Fanfiction Fridays: “Grounded”

Grounded by tumblr author Jackasslow is a three-part Big Time Rush fanfic about two of my favorite aspects of the show: Kendall and Logan’s relationship and Mrs. Knight’s parenting.

The story begins with Kendall disrespecting his mother (bad move, bro) so she grounds him. He is grounded not only from the usual privileges like television and cell phone, but also from something far more important: Logan! This is extremely difficult for Kendall, and Logan too. To be honest, their attachment to each other bordered on unhealthy in the early days of this show, constantly needing physical closeness and reassurance from each other, and this story takes place during those young, clingy days of new love, so they’re not handling it very well.

The reason I enjoy this fic so much is because it highlights Jennifer Knight’s ability to handle her children. What I’ve always loved about Mrs. Knight is that she is not the absent, neglectful, overbearing, flighty, or otherwise ineffective parent that tends to appear in Nickelodeon shows, and most shows aimed at the teen/tween demographic. In most of these shows, if a parent is present (and many times they aren’t) they’re usually the butt of the joke in their magnificent ineptitude, but Jennifer Knight has been an exception to that rule since the beginning of the show. She demands respect from her children and the other boys in her charge and makes them take responsibility for their actions. She’s actually, you know, parenting. She doesn’t always know what to do but she manages, and that portrayal of a parent who disciplines and loves and struggles is one of the most unique and beautiful aspects of Big Time Rush to me.

Even though this story is primarily about Kendall, it’s the attention given to Mrs. Knight that makes it stand out to me. She is the one who gets the plot going and causes the personal growth in the main character which finally leads to the resolution. The story is also hosted on fanfiction.net as a single chapter rather than broken into three parts if you’d prefer to read there rather than on tumblr. Check it out; it’s a great little piece celebrating some of my favorite characters.

Trailer Tuesdays: Wrath of the Titans

It’s Trailer Tuesdays! This week’s trailer is Wrath of the Titans.

The original Clash of the Titans is a classic. The newest one is considered a piece of shit that promised me awesome 3D effects that ended up being terrible. Furthermore, the new Clash of the Titans could have had promise if they had done the one thing that the original didn’t: actually follow Greek mythology!

I never understood why so many people felt the need to change Greek mythology. The original myths are filled with so much sex and blood shed you would think very little would need to be changed to get audiences in to the theaters.

But if the trailer for Clash of the Titans‘ sequel Wrath of the Titans is any indicator, I would say it’s because we think we can do it better than the ancient Greeks. You know, those long lasting myths that endured for forever and interest people even now, clearly Warner Bros. writers can do better than that.

This not at all anticipated sequel seems to basically be a rehashing of the first one. Here is the premise of the movie as stated by Wikipedia:

A decade after his heroic defeat of the monstrous Kraken, Perseus (Sam Worthington) is attempting to live a quieter life as a village fisherman and the sole parent to his 10-year-old son, Helius. Meanwhile, a struggle for supremacy rages between the gods and the Titans. Dangerously weakened by humanity’s lack of devotion, the gods are losing control of the imprisoned Titans led by Kronos: father of the long-ruling brothers Zeus (Liam Neeson), Hades (Ralph Fiennes), and Poseidon (Danny Huston). The triumvirate had overthrown their powerful father long ago, leaving him to rot in the gloomy abyss of Tartarus, a dungeon that lies deep within the cavernous underworld.

Perseus cannot ignore his true calling when Hades and Ares (Édgar Ramírez) make a deal with Kronos to capture Zeus. The Titans’ strength grows stronger as Zeus’s remaining godly powers are siphoned, and hell is unleashed on earth. Enlisting the help of the warrior Queen Andromeda (Rosamund Pike), Poseidon’s demigod son Agenor (Toby Kebbell), and fallen god Hephaestus (Bill Nighy), Perseus bravely embarks on a treacherous quest into the underworld to rescue Zeus, overthrow the Titans and save mankind

As you can see this throws out all semblance of actual Greek myth and replaces it with crap. Hades and Ares are evil! Never would have seen that coming. This is a personal pet peeve for me as Hades is my favorite Greek god. Seriously, read the myths. Hades is the only god that is actually kind of nice. It is nice to actually see Hephaestus be a main character, but I doubt he’ll be a crippled burn victim like he is in the myths.

So, thanks, Wrath of the Titans, for giving us yet another predictable stereotypical action movie. If that’s how you like your action movies and don’t mind the poor understanding of Greek mythology then this movie is for you. If you want to see something good this March, I suggest you go see The Hunger Games, or hell, maybe stop rotting your brain and pick up the book series Percy Jackson and the Olympians, as that’s entertaining and accurate to Greek myths, while still doing something new and interesting (do not under any circumstances watch the movie though).