Swollen Pickles

It was with great anticipation that I went along to watch the Watchmen on the weekend. As we all know though, with great anticipation, can come great disappointment. So does the film deliver?

The graphic novel (note: not comic) Watchmen is one of the more revered illustrated stories in the universe. It was first released in 1986, and it's a little surprising to see that it's taken this long for a film version to hit the screen.

Watchmen is set in an alternative version of 1985. Masked vigilantes have been outlawed, Richard Nixon is still President of the United States, and the world is on the edge of armageddon as nuclear war between the US and Russia is no longer a matter of 'if' but 'when'.

As with the novel, the film opens with the spectacular murder of The Comedian, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan in a massive departure from his role in Grey's Anatomy. The Comedian was a member of a wider fraternity of semi-retired superheroes, that also includes the Night Owl (Patrick Wilson), Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup), Ozymandius (Matthew Goode), Silk Spectre 2, (Malin Akerman) and my personal favorite, Rorschach (Jackie Earle Hayley). Rorschach, the most active member of the group, decides to investigate the Comedians death. What follows is a murder mystery of sorts that unravels into a conspiracy of epic proportions. (more...)

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When you sit down to watch a movie with the title "Zack and Miri Make a Porno", you do so with certain expectations. You want laughs and you expect jokes that you wouldn't feel comfortable re-telling to your mother. Fortunately Zack and Miri delivers both in spades, but for me, it delivered so much more.

Put simply Zack and Miri Make a Porno is the most romantic movie I have ever seen. Zack (Seth Rogan) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) are platonic life long friends, who happen to share a house, and also happen to be deep in debt. They need money fast, or else they are likely to find themselves homeless. Now in need of some fast money, the average person may take a second job, or sell off unwanted furniture. Zack, however, hatches the plan to make and sell his very own pornographic movie. From there on in, it's all very predictable, in a good way. You can disengage your brain and just have a laugh.
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When February rolls around it always occurs to me that there is a flaw in my goal tracking. Obviously February is the shortest month of the year, in 2009 February had three fewer days than January. Therefore, it doesn't quite seem fair to compare February's results with those of January. None the less, that's what I'm going to do...

Goal Number One: Develop Swollen Pickles into a website that can generate $350US per month.

To be blunt, Swollen Pickles is still under performing. In January, the site brought in $112.77, with February seeing this figure increasing to $138.24. The big performers continue to be the eBay partner network, thanks to phpBayPro and InfoLinks.

Incidentally, March may be a good time fore you to check out Chitika, as I've just learned that throughout March they are running with their "Stimulus Package Match" program. My basic understanding is that throughout March, whatever you earn with Chitika, Chitika will match it, up to $50. There new premium ad units are worth a look as they only display to US/Canadian traffic that arrives at your site via a search engine.
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In an effort to inject a little more culture into my life, I decided to go and see a film nominated for five Academy Awards, 'The Reader'.

The Reader is based upon the 1995 German novel 'Der Vorleser', that funnily enough translates to 'The Reader'. The novel was written by German law professor and judge Bernhard Schlink. Like the film, the novel also won quite a few awards, but perhaps it's greatest honour was being a selection for Oprah's Book Club.

The film adaptation tells the story of German lawyer, Michael Berg, and the impact his first real 'adult' relationship has had on his life. Michael's story is told through a series of flashbacks. The film opens in Berlin, in 1995, as Michael (played by Ralph Fiennes) prepares breakfast for a woman that has obviously spent the night. On her way out the door, the woman laments Michael's inability to allow her to get close to him, wondering if he was like that with all the women in his life. As Michael watches a train go by, we are taken back to 1958. (more...)

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