Yesterday it wasn't my regular weekend to have my kids. However my ex-wife was nice enough to let me hang out with him. It sometimes seems like my middle son gets lost in the shuffle. I have four kids and the middle son isn't the oldest, isn't the youngest and isn't the girl. So to further show how much I love him I thought it would be a good idea if he and I hung out for a weekend.
Anyway I picked him up about noon yesterday and I was able to see my other kids as well. Anyway he and I went to the comic book store near his house, HaJoMaJe. We each picked up 3 comic books each. With DC Comics relaunching 52 classic titles I bought three of those. I bought the first issue of the new revamped Nightwing, Red Lanterns and Superman Action Comics. My son is a sponge, he remembers so much of what he hears. For instance, he told me that Nightwing is actually Robin. I had no idea.
Sadly they didn't have any of the first issues of the Batman comic books. I think Batman is my favorite superhero. (Actually spending time to think about one's favorite superhero is definitely a sign of a nerd.) There are three different Batman titles that have been relaunched. I hope to pick those up over the next few weeks.
After leaving HaJoMaJe we went to a new movie theatre that has been built near where I live. It's a 14 screen complex including having an IMAX screen. My boy and I watched "Real Steel" on IMAX. That's a nerd's paradise I will tell you. First of all "Real Steel" is a movie that's absolutely amazing. The trailers have been cut to leave out most of the cool parts of the story. The trailers don't even introduce us to the awesome robot Zeus. He literally is one of the biggest stars of the movie.
"Real Steal" is one of the two best movies I've seen all year, the other being "The Adjustment Bureau". I had mocked this movie earlier as "Rocky" with robots. There's some of that and at some points I was expecting Atom to yell out "Yo Adrian". But the movie has a lot of differences from "Rocky". The story of "Real Steel" is amazing. I won't give too much away but I loved how the ending isn't a cliche. This movie could have been a disaster with the father-son story, the too cute and smart kid and many other things. However the movie was able to use the best part of those story lines without making the movie maudlin. This was a movie that the action was so big to overcome the weaknesses of lack of a story, like the "Transformer" movies. The action and the story actually complimented each other.
Also seeing the movie on IMAX just added another element to it, it made the movie that much better. Seeing this movie on IMAX is a must for fellow nerds of the world. I know some of you are skeptical in wondering how much cooler it would be to see a movie on IMAX as compared to the usual movie theatre screen. That's equivalent to saying how much cooler would it be to see a movie on a regular movie screen as compared to a TV screen? In this case, size does make a difference. Yes, it did cost $17.50 to go see the movie on IMAX, but it was worth every penny. I've been critical of the idiotic 3D technology, I hate it so much I don't watch 3D movies anymore. However IMAX rocks. I recommend to sit back as far as you can while watching an IMAX movie. I'd hate to be on the front row of an IMAX movie.
Also this Megaplex theatre Legacy Crossing is brand new. My son pointed out to me that the floors aren't even stick. They have cool posters from some of the classic movies of all-time. They had a poster for the original "Star Wars". That took me back in time to when I was a kid going to see "Star Wars" for the first time. I would suggest that Megaplex bring back the original "Star Wars" and show it on the IMAX screen. I would love to see that movie in the theaters again.
After that we want and ate lunch at Apollo Burgers, amazing hamburgers and onion rings. Following we went to Greywhale CD store. I was looking to pick up a couple of the older Everlast CDs. They only had "Whitey Ford Sings The Blues". I bought that one and will keep my eye on when the other CDs will be sold used. Also my boy has been bugging me about playing U2 when we are hanging out. He has an iPod and with his burgeoning taste in music I picked him up U2's "The Joshua Tree". That's definitely one of the best 80's CDs ever. I love Greywhale and how they have used CD's they obviously just want to get rid of. Using my Greywhale card the cost of both CDs total: $4.50. That's a sweet deal.
I had one more errand to run and then we came back home for the rest of the night. He was able to hang out with his grandfather, they are two peas in a pod. And I was able to watch some college football. I enjoyed watching USC beat over rated, namby pamby Notre Dame.
Although one thing I was impressed with in Notre Dame football was a couple of songs they chose to play in key moments of the game. On defensive third downs this song came pouring out of the speakers, I was quite surprised the leadership of this school allowed this song to be played. It's a great song and it was a great song choice for those third downs.
They also played a snippet of this song from the White Stripes:
Unfortunately I also watched part of the Utah-Cal game. My alma mater fell flat on it's face in their game against California. Utah's offense didn't even show up. They scored those 10 points when the game was practically over. That game was ugly on so many levels that I was embarrassed for Utah. In their first season in Pac 12 play, they are now 0-4 in the conference. And I know that the Utes aren't that bad. Now Utah goes home to play fellow Pac 12 doormat Oregon State. Remember OSU is the same team that lost at home to a D2 school. Also the Beavers are the same team that were thoroughly dominated at home by an average BYU team. OSU did score 44 points last night, against yet another Pac12 doormat Washington State. That raises OSU's record to probably better than they should be 2-5.
If Utah doesn't beat Oregon State, they should be absolutely embarrassed with themselves. With Utah at only 3-4 and tied for dead last in the Pac 12 South Division I'm wondering when the calls will start coming for the head of Kyle Whittingham. However I think that would be a mistake for the Utes to get rid of Kyle Whittingham. I think he's a great coach. He and Urban Mayer have really built a solid football team that all Utah fans and alumni can be proud of. That would be great irony though if Kyle Whittingham does all that work to raise the profile of Utes to get an invite into the Pac 12. Then he loses his job due to the team not doing well in the new conference.
Although its only a matter of time now that Rick Neuheisel will be fired from UCLA. The Bruins are in Ruins. The Pac 12 should be embarrassed by the nationally televised debacle last Thursday night. I'm not even talking about the fight that caused 10 players to be suspend. I'm talking about a very bad 2-5 Arizona thrashing a very bad 3-4 UCLA team 48-12. With teams and records like that I call into question again the validity of how good the Pac 12 is as a conference. Does the Pac 12 have any quality out of conference wins? Wins over very bad Pittsburgh, Montana St and Duke teams don't count as quality wins.
Essentially the Pac 12 is 5 good teams and the seven dwarves. Although I do expect Utah to quickly get to be one of the best teams in the conference. Once they get a real quarterback they should be well on their way. Jordan Wynn isn't that real quarterback though. I predict he'll come back next season. He will win the starting job, play adequately and then get injured and be out for the rest of the season. That seems to be his mo.
themusicaddict
No comments:
Post a Comment