When Hollywood tries to make their own superhero movies, they tend to fail. Whether it’s something silly like Meteor Man or amazing like Unbreakable, comic hero style movies that don’t have a comic to fall back on tend to underperform.
So when Sony Pictures decides to bring out Hancock in what has critically and domestically been *the* greatest summer for superhero films, you’ve gotta’ wonder what they’re thinking.
There are no long-time readers of Hancock like their are for Hulk, Iron Man, Batman or even Hellboy. So no naturally built-in audience, save the one that loves to go see Will Smith movies. Frankly, I’m on that list. I love Will Smith. Six Degrees of Seperation showed us all that he had serious acting chops, I’ve been a supporter. So I can forgive things like Wild Wild West or Men in Black II.
If Hancock is to succeed in the best superhero movie summer ever, it damn well better deliver something unforseen. The good news is…it does. Hancock, above all other things, is interesting.
This sums up my feelings so damn well. I feel like I walked in on my wife cheating on me with another man, and she just looked at me, shrugged her shoulders and went back to what she was doing. Like Little Bill in Boogie Nights, the person I have so much affection for is going somewhere else and leaving me and my ideals in the dust.
Barack Obama is flip-flopping. Not a little bit. Not on one issue, but one by one, he’s changing and softening his stance on the issues that got him where he’s at in the first place.
I understand the concept that “In the primaries you move to your base, and in the General Election you move to the center.” This makes sense, to a degree. But this is worse than that, because Obama is one of the lucky ones that has no reason to do this.
This is with all the “leftist” rhetoric, with all his crazy thoughts, with Rush Limbaugh and every right-wing blow-hard aiming all their vitriol at him and letting go with Bill Clinton-era abandon.
Why? Because his message resonated with the American public!
When gas prices are through the rough, when food costs are sky-rocketing, when the housing market is in turmoil, when corporations continue to make huge profits while the middle-class is burdened with high taxes, Obama’s populist message had done what it’s supposed to – reach the populace!
Barack Obama is beginning to backtrack on his willingness to hold telecommunications companies accountable for participating in domestic spying on individuals.
We all know that the Bush administration has done everything in its power to give the Executive branch of the government unfettered access to phone and data lines so that they can ‘watch for terrorism.’
Obviously, this is a big, huge, freakin’ slam against our civil liberties. It’s ridiculous, and everyone who is responsible should be held accountable. Especially the telecommunications company’s that make it possible.
With the new FISA bill about to be passed, Obama has been grumbling that he will support the compromise that isn’t a compromise at all. The compromise that lets telecom companies retain their immunity, no matter how complacent they are.
DON’T LET HIM DO IT!
Obama’s entire campaign is built upon the foundation of those who believe in him, believe in his ability to do what’s right for this country. It’s the generation of internet users out there, those of us who have pushed, read, and passed along all information we could to help build support for the most unlikely of candidates during this long political battle.
MoveOn.org has started a campaign to hold Obama to his promise to filibuster and vote against telecom immunity. Call Obama’s presidential headquarters at (866) 675-2008. If you don’t get through, keep calling until you talk to a human being and tell them how strongly you feel about Obama keeping his word.
Now is the time to show our candidate that he is there for us, not for himself. That if he’s going to switch and flip-flop, he better had a damn good reason why, and if he doesn’t, then he’s just as bad as anyone else that’s ran for office, and he can stick his “Hope for Change” where the sun doesn’t shine.
Also, if you want to go a step further, which I implore you to do, visit DivestObama and let him know you won’t be donating any further monies to his campaign unless he remains true blue on this issue.
I waited a bit to do this review, mainly because I’d heard it through the grapevine that we were all supposed to keep our keyboards closed after the screening I attended.
The Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar here in Austin played host to the first public screening of Disney/Pixar’s WALL-E, with a big thanks to Harry Knowles for continuing to bring us fantastic opportunities like this.
But, enough time has passed, and I’ve just gotta’ say it: Wall-E is magnificent.
Everything you could imagine wanting from this film, you’re going to get, and so much more that you probably never saw coming.
I’m not going to propose to be an expert on the stock market. Or anything financial, really. My forte in life has never been finances, as I’m not some genius when it comes to my own checkbook.
I’m not someone who feels that rich/wealthy/affluent people are to cause for the woes of the poor. Just because someone’s successful doesn’t mean they’ve gotten there by stepping on the backs of others.
With that being said…
One thing keeps sticking out to me about our current economy. Speculation. Basically people investing in something that has a proven track record. When they invest, it becomes more valuable, so the price goes up. And people keep investing, because the price is going up, and everyone wants a piece of it.
See a pattern? And that’s why housing prices went up a few years ago. That’s why gas prices are through the roof. That’s why the price of wheat, grains, corns and other food necessities keep moving northward.
Because since people need something, they’ll shell out whatever money thy have to. Or get it however they can. OH Wait! Gimme More!
Yesterday when I eagerly watched the keynote from Apple’s WWDC08, one thing immediately struck and scared me: Steve Jobs looked frail.
I’m not talking thin. Or healthy. I’m specifically talking about the kind of skinniness you don’t tend to see in healthy people, especially not those that make the fists over fists of money that Steve Jobs does. Sure, he’s always been a health conscious sort of guy, but I started to wonder, “Is Steve sick again?”
Who would have thought that when the 2008 Presidential Elections rolled around, we’d have such a clear choice: the past or the future.
Really, there’s no other way to think about it.
On one hand, you have the youngest candidate to ever run for the office of President of the United States. Barack Obama. Plus he’s the first black candidate nominated by a major American party. Plus he’s a liberal. Plus he’s only been as a senator for a few short years. Plus he’s one of the most amazingly powerful orators this country has ever seen. He’s exciting. He’s fresh. And every single one of his policies is a complete and distinct break from the present administration. You have a candidate whose decision to forego PAC and lobbyist money has in one day already changed the way the Democratic National Committee operates.
On the other hand you’ve got good ol’ John McCain. A man I supported back in 2000 when the Republican primaries were happening, when we were all looking for the person to take control after Bill Clinton. If elected he would be the oldest first-term President in US history. His viewpoints continue to push the status quo on Iraq, on taxes, on the treatment of Americans in comparison to corporations. He’s sided with Bush’s policies 95% of the time during the last year and his speeches are rarely rousing and typically full of gaffes.
Obama draws 30,000+ people to his speeches. McCain is lucky to get 300.
I can’t say that this movie experience was like any other. First, I saw the movie earlier than its release. Second, I’m with a ton of fans who are all chomping at the bit to see the next big-screen incarnation of the green monster. Third, director Louis Letterier, actor Tim Roth, and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, were all in attendance. Fourth, before the movie started, I was able to shake Tim Roth’s hand and inform him, “Mr. Roth, you are amazing in Rob Roy,” to which he replied, “Thanks, thanks a lot!”
So, obviously, by the time the Universal logo came on screen, I was in high spirits. The movie would have to be a large pile of dung for me to absolutely hate it. In other words, the film would have to be as bad as the last film incarnation of Bruce Banner’s alter Ego, Ang Lee’s atrocious “The Hulk.”
No mopey, whiney hero. No ‘out of control can’t stop it’ permeating the entire movie. Thanks be to the team mentioned above and God in his heaven, The Incredible Hulk is just what it needed to be.
What is the “Lessons” section? Well, I figured it was just going to be my little place on the web to put advice, tips, tricks, general practices, and as it would seem, recipes!
Maybe I shouldn’t be teaching a lesson on something I just cooked for the first time ever, but considering how good it turned out, i figured why the hell not. There are dozens of recipes out there anyway, so if you don’t like what I did, well, you can just follow one of those
