My friend Hans Rueffert is a hell of a guy. I met him many years ago at Dr. NO's, where he was another comic and gaming geek that came into the store with a big personality and a big heart to match. He later went on to publish some games in conjunction with Clive Barker, whom he remains friends with to this day. From there, he joined his family business as the Woodbridge Inn in Jasper, GA as a chef. That catapulted him to appear on the first season of Food Network's Next Food Network Star, where he fell just shy of winning the whole thing. Only days after that ended, he was diagnosed with stomach cancer. After a long and courageous battle, he beat it. He came back to Georgia, and started up his own cooking show on PBS, Hans Cooks the World. He recently published his first cookbook--which I highly recommend.
This past week, the cancer came back. It reappeared this time as tumors in his brain. He flew out to Houston for treatment at the cancer center there yesterday. Today, I sit and worry about his health and well being. I know that he is strong, and I know that he has the courage to beat this, but I can't help but sit and wonder what he is going through.
If you can, take a moment and click on the link to the right that says "Hans Blog", and read a little about my friend. And if you have the room, send some good thoughts his way. Every little bit helps.
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
So...Mister Miracle
Of Jack Kirby's creations for DC, the one that has longest held my interest is Mister Miracle. And I mean Scott Free, the husband of Big Barda, Mister Miracle, and not one of the others who have used that name.
The basic premise of that idea is that he is a guy that can escape from anything. It doesn't matter how dangerous the trap, you just aren't going to be able to capture this guy and keep him for long. He is the ultimate escape artist.
And I can't help but think about him every time I watch the show No Way Out. I watched it the first time on a lark, drawn in by the ad that had the star of the show--Jonathan Goodwin--walking through a series of bizarre traps and finishing it with getting a scorpion put in his mouth which is then sealed with duct tape. (That last bit does happen on the show, btw...and yes, he got stung.)
Last night's episode was a great example of why I am being sucked in to watch this every week. Jonathan was buried alive and had to escape. I think that I've seen that gimmick done in comics and movies several times, but you always know that it is special effects/a comic book, so you just accept what happens. Last night, I got to see what would happen. It wasn't pretty. While he did put forth a valiant effort, he did have to be rescued from this escape--after ninety minutes. How someone could survive, and remain sane, from being buried alive for ninety minutes is far beyond me, but he did. He panicked his crew--who is always there to save him if something goes very wrong--but he survived. He didn't escape, though, and admitted that it was the toughest thing he's ever tried to do.
And he ended that with "I can't wait to try it again." So, in short, he's nuts. But it's a good kind of nuts.
If you are a fan of true escape artists, I recommend that you give No Way Out a try. It's only a half-hour show, but it packs entertainment into each of those thirty minutes. It's on The Discovery Channel, Monday nights at 9:00 pm. And hey, it ain't like Heroes has been any good this season.
Like I said, I've always liked Mister Miracle, and Jonathan Goodwin is the closest thing that I've seen since the comic. Sure, he's not as good as Scott, but hey, Scott was a god after all...
The basic premise of that idea is that he is a guy that can escape from anything. It doesn't matter how dangerous the trap, you just aren't going to be able to capture this guy and keep him for long. He is the ultimate escape artist.
And I can't help but think about him every time I watch the show No Way Out. I watched it the first time on a lark, drawn in by the ad that had the star of the show--Jonathan Goodwin--walking through a series of bizarre traps and finishing it with getting a scorpion put in his mouth which is then sealed with duct tape. (That last bit does happen on the show, btw...and yes, he got stung.)
Last night's episode was a great example of why I am being sucked in to watch this every week. Jonathan was buried alive and had to escape. I think that I've seen that gimmick done in comics and movies several times, but you always know that it is special effects/a comic book, so you just accept what happens. Last night, I got to see what would happen. It wasn't pretty. While he did put forth a valiant effort, he did have to be rescued from this escape--after ninety minutes. How someone could survive, and remain sane, from being buried alive for ninety minutes is far beyond me, but he did. He panicked his crew--who is always there to save him if something goes very wrong--but he survived. He didn't escape, though, and admitted that it was the toughest thing he's ever tried to do.
And he ended that with "I can't wait to try it again." So, in short, he's nuts. But it's a good kind of nuts.
If you are a fan of true escape artists, I recommend that you give No Way Out a try. It's only a half-hour show, but it packs entertainment into each of those thirty minutes. It's on The Discovery Channel, Monday nights at 9:00 pm. And hey, it ain't like Heroes has been any good this season.
Like I said, I've always liked Mister Miracle, and Jonathan Goodwin is the closest thing that I've seen since the comic. Sure, he's not as good as Scott, but hey, Scott was a god after all...
Sunday, February 01, 2009
So...The Super Bowl
In about three hours we will have the kickoff for SuperBowl IXIII, pitting the Pittsburgh Steelers against the Arizona Cardinals.
As anyone who knows me well knows, I am a football geek. Every Sunday during football season, I am religiously sitting in front of my television, enjoying watching my hometeam Atlanta Falcons play. And even if they aren't the team I'm watching, I gravitate towards professional football when given the choice, and college football when that isn't available. And it seems that I am not the only one. Of the seventeen most watched television programs of the last thirty years, seventeen of them are SuperBowls. It is the most watched single-day sporting event in the world, and by a considerable margin at that. In fact, professional football is the most watched television show in the United States, outdistancing such phenomenon as American Idol and Survivor with room to spare. Yet, for the first time in history, this year the SuperBowl did NOT sell out their infamous commercial time weeks before the game was to air. In fact, last week NBC--the network showing the game this year--had to lower their SuperBowl ad rates (also a first in SuperBowl history).
What does this tell me? Well, it could be one of a couple of things. Maybe the matchup for this game is scaring off some advertisers, who see the Cardinals as being a detriment. After all, it has been sixty years since the team played for an NFL Championship. And due to that, they have long been considered a bit of a joke to most NFL fans. Or maybe this is another reflection of just how bad our economy is right now. Unemployment is at a 30-year high, and consumer confidence is at a new low for that same time period. Maybe advertisers are afraid to shell out the money that would be needed for this big-time stage. In all likelihood, it is probably a combination of those two factors.
But, personally, I don't care. I'm in it for the game. And, as a football fan, I'm excited to see the Cardinals playing for the title. They have played the best football of any team in the playoffs, and they deserve to be where they are today. I believe in them.
My pick: Cardinals 24, Pittsburgh 14
As anyone who knows me well knows, I am a football geek. Every Sunday during football season, I am religiously sitting in front of my television, enjoying watching my hometeam Atlanta Falcons play. And even if they aren't the team I'm watching, I gravitate towards professional football when given the choice, and college football when that isn't available. And it seems that I am not the only one. Of the seventeen most watched television programs of the last thirty years, seventeen of them are SuperBowls. It is the most watched single-day sporting event in the world, and by a considerable margin at that. In fact, professional football is the most watched television show in the United States, outdistancing such phenomenon as American Idol and Survivor with room to spare. Yet, for the first time in history, this year the SuperBowl did NOT sell out their infamous commercial time weeks before the game was to air. In fact, last week NBC--the network showing the game this year--had to lower their SuperBowl ad rates (also a first in SuperBowl history).
What does this tell me? Well, it could be one of a couple of things. Maybe the matchup for this game is scaring off some advertisers, who see the Cardinals as being a detriment. After all, it has been sixty years since the team played for an NFL Championship. And due to that, they have long been considered a bit of a joke to most NFL fans. Or maybe this is another reflection of just how bad our economy is right now. Unemployment is at a 30-year high, and consumer confidence is at a new low for that same time period. Maybe advertisers are afraid to shell out the money that would be needed for this big-time stage. In all likelihood, it is probably a combination of those two factors.
But, personally, I don't care. I'm in it for the game. And, as a football fan, I'm excited to see the Cardinals playing for the title. They have played the best football of any team in the playoffs, and they deserve to be where they are today. I believe in them.
My pick: Cardinals 24, Pittsburgh 14
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
So...Final Crisis
Here's my review of Final Crisis #7, and the series as a whole. I'll try to keep it succinct so there is not any confusion (which, if you read the series, I'm sure you are used to--after all, nothing in the series made any sense whatsoever. I mean, I don't consider myself stupid, and I actually enjoy esoteric and abstract material, but this book was incoherently aimless at times--well, most of the time.), and I will also be totally honest. Here it is:
Worst. Series. Ever.
Done.
Worst. Series. Ever.
Done.
Friday, January 09, 2009
So...2009
Well, we're a little over a week into the new year, and I can only hope and pray that 2009 is a damn sight better than 2008. If it isn't...well, let's just say that you shouldn't expect too many posts in the coming year.
But, while I have a sane mind and the means to post this, let me give some reflections on 2008...
Best Movie
I would have to give this one to Iron Man. Probably because I'm a huge geek, but I also really felt that it was a solid film from start to finish. And yes, I did like it better than The Dark Knight, which was a good movie, but not as good as some people are making it out.
Worst Movie
This one has to go to Speed Racer. Cloverfield took a close second, but it couldn't hold up to the epileptic disaster that was Speed Racer. It seems more and more that the Wachowski Brothers got lucky once with The Matrix than anything else.
Best Comic
This is tough, as there were many good books this year. If I based it on storyline, I would give it to Thy Kingdom Come by Geoff Johns and Alex Ross, appearing in Justice Society of America. If I gave it to best new series, it would go to Guardians of the Galaxy, with Madame Xanadu taking a close second. Best limited series would likely go to Secret Invasion, even with the bad ending and silly moments in the middle. And for overall consistency, I would have to go with Wonder Woman, Action Comics, and Invincible in a three-way tie. So, I guess I don't have a single answer to this one. Just a series of bests.
Worst Comic
This, again, is a tough one. There have been a number of low points for any number of comics. And there are those--such as Captain America, Daredevil, Blue Beetle, and others--that have been really bad every issue. But if I had to pick a single book, then I would have to award Final Crisis. It is so unfocused and anti-climactic that it is an unmitigated disaster.
Best Whatever
That was getting my new wedding band on Christmas Day, which I have already written about, thank you.
Well, that seems like enough of the best/worst list. Let's move on...
I would like to give a big, public "Thank You!" to the Atlanta Falcons. If you have read many of my posts, you will have noticed that I am a bit of a sports fan, and am a huge Falcons fan. After what I still consider the worst year of any professional sports team in so many ways in 2007, no one--myself included--had any high hopes for the team this year. And they made every game exciting and fun to watch. And even more, they went all the way to the playoffs with an 11-5 record. Wow. I was hoping for six wins when the season began. This was one of the best, most exciting things to happen in Atlanta sports in a long time. I can only thank them from the bottom of my heart for a wonderful season. I'm looking forward to next year.
Back to comics for a second:
In an amazing "what were they thinking?" moment, Marvel put out one of the most poorly phrased and jaw dropping solicitations I've ever seen. I'll reprint it here with the cover image:
"The bottom of the ocean. The bottom of the Earth. The depths. Legendary adventurer Randolph Stein travelled here, into the dark belly of the Marianas Trench, to find a missing deep-sea expedition and refute a legend. What he’s found surpasses his wildest nightmares. A creature of indescribable power and fury has been waiting for him. Its name is Namor, and it has special plans for Stein. Special plans."
I don't think they INTENDED to write a homo-erotic solicitation for the book, but man did they succeed!
And speaking of homo-erotic... I am a fan of Andrew Zimmern and his show, Bizarre Foods. I thought I was recording an episode of the show the other day, when I instead recorded a spin-off series, Bizarre World. In this series, Andrew tours the world showing the customs of other cultures. Great idea. I am jealous of those that have had a chance to see them firsthand, and would love that opportunity someday myself. But...well, in this episode Andrew went to Turkey. And while I wouldn't have thought that Turkey would be prone to homo-erotic behavior, the episode started by showing the country's national sport: olive oil wrestling. In this sport, grown men put on very tight leather pants, cover themselves in oil, and wrestle...by shoving their hands down each other's pants to get leverage. It got worse from there. It was hilarious.
Well, that's enough for today. I'm fighting a horrible case of depression, and doing my best to overcome anything that pushes me that way. Writing tends to help.
Enjoy your life. Appreicate everything you have. You never know when all that you hold precious will be taken from you.
But, while I have a sane mind and the means to post this, let me give some reflections on 2008...
Best Movie
I would have to give this one to Iron Man. Probably because I'm a huge geek, but I also really felt that it was a solid film from start to finish. And yes, I did like it better than The Dark Knight, which was a good movie, but not as good as some people are making it out.
Worst Movie
This one has to go to Speed Racer. Cloverfield took a close second, but it couldn't hold up to the epileptic disaster that was Speed Racer. It seems more and more that the Wachowski Brothers got lucky once with The Matrix than anything else.
Best Comic
This is tough, as there were many good books this year. If I based it on storyline, I would give it to Thy Kingdom Come by Geoff Johns and Alex Ross, appearing in Justice Society of America. If I gave it to best new series, it would go to Guardians of the Galaxy, with Madame Xanadu taking a close second. Best limited series would likely go to Secret Invasion, even with the bad ending and silly moments in the middle. And for overall consistency, I would have to go with Wonder Woman, Action Comics, and Invincible in a three-way tie. So, I guess I don't have a single answer to this one. Just a series of bests.
Worst Comic
This, again, is a tough one. There have been a number of low points for any number of comics. And there are those--such as Captain America, Daredevil, Blue Beetle, and others--that have been really bad every issue. But if I had to pick a single book, then I would have to award Final Crisis. It is so unfocused and anti-climactic that it is an unmitigated disaster.
Best Whatever
That was getting my new wedding band on Christmas Day, which I have already written about, thank you.
Well, that seems like enough of the best/worst list. Let's move on...
I would like to give a big, public "Thank You!" to the Atlanta Falcons. If you have read many of my posts, you will have noticed that I am a bit of a sports fan, and am a huge Falcons fan. After what I still consider the worst year of any professional sports team in so many ways in 2007, no one--myself included--had any high hopes for the team this year. And they made every game exciting and fun to watch. And even more, they went all the way to the playoffs with an 11-5 record. Wow. I was hoping for six wins when the season began. This was one of the best, most exciting things to happen in Atlanta sports in a long time. I can only thank them from the bottom of my heart for a wonderful season. I'm looking forward to next year.
Back to comics for a second:
In an amazing "what were they thinking?" moment, Marvel put out one of the most poorly phrased and jaw dropping solicitations I've ever seen. I'll reprint it here with the cover image:
"The bottom of the ocean. The bottom of the Earth. The depths. Legendary adventurer Randolph Stein travelled here, into the dark belly of the Marianas Trench, to find a missing deep-sea expedition and refute a legend. What he’s found surpasses his wildest nightmares. A creature of indescribable power and fury has been waiting for him. Its name is Namor, and it has special plans for Stein. Special plans."
I don't think they INTENDED to write a homo-erotic solicitation for the book, but man did they succeed!
And speaking of homo-erotic... I am a fan of Andrew Zimmern and his show, Bizarre Foods. I thought I was recording an episode of the show the other day, when I instead recorded a spin-off series, Bizarre World. In this series, Andrew tours the world showing the customs of other cultures. Great idea. I am jealous of those that have had a chance to see them firsthand, and would love that opportunity someday myself. But...well, in this episode Andrew went to Turkey. And while I wouldn't have thought that Turkey would be prone to homo-erotic behavior, the episode started by showing the country's national sport: olive oil wrestling. In this sport, grown men put on very tight leather pants, cover themselves in oil, and wrestle...by shoving their hands down each other's pants to get leverage. It got worse from there. It was hilarious.
Well, that's enough for today. I'm fighting a horrible case of depression, and doing my best to overcome anything that pushes me that way. Writing tends to help.
Enjoy your life. Appreicate everything you have. You never know when all that you hold precious will be taken from you.
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