What is best in life?

So, its finally here. It's been too long but we'll now be able to step into the local cinematorium and purchase a ticket for a new Arnold Schwarzenegger film! True, the big man was available to see on the big screen a few months ago in Expendables 2 - but this is his first leading man role since Terminator 3 in 2003. Its a big deal. To celebrate this in our own small way - we are taking you on a quick video journey of Arnold. Of course, this won't even begin to scratch the surface (we know because we're reading Total Recall) but for the uninitiated it may offer a little glimpse of the man behind the legend...

Young Arnold the weightlifter

OK, the video still displayed below may look a little like Arnie doing some backroom casting - but in fact he's on his way to winning Mr Universe. Did you ever do that?! 

Arnold the King Of All Weightlifters

OK. So he won Mr Universe. A few times. And a bunch of other powerlifting / weightlifting titles. So by the time Pumping Iron was made, he already had Awesome™ status bestowed upon him. And damn, the kid loved lifting weights...

Arnold the budding actor

What next then? Movies, naturally. If you had a body like his its either movies or...well...other types of movies. So along came Hercules (that wasn't actually the title of the movie but damn it could be one...). Even though he's destroying the English language, he's destroying it with charisma.

Arnold the movie star
Fast forward a few years (and a few epic movies) and Arnold has established himself as the Biggest Action Star in the World™. With not a single fibre of his human form easily positioned in Rom-Coms or Alan Bennett-style dramas, Arnie stomped his way to the top of the action movie heap. Killing bad guys with the carefree enthusiasm of a child, in a style uniquely his own - the clip below shows you what a Schwarzenegger movie was all about.

Arnold the icon
You know you've made it when everyone starts doing an impression of you. Imitation and flattery and all that. After all, do you think that in 20 years time we'll all be doing out best Rylan impersonation? He was everywhere and that accent was so imprinted on the DNA of everyone who ever had ears that it was irresistible to try it yourself. I bet you know someone that attempts to pull off an impression of Arnie...

Arnold the leader
Right. Biggest movie star on the planet. Starred in one of the biggest movies of all time. Time to run for Governor. It was after the release of Terminator 3 that Arnie made the move into politics - it was no surprise. And it was no surprise his candidacy for Governor of California was so successful - who wouldn't want to see where he'd go with that?! Invade Texas? Fund cybernetic research? See America's enemies driven before them? Below are a couple of clips that show how crazy the mash-up of life / art was.

Arnold is back
Now that we didn't quite get the opportunity to see the "Schwarzenegger Presidential Library" realised due to that pesky legislation, we get to have him back. With The Last Stand just released and appearing to be everything Arnie fans hoped it would be the newest chapter in the big man's life has just started. Welcome back Arnie, its been a long time General...

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