Reviews, Opinions, Rants and Anything Else

Box Office Numbers on Sunday February 24

2008-02-26T08:28:00.016-05:00

Vantage Point took over the number one spot this weekend with a three day total of almost $23 million.

Movie	Gross	Theaters	Total Gross	Days
1 (1) Vantage Point	$4,988,895	3,149	$22,874,936	3
2 (2) The Spiderwick Chronicles	$4,094,809	3,847	$44,076,043	11
3 (3) Jumper	$3,293,178	3,430	$56,264,386	11

Best Buy Drops Xbox HD DVD Player Price To $50

2008-02-26T07:25:00.006-05:00

This is a follow up to a blog I wrote last week about the war between Blu-ray and HD DVD. On Monday, Best Buy advertised a HD DVD player for the Xbox 360 for only $50. This huge reduction in pricing comes the same day Microsoft announced it would stop making the player for its gaming system.

Toshiba admitted defeat last week by saying it would no longer make or market any players supporting that format. This announcement came four days after Wal-Mart said it would stop selling HD DVD and players by the end of June.

This is a huge blow to Toshiba and it will be interesting to see what kind of affect it will have on the company in the coming months. Sony on the other hand will enjoy increased profits and sells. With Microsoft's announcement that it will no longer make the HD players for the Xbox 360, it might help increase sells of the Playstation 3.

This is a great site to keep you up-to-date on the format war. http://formatwarcentral.com/

Rioters Break Into US Embassy

2008-02-22T05:41:00.006-05:00

Last night more then 150,000 rioters turned out to protest Western support for Kosovo's independence in Belgrade, Serbia. (What exactly were the Serbs protesting? The bid made by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority to create their own state out of what Serbs consider the ancient heartland of their culture.) A group on angry Serbs broke into the US Embassy and set it ablaze as other rioters ran wild through the streets of Belgrade carrying sign that read "stop American Terror". Rioters destroyed a McDonald's, looted stores, fought with police and burned American flags in a display of anger thats raising in Serbia over the secession of what has been its southernmost province.

The violence last night came after violence earlier in the week that Serbian officials wrote off as "insignificant." During a mass rally earlier yesterday Kostunica attacked the U.S. and others for supporting Kosovo's independence. "Is there any other nation on Earth from whom (the great powers) are demanding that they give up their identity, to give up our brothers in Kosovo?" he told the crowd.

Once the Embassy fire was put of a charred body was found. An Embassy spokeswomen said that all the Embassy staff was accounted for so it must have been a rioter.

Of course the White House strongly criticized the violence in Belgrade and called the rioters "thugs." The spokesman for the State Department said they would hold Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic responsible for any further damage.

But can we really blame the Serbs? They are trying to protect something that is important to them and they don't have the same luxuries that we do in America. In America if we don't like a bill thats going to be pasted(this is just one example), we can vote against it or petition it. Over there they don't have the luxury. They have to deal with a corrupt government. If they want something done they have to riot and still that doesn't always work. Am I saying what they didn't was right? No, but I think we should stop and think about what motived them to do what they did and look at what options they had before we criticize them.

If you have an opinion or view on this subject please leave a comment.

This is a link to a site with related information. http://politicalkudzu.com/

Open to Input

2008-02-20T14:29:00.000-05:00

If you have any suggestions or ideas for topics I should write about, please leave a comment or email me at clay_were_leopard@yahoo.com or boeotus@yahoo.com. I'm open to any and all suggestions and criticisms.

Love, A Double-Edged Sword

2008-02-20T14:27:00.003-05:00

Love, what is it? Nowadays the word love is used too much and not enough. We all love something or someone. Some love objects: food, money, worldly possessions. Some love power and what that power can give them. Still yet, some love another person or persons: a significant other, a parent, a child, a friend. Any one of these types of love can be very powerful. Many don't realize how powerful and destructive love can be. Wars have been fought, great leaders and nations have rose and fallen, and many have died because of love.

So again I ask, what is love? Love may be the most difficult thing to describe. Its meaning differs from one person to the next. For some love is meaningless. It is given out freely and with no regard to who it might hurt. While some people are afraid to love and be love because they have been hurt so many times.

In closing, I ask you to stop and think the next time you go to say you love something or someone: Do you really?

The War Over High-Definition DVD Is Almost Over

2008-02-20T08:08:00.002-05:00

The war between Sony's Blu-ray and Toshiba's HD DVD may very well be over. Warner Bros., which is the biggest seller of DVDs, said that it would continue to release movies on Toshiba's HD DVD format only through May after that they will work exclusively with Sony. Upon hearing this news, the HD DVD promotional group canceled their scheduled CED press conference. Which in my opinion says a lot about how big this deal is.

Blu-ray has previously enjoyed the support of 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney, and New Line, among other studios. Warner Bros. is a huge addition to an alright impressive line up. It will be interesting to see if any of the other studios will make the jump from HD DVD to Blu-ray.
Warner Bros. announcement is great news for Playstation 3. Since the Playstation 3 has a Blu-ray player built-in, this will likely mean more sells.

Although Toshiba recently announced they were cutting the price of its HD DVD player in half, I didn't think it will do much to change the tide of this format war.

Playstation 3

Ancient Devil Frog

2008-02-20T06:09:00.001-05:00

On Monday a group of scientist said they found a frog from millions of years ago dubbed the "devil frog." The frog was discovered in Madagascar. Paleontologist David Krause, one of the scientist who found the frog, said the amphibian may have been the largest frog ever to have lived.

The frog's name, Beelzebufo ampinga (try saying that three times fast, heck I can't even pronounce it), comes from Beelzebub, which means devil in Greek and bufo which means toad in Latin. Ampinga means "shield", named for its armor-like anatomy.

The frog was reported to have weighed in at a whopping ten pounds and was sixteen inches long. (I know a few people who would be in frog leg heaven.) It was a nasty little bugger too. With a very large mouth and a powerful jaw, it was possible the frog ate baby dinosaurs.

Now, I have a few questions for you my readers: What do you think about the frog? What is your stand on evolution and creation? What impact, if any, do you think the discovery of this frog will have on proving or disproving evolution or creation? Express your views by leaving a comment or by creating a blog of your own.

Pictures from the Tampa Trip

2008-02-19T13:28:00.002-05:00

A few pictures from my trip to Tampa. Hope you enjoy them.

Back from a great Weekend.

2008-02-18T20:17:00.001-05:00

I'm back from a wonderful weekend. My fiancee and I stayed at a nice little hotel for Friday and Saturday night. On Saturday we spent most of the day at Busch Gardens and had a blast.

Busch Gardens has three kick ass roller coasters; The SheiKra, The Montu, and The Kumba. The tallest dive coaster in the world, SheiKra features a 90-degree drop from 200 feet and is the first ride of its kind to incorporate an Immelmann loop (a rolling maneuver), a second, 138-foot dive into an underground tunnel and a water-feature finale. Montu is the tallest and longest inverted roller coasters in the Southeast. Experience the thrill of an inverted diving loop while you endure speeds of over 60 miles per hour. Kumba sends riders through a 135 foot drop, a full 3 seconds of weightlessness, and one of the world's largest vertical loops. By far my favorite is the Montu. Busch Gardens also offers a nice selection of animals that includes: lions, monkeys, alligators, zebras, giraffes, and many other animals. We headed home on Sunday and got home Sunday night. Tomorrow I post some pictures from the trip.

See You on Monday

2008-02-15T07:07:00.000-05:00

Well I'm off to see the wizard..... well not exactly, but I won't be back until Monday. I'm taking my fiancee Amber to Tampa for the weekend for Valentines Day. But when I get back I'll have some pictures to post from the trip. Have a good weekend.

Scary...if thats the right word....Picture

2008-02-15T06:46:00.001-05:00

Picture may cause blindness!!

Today while I was browsing the internet, jacked up on Mt. Dew, I came across this...this...um I'm not sure what to call it. Its not very often that a picture frightens me but this one does. *tries to wash his eyes out with bleach* So, I decided to share this.... picture? with you, my readers. *runs away screaming*

Cloverfield Movie Review

2008-02-15T06:42:00.001-05:00

When I saw the trailers for Cloverfield, I thought, "That looks like an awesome movie to go and see." After seeing the movie I was majority disappointed.

The first twenty minutes or so of the movie is a home video of Rob's going away party. You watch as the party goes on and the party-goers give their “testimonials". If you get motion sickness you better leave now because the screen bouncing up and down only gets worse as the movie goes on.

After the first twenty minutes of the movie, the monster begins to attack the city and the real action begins. You watch (if your not too sick by now) as Rob and a small group of his friends run around the city. First they try to flee the city by crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, which gets destroyed by the monster. Then they run back across the city in an effort to save Rob's "girlfriend". There’s a lot of running around and screaming but not much else.

When they finally reach Beth's (Rob's "girlfriend") apartment, they find her impaled and half dead. Unimpaled her, (which in the real world would kill her), the group helps her along as the head back down the apartment building and back out into the street. They mange to meet up with the military (which has been waging war against the monster throughout the movie) and are told that the military is evacuating people and if the can reach the helicopter in time they can be evacuated to.

So there’s more running and screaming as they race toward where they military is evacuating people. Once they get there, they are loaded up in a helicopter and it looks like they are going to make it out of the city. But, big surprise, the monster attacks their copter and they go crashing into central park. This leads to one of the characters being eaten by the monster.

Rob and Beth are the only two survivors but not for long. They run and hide under a small bridge in central park and say there good byes as New York City is nuked.

For me this "wanna be" Godzilla movie leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Like: How did the camera's battery last so long? What was the monster? Why was it attacking New York City? Why does EVERYTHING attack the Big Apple? Did nuking it kill the monster? A lot of unanswered questions and one very dissatisfied movie goer.

Clovefield gets a big thumbs down from me and only gets a 4/10. There were some decent moments in the film but it wasn't worth the twenty bucks to see it.

Heavenly Sword Game Review for the Playstation 3

2008-02-15T06:40:00.001-05:00

Heavenly is right. Heavenly Sword is a must have game for anyone who owns a Playstation 3. Here is my short review.

Graphics: The graphics in this game are mind blowing. Your immersed in a visually stunning enviroment that shows off the power of the Playstation 3 nicely.

Presentation: The cutscenes are movie quality. They flow together seemlessly and the voice acting is dead on.

Sound: The sound effects are beautifully done. The enemies are always saying the thing though if you listen carefully, some of it is quiet funny.

Gameplay: The combat system is the best part of this game. If you like God of War, you'll love this combat system. You have three different fighting stances and a ton of moves to unlock.

Overall: Heavenly Sword gets a 10/10 from me. This is, in my opinion, one of the best games out on the Playstation 3 right now.