My Passion in Life

                I have many hobbies in my life; playing video games, hanging out with my friends, or even watching T.V. but my passion will forever be playing soccer.

 I absolutely love the game and have been playing it ever since I was 6 years old. To this day it remains a passion of mine and I continue to be involved in the game of soccer on and off of the field. For the last 5 years I’ve been a soccer referee, helping out the community with multiple soccer charities, and remaining involved in the growth of reefing in Toronto.

I think I realized soccer was my passion when I adopted the position of playing the goaltender and building up on my skills of being the best I can be. I would go on to play soccer up until the age of 15, but that following summer I wanted to make money while still being involved in the game that I love.

This passion of mine did have an impact on helping me select my pathway of radio broadcasting because it taught me about following through with my commitments and learning how to be responsible, which ¸are in fact traits that do carry on into the broadcasting world. Soccer helped me become a better and more social person on and off the field.  

BATMAN FOREVER (1995) REVIEW

 By: Stephen Bagazzoli


For my first movie review, I had a bit of trouble deciding what to review... There are so many good movies out there that I enjoy watching like Scarface, First Blood, No Country for Old Men, etc.  How about reviewing a movie that I absolutely HATE! And by “HATE” I do in fact mean LOATH, and by “LOATH” I do mean DESPISE!!!!!!! Enter the caped crusader and the movie that started his plunge into obscurity....... Batman Forever. 

*Abandon All Hope Yee Who Enter Here.

I believe the true downfall of this movie can really be summarized with two words.... JOEL SCHUMACHER. In some cases all you have to do to kill a movie is credit it with his name as the director and voila, movie killed. I think he tried doing something different with batman, and in which case I use the word “TRIED” very.....very loosely, and ultimately failed in the process. I can see Schumacher gearing this movie towards kids, but with the other two previous movies directed by Tim Burton the audience and the true Batman fans were expecting a little bit darker and realistic........ Well, as realistic as a man flying around in a bat costume fighting crime and stopping super villains can be. 

[Truly Schumacher has reverted the Dark Knight back to his goofy 1960’s self.......LORD HELP US ALLLLLLLLLLLLL! NOTE: Although funny, the mere appearance of Adam West in this movie would be a major upgrade.] 

LET’S GET STARTED:

                Our Story starts off with the return of the Batman, a creature of the night, a sworn protector of Gotham City, fighting for justice while striking fear in the hearts of criminals everywhere!  (PAUSE FOR DRAMATIC EFFECT)................... (KEEP PAUSING)................

ALFRED: Shall I make you a sandwich before you go sir?

BATMAN: Don’t worry, I’ll pick up something on the way home.

......................What............Just........................Happened? Literally Batman’s first line in the movie is a pretty lame joke about food. This is definitely where the major problem with this movie lays, the mere fact that we went from the gritty and dark story of Batman fighting The Joker and The Penguin, to him engaging in witty banter with the butler! I’m sorry for going on a micro tangent but let this first line in the movie be a measuring stick for the rest of the movie.

[Worst Comic Book adaptation joke about food EVERRRRRRRR]

LET’S GET STARTED.............. AGAIN 

                So, where was I? Oh yeah..... So after that horrendous line being spewed from the mouth of Batman, we see him answering a call, that the criminal mastermind Two-Face, played by Tommy Lee Jones.........yes, THAT Tommy Lee Jones, is involved in a hostage situation in which Batman goes to save the day! This leads to an “Okay” action sequence in which Batman frees the hostages, but not without Tommy Lee Two-Face escaping. We then get a mediocre back story of Two-Face and see that he was scared by an acid spilling on his face in which mild mannered district attorney Harvey Dent was transformed INTO SPIDER-MAN! DEFENDER OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND JUST!    TWO-FACE! THE SAVAGE KILLER WITH NO MORALS! 

[We get this dumb villain with little to no build..... Off to a good start?] 

Back at Wayne Enterprises we get introduced to another over the top super villain Edward Nigma/The Riddler played by a competent actor able to give the role justice Jim Carrey. To be quite honest, it feels like Carrey is playing a more annoying version of The Mask as opposed to The Riddler. We see him working diligently in the inventions branch of the company, in which he creates a machine which can put a person in an immersed within the realm of television. This sounds like a really cool concept but it has one major drawback........... IT SUCKS OUT YOUR BRAIN! Yeah, now it doesn’t seem like a really good idea.

[It definitely could be worse.......WAY WORSE!]

So, long story short Bruce Wayne fires Edward from Wayne Enterprises. This causes Edward to kill his manager and steal all of his technology and vowing revenge to get back at batman for crushing his dreams. While that's going on Bruce gets invited to see the world renowned traveling circus where we get our first glance at Dick Grayson. Batman’s sidekick story arch is now approaching............ If this movie wasn’t in a nose plunge, it is now. I do have to be honest; they did nail the Robin origin, but let me go further into the dark abyss and explain how this character came off as.

 [We Went From The Boy Wonder...] 

[To this guy....... he's definitely not a boy]  

The main problem with the Robin Character is Chris O’Donnell. Never heard of him? Yeah, there’s a reason for that. He comes off as whiny and arrogant, and I know that I should feel sorry for him, his family dying at the hands of Two-Faces purely convoluted plan and all, but all I really want to do is give him a BAT-BACKHAND. He Jacks Batman’s car and attempts to fight crime, poorly by the way, which results in Batman making him his partner... Go Figure. Now, while all this is going on The Riddler and Two-Face team up to take over Gotham city in a pretty farfetched scheme which involves the entire population of the city purchasing Edward’s T.V. invention, thus feeding their brainwaves to him.

  

 [Well Played Riddler...... Well Played.] 

So now with storyline #234... The haunting flashbacks that Bruce gets of his past, WHICH BY THE WAY WAS SOLVED IN THE PREVIOUS TWO FILMS! Constantly Bruce is haunted by the ghosts of his past in flashbacks, which is only solved by the help of Bruce's new love interest Nicole Kidman, who I swear has only one purpose in the movie which culminates in her getting captured and used as bait for Batman.  

                 

Whatever...... moving on, we see The Riddler and Two-Face devise a plan to lure both Robin and Batman into an abandoned cave. I don’t know, by this point I’ve given up hope on the motivation of Two-Face, he basically has become a lackey to The Riddler but I digress... So with The Riddler out seeking revenge and Two-Face bumbling around like a complete waste of a character, the battle is on! Robin avenges his parents death by taking care of Two-Face (A Total Waste of A Perfectly Good Tommy Lee Jones BY THE WAY). Robin then gets captured by The Riddler and used as bait with Nicole Kidman, which colminates into Batman having to decide who to save. Batman chooses the most logical option of just throwing a baterang at The Riddler's brain machine resulting in Batman having ample time saving both of them. The caped crusader prevailes and all order is restored to Gotham City........ excluding Joel Schumacher being fired from the director’s chair. 

[Definitely should have been the villain in the following movie, sadly this villain seems more interesting than Jim Carrey as the Riddler.] 

HONEST THOUGHTS:

The story seemed rushed in the sense that everything could, and should, be better. It’s not a good follow up to the last two movies and the casting of Val Kilmer as Batman leaves me absolutely baffled. There are like 200 different mini story lines going on and it FOREVER tarnished the reputation of the once great legacy of Batman.  But hey, IT COULD BE WORSE... 

[Not Going There.]   

FIN. 

The "Social" Second Life...

          We live in a world which is constantly evolving and changing. Technology itself grows at such a fast pace that who even knows where we will be in ten years, and a major factor in an ever changing technological world is the rapid popularity of social media. Just the mere fact that everybody can be linked to each other from different countries across the world is a feat in itself, but the fact that information can be shared on an easy to use format like Facebook or Twitter and between millions of people is even more of a remarkable occurrence. So, with that said this particular blog will be my own take on social media and how a first year College student from Toronto is impacted on the recent boom of “THECREATION OF A SECOND LIFE”! 

 Somebody Please Enlighten Me On What a Poke Really Is???

 

          To start, my extensive use of social media in the past spanned from checking my Facebook and chatting with my friends on MSN. I thought it was a cool concept that I can constantly keep in touch with all of my contacts and know what they were doing. It was a format that put contact information in the palm of my hand. It wasn’t until later when I found out that these social media outlets, like Facebook, could be of use to me in the sense that a lot of viable information can be accessed, events happening all over the world, news stories, and even local news could be accessed with just viewing your Facebook page. It definitely became a groundbreaking format, and the term “Facebook Me” was a worldwide phenomenon, and it was good for me to get connected when I did because I had the opportunity to see the website change formats and evolve by adding new features, allowing people to play games with their friends, and even adding a chat system which ultimately made Facebook a fully immersed experience. 

Try Not To Get Too Entranced With Twitter...

                I’ll be the first to admit that I thought the introduction of Twitter was a bad idea. My initial thought was that it was a carbon copy of the Facebook status update feature. I wasn’t going to buy into it and even if I did, I wasn’t going to be lured into “TWEETING”........ Well, you know what they say, never say never, and just this week I started a Twitter profile. I firstly was surprised at the amount of people using Twitter and how much of an impact it has on social media itself. It has become a behemoth of famous people being able to connect to their fans while at the same time people, like me, are able to be the first to know about news and events happening all over the world. The idea of “TRENDING” and “FOLLOWING” are great ideas in which people are in control of certain aspects of media. It opens up many opportunities for people to be involved in social media and immersing in the experience of a growing and connected world. 

            So, do I think that I will continue to use social media in the future? Yes, it’s always important to stay “constant” with the times. Over the years sites like Facebook and Twitter have taken on lives of their own and are able to connect people through a medium. I feel that it would be a good way to connect with clients and friends on bot a professional and personal level.  It’s also very important to not get left behind in a world that is constantly evolving with social networking, even though I came a little too late to the “Twitter Party “  I do feel that social networking is a valuable tool for anybody to use and is here to stay for a very long time.   

Rise of The Planet of The Apes (2011) Review

My initial thoughts when I first heard that they were going to make a prequel series to the classic sci-fi movie “Planet of the Apes” were that we could very well see a terrible idea come to fruition. Before I get into the actual movie I would like to address a question that has plagued me for recent years..... Why are there remakes, reboots, and prequels? I understand that these types of movies are an opportunity for younger and newer audiences to be exposed to a certain series, but I find that Hollywood, in all of its infinite wisdom and power isn’t giving the original materials proper exposure to the masses. I’m not saying that all remakes, reboots, and prequels are bad but rather how they are hit and miss (80% miss 20% hit).  With that all out of the way, I can give my honest opinion of the most recent installment of the Planet of the Apes series, Rise of the planet of the Apes.   

Let’s talk about the casting for a brief minute. The movie is in fact a prequel (I don’t know, maybe the title of the movie gave it away) any audience can go into this movie with a somewhat fresh perspective.  This movie is headlined by James Franco , fresh off his highly successful movie “127 Hours (2010)”, and I find that he give his best possible performance, given that the subject matter is a monkey invasion. His acting is good but he just doesn’t seem like the type of person who ultimately doomed the entire planet by creating a prime ape uprising, resulting in the death of all humans, but I digress. The movie is directed by Rupert Wyatt, who I feel watched a lot of “300” before shooting this because the entire third act of this film is nothing but man versus ape in a bloody battle of epic proportions. So, enough talking about the “behind the scenes” stuff and dive right into the movie!

 [THIS IS PREQUEL!!!!!!!!!!]

  
Let's Get Started:
  
Our movie begins with an EVIL office room with EVIL business workers attending an EVIL board meeting in which they talk about the vaccine that they created to help cure Alzheimer’s disease, which coincidentally is not so EVIL. We then get introduced to our main hero, who ushers in an age of apocalypse in which all humans are put at the mercy of the apes, Will Rodman (James Franco) who brings in his monkey specimen who he has ejected with the Alzheimer’s cure. For some strange reason the monkey starts flipping out and destroying the conference room and office building. Instead of doing the obvious thing and tranquilizing the ape, a dumb security guard shoots it a couple of times until it falls to its death, no doubt costing the research center millions of dollars and setting back the world of science ten years. Surprisingly the guard goes unpunished and it’s Will who ends up having to shut down the entire research program because he couldn’t handle the monkey properly. While collecting his things he comes across a baby monkey who has been born with all of the positive side effects of the cure. Instead of doing the logical thing and telling his boss that there is still hope for this cure to work, he takes the baby monkey home and names him Caesar. (DUMBEST MOVE EVER!!!)   

  

 [THIS Is the guy that causes downfall of the entire human race... WHAT?!]   

As Will goes home we see that his father, played by John Lithgow, who has Alzheimer’s disease and is progressively getting worse. Will shows the baby monkey to his father who is overjoyed to have him as a new pet. Still feeling sorry for his dad Will goes back to the labs in the office and takes the remaining cure samples he has left. The next night Will gives the cure to his dad who miraculously is fully cured. While all that is going on Will also notices how smart Caesar is becoming and how advanced he is for a monkey (1^st unnoticed sign of a monkey upraising). Will then continues to teach Caesar while constantly spending time with him and having fun, almost like an animal version of “Full House” without John Stamos.... and the Olsen Twins are substituted for a super genius monkey.

 [This Could Quite Possibly Be The Equivalent of a John Stamos Ape...]

Will then goes into a relationship with another scientist Caroline, don’t worry she is such a minor character that here mere presence in the film is questionable. So, Will and Caroline go out and bring along Caesar to frolic around while they go on dates. While frolicking Caesar ponders the thought of wanting more out of life (2^nd unnoticed sign of a monkey upraising)  and wanting to be human, like Will (3^rd unnoticed sign of a monkey upraising). While the group packs up and leaves passing people stop and stare at Caesar, probably because of the whole being a super smart ape, which makes him uncomfortable. Months later we see that Will’s dad for some reason is getting progressively worse as the Alzheimer’s is coming back. With that said Will finally gives in and shows the smart monkey to the labs in order to get the updated formula for his father. 

[Caesar is NOT AMUSED!] 

With Will finding another cure, we see that Will’s dad attempts to get into a car... the only problem with that is he doesn’t own that car. The car belongs to a really loud and annoying character (REMEMBER HIM) who apprehends him in a violent manner, which Caesar thinks is an attack, so ultimately goes crazy and  making a big scene. Will does the most logical thing and puts Caesar in an artificial habitat for monkeys...... HE PUT THE SUPER INTELLIGENT APE IN A MONKEY RESERVE?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Whatever, moving on we see a newspaper heading reading that the recent launch of a rocket to mars has mysteriously gone missing. 

[Charlton Heston is NOT AMUSED!]

By the time Will gets the updated cure, his dad has already accepted death and wants no part of the updated cure. Meanwhile, we see Caesar enjoying his new home...up until twenty minutes later when the owners of the reserve, played by Draco Malfoy Tom Felton and Brian Cox,  who start abusing all of the animals....Truly these two are the most qualified to properly contain apes. 

[Monkyous Repelous! hahahaha He Wishes]

So, in the process of Caesar creating a monkey upraising, Will finds that his new updated cure, while making monkeys smarter, is incredibly fatal to humans......... So, ultimately Will’s assistant gets exposed to the new cure. Meanwhile, Caesar continues to cause an upraising which ultimately does come to fruition when he steals the updated cure form the lab and gives it to his new monkey friends as the world is at the super intelligent ape army!!!!  THE WORLD OF MAN, WHO DO INFACT HAVE GUNS AND WEAPONS ARE AT THE MERCY OF APES WITH SPEARS.........WHAT?!?

 So the EVIL boss of the lab dies, Malfoy (Tom Felton) dies, and the monkeys have finally escaped the city! It now comes down to Caesar and Will coming face to face for the final time. Though Caesar felt betrayed he does leave Will happily and now finally treated as an equal.......... Oh! Also remember that character 235 words ago? Yeah well he gets infected by the updated cure and coincidentally works as a pilot....... LEAVING ROOM FOR SEQUELS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Honest Thoughts:

To be honest, I liked the movie. I did have low expectations going into the movie but I can definitely say that it is a well rounded story. The characters are likable enough to care about and at times we do feel for Caesar and see the pain he is going through......... Only now we may have a prequel trilogy on our hands.......... 

 [Was Mr. Lucas involved in ending? We may never know! duhh duhhh duhhhhh!]

FIN.  

An Intro to...Me

About Myself:             

            Hey, my name is Stephen Bagazzoli, an eighteen year-old from Toronto, Ontario. I enjoy watching movies, whether they are good or bad. My favorite movies include “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, “The Good the Bad and the Ugly”, and “Drive”. Though watching movies is a hobby of mine I also enjoy listening to the radio, which ultimately lead me to the radio broadcasting course at Humber College.

Why Did You Decide To Get Into Radio? :

            I initially decided to get into radio when I was doing my communications technology course at my high school. I fell in love with media production and I wanted to go further in depth with it so I got into a very unique course, radio broadcasting.

[Quite Possibly The Most Generic Photo of Myself]

What Is It About Radio Broadcasting That Attracts You? :  

            I think that the uniqueness of radio is what attracts me. It is a medium in which all people can find access to anything whether it’s news, sports, or entertainment. Another major       factor of why I like radio broadcasting is the personalities that people can hear on the radio. It seems like each station has a certain personality which in turn gives audience members more variety of listening.

Nine Weeks Into The Program, What Challenges Have You Faced? :

              The challenges that I faced through the nine weeks are pretty basic for a first year student. The workload takes some time getting used to, but as the weeks go on I can see myself keeping up and doing all the work. I think keeping a positive mind and being able to constantly learn from my mistakes will make me a better student and broadcaster.

Where Do You See Yourself Going Into Radio? :

            I would like to imagine myself going into the production side of radio because I think it’s where my passion is. I like editing and working with sounds ever since I was in high school. It’s what I want and what I feel I should build up to.