Vay-Kay Post

A few days late but never a few dollars short. I know many of you were concerned when Wednesday came and went and there was no post here at ETC. ETC. ETC. And when Friday came and went, you probably thought something terrible had happened. Perhaps you thought I was in L.A. with Megan Fox for the premiere of her new movie. Sadly I wasn't. As editor in chief of a popular blog you occasionally get rewarded with a vacation. And unfortunetly my beach residence had no Internet. But the blog gods knew a post was needed and they said "the show must go on". So I'm here, with some fresh ocean salt water in my hair and solid rays on my skin. Also I am officially a surfer as I caught my first wave on a longboard. It was so money that I channeled Keanu Reeves in Point Break and became one with the white caps. The only thing that was missing, tragically, was Gary Busey. It took me a good 6 attempts before I was able to get up and even though I was catching 4 foot waves in Jersey, in my mind they were 40 footers off the coast of Waikiki.

However I must say that it is not as easy as it looks. I ate it hard many times and wiped out like the amateur that I was. Despite my air of confidence I was humbled by the waves. I have a new found respect for accomplished surfers. I thought I would be able to ride a few waves, get used to the feeling and then get right up. But the very first attempt I pushed up to stand, but pushed down way too hard. The board was forced under the wave and I went flying. Head first, in the air like I was Superman. But I persisted. And I wiped out. And I persisted. And I wiped out. But then finally, for one sweet ride, I got up. It wasn't for long, maybe 5 or 6 seconds, but I rode the wave to its end and successfully jumped off. So I got that going for me....which is nice.

When I wasn't carving up waves like Laird Hamilton I was able to catch the new Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. I was incredibly excited to see this movie, mostly because of Megan Fox but also because it was going to have much more robot fighting and special effects. Well as Ari Gold would say "the numbers are in and they are BIG". It recorded the 2nd highest single day opening of all time with $60.6 million, behind only The Dark Knight which brought in $67.2 million. I had speculated which movie would be the biggest of the summer and it came down to Transformers or the new Harry Potter. I put my money on Potter so it better not let me down, but its got a long way to go. With that said, I'm 100% confident that Potter will take the crown for top earning movie of the summer. Which has lead to me to think about a movie "stock market" idea that I think would work. Say you want to invest in Transformers because you think it will deliver a big opening. You should be able to invest a certain amount of money into it, and if it delivers, then you get rewarded, just like to the actual stock market (I will expand on this idea next week).

As for my thoughts on the movie, I gave it a 5 out of 5 on the Cage Rating System. But I think it was a little below my expectations. The special effects were INSANE but sometimes you couldn't tell who was a good robot and who was a bad robot. There were plenty of slo-mo shots of Megan Fox running, which was lovely, but it felt like she had a smaller role than in the first movie. I thought Shia delivered a decent performance and really don't mind him as an actor. He pulls off the unexpected action hero pretty well with sarcastic comments and one liners. It is a sweet movie, but I prefer the first one. (For our new readers, I give it 4 out of 5 cages. See below)

I would like to take this time to recognize the death of Michael Jackson. Yes the man's life became a circus and he was a complete freak of nature post 1989, but as an artist he can't be matched. Here's my take on him; to millions of people Michael Jackson didn't exist outside of his music. And people therefore only knew him for his artistic ability, to which point he had no equal. He was on the same level as Elvis Presley and the Beatles. A once in generation artist who's music will live forever. It's just a shame that he became a sideshow because his music will be remembered long after all of us leave this life. If you were at a wedding and Billie Jean came on, you would dance to it, no questions asked. And poor Farrah Fawcett. Her death has totally been overshadowed by the passing of Michael. Granted I am not really familiar with her work. I know she was one of the original "Charlie's Angels" and she is responsible for one of the most iconic posters of all time (see picture to the left) but to me she is just the mom in Chevy Chase's Man of the House. To my generation she was just another name from the past, but to many she was a sex symbol to be remembered forever. Just take a look at the picture, that's hot even though it's from the 70's. Regardless of your thoughts of either of them, the world of entertainment lost two icons. And to quote Forrest Gump...that's all I have to say about that.

"Theme of the Weekend"

It has to be an homage to Michael Jackson. Even though this comes on Sunday I hope its not too late to help influence your weekend. If it is, then let it influence your week.

"What to Expect When You're Expecting"

Alot, actually. We have a few updates from the Pauper and we will check in with MP4 and Pasquale, after a little break from both of them. Also, one of our readers will be hosting a graduation party for the ages and we will try our best to deliver a running diary of the events. I would like to apologize to our faithful readers for missing two posts this past week and in an effort to make it up to our readers, I will try and make this week's post as epic as possible. So as always...Stay Sweet.