New Macs?

I loved rumors

click the Link

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Summer of greatness

This summer could have been disastrous.  The hype machine was in full bore, and for someone who has adopted a media black philosophy it  was hard to avoid it. A couple I know now have decided to not watch movie trailers for movies they are going to watch for sure. Movies like The Dark Knight and Iron Man had so much information about what takes place in the movie shown in the trailers. This is bad if you want to experience the movie without and idea about whats going to happen. Thus I have chosen to be on media black out. I want to wright more on this, possibly even create a web page about it.

The Summer started with
Iron Man - a fun movie, classic story, colorful characters. This is now officially the greatest movie (based on a comic book) I have ever seen.
The Incredible Hulk - Much Darker that the in-continuity Iron Man, still classic story
Hellboy II - Most likely the  underdog as it came out a week before the Dark Knight, I hope it is not lost in the smoke as it is quite possibly the funnest movie of the summer, similar to Iron man. This is now officially the greatest movie (based on a comic book) I have ever seen.
The Dark Knight - What better way to end the summer of comic movie glory. This movie blew me away in all aspects. Great Acting, Great effects, Great characters, great everything. I can go and say this is now officially the greatest movie (based on a comic book) I have ever seen.

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The Onion Helps me put things into perspective!

Horrific 120-Car Pileup A Sad Reminder Of Princess Diana2019s Death

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Martin Kerr - Power Voting Party

Hey Guys just click the link below!



Mark

Indiana Jones 4 - ;)

indy4poster.jpg (JPEG Image, 1016x1505 pixels) - Scaled (55%)

Ok, I know its about a week late for me, so I guess I am not as much of a Fanboy as I would like. But you try a organize your life around a 2.5 year old and a pregnant wife. So today is the day. 18 years since I last saw a Indy flick on the big screen, will it be cool?, will it be funny?, will it be...good? These questions will be answered later this evening as I bask in all things Indiana.

My brother-in-law started me on this kick of not seeing, reading, infusing myself in anything related to movies, out side of actually seeing the movie.

I did this with Iron-Man, and let me tell you, Not knowing the story outside of plot, nor actually seeing any trailers was incredibly hard. I had to avoid some of my favorite websites. Not read any news nor talk to people about them. It was really hard this week because almost everyone I know has seen the new Indy flix.

I don't want to hear nothing, not if it was good, bad, color of his shoes, nothing. When you pay that kind a money for an experience I want the full EXPERIENCE. Trailers are for people who probably would not see the show, not for me.

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Supernatural - TV Under the radar

I remember a couple of years a go a friend of mine, knowing I was into TV, told me about a show about two brothers on a road trip trying to find there father. The brothers also fight (or hunt) spooks and specters. My friend was very excited about the show and told me I would love it. For some of hand reason, mostly like it just to annoy him, I decided I was not going to like the show purely on the bases the he recommended it. Needless to say we are no longer friend.

Some time later I decided to give it a shot.

Man I felt pretty bad. This show is amazing. Now I am a pseudo fan boy about continuity and such but for some reason I just didn't click with the X-files. I mention this because its the closest comparison I can make to the show. They both deal or dealt with the supernatural, both are very dark and moody. And while X-files deals in a more broad content(Aliens, etc) Supernatural primarily  deals with an over arching storyline dealing with a hunt for a specific demon named Azezel (As of mid season two). Filler episodes can deal with a verity of different situations, most noticeable antagonists are based on urban myth. These include but not limited to Spirits(Ghosts), vampires, werewolves, etc.

This style of TV, with its heavy connection to a season long story, might seem that it is hard to jump in at any given point. Ordinarily I would agree, however not in this case. The beginning of every episode gives a good recap to the story up until that point. Much like BSG and Lost, it foreshadows whats gonna happen by showing you what did happen. So in this case the viewer doesn't need to see all episodes, although they would benefit from it. Also there is very little "To be continued" cliffhanger episodes. You will get a sense of finality with every episode, which is good.

I look forward to the further adventures of Sam and Dean Winchester to the point of giving them a

8 out of 10

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Macworld | The new rules for buying a Mac

OK this is a good article describing some myths  about macs.
A very good overview about making the switch.


Macworld | The new rules for buying a Mac

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Marcel - random pic of the day

Picasa Web Albums - Mark - Sylvan lake 2007 - P1020407.JPG

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iPhone 2.0 Worldwide Launch on June 9th | Gadget Lab from Wired.com

Finally! Coming to Canada!

iPhone 2.0 Worldwide Launch on June 9th | Gadget Lab from Wired.com 0

Do I have to get in line now?

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Back to work, funky new tools

Now with summer coming, its time to out away the school books and look forward to making some money.

Thats right! Summers here and I can buy some comic books, goto  movies, and fly a kite with my kid.

I will soon make a short check list that  I can use to organize my summer activities.

I love Google calender and recently I added this feature into it.
http://www.rememberthemilk.com

So lets see what we can see.

Also I have checked a few new apps

www.songbirdnest.com
A beta music player alternative to iTunes, its kinda cool
www.flock.com
A social net workers wet dream, built on Firefox with a whole smack off add ons, I like it.


Anyways hopefully I can update this more often

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Back to School

Been a month since my last upload. Have a few things I want to write up in regards to what’s happening with me. Nothing crazy or anything, mostly just updated interest and such.

Things of note

1. The 24 in 24 challenge (24 - season 6) is taking place this weekend and I hope it actually happens. However, I am going to regret the next few days because of.

2. It is taking longer for I to adjust to school this term as compared to last year. I hope that this will pass.

3. Have at least two lengthy posts coming up over the next few weeks.

a. One on a few different Web tools I been messing with.

b. The school experience thus far.

Well that is all for now. See you in a couple of days!

We all wish we could be like Matt.

A friend emailed this to me. I thought that it sure would be nice to do what Matt did.

www.wherethehellismatt.com

The Death of Captain America and the Fall of Freedom

By Mark Hebert

There is major turning point that can exist within the culture of a country. That point is when the majority of the populace decides it is time for change. The ideals of the old become the principles of the past because in some way they are no longer valid to the majority. This, like in life, is reflected in the Marvel Universe. Civil War is a comic book reflection of the issues faced within western culture and even more so within the United States itself. Captain America is used strongly to represent the America that once was, “The land of the free and the home of the brave.” In contrast to Captain America, we have Iron-Man, the symbol of a more modern culture. The mood of the Marvel Universe that was prelude to Civil War, show that the world is changing. Civil liberties then, much like the real world, are being threatened because of fear. Can America maintain the freedoms their peoples enjoy without having to change to deal with a growing sense of fear? Fear of terrorists, even fear of the heroes dedicated to protect those civil liberties the peoples so enjoyed.

The idea of a government policy the activities of super or meta humans has been around for some time. Stories like Alan Moore’s Watchmen has the Keane Act, an act that brings anti-vigilante law into effect that closes down shop on all masked heroes. Other stories also reside in within the Marvel Universe itself with the idea of the Mutant Registration Act. This Act was used many times in the stories of the x-men and other mutant based comic books in which there was law that made the mutants come forward and register their real names and powers to the government. Most often in comic worlds the hero comes and saves the day and leaves with a big smile on his/her face with a big mess behind. But sometimes for the sake of the story, heroes most often do have to deal with their actions. In the eighties, Marvel comics created a satirical construction company called “Damage Control” to deal with the property damage cause by super heroes and super villains (Marvel). This is an example at accountability for super heroes in the Marvel Universe. Marvel Comics Civil War has taken the idea of policing the heroes to a completely new level by applying it to their whole continuity of books, thus changing the very landscape of their stories and personalities.

Captain America, who openly rejects the Act, and thusly rejects the will of the government, is forced to flee underground. In telling spider-Man why he has chosen his, he quotes Mark Twain:

“If you alone of all the nations shall decide one way, and that way is the right way according to your convictions of the right, you have done your duty by yourself and by your county—hold up your head. You have nothing to be ashamed of” (Amazing Spider-Man 537 16-4).

This feeling gives sense as to why Cap sticks to his guns on this matter, but the reason he opposes the Act is his refusal to allow the government to control the actions of super-heroes. By this explanation, he is a vigilante. A vigilante by definition is “a member of a volunteer committee organized to suppress and punish crime summarily (as when the processes of law are viewed as inadequate); broadly: a self-appointed doer of justice” (Webster’s). When asked to obey the will of the people he responds, “Superheroes need to stay above that stuff or Washington starts telling us who the super-villains are” (Civil War no.1 30-4). Captain America does not trust the government. Cap does not represent the American Government but instead represents the America Ideal, largely associated with its founding fathers and not so much with the current ideology of America. This ideal is largely associated with the freedom Americans had in the forties and fifties.

The pro-registration side is led by Iron-Man, a technologist and a futurist. Iron-Man, although initially does not support the Act, sees the Act as unavoidable. “Registration was inevitable. It had to happen sooner or later. I’m just trying to keep it from getting out of hand” (Iron-Man 13). He sees the massacre in Stamford as a tipping scale in which the super heroes lost trust with the public. In the initial confrontation with Captain America, he pleads his case: “The public doesn’t want masks and secret identities. They want to feel safe when we are around. And there is no other way to win back their respect (Civil War No.3 18-5).”

When you analyze the reasons behind the Act you must decide, as I have, which side are you on? As a reader and a fan of comics, I quickly came to the decision to be on Captain America’s side. This side seemed so much more heroic and right, in the face of an oppressive government. How could Captain America be wrong? I mean he’s Captain America! He is fighting against the oppressive government that is using fear to strengthen their grip and control over the country. I mean this is what true heroism is, right? People love to root for the underdog, and the writers of the stories definitely wrote to this advantage, often painting the idea of the Act in a bad light. The portrayal of Iron-Man especially seems to have been designed to be the stereotypical “Bad Guy”.

But I, like most people, was looking at the situation through the lenses of fantasy, not reality. If we were to shift our view and imagine ourselves in a world where people can fly and in some cases have the ability to explode their bodies, wouldn’t we be afraid? Sure, we have super heroes but that also means we have super villains, ones that want to take over the world, and in not nice ways either. Accountability and training is what would most be ideal in this world. Iron-Man sums it up best when She Hulk questions the Act and if they will still be super heroes after its implementation. He says, “No, we’re super heroes, Jennifer. We tackle super crime and we save people’s lives. The only thing changing is that the kids, the amateurs, and the sociopaths are getting weeded out (Civil War No.2 6-2).”

Captain America’s Whole argument is eloquently summed up as when in disagreement with the government one should stick to our guns. And in this, we can understand why he does what he does. Iron-Man talks about inevitability and the future. People who can put aside the sentimental attachments to Cap’s ideal can see that Iron-Man knows that the Act could fail. This is one of the primary reasons that he puts himself behind it, so that it can be implemented in the right way. When you compare the two arguments, you see a contrast of old understandings (Captain America) and new ones (Iron-Man). In this war, as in most wars, the new wins.

Ultimately, we see Captain America lose the war, and on his way to trial for treason, assassinated. This is metaphorically the death of “freedom” as we once knew. With the death of Captain America and the rise of the Superhero Registration Act, the Marvel Universe is, in a way, acknowledging the fact it is also shifting into a modern reflection of the real world. The freedoms that were once enjoyed are now gone. No more do we easily fly into the States and out. People are mostly looked upon with suspicions and doubt, guilty before innocent. Perhaps the world does not need the freedom it once had. Freedom lost for security gained. Captain America represented those freedoms, and with him now dead, the entire landscape of the Marvel Universe seems to be just a little bit more real. But of course, there is a saying in comic books, “no one stays dead.” Therefore, we can assume that one-day freedom will reign again in comics, and hopefully, in the real world as well.

The IT summer

Hard at work

My Desk at Petro-Canada

Well it’s coming to a close. 3 weeks to go and I am feeling kind of sad. I think I made some good friendships here that will continue on past my short stay. I have a few pics of my location here at the tower starting with my desk. Man I am going to miss my sweet set-up. 3 19 monitors (two of which I rotated) all helped me do my job this summer. I was in a corner with very little attention.

I guess I can shed some light on what I did this summer. I was part of desk-side support (which can be considered tier two Help desk). Now its important to know that most of the helpdesk and support side is contracted out to a big company call EDS, Which all of my peers here work for….now its even more important to note that I do NOT work for EDS but I in fact work Petro-Canada (an enviable position I am told, almost daily by my friends and workmates). So mostly we do the same things but I get to have certain perks, perks like getting the first day of stampede off.

So a typical week consists of someone putting work into a queue for me to do and hopefully I get it done by the end of the week. They must have been easy on me because I had most of it done by Wednesday until a couple of weeks ago. The work mainly consists of computer refreshing. This means that I basically replace a users existing computer with a much better one. This happens (for the user) about every 3-4 years. Now this sounds easy, it should be, but some times its not. Especially when the user has 25 gigs of personal data that they need to have transferred or when they are a very computer unfriendly and call every 5 minutes with every little worry. But mostly it is pretty straight forward. I have learned a lot. Mostly I learned it’s not what I want to do long term. HA. Service is a speciality that is in me but I don’t think I can do it forever.

Violence, a theatrical tool, used well.

Zodiac, a review.

Now, my wife is not a “fan” of scary movies, to say the absolute least, She hates them, physically i.e. meaning her body. I one the other hand love them. So you can see my frustration when it comes to choosing a movie for us to watch. To give her credit, she did, once, allow me the pleasure of watching one with her. For some god awful reason I chose to watch fear dot com. Not only is this perhaps the worst horror film of all time it is perhaps the worst movie made, ever. Well I had my shot and I feel I will never get my shot again.

I figure I have it made when I come across this movie called Zodiac. It had so many things going for it. A-list cast, one of my favorite directors and it’s about something that did happen or “real.” I even had people screen it for me to make sure it was not a horror film, and as it turns out its more like a dramatic thriller, something she could watch. YAY I thought we can watch a sudo-scarey movie.

Long story short we watched it. Now I should remind you that Zodiac is based on the events that circle around one of the worlds most famous serial killers. So one would assume someone dies, sure but when someone dies in a horror movie its more about the spectacular not the importance of the death more of the “how” not so much “why”, so sure some people need to die to lay the groundwork for the why which is in the case the more important factor. Well I feel bad now as I made my wife watch what even I can freely say was one of the most graphic and violent death/stabbing scene even I had ever scene. Oh, can’t win them all.

No spoilers aside this did end up being a great movie even my wife enjoyed. The kind of movie ones talks about after, over coffee. We decided, or I did, that those scenes, although perhaps a little too graphic, were need to establish that fact that this person was a stone hard killed capable of massive amounts of aggression. These one or two scenes did not have to be repeated over and over again to remind us of this. And we could just move on and watch the movie and not have to dwell on the killings so much as the who’s and why’s, and the people involved.

4 weeks to go

Well looks like my time at Petro-Canada is coming to an end. I have mixed feelings but I guess that comes with change. I feel real good about going back to school. Something about learning is exciting to me, guess I’m a big nerd. Things should be good financially for us as I applied for more loans and I also received some pretty good scholarships.
I have also come to the conclusion that at this time in my life I can’t afford the things I have been accustomed to, like a lot of comics/movies/toys per month. Anyways looks like I better cut back and be more pragmatic when I decide to spend my much smaller amount of monthly money. So I decided to do more things that cost me less money.

Things that I want to do that costs less list.

• Trying out Guild Wars (because it’s basically free) this game is a couple of years old but I hear good things.
• Cut my comic spending by 2/3 =( (This ones going to hurt, but if I am smart I can still follow my current storyline, and I have a friend who almost buys the same comics as I)
• Download movies instead of renting (Granted I do this now but I shall continue)
• Go to less movies that I have to Pay for (I can’t wait for my friend Mike to come back from summer work)
• Organize a Board Game Night (BGN) A night for like minded people to get together and “geek out”
• Continue my quest for cool Web 2.0 apps and sites (Sites like Flickr and flixster)

That’s all the things I can think of right now. But more will most likely follow. Oh and I am listening to last.fm. This site is so consistently showing me great music you should check it out and be my friend.

MOVIE REVIEW - BULLITT

Shoot Straight, Buckle up!
by Mark Hebert

One of my fondest memories as a child was the night my father, with a slight smile, came into my room while I was playing. He ushered me into the TV room and plopped me down in front of the television set. “You have to watch this son”, he said. “OK cool”, I thought. I was never aloud to watch TV at this time of night. I focused on the TV. I was shown a man in a big green car. He was sitting, calmly, in the driver’s seat. He was across the street from another vehicle. The other vehicle was a big and black, it had two stoned faced men inside that screamed “Bad Guys”. Now, I only was about ten at the time, but I think I knew what was to come. “See?” my dad said excitedly, “He just buckled his seat belt”. I looked on and smiled.

What came next, a car chase through the streets of 1968 San Francisco, is considered the best in movie history and wildly influenced the very definition of a “car chase” in all movies to follow. The movie was Bullitt, starring movie icon Steve McQueen. Throughout the story we were taken on the aforementioned car chase and… well … many other exciting chases. Steve McQueen played the role of Lieutenant Frank Bullitt. He was assigned to a case by politician Walter Chalmers, played by Robert Vaughn. We can safely say this didn’t work out well for Bullitt and an investigation ensued. Now, I want to point out the kind of character Bullitt was and how he got things done; he did things his way. One famous quote that Bullitt shares with Chalmers is “You work your side of the street, I’ll work mine” (Yates). Needless to say, they are not very fond of one another.

The chemistry that McQueen and Vaughn share together during their scenes is dynamite. This would be the second of three movies that they are in together. Steve McQueen can be considered one of the first action heroes of the mid twentieth century with many movies under his belt. He was one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood, but was also considered one of the toughest to work with, because he often had problems with directors and producers. In some ways, it seemed, McQueen was reflecting himself when playing the roll of Frank Bullitt.

The Director, Peter Yates, uses a lot of quiet scenes and close ups of Steve McQueen full of intense focus. This effect shows the dedication and intellect of the character. This is wildly different from the modern cop drama that actually has to tell us when they are playing “Good Cop, Bad Cop”. If you don’t know what I mean, go rent any 80’s-90’s cop buddy film to understand. Unlike these films, Bullitt assumes the audience is getting “it” without having to tell us, and for that it shows intelligence generally lost to the genre.

I do not want to harp too much on the films of today, but it seems that they lack the skill and the inventiveness of filming without post-production editing (i.e. Computer graphics) that characterized films in the 1960’s like Bullitt. Many times I hear that directors are not too worried about making the best shot as they assume the problems can be fixed in the editing room. The days of getting the right shot seem to be over. Bullitt shows us, magnificently, that this was not always the case. The film uses real muscle cars, not computer generated clones. I even heard that the actors, Steve McQueen and Bill Hickman, were in fact driving during the filming sequence which in itself shows the dedication the film has to authentically representing reality.

There was some pretty significant film techniques used in this film, primarily the use of wide angle shots. They seem to create a world that Frank is apart of, not just controlled sets with perfect lighting. Some pretty amazing shots were used to show the rolling hills of San Francisco and area. It made me want to go and take a tour. Some other techniques I found visual pleasing were the use of camera angles to give different visual perspectives.

Sound and music is often used in today’s movies to create drama, compared to the 60’s and 70’s, which have a minimalist approach to its use. In Bullitt there is no crazy techno or hard rock playing during action sequences, just a note here and there for added effect…oh yeah, least I forget, there is also the rumble of a couple of V-8’s with their gas peddles maxed and the sound of metal crunching as they land from ….well, you get the idea. The use of the sounds of the city is abundant. The sounds of the freeways and the people talking right after a gun shoot out are what we hear, instead of some song or beat. Often we are just seeing Bullitt contemplating his next move in silence and with dead focus. The mood that this creates is one of slow, deliberate, intensity. Stillness, like the calm before the storm, is the name of the game.

Also I should point out that there are very fine movies produced today and I don’t want to seem harsh or overly critical of all of them, but it also seems to me that many of them lack something…something that was lost with the advancement of filming technologies. Movies today seem to hand-feed us, like we don’t have to think about the plot or have any emotional response to the characters. This can also be a negative thing. In the case of Bullitt we must follow the story closely, sometimes with no dialogue, no music, just scenes of Frank walking. We assume he is investigating the case, and any intelligent person would think so. The movie wants us to figure things out for ourselves, not come up and drop the plot in our face and say “here, this is what’s happening and that’s the good guy and that’s the bad guy”. Bullitt is a film that’s better then that. It wants us to react, to feel the mood, to watch as the story unfolds before us.

I think that most modern movie enthusiasts would, at times, become bored with this slow story telling style. In my experience though, just when I was about to fall asleep I would hear the low purr of a V-8 about to punch it. I believe that, even after almost 40 years people will not remember the slow or “boring moments”, they will remember the slopes of San Francisco, as cars take flight.

Did I like this movie? Yes. Will you like this movie? Maybe, but you better buckle up when Frank does; else he will leave you behind.

Credits
Bullitt -Steve McQueen
Chalmers -Robert Vaughn
Cathy -Jacqueline Bisset
Credits
Directed by Peter Yates
Screenplay by Alan R. Trustman and Harry Kleiner
1968 Warner Brothers
Works Cited
Bullitt. Dir. Peter Yates. Warner Brothers, 1968

San Diego Comic Con

New iFanboy TSHIRTS!
Originally uploaded by ifanboy

Man I wish I was in San Diego right now! None of my friends are into what I am into. Sure I have a few friends that are into comics, but not like me. I wish I had friends, or even acquaintances like the Ifanboy guys, but alas deal with what I got. Anyways here is some photos that are on Flickr about the first day at the huge con. Enjoy! Maybe next year!

Pure pWnage ep.14 is out!

I was at the premiere of Episode 12 in Calgary last year. This is probably one the best IPTV show out there, although not regular, but getting better. I have been following these guys since episode 4 and you can see the quality get better, if not double, every show since. Do your self a favor and watch from the beginning, even if your not a gamer, you will appreciate the time and effort these guys put into these shows.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1119447012/bctid1124857757

Web 2.0 and Starting my Onlife Life

So I really want to get involved with this so called "web2.0". I think it has lot's of potential. I have added a few links that stream from two sites that I want to be more involved with, Flixster(movies) and last.fm (music). I want one for comics as well but I guess I can still do them as regular posts. Anyways, be my friends on those sites and then we can share our love of those two mediums.