B'more Geek

Inception (by Women)

2010-07-25T16:30:00.002-04:00

As usual, my idea for this comic is a mixed bag. On the one hand, I was looking for an excuse to talk about my family vacation. On the other, I saw Inception last week and it's been bouncing around in my head ever since. And rather then start with Inception and forget to reference my summer vacation (which is definitely worth mentioning), I'll do the smart thing and start talking about my family's trip to Sesame Place.

We ended up going through their website and booking one of their package trips. We had 3 nights at the Radisson and 2 days at the park. It worked out pretty well. We drove up after Lilly's nap on a Sunday. Got checked in. Got some dinner. And took a swim in the indoor pool before turning in early. The next day we had breakfast with Cookie Monster and Abby Cadabby, and had an awesome day playing in the water attractions at the park. The next day we took in the dry attractions and the shows between some heavy rain. All in all it was a nice trip. Both kids had a blast, and Jill and I enjoyed it enough that we'll probably try to go back when the kids are a little older. For those interested in pictures, you can find them here.

Next, there was the mind-trip that was Inception. I've used both the words, brilliant and masterpiece to describe this film to friends, and I include them here because I believe the movie to be worthy of both. The tricky part about Inception is that it's a movie that it is difficult to talk about without spoiling something of the plot, so take that as a warning before you read further. That being said, Inception is NOT a twist movie, so don't go in trying to out-think it. It will likely take away from your overall enjoyment of the film. This is not a puzzle for you to solve, but it will pluck your brain in other ways.

After seeing the film I have read some pretty interesting articles about the film, and been part of some interesting debates about how much of the film is in reality, and how much is a dream. One of the most compelling discussions being from the point of view that the entire movie is a dream. That even the parts that we are supposed to believe are in reality are actually a part of Cobb's mind. There are plenty of clues in the film for someone to support this argument, and I think I align myself with that camp. That being said, I think that the most interesting thing the film does is to present you with a story where, even though you know the emotional payoffs may not be occurring in "reality" it makes them no less real. The movie reaches a point where you stop worrying about what's a dream and what isn't and just start feeling for the characters that are walking through this dream world looking to heal their fractured psyches and souls. Watching the movie with that in mind, I find that the final act is quite satisfying.

I also feel I could watch the movie about 5 times in close succession, and still find it absolutely fascinating. I can't wait to see what Nolan does next, both with Batman and Beyond.

In Your End, Oh!

2010-06-13T15:13:00.002-04:00

First off, let me say that this is paraphrased from a post that I did on HCRealms that I didn't realize until after the fact was steeped with innuendo. And if you know the character/HeroClix I'm talking about, it makes it even funnier. For those that are unaware (and if you are, you came here by accident, or you're my Mom), the character I'm talking about in the comic is Megan Fox's character in the new Jonah Hex movie that comes out next weekend.

The character of Lilah is a prostitute and the corresponding HeroClix that comes out in August is based on a figure from one of the earliest sets called the "Con Artist." Now HeroClix is a game that's aimed at a demographic where parents wouldn't like to see a figure named "Prostitute" but that's basically what the Con Artists looked like, and that's what some Clixers call them.

Anyway, if you didn't catch the innuendo the first time around, go back and re-read the comic with all that in mind. It's much funnier when you look at it completely wrong. Anyway, all that being said, I'm really looking forward to the Jonah Hex movie, although I doubt I'll catch it in a first-run theater. Much like Wolverine last year, I'll probably wait for it to hit the cheap seats and go with one of my guy friends.

Graduation! Now With Wings!

2010-05-31T19:50:00.000-04:00

You know how any time you have a big event that requires you to order some sort of special clothing, like a gown for Graduation, your parents (or a spouse) inevitably tell you once it comes in, that you should try it on and make sure it fits? Well that happened MONTHS AGO when Jill’s robe for her graduation showed up. However, between having a second child, and just the chaos of keeping up with the first, getting around to trying on the gown never really happened.

So the night before the ceremony, Jill slides on the gown, and can’t figure out where her hands are supposed to go. Needless to say, this is mere hours before we’re getting into the car to go, so if there is a problem, there’s really not anything we can do about it. Fortunately for us, we discovered the slits in the sleeves before anything drastic (like ripping stitches out) had happened. However, the comedy of what could have been nearly was EXACTLY what happened.

So even though Jill earned her Masters Degree in August, she got to go through the traditional pomp and circumstance of graduation last weekend. And much to her pleasure, both girls did a fairly good job of sitting through the ceremony, and Lilly actually beamed with pride as Mom walked across the stage to be honored as a graduate of the college.

Congratulations, dear! You went through a lot of hard work to earn your Masters and to do it while teaching full time, being a mom, and generally keeping the house in good working order is no small task.

And since this is going up on Memorial Day, I’d like to also say a quick Thank You to all the men and women who serve in the Armed Forces, and to their families that support them.

When I Think About You, I Touch myTouch

2010-04-23T23:54:00.003-04:00

Edit: Made some edits to the comic to correct a spelling mistake, and to make it more clear that Lilly is in the back seat. And although she didn't actually work out that I was spelling out a word as complex as parenting, she did work out that I was spelling Annie (of Annie's Playground) when Jill and I were trying to have a coded conversation in the car about not having time to stop there. Let's just say that conversation could have gone more smoothly.

That said, the original idea for this strip came from the fact that we finally dumped Verizon Wireless, and their horrible customer service, and recently switched to T-Mobile, where my wonderful wife allowed me to get a myTouch smartphone. But more on that later. First I want to cover why we switched. 1) T-Mobile's rates are just a smidgen cheaper, and that was part of the make or break on whether I could get a smartphone, and 2) Verizon Wireless now has this asinine rule that says, you HAVE TO get a $10 data plan whether you want it or not on ANY of their phones regardless of whether you intend to use it or not. And when you ask their reps about it, the best they can do is give you some snide answer about how everyone else is doing it. Well, guess what! T-Mobile isn't. Not only that, but they were super helpful in listening to what we needed/wanted and did they're best to show us what we could get for what we wanted to pay.

Now that my Verizon venting is out of the way, on to what I think about the myTouch. The short answer is I LOVE THIS PHONE! The longer answer has a lot to do with the Android operating system in general. I love how fluidly it syncs with my Gmail account. It makes things like updating the contacts and the Calendar a breeze, and even a little fun. I love the apps store. I really wish I just had a couple of days to download and play with stuff. I've already linked up my Photobucket and Facebook accounts, and I've been enjoying actually using Facebook again. It's much easier to post thoughts when I can do it from my phone when inspiration hits. And I love that I can show my Photobucket pictures off without them actually residing on my phone. I really can't believe I waited so long to get one. Of course now I'm hooked, and that's ultimately what the phone companies want anyway. Oh well!

Too Young for Senior Moments?

2010-03-20T17:04:00.002-04:00

Before anyone asks, yes this is one of those conversations that actually happened.I don't know if it's age or exhaustion catching up with me, but I've been mighty forgetful as of late. One evening when I was picking the girls up from daycare, I forgot to grab the carrier when I passed it in the entry way. Fortunately, it was actually there and I didn't have to run home or something to get it. Although, I do think it's funny that the comic sort of implies that I had to run home or something.

If this were the only indecent, it wouldn't be such a big deal. However, one day shortly after this, I almost put the carrier back in my car when I was leaving in the morning. That wouldn't have been such a big deal except for the fact that Jill was the one picking the girls up in the evening.

And then there was this Thursday. Now with the warmer weather in the evenings, I'm having to carry a lot more things home that would normally either be on Lilly or Willow's carrier. However, instead, things like coats are taking up space in bags, which means I have more smaller things to carry, like lunchboxes and coolers. Well, on Thursday Willow's cooler got left behind and I didn't realize it until I got home. The big problem here was that I picked up the girls because traffic on our side of town was a disaster. So once I dropped the girls off, I had to fight my way back to daycare, pick up the cooler, and fight my way home again. The trip in all took twice as long as it should have (which was pretty good considering the circumstances).

Although losing an hour out of my already busy evening has me hoping that this spell of forgetfulness will pass soon.

Sweating Bullets

2010-03-14T09:49:00.004-04:00

I think my brain went into pop-culture overload with this particular comic. I’ve had the chance to see both Alice in Wonderland and Shutter Island this week. I really enjoyed and wanted to do reviews for both, and as such, I tried to come up with a comic that could tie those elements together, and somehow I landed on doing it by playing off of a current Old Spice Body Wash commercial that playing right now, and is completely hilarious! The title, like others before it, is a bit of a throwback, although I’m interested to see if anyone catches what I’m referencing with it. Consider it a mystery to be solved, which leads into my reviews nicely.

This past weekend Jill and I took Lilly to see Alice in Wonderland. It’s actually somewhat odd that they called it Alice in Wonderland, since that would imply to most that it was a live-action version of the book or at the very least the Disney movie of the same name. Granted the trailer makes it clear that were going to see an older Alice returning to Wonderland, part of me still expected to see some of the same scenarios. In some cases we do, but for the most part we get the characters doing other things. It’s almost more similar to American McGee's Alice but not nearly as dark. That being said, there were some interesting decisions made for a movie that was more or less aimed at families. The moat around the Queen of Hearts castle being the one thing that sticks out most in my mind as “not exactly kid friendly, but yet done in a way that they didn’t necessarily get it.” There are points in the movie where it does seem a bit rushed, and almost feels as if there are pieces missing, but ultimately, I don’t think I would have wanted it to be much longer. The ending also seemed off to me. I understand what they were going for, but I really felt with the chemistry that we see between Alice and the Mad Hatter, that the two characters should have still been together at the end of the film, whether that meant that she stayed in Wonderland, or he somehow escaped into the real world. As a whole the movie was an entertaining adventure in the realm of Labyrinth or something from the Narnia franchise.

Now for crazy of a different flavor, Chris and I got a chance to see Shutter Island on Tuesday. The interesting thing about this movie is that it ended up being almost exactly what I expected before going in, but it did such a wonderful job of trying to convince me that I was wrong the entire film. The real genius of this film is that it shifts seamlessly between reality and perceived reality to the point that you question which reality is the correct one. That said, it also does a fairly good job at telegraphing which the correct one is, but it constantly gives you just enough doubt that the entire film you’re trying to rectify the two. I don’t recommend seeing this film while tired, because it is mentally fatiguing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m saying that in a good way. There are a lot of cuts in the film that are jarring in the subtlety of what shifts from one shot to the next. Some changes are obvious while others seem like they could be mistakes in editing, but seem so frequent and intentional that I refuse to believe that they’re just continuity gaffs. If you’re watching as a keen eyed observer, these subtleties make for a dizzying viewing experience, and really help to put you into the mindset of the main character. I highly recommend this film.

I think that covers everything I wanted to touch on this week. I’m looking forward to see if anyone submits a guess on the title of this week’s comic. If no one gets it by the next comic, I’ll let you know then.

Hungry Like The Wolf

2010-02-27T20:46:00.001-05:00

This is going up a couple of weeks late, but it's my first real movie review, and I want to do more stuff like this for the blog, so I'm posting it anyway.

For Valentine's Day, Jill and I decided that we wanted to catch the "counter programming" film for the weekend and opted to go see The Wolfman. There were a hundred reasons that we should have liked this film. There was an excellent cast, and it's based on the classic Universal Monster film of the same name. However, the story/script seem like they were rushed into production half finished, and the director made some questionable decisions with the film.

For those of you that aren't up on the story, Benicio Del Toro's character is a tragic figure who the audience is supposed to sympathize with. However, the scenes of the wolf unleashed are so brutal, it's hard to feel too much sympathy for the man that just brutalized 2 dozen people.

The biggest issue I had with the film is that it seemed to be lacking a clear identity. The film begins like a murder mystery similar to Tim Burton's re-imagining of Sleepy Hollow. But then half way through the film, the movie shows it's hand, and shifts gears more into an action/horror film. By the end it decided to go for the obvious tragic ending with a predictable twist. However, once we got there, I was less concerned about whether or not there would be a sequel and more concerned with why Universal would release this in the hopes to reignite it's Classic Monster franchises.

That being said, I didn't hate the movie, I just didn't particularly like it either. I really wanted this movie to be good, and I would have excepted it had the story at least felt finished. However, this movie was so rough in so many places that I can't say much good about it.

Ring of Emotions

2010-02-09T22:06:00.002-05:00

It's kind of ironic how these comics come about sometimes. I had the idea for this one the other day, because I've really been into the previews that WizKids has been doing for this Starter Set. The sculpts look fantastic! And the one dial that we've seen over on icv2, for The Flash looks great too. I am very excited about this set, and I can't believe how long we're going to have to wait to get our hands on it. There was also a call to action by WizKids to get word out about this set. I think it's cool that they're trying to mobilize the fan base to get the word out, and this is a heck of a product to do it with.

Unfortunately the previews for the starter are so good that they're really overshadowing The Brave and the Bold which is an expansion set that comes out a month before the starter. Part of the reason I'm personally not all that excited about that set has partly to do with disliking the Duo mechanic and it's application to some figures. Particularly ones that are vastly different in power sets. However, only time will tell if the set will actually be good or not. I'm hoping they preview the new Alter Ego mechanic soon, because that'll be another make or break mechanic seeing as it will contribute to 10 slots in the set (I think). I'm sure I'll post more on that as more information becomes available.

With that, here are the images of the awesome sculpts from the upcoming Blackest Night starter, releasing on May 12, 2010.

Miracles from Chaos

2010-01-26T12:36:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been a little while since my last blog, but as you can see, I have good reason. I tried something a little different with this comic, because it felt right to try this one from a "first-person" perspective. So you're reading the entire comic from the perspective of the Allan character (or me) if you will. I hope the "black-out" effects in frames 4 and 5 translate well, if not, now you know what's going on there. And for more explanation, here's the story:

5:30 AM on 1/13, my alarm goes off to get up for work, and Jill heads into the bathroom after noticing a trickle coming down her leg. No sooner does she sit down, when I hear a splooshing sound, followed by her exclamation of "Oh, dear lord!" Meanwhile, I'm asking what's wrong, and if I should get ready to go to the hospital. She tells me to get a shower, so I hurry into the other bathroom, and start to use it. Suddenly I hear another sploosh followed by another loud exclamation, at which point she tells me to "Skip the shower!"

Now the scramble is on! We're both throwing ourselves together and calling the neighbors so that they can come over and take care of Lilly. Somewhere in the back of my head, the Benny Hill music is playing. Anyway, the neighbors come over and we get out the door.

On the way to the hospital, I miss the turn into Bayview. Not realizing there's another entrance further up the street, I try to jockey across the lanes to get turned around. Unfortunately, I missed the car in my blind spot, and we end up having a minor fender-bender. We exchanged information while Jill's water continued to leak.

Once in the hospital, things slowed down a bit. There was a little concern about Willow's heartbeat, but that seemed to be remedied by positioning Jill on her side, and at some point hooking her up to oxygen. Otherwise, things went pretty smoothly, and after Noon when the nurse finally came in from another procedure, I asked if I had enough time to run to the cafeteria and get some lunch. She checked Jill's vitals, and assured me that everything looked normal, and not quite ready to go.

So I ran off to the cafeteria and come back to find out things have changed in the 5 minutes I was out. I'm ushered back into the room to see everything set up and ready to go, so I toss my lunch in the chair in the corner, and take my position at bedside.

Things started to blur from there. Jill was doing a great job, and all of a sudden they had a complication with a stuck shoulder. That said, the team was awesome. One of the women smoothly took my position, and I instinctively moved away to let them work. They got Willow out without injury. However, I think she might have had her cord wrapped around her neck, and she wasn't breathing when they first pulled her out.

The peds team took over, and had her breathing in just over 3 minutes, and her heart was beating the whole time, so there shouldn't be any permanent damage from what they tell us. Once we heard her crying, I think Jill and I both finally remembered to breath. Jill was crying, but I asked her if she was OK, and she said she was, to which I replied, "Good, because I'm going to pass out now."

Fortunately, I didn't, but it did take me a few minutes to regain my composure and calm down. Once I righted myself, they let me hold Willow, which is always a great feeling! Mommy and baby are doing great, although Willow needs to figure out that she should sleep when it's dark. Currently she's nocturnal.

For those wondering, here are the stats: Willow Elizabeth Grimm was born 1/13/10 @ 12:40 PM. She was 9 pounds 1 ounce, and 20.25 inches long.

I'm back to work tomorrow, so hopefully things will start to normalize a bit, and I'll get these out a little more regularly.

Moving the Rebel Base

2010-01-03T15:12:00.001-05:00

Sorry it's been a while since my last blog. There are multiple reasons for that, not the least of which being the holiday season. I was also working on a different comic that was taking entirely too long to finish, and it's not remotely timely now, so I'm axing it, and doing this one instead.

Helped Sara and Chris move from their old apartment to their new apartment yesterday (in the frigid cold) and as usual, a funny conversation happened that I just had to put into the comic. Only difference is, I botched the reference on moving day, and said Bantha instead of Tauntaun, but I fact-checked myself before I did the comic.

Fortunately the move wasn't far, as they're just upgrading within the same complex, but moving is a lot of work, any way you slice it, so I'm glad I could throw in a hand to help. Hopefully they're getting settled in today, before everybody's back to regular working hours.

Me and the family had a nice holiday. Hope all of you did as well. And I hope to post more regularly in the coming months, but I'm sure that they baby will have something to say about that, when she comes.

Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting!

2009-12-05T22:07:00.001-05:00

Today at Legends Comics in Towson I had the pleasure of demoing SlugFest Games Kung Fu Fighting card game and More! Kung Fu Fighting expansion for the small group of brave soles that ventured out in the horrible weather to attend the Face Smasher X-Treme 3000 Deluxe-A-Con '09 2.0 : Vengeance.

For those that did check out the game, thanks! The first match pit the Imperial General vs She Who Must Fight, and after a grueling match that was tolling on both fighters, the Imperial General gained the edge, and brought down his opponent with a final blow from his mighty blade.

The second match was also fought by 3 worthy opponents. The Venerable Master, the Mysterious Stranger, and the Jade Princess all entered the ring. The Mysterious Stranger learned fast from the Venerable Master as he seemed to copy his every move. Meanwhile the Jade Princess grabbed any object that was not nailed down. After delivering a devastating opening attack with the Bamboo Pole to both her adversaries, the Jade Princess spent most of the game on the defensive. Fortunately her Chi was quite strong, as she pulled the lion's share of the Chi Restoration cards. As the fierce battle drew close to it's conclusion, the Jade Princess managed to best the Venerable Master before receiving a savage attack from the Mysterious Stranger. However, her luck did manage to hold, and she dropped the Mysterious Stranger before he had a chance to finish her.

All in all, if you're looking for a fast-paced, tongue-in-cheek combat-oriented card game, that takes about 5 minutes to learn, and about a half-an-hour to 45 minutes for a good game, check this out! And pick up the expansion. The archetypes alone are worth the cost.

And on a completely random related not, if you've never heard Tom Jones version of Kung Fu Fighting from the Supercop soundtrack, check it out! It's fantastic! (And yes, I'm aware that, that sounded a little gay. Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

Thankful for Mini-Waffles

2009-11-25T19:56:00.002-05:00

For anyone reading that hasn't had a small child before, sometimes kids find certain foods that they love so much they can't live without. Our daughter loves 2 foods most of all: Mac & Cheese and Eggo Mini-Waffles. Further for those that haven't heard, we're experiencing an Eggo shortage. Which means that Mini-Waffles are particularly hard to find.

Fortunately, Lilly has decided that "it's magic" whether or not there are actually Eggo Mini-Waffles at the store or not. But recently her patience has been wearing thin. And luckily for Jill and I when we were in Target this weekend, they actually had 4 boxes of Mini-Waffles in the freezer, so needless to say, we cleared them out. Four boxes equates to 10 'sheets' of mini-waffles which basically have 4 minis to 1 waffle. That said, since Lilly only eats 1 sheet per breakfast, that gives us 40 breakfasts before we need to track down more. Needless to say, we're thankful for this minor holiday miracle!

Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving! And check back in next Saturday evening for an event report from the Legends Mini-Con.

HoT God Box

2009-11-21T23:54:00.001-05:00

Disclaimer: Those that aren't into HeroClix, or at the very least collectible gaming of some sort will likely be very lost trying to read the blog ahead. However, trying to make it accessible to everyone would require it to be overly explained and ultimately alienate the target audience for this blog.

And now that, that's out of the way, I didn't actually pull that configuration from a booster, however, that COULD be a configuration under the current model since it has 1 common, 2 uncommons, 1 rare, and 1 super rare. That said, I'm ecstatic that HeroClix is back! And I'm even more ecstatic that as an early Christmas present my awesome wife and daughter got me a case of Hammer of Thor.

And what a case it was! I didn't get a God Box, or a chase for that matter. But I did pull 6 Super Rares and all but 1 of the CUR set. The only one I'm missing is Air-Walker (which I was bummed about) but hopefully I'll have him by the end of next week. Then I just have 6 SRs to track down, and I've got what matters out of the set.

So back to the topic at hand, God Boxes. Originally when I heard about it, I thought it was a neat idea, when I didn't know that there was a Chase figure in with the Super Rares, and before I fully realized the rest of the implications on the brick/case distribution of SRs. Others on HCRealms have mentioned plenty of better ideas on implementation of the God Boxes if NECA decides to try it again in the future. I'm skeptical they will. It's ultimately been more polarizing then it needs to be. That said, I'm hoping people don't chastise NECA for something that could be a legacy idea from Topps.

Family Friendly Humor?

2009-11-15T17:40:00.001-05:00

Last weekend, Lego had a grand opening for their new store in Arundel Mills Mall. Jill, Lilly, and I went down to take part in the festivities (which is a big part of why there was no comic last week). That said, we had a great time and got some Christmas shopping done. Unfortunately, they have far more things that I'd like to buy, but can't really afford.

We did manage to buy enough that we got the freebies that we went there for. And as unfortunate as it is, this comic does come directly from a conversation that was had in front of me. It is an obvious joke, and had Jill and I not had Lilly, she may have even made it herself. However, I didn't feel it was an appropriate joke to have made in the middle of a very crowded store full of families with small children. Maybe I'm just becoming more sensitive to what people say around me now that I have my own child. I'm not sure.

Anyway, it didn't taint my experience, and I'm very excited to have a store in a reasonable proximity. I can't wait to have another excuse to go down there when it's less busy.

A Grimm Halloween

2009-10-29T15:36:00.002-04:00

Halloween is a favorite holiday around the Grimm house, so I couldn't very well let the week of Halloween go by with a B'more Geek Halloween comic. Couple that with the fact that I just got my Nintendo DSi this week, with the AWESOME Scribblenauts, and this strip pretty much wrote itself.

I've been wanting to get a new game system for a while now, and until recently I had been leaning toward a Wii. However, once a friend showed me Scribblenauts, I quickly reconsidered. And yes, Cthulhu was one of the first items I summoned in the game. I'm not sure what that says about me, but I thought it was awesome that he was actually included amongs the multitude of other items. This game was definitely created by geeks, for geeks. So if you are one, and you have a DS, check this game out! The open-endedness of the game is it's greatest asset, and also makes it a little annoying at times. Once you get into Advanced Mode and have to figure out how to solve the puzzles for the third time using different equipment then you've already used, it can quickly become maddening. The game really makes you think. Although, I do find the "Action" levels FAR MORE ANNOYING then the puzzles, because Maxwell doesn't always do what you want/expect. That aside, the game is really fantastic and inventive. It's also totally worth the price of admission.

I haven't enjoyed a new/different game this much since Katamari Damacy, and that's saying a lot!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the strip, and have a happy and safe Halloween! For those that are wondering, I'm actually planning on dressing like Captian America from Ultimates 2 this year, and I'll be taking Supergirl (Lilly) trick or treating. I'll be sure to post pictures with the next strip.

HoT Conspiracy Theory

2009-10-24T20:37:00.001-04:00

And yes, the punchline for today's comic is entirely true. I probably have committed why too many minutes to trying to prove that with the new WizKids release, that we've been waiting for, for a year, that they've decided to finally move from the L shaped dial slots to the "pie-shaped" ones that allow them to have more then one power in a particular slot without having to actually give the character a special power to accomplish said task.

Personally I'm hoping that they are moving to these dials which will give them a little more design freedom, while bringing the dials closer to running straight from the PAC again. It's a smart move, and I think most players will catch on to the change with little to no learning curve. And lets face it, the less we need white blocks on the dial, the better.

I LOVE special powers, but they were getting a little out of hand. I'd personally like to see HeroClix "go back to basics" more anyway. I think Feats have run there course, and I personally like the feel of event dials over Battlefield Conditions, but I know I'm also in the minority on that one.

Ultimately, I love where NECA seems to be going with the product, and I'm interested to see how it grows and changes over the next year.

We're Going to Call Her...

2009-10-18T18:09:00.002-04:00

There's probably nothing more terrifying and hilarious then to overhear you almost 3-year-old daughter exclaim this to your mother on the phone. That being said this is almost word for word a conversation that my mother and my daughter had on the phone.

All that aside, it's been a long winding road trying to find the name for my second daughter, who's on her way in January. The selection of her name actually started with a joke that my wife played on my niece Rebecca, who is a die-hard Steelers fan in Baltimore, which isn't easy, considering the rivalry between the two teams. To aggravate Rebecca, Jill told her that we were going to name the baby Raven. I told her that she shouldn't joke about that, because I actually liked the name. Not necessarily for the football team. I was going more of a comic book/Edgar Allan Poe route.

After Raven made the list, we also went through and picked few other names that were top contenders. Willow, Olive, Scarlett, and Leslie all made the list. I'm sure that we both like Willow because of the character from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, one of our mutual favorite shows. Olive, in hindsite, more than likely came from the character on Pushing Daisies, and Scarlett comes from Gone with the Wind for Jill, and G.I.Joe for me. And Leslie is my first name, and my Dad's middle name, so that would have been sort of a legacy thing. In fact Dad suggested that if we went with Leslie that we took Jill's middle name to give to the child, so it was like a mix of the two names. I kind of thought that was cool, but Jill wanted her to have her own identity, which is also understandable, so that idea quickly got scrapped.

Eventually we came back around to Raven and added the middle name Elisabeth, which I'm proud to say that I came up with. Our whole family liked the name, including Lilly, who's been very picky. However, once the name got as far as the Grandparents on either side, much resistance was met. Mainly they were upset that it wasn't a more traditional name. The thing that they missed was the fact that the baby probably wasn't going to have a traditional name anyway. It's a side effect of having a comic-geek and a teacher trying to name a kid.

Anyway, fate of the name Raven was sealed when a woman a church suggested that whether we wanted it or not, her name would be associated with the football team, and as much as my family likes the team, I don't want my child forever associated with it. So we started looking elsewhere for names, and for some reason we went totally off the list. The next name we landed on was Emily Rachel which in hindsight I found pretty funny being that the name is associated with two women that Ross both dated and subsequently married on Friends. Not to mention the fact that Ross called Emily, Rachel at their wedding. That name stuck for about a week. Just long enough for Jill to start telling people, and then we moved on again.

The next name I pulled out of the ether was Ashley Jean, which more than likely had a round-about link to Ashley J. Williams from Evil Dead/Army of Darkness. And Jean is Jill's Mom's name. There is probably a lot more going on with that name (on a subconsious level) then I care to admit, but that one had an even shorter stay than Emily Rachel.

Which ultimately brought us back around to the original list, and our original middle name. So after much back and forth and more than a little stress, we've landed on Willow Elizabeth, which still isn't terribly popular with the grandparents, but it's not their kid, so they can deal with it. What makes this amusing to me now is that since we call Lilly, Lilly and not Lillian, someone might thing that Jill and I just have a thing for Alyson Hannigan (which probably isn't wrong on some level) since both of our kids will be named after (or similarly to) characters that she's made popular.

Sounds Like Team Spirit

2009-09-25T23:53:00.003-04:00

Ever since I moved to Baltimore in 2000, they've done "Purple Friday" at the very least during playoffs, if not all of football season. And between my wife, my neighbors, and now me, my daughter has grown up a Ravens fan. And since one of the owners at her Daycare is also a huge Ravens fan, the kids are more or less a sea of purple on Fridays.

That said, an odd thing has happened with Lilly. She doesn't want to let ANYONE wear purple if it's NOT Friday. This makes for interesting discussions on Sundays when Jill and I want to wear Ravens clothes during the actual games.

It also led to Lilly actually going up to one of the girls in church, who was proudly sporting her Flacco Jersey, and Lilly explained to her very matter-of-factly that she shouldn't be wearing the jersey because it was not Purple Friday. Fortunately the girl just got a chuckle out of it.

Guess you can chalk this one up as a situation where, "Kids say the darnedest things."

Red Dragon Gambling! I'm Inn!

2009-09-21T15:19:00.003-04:00

So I've finally gotten around to posting my first comic, and I figured I'd start out right by taking myself out. I have a feeling I'll be doing that a lot in the comic, using the other characters to comment on how I tend to get really excited, and talk in length about things I like.

That said, for those of you that are coming here and don't have any idea what I'm talking about. I'm part of the SlugCrew for Slugfest Games. And last week I ran a demo/tournament event for a mini-con at my favorite comic book shop, Legends Comics & Games in Towson, MD. The event that I ran was for a Slugfest Game called Red Dragon Inn & Red Dragon Inn 2. Players played in games of one or the other, and if they won, they got to select one of the 8 characters to play in a championship round at the end of the day to win a copy of one of the 2 games.

The first group of players to sit down with my played RDI 2 and Nathan playing as Dimili the Dwarf came out on top. Naturally, he selected Dimli to play in the Championship round. Nick was the second player to win, playing the original RDI, but being entertained by the "hulk-speak" on Gog's cards, he decided to take him in the championship round. Next to win was Lisa, playing as Dimli in her second round of RDI 2. She selected Eve (who she used in the first round) to play in the final. Two players that had played in the first round of RDI requested to play a mixed game, since Gog was not currently being used, and Julia won playing him. She selected Fiona for the final. Then Tim won in a round using the original RDI, and selected Gerki. Finally Timra won in a round of RDI 2, and selected Zot & Pooky. That left 2 spots open going into the final and time was running short, so I tapped to of the people that had played earlier in the day, and Eric filled in as Diedre and Ian filled in as Fleck.

This is when things got interesting! I was concerned that with 8 players the match might run long, but to my surprise, it played very quickly. As in the comic, Fiona was the first player to drop, quite literally. After a pretty potent "Round on the House" she came out as the "Winner" of a drinking contest gaining somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 on her alcohol content.

Next to fall were Dimli & Gerki simultaneously. There were a few big gambling pots early in the game, which the wench made off with, thanks to the persuasion of the Bard. As the ranks closed, Gog went down drinking, followed by Dierdre. Leaving Eve, Zot, and Fleck to see who could last the longest. Unfortunately for Zot and Fleck, Eve was doing an excellent job at sluffing off just about anything that came her way. And eventually Fleck followed closely by Zot, also passed out, and got thrown from the Inn.

Ultimately I was pretty happy with how the event went. I had a nice number of people come through and try out the game, and everyone seemed to have a great time. Lisa, who was playing Eve, went home the winner of a copy of Red Dragon Inn 2, and I felt she earned it, since she had pretty much played at my table all day.

The store opted to raffle off the copy of Red Dragon Inn, and it went to one of the players that not only demoed Red Dragon Inn, but Kung Fu Fighting as well, so I was pretty happy about how that turned out as well.

Well, if you made it this far, I hope you enjoyed my first real blog & the accompanying comic. If you have any comments or suggestions for going forward, I'd love to hear them!

Starting a new Blog

2009-09-02T12:09:00.001-04:00

Well, I used to blog over on mySpace, but I eventually got tired/bored with it. Plus I seldom had time to actually do it. And I used to have a website, but I hadn't updated it in forever, and then that space closed. That said, I've been trying to motivate myself to create a new presence on the web, and I've been trying to decide exactly how I want to do that. If you're reading this, you've already got a pretty good idea where I'm going with this.

In the past couple of years I've really become a fan of a few online comics/blogs, namely Multiplex, Theater Hopper, and Joe Loves Crappy Movies. I've really been trying to motivate myself to get something together and start posting one myself. That said, I don't make any illusions that mine will be as good, as frequent, or as focus as those I listed. It's likely that I will not only deal with topics of movies, but also games, comics, and family.

Of course one could argue that I'm already off on the wrong foot by not including a comic with my first post, but unfortunately I don't have one ready to go, nor would it be worth throwing one together just for the sake of having one here. I will try to do one soon however.