The title of this blog post pretty much says it all. The movie is everything I dreamt it would be and more… I watched it in the wee hours this morning on IMAX, and it was simply amazing. Christian Bale who is my current favorite actor (Deniro and Pacino have fallen greatly over the past decade) plays yet another perfect role… but this movie belongs to the late Heath Ledger and his Joker.

Ledger was always my favorite "young actor" (my age/my generation) and this role just makes me miss the thought of having him around for years to come even more. I was truly saddened when he died in January, and now the thought of not seeing him come back as the anarchist Joker just pours salt in the wounds… but there is a light at the end of the tunnel, he went out in a masterpiece.

I could ramble on for hours about how amazing this film is, and it is truly amazing but  I’ll simply steal the words of Kevin Smith from one of his recent blog posts:

“Without giving anything away, this is an epic film (and trust me: based on the sheer size and scope of the visuals and storytelling, that’s not an overstatement). It’s the “Godfather II” of comic book films and three times more earnest than “Batman Begins” (and fuck, was that an earnest film). Easily the most adult comic book film ever made. Heath Ledger didn’t so much give a performance as he disappeared completely into the role; I know I’m not the first to suggest this, but he’ll likely get at least an Oscar nod (if not the win) for Best Supporting Actor. Fucking flick’s nearly three hours long and only leaves you wanting more (in a great way). I can’t imagine anyone being disappointed by it. Nolan and crew have created something close to a masterpiece.”

I couldn’t say it any better. I will be heading back to the theater at least a few more times before this film has run it’s course at the box office. With that said, make sure you catch a glimpse of the new Watchmen trailer that debuts before Dark Knight… it looks like a hell of a ride as well. Zack Snider the amazing director of 300 and Dawn of the Dead brings his visionary look and feel to this sci-fi comic book juggernaut.

Every since YouTube first began to catch on in late 2005 the landscape of the internet has changed. Everywhere you look nearly every website across the globe has changed and integrated video to help improve their site and their message to their visitors… the once text based world of the internet is now returning back to a visual experience which will help drive even more people to the interwebs. The easier websites and the internet are to understand, the more casual users will give it a chance and stick around. So easy even a cave man can do it.

The overnight sensation and popularity of YouTube has spawned a flock of copy-cats and clones who are trying to get a piece of the video sharing pie… however it will take a small miracle for one of the many clones to grab a bite seeing as YouTube now has Google’s large elbows like a prisoner in the mess hall. Many of the other video sharing sites have improved upon YouTube’s model and actually offer a better service. Veoh, BrightCove, Revver, Blip.TV, MetaCafe, iFilm, DailyMotion and others have helped improve the video sharing experience and in my opinion are better sites than YouTube… however one site stands above them all, and that site is Vimeo.

Vimeo is an amazingly well designed Web 2.0 video sharing site and is really like no other on the internet. When you visit the home page of the site you can see some videos that the Vimeo team likes, you can explore via groups, channels or projects or you can view their High Definition videos. That’s right; Vimeo is the premiere HD video sharing service and allows users to upload videos in 720p resolution (1280×720). Since Vimeo is the best at user created HD video sharing they have a very technically competent and helpful user base. Reading the comments on HD videos you’ll notice a very interactive experience with intelligent dialogue back and forth, unlike most other video sharing sites.

Vimeo’s user experience is also easy to use and navigate. When you log into your account you are greeted with four tabs that help you around the site. Your inbox informs you of any new messages/comments as well as lets you know if any of your favorites has posted another video. Your My Stuff tab lets you keep tabs on your uploaded videos and albums. The Activity tab lets you browse what is going on across all of Vimeo or just what you and your favorites have done lately. Finally the Discover tab shows you other popular videos from around the site to help you expand your horizons. Vimeo also has an intuitive and simple voting process, you either can vote to like a video or not like a video… no more silly star system! 

The video view page and the flash player are slick as well. The flash player has the user controls superimposed over teh video and they show up and disappear as you mouse over and off the video. You can play and pause the video, use a timeline slider, share the video, grab the embed tags, enable or disable HD (to improve the loading time) and maximize the video to fit your entire screen. The page shows the video’s credits, associated tags, a list of people who liked it, a threaded comment system and the video’s statistics. Unlike most other video sites Vimeo’s main focus on each video’s page is the video itself… where most other sites have a small video with tons of clutter Vimeo shows you a large video with the clutter taking the back seat, which is how it should be.

Overall in terms of design, delivery and use Vimeo just blows the rest of the internet video sites out of the water; in my opinion there isn’t anyone even close to the amazing service Vimeo offers. Vimeo’s only real problem is that they limit their users to 500MB of upload storage a week. The cap of uploads is obvious for a few reasons. One, they limit their overhead costs of having to have an insane amount of storage available at any given time. With their membership and growth metrics they can easily estimate the amount of needed storage from week to week. It also helps them keep spammers and illegal videos off of their site. If people can’t upload entire seasons of copyrighted TV shows they’ll probably just move on to a site where they can (and they obviously do).

As of June 2008 Vimeo has roughly 440,000 members which is just a fraction of what YouTube has. I sincerely hope that Vimeo will continue to grow and gain market share as I’d hate to see such amazing site fall victim to not being able to catch on with the masses. With that said, Vimeo’s intelligent users are one of the strongest reasons to use the site, so I imagine most involved are trying to walk the fine line between driving more users to the website while keeping the trash of the internet at other video sites. The numbers from Compete and Quantcast are very promising and show growth of over 200% from April 2007 to April of 2008 with a continued growth of about 20% per month… so the outlook for Vimeo is promising.

Last year I wrote an entry before the Memorial Day weekend and looking back it is strangely a post that I am very proud to have written… so, I am going to repost it in honor of Memorial Day 2008 along with updated casualty numbers. Please remember… remember them all.

I’m sure the vast majority of those reading this have had their lives completely changed in one form or another because of the wars that this great land has been a part of, and we all need to truly take a moment to remember and thank those brave souls who fought in them. Whether you had a family member or friend perish on the battlefield or had a loved one battle the ghosts of the battlefield years after the war has ended, every one of them made a sacrifice, and their families made sacrifices as well.

When celebrating the patriotic holidays of our country the sacrifices of military families go unnoticed and unappreciated far too often. Anyone who had a father come back from the Vietnam war knows all too well the effects of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) or other mental and health issues that arise from the horrendous battlefields… so I ask that when you take a moment to honor the brave souls that fought that you please take a moment to thank their loved ones as well… they are the true heroes.

Regardless of your political or moral beliefs I pray that all Americans take a moment and reflect on where we would be as a world today if the brave men and women of our armed services present and past wouldn’t have taken up arms to protect the freedoms that we all take for granted today. Sadly we live in an imperfect world where war is inevitable and had the bravest of the brave not stood up and fought for what was right or just none of what we see and hold dear to us would be around today.

To date there have been over 658,000 Americans perish on the battlefields while another 527,500 dying while in service of our armed forces during all major conflicts. That is well over a million Soldiers, Airmen, Seaman and Marines that have lost their lives in defense of our liberties. Imagine the impact if you will of the families of those brave souls, they were men and women that were mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, sisters, brothers, granddaughters, grandsons and so on.

I’d like to personally thank all of the brave men and women that choose to protect this nation and it’s freedoms in anyway… including my father Robert Edward Groux Sr. who served in the Army and was wounded in combat during Vietnam, both of my grandfathers, my great-uncle, my step-father and my best friend Arnold Castro who also served. Without these men and their courage and sacrifices I wouldn’t be the man I am today. There have been over 1.25 million deaths by our armed men and women while in service and there are currently over 24 million living veterens. Remember them… remember them all.

America’s Active Duty Heroes of Today
Army - 517,998
Navy -  373,830
Marine Corps - 186,209
Air Force - 328,270
Coast Guard - 39,121
Total - 1,445,428 brave men and women are currently protecting our freedoms stationed at 820 installations across 39 countries worldwide. 

Conspiracy theorists like those ridiculously talked about in the web-film “Loose Change” have long claimed that the fall of the two towers was due to explosives on the planes themselves along with “controlled charges” throughout the buildings… ridiculous, I know. The simple facts of the matter are nearly 25% of the vertical steel columns were lost on impact and the steel’s spray on fire coating was blown off from the force of the explosion… add thousands of gallons of jet fuel burning hot enough to fuse steel and you have a recipe for distaster.

The structural failures of the Twin Towers has been well documented and scientifically verified by independent researchers from around the world, and the study from the Purdue researchers is just another nail in the conspiracy theory coffin. In March of 2005 Popular Mechanics published an indepth article debunking the vast majority of the 9/11 myths including the jet’s having explosive “pods” attached to them as well as the “controlled explosions” which were simply the pancaking of the floors as they collapsed on top of one another.

Popular Mechanics consulted with over 300 experts and organizations in its investigation for the article and the response to the article eventually spawned an even more indepth look with the release of the book Debunking 9/11 Myths. Like the writers of Popular Mechanics the scientists and engineers of Purdue took only the math and science of the attacks into account. In the coming months the researchers are going to continue improving upon the simulations and they will eventually encompass the fall of the towers.

The researchers from Purdue are performing the research to help improve the safety of future buildings and skyscrapers, not to make a political statement… so please don’t take my discontent for the conspiracy theorists as theirs, they are doing the research to make “buildings, occupants and emergency responders safer in future emergencies.” It is a noble task that they are performing and I just wanted to make that clear, in the mean time I am just taking the chance to poke a little fun at the conspiracy theorists.

Currently listening to: Team America - America, Fuck Yeah!

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I’m sure the vast majority of those reading this have had their lives completely changed in one form or another because of the wars that this great land has been a part of, and we all need to truly take a moment to remember and thank those brave souls who fought in them. Whether you had a family member or friend perish on the battlefield or had a loved one battle the ghosts of the battlefield years after the war has ended, every one of them made a sacrifice, and their families made sacrifices as well.

When celebrating the patriotic holidays of our country the sacrifices of military families go unnoticed and unappreciated far too often. Anyone who had a father come back from the Vietnam war knows all too well the effects of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) or other mental and health issues that arise from the horrendous battlefields… so I ask that when you take a moment to honor the brave souls that fought that you please take a moment to thank their loved ones as well… they are the true heroes.

Regardless of your political or moral beliefs I pray that all Americans take a moment and reflect on where we would be as a world today if the brave men and women of our armed services present and past wouldn’t have taken up arms to protect the freedoms that we all take for granted today. Sadly we live in an imperfect world where war is inevitable and had the bravest of the brave not stood up and fought for what was right or just none of what we see and hold dear to us would be around today.

To date there have been over 657,000 Americans perish on the battlefields while another 527,000 dying while in service of our armed forces during all major conflicts. That is well over a million Soldiers, Airmen, Seaman and Marines that have lost their lives in defense of our liberties. Imagine the impact if you will of the families of those brave souls, they were men and women that were mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, sisters, brothers, granddaughters, grandsons and so on.

I’d like to personally thank all of the brave men and women that choose to protect this nation and it’s freedoms in anyway… including my father Robert Edward Groux Sr. who served in the Army and was wounded in combat during Vietnam, both of my grandfathers, my great-uncle, my step-father and my best friend Arnold Castro who also served. Without these men and their courage and sacrifices I wouldn’t be the man I am today. Remember them.

America’s Wars Total
Military Service During War: 43,185,893
Battle Deaths: 653,708
Other Deaths In Service (theater): 14,560
Other Deaths In Service (non-theater): 525,930
Non-Mortal Wounds: 1,447,281
Living War Veterans: 17,835,0004
Living Veterans: 23,976,000

Currently listening to: Fischerspooner - Just Let Go