Hoy Christ, it has been over a month since I updated this thing! I guess I really have not had much to say lately.
In a few days, I will be New Jersey bound. It is going to be a wonderful week of shit to do. I will be meeting some people for the first time, and catching up to old friends. There is so much shit to get done before we take off. Lets keep all the fingers and toes crossed that I can get this shit done!!!
To those of you who read this that are headed to Jersey, see you all in a few days. I hope you all like hugs, 'cause I have a bunch to give out!!!!
Im lookin' at you, ~.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Meet and Greet
I am usually apprehensive of meeting people in person that I initially met on the internet. It is one of those things, you never truly know what someone is like until you meet them face to face. I met a few people this weekend in Philly at a meetup organized by a Philly raised individual. It turned out fantastic.
My main problem with meeting people that I met on the net is expectations. What if I am not what people expect, and vice-versa? Does that really matter? I am always myself, I never try to be anything but.
The people I met were just as awesome in person as they are on the net. It makes me feel good that I seem to be able to gauge people pretty well, just from typed words on a website. This past weekend has taken a lot of stress out of meeting the larger group of this specific community.
My main problem with meeting people that I met on the net is expectations. What if I am not what people expect, and vice-versa? Does that really matter? I am always myself, I never try to be anything but.
The people I met were just as awesome in person as they are on the net. It makes me feel good that I seem to be able to gauge people pretty well, just from typed words on a website. This past weekend has taken a lot of stress out of meeting the larger group of this specific community.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Adventures in Moviegoing
Caught Spiderman 3 on Friday. My feelings on it are mixed.
Spiderman has always been one of my favorite comic book characters, so I have a little more bias than some others out there. For one reason or another, Peter Parker was and still is a comic character I can relate too. Spiderman also has some of my favorite villans. Sandman, Venom, Doc Ock and the various incarnations of the Goblin. Some real badass mofos, or, at least I think so. Others may disagree. With all that being said, I hold the Spiderman franchise pretty close to my heart. I have been pleased with the previous movies, just not in love with them. It is pretty difficult to place 30 years of history into a 2 hour film without losing something in the translation. Its forgivable to a point. One of the major factors that leads me to dismiss some of the glaring error in Spidey continuity is the fact that Sam Raimi is at the helm. This man loves making movies, and makes me love his movies, sort of.
If you don't know who the hell Sam Raimi is, look him up on IMDB.com, please. Rent his back catalog of films, embrace him, love him. I give Sam Raimi a lot of credit for tackling this franchise. It is a daunting task to put in anyones hands, let alone someone that was never taken too seriously by the industry until now. Raimi is an inventor of sorts, if there was a particular camera shot he wanted, he would invent the rig. (Ram-O-Cam from Evil Dead). His sense of humor also gets put up there for all of us to see. From the "Three Stooges" physical gags to always placing that damn 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 car in every movie he makes. Casting Bruce Campbell also helps. Bruce is Sam Raimis "Man of a Thousand Faces", Bruce is Sams whipping boy. Watch the old movies, you will see what I mean. Sam Raimi is an enthusiastic film maker used to working on a "Shoestring" budget. When I heard that Raimi was tapped to make the Spiderman series, I was giddy. A shitload of money and Sam Raimis contagious charm and enthusiasim. I was sold.
Spiderman 3 was reported to cost $250 million to film, making it THE most expensive movie ever to be made. Thats a shitload of duckets which I am sure they will make back and then some. There is no doubt that every penny of that $250 million is splashed up on that screen. The action scenes are some of the best that I have seen in any film in a long time. It is a beautiful movie to look at and listen too. The sound design is superb, making excellent use of all surround channels. The theater I caught it in was using the Dolby Surround EX print, would have preferred the DTS, but thats just me being a picky dork. Sandman, hands down, one of the best effects placed on the screen. I'm pretty sure that I will be catching this movie again at some point soon just to soak up the visuals. Venom was also pretty badass to look at. Now this, this is where I will end the technical portion of my review.....
As I stated earlier, I have liked all of the Spiderman movies, I have not loved them. The sticking point with this film, Venom. This character drew me back into the comic series when I was young and losing interest. Venom sucked me dry of my paper route profits, Venom kept me up late at night, reading comics under the sheets of my bed by flashlight. Venom possessed me.
The lack of the Venom plural speak kinda disappointed me. I really wish they had stuck with the original concept of Brock/Venom as seen in the comics. But alas, we were presented with this abbreviated concept of Brock/Venom, much like Doc Ock in the second movie. I guess the feeling is that the symbiote did not have time to bond with Brock so closely. The symbiote hated Peter Parker, Eddie Brock hated Peter Parker. It was a mutual hatred, which led to the symbiotes feelings being forced through to Eddie Brock. Again, so many years of history, only so much time to commit it to celluloid. Topher Grace did a fairly good job with his protrayal of the "edited Venom" as I have taken to call it. I just really wish they has spent more time with developing his character. Some of this may stem from Sam Raimi initially being gun-shy about using Venom is the film. It took some strong coersion for him to put him in there, and it shows.
My feeling overall, if I had to rate it on a scale of 1 to 10, is that this is a 7 at best. Not a terrible movie, not a great movie. I feel that Sam Raimi seems to have lost a little of that charisma that had been in his earlier films. Sure, there were hints of humor here, but they seemed forced to me. Placed in the middle of the movie because Raimi has placed them at that point in the previous films. I did, however, enjoy Bruce Campbell, I always do. The scipt was weak at times, Topher Graces speech in the church was particularly cheesy. I also could have done without Gwen Stacy, another character I feel that was not given enough time to develop. I actually hope that this is the last Spiderman movie to be made. The ending wraps things up in a pretty tidy fashion, closing the series. I just wonder how much more steam Sam Raimi has left in him to commit to another film. All that enthusiasim seems to have been diminished a bit.
My wife asked me what I thought of the movie. I pretty much said all that I stated above. Blank stare. Just what I expected, followed shortly thereafter by, "You are such a fucking geek." Sigh, I can't help it. I love Spiderman, I like his movies, I just wished I loved them.
Spiderman has always been one of my favorite comic book characters, so I have a little more bias than some others out there. For one reason or another, Peter Parker was and still is a comic character I can relate too. Spiderman also has some of my favorite villans. Sandman, Venom, Doc Ock and the various incarnations of the Goblin. Some real badass mofos, or, at least I think so. Others may disagree. With all that being said, I hold the Spiderman franchise pretty close to my heart. I have been pleased with the previous movies, just not in love with them. It is pretty difficult to place 30 years of history into a 2 hour film without losing something in the translation. Its forgivable to a point. One of the major factors that leads me to dismiss some of the glaring error in Spidey continuity is the fact that Sam Raimi is at the helm. This man loves making movies, and makes me love his movies, sort of.
If you don't know who the hell Sam Raimi is, look him up on IMDB.com, please. Rent his back catalog of films, embrace him, love him. I give Sam Raimi a lot of credit for tackling this franchise. It is a daunting task to put in anyones hands, let alone someone that was never taken too seriously by the industry until now. Raimi is an inventor of sorts, if there was a particular camera shot he wanted, he would invent the rig. (Ram-O-Cam from Evil Dead). His sense of humor also gets put up there for all of us to see. From the "Three Stooges" physical gags to always placing that damn 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 car in every movie he makes. Casting Bruce Campbell also helps. Bruce is Sam Raimis "Man of a Thousand Faces", Bruce is Sams whipping boy. Watch the old movies, you will see what I mean. Sam Raimi is an enthusiastic film maker used to working on a "Shoestring" budget. When I heard that Raimi was tapped to make the Spiderman series, I was giddy. A shitload of money and Sam Raimis contagious charm and enthusiasim. I was sold.
Spiderman 3 was reported to cost $250 million to film, making it THE most expensive movie ever to be made. Thats a shitload of duckets which I am sure they will make back and then some. There is no doubt that every penny of that $250 million is splashed up on that screen. The action scenes are some of the best that I have seen in any film in a long time. It is a beautiful movie to look at and listen too. The sound design is superb, making excellent use of all surround channels. The theater I caught it in was using the Dolby Surround EX print, would have preferred the DTS, but thats just me being a picky dork. Sandman, hands down, one of the best effects placed on the screen. I'm pretty sure that I will be catching this movie again at some point soon just to soak up the visuals. Venom was also pretty badass to look at. Now this, this is where I will end the technical portion of my review.....
As I stated earlier, I have liked all of the Spiderman movies, I have not loved them. The sticking point with this film, Venom. This character drew me back into the comic series when I was young and losing interest. Venom sucked me dry of my paper route profits, Venom kept me up late at night, reading comics under the sheets of my bed by flashlight. Venom possessed me.
The lack of the Venom plural speak kinda disappointed me. I really wish they had stuck with the original concept of Brock/Venom as seen in the comics. But alas, we were presented with this abbreviated concept of Brock/Venom, much like Doc Ock in the second movie. I guess the feeling is that the symbiote did not have time to bond with Brock so closely. The symbiote hated Peter Parker, Eddie Brock hated Peter Parker. It was a mutual hatred, which led to the symbiotes feelings being forced through to Eddie Brock. Again, so many years of history, only so much time to commit it to celluloid. Topher Grace did a fairly good job with his protrayal of the "edited Venom" as I have taken to call it. I just really wish they has spent more time with developing his character. Some of this may stem from Sam Raimi initially being gun-shy about using Venom is the film. It took some strong coersion for him to put him in there, and it shows.
My feeling overall, if I had to rate it on a scale of 1 to 10, is that this is a 7 at best. Not a terrible movie, not a great movie. I feel that Sam Raimi seems to have lost a little of that charisma that had been in his earlier films. Sure, there were hints of humor here, but they seemed forced to me. Placed in the middle of the movie because Raimi has placed them at that point in the previous films. I did, however, enjoy Bruce Campbell, I always do. The scipt was weak at times, Topher Graces speech in the church was particularly cheesy. I also could have done without Gwen Stacy, another character I feel that was not given enough time to develop. I actually hope that this is the last Spiderman movie to be made. The ending wraps things up in a pretty tidy fashion, closing the series. I just wonder how much more steam Sam Raimi has left in him to commit to another film. All that enthusiasim seems to have been diminished a bit.
My wife asked me what I thought of the movie. I pretty much said all that I stated above. Blank stare. Just what I expected, followed shortly thereafter by, "You are such a fucking geek." Sigh, I can't help it. I love Spiderman, I like his movies, I just wished I loved them.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Awesome people
I recently realized just how awesome people can be. I'm not always a "Polly Positive" when it comes to my outlook on things, but recent events have shown me just how nice people can be. A simple gesture, extending a warm welcome or just a simple "Hello" has shown me how to be a more positive person as of late. I hate that I can be so negative sometimes. I really need to learn how to keep that sunshiney (I just created a new word) feeling alive. The way things are going lately in my life, I don't think that is going to be to difficult. Heres to many more happy days......
Why not....
...everyone else is doing a Blog, why not me?
I suppose this will also kind of force me to write more often as well. I need a little motivation to keep me going.
I suppose this will also kind of force me to write more often as well. I need a little motivation to keep me going.
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