Welcome!

Hello Readers!

First of all: whether you're a friend who has been coerced and forced into visiting this site, someone who's looking for a review source out there that isn't completely full of bull (I'm looking at you New Yorker...just kidding...you're not completely), or just have nothing better to do than to listen to a 17 year old guy who gives off the impression that he thinks he's right about everything rant about how fantastic or disgusting a movie or play is, thank you very much for reading this blog!

I created this site because, thanks to a hearty conversation between my father, my friend, and myself last night about my future after high school, I realized that I would love to get into journalistic criticism. This is just a little practice for me just in case I decide to take a journalism course in University. Also, I find I have a lot of spare time on the computer, so I figure I might as well do something useful instead of MSN all day and watch pirated episodes of Batman Beyond (sickest show ever by the way, suggest you watch it).

This blog is officially titled the ORB, which stands for Opinionated Reviews on Blogger (I'm not very creative with names at 10:00 in the morning thank you very much). What it is is basically the Entertainment section of any newspaper. I am going to be writing reviews on movies, musicals, television, plays, CDs, anything I can get my hands on, watch, and listen to in recent time. I will also create a rating system out of five, and yes I will be using .5s so don't bitch about it. My reviews will be glorifying, harsh, sometimes exaggerated, usually unbiased, but hopefully very entertaining to read. This will be a good output for my opinions instead of yelling in my friends' ears.

What can you expect me to review? My first review that I am going to write after this introductory article is a review of the hit Pixar-Disney movie WALL-E, because I saw it not too long ago and I feel that that movie deserves to be my first review (Why, you ask? Read the review to find out!). After that, expect a very detailed review of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, which I have been counting down for religiously. But very soon, you'll also see me review the Dancap Productions of Avenue Q and Jersey Boys, along with the entire 2008/2009 season of Mirvish Productions, we'll see who wins the Play Production in Toronto War.

Where do you guys come in? I would very much like to hear what you guys think about my work, so if you like, I invite you to critique my work very harshly and tell me if I'm wrong or right or if I should never type on a keyboard again; there is a 95% guarantee that I will write back. Let out the writer in you! Also, I will only critique recent material due to the fact that if I critiqued everything I wanted to, I would get radiation poisoning and carpal tunnel. However, if you would like to make a request for something specific for me to review, I will gladly write a review for anything you suggest.

In conclusion, I cannot wait to get started, and I really hope you enjoy my writing and value my opinion. Much like I will for most of the reviews I write, I would like to close with this hilariously ironic quote by David Rose which I feel completely conveys the message of this site:

"The orb allows for constant dynamic feedback."

It was much better than the quote by Vivienne Westwood anyway: "The orb came about because I wanted to do the kitsch sweater for Prince Charles when he went hunting and fishing with his kilt on." Actually, that one might be more appropriate.

Mike Wisniowski