The Mind Gone Mad

OK, it is time that I call it in. I’m going to say right now the Yankees are officially done. I’m not saying this because the Red Sox are an amazing team because they aren’t. Their top pitchers keep giving up 4-5 runs per start. That isn’t a great team. It isn’t because of their 10.5 game lead either. Because that is hardly insurmountable. Teams have come back from larger deficits in the past. No. This is because the team has no drive.

They are playing without fire. They all keep sitting back saying “It’s going to turn around,” but none of them are fighting to be the guy who turns it around. They don’t have a leader. Derek Jeter is an amazing ball player. The guy is going to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot and he is the one you want up there with the game on the line, but he is no leader. He’s the captain of the team, but he doesn’t act like it. He doesn’t rally the team, he doesn’t set the tone the way a leader does. He goes out and plays hard, but he’s so quiet about it that the rest of the team doesn’t really notice it.

Remember Paul O’Neill? There was a leader! He would strike out, run back into the dugout, and beat the shit out of the water cooler because he was so pissed off. Each and every guy would see this and knew exactly why he was doing that. Because he wanted to succeed and to win. He wore his emotions on his sleeve and all his teammates took notice. This would make all the other players work harder because they knew winning was the bottom line. Jeter doesn’t bring that same attitude to the team. Jeter wants to win and he is all about winning, but he isn’t displaying that. None of them are. And until that changes, I’m saying the season is over for the team.

I’m still going to watch each game, cheer them on, and hope for the best, but I’m not going to kid myself either. With any luck they can prove me wrong.

Supernatural finished its second season last week and I was damn pleased with how they did it. I have no complaints on this show. Are there iffy parts? Of course. But the pros greatly outweigh the cons, and for that I am not going to complain. But now that the show has been picked up for a third season I am going to list all the things I want to see addressed in the third season. I don’t expect them all or even any of them addressed, but if I could grab Kripke’s ear, these are the ideas I would pass along:

1. Sam and his having demon blood in him. I feel that needs to be a major undertone of the entire third season. He obviously didn’t want Dean to know about it so it’s going to be another one of those internal things Sam has going.
2. Mary Winchester and her knowing the Demon. What the hell was that about? I understand why Sam didn’t tell Dean he has demon blood in him, but why didn’t he tell Dean that their mother recognized the Demon? That’s major! Is she a former hunter? The daughter of one?
3. These other generations the Demon spoke of. I starting to regret that they kill the Demon now. Because he had all these answers and now Sam and Dead have nothing to go on. But the Demon did make mention of other generations of people like Sam. Perhaps this is what their mother was?
4. The 2 unaccounted bullets. As I detailed in a previous entry, there are still 2 colt bullets unaccounted for. Maybe they were used, maybe they weren’t. All I know is they have that option. Dean dropped the colt into trunk like it was any other gun, but he has a contract to get out of and if he finds another bullet, he has his way out.
5. Sam being tainted. The Demon suggested that Sam’s resurrection may have brought him back not 100% himself. Was he just fucking with Dean seconds before he wanted to kill him? Maybe. But they could really do a lot of interesting things if it is true.
6. The demon formerly known as Meg. Remember she is still out there and now her father is dead. How happy do you think she will be? Plus there is an army of other demons at her disposal to help and she’s the offspring of the one who helped free them all. Would she be next in line to whatever demon lineage they have?
7. Ellen in the back seat? Clearly this is a long shot, but the woman’s whole life was the Roadhouse. Now that it is gone is it possible she will tag along for at least an episode? Maybe she’ll just hang out with Bobby or go find Jo, but I think an episode of her around for a hunt would be all kinds of hilarious. Especially since there is no way Dean could ever look her in the eye and tell her to stay in the car because what they are doing is too dangerous. He would be way too scared for that.
8. Speaking of Jo, more of her. But not until like half way through the season. That way they can make her tougher, not as much of a target, and less useless, but at the same time don’t have to explain how any of that happened. Just drop her into an episode and she has learned a lot since we saw her last. Even let her kick some ass. Make her more like her mother and less like a damsel in distress.
9. A Matt Damon cameo. OK, this is just me wishing at this point, but how cool would that be?! I think the guy is one of the best actors of our generation and I always try to plug him into the shows I like. Either make him another hunter or better yet, a badass demon who just has a stare down with Dean at one point. Sweet…….
10. What else can the colt unlock or do? First, its the weapon that can kill anything then it is the literal key that opens a gate to Hell. What else can this sucker do? Don’t go over the top, but expand on that a bit.
11. We’ve all been asked those hypothetical questions like “What would you do if you only had a year to live?” Well Dean actually has that. I want to know what he would do if only for an episode.

There was another one I thought up last night, but I just can’t remember what it was. Oh well. Those 11 are good enough.

Since the show finished its first season last night I feel the need to discuss this and put it to rest.

I’ve been asked this by several people. They tell me they just saw an episode of Heroes as though I just did the same thing. Then I inform them that I do not watch the show and have absolutely no intention of doing so. In fact, I plan on avoiding the show at all costs. That is when the wonderful questions of “What?! Why not?!” Come around. I’m told it is a great show (in your opinion), that the writing is brilliant (see previous), and that the characters are amazing (I’m feeling redundant).

There is a simple reason though as to why I won’t watch this show or even approach. Because of how it is described. I will take from Wikipedia on this: “The series follows the writing style of American comics with short, multi-episode story arcs that build upon a larger, more encompassing arc.” The key word there is comics.

Anyone who watches this show actually read comic books? And I mean really read them. Not the “Oh I read the Death of Superman.” Yeah you and everyone els, pal. No, I mean really read them. Go out every month for the last issue for a few years. Ever do that? I did. What did all that teach me? It’s all bullshit. Characters die and come back way too often, origins change every other year, and some how one super villain is able to defeat 10 super heroes, but then later they regroup, have some kind of heart to heart, and attack as one (why didn’t you schmucks do that the first time?) and save the day.

The not keeping characters dead is probably what pissed me off the most about reading comics, but it was the constant origin changing that made me stop altogether. I mean come on. When you kill a character, keep them dead. If you didn’t want them dead then don’t kill them. Don’t do the shock just to take it away. And don’t give me any of this “Oh, but we planned it that way from the start.” Well then you’re a jerk who momentarily broke my heart on purpose! What’s worse is when a character dies but then comes back about 10 years later. OK stop! Because you aren’t even the same writer who killed him!

This is all probably why my favorite comic writer is Mark Waid. I never read an issue when he brought a character back to life. There was the series he did called The Return of Barry Allen (Barry Allen being the Silver Age Flash who was killed off in 1985). He writes a story about how Barry Allen comes back to life, meets up with his grown up nephew (Wally West, The New Flash) and they team up and save the day together like they did years ago as Flash and Kid Flash. It’s a wonderful tale about how everything is sunny for Wally. Then suddenly Barry goes a little mental and tries to kill Wally and everyone he knows. It all comes to a conclusion when you find out that it was never Barry Allen at all but instead his old nemesis The Reverse Flash who was working to slowly destroy everything in Barry’s life even though he was dead. Of course the reader has no idea at the time that it is a villain. They think the great Barry has turned evil. So when the truth is revealed, the reader is thankful it isn’t him and that he is actually dead. Mark Waid does the brilliant task of making the reader be careful what they wish for. Loved it. Unfortunately no other writer does this in comics.

So what does any of that have to do with me not watching Heroes (I didn’t forget the point to all this!)? Well, if the show is supposed to be like American comics and American comics have for the most part been a big let down to me, I’m not going to subject myself to the same thing through a television show. And before anyone says “What about Carnivale or Supernatural? People don’t exactly stay dead on those shows and you loved them!” Ahhh, well aren’t you clever.

Well in Carnivale one of the major points was the kid’s ability to bring people back to life, so that was a bit of a must. But at the same time, several characters died and din’t come back. And when some did (like the fucking freaky Lodz) they came back as spirits, but not in their own bodies. And in Supernatural only one person ever actually came back from the dead. Dean was near death twice and had an out of body experience for one of them, but he was never actually dead.

So there! I’m not watching the show! Not ever! So stop asking me you damn people!

I did it! I tried this once, but failed. Then I gave it a second go and and had a lot more success. It is the “ABC” meme. You have to fill in a fictional character that you like at each letter of the alphabet. What pleases me most is I actually do like each of these characters. None of them are filler. YAY!

A- Al Calavicci (Quantum Leap)
B- Ben Hawkins (Carnivale)
C- Connor MacManus (The Boondock Saints)
D- Dean Winchester (Supernatural)
E- Elliot Stabler (Law and Order: SVU)
F- Frank Bullitt (Bullitt)
G- Geoffrey Chaucer (A Knight’s Tale)
H- Hugh Panetta (The Riches)
I- Indiana Jones (duh)
J- Jason Bourne (The Bourne Identity)
K- Ray Kinsella (Field of Dreams)
L- Link (Legend of Zelda Series)
M- Fox Mulder (The X-Files)
N- Ness (Earthbound)
O- Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star Wars)
P- Paul Smecker (The Boondock Saints)
Q- Queenan (The Departed)
R- Rocko (Rocko’s Modern Life)
S- Samson (Carnivale)
T- Tom Ripley (The Talented Mr. Ripley)
U- Felix Ungar (The Odd Couple)
V- Vin (The Magnificent Seven)
W- Wayne Malloy (The Riches)
X- David Xanatos (Gargoyles)
Y- Yoda (Star Wars)
Z- Princess Zelda (Legend of Zelda Series)

This is a Titans of Honor clan update thing.

As the title says, we are indeed rolling along. This will be our first summer season as a clan. Why is that important? Well it becomes make or break for new clans. Since the vast majority of members are high school students, they get out of school and kind of fall out of rhythm. Instead of get up, go to school, come home, play games, do homework, play games, sleep, they get up and who knows what. The ones with lives go outside, the dumb ones stay indoors all day and play their games keeping both our membership and childhood obesity, and the smart ones know how to balance the two. I like those guys. I tend to surround myself with those types.

But now I feel the need to talk about those dumb types. These are the kids (and I use the word kids because even if they are older they sure as hell don’t show it) who use those really pathetic online jargon terms like noob, nub, pwn, ownz, and etc. Seriously, kids, what the feck is that? They aren’t words. They are dumb. If you wish to express yourself, read a freaking book and expand your vocabulary rather than make up words! I wish to punt you! They are also the types who play games (not making this up) 70+ hours a week. How do I know this? From a wonderful tool known as xfire. For those who don’t know, it is a gaming messenger program that when running will keep exact record of what game you are playing and for how long. It also has a total hours played during a given week. I some times check certain people’s stats which are all neatly displayed on the xfire website and some of these kids have more than 70 hours of a single game in a week. DUDE! What the hell?! Go outside! Throw a ball, ride a bike, climb a tree, do something! It’s just a video game…it’s not love.

Now that I’m done with that wonderful tangent I….uh…shit I got nothing else…OH! Last “pretty soon” tonight! AHAHAHA!

 Well I just had to do this. Not because I felt like following the trend, but because I’m bored. So here it is. I took it from DD who took it from Sarah who took it from who knows where.

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every title/experience/scene listed below, type the song that’s playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool…
7. If you wanna waste time with this, feel free.

Opening Credits: With a Wonder and Wild Desire – Flogging Molly
Waking Up: Lost in the Supermarket – The Clash (yeah, that sounds about right)

First Day At School: You’ve Got a Friend in Pennsylvania – New Found Glory (that’s just what I told everyone….)

Breaking Up: Just About Done – Blink 182 (is it ironic that is a song about anal sex?)

Prom: Elevator – Box Car Racer (even more ironic ths is a song about suicide?)

Life: Listen to my Heart – Ramones (damn straight!)

Making Babies: Drunken Lullabies -Flogging Molly (WOW)

Mental Breakdown: The Young and the Hopeless – Good Charlotte (Damn….this is getting creepy)

Driving: Suffocate – Green Day

Flashback: Carousel – Blink 182

Getting Back Together: Tommy Gun – The Clash (Wow again)

Birth of a Child: Maria – Green Day (HA! The odds of it being an actual name?!)

Final Battle: School Day – Chuck Berry (and it really was!)

Death Scene: Shot Down in Flames – AC/DC (It’s getting creepy again)

Funeral Song: Star Wars Theme Song – John Williams (YES!! AHAHAHAHA! Now it has to be played at my funeral!)

End Credits: Sick of Me – Green Day (talk about fitting)

That was fun, but also a bit creepy. I’m out!

Everyone I know is nervous in some way or another about graduating. They are getting anxious, freaking out about how final it is, and saying things like “We’re coming to the end.” to which I must firmly disagree.

I’m not scared, nervous, or anxious about graduating. I just want it to happen. The sooner the better. I can’t wait. I want it over and done with because its the only thing standing between me and my future. I don’t look at this as the end. To me its the beginning. My friends are going nuts about what lies ahead, but I say bring it on. I want this to happen so badly. I want that adult life to set in. I’m already looking around at apartment locations and prices. Again, the sooner the better. If I could move out of my dorm and into my own apartment tomorrow, I would.

I certainly can understand why everyone has that nervous and anxious fee, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t share their feelings. To me it’s just another step. Nothing more. A step I want over and done with so I can say to myself “Sweet! That’s finally out of the way.” I guess my only real concern is why am I the only one I know thinking this? Do I have it backwards? Am I naive and heading for a hard slap in the face with reality or am I one of the rare few whose got it right? I dunno. And really I don’t care. Maybe I am heading for that fall, but until then the ignorance is bliss.

Right now my thoughts are not to the final exam I have in just 10 hours or to the graduation ceremony on Friday. I’m thinking about the pizza and drinks on Thursday for what will undoubtedly be a kick ass episode of Supernatural and after that, I skip right over Friday and think about starting my workout on Saturday. Then after that I’m thinking about running the soon to be new game division with the Squidman. Then fuck, after that I’m thinking about Canada. These are where my thoughts are right now!

OK, enough of that. Time to get a bit more last minute cramming in. RAWR!

Here comes my very much opinionated review.

Ignore the hype. Hype only makes seeing a movie worse because when has anything ever lived up to its hype? Exactly. Doesn’t happen. That’s pretty much the same deal with this film. Oh it was a great movie, don’t get me wrong, but it most certainly was not the the holy shit, blockbuster event that it was made out to be. It didn’t blow my mind and make me think I just saw the greatest and most epic movie of all time. Not at all. Instead I am content with it. It was good. A nice way to close out the trilogy. But here is my beef with it:

-Too much going on. You had three villains, plus Peter Parker dealing with himself as a somewhat villain. That was way too much. They weren’t able to give any one of those three necessary time to really develop. You had one bad guy, a fight with him, then moved on.

-Where the hell was Venom? Yes, he was in the movie as advertised, but barely. I pretty much figured he wouldn’t show up until the near end of the film and I was right. But that’s just movie time. In the movie world itself, Eddie Brock was only Venom for maybe 2 days, but probably less. That’s no fun. He didn’t really get to terrorize the city or screw with people. He just shows up, causes some problems, fights Spider-Man and thats that.

-Put the mask on! Just about all of Peter Parker’s fights came without the Spider-Man mask on his face. Remember the first movie? You see him in the Spider-Man costume with no mask on in I think 2 scenes. Maybe three. In the second movie that had significantly increased. I think Toby McGuire had some issues with not having his face shown. In this movie, most of the fights came without the mask. In fact, a lot of them came when he was wearing only street clothes. I understand if McGuire wants a bit more facial time, but the movie is called Spider-Man. Can we please see that character a bit more?

-Ending? There are rumors that there maybe a fourth film, but they didn’t end it like that is what they would do. I didn’t wait for the credits to end and maybe I should have, but they really did just tie off all the loose ends and bring it all to a close. That’s not supposed to happen! Not even X-Men 3 ended that way! They left that door of possibility open. I think this movie should have done the same specially with how they resolved Venom. If his character really did come to an end the way he did in the movie, I’m sorry, but that is just a shitty way to use that character. Venom is like THE Spider-Man villain. I want there to be a fourth movie and I want him to be the only bad guy in it. I want 2 hours of battles and 10 minutes of talking.

Here are the cool things about this movie:

-Once again they stayed true to the comic books. I don’t know the Spider-Man comics in great detail, but I know enough to know they are getting it right. I like that. I wish the guys who did these three movies could have been the ones who worked on Superman Returns and Batman Begins.

-Excellent fight scenes. The second fight between Spider-Man and New Goblin was my favorite. In your face, beating the shit out of each other, hardcore brawl. It takes place indoors so there isn’t all that swinging around, making you dizzy shit going on. It’s just trash talking and hard punches. I loved it.

-Hilarious. So many funny scenes in this movie. My favorite was Pimp Parker walking down the street. You’ll understand when you see it.

Final Review: worth the ticket price. It was a good movie. I liked it. Well done. I’m out.