"Let's face it, this is not the worst thing you've caught me doing."

Wow. I can’t believe it’s been over a year since my last post.

Well, ok. Actually, I CAN believe that. I think I just gave up for a while there. I don’t really know what has inspired me to add another entry today, but here it is. Will this be the beginning of an epic Blog comeback? Only time will tell…

Regardless of the reason for getting back on the blog-wagon, I have some great things to blog about. First and foremost, I have officially entered the world of BLU RAY!!

I got a Playstation 3 for my birthday. I am not a console gamer, by any means and this is not a console gaming blog. But there are two very important reasons why owning a Playstation 3 is critical to any DVD buff.

1) It is the most cost effective and up-to-date Blu Ray player on the market. It acts as an up-converting DVD player, so your old DVDs will look great. But Blu Ray Discs (BD) look spectacular.

2) Rock Band. Ok, I know that’s not a movie but it’s worth mentioning. I’m not a musician, but now I can feel like one in the privacy of my basement.

Back to the Blu Ray thing. For the 4 of you who have not yet heard of Blu Ray it is the latest and greatest in home movie technology. Blu Ray discs can hold a LOT more information than a standard DVD. The upshot of that is movies can be stored on a Blu Ray disc at a significantly higher resolution and with uncompressed sound. This results in a stunning picture with a high level of detail and crystal clear audio.

“But my movies look good enough as they are,” you might say. Well, that may be so. Perhaps you are able to engage completely in the movies you have on DVD. It’s possible that you fully enjoy your standard definition DVD movies on your 27”, non-HD TV. Maybe you don’t need high definition Blu Ray to enjoy film.


No. That’s wrong. Trust me. There’s a small chance I’m just overly excited about Blu Ray and am unable to offer an unbiased, objective analysis of Blu Ray versus Standard DVD. But probably not.

Ok, now that we’ve settled that, go out and buy a PS3, an HDMI cable and a shiny new HD TV. Come back when you’ve got it all set up.

Done? Good. Let’s continue.

Now that you’ve got that new PS3 you’re probably wondering which Blu Ray disc to buy first. Don’t worry. I can help with that too.


Iron Man. Go buy it. Watch it. Love it.

I knew I was going to like this movie, but I had no idea how much I was going to like it. Shauna often tells me stories of how she used to watch Batman on VHS over and over again. I can recall seeing Batman in the theatre about 5 or 6 times and then wanting to watch it every day on video as well. That’s how I feel about Iron Man. It took me a while to identify the exact, special quality that makes this film so exciting for me. Was it the story? Was it the writing? The special effects? Robert Downey Jr.’s incredible performance?

I was having a hard time figuring it out because there are so many other movies I love that have those exact same qualities but are somehow different. So what was it?

I want to be Iron Man.

This movie makes me feel like I’m back in junior high again and I all want is to be Tony Stark and have my own Iron Man suit. It’s just so cool.

I could talk all day about the story (terrific), the writing (fantastic) and the witty, sharp performance given by Downey (did I say incredible already?). But ultimately the biggest draw for me is that this movie is loads of fun and makes me feel like I’m 12 years old again. I could watch it over and over again because each time I get to feel a little bit like Tony Stark. I get to fly over Malibu and dogfight with jets and take out the bad guys with mere flick of the wrist. I get to be Iron Man.

Maybe all of that sounds immature and childish.

It should. That’s kind of the point. Sometimes we complain about immaturity and sometimes we long to relive our youth when our imaginations ran wild and we didn’t care what others thought. I hope Iron Man makes you feel like the latter.