My Delta Alpha Pi Honor Society T-Shirt Design

Since I have been writing too many blog posts about movies, I thought I would like to share this to prove how much of a brilliant graphic designer I am since attending George Mason 2 years ago. I am currently enrolled in the Delta Alpha Pi Honor Society, which consists of people with disabilities such as autism and hearing impairments. There is a t-shirt design contest that will go on until next August, the start of Fall Semester. I thought it would be most respectful if I could design one of my own since I am a DAPi member.
The design I had made for one of the t-shirts prior to submission for voting, it's a set of words spelling out "Delta Alpha Pi Honor Society," positioned to the right in a staircase-like manner, as a way to symbolize the message that when you take one step at a time, you are on a path to success when accomplishing your desired goal. The typeface for these DAPi letters are in a Charter format, and "George Mason University" (capitalized to express its strong contribution to the honor society) and "Honor Society" are both PT Sans typefaces for simpler and cheap uses. I applied them with dark green, dark blue, and mild yellow colors. In addition to that, I created several black lines with the square tool before carefully aligning them with the "Delta", "Alpha", "Pi", and "Honor Society" evenly as though they are the steps that form a staircase. I've increased the size of D, A, and P letters to slightly bigger to display like some kind of an acronym, while living the other letters to each the first capitalized letters all lowercase with some kerning and leading altered to provide tiny gaps and eliminating any sign of tightness among the letters.

So there you have it. My very own DAPi t-shirt design, not having any logos already used which is copyright-protected. It's better than just applying the official DAPi logo that would have been a challenge for me since I can't change any details that are already perfect as it is. My design may not end up as the winning one, but at least it'll be respectfully nominated by the deciding voters of the t-shirt design contest, whether or not that will happen. Got to be prepared for the next (and penultimate) semester at George Mason University, even if I was just having such a relaxing summer break!

Quick Review of 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' (ULTIMATE EDITION)

Where do I begin? Oh, yes. Despite its first theatrical release 4 months ago, I did not make a quick review on this blog because 1) I have no comment to say about it given our underwhelming reactions to what we thought would be a Batman/Superman movie worth waiting, and 2) there is a 3-hour long, R-rated extended cut that I know is what the BvS experience should have been like while still retaining stuff that most people find uncomfortable. I made a Facebook note that jots down a lot of details that I believe that Zack Snyder (I named him one of  the "worst directors of all time" next to M. Night Shyamalan!) and the guys involved could have avoided without repeating the same upsetting mistakes from Man of Steel. It felt like as though I might have made a mistake being excited to see Batman v Superman even though Captain America: Civil War is what I'm waiting to see this year. Watching the first trailer of that last year and then another set of them prior to its first debut reminded me how much that promising blockbuster event could have turned out if they didn't have a lot of things that could spell, how do I put this? MAJOR LETDOWN! No matter the spectacular action and visual sets, especially Ben Affleck's Dark Knight Returns-inspired (yet murderous in a controversial way to fans and critics) take on the eponymous Bat Vigilante, it's sad to see that everything gets to be majorly criticized because Warner Bros. and DC thinks that it's "good" to make it all dark and gritty in an out-of-character way. Especially when they absolutely mishandled Superman's iconic bald-headed archenemy that deserves better in the live-action movies. Just like Superman who's had way too many mediocre movie adaptations after the first two critically-acclaimed Richard Donner films. Perhaps the studio should know that Superman was never supposed to be in the same league as Batman just by acting so full of misery because Snyder thinks it's necessary to make his actions, heroic or not, relate to our real-life events when that's not how the Superman concept works. But when I looked at the initial reactions to the Ultimate Edition (which came out on Digital HD June 28th and on Blu-ray/DVD July 19th, which I finally bought this week), they were instead generally positive which gave me some enlightenment that perhaps the DC Extended Universe might not be such a terrible idea after all after suffering from such a debacle that almost killed off any chance of that happening like it did to Sony's Spider-Man Cinematic Universe. So, I decided to give myself to see if the Ultimate Edition will justify everything that Batman v Superman has most people were extremely uncomfortable with, even if it whether or not alter the overall movie experience and initial criticisms (already rated 27% on Rotten Tomatoes, 6.9/10 on IMDb, and granted a CinemaScore grade of B) for diehard fans in the similar vein of the superior director's cuts of Daredevil and Kingdom of Heaven. I mean, they're the ones who praised Ben Affleck's first time playing Batman despite being undeservedly hated for his murderous actions.
When I first saw the movie at home last week on Saturday night, I think it was much better than my first viewing at a theater. The Ultimate Edition does make the plot more coherent, if only they didn't really hype the long-anticipated fight which only lasts like a few minutes. I mean everybody despised the part where Batman stopped killing Superman because he uttered the name "Martha", both shared by their respective mothers, yet we all should know that it is because he finally saw the humanity in Superman, and comparing him to how his father also said his wife's name before dying, which is why he frustratingly threw away the Kryptonite spear as though he was becoming the man who murdered his parents. What hasn't changed however, is the awfully cringy to painful lines uttered by Jesse Eisenberg's so-called Lex Luthor (said to be the "son of the ACTUAL Lex Luthor", who we could have had, but no!), no matter how better improved is his plot to motivate both of DC's most popular heroes into fighting each other in this new cut (explained by extra stuff like Clark Kent's Batman investigation, the death of a branded criminal plotted by Luthor's thugs, and the suicide bomber's wheelchair being lined with lead making it immune to Supes' x-ray vision). And even if everybody likes this more than the studio-based theatrical cut, what's to stop them from criticizing the final act with the even more destructive battle between the Trinity (Superman, Batman, and WONDER WOMAN!) and Doomsday (cloned from General Zod's dead body) when it was said to be too much of a last-minute addition to an awfully-crowded plot that WB and DC were clearly struggling with if they're willing to compete with the Marvel Cinematic Universe? And yes, it did feel like it's too soon to (SPOILER) kill off Superman when bringing in the Doomsday monster when he just starred in the DCEU a movie ago. But without that, then Bruce and Diana would not have been inspired to build up a Justice League by finding the Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg (no matter how "cheap" their teaser via email was handled). And Bruce wouldn't even have to consider going back to his 20-year-old no-killing rule hence why he instead spared Lex Luthor from viciously branding him in prison.
This major crisis wouldn't have happened if Zack Snyder and David S. Goyer only knew that perhaps not every DC hero needs to be like Batman because dark and gritty does not always equal success. If they wanted to portray our favorite superheroes without making them as cold-hearted murderers, they could have at least watch the better-written and definitive DC Animated shows like Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited than just looking at comic book pages and then not bother reading their entire stories of how noble and heroic they need to be. And if they wanted Batman v Superman to earn $1 billion before earning just $872 million, they would have like taken their time reading and approving what works or doesn't work in the script, despite being rewritten by some Oscar-winner like Chris Terrio. If I can guess one major reason why critics are dissing them, is this: too much destruction. Maybe Zack Snyder could at least tone it down a little and make the preserving people's lives a major concern and priority for heroes to worry about no matter how overpowered most superpowered beings can be. It could be the reason why Captain America: Civil War was instead better received and actually did earn over $1 billion. At least the plot and the reason that our favorite heroes are against each other were so easy to follow without finding them extremely convoluted like BvS's. Guess Marvel is "better than DC", in terms of live-action movies, no matter how "forced" the humor was that many people would find such a big deal to complain about instead.
But the point is, I actually liked the Ultimate Edition of BvS. Definitely on par with the excellent extended cuts of say the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the underrated albeit overlong Watchmen. I totally recommend that to people who might have been upset with the outcome of the final cut at a movie theater that the studio lazily favored over Snyder's. The best thing about that, regardless if they were hated for no reason, was the fact that at least Ben Affleck's Batman is more terrifying and a truly excellent fighter unlike the previous Batmen in the outdated films, which is what fans absolutely want, correct? Although they really need to work on making Henry Cavill's Superman more likable and not so easy to hate (since Superman IV and Superman Returns) for being so mopey even in a situation where he was feared by many people around the world for being an outcast alien before he was eventually seen as a martyr after death. They also need to better clarify questionable and stupid plot holes like Lois throwing away the Kryptonite spear into the water abyss only to retrieve it again later on and nearly drowning herself during the Doomsday fight. And having seen the Comic-Con trailer of... JUSTICE LEAGUE! It looks to be that the promotion of Geoff Johns and Jon Berg as head of the DC Films Division has paid off! And with the enthusiastically positive buzz of next month's Suicide Squad, it looks like that the newly-built cinematic universe of the DC superheroes are starting to look toward a brighter future!

Quick Review of 2016's 'Ghostbusters'

Who you're gonna call? Someone else. By "someone else," I mean female stars like Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones. Four months ago, I watched the first trailer of this feminine reboot version of the once-popular 1980s Ghostbusters. Every review I read, which were mostly negative on YouTube regarding the sexist topic, and view these hilarious yet stupidly corny jokes, I thought it was gonna be like one of those horrible remakes and reboots (Amazing Spider-Man, Terminator Genisys, Total Recall) made by Hollywood nowadays that nearly stained classic ones. Especially when I called Sony the worst movie studio of all time due to the lack of well-marketed and highly-appealing movies, its over reliance on product placement, and its greedy obsession of making unwanted by-the-number remakes like Annie and next year's Jumanji. I even called this year's GB as one of my worst movies of all time prior to theatrical release. But when Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 73% rating (though audience score is right now 57%) by saying that it was "great", I was confused. What about when the Internet Movie Database gave it a 4.0+/10 rating? Surely, they were exactly what the YouTube reviews have been saying. I said to myself that I would pass on the new GB movie no matter how much Sony keeps promoting it. I've just seen my 1984 Ghostbusters DVD twice as an absolute reminder that it will always be what many people remember the Ghostbusters as. However, during our brief stay in Indiana by visiting Auntie Lily's house last weekend, my sister Christine goaded me into seeing it with her despite my concerns about the negativity being true. I guess that she was trying to let me give it a chance because of what I've been saying to her about how the female Ghostbusters movie is not as bad as the comments on YouTube have been saying.
In my first viewing of it, I was aware that while the jokes given that it is a Paul Feig movie may turn out to be worth laughing out loud at, not every one of them should be taken too seriously. Everything does remind me so much of what I remember Ghostbusters to be like, at least not in a disrespectful way since it is after all a reboot from scratch with no connection with the first two original films. Kristen Wiig, as Erin Gilbert, is one of the female comedy stars I like for playing such a nice woman with an excellent sense of humor because look, she reminds me so much of the lovable Lucy Wilde from Despicable Me 2! She acted like she's having fun interacting with someone like Melissa McCarthy, as Erin's Ray Stanz-like friend Abby Yates. And remember when I thought that Leslie Jones, as Patty Jones, would be so irritatingly annoying because of her stereotypical black woman characteristics? Actually, she doesn't seem so bad, because she actually does make me laugh so hard when she says things like "I don't know if it's a race thing or a lady thing, but I'm mad as hell!" and "The power of Patty compels you!" But the biggest standout of the lady quartet is Kate McKinnon, as Jillian Holtzmann! I think she is the most eccentric and the most likable female Ghostbuster of them all! Love the way she acted like such a goofball while being a brilliant engineer and provider of the ghost-capturing weapons. Especially how she took down all of Rowan's evil ghosts LIKE A BOSS ("You just got Holtzmann'ed!")! The other stars I find okay or mediocre are the hunky yet wasteful Chris Hemsworth (Kevin) and the one-dimensional Neil Casey (GB 2016 main villain Rowan). There are also some fun albeit cheap cameos from the original Ghostbusters, now mind you they are actually characters DIFFERENT from the characters we know and love, like Bill Murray, Annie Potts, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, and of course Ernie Hudson!
Overall, it was actually a fun remake of Sony's horror-comedy blockbuster property even while suffering from the usual remake-is-inferior problems and the so-bad-yet-it's-ridiculously-funny-if-not-completely-forced jokes! It didn't actually end up a franchise-killing abomination like Batman & Robin or Fant4stic! And neither is it one of the turned-out-to-be-awful-in-my-opinion movies that strangely earned good Rotten Tomato ratings (Noah - 76%, Indiana Jones 4 - 77%, Superman Returns - 76%, Piranha 3D - 73%, etc.)! Perhaps it wasn't much of a waste of a ticket even if there are other summer movies better than this what is now one of my favorite guilty pleasure movies right up with Angry Birds, Pixels, Battleship, and the Transformers movies! Let's see if its $46 million opening will allow Sony to begin this ever-expanding cinematic universe of the Ghostbusters (having their own production company called "Ghost Corps") they've been planning after their Spider-Man Cinematic Universe was killed by The UN-Amazing Spider-Man 2! So who are you gonna call?

GHOSTBUSTERS (either male (old) or female (new))!!!