SHAME
Leaguers, only a small fraction of you bothered to wish Reed a happy birthday. I am ashamed of you.
Reed has been a vital part of this blog for many years, and all you had to do was post a birthday message. But, apparently, you're too busy. Apparently, you're too good for Reed. I had no idea this was the sort of snobbish audience the League had grown to cater to.
I shame myself and I shame the good name of The League if I can't get you to post a "Happy Birthday" message to Reed.
SUN
We finally got some sun today. It's been cold and wet since last week sometime, so a little break in the weather was a welcome change. We didn't manage to take as much advantage of the weather as I would have liked, and I didn't make it home until after dark, so I didn't go running, which I'm feeling sort of badly about.
We've got another wintery blast scheduled to come through (cold, but not a freeze), and then we should have sunshine again on Thursday. So, right now, I'm holding out for Thursday.
PLAY-OFFS
We're not even done with the 1st quarter of the NE/IND game as I watch this, but I did see the end of the Bears/Saints game. I suppose I must now make Superbowl plans. No matter what, I suppose I shall cheer for the team that is NOT the Bears, unless I am given a compelling reason why the Bears should curry my favor.
I've been fairly dispassionate about pro-Football this year, and have already snuck over and watched a few NBA games (although I am reminded that the NBA coverage in Austin is abysmal in comparison to what we had in Arizona. My kingdom for an NBA Season Pass on Time Warner Cable).
Peabo was right about one thing in life, and that's about the inherent superiority of College Football over Pro Ball. I cannot get onboard with the anti-NBA plank of his platform, although I understand his argument.
***UPDATE***
Holy SMOKES, man!!! Was that ever a game! Holy cow!!! COLTS are AFC CHAMPS!!! Whoooo!!!!
(sorry, we like Peyton Manning at League HQ and have been waiting for him to have his shot at a ring for a while.)
GHOSTRIDER
I've never been a huge fan of the Ghost Rider comics. I sort of think the idea begins and ends with character design, and you can get more out of an 80's-era Iron Maiden poster than you can out of the average Ghost Rider comic. GR's not actually terribly scary or anything, so I'm not really clear on the point of the guy. I actually think he would be handled better as a DCU Phantom Stranger/Spectre-type character, but that's just me.
Now it's a movie. So far, the most interesting thing in the trailers has been Eva Mendes. And my deep love for paying to see very bad movies.
Who am I kidding? I'm going to see this movie. I sort of wish I could figure out a way to see it with Randy, because I bet Randy is going to love this flick. Somehow the idea of dragging Harms to such quality, low-brow entertainment is equally appealing.
Norbit
Is this movie just about making fun of fat girls? Am I really supposed to pay money to see that?
Eddie Murphy.... You used to be beautiful, man.
John Wayne
So the other day I watched all of "The Sons of Katie Elder", which I had never seen before. Darn good Western, and one could clearly see where they'd lifted some moments for Silverado. I did not know this, but 2005's "Four Brothers" was a sort of homage to "The Sons of Katie Elder". Only, with Marky Mark instead of John Wayne.
Last night, after watching "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", I watched a good chunk of "The Undefeated". I've got "Rio Grande" in my DVR queue. Either I, or TCM or AMC am on a John Wayne kick. Given the amount of John Wayne on TV everyday, I am inclined to think it's me.
Sure, me and Mr. Wayne might not have agreed on too much had we ever met each other, but I love a good John Wayne movie. I think, partially, because I respect Wayne's ability to make any nonsense that comes out of his mouth sound like God's own truth. And he's not above having a good laugh at other people getting slugged in the head in many of his films.
Oddly, I've not seen too many of John Wayne's non-Westerns, such as "The Green Berets", "Donovan's Reef", or "The Flying Leathernecks". Luckily, I have DVR and basic cable, so it's just a matter of time.
Hope everyone had a good weekend.
Make sure you wish Reed a happy birthday.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Saturday, January 20, 2007
DC Reviews for 1.17.2007 are up
Hey all, I've done my Comic Fodder duty and reviews are up for DC Comics released last week.
Please come on by and check it out. Click on some ads, and then take a look at some of my other DC commentary.
And, also, I'd love some comments. It's always nice to get a discussion going.
I could certainly use the support, and, if nothing else, it keeps me from posting lots of comic stuff you're not going to read at LoM.
That is all.
Please come on by and check it out. Click on some ads, and then take a look at some of my other DC commentary.
And, also, I'd love some comments. It's always nice to get a discussion going.
I could certainly use the support, and, if nothing else, it keeps me from posting lots of comic stuff you're not going to read at LoM.
That is all.
Happy Birthday, Reed!
It's Reed's birthday. So everyone post a happy birthday wish to Reed-o.
Go. Do it now.
The League has been associated with Reed longer than most Leaguers. He was in band with Jason back in middle school, shortly after we moved to Austin. At the time, he was known as "Weed Saw".
Ahhhh... after all these years, that's still gold.
Anyway, Reed and Jason probably don't remember this, but the first time I met Reed, I came home and Jason and Reed were in my room for reasons that I still am not clear on. I think they were going through my comics. At any rate, my privacy had been well invaded.
So it's been two decades I've known the man. He's now an engineer, a drummer, a husband and father. Quite a growth curve for Reed-o. He no longer dwells upon Trek the way he once did. Instead, he's replaced that geekdom with a tremendous mental database of all things Rock 'n Roll. Seriously. It's frightening.
Sure, the days are long since past of hitting comic shops together and going over the happenings in Batman comics, but we still see quite a bit of one another, and Reed is still the same good guy he was when he first invaded my room.
Happy B-Day, Reed. Go eat some cake.
Go. Do it now.
The League has been associated with Reed longer than most Leaguers. He was in band with Jason back in middle school, shortly after we moved to Austin. At the time, he was known as "Weed Saw".
Ahhhh... after all these years, that's still gold.
Anyway, Reed and Jason probably don't remember this, but the first time I met Reed, I came home and Jason and Reed were in my room for reasons that I still am not clear on. I think they were going through my comics. At any rate, my privacy had been well invaded.
So it's been two decades I've known the man. He's now an engineer, a drummer, a husband and father. Quite a growth curve for Reed-o. He no longer dwells upon Trek the way he once did. Instead, he's replaced that geekdom with a tremendous mental database of all things Rock 'n Roll. Seriously. It's frightening.
Sure, the days are long since past of hitting comic shops together and going over the happenings in Batman comics, but we still see quite a bit of one another, and Reed is still the same good guy he was when he first invaded my room.
Happy B-Day, Reed. Go eat some cake.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Football PodCast
hey all,
Friend of the League, Sigmund, has begun a fulltime career as a sports journalist. He's focusing on a Football themed podCast called "The Audible", I believe.
You can sign up for Sigmund's podcasts at the Applestore, here.
Friend of the League, Sigmund, has begun a fulltime career as a sports journalist. He's focusing on a Football themed podCast called "The Audible", I believe.
You can sign up for Sigmund's podcasts at the Applestore, here.
2 things
Comic reader appears in TV show The League enjoys
The League doesn't watch too many one-hour dramas on TV. But we do hunker down once a week to watch NBC's Friday Night Lights.
If you haven't watched the show, it's based upon the award winning book from circa 1990, and produced by Peter Berg who handled the feature film version from a few years ago. The show is framed by a small-to-medium sized Texas town that lives and breathes for the local high school team.
One of the characters is former quarterback Jason Street, played by actor Scott Porter. Street was injured in the first episode and is now confined to a wheel chair.
Apparently, Porter is a big geek and reads quite a few titles. Read more here.
John Kelso is a moron.
In his column for today he argues that Austin was perfectly safe during the recent ice storm, and that the newscasters had brewed up a conspiracy to keep us off the roads and watching their news stations rather than going to work.
Kelso has lived in this town long enough to know better. People in Austin can't handle the ice. They tend to do things like cause 60 car pile-ups on I-35 (which occured in Dec. 1998), drive off of roads into ditches and each other. And, apparently, the number of emergency calls for the elderly escalates tremendously as some fairly frail people slip and fall on icy patches.
Kelso has made a career out of being a grump, and it's occassionally difficult to tell if he's being serious or not as he stays in character. I think, in this case, he's throwing in with the folks who would like Austinites to cowboy up and just keep on with business as usual when the ice hits. And, yes, some of the reports were flat out dumb. But apparently he missed the part of Amy Hadley's news8 story that he makes fun of that remarked that the trucker he mentions was, in fact, stuck. (It's not the trucks which are the problem here, it's our inability to sand and salt our roads). I guess Kelso missed the footage of trucks jack-knifed all over I-35 on his voyages.
Look, we suck at this ice thing. We're very bad at it. So quit whining and watch some movies or get ahead on your columns, Kelso.
The League doesn't watch too many one-hour dramas on TV. But we do hunker down once a week to watch NBC's Friday Night Lights.
If you haven't watched the show, it's based upon the award winning book from circa 1990, and produced by Peter Berg who handled the feature film version from a few years ago. The show is framed by a small-to-medium sized Texas town that lives and breathes for the local high school team.
One of the characters is former quarterback Jason Street, played by actor Scott Porter. Street was injured in the first episode and is now confined to a wheel chair.
Apparently, Porter is a big geek and reads quite a few titles. Read more here.
John Kelso is a moron.
In his column for today he argues that Austin was perfectly safe during the recent ice storm, and that the newscasters had brewed up a conspiracy to keep us off the roads and watching their news stations rather than going to work.
Kelso has lived in this town long enough to know better. People in Austin can't handle the ice. They tend to do things like cause 60 car pile-ups on I-35 (which occured in Dec. 1998), drive off of roads into ditches and each other. And, apparently, the number of emergency calls for the elderly escalates tremendously as some fairly frail people slip and fall on icy patches.
Kelso has made a career out of being a grump, and it's occassionally difficult to tell if he's being serious or not as he stays in character. I think, in this case, he's throwing in with the folks who would like Austinites to cowboy up and just keep on with business as usual when the ice hits. And, yes, some of the reports were flat out dumb. But apparently he missed the part of Amy Hadley's news8 story that he makes fun of that remarked that the trucker he mentions was, in fact, stuck. (It's not the trucks which are the problem here, it's our inability to sand and salt our roads). I guess Kelso missed the footage of trucks jack-knifed all over I-35 on his voyages.
Look, we suck at this ice thing. We're very bad at it. So quit whining and watch some movies or get ahead on your columns, Kelso.
I totally guessed it, and more
I knew from his first appearance the true identity of "Supernova" in DC's 52. Sure, I had a few moments of doubt, and I wasn't sure what details would get us there, but I guessed right.
I apologize to anyone who has now read 52 who I might have intentionally thrown a curve ball as late as last week. If I was right, I wanted to do my "AH HAAAAA!" here. so here it is:
AH HAAAAAA!!!!
If anyone has cracked the code in Didio's column (I assume it's every 52nd letter, but I am not sure I am ready to go to the photocopier and highlighters yet), let me know in an e-mail.
Now I must review my Animal Man collections.
Also, I found it amusing that the Bottle City of Kandor they showed in this issue (that shouldn't give anything away, Leaguers... it's just in a few panels) was based on the Kandor prop DC Direct put out a few years ago, and which The League proudly displays each day at home.
Kandor!
Smallville:
Smallville suckered me in this week with a new episode which shows the earliest formation of the Justice League according to Smallville.
The episode was entitled "Justice" and featured Green Arrow, Flash/Impulse, Aquaman, Cyborg and Clark Kent.
I'm not sure if the episode was great, but it was certainly much better than the lowly levels Smallville had reached when I gave up on the show two or more seasons ago.
Now, the original members of the League did not include Green Arrow or Cyborg. In fact, Cyborg has never been in the JLA. Not to mention their "Flash" is Bart Allen, who has never been in the JLA.
But whatever. it was kind of neat from a novelty standpoint.
I apologize to anyone who has now read 52 who I might have intentionally thrown a curve ball as late as last week. If I was right, I wanted to do my "AH HAAAAA!" here. so here it is:
AH HAAAAAA!!!!
If anyone has cracked the code in Didio's column (I assume it's every 52nd letter, but I am not sure I am ready to go to the photocopier and highlighters yet), let me know in an e-mail.
Now I must review my Animal Man collections.
Also, I found it amusing that the Bottle City of Kandor they showed in this issue (that shouldn't give anything away, Leaguers... it's just in a few panels) was based on the Kandor prop DC Direct put out a few years ago, and which The League proudly displays each day at home.
Kandor!
Smallville:
Smallville suckered me in this week with a new episode which shows the earliest formation of the Justice League according to Smallville.
The episode was entitled "Justice" and featured Green Arrow, Flash/Impulse, Aquaman, Cyborg and Clark Kent.
I'm not sure if the episode was great, but it was certainly much better than the lowly levels Smallville had reached when I gave up on the show two or more seasons ago.
Now, the original members of the League did not include Green Arrow or Cyborg. In fact, Cyborg has never been in the JLA. Not to mention their "Flash" is Bart Allen, who has never been in the JLA.
But whatever. it was kind of neat from a novelty standpoint.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
American Idol viewing comes to an end
I guess Rosie O'Donnell beat me to the punch on this one, but, once again, despite telling Jamie "I will not watch this season of American Idol", I have seen three hours of the show already.
It may be the producer's knowledge that America loves to watch people fail, no matter who they are and as long as they quickly disappear from the screen (see: America's Funniest Home Videos). Or, it may be because of the saturation of American Idol into the zeitgeist, that American Idol is now attracting more applicants than ever of all stripes... And, perhaps after six seasons, no matter how grueling the humiliation the judges dish out, contestants are smart enough to just keep their mouths shut.
This season, American Idol's audition episodes seem to be showing nothing but mildly deranged, somewhat mentally challenged and functionally autistic contestants. Apparently it's not enough to just bring in the kids who think they can sing but have delusions of grandeur (which is how Idol reps classify their contestants). It seems that Crazy Mary from a few seasons ago really lit a fire under the producers to let through and broadcast the judges haranguing folks who the producers SHOULD have the common courtesy to excuse from the auditions. Instead, it's sort of the TV equivalent of laughing at the special ed kids in high school. Nice.
Of course, because the show lasts somewhere in the neighborhood of 87 weeks each season, the audience sort of forgets the folks who maybe should never have been paraded in front of the camera. But it's unlikely those folks forget, if they're ever even aware of how they were presented.
If someone put on a show where they pitched itself as: we promise to make fun of the mildly deranged, the somewhat mentally challenged and the functionally autistic, I would not tune in.
That's why I don't watch "Carlos Mencia" and "The Blue Collar Comedy Tour".
Anyway, I'm done. No more Idol.
@#$% them.
The real tragedy of all of this is that longtime readers will know I love it when bad things happen to good people. Somehow this TV show is taking away my love of the schadenfreude. And that's just not fair.
I DVR "Friday Night Lights" on Wednesday nights, so I have but one live-TV option:
It's "Armed and Famous" for me on my Wednesday nights. Go Officer Estrada!
Shut up. That show is awesome. While you were watching your fiftieth contestant butcher a Celine Dion song (as if Celine Dion songs should be encouraged, anyway) and Simon's 1000th eyeroll, I saw LaToya Jackson assist in the delivery of a baby.
That, Leaguers, is TV magic.
It may be the producer's knowledge that America loves to watch people fail, no matter who they are and as long as they quickly disappear from the screen (see: America's Funniest Home Videos). Or, it may be because of the saturation of American Idol into the zeitgeist, that American Idol is now attracting more applicants than ever of all stripes... And, perhaps after six seasons, no matter how grueling the humiliation the judges dish out, contestants are smart enough to just keep their mouths shut.
This season, American Idol's audition episodes seem to be showing nothing but mildly deranged, somewhat mentally challenged and functionally autistic contestants. Apparently it's not enough to just bring in the kids who think they can sing but have delusions of grandeur (which is how Idol reps classify their contestants). It seems that Crazy Mary from a few seasons ago really lit a fire under the producers to let through and broadcast the judges haranguing folks who the producers SHOULD have the common courtesy to excuse from the auditions. Instead, it's sort of the TV equivalent of laughing at the special ed kids in high school. Nice.
Of course, because the show lasts somewhere in the neighborhood of 87 weeks each season, the audience sort of forgets the folks who maybe should never have been paraded in front of the camera. But it's unlikely those folks forget, if they're ever even aware of how they were presented.
If someone put on a show where they pitched itself as: we promise to make fun of the mildly deranged, the somewhat mentally challenged and the functionally autistic, I would not tune in.
That's why I don't watch "Carlos Mencia" and "The Blue Collar Comedy Tour".
Anyway, I'm done. No more Idol.
@#$% them.
The real tragedy of all of this is that longtime readers will know I love it when bad things happen to good people. Somehow this TV show is taking away my love of the schadenfreude. And that's just not fair.
I DVR "Friday Night Lights" on Wednesday nights, so I have but one live-TV option:
It's "Armed and Famous" for me on my Wednesday nights. Go Officer Estrada!
Shut up. That show is awesome. While you were watching your fiftieth contestant butcher a Celine Dion song (as if Celine Dion songs should be encouraged, anyway) and Simon's 1000th eyeroll, I saw LaToya Jackson assist in the delivery of a baby.
That, Leaguers, is TV magic.
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