“Okay, who did I hire as news director here?”

broderic on September 14, 2013

Wired commemorates 50 years of X-Men by offering up 10 essential X-Men story lines. The usual suspects are there, Giant Size X-Men #1, Days of Future Past, The Dark Phoenix Saga, as well as mid 90s comic desolation crossovers and latter day reboots. They’ve hit a good set of stories and arcs to give an overview of the who, what, and why of the X-Men. But like all lists that try to categorize something I have more than a passing knowledge of, it’s missing a few arcs that I would deem essential.

I’ve been an X-Men fan since I started reading comics. I am still picking up the latest issues even when I have no idea what is going on. Now, I’m not familiar with the mid and late 90s X-Men, but I want to add to that list.

I would add a few of the first issues: The X-Men #1-3. I own a copy of #3 with the Blob as the villain. Any list about the X-Men should include the origin stories!

I would add the run of classic Chris Claremont from the mid-80s. These were the stories I grew up on. I would start with the Shi’ar/Brood arc (#155) and run through the Wolverine/Mariko wedding in Japan (#174). That’s at least twenty issues of Claremont. It’s not leaning on John Byrne, but Claremont on his own.

I would add the Fall of the Mutants arc. The story line I came back to reading the X-Men after a couple years off.

I would add Inferno because that was the last meaningful arc I read.

I have yet to catch up to all the X-Men comics. There’s been a lot that happened to them. I should try to catch up on some kind of wiki.

“I own a lot of Euro Disney.”

broderic on September 13, 2013

I had plenty of blog posts in me this past week.  Some ‘Link of the Day,’ maybe a normal post about something on the internet, but Blogger has been bloggered for a bit.   I sent in bug reports/site feedbacks using the normal Blogger feedback form. I wrote with sarcasm.  I wonder who reads those forms and if I will get a response.  Hopefully, the profanity in the message will not keep them from seeing that it’s a real request and that they should fix the issue.

“Everyone knows standardized tests are fundamentally racist.”

broderic on September 8, 2013

My Panasonic Blu-Ray player is the worst.

When it plays through the special features, it hangs. Nothing. Usually, it should return you to the special features menu. It doesn’t. I have yet to figure out how to get it back. I usually restart the machine, and when I say restart I mean a hard shutdown pulling the plug with a restart. Remind me to never play a special feature through.

It’s also slow to respond to user input. I have no idea when I press the on button when it will actually respond. So you press it two or three times and now you may have shut it off.

There is no navigation back to the main menu. It’s a little pop-up which doesn’t seem to show everything. Is this Blu-Ray? Can they get software developers on this?

“Let’s see, there’s Indigo, Sapphire, Sky, and Standard Blue.”

broderic on September 2, 2013

The War on Fat: Dog days of August.

August

It goes up this time of year. If I was losing ground the previous month, then I’m giving up gains this past month. It’s what happens.

Basically, I just felt like eating.

Also, I spent the month offline not working out to let my elbow heal.

It’s time to return to some serious work. Can I really get down under 200 pounds by the end of the year? Not sure. It’s going to have to be salad and yogurt or some kind of diet to get me going. And I just lowered the bar!

“Joe, this doesn’t look like a stun gun.”

broderic on September 1, 2013

Closed Circuit

I think I’m the only person living in America wanting to go see Closed Circuit. It’s because I’ve got the hots for Rebecca Hall. So, I tricked my mom to catch an early Saturday show. It bored the hell of her. I was too busy looking at the beauty on the screen to see that it was really a average pot boiler.

The film’s plot is about 2 English barristers (they wear wigs!) who have to defend an accused terrorist. Eric Bana is the terrorist’s main lawyer who gets the job after the original defender jumped from a building. Rebecca Hall is the terrorist’s special activist for the top secret trial. Both have a sordid history in the past which may conflict with their sworn duty, and both have to defend themselves from a higher power keeping them from unravelling the true mystery of the terrorist bombing.

The film plays out as you expect it. “Trust no one.” When terrorism is on trial, question all motives from the terrorist to the prosecution. Every one is under suspicion.

The movie even though boring at times is thoroughly adequate for a late summer/September release. You’ll forget about it by the time the leaves change color. You’ll remember it when it comes time to think about Rebecca Hall.

3 of 5 stars.

“Joe, you do not know hypnotism.” “Sure I do. Watch this. Chicken.” *cluck-cluck*

broderic on September 29, 2012

Panorama Vistas Camden Yards: Winning

Wow. Just wow.

I bought my first Orioles season tickets for the 2010 season believing that good times were coming. It didn’t turn out that way. The Orioles started bad and continued bad in 2010. They switched out the manager twice. So long Dave Trembley, hello Buck Showalter and his pod people Orioles. They played well to end the season and to give hope for 2011.

I, too, still had hope, so I bought season tickets for 2011. That season started well, then June hit and it turned awful fast. But the Orioles did finish out relatively strong. And it did give us #theLegendOfBobbyAndy Game 162. That stoppage of the dreaded Boston Red Sox gave us hope for 2012.

Once more, I go all in for the Orioles and get season tickets for 2012. This time not too hopeful. The Orioles started out strong sweeping the opening series with the Twins but getting swept by the dreaded Yankees. It seemed we were destined to be terrible. Yet, they kept winning series by series, game by game. By the All-Star break they were competitive in the division although their Pythagoras Number was abysmal, more runs scored against them than they had against other teams.

Last night, they beat the Boston Red Sox and Pythagoras down to earn their 90th win of the season. It’s been a long time for the franchise to have a winning record. And finally, Baltimore has embraced this team’s run.

I used my final season ticket for this year last night with The Seed, and it was one of the best final series season I have seen. (I missed last year’s final tilt because Boston.) The crowd was electric and when Ryan Flaherty hit that first inning grand slam, the crowd erupted knowing that it was going to be a rocking night. Chris Tilman pitched a hell of a game so much so I didn’t know that it was a 1 hit affair. We were jumping and jumping until the final out.

Panorama Vistas Camden Yards: Camden Street
We wanted fireworks, and we got them.

It was a very successful season. I don’t want it to end. I wish I had tickets for the rest of the weekend.

Thanks, Orioles, for the memories.