Solara

Anniversary Week—Part II (2014)

Posted on December 31, 2014January 2, 2015 by Jack Flacco

December 17th was the two-year anniversary when Jack Flacco: The Official Site went live. In celebration of this milestone, I will be presenting the Top 5 Most Popular Women Who Wow Wednesday posts of 2014.

First, I would like to thank all the folks who took the opportunity to visit my site this year. I have to say, you’ve flattered me by all the attention you’ve shown me. If you’re interested to see how much attention this site received, check out this week’s Monday Mayhem post for the 2014 stats of views and visitors.

Moving along. When choosing the Top 5 Most Popular Women Who Wow Wednesday posts, I first wanted to present them based on amount of views. The more I thought of it though, more it didn’t make sense. For instance, a visitor may pop into the site and hit the same post several times within the day. I didn’t think it fair, considering there could have only been two visitors for that day and a hundred views.

Next, I thought I’d use comments as the benchmark. You know, the more comments a post has, the more popular it is. Again, I didn’t think it represented a good way to measure popularity given I can comment on my own post a dozen times and push it ahead on the popularity scale.

No, what I used is the number of “likes” a post has garnered throughout the year. It will not only present a fair representation of popularity for a post but also prevents users from gaming the system with multiple “likes”.

Okay, let’s get to list.

The Top 5 Most Popular Women Who Wow Wednesday posts of 2014 (including the three-way tie for second):

Allison & Claire

The Breakfast Chicks—“Saturday, March 24, 1984, Shermer High School—It begins at 7:00 A.M. with five students serving detention. Each one coming from a different background. Each one has a reason for being there. ‘… And these children that you spit on as they try to change their worlds are immune to your consultations. They’re quite aware of what…” ~48 likes
The Wicked Witch of the West

The Wicked Witch of the West—“No one can deny after seeing The Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West is a frightening gal. The first time I saw her on TV was when I was four. If you want to cite childhood memories that may have traumatized a growing young lad, this was it. What would the end of…” ~44 likes

Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster

Clarice Starling—“Nailed to a tree as five separate signs, the message to everyone who dares venture into the FBI training ground is clear: Hurt. Agony. Pain. Love—it. Pride. With those words, the chilling movie The Silence of the Lambs begins. As Women Who Wow Wednesday continues its month-long tribute to women who rock Horror, which began…” ~44 likes

Amy Adams is Giselle in Enchanted

Giselle—“Once upon a time, in a faraway kingdom known as Andalasia, lived a maiden with whom the prince would share true love’s kiss. Her name was Giselle, and she dreamed of holding hands and dancing with her one true love. How many of you think this is Sleeping Beauty? Show of hands, c’mon. How about…” ~44 likes
The Book of Eli’s Solara

Solara—“When is it right to kill. When is it right to eat of the earth that which it provides as food? The death of an animal may prove fatal for the animal, but for a human it becomes food. So begins the film The Book of Eli, in ash-filled woods with a cat chewing on…” ~43 likes
Kate Winslet as Clementine

Clementine—“Few women in life are memorable. Fewer women in film are so. Joel (Jim Carrey) doesn’t remember ripping the pages from his journal. Apparently, it’s been two years since his last entry. Taking a day off work in February, walking the beach in Montauk seems to ease his preoccupation with the guy who had hit…” ~40 likes
Frozen’s Anna and Elsa

Anna and Elsa—“If you haven’t seen the movie Frozen and want to see it, don’t read this post. I will spoil it for you. Jump to the last paragraph. If you have seen it, then you will know why I chose both Anna and Elsa as this week’s Women Who Wow Wednesday feature. I couldn’t choose one…” ~37 likes

Come back Friday when I reveal the Top 5 Most Popular Freedom Friday posts of 2014. Don’t miss it!

RANGER MARTIN AND THE ALIEN INVASION, on sale now.

Do you have a favorite Women Who Wow Wednesday post you’d recommend to your friends?

Monday Mayhem

The Book of Eli and Zombies

Posted on December 15, 2014December 17, 2014 by Jack Flacco

The Book of Eli is one of my favorite movies of all time. That’s saying a lot, considering I can name my favorite movies in a quick ten-second round. Given I’ve written about Solara, the female protagonist for one of my Women Who Wow Wednesday articles, I thought it appropriate for Monday Mayhem to write about the dystopian nightmare presented in the film. Even though the world of Eli is far from being the center of a total undead infestation, the scenarios the survivors face are the same.

Just how similar is The Book of Eli’s reality with that of a zombie apocalypse?

Not to give away anything from the plot of the film, the future according to The Book of Eli is that of doom and gloom. Gangs rule the earth searching for wealth—but not the wealth you and I might think as valuable. Huge swaths of land lack the basic ingredient to make it flourish into a viable ecosystem. The ingredient? Water. Whether it’s a small blade of grass or an ox, life needs water to survive. Without water, life ceases to exist. What are the chances water can become the new currency? In a zombie apocalypse, all the employees who worked at the dams and water treatment plants will have disappeared, swallowed by their fall into the vortex of the undead. With no one supervising the flow, malevolent humans could easily capture the resource and use it to control those under their supposed jurisdiction.

Next is the food chain. Survivors will need to eat things. If the film is any indication to what humanity has to look forward to, then there will be more to deal with than a mere food shortage. Lack of sustenance gives rise to the unthinkable. Cannibalism could become the norm. Not only will the survivors have to pay close attention to attacks from zombies aiming to make a meal of them, but they would also need to be mindful of attacks from within. Hunger will do strange things to a person’s mind. It will lead someone, who otherwise in a civilized society would be a model citizen, to commit the most heinous of crimes—to consume a fellow human for the purpose of self-preservation. How farfetched does that sound in light of the fact that we don’t know what humanity is capable of until that day when placed in those circumstances where everyone’s forced to choose?

Lastly, The Book of Eli suggests the barter system will work when all else fails. A pair of gloves, cat oil and a trinket from the past may buy a charge for an iPod. That is all a survivor may need to get them through another week of wandering through zombie-infested farmland in order to find a hospitable environment where they could call home. It won’t be easy. To deal in the barter system one will need to expropriate goods for the sole purpose of trade. Those goods will need to be high-demand items on everyone’s list. It’s unrealistic to assume those items would also not fall under heavy guard by those who’d want to keep them for themselves. And if zombies have anything to do with it, what’s to say survivors couldn’t use the bodies of the undead as trophies for their morbid trades?

Therefore, again I ask. Just how similar is The Book of Eli’s reality with that of a zombie apocalypse?

RANGER MARTIN AND THE ALIEN INVASION, on sale now.

What do you think would make a zombie apocalypse less dangerous than a real end-time scenario?

Women Who Wow Wednesday

Posted on January 15, 2014January 17, 2014 by Jack Flacco

When is it right to kill. When is it right to eat of the earth that which it provides as food? The death of an animal may prove fatal for the animal, but for a human it becomes food. So begins the film The Book of Eli, in ash-filled woods with a cat chewing on the foot of a man with a bullet firmly planted in his head. The cat becomes food.

The Book of Eli's Solara — The Book of Eli’s Solara

Eli (Denzel Washington) travels the dystopian nightmare hunting for trade. A pair of gloves and scarf can provide him water for a week. Hijackers can also use those articles. Eli doesn’t have trouble dispatching the gang. Armed with a machete tucked neatly under his coat, five quickly become none.

In a bar across the street from where Eli left his battery for recharging, a patron picks a fight with the wanderer. Not a good idea. The machete appears once again to clear the room of all the other gangsters, rather, patrons. Just as he was about to deliver the final blow, Solara (Mila Kunis) appears saying two simple words prompting the barkeep maiden’s inclusion in my Women Who Wow Wednesday series. “Stop. Please.”

Strong willed, persistent, yet something’s missing in Solara’s life she never knew she missed. She realizes Eli possesses the key. He knows, and it all begins with dinner for two holding hands and uttering words with closed eyes. She doesn’t know what it means, but she carries that memory to her mother, reciting the same words—a blessing over the food in God’s name.

By the time Eli leaves town, Solara’s curiosity drives her to follow him. A sidekick who gets into trouble more than once, Solara cries for what could have been her death. Soon after Eli saves her, she attempts to personally inspect the book he so guards with his life. In clear terms, he states no one touches the book. However, he neglected to commend her on her courage.

When a conflict ensues leaving her the last one standing, she takes it upon herself to save the day. With the wheel in both hands, she heads west, just as Eli had instructed. Filled with the hope for a new world, Solara follows Eli in faith, even though she doesn’t know what faith is. She trusts him. Wherever Eli goes, Solara follows. Nothing can stop her determined effort to live a life apart from the violence she left behind.

And that’s what makes Solara special. Into the mouth of the unknown she fights with her life for a place she can call her own. She believed all she saw, but with Eli, she believes in the unseen, having faith she will arrive where she belongs—a dwelling of peace and comfort.

Solara, Women Who Wow Wednesday’s woman of faith.

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Have you seen The Book of Eli? What did you think of the film?

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