Do people thank each other after first dates? I don't remember. It seems like the polite thing to do.
And as you know I am nothing if not polite.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Friday, July 6, 2012
Goat Exchange
I think it would be hilarious if zoos would only take someone's discarded pets in exchange for something else, that would at least cause them to think twice about getting the "exotic" animal in the first place, right? You're right, probably not.
WTF 7.2-7.6
Follow the rules, or
else
-Matt
This is the problem with America in general nowadays. No one can do the right thing because they
now have to do the mandated thing, and avoid stiff punishment for deviating
from that mandate. Go ahead, fight me on
this. The person that does the “right
thing” should be rewarded not punished, regardless of whether it falls into the
guidelines. Was he supposed to look the
other way as someone died? Fuck you Susan
Ellis, and your shitty, heartless company.
Dumbass of the week
-Matt
Here is your dumbass for the week. First of all, you didn’t need to put a video
camera in the locker room to record a speech.
An audio recorder would have been fine and could have made sure there
was no possibility of child porn charges.
Second of all, tell your daughter to quit being such a pussy. If she doesn’t like getting yelled at by her
coach, don’t play the sport. Do coaches
take it too far sometimes? Sure, I
understand that, but if Wendee Long had just told her daughter to suck it up and
play the game instead of getting all butt-hurt every time her coach yelled she
wouldn’t be in this mess. Third,
Wendee? Really? Spell your name like an adult would and maybe
you would stop acting like a child.
Everyone in this situation needs to grow up, especially the individual
that can’t spell her own name right.
-Matt
Look at this list and tell me that the political system is
not corrupt. Go ahead, I dare you.
This is news?
-Matt
duh.
Excuses are like
assholes, and look, this guy is one!
-Matt
Let’s come up with another excuse for bad behavior. Fuck!
Why can’t someone just be a dirtbag and leave it at that? He groped five women/girls in one night. What’s next, the Tommy Lee defense? “Sorry your honor I was just trying to break
Tommy Lee’s record of women fucked in one night, blame him, not me.” I hope your five month stay in jail is as eventful
as it should be Kenneth Sands. Fucking
douche.
Practicing what we
preach
-Matt
Now I am in no way condoning racism or anything like that,
but just because a white guy wants to hold a “white’s only” meeting in the deep
south doesn’t mean that they are going on a killing spree. People make huge deals out of “white only”
anything. Yes, I realize that all of the traditional hallmarks
of white supremacy are going to be there, KKK flags and even the burning cross,
which they are calling a “sacred Christian cross lighting” which, um, ok. I guess you could call it that and it
wouldn’t mean the same thing as if you had done it on someone’s front lawn, but
don’t try and dress up a hobo and call him a dandy chap.
However getting on the case of white people that are, at
least at this point, peaceably assembling is a little backwards. If white people were to do this to any other
race they would be called racist and accused of violating civil rights. Let’s offer these people the same courtesy we
would expect even though our views differ.
If they get violent or belligerent (which, being Alabama , is high on the list of
possibilities) then action can be taken, but to treat this as news is a poor
choice by not only Yahoo but also the local news outlets.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Comic Review - He-Man #1
Ok, I’ll
admit it, I was going to pick this one up regardless of whether I was going to
review it or not. I have been a fan of
the Masters of the Universe franchise from the time I was a young boy. I was born at the right time to enjoy both
the cartoon and the toys as they came out.
That being said, anytime something new is brewing in that universe I get
a little twinge of anticipation. I
thoroughly enjoyed the revamp that hit in the early 2000s, spearheaded by the
new cartoon and the Four Horsemen toys.
In conjunction with that was the new comic book series from MV
Creations, which, while it was a little too in step with the old-school
mentality of the cartoons in places, was an enjoyable read and beautifully
drawn.
I therefore
came into this with high hopes. While I
am not a huge fan of Phillip Tan’s artwork (and he cannot hold a candle to the
art of Emiliano Santalucia, the artist of the 2000 era He-Man books) I at least
hoped that it was adequate enough to not drive me from the series. The first promo art that I saw for this
series was the cover to issue 1, so let’s start there.
Cover-
There was a
reason that I was not too high on the art in this book going in, and that was
the cover. While it is ok, providing an
iconic image of He-Man against a backdrop of Castle Greyskull, it just feels so
stiff and boring. I am sure that the
mandate was to create an iconic cover, in the vein of the Adam to He-Man
transformation from the cartoons, but even then it seemed less stiff than
this. Something as simple as showing all
of He-Man instead of cutting him off at the ankles and tilting the figure
instead of just the background (which is not easy to make out given the dark blue
coloring) would liven it up a bit. So
many simple, quick fixes could have made this more than it is. Also, I am not a fan of He-Man’s eyes and the
way they are drawn throughout the book (more about that below) and the cover is
no different as, instead of just shrouding the eyes in shadow, Tan leaves them
blank, so He-Man has that pupil-less look that was all the rage in the 90’s era
superhero comics.
3/10 – I pin this more on the editors than on Tan
himself. They let this get through and
become the final cover to the first issue.
This is the first thing that people see and should be used to pull in
individuals that do not know what He-Man is about. Instead its poor quality will probably just
drive them away. Shame on you.
Story-
This is a
decent start to the story. It is not
perfect as it is quite a quick read, but I have come to expect that from most
comics, especially those released from the “Big Two” (this is from DC). It seems like the writer, James Robinson, has
picked things up from the end of the cartoon series in the 80’s and has totally
discounted the 2000 era series just based on costume designs, but it is still
to early to tell because not much was
revealed. I like the direction that the
story is going in though, and it seems like the guys at DC are being allowed a
little more creative freedom with the characters than MV Creations was. Robinson has taken Eternia in a darker
direction than any of the past stories this side of fan-fiction which is
refreshing as the characters, especially the villains, are easily suited to a
more adult-oriented story. The 80’s era
cartoon always used the villains as comedic foils, but the character designs
themselves, taken out of the context of the 80’s cartoon are terrifying. Skeletor is a barbarian with a skull for a
head for Christ’s sake. Robinson does a
decent job of playing off of this as he introduces Beast Man in this issue as
an adversary for He-Man and does a good job of building the tension within the
fight scene.
Here is the
thing with the story though. It is
already setting itself up to be too much like a video-game premise that will
prove to be boring. It is the same old,
fight a different bad guy and save another member of the Masters until He-Man
reaches the “end boss” in Skeletor. This
may be fine for an issue or two but once the series is done (I think it is five
or six issues in all) the formula can get tedious. While I have not seen any subsequent issues
yet and I am not 100% sure that this is how it will end up, I can easily see it
happen this way, which is a shame because it just seems like a cop-out way to
tell a story. I hope Robinson finds a
way to keep it interesting and engaging besides just stringing us along to the
end with the hope that we find out why all the heroes in Eternia have amnesia.
7/10 – It’s a little short, but I do like the story’s
direction. Let’s see if Robinson can
keep this up without becoming formulaic in his approach.
Art-
The art is
good. It’s not great, though it does
show flashes of greatness in parts, such as the full-page shot of Beast Man.
The detail is nice, and lends to the grittiness of the story
itself. As a comparison, the 2000 era
comic was packed with details but everything was open for color where this is
darker and utilizes shadows and hatching more which fits. I would still rather see Santalucia back on a
He-Man book but I am sure that DC not only does not care but probably didn’t
even pick up that series.
Anyway,
back to the art itself. I realize that
Adam lost his memory and is just a simple lumberjack now, but if I was swinging
an axe all day, I would think that I would be a bit bulkier. Adam’s frame is that of the
do-nothing-all-day Prince from the cartoons and would have been believable
there. Here it makes no sense to have
him lanky and thin.
To expand upon the eye thing. I get it, He-Man is supposed to be the ideal
Aryan male, blond hair, blue eyes, fit, etc.
But you do not need to show his blue eyes in every shot, especially if
there is barely evidence of a pupil. This just makes it
look like he has magic glowy-eyed powers.
I would like to draw attention to this panel though as it
looks as close to the He-Man of my youth as any page in this book.
I have a big problem with this splash page. I realize that it is a dream sequence and
therefore not as detailed, or at least it is shown to be that way to delineate
from the “real world” but a scene like this should be treated with a little
more care. I would give my right nut to
draw that double page spread (and that means a lot, I like my right nut). By having it so sloppily rendered it not only
makes me cringe a little when thinking of issues to come, but also it makes me
miss Santalucia even more. Every panel
of his was done with the reverence to the source material that longtime fans
appreciated, especially in the big, multi-character fight scenes. This looks like Tan took his roughs and
handed them to the inker.
My final complaint is Skeletor on the last page. While I like his design, he looks
considerably more dangerous than previous iterations, it doesn’t look like he
is actually sitting on anything. He is
supposed to be on his throne with his arms resting on the arms of the throne,
but that is not clearly defined. Plus,
what the hell is that red head/mask thing?
Is that what gave everyone amnesia?
5/10 – The art was good but the carelessness of that double
page spread quickly whittled away any good-will that Tan subsequently built
up. Hopefully it improves as the issues
go on and Tan’s comfort drawing these characters grows.
6/10 – Bad cover, decent writing and so-so art make for an
ok purchase. This is much different than
the standard superhero drivel that the Big Two are putting out so it might be
nice for a change of pace, or if you are a fan and collector of He-Man related
materials. As long as you don’t go in
expecting to be blown away you should be ok.
Will I be picking up issue 2? Of
course, if for no other reason than nostalgia.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Good Food, Good Music, Stupid People; What More Could You Ask For?
-Matt Magill
It’s not very often that I get to
see a free concert, and especially one that features a band I have followed for
years and would gladly pay money to see.
That is why, when Nik mentioned to me that Govt. Mule was coming to the
Rochester Jazz Fest, and it was a free concert, I jumped at the
opportunity. Knowing that my father is a
fan of the band as well I asked him to come along as he missed the Mule concert
that I attended in 2006. Before the show, which
started at nine in the evening, we decided to head to Sticky Lips, a local Rochester barbecue joint.
There are two Sticky Lips locations
in Rochester ,
and you owe it to yourself to get there and get there today. I have had barbecue in many places, and in
many highly touted barbecue restaurants and this is by far the best I have ever had. Even the critically acclaimed
Dinosaur Barbecue cannot hold a candle to the quality on the Sticky Lips
plate. The atmosphere is great as well
and the appeal was only heightened with our being ushered to the upstairs
open-air patio. If you are going to eat
barbecue, it should be a rule that you have to eat it out in the sunshine.
The drinks that they served were
adequate. I got a glass of their Sangria
(as I cannot drink beer) which was decent but not as strong as I would have
liked. My father got a Golden Monkey
beer which he enjoyed quite a bit (he and Nik share a love for craft brews) and
even with its higher alcohol content, it proved to be a solid accompaniment to
the meal.
Ah, the meal.
First of all, if it is your first time at Sticky Lips, let me warn you,
their menu is huge. I am generally
turned off by restaurants with huge menus as it automatically makes me think
that they do a bunch of things adequately but nothing well. Not only is this not the case for Sticky
Lips, but they also provide what can only be described as “sample platters” of
their mouthwatering barbecue. All are
reasonably priced and come with two sides (get the cheddar chorizo grits) and a
slice of cornbread (some of the best I have ever had) along with your meat
selection. Each plate has a different
selection of meat so, for instance if pulled pork is not your thing, you can
get the plate that has the chicken, etc. etc.
This makes for a well rounded and downright unforgettable dining
experience, especially for first-timers that have yet experienced what the
restaurant has to offer.
I cannot recommend a restaurant any
higher than this. Once you try it you
will definitely be planning your return visit.
After we finished our meal we made
it over to the concert area, which involved parking relatively far away and
walking quite a few blocks. Though Rochester is a fairly
large city and everything seemed to be concentrated within the few blocks that
housed multiple stages and vendor stands, it never seemed overly crowded until
we actually got to the stage that Govt. Mule was playing on (over by the
Appellate Division courthouse for those keeping score at home).
This concert affirmed two things
for me. 1) If you like jam bands in the
vein of the Allman Brothers Band, Govt. Mule is possibly one of the best live
bands you can see, and 2) most people are douchebags.
Let me expand upon point number one
first. I realize that this music is not
for everyone, Nik and Raven left about halfway through, which is actually
longer than I anticipated that they would stay.
Each song is at least six to seven minutes long with a section in the
middle where Warren Haynes just goes nuts on his guitar. I love that, some other people, not so
much. The best part of the night though
was their 25 minute rendition of their hit Mule
that featured bits of George Thoroughgood’s Who
do you love and Led Zepplin’s Whole Lotta Love among other bits and
pieces. The crowd went nuts at the
inclusion of a Zepplin tune and with good reason. The whole song was seamless from one note to
the next regardless of the different songs and artists that they
incorporated. I would suggest going out
of your way to see a Govt. Mule show if you enjoy exemplary guitar work and
probably the tightest group of musicians that I have ever seen. They are currently on tour in Europe , but you don’t have to wait for them to come back
to hear some live Mule. They have
multiple concert albums out as well as the tapes from many of their shows. Just head over to www.mule.net and click on the mule tracks tab
to start downloading. Hell, you can even
download Saturdays concert already to see for yourself.
Now on to point number two.
I know that people suck in general, and that the higher concentration of
people that you have, the more suck that you are going to get. That being said, a good portion of the people
at the Govt. Mule show, whether they were drunk or high or had sun poisoning
from being outside all day just plain sucked.
A lot of the individuals were enjoying the music and minding their own
business, but as is bound to happen when a show is general admission, there
were a few bad apples that mixed in. By
mixing in, I do mean that they got a little too close for comfort with their
dancing (yup, I’m looking at you frat boy to my right that couldn’t help but
yell to all your buddies about how you got a new guitar while practically
grinding against me), their stupid conversations (really guy behind me, you
choose now to tell your buddy about something you saw on the second season of Louie that you just watched on
Netflix? Go fuck yourself), or their
cuddling (that’s right guy in front that just stepped in front of me with his
girlfriend, apologized, but stayed there anyway and decided to nuzzle her neck
and grab her ass the rest of the night).
This is just the people around me, mind you. This did not even take into account the guy a
few rows ahead of us that was probably old enough to be my father, who was
drink a mysterious bright green liquid out of a gallon milk jug (seriously,
this shit was the same color as the ooze in the Ninja Turtle movies, while throwing up various hand signals and
(I’m assuming) trying to high-five the don’t walk sign across the street as he
kept throwing his hand up in that direction.
Luckily I do not get out much, for this very reason, and I
therefore do not have to worry about dealing with these people. Luckily the concert was good enough that it
out-weighed the negative experience of the people around me.
Monday, July 2, 2012
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