Juggernaut

Hey Everyone,
As am sure you all know by know, the much anticipated X-Men 3 will be coming out on May 26th, 2006.

I was, and still am, very happy that one of the villains in this movie will be The Juggernaut. In X-Men lure, The Juggernaut was the half-brother of Charles Xavier (Professor X), and was basically a huge, unstoppable wrecking machine. He was huge, about 7 feet tall, and just about as broad as he was tall.

Here's my gripe. Vinnie Jones has been cast as the Juggernaut. I'm not so unhappy about that in-and-of itself, but the fact that there is a clearly better choice for the character than Jones.

And that person is named Paul Wight. For those of you who don't know, Wight was (and maybe still is) a professional wrestler known as 'The Big Show'. Here's the reason Wight is the quintessential Juggernaut. He's 7'1'' and about 475 pounds. The guy's a one man demolition crew. Jones is a big guy too, but he's only about 6'2" (my height) and not much bigger than I am. That's not very Juggernautish.

Point is, Jones is cool, but Wight would have been the best choice. And sometimes, when I'm alone, I get afraid that Wight will come after me, rip my arm off and use it as a toothpick.

- Rob

Batman Begins

Hey Everyone,

As I'm sure you all know, I am a huge movie fan and a huge Superhero fan. For a long time I tried to figure out which superhero I liked the best, but then I decided I had to stop trying to decide before my head exploded.

Anyways, one of my definite favorite Superheroes is Batman, and recently Batman Begins came out on DVD. If you haven't seen Batman Begins yet, stop reading, drive to Best Buy (a.k.a. Heaven), buy it, drive home, watch it, then finish reading my blog.

Ok, so now I can assume everyone has seen it. Let us continue.

Anyways, I'm sure most of you have more of a life than I do, so I'll explain to you why the making of Batman Begins brings the Earth back into balance, and lets me live a happy and fulfilling life...

In 1989, relatively unknown director Tim Burton was hired to make Batman (starring Michael Keaton as Batman), which turned out to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Superhero movies ever. Burton and Keaton teamed up again to make Batman Returns (1992). This is where the story becomes interesting. Batman Returns is considered one of the 'good' Batman movies, but I'm convinced that is only because Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997), both directed by Joel Schumacher, were such horrible debacles (especially the latter).

Anyways, the point is that as of 1992, Batman fans have been forced to endure one heartbreaking disaster after another. That was until, the summer of 2005, when director Chistopher Nolan (Insomnia, Memento) created Batman Begins.

I'm not really sure why Batman Begins was such a great movie, and I'm pretty sure part of it was because the last two Batman movies were so bad, that this one couldn't have possibly matched those two. There are two things I have identified as the main reasons that Batman Begins is so terrific. One of these things is that the casting. It was perfect. George Clooney as Batman? Give me a break. Christain Bale kicked ass. The other thing I realized that makes Batman Begins such a breath of fresh air, is how dark it is. Unlike Batman Forever, and Batman & Robin, Batman Begins was true to the "Dark Knight" Batman style that made Burton's Batman films so terrific. For some reason, Joel Schumacher thought Batman was best exemplified by neon lights and ridiculous C.G.I. He was wrong.

But that's enough of my yappin', now go do something productive, like watching Batman Begins.

- Rob

The Man In Black

Recently, the movie Walk The Line has come out and has got me thinking about Johnny Cash again. Johnny is one of the most wellknown people that no one really seems to know anything about. Most people seem to think that Johnny was just another backwater hick from Arkansas, who could play the gutair, but he was so much more.

Johnny was born on February 26th , 1932 and died on September 12, 2003. In those 71 years, he lived more than lives than anyone could imagine. He went from picking cotton on a farm in Arkansas, to playing songs for five different U.S. Presidents in the White House. On one particular trip to the White House, an When invited to perform at the White House for the first time in 1972, President Richard Nixon's office requested that he play "Okie from Muskogee" (a Merle Haggard song that negatively portrays youthful drug users and war protestors) and "Welfare Cadillac" (a Guy Drake that derides the integrity of welfare recipients). Cash refused to play either song (he found both songs, particularly the latter, morally reprehensible) and played a series of his own more left-leaning, politically-charged songs, including "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" and "Man in Black."

Johnny Cash, along with Hank Williams, is one of only two people ever inducted into The Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame, The Country Music Hall of Fame, and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Johnny overcame an addiction to Speed to become one of the most beloved and respected musicians of all-time. At a time when record executive were deliberately trying to change the country music genre into a softer, bubblegum genre known as pop-country (i.e. Garth Brooks) Johnny Cash flat out refused to sell out and change his image in order to make money. When other country performers were playing at huge stadiums for thousands of high paying fans, Johnny Cash decided to go to Folsom Prison and give a free a concert to those who had nothing.

In short, Johnny Cash was a man who stood up for what he believed in, no matter what he was up against. He wasn't afraid to announce his faith, his fears, and his love.

Near the end of his life, Johnny covered many of his favorite songs. If you want to hear some truly amazing music, check out Johnny's covers of these songs:

U2 - One
Nine Inch Nails - Hurt
Soundgarden - Rusty Cage
Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus
Tom Petty - Won't Back Down
The Eagles - Desperado
The Beatles - In My Life

The Death Knell of Democracy

"News is a network's sacred obligation to serve the common good. To inform and educate, to uplift and in some cases; shame. The day they are judged solely on profit, is the day the death knell sounds on the free and open exhange of ideas that we call a democracy."

- Jim Dial; from Murphy Brown
It sometimes amazes me how
prophetic a TV show can be

Office Space S.E.

Hey Everyone,

I went to Best Buy the other day and picked up the Office Space: Special Edition (with flair!). It's pretty sweet, but for a special edition there really isn't that much on it. They added a few deleted scenes (and let's just say....it's not hard to figure out why they were deleted), as well as a retrospective featuring Mike Judge and som of the stars (except John McGinley, who would have been the best), and that's pretty much it.

In the box you get a pad of paper, mouse pad, cheap pen & pencil set, a coffee mug and a cheap red stapler (both are in-jokes from the movie). Overall, it's not really worth the $23, except for the fact that the movie alone is worth that much. Skip the Special Edition, you won't be missing much.

- Rob

Top 10 - Villains

Hey Everyone,

Recently, I've found The AFI (American Film Institute) website which shows all their lists for many different categories, such as greatest film, greatest song, etc. One which I found especially interesting was The Top 50 Greatest Heroes & Villains in the history of American Films. I've decided to post my top 10 favorite villains, since I have some major problems with the AFI list. I think I'm going to make these lists a regular feature on my blog.

1. Darth Vader
- The Empire Strikes Back
2. The Joker
- Batman
3. Hannibal Lecter
- The Silence of the Lambs
4. Jack Torrance
- The Shining
5. The Terminator
- The Terminator

6. John Milton
- The Devil's Advocate
7. Agent Smith
- The Matrix
8. Walter Finch
- Insomnia
9. T-1000
- Terminator 2
10. John Doe
- Se7en

- Rob