Amos Yee Is Gulity

16-year-old Amos Yee was convicted on two criminal charges yesterday. Found to have hurt religious feelings in a video likening Singapore's founding leader Lee Kuan Yew to Jesus and for posting an obscene cartoon in a blog, Yee was then released on bail.

Now Yee may have been found guilty of hurting religious feelings but let's admit it; it is his "Lee Kuan Yew is Finally Dead!" video that got him into trouble. He was one of the few Singaporeans to openly criticized Mr. Lee's legacy and he did just a few days after Mr. Lee’s death. I thought his video was stupid and totally in appropriate.

However, to bring a silly boy to court over a silly video? Sorry but that is just silly. Not only is there no reason for it, what’s worse is that the courts is giving Yee what he wants; attention.

I think Yee was gunning for attention when he put up that video, so bringing him to court is exactly giving him what he wanted. I mean the guy is now on BBC because of this court case, and to me, that is just wrong. I’m not big fan of Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, I’ve done my fair share of criticism against him, but to do it so soon after his death smacks of self-promotion.

So I ask that the court clear this case ASAP. This narcissistic boy insulted Singapore’s founding leader for attention, so don’t give him what he wants; don’t give him more attention than he already has. The sooner the case clears the courts, the sooner everyone can forgot the name Amos Yee. 

The Last Season

With "The Voice" being the premier singing show for the past few seasons, it comes as no surprise when US television network Fox announced that "American Idol" will end after 15 seasons.

The music talent show has produced stars such as Kelly Clarkson, Adam Lambert and Carrie Underwood, and for a long time was the show to watch. Not anymore. Honestly, the show outlived its welcome a few seasons ago and it’s about time the show called the curtains.

One good thing is that "'American Idol' will get a farewell season with its producers promising a "season-long celebratory event" that will pay tribute to past seasons of "amazingly talented contestants". In short, we will probably see past winners and people made famous by the show showing up.

Good going to great! I was never much of a fan of the show but a farewell season is reasonable considering how important "American Idol" was once upon a time. Besides, it’ll be fun to see Simon Cowell back scolding contestants who don’t cut it. 

Review of Avengers: Age of Ultron

With the success of “The Avengers”, “Avengers: Age of Ultron” has a lot to live up to. While it’s almost impossible for this sequel to recapture the magic of the original, I have to say that despite what everyone on the internet says, director Joss Whedon has done enough not to let anyone down.

The movie starts in the Eastern European country of Sokovia with the Avengers team raiding the Hydra outpost of Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. The Baron had been experimenting on humans using the scepter wielded by Loki in the first movie and the team wanted the scepter back. They got more than they bargain for when two enhanced beings, Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, got into the field. 

Pietro has superhuman speed while his twin sister Wanda can manipulate minds and throw energy blasts. Although they won the battle, the Avengers did not come out of it unscathed. Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) was severely injured in the battle while Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) was given terrible visions by Wanda.

In the end, Stark took possession of Loki's scepter and secretly used it to complete his "Ultron" global defense program with a lot of help from Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo). Ultron was designed as an A.I. initiative to combat global threats before they occurred but Stark and Banner could not get it to work properly. As they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions as Ultron activated itself. The now sentient Ultron believed the biggest threat to the world is the human race and the race must be eradicated to save the planet.

From there, it became a battle between the Avengers and Stark's rogue A.I. with the Avengers gaining new allies in the process.

First off, do not compare this to “The Avengers”. The first movie was a magical movie moment that’s impossible to recapture. It is just not something you can re-capture, so don't even bother hoping this sequel will be able to reach the same highs. If you managed do this, then you will see that “Avengers: Age of Ultron” has a lot going for it.

Several excellent battles, a ton of humor, and character moments for the heroes who do not have their own movies. Hulk, Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye each has their moments in the sun in Age of Ultron and I thought this was a good idea. The other 3 heroes have their own movie franchise so giving much needed screen time to these 3 was a smart move.  

The battles were also excellent with the highlight clearly being the battle between Hulk and Stark’s “Hulkbuster” armor. The end battle between the Avengers and Ultron in Sokovia lasted a little too long in my view, but it was still an excellent set piece.

I also liked the end when Captain America (Chris Evans) and Black Widow greet and prepare to train the new members of The Avengers; War Machine, Wanda, the Vision, and Falcon. This passing of the baton moment was great and I just hope they don’t destroy the whole thing by immediately getting the original members back in the next movie.

That might be forlorn hope though as the return of Nick Fury (Samuel L.Jackson) shows. The return of Fury came out of nowhere and is one of the things I don’t like about “Age of Ultron”. I understand that you need to give every character at least a moment to shine but this led the movie to be laden with a lot of scenes that in the grand scheme of things were totally unnecessary.

Chief of which was the nonsensical love story between Black Widow and the Hulk. Where the hell did that come from? What’s worse was the scene when they decided to run away after the battle with Ultron. That’s totally against the Black Widow character as portrayed in the MCU.

There's also the problem of understanding how interconnected the MCU truly is. At the end of "The Avengers", Loki's scepter was firmly in the hands of the Avengers but at the start f the movie, Hydra has it. To understand this, you need to know what happened in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" and "Marvel's Agents of SHIELD". 

These points notwithstanding, “Avengers: Age of Ultron” is a fun, funny movie that tried to be more than action film. It just have the unfortunate situation of being the sequel of one of the greatest superhero movie of all time. It's by no means a bad movie, watch it for a good time, and just remember not to compare it to the original.

Comics this week

Convergence #5- I said last week that it seems writer Jeff King has a plan, and boy is that right or what! #5 of Convergence has the writer pulling a fast one on use as the main villain of the story moved from Telos to Deimos. The ending of this issue was also very good, loading up on all sorts of potential ideas for the remaining 3 issues. The only drawback I see is the end of Skartaris and Warlord, King really should have done more with them. However his plan seems to be working so bring on the next issue.

Jupiter’s Circle #2- I admit; writer Mark Millar got me good on this one. I thought for sure Blue Bolt was going to be the reason Utopian’s team broke up and that he’s Hutch’s father. I mean he got a good reason to betray the team and his rod looked almost the same as the one Hutch has. So he got me good when it was revealed that Blue Bolt is a better man than anyone thought and dropped hints that the problems with the team runs much deeper than one sole member. Of course if these 2 issues are any guide, the hints are also red herrings! Superheroes with mystery; that's what Jupiter's Circle is about!

Secret Wars #1- Writer Jonathan Hickman's works are usually long, confusing and totally epic; he’s seems perfect to be the writer of a Marvel event! Not only that, Secret Wars is basically a continuation of his Avengers story. In it, Hickman has a long running story on how Earths from alternate realities are colliding against each other, destroying both worlds in the process. Failing to stop the collision, a band of Earth’s heroes on Earth 616 is doing the unthinkable. When it happens, the group will destroy the alternate Earth. This act will save their planet but will kill billions of people in the other alternate Earth. Secret Wars is a story on what happen when Earth 616 and Earth Ultimate meets. It becomes a time of strange alliances as Ultimate Richard Reed team-up with Thanos while Earth 616 throws every hero they have at Earth Ultimate to destroy them. I like the tone of this issue. Both sides know and understand they are trying to destroy each other, and are trying to kill billions in the process. They know this and are still doing it because they want to live. Both sides know they are doing evil but Hickman did a good job of showing that when it comes down to it; between they and me, everyone will choose “me”. No one is going to allow their planet to be destroyed so that some other planet to live. That by itself makes this event interesting. 

Jupiter's Legacy

Today in #2 of Jupiter's Circle, I read a surprising little bit of news. Mark Millar has sold the rights of Jupiter's Legacy and a movie will be made of the series. In case you don't know, Mark Millar is the guy who created and wrote "Kick-Ass" as well as "The Secret Service", which was made into a movie called "The Kingsman".

I don't know what's more surprising to me. The fact that a pretty recent series like Jupiter's Legacy (published only in 2013) will be made into a movie, or the fact that I was surprised by this piece of news. After all, superheroes movies are all the rage right now and "The Kingsman" was such a hit that a sequel will currently begin planned (no word on a sequel to "The Secret Service" though).

Honestly, I'm not sure how well "Jupiter's Legacy" will work as a movie. The series is about the generational conflict between old and new heroes; about how heroes of the "Golden Age" treat their powers as a way to inspire mankind while their children want to use their powers to treat society's ills directly (entering politics, creating new power source for the world etc). It is also a way to showcase how the morals of the heroes changed over time. In this world, a Golden Age hero would never think of having sex with a woman he saved, but a modern hero would have no problem with it as long as everyone is willing and happy. 

Can they do that in a movie? I'm not sure but call me positively intrigued.

Fighting While Injured

I never watched the fight but from everything I had heard, the "Fight of the Century" was more like the "Bore of the Century"; and we're just in 2015! As everyone now knows, American Floyd Mayweather Jr. defeated Filipino Manny Pacquiao comfortably in Las Vegas.

However, it later became known that Pacquiao fought injured. An MRI scan confirmed the boxer has a torn rotator cuff that will require surgery; a flare-up of an old injury that Pacquiao re-injured while training for the bout against Mayweather. Now he is threaten with possible lawsuits for failing to disclose the injury.

I must be missing something here.

Since when is not disclosing an injury possible grounds for a lawsuit? Pacquiao is a fighter who did not want to give his opponent an edge by telling anyone he got an injury. He also did not want to pull out of the heavily hyped fight. Even in defeat, he did not use the injury as an excuse for the loss; he clearly said Mayweather was better.

So what's the problem? Pacquiao is a fighter and he wanted to fight, injury or not. That's not something to be sued for; that's something to admire. Last I checked. boxing is still a fight sport.

Comics this week

Convergence #4- As a celebration of DC’s past, Convergence needs a lot of work. However as a way to move forward from DC’s past, I think the series has a lot going for it. Writer Jeff King has done the smart thing by focusing on the core cast of Earth 2 heroes and Telos. I admit it would be nice to see more of Skartaris and Warlord, but King seem to have a plan and there’s more than enough action to tide us over till the reveal.

Justice League #40- This issue is the prologue of the “Darkseid War” and writer Geoff Johns has been hyping about the event for awhile now. The idea of a war between Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor is intriguing to say the least. I mean there's no much thing as a lesser evil between these 2 right? I hope Johns will keep it that way. I think the last thing we need is a "reason" for these 2 evil bastards to be out there in the multiverse conquering, destroying and killing. They are evil; no reason or excuses needed. That's far more fun right? It's clear the Darkseid War will be earth-shattering; I just hope it will be a fun and exciting trip too.