Saturday, January 17, 2009

CONSTANTINE Movie Review - Keanu Reeves, Rachel Weisz

"Constantine" is a thoroughly enjoyable film. Surprisingly, it's has quite a subdued and quiet tone which one doesn't often find in a film adaptation of a comic book/graphic novel. I haven't read the original source material but from what I've heard Keanu Reeves looks and sounds nothing like the John Constantine fans have come to love from the comics and for this reason there has been a backlash to the film in the sense that there is a perception that the source material wasn't strictly adhered to. After watching the film, and the subsequent interviews with the filmmakers, it seems clear to me that they must have at least captured the spirit of the world and characters portrayed in the original Hellblazer comics and in this respect, the film succeeds amicably.

The title character, John Constantine, played with remarkably well by Keanu Reeves as the indifferent bad boy who likes to give the finger to the devil whenever he can, is what makes this film so special. comparison consolidation loan student the classic anti-hero. He doesn't help the innocent purely out of altruism; he's doing it to buy his way back in to heaven. Because of his special gift of being able to see angels and demons in the real world, Constantine attempted suicide when he was a kid and as such was sent straight to hell. However, the doctors just managed to revive him and as such he was pulled back in to the real world. Upon learning that even though he's alive, he's still going to hell because technically he's still considered a suicide, Constantine goes to work for God, deporting demons and angels who break the rules to hell, all the while hoping that this 'service' will get him back in to God's good books. It's a fresh take on a heroic character, particularly as he is portrayed by Keanu Reeves as a guy who really couldn't care less what's going on. One of the coolest aspects to this film is that all of this really scary stuff is going on but he just waltzes in just like it's another day at the office and takes care of business without giving it a second thought. One particularly good scene is when he performs an exorcism at the beginning of the film; when he extracts the demon from the girl, he gives the demon the finger before sending him on his way back to hell. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the story is that Constantine is actually dying from lung cancer due to his excessive smoking. As such, you don't even believe for a second he's in danger from all these fantastical elements. Rather, you're waiting to see if he's actually going to see it through to the end before the cancer kills him.

Rachel Weisz plays Angela, a tough cop who is shocked by the apparent suicide of her twin sister Isabel. She is outraged when the Church decrees her soul be banished from the kingdom of God for committing suicide. Ultimately her path crosses that of Constantine's and together they track down what really happened to Isabel, a journey which leads them to a plot to bring back Mamon, the son of the Devil so he can bring hell to Earth. Weisz plays the character with a sense of toughness and empathy, and serves as Constantine's conscience throughout the story. In many ways, if it weren't for her character, Constantine would have gone to hell.

One cannot comment on this film without mentioning the Devil, as portrayed in this film. He's a very different, slimey character this time around but he manages to instil that sense of fun and danger. Constantine is the only soul the Devil would actually come to Earth to collect himself. In an interesting twist, he seems to be at odds with his own son who wants to usurp his father's kingdom and have hell on Earth himself. But it's the Devil's interplay with Constantine that makes it all worthwhile. Even here, Constantine couldn't care less who he's talking to, and at the end of the day, Constantine gets the last laugh, all while giving him the finger.

The look of the film is quite rich and detailed and contributes much to the atmosphere of the film. Many of the images, even simple ones like Constantine sitting on his bed looking out the window look wonderfully comic-book like, rich in detail and colour. It's beautiful to watch and kudos to the filmmakers for creating such a rich tapestry of images. Even the CG elements are well integrated.

As I mentioned before, the only real downside may be that the film didn't strictly adhere to the physical look of the world depicting in the comics; if you watch the documentaries on this DVD, you'll see what I'm talking about. I guess if you're a comic fan you'll have issues with this but I don't really think it's a negative on the film. Overall, Constantine is an entertaining, cool and witty film with dark undertones that will keep you enthused throughout its running time.

For the original DVD review, click this link: allaboutmovies.net/dvdreviewconstantine.htmallaboutmovies.net/dvdreviewconstantine.htm

Alex DeMattia is the lead DVD reviewer at the film/DVD review web site All About Movies.net - He also contributes send me the card and articles for the Digicosm Film Blog: filmannexDigicosmfilmannexDigicosm

Making Christmas Cards - How To Make A Bass Fishing Inspired Card

Christmas is considered, by many people, as the season for shopping of presents gifts and cards for near and dear ones. But, Christmas shopping often gives a lot of burden and stress on people as they have best consolidation loan student shop, fighting the crowd and paying the retail prices for all that they buy.

Today, one can shop the Christmas and presents that include trees, crafts, ornaments, cookies and cards at lower prices through the internet and also save a lot of time. Even the bass fishing cards are available online.

All of that are aware that almost everyone in Florida is fascinated by this activity of bass fishing. It is also considered that bass fishing is the top freshwater game.

Services for bass fishing have been developed by many anglers due to its growing popularity. It has now become an obsession for many.

Apart from that, few of them also make cards for Christmas, taking inspiration from bass fishing. This business is done very effectively specially during vacation seasons or other occasions.

Christmas cards are made colorful and are ornamented with stickers, games or jokes to cater to the needs of children. Also, there are cards that hold gifts or money. Christmas cards for adults are either humorous or traditional. Most of them get it through the internet though.

These Bass Fishing Cards can be bought through purchases, online purchases and catalog orders.

Many bass Fishing Cards can be mailed to the address of the concerned person's choice. Like:

1. It takes three to six business days to deliver the Bass Fishing cards

2. Gift cards or catalog(s) are separately shipped.

3. Free standard shipping is done to zip codes of the U.S.

4. The amounts from the gift cards go into the U.S funds.

There is also a second choice...

Many of these businesses involving Bass Fishing Christmas cards have paved a path to send presents to your friends, family and loved ones. Your Gift card will be emailed instantly with the payment of just a dollar amount.

The following points will remind you of how you can receive the card that was ordered for:

1. If the bass fishing cards are ordered during the normal business hours, delivery of most of them takes place within 4 hours. If not, it may take around four to twenty-four hours to deliver them.

2. Generally, these cards are delivered without any hassles. But, a spam filter, invalid email id or a full inbox can stop it from reaching the concerned person. Ensure that the card has been received; it should be checked with the recipient.

3. These are gift cards that are available for orders from the U.S. and are in U.S funds.

4. Though access is allowed for current catalogs, they cannot be mailed.

This is the third option; you can make your own Christmas card taking inspiration from bass fishing to make it a memorable one. Anyway, the thought is more important than the amount!

A simple self made Christmas card is special, but how much was it motivated by bass fishing? Isn't it peculiar? But very easy though!

This is what is required:

A piece of card 17cm x 25cm

A piece of crepe or tissue paper a little smaller than the card

Several colored paper pieces, that are recycled or with an interesting texture

A metallic cord or braid, or a colored ribbon inspire

A scale or ruler

Glue

A pair of scissors

Pinking shears

Also remember to carry snaps of the bass fishes (ensure that it is scanned)

The easiest way to do this is:

1. The card should be folded in half carefully.

2. A very small quantity of glue to paste the tissue as a lining inside the card.

3. A colored piece of paper is trimmed using pinking shears , such that has dimensions 13cm x 8cm.Paste it on the front part of the card after leaving equal margins on either sides.

4. A simple shape of a Christmas tree, bells, stars etc., is cut from a paper of contrasting & interesting colour. This is glued to the front part of the card.

5. Once this is done, the scanned picture is edited. Paint Shop Pro is used for this.

And here it is, just by using your imagination; you can make a beautiful Christmas card for all those bass fishing lovers!

Abhishek is an avid Bass Fishing enthusiast and he has got some great Fishing-Masters88/index.htmBass Fishing Secrets up his sleeve! Download his FREE 135 Pages Ebook, "How To Become A Bass Fishing Pro!" from his website Fishing-Masters88/index.htmFishing-Masters88/index.htm. Only limited Free Copies available.

PC Graphics Cards - How They Affect Your Computer Experience

If you are looking to purchase a PC graphics card for your computer, then there are three things you will need to consider prior to picking one - speed, performance and card type. A graphics card, sometimes referred to as an adapter or accelerator, is a video card that goes inside your computer to control the output to the monitor.

There are two levels of graphics cards to handle the types of graphics you need: 2D graphics cards which are designed for business applications and 3D graphics cards which are more suited to gaming and video playback.

When it comes to performance adding a high speed graphics card to your machine will greatly improve the way your computer runs applications, because you will be replacing the standard on-board graphics processor that came with the computer when you purchased it, with a high performance 3D accelerator card.

There a number of different graphics card manufactures but when it comes to chipsets there are actually only two companies that produce the ones you find on graphics Nevada Lemon Laws ATI and NVIDIA. Known as graphics processing units or GPU's, they are the brain center behind the card.

Performance will be improved automatically when you install a PC graphics card, because all the processing related to graphics will be processed by a separate computer within your computer system. The PC graphics card takes care of commands related to generating graphics in your system. This, in turn, leaves your computer processor free to take on other tasks you might need.

Before you buy a graphics card, you will need to find out what kind of interface your computer's motherboard has. There are three possibilities including PCI, AGP and PCI-E. Most motherboards these days have a PCI slot. However, the PCI interface isn't very fast relative to the AGP or PCI-E.

If you are looking to maintain or improve performance, you will want to look at a card that connects to your computer utilizing the Accelerated Graphics Port of AGP interface or the newer PCI-E. If your computer only supports PCI, you might consider buying a newer computer that allows you to interface with AGP or PCI-E. PCI interfacing is relatively slow when compared to the other two interfaces.

Drivers are also important. You will need to have the correct drivers installed on your computer in order to get the best performance from your new PC graphics card.

There are a number of popular brands to choose from including nVidia, GeForce, Crossfire for ATI products and the like. Some features you may consider including is the Super-Video output and TV-tuner inputs which allow you to record video for multimedia projects.

Now that you know how graphics cards can give your system more speed, improve performance and what type of card is best for your system, there's no reason not to go out and research the brand name you are interested in and look at the extra features you like best.

John D Bartholomew designs computer buy settlement and specializes in computer accessories. Bartholomew recommends pcsuperstation14-Graphics_CardsPC Superstation.

GPS For Hunting FAQ's - 3 Most Frequently Asked Questions When Buying a Hunting GPS

Hunters generally have a number of questions when considering to purchase a GPS for hunting. It is always good to get law school loan consolidation that is waterproof hostgator coupons that has sufficient capacity for entering waypoints. However, the 3 most common questions are as follows:

Q: Do I need a hunt/fish calculator on my GPS and Why?

A. When hunting it is helpful to have a hunt/fish calculator in your GPS so you can check to see when the best time to be in the field is for your hunting location. This information is based on the phase of the moon and will give you a general time when the most game activity will be.

Q. What is the benefit of having a GPS with a MicroSd card slot?

A. The biggest benefit for having a MicroSD card slot in your GPS is so you can pre-load different maps for different hunting areas on different memory cards. Then when you hunt a certain area you can simply place that memory card in the card slot of the GPS and have all the information that you need.

Q. Should the GPS have an electronic compass?

A. An electronic compass is especially nice to have on a GPS that will be used for hunting. This will allow the hunter to get an accurate bearing and reading of their position while sitting or standing still. This way the hunter can use their GPS while in a tree stand, ground blind, or in a spot and stalk situation.

These are just a few questions that most hunters have when considering to buy a GPS for hunting.

And if you would like more information of Hunting GPS units please go to theultimategpsstoretheultimategpsstore and sign up for our Hunting GPS Review newsletter. You will also receive some great unadvertised specials.

By: Rhonda Percell - Avid Hunter and Owner of The Ultimate GPS Store