The Avengers: Early Reviews Are In—Marvelous or Not?

source: http://www.eonline.com/news/avengers_early_reviews_are/310346#ixzz1sbV0zX1M

With apologies to a certain Marvel supervillain who's not in the film, Joss Whedon has hit a bull's-eye with The Avengers.

Marvel's highly anticipated first outing for its band of superheroes known as S.H.I.E.L.D.—directed by the man who brought you TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Serenity—isn't out in theaters yet, but it's already a big hit with critics.

E! News has a roundup of the early reviews, which by the sound of them, should guarantee Hollywood will be off to a stellar start at the box office this summer when The Avengers unspools May 4.

• "The Avengers is humongous, the film Marvel and its legions of fans have been waiting for. It's hard to imagine that anyone with an appetite for the trademark's patented brand of fantasy, effects, mayhem and strangely dressed he-men will be disappointed," writes the Hollywood Reporter's Todd McCarthy, heaping glowing praise on the blockbuster. "Director Joss Whedon has adroitly balanced the celebrity circus to give every single one of the superstar characters his or her due. Worldwide box office returns will be, in a word, Marvelous."

• "As the first of this summer's three superhero blockbusters (the others are The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man), Avengers sets the bar impressively high, and that it does it with a smile is all the more refreshing. A lot of this stuff has been done before, and recently—but never quite as well as this," says Robbie Collin of the U.K.'s Telegraph.

• "The Avengers have been assembled and, for the most part, they fit together superbly. A joyous blend of heroism and humour that raises the stakes even as it maintains a firm grip on what makes the individual heroes tick," offers James White of Empire Magazine.

One reviewer extolled the film for infusing its characters with unexpected depth.

• "Crucially, the wise-cracking id of Robert Downey Jnr's Iron Man is balanced out by instilling a hearty dose of fear in one of the team's central figures, thanks to a beautifully honed performance by Mark Ruffalo. He plays Bruce Banner—the brilliant scientist who turns into the uncontrollable colossus Hulk when angered—as a man afraid of himself," opined The Guardian's Henry Barnes.

White did, however, take issue with the constraints imposed by the movie's genre.

"Unfortunately, this being a comic-book movie, the need for biff-bang-pow tends to prevail," he adds. "The hero-against-hero slugfest that the comics have been trading on for decades is entertaining at first, but the various combinations of Hulk v Thor v Iron Man quickly blow themselves out."

• "The end of the world may loom but Whedon creates a good time atmosphere, seeming to take inspiration from old WWII capers like The Dirty Dozen where the fun is as much derived from the rat-a-tat banter between the guys as it is from the big explosions and the butt-kicking," wrote Digital Spy's Stella Papamichael.

• "The first half contains too much laboured exposition, and even the action-packed second half may not convert every-one who finds superhero movies immature. But this is a superior example of its kind, with sequences on a par with the best Spiderman and Batman movies. And technically, it's a real marvel," raved Chris Tookey of the Daily Mail.

Disney Studio Chief Ross Steps Down !!

source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303425504577355921676339392.html 

Rich Ross stepped down as chairman of Walt Disney Co.'s DIS +1.33% movie studios after less than three years on the job and a month after the company warned it would book a big loss on the film "John Carter."

Rich Ross, shown in March, stepped down as chairman of Walt Disney movie studio after less than three years on the job.

"I no longer believe the Chairman role is the right professional fit for me," he wrote in an email to employees. "For that reason, I have made the very difficult decision to step down as Chairman of The Walt Disney Studios, effective today."

Mr. Ross came to the movie studio job after a successful run heading the company's cable operation, the Disney Channel, which he helped reinvent with the creation of "tween"-oriented programs such as "Hannah Montana." 

But he failed to replicate that success at the movie studio, where he signed off on production of only a handful of new movies, and oversaw costly debacles including the recent release of "John Carter," a box office disaster. 

Disney has said it expects to lose $200 million on the film, which cost more than $250 million to make and an additional $100 million to market. As a result, the movie studio is expected to post an operating loss for the March ended quarter.

Mr. Ross's email didn't indicate that he was departing for another position. He had been with Disney for around 15 years. 

In a separate statement, Disney Chairman and Chief Executive Robert Iger thanked Mr. Ross for "his countless contributions throughout his entire career at Disney, and expect he will have tremendous success in whatever he chooses to do next."

The difference between facebook and the blog

sources: 

http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/01/28/understanding-the-difference-between-forums-blogs-and-social-network/

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=2008020312305AAtHYDS 

It’s easy to get the tools mixed up, but it’s important to know the differences. Quite often (usually by executives) I’m asked the difference between Forums, Blogs, and Social Networks, here’s usually how I explain it (focusing first on usage and benefits rather than technical details):

Forums are like social mixers, where everyone is at equal level, milling about and discussing with others. These many to many communication tools allow anyone to start a topic and anyone to respond to one. Members are often at equal level, and content is usually segmented by topic. (rather than by people). 

Blogs are like a keynote speech where the speaker (blogger) is in control of the discussion, but allows questions and comments from the audience.
Blogs are journals often authored by one individual, and sometimes teams. In the context of business communication, these are often used to talk with the marketplace and to join the conversation that existing external bloggers may be having. 

Social Networks are like topic tables at a conference luncheon. Ever been to a conference where different lunch tables had big white signs inviting people to sit and join others of like interest? It’s like that. Social networks allow members to organize around a person’s relationships or interests, rather that just focused on topic. People that know each other (or want to meet each other) will connect by a variety of common interests. These are great tools to get people of like interest to connect to each other and share information.

It’s important to know the many different tools in your tool chest as every type of accessory fulfills a different need. Before you jump to tools, you should first understand who your community is, where they are, how they use social technologies, and most importantly, what they’re talking about.

To continue, Facebook is more on a first and last name basis. You can join a network by school, region, or job. It's a convenient way to locate the people around you. The wall allows you to see the communication going on with your friends and it saves time if you are interested in seeing who someone has been taking to. Facebook is a what you see is what you get kind of thing.

A blog is more like LiveJournal, etc. Not a good way to stay in touch, but more of a way to express yourself without the pen and the pad. It's a great way to express your thoughts and then press the delete button in a couple days when you think that your thoughts were insane.