I May End Up Eating my words

Some time ago I posted a blog about the then newly released iPad HERE.  If you're too lazy to read the whole post, Readers Digest version is this...in the post I basically talked about how useless I thought the whole thing was and how I would never ever ever own one.  

Well I May end up eating my words

Yesterday I went to Future Shop to pick up a couple of things with my little girl and ended up looking around the store..just browsing as I told the many sales people who were stalking me.  As a side note, I hate that, just once I'd like to marvel over the latest gadget without some pimply faced university student harassing me to buy something.  But I digress.  So in my wandering I find a display with the iPads out to look at and play with.  Initially I rolled my eyes and fully intended on walking right past, but something in me drew me to that table.  Maybe it was the pretty display, more likely it was my gadget-loving instincts that pulled me to the table like an injured animal looks for water.  So I picked the thing up...and, Oh, My, God.  It was a pretty neat thing to play with.  I navigated through pictures and couldn't help but think how great this thing would make my own photography look.  I had a gander at a movie or two and they looked very good.  Bottom line after my short stint playing with it

ME WANT

I haven't bought one yet so I have yet to truly eat my words, but I imagine it will happen

MAY THE FARCE BE WITH YOU

Things I Learned From My First Video Blog

Well...it has been around 24hrs since my first “Video” Blog and I’ve been doing the typical mulling over what the hell I just did.  Reflecting on the whole process, how it came across etc.  Although remarks at my Facebook page have been extremely positive and supportive, being my own worst critic I saw lots of stuff I want to change.  So....on this.....the “Day After” I thought I would share my reflections on the whole thing.  So with that I present

The Things I Learnd From My First Video Blog

1.        I will never get used to seeing or hearing myself on camera.  Even though I enjoyed the end result and felt it wasn’t terrible for a first time, it’s still a frickin weird feeling to be editing a video that has my moon-sized face staring back at me.

2.       It’s very intimidating to be sitting in front of a camera, even alone in my own basement with nobody else around, I found myself feeling very self conscious and very self aware.  Thoughts like ”is this stupid?” “is this funny?” “will people think I’m a narcissistic douche for even trying it” were running through my head the entire time.  I’ve always been more of a “behind the scenes” sort of person and have, frequently, been behind the camera but rarely have I ventured in front.  Kind of gives me a new respect for the men and women who do on camera and modelling work as their careers.  It’s hard.

3.       Adlibbing even a few sentences and trying to sound intelligible is way harder than I thought it would be.  I’m not a public speaker by any stretch of the imagination, but I consider myself a fairly outgoing and easy going person and figured it would be a piece of cake.  Not so much.  I stumbled on words, ummed and aaaahed my way through my spiel  and, as an added bonus, with all the stuff going through my head in point #2 made really hard to not sound like a blabbering fat-head.  Next Video blog (if there is one...who am I kidding..there probably will be) will either be scripted fully or at very least have point-form notes for me to refer to.  Hopefully it will make editing easier and make the Video Blogs better and funnier as that is my main goal...to Entertain.

4.   I have a big head...perhaps a collection of various hats can be used to combat the problem?

Well that’s what I’ve learned so far...I suppose eventually I will get better and/or find more things to criticize about myself...for now this will do. 

Stay Tuned for further updates...both written and visual :)

Oh..for those of you who comment on my stories back where you hear about them...be it Twitter or Facebook...just remember you can also comment on the blog posts themselves, right on this page..just click the "comment" link and fill in the form...it's that easy.

MAY THE FARCE BE WITH YOU!!!

"Defiance" - Video Blog

Iron Man 2 - A Solid Sequel

Let me begin by saying this, in my life I am blessed with a really awesome wife.  Not only is she a wonderful cook, mother and house-keeper, she also enjoys movies based on comic books almost as much as I do.  When X-men Origins:Wolverine came out she was right there waiting in line with me.  The Dark Knight?....yep...she was waiting in that insanely long line at the Galaxy cinemas Guelph that wrapped all the way around the side of the building, almost as eager to see this movie as I was.  So when my birthday rolled around on May 11th, it was a no brainer that we were going to see Iron Man 2 as part of the celebration (after a really yummy steak dinner of course, a man has to eat right?)

I am going to keep spoilers to a minimum, but let me start by saying this, Iron Man 2 is an extremely solid second offering in the series.  I love comic book sequels because you don't need all the back story and character development, just jump right in to the story. Buckle up, it's going to be a good one.  Starring the always wonderful Robert Downey Jr as our hero, supported again by Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts and Director Jon Favreau pulling double duty as Stark's driver Happy Hogan. New to the series this time around is Don Cheadle, replacing Terrance Howard as Rhodey, Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow, Mickey Rourke as Ivan "Whiplash" Vanko, and Sam Rockwell as foil for RDJ, Justin Hammer.  

Now a lot of reviews I have read have been a little negative, citing too many characters and too many subplots as a detrement to the movie.  Obviously these reviewers have never been comic book readers.  The Marvel Universe is all about lots of characters, subplots, hidden agendas, etc.  That's what make Marvel superior to DC (save for the Batman Franchise which is positively Marvel-esque in its depth of plot and Character library)  The use of secondary characters to build to something greater is a huge part of this movie and, in this humble reviewer's opinion, totally awesome.  

You have the whole buildup to the upcoming Avengers Movie with appearance of Sam L Jackson reprising his role as Nick Fury, and the use of some clever imagery in one scene to foreshadow the upcoming Captain America Movie.  I'm not going to go into spoilers here but, fellow geeks, the scene is classic and you will all know what I'm talking about when you watch this movie.  But, back to the review of the actual movie.

Plot is Solid, showing Tony battling his own ego as well as blood poisoning from his chest implant.  Not to mention that he has basically failed to do what he always does, find the solution, when he is unable to find a replacement for the chest piece that is slowly killing him.  The introduction of fellow weapons designer Justin Hammer played by Sam Rockwell, who always plays the part of slimy arsehole to perfection, as a foil/wannabe to RDJ's Tony Stark make the plot even thicker.  Top that off with Rourke's Ivan Vanko, revenge-driven son to Stark Sr's former partner, and brilliant mind in his own right as the newest "Super-Villian" and you have yourself a story worthy of any of the Marvel books.

Cast's performances are again, up to snuff, with RDJ playing the lead to perfection, Cheadle is good as Rhodey, although I think I may have liked Terrance Howard's version better.  Scarlett is awesome in her role (not to mention Drop Dead Gorgeous) And Paltrow is, well I've never really cared for her as an actress...but she's fine I suppose.  The return of a lot of familiar faces from the first film used both as plot devices and as humor points are very well done.


To Sum Up...I loved this movie...an excellent sequel, but stands well on it's own.  

A MUST-SEE ON THE BIG SCREEN