Smallville Episode 20 - Prophecy

Almost done so its time to set up the end of the beginning. This was a good episode (but hey does Smallville really make a bad one) It moved the story further than its moved for a while, the last two episodes were good but I like this one for a few reasons. Its cool that Clark is finally embracing his geeky self to let the hero shine.(I hate calling him “the Blurr” because he’s Superman, damit!) This episode proves that Lois is the greatest chick in this entire series because unlike everyone else that ever got Clarks powers, mind blowing moment, she used them the same way he would. I thought that was the coolest part, Lana seasons past just went insane, other people went crazy but Lois held it somewhat together. Although she did complain about breaking heels, I was wondering why you would even wear shoes if you were invulnerable, I bet its because if your super strong nothing can cut your toe nails and that probably gets nasty…. They would be like Wolverines adamantium claws. (yup that was a marvel reference while talking about a DC character, booyaah) All in all I think the ToyMan is kind of annoying but I cant wait for Lex to make his comeback. Kara and Oliver (green arrow) were also in this episode but it was kind of a minor part but it moved the story and we are now geared up for the Series Finale. I think the only thing it wont have is a musical number but I’m not quite ruling it out. The coolest part is that Clark is finally a man, the only thing missing now is the suit.

This next week is going to move so slow for me, I cant wait for the series finale. This show has been awesome and if Tom Welling puts on the suit I think I might cry a little.

Mormons Knocked On My Door- A Lesson in Salesmanship Part 2

One of the first things you should know for this article is that Religion is one of my favorite subjects but so is selling. I like to do experiments in how the two relate to each other. The goal of the Mormons is to get you to go to their church and to see things their way. On the other hand my goal is to at least make them question the path that they are currently on because truth is not something that gets handed to you, it’s a journey that constantly takes you in new directions.(at least that’s what I believe)

The Mormons came back today, I was a bit surprised but hey, they work that aggressive angle well. They are really nice guys, one of them you can tell is the salesman and I think he is trying to teach the other one. The last time I talked to these guys they told me they would be back not the next day but the day after. This is actually a good strategy because it makes you seem eager to talk but not too eager you scare the prospect away. Plus they got the callback and as everyone is selling knows the sale is usually in the call back.

Everything starts the same as last time, clean cut guys ready to share the “wonderful” message of the Mormon church. They start by asking me if I have started reading the book they gave me and I tell them I have because I enjoy learning about different religions. Now begins the question and answer portion, a good salesman should be happy to answer any question the customer has. During this part is when I try to start selling him on all the negative aspects of his product but doing this directly never works, the person always feels attacked. The key is to slowly get him to agree with the things you say, same tactic they use, for example: do you believe in rain…. Yes, you believe God controls everything….yes, and you believe god punishes people……yes, So you can assume it doesn’t rain because of something you did? That is absurd but because of the line of questions, if your not on your toes, you might believe it. That wasn’t a great example but you get the picture. This tactic works wonders for stumping people that are not expecting it. This is the perfect moment to pull out two cards at once. The first is the vulnerability card, sharing a story that relates to the subject and reveals vulnerability allows them to believe you trust them and they can believe what you say. The next card is the card of greater knowledge, whether it be experience or just book knowledge they have to believe that you can teach them something about anything. The vulnerability builds trust and the knowledge builds the power. Now they are listening to you and believe the things you tell them. This is the fertile ground where the seeds can be planted.

So now you know and knowing is half the battle…. that’s what the Transformers used to tell me anyway. Stay tuned for the follow up to how my 3^rd meeting with the Mormons will go and an overview of everything.

American Idol 10- Top 5 Let The Mediocrity Begin

I did not make it a secret that I did not agree that Casey should have gone home last week but I didn’t know how right I was until I saw the sad averageness of the entire show. There were only 2 that did really well and those are the country boy and girl. Scotty and Lauren did awesome.

This should actually be the week that Jacob goes home, I don’t want him to go but you should not get away with putting on such a crappy performance this late in the competition. He’s good but he’s not good enough, I mean come on dude who are you kidding dancing like a chick and singing a Jordan Sparks song….. I’m gonna tell you like John Travolta told the Rock in “Be Cool” “Why don’t you try singing a…. Man song”

James first song sucked, don’t get me wrong he did it well but he shouldn’t have done it in the first place. To me it was just one of his weaker performances. I don’t usually have too many bad things to say about this dude because chances are he is going to win….. I have been wrong before but not often.

Lauren did good on both of her songs and is showing lots of improvement in her confidence. She deserves every bit of success that is coming her way.

The stand out this time was definitely Scotty, this kid has a certain tone to his voice that reminds me of Randy Travis and a confidence on stage that reminds me of Clay Aiken. This has been one of the only times I have agreed with the judges. Both of his songs rocked for different reasons and he did the up tempo and the slow song perfectly. This is the guy that I am rooting for since Casey is no longer in the running.

HOW THE HELL IS HALEY STILL ON THIS SHOW!!!!! Come on America lets get together and get this chick off the show. She is a 1 trick pony and this trick is getting old. The judges are basically spoon feeding her the competition and if you pay attention when they work with the producers Hailey has to get the most help. I think its because she sucks, can you imagine her album…. All the songs are going to sound the same. She shouldn’t have been in the top 8 but she is the only one that is commercial out of all of them so here goes the Silver spoon you hack.

Overall other than Scotty all these performances are just OK and I think America might be running out of talent or at least talented judges. Most of these kids wouldn’t make it past the top 32 in the first few seasons of AI, and which ones can really hold a candle to the first winner.

Nightmares That Make You Go To Church- Part II

This Nightmare is actually a reoccurring dream that I have been having since I was about 11 years old. This is the second shadow dream but I have had this same dream a few times in my life. It takes place in a totally different place than my house, it takes place at my grandmothers house, but this dream doesn’t start with an eerie feeling it begins with just a normal bright clear day. I never understood why I would have this dream at least once or twice a year but it isn’t like all my other dreams that I would forget after I woke up, this one sticks with me all day after I have it.

It always starts out as a regular day and I’m taking a walk for some reason just a regular run of the mill dream. Then I feel danger as I come face to face with a guy, he doesn’t have a face I can remember but he’s dangerous and he’s after me. At this point it turns into a running dream where it feels like your running in deep mud and the whole of your being just keeps whispering in your ear that you cannot stop because your soul depends on you not stopping. Every movement takes everything you’ve got and he’s getting closer and closer, my heart starts pumping and I know I need to come up with something else or else he’ll catch me. I get the idea to jump into a sewer( it looks just like the one on Ninja Turtles the movie), its dark and threatening but I have to keep moving or he’ll find me. I keep running and its getting easier I’m going faster so now I know I’m getting a way, I finally start to feel better as I let up on the speed but I look back and waiting in the distance is the Shadow man. I feel his menace but more than that I think he wanted me to see him and not the man chasing me. Without a move or a word he threatens me not just with murder but something far worse, consumption of the soul. I start running again and once again its not fast enough so I need to get somewhere safe. Somehow I know my Grandmother lives around this area so I need to get out of the sewer. Climbing out of the sewer my leg is still in and it grabs me, I have nothing to hold on to. The shadow is clawing at my leg but I pull my self out but its still just behind me scratching at my back. I can feel it wrapping its arms around me but I throw myself into the gate entering the front yard. The Shadow began to back off but it didn’t disappear until I heard a shotgun blast. That is when I realized the Shadow didn’t leave because I was in my Grandmothers yard but it was because this yard was protected by someone, someone with a shotgun. I looked at the old man and knew I was safe, I don’t know who it was but I know he’s a friend that would always show up in this dream at the right time.

It was this dream that made me start thinking about this Shadow and how it didn’t feel like a dream. This was the dream that the shadow just might be something else, something that wanted me.

That’s not all folks, stay tuned because there is a part 3 coming. If you have had any of these types of dreams feel free to post in comments I would love to read about them.

Mormons Knocked On My Door- A Lesson in Salesmanship

Who hasn’t been hat home just enjoying a Saturday morning and then the infamous knock at the door comes. Oh look its some very polite, nicely dressed young men but wait they have backpacks and…. and….. Aww hell it’s the Mormons. I had this happen today, but the big question is “how should I handle this?” You always have two choices in this situation, you can either tell them to get out of your face, or you could talk to them. I chose to go with the more civil of the two choices.

If your familiar with selling techniques you can always spot them when people come to your door. One of the first is presentation, there is a reason these kids look like a boy scout version of a car salesman, but you cant fault them for it. The next is creating a sense of rapport, these people don’t know you from the last door they were at but they want to hear your sob story so they can “know how you feel.” I bet they are even sincere about it and really want to know about you. Once they start getting you to tell your stories or even sob stories they are going to get the overall feeling and repeat what you said back to you except this time with a positive twist like “ I know exactly what you mean, would it have made a difference if ______ was different, how would that have made you feel?” When you start to visualize yourself in that moment with everything going right and you begin to get a conversation going that’s when they feel they’ve got their hooks in.

So now you know and knowing is half the battle…. that’s what the Transformers used to tell me anyway. Stay tuned for the follow up to this on how to use these same techniques and how I suspect it works.

Nightmares That Make You Go To Church- Part I

Had a nightmare last night which is very out of the ordinary for me because nothing scares me, usually. It wasn’t even a whole dream that was scary…. But in my nightmares It never is. The thing that makes my nightmares scary to me isn’t zombies or king kong not even being a reality tv star. My nightmares are a common theme in my life, they are never different types of scary dreams they are always basically the same.(well the scary part is not usually the whole dream)

It all started with the very first scary dream that left an impact on me that I still remember. This sucker looked like it was directed by Tim Burton but made by Wes Craven….. Scary stuff when you’re a little kid. I remember I was in front of my house which at the time looks like a trailer with one room in front of the other but with the door at the very front, two trees in the front yard but has the vibe of a dark rainy day. I guess its because it was a dream but everything was skewed a little bit like in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the house that Charlie lived looked like the house in my dream.

I remember running and hiding behind the curb, you know laying in the street with 2 black trees towering over me with malicious intent. I felt like Dorthy in the woods with the trees throwing apples. Then He made his appearance. The Shadow man, he looks like death but without the sickle and without a face, just an aura of darkness that consistently tries to swallow me. He would haunt my dreams on and off for years to come(anyway back to the dream). He stands far enough away from the edge of the curb that I can still hide from him. He looks out over the street glaring with that blackness devoid of any feeling, then makes his way back to the house but disappears. I beat it, he chased me I won and I stand proud and go back into my house with my head held high. I start toward the kitchen but the rotary phone rings….. rrrrring……rrrrrring….. I sense something wrong as the mood turns dark again. I pick up the phone trying to ignore the feeling that has come over me but no one is there. Hello…. Hello…. Hello? Right then the phone turns black and I drop it and jump back. The black receiver crashes on the floor and right as it bangs the floor the black from the phone spreads into the air and becomes the Shadow. As quickly as it appears it heads toward me and just as its about to touch me….. I wake up.

Remember if this doesn’t seem scary to you I was probably 8 or 9 at the time but I got scared just reliving the dream. This was just the first of these Nightmares, more to come so stay tuned and let me know what you think.

Smallville The End is Near- a quick Review

Smallville is finally going to end with the series finale May 13( three days after my birthday….. How bitter sweet) Saying goodbye to Smallville will be like saying goodbye to an old friend. I am a recent convert to Smallville, I always wanted to watch it but it just never seemed to happen until I started buying the seasons. One by one I worked my way through the discs, falling in love with the shows high and lows. I even became a bit obsessive leaving me down on a day I left on a sad episode.

This TV series (brace yourself this is going to sound dumb) helped renew my faith in my fellow man. Its easy to get overwhelmed with the butt holery that can go on in the day to day life but among all the trash on tv here is one show that tries its best to live up to the symbol of good Superman should stand for. It might be childish but I think we all need a dose of that from time to time. This show reminds me of that friend of yours that is kind of cheesy nice but is a really great person but you get embarrassed of him with your cool friends. I choose the nice friend over some douche bag fad rider. See how sad I am to see Smallville end I’m rambling now. Now back to the point.

The first few seasons could be compared to Dawsons Creek with super powers but its epic way more than it makes me want Dawsons Creek to dry up. Clark and Lana play the can we dance for a few seasons but when all that finally ended Lana was what we in the real world would call a crazy hoe. Then Lois joins the cast and this chick is so hot and the personality that they gave the character totally blows Lana out the water. Chloe is such an awesome sidekick that she is practically an information superhero and she actually becomes one for a little while. Lex Luthor is the man from the beginning, he is actually the reason I bought the first season because I saw a few episodes and that’s how cool he was. He struggles with his good side because Clark Kent can influence anyone but a scorpion is a scorpion. When Lex is finally turning in comes Oliver Queen to take up the role of the billionaire friend gap that Lex has left open. I have to be honest though I never liked the idea of green arrow in a universe with Superman but this show has changed my mind because Green Arrow is so awesome and powerful a personality he can influence Clark a.k.a. the “Blurr.” After Lex “dies” Tess enters the show pretty quick picking up where Lex left off but Clark actually gets to her and turns her, at least that’s what it looks like so far. There are many cameos from DC universe characters but so far my top 5 character cameos are:
1.Doomsday
2.Zod
3.Brainiac
4.Bizzaro
5.Impulse aka the Flash

Clark is so close to realizing his Superman destiny you can feel it at this point.
The April 29^th Episode
It was a setting up episode for the darkness aka Darkseid. Clark went into the Phantom zone looking for answers and Oliver forces his way into this episode by pushing Clark into the portal leading to the PZ. They meed the 2 in 1 Zod with old phantom Zod that destroyed Krypton possessing new clone Zod that tried to take over Earth. With double the hate Zod pits Oliver and Clark against each other trying to use the darkness in Oliver to get him on his side. Then there are reminders that the Wedding is days away. (YAY…. in the most girly voice possible) Great episode Clark dawned a red cape which made this episode even better but watching him a Oliver fight was totally awesome.

Hard for me to type this as I shake in anticipation for the series Finale on May 13th  or maybe it’s the Parkinson’s rearing its ugly head….. Either way cant wait.

Five Fast Movie Review

Five Fast was such an awesome movie…. LET THE SUMMER BLOCKBUSTERS BEGIN!!!!

This movie started out where the other left off, right when the gang was about to do something awesome and break out Dom from jail. A few things that stood out were Mia was really really skinny, she had the upper lip of a starving African boy. Other than that Mia was really hot. The only thing that is bothering me about this movie is that it was less like Fast and the Furious and more like the Italian Job with the FF cast. The Italian Job was a great movie. There were good car scenes with lots of intensity but there were also scenes that were totally left out because your just supposed to assume that Dom is the best in the world.
Hot chicks and a very intense ending chase scene make this movie a must see for the car lover and I loved every minute of it.

PS. Stay for the credits!!!! its awesome

Get Real American Idol 10

(I know I’m writing this kind of late but I had some things to do and I wasn’t near my computer so I’m doing this right after walking in the door and getting my stupid internet up and running)

I’m not the kind of person that jumps to the computer to blog every time something happens that makes upset, angry or even happy. But I cannot stand for this disgrace to happen without putting some kind of word out on the net about how I feel. I now remember why I stopped watching American Idol….. The voting public can make mistakes besides we are all only human but doing it a second time makes me wish Simon was back on the show. I’m sure you know what I am talking about, Casey Abrams the most musically talented person on the show was kicked off tonight.

I’m not going to recount the whole night for you because if you saw it you know what I’m talking about and if you didn’t see it, Bruno Mars sang and Casey got kicked off, that’s all you need to know. Like many of American Idol watchers and Casey fans I thought it would be James and Casey in the finale, but alas, chalk up one more mistake to the American Idol viewing audience. This came as a shock but at the same time not too much of a shock because this vote just reminds me why I don’t watch tv much anymore. Casey proved to be a musician not just a karaoke singer but America doesn’t like someone to push them out of their nice little pop comfort zone where absurd “artists” like Lady Gaga and Britney Spears reign supreme. This man is talented because someone that looks “unconventional” never makes it very far in this competition because as we all know America is kind of shallow but mostly the producers. (exhibit A- Jersey Shore, B- Kardashians) But this guy proved he had what it took and brought it to America and for a while America loved it but why keep him around when we could keep the beautiful and completely untalented Hailey.

Maybe I’m being a bit judgmental but the part that irks me the most is that there has been no one judging this entire season….. SIMON WHY DID YOU LEAVE US with these fools. I don’t mind the fact that every contestant can sing better than JLO and Steven Tyler looks like a hobo that took the clothes out of a Sears dumpster or even that Randy hates to be demonized. This entire season has been full of praise and bias, at least Simon would say when he was a bit biased toward someone.

JLO has been the mastermind of all the subjectivity that has been going on this season. It was obvious JLO was biased toward Stefano since the beginning, spoon feeding this dude the competition, that’s why I was so happy to see him go. But she also was way too tough on the poor little Mexican girl that loved JLO so much because she played her favorite singer, Selena. I think she is truly evil for hating Karen Rodriguez so much, you could see it on her face whenever this girl would come on stage. It must be because JLO will never be truly out of Selena’s shadow, Selena is not even alive and is the reason that there is a JLO. Then in the top 6 or 7 is when JLO started to take it too easy on the girls also stating that she hopes none of the girls go home….HAVE SOME RESPECT FOR THE PROCESS YOU TALENTLESS HACK….. The judges are there to sway the publics opinion based on performance and talent not personal opinion.(or maybe I’m just an idealist) Don’t be mad because Pitbull totally overshadows you in your own song.

Then comes Stephen Tyler and Randy Jackson the wonderful YES men that never have a real opinion about a contestant unless someone else does first. Simon thrived on being hated not loved and respected above everything, that’s why his opinion mattered on the show. Don’t get me wrong I don’t dislike the two guys I like them both the same but this season just reminds me of one of those little league baseball games that don’t let anyone lose and every bit of the game is spoon fed to them so mediocrity can Finally REIGN SUPREME.

I am only a person with a computer and an opinion, hate it or hate me but the absolute truth is it’s no less/more valid than any other opinion.

Cartooning 101- It all starts with Emotion

Cartooning 101- It all starts with Emotion

Today boys and girls we are going to learn some cartooning fundamentals. Just a short list of materials before we get started:

1. Pencil
2. Paper
3. Eraser
4. Imagination- optional
5. Patience

My favorite thing about cartooning is that there are no real rules. Everything counts from stick figures to realistic drawings. There is one major rule to cartooning…. Emotion. Emotion is the key to the cartooning world. There are reasons all cartoons look the way they do, like actors they are playing a part, they must make you believe. You have to understand what the character is doing without reading a word. I could give you a whole list of emotions drawn out with a character but I have come to find that those types of reference don’t help very much, as a matter of fact they seem to hurt the creativity of making it genuine.

If your using a humanoid type figure like anything that stands on 2 legs has 2 arms and a head at the top, then emotion is all in the body language. Cartoons are for children (well not all the time) so they act a lot like them. Study how children react either in movies or in person, all their movement is an exaggeration of adult emotion. Children have all the same reactions as cartoon. (ok so their eyes don’t pop out of their head, but have you ever seen a kid on Christmas…. They almost pop out)
　
Your imagination should take over from here but if your looking for some lessons a little more formal those lessons will begin soon so stay tuned cartoon lovers!!!