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

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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.

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Star Trek Might Be A Reality!

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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.

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

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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.

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Sucking It Up With The Dyson DC25!

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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.

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The Last Batman: Arkham Knight Trailer Proves June Is Too Far Away!

I know this is my second video game trailer this week, but Batman: Arkham Knight looks amazing, and it is only a couple of short months away!  Plus it is National Superhero Day, so why not!

The ability to use Batman’s sidekicks with him in combat looks like a new fun twist on the combat, and with the Batmobile, I am wondering how much bigger the city is going to be.  I am just glad they are releasing this during the summer.  If it is successful maybe more games will launch outside the “Christmas” window.