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JerseySmarts.com

Movie Review: The Incredible Hulk (2008)

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Awesome. This movie was awesome. Edward Norton plays Bruce Banner and the Hulk and he does a great job of bringing a bit of humanity to an otherwise gigantic green monster. And the story isn’t too bad, either. Here is a story about a guy who took this superhuman injection so that he could be a test subject of the formula – then he winds up having to run from the military because they want to test him. The story is, of course, much more complicated than what I say about it here, but you should watch the movie if you want to know every last detail! Plus, if you ever read any of the comic books you’re probably better at the story than I am anyway.

The movie makes great use of the latest CGI graphics, too. Both The Hulk and Abomination are fluid in on-screen movements and they are smooth to watch. One would almost think that these two creatures are real… 🙂 Oh, and it’s also worth mentioning that Lou Ferrigno, the bodybuilder who played The Hulk on the old television series, has a cameo. Nothing big, but nice that they threw him a bone in the new movie.

Bruce Banner’s changing life is really the focus of this movie – especially his personal transformation after being injected with the “hulk” formula. He has to train himself to keep his blood pressure below a certain level or else he goes green. This means that he has to take the crap that people around him give him on a daily basis, but it also means that he can’t get as involved as he would like with a certain lady… Norton also does a good job of conveying how annoying (and exhausting) it is to have this problem from having your clothes be torn off of your body to completely losing your senses during the transformation.

Tim Roth also deserves a mention for playing The Hulk’s nemesis in the movie. He’s the type of bad guy that you love to hate. He even shoots Banner’s dog, the bastard!

I was a little bit confused by the last battle in the movie because I don’t see how the Hulk managed to all of a sudden defeat Abomination. The battle just sort of turned around and then the Hulk had him beaten on the ground. Weird.

For those of you who are fans of these superhero movies, I recommend going out and purchasing this DVD. The special features are probably really good (I don’t know), but the movie itself is worth having in your collection.

Finally, Thank God, Leaving Deal

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Unlike most people in New Jersey, I actually want to get out of the Borough of Deal in Monmouth County. While the borough is great from mid-September through early June, this place becomes an absolute abomination during the summer months. I’ll never understand why entire neighborhoods from Brooklyn relocate to Deal for the summer season. Is that really a vacation? Isn’t that just moving operations from one area to another?

Let me digress… To me the best vacation is one where you’re away from the daily grind and away from the daily scene. I wouldn’t imagine vacationing in Nashville if all of my co-workers, their families, my roommates, their friends, my friends, and my clients all came down there with me. What a futile effort in relaxation! I suppose that repetition has rendered this manner of vacation to be customary for the New Yorkers. It’s their choice to vacation this way – I certainly wouldn’t do it like they do.

Anyway, after living in this miserable borough for the last few years my roommates and I will be moving away at the end of this month. We’re heading just a little bit west over Route 35 and past the Parkway to Tinton Falls. In my case, this will cut between 10 and 15 minutes off of my daily commute, thus giving me back about a half an hour each day (and untold millions in gas costs). The new rental is also a legit three bedroom townhouse as opposed to where we live now, which is a two bedroom apartment which was painfully converted into a three bedroom apartment with no common storage space and very little closet space in each bedroom.

We’ve toured the townhouse twice and I really like it. I admit, though, that I’m biased because I absolutely hate living in our current apartment. The new townhouse has two and a half bathrooms while our current apartment has one bathroom. With three professional guys living in one place and guests coming over every once in a while, it’s hard to argue against adding two extra bathroom areas to our living space.

The original listing did suggest that there would be an unfinished, small basement, but that turned out not to be true. Not that we expected anything big – probably a 10 x 10 basement where we could store some of our excess stuff. On the flip side, we do have a shared backyard in the new place and since we’re the end unit, we have the side yard, too. This should come in handy when we have our apartment-opening barbecue in a few weeks.

As far as other issues to deal with – I’m currently looking into the various Roman Catholic Churches in the area to see where I may wind up if I decide that my current parish is too far. We’re all in the midst of packing the current apartment – moving it over to the new place will be aggravating, I’m sure. I also have to call the vendors who send me bills/information to my current address and change their files to my new address.

All of that aside, I’m excited to be leaving Deal (FINALLY), I’m excited to be heading West to Tinton Falls, and I’m excited that I’ll get a half an hour back in my day.