Codex Alera Series

Recently I started reading Codex Alera by Jim Butcher. I finished the first two books, Furies of Calderon and Academ's Fury. Both books were very good, the second one being much better in my opinion than the first.

The great part about the books happens to be the nonstop action. Once the book gets going, it does not let up. Which is probably why I stayed up way too late finishing each book instead of getting a decent night's sleep...

My only complaint would be that sometimes it seems a bit predictable, you know that certain characters will make it, and that could just mean that as we grow closer to them, at some point some of them will perish and it will really mean something.

The coolest part happened to be that I actually guessed something about the story, which after I read an interview with Butcher online, he confirmed. SPOILER ALERT: there is a definite Roman presence in the book. For example, the First Lord is called Gaius, the army is divided into legions. Anyways, it has a distinct Roman feel to it. My immediate thought was that this was a Lost Legion story, somehow a group of Roman's made it to the planet of Alera and conquered the natives and learned how to control the furies of the planet. Needless to say, Butcher basically said the same thing in one of his interviews, which made me happy. What can I say, I like to be right.

So yeah, if you enjoy fantasy books, and want something that will have you hooked and not take you like 4 months to read, but is not aimed at the young adults, pick this series up.

Fantasy Baseball Week 13

I lost to Miley Cyrus and Me 4-5-1, but that did not really hurt me in the standings, so oh well. I was winning most of the week, but the weekend caught up with me, apparently my guys play bad on the weekend. Jermaine Dye continues to hit the ball very well, which is funny since I contemplated dropping him or trading him for basically nothing early in the year.

There has been a debate on whether we should cap the number of moves in the league. As I said in my last recap, it all evens out. For examply, my opponent tries the same strategy and as I predicted, he won Ks, but lost WHIP and ERA. We also tied in Wins with six each. I would say that two of his wins came from one of his actual starters and not one of his daily pickups. To go through that many waiver moves and only pick up six wins, and yet basically give away two other categories, is absolutely stupid.

If you are going to try and employ this type of game plan, then be smart about it. Look at split stats, how does the pitcher you are thinking of picking up match up against his opponent?

To be honest, if I had any kind of closers, my team would be a bit more competitive. Sadly that was my huge mistake at the beginning of the year, dropping Troy Percival. I mean for real, who thought he would last all year as the closer for the Rays? And who would have thought they would be on top of the AL East after last year having the worst record and the worst bullpen ERA?

Anyways, I play G-Dizzle this week, and who knows how that will go, I bet I lose saves again.

The Incredible Hulk

Last week I went and saw The Incredible Hulk. I definitely enjoyed this one more than the Ang Lee film from a few years back. Although this film was nowhere near as good as Iron Man, it definitely entertained me and had plenty of geek moments.

I wish the movie would have retained a few things from the original. For example, in the first one the Hulk was a split off personality that witnessed his father abuse him and his mother. Now the Lee movie took that too far and ended up making the father into Absorbing Man, but whatever. In this version, the Hulk is not really a separate personality, but instead a manifestation of Banner's id. For me that ruins the great part of Hulk, he is aware of Banner, and hates him more than anyone else out there.

I guess if that is my major complaint about the movie, then I really have nothing to complain about. The action and fight scenes were very cool. Edward Norton was awesome as always. The cameo's and homages to the original show were cool, especially the theme music, which immediately made me think of Stewie in Family Guy...

Anyways, at the end of the movie, Tony Stark makes an appearance, which sets up the Avengers movie very well. From what I have read online, they may go the Ultimates route and make the formation of the Avengers, a response against a rampaging Hulk...

Comic Book Movie Grade: B+/A-

Fantasy Baseball Weeks 11 & 12

Week eleven sucked. I got beat by Singer's Sluggers, who has since moved into first place. The thing that sucks about the loss: it was 5-3. The two categories we tied were HRs and SBs. Aside from that, our hitting totals were evenly matched.

The pitching is the funny part. Singer's Sluggers is one of those guys who likes to pick up any pitcher who is starting and try to get a high number of wins and Ks. This worked for him the past two weeks, but from what I have seen over the years, it can quickly backfire. The pitchers he is getting are usually 4th or 5th starters, and they can have a tendency to get shelled some starts. It will kill his WHIP and ERA (as evident from our match up), but the offset is hopefully more wins and Ks. The Ks seems most certain, but the wins part. In week 11, he picked up six wins. Which is pretty high when you look at some of the guys who got him those wins and what the scores of those games were and whatnot.

I am not railing against his strategy, just saying that in the long run, it probably will not work, right now he has gotten pretty lucky with it. Sometimes it's the only thing you can do, especially if your pitching staff has injuries or you had a bad draft.

Anyways, week 12 saw me crush Imler 9-1. Again, the hitting seemed to be pretty evenly matched, but my pitching dominated. Seven wins, 1.92 ERA, 1.04 WHIP. That is pretty impressive, also funny that if my team pitched that way the week before, it would have been a different game against Singer...

Let me say that my team is hitting the ball well, it just seems like every week, whomever I play against, their team hits just as well.

These last two weeks have seen Offord and I move out of last place, I am in 8th, with a 51-59-10 record. I play Miley Cyrus and Me this week, who is now in last place. Nice to see that the two last place teams are people who do not pay attention at all. If I can get a big win, hopefully I can get above .500.

RIP George

George Carlin died. No silly euphemisms for my favorite comedian, he would not want it that way. I cannot explain how much the guy has meant to me. As a kid, my dad would let my brother and I watch him on HBO or listen to his tapes.

Pretty much any subject that gets brought up, my brother and I can usually find a Carlin quote or skit that makes fun of it. Anyways, today is a sad day.

Almost every blog in my links has a story about Carlin with video, and here is the AP story.

Instead of posting a video or something like that, I will quote something from his book When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?

During bombing raids in Iraq, the media liked to say that Saddam Hussein used people as human shields. That's not accurate. Although it's true they were used as shields, the fact is they were humans already. So if these humans were used as shields, they were human shields. They weren't being used as human shields.
Got that?

You have to love how he takes something and finds the flaws in it and points them out. He was a master of the English language.

Sunday Odds & Ends

-Not too much to say about today. I go to work and then I come home. Luckily I have off tomorrow, but Tuesday I switch to mornings which always kills my body. Hopefully tomorrow I will get a chance to see Incredible Hulk.

-My face seems to be healing up nicely, although there are two small bumps on my jaw, which annoy me. They are hard to notice, but I can feel them.

-If you notice on the side there is a RSS feed for the Freakangels webcomic by Warren Ellis. Even if you are not a fan of comics, I suggest giving it a shot. It is free and very entertaining.

-Speaking of Warren, in this week's issue he had to take a break because the artist had computer troubles, so W just wrote a nice little interlude. Here is a quote about what it is like when you get into the writing zone:

That is what has happened to me tonight. I am beaming Sex Rays across the world and my brain is all lit up with Holy Fire. If I felt like it, I could shag a million nuns and destroy their faith in Christ.

That is why he's one of my favorite writers.

-I want to pick up the new Coldplay and Deathcab albums sometime soon. I am so gay for just saying that.

-That's about it. If you have not given me your cellphone number, well I still need it. What does the picture of Amy Reid have to do with anything? Absolutely nothing.

I'm the Real Superhero

I read over at Riptor's page that he believes he is destined to be a superhero. Or at least a vigilante. Thats fine and dandy buddy, but me, I shoot for loftier goals: ACTUAL SUPERHERO!

If you see the picture in the previous post, you will notice that my face has a few cuts and bruises, well in almost no time at all, everything is just about completely healed. I must have some kind of mutant healing factor, like Wolverine. The more I thought about this, the more it becomes clear that I am just like Wolverine.

I rarely get sick, and when I do, my body snuffs it out right away. Cuts, bruises, scrapes, and injuries go away fairly quickly. Plus, I am hairy, same as Wolverine. The similarities are eerie. I just need some military group to fuse a non-existent metal onto my bones and give me razor sharp claws.

The resemblance to Wolverine is UNCANNY! Also, do I see a team-up between the vigilante and the superhero sometime soon?

My Horrible Sunday

**UPDATE** This is what my face looks like three days later, the swelling in my jaw still has not went down, but it is not very noticeable.

Sunday night I went over to Mugshots and had a few drinks. On my way home from the bar, two guys jumped me. They beat the crap out of me and stole my cell phone. I did not have my wallet with me, just some cash and my debit card. I must have put the debit card in my cargo pocket with my cigars, which the street thugs did not take.

Apparently I was unconscious for a few moments and when I came to the cops were there. At first they thought I fell, but then quickly realized I had been jumped. They took me to some hospital near by, I think it's called Ohio Valley General. I received two stitches over my left eye and they gave me a CT scan to see if I had a concussion or any swelling in the skull area.

I stayed over night and the next morning my friend's dad came and picked me up. I guess I should mention that my friend was there as well and he too got jumped, but I am leaving him out of this because that is his story to tell and not mine.

Once I was home I realized that I lost something more valuable than my cellphone. My GREEN LANTERN RING!!! That was a gift from my dear wife, Allison, and I have no idea if I will be able to find another one. That thing has become my trademark. People always ask me about it.

Anyways, my new phone will be here tomorrow, apparently it came this morning, but I was asleep. So at some point I will need you all to either IM me your number, or send me a text message, best bet would be Thursday.

The purple spots indicate where the bruises and cuts are. Also, if you notice my jaw is quite swollen which makes it hard to chew. Damn, I really need a camera or a phone with a camera.

Annoying Movie Trend

The other night I watched The Sentinel and I noticed something that needs to stop right now. Before I explain what that is though, let me first say how bad the movie was. It was predictable and very boring, but I digress.

Movies love to play the whole cops versus other agencies rivalry to the point of unbelievability. Whichever group the movie is about is made to seem like they are geniuses while the other group comes off as morons. In the crappy movie named above, Kiefer plays a Secret Service investigator, who makes the D.C. detectives look silly with his uncanny ability to search a crime scene. Or in Boondock Saints, the cops are inept, but the FBI agent is brilliant.

It also works in reverse, Marky Mark makes the great comment in The Departed: "My theory on Feds is that they're like mushrooms, feed 'em shit and keep 'em in the dark."

The problem as I see it, the film makers want us to believe that their character is superior in some way, but why not just point out his achievement, why point out the failure of someone else. Plus, why make law enforcement agencies look bad, is there some message there? I am pretty sure most of those people, in whatever department, can do their jobs.

That's just the way I see it. Who agrees with me? Or wants to name more movies where they do this sort of thing? A great movie where this was not an issue, Inside Man, which showed the detectives being smarter than the beat cops, but the beat cop being decent at his job and not being the guy screws it all up...

This Goes With Today

Since work has been filled with Hawaiian shirts and what not, here is a fun clip from Aqua Teen.

Friends Section Changed

I changed the Friends to Read section into a blog list, that way I know when some of you update your blogs and whatnot. Which leads me to this point: some of you need to update. Hell write anything, that means you brother.

Anyways, to help you motivate everyone, here is a hot chick:

Fantasy Baseball Week 10

Honestly, there is a reason Offord's team and my team are at the bottom of the standings. If your team had to face this line: 24 Runs, 8 HR, 28 RBI, 5 SB, .259 AVE, 2 W, 4 SV, 68 K, 4.02 ERA, and 1.49 WHIP, you would probably be pretty pumped that it would be an easy win.

Sadly, that was Offord's team, I lost week ten, 6-4. My pitching beat him this week, yes I won saves for once, four of mine coming from Capps. My hitting was atrocious, although to be fair, his was not much better.

Zack Greinke may be about done for me, after a great start, he has slowly went downhill. Once Dice-K comes back, Zack may get das boot.

Great Weekend

I rarely tell people about my weekends, but this is one of those times where I feel I must share it. I cannot say that it was one of those weekends where crazy shit happened, nor were there many great stories from it, yet it was absolutely relaxing and a ton of fun.

Saturday
I went to my mom's house and washed my car and tried to get a little bit of sun. My mom and brother came home and we played a few games of rummy, which I lost every time. Adam left and I decided to get a shower, where I noticed that I got a little bit more sun than I realized, my back had a slight burn to it.

It is funny because I have not really had much of a chance in the past bunch of summers to really be outside and get any kind of tan. Well this weekend helped change that for awhile.

I went over to State College and picked up Kacie and we went for ice cream at Meyer's Dairy, which has delicious ice cream, I recommend it. We tried to go miniature golfing, but oddly enough the place was closed. Every time I go there it seems to be closed.

We then dropped my car off at her place and walked over to Champs. We sat out on the deck and had a great time BSing and making friends with our server who happened to be very funny and friendly.

Sunday we went to the pool and did a little swimming and laid around just relaxing. I got to read some of my comics, which is always a plus. I left State College and headed to my mom's house to get the rest of my laundry and then made my way back home to Crafton.

Like I said, nothing mind blowing, but a very nice weekend.

Work Attire

This is the great thing about a weird promotion at work. Yes I get to wear a Hawaiian shirt for the month. No I do not care how ridiculous they look, it beats wearing a long sleeve shirt and tie every day.

The Boondocks

As of right now, one of my favorite things to watch is The Boondocks. If I miss it at 12:30, I will stay up until 4 a.m. to watch it. There are so many fantastic things about the show, but I think a clip from last night's episode helps explain my addiction.

Oh and for the fun of it, a second clip from the same episode.

Mugshots Pens Victory

This is what happens when the Pens win in 3OT at Mugshots. We drink from Danny's makeshift Stanley Cup. GO PENS!!!

Good Job Adam

Finally my brothers undying love for shows on E! has paid off. He told me about this clip from The Soup which is pretty hilarious.


I love that Drew Carey even questions the tactic and the lady does not even realize she is a moron. I hope after the show someone hit her with a tire iron.

Fantasy Baseball Week 9

Nothing worse than leading 6-1 going into the weekend and watching your team self destruct. My hitting still continues to do damage, yet trading away Crawford has hurt my stolen base production.

Pitching was rocking it, my team was leading in every category except saves, then Cole Hamels single handedly destroyed me. His 11.12 ERA and 1.59 WHIP shot my score up to the point that I lost both categories. Also not picking up a win from my ace killed me since that left us in a tie for wins.

Sunday was the worst, my hitting dipped and my AVE dropped like 40 points causing me to lose that category and the match up, 5-3-2. Still in next to last place, a few games ahead of Offord, who I play this week.