Machine Gun Preacher - Movie Review

First I would like to say thank you to the Seattle International Film Festival for presenting a special preview screening of this film and for bringing in Sam Childers and screenwriter Jason Keller for a post movie Q&A.

Machine Gun Preacher is based on the true story of Sam Childers as he goes from heroin addicted drug dealer and all around trouble maker to becoming a major force in protecting children and families from violence bordering on genocide in the heart of war ravaged Sudan. When I very first heard the name of this movie, my instant reaction without knowing any story details was that this would fall in to the same category as Hobo With a Shotgun and Machete which were very stylized Grindhouse movies that play for cheap thrills and indulgence. This movie turned out to be about as different as could possibly be and surprised me in several different ways.

The Lion King 3D - Movie Review

3D Technology has certainly been the story of the year so far in the world of cinema. The release of James Cameron's Avatar set off a virtual wildebeast stampede as movie studios set out to turn as many feature films in to 3D blockbusters as quickly as possible. The result of this obvious cash grab was met with mixed results as films like Clash of the Titans and The Last Airbender were so poorly converted to 3D that it actually made the image quality worse.

It was soon discovered that the preferred methods of making a 3D movie were to either film it with 3D cameras like the visually breathtaking and box office record smashing Avatar or spend as much time as possible and make every effort to make sure the conversion process is done right. Disney was at the forefront of this "quality over quantity" idea and they also had an edge with animated features being ideal candidates to present in this emerging format.

Movies like Toy Story 3 and Tangled were huge successes with the latter being a major surprise hit and only partly due to the 3D format. The studio remembered that story is more important than anything else when it comes to making a movie people will truly enjoy and want to see again and again. They were in fact the same folks that brought us The Lion King in the first place and the only question now was if they would make the conversion of this all time classic to 3D just as magical as the rest of the film.

UYBC - South Lake Union

UYBC = Unofficial Yelp Bar Crawl

South Lake Union - October 7, 2011

Focusing on neighborhoods in and around the city of Seattle, this monthly bar crawl series gives people an opportunity to see new places, visit favorite haunts, and hang out with an ever changing group of friends over the course of one fun-filled evening.

Seahawks: Home Sweet Home

If you read my previous post about the Seahawks, you understand that I do like Tarvarus Jackson at quarterback and today's game showed a lot of the reasons why. He has the ability to manage a game and although at times he doesn't necessarily make the ideal decisions, he has yet to make the type of mistakes that cost you games. More often than not it has been other areas of the team that have faltered (special teams, receivers dropping balls, ineffective offensive line), but the quarterback will always be the first one targeted when things aren't going well. All I have seen from T-Jack is a steady and confident style of play which is exactly what the Seahawks need right now as they build on a team that is currently made up of the youngest group of starters in the NFL.

Facebook Timeline

As I was sitting at my computer today, a notification popped up on my Facebook page stating I can now take a tour of the new version of my profile page and can also activate the Timeline feature now if I choose to. The first thing I did was hit activate even before taking the virtual tour since I had read some info on this Timeline feature and was already looking forward to its release.

The article below covers a presentation by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg where he covers a range of topics from the Timeline profile upgrade to the upcoming integration of services like Spotify and Netflix.

Facebook looks to extend online reach, sharing