Saturday's Warrior

Last night our Stake put on Saturday's Warrior. What I like about Stake productions is that while the talent may not all be there (there still was a lot of talent, don't get me wrong) the heart is there. These actors/actresses have sacrificed a tremendous amount of time to put on this show and it certainly shows.

Some members of our ward were in it and a lot of the Young Men and Young Women were in it. So Kristy, Logan and I had to attend to see and support them.

I have not seen the show or heard the music in years. Seriously, YEARS. I don't think I have heard the music since I was a toddler. My mom had helped produce this musical for our Stake in Edmonton years and years ago and the music must have been beaten into me. Once the opening song hit I immediately remembered it. And some of the songs I surprisingly remembered the words.

Our YM/YW were the bad guys.

The musical was fantastic and the cast did really well. I was especially proud of those that I knew that were in the play. I wish I had tried out (I knew it was a musical but I didn't know it was Saturday's Warrior) but there is always next time.

Afterwords, I treated the family to some Wendy's Frosties. What a nice ending to a nice evening being with friends and listening to some fun (and sometimes cheesy) music.

500th Blog!

Day 500 

So I was going through my blog, desperately trying to come up with something that I wanted to write about when I noticed something quite surprising.

I have published 500 blogs!

Well, technically this is the 501st blog. So that means that I have blogged 136 times since my initial 365 year.

Uncanny X-Men #500

Fantastic Four #500

Avengers #500

I guess this makes me some sort of superhero right?

Rise Above (the clutter)

I have been listening to the Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark non-stop yesterday and today. I found a place online where you can listen to the whole album for free. Sure it is cheesy but I am cheesy so this is right up my alley.

While listening to this I was surfing the Internet and decided to make myself useful. I am still in that strange dejunking mood so I decided to part with the rest of my CDs. I sold a whole bunch months ago but I kept a lot of them, I just couldn't part with them.

No longer. I have sold almost all of them. And the reasoning is that I have not looked at them since I sold my last set. I have them all in my iTunes, I also made a copy of them and I have them in my backup too. So it is not like I would lose them forever. They are just taking up space and I am positive I can use the money I make for something else. I am still holding on to my Queen collection and I justified myself in keeping them. I have looked at the CD inserts recently to look at the art and pictures and to figure out some lyrics. But that is all of them.

I sell my CDs (you can sell games and DVDs as well) to two different places. One offers free shipping (you print out a shipping label) and the other will credit you when they pay you out for your shipping costs. Now you may not make a lot of money selling them back. In fact some CDs they have so many of that they will only offer a quarter or even a nickel. But I look at it this way, these CDs are taking up space and I never use them. So why have them? I might as well get something right?



I recommend clicking on the banner above to visit SecondSpin first. And then open up a new window/tab and go to Spun.com and compare the prices. It is interesting but you will find that one place will buy a CD for 50 cents and the other will buy it for $8!

And already I don't regret getting rid of this stuff.

Turn Off the Dark

I have always been a bit curious about this musical ever since I caught wind of it. I like musicals, I like U2 and I like Spider-Man. How can this be wrong?

I wish I still lived in New York because I would catch this show as soon as possible. Now I have heard negative reviews and heard bad things about this but after watching this preview, I am really intrigued.

This could be bad. But it could be Flash Gordon bad. And that could be a good thing.

One thing for sure is that the music is really good. I previewed the songs in iTunes and more than likely I will make a purchase shortly.

When Kristy Met Matt: Cheesy Cards

Day 276

I came off a horrible breakup right before I met Kristy. I didn't want to date any girls and I didn't want to meet any girls. I had sworn off girls completely. I became president of my own "Girl's Are Stupid" (G.A.S.)club and was very proud to be Anti-Girl.

Okay, I am just kidding about G.A.S. But I was very vocal about being Anti-Girl. I even went as far as to design my own Anti-Girl t-shirt complete with a bloody, gaping hole drawn on the shirt where my heart would be. I am sure it is still upstairs at my mom's house.

And then I met Kristy and I was intrigued. And then I dated her and then a year later we were engaged.

I was smitten and giddy and I have no problems admitting that. My friend Lared and I after we had a fun date with a girl we liked would always deliver the girl some sort of "Thank You" card a short time later. Of course that was just an excuse to see them again as well as show them that we can be romantic. We would sometimes accompany those with a treat or flowers. And we would always make the cards from scratch.

I write Kristy telling her that I wanted to give her real flowers but thought that these would be best since they would never wilt and die like our love for each other.* Kristy's brother Steven thought that my drawing was so awesome that he wanted one for himself. Maybe one day I will surprise Steven with some flowers in the mail like these. I should do it as a "Thank You" when I stay at his house Thanksgiving night so I can watch the Bengals/Jets game. I am sure he would appreciate it.

*I never said anything that cheesy. I only said they would never wilt or die but that was it.

Lared and I got a single rose and we snuck it in our date's apartment (usually with a roommate's help; we didn't sneak into their apartments on our own like some sicko!) and it was placed on their bed so they would find it after they came home from our date. We both got two cards, one that was something like a "Thank You" card thanking them for being such an awesome date. But to cover our butts we also included a "Deepest Sympathies" card just in case the date didn't go over that well.

 

This letter took me a ton of time to draw. I had more problems drawing Smiley Bone than I did Princess Leia. After I drew Leia I didn't want to give it up. I would re-do the Spider-Man. I got that mask all wrong.

Kristy knew I liked my drawing of Princess Leia so she made a copy of it and sent it to me. 

Nice to know that Kristy is willing to share me with Princess Leia. Good thing I am Mormon with polygamy and all.

Pic of the Week: Comic Book Logan

Day 272

I have not done a Pic of the Week blog post in months. Unfortunately my camera fell into the river and has passed on. Part of me is happy since it gives us an excuse to buy a better camera but it leaves us in a lurch since we have no camera at the moment and probably won't get one until later this week.

I was looking through all of our pictures looking for a topic to blog about and found a bunch of Logan reading my comic books and thought they would be fun to blog about.

I have to be a cool dad. How many dads out there have thousands of comics in their house? The older Logan gets the more of my comics he gets to read. And I have a ton load he can start off with. When I wrote for a comic book blog a few years back, I used Logan in some of my pics.

Logan is an Alan Davis fan in waiting. Why not start him with some of the best comics out there?

The comic Secret Wars II will go down as one of the WORST comic story lines. Logan is shocked that I paid $50 for this hardcover collecting the entire series. If he only knew that it retails for $100. And yes, it is not a great story but it came out when I first started reading comics so it has a heavy nostalgic factor.

One of my favorite characters, one of my favorite writers and my favorite artist. So this must be my most favorite hardcover right? Logan agrees, it is awesome!

My comic book friends make fun of me because I almost have a complete run of Quasar. A very cheesy superhero. But sometimes the cheese is the best part, you know, like on a pizza. Logan is totally mocking me in this pic.

There are two things wrong with this picture. One, I would never let Logan drink a full can of Mountain Dew Livewire. And 2nd, I wouldn't let him read Watchmen. At least not until he is much older. He totally faked this picture looking like he was really enthralled by the book. It is one of the best graphic novels but not one for looking to read comics like Superman.

Logan is such a sport. Here he is posing with my favorite comic book character and X-Man (and will be in the new X-Men movie) Banshee. I was so excited for a Banshee action figure but was so disappointed in how stupid he looks.

List-Mania: Totally Awesome 80's Songs

Day 195

I grew up as a child in the best decade ever being the 80's. It was then that I formed my own personality and my own tastes. Even before I entered the 80's decade I loved music and was raised on a plethora of different styles of music and I have my parents to thank for that.

The first tape (yes, a cassette tape, I was modern for my age) was the self-titled Honeymoon Suite tape and I remember playing that tape over and over again.

The '80s had it all. Whatever style of music you liked, there was something for you. Listening to 80's music is therapeutic to me too. It takes me back to my childhood and those good times. I even have TimeLife's full Sounds of the Eighties collection. All 30 of them!

It is hard to pick which songs of the '80s were my favorites so I decided to let my iPod decide it. I looked into my Cheesy 80's playlist and sorted them by how many times I have played them. I didn't include any Queen or U2 since I already covered them in a separate List-Mania. I am sure that I am missing some songs but I think generally my iPod nailed it.

These songs ARE the 80's to me.

5) In Your Room -The Bangles

I admit that I liked the Bangles a lot because I was crushing on Susanna Hoffs. Time hasn't changed a thing. I still dig Susanna Hoffs and listen to the Bangles a ton. She also has a project with Matthew Sweet called Under the Covers where they cover old 60's and 70's songs. Excellent stuff. This is my favorite song of theirs, just a catchy, cheesy pop song. Which is exactly what the 80's were.



4) U Got the Look - Prince

My sister was more into Prince than I was but I admit these was something intriguing to his music. This song he teams with Sheena Easton is perfect dance/rock song.



3) Overkill - Men at Work

I love Men at Work. I remember driving to the United States from Canada for summer vacation and w would listen to Business as Usual until the tape wore out. They had such a unique sound, something I have never heard again. This song came from their second album "Cargo" and it was a departure from their normally happy pop music. If you like this song you should check out Colin Hay's acoustic version. Much more haunting and intimate.



2) Summer Rain - Belinda Carlisle

I am sensing another trend here. Three of my top 5 songs have some girl that I crushed on. Belinda Carlisle really nails this song. This song strikes a chord for those people out there who have had to say good-bye to someone they love never to see them again. It is just a beautiful song, I love it when pop/rock songs incorporate strings.



1) One Night in Bangkok - Murray Head

Does this surprise anyone? Decades before I was part of the musical Chess I loved this song. It was something unique and nothing like anything else playing. I had no idea at the time that it was part of a concept album that later turned into a musical. After my LDS mission I began to listen to a lot of musical stuff and I picked this one up and I am glad I did.

HONORABLE MENTION:

New Girl Now - Honeymoon Suite

I loved this song and I still do. Sure it is cheesy but that doesn't change anything. I still love it.