23 Days of Gourds for Randy - Day 4

I liked "Thor: Rangarok"

Marvel is at an interesting point in it's movie making history.   We're, what, 20 movies in?  Now that they're past origin stories, they seem to have embraced two things:

1. tone can vary 
2. letting creators with a vision go a bit nuts means you aren't necessarily repeating yourself (as much)

Guardians of the Galaxy demonstrated that audiences wanted a bit of balance to grim-dark superheroes, and the abysmal approach to DC's slate of films up to Wonder Woman showed what *not* to do - so it's a bit rewarding to see Thor bounce back from what was arguably one of the weakest Marvel movies with Thor: The Dark World* and come back with the pop-corniest Marvel movie since... well, this summer's Spider-Man: Homecoming and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 were both pretty solid entries as well.  Let's just agree it's been a good year to be a Marvel movie fan.

Marvel's movies have reflected or echoed an arc not dissimilar to what has happened with the printed comics.   Hitting the stage with a surge of quick hits that were better than what we'd seen of late in the same genre, an expansion of the universe with a diversity of types of comics/ movies that reflect the milieu of each character, pulling them back together with Avengers comics/ movies as mega-events that never quite work, exactly, but do ground everyone in a single reality, then push everyone back out into their own books/ films.

23 Days of Gourds for Randy - Day 3

23 Days of Gourds for Randy - Day 2

Houston Astros Win World Series 2017!

I'm a Cubs fan, but I grew up in Texas, and spent part of elementary school and part of high school in Spring, which is part of Houston.

The 'Stros were the home team, but I wasn't a baseball fan.  That said, I still remember my folks taking me to see Jose Cruz and Nolan Ryan in the Astrodome.

But this isn't about me:  it's about my friends who suffered all these years watching the Lastros.  The Dis-Astros.  Who watched the 'Stros ditch the orange for some safe color choices and wait it out til it came back again.

Houston's pro sports last saw glory back when the Astros were in the World Series in 2005.  Prior to that, you have to look to the WNBA titles by the Comets in 97' and 98' or the Rockets' wins in basketball (gulp) back in 94' and 95'.   The Texans and Oilers just never really get there nor got there.

And, of course, Houston is still recovering from Hurricane Harvey.  A lot of tough days for that city this year.

But, dang.  What a series.  I watch 98% Cubs baseball, so I mostly only see the National League, and those were the playoffs games I watched til the Dodgers took out my team.  Had the series gone Dodgers/ New York - maybe I would have watched... but I was in when the Astros bumped off New York.

I'll let you read elsewhere about the series.  But do yourself a favor and read up on Game 5, which was bizarre, and that article more or less encapsulates how it felt to watch the weirdest game I'd had the pleasure of watching - granted, I'm pretty new to baseball.

Congrats again to the Astros, but especially to my pals who have suffered with the team, year in and out.  And to my pals who were cheering for the Dodgers.  They had an extraordinary season and a series that looked to go either way during every inning of 7 games.

Oh, and:  Congrats to Carlos Correa of the Astros, who knew how to make the most of what was already a great moment, and who proposed to his girlfriend (she said "yes")! 

23 Days of Gourds for Randy

My Space Bar is Broken

If I haven't posted much lately - the space bar on my laptop is going, and every few hits, it just doesn't take.  So stuff lookslikethis.  Which doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but writing anything longer than a fb comment is kind of painful.

So, bear with me while I figure out what to do.

Happy B-Day to Margot Kidder!

Happy Birthday to Margot Kidder!

She is, of course, one of the greats of Superman media as Lois Lane in four Superman films and with a brief stint on Smallville.  Arguably, Kidder did quite a bit to pivot the popular conception of Lois as less a straight-laced member of the newsroom (something she never was in the comics, but that's how she was played on TV's Adventures of Superman) and into the gutsy risk-taker with no time for a Dictionary that made absolute sense as the kind of woman who would capture the heart of the Man of Steel.

And, she's absolute dynamite in those first two Superman movies.  The interview scene is pretty incredible if you haven't seen it in a while. 

Happy Birthday, Ms. Kidder!

New Trailer for Marvel's "Black Panther"

This is the most excited I've been for a Marvel movie (beforehand) since Guardians of the Galaxy. Everything about this surpasses what were my biggest hopes for a Black Panther movie.

Halloween Watch: War of the Worlds (1953)

It's kind of funny that in this post and the last, I'm referring to movies referenced in my own title banner, but there you have it.

I checked, and it has been a while since I last watched George Pal's 1953 movie of War of the Worlds.  A number of years now, in fact.

My interest was piqued by the idea of a Martian invasion in 6th or 7th grade when I learned about Orson Welles' and the Mercury Theater's 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast - which supposedly caused a panic (sort of, but not really).  Click on the link and listen.  It's a hell of a show.

Shortly after all this, around the age of 12, The Admiral found out I wanted to watch the original movie, and so he and I rented it and I think it was just the two of us who watched it.

Honestly, despite the fact it was not a gore fest or built on the tension-making trip wires of, say Ridley Scott's Alien, that movie scared the hell out of me.