Chadica.com

So after a 43 year ban, a Beatle has finally played in Israel. And man was it a packed show. The concert took place in a park in Tel Aviv. It was us and our 50,000 closest friends all singing along to Hey Jude.

Overall, the show was pretty good. Israeli’s have a strange sense of space. You figure park, put down a blanket have a picnic. Nope. They’ll walk all over your blanket, sometimes even walking right through the middle of your game of cards. Other times, they’ll use you for balance without asking. Fun stuff.

But the concert was good. Well worth the trip. Here are some videos that I took with my digital camera. so the quality is pretty amateur.

Live and Let Die: Part 1

Live and Let Die: Part 2

Let It Be

Hey, Jude Part 1

Hey, Jude Part 2

Cue heavy  metal music…..

So a couple of guys from work, Jess, and I went yesterday to see one of the ‘midnight’ screenings that start at 8:00pm. First a quick rant….if the official screenings start at 8pm, doesn’t that mean that the movie opens on May 1st, instead of May 2nd? Maybe that confusion is why the theater was empty. When I say empty, i think there were 15 people including us. Man, I hope it does better this weekend.

I’ve seen most of the Marvel Comic book movies since Spider-Man. I think I missed Punisher and Elektra. I’ve seen most of the DC Comic book movies too. I’d say that the best of all time were the original Superman, Superman II: The Donner Cut version (had the potential to be great….), Batman, Batman Begins, Spider-Man, Blade, X-Men, and X-Men 2. I’m very glad to add Iron Man to this list of movies.

This is the best comic book movie that I’ve seen in a while, and more importantly, it’s a good movie period.  So far it’s the best reviewed movie of 2008.

A lot of people laughed when they heard that Robert Downey Jr. was going to play Tony Stark. Well, let me tell you, he owns the character.

So go see the movie, and then email me and we can chat about what you thought. Or more importantly leave a comment. If you haven’t seen it yet, make sure you stay through the end of the credits.

So most people know that I’m a sucker for a good comicbook movie. Tonight, I’m off to see Iron Man at one of the opening screens. I’ll let you know if it’s any good. Until then….you can tide yourself over with a taste of the ‘Incredible Hulk’ starring Ed Norton.

The newest trailer can be found here.

Cloverfield is a hard to movie to write a review about. The story is exactly what you expect from the trailers, in fact the entire story is summarized in the trailers. So if you don’t like the story that is presented in the trailer, and you don’t like handcam movies, this is not the movie for you.

I’m not a big fan of the horror/suspense genre, but I really enjoyed this movie. It passed the basic test of did I enjoy myself and I never once looked at my watch at all.  I was just enthralled with the characters and the story and what happened next. The handcam was harder, but it was definitely easier on the eyes then ‘The Blair Witch Project’.

I f you want a post 9/11 film, this movie combines the horror and emotions that a normal person would go through in the event of a disaster without glamourizing the heroes. When a crisis happens, your first thought is of the ones that you loved. This is that movie.

Definitely recommend it. See it and let me know what you think

Does a trade paper back of one of the best internet comics, Order of the Stick, 3 Nintendo Wii games, and a full-size replica of Aragorn’s sword, Anduril, from the Lord of the Rings make me a geek? Don’t answer that….I do know the answer.

So some reviews of the Wii’s games.

Super Mario Galaxy

Awesome game. It’s been a long time since I’ve been completely addicted to a game. So long in fact, that there was a long spell where I’d play a game, and then just get bored with it. If you ever played Super Mario 64, the play style is very similar. The main difference is that you’re flying through space and the gravity may switch on you. In fact, you may start running on a platform and end up running over the edge and onto the underside. There you are, just hanging out upside down. Amazingly enough, your hat always stays on. Weird.

I really like the fact that I’m not bored while playing the game. Each board is exciting and different. The graphics are amazing, the colors vibrant, and the controls spot on. I love the Wii controller for this game. It’s just…easy. Not much more I can say about it.

On average, the game is pretty easy. I have about a quarter of the stars so far….but you don’t need all 120 stars to win. It’ll probably get much harder to get all 120.

Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure

Completely underrated (and under sold) game. It’s your basic solve puzzle to get to the next board. Puzzles are you basic, point and click style puzzle. It’s fun and enjoyable. Not quiet at the addictive level, but I’ll continue playing. Unfortunately, I’ll probably not pick this one up till I’m down with Mario.

Metriod Prime 3

So the last 2 games are a bit cutesy. This one is not. It’s a first person shooter (FPS) with amazing graphics and the easiest controls I’ve ever used for a FPS. I never really played the other 2 games, so I don’t have much to compare it to. Again, I’ll play more once Mario is out of the way.

BTW: If you haven’t seen it yet, there is a new Indiana Jones movie poster. It’s pretty sweet.

There may be spoilers in these reviews, but I will try my best not to spoil any storylines, endings, plot twists, etc.

Heroes: Episode 10

Well, it’s the penultimate episode of the abbreviated season 2. Due to the writer’s strike, this season will only last 11 episode. Since this is my first review of the episode, I’ll summarize my feelings of season 2. Started off slow, but is definitely in full gear now. I really like the introduction of Elle and her inclusion in HRG and Claires storyline. I really dislike Maya, Maya’s brother, and Silar’s story arc. That is the same for Monica and Micah’s storyline. The main storyline is also very intriguing with a virus that has the potential to destroy 93% of the human population. Talk about high stakes!

So how did this episode stack up? Well, for I’d say that the main purpose of this episode is moving the chess pieces around and preparing for checkmate. I won’t say that nothing major happened, because a lot of the storylines have progressed. Heck, I’m finally interested to see what happens in Monica and Micah’s storyline. What this episode left me with is excitement for next week’s finale. That is why it was a good episode. Moved the story along, kept me interested, but got me really excited for the next installment.

So many television shows leave me feeling like I just wasted the last 30 - 60 minutes of my life. Heroes is not like that. In fact, it’s the only regular show that we watch each week.

Beowulf: Imax 3-D

After seeing the movie, I joked that I’m going to end all stories about myself by shouting ‘I am CHAD!!!’.  Movies have to pass 2 questions to be good in my book. The first is, did I look at my watch wondering when it was going to be over. The second is did I enjoy myself. Beowulf passed both those questions with flying colors. Was it a faithful adaption? I don’t know. Did the 3d and the computer graphics have flaws? Yes, but they didn’t bother me.

This was the first movie I’ve seen in a long time in 3d. I truly believe that this is the future of the industry. The 3d glasses use to give people headaches, and I’m happy to report that that is no longer the case. The 3 main negatives that I saw were during really quick action scenes, specific filming choices, and when you turned your head to the sides. Due to the way the glasses are made, if you tilt your head in either direction, you lose the 3d effect and start to see double.  It seems that everytime I do see a 3D movie, they like to throw things at the audience. That was cool when 3D first came out, and during experiments like Muppetvision 4d in Walt Disney World, but I felt like they purposely pushed objects like spears, swords, arrows, etc straight at the camera, and it got old for me.

At first, the computer generated characters distracted me from the film. They weren’t really. Their faces didn’t emote the same as if they were real actors. After the first 5-10 minutes, I stopped caring. I was engrossed in the characters and the storyline. I was enthralled with the beauty of the characters, the detail of the faces, the sheer scope of the landscape. CG has come a long way since the days of Tron and Last Starfighter. Even with motion captured actors, the characters till don’t emote and move like regular humans.

If you like action films and like fantasy, then I’d recommend you see this in either IMAX 3d or Digital 3d. The film was definitely shot with the idea that you would be watching that way.

Battlestar Galactica: Razor

I think it’s been about 8 months since the last new episode of the show aired. It will be another 3-4 months before the next season premieres. If you like the show, you’ll feel right at home, if you don’t like the show, then you should go out and purchase the first season and get addicted.

It does not feel like an ‘event’ movie. It feels like a 2 hour episode that explores some of the history of the Battlestar Galactica universe. We learn more about both Adama’s, the Pegasus, Admiral Cain, and most importantly we learn more about the Cylons. What more could a geek ask for?