Unseen Villains

It is pretty obvious that I am unbelievably stoked to see The Dark Knight Rises tomorrow at midnight. I am a huge Batman fan and have been waiting to see a series like this for as long as I can remember. Nice work and thank you Christopher Nolan. That having been said, I got to thinking tonight about all of the villains that we have seen since Tim Burton's 1989 Batman until now. We obviously have both good and bad interpretations of famous foes to Batman but I also got to thinking about all of the villains not used. Below is my list of villains that have either never appeared in a Batman film before or ones that I would like to see in the next reboot of Batman and who I would like to see play them. After you read, please respond with your list.

Never Used

1. Professor Hugo Strange- Professor Strange has always intrigued me ever since I discovered his existence in the world of Batman. He is a man who is obssessed with Batman and wants to become him. So what does he do? Tortures and researches his way to finding out that Bruce Wayne is Batman. I won't spoil the rest in case this happens one day but he is a lunatic with an agenda. Slight change of pace from The Joker who has no agenda. Who would play him? None other than my personal favorite, Robin Williams. 

2. Black Mask- Black Mask is an interesting villain. His story is dark and his origins are very similar to that of Bruce Wayne's. Roman Sionis is the man who eventually becomes Black Mask and why he does so is even more fascinating. He is young, rich, and jealous having always lived in the shadow of Bruce Wayne. A very creepy story, indeed. Who would play him? I would not mind seeing Ryan Gosling in this role.

3. Victor Zsasz- We saw glimpses of him in Batman Begins. It was a nice little Easter Egg for Batman fans. Zsasz is a psychopath who carves marks in his skin after every person that he kills. He is ruthless. He is a very believable villain who can be seen running around in any part of the world yet is still a test for Batman. Who would play him? Leonardo DiCaprio or Edward Norton. 

Who would I like to see in a reboot?

1. The Riddler- I love Jim Carrey and I think he played the part perfectly for the type of movie he was in. Could he play the true darker version of the character? Of course. I would have LOVED to seen a Riddler in Nolan's series. Oh well. Who would play him? I know he is old now, but if they made the story right, Kevin Spacey would be phenomenal in my opinion. I know it may sound cliche since he is named for everything, but Johnny Depp would actually be pretty ideal as well. Maybe even Steve Carell.

2. Two-Face- He is just an essential villain to any Batman franchise and he was done great in The Dark Knight, but was not used in the way that he should have been. He fit into the story good for that movie, but Two-Face eventually ruled the underworld of Gotham. He just completely lost his mind and gave up any hope of ever being good again. Hugh Jackman should take on this role. He would be a perfect egotistical yet charming Dent and would pull off the snarling schizophrenic as well.

3. The Joker- To all nay sayers who think the role should be left alone. I am not saying try and top one of the greatest acting performances of all time. I am just saying let's be real. When they start another Batman franchise, there will be another Joker and we will all be eager to see who takes on the role. Jack Nicholson was perfect. Heath Ledger was unbelievable and perfect for this series. Who could play him in the future? I would love to see Sean Penn put on the legendary clown make-up.

Your thoughts on who you would like to see and who would play them?

College Ends and Life Begins

My life is a foot race against time. Spoiler alert: Time always wins. No matter how hard I try to outrun it, time always catches up with me. It's not always just time in general that I am racing, but rather events that time is sending after me. Recently, I have been running a race against the most important event to date in my life; my college graduation. I will admit, I did not run from this event for very long. Very early into my college career I slammed on the breaks, turned, opened my arms wide and embraced this monster ready to conquer it. After all, the monster that follows in it's footsteps is not one that I can run from. It will be there the second I shake Dr. Martin's hand and accept my diploma on Saturday. I can hide from it during the celebration I will have with my family that night. It will try to find me, but I will be well hidden by the laughter, the memories and the nostalgia. However, once my eyes open on Sunday morning, I will be staring this monster right in the face. Life will be there waiting for me...

 A grown man once sat down and talked with me about what I wanted to do with my life. I told him that I felt called to full time ministry through athletics. I feel as though the Lord can and will use me best by using my knowledge of business principles and sports to become a successful athletic director in the high school or low collegiate level. I feel that I will be used the same way through coaching baseball. This man told me that these are dreams and I needed to face reality. He challenged my goals in life and basically told me that I will never be successful because I did not go into a field that guaranteed me monetary success. If I had to look this man in the eye again today, I would tell him the same thing that I did on that day before excusing myself from his house: "I appreciate your concern but I do not want your advice. You measure success in WHAT you do and not HOW WELL you are at what you do. Do not EVER AGAIN tell me what I want to do with my life is wrong. You are entitled to your opinion, but when it comes to my life, unless I ask for it, keep it to yourself." I use people like this jerk for motivation. Not to gloat, but since that day I have interviewed for a job with the Baltimore Orioles, worked for two NASCAR races in Richmond and by doing so getting to meet drivers, reporters, owners, and very prominent figures within the sport world, and worked an entire football season for the Athletic Communications Department at Liberty University. Not bad for a dreamer at the age of 22 I would say.

 So now that college is over, what have I learned? I can honestly say that the lessons I have learned the most do not come from textbooks or any lecture that a professor has prepared based on the learning material. Do not get me wrong, I have a handful of professors that have taught me many things but it was not the curriculum that taught me my most valuable lessons. Going away to college on my own 4 years ago has taught me so much about life. Perhaps the most important thing that I learned was that I did not go away alone. Sure, I was forced to be dependent as far as most things go but I was not ever alone. During my time away from home, I have learned just how important my family is to me. I would pay the tens of thousands of dollars again just for this life lesson alone. I have always loved and appreciated my family but it was not until I left home and realized just how great my appreciation for them was. Not a week went by in 4 years where I did not talk to my parents or grandparents. Sometimes I would even call them once a day, it all depended on how busy I was. They have helped me monetarily, yes, but I rarely made an important decision in my life without consulting each of them first. My aunts and uncles could not have been more of a help either. Knowing that I had everyone's support and most importantly, prayers, made college the success that it was for me.

 I have made some very amazing friends since being here. I have heard people tell me that you will me your best friends in life in college. I am pleased to say that this is partially true but I am even more proud to say that I have been able to stay very close with some of best friends from high school as well. The times I have had with all of my friends over these years have been outstanding. They have partnered with my family in making the good times great and the hard times bearable. My freshman year was an adjustment. I learned very quickly the wrong way to manage money and was forced to make a successful budget, but what kid who is not spoiled by his parents does not struggle in college. We learn the most from our hardships. This year has, by far, been the toughest for me academically and as far as life goes. Most of you know by now that on the morning of February 17, I received a very disturbing phone call from my mother informing me that my Uncle Larry had passed away. I am already taking 19 credit hours and then this? I won't lie. I told my family I was fine, but school's over now. Coming back from the week of the funeral and finishing this semester was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, academically and emotionally. The Lord is the only one to credit for the strength I received to finish. He truly blessed me with the most amazing family and friends I could ask for to help me through it.

 So Sunday morning I will wake up and stare that monster called Life in the eyes. I will not run from it but instead I will wake up and thanks to the lessons I have learned in college, I will face it and be ready to conquer it. The Lord has done a mighty work in my life and grown me from a boy into a man in just 4 short years. I have been equipped with the knowledge to succeed in my chosen career path and will more importantly take the life lesson that I have learned to become the man that I have always hoped to be. Yes, this is the end of one part of my life, but it has opened a whole new beginning.

Goodbye Is Not Always The End

Friday, February 17, 2012. It was 8:04 exactly. I wake up disoriented to the ringing of my cell phone from across the room. I squinted hard through sleep filled eyes to read "Mom" on the caller ID. I knew what I would hear on the other side of this phone call would not be something that I wanted to hear. I will never forget these words, "Daniel...You're Uncle Larry is dead." Numbness. Speechless. Shocked. Stunned. Grieved. I don't even remember the rest of the conversation that we had but I will never forget the week that followed it and the life of a man whom I deeply loved that occurred before it.

My Uncle Larry was a man that was well known in the city of Newport News. Even from the time that he was a teenager, people always talked of his unrealistically good looks, his almost super-human strength, and his fun-loving, caring attitude that knew hatred for nobody. When you hear about a man that would give you the shirt off of his back, Uncle Larry was literally that kind of man. The times that I remember most would be when our family would go and eat at Joe and Mimma's Italian Restaurant when he was working. He would always come out and take my cousins and I into the back and show us everything. We had been back there a million times, but every time he would bring us in the kitchen and show us off to everyone he worked with was more special than the last. He was always loving on his sisters and he LOVED to spend time with his nieces and nephews. There was hardly a time that I can remember when he was not making me laugh. He was just a free spirited man who could find the humor in everything. I like to think I take some of that from him.

As many of you know Uncle Larry had some really hard struggles during the last few years. He fell victim the very easy trap of addiction to help him cope with some hard times, but that does not make him less of a man. In my opinion, Uncle Larry was a remarkable man who made a some bad decisions, like all of us do. It was not easy for my family to see him struggle with his illness. It was actually one of the hardest things that we have ever had to deal with, especially for my grandparents. Because of his condition most of the time over the years, we had not got to spend a whole lot of time with him but we were always available for the right kind of help. Our family spent time constantly in prayer for him and we prayed that if he was not strong enough to beat his illness and if he knew the Lord as his Savior, that God would take him away from his struggle and bring him home. Friday morning, the Lord did just that.

We have heard testimonies from so many people that tell us in Uncle Larry's final days, he not only witnessed to them, but he BEGGED them to give their life to Jesus Christ as he had done. It was his heart's true desire that everyone would turn to the Lord as their source of comfort and strength and not other things as he had done. My last conversation with him was not much different than any other that I used to have with him. He was doing well and he told me how much he loved me and how proud of me that he was. He told me that he had rededicated his life to Christ and he never wanted me to put anything above my relationship with God. We talked about movies and music that we like and we shared some laughs. This time he told me that I was a good man and he was so proud to have been my uncle. I am proud to be his nephew.

So how do we go on living without the man that used to always make us laugh and smile, even when he was driving us nuts and making us mad? What good can come out of losing such an important part of all of our lives so soon? I am already starting to see the answers to these questions. Most importantly, the best thing that happened with the passing of Uncle Larry has been the fact that he is not longer suffering here. He is heaven with his Savior that he adored with all of his heart. I would say that other than that, we have been reunited with my little cousin Alexis. When she moved to Florida, we had not seen her since. I remember before she left, I would go talk to her and Uncle Larry and whenever I would say anything to her, her bashful smile would stretch across her face and she would hide behind her daddy. Whenever she did this he would always say, "Come on, Alexis. This is your cousin, Daniel. Don't be so shy." Alexis was the light of his life and there was never a time you talked to him, where he did not mention her. This past week, after close to 8 years, Alexis came back to Virginia to be with her family. I am very thankful that we had the opportunity to hang out and get to know each other at my Aunt Debbie's Wednesday night. We all stayed up until 3 AM just laughing and talking and making fun of each other. I told her last night that I had a little cousin that I knew nothing about and now I feel as though she never left. She is 14 or 15 now (sorry Alexis, I could not remember which, haha) and I feel as though we grew up together just like I had with my other cousins. It has meant the world to everyone in the family to have seen her again and I know she feels the same. This is something Uncle Larry would want. This is something that I have been extremely happy about and I look forward to growing closer to my baby cousin as time goes on.

Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that the Lord knows the plans He has for us and that is all for good and prosperity and not for evil. I think we forget so many times that in his struggles and the people that he met through them, that God was using Uncle Larry to reach them. They may not have turned their life to Christ immediately or they may not ever, but they were still hearing the Gospel preached and it was being preached by my uncle. God's hand is in everything. His plan for Uncle Larry was fulfilled and He is getting the glory, even now during this difficult time. My Grandpa had to bury his son and I heard him say more than once, "The Lord is good." No truer word have ever been spoken because the Lord IS good. He is merciful and because He is merciful, He brought our beloved father, son, brother, uncle, brother-in-law, and friend home and away from his illness. So for now we say goodbye to Larry Dean Stanfield, but for those of us who know the Lord as their Savior as he did, goodbye is not the end.

Uncle Larry, we love you and cannot wait to see you again.

"Wasting" Your Vote

As many of you know, I am a Libertarian Consitutionalist. I support the belief that the Constitution is the document that this country's foundation should be built on. Excuse me, RE-built on. Our founding fathers built it but our modern government has destroyed it.

I want to take a few minutes to just write my thoughts on what it means to "waste your vote" when going to the polls on Election Day. This is a topic that comes up in virtually every conversation I have with someone regarding politics. It usually starts the usual way; someone expresses their views and I share mine. And then I never fail to receive this question: "Will you still vote for Ron Paul if he runs Independent." My answer? YES! Even if Ron Paul does not run Independent I will vote third party, most likely Constitutional Party. "But Daniel, that takes votes away from the Republicans and is essentially putting Obama back in office. That would be...WASTING YOUR VOTE."

My Response to that is always the same. I don't care that I am taking votes away from the GOP and I am not supporting Obama just because I do not vote for a Republican. I am an avid supporter of the freedom of the American people and that means I will not support ANY big government candidate. I would not rather have Romney over Obama because Mitt Romney is a Republican John Kerry. That man does not even know what he believes or stands for. There is not even the slightest bit of stability in his platform. I also find it interesting that so many people want to replace Obama with Romney, whose Romney Care was used to model Obama Care. Hypocrisy? Nah, just ignorance of buying into the mainstream media. Gingrich is as big government as they come. He took a large sum of money from Freddie Mac, he wants to go to war with any Muslim country, he is for keeping our hand in everyone's business all over the world and he is a firm supporter of the Patriot Act, which is a MASSIVE infringement on my liberties as an American Citizen. So WHY...WHY would I vote to replace big government with big government? Why must the Americans continue to feel that they have to pledge their support to the lesser of two evils? I fell victim to this in 2008. I voted for John McCain. I did not want to. But I thought that I needed to keep the more terrible of the two out. I compromised what I believed and stood for in order to support someone that I did not support and I will NEVER do that again. In my opinion, I wasted my vote.

What should I have done? I should have voted for the candidate that best supported my belief system. I should have used my one, tiny voice to express my support for the Constitution and should have cast my vote for Ron Paul. Now, Dr. Paul is not the only man that I will support in politics. He just happens to be the face of my belief system in Washington right now. I hear people complain constantly how they are tired of settling for the lesser of two evils. I don't know about you, but I am tired of settling for the equal of two evils. This two party system way of voting has become a joke and I will not stand for it. If people are so tired of it then STOP DOING IT! Vote third party. Vote for WHAT YOU BELIEVE. If enough people vote third party because they stick to their beliefs, their candidate may and probably will not win, but numbers will show that we are sick of it.

2012 is a key election for the welfare of this country. We need, now more than ever, to look past this red and blue way of looking at things and we need to stick together and stick with what we believe. We need to not settle for second WORST and settle for first BEST. We need the Constitution back in the United States. We need states rights. In 2012, we need Dr. Ron Paul. Do not compromise what you believe just because you feel as though you have to. If you do, then you are wasting your chance to be heard. You are wasting your vote!

We the People

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOq3O8g1xw4

I watched the video that is attached to the above link live and just re-watched this video and I have many problems with this. The first being that Mitt dodges answering this question with a straight answer as he so often does with everything he is asked. Perhaps the most perplexing thing about this is the fact that he is mocking a man who wants our country run by the document that was written by our founding fathers to provide balance and stability in our government set up to help its people. The biggest problem that I personally have with this is that so many people seemed to think that that was a very funny thing to say. Sad day when the American people make a mockery out of something that was designed for their benefit. Sorry, but I do not want a man in office who makes a joke out of the Constitution.

Most of you who will be reading this know or have figured that I am a HUGE supporter of Ron Paul. I am volunteer to his campaign, I own a t-shirt, and I just recently purchased one his books(The Revolution: A Manifesto). It is my personal belief that this country should be brought back to its roots. In order to explain this, let me first just remind what our roots truthfully are. This nation was founded by people who were tired of being controlled by their government in England and came searching for freedom. In doing so, they established a government that was to be the opposite of what they were living under. A government to help the people and not control them. A government designed not to enter into every personal affair of a citizen. This is where our great Constitution was born.

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

This is the preamble to the U.S. Constitution. My personal favorite part is where it reads promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of Liberty. I would just like to ask when this became a joke to so many people and then it occurred to me. Most voters either slept through history and government class, or just never took the time to educate themselves on what this beautiful document actually says. If you have not ever read it, I highly recommend that you do so. I think you may realize that preserving it and instilling its principles in our government once again is what we need here in America.

Please share your thoughts below. I am open minded and love political conversation. I may disagree with what you have to say but I will never look down on someone for that. So no worries of being judged or attacked for your beliefs here. Thanks for reading and I look forward to reading your thoughts