Comic Book Characters that Come from Canada

The world loves comic book characters but their origins are not always obvious. However there are a few that are proud Canadians and like to let everyone know. Here are three well-known comic book characters that come from Canada.

Wolverine

Logan aka Wolverine is one of Marvel’s best-loved X-Men, not only dominating comic books but also commanding movies too. He is a proud Canadian, being born in Alberta at the end of the 19th century. With bulging muscles, lumberjack style and easy acceptance of the snow and winter, Wolverine is possibly the most Canadian of any superhero ever created.

Deadpool

Played recently by Ryan Reynolds in the movies, Deadpool is a legitimate comic book hero with a cult following. Also known as Wade Wilson, the character’s exact origins have never been revealed by Marvel confirms he was born in a “location in Canada”. Deadpool loves to wind up Wolverine - perhaps they’re just vying for top spot in the Canadian superhero list?

Nelvana of the Northern Lights

Canadian superheroes aren’t just a recent thing, as Nelvana of the Northern Lights proves. An all-action female superhero that appeared before Wonder Woman, Nelvana made her debut in 1941. A demi-goddess with some serious superpowers, Nevana was capable of invisibility, flight and incredible speed. She was such a revered character that in 1995 she appeared on a series of Canadian stamps alongside Superman and Captain Canuck.

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Cliffhanger – A forgotten great

Sylvester Stallone has made great action movies to his name, but when it comes to Cliffhanger, this movie is largely forgotten. Here’s just a few reasons when you should be watching it.

The painful opening

At the start of the movie, like some of the best action films, we see Sylvester Stallone losing the love of his best friend’s life in a climbing accident. The metal buckle on her harness fails, causing her to fall to her death and ripping apart the friendship of two men that had once been like brothers. But when there is a plane crash on the mountain eight months later, the pair have to climb the mountain and work together to rescue the survivors of the plane crash.

John Lithgow and $100 million

For those used to seeing Lithgow in a comedy role, Cliffhanger has him cast in a completely different light – a ruthless thief who is willing to kill anyone to keep his hands on the $100 million in uncirculated bills that he and a turncoat U.S. Treasury agent were able to steal when they hijacked a plane mid-flight. Though he and many of his mercenaries have survived the crash, the cases of money have been scattered across the mountain side and they need the help of the climbers to find it.

Redemption and Reconciliation

The events of Cliffhanger allow for the two main characters to reconcile and forgive each other and themselves for all that has happened, with the end of the movie mirroring the beginning only this time there isn’t any tragedy.

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Books That Prisoners Are Banned from Reading

Prisoners in America are encouraged to read and improve their literacy, not just as a calming way to spend their time but also to increase their chances of successful rehabilitation. However, it seems that not everything is given the thumbs-up. Here are three books that prisoners are banned from reading in the USA.

AAA Road Atlas: Travel With Someone You Trust

This one seems an unlikely book to ban, after all, it’s not as if prisoners are going to be doing much travelling! However, governors in California prisons felt that this book posed a real risk due to the descriptions of how to travel through and stay in national parks and other outdoor areas. It’s believed that this information could be used to evade authorities in the event of a break-out.

The Elements of Persuasion: Use Storytelling to Pitch Better, Sell Faster and Win More Business

One of the goals for inmates is to learn a new trade while they’re in prison, and sales seems like it could be an obvious choice for many. However, if they’re in Texas they’ll have to do it without any help from this book. Prison bosses have put this on the banned list as they believe that prisoners could use the skills they’ve learned for subversive purposes.

Teach Yourself Visually: Computers

IT is a skill that would benefit any prisoner upon their release but they won’t be able to read up on the subject while they’re in jail. Teach Yourself Visually: Computers is a book that’s on the banned list at the Michigan Department of Corrections. Bosses fear that the information contained could create a security threat by training inmates to be hackers.

To find out more about what goes on in prison, check out www.medialeep.com. With lots of great books available, you can enjoy getting lost between the pages at any time, night or day.

Three unrealistic things all action heroes get away with

Enjoying a good action story is all about the suspension of disbelief because, let’s face it, the things action heroes get up to a pretty implausible in real life.

Writers take huge liberties when it comes to penning thrilling action tales and readers and audiences alike indulge because they know that for the story to work, real life complications can’t be allowed to get in the way of the story. And so, this means that there are few tropes which every action hero displays and which would otherwise infuriate a picky reader or viewer if they weren’t only concerned with being royally entertained for the little bit of me-time they’ve carved out for themselves. But, if we’re really keeping score, here are the unrealistic things action stories get away with.

1. A killer punch. Our lone hero is faced with a half-dozen adversaries without a weapon and must rely on hand-to-hand combat. No problem as he knows that one good punch is enough to floor each bad guy and the rest are polite enough to stand around and wait their turn.

2. Impeccable timing. Houdini has nothing on these guys when it comes to getting out of tight spots just in the nick of time. They could be tied up, trapped in an overturned vehicle or dangled over a piranha-infested pit, but they all manage to wait until very last minute to engineer their escape.

3. Incredible healing power. Of course they’re going to pick up a few cuts and bruises, but they soon heal once a torn of piece of their shirt is wrapped around it, with little regard for the risk of infection either.

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Top three action directors

When it comes to action, there are only a few directors who really go above and beyond to bring us the most immense action epics possible. The action genre is so broad that sometimes it takes a brilliant director to help you find your way through the plethora of movies. Here is a rundown of our favourite three action directors.

Ridley Scott

Ridley Scott is a director with the power to move his audience to extreme emotions – even when making television commercials. The action genre is somewhere that Ridley Scott really shines. If you doubt that, then take a look at Gladiator. The opening sequence and the Coliseum fighting are just two moments that instantly spring to mind when thinking about how well Ridley Scott directs action.

John Woo

Face/Off, Broke Arrow and Red Cliff are just a small example of the action movies that John Woo has directed. The Chinese born director’s name is synonymous with action and if his name is on a movie, then you know that you’re in for an action rollercoaster that very few directors can consistently provide.

Steven Spielberg

One of the all-time great directors across multiple genres, when it comes to action he really excels himself. Whether you are a fan of Jaws, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park or Saving Private Ryan it doesn’t matter what action you want on the screen, Spielberg is a man that certainly can.

To find more top action directors, check out www.medialeep.com where you’ll find more about action movies, their directors and their actors.

Action packed bachelorette party ideas

If you’re a bride-to-be in the new year and unsure of what sort of party to plan, why not head down the action-packed route and be different? A bachelorette party doesn’t necessarily mean a night out, it is exactly what you make of it. These ideas will sway you away from a traditional bachelorette party evening.

Go zorbing - Zorbing is one of those activities that doesn’t immediately spring to mind and is unique enough to do on a special occasion. If you don’t know, zorbing is basically a giant hamster ball that you run in like a giant hamster. It’s a fun activity for a group of girls as you can laugh at each other if you fall over and what not.

An adventure day - You can’t get more action-packed than an adventure day. Adventure days can vary from loads of things such as go-karting, climbing, zip-lining or generally a place that has it all in where you can go from one to next like an obstacle course.

An escape room - Recently escape rooms have become a mass trend with more and more places opening everywhere. If you get a thrill from games and being competitive, and escape room is the way to go. It’s a great group activity as you can help each other out with the tasks and lead each other to victory.

Hot air balloon ride - Flying high in the sky is a great thrill and can make for a unique bachelorette party experience. You can toast glasses of champagne with your nearest and dearest with a gorgeous view below.

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Action-Packed Movie Adaptations That Got it Right

The Hollywood Machine seems to be running out of ideas as of late, with a seemingly endless slew of reboots and sequels we long for the days of original content and ideas. Much of that original content once came in the form of novel adaptations, but even those were hit and miss sometimes. Still, once in a while Hollywood got it right and produced silver screen adaptations that were every bit as good as the original novels, sometimes even better!

Fight Club. Despite a drastically different ending, Fight Club manages to stay true to the plot, themes, and progression of Chuck Palahniuk’s debut novel. The all-star cast including Brad Pitt and Ed Norton seem perfectly suited to the characters they play, and the movie (much like the novel) is nothing short of a non-stop thrill from start to finish.

American Psycho. Christian Bale’s depiction of psychotic yuppie-businessman Patrick Bateman is nothing short of spot-on in the 2000 adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ extremely graphic American Psycho. Although the book only focuses on key events within the novel, it does a near-perfect job of capturing its essence.

The Shining. Stephen King is no stranger to movie adaptations, as his novels each seem to be perfectly suited for the big screen, almost as if they were written as screenplays. However, it took the magic of Jack Nicholson and the vision of Stanley Kubrick to truly make The Shining one of the greatest movies of all time, this despite its deviation from the novel and King’s very public protests. It goes to show that not all adaptations have to be loyal in order to be great.

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