Review: Batman: Under The Red Hood

Just saw Batman: Under The Red Hood (available tomorrow, as I write this, July 27th) This one's definitely worth getting. Much better than the previous Batman related or DC /Marvel comic releases.There's no cool manga or anime, no realistic CGI effects here, just a well done, quality toon. To me, Batman: Under The Red Hood is the best animated DC picture I've ever seen. Regardless of how this film succeeds or is recieved, the animation raises the bar (to borrow a cliche) for all animated comics films after it.

Some points I observed in it:

Everyone's got that squared, sharp edged jaw look.
This is a different Joker than ever presented in animation. The Joker looks muscle-y, and kinda old.

Not totally digging the John DiMaggio (Bender in Futurama, Aquaman/Grodd/Black Adam in Batman: Brave and the Bold)voice for the Joker, but it is overall a good performance though I prefer the Mark Hamill version. This Joker also has a Heath Ledger flavor to him. Many other guests stars voicing this film. Bruce Greenwood did a great Batman voice, though I'll always like Kevin Conroy's version. After listening to him do Nightwing, I'm beginning to wonder if there's anything Neil Patrick Harris CAN'T do.

The opening "Death In The FamilY" scenes are not drawn like they were in the original story. Which is good. The art is updated.

A slight problem for me was the portrayal of the beat down. Though Robin was being severely beaten, he rarely uttered more than a grunt. Also, not enough blood for what happened.

The so-called "big reveal" hap pends in the middle of the movie.

All of the characters were well done in every aspect. A few surprises are in store.

There were liberties taken with the story (obviously), but overall, the movie moved along VERY well and is interesting. And of course, there are a few predictable situations. There are also some very comic book things that happen that I was pleased with.

It ended well too, in my opinion.

Overall, again, The best animated DC picture I've ever seen. Well done DC.

BTW- I read where at ComicCon this year, it was announced that the G4 TV network was gonna air 4 Marvel anime shows during the next 12 months.

Did you guys see the Samuel L Jackson introducing the actors who will star in 'The Avengers"? There may be a YouTube video out there. There's a video where Ryan Reynolds says the Green Lantern mantra for a little kid.

Happy 25 Live Aid

Call it naivite. at the time, I was a memner of Amnesty International and a fervent anti-Reagsn protester. I really believed at the time one person united with others could change the world. I'm 44 years old now and no longer belive such things.

On this day 25 years ago, be it all too brief, we actually did.

The picture actually has NOTHING to do with the story. It's a man teaching his dachshund how to scuba dive in Vladivostok, Russia

A new list of brands that may disappear either later this year or next year includes Readers Digest, Kia Motors, Dollar Thrifty, Zale ,Blockbuster , T-Mobile, BP, RadioShack, Merrill Lynch, and Moody's.

24/7 Wall St. regularly compiles a report of brands that are likely to disappear in the near-term. Last April, and again in December, we published our findings. Usually, it would take a full year before such a list could be compiled again. However, the current economic climate has accelerated this process and a majority of the brands on the first two lists are either gone, have been acquired, or have filed for bankruptcy.

With a number of the brands on the December list either gone or on a short-term path to extinction, 24/7 Wall St. has put together the latest version of the Ten Brands That Will Disappear. To qualify, we expect that brand to be gone by the end of 2011, or for its parent to be sold or go into Chapter 11.

T-Mobile, the U.S. wireless provider, is owned by telecom giant Deutsche Telekom (DTEGY.PK - News). It is the No.4 cellular company in an American market that only supports two really successful firms -- AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless. Even the third-largest company in the market -- Sprint-Nextel (NYSE: S - News) -- has 50 million customers. T-Mobile had 34 million customers at the end of last year. T-Mobile only had a profit of $306 million in 2009. That was down from $483 million in 2008. T-Mobile not only faces three larger competitors, it also has to begin to offer 4G service to compete with Sprint's new WiMax service and LTE-based products from AT&T (NYSE: T - News) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ - News). T-Mobile may seek a partner to offer a 4G network, but there are no super-fast broadband networks likely to be finished before its three rivals offer the service. As it now stands, T-Mobile has no future in the U.S. A merger with Sprint-Nextel has been mentioned several times. The combined company would have a customer base about the same size as AT&T or Verizon. And the transaction would probably make Deutsche Telekom a large owner of the combined operation. Another alternative would be a merger with Virgin Mobile. Maybe Deutsche Telekom will just change the firm's name.

Reader's Digest was once the most widely read magazine in the world. According to the company, it still may be when its overseas editions are taken into account. Last August, the company took its U.S. operations into Chapter 11 to decrease debt. It emerged from bankruptcy in February with $525 million in exit financing. The company cut the number of issues it publishes a year from 12 to 10 last year. It also cut its circulation guarantee for advertisers to 5.5 million copies from 8 million. It would have been unthinkable just a few years ago that a magazine as old and famous as Reader's Digest would be shuttered. However, Reader's Digest as it is known in the U.S. will be gone.

Blockbuster was the national leader in the video rental business for nearly two decades. Now it is contemplating Chapter 11 to eliminate debt. The company lost $65 million last quarter. Its revenue continues to fall rapidly as firms such as Redbox and NetFlix (Nasdaq: NFLX - News) siphon off its revenue. Blockbuster has more than 6,000 stores, so it is hard to imagine that the company could disappear. But, there is some precedent, even if it is on a smaller scale. Blockbuster rival Movie Gallery said in February that it would close all of its 2,400 U.S. stores. Blockbuster's model of renting movies through physical locations has been destroyed by cable and satellite video on demand, DVDs via mail and dispensing machines. Blockbuster may still be around as a company that has movie kiosks and a small mail and Internet-delivered content business. But its brick and-mortar business is dead.
Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, the car rental company, is for sale. Hertz (NYSE: HTZ - News) is a potential buyer, as is Avis Budget (NYSE: CAR - News). Each of the larger car rental firms would use the Dollar Thrifty business to expand their market share. That does not mean that they would keep the brand. The current company is not much of a business. It made only $27 million last quarter on revenue of $348 million. It has more than $1.5 billion in "debt and other obligations." The number of vehicles that Dollar Thrifty operates at any one time is only 95,000 compared to 420,000 for Hertz. The firm's customer base and some of its locations may be valuable, but Dollar Thrifty can't compete with Avis and Hertz. A decade ago, the car rental industry was able to support six independent brands. A significant drop in business and leisure travel and sharp competition among the companies has already caused the creation of Avis Budget. Dollar Thrifty will be the next casualty of the industry's consolidation.

BP: The case against the BP brand is not so much that the company will enter bankruptcy. It is that BP may end up breaking into pieces for its own sake. This may be to put the liabilities for the Deepwater Horizon spill into a company that also holds escrow capital to cover the huge costs of clean-up and suits. BP may also want to separate its successful refining operations from its exploration business, or recreate an American- based company similar to BP America, which existed for two decades. A restructuring of BP would also allow the firm to take a badly crippled brand and give the oil operation a new name -- much as it did when it changed its name from British Petroleum. The second time may be the charm.
RadioShack is one of the oldest retailers in the U.S. It was founded in 1921 and in the early 1960s was purchased by Tandy Corp. The Tandy name was used for some of Radio Shack's retail stores. RadioShack is currently a takeover target. There have been rumors that the company may be taken private via a leveraged buyout or purchased by Best Buy (NYSE: BBY - News), probably for its locations. Best Buy would certainly not keep the RadioShack brand because it is considered downscale and does not have the reputation for quality products and service that Best Buy enjoys. RadioShack has already begun to rebrand itself as "The Shack," an indication that it knows the older brand is a burden.

Zale Corp. was founded in 1924 by the Zale brothers. It was one of the earliest retailers to offer the ability to buy items on credit. By 1980, Zale had revenue of over $1 billion. In 1992, Zale filed for bankruptcy and by the end of that decade, its revenue was $1.3 billion -- about the same as it is today. Zale has been at death's door for some time. Its market value is down to $48 million. The company is trying to turn itself around, but most experts are not convinced. The company recently made the Forbes list for firms with extreme financial risk. In the last quarter, the retailer lost $12 million on revenue of $360 million. Zale is also in a very crowded market that includes retailers as large as Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT - News). Golden Gate Capital recently put money into Zale to buy it time. New money may defer the point at which Zale goes under, but it won't prevent it.

Merrill Lynch may have been acquired, but that will not keep it safe. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Banks and other large financial services firms have a habit of buying large retail brokerage houses and then changing their names. Shearson is gone. So is EF Hutton and Prudential. In most cases the parent company wants to put their own names on the door. That is very likely to happen to Merrill Lynch, which was at one point the largest full-service broker in the U.S. Merrill is now owned by Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC - News), and the buyout spawned a number of scandals that kept Merrill's name in the paper for weeks and did a great deal to harm its name with customers. Bank of America will follow a time honored tradition, and Merrill Lynch will become BofA Investment Management.

Kia Motors Corp. is one of the two car brands of Hyundai of South Korea. It has always been a marginal brand. Its stable mate, Hyundai USA, has a reputation for high quality cars like the Sonata and Genesis. Kia sells "low rent" cars and SUV nameplates like the Sorento and Rio. As GM and Ford (NYSE: F - News) have already discovered, it is expensive to maintain multiple brands and storied car names, including Pontiac, Saturn and Mercury, are disappearing. Most Kia cars sell for $14,000 to $25,000. Hyundai has several cars in the same price range. Hyundai's Sonata has quickly become one of the best-selling cars in America, and its Genesis flagship model competes with mid-sized BMWs and Mercedes. The parent company will take a page from several other global car companies and dump its weakest brand.
from : http://247wallst.com/2010/06/15/247-wall-st-ten-brands-that-will-disappear-in-2011/

Any others that should be on the list?

For the complete story, click HERE

John

The Current Example of Hypocrisy In America

I need your help and opinion on this one.
check this out...

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A U.S. judge in Boston has ruled that a federal gay marriage ban is unconstitutional because it interferes with the right of a state to define marriage...
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Then you get this story from earlier in the week..

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A federal judge is looking at a case involving the Justice Department suing Arizona, asserting that the state's recently signed immigration law SB 1070 conflicts with federal law stating " federal immigration laws do not permit the development of a patchwork of state and local immigration policies throughout the country."
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Regardless if you;re for or against gay marriage; regardless if you're for or against the Arizona Immigration Law, can you see the hypocrisy in this? So it's OK for a state to usurp the feds if they're wanting to allow gay marriage but not OK for a state to ask those suspected or charged with a crime is they're a US citizen? Am I wrong or not seeing the clear picture here?

What say you?

Fast Tuesday Blog

Expect stories of power problems and rolling power outages later today and tonight. The "grid" is expected to be taxed today as the weather acts like summer..

If you still use postage stamps, better load up on those "forever" stamps. Postage rates are expected to rise 2 cents very soon. A proposal to eliminate Saturday residential deliveries is expected; but that itself would take an act fo Congress (literally) to make happen.

A 2 parter story- a SHOCKING! and a REALLY?!?!?! in one. Ex-Raiders QB JaMarcus Russell has been nabbed in a drug sting in Alabama.The arrest for possession of codeine syrup came as part of an undercover investigation, Mobile County Sheriff Office spokeswoman Lori Myles told the (Mobile) Press-Register.

Like the BBC here in America? BBC Worldwide is to bow more TV channels in the U.S. in the next 12 months as part of its strategy to derive two thirds of its income from outside the U.K. by 2012. Revenue for Worldwide's channel biz grew by 16.4% last year.

British pop singer George Michael was arrested over the weekend after crashing his car into a London store. He's OK.

Jay Leno's ratings are the lowest since 1993. Does this mean he'll be replaced?

Simon Cowell says he helped broker pal Piers Anthony's deal with CNN to replace Larry King this fall.

Sam's Club said Tuesday it will offer loans of up to $25,000 to its small business members. The division of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which is based in Bentonville, Ark., is testing a program with Superior Financial Group, one of 13 federally licensed nonbank lenders, and will offer $5,000 to $25,000 loans to members who qualify.

Saw pics of the new Conan The Barbarian guy. What's up with his busy, long eyebrows? He looks kinda small to be playing Conan to me.

The Air Force is close to developing a new class of long-range hypersonic missiles. A meeting on June 30 was held to discuss the impact of adding to the Pentagon's arsenal hypersonic missiles, which can reach at least Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, flying 600 miles in 10 minutes. Such a missile could be developed in a decade with adequate funding, backers say. May's flight was a giant leap toward that goal. "This test opens the door for hypersonic weapons capable of prompt global strike," said Brigadier General William J. Thornton, a key Air Force weapons tester.

In a recent interview with a British magazine, His Purple badness Prince states "the internet is over" and

The first stage of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul is expected to provide coverage to about 1 million uninsured Americans by next year, according to government estimates. Many others — more than 100 million people — are getting new benefits that improve their existing coverage.

Men at Work must relinquish 5% of royalties from the song "Down Under". An Australian court found in February that a key flute riff in the song had been taken from the kids song "Kookaburra" written by schoolteacher Marion Sinclair in 1934; rights have since been purchased by Larrikin Music, which brought the action against the 1980s group.


and finally, if you were watching the NBC Evening News last night, you may have noticed Brian WIlliams in the anchor chair. He wasn't supposed to be there. It seems that Brian forgot that yesterday was a "day off" for most NBC Universal employees due to the 4th falling on a Sunday this year. According to his blog, he wrote "It was as if someone made an announcement that the last person left in New York City would have cooties. You can roll a bowling ball down 6th Avenue outside our building and watch it fall off the other end of the island into the Hudson River. There's no one here. The company bought us cheeseburgers today (baked beans, apple pie, nice) because there are so few places to get take-out."

Happy 4th of July

So This is Thursday's EARLY AM Blog

Well yesterday went as well as it could go at work. No headaches and I could understand nearly everything I heard- WHOO-HOO!! It's just after midnight and I have to make lunch, finish laundry before work in a few hours. Here's what I saw on the ol interweb...

Beginning today, smokers will pay 50 cents more in tax on a pack of cigarettes in South Carolina.

According to a new annual study, SC has nearly cut it's national obesity ranking in half! In the state, three of 10 people are considered obese, according to the Trust for America's Health. Toss in those who are overweight and that adds up to nearly two-thirds of the population. The state ranks ninth in obesity nationwide, down from fifth last year, TFAH reports.

The 2-year-old son of former NFL star quarterback Randall Cunningham has died in what authorities on Wednesday called an apparent backyard hot tub accident.

A 9-year-old Connecticut girl who climbed to the roof of her house and attempted to crawl back inside through the chimney has been rescued after getting stuck. Assistant Fire Chief Jack Hennessey says the girl climbed up a house painter's ladder Wednesday morning, walked across the roof and tried to climb down the chimney. She almost made it to the fireplace before getting stuck in the flue at about 6:30 a.m.

Just 48 days after Microsoft began selling the Kin, a smartphone for the younger set, the company discontinued it because of disappointing sales. Microsoft also recently canceled a project to develop a tablet computer that would compete with Apple’s popular iPad.

CNN is reportedly talking to Joy Behar about Larry King's spot. He's retiring this fall (see yesterday's blog). Another report says a $10 million agreement was finalized with Simon Cowell bud and "America's Got Talent" co-host Piers Morgan before King retired on Tuesday.

The U.S. Embassy is advising travelers to exercise caution in Haiti after four U.S. citizens were recently killed in separate robberies near Port-au-Prince's airport.

How about the Russian spy babe?

So will Erin Andrews stay at ESPN? Her deal with the sports network was about to expire, but an ESPN exec says, "We hope to have a deal signed soon."

The Terrafugia, a flying car project developed by a small group of MIT graduates, passed an important regulatory hurdle this month when the FAA agreed it could be certified in the Light Sports Aircraft category even though it is about 110 pounds over the limit. The company argued that the extra weight was needed to comply with federal motor vehicle standards and that other light sports aircraft do not face that extra burden. The concept of a flying car has captivated the imaginations of commuters, pilots and manufacturers for decades. In this video interview with Forbes, Carl Dietrich, CEO of Terrafugia, explains that the craft has wings that fold up in less than 30 seconds. The first model, the Transition, is expected in full production next year. In the air, it will have a cruising speed of about 115 miles an hour, a range greater than 400 miles, and a 10,000-foot ceiling. On land, it will get about 30 miles to the gallon.

Judd Apatow is using his powers for good and is developing a new Pee-Wee Herman movie alongside Paul Reubens and Paul Rust, who is co-scripting this new flick with Reubens. Apatow will produce the flick, according to Variety.

Prince will release his new album, "20Ten," as a free giveaway with various European newspapers and magazines. In the U.K., Prince has signed up with tabloid newspaper the Daily Mirror and its associated Scottish title the Daily Record for the CD giveaway. More than 2.5 million copies will be distributed on July 10 with the newspapers.The deal will also include Prince's first British newspaper interview in more than a decade.

and finally, Comic book superheroine Wonder Woman has traded in her spangled hot pants for urban leggings and upped her street smarts in a 21st century make-over for the 69 year-old character. J.Michael Straczynski, the new writer for the DC Comics series, told the New York Times he wanted to "toughen her up and give her a modern sensibility" and change the outfit Wonder Woman has been wearing for almost seven decades. The new costume features dark leggings, a studded denim jacket, spurs on her heeled boots and gloves in a new look designed by Korean-American artist Jim Lee of "X-Men" fame. Wonder Woman keeps her starred headband and golden lasso but her long dark locks have been cut shorter and gone are the star-studded hip-huggers, undersized bustier and knee length, red go-go boots