To Vote or not to Vote- Hamlet had it easy

The thing that frightens me most is that when my son is older he will ask me a question to which I will have no answer. Even worse, I fear he will come to me and ask me what I did during crucial moment in American history and my answer will be "Nothing."

The problem is, such a moment is upon us, and I don't know what the right thing to do is.

The problem I am facing is that both candidates endorse something to which I am morally and intellectually opposed. And so, I must decide which evil I find to be the lesser. It's unfair that to do what's right, I have to compromise my morals to do it.

The other challenge is merely my personality type. I am a non conformist. As a result, when I feel pressured into something, or I feel that the majority of the people around me are going in a certain direction, I naturally feel a tug to the opposite. And even more frustrating, the majority of my State favors one candidate only to avoid the other. And usually for stupid reasons based on dirty advertising, mudslinging, a blatant lies created to play on people fears and prejudices.

As a believer in fair play, I cry foul, and hence desire all that much more to vote for the injured party. But that's a not the right reason to vote for someone.

And so, what does one do, when a choice in placed before them, and neither answer is a good one?

There is no other third option... Not if I want to do something that matters. Which is another point of debate. The state I live in has two electoral votes, and the majority of the State will vote one way which is entirely predictable. So why vote?

Again, I think of that day, when my son asks me what I did when faced with a history altering choice. I don't want my answer to lessen me in his eyes. But I don't want to make a choice that will lessen my view of myself either.

DVDs and Me

As a kid, one of the few things my family did together was watch movies. We would rent, record, borrow, and yes, sometimes even pirate video tapes. Since a lot of stuff we liked to watch was on at odd time when everyone wasn't around, we taped our favorite shows and watched them later. We got so used to this, in fact, that when the show we were watching hit a commercial, a favorite joke of my Dad's was to tell one of us kids to go hit fast forward, and then start laughing when we realized we are actually watching real TV for once.

When I first discovered DVDs, to put it mildly, I was fantastically excited. The movies were cheap, easy to use, and usually had great stuff on them. Anytime I wanted to disappear into the fictional world I could put in a shiny new disc and whisp off to my favorite scenes or episode without fast forwarding, rewinding, or worrying about the tape getting eaten. TV on DVD was even better. Best part? No commercials.

As DVDs have conquered the industry and are now leaving us to be eaten by the Blueray, I've become a little pickier about what I like and don't like and I've been pretty annoyed by some of the dumber practices of DVD.

When I was a kid watching Videos, I was always annoyed at the beginning of a movie when they had the black bars on the top on bottom of the screen. Being uneducated in film and such, we kids couldn't understand why the people making the video would cut out the top and bottom of the movie. It was annoying and we demanded to always have full screen. Sometime around my mission, perhaps just before or after, I can't remember, I became savvy to the whole Widescreen VS Fullscreen argument. I realized, to my horror, that my previous beliefs on the subject were backwards, and in fact it was the fullscreen people who were cutting the edges of the movies to make a rectangular image (all the better to fit on a theater screen) into a square television screen. Imagine my surprise when I realized that I had missed scenes and events in my favorite movies that didn't fit into that square!

So today, I do everything in my power to educate people, because most people still ignorantly believe that widescreen cuts off the top and bottom of the movie, or that they're still seeing the movie the director wanted to make when they watch the fullscreen. What annoys me about this is that the industry charges the same amount for the dvds. I suppose it evens out, as fullscreen watchers get 33% less movie image but no dead space on their screen, but widescreen people get the whole movie but not economic use of their TV screen space. Being jaded, I suppose, I think Fullscreen should be discounted, as it is not the entire movie and, since most movies are still shot on film instead of digital, the image isn't as sharp when it's been blown up (as in, the draw a square on the rectangle, cut it out, and zoom in to make it fit on your screen). Most TV these days is also shown in "Letterbox" format, which I think give these shows a much sharper and sophisticated look.

One solution is to include both versions of the film, such as on Finding Nemo, but even then we have a different situation, because the folks at Pixar are, no kidding, movie making GODS. When Pixar made the Fullscreen version of Finding Nemo, instead of cutting a rectangle down to a square, They EXTENDED the rectangle, actually ADDING to the top and bottom to make a square, which I find AMAZING! So in fact, the Fullscreen of that movie is actually the better value. yet they included BOTH versions in a two disc set along with TONS of extras. Today, a two disc version will usually fit on one with room to spare.

The usual packaging for a movie with both fullscreen and widescreen has almost no special features and is a double sided disc, which, my friend leads to another thing I HATE about DVDs. Double sided discs, while economical, is blasphemy for the dedicated lover of movies. The thing looks like crap, is ALWAYS badly labeled (which leads to repeated flipping) and has the durability of toilet paper (which can scratch these dvds; No Kidding, I once ruined a dvd by cleaning it with toilet paper... breath Mike, breath....).

To be fair though, I love, love, love LOVE decorated discs. I always love to open new DVDS (sometimes I can't even wait till I get home... I HAVE to see the disc and open it in the car) and see the design on the disc and the inserts. In the beginning, ALL discs were really nicely decorated, and they had GREAT inserts: booklets, interviews, pictures.... fun stuff. Now, most discs are silver with black font writing and there's NOTHING inside. But yet Slip covers abound, even though IT'S THE SAME IMAGE THAT'S ON THE DVD! Slip Covers falls into the area of dust covers for me.... it's funny, these thing once were supposed to protect the book, now I take mine off while reading a hard cover so I don't damage it, cause without it, the book looks like crap. Same with the dvds.

Today, DVDs are pumped out fast and cheap, which is sad since the quality stuff was coming out as recently as 3-4 years ago. Bluerays seem to be trying to blow people away with nice packaging and nice features, but that's only to woo people to buy them. In five years, it'll be the same situation.

The last thing I want to rant about is the new practice of different "editions," each with a different selection of features and packaging... and then half the time the edition you really wanted comes out 2 months later (unannounced) and you have to decide whether to buy the damn movie again or not. King Kong, Fellowship of the Rings, and Chronicles of Narnia ALL got me on that. I went to the store and bought the "nice" Two Disc Special edition, only to discover that extended editions were coming out with more footage and better features a couple months later. But they didn't start advertising this until a week or so after the release of the first dvd (or dvds.... how stupid is that, to release a one disc and a two disc only to then release the three/four disc a few months later? so stupid I imagine the producers are wondering where the hell all the money in their laps came from, I bet; grrrrrr) .

What inspired all this is my purchase of the "3-disc" special edition of the Incredible Hulk (great movie, will review it soon!). I was excited to get it, but the three discs is only two, as one is a "digital copy." the special Features on disc two are minimal, and would have fit on the first disc with no problem. The only reason the separated them was simplify the production.... see, EVERY version had disc one, which had the bare bones stuff, and then the people who forked over the extra 8 bucks got the second disc that had maybe an hour or so of more features.... Ugh. And the
Worst part? Silver, undecorated discs with green lettering. Needless to say, I was disappointed.

Come on, Hollywood. you can do better than this. We the consumers want an attractive edition of the film we loved enough to buy at a reasonable price and with solid special features. We don't want to pay thirty dollars for something we could have bought five years ago for Ten bucks. And for those who don't want all the bells and whistles it's okay to have different editions, but please, announce them and release them at the same time, ok?
Unfortunately, the best we can hope for is that Bluerays will at least stay god-awful expensive and not progress to immorally expensive.
Ah well. Anyone read any good books lately?

Random Blogging> California, Blizzcon, and why I've ignored my daily Blogs

It's been a busy few weeks. Blizzcon, the annual Convention put on by Blizzard, the makers of World of Warcraft, was on Oct 10th and 11th, and our small family flew out to California to attend. As such, it was a busy couple weeks getting ready (my brother also visited for a few days just before we left) and my computer room was being used as a bedroom. So, Blogging was a little hard.

Truth be told, not much has been going on. Blizzcon was great, but crowded. The popular joke was that it was Disny land's latest attraction, "Blizzcon: The Line." It wasn't far off.
The up side was that I got to meet my Mother's boyfriend, who was super nice, and his kids, who were really cool (the fact that they were closet geeks really helped).

The Baby got to meet his grandparents, who immediately introduced him to coffee (I laughed, the wife panicked) , and I got reminded of why I would never live in California.

One highlight for me was getting to meet Felicia Day, one of the stars of "Doctor Horrible's Sing Along Blog" (if you haven't watched it, I've included it.) She was really nice and sweet, as were the cast members of the web show she was promoting, "The Guild." (Edit: Check the comments for proof of just how cool Felicia is!)

I also got to visit both Joe's Crab Shack (good, but overpriced) and Hooters (friends idea, but not nearly as bad as I feared). I got some souvenirs for my son, and we all survived the trip there and back. So it was a success.

Anyway, I will get back to blogging soon, I have several things on the back burner I'm getting ready to go, such as an Indiana Jones review and a reflection on how one's mind changes as he gets older (if I can remember to do it, anyway).

Anyway, Have fun!
PS> Dr Horrible is below, and it's great. Done as an experiment by Joss Whedon, it caught a lot of people by surprise. Enjoy!

Friday Movie Review- George Lucas owes me another hour and a half of my life

A few years ago now, George Lucas had a good breakfast, got really drunk, was hypnotized, and then was possibly blackmailed into allowing Genndy Tartakovsky, the creator of Dexter's Laboratory and samurai Jack (BEST. Cartoon. EVER) to do two one hour Clone Wars projects that were then split into smaller episodes for airing on cartoon network. They were, as I've mentioned before in my posts, Brilliant. I include the list of events that compromised Georges decision making abilities because he obviously made a good call.

Sometime early this year I recieved the shock of a lifetime when I found out just four months before the planned release date that Lucasfilm was releasing another star wars movie to theaters. I was shocked that it somehow got by me. Really? and it's animated? and it's a clone wars movie? didn't they already do that? Everything about this new movie was down played, with even the marketing only showing up a week or so before the movie.

Turns out that George has been developing TWO star wars TV series, one of which would be a computer animated Clone Wars show. With further research, I discovered that the "Movie" was actually the intended pilot for the show, and Lucas decided to put it in theaters to heighten awareness of the upcoming show. I had my concerns, among them being the complete lack of reference to the previous Clone Wars, a very odd animation style, and the very odd build up to the film. But, it was star wars, so I went.

I got to the theater early and excited, sat down, and waited for the movie to start. Thirty seconds into it, I knew I was in trouble. The logo showed up, the music began... and it was wrong.... it was as though someone wanted the star wars theme, but couldn't get the rights, so they made something that sounded as close as they could. Grimacing, I prepared to read the crawl.... but there wasn't one...... Huh? The next thing I know, I'm watching the opening to starship troopers, or very nearly. A wartime news report intro? really? The confusion went from there.

I was dumbfounded. When I was preparing to go to the movie, I had complained that it was only an hour an a half. That was the longest hour and a half of my entire life.

The movie was, well, pretty bad. The writing was awful, the plot was bad, the music was weird, and the animation was a little off. The Action was pretty decent, and you could tell the movie makers knew this, as the action made up about 95 percent of the movie.

While watching a tv shoe, you might notice that after a commercial the characters will say what they said just before the break, or will quickly summarize what just happened. Well, while the move had managed to edit out the commercial breaks, they didn't remove the dialog that re-establishes the plot, which means every fifteen minutes or so you get to hear Anakin's padawan (let me just say again... Wha?) recite what they're doing and why.

If you are intrigued with exploring the clone wars, rent the animated season... they make a two hour movie that leads directly into the third movie, and they're REALLY good. If you want to see something that exeplifies beating a dead horse, watch this.
The sad thing is, it's actually not as bad as I make it sound, and if they had aired it on TV, I probably would have thought it was ok. But instead...... ugh.

Watch it on video. score- 2/10

OK, so I lied about not making up missed topics......

As I sit here, feeling used, tired, and near death (I hate paperwork BTW) I realize the thing I'm most upset about was that I missed blogging on the couch potato report, which, apparently, I was really looking forward to. So, at the risk of listing and praising in unsupported monosyllabic stereotypical slang (i.e. "freak-ing awe-some"), I've been watching the following-

Heroes- I like "Heroes" a lot, being a comic guy, that's probably a given. I really enjoy how the story evolves and intertwines at the same time. I also get a huge kick out of reinterpretations of classic comics gimmicks, like the crossover, or the peak into the future. We recently watched the second season, then caught the premiere, and I've got to say, it's gonna be a great season. If you haven't watched heroes, give it a try. it gives you answers a more often than "lost" and it's a great epic story of the coming of an age of heroes.

"I'm a PC"- a while back I commented on hoe much I dislike smear campaigns, and use the "I'm a mac, I'm a PC" commercials as an example. I always wondered what Microsoft would do to strike back, and they've finally done it, but in a way that makes me proud to own a PC. Instead of slamming Mac's, they disprove their advertising by showing the diversity of PC owners. While I do HATE windows vista, well done Microsoft.

"Chuck"- just finished the first season, and wow! Even though the concept is a twist on a fairly stereotypical spy show, I love the actors (Adam Baldwin even manages to slip in some firefly references, which warms my heart), and the show manages to stay fresh instead of doing a variation on the same script every episode. With some fun pop culture references, dang funny jokes and decent action, chuck is a geek friendly dramody that is really fun to watch.

We've watched a lot of great stuff lately, but I do have to run, it's late, and I've got to work early.
Next time!

Weekend Observations- Dealyed Instant Gratification

Instant Gratification is an odd thing. For instance, I love Burgers, especially on the grill. But many a time I have stuck in a microwave burrito, or even worse, gone to McDonald's, just to have something now. It's not what I wanted, but the wait was short and my work was minimal.
I'm much the same way with entertainment. Every summer I swear I'm absolutely done. done, finished, with midnight premieres... but as the night comes closer and closer, I realize just how badly I want to see the movie and realize I can't wait any longer, even if that wait is only 12 hours or so. So, inevitably, come Thursday night there I am at the premiere, listening to the high school age morons shouting and yelling, crammed into seats and wondering if I'm going to be able to stay awake the entire movie. I swore off midnight premiers with Transformers last year, saying it would be my last. Since then, I've been to Iron man, Hulk, Hellboy 2, Speed Racer, Dark Knight, X-files, and, God help me, the animated Star Wars movie, all at midnight.

Obviously, I have a problem.

Which is why I love DVD sets. I don't have to live with a cliffhanger (unless it's the season closer and I'm caught up to the latest season), I can watch as many as I can stand as often as I like, and I can skip, pause, and rewatch to my heart's content.

The Problem is, when there is cliff hanger, I get so caught up in the story, I try to start watching the season week to week, still needing instant gratification, because there's no way in hell I'm waiting a year without a fix of this show. And then, invariably, I get behind one way or another, and then I get busy, and have no choice but to wait for DVD. at which point the cycle starts anew.

It's even worse with comics. These days EVERYTHING is collected ina trade paperback, or a collection of the stories, and they come out fairly fast... every six issues or so, so very six seven months you can have the next batch. Sometimes the spacing or the demand makes the wait even shorter. The only people who collect week to week are me and those who want to sell their comics one day. Now I am not deceived. I know that comics aren't really going to be worth much... probably ever, but I still buy month to month. Trades not only come out fairly quickly, but they're usually pretty inexpensive, at least comparatively. A standard comic will run you three to five dollars a piece these days, but a normal trade will collect four to ten issues for anywhere between fourteen to thirty dollars, so usually cheaper than the actual book. Not always, but usually. So the smart thing would be to get trades, but I still do monthly. Why? because I follow the story. It's funny when instant gratification means waiting a month instead of six months. Go figure.


The companies make money either way, and here I am with a mad on for the story. Do I need to be the first to know? Rationally, no. But internally I'm dying for the next issue. Is there a way to counter this? well, other than never watching tv or only getting comics at a book store (where they only sell trades) the only option is to be extraordinarily in control of your impulses and entertainment needs.

So I guess I'll try to mature,l but until then I'm going to look up prices on Itunes for heroes episodes, then I'm going to see what comics come out on Wednesday. Wow.... I really do need help.

"My attempt to self regulate" OR "My daily cup of Mike (my name isn't Joe, but I'm gonna make the joke anyway... it a free country, dang it!)"

So, in an attempt to make my week a little more interesting, I've devised the following schedule for the week. While I suggested it, my wife refused to make me a sticker chart to motivate me to actually follow said schedule (what? I bet YOU would work hard if offered the right sticker....), so that means that this isn't so much what to expect as what to hope for. But, anywho-

Monday- Weekend thoughts, meditations, or lamentations on practiced boredom.

Tuesdays- Couch Potato Report. What am I watching? Why? What do I think of it? Just think, you used to be blissfully unaware of the answers to these and other questions about my sad life and my overburdened couch.

Wednesday- While this is New Comic Day (praise the Comic Gods), it is also the night before Thursday, the accursed weekly paperwork due date. That being said, I'll probably be weeping over a pile of progress notes and wondering why I ever left my job at the Comic Shop (oh, that's right, it closed.... DAMN YOU, COMIC GODS!) instead of blogging... unless I choose to escape said paperwork. So this may be "Random Blogging Day." We'll see.

Thursday- I usually feel pretty good on Thursdays, except for the nagging reminder that next week brings another late night of tear stained paperwork, paper cuts, and writing utensil phobias
(Belonephobia is the fear of sharp, pointed objects, while Graphophobia is the fear of writing). Anyway, this will probably be the day I comment on New Comic Day (praise the Comic Gods).

Friday- Used to be new movie day, but alas, summer is over and I'm afraid not too much is coming out. But I will still use this day as Movies review day, and wow do I have a lot to make up for, since we just had a great summer. So, old or new, Friday is the day I praise or slam the movies I've been watching.


And that will essentially be what to hope for. I work a LOT, so I'm sure I'll get behind. Rather than try to pick up a lost day, though, I'll just honor the topic of whatever day I decide not to be lazy.
Peace!

Lindsey Lohan is Gay?

So, I've been hearing about crazy celebrates for awhile, and whenever one went without undies or got drunk and plowed their pink mustang into the side of a building, I've always heard about it no matter how hard I've tried to avoid it. But in the last few weeks I've been amazed at how low key the media is on the whole Lindsey Lohan deciding she's gay thing. And she's getting married! wow! but I only know this because I check a movie sight every day that has made it their mission to chronicle the event.

Sorry, folks, no real point but, but I'm flabbergasted at the inconsistencies of the media... sometimes being gay is huge, but other times it's almost ignored. Kinda like when a celeb does something positive... could it be that going gay is now a good thing, thus NOT newsworthy? Or is it that I just live under a rock?

I'm weird like that... when it comes to a frank and intelligent conversation or debate about current news and politics I usually don't have much to say... I blurt out a few quasi intelligent phrases then sit back and listen to the vengeful wrath of the other person..... but get me started on the latest debacle from the pages of marvel comics and I can rant passionately for hours. I think the sad truth is that I could just never really care as much about real life. Hey, it makes me a bad person, I admit, but guaranteed I enjoy my discussions about comics fantastically more than I would enjoy listening to your mature political debate. and that's all that matters.

For instance, in recent months I've tried to define my politics and decide just which side of the line I agree with... and as I learn about republicans and democrats and right and left, I can't help but know deep in my heart the whatever decision I make, the whole matter will never matter as much to me as deciding between Marvel and DC.

Why does politics matter so much to people? Or the lives of celebrities? Are people's life just that boring, or is there something I'm missing? I care about politics, but the moment I start losing sleep or hell, the moment I start losing personal me time on any level, I'm done and I move on. I wonder if some people just enjoy the conflict, enjoy the debate?

To be fair, I know many politically savvy people do care for valid reasons, unfortunately I can't list them because they make little or no sense to me. Anyway, if you want an intelligent discussion that basically covers my feeling on the subject, check out Votaries of Horror.

One last thought before bed

Anyone else wonder how Charles Shultz Would feel about his characters being used to sell insurance? Doesn't seem to compute for me..... Huh, so much for a legacy.

My Blog Free Year, the evils of World of Warcraft, and why having a kid should be saved for masochists.

Awwwww... Isn't he cute? What you see before you my friends, is NOT the reason why I stopped writing this Blog. The real reason? I'm Lazy and I developed a World of Warcraft addiction sometime last year that didn't let up until recently. But he is cute, eh? So let's blame him.

Last year, right about the time I stopped writing, well, just before, as I'm sure it helped the whole "oh yeah, I did have a blog once" thing, Life took a turn for the complicated. One of my best friends went to jail, I was miserable in my job, my brother was in a near fatal car accident, my grandparents were in a near fatal car accident, and my Dad got married (perhaps the least traumatic, but still, weird). I thus invested all of my time into world of warcraft, playing five or six hours a night, which stopped, oddly, just before the cuddly superhero you see above was born.

A lot has happened, but the last thing I want to chronicle is the last year or so of my life. To be brief, though, friends were made and lost, new jobs were attained, three WOW characters hit level 70 (the highest) I moved, had a kid, and moved on to a career that I really enjoy. And that's that.

If anything, I want to reestablish a couple things. I love Media. Television, Movies, Books, Comics, you name it, I read, watch, endure, and Enjoy, and then complain mercilessly or make fun of it. Unless I like it. Then I buy it, put it on an alter, and worship it, again, till i watch something else.

The purpose of this blog was always to share my love for entertainment and to share what I've found to be an interesting, off beat, and somewhat original view of the world. While there aren't alot of readers, hell, I think I had Eight readers when I wrote religiously, and I'm sure they've all given up hope by now, I'm going to try to write more regularly. I mean, it's either be constructive or spend time seeing just how badly I can emotionally scar my son. Look at that cute face. Which do you think he's pulling for?

Avoiding the Popular

So, lately I've discovered that a lot of people- most in fact- think that I don't like most movies. In fact, they say that I especially hate the popular ones. And While I may shout and holler that this isn't true, I'm starting to see why they might think it.

A great example is "The Guardian." I didn't see it. I don't anticipate seeing it. Why? Because while I haven't seen it, I have seen Bodyguard, Backdraft, Top Gun, and a dozen other inspiring movies about people who risk their lives to save people. They all have a mentor, a struggling and rebellious hero, several big actions scenes, the death of the mentor, and a big court scene at some point for the Young Hero to stand up for his newfound convictions.


So I figure, why bother? I got the point the first time, there's not really much to gain here. And that bothers some people.

Another one is "Pursuit of Happyness" (yes, I know it's spelled wrong). I did see this, mostly because of my wife. But I didn't want to, and even now, I'm not all that excited that I did. Sure, it's well made, and it's inspiring and uplifting and blah blah blah........

But, truth is, this movie has also been made before.

And so, yes, while I realize that I am prejudging, truth is I just recognize movies I've already seen.

But how about the big budget, box office titanic movies that everyone loves? You know what, I'll tell you a secret: I love them too. Yes, I saw Titanic multiple times in the theater. I was there on opening day for Pirates of the Caribbean (both, actually), both Spider-mans, nearly every Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. I love big budget blockbusters as much as the next person. I just like them for a different reason. Everyone else loves them because they're blockbuster. I like them when they're good. that's about it. unfortunately, a lot of blockbusters aren't as great as they should have been. But that doesn't keep me from being excited.

In the end, you just need to have your own opinion. Many Blockbusters have a smash opening, and then it becomes a trend to say how bad it was. In the end, it's not that I don't like movies, I just don't like being told what I like.

Serenity personality test

Your results:
You are Wash (Ship Pilot)

Wash (Ship Pilot) 75% Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command) 70% Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic) 65% Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic) 60% Derrial Book (Shepherd) 55% Malcolm Reynolds (Captain) 55% Jayne Cobb (Mercenary) 35% Inara Serra (Companion) 35% River (Stowaway) 25% Alliance 25% A Reaver (Cannibal) 15%

You are a pilot with a good if not silly sense of humor. You take pride in your collection of toys. You love your significant other.

Click here to take the Serenity Firefly Personality Test

Yeah, that's right, they did it before!

What up now, Marvel?

Marvel's Daring New Plan: MAKE NOTHING BUT CRAP!

That's right folks. You've heard correctly. Captain America, the sentinel of liberty, the only character of Marvel Comics who can truly be called iconic, is dead.

Branching out of the civil war mini-series (mind you, this is the same brain-child that spawned the new "No-secret identity" spider-man), Cap is assassinated after surrendering at the end of civil war.

As Cap's mask was seen being picked up by The Punisher, marvel will probably replace the former symbol of patriotism and honor with the serial killer.

While this is sure to boost sales, let me point out that this is once again rehashing a story already done, when the Punisher became Captain America in an issue of "What If?"


While I'm sure Marvel may just bring Cap back someday, I'm truly disgusted by the continual practice of marvel saying "hey, no one will expect us doing this" and then basing a story off shock value. And besides, we all know how that strategy went over for Bin Laden.

HO. LY. CRAP!

I've been watching previews all morning, and I just watched Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and WOW.

I'm a long time fan of classic marvel, and The FF meeting the Surfer is about as classic as it gets. I was terrified that they were going to screw it up, but after that preview....
WOW.

Watch it here:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/fantasticfourriseofthesilversurfer/medium.html

My 80's Obsession

While more and more the 80's are becoming a thing of the ancient past, I grew up in them, so I remember a lot of fads that at their beginning or their prime. Speaking of Prime, I just saw the new Transformers preview, and let me say, the 80's never looked so good. In fact, I believe I may have just soiled myself.

I like the whole idea of the 80's coming back, as long as it's done well. There's a new turtle movie coming out, transformers on the way, and even (God help us) a Smurf CGI trilogy in the works.

You know, as long as they leave "My Little Pony" out of the mix, I think I'm happy.

And speaking of my little pony- watch the Transformers preview. The best part may be a small girl holding a my little pony as she watches one of the robots climb out of her pool. Priceless.

PS- just re-watched the trailer (again)- and yes, I need to go change my underwear.

Requested Photo of "Mountian Man Mike"

My beard.

Reclaiming Christmas

When I was a kid, my very dysfunctional family had only one real Christmas tradition, and even this nearly went by the wayside toward the end (for the uninformed, my parents, all of them, are divorced- but believe me, it was time). My mother started it (she was usually the genius behind most of the cool things we did as a family). Every year of our lives, starting with the first one, my mother would buy us a Christmas ornament. Now, I know that this tradition merely helped further the aims of the commercialism masterminds behind replacing Christ with Santa. But yet, every year we looked forward to getting our new ornaments. When it came time to put up the tree, we would pull out all the ornaments, and my parents would go down the line and give us our ornaments in order. We kids would then fight for the best spots on the tree in our eagerness to have our ornaments be the center of attention. It was a simple thing, but it was also magical. It kept Christmas special, and for that one hour every year, my family was able to get along without the help of a tv or movie.

Eventually the new ornaments stopped appearing every year, and as my parents stopped caring about more and more, christmas became one of things that they would procrastinate or nearly forget about (don't get me wrong, there were presents and decorations, but often it took one of us kids to get them wrapped in time). But the tree was the one thing we kids fought to keep. And so, when my parents finally called it quits, the one thing I really regretted was that all of our ornaments would never hang on the same tree again.

And so, a few years later, as my wife and I began to create our own traditions, I explained to her how much that one tradition meant to me. Overwhelmed by my charm and wit, my wonderful wife of course agreed to adopt the ornament tradition. I was excited. In my own way, I would be able to preserve and perpetuate one of the few good things I remember and pass it on to my children.

In eagerness I called my Dad to look into how I could get my old ornaments. When I hung up the phone, I was devastated. As it turned out, my Dad had ended up with the ornaments after the divorce, and had stored them in an old van he kept in an extra parking spot in his apartment complex, and the van was stolen, along with everything inside, shortly after he moved in.

And so, it seemed that the magic had finally worn out. After years of poor communication, bad memories, family tragedies and poor decisions, it seemed that someone looking for an easy buck finally destroyed what we as a family never could.

Once again I talked with my wife, and once again she reassured me. While we couldn't fix all the wrongs in our lives, we could fix this.

A quick trip to eBay, and the rest, as they say, is history. While I have not found all the ornaments yet, I have reclaimed my first seven ornaments, as well as one of my brother's first ornaments. I'd like to think I'm buying the ones that were stolen, but I know that it's unlikely.

Then the questions comes- why bother? Why not just start anew and continue from there? Well, because sometime we shouldn't have to start anew. I think that we should fight to hold onto the things that keep magic alive in our hearts. Often we give up to easily and let things go when, with a little effort, we could have preserved them.

Christmas is a time of magic, of memories, and of undying love. If we can't extend a little hope and resolve to hold on to those things, then Christmas itself could also become meaningless.

The pain of bad memories will eventually fade if we allow them to. Sadly, so do good memories. And yet, most people choose to hold on to the bad and forget the good. We need allow ourselves to forgive and forget the bad and evil in our lives- in a word, get over it. It's not easy, and it doesn't happen over night, but you can do it. And fighting to hold onto the good will help in the process.

My feelings on the "Console Wars" (It's Not as Bad as it Looks)

My Top Ten Entertainment Surprises

I was rather shocked this year by just how many things of quality snuck up and bit me . there were really some wonderful films and shows I found this years, and I'm happy to share them with you. Also, you may be surprised that Superman returns is not on the list. the reason for this is very simple. I wasn't surprised by the quality of the film. While amazing, I knew it would be.

10. Veronica Mars- I must say I was incredibly lucky to find this show when I did. I started just weeks before season 3 premiered and I was lucky to be able to finish in time for the new season. Smart, funny and incredibly well cast and written, it's really a must see.

9. Robot Chicken- It's been around for awhile, but I just found this show and it's brilliant. Though sometimes blasphemous and often politically incorrect, the show uses toys to make fun of anything from the 80's to George Bush. My favorite clip has to be a Kill Bill rip off entitled Kill Bunny featuring a ticked off Christ hunting down such commercial distractions as the Easter Bunny and Santa. While I'm sure many will be insulted by it, I've included the You-Tube clip of it below. Admittedly it is much funnier if you've seen Kill Bill. Anyway, this show rocks. Check it out.


8. The Lake House- I know, I know, I don't know what came over me, but I did in fact watch this movie. With my Dad even. But it was great. Sincere and moving, it's a great love story. While a little unoriginal, the end still comes as a surprise (well, part of the end at least; there is a twist, I won't lie, and it's really incredibly easy to spot the clues at the beginning of the movie, but it makes up for it).

7. Jericho- Who knew that the story of a town trying to survive Armageddon could be so heartfelt and captivating? while it is a serial show going week to week, it's fun and, most importantly, planned out. I can't wait to see how long the walls of Jericho will stand.

6. Infinite Crisis- WOW. DC has managed to pull me in a hold me close. With a huge storyline and real, continuity altering events, new comic day has never been more fun. How they'll top it I have no clue, but all I know is that even if all i got was that single ride, it was enough.

5. Heroes- yeah, I'm just as addicted as everyone else. It's amazing- the dawn of superheroes just as it might have been in the golden age of comics. And don't even get me started on the new story arc- remember, "Save the cheerleader, save the World."

4. Cars- I'll admit it, when I saw the previews I thought Pixar had finally gone too far... but when I saw the movie I was impressed. Not only is the animation top notch, but the story was a great homage to the way the world should really be.

3. Clerks II- I was not going to see this movie. It looked foul, stupid, and I was rather upset with Kevin Smith for giving up and going back to the basics. but the movie reddemed itself with a great moral about doing what you want with your life, no matter what the world may think.

2. Brick- This movie is great. A down and dirty 30's detective film noir set in modern day high school, this movie rocks. With an amazing script and a perfect cast, this movie manages to be something that its very nature makes nearly impossible- it's something NEW. For those who are unfamiliar, the trailer is below. And for the record, while the movie is rated "R," I can honestly say that the movie did not deserve that rating. As most film buffs know, Indy films are always rated on a curve and given the higher rating (translation- no sex, no swearing- at all- no violence other than fist fights and while there is mention of drug use none is shown; for the first time there is a clean movie for adults).


1. Stranger than Fiction- let me just say how much I hate Will Farrell. I never knew before, however, how well he could act. this movie is a work of art. Genuinely funny and moving, the movie does not resort to crude humor or sappy emotions to bring home it's point. Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman really bring it to the table, and Farrell shows that he can walk with the big boys. A brilliant concept, the movie is about a man who starts hearing his life being narrated. He soon realizes that he is a character in a story, and before his story ends he must find the author in order to save his own life. At the sake of making a huge leap from never having videos to having THREE, trailer is found below.

Slander Campaigns and Me

Call me strange, but I don't buy into slander campaigns. While others sit there laughing at the Mac kid making fun of the IBM guy, I merely shake my head. as other stare on in awe of the subway weight loss dude, I ponder the tragedy of selling your soul to fast food in order to battle obesity.
And when one politician bad mouths another, I see that as one more mark against the accusing party. I guess I just don't get the whole slander thing.

When I see one party attacking another, I see it as evidence that the opposition is better, and the accuser knows it. I also am more inclined to side with the accused. When it comes to slander campaigns, I'm the ultimate sypathy vote. While the MAC commercials are amusing, they are the reason why I'll stay with a IBM. While Subway may be the more healthy route (if you get the sandwiches just so) Ithink I'd rather go to one of those "fatty" Restaurants. And when election season comes around, i think i'll vote for the one with the least amount of slander ads.

In the end, I want to do business with a company that has ethics, or at least a little integrity. And when one company tries to insult another inorder to try and get my business, all that they really gain is a spot on my "do not shop" list.

My First Gray Hair (well, white hair)

I've recently grown out my beard to celebrate my liberation from college. BYU-I frowns upon any form of personal and independent expression or thought. So, I took on myself to make up for the years of following the standard by throwing away my contacts, going back to glasses, and growing one heck of a cool goatee. I've been wanting to do it for years, and I figured I was too old to dye my hair purple, so I might as well go for it.

So, as I was grooming my beard today (a necessary but not completely unentertaining part of having a beard) I discovered an imposter among the usual red and brown hairs- a white one. As it was alone and friendless (at least for now) I gladly cut the weirdo and tried to forget it. After all, I'm only 27. But my next impulse was too call everyone I knew that was older than me for the sole purpose of making them feel older. I figured, "hey, why keep this depressing feeling of years flying by to myself?" So, I've decided to be charitable and share it around.

Enjoy!

When Good Authors Go Bad

I recently realized that I don't read as often as I used to. This is sad, but true. I love to read and gain a lot from it. But as a consequence of my non-reading, by spelling, vocabulary, and grammar have all sufferred. I think reading is essential for keeping up with language skills. And once too often lately, I've been having to reach for a dictionary. So, I decided to end this phase of my life with a trip to the library.

While I like trying new things, I did gravitate back towards familiar authors; I figured that I might as well start in safe territory. And so I picked up the next chapter of a Peirs Anthony series I had read on and off, 'Incarnations of Immortality." I also stumbled across the Clive Barker section (best know for the 'Hellraiser" series) and decided to check something out (I LOVE LOVE LOVE "Theif of Always"), So I grabbed "The Great and Secret Show." And, being a Redwall Nut, I grabbed the next in a growing list of novels in the series I haven't read yet.

I had also grabbed some other books, but these three were the ones I was most excited about. So I pull out the "secret Show" and begin to read. It sounded awesome. A serect art, magic (Maybe) a secret language being spread across the country through dead mail, it was great. Then, to my astonishment, I came across a LDS character in the book. Being LDS myself I was pretty intrigued, until I found that the leader of the local "Mormon Group" in the book was a man called pastor John. And the facts just went downhill from there. While I was interested in the story, after awhile the incorrect facts about the church became to glaring, to huge for me to keep reading. It's sad, I had over a hundred pages invested, but I finally had to throw the book down and move on.

The next book of "Incarnations" was about the same. while the first book, "On a Pale Horse," was awesome, the follwing books just started to fall short. The series itself is a cool concept (human beings filling in for deitys, such as death and mother earth and father time) but the only real book to pull it off is the first one. And, so, sadly, I put the fifth book, "Weilding a Red Sword "(about mars the god of war) aside as well. I'm disapointed, but it is by Peirs Anthony, and one wonders about the quality of writing one is able to achieve when they pump out 5 books a year.

The Redwall book, as always, has been a delight, and i look forward to catching up. I also picked up a trade paperback of "Midnight Nation" by the author of Babylon 5, and I must say I was really impressed.

It's really frustrating to me when I find a book or author that I like, and then the follow up work isn't on par. It doesn't seem hard to me to just do the first thing over again. Brian Jauqes does it all the time with Redwall. While variety may be the spice of life, every once in awhile it gives me heartburn.

And so, I will be going back to the library a little disapointed. While I like series, it's getting harder to find ones worth my time. I guess I'll just limit myself to the kids section. It seems that they, at least, have standards.

"Loonatics," propaganda, and other TV wonders

Do the images to the left look familiar? Take a closer look. Yep, they're the Loony Toons, jazzed up and given the "Batman Beyond" treatment. Complete with powers, secret base, toy ready vehicles and a futuristic city to protect, these aren't the Loony Toons I remember, nor are they the Toons my little brother remembers from "Space Jam" either.
Following my last blog I did indeed get a cable hook-up (I am now media compatible, now boasting a whopping 15 channels). and I've noticed some odd things in my absence from TV, the "Loonatics Unleashed" not being the least of them. Now, don't get me wrong, I have no real problems with the new Loony Toons, but I was surprised at the reinvention.
There are alot of things that I find surprising with TV currently, especially the commercials. In a history class I took a couple years ago, we were shown some propaganda films that were made during WWII to gain the public's support for the war. These films inc;uded several stretches of the truth and many manipulative phrases that would inspire hate against the nations "enemies," in some ways creating enemies where there were none. Current political commercials are very much the same. I've been troubled by the recent commercials (sponsered by pres. Bush) that hate filled words and images to paint the picture of a world that we can't face without our current government. It frightens me becuase I wonder what the next step is, and if anything it makes me distrustful of a leader that needs to manipulate my emotions in order to garner my support.
Aside from the few scares and surprises, I have been delighted with some of our TV discoveries- Heroes is an interesting new show; I can't wait to see what happens next. Jerihco is also worth a look. Rarely has a show been so genuine and real. Veronica Mars is as smart as ever, and Lost is just as puzziling and infuriating as I was afraid it would be. Smallville is staying fun, thoug, with the introduction of Green Arrow and the first use of "Super breath," I'm getting stoked for the rest of the year.

The Duplicity of "High School Musical"

When I first saw this movie for sale, I had no idea what it was. I marveled because everyone grabbed it up as if they already knew what it was, while I sat there scratching my head. I have no idea how the DVD sales were in other parts of the country, but here in Rexburg, Id, it sold like hotcakes. It wasn't until later that I learned that the movie was a Disney channel special, which explained why people knew about it.

Still, even after learning some of the back story, I still didn't want anything to do with the movie, mostly because of the type of people who watched here- the stuck up college students who seem determined to make sure that the stereotypical groupings that existed in high school stay true even in college. I don't care much for cliques, nor do I like people (especially other members of my religion) that look down on people of different backgrounds, beliefs, or principles.

Imagine my surprise when I finally watched the movie (suggestion of a friend) and discovered that the whole moral of "High School Musical" is the breaking of such clichés. I was surprised because the movie had a great moral, and it was somewhat enjoyable. But then I realized that the same people that have been buying the show and extolling its virtues are the same people who need to hear the lesson it teaches. Unfortunately, they've probably all missed it completely.

The movie speaks out against those who refuse try anything new, as well as those who make fun of anyone who does. Yet constantly I meet people here in Rexburg who refuse to think outside the box, who refuse to accept anything different from the norm.

And so, I wonder how in the world the people here LOVE this movie when obviously they don't agree with the lesson- and if they do, they refuse to accept it. The sad part is, the popularity of this movie is probably a direct result OF its popularity- meaning that people like because other people like it, not for its own merit. It's pathetic.

It's sad to think that a movie aimed to bring people together would be used as yet another tool by those who benefit by keeping them apart- in other words, to keep the status quo.