Savior Gaming

 So before we bite into the meat of what I’m covering in Green Lantern mythos, I thought it’d be a good idea to cover what the other Corps represent and what light of emotion drives them, as well as talk about the entities a little bit. So Let’s work our way up the rainbow shall we:

1. Red- the manifestation of the universes rage and anger. Red Lanterns are characterized by the froth of molten blood plasma they projectile fire from their mouths which is there most common weapon besides constructs and brute strength. Red lanterns must always remain at the height of their rage at at all times; many times this impedes upon there ability to think rationally. Atrcitious is the leader of them on the planet Ryut. There entity is the Butcher, the collection of the universe’s rage
2. Orange- Larfleeze, the one and only. Orange is avarice, greed. It’s all consuming, leaving it’s victims much like Gollum from Lord of the Rings. The Orange Corp mainly stems from Larfleeze’s constructs of all the beings he’s slayed in the name of his greed. Ohphridan is there entity, trapped inside of Larfleeze’s lantern.
3. Yellow- fear, the greatest weakness of the Green Lantern Corps. The Sinestro Corps was forged from the fallen Green Lantern Sinestro while exiled on the planet Qward. There power stems from there ability to instill fear in others. Deputy bearers of the yellow ring have included Batman, Scarecrow, and Mongul. Parallax is there Entity, one of the most powerful and destructive beings in the galaxy, nearly turning Hal Jordan into a murderous demigod capable of slaughtering whole planets. Fear users are weak against the blue light of hope but can tear through the green light of will with ease.
4. Green- the original light harnessed by the immortal, emotional Guardians of the Universe on planet Oa. The green light comes from the user’s willpower, creating constructs of their imagination. There greatest weakness is fear, dripping down into the “yellow impurity”, a problem many lanterns had where golden or yellow objects could break their constructs.  Ion is their entity.
5. Blue- hope. Besides the orange corp, perhaps one of their greatest threats, the blue lanterns are the second fewest in number. Saint Walker is the main blue lantern we get to know, a calm, caring alien who in the groups darkest hours repeats the blue lantern corps mantra of “all will be well”. Acting as their Guardians are ex-guardians Ganrhet and Sayd. A blue lantern can partially subdue a red lantern’s rage and cancel out fear, but as for there powers to be at there greatest they can have have a symbiotic relationship with a green lantern. They live on planet Odym.
6. Pink- The Star Sapphires, the lanterns of love. Love was harvested by an ancient race called the Zamorans, who act as their Guardians. Though powerful, their power can corrupt their minds, being mind controlled by the Zamorans when needed. Carol Ferris, lifelong friend and love of Hal Jordan. There entity is the Predator…I hope I’m not the only one who can see the irony in this.
7. indigo- Compassion. An extremely mysterious breed of lantern, speaking a dialect no other lantern can translate, having no identity other than Indigo and a number; Indigo-1 is the lantern we get to known best. She carries a staff instead of wielding a power ring like the others. There numbers are unknown as well as the extent of there powers; Indigo-1 is able to teleport between planets with ease.
8. Black- death. The end of life. Black lanterns are resurrected corpses that can’t be killed except by fire, blending green light with that of another Corps, or the white. The Black Hand is there devoted champion. Nekron is there entity.

 So I have to say as a 90’s kid, I was really skeptical about this particular reboot of one of my favorite shows from back then. I love the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and twenty plus years later I still enjoy the campy fun of the show and movie from time to time. The early trailers made me cringe, making me think we were getting a fusion of the Breakfast Club and Amazing Spider-man with a little Chronicle, Fant4stic,  Pacific Rim, and Twilight sprinkled in for good measure. To an extent, I was correct. The first act of this movie is pretty much what we get in the trailer, a edgy teen melodrama about kids who get superpowers from aliens. I’m very happy to say it really picks up during the 2nd and final acts. I laughed, cheered and even even felt kind of touched during a scene where our five teenagers with attitude actually bond over a campfire. If you are able to let go the obvious teen movie cliches here and there and the drastic changes to the source material, there’s some fun to be had. The actors portraying Jason, Billy, Kimberly, Trini, and Zach are surprisingly deep while still being relate-able and funny. Bryan Cranston as Zordon, Bill Hader as Alpha 5, and Elizabeth Banks as Rita Repulsa are fine support. I wish they kept Rita’s appearance creepy and weathered throughout the film instead of a sex symbol clad in green armor at the end, but that is just me. The Zords are bad ass and the suits have there own kind of coolness, though I feel their could’ve been more of their original personalities in these new ones. Regardless of your stance on Power Rangers, this movie’s a fresh start; it’s not perfect but neither was the original either.

   GO GO POWER RANGERS !

 “Four legs good, two legs bad.”- the summary of the ten governing commandments of Animal Farm. George Orwell wrote this disturbing parable about communism when tensions between The US and Soviet Union were at there peaks and the Cold War was in full swing. On a personal note, I didn’t begin reading books until after high school when I decided to take writing more seriously and Animal Farm was the first book I ever read without a report or school’s curriculum, though it was taught to me in the 8th grade. The story is short and sweet but effective. The Animals of Manor Farm live under the drunken neglect and tyranny of Mr. Jones. One night, an old respected pig named Old Major calls a meeting amongst all of the animals where he tells them his time is near an end but he had a dream where they would all be free, without man. A day or two later Major dies and life goes on. Finally comes the day when the  animal’s rebel and overthrow the Jones’s and cast them out. The word spreads; Jones tries to recapture the farm to no avail. From the ashes of Jones comes the rule of the pigs, Snowball, Napoleon, and Squealer. Snowball goes about trying to improve the animal’s lives and slowly they form there own laws, abilities to read and write, and eventually formulate a plan to build a windmill to power the farm. Suddenly Napoleon breaks the peace by unleashing a group of dogs he’d been hiding away on Snowball, chasing him out and taking control with Squealer manipulating the limited intelligence of the animals. History becomes distorted by false facts and promises; resources deplete to shit; and in the end with the heartless death of Animal Farm’s most loyal worker, the spirit breaks and suddenly the realize they became what they hated to begin with. The story is short but powerful- definitely a great book if you don’t read much or you want a more modern fairy tale. Do not expect a happy go lucky story for the kids.