The beauty of promising a "chicken in every pot"

Not to toot my own horn, but I'm a pretty smart guy. Give me a book/manual/decent training class and I can get damn near anything. Those wonderful charts and figures that get put up when people discuss:deficits, tax cuts, government expenditures if I can see them full size and read the key on the side I can usually get the gist of what you talking about. Any term I don't understand I will hit google, websters, investor words, how stuff works, bing or whatever other source I may need to so that I can follow along with your argument/topic of discussion.

That's me though, see if something piques my interest I'm like a dog trying to get his beloved toy from under a chair. I'm gonna dig and scratch, try to get my shoulder/arm in there, run to someone seeking help, keep trying to find a way. That's not most people hell, I have come to believe that people have started creating lipper charts, Feng zwei curves, out da back door averages and you don't need to know so don't ask me reports JUST so they sound intelligent to the average person and you will stop questioning them and leave them alone if they seem to buttress your own position. Its 2010 most people in my age bracket have seen the results of Reaganomics from kindercare to adulthood.

We have seen our neighborhoods go from nice friendly places where we could play outside til the lights came on to desolate scenes from old westerns. Ghost towns where the lawless rule and the average persons goes about their day in fear hoping to stay under the radar. You hope to avoid the big rancher out to own every acre his eye can see, the drifting cowboys bored with the monotony of the trail so they have "just one night" to spice it up a bit.

When those at the top are allowed to ignore the rules(or buy them as they see fit), justice is based not on the incident but on your ability to pay for representation, a permanent "unclean" class is present and always decried as the "unstoppable" enemy while the people run around "defending" themselves from the enemy the haves keep all the spoils for themselves. As for the ne'er do wells hey all they need is a shadow to hide in. When justice is blinded by dollar signs who wants to call the law? Every negative encounter re-enforces the idea that they won't help us.

Look around now, isn't that what you see? The world going to hell while you and yours just try to survive? You don't have time for high minded ideas now do ya? Taking the time to research every last claim by somebody living in a gilded cage, eating off a silver spoon he doesn't know what your life is like. So let's say somebody who looks kinda like you tells you how it ain your fault, how if you just leave these folks over here (who by virtue of their past successes obviously know what their doing) alone that their success will lead to your success. And that as they are more successful you will see things improve for you, why they'll get so good on your side, if you put these folks in charge, that there'll be "a chicken in every pot".

Now you don't know who lipper is, or S&P but you know who chicken is. Hell look how many chicken proprietors are out there:Tyson, Purdue, The Colonel, Churches, Zaxby's, Popeyes, Mrs. Winners, Chic-Fil-A. Think of how inexpensive a chicken dinner usually is, its good, its quick all kinds of great memories for MOST people. Hell thinking about it can you name a bunch of "beef" companies? I mean you could name me a "burger joint" but even burger joints sell chicken. How about an actual brand of beef, you've got your super market meat department, might even be able to tell me who makes ya turkey sausage or your hot dogs. Ya steaks and pork chops though uh uh, not too many people in that game.

So you pick a cheap yet delicious item, an item that most people have dealings with on a regular. No nothing extravagant, nothing that's actually gonna put you out a few dimes, not Filet Mignon in every oven. Or a pan full(remember its only one chicken singular, might be able to feed a family of 4 2 days on 1 chicken) of Minions, NY strip, Prime Rib nah not that stuff that costs money. How about a pot full of lobsters? Yeah let's all be ballin, let's all be eating good give me that King Crab, that Caviar(beluga baby), Dom Peri in the glass, Private stock in the cup pimpin.

Nah, that's too much can't pull that off without people getting suspicious huh? KISS keep it simple stupid, a message people can understand and comprehend. Things that seem tried and true nothin fancy, elaborate or invasive. While not every chicken pusher sells it to you cheap, ain nothing like some tender, juicy chicken now is it.

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How I would map out the "Spiderman" reboot

Now look I know they ain askin me, I know I don't have enough ducketts in the bank to even tickle the hair beside their ear lobe BUT, if I were to be in such a position to influence the reboot of the movie franchise for my all time favorite comic book character(I used to own Spidey PJ's, yes there is a picture I severly doubt I will post it) this is how I would map out the progression. And I would have some set in stone, non reversible, no change banks, no time outs, no skipsies rules that had to be obey.

NO KILLING VILLAINS

Save Kraven(and for a short time Doc Ock) spidey villians don't die, they fake their deaths, the fall off the grid for a while but they don't die. Like all super heroes some started out with lame(or at least with lame looking costumes say like Shocker and the original Mr. Daisy Electro man was electro's original costume gay, you couldn't pay the guys from Will and Grace to wear that costume) villains. Maybe some new "threat", disease, or weird phenomenon popped up comics being pop culture usually runs with some new issue and makes it work in their medium.

So yeah I know you may wanna kill off the lame villians or hell some main ones no axing ANYBODY unless it was in the actual main story line.

Keep the Girl friends in order

Mary Jane Watson is Peter Parker's reward for always being that stand up guy, ALWAYS living by his credo of "with great power comes great responsibility"(and for Stan Lee pounding him into the sand EVERY other issue, Spidey rarely wins in the first meeting, hell sometimes not in that issue it's always Spidey in gravel, Spidey half conscious for Stan's most SUCCESSFUL CHARACTER EVER he sure beats the hell out of him regularly and the marvel universe has kept that them intact, just saying MJW is a great reward but so would not making his life suck 50% of the time). Spiderman came out in the 60's but his woman of tomorrow strong female love interest(Lois Lane started out the typical damsel in distress, MJW was the consummate whirlwind and firebrand from day one) I think didn't come around til the mid to late 70's.
I remember reading about how for like 3 issues and up til like the last 5 panels of the issue she was introduced in she was just a voice. They knew who they wanted her to be but hadn't decided fully how the fiery red head would look. And MJ wasn't a pushover oh no she was a Tigress she was on the prowl and when she finally caught the scent of our shy hero, man was her iconic "Face it Tiger, you just hit the jackpot" an understatement(look at the pictures name me one book nerd who wouldn't take every wedgie and melvin if thats what they were gonna end up marrying after college)
.
To my recollection the girlfriend list went:

Gwen Stacy(who was later killed by the jackal)

Betty Brant(it was actually more of a work place crush as she was much older than peter)
Felicia Hardy
And then Mary Jane Watson.

Yes I know those ONLY familiar with the ultimate universe will say but Mary Jane was there all along, no she wasn't but if you remember the ultimate series of marvel comics is a condensed, sped up version of all storyline putting the most BLARING character identifiable traits early to bring newbies up to speed(by the way Kitty Pride the X-men's Shadowcat would also be on the list if we added the ultimate universe since they dated) .

Adherence to basic costume design

I say this after calling Electro's costume gay(if me using gay in that way offends you, I accept that. I have nothing against gay people I just feel this situation fits that description) yes some costumes could get a mild color and "design" update, no Gobbyizing.
The Green Goblin's(Norman Osbourne) costume was god awful in Spiderman, yes I know the "imp" motif might have been a bit much but go with it.

Doc Ocs (Otto Octavius)costume was pretty simplistic just a green jumpsuit. So the trench coat and basic clothes worked.

For Electro(Maxwell Dillon) I say borrow from Infamous, some cargo pants, a bike messengers jacket done.

Sandman(Flint Marko) I mean his outfit in the movie was fine. Striped green shirt brown pants.

Venom(Eddie Brock) meh that's kinda his costume but brock was supposed to be the jock to Peter's nerd so not really feeling Parker lite in Topher grace.

Scorpion(Eddie Gargan) there have been a few successful updates of the scorpion suit so I say keep him buff, keep him simplistic, and let him slap around with the tail that shoots acid

The Rhino(Alex O'Hirn) now this one I wouldn't mind a switch to the Ultimate version. A mechanized cyber suit of destruction, yeah go with that.

Who's next who knows.

CAMEO's

Comic books thrive on them, I mention Felicia Hardy as the eventual black cat. Also if you add Black Cat do the Fox kids version of her origin:her dad "The Cat" was tricked into learning the super soldier serum, has a photographic memory and is black mailed into giving the CORRECT formula to The Kingpin by him threatening to test the formula on his daughter first.

And as all the Marvel heroes are NORMALLY based in NY you can stumble over anyone DO SO. Maybe even test a few "low tier" heroes who might be good for a test movie. Blade was an out of the Galaxy Home run for marvel. He NEVER worked as a comic and was Cameo King you have PLENTY of second or third tier heroes you can give minor screen time to and if you get positive feedback expand on him later.

Use ACTUAL STORYLINES

Most comic book movies fail because you get a writer who decides he has a better idea of how the character should act, a director decides he doesn't need to obey umpteen years of fan dedication and you get a train wreck: The last Airbender, BloodRayne, Dragon Ball Evolution, Elektra, THE HULK.

You change so many things that the character is unrecognizable and pisses off fans, then newbies see a hodge podge effect and possibly get sucked in by special effects but they aren't going to go long term with buying Merch. Respect the fan boys, they budget merch into their pay checks.


Wow this got longer then expected okay I will revisit this subject sometime this weekend. I'll go into more actual story depth instead of just the rules for what should be(which I think most spidey fans would agree are some pretty decent rules)

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Just had a JN moment

By JN I mean Jimmy Neutron(yes the cartoon character). Since this is "sequel, remake, reboot time" I think I'll start doing some blogs on:what would primal do.

Now some of these characters I'll be like "Duh" on, I'm a comic book geek but mainly a marvel comic book geek with a minor in some DC main stays. I've read some Dark Horse, Image, Milestone and one other but I'm not all super comic book geek. And I rarely read Manga's so I can't get all deep and in depth with manga characters(that would be baby bro, possibly would give him some manga chat time if I felt that folks wanted to discuss manga).

But yeah marvel, DC, TV I think as news comes out and stories are in the writing, green lit, pre or production phase and not yet release I'll say what I would do IF I was in charge. I mean what else is a blog good for if one doesn't opine right. So yeah the one I'm currently working on is about spiderman, hope to finish that by the end of the day(KNOWING I STILL have finished the black ops blog, tsk tsk tsk SLACKER).

Hope your having a great thursday as always feel free to chime in agree, disagree, leave a suggestion, I'm all ears

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Why I'm still against the "home ownership as wealth creation" philosophy

I've said it before and I will say it again:you want to show off how much money you want people to think you have "buy a house", you want to build up assets and wealth buy liquid items. What are liquid items:stocks, bonds, treasury: notes, bonds, bills;options, SOME commodities and raw material precious gems and metals.

Yes those things have fluctuating values but they are a lost faster and easier to sell than a house. Those who have read some of my past blogs talking about my portfolio will see what I mean. I talked last year about selling ford, now with a bank account attached to my brokerage account its at most a 5 day turn around between me selling the stock(if I do it at market value not a stop order which of course would require the stock to first hit my target sale price up or down) and the money being in my bank account ready to spend.
Also with stocks and other "smaller" liquid assets you don't need as much down and credit isn't that big an issue. If you have enough money to start the account they let you. While its better to buy in "round lots"(usually a stock order of 100 shares or multiples of 100) you could buy 1, 5, 10, 50 etc(and anywhere in between or above one of those numbers) as long as you have the money for the shares plus brokerage fees. Usually the brokerage fee is added per every X shares purchased PER order, so if you go over that share amount even by a share tack on another brokerage fee, if you make another stock order whether it be the same or a different stock tack on another brokerage fee.

Is it perfect no, I mean yeah gold, gems etc if you had a vault you could see and visit those but for most folks you log in to see your stock certificates. So yes if you wish to parade around your wealth you have to have a house or a car. What's wrong with saving up for those things? I mean what good is putting all of your money into something you don't actually own yet? Most trade able vehicles as long as it doesn't crater, expire, or self destruct whether it goes up or down you still own it. Miss a few car payments they take the car back and you don't get a dime. At least if a stock, right or warrant(different names for trade able vehicles) implodes if nothing else you get the tax write off.

I mean yes if you wanted to you could just hoard the cash in various bank accounts. Cash is always good and always king, so yes if you aren't worried about playing the casino game of investing its hard to argue with just keeping the cash on hand. Hell even IF you invest part of your portfolio should always be cash, money market account whatever always have cash on hand.

Yes you could also show off the piles of cash all Scrooge McDuck style if ya wanted to but flaunting isn't always safe. I mean hey I've never been one for flaunting so some of this is my own personal philosophy on life and the way this should go. I still say you want to accumulate something then accumulate it. Just you know lay off the debt for a little while, I could look up numbers and charts but I'm pretty damn sure anybody in america(and even a few of my international readers) knows someone who has lost a house or car. So some abstract number or series of numbers is unnecessary all you have to do is look around. Repo men and foreclosed signs are all around. Bigger isn't always better if you can't hold on to it

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A little reminder from the MPD

If a police officer shows up at your house or place of business unless you are under arrest you have the right to ask questions, if you are not the owner you have the right to call the owner, if you are shown a warrant you will be given a copy of said warrant and be asked to sign off on any searches done if you give PERMISSION for them to search when they don't have a warrant.

Just like the army there are stores that sell police equipment out there so just because it looks like a cop and gives you that "I'm a person of authority don't question me demeanor" doesn't mean it is a cop. It could just be someone casing your house or place of business for a later break in attempt.  Yes many of us complain about the attitudes of police officers and some of them can be a little harsh(remember this is my non cursing blog so I know the joke about what most police officers were in high school, just can't say it here) but they are not above the law. As a matter of fact if YOU didn't call the police and the "police" show up at your establishment from an officer I was talking to yesterday while I was creating an incident report for a break in "call 911 so that the police can really show up", if you have an alarm press that, have one of the employees, family members, guests walk away and dial.  And if your english is a little weak DEFINITELY DIAL 911. Now I'm not saying get all up in the "officers face" and be belligerent, nah if it is a cop you'll probably end up in hand cuffs if it isn't a real police officer you may end up in hand cuffs and hurt somewhere, because if someone is running a scam on you the authority of the police is what they were counting on to keep you and the others around you in line, if you threaten that they'll need to subdue you in order to keep the facade going.

During a search you have rights, if they seize property you have rights(you have to sign off on what it is they took) there is no such thing as an "open ended warrant": a warrant must tell you WHAT it's for, WHERE they can search for it, WHO it is for(now if it's a gang member it may be for said gang or affiliated tatts/aliases), and WHY they are looking for said item or person. Yes you can get damn good REAL badges but not be a police officer, but you can't get damn good fake warrants that won't get the real police all up in that backside if you leave a copy.  And if it just so HAPPENS to be a real police officer who is overstepping the authority of his office, that is called a lawsuit(again from the officers mouth) because now he/she, the city and possibly the county are on the line for their wild west activities.

Now I know being darkly complected and looking at the news one might say "how can you say that police aren't above the law when we see some get away with heinous acts", because it wasn't that the police were above the law, many times they had their day in court, they had to plead their cases, and they had to wait for the juries decision. What failed wasn't the law it was the people who were supposed to make them accountable to it.  The law is clear, the people can be fallible. Sometimes our fellow human beings can be biased, petty, scared and unthinking when it comes to another human life or persons property.

Justice is supposed to be blind, but unfortunately PEOPLE can be biased and many times those biased people skew the distribution of justice.

This is the story of a sad flute, a laughing baby and a weeping sword

I will admit this is cheating when I heard this in the opening narration I immediately pulled out my phone and typed it in, I knew it would be my title for the review. Opening lines like this is why I used to tune in to Kung Fu theater every Saturday afternoon to watch this epic tales of martial artist on quests of vengeance, self fulfillment or for honor and glory. It's a story of a soon to be hero who may not be perfect but he will grow on you and make you happy to have come along for the ride, so to the movie:

The Warrior's Way

Man am I sleepy

I actually sat down at this desk last night prepared to do the review of "The Warrior's Way" and I was dog tired. I couldn't do it so I will do it this morning. Now I fully admit that I came up with the title for that blog while in the theater, it is actually the opening line for the narration. I would have been pissed if the movie sucked, but it seemed to foretell an epic tale(which it did). So yes my everyday blogging streak has been broken finally(well technically as I did finish the "trailers" blog after midnight during my walk so truth be told I did do A blog on saturday but not by my usual standards. Saturday was a boring day though without much to report or even make me "giddy and bloggy". So no blog for yesterday proper. Sokay I've still got a pretty good clip going.

Hope everyone is enjoying their sunday(I of course could sleep in for the majority of the day because my team played on thursday so no football for me and I wouldn't be mad for missing anything.) and I hope all got a chance to rest for the upcoming week