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Friday, April 6, 2012

Good Friday

So it's almost here, Easter, for those of you who are good catholics, it means next friday you can eat red meat!  But seriously, it is Easter, and we all know thats when we celebrate the reanimation of zombie Jesus with chocolate bunnies and deviled eggs (seriously whose idea was that?).  For those of us who are parents its another excuse to get your child more toys/games/etc.  In our case, I made the mistake of showing the wee one the Dora the Explorer Microphone, not fully thinking of the ramifications of my actions (no remember pre children, my favorite thing was buying the most annoyingly loud toy for any of my friends kids).  All through Target she's pressing the button and singing along..."Come on vamanos, everybody lets go!  Come on, let's get to it.  I know that we can do it."  Which mind you is cute there first two or three times, but after 10 minutes of various songs, I wanted to put it back, and we all know how hard that can be once they have it in their hands.  So, its been hiding out since we got home last weekend, and I really don't know what to do, I need to explore it to see if there's a volume control, but I fear there isn't one.  What do you do in these situations?

It's been this way for almost two years now, and next Friday I'll be 38, which puts me closer and closer to 40 and further and further away from 30.  20 year reunion, yes I'm sure its sometime this summer, and yes I'll probably go to see everyone who didn't like me then, but now we're all Facebook friends.  See how many kids everyone has, see who's already going grey (this guy, but it blends well with the blonde).  I remember my 10 year, sorta, the first night was a drunken haze, the bbq the second day was a total blurry hangover.  And the dinner the last night was really nice down at the train station.  Queue Boyz II Men's its so hard to say goodbye (which every senior class from 92-95 used as their anthem), and scene.  But seriously there are a few people who I genuinely miss and will enjoy seeing.  Did I mention my birthday is next week?  Presents are not optional, please send cash or gift cards.


Wednesday, April 4, 2012

All Tapped Out


Good morning, as I sit here with my cup of Barista Prima House Blend, I was thinking, "self, you haven't posted on your blog in a while."  So here we go...

The Walking Dead - so did you watch season two?  I know I did, man what a ride, SPOILER ALERT, The show started off to me what seemed very slow, I thought the whole search for Sophia took a bit too long, but man the payoff was well, sad, but omg, when she came shambling out of the barn, I was like oh no, but then it turned to holy crap, I can't believe they did that!  The continued transformation of Shane was also a great journey.  Note to readers, if a friend comes back from a supply run alone, and then immediately shaves his head and has a dark look about him, don't trust him!  Throughout the comics and the TV show, I always felt Dale was the moral anchor of the group, his death hit me the hardest on the show, I felt it was too soon, I have been emotionally connected to his character ever since the first season when he was going to stay behind with Andrea, "You can't just come into someones life, make them care, and then just check out."  He was always the voice of reason, the voice that said we're still human, and we need to act like civilized people.  Oh yeah, and we're all infected and this is not a democracy!  And as per Chris Hardwick (@nerdist) Armless Zombies are the new spring style!

Comic Books - Not a lot to mention here, but Scott Snyder (@ssnyder1835) has just been killing on Batman.  Apparently without Bruces knowledge there is a secret society called The Court of Owls thats been ruling Gotham for what sounds like centuries.  The books are nothing short of the best read from a comic I've had since "Hush" or "Identity Crisis"  Both excellent reads and I highly recommend them, and they are available in beautifully collected "Absolute Editions".  You should totally buy them.  SPOILER ALERT, Nightwing (Dick Grayson) was selected to be groomed as a Talon, and by the by, Batman can hit you in exactly the right spot to knock out a specific tooth!  EPIC.  I don't know where this story is headed, but as long as Snyder stays on it, we're in for one hell of a ride!

Magic: The Gathering - Yes, I got back into it, I hadn't played since college, some friends back in Arkansas reignited my interest in this social card game.  I have to say I forgot how much fun it is, the thrill of cracking a pack and the hunt for rare cards.  The joy of opening a $3.99 pack of cards and pulling out a $60 card (good return on investment imho).  What I don't like is that I got back in during the middle of a cycle, so everyone else seems to have way better cards than me, so I tend to lose a lot.  The sets come out in Blocks, and each block contains three separate sets of cards (about 400-600 per block), plus each year they drop a Core Set, now you dont need every card, but you do want to try.  Currently Standard consists of Mirridon Block, Innistrad Block and 2012 Core set, I have Innistrad and core, but I don't have Mirridon, which sometimes puts me at a disadvantage, and I'm not about to drop $$$ on a set that will soon be phased out of Standard, which is October I believe.  Mind you I'm a very casual player and collector, some of these guys have way to much MTG committed to memory, kinda like those sports guys who know every roster and stat for high school/college/pro football/basketball.  I also listen to the guys over at MTGCast's weekly podcast Limited Resources, although they don't do a lot of standard, its informative and they occasionally talk about current strategies/cards, I love the draft talk and their judgements on what cards are worth drafting when they do a crack a pack.  Just found another one this week, not sure what they spend all their time on yet, but its called The Mana Pool.  My only complaint is that these are not on Stitcher, this app is so good, you take your favorite podcasts and then it will auto update each time you launch and boom there they are.  So much easier than having to check itunes all the time.

Well, thats all I have for now, Catch up on the walking dead on iTunes, or pre-order the Blu-Ray, go play some magic on Friday Nights, its fun and a great way to meet new people.  And go to your comic shops, I know digital is cool, but you cannot beat the experience of going to the store, finding something new, and just having those great geeky conversations about how Rob Liefeld can't draw feet, or that female superheroes must have major back problems from the heaving pendulous breasts.   Signing off, you have the con, get to the choppah, and remember, I'll be back!


Oh, crap, totally forgot about this, but this looks so cool....