It Feels good to Be Home

So after a year with an Android device, I have switched back to Apple.  Everyone warned me up front, "You're not going to like it", "You won't be able to do everything you can with your iPhone.".  I feared the worse, I was surprisingly amazed that I ran into little issues, my entire iTunes library except for a few drama protected songs did not make the integration into Google Play Music.  Almost every app had an android version, I liked the folder structure, the ability to have a full alphabetical list of my apps.  Back button, I cannot believe how much I came to love having a dedicated on device button that would take me back a page.  Despite my being told I could move my iTunes videos over, I never quite mastered that ability, but I managed.

I made the jump and got the new iPhone 6 Plus, after carrying a Galaxy S5, the size difference was minimal.  The changes to iOS took a few days to learn the nuances.  Looking back at my old iPhone 5, it looks so tiny by comparison to both the android and apple devices.   It's nice to have the ability to FaceTime again, and iMessage.  I do have to say that I dislike googles approach to mail on the iPhone, of course since it's their os android handles it so much better.  The Gmail app for iOS is ok, but it's far from perfect.

I have my app essentials, those apps I cannot live without, weather apps, social media, Woot!, Netflix, IMDB, Groupon, Yelp, banking/finance apps, speediest.net, 1password, dropbox.  The list goes on.

What are some of your must have apps, what's the first thing you install when you get that new phone out of the box?

The Shave at the End of the Galaxy, or My Afternoon at Aidan Gill

Say what you will, most men do not get to go out and have a "Spa Day" like their significant others/female counterparts.  I discovered the relaxing effects of the shave years ago at The Art of Shaving, where they still use the age old tradition of hot towels and straight razors.  Fast forward to this year, I had the opportunity to accompany my wife to New Orleans for a conference, years before she discovered Aidan Gill on Magazine Street and she was in awe of all their products, and said if I ever came down, I should get a shave.  So I called the week before our trip and set up an appointment for saturday for a shave, and needing a haircut, went ahead and did that too.  First off, the back areas are for men only, sorry ladies, you'll have to wait in the shop area and peruse the hundreds of products for men and women.  Upon arrival for my shave and haircut, I was greeted by a young man in a suit and bow tie (because first bow ties are cool, and second its the standard faire at the shop).  He confirms my appointment, and then offers me a beverage, water, soda, beer or scotch.  I opt for an Abita amber, which was handed to me in a pint glass, I can already tell this is a class joint.  I am offered a seat in the middle of the store in an antique barber chair to wait while a young man of 6 or 7 is getting his hair cut. The child's mother stands at the edge of the space between the retail section and the barbershop.  She is directing the cut from their, based on the discussion, the poor kid got a bad supercuts and needed it fixed.  I drink my beer and take in the ambiance of the old world styling of the shop.  Everything seems antique and classic.  Shortly after, about a quarter a pint of beer later, Nathan introduces himself to me and says he will be taking care of me today and guides me to the "chair", now this is THE CHAIR, the one that was in the playboy article, you know the article, the one that said this was the #1 barbershop in America, plus Hunter S. Thompson has been here as well, so you know this place is legit!

The typical barbershop chatter starts, how do you usually get your hair cut, how often do you get it done, now give me those glasses and we'll get started.  I'll admit I've never had a haircut while holding/drinking a beer, and must admit, its now a new guilty pleasure.  We discussed the usual, what brings you to town, how did you hear about us, and my question, I as of all citizens of NOLA (becuase you get a different answer every time) "Where do you go for a po'boy?"  Nathan spouts off three different places, because one place has better oysters, the other has better shrimp, and then of course if you want roast beef, go to Mothers, all the while over this 30 minute period my hair is getting shorter, and my beer is getting lower.  I am then guided to the back of the shop, to what appears to be the studio of the masters, the subtle, yet classic shave room, two chairs, from here it's very quiet for the next 30 minutes/7 hot towels and an ice cold one last.  Into position in the chair, its shave oil first massaged into the beard to loosen things up, then a hot towel, then shave cream to start to soften the beard, then another hot towel, this goes on once more, all this before the razor even touches my face.  I ask about the razor and am told for sanitary reasons, they are not allowed to use straight razors in Louisiana.  They use the Gillette Mach 3, which surprised me, but still made the experience no less amazing.  I was amazed at the use of 7 hot towels and then the ice cold, I wondered if my beard was so tough thats why they used so much, but was told no, thats the standard for every man who gets the shave.  Rather than bore you with all this, I'll take the excerpt from Mr, Gill himself...

"And so, we begin a timeless shaving ritual honed to perfection by Mr. Gill in his sanctum, beginning with the first application of shaving lather massaged into the beard with great vigor.

This is followed by wrapping the face in a hot towel, dispensed directly from Mr. Gill's own antique chrome towel steamer and wafted gently over the face before wrapping. Mr. Gill explains: "The hot lather and hot towels are applied three times prior to the first pass of the shave. We do this to soften the beard and the skin."

The astute will notice that Mr. Gill refrains here from the use of a shave brush, as this is necessary in the shop for hygienic purposes. At home, Mr. Gill advises a good brush as an indispensable accouterment to the perfect shave. A good shave brush, he notes, should cost its user between $75 and $200 and will last for 10 to 20 years. Not a bad investment for the face.

And now, the razor's first pass. Having previously softened the beard, its bristles surrender more readily to the razor. The face is kept moist with the application of shaving oil, meanwhile, to ensure the maximum closeness of the shave.

Since the days of the barber-surgeons there has been much spirited debate on the merits and perils of shaving against the grain. Mr. Gill advises it in subsequent passes of the razor, after a first, with the grain endeavor. "Shaving this close and shaving against and across the grain is now possible because of the softening effect of the cream, the hot towels and the hot oil," he says.

Upon completion of the shave, after shave balm is applied (which will maintain the softness of the skin and beard, thus preparing it for the next day's assault), followed by another hot towel, more shaving balm and a final hot towel. To rouse our friend from thirty minutes of silent, blissful reverie, we conclude the ritual with the final towel. Mr. Gill explains: "The last towel of the shave, the coup de grace, is plucked from a tub of ice water and applied to the skin with a warning for the customer to brace himself. The towel calms the skin, closes the pores and invigorates."

Upon completion, I am offered another beer and the opportunity to just sit and relax, which I do, my face feeling smoother than a piece of glass, I hate to say that I've never come away from a shave with so close and smooth skin without so much as a nick or cut.  Nathan, hats off to you sir, you are an artist and a king among men!

So there it is, one more thing I can say without a doubt everyone who goes to NOLA needs to try,  Stay away from the one by the Casino, take the bus (it's an experience all to itself) head down to Magazine Street (the original) get a shave, get a haircut, get both, buy some supplies and then take the wife/significant other out on the town for dinner and then  just kiss her with that smooth face and she will tell you that it was worth it!  Oh and from what I hear, Juan's Flying Burrito is a couple doors down and pretty good!

How to Flatten Your Wallet (no not by giving me all your money)

In this age of membership cards, reward cards, and anything else that needs a barcode, if your like me you hate having to keep up with all those damn cards.  We men hate when our wallet looks like Costanza's, and we all know what happens then...  So along comes a not so new iPhone/Android app (trumpets sound), Key Ring.  It rediculously simple, you take all those cards, scan them in, most even have a lot of the company data preloaded, but whats even cooler, it doesn't even have to be a reward based card, your library card have a bar code, load it in manually.  Free you wallet of all that extra plastic.

Now I'm not getting any money from this, but this is one of those cool pieces of tech that I think everyone should know about.  The other cool thing is that the app will let you know if a company has an offer, like just know I checked and I can get a free cheese dip at On The Border, hey who doesn't like free cheese...especially in dip form.  So I hope you check it out, you can find it via tha app store just search for Key Ring or click on this link or here if your on android.  And you can follow the @keyringapp on twitter.

On a side note, week three of the new diet lifestyle, I'm down 8.5 pounds, and my blood sugar has been consistently in the 120's, down from the 200's.  :)

Playing Catch Up

So given my penchant for irregualar posting, I feel some catching up is in order.  Last time I came to you dear readers was with my Dallas Comic-Con experience.  Well San Diego Comic-Con was last weekend, and no I didn't go, but I did hear about some cool stuff, Image Comics/Skybound/Robert Kirkman is doing a Zombie obstacle course, and when you complete it you get an exclusive Walking Dead #100, only available at the con.  If you know me, you know my love of TWD, its such an amazing story, the comics are incredible and really pull you in like no other book out there currently.  The TV show is also amazing, albeit the seasons are too short, but who thought we'd have a zombie TV show on in prime time?

Other than all that, just been trying to find a job, who knew how hard this was going to be, at this point i'd take my chances as a fry cook, in-between all that I've been sucked back into the world of Magic: The Gathering, a fun, yet addictive card game that I played way back in college (wish I hadn't sold all my cards).  The nice part about the game is it is social and I've made a lot of new acquaintances playing.

Got back to the Rock last weekend, it was nice, didn't do a whole lot, mostly time with family, did get to eat lunch with my 3 friends in Searcy, mmmm Mi Pueblito....and I got to see The Dark Knight Rises, oh my god, what a great movie.  To steal a quote from a friend, this is on par with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, they are not 3 separate movies, but one long epic, meant to be seen back to back.

The tech rumor mill is all abuzz regarding the new iphone, we all know its coming, and we all know we're going to buy it, but the question is, is this the new iphone?  I kinda hope so, I'm ready for something different, the 4 was a nice departure, but it still feels the same.

Reflections on Comic-Con

So, I went to my first official Comic Con, Dallas Comic Con was last weekend, and it was a surreal experience.  First let me forewarn you readers, this post will be dripping with fan boy rantings, and full of name drops.  That being said, the first rule of Conventions, wear comfy shoes.  A good friend of mine from back home came down for the weekend, not being a comic book fan, but a Star Wars nerd, I was confused as to why he would want to go to a comic book convention.  I realized it was more for the experience and of course to hang out with me (I mean who wouldn't want to hang out with me!).

The big draw for the con was of course Stan "The Man" Lee, who had to cut short his trip and was only available on Saturday, so they set him up special on Friday night, which I did not attend, although Stan has been an invaluable soldier in comic book creation, my goals were on a few other things.  Firstly, my two favorite people in the comic industry, who also happen to be Harding University graduates and from Little Rock, Mitch and Elizabeth Breitweiser were going to be there and they had a limited edition print that Mitch drew and Bettie colored.  Even cooler I found that it was limited to only 60 copies.  Those who don't know, the smaller the batch run, the more valuable these things are, but I don't care about that, I mean its original, and its limited, auto-buy.  Secondly, I had my three volumes of Batman by Neal Adams hardbacks that I wanted to get signed, which I did, and had them personalized to me, which I was informed made them less valuable, again, those are for me, no one else, so value be damned!  Oh wait, back to Mitch and Bettie, I had Mitch's first official series he did for Marvel, "Drax the Destroyer" 4 issues mini series, which I had him sign, along with Defenders #5 (the best so far, art wise), this was also a collaboration with Bettie, so I got her to sign as well.

Now let me go back a step here, so we got to the Irving Convention Center at 10 am, the show was supposed to open at 11, describing the line is hard, so lets just say it snaked its way from the door, up the stairs, down the stars, along the side of the building and then back to the street and then up the center of the stairs.  I really didn't pay a lot of attention to the time, but it was 1145 before we were inside.  another 75 minutes waiting for Neal Adams.  Then to learn that as I was heading to Kevin Conroy's line (he was the voice of Batman in the animated series in the '90's) only to learn it went all the way around the convention center and was capped, ok over to George Perez's line, oh wait its capped too.  Well lets check out the wares.  Tons of toys, books, comics, a booth selling knives and swords, no thats not dangerous...a booth selling custom leather work, including bracers, superhero masks, etc.  Costumes, yes, nerds do it right, from 7 year olds as Captain america, to a 60+ creepy Riddler (I swear he had free candy!).  We decided to grab some lunch and that took over an hour, then went to the panel room to get ready for Patrick Stewart, we got there an hour before and sat in on Neal Adams, who of course talked about how he was turned down by DC at first and wound up at Archie Comics, and was told all along that the industry would be dead in a year...Tons of stupid questions bounced off him and his son, but the best he answered with and get this he told us it was a lie.  "Who is your favorite character to draw?"  the truth is all of them, its just that much fun.  The lie, Batman, because he has a cape, and thats like drawing two people.  Honestly, I liked the lie!

Patrick Stewarts Panel, was packed, although not all the VIP seats were filled, so he made a comment about it and all of the sudden they were like you guys move on up... He told stories about his childhood growing up in England, and how he got started, and how he loved playing bad guys on stage.  About midway through, a question was pitched from the other side of the room, "Who was your favorite villain?"  Holy shit its John Delancie (Q from TNG).  He approaches the stage, and they have one of those moments, you know two old friends, give each other the handshake hug, and then start to reminisce.  So very cool!  Not one question about X-men, all about Star Trek and his Shakespearean works.  Fast forward, I leave a bit before its over to try one last time to get Perez, I have been lugging around the first six issues of the New 52 Superman for him and the lines not horrible, I am however at the very end.  told I will not make the cut today.  Fortunately one of my friends who works at the local shop is there and like 15th in line, tells me to give him my books and he'll get it for me.  That was awesome, thanks again Brad, you totally rock!

Sunday, my friend says we need to get there earlier, but today won't be as crowded as Saturday, as they never are.  So we get up and have a great breakfast at the Old West Cafe, 2 eggs, 2 bacon, hash browns, and some toast, they do it up right!  We roll out, 45 minutes later we're at the convention center, maybe 100th in line.  90 minutes till doors open.  Got a few shots of some great costumes, a great Batgirl, a mini Batgirl (she had to be 5 or 6), Maverick, Goose, and Iceman, a little girl as Indiana Jones (it was too cute!), Master Chief from Halo, Bane from the new Batman movie, a family of Superman, Supergirl, Green Lantern and the daughter was also Supergirl.  My one goal for Sunday was to get Kevin Conroy to sign my Batman the Animated Series Boxed Set.  I went immediately to the line to queue.  So, the ruling here is first is VIP then Priority, then General Admission.  We are told that the first hour will be only VIP and Priority, my thought is 11-12 right...well 1230 rolls and then we are told the line is capped and he has a hard stop at 330 to catch a flight.  the 3 people in front of me start raising all kinds of hell, and genuinely so, we could have been up there waiting, but they held us all back.  They claim if they get though all that that then they will let us through.  The Red-shirted nerd with a little power leaves and the orange shirt guy was like you 4 go on, no promises, but I'll let you through.  fast forward 2 hours and we are through, I'm standing in front of the man who no one will recognize in a photo, but the minute you hear his voice its like, holy shit your batman!  He signs my stuff, even stops for a photo, and I'm done.  Wow, that was incredible, and to the soldier in front of me, good luck on your deployment, and thank you for being such a hard ass to the line nazi and getting us through!  I also found out that Mitch's print of 60 sold out mid day saturday, which is awesome!

So that was my experience for Stan Lee presents Dallas Comic Con, lots of line standing, great people watching, and overall a fun weekend!  Next time, I'm going VIP, 30 minutes early and line cuts sound good to me!

Live long and prosper.

words, words, words, BBC America....

When it comes to TV, I am trending more towards BBC America.  I started watching Being Human there first, but now I watch both versions, and sometimes that confuses me.  Doctor Who, while I admit I am not a full-on Whovian, I do like the show, I watched when Eccleston took over, then bowed out, but for some reason Matt Smith in fezz and bowtie, bowties are cool!, got me sucked back into the show, and I have been watching religiously ever since.  My most recent show was a short series called The Fades, a interesting supernatural show about a young boy who as it turned out has supernatural powers, basically he can see spirits, called Fades, and this power makes him an Angelic.  The story was slightly hard to follow, but I really liked it, it left the ending open for more, which I assume they are going to do.

Now, lets talk about Being Human on BBCA, it was great for the first 3 series, believable, great storyline, easy to see how each character feels.  No with Series 4 just starting last week (spoiler alert), they've jumped the shark, pulled a Back to the Future, and killed off 3 of the 5 main characters, of which I really don't like 1, so its the core 4 that have always been my favs.  I'm going to give it another couple of shots, but I just don't know.  I'm so ready for Doctor Who to come back on, and not ready for Walking Dead to end their season and have to wait till Halloween for more...

ZOMG, this looks so cool!

How cool does Darkseid look?  This is from the variant cover to Justice League #6.  Oh, in other news, I just read that Justice League #1 has gone back to print for a seventh time, making it the bestselling book of 2011 and still trending strong into 2012.  I think this is the only New 52 book to hit this milestone.  So far its been a great read, but if you haven't gotten into it yet, I'd wait for the trade, as the story is slow, and being able to read it without any ads would be very nice. 

My other favorite so far has been the Court of Owls storyline that Scott Snyder has been running in Batman.  I have to say that this is by far my favorite Batman story since Hush.  The emotions running in the story really resonate and you can see how Bruce is dealing with all that's happening throughout.  This is IMHO Snyder's best work to date.

Nothing else new to report on the geek front, go out and have a great Wednesday, its hump day after all, go get some humps, some humps, some lovely lady lumps...wow that was so bad.

Comic Book Men

So, it's been two episodes and I just can't give Kevin Smith anymore of my time.  I guess I just don't dig him like I used to.  The premise, albeit gave me a nerdgasm, a day in the life of the comic book store.  But it just feels too scripted, too fake, and honestly the shopkeepers seem like douches and jackwagons.  I've spent many an hour at a CBS, browsing, reading, playing games, geeking out, discussing who'd win in a fight Shazam or Thor, Batman vs Iron Man, Superman vs well anyone (still think Wonder Woman could take him!).  I've also been listening to comic book podcasts of late, and maybe that has me jaded, these are from the fans, not shop owners, these are they guys who are out there every Wednesday hitting the shelves to fill their needs (yes a comic book is like a soap opera for guys, without all the bad acting).  I've been working on my list of things I'd like to do this year, so far I've gone back to school...I'd like to participate in or start my own comic fan podcast.  I am slightly slanted as I really only read DC, but I'm always up to talk about anything... Did you see The Walking Dead this week?  See that's how my brain works, it's the whole ADD, oh look a duck, but with cool geekiness.   That being said, I really don't know how many people actually read this, I don't get many comments, but I do see the page views spike after a new post.  If your reading this, leave a comment, let me know who you are and where you come from, feel free to comment, call me a clownshoe, whatever, just don't sit back and lurk the boards...

Back to geekiness, I've been messing with DSLR photography since October more seriously, yes my camera is off of Auto.  I'm running into issues trying to catch the kiddo in action, by the time I get the settings down she's right up in the lens, should I use my 55mm or the 18-55mm  I like the fixed focal length on the 55mm, but sometimes I think it should really be just for portraits, please tell me your thoughts if your a photo nut on what the 55mm should be used for.  Should I just carry my DSLR with me everywhere in case I see something that just looks great, or should I just go out somewhere I've never been and just take a ton of pics?  Seems like all I ever take are family shots indoors or out at an event like the Zoo, etc.  What did you do to get better at finding "the shot"?

With all the hullabaloo about the iPad 3, a friend of mine on Facebook summed it up pretty well, "I'd rather have thin than a ridiculous pixel density."  I think I have to agree, while I love my iPad, I still don't see how it fits into my digital life fully, I don't like using it for typing notes in class, as I just don't like the non keyboard tacticity (is that a real word?).  My daughter is content using it to watch Dora or Diego, which is great, since it frees up the big TV for adult use.  I'm starting to feel like I use it less and less, I don't read on it all the time, I still prefer a real book, I don't play as many games on it like I used to, and well, the movies I have on it are great, but I don't have a lot of free time to watch them.  Occasionally I'm a Twitter S#|$$er, or will browse the web while on the throne (who doesn't?).  I guess since the move, the relegation that I'm unemployed, and now a student, the iPad just doesn't seem like the business tool I thought it would be.  And why does blogger look like a steaming pile on it?  How can I blog remotely when it looks like something that a cat coughed up?  Although, it appears that MS Office has been seen running on the iPad, and its close to a release, shame apple beat you to the game here with iWork for the iPad, think I can squeeze in another i product into this sentence, how about iOS is great, I love iMacs, and I'm a total iTool!  HA, Bazinga!

Back to our nerdly nuts and bolts

We are up to issue 4 of The New 52's and Justice League is a book that has really been on my list as one that I just can't decide on.  Let's go back four months, the first issue hit, we are in a universe where the heroes don't really know each other, Green Lantern had no idea that Batman was just a man in a costume...Superman seems to not like authority, and The Flash, well he's just the flash, fast, cocky, and a smart ass, gotta love it!  Jim Lee can really suck you in with his artwork, Geoff John's story work can usually keep you on the edge of your seat, but this title just runs slow.  I am still trying to piece together the current state of the DC Universe, as I really only follow Superman, Batman, The Flash, and Green Lantern.  Its tough, I mean we really don't know what has happened, what from the last 50 years still happened in the new universe, Bane vs Batman, Jason Todd's Death, Superman's death, Barbara Gordon is not wheelchair bound anymore..etc, these are the things I really wish I knew the answers to.  With This month Justice League #4 hit the shelves, and well remember Aquaman from the Superfriends?  Well, friends he isn't hear, we have an Atlantian bad ass, who doesn't mind getting his trident dirty and I'm loving it, if you ever made Aquaman the but of a joke, well brother, let me tell ya, he ain't that guy.

Lastly, my biggest gripe, is DC touted out that they were drawing the line at $2.99 earlier in the year in response to Marvels inability to decide on price point.  But two of the flagship titles, Action Comics and Justice League are $3.99, and Justice League is 22 pages of story/art and the rest ads and filler, its just a bit much, and then for them to charge the same day and date for digital really chaps this authors ass a bit.  It really makes the thought of going digital only hard to swallow, and I have thought about it, but there is just something about holding a real book in your hands, going to the nerds den, the geektopia, the comic book store and browsing the shelves for something new, finding something that Mitch Breitweiser (a fellow Arkie) has started working on, finding that hard to find trade paperback, that Frank Miller Batman Statue, hell even just picking out a new 20 sided die...You don't get that on your nook, iPad, playbook, blackbook, blackberry, chuck berry, or whatever your using digitally!

So, I don't think you can find back issues on JL right now, but I know once this arc is done it will be in trade paperback (they've already announced a Batman trade, so its coming), when that happens, pick it up, you'll love the visually stunning art by Jim Lee, an incredibly woven team building story by Geoff Johns, and of course a glowing review from me.

4.5 out of 5 Tankards of Terror!

An Unexpected Journey

So The Hobbit trailer is up today, and all I can say is wow!  It's already blown my mind twice, and I know like the other trailers I will watch it religiously until the movie hits next December.  I remember when I saw Fellowship of the Ring, I was so moved by how everything I had seen in the book/animated movie had been brought to life, and now I cannot wait to see these first two chapters.  If you haven't seen it yet, here it is in all its HD glory...

If you haven't turned on "Find My iPhone", you probably should

So, the parental unit (heretofore known as Mom) works in a wireless call center, and with my past experience and what she tells me, people just get dumber the smarter their phones become.  First, if you have an iPhone, iPod Touch (with location capabilities), or an iPad 1 or 2, you need to know about something called Find My iPhone.  Well first its an app, and yes its free, you need to download and install it ASAP.  This is not a way for you to get some type of Batman/Daredevil vigilante justice, but a high tech lowjack for your phone/pad/pod.  The most important thing, you have to have it set up first before it will work...so you can't lose your phone and then decide to turn it on.  Second, if you have iOS 5, and your using the cloud, its really easy, make sure to toggle the switch in your settings to turn on find my iPhone.  Once this is complete you can login to your iCloud account and then select find my iPhone and it will find all your iOS devices assigned to your cloud login.

Once your here, you can send a message/sound to the device, lock it remotely, or wipe it out entirely.  What is cool is you will get a map showing you pretty close to where the device is.  This is handy if you can't find your device in the house, or someone has stolen it.  The key to a stolen device is let law enforcement know you have a stolen device, and that you have tracked its whereabouts and provide this to them, they may or may not go get it, but at least you've gotten them closer than they used to be when things were stolen.

So thats find my iPhone, please use it, it will save you countless hours of problems and issues, also use your cloud space, back up your contacts, and for god sacks, sync your damn devices regularly.

Geeky Dad Out!

Every Batmobile...ever

Even the crappy ones from the non-Tim Burton movies. Your daily dose of comic book nerdiness.

Via: CarInsurance.org