My Trip to SWC3-Episode 2

Hey there. Continuing my series of blogs recapping my trip to Star Wars Celebration 3 in Indy last month...

Me and my friend Rob had arrived in Indy and we couldn't wait to get to the city's convention center and take part in the Celebration, but first we had to go to the hotel we were staying at and check ourselves in.
One of the first things we were concerned about while we were planning our trip was where our hotel was located. We knew that our hotel was about seven miles away from the Convention Center, which sucked cause it meant us having to find a way to get there instead of walking across the street or down the block to the place. Due to us planning this trip late in advance we missed out on getting to stay a bit closer to the action. Rob had though about renting a car for us to use, but that would be costly (especially with the parking rates) and we'd much rather put our money to good use at the Center instead.
Then we thought about probably taking a cab to and from our hotel to the Convention Center. Again, it would be costly, but not as bad as the first option. But, we caught a break. I remembered reading at the hotel's website about them providing a free shuttle service to and from the airport. We called the hotel from the airport to come pick us up and we were good to go. Then came another break. We found out that the same hotel also was doing shuttles to and from the Convention Center at only $3 per person. So it wouldn't hurt us too bad as far as travel costs go.

We arrived at our hotel, the Best Value Inn about 30 minutes after we'd landed. It wasn't too bad, but I thought it could've been better. But hey, I wasn't complaining. It served our purpose for the four days we were there and that was good enough for me and my friend. After checking in and dropping off our bags, me and Rob set out for the Convention Center.

When we arrived at the Center, we'd find out something that was going to be a major theme for the entire weekend at SWC3:

Lines.

Long Lines.

Lines that seemed to never, ever end.

Trust me on this, throughout the entire set of blogs on my trip, you will hear me mention the L-word a lot.

The first line we would encounter was the Registration line. This was the line we had to be to get our gear that we'd need for the Celebration. Cause if we didn't have the stuff, in particular our badge, we weren't getting in.

While at the line, I'd be exposed to my first SW experience, seeing the many fans and followers decked out in their best SW costumes. Me and Rob took many photos of them and one thing I'll say right off the bat: they were very well done.

Also at this line, we saw several people from with the 501st Legion, a group of SW fans who were serving as volunteers for the entire Celebration. The 501st stand out because they're dressed like the Clone troopers from the Star Wars movies. Both me and Rob got to take photos with one of them. This is me with one of them.

Me and a Clone trooper at the first day of SWC3.

The line quickly moved along and finally we were inside and picked up our info packets, with our badges and everything. Once that was done and we were officially registered for the SWC3, we went to the Hyperspace fan club line where we'd get some other stuff. One of the things they had was the official souvenir movie guide to Episode 3. I was tempted to open it up, but decided to wait. Rob, however, didn't and looked inside. The first few pages he told me had SPOILERS about the movie. Now, this was my major goal of the entire weekend, to not hear anything about the plot that would spoil my experience of seeing the movie. Once Rob told me that, I made it a point to not open that guide until AFTER I see Episode 3. (To this day, as I type this, I've still haven't opened the guide where as Rob has looked at several pages here and there, including the weekend of SWC3, where as he told me, "he couldn't help himself.")

After that, we were escorted out by security and were told that we had to go to the fan club line of the Center, where we'd had to be since the Celebration didn't officially open until 12 noon. (we'd arrived early, around 10:30am) Both me and Rob would find out much later that we should've hung around inside as several people were, cause at least we'd be inside when the Celebration opened. I'll explain later.

So we walked out of the Center and went to the end of the Fan Club line. We had no idea that the end of the line was so long that it stretched well past the Center, went up two levels of the outside area, past another long area by the back of the building and finally stopped near the RCA Dome many yards away. (It was getting so bad, soon the line was stretching around even the Dome itself!)

This was not a good way to start the SWC3 trip in my opinion, being in one of the longest lines I've ever been on. In fact, we were still in that line when the Celebration officially opened, completely wasting that "Fan Club exclusive" first hour we were told about when we signed up. Making matters worse was the fact that I was running on about an hour's sleep, going thru my first case of jet lag and the after effects of taking my Dramanine pill. There were a few instances I almost nodded off while standing in the line.

I guess somehow I survived it, because we finally got inside the Center a little past 1:30pm (Woo-Hoo!!) But man, by that time, I was so drained, I wanted to get something to eat first before I passed out.

After refueling myself with some expensive chicken tenders and fries, me and Rob finally made our way to the activities. We thought about going to the Celebration Store and seeing what they have, but we decided against it and figured we'd check it out another day. (Boy, what a mistake that was, but I'll tell you that in a later blog)

After going around one of the Exhibit Halls, I'd met up with a familiar face. Matt Busch, who I'd met a few years back during one of the Comic Cons I go to and got to know thru various emails, was there as one of the several official Star Wars artists showcasing their works at the Celebration. It was cool seeing him again and we shared a quick word or two before I left to check out some of the other exhibits.

Because of the time wasted in lines and the like, we missed out on a lot of the things we both were planning to check out on the first day, but we were able to catch one event: an interview session with Ian McDiarmid, who plays Palpatine in the movies and has a major, major role in Revenge of the Sith.

By the time that was done, it was almost 6pm, and Rob and I headed off to the Autograph Hall to get some autographs from some of the many stars from the movies. Now, being that I had limited resources and autographs cost about $10 per ticket and tickets ranged on how popular the stars were, I had to plan carefully. There was one person I wanted to get without a doubt: Ray Park, who played Darth Maul in Episode 1: The Phantom Menace and in my opinion, the coolest character in that movie.

As me and Rob stood in yet another long line, we heard on the loud speaker that the Autograph Hall was going to be closing soon. We were bummed by that news, and considering the people that were standing in front of us, chances are that getting Park's autograph were going to be slim and none, and if we were going to get it, it would be rather quick and cold.

Resigned to that fate, we struck up a conversation with other fans at the line and we were all chatting about how these lines suck and our not too thrilling adventures on this first day at SWC3. Then, the coolest thing happened. While we were all talking, with our backs away from the signing table, we didn't know that Ray Park had gotten up from the table he was at and was making his way to the line, shaking hands with the people that was in the line and taking photos with them. I was so floored, I almost dropped my digital camera.

He then made his way to us and we got a photo taken with him. Here's mine:

Me and Ray Park, "Darth Maul" from SW Episode 1.

And then, if that wasn't cool enough, after meeting up with everyone in the line, Park made his way back to the table and finished signing everyone's autographs, including ours. I got him to sign my Darth Maul action figure I'd bought years ago after Episode 1 had came out. Very cool.

Then, a short time later, just coming off that high, came another bonus. While Rob was getting several other signatures, I waited around the area. He then came over to Daniel Logan's table to get his autograph. Logan plays the young Boba Fett in Episode 2: Attack of the Clones and is rumored to have a role in Episode 3. After getting his autograph, Logan was cool enough to take some pictures as well. I got to take Rob's picture with Logan and Rob then took a photo of me with Logan.

Me and Daniel Logan, "Boba Fett" from SW Episode 2

After that cool experience, Rob and I thought about going to check out the SWC Opening Ceremonies. We then saw yet another long line that stretched outside the Center, and after hearing word that the line was being closed to stop overflowing, we decided against it. We grabbed some food from the Center (more expensive grub!), called the hotel shuttle van, got in the van and rode back to the hotel. It didn't take long for us to call it a night around 10pm, the earliest I've been in bed in a long time.

It was a long, hectic, crazy and cool first day at the SWC. More adventures to come...

Next up: Episode 3-- Day 2 and my first look at Revenge of the Sith!

My Trip to SWC3-Episode 1

Hey there.
It's been two weeks since my trip to Indianapolis for Star Wars Celebration 3 and I'm still reveling in the afterglow. And, now that we're about two weeks away before the final "Star Wars" movie, "Revenge of the Sith" hits theaters, now is the perfect time to recap all the good (and bad) times of my trip.
Wow, so where do we begin:
Let's start with my first plane ride ever on Thursday, April 21st. Me and my friend Rob left for the airport around 5am. We had to be there at least two hours before our plane left for Indy around 7am.
Now, you'd think we'd be both well rested as we got ready for the trip, but we were both far from it. The best way I can describe it would be like going to bed on Christmas Eve as a kid.
All total, me and Rob had about an hour's sleep. Each.
I hung out at Rob's place Wednesday night just going over videos from the Star Wars website and grabbing all kinds of stuff to get ready. Just thinking about the trip and what we was going to do had us both kind of wired.
Anyways, we went through the security measures going to the airport without any problems and made it with plenty of time before our flight. While waiting to board the plane, I saw several others who were on the way to SWC3 as well, one of whom handed over a newspaper and magazine, all about Star Wars, to help pass the time.
Since this was my first ever plane ride, I was ready for anything. I even took a Dramamine pill before I got on the plane, to prevent me from getting nauseous on the flight. Cause throwing up on the plane would suck big time.
Me and Rob got on the plane and my friend was a real help, telling me what to expect and brace for the plane ride. All the while, I gripped the armrest of my seat hard.
And then, the plane took off.
And you know what? It wasn't that bad.
It felt like I was on a rollercoaster when it took off, especially when it left the ground and then after that, it was a smooth ride the rest of the way. At one point, Rob told me, this was the highest I've ever been off the ground as the plane soared. And after a while, it was kind of cool to actually look out the window as seeing the clouds up ahead. And, over an hour later, it was over and we'd landed in Indianapolis. A quick flight, which was a good thing for me, since I don't think I could've taken being on a longer flight.
One cool fact that came out of the flight was that one of the passengers on the plane ride was Rupert, one of the past "Survivor" champions. I'd saw him first at the airport and had to do a double take to be sure it was him. Then, on the plane, I heard him speak to one of the attendants and it was definitely him. I would've liked to talk with him for a few moments, but he was sitting several rows away and he was mostly asleep, since it was an early flight.
But in any event, the big obstacle of my adventure was over and I was in Indy. The best was yet to come...

Next up: Episode 2, the first day at SWC3.

On My Way to SWC3!!!

As I type this, I'm a few hours away from heading off with my friend Rob to Indianapolis to attend Star Wars Celebration 3!!!

I am so excited. This will be the biggest fan event I've ever attended, my first time visiting Indy and, since I'll be going on an airplane, it'll be my first plane ride.

Ever since I broke the news about my trip, some of my friends have been telling me about the flying thing. Rob's joked about the "full cavity search" that they'll do at the airport. And, my other online friend Ron's been telling me stories about what to expect and not when I get there.

I'm a little nervous and excited about being in the air. It's going to be about an hour's flight from where I am to Indianapolis, so I'm glad it'll be a short flight. If it was a longer one, I don't think I could deal.

Meanwhile, I can't wait for what will happen to me once I get there. I look forward to seeing George Lucas, the one who created the Star Wars saga. He's going to be in three sessions on Saturday and I hope we can get in. I've already been reading on the fan bulletin boards about some of them getting in line really really early. I also look forward to hearing what Hayden Christensen's going to say about playing Anakin Skywalker and his eventual turn into Darth Vader in the final prequel film, "Revenge of the Sith", coming May 19th. I also look forward to seeing all the other events going on there and hope that me and Rob can squeeze them all in. Some of the events start real early in the morning most days and won't end until late in the evening. Heck, we'll be lucky if we get some sleep.

Anyways, this is my last blog before my trip. Next time I'll blog at you, I'll be telling you all about what happened. I'll probably space them out over several days. Hopefully with some good photos too.

I'll see you when I get back.

A Quick Note

Hey there.

Quick blog, something just occurred to me. This past weekend was supposed to be when the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs were supposed to start.

Of course, that was before the stupid, idiotic powers that be blew the hockey season all to hell.

Damn.

Anyway, a moment of silence for what might've been.



P.S. 10 days before Star Wars Celebration 3!!!

The Big News!!

Hey there.

Now, a lot of my online friends have been getting on me about this BIG news that I've been teasing about on my blog.

Well, at long last, I'm ready to reveal all.

Here it is:

I'm going to Star Wars Celebration 3!!!

That's right, I'm going to what could be the largest fans convention ever later this month.

How did this go about?

Quite simple really.

A few weeks ago, my friend Rob sent me an e-mail with a short but simple message:

"Want to go to the Star Wars Celebration?"

Now after I read it, I thought it over for, I don't know, a millisecond before I gave him a short, but simple reply:

"Hell yeah!"

Now I asked him how this is going to happen, since this came completely out of the blue.

Well he had planned the week of the event off, but didn't want to go alone, so he asked me if I could go along. Looking it over, I had no problem with it.

Now, after the next few weeks of clearing vacation time (I had to move my vacation up several weeks), getting funds together(paying for the registration and raising funds for other stuff) and getting the official OK from the guys running the event. I can proudly say that me and Rob are going to Indianapolis April 21-24 for Star Wars Celebration III!!!

I cannot wait.

Now, if you're not a fan of Star Wars, something like this may not resonate with you. But if you've been a fan of the saga, as both me and Rob have been for years, this is the ultimate in cool. My experience has gone back to seeing the original movie when it debuted on TV as a kid, then going to see "The Empire Strikes Back" with my brother at the theater. I've been a fan of it ever since.

I've since seen the third film in the original trilogy, "Return of the Jedi", owned the special edition set on tape, seen both the prequel films "The Phantom Menace" and "Attack of the Clones" (both of their posters are proudly hanging on my bedroom wall) and have purchased both films on DVD as well as the original trilogy. Not to mention the few bits of toys, t-shirts, and caps I have of the set.

And now, a few weeks from the release of the final big-screen movie of the saga, "Revenge of the Sith", me and my best friend will be gathered at the ultimate fan event, along with thousands of other Star Wars fans from around the world.

What's going to happen to me during those days will be huge. First, this will be the biggest fan event I've ever been to, topping even the MST3K convention I attended a few years back. Second, this will be my first time visiting Indianapolis, which I hear, is a pretty cool city to visit. And the topper of all this, will be the fact that me and Rob will be flying there for the event, which will mark my first ever trip on a airplane. So, I'm nervous, excited, and psyched-- all at the same time.

As I write this, it will be about two weeks before I embark on this way cool event. As it draws closer, I'll be filling you in on all the preps as we get ready for the trip. And when I come back, I'm going to have tons of stories and photos of my adventure.

So, there it is, folks. Now you see why I've been making such a big deal about it. Because it is.

And I can't wait.

Star Wars Celebration 3 at Indianapolis. I can't wait to go and have a fun time... in a galaxy, far, far away.

New Links

Hey there, it's been a while since my last entry. So much has happened in the past few weeks and I can't wait to tell you all about it. Believe me, I have a lot to tell you. So much in fact, it'll take more than just one entry to tell it all. I will say this, I'll save the best news for last.

First things first, I've added a few new links to my site. Batman Fan Films is a site I came across while I was continuing my new found search for fan films online. As the site's name suggests, they have plenty of fan films, teasers, trailers and scripts based on the Caped Crusader. Many of the projects have came about after the dreck that was "Batman & Robin" hit the screens several years ago. Now, with the new "Batman Begins" film coming later this summer, more emphasis has come to these films as that date draws near.

I now check this site every day for news, new project announcements and stuff like that. And in the several weeks since I came across this site, I've found several that I really like. I'll tell you about them in the next entry. I've even contacted some of the people behind these films and they've been real cool in responding back.

The other site I'm adding to my list of links involves another of my favorite subjects: werewolves. One of my online friends, Nathan, e-mailed me about this new site called The Werewolf Cafe. It has photos, stories, and other cool stuff about werewolves, which I love. What's cool about this site is that the main part of it is active only during nights of the full moon, give or take a day or two. But, the site also has a forum which is up every day. I've met so many cool online friends while exchanging messages on the forum. It's another place I go to every night now, sometimes more than once. If you're a werewolf fan, I definitely suggest you check it out. The guys and gals there are great.

That's it for now. But trust me when I say, I've got better news to come. Stay tuned.

The NHL Lockout: IT'S STUPID!!!

I'm a sports fan. Been one all my life. I'm especially a hockey fan. I've experienced many moments as a hockey fan, especially with my hometown team, the Red Wings. I've been to several key games, met up close and personal with several players and coaches, and was among the millions of fans that was there when the team won the Stanley Cup a few years back.

But I never expected this.

I never expected the announcement Wednesday that the NHL season would be officially canceled as a result of the labor dispute.

I never thought it would come to this. I never thought that they would pull the plug on the season. I just knew that somehow, someway, the players and the owners would come to their senses and look at what's good for the game and the league and make some sort of deal to save the season.

I honestly thought that their egos their pride and most importantly, their greed would be put aside and they would look at the big picture: the game and the fans.

I was wrong.

As a fan, I'm beyond being angry. I'm beyond being upset. I'm even beyond being livid. I'm just so mad at BOTH sides for letting one of the sports I love disintegrate over something so petty.

And you heard me right, I'm mad at both sides --the players and the owners-- for letting it get to this point. I'm mad at the players for being so hard headed over not having a salary cap (every major league has a salary cap, what makes hockey so high and mighty that they don't) until the last minute. I'm mad at the owners for letting it get out of hand for several years (signing players for exceedingly high salaries and overextending the league beyond its scope with way too many teams) and being so hard headed over imposing their stance, again until the last minute.

And I'm really mad at both sides for the name calling, the petty potshots, and the ego trips each group had, seriously underestimating the resolve of the other. As far as I'm concerned, both of these groups acted like a bunch of spoiled brats over this.

So now what? What happens now?

In my opinion, I think if and when they ever get this situation fixed, they need to make some changes. Major changes. Not just to the league and to the sport, but to the hierarchy of both sides. I'd be surprised if all 30 NHL teams will still be around when this mess is finally cleaned up. I'd be very, very surprised if the NHL commissioner and the NHLPA director retained their jobs after this, because both of them could've handled this better and worked on this a lot sooner. And we could've had a season right now.

And it'll be a damn shame if players such as Steve Yzerman, Chris Chelios, Mario Lemieux, Mark Messier, and others who are at the end of their careers, would ever play again due to this extended stoppage.

Now, for the big question. If and when they ever resume NHL hockey, would I go back to it?

I honestly don't know. Right now, my emotions are getting the best of me. I'm too hurt and angry and bitter over this whole situation to know if I can ever go back to this sport. I mean, I have several Red Wing caps, shirts and other stuff in my possession. I have several Wing photo pucks resting on a frame atop my computer desk for crying out loud, so I still have a love for this game. Does this mean I'll go back to it? I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. It'll depend on a lot of things for me to return. All I know right now is there will be no hockey this year. No playoffs. No overtime games, and most important of all, no Stanley Cup. And that sucks big time.

I never thought it would get to this.

But it has.

And as a fan of the game I love, I hate it.

Super Bowl XXXIX Pick

Sunday's the big game, Super Bowl XXXIX. New England vs. Philadelphia, two teams I figured would meet each other as the NFL season got underway. Who do I like?

New England 33, Philadelphia 27

The Eagles will give a good effort, but the Patriots are just too good, too deep and, hey, they're the defending champs playing in their 3rd SB in 4 years. No one's stopped them yet, and even though Philly will try, it won't happen Sunday. It won't be a blowout though, and the game I feel will be decided in the fourth quarter by a key play, not necessarily a field goal.

So here's hoping it's a good solid game, that the high-priced commercials don't suck, and that the halftime show doesn't have any wardrobe malfunctions :)

Mad About Fan Films

Hey there.

I've been so busy with working on the old website and other things that I forgot to mention about something else I've been getting into the past few weeks.

Fan Films.

I love them, especially if they're creative, unique, and touch on something I like.

I want to talk about three films in particular, involving things that I'm a huge fan of: The Incredible Hulk, superheroes, and werewolves.

First up, the Hulk: I'm a huge fan of the big green guy from way back. Beginning with the comics, the various cartoons, and, of course, the 70s TV show. Meeting Lou Ferrigno in person still ranks up there as one of the coolest moments of my life. So it was cool to check out a fan film about the Hulk online recently.
It's called "Hulk:Aftermath" and there are several things I liked about this six minute short: One, the very cool use of the music from the 70s TV show. Not only is this a good homage to the old show, but it fits in very well to the story. Second, the guy who plays Banner fits the character to a T, complete with glasses and purple pants, (straight out of the comics) so to pull that off was very good.
Next, the storyline involves not the green goliath that we all know and love, but rather the grey Hulk, which was the color of the first incarnation when the character was first introduced. Hardly anyone touches on the true origins of the Hulk, so for them to touch on that in the movie was well done. And finally, they incorporated footage from the recent Hulk movie to show Banner's transformation. They did that very well, using a morphing process and also using selected scenes from the movie to tell the story. I won't spill too much more on the plot, but Gary M. Lobstein, who directed the six minute short did a very good job with it. Go to the link above and check it out for yourself. I hope he plans to do more films in the future, especially ones involving the Hulk.

Next, comes superheroes. It's rare to find films these days that touch on heroes with human issues, such as love and relationships. Rarer still to find it in a fan film. I found one online with a film called "Cape Chaser" .
This funny and witty short film touches on two heroes, who as the film starts, just got thru, um, being intimate. When the male hero, Ultimus, is called away by his fellow colleagues, he's not there for a meeting, but rather an intervention on why he shouldn't get serious with Serena, the female hero.
I won't give away any more than that, but I found it funny, unique and giving off a different spin to what we're used to when we see superheroes in action. Click here to see this short film (It helps if you have Quicktime to see it) Hopefully, this won't be the last film involving these characters, cause at the end, it definitely makes you want to see what happens next.

Last, but not least, is a subject near and dear to my heart: werewolves. Recently, I came across a website that had just made a fan made werewolf movie, "Curse of the Wolf".
Now, going into this, I had my doubts about such a film, especially after seeing more than my share of crappy, awful, pathetic werewolf movies. Films that had no plot, made no sense, and overall was a complete waste of time and space.
I didn't find that at all with this film.
FIrst of all, it embraces the fact that it is a comedy. There were several moments that I laughed out loud in fact. Second, the characters were believable. Characters that you can see or know in person thrown into an totally wild situation. Next, the storyline makes sense as far as the movie goes, so it wasn't something that would make the die hard fan feel like this film was a bust, which it wasn't in my opinion.
Now, one of the things I strongly look for in a werewolf movie is how the werewolf looks and how the transformations go. The werewolf in this one is one that you would expect from a student film (a guy in a werewolf mask and fur covered torso) and there's no transformations scenes either. Now to me, that would be a disappointment, but it's OK as long as you know what to expect going in. Overall I found this to be a humorous and witty film, even with a few well placed scares here and there. There were also some surprises as well, such as who is the werewolf responsible for the attacks and a nice little twist at the end after the maddening climax.
I give props to John McGuigan, the cast and the crew at Fire Assault Productions for putting together this effort. I found very interesting reading the behind the scenes stuff as far as shooting and things like that. It made seeing the finished product even more enjoyable knowing what it took to get it all together. And as one who is planning to do his own werewolf movie in the near future, reading about that was very helpful. Good job all around for a film that puts many of the other werewolf movies I've seen lately to shame. Imagine the possibilites if you had the budget these other guys had with their crappy efforts.
Anyhow, if you want to check it out, click the link above and you can download the 62-minute epic for yourself. I, however, have a better suggestion. Go to their website and order the DVD copy of the film., like I did It costs $5, not counting shipping, and has a lot of cool extras, including deleted scenes, trailers, and two bonus student videos that are werewolf related.

OK, those are my two cents on three fan made films. I'll keep an eye out on any more and post them here. Blog at you later.

Web Site Relaunch

Finally, it's done!
My website, the Mark One Network, is back up and running again after a major overhaul. I thought I'd have it done in time for the website's sixth anniversary January 23rd, but that was before I realized how much crap I had to get rid of over the years. So, between doing all of that and trying to squeeze in time to do this in between work and other matters, it took about two weeks total to get all of it done.
So, a lot of the old pages are gone and the majority of the remaining pages have been redesigned, including the front page, which, in keeping with the M1N tradition, has a photo with yours truly and a celebrity.
So please, go check it out. After almost two weeks of work, I insist. Click on the links above and look them over and tell me what you think. I still have some tweaking to do, but it's relatively minor compared to what I've just completed.

Blog at you later.

Out with the Old, In with the New -- Part 2

Hey there, here's Part 2 of my old(2004)/new(2005) themed blogs. Let's start with some photos. First, I had a computer that I worked with for over two years. It was great, but late last year, it was starting to bog down. The time had come for a change...



Here's my old computer.


And here's my new computer.

Nice, eh? And, my overhaul doesn't just stop with the computer.


Here's my old printer.



And here's my new one.

Yeah, another beauty. And it matches with the computer too. :)

I've had both of these machines for almost a month now and I LOVE them. My new PC has a wireless keyboard and mouse, so I can take them outside the computer table. It's loaded with memory so I can download a ton of stuff if need be, and I can do several tasks with it at the same time. Something I couldn't do with my old one. And with my printer, I can print photos now and a lot of other stuff quickly and easily compared to my old one.

So, as I told you from my previous blog, this is the coolest things I had ever owned and I'm sure that I'll have both of these machines around for a long, long time. Now, all I need is access to high speed internet and I'm set to go.

I forgot to mention two other movies that I enjoyed last year: "Anchorman" and "Hellboy".

Things I'm looking forward to in 2005: "Star Wars: Episode III --Revenge of the Sith" as well as the new season of the "Star Wars: Clone Wars" animated series that will set everything right up to the start of Episode III; "Batman Begins", which I hope revives the movie franchise for the Dark Knight; "Fantastic Four", which looks real promising from that trailer I seen; and "Cursed", a werewolf movie that looked doomed with all the changes and delays and recasting it went through, but surprisingly looks pretty good from that trailer I just seen.

Well, I hope 2005 is a year that a lot of good things happen. I also hope that it's a good year for you as well.

Blog at you later.

Out with the Old, In with the New -- Part 1

2005 is here! Hope everyone out there had a good holiday season.

With the new year comes a chance to reflect and look ahead, so I'll devote this and the next entry of the blog to the old (2004) and new(2005) theme.

First, looking back at 2004, I had a relatively average year. Average in that I met some cool new friends (both online and in person, you know who you are : ) and done some cool things. But it was average in the fact that I'm still in my average job, even after several visits to radio job fairs and sending out resumes.

So among my goals ( I hate using resolutions) for 2005 is to aggressively continue my pursuit of working in broadcasting, no matter what it takes. I've been at my dull job long enough.

Another of my goals for 2005 is to travel more. I haven't been outside my home state of Michigan in almost two years, so that needs to change. One goal I want to do this year is to go out of town and attend a comic book convention, preferably the Comic Con International in San Diego. I may settle for the Wizard World event in Chicago if I can't get enough funds together for the trip out West.

Best things I saw in 2004: (Movies)"Kill Bill, Vol. 2" and "Spider-Man 2", (TV) "Lost", "Desperate Housewives", "24", "Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars", and "Star Wars:Clone Wars"; (DVD) "Shaun of the Dead", "Super Size Me", and "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Extended Edition"

That's it for now. On my next blog, photos of the coolest thing I have ever owned and I got it a few weeks ago.

The Brawl at the Palace

I've seen a lot of wild things in the world of sports, but I have never seen anything as wild as what I saw on TV Friday night when the Pistons-Pacers basketball game turned into a flat out insane brawl involving players and fans in the stands.

After taking a few days to soak all of this in, here's my two cents on the matter.

First, Ron Artest of the Pacers is an idiot. Period. As far as I'm concerned, he lit the fuse to this whole mess by committing a stupid hard foul on the Pistons' Ben Wallace in the late stages of the fourth period. The Pacers were up by 15 with under a minute to go in the game. It was over and Indiana was going to win. There was no need for Artest to do something that stupid with the game already in the bag.

Then to add matters, he decided to sit on top of the scorer's table as the two teams milled about exchanging words and shoves. Best thing for him to do was walk away, but for him to sit on the table was akin to taunting and adding fuel to an already volatile situation.

But then, when that idiot of a fan tossed the cup on Artest, the Pacers player crossed the line.

Granted, the fan was a complete jerk and had no right whatsoever to do that, but what Artest did to get into the stands and confront the fan (the wrong fan, by the way) and exchange blows, that was light years worse. He had no business going to the stands. None. And I don't want to hear that talk about the heat of the moment and disrespect and all that macho crap, a professional athlete has no right to go into the stands and confront a fan. Period. A true professional would've went to security, pointed out the nutjob who tossed the cup and had him ejected. That should've been the end of it. But, Artest, being the bully that he is, didn't go that route. So, as I said before, he lit the fuse to all of this and he's damn lucky that he only got suspended for the entire season. Considering all the other incidents he's been involved in, he's lucky he wasn't banned for life. The guy needs help.

There are others to blame for this too. Artest's teammate, or thug, Stephen Jackson is just as guilty, for first trying to start a fight on the court when the Indiana and Detroit players were jawing at each other after the hard foul and then for going into the stands after Artest and not trying to pull him back to the court or be a peacemaker, but to join in the fisticuffs. Another idiot who should be lucky he got only a 30 game suspension. Jermaine O'Neal of the Pacers, who's been trading pot shots at the world champ Pistons for several months after Detroit beat them in the conference finals last summer is another idiot for fighting with the fans as well.

And then there's the stupid fans, pumped up on beer concentrate, adrenaline and some insane egomaniacal trip that makes them think that they're part of the Pistons squad. The ones who threw the cup and the chair and the ones who got on the floor are all a bunch of jerks who got what they deserved. If it was up to me, I'd ban each and every one of them for life for doing something so stupid. You're a fan, for crying out loud! You can cheer, you can boo, but that's it. Anything else is crossing the line. You guys are no worse than the players who crossed the line to go into the stands.

Lastly, I want to talk about how the national media got on their moral high horse to criticize Detroit and how this was expected of the city. First of all, the brawl happened in Auburn Hills, a suburb some 30 plus miles away from Detroit. Second, you're supposed to be a neutral party, not see this as an opportunity to get a cheap shot in. All those announcers who called Detroit fans a bunch of punks and sissies (yes, I'm talking to the guys at ESPN) ought to be ashamed of yourselves. Don't lump a handful of knuckleheads with the rest of us fans. Remember last summer when the NBA Finals was here, not one single incident happened with us fans. Not one.

That's my feelings on the matter. I hope we never see an incident as ugly as that ever again.

Sports Page Blog: Over and Out

Hey there.

Here's a question :Have you checked out my Sports Page blog?

No?

Yeah, same here.

I had high hopes for this blog when I started it last summer. Being a major sports fan, I would use it as my platform for writing everything involving sports.

But as my schedule got way too busy, and I got way too lazy to contribute to my site, much less my blog, the chances for me to write my regular blog and then do something for my Sports Page blog were becoming few and far between.

So today, after looking over the huge amount of blog entries for it (read: 3), I've decided to pull the plug. The Sports Page blog has been cut and now I'll only concentrate on this one as my sole blog.

Maybe one day, I'll revive it when I get more time and a chance to talk more on sports, but right now, I think it's best to let the old page retire in peace.

Blog at you later.

Back on the Blog

Hey there. I'm back again, after yet another self imposed hiatus from writing on the blogs. Sometimes there are days when you come in from work, or other stuff and the last thing you want to do is write something up on the blog. But I feel inspired enough to get back to it and catch up on a few things.

Among them:

-- The new TV season is well underway and out of all the new shows, there's 4 that I like and watch every chance I get. ABC's "Lost", "Desperate Housewives", and "Boston Legal" and CBS' "CSI:NY" The others I could care less about. "Lost" puts me in a dilemna cause it's on the same night and time as the WB's "Smallville". Thank goodness for the VCR, so I can tape one while watching the other and then seeing my taped show later on.

-- Went to yet another Comic Con last month. As opposed to the ones I've attended in the past, this time around there weren't any major celebs for me to meet up with. That's OK, cause this time I couldn't afford the autograph fees even if there were someone I wanted to meet. I did pick up some good stuff this time, including a good DVD of several superhero fan films, a Wolfman action figure playset, and a special edition DVD of the zombie flick "Shaun of the Dead", this one from England, so I don't have to wait several months for that to be released here.

-- Going to all these cons over the years has given me an idea. I want to go to San Diego next summer and attend the Comic Con International over there. We'll see if I can save up enough bucks to attempt that, but I'm certainly going to try.

-- Lastly, have to give a shoutout to several new online friends I've met over the past few months. To Ron, Kent, Robert, and Josh, good meeting you all and welcome to the club!

Well that's it for now. I'll do another entry real soon, I promise . :)

Goodbye, Superman

Christopher Reeve : 1952-2004

I cannot begin to describe how devastated and saddened I am to hear of Christopher Reeve's sudden death on Sunday. To me, and thousands of others, he was-and always will be- Superman.
I'm old enough to remember seeing the "Superman" movie when it first came out in the theaters. I recall me, my brother and a family friend seeing it on the big screen for the first time. I was in total and complete awe. Back then, it was OK enough to let us see it several times on one ticket, so I got to see the movie at the theater several times that day. To this day, in fact, this movie is the one film that I've seen the most, like over a hundred times in one form or another. After that, I truly believed that Reeve was the Man of Steel and that he could really fly.
Of course, over time, I grew up and eventually learned that it was a special effect, but I still had a respect for Reeve, not only for the way he played Superman but as Clark Kent as well. I enjoyed seeing him in the other sequels (yes, even the crappy third film and the even worse fourth.) I even enjoyed some of his other works, like "Somewhere in Time" and "Street Smart".
I was stunned when he suffered that horrible accident in 1995 that paralyzed him and was proud to see him recover from that, become an activist for spinal cord research, and return to acting. And when he appeared on the WB series "Smallville" two years ago to essentially pass the torch in the Superman mythos, I again had that feeling of awe I felt years ago when I first saw him on the big screen.
Last month, when the show returned for it's new season, me and my friend Rob had talked about how cool it would be to see Reeve return again on the series, now that Margot Kidder, who played Lois Lane in the movies, had joined the show in a recurring role.
Sadly and tragically, that will never happen.
Lastly, I have an image of Christopher Reeve that I want to remember him by. It's from the final scene of Superman, where he's flying off into beyond with that trademark smile. That's what I hope he's doing now.
Goodbye, Superman. You'll always be a hero to me.

Good News

On my last post, I talked about two of my friends facing some tough decisions about their health. My best friend Rob had a bone marrow test and my online bud Grant had a test to see if he had a major illness or not.

Well good news on both fronts. Rob mentioned that he doesn't have leukemia or any major illness from his test. He still has to take another blood test in six months though. And Grant found out that the illness may have been caught early so he has an about 90% chance of living unaffected by the disease. He still has a chance to live under constant treatment though.

So even though both of them aren't officially out of the woods, the situation isn't as grave as it was a couple of weeks ago. As I told them before, just hope for the best. And that is what both of them have received. As a friend to them both, hearing that is very good news indeed.

A Show of Support

Normally on my blogs, I like to keep it light, telling interesting things that's happening with me or talking about stuff I've seen in the movies or on TV, but with this entry, I want to talk about something serious concerning two of my friends.

First, I hear that Rob, one of the closest friends I know (he's the "Pratt" of "The Pratt/Brown Discussions" blog that we work on) had a bone marrow exam taken last week to see if there was anything serious going on with his blood cells. He'll get his results Monday.

Then, recently I got some news from Grant, one of my online buds. He's been fighting headaches and other ailments for quite a while. After getting a checkup, he was told that he may have Wilson's disease, an condition that causes the body to be unable to remove copper from its tissue. This could lead to all kinds of problems, such as liver failure or brain damage, and if not medicated could be fatal. He won't know the test results for a while.

Hearing this bit of news about two of my friends flat out sucks. It makes the things that I talk about on the blog seem trivial and insignificant compared to the potentially life and death situations my friends are dealing with. As I've told both of them, I hope for the best results and that both of them will be in my prayers.

Guys, you have my total and complete support and I hope and pray that things will work out.

Movie Review: Spider-Man 2

OK, I've seen Spider-Man 2 opening night yesterday.

All I can say is this: If the first one was amazing, the second one is spectacular.

This sequel went the way that X2 did, in the fact that it improved on the original. And it improved on it in ways that I didn't think possible.

It's rare that a comic book movie can deliver action, drama, good character interaction and depth all at the same time. It's rarer still to do that again, and in a sequel of all things. That's what this film did.

Once again, Tobey Maguire hit it out of the park with his portrayal of Peter Parker/Spider-Man. This time, he not only handled playing his heroic alter-ego, but also in dealing with it. More so in this film, he made Parker feel like a real life guy, not just a character drawn up in the comics over forty years ago. Kirsten Dunst did a good job as Mary Jane, this time not just being the damsel in distress, but also standing on her own two feet. The scenes both actors did together in the movie showed that the chemistry hasn't left since the original film.

As opposed to the first film, where the Green Goblin was OK, but not a dynamic villian, Alfred Molina, as Doctor Octopus, was very good. We got to see both sides of his character, before he became Spidey's nemesis and afterwards, and he handled it quite well. The scene in the hospital where he awakens after having the tenacles fused to his spine was one of the most violent scenes I've seen for a comic book film. And he had some good one liners and interaction with Parker/Spider-Man.

The action sequences were incredible, with the two duking it out aboard a speeding train topping the list. It was one of those scenes that I wished lasted longer than it did. And even though I have my beef about CGI, this film came as close as it did to really showing how good CGI effects can look in a movie. I especially liked how the camera swayed back and forth as Spidey swung over New York, almost giving the effect that you were seeing it thru his eyes. That was a definite improvement from the first film.

What made the second film better than the first? More humor. I was really surprised with the balance of laughs along with the drama and pathos of the movie. Every scene that had J. Jonah Jamison in it was a laugh riot. And I do mean every scene he was in. And, one scene involved Parker leaping from the roof and landing hard to the ground was hilarious, especially if you know the story about how Maguire almost had to pull out of shooting because of a chronic back ailment.

And they were a few surprises thrown in as well, especially involving Peter's friend Harry Osborn. I won't give it away, but you can definitely see a set-up for the third movie (which is supposed to be out in May 2007).

I hand it to director Sam Raimi for putting it all together again, after what he did with the first film. I read that he had more freedom with this effort as compared with the first. He again knows how to make a comic book film right.

So, all in all, I would call Spider-Man 2 the best film I've seen this year, slightly below Kill Bill Volume 2. And I'd rank it up there as the best superhero sequel I've seen (topping X2) Can't wait to see what they'll do in another three years to top this one.

Spider Man 2: It's Finally Arrived!!

It's here! "Spider Man 2", one of the most anticipated film sequels in quite a while, finally opens in theaters Wednesday.

And I'm going to see it on opening night tomorrow.

Out of all the comic book characters, Spider Man is the one that I can closely relate. So in 2002, when this character made its big screen debut, I was dying to see what it looked like. I mean, would it suck or not? I had my doubts about it at first, until I saw the trailer. I was blown away. Then I saw the entire film. I was even more impressed. And a lot of people worldwide agreed with that assessment as it took in a lot of money making it a huge blockbuster.

Which brings us to 2004, and the upcoming sequel. Like the original I had the same doubts about whether it will suck or not. Superhero sequels are very hit(see X2: X-Men United) or miss (see Batman & Robin, a film that I don't want to talk about.) So will this be as good as the original or even better?

The buzz going around is that it will be a lot better. We've got a way cooler villian this time in Doctor Octopus (Now come on, who didn't think the Green Goblin's costume in the first one didn't look flat out stupid!) and the scenes they've shown for the trailer look incredibly awesome. So once again, my interest in it has again peaked. Even some of the reviews I've read in the paper have been good.

But all the reviews and trailers don't mean anything until tomorrow night, when I sit down at the theatre and see it for myself.

Is "Spider Man 2" the real deal? I'll let you know on my next entry.

New Stories, New Friends, New Look

Hey there.

I've been slowly getting my website in order. Getting rid of old, dead links and features and cleaning them up. I've also been adding new looks for each of the pages. They're in the test stages right now, but hopefully, if they all work, I'll have them all done in the next week or so.

I've finally gotten back into the writing game. Writing for stuff other than this blog. I've started on a new story, a request for my online bud Adam, about a man-to-cat transformation. I've never done a story like that before, but so far, slowly but surely, it's getting together. I'll let you know when it's done and up on the Stories page of my website.

I've also got a new idea I've been toying around with, thanks to a drawing my friend Lance showed me a while ago. It's still in the early stages, so I'll tell you more about it when I have it more together. I can say that it's another transformation story that I've never done before.

Got a new update to my "Mark of the Wolf" movie project page. Things are moving very well as I hope to get started on filming next year. I plan on a MAJOR announcement on the film's early development in the next week or two.

And finally, I want to give a shout out to my newest online friend, Grant. Met him through Lance's online chat room and we've gotten to know each other pretty well through our late night chats. It's good to know you Grant and welcome to the club!

That's it for now. Have a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day holiday and don't forget to remember the men and women who've served (and continue to serve) our nation's military.

Blog at you later.

Comic Con: The Post-Game

I've just came back from attending the comic book convention I'd told you about in my last blog, and it was, by far, the best experience I had in all the times I've gone there.

I met a ton of cool stars, among them: "Hellboy" himself, Ron Perlman; Dean Haglund (Lone Gunman Langley from "The X-Files"), Margot Kidder (Lois Lane from the "Superman" movies), Michael Dorn (Worf from "Star Trek: TNG") and novelist Peter David, who got to sign my copy of one of my favorite werewolf novels, "Howling Mad" which he wrote.

There were others there that I wanted to meet, but due to things outside my control, such as limited finances and long lines at their respective booths, I couldn't get them all.

But, all in all, I had a great time there and you'll be seeing some of the cool photos I took pretty soon. I can't wait to go to the next convention, which takes place on Halloween weekend.

Blog at you later.

Going to the Comic Con

I was asked a while back how do you meet all these celebrites and get those photos that wind up on your website. Well, I'm about to reveal my source.

Twice a year, in May and in October, I head off to a comic book convention about several miles away from my house. Sometimes I go alone, other times I go along with my friend Kevin. The convention has tons of comic books for sale, of course. But it also movies, action figures, and other cool items available. I've been able to snag some cool items, like t-shirts, caps, posters and the like. Plus, I've been able to acquire some nice additions to my comic book collection. But I have the most fun seeing the celebrities at the convention, getting to talk with them, sign their autograph and hopefully, take a photo with them.
Now these rare opportunities don't come cheap, costing about $20 to meet each star. But, it's well worth it.

The first time I went to the convention a few years back, I scored a major coup: I got to meet the Hulk himself, Lou Ferrigno. It was awesome to not only meet one of my TV idols, but to have a picture taken with him as well. That was the first star photo I used on my webpage. I've gotten so much good buzz from that photo, I decided to make it a permanent part of the Network website, adding a new picture with a celebrity every few months or so.

Over the years, I've gotten to meet other cool celebs, including David Naughton of "An American Werewolf in London", Dee Wallace Stone of "The Howling", and recently, LeVar Burton of "Star Trek:The Next Generation". It's a great experience and I have a good time each time I check it out.

The spring edition of the convention will be happening this weekend and I'll be heading out there tomorrow. Now, I hear there will be a lot of stars coming to this one, so I'll have my digital camera loaded and ready to go. With any luck, the stars I see tomorrow at the comic con will wind up on the front page of my website in the coming months.

Movie Review: Van Helsing

Monday, I checked out "Van Helsing" at the theater. My opinion: It's not bad. It wasn't a film that I would rave about, like "Kill Bill Vol. 2, (which as of right now, is my top movie of the year) but it was OK. The one thing that got me about the film was the plot took too long to come together. A film shouldn't take like three quarters of the film to make you realize what was happening. Plus it got a bit crowded at times with all these characters, like Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, the Wolf Man, as well as the title character and trying to weave their stories together.

The CGI effects were OK, but it's what would you expect from CGI. Now since there was a werewolf in this movie, I wanted to pay close attention to how they would do this. The transformation scenes were all right, but with the guy playing the Wolf Man in this one writhing and contorting about as he changed, it would've been a real cool scene if they did it the old fashioned effect as opposed to using the computer. I won't give the film away, but if you're a werewolf fan, you'll kind of like how werewolves play a key role in the climax.

So, all in all, it was OK. OK enough for me to say that when it comes out on DVD later in the year, I'll probably buy it. I can say that I really like the video game that's based on the movie. Hopefully, I'll get to play around with it some more when I get some free time.

Blog at you later.

Getting Caught Up

Um... hello?! Is this blog on?!

Wow, it's been a long while since I last posted on this blog. Over a month and a half in fact. I've had little time to do work on the blog or my website lately, mostly cause of work or lack of sleep or other things going on. But, finally I can be able to catch my breath and get caught up with what's been going on in the fifty-plus days since my last post.

-- Finally gotten back into writing again, working a little bit at a time on my various unfinished stories, episode guides for the Werewolf TV Series website, and also my script rewrite for my possible "Mark of the Wolf" movie project that I hope to start next summer. The process on all is slow and tedious, but I'm more closer to the end than I was a while back.

-- Finally got the chance to check out some movies this year. It took me until last month to finally go inside a theater to see a movie. First one I saw was "Hellboy", another of the films crafted out of the comic books. Now, going into this, I hardly was familiar with this character as compared to the other comic book films out there, so my expectations were very very low. But I was pleasantly surprised by this film. It was very good, funny when it needed to be, poignant when it had to be and had some kick-ass action sequences as well. Ron Perlman, who plays the title role, definitely nailed the character down. A perfect anti hero with a quick wit, a take no prisoners attitude when it comes to taking care of business and deftly providing emotion when necessary, even in all that makeup. I remember seeing him do the same thing as a kid when he was in that old TV show, "Beauty and the Beast" and he hit it out of the park again with this one. Like I said, I was pleasantly surprised with this one and I can see them making several sequels in the future.

The next one I checked out was "Kill Bill: Volume 2" I was eager to see the continuation to Quentin Tarantino's epic after seeing Volume 1 last fall and I wasn't disappointed. While Vol. 1 dealt with the madness and swordplay and fighting behind Uma Thurman's character and why she needed to, well, kill Bill, Vol. 2 gave you the reasons behind it and after seeing it all as a whole, I understood why she had to, well, kill Bill. I was impressed with Uma as the Bride and David "Kung Fu" Carradine as Bill and I was totally blown away with the overall film and how it all ended. Now, as tempted as I was about buying Volume 1 on DVD, I'll be patient and wait for the inevitable complete DVD set with both volumes together to come out.

The next film on my list: "Van Helsing". I report on that later in the week.

-- Other things to talk about: I got absolutely nothing out of my taxes, since most of it went to cover bills (taxes suck), and another of my job offers, this one to work at a TV station behind the scenes, fell through (that blows, but I'm still not giving up on my career goal).

Well that's it for now. I'll blog at you real soon, I promise.

Mark of the Wolf: Back Online

I've brought back my pet project on the website. "Mark of the Wolf" is something I'm proud of, writing a script for my own werewolf movie. When I originally wrote this several years ago, the goal was always that one day I can actually put this on film. Well in the past few months, a lot of things have fell into place that could make this possible. The plan, if things fall into place is to start filming this next summer and have it done by the fall of 2005. Of course, there's still some things that could delay it even further, but I'm pretty confident that it will happen next year.
So click on the link above, for my intro to the site, which will mainly focus on the planning of this project. I will continue to add more to that site in the coming days. Whenever I get some free time, I will work on the revamped movie script. The novel excerpts that I based my original script on have been put away for now, but I may bring it back on the site someday.

Updating the Site

Thanks to my online bud Adam, I've finally gotten around to doing a small update to the site. I've cleaned up the Links page, adding some new sites along with getting rid of some dead ones. I've also added some new photos to the album, mostly of my friends Frank and Adam.

As I predicted in the last blog, "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" did clean house at the Oscars last night, winning every award it was nominated for, taking eleven in all. I knew that movie would do well, if not just for that movie in general, but for the entire three year trilogy of films as a whole. Congrats to them all and I can't wait to pick up the DVD later this year.

That's it for now, blog at you later.

Getting Caught Up

Hey there. It's been a while since I updated the blog here. A lot of things have happened, so let me get you all caught up.

*First of all, I have to get a shout out to my newest online friend, Adam. I met him thru my good friend Lance's chatroom a couple weeks ago and he's become yet another cool guy to know. Welcome to the club, Adam!

*Next, the streak's over. I had gone thru the entire winter without getting sick. Until last Tuesday, when I got hit with a major head cold. It sucked big time. I had dealt with it fine Tuesday and Wednesday, but Thursday was when it had really got me. It took me until the weekend to finally get over it. Hopefully it'll be a long while before I get sick again.

*On Feb. 18th, I went out to a sports job fair. Mostly it was teams in the Michigan area and parts of the midwest, plus a few TV and radio stations. My hope is that something good will come out of attending the fair. I'll keep you informed.

*Earlier this month, I had raved about the 100th episode of "Angel" on the WB, calling it the best episode they did all season. Little did I know that several days later, the WB would announce that this season would be the show's last. Damn you, WB!! Just when it's getting really good and turning to a new chapter, you decide now to pull the plug?! I tell you, ever since it's predecessor "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" left for UPN three years ago, they have been giving that show nothing but grief. Hopefully, they'll follow through on their plan to do movies on the show, but part of me doubts that'll happen. I tell you, if it wasn't for "Smallville", I wouldn't be watching that network at all with the way they treat my favorite shows.

*I'm back working on stories and guides. I got a cool werewolf story that I'm almost ready to put on the site, and I'm working on a few more. The plan in the next week or so is to bring back a revamped "Arsenal" site and to post big news about another of my pet projects.

*And finally, tonight is Oscar night: My quick picks is for "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" to clean house, including winning both best film and director. I'm going to side with Bill Murray to edge out Johnny Depp for best actor and Charlize Theorn to win for best actress. All the other awards I could care less about.

Oh, one last thing. Thanks to everyone who sent good wishes and posts about my website's anniversary and the cool look front page with all the key photos and moments over the past five years. I'll be taking that page down on Monday. Thanks again for the kind word.

That's it for now. Blog at you later.

New Site is Up and Running!!!

Well, finally I'm done with the new look of the website. You can check it out. I still have some more stuff to add on to it in the coming days.

What's Up with the Site?

Hey there.

Just wanted to let you know that I haven't forgotten about my site. It's been almost two weeks since my website turned five years old and the site hasn't been changed as I've promised.

Well, I've had some technical difficulties with both my ISP and Geocities as far as putting some of the stuff I wanted to put on there, causing the big day on January 23rd to come and go without any fanfare, except for my mention in this blog.

But I can say that last week, all the difficulties have been straightened out and I've been slowly and surely working on it. Kind of hard to do when you also have a life outside the Mark One Network, but it's coming together.

Still have a few more things to put in and test out, but now I'm shooting for this Friday, February 5 to be the big day for the relaunch. I hope you all like the changes. Stay tuned.

Blog at you later.

Talking about Angel

Wow, I just got thru seeing "Angel"'s landmark 100th episode on the WB. And all I can say is wow, what an episode! It was by far the best episode of the season.

A jam packed hour that was funny, filled with action and had an ending, that if you've watched the show since the beginning, that was sad and gut wrenching. Even I had to choke back a few tears after seeing that. I was reminded of the 100th episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" from which "Angel" was spun off from. It had the same type of deal of emotions, with humor, action and a powerfully sad ending.

As one of my can't miss shows on TV, "Angel" definitely hit it out of the park with this episode. An excellent job all around. A damn good show!!

WOW!! What a Super Bowl!! (And The Game Wasn't Bad Either!)

So what did you think of Super Bowl XXXVIII?

Not the game, mind you, but the halftime show!!

Normally, I don't watch the halftime show, I usually get something to eat or go to the bathroom or something, but this year I got to check it out and all I can say is...

WOW!

Now when I saw Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake performing at the end, yeah it looked very sexual, but when Justin pulled on Janet's top and I saw, uh, what I saw, all I can say is...

WOW!!

At first, I didn't believe that what I saw was, well, what I saw. If anything I thought it was a costume that revealed, well too much. But when I saw it on tape (I was recording it along with the game) and I slowed the tape down and saw, uh, well, it, all I can say is....

WOW!!!!

Now, of course, I know it was planned, as did just about everyone else who saw it. And, everyone from CBS to MTV(who produced it) apologized to no end, and that's all fine and good, but come on, you have to admit, that was a damn good way to get some attention to what normally is a boring halftime on the biggest sports event of the year.

Of course, what was even funnier, was Justin's response to what happened, calling it a "wardrobe malfunction". Now that's hilarious. I didn't know showing one's breast in front of 180 some million viewers was labeled a malfunction. I'd call it "Must See TV", but not a "wardrobe malfunction". I hope Janet has plenty more "malfunctions" in the future. ;)

Anyway, it was a good way to get fired up for the rest of the game, which was not bad believe it or not. Congrats to the Patriots, who knocked off the Panthers by 3. I had the point margin right, and the correct team, so that should make up for my horrible football picks this year.

Well, that's it for now. I hope Super Bowl XXXIX next year, especially the halftime show, will be as just as, uh, well thrilling, as it was this year. And to Janet, I just want to say one more thing:

WOW!!!!!!

MY SUPER BOWL PICK

This is it. The big game of the year, Super Bowl XXXVIII takes place Sunday at Houston as New England takes on Carolina.

Now, if you had told me back in September that these two teams would be playing for it all, I would've laughed at you. In fact, going over my blog back then, I didn't even pick the Patriots or the Panthers to even make the playoffs, much less the Super Bowl.

Yeah, I'm a real expert when it comes to football.

Want proof of my expertise? My two picks for the Super Bowl was Tampa Bay and Tennessee. The Bucs didn't even make the playoffs while the Titans didn't even reach the AFC tite game. My other choices for teams to win their respective divisions: Minnesota(NFC North), San Francisco(NFC West), Tampa Bay(NFC South), Buffalo(AFC East), Pittsburgh(AFC North), and Oakland(AFC West), didn't even qualify for the postseason. The only things I had right was picking Philadelphia to win the NFC East and that Denver would get a wild card berth.

So with that track record, I'd be nuts to make a Super Bowl prediction, but hey what can I say? I'm a glutton for punishment.

Anyhow, here's my pick for Super Bowl XXXVIII: New England 24, Carolina 21.

I strongly suggest you don't put money down on that pick though. :)

Blog at you later.

HAPPY 5TH ANNIVERSARY!!!

Tonight marks a milestone for the Mark One Network. For it was five years ago that this little website was launched.

Wow, has it been five years already!

I remember working late on January 22, 1999 when I was putting this thing together. It was very plain and not much to brag about at the time. I was still new to this thing called the World Wide Web and basically wanted a site since a couple of my friends had one and thought it was a good idea. Well, it took a lot of trial and error and testing and January 22nd soon turned into the 23rd and it was right around 4 in the morning when I finally put it out into cyberspace before crawling into bed.

I had no idea what was going to come from it. Heck, I was just hoping that my friends would see it. Looking back on it now, I can say a lot has come from ths site.

In the time since, I've gotten to comment on a lot of things that's happened to me and the world. I've made it a home for my stories and poetry, several of which will be returning here in the near future. I've become involved in a few grass roots efforts, in particular bringing back "Mystery Science Theater 3000". And I've even been bold enough to (gasp) show my mug online, along with some of my close friends as well as some famous figures I've met in person.

From the old Journal to the current Blog you're reading now, from "Save MST3K" to "The Brown/Pratt Discussions" , from the Photo Album to the soon-to-be-launched Sports Page, it's been quite a ride for the M1N. But the one thing I've been the most proud of is the friendships I've made and developed over the years because of this site.

And as I always do at this milestone, I want to give a shout out and thanks to each and every one of my friends who's played some role in this website being what it is today. To Sam, Rob, Kevin, Mike, Joey, Lucas, Jason, John, Brandon, Frank, Chris, Lance and Jay: my friends I've known in person or online for years, thanks for all of your support. The same calls for those I've met in the past year: Matt, Jon, Colin, Len and Key. You know who each of you are and what you mean to me and I'm proud to know each of you. I also want to extend my appreciation to those friends who I lost touch with recently, Larry, Justin and Scott(aka Zoogz). I hope you guys are doing well, wherever you are.
Finally I want to thank all those who visited this site over the five years it's been online. According to my stats, over 3000 visitors have checked at least one page of this site since Day One. I know it's not much compared to other sites, but hey coming from a guy who was hoping that a few friends would check it out back when I launched this site, that's a huge achievement. Thank you everyone.

Well, here's to five years of the M1N. I can only hope that the next five will be even better!

Writing, Writing, Writing

Today was yet another cold day in the big city, so it gave me a chance to get back into what I like to do best: write.

Now when I say write, I don't mean my brief entries into the old blog, but actual writing of stories, guides for the Werewolf TV Series website and other things for my website.

I've been working on a few original stories, including one inspired by a drawing that a friend of mine showed me. Once I get them finished up, I'll be putting it on my site, which is long overdue for some original stuff.

I've also been on the lookout for an old floppy disc that had some other story ideas that I typed out a while back that I'd like to get back on. It's not with my other floppy disks, so it might be buried underneath my junk in my bedroom. Hopefully I'll find those and get back to those stories as well.

Well that's enough for now. Blog at you later.

I HATE WINTER!!

So as you can tell by my title, I hate winter. A lot.

I live in Michigan, where the weather gets cold and bad this time of year. Today we got hit with almost six inches of snow. It was our first major snowstorm of the year and I can honestly say: it sucks.

I hate winter. I always have. I lived here my entire life and I can't remember one time when I liked the season. Dealing with the bitter cold, the endless amount of snow and all the other factors when it comes to the weather (clearing out the car, getting sick, etc.) just makes it hard for me to love wintertime.

One day, I would like to fly away to someplace warm and sunny for the winter and don't come back until the snow melts. And I mean, melts for good. I've been here when snow hits in April for cryino out loud. It's a pipe dream, yes, but that's what I'd like to see happen.

In the meantime, I guess I have to suck it up and deal with it.

Did I mention how much I hate winter?

Happy New Year!! I'm Back!!

Hey there.

It's been a while since my last blog. Last year in fact.

I've been too busy with work and other things and too tired to even jot down the simplest thing the past few months. But I'm back now and I'm back at jotting down whatever's going on.

I wish I could tell you a lot's happened to me since my last blog. But it hasn't. I'm still at my regular job and still aspiring to work in radio or something sports related. I did get some writing in here and there, but the few projects I've done are nowhere close to being finished.

As the new year is upon us, some of us have taken to doing the usual ritual of making resolutions for 2004. I don't believe in resolutions, however. Mainly because once you make a resolution, there's a 99% chance that it'll be broken about a day or two later. As my good friend Brandon told me, if you going to make a resolution, start it right away and not wait until any particular day when odds are you're not even going to do it.

In saying that, I do have a few goals in mind that I hope will happen before the year is out. Topping the list is getting a better job. As much as I want to get into radio, sports radio in particular, the harsh bitter reality that I've been through the past few years since I graduated from college has shown me that it's much harder to get into the business. So, even though I want to be a sports broadcaster, I'm more than ready to try something else, maybe work for a sports team or write for a paper or something like that. Regardless, my first goal to have a better paying profession by the end of this year.

My next goal is to work on my body. Now, I don't want to become like some body builder or anything like that, but I would like to put on a few pounds of muscle and add some more weight to my frame. So that is what I'd like to work on this year.

And my final goal is to travel a bit more this year. Maybe visit some of my online friends who live in other parts of the country and check out the sites. Of course, a lot of that depends on whether I can achieve my first goal, so we'll see what happens there.

Well that's it for now. It feels good blogging once again. I can assure you that my next blog won't be several months away.

Well last week I made my way out to the ESPN Dream Job tryout tour as it made its way to my home state of Michigan. How did it go?

It went quite well, in my opinion.

My one fear going to the tryout was that the line would be so long that I wouldn't get a chance to show what I can do. Fortunately for me, even though there was a line, it wasn't that long. In fact, it took me about an hour and a half for me to make my way inside.

As I was waiting in line, I got to talk with several others who were shooting for a shot at the ESPN job as I was. Some were close by, while there was others who came in as far as Grand Rapids, Cincinnati, and Columbus looking for a shot. Some were about the same age as me, some were younger (one was 18, the youngest one can qualify to participate0 and others were in their early forties. They worked in the same jobs as me, others were school janitors, worked at places like Ford and GM (in fact, one I talked to called someone on his cell to get to change his meeting at GM to a later time so that he could stay in line at the tryout), others were just high school and college students. The attire ranged from the business suit and tie, like I was, to casual gear to golf shirts and jeans. A few even put on anything that had "ESPN" on it.

We were all shooting for the Dream Job.

As I was waiting, a couple of TV stations and someone from the local newspaper stopped by to film us or talk to us. They didn't talk with me, I didn't feel like being interviewed anyway and I'm sure I made the local newscast as well, but I can't tell you if I did or not.

Finally, after that hour and a half wait, I made it in after filling out forms in the line. Me, along with seven others, were seated at a table and filled out yet another form, this time filled with all kinds of sports trivia in a timed test. Some of the questions I knew, like what Tiger Woods real name was (Eldrick) and what was Columbus' Major League Soccer team was called (Crew). There was some that I didn't know till after the test was over, like who was the coach of USC's football team( I had Pete Carroll's first name but couldn't remember his last0 or who did the Yankees beat in the last World Series they won(I had the Braves, but it was the Mets in 2000.)

After the test, we were then brought to another room where we all took part in a roundtable discussion about our sports knowledge. We talked about everything from who should win the Heisman in college football to who should get the AL MVP to the NFL. It was a good chat and I guess the ESPN guys wanted to see how much we knew about sports.

After that, it was over and we were let out as another group of eight came in for their turn. It took about almost an hour for the whole tryout and I came out of it hoping that I'd at least make it to the next round of the tryouts. They told me that they'll let everyone know in about a month if we made the cut.

Wish me luck.

(UPDATE: Jan. 12, 2004 -- I didn't make the cut and from what I gathered, neither did any of the others that I saw at my time at the tryout. I was disappointed, of course, but as my brother told me, it was a good lesson on the process of interviewing for a sports broadcasting job. Anyhow, The "Dream Job" show airs in February on ESPN. Good luck to the people who made the finals. )

Hey there.

If you know me, or been to my site over the past four-plus years, you know that of all the things I do, I have one dream: to work in the field of sports broadcasting.

In my dream, I see myself starting at sports radio, probably in a small city or market and then working my way up to a big time station or perhaps making the move to television, where I would be working at the big time stations near my hometown of Detroit or even going national and working with the big boys at ESPN, the station I watch religiously every day.

That's my dream. Now comes the harsh reality: I'm still toiling away at my regular job, while I'm trying to break into radio. And the few opportunities I get into the business has been dashed, either by not getting hired or by the station deciding to hire someone within the station to save money. Some reality, huh?

But in spite of these setbacks, I'm not giving up on my dream. In fact, something is happening that may bring me closer to my ultimate goal: working at ESPN.

The network is doing a new reality-type show, called "Dream Job" that would bring in several people from across the nation to compete in sports broadcasting related tasks (like doing play-by-play, reading from a teleprompter, interviewing athletes, etc.) and in the end, the winner receives a year-long contract to work for ESPN.

Like I said, this is something that brings me closer to my goal. On Monday, the tryout tour for this show, which debuts early next year, is coming to my area. And as you can guess, I will be going to try out.

Now I don't know what to expect from this. I'm sure the tryout will be long and tough and I'm also sure that there will be many others like me who will be trying out for the same dream as I am.

What I do know is that I have to go for this. If they like what they see of me, the sky's the limit and I could be working for the very station that I've enjoyed watching for years. If they don't, I'll still keep on plugging away and who knows, maybe this will speed things along towards a broadcasting job.

No matter what happens on Monday, I'm going for it to show the ESPN guys what I can do. To work in sports broadcasting is my dream. Hopefully ESPN's "Dream Job" will make mine a reality.

I'll let you know how the tryout went on my next blog.

Wish me luck.

OK, I checked out "Underworld" What did I think of it?

Not bad.

The plot line was OK enough, putting yet another spin on the endless battle between werewolves and vampires. But they took a somewhat different slant on it, having a lady vampire hunter fall for a guy, who's about to become a werewolf.

What I liked about it: some of the action scenes were pretty good, especially the climatic fight towards the end. I also liked how the feud was played out as well, giving a slant that had you thinking one way at first but then seeing it from the other side.

Now when it comes to any movie involving werewolves, I look at two things: the transformation scenes and the final look of the werewolf itself. The TF scenes were OK, with the use of CGI effects. I like how they used the transformations too, especially with one guy as he becomes the werewolf. A much better use of morphing as compared to "Bad Moon" as an example. I even liked how they showed a few of them changing back using the morphing effect.
As for the wolf itself, it could've been better, as it looked like a black panther than a wolf, but it wasn't bad. There were glimpses that made it look very realistic, but they weren't used enough. I did like the effect that had them climbing along the walls and leaping onto buildings and trains.
One effect I wished they would've shown all the way is showing the male lead change into a werewolf for the first time. In showing his transformation, they used a cool camera effect in showing how the change effected his body as his organs shifted and his bones began to grow and change. They didn't show enough of it and they stopped the change before he completely became a wolf. It should've been a contender for a cool TF scene, but it just fell short.

What I didn't like about it was the overuse of the weapons. I mean, we're talking werewolves and vampires here. They can do some hand to hand combat from time to time and not be so dependent on the guns. Although, I did find it interesting with the use of their weapons to fight their foes (the vampires using bullets with silver nitrate and the wolves using bullets made with a form of ultraviolet light) I also didn't like the use of darkness when it comes to the werewolf TFs and I especially hated how when the male lead became a werewolf-vampire hybrid at the end, you get to see this incredible use of effects to show him changing and what do you see at the end? the guy in kind of his human form, covered in dark purple paint and some claws and a few fangs. I mean come on?!!!
A friend of mine brought up a good point saying he thought the guy would be like Nightcrawler from X-Men2 and start teleporting.
All in all, it wasn't too bad. It could've been a lot better but they had enough to build on for the proposed sequels that they plan to make. Like I said with "The Hulk" movie back in June, I hope they take the good points they did with the film and expand on that and hopefully make a kick-ass sequel.

My next film review will be for "The Rundown" Stay tuned.

TODAY'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!! Whohoo!!
I take pride in the fact that today I pass yet another number in the age scale (And no, I won't tell you how old I am!)
I'm also proud of the fact that my birthday falls on the time that the new fall season is out on TV and movies, that football is in full swing and the baseball playoffs are about to start. It won't be long before basketball and hockey start up as well. Ah, you gotta love fall.
I don't usually go all out when it comes to celebrating my big day. Mostly the high point for me is spending some time with the family and some good friends, maybe taking in a movie or a sporting event, and winding down the day with some cake and ice cream. It may not be the earth-shattering event some people have on their birthday, but it works for me.
For gifts, my mom gave me a very cool one: the first season DVD box set of "Smallville". Very nice. I also got some cash ( the gift that keeps on giving, I always say) some clothes and some DVDs. Not a bad haul.
Thanks to all my friends who sent out good wishes for the day as well. It's been a good birthday for me, can't wait till the next one.