Welcome to another Blood, Sweat and Beers filled with random ramblings.

Tomorrow is the opening of Iron Man. I am pretty damn excited for this movie. From the news of Jon Favreau directing the film, to the FANTASTIC choice of Robert Downey Jr. to play Tony Stark to the solid casting of Terrence Howard and Jeff Daniels all the way to the really good trailers, I am very, very excited to see this movie. That unfortunately may cause me to go in with expectations too high and hurt my enjoyment for the film (it happened with my first viewing of There Will be Blood). I am more excited about this movie than about Indiana Jones, and that is saying a lot. I still want to see The Dark Knight more, but seeing Iron Man this weekend is giving me the same feelings I got when Spider Man hit theaters.

I often ponder the differences between the Internet and the real world. With the deletion of the Comment Section for awhile, I was thinking about how people on those boards liked to personally attack writers. Whether calling Devin fat and ugly or making fun of Owen’s writing skills, they say things on those comments that would probably get them knocked the fuck out for saying in person. I also question the intelligence of many of these posters on other websites. Whether they insult the writers on sites like Sportsline for their “writing skills,” make racial comments towards people like Mike Freeman, or insult the size of Harry Knolls waste, I have never heard anyone in the real world have the balls to make these sorts of insulting comments. Actually, I have. I worked in a little redneck bar for awhile and had many seemingly illiterate country bumpkins come in and seemingly have no filter between their brains and mouth. More fights broke out because the trailer trash just did not know when to shut the fuck up. Maybe these talk back commentators prove that the Internet has finally reached the backwoods.

I have really enjoyed the You Got it All Wrong columns a few of the site’s select writers have been invited to participate in. This is an area where I read the comment section and thought that everyone was ignorant to the actual purpose of these columns. Then I went to the message board and realized that there are people who do understand that these columns, while geared towards getting an actual reaction, are actually a great way to start conversation on a specific film. If you disagree that Silence of the Lambs is overblown, you have a chance to debate this topic. No one on this site is telling you that a movie sucks and that statement is fact. They are giving you two sides of the debate and setting up a chance to discuss whether you agree or disagree. This website is built for people who know their shit and that should be the perfect environment for discussion. If you disagree with one of the selections (and there is one writer in each of the columns that disagrees as well), I thought this was the perfect website to start that debate. Once again, it’s the difference between an intelligent reader and mere mouth breathers.

What the fuck is Wesley Snipes getting three years in prison for? How can Vince Neil kill someone and get 20 days in jail but Snipes gets busted for tax evasion and gets three years?

I am not as happy as everyone else that Guillermo del Toro was signed to make The Hobbit. Now, the movies will kick all kinds of ass and will probably finally get del Toro the Oscar he deserves, but I hate the fact that it will take him out of commission for up to three or four years. Sam Raimi has not made a non Spider Man movie since 2000. Peter Jackson went from Lord of the Rings to an overblown King Kong. I recently read a Andy Serkis interview that said The Lovely Bones was even going to be a big budget affair. I would hate to see del Toro make The Hobbit and then not be able (or willing) to make his more personal movies like The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth. He has stated he wanted to make a third movie in the vein of those two and I don’t know if we’ll see it now. If so, it won’t be for at least five years. Congratulations to del Toro. I’ll miss him.