What's up, everyone? Welcome back to Thinking Hard.
First things first.. go see "The Dark Knight." All of America agreed it's a great movie. A record $155M opening weekend...that tops the previous record-holder, "Spider-Man 3." And it does something that Spidey really didn't do a great job of: put multiple villains into one plotline and do it CLEANLY. Seriously, I loved Venom and Sandman and even the new Green Goblin in Spider-Man, but honestly, it just felt they were all tossed into one movie and someone hit "frappe." But for Batman, you've got two BRILLIANT performances by Heath Ledger as the Joker and Aaron Eckhart as Two-Face... and you see exactly what role, physical and emotional, one played in creating the other. I'm not going to spoil anything here except to say Two-Face is at all times grotesque and absolutely beautiful. Whoever designed that face should be commended. Oh, and I don't know that it's worth an Oscar, but Ledger's awesome as the Joker. SO much better than Jack Nicholson. This film really has a strong message about human nature and I recommend it.
Now to the business at hand...
We here at Thinking Hard enjoy keeping an eye on our friends and fans across the world. We get constant updates from those close to us. And it is my absolute privilege to congratulate my colleague, my former co-worker, my friend, Andy. In less than 24 hours, he and his lovely fiancee, Vanessa, will tie the knot in the upper, UPPER midwest. On a personal note, it's an event that I would very much like to attend, but scheduling and airline prices prevented me from doing so. Please take a moment this Friday evening to think about Andy and Vanessa and wish them well. They have a big day ahead of them...and even bigger changes on the horizon later this summer. But, Andy and Vanessa, no matter where you are in this great big world, please know that you have the love and support of all of your friends. We continue to think highly of you, and our love for you is only overshadowed by your love for each other. May you wake up next to each other every day...and be as excited as the first day you fell in love.
-B-
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Buzz About the Bat
Okay, I'm going to geek out here for a moment... bear with me...
As I type this, "The Dark Knight" is about 18 1/2 hours from its first showing. The second installment in the "revisioned" Batman movie series takes place a short time after "Batman Begins" ended, with Bats (Christian Bale) asked to investigate a series of crimes by a new villain, The Joker (the late Heath Ledger), by Police Commissioner James Gordon (Gary Oldman). Katie Holmes is replaced in this film by Maggie Gyllenhaal... a name almost as much fun to say as it is to try and spell.
The reviews have been out on this movie for at least the past week, and they are great. Needless to say, the Joker role portrayed by Jack Nicholson almost 20 years ago alongside Michael Keaton's Batman is hardly a comparison. Ledger's Joker is STILL creepy, but he didn't have to fall into a vat of acid to become a crazy, face-painted villain. He's just....well, nuts. And from the previews I've seen, if I didn't know it was Ledger beforehand, I would barely be able to tell it's him.
I've heard interviews with Bale and Oldman, who suggest that Ledger's performance could be Oscar-worthy. I know I'm eagerly anticipating the movie (in part because director Christopher Nolan is BRILLIANT...he's the guy who did Batman Begins and Memento), but I've never seen an Oscar-worthy performance in a Batman movie. So that begs the question... if Ledger is nominated, is it because he's dead? I don't want to make light of his death, but he's been in other roles that are far more Oscar-worthy (Brokeback Mountain, anyone?) and he lost that year. Maybe it's a "make-up call", like the NBA? "Hey, this guy's life ended in tragedy and we screwed him by not giving him the Oscar. We feel guilty.. let's think about giving him an Oscar posthumously."
The sad thing is I can't decide whether I like the idea or not. Every fiber of my being says "Hey, you're just trying to show the world you're not a bunch of cold, heartless Nominated Committee members." But then again, maybe he DOES deserve an award, regardless of when he gets it. Guess we'll all find out soon enough.
"What doesn't kill us makes us stranger."
-B-
As I type this, "The Dark Knight" is about 18 1/2 hours from its first showing. The second installment in the "revisioned" Batman movie series takes place a short time after "Batman Begins" ended, with Bats (Christian Bale) asked to investigate a series of crimes by a new villain, The Joker (the late Heath Ledger), by Police Commissioner James Gordon (Gary Oldman). Katie Holmes is replaced in this film by Maggie Gyllenhaal... a name almost as much fun to say as it is to try and spell.
The reviews have been out on this movie for at least the past week, and they are great. Needless to say, the Joker role portrayed by Jack Nicholson almost 20 years ago alongside Michael Keaton's Batman is hardly a comparison. Ledger's Joker is STILL creepy, but he didn't have to fall into a vat of acid to become a crazy, face-painted villain. He's just....well, nuts. And from the previews I've seen, if I didn't know it was Ledger beforehand, I would barely be able to tell it's him.
I've heard interviews with Bale and Oldman, who suggest that Ledger's performance could be Oscar-worthy. I know I'm eagerly anticipating the movie (in part because director Christopher Nolan is BRILLIANT...he's the guy who did Batman Begins and Memento), but I've never seen an Oscar-worthy performance in a Batman movie. So that begs the question... if Ledger is nominated, is it because he's dead? I don't want to make light of his death, but he's been in other roles that are far more Oscar-worthy (Brokeback Mountain, anyone?) and he lost that year. Maybe it's a "make-up call", like the NBA? "Hey, this guy's life ended in tragedy and we screwed him by not giving him the Oscar. We feel guilty.. let's think about giving him an Oscar posthumously."
The sad thing is I can't decide whether I like the idea or not. Every fiber of my being says "Hey, you're just trying to show the world you're not a bunch of cold, heartless Nominated Committee members." But then again, maybe he DOES deserve an award, regardless of when he gets it. Guess we'll all find out soon enough.
"What doesn't kill us makes us stranger."
-B-
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Bush Libs
Good day, friends...
President Bush says he's going to Beijing for the Summer Olympics to show that he supports the freedom of the world... or some bullshit like that. Hopefully he doesn't piss off the Dalai Lama by doing so. As I listened to his soundbite, it sounded a lot like the justification for going to war with Iraq. So I created the following Mad Lib... Enjoy!
President Bush said, "I feel it's a mistake for us not to be in (controversial country) to show the world that we will fight for freedom. I believe that (controversial country's) actions are an affront to the rest of the world. I'm sure we will find (weapons of mass destruction/olympic gold) in (controversial country)." John McCain and Barack Obama both held their heads in their hands.
-B-
President Bush says he's going to Beijing for the Summer Olympics to show that he supports the freedom of the world... or some bullshit like that. Hopefully he doesn't piss off the Dalai Lama by doing so. As I listened to his soundbite, it sounded a lot like the justification for going to war with Iraq. So I created the following Mad Lib... Enjoy!
President Bush said, "I feel it's a mistake for us not to be in (controversial country) to show the world that we will fight for freedom. I believe that (controversial country's) actions are an affront to the rest of the world. I'm sure we will find (weapons of mass destruction/olympic gold) in (controversial country)." John McCain and Barack Obama both held their heads in their hands.
-B-
Saturday, July 5, 2008
What's Wrong With This Picture??
Happy 4th of July weekend, folks! This big firecracker is about to explode...
I joined thousands of other people this holiday weekend and went to see Will Smith's new movie, "Hancock." If you're at all a fan of superhero movies, I strongly encourage you to check this one out. I still felt a little empty at the end, but overall it was an enjoyable summer blockbuster.. running about 100 minutes, which is good for the season of OTHER superhero movies (I'm looking at you, Robert Downey Jr. and Edward Norton) that are running close to 2 hours and 15 minutes plus.
Anyway, I'm sitting in the theater with plenty of open seating when a couple and who I perceive was their young (8-10ish) daughter sat at the end of my row. Then the daughter scooted one seat closer to me and was sitting right beside me.
The movie starts, and I shit you not, I heard every possible swear word in the first 20 minutes of this movie with the exception of f*** and any form therein. And this little girl is laughing, either because she understands those words or because she was laughing along with the audience. She apparently thought it was funny that Will Smith was "pissed" when others called him an "asshole," and after saying "shit" for the second time so far, calling a woman a "bitch."
Now, for those of you who know me personally or just read this blog, you know that I have no problem with expletives. I will drop an f-bomb at a moment's notice if I think it gets my point across. I also have no problem whatsoever with a movie dropping however many expletives they like..though "Superbad" might have officially tired out the word "fuck." What I have a problem with is this family staying for the rest of the movie... or at least not doing their homework in seeing the movie is PG-13.
It's entirely possible they had a discussion about the language before or after the movie, but this girl now believes it's funny to say the word "shit." So, general populace, here's my deal... parents get all upset when children swear, but other parents have no problem exposing their children to that language. No, I'm not going up on my high-horse for this one... make a decision. Either decide NOT to expose your children to the language, or desensitize them to it so the words can become more commonplace and lose their meaning. Because THEN the FCC won't start fining people for every little "shit" that drops on TV. Let's face it... the 6 o'clock news would be a LOT more fun if anchors started describing "the angry-looking suspects caught on this surveillance tape" as "these cocky-looking motherfuckers who shot up some poor bitch at the convenience store." And it'd be a lot more fun for producers like me to write it.
-B-
I joined thousands of other people this holiday weekend and went to see Will Smith's new movie, "Hancock." If you're at all a fan of superhero movies, I strongly encourage you to check this one out. I still felt a little empty at the end, but overall it was an enjoyable summer blockbuster.. running about 100 minutes, which is good for the season of OTHER superhero movies (I'm looking at you, Robert Downey Jr. and Edward Norton) that are running close to 2 hours and 15 minutes plus.
Anyway, I'm sitting in the theater with plenty of open seating when a couple and who I perceive was their young (8-10ish) daughter sat at the end of my row. Then the daughter scooted one seat closer to me and was sitting right beside me.
The movie starts, and I shit you not, I heard every possible swear word in the first 20 minutes of this movie with the exception of f*** and any form therein. And this little girl is laughing, either because she understands those words or because she was laughing along with the audience. She apparently thought it was funny that Will Smith was "pissed" when others called him an "asshole," and after saying "shit" for the second time so far, calling a woman a "bitch."
Now, for those of you who know me personally or just read this blog, you know that I have no problem with expletives. I will drop an f-bomb at a moment's notice if I think it gets my point across. I also have no problem whatsoever with a movie dropping however many expletives they like..though "Superbad" might have officially tired out the word "fuck." What I have a problem with is this family staying for the rest of the movie... or at least not doing their homework in seeing the movie is PG-13.
It's entirely possible they had a discussion about the language before or after the movie, but this girl now believes it's funny to say the word "shit." So, general populace, here's my deal... parents get all upset when children swear, but other parents have no problem exposing their children to that language. No, I'm not going up on my high-horse for this one... make a decision. Either decide NOT to expose your children to the language, or desensitize them to it so the words can become more commonplace and lose their meaning. Because THEN the FCC won't start fining people for every little "shit" that drops on TV. Let's face it... the 6 o'clock news would be a LOT more fun if anchors started describing "the angry-looking suspects caught on this surveillance tape" as "these cocky-looking motherfuckers who shot up some poor bitch at the convenience store." And it'd be a lot more fun for producers like me to write it.
-B-
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
You Don't Have to Hang Up...Just Make Sure You Can Drive!
Hello, Friends! How many times has THIS happened to you???...
(music playing on ipod)
(you driving, singing with music)
(car crashes into you)
(you die)
And then it turns out that the driver who hit you ran a red light because they were TXTing their BFF about a joke that made them LOL. WTF? They're a dumb POS. (by the way, that's Piece Of Sh*t) I know major metropolitan areas are moving toward banning cell phone use, but apparently it's not enough. So researchers at the University of Minnesota (Andy, you should go try this out!) have developed new technology that detects when young drivers are speeding (which, let's face it, can be attributed to any NUMBER of reasons, but one of the most common is not paying attention to that little thing called a "speedometer," which is apparently located right next to the "turn signal," since many drivers I encounter don't know how to use THAT either), offers a voice warning (presumably "SLOW THE FUCK DOWN, YOU LITTLE PUNK!" because that's what I'M usually shouting at them), and sends an automatic text message to the parents. That....is....awesome. Assuming the parents give a shit about their children (which, if they're not pregnant at 16, I can assume correctly), there could be grounding involved. Or punishment involving the children taking over the duties of Paco, the pool/garbage/landscaping man, for a week. This "Teen Driver Support System" also detects whether seat belts are in proper use.. and I'm not talking about holding that keg upright in the passenger seat. That idea TOTALLY tops the proposal I sent for cars to be built like bumper cars. Though my idea's more fun...
-B-
(music playing on ipod)
(you driving, singing with music)
(car crashes into you)
(you die)
And then it turns out that the driver who hit you ran a red light because they were TXTing their BFF about a joke that made them LOL. WTF? They're a dumb POS. (by the way, that's Piece Of Sh*t) I know major metropolitan areas are moving toward banning cell phone use, but apparently it's not enough. So researchers at the University of Minnesota (Andy, you should go try this out!) have developed new technology that detects when young drivers are speeding (which, let's face it, can be attributed to any NUMBER of reasons, but one of the most common is not paying attention to that little thing called a "speedometer," which is apparently located right next to the "turn signal," since many drivers I encounter don't know how to use THAT either), offers a voice warning (presumably "SLOW THE FUCK DOWN, YOU LITTLE PUNK!" because that's what I'M usually shouting at them), and sends an automatic text message to the parents. That....is....awesome. Assuming the parents give a shit about their children (which, if they're not pregnant at 16, I can assume correctly), there could be grounding involved. Or punishment involving the children taking over the duties of Paco, the pool/garbage/landscaping man, for a week. This "Teen Driver Support System" also detects whether seat belts are in proper use.. and I'm not talking about holding that keg upright in the passenger seat. That idea TOTALLY tops the proposal I sent for cars to be built like bumper cars. Though my idea's more fun...
-B-
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