Hell's Kitchen Episode Two

The plan for this episode is for me to jot down some comments as I watch it. Let's see how this goes.

- Robert immediately comes in to the Red Team and starts imparting things he learned during last season. Huge advantage. Dave from the Blue Team is shown agreeing with me.

- Challenge: clean as many shrimp as you can in ten minutes. One thing about a challenge like this is that Chef Ramsey always shows the Teams what he wants from them, provides an example for them to follow. Good call. Joseph, who seems to have a chip on his shoulder in general, poo-poos this as entry level work. Well, duh. It's day two. The Teams stunk up the joint last night and he wants to see what everyone can do with something 'basic'. It briefly rains ice and shrimp from the ceiling as Chef Ramsey calls for the shrimp tub to be filled up more. Geez!

- Lovely (yes, that's her name) is told to sit out the challenge to even up the teams. She rather lamely cheers on her team. Interviews from both Teams say that the other Team didn't look like they knew what they were doing. Ha! That's comedy gold right there.

- Last night's leader, Tennille, only manages one shrimp done correctly. Robert gets four and blames his mistakes on his pudgy fingers. The rest of the Team does excellently and the Red Team's total is 44. Blue Team starts strong but Joseph gets a relatively low completion at 5 and Dave does poorly. With only Jim left for the Blue Team, the score is 44 to 43. His first one connects but hits a bad run after that. We go to commercial with it tied.

- Jim's last shrimp is acceptable and they win again.

- Punishment: prepping the shrimp and lemon for the next service.

- Reward: Newport Beach, seafood lunch, and dessert on a mega-yacht.

- In an effort to show she's still providing value to the Team after her failure, Tennille tries to take charge. Of course, she ends up pissing off the rest of the team.

- Joseph gets lippy at lunch, noting that he's not here to get out and have lunch, he's here to win. Interview clip has him noting that talk gets you nowhere and he's not here to chit-chat. Interview with Dave has him noting that Joseph is way too intense and I tend to agree. There is a difference between planning and just talking. There's also something to be said about learning things regarding your Team and Employer, Chef Ramsey in this case, and if he doesn't get that's what's going on during some of this, then he might be WAY too tightly wound.

- After the Blue Team returns from their reward, final prep begins for service. Once again Robert is shown dispensing what he learned from last Season and gently takes control. He gets thanks. There's a feeling that the Red Team might rally around him.

- On the Blue Team, Tony has issues cutting grapefruit. First Kevin tries to help him out, and may or may not have helped due to the way Tony took the advice. Then Chef Ramsey sees that something's not right and gives him some hell. This ticks Tony off, not because of what Chef said, but because Kevin doesn't admit to being part of the process and Tony won't rat him out.

- Scampi at tableside tonight to spice things up. Van, a fish cook from Texas, is selected to represent the Blue Team. Interview notes that he has no front of house experience but has charisma! Charisma! So he should be fine. I kinda like Van. He seems like a Good Ol' Boy with skill. It also seems like he can be a bit obnoxious, like how he's reacted after winning challenges. I'm not sure if that's him being an ass or if he's so enthusiastic that he acts/speaks before really thinking about what he's doing. Tennille gets picked from the Red Team and she's much less enthusiastic.

- Tony still can't cut a grapefruit properly (over a bowl!) and gets called over as we go to commercial.

- Tony gets yelled at, he apologizes, and all is well for the moment.

- In interview, Joseph declares that they will act as a team and he is ready! If memory serves, he's an ex-Marine, could this be why he's so intense?

- Robert has everyone on the Red Team put their hands together and calls for communication and teamwork.

- Tennille's not sure how to approach the customers: sexy voice, 'white' voice, but she's gonna do it! Funny! She goes for funny instead 'Did you know they were supposed to be celebrity impersonators? I'm supposed to be Whoopie Goldberg.' Ha!

- Tony is on fish station. Enthusiasm for cooking fish! But he fires up an order of scallops as soon as he hears it, not when it's time and it goes to waste. Not good. Meanwhile, Lovely tries to cook scallops without turning on a burner and then tries to blame her teammate Tek for it. Funny, one of the things they laughed at upon entering Hell's Kitchen was a reminder to always cook with the stove on. Two episodes in and someone's already forgotten. Ha!

- Tony's refired scallops aren't cooked properly. Kevin goes over and provides him with guidance. This works.

- Robert starts messing up on appetizers. Not a good start for the big fella.

- JP tries to give Van some advice but gets blown off. Then Van goes to a Red Team table and gets yelled at for it. JP puts their conflict down to a communications issue: they might both be speaking English, but Van's from Texas. Once he's turned away from them, Gordon can't help but grin.

- Apps start cranking out of the Red Kitchen but Tennille undercooks a Scampi order while trying to catch up. This sets the Red Team back.

- Van's doing good with his Scampi but spills an order. He attempts to refire but the pan has apparently gotten hot and he boogies back to the Kitchen to get a different, clean pan. JP catches him running and tells him not to run. Van kinda blows him off again and JP gets PISSED. As we go to commercial, JP is hollering at Van and Van's just trying to get past him.

- Chef Ramsey pulls them into the back and gives them some Hell. Both of them need to settle down and do their jobs. Van needs to listen to JP and JP needs to respect Van. They settle down and head back to work. JP gets the last word. Once the door opens, Van hustles out and JP goes 'Ladies first.' Ha! You don't mess with JP!

- Tennille comes in to report that she's behind by six tables. Chef Ramsey is not happy. Points for communicating I suppose but, to Chef's point, it makes her look like she can't cook. Blue Team is cranking out orders while the Red Team falls beneath. Andy has an issue cooking a chicken order. After cutting it, he realizes it's not done and tries to save it. Chef don't go for that and there's yelling. Red Team has chicken related issues as well.

- Tony gets confused and Kevin takes over his fish station. On the Red side, Lovely burns her fish. Then Kevin undercooks fish. Suddenly it feels like the entire Blue Team is cooking fish. Yelling gets them nowhere. Red Team burns their chicken. Both sides are stalled. Chef Ramsey gets ticked, pulls both Teams together, and says he's going to do something he's never done as we go to commercial. Of course.

- Chef Ramsey is peeved. Since they can't seem to cook anything, he orders them to make shrimp cocktails so that the customers will get something to eat. After finishing that, the Teams get yelled at again before the Kitchens are shut down. Neither Team has won. Both Teams are ordered to pick two names for possible elimination.

- As the Team discussions begin, Tennille tries to defend herself, that she did a good job. Tony accepts blame and volunteers to go on the chopping block. Interview has Tony mad at Andy for not doing the same. When Dave suggests Andy on the meat station be their other candidate, he gets defensive. In fairness to Andy, we saw him mess up all of one chicken. Lovely tries to defend her fish but Suzanne holds her to her errors. Suzanne seems good at that, kinda just on the wrong side of politely truthful. Lovely's opinion seems to be that at least she burnt it, as opposed to serving raw, undercooked fish and shrimp. Suzanne also holds Sabrina to account for her raw chicken. Jim suggests that Van's behavior with JP would qualify him for elimination and Van snaps, suggesting he should hit Jim. Whoa, temper much? And commercial.

- Van walks off with nothing other than verbal violence. The Blue Team is not happy with the way he acted and it factors in their decision.

- Nominees for elimination: Red Team: Tennille and Lovely. When Joseph gets asked to identify his Team's nominees, he goes "They know who they are." Holy crap, what is wrong with this guy? Blue Team: Tony and Andy. Chef Ramsey asked for 'first and why', Joseph gives him the guys names, no explanation. Chef calls him stupid and repeats the question slowly. Ut oh. Joseph sets his jaw for a moment, then identifies Tony and explains that he knows why, they all sat down together as men to discuss it. Chef remains confused. Joseph will NOT provide a reason for the nominees, just repeating what little he's already said. Chef Ramsey steps up to the line and makes things clear. Once Chef Ramsey steps back into position, he wonders aloud as to why this was so complicated, why the song and dance. Joseph snaps, noting that he's 'not no [female dog]' repeatedly. Some of the others in the line try to calm him done but he shuts them up. Joseph ends up ripping off his jacket and encouraging Chef Ramsey to step outside to the parking lot as he's not afraid of him.

- To be Continued- ?!? What the!

You know, I really didn't want to watch Episode Three yet tonight...

Catching Up on Hell's Kitchen

The new season of Hell's Kitchen started a couple weeks ago and I let the episodes build up on the DVR which is odd as I tend to be fascinated by the show. I'm halfway through the two-hour premiere (what would normally be the end of the first episode) and some thoughts are bumping through my head.

- I'm always pleased to see that things change a little between the seasons. The introduction of the new chefs to the kitchen by video messages from past chefs was a nice piece of continuity and a good laugh. The intro of Chef Ramsey was appropriately creepy in comparison.

- Signature dishes were a challenge this year. Interesting. This is a way for Chef Ramsey to get a feel for the chefs but for the viewers as well. A few chefs got rushed over and I didn't like that for that very reason; they can't stick out in my mind as well.

- Liked Chef Ramsey's curious tone as he tasted Van's dish. He seemed to be saying 'I never thought of that; what a good idea.'

- Heather, Season Two's winner, is back as the Red Team's Sous Chef. Nice. Am forced to wonder why though. Vacation? Just for fun? Her restaurant go under?

- Really expected the guys partying to cost them on the first service, and it did, but not as much as I expected. Not sure if this means that they're the stronger team in general or not.

- Maybe not as we get a Blue Team Chef kicked out before the end of service. Good thing last season's Robert was around to fill his place...

- Opening night's service is generally horrible. This year is no different. The Blue Team gets some orders filled. I don't believe the Red Team gets any food out at all. Very bad.

- Melinda gets sent home. She was a pretty lady but seemed a bit too... ladylike for this show. She did also seem lost and that's what cost her.

- Switcheroo already as Robert gets sent to the Red Team. Having been through most of a Season already may give him an advantage, a big advantage, and I'm not just saying that because he's a big boy.

- Teaser for the next episode makes it look full of fighting, throwing fists fighting maybe. We'll see.

- Chefs that impressed me (for what little that's worth): Red Team: Tennille Blue Team: Van, Jim, Dave. After one episode it's difficult to see who the 'sleepers' are, the people with talent that don't make a big splash one way or the other, but they're often great chefs that have a good chance at winning.

More as I watch Episode 2.

A Few Thoughts on Comics from this week

Some over-due mini-series finally see their end, some story-arcs wrap up and two outstanding books make for an interesting week of books. Let's start with the joy, shall we?

The Muppet Show Comic Book has started as a series of mini-series. The first four issue series took some time to focus on some main characters (Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, and Miss Piggy) and establish the style for the books. This week the second mini started under the story title 'The Treasure of Peg Leg Wilson'. This four issue arc will apparently follow a few storylines rather than the 'one and done' of the first mini-series. I have no problem with this and this issue continued on with the joy I received from the first set. The structure of the issue still follows the structure of the original show: there are backstage storyline scenes, sketches, and a closing number, all of which may or may not be impacted by the others. There are, as I see them, three plot threads for the overall arc: a map that indicates a treasure is hidden in the Muppet Theatre, Kermit returns from a 'dentist appointment' (on Sesame Street, Grover couldn't Kermit a toothbrush because he has no teeth) acting strangely, and Animal is part of a Muppet Labs experiment to make him smarter which has the unfortunate side effect of making him a drummer that lacks passion. Oh, and there's a ninja tap dancer. Wayne and Wanda appear in this issue. Animal gets a country club membership. The Swedish Chef makes onion soup. This is good stuff here!

Fantastic Four #569 is the final part of the 'Masters of Doom' storyline as well as the end of Millar and Hitch's run on the book. Wow! I think I can explain the awesomeness of this issue, and indeed this entire run, with a quote: 'You are of no consequence. I bear as little animus for you as the brainless megalodon that tore me asunder.' Over the top craziness that, somehow, makes sense. Love it.

Long over-due Ultimatum #5 finally came out this week. A bunch more Ultimate characters die or probably die. Possibly die? Anyway, for a universe that was the 'anything could happen' universe, a lot of anything did happen. Was all this death in order to reset the Ultimate Universe as something separate, something clearly different from the regular Marvel Universe? Or was it an excuse to kill off a bunch of characters? At this point, it's hard to tell. We really won't know until the new stories begin and the books either continue to forge ahead or if they just continue to revamp old characters in new forms. To me the most telling part of the whole process so far was the epilogue to the book, with the 'No More Mutants' chant. In theory, the Ultimate Universe needed this big 'shock' as the regular Marvel Universe had grown too much like it. The chant told me differently, this book was the Ultimate Universe's version of the 'House of M' storyline, just done more 'realistically'. Everyone was more violent. Everyone seemed to be more 'justice means I must kill you now'. The only character that didn't seem to follow that path was Spider-Man and he was missing for most of the series. In the end, as much as I was enjoying this crazy roller-coaster ride, I'm left with a feeling of 'ugh'. I'm debating whether or not to even bother giving the relaunched Ultimate Comics a try. There's 'heat of the moment, this is war' stuff and then there's the 'you must be punished' moments that don't feel right for the characters. One I get, can understand, the other, not so much. I know this has reached 'ramble' mode because I try to avoid spoilers here but I'm just a bit disappointed, that's all.

Doctor Who must be getting big again

Monday afternoon I was in a Chinese restaurant with my mom and some of her friends. I'd eaten and was tiredly listening to the conversation before me. My ears perked up to the conversation at the table next to us because the name 'Torchwood' floated across to me. Impolitely I listened in a little, curious to hear if I'd heard correctly. I had, they were discussing 'Torchwood: Children of Earth' and Doctor Who in general. Also impolitely I glanced over at them. They appeared to be more in my parents' age group than my own. Fascinating.

Wednesday we talked about Doctor Who a bit as we tend to do. There, most of the conversationalists are close to my general age.

Thursday I visited with some of my other friends and spent some time talking to Lester about Doctor Who. He's about ten years older than me and has been watching the show since he was a kid in Jamaica.

Today I met one of my mom's friends that lives in London (lucky!). Doctor Who was mentioned immediately and there was surprise that I was familiar with the show. Her six year-old son is a big Who fan but he was shy and didn't want to meet me and hear my Who theme phone ringer. He does have blue TARDIS pyjamas (lucky!) and chose his shoes based on what David Tennant wears as the Doctor.

I've been all over the board this week with the Doctor. I should probably watch 'Planet of the Dead' then huh?

Game Time!

For whatever reason I've spent the past few weeks yearning to play some of my old games. Perhaps thankfully, one of my younger brothers had borrowed my PS2 from me and I was therefore unable to play any Playstation related games. Last week he returned the device to me. Today I started playing 'Muppet RaceMania' again for the first time in ages.

I like racing games in general, and I love the Muppets so this is very win-win. I had forgotten how much is packed into this game. Each course has a normal race mode to it but then there's an 'Adventure' mode that allows you to explore the level and collect things. One of the main advantages to this is that it makes you very familiar with the level and shows you where the shortcuts might lie. On the first level, I was placing third of six to start. I played through Adventure mode, found the shortcut, and then had a chance of placing, finally winning the race. Collecting the items in Adventure mode unlocks a Reverse mode race for the level as well as a 'Battle' mode where you get to attack the other racers, trying to be the survivor of this demo derby. Mario Kart doesn't even do Battle mode anymore. Why not?

The levels are arranged by the Muppet Movies with four sub levels to each movie: two regular courses, a battle/boss level, and then a 'stunt' level that tends to have weird jumps in it. There are loads of Muppets to unlock and each Muppet has different vehicles to unlock. The different vehicles do have different 'effects': different top speeds, grip, etc.

It's a fun race game with lots to unlock and Muppets are involved. Once Disney turns the Muppets into 'stars' again, I'd really like a sequel. These PS1 graphics are okay in a polygonial sort of way but it could be so much better.

If yesterday was a flash-back then I guess this is a flash-forward

Smasher grunted. “I remember what title fever feels like. I know da nervous excitement that grows in your gut when you got a chance to be recognized as da best. I also know da sick feelin’ you get when ya lose that and ya feel like you’ll never get it back. I got lucky. I had one last run wit’ a belt before I hung up da boots. Dat felt good.”

“That was the tag-team championship you won with Striker, right?” I check. He nods. “Whatever happened to him? I lost track of him after you retired.”

Smasher grunted. “Last I heard from him he was wrestling out west.”

“So he can talk normally?” I check. “I don’t recall ever hearing him say anything other than ‘Timmah’.”

This brought a grin to Smasher’s lips. “Nah, I gotta postcard from him that wuz ‘Timmah’ written inna shape of an arrow pointing west.” I chuckle. I’m not sure if he is kidding or not.

Busy Working on New Text so, for you, a Flashback

Daredevil led the Doctor to a darkened section of the dressing room. The dim lighting was focused on a large silver box with a couple buttons on it. Daredevil pressed one and politely asked, "Oracle?"

The lid slid back and Daredevil released the button. After a large cloud of white gas passed, a figure could be seen. It was aged, there could be no mistaking that, but not painfully so. It was muscular, very muscular. The top o��f the head was bald, but long, stringy blond hair grew from the sides of its head. A thick Fu Manuchu mustache grew on its upper lip. The eyes, when they opened, were clear blue and energetic. He looked somewhat familiar to the Doctor. When he spoke, the mystery was cleared. "Someone need help, Oracle-a-manics?" its voice boomed. The Doctor groaned quietly. Still, he thought, it wouldn't be the first time he would be taking advice from a 'dead' man.

"The Doctor here has to fight the Destroyer," Daredevil reported. The Oracle looked over the Doctor.

"Whoa. You remember the three Demandments kid?" the Oracle asked.

After cooling off from being called 'kid', the Doctor was ashamed to note he did remember them. "Uh, yeah. Do the exercises, take the vitamins, and say your prayers."

"Right kid." Arggh, he said it again! "For you, Oracleamanic, I offer this advice."

"Yes?"

"Concentrate on the prayers��, man."

"Thanks."

The comfort of macaroni cheese

Every time I make macaroni and cheese I flash back to to an evening at my pal Mark's house when he measured out the six cups of water that the instructions called for. He was mocked by our lady -type friends at the time as there was no real need to measure the water; it gets drained off anyway. I sided with Mark as I did the same thing. They laughed at us and I thought it odd for a number of reasons. It was mostly strange to me to see women trying to be worse than men, or meaner. Besides, there was better things to make fun of us about than that and they knew it.

As for me, I stopped measuring the water. I couldn't stop thinking about it though.

I wish there was a smart-aleck ending for the story like that they were both later crushed to death by undercooked macaroni but, to the best of my knowledge, no such thing occurred. Maybe I'll start thinking of that instead.

Quick notes for the record

I'm leaving for baseball soon and that anticipation has ruled my thoughts today. The Crew REALLY need to get something going and they needed to do so three weeks ago. The biggest advantage they have at the moment is that, as rough and uneven as their play has been of late, they're only 2 and 1/2 games off of first place at the moment.

Have seen a number of pictures from the filming of the fifth/thirty-first/first series of Doctor Who. Matt Smith's costume for the Doctor is interesting, stylish in a way that seems a bit off, fitting tradition and yet not being a copy of anything previous. Hair's not quite as shaggy as it was when he was announced. Companion Karen Gillian is very pretty. All that plus Steven Moffat in charge makes me excited for what's to come.

Haven't watched 'Torchwood: Children of Earth' yet. Heck, I keep forgetting that I have 'Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead' to watch...

Am bracing for the flood of information to pour from the San Diego Comic-Con. Today's the first big day of the Con so it should be all over soon. So far, I've not seen anything too exciting, more promises of information rather than the information.

A Few Thoughts on Comics from this week

This week we'll start with the battle of the 600. Well, I guess it's not really a battle, it just happened that Incredible Hulk #600 and Amazing Spider-Man #600 both came out this week. Both books featured Ben Urich and Peter Parker/Spider-Man oddly enough.

Hulk #600 is one of those recent Marvel Books that reached a high number by somewhat spurious means as a number of different series are added together, a number of issues of a title that didn't feature the primary character are included, and somehow it adds into this number.

Amazing Spider-Man does have a restarted numbering in its history but is the 600th issue of a book that started as Amazing Spider-Man and wasn't a monster anthology for 70 issues first.

Like most Marvel Anniversary books, Incredible Hulk #600 has a slightly longer than normal lead story, a few new backup stories, and some reprints to fill it's 100 pages.

Amazing Spider-Man #600 has a 60 page lead story (the pages aren't numbered, I don't feel like counting them, but that's what John Romita Jr. noted the length of the story was and I've decided to believe him) and some new backup stories. No reprints fill up the 100 pages.

Both issues feature a change in situation for main characters in the books. Impactful things happen here. The 'big deal' in the Hulk book reads less as a shock and more as a 'huh, how long will that last?' reaction. There are some revelations about recent issues that show a conspiracy has been afoot. The idea seems to say 'all that stuff that didn't add up recently didn't add up for a reason'. No clue what adding Spider-Man to the mix did. I mean, if you're putting Ben Urich in the mix and he needs a photographer, it makes sense that he'd call on Peter Parker but Spidey didn't seem to contribute anything specific by being there. The identity of the Red Hulk has still not been made obvious.

Most of the 'big deals' in Amazing Spider-Man #600 come from story threads that have been building for some time. Daredevil, the New Avengers, and the Fantastic Four appear as guest-stars. These characters have a lot to do with Spider-Man in general and their appearances make sense within the context of the story. The status change for another character is shocking but developed logically within the story, built up in a way that made me go 'I never thought about that but it's true'.

Hulk felt like it was trying to be a surprise, trying too hard to go 'ha! see what we did?'. Amazing Spider-Man felt like a story that was part of a bigger story. I liked Spidey #600 much better. Hulk was okay.

In other books:

Dethklok vs the Goon was a funny one shot book. The title page that explained in 'Toki-speak' how this book was its own continuity was hilarious. The story itself tries to bounce back and forth between Dethklok type art and Goon style art. As the Goon is Eric Powell's creation and he's been drawing that world for some time now, that art looks fine. The efforts to translate the Dethklok world are less successful, not often looking like the art from the show and yet not translated into Goon-style either. The story is, well, brutal, as you'd expect and is enjoyable. If there was a way to rent comics, I'd say do that rather than buy it. I don't feel ripped off but I don't know that I'd recommend someone else pick it up either.

Futurama Comics #44 made me laugh out loud a lot. This is the best compliment I can pay a book that is meant to be this funny. I can sum up the plot in a few words that tell you so much and yet so little: Fry and Zapp Branigan in a spaceship race to the End of the Universe. The jokes fly. I heard all the voices in my head as if they were done by their original voice actors. This is good stuff right here.

Catching Up a Bit

Realized this morning that I missed out on adding to this here blog yesterday. This was rather unintentional. Some days I can find no topic to discuss or time is critical so I will intentionally bypass this in an effort to not have a week of one line updates that read like Twitter bursts. It's not that I actually feel like I have an audience to tick off... Well, hang about, I understand that people do read this, and I'm grateful for that, but I think the bulk of the people that do read this get the header at the top: I ramble here. Some topics will interest some people but not others. I have no hard-core collective that will grow irritated with me if I veer 'off-topic' as I have no promised topic. That said, I do want to provide some value for the time you spend here. If I can be brief and witty, that's fine. Sometimes this should be longer, more in-depth. Sometimes I just burble on and you'll want me to get to the point, which is probably where you're at now.

Anyway.

One of the advantages of having a little more available time is that you can execute decisions more quickly. The other day I had one of those 'if I move this here, and that there, I could do this' moments and, rather than having to think about it, plan it, and find the time to do it, I just did it.

You see, some months ago I got a second-hand Mac Mini with a digital converter with the idea that I could work on the video archive this way, save some space, and have a back-up computer in the event of failure of my main device. This project started out okay but I didn't have a good plan for it, nor a good location for it, and the project quickly ground to a halt. Now the Mini is next to my TV and I'm *cough* backing up my DVR onto the Mini. It's still in 'test' mode as I want to see how the end result AVI files look before I get too excited. Getting this all arranged and set up didn't take that long but playing with my 'new' toy took more of yesterday than I expected. We'll see how this goes. There are still lots of tapes to go through after this works.

Another change I made was to the original location of the Mini, the desk in my bedroom. My old iMac was there in an effort to get old data from old disks, not the sort of thing I work on often. It occurred to me that if I were to move the computer equipment more to the side, I could actually have a desk surface to work upon. As I'd just been reminded that a writer should have a space set aside for writing, this seemed ideal. I got it arranged quickly and promptly got busy with other things. On the plus side, I finally set aside some time this morning and cranked out a handwritten page like it was nothing. If I can grow more regular at this, I'll finally be getting somewhere. This is what I've always wanted of myself in this regard.

At the moment, I'm spinning plates, er, projects, and keeping active. It would be nice if I getting paid to do something but one thing at a time I suppose.

Updated Baseball Stats

I found another ticket from last year and it changed the stats a little bit. It landed right at the beginning of the streak and, thankfully, added to it. I'm re-presenting an old paragraph with the updated information.

Going back to last season, I observed 13 straight victories at Miller Park by the home team. This includes one playoff game as well as a game played by a Brewers associated minor league team, the Timber Rattlers. 10 of the victories took place this season, starting with Opening Day. The streak started on Wednesday September 24, 2008 vs the Pittsburgh Pirates with a 4-2 win. The last win of the streak was Sunday May 31, 2009 vs the Cincinnati Reds with a 5-2 win.

This means I attended 19 games last year with a record of 14-5. This gives me a winning percentage of .737 up from .722 (I can't have done the math properly before, or I'm doing it wrong now).

Yay team!

What Can Be

As I sit in my stench and filth, I am illuminated solely by the flickering of the display before me. Images appear, perform their tasks, and continue on. I know my own eyes to be dull, full of sleep and weariness, yet here I sit and watch. Other projects surround me in their incomplete states. Them I pay no mind. Only this completed project holds my interest, this viewer into other worlds.

Upon successful activation of the device, the display has only followed the activities participated in by my counterparts. I am at a loss to explain why this should be so. Do I, perhaps, act as an antenna, filtering the signal to the device by my genetic coding? Am I special in some way, that I would appear in all possible realities? Are the variations I've seen, as great as some of them have appeared, not actually been that varied? Were I to invite another to view the scope it may lead to answering these questions. Scientific method would demand I follow this path, to bring others in to view the scope, to gain varied results, in an effort to discern what truth may reside within this matter.

Yet, I find myself unable to accomplish this task. The concept of making another suffer as I have would be cruel and I fear the addiction I find in myself would be replicated in another. In truth, I know not which outcome troubles me greater: that another may become fascinated in a like manner or their desire to utilize the device would be such that would prevent my access.

I know within myself that I should turn away, use my energies towards a new goal, but I find myself unable so to do. Other tasks appear in my mind, begging to be accomplished, but I do not do them. I neither rest nor eat properly. In truth, were sustenance not brought to me, I should already be long dead. I sleep fitfully, in the briefest of moments when action lags on the display. When I stir, do I deactivate the device and allow myself to rest? Of course not. I fear that the machinery may never function again were it to cease for but a moment, so I locate another world and begin viewing anew.

Yet, would the non-functioning of the device truly be such a terrible thing? It torments me. I cannot turn aside from it.

At times, in my weariness, I regret assembling the scope. I hesitate to utilize the term 'create' in referring to the device for that part of the process is but a blur to me now. Inspiration being what it is, the completion of the device came to me in a flash. To where, then, can inspiration be credited? Is it the interaction between the conscious and sub-conscious minds? Is inspiration triggered by some outside force, positive or negative, holy or infernal or otherwise? Or, perhaps, is there another me, on another world, who transmitted the design of the device to me so that he may no longer feel alone in his observation of other realities?

I have no way to discern the difference at this time. Perhaps the reasons and origins of my situation are immaterial. A tool is only good or evil based on its use. Even if the device be of infernal design and exists only to torment me, it is still I that am allowing it to torment me or not. It is but a machine and nothing more. Isn't it?

Yet, perhaps again the details remain unimportant. Perhaps 'why' and 'how' pale in comparison to what is understood. Why I am here viewing this machine's output is less important than the fact that I continue to observe the output.

I no longer do anything of consequence. I am but an Observer.

A Few Thoughts on Comics from this week

Some generally interesting books this week but no real 'whoa!' of excitement, which is fine.

The first issue of the ongoing Doctor Who book was fun, with a twist or two, and gets extra points for being set in the time period at the end of the silent movie era with a not-quite Charlie Chaplin star. The story's there, fitting together nicely in a traditional sort of way, with a cliffhanger that's both serious and funny at the same time; a moment of danger that you know the Doctor will escape from but is amusing because it's a cliche of sorts from the time period in question. The art is good but Tennant's likeness is just a bit off more than I'd like. This is generally an issue with licensed books like this; the art either needs to accurately depict the look of the characters we know from the other medium they normally inhabit or needs to be individual enough so that this 'other' look for the characters feels right. I point to the recent Muppet Show comic for an example of the latter. Still, in all ways, this is a good start and I can see where I would recommend the DVD in a few months, err, I mean trade paperback collection. Not quite the same thing.

I need to give a nod to the Mighty Avengers #27 as well this week. For the past couple issues we've been reading about Hank Pym's big project and this issue we finally get to see it: the Infinite Avengers Mansion. It's another dimensional area for the Mighty Avengers to stay that has doors leading to different areas in space for them to pop in and out of as they need to respond to situations. It's essentially a TARDIS that doesn't travel in Time or Space but allows the users to travel in Space to some degree. The issue also introduces a 'forgotten' character from Inhumans history that will either be very interesting indeed or very, well, forgetable.

Punisher #7 shows the recently revived super-villains adjusting to this new time period and their enhanced power set. Frank's already working to return them back to the land of the unliving. I believe the art here is by a different artist than normal for the book. It's not bad but it's a bit looser than I'm used to seeing.

Speaking of loose art, it took three artistic teams to complete Amazing Spider-Man #599. This must be the price for having Amazing be three times a month; less time to cover for creative team changes. The letters page indicates that the team on the first issue of this five part story hopped over to Astonishing X-Men after completing that first issue. If I was still getting Astonishing I might not mind but, as I'm not, I shall politely boo and hiss for awhile here. I did enjoy the story and ended up not minding the art we got, so that's why it's all meant politely. There's no point in getting too upset by what I 'could' have gotten because it didn't happen. Unless of course in ten years or so they have the original team redraw the books like they were supposed to do, kind like the 'Clone Saga' mini that they're soon doing. Then I could compare and contrast and be annoyed if I want.

Marvel Adventures - Avengers continues to be fun. Issue #38 has a third grade class spending the day on a field trip with the Avengers and the Mandarin uses the children as a shield for his attack. The Hulk is running the part of the field trip at a petting zoo, which is a good way to keep the Hulk calm as he likes animals and knows how to be nice to them. How he can be this calm and still the Hulk is not important really. Hulk referring to sheep as 'dogs with funny sweaters' is good stuff.

Simpsons Comics #156 is set in the year 2194 and the Simpsons are the most important family in history! A museum tour explains why as flashbacks explain how Our Favorite Family brought peace to the world and saved the environment. Of course, it's never as non-complicated as it sounds. Saying anything more would give it away so I shall stop here.

Bother

Do you know the feeling where a certain something has been in a spot for awhile, perhaps years, but, while you're cleaning, you realize that it should really be elsewhere, as this new spot is the 'perfect' spot for it, but then later you go to look for it and you can only remember the old spot for it, not where it is now?

I've had that all week. It's crushing me.

More Personal Baseball Stats

Looking back to the 2008 season, I attended 18 games, according to the tickets I have on hand. The Brewers record for those 18 games was 13-5. If I've done the math correctly, that gives me a .833 winning percentage. Very nice. This includes the sole playoff game that the Brewers won last year. The longest winning streak within the season was 5 games.

If I've done the math right, my percent for this year is .8 so, even with the streak, my numbers for this year are close to last.

Does this mean that, despite their rough play of late, the Brewers are playing to a similar pace to last year? Or am I just lucky?

It's also obvious that, unless something odd happens, I'll be attending more games this year than last year. Excellent.

Personal Baseball Stats at the All-Star Break

Did a little digging to confirm some information regarding the lost lamented streak I had at Brewer games.

Going back to last season, I observed 12 straight victories at Miller Park by the home team. This includes one playoff game as well as a game played by a Brewers associated minor league team, the Timber Rattlers. 10 of the victories took place this season, starting with Opening Day. The streak started on Friday Sep 26, 2008 vs the Chicago Cubs with a 5-1 win. The last win of the streak was Sunday May 31, 2009 vs the Cincinnati Reds with a 5-2 win.

Now, since May, the Brewers play has been less consistent. I had grown to feel that I hadn't been to many successful games of late and that day games were a specific weak point. Actually checking the record showed that things weren't as bad as I thought. Since the streak ended, my record is 2-3 with one of the wins being a day game. That said, the last two games I've been to have been a bit on the painful side, so perhaps this is the basis for my discomfort.

For the season to date, my record is 12-3. Overall, this is excellent. I've nothing to complain about when I look at it, at least at this point. There is a lot of season left. I shall also have to have look at last season for comparison purposes.

15 games already this season. Wow. Hey, that's fifteen 3 beer walks. Woo-hoo!

An Open Letter to the Driver of That Van

I'm sorry, but I have to ask why. Why would you pull out in front of me when you know your crusty, rusty van can't accelerate properly? Did you somehow not think that I was easily doing the posted speed limit of 35mph or that traffic was not clear behind me? Did you expect me to just swerve around you as you struggled to get the van to a double digit speed, seeing as how the left lane was clear? Why should I have to swerve? Why didn't you use the right-most of the three lanes to accelerate instead of jumping into the center lane with me?

I'm trying to be nice in not questioning why you'd continue to drive such an obviously ramshackle vehicle as I understand that times are hard and this may be all you can get for transport. That still doesn't mean you need to pilot such a vehicle thoughtlessly. Just because there are so many other thoughtless drivers on the road doesn't mean you have to join them.

If you didn't see me, then consider glasses. If you were hoping I'd hit you for the insurance, well, then you're a jag, and you didn't do a very good job of it.

Eat a rock,

-Steve

Morrissey, I Want My Ten Dollars

The transitions are always confusing. There's a moment where who, when, and where become paramount questions to be answered. Sometimes I'm not all that clear as to who I am or when I am in my own personal time-stream. After that moment, most answers become clear.

I am still me but I'm not sure what age I am as there are no reflective surfaces nearby. I think I'm about twenty because, somehow, that seems right. I'm in an alleyway? No, like a passageway, a hallway but outside, leading to an outdoor market. Brick walls, cool air, bright sunlight. People mill about me but I'm not alone as I'm with Johnny Marr.

Wait a minute, I am? So I am. Based on his appearance, I've gone back in time as he looks like a younger version of himself. Early eighties maybe? Have the Smiths hit big yet? Have they even formed? We work to get to our destination, whatever it might be, through the crowd.

We pause briefly and this is when Steven Patrick Morrissey arrives, bright eyed, hair carefully combed. A large man looms behind him, a truck driver that Morrissey bummed a ride from in exchange for the promise of ten pounds.

Really? That's a lot of money. Why couldn't he have just taken the tube? Typical Morrissey.

Johnny and I reach for our wallets. I haven't exchanged my money and still have American dollars in it. Will he take ten dollars instead? Or in addition to whatever Johnny has available? I hand over the money and promptly wake up.

Morrissey, what a mooch. Snore...

A Few Thoughts on Comic from this week

Yes, Comic. Singular. Oh, there was a magazine or two and I did get a trade paperback but there was but one item that most people would actually refer to as a 'comic'. Thankfully it was enjoyable.

The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #36 contains a story that managed to move forward some subplots as well as set a few up. While it does tell a specific story, there's a lot left open and unresolved for those already-announced-future-stories to fill in.

Peter is in Boston for a party of Aunt May's. He gets to meet a number of relatives on his aunt's side of the family for the first time and he ends up having a moment that I'm familiar with experiencing, one that I will refer to as 'ah crap, that attractive lady is related to me'. Lots of entertainment going on until Peter gets attacked by a super-villain of sorts. Not 'Spidey goes to stop a criminal', not 'Peter sees a crime in progress and changes into his costume to stop it', Peter gets attacked because he's Peter, not because he might be Spidey's 'friend' or anything like that. The guy sees Peter, goes 'That guy! I hate that guy!' and attacks. This confuses Peter and finding out the truth of the matter doesn't make it any better: this guy wasn't looking for Peter, he was looking for Ben Reilly, Peter's dead clone.

It's been ages since that period of Spidey's history was dealt with in the main Spidey book. Now there's a story coming about Ben's history and a mini-series that will tell the 'original' version of the Clone Saga. Combining this with the current 'X-Men Forever' series that is supposed to tell Chris Clarmont's plans for the X Books in the early 90s, as if he hadn't left the titles then, it seems like Marvel's trying to reclaim the 90s, as if to 'fix' things left broken.

Or they just like the 'What If?' idea but know it can't support a regular book anymore so they're just playing about with stories because, why not?

Before I get too distracted I liked the art for the Annual as well. It was provided by Pat Olliffe, who's art is one part Sal Buscema, one part realistic, and one part cartoony. I've long liked his art. I like his art so much that it's been enough to talk me into buying DC books and that's not all that easy.

All in all, it was fun. Nothing too deep, and some foreshadowing of tales to come. Good deal.

Remember Before I Forget

Eric and I kinda motivated each other to go to Job Camp 2 today. To sum it up, it's a meeting of individuals in a somewhat structured form in an effort to provide some direction and encouragement for their job search. As he'd both gotten a bit 'meh' from lack of response, we figured we needed a recharge.

Entertainingly but not surprisingly, Eric had the momentum to get my momentum going but didn't have enough momentum to get there before me. It was located at an establishment that neither of us are particularly familiar with in general. I checked in, wandered about a bit, read the booklet, and went to settle in.

Of course, that's when Eric called. I worked my way through the loud crowd and spoke to him. He was outside and confused as to how to get to where I was. I explained that I'd parked in the parking structure, gone up the stairs to level four, and walked across the 'skyway' to the level of the building with the Camp, as per the instructions the Camp had given us via email. As I spoke, I'd made my way back to the skyway area.

Eric had parked in a lot and was outside, staring up at a 'bridge'. I took two steps to the left in order to stand by the window. As I looked down, Eric looked up at me. We laughed and waved at each other. As I was clearly visible, I gestured as I spoke, making my directions quite clear. He was upstairs in a flash.

We found it amusing.

Welcome to the House of Fun

This might be a bumpy ride than normal. I just started pondering this and I'm not sure I've got this thought worked out yet.

What is fun? I know, that's much like asking 'what is funny?' and trying to explain it scientifically. It's not possible, its not interesting, and its not funny. Certainly there is a 'fun' reaction to things and, in most people, this reaction seems to fade with age, perhaps due to the responsibilities of life, perhaps due to cumulative experiences, or perhaps due to the fact that 'eliminating' fun is considered part of growing up. Whatever. If I keep the question too open at this stage, I'm writing a book and that's not the goal here. Not at this point anyway.

For the sake of creating a more focused discussion, we will agree that geeks have fun with whatever they are geeky about, remembering how we've defined 'geek' in the past. When exposed to their subject of interest, the geek, no matter the age of the subject, has a chemical reaction occur in their brain that creates a feeling of enjoyment that is considered to be 'fun'. It's not that this segment of the population is the only one that can experience fun from the subject of interest, but, largely, the geek has become a geek for that subject of interest because of the 'fun' reaction within them. For example, not everyone that attends a baseball game is a baseball geek, but baseball geeks are more likely to attend a baseball game or to be drawn to a baseball game. Squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares. Or something like that.

Let's focus the discussion further. Movies. There are people that attend movies for the sake of going, people that expect certain things from the movies they see, people that just enjoy the night out, etc. The audience for any given movie is likely to be a mix of people there for many different reasons. Most will have differing reactions to what they see and hear. Based on my general geek friends, I'm going to generalize people into three basic groups, knowing that people can move from one group to another.

Positive: this group is out for the movie to show them a good time. They will focus on what they enjoyed in the film. Plot holes or mistakes caused by editing may concern them but they will often consider 'filling the gap' to be their job. It's not that this group is not critical, that they blindly enjoy everything they see, or that they are easily entertained, they feel that the filmmakers were trying to entertain them and it's their job to be entertained so they try to fill that role.

Neutral: this group tends to flip between positive and negative regularly based on the subject matter of the film so it's not easy to anticipate their reaction to a film. They may react very positively to one film and very negatively to another. They may respect a positive reaction to a movie they didn't enjoy or a negative reaction to a movie they did enjoy. They are more likely to not have an extreme reaction to a film, being able to enjoy it without professing love or hate. Not wanting to demand the return of money and time is considered more acceptable to them. This group tries to enjoy what the filmmakers provide them but know that, sometimes, things don't come together in the right way to make something they'll enjoy but maybe someone else will enjoy it and that's okay.

Negative: this group tends to be more demanding of the entertainment placed in front of them. They are considered 'negative' only because they often have a more negative reaction to movies. It's not that they necessarily WANT to hate the movie in question, but that some part of it was just so bad to them that they can't help but focus on that as opposed to the parts of the movie that were good to them. Perhaps its a plot hole, or many plot holes, perhaps its one of the cast that doesn't quite 'fit', perhaps its a special effect that doesn't go off correctly. Perhaps it's just not unique enough, feeling very generic. They will often have a list of reasons why they feel the way they do about the movie in question. They may expect a movie to have some sort of message, even if hidden. This group can't understand why more movies can't come together and be 'right' in the ways that their favorite movies are 'right'.

There are more extreme versions of all of these categories. There are positives that just love everything blindly. There are neutrals that get dragged to a lot of movies that aren't in their areas of interest. There are negatives that can't explain why a movie sucked but insist that it did. There are certainly some variations in these basic levels, some details left unexpressed, but, looking at many of my friends, this is what I see as those default areas.

The positives feel that the negatives can't have fun at the movies, or don't understand that some movies are just there to be uncomplicated fun, 'popcorn movies'. The negatives feel that the positives are too forgiving, or too blind, to see the problems in the film and why they are problems. Then there's usually some sort of yelling about foreign films and subtitles.

They are, of course, all right. It's just their reaction to the movie and there's nothing necessarily wrong with a reaction. Everyone has an opinion and has a right to it. There's a lot of factors that build into that reaction.

Expectation. What did the trailer make the movie look like? Were all the funny bits in the trailer to make it look like more of a comedy than it was? Did it look like an action film but was a satire? Sometimes you expect one thing and get another. Sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes not. 'I didn't think it would be as funny as it was!' 'The trailer made it look like it was going to be a big action movie but it got all talky and dark at the end.' 'I expected zombies. There were no zombies. Boo!' Often, the lower the expectation, the easier it is to enjoy the product involved.

Source material. Is there any? This can often feed into expectation. Is it based on a book? TV show? Comic Book? A remake of an earlier movie? How familiar are you with the source material? Not at all? A little? Mostly? A lot? How faithful do you expect the filmmakers to be to the source material? How faithful did the filmmakers say they'd be to the source material? Positives are more likely to go with the flow of the movie version, even if very familiar with the original source material, judging the filmed version on its own merits as it's an adaptation. Negatives are more likely to expect the filmed version to be like the source material as what's the point of adapting something and tossing out most of the elements of the original?

Mood going into the theater. Rough day? Grouchy? Have to get up early tomorrow? It might be harder for the movie to win you over. Chipper? Feeling comfortable after a good meal? You're more likely to enjoy what you see.

A consider myself a neutral and mood is important to me. A bad mood that's dispelled by a movie usually gets a positive reaction from me. It must have been good to get me out of that mood, right? The converse is also true. That movie must have been pretty bad to wreck such a good mood.

If this makes no sense or feels incomplete, well, I warned you. Just remember that the title of the blog only promises rambling. I need to eat lunch now anyway.

Not that anyone will care

I rearranged about half of my DVD collection today. The bulk of the collection is held on two large bookshelves with a number on the majority of a smaller bookshelf, some on two even smaller shelves, and a number tucked away in a cabinet. The primary shelf had become mostly television shows of British origin so I cleared away the movies from the other shelves and made it an all-TV case. Most of the movies went to the shelves where the TV shows were from but a number went into the cabinet. The other primary shelf unit was rearranged a bit, with the few VHS tapes still on it removed. Some movies buried in the medium sized shelving unit were 'promoted' to this unit to make them more accessible, primary amongst these the George A. Romero films. All the shelves involved were re-sorted in order to add in movies that had been obtained since the last big shuffle or had been removed and never properly returned to their place.

The upside to this is that I've got some better access to the stuff I watch the most. In general, I watch more of my TV DVDs than my movies, so having them a bit closer and altogether is handy.

On the downside, my shelves are pretty full. 'Luckily' I haven't been buying many DVDs of late so I'm less likely to completely overflow them anytime soon.

Now I just need to watch a few more of them. I still have a number that are still in the wrapper. Silly me.

A Few Thoughts on Comics from this week

I really enjoyed 'Captain America: Reborn' but lucked out in that I found a number of books I really enjoyed this week. This is rare. I generally enjoy most of what I buy every week but rarely really enjoy more than a book or two.

Fantastic Four #568 is part three of four of the 'Masters of Doom' storyline. Having dealt with Latveria, said Masters come to punish the Fantastic Four. Much of this surrounds putting Reed Richards through some torturous ethical situations. Reed's answer? 'There's always another way, and we're going to teach you.' Reed is awesome. This story is great. I did have some concerns when Millar and Hitch came to take over the book. I was concerned it was going to get all 'Ultimate' freaky but it's been largely awesome.

The Simpsons Super Spectacular #9 completes the three-part 'Radioactive Man Event' storyline. The three issues make up a three-act Simpsons episode of sorts. The first issue set up the basis of the story: a big change is coming to the Radioactive Man comics and the hype gets people interested. Act/Issue two builds the hype and the situation. Act/Issue three delivers the big change. While the story has built up that hype in comics never seems to pay off, the 'non-hype' of this story pays off big. It's funny, it's Simpson-y, and it gets to make a comment about comics in general. It largely becomes a love-hate letter to comics, mocking all the things we love about comics and love to hate about comics while we still read them. Well, those of us who do read them anyway. These were great. If you like watching the Simpsons on television, you should give the Simpsons Comics a try.

Muppet Robin Hood #2 introduces a few more characters to the story while building the Robin Hood/Maid Marian relationship. Fozzie Bear appears as Friar Tuck. Link Hogthrob appears as Prince John's primary knight. And Prince John? Johnny Fiama! And Sal! Woo-hoo! Some of my favorite characters from Muppets Tonight! Uncle Deadly appears as one of Prince John's monsters. Once again, the 'actors' in the book react with the knowledge that they're doing a 'performance'. Wonderful stuff.

As wonderful as Muppet Robin Hood is, the Muppet Show Comic Book is that much more wonderful. Issue #4 featured Miss Piggy's story. It's mostly about her fear of losing Kermit and her anger issues. :) This issue features a panel that made me laugh out loud, lean back and laugh out loud, lean over the comic again, see the panel again and start laughing all over again. That is beautiful. On another note, the Talking Houses sketch returns! More Pigs in Space! Vet's Hospital! Sweet moments, funny moments, laugh out loud moments. I love this book! As they're releasing the Muppet Show series in four issue installments, no doubt to release each as a trade paperback with its own title, there will soon be a collection of four issues to be bought. Getting this is highly recommended by me. For whatever that's worth.

A Few Thoughts on Comics from this week - Special

Captain America - Reborn #1

This is what I expected to see in Captain America #600. This is clearly the beginning of an epic tale. Characters from all over the Marvel Universe make appearances, important appearances, not just cameos. You can feel the heroes are putting their heads together because they now have enough clues to go on to investigate. It's not a random 'we can't believe our buddy is gone' thing, it's a 'here are our clues' investigation beginning.

While trying to keep true to my normal pattern, I'm going to try and answer an important question without any spoilers. Is Steven Rogers in this book? Yes. How? Ain't telling.

Good story, good art, still a lot of mystery to resolve, and yet room for some action. That sounds like good comics to me!

Not much and late. I know.

Busy day. Lots of running around, followed by some cooling out, and far too much getting bit by mosquitos. Blasted bugs.

Did get some writing and typing done this morning. I feel very good about that. The story is materializing well and quickly so far. Feeling VERY good about that.

Home Movies

Sent the bulk of my family's old home movies in to be converted to DVD. They arrived today.

There were moments I've seen over and over again, mostly footage of myself and my brothers.

There was footage of my father as a child with my grandfather, going on trips and celebrating graduations and such. I'd seen that before, just not as often.

Then there were some surprise moments. Some of the films were from my mother's father, my other grandfather. Unexpectedly, we saw footage of my mother's wedding shower, my parents right after their wedding, and my mother's family at my grandparents house in winter going to snowmobile.

It was fun. And there was Disneyland footage from about 1960 as well!

What a Difference a Day Makes

Sept 28th 2008. A fine day. Food with friends. Packers win. Brewers win. Mets lose or something and the Brewers go to the postseason for the first time since I was in grade school. Fun time. I won a gift certificate to the restaurant we partied at, which made things that extra bit better.

June 30th 2009. While getting my checkbook from my glove box, I unfold a piece of paper and find the gift certificate. It expired about three months ago. Doh!

Besides that, today was fun as well. Went to the zoo. Different type of fun from eating, drinking, and watching sports but fun nonetheless.

A Few (Late) Thoughts on Comics from this week

I'm not sure I can go see the new Transformers movie for I have read All Hail Megatron #12. They've added four more issues as a 'coda' to the story but issue #12 paid off the storyline big time. There were the big action moments, a couple of stunning 'wow' moments, and an another twist and turn for old time's sake. This should be animated. I found this so enjoyable that I fear the recently released movie will be unable to compare.

Part of my reasoning in that regard is due to the free 'Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen' preview book that I also received this week. The art must be the reason it was free. The robots looked okay but the humans... not so good. I didn't recognize characters the art was so scruffy. The story was not bad but it was only a preview so it's not indicative of the movie in general.

I suppose I should have figured out that cliffhanger for Amazing Spider-Man. Issue #598 explains it so quickly that I felt like a dummy for not having it figured out immediately. Now that I'm no longer expecting the Phil Jimenez art, I've been enjoying the art that's here. Story remains greatly evil. I'm digging this right now.

New Avengers #54 starts to line up the continuity of recent books as moments of other books appear to line things up a bit. This all builds to a bit of a 'whoa' moment at the end. The new Sorcerer Supreme has been chosen and some fun stuff is to come.

Secret Warriors #5 feels like it's building to the big payoff from this first storyline. In other words, it's doing exactly what it should be doing. Good art, good story, still wondering where this is leading overall. It feels like Nick Fury is rebuilding SHIELD without actually rebuilding SHIELD.

I've not been reading the big 'War of Kings' storyline but I have been reading Nova which ties into that story. Impressively, the storyline in Nova feels organic in the way it's built to cross into the larger storyline. I plan to get 'War of Kings' in trade but, at the moment, I don't feel like I'm missing out on something I need in order to understand the one book I've been getting month in and month out. This is a good thing.

Uncanny X-Men #512 felt like a combination of Doctor Who episodes 'The Next Doctor' and 'Father's Day'. I say this being a Who fan, I've no idea if they were influences or not. At the same time, the storyline fits the book so, if Fraction did 'reference' Who, it made sense to do so. Good stuff this, mostly because it dealt with the X-Club adventures and not the X-Men themselves.

Vincent Price Presents was a book that started out very rough, with both poor stories and poor art. The last few have been much better and #10 was one of the best. I actually didn't see the twist coming and I should have done. Well done!

Incredible Hercules #130 I liked. I've been enjoyed this book in general. Not much seems to happen but a lot happens in the arguments that occur during the Trial of Zeus. What fascinates me most is that the characters all have different points of view, all feel like the traditional versions of the character and yet they're just that bit updated so that they feel free. I continue to get the feeling I shouldn't be enjoying this book but I do.

Dark Avengers #6 shows some cracks forming in Norman Osborn's plan. There's also a moment that shows some weakness forming. I'm increasing of the opinion that this 'darkness' overwhelming the Marvel Universe exists to be repelled by the return of Steven Rogers.

I had been wondering about the point for continuing with Avengers: The Initiative. Why did the book still exist with it's reason to exist gone? Issue #25 finally establishes the new environment and, bam!, just like that I'm willing to stick around. The Great Lakes Initiative had a cameo! Good stuff that!

Daredevil #119 keeps things rolling. I know the Kingpin is up to something but I can't figure out what.

Finally Thor #602! It felt like forever since the last issue. Love William's reaction to realizing Asgard has been moved to Latveria. Thor has to go through some rough stuff to repair Mjolnir. Finally we get a bit of a happy ending.

Bart Simpsons #48 continues the Radioactive Man Event. We see what hype can do. Still no clue what's being done to Radioactive Man. Loving it.

Magic

Hesitantly, Kevin spoke up. “I know how everything works. I programmed many of the robots. When we ride for maintenance checks, I start out noting things down but I get distracted, I get lost in the story. I know how every works and yet, for a moment, it all feels alive.” Somewhat nervously, painfully aware of William's gaze, he finished by noting “So I guess I believe in the magic.”

Should have more to say...

...but I don't. I'm tired and probably going to bed soon. Wrote 13 pages in longhand in the last three days. That's a lot for me and is an excellent sign that the writer's block I was getting concerned I had is gone. Would have been even more pages today but, again, the tired. Two different projects are involved. Lots of fun.The four pages yesterday flowed like water.

Love it.

Not Quite Time Travel

When you're a kid, it's pretty easy to categorize people by their age. There are other kids, adults, and old people. Other kids are pretty easy to figure out. Old people are people as old as your grandparents or older. Adults are a pretty nebulous group when you're young. Older teenagers can fit into that adult group, despite them not being adults by anyone else's view, because they can babysit you and therefore tell you what to do.

A lot of the 'adults' from when I was young (10ish and younger I guess) are all in that same mix in my head. Some of them may have only been five - seven years older than me (high school when I was in grade school) but they felt like adults at the time, so terribly, terribly grown up compared to me.

Bumped into one of those 'adults' today. Haven't seen her for twenty years or so. Still looks the same, still looks good. Had one of those moments where something clicked in my head and I thought 'Aha, that would explain a lot.' She was one of those 'adults' that I had a bit of a crush on when I was too young to realize that's what it was (like Lynda Carter and Erin Gray). She smiled today, a bright warm friendly smile, and it pleased me to see that wasn't gone.

And Another Thing...

Just finished going through the big Previews catalog I get every month from the Local Comic Book Store. It's chock full of fun stuff that'll be on sale in a couple months, in theory anyway. I got hung up in the book section as they were promoting the release of the sixth book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.

Yes, sadly, Douglas Adams is still dead. He was working on a sixth book but never finished it. Someone else has done that for him.

I know this sort of thing has happened before and will happen again in the literary world. I'm not sure how I feel about this specific situation. Somehow, it doesn't feel right but I'm not sure why yet.

I'm all confused now.

Guess What Happened to Me Today?

When in a car behind someone going slower than the speed limit, I tend to wonder why they are driving as they are at the moment. When they're going faster than the limit, the reasons are more obvious: generally they're either in a hurry or they are jags that don't think the rules apply to them.

When they're slower, the possibilities open up a bit more. Do they not know what the limit is? No, that can't be it as we just passed by a speed limit sign. Are they looking for an address? Do they have nowhere to go and are just driving around randomly in an effort to get in someone's way? Are they lost? Does their car not go any faster than it's currently traveling? Are they just an idiot?

Then comes the moment of truth. You've been on a one lane road and couldn't pass them. As you prepare to make a turn, you start to hope that they won't be turning as well.

Will you luck out?!? This time, yes. Relax already.

Other cars annoy me.

Another Fiction Flash Forward

While Eric Danger was distracted by the melee outside the ring, El Hombre de Silla slid into the ring. I found it impressive that the crowd immediately started a loud ‘Hom-bre’ chant. I know he’s popular in this city but didn’t expect such a positive reaction when in ‘foreign’ territory.

This chant caught Eric’s attention. Energetically he searched the combatants for El Hombre but did not find him there. Slowly, he turned around to find the man himself waiting. Eric rushed him but El Hombre ducked the clumsy, panicked attempt at a clothesline. When Eric spun to face him again, El Hombre was waiting to meet him with chops to the chest. As Eric was driven back, the crowd roared their approval. Suitably staggered, El Hombre flung Eric into the ropes. When he returned, El Hombre captured his head in his arms and dropped down, dragging Eric down with him, jamming Eric’s chin against his shoulder with the rare running variant of the ‘Ace Crusher’ move. When released, Eric crashed back to the canvas, unconscious.

The crowd grew even louder, to a degree that it raised the roof of the building. Figuratively speaking of course.

El Hombre requested a microphone and received it. He still had to wait for the crowd to calm itself before he could be heard over it. “I consider myself a patient man. I can accept many offenses against myself before I allow myself to react in kind. When you start to attack my employment and my friends?” He paused to look down at Eric. “Then you end up like him! Attacked in public! My patience is gone! Long gone! If he wants a war, if he wants a war, if he wants a war, “ El Hombre stated, pointing at Eric and the other members of the MWA, “then they can have one!” Looking at the ring announcer that he’d gotten the microphone from, he gestured at Eric and concluded “When he wakes up, let him know he found the trouble he was looking for.” After politely returning the microphone, he scaled the turnbuckle nearest the continuing melee and dove into it. The crowd once more roared its approval.

I was one of them.

Another old music video reflection

I popped on the video for the Oasis song 'Don't Look Back in Anger' today, apparently having never seen it before. It's a fun enough video, nothing too exciting to go along with the calm nature of the song. They go to a mansion, play, lounge, and go away again. There's a number of girls that we don't get to see very well that are all dressed in styles from the sixties, all in white for that matter. The band's driver got my immediate attention.

It was Patrick Macnee. John Steed himself! One of the baddest men on the planet. He leans on an umbrella at one point and it made me very happy.

What has all this Geeking lead us to?

I believe the Geek as we currently know them starts to exist in the 1930s. Certainly there must have been Geeks to some degree before that; someone that thought all of Shakespeare's plays after a certain point were 'crapth', someone that was disappointed that for a sequel to Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn didn't have a lot of Tom Sawyer in it, someone that wrote to the Strand magazine about continuity problems in the Sherlock Holmes series and, if this Moriarty figure is supposed to be so important, why haven't we heard about him earlier? As a collective, as an identifiable group, I believe they start in the 1930s.

Now, as we've discussed earlier, a Geek is someone focused on a specific subject in pop culture, someone who has what a 'normal' person (i.e. someone not fascinated with the same subject) would consider an inordinate about of knowledge about the subject. This subject could be comics, music, musical groups, sports, whatever. The subject itself is less important that the obsession in identifying the Geek. With that said, most of the traditional Geek subjects are science-fiction related because this is the subject that brings forth the birth of the Geek as we know it.

In the 1930s, pulp science-fiction was strong. The comic book is being born. Movies have sound now and 'Dracula' and 'Frankenstein' are starting the first big wave of 'strange' film. Forry Ackerman and Julie Schwartz are perhaps the best known Geeks from this era and, if not the first Geeks to exist, certainly amongst the first few. They set the basis standard pattern that subsequent Geek eras would follow: excitement about a subject, a desire to share that excitement with like-minded individuals, and eventually finding work regarding their fascination.

The late 1950s into the mid 1960s is the next big era of the Geek. Monster movies have been revived by aliens and radioactivity. Godzilla first appears. Hammer films first appear with their color horrors. The original wave of Universal Horrors now play regularly on television. The Munsters. The Addams Family. While comics get derailed from their full growth by 'The Seduction of the Innocent' book and the backlash surrounding it, superheroes return. Marvel Comics start. The original 'Star Trek' is probably the last big event in this cycle. Julie Schwartz is now a big editor at DC Comics. Forry Ackerman is running the 'Famous Monsters of Filmland' magazine. This is the era called by some as the 'Monster Kids' era. This is also the period of the rise of the 'fanzine', magazines made by fans for fans, attempts to draw Geeks together.

It is possible that this is the period where being a Geek was seen by 'normals' as bad. Why that is isn't completely clear to me yet. Is it the stigma that stained comic books by 'The Seduction of the Innocent'? Is it just that the Geek kids weren't considered 'normal' and therefore misunderstood? Is it because there just weren't enough of them yet? A combination of events? People just being jerks?

This wave of Geeks starts to come of age during the late 60s as overall Geekdom ebbs. Hippies are all about. Cinema starts to get more serious. Godzilla movies get experimental and budgets get lower. Hammer films aren't sure how they fit into this new world and falter with the rest of the British film industry. 'The Exorcist' alters expectations about mainstream horror. Comics become less mainstream again. Watergate and Vietnam make the general public more cynical, less interested in the 'simple' good vs evil found in most Geek interests.

Just like the first wave of Geeks brought about the second wave when they came to power, the third big wave comes at the hands of the second wave. The 'Monster Kids' grow up to create the 'Blockbuster Movie' era. Steven Spielberg with 'Jaws' and George Lucas with 'Star Wars' reinvent what the public will expect from a science-fiction/fantasy film. No longer will a dodgy effect be allowed to pass in an otherwise good story. To be fair, the early generations would have laughed at the dodgy effect if it was bad enough, but now it would be increasingly unacceptable. Science-fiction starts to blend with the more mainstream acceptable action movie genre in examples such as 'Terminator', 'Alien', and 'Predator'. This is when the bulk of the 'Star Trek' movies, at least the ones considered the 'best', are released. 'Doctor Who' sees it's first big wave of attention in America. Cable TV and VCR use rise. Slasher films dominate the horror scene with the 'Halloween', 'Friday the 13th', and 'Nightmare on Elm Street' series, amongst others, all starting during this period.

Not all the 'Monster Kids' grew up to work in traditional Geek areas. Many found themselves working in an area that would still feel like science-fiction to many: computers. They programmed, they built, they created. By the end of the 'Blockbuster Movie' era in the mid-1980, they'd made science-fiction more real with the advent of the Personal Computer.

Due to this, we start to see the advent of the 'Rich Geek'. Some of those computer guys make a lot of money and are willing, eager even, to spend it on the interests of their youth. Where there is demand, there will be supply to meet it. More accurately, if there's money to be made, someone will come around to make the money. Some of those 'Monster Kids' grew up to make the kits and toys they'd liked as kids, making better and better looking products.

The next Geek wave hits much sooner than previous waves primarily due to the rise of the computer in the home and this thing called the Internet. In the early waves of fandom with fanzines and newsletters, a fan had to find a notice of the existence of one of these products and send away for it. There was more work involved on both ends of the product. Now, an electronic newsletter was much easier to find and subscribe to and send. The ad would be in a newsgroup dedicated to the subject, you'd send an email, and you'd get added to a mailing list. No postage, no sending away, no ropey printing. Better all around.

Then with the rise of the World Wide Web, you didn't even need to hunt for anything. All you had to do was to go to a search engine, type in what you're interested in and there you go! Nothing simpler! You no longer had to be a fan on your own. With a few clicks, you could meet up with others that liked what you liked. You were empowered to know that you weren't alone.

Technology continued to advance, making those special effects easier and easier to make look good. Fantasy subjects that had long been seen as impossible to film were now becoming possible. The 'Lord of the Rings' books. 'Spider-Man.' More 'Star Wars' movies. More George A. Romero zombie films. More of all those things that Geeks had been asking for, begging for.

This wave should die off like the rest but the Internet is a powerful tool in bringing people together. Also, right when the wave should have started fading, came DVD. Film restoration was increasingly coming into vogue and DVD took that to new levels. Movies were remastered. TV shows became more cost effective to release to the home market. It's become easier and easier to re-evaluate items from the past and how the original products were meant to be taken. The Geek has never had better access to their items of interest, to collect them, to investigate them, to enjoy them.

As a group, what have we done with all this power?

We've used it to hate.

I don't necessarily mean you specifically dear reader, but us as a whole. The Internet is full of hate. Annoyance at movies not even completed. Fanedits of movies that have been released but had 'stupid' bits. 'Worse movie/TV show/moment ever'.

The worst thing that can happen to a group is to win. The Geeks have won. We have power. We are catered to by companies. People want to please us. And they can't.

Why not? In our defense, some products aren't very good. They're rushed. They're not well thought out, thrown onto the market in a quick attempt to cash in. I'm not trying to say that you should like everything or anything in particular.

Where the problem often lies in within ourselves. We build mental pictures of how, for instance, certain comic book characters look or sound. When a new artist comes on a book with their own style, sometimes we reject them simply for being different. Or a movie gets made based on our favorite book series and we complain about the casting because one actor doesn't fit our mental picture or doesn't sound right. Often, it's got nothing to do with how well the artist draws or how well the actor does in the role, it's wrong because it doesn't match up with what's in our heads.

That obsessive quality is what makes us Geeks. We want the details to be just so. We get annoyed when 'continuity' gets disrupted, forgetting that it's our job to come up with the theories to fit things together when they don't appear to do so. We continue to watch television shows we don't enjoy so that we can be able to complain about them to our friends.

My Geeks, I'm not saying to ignore your critical thinking ability, to blindly enjoy everything put before us. What I am saying is to remember that 'critical' doesn't equal 'finding the bad' in something. Don't hate something because it's easier to hate than enjoy or because it's 'cooler' to be the first person against something. If you don't enjoy something, try to work out why. If it's you, say that it's you rather than saying 'that sucked'. Try to remember what brought you to your Geekdom for something rather than letting it burn out because nothing brings you any joy in it anymore.

Tired Today

I wish they'd bring back the 'Less Filling, Tastes Great' commercials. I liked those.

I have more complex thoughts than that today but I'm too tired to type them out. Pity cause they're good thoughts. Have to remember them for tomorrow.

Really? Really?!?

Monday night my buddy Brian texted me about WWE RAW, noting that Vince McMahon had come out to announce that he'd sold the show to an investor. Being long-time wrestling fans, we knew this was a story and figured the investor would turn out to be Ric Flair since the show was in Charlotte. I spent most of the night flipping back and forth between the wrestling show and the Brewers/Indians baseball game, which was just wild. I haven't watched RAW in ages but was curious enough to check in. The investor turned out to be Donald Trump.

While Trump has worked with Vince before, we couldn't figure out as a group how this 'independent investor' that just owned the show would work in the story. Would he just be responsible for the content of the show, like a 'general manager'? Would he have to provide wrestlers, bringing in new wrestlers, pretending they worked for Trump and not the WWE? It seemed overly complicated and, as a group, Brian and Moppy (who we dragged into the conversation) and I dismissed it.

Today I read that the storyline was promoted via press release on various websites. Nothing new there either. Another press release noted that this was all a storyline. On that 'news' WWE stock dropped 7% as investors apparently believed that Trump had actually bought into the company.

For years I've been reminded by non-wrestling fans that wrestling is 'fake'. I've had many people look at me funny because I look too smart to watch something so stupid. Yet here were people that play the stock market that couldn't tell the difference between a storyline and something real.

And I was the idiot all these years? Suddenly the poor state of the economy makes sense. It's awash with desperate stupid people looking to get rich quick.

I think I get to look at people that play the market with that Look now.

A Few Thoughts on Comics from this week

A number of books I enjoyed this week but no big 'wow!' book or moment really.

Ultimatum: Spider-Man: Requiem #1 gives us what appears to be an older Ultimate Team-Up book that wasn't printed. The bulk of the issue is in flashback but the framework is set the day after the Ultimatum wave hit. Spidey is missing. The book works because it shows people in shock after a major tragedy and just doing what they need to do. There's a creepy honesty, a lack of false hope, to the characters. Still not sure if I want to leap onto the books when they revive as 'Ultimate Comics'. If I don't, this is turning out to be a fine coda to the series I was following.

The Mighty Avengers #26 completes the scuffle with between the team and the Fantastic Four. Whatever Hank Pym has up his sleeve is apparently enough to impress a lot of people. I'm looking forward to seeing what it is! They keep teasing us with it. Hank also gets points for noting that his 'sonic extractor' makes for a 'heck of a screwdriver'.

A year or two ago in 'Avengers: The Initiative' we saw that James Rhodes had become some sort of weird cyborg that can absorb random equipment into a functioning whole. It was a surprise revelation but what happened to him wasn't explained, at least until now in War Machine #7. What happened isn't pretty at all. It does go a long way to explaining why he's been acting the way he's been. It's a good issue.

Punisher #6 spends most of its story identifying the rules for what occurred at the end of the last issue. The upside is that this is interesting and the 'villains' clash well. The downside is that we don't see much of Frank.

Marvel Adventures - Avengers #37 features a 'clash' between the Avengers and the heroes of 1954 (they're referred to as the 'Invaders' but they'd probably be the 'All Winners Squad', which is referenced in the story title as 'Doll Winners Squad'). While there's a plot to resolve and things to do, the more interesting storyline revolves around Captain America's reaction to seeing his old friends. He has grown comfortable in the present but does miss the Invaders. If given the chance to go back, would he?

Transformers Spotlight: Cliffjumper tells a story that's not unfamiliar. The entertainment comes from Cliffjumper, 'small' as he is, being this frighteningly effective assassin. When the Decepticon reenforcements realize who they've been called in to help against and they freak out, it's a great moment.

Simpsons Comics #155 starts a three part 'event'. The story here parodies recent comic book events and how complicated comics have become. Change is coming to Radioactive Man comics but whatever that change is remains a secret for the moment. Funny stuff as usual.

Additional

Penn and Teller are in RUN D.M.C.'s video for 'It's Tricky' as three-card monte scam artists.

Awash in the Past

I've been watching a lot of music videos the past couple days. I go through streaks with this form of entertainment, moreso that most of the forms or styles with which I'm fascinated. Of late videos have been a 'going by Moppy' thing. If I go over by him to watch the game or somesuch, the entertainment generally starts with a few videos. Good way to set the mood.

I've got piles and piles of video tapes in general and a number of them have MTV's 120 Minutes on them. Two hours worth of 'alternative' music videos a week. Good stuff. Every few months I get the bug in my system and I convert a bunch over to DVD. Memories.

This recent explosion was due to finding a bunch of 'older' clips online and realizing I had enough located to make a few data DVDs. It's been a lot of fun. There's been a few moments of interest in particular. For instance, I was watching the video for the Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson duet 'Say, Say, Say'. At one point Macca hustles Harry Dean Stanton at pool. Was Harry a known actor by this point? I can't remember and am apparently too lazy to go check at the moment. I know Matt Dillon was a known actor by the time he appears in the 'Fairytale of New York' video for the Pogues.

Must...have...more...

Stupid addictions.

Indiana Jones 5

Word emerged today regarding the fifth movie in the Indiana Jones series, tentatively titled 'Indiana Jones and the Psychedelic Tablet'. Official announcement was scheduled for next month's San Diego Comic-Con but a brief press conference was arranged once the news leaked.

Much as the fourth movie advanced a decade into the future from the earlier films to reflect the popular movies of the Nineteen Fifties, this fifth film will take place during the late Sixties and reflect the movies of that time. The film will reflect elements of 'exploitation' films of the period and much of the film will be set at Barnett College.

A major new character will be 'Moonglow', a hippie that leads and organizes the local protests. Indiana's son, Mutt, is torn between his growing interest in following in his father's work and the mutual fascination between him and Moonglow.

Harrison Ford has been preparing to play an even older Indiana Jones. "I've been yelling at kids to get off my lawn. I think I can do this."

When confronted with rumors of a twist in the relationship between Mutt and Moonglow (that they are half-brother and sister) as well as the rumor that Mutt would lose a hand during the course of the story, Lucas' jaw dropped. "You know about that already? (Flipping) Internet!"

Indiana Jones 5 is currently scheduled for release on April 1st, 2010.

(In the event it's still not clear, I made this up while playing Lego Indiana Jones and it is in no way true. That said, news today said that there is a real Indy 5 on the way, so this is topical.)

EXTRA - A Few Thoughts on Comics from this week

Normally when I do these little reviews, my goal is to be as spoiler free as possible. This week, something different happened with the release of books, well, a book, and that demands a bit of a change from me as well.

I'm going to talk about Captain America #600. This was released today instead of Wednesday with the rest of the comics for this week. There will be spoilers ahead. If you're waiting or have to wait until Wednesday to get your copy, you may not want to read ahead.

You'll notice I'm working to fill this space with text rather than blank space. That is intentional.

Last chance!


Most importantly, Steven Rogers does not return in this issue. As a result, I have to label this as something of a disappointment. The issue was hyped as a big deal and, while things happen, we don't get Steve back. The main story primarily acts as a prelude to the Reborn mini-series that is set to launch just before the fourth of July.

Now, what do we get? Mostly clues. It's the anniversary of Steve being gunned down. Sharon Carter has started to remember more about that day and tracks down someone else that had been used by Faustus that day. The problem for the bad guys? They forgot all about him, and he's still got the murder weapon.

The bulk of the rest of the story is catching up with the various other characters involved, seeing what they've been up to, and building to the big vigil in the park for Steve. Here Sharon catches up to the Avengers and reveals her new information, evidence to believe, for the first time, that Steven Rogers may not be dead.

Boom. Done.

Is it exciting? Interesting? Yes, just as much as any previous issue has been. Does it pay off as a 'big deal'? Not so much.

We get a few extras. My favorite of these is the note from Cap's co-creator, Joe Simon, which includes pictures he did in the 40's trying to get through Jack Kirby's thick skull that Cap's shield was now round. Great!

This is a good book. I'm not disappointed I got an 'extra' early copy but I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to get it early. It'll keep until your normal visit to the Local Comic Book Store.

A Few Thoughts on Comics from this week

This week's big 'wow!' book was Fantastic Four #567. The Masters of Doom dismiss Doom as if he was nothing. You know Doctor Doom is not going to take this lying down! This storyline is the big wrap-up to Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's run on the book. Halfway in, it feels like a big deal. Seriously bad things have happened and the FF aren't even on the scene yet. This could be impressive.

On the other hand, there's Uncanny X-Men #511. This was the end of a storyline wrapping up some threads. I'm not quite sure what happened. Part of me wants to read the last few again to see if I can figure it out and part of me is just annoyed. It was all something about putting corrupted psyches back into corpses to bring them back to life. Oh, and the character that was doing it has been dead for awhile. No clue when they brought her back. Next issue looks like it's going to focus on the X-Club, kind of a Planetary for the Marvel Universe, and I should enjoy that. It's a group of mostly scientific adventurers led by Hank McCoy. For all the X books there are, they could spin this off so I could get that book and cancel my Uncanny subscription. Those X-Club characters are fun.

Hack/Slash #23 is a double feature book with a cover that looks like an old movie poster. I continue to enjoy this book!

Amazing Spider-Man #597 still doesn't have any Phil Jimenez art. It does have a grand story in it. Spidey's infiltration of the 'Dark' Avengers tower doesn't go well. This is pretty much the exact opposite of well. The cliffhanger is one where I know what we see can't be what happened but I'm curious as to how they'll get out of this one.

I had a story

I had another story from yesterday. Moppy even reminded me of it earlier today and I've forgotten it now. Bother.

From today: now sure why people from Illinois had such a hard time parking in the lot at Miller Park but they did. Wisconsin people too. People that were not cute enough to get away with that level of failure.

Grr.

The streak endth

My streak of observing winning games at Miller Park ended today.

Before the game started, I texted my friend, noting that I was wearing the spring training shirt she'd gotten for me. As her record for the season is less stellar than my own (0-3), I teased that a loss today would be her fault, as my karma would be tainted by her karma on my shirt. She agreed.

Immediately after the loss, she texted me back accepting responsibility for the loss. That's a good fan.

We'll try to start a new streak tomorrow.

Some Notes/Thoughts on the Novel Fragment

- That's not meant to be the beginning of the book. I've got it mapped out into sections and that's the beginning of section two, as the quest is beginning to form in the main character's mind. At this point, he's not really sure what he's meant to do but knows it's out 'there' somewhere.

- Character names are largely up for grabs at this point. As I skimmed the text before posting, I had to fix a character name to make it match the rest. 'Jim' was also 'Matt'.

- I posted about a fifth of what I already have done for the proposed book. The bulk of the existing text currently comes from the first two sections as young 'Jim' receives the gem that provides him with powers and sets off to figure out what to do with it. The fragment I posted is the start of his 'first mission', if you will.

- While not noted in this fragment, 'Jim' is probably 19-21 and still a bit naive at this point. It's also the time period we would identify as the 1980s, but not quite the same as our history. For one, there's this guy running around with a gem that can provide him with abilities. :)

- The story is meant to fit into the overall 'Steveverse', the same universe that El Hombre de Silla and Patrick Thompson, amongst others, inhabit. I've not worked on this in awhile as I've mostly been trying to crank out El Hombre 'short' stories for a collection. As I think I'm a bit burned out on that, I might hop back into this briefly to revive my creative juices or I've got a different short story that seems bound and determined to escape me. Did some planning work on that last night.

- According to the stats, this is my 500th blog post. Woo-hoo!

Fiction Piece: Novel Fragment 2

As the customers and employees of the diner poured out of the building to watch, Jim coughed and struggled to find his feet. The large man gestured for him to rise. “C'mon kid, on your feet. Let's see what you got.”

Jim wasn't sure what made him less comfortable: the sauce still on his face or the marks on his neck. “What is your problem?” he croaked out.

“You,” he said simply. “Whether you defend yourself or not, I'm going to deal with my problem.” The large man stepped forward.

Jim fidgeted with the jewel clipped to his jacket pocket. Quickly he muttered “Time Singer, Time Singer, hear my call, I need a power more than all, You can provide it, that I know, that to me he will appear slow.” The gem glowed briefly. The punch heading towards Jim's face suddenly slowed in momentum, down to a crawl. Jim grinned with his success.

Calmly, he stepped aside from the punch. He repositioned himself so that he could drive both fists into the man's solar plexus. With a gasp of escaping air, speed returned to normal. The big man collapsed to the asphalt.

The friend of the large man ran to his side, waving Jim off. “Sorry about my friend; he's got a bit of a temper and I couldn't stop him. I'll pay for your meal. Meals cause he already ruined one, right?” Jim nodded and wiped sauce from his face. “Apology accepted?”

“Sure. Just keep him away from us if you can.”

“Yeah, yeah no problem.” The man handed the cook a number of bills before assisting the large man to a vehicle and driving them away.

Jim walked back to the diner, working to repress a grin. He desperately wanted to look cool and calm like a movie hero but was finding it hard to repress the joy of success. The small crowd from the diner simultaneously congratulated him. “That was awesome!” “Are you a professional fighter?” “How did you do that?” “You sure straightened that guy out. Boy did he deserve it!”

“I've seen a lot of kung fu films,” he offered as an explanation.

The cook beamed at him as he warmly wrapped an arm around Jim. He chuckled in a friendly manner. “Ya understand why this sit-ya-ation had ta go outside, right?” Jim smiled and chuckled in a friendly manner to respond. “Yeah, I thought so. I'll make you a steak and potatoes. You like corn? I'll make ya some corn as well. You're alright guy.”

Jim returned to his booth, choosing the opposite bench as his original seat was still covered in spaghetti. He sipped at his water and tried to not look at anyone in particular. The diner had a gentle buzz to it and, without being egotistical about it, he felt sure the discussions were about him. He didn't want to start any more than he already had. Now that the adrenaline of the moment was beginning to fade, he was feeling a little uncomfortable with his display. Hitting that jerk didn't make him feel concerned as he didn't plan to be in town long anyway but it was the public quality of the display that bothered him. His abilities were new and he wasn't quite sure what he'd be doing with them as of yet. Would he have a secret identity at some point? Had he blown it before he'd created it?

Lost in these thoughts, he jumped in surprise when Terry slid a plate in front of him. She cleaned the dirtied seat across from him and then took it for herself. “That was great! Thank you.” Her enthusiasm shone from her, enhancing her natural attractiveness. Politely uncomfortable with this energy, he began to beg off a little. She would have none of it. “I don't normally pick my ... friends so well.” The bell rang again. “Eat now. Enjoy. We'll talk more.” She stood up and adjusted her uniform. Before departing, she verbalized a sudden thought. “And no leaving without talking to me further. Okay?”

Jim nodded. “Okay.”

“Good.” She stepped away, returning to her work.

Jim smiled as he cut into his steak. He had a friend!