Creativity...and the lack there of...

Sony announced the other day that they are haulting plans for Spiderman 4 . Instead they are planning for the dreaded "R" word for the series.  REBOOT.

A reboot of the Spiderman series will allow them to start over, start clean, and more importantly -- Re-cast and save money. Guess Toby, Kirstin and Sam Rami will be cast aside for a cheaper option. Somthing that will no doubt get the publicity machine going with new toys, tie-ins, and games.

Not that reboots are bad. Actually, I really liked the Superman reboot (one of the few that did) that just picked up where Superman 2 left off. Dark Knight really got most things right with a darker Batman. So from time to time you can get away with the reboot.

Why is it that Hollywood feels the need to reboot with any major recasting? Look at the James Bond Franchise..James Bond is: Sean Connery, Timothy Dalton, Roger Moore, George Lazenby, Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig ... While each new actor in the series is sort of a reboot it keeps the general feel and storyline of past movies (with the exceptino of Casino Royale being more of a Reboot in the sense of the word). I think that at 22- films that idea has held up well?! Until Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace none of the other bond films were direct sequals of each other.

Which leads me to wonder why the need to rehash old movies and TV series to fill our screens. Maybe it's because we keep filling the theatres. Just look at the list of new movies in the works: The A-Team , Magnum PI, MacGyver (which I sadly can't wait for!!), plus a new Battlestar Gallactica (based on the old series, not the new one), Plus the newer TV show to movie transitions...Sex in the City, The Simpsons, Arrested Development, the rumord Sopranos movie, 24 the moive, CHiP's, a possible move version of The Shield and the list goes on and on.

Let's not forget past stinkers too: The Mod Squad, Starsky and Hutch, Dukes of Hazzard, Miami Vice,...and those are just some of my favorites.

I will say that there is one new movie coming out that I am over the top about seeing. It's a movie that is a follow up to a 1982 Disney movie that I enjoyed as a kid. That movie is: Tron: Legacy .

The original was just that: ORIGINAL. Now, almost 30 years later we get a next chapter in the story. Both a sequel and a homage the original. Most of the original cast is back..which is a good thing. Older, wiser, and better actors too.

Now, I've railed on this before, "there are no original ideas in Hollywood". It's a land of sequels and remakes! But, every once and a while, a new movies comes along and gets things going. For me Avatar was that movie. Not so much for the story, but rather the style and images.  James Cameron is constantly breaking new ground and he's done it again with this film.

According to Den of Geek: "Avatar picked up $48.5 million, bringing its total to just under $430 million in the US and $1.331 BILLION dollars internationally. For those keeping score at home, and you should, because this is getting to be historic. Avatar is the second-highest grossing movie of all time. The top film is James Cameron's Titanic."

In two movies, Titanic and Avatar, James Cameron has a world wide gross of over $3 Billion Dollars.

If you get the change hit up your local IMAX 3D theatre, pay the nearly $15 ticket price and see what a 3D movie should look like. I can truely see the tech that Cameron developed helping to push movie making forward.

Most of what Hollywood is doing right now isn't really original, but it is entertaining. Isn't that really the reason we go to the movies? Escape, fun, an outing with friends or family?

Oh well....atleast 24 is back on TV this weekend! 4 hours over Sunday and Monday..Happy Birthday to me!

As you may have noticed I am now shilling for Amazon. Why not try to make this little cirner of the net make me money. It's a win win situation as I see it.

So should you find yourself in need of a cd/DVD/book/mp3 download how about hooking a brother up and heading to Amazon through this blog.

It won't make me rich...but maybe I can get a few new tunes or flix in the next few months!!

Trying a new feature of the blog.

If all goes well I should be able to blog live from my phone via text.

Should make updates a little more frequent. The above picture is of my
sisters new dog Osiris(Sy for short)

New Year, New me?

Seems that every year we all start off with the grand vision of what's to come. Usually, we see a year of prosperity, hope or change. Most of us make "new years resolutions" that we never plan to keep. I have always subscribed to the thought that "no resolution" is always an easy one to keep.

By setting no goals you have nothing to fail at....you also have nothing to strive for! So, this year I have decided to actually push forward and make the mother of all dreaded New Years Resolutions..

**Lose Weight**

This year seems like an apt time to follow through on that goal. Last year I finally saw what the dangers of an unexpected health problem can lead to. As I said few months back, I had the joy of a detached retina. Granted I should have seen this coming since my right eye was Funked up for the better part of the year before I got it checked out. Along with the retina problem I was also diagnosed as Diabetic(during National Diabetes month of all times).

So getting the old weight issues in check seems to be a good place to start. Lower body weight should help bring the diabetes in check...and stave off future eye related issues.

The real eye opener (sorry!) was the hit this would have laid on my wallet if I had been without Medical Insurance. As of now the cost to me is just over $1,000 had I been paying out of pocket for the whole show then it would have come to nearly $14,000. So, yeah!

Since I made the decision to drop the pounds prior to Christmas I have seen my Blood Glucose numbers drop from being near 300 on a regular basis to down around 130. Which isn't as good as is could be..but is a hell of a lot better than it was. I've also dropped about 8lbs just by cutting back on the carbs/cal. and walking between 1-1.5 miles three times +/- per week. At some point I do plan on trying to ride the bicycle I have...but my ass fell of last time I attempted that one!

So the goals are simple...drop a total of 43lbs, the first 8 of which I mentioned are already gone,(which would bring me to 250) keep the Blood glucose in check...and generally be healthier. Which shouldn't be all that hard given the changes I've made to this point (I do miss my friend Doritos though!)

I can't promise to actually make my goal. But, at least this year I have something to reach for rather than just coast through the year.