I learned many, many years ago that when a franchise movie is bad you need to just deal with it. It's one of the most difficult things a person has to do when dealing with the reality of an object they love failing them utterly.

So, yes.  The X-Files: I Want to Believe is bad.  Let's have a spoiler-filled look at how this happened.

I don't want to waste a ton of time reviewing the film... or telling you why it sucks.  Actually, the wonderful Alexandra DuPont of Ain't it Cool News does a GREAT job of telling you why this movie goes wrong.  Unless you see me directly contradict something from that review, consider it a great layout of my opinions (right down the comments about werewolves, Robert Patrick, and that God-forsaken last shot).

Six years ago the greatest television show ever went off the air.  Now, I feel perfectly justified saying that.  When it comes to television, there's some sorta crazy formula of quality balanced over quantity that allows you to be "the best".  The X-Files perfected that.  Don't tell me how awesome Firefly is.  It didn't even have a full season of episodes.  It never had to say, "how do we keep this fresh?"  That doesn't mean it isn't awesome.  It just means it can never be as awesome as The X-Files.  Did the show suffer some as it went on?  Yes.  The mythology episodes became very weak in the middle of the show. When I was younger, I thought the show died an awful death at the departure of Duchovny.  Upon re-viewing the show, this is not the case.  While it isn't as great as the heyday of seasons two through four, (where we truly trusted no one, locked our doors a little more securely and feared the impending alien invasion), it's much better than it is usually credited with being.  The reason we hated it then?  We were damn near told to.  Instead of handling Duchovny's wish to breathe (which, after eight years, wouldn't you want to "try something different?"), FOX TV constantly dicked with us.  "IS THIS THE WEEK MULDER RETURNS!?"  Now, I don't know if Chris Carter's "crap, my stars are leaving" plan of a revolving door Law & Order style cast would have worked, but I will say that Robert Patrick and Annabeth Gish are both solid contributors to the show, and their presence is SEVERLY lacking in the movie.  No doubt 20th Century Fox said "replace those FBI agents with somebody hip... like AMANDA PEET".  *sigh*

But from the very beginning of the end, Duchovny and others said, "we're down for movies".  A whole lotta missteps later (including losing the outline to the super-secret script), and here we are. On the damned 100th anniversary of the FBI, the show that made the Bureau cool makes its big screen return.  Fight the Future (the 1998 film) is like a warm freakin' blanket to me.  No matter how many fine movies come out in the rest of my life, I'm comfortable saying it will always been in my top twenty-five.  So... how did we X-Philes come to the Alexandra DuPont camp on the sequel?

The Hollywood insider "Movieline International Report" said the following to theaters about what to expect this weekend: The popular TV series and highly successful 1998 theatrical release (10/11/98, $30 million opening, $83 million total) has generated interest with over 25 females who were fans of the TV series. Average or better business.
Now, aside from getting the release date of the first movie wrong (that was the DVD release, thank you), we setup that Hollywood intends for this to be a chick flick.  Now, many, many chicks watched The X-Files, but a cheap, $33 million (the reported budget for the movie) chick flick... no.  Not acceptable.

The movie starts right.  The music.  The scrolling "location" text in that bottom left corner.  The creepy vibe.  Sure, whatever the HELL happens with the arm and what-not at the film's outset isn't exactly the creepiest X-File we've ever seen, but it's an okay foundation.  Here we have the goodness.  Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz truly ask, "what has happened in the past six years?"  And their immediate answer is one of genius.  Scully is finally a doctor, at a Catholic hospital.  She works to save lives, but she is still reeling from the decision to give up her son for his protection.  Mulder has become a bearded hermit, living away from society and clipping out weird stories from newspapers.  He's a sad, sad man... a man who has had everything taken from him.  Both characters are vunerable, lost souls.  And then the FBI comes knocking, offering to drop (bogus) charges (and a sentancing to death) against Mulder if he'll help them find a lost FBI agent.  The PROMISE of this movie is amazing.  Taking a pair of shattered icons on a trip down memory lane.  And they do it SO right.  Mulder can't say no to helping find a missing person, because he owes it to his dead sister!  Scully misses her child, so she immediately hates our weirdo psychic pedophile priest!  Every. Single. Character. Decision. PERFECT.  As a matter of fact, the worst thing to occur in the first thirty minutes of the movie is a tarnishing of the classic Mark Snow musical theme to make the most wacked out George W. Bush joke ever.  I cannot understand this joke for the life of me, and it is NOT a way to reestablish something that IS truly iconic.

From this point on, the "how" of doom starts to become apparent.  The villians aren't creepy enough.  The drama is too soapy.  But mostly?  Chris Carter is the EXACT OPPOSITE of George Lucas.  Now, I know what you're thinking; "that's gotta be a good thing, right?"  Sadly, wrong.  You see, when George returned to Star Wars after hiatus, he said, "I know what's right.  Screw you all.  I am a god."  But Carter has been abused.  The man has barely worked in the past six years.  The end of his show is considered by many a huge failure (and if we're only talking about the HORRIBLE recap episode that is the two-hour finale, then they're right).  I get the feeling that Chris doesn't get his phone calls returned much anymore.  So, he listens to the haters.  "Stand alone episodes are better."  And he makes a stand alone movie.  He listens to the fans.  "Mulder and Scully are truly together."  He listens to the studio.  "Xzibit!"  He listens to everyone.  Because he WANTS it back.  He NEEDS it. 

But there's the problem.  Who are these twenty-five year old women seeing the movie?  They are X-PHILES.  They want to be screwed with!  They want to be shocked and scared!  AND THEY WANT TO BELIEVE!!  There's nobody seeing this movie who doesn't have a pre-formed opinion.  I've heard ten people declare proudly to me since this movie went into production that they had never watched an episode of the series.  They are not gonna see this movie, no matter how many times you tell them it stands alone.  Then there are the people who NEED CLOSURE.  People like me who pray at night that come December 22, 2012 (if you don't know what that date is, sorry) Mulder and Scully will save us from colonization.  And we're split.  We're never getting together.  Example: have you seen the trailer?  There's that shot of the priest on his knees, blood coming from his eyes.  Now, the shot has been darkened in the trailer so that the blood almost looks black.  Like... the black oil, a central part of X-Files mythology.  So, anyone with any background goes, "OH MAN, THE BLACK OIL, SWEET" and is being lied to.  But everyone else is like, "I thought you said stand alone?  WTF?"

And that's where we are.  You can't change that.  You have a fanbase.  I've spent a couple hundred dollars on DVDs.  I'll see any movie that's put out.  And you give me a movie where Skinner only shows up in the last ten minutes, and you replace a role that was probably written for Robert Patrick with Xzibit.  And you do this the week after The Dark Knight so that you get the toughest, highest-expecting critics and crowds possible.  Great freakin' work 20th Century Fox.  No, really.  You have one of the most loyal fanbases in television history... a fanbase that truly helped to shape the show, and you're worried about appealing to somebody else after nine years of faithful viewing?  *double sigh*

As the movie drags on (and it really does drag), you keep wishing for something, anything to happen, but it can't.  The studios don't want it to.  Also, while Carter is in many ways a genius, he is no spectacular director.  Give us back Rob Bowman in the director's chair, please.  We're subjected to so many things that just don't work as this film goes along.  We don't have the money for any action near the film's end, so there really isn't any.  They throw a weird attraction plot in with Amanda Peet that about drives me bonkers.  And while the initial concepts for the "scary" plot are good (both the spiritual and scientific elements) we have to pull them off with crap.  Scully wants to perform an expirimental stem cell procedure?  She has to LOOK IT UP ON GOOGLE.  And then the revealing moment for what the spooky plot is comes from her finding that all of what she found on Google didn't print.  The same lament could be put to the film's romantic plot.  The first moment they show the dynamic duo laying in bed got a gasp from the audience (although for the life of me, I can't figure out why... I mean, are there really people who didn't get the memo that they were sleeping together in the last three seasons?), but then after a decade and a half of working well together they get into an argument and talk like a spat is enough to break them up.  I mean, how I see it, these characters have caused so much pain and grief for each other over the years but gotten through it together that their relationship should be the most solid relationship in the history of cinema.  Sadly this doesn't seem to be the case.

This movie lacks triumph.  You wanna talk triumph?  Watch the end of Fight the Future where a simple TELEGRAM makes crowds cheer aloud as the film goes to credits.  When this movie was over, people didn't know what to do.  They were like, "um... it's over?  Really?  That's it?"  We've been told by this show time and time again to expect more.  And to not give us any indication as to the current outlook on the title's sake (the X-files), is a pretty bad plan as well.  Heck, Amanda Peet's dialog reminding us of how many WAY COOLER psychics we've seen over the years of the show doesn't help anything either.  There's so much "meh" at the end of this movie, it's hard to describe.  And the epic-bad final shot.  I don't know what the demographic that needs to see Mulder and Scully row off into the sunny world is... but fuck you, demographic.  I mean, seriously.  I want these characters to be happy as much as the next guy, but that's a load of crap.  THEY WAVED AT THE CAMERA.  Like some damned fan fiction joke. 

I think the most painful thing about this movie was how much I needed more.  If I thought "The Truth" (the series finale) was a bad ending to a masterpiece... I Want to Believe is a doggone AWFUL ending.  It does not address the items that need addressing.  There is no triumph.  There is no victory.  Heck, I'd even take despair!  But there's nothing.  "And... we went on vacation".  No.  Screw that. We need another movie.  We need to get some of the old writers involved.  And we need to push for something more.  The X-Files damn near FOUNDED the current era of good science fiction TV and movies.  And it should go out with a bang, not a whimper.

úøBEWARE♥Ω

there are robots posting on the tempest.

osuretheymaybeofferingyoufafsadiscountsbetterairfaredebtreductionandmoar
butyouwillnevergetthesefinebenefitsfromourrobotoverlordsyoufackingnewbs 

∏λΣ

ASDFGHJK

CBMQRTI

/discuss

I returned yesterday from my firework selling expedition I told ya'll about. We left Thursday and made the drive up. Nothing really special to say about that, just a 5 hour drive and setting up all of our fireworks and other supplies. Friday we opened at 6 AM. Ya, fireworks at 6 AM. We stayed pretty busy all day, did around 10 grand in business (keep in mind throughout this post that the town we were in had a year round pop of about 7000, but was located on a big highway). We closed around midnight and were asleep by about 1:30. Woke up again at about 6 AM and did it all over again on the 4th. Back to back 18 hour days, plus the 4 for setup and the 4 for tear down. Dutton and David made about $1200 a piece off of $16,500 in sales, while I was sitting on a pretty $300. The reason that I made 25% of what they did was because I wasn't actually hired by Jake's to run the tent. Dutton and David paid me out of their pocket to come help them and I figured well if I don't do this I'm just gonna end up spending money and it's better to make money than to spend it.

The only thing that really sucked about all of it was not being able to shower and sleeping on a matress pad on top of concrete. Our tent was only a two day tent, but the people at the ten day tents went through the same conditions, and that is insane to me, I could not go that long without a shower, I just couldn't do it. The matress pad was actually comfortable considering my alternative, the only thing that sucked about that was the night of the fourth it rained, and I mean hard. I thought I was gonna wake up in the middle of the parking lot with the rainwater carrying me away in a river.

I really didn't realize how fucking crazy people go over 50 cents worth of paper, plastic and gunpowder. The people that bought the most money in fireworks were the poorest. We had people driving up in brand new 2008 gas guzzling trucks that bought $20 in fireworks. Then we had the people that didn't even have a car and walked up spend at least $100 in fireworks. Dutton said one guy he helped actually told him he was gonna have to decide between fireworks and feeding his kids I'm not fucking kidding you.

But I think I've finally found something that interests me. This was one of the, if not THE, hardest jobs I have ever done, but the money to be made off of it is just un-godly. I'm going in a week from monday to see about working the warehouse in town and maybe getting in on the christmas tents in Louisiana. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

A few random goings on in my life IN THE FORM OF A LIST OF FIVE THINGS!!!!

1) I am currently unpaid but still working. My last paycheck that covered the period till June 14th has been deposited 
last week. Since then I have been sitting in my office, prepping for my class, doing some research work, and all without 
payment. So that's good! I'm hoping this will correct itself soon, since I need money. You'll see why in a bit. 

2) Still haven't heard about a grant that my adviser and I applied for. Getting it would mean a solution to Item 1 and it would mean I get trips to NASA Ames to go see pretty airplanes! Possibly. If the grant giving board approved such expenditures. Hope so, that would mean I get to poke the folks at Ames whose equations I fixed.

3) The honeymoon is paid off! And I am poor! Sonnofabitch! St. Lucia, here I come! But what if I want to scuba down there...

4) SCUBA LESSONS!! Scuba kicks ass. Emily and I are taking lessons to get our Open Water Certification. We don old 
BCD's and regulators and jump in a tiny pool and learn to breathe underwater. It's a bit freaky at first, until you practice
a bit. Not the most normal thing to tell your body to use your lungs when your face is underwater. It's a bit easier when
you switch to the regulator that actually supplies more air instead of having to suck it hard. That's right, suck it hard. 

5) I look so hot in a wetsuit. Seriously. I do. This was reaffirmed by the underage girls in the class constantly 
staring at me. Creepy. Can't blame them though.

That is all.

- Mike 

::EDIT:: Some lines didn't soft return when I was typing this. In an effort to inform, shift+enter will line break 
without skipping a line. 

Ankit and I returned yesterday from a trip to Iowa. Why? He wanted to buy other peoples back taxes so they could pay him back what they owed plus 24% APR. In certain states they have tax lien auctions in which private investors or banks buy peoples unpaid taxes, and if they don't get paid back the full amount plus interest, they can foreclose on the property and keep it as their own. Too bad Kansas doesn't do anything like that, all we have are deed auctions where you can buy the property outright for less than half its appraised value.

So thats what the point of the trip was, let's move on to the trip itself. We left Saturday afternoon for Atchinson, which is just north of KC. Apparently with all the horrendous weather the exit to Atchinson was blocked off, so we had to make a detour through Platte City and Leavenworth. For those that don't know in Leavenworth there is an Air Force base and a Federal Maximum Security Prison. (I cap'd that so you'd appreciate how fucking serious that is.)

As we pass the Air Force base, there really wasn't that much to see. Barb wire fence and on the outskirts a few army wife houses. But the front of the prison and sides were as clear as day, and I about fucking lost it when I saw that. It was almost the most singular scary thing I have ever fucking seen. I kept thinking to myself, "If you're this fucking scared just driving by it, imagine what it would be like to know you're going in there for years on end or even the rest of your life."

We also stopped in Independence, MO to see the Truman Presidential Library. It was pretty cool.

Ok I'm going to have to make the rest of this post quick because I'm at the library and somebody CAN'T KEEP THEIR FUCKING PERSONAL GAS TO THEMSELVES!!!

We get to Iowa, meet John and his family, which are all very cool people. Do the deed and come home, that is all. And Ankit almost hooked up with two good looking girls.

OMG I think I'm gonna vomit.

When I’m at work, I’m forced to watch (on weekdays) the Weather Channel or CNN.  Most the time, I try to watch the Internets instead.  Wherever I look, I learn new things… not all of them intended.

5) “How to look for news”

CNN this morning was looking for ways to exploit and sensationalize the death of four young teenage boy scouts in Iowa.  As they found ways to go between panicky “how could this happen” and “tales of heroism” they found time to teach me “How to look for news.”  This consisted of a guy standing in front of a TV that showed an internet browser.  The guy then proceeded to tell me, the viewer, where there were internet sites that I could read that might tell me more about the news... the news I assume THEY were supposed be reporting.  “The Boy Scouts Website just has a little bit of information on it; look at this they don’t want you calling if you don’t have family there…”   COME ON!

4) YouTube is not an acceptable form of research. 

This one really grinds my damn gears.  Years ago, when someone of merit to society passed, somebody went to the vault and dug up old footage.  Impressive artifacts of someone… a true remembrance of them in their prime, and what their legacy meant.  Now what do we (the news) do?  Show streaming video.  Pixilated, craptastic streaming video.  And they don’t just do this for the dead.  They do it for stuff from other stations.  They do it when they’re too lazy to get rights.  “Courtesy of YouTube” my ass.  I go to YouTube because I don’t have access to the backlog of information you, the news media does, you lazy sluts.  And that’s what they are.  Lazy folks who are not sexually discerning.  Slutty, no?

3) Polls.

Today I saw a poll on who people thought was better on the economy: McCain or Obama.  While this is an interesting question, if we have to have this sort of polling for the next FIVE MONTHS, it’s gonna get old.  Fast.

2) Fox News DESTROYS MY SOUL.

Baby-Mama. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/11/fox-news-calls-michelle-o_n_106655.html

Ain’t nothin’ racist here.

Terrorist Fist-Jab:  http://mediamatters.org/items/200806060007

HOLY SMOKES!  I mean… REALLY!?  A damn fist-pound is a terrorist fist jab to be examined?!  I’ve been pounding fists since junior high!  If this display makes me a terrorist, watch out world.

1) MSNBC soothes me.

The other day as I watched Keith Olbermann’s latest “special comment” (see: “Edward R. Murrow wanna-be rant”… not that there’s anything wrong with that, and if you don’t know about that period in history see “Good Night and Good Luck” for an awesome take on it all) I asked myself, “How am I any better than a Faux News fascist who yanks it to Bill O’Riley?”  There I was, on my socially liberal channel, enjoying a good smack-down.  And then it dawned on me… I wasn’t afraid.  Keith Olbermann doesn’t want me to run someone out of the country.  He didn’t want me to be afraid of people who thought differently than me.  He didn’t want me to persecute.  Yes, he points a finger at who he thinks are the bad guys.  But he doesn’t tell them they hate America for disagreeing with him.  

I’ve recently had a lot of people in my circle enjoying MSNBC election night coverage and debates.  And I hear I’m not the only one: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117987208.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

Tom Brokaw drops by, Brian Williams, Tim Russert… heck, Chris Matthews is less of the “problem” he used to be back when Jon Stewart levied that oh-so-right criticism of the way he divided people previously.  I’m not gonna say MSNBC is perfect, but in a world where any news I have to watch has to be re-filtered through 10 other sources before I feel like I’ve made it close to anything resembling the truth… I feel like I can shave off a few filters at MSNBC.  I like this.  It feels more like the news.

**

Well Mike you brought this on yourself.

Top five things to do when you have a shitty job and want to find a better one or get a 2nd one.

1. Read the classifieds. I know this seems pretty obvious, and it is. But the truth is that there is no way to tell if you're going to like a job or even be able to do it with what they give you in that little snippet in the paper. For example, the one month job I had as a telephone survey caller guy. I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I applied for it, or even after the 30 second interview in which the qualifications for the job was to have a pulse and speak english. Needless to say I got the hell out of there and am now much poorer for doing so.

2. Go to places you want to work at and fill out applications. If I could get a job at John's Sport Center I would be ecstatic, but they are NEVER FUCKING HIRING!!!!

3. Get raise/promotion at current job. This wouldn't work for me because I am currently waiting tables and unless one of the managers dies I'm SOL.

4. Bitch and complain. Read article

5. Relocate to greener pastures. Well I don't have this option either being the primary caregiver for a crippled 60 year old man and an 85 year old woman.

That is all.

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.

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

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.

Yes, I paid for music on the internet. I bought a song on amazon for $.99. I couldn't find it on seeqpod, altavista mp3 search, "index of" in google, or torrent. So I bought it.

It's the second song I've ever bought. My first was on DI.fm's store. It was nada - numbers. Good song. The one I just got is: Tripswitch -Silver (ott remix). Sure, I could have downloaded cardamar's free 3 hour chillout mix that had this song at the end of it. I could have taken audacity and cut the song out. 

But.. for one dollar, I got the song in a split second. Cokes cost more than that from a damn vending machine. And since bash.org will probably never take quotes I send them, here's one between me and my roommate when I was bitching about my computer lagging (I think the fan on the vid card is not working):

"I'm dropping more frames than Michael J. Fox at an eyeglass store"

Too soon? Probably.

Hey guys, it's nice to hear from everyone. I've decided to entitle my Post "The Sox" because I went to my first RedSox game of the year on Monday. We smoked the Rangers, and I generally had a good time. Nothing beats watching the Sox play at Fenway in 65 degree weather, enjoying a few refreshing beers, and then watching the Boston Marathon and wishing I had run it again.

Link to pictures I refuse to pay for!

Anyways, Life is generally hectic for me right now, and I am exactly 3 finals, 2 papers, and 1 presentation away from graduation. I'll be coming home for a month after graduation, so I hope to see most of you then. I'll also be taking a class at Pitt to pass the time away, Math 557: Real Analysis, and possibly a second class if I find something that catches my eye. If any of you Pittsburg dwellers happen to be taking classes in June, let me know. Perhaps we can meet up and toss the old football and/or frisbee around after class.

 Keep the posts coming.

Hello to all of you. I miss you, and stuff.

Things are super busy at GT right now, so I haven't had much time for anything fun. Heck, I haven't touched TF2 in a few weeks. It makes me sad.

So here's something that struck me. How the hell were the Democrats able to bitch about the popular vote vs. delegates in the last few elections when their own damn primaries allow people in their party to just decide who gets in (I'm talking superdelegates). I mean.. wow.

Also, I'm going to be in lawrence on the 4th or 5th ish.