Smallville Rocks!

Alright, I finished all my Smallville DVD’s (seasons 1-4) last week after my stopover at the ER, but I haven’t had anytime to really talk about it because work has completely consumed my life through the duration of the holiday season. Seeing how I finally have some free time now, there are some things I gotta get out about this series, the good and the bad.

I’ll start with what I didn’t like because I have less criticism for the series and more acclaim for it.

Areas of opportunity:

• What bothered me the most is vilification of Jor-El. Even now, this just disgusts me to the core. Jor-El is supposed to be a highly benevolent person, yet the series makes him out as a villain with ulterior motives for sending Kal-El (aka Clark Kent / Superman) to earth. WTF!!! He sent his only son to earth because his planet was going to explode! This just pisses me off! Many of the wonderful characteristics and honorable personality traits that Superman develops is from Jor-El.
• I was also troubled by the effects of different colored Kryptonite rocks. Obviously green Kryptonite is deadly to Clark… and red Kryptonite fucks his mind up. I feel this is well known fact to anyone who is familiar with Superman lore… however, the series decided to add black Kryptonite and apparently splits people. Why did they invent a new kind of Kryptonite? There are already other established Kryptonite colors they could have picked from… there’s blue Kryptonite that strengthens Superman (and is deadly to Bizarro), there’s gold Kryptonite that has the potential of vanquishing all of Superman’s powers permanently if he were to be exposed to it, etc…
• I didn’t like the introduction of characters that Clark isn’t supposed to meet until he’s older. Lex Luthor is the only acceptable character for this show because much of the series’ plot revolves around the notion that Clark and Lex could have been friends before they became arch-enemies. Other characters like Lois Lane and Perry White should not have made appearances in this show! He’s supposed to meet these people after he’s made the clear choice to split his persona into that of Clark Kent and Superman… in the show, his character is the combination of what will be known as the typical Superman character and the Clark Kent character. Most of his future disguise (regardless of what Jennifer seems to think is only the eye glasses) is the character of Clark Kent that he becomes. This is the character that Perry White and Lois Lane know… not the Clark Kent of this show whose personality is a mixture of Superman and Clark Kent.
• Finally, too many people know Clark’s secret in this series. At the rate of people learning his secret, the entire town of Smallville should know his secret by the time the series comes to an end.

What makes the show great:

• I love the fact that the series sometimes uses the John Williams Krypton theme music. As much as I am a Star Wars whore, my favorite John Williams music is his Krypton theme. I think the Ron should be in total agreement with me on this point! Here's a clip of the Krypton music for those who are unfamiliar with what I'm talking about:
  
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• Up until Bryan Singer created the X-Men movies, comic book movies really sucked for the most, except for Superman (the first movie that is)! Btw: Bryan Singer is also the director of the new Superman movie, so I’m 100% confident that it will be truly awesome. Anyway… my point about the original movie is that it was great… and I loved the fact that the Smallville series incorporated actors from the original movie into the story line. Christopher Reeve, who played Superman, was given the role of Dr. Swan in the series before he tragically died in October of 2004. Margot Kidder, who played Lois Lane, was given the role of Bridgette Crosby in the series. Terrance Stamp, who played General Zod, provides the voice of Jor-El in the Smallville series. Annette O’Toole, who played Lana Lang in Superman III, has the role of Martha Kent in the series.
• I also enjoy the interpretation on how Lex Luthor becomes evil. I like to think that every starts out good… it’s just some become evil through the journey of life. So it’s interesting watch Lex struggle with his own being… trying to do what’s right, but ultimately just making the wrong decisions that puts him on the path to becoming the greatest criminal mind the world has ever known. In the end, you have to give him some respect… a normal human being constantly fighting the world’s greatest superhero. You’d expect some villain with super human powers to be Superman’s arch nemesis, but it’s simply a normal human being who happens to be criminal mastermind.
• The series also stays true to Clark and Lana’s relationship. They can’t really ever be together because ultimately Lois Lane is the love of Clark’s life. What’s funny though is that the same reasons that Clark and Lana don’t work out are very similar to why Clark and Lois don’t really work out. I call it a typical hero problem. Lois is in love with Superman, but not with Clark. She loves the superhero, not the mild mannered reporter. This seems to be a common problem amongst superheroes. The lyrics of Chad Kroeger’s Hero speak directly to this problem.
• Lastly, I think it was a wise choice to focus on the character of young Clark Kent and avoid bringing in the Superman costume. Superman is someone he becomes at a later age once he’s fully secure with who he is. It would be grossly premature to bring the notion of the Superman costume into the Smallville series.

So there’s my two cents on how the Smallville series is doing. Overall, I think it’s awesome! It kills me that I have to wait several more months for season 5 to be released on DVD!

NOTE: I really enjoyed the new Superman Returns teaser trailer! The trailer uses the Krypton theme, which make me giddy like a little school girl! And I absolutely love the fact the Bryan Singer is still using Marlon Brando as Jor-El in his new movie. I really have a great appreciation for the manner in which Brando played Jor-El in the first Superman movie!

What I find ironic is that Jor-El essentially speaks to Superman from beyond the grave… in a very similar manner that Brando is still playing the part of Jor-El!

Hit Me With Your Best Shot

It amazes me how much effort we place on stupid shit at work that really has no positive effect on the business. I took this video off of our security cameras, and one of my PC Techs, Joseph, editted it and added a soundtrack to it.

The video is a bit choppy and blurry, but I'll give you the rundown on what happened. Saturday morning Sean walked into our warehouse while some of the warehouse associates were playing basketball. (This would be the same Sean who dealt with the bitchy customers fighting from the Black Friday post, and the same person performing the Beavis and Butthead Dance.) Anyway, someone threw the ball really hard and missed quite badly. The ball hits the corner of door that Sean was entering and then hits him firmly in a sensitive spot of the male anatomy.


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The camera records at 10 frames a second as opposed to normal video which is about 30 frames per second... hence the choppy look. The ball is moving so fast that it's really difficult to even see it.

Black Friday

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is historically the busiest retail shopping days of the year. Many consider it the "official" beginning to the holiday season. Most retailers will open very early… we opened at 5:00am.

Yesterday was my fifth Black Friday with the company, second with the store I’m currently at. It’s always extremely busy each year on this day… however yesterday; we had more people than ever! This is the first year we weren’t able to fit everyone waiting outside to get in into the store at the same time. We had to let people into the store in shifts. There was a line just to get into the store for over three hours!

To prepare for the considerably substantial number of people shopping with us, especially early in the morning, we made maps of the store, vouchers for really hot ad items that we had a limited quantity of, etc…

Here’s how crazy some of the people were this year waiting to get in… I had Sean, one of my merchandise managers, go outside to hand out maps of the store. The first thing he hears as he gets out the door is two female customers arguing… more accurately, he heard, “Fuck you, you skanky ho! I’ll kick you’re fucking ass!”

Joe, one of the sales managers, had to deal with two other customers fighting in line to get. One customer who did not get voucher for a $200 laptop told another customer who did get a voucher that she and her boyfriend would kill her if she bought the laptop. Luckily the police showed up almost immediately. Unfortunately, the small city of Sunset Valley only had one police officer on duty, so he had to call the county Sheriff’s office to come out too. So for the first several hours of the morning, we had police on crowd control.

Overall, besides the insane amount of people running around the store all day long, the day ran quite smoothly. Even so… my version of hell would be a continuous Black Friday for eternity!

XBox360-Mania

For those who don't know, the XBox360 is due to be released on Tuesday, November 22... and there is a lot of hype building on it. I've work at an electronics retailer for about five years, and I've never seen so much brouhaha over anything we sell like this! We had people camping outside our store! WTF!!! This isn't the release of a Star Wars movie... it's a game system for the love of god!

More Than Meets The Eye

I saw this on a car at the Tinseltown 20 parking lot yesterday before Harry Potter... I gotta find one of these for my car, except I'm gonna get a Decepticon one! I already found some at stickergirl.com.

BTW: I really didn't like this Harry Potter movie very much... I can't quite put my finger on it... something about the movie just rubbed me the wrong way. I'm gonna need to see it again (when I'm not drugged up), and perhaps I'll like it more.

The MIsery Of Migraines

I hate migraines… they always derail my focus and shake my confidence! Out of nowhere, they just attack. While I can typically handle the immense amount of pain and get rid of them in just a matter of hours, the thing that bothers me most about my migraines is the fact they usually leave my mind in a mental mess for about a day.

I always feel that the unknown is exciting and thrilling, but at times also scary. This is normal though… nothing unusual. It’s just most of the time when things feel daunting or even overwhelming, I just don’t know where or who to turn to for comfort.

Where do I go if I get in over my head? Who will save me when I need to be rescued? What do I do when completely consumed by fear? I don’t know… there may not be any answers.

My Smallville Marathon

So as it turns out, I had the last three days off. So what do I do? I waste it, naturally! Hehe!

I’ve watched no less than 50 hours of Smallville over the last 3 days, and I’m only half way through my DVD sets! What’s truly sad is that I’m actually trying to schedule my entire next week around trying to finish the DVD’s. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it though… just not enough time!

I don’t want to sound like a total bum… I did do other things too… I ate and slept. I also had lunch two days with Josh and Joe while I was doing some research at work for a few hours. But for the most part, it was all about the Smallville marathon! I’ll need to write a thorough review of the series once I complete it… it’s incredible!

How Much Is My Blog Worth?

WTF!!! This is bullshit! How could this happen? It should be over $10,000! LOL!

My blog is worth $9,032.64.
How much is your blog worth?

Rate Your Life

Here's another personality test I ran across on The Barlow's site. I feel a bit conflicted about the results though. Well, good or bad, it's fairly accurate. I guess it just shows that there are some areas of opportunity. Heh!

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	6.2
Mind:	6.7
Body:	9
Spirit:	7.5
Friends/Family:	3.2
Love:	0
Finance:	8.4
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

Tired, But Still Kicking!

Wow… the last two days at work have worn me out. I’ve just felt completely depleted. My day on Monday consisted of organizing the warehouse after a massive shipment and preparing for the seasonal new hires. Yesterday was just long because I had to close after Josh, Ross, and I had to attend a district hr meeting in the morning. The only thing I really took away from that meeting was that sex with your subordinates is bad.

The holiday season at work is now here, which is always a mixed blessing. On one hand, it’s completely consuming… but on the other hand, I have no time to think about how lonely I feel because I’m always at work nonstop. So, I’ll take the good part! Hehe!

I slept really well; in fact probably too well. I slept about 10 hours, so naturally I get a migraine for oversleeping! God forbid I try to catch up on some sleep! I had an appointment with Justin today at the gym… I swear he’s trying to kill me! With all of the balancing with heavy weights, all I really need is a group of people beating me with canes at the same time, and then I can become a member of the League of Shadows (er, from Batman Begins!)

Speaking of comics, I just got an email yesterday from Sony Pictures… it appears that Thomas Haden will be the next Spiderman villain. He’ll be playing Flint Marko, aka Sandman. I’m only now becoming pissed off about this choice of villain! There are so many other Spiderman villains that would be so much better… Venom, Green Goblin 2, Hobgoblin, Carnage (my personal favorite), etc… Whatever, I just hope it’s good.

Yoda Rap

Yeah... this has been on the net for a few days now. It's pretty short and quite funny. Supposedly it's an easter egg on the new Revenge of the Sith DVD, but hell if I know where it is on the disc!


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Create Your Own Avatar

The Barlow came across this cute site that allows you to create your own avatars. Here's one of me... I still don't know what to think about it. It's missing a lightsaber!


Click here to create your own avatar!

When Bored...

I saw this personality test on Laura's blog this evening... since I was bored out of my mind, I went ahead and took one of the longer questionaires. I was surprised to see that the results are almost identical to other personality tests I've taken in the past. I think the last time I took one, I was an ENTP, this time around I was ENTJ. This last test showed the P (Perceiving) to be 49.89% and the J (Judging) to be 50.11%... so really I guess it could go either way. LOL!

Extroverted (E) 72.86% Introverted (I) 27.14%
Intuitive (N) 55.38% Sensing (S) 44.62%
Thinking (T) 52.38% Feeling (F) 47.62%
Judging (J) 50.11% Perceiving (P) 49.89%

ENTJ - "Field Marshall". The basic driving force and need is to lead. Tend to seek a position of responsibility and enjoys being an executive. 1.8% of total population.

Take Free Jung Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Main type	Variant

Take Free Enneagram Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Enneagram Test Results Type 1 Perfectionism |||||||||||||||| 70% Type 2 Helpfulness |||||||||||||||||||| 90% Type 3 Image Awareness |||||||||||||||||||| 86% Type 4 Sensitivity |||||||||||||||||| 73% Type 5 Detachment |||||||||||||| 56% Type 6 Anxiety |||||||||||||||| 70% Type 7 Adventurousness |||||||||||||||||| 80% Type 8 Aggressiveness |||||||||||||||||| 76% Type 9 Calmness |||||||||||||||| 66% Your main type is 2 Your variant is sexual

Take Free Enneagram Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Great DIrector's Cut!

I’ve never really been big in purchasing the “Director’s Cut” of movies when I already own a copy of the original movie. Typically, there are only a few deleted scenes added to the special “Director’s Cut.” Huge rip off!!! This time around though, I heard the Director’s Cut of Daredevil was different… not only were some deleted scenes placed back into the movie, but some scenes from the theatrical version were taken out… the story actually changed a bit! So, I bought it yesterday (along with Revenge of the Sith of course) and I just finished watching it.

(Side note for those of you who know me quite well… I have not yet watched my new and legal copy of Revenge of the Sith. Why? Simple… I was stuck at work all day yesterday and watched it over and over again for 18 hours… my brain can’t take anymore Star Wars right now!)

Anyway… now from the start, I’ve always thought that Daredevil got an unfair rap… Yes, the comic books for Daredevil always sucked… and yes, the film had its problems and it was far from perfect… but the fact that many critics placed the film on their "Worst Of" lists for 2003 is simply ludicrous. This was clearly a case of critics jumping onto the hate bandwagon for a large scale film (Ron does this all the time now! Heh!) And, unfortunately for Ben Affleck, he is constantly the target of critic hatefests… sorry dude, Gigli didn’t help matters! LOL!

The Director’s Cut of Daredevil is a huge improvement over the original. It fleshes out many aspects that were glossed over in the 90 minute theatrical release. From what I can remember of the comics, this version is also far more loyal to the feel of the comic book Daredevil world… but again, I was never a really big Daredevil fan (long story)… but I did always relate to the tortured soul of Matt Murdock.

The best part is that the film is now darker overall, more violent and just plain grittier. The fights, particularly those near the end with Bullseye and Kingpen, are more extensive. They are bloodier and more intense and they work better in the context of this new cut. I noticed that this version is now rated R!

The most significant aspect of this new cut might be that the story of Elektra now takes a distant backseat to Daredevil. This may actually explain the choice to go with the more streamlined original theatrical cut, in which Elektra is almost as big a character as Daredevil himself… which I found absolutely ridiculous!

Now, with a longer and more extensive backstory, Elektra is only a marginal character and her part on the whole is reduced. Parts of the love story from the theatrical cut have also been taken out, which shifts the focus from a romantic action story to a dark origin film.

This version makes Daredevil's story and his struggles a whole lot more engaging. I now would be very interested to see a second Daredevil film!

The Tragedy Of Anakin Skywalker

So, Revenge of the Sith will be released this Tuesday. This really should have been the best movie for the Star Wars saga, as it was the climactic point at which the hero falls to darkness (where Anakin becomes the monster, Darth Vader)… but it wasn’t… because George Lucas was too caught up in special effects that he completely forgot about the importance of the story!!! I digress…

Anyway, the entire Star Wars saga, can be viewed not just as a mythic story of heroes and villains, but more so as a tragedy… the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker. There is a general pattern that tragic heroes typically follow, or at least in the stories I’m familiar with (i.e. Shakespeare, Roman & Greek Mythology, comic books, etc…)

• The hero usually has some sort of high social status (like a king, prince, knight, etc…) The important thing with this attribute is that you can clearly see that this person has the makings of greatness, potentially. The Force, according to Qui-Gon and the Jedi council, is extraordinarily strong with young Anakin. Though Yoda has his doubts, Anakin is granted permission to be trained as a Jedi.
• The hero will have a flaw (the tragic flaw.) In Anakin’s case, his lust for power and control… even control over life and death!
• Something happens in the story that creates a sense of urgency! Anakin’s mother is captured by Tusken Raiders. He haphazardly ignores Obi-Wan’s orders to stay put and journey’s to find his mother.
• Then there’s some sort of accident. Things happen a split-second too late… the hero operates on what he believes to be the case rather than what he actually knows to be the case. Upon rescuing her at Tusken Raider encampment, Anakin’s mother dies… so Anakin decides to slaughter all the Tusken Raiders (even the women and children!!!)
• Conflicts arise which cause the death or alienation of all of the hero’s former friends, allies, and/or mentors, eventually removing all forms of support for the hero. He must now face things all alone. Well, Anakin demolishes the Jedi Temple, including all of the occupants (mostly children.) Oh yeah… he chops off Mace Windu’s hand too, essentially declaring his support to Darth Sidious! (on a side note... what the hell is up with George Lucas's fascination with all of the chopping off of limbs.? Darth Maul is chopped in half, Jango Fett's head is chopped off, Anakin's arms is chopped off, both of Count Dooku's hands are chopped off, Mace Windu's hand is chopped off, Luke's hand is chopped off, and Darth Vader's hand is chopped off... it's like a Monty Python flick!)
  
• Now that the hero is isolated there are new problems… sleeplessness, rage, confusion, hallucination, and violence! Through episodes 4 – 6, Darth Vader is isolated from everyone… everybody is scared shitless of this guy because he is pure evil, killing those who fail or even disappoint him!
• At some point, the opposing forces must mobilize against the hero in order to bring the tragedy to its conclusion. This is easy… the Rebel Alliance proves this point! They want Vader and the Emperor out of power!
  
• At some point, the hero must realize the mistake he has made that is bringing about his demise. He must know that he, and he alone, is to blame for his downfall. Unfortunately (or more appropriately, tragically,) this recognition always comes to late to save the life of the hero. Though ordered to do so by the Emperor, Darth Vader does not kill Luke. He realizes in the final battle that he does have feelings for his son… he’s not completely a monster.
• While the hero's life is forfeit, he does receive some chance to redeem himself, at least a little… a display of courage, nobility of the heart, self-sacrifice, something to show us that while he was someone who needed to be defeated, brought down, or even a monster, he had good in him. Darth Vader saves the life of his son by killing the Emperor (which in turn hastens his own death as the Emperor’s Sith lightening is short circuiting all of Darth Vader’s circuitry.)
• We must recognize what a tragic waste the death of the hero is, what kind of person he could have been had it not been for his mistakes and downfall (back to the beginning… recognition of the hero’s potential for greatness!) In Darth Vader’s last few moments alive with his son, we see and feel that Anakin was worth saving.
• The tragic hero must die! So yeah, Anakin dies on Death Star II. Very tragic!
  

The Phantom Zone

So I had a completely weird dream last night… first off, I find it even more strange that I remembered my dream. Haven’t done that in a really long time… I just assumed I stopped dreaming! Hehe! Anyway, my dream was about being stuck in the Phantom Zone. For those wondering, WTF… the Phantom Zone is that weird twilight dimension discovered by Superman's father, Jor-El. Kryptonian criminals were banished to the Phantom Zone to serve out their sentences as disembodied wraiths. Inside, the exhiled inhabitants exist in a phantom state… unaging… requiring no food… air… or water… communicating with one another telepathically.


How did this shit get in mind? Probably because I was watching Superman II last night at the store. Jor-El and the Kryptonian Council sentenced General Zod and his two lackeys, Ursa and Non, to spend eternity in the Phantom Zone for their crime of sedition. Anyway, they are able to observe everything that takes place in the physical universe - either on Earth or in outer space - even though they cannot be seen or heard themselves. So in the comic book, all the inhabitants of the Phantom Zone, including General Zod, have learned that Superman is secretly Clark Kent by observing Superman from inside the Phantom Zone. I’ve always wondered why this fact was never in the movie.

I don’t know whether I’m more excited about actually seeing the next Harry Potter movie, or the trailer that’s been promised to play before that movie (the Superman Returns trailer.)

Funny Flash Video

GothamWhore always has wonderfully enjoyable content on his blog... check out this funny flash video that he came across!

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/end.php

Pretty funny shit! :-D

Thinking About Vampire Movies With Halloween On The Way

I’ve definitely seen my share of vampire flicks, and before the mid 80’s, vampire movies were still suffering from a bad case of Lugosi-itis. For those not really into the vampire movie scene, that means the vampire genre still hadn’t been able to shake Bela Lugosi’s brilliant impression of a bloodsucker (no, not a lawyer) in Dracula more than 50 years earlier. Although other movies, and other actors, had all tried their hand at reinventing the vampire movie, the overwhelming impression was that a vampire was some guy who talked funny and wore evening clothes.

Tonight, I honor one of the great vampire movies, The Lost Boys (1987). Why this movie you ask… because I’m watching at the moment while I type this post out… it’s also the motivation behind me even typing this entry to begin with! Anyway, the movie freaking rocks! With this movie, vampires are hip and cool, who wear leather jackets and ride motorcycles and have great hair (well, for the 80’s that is). Best of all, they are young and attractive (always a plus), even when ready to make a withdrawal from your own private blood bank… in other words, they can suck me anytime! Heh! The movie’s tag line sums it up best: “Sleep all day… Party all night… It’s fun to be a vampire.”

Other fantastic vampire movies include: Fright Night (1985), Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), Vampire Hunter D (1985), Interview with the Vampire (1994), and Monster Squad (1987 – not specifically a vampire movie, but I love it just the same). Yes, there are others great ones, but these would be my favorites!

Dreadful Doom Movie

After reading about five great reviews on the new Doom movie, I fully expected the movie to at least be decent… so against my better judgment, I went to see it earlier today.

It was just as bad as I had anticipated before reading the reviews. Lesson learned… stop reading movie reviews! These people have lost there freaking minds!!!

In all fairness, there was one really great scene near the end of the movie that looked just like the classic Doom PC game. So if you’ve ever enjoyed playing the original game, you’ll get a kick out of that scene… that only lasts for about three minutes!

My recommendation… don’t go to the movie… instead, go purchase Doom 3 for PC. I’m certain you’ll be much more pleased with it rather than the movie. Better yet... if you're desperate for a great movie, wait for the new Harry Potter movie next month!!! That movie is going to kick ass!

No New Releases To Recommend Today!

Today’s New Release Tuesday sucked! Nothing particularly great came out on DVD today. One of my favorite things to do each Tuesday morning when I open is to go peruse the new releases and select my copies before the store opens… not today though! For the most part, it was just a huge disappointment!

I never saw the Bewitched movie with Nicole Kidman and Will Farrell… though seeing how it lasted like an entire three weeks at most of the theaters around here, I’m gonna take it that the movie probably isn’t very good. I could be wrong though, but I'm definitely not purchasing it on the off chance that I may be wrong!

Herbie: Fully Loaded was released today… also known as the last time Lindsay Lohan was cute! What happened with her anyway? She used to be quite attractive… now, not at all!

Also released today, House of Wax. Need I say more? To tell you the truth, I’d watch it just to see Paris Hilton get killed in it! It may be worth at least one viewing… probably not!

The only thing I may be interested in is the re-release of The Wizard of Oz. Wonderful movie… especially when you get drunk and watch it in unison with Dark Side of the Moon! I may need to schedule that for later on this week! :-D

At least Revenge of the Sith comes out next week! Yea!!!