Trippin'

The boys still talk about the trip we took the other week -- B1 talks about different things he saw, B2 talks about the hotels we visited and the animals we saw, and they both tell me how they "miss the trip." It's cute. I was pleased how smoothly it went, without any hitches along the way. It was a resounding success; everybody had a blast, and the boys didn't once mention Exene -- not the entire time. I would periodically call her so she could talk to the boys, and they could tell her what they'd been up to, but they were content to be on the trip with me, even going solo. And the weird thing for me is that, since Exene never drove on any of our trips (she refuses to drive), there was no qualitative difference between this trip for me and any other, in terms of driving, since, had she been there, I'd STILL be the one driving over 3700 miles by myself! Baha!

Higgs

I'm amused by this clip of Brooklynites (some hipsters, some just New Yorkers) trying to guess what the Higgs Boson is. I think only one of them actually knows. My 10-year-old knows more about it, thanks to me talking to him about it a few years ago, when it came up!

Stormy

Man, we had some trippy weather today -- this fierce storm blasted through Chicago literally out of the blue today, around midday. Fiercest storm I've seen in the city in years. The wind picked up and it blasted through. It didn't last long, but it came on really quickly, and the wind was amazingly strong, felt like it was nearing microburst levels. Nothing like what creamed the Mid-Atlantic states, for sure, but still, pretty impressive. It's almost like this wild weather, supercharged by rampant, I dunno, elevated heat levels by a, hmm, changing climate, is becoming the "new normal" for the world these days. I wonder how many wildfires, derechos, droughts and what-not will have to be endured before American politicians embrace the scientific community's evidence-based findings about climate change. Clearly we're not there, yet. Maybe if the South and Southwest all burn down and their coasts flood (as their inland areas dry up), maybe then they'll stop chugging the Kool-Aid pimped out by the oil industry about global warming. Or maybe they'll just think it's End Times(tm) and will get even more loopy.

Yellowstoned

I'm still recuperating from a week in Yellowstone; I road-tripped with the boys there. They had a blast, although it was a helluva drive (all told, I drove >3700 miles, round trip!) But I thought it was worth it for the boys to get a sense of just how big this country is. I've been out west before, but have never driven the distance. Anyway, they loved it, had a lot of fun. We saw bison, elk, ospreys, coyotes, ravens, grebes, etc. I heard a pack of wolves one morning, too. Good times! B1 really loved the geysers and hot springs, was fascinated by them. I took over 1000 pix with my Nikon, while B1 took lots of shots with his own camera. Yellowstone was beautiful, although the ghostly remains of trees from the '88 wildfire were all over the place. That must have been one serious conflagration, because you could see those dead trees amid the sea of green, and some hillsides and mountain faces were still on that long, slow road to recovery.

Butterflying

Had a butterfly land on me yesterday. Butterflies love landing on me. B1 pointed it out, said "Daddy, there's a butterfly on you!" It hung out on my jacket for a bit, before flying off and then briefly landing on my back, and then flitting away. Go figure.

Avenge Me!

I took the boys to see "The Avengers" over last weekend -- so, that makes it the first time since the original "Star Wars" movies that I've seen a movie three times on the big screen. I just wanted them to be able to see it on the big screen, with the great sound. They enjoyed it, although they still relate more to the animated version I've showed them on DVD.

Speaking of the movie, I saw the drugstore clerk again, and mentioned having seen the movie. He waxed lyrical about it, particularly about the Hulk, breathlessly speculated that the sequel would feature more Hulk. He knew his Marvel, though, since we were talking about the Thanos cameo at the end, and what that would mean for the sequel (in a word, trouble -- watch out, Avengers! Thanos will fuck you UP!) I'm kinda hoping Kang appears at some point -- Kang is one of my favorite villains, and was always getting after the Avengers. Ultron could be a good one, too, if they did it right. Or Graviton. Anyway, we'll see. I just hope the makers of the movie are able to mine what made the first one great and run with that in the sequel.

Eclipsed

B1 was really stoked about the partial eclipse last night, and more so that I was able to snap a few pictures of it (below). He was thrilled by that, and I was happy that I was actually able to see it, given how low in the sky it was. One of the advantages of living in a high-rise! The ghost image was from my double-paned windows, alas. But the image of the eclipse came through very nicely.

Off to the Races

I saw that news blurb about how more non-white babies are being born than white babies and grimaced. The people saddled with racism are going to be having a field day with that, going apeshit as they fret about this. Between that and everything else that's dragged the GOP into looneyland, it's not going to be pretty. Forget notions of E Pluribus Unum and what-not; no, Whitey is gonna be going crazier than usual over this latest demographic trend, with doubtless more strident calls to save "the white race" from the non-white hordes. Lordy.

And with Obama as President, it's going to be even worse, in terms of the tone of the rhetoric of the Right. Not pretty. It's embarrassing to think that racism would still be part of people's mental makeup in the 21st Century. Like when you think of all the things a person has to face in this century, all the things to deal with, being a racist is even more pathetic -- in 1912 or 1812, I can see it, but in 2012? Embarrassing as hell. And this latest news is going to fan the fires of those rearguard racists. Fear is at the heart of all racism (and, really, all conservative politics -- hell, that's been borne out in research).

Speaking of fear, the city's all aflutter over the NATO Summit, which is starting today. Supposedly thousands of protesters have bused into the city over the past couple of days, and the city's on alert to make sure nothing happens. We'll see if anything does. I'm thinking it'll be a tempest in a teapot, honestly; if this were Berlin or Brussels, I could imagine a lot of fervent protest about NATO, but in Chicago? Honestly? I don't see it really happening. But we'll see, I guess. The summit's supposed to be all weekend.

Avengers: Animated

Having "Avengers" on the brain since watching the movie a couple of times (yeah, I saw it again, and liked it as much the second time!) I picked up the "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" animated series (four volumes, Season 1), and have enjoyed it (as have my boys). B1 likes Cap and Hawkeye in particular, while B2 likes Hulk. Thor, my favorite Avenger, is well-represented in it. The show is entertaining, mixing bang-up action with nice, drawn-out  narrative arcs that are atypical in American animated shows. I appreciate that, and the writing is good -- it doesn't have the gravitas of the Justice League series from years ago, but it has good animation and entertaining banter between the characters. There are great lines that are just funny, and good battle sequences. They may not be as perfectly drawn and kinetically awesome as the best of the DC animated shows, they are still fun to watch. There's a scene when Thor and Wasp confront MODOK, and it cracks me up -- Thor is transfixed by MODOK's appearance, repeatedly commenting on his giant head even as he's fighting him. Cracks me up. Anyway, the show is way better than I expected it to be. I'm enjoying it, which means it's likely to be canceled soon, given that any show I like tends to end up canceled. Marvel has been hit-or-miss with its animated fare, unlike DC, who had Bruce Timm to anchor their productions, but this Avengers series is definitely good stuff.

Her Radiance?

Okay, so this commercial just freaked me out. This chick just gains these godlike powers to blink out of existence everybody who's in her way? Creep macking on her? *POOF* People ahead of her in line at the club? *POOF* Chicks talking to the guy she's set her sights on? *POOF* The blithe way she just strolls up and says "Hi" to that guy, after all of these people she's evaporated? The guy should be freaked out and asking whether she's some monstrous alien and/or goddess of death or something. And what also bugs me: she deletes the people waiting in line BEHIND her, too. WTF? Why?

Avengers Assembled

I saw "The Avengers" last night, and was greatly impressed! It's the best blockbuster I've seen in years. It's been a long time since I've been that impressed with one of those big budget kinds of enterprises, but this one delivered. And that's in spite of Joss Whedon's screenwriting, which I'm never fond of -- but I have to give him credit for this one -- it definitely delivered the goods. I saw the 2D version with the Sony digital imaging, which was incredibly crisp, breathtakingly clear. The movie fired cleanly on all cylinders, even with a thinly written plot (and, to be honest, there was very much a sense of stretching a pretty thin concept very far to hold it together, but the result, rather than a mess, was something snare drum-tight). The actors carried much of the load -- I have to credit the whole cast for making it work, for filling in the weaknesses within the story with good performances all around.

But the movie itself was just literal dynamite -- exhilarating and fun. I was never bored watching it, despite it being at least two hours long. It all worked. Loki was well-played as the villain, and all the heroes did their parts. The tech components were dazzling -- the SHIELD Helicarrier was impressive as hell. The CGI guys earned their bones in this movie.

The jewel in the CGI crown was the Hulk, who was impressive as hell. I've never been a fan of the Hulk, but they absolutely made every scene with the Hulk sizzle, as he's bashing the hell out of whatever's in his way, whether it's Thor or Loki or alien hordes. It was very impressive, and they even gave Hulk the best comedic moments of it (including a laugh-out-loud beatdown of Loki that had me howling).

I loved the Avengers comic as a kid, so I was really worried that they'd butcher it on the big screen, but those worries were shelved by this movie, which couldn't fail to impress. Again, it's a blockbuster, so I watch it with "blockbuster rules" -- I'm not expecting Shakespeare when I watch a blockbuster, but I'm also very picky about blockbusters (for example, "Inception" actually bored the hell out of me, and I've groused about that before, although I seem to be the only person living who actually didn't love that movie) -- but "The Avengers" was just fabulous fun.

Of the actors, only Hemsworth's Thor felt like he was dragging a little, and even he grew on me throughout it. He looked the part, but I felt like he was behind the other actors in their portrayals of their respective heroes. Makes me laugh to see Black Widow supplant the Wasp as one of the founding members of the Avengers, and, of course, how Giant-Man is nowhere in the mix. I think those were good choices (and, besides, with Paltrow cameoing as Pepper, that's about as much WASP as one can take in a movie).

Anyway, I really enjoyed that movie on a level that I've not enjoyed blockbusters since I don't even know when. Well worth it. I'm gonna catch it again.

Oh, and the Thanos teaser at the end was even more fun. I actually exclaimed "Whoa!" out loud, and cackled.

Avenged Sevenfold

I think I may catch "The Avengers" after work tomorrow. I need to indulge my long-dormant Marvel fanboy self. I collected a lot of AVENGERS, back in the day, most of which I still have, stashed away in storage. I dug some of them out, let B1 check out a few issues. Amazing to think that they're from 1977 -- they're 35 years old! OMG! I always took very good care of my old comics (although I lost about 2/3 of my childhood comics collection when my folks had carelessly left them in a musty basement in one of their properties when I was away at college. Thankfully, the ones kept in Mylar bags had weathered that debacle, and I was able to recover them, once I'd realized where my folks had put them).

Anyway, I figure I'll catch the flick, since it looks like it should be halfway interesting. I really hope they do a sequel with either Ultron or the Absorbing Man or Taskmaster (yeah, right -- no chance of that). That would be fun. The problem with doing superhero movies is for all the non-fans of comics, they have to ladle in the exposition so the people know what the hell is going on, who Villain X is. They'll probably do Kang or Mandarin as the villain in any sequel.

Hulking

I had to share an amusing exchange at the drugstore: ahead of me in line was this guy talking to this tattooed gay Latino, who was talking excitedly about the upcoming "Avengers" movie, and how he was ready to watch the Hulk kick everybody's ass. As an old-school Marvel fan, I had to chime in that I thought Iron Man could probably take out the Hulk, but the gay guy would have none of it, saying "The Hulk kicks EVERYONE'S ass! Iron Man! Superman! Thor! Everybody! And do you know why?" and I said "Why?" (passing over that Superman's from DC, not Marvel) and he said "Because he's FULL of pure emotion. He's pure, unstoppable emotion." and I said "Sure, when he gets pissed off enough, Hulk can beat anybody, but Thor could fight Hulk to a standstill. He's the Thunder God. He's got Mjolnir, his Uru hammer." and that gave the Latino pause, and he said "Mmm. Yes, Thor versus the Hulk WOULD be a very good fight. Hmm. I like Thor." and I said "He does have a certain Asgardian charm." and the guy said "You know what it is about Thor? It's the CAPE. I loooooove his cape. But I love the Hulk MORE. He's got SUCH big muscles!"

Anyway, had to share that before I forget it, as it was an amusing Chicago type exchange. I had to pipe up, since it's so rare to actually get to talk up comic bookage these days! Baha!