Irish Eyes - Part 2

6:57 a.m.

Monday morning.

My car battery is dead.

Flipping Awesome.

After calling AAA, my boss, the car dealership, and my boss again, I arrived in the waiting room of my car dealership and began watching CNN while sipping on a small hot coffee. I had settled into the fact that I was going to be very late for work, and going to spend close to $200.00 to have a new battery put in my car. I figured my April Fool's Day had arrived 24 hours early.

While watching a CNN piece on the high profile Dems that are asking HRC to drop out of the race, an elderly gentleman began talking to me. 

He asked me if I liked Obama, and I told him I did. I shared with him that I had been a town chairperson for the Obama campaign during the six months prior to the primary election in our state. He told me that he too, liked Obama, and thought he was a good public speaker and seemed to get along with everybody. 

"That's exactly what we need right now," I said, "a President that gets along with everybody." He nodded his head in agreement and looked back up at the T.V. 

I noticed that he was wearing a "Korean War Veteran" hat, and asked him what branch of the military he served in. "Army," he replied. "I was Master Sargent- E8. Helicopter Division. I served in the Korean War, Vietnam, and in Desert Storm. I was in my fifties when I served in Desert Storm. My kids didn't think I'd come back alive."

I looked at him, smiled, and said, "Thank you."

I then realized that he might be able to answer my burning question of the past five years, so I decided to give it a shot. "Can you tell me why we are in Iraq?" I asked. He shook his head and told me that not only could he not tell me why we are there, but he couldn't understand why we weren't presently bringing our men and women home. 

"We have no business there." He said.

My search for an answer continues~

Irish Eyes

I was at an St. Patrick Day's celebration today (the original event being canceled by snow) at an Irish Pub. I was in a large crowd of happy people, standing shoulder to shoulder, drinking beer and listening to a group of bagpipe players. I was really enjoying myself, and feeling very proud of my Irish heritage- my maternal grandparent's last name is O'Brien.

Toward the end of their performance, and between songs, the leader of the group invited all of us to raise our glasses and salute the fallen troops in Iraq. He then proceeded to lead his bagpipers into "Amazing Grace." That song played on the bagpipes always brings tears to my eyes, and having it played to honor our men and women that have lost their lives over the past five years was rough.

As of this writing, there have been 4002 confirmed (and 4 pending) troops that have died since 2002 in Iraq. That is a lot of our young men and women who have sacrificed their lives for another country's civil war, and I still cannot find anybody who can give me a good reason for why we are there.

While listening to "Amazing Grace" today, saluting the fallen troops, and blinking back tears, I couldn't help but think about how our current leadership in Washington has really let us down. Senator Obama came forth, before the vote in the Senate to authorize Bush's blank check for this war, and told the country that our involvement in Iraq was a really bad idea. He told us that it would have no logical end, and that too many of our troops would lose their lives fighting another country's battle.

Just saying~

 

Easter Weekend

I'm finally past the thirty day mark at my new job. The most intense part of the learning curve is behind me, and I'm settling in with my new tasks and responsibilities. Whew........I can breathe again.

I had dinner last night with my friends from the Cult, and it was a blast to dine for over two hours and drink wine, laugh, and talk about what I was missing at the high school. After the first hour, the restaurant stopped seating people at tables next to ours. Eventually we're going to run out of establishments that we are welcome in. 

Much to my delight, Grimm Fairy Tales #25, The Little Mermaid, was waiting for me at my comic book store this week. I thought that title was going to hit the shelves in April, so it was indeed a nice surprise. The issue intertwines two stories (as Grimm Fairy Tales always does) with one being the traditional mermaid story where she trades her voice for legs and capabilities of going on land and pursuing the handsome prince. Of course that doesn't go well, and Grimm leaves us hanging. For the first time, they are making us wait for "part two" to find out how the story ends. I'm hoping this isn't going to be a pattern, as one of the things I like about that comic is that the issues are complete stories. As for now, I can be patient and wait for the next issue.

Tomorrow will be filled with Easter eggs, chocolate bunnies, and a wonderful ham dinner prepared by my daughter. According to Wikipedia, a virtual Easter egg is "an intentional hidden message or feature in a object such as a movie, book, CD, DVD, computer program, or video game." They give Alfred Hitchcock's famous cameo appearances as an example, and explain that the term comes from the custom of the Easter egg hunt that is observed by so many. Computer programmers like to plant Easter eggs to place a personal artistic touch on an intellectual product. Writers re-create settings of places they have visited with loved ones, and artists give names to sea-planes of women who have captured their heart.  Easter eggs.

Happy hunting~

Comic Book Day

In my world, Thursday is Comic Book Day. I go to my comic book shop after work, and race to my sub folder that is in the bottom drawer (my last name begins with a "Y") of the cabinet that is dedicated to my fellow weekly comic subscribers.

This week I was delighted to find: Countdown #7, Wonder Woman #18, Grimm Fairy Tales #24, and Batman Confidential #14.

Grimm Fairy Tales is a true favorite of mine. I love the art, it is a fun read, and I enjoy seeing our childhood stories presented in an adult way- with a twist. I put that title on my sub list after issue #10, and have been able to fill in the first nine issues with the exception of #4, #8, and #9.

That's what ComCons are for. 

I was crazy happy when I looked through the current issue, Snow White & Rose Red, and saw that issue #25 (due out in April) was going to be  The Little Mermaid.

I simply cannot wait to see what they do with that one~

 

It Takes a Hero to Change the World

That is the tagline for the new movie, "10,000 B.C." 

D'leh is the said hero, and the movie follows him and his love interest, Evolet, through their journey to secure the future of their people.

The cast was unrecognizable to me (which clearly worked with this film) and the director/ co-writer was Roland Emmerich, who made "Independence Day" and "The Day After Tomorrow." 

The film is not historically correct, as the setting takes place during the Mesolithic period which falls immediately after the Ice Age. The creation of Egyptian temples and pyramids (which is depicted in the movie) happened around 2650 B.C. making the movie about 7,350 years off.  The cast is way too groomed (perfect white teeth and waxed eyebrows) to help you believe that you are looking at a prehistoric epic. There is a kindly saber tooth tiger that makes a couple of appearances, hundreds (maybe thousands) of cooperative wooly mammoths wearing harnesses, and at the end of the movie, D'leh is given corn/maize seeds which at that time were only in the Americas.

Having said that, the movie is a lot of good geek fun. Watching two wooly mammoth stampedes on the big screen was worth the price of admission alone. There are crazy raptor/emu man-eating thingies that move at warp speed in a few scenes, and at one point in the movie we see a blind mind come up from the floor of the slaves' quarters, share valuable knowledge with our hero, D'leh, and then get lowered back into the floor. That scene made me just laugh right out loud. 

Too funny. 

I found the movie very entertaining, and I do recommend it to all who enjoy geek eye candy. 

D'leh is "Held" spelled backwards, and "Held" is the German word for "Hero." The name was chosen by Emmerich himself. 

I wonder what "Telove" means in German? 

From the Quarter Bin

I've been reading the comics that I purchased at the ComCon I attended last weekend. There are two comics in particular that I have really enjoyed. One is a new comic by Icon titled, "Kick-Ass." It is about a high school student named Dave Lizewski, who has no social life, and is being raised by his single father. His mother was killed when he was fourteen years old, not by a villian or a hitman, but by an aneurysm. 

He creates his own costume, invents his own cool superhero name, and spends the first few weeks learning to balance on walls,  posing on rooftops, and working out in the gym. 

His first adventure as Kick-Ass has him confronting three other teenagers who are writing graffiti on public property, getting into a fight with them, and being left for dead in a parking lot. The last page reads, "Two broken legs, my spine crushed, and dressed like a fucking pervert..........my dad was going to kill me"

For all of us that dreamed of being a superhero as a young adult, this comic is a fun read. When I went to my comic book store today, I had this title put on my sub list.

The second title that I found amusing was a 1987 comic by Eclipse Comics titled, "Elf-Thing." The cover art is very cool and retro looking, and the inside art is in black and white. The story opens during the winter of 1986 in the Everglades of Florida. A well adjusted (and very happy) monster transforms into and elf and thus begins his journey as the Elf-Thing. He is challenged with adjusting to life as a small being, dressing in geeky elf clothes, and even losing his former love interest. 

Monsters just don't date elves.

The punch line? Wait for it......

After twenty-five pages of following the Elf-Thing on his journey, the very last page of the story has him stumbling upon a clearing where many other elves are having an elf orgy. I had never seen a full page elf orgy before. It's kinda like a car accident on the interstate. You know it is going to be ugly, but you just can't help but to stare.

You just never know what you are going to find in the quarter bin~

Galley and Scullery

Today I boarded a submarine. My first impression of the vessel was that it was for petite people only, and I laughed to think of my tall friend, McMaugh, making his way around this sub. The hatch going into the sub and separating the compartments looked more like hobbit doors than doorways for adult humans.

The submarine was designed for a crew of 50- although I had a hard time imagining me and 49 other people performing military maneuvers and drills (below the surface of the ocean) for an extended period of time. 

It is a peaceful submarine, never going to war or carrying weapons, and it is named after a very docile fish. Still, it took me a while to acclimate to the small spaces and all the military "gadgetry" that was on board.  I enjoyed my tour of the submarine, but was very glad when I was able to breathe fresh air and look at the sky again.

The young men and woman who choose to serve in our military are indeed Superheros as well. 

Marvel's new Ghost Rider #20, is the beginning of a new story arc, and is produced by a fresh creative team with Jason Aaron as the writer. He has given Johnny Blaze a new direction and has included nurses with machine guns and undead things along Highway 18, creating a storyline with more of an edge. I know that I am bias here, for any writer who includes the undead into their comic is tops with me. There is always room for zombies.

Zombies on a submarine? Now that would be a fun story~