Best. Games. Ever.

To celebrate its 200th issue, Game Informer is out with its top 200 video games of all time. And it is a doozy of a list. A brief synopsis and screen shot accompany each choice providing a trip down a digital memory lane. The problem with lists like this, whether it be "best movie", "best song", "best album", "best Adam Sandler movie" or "best whatever" is that largely the top of the lists are often predictable and homogenized and thus ultimately, pretty boring.

You know when you start discussing certain topics, passion, experience and personal preference are going to come in to play, but really when you talk of best movies for example its usually over the details of deciding if Citizen Kane is REALLY better than Casablanca or if Gone with the Wind is as good as Lawrence of Arabia or in what proper order to put The Godfather, Star Wars and Blade Runner in the top 10 is. There is no real debate about the best; sure every so often someone wants to throw in a 2010, or a Clockwork Orange or a Pulp Fiction much higher than it should be, but in the end ultimately and simply the best are the best because they are the best.

Placing video games in such a list is the same. Zelda, Mario, Metroid, Tetris, Final Fantasy...there are games that are going to be there. The details come down to which is #1 and which is #5. Basically some are going to say Zelda, some will say Mario, there may be an argument here or there for a Donkey Kong, or a Doom or even perhaps a Halo, but again ultimately the cream of the crop is not up for much debate.

I mostly agree with the list as I imagine most gamers will. Sure I personally would flip #1 and #2, but its a solid list; and ultimately a predictable and boring one. But even so, I am ALWAYS up for discussing and debating it of course. Believe it or not, I at times have been accused of being a fanboy. It is a tag I neither really dispute or argue. Of some things I am an unabashed fan boy. And proud of it. Most of the criticisms are because of my feelings towards Microsoft's Xbox family of machines. Now despite the original XBox's oversized controller and the failure rate of over 50% on the 360, I can agree that machines are fine. The graphics are fine and sure the 360 has done considerably better than its competitors in online gaming. But there is a reason no Xbox games show up in the top 10 of this list. Despite its popularity and its penchant for failing the XBox and the 360 just frankly have not had as important of an impact on gaming.

I've been told that I am flat out wrong on this a couple of times today, but I still maintain my stance. Using GI's list as a starting point, there are not that may games here and for good reason. Microsoft has used their gaming consoles to homogenize the gaming industry and really have just built on others successes and ideas. Again I am not saying everything about these consoles are terrible. The UI on the 360, Xbox Live, the S-controller, Halo. All good. But again my entire feeling on the Microsoft era of gaming is that they have not done anything unique, interesting, groundbreaking or compelling that has a lasting game-changing impact on gaming. I am a hard core gamer and even had the original Xbox for quite ahwile, but have never been compelled to get a 360. Everyone's argument is "xbox live xbox live! its so good!" Well it is an extra paid service, I would expect it to be good. But compelling? The want me to pay extra to have some 11 year old redneck kid cuss me out and shoot my ass in Halo? No thanks. And the Dreamcast had a great online experience. Just 8 years to early.

Show me Xbox's Zelda. No, not an RPG on the xbox that is similar to Zelda. Show me an RPG on the XBox that defined or redefined the genre. The broke down barriers. That created an iconic world renowned franchise.

Show me Xbox's Mario. Where is their genre defining, game changing, icon creating platformer? A franchise that reinvigorates itself with each new title, bringing unique innovations to the genre time and time again.

Show me Xbox's Metal Gear Solid. A game that rewrote the rules on what an action game should be.

Halo? Sure its great. I attended the private premier party thrown by Bungie in Chicago for fans and the media for the original Halo as a writer for the now defunct www.amazing-colossal.com website. I played it. I liked it. I saw it demoed on Macs. (Everything Bungie did that evening was done on a Mac, except of course playing the game on Xboxs ). But, I'll take Goldeneye and Quake 3 any day.

Honestly, I love my PS3 and think the UI is great now, but they are not really doing much compelling new stuff now, but the playstation family has. I think if I was new to gaming the choice between the 360 and PS3 would be difficult. I think really Nintendo is the only company still innovating and moving things forward in an interesting and unique way with the Wii and DS. There are lots of great games for PS3 and 360, but I do not see Microsoft or yes Sony now doing anything as important to gaming as Nintendo, Sega and Sony did in the past.

I am going to go play some Advanced Dungeons and Dragons or Tron Deadly Discs on my Intellivision now. Here are my top 10 in honor of GI's massive list.

1. Super Mario Bros. (NES)

2. The Legend of Zelda (NES)

3. Metal Gear Solid (PlayStation)

4. Super Mario 64/Super Mario Galaxy (tie) (Nintendo 64)/(Wii)

5. Metroid (NES)

6. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64)

7. Mario Kart (Super Nintendo)

8. Quake 3/Goldeneye (tie) (Dreamcast)/(Nintendo 64)

9. Resident Evil: Code Veronica (Dreamcast)

10. Gran Turismo 2 (Playstation)

Thanks.

The Thanksgiving holiday is allegedly for reunion, revelry and relaxation, but typically they are full of stress, indigestion and tension instead. Seeing family members you may not particularly want to, awkward reunions with folks home from college, stressing out over getting up at 3 am to save $8 on a hard drive, crappy football. That is the typical reality of Thanksgiving.

But, I think it can and should be a time where even the hardest of hearts, the most stressed out shoppers and those around them can pause to give thanks for the good things in their lives. And if possible share with those with less to be thankful for.

I am incredibly blessed and fortunate. I have an amazing wife, terrific children, wonderful friends, gainful employment, a nice home, and many other smaller, but meaningful things to be thankful and grateful for. We give what we can, when we can to needy folks and encourage are kids to understand how fortunate they are. I am lucky and thankful.

What are you thankful for today?

Vote YES on Issue 7.

Tomorrow for the first time in history The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County will go to the people and ask for a levy for continuing operating expenses. This levy request has been made after deep state budget cuts to the library systems were made by the state of Ohio in the wake of one of the worst recessions in history. Times are tough for everyone, but I implore you to consider voting yes on Issue 7.

The modern library has changed dramatically, but continues to be an important and vital part of the community. Many opponents of the levy say the libraries have not been good with money, buying large quantities of popular books is unnecessary, that DVDs should not be free, amongst other arguments. While some of these points may certainly be valid, the arguments for the library are stronger and certainly more important to the citizens of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.

The library still continues to primarily circulate books and written materials. While some have argued that DVD checkouts are the bulk of the problem with the libraries, 68% of the materials circulated from the libraries are books and written materials. The libraries also provide internet access to inner city parents of students at CPS that allow them to check grades and interact with teachers. Many people use this limited access to search for jobs. It is a valuable technology resource for those who otherwise would not have access to these tools.

Popular books, such as The Harry Potter and Twilight series have encouraged many children to read often times above and beyond their level. By ordering a good number of these popular books the library helps to encourage children to read, especially those who may not be able to otherwise afford the books at retail as well increase traffic and circulation at the branches.

As far the libraries being good stewards of our tax dollars, the system has already made many cuts including eliminating 200 jobs and decreasing operating hours. I think the more important point is that the system is an important steward of our communities. In addition to the aforementioned services the library offers, the are dozens of great community programs that encourage communities to come together and read. One of those programs, story times for children have directly affected our family in the best of ways.

We began taking our son Wesley to the Mt. Washington library when he was 6 months old. There he went to monthly and eventually weekly story times designed for babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers. Barb Petersen, the children's librarian, facilitated those story times. Wesley greatly enjoyed listening to stories, singing and dancing, and interacting with other children. Wesley is now six and a first grader at Guardian Angels school. His recent interim report indicated that he is reading at a 3rd grade level and assessment tests indicate he is comprehending at a second year 7 month level. We strongly believe that the time spent at the library at an early age helped to build a strong foundation and love of reading that is helping Wesley in his formal education. To this day Wesley loves to go to the library, check out books, music and yes DVDs and his sister now attends Mrs. Petersen's story times. The impact on our kids and family has been profound and is just one of certainly many stories of the positive impact the library has on the community.

If passed, this levy will cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $2.50 a month. That is less than a cup of coffee, a tank of gas, or even a DVD rental. But the impact of this investment will be huge.

Please consider this when going to the polls.

Oh and renew the school levy. It DOES not raise taxes, just a renewal.

Insurance

On my shitlist today? Insurance companies. It seems, if I am reading my bill correctly, that I pay $69 a month to HAVE a $1000 deductible on my car. So I am paying for having to pay $1000 before they pay a dime. WTF? Also my company recently offered health insurance to all its employees. Which is totally awesome. Yay my company for doing the right thing for its people. Except my wife's much better insurance forces me to take insurance from my employer if its offered. So now I'll have to pay to have much less coverage. Health care reform? Considering no one in my family can seem to get the flu shot because of various stupid crap I'll say...whatever. So state farm=fail and humana=bastards

Testing mobile blogging app

For awhile now I have been searching for an iPhone app that works with Blogger for quick and dirty blogging from anywhere. I just stumbled across blogpress lite, a Blogger only tool from the makers of Blogpress. This may be my app. Any other blogger users tried this app? Thoughts?

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2010

KISS, ABBA, LL Cool J, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Donna Summer, Genesis, The Stooges, The Hollies, Jimmy Cliff, Darlene Love, Laura Nyro and The Chantels. That is the list of nominees for induction into the 2010 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Now, the Hall as often rode a thin line between ridiculous and reverent. The irony of an institution built to honor a movement that more often than not was anti-establishment is usually not lost on rock and roll fans, though the Hall themselves often seem oblivious. The ceremonies themselves are usually poorly produced non-events that get relegated to VH1 classic or some such. Often the people doing the inductions are either acting in self promotion or seem ill-concived to the artist they honor. In contrast many of the inductees are proud, humbled and excited to be part of the proceedings. The weirdness of it all is probably best epitomized by The Sex Pistols reaction to the nonsense of their induction in 2006. The band refused to attend the ceremony and called the building itself in Cleveland "a piss stain".

The Hall of Fame organization itself is made up mostly of journalist and music executives rather than musicians. That itself has been one of the biggest criticisms. The other of course, it that you are formally honoring people in a setting that is dynamically opposite to the art form itself. And of course "rock n roll" itself is a nebulous art form that is open to interpretation.

The Hall itself seems to have the most interesting and liberal definition of rock and roll.

Madonna, Brenda Lee and Run DMC have all been inducted. Important musicians all, but rock n roll? This year's class nominations underscores most of the problems with the Hall and also indicates that they steadfastly intend to retain the staus quo. Acts like LL Cool J and Red Hot Chili Peppers are getting nominations on their first year of eligibility while acts such as Rush, Cheap Trick, The Moody Blues and countless other "rock" groups sit out, eligible but snubbed.

Politics, laziness, ignorance...whatever the reason for some of the nominees, and all of the snubs, it makes the organization look bad and out of touch.

Look at it this way, we are not that far away from acts like Goo Goo Dolls or Britney Spears, or Death Cab for Cutie or whatever being eligible. Gone are the times of classic legendary rock, nigh are the times of Taylor Swift.

So while I am sure that indeed the Ladies do Love Cool James, I am just not sure if he is the right fit for something called the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Thoughts On Little League; Coaching.

All youth sports are about one thing and one thing only. The after game snack. Most kids sports consist of most of the kids standing around with no clue what to do, a few kids listening and trying, a couple kids learning and excelling and the one kid who is way to good to be on the team. But all of them are focused of course on one important detail, the after game snack.

When I was a youth the coaches brought just drinks or at least I thought they did. Today and maybe even back then, the parents take turns bringing the snacks and drinks. My son, who is now six has played 2 years of soccer, 1 year of flag football and now one season of baseball. The trend now is that one parent brings a snack and one brings a drink. The coach hands out a schedule at the start of the season and each parent takes a turn. While the kids never really talk about it much during the game, as soon as its over, the kids become a collective, a hive, zeroed in on the cooler. They buzz around like a swarm of bees, salivating; transfixed as if they are hoping to receive an edible solid gold ball of chocolate filled ice cream covered in candy swirls and marshmallow fluff that will cause money, toys and rainbows to appear when they bite into it. Of course its usually just Capri Sun and Doritos.

I took my first swing at coaching this year, opting to volunteer to be an assistant coach for Wesley's T-ball team. Other than knowing that all the kids cared about was that snack, I really did not know what to expect. While youth sports teams typically comprise of the aforementioned types of kids, youth coaches usually fall in to one of a few stereotypes. There is the first time coach who means well, but usually has no idea what he is doing and looks terrified at the start of each game. Kids, like bees, can smell fear. Then there is the second or third year coach, usually a bit cocky, but often well prepared. They either do not say they have coached before so that you may think they are a first year coach who just happens to have his shit together or they take pride in making sure you know they have done this before, usually in an ambiguous manner in terms of years so that even if it is their second year, they may want you to believe it is their 26th. Finally we have the grizzled veteran coach. They are loud and effective. Particularly effective at ignoring the bulk of the kids who spend most of the time not paying attention or throwing rocks at each other. They are laser focused on procedure and protocol. They know when the warm ups end and when they umpires should arrive. They are nice and accepting of the newer coaches giving the first year coaches, who by this time are knee deep in crying, complaining kids who have to go pee, a knowing nod filled with both pity and empathy. Wesley's head coach was mostly the first type with a bit of the rest thrown in. He was organized and well meaning and did a great job with the kids.

As an assistant, I fell into all the categories. I certainly did not know what the hell I was doing,

I definitely meant well, I was very loud and sometimes I think I was even effective. Sometimes.

Coaching is tough. Any type of leading or management can be hard. But, when you are coaching young kids it is a combination of parenting, teaching, managing, leading, herding, refereeing, cheerleading, disciplining, and patience. Lots and lots of patience. Remembering that all the kids care about is the snack at the end, the actual practice and playing of the game is a secondary event. Since there is no Pokeman or Spongebob or Star Wars to keep them focused, it comes down to keeping them engaged and moving at all times. Today for example the kids were on the bench touching each other, hitting, calling names, ect. Typical 6th year olds. My answer? RUN. We had the kids run the bases. They couldn't catch each other so they couldn't touch each other. It kept them focused and good for about 3 minutes. Since practice had just started we couldn't already give them the snack...

The most important thing about kids sports for parents is that the kids have fun. The most important thing for the coaches is that the kids do not get hurt. The most important thing for the kids is the snack. Somewhere in there there has to be some teaching of the actual game at hand. It's a tough balance. The kids mostly do not pay attention which makes the probability of them getting hurt increase. The coach wastes a lot of the time yelling at the kids trying to get them to pay attention so they don't get hurt. This means not a lot of teaching is happening and not a lot of fun is being had. But they ALWAYS get their snack. Which means they had fun. So, as long as no kid is knocked out cold on the off chance one of them actually gets a hit or throws a ball in someone's general direction, everyone is happy.

So as Wesley's first season of baseball concludes along with it goes my first year of coaching. It was an interesting year. The kids were a good group. Sure there was some pushing, touching, and a lot of "stop touching mes", but overall they were pretty good. I asked Wesley if he learned anything at all this year and he said "I learned to keep one of my elbows up when batting." I'll take that. On playing baseball again he said "I'll think about it."

I think I'd say the same thing about coaching.

Pics of Wesley at the bat.

The King of Pop is Dead

CNN, the Associated Press, and ,well every news site and person with a Twitter account is reporting on the death of the King of Pop. Michael Jackson is dead at age 50.

To most young music lovers, Jackson is some weird looking pedophile whose about as relevant as a Pet Rock. But to those who were coming of musical age in the 80's, Jackson is an icon. Certainly his personal antics in the last 10-15 years have tainted that image somewhat, but today is a day to remember the talent. And what an enormous talent he was.

Starting with his brother in the Jackson 5, Michael demonstrated tremendous talent with his vocals and his dancing. While he and his brother earned fame with their Motown releases, it was not until Jackson emerged as a solo artist that he became a superstar. A phenomenon.

His first solo albums, released as part of the Jackson 5 franchise were hits, successes in their own right, but The Michael Era really began with Off The Wall in 1979. While the album had remnants of the disco era hanging on some of the more dance oriented numbers, it also had some tender moments and some true legendary pop gems like Rock With You and Dont Stop Till You Get Enough.

Jackson fulfilled the promise of Off The Wall and and of pure pop perfection with hlp form Quincy Jones in 1982 with Thriller. The biggest selling album of all time. And with good reason. The album opened with Wanna Be Startin Somethin. This tune was a bridge to the sound of 79s Off The Wall and also in many ways the close of the 70's R&B era. From that song out Thriller moves between rock, pop, ballad and R&B seamlessly and effortlessly. From the boppy disco-like start with ...Startin Something to the team up with legendary rock god Eddie Van Halen for Beat It, to the unclassifiable genius of horror pop that was the title track Thriller is an unescapable, infectious, musical piece of art. Jackson's now mature tenor was at his peak and the songs had a timeless sound even then. Even today the genre defying record remains capable of sounding modern and awesome. The timing of this record with the arrival of MTV caused a hysteria and phenomenon of pop music that I doubt will ever be matched by any artist.

Follow up albums Bad and Dangerous and HIStory may have never matched the perfection and hype of Thriller, but those records are mega hits in their own right churning out a steady supply of fantastic tunes.

In addition to being a musical powerhouse, Jackson donated untold millions upon millions of dollars to various charitable causes, often donating entire takes from tours.

Jackson may have been weird, he may have even been a pedophile. If the latter is true its terrible and I feel for the victims. Tonight though I'll just listen to the music and enjoy the massive talent that was The King of Pop...

Time To Freshen Things Up Around Here

After  our recent trip to Walt Disney World, it has been a busy time with the kids in swim lessons and Wesley in baseball and Rebecca and I working.   I have been spending a lot of time on my flickr page, a small amount of time on my newly secured "unique" facebook page, and way too much time on twitter but the blog and my main site have been neglected despite promises to write more.  To try and encourage more blogging I went ahead and sort of merged the main page at richrichmond.com with the blog so that my blog entries show up on my main page as an RSS feed.  You can still click on the blog entries right on my main page and they will seamlessly open in blogger for commenting.  So poke around and let me know what you think of the new set up!

Star Wars Episode 1:The Phantom Menace A decade later.

May 19, 1999. After years of hype and anticipation 20th Century Fox released George Lucas first film in a prequel trilogy to his original Star Wars films. Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace was destined to be an enormous success and at the same time an unexpected failure. The fact of the matter is that anything less than a perfect film like one of its predecessors, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, was going to face a backlash from fans and critics alike.

Upon its release critical reaction was mixed, some felt it lived up to expectations, many thought it failed to meet them. In either case this was never a movie that was really judged on its own merit, but rather how much people felt it did or did not live up to the years of hype and theor own expectations. As it stands movie review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes ranks the film "Fresh" with a 64%.

Fan reaction was also mixed, and over the years has tended to remain so. The vocal haters of the film have gotten more and more vitriolic with their seething criticism and the fans quietly defend the film doing their best into getting dragged into a "George Lucas raped my childhood" debate. Again, most of the reaction to the film is emotional, based on perceived expectations in relation to the original films rather than against the film itself.

As a life long Star Wars fan who vividly remembers waiting in the rain for hours to see Empire with my dad, I initially liked the film quite a bit. It was a lot to take in the first viewing. There's this kid, and there was Jar Jar and I wasnt sure if Keira Knightly or Natalie Portman was really Queen Amidala, the dual bladed light saber, pod races, a weird looking Jabba...just lots of stuff. I saw the movie about 6-7 times during its theatrical run and eventually during that summer decided that I liked it well enough, probably as much as I had liked Return of the Jedi. It was not exactly what I had expected or envisioned the story being, but I tried to manage those expectations and judge the film on its own merit.

Watching the film again tonight, almost exactly 10 years after I had first seen it my feelings have not really changed much. It is a fine film, a fun film, and it holds up fairly well ten years out.

The opening of the film is fantastic. It looked and felt like Star Wars. Much of my criticism of recent pics such as Watchmen and Star Trek were that they did not feel much like their source material. Episode 1, felt like Star Wars. The opening with Qui-Gon (Liam Neeson), whom to this day is one of my favorite characters in the Star Wars universe, and his young apprentice Obi Wan Kenobi on the trade ship is great. We are quickly thrust into the action. We learn quickly and concisely all of the information we need to know. Darth Sidious is behind a seemingly small trade dispute over the planet Naboo. Being a prequel we know that these events are teetering on the presipice of galactic war, but even without knowing that, the way the rest of the film unfolds the "phantom menace" of the title reveals itself to be more far reaching than just a simple trade dispute. The Trade Federation tries to kill the Jedi and our heroes make an escape which sets in motion a number of events that domino throughout the movie leading us to the eventual "star wars". They meet and evacuate the queen and wind up on Tatooine where they meet boy Anakin.

Now, I'll pause for two things here. First Jar Jar. I have not mentioned him or bitched about him, because for all the hate levied at him, HE IS NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL. He is a comic relief character. He's no more bad or annoying than Leo Getz, Joe Pesci's character in Lethal Weapon. Second Jake Lloyd. Boy Anakin. Yes his acting is bad. But remember how bad Mark Hammil's acting was in A New Hope? Lloyd is just a bit worse here, but for a kid in a movie series previously marred by bad acting; again just not that big of a deal. The bigger issue with Anakin is the perception that since he was to become Darth Vader many many people expected him to be some evil, devil child. There is a quite funny comedy bit online making fun of this movie and the comedian makes a point of this as well. The thing is, it was always established and accepted and understood that Anakin Skywalker was a classic archetype of the tragic fallen hero. We know at one point Anakin was part of the Jedi order. We know he was good friends with Obi Wan and we know he procreated. The expectation that Anakin as a kid would be evil and killing people with his as of yet unrefined force powers is plain silly. I would expect Anakin as a kid to be, well pretty much exactly how he was portrayed in this movie.

NOW it is a whole other point to rather or not we NEEDED to see this. As a story of boy Anakin, Episode 1 is fine. I had always expected that these 3 movies would be more like on pace that we would see Vader, maybe not in suit, but the transformation to the dark side by mid way through Episode 2 and that Episode 3 would be the clone wars with Vader on the dark side. To me Episode 1 really should have been like an Episode Zero. The prequel to the prequels. But my expectations are not what was in Lucas' head and I can accept and manage that.

Again I am judging this movie against itself, not against the other three and not against my expectations.

So yeah, Lloyd's acting is terrible, but as a character it is what I would imagine Anakin as a boy would have been.

The story itself I think is well paced and interesting. Seeing the seeds of the coming war. Seeing the cloak of the darkside emerge. It is all done slowly and deliberately. The fun is knowing that Palpatine is Sidious. And Ian McDirmid reprising his role as Palpatine from the orginal trilogy is fantastic. He plays the good Senator from Naboo as straight as they come and plays the always hidden Dark Lord with a crunchy/crusty/evilness which you can tell he just relishes (and which he would perfect with his awesome scene chewing take on the role in Episode 3).

Having the genesis of the trade federations war with the republic take place on the serene and peaceful Naboo is a tip of the hat to Alderran and gives us a people that we can relate to care about, and of course conveniently give us Luke and Leia's mom.

Of course we get loads of great lightsaber action, especially from the villain Darth Maul. Maul is a secondary character, a place holder, just there to keep Vader's place warm. But what a villain. Part Terminator, part Vader, part Satan, all bad ass. His presence on screen is impressive. The look is menacing, the skills are awesome. And that double bladed saber? Come on that cancels out a little bad acting, no?

The action is top notch. The opening as mentioned above is great, lots of saber work and force use. The pod race is thrilling and amazingly presented. The battles are done well and are appropriate. The familiar ending with 3 separate action pieces; the battle on Naboo, the battle above Naboo and the awesome, awesome lightsaber battle with Kenobi, Jinn and Maul, is paced well and handled as good if not better than the same scenario in Return of the Jedi with the battle on Endor, the battle above Endor and the awesome, awesome lightsaber battle between Vader and Skywalker.

The subtle winks at the fans of the original trilogy, like the Sand People, and Jawas and the way the camera lingers on Palpatine at Jinn's funeral...all great. The music is off the charts. Just fantastic as always. The special effects are amazing and mostly hold up well today.

Overall, I am not ashamed to say I really still like this movie and that I think its pretty darn good.

That being said it is far from perfect and I am willingly able to acknowledge the films shortcomings. The acting as I stated earlier is mostly bad, like most of the acting in all Star Wars movies. Lloyd is terrible. Portman is stilted. Sam Jackson is terribly wooden. Yoda is a freaking puppet. There are some exceptions though, McDirmad of course as Palpatine is great as is Neeson as the sage like Qui Gon Jinn. Some of the dialogue is cringe worthy ("That's so wizard Ani" "Are you an angel?") for example. Rik Olie exists apparently to only deliver bland mostly unneeded exposition. Jabba looks terrible. Anakin accidentally destroying the droid ship is stupid. Midichlorians? Midiwhateverians...

But in the end, overall this is a fun movie; a Star Wars movie. And I like it.

Flying Pig Marathon 2009

This year my wife and kids participated in the Flying Pig Marathon . Rebecca did the 5K which was her second 5K this year. She finished in 36 minutes. Wesley and Emily participated in the Kids Piglet Run. They had an absolute blast. Emily finished 2nd overall in her group and was the first girl! Wes did very well. Their run was much longer so I did not see where he finished, but they both had fun and I am proud of all three of them!

Maybe next year I will do the 5K...or maybe the kids run...

Here are some pics from the event.

Wheeeeeee!!!!!!

So, we built a swing set this weekend. Actually, we got about 95% of it done in one day. The kids had an old metal swing set in the backyard we put in when Wesley was 2. Clearly they had out grown it and it was starting to rust, especially where part of the neighbors tree had fallen on it literally days after we had put it up.

So with Wesley's 6th birthday and Emily's 2nd on the horizon we decided to spit in the face of the recession and build them a new one. This time a a larger wooden structure like the rich folk have. Us, not being the rich folk, decided to buy the kit, the lumber and do it ourselves!

Rebecca bought the kit from Swings N Slides, the lumber form the Home Depot, and the beer from the only place I buy beer, and the only place you should if you live in Cincinnati, Mt. Washington Ice and Beer.

We had loads of great help from my brother in law Tim, my sister in law Elizabeth, my good friends Bryan, Brad and Kara, Kevin, Dale, Shawn and John. To those folks we are very thankful!

With some finishing touches today, we are done. The kids played on it all day.

See Fort Richmond in all its glory here.

Chickenfoot debuts two songs!

Chickenfoot debuts two songs!

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Martin Brodeur, Winningest Goalie Ever in NHL. 552.

With a 3-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks, Martin Brodeur became the winningest goalie in NHL history with 552 wins.

Brodeur has unquestionably been one of the finest goalies to ever put on a pair of skates. While many fanboys whine about their wife beating hero Patrick Roy, the fact is Brodeur passed him and still has YEARS left to play. Probably a Stanley Cup or two more in him. His skills are legendary and his return from a major injury this year are commendable.

Congratulations Marty!

http://devils.nhl.com/

So my mom is unemployed, the recession hits home.

UPDATE 3/17/09: One of my good friends Chris, just got hit. He was laid off from a local start-up as of April 30th.

I have been fortunate enough for the past 8 years to work for one of the finest companies on the planet. A company I respect and love. It has been and continues to be a thrill to work there. One of the benefits of working for one of the biggest and most innovative companies in the world has been stability through innovation, strategy and growth. When I started with the company we were in a recession, albeit a much less severe one than we face today. The company announced boldly that we would innovate through the recession. We did and beyond.

Today the location that I work for is still very busy, the company itself continues to innovate and grow and I continue to count myself fortunate to be among the employees responsible for that success and growth. One of the interesting personal observations that I have had working for a continuously prosperous company as been that the doom and gloom of the recession as seemingly seemed like something that is happening over there. To someone else. The news was full of the doom and gloom. But its hard to work daily in a very busy environment, seeing people spend money, seeing success and growth and hearing how bad it is.

A few friends of mine began to get hit. My very good friend Ronald J. Robertson was first hit and is still looking. Kevin M. got laid off, but quickly found work again. Ben M. a friend of a friend lost his. I was sad for those cats. But it still doesn't seem real or close.

Today my mom emailed me with the subject "Unemployed". Now, my mom is a travel agent and my brother works for Ford, so I was always kind of waiting for the shoe to drop so to speak. Those two industries have been in turmoil for awhile, but they have both been thankfully working. Until now. So my mom had been on a furlough of sorts. January and February she was told she would not be working. I assume some downtime until things picked up. She had planned to return in March, but I guess thats not the case. So now my mom joins the ranks of the unemployed. I am sad for her. With a specific skill set and an advance age I wonder if she'll work again. If she wants to work again. Or if this is the start of forced retirement for her.

So the recession has finally claimed someone close and understand it now. It focuses me. I plan and hope to continue gainful employment with my company. I hope they they continue to grow and be successful and I plan to shortly celebrate my longest tenure with any company I've ever worked for soon. And hopefully in many years to retire from there.

To those looking for work, good luck. My prayers and thoughts are with you. To those worrying about losing your job, the same to you. Hope and perseverance are gifts we all can rely on.

So, I Watched the Watchmen

I know everyone hates the recent trend where reviewers spend half their review laying out their geek cred. While I will not spend much time splaying out mine, I do believe that people who are familiar with this book and those who are not and everyone in between will have different views on this film. That said, yes I read the book back in the day and twice recently and I do like it quite a bit.

I had fairly cautious expectations for this film. I thought the trailers looked great, but some of the advance videos online not so much. I saw the film at a preview showing with a fan and two guys who had no idea what it was all about.

Those two hated it.

As for me, I walked away a bit depressed. And here is why. I do not understand how a film can spend so much time getting the look of the graphic novel so perfect, but at the same time ignore the whole point, the whole soul of it. Zack Snyder and his crew have done a brilliant job bringing the comic panel portion of the novel to life. It looks great. Each panel comes to life on the screen and looks amazing. You could almost reach out and try to turn the screen as though it were a page in the comic. As a live action interpretation of the book, I think its great.

But that is about it. The tone, the feel, the vibe, the essence of the Watchmen is what is missing here. While Watchmen looks very much like Watchmen, it doesn't feel very much like Watchmen. At all. In fact it feels very ordinary. That is the problem, the movie feels like a regular comic book movie. It could have been Superman, or Batman or Hulk. It felt like a regular comic book movie. And Watchmen is not a regular comic book.

Alan Moore's intent and success with the Watchmen was how it was a deconstruction of the modern comic. It brought a sense of realism to the world of comics, by setting it squarely in a real, albeit alternate, reality. The book then deconstructed the idea of the superhero by playing it up a bit, poking a bit of fun and creating something...different form the norm. The book succeeded by turning the idea of the "comic book" upside down, twisting it and leaving in its place a very raw, very unique interpretation of the medium. The story was complex and detailed, the characters flawed and interesting and the way the plot and the stories of our heroes wound tightly around each other made the book something more than a comic.

The film misses this completely.

Remember how in school you had to memorize the Gettysburg Address and recite it? I imagine that none of us in our rote presentation of the speech delivered it with anything close to resembling the feeling, tone and importance that was likely present when Lincoln gave it. Sure we had all the words verbatim, a perfect copy and we may have even presented it very well, but the emotion wasn't there. The complex gravity and reality and subtext were not there. That is Watchmen. It is the Gettysburg Address recital of comic book movies.

Harry Knowles of aintitcoolnews.com said in his review "Someone asked me if I felt the film sent up Superhero movies, like the books did comics and I have to say. Man, that’s something that I can’t say on a first viewing. I think its possible that its there, but I was so captured up trying to absorb everything coming at me, just enjoying that wonderful experience of seeing WATCHMEN for the very first time, that I didn’t care about that part yet." He cannot say it was there, because frankly it wasn't. And he makes a good point at the time he didn't care because he was so blown away by seeing the movie. Seeing Dr. Manhattan realized on the screen. Seeing Rorsharck's mask. Mars. The button. It was all cool and looked great and almost overwhelming. So much so that I think Mr. Knowles and many fans, both hardcore and casual, missed that the overlying themes and tone of the story were absent. The subtleties of the deconstruction of the medium of comics did not translate. The subtext of it all is lost in the otherwise gorgeous translation to live action film.

And that's too bad. Because to me that is what made Watchmen so unique and so special.

Zach Snyder said they had a copy of the novel on his monitor at all times. And it shows. Some of the panels are painstakingly recreated here. And in doing so a lot of the emotion of the story does come through. The attempted rape scene is terse and uncomfortable. The graphic violence is gory and well done. Particularly during Dan and Laurie's fight in the alley and when Rorsharck finds the child kidnapper.

The little changes such as the condensing of the police psychiatrist sub story, we never see him at home with his wife and really do not need to, and not seeing Hollis Mason more than once are no big deal. The big change, yes I am talking about the squid, are also really not that big of a deal. I was one of those pro-squid fanboys, but the "manhattan" ball of destruction is fine here. The only problem I have with this is the end is a mostly bloodless affair. I always got the idea that part of the thing with the squid was that it was so overwhelming and horrific that it brought the world together. And while the giant hole that midtown Manhattan becomes is very impressive and certainly terrible it seems almost sterile especially with the blood and gore we see earlier in the movie.

Like the book there are some great iconic scenes here. Manhattan and Laurie on Mars. The Comedians funeral. The photo shoot. Archie emerging from the river. There are some really gory scenes. The broken arm. The sawed off arms. Rorsharck's cleaving of the kidnapper. The deep fried convict. Mmmmmm deep fried convict....

Unlike the book, subtlety and subtext is glaringly absent.

Had Watchmen been just another comic, a Batman, an Iron Man, a Spidey. Had the stories and the characters been created and presented that way, this film adaptation would be a success. But without the richness and complexity of the novel's story I say this is a failure. Kudos to Snyder and his team for capturing the look of the graphic novel, a note of disappointment for missing the point of it.

Valentine's Week In Review

Damn.  My blogging is getting to be a once a week deal.  Sorry for the 2 of you that may read this thing.  Anywho, here is another weekly recap.  

After having the city paralyzed for nearly two weeks due to terrible ice and snow storms, a wind storm ripped through the city.  We lost power for a while, but more importantly we lost siding.  Lots and lots of siding.  So if anyone knows siding and likes working for beer, we are hiring some siding contractors.  We'll see how it works out with insurance, we only have a $500 deductible and I imagine the damage is more than that.

Wesley was off school Friday so I took the kids to the Cincinnati Art Museum.  I was nervous that the kids would be bored and it would destroy them culturally for the rest of their lives.  Luckily the program was interesting, timed well and the kids loved it.  All of the kids seemed a bit on the verge of boredom during the tour of the museum, but they held strong.  So I was happy, my kids may have some culture.  

Valentine's Day came this weekend.  Rebecca and I were fortunate enough to get a sitter again and had a nice dinner out.  And my wife once again proved she is the coolest wife ever, by getting me this for Valentine's day.  Thanks Becca!

Working out went well this week, other than the steak dinner I ate pretty darn well.  We'll see how it goes.  I walked darn near three miles today.

This week, looks to be slow.  Only working one day, but this weekend the boys are coming over for some video game action!  

Week in review.

After two weeks of Hoth-like conditions in Cincinnati, the weather is finally turning.  Over 50 degrees today.  Cloudy and windy, but nice as hell.  The snow and ice are melting and going away. Becca and Wesley went to school most of last week.  As cool as the snow can be sometimes, its nice when it starts to go away.  

The kids are both suffering through a bit of the sniffles.  

Work is still busy.  Today was insane.  I consider it my own little anti recession bubble.  I hope it doesn't burst anytime soon.  

Brad and Kara are scheduled to come over for some videa games this evening.  

Oh Guitar Hero III for the PS3?  your multiplayer options or lack thereof piss me off.

Recap and reboot

OK.  so I said I would not get back on the scale until January after ballooning to 312 mid month.  My heaviest ever.  Which is wild considering, I have certainly worked harder than ever this month.

sigh.

So I started the month at 299 pounds.  26 of the 31 days of the month I walked on the treadmill 1 1/2 miles. 2 days I walked outside 2 miles.  1 day I did 2 miles at the track at the rec center.  Every other day I did push ups, sit ups and worked on the weight machine.  Every day I did light curling with free weights.  

I dropped from about 6 sodas a day down to 2.  We ate much better, only eating out once or twice.  

About 13 days into the year I had dropped 11 pounds down to 288.  It was the first time I had been on the scale.  I was thrilled.  A couple weeks later I hopped back on the scale and was horrified to be staring at 312 pounds.  I redoubled my efforts and vowed to get back on the scale at the end of the month.  

So here we are.  End of the first month.  And I am staring back at 300 pounds.  Again.  

I feel better.  My arms certainly look better.  Lifting and walking on the treadmill have certainly become easier.  But my belly is as fat as ever and the weight is the same.  

Suggestions?  Encouragement?  

I'll start fresh tomorrow.  Hopefully with a new game plan.

Cross posted at http://thechallenge.tumblr.com/

White Death 2009

So the White Death descended upon us this week.  I've posted a few photos from the event here.  

Rebecca and Wesley were off school for three days, which for my wife's district CPS is really unprecedented.  We raided the library for a bunch of movies as our Direct TV was out.  Direc TV was VERY helpful.  They told us we should clean the ice ourselves and that many of their customers in the "northern states" choose to install heaters on their dish.  "Northern states".  I was waiting for her to call me a damn yankee.  She also informed me that the problem would fix itself in 3-5 days and that "sunlight and evaporation are great ways to clear snow and ice from your dish".  Sorry we don't have any Sunshine and Evaporation stores here in the northern states...

Anyway Becks got on the roof today and cleared the dish.  The kids were watching Spongebob in glorious HD again in no time.  

All in all it was a nice few days at home with the family.  Becca and I watch Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Step Brothers.  Pretty funny.  We also hit Target just as they were doing 75% off toys.  No kidding we finished all of the shopping for the kids birthdays and believe it or not most of Christmas.  If you have kids watch the Target.  

Hope everyone survived the white death.