Why Bliz-O-Vision?

Some people recently have asked me the million dollar question. Why am I writing a blog? I strained my brain for a bit before realizing I had no reason and quit immediately.

Just kidding. Honestly, I'm writing a blog because I have opinions that I like giving and I want to practice my writing skills. I like writing and hope to be good at it someday, although I have no delusions. It's gonna take a while.

The main idea for this site is to have a forum for my thoughts on anything I feel like talking about. I hope to build a community and have great discussions with them, spotlighting my ideals as well as theirs. I also intend to post videos here. When? Well, whenever I get a new computer that will allow me to edit.

I'm proud to announce that my new MacBook Pro will be arriving later this week. This will provide me with the power needed to use actual decent editing software and spotlight my Canon T2i's great picture quality.

I feel that I'm blogging for the right reasons, as I'm doing it for me. I do it cause I love it. So, hopefully you can read/watch it because it's at least not the worst thing on the internet. Don't believe me? Watch a video from Fred on YouTube. Thanks for stopping in and I hope to keep it at least remotely interesting for you. Hell, I owe you for the views.

By the way! It's called Bliz-O-Vision cause Jon-O-Vision was taken.

Cowboys and Aliens (2011)

Jon Favreau is the elected representative of the people's republic of coolness. In more recent years he has been just tearing up Hollywood with an excellent eye for action, that so few directors of today really have. I don't have to tell you Iron Man was awesome. Everyone knows that. However I feel a lot of people have overlooked some of his other movies as the gems that they are. Primarily I'm talking about Zathura. Yes, I saw the previews and rolled my eyes. Oh great, it's exactly Jumanji in space. That's so lame, or so I thought. The shocking truth I got when I finally caved and watched it, was that it was actually way more fun that Jumanji. I kid you not. It had great action and a great feeling of high energy fun all the way through it. So, after seeing a movie that I honestly didn't see having much potential for anything, being so good, I figured I'd better give Cowboys and Aliens a shot. The question is does this movie function with such a crazy concept?

Let me say right now, that the title of this movie, is the most accurate title since Snakes on a Plane. Coincidentally, there are cowboys in this movie. Surprisingly, there are also at times aliens. It poses the question, how would a bunch of cowboys survive if aliens started abducting their loved ones from their town, and answers it with a rather lazy Macguffin.


Our main character Jake Lonergan, is played well by Daniel Craig pulling off a smooth western accent, as a badass cowboy. He wakes up in the desert with no memory of anything and a bizarre metal bracelet wrapped around his wrist. Immediately, I have a connection with him because this happens to me every Sunday night. He finds his way to a nearby town, and when people start getting abducted, it's up to him, and the villages people to go and get their loved ones back from those darn aliens.

It's at this point in the movie where I found myself enjoying certain things. My favorite thing about this movie was the supporting cast. Clancy Brown and Sam Rockwell are amazing and bring a great deal of heart to this movie. They give you characters to care for and make this outlandish situation have some gravity. Paul Dano is around too, and that's always great. His acting is a great example of getting a lot of story across through acting and not telling so much. You can understand pretty quickly on why he's a little bastard, especially when you meet his father.

Sadly, here's where I'm gonna piss some people off. Harrison Ford just doesn't do a very good job. Don't get me wrong. He has a few good moments, but he has way more bad ones. It's a matter of him walking around talking in a gravelly voice, looking like he just ate some bad Taco Bell (if such a thing exists) all the time. He doesn't even seem like he's trying. We also have Olivia Wilde as 'really hot girl who needs to be in this movie to keep us from leaving the theatre to take a bathroom break'. She does EXACTLY what she's supposed to. She's stunning, and thankfully, not a terrible actress, like so many today who seem to ride on their looks.


Alas, there is that goddamn MacGuffin canon that is attached to Daniel Craig's arm. It reminds me of the old Spider-man cartoon from the sixties. Remember how before every commercial break something bad would happen and it would leave Spidey at a cliffhanger, only to come back and just have him shoot a web to make something bizarre that totally fixes everything? The MacGuffin canon is TOTALLY that.

"Oh no, these aliens are invincible to our bullets!"
"Here let me kill them easily with my awesome sci fi weapon."
"Woah! You've just entered the bone zone!"

This is pretty much what it all comes down to. At first they make him out to be a badass, but by the end of it he's the least badass character because he never actually has to do anything cool. He just has to point his WMD at things and kill them. I feel like a lot of creativity was wasted because of this thing. Also, it's been brought to my attention that this movie was based on a comic book that did not have the bracelet at all. Sounds to me like studio intervention.

Overall, this movie is a pretty feel good movie and has some moments of greatness, but it's sadly forgettable. If you want to see a movie you haven't seen yet at the theatres and this is the only thing that fits the bill, go for it. It's fine for a single watch, but in a few years time I doubt I'll remember this movie even exists. Still not a black mark on Jon Favreau, but I really wish it was more.


By the way, if I can encourage you to see this movie for one reason, it's to see the new trailer for the Battleship movie. Yeah that Battleship! Words just can't describe it!

The Dark Knight Returns

I've been talking a lot these days about Warren Ellis. Yeah I know it's probably getting old, but I haven't seen the comic writing thing done in a more natural way. You almost never see thought bubbles or naration. That's left up to the artist and intelligent dialogue. It leaves us feeling our own feelings as witnesses to the situations, as opposed to being told what we are supposed to feel.

On the other side of the spectrum we have Frank Miller. Let me just say, I thought he was brilliant...at first. I read a few of the Sin City series and thought the man was a great comic writer. Sure it had lots of inner monologuing, but that only added to the noir atmosphere. As I'm sure most readers of this will know, Sin City had a few of it's stories adapted wonderfully into a movie (and Robert Rodriguez announced a second one coming soon too). At this point I found myself seeking more Frank Miller books. Rabidly I devoured almost all of the Sin City stories. Then I heard about, *sigh* All Star Batman and Robin the boy wonder. It was to be written by Frank Miller and drawn by the amazingly talented Jim Lee. This came at a time when Frank Miller's ego was commencing a thermonuclear meltdown of arrogance. He wrote this in a way no one could believe. Batman is running people down in his Tank Mobile, terrifying a little boy who just watched his parents die and making him eat rats! Oh and of course when poor little Dick Grayson asks him who he is, he has the infamous reply:

Naturally I found myself swiftly facepalming and crying myself to sleep. This was written by the guy who apparently wrote the best Batman story of all time! Alas, after avoiding it for years after that terrible series, I finally today read the so called epic The Dark Knight Returns.

It was written in 1986, and it's a safe bet that that was when Miller was just starting his Sin City writing style which would likely take place for the rest of his life. Truth be told it's pretty good, minus some frustrating moments. It really shows Batman in a different light, for the time, though baffling choices were made. The Robin in this story is terrible, especially considering the slight trash talking of Dick Grayson who must of molested Miller in his younger years. Also, you can see the coming standby Frank Miller hangups developing, including but not limited to, all women being lustful or prostitutes, racism and homosexuality being a trait only of the wicked. Despite those hangups, which become much more defined in the more recent years, like I said, this is a pretty good story, unlike the horrible sequel. The side effect of this book however was that it made Batman brutal and nasty, which did attach itself to the dark knight over the next 15 years, leading to many better interpretations. Sadly, I don't like Frank Miller's Batman, as much as it's influence. My Batman on the otherhand has the right amount of badass and compassion, and looks like this:

Transmetropolitan: A non spoiler review

So here I am again, back in Warren Ellis country. I've made it pretty clear I am a fan of the writer, but now I can proudly say he is the best comic writer out there, at least in my humble eyes. Transmetropolitan was written by Warren Ellis and drawn beautifully by Darick Robertson.

The entire series takes place over 60 comic books, or 10 trade paperbacks, which I personally feel is the perfect length for a huge, yet non infinite story. It's easy to get into and impossibly hard to put down. The starting premise is that crazy hermit looking journalist Spider Jerusalem, living alone in the mountains gets a call from his publisher demanding he come back to the big city and deliver on the two book deal that he is signed on for. Spider, being the kind of person who pretty much hates everyone dreads this but is forced back to civilization immediately seeking out a job writing a column called 'I Hate it Here' for a newspaper.

Some may take this as Warren Ellis standing on a soapbox and telling the world how wrong it is about various things, and I would agree. You see this is a sci fi and the big city is deranged. This is a twisted world where morality is pretty much gone and some very twisted subject matter is dealt with. Don't believe me? There is an issue about child prostitution. Yikes.

Interestingly enough, despite such grim tones and reckless disregard for morality, what holds it all together is Spider himself. Spider is a very colorful and multidimensional character. On one hand, he treats everyone like crap, has a gun that makes people poop themselves, eats endangered animals, constantly uses every kind of drug imaginable and of course loves killing dogs (the cuter the better). On the other hand, it's interesting to see him slowly but surely show signs of being a good person. At one moment he can be almost like a cartoon character, but then the next he teaches us a real true to life lesson. That's a sign of good sci fi. Also, keep in mind all the immorality of this future world is sadly believable when you really look at how the world is changing around us today.

The story starts off decently with a great opening story and some other little ones, bit everything gets incredible when at issue 13 or trade paperback 3 it starts a giant scale storyline that runs right to the end of the series, dealing with political corruption and pretty much every otter injustice you may find in the world today (although turned up to 11). Also, around this point a great character dynamic starts between Spider and two great supporting characters that really make this series special. 

While this may not be a series for the faint of heart I need to recommend it strongly. It is thrilling and intelligent and when it all comes to a close, the characters are so well fleshed out that you will likely look back, remembering them like old friends. Hell, I just finished it and I already miss Spider Jerusalem. 

Welcome to Stonerland!

What the hell is wrong with the world today? Everyone indulges a little too much in the ol' reefer madness these days if you ask me.

I'm depressed by our what the priorities in our world have become. What caused me to bring this up? I've been pondering getting into journalism for a bit, especially after reading Warren Ellis' Transmetropolitan. Yeah, for those familiar with Transmetropolitan, I do get the sense of irony. It's the story of a journalist who enjoys heavy drug use and stomping on things that he deems wrong in the world. Needless to say, I really like it, but I've gotten way off topic.

Here are 3 easy steps to piss me off.

Step 1 - Go to Google.ca.
Step 2 - Start typing "how much is an online journalism degree?"
Step 3 - Stop typing at the first 'n' in online and enjoy Google's suspected auto fill: "how much is an ounce of weed?"

Seriously? That comes up before anything else? Please note the word online was already written to the point of saying 'on'. That means it tried to correct me, probably cause it thinks I'm too baked to spell ounce, and jumped right to the weed.

Don't get me wrong. I don't have anything against people who smoke weed. If I did I'd be hating pretty much everyone with the exception of a handful of 80+ year old women. However, as a non weed smoker, I still feel justified in saying that some people (not all) maybe take their weed a little too seriously. That's all I'm saying. Perhaps instead of asking questions about how much getting stoned is gonna cost you, you could instead look up the ins and outs of quantum physics. Alas I digress, I probably could have been signing up for an online journalism course instead of writing this.

Oh people... You crack me up!

Captain America (2011)

Let's face it. Like most people Reb Brown will always be my Captain America. Captain America was awesome in that movie. Taking relaxing drives in his van with his see through plastic shield while wearing a motorcycle helmet was exactly how I always pictured Captain America. If there is anything more Captain America than that, I don't know what it is.

That horrifying image aside, the newest Captain America is tailored with a lot of love and respect for the character. The real question is, is this the Captain America movie we've always wanted? Well, for the most part yeah. It accepts the cheesy origins of the Cap and does an excellent job of showing it without making the movie feel like a joke. The movie knows when to make you laugh and when not to, and all of the laughs are natural well earned ones.

The part of the movie everyone is gonna be talking about for years to come is the amazing USO part where Steve Rogers is on a stage in a familiar costume with dancers singing his awesome theme song. Yeah he has a theme song. That really gets the idea across as to how this movie is. It's there to make you feel good, but not to make you feel stupid.

This movie is entirely a character study of Steve "Captain America" Rogers, and on that note it succeeds in every way imaginable. Sadly it is not perfect. When I saw The Incredible Hulk a few years back, they blatantly kept talking about Captain America and even went as far as having Tim Roth's Emil Blonsky injected with an incomplete version of Super Soldier serum. What followed that was some of the coolest action scenes I can think of. Blonsky was flipping around and fighting the Hulk and it was awesome. Naturally, that lead me to be excited to see how badass the complete serum would make someone. Sadly it seems the complete Super Soldier serum just makes you use nonstop CGI. Don't get me wrong, it isn't a deal breaker but I figured Captain America would be the one guy whos action scenes would be doable in the Marvel universe.

The villain would be the second flaw in the movie. Red Skull is an awesome villain. He's just so damn evil. Unfortunately the script doesn't really do anything with him. Hugo Weaving was the right guy for the part, but Red Skull was only there so Cap would have someone to fight. The final battle between the two is what I've come to expect from these Marvel movies (minus the Incredible Hulk), a huge letdown. Two Super Soldiers fighting it out and it lasts for what feels like a minute and a half. Red Skull deserved better.

This movie DOES NOT just feel like a commercial for The Avengers, and to be honest I'm sick of people saying that about these movies. It is a great true to the character story of a simpler time, when morality was more clear cut. Remember when America fought wars with good intent? This is what makes Cap a great character, he's from the old school and really believes in doing good. I hope to see him showing how he loves his country but doesn't always agree with it's decisions in future installments.

One last thing to touch on is the acting. Chris Evans is the man. Without his charm, Steve Rogers could have come off as a boring goody two shoes character as opposed to a good man who wants to do what's right. Other big thumbs up go to Tommy Lee Jones, which is a no brainer, Stanley Tucci, who was unbelievably charismatic and well written. The real surprise was Hayley Atwell, who really is a facial expression master. I believed her and can't wait to see where she ends up in her hopefully long acting career.

Over all, Joe Johnston proved he gets Captain America and that he was the right guy for the job. If he does the next one I hope he tones down the CGI and works a little harder on the action scenes. This is a winner and I would call it pretty much par with the first Iron Man. See this movie!

Conan The Barbarian (1982)

I don't claim to be a love guru, but if there is one thing every guy knows, it is that there is nothing better than eating spicy food and watching a badass action movie with your best gal! This is how I spent my Sunday night. What movie did we watch you ask? Seriously? Didn't you read the title? For crying out loud, just scroll up a bit. Yup, Conan the Barbarian.

Now keep in mind, I had seen it before, many times actually. Let's face it, you don't get this manly by not watching Conan. So this is my take on the movie when trying to figure out what it is I love so much about it.

Trying to pick out the specific reason why this movie is so special is tough, but I think I've got it. It is a fantasy in the most classic sense. Like a game of D&D it is all about different characters forming a party and going on an adventure to kill evil Mr. Darth Snake-man. In todays day and age, we would make a movie like that light hearted and market it to younger boys, but this movie came before Hollywood became a bunch of pussies. Make no mistake, this movie is totally for little boys, but in a more secret sort of way. Think of it in the simplest way. A huge muscle man with a huge sword slashes tons of shit. He goes on an epic adventure with a bunch of really cool friends he meets along the way and sees a load of boobs while doing it. Tell me if you can think of a more accurate depiction of what a 14 year old wants to see and I'll call you a liar.

Sadly, I'm no longer 14, so why do I like this movie ao much at nearly double that age? It's simple really when you look at it. The movie is made as a great classic. What do I mean by that? Despite some hilariously bad bloopers that made it into the movie, it feels like a completely serious epic. The music is old school epic ala Ben Hur or something of that ilk. Never is the movie in a rush or worried about keeping your attention. Conan's story is interesting and the movie itself believes in that, allowing it to take the time to give you proper atmosphere. Also James Earl Jones is incredible as the villain. He's legitimately bad and you really believe he could do anything.

It pleases me to say my better half claims she didn't like it, but was totally out for blood by the end of it. She was actually cheering for Conan to kill Thulsa and actually said "nooo, cut his head off!" when Conan hesitates. Based on this I say the movie proves it's effectiveness and I give it 4.5 punched out camels out of 5.