The Captain
CCF Mod Squad
Posts: 4,891
Member is Online
|
Post by The Captain on Dec 20, 2020 14:55:09 GMT -5
After 19 months, five applications, four phone screens, one onsite interview (pre-COVID), and three online interviews, I have FINALLY gotten a job with this great local company that is 15 minutes and 8 miles down the road from my house. It's a lateral move (same work, same position title, and a whopping .5% raise, although their 401K match is considerably better, making it more like a 3.5% raise), but the future prospects with this company, both for potential promotions (my new manager said he could see me moving into something at a higher level within a couple of years) and security (my current company is going through all kinds of issues and isn't long for this world), are fantastic.
Almost every local person that I've told about my switch has said one of two things, either: 1. "I know someone who works there and they say it's a GREAT company to work for.", or; 2. "I've used them when I worked for Company X, and they're a great company to deal with."
Just to highlight the differences between the two is something completely small and stupid. I accepted their offer on the 9th, got the thumbs-up for my start date on the 17th, and yesterday (on the 19th), there was a box in my mail that included a company-logo facemask, a Christmas tree ornament, and a bag of candy, along with a note from my manager and the department director (who I've interviewed with three times) telling me how excited they are that I'm coming on board, while in five years at my current employer, I've never gotten ANYTHING for Christmas.
Really looking forward to January 4, as that is when I start the next (and hopefully final) chapter in my professional career.
|
|
The Captain
CCF Mod Squad
Posts: 4,891
Member is Online
|
Post by The Captain on Dec 18, 2020 20:46:42 GMT -5
Iron Man #4. Written by Christopher Cantwell. Art by CAFU. I agree with thwhtguardian review. The first 3 issues of this series were great and with this issue things went off the rails. It was confusing at times and Cantwell fell back into old clichés. Why couldn't Tony have had a friendship relationship with a woman (Hellcat) without it becoming another one of his sexual relationships. Korvac is a boring villain. Rhodey's kidnapping was just dumb. CAFU's art is awesome. Ugh. 4/10. Agree with the both of you. I was hoping for something great from this new Iron Man book, but it really is a tale of two artforms. The art is gorgeous, while the writing is horrible. Not sure why Cantwell went with Korvac and the Z-Listers out of the gate, but it is really struggling to hold my interest. May finish this arc and see what is next, but if Cantwell stays on the title, it's going to be a real easy decision whether to keep it or drop it from the pull list.
|
|
The Captain
CCF Mod Squad
Posts: 4,891
Member is Online
|
Post by The Captain on Dec 18, 2020 20:38:01 GMT -5
Thank God you're OK, Kurt! That sounds incredibly scary to have to go through.
Glad you're on the mend, and please don't overdo it trying to get back to "normal" too quickly. Your health is WAY more important than us clowns here.
|
|
The Captain
CCF Mod Squad
Posts: 4,891
Member is Online
|
Post by The Captain on Dec 17, 2020 19:07:12 GMT -5
Baked
1. lemon cheesecake 2. strawberry cheesecake
and Fruitcake with rum, and without rum is next.
If I never got a compound fracture in my arm when I was younger, might have never wandered into the kitchen to try my hands on things.
Those all sound fantastic! My wife is making sticky toffee pudding for Christmas dessert this year. I had it at least three times when we were in Wales last summer and I have been craving it ever since, so I was excited when she said that is what she'd picked to make this year.
|
|
The Captain
CCF Mod Squad
Posts: 4,891
Member is Online
|
Post by The Captain on Dec 14, 2020 16:42:30 GMT -5
I hate the logo. I love the character. Hope the show carries the Byrne-era humor and fourth-wall breaking. I'd be happy if it was as good as the Dan Slott run. Still hoping they don't screw up Blade or Moon Knight, but if they're going to do both of these as PG (or even PG-13), I'm not sure they can do them justice.
|
|
The Captain
CCF Mod Squad
Posts: 4,891
Member is Online
|
Post by The Captain on Dec 14, 2020 16:33:11 GMT -5
This looks fantastic, as do the trailers for Falcon/Winter Soldier and Wandavision.
Really wish these had been ready for the Disney+ rollout, as just having The Mandalorian as new content aimed at someone like me has been a little disappointing, but if the actual series deliver on the promise of the trailers, I'm going to be more than willing to forgive that.
|
|
The Captain
CCF Mod Squad
Posts: 4,891
Member is Online
|
Post by The Captain on Dec 14, 2020 16:30:58 GMT -5
Gingerbread, hands down.
My younger daughter is doing a project for school (she's in the Gifted program) where they have to build a famous landmark out of baked goods, similar to what TV shows like "Great British Baking Show" (a particular favorite in The Captain's household) do. She chose to make Big Ben (the clock tower, although it isn't the clock or tower but actually the bell that is named Big Ben, and not the local pro football quarterback), and she is doing it out of gingerbread.
After making WAY TOO MUCH dough for the project, my wife and girls baked an assortment of gingerbread men, women, and snowmen, and if they don't eat them quickly, I'm going to get really fat before Christmas Day even comes. They are frickin' delicious.
|
|
The Captain
CCF Mod Squad
Posts: 4,891
Member is Online
|
Post by The Captain on Dec 12, 2020 11:18:15 GMT -5
Package is in the mail. USPS is saying four days to destination, but even if they're off by a factor of 100%, it should still be there by Christmas.
|
|
The Captain
CCF Mod Squad
Posts: 4,891
Member is Online
|
Post by The Captain on Dec 6, 2020 17:51:18 GMT -5
I've finally come to grips that the holidays are officially altered forever because of this year, not from COVID but by my parents' separation back in June.
We'd originally invited my mother to Thanksgiving dinner, but the facility where she lives (it's not "assisted living", but they do have staff there 24/7 for emergencies) put out a mandate that if anyone left the residence between Wednesday and Sunday for anything other than a medical emergency, particularly if they were gathering with family, they would have to quarantine for 14 days upon their return. With her locked down, we extended the invitation to my father, who accepted and while grateful we had him for dinner, was also upset since he was the "second choice".
Then, my mother told my sister that she was OK with Thanksgiving being "the only holiday I would be away from the family" (although Christmas is in jeopardy now as well), to which my sister had to inform her that we would be splitting the major ones (which for us are Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, along with birthday celebrations) between her and our dad. Mom was not accepting of that, since she 100% views our dad as the party responsible for their marital strife in the saga, which we have come to realize may not be the entire truth over the past six months. She cried and said that we were abandoning her and we weren't being "fair" to her by including him in "family events".
We're (and this includes me, my wife, and my sister) at a crossroads now, and we're not sure how it's going to go in the future. On Christmas, we're planning on inviting our dad, but just for dinner, as he never really gets into the present opening and "gathering" portion of the day; he just wants the meal and a little company for a couple of hours. Going forward, we're going to have to plan two get-togethers so that each of them feels like they are still included, which creates more work for the rest of us.
They're not officially divorced, nor will they ever be, but they might as well be. After seeing friends with parents who divorced while I was growing up having to deal with it and thanking God that, while my parents' relationship was as toxic as could be, family gatherings could be held in relative harmony at the very least, but now, at the age of 47, I'm having to navigate uncharted waters, trying to balance everything to make sure I can create some semblance of normalcy and happiness for all of the parties involved.
Feeling overwhelmed and a little depressed this holiday season. There. I said it.
|
|
The Captain
CCF Mod Squad
Posts: 4,891
Member is Online
|
Post by The Captain on Dec 3, 2020 12:09:38 GMT -5
Another horrific month for me, reading just 19 books after getting through only 22 in October. Was well on track at the end of September to read close to 1200 this year, now will be lucky to hit 1000 (which was my original goal, but still).
Part of it is me playing A LOT of Contest of Champions online. Just completely addicted to it right now. Was also finishing up Supernatural and been catching up on The Mandalorian, and went to play Magic: The Gathering on a couple of Friday nights. Too many interests competing for time.
Also, not inspired by anything in my collection at the moment. Was reading Amazing Spider-Man from the beginning but kind of lost interest. Thought about picking up Daredevil around issue #65 (read the previous issues a couple of years ago) and reading the rest of the series but haven't even looked at it. Considering maybe Fantastic Four from the beginning but haven't opened the first Omnibus yet. Wanted to read Tomb of Dracula but haven't been in the mood.
Hoping that December brings me some new-found enthusiasm.
|
|
The Captain
CCF Mod Squad
Posts: 4,891
Member is Online
|
Post by The Captain on Dec 1, 2020 11:56:03 GMT -5
Are the MCU films "great cinema"? Not in the least. They're movies based on comic books, not "Citizen Kane" or anything by Hitchcock.
Are all of the MCU entertaining? To me, the only ones I have trouble rewatching are GotG2 and IM3, since I didn't really enjoy them the first time. Other than those, I can easily pop in the Blu-Ray or flip on Disney+ and kill an afternoon watching any of the rest of them. When my wife and girls went to Ohio in August for a weekend, I watched IW and Endgame back-to-back on Sunday afternoon, and it was glorious.
The other thing for me is that these films have given me a way to bond with my daughters, first the older one but more recently the younger. The little one (who's almost 13) and I just ran through all of the Captain America films on three successive Saturday nights while her sister had other plans; we made popcorn, snuggled on the couch, and just spent time together. These films give me an opportunity to let them into my interests in a way that I haven't had before.
Sure, the MCU is essentially the film equivalent of junk food, maybe a big plate of chicken wings or a bowl of ice cream, but every once in a while, I'm craving that over fine dining or French patisserie, and that's OK.
|
|
The Captain
CCF Mod Squad
Posts: 4,891
Member is Online
|
Post by The Captain on Nov 30, 2020 19:09:52 GMT -5
General Wish List for Me:
NO Marvel superhero books, please. I have nearly EVERYTHING I could ever want in this genre from this publisher.
As for DC superhero books, I could stand some Green Lantern, JLA, "good" Plastic Man, The Spectre, or Superman, as I have read precious little of that. Other than those, I'm pretty much set with these as well (have lots of Aquaman, Flash, Green Arrow, Batman/Detective, Wonder Woman already).
I would be open to expanding my horizons into Marvel or DC war comics or westerns (except Jonah Hex, as I already own a lot of it), and I have always wanted to own some Sandman (I have read the entire series on loan from the local library, but I don't have any of it in my collection) or some Swamp Thing. Garth Ennis Punisher would not be unwelcome either.
|
|
The Captain
CCF Mod Squad
Posts: 4,891
Member is Online
|
Post by The Captain on Nov 26, 2020 12:20:08 GMT -5
I'm thankful for all of the blessings I have in my life (with hopefully one more to come soon), especially the CCF.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
|
|
The Captain
CCF Mod Squad
Posts: 4,891
Member is Online
|
Post by The Captain on Nov 21, 2020 7:28:31 GMT -5
I watched the series finale of Supernatural last night, and it really wasn't the outcome I was expecting. Not that it was bad, just not how I envisioned things wrapping up. After last week's "season" finale, including the montage of past events at the end, they could have ended everything there and it would have been satisfying. Probably not one that I'll watch more than a couple of times, likely only when I do a full series rewatch.
This episode was nice but not necessary, and judging from some of the fan reaction, not welcome. Can't please everyone, I guess.
Carry on, my wayward sons...
|
|
The Captain
CCF Mod Squad
Posts: 4,891
Member is Online
|
Post by The Captain on Nov 21, 2020 7:09:02 GMT -5
Captain America #25 This issue sucked. That is all.
Ok, that isn't really "all", because for those of you who know me, you know that I couldn't possibly just stop there, especially not when it pertains to Cap.
What an absolute waste of a "milestone" issue. Sure, we got a beautiful Alex Ross cover, but based on the old adage, we shouldn't use that to judge a book, and in this case, that is 100% accurate, because the inside is pure trash.
As I've complained previously, loudly and repeatedly, Ta-Nehisi Coates has ZERO interest in writing a Captain America book. He has spent the first two years of his run (which turned out to be longer in real time due to pandemic delays) carefully crafting the tale of the Daughters of Liberty, who he seems far more invested in producing stories about.
This issue is no different, as it is told entirely from the newly-rejuvenated and de-aged Sharon Carter's perspective. With the resurrection of the Red Skull (yet again) and subsequent capture of Peggy Carter and a number of other members of the DoL in Madripoor, it is up to the good guys to stage a rescue attempt, which doesn't sound bad...except half of the book is flashback to how Alexa Lukin (wife of Alexander Lukin, who was introduced back in Brubaker's seminal run) and Peggy Carter were old friends in the DoL, then later rivals and eventually enemies.
Steve, Sam, and Bucky are reduced to what amounts to a series of cameos in the book, each showcasing their unique abilities, but make no mistake, this story isn't about them. It's Sharon's show, and while I could accept that because she is a long-time part of the Cap mythos, I don't give a crap about the Daughters of Liberty. They're not interesting, so the origin of the organization and the Alexa/Peggy dynamic and all of the rest just doesn't grab my attention.
In the end, there is a shocking/not-shocking death/maybe-not-death-because-we-don't-see-a-body event, but at this point, it's hard for me to care. This has been Steve's book in name only for 25 issues, so I hope and pray that Coates can convince the PTB at Marvel that what the world wants and demands is a Daughters of Liberty spin-off book for him to write, just so he can turn the reins of CAPTAIN AMERICA over to someone who has an actual CAPTAIN AMERICA story to tell.
On a positive note, the second story was nice, if not a little predictable and light.
Main Story: 1/10 (the only redeeming part of the book were the panels where Bucky got to do his thing) Second Story: 6/10 Overall: 3/10
|
|