New Ring

Help me decide on which ring to purchase.

$100 Rebate

The other day I received my $100 rebate from Verizon for my new phone.  I decided to use it to buy a bunch of comics.  I know some people thought I was done reading comics, but that was quite far from the truth.  Who knew how many trades $100 could get you?  Let us have a look...

Superman Earth One
This is DC's version of the Ultimate line from Marvel.  It is a retelling of the Superman origin.  Also, J. Michael Straczynski shows how Clark could have went out and done anything.  I really enjoyed the part where he tries out for a pro football team and then goes to a research company and solves some giant chem formula.  He really could do anything, yet he does not know what he wants in life.  It is his parents who want him to be Superman.

I am hoping that they continue doing these, I would love to see where this Superman goes.  I also heard they will do something similar with Batman and Wonder Woman.  Pretty good idea.  I only have one complaint about the book.  It was basically the same as Superman:  Birthright by Mark Waid.  Hell, even the idea of Superman facing off against an alien invasion connected to him being his first battle was the same (although in Birthright, the invasion was created by Lex Luthor).

Preacher:  Alamo
When I lived at State College Park, my roommate (Jackson) had all the Preacher trades and I read them in one night.  It was mind-blowing.  Over time I have picked up a volume here and there.  I just needed the final volume and figured I might as well pick it up.  I forgot how great it ends.  After all the crazy shit that happens, who knew that every character would have a mostly happy ending.

Green Lantern:  The Sinestro Corps War
Everyone always thinks that Green Lantern is my favorite superhero.  Probably because of the ring I used to wear.  Oddly enough, I never really read all that much GL.  I wanted to read all this stuff when it was coming out, but just did not have enough money. 

It ended up being a pretty good book.  I am excited to continue reading the rest of this whole War of the Lanterns (or whatever it is called).  I do think that Geoff Johns may have come into my room one night when I was sleeping and read my mind.  Marty and I used to sit around at the Phyrst after those fun comic book club meetings and talk about ideas.  I came up with an idea of a new GL.  One that has the authority to use lethal force.  We also thought maybe he should be some kind of special all-sector lantern (we also tossed around the idea of him having a different color ring).  I even wrote down some notes about his first battle against someone like Darkseid or Mogul.  I also wrote in the notes how he should fight Superman (this was way before they brought back Superboy Prime) and figured it should be an epic battle and in the end, my GL would use his ring to synthesize Kryptonite to defeat him. So, Geoff, if you are reading this, or reading my mind, I have a few more ideas for you.

The Sword:  Earth/Air
This was the final two books from The Luna Brothers newest series.  Earth was pretty weak, but then the fourth book was pretty awesome.  I loved that in the end Dara became the hero yet she died without the sword.  I also loved how Malia came out and announced herself to the world and tried to get them to worship her.  The big reveal at the end was also pretty cool and at first I was going to be annoyed if Phaistos wanted to fight Dara, but him killing himself was a good ending.  For some reason I enjoy the Luna Brothers work.

Justice
The final volume of this saga was a letdown.  Or maybe I should reread the entire series to see if I like it.  At least the art was great.  I felt like the story became a little too odd.  The whole wearing the Metal Men as armor was just weird.

Anyways, this was a good way to spend $100 of free money. 

This Sums It Up

I am going for a beer.  Enjoy!

Girlfriend of the Week

I have been enjoying the show Being Human on SyFy.  I am sure someone will say how it is not nearly as good as the British version, but whatever.  One of the things I enjoy:  Meaghan Rath.  She plays Sally, the ghost, and she is quite hot. 

Justified

Do you watch Justified?  You should.  It is such a good show.  Tonight's episode did not disappoint.  First off, we get Dewey back, and his usual stupidity cracks me up.  Second, did Boyd finally slip back into his old ways at the end of the episode?

Allow me to give you some of the highlights:

-Dewey pretending to be Raylan in order to rob some guys who stole some pills.  As soon as it happened, I had to pause the episode in order to tell Lindsey of the idiotic things Dewey did last season.  My favorite:  getting his head slammed off the steering wheel...

-The crooked Bennett sheriff trying to hint to Raylan that he would be willing to help him move the Oxycontin.  How long will it be before Raylan decides to see what those hillbillies are up to?

-Art figuring out about Raylan and Winonona.  I loved how he hard he was laughing and saying how Raylan should sell tickets to the screw-ups in his life.

-I loved how Ava told Raylan how she can do whatever she wants.  Raylan, stick with Winona, she is hotter and much less of redneck. 

-Boyd dragging the idiot down the road.  The look on his face was great.  I am betting he will soon fall back into his criminal ways.  Raylan is right to not trust Boyd's recent change.

-I am ready for a war between the Dixie Mafia and the Bennett boys.  Naturally Boyd will somehow get involved, which will then drag Raylan into it.  I am sure it will turn into a bloody mess, and it will be awesome.

Anyways, here is something for the ladies...

Blizzards

Apparently winter is not going down without a fight.  After a few nice days and seeing most of the snow melt away (except up here on Mount Doom...it is funny that I call where I live Mount Doom, since in LOTR that mountain was a volcano...)  Today it started snowing and it did not stop.  We probably have at least six inches up here so far (in thirty minutes, my car was completely covered after getting home) and down in Altoona there was a good 2-4 inches.

It reminded me of the blizzard of '93.  Gather 'round kids, time to hear Grandpa Josh tell ya all about the horrors of that blizzard. 

My dad, pap, brother, and I went to the regional wrestling tournament over at Altoona.  During the day the blizzard struck and the tournament decided to just get the entire thing over with in one straight shot, no breaks.  As soon as it was over we left for Philipsburg. 

The police were out on the highway getting ready to close the interstate.  We were the last vehicle they let go.  My dad had a four-wheel drive truck and we started out at a pretty steady pace.  Pretty soon though, it was a solid white-out.  We probably traveled between five and fifteen miles per hour.  My dad stopped a couple times to pull smaller cars out of ditches.

It was not that the road was just bad, you just could not see anything, so knowing if you were actually on the road was quite a problem.  It took us nearly four hours to get home (it normally takes about 40-45 minutes).  Once home, because of the hill we lived on, my dad could not get the truck up the driveway.  We had to walk up the very steep hill to the house.  There was one small problem, the wind caused the snow to drift, which caused the bottom of the hill to have a snow over four feet high.  My dad had to carry my brother on his back up the hill.

Back then I thought it was so ridiculous that we came home.  Many of our family members had hotel rooms, but my dad and pap did not want to stay.  Now though, I think of it as an adventure and one that I am glad to have been involved.

As I drove home tonight I kept thinking about that drive home and how my dad had to concentrate and use every bit of his driving skill to make it home.  I remembered how many times he would have to stop to clear off his windshield wipers (the snow was coming down at such a rate that even if they were moving, they could not clear it away fast enough...crazy). 

Is there a point to this?  Nah, just reminiscing about the past.

The Heroes

I finished the newest Joe Abercrombie novel in three days (interesting is that the majority of the book takes place over a three day period).  It was absolutely fantastic.  Abercrombie definitely keeps getting better as a writer.  Instead of everything being dark and depressing at the end, there were at least a few bright spots at the end of the day.  The story takes place up north as the Union fight against Black Dow and the rest of the North.

The book focuses on characters from both sides and mainly how they are not really heroes.  During the main battle, Abercrombie does something I really enjoyed.  He takes the POV of a character from one side of the battle, and then as he is killed, he switches to the POV of the person doing the killing, and then when that person gets killed, he switches to that killer.  He did this before (at least I think so), but he did it for a much longer section this time.  Anyways, like the last two movies, I will be doing a casting call for my own movie version.  There will probably be spoilers from here on out.

Curnden Craw
He is a Named Man on Black Dow's side.  He is considered a straight-edge, a guy who always does the right thing.  The funny thing is, once he retires, his second (Wonderful) decides that doing the right thing generally means not getting paid.  It is funny how they all fight for him, yet they were sick and tired of doing things his way.  Unfortunately, retirement does not stick and when Hardbread asks him to join Scale's side, he gives up carpentry and picks his sword back up.

I picture him as Robert Duvall.  He is older, constantly bitching about wanting to retire, but also he keeps saying things about how you have to do the right thing and stand by your chief.   Duvall just looks like he could pick up a sword and be a bad-ass, but always would keep his warped sense of honor.

Prince Calder
The youngest son of Bethod, the former King of the North.  He believes that peace is the North's best shot.  He is a known coward and everyone makes fun of him.  After his brother (Scale) is apparently killed, he must lead his men in the battle.  He does so and earns their respect, but not before mentioning to Craw that they need to kill Black Dow.  Because of Craw believing in doing the right thing, he tells Dow everything.  Black Dow wants to kill Calder.  Calder cleverly challenges Black Dow to fight in the circle.

I actually saw this going one of three ways:  Calder somehow finds a berserker rage (much like the Bloody-Nine) and kills Dow.  Black Dow savagely kills Calder and we learn the lesson that the little guy never rises up to beat the bad guy.  Or my third option was that Logen would show up and offer to fight in the circle for Calder.  I still do not believe Logen is dead, I am guessing he will show up in the next series.  Anyways, Shivers steps up and helps Calder out, which was pretty much a shock.  It also reaffirmed my choice for Shivers from the last time.

By the end of the book, Calder is the new King of the North, but then Bayaz tells him that he was the reason Calder is where he is.  Bayaz also tells him that Scale is alive, which leaves Calder with a tough decision:  kill his brother or let him be king.  He chooses the second option, which was pretty cool.  So who has the stones to play the smirking, smug bastard?  How about Michael Fassbender?  Just look at that smirk...plus he is a good actor.  Do you remember how smug and cocky he was in 300?

Bremer dan Gorst
He is probably one of the greatest swordsmen in the world.  No joking on that one.  He pretty much takes on many of the Northmen on his own.  Unfortunately after the last book, he disgraced himself and got sent to the North as an observer.  He went back to his former training (running for miles in full armor, fencing for hours each morning...) and is now back at peak performance.

He battles Scale on the bridge and cuts him down.  He beats the crap out of Glama Golden.  He also kills Whirrun of Bligh.  He scares half the Northmen just by strolling through the battlefield.  He is just an absolute bad-ass.  His letters to the king are quite funny.  At the end, during negotiations, he almost attacks Shivers because he thinks he recognizes him (events from Best Served Cold).  Again, this is why my previous choice for Shivers was perfect.  As Gorst grabs him and asks if he was ever at Cardotti's, Shivers leans close and says "never heard of it."

The biggest problem with Gorst is that his voice is very high and that is why everyone makes fun of him.  I figure Manu Bennett from Spartacus:  Blood and Sand would be perfect.  He pretty much has no neck and looks like he would scare the shit out of everyone.  Just need to work on the voice.

Beck
Beck is one of the few happy stories in this book.  He is just a young kid, he joins the Northmen trying to earn his name.  He used to daydream about being a fearless warrior just like his father.  During his first battle, he pisses his pants, hides in a cupboard, and then stabs one of his fellow soldiers.   No one knows this though and he earns the name Red Beck because everyone thinks he killed four Union soldiers.

He later joins up with Craw's men and during one of the major battles he heeds Craw's advice:  stand by your chief.  When Gorst kills Whirrun and is about to kill Craw, Beck hits him in the back of the head with the flat end of his sword, knocking Gorst out.

After the battle, Beck refuses his payment from Wonderful because he does not feel it is right that they did not help Black Dow even though they stood for him.  He leaves the group and goes back home to his mom and brothers.  He is happy to finally be back on the farm and decides he never wants to be like his father.  Who else could play this kid other than Aaron Johnson from Kick-Ass?  He is a bigger kid, but he still looks young and naive enough.

Black Dow

This is the guy who used to fight alongside Logen and is considered an even more savage killer than him.  He supposedly killed Logen, but I honestly do not believe it (as I already said).  He ends up dead from Shivers, who tells him that he is no one's dog.  I loved it.  Again, this is why Alexander Skarsgard is perfect as shivers.  But, who could play Black Dow?

There has only been one choice this entire time.  From about page 44 on, I kept picturing Ian McShane and his awesomeness as Al Swearengen from Deadwood.  It was the exchange with Stranger-Come-Knocking that did it for me.  As Stranger goes on about the different men he killed, Black Down just keeps tossing out funny little comments.  "I crushed a man's skull in my hand."  Dow:  "Messy."  "I was pierced with many arrows during a battle."  Dow:  "You should get a shield." 

And then at the end when he says he has given Calder every chance, he just reminded me so much of Swearengen.  It is an absolutely perfect fit.  He just might have to hit the gym before the filming.

Corporal Tunny
A Union soldier who has served for many years.  He pretty much seems like the Union's version of Calder.  He jokes about not actually doing any fighting and all he really wants is to make money in numerous ways.  He seems to be a jerk to the new recruits.

When his one moment comes though and they attack a wall (which Calder set up as a decoy), he is the first over the wall and ready to fight.  He also writes letters to the families of the men who died under his command, yet does not want anyone to see it.  I am sure he will pop up again in the next series when the army heads to Styria (maybe he will end up joining sides with Cosca, they would be like best friends...or did Cosca die at the end of Best Served Cold, I cannot remember.)

I keep thinking of Dean Winters for the role.  He was awesome as O'Reily on Oz and he is great in those Allstate commercials.

Whirrun of Bligh
He is pretty much crazy.  He believes some witch who told him when he would die and apparently he does not think it will be the day that he actually dies.  He carries a sword called The Father of Swords, and when he unsheathes it, the rule is that it must be blooded.

During the last battle, he shows up wearing no shirt because he does not believe he will die that day.  Everyone is scared of him because he is such a nut-job (his nickname is Cracknut).  He reminds me of Tig from Sons of Anarchy.  Tig is a little nuts and pretty funny.  Kim Coates would be perfect (especially if you ever saw Waterworld and his crazy character in that movie).

I loved how as he was dying, he gives his sword to Craw and tells him to bury it with him, that way it's curse can end with him.  I also enjoyed how he says that he has never actually been to Bligh, but he must have received the name since most Northmen only know one place up in neck of the woods (I think he was from the Crinna, like Stranger).

Stranger-Come-Knocking
He is described as a giant, but with a somewhat soft voice.  He is also obsessed with making the people of his land more civilized.  He did not have a large role in the book, but when he shows up, he is great.  I am guessing that he will have to be mostly CGI or something.  Plus, whoever plays him will have to be able to have a great exchange with Black Dow and then become all soft when talking to Calder or Finree.  How about Jared Padalecki?  He is already a big dude, and in Supernatural, he goes from a nice, soft-voiced guy, to an all out bad-ass pretty quickly.   Plus, he usually has some funny exchanges with Jensen Ackles.

Finree dan Brock

The wife of Colonel Brock, whose father was considered a traitor against King Jezal.  She is also the daughter of Lord Marshall Kroy.  She is ambitious and very knowledgeable about the military.  She is captured by Stranger, but later turned over to Black Dow in order to discuss a peace agreement.

Gorst is in love with her and at the end of the book he makes a fool of himself by telling her how great of a warrior he is, which she pretty much tears him apart.  She will pretty much do anything to get ahead in life.  By the end, Bayaz has made her husband the Lord Governor of Angland (it borders the North), which is basically what she wanted.  She has dark hair and is very hot.  Hmm, so many women to choose from.

I like Sienna Miller.  She is hot (she even looks hot with dark hair, which she will need for the role) and if you remember her in Stardust, she was a perfect manipulative bitch.

Aliz dan Brint
She is the wife of Brint (a character from the first series) and the only friend of Finree.  She is very naive and a bit of a twit.  I am guessing she is pretty hot though, since Jezel and Brint are friends, and she probably has been in the company of the queen.   She is the blond one and her story does not end well.  Whereas Finree gets to leave Stranger's company, she does not.  I am guessing she got banged by a giant.  Why even bother mentioning her?  I wanted to post another picture of a girl, I ain't gay (not that there is anything wrong with that.)  How about Hilary Duff?  She is hot and young...

Wonderful

She is Craw's second and a pretty tough lady.  I am guessing she must not be all that hot or she would have probably gotten raped awhile ago.  I am guessing that since she has been with Craw for awhile now, she must be a littler older.  I figured Linda Hamilton would be good.  I could believe her holding up a sword and fighting against Northmen.

Although, I have seen some pictures of her where she looks older than Robert Duvall.  Whatever, she was ripped in T2.

Obviously this is not all the characters.  If you want my choices for other characters from previous books, go here and here.  I also had another prediction during the book:  the character Red-Hat, the second to the Dogman, was going to actually be either Logen or Major West (he must have been promoted to Lord Marshall at some point, since he got a passing mention).  It appears that I was wrong though.  Anyways, let me know what you think.

Thor Trailer

Shut up and enjoy this preview.

Girlfriend of the Week

Even though I never talk about it, one of my favorite shows is Justified.  Do you guys watch that show?  It is freakin' awesome.  Anyways, not going to harp on how great it is, instead I am going to make Natalie Zea my GOTW.  She plays Raylan's ex-wife, Winona.  I know that some people think that Ava was hotter (actually I do not understand it whatsoever), but I am much happier now that she is out of the picture (or with Boyd, whatever) and Raylan is focusing on banging Winona.  The best part about her being a more prominent character:  she walks around in just Raylan's shirt and underwear a lot.  Definitely an added bonus to an already awesome show.

I also think she has very sexy eyes.  And great legs...and pretty much everything else.  Plus she is pretty funny at times.  Her and Raylan have a pretty good back and fourth.

After the Moon Tower...

This is something new I plan on doing every so often.  I will take a movie and write about where they are nowadays.  No, not the actual actors, but the characters.  My blog, my idiotic ideas.

Dazed and Confused
As many of you know, this is one of my favorite movies.  I can probably quote the entire movie.  I always loved how the movie's high point is the party at the moon tower and the different things that happen to the characters.  It was one of those things where the movie leads us to believe that this is the kind of night that will change their lives.  Do parties out in a field usually have a major impact on our lives?  I bet not and let us take a look and see what those crazy kids got into after the party.

Randall "Pink" Floyd
Everyone kept trying to get Pink to sign the pledge sheet so he could play football next year.  He tells his coach that he may play football, but he will never sign that sheet of paper.  Well believe it or not, he did play football his senior year.  Lee High School had a very good returning team and they finished the season 10-1.  They lost in the semifinals of the state playoffs.  Just one game away from playing for the state title.  It was a heart-breaking loss.  This winning caused Pink to fall back in love with football.  He went to a small, D-II school in Texas where he played for four years, started his junior and senior years.  He received his degree and later returned to Lee High School to teach.  He became the football coach once his former assistant coach (who became the head coach when Coach Conrad retired) was fired for having an affair with Ms. Stroud.  Randy has led his team to three state titles and has been recruited to coach for a few colleges.  He turns them down because he truly loves the thrill of coaching kids who still have a passion for football.  He does not make kids sign any kind of pledge.

Mitch Kramer
Mitch was quickly accepted by the seniors and became the cool guy for the freshmen.  It also did not hurt that he had a wicked fastball.  He started for Lee High School as a freshman and won a couple games.  He pitched all four years and ended up accumulating some impressive stats.  He was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 8th round of the 1980 draft.  He made it up to the AA level before panning out.  He decided to stay in Arkansas, where he still lives with his wife and two kids.  He works as a plant manager at a chicken factory.  He cut his hair after his sophomore year because it got in his way as a pitcher.  I guess he never watched Tim Lincecum...

Ron Slater
The hippy of the group.  He spent the majority of the party doing drugs or talking about George Washington being in a cult and how he grew weed because it was a good cash crop.  Slater's story is not all that good, nor is it all that bad.  He pretty much quit doing drugs after his freshman year of college.  Apparently he did so many drugs that they started to have no effect on him after awhile.  He did not want to graduate into the really hard drugs, so he just gave it all up.  Fortunately, he saved enough money from selling drugs to pay for college.  He decided to apply himself and ended up getting his masters degree in harmonics.  He works for some company designing speakers.  His biggest regret in life was not getting his PhD.  Also, he never did bang a lot of chicks, but the one he did nab in college was considered one of the hottest girls on campus.  You may have seen her as the Playmate of the Year (1978)...

Benny O'Donnell
Believe it or not, but Benny was actually a very smart kid.  He may have seemed like all he cared about was football and getting Pink to play, but in truth he was quite more than just an all-state linebacker.  He was probably one of the best linebackers in all of Texas and he was offered a full ride to the University of Texas, Texas Tech, and even Alabama, but he turned them all down.  He decided to join a much bigger team, with a much grander tradition.  He joined the Army, well actually he went to West Point.  After graduating, he moved up the ranks quickly and joined a new covert ops unit called Delta Force.  He went on to becoming one of the trainers for future agents.  He retired from the military in 2001 (after a disagreement with Rumsfeld) as a Lieutenant General.  One of his prized recruits into the Delta Force program was a young soldier who would later go on to fight terrorists for CTU in Los Angeles.  Benny now resides in Texas on his cattle ranch, there has been speculation about him running for the state Senate.

David Wooderson
Wooderson never did go to junior college.  He kept working for the state and partying with high school kids.  Unfortunately, like most old guys who forget to grow up, he went from being cool to creepy in just four years.  By Mitch's senior year, Wooderson was now the weird old guy at a party.  I mean, 16 year old girls do not think a 30 year old stoner is all that sexy.  After Mitch graduated, he no longer had an in with the high school crowd.  He started leaving work and just heading to the local bar and drinking until about 10:00, then he would go home and get some sleep and do it all over again.  We have seen those guys at the bar, they look like they have been there all day, still dressed in their dirty work clothes, and then when it starts getting crowded, they bolt.  He quickly put on weight and lost his hair.  He died of a heart attack in 2004.  I guess he was no longer L-I-V-I-N.

Darla Marks
What a freakin' bitch!  She always thought she was the queen of her high school.  She became a stewardess for United Airlines after high school.  She married a business man and together they had three kids.  She is one of those mothers who pushed her daughters into becoming cheerleaders.  Always pushing them, harder and harder.  Telling them they need to diet.  They grew up hating her and have not spoken to her in thirty years.  She has never met her grandchildren.  It is actually kind of sad.  She is miserable and wonders if she should have been a better person when she was younger.

Jodi Kramer
Mitch's older sister did not have the cool story as her brother (I guess that depends on your POV).  She continued to try and get Pink to dump Simone, but to no avail.  She ended up sleeping with lots of guys and by the time she reached college, she was banging multiple partners a night.  She dropped out of college and started doing porn to pay the bills.  She is best known for her role in Gangbang Nurses VII (which was not nearly as good as Gangbang Nurses VI, but that is another debate for another time).   She had to retire from porn after her second prolapse.  So disgusting.

Don Dawson
Premature ejaculator my ass!  Guess who became a daddy???  That's right, Don impregnated Shavonne (luckily she had the kid during the summer after graduation).  They got married and then divorced three years later when he got another girl pregnant.  Apparently he has super sperm.  He has at least six other children.  I am pretty sure that child support laws were created because of him.  A few more kids and he could have fielded his own football team (at least an offense).

Fred O'Bannion
The dumbshit failed his senior year.  Unfortunately he did not have much of a chance to attend classes in 1977.  During the summer he stewed over how angry he was about that skinny little shit Carl.  He ended up basically stalking him all summer and then one drunken night, he finally caught him and beat him.  He broke Carl's legs and his jaw.  Needless to say, the police did not think it was all that funny.  He was arrested and ended up doing seven years in prison, where he most certainly became someone's bitch.  Because of the beating on Carl, Lee High School made a huge push to stop hazing.  Carl became the poster boy for what happens when hazing goes too far.  Mitch and his friends did not haze the incoming freshmen...

These last two individuals actually had their lives changed from that party...

Clint Bruno and Mike Newhouse
He only came to the Moon Tower for two things:  to kick some ass and drink some beers.  And did he ever kick poor, nerdy Mike's ass.   That was probably the biggest mistake of Clint's life.  Mike decided to go to college and study his butt off.  He went on to law school and soon after got a job as an assistant district attorney. 

Clint stayed in town and got a job as a mechanic.  He would occasionally get into bar fights and get into trouble.  Mike made it his life mission to destroy Clint.  He moved back to that area and after one of those fights, Mike pushed to have Clint given the maximum jail time.  He then paid a guy to shank Clint in prison.  Not a lethal shank, just one that left Clint paralyzed.  Mike later visited Clint in the hospital and asked him once again if he remembered him.  To this day, he sends Clint a card on the day of the shanking and signs it "Isaac Fuckin' Newton."

Mike now serves on the Texas Supreme Court.  And he might be a serial killer, not really all that sure.

Religious Stuff

After work on Friday, I came home and spent a good chunk of time reading the skepticblog and this article about Scientology on the skeptoid podcast.  Quick aside, can you download podcasts and play them on a Droid X or do I need a special app for that?  Or are podcasts just recorded in mp3 form?  I know nothing about the topic.  Anyways, as I read the comments I came across a bunch of people saying about a link to an article over at the New Yorker.  I went over and read the article, which was pretty long.  I highly recommend everyone reading it.

The article is written by Lawrence Wright and is an examination of Scientology mixed with an interview with Paul Haggis.  I will not lie, I loved the movie Crash.  Seriously, that movie was very good.  I definitely recommend it.  Here are a few of my favorite things from the article:

Recruits had a sense of boundless possibility. Mystical powers were forecast; out-of-body experiences were to be expected; fundamental secrets were to be revealed. Hubbard had boasted that Scientology had raised some people’s I.Q. one point for every hour of auditing. “Our most spectacular feat was raising a boy from 83 I.Q. to 212,” he told the Saturday Evening Post, in 1964.

Did Hubbard realize he was pretty much just stealing the idea behind the short story Flowers for Algernon?  I loved that short-story, which we read my freshman year of high school (or was it sophomore year?).  If his magical auditing and following Dianetics actually worked, why wouldn't the government start using it to train super-soldiers.

The stories Haggis found on the Internet of children drafted into the Sea Org appalled him. “They were ten years old, twelve years old, signing billion-year contracts—and their parents go along with this?” Haggis told me. “Scrubbing pots, manual labor—that so deeply touched me. My God, it horrified me!” The stories of the Sea Org children reminded Haggis of child slaves he had seen in Haiti.
Many Sea Org volunteers find themselves with no viable options for adulthood. If they try to leave, the church presents them with a “freeloader tab” for all the coursework and counselling they have received; the bill can amount to more than a hundred thousand dollars. Payment is required in order to leave in good standing. “Many of them actually pay it,” Haggis said. “They leave, they’re ashamed of what they’ve done, they’ve got no money, no job history, they’re lost, they just disappear.” In what seemed like a very unguarded comment, he said, “I would gladly take down the church for that one thing.”

It blows my mind that more people do not check into this stuff. Hell, people get all upset about baseball players signing ridiculous contracts, but at least those ones are only for like seven years...not a billion. Also, the whole being in debt a hundred thousand dollars and not having any job history, doesn't that sound like pretty much every college graduate? HAHA, I hope I get a writing job for Jay Leno soon!

Whitehill and Venegas worked on a special task force devoted to human trafficking. The laws regarding trafficking were built largely around forced prostitution, but they also pertain to slave labor. Under federal law, slavery is defined, in part, by the use of coercion, torture, starvation, imprisonment, threats, and psychological abuse. The California penal code lists several indicators that someone may be a victim of human trafficking: signs of trauma or fatigue; being afraid or unable to talk, because of censorship by others or security measures that prevent communication with others; working in one place without the freedom to move about; owing a debt to one’s employer; and not having control over identification documents. Those conditions echo the testimony of many former Sea Org members who lived at the Gold Base.

It would seriously make my day if Scientology officials went to jail for human trafficking. It is an idiotic religion and it really is run more like a business than anything. At least the Catholic church just molests the kids. No point in making them work after all the ass-pounding.  

Former Sea Org members report that Miscavige receives elaborate birthday and Christmas gifts from Scientology groups around the world. One year, he was given a Vyrus 985 C3 4V, a motorcycle with a retail price of seventy thousand dollars. “These gifts are tokens of love and respect for Mr. Miscavige,” Davis informed me.

By contrast, Sea Org members typically receive fifty dollars a week. Often, this stipend is docked for small infractions, such as failing to meet production quotas or skipping scripture-study sessions. According to Janela Webster, who was in the Sea Org for nineteen years before defecting, in 2006, it wasn’t unusual for a member to be paid as little as thirteen dollars a week.

Look, I will give a kid $50 a week to stay at my place and be like my own person assistant. They get to live here and eat whatever food I do not have and in return, they do the laundry and dishes. I doubt that Lindsey would have a problem with this, we both work, hell, we could probably bump it up to $75 per week. And we will not dock you pay if you fail to get the socks folded by the time I get home. I get it, you started doing the laundry and then got sucked into watching a House marathon on USA. It happens all the time.

The church won’t release official membership figures, but it informally claims eight million members worldwide. Davis says that the figure comes from the number of people throughout the world who have donated to the church. “There is no process of conversion, there is no baptism,” Davis told me. It was a simple decision: “Either you are or you aren’t.” A survey of American religious affiliations, compiled in the Statistical Abstract of the United States, estimates that only twenty-five thousand Americans actually call themselves Scientologists. That’s less than half the number who identify themselves as Rastafarians.

 RASTAFARIANS KILLED MY BROTHER!!

I once asked Haggis about the future of his relationship with Scientology. “These people have long memories,” he told me. “My bet is that, within two years, you’re going to read something about me in a scandal that looks like it has nothing to do with the church.” He thought for a moment, then said, “I was in a cult for thirty-four years. Everyone else could see it. I don’t know why I couldn’t.”

There is so much more in the article. I am not kidding when I say you should read it. If you ever wondered about Scientology or at least wanted to get an idea about what it is, this is a great article to start.

And do not worry, I did not want the Christians to feel like I forgot about them...

I hope someone makes this into a shirt.

X-Men First Class Preview

I was not excited about this movie at first (have I been excited for any comic book movies in awhile?), but then Matthew Vaughn was announced as the director (if you remember, I loved Kick-Ass, Stardust, and Layer Cake).

I am now very excited for this film.  I believe it will take the terribleness that was Wolverine away from my mind..

Girlfriend of the Week

This week's GOTW is Krysten Ritter, who I really never heard of until I started watching the second season of Breaking Bad.  She played Jane, the girl that Jesse starts dating...well never mind, I plan on writing about the show at some point.  I just really thought she was hot.

The Dragon Reborn

It took awhile, but I finally finished The Dragon Reborn, the third book in the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.  It has nothing to do with how good the book was, more to do with the fact that I spent most of my free time playing NHL11.  Now that my season is finished though, I decided to finish the book.

It was a great book and I guess I have noticed a trend in these books:  stuff happens for awhile, little adventures and then everything gets a little crazy at the end.  It is a cool thing.  Most of my predictions are still a possibility, which is a good thing (it shows how smart I am).

There were only a few complaints I had about the book and most of them were pretty minor.  The first one is the whole Mat being this awesome quarterstaff wielder.  I get that most of his fights later in the book revolve around his luck, but the first one seemed kind of silly.  Also, I hated how the teacher tossed out the story about how the greatest swordsman of all time lost only once to a quarterstaff wielding farmer.  Oh and then Mat remembers how his father always won during the festivals, unless Tam beat him.  It just seemed so...pointless and convenient? 

There is really no need to make Mat a great fighter.  Rand and Perrin make sense, but Mat is the trickster, he relies on his wits.  Also, after awhile he started to seem like a similar character to Rand and Perrin.  I did enjoy that he started to deduce that his luck worked when things were more random.

The other thing I did not like was how Egwene read about the ter'angreal that influences the holders luck and she thinks how it would really help Mat.  And then, just like that all of Mat's luck seems to be good.  I am guessing that when Selene visited him she gave him something...and yes I still think that Selene is Lanfear.  I noticed that all the other Foresaken all use a similar phrase:  "so-called Aes Sedai." 

My favorite part was at the end when Rand takes the sword and decides to follow Ba'alzamon by creating a portal (he has no clue to where or how he did it) and before he steps in he says "Now I am the hunter."  That was a very cool part, as was the Aiel saying they were the People of the Dragon. 

I will change a prediction though.  Mat will end up with Elayne.  He is going to constantly rub it in to the three girls about them not really thanking him for saving him.  Their relationship will start off a little rocky.  They will be mean to each other and then they will realize they have feelings for each other.  Why do I think that?  It will basically copy Zarine and Perrin's start.

Super Bowl XLV

I figured I could not take any chances and perhaps jinx the Steelers, I decided to go to Mugshots to watch the game.  I figured it worked out well last time...By now you know the outcome, the Packers won the game.  Congratulations to them, they played a great game.

Lindsey and I got to Mugshots around 4:30 and hung around outside with MCA (Sean), playing catch and a little cornhole.  The place was packed inside and we found a place to stand (almost the same place I stood last time).  As the game was about to start, Danny (the guy who runs the bar) played Renegade.  I tried to take a video of it, hope it came out okay.



-I have heard a lot of people saying that the game was fixed.  That the league did not want the Steelers to win the game because of Ben's off the field issues and the way the defense likes to hit people (mainly Harrison).  I do not believe that, but it did feel like the Packers were getting away with a few holding calls (or could it be that as a fan, I notice it more against my team than when my team does it?)  I suppose it will be one of those things I will have to watch another time and be more objective.  I have watched Super Bowl XL again and seen all the poor calls that Seattle fans bitched about.

-I feel like the Steelers should have kept running the ball.  They seemed like they were looking for the big play.  Also, the defense seemed very flat.  Was Troy at 100%?  The final two games he just did not seem to be there. 

-The game seemed so surreal.  I (and probably everyone else) expected Ben to lead the Steelers down the field on that final drive and win the game.  When they turned it over on downs at the end, it was the first moment all night where I went "oh shit, we are not going to win this game."

-I do not care about talking about the idiot screwing up the national anthem.  Nor do I care about the half-time show.  Or the commercials.

-Dallas did a great job of hosting a Super Bowl though.  I mean, the city forgot to check the weather and order salt.  The stadium screwed up a bunch of people's tickets.   And there was a stripper shortage.  And people think State College would be able to handle a Super Bowl if it were the Steelers/Eagles.

-Do you remember my NFL predictions?  I picked the Packers to be a wild card team and beat the AFC North team in the Super Bowl.  How awesome am I?  Oh and I said that the AFC Championship game would be the North champ beating the Jets.  It does not matter that I picked the Ravens to win the division (I never pick the Steelers).

And now for some pictures...

I have no idea why I took this picture.  I think it was after a random stop.

Lindsey decked out in her scarf.  She wore it all game.  Odd.

MCA looking nervous at kickoff.  People think he was just this way because it was the Super Bowl, but he gets like this for preseason games as well.

MCA and I before the game started.  We looked much sadder and much drunker later.

Pens vs. Sabres Pt. One

For Christmas I bought my brother and his girlfriend tickets to a Pens game.  The game we got to go to was Friday night against the Buffalo Sabres.  The game was awesome (it was only my second game, and the first one was a loss), the Pens came back from a 2-0 deficit and won 3-2.  Allow me to take you on the journey...

We had talked about getting there pretty early so we could walk around and check the arena out, and maybe do some shopping at the Pens store.  Unfortunately, Adam could not get out of work early enough, so we did not get to the Consul Energy Center until about 6:45.

Our seats were pretty similar to the seats we had last time.  The reason for this is because I got the tickets off Brent Johnson's wife (Danielle is Lindsey's cousin).  We got seated and watched the last few minutes of pregame, and then the puck was dropped.  We were pumped.  Then Gaustad goes down and scores during the first 17 seconds of the game.  That kind of sucked.

Okay, no big deal.  Unfortunately the Sabres scored again around 7:00 minutes.  As the period came to an end, I started to wonder if I was just bad luck for the Penguins.  We went looking for a bathroom during intermission and we discovered a neat item.  Sprinkled around the place are some family restrooms (I am guessing for parents to take in small children).  There were lines for every regular bathroom, but nothing for this one.  So, I went on in.  It was fantastic (especially if you are someone who gets a little stage fright at a large public restroom).

The second period started out with Fleury in the goal right in front of us.  Adam made the prediction that all the goals would be scored at the opposite end.  After the way the game started, I figured we had nothing to worry about.  Then the Pens decided to start dominating.  They pretty much kept the puck on the Sabres end the entire second period (I think there were like six shots for the Sabres in the second period).

Dustin Jeffrey started it off by scoring around three minutes into the period.  Then it just got better.  Kennedy scored to tie it up and Matt Cooke put one in to take the lead about forty seconds later.  Needless to say, we were now completely pumped.  I took some video of the game, check it out.

Oh sorry, that is a video of my friend Jason's adult league hockey.  That was not the Penguins.   Anyways, the third period saw the Penguins pretty much dominate again and we saw Malkin get hurt.  That sucked.  The Pens came away with a victory yet again.  Very awesome.

Fans were encouraged to bring their Terrible Towels to support the Steelers.  At the end of the first period (or was it the beginning of the second period?), they played Renegade, which got the crowd pumped up.  You can see the towels twirling.  We did not forget our towels.  Nope.  Some idiot did not carry them around and then get them inside the girl's apartment we were staying, only to set them down for a second and forget them.  I swear.  That would never happen.

At least we looked good in our jerseys.  We had the goal of getting a picture of the four of us at the game.  We failed at that one too.  I am pretty shitty at the whole picture thing.

This is part one of a two part post.  Who knows when the second part will come though...

Carl's Super Bowl Pick

Not the funniest Carl ever, but at least he did not pick the Steelers...

I will be at Mugshots tomorrow night to enjoy the game.  Stay tuned later for my story about the Pens game last night.

Girlfriend of the Week

I am not a superstitious person, but I figured that since this GOTW worked for the last Super Bowl, I might as well just roll with it again.

To quote the last time:

In honor of this weekend's huge game, this week's GOTW goes out to all the sexy girls out there who are football fans. Especially to all the hot chicks who will be out in Pittsburgh dressed in their black and gold. Since the Steelers do not have cheerleaders, I decided to use these ones.

 GO STEELERS!!!

Where Have I Been?

I know many of you have been wondering where I have been the last few days.  Well, if you follow me on facebook or twitter, you probably know that I have been organizing my comics.  Remember how I said I wanted to sell all my single issues?  I discovered that in order to do that, most sites want a list of your comics.  So...since Thursday I have been going through every issue and entering them into a spreadsheet, along with the price I paid for them.  It is actually pretty depressing to see how much money I have spent on comic books.

I just finished comprising the list.  Insanity.  It took me about thirty hours to complete.  I bet you are wanting some totals, huh?  I will get to that in a second.  First, I want to explain how sore I am from this endeavor.  Sitting cross-legged most of the time and hunched over has probably ruined my body.  For some reason my left leg now has a soreness that has not went away.  I think this project aged me by about twenty-five years.  Second, I am actually impressed with myself for pushing through the entire thing.  I knew that if I stopped for a few days or took a long break, then I would lose the desire to do it.  I also kept myself from rereading stuff.  I did make some notes on series I would like to buy the trades of to myself though.

This is just the start to organizing the comics that were in the multitude of shoe-boxes and other boxes I have neglected over the last few years.

As you can see, I started out pretty well organized.  Unfortunately, over the next few days, things progressed to look more like this:

Every box out of the closet, comics everywhere!  If you ever decide to do something like this, try to situate yourself so that your laptop is a little higher up so you do not have to hunch over.

 

 

After it was all said and done, it turns out that I own 3,752 comics.  I have spent $10,478.33 over the course of my lifetime.  Granted, I have been buying comics for a long time now, but it still shocked me.  My guess was that it would end up being somewhere in the $6,000-$8,000 range.

Anyways, there are a few finishing touches I have to do to the list and then I will start emailing it out to the different sites I have found that buy comics.  I will keep everyone updated because I am sure you are dying to know how this turns out.