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Post by The Captain on Nov 18, 2021 7:07:05 GMT -5
I'm in. Can't let the tradition go.
Will post wish list at some point over weekend.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 17, 2021 21:04:23 GMT -5
Yeah, having a local owner these days doesn't guarantee any connection to tradition, respect for the fans, or regard for the city or region, I know. We long ago lost the notion that a team is a local institution and/or that an owner has loyalty to anyoe but himself or his fellow owners. The Lincoln Memorial will likely be known one day as the Bezos Lincoln Memorial. At least Fenway is still Fenway. And if the Penguins are bought, the NHL has a 7 year moratorium on moving teams upon change of ownership, so the city of Pittsburgh won't have to worry about them moving to a more lucrative market for a while. The Lemieux group was instrumental in keeping the team in Pitt a while back, but the terms they got have since been passed by in terms of helping teams and smaller markets like Pittsburgh might have to fend off more lucrative markets for their teams in the coming years. -M Bolded part is true to a point, but the Lemieux group also held the city/state hostage by threatening to move the team to Kansas City (where the NHL had already failed once) if he didn't get a new arena, so he isn't the pure white knight that folks would like to believe he is. As for "more lucrative markets" going after the Penguins, the team sold out every game for years and is the preferred team of the younger demographic in the city (the Steelers are now viewed as "your father's team" by and large), so I would highly doubt the owners could make that much more moving to a new city. It also wouldn't be like the NHL letting a new-ish failed expansion team such as the Atlanta Thrashers go to Winnipeg or WHA refugee teams in smaller-than-Pittsburgh markets (OG Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques, Hartford Whalers) move to bigger cities, while the Pens have been here for 55 years and have 5 Stanley Cups, which is more than any other team except the Original Six teams (excluding the New York Rangers) and the same as the Edmonton Oilers.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 17, 2021 14:21:43 GMT -5
Yeah, been reading about it the past couple of days. Going to be quite the payday for Ron Burkle, who put $22MM into the team back in 1999, and Mario Lemieux, who took the ownership stake in lieu of unpaid salary he was owed.
Mixed feelings about it. Sure, FSG has deep pockets and a good track record with the Red Sox (yuck) and Liverpool (yuck yuckity yuck, although not as much yuck as ManU), but now the Pens are just part of a portfolio, not the focal point of the ownership group.
Going to be interesting how they deal with Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang at the trade deadline this season. Both will be UFA after the season, and while the current owners may have felt it important to let them finish their careers in a Penguins sweater, the new owners probably have no such compunction toward sentimentality.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 16, 2021 20:45:01 GMT -5
New trailer just dropped on YouTube. Lots more shown in terms of the villains who show up to the party.
My daughters made me watch it at EXACTLY 8:30 PM EST. They are quite excited for this, to the point that my younger daughter wants to skip school on December 17 to go see it.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 16, 2021 18:44:05 GMT -5
brutalis, it became this way when "Personnel" departments transformed into "Human Resources". The focus turned to treating people like resources to be used, not living beings with feelings and the like. Recruiting is particularly odious, as it attracts, in my experience, two kinds of people. The first are fast-talking, slick as oil males who used to go into sales back when American companies actually made things to sell. These guys will tell you all kinds of stories about what they're going to deliver to you in terms of opportunities, yet they seldom have the actual skill to close any deals. The second are extremely pretty young women, the kind who would have gone into pharmaceutical sales back when they could put on a short skirt and some high heels, then wiggle their way into a doctor's office with a tray of sandwiches, some free pens, and a promise of how prescribing Engorgulate or whatever pill they were pushing would help that practice make more money. Now, their LinkedIn photos show them in a revealing, low-cut top with a tagline such as "skilled at opening doors for top talent like you". I lucked out getting my current position, as I had a friend at the company who spent almost two years selling my skills, based on our previous experience at another company, to her management team. Without her getting me past the guarded door to HR, I'm not certain I'd be there today. Hang in there. Something worthy of YOU is out there, just got to be patient until you find it.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 16, 2021 7:45:05 GMT -5
There isn't enough there for me to go either way on it.
My biggest fear was that to truly do it right, Disney was going to have to allow it to be brutal and "real", almost like the Punisher on Netflix, and I don't think they have the stomach or will to go there. Marc Spector is not a good person and he is insane. He ENJOYS the pain he causes bad guys when he's Moon Knight, and that is hard to sanitize and still do well so that it can sit next to Cinderella and Buzz Lightyear on D+.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 15, 2021 9:08:30 GMT -5
The only correct answer is my wife's homemade pumpkin pie. There are no other options, although if push came to shove, I could be placated with her homemade pecan pie.
My mother, who HATES pumpkin pie, made all kinds of apple-based desserts for Thanksgiving when I was growing up. Apple pie, apple crisp, baked apples with vanilla ice cream.
Bah. That's for early autumn. When the turkey is on the table, there better be an orange pie sitting nearby for after dinner.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 13, 2021 9:45:35 GMT -5
Took the wife and daughters to see this last night. Audience was sparse, but the theater had multiple showings going on throughout the evening, so it wasn't like it was the only game in town. Much like Kirby's original Eternals, this isn't REALLY a MCU movie. Sure, there are mentions of other MCU happenings (Thanos, the Avengers, etc.), and elements are introduced that will be incorporated later, but the story didn't require them. If this had been made as a stand-alone sci-fi movie without any reference to the MCU, there wouldn't have been much lost and it would have held up just fine. Specific Thoughts: 1. The story needed two movies to tell. Way too much crammed into one 2.5 hour movie, so the pacing was bad, jumping from both time and place to give all of the little pieces of information required to make sense of it all. 2. Because of the pacing, none of the characters were terribly well-developed. They did the things they had to do because they had to do them, but they never really explained motivations. 3. Total waste of the talents of Salma Hayak, with near-total waste of Angelina Jolie. These are award-winning actresses, and the former was given precious little to do (a "first" movie, showing the things the exposition at the beginning of the film explained, could have utilized her more fully), while the latter had more to do but still felt constrained by time considerations. 4. Introducing Dane Whitman was fine, although he had almost nothing to do in this film. World-building and all. Now, for the spoilers (and yes, I will be dealing in specific points, so if you don't want it ruined, don't open it up. You have been forewarned). {Eternals Spoilers (Click to Show)}The big plot twist only seemed that way because the movie moved so quickly and didn't give anything time to breathe. Everything just jumped around to achieve the goal of assembling the team, giving some of them a shred of personality, then moving to the next scene to do the same.
Disney, for all of their flaws, deserves some respect for allowing not only a same-sex relationship (with a child!, no less) but also showing a same-sex kiss. Of all of the Eternals, Phastos' journey (losing hope in humanity because of his actions, regaining it by finding love in his partner and their son, and wanting to protect them) was the one that rang most true, although Sprite's was pretty compelling and heartbreaking as well.
Mid-Credits Scene: You give me Pip the Troll, yet not Adam Warlock, replacing him with Starfox, played by Harry Styles? Hey, Marvel, screw you, even though my daughters and the two teen girls behind us were quite giddy when he showed up.
Post-Credits Scene: Hint that Dane is going to do more, show me the Ebony Blade, and introduce Blade to the MCU? Yeah, that's the sugar to make the bitter aftertaste of the previous scene disappear.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 12, 2021 8:18:57 GMT -5
because it's a 6 issue series, so can trade wait. . and at $4.99 an issue? NOPE. . not gonna happen. especially when there is zero doubt in my mind that I'll be able to pick up the collected trade for less than $5 next year at a Con or via HamiltonBooks.com 4.99 isn't a terrible price for the sure joy it brought, it really is worth the price of admission. On top of that is the notion that we get the comics we pay for, so if excellent books like this don't sell well then and crappy events do...guess what they're going to do more of? I typically would agree with you, but there is a difference, at least for me, between ongoing and limited series. This is a planned six-issue run. Marvel is going to print them regardless of sales and then put out a TPB of them. They will monitor the sales of the individual issues as well as note how the collected edition does and plan future actions accordingly. I would rather see a shift for stories like this to a one-time book rather than a six-month slog. By its nature of being a self-contained story, it should, in theory, read better in one or two sittings, not over the course of half a year. As for ongoings, yes, we get what we pay for, and if we don't support quality, then it won't survive. Marvel looks at the month-by-month figures and makes a decision if they should keep it going, because they can cut the run short at any time without much trouble, and certainly not like the issues that cutting a limited series short would cause.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 10, 2021 13:36:50 GMT -5
Mark me down as very likely in, but not 100% just yet.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 10, 2021 10:32:12 GMT -5
At long, long, long last, my daughter has her first COVID vaccine appointment scheduled for this weekend. We are one step closer to this nightmare easing up a bit. My son is still too young, but I hope the CDC is able to fast-track approval on the next age bracket. It will be such a relief knowing my kids have more protection against this damned virus.I will feel far more at ease once they can both get the vaccine, as well. Glad to hear this! Last thing you want as a parent is to have your kids at risk. I'm grateful my girls were able to get their vaccines in the spring. We live in a school district full of selfish "My Kid, My Choice" folks and were concerned about sending them back to the building full-time this fall. Numbers have been a little elevated over last year, which is to be expected, but they should be OK.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 9, 2021 18:35:52 GMT -5
Not sure if anyone here has ever had to deal with this, but if you haven't had diverticulitis, I highly recommend avoiding it at all costs. One of the most annoying and painful things I've ever had to deal with.
Sorry to hear that you're dealing with this. Back in the '70's my father had a mild case for a while. His doctor prescribed eating a teaspoon of Vaseline after a meal-- not saying you should do that, but it worked for him.
As always, consult your trusted physician(s).
Yeah, waited two days to see if the pain would go away, then went to the doctor last Wednesday. One CT scan later, I'm on some heavy-duty meds and eating broth for lunch and dinner. I'm more than a week out and have upgraded to scrambled eggs, canned green beans, and one chocolate-chip cookie, because I need to have a little joy in my life.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 9, 2021 14:34:29 GMT -5
Not sure if anyone here has ever had to deal with this, but if you haven't had diverticulitis, I highly recommend avoiding it at all costs. One of the most annoying and painful things I've ever had to deal with.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 8, 2021 13:29:20 GMT -5
Cranberries, no question. I've been tinkering with my own recipe over the past few years and think I have finally found the right balance of tart and sweet.
Sweet potatoes are second. My sister makes a version with caramelized onions and candied walnuts on top, and it is killer, although she also does a traditional one with brown sugar and marshmallows.
Never been much of a fan of green bean casserole. We didn't have it when I was growing up, and the only exposure I've had to it is my sister-in-law's, and while she is a good cook, that dish has never appealed to me.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 7, 2021 17:14:48 GMT -5
Surprising that you found the early FF's a slog to get through. It brings up a subject that has been in my mind for a while. There are some series that suffer from binge reading because of the sameness of the stories. I never thought that FF was one of those runs. I don't think there was a sameness to the stories, I think what The Captain is referring to is a certain sameness to the interactions of the FF in those early issues. Which as you say, is amplified by binge reading. This is what I was saying exactly. In the first 10 issues alone, we saw: Johnny and Ben fight each other: 5 times (and 6 times in the first 15 issues) Reed urge caution while Ben argues to rush into a fight: 3 times (and 4 times in the first 15 issues) Sue gets taken prisoner by the villain: 3 times If you didn't get issue #3 with Johnny and Ben's first fight, which explains their dynamic (younger kid versus older veteran), they gave you the same thing in issues #4, 5, 8, and 10. If you missed issue #2, where Ben is shown as a man of action versus Reed's more calculating persona, they play it out again in issues #3 and 6. If you somehow didn't understand that's Sue role in the early books was to be helpless and useless, they made certain you got that in issues #3, 5, and 8. It's good stuff, but they really limited themselves with the "every issue may be somebody's first issue" concern, and for a brand-new comic book from a brand-new company with a brand-new angle on the superhero genre, that was certainly valid. As I wrote, it seemed to be less frequent going into the second and third years, as I'm betting that Marvel was finding that their audience was loyal and knew what had happened before. They even made mention of that in one of the letters pages, writing that the audience was torn between stand-alone stories and two-parters, and that they would do whichever was necessary to tell the story right.
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