W.T.F. Has LAUNCHED!

21Oct08

It took me a couple extra days than what I originally intended, but W.T.F.! has officially gone into business!  The new blog, as promised, will feature a lot of the same content from That One Blog, but in a whole new aspect and perspective.

You can visit W.T.F.! by clicking your browser to Web! Tunes! Film!. I’m really excited for the future of this blog, so make sure you check it out!

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It’ll Leave You Saying…W.T.F.!?

03Oct08

Orlando, FL (October 3, 2008)–The time has come!  After twelve months of downtime, “splatR” will return to the blogosphere in an entirely new form when “W.T.F.!” launches later this month.  “W.T.F.!,” which stands for “Web.  Tunes.  Film.!,” will launch on October 17th, 2008!

The new blog will build on what made “splatR” so great–an essential “database” of movie reviews, random internet clickables, music reviews, plus a whole lot more (which, in the blog’s name, is denoted by the “!”).  Work is underway currently to “build” the new blog, which will feature an all new writing style, review system, and amazing new weekly features that will bring viewers back again and again.

A key annual feature of “W.T.F.!” will be the return of the annual “Bagel Awards,” which will be renamed to the “OMG! Awards,” and will have its first awards in January 2009.  The OMG! Awards will feature favorites in categories such as Best Picture, Best YouTube Video, Movie of the Year, and a whole lot more. W.T.F.! will also feature weekly columns as the “LOL! List,” which will be a list of 10 absolutely hilarious things you must see on the internet, as well as “Crap You Shouldn’t See or Listen To,” a rant of absolutely horrendous movies and musical interests.

The blog’s owner, a man with the moniker of “DC,” hopes to make “W.T.F.!” every bit as successful as “splatR’s” epic three-and-a-half-year run.  That blog launched as “Blog of Bagel” in 2004, and ran until October 2007, when he left the project behind to pursue other interests.  He has planned, for several months, to revive the blog in an all new format, and was waiting for the “opportune” moment.  That time has come, and W.T.F.! will rise!

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Something BIG Is Coming…

02Oct08

Hey hey!

It’s been about a year since I posted a thing on the blog.  Wow.  I can’t believe I let my project just slip into non-existence.  Which is why, I’m very happy to announce that I’ll be opening a brand new blog later this month!

Don’t ask for details, just yet.  I’m still sketching out my “angle,” but, if it’s at all what I want to do with it, it’ll have the same, good ol’ content that this blog (and its many variations) did when it first opened.

I’m going to be updating this blog with more information regarding my “revival,” but I can guarantee you it’s going to be a lot more exciting when I finally get launched.  Right now, I’m scouting a host (but will more than likely stay “home” at WordPress.com), and determining what I want to do with the blog this time around.  In the meantime, be sure to check back for more details!

~DC

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SUPER SMASH BROS. BRAWL DELAYED!

16Oct07

Interesting…I just checked the Super Smash Bros. website (www.smashbros.com), and it is now listing the game’s Launch Date as February 10, 2008.

How unfortunate.  I was really hoping to get my hands on the game before the end of this year, especially now that they’ve added Sonic the Hedgehog to the play roster.  It’ll be aweosme, getting to have Mario, Sonic, and Solid Snake, all in one battle royale.

I’m actually surprised nobody has reported this yet.

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I’m Done With Potter…

26Jul07

*Please note: Here at splatR, we don’t like spoiling things for those who may not have experienced it, especially in the form of Harry Potter.  This post will not reveal any big secrets from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  Continue reading without fear.  No, really…I’m serious.

Wow…eight years and a few thousand pages later, I’ve finished the Harry Potter series.  Deathly Hallows, the final installment of the book, and I just have to say…WOW.  What an ending.  I’ve already said I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t had the opportunity to read it, so I won’t.

Even if you haven’t read any of the Harry Potter books, you might know at least something about them–just the basic story, anyway.  The basic story of the series is this: a kid discovers that he is a wizard and is sent off to the wizarding school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  The kid, Harry Potter (of course), was attacked by an evil wizard named…well, You-Know-Who, when he was a young child, and Harry was the only wizard in history to have survived the curse set upon him.  Throughout his years at Hogwarts, he has many encounters with You-Know-Who, and now, in this final installment, its time for the showdown.

The one thing that sets Deathly Hallows apart from its predecessors is that it doesn’t use Hogwarts as its main background, but uses an epic quest over the span of an entire year.  The formula worked well–while Hogwarts was always a fun experience, I feel it was completely fitting to use something different in this final installment, especially with how many “burning plot twists” that hadn’t been revealed.  There was so much that needed to be explained, I have no idea how J.K. Rowling fit it all into 754 pages.  But she did.  And she did it well.  Was everything answered?  Probably not.  There’s probably a few things that we don’t know the answers to, but maybe she wanted that.

If you haven’t read any of the Potter books, I would stay away from this one until you read the others–you’ll be completely lost.  I actually know someone who just read this one before the others, and they were like, “huh?  What’s this about?  How did that happen?  What’s the story behind this one?” Of course it makes common sense to read it in order.  Duh!

I kinda have mixed feelings about ending the series–like I said at the start of the post, its been about eight years since I started reading the series, and now its over.  Never again will I crack open a new Harry Potter book and be captivated by it.  In fact, I don’t know as if I’ll ever read a book again…these books were the only ones I’d read in about 5 years or so…bad, isn’t it?  I’m glad she ended it the way she did…I’m just not glad its over.

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Review: Yellowcard-Paper Walls

10Jul07

Yellowcard is back with their newest album, Paper Walls, which will hit stores on July 17th.  After their last outing, Lights and Sounds, I thought it would be hard for them to top the musical quality of that album…but I was wrong.

Paper Walls is absolutely amazing.  Definitely, without a doubt, the best album they have ever put out.  The band is louder, more mature, and seems to be having a lot more fun with this one.  The album opens up with an awesome song, The Takedown, which is quite a loud ballad.  It then cuts into one of the songs from the Myspace preview, Fighting.  This song wasn’t exactly my favorite from the preview, but, it does seem to be a perfect fit to come right after The Takedown.

The album continues into different songs like Shrink the World, which, in my opinion, has the best lyrics on the album.  Naturally, it’s about shrinking the world, as it has become somewhat complex.  The album already sounds to me to be more of a sequel to Ocean Avenue, their album from 2003.  Where I believed that Lights and Sounds was more of an “experimental” album to try new things, I feel like Paper Walls takes us right back to the Yellowcard that was more popular (while I loved Lights and Sounds, many people didn’t).

My favorite track on this album is a song called Five Becomes Four.  I had mentioned that it was an amazing song when I first gave my impressions of the preview.  This song is the most rockin’ tune they’ve released, in my opinion (a title previously held by Lights and Sounds on the last album).  The song will hopefully be the second single on the album (the current single is Light Up the Sky, another one of my favorites here).  They conveniently placed Five Becomes Four right in the middle of the album, as kind of a “climatic” moment, where you think things will start getting slower, then picking back up for a kickass finale.  Forget the slower part…this album is just kickass.

I do have to say that I’m very impressed with the way this album turned out.  This has been a pretty slow year for the musical world (in my opinion, anyway…others will definitely fight me on that one), and Yellowcard came along and saved the world again.  The underdogs are back.  And in full force.  I give Paper Walls a 9.8/10.

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REVIEW: Transformers

04Jul07

Ooh…shiny new robot movie. The critics will eat up this one. They’ll put it in their mouths, chew it, and swallow…and then spit it out. It’s not their kind of movie.

But who cares. I wasn’t too much of a Transformers nerd when I was a kid in school, so I thought that this movie would be “mediocre at best.” But what I’m really finding it to be is a work of art–more than what I would have originally expected. Hell, I’ll just go right out and say it–this movie made me go “holy shit.”

And I don’t say that often on the blog. I typically try to steer clear of the profanity, but this time, I couldn’t help it. This movie was amazing. Everything, from the CGI, to the storyline, to even the character selection, was absolutely amazing. It was…more than meets the eye. But, I guess we could have predicted that.

The basic story is this–the Decepticons, led by the evil Megatron, are in search of a life-saving cube known as the All Spark, as they want to use it to destroy the universe, or something like that. The Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, are trying to find it to bring life back to their planet. Of course, the All Spark is on earth, and nobody knows exactly where. I’m not going to spoil much more than that, because you really do need to see it.

Casting in the movie was something I didn’t expect. Hugo Weaving voices Megatron, which, actually, he did a pretty good job of it (keep in mind: Hugo Weaving was V in V for Vendetta, my pick for Movie of the Year in 2006). But then they go and cast Shia LaBeouf. You know, that Even Stevens kid turned rising star? I’m not exactly a fan of this kid, but, I will say he did a pretty damn good job portraying the perfect “nerd” in this movie. Then they cast this pretty attractive looking girl named Megan Fox into the movie…and my jaw drops.

This was the most action packed movie I’ve seen all summer–forget Spidey, forget Pirates, forget anything else–this is where its really at with the action. At first, it didn’t seem like there was as much action as there could have been, but with a sudden boom, you’re all up into the excitement of the explosions and robots and wow…Then there are more action-less scenes, and then even bigger action scenes.

This movie was loud…very loud. Which is a good thing and a bad thing–good because it made the movie that much more enjoyable, and bad because I had an extreme headache when I left the theater (perhaps next time I won’t sit so clos). There was one little audio detail that just baffles me and I don’t know why it was there–but Linkin Park’s What I’ve Done brought up the ending credits at the end. I don’t know why…it had nothing to do with the movie. Great song, but completely out of place here.

Michael Bay finally accomplished something we’d previously thought impossible–he created a good movie. I’m going to see it again. Today. And probably again this weekend, too. This is it. The movie of the summer. I give it a solid 10/10.

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Now I’m Going to Mess With You.

02Jul07

¿ɹɐǝɥ ɐʎ ‘ʍou ʞɔɐq ʞɔǝɥɔ  .pǝuıɐʇɹǝʇuǝ noʎ dǝǝʞ oʇ ɟɟnʇs ɹǝɥʇo ǝɯos sɐ 11ǝʍ sɐ ’s11ɐʍ ɹǝdɐd s,pɹɐɔʍo11ǝʎ ɟo ʍǝıʌǝɹ ɐ sɐ 11ǝʍ sɐ ‘ʇɥbıuoʇ sɹǝʇɐǝɥʇ sʇıɥ ɥɔıɥʍ ’sɹǝɯɹoɟsuɐɹʇ ɟo ʍǝıʌǝɹ ɐ ǝʌɐɥ 11,ı ‘ɹʇɐ1ds uo ʞǝǝʍ sıɥʇ

.uɐɔ ı ǝsnɐɔǝq  ¿sıɥʇ buıop ı ɯɐ ʎɥʍ

.oʇ ʇuɐʍ noʎ ǝuoʎuɐ ɟo ʇno 11ǝɥ ǝɥʇ ǝsnɟuoɔ uɐɔ noʎ os ‘ʎ11ɐɔıʇɹǝʌ puɐ ʎ11ɐʇuozıɹoɥ ‘ʇxǝʇ ʎuɐ ǝsɹǝʌǝɹ oʇ noʎ sʍo11ɐ ʇı  .dı1ɟ pǝ11ɐɔ 1ooʇ 1ɐıɔǝds ɐ ʎq noʎ oʇ ʇɥbnoɹq sɐʍ ʇsod sıɥʇ

.ɹʇɐ1ds uo ǝɹǝɥ ʇsod 1ɐıɔǝds ɐ oʇ ǝɯoɔ1ǝʍ puɐ  .o11ǝɥ

Check out Flip by clicking here.

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What Can Disney Do?

30Jun07

I’ve been posing this question a lot since Universal Orlando announced that they’ll be adding a Harry Potter-themed land to their Islands of Adventure theme park.

But before I answer this question, I would like to elaborate on why I care.  I live in Orlando–theme park capital of the world.  Here we have Disney, Universal, Sea World, and some smaller ones (like The Holy Land Experience…one that I have not yet been to, nor will I probably go at all).  I’m also majoring in theme park management in college, which may sound retarded, but its basically an amped-up business administration major.  So naturally, I would care about such a thing.

So I’ve been doing some research on this issue.  Disney has one theme park that is in dire-need of some new “E-Tickets” (that’s what we call major attractions here in the O-Town), and in order for them to even think about striking back at Universal in 2009, they’d better get to work.  That park–Disney-MGM Studios.

There’s talk that the park will change its name to Disney-Pixar Studios in the next year or so, which would definitely be a great start (to me, especially, since I just praised their new movie Ratatouille to high levels).  But, if they’re going to change the name like that, they need to focus on making the park very Pixar-like.

Now, I’m not telling them to go replacing quality attractions such as The Great Movie Ride, Rock n’ Roller Coaster, or Tower of Terror.  Those rides need to be left alone as much as possible.  But, at the same time, there are other things that can change.

The first of those changes is, of course, to get the new Toy Story Mania attraction up and running–they’re working on it now, and its supposed to open right around the same time that Universal’s new The Simpsons Ride is slated to open.  Now, they need to retheme the whole area to be very Pixar based.  I also wish they’d scrap that terrible Muppetvision 4-D show.  It’s absolutely terrible.  Replace it with something like The Incredibles 4-D or something to that extent–just get rid of Muppetvision.

So, that’s Toy Story Mania and The Incredibles 4-D that we have so far (keep in mind: The Incredibles 4-D is my idea, and they probably have no intention of using it).  Now, we need something based off of Cars.  How about a coaster.  There was talk about possibly opening “Crush’s Coaster,” which would be yet another Finding Nemo attraction (they’ve already got two at Walt Disney World…don’t think they need another).  I got an idea–let’s NOT do that.  Instead, let’s make a Cars coaster, which would be right along side the Lights, Motors, Action stunt show (which is rethemed to Cars).

Alright…now we need their new one, Ratatouille.  Should they go through with this whole thing, let’s see them change one of their restaurants out to be the restaurant in the movie (but not too expensive or anything like that).  The only way I could see a ride based on this is if they did it on the chase scene at the beginning of the movie, and that would be a water ride.  Do I see it happening?  No.  But that’s wishful thinking.

Monster’s Inc. already has an attraction at Magic Kingdom.  I got an idea.  Close it.  It’s a bad attraction, and probably won’t last a year.  Bring Monsters. Inc over to MGM (or Pixar Studios, if that’s really what’s going to happen to the park), and make a ride out of it.  It’d be a good ride, just like the one in California.  Sounds like a good idea, right?

Now you have basically every Pixar property in the world in one park.  People love Pixar.  It sounds like a really good idea, right?  Maybe they’ll take note.  Maybe they’ll find a way to defeat Harry Potter…

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REVIEW: Ratatouille

30Jun07

Pixar has done it again. That’s how you can really sum up my final reaction to their newest flick, Ratatouille. After finding success with their most recent flicks Cars, The Incredibles, and Finding Nemo, you’d think they would at least have one film in their lineup that wasn’t good.

Well, that’s not the case with Pixar. This movie is just as amazing as the three I just listed above. I’m glad that Pixar realizes that you don’t have to use a giant green ogre (over and over again) to have success in the computer animation world. Hopefully another animation company will take note.

Ratatouille (Rat-a-too-ee) is the story of a rat named Remy, who has a remarkable sense of smell and making things taste good. Where his family likes garbage, Remy is more of a “gourmet” kind of rat, where everything has to be cooked to perfection. He won’t eat garbage–instead, he sneaks into an older woman’s house and steals good food from her. He has one aspiration–to become a chef. He follows the advice of a dead French chef named Gusteau to guide him along the way.

After the old woman discovers that there’s millions of rats living in her house, she goes crazy and all of the rats leave. Remy gets separated from his family, where he finds himself in the heart of Paris. After following Gusteau (the dead guy) to his restaurant, Remy is discovered making a soup by a young, lanky, clumsy kid named Linguini. It turns out that the customers in the restaurant love the soup, and Linguini’s boss thinks it was he who created the soup.

Linguini then becomes a chef in the restaurant, with help from Remy, who teaches Linguini how to cook (take note: Remy cannot talk to Linguini, as it would destroy the barrier between human and rat communication). After the restaurant becomes popular again, a famous French critic named Alton Ego (played by Peter O’ Toole) decides to re-evaluate the restaurant (he caused it to go from a five-star restaurant to a three-star restaurant). Of course, I don’t want to spoil the rest of it, so you’ll just have to go see it to find out more.

The plot of the movie is amazing, if what I wrote above wasn’t enough. The movie uses themes such as love and friendship to get by–exactly what you’d expect in Paris. The way it was all pulled together really works out to an advantage.

As far as the animation goes in this movie, it was absolutely amazing–the way Pixar portrays Paris in this movie is breathtaking. The lighting at night, the character design, the “set” design…it’s all so perfect. Its obvious that Pixar put a very long time into creating this one.

If you’re looking for a good time at the movies (as I always say), then Ratatouille is for you. Its good fun, its funny, and its just an overall good experience from the studio that brought you Finding Nemo. I really hope to see Ratatouille somewhere else someday, whether it be a restaurant at Disney-MGM Studios, or a ride of some form…this one is great. I give it a 9.5/10.

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Wii REALLY Want Some Games!!

26Jun07

Its been quite a few months since anything has come along on the Wii that has even remotely (sorry, bad joke), interested me. The summer has been awesome for some aspects of nerdism, but videogaming hasn’t really been that great. So, my question to Nintendo…WHEN ARE WE GETTING SOME GAMES!?

As we all know, there’s some awesome stuff on the horizon. Metroid Prime 3 is coming out on August 20 (my birthday, so I WILL be getting it). Still no word on when we’ll FINALLY see Super Smash Bros. BRAWL or Super Mario Galaxy…these games should be coming out so we can fill some empty spaces in gamers’ emotions.

Sorry…just needed to rant. Gaming just hasn’t been so good lately.

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So…The Consensus So Far…

26Jun07

If you look back a few posts (because I really haven’t posted too much, so it won’t be too hard to find), I kept going on and on about how this summer was going to be a MAJOR summer for the movies. There are a lot of movies that have been coming out this summer that have made me make more trips to the theater, and the one question on my mind: was the hype worth it?

Let’s take a look at some of the movies that I’ve been talking about:

Spiderman 3: While I didn’t find Spidey 3 to be anywhere as good as Spidey 2, I thought the movie was flat out amazing. The critics, on the other hand, didn’t seem to care too much about it at all. I personally thought that having multiple villians in the movie kept it more exciting, though I wasn’t a big fan of how the movie kept jumping around. The finale in this movie: better than any other Spidey flick ever. Even though they blew up Venom.

Shrek the Third: If you read my review, you know that I actually agreed with the critics on this one…Shrek the Third sucked. Big time. The movie’s plot wasn’t anywhere as good as I thought it would be. It was terrible, actually. Maybe its about that time that the ogre should be slayed.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End: I actually decided NOT to see it. The first and second ones were very long and very drawn out, and very confusing. After many people told me they didn’t understand it, I just decided to back out completely and forget the movie even came out. I don’t want to sit in a theatre for three and a half hours trying to figure out (oh, when did that happen?). Plots that are too deep like that turn me away.

Okay, so those were the major three. Now we’re about to movie on to the new movies that are coming out in July–the next “big three.” I also add in Ratatouille, though its not a “big three” movie. I’ll probably end up seeing that this weekend sometime.

Transformers: Has anyone SEEN the previews for this? They look friggin’ amazing, even though Shia LaBeouf (I don’t like that kid) is in it. Once you take that disturbing factor away, this movie will PROBABLY be a box office smash.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Harry Potter fans have a lot to look forward to in the next few years–with OotP coming out in July, the last book, Deathly Hallows, coming out in July, and then the last two movies and a MAJOR theme park attraction on the way, the Harry Potter craze isn’t going to die quietly. I can’t wait for this movie, especially since the last one was my favorite in the series thus far.

The Simpsons Movie: 18 years in the making and The Simpsons are finally getting their own movie. You know, I was at Universal Orlando the other day when I saw the characters floating around the park. I thought they looked amazing (the characters are there, of course, because Universal is opening a ride based on The Simpsons in 2008, replacing Back to the Future). I don’t know what unexpected twists this movie is going to bring us, but I have a feeling its going to be good.

Overall, this summer hasn’t been so great at the movies–not like I predicted it would. Sure, Hollywood is raking in big bucks this year, but, the overall quality of the movies hasn’t been as good as I originally thought. Hopefully July’s “big three” will be able to bring more hope. So far, the only one that’s truly impressed is Spidey.

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REVIEW: Blue Man Group Orlando

24Jun07

Well–the time has finally come for Floridians and their tourists to begin flocking to Universal Orlando to experience “the new face of today’s entertainment,” as Universal puts it in their new marketing plan for the Blue Man Group show that just opened up at Universal Citywalk.

The show opened in the new Sharp AQUOS Theatre, which is the former home of some of Nickelodeon’s best shows, including Figure it Out, Clarissa Explains it All, and Slime Time Live.  The soundstage was redesigned as a 1000 seat theatre and given to the Blue Man Group for their newest theatrical production.  Having never seen a Blue Man Group show, I didn’t know what to expect when I first walked into the lobby.  Some of the things that I knew about BMG is that they have formed somewhat of a trademark with their paint splattering drums.  When I got to my seat in the theatre, I was overly excited.

The show starts with a cheesy little preshow where there are “special guests” in the audience, where the little LED boards above the stage tell you to say specific things to those specific guests.  I thought it was kinda funny, but others around me thought it was lame.  As the show begins, the Blue Men waste no time in getting to work on the paint drumming.  They then add in a scene where they catch things in their mouths and create artwork (which is available for purchase at the Merchandise stand after the show).

As the show continues (and very publicly announces the arrival of late guests), you’ll see some incredibly funny scenes, some visually amazing scenes, and some scenes where you’ll just want to rock out (the Rock Concert Movements segment was pretty cool).  For the most part, the layout of the show is pretty amazing.

There was one scene in particular that I just didn’t like–they did a scene on ears, where they brought volunteers up on stage and drummed on their ears…I couldn’t exactly figure out what the point of it was, but I just didn’t find it too funny.  

And the finale–wow.  I’m not going to spoil it for anyone that hasn’t seen a Blue Man Group show, but, the finale was just amazing–the light setup is amazing.  Let’s just keep it at that.  If you’re looking for a good show, but not something dramatic or too “theatrical,” Blue Man Group is for you.  If you’re looking for something funny, Blue Man Group is for you.  If you like percussion instruments, Blue Man Group is for you.  I can’t really say anything negative about this show–it was just flat out amazing, and I really want to go and experience it in other venues (The Venetian in Las Vegas will hopefully be my next BMG outing).  I give this show a solid 10/10. 

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Impressions: Yellowcard- Paper Walls

24Jun07

Back in November of 2005, I was getting really excited for Yellowcard’s new album, Lights and Sounds.  The band is one of my personal favorites, and their single from the album of the same name had me all jumpy.  It was rather amazing.  The album turned out great as well.

Now, just over a year and a half later, Yellowcard is coming back again with another new album, Paper Walls, to hit stores on July 17th.  For those of us who are obsessed with the popular social networking site, Myspace.com, you may have heard that the band has placed a few new songs from the new album on their profile page.

The end result–amazing.  Yellowcard is taking it up a notch, producing some louder, more energetic tunes.  The three songs they have put up are Five Becomes Four, Light Up the Sky, and Fighting.  Each of these songs seems to be a lot bigger than what we saw on Lights and Sounds, which had quite a few slower, quieter songs on it.The band’s first single from the album is Light Up the Sky.  If you haven’t heard it by now, you may want to try and do so–you can listen to it on Myspace, and then download it on iTunes.   Its a pretty good song, though I don’t feel that its as powerful as Lights and Sounds was from their last outing.  I was quite surprised by this, seeing as how overall the new songs seem to be more energetic, but Lights and Sounds was just amazing.  Light Up the Sky is a more mature kind of sound for the band.  Then you get into Five Becomes Four, and the energy really starts kicking.I really hope that Paper Walls turns out as good as these three songs did–I’m really looking forward to it!  July 17th is the day that the Underdogs return.   

Filed under: Music   |  1 Comment

REVIEW: Evan Almighty

22Jun07

When I first heard that there was going to be a “sequel” to Bruce Almighty, I didn’t know what to think…at first, I thought it would turn out to be a failure. Bruce Almighty was a really good movie. And sequels to really good movies normally don’t turn out that great (with some exceptions, of course). They normally water things down to a point where you just don’t want to watch them. It’s rather annoying.

Evan Almighty rises from the ashes of Bruce Almighty, and the end result actually isn’t that disappointing. Sure, it replaces the smart-witted humor of Jim Carrey with the oddball-induced humor of Steve Carell (The 40 Year Old Virgin, Anchorman). But it’s not really a bad thing.

The movie follows Evan Baxter, former newsman and newly elected Congressman. He has just been elected to Congress, and moves to Washington D.C. with his family to start the new “quest.” Little does he know that he’s going to be involved in another quest, as God himself shows up on his doorstep and demands that Evan build an Ark, as “the flood” is coming.

Naturally, people don’t believe a word Baxter says, after his appearance drastically changes, he starts building the Ark, and essentially goes crazy while in office. They don’t believe the “flood” is coming. He even gets suspended from Congress.

The plot is pretty basic…no big surprises or plot twists here. The really fun part is the casting of the movie. Aside from Carell, you also get John Goodman (who still somewhat creeps me out after Roseanne), Wanda Sykes (who is one of my favorites…her voice is amazing), and some others. Those three names in particular are really going to set this movie apart from other ones that are hitting theatres this week (I REALLY want to see 1408…but I’ll get to that one later). Of course, there wouldn’t be a need for an Ark without all of the animals from the Biblical tale, so we get a bunch of animals (I believe they’re ALL CGI though).

The comedy of the movie was somewhat interesting…I kinda get the feeling though this movie may end up being one of those controversial topics, just because of the whole God thing–but I’m REALLY not up to getting into that argument. I thought the way it was all portrayed in the movie was interesting. There were some really funny lines in the movie. Then some that were just flat out stupid.

If you’re looking for a good time at the movies, you may or may not like Evan Almighty–it depends on what you’re looking for in this kind of genre. I give it a 7.5/10.

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So, A Long Story Short.

22Jun07

Well…this isn’t exactly turning out to be the summer that I was hoping it would be.  If you look back, I had a great vision of what this summer would be like on the blog, and everything is COMPLETELY going the opposite direction.To make a long story short, in the past few weeks, I’ve been dealing with possibly the most foul, obnoxious, annoying class that I’ve ever taken at school.  This said class is now over, and I no longer have to deal with that. I’ve also been dealing with a foul, obnoxious, un-working internet connection, which seems to be going in and out every few hours, leaving me incapable of doing anything on the blog, checking Myspace, or doing anything for that matter.  I’ve also been working.  A lot.  So much, that it is starting to hurt, and I’m glad that I no longer have school to add into that equation (at least until August).  SO.  No, the blog is not closed.  Nor will it be closing.  In fact, in a few minutes, I actually have a review of Evan Almighty, which I WILL be posting.  Today.  No exceptions.  For the next couple of days, I’ve also got impressions from Yellowcard’s new album, Paper Walls. It’s due out on July 17th, and, thanks to Myspace, I’ve heard a few tracks from the album, and I think its a good thing.  And, of course, more is on the way.I just don’t want anyone thinking the blog is over.  It’s not over.  There’s a lot more on the way…   

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splatR Celebrates 3 Years!

13Jun07

Wow…three years ago, splatR got started up (under a different name, of course).  I never would have once thought that this blog would produce three years worth of content…it’s completely unimaginable.

I’ve got some stuff coming at you guys later.

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splatR Prepares to Turn 3!

02Jun07

On Wednesday, June 13, 2007, splatR will celebrate its 3rd birthday!  Get ready to join the party with some of the following events:

-Sea World Trip Report
-Universal Orlando Trip Report
-Music Reviews for Quietdrive, The Ataris, and more
-YouTube Tribute to splatR’s history

And a whole lot more.  The party begins on Monday, June 11th and goes all the way until Friday, June 15th.  Be sure to stop back and check it out!

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REVIEW: Shrek the Third

02Jun07

Its so sad how good franchises are turning to crap.  I know this review is a little bit late, but that’s because I didn’t WANT to say anything bad about the latest entry in the Shrek franchise.  Unfortunately, I have to.

This movie was NOT good.  The franchise is starting to show its age, and its beginning to get annoying, actually.  There’s so much overkill and hype with Shrek, it was almost sickening to see the movie come out and the bad reviews it was getting.

That’s not to say it was a terrible movie.  It wasn’t terrible, per se, but, at the same time, it wasn’t that good, either.  There are enough jokes in about the first hour to get your attention, but then as the movie progresses, you see that the plot is weak, the jokes are getting old, and the Shrek franchise might as well die now.

And I hate saying that.  Back in 2004, Shrek 2 was one of my favorite movies of the year–it was perfect with its comedic timing, pop-culture references, and the storyline was great.  The first Shrek movie in 2001 was pretty damn good, too.  But, naturally, the third normally means that things are overdone.  Shrek is no exception.

The story revolves around Shrek finding Artie, a relative of King Harold, and bringing him to take the throne after King Harold’s untimely death.  Shrek, Donkey, and Puss in Boots depart on an epic adventure to find Artie, as Shrek finds out that Fiona is pregnant.  Shrek starts having nightmares about being a father, and is not at all looking forward to it. 

As the movie progresses, we meet up with Artie in his high school and Shrek pulls him away from it and takes him to Far Far Away.  Meanwhile, Prince Charming is still mad about the whole Fiona thing from the second movie, so he is plotting now to kill Shrek and become the new king of Far Far Away.  Will he succeed?  I guess you’ll just have to watch the movie to find out.

As I mentioned, there were enough jokes in the first hour or so that made the movie somewhat interesting–but then as the plot got serious, I was starting to get bored, as were others in the theatre at the same time. 

Its definitely worth seeing at least once…fans of the series will leave disappointed, but at least they won’t miss this outing in the series…but its definitely not worth going and seeing again.  I give Shrek the Third a 6.0/10.

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Let The Theme Park War Begin!

02Jun07

If you paid any attention to the news on Thursday, you know that Universal Orlando Resort and Warner Bros. announced plans to open The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal’s Islands of Adventure in 2009.  This is big news, folks…if you haven’t heard this by now, you’re missing out on one of the greatest things to happen in the theme park industry…ever.

Not only is this good for Universal, but its also good for Orlando as a whole.  The Orlando economy depends mostly on its tourism outlets–Universal, Disney, Sea World…its the main source of economic growth for this city.  Bringing the biggest franchise in the world to the city is not only going to bring the city a greater amount of money, but its also going to continue moving Orlando into the “number one destination in the world” direction.  Something that Orlando really wants–something that it really needs, as well.

But, many people don’t see what kind of impact this will have internally on the theme park industry.  On Thursday, a war began between Universal and Disney.  Not the same war that has been running since Universal opened its gates in 1990, but, a brand new war–a war for franchising.

Think about it this way–Universal now has the biggest franchise in the world for its own personal use.  It also has the technology to use the Kuka arm, an innovative ride system, to use exclusively for the next ten years.  This new technology will more than likely be used in the new “state-of-the-art” attraction that Universal keeps bragging about but not telling us about (with good reason).  The way Universal’s new CEO, Bill Davis, is handling the resort–Disney may finally have some good competition in 2009.

That’s not to say Universal wasn’t good competition before for the mouse…but it could be better.  By bringing Harry Potter to Universal, they can increase their “clicks” (the technical term for number of people entering through the turnstiles at the front of the park) from about 4.9 million a year to maybe even 8-10 million.  Harry Potter is quite the franchise to be getting–and after seeing the concept art for the new island the other day, I think its safe to say Universal is doing something quite right.

But what can Disney do to strike back?  Jim Hill (www.jimhillmedia.com), one of the most trusted sources in theme parks and other related industries, believes that Disney may very well try and strike back by changing Adventureland into Pirate land.  My opinion on that–they’re overdoing this pirates thing.  It’s really not that important to have pirates running around all over the place.  They already have a Pirates ride, let’s keep it at that and not add duplicates. 

What else could they do?  Well, there’s this franchise called “Lord of the Rings” just dying to be placed into a theme park.  I don’t know as if Lord of the Rings would be a perfect fit for Disney though.  If a deal like this were to occur, would we see this in Disney-MGM Studios?  My main problem with the whole thing would be that they would be matching a more adult-oriented franchise such as LotR with Disney’s characters…and I don’t think its a good fit.  In fact, if Universal were to announce that they also got Lord of the Rings and are placing it in Universal Studios–Disney’s really going to be in trouble.  Here’s for wishful thinking on that one.

Okay…so Lord of the Rings is out.  Pirates is overused.  What else could they try and snatch?  Marvel?  Nope….unless Marvel and Universal decide to hate each other.  But I don’t see that one happening.  Transformers?  Ah…there’s a good one.  But, honestly, that’s another one I see Universal trying to get as well.  Aside from those options–Disney really can’t find a property to use.

So what could they do in the meantime?  Well…in my opinion, there’s this area of the Magic Kingdom really needing some good enhancement.  It’s called Tomorrowland.  I don’t know who all has been to that area lately, but its turning rancid–Buzz Lightyear is good, but not as good as Dreamflight.  Stitch needs to die a most painful death, please.  Alien Encounter was so much better.  This new Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor (or MILF, as Screamscape and other theme park enthusiast sites call it) is supposedly so bad that it makes Stitch look good.  Space Mountain needs a rehab.  They’re not putting any attention into what needs to be done.  I got a good idea for 2009–close Space Mountain next year, completely gut it, and put in a brand new steel-based coaster, call it Space Mountain, and open it at the same time as Harry Potter.

Will it be as effective as Harry Potter?  No, probably not.  But, it would probably help.  With Universal getting Blue Man Group (review of the show coming VERY soon), The Simpsons, and Harry Potter…Universal is now a force to be reckoned with. 

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