5 Things I Think

• Wheezer's Raditude is the best album I have listened to in a long, long time.
  
  
• Comic book artist Cameron Stewart revealed on his blog recently that he finished the pencils for Batman & Robin #9 in 2 weeks.
  
  Not only does his artwork look amazing, but from a storytelling perspective it is also top notch.
  
  Why is it that Stewart can complete an entire quality issue in 2 weeks but other artists of Stewart's caliber take 3 to 4 times as long to produce similar work?
  
  
• Can't quite put my finger on it, but there was something un-nerving about hearing a gym full of kindergarten through 8th grade girls all sing along to Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" at the Daddy-Daughter Dance I attended with Emma and Zoe last Saturday.
  
  
• Few things feel rejuvenate me like a 20 minute nap on the train coming home at night.
  
  I will pass out for 20 solid minutes and wake up feeling like a new man.
  
  Wish I could do it earlier in the day. I think it would make the afternoon at the office more bearable.
  
  
• I'm all in with the Blackhawks right now and have the NCAA tournament to watch later this month, so the return of baseball really isn't on my radar.
  
  None the less, I stumbled into the Cubs - White Sox spring training game from Arizona on Saturday afternoon and found myself hooked.
  
  It's amazing how just the sound of Len Kasper's and Bob Brenley makes it feel like it should be summer, even though it the thermostat was barely touching 40 degrees.
  

Iron Man 2 - New Trailer

This just keeps getting better.


I can't wait for May.

Bears Free Agents Leave Me Less Than Thrilled

Still not sure what to make of Friday's free agent spend-fest by the Chicago Bears.

I was disappointed that the Bears didn't land any new talent for the offensive line. Of all the areas I think the Bears need to improve, it's on the offensive line. I thought that was the case after the 2008 season. And it's what I still think after the 2009 season.

I don't know if it's general manager Jerry Angelo's plan to build the o-line through the draft (which hasn't really worked out well so far) or if he still has some money left to spend on free agents using the gift card the McCaskey's apparently gave him this spring, but the lack of any movement to improve the offensive line keeps me from getting too excited about defensive end Julius Peppers, tight end Brandon Manumaleuna, and running back Chester Taylor

One bright spot is that Manumaleuna is known as a blocking tight end - essentially another lineman for the offense. So maybe that's Lovie's and offensive coordinator Mike Martz's strategy. We can't get anymore work out of the talent we have on the o-line, so lets just add more guys to it.

That also goes for Chester Taylor, who I've heard a number of football analysts praise for his tough and consistent blocking.

Anyway, I'm sure Peppers will make an impact on defense, which is what a Bears team always hangs its hat on. Not sure if that will be a consistent impact or not, but I'm sure that when Peppers is on, than the Bears defense line will provide a power push and contribute to controlling the opposition.

Of course, there is still plenty of time before the 2010 season starts. A lot could still happen. There is a draft in a month or so. Time for more free agents and trades. But overall, I'm not feeling a lot of excitement here. Hopefully that changes before September.

Might Be On The Mend

I think I tracked the problem down to a typo in a .htaccess file

Didn't find this problem until after I changed the blog template in attempt to root out the issue.

Thought about switching the template back to my old one, but I kinda like this blogger stock template which I have started to customize. Might stick with it.

Kid Quote of the Week

Ian: In a few years I will be as tall as you.

Heather: I don't know about that . . .

Ian: Well, I'll at least be as tall as dad

- Ian, reminding me that I could very well end up being the shortest person in my family

Problems With the Blog

I know this blog looks all messed up. Comments have been missing for weeks, and now many of the images aren't showing up anymore.

Two weeks ago the service I used for hosting comments just stopped working.

This weekend I tried migrating the blog back to Blogger in preparation of Google shutting down FTP access for Blogger blogs (which I used). The result is all the images being gone.

I'm trying to sort through it all. Hopefully I can make sense of it soon.

Mallett Trying to Keep Up

Nice try Mallett, but you have miles to go before you get to Pastis levels.

DC Icons

It's the cover artwork for Jim Lee's new book, ICONS: The DC Comics & WildStorm Art of Jim Lee.

I always enjoy Lee's artwork; especially his pencils, which I find have more depth and texture then when his work has been inked and colored.

But when did Batman become the focal point of the DC Big Three?

When an artist is representing the DC Trinity of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, Superman always - always - gets the choice position.

Is it a reflection of Batman's raised marketing value post The Dark Knight movie?

Maybe.

But as a Batman fan I don't care. I like seeing him out front and center.

The Possibilities

If it wasn't for Heather to keep me in check, I imagine there would be a room in our house like this:

What I find interesting about this guy who sent in these photos showcasing his comic book and comic-related collection is that he got back into comics in 1989 after reading The Dark Knight Returns - which was the same book (and year read) that brought me back to comics.

5 Things I Think

• I think this dude is taking superhero movies even more seriously than comic book fans take superhero movies.
  
  
• Do you think NBC screened Jay Leno's studio audience for his first night back to the Tonight Show to make sure there weren't any Conan sympathizers planning on causing a disruption?
  
  I do.
  
  And I expect NBC will continue to do it for a few weeks.
  
  
• Someone recently said that I remind them of Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory. I guess I should embrace the comparison and start dressing like him too.
  
  
• Even though my interest waned a bit during the second week (expect for the hockey), I still miss not having the Olympics on every night after dinner.
  
  
• Seems like Chuck E. Cheese has turned into the Mos Eisley cantina of the real world.
  
  Hardly seems like a week doesn't go by where that "establishment" isn't in the news for one bizarre reason or another. Be it the drunken brawls or abandoned kids, I can't imagine ever going back there.
  

Gyro Bowl

Any parent will immediately understand the genius of this product.

 

It's a cereal bowl mounted on gimbals so you can swing and twist it any way you want and the stuff inside won't spill out.

I'm almost tempted to buy a bunch for our house. 

The Good Old Days

When doctors endorsed cigarettes