Movie Review: The Amazing Spider-Man – Sometimes a reboot isn’t such a bad idea after all.

Okay, so I just took my son to see The Amazing Spider-Man. We went to the IMAX and saw it in 3D. I was fortunate to have a couple of free IMAX tickets and decided to use them for this. Got a couple more free tickets I’ll be using in a couple more weeks for the guy with the pointy ears. 😉

I had gotten used to the Tobey Maguire version that Sam Raimi had come up with. As with a lot of fans when I heard there was to be a reboot instead of a fourth film I was left scratching my head wondering what they were thinking. Then when I heard they were going to have the same villain as what had apparently been planned for the fourth film in The Lizard I really couldn’t figure out why they just hadn’t left what I considered well enough alone. When I saw early still shots from the set and the costume with the weird attachments, I just figured it would be a terrible movie.

The trailers made me think otherwise. Otherwise enough to take my son as he got excited over seeing Spider-Man in the theater as opposed to the TV with daddy’s DVDs of the previous films and the cartoons.

Now I won’t do any spoilers here, but I will touch on some elements, so depending on your level of sensitivity before seeing something, just be warned.

This was a surprisingly well done version of Peter Parker. Going back to his high school roots – and staying there throughout the film – was an excellent move on the people creating this. I had always felt that with Tobey’s first outing they could have kept him in school a bit longer, but forgave them for the sake of the movie. I don’t know how long they intend to keep the Andrew Garfield version in high school, but the fact he was still in there at the end of the film was a good sign.

Another surprise was the way both Martin Sheen and Sally Field were able to pull off Uncle Ben and Aunt May. I had thought I’d be distracted by their star status, and for a bit there I was, but they proved their acting ability and made a believer out of me. The final scene with Peter and Uncle Ben was very heart wrenching, and that’s from someone that has seen a few different ways this story has been told.

I liked seeing the evolution of the costume. It was very believable and quite funny at times.

The family of Gwen Stacy was a really nice touch as we had dealt with Mary Jane already in the previous movies. Denis Leary did a great job playing the cop dad of Gwen that was out to get Spider-Man.

The Lizard was one bad ass character to have to deal with. This was a tough character and done in a way that I think was better than whatever Raimi and crew could have given us, and considering how well they had done the previous films, that’s saying a lot. I did think he could have used a bit more snout, but otherwise it was a top notch rendering and Rhys Ifans did an outstanding job playing Dr. Conners and showing his battle with The Lizard persona.

Humorous bits between Peter Parker and Flash Thompson were nice, and I liked that they got Flash to be blond this time although I thought he could have used more hair on his head.

The cameo of Stan Lee was the best of his cameos I had seen yet! He never said a word and I was laughing the entire time. Excelsior, Stan the Man!

After having seen The Avengers, I was wondering just how well films such as The Amazing Spider-Man and the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises would fare. Completely different types of films. The Avengers was a kick butt team action film. The Amazing Spider-Man was a drama with action. Looking back at Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, I’d say The Dark Knight Rises will be as well. The Avengers still holds the spot for best comicbook movie I’d seen in a long, long time, but The Amazing Spider-Man cannot be compared to it.

I have to look back at what we had before with Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire. Great films for when they came out, and I got all three on DVD and will be watching them again soon. But this film The Amazing Spider-Man is a film for today, and to keep the Raimi look and feel at this point would not have worked as well as I believe this one did. There were a lot of great shots of Spider-Man in the air, especially near the end, and his use of the webbing in this film was extremely slick.

Overall, I believe this was a great idea for a reboot and I think we’ll be seeing a few more with this cast and crew in the coming years.

And before I go, remember, this is a Marvel Comics movie. When the credits start to roll, be a wise person and keep your butt in the seat until they are finished. When you get up at the beginning of the credits, you will always miss out on something at the end of a Marvel Comics movie. Just know that.

Happy Thanksgiving and Black Friday!

Happy Thanksgiving to all the readers of my blog! I do hope that you all enjoy getting together with friends and family and enjoy whatever food you decide to eat (turkey for us!) as we remember the heritage of this nation.

Some of you may have wondered after my last entry if I not only forgot to plug into my cell phone about doing another post on here, but that maybe I lost my whole calendar!

Never to fear, I’ve just been tied up with a lot of things I’ve been working on and have been demanding my attention in one way or another.

I have a new business endeavor I haven’t officially started yet, but prepping for it took up some time during the month of October. This month of November has been dedicated toward another business endeavor with a particular goal in mind for the end of the month. Throughout it all, I’ve had several stressful situations of varying degrees occur which took up any time I would have put toward this blog and a couple of other pleasant things in my life such as just sitting back each night with a good novel to read before I go to bed.

So, enough of that, I’m sure you are wondering what all is going on with Beyond the Charts.

Well, as you should be aware, I’m taking pre-orders for “GRO$$ OUT!! – Effective Marketing For Getting Your Next $144,000”

This is a Limited – Signed and Numbered – Hardback Edition sold only through Beyond the Charts which will be released at full price in March 2012.

The first pre-order price (which all prices include shipping and handling) was at $25 ($35 international) at the beginning of September. It went up in October and now in November it is at $35 ($45 international). If that sounds a little high, just remember that it IS a hardback edition, and if you’ve taken a look at hardbacks, even the latest Stephen King novel is almost $35 in hardback. And that’s WITHOUT shipping and handling. Mine includes shipping. And it’s a Limited Edition. Signed by myself as the author. So the rarity does demand a respective price.

Even so, I am making a special price just for Black Friday after Thanksgiving.

For 24 hours I will have the pre-order price be at the lowest it has ever been from the website at $22 ($32 international) and that STILL includes shipping and handling.

I’m also offering select prizes to certain people that order including not having to pay for the book! That’s right, some people will be able to get the book for FREE!!!

All the info you need for this Black Friday Sale can be found at Beyond the Charts, so be sure to go there to look it all over, and be sure to come back after you’ve eaten some turkey so you can pre-order yourself the book which will help you make some sales of your product this next year!

Once again, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Have a great weekend, and I hope to see your name in my inbox as someone I’ll be sending a signed copy of my book to in March! 🙂

Decompression and two weeks into the month…

If there is one thing I am learning on my recent stint of road trips that each last me an entire weekend, it’s that the time after I’m back is usually chaotic as I decompress from whatever event I’ve come from and try to catch up on lost sleep as I struggle through the first week back. As a result, my time online is usually just to get myself reoriented for it since when I’m gone I rarely have time to get online and don’t have a portable laptop at this time to just log on anywhere.

Chicago at the end of July, Kentucky in the middle of August, Atlanta at the first of September. I was planning for another trip to Boston this weekend, but at this point unless a miracle of money comes in I think I’m going to have to cancel my spot at it. Indeed, considering my driving time on trips, I may just have to do that cancellation today. Maybe I could use the “rest” from traveling so often all of a sudden anyway. Bo Bice is supposed to be in our small town this weekend performing at our annual event. Maybe I’ll go check him out. Never seen him live before.

For some of you that don’t know, I live in a small town in the mountains of Northeast Georgia. It’s pretty nice up here. I’ve lived here on and off throughout my lifetime, so out of all the places I’ve lived I sort of consider this area “home”. For better or for worse. 😉

Coming home from these trips lately has been quite an experience. Depending on the event, I’ve had my head going in different directions when I get back and I find myself doing all sorts of stuff regarding whatever I was doing that weekend during the first few days I’m back.

It can really take a while sometimes to integrate new information into one’s daily routine or one’s life and have everything else that’s needed bounce back too.

It got so bad this past week that I missed an appointment I had set up about a month ago to see someone. I just forgot about it. Didn’t like that. I began to use the calendar on my new cell phone after that. Got an appointment later today I need to attend to. Got it in my phone, so I know it must be true. 😉

So now it comes to today and I’m sitting here realizing that it’s the 14th of the month and I posted last on the 1st promising you guys the excerpts would resume last week after Dragon*Con and here I am two weeks into the month without another post.

So here I am posting. Hope I ain’t boring you to tears talking about my life.

I suppose if I’m to get “caught up” on my excerpt posts I’ll have to do one every other day for about a week and a half or so. Hope you guys don’t mind that sort of frequency. I know for about a week or so there I was posting at least one every day, at times there was more than one. I think on one day I posted three in a 24 hour period.

That surprised even me.

And after talking with the various people at Dragon*Con it occurred to me that the subtitle of my book was really doing some people a disservice. My book is titled “GRO$$ OUT!!” and the subtitle is “Effective Marketing For Getting Your First $144,000”. Well, some people need help with marketing and maybe in time they’ve made that much money already or they were doing that regularly at one time but the economy or other factors caused them to slide down lower in numbers, or maybe they are doing even better than that and want to get even better.

Whatever the case, the point is that not everyone is out for their “First” $144,000.

So, I thought about it and changed the subtitle which should work regardless of how much you’ve already made.

“GRO$$ OUT!! – Effective Marketing For Getting Your Next $144,000”

I’ve already updated past blog entries to reflect this as well as the website which if you click on that shiny new title there it will take you where you need to go if you’re wanting to know more about the book.

So, no excerpts have been posted on this new book for a couple of weeks now.

Wow.

I’m definitely behind and need to start posting again real soon here. I’m sure there’s a few people out there at least that might want to see what else I’m offering before they make up their minds. Maybe I’ll start tonight with a new excerpt. Or maybe tomorrow morning. Guess I better plug it into my new cell phone so I don’t forget.

September 1st Announcements

This is David James from Beyond the Charts with a few announcements,

Today, September 1st, 2011, I am pleased to inform you that the Beyond the Charts website has been updated quite well. The “front” page has new information describing just what Beyond the Charts is about, not too new to those of you that have been following this blog if you’ve clicked on the above tag for “Beyond the Charts” as it is quite similar to what is found there, but quite new for the website. There are links up top for the main site, The Wasteland message board forum, this blog here, the Beyond the Charts Facebook page, and one other item I will speak of momentarily. The changes were made quite recently and a post did appear on Facebook yesterday, but otherwise this is the official announcement of that.

I am also pleased to let you know that if you haven’t checked out The Wasteland message board forum lately that you should do so. Its look has been changed too and there are many great spots to post messages and respond to other posts. Feel free to introduce yourself in the appropriate area once you sign up.

For those of you that have been looking at my blog for some time now, and particularly the last couple of months, you know that I’ve been posting excerpts for a marketing book I’ll be releasing. Some of you may remember that I said I’d post the first pre-orders for it today.

This has now occurred.

I am pleased to announce that the book “GRO$$ OUT!! – Effective Marketing For Getting Your Next $144,000” is now officially available for pre-ordering. Just click on the title there to find out all the details you need to know to order it. The excerpts from it that have been posting on here will resume next week and will run about two or three a week from here on out.

Exciting times for sure! This weekend I am going to Atlanta for Dragon*Con. I am quite excited and look forward to seeing a bunch of people I’ve met and hung out with the last couple of years going and I know I’ll meet many new faces as well. If you happen to be going and see me, be sure to stop and let me know you’ve been reading my blog. I’d love to meet you!

I’ll be back from the Con late Monday night, so blogging should resume sometime on late Tuesday evening.

Take care, and I’ll catch up with you again next week! 😀

Be encouraged,

David James

MASSIVE COMICBOOK SALE!!!

MASSIVE COMICBOOK SALE!!!!

I have several thousand comicbooks available RIGHT NOW FOR SALE!!

I have never done this before and it probably won’t happen again any time soon, so you should take advantage of this as I am selling my PERSONAL COLLECTION of comicbooks which vary in rarity and selection.

This sale is to take place over

Update For The Last Two Weeks

Wow. The past two weeks have been extremely busy for me.

Last weekend I was at a business seminar in Chicago with this awesome group I’m with where I learned the simplicity of building a strong business over 2 to 5 years where massive income is generated by the end of that period and how it will just keep on growing in the years to come. It was appropriately titled, “How to Create a Perpetual Money Making Machine” and was held at the Hyatt. The irony was that the same weekend a sci-fi convention was being held featuring among other people two guests I got to speak briefly to

July Update

Hello, all! Been a couple of months since I posted here, so I thought I’d get back to it again with an update for everyone.

Today we’ll cover several items:

General info on Beyond the Charts
The marketing book
The novel
Becoming a Publisher
David’s personal life
Conclusion

The Inevitable…

Change.

It’s inevitable. And it happens all too frequently. But it’s the person who adapts to change and keeps going forward that not only survives but can even thrive.

I’ve had a lot of changes happen in my life, and it seems that my life isn’t going to stop changing any time soon.

I find it interesting how I always seem to know how to talk so much when I’m around others in person, but to type up a blog entry to share my thoughts? I have trouble with that for some reason. Something else I’ll need to change.

Right now I’m watching Avatar while I type this up. It’s playing on HBO. Jake has just been accepted into the Na’vi tribe and they’re doing the fractal form thing where they all put hands on him by each putting hands on the other one in front of them. If you’ve seen the movie, then you know that this was one of the many turning points where things kept changing him from a crippled man with no hope to the courageous leader of the Na’vi.

I may not have to go through that drastic of a change, but I do wonder what other changes await me as my own path reveals itself?

Time will tell as they say.

New Computer!

Greetings!

So happy right now!

I’m finally done with the old Windows 2000 computer I’ve had for over two years now and have hooked up my brand new Windows 7 computer with more than enough memory and disk space as well as an AMD Athlon II processor.

Things are going so much faster and smoother now and I really like the improvements I’m seeing in this over what I’ve seen in XP and Vista when I would use other people’s computers in the past. And the widescreen flat panel monitor doesn’t hurt either. 🙂

So I just thought I’d let everyone know that the old computer problems are gone now for good.

Whoo-hoo!

Be encouraged,

David James
Founder – Beyond the Charts, LLC
http://www.beyondthecharts.com

Beyond the Charts is readjusting for the New Year!

Greetings!

I hope everyone is having a great Holiday season no matter what holiday you are celebrating, and I hope we’re all going to celebrate the New Year!  Myself, I’m getting ready for Christmas next week and I’m having to realize that my plans and goals for Beyond the Charts are not working out quite as I had planned.

Life – both personally and professionally – has just gotten in the way every time I turned around and prevented me from doing the things I wanted to do.

– I had thought I’d be more consistent with getting the products on the site; I have not.
– I had thought I’d be blogging on here, posting on the Facebook Fan page, and Tweeting on Twitter, as well as keeping you updated on the Skinny section of the Beyond the Charts website; I have not.
– I had thought I would have had about five specific blog entries done even two months ago; I have not.
– I had thought I would have had more sales by now; I have not.

So, I’m taking things a bit differently as I restructure myself for the coming New Year.

I’m going to keep the main website up for the purposes I have it for already and will add products about once or twice a month until I can hire someone to assist in adding products on a more regular basis. I will add other sites for the other purposes I will be including into what makes up Beyond the Charts that I will speak of in a future post.

One thing I will speak of now that I will talk more of in the future is that I have found an awesome opportunity to make some serious money that has caused me to leave a company I’ve been working with – and getting very little results – for a few years now. No other opportunity would have caused me to do this because I was serious about sticking it out with what I was doing as I saw other people around me making money with it.

This opportunity is being done by a businessman that if I mentioned his name you would know exactly who I was talking about. For anyone out there that has any kind of entrepreneural streak at all, this is THE business to get into, and NOW is the time to get into it as it was just launched this year and the GROWTH already is outstanding and experts say that in the next two years more millionaires will be made from this opportunity than the world has ever seen.

If you want more information, go to the site I have that a couple of people on my team – Ed and David – have set up so you can get more information. AFTER going through it, CONTACT me through here or call me directly at 706-839-6571

http://david.extremewealth4you.com

If you’re wanting to make some money – I mean serious money – THIS is the opportunity for you, and you should click on the link NOW.

After Christmas, and leading up to the New Year, I will put more and more information on here about other things I will be doing to change things and add to what Beyond the Charts means.

Exciting times are upon us for sure!

Be encouraged,

David James