For Chi

I don’t know why I’m writing this. Since finding out about Chi’s passing a few nights ago it’s been on my mind, yet there is not much emotion towards it. I haven’t cried, I haven’t acted differently or anything. I know we all handle things in our own way, and I’m sure it’ll hit me sooner than later. I can’t even say that I’m listening to the Deftones more because of Chi’s passing, honestly aside from a few bands here and there, I only listen to the Deftones haha. I will say this though… Over the past few years like many of you fans I’ve been following Chi’s progress. I mentioned this before on the Deftones Familia Facebook page that I often thought about Chi making a full recovery and how he’d react to everything that’s gone on since his coma started in late 2008.  I always wondered what he would say to all the love and prayers that’s been spread in honor of his tragedy the past 4 years. When I say love and prayers, I mean the benefits, the donations, the letters, the love, the concerts, the EVERYTHING that’s gone on in honor of him. I’d wonder what he’d think of the bands past two albums. I know he’d be proud of where they were. I thought about his first time back on the stage and how he’d rock out. I thought about all that a lot.

Now I don’t want to bore the few who will read this so I’ll try not to make this long. I don’t have any stories with personal conversations with Chi but I was able to meet him once. I started listening to the Deftones because my friend Dave (who is responsible for getting me into a good majority of the bands I listen to today) played the Around the Fur album on his stereo system in his basement one time. The first Deftones song I ever heard was (technically Teething from the CROW soundtrack) “Be Quiet and Drive.” I don’t know what it was about that song but I was hooked almost instantly. Of course after that my friend played “My Own Summer” and that was it. I needed to own this album. Every Friday night my friends and I would go to the mall because it was what the cool kids did in high school in 1999 and we were freshman at the time so of course that’s where we’d go. When we got to the mall I instantly went to the WALL a music store, and picked up the cassette of Deftones album along with Slipknots first album. Needless to say the Slipknot tape sat on the shelf for a good month or so cause I was hooked on Around the Fur. Eventually I bought Adrenaline and played that out along with Around the Fur til my ears bled. Wherever I went and had my Walkman with me, those tapes came along for the trip.

Later on that Summer my friend had gotten this promotion card in the mail from one of the CD stores at the mall called CD WORLD. He came running into the room, punched me in the arm and yelled.”THE DEFTONES ARE GONNA BE SIGNING THEIR NEW ALBUM AT CD WORLD!!!” I screamed out some profanities, which my friend’s mom wasn’t a fan of, but oh well. I was too excited to punch my friend back. As the postcard read, the Deftones were doing an autograph signing for the release of White Pony at midnight the day it comes out (which was also Chino Moreno’s birthday). I remember getting to the mall that day before it closed (probably around 8pm) and waited in line with all my friends. That night even though I don’t remember it well, I met Chi. The cops were very pushy that night trying to get people moving along. They had this whole purchase process thing going on where you’d buy the cd, 2 different lines, and a pain in the ass law enforcement that didn’t want to be there in the first place. I really wish I were able to have a conversation with Chi but that wasn’t the case that night. My friend Scott and I went into Spencer’s gifts and bout Chino this mega huge birthday card with half naked chicks on it for his birthday and had everyone sign it. I wonder if he still has that.

The picture below is of Chi Cheng and one of the township cops who was going to kick me out of the line for making a ruckus with my friends. Come to find out that he was a good friend with my uncle and every time there was a signing at that store he put me in front of the line regardless of how late I was. That was awesome, too bad I didn’t know him sooner. Someone posted this on one of the Chi Cheng pages and I almost crapped myself when I saw the cop haha.

Another story about the Deftones was when I was a Junior in high school.  Now listen, I really hate that I did this. I was a different kid in high school, and I spent most of my time being a wise ass. Surely things have changed since, but yeah… here it goes. My friends and I got the update on all things that were being released from the CD WORLD store. Since I was a friendly named basis with all the workers at CD WORLD they would inform me about cool things with my favorite bands. One of the workers named Gabe had informed me that the Deftones were coming out with a live DVD with them in Hawaii. It was going to be around $15. So the day arrives that the DVD is coming out and I’m flat broke. I’m 17 with a job, but of course I had responsibilities and needed to save for my future (mom made me haha). I was going into history class and saw these little money collection boxes that said UNICEF on them. Anyone not familiar with UNICEF it stands for United Nations Children’s Fund. So I took one of the boxes and started collecting money during lunch and what not. I was able to collect like $20, maybe a bit less and was able to buy the DVD after school. I’m not proud of what I did, but it shows the love that I had for the Deftones. That money was given back a few years later as I donated back to UNICEF, and I donate to various organizations every year (St. Jude’s, ASPCA, and local authorities like police and fire departments, and first aid squads).

I just want to thank Chi for everything. Chi and Fieldy were the two reasons I picked up the bass guitar. Fieldy with his style of playing, and Chi with his style of playing just made it seem so cool.  I want to thank him for giving me music along with the whole Deftones band. I’ve listened to so many bands in my days and I can honestly say through all the genres of rock/metal/hardcore I’ve been through the Deftones have stayed put in my music rotation. They never disappoint. I regret not listening to “Saturday Night Wrist” because when it came out I was in the hospital for 3 months with a leg infection and for some reason I just couldn’t get into any kind of new music at the time.  Deftones music has always been there for me. When a band makes a great album, you can listen to it a million times and it’ll never get old. It’ll never be overplayed, and it’ll surely never escape your mind. The Deftones have managed to do that with every album for me.

To anyone who managed to read this far, I just want to say thank you. It’s not a big story, but these were my memories about the Deftones and Chi Cheng.

To Chi: I know you’re gone from this world, but that doesn’t mean you’re gone anywhere else. Your shell may be put in the ground, but your spirit is floating through and shining on through each and every single person you’ve touched in your 42 years of existence. Every person has a story, memory, a good time, a bad time that they can reflect upon and share with one another. That’s why the Deftones family is so special. Surely people have stories and memories with their favorite bands, but this one is different. I’ve never felt so much love and respect between each fan as I do with the Deftones. When you’re at a show you can feel it. Everyone together, it’s there. There’s so much love there for Chi from every one that it’s impossible and I mean IMPOSSIBLE for him to ever really be gone.

There will be a special place in my heart for Chi.

One love to the Deftones family. 

Ode to Staches

When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do

is take a comb to my stache, and run it right through.

I look in the mirror, and lick it like a champ,

to get the flavors from the night before, 

the flavors from a tramp.

The stache has it's own number, and the ladies always call,

the stache is a lethal weapon, which weakens knees till they fall.

when I step in the club, I give my stache a good touch,

the power of the stache is incredible,

and could be too much.

There are often times, my stache has to hide,

cause of demands from women who want rides.

Nowadays I make appointments, for the ladies who pay.

But if you're lucky,

I'll give one away.

Staches are a symbol, of the mightiest men,

if you have a stache, you'll always have friends. 

if you're intimidated by the stache, there's a reason why

because staches are mean,

and make infants cry.

The stache is amazing, and it's worn by famous men

they know what it's for, it's a snack that keeps giving again, and again

if you are clueless who these people might be,

keep on reading the poem, and you will see.

Tom Selleck has a mustache, but his is subpar 

to the stache on Wilford Brimley that's bigger than a car.

The Pringles can guys is stachastic, but not as pretty

as the stache on the porno god of Ron Jeremy.

Captain James Hook, yeah he had a stache, 

but Burt Reynold's had one that would kick Hook's ass.

Remember Ned Flanders stache? that one was groomed

but nothing looked better than Mario's when he was on shrooms.

Hitler had a moustache, and we're glad that he's gone

Sgt. Slaughter had a better stache that could do no wrong.

Hulkster had a stache but no body cares

because Borat's was nice and had finer hairs.

Robert Goulet had a stache, and was far from homo

it was almost as good as good as the late Sunny Bono's.

That musician Yani, he had one like me,

but there's no way in hell it's better than Ron Burgundy's.

Jeff Foxworthy might be redneck, cause had has a stache

is it better than Richard Prior's? I'm gonna pass.

Lando Calrissian sported a stache it gave him a thrill,

and that loser tried copying him, give it up Dr. Phil.

We can never forget Yosemite Sam's stache too,

But Ron Swanson has a stache that's better than all of you.

A Day at the Stash

PREFACE:

The year was 1996. My cousin Lauren, and cousin Dana had rented a few movies from the video store (not RST). One of those movies they had rented was a movie called Mallrats. As I sat down, ready to watch a film I had seen a trailer for once, maybe twice, I had no idea what I was about to get my self into. As the movie started with Brodies dialogue I immediately asked myself, "Why would anyone stick a cat in their ass?" Being 11 years old, such things sounded silly. But once I learned of Walt's gerbil problem, it became clearer. For a movie that was just rented, my cousins surely watched it more than 5 times. As I watched the movie, my cousins continuously reenacted scenes including the first time you see Jay and Bob by the pet store. They knew Jay's little dance, they knew Jay's dialogue, we joked about the Easter Bunny at Menlo Park Mall because it was our local mall, and we surely got a kick out of the fact that old dirty US 1 Flea Market (now Loews Theater) was in a movie of all the things in NJ. As soon as the credits rolled, and the Weezer song hit, my first objective in life (more important than school, faith, and definitely more important than food) was to go to Suncoast Video in Menlo Park Mall and buy Mallrats on VHS. From there on out, I would see every Kevin Smith movie in theaters (not Clerks 2 cause I was in the hospital for that).

Now 1996 wasn't the only first Kevin Smith experience I had. I eventually went back and watched Clerks which became as addictive (if not more) than Mallrats. I was a local comic book shop in Edison, New Jersey called Steve's Comic Relief. For those who don't remember Steve's, it was downstairs by the Shop Rite on Oak Tree Rd, next to Movie City 6. I was in the back area looking at figures. I was with my friend Jeff who was reading comics at the time. A taller dude walked up next to me and started looking at the figures as well. He had long blonde hair, and was sporting a beanie. I laughed to myself and said. "Ha, that dude looks like Jay from Mallrats." I paused for a second, continued looking at old school Police Academy cartoon figures, and looked up again. I had heard the owner talking to someone at the front counter. Now I don't know what made me look up there, perhaps a familiar voice? How could I recognize the voice of Kevin Smith when I've maybe only heard him speak maybe 4 sentences in my entire life. I looked anyway and to my surprise stood a chubby, dark haired, glasses wearing, not so morose looking mother fucker. It was Kevin Smith, and there's no doubt in my mind, that the long blonde haired dude looking at figures, was Jason Mewes. I grabbed my friend, told him who it was (cause I've made him watch the movie hundreds of times) and we ran our asses upstairs to where my mom was shopping at Shop Rite. This was probably the last time I ever ran haha (RIP running skills 1996). She didn't believe us, but checked out, and brought us back downstairs anyways. Jay and Kev were cool enough to shake our hands, and sign autographs for us. Shameful to admit I was star struck, to think that these dudes would come to my local comic book shop is crazy. In my eyes they were big Hollywood actors. I was afraid to go inside and talk to Kevin, but I shook his hand. I was only 11 years old, and I was the biggest pussy in the world. 

It wouldn't be for another 16 years, and 7+ hours of waiting in line that I got to meet the man whom I appreciated and had respect for. Not to mention some kind of envy being that he's fat, successful, has a gorgeous wife, a kid, and people just love him. 

This is the story of my 2nd chance at meeting Kevin Smith, and going face to face with the Man.

The Stash, The Signing, and Batman on Fatman

The day started with Kenny Millroy picking me up. Big deal. We drove to Red Bank, and we got in line. The line we started in was around the building from where the Stash is (picture below). 

We weren't far from the front being that the side of the building isn't that long. After 2 and a half hours (around 2pm when the signing was supposed to start) My legs and feet had started to hurt. It was as long, and busy past 3 days for me so I went in the car... skip to where I was across the street from the Secret Stash at Starbucks. I was waiting in Starbucks while my friend Kenny and his GF were standing in line. I quickly left the Starbucks after a scene involving a man who was speaking rather loudly about an incident at a restaurant down the street where he locked himself in the bathroom or something. He then repeated the same stuff into a recorder. He kept getting louder and louder. That was my queue to leave before he pulled out a gun or something. I left the Starbucks and stood outside across the street. My friends were stuck in the same spot for a few hours. Though they may have moved up a few inches during that time, it wasn't anything to be excited about. While standing outside of the Starbucks there was a man by the name of Mark Bonamo approached me about the signing and interviewed me for NJ.com. The link is Media Mogul Kevin Smith Rocks Red Bank. 

I sat on a bench for the remainder of the time til the line started moving faster. While sitting there I was able to meet some of the Red Bank locals. I may have been asked what was going on at least 50 times. It's amazing how these people have no idea who Kevin Smith was. When these ill-informed residents of NJ took a stab at who Kevin Smith was I got all kinds of guesses like: Sports athlete, Lions running back, Dallas Cowboy (my aunt), golfer, politician, and many more I can't think of. It was to the point where if they had to ask, I was going to lie to them. When I was mentioning it was a famous movie director/writer, they asked what movies he did. I said the ones that they should know (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Mallrats). Nope they were clueless. Then I went with a more popular movie title, "Jersey Girl." They surely knew that one with Mr. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. There was even a group of kids who asked, and when I mentioned said movies above, they were clueless, but they did remember him from Degrassi haha. After a while started lying to people. I was telling them all kinds of things.

"Yeah, Tiger Woods is signing his new Super Hero Golfer magazine"

"Michael Jackson's kids are inside and they shut down the place so they could shop"

"Governor Christie is using the toilet"

The cops that were behind me were getting a kick out of it. During the time of bench sitting and dealing the Red Bank locals, I was able to meet Mr. Jason Mewes again. He was walking down the street in his  Security outfit in which I started to refer to him has LaMewes, or Mario Lemewses. He shook my hand, and we talked for a brief minute or two before he had to get back in front of the store to film parts for Comic Book Men. Eventually time was getting to be an issue. It was about 6:30 pm and my friends were just on the corner of Broad St. which is probably about 10-12 ft. from where they started. Around this time while sitting on the bench I heard a roar of a crowd that couldn't have happened for anyone else in that town. I stood up, and looked, it was the man himself, Kevin Smith. He decided to speed up the line by having posters pre signed, and he was taking pics with everyone. My big ass got up quickly and rushed to the other side of the road quickly. Thank you RBPD for allowing me to jaywalk (twice!).  While standing in line I realized I needed a camera and the nice lady named Leslie offered to take my picture with her camera and email it to me. So thank you very much Leslie. Standing in line, I was able to meet Walt and Michael Zapcic from the show. I've talked to them plenty of times before because they're the only ones I've ever seen in the store when I go there. I was able to meet Bryan, and I was able to meet Ming for the first time, and Ming gave me a high five then proceeded to hug me. Silly bastard. As the line was moving up, I was getting a bit nervous. I was thinking to myself that I just might pull another stunt like I did in 1996. Have the opportunity to shake the hand, and get a picture with the man named Kevin Smith, and fucking bail out. I was almost positive I became a man within that 16 year gap, but I don't know. I sat down on the chairs outside of Surf Taco, and Kev gave me a look, and I said. "Hey just chilling man, waiting on you." He replied with something like "almost there!" 

So here I am, next in line. My friend Kenny and his GF Kristine are there meeting Kevin already, and I'm watching and thinking about what I should say. He immediately points at my shirt and likes it. My quick wording was yeah, you're Fatman on Batman, and this is Batman on Fatman. AND HE FUCKING LAUGHED!!! I then said, "sorry Kev I'm sweating like OJ at the Verdict line." No idea where that came from, but I said it... 

That picture came next. I thanked for it, and that was the end of the day with Kevin Smith. After that we went into Surf Taco because it was just about 12 hours since I had eaten anything (because I apparently look like a starving mother fucker from that picture). Inside I met Rob Bruce, and talked to him a bit about Season 2. He was a really cool guy and ended up sitting right behind our table. Inside we met a cool dude from Rochester, NY. He does a podcast called Two Strangers One Podcast, and is also an author of a book that was praised by Kevin Smith in which Smith called it a, "million dollar idea." I'm gonna buy the book some time this week. Check it out here Double Jackpot. I went inside, the store for a bit while Kenneth fetched the car, and that would be the end of my awesome day in Red Bank... Not for the night though.

I went home and tweeted Kevin with hopes of getting some kind of respones... and I did.

Aftermath Thoughts

It was a great time. I can't even begin to thank Kenny for helping me out with stuff. He offered to drive, he paid for my drinks, and dinner because I failed to bring cash with me. Meeting Kevin was awesome too. It was surely something I'm going to remember for the rest of my life. Kevin Smith is without a doubt one of the most down to earth people I've ever met. He's like that awesome uncle (is that weird to say?). When he greets you, it's like he knew who you were and hadn't seen you in a very long time. I haven't been around many famous people in my life, but the way he is with his fans is how every celebrity should be. There is no ego. There is no bull shit. It's just an average dude, who did good and all the people that showed up for him was proof that he did something good in his life. He inspires me to continue on with whatever it is I want to do. I want to do something in the writing/comedy world. I almost asked him if I could open with a 20 minute stand up set the next time he was at Count Basie Theater but I didn't want to be that guy haha. 

Ok enough of this rant. Was a great time.

Later folks.

The ORCAsm: A Jaws Memoir

There are very few films that I hold dear to my heart. As you all know I love the Ghostbusters, but believe it or not, there are other movies out there I love that don't require the main characters to wear Proton Packs. The film I'm about to talk about, and what it means to me could've surely used a bigger gun, or preferably a bigger boat.

Without further adieu... a Jaws memoir.

I've never watched Jaws 3-D... Let's get that out of the way. Never interested, still not interested.

Ten years before my birth in the summer of 1975, a future Grammy winning horror movie about a shark that terrorizes a small New England town would shock and terrorize audiences in theaters around the world. Peter Benchley's 1974 novel about a great white killer shark (most of Benchley's books are about sharks) was good enough to put on screen, and have it directed by some guy named Steven Spielberg. There we're some differences in the book. They were little things like Brody being a bigger guy, the way the shark dies, OH and Hooper banging Mrs. Brody because of some past she had living a richer lifestyle. But that's all irrelevant. I'm here to praise the franchise beyond the book.

Jaws was all around during my childhood. I remember watching Jaws in my Grandparents basement in Rahway, New Jersey. I was always annoyed at how long the movie was, but was super excited when they finally got on the boat. I remember minor scenes and being grossed out like the body parts washed up on the shore, Hooper cutting open the shark that they thought was the real killer, and especially the part where Brody is chumming some of "this shit" where JAWS pops right out of the water (chills). Through life the first Jaws was something I'd watch maybe a few times every couple of years. I never really started watching it in full length again til about the mid 2000's. I watched it once in 2005 in its entirety, and that brought me back to my childhood. Suddenly I had a new found respect for Spielberg's creation.  JAWS was the movie you have to watch in the summer time especially before you go to the beach! Suddenly Jellyfish and crabs are the least of your worries, right? Haha, well at least mine. I won't even swim in a pool without the fear of JAWS coming up from beneath me and taking a limb or two. JAWS was the reason I feared the ocean as a kid. Wherever I was, NJ, Virginia, Florida, Alaska, I feared JAWS... ok I've never been to Alaska but if in Alaska by the waters, I'd be scared.

There are many parts to Jaws that really amazed me. Most of those parts I appreciated more as I got older. One of the scenes is where Quint is talking about the USS Indianapolis which was a ship that was used during World War II (love that Spielberg was using his WWII knowledge early on in his career). The Indianapolis was hit by Japanese bombers, and as the ship started to sink, sharks were attacking the soldiers as they entered the water. Luckily enough Quint made it to tell the story. I think that story alone and reading into it is something that makes Jaws a million times better. Maybe it was baby Jaws coming after Quint. We all know how sharks like to seek revenge regardless of how far the swim is!

As great of a tale that Jaws is, there may be a tale that's as interesting as the movie itself. That tale is the making of Jaws. I've watched quite a few "Making of's" in my time, but no other story has been more fascinating to me than the making of Jaws. We see these tale's of other movies and there's a lot of laughing, and good times, not with Jaws. The movie was nothing like that. There were so many things that went wrong like: Broken mechanical sharks, bad weather, camera set up, boats appearing in the background of shots, and plenty of other on the set malfunctions. I don't want to guess, but I think the crew and actors took an extra 6 months to film the movie. It's in the making of documentary which any Jaws fan must watch. You get the feeling that you were part of the set when you watch the documentary. It's really unlike anything I've ever watched before. May even have you in tears.

In my home I remember watching Jaws 2, and Jaws the Revenge a lot. Those two movies, we're as popular in my household as the Regular Jaws. I don't remember Jaws 3-D at all but I've come across it on television a few times over the years and that whole 3-D looking stuff is just really annoying. We understand how horrible Jaws the Revenge was, but let's not worry about that. Jaws the Revenge was a part of my childhood, and I had no knowledge about sharks swimming from Amity to the Bahamas. The point was Jaws the 4th made it to the Bahamas without a GPS, and tore Mario Van Peebles up. There's a a tiny conspiracy I've planted in my brain, that maybe HOAGIE flew Jaws on the plane to the Bahamas to terrorize the family. We'll never know. I always hold a special place in my heart for Jaws the Revenge because it was based after my favorite Nintendo game, JAWS. A little blonde haired guy shooting jellyfish, stingray, dwarf Jaws, and JAWS himself was the highlight of that game. If you collect seashells and visited the docks, you became more and more powerful. That doesn't make much sense, but who cares? I beat the crap out of Jaws after the 900th time. That game was pretty tough. Overall Jaws 2 and Jaws 4 are both classics. They aren't as good as the original, but they are what they are.

Well this coming Tuesday is the release of Jaws on blu ray disc. I've been waiting for this blu ray to come out for quite a while. There were rumors for a while that they were going to release all 4 of the Jaws movies in a collectors edition, but I guess that's not happening as of right now. With the film restored, with all the extra bonus footage, I'll surely be picking that up when it's released! Best Buy will be doing an exclusive Digibook with their release of Jaws on blu ray. Below is the picture of what you'll be getting.

Until next time folks... make sure when you're swimming in the ocean, your limbs are still there!

First Batman post with many more to come!

Before I get into this post, let me clear on one thing. My opinion means absolutely nothing. Millions of bloggers sign into their blogging accounts on the daily, posting some random crap, that you and I can care less about. In fact, I know I'm wasting my time by doing this. But I do it anyway because it helps my ego... the very big ego that you all have grown to love. I've never been shy when it comes to voicing my opinion about things. I love Batman. Here it goes.

The Dark Knight Rises hit theaters, and I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who hasn't seen it yet. I still haven't seen the new Spider-Man flick, nor have I seen the Avengers. Whatever, I have more important things to do like pretend I'm too important to go to the movies, and pretend I have a life other than school, video games, Magic the Gathering, and surfing the web. The third and final (which I think is bullshit) installment of Nolan's Batman saga has come to an end. I can't make a final verdict on the saga yet (eventually down the road) but I'd like to go more in depth of the pro's and con's of Nolan's saga, and compare it to the previous Batman films of the late 80's and 90's.

Where do I start?

Batman in 1989 is where I and most of the people I know started with the caped crusader. Batman vs. Joker is like Hulk Hogan vs. anyone who doesn't take their vitamins, Superman vs. Luthor, Spider vs. Goblin, Magic Johnson vs. HIV... you get what I'm saying? As much as I'd love to kick Tim Burton in the balls, he did a phenomenal job for someone my age in 1989. I watched this version again the other day, and it kind of... wasn't as good? Either way, it's still a classic, and it's still better than George Clooney's Batman film. That's always a good way to look at things. If there's anything that pisses you off about Batman, think of George Clooney. I like Clooney as an actor, but Danny Ocean was not  a very good Batman. I think the Keaton Batman films were the better two of the late 80's and 90's. I don't think Val Kilmer did a terrible job as Batman, and that whole Batman Forever movie wasn't too bad. Then there's Batman and Robin with Alicia Silverstone and the Governator... horrible. Just HORRIBLE. So far Keaton is the best Batman.

Enter Bale and Nolan

Batman Begins was a great film. It's probably my favorite Batman film today (not counting the cartoon films which were phenomenal as well). I think Batman Begins brought life to the Batman world. It was a different vibe, it showed new characters that we've only known from the comic books and Animated Series. There were so many great things about that film that I'm peeing myself. Really quick... I love Bale as Batman. I think Hoagie played an excellent Alfred (Hoagie is a Jaws reference), I think that Cillian Murphy as Scarecrow was brilliant and twisted and EVIL...oh and let's not forget Liam Neeson as Ras! The whole storyline of Batman starting off is just kick ass. Love it!

Now we talk about the Dark Knight. This is where I'm going to get some shit from no one... because no one will read this! But in the slim chance that someone will, I may be verbally attacked. Hopefully I might shine some light on a topic that could be hiding in the minds of a movie that may have been overhyped? Well here's the thing. I didn't like Heath Ledger as joker at first. I regret that every time I watch the movie because in reality, he was boss. I prefer Nicholson's joker still, but Heath was a brilliant psychopathic bastard. My vexation with the film stems from what I believed to be an unbalanced movie when it came to the characters. I feel like Nolan crammed in too storyline and characters for the amount of time it was given. I don't think there was enough Joker, or Batman, and they crammed too much Dawes, Dent, and some pesky bastard trying to frame Fox. But that's not bad. I was able to deal with the movie.

My MAJOR annoyance with the film was the amount of daylight the movie had. That's right, I said daylight. The Dark Knight to me lacked a total Gotham City feel to it. Maybe that was Nolan's plan all along? I felt like all of this was going on in New York City, the whole time. Even when Gotham General blew up, it was daylight. There was no darkness, there was no gloom, and that is what a Batman movie is supposed to be! Batman Begins had a slight darkness to it. A slight Gotham feel if you will, but that is where the Dark Knight did not deliver in my part. In order for me to like a Batman story, the grime, the gloom, the darkness, has to be there, or just doesn't feel like Batman.

The VERDICT: This is where I give respect to that Batman and Robin film, and all of the late 80's and 90's Batman movies. The one thing they did better than the first two Nolan Batman films, is they portrayed Gotham City better. It was animated, and dark. I loved it. Though the acting is terrible, it made you feel like it was Gotham City. For future Batman movies, I hope they involve the writers from Rocksteady who created the Arkham games. Those story lines were brilliant. Also, they should bring to light some other enemies like Croc, Strange, Black Mask, or even Penguin. I personally hope Grant Morrison has no say in any future Batman project even though he does a great job with the comics, but he admitted to the world that Batman was gay. Which I hated believing considering all of Batman's women.

Until next time folks!

ARTY MCFLYYYYYYY

Arty Alone.

Well, funny story, this is called Arty and Friends. There are no friends posting here other than me (for now). BUT, who knows, maybe someone will be worthy enough. I used to write a blog entitled, "Zombie Digest" and it was all about zombie culture, and horror culture. It sucked, so I stopped. The only major perk was meeting cool people with brilliant minds, unlike myself. I wanted to expand that foolery past the horror world. Arty and Friends is a world full of... ME, and shit that I find cool. I'm a very nostalgic person, so that's pretty much one of the exits this blog will be turning off on. I'm also a gadget whore, as well as a movie collector. I like to voice my opinions, and be arrogant about things I'm not 100% educated on. The one thing that needs to be known is that I love all of you... if you read this.

Note: This blog is non diet related. I do not post anything in the diet blog anymore because I found that dieting on my own without sharing to the world made me happier and less sensationalistic. Yes, I feel like my life was more of sensationalism, than people caring. My health was not your entertainment, and that is one area I failed in mentally with sharing that shit in the first place. If people cared, they'd talk to me on a personal level. So we'll end it there.


Hope everyone reads. This blog will be a mixture of EVERYTHING. That's also a sign that I'll probably forget about this in about... 20 hours. ENJOY!