30 Day Song Challenge: Part V

Some of these songs were really easy to come by but I have found that this set has been much more difficult for me to figure out. 

Day 22 - A Song That You Listen To When You’re Sad

Overkill - Colin Hay

There are a few songs that I listen to that make me sad/reflective but I don't think there is a song that I desire to listen to when I am sad. This was a hard one to pick out but I think I have found a song that I really, really like that does make me a bit somber. I prefer the acoustic version of this song but the original Men at Work version is just as good. The guitar on the acoustic version is such fantastic.

Day 23 - A Song That You Want To Play At Your Wedding

 Another One Bites The Dust - Queen

I guess if I had to get married again, I would go for this song. Kristy and I played the Wyclef Jean version of this song at her sister's wedding and she was less than thrilled. But I would want it played at my wedding especially if I was going to get married a second time.

Day 24 - A Song That You Want To Play At Your Funeral

The Imperial Theme - John Williams

I could have chosen the same song to play at my funeral as I did for my wedding. But if I am going to go out, I want to go out in style! Since I was recently at a funeral I have put some thought into this and I think I have made the right decision.

Day 25 - A Song That Makes You Laugh

Dead Puppies - Ogden Edsl

Didja know that I won a Ms. America pageant for singing this song as my talent? Will I go to hell for laughing at this? I hope none of you are offended by this song and if you are, you really need to rethink your (lack of) sense of humor.

List-Mania: Childhood Toys

The last time I did one of these type of columns was back in October! After reading some of my cousin's blogs, I thought this would be a fun subject to cover. I could have just listed all the fun video games but I decided to go with actual toys. Here are my Top 5 Favorite Childhood Toys.

5) Cobra Rattler

After Star Wars I needed something else to play with and GI Joe fit the bill. They had cool action figures and vehicles and they also had some of the best villains. One of my favorite vehicles was the Cobra Rattler. It had a cool large Gatling gun and a ton of missiles and bombs. It also came with Wild Weasel (the pilot). I think the biggest reason why I loved this toy was because the first GI Joe comic (#34) featured this cool jet.

4) Space Legos

I loved Legos as a kid and I never thought anything could top that. Then Space Legos came around. Luckily I was a spoiled kid and I got a ton of these. I used to love to build my own ships. I still have them at my mom's house and one day I will get them and let Logan have them. The best part about Space Legos is that I was only limited by what I could think of. I would spend hours making ships.

3) Star Wars Blasters

I had two cool Star Wars guns. I had a Stormtrooper rifle and Han Solo's pistol. When we would get a ton of snow in Edmonton my friend Alvin and I would play outside with these guns all the time. I still have the rifle and I know I have the pistol somewhere. I was lucky to live in a day and age when toy guns could be all black.

2) AT-AT

This toy made all my friends jealous. This thing was so huge! You could place your hand inside of the AT-AT and manipulate its head to swivel around. I had a small die-cast snowspeeder that was a perfect size so I could re-enact the Hoth battle. And I did hundreds, perhaps thousands of times!

1) Secret Wars Wolverine

I remember the day I found this cool action figure. It was at this large toy store in Edmonton and I was browsing down the aisles. Marvel never had any action figures out and I was shocked to Wolverine (this was before he became big). He had a pair of silver claws that you could snap on the wrists. I had to have it. But right next to him was Spider-Man in his black costume. My parents would only allow me to get one (see? I am not that spoiled) so I grabbed Wolverine. I do not regret it even though I have never seen that black Spider-Man again. I still have this guy and his claws.

Honorable Mention:

Vic Hockey Stick

No matter what, if you were a kid growing up in Edmonton, you had a hockey stick. It didn't matter if you played on ice or on the road. You had a stick. Me and my friends used to play almost every Saturday during the winter. The roads were so icy that we could skate on them in just our shoes. We used a tennis ball as a puck and we would be out for hours. In our old house, I used to go downstairs and play hockey down there too. I would use the bottom of the stairs as the goal and I would take shots from all over the unfinished basement. If you were the right socks, you could skate around too. 

List-Mania: 5 Comics that Wigged Me Out!

Day 335

I haven't done a List-Mania column for a long time, let alone a real geeky one too, and I thought that the time is right for another List-Mania devoted to comics. This time I am choosing comic books that are difficult for me to read and get through. These comics are ones that stay with me long after I read them. They are either creepy, or they really tug at the heart strings or they portray pain, sorrow and anguish. They are not shocking just to be shocking. These are real moments, moments that made me take pause. Basically they are Comics that Wigged Me Out!

In no particular order.

What If? #30 "What If The Fantastic Four's Second Child Had Lived?"

Marvel published a line of comics called "What If?" and they would take a storyline and choose a different route for it to take. Most of the time the stories would be tragic and this one was no doubt one of the few comics that creeped me out. Mr. Fantastic (the stretch guy) and his wife the Invisible Woman have one child, a boy named Franklin. He is a mutant and has the ability to have special dreams that foretell the future. The Invisible Woman gets pregnant again and she dies in childbirth. But this story shows what would happen if the baby survived. Franklin sees the future and sees that his sister is a monster and no one believes him. Eventually family members die and Franklin sees that his sister is the reason. So Franklin turns to the Fantastic Four's deadliest enemy, Dr. Doom for help.

Dr. Doom kills Mr. Fantastic and he dies but before he dies he sees his daughter as the monster that his own son described. Doom also dies facing the monster and Franklin manages to send it to the Negative Zone (long story... basically he sends his sister to another dimension).

The final words of the story, spoken by Franklin looking on all the destruction and death were haunting.

"At first you said it was a nightmare... ...a child's dream gone away. Probably from something I ate. The you chalked it up to jealousy... ...sibling rivalry... ...as old as Cain and Abel. But I was never jealous of her daddy.. ...I was afraid of her. And as I stand here amid the ruins of your lab... ...over your body... ...I take no solace in the fact that I was right and you were wrong. If only you'd listen to me things might have been different."

Vigilante #50
I was in the sixth grade when I first read this comic. Vigilante was my friend's brother's favorite comic. I read a few on and off but I had to get this final issue. And I was not prepared to what happened right at the end and it bugged me for days. The character (Adrian Chase) was a lawyer who became disenchanted with the law and took the law in his own hands as the costumed hero Vigilante. Unfortunately Adrian was a tortured soul who made grave mistakes and was often haunted by the decisions he made as Vigilante. And soon it was too much for him to take. He gets caught up in a situation where he mistakenly kills law enforcement agents and realizes he has gone too far.

I honestly didn't expect him to kill himself and I thought it took a lot of guts for the writer to make that call. I eventually picked up the entire series and you can see how Adrian slid down that slippery slope.

Generation Next #4
The Age of Apocalypse storyline was a bold move for Marvel. They cancelled all the very popular X-Men titles and replaced them with a whole new set of X-Men drastically different from what has happened before. Essentially, a huge reset button was pressed when Professor X's son travels back in time to kill Magneto (a play on if you would go back in time to kill Hitler) so mutants can live in peace with humans. Only his son accidentally kills his dad, Charles Xavier and (as usual) something horrible happens and changes everything. In this world mutants are in charge and one of the most evilest mutants, Apocalypse, is in charge and a small team of X-Men, led by Magneto is all that stands in the way of total mutant domination.

In this story, the X-Man Colossus and his wife Shadowcat train a set of young mutants to be the next generation of X-Men (hence the name) and Magneto assigns them a mission to find Colossus's sister whom he thought was dead. Things quickly get out of hand and the team find themselves in a situation and battle that they are unlikely to survive. But this is Colossus and Shadowcat we are talking about. Colossus is one of the most bravest and noblest heroes. But not in this universe. Colossus and Shadowcat succeed in their mission and rescue Colossus's sister and they get her out of the death and mayhem caused by the revolt. Shadowcat wants to go back to rescue their students but Colossus stops her. He volunteers because he does not want to lose his wife. So Colossus goes back to rescue them. He peers inside to see the massacre and hopeless battle and shuts the door.

He goes back to his sister and his wife and tells them there was nothing he could do. He left them to die because he was afraid. He was afraid of losing his sister again and his wife. All I remember is the look on the abandoned student's face when she watches Colossus shut the door on her. And the look on Shadowcat's face because I think she knew.

There were a lot of horrible and heroic moments peppered throughout this series but this one made the biggest impact. There was another one at the conclusion of the massive storyline and unfortunately it involved our good friend Colossus once again.

Colossus does not want to be without his sister Illyana and tries to involve himself in Magneto's plan to save the world. But he would screw it up (long story, trust me). Shadowcat has the mutant ability to become like a ghost and she counted that her husband would stop if she said so. So she doesn't use her powers and Colossus runs her over and tramples her to death. Another X-Man uses his powers to stop (kill) Colossus before he does any more damage. As he dies, he sees his younger sister and says, "Forgive me sister. I thought... I was the bravest of us all. And then I met you. I am so scared... please... give me courage and hold me while I..." And then he dies.

Will To Power #11
The story followed the descent of Titan from hero to villain. Titan was like Superman. Except he had a difficult childhood involving abuse from his father and trying to fit in. He was told throughout his life that he was never good enough. Slowly, as he made mistakes and tried to be a true Superman-like hero he became more distant and angry. Eventually he wanted to prove he was the best and tried to take down one of the most powerful beings on Earth just to prove a point.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. That is what I thought of when I saw the look on Titan's face here. There is no pity, there is no conscious thought here. This is pure rage and hate and Chris Warner (the artist) really captured that look here. One simple look from Titan was all it took. The pages before showed him easily dispatching the Army and destroying Las Vegas. None of those shows of power told the story like that the bottom panel.

Star Wars Annual #2
Yes! A Star Wars comic! It had Han on the cover so it had to be safe right? Set after the events in the Empire Strikes Back, Luke, C3-P0 and Lando are escaping from Stormtroopers when they find a gold statue of Han Solo. Han was one of my favorite characters so I had to have this comic. I remember flipping through the comic to find out what happened but I didn't get too far because I came across a panel that freaked me out and even to this day I cannot look at it. Go ahead and call me chicken but I didn't re-read this annual because I was too creeped out. Check out the panels below:  BRRRRRR!

 

Just looking at that gives me the creeps! I am sure that I could find more stories or pieces of art that stuck with me but these were the ones that came right to mind.

Guy's Night Out

Day 230

I survived Girl's Camp.

Barely.

I will have a full report Sunday about how it all went. It is safe to say that I had a nice time and I think Logan had a nice time as well.

Today Logan and I are kicking back and taking it easy. We decided to clean the house tomorrow morning before Kristy comes home instead of doing it today. Our plans so far today have been playing Lego Star Wars, watching the World Cup, going out to eat (Logan wants to hit McDonalds) and walking the river trail to see if we can find some snakes. Then we will come home and watch a movie, more than likely it will be Star Wars.

List-Mania: More Graphic Novel Recommendations

Day 209

Last month I blogged about my favorite graphic novels and recommended them to you guys. These were the books that I would want to have if I was stranded on a desert island and in looking back I definitely got the list right. But if I was really on a deserted island I would miss these books quite a bit.

So here are more graphic novel recommendations. I have included a link directly to Amazon so you find more information and reviews as well and if you want to buy it. I have also included the synopsis/review of each title and why of course I love them.

I tried to choose a variety of different books this time instead of just my favorites. Hopefully there is something here for every one.



SCOTT PILGRIM: Precious Little Life
Vol. 1
By: Bryan Lee O'Malley

Scott Pilgrim is 23 years old, lives in a cold, unnamed Canadian town, plays bass in a band called Sex Bob-Omb and has a very cute 17-year-old Chinese-Canadian girlfriend, Knives Chau. His "precious little life" is amiably unstructured, and he drifts, happily unemployed, between band practice and time spent with Knives. But then he starts having dreams about Ramona Flowers, a mysterious, equally cute and perfectly legal hipster chick on Rollerblades who delivers books for Amazon.com. Ramona is anything but simple, and O'Malley's tale of adorable slackers in love is transformed into a wildly magically manga–kung fu fantasy adventure. We meet the first of Ramona's seven evil ex-boyfriends, Matthew Patel, who challenges Scott and his band to a supernatural martial arts duel right out of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.  It's an alt-lit, rock 'n' roll graphic novel with wonderful manga-influenced drawing and a comically mystical plot that manages to capture both the genuine intimacies and serial dishonesties of young love.

If you want something completely different and very unique, I recommend picking up this first volume of Scott Pilgrim. It is funny, cute and exciting. Real life mixed with Nintendo. Michael Cera (of Arrested Development fame) is set to star as Scott Pilgrim in coming soon to theatres and I cannot wait. And the final Scott Pilgrim book (in a series of 6) is coming out in just a few short months.


ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN: ULTIMATE COLLECTION
Book 1
By: Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley

High school, puberty, first dances - there are many pitfalls to being young. Compound these with intense personal tragedy and superhuman powers, and you can start to visualize the world of Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spider-Man. Following the murder of his uncle and the Green Goblin's assault on his high school, Peter finds himself on the brink of manhood: getting a job at the Daily Bugle to help support his widowed aunt and taking on extracurricular activities - such as bringing down the Kingpin, the head of organized crime in New York City!

If you enjoyed the Spider-Man movies, I cannot possibly recommend these books any higher. While there are big differences between the movie and this version, it is still Spider-Man at heart. You don't need to worry about being lost reading this, it starts right at the beginning. Bendis really delivers a powerful and believable story and Bagley's art is perfect for new readers. Once you start, I promise you will be addicted and luckily there are about 20 volumes so far. Seriously, it is probably the best Spider-Man stories I have ever read.


HELLBOY: SEED OF DESTRUCTION
VOL. 1
By: Mike Mignola


Hellboy is one of the most celebrated comics series in recent years. The ultimate artists' artist and a great storyteller whose work is in turns haunting, hilarious, and spellbinding, Mike Mignola has won numerous awards in the comics industry and beyond. When strangeness threatens to engulf the world, a strange man will come to save it. Sent to investigate a mystery with supernatural overtones, Hellboy discovers the secrets of his own origins, and his link to the Nazi occultists who promised Hitler a final solution in the form of a demonic avatar.

Hellboy and Hellboy 2 are some of my favorite movies and Hellboy is definitely one of my favorite comic books. If you like mystery, action and horror, this series of books (10 volumes) are definitely up your alley. If you like strange monsters, Lovecraft, fables and urban legends, this book is definitely for you. Mignola takes real fables and sends Hellboy out to figure them out. And the Hellboy character is just perfect, even though he is a demon, he is certainly human. Just writing about him makes me want to go read them.

STAR WARS LEGACY:  BROKEN
VOL 1
By: John Ostrander and Jan Duursema

The Jedi Temple is attacked, an Emperor is betrayed, and the Sith are born anew! A lot can happen in a hundred years, but that's just the beginning of the story! Not since Luke Skywalker first stepped aboard the Millennium Falcon has the galaxy seemed like such a vast, exciting, dangerous place! Readers will meet a host of new characters, see fleets of new spaceships, and visit scores of exotic locations - some new and some familiar. This is a perfect jumping-on point for any reader - an epic beginning to an untold chapter of the greatest adventure in the universe!

What kind of geek would I be if I didn't recommend a Star Wars title to read? I read these in comic book form and I absolutely love this series sanctioned by Lucas himself. The story idea is wonderful, it is set over 125 years after the events in Return of the Jedi. It features a descendant of Luke Skywalker who was trained as a Jedi but has abandoned the order. The series begins with an attack on the Jedi Temple and the overthrow of the Galactic Empire by a newly created Sith order. If you like Star Wars you will love this series. And there are more volumes published.


Y: THE LAST MAN: UNMANNED
VOL 1
By: Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra

A mysterious plague has killed every man on earth except Yorick Brown, who was somehow spared. The sole Y-chromosomed survivor is an amiable, headstrong young man, the son of a U.S. congresswoman and, as it happens, an amateur escape artist. He tries to escape to Australia to find his girlfriend but finds that being the last man on Earth to be a much greater problem.

This series is not for the weak-hearted. Terrible things have happened and terribly things will continue to happen as Yorick tries to travel to Australia to find his girlfriend Beth. During his travels he will encounter various groups of women that have different beliefs and have different views on what they should do with Yorick. But during his travels he learns a lot more about himself. This is a fantastic science fiction story that really addresses a lot of what the world would be like if all the men died. But like I said before, this book is for Mature Readers Only. There is cursing and adult situations.

Most of these books are available at any book store and I am sure you could find copies of it at your local library. Do yourself a favor and try one of them out and you'll see why I love this medium so much.

Star Wars Kids

Day 201

When I lived in Canada my family and I were all alone. We didn't have any extended family around us. In fact we didn't have any other family members in the whole country.

So we would take extended vacations down in Utah that would last a couple of weeks. We would try to squeeze in as much family as we could during our small space of time and one of my favorite thing to do was to visit my Case cousins in Orem.

I have a lot of fond memories of their house in Orem. It has the coolest balcony (that was huge!) and they had a nice backyard. When we got older we could walk down to the 7-11 to get slurpees and buy comics.

One day we were down visiting we were putting together a Star Wars puzzle (based on the poster below) and of course Jeremy, Josh and I were beside ourselves. I mean this is Star Wars we are talking about!

And my poor sister had to bear the brunt of our obvious Star Wars love. Jennifer also loved Star Wars but she was older and therefore more mature about it. You can tell from the following picture that she was slightly annoyed. I love the look of my sister in this picture.

All I remember about this is that we were all searching for Princess Leia's gun. And we would pick each piece up and tell Jennifer what it was and then put it down randomly. I think the gun was only just one or two pieces.

I am pretty sure that Jeremy, Josh and I eventually got bored and ran outside to play Star Wars much to my sister's relief. She was a good sport though and was not averse to playing Star Wars herself.

List-Mania: I Love Villains

Day 188

"The key to being a great good guy is being able to work with a GREAT bad guy."

    -Bret Hart-

I have always loved the villains. Villains are what makes the story. Whether it is a villain that redeems himself like Darth Vader or it is a villain that is just stone cold EVIL. Even when I was a kid, I loved villains. When I played Star Wars with my friends, I was the Empire. When I played G.I. Joe, I was Cobra. My favorite wrestlers are the heels, the ones that are bad like Ric Flair. Don't get me wrong, I like the good guys too but I find the bad guys all that much more interesting.

As a writer, I find writing the villains the most fun and productive. When I wrote my novel last year, I had the most fun writing Bailey and Lester (two of my main villains).

Zartan, Ming the Merciless, Soundwave, Professor Snape, Ozymandias, Dr. Doom, Mr. Sinister, Count Dooku, Green Goblin, Joker, Baltar, Kurgen, Bullseye, Mr. Freeze, Boba Fett, Plutonian, Ursula, Lex Luthor...   ...You get the picture, the list of interesting villains is far more impressive than the heroes.

So here are my favorite villains of all time!

5) Benjamin Linus
He is one of the biggest reasons why I love the TV show Lost. He leads through intimidation and he leads by manipulation. He uses everything as a way to further his own agenda. He is not afraid to take matters into his own hands no matter how horrific the act may be. Even when he is defeated and captured he never stops manipulating things and trying to exploit others.

4) Scar
Having a family member betray the family is a villain staple. And Scar is the best one at it. He is not the strongest lion out there but he is by far the most sly. He teams up with his own enemies to further his cause and sets up a trap to kill his brother the King while pinning the blame on his own nephew. At first Scar looks like the hero saving the King from being trampled but then Scar sinks his claws into him and tosses him into the stampede. So not only does Scar succeed in killing his brother but that is the last thing his brother knows is that he was betrayed. And not only that but he puts the blame on his nephew and guilts him into leaving the Pridelands forever. Talk about being stone cold evil!

3) Magneto
It is hard to classify Magneto as a villain since his actions seem justified. He is a Holocaust survivor and doesn't want his fellow mutants to go through the horrors he faced when he was younger. He wants mutants to take over the world, in his eyes the only way mutants can live in peace. He is willing to sacrifice himself for his cause. But what makes him a great villain is that he is willing to sacrifice anyone to further his cause even his own kind! His actions have killed thousands and even in death can become a martyr for his cause. I have often wondered (since I am a geek) which side I would side with. Is Magneto right? Is mutantkind the next step in evolution and if so why should mutants care about normal people?

2) The Emperor
Star Wars is full of great villains but I find Emperor Palpatine the most vile and evil and that is because he doesn't feel the need to get his hands dirty. He slowly puts a plan in motion and is insanely patient waiting until his plans come to fruition. While he is a master of the Dark Side of the Force and can whip a lightsaber with the best of them, he calmly uses his words instead. It was his words that swayed Anakin, it was his words that swayed voters to put power right into his hands.

1) Dracula
He has you under his spell and you don't even know it until it is too late. He uses his charm and intelligence to seduce his way. But what makes him my favorite villain is that he is truly a monster in sheep's clothing. He is classy and takes care of his business in an orderly conduct. You would never guess that he is hiding a horrible secret. After you strip away his cold and calculating personality it reveals something that no longer acts human but his true nature is primal and animalistic. And by the time you figure that out, it is too late.

Who am I kidding? My favorite villain is really Mr. Burns.

Star Wars Kid

Day 169

Being born in 1974 means that you are automatically a Star Wars fan. My dad took me to see the movie after him and Jennifer went to see it. And I have been a fan ever since.

I grew up in the golden era of toys. I had tons of Star War toys growing up. I had a couple of favorite Star Wars toys that I played with ALL the time. One of my favorite toys was the Death Star playset. It was huge! It had three floors and the famous garbage disposal. I would love to rebuild it after crashing it down.

Another one of my favorite toys was the AT-AT. The best of this toy was that you can put your hand inside and manipulate the head. And I also had a smaller metal version of the Snow Speeder so I could reanact the Hoth battle.

For a kid that almost had every Star Wars toy I could be a little difficult to shop for. My Aunt Margo wanted to get me something special but she didn't know what Star Wars toys I had a the time so she gave me this:

And I still use them. In fact, sipping soda out of that Empire Strikes Back mug is one of my favorite past times. I never put those dishes in the dishwasher, they need to be hand washed so they are not damaged. I never drink anything hot out of it either. And no one, I mean NO ONE is allowed to drink out of that mug but me.

Ahhh... memories.

Star Wars Kid

Day 136

I was one of the lucky ones that saw Star Wars when it first came out in the theaters back in 1977. I was only 3 years old but I LOVED it. Of course, what kid that did see it didn't love it?

I have been a Star Wars fan all my life. While the original trilogy is still by far the best, I can appreciate the newer prequel trilogy. But I am not here to debate that.

I was so excited when I became a parent because then I can share Star Wars with my kids. Logan has certainly taken a shining to it; just like I did as a kid. He has his own lightsaber, Lego toys, action figures and video games. In fact when Kristy became pregnant with Logan we bought him Star Wars toys not even knowing (or caring) if our baby was going to be a boy or a girl.


Logan is just like his dad; we both LOVE Star Wars.
And sometimes Logan plays around with his lightsaber and Snuggie cloak like the Star Wars Kid.

Movie Night!

Day 117

Watching movies with my family and friends must be some of my favorite memories because I certainly remember them crystal clear. So here are a collection of some of my favorite memories while watching movies.

My first movie experience was in 1977 with Star Wars. My dad took my sister to it first and came home and took me when they went a second time. I don't remember much about it but from what my dad said, I couldn't take my eyes off it.

Now when the sequel The Empire Strikes Back came out that was another story. I was so excited to see it. I sat in my chair taking it all in until the Wampa hit. And suddenly I was on my dad's lap.

Raiders of the Lost Ark was the next one I saw in the theatres and I am glad that my parents took me. I think parents nowadays try to hard to shield their kids too much from enjoying things. In order for you to enjoy the good, you have to experience the bad. Raiders was a dark film but even though I was young, I enjoyed it and it didn't make me into a serial killer or anything. The one thing that I remember about going to see Raiders of the Lost Ark was my dad. My sister and I were sitting together apart from my parents. Suddenly during the film my dad bolts up and leaves the theatre. About ten minutes later he came back but sat by me and my sister. At first I thought he was mad at mom for something but it turned out that he thought he had peed his pants. He was holding his Coke between his legs and the moisture collected from all the ice melting and he thought he had an accident. He didn't obviously but was so embarrassed that he sat by us instead of mom.


That was not the end to embarrassing moments in the movie theatre. My dad and I decided to see Arachnophobia (even though we both HATE spiders). We saw it at a dollar theatre and there was only a few of us in there. During the movie, I thought it would be funny to reach around and flick my dad's ear. It was a great idea, I flicked his ear and popcorn went a flying! I thought my dad was going to kill me.

Back in the day, you could rent a VCR and some movies from the local Mac's store (which is like a 7/11) and my dad and I decided to get Aliens. That has got to be one of my all-time favorite movies and it left me breathless. At the end of the movie my dad was turning off the TV and he put his hand up his shirt. He turned to me and said, "That was a pretty intense movie eh?" And then suddenly he thrusted his hand out from his shirt like a chestburster! I about hit the roof. And my dad wonders why I like to scare him all the time! I got it from him.

You wanna know what awkward is? Try watching Predator 2 with your mom. She loved the first one but that second one had some scenes that no kid (no matter how old they are) should watch with his parents.

That was a cool thing about my mom, she liked action movies. You know what one of her favorites is? She called me one day and said she wanted to go see Face Off that weekend. My mom was way into it, partly because of John Travolta. Luckily for me, there wasn't any Predator 2-type scenes.

My sister on the other hand is very "hands on" when you watch movies with her. My arm was bruised for days after watching Con Air with her. Every explosion and gunshot, my arm was swatted by my sister. She shouldn't watch intense movies like that. Con Air was not even that good!

I took Kristy to go see Jurassic Park II. During the scene where all the raptors were chasing the people, one popped out from under the fence. I knew it was coming and everyone screamed when it happened. Well, their scream scared the snot out of me. So right after the audience screamed, I screamed. The girls in front of me turned there heads back to look at me and I pointed to Kristy sheepishly.

Kristy's brother-in-law Aaron and I went and saw The Blair Witch Project together. We must have been hyped to see it because we got scared even before the movie started. We were in the theatre just chatting when suddenly this girl pops her head in between us and asks us for the time. Aaron jumped back and that made me jump back even further! The girl laughed at us, I am positive that she did it to us on purpose.

But I think my all-time favorite movie experience was with my friend Lared. Joel and I took him to see The Phantom Menace. Now Lared has always been one of my most expressive friends and he was a Star Wars fan and he was really hyped up. Toward the end, when Darth Maul killed Qui-Gon it really hit the fan. Out of nowhere we heard this hair-raising "NOOOOOOOOO!" followed up with this heart-wrenching "ARRRGHHHH!" It was Lared. Joel and I sat back in our seats trying to contain our laughter.

I cannot wait for Logan and I to watch more movies together. From past experiences I should be in for a good time.

Pic of the Week: Life with Logan

Day 105

I remember back before we had Logan Kristy and I used to watch VH1's Behind the Music episodes almost every Sunday night. For those that don't know, Behind the Music was a TV show that took a musical artist and we saw their story. How they became a band, what happened to them, what they are doing now and so forth.

I learned two things watching that show. If you belonged in a metal band, someone would die somehow. Seriously, it happened to Def Leppard, Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, AC/DC and you can count Motley Crue since one of the members was actually pronounced dead before somehow coming back to life. The other thing that I learned was how much family meant to these hard rockers. Every single one of them would talk about how much they love their kids and how that was the best part of their life. And I used to think "Are you kidding me?"

I would love to be a rock star and perform in front of huge crowds and tour. They had it all and their kids were the best thing that happened to them? Seriously?

Then Logan came along and suddenly I realized how right they were. I think one of the best things about having a kid of your own is introducing them to things you enjoy. I have tried my hardest in getting Logan to enjoy what I enjoy. For instance, Kristy is not a fan of hamburgers and I love them. She is more of a pizza person. But Logan LOVES cheeseburgers now so I have him on my side when we decide to treat ourselves by going out to eat.


He is willing to pose for my blog and he likes Banshee! (I'll have to explain who Banshee is in a later post)


He is a New York Jets fan! Poor kid, I shouldn't subject him to that!


He is a big Star Wars fan. He loves watching and playing Star Wars.


He was Wolverine for his 1st Halloween. I'll have a separate blog entry for this. I made a movie with him and it was better than Wolverine Origins.


He can be silly when he feels like it.


He loves cats. Sorry dog people and cat haters. We love cats. But we are not fanatical about them though.


He loves to read and loves the comics I have got for him. I cannot wait till he gets a little older so he can really dig the ones I have.

I guess having a kid is a cool thing.

School Daze: First Grade

Day 103

Later this afternoon I get to meet Logan's first grade teacher for Parent Teacher Conference. We'll see if Logan has improved since last time. He is a talkative little turkey and has been warned and got in trouble a few times because he would rather talk than work. Which is funny considering there was a point in his life where he was shy and wouldn't talk even to me! I am glad that he is social but it seems he goes a little too far at times.

Then it got me thinking. What was I like in the 1st grade? In going through my files I found an old booklet that I made in the 1st grade that is all about me and I also found my class picture and my report card.




Like any kid that grew up in the 80's, I loved Star Wars. I guess some things will never change. And I still love bunny rabbits!

I remember really liking my 1st grade. I had a small crush on my teacher, Ms. Job. And I remember being crushed when her husband came to class one day. She was married! Now what am I going to do? I had some good friends in 1st grade.



Can you see me? The first girl in the front row with the large bob haircut was named Amy. She had an exact twin in the other class and you know what her name was? Lamy. I am not kidding, Amy and Lamy. The middle girl on the first row was Jackie. I remember that she could color like nothing else. I used to get my work done quickly in class so I could scoot my desk next to hers and share my Star Wars coloring book with her and she would color with me. It was either her or Leanne that I would color with. Leanne is the girl in purple, 2nd from the right end on the first row. I know this totally sounds rude but the girl next to her (and you could see the space in between Leanne and her) on the end was Ruby. She would eat her boogers in class so everyone hated her. Kids can be so cruel! I hung out mostly with Kirk and Gary. They are the middle boys in the middle row. Gary would move away but I stayed friends with Kirk until I moved away.


I still have a collection of some of the short stories that I wrote back in the 1st grade. Even then I loved to write.


I had a different teacher for gym and music. I was not a huge fan of gym unless we were playing floor hockey or gymnastics. I liked music quite a bit but I didn't like the teacher Ms. Norenberg. I thought she was so mean. But as you can see from her comments, even at an early age I loved to sing.


This comment from my gym teacher makes Kristy's cry. I hated to run back then too!


Not that I am tooting my own horn but I was a pretty good kid in the 1st grade.

But just wait...

List-Mania: Top Soundtracks

Day 83

Boy, do I need to get my butt in gear. Because of the various computer problems, I have not spent as much time editing my novel as I wanted to this week. Right after I publish this blog I will be writing and editing at a furious pace. So I will need a lot of music to get me through it. As I have mentioned before, I love music and I love to write to music. I listen mostly to movie soundtracks and some other instrumental albums while writing. Here are five of my favorite soundtracks. If you like classical music/movie soundtracks, you need to do yourself a favor and track these down.

Bram Stoker's Dracula by Wojciech Kilar
Hauntingly beautiful and romantic. It is hard to describe in words how fantastic this score truly is. I am amazed at how Kilar is able to create such beautiful music with an underlying tone of horror to it. The use of a choir really amps up the chill to this music. If you want a taste of it, I recommend listening to the End Titles, it samples each of the main tones. The last song, Love Song For A Vampire sung by Annie Lennox is quite beautiful and haunting itself. I personally listen to that song on its own, it feels out of place when listening to the score.

Alien 3 by Elliot Goldenthal
I only wish that the movie was as great as the score. Watching the documentary of the making of the film, especially about the composer and how the music was made really gave me a deep appreciation of the film and the score. He made music that fit perfectly with the bleak atmosphere of the movie but yet is quite beautiful. While this score is not for everyone, I highly recommend The Entrapment and Adiago.

Trailerhead by Intermediate Music
Intermediate Music is music company that specializes in composing music for movie trailers. They didn't sell their music to the masses, they only sold them to film companies. Finally, they released their own album filled with music that you would normally hear in movie trailers. What you get is a mix of exciting and short pieces of music.


Children of Dune by Brian Tyler
One of the most complete scores I have ever heard. This score reminds me a lot of the Lord of the Ring scores, very uplifting and magical. This has it all.







The Empire Strikes Back by John Williams
Not only is it my favorite movie of all time, the score is probably my favorite of all time as well. Lots of well known musical themes here, from the fantastic Imperial March to the lovely Han Solo and the Princess theme. My personal fave, especially when I am writing some sort of chase scene is The Asteroid Field.

I better get back to some writing.