The cell phone addiction

Over the past weeks, a couple of my friends have been... how can I say this... complaining about my lateness in answering their calls, texts, whatsapps, IMs, twitter/instagram/facebook updates and pretty much any call of attention ths is controlled by perhaps the most important device in our lives in current times: the cell phone.

Also, what is the deal with people who call you and for whatever possible reason you can't answer your phone, so they get a missed call. So what do they do next? They call you again right away! As in to say, "Hey it's ME calling, PLEASE answer!" Next thing you know, you have like 9 missed calls on your phone!

Seriously, what's the deal with that? Can't people understand that when one cannot answer the phone, it's PROBABLY because one cannot answer the phone at that precise time? The fact that you call me nine or nineteen consecutive times is not going to make me answer the phone, if in fact it's not possible for me to answer the phone.

Anyway, while there may be some true to that sometimes I do not answer within the next five minutes (or seconds), I couldn't help but ask myself the inevitable question:

Am I really not answering as fast as I should, or are my friends falling for the 'Cell Phone Addiction'?

Let's begin by defining this concept.

The 'Cell Phone Addiction' is a phrase I came up with after watching my two friends over the course of five days, throughout various activities (watching movies, playing cards, cooking, taking care of their garden, driving, going grocery shopping), during which at all times, they had immediate response to any contact message recieved by their cell phones. I'm talking about less than ten seconds to any sort of contact (like I said before, call, IM, whatever).

By the way, I had to research before publishing this entry about the phrase 'Cell Phone Addiction', only to discover it is so real that people are actually going to rehab for it, and whether if you call it dependency or full blown addiction, the way people are using phones is taking a psychological toll. (This paragraph is taken from this source http://www.shape.com/lifestyle/mind-and-body/cell-phone-addiction-so-real-people-are-going-rehab-it )

Anyway, resuming my post, the routine would go like this:

If they were watching a movie, they would have their cell phone next to them, in regular volume, meaning not silenced/muted.

If they were playing cards, they would have their cards, and their cell phone next to them, sometimes answering to any contact during their turn, and other times with their cards in one hand and their phone in another.

If they were driving, and their phone rang, they would keep driving, pick the phone and answer it.

...and so on with the other scenarios, including having dinner, waiting for the garbage truck to come, watching a sunrise or a sunset, going to the beach, tanning in the beach, it goes on and on and on and on. Some people go as far as sleeping with their phones next to them and complain if they get a notification in the middle of the night that of course wakes them up. I started looking at the situation, pondering many thoughts into it and tried to come up with somewhat of a reasonable explanation. The only answer I could come up with, comes up from a funny 8th grade anecdote from mid-school.

I'm an atheist, but I was raised a catholic and attended a catholic school. When I was in the eighth grade, puberty was hitting on my friends and on me, while at the same time we were being lectured in catholic education, of all the infinte bad things that could get you into hell, one of them being masturbation. Fortunately, the priests of our school were a bit more current/modern than what old-fashioned catholic priests are, and they treated students with a more leveled approach, than the old "me teacher-you student" approach. So one day, a group of friends who were a bit frightened of going to hell, decided they had to ask the priest if masturbating was bad. Me being an atheist didn't really care, but I hopped on because I wanted to see the answer of the priest.

And now... cell phones too

I specifically remember that when asked the question, he laughed out loud and said something within the lines of:

"Come on! That's ridiculous, masturbating doesn't get you into hell.

and he followed with

"Look boys, some of the stuff that's in the bible isn't meant to be taken literally, as well as some of the stuff that is taught in class."

Which made a lot of sense. What made even more sense, was his next lines:

"Masturbating doesn't get you into hell, because it's a natural thing that comes with our species. It's natural to do it and that's it. Now... if you become addicted to it, then we have a problem. Like, if you're at school and you have to masturbate, or if you're at work and you have to masturbate, or at a line at the market, or in traffic, and so on. But in that case, still the issue is not the act of masturbating per se: it's the fact that you have an addiction, meaning that you are unable to carry on with your day without it"

Fast forward to present day and my friends, and I couldn't help but remember the example the priest gave. After all, it applies perfectly. No matter what activity are they into, or the context they are surrounded by, their cell phones are next to them, and their response time to any beep emmited by the phone is immediate.

Moreover, when engaged in a chat with someone, say via whatsapp, they would complain how that person would take several minutes to respond to a chat, having seen the double blue checkmark.

"He left me double-blue checked! How dare he?"

Other times they would see the pre-message, but not login to whatsapp, on the pretext of

"I can't login, because if I do, people will see I'm online and haven't answered their messages"

I guess by now you pretty much give their picture. Now I'll paint my picture.

When I open my house's door and arrive at home, I have a large couch to my left, in my living room. I normally throw, first my keys and next my cell phone. I do this because I like to wash my hands, wash my face, take off my shoes, get myself into comforable clothes, and so on. I do this because I place more importance in taking care of myself, than taking care of the world (make that, my phone's contact list) which I can do at a later time, preferably, after I have settled myself in my home.

Which group do you belong to?

If I'm at work and I'm doing work-stuff, I'll normally keep focused on my work-stuff. I don't check my phone unless it rings or beeps, and it's a call or an IM, and there are times when I even do not answer, if I'm doing something very important or urgent. Needless to say, I'm referring to non-clients calls/IMs. The reason  I do this is quite simple: work pays my bills, answering non-clients calls/IMs won't. If I have nothing to do at work, work is slow, or I am on a break, of course I answer them.

Can you go over the hour without checking your phone?

When I'm driving, well, let me start by saying I do not consider myself a good driver. It's not like I'm fair bumper car, but let's just say I rather pay attention to the road than to my phone. It's as simple as that.

I'm somewhat of a bit competitive person, so when I play cards with my friends, I pay attention to the game, even when it's not my turn. I like to win, therefore my phone is a distraction. Sometimes I even leave my phone in the car. It may be a bit extreme, but I like to keep concentrated.

Now let's talk about the whole WhatsApp's double blue check / online thing.

Read ... AND IGNORED !!! IGNORED !!!

I currently have no blocks or filters on my WhatsApp: anyone can see my last online time, my double blue checks, my picture, and so on. I understand the fact that there are people who deserve or expect an immediate response, but let's face it: how much is the percentage of this group ? My opinion is that the answer to this question depends on two variables:

1. How important is your relation with that person: it can be a client, a close relative or close friend?

2. How much relevance does your answer hold to that person?

There are few pleasures a relationship values as sitting on a table to share with the person you enjoy spending time with. And yes, I meantyour partner, not your phone

The trickiest here is variable #2. The reason why I say this is because after looking at my friends, I have come to the conclussion that a new trend in politeness and manners has started in our society. I call it the 'Manners in chatting' and there are two groups of people in this trend.

Group #1. People who believe manners in chatting are the same as manners when facing someone face-to-face.

Group #2. People -like me- who think these two as not the same.

The implication is: if live conversation and online chatting manners are different, then there has to be some sort of manual of etiquette regarding manners with your cell phone -which there isn't-. How can one act correctly with your contact list  if there are no cell phone etiquette rules defined ? Especially when you consider how many tweaks and plugins available out there to break/avoid them, such as the one mentioned:

• Last seen online
• Double blue checkmark.
• Double checkmark
• "Writting..."
• A new plugin for WhatsApp that will show what the person on the other end is writting when the "Writting..." message is being displayed
• Check-in location

Great survey analysis

Regardless of how you view it, or if you identify with group #1 or #2, I believe the Cell Phone Addiction issue is truly real. There is simply no excuse in my mind that can bear anyone going five minutes without checking their phones, especially if it's a non-suitable environment like the ones I exposed earlier. Likewise, the situation applies for your phone beeping/ringing and you picking it up (it's basically the same thing as checking your phone).

Moreover, if you are a cell phone addict, it becomes harmful for your social environment to threaten them expecting them to behave exactly as you. The best thing you can do, is admit you have a problem of depency and expect to spread your problem to your social surrounding. Next comes, working on a solution to get rid of you addiction and enjoy the pleasures of life, the pleasures the world has to offer, away from your phone's social network updates.

Some tips include

1. Monitor your cell phone usage: it may be groundshocking, but when you find out you have been using your phone for more than 50 a day, you may think twice.

2. Create no phone time zones: yes, give yourself a period of time when you simply do not check your phone. Cook, eat your meal, whatever you do, just put it away and let it ring.

3. Turn your phone off when driving: as I said before, safety comes first. Whatever happens when you are behind the wheel, there is little you can do to change it (unless you are a disorganized person who planned accidentally or not, to have a cell phone checkpoint in your car)

4. Find a friend you can talk to who is not a cell phone addict: perhaps that person will have a thing or two to teach you about enjoying things in life that are not cell phone related.

5. Turn your cell off when sleeping: pretty much similar to #3. Of course, some conditions and exceptions apply. Like for instance if you are a father/mother, waiting for your daughter to ring you to inform she arrived safely at her date destination, or if you are waiting for them to get home, that's completely valid. But if your daughter is in another country, there is not much you can do about anything that happens to her and you'll have to live with that. What may happen is that you make bad decisions based on poor judgement, worsening the situation.

6. Think and measure the need to answer: ask yourself questions such as 'do I really need to call/text this person right now?' or 'do I really really need a response from him/her?', 'Is this a life-threatning situation or is a mudane event that can be taken care of later?'

7. Find a hobby: perhaps you are using your phone as a mood baromether, which means you feel better when you have it and when people respond quickly to your texts, and you feel pissed off when you don't have it and people do not answer to you.

8. No devices at meals: period.

9. Don't use your phone as an alarm clock: get an actual alarm clock and leave your phone downstairs.

I think those are good tips.

Lastly, I would like to say, I do not have all answers, and as I stated at the beginning, my responses may be a bit more delayed than normal. I may (and that is a huge may) give you that. The other extreme of not answering your phone at all is not good either. What I will say is that I feel one must learn how to balance and more importantly, manage their relationship with their phone, and more importantly, to let your contact list know of your principles and behavior when it comes to handling your cell phone social life.

H

The Oscars-Star Wars controversy

Last year I posted this entry, in which I wrote a somewhat detailed analysis of times the Academy (the Oscars) kind of messed up either nominations or winners of the award. I wrote it because like I said back then, time has proven that Oscar's don't mean that much when we talk about true trascendence of a film, an actor or a director. This year though, ironically my post is meant to defend the Academy on what I think is one of the most absurd controversies seen in show-business.

Will, Jada and Jaden just can't
keep away from the headlines

As the 2016 nominees were announced early in the week, a few headlines were filled by well-known celebrities such as Spike Lee, Jada Pinkett Smith and Mark Ruffallo, criticizing the lack of diveristy of the Academy, as no african american artists were nominated in any of the top categories. I titled my blog "The Oscars-Star Wars controversy", because at the same time thousands of fans are bashing the latest Star Wars installment on grounds of how it feels more like a politically correct remake of A new hope, than an actual continuation of the Star Wars saga. So what is the relation ?

Being one of the thousands of fans who feel dissappointed by The Force Awakens (as you can read my Episode VII blog), I couldn't help but to question myself and my beliefs regarding the review I gave to TFA, after seeing it break almost every single box-office record, earning an 8.4 rating on IMDb, and reading so many postive reviews from several critics, and even Hollywood celebrities such as Kevin Smith. I wondered whether if I was wrong in thinking TFA was a dissappointment instead of being an actual great Star Wars film. I had to go see the film again, but before doing so, I read and went over almost every single review (and video review) available. I also read the dozens of fan-theories trying to explaing the 942 unanswered questions in TFA, from Rey being Luke's long lost daughter, to Rey being Obi-Wan's granddaughter, passing through Rey being the actual chosen one to bring the force back in to balance. None of the reviews I read, or the theories I went through, or anything I came in contact with, could make me change my opinion about TFA.

Even George Lucas has expressed dissatisfaction with the new direction of "his baby"

After once again analyzing Ep VII, I couldn't reach any other conclussion other than TFA is nothing but what I call "A-Safe-Bet."

The explanation for this term follows suite: My guess is that when J.J. Abrahams and Disney were handed the assignment of making Episode VII, the project overpowered them and they simply didn't know what to do. They probably found themselves cornered with the dilemma of either developing something new or to stick to a winning formula, the latter being the chosen alternative, or as I like to call it, "A-Safe-Bet." Nothing could go wrong if they simply remade A new hope and tweak it a little bit for the new millenial target. Moreover, Abrahms and Disney went for the expanded Star Wars fan base, by developing "A-Safe-Bet" in a "Politically Correct" movie, an expression that has gained quite a trend in the past years. Fpr those unfamiliar with the expression, being PC means to try to please everyone, while missing to please the actual target you should. In TFA's case, they tried to please all demographics, but not the actual true Star Wars fans.

Doubt it ?

The force feels "forced" on this one 

Rey: the female hero, following the Hunger Games trend to please teen females.
Finn: african american star.
Han Solo: old school.
Kylo Ren: emo/goth.
Poe Dameron: the level headed.

So what does this have to do with the Academy this year?

The Oscar nominees for best actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress and director, all fifteen are caucasian (or simpy said, white). Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith have complained the Academy should be ashamed for not including any African-Americans. Knowing the I have almost 0% of PC, in my humble opinion, this has no sense whatsoever, and only adds more negativity instead of being beneficial to our society.

First of all, the Academy Awards (the Oscars, for that matter) were perhaps described best by the late great George C. Scott as a "two-hour meat parade, a public display with contrived suspense for economic reasons", also adding that the politics surrounding the awards was "demeaning." Like I said earlier, time has proven on several occasions that Scott's affirmation may be quite on the money, with movies, actors and other artists that would have likely entered oblivion, had not been nominated, yet alone even won the award.

Seriously. Without googling, can you tell if this won an Academy Award? If so, how many and which year?

In a world living in the year 2016, where globalization is more and more a main protagonist in our lives, less and less regionalization becomes a decisive factor in culture -including cinemas-, and the Oscars are no exceptions. The golden statue has been losing the essence of capturing interest of movie enthusiasts, while other international festivals have been gaining more and more notice, such as Cannes, Sundance, Las Palmas and London Film. Needless to say, and to quote Tug Speedman in Tropic Thunder, there is a lot of marketing and politics in being nominated for these awards.

Then, what is the big deal if the Academy didn't nominate African Americans?

I would like to believe that the Academy at least tries, to nominate five of the best performances for each category, whether if they are Caucasian, African American, Indians, Spanish, French, Chinise, Japanese, Norweigans, or Hispanics. Of course, Hollywood most likely will not be including in their nominees any Indians, Japanese, Chinese or Norweigans, it's ridiculous, why would they?

One of the most brilliant exchanges of the satirical masterpiece "Tropic Thunder" deals with the "how to get nominated to the Oscars" issue, and moreover, "how to win it by never going full retard"

And that's precisely my point with this year's fuzz.

Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett complain the Academy has no diversity. This means that they would be somewhat "satisfied" if the Academy would include African-Americans in their nominations. This begs to ask the question: How many African-American's are enough so that Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith feel content with the Academy's diversity ? Two out of five ? Three out of five ? Of course the number doesn't matter as it is not a question of percentages. That approach is simply ridiculous. Spike and Jada are talking about the Academy being "politically correct", pretty much like TFA is.

But let's forget about TFA and the Oscars, and let's use two completely different scenarios to wrap up this whole mess.

Scenario #1: Southpark Episode 7 - Chef goes nanners.

Southpark's is known as a series with a very satirical yet down to Earth approach to most of the subjects its deal with. In Season 4 Episode 7 (hahaha, ironically, episode 7), two secondary characters Chef and Jimbo, develop two opposite opinions on the subject that the town's flag depicts four white figures hanging a black one on a gallows. Chef (being African American) believes the flag is racist and should be changed, while believing the whole town is racist if they don't think so. Jimbo on the other hand, believes the flag should not be changed, being it somewhat of an honor to the history and tradition of the founders of Southpark.

Southpark's town flag

The whole episode goes over and around the fact that the school children, specifically the main protagonists (Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman) should sort this out via a school debate, with some of them agreeing to keep the flag and others agreeing with changing it. However,when the day of the debate arrives, it is discovered that surprisingly the group that agreed to keep the flag as it is, did so without perceiving that the person being hung was African American, but instead, a human being, meaning they didn't pay attention to the race of the person. Chef is touched (as well as Jimbo and the other adults atending the debate) by what the children point, so the adults reach a compromise of ethnic diversity, changing the flag by now having the four people of all races (including an African American). The moral of the episode is the fact that anti-racism makes people racist, therefore make them perceive things according to your own race, therefore leading to more racism.

Southpark's new town flag

Scenario #2: The NBA MVPs

If you look at a list of the NBA MVPs in the last 40 years, you'll probably won't be surprised that finding a white player is not as frequent as the days with full moon. In fact, the last 30 years have seen only three white players, that's 1/10. Is the NBA not diverse enough ? Oh wait, I know what some people will say. "Well, have you seen that Woody Harrelson movie, "White men can't jump?", to which I would reply "Oh my..." So let's go to a recently announced award, FIFA's Ballon d'Or, won last week by Lionel Messi a record fifth-time. In the last 30 years, only two black men have won the award. So Spike: Is FIFA also not diverse enough?

Judge for yourself. White man can't jump too good ? Or NBA is bad at white diversity ?

Here's the thing, Spike and Jada: NBA MVPs are won by the Most Valuable Player of the season, regardless of he's white, black, chinese, or even if his team won the NBA Championships or didn't win it. Same goes for the Ballon d'Or.

Maybe the same thing happened with the Academy this year? Maybe, unfortunately, the Academy couldn't fit any leading black actors with better performances than Bryan Cranston, Matt Damon, Leonardo Di Caprio, Michael Fassbender and Eddie Redmayne. Jada thinks the Academy has no diversity ? Well here's a thought: why don't you get your agent to get you a good script with a great role, good enough to be better than Cate Blanchett's, Brie Larson's, Jennifer Lawrence's, Charlotte Rampling's or Saoirse Ronan's ? Spike thinks the Academy has no diversity ? Well here's a thought: go get yourself a script (or even better, you develop one), so you can be nominated as best director, as you once were, instead of rambling on on how the Academy is not diverse.

Again, I will repeat this. I'm not taking sides with the Academy, but I can't get over the fact that, man, Meryl Streep, like it or not, has 84 Oscar nominations because, well, she's perhaps the greatest actress of all time. She's so damn good, that even in a movie as banal as Devil Wears Prada, the woman got nominated ! I wonder what would make Jada happy. Maybe see Jaden Smith nominated for his awesome performance in the Karate Kid ?

The goddess of acting. She could earn an Oscar nomination by playing a McDonalds cashier. Make that a drive through McDonalds cashier. 

I'm not a huge Fox follower, but this Stacey Dash interview hits the nail on the head.

I like the part where she especially mentions Obama being President and funded by Hollywood. What more true than that ?

So sum things up, this is where it all comes to.

The Force Awakens went through the road of being PC, and it deservedly got slammed by true Star Wars Fans.

The Academy didn't go through the road of being PC, and it undeservedly, got slammed by the media !

... which means, whichever route you choose nowadays, you'll likely be slammed for your decisions and your actions, deseverdly or undeservedly.

Cheers !

H.

Understanding Venezuela's 2016

After the recent trounce of the socialist government in Venezuela in the National Assembly elections, several of my foreign friends have asked me about the repercussions and implications the astounding results have for 2016, given the severe crisis the country has been for the past years. Some call it a devastating night, some call it the first ray of light. I call it: the greatest test in the country's history.

To understand politics in Venezuela, one must understand basic politics in other democracies and add a little tweaks here and there. School teaches us that in most democracies, governments have three branches of power: executive, legislative and judicial. This approach is a bit dull and confusing, so the simplest way to do it is by using the famous three brothers analogy, which I will use in this article. 

Imagine you have a family with three brothers. We'll label them as oldest, middle and youngest brother. The reason there are three is that they can cancel out one another, kind of like rock-paper-scissors. 

The three branches of government: Youngest brother, Oldest brother and middle brother

The middle child is the judicial power. Normally he gets overlooked by his oldest and youngest brother. The judicial power is comprised by a supreme court and inferior courts. Its job is to verify everyone is "following the rules", including the older (legislative) and younger brother (executive).

The oldest child is the legislative power. He is the most experienced and wise of the brothers and he's the one who sets the rules (laws). At times he is overshadowed by the youngest brother, because he takes a lot of time to set the rules, especially if the amount of seats in the assembly (or congress) is insufficient to "get things done". The most efficient set up for the oldest child is to have 2/3 of the seats represented by a party.

The youngest child is the executive power, and just like the being the youngest, he is the spoiled one, or for that matter, the one that gets most attention by everyone. Originally, the constitution made him the "little" brother in order to diminish his power in comparison with the middle (judicial) and older (legislative), but more importantly, to stay away from the monarchy government. However, the executive power, namely the president, has grown in power due to all the attention and popularity he gets. After all, he is seen as the face of the country. IE: Putin in Russia, Obama in the US, and so on.

The idea is that the three brothers are independent from each other and should work in favor of the country and not for themselves. However just like sometimes brothers don't cooperate between them to help the family, something similar happens with government branches.

Having that said, to understand the situation in Venezuela we have to build a bit of context.

Marco Perez Jimenez is regareded by some as the best president Venezuela has had, in terms of national improvement, country infrastructure evolution and first world mindset.

After deposing of dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez in 1958, Venezuela entered the so called 4th republic, which was an almost 40 year period in which the two most important parties split all powers. We'll call them the white party and the green party. Other minor parties were skimming around, like the orange, yellow and the socialist parties, but their participation was null. During this period, the economy of the country was somewhat erratic, good for a few years, then bad another few, then good again, then bad again. Most historians agree that while Perez Jimenez was a dictator, he was on track to establish Venezuela as a first world country, had he kept in office. Since busted, the country in essence began a gradual-slow but steady walk on losing track of Perez Jimenez path, and as years went by, it appeared that Venezuela was headed closer to become a third world country, than the world super power Perez Jimenez had envisioned. This was backed up by countless cases of corruption, unsolved legal cases and the unexisting appearance of a "new light" to guide the car back to the track where it was, heading for glory instead of misery. The people of Venezuela became increasingly frustrated with both the white and green parties, and that's when Chavez came into power, winning an election by captivating the population and by promising to slay any remainings of the white and green parties, who had been deceiving the country for 40 years. Dissappointed as they were, venezuelans voted in three elections to give Chavez's socialist party complete power of all branches of the government. To further extent, Chavez created two more branches, which he called the electoral branch, and the moral branch, both of them filled with socialist party members. 

Chavez got to power by bringing hope to the people, or at least by telling them there was hope.

For over fifteen years, the white and green parties were diminised to the point of their almost complete erradication, as the government held a stronger grip in the branches of power. However the last two years after Chavez passing away and Maduro becoming the president, has seen Venezuela go through the worst crisis imaginable in the country in its history. The most calling aspects of it are:

• Shortage of products, including basic products (food, health, hyginie), which has generated countless (and useless) controls to access the few available products, at ridiculous prices. 
• Hyperinflation, which the Central Bank stopped posting economic indicators a while ago.
• Currency exchange control with four different prices to obtain US Dollars, and none of them being easily accessible by the population, opening the door for a 1000% more expensive US Dollar obtainable in the black market
• Insecurity and crime rates soaring, with the Department of State and Justice also stopped posting crime indicators a while ago.

This whole mess got into a huge boiler and boiled on December 6 last year, where the population voted in 112 seats of 165 possible to a coallition formed by the all the opposition parties to the government. So how did this happen ? Well if one looks at it objectively, it's basically the same story that brought Chavez into power in the 1998 election, without the fact that back then, there were no shortages and there weren't any hyperinflation indicators. There was a currecy exchange control that had been recently modified, but it wasn't as bad as the current one; and insecurity, well... that theme has always been an issue in Caracas since say, the 80s. In essence, the same impulse that manifested by people being fed up with the past, generated a vote for "something different". Note that I wrote "something different", and I didn't write "something new". 

Lawyer Henry Ramos Allup is the new president of the National Assembly. He has been a long time white party deputy. He is well respected and well educated in Venezuela's law and politics. Some people refer to him as a "good ol' fox" due to his quick deliver. Others consider him "old-school", "more of the same" and other similar qualifications.  

Some analysts call this impulse "grounded-vote" (as in, you are grounded, so you have no other choice).

So where does this "grounded-vote" take Venezuela?

The next months will definitely be crucial and the margin of error is minimum, due to the desperate situation the population lives on a daily basis. The older brother has the complicated job of reformulating the rules, resetting the rules, or creating new rules; whichever posture results in a benefit for the country. Add to this that sadly, the most important demographic of the country (recent graduates, young executives) have only one thing in their minds: migrate. This means, that the more capable force of the population is deserting the country and leaving the less experienced and less qualified people to run the country (no offense, but it's true). And let's face: for more than 50 years, Venezuela has proved to be not so good at managing themselves, while having experienced and qualified people running the country. So what can be expected if there is less ?

After barely digesting their astounding victory, the opposition has yet to lay down a plan of the urgent measures that have to be decided within the next months to reactivate (more like, resucitate) the country. There are several censorship issues, several prisoners of the government who are asking for amnesty, and so on. I myself am completely convinced the country right now needs three things:

1) Dismantle the currency exchange control system.

It has been proven three times in Venezuela's history (and additional times in other countries), that currency exchange controls simply DO NOT work. It doesn't matter if it's a band system (hello, Great British Pound 1992?), a fixed system (hello, Zimbabwe?), you name it. To surpress and asfixiate the current flow of supply and demand for foreign currency, does nothing good to the economy of the country.

The currency exchange system must be dismantled. The sooner the better.

2) Reactivate local production and distribution of goods.

When you have a country that produces trillions in electronic technology and shipyars, or with an economy so diverse you don't know where to build your next artificial island, then you can consider importing goods. Otherwise, you must incentive local production of goods. There is simply not enough for the population and this has to end right now. Imports are an alternative and another way to supply the country, but cannot be the cornerstone of the population, especially if there is a currency exchange system that blocks imports.

Goods must be brought to the people by whichever means necessary.

3) Develop a true anti-crime force.

Few things in life are as demoralizing as knowing that you have to leave from wherever you are, because you are afraid something might happen to you on the streets. Despite having local, municipal, state and national police forces, none of them have been proven to be effective against the absolute dominance that organized (and disorganized) crime has in the city. 

Venezuelans must have the right to feel safe in their own soil.

The desperation level of the population may lead to other potential goals, such as impeaching Maduro or even having him removed from office as soon as possible. However, I believe, there is no better marketing to remove someone from office, than to having your own results speak for themselves and speak for yourself, as to prove how qualified you are to do a better job than someone who currently isn't. Anything unnecessary, unneeded, uncalled for, as much as of anyone strongly interests is, is and will be a simple deviation of what the real task on hand is and must be. Moreover, it will be judged as a waste of time and a waste of trust the venezuelan people placed on the new assembly.

And that is why the opposition must not screw this up at all.

Maduro (a bus driver) follows an embarrasing list of successive poorly educated venezuelan presidents (academically speaking), preceded by Carlos Andres Perez (high-school graduate), Chavez (Lt Cnel) and Maduro himself, only interrupted by Rafael Caldera (lawyer).

Mental note (for everyone): always elect as president someone who at least went to graduate school.

Finally, I have to say that regardless of whatever the new older brother the family has, little can be done if the people do not help their own home. Rules and laws may be set, fixed, edited, improved, but the population must follow and obey them, not look for the way around them. It's like that inner wish everyone has to beat the red light: drive pass it just to be 5 seconds earlier, or obey it and add your small contribution to a functional society. 

It's as simple as that.

Star Wars The Force Awakens

What can one say about a movie that has been in the works for over ten years? Wait no, more... over 32 years. What is there to say to the continuation of The Return of the Jedi, and the Original Trilogy ?

Believe me there is not much good to say.

Let me start by saying that my expectations were pretty low on this, to the point of considering it a success if it was slightly better than TPM (Ep I). Now as I sit and write this, I can say it was a good thing I did, Star-wise speaking. So, here goes my full review of The Force Awakens.

Spoilers alert.

TFA is actually a very good movie, if (and that is a HUGE IF) you  take it out of the Star Wars universe context. The problem is, TFA is INSIDE the Star Wars universe context. Remove it from the context it is set in, and it is actually a very good film with, good plot, good acting, and everything else. So what is the problem with TFA then? I have two major concerns which I believe two of the greatest flaws of the movie, and I have one minor concern, which I would concede given that it is so hard to produce the perfect product everyone was expecting with this film. So let me get into each one of them one at a time:

My first major concern: Why kill off Han Solo ?

This is a complete and utter regrettable piece of #@%$ decision made by whoever came up with this idea. Why kill off not only the best character of the series, the most witty, the clever one, the scroundel, the most likeable, but also the best actor in the series ! It would have been more believable, dramatic and intense to kill off Leia. Why ? Because she's a woman, she's Kylo's mother, she's fragile, she's related to Luke, she's meant to be a Jedi, so it would have had a huge impact on the audience, plus let's face it, Carrie Fischer is not as good an actress as Harrison Ford. The few minutes Fischer was on screen as Leia, it was like "meh"... but Harrison on the other hand, as soon as he showed up on screen he stole the show on every scene he was in. The minute he stepped foot on that platform, you knew what was going to happen with him. Killing Leia instead would have been completely unexpected, out of the line, daring and surprising, maybe leaving the door  open to bring her back on Ep VIII as ghost. But Han ? Snoke already hinted that Kylo had to kill his father for some issues we are never aware of (as it's a norm in all films of the franchise to leave interesting context behind and not to talk about it), so having Leia coming as a mother to try to "bring her son home" would have been more effective as to have Kylo complete his journey towards the dark side to the point of no return, and even to redeem himself for the pathetic excuse of light saber duels that eventually followed, almost defeated by a stormtrooper and defeated by a teenage girl, which brings me to my next point:

My second major concern: Kylo Ren was a MONUMENTAL failure as a villain.

He starts off great, as anyone could picture a sith could be: heartless, capable and ruthless. He's the Anakin fans (at least I) were expecting to see in the PT. I will dare to say he starts off so great he looks more menacing and intimidating than Vader on Ep IV. But then somehow through the movie he was continually forgetting about the powers he had in the first scene where we see him stop laser bullets in mid-air, force-choke people, use mind force, manipulate telekenesis and in essence look so bad-ass. He forgets them to the point where he almost loses a duel against a STORMTROOPER/JANITOR and then right away gets easily defeated by the above-mentioned teenage girl in a way that was actually believable (two kids clumsily waving lightsabers at each-other). Speaking of these duels, I thought lightsabers were only for Jedis. Since when do Stormtroopers/Janitors and Scavengers can hold and use lightsabers, let alone be able to defeat a Sith who has been training for years on the art (apart from being strong with the dark side of the force ? During the process of forgetting about his powers, Kylo also managed to lose his cool looking mask and showcase that we were wrong thinking he is an actual villain as he turned out to be a childish young man with serious anger issues. See the difference: when Darth Vader was unsatisfied with the progress, he killed the soldiers and admirals in a cool and threatening manner. This kid however destroyed his own computer instead. What was the deal with that ? Also... what was the deal with the mask ? Vader HAD to use the mask because of health issues, but Kylo doesn't even have to use the mask AT ALL. He's sort of a "Vader wannabe". So, to sum and screw things completely up, we are introduced to a Sith knight who wears a mask but actually doesn't really need to wear it, then the Sith knight takes off his mask in the middle of the movie, which is WAY TOO SOON. So the mask is only used for intimidaring purposes ? OK, well in that case at least show us someone, who looks really bad and determined. But what the heck have I seen? I have seen a kid who looks like professor Snape in his twenties!!! This weak looking child with shovel face. That act completely removes his aura and I wasn't able to look at him the same way any more.

MONUMENTAL FAILURE.

The minor concern: Do we really need more of this teen female heroes ? 

I mean don't we have enough already ? I'm not anti-feminist or whatever, but the teen female hero thing is getting really old. I guess it's ok... as it's a matter of tastes.

The rest of the movie can be argued about back and forth, including stuff like:

• The beginning was a bit rushed, kind of battling his way into the movie rather than going for slow introductory character development.
• The main weapon is... a death star on steroids ! (which ironically is easier to destroy)
• The jokes were fine, although Finn jokes were a bit too many.
• The supreme leader looked more like Lord Voldermort (which makes sense as Kylo looks like Snape).
• Why why why keep hiding stuff ? Why keep leaving the best parts of the story unexpained and given just a bare mention ? Why not start focusing on the INTERESTING parts of the story that have to be explained, like how Kylo was seduced by the darkside,  what is his issue with Han, why Luke failed as a trainer, how did the orange thing find Luke's / Anakin's original lightsaber, etc... so many things to develop. Hollywood directors NEED lessons from Chris Nolan or at least should be forced to watch Batman Begins before embarking on a project of such magnitude as this one.
• I liked how the old characters were slowly introduced and not thrown in all of a sudden. Maybe Han/Chewie's first appearance is a bit forced, but it didn't bother me. Like I said, Harrison is such a good actor, he eventually took over his part as Solo so well, you just can't dislike him at all.
• Before writting this, I read a couple of reviews to see whether if other people shared my thoughts and I found out a lot has been said about TFA looks more like a remake of Ep IV. The more I think about it, the more I find myself agreeing with the statement.
• ...and last but not least the Stormtroopers blaster aiming hasn't improved in 30 years.

Finally where does it stand vs OT and vs PT

Needless to say that after all this slaughtering, it has no chance against any of OT films. Now against PT:

Time is making TPM be left in oblivion, as it has too much political non-sense and jar-jar binks in it. Plus, add in an annoying Jake Lloyd, and you have the perfect recipe for cinema disaster. TFA is better than TPM by a longshot.

AOTC...has too many Titanic-alike love scenes, and then of course there is Hayden's wooden worst performance of all time. He IS NOT the young Anakin Star Wars fans pictured. And there is still the boring politics and questionable plot decisions. TFA is better than AOTC.

ROTS is a complete disaster with so much going on about everything, but somehow managed to be the best of the PT. Hayden keeps being the problem, as well as the script, and Yoda (along with the entire Jedi Order) turn out to be a major dissappointment. Is TFA better than ROTS ? Because if it is that means TFA is better than the entire PT. At this time I will say yes it is. A straight fact? Kylo Ren to me looks more like the Anakin I would have expected to see in the PT.

TFA is better than the PT because it has a better molding and a better setup. Plus you can't go wrong with Harrison Ford, sorry about being so repetitive about it, but he makes the movie feel right. The first act the movie is really good. Kylo is in full swing and like I said before, he's as menacing as you can get from a Sith. The moment he takes off his mask is when things start going very wrong in the film. The death star on steroids is like meh... it's not an original idea, but I can live with it. But the step of humanizing a Sith as they did with Kylo is unforgivable; at least as early as in this movie. It would have been better if they had Kylo keep his mask and take it off somewhere durnig Episode VIII, but having it done now, it kind of takes something away from his aura. It seems like they're trying to make up for the terrible Anakin we had on the PT. Add to that the fact that he was nearly beaten by a stormtrooper/janitor, he was soundly defeated by the Katniss Everdeen of planet Jakku, and the result bad taste that TFA leaves in your mouth is as sour as the grapes of wrath. To add more, supreme leader Snoke at the end says "bring Kylo Ren, I must complete his training". No @#$% ! He almost got his ass kicked by a stormtrooper/janitor who has had years of training in cleaning toilets (you can buy them on Wal-Mart) and he got his ass handed to him by a girl who just hit puberty a month ago, and had her first contact with the force about eight hours ago. You are damn right Kylo needs more training! Plus he needs a psychologist to fix his anger issues.

The only remarkable thing this film achieved was shatter all the box-office opening weekend records, which makes for a successful ROI on everyone involved in putting money on playing with the high expectations true fans had on getting a great Star Wars movie we have been waiting for 32 years, and are still waiting for.

TFA is a glorious victory for Hollywood and a sad defeat for all true film makers and fans.

There you have it. Star Wars TFA in a nutshell.

6 out of 10.

Mayweather vs Pacquiao review

I could go on lengths of words and paragraphs on a long detailed analysis of the most anticipated fight in the last years, the hype preciding it and the post-effect of Mayweather vs Pacquiao, which ended with a decisive Mayweather 12 round unanimous decision victory.

However I will go as far as saying that there was a time when boxers got into a ring and actually performed a boxing fight against each other, making boxing entertaining and making fights worth the hype, like the one you'll find below, which is the most exciting fight I've ever seen:

Sit back, relax and enjoy a REAL FIGHT

Upcoming movies 2015

Today I'm going to take a break from my business oriented approach and will talk about one of my hobbies.

You're probably wondering "why the hell are you posting a blog of the most anticipated movies of 2015 when we're already in March!?" Well, because with the Oscars gone... now we can focus on the movies we really want to go see ! : )

Coming in 2015

Don't get me wrong, I'm all about the awards season and everything, as you even saw in my previous blog on how the Oscars snubbed Requiem for a Dream -specifically Ellen Burstyn- a few years ago. This year the academy went back to the "Kirk Lazarus" format that was the subject of satire and parody by Robert Downey Jr as Kirk Lazarus in the great Hollywood satire film Tropic Thunder. Again don't get me wrong, I haven't even seen "Theory of everything", but after a few editions it starts to get really old that all the Oscars are awarded to actors playing challenged characters, in one or another level. I mean, some of the greatest acting performances have been on regular people:

1. Marlon Brando's Vito Corleone in The Godfather
2. F. Murray Abraham's Antonio Salieri in Amadeus
3. Al Pacino's Sonny in Dog Day Afternoon
4. Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream
5. Meryl Streep in that Meryl Streep movie... any Meryl Streep movie

yet the academy feels obligated to reward the "difficult" roles of playing characters with disadvantages.

5-time Academy Award Winner Kirk Lazarus
3 of his 5 Oscars were won in 1994.

Anyway, back to our main topic, I think we should brace ourselves for what should be one of the greatest years in box-office cinema. I'm talking about $$$, which not necessarily means quality. I don't expect anything close to 1994, which in my opinon is the best year I've seen in movies, both quality-wise and box-office-wise speaking:

• Pulp Fiction
• Natural Born Killers
• Shawshank redemption
• The Lion King
• Ace Ventura
• The Mask
• Dumb and Dumber (mmmm did Jim Carrey sold his soul in 1994 or what??)
• Four weddings and a funeral
• Interview with the vampire
• Ed Wood
• Farinelli
• Heavenly creatures
• Bullets over Broadway (yes, a Woody Allen movie that won awards AND even made a profit !!)
• Clerks
• Leon
• Speed
• When a man loves a woman
• Burnt by the Sun
• True lies
• Reality Bites
• Adventures of Priscilla (I know, but you have to give it to it...)
• Naked Gun 33 1/3
• Quiz show (a bit dramatized, but still good)
• Little women
• Strawberry and chocolate
• Forrest Gump (yes I know, I know.... but I had to mention it)
• Maverick
• The Crow (one of my all-time favorites)

unfortunately, it all goes to the toilet because 1994 was also the year when this piece of junk was realeased:

The worst movie that came out in 1994, and the worst movie of all time.

Wow, just writting the names of the movies made me so nostalgic, I have to say it again: I've never seen such a great year for movies since 1994.

So, going to our present time, I did a little research to see what are the films that will be hitting theaters this year, from which I made a selection I'll make a quick comment on what should we expect from them. Of course and as you can imagine, I'm going to double-pass some of the most obvious choices, like you know...

• Rocky 8
• Die Hard 9
• Rambo 6
• Fast and furious 17
• Mission impossible #25
• and of course the new 2015 Sponge Bob movie.

... for obvious reasons. You pretty much get the idea...

Let the countdown begin !

The man from U.N.C.L.E.

Hasn't been the same without Madonna...

Guy Ritche hasn't done anything decent since "Snatch". Well, I stand corrected... apart from "Sherlock Holmes", which was more driven by Robert Downey Jr than Ritchie himself. So in this case, he goes back to his roots of casting less-known actors, and hopefully should deliver another Snatch-esque piece of art.

I myself have low hopes on this one, as Ritchie reminds me of his fellow countryman Ridley Scott, who made Alien and Blade Runner, had a third star shot with Thelma and Louise, and kept us forever waiting for his next big thing. Since then, an endless line of pieces of junk have followed, Prometheus being the most recent.



Fast and Furious 17... I mean... 7

Well, I know I said I wasn't going to mention them. But, come on... How many sequels can this franchise produce ? Well, apparently the enough amount that doesn't make people realize they have been watching the same movie seven times.

On green... I'm going for it ! For the seventh time !!

Anyway, with the unfortunate Paul Walker passing away incident, it's fair enough to release it as a tribute. One thing's for sure: by now Vin Diesel should be one step away from being able to pilot an F1 car with no helmet, a stick gear and a can of beer in his right hand.



Jurassic World

This is just wrong. "Jurassic Park" was a fantastic movie. It had all the Spieldberg ingredients of success. How did we get from there to "Jurassic World" is beyond me.

It seems to me that "Naked Gun 33 1/3" hit the nail on the head predicting it 20 years ago:

The cast incorporates Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Judy Greer (if you haven't heard from her, you're fine... I had to google her to find out she was The Bluth's Company Secretary from Arrested Development). The director however, Colin Trevorrow, well... let's just say I don't have any high hopes for a movie being directed by someone named Colin Trevorrow.



Fantastic Four

Most people (most normal people, and yes, that means non-Marvel comic fan people, and yes that includes me) haven't heard that apparently the Fantastic Four franchise is being killed by Marvel and Fox. Supposedly it's some rights issue which I haven't had the time to get into or understand (and I don't intend to either), that results in neither studio being able to use the characters in their films, which means there is zero hope of seeing the human torch in any Avengers film.

Are these guys the new American Idol contestants?
Nope. They're the cast of FF4.
Although I personally think they would have fared better in American Idol. 

It sucks because I was really looking forward of seeng Franklin Richards with the X-Men or The Avengers (I know I said I'm not a Marvel fan, which I'm not, it's just that Franklin is the only mutant I know from the Marvel Universe). Anyway, rumors circulate that the whole purpose of this film is to tank the franchise and kill the characters off. The cast is unheard of, and the director's name is Josh Trank, who I heard is only known by his family members.



Terminator Genisys

As we should ALL AGREE, the Terminator franchise should have ended with T2: Judgement Day. Anything after that is one the reasons why Skynet is considering erradicating the human race (including the TV series "The Sarah Connor Chronicles"); it may in fact be the only reason !

This poster sums up
 better than words´
 my whole thougts

So: what is wrong with Arnold  Schwarzenegger ? Doesn't he have enough money ? Doesn't he have enough fame ? Doesn't he know that Terminator without him partnering with James Cameron is like an Apple pie with no Apple ? Does he have to buy a new gold WC for his service room ? To make matters worse, Game of Thrones fans will be happy (or thrilled?, or angry) Daenerys Targaeryan (or however it's spelled) will play Sarah Connor. So much for the female hero cliché.

What puzzles me even more, is that the cast will feature a T-800, a T-1000 and Kyle Reese! It's like they took all the Terminator movies and put them inside a blender! Also, the director Alan Taylor, has directed GOT episodes, Sex and the City episodes, Six feet under episodes, Mad Men episodes, and Thor 2, so talk about a blender !!!!!

I have no idea how will this end up !!!!!!!!!!





The Revenant

Alejandro Gonzalez is following his Birdman success with this film, but apparently its release date will be pushed to January, 2016




Mad Max: Fury Road

We spoke above about how unlikely it is that Arnold needs $$$ to buy a new gold WC for his service bathroom. That may not be the case for George Miller.

You're probably wondering "who the hell is George Miller?" Well, he's the director of the original Mad Max (ahhhh... yes MEL GIBSON !!), all three of them. He also made Witches of Eastwick, Lorenzo's Oil, Babe goes to the city and Happy feet. So yes, as I was saying, he's the original director of the original Mad Max thrilogy, meaning, we haven't heard from him since 1985.

Will it be as eclectic, unique and dark as the original one, with characters like Toecutter, Johnny the boy and Bubba Zanetti? I don't think so, but I don't think that means bad news. The good news is that Miller already stated that Fury Road is a reboot. Even better news is the cast that includes Tom Hardy as Max, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult and Zoe Kravitz.

I will say that, it's going to be tough to top this:

but if anyone can, that's George Miller




Straight outta Compton

I'm sorry.

I just had to mention that in 2015, there's a movie coming out called "Straight outta Compton".

Let's move on.




Ant-Man

I have to say it: I have high hopes for this movie.

Director Peyton Reed may direct corny, cheesy movies (The Break-up, Down with love, Yes man), but one thing he does is that he brings the best out of his actors/actresses, and you can't go wrong with Michael Douglas, Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly and Corey Stoll.

I have a feeling that this setup may actually work

Poltergeist

How many times can you remake / reboot / redo / resequel "Portergeist" ?




Pan

Same question as above, but for "Peter Pan"





The Hateful Eight

Its tagline is "The 8th film from Quentin Tarantino"

As usual, not much is known on QT film before its release

I like Quentin; too bad he hasn't been able to top Pulp Fiction. In an interesting approach, Quentin goes back to his roots of casting actors whose careers were on a slump or apparently dead, to pull together an interesting cast with new comers too: Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth and Samuel L. Jackson (finally, a non-Nick Fury role for Sam) combined with Channing Tatum.

I think this film should be good.




Some random Adam Sandler movie

(Insert your yearly Adam Sandler movie here)





Some random Will Ferrell movie

(Insert your yearly Will Ferrell movie here)





The Avengers: Age of Ultron

Joss Whedon and his whole crew are back to bring us a new episode of the avengers ensemble. Let's emphasize the fact that Joss has NEVER dissappointed anyone. We're talking about the mastermind behind Buffy, Firefly, Angel, Toy Story and... The Avengers itself which was a pretty ambitious project which some deemed impossible to achieve..

High hopes for this one. Perhaps the most anticipated movie along with Ep VII

This one should be a no-brainer, and I'm quite sure it will be either the #1 or #2 at the box-office for 2015, depending on how Episode VII performs.

Regression

I have high hopes for this one. Alejandro Amenabar made "Thesis", "Mar adentro", "The others" and "Open your eyes."

Entourage

After a long almost ten-year wait, the Entourage fans are finally getting a movie of Vince Chase and his crazy friends. Recommendation: watch the TV series first -at least the first two seasons- before watching the movie.

I don't know what it is, but I've always liked the Entourage's intro. I could play it for hours

Vacation

I almost jumped through my window when I found out that Clark W. Griswold's son, Rusty Griswold, is now "gearing up to take his family on a vacation".

Didn't Rusty learn his lesson?

This is TERRIBLE. How can they reboot Vacation !?!?!?!?

This isn't something you do.

These are the kind of decisions that justified the catholic church for creating The Inquisition in the middle age.




Creed AKA Rocky 8 (or is it 7 ? or 9 ?... I lost count...)

Yes, I know I said I wasn't going to mention it, but man... I can't get over the fact that Rocky is going to train Apollo Creed's grandson to become a champion.

Eye of the Tiger, Rock!
Remember to tell that to my grandson !

Why not mentor him to study and help him go to Harvard instead !?!?!?




Joy

I just wanted to bring to your attention that Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro are making another film together, which comes out in 2015.




Tomorrowland

Unfortunately, this is not a movie about the famous Belgian concert, but instead, your yearly George Clooney movie.




Little Red Riding Hood

Didn't we just have a Little Red Riding Hood film last year ?

As a matter of fact, we did !

Steve Jobs

Same question as Red Riding Hood.

What is this ? A "how many Steve Jobs + Red Riding Hood movies can we make in less than a decade" contest ?

Great book.
Great read for every manager and businessman.

The good thing is that the cast is superb (Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet), it's directed by Danny Boyle and it's based on Walter Isaacson's book.

This movie will likely be a nice bio-epic, with heavly dramatized events.




Snowden

Another typical Oliver Stone political film.

Good film.
Too bad 90 % of it is made up.

I don't know how people continue to produce films for this guy, when half of his political films are lies and the other half are a bunch of made up stories.

Pass !!




Macbeth

I don't know what to make out of this, but it stars Michael Fassbender (mmmmmmm, too many biopics / remakes) and Marion Cotillard.

Normally, Shakespeare plays made into film don't always transicion well.




Kickboxer: Vengeance

I just wanted to point out that there's a movie coming out in 2015 called Kickboxer: Vengeance, and yes, it stars "Muscles from Brussels" Jean-Claude "Wham Damn!" Van Damme

This, but like... well, who know what make-up can do for him

Experimenter

This looks like a very interesting movie about the experiments conducted on humans' willingness to obey authority. It stars Taryn Manning and Peter Sarsgaard and Noni !

Ahhhh Noni... the woman I've been in love with since I was 8.

The Lobster

I don't know much about this film, but it got my attention because it's probably the craziest plot I have EVER SEEN:

"A love story set in a dystopian near future where single people are arrested and transferred to a creepy hotel. There they are obliged to find a matching mate in 45 days. If they fail, they are transformed into an animal and released into the woods"

I mean... What !?

It does star Lea Seydoux...





Random John Travolta movie-where-John Travolta-overpowers everyone on-and-off-screen-even-the-movie-theater-ticket-sales-person

(insert your yearly John Travolta-film-for-which-he-charged-$20 million-for-a-movie-no-one-will-go-see-and-is-as-bad-as-its-93-John Travolta-predecessor-films-after-Pulp Fiction)




900.

That is, the third part of 300.

... just kidding...




Scouts vs Zombies

I kid you not when I tell you this:

This the closest and most anticipated match-up I've seen since Ali vs Frazier III

Four years ago, I had this friend, and one day we got together and she and I did this same exercise of listing the upcoming movies for that year. We fell off our chairs when we read there was a movie coming out called "Cowboys vs Aliens", and we said:

well, I guess it's just a matter of time until a movie comes out called "Men vs Zombies", or "Good guys vs Bad guys", or "Cowboys vs Dinosaurs".

How close we got with Scouts vs Zombies !




Cowboys vs Dinousaurs

I can't believe it ! We actually nailed it !

This the closest and most anticipated match-up I've seen since Scouts vs Zombies !!!

We actually predicted a movie coming out called Cowboys vs Dinosaurs, and here we go !!!




2:22

Your typical yearly digit titled non-sense movie.




Some 2015 Woody Allen movie

(insert your typical yearly Woody Allen film)




The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

Something I would want someone to answer me someday, is what is the deal with trllogies in Hollywood?

Why can't they call it Hunger Games Part 4 ? What is the deal of calling it a trilogy, and having the third film split in two halves?

Getting ready to take on Capitol City

Anyway, it's time for Katniss to put an end to Capitol City and also to redeem herself from that unfortunate internet incident.




Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

Finally, last but not least, the film you have been waiting for to be mentioned.

As you can imagine, I'm going to take my time to talk about this one.

Let's start at the beginning:

A fan made poster

Well... you know what? I'll post my thoughts on this one in my next entry ; )

Stay tuned !!!