MARVEL and SPIDER-MAN: TM & © 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Motion Picture © 2007 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved. © 2007 Sony Pictures Digital Inc. All rights reserved.
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Wednesday, April 13, 2005
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I was on my way back from lunch with a couple co-workers and we were coming up on a gas station. Immediately, one of them got excited and exclaimed, "Gas is $2.19 here!" Our gas situation for the past 6 years has been very upsetting for me. The most obvious reason would of course be the amount of money that we keep having to fork out for gasoline. The secondary reason is because I know something CAN and SHOULD be done about it by our government. Gee, I wonder why nothing has been done...
(Make your own assessment here)
The thing that really urks me about it is things like I mentioned above. Our gas prices continue to go up and up, and up. After rising about 50 cents, they will get lowered 10 cents or so, and in no time you have people getting happy about the gas prices STILL BEING HIGH!
This little game being played (and not played) by the politicians is getting unbearable. Why is it that we have homeless and dying children in the streets, but we have congressional hearings on baseball and single lifeless person? We have uncountable problems here in our very own country, but only the most trivial ones seemed to get solved. And most of the time what is presented to us as a solution oftentimes ends up being another way to delay the problem further.
Someone please do something about the gas prices! There are many different solutions that would work just fine. We just need someone to take their eyes off of their next election and actually listen to their constituents for once. Yeah, imagine that! An elected official actually basing actions and decisions on behalf of their constituents. Wouldn't that be something new?!
posted by The Mighty Will @
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Tuesday, April 12, 2005
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I just read a quote in MaximumPC from a game developer. If it is true, then my nightmares of customer service extinction are true as well.
"Through our own research we know that most gamers want in-game advertisements to heighten the sense of realism."
- Funcom
Their own research??? Yeah, this is the same research conducted by their sales department amongst their executives, right?
I am not a "gamer" in the truest sense of the word, but do I even need to comment further? (I will!) In an age where advertisements have covered cars, web pages, billboards, television screens (during and between programs), periodicals, clothing, movies, e-mails, and nearly every open space known to man, wouldn't it be more amicable to actual escape that portion of reality for a little while? It sounds like this statement was made by deep pockets reaching deeper.
posted by The Mighty Will @
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What happened to PARENTING?!
Monday, April 11, 2005
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I have read several articles recently about a bill going through and getting passed in the house "preventing teens from buying violent or sexually explicit games". If you just leave it at that, then it sounds wonderful, right? How about NO! What is really happening is the so-called "hands-off" republican and conservative base looking for more brownie points during their politcal career. There used to be a time when these types of things were left to the discretion and responsibility of parents.
What are parents you ask? One of the definitions at Answers.com says that a parent is a protector or a gaurdian. However, there are several other definitions, and perhaps this is where the problem with the local and federal governments lies. The rest of the definitions leave it as vague as stating that a parent is one who births another. Hell, any man who walks into a sperm bank is a parent then, right? Maybe I am the conservative in this arena, because I always thought a parent was the person responsible for a child - a guardian.
It seems that although our elected politicians will not come out and say it, we are obviously not responsible enough to raise our own kids. This is the message that these legislators are sending to the American public. Our conservative portions of the nation are so blind in their own agendas of just fighting against the so-called liberal movement that they will do anything to win a "battle" against them. In the meantime we suffer through such tragedies as the Patriot Act, and this newest bill because people are too lazy to open their mouths when it REALLY counts.
You are quick to announce when you get a raise or have a vacation, but when your rights are being strategically narrowed at every local and federal government session, you just sit there and twiddle your thumbs, why? It is not like you do not have access to the information. You must stand up and voice your concerns. Even if you are not a parent yet, you need to say something now because you may be one day.
The ESRB is releasing a new rating which will reside between the Everyone and Teen rating, Teen 10+. It is designed to designate that the game is not for any children younger than 10 years old. This is to eliminate games that have content like super heroes fighting and race cars crashing. What is next? Cartoon chracters playing pranks are innappropriate? How many of you looked up to Superman and Spider-Man when they would engage in a heated battle with their nemesis and eventually win because they are on the side of good, not evil? Did you turn out so bad? (Hopefully, you are not reading from a prison library!)
Some of the most violent content on television for many years was the good old Warner Brothers cartoons. What's more violent, a boulder being thrown onto Whilee Coyote for no particular reason other than to showcase it as humor, or a super hero throwing a couple jabs and saving a city? I am by no means saying that the Warner Brothers cartoons are bad, evil, or otherwise unwise for our youth to see. What I am saying it that this really needs to be put into perspective.
It seems to me that the parents who are getting behind this really have a screw loose, or they are simply too lazy to monitor their own children. They are so lazy that they are willing to let a polictician who is so disconnected from reality that they believe that these games are encouraging violent behavior in children decide what is best for their own children.
Let me clue you in on something. The problem with violence in youngsters is not that there is a cartoon using the word "fire", or that video game had a couple fights in it. The violence in children is from them being raised by outside sources. Your average family will sit a child in front of a computer or television and tell them to be quiet, when they should actually be reading to them, going over homework, or participating in any other number of family activities. Parents are not listening to their children or giving them the attention that they not only deserve, but that they also REQUIRE in order to grow into a well-rounded and responsibile citizen in our society.
These children will one day make decisions that will forever govern our way of life, and todays parents are throwing their future into the hands of politicians blindly. Shame on everyone who does not know the facts and are backing this movement.
posted by The Mighty Will @
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The same type that will run a red light
Friday, April 08, 2005
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This is the same type of person that will run a red light 2 seconds after it turns. By the way, I know who this is. He preaches cancer awareness and wears a Lance Armstrong bracelet, but smokes whenever he gets a chance. There is a word for that, but and not sure if I can say it...
Oh well, what the heck - DUMBASS!
posted by The Mighty Will @
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Customer service is something that each and every consumer once took for granted. Now, most business owners, and supervisors wouldn't recognize it was if it hit them in their groins. It has seemingly become an endangered species.
In every industry it comes in a variety of fashions. It could be a cashier (or "associate" as companies like to say now) simply taking the time to explain selling points of a product. Sometimes, this is a simple as using a respectful tone and language while on a telephone call. There are many different ways to provide excellent customer service without much effort at all. Sometimes, customer service is to people who are not even customers, or who are potential customers later down the road. For instance, an internal Technical Support Call Center would provide service to their own employees. Each fellow employee is a customer. Professional drivers deal directly with customers during each lane change and intersection - provided that there are other drivers on the road.
It is deeply saddening that customer service values are going on the way side. I have found myself boycotting more and more companies due to it. This is not to say that excellent customer service does not exist. It definitely does. However, these days it normally takes a complaint in order to see results.
I have dealt with representatives from companies like Bed Bath & Beyond, Taco Bell, 7-11, Subway, K-Mart, and more. (Yes, there was more than just the food industry.) These are normally all companies which portray a front that tells me they are serious about customer service practices. Although, 7-11 has proven to me otherwise since. Each company provides a method for you to easily provide feedback on customer service experiences in their business - good and bad. As with all other aspects of customer service, the company must adapt to the needs of the consumer. This should not be limited to various methods of sales. This should also be applied to all areas of consumer interaction.
I am namely speaking about methods of contact. If I am the type of person who enjoys filling out a card and dropping it in the mail or a comment box, so be it. Should I be the type of person who prefers to speak to someone over the phone, it should be made available. And if I should find myself as the type of person who prefers sending in an e-mail - this should be an option to me, as a consumer.
I am also a small business owner. Every single person in the world is a potential customer and must be treated accordingly.
Not only am I a small business owner, but I also keep a full-time job for stability. These days in this country, it is imperative that you have more than one plan to stay afloat. Now, in my interactions with various people throughout the day, I have business cards which are given out, a web site address, contact forms online, P.O. Box for mail, e-mail addresses, and a phone number - all of which can be used to contact my company for ANYTHING. This is a great example of such a small piece of good customer service.
Recently, I have been noticing a downward trend at a business I frequent at least once a week for breakfast on my "running-late" mornings. This is a Burger King location near my full-time job. Usually, their service is palatable, and their food substantially good (we are speaking about fast food afterall). However, lately I have been given wrong orders, burnt food, wrong order sizes, etc. I am a patient person, so I always wait it out initially to see how things go before my first complaint. This place has not changed and you never truely know what you have until you are several blocks away and you bite into a cold sandwich, or burnt bacon.
Today I decided to complain about them and another local appliance sales and service company, ServCo. Low and behold, a large corporation like Burger King cannot provide an online form, or e-mail address to contact them about this specific problem. This is simply not acceptable. The ServCo company has less information to be found online. All I have to go on is an address and phone number. By the way, one of their vehicles was cutting off vehicle after vehicle south-bound on the Florida Turnpike this morning. Thanks to our forward movements in technology, I have a couple great pictures of this.
In this time of hurry up and hurry up some more, all method should be provided to account for the consumers needs and resources. This is just one of many deficient areas of customer service today. In my opinion, the number one deficiency is training. I do not mean the diploma type either. Some things can only be learned in the work force - by capable supervisors.
posted by The Mighty Will @
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Thursday, April 07, 2005
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I just watched Elektra on DVD last night. Although I didn't pay attention when grabbing the DVD and I grabbed the Full Screen copy - I still enjoyed it. I fully intended to see it in the theater, but it proved to not be my fate. Instead, I watched in the leisure of my home with my family and our wonderful surround sound. As Tim Allen would say, "Oh-oh-oh..."
Overall, I enjoyed the movie. I had one major disappointment with it though. Time. One of the main themes underlining the plot is time, and this is just what the director didn't pay enough attention to. The film runs 96 minutes long - and it seems like you were rushed through the movie all the way until it ended. I will give it credit though - its (kind of) prequel, Daredevil practically pushed you out the door because of how fast it moved you through the movie. Elektra could have easily used another 20-30 minutes to elaborate more on the character development.
Now, the action scenes were excellent. Jennier Garner proved to be quite capable of performing many of her own stunts - like we didn't see that coming from a proven spy-actor in Alias. She trained extremely hard to put herself in the action scenes as much as possible. Her efforts are definitely a pay-off. One scene in particular stands out is when she begins walking with her Sais. She flips them in circles in her hands. Normally, you would see something here reminiscent of a spaghetti western where there is a close-up of a hand performing the actions with the weapon, except we keep full-frame with Jennifer in this scene. Wow!
You should not discredit her from the fight scenes either. She held her own against a professional martial artist and enemy, Will Yun Lee (Kirigi) in their final fight scene.
If you want to rate this movie in with its other Marvel blockbusters, this one lies closer to the X-Men than Daredevil, but a sequel could definitely use some changes. Spider-man and X-Men have proven that the main component to a successful comic movie is character development and the plot.
posted by The Mighty Will @
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Recently we in Central Florida have made the national news spotlight again. If it were only for a good reason this time...
Over the years, we have been featured for many things, but I am having a problem remembering the last time it was something positive. Yes, we dealt with not having sufficient support and supplies following the hurricanes last year, but that is about it.
In Orlando we have a Mayor accused of having absentee ballots illegally collected during the last mayoral election. In Minneola, our mayor was accused of drunk driving and getting an illegal coutesy ride home. Lake County has a newly elected sheriff who chose to excerise his own judgement on a law prohibiting election campaign signs from being on vehicles - in his case he chose to put a banner covering the entire side of a semi trailer which was conveniently parked on the side of the most busy road in Lake County. In Seminole county we had another drunk driving incident by an elected official where he initially denied being drunk throughout the traffic stop and court proceedings.
And who can easily forget our Schaivo fiasco which has so generously provided us with news coverage for 15 years now... The most recent story uncovers our controversially elected Mel Martinez having a memo sent from his office detailing talking points on how to use the Schaivo case to gain voter support among a specific voter base.
Now, the long-time sherrif of Orange County has gone and done it again! Sheriff Kevin Beary is accused of illegally using goverment resources to track down a woman who sent a letter in to the local newspaper criticizing him and his policies using stun guns. According to local media sources and his own department, he ordered the retreival of the womans home address using the States' Department of Motor Vehicles drivers license records.
Although the sheriff's office maintains that this was a legal use of power in obtaining the womans personal information, the law clearly states that such action can only be taken in the event that it would lead to additional information through a criminal investigation. The community as a whole are scratching their heads on this one. Did we miss something? Is it a criminal offense to criticized an elected official now?
After the Patriot Act, it is now easier for law enforcement to legally gain access to the personal information of any person they choose to investigate. This looks to me like another of many under publicized events directly related to the nearly communist-styled Patriot Act. It would be more appropriately called "The U.S. Government's Indecency and Immoral Prosecution Act". This would be closer to the truth. I have an idea, let's create about 15 committees to look into this and other similar cases so they can all report the same thing.
I believe our biggest opponent to getting all of this straightened out is our national media. Whether it be global-reaching newspapers, or cable/major network news organizations, they are simply too stupid to realize one thing - the truth. Their responsibility is not to gain ratings. Their responsibility is to report NEWS. This means that we see Michael Jackson sneezing before entering the courthouse, but we didn't find out about President Bush signing a controversial bill. This is rediculous.
My blog on Sheriff Beary has turned into a rant. Basically, the american public is tired of several things:
- Elected officials getting special "perks" and not being held accountable for their decisions (have you seen the latest report on the WMD's???)
- The news organizations reporting on useless news (who cares if Joe Schmoe lost American Idol?!?!)
- Being bullied by our government - however I can say that I didn't vote for this Presidential administration either term - can you?
There are only a few ways to prevent these things from happening in the future: - Be active in your local governments - Know what they are talking about and when;, and elect persons into those positions that you have done reasearch on
- Read the news from several news sources - Google news is a great starting point
- Read between the lines when a politician speaks - they NEVER say the truth outright, only enough of it to not lie (sometimes that isn't even true)
- Write your Congressman and Representative regularly!
posted by The Mighty Will @
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