1) Carley has (had) a game she really liked called Fairway Solitaire. It is a card game with a golf theme and I liked it myself, though it is very strange for me to like a card game. She was really advanced in this game, had lots of trophies and 'Golf Bucks' and played it every day to get the bonuses. Well, she did an update and lost all her awards, game money and the game itself is crashed and irretrievable, I guess. Does anything make a gamer more irate? Nooooooo. Then, instead of restoring the existing game, Big Fish Games comes out with the new Fairway Solitaire for $2.99. This begs the question, "Was the update just a ploy to get rid of everyone's existing game in order to sell them the new game?" I'm a suspicious bloke, I guess. The new game came out the day before the update. 'Nuff said.
2) Sad morning in Minnesota. As a hard-core football fan, I feel for the Vikings. They didn't stand a chance once their quarterback went down. I don't want to pile on Webb, the back-up QB, but Green Bay got their first round bye after all. I had to just turn it off. Bummer. Just goes to show you, no matter how good a running back you have, if you can't throw, you will lose the game. No first downs, defense tires, bad things happen.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. At any given time on planet Earth, there are about ten or twelve quarterbacks who are good enough to get a team to the Super Bowl and win it. If you have one, keep him no matter what. If you don't have one, get one or build the best defense the world has ever seen.
3) Last night I watched the movie/documentary called With Great Power, the Stan Lee Story. I enjoyed it, though it was a bit slow. It is the story of the dynamic writer who created such favorite comics as Spiderman, Fantastic Four, The Avengers and Thor. Around 90 years old, this guy is a joy to watch or listen to. Seems like a good guy, too. He and and his lovely wife have been married for 60 years. That's more impressive than all his writing accolades.
In the film, it talked about Stan's penchant for staying current and for speaking against social injustice. He spoke against bigotry and corruption. He would speak at colleges and during the question/answer sessions he would learn how to make his comics relevant. Parents might be surprised just how many good things can come from comics, as well as many bad things. I have read some of the modern comics that are pretty graphic on subjects that small kids shouldn't read about. Thank goodness, my child-rearing days are over. But I digress.
I remember that when I was around 10 or 12, I started reading Edgar Rice Burroughs books. You know, Tarzan, Pellucidar etc? Many of the values that I held in my young life were what I learned from those pages. Wish I was still like that. So, people who write comics have a great tool for being a positive influence.
It was cool to hear Stan talk about what a thrill it was to see his creations on the big screen. To walk into a theater and see Spidey, Hulk and the Fantastic Four make comics main-stream instead of the fringe entertainment that comics and the pulps were considered back in the day.
One of Stan's keys to success was giving his heroes real lives and real life problems. What I mean is, they had bills to pay, girlfriend troubles. They had to work for a living and stuff like that. It certainly made his fortune.
Get this. When Stan joined the Army for WW2, he was assigned to be a "playwrite". There were 9 of them in the whole army. Frank Capra was one of them and Dr. Seuss was another. Unbelievable to have three huge talents in a group of nine.
Also, Stan got his start by going to work at a place as a flunky. He filled ink wells, ran errands. Then they let him write some stories because they needed filler. They had to have so many pages to qualify for "Second Class Postage" so they let the kid write about Captain America. Sometimes I stand in awe of fate and the luck that brings talented people to the forefront. How many Stan Lees are out there that never got a break? Plenty, I'll bet.
4) My guess is that Baltimore will beat Indy and that the Seattle Seahawks will send the Redskins packing today. I don't have a dog in these fights (I don't care who wins). I just thought I'd throw out a guess or two, like the talking heads on T.V.
From the author's green retreat, I'm CE Wills.
P.S. The picture above is my Rainbow Pig. One of my posts was about him, complete with video, several years ago. He thinks he is a rock star.
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