Shmee.Me

May 5, 2015May 5, 2015

The Suicide Squad Is Ready To Roll, But Who Will Make It Back Alive?

Well we finally got the big cast reveal for the Suicide Squad, and they look pretty good in my opinion. We won’t really know how they turned out until we see them on screen, but they are very close to their New 52 counter parts. They are as follows from left to right: Adam Beach rumored to be Slipknot (not the band), Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, Cara Delevingne as Enchantress, in front of Cara is Karen Fukuhara as Katana, back up to Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flagg, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Will Smith as Deadshot, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Croc, and last but not least Jay Hernandez as El Diablo (well maybe least, in the running with Slipknot anyway). Plus just for kicks here are Will Smith’s Deadshot and Jared Leto’s Joker in their full garb:

Now that we know the cast the fun part is to try and figure out who will die! This is the Suicide Squad after all, and if they are going to do the comics any justice at all at least three of these people will not make it out alive.

Poor El Diablo doesn’t stand a chance. He dies in every version of the comic book. He is as good as dead. Next up I am going with Katana. Sure she is not a villain, so you would think the heroes make it through, but you would be wrong. She is donezo. The last for sure one to go is Slipknot. Adam Beach is a great actor, but the fact we don’t even know if he is Slipknot, plus the fact I had to look up who Slipknot is, means he is dead in the first thirty minutes. My last prediction is that Rick Flagg will not make it. Again a hero, but the Suicide Squad belongs to Deadshot, so it can’t have two leaders. If Tom Hardy had still been in the movie, he would have lived. Now that it is Joel Kinnaman, Dead.

As for the rest of the cast, I am not sure Enchantress or Killer Croc can physically die, and Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, The Joker, and Harley Quinn are way to popular to kill off, especially in the first movie. We will see of course, but I am pretty sure they are all safe. I hope this movie is fun. Because even though the Suicide Squad Comic is dark and violent, it is always very funny too. So here is hoping!

May 4, 2015May 4, 2015

Avengers Age Of Ultron Continues Marvel’s Hot Streak, But …

Marvel and Joss Whedon’s Avengers: Age of Ultron checks all the boxes that Marvel set out for it. Great action, new characters, a couple of laughs, and of course make tons of cash. The problem is that we have seen this before and better from the same group. I am not saying Ultron is bad. It isn’t, and if Batman V Superman can be this good it will be an impressive feet. What I am saying is that the last Avengers and Guardians of the Galley are almost perfect, so the fact that this movie isn’t quite as good is kind of a let down.

This movie starts off with the Avengers thinking they have the upper hand. Hydra is on the run, and the world is in pretty good shape, but Tony can’t leave well enough alone, so he creates an artificial intelligence to keep the peace all the time. That way the Avengers can retire, but things don’t go the way he plans and he creates Ultron. An AI that wants to kill us all. Time for more Avenging!

Really what this boils down to is that instead of there being an army of aliens to beat, there is an army of robots. Kinda. This is a shame because James Spader gives a great performance as Ultron, but he kind of takes a back seat while the Avengers get their crap together. The Scarlet Witch getting in to all their heads was kind of fun, but this movie was so long already they didn’t spend the time to truly dig in to all the Avengers’ fears. Maybe a director’s cut can fix that. This movie feels like a stopgap to get to Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet. It is getting to be a long slow grind to that film.

The actors have been playing these characters so long that they are the people on screen. They are going to be hard to replace, but the new group is looking promising. Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch will add a fun new magical twist to the group dynamic, and Paul Bettany’s Vision will have a unique perspective to add. It will also be interesting to see how the Avengers change since those two in particular are so powerful.

I liked this movie a lot, but it just wasn’t at the same level as some of the other Marvel movies. Cursed by previous success if you will. These movies are starting to feel like an obligation. Like if I don’t see them I will be missing something. I am not seeing them purely out of desire anymore, and that is kind of a bummer. Now Marvel has a lot of talent, and they have shown with Guardians of the Galaxy that they can still make amazing movies, but it might be time for them to show us something new.

May 1, 2015May 1, 2015

Star Trek Might Be A Reality!

So something amazing happened in the last couple of days, according to the Daily Mail NASA tested an EM drive in a vacuum. Now I know what you are saying, “That shouldn’t be possible! There is nothing for the ions to bounce off of in a vacuum to create thrust!” I know, I thought it was nuts to, but NASA says it has done it. They are just waiting for a peer review.

Even if you don’t understand the physics, and trust me don’t feel bad almost no one does. Well actually no one does because it is supposed to be impossible, but the reason this is so amazing is that these drives can be powered by radiation from the stars and propel objects near to or even faster than the speed of light. At the current theoretical rate of travel with this drive it would only take 100 years to get to Alpha Centauri. A long time sure, but 9,900 year less than the current method, and almost within a human’s life span. Plus it could get us to the moon in 4.5 hours. Crazy.

While I doubt we will be using these drives soon, or maybe not even in my lifetime, Little Shmee may be alive to see the first person leave our solar system, and that is an amazing thought. In fact it is almost making me cry.

April 30, 2015April 30, 2015

I Am Not Ready For The Bryan Singer X-Men Universe To Be Over!

So the current rumor is that Bryan Singer’s X-Men universe will be over after X-Men Apocalypse and Wolverine 3 (Working Title). I am not ready for that! The non-Singer X-Men movies (X-3 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine) have been terrible! Now that he has been back the X-Men movies have been good again. Really Good! While I am excited to get at least two more movies out of the current X-Men story line, it will be really hard to let it go. It also leaves me wondering if that means the new Deadpool and Gambit movies will exist outside of the current continuity. It will be interesting to find out.

I just hope whoever’s hands the X-Men movie universe lands in are capable. I can’t make it through another Brett Ratner period! Though if Singer wants to come back to DC, I would love to see what he would do.

April 29, 2015April 29, 2015

Sucking It Up With The Dyson DC25!

And now for something completely different. I do write tech reviews from time to time, but this is probably my first home appliance (I could look up if I have done others, but I don’t want to). I give you the Dyson DC25 Ball All-Floors Upright Vacuum Cleaner (a nice short name). Mrs. Shmee and I have always used midrange to cheap vacuum cleaners in the past, but with the arrival of Little Shmee we decided we needed something a little bit better, and something that worked well in the kitchen. Then Woot.com had the Dyson DC25 refurbished and on sale. It was meant to be, and it is a big improvement.

First off it is way quieter and lighter than our previous machine. It was so quiet I was almost worried that it wasn’t actually working, but low and behold it was, and it was picking up stuff that the other vacuum had left behind. It was kind of amazing and gross to watch it all get pulled in to the clear waste area. On the subject of the waste bin, it has a handy little button that drops a trap door at the bottom, so the dirt falls directly in to the trash. That way I don’t pour it all over the place. A fun little improvement.

I was skeptical about the ball. It seemed like it would be more of a marketing trick than something that mattered all that much, but it does make the Dyson DC25 much more maneuverable. It is not a big thing since the vacuum is pretty light, but it is enough of a change that I noticed the difference as soon as I made my first turn. Like the trap door it is a little thing, but still better.

There are a couple of downsides to this vacuum: Its hose is short, so you have to keep the vacuum base right next to you at all times. It can get a little awkward to handle. I have not noticed a way to raise and lower the front of it, so if you have deep carpets you may have to get a different model. By different, I mean more expensive. Woot.com or Meh.com would be your best options to save some cash.

The Dyson DC25 is not the prefect vacuum, but it is a very good one, and it is way better than what we had before. It has good suction on flat floors and carpet, and it maneuvers well. If you can live with a short hose and don’t have shag carpet, I think this will work well for you. The Dyson DC25 Ball All-Floors Upright Vacuum Cleaner was definitely a step up for us.