I am sure everyone has seen in the news and on social media sites the possibility of a new Indiana Jones film! I know there are a lot of people out there who are tired of sequels or just don't like them, but I personally love revisiting characters that I love on screen. Indiana Jones in particular has always been one of my favorite film franchises like many kids growing up in the 80's! Anyway, I have to talk about Chris Pratt as possibly the new Indy and of course why those original films effected me and a generation so much!

As I already mentioned these films are some of my favorite and for my money some of the best action adventure films ever created! In Fact, Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of the greatest films of all time! That being said it used to scare the hell out of me when I was a kid! I remember always having trouble sleeping when I was a "lowercase g" and I was always convince my mom to let me stay up and watch TV w/ her when I was supposed to be in bed. When I was a kid VCR's were still pretty new so local networks would show a lot of films... many seemed to be on Sunday night. They were all edited for TV, but there were still creepy parts that, as a kid, can be hard to process. I thought Raiders was awesome until Indy and Marion ended up in the tomb w/ skeletons that seemed to be alive! One skeleton scared me most of all because it was extra craggy and decayed and had a snake coming from out of it's open month! I thought about that for weeks while trying to sleep at night! I tried to think of all my favorite superheroes instead, but that skele-snake face would always creep in. Temple of Doom was a little different. I was older then... not a lot older, but old enough not to be as worried about some skeletons and snakes. I remember this film being important because I watched it over and over again! I loved that it had a kid my age in it and that Indy was helping free enslaved children. The irony is that this film should have been much more scary to me because it is much darker. In fact, I think it was one of the first, if not the first film, to carry a PG13 rating!  Then there was Last Crusade... I was even older and we learned why Indy is who he is! I loved the opening w/ the great River Phoenix. He was only a few years older than me and gave me a deeper connection to Indy as a character... now I new him as a kid! I remember seeing Crusade 4 or 5 times the summer of 89 at the drive in! That was a great summer and a hell of a decade for Indiana Jones!

I feel like I grew into a young man as these films were released! Like Indy I was a little older and a little wiser as the new movies would hit theaters. I was learning what a good hero does by watching the Indiana Jones movies. Indy wasn't perfect. He did amazing things and was smart, but he also got hurt a lot and made mistakes... AND he always had help from his friends. In one way or another, he was never alone. He talked of fortune and glory, but risked his life to help a village of people get their kids back! He was a good man! I was pretty lucky to grow up around a lot of good men in my daily life and they all liked the Indiana Jones films! Indy isn't just an every man... He's every good man who lives by a code! And that's what I will always take from the films!

Harrison Ford definitely has another Indy film in him, but it looks like Disney is wanting to start fresh. You could never ever replace Ford, but you can make smart casting choices and do him justice! I have heard the names Chris Evans, Bradley Cooper and recently Chris Pratt being kicked around as possible Jones replacements! I love the Idea of both Chris' ...Cooper not so much. Out of the three I love Pratt, he is my front runner! He was a one part Jones and two parts Solo in Gardians of the Galaxy, and to me those are two of the Greatest parts of Harrison Ford! Pratt wasn't doing an impression of these iconic characters he was taking some of the best parts of both to create a new icon in Star Lord! I cannot think of a better choice to pick up the whip and fedora! He has the charm and charisma to pull it off and put his own stamp on the Jones character, built by Ford! It only sweetens the pot that Spielberg appears to be on board w/ the idea, but what about Ford?

I think not to use Ford in some way would be a major mistake for the new film to make! I keep hearing reboot so what if Ford came back as Henry Jones SR? It's a new franchise, anything is possible. Or maybe Ford could play Indy's cool archaeologist that inspires him on his future path. Another interesting approach would be to make another sequel and just have Mutt Smith become Henry Jones III? I am sure that won't happen, but Crystal Skulls got a bad wrap. If people were to... I don't know... READ about the real Crystal Skulls they might see a completely different movie! Anyway, other actors take over other actors original roles all the time and Pratt could slip in to Shia's role easily. I will spare you and not go into how that would all work, but it could be very cool if done right! 

Well, I have said my piece! I wonder if other people out there are as excited about Chris Pratt taking over as I am! I also wonder if anyone else has started to imagine half baked notions to keep Ford involved? As always I love to hear your comments and viewpoints so share them on my Facebook page or Twitter feed. Hell you can even comment on here! Take care out there and remember to run when you have a giant bolder rolling toward you! 

Favorite Villains : Part two for your reading and debating pleasure!

6.) Darth Vader : He is possibly the most iconic villain of the last 40 years if not the most of all time! His story is simple and sad... He makes the wrong choice and literally turns into to something that was once a man. All of us can relate to this because we all have had a time in our life where we have known in our gut something was wrong, but did it anyway...forever changing the course of our life. Over time, if we are lucky, we make up for that one bad decision. This was the case for Vader who in the end chose to to help his son, redeem himself and bring balance to the force! A tragic but beautiful story. 

7.) Doctor Doom : This guy is basically who he is because of jealousy, insecurity, greed and pure ego! He wants to prove he is the smartest, most powerful man in the world! And he is compensating for that man inside the suit of armor who is mangled, insecure and afraid of what people think of him! It's so easy to hate and relate to this guy because we all have our insecurities and fears. And even though we say we don't care what people think... we kind of do. I mean we all want to do right by the ones we care for and we all have had our feeling hurt at times by something that someone said or did to us. (which means we do care) But what do we do? We wear invisible suits of armor to hide whatever pain we have experienced in our lives. We smile and say everything is fine, but inside we may be in real pain. This is the genius of what Doctor Doom represents in my opinion. He is us at our worst! His suit is the Masks we hide behind. 

8.) The Red Skull : Sure now he is the founder of Hydra, but lets not forget that he started out as a Nazi! Clearly Hitler and the Nazi's are some of  the most evil people to ever walk the earth! Horrific stuff! Disgusting crimes against humanity! The Red Skull was a representation of the evil that the world was really fighting at the time he was created! If Captain America is the pinnacle of everything Good then the Red Skull is the dark abyss of everything that is evil! You can't even really relate to this guy and that is actually what makes him a great villain in this case. 

9.) Brainiac: Similar to a character like Galactus, Brainiac destroys worlds... But before he destroys them he downloads all of the their information and records it. He basically puts everything a species and planet was on a flash drive. AND he does this over and over again until he has recorded all knowledge in the universe. He does this to complete his programming! And he can't really be destroyed, he just downloads into something else and reboots. So he is a villain that Superman will have to most likely fight forever! ( Least until Brainiac 5, I guess?) Brainiac also represents a very real fear of technology that many people share today. There are constantly films about AI becoming self aware and over taking us... even destroying us.  The idea of Brainiac could become a real thing in the near future? 

 10.) Mr. Potter : No not Harry Potter kids. Mr. Potter from It's a Wonderful Life! This dude is the worst, man! He is a straight dollar sign and bottom line business man! He loves money, power, lives his life by greed and worst of all he takes joy in suppressing the little man. As my mom would say "He's just so mean." This dude steals the Bailey Building and Loan cash deposit and then calls the police simply to ruin them and completely take over the town! How could anyone do that and live w/ himself! He doesn't have evil super powers or murder people in cold blood... He makes it personal. He only wants to crush his enemies (and see them driven before you) to gain more money and more power. It's more of a game to him than anything else... The Building and Loan isn't ruining his business, at least not to wear he needs to destroy them! He is just an asshole! And aren't the villains in your everyday life just assholes!? You can't help but hate this guy! And the worst part is that he gets away w/ it! No one in the film knows Potter was behind the whole thing and that he pushed George over that edge! Keep those friends close George Bailey, but keep Potter closer!!!

A few honorable mentions... The Green Goblin, Magneto, King Pin, Ra's al Ghul, Thragg ( Invincible) Conquest (Invincible) Mr. Freeze, Sinestro, Baron Zemo, Mola Ram (Temple of Doom)  Emperor Palpatine, Cobra Commander, Skeletor.... Just to name a few there are many others! If you have any to add please do so. I hope you enjoyed this list it was fun to write about bad guys! Do the opposite of all of these guys and be kind to each other!

Those of you that follow me on Facebook may have noticed I have been doing villain portraits. They sort of started as an experiment to see what my new Galaxy Note 4 could do. They have since turned into an obsession! I am enjoying making them so much I can't seem to stop! I have never really drawn the villains as much so it has been a fun change of pace to do my own interpretations. That being said I have have decided to stick w/ the villain theme and do a Favorite Villains : Top 10! This is sure to be the most evil top ten I have ever done! As always they are in no order and they may be from comics or film! I may do a list for movies and comics only sometime, but for now this is list is universal! 

1.) The Joker : He deserves to be on any villain list! I love him because there are so many great versions out there! Many writers, artists and actors have had the chance to put their mark on this evil icon and it has only made him more rich, interesting and evil! What you have to love and fear about the Joker is his joy! I mean people always say it's good to have a sense of humor about things, but he takes it to a whole new level, which of course is very disturbing! But you have to respect a man who loves his work... even if it is murder, chaos and crime! The real question that people always go back and forth about is whether the Joker is completely "bat shit" crazy or if in reality he is fully sane and in control wearing the mask of insanity. I will let you decide.

2.) Lex Luthor : Love him or hate him "he is only a man" who makes it his mission to bring down a "Superman!" He just happens to be a super genius too! It is the finest example of brains vs brawn! He is the classic evil genius, perhaps one of the very first, in comics at least! He even manages to the become President for a period of time in the DC universe!  The fact that he convinces the world he is a good guy is definitely pure evil! He even declares Superman and Batman Enemies of the State! Nice work sir!

3.) Galactus : I love Galactus! I think he is so cool and to is the apex of what Jack Kirby could do if you left him alone and let him make cool things! The creation of Galactus came from a discussion between Stan Lee and Jack Kirby... In Fact, the legend has it the script for the Galactus story was "the Fantastic 4 fight God." The rest is "the Kings" history! Galactus is to me the classic misunderstood bad guy. I don't think he thinks about good or evil at all actually... he is simply a force of nature that we see as evil! He isn't thinking about destroying a planet and a civilization... he is thinking "Man, I am hungry as hell... Surfer find my big ass a Planet to eat!" ( Galactus is very sassy) He is also the oldest being in the Marvel universe! He was around before the big bang... he is the only one of his kind and is maybe the most powerful being in the Marvel universe... how lonely would you become? And how much does the average person feel when they crush a colony of ants? Sure, to us Galactus is a villain but he is just trying to survive like the rest of us! But as villains go they don't get any more epic than him! ( Kirby drew a  G on his chest... I think instead of God or Galactus it stands for GREAT!)

4.) Hans Gruber (Die Hard) : He is a Terrorist! But really he is just trying to get paid! This dude is cold, calculating, smug and well spoken! I absolutely love his dedication to accomplishing his mission at all cost! He does not hesitate to kill when he says he is going to, which we find out very early in the film! Hans is so evil that his last thought before dying is to kill John McClane and then he is even shocked when he falls to his death! I even was as a kid! How could someone so bad ass be killed? Definitely one of my favorites!
( I read recently that Alan Rickman was supposed to be dropped on the count 3 for his death seen, but the crew dropped him on 2 which is actually why he looked so surprised when he fell on film. Awesome!) 

5.) Darkseid : How can you not respect a villain who can slap Superman down and make him feel pain! This is another Jack Kirby creation and he just happens to be maybe the most evil Villain in any universe! He is a vengeful God who rules his people w/ fear, torture and mind control! He destroys worlds before breakfast... if  he even eats it! Plus he looks scary as hell! He was inspired by the Mysterious Easter Island statues and man does it work for creeping people out, while still looking bad ass! Darkseid is not to be trifled with! 

I will do a part 2 next week! I want to hear your comments! Who are your favorites!!! 

I think sharing is in order... It has been awhile since I spilled my guts w/ a memory of childhood. I try not to dwell to much on the past, but I do think about when I was a kid sometimes. So I have to say that for the very short time I was in Catholic school, it was a weird!

Some of you out there that know me may also know that for a brief time I attended St. Lawrence Catholic school until around the 2nd grade. I had lots of friends and so on and it was okay w/ the priests and sisters hanging around blessing all the kids or calling us " little chatter boxes," but I definitely never really felt like I fit in... In fact, like many people on this planet I have often had a feeling of alienation at times in my life, but that's another story. Anyway, the school overall was fine I guess... the uniforms seemed lame, everyone played kickball all the time and school was super boring like any other school. But there was one day that really sticks out to me... to this day I don't get the point of it all!!!

It all started as a pretty normal day in the second grade. I remember that there were two second grade classes and we would switch rooms for different subjects and so on. I was always pretty bored in school when I was that age... or any other really. Typically, the teacher would teach us... excuse me, learn us a few things and then we would work in our workbooks for the rest of the class. This particular week was being taught by a substitute teacher that for the sake of confidentiality I will call Mrs. Havefreakingcowington! So we learn the lesson and Mrs. Havefreakingcowington tells us which pages to do in our stupid workbooks. So I went to work and finished my assignment in record time so that I could get down to the business of drawing and of course getting out of class.

I remember drawing a picture of the Incredible Hulk heavily inspired by the Live action TV series, which I believe was then doing TV movies? Anyway, I finished the picture and proceeded to draw on my hands 1.) because to this day I draw on my hands because it's fun and 2.) when I finished the hand art I was going to brilliantly ask the teacher to use the restroom so I could wash my hands and get out of class. How could this plan fail? So I draw in muli-colored washable markers all over my hands and even on my wrists a little bit, and then casually ask Mrs. Havefreakingcowington if I can "be excused to wash my hands." She sharply and w/ out soul or sense of humor tells me to go to the principals office and show him what I did. 

I hadn't ever been in trouble at school up to that point in my life, so needless to say, that was a long walk to the office. In my mind I didn't understand why I was being sent there? I was done w/ my work and simply trying to get out and walk around for a few minutes... I seriously hated sitting there was all. I was close to just going and washing my hands on the way to the principals because what could they do? The evidence would be gone? I have always been too honest (at least, at the start of this story) so I couldn't do it and continued the long and lonely walk to face the music!

When I finally reached the principals office I remember the school secretary asking if I needed help... I just told her needed to show the principal my hands... She called Mr. WellIhavegottodosomethington out to take a look. I remember that he looked confused at first and I had to explain why I was there. Meaning, I really don't even think he would have cared had I just been a kid in the hall w/ marker all over my hands... in fact he probably would have told me to wash my hands!!! So he looks at me a minute and then goes to his office and comes back w/ some rubber gloves. He says something like "Here Kid wear dees' n' tink' about what you's done n' show you's parents when you's get home. Now get outta here before I give you's such a blessin'!" (The principal was in witness protection) The Catholics are hardcore man! What the hell?!! I am pissed being an adult right now and reliving this!!!

So I finish the rest of my day, and as a kid I worried a lot, so I thought about it all day! I didn't fully understand what I had done... all I knew what that everyone was acting like I was some sort of asshole! ( I have had the rest of my life to perfect that aspect of myself) So I devise this plan as I am getting ready to leave school. It was winter so I would put my gloves over the rubber gloves, then go straight into the bathroom when I get to my grandma's house and flush them down the toilet!!! The worse part is that by the time I got there I was  so sick to my stomach from worry that I went to the bathroom and puked my guts out! The irony is I ended up actually having the flu or something. Anyway, a few weeks went by and eventually my mom was called in for a conference to talk about various "problems" I was having in school... (I collected Garbage Pail Kids cards too... the Catholics hate the Garbage Pail Kids everyone know that!)  and it all started because I DREW ON MY HANDS!!!!!!!!!!! 

So what's the lesson I learned from all of this? What knowledge was I about to "Draw" out of this surreal situation? Nothing man! I still draw on my hands! I continued the draw on my hands all through school! And no teacher ever had an issue w/ it and no job I have ever had has said anything about it to me! Because no one cares! If your hands are dirty wash them! It's that simple!  Shortly after the hand drawing episode I transfered schools and Mrs. Havefreakingcowington became acting principal! I guess I did learn one thing... Assholes always seem to thrive and eventually get ahead... and Mrs. Havefreakingcowington was an huge asshole!