My Dad

June 5th is my dad's 66th birthday and he has finally decided that after 44 years that he has decided to call it a career and has decided to retire from his job as a math department chairman. At the end of May my dad had a retirement dinner and I was so proud of him. Proud of the amount of love his staff had for him. He had been a Math Department Chairman at Hereford High School for 13 years and these were the people who were throwing him the dinner. Up to that point he had been a Middle School Math Department Chairman at about 3 to 4 other schools in his huge career. His staff had created a powerpoint of his 40 plus year career filled with music, pictures, and humor. Then his staff came up and everyone talked a little about what my dad meant to them. And this was interesting to me, because I never saw him as a school teacher. He never taught me, I never saw him interact with the kids in his class. But this outpouring of love was overwhelming and it was another side of my dad I have never seen. And then he did his speech. I never really expected him to be as eloquent a speech reader he was, but it should not have surprised me since he wrote a wonderful eulogy for his mother, my grandmother. But his speech was amazing. But after his dinner I was driving home and I started thinking about my dad. All the stuff he has gone through, all the stuff he has done for me and his family. He's made some mistakes, he's had some rough times and he had some good times. He's done some great travelling and has always stuck to a schedule. Goes to bed at 8pm. Gets up at 3am and runs for awhile, then goes into work, works all day, then gets home has dinner, does work, goes to bed. That seems to be his routine. The weekends he works, reads, runs, spends time with the family, or does whatever. And that is my dad in a nutshell. Very schedule oriented. Which is fine. I find myself sometimes dipping into that well and finding myself schedule oriented every once in awhile which I get from my dad. it's not often but sometimes it creeps out. Most of the time I am laid back as well.

So on this, his 66th birthday, and a few weeks before his retirement, I started to think up some of my memories of him and just wrote them down. I had so much written down that it surprised me how much I remembered when I have trouble remembering other bits of my life. Just goes to show you how important someone can be for you. So I thought I would just write a few rememberances for my dad. Not in any real order just off the cuff.

My Dad lost his father, my grandfather, at the age of 13. Being the oldest of 6 kids he had to take on the role of father figure for his siblings. It was rough but he was able to handle it while maintaining his schooling.

My Dad and Mom got seperated when I was about 14 or 15 and divorced after I turned 18, but it was an easy seperation on me and my sister. Meaning that my mother and father never fought in front of us, never moved us from one house to another, and were very cordial to each other in front of us. My Dad paid his alimony on time and never fought it. When my Mom's mother died, my Dad came down to the funeral and the wake and paid his respects to my grandfather, and when he passed my dad was down for that. It was both ways, my mom was there when my dad's mother died. They get along very well now and can be in the same place for family parties.  So if you ever need to get seperated the way my parents did it was perfect.

My Dad was the coach of my Little League baseball team for close to 5 years. That is not so unusual since lots of dads coach their children's teams, but since my dad is a math teacher and he loves his statistics. So he made statistics for us after every game and we loved it.

One year for my birthday, My Dad and I took a road trip to Chicago to go to Chicago Comic-Con. We got a room in the same hotel as the con, and while I was at the con my dad would lounge at the pool, or read, or whatever. Then in the evening we would explore Chicago. It was a long 12 hour drive to Chicago, and along 12 hour drive back, but at this age I could not drive so Dad took the wheel the whole time and we did not stop. While we were there we went to a Chicago White Sox baseball game, since the Cubs were away that week. We did not go into the Sears Tower, but did go into the John Hancock building which is just as tall. Ate some Chicago Style Pizza which is good. All in all a great time.

My Dad is a runner. He did races often and I would go to some of them. One father's day when I had grown up and was working for WLIF the radio station. We hosted a race and my dad ran it, so I got to see him and introduce him to the people I worked with and that was cool.

When I was younger during the last week of summer before school started for both Dad and I, I would go with my Dad a day or two to his work where he would be prepping for the school year. I would stamp school books, draw on his chalkboard, and generally just help my dad for a few hours. He would get me a soda which for me was huge.

My Dad loves Stevie Nicks, and when it came time that my sister and I thought we were ready for a real pet, we had to try and convince him to get a cat for us. We all wanted one, but he was kind of on the fence about it. But what is really great is that My sister and I came up with the perfect name. We told my Dad that we wanted to name our cat Gypsy, named after the song from Stevie Nicks. That convinced him and we got a cat. However, 5 years or so later my dad unfortunately was the one who found her lifeless body. She had been hit by a car, since she was an outdoor cat. Her lifeless body was right in front of my dad's car. And when he turned on his car and he turned on his headlights, he saw the body. And it crushed him.

My Dad always liked to travel and he has been all over. Europe multiple times, Canada multiple times, and has visited a lot of states in the United States as well. And when I was younger my family would go to Ocean City NJ where my mom's sister lived for our vacations. One year we all went to New York and Boston as well. After my parents seperated my dad more travelling and sometimes my sister and I would go along. We went to Boston again, flew to California and did LA, San Diego, and San Francisco. We flew to Seattle and did that and Vancouver, then back to San Francisco. And the last major trip I remember taking with my dad was flying to Denver, spending time there, driving to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, then driving back to Denver with a stopover in Boulder. All nice trips, all fun trips. My Dad takes my nephews on week's vacations as well nowadays. And he and my stepmom still do some travelling. In fact he will be going to Belgium this summer. So pretty cool.

Every year My Dad and I go to a Ravens football game together, with the exception of last year when he got me and my wife and sister and brother in law tickets to Ravens Vs. Redskins. But every year since the Ravens have been in existence we have gone to a game together. We went to the first ever Ravens Playoff game in their history on New Year's eve 2000. We also used to go to Orioles games together, but now not so much. In fact we went to the very last game at Memorial Stadium for the Orioles, before they moved to Camden Yards. We used to go see the Bullets/Wizards when they would sometimes play a game in Baltimore, which they haven't done in years. So it is always a lot of fun when my dad and I do these things together.

My Dad started my Comic Book collection and got me interested in comics. We've watched movies together just the two of us. We saw Midnight Run, Every Which Way but Loose, The Maltese Falcon, and probably more that I can't remember. He loves his grandkids and is looking forward to spending time with them now that he is retired.

I love my Dad. I am lucky that I feel that he loves me too. I am lucky for all the time I have spent with him and will spend with him for many years. We may not talk everyday, but I know my dad is concerned for me and my family and I am lucky that I have this relationship with my Dad. I hear horror stories about people having strained relations with their father, and am so happy that I do not have this problem. Dad I love you and I hope I did not embarass you too much. As proof of how great my dad is. I am posting the last three minutes of his Retirement Speech. in my opinion they were the best part of the speech.   Happy Birthday Dad! Happy Retirement! And I will definitly talk to you soon. Love Dylan.

 

What 20 Summer films I want to see this year, but probably will only see 3 of them

Ah, Summertime. The time when the movie theaters get busy, and the sequels, Superhero films, action films, animated films, go crazy and everyone excpects a 30 million dollar plus opening weekend. I love the summer film season because I love those kinds of films. If you look at my theater going behavior, Summer is when I see the most films. Because I enjoy big crazy spectacles. I eagerly await Entertainment Weekly's Summer Movie Preview, because I discover that there are a ton more movies that I did not know about that are coming out during that time. This is just a generic list with a few off kilter comments. You will not find a lot of information but just a quick blurb. I don't have all the info in fromt of me so I can't tell you for sure when some of these are coming out. Plus it may be different all over the country when things come out. so here are my top 20 films that I want to see this summer, but will probably only see 3 of them since I have kids and a job and not a lot of money.

20. 2 GUNS: Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg playing enemies who have to work together? Action packed? Based on a comic book? I'm there. 2 Guns is based on the comic by Boom Studios, where one of my friends Filip Sablik is a higher up in the company. So see this picture for him. Comes out August.

19. WORLD WAR Z: Brad Pitt vs. Zombies in an adaptation of the book by Max Brooks. What I've seen of it has not really got my blood flowing, and zombies are starting to get a little overblown like vampires were not too long ago. However it is an excellent book, it is a scary action horror story set all over the world, so it may be pretty good. Comes out the day after my birthday. June 21st.

18. NOW YOU SEE ME: Magician thieves. Thieves who use magic tricks to rob others. Morgan Freeman leads a big cast including Jesse Eisenberg. And yet it's supposed to come out in May and I have not seen a lick of advertising for it anywhere. Never a good sign. But the premise alone intrigues me. Comes out in May.

17. THE GREAT GATSBY: A good novel. A visionary director: Baz Luhrmann (Moulan Rouge, Romeo and Juliet) two actors named Leonardo and Tobey, who also happen to be best friends in real life and you get what appears to be a unique movie. Then in 3D kills it for me. Gatsby is not a huge action pic, there is no real reason for 3D except just to see if you can make a drama in 3D. May 11th.

16. EPIC: From the director of the original Ice Age, you get this computer animated family fantasy film about a group of fairy type of beings who do battle against their enemies, and they are the size of insects. Saw the trailer, looked amazing and fun fantasy and may be a good pic for me to take my kids to. Though there are two better ones and another one Planes (based in the Cars world from Pixar)that did not make the list that the kids may want to see before this one. But who knows. Comes out late May I think.

15. ELYSIUM: From the director of District 9 Neil Blomkomp comes is second film that stars Matt Damon and Jodie Foster. Hard to describe what is going on, but Damon puts on a suit of armor and battles people in a bleak future. Looks like amazing sci-fi for grownups. Coming out in August.

14. PERCY JACKSON AND THE SEA OF MONSTERS: I was disappointed when Chris Columbus made the original Percy Jackson film, based on the YA novel series which I have read and love about a boy who discovers he is a demigod, his father is Poesidan the God of the Sea and he learns of a camp with other demigods. The film had potential to be the American Harry Potter, but if fell apart, changing aspects of the book and casting a too old actor Logan Lerman to play Percy. However it made enough money for the film companies to go, hmm let's see what happens. So here is the sequel. What I have heard is that it is closer to the book then the original Percy jackson, though Logan Lerman is still in the role. He is still to old, but it is enough to pique my interest. Coming in August.

13. RIPD: Jeff Bridges, Ryan Reynolds, based on a comic book about Ghost police officers. Has the interesting premise of a Men in Black type of film, with two amazing actors who appear to be having a blast making the film. I think this is coming in July. Not sure. Maybe June.

12. AFTER EARTH: When I first saw this, it didn't overwhelm me to much. Then I saw some of the trailers and have started seeing tv commercials for it, and the more I look at it, the more amazing it looks. Will Smith re-teams with his real life son Jaden Smith, who play father and son space rangers who crash on a wild and wooly planet, called Earth where the animals have taken over and evolved. Jaden has to traverse the land to try and find help for his injured dad. This looks to be more of a Jaden film with Will in a support role which is fine. And hopefully M. Night Shaymalan who was great but has slowly fallen off is making a return and it looks good. May 31st. Moved up from June 7th.

11.THE WOLVERINE: I like Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Wish he was a little shorter but I digress. However I never have seen his original solo film yet. I own it but have not watched it yet. I had heard it really wasn't all that great anyway. But We'll see. However from what I have been hearing, this one sounds awesome. One of the aspects of Wolverine I always liked was his belief in the Samurai code. And this movie set in Japan and may have connections to the classic Wolverine miniseries by Frank Miller has piqued my interest. July.

10. PACIFIC RIM: A lot of secreacy from Guillermo Del Toro on this one. What we know is a live action giant monster movie taking on Giant Robots controlled by human pilots. Idris Elba who is insanely cool stars. Giant Robots fighting Giant Monsters sounds awesome. July I think.

9. MONSTERS UNIVERSITY: Pixar's summer film of choice. They do have Planes coming out also, but that was supposed to be a direct to dvd sequel to Cars but they thought they could make some money releasing it. However this one is the true Pixar summer film. A sequel to the excellent Monsters Inc. plays more like a prequel as we meet Sulley and Mike, who meet for the first time. It throws every college movie cliche in the book and you have monsters doing the acting. Pure comedy gold. John Goodman and Billy Crystal return as the voices.

8. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING: What do you do after you just directed a true blockbuster superhero film in the Avengers? Well Joss Whedon films a black and white adaptation of a Shakespearean comedy in his house. Yes. HIS HOUSE. Pulls in some of his regulars like Nathan Fillion, Tom Lenk, Alexis Denisof, Amy Acker, and Clark Gregg and release it wide after a very successful run at film festivals. Looks like a great break from Summer Films, with some great acting and directing.

7. THIS IS THE END: This film was originally near the end of my list. I had no desire to see it. Then I remembered the original concept trailer that Seth Rogen and Jay Barachel did called Seth and Jay vs. the Apocalypse. ANd I remembered I laughed my ass off. Now they have finally made the film. And made it bigger. I watched both the redband trailer and regular one and laughed my ass off. Concept is awesome. A group of actors who portray crazy versions of themselves are having a party at James Franco's house when the end of the world occurs and this small group of guys are stuck in the house trying to survive. Seth Rogen, Jay Barachel, Craig Robinson, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, David Krumholz, Rihanna, Mindy Kaling, and Emma Watson to name a few of the stars who portray the worst parts of themselves. Looks hilarious.

6. DESPICABLE ME 2: I never really thought about this film until I had kids. They aired the original on Disney junior I think edited of course and we only watched a little of it but the kids loved it, and I actually enjoyed it to. So I went out and bought it and showed the kids and it soon became one of their faves. And I really liked it as well. So when I learned this was coming out July 4th weekend this year, well I asked the kids if they wanted to see it in the theaters and they said yes. So we will be seeing this. Being released July 3rd.

5. MAN OF STEEL: You'd think I would be more excited to see this since it is a Superman movie. But for some reason I do not have the excitement for this movie. I still want to see it since it could very well be DC's Iron Man. I.E the first film to kick off a self contained DC comic hero movie world. I'm still hesitant because it appears they are going the Nolan Batman route (Nolan is a producer on it) and making it dark. Superman should not be a dark film. It should be fun. That is why I am having some issues with it. June 14th

4. IRON MAN 3: Again you'd think this would be higher, but from what I have seen and heard. This film is not exciting me all that much. I guess I expected something a little more Avengers esqe, but we get a different type of Iron Man film, which is fine. I just wish it had more of a connection with the Avengers, and also I have heard it does not tease any other up-coming Marvel Movies which is kind of a shame as well. I'll still see it because I like Iron Man. But it is not as anticipated as Iron man 2 was for me. In theaters now.

3. THE LONE RANGER: Believe it or not this looks like a perfect Summer film that I am actually looking forward to seeing. It appears to be in a similar vein as the Pirates films (same director, star) with humor and awesome action sequences. The trailers I have seen look amazing. Looks exciting and really want to see it. July 3rd.

2. BEFORE MIDNIGHT: Yep, my 2nd most anticipated film is a sequel, but to a romantic series of films that I adore and do not have any crazy summer movie style action, just talking and gorgeous locations. Plus two cast members in Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy who are great together. Looking forward to what happens next to their characters. May 24th.

1. STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS: Loved the reboot of the Star Trek film series with the great new actors. Found the story fun and exciting and now 4 years later get to see the same cast all together again and I am stoked. I really hope this is as good as the reboot was. The trailers and clips I have seen make this look operatic. I hope it works. May 16th. (just moved from the 17th)

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY

Since around the beginning of the 21st century, retailers have been trying to figure out a way to boost sales, and also to get more people into their stores. One retailer, I can't remember who, came up with the idea of giving away free comics. He had noticed that the resurgance of comic book movies, which had just started getting going with XMEN was drawing people into their shop, so why not connect it with a comic book movie. If a comic book movie is coming out, let's make it the date after. They worked on selling the idea to the comic companies, and Diamond worked out how it would work. It took off like a dream and is now a yearly event on the 1st Saturday of May every year, regardless if a comic book movie is out or not. It has surpassed being attached to a movie and has grown into an all ages fun time at your local comic stores.

It's also a way to get laxed readers,or people who are interested in Super heroes to come into the Local Comic Store. For years they have had to live with the stigma that most people thought comic stores were places were nerds would debate who was stronger Superman or the Hulk, who was faster, who was smarter. And that they were all dank, dark, dirty stores that no one would be caught dead in. However people would soon learn that these stores are big, airy, well lit, and may have those conversations, but sometimes it's just shooting the breeze about anything, sports, other movies, tv shows, music. The people who run them are not the nerdy comic book guys, they are normal men and women who are married, or have kids, or are single also. And yes more women are getting into comic book stores, so it is not all men.

But it is also an opportunity to get younger kids excited about comic books, because let's face it. Nowadays with your smartphones and computer games, kids are no longer really interested in comic books. And that could be bad because now the stores are surviving on grownups like myself who are lifelong fans, but soon we may have to stop buying, or are going to stop buying for whatever reason, and they need younger generations to get excited about comics. So the Free Comic Book books that are available cover all ages and alot of comic companies. All the big names do at least one, sometimes 2, and they also try to catch things that are popular now.

This year, we have a Superman book, a Star Wars book, A Grimm book, A Walking Dead book, TMNT, Disney Faries, Smurfs, Sesame Street, Strawberry Shortcake, Spongebob, Simpsons, Archie, Pippi Longstocking just to name a few. Some have reprints of stories, some are special stories you can only get in this book, some like the DC and Marvel books are prequels to their big company wide crossovers, they also have independent books that maybe some fans of other types of stories besides pop culture can get into also. They even have a website where you can see all the books they are offering and also a locator of which stores are involved in FCBD. WWW.FreeComicBookDay.com

Stores go all out. They get popular writers and artists to come and sign books or do drawings, some have drawings for prizes, some have games, some have people dressed up as superheroes so you can get pictures with them. Some go all out and have crazy parties.

The way it's supposed to work varies with each store, but the one thing that covers all is that they cannot say you get this free comic book with purchase. NO. It is supposed to be away to get people enticed into the comic world. Each story varies, but they have to give them away for free, no exceptions. They can make a rule how they do it, I.E.you can only pick one, or as many as you want. Each store will let you know their rules. My store says we can take as many as we want. They also offer previous FCBD books for free also, so if you missed FCBD last year or the year before, you can still get the books from that year. That is just my store. Cards, Comics, and Collectibles in Reisterstown, MD. So on Saturday, go out to your local comic store. Get a free comic, meet the people who work their, browse the store, who knows you may find something you would like to buy. Have fun! Let me know if any of you go and get good stuff and or service. FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!!!

Greatish Performances: Bill Paxton in Weird Science

John Hughes was a master. In the mid 80s he really knew how to tap into the teenage zeitgeist and make it seem exactly like he knew what they were going through. He made some of the greatest comedies of our time, and a fantastic Comedy Drama in The Breakfast Club. 16 Candles and Ferris Bueller's Day Off were two great comedies with heart, but one that gets overlooked is a straight up comedy called Weird Science.
The cast was filled with great young actors like Anthony Michael Hall who was in Hughes previous two films 16 Candles and The Breakfast Club, as well as co starring in National Lampoon's Vacation which Hughes wrote but did not direct. Kelly leBrock was an attractive, sexy model who was perfect in the role of Lisa. You also have some young kid by the name of Robert Downey Jr. who showed up as well as one of the "bad guys".  But the actor who stole the show was Bill Paxton who has become quite the character actor as well, by his role as Chet, the brother of Wyatt played by Ilan Mitchell-Smith.

A quick synopsis of the film, two nerds during a wild weekend create a woman with their computer who they hope will do whatever they tell her to do, but the tables are turned as she tries to help them become accepted in who they are. I told you it was a crazy film. Bill Paxton as Chet is the abusive older brother of Wyatt who extorts money from his brother, gives him wedgies, beats him up, almost as an extreme older brother. And Paxton plays the biggest jerk in the world.

Paxton's Chet has a close shave military esqe haircut, acts like he is in the military, likes guns and hunting, and is a creepy abusive bully. When he catches Wyatt doing things he is not supposed to Chet extorts money from him so as not to tell their parents what he did. This partricular weekend their parents are going away for a weekend and leave Chet in charge. He decides to spend all day on Saturday hunting leaving Wyatt and Gary(Hall's character) to have their big party, and their time with Lisa. So Chet may not be in the film all that much, but when he is, you are drawn to him and you laugh at how big of a dick he is. From hurling insults at his brother, to walking around in a towel, to freaking out when he sees what his brother did to their house, then his sleaziness really comes through when he is hitting on Lisa, In the end though he gets his comeuppence in a huge way, and in a way that is perfect for Chet.

Paxton is able to create such a sleezeball, that no matter how over the top he gets, you think to yourself, yeah I can see someone being just like him. Paxton appears to be having a blast playing this role, because he can go way overboard and everything he does makes us laugh and hate him, but you kind of can't hate him because he is just so crazy insane. And he makes everyone laugh.

HAPPY 75TH BIRTHDAY SUPERMAN!!!

On April 18th, 1938 The very first issue of Action Comics came out. In it was a strange person in a red and blue uniform with a cape crashing a car. This strange beings name was Superman and no one had ever seen anything like it before. Created by Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel Superman began a new wave of superheroes and a new art form called comic books. Soon other characters started to appear like the mysterious Batman and the lovely Wonder Woman. Now 75 years later they are all still around and still very popular.

I know it says June on the cover but for some reasons comics to this day have a two month window but this comic did first come out on April 18th 1938.  To me Superman has never really been one of my favorite characters. It's not that I am against his Truth, Justice, and the American Way, I just never really found him interesting. Until 1986. Around that time I was starting to get into DC Comics. After years of being a Marvel Zombie, 1986 was when DC revamped their universe and I got my first real tastes of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman comics. I also started reading the Flash, and Justice League. And that in turn made me branch out into more DC books. In 1986 John Byrne was one of my most favorite writer Artists, and he was taking over Superman and revamping him and updating him to the future (1986). And it was amazing. After the initial Man of Steel mini-series. I started collecting Superman, Adventures of Superman, and Action Comics. Devoured them and loved them. Read them for a few years, then new creative teams came on and I was beginning to feel as if maybe I should stop, but their stories were just as good. Soon a fourth book Superman Man of Steel appeared and all four Superman comics, with different creative teams, soon started becoming one. After you read Superman you had to read Adventures of Superman because the story continued there, then you had to go to Man of Steel, then Action then back to Superman. It sounds annoying, but to have have four different creative teams so in-synch that you had to collect all 4 of them, more power to them. They were telling good stories and I was fine with buying them all. But soon I got to college and my money started drying up a little bit and I had to make cuts, so I soon stopped reading comics. I kept an eye on them, but I missed a lot of stories. Then when I got back into comics I started reading them again. But soon I started to drift away from Superman as I had to scale back, and for some reason I was not as excited about it as before.

I've always liked Superman in the movies. 2 really good movies in Superman and Superman 2, 1 ok film in Superman Returns, and 2 crappy films in Superman 3 and Superman 4. The cartoon was excellent. Done by the same creators as the successful Batman animated Series, they brought a great series in the Superman animated series. I also enjoyed Lois and Clark when it was on TV with Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher, though it was more romantic comedy then comic book show. Never got into Smallville though heard some good things about that. Something else I like is that Superman is one of the only heroes out there that has an iconic movie theme, created by the great John Williams.

The new 52 Superman though is really not doing it for me. I read the first issues and did not like where they were going. Making him more alien then human, and also kind of more like a douchebag. Dating Wonder Woman, his parents are dead. This is not my Superman, the one I read for so long. So I no longer have any interest in reading Superman. However being the comic guy I am, I did not want his 75th birthday to go by without my acknowledging it. He was really good to read for a long time. And the new Man of Steel movie may have some promise. For now I will wait and see. There is a new Superman title coming out in advance of the film called Superman Unchained and it has a great creative team in Scott Snyder who is tearing it up in Batman, and classic comic artist Jim Lee. So I may pick that one up just to see what Snyder will do with him. I also have a ton of Superman Action figures, but for some reason he really is not one of more favorite characters. But Superman is still an icon and I do have some good memories of reading some Superman stories, but there is just something about him...Oh well doesn't matter. Happy Birthday Superman! You started this all, and for that I salute you.

Defiance: Sci-Fi Comfort Food

For about a year now the Syfy network has been pushing their new original Science Fiction show Defiance. It's a first for the network as they are also connected to a computer game as well. So you have both the Show and the game. So for almost a year we have been seeing ads for it, sneak peeks, going to conventions to push the show so that everyone is aware that the show is coming out. And it finally has this past Monday the 15th of April. And it was OK. Nothing stellar. To me it underperformed, but I know a lot of my fellow Snarkalecs disagree with me. They loved the show. Now for me it was just the first 2 hours and it underwhelmed me. But again that's just me.

What my issue is, is that they were pushing this show as being a game changer. And to me it was an amalgam of other sci-fi cliches and story ideas, I did not find it all that original. The characters are all ones you've seen before, the lovable rogue, the hooker with a heart of gold, the outsider, the Romeo and Juliet couple, the fresh faced mayor following a beloved mayor, a, at first glance, a kind person who turns out to be the main bad guy of the show, the rivals, the love triangle, a town filled with different species living together under one town happily,The outnumbered and outgunned people taking on an unstoppable army have been done before. The story was a set up for the series which is fine since it is a pilot, but to me it did not seem all that interesting. Calling me cynical but that is what the first 2 hours were. What I like to call Sci-Fi Comfort Food.

Did I like anything about it? Sure, the effects were good, the sets were good, the aliens were interesting looking and a lot appear to be aliens made up with make-up and not CGI. Plus it is just the first episode, I will keep watching, but even the previews for upcoming episodes seem to be following other storylines as well that we have seen before.

The acting was ok, though some of it was really wooden. The main hero Nolan played by Grant Bowler seemed very wooden as was Julie Benz as Amanda the new mayor. So that sort of took me out of the show. But we did have some good acting especially from the veterans such as Graham Greene as Rafe, and Fionnula Flannagan as former Mayor Nicky. Again not all actors can be great, but add that to the list of all the issues I have had with the show.

Again I will give it a few more episodes to try to get into it's groove but for me I was disappointed. I was expecting a new kind of sci-fi show that would bring about some new ideas that if mixed in with some of the stories that were in the show, I could overlook the cliches because I was seeing something new. I also know that there are only so many story ideas out there but the good writers can breath fresh air into a stale story idea and here is hoping that maybe Defiance can do it down the line. But for now it did what it was supposed to do, it got people to watch, it showed them stuff that they were familliar with and maybe they are hoping that the familiarity will keep the viewers around because this is a big deal for SYFY so they want to succeed. And they did, in creating Sci-Fi Comfort Food.

I Feel a Case of Road Rage Coming

One of the very first Blogs I ever wrote was about my pet peeves about traffic. Nothing has really changed since then. It still pisses me off and I need to bitch again.

My job moved to a new warehouse almost a year and a half ago. The commute has gotten a lot worse since then. It is actually shorter then where we used to work, but it was easier to get to and quicker. This new commute puts me smack dab on 695 with every other car in the world heading to either downtown Batltimore, or Washington DC. So on a commute that during weekends takes about 30 minutes, the sheer amount of traffic on the highways has pushed my average drive time to about 44 minutes. OK, 14 minutes more is not too bad. However that is the average. Yes I did an experiment. For a year I kept track of how long it took me to get to work, every day I was at work. I did not count days I was sick, or vacation days, or holidays we were closed. I did include the few Saturday days I had to work. Then I averaged what it was for the whole month. Then at the end of the year I took the average of all those times per month to get my 44 minutes. During the summer my commute is not bad, mostly due to schools being closed or people on vacation, but then I would get the really bad days. Like the hour long commutes, or the 90 minute commutes. To put that into perspective. I could drive to visit my sister in Woodbridge, Virginia, in 90 minutes. I could drive to Virginia which is far away in the time it sometimes takes me to go 25 miles to work. Why? Accidents. Weather. Just lots of cars leaving at the same time. Your choice. And now for the past 4 months, at least one day a month I have a 90 minute commute. The majority of time it is in the 40-50 minute range. It should not be this long. But it is. People are to busy talking on their cell phones, or they do not know what Yield is, or they do not feel getting into the turn lane,or get out of the lane that we will be losing soon and expect everyone to let you over because you are superior. NO you are just trying to get ahead of everyone who is paying attention to driving, and if you get a little to ornery accidents occur. But mostly it is people not paying attention. In some cases yeah it could be weather, icy roads, fog, heavy rain or snow. But drive safer in those type of conditions. I can all ready predict tomorrow's commute will be at least an hour since it will be raining in the morning. But that is not all that I want to bitch about.

SHARE THE ROAD WITH MOTORCYCLES. I would love to, and to be fair there are some really good motorcyclists out there. But the pure assholes on motorcycles outweigh the good ones. They have no respect for other drivers, so why should I share the road with them. Just because your vehicle is smaller then mine, does not allow you the right to break the laws of the road. Let's see, they speed, moreso then some of the asshats who go 20 + over the speed limit. Some of these motorcyclists go in the 80s-90s. They weave in between cars, hey asshole what if you misjudge and hit my car with my kids in it, you damage my car, we have an accident and you may die. Today, we were all stuck in traffic all the same. What did one motorcycle guy do? Drive 80 MPH on the shoulder, which is illegal. They sometimes drive on the lines between cars, they do tricks while driving. Really guys? You want me to share the road with people who break the law so obviously? No I don't think so. This is not an indictment about the many motorcyclists who obey the laws of the road, I have no problem sharing the road with them. But these little shits who think they are better than every once else, that they are above the law. Buddy, you are dangerous and I really don't want to be on the same road as you.

Enough bitching. Just wanted to get it off my chest. Back to work. Please pay attention to the road, to the laws of the road, drive carefully, because you are all causing me insane cases of Road Rage and one day You better watch out. I may not be so friendly.