Archanubis

So if you been reading, listening, or watching the news today, you know that President Barack Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize.  According to the Washington Post, Obama won for "his work to improve international diplomacy and rid the world of nuclear weapons." (www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/…).

My reaction: "What?"

Let's not get the wrong idea here: I like Obama, I voted for him last November, and I wish him the best.  But I'm not so in love with the guy that I'm not questioning what he's actually done to deserve the award.  Most recipiants either accomplish something major or spend a lifetime on a cause before they recieve the award.  I understand the concept of "A for effort," but seriously, I can't list anything Obama's actually done in the eight or nine months he's been office to deserve this award.  I think the Nobel committee in Norway jumped the gun on this: they should have waited at least a year before even considering Obama.

Still, I congratulate President Obama on the award and hope it leads to bigger and better things in the future.

On a more personal note, I will be heading down to Richmond, VA tomorrow (10/10)to visit the Metro Richmond Zoo.  It's a one day trip, so I won't be away for more than a few hours (at the most).  I will post a few pictures of the animals there here, along with a larger "album" on my Facebook page.

Later gators.

The title above might give you the impression that I received a personal tour of the White House by the President himself, but that scenario is about as likely to happen as a coral reef catching on fire.  In truth, it refers to a little trip I recently took  to visit the estates of three of early United States Presidents.  I had decided in early July that it was time to get away from the Washington, DC area for awhile, as I had not been away from the area in nearly two years.  Although a trip to Canada had fallen through earlier in the year due to time and expense, I still felt the need to get away for a bit, even if I didn't even leave the state of Virginia.  I quickly decided that my destination would be Charlottesville, VA, where I would book a room at a Holiday Inn for two nights on my getaway.  But I didn't want to just lounge around in my hotel room staring at the walls or the TV – I could have done that at home.  I wanted to visit a few of the town's attractions while I was there, specifically the nearby estates of Presidents Monroe, Jefferson, and Madison.   So here is my summation of my " Presidential Tour. "

Ash Lawn-Highland
The first stop on my Presidential Tour, Ash Lawn-Highland was the home of James Monroe, the fifth President of the United States.  Monroe was one of only two Presidents to serve as officers in the American Revolution and was present at the Battle of Trenton.  He had a very active career as a statesman before he was President: Ambassador to France under Washington and Jefferson, Minister to the Court of St. James (effectively, ambassador to Britain), Governor of Virginia, and Secretary of State and temporarily Secretary of War under Madison (the only man to hold both posts at the same time).  Monroe is probably best known for the Monroe Doctrine, which states that the Americas were to be free from European re-colonization and influence, especially in those nations that had won their independence.  (It's interesting to note that while the Doctrine bear's Monroe's name, it was actually written by his Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams.)  The estate is currently owned and operated by James Monroe's alma mater, the College of William and Mary (which is located in Williamsburg, VA).

If you look at this picture (fc01.deviantart.com/fs48/f/200…), you'll notice that the house has two different colors.  The white portion of the house is the original Highland house (Highland being the original name Monroe gave his property).  The yellow "Ash Lawn" section of the house was added on by a subsequent owner, likely to replace a section of the house that burned down before.  Although archeologists have found original foundation for the Highland portion that was destroyed, there are no plans to replace that section, largely because the room arrangement and furnishings have been lost.  The name "Ash Lawn" came after Monroe but before the addition of the yellow portion and came from the stand of ash trees that line the road up to the grounds, placed there by one of the estate's many post-Monroe owners.  Ash Lawn currently serves as offices and changing rooms for house guides, entry point for the house tours, and exhibit space.

The price of admission into the grounds of Ash Lawn-Highland is $10 and includes a tour of the house and some of the grounds.  House tours start in the receiving hall of the Ash Land portion of the house, which also hosts two exhibit areas: a permanent one in the receiving hall and a temporary one in a side room.  The temporary exhibit house a showcase of period chairs the Monroes either owned or could have owned during their residence, along with a replica of Elizabeth Kortright Monroe's wedding dress.  The tour covers the interior of the Highland part of the house and can take up to an hour, depending on how long winded a particular guide is .  No pictures are allowed inside the house; the guide explained that it was because most of the items inside were on loan, though I suspect preservation and flow issues play a part as well.  The tour ends at the kitchen and storeroom located under the Highland house, where another guide in period dress is stationed.  Guests can wander this area on their own while asking questions to the resident guide, or they can wander the grounds where they look over the Monroes' vegetable garden.  They can also view the outer buildings, which include a smokehouse, overseer's office, a "duplex" cabin for the house slaves (later converted into guest quarters), and an icehouse that was under construction when I visited.  There are plans to raise a Monroe-era barn on the site; the trusses have already been constructed.  Ash Lawn-Highland also have pens for living animals: I saw sheep, chickens, and at least four peafowl during my visit.  I also heard one guide mention a bull on the grounds, but I didn't go searching for it.  There's a statue of Monroe across from the front door, along with an early highway marker nearby; according to one placard, Monroe was responsible for establishing one of the first national highways.

I stopped at Ash Lawn-Highland the same day I went down to Charlottesville, which is a little over two hours away from Alexandria by car.  While all three estates are fairly close to each other (Ash Lawn and Monticello are less than three miles from each other), I had chosen Ash Lawn to be my first stop because, on a map at least, it was the furthest from where I lived.  I also though it make a good location to kill time at, since I knew I'd be in Charlottesville long before the Holiday Inn would let me check in.  In my opinion that decision turned out to be fairly fortuitous: the grounds at Ash Lawn are easily the smallest of the three estates.  Between the house tour and my own wanderings over the grounds, I easily covered just about everything to see there in less than three hours.  I was reminded of a visit I had made to Gunston Hall: both consist mainly of the main house and a few outer buildings.  Ash Lawn does have a few attractions that Gunston Hall does not, but it's still not a place I'd plan to spend all day at.  I do think that it is a good place to visit when traveling into or out of town or for a single day trip.  I found the tour highly informative, and the guide took the time to answer the few questions visitors had.  The grounds were well maintained, though I neglected to re-ask an earlier question about the two colors of the house.  Overall, I'd say that Ash Lawn-Highland was good, quiet start to my trip.

Monticello
The next stop on my Presidential Tour was Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States and author of the Declaration of Independence.  Unlike other famous presidential estates, like Mount Vernon or Montpelier, which simply expanded on previously built houses, Monticello was designed and built from the ground up.  Jefferson would spend much of his life redesigning and rebuilding the house, using ideas he picked up in Europe during his tenure as Ambassador to France.  He also used the grounds around Monticello as a living laboratory, growing a variety of fruits, vegetables, and herbs for cultivation and flowers for simple enjoyment.  Of all of Jefferson's accomplishments over his lifetime, he thought only the Declaration, the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, and the foundation of the University of Virginia worth mentioning in his epitaph.

Monticello is located almost precisely between Ash Lawn-Highland and Montpelier, making it sort of the center star of the three estates.  The price of admission is $20 and can be purchased at the Visitor Center, located near the base of the 850ft peak the house sits on.  The Visitor Center is also home to an exhibit gallery, a theater where a 15 minute film on Monticello and Jefferson plays, a bronze map of Monticello plantation during Jefferson's time, and a gift shop.  Visitors can stop at a small café for lunch, while a bronze statue of Jefferson stands at the top of a set of stairs to greet guests to his home.  From this statue, visitors can either walk or a take a shuttle up to the house.  Once at the house, visitors have three tours to choose from: the house tour, a community tour that covers the slave cabins and industrial buildings along Mulberry Row, and a Garden tour that covers the flower garden around the West Lawn, the orchard field, and the vegetable garden.  House tours are tightly controlled; visitors can only enter at a specific time printed on their tickets. On the other hand, visitors can join the community and garden tours at any time; these start on the hour and quarter past every hour, respectively and run about 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the guide.  Once guests have completed touring the grounds, they can walk down along a tree-lined path down to Jefferson's grave before returning to the Visitor Center and their cars.

As I mentioned before, Monticello is sort of the superstar of the three estates in Charlottesville; I'd go as far as calling it the Mount Vernon of Albemarle County.  The grounds are considerably larger than those at Ash Lawn-Highland, not so large that I couldn't see and do everything there is to do there, but I still needed most of the day.  I did take the shuttle up to the house, as I thought it would be easier to walk down the hill than up.  Besides, I only had a little over twenty minutes before my tour started once I got my ticket; by the time the shuttle got up the hill, it was less than ten.  Even so, I think I prefer Monticello's scheduled tours over the usual "stand and wait" entry at other places, Mount Vernon included.  I don't think scheduled house tours are really necessary at places with comparatively low attendance numbers, like Ash Lawn or Gunston.  It might be useful at Mount Vernon, though, considering that visitors can wait in line for up to two hours or more.  I should mention that the system at Monticello isn't fool proof; my group had to be divided in half due to size.  Still, for a place that gets as many visitors as Monticello does, it's better than standing in line for hours on end.  Again, as at Ash Lawn, there are no pictures allowed inside the house, for the sake of preservation.

I've been to Monticello before and have taken the house tour before, but was surprised at the small size of the rooms inside the house; I remember them being a little bigger (or maybe I was smaller).  The tour only covers the first floor of the house; the second floor is closed off to regular tours due to fire regulations.  I still found the tours very informative, such as when the guide pointed out which rooms were the hottest or the coldest at certain points of the year, and that the Octagon Room was used by the Madisons during their visits to Monticello.  I was surprised that my particular guide talked about Sally Hemings, Jefferson's alleged mistress, rather freely, without prompting, although I did hear of some guides who didn't mention her; probably depends on the guide you get.  I should note that it was a fairly brief mention and didn't go too deeply into the controversy.  I still enjoyed the tour, though, and it was interesting to see all the gadgets and gizmos he had had, either by his own design or those he purchased.  I had my doubts before, but after my visit, I can now imagine that if Jefferson lived today, he's be rockin' out his MP3 player while surfing the Web on his netbook.

I also took the time to take the community and garden tours while during my visit and found them to be just as informative as the house tour.  The Community Tour takes visitors down Mulberry Row, so named for the rows of mulberry trees that line the path.  Mulberry Row is where the slave cabins and industrial buildings were located, though only the buildings' foundations and the chimney of the Joinery are left.  One slave cabin site now serves as a grave site for Rachel Levy, mother of Uriah Levy, who bought Monticello in 1834 and worked hard to preserve the site.  The guide here also talked about Sally Hemings, although in more detail than at the house; considering this site's subject matter, I think it's a little difficult to avoid that particular controversy entirely.  I think it's good that the guides aren't completely ignoring the matter entirely, even if they remain cagey as to whether or not Jefferson pursued a relationship with Hemings and fathered her children.  The garden tour starts at Jefferson's flower garden, which almost surrounds the West Lawn and is in bloom with different flowers at all times of the year, except winter.  The tour runs through the field behind the West Lawn, which was the location of his orchard where he tried cultivated various trees, including his desired maple and olive trees.  It then continues into the vegetable garden, which provided vegetables and herbs for Monticello, and which Jefferson used as one of his "living laboratories."  The vegetable garden still produces vegetables and herbs (if the gardeners can keep the deer away) and the produce is distributed among the Monticello staff when they mature.

One landmark the guide on the garden pointed us to during this tour is Montalto, also known as Mountaintop Farm, Patterson's Mountain, and Brown's Mountain.  Jefferson bought the east face of the mountain for lumber and the ground water on the mountain, something Monticello lacks.  He had plans to build an aqueduct from Montalto to Monticello, but died before his plans could be realized.  The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which operates Monticello, bought the property in 2004 to head off plans for a residential development and intend to replant the site with a blight resistant strain of American chestnut, which was common in Jefferson's day.  I thought it's great that the folks at Monticello are doing what they can to preserve as much of the region as they could: while Montalto would definitely treat residents to a picturesque view of Monticello, I'm not sure that Monticello's guest would feel the same.

Monticello was a great experience, one I'd readily go back to, especially when they replant those chestnut trees on Mount Alto. They have some great tour and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation has done an excellent job preserving and running the place.  I highly recommend visiting this place if you're in the area.

Montpelier
The last stop on my Presidential Tour was Montpelier, home of James Madison, fourth President of the United States and the chief architect behind the US Constitution.  Madison had actually been born at Mount Pleasant, located just down the hill from Montpelier.  The original house at Montpelier was built by Madison's father, James Senior, and was expanded at least twice in Madison's life time: once after he married Dolley Payne Todd Madison, and again after his father's death in 1801.  From its construction, Montpelier housed two generations of Madisons up until the death of Madison's mother Eleanor "Nelly" Madison in 1829.  When James Madison died in 1836, Dolley sold the property and in 1901, Montpelier was purchased by William and Annie duPont.  The duPonts expanded the house even further, adding an additional 55 rooms, though the core house was apparently preserved.  The last owner of Montpelier, Marion duPont Scott, bequeathed the grounds to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which took over in 1984.

One thing anyone visiting Montpelier has to keep in mind is that the site is very much in a transitional state.  The National Trust is currently working to restore Montpelier to its state when Madison died in 1836, which meant removing all extensions the duPonts added when they owned the house.  The architectural work has been finished for about a year and the project has moved to the interior décor of the house.  The latter project is likely to take a few years, as it means trying to closely match all of the furniture, wall paper, and rugs that the Madisons had during their residence.  The work is likely made all the more difficult considering that at least two generations of Madisons lived in separate halves of Montpelier; according to my house guide, Nelly "Mother" Madison was more conservative in her choice of décor and furnishings than her daughter-in-law Dolley.

The price of admission to Montpelier is $15 and includes a tour of the house and access to two exhibit galleries in the Visitor Center: the duPont Gallery, where two rooms from the duPont era have been preserved, and Treasures of Montpelier, where artifacts from James and Dolley Madison's time are on display.  The house tour begins at the Visitor Center and starts after a short film on Madison and Montpelier and covers both floors of the house.  No pictures are allowed in the house itself for preservation purposes, although I should note that at the time of this writing most of Montpelier's rooms were devoid furnishings and décor.  The tour takes about an hour, give or take, and ends on a porch at the back of the house.  From here, visitors can wander the Back Lawn, and take their picture with life size statues of James and Dolley Madison.  Visitors can also wander kitchens and storerooms in the cellars on each side of the house, one for each Madison matron.  The room above Nelly Madison's kitchen is host to a Constitutional Exhibit that explains James Madison's influential role in framing the Constitution.  Near Dolley's kitchen at the Northeast wing of the house is a outdoor cooking area, where visitors can watch and even participate in preparing food the way it was done in Madison's time.  There is also an archeological dig site nearby, located on the site of one of two outdoor kitchens that were in use during Madison's lifetime, and an Archeological Lab can be found down the road behind Montpelier.  Also near the northeast wing is Madison's Temple, a Roman-style gazebo that doubly functioned as a 23ft deep icehouse.  Near the southwest wing is a tent where guests can try their hand at the techniques of construction and crafts that were used to build Montpelier in Madison's time.  Nearby is also the foundations for the other outdoor kitchen as well as a slave cabin that housed the house servants.  Also nearby is the Annie duPont Formal Garden, a two-acre terraced garden that visitors can wander at their leisure.  Behind all that are barns run by the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF), added in the mid-2000s as a sort of nod to the horse racing legacy of Montpelier's last owner, Marion duPont Scott.  Going down the hill and past the Visitor Center, guests can visit the site of Mount Pleasant, Madison's birthplace, now little more than an open field.  Nearby is the Madison Family Cemetery where both James and Dolley are buried as well one of several slave cemeteries found on the old Montpelier property.

I had initially planned for Montpelier to be my first stop as it was on the way to Charlottesville, but decided to make it my last since, by same token, it was also on the way home.  I had been to Montpelier several years before, just as the National Trust was starting its restoration work on the house, so it had still looked as it did when the duPonts lived there.  I was going back out of curiosity to see how far along the work was, and I have to say, on the outside, Montpelier looks worlds better than it did with all the duPont additions.  I'd actually gotten some information from a guide at Ash Lawn-Highland about Montpelier, specifically that the architectural work was complete and that the rooms were largely devoid of furniture and décor.  The Ash Lawn guide had been there six months before my visitor, so I was hopeful that some things had changed, but I was neither disappointed nor surprised when I saw the empty rooms.  The main reasons why rooms at Montpelier were empty were because the workers were waiting for the plaster on the walls to cure, a process that, given the right conditions, takes about 18 months.  When I visited, the plaster had another six months to go, and the Trust has been using that time to research the kinds of furniture, the style of wallpaper, and what portraits were hung in each room.  Not all the rooms were devoid of furniture; a few, like the dining room and a couple studies, had furniture in them, and the reception hall had several portraits hung up – including one that was large enough to go from floor to ceiling.  Considering how many changes the duPonts had made to the house, I was amazed that the people at Montpelier knew what all the rooms were used for during Madison's time, although there are probably diagrams and blueprints from that age in an archive somewhere.  I also found it interesting that at least one bedchamber on the second floor that will be left in a semi-constructed condition as an exhibit on the reconstruction efforts.  Despite the empty interior, I still found the house tour to be highly informative and I love to go back to see what the rooms could have looked like when Madison lived there.

Although the National Trust is working to restore Montpelier to its appearance at the point when Madison died, what I liked about the work is that the Trust is not totally evicting the duPont legacy.  As I mentioned before, at least two of the rooms from the duPont Montpelier have been preserved at the Visitor Center.  The first is Marion duPont Scott's Art Deco room, which she called the Red Room, which has been preserved exactly as it appeared during her lifetime; it looks kind of like the interior of a 1950s diner.  The other is the Grand Parlor, a room that has actually be reconstructed at the duPont Gallery in a slightly larger format that it was at Montpelier, but the décor is apparently exactly what was there.  You can also find photos of William and Annie duPont, who purchased Montpelier in 1901, along with those of Marion Scott and the racehorses she bred, including her favorite, Battleship.  There is also at least one photograph of Montpelier with the duPont additions, so visitors can see what the house looked like before it was restored.  Also staying are the steeplechase tracks and horse fields that Marion Scott maintained during her lifetime; the steeplechases are still held ever November, providing a ready source of income for Montpelier.  The Annie duPont Formal Gardens will also remain as they are; they were once Madison's vegetable gardens, but apparently, the groundskeepers aren't interested in maintaining a vegetable garden.

One thing I'd recommend before visiting Montpelier is to bring plenty of sunscreen.  There's a little shade in the Back Lawn, but the front has very little trees.  This is especially true of the Mount Pleasant site, which is a wide open field, so bring as much sunscreen as possible, especially in the summer.  I'd also recommend bringing plenty of water, as there is a lot of ground to cover if you plan to see everything there is to see.  And if you want to see everything, I suggest putting aside most of the day – fortunately, the Montpelier brochure shows you what you can see in certain amount of time.  Because of my schedule, and due to general lack of interest, I skipped the Archeology Lab and the TRF barn.  There's another attraction across from Montpelier called Gilmore Cabin, a small farm that apparently represents African-American life following slavery.  It's also the location of a Confederate campsite, with reconstructed huts.  Again, due to time and general lack of interest this trip, I skipped this site, but it might be worth looking into the next time I'm there.  Overall, a fun trip, with a lot of stuff to see and do, even with the empty rooms in the main house.

Summary
I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Charlottesville and my visits to Ash Lawn-Highland, Monticello, and Montpelier.  There were a few surprises at the estates, such as Ash Lawn's small size, the openness of Monticello's guides to talk about Sally Hemings, and the fact that Montpelier was a 18th century version of a duplex.  Driving back north past Fredericksburg on a Saturday afternoon was a pain, so if anyone finds a way from Alexandria to Charlottesville that doesn't involve I95 I'd recommend that route, and let me know for future reference.  The Holiday Inn I stayed was a joy to stay at, with clean rooms, good service, easy check-in and check-out.  I even got a refrigerator a microwave and a coffee maker in my room, though I only used the refrigerator (I don't drink coffee).  The hotel also had an in-house café and bar that I did visit both nights; service was a little slow but the food was delicious, as was the weekend breakfast bar.  My only real complaint is that their cable service doesn't carry either the Discovery or History Channels, but again, I wasn't there to watch TV.  I would definitely recommend staying there if you're ever in the Charlottesville area.  I would also recommend all three estates to any history buff or to people who are just generally curious.

Allo, folks.  Just got back from my Charlottesville vacation and am currently writing a journal entry on my trip.  I thought I'd put this here to get this thing moving until the other is ready.

So it's been nearly a week since I went to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen at my nearest IMAX theater and I figured I'd get my thoughts on the film before I forget what happened.  I had read a few reviews before going to see the movie, mostly those printed in my local papers – which, like nearly the majority of professional reviews, were fairly negative – read at least one fan's reviews, and even checked the film's rating on RottenTomatoes.com.  I purchased my ticket online the day before, having learned the hard way that IMAX tickets for big blockbusters go fast and if you trying purchasing them even a half-hour before show time, you're SOL.  Picking up my ticket the next day at the Will Call booth, I took my seat and waited for the movie to start, hoping that I would be entertained for the film's length.  I will admit, my standards are fairly simple: basically, if I'm not bored half-way through and thinking I should just walk out, go to the bathroom, then head to the ticket counter to demand my money back, it's a good film.  Well, I thoroughly enjoyed Revenge of the Fallen in all its cacophony, though I wasn't so brain dead that there weren't things I thought could have been refined.  May the reader be warned: spoilers ahead.

The Story
Picking up two years after the end of the last movie, Revenge of the Fallen begins with the Autobots, working with their human allies, led by Major Lennox (Josh Duhamel), hunting down the few remaining Decepticons on Earth.  The alliance, called NEST, tracks down two in an industrial part of Shanghai, China and manage to dispatch the pair, but not before receiving a warning that "the Fallen shall rise again."  Meanwhile, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) is preparing to go off to college, ready for a "normal" life after his action in Mission City and struggling to maintain his relationship with his girlfriend Mikaela (Megan Fox), who is staying behind.  However, an encounter with a fragment of the shattered Allspark will again thrust Sam into the middle of the centuries-long war between the Cybertronian factions.

The Good
I want to first comment on something that isn't related to the movie's content, but I think is worth mentioning: seeing this film on IMAX is an experience worth the $11 I paid to get in.  I've been to IMAX films before, but they've all been documentaries in museums, not Hollywood blockbusters.  I had tried to see the last Star Trek film at my local IMAX theater, but as I mentioned before, if you don't get those tickets at least the day before, you're not getting one at all.  I'm glad I got my ticket the day before, because every seat in the theater was filled by the time the film started, which pretty much started at the time advertised.  Aside from the usual courtesy notices, I didn't have to sit through fifteen minutes of commercials and trailers before the film started (thank God, really, I don't think I could stand watching that hideous trailer for G.I. Joe again).  There are rumors that the IMAX version of Revenge has scenes that aren't in the regular theatrical release, but having not seen the regular release, I can't compare the two.  I did note that the scene with Sam Witwicky's phone conversation with Mikaela and her subsequent discovery of Wheelie had dialogue not shown in the Internet sneak peaks I'd seen before the movie's release, but how that differs from the theatrical release, I couldn't say.  I highly recommend catching this film in an IMAX theater if you have the opportunity, before the distributors move on to the next Hollywood blockbuster – if they haven't already.

Moving on to the movie's content, I'll start off with the action in the film, which, as most people know, is practically Michael Bay's trademark.  Say what you will about Bay's directing style, but the film's action sequences are intense, quick, and managed to hold my attention.  Yes, there's still the "shaking camera" effect that is prevalent in modern action films, and some of the scenes fly by in a "blink and you'll miss it" fashion, but at least this time you get to see who's who in a fight.  The best action scenes are during the fight in Shanghai, the three on one fight in some unnamed forest in New York (or New Jersey, it better be one of the two), and the final battle between NEST and the Decepticons in Egypt.  You wanted more robot fights, well Bay and the writers give you more robot bashings.  Watching Sideswipe slice Sideways in half in Shanghai was a great scene (I agree with Sideswipe, he is good) but it's Optimus Prime (voiced by the legendary Peter Cullen) who gets to shine in this film.  From taking on a Decepticon nearly five times his size, fighting off three Decepticons at once, and even taking on the titular god-like ancient known as the Fallen (given voice by Tony Todd of Candyman fame), it's clear that the writers and director intended to make Prime a tougher character, and to an extent, they may have succeeded too well here.  There have been criticisms by some fans that Prime displayed no such fighting talent in the first film and that Megatron (voiced by Hugo Weaving), despite having been resurrected in a theoretically more powerful form, switches to the role of punching bag with Prime.  I'd like to point out that Prime does basically wail on Bonecrusher in the first film and was fighting the climactic battle with Megatron in the middle of a crowded major population center.  In the latter case, it is possible Prime was holding back in that fight out of concern for harming innocents, while Megatron, of course, would have no such concerns.  It should also be pointed out that Prime has had two years to hone his combat skills, while Megatron has been rusting on the ocean floor for that time and now has to get used to an essentially brand new body.  The two big fights between Prime and Megatron occur in more sparsely populated and open areas, giving former the chance to go all out without concerning himself with collateral damage.
    
One of the criticisms leveled at the first film was the lack of characterization with the robot characters and too much focus on the humans.  Humans still play a large part in Revenge, but there are very few additions to the human cast in this film.  The only new addition that has any significant screen time is the character of Leo Spitz (Ramón Rodríguez); most of the other new additions play only a minor role or are limited to cameos.  Instead, the filmmakers chose to introduce more personalities into the Transformers themselves, though most of it is focused on some of the newer Autobots.  The most obvious examples are the twins Skids (Tom Kenny) and Mudflap (Reno Wilson), who have been the focus of accusations that they are "annoying" at their mildest, at worst " promoting negative racial stereotypes."  I'll admit, their faces are ugly, their manner of speaking is questionable, and they spend most of their screen time arguing and fighting with each other (Bumblebee even has to knock some sense into them at one point).  But I didn't find them half as annoying as some fans and most critics claimed – I'll admit, I laughed at some of their comments and antics.

One character I was pleasantly surprised with was that of Jetfire, the old Decepticon turned Autobot.  As with Bumblebee in the first movie, I was a little nervous when I heard that Jetfire would be a "geriatric" robot with rusting, crumbling parts and a memory core that likely needs defragging.  But the writers, animators and voice actor Mark Ryan manage to successfully depict the character whose gone a little too long without energon and a visit to a CR chamber.  The fact that he transforms into an SR-71 Blackbird, one of the most popular aircraft to have been developed and current speed record holder, doesn't hurt – though farting out a parachute is probably pushing it a little bit.  I'm also curious as to why the VA was changed from John Turturro (reprising his role of Agent Simmons (retired)) as earlier report to Mark Ryan, but that's a minor quibble.  I won't say that my eyes started to tear up when Jetfire sacrificed himself to give Prime an edge against the Fallen – it didn't – but it is a nobler and more touching death than that of Jazz in the first film.

Another, rather surprising, breakout was that of the character Wheelie, a name that is perhaps the most universally reviled within the fandom.  Before this film, the name had only been used once, for a character introduced in the 1986 animated film known for his rhyming manner of speaking, high-pitched voice, and a rather simplistic toy that isn't considered the best ever made.  Personally, I've neither liked nor disliked the character, but any new incarnation could only be considered an improvement.  Wheelie of Revenge of the Fallen is definitely a vast improvement over his original counterpart.  Voiced by Tom Kenny and transforming into a RC truck, his accent and personality is much closer to that of Rattrap from Beast Wars than his namesake.  Wheelie gets some of the best lines in the movie and he comes off much scrappier than his toy bio indicates, though "Warrior Goddess" Mikaela still manages to kowtow him.  At least one of his antics could have been changed drastically, but overall, the writers manage to make this Wheelie work.

Most of the Decepticons in the movie are again limited to growls, grunts, and other sounds, as they were in the first Transformers.  A few, like Demolisher and Soundwave, have lines, but the lion's share of dialogue is taken up by the Fallen, Megatron, and Starscream.  Hugo Weaving is again perfect as this "universe's" Megatron, reprising the sinister, growling tone he used in the first movie – and this time, he gets more to do.  He also get's one of the best lines in the film: "Starscream, I'm home!"  Charlie Adler reprises his role as Starscream and we get more characterization from the Decepticon lieutenant than his two lines in the first movie hinted at.  It's clear that Adler is at least attempting to channel a little bit of Chris Latta into his performance, and while he doesn't quite get the tone, he does manage to get Starscream's classic sniveling, cowardly, scheming personality down.  The audience is also treated to the classic, dysfunctional relationship between Megatron and Starscream, right down to Megatron's berating, and even physical abuse against his lieutenant for "his" failures.  

As a long time fan of Transformers, I have to say it is a pure joy that Frank Welker joins the cast reprising his role as Soundwave.  I was a little disappointed that Soundwave talks with the unmodified "Dr. Claw" voice; the classic voice would have fit well in this universe, I think.  However, I can accept that it isn't modified, especially since its Welker voicing Soundwave.  The character does little outside of coordinating the other Decepticons from orbit, intercepting transmissions, and launching Ravage towards Diego Garcia – then again, he didn't do much more than that in the original cartoon.  Speaking of Ravage, he was a character I couldn't wrap my mind around when I first saw his design.  I'm still not keen on his spiky, cycloptic appearance, but his actions acquit his physique.  He definitely a dangerous, deadly opponent, as witnessed when he covers the "Reedman" bot from the Deigo Garcia personnel and again when he takes on Bumblebee while he's fighting Rampage.  It's just too bad Bumblebee gets the better of him – gruesomely.  However, Soundwave has apparently survived, giving me hope that Laserbeak may make an appearance in the next film.  

The Bad
There are a lot of good things with Revenge of the Fallen, but there are plenty of things that were wrong with the movie.  The most obvious is that lack of exposure for some of the characters, both new and old.  Soundwave, as mentioned above, has relatively little screen time, though that could be a function of where he's situated throughout the film.  Most of the Constructicons have no dialogue at all: Rampage has a voice credit, but I don't recall him actually saying anything – it's possible it was lost in all the background noise.  For the Autobots, most of the screen time is taken up by Optimus Prime, the Twins, and Bumblebee (Mark Ryan), whose back to speaking through his radio despite regaining his voice in last movie.  By contrast, returning Autobots Ironhide (Jess Harnell) and Ratchet (Robert Foxworth) have even less lines in this movie than they did in the last one.  In addition, new Autobots Sideswipe (André Sogliuzzo), the Arcee trio (Grey DeLisle) and Jolt have little screen time and few lines – in Jolt's case, no lines.  It would have been nice to have at least devoted a little more time to fleshing out the new characters a little. In Jolt's case; it would have been nice to have included him in a few more scenes than the mere two he was in, especially some of the fight scenes.

Speaking of characters, Scalpel, simply referred to as "Doctor" in the film and voiced by John Di Crosta, is great character in concept and his actions.  Sure would have been nice, though, if I could have been able to understand what he was saying.  Between his thick faux German accent and whatever electronic modulation is being used (if any), Scalpel's dialogue comes across more as constant buzzing than a coherent sentence.  Occasionally I could understand a word or two, but it would have been better if they had just dropped the mad German scientist shtick.  

Being a Michael Bay flick, the addition of a hot chick or two to serve as eye candy for his arguably mostly male audience is a given.  Revenge of the Fallen is no different, with Megan Fox reprising her obligatory role as eye candy Mikaela from the original movie.  Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like the writers or the director quite knows what to do with the character this time around.  At least in the first movie, Mikaela has her use beyond giving Sam (the boys in the audience) something to drool over: she sliced Frenzy's head off and first towed a wounded Bumblebee out of and then back into a combat zone – under fire no less.  While she does manage to wrangle Wheelie and run Alice over with a car, both of these actions are a far cry from charging at the heavily armed, hulking Decepticon that was Brawl.  Like newcomer Leo, Mikaela just seem to be along for the ride in this movie, occasionally arguing with Sam, mostly over who should say "I love you," and even becoming a naysayer at the Tomb of the Primes.  While I can't see the film without her, I think the writers should have found a way to make her more – useful.  

Speaking of eye candy, introducing Isabel Lucas as the Decepticon " Pretender " Alice seemed like a good idea, but more I think about her scenes in the movie, the more I think she served only two purposes – rather freaky eye candy and a cheap way to get Sam, Mikaela, and Leo off campus and somewhere that Grindor, the carbon copy of Blackout from the first film, can grab them.  Personally, a trip to the local park might have been a better means of doing that.  Pretenders were initially introduced during the "Generation One" period, though they've become rather obscure in recent years.  Reintroducing the concept into this film seemed like a good idea and the effects are excellent, if a little Terminator-esque, but Alice's overall inclusion just seems superfluous.  In addition, the character comes off as a little too aggressive and overt towards Sam; I think even a Decepticon would be able to be more subtle.  I will say that I enjoyed Bumblebee beating on her when she hitched a ride with him and Sam, and even his attempts to give Sam hints that she wasn't what she seemed, appropriately playing "Superfreak" at one point.

Another staple of Bay films is the inclusion of a usually half-baked romance between the principle male and female characters.  The relationship started between Sam and Mikaela in the first film continues in this one – and is about as unnecessary to the plot as in the first one.  Sam and Mikaela spend most their time together arguing about something; who's going to say "I love you" before Sam goes off to college and again when spending a night under the Great Pyramids.  They have unrelated argument as they're trying to hide from Alice's rampage, when Mikaela thinks Sam was cheating on her – though this one was more legit, since Mikaela had no idea that Alice was, quite literally, the aggressor.  Fortunately, the love story doesn't overwhelm the story, but like Alice, it's a bit redundant.  

Disappearing characters are minor annoyance in the film as well.  Most blatant of these is Barricade from the first movie, who disappeared right before Bonecrusher transformed to take on Prime and was never seen again.  It's not unreasonable to assume that he fell victim to the NEST alliance in the intervening years, but I still find it to be a glaring oversight on the part of the filmmakers.  Barricade could have been used in the Shanghai battle in place of Sideways, just to explain his fate, and Sideways used as the means by which the Decepticons capture Sam instead of Grindor and Alice.  Another character who disappears without explanation is Scalpel, who vanishes after Prime and Bumblebee break into the warehouse where the Decepticons are about to dissect Sam.  The comic adaptation has Prime shoot Scalpel into pieces when the latter breaks in and it's not a far stretch that Scalpel could have been caught in the melee and crushed.  The final character to slip into the editing void is Wheelie, who is apparently just left in the Egyptian desert after Sam, Mikaela, Leo, Simmons, Bumblebee and the Twins head off to Giza.  It would have been nice to have added him to the brief epilogue scenes before the credits, just to know what happens.  Characters that disappear without explaination is a familiar, though annoying, phenomenon in the Transformers franchise, so we really shouldn't expect the movies to be any different.  Still, it would be nice sometimes if the writers could tie up loose ends.

The Expendable
Crude jokes were present in the first Transformers film and they're present in Revenge of the Fallen as well.  Low blow humor isn't exactly new to the series – anyone remember "The Low Road" from Beast Wars?  Still, some of the humor in the film seemed unnecessary, and some of it shouldn't have even been considered.  One example is the scene where Jetfire reveals that he switched sides, prompting Wheelie to do the same – and right after, Wheelie proceeds to "hump" Mikaela's leg.  I'll admit, I wasn't surprised by it – I had read about in the sole fan review I saw – and I did laugh, but after two similar scenes with the Witwicky mutts, this was just one scene too many.  That scene could have been written with something better to showcase Wheelie's… enthusiasm.

Another scene of low blow humor that could have been excluded was just after Sam's group arrives at the Smithsonian Air & Space Udvar-Hazy Annex.  As he prepares to infiltrate the museum, Simmons removes his pants to reveal – that he's wearing a thong.  Not only is this rather disturbing sight revealed to the audience, but it's done so at extreme close up, butt crack and all.  Mr. Bay, if in the extremely unlikely event you happen to be reading this, I know you like to appeal to the high school and college set who think this kind of thing is funny, but was this scene really necessary?  The majority of the audience in the theater I was in emitted a very loud groan when this scene appeared (and they say modern movie audiences have no taste).

Let's make one thing clear: I like this Devastator.  I like him the first time I saw him in action in the initial trailers, even if he looked like Unicron's ugly stepchild.  I can forgive the fact that he doesn't really do all that much actual fighting in the film.  I can accept the idea that he's so heavy that he is forced to walk like a giant mechanized gorilla.  I can even accept the idea his components have copies that don't make up the Gestalt – evidenced by the fact that Long Haul, Rampage, and Mixmaster are all wandering around while Dev's doing his best impression of King Kong on the pyramid.  Unfortunately, someone – the director, the writers or a bored animator at ILM – decided to give Devastator a pair of brass balls – literally.  These "robo-testicles," first noticeable when this behemoth starts climbing the pyramid, look like they're made from wrecking balls, which is odd considering none of his components are vehicles that carry such a tool.  He does have a crane that forms his arm that could explain one ball, but two?  And why isn't it on his arm instead of between his legs?  Granted, this kind of "humanization" is not new in Transformers, but it's been mostly limited to female Transformers characters (which, in a species of alien robots, is questionable in and of itself).  Overall, Devastator's balls are a strange and extraneous physical feature that only serves to give Simmons a shot at cracking a lewd joke at the giant's expense.

Lastly, the award for most expendable element or character in the film has to go to Jolt, the eleventh hour addition to an arguably already crowded cast, and glaringly so.  Jolt doesn't even show up until the about midway through the movie, and all he does is stand around in the background, weapons crackling.  He shows up one more time, just before Prime takes on the Fallen, using his whips to basically magnetize Optimus and Jetfire's remains so that the two merge.  In my opinion, if the filmmakers were going to spend the time and money creating the CGI model for the character, they could have at least put him in a few more scenes.  They could have initially introduced him greeting the NEST team as they returned from Shanghai and added him to a couple of the battle scenes, just to justify the cost of his CGI model.  I do have hope that Jolt will have a larger role in the next movie, especially since the apparent demise of Jetfire and Arcee has thinned the Autobot cast slightly.  Unfortunately, it's more likely that poor Jolt will disappear into the same writing void that claimed Barricade.

Final Thoughts
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a fun film to watch, especially in an IMAX format, and is arguably better than its predecessor – a rarity for any film sequel.  It does have problems that could have been fixed with a little refinement in the writing, but let's face facts shall we?  This is a movie that's A) based on a toy line, B) based on a series of cartoon series, C) directed by Michael Bay.  If you're expecting something with the quality of a Sundance Festival film, you're in the wrong building.  Still, I believe it was worth my $11.

If you've been reading some of the forums on the Internet lately, or have been watching Cartoon Network, then you know that CN has finally axed its Toonami block.  While some maybe upset about it, personally, I can't say that I'm disappointed or surprised.  I haven't had cable access for... probably over a year, so I haven't watched anything that I couldn't download.  But from what I remember of Toonami, I can say that block has been going downhill for a while.  There were some great shows when it started: Johnny Quest, Zoids, Gundam Wing, to name a few.  However, some of the shows they were airing were... strange, to say the least.  Prince of Tennis?  Yu-Gi-Oh GX?  That freaky character with the blonde afro (no, I'm not talking about Naruto)?  It's just more evidence that CN's programming executives have just lost touch with its viewers.  

In other news, I've started my Intro to Lit and Chemistry classes a few weeks ago and I think I'm doing well.  Here's hoping that I squeak by and pass these classes.