Batson's Blog

If you remember seeing the previews for Jack and Jill and thinking, ‘That movie doesn’t look very good,’ then you were right. I watched Jack and Jill the other day and it’s kind of a shame I did. That’s close to two hours of my life I won’t get back. I’m being a little too harsh, but it wasn’t a very good movie. I’m kind of shocked, reading up some statistics on it now, that the movie wasn’t a total box office bomb. Critics dogged it (rightfully so), but the movie didn’t lose money. I guess that says something about Adam Sandler’s star power. The entire selling point of the movie is that Adam Sandler pulls double duty, playing the roles of identical twins Jack and Jill. That’s also the problem with the movie. Sandler is so over-the-top while playing Jill that it becomes a very unrealistic movie. I know it’s a comedy, but can we at least keep one foot on the ground with reality? I’ve always been so-so on Adam Sandler movies. His exaggerated and loud acting doesn’t a...

I went looking for The Blushing Bakeshoppe in Ballantyne, but I’m assuming it closed since I spent an hour walking around the Ballantyne Village looking for the shop. I tried calling the phone number that was listed on the Blushing Bakeshoppe Facebook page. It was still working, but I got the voicemail. Turns out, there’s a new bakery right across the street. I stumbled upon Decadent Designs Bakery . There’s a large display case of cupcakes inside, along with a couple of high tables in case you want to eat inside. I wasn’t sure which cupcakes to get as there were several flavors to choose from. Three of them caught my eye though: a chocolate-covered Boston Cream Cupcake, a Key Lime cupcake with light green frosting and a larger Strawberry cupcake that was intricately decorated.

Iron Man isn't the only super hero returning to the big screen in the next several years. You'll be seeing a lot of Spidey too. "Sony's film studio announced Monday it has OK'ed the third and fourth editions of the webbed franchise, and that they will hit theaters on June 10, 2016 and May 4, 2018," USA Today reports . Andrew Garfield is already resuming his role as Spider-Man. He's in New York filming the sequel to last year's The Amazing Spider-Man . It's set for a May 2014 release date -- the same month that X-Men: Days of Future Past is set for. Related Content: • Iron Man 3 - reviewed. • More Iron Man to come • The Amazing Spider-Man - reviewed.

After some speculation that Robert Downey Jr. may have put on the Iron Man suit for the last time, Marvel announced that he's signed on for more appearances as the high-tech super hero. " ... Marvel is pleased to announce the signing of Robert Downey, Jr. to reprise the role of the “billionaire, genius, playboy, philanthropist," they said in a statement on Marvel.com. There may not be any additional individual Iron Man movies, but Downey will return in The Avengers 2 and The Avengers 3 . Marvel also revealed that the sequel to The Avengers , being written and directed by Joss Whedon, will feature new Marvel characters that haven't been on the big screen before. It's slated for production in 2014 and is set to be released May 1, 2015. Related Content: • Iron Man 3 - reviewed. • The Avengers - reviewed. • Stan Lee's Top 15 Cameos

Christopher Nolan succeeded in creating an incredible Dark Knight trilogy. I’m not quite sure he succeeded in creating an incredible part one in Superman’s story. In a way, the movie was really good. It introduced us to Superman, his allies and his foes. Yet, it kind of fell flat for me. When it comes to super heroes, I make it no secret that Batman is my favorite. I never really became a big fan of the Superman character until I rented the Christopher Reeve movies about five years ago. After I saw those movies, I was very eager to see Superman Returns . After I saw that one, I wanted another, but that possible franchise fell apart. When it was announced that Man of Steel was in the making, I was anxious to see what kind of magic Nolan would produce with Superman. I don’t regret going to see the movie, but I wasn’t blown away either. That being said, the Batman trilogy didn’t really pick up until The Dark Knight . Even though Batman Begins wasn’t the best film of th...

There’s at least two closed cupcake shops I’ve run into in Indian Trail, but along Indian Trail Road, there’s a cupcake shop that’s in business. It’s A Piece of Cake is located in a small strip mall near the Ace Hardware. I drove by a couple of times before, but each time the store looked like it was closed. I called ahead to make sure it was actually open. It was, so the Indian Trail cupcake taste test was good to go. The cupcake shop isn’t much to look at inside. There was a display case, but there were a bunch of seemingly random things in there as well. It was almost like a garage sale. It was like a pawn shop-turned-bakery. Nonetheless, there were a few different flavors of cupcakes in plastic six-packs in the display cases, so I chose three of them: a Twix cupcake, an Almond Joy cupcake, and a chocolate cupcake.

If you look at Wikipedia's page for June 16th , you'll see a slew of historic events. Perhaps more exciting than anything listed on the Wikipedia page is the fact that June 16th is also Captain Picard Day. Captain Picard Day is celebrated on June 16th because it is the equivalent date to Stardate 47457.1, mentioned in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode entitled The Pegasus. In that episode, Captain Picard Day is an occasion for the Enterprise to host schoolchildren and show them what Starfleet is like. Read more at http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2009/06/16/captain-picard-day/#X2HFaaImDHTg3UPx.99 Here's a list of other great captains: Captain Planet Who else can save the planet from pollution-loving bad guys and be a good role model -- all while rocking green hair? That's greatness all by itself. Add in his super powers and his always cool attitude, and you have a great captain indeed. Captain Hook He loses battles to a flying teenager in tights who...