Last Night’s Agnew’s Cabin Live
by Mike Agnew Jr.All in all I think it was a good show and a good start. Sadly we learned that visuals that were on the screen for the live broadcast were not recorded. I think this is just the way UStream is so make sure to tune in to see the graphics and videos during the live show next time. See you next Thursday.
“Agnew’s Cabin” Premiere Tonight
by Amanda
Welcome to a new show. Tonight we are going to try and bring the fun and humor of Agnew's Mind to a live broadcast. Each week we plan on covering different topics and opening them up for discussion.
WHEN?
Tonight's premiere will be at 7PM until 8PM EST. It will be online both before and after the show so everyone can be connected.
In the following weeks the show will be on Thursdays at 7:30PM EST.
HOW?
You will first need a computer and an internet connection to watch the show. You will need to create two accounts to participate with the show.
1. Ustream - Go to Ustream.tv. Register an account. It's Free. If you search Agnew's Cabin you should be able to find it. Otherwise you can just click this link.
2. Skype - Go to Skype.com and download the software. Create an account. Again it is free. You can then add AgnewsCabin to your contact list. Slype is used to call into the show.
Please Check back for updates as I will be trying to work out a few more bugs throughout the day. I will mark updates below.
*UPDATE* 2PM - Got Skype working. So now you will be able to call AgnewsCabin on Skype to participate in the show.
It was SUPER.
by Jon Hassinger
This was Thursday night, when all of the crazies from Indy and N.O. invaded South Florida. It was really awesome, to stand up close to this sign..which was on the beach.
Little windy, though.
26.2
by Jon HassingerSo for some reason, about 5 months ago, I decided to train for and actually run, a Marathon. At many points throughout the training, I wanted to stop, and just get back to a normal work-out routine. But since I paid $90 to do it, and ultimately it was for a good cause, I went through with it.
So to give a glimpse of what YOU can expect, if you decide to take the "trip", I offer you this:
I saw Renee for the first time, during this picture...
Which caused me to finish strong..
Extending your legs, at this point in the race is a frightening thing to even think about, let alone do. Luckily I had the Rocky soundtrack on my iPod, hitting "Gonna fly now!!" at that moment.
And just like that (understatement of my life), I am a Marathon runner.
The medal, the sweat, the tears, and the leg pain don't mean anything.
THIS makes it official:
I'm going to lose that nail.
DC University: The Green Lanterns
by Mike Agnew Jr."In Brightest Day, in Blackest night,
No Evil shall Escape my sight.
Let those who worship evil's might,
Beware my power GREEN LANTERN's LIGHT!"
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Welcome to the first installment of DC University. As a spin-off from my previous posts about comics, it has been recommended that I give a crash course in all things Detective Comics(DC). Now I, by no means, know everything about this universe but I have read a bunch and there is a certain feel you get for each character. It makes it very hard to decide who is your favorite. So for now, I will try to put out a weekly post about different parts of the DC Universe.
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Chapter 1: The Green Lanterns
A portion of the Green Lantern Corps. See the big one in the back. That's not a back drop. That's a living planet that is also part of the Corps.
A Brief History
Now, I know I could start with the 3 heavy hitters: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman. However, I want to build up the parts of the DC universe that actually make it feel like... well... a universe. One constant in that universe is the Green Lantern Corps. No matter if you go into the past or the future or to different dimensions, chances are you will eventually run into a Green Lantern. Yes, there are more than one. They are like the cops of the universe. They have districts. They have codes of conduct. And they have weapons to enforce the law.
The Green Lantern Corps was formed by a group called the Guardians. They were a bunch of little old smurf-like midgets with big heads who live on the planet OA, pronounced OH-AH. OA is said to be the center of the universe. A long time ago, the Guardians banished all the women from OA in an attempt to remove any distractions. They were also immortal beings so there was no need to reproduce and no real need for women. Anyone who has ever gone to an all-guys or all-girls schools knows that this does, in fact, work. You no longer worry about appearance or hygiene. You can completely focus on your work. There is, however, a side effect, extreme frustration. So, these little blue guys live on OA and bicker all the time. They usually take their aggression out on the Green Lanterns like a Police Sergeant would in a Lethal Weapon movie.
The guardians at some point discovered the most powerful source of energy in the universe, a glowing green crystal. They harnessed this power and constructed a "battery" to control it. The green lantern symbol is actually a representation of this battery. With the power now weaponized, they decided to use rings to disperse the energy. So, each person in the Green Lantern Corps gets a ring. Think of the ring as a rechargeable battery. It can store a certain amount of "Green Light" but as it is used the reserves are depleted and the ring must be recharged. Therefore along with the ring each Green Lantern gets a... green lantern. These lanterns tap back into the energy of the original battery back on OA. To get the ring to recharge, they hold the ring up to the lantern and recite the oath at the beginning of this post. That might sound corny but there are several occasions where you hear it and it gets you pumped up. Like hearing Hulk Hogan's or Stone Cold music smash out of nowhere. Or sometimes a Lantern won't have time to get through it and then would get hit by an enemy leaving them helpless and powerless.
On a side note, the Green Lanterns were not the first attempt by the guardians to police the galaxy. At first they created Manhunters which were robot-android-machine things that would hunt down criminals, much like bounty hunters. These Manhunters had one major flaw; they had no reasoning and often broke the laws the guardians were trying to uphold. You will see them from time to time in the Green Lantern stories. They are quite bitter about the whole thing.
The Ring
The Green Lantern ring runs on willpower. It will create whatever the Lantern who wears it "wills" into existence. If they think of a giant boxing glove... a giant boxing glove will appear out of the ring. I have seen a wide variety of creations ranging from a shovel to an Iron Lung to a fully functional spaceship. The ring also offers protection to the Green Lantern. This covers the need for air, blocking bullets, dealing with the cold of space, and so on. Think of anything. Really think about it. You want a walkman? Concentrate on the parts, concentrate on what it does and the ring will take care of the rest. The ring can work like a communication device too, sometimes referred to as "green tooth". The ring also takes a lot of the detective work out of situations. It can analyze the surrounding area and report back. It can even determine the threat level and give a percentage on a plan's chance of success. It is also important to understand that the ring picks the user. When a Green Lantern dies the ring immediately starts a sequence to find the next available user. In most cases the new user is completely unaware and shocked that this ring is speaking to him or her or it for that matter.
With such a powerful weapon there must be a weakness and there is... the color yellow. Before your eyes roll completely into the back of your head, there are three things you must understand: First, it has been explained why the ring is vulnerable to the color yellow. A while back the guardians had a real bad yellow guy named Parralax that they trapped in the main battery. They used the battery like a jail, however, there was a side effect, vulnerability to anything yellow. Second, this is no longer a problem in the current comics. They figured it out and fixed it. However, many people died and I think the sun was destroyed at some point. All in all, it's supposed to be a great story. I have only read about it and know of it through references to the events in the current comics. Finally, there are more colors out there than the color green in what is called the Emotional Spectrum.
The Emotional Spectrum
In a recent push by DC, the other 6 colors of the emotional spectrum have become present and established their own corps. The concept of the Emotional Spectrum has been around since the '60s; however, it was normally just the yellow and green back and forth. There were remnants of the other colors present in the universe such as Star Sapphire who wore the Violet Crystal on her headpiece. The first Star Sapphire was actually one of the Green Lantern's Ex-Girlfriends. Violet is the color of Love in the Spectrum so the Crystal actually went to her in order to be "loved" by the powerful Green Lantern. Remember earlier when I said the Guardians sent their women away to another planet? They are known as the Zamarons. These scorned women decided to fight back against their old hubbies by making a lantern battery of their own from that Violet Crystal. They distributed rings and made Star Sapphire their leader. Their power ends up being the emotion they miss the most... love. This is how the rest of the emotional spectrum breaks down:
ROYGBIV Style
Red = Rage |Orange = Avarice |Yellow = Fear | Green = Will | Blue = Hope
Indigo = Compassion | Violet = Love
There was once a chick in the DC Universe named Rainbow girl. Her powers came from the emotional spectrum. She was said to have constant mood swings. Haha. Broads.
Now you might be thinking to yourself, "Well, that's not so bad. They are mostly good. Will. Hope. Love. Compassion." But the concept behind them is that each is like a religion... the only religion for that group... an extreme religion. So, it's like having too much of a good thing. The Zamarons, for instance, believe that life without love is blasphemy and brainwash prisoners into believing love is the answer to all conflict, the only answer. In some cases this is pretty horrible torture. Anyway, these 7 groups start to form. They each have their own oath and their own rings. Some of the rings find a familiar face.
All these stories come crashing together into a story that is actually finishing up in the next few months. The graphic novel containing all the inidividual comics should be out in mid-July. I suggest you start picking up some of these titles in preparation for that release.
Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War
Green Lantern (Book 1): No Fear
Green Lantern Vol. 2: Revenge of the Green Lanterns
Green Lantern: Wanted Hal Jordan
Out of no where.......black rings start falling from the sky....they go to the dead....Blackest Night is upon us.
The Trifecta Chain Pizza Challenge
by Mike Agnew Jr.Finally the time has come to judge 3 of the most popular chain pizzas. It took a lot to bring them all together. Pizza Hut Pan Pizza, Domino's "New" Pizza, and Papa John's have been judged side by side....slice by slice.....
In the end the verdict was 3(4 if you count Bugsy) for Papa Johns and 1 for Pizza Hut. No votes or debate was even made for the Domino's.
Bad Movies……..even in HD
by Mike Agnew Jr.I recently stumbled upon a reservoir of HD movies someone uploaded. Since most of the movies were in 1080P, I could not resist downloading and watching them. I was instantly made aware that a pretty picture will not always cover up a horrible story.
Taking of Pelham 123
This movie was doomed from the start. John Travolta as a bad guy... it's Swordfish all over again. In fact, this movie should have been called Swordfish 2: Underground Train. Travolta is back in all his go-tee glory with a bland seen-it-before storyline. If there is any saving grace, its Denzel Washington. He's back with his explain-it-to-me-like-I'm-a-5-year-old attitude. He plays a transportation coordinator in charge of New York's Subways. He comes to work one morning and, low and behold, one of his subway cars is, well, taken. The hijacking occurs in the first five minutes but you will probably miss it because you will be in the bathroom throwing up due to the sporadic editing of the opening title shots. Random zooms and speedy panning shots of New York get thrown at you like postcards taped to baseballs. Once you have recovered, all that's left is the same old, same old: hostage situation, money is demanded, but (just like swordfish) there is a stupid twist that has something to do with the stock market. This movie begs to be be intelligent but, between Travolta dropping f-bombs to get street cred and crowbarring Tony Soprano as the Mayor of NY, you instantly stop caring. This movie also makes NYC cops look like idiots. On the way to deliver Travolta's ransom money, more cops and citizens die than are on the train in the first place. One cop rides his motorcycle into a parked car. All in all, nothing happens in this movie. If you still want to watch this movie make sure to watch Swordfish first. I would give this movie a C- but since it has Denzel, I'm going to bump it up a little bit. Rating: C+.
Orphan
Oh, Dear God. Well, you should already know what you are getting in this movie. Creepy little girl gets adopted by a normal family and then things start going wrong and it turns out she is a demon or something. You are partially right except for two things: 1. The family is not normal. They live in Conneticut where everyone is apparently depressed all the time. By the end you want them to all die anyway. 2. The girl is not a demon but something equally as stupid. In the end, this is one of those movies that amps up the flute-a-phones so that every time someone turns a corner, answers their cell phone, or opens the medicine cabinet, you will think something is about to jump out at you. The funny thing is, it only happens about 1 out of every 5 times. So, at some point you will jump because they have cried wolf so often. Is it scary... yes but only in the way of someone screaming in your ear. You get what you expect. Rating: C.
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A Perfect Getaway
This movie is an instant hit as long as it stays where it belongs... on TNT on a Saturday afternoon while it is raining outside. I could definitely see myself watching Drumline and seeing a notification "A Perfect Getaway" up next. The storyline is pretty basic: 3 couples go on vacation... one of the couples is a pair of murders. The couples come in three flavors: nerdy suburbanites, hunting southerners, and trailer trash. Now, I won't give away which couple are the killers, but I will tell you that the movie is full of fake-outs. Everyone has a legitimate reason to be the killer and you will not miss any of these clues because the camera will zoom up and play dramatic music every time a fake-out occurs. Timothy Olyphant, star of Hitman, a soldier in Transformers and the bad guy in Live Free or Die Hard, actually gave an okay performance. This is a hard thing to admit because I hate him in all other movies. He is right up there with the asian guy from the Hangover. You will see this movie reinvent itself 4 different times throughout. It almost feels like there were 4 different directors and probably 6 different endings, something I'm sure would be on the DVD. I felt like this movie tricks the audience so many times that once you know the ending you cannot go back and watch the movie because you will wonder, "Why would they say that if no one could hear them? Why pretend not to be the killers behind lock doors?". Rating: B-.
The Ugly Truth
You do not need to actually watch this movie. You can just watch P.S. I Love you and 27 Dresses while eating 30 cold gorditas from the grimiest Taco Bell near you. Then, wait an hour. The horrible gut bomb you drop later will be The Ugly Truth. To be fair, I should not review this movie because I never finished watching it. That's pretty rough when I can normally sit through anything that graces the screen of my television set. From what I did watch, the story is exactly as I have described above. You have the self-loathing Jesse Spano played by Katherine Heigl, who just so happens to have cats and hate men. Then you have some grown up A.C. Slater played by Gerard Butler who somehow has a TV show all about bashing women and romance. I'm sure by the end they learn something from one another. They probably fall in love due to a borderline love/hate relationship, then something happens probably due to a mis-communication of some sort. Then someone makes a grand gesture and they compromise. Blah blah blah. No one should ever have to watch this repetitious drivel.
Rating: F-.
Abrams Boldly Goes…
by Mike Agnew Jr.
I honestly don't know what took me so long to write about this movie. It instantly sky-rocketed to my personal Top Ten among the likes of Rocky, Superman, and Back to the Future. I originally saw the movie as a better-than-average-quality bootleg. I downloaded it and watched it by myself. At the end of the movie... I stood up... and clapped... in my family room... by myself. I have since raved about the movie to my friends and loved ones. I have since watched the movie 11 12 13 times. (I watched it a few times since starting this post.) If you want to watch it... come over... and I will gladly make it 12 14. What follows is my review of Star Trek:
Well, we are back again... we are welcomed to the bridge of Starship Enterprise. But wait... these are not the faces we know... oh no... no, no, no... Are we about to watch a re-make? Well, yes and no. Yes, this is a Star Trek movie with new actors portraying the mantles of Captain Kirk, Spock, and Dr. McCoy as well as the rest of the Enterprise team we have come to know and, for some, love. But please do not be fooled. This movie does not simply whore its trademark and characters with the goal of making a movie that makes a video game that makes a puff daddy remix and video. This movie stands alone and single-handedly re-defines the Star Trek Universe.
The Star Trek Legacy
Making a new Star Trek movie is a very difficult task. You have to worry about the reception from millions of Star Trek Fans. It's not like any of them could actually beat anyone up or cause any physical harm, but I'm sure they are quite annoying. I fit more in the middle... well... maybe a little closer to the Trekkie side but I can't speak Klingon or cite episodes or anything like that. I started watching Star Trek the Next Generation afternoons after school, but before you judge, I was also watching Batman the Animated Series, Power Rangers, and Breaker High. But, I am a science fiction junky, especially when it deals with stories that cross paths. When new Star Trek shows started coming out, I had to give them a go. I still remember Star Trek Deep Space Nine's premiere. It was actually in prime time and there was a handful of Next Generation stars to give it the Star Trek cred it needed. eventually the show started repeating itself and I stopped watching. Then I decided to go backwards and start watching the original generation...Kirk, Spock, Scotty.
See....they were young once too
I went right into the films. To my surprise, they were really good. I mean, you had to wait through the "city council" scenes where something I didn't understand was being decided or something. But once that was over you could get back to the action and back to the characters. There was something about this team that was different from the rest. Sure, in the other shows the characters went through space, got in a problem, solved it, and learned a lesson. But they never did it with style. Kirk... he was the man. And it was fun to watch him work. I was instantly hooked. I even liked the one where they traveled back to the 80s to get a whale... that was the whole movie... but it was fun. The original Star Trek Team: Kirk, Spock, Chekov, Sulu, Uhura, McCoy, Scotty. Time after time they beat the bad guys and did so in the coolest way... as friends just hanging out on a spaceship.
Star Trek: The New Class
If you are even vaguely familiar with all things Trek you will be sitting through the movie with your character checklist, and don't worry they are all there. Also, the casting was... perfect. I had a few reservations before seeing the movie for the first time. Sylar as Spock had me the most worried but after the opening scene I was so into the story that the poop that is the show Heroes left my mind completely. (I will be tackling that review shortly). Another hiccup was Sulu played by Harold of Harold and Kumar. But, then again, would anyone really expect Abrams to be able to find someone with a voice even close to George Takei. All-in-all, the new cast is terrific.
No Belding, No Screech
Music and the Sounds of Silence
Enterprise brushing some dirt off its shoulder
The Music, Sounds, and Silences of this film were the key to the story of this movie. Within the first 5 minutes of this movie you will be emotionally pulled in one direction and then thrown in another. Abrams takes pwhew pwhew out of fighting in space, turns down the volume on your TV, and replaces it with a wondrous orchestra. Instantly you become more focused on the visuals and the emotion than the fight itself. Abrams uses silence to fill the emptiness of space, a feeling that we rarely see in films set in the void of space. There are times when you will hear gun fire outside a ship and then from inside the ship. My personal favorite note about the music of Star Trek is how close it relates the music of LOST. When I first watched the opening scene I whispered to myself, "Claire's baby." Keep your eyes out for the scene where the Enterprise rises out of the dust of space and the music was almost exactly the same as the "We are going on a hike around the Island and it will take 3 episodes" theme from the show.
Lensflare.com
We decided on 300 reading lights.....
If you are looking to be a photographer and want to see the proper use of lens flare then this movie is for you. What I am trying to say is that Abrams uses lens flares a lot in this movie. But don't worry you don't need shades....unless you are from Miami and wear shades to bed. <insert 80's riff> The flares give the sense of feeling the sun, the brightness, and the warmth. Since, as you might have guessed, most of the movie takes place in space. Space has suns and stars. They are bright. The twinkle. And they get in the lens. Also the new Enterprise bridge is setup with some 200 Ikea lights increasing the amount of lens flare indoors as well.
Final Thoughts
To Non-Star Trek Fans: Watch the movie. You don't need any Star Trek knowledge to understand this story.
To Star Wars Fans: Suck it up. Yes, Star Wars is better, but I've got to be honest. Round 2 of Star Trek is much better than the second round of Star Wars movies. Nothing will ever beat Han or Yoda but for normal humans and half-vulcans these guys are not half-bad. bah doon, chiiich...
To Non-Science Fiction People: Sit quietly and look at the screen. Do not scoff or walk out at any point. Once everyone else has enjoyed the movie, spend the after movie discussion smiling and nodding. You can get back to the Ugly Truth. You might need to watch it twice if you never "get" time travel.
To Star Trek Fans who date someone who hates Star Trek: Rent 21 or The Ugly Truth on DVD and offer it as an alternative. Once you throw both movies out at 10 minutes you will be able to pop in Star Trek and enjoy.
To LOST fans : You have less than a month before your next LOST fix. This is the best substitute I can provide.
This is one of the best movies I have seen in a while. The story is cyclical, which I love, and even though it starts a new Star Trek timeline it still leaves the original where it belongs, as legend.
In the words of the great Captain Kirk......"Buckle up."
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