Author: Chris S.

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Vida

Among the players from my childhood who I remember, there is Vida Blue.

Looking up his stats, he had one of his best years (other than his 1971 Cy Young/MVP year) with the Giants in 1978.  It was one of this 6 All-Star appearance years, and led the Giants pitching staff in wins with 18.

Later his career brought him to TV and radio, doing pre or post games shows with the Giants, and he was usually paired with Bill Laskey, who was a teammate and close friend of his.  You could see their friendship during TV appearances and  hear it on the air when they did radio together.

I’ve never met the man, but from what I saw and heard of him, and from everyone who did know him, he seemed like a genuine nice guy, always friendly and smiling.

As Marty Lurie said to open his pregame show this morning, “We’ve lost a good one.”

Rest in Peace, Vida Blue.

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Roller Coaster

They were right:  this is the best Marvel film since Endgame.

I still like Shang-Chi a little bit more, but I’ll give credit where credit is due.

As my nephew said, the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy is as good as the Captain America trilogy, it holds up as it’s own sub story.

It’s no secret that this subset of the MCU  is my favorite.

This movie was an emotional roller coaster from start to finish, mostly stemming from the story of Rocket.

Just when you think the story is going to throw you into total sadness it comes back to an action or comedy or drama scene, shifting how you feel at that moment.

There were great moments throughout the movie, including the two credits scenes, and even the imagery during the credits themselves.

There’s a couple of great cameos in this one, too.

Highly recommended.  Go see it!

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Bard Test

I decided to give Google’s AI a test by giving it the following prompt:

“story outline starring Jake Banner, anti-terrorist operative”

For those keeping score, Jake Banner was a character that I dreamed up in sophomore year in high school, circa 1983.  This was LONG before 24 starring Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer.

I didn’t even realize that I used the ‘J.B.’ spy initials (James Bond/Jason Bourne/Jack Bauer) until so much later (early 2000s?).

Prompt results: Continue reading “Bard Test”

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Reason

I didn’t do a halfway point review of Picard because frankly I want to wait and see if they stick the landing.

It’s been fine so far, though today’s episode was a mixed bag of annoyance and nostalgia, which is what most of the episodes have been for me, to be honest.

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Reviews

I got to see an early screening of the new Dungeons & Dragons movie, Honor Among Thieves.

It’s a fun movie.  Knowledge of the game isn’t needed, though players will definitely get more out of watching this movie.

That’s not to say the movie can’t/won’t be enjoyed by non-players.  It’s almost structured like a Marvel movie, in the way the movie sets everything up, from the setting, to the characters, to the reveal of/by the big bad.

One particular group cameo made me smile a lot.

Having only seen two movies so far this year, this one was more fun than Quantumania.  This one I actually want to see again.

Recommended!  Two thumbs up!

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So far, so good for The Mandalorian Season 3.

Halfway through and we’ve had a lot of stuff happen to Din Djarin and Grogu, not to mention to Bo-Katan and Dr. Pershing.

And we have yet to see Moff Gideon.

Looking forward to the back half of the season.

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Random

Two straight days of playing tabletop sports games (Red White & Blue Racin’ and Ball Park Baseball), I would love this to continue.

We’ll see.

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Let the record show that I made it almost 14 months between visits to McDonalds for breakfast.

I was lazy this morning, and impatient (didn’t want to wait in line for a bagel).

I felt kinda gross after I ate there.

Here’s hoping it’s a longer time until my next visit.

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This is the longest I’ve sat and watched the Daytona 500 in a while.

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My promotion to my current position at work has changed the way I look at a lot of things, and I’m not sure why.

I feel like a grown-up.

It’s weird, but that’s just how I feel.

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Maybe it’s because I turn 56 this week.

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Quantumania

I liked it.

Of course there are better movies, and better Marvel movies.

But this?  More entertaining to me than I expected.

Maybe that’s the secret, which I’ve been saying for a while, the newer Marvel films (i.e. post-Infinity War/Endgame) can’t be fairly compared to what’s come before.

Rather, they have to be looked upon on their own, despite having familiar characters from previous films/Phases.

They’re telling another story, the next big saga in the Book of Marvel.

Don’t expect them to wow you, just be entertained.  And I was, to be honest.

And if this Phase of movies don’t appeal to you, go back and watch the older ones, or wait for what comes after Avengers 6.

The only thing lacking in the film was an appearance by Luis.

And M.O.D.O.K. was more awesome than I expected him to be.

And if I’m being totally honest, you can probably wait for it on Disney Plus to see it, but the film looks great on the big screen.

Recommended.

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Ack

  • I’m backing out of my garage and then an Uber/Lyft driver stops right behind me, turning on his blinkers.  I walked over where he could see me, pointed at my car, he rolled the window down and said, “Are you pulling out?”  WTAF?
  • Minutes later, driving to work and realizing that I forgot my phone.  Drove back to get it.  Groundhog’s Day.
  • Driving on the freeway and it must be ‘Don’t Use Blinkers Day’ or something, worse than usual.
  • Dropping off an outgoing shipment to the mailroom, asked a ‘simple question’ that I can’t simply answer, for something that the questioner should open a call for.
  • Order lunch for pickup, and they’re so busy I wait an additional 15 minutes after I get to the restaurant for my order.