You're ruining my Zen thing man! (My review of Tron Legacy)

I was really looking forward to Tron Legacy. The original Tron was one of my childhood favorites. I saw the trailers for the new film and was excited. Then around last week, I became worried when i started to hear mixed reviews. Some said it was just ok. I heard one that said they hated it more than The Phantom Menace!! But I try not to let early reviews cloud my judgement. Let's face it, this is a Disney movie! It's not supposed to be high drama. It's a fun popcorn movie.

So my friend and I marched off to the theater and walked in with my ticket and 3-D glasses in hand. (It had been a while since I saw ANYTHING in 3-D!) The preview for Pirates of the Caribbean looked AWESOME in 3-D! So I thought maybe the reviews were wrong. This movie might be great!

Here is the plot from Wikipedia:

In 1989, Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), an innovative software programmer and the CEO of ENCOM International, tells his eight-year old son Sam (Owen Best) about a new "digital frontier" he has created called The Grid, a virtual domain existing inside the game system. Kevin tells Sam of the two programs helping him, Tron and Clu. Tron keeps The Grid secure, while Clu is tasked with creating the perfect system.

Twenty years later, Sam (Garrett Hedlund), haunted by Flynn's mysterious disappearance, investigates a page that originated from a supposedly disconnected number at Flynn's long-shuttered arcade. Exploring the arcade, Sam discovers a concealed door leading to a computer laboratory in the basement. Attempting to discover what his father was doing by calling up the command logs and reissuing the last command entered Sam activates a digitizing laser which transports him to The Grid.

We spend about 20 minutes in the "real" world. Then we are in the computer! The special effects look great. They really did a great job of updating them for the 21st century. The problem is with such a big gap in time between films, there is lots of explaining to be done. Which is fine. We want the answers. But the story needed a few re-writes. All the special effects in the world can't make up for a bad story.

Once father and son reunite, we find that Flynn has been in the computer for a long time. A really long time. Time goes much faster in the computer than in the real world. And in his time in hiding, he as almost become a zen like master. When Sam runs off to save them both, Flynn has to jump into action and his response to Sam is "You're ruining my Zen thing man!" (the best line of the movie, by far...)

I understood the story, but for some reason, it just wasn't enough. It needed more. And as for the 3D, I really didn't think it added anything to the film at all. But, at the end of the day, it's still a Disney film. So it was better than most films, but after so many good films over the years, I kinda hold them to a higher standard.

And let's face it, who wouldn't want to go into a computer? For the last few years, I've been addicted to Twitter. I could just imagine the addiction if I was in the damn thing!

So unfortunately, I would have to say that this is a wait and rent it film... Maybe the next one will be better?

Bad to the Bone - Megamind Review

I saw Megamind yesterday. It was a roller coster of a good time. Here is the info from Wikipedia:

Megamind (Will Ferrell) is a super-intelligent alien who-- at the age of eight days old-- is sent to Earth from his home planet during a time of crisis. However, he lands in a prison thanks to another infant alien similarly sent from a different planet who eventually becomes a superhero known as Metro Man (Brad Pitt), defender of the fictional Metro City. As a result, Megamind is raised as a social deviant, who is neglected for his destructive intellect, with his fish-like sidekick Minion (David Cross) as his only friend. Realizing that he enjoys causing trouble, and jealous of all of the attention Metro Man receives, Megamind becomes a super villain to rival Metro Man, though he is thwarted on a regular basis. During one of his many attempts to defeat Metro Man, Megamind kidnaps news reporter Roxanne Ritchi (Tina Fey) and uses her as bait to lure Metro Man into the city observatory where Megamind intends to kill him with a death ray. The plan appears flawed enough for Metro Man to escape, but he proclaims that the inside of the observatory is lined with copper, which he says drains his power. Metro Man is apparently killed by the death ray, allowing Megamind to take over Metro City. Megamind is initially thrilled that he has finally defeated his archenemy, but soon grows depressed over the fact that without someone to fight, his life as a super villain no longer has any purpose.

The basic story will be familiar to any sci fi fan. It's Superman's story. But when the "hero" is out of the picture, what is the villain to do?

It's a very interesting idea. I think that it touches on some very basic needs. First and foremost, what is the meaning of life? What makes us happy? And what will we do when we get it all? (Pretty heavy stuff for a cartoon.)

Don't get me wrong. This movie is full of laughs. It's loaded with gags for the kids, but there are lots of jokes for the parents. For example, when Megamind takes over, city hall gets posters that say, "No You Can't" (mocking the famous Obama, "Yes, We Can" poster.)

There are lots of similar 'adult' jokes in there.

The supporting cast is there and they do a very good job moving the story along. But the main focus in on Megamind himself and his journey of self-discovery. And lets face it, anyone with a giant blue head that's as funny as Will Ferrell, can't be all "bad" can they? :)

Made by Betty - from HoodieBuddie.com

Scott Pilgrim vs The Matrix

I know I've been posting lots of mash-ups lately, but this one was just too good to pass up. This one is for the new movie Scott Pilgrim vs the World. It's based on a comic book and it takes the extra step to film the movie like you are reading a comic book.

If you've not seen the trailer for Scott Pilgrim vs the World, watch that one 1st.



Now here's the mashed up version... :)

Inception - A new form of movie trailers?

The phenomenon that is Inception continues to grow. My last post was about how someone re-edited Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure with "Inception Style" music and edits. Turns out it works for every movie!! :)

Here are some of my favorites. But the list on YouTube seems to be endless!!

Star Trek



Dumb & Dumber



Batman: The Dark Knight



300



Toy Story 3



I just had to come back and add Star Wars. :)



Tweet

Bill and Ted's Excellent Inception

This is one of the things that I love to find on the Internet. Mash-ups. Taking two totally different movies and putting them together into a great trailer! If you saw my last post, you can see that I loved the movie Inception.

This trailer combines Inception with Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure! One of my all time favorites from the 80's!! I think it makes it look much more intense!!

Much gratitude and respect to @katalysthq for finding this and tweeting it on Twitter!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M6dYiIbRKM

Big Dreams - My Review of Inception

Sometimes a movie comes along that just grabs everyone by storm. Inception is just one of those films. It's a smart action movie that pulls off the impossible. Instant positive word of mouth with a crazy trailer, has made it the 'must see' movie of the summer.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays "Dom", the leader of a very unique band of thieves. They sneak into people's dreams to steal or "extract" information from people's minds while they are sleeping. But for his final big heist, his job is not an "extraction" but an "inception". His job is to input (or 'insert') a idea into his target's head. Which seems to be much more difficult.

That's where the film gets tricky. In order to complete the mission, they must go deep into the subjects subconscious mind. How do you do that? You enter a dream within a dream, within a dream. To make this even more confusing, time and the laws of physics is different in each of these dreams. (5 minutes of dreams = 1 hour in dreamland) It makes more sense when you see the movie. (Just try not to run out to the restroom or you will be totally lost.)

It sounds like fun, right? Walking around in a dream doing anything? Well, not so much. It turns out that even the subconscious mind can see invaders and will do anything to protect the dreamer. To add even more problems to the already difficult mission, "Dom" is loaded down with his own emotional baggage dealing with his late wife. That doesn't sound too bad, but when your workplace is dreamland, your late wife can show up at anytime and throw a monkey wrench into the works.

Inception keeps you on your toes never knowing where you are going. Director Christopher Nolan has made an instant classic sci-fi film which will keep people dreaming about it for years!!

The full description on Wikipedia.

Official website

Inception at the Internet Movie Database
Inception at Allmovie
Inception at Rotten Tomatoes
Inception at Metacritic
Inception at Box Office Mojo

"Old Spice" Remixed

In case you didn't see the Old Spice commercials on tv, they were very funny. Here is one of the best...

http://is.gd/dyKtj

Not only were the commercials a hit, but they went one step futher, they made close to 200 more short personal video responses to questions submitted on facebook and twitter.

So of course, the internet took those and had to make a remix. Get your dance groove on...

Star Wars on the Subway!

If you have never seen the comedy group, Improv Everywhere, they are great! They go into a public place and perform in front of anyone and everyone! I saw this one and had to post it!! :)




http://www.improveverywhere.com/

Eunice Cannizzaro's Resume

EUNICE CANNIZZARO
EDGEWATER PARK, NJ 08010
ELYSE2323@COMCAST.NET

OBJECTIVE
I am seeking a challenging position, in a progressive company where I can apply my experience in problem solving, my ability to manage large complicated client relationships, and my strong work ethic to help improve the service they provide, lower their costs, and increase the company’s market share so they can achieve sustained growth backed by superior service.

WORK EXPERIENCE

9/2005 – Present Company Confidential Little Falls, NJ
Health & Welfare Technical Lead

At Company Confidential, my role as the Health & Welfare Technical lead is Project Management, managing a group of 4-8 individuals with three main responsibilities to our HRO clients:
 Ensuring smooth and accurate transition through my interaction with the client and multiple groups within the organization (Systems Analysts, Programmers, Payroll, Service Center, etc).
o Setting a technical timeline for each phase of the transition, and maintaining the workflow so that each benchmark is achieved.
o Translating customer specifications so that they are understandable for the programmers, and adjusting the timeline accordingly.
o Frequent conference calls with the customer to update them on progress, and identify problems before they occur.
 Maintaining quality assurance/control for the life of the account.
o Coordinate and perform user acceptance testing.
o Coordinate and manage client testing and signoff.
o Identify research and resolve data discrepancies.
 Manage plan changes, reporting, and billing.
o Update all relevant plan design and plan administration documentation
o Produce monthly client and/or carrier premium billing invoices
o Ensure the accuracy and timeliness of enrollment activity and trending reports
o Perform monthly plan audits for employee and dependent records
o Produce ad hoc reports
o Facilitate status updates and customer queries.
　
2/2004 – 9/2005 Commerce Bank Mount Laurel, NJ
Project Analyst
In this role I was responsible for the development, production, and distribution of a number of executive reports that identified performance metrics, risk analysis, and workflow reporting with regard to banking operations. In addition I maintained the financial databases of monthly statistics, and worked with executive management to ensure departmental compliance.

2/1993 – 9/2002 Mellon HR Solutions Fort Lee, NJ
Resource & Documentation Manager (Promoted 2001)
Based on my success in the Communications department, and my strong sense of customer service this was a new position created to leverage my strengths in the customer service and problem solving role to assist bigger and more complicated customers. I was responsible the development of Resource and Employee profile database for Mellon’s HRO clients. I developed the profile database drawing data from a number of sources (including employee profile, skills, goals, training needs, and current/future assignments), analyzed project resource requirements, made recommendations based on the database, designed and managed recruiting process, and worked to create solutions to overcome lack of resource availability.

Outsourcing Benefits Analyst Team Leader (Promoted 2000)
Having succeeded as a team member I was promoted to team leader managing 4-8 team members. As team lead my duties were to oversee the process I did below, while managing the Communications Department project plan, mentoring junior staff, heavy client interaction on site and off, motivate team members, and ensuring that all deadlines were met with zero defects.

Outsourcing Benefits Analyst (Promoted 1999)
Promoted in 1999 to Outsourcing Benefits Analyst, I worked with the client and internal departments to ultimately develop a seamless rollout of system generate fulfillment documentation, voice response system, and web applications. This involved the gathering of customer specifications, the capture of data from a variety of data sources, countless test/trial runs, many modifications, assist team leader with staff responsibilities, and accurately record all activity and results.

Benefits Statement Analyst (Promoted 1998)
Promoted in 1998 to Benefits Statement Analyst, I was responsible for the analysis of individual benefits data and calculations development and execution of computer programs to merge data from multiple sources ( client, surveys, telephone etc), drafting benefit data text, designing print output specifications, testing print specifications, checking and re-checking data calculations to a 100% accuracy rating, working with the client to ensure client satisfaction with the final product, and maintain accurate records for each client throughout development.

Production Coordinator (Promoted 1997)
In this role, I was the point person for print and production for up to 6 clients. I maintained printing schedules, problem solved for scheduling issues, maintained quality assurance on print output, created database of production jobs, and developed protocols and best practices to reduce start-up time on future jobs.

Switchboard Operator
Answer 35 line Meridian digital switchboards, track daily phone problems, take and deliver accurate phone messages, and manage the phone network.

EDUCATION
1990 - 1993 Ramapo College of New Jersey Mahwah, NJ
1989 - 1990 University of Delaware Newark, DE

COMPUTER EXPERIENCE
Microsoft Office 2000, RapidSQL, IBM Mainframe, Clarify, Lotus Notes
References furnished upon request