As I begin to write more on this blog, I plan on carving a new one out of it, with more focus and a real drive behind it. A specific topic, you know? Think about Engadget, TUAW, Switched. Blogs that report on information, in a tailored fashion to a select audience. I doubt I'd be the next Engadget, but I'd still love to give it a good, solid try.
This is where my current base comes into play. You are all my friends, my family. I have a few ideas, and I'd like a few more. If you want to make a suggestion, talk to me about it, email me, anything to get them into my head to mull, mix, and become something.
More than that, I need talented writers who want something to give them direction. We all have blogs, but few of us write. So, if you write well, and you know how to research, then get in contact with me, and we'll see if we can't work something out. What could be cooler than being the base of a start up blog that could one day be huge?
Ok, maybe a lot of things, but still.
I can't wait for the -enthusiastic- response I'm sure to get!
An update to Twitter's spam removal service resulted in a completely out of control anti-spam bot that removed a lot of followers from peoples list. I don't have a ton of watchers, but nonetheless, I lost almost all the ones I had. Twitter is working towards restoring the lists of everyone, so just sit tight and hopefully all our friends will be ours again. Just clearing the air for everyone that will be inevitably confused as to what all has happened.
I believe this was a failed attempt from the robots to overthrow us. Thank god they didn't succeed. And, they gave me something to write about!
When I saw Batman Begins in theaters, I was seriously impressed, and excited like a little school girl at the direction that Hollywood is taking my favorite DC comic hero.
Today, I saw The Dark Knight. Mark this on the record books, because my barriers for awesome have officially been blown away. The Dark Knight has, on every level, completely rewritten what it is that makes a movie great to me. I promise I'm not hyping it up when I say that that was the most near-to-perfect movie of the genre that I have ever seen.
The stars are most definitely the biggest three players in the movie. We have the prolific Batman played by Christian Bale, the malevolent Joker played by Heath Ledger, and Aaron Eckhart as the District Attorney, Harvey Dent. I won't go into details when it comes to how these three interact, as that's all part of the magic that this movie is so plentiful of, but I will make it a point to tell you this. As much as this is a Batman movie, the real star was Heath Ledger as the Joker.
I'm not a huge Heath fan, not crazed or anything like that. To be honest, before The Dark Knight, the only other movie I had even heard his name in was Brokeback Mountain, and from what I heard about that movie, I really wasn't interested in exposing myself to this actor. When I heard about his death, I did some research on him, and grew to respect his abilities, but I still wasn't -sold-.
Then I see Dark Knight, and I am forever changed. The late Ledger played the role of the Joker so -perfectly-, there's no other way to describe it than chilling. His presence onscreen is demanding of an audience, as he seems to have very little control over himself. His eyes, the flicking of his tongue as he speaks, the very way he speaks is all very... authentic. This isn't the Joker that you could never imagine existing. Ledger portrays him in such a way that he's believable to the point that you're glad it's a movie.
When you read of Ledger's devotion to the role, you gain another level of respect to his professionalism. Ledger lived alone in an apartment, spending hours upon hours just practicing posture, voice, and movements. He spent days reading The Killing Joke and the like. Ledger kept a diary of the Joker's thoughts and feelings as he practiced, pulling himself deep into the character. What he produces on screen is nothing less than a marvelously anarchic version of the Joker. Pure brilliance, and it will probably go down as Ledger's crowning achievement through his short time as an actor.
The story itself was deep, brooding, and at times, amazingly tense. Lighthearted humor here and there sprinkle the overall feeling that everything is spiraling out of control, just furthering your confusion as one moment Bruce Wayne is making a little humor at the sake of the District Attorney Harvey Dent, and moments later he's scrambling to get to his Batman suit as the Joker busts into his party, threatening everyone there.
The mood in the movie is dark and deep, reflecting on the challenges being faced by our heroes. Every moment, you can connect with any actor on screen, and feel the emotions and the weights that just wear at them. My overall view of the movie is definitely one of the best this season, and absolutely the best Batman movie ever. I can soundly give this movie a full 10 out of 10, and I highly recommend you take 2 and a half hours to watch it, they're worth the money spent. To help you hurry along, please enjoy this trailer, it's got some wonderful dialogue from the Joker himself:
On a different note, the one thing I can truly complain about is that the movie was almost ruined, as a high-pitched guy behind us couldn't find a way to just sit back and watch the movie. There were more than a few moments where I would have been riveted, where instead I was infuriated as the guy behind us whinnied his mouth off. I'm sure you won't have to deal with him, though, so don't let that deter you. I've got his address, anyways.
Every once in a while, for those of you who read this little corner of the world, I'll be exercising my writing to keep it strong. I don't know what form each will take, but expect odd things. One day it could be lighthearted, the next issue could be a deep chunk of my conscious exposed for your eyes to sift through. Please, feel free to comment what you will on them!
You have all seen the commercials lately on television, if you watch it at all during the day or at night: it speaks of how Anheuser-Busch is the original, real American beer. Personally, I could care less about beer, I'm not a regular drinker of alcohol, and when I do allow myself a drink, it's often to taste the drink, rather than achieve any sort of state. Still, I have found my fur has been ruffled with this series of commercials because, where I don't care for beer, I stand strong with patriotism and what it stands for. These commercials are for people like me: they're attempting to sell beer to people with the pitch that they're American. These commercials are relatively new, as in that they haven't been running on commercial spots for years.
Why would a patriotic commercial selling a brand of beer bother me? Alone, I'd have no issue with this. Anheuser-Busch is an American company, founded by Eberhard Anheuser in St. Louis, Missouri in the wonderful year of 1860. Along with his son-in-law, Adolphus Busch, they began the legacy that has become the American beer giant Anheuser-Busch. The issue is, they aren't going to be an American company for long.
As of July 13, Anheuser-Busch is in serious talks to merge with InBev, which is a Belgian-Brazilian brewing company. This company has been noted for it's underhanded tactics in the aquisition of brewing companies before, as Anheuser-Busch found out when InBev made a direct offer to shareholders in hopes to oust the board members. On top of such underhanded acts, InBev is currently under fire about possible dealing with Cuba, that they are currently attepmting to keep under wraps, because if such accusations were true, additional obstacles would be encountered when it came to dealing in the United States. While Anheuser successfully defended itself from the direct-to-shareholder offers InBev made, they have, as of the 13th, agreed to a merger, paying out 70$ a share.
Aside from InBev's underhanded tactics and possible shady dealings, they make note to assure those wary, like myself, of the merger that no brewing sites in the great U.S. of A. would close, and that they'll make an effort to keep a majority of management and board members with the new company. This is where I begin to shake my head in disbelief, as often, these kinds of deals where promises of 'attempts' and sincere 'hopes' often fall short of the expectations that they originally had spoken of. InBev will allow two board members to sit on the new Board of Directors. These two members will be faced with the rest of the board, which has been operating together and with similar interests for years. Should the decision be brought to the table to turn Anhueser-Busch as a label into the most watered-down piss liquid possible while still qualifying as a beer, these two members will find it hard-pressed to convince the rest of the board to do otherwise. While I'm not saying that scenario will occur, I believe I've made my point; the control of the company is no longer in the hands of those directors. The company is no longer American owned.
Which leads back to the commercials. I appreciate an American owned company. I like to know that the companies that make the stuff I buy, live in the country I live in. They see what we need better than anyone else could. You cannot possibly know what Americans want more than Americans do. Sue me for loving my country, and enjoying the idea that we still have companies that make product here, sell product here, and hire people here. What I'm confused about is the timing to these commercials. What a better time to tell your country and the people who drink your beer that you're American than right before you sell out to an outside business interest that is very much not American. I appreciate Anhueser-Busch because it's American, and it stayed that way for so long, even when the popular thing to do was to sell for massive profit to another company who wants stake in the American economy. It depresses me that, through all of that, I'm now seeing another company pressured into such an act.
Perhaps my facts are not straight, or I don't have the whole picture. I've done research, I've read about the situation, I'm not uninformed. Still, I'm not too high on myself to admit that I can only see so far as my position lets me, and I'm not an Anheuser-Busch shareholder, board member, or an executive with InBev. All I know is what I read, and I make sure I really read before I speak. With the information I've gathered, this is a bleak and saddening day for beer enthusiasts and patriotically minded people like myself everywhere. I doubt InBev will ruin Anheuser, but I can't see them running it as an American company.
It's also worth note that Anheuser-Busch is one of the few companies I can think of that is still run principally by a family member of the original founding families. Currently, August A. Busch IV is the President and CEO of Anhueser-Busch. For a company that large, that's a feat to applaud, and a real testament to the American Dream. Also, Anheuser-Busch is a staunch supporter of our troops, proven through actions and commercials alike.
This commercial was put out by Busch sometime in 2005, and unlike most patriotic commercials, I really feel like this was more sincere. Enjoy this, specifically if you respect and admire our men and women serving in the Armed Forces:
Simple, well done, and respectable. No beer, no flashy signs. Just a video of something that actually happens when our boys and girls get back.
Somehow or another a little comment on a series of commercials about beer became an overly Americanized rant on buy outs, foreign companies, and the American Way. Go figure. Still, it was fun to write about, and it puts another entry into the blog. Hope you made it through that.
I finally achieved my goal of getting an iPhone! Yeah, I know in a matter of days, Apple will be releasing the highly acclaimed 3G iPhone, with A-GPS, 3G network support, and a new, lower subsidized price for new and returning users of ATT's network. Sign a two year contract, and you're set with an 8GB iPhone for 199$, and a 16GB iPhone for 299$. Sadly for myself, I could never guarantee for two years that I could pay 60$+ a month.
So I shopped around, Craiglist'd around, eBay'd around, and I found one I could afford, a 4GB original iPhone for 200$! Now it's here, and it's all sorts of the badass I had expected it to be. I can honestly say it was the best 200$ I've ever spent. Now, I'm saving up to make another 100$ for GoPhone Pay As You Go service! Soon, I'll be rocking in style, so check it then!
As an added notice, I'm also rocking the Twitter, hardcore. I think. Well, we'll see when I start using it more. Still, I'm in a great mood about my recent situation. iPhone for the win! Wait... do I capitalize the I? We'll figure this out in due time. Till then, keep rolling like a stone, bloggers and friends.
Those who read this most know me, and would know how to explain me better than I ever could. I love anything Apple, I love to get mad while I cook, and I love to procrastinate. This blog is a testament to that.
Get this, apparently, Blogspot knew my answer for Occupation. Graphic Designer specializing in Procrastination. Huh.
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