the dark knight rises...then falls...then rises again...

If you have not seen this movie yet, this post will probably ruin it for you. So please don't blame me for finding out the plot because you continued reading when i told you not to.

Now that all of that is out of the way, everyone has been asking me if i loved or hated this movie. Duh. *slaps your face* What do you think?! I loved it. I thought it was the perfect way to end such a fantastic trilogy and send this new Batman out with a bang. Christopher Nolan... you are a wonderful person. Nailed it.

A lot of people have been saying that they are not happy with Anne Hathaway playing Cat Woman. I actually loved Michelle Pfeiffer's version of the crazy cat lady we all know and love from the comics, but this version of the story called for a more realistic and darker version of all of the characters. This included Cat Woman. I thought she did a great job at playing the poor innocent girl that blended in well enough to sneak behind everyone's back and rob them blind. After all, isn't that what she is all about? Manipulation? And I loved the relationship between her  and Batman. It was almost like she caught him off guard and he didn't have time to say, "uh... shouldn't we at least have dinner first?".

Michael Caine. I don't even know where to start. Perfect for this role as Batman's butler and stand-in dad. I think we got to see deeper into the relationship he really has with Bruce Wayne this time. He seems to have more lines in this movie. I also completely lost it when I saw him cry, look down at Martha and Thomas Wayne's grave and say "I'm sorry I failed you". Behhh.... I need a second. That broke my heart. And at that point in the movie, I had actually believed that Batman was dead. Yeah... he comes back. But Michael Caine did an incredible job playing Alfred in all three movies. When I think of Alfred, I'll think of him now.

Bale's acting was great this time around because we got to see a lot more of him without the mask. We got to see Batman as a human with emotions and scars. That's what I love about this character. He has a great back story. Even though it now seems like all superheros have the same back story....(they stole it from batman).
Christian Bale nailed it again, and I really think he was the best Batman. Sorry Michael Keaton!
Not sure who can top him if they ever come back to Batman movies, but Bale set the bar pretty high.

If one more person tells me that the joker was a better villian, I'm going to vomit. Yes, he was great, but we're done with that character. Batman can't fight the same guy in every movie can he? And wouldn't it be in poor taste to re-cast the role to someone just so they can pretend to play Heath Ledger's joker?
If you haven't seen Bane from the old comics, he looks slightly different in the movie. I thought it was the perfect way to make it seem like an even match when he came up against Batman. I honestly thought that the movie would end with Bane breaking Batman's back. I was prepared to fall apart and cry my eyes out. I did.... but that's not how the movie ended. Instead, it happened about halfway through the movie. So perfect. I was not expecting that at all. And that's when we got to see why Bruce Wayne is a superhero. He's a normal guy in a black suit....what makes him special? After you watch this movie, I think it becomes a little more clear. This is what I love about comics in general. Taking an average person and giving them a larger-than-life alter ego so that they can change the world. Isn't that what we all want? Well I do... and I'd gladly wear a cape doing it too.

Explosions. For those of you that are hoping for a lot of things to blow up. You got it.
Just wanted to cover that, because I've been asked by a few people now if it is a slow boring movie or if things go "BOOM". They blow a lot of stuff up. Yeah.

So the end of the movie will drag you through a lot of emotions. First, you think Batman is going to make it, then he dies, or does he? But the one part of the ending that I was hoping for, was an introduction to the new "Batman". You find out that Joseph Gordon-Levitt is actually Robin, and in some versions of the comics, he is the one who takes Batman's place. I felt that it was a perfect fit. They spent the whole movie setting it up too. They both had the same orphan background, the same 'fight' in them, and the same closed-off personality. I'm happy with the choice...I think.

And to the guy in the back of the theater that scared me to death... Please never...EVER... go to  a movie theater and announce, "I hope no one has a gun." right after it just happened...Yes, it was too soon. And really great timing too. After the woman went around taking donations for cancer research. Really nice.

Loved the movie. I'd go see it again. It was absolutely the best ending possible to this set of Batman movies. Gosh, I hope Nolan does Deadpool...

The Amazing? Spider Man

There's really no other good way to start this other than saying that my opinion about the new Spider Man movie could not be contained in one short Facebook post. I loved the movie, but I had a few problems with it too. Nothing was so big that I couldn't enjoy the movie, but obviously my inner geek was weeping at some points during the film.

One thing I do want to say is I absolutely loved the web shooters. I love the fact that he can't use them in water, if they get crushed he's in trouble, and he can run out. I've seen this in the comics and loved it then too. I'm glad to see them using it on the big screen. in case you do not know what i'm talking about, here's a picture:

*claps hands* This could have turned out horrible, but I actually ended up liking it. and if you notice, a red light blinks when he is about to run out of web "stuff". They didn't make a big deal about it in the movie, but it was cool to see that reference to the actual comic.
(p.s. the first appearance of the web shooters was in Amazing Fantasy vol.1 #15.)

Next up...we are all thinking it... yeah even you.... this new peter parker has a huge head. A few things about that:
1. He's supposed to be a teenager in high school.
2. He's supposed to be awkward and nerdy. I totally believed him when he was nervous asking Gwen out, but I also believed that he could put on that suit and crush some bad guys.
3. It's his hair.
4. Some of the comic versions of spider man also show him draggin' around that huge dome. So why is everyone so angry that they did it in the movie too??

It makes him look younger, more believable as a geek, and made him look like a cartoon. For me, it was kind of cool. As a fan of drawing with a little bit of exaggeration, I was hoping they'd make a hero look less like us, and more like the comics. So Eduardo...er....Peter Parker, you have my vote. I thought you nailed it.

I guess I'm supposed to say spoiler alert at some point during this right?
The Lizard. If anyone has seen The Super Mario Brothers movie from the 90s... you may remember this guy:

No, that's not the Lizard from this movie, but it's very close to what he looks like. I don't have too much to say about this because the other villians were a total mess, but at least make the guy look like a lizard if that's his name. And why do all scientists have to have an accent to sound smart? *throws hands up* I don't even...


Next order of business, Miss Gwen Stacy. I really wanted to like her...I did. I guess this is the girly-girl in me, but I really don't think she can pull off the blonde look. Why didn't they just cast a blonde girl to begin with. She looked strange. She also looks really horrible when she cries... like her eyes might fall out of her head. but, I did love the way they did her outfits, the hair, the headbands etc. I thought she did well as far as the acting thing went, but Iwas a little disappointed. after hearing that she was going to play the part of Gwen, i was nervous they were trying to pull another Kirsten Dunst on us...even though it wasn't that bad, it still left me wishing they would have gone with someone else.

Last up, let's talk about the cheesiness that is Marvel. I don't know why anyone would be shocked to see some level of cheese from these kind of movies. you're taking a normal person, slapping spandex on them, and telling them to look as cool as possible. There's bound to be some funny moments found in that. I'm surprised they held back as much as they did. Everything was there: The silly jokes Spider Man shouted as he flew through the city, the bad lines the cops would say, Martin Sheen (yeah, Marty), and the most adorable Stan Lee moment of all. I expected all of this and kind of appreciated it too. Comics were made to entertain and inspire. They weren't made to read like a math book.
(I may be saying that I'm cool with Spider Man's bad jokes because of the Deadpool movie coming out soon. I know it's going to be a mess of bad jokes).
So I mentioned the Stan Lee moment, and I won't give away what they did with him, but I felt like he may have gotten a bigger spot in this movie than in any of the others. He deserves it...try to fight me on that. The thing that ruined that moment for me was when the people sitting behind us had the following conversation:

Guy #1: "HAHA THAT WAS GREAT!"
Guy #2: "TOO FUNNY. DO YOU KNOW WHO THAT IS?"
Guy #1: "YEAH, THAT'S STAN LEE."
Guy #2: "WHO'S THAT?"

Ruined it for me. Thanks guys. Just make sure when you see the movie, that you try to sit far away from anyone. Also...don't clap at the end of the movie. The actors can't hear you. The only movies that have deserved clapping so far are:
1. LOTR
2. Star Wars

So cut it out.

Overall, I loved this movie. It was entertaining and that's all I wanted from it. I wasn't asking for a deep story line or intense character backgrounds, but I got what I paid for; a nice new take on a hero that they messed up before. All is forgiven. I'm not mad about Toby... This new Spider Man showed me that it's all going to be OK.

Using Excel and Word

When you are creating a document in Microsoft Word, you may want to add some kind of visual element like a chart. Instead of creating a chart in another design based program, you can use the chart tool in Word. When you insert a chart, you will automatically see a second window appear on your screen. Microsoft Excel will automatically open so that you can edit the data that will be displayed in your chart. For those of you who are Microsoft Word users, you may not need to use Excel very often. And for those of you that are Excel users, you may not need to use Word very often. The great thing about adding charts is that it works with both programs and makes it very easy to understand.

When you edit the data in the Excel window, it translates into a chart inside of the Word window. There is no need to create a chart in another program. You can now use two of your Office applications at the same time to add a new visual element to your Word document. You also still have the ability to open the Excel window and edit the data to update your chart.

All you need to do is find your point of insertion in your Word document, click on the Insert tab of your ribbon, and choose chart. Once you choose your chart type, it will open Excel and place it side by side with your Word application window. Then, you can edit your chart. Anytime you are selected on your chart in the Word application window, your chart tools contextual tab will appear at the top of your ribbon. It will give you all of your options to format your chart.

Comments in CSS and HTML

When working with any kind of code, you may come to a point where you need to label certain lines. You may want to stop and come back to work on the code another time and leave yourself a note so you don’t have to read through each line to make sure it is correct. You may also want to write yourself notes if you are a beginner and need to refer back to that text document to know what each line of code means/does. Another reason for adding comments would be if you were sharing your code with someone else. They need to know why you wrote the code that you did and what it is actually doing.  I am going to show you how to write a comment in CSS and HTML. They are slightly different but will do the same thing. It will allow you to write anything you want in your text document without affecting the code itself.


HTML:

<a href=”index.html”>Home</a>

<!-- Link to Home page --> 

<a href=”contact.html”>Contact</a>

<!-- Link to Contact page -->

<a href=”index.html”>Home</a>

<!-- Link to Home page --> 

<a href=”contact.html”>Contact</a>

<!-- Link to Contact page -->

The red text shows the comments in HTML. It starts with “<!--“ and ends with “-->”. You can write anything you want between them. The purpose of comments is to write something without changing your code at all. I even like to add fun little comments if I am sharing my code with someone else because I know that whatever I write will NOT show up on the page. 

CSS: 

p {

font-size: 24px;

/* 24 is also the current font size for the content section on the home page */

}

p {

font-size: 24px;

/* 24 is also the current font size for the content section on the home page */

}

This is what a comment will look like on your CSS style sheet. It looks a little different than a comment in HTML, but it acts the same way. You can write whatever you want without changing your code. Start with “/*” and end with “*/”. It’s as simple as that. 

These comments can go anywhere in your code. Just make sure to use the correct format for the type of code you are working with. Remember that the comments will not be interpreted, so you can write in any format you want to. 

Knowing your HTML tags: Anchor Tags

If you have ever worked with HTML, you know the frustrations that come with setting up each page and making sure they all link together. I am going to show you how to understand how the pages link, and we will break down the line of code to understand what each part means.

The first thing we want to look at is the basic structure of the link itself.

<a href=”index.html”>Home</a>

The parts of the link that are highlighted in red are the tags. You need one at the beginning, and one at the end to close the tag. It will not work unless you close the tag. This specific tag is an anchor. It is working to make the pages link together.

<a href=”index.html”>Home</a>

This next highlighted part is the attribute. This attribute specifies the page that it will be linked to. So, if we were adding this line of code to our “About” page, this link would take us to the “Home” page (index.html).

<a href=”index.html”>Home</a>

Our “Home” page text file is called “index.html”. Make sure you put the exact name of the text file you are linking to or it will not recognize it and it will not work. Remember to surround it in quotes too.

<a href=”index.html”>Home</a>

For this example, I am linking my “About” page to my “Home” page. This line of code is in my “About” text file. The highlighted text is what will appear on my page when viewed in a browser. You can put anything you want here. Depending on how you style your links in your style sheet (CSS), the word “Home” will appear that way. None of the other text shown here will appear.

So there you have it! Linking your pages together is as simple as adding this line of code to your html text file and changing the names around. Now that you know all of the parts of this tag, it should make linking the pages together a little easier.

Web Design: One Trick That Will Save Some Time (and stress)

When designing a website, one of the most important things to keep in mind is, “Is this site easy to use?” There are a few ways to make sure your site will be easy to use for your target audience. First, you need to know your target audience. Who will be using your site? What will they be looking for? Is that thing they are looking for easy to find?

The next thing you want to think about is your color scheme. Are the colors too bright? Too dull? Do I have too many colors? There are a lot of ways to choose the color scheme for your site and a lot of helpful websites out there to help with this problem too. I know personally, I have spent hours finding the right color scheme for some of my sites. It can be a frustrating situation.

Even after you choose the right colors, you need the right font, layout, and navigation. The list goes on and on, but one thing you can do to make this all come together is keep things consistent. What does that mean? Don’t confuse your audience with a different layout, color scheme, and font choice for each page. They will find it hard to navigate through your site and they will leave.

When you start to design a website, the first step in the process (after brainstorming) is to create wireframes. You can do this on paper (graphing paper is best), or you can use a pixel based program on your computer. For this example, we will be using Adobe Photoshop CS5 to create a wireframe that stays consistent on each page. 

Remember, your wireframe does not need color or pictures yet. The only thing you are doing here is planning out where all of your site elements will be. Here is an example of a wireframe for a website design:

You will notice that it is the most basic idea of what my site will look like. I used greyscale shapes and text to show where everything will be once I get to the designing phase. I put in photo placeholders so I can have an idea of what the final design will look like. I also added my navigation bar with my button placeholders. As a designer, you will start to see the final product as you move from this phase to the next. You will start to pick colors and font choices after each wireframe is designed. It is one step that will save you a lot of time.

As far as consistency goes, you will want to make sure most of these elements follow you from page to page. If this is my home page (the first page users will come to), then this will set the tone for the rest of the site. Users will get comfortable here and expect the same things to be on the next page they come to. The only things you will swap out are pictures and text (content).

The things that are circled in red should stay the same on every page. The user will get lost without these elements.

The first thing that is circled is my website title and logo. You want to remind the user where they are and show off that logo you spent hours working on. This is an easy way to keep your site design looking consistent. Again, it will make the user feel comfortable.

The next thing that is circled is the navigation. You never want to change the navigation. NEVER. If you move the navigation around on each page, the user will almost always get lost, get frustrated, and get out. This is another comfort issue that some designers forget. The user needs to know how to move from page to page. Even if the content changes, the navigation will always be there to help them out. Think of it like a tour guide for your website.

When designing a website, you can easily overwhelm yourself when you start thinking about all of the things you have ahead of you. Step one: breathe. Step two: think about your target audience. Step three: brainstorm and start wireframing those ideas out. Once you have the wireframes made, keep consistency in mind and start designing. Change the colors, add pictures and logos. Having the wireframe will keep you from losing your consistent design and keep you from losing users on your site.

Photoshop CS5 Blend Modes

Adding a blending mode to a layer can add a quick effect to a photo or logo design in just a few simple clicks of the mouse. Think of it as blending two layers into each other. The two most commonly used blend modes are Multiply and Screen. They darken or lighten images respectively. All of the blend modes are just different ways to make two layers interact with each other.

Blend modes can be found in your layers panel in the drop down menu towards the top. By default, it should say “Normal”. When adding a blend mode to a layer, keep in mind that it will effect that layer and the layer below it. Make sure your layers are in the correct stacking order before adding a blend mode or you will not get the results you want.

To start, I have my background layer (“Background”) changed to “Layer 0” so that it can be hidden. To unlock your background layer, simply double click and when prompted to name the layer, click “OK”. Once you have the layer unlocked, you can click the hide/show icon (looks like an eye) to hide the layer.

I also, added a photo on a new layer above a rectangle shape on a separate layer. These will be the two layers that I will blend together.

Here is what the layers will look like:

The next step is to move the layers so that they are overlapping. The photo layer should be above the rectangle layer, so you will not be able to see the rectangle once they are stacked on top of one another. Once you add a blend mode, you will be able to see the rectangle layer.

Make sure you have your photo layer selected and choose a blend mode from the drop down list at the top of your layers panel. You can always choose the layer with the blend mode, and change it back to “Normal” if you do not like the effect. Blend modes are all about preference. Which one looks best to you?

This is what the photo looks like with the blend mode “Overlay” chosen. The layer with the purple rectangle that it is being blended with, will effect the way the picture will look. By changing the color, the blending mode will look different.

The only change I made here was changing the fill color of the rectangle layer behind the picture. By doing this, the two layers will blend differently.

Blend modes will work with any kind of layer. Remember that adding a blend mode will change the way TWO layers interact with each other so make sure the layer below the selected layer is the right fit for the blend mode. By changing the color and blend mode, you can have hundreds of effects on one photo.