Batson's Blog

After A.J. Clemente's on-air gaffe , there's a lot of opinion floating around about whether or not he should have been fired. When I was getting my degree in Mass Communication, I was taught that there are a couple of cardinal sins in journalism. One is saying that someone is dead when they really aren't.  That's a surefire way to lose your job, especially if the person you accidentally kill is Reverend Billy Graham . The other major no-no is swearing while you're on the air. For that reason, when I was a reporter, I didn't swear inside the TV station at all. Despite Clemente's firing, he's been getting his 15 minutes of fame, so it may work out for the best. Clemente wasn't the first TV personality to swear during a live broadcast and I'm sure he won't be the last. Whether it's magazines, newspapers or TV news broadcasts, mistakes happen. Some are more minor than others though. Mistakes, big and small, are bound to happen...

After blogging about some possible characters in a possible third G.I. Joe movie, I figured why not give X-Men a shot. Days of Future past is already in the works, but what about the one after that? One has to think that after the original trilogy, two Wolverine movies and two prequels, there’s not too many X-Men movies left. Nightcrawler made an appearance in X2 , Beast made his full-form appearance in X-Men: The Last Stand , and Gambit made an appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine . Banshee, Havok and The White Queen were all part of X-Men: First Class . Magneto, Mystique, Cyclops, the Professor, Rogue and Storm were all major parts of the original X-Men trilogy. So who is left? Here are a few characters who would be fun to see make appearances in any remaining X-Men movies: Jubilee She was a teenager in the animated series in the ‘90s. Because of that she was often left out of the major missions, for her own safety. In X-Men , Rogue kind of took on the role of the...

After the successful opening weekend for G.I. Joe: Retaliation a few weeks back, rumors immediately started swirling about G.I. Joe 3. Even though there was no additional scene after the credits, I almost immediately began anticipating a third movie as well. Given that there was such a shift in the cast between the first and second movies, I'm hoping they continue that trend (to a degree) with the third, welcoming a few more Joes to the fold. I hope there's a few new villains as well. While I always welcome Storm Shadow back for round three, I think Firefly and Zartan's departures (assuming they don't make a miraculous comeback) will open up a couple of new spots. Here are some of the characters I'd like to see show up next time around: Shipwreck He was always one of my favorite G.I. Joes, simply because Shipwreck always had personality. There were some episodes that centered around him and it got to be a little annoying. Too much Shipwreck equals an...

I have yet to see Oz: The Great and Powerful , but I hear it’s a pretty decent movie. It’s on my ‘to see’ list – maybe even in the theatres. I’m curious to see what the plot is since I’ve stayed away from reviews and spoilers. I’m equally curious to see what Oz looks like with the technical capabilities of the 21st century. Over the years, Hollywood has done a pretty spectacular job at making some make believe places look very real. Here are nine other make believe lands that would provide a lot of fun if they actually did exist: Narnia Imagine being able to step through a mirror and being transported to a magical land of talking lions, talking beavers and other magical beings. As long as it's a time of peace, there wouldn't be any evil witches to worry about. I think I'd be a little scared to go, honestly. I'd be worried Aslan would get a bit of an appetite and I'd be his lunch.  It'd be and adventure though -- that's for sure. Neverlan...

Earth Day seemed like a good day to blog on something I've been thinking about for a while: would it be possible to make a credible Captain Planet movie? Long before the Lord of the Rings movies, the Planeteers made powerful rings very cool. The Captain Planet television series was definitely geared towards kids. I remember watching it when I was between 7 and 10 years old, but even then there were times that I thought, 'This is kind of hokey.' Would it have to be that way though? I think it's possible to create a much more realistic version of Captain Planet, specifically for the big screen. There are rumors that a Captain Planet movie is in the works , which is a very smart thing to do. Super hero movies are huge right now. Iron Man, Spider-Man and Batman have proven, several times over, to be money-makers at the movies. Take a look at Transformers. 4 movies and counting so far. Even historical figures have been reincarnated (to some success) on the ...

After a week off last week, I was back at it again -- this time testing out Jewell Treats , located in SouthPark Mall. There's a small stand outside of Gymboree, near the Apple store. The first thing I noticed about all three cupcakes that I bought was how small they were compared to some of the others I've bought recently. They weren't mini-cupcakes, but they were far from mammoth. Strawberry When I was trying to figure out which cupcakes to get, the sales clerk told me that strawberry is one of their best sellers. After eating it, I can understand why. It had a very real strawberry taste. It wasn't smothered in frosting, but there was enough to make the cupcake work. There weren't any added extras on top of the cupcake, but, in this case, keeping it simple was just fine. Chocolate Diamond Sundae The Sundae cupcake was full of ooey, gooey chocolatey goodness. It was like a really good chocolate brownie in a moist cupcake form. With an edible c...

I was on vacation last week and for a change I thankfully (or maybe not?) had Netflix access. I was addicted to it for most of the last week, watching Greedy (not Michael Fox's best film), Pretty Ugly People (which got a deserving low score of 33% on Rotten Tomatoes ), and Hart of Dixie (a review of that show to come at a later date...). While watching Hart of Dixie I couldn't help but notice a couple of instances of celebrity look-a-likes. On the left: Jaime King On the right: Emma Stone First there’s Jaime King, who plays Lemon Breeland, a southern belle from a small town. For most of the first episode of the hour-long drama, I was convinced that Lemon Breeland was played by Emma Stone. If Emma hadn’t dyed her hair and played Gwen Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man , I wouldn’t have given it a second though. After seeing Stone in her blonde hair, however, she really could be King’s sister. It's all in the dimples with these two. I think that's what m...