no pulling of punches in the visceral fight and it evokes the feeling of despair well without being maudlin.

Five years later we see the fate of Raleigh, the narrator of the beginning and sole survivor of the battle at Anchorage. Emotionally damaged by directly experiencing the death of his older brother through the Drift, he’s now a welder eking out an existence by working for food rations on an enormous containment wall being built to keep the Kaiju out. His dreary existence is interrupted by the appearance of his old commanding officer, Marshall Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba).

The Jaeger Program has been shutdown in favor of the coastal walls, however there is a short period before it’s final and Pentacost has a plan. But he needs a pilot who can handle an old Mark 3 jaeger and since Raleigh is the only one still alive he’s first in line. A bleak choice of where to die during the end of the world is offered since the same kind of wall has just failed to keep out a Category 4 Kaiju in Australia.

A shift in setting takes us from the cold gray of Alaska to the cold gray of Hong Kong’s Shatterdome, or Jaeger base. Arriving in rain, Pentecost and Raleigh are greeted by a very serious young woman with an umbrella, Mako Morie (Rinko Kikuchi). Director del Toro loves umbrellas, so this was his excuse to have some in the movie. Seriously.

Something to keep an eye out throughout the film is the use of colors to represent characters and their emotional state. Another example of using images to convey information, the color coding won’t be noticed until it’s pointed out to you. Consider yourself now informed.

Immediate tension can be detected between the lovely Mako and Raleigh, albeit not necessarily the positive kind. Yep, they are meant to come together by the end and blinking neon signs stating this would be more subtle. I did like how she tried using Japanese to make a critical remark about the former Jaeger pilot to Pentecost only to find out Raleigh can speak the language too.

She isn’t the only character introduced to Raleigh. Foremost amongst the motley group are the two mad scientists of the movie, Newton Geiszler (Charlie Day) and Gottlieb (Burn Gorman) that attracted a lot of complaints in Web forums. The duo are stereotypes and highly annoying to many viewers. It may help understanding that you can’t have a proper science fiction B-movie tribute without at least one over the top mad scientist.

Here we get two, each representing a different type. Newt is the modern brash American geek type radiating insecurity and hostility. Gottlieb is the older British type absorbed in the beauty of numbers. They exist to supply exposition and to torment each other. Oh, and lest I forget, provide comic relief.

Next in importance are the father and son team of Herc (Max Martini) and Chuck (Rob Kazinsky) Hansen. Once again contention is at the heart of a pair and in this case the ugly variety that can only happen between family members. They are the pilots of Striker Eureka, the “first and last Mark 5” Jaeger built for speed. Holders of the most kills by a Jaeger team, the Hansen’s and Striker are the key to Pentacost’s plan.

Briefly seen are the mysterious Russian duo of ambiguous relationship, being male and female. Manning the brutish Mark 1 Cherno Alpha, their presence is a very physical one. They get few lines in the movie, but at least they fare better than the Chinese triplets who crew the local Jaeger Mark 4, Crimson Typhoon.

Two old friends are there to greet Raleigh, so not everything is strange for the returning pilot. Ops Tendo Choi (Clifton Collins Jr.) is there from Alaska to once again run the control room. The other old friend can’t speak but has had a looming presence in Raleigh’s life. Okay, that wasn’t as cleverly worded as it should have been, so I’ll cut to the chase: it’s Gipsy Danger. Having been salvaged and later rebuilt by Mako, she needs a crew.

An elaborate sparring sequence is used to break up all the special effects while giving Raleigh a chance to evaluate potential partners for Drifting. Overseeing it is Mako, whose attitude prompts him to insist on her proving her combat skills. The martial arts dance that follows causes direct conflict with the Marshall. It soon becomes apparent Pentecost is hiding more than a few secrets.

Speaking of secrets, while taking notes for this review, I discovered something unusual. It appears that Raleigh is a Free Mason due to the symbols in his personal photographs. This is something I missed the first time I saw the film in the theater. Given del Toro’s attention to detail, this is no accident. What does it have to do with the story? I have no clue.

The Drift takes center stage and two different uses of the technology have serious consequences. A frustrated Newt does the unthinkable  while Pentecost gives permission to Mako to attempt to pair with Raleigh. With this sequence of events, it becomes clear that personal relationships between people is a subtheme of the film though it is drowned out by the spectacular action that most will remember after watching.

Since entering the Drift reveals all, Mako’s past is exposed to Raleigh and the audience when she gets trapped in her own memories of the destruction of Tokyo years before. A Kaiju called Onibaba rampaged through the streets, orphaning the little girl (Mana Ashida) while following the tradition of Tokyo stomping. Surprisingly emotional, the scenes are right out of a child’s nightmare and successfully evoke the helplessness one would feel if a gigantic monster was chasing you.

This is one of the better parts of the movie, perhaps even the best. I’m amazed at the amount of tension it generated and both Japanese actresses give great performances that felt raw. Little children would freak out in a very bad way watching this scene, so parents be aware this is not kid friendly like Godzilla movies.

In order to keep the things from being nothing but tension, comedy relief is inserted. Thankfully, it is the kind that actually move the plot forward and gives us Ron Perlman having way too much fun. His turn as Hannibal Chau, an underworld kaiju remains dealer, is ridiculously enjoyable. Flashy, arrogant, and abusive (with a touch of insecurity), Hannibal is the perfect foil for the unstable Newt.

The new setting introduced is anything but gray and injects a jolt of color into Pacific Rim. Dubbed “the Bone Slums”, it is a Hong Kong area built on the poisoned soil where a Kaiju fell in death. Brightly signed, it reminds me of Blade Runner’s street scenes to some degree.

Of interest to me is the temple built from the skull of the dead Kaiju. It was the director’s plan to show the interior, but financial limitations nixed it. Still, it adds to the story that locals have turned to worshipping the monsters believing they are a punishment for mankind’s actions. Attention to detail pervades the movie, making the impossible seem plausible.

But back to the story. Raleigh is determined that Mako will be his copilot no matter the near disaster their first try was. Having been inside her head, he knows the trauma that haunts her and believes she can be saved. His angry attempts to convince Pentecost to allow her to pilot with him provides one of the best moments of a superior officer laying down the law I’ve seen in a movie.

Symbolism fills the visual experience of Pacific Rim with a quiet moment of Raleigh expresses his trust in Mako to her as an excellent example. In the background is the nuclear reactor heart of Gipsy Danger being exposed just like Raleigh’s. By the way, keep an eye open for colors associated with specific characters, not just overall moods.

With only four Jaegers and one of them half crewed, things are not looking rosy for the heroes. Of course that means something big is about to happen, so it is no surprise when two of the largest Kaiju ever detected head toward Hong Kong.  Only partially prepared, the meager human forces ready for battle. Will they be enough to save the city and will Pentecost's desperate plan save humanity?

One thing is sure, there will be enough bashing, stomping, and brawling to make any big monster movie lover happy.

Thoughts

This movie is the ultimate example of a good B-movie. A simple story told in straight forward fashion with likeable characters and absolutely fantastic action make it thus. Dedicated to Ishiro Honda and Ray Harryhausen, the movie is clearly inspired by their great B-movies.

Not only is Pacific Rim a science fiction, kaiju, and mecha movie, it is also a western, a World War II, and a sports movie. Being a work of love by Guillermo del Toro, he blended his favorite genres growing up into the movie. No wonder it is so much fun and connects to the inner child.

The director is like the kid in the neighborhood who is cool because he had all the best toys, but in this case also had the biggest imagination. We’re the lucky ones who get to come over and play with him. That’s what it feels like to watch this movie.

CGI effects finally have proven they can render gigantic robots and monsters convincingly. The attention to physics, specifically how things with great mass move, really makes the jaegers look and feel as if they could be real. Sometimes computer generated effects fail to give a proper sense of scale, but here everything feels as big as it should.

Besides revitalizing the kaiju genre, another goal of del Toro’s was to present a story of uncomplicated heroism where humanity comes together in cooperation. The last time he remembered clear lines dividing good and evil was during WWII and so the movie has nods to the time. For example, Gipsy Danger is painted a shade of blue and wears nose art much like a F4U Corsair or F6F Hellcat in U.S. Navy service in the Pacific Theater. There’s more to it than that, but I don’t want to spoil everything contained in the extras.

There are relatively few films that truly benefit from being on the large screen. This is one of those rarities thanks to the immense size of the Jaegers and Kaiju. It was also one of a very few that was superb in 3D. Consequently, I was afraid it wouldn’t have the same impact in 2D on a smaller screen.

That worry turned out to be baseless since the 2D version is even better thanks to being able to see every detail in the background of scenes. One thing 3D does is soften or blur the backgrounds to make things “pop” more. In fact, Pacific Rim looks like a piece of art in motion in 2D.

Which brings me to something I realized while watching it a second time. The flick looks like a 1980’s fantasy magazine come to life. As I watched, I thought it was reminiscent of something from Heavy Metal or Epic Illustrated. So it was no surprise to hear the first mentioned as an influence in the extras. It really is a gorgeous spectacle to behold.

Enough with that, what about the human element?

Most of the acting is good to excellent, with the exception being the mad scientists. They were primarily one note characters so be prepared to be annoyed by them. It is the direct contrast of them with the other roles that make them grate so much, I think.

Charlie Hunnam is rock solid as Raliegh, the honest and straightforward hero of the story. He’s the burnt out retired gunfighter brought out of retirement to join the team just in time for the playoffs. Yeah, mixing metaphors is a big part of this movie, so don’t blame me for that sentence. His accent slips only here and there, but overall he’s convincing as the American representative.

Rinko Kukuchi was a big surprise to me, since I’d never seen her in a movie. She’s quite the actress and excellent as the tortured Tokyo survivor. There’s never any doubt she can play with the boys, but the wounded little girl does peek out from time to time. Hopefully she’ll get more work in the West after this.

Idris Elba, what can I say? His Stacker Pentecost is the kind of officer one would follow to Hell and back again. Not only does he convey the strength required to shoulder the weight of the world on his shoulders, Elba also manages to be a believable father figure deeply concerned about his charge. Never once do you think of the actor behind the character, only that the character is real. That’s real acting, folks.

Max Martini also gets in a terrific performance as Herc Hansen, career military man and failed father. There’s an incredibly well done scene with Robert Kazinsky playing his son that is utterly convincing which added a lot to the film in my opinion. Having another back story only partially show is a clever way to make things more plausible. How often do we get the full story on things happening to coworkers and acquaintances around us?

Therein lies the secret to why this is a good movie and it isn’t the visual effects. The performances of the actors and the relationships between the characters are what make the film live. In the small space afforded them, there is development for all of the mains. Yeah the film is about robots and monsters beating each other to death, yet the human element is always present. In fact, it colors every fight shown if you pay attention.

I’ve repeatedly mentioned how visual the movie is and in the process neglected to report on how outstanding the sound is. From the sound effects to the effective use of surround sound, it is an auditory experience that nears the visual in impact. Your subwoofer will get a workout from the bellows of the monsters and bone crunching impacts.

Ramin Djawadi’s score is hard driving with the main theme for Gipsy Danger standing out from the other motifs thanks to the electric guitar underlying the orchestral instruments. There are also moments that sound like a sonic nod to Akira Ifukube’s dark passages from the Godzilla series. It was good enough that I bought the CD.

Pacific Rim is rated PG-13 for mild profanity and intense science fiction violence. I’d add to that the monster gore including internal organs and skeletons borders on R. That said, the kaiju are sufficiently unreal that it doesn’t seem that gory. There is some human blood, but not excessively amounts. I’d advise this movie only for children in the double digits of age up because it will frighten the wits out of little ones.

I recommend the movie to Godzilla fans, giant robot lovers, science fiction film buffs, and anyone who enjoys heroism with no gray areas. This is a tremendously fun film that feels much shorter than its two hour plus running time. I’m sure it will become a loved cult movie as the years go by despite its poor reception in the United States.

Technical

The review is based on the Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD edition released by Warner Home Video. The packaging has a nifty lenticular depiction of Gipsy Danger alternating with a kaiju for a 3D effect on the sleeve. Little Mako is present in both scenes, which is kind of odd. Inside the case are three discs, two Blu-rays and one DVD. The second BD holds a wealth of extras.

According to the packaging, the movie is presented in 1.85:1 ratio, but that was not the case when I played it back on two different players. In reality, the film is in 1.78:1 ratio or 16:9 that fills the entire HDTV screen. I’m assuming it was cropped from the theatrical version or that this is the Imax version directly transferred. The latter is more likely since digital Red Epic cameras were used to “film” the movie and 1.78:1 is one of its native formats while 1.85:1 is not.

No matter the case, the visual quality is amongst the best I’ve seen on a Blu-ray. Colors are vivid as can be plus everything is clear as a photograph. The screenshots can only hint at how good it looks in motion and it now goes alongside Zulu for Blu-rays to test HDTVs for picture fidelity for me. The DVD is as good as that format allows, but this needs to be seen in high def.

Audio is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio with separate English tracks for 5.1 and 7.1 surround. Regular Dolby Digital surround is used for the French, Spanish, and Portuguese dubs. Subtitles are available in English SDH, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. The mix is very well done with clear dialogue no matter how noisy the action and proper use of all speakers in a home theater setup.

An amazing bounty of extras is included across the two Blu-ray discs. The DVD only contains one, the director’s commentary.

On the movie disc, the extras are:

Audio Commentary by Guillermo del Toro– Filmmaking 101 for people who want to make science fiction or fantasy action movies. So far this is the best director’s commentary I’ve listened to. Every motivation for why something was done in the movie is explained and a great deal of film making theory. Guillermo’s enthusiasm and love for the material makes this even more enjoyable.

Focus Points– An hour plus of short segments, thirteen in total, that cover every aspect of making the movie. Design, filming techniques, special effects, and interviews with the cast are included for a good look at what went on behind the scenes. Of note is how physically grueling the filming was for the jaeger pilots. Like the movie, it is all in 1080p HD.

The Special Features Blu-ray disc contains:

The Director’s Notebook– A fancy interface laid out like a journal taken from del Toro’s notes lets you click on items to bring up images, translations, and videos on different topics. Unused ideas are part of the charm of delving through the featurette and deeper explanations of much of the symbolic visuals make some things unexplained a bit clearer.

Drift Space– This short feature explains the images seen in the different Drift scenes from the movie. Lots of omitted backgrounds on the main characters is revealed here, demonstrating the attention to detail that pervaded the production. One of the more interesting one’s explains Newt and might cause some viewers to be less annoyed by his character. Maybe.

The Digital Artistry of Pacific Rim– A 17 minute look at designing and rendering the computer generated effects that make the movie go. More about design concepts and execution than the technical end of creating the effects, it is a good look at the process.

The Shatterdome– Like the Jaeger base of the movie it houses a wide array of things including animatics used to prototype scenes, design drawings and sculptures of the largest stars of the movie, and costume designs. Most of it is in slideshow format, but the animatics are, of course, animated. It is always interesting to see how things changed from original idea to final production.

Blooper Reel– Flubs, prop malfunctions, and a whole lot of being silly demonstrate just how loose a set this was. It is a wonder Perlman and Day made it through any scene together if what we see here is any indication.

BEWARE! HERE BE SPOILERS!!!

The sheer brutality of the Hong Kong harbor fight is as impressive as it is long, going on for about 20 minutes. I found it curious that the Chinese Crimson Typhoon goes down first, but it was painted red after all. The red shirt theory of survival applies here, eh?

Despite all the Kaiju and Jaeger brawling, my favorite moment from the first half of the fight has to be when Herc decides to “do something really stupid.” Somehow it fit the Australian character to a “T” to take a flare gun up against a 200 foot tall monster. Even better, they actually injured one of Leatherback’s eyes!

The most Godzilla like part of the film is the battle between Gipsy Danger and Otachi. It’s very reminiscent of 1990’s Godzilla movies right down to the kaiju revealing it can fly. Otachi is the most impressive of the monsters due to a lot of features, including how it took the nastiest beating of the movie and kept going.

Now that’s how to quietly insert a product placement. I never even noticed the Qualcomm Snapdragon logo on the display when I saw it in the theater. The fight in the upper atmosphere was pure anime in influence. That frame on the right reminds me of Gundam more than anything else, though another anime imported into the States does come to mind…

Secret power up/weapon used in desperation? Check. Big sword pulled out by big robot? Check. Amazing visual of monster being cut in two? Check. Voltron would be proud.

Best kill of the movie by far.

You know how it is said the young of any creature is cute? Not true as grubs and baby Otachi prove. I have to admit in a movie that isn’t meant to be original, this was a surprise. Everything about it was nasty, including its deaths. Yes, deaths.

The goodbyes between parents and children added some needed weight that the last mission was a life or death gamble. Some excellent acting by all four actors involved illustrate how words are not necessary for a good performance. Most movies would have stretched the dialogue out unnecessarily to the detriment of the emotions.

Things unsaid almost always carry more weight than things said, in my opinion. That is the human condition, perhaps a tragic one. The Hansen’s scene is believable, because that’s how men are when they talk about things that matter. It simply rang true.

Slattern was an interesting name to give to the first and last Category 5 Kaiju. I guess after Otachi’s unexpected preganancy the reputation of the female Kaiju went downhill with the humans. Much larger than the previous ones, she was the obligatory last minute surprise to foil the heroes’ plans. Nearly every action movie has this now and it felt a bit flat.

The inside of the Breach reminded me a lot of V’ger from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Like all things related to the Kaiju, it looked very organic and very blue.

The Anteverse and the Precursors who created the Kaiju were both suitably alien. Gravity was as strange as the distorted atmosphere and it looked like they were somehow siphoning off energy from a star with a captive black hole. Freaky and unearthly, I liked how disturbing it appeared

Gipsy Danger assuming the crucifixion pose was no surprise given imagery del Toro has used in previous movies. Battered and torn the robot makes the final sacrifice to save humanity. Yep, blatant Christian imagery here.

The ending of the film was very anime like with a chaste embrace between Raleigh and Mako. Storyboards had them kiss originally, but del Toro didn’t want romance in the film despite all the setups laid earlier.

Notice how the sun is now shining upon our heroes. Some people speculated online that the movie took place in the rain to cover up the quality of the special effects, but it wasn’t the case since the opening montage showed Kaiju in daylight. Instead it is more visually symbolic filmmaking showing that a new day has dawned and the darkness is over.

Another thing to check out the helicopters flying in the double “V” formation. WWII victory imagery inspired this, no doubt.

Like a lot of movies these days, there is an extra scene after the first section of credits. The presumed eaten Hannibal Chau is alive and angrily looking for his missing shoe.

Yeah, del Toro would like to do a sequel and we’d have to have Perlman back for that wouldn’t we?

College students go out in the woods with a camera and disappear leaving only footage behind. Sound familiar? Well, this time it’s a wee bit different thanks to plenty of dry Norwegian wit and a ludicrous subject played with straight faces. Hoping for an interesting story on bear poaching, the students soon find out the object of their pursuit is hunting something different – trolls. Is the man insane or is there more than bears out in the wilds of Norway?

The found footage craze has slowly died down in movie making much to the relief of serious cinema buffs. However, this indie gem out of Norway proves that the format isn’t completely worthless and that a good movie can be made in the style. It doesn’t hurt that a very dark sense of humor is complimented by legitimate tension building, great effects, and deadpan acting.

Like all found footage movies things begin with text on screen informing us that the following content was edited from footage recorded by missing people, in this case college students working on a project in 2008.  We quickly get to know the main characters through glimpses of them setting up their gear and an early introduction for a documentary they are filming.

Thomas (Glenn Erland Tosterud) is the nerdy and earnest face of the production, clearly in charge even if not respected by his cameraman. Johanna (Johanna Morck) is an attractive blonde in charge of the boom mike and recording system. Her other job is trying to keep cameraman Kalle (Tomas Alf Larsen) from being a jerk toward Thomas.

Their quarry is a suspected poacher killing bears and depositing them in random places in the countryside. Clued in by the hunting community, they eventually track down the mystery man known only as Hans. Hans (Otto Jespersen) is a gruff cipher who rebuffs the trio when they confront him at a trailer park.

Something isn’t right though, even accounting for his illegally killing bears. One look at his battered Land Rover reveals some very nasty claw marks that don’t look very ursine in origin. Then there is the horrible smell coming from his camper.

As if the mystery hunter weren’t strange enough, another bear is found dumped in the countryside. What makes it odd is the presence of a shifty government official (Hans Morten Hansen) making excuses for the theories being made by local hunters. There’s a whiff of some kind of cover up that only motivates Thomas more.

As the students doggedly follow Hans, we the audience get treated to a great deal of Norway’s rugged beauty. It made me terribly nostalgic about a trip up to New Foundland I made back in ‘05. That’s mainly because the trio act much like tourists in catching the local scenery on camera. Lucky for us it is all in glorious HD.

Following a strange man into the forest at night is never the wisest of ideas. But since horror movies never have protagonists with any common sense, it is no surprise when the college kids find themselves in a spooky forest. Hans is nowhere to be seen at first.

Flashing lights and strange guttural sounds unnerve the trio, yet the real panic begins when Hans bursts out of the darkness and yells, “TROLL!” Time for the disorienting camera being carried by somebody running in a panic scene we all knew was coming. Forget shaky cam, this is far more annoying, but here it works better than it should.

Not everyone gets through this unscathed for Thomas has been bitten by something. It’s a nasty wound that gets treated in a matter of fact way by Hans that I found amusing. There’s something about duct taping a dressing applied through a worn jacket that resonates with me. Hey, I’m a practical guy, what can I say.

Despite the bite, the would be documentarians don’t believe that a troll was responsible, after all they are creatures out of folklore. There’s a story to be found yet, or so Thomas believes much to Kalle’s irritation. While we rarely get to see the cameraman, his abrasive comments are a regular occurrence early in the movie.

Then there is Hans. He’s not pleased to have the kids around, but after some thought the hunter has a proposal. They can follow and record him, but only if they do everything he tells them. Oh and none of them better believe in God or Jesus because trolls can smell the blood of a Christian man.

Not sure whether or not they are being pranked, they accompany Hans back into the woods. Soon they find out the man has told the truth when a three headed troll emerges from the trees.

After a terrifying chase through the trees, Hans manages to stop the monster with a battery of ultraviolet (UV) lights that causes it to turn to stone. Just like in The Hobbit and old fairy tales, trolls can’t handle sunlight. Or in this case, artificial sunlight.

This leads to a hilarious sequence depicting how the remains of the Tosserlad (a race of trolls) have to be destroyed to maintain the government’s hiding the existence of the dangerous creatures. Assisting in the doings is the shady official seen earlier.

Finn is his name and he’s none too pleased to see a film crew with Hans. It’s only one of the problems besetting the bureaucrat overseeing troll control. Whether it is handling the media, dealing with unreliable Polish bear providers, or faking bear tracks, none of it goes well for Finn.

No wonder so many government workers are cranky.

Which explains Hans blasé attitude and willingness to expose a secret operation that has gone on for decades. He’s at the bottom of the totem pole doing all the dirty work for terrible pay and minimal benefits. Fed up with his lot in life, the trollhunter is soon revealing all the day to day minutia of his job to the college students.

Everything from the amazing stupidity of trolls to what their favorite things to gnaw on are explained as they travel from region to region trying to find out why the critters are suddenly acting up. Something of a mystery is going on that has Hans concerned.

While they travel, Thomas begins to show signs of not feeling well, but insists he’s fine. After all, things are getting worse with “bear attacks” increasing to the point of the media getting curious. That isn’t the only thing causing problems. College kids being what they are, it isn’t long before Thomas is baiting Finn now that he’s in on the secret.

A need to get a blood sample from a rogue troll leads to a traditional setting for the mythological monsters, a bridge. Bait is required to bring out the beast, so a couple of sheep, a goat, and a bucket of special blood are employed. Normally this would be an utterly nasty scene, but that Norwegian humor undercuts it in highly entertaining fashion when Hans dons a ridiculous suit of protective armor.

Let’s just say that he doesn’t have the know how or budget of Tony Stark.

I have to say the effects are much better in this encounter than the previous one. The blending of the CGI and real things is handled deftly bringing a real sense of menace to the Ringlefinch troll. He’s blindingly fast like a wild animal while giving a real impression of having mass and weight.

A visit to a veterinarian participating in the covert program gives us further explanation of troll biology. It’s a sly mockery of technobabble in science fiction movies complete with a moment of bleeding heart concern. In fact there’s a lot of subtle moments in the visit that I don’t want to spoil, so enough said.

By this time Thomas has begun to hero worship Hans while Kalle has grown quieter and more sullen. He’s not enthused, but Johanna has gotten nearly as excited by the story as Thomas. Unity is not there, if it ever was.

Suspicious happenings in Jotunheimen takes the group to a farming community where the locals are clueless about what’s happening. It’s up to Hans deal with the reality of the situation and that involves going into a troll lair. In the darkness of the abandoned mine, the college students find out that pursuing a story at all costs can have dire consequences.

Trauma, power lines, trolls, and Norway’s Dovre region all converge for an eventful and troll filled ending.

Thoughts

Sometimes a little heard of film will come out of nowhere to wow me and Trollhunter is one of them. Working equally well as a horror film and a spoof of the genre, especially the found film subgenre, it’s a well crafted piece of likeable entertainment. It’s also hard to quantify being a truly unique movie.

Part of its charm is watching the wonderfully droll Hans dealing with a bunch of college students who act their age. World weary, cynical, and deadpan, the title character radiates stillness while all about him chaos rages. If there really were things like trolls, we’d want someone like him to deal with them.

The dark humor permeating the story works well because it is never overplayed or over explained. Presenting absurd things with an attitude of this is just how things are and why are you even questioning, the movie sucks you into its world. So when Thomas and his companions ask leading questions of bewildered people unaware of what’s really going on, it makes you feel like you are in on the joke.

Overall, the acting is superb with everyone believable in the parts they are playing. This of course helps with the suspension of disbelief while making you want to see what happens to all of them. One of the things I enjoyed was how often awkward silences and silent looks were used to set the mood of scenes.

Being a monster movie, the effects are an important part of creating the suspension of disbelief. I’m happy to report that the effects are really good, especially since this isn’t a high budget movie. Don’t expect SyFy Channel movie quality, but something much better. In fact, some CGI is better than things in The Hobbit, to name a very expensive blockbuster of recent vintage. Multiple rendering studios were used and in my opinion the best effects were saved for the final act. Though I have to say the bridge encounter was really good too.

One aspect that betrays the found footage concept is the employment of sound in the movie. Extensive and very effective use of surround sound is something that Johanna’s boom mike simply could not pick up. This isn’t a complaint due to the fact that the sound effects are fantastic in setting up various moods in the movie. The wind in the mountains, the stillness of the forest broken by the sound of trees cracking, and the bellows of huge trolls really add to the atmosphere.

This brings me to the one weak point of the movie release: the English language dub. Oh it’s bad. We’re talking Italian movies of the 1970s bad. Not only are the performances uniformly terrible, the track doesn’t mix well with the sound effects. Only a token effort was made to filter the voice actors to fit the various environments.

Making things worse is the decision to increase the frequency and intensity of the profanity with numerous F-bombs inserted. While doing screen captures I was barely able to make it halfway through the movie before changing to the native Norwegian track, the dub is so bad. Watch it with the subtitles instead and enjoy the Norwegian, it’s a lovely sounding language after all.

Trollhunter is rated PG-13 for “some sequences of creature terror.” Also of note to parents is the mild profanity in it of a scatological nature and some blood. What little “gore” is in the movie is so indistinct that you can’t make out what it once was which actually makes it creepier, at least in my opinion. This is a film for teenagers and up being far too intense for little kids. Some tweens will be able to handle it, but parental discretion is definitely advised.

I highly recommend Trollhunter to horror movie buffs, monster lovers, and anyone who likes a well crafted mockumentary. It’s a really good movie deserving of more attention that it has gotten.

Technical

My copy of Trollhunter is the Magnet label Blu-ray release from Magnolia Home Entertainment. It is a used copy in very good condition that I scored off of Amazon for a paltry price.

The movie and extras are all in 16:9 1080p HD and the picture quality is excellent since it was shot with a digital video camera. That means you’ll see grain in the night time shots, just like when you take photos with a digital still camera. I noticed IMDB.com has the ratio for the film listed at 1.85:1, but it was shot at 1920x1080 (or 1.78:1) so nothing has been cropped.

Audio options are Norwegian or English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio with subtitles in English, English narrative, English SDH, and Spanish. The sound quality is excellent in the Norwegian track with the previously mentioned issues affecting the English track.

There are actually quite a few extras in the Special Features section:

Deleted Scenes– Most are very short and add nothing to the story, showing good judgment in editing the movie. Only one is of any note and involves an interview with a woman insistent that wolves ripped off the doors of her barn.

Improv and Bloopers– Only two minutes worth and show how loose the cast were with each other.

Extended Scenes– Nearly eight minutes long, it included longer versions of the power plant, Pioter’s Paint Service, and diner scenes. Once again, shows how the final product was better cut as it was.

Visual Effects -  Six minutes of shorts showing work on the various trolls by different effects houses.

Behind the Scenes– This is the best part of the extras made up of  seven shorts that total 23 minutes. Content includes how they set up filming of different shots and what life was like for the cast traveling in an RV. Also revealed is that Hans beard is a fake!

Photo Galleries– A six minute slideshow of troll design sketches and vistas of the Norwegian countryside.

HDNET: A Look at Trollhunter– This four minute promo was made for HDNET, the pioneering high definition cable network which was rebranded to AXS TV in 2012. Featuring English language interviews with the actor playing Thomas and the director it functioned as a teaser for the movie in the States.

BEWARE! HERE BE SPOILERS!!!

AND TROLLS!!!!

BIG TROLLS!!!!

The return of the Mountain King trolls to their lair made for a perfect mix of genuine fear and black hearted humor. Getting trapped in a small dark space is a primordial fear of most humans along with the horrifying prospect of being eaten. The intrepid group has to deal with both and nearly toxic troll flatulence.

After all the build up about there being a closeted Christian in the group, it finally pays off with a classic riff on one of the group in a horror movie having a freak out. It turns out Kalle is the believer in a stereotypical depiction of Christians as cowardly hypocrites. Ah, the film making left.

At least they showed his death upsetting the survivors, except Hans. He’s too burned out to be phased by anything. It also sets up the amusing moment when Thomas asks their new camera woman if she is Christian only to find out she’s Muslim. Hans having no clue how that would work with the trolls made me laugh.

If I were ever to own a Land Rover, I’d want to mod it to look like this. Should be enough to keep deer from damaging it, right?

I loved the scene where Thomas asks the power station operator whether or not he wondered why hundreds of miles of power lines were run in a circle going nowhere. Functionaries are the same everywhere in the world.

Okay, the moment an isolated cabin shows up in a horror movie it isn’t good news for the cast. Just saying.

The stereotypical Vietnam vet style confession by Hans was quietly amusing. The actor is a comedian by trade and only a comic could deliver the lines with such a straight face.

I’ll confess that the reveal of the trolls have been infected with rabies and so has Thomas was my favorite comic bit in the movie. Especially his going into denial over it. Trust me, it’s funnier than it sounds.

The Godzilla sizes Jotnar troll makes for a great final opponent. Driven mad by rabies, he’s chased all the other trolls out and you can see why. The special effects are at their best here with the chase being the best part.

Much earlier in the movie, Hans mentioned he’d made a UV grenade in passing. It’s used to great effect and there was a feeling of him being sad to put the suffering giant down. That’s conveyed by his body language along with the long pause before firing in a nice touch.

The survivors celebration goes bad pretty quickly when Finn’s convoy of vehicles shows up. A frantic run ends with the last thing filmed, a line of semis approaching Thomas. It’s a nicely vague ending, since everyone involved has disappeared, but the footage had to be passed on by someone.

In a sly bit of dubbing and camera panning, Finn is inserted into a video from a real press conference of then Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. They dub in Stoltenberg making a reference to trolls that upsets Finn greatly.

Oh and watch through the end credits for a surprise.

Hope is said to spring eternal and sometimes it feels that way in regard to seasonal entertainment, or in this case the television variety. Having cut the cord years ago, I have no cable or satellite version of a 150 channels with nothing on worth watching. Broadcast and streaming are all I need given most fare is dreck these days. So it is a bit surprising to be following  a number of live action shows and anime this fall season.

It takes a lot to get me into live action TV since after decades of watching every variation of story has been seen more than once. Even a foray into South Korean dramas didn’t last long once it became apparent they drag things out for far too long at too high an intensity.

UPDATED 20 Nov 2013 to reflect being deeper into the season. New comments are in bold:

Right now I’m watching Arrow, Agents of SHIELD, and Sleepy Hollow. Sometimes I even remember they are on and catch them off the antenna. Most of the time, I’m watching them on Hulu Plus a day or two after they air.

Arrow has turned out to be more than just another CW pretty faces drama thanks to a desire to ground it in an aesthetic and attitude close to the Chris Nolan Batman movies. The show got off to a slow start last season and I lost track of it before catching up to it before the new season started. This is despite Green Arrow long being one of my favorite comic book characters from childhood.

A strong supporting cast has made the character interactions interesting, though the quality of acting varies widely. Fortunately, sidekicks Digg and Felicia rose to the fore by the end of season one to become the perfect anchors to keep vigilante bowman Oliver Queen grounded.

Another thing enjoyable is how they have been slowly working most of DC Comics martial arts based characters into the storyline. With the Black Canary making her debut in the story, I finally got to see a classic fight with the two of them taking down thugs like out of the old comics. Ra’s al Ghul and the League of Assassins have been name dropped prominently, so that bodes well for future storylines and I like how Brother Blood has been reinterpreted so far. Later this season the Flash will make his first appearance so that should be fun.

Arrow is maintaining well and seems to be the new nexus for Warner Bros comic book adaptations. An amazing amount of characters and organizations are being worked in without confusion, which is an impressive feat even better than trick arrows.

Agents of SHIELD has been a mixed bag at best, but I continue to watch it since it is in continuity with the Marvel movies. Having Coulson back under mysterious circumstances is good, but the cast is a problem. Two dimensional characters form his “elite” team and frankly none of them are likeable. Combine that with the early episodes sounding like Joss Whedon writing a parody of himself and it was painful to watch. The last couple of episodes have been better, but the drama around Sky is irritating. Unless there is a spectacular payoff, this focus has been a waste of time.

It won’t be long until the holiday break and the show is not improving. Acting is mediocre to accompany rather boring writing. So far this is not looking good and I’m struggling to keep motivated in watching it.

Then there is Sleepy Hollow, which has been anything but a waste of time. That’s a surprise, because I only watched the first episode out of a need to kill some time while feeling particularly unwell. Oh great, another supernatural soap opera like all the others flooding the airwaves was my reaction to reading about it.

Good thing I wasn’t feeling well, the show has turned out to be great fun thanks to decent writing and really good acting. The two main characters, Ichabod Crane and Deputy Abbie Mills, are a classic odd couple forced to team up and turn out to have great chemistry. The fact that he’s been in suspended animation since the Revolutionary War thanks to black magic and she’s has repressed psychic abilities make it a little different though.

Take the best parts of The X-Files, Supernatural, and The Night Stalker, then mix in the National Treasure films series attitude, and you get Sleepy Hollow. That mix could have gone terribly wrong, but this series has been highly entertaining. Anything that pulls off an apologetic zombie marking people for future death rates high in my book.

What an amazing first season this is having and it is only getting better with each episode. Unforced comic moments that don’t detract from the suspense or drama make this an unexpectedly likeable series. It also doesn’t hesitate to present material from history or short asides sure to go over the heads of many of the viewers. It has been awhile since something this smartly written has been on the air.

In the anime genre, I’ve found at least a couple of things to follow each season. Sometimes that can be hard, but last season managed to be fairly good. Silver Spoon, Stella Women’s Academy High School Division Class C3, and Servant x Service were all very good to excellent. Since bad seasons invariably follow good ones, I was dreading the new season especially since a couple of manga I liked were being adapted.

So of course with four episodes in, I’m following eleven series counting the long running and brilliant Space Brothers. In alphabetical order, the series and why I’m watching them:

Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Ars Nova– This was my most eagerly anticipated and dreaded anime due to it being based on a complex manga. Combining science fiction naval warfare with the cute girls as manifestations of the sentient warships, the original material is an odd blend. The author wanted to do a straight naval warfare comic, but the editors wanted cute girls to attract readers.

Despite this, the “mental models” of the hostile warships that have attacked humanity are closer in personality to the replicants of Bladerunner with each trying to explore aspects of human emotion due to a mysterious order called the Admiralty Code.

Anyway, the story has been adapted in a more streamlined form and uses CGI for all animation. Traditionally this has made for bad character movement and appearance, but this series is proving it can be done well. What changes to the story have been made have not hurt anything at all, to my relief. So far it has been great fun and everybody’s favorite tsundere heavy battle cruiser, Takao, is perfectly depicted.

Despite an obligatory fan service episode which actually did advance the plot, Arpeggio is turning out to be the hit of the season if Amazon preorders in Japan are any indication. It has started to diverge from the manga but is maintaining many of the elements that make that so entertaining. Halfway done and consistently fun without sacrificing character development, it shows how to adapt an inadaptable property to create a great end product (Copellion’s adaptation demonstrates the opposite outcome).

I’m thrilled it is doing well and can’t wait for the model kits to come out.

Beyond the Boundary– Formulaic, nothing original, derivative… Yes, it is all those things. However it is really well executed, beautifully animated, and reminds me a bit of Bleach. A fantasy action romance story, it is about a cursed orphan girl and a half demon boy. Of course they have to get together, but like I wrote, it’s well done so far. Like a lot of current anime, it is an adaptation from a juvenile novel.

While I’m still watching it, there really is nothing of substance to the show and its throwing in a filler episode in before the halfway point puts Beyond on the bubble of my cutoff. It needs to step up its game to keep me interested.

Galilei Donna– One of two NoitaminA series I’m following this season, it reminds me a bit of Fractale in style, but not substance. There’s a bit of steampunk to this science fiction series following three sister who are descendants of Galileo being pursued over a family secret. Packed with action, it gets off to a roaring start and hasn’t slowed down since. While the ten year old genius girl is the otaku bait, I’m enjoying the failing law student oldest sister the most. While it started out strong, the last episode stumbled a bit, but I’ll finish it out.

Now I’m not sure I’ll finish it. It has always had dark elements, but the way they’ve been presented as they escalate has been incoherent and ham fisted in execution. There’s an attempt to shoehorn in a blistering critique of human greed that comes off as pretentious, while plot-fu is used to keep characters either alive or under ridiculous threat. One more episode is all I’ll allow this and it had better be a huge improvement.

Gingitsune: Messenger Fox of the Gods– Wow, what a pleasant surprise this has been. It is a slowly unfolding story about a teenage priestess who has inherited the ability to see divine beings. In this case a lazy fox herald with a gruff attitude. Heartfelt and sweet, it has been a great antidote to the nastiness of the world.

Between this and Kyousougiga, I’m learning a lot about the fusion of Buddhism with Japanese old beliefs (later codified into Shinto). None of its charm has been lost and I’m loving this Sunday appropriate story.

Golden Time– Another light novel adaptation, this one is aimed at adults with the main characters being law students. Basically it is about the friendship (and probable romance) between a beautiful young woman obsessively stalking an uninterested guy and the amnesiac friend of said guy. The original novel was written by the author of the Toradora series, so a difficult romance was to be expected. So far it has been a character study with a lot of comedy, leavened with moments of seriousness.

So far so good and I like the romance that has begun, though I can see why a lot of fans wouldn’t. Both mains are flawed if not messed up characters out to change themselves, so watching them walk a parallel path together is far more realistic than most romances depicted these days.

Kyousougiga– Biggest surprise of the season and almost impossible to describe. Imagine if FLCL had depth. That’s as close as I can get to describing this unusual series. Mixing ridiculous cartoon violence in a world that can’t be destroyed and nobody can die, it is actually about love, family, and apparently, rebirth.

It all begins with a chaotic and mystifying Episode 0, which is a recap of the Web based original version. With the first real episode, the madness of that is slowly explained. Set in the “Looking Glass” world, it involves three abandoned children grown to adulthood who run the world dealing with an outsider, a feisty girl in a sailor uniform wielding a very big hammer.

Doesn’t sound like the setting for a deeply emotional story, but somehow it gets there by revealing the creation of the world and how they all came to be there. It’s also completely insane. Yeah, can’t describe it, but highly recommend the series.

I don’t think I can adequately convey how much I’ve grown to love this series. It’s become deeply emotional and benefits greatly from a study of theology to understand much of the symbolism being used. Simply extraordinary and I can’t wait to see how it all turns out.

Log Horizon– Yet another adaptation of a novel, this will make any online MMORPG player smile. Smartly written and featuring a protagonist who uses brain rather than brawn, it is about game players suddenly finding themselves in the game world as the characters they play. Familiar storyline, yet it doesn’t appear to have anything to do with virtual reality and there is no sign of an explanation of how it happened.

Instead it is about how people would act under this kind of circumstance, especially when they find out death is impermanent just like in a video game. There is something about the online experience that brings out the worst in a lot of people, so this is fertile ground for a story exploring human behavior. So far it has been very good, though it might confuse people who’ve never played that kind of video game.

This has maintained in quality and economics are coming into play, which is no surprise given the author’s previous work. The animation is nothing to write home about, but the story more than makes up for it by exploring moral and ethical issues.

Miss Monochrome– These five minute shorts about an android pop idol should be the kind of thing that would drive me far, far away. Yet it has turned out to be very dark humored as things never go the right way for Miss Monochrome, the android. Cute and kind of sad, but with a vicious edge to it.

I can’t believe I’ve gotten fond of an android would be idol.

Non Non Biyori– Slice of life anime about cute girls doing nothing is my bane. Can’t stand them, though they generally dominate sales and popularity. The only reason I sampled this was because it was set in the countryside. Good thing I did, or I would have missed one of the better shows of the season.

It follows a group of four gals of varying ages attending a one room school in the Japanese countryside. It’s amazing how many childhood memories are brought back watching this and I’ll admit nostalgia partially drive my like of the series. Lovely countryside and an attention to detail make it visually impressive, but the characters are also well written and feel real. Well, except for the newcomer gal from Tokyo and her instant crush on one of the other gals. So far she’s as 2D as it gets.

Thankfully, the first grade student, Renge more than makes up for her. Following this very smart, but also very much her age girl reminds me of so many things from my own past. We’ll see if the series can maintain its high quality.

More than maintaining, this has simply been wonderful. Never been tempted to buy an anime related t-shirt or such, but the forthcoming one of Renge makes me irrationally want to have one.

Samurai Flamenco– I wasn’t expecting much from this series about a male fashion model trying to be a vigilante by night. Featuring an earnest and hopelessly naïve hero buddied up with a more worldly cop, it has been a great deal of fun and very well written. There are no superheroes, gadgets, or powers, so our weakling main protagonist is in over his head right off the bat.

It’s a breezy affair getting loopier with each episode resulting in a whole lot of fun. If it keeps progressing the way it has it may end up being the best of the season.

It may end up being the most entertaining, but Kyousougiga is much deeper and beautifully animated. Being a two season series rather than one, the story is going at a slower pace and taking full advantage of the length to flesh out the characters. Flamenco Girl and her assistants have added an insane element to the proceedings as has a weapons inventor modifying office supplies into superhero gadgets. Great fun.

November has brought cold winds with it and a flood of Russian spam on the 3rd. The false referrals on my Blogger stats lead to a  baffling variety of blogs. Only one is an obvious attempt to sell things, which makes it very mysterious that they all came at once. Oddly, all showed up four times with the exception of the first. All use Wordpress and none have ads placed on the pages, but do have LiveInternet statistics links.

UPDATE:Continued with a theory of why these are being sent out.

Now the individual links:

http : / /www . kyho . ru / was the first to arrive Sunday morning. I copied the link for future investigation and headed out to church. Little did I know that it was the first of a larger group of spam arriving through early Monday.

Firing up my virtual machines for safe and compartmentalized browsing, I found out I’d be using Google translate a lot in trying to decode the mystery. This site is dedicated to hair care with repetitive posts which raises suspicions of being an automated site scraping content from legitimate blogs. There are no comments and it is a barebones blog layout. It also was last updated in November 2011!

With no ads and no immediately visible malware on the page or in the source code, it looked like another case of zombie spam.

Next up was a specific blog page, http : // ispanialife . ru / ?m = 20120702 which was about tourist travel to Spain. Barebones with a different default template, it was laid out much like the previous blog.This one is glaringly fly by night with poor handling of oversized photos and only being posted to for a few months. The last update was in July of 2012.

Out of curiosity, I checked out the LiveInternet link at the bottom left which revealed nothing sinister. It looks like a Russian based stat counter with password protection for the owner of the site using it.

So with two popular interests covered, beauty and travel, I shouldn’t have been surprised when a tech site showed up. http: // abilitytech . ru / ?m = 20120608 contains posts on wireless internet technology for hooking up entire neighborhoods. Once again the posts are repetitive looking like material skimmed from elsewhere.

It was up longer with posts going back several years. Links within the posts are broken producing 404 errors. Like the previous blog, it was last updated in July 2012.

Let’s see, what else is popular on the Net when trying to get people to part with money? How about fixing a bad credit rating or building up a good one? http : // creditlorow . ru / ?tag = popolnenie-oborotnyx covers that.

Again a broken layout shows in small ways, again it is a blog last updated in 2012, and again I can’t find a service being sold. Just what is up with all this weird spam?

Tourism returns with http: // hesd . ru / ?p=270 discussing tours to Turkey, Thailand, and other destinations. Broken links in posts and a last post made in July of 2012 fits the growing pattern. Only active for a few months, the blog shows no signs of life now.

http: // nobeleff . ru / ?p=87 offers a familiar layout and lifespan. Started in April 2011, it went dark after September of 2012. Yet again the content is repetitive and appears taken from other sites. The one thing different is that it is all about the Nobel prize and its founder. Not exactly click bait, that subject.

Of course, farming had to be the next subject. You saw it coming right? http : // nuwe . ru / ?p=164 is the first blog to put a name to the blogger, Jura Pyrozhkov. In the about page, it also announces the intention of helping novices in agriculture get started and advising experienced farmers. This one actually looks legitimate.

However, it uses the same generic template and had a short life from March 2011 to October 2012. Still, it looks like real content unlike the others. This run of referral spam is confusing, to say the least.

The last to arrive was also the only transparent one. There can be no doubt that http: // sylq . ru / rabota / ayurveda-imbir-pohudenie . htm is trying to sell you something. In this case, it is a sure fire way to lose weight! Green coffee and ginger  from Argentina will do all the work for you! Yeah, and I have a bridge in Brooklyn for sale – cheap.

This site is still active, at least from the testimonial comments posted though they appear to be of dubious origin. Warning: NSFW photos of obese women in underwear in the comments, but hey, you shouldn’t be visiting these con artists anyway.

It’s obvious that all this spam showing up at the same time means they are connected. That’s the only solid theory due to the fact so many links are to dead blogs with no ads or anything else that would make money. Looking at the source HTML revealed nothing suspect, though I’d like a professional coder to take a look at them.

I suspect this is a case of zombie spam, where the automated bots are still pumping out false referrals when the sites paying for it are long gone. This may be due to laziness of the people hired to spam with them not bothering to remove entries in the software they use. Possibly the old sites were mistakenly sent out along with the weight loss one, but all of this is idle speculation.

Anybody else have any theories why these sites are showing up now?

Another day brought in another round of the odd referral spam to my Blogger statistics. Following the same pattern as the first batch, things took a turn toward the sinister once I started checking them out.  If you receive any of these in your referrals, do not click on the links!

http: // art-cs . ru / ?p=275 linked to a post on a Russian blog, just like all during this onslaught of faked referrals. This one does have phone numbers in one post, though I didn’t look them up. Last post was in September of 2012 and most of the posts were put up on one day.

The second of this wave was http: // etiketu . ru / ?m=20120907 which links to a blog about proper etiquette and how it helps in business. Like the farming site in the first wave, this one has an about page. Unlike that one, no name is associated with it. Instead a mission statement of promoting humanism and decency is present. This will turn out to be highly ironic.

It was last posted to in October of 2012.

A blog on roadway construction showed up under two different links: http: // playoffancy . ru / ?tag = dorozhnoe-stroitelstvo-vakansii and http: // playoffancy . ru / ?p = 110

The content looks scraped from other sources and the whole thing strikes me as artificial. Last post was again in October 2012, though this blog was active for a year.

Another blog related to transportation was the beginning of darker things being found in the spam. http: // drivemotorist . ru / ?tag = aljuminirovannoj-stali produces a post about how to buy the right muffler. The rest of the blog is filled with generic tips on driving and maintenance, but it is the main page that raised a red flag.

At the bottom next to the LiveInternet graphic is a link. That link leads to a pornographic site. This connection to porn added some support to a theory I was developing about why all these disparate blogs are being spammed out to blog runners. More on that at the end of this post.

http: // est-edu . ru / ?p=54 brings a return to harmless fare, in this case a rather pretty blog about food preservation and canning. The post is dated 2011 and of course the last one was made in late 2012.

I’ve always regarded Feng Shui with benign amusement and was not something I expected to see in the referral spam. But there it is, http: // fen-chooy . ru / ?p=34 featuring an eye wincing color scheme. Every single post was made in April of 2011.

Another blog with every post made in 2011 is http : // finworldhistory . ru / ?p=29

That link leads to a post about the development of capitalism in Ukraine, while the entire blog is about the history or world finance. All of it looks cribbed from textbooks or encyclopedias. All the posts were put up on the same day.

Last, but the most important, is a recipe blog that arrived as http: // foodprood . ru / ?tag=recept-prigotovlenija-zraz

Looks plain and innocent, doesn’t it? But if you go to the main page and scroll to the bottom, you’ll notice some poor layout shoving the LiveInternet graphic into the middle. Two links are found there in-between text.

The second one leads to an add for soup mix, so selling a product is involved. Shady it may be, but it is nothing compared to the product the first link is selling.

I won’t put a screenshot up of the other product, because the link is to a very slick website selling the services of prostitutes, complete with NSFW pictures of the women and their individual rates.

It was that link which solidified my growing suspicion that these blogs have been put up by organized crime. Why would I suspect that?

You have to understand a little about reputation farming and the Internet. Blogs and Facebook pages are often spammed to simply build their traffic up so that they can be sold to someone at a later date. With the stats recorded (hence all having LiveInternet on each site), those traffic statistics can be produced to demonstrate the site is already getting traffic and is established. Suckers, whether they be individuals or small businesses, will get talked into buying the site for serious cash.

To pull this off, you need to seed a lot of sites and maintain them for at least a year or two, which happens to be the lifespan of all these referral spam sites. Money and time is involved, but not a lot thanks to automated scripts and reuse of templates with minor variations. An individual can do this, but owning domains costs money to register and keep registered.

This suggests bigger pockets for something on this kind of scale. Since pornography and prostitution are controlled by organized crime in Russia, those links may have accidently been inserted by a coder in a hurry that got his cut and paste confused between projects.

So why would they spam this out to bloggers? What better potential customers than people trying to get their blog off the ground is what they’re thinking if I’ve guessed right. The temptation to take over an “established” blog with good traffic is something to factor in. That and if you are a small blog, the spam is going to show up a lot in your statistics. A bigger blog won’t even notice them.

All of this is just a theory, of course. But that’s what I think is going on with these recent waves of referrals hitting four times each. What a world we live in.

• http: // iowo . ru / ?p=121
• http: // italyhistory . ru / ?paged=2
• http: // saratov-star-service . ru / ?p=25
• http: // sboll . ru / ?p=94
• http: // lozn . ru / ?p=91
• http: // autoknigs . ru / ?cat=1&
• http: // dejt . ru / ?tag=%d0%b7%d0%b0%d0%bc%d0%b8%d0%be%d0%ba%d1%83%d0%bb%d1%8c%d0%ba%d0%be%d1%81%d0%b0
• http: // dom-lechenie . ru / ?p=134
• http: // foodlong . ru / ?p=78
• http: // etiketu .ru / ?tag=jetiket-za-stolom
• http : // kammit.ru / ?p=125 
• http : // www . syfo . ru / ?p=187 
• http: // lechit-nogi . ru / ?tag=bolshogo-palca
• http: // stroykomplext . ru /?p=70
• http: // www . plass . ru / ?cat=4
• http: // abilitytech . ru / ?p=65
• http: // abilitytech . ru / ?p=187
• http: // abilitytech . ru / ?p=149
• http: // autoknigs . ru / ?p=29
• http: // blogfinansov . ru / ?p=102
• http: // extruziya-smt . ru / ?p=108
• http: // vygo . ru / ?tag=zeljonyj-borshh-shhavelem
• http: // art-cs . ru / ?tag=doma-podcherkivat
• http: // nasmorc . ru  / ?p=149
• http: // stresscom . ru/ ?paged=21
• http: // stresscom . ru / ?cat=5&
• http: // lightspektr . ru/ ?tag=svetilniki-2
• http: // metallovedenee . ru/ ?p=63
• http: // dejt.ru / ?paged=2
• http: // digh.ru / ?tag=anekdoty-smeshnye
• http: // regionyrf . ru / ?paged=60
• http: // abilitytech . ru/ ?feed=rss2&p=238
• http: // abilitytech . ru / ?p=149
• http: // magicromance . ru / wp-content / uploads / 2011 / 02 / 14 . jpg
• http: // magicromance . ru / ?p=159
• http: // sylq . ru / proizvodstvo / imbir-i-koritsa-pomogayut-pohudet . htm
• http: // gastroname . ru / ?m=20101204
• http: // gastroname . ru / ?tag=odna-chajnaja-lozhka
• http: // ipotekacomp . ru / ?tag=pomoshh-molodym-semyam
• http: // digh.ru / ?tag=prikprog
• http: // healtblog . ru / ?p=449
• http: // hesd . ru / ?p=325 
• http: // hesd . ru / ?p=103
• http: // rticompany . ru / ?p=40
• http: // urasgard . ru / ?tag=sous-chesnochnyj
• http: // krasataforyou . ru / ?cat=3
• http: // gdmemory . ru / ?p=48
• http: // gdmemory . ru / ?p=57
• http: // lusst . ru/ ?tag=lyustry-spalni-svoimi
• http: // lusst . ru / ?tag=vybrat-lyustru
• http: // asblog . ru / ?p=45
• http: // spechome . ru / ?tag=libo-sulfata 
• http: // ryff . ru / ?p=21 
• http: / /agro-rost . ru / ?p=209 
• http: // kulinarski . ru / ?p=45 
• http: // rassadu . ru / ?p=481 
• http: // borq . ru / ?m=20120822
• http: // eurostroysovet . ru / ?p=365
• http: // eurostroysovet . ru / ?cat=3
• http: // indohistory . ru / ?p=80 
• http: // klimacontrol . ru / ?paged=5 
• http: // klimacontrol . ru / ?p=10
• http: // kokv . ru / ?paged=5
• http: // koncervhome . ru / ?p=35
• http: // mjsk . su / ?p=11
• http: // nsk-start . ru / ?p=44
• http: // receptorat . ru / ?tag=ptiche-moloko-3& 
• http: // aforizmoteka . ru / ?p=170
• http: // drive-edu . ru / ?p=139
• http: // irry . ru / ?p=205
• http: // jijo . ru / ?paged=2
• http: // lightspektr . ru / ?p=119
• http: // zwetiki . ru / ?tag=dnevnogo-sveta
• http: // builder-whs . ru / ?p=96
• http: // descript . ru / ?p=36
• http: // jijo . ru / ?author=1
• http: // krassata . ru / ?p=154
• http: // babyzabot . ru / ?tag=%d1%83%d1%85%d0%be%d0%b4%d0%b0
• http: // avto-helpme . ru / ?p=6
• http: // kulinarski . ru / ?feed=rss2&p=130
• http: // prodrecept . ru / ?p=245
• http: // reecept . ru / ?m=20120924
• http: // alltechbid . ru / ?p=52
• http: / /drunkenness . ru / ?p=79
• http: // homeanymals . ru / ?p=24
• http: // rassadu . ru / ?tag=vedro-smesi
• http: // lizo-uhod.ru / ?p=170
• http: // www . plass . ru / ?paged=2