This is more of a personal continuation on James's last post than an original thought of my own.

Guilt is a very powerful thing. It made us apologize for dropping 2 atomic bombs on Japan when in fact it saved hundreds of thousands if not millions of soldiers lives. It made me think twice about sleeping with this one girl who shall remain nameless in lieu of getting something that may require creams to get fixed. And it is guilt that drives middle to upper class white people to believe that buying carbon offsets  (PRINTED ON PAPER!) will do anything but increasing the demand for more carbon offsets. I think that the majority of this save the planet bullshit is nothing more than a scam, or the self involvement of people making a huge deal out of something that naturally happens in order to give themselves a sense of purpose.

THE PLANET ISN'T GOING ANYWHERE

we are.

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/sun_output_030320.html

This is just one article that I found interesting. It offers another explanation, or probably more accurately, another source of "global warming" Because if you want to believe that human beings alone caused it, thats fine, but please, wear a hat made of tin-foil so that I know who you are and stay the fuck away from you.

I also wanted to know who came up with ethanol, or biodiesel, or whatever else they are working on, as being the savior of our oil fiasco. Any organic material that will be converted into fuel will require what? HARVESTING! and to harvest it you have to use? OIL!/The same fuel that you are trying to produce. And in doing so you are releasing more toxins into the air/ ground.

So these are some thoughts I have had recently:

1. WHY? why, I ask you, is it considered perfectly sanitary to wash your hands once done taking a dump... but ONLY after you have rubbed your hands all over your clothes to put them all on?

2. Why are there hate speech laws? What makes them constitutional? I was under the impression that given the first amendment I could say what I want. I realize the whole "don't yell 'fire' in a crowded theater" thing, but dammit if I want to yell fire in a crowded theater I should be able to.

Besides, who defines what 'hate' is? Some people have stated statistics about race and crime, but it's deemed 'hate speech'. I think if someone from the KKK goes "I hate black people" then yes, that's hate speech. If someone goes "50% of crimes are committed by young black males who constitute 15% of the population" (MADE UP NUMBERS) then that's definitely not hate speech, but there are examples where people say it is.

3. What ever happened to Smoove B?

4. The 'metro', a paper published and distributed for free along the subway in boston had a survey of 2 girls and a guy about what they thought the big summer blockbuster would be. The girls both said "sex and the city". The guy said "ironman". Wow.. they surveyed idiots. Sex and the city will blow. Ironman is already out. And why didn't the guy think of "Dark Knight"? I demand that his Y chromosome be removed forthwith.

5. I wish people would cite sources more. I'm tired of seeing articles (I'm picking on environmentalism right now, but this applies to everything) that tell me things but don't tell me where they got it. Example:

"If you don't eat a hamburger today you will save 3 tons of C02!"

Really? REALLY? Prove it! Prove to me that if I don't eat a hamburger the effect will be that direct. Show me that the shift in meat demand will have the direct affect of the cutting back of meat plants. Maybe it will lower price and then shift distribution other areas? I don't know that.. but neither do those people! Let's think holistically here!

Secondly, show me that if I cut meat demand such that meat packing plants get shut down that I can do something useful with the land. People don't think about that so much, but their is a reason feed lots are were they are. This is generally because the land isn't so good for crops. This is also the reason why you can't believe the statistics about the benefits of cutting meat production on the production of plants because the land isn't interchangeable. (I learned this during a talk with a friend who was affiliated with farming).

Also, laundry detergent! They are all like "performs better than the leading brand". Who are they to make such claims? Besides, if brand 'A' performs better than the leading brand 'B', wouldn't that make 'A' the leading brand? But an object cannot be better than itself, by definition. Therefore I win.

6. I saw organic, environmentally friendly yogurt in a non-recylable plastic tube in which the volume of material used in making the tube was a comparable percentage of volume of yogurt.

7. Apparently no matter how paranormal an adversary, doesn't matter if it came from hell, from another dimension, or is invulnerable; it can always be killed with a rocket launcher. This pleases me.

8. DARK KNIGHT THIS SUMMER AAAAAH SO AMPED!!

9. Saw a drunk hobo on a subway. It was 10 am. He was drunk on listerine. He also rambled about flyin F-16s in 'nam (hint, look up when F-16s were first made). Also, he wanted to fight me.

That's all for now. Hope your weeks are going well.

Well I have had a great two weeks let me tell ya. I first off have to say it was great seeing Riley again, he's becoming an online ghost, and I am ashamed at Ankit for bailing on the memorial day float trip. He was thinking about going but then turned chicken shit. Oh well it was definitely a blast and there should be some facebook pictures soon.

 Well damn, I thought that I was making this post with the intent of talking about something important, but I guess not.

Hey all,

Not much of a long post, but Ankit showed me something this weekend, and the amazingness of it is just starting to sink it, so I thought I would pass it along to everyone else. Apparently, NBC and Fox started their own website a while back called "Hulu" (http://www.hulu.com). Basically, you can watch full-length episodes of select shows (including everything from Firefly to The Office to Battlestar Galactica). Which is pretty awesome. Then, I found out they are also starting to feature full-length movies. Now, these aren't all that great, and a lot of them are old, but there are some intersting ones. Girl Next Door (Elisha Cuthbert is hawt); Ice Age; Dude, Where's My Car; 28 Days Later; Me, Myself, and Irene; Reqium For a Dream; even Monty Python's the Meaning of Life. That's right, go watch those, and more, right now, for free, legally, in your browser. Apologies if you already knew about this, but I didn't, and I read the Internet a lot, so I thought I'd pass it along to everyone else just in case. And, again, props to Ankit for showing it to me in the first place.

My work productivity just took a nose dive of epic proportions. Seriously. 

It almost goes without saying that this has been an eventful weekend. Over 20 tornados touching down in Kansas, and similar weather shenanigans in Oklahoma. Nebraska, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota all got hit as well. There were tornado warnings right outside the Twin Cities. Freaky stuff. Hopefully this is all winding down.

Now on to something rant worthy! As some of you may know via a Facebook note a while back, I hold engineering and the sciences in very high esteem. As an engineer I value hard work and judge based on merit, efforts, and results. The only discrimination is against those who can't do the job. This discrimination is necessary since the hard sciences impact so many lives. We cannot make mistakes.

This is why I got so upset when I saw this article a while back. It amazed me that people would think there's this huge discrimination against women going into the hard sciences. More women graduate then men, and more women hold higher degrees. There's nothing that says women aren't capable of doing anything they want to do. It's just that in the hard sciences, the percentage of women is much less than that of men. You can read my note on Facebook for more on that, and in the article itself. 

Then on Digg today there was this. Many women stay out of science and engineering because many aren't interested in it. REALLY??? People don't do things they aren't interested in? And this is a controversial study? I know lots of guys who dropped out of engineering because they weren't interested in the math or the amount of time required for the classes. Why is this some big mystery that we have to figure out? Just because some job or field doesn't have the same percentages of sex and race that the population at large has, doesn't mean there's a problem. It just means people do whatever they're interested in.

I've never understood the idea that men and women have to be supremely equal. We're not "equal" creatures, we're complimentary. A man is not better than a woman, and a woman is not better than a man. The only equality that is necessary is that everyone gets equal opportunity. That's it. If a guy wants to enter a field that's stereotypically female, he should be able to. If a woman wants to enter a field that's stereotypically male, she should be able to. The only restriction on anyone is just whether or not they can fulfill the requirements of the education and of the job. 

I'm tired of people still fighting the old gender wars. So what if there's not a lot of women in engineering or sciences? They can have whatever career they want. Categorizing people into groups instead of viewing them as individuals will only make the problem worse.

Now here's the real question, if we need to change things to make sure there are more women in engineering and sciences, why aren't we starting programs to fix the huge gender gap in the humanities and social sciences? I mean, everyone has to be equal, right?

-Mike 

Hey guys, how's it goin'?

Just a reminder, this summer I'm in Wichita.  I'm working for Heartspring, and it really sucks.  I mean sure, the multi-touch surface development part of it is good, but mostly I'm fairly miserable.  Also, my realtionship with your mother continues in a steady holding pattern; it's very similar to the last time we spoke.

I thought today I'd share a couple links and give blatantly over-bearing opinions afterwards!

First up, this gem: 

God, I love that picture.  Isn't it perky?

Secondly, this, which I found on reddit, my favorite Web 2.0 site. I have to say, I'm really jazzed about the possibilites opened up by the article to the field discussed within.  It really makes me realize how bright the future is, and how much I have to be thankful for.

Third.  Grrrrr.  Look at this site: HOW CAN SOMEONE THINK LIKE THIS!? MAN!  AAGH!  THIS JUST PISSES ME OFF SO MUCH!  THIS is what's WRONG with the world, and why we're all doomed!  Man, the world is in such a crappy place, and we're all gonna DIE!  I'm glad I think this instead!

I think that's all the links I wanted to share.  Oh, oh, howzabout a crazy life story!  So last month I was out with some friends at a nother planet and we saw a n alien.  My friend Nolan was like, "Haha, look at that creature of God' goodness".  At which point, we challenged each other to see if either one of us would ask it if it had a soul.  Turns out, I couldn't understand what it was saying, but my buddy was crazy anyway and didn't care.

It's like they say in Futurama; "It's not nuthin!"!!

Talk to you soon!

- Riley

*****

I will only give you my lasers if I get four of yours (because I'm posting enough for everyone, let's be honest).

--

I would also like to state that while I haven't posted a ton, I have posted plenty since this site opened. So there.

Hey guys, how's it goin'?

Just a reminder, this summer I'm in Wichita.  I'm working for Wichita State, and it really sucks.  I mean sure, the thesis part of it is good, but mostly I'm fairly miserable.  Also, my realtionship with Emily continues in a steady holding pattern; it's very similar to the last time we spoke.

I thought today I'd share a couple links and give blatantly over-bearing opinions afterwards!

First up, this gem:

God, I love that picture.  Isn't it perky?

Secondly, this, which I found on Fazed, my favorite Web 2.0 site: Clicky Pops
I have to say, I'm really jazzed about the possibilites opened up by the video.  It really makes me realize how bright the future is, and how much I have to be thankful for.

Third.  Grrrrr.  Look at this site: ANGER!!!
HOW CAN SOMEONE THINK LIKE THIS!? MAN!  AAGH!  THIS JUST PISSES ME OFF SO MUCH!  THIS is what's WRONG with the world, and why we're all doomed!  Man, the world is in such a crappy place, and we're all gonna DIE!  I'm glad I think THIS instead!

I think that's all the links I wanted to share.  Oh, oh, howzabout a crazy life story!  So last weekend I was out with some friends at graduation and we saw a B-2 Stealth Bomber.  My friend Tim was like, "Haha, look at that F-16".  At which point, we challenged each other to see if either one of us would win Gay Chicken.  Turns out, I won, but my buddy nearly had me by the balls.

It's like they say in my office; "Eat shit and die"!!

Talk to you soon!

-Mike

Ya'll are too quiet.  I mean, I know summer has started, but FFS; I need something to read over here at work.

So, I've written a blog FOR you.  I just need you to fill in the blanks.

*****

Hey guys, how's it goin'?

Just a reminder, this summer I'm in _____.  I'm working for ____, and it really sucks.  I mean sure, the ____ part of it is good, but mostly I'm fairly miserable.  Also, my realtionship with _____ continues in a steady holding pattern; it's very similar to the last time we spoke.

I thought today I'd share a couple links and give blatantly over-bearing opinions afterwards!

First up, this gem: ________
God, I love that picture.  Isn't it perky?

Secondly, this, which I found on ____, my favorite Web 2.0 site: ______
I have to say, I'm really jazzed about the possibilites opened up by the article to the field discussed within.  It really makes me realize how bright the future is, and how much I have to be thankful for.

Third.  Grrrrr.  Look at this site: ________
HOW CAN SOMEONE THINK LIKE THIS!? MAN!  AAGH!  THIS JUST PISSES ME OFF SO MUCH!  THIS is what's WRONG with the world, and why we're all doomed!  Man, the world is in such a crappy place, and we're all gonna DIE!  I'm glad I think ____ instead!

I think that's all the links I wanted to share.  Oh, oh, howzabout a crazy life story!  So last ____ I was out with some friends at a ____ and we saw a ____.  My friend ____ was like, "Haha, look at that _____".  At which point, we challenged each other to see if either one of us would _____.  Turns out, I ____, but my buddy ____.

It's like they say in ____; "____________"!!

Talk to you soon!

-_____

*****

I will only give you my ____s if I get four of yours (because I'm posting enough for everyone, let's be honest).

Read this. Make sure you get to page two.

Hokay.

So a guy who works for Team Catholicism came out and said it's cool to believe in aliens.  Not that any particular Team Catholicism proclaimations have much effect on me any more... somewhere between calling out the Muslims and a priest trying to explain to me how homosexuality and kleptomania were inherently the same thing, I stopped getting the memos (and on that note, grats to California).  Now, unlike my demi-hero Joss Whedon, I very much believe in the "sky bully", an afterlife, a meaning to "it all", etc.  Heck, I even still think Catholicism is a heckuva foundation-- which is why you'll find my religion beliefs listed on the book of faces as "Hare Club for Men" (I hope somebody out there gets that reference before they go to Wikipedia).  

SooOOooo I see this news all over the place and think, "Good! Some open-mindedness!"  (And, honestly, reading that article, there are a LOT of statements in this press release I LOVE.  This guy is smarter on the uptake than many officials...)  But then I get to this gem, which not all the reports have been covering:

"There could be (other beings) who remained in full friendship with their creator"

And suddenly my knee-jerk reaction kicks in.

Aliens didn't commit original sin, eh?

I could be wrong on this, but I think the majority of people reading this blog ascribe to some theory of evolution.  They understand differences between micro and macro evolution, they get the reasons that particular fossil links are hard to find (because it happens very fast), and so on.  So, I'm not talking to any frakking fundamentalists, unless Riley's mum is lurking over his shoulder.  Which means we're all on the same page: the Bible is a good book.  Divine inspiration? Sure! Amazing message? Absolutely! Literal? Fack no. Heck, there's so much contradiction between New & Old Testaments, as well as the fact that the books that made the cut were chosen by just another bunch of humans, not unlike the bunch of humans that wrote the flawed books... if we are to believe that any free will was involved, we must believe there are some problems.

Not that creation as told in the Bible is a problem, if you're functioning above the intelligence of a properly educated junior high student.  It's a represenational story.  It says, in short, "God created everything and it was sweet."  Then the second item, "He also created us to be like Him, but the sweetness got messed up via choice."  I don't think that some evil woman tricked my species into falling out of grace.  It's a very anti-feminist world view, in my opinion. I'm more inclined to believe that myself and everyone around me was made very much like God.  When the first post-monkeys started to make choices that went against survival but instead towards emotion and intellect, they occasionally made choices, because of their freedom, that were anti-God.  And the beauty of that is that we really CAN choose (thank you, Lord).  

So, why does the concept of guilt-free aliens bother me?  For me, it assumes a full human-centric view.  Jesus came to save us, and nobody else. Paul had to write letters about this viewpoint problem from day one.  God came to save us all. Now, I'll give you He might have repeated the performance elsewhere, sure. I have no problems if you want to tell me about the planet Claxxon Five, and their Savior who was laser-beamed to death to save them from sin. 

BUT if you say there are intelligent beings out there, and they got a pass, there's something wrong there.  Either they are not intelligent beings, which means they work purely on survival, OR God made someone literally "better" than us.  Our He/She Lord allegedly made angels with will and reneged on the enterprise after one of them became a real asshole.  If extra-terrestrials got a pass, though, that would mean they were fully intelligent, and for some reason, they got the full story.  They realized, fully, that God was awesome, and so they just never-ever screwed up.

Maybe this doesn't bother you.  But think about this.  If you're a functioning Christian, you believe that when you die, if your ducks were in a row, you go to Heaven.  And there, you don't "lose free will" but you "gain eternal life".  So, you choose, forever, to play for team Holy.  If you're making said informed decision, that means you're closer with the big fella than any angel was, because when they had choice and strong communication lines they still had some people cut out.  So, while it's been theologically exemplified for sometime that humans > angels, we would now have a universal view that other > human.  I'm assuming both "other" and "human" would be technically made in God's image, so... it makes no sense.  Unless God made intelligent beings NOT in Her own image that were in better Communion with Her.  Which is kind of a self-defeating view for anyone in the Vatican to be taking on, eh?

Now, I know this isn't some religious decree that says, "THIS IS HOW THE CHURCH BELIEVES" or even the Pope speaking on the matter.  But it is someone in Catholicism, in a position of authority, speaking publically and saying something that is, to me, fairly damning.  Maybe Mr. Vatican Science Guy doesn't want the aliens to have free will.  Or maybe I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill.  

My rant is done.  What's your opinion, gang? 

Yo.

Just so everyone knows, I am safely in Boston (and Zarrin is safe, too). The apartment is nice (it's the first floor of a house). We have food now, and internet. Eating and surfing are the two most important things, and we have them. This is a good thing. 

Zarrin starts work tomorrow, I start wednesday.

Thanks to Nolan and Cayla for letting us crash at your place, it was very nice and appreciated. In case you care, after leaving lawrence Zarrin and I went to her folk's place in Virginia, and we visited DC for two days. I saw the Air and Space Museum, the washington monument, art museums, natural history museum, the capitol building, and the national archives. We also just walked around the city, but it was rainy and cold most of the time.

Ironman ruled... "The Bank Job" was alright. Jason Statham does his usual bad guy that you can't help but root for role.

Everyone enjoy your summers (or ends of semesters if you are still in school) 

Hey guys.

First off, you should have read Nolan's Iron Man post below before diving into this one (which, by the way, I greatly enjoyed). However, as someone who's interested in these sorts of crazy things, now that both Iron Man and GTA IV numbers are available, I'd like to just discuss in a little bit more detail the whole crazy "ZOMG GTA IV WILL KILL IRON MAN" prediction that a lot of pundits and analysts out there were making.

First off, the cold, hard facts.

Iron Man

From Wikipedia:

"In its opening weekend, Iron Man grossed $98,618,668 in 4,105 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #1 at the box office, making it the tenth-biggest movie opening weekend of all time,ninth widest release in terms of theaters, and the highest-grossing opening weekend of 2008. It grossed $35.2 million on its first day, making it the 13th-biggest opening day. Iron Man had the second-best premiere ever for a non-sequel, coming behind Spider-Man. It had the fourth-biggest opening for a superhero movie.

As of May 8, 2008, Iron Man has grossed $225.6 million worldwide — $126.6 million in the United States and Canada and $99 million in 57 other countries."

"Estimates for the cost of marketing Iron Man ranged from US$50 to $75 million."

 "Iron Man received very positive reviews from fans and critics alike. As of May 9, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 92% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 177 reviews, with the consensus that "even non-comics fans can enjoy this smart, high impact superhero movie". Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 78 out of 100, based on 37 reviews. 

GTA IV

From Wikipedia:

 "GTA IV sold about 3.6 million units [Riley's Note: later in the article it states that figure at $310 million on day one] on its first day of release and grossed more than $500 million in its first week, breaking the first-week sales record of $300 million set by Halo 3. The release of GTA IV became the "largest launch in the history of interactive entertainment"

"The Xbox 360 version of GTA IV has received an average critic review score of 99% from review aggregators Game Rankings and Metacritic, while the PS3 version has received average scores of 99% from Game Rankings and Metacritic. As of 5 May 2008, those scores place the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions as the #1 highest rated games on their respective consoles on Metacritic, and as the #1 and #2 ranked games of all time respectively on GameRankings, becoming the first game(s) in history to surpass The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's score on that site.^"

"It has been reported to be the most expensive video game to develop at around a budget of 100 Million. There was a pretty good size army of animators and programmers working on this game for a very long time and it shows in a big way." (from http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/digitaljoystick/archives/138128.asp)

Similarities

After reading that info, there's a few things you should immediately come away with. First off, both of these products were incredibly well received by critics. I would argue that although Iron Man received a bit "lower" score, the movie industry has been around a very, very long time, has a wider overall audience, and its critics are generally more seasoned and "picky", for lack of a better term. I would honestly say that, subjectively, the 92% Iron Man received on Rotten Tomatoes is more outstanding than the 99% GTA IV received on MetaCritic. Of course, that's my personal opinion. So, they're both "cream of the crop" in their respective environments.

In addition, both of these products were heavily marketed. I don't know that GTA IV was as heavily marketed as Iron Man (video games don't do LG phone tie-in commercials, for example), but I think they both did a respective amount of solid marketing for their target audiences.

But here's where the similarities end.

Differences

What amazes me the most is the difference in income. GTA IV took in over $300 million dollars on DAY ONE. Now, granted, if we do a bit of math here, we can see that over the entire weekend, if we assume about $10 for a movie ticket, somewhere between 8 and 10 million folks saw Iron Man, while only about 4 million people bought GTA IV. So, you're saying "Well, yeah, video games are expensive. That's because they cost so much to make, right?" Wrong. Look at that statistic from the GTA IV review. The game was one of the "most expensive to develop" in all-time, and it only cost $100 million dollars to make. I'm not sure what the actual budget of Iron Man was (probably less than $100 million? Then again, the marketing budget alone was $50 - $75 million), but I think it's safe to assume that after making $500 million in revenues in the first week alone, GTA IV definitely made a tidy profit for Rockstar and Take Two.  

Why the pundits were wrong

First off, the pundits weren't wrong about GTA IV. In fact, it blew even the highest estimates away. There were 'whispers in the dark', so to speak, about breaking $500 million in week one, but most people thought that was crazy talk. But, it happened. And I'm sure when we get next week's numbers, we'll tack another $100 million or so onto that number. However, they were wrong about Iron Man. Even though people bought GTA IV, the SAME TARGET AUDIENCE still went to see Iron Man. I did both, for example. 

The pundits were wrong because they like to think that there's a finite amount of money in the world to be spent. It makes the movie execs feel good at night when a crap-tastic movie flops at the box office. Don't blame the writing, acting, or directing, oh no, it's the ECONOMY. As we can clearly see, even in a "recession", when movie income is down by tens of  percents over the previous year, if it's good, people will buy it.

And, on a final note, I'm not trying to take anything away from Iron Man, it's a great movie, and I loved it, but as far as "entertainment", GTA IV delivers in spades in ways a movie (to me) never will, and that's why I think we're going to start seeing more and more video games outperform the movie industry in the decades to come.

$100 mil.  That's a freakin' opening weekend, gang.  That's only $14 mil shy of the biggest non-sequel opening of all time... Spider-man. 

And let's not kid ourselves.  Tony Stark isn't Peter Parker.  This is a lesser Marvel character. 

So why?  Why did this movie make $100 mil?  I mean, there's been plenty of "lesser" Marvel movies that didn't make that in opening weekend.  Hell, Daredevil made only $102 mil in it's WHOLE DOMESTIC RUN. 

Why did this movie make a shitton of money?  BECAUSE MARVEL CONTROLLED IT.

In 2005, Marvel decided they'd had enough of Hollywood.  Based on that "awesome" X-Men: The Last Stand that was being produced at that point, I can't freakin' blame them.  So they said, "We're getting back all of our properties.  Jerks."  So, while Spidey and the X-Men aren't going immediately back to Marvel, the company has decided that anytime they CAN regain rights to their properties, they will.  And then, they make the movies themselves, with Paramount distributing.

Marvel got a seven-year $525 million revolving-credit deal with Merill Lynch.  And "Iron Man" is the first movie built off that money.  And she freakin' soared.  Strong casting, independent director, and a buzz that just CAN'T BE BEAT.  What was that buzz?  Two things: one, a lot of marketing.  Plenty of TV spots, lots of website talk, etc. Thing two? Reviews.  Reviews better than gold, and reviews you cannot buy.  I mean, all the "omg, GTA IV will sink Iron Man" bullcrap got blown out of the water this weekend by reviews.  Positive review, after positive review, after positive review.

Why the good reviews?  Because this was the first real superhero movie.  Screw X-Men.  Yea, I watched it, but everytime I have to see a 14-year-old play Rogue, I yell.  And piss off, Spider-Man, with your stupid Macho Man Randy Savage cage fight of lame.  Fantastic Four: Rise of the Almight Dollar and Reed Richards dance sequence can bite my shiny metal ass.  THIS movie treated me like an adult.  It treated me like it didn't need to market to me while it was playing.  It wasn't edited based off test audiences until it was the lamest thing playing at theaters.  And, outside of the DC Comics "Batman Begins" fluke (which, while it treated me like an adult, and was amazing, totally ignored the greater DC Comics universe) this was the first time this has happened.  I mean, even the highly enjoyable "Hellboy" owes me a few apologizes for Babe Ruth bars and a corntastic love story.

Somebody read a comic book.  They opened it, and they read it.  They took notes.  They hired people who read the comic book.  And they went to town.  Robert Downey Jr paid attention to who the hell Tony Stark is, and he went and played it.  So what did we get?  A movie without "cringe" moments.  A movie that truly transposed the things that allowed this character to survive decades, even if he wasn't at the front of things.  I know people reading this may not have read much in the way of comics, but we've had 15 Marvel Comic Book movies, and until this past weekend, not one of them had even MENTIONED S.H.I.E.L.D.  And you can't PICK UP an Earth 616 Marvel book for longer than six issues without somebody mentioning S.H.I.E.L.D.  The fact that we have "Avengers" coming down the pipeline with Roberty Downey Jr. and Edward Norton tenatively attached means we may finally get Marvel movies that aren't just based in small groups of characters.

Future is finally here.  Real comic book movies.  Hopefully "The Incredible Hulk" will continue in this vein... I know there have been some major arguments occuring over the editing of this film ("Is it too long?" "Is there too much story?" "I don't know if we should mention S.H.I.E.L.D."), but hopefully the box office numbers will shut up everyone and make them realize, "We can just make the movie we want, and not worry about that crap".  If this continues, that loan with Merill Lynch is gonna look like chump change, and the distribution deal with Paramount is gonna be the best deal ANY major distributor has. 

Thor, Dr. Strange, Captain America, Ant-Man, Black Panther, and more are on the way.  So, call me a True Believer, and know as long as this business model of "Marvel Studios" continues, I will continue to Make Mine Marvel.

'Nuff said.

I'm making this post from school, and without having read much of what you guys have already posted. It has been a terrible year.

But I'm sure your thinking that not everything is doom and gloom, well it is. My father is getting sicker, my grandmother just had a hip replacement and can't get around on her own. I think I told you that I transfered to PSU, well that was something that I didn't take seriously enough and now my GPA shows it.

I'm taking at least next semester off, not by choice. I can't afford to be a student and have a life, as in rent, bills, and all that comes with it.

but since this is the tempest i will at least talk about something relevant outside of my life. I just saw the movie "there will be blood"

It was a real letdown. I was hoping that since it was based on a kickass book they would present it in a similiar way to "no country for old men" which kicked some serious ass. They seemed like they weren't sure if they wanted to present more of the interior struggle of the main character, or in the role he played in other peoples lives. But it was a letdown to say the least. I also just saw "cloverfield" which I give a C, and the ruins which was so incredibly god awful that I want to find the script writer and piss in his eyes.

 catch ya later

fife 

Thanks to the wonders of the greatest comic book in the past five years (seriously, everyone should be pre-ordering the collection), I'm back on the smack. And why the hell shouldn't I be?  I mean, whether or not you're gonna buy a copy of GTA IV this next week, God knows you're gonna go see IRON MAN. So, the big question is... why the crap aren't you reading comics?  I mean, you watch movies about them... you play video games based on them... and yet you can't take the plunge?  I know it's intimidating to step up to the plate; especially when you're looking at titles that are about to hit 500 issues. Which is why I'm here to help, with my ideas on how you can support the industry that gives you so much joy.

• After you go see Iron Man this weekend, and are jumping up and down like a six year old after a two liter of Mountain Dew, go to your local comic book store.  "But it's scary" you say?  Sure, it can be.  But not THIS SATURDAY.  This Saturday is FREE COMIC BOOK DAY.  No shit.  FREE.  You go to your local comic book store, and they will give at least one free comic, from an assortment of special promotional issues.  Some of them a crummy, but some of them are AWESOME.  Sometimes publishers give big previews of new books they're launching, or books specifically designed to catch you up to speed.  Personally, I'm most excited about Dark Horse (who always is great for FCBD) doing a special Hellboy book, in part to promote the upcoming movie.  Check out the preview.  Wow.
• Check out Marvel's Digital Comics Unlimited.  This is the best thing to happen ever in the terms of "catching up" with modern comics.  Read greats like Exiles (it's like Sliders with X-Men), Cable & Deadpool (or "when the odd-couple uses guns to solve their problems"), or Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men ('nuff said)... from issue #1.  Some of the books at DCU you can read for free, but most come with the INSIGNIFICANT price tag of $10 a month OR $60 a year.  Well, well, WELL worth it.
• Just buy a book.  Whether it's a collected trade paper back or a single... take a chance.  Pick up a classic, like Watchmen (and if you're totally against spending real money you can even check out something like that at your public library), a simple "run" like the 50 issues of Y: The Last Man, or something new in single form like All Star Batman & the Boy Wonder (written by "big deal" Frank Miller with pencils by Jim Lee).
• Use the internet.  Try not to download too many books (you damn thief), but use it to develop your tastes.  One of my favorite things to do is read Wikipedia articles on comics until I find something that sounds good.  Find artists and authors who speak to you, and support them with your coin.

In short... read a damn comic book.  You can buy a subscription to one for less than four bucks a month (and many comic book stores will give you deals if you subscribe through them).  Stop resisting.  No longer is it uncool (or if someone tells you that it is, be sure to inform them that they can't go see The Dark Knight this summer). And if you don't spend some coin, then the industry is going to go under, because you're an asshole.  And if that happens, you have to answer to these guys, and their over-sized image:

You don't want none of that.  Trust me. 

Ok so this last weekend was the NFL draft, and I realize I'm probably the only person on here who cares about that.  But for me it is a major holiday, especially when the Chiefs go 4-12 for the first time since 1987 and have the #5 overall pick, and 13 picks total in the draft for the first time since 1984 to attempt to turn our franchise around, makes me very excited.  So I bought tickets to the Chiefs draft party to watch it @ the Arrowhead training complex w/ Chiefs players, fans, and Cheerleaders, and 10 ft. from the War Room where Herm Edwards (head coach), Carl Peterson (GM), and Clark Hunt (Owner) are making the very picks to trasform our franchise...I digress, sorry.  So anyway, it was a truly awesome experience, they gave away A LOT of free stuff, and had a raffle for more free stuff (which I didn't win...DAMN THEM), and had free autograph sessions and everything it was great, even the food was reasonably priced, beer was not but who cares it was bud products anyway and anything from St. Louis (w/ the exception of Amber Bach) SUCKS BALLS, but again I digress.  I had forgotten (I guess living in the BC bubble does that to people) how much of a chick magnet Crutches and Casts are....cause I think @ least 20 of the Chiefs Cheerleaders stopped by and sat down and talked to me for a while about what happened and all that stuff, making things even MORE enjoyable.  We also drafted INCREDIBLY well, according to Mel Kiper Jr. (ESPN Draft Guy) he's the one who makes the top 100 players available list, of which we got 2...2 of the top 10...2 of the top 10, that's 1/5 of the best players available, 20%, that is A LOT for 1 team, and that makes me VERY VERY happy.  It makes me very excited to know that we got those players, and the rest of the draft went well too, we had MAJOR needs @ OT, CB, and WR and we filled all 3 very well, we had other holes @ DE, DT, and TE, and we filled all 3 of those very well, we still have minor needs @ FB, OG, and C but that's ok, there's still 3 months till training camp!!!!! This makes things VERY VERY wonderful in my life...plus the Royals have actually been doing well this season, we could get to .500 for the first time since 03....life is good in my sports world, other than that disgusting display at the end of March.