The comments, reviews and rantings are for entertainment only. If you are offended then someone else is getting entertained. Welcome to the internet. Have at it. This is where I sound off on what I read in comics this week, and occasionally ramble about other things.
Its Vader time! Its Friday, September 9, 2011, I'm back in the game, and this is The Side. This is why I hardly ever go on vacation. You take a few days off and go somewhere and it feels like you need a week to get everything back to normal. Still, it was nice to get up to the mountain and see my Dad and Stepmom. He's completed his post heart surgery rehab. I think the nurses were sick of cranking the tread mill up to top speed and maximum incline and him asking when they were going to do something hard.
TOUGHEN UP!!
There's a lot of things that suck about getting older. I'm currently dealing with one in particular: my metabolism. Growing up I always had the metabolic rate of a blast furnace, so I basically ate whatever I wanted without having to worry about my weight. Well, those days are over. There's also a particular habit I used to have that I've broken. Those who have put up with the habit for years and fairly glad to see it go, but it was one that benefited me. I used to pace. I mean seriously pace. I'm talking affect the airflow around me pace. I'd march in my little OCD circle for sometimes well over an hour as my mind ran wild extrapolating story ideas and considering projects. I could probably march from here to Tokyo with the amount of steps I've taken pacing. But that habit got broken, mainly because it annoyed the hell out of people. Unfortunately, pacing the floor as I did burned a lot of calories. Now that I'm not doing it, those calories are hanging around.
Its not really about the number on the scale. Never has been. Its more about making my body do what it needs to do. I am carrying around extra weight. Its not a lot. The guys still call me 'Slim'. But its harder to keep my energy level up when my cardiovascular conditioning isn't as sharp as it used to be and my body is having to work harder to carry the extra weight. I'm finding myself wanting to take an afternoon nap and being tired more. Strength-wise I'm alright, but my energy level has dropped significantly. Not good.
Time to change things up. I've been trying to participate more in karate class as opposed to just teaching it. That can be a tricky balance to find, but I'm working on it. The elliptical trainer has been moved from the garage back into the house, and on the nights I don't work out I'll be spending some more quality time with it. It is difficult to find time for these things. I don't have the extra scratch for a gym membership, and if I did I don't really have the time for it. I've got a job (thankfully) and a family at home. Fortunately, little changes lead to results. If I can fit in some time at night on the elliptical before grabbing a shower and hitting the sack, great. If I have the option of grabbing an apple versus a snack cake, I'm going to go for it. That part is hard, as I do loves me some snack cakes. There's also the added workouts with my neighbor on Sunday morning in which we get old-school in his back yard leaving me sore and sweaty before the rest of the family is out of bed.
I'm not looking for huge results. I'm not trying to set a weight goal. I just want to feel better physically, and have the energy to do the things I want to do.
MUSIC!!
It was either ROCKY clips or put on Jensen Ackles lip syncing. I may have chose poorly.
That's the ballgame for me this go around. Everyone enjoy your weekend and I'll see y'all Sunday.
Glub, glub! Its Friday, August 12, 2011, I'm ready to get my drink on, and this is The Side. While watching the finals of SYTYCD last nice (Congratulations, Melanie!) I was accosted by an ad featuring little girls playing soccar and on a break the coach goes to give them some sports drinks. She told them they were losing a lot of water, and one of the little moppets queried, "If we're losing water, why don't we just drink water?" At which point the coach, after being schooled by a 10 year old, produces a bunch of bottles of water she just happened to have in the cooler.
Guess what this was an ad for.
I'm addressing this because, first, it annoys me and, second, this advertisement is spread bad and potentially harmful information. Those kids weren't just losing water out there on that field. If that were the case then sweat wouldn't taste salty. Your body needs salt on a certain level. Yes, too much salt is bad for you, but if you flush too much salt out of your system by, let's just say, performing strenuously for prolonged periods of time in high heat and only drinking water, you can get sick and possibly die. In fact there was a radio contest as to how much water people could drink, and despite a registered nurse calling in and telling them that they shouldn't do this, they went ahead anyways. The winner was found dead later of water toxicity.
Yes, drinking water is a good thing. You need water. Right now though, we're in the dead of summer, and for some of us water isn't going to cut it. Yes, those sports drinks are often sweet and sugary. They have to be because nobody is going to want to drink synthetic sweat.
COMIX!!
BATGIRL #24 ends DC's most enjoyable book that they've put out in a long time. I've gone on a lot about how displeased I am with the DC reboot, especially what's going on concerning Batgirl. Bryan Q. Miller's BATGIRL run is the type of book that DC should be doing. It should be the model. Its a fun, accessible book and I feel comfortable telling nearly anybody to check out. Its really hard to review this book because every time i turn the page I just keep thinking about how much I'm going to miss all of it. This issue picks up right where the last one left off: Steph has confronted the person behind the Reapers and its none other than her father, the Cluemaster. One would typically expect one of these stories to be a wannabe-heart-wrenching tale of "how can I fight my daddy?", but screw that. This is Stephanie Brown, the post Spoiler version, the agent of Batman who kicks all form of ass, including hyena. Cluemaster: not a problem. This book is more a good-bye to a really delightful series. We have these really great scene's with Steph's mom, and Babs. We get a bunch of wild glimpses of stories that'll not get told. We even get a possible look in the future that let's us know something readers of this book have known for a while now. Stephanie Brown is awesome and she's going to be alright. Even if we don't get to tag along and see the journey. As much as I want to rail again DC for cancelling a book I looked forward to every month to brighten my week, I can't, because I just want to thank Mr. Miller for such a gem.
HELLBOY: THE FURY #3 puts me in an awkward position. I've been ordered by one Mike Federali not to review this book because he hasn't read issues one and two yet and wants to sit down this weekend and read them all in one fell swoop. So I guess I don't get to tell you guys about how the battle of Ragna Rok turns out and the whole thing with Hellboy fighting the dragon. I guess I also don't get to tell you about which character dies horribly and all that. Oh well. You know what I really love about this book? There's just one big set of events and all these different cultures have all their myths built around it. We have Cthulu stuff, and Arthurian Legend, and a Norse Apocalypse all sharing page time without stepping on each others toe. That is one hell of a good trick, but its what I've come to expect from Mike Mignola.
THE RED WING #2 is more heavy conceptual stuff. Characters are not the center piece so much as the concept of frequency-based temporal construction. There's also the concept of set time lines, which plays into alternate dimension theory despite that not getting touched upon. Concepts are the theme. Its about understanding them, and not understanding them. Not understanding the concept of this book's construction of time is seen as a flaw. Not understanding the concept of war is something that needs to be corrected even if it is unpleasant to discuss. This is such a weird book to read as I find it very interesting, but don't really care for any of the characters. Its like when I got The Scorer to watch AKIRA. He said "I don't care about any of these people and yet I want to know what happens to them." There's a weird disconnect here that makes this work like a classroom. I feel like I'm studying this book. Fortunately, I like studying things, so I'm enjoying myself.
BALTIMORE: THE CURSE BELLS #1 continues Lord Henry Baltimore's hunt of the vampire, Haigus, who murdered his family. Its a bloody trail with plenty of bloody battles. This works because it lets the captions handle all the exposition for those who are new to the book. It let's things flow without things getting bogged down. Not much to say here. If you like vampires without sparkles, and enjoy seeing them die horribly, then this is the book for you. I enjoyed it quite a bit.
MUSIC!!
Take that, Criss Angel!
That's it for me. Time to grab some Gatorades and head to work. See y'all Sunday.
There's a lot of things that suck about getting older. I'm currently dealing with one in particular: my metabolism. Growing up I always had the metabolic rate of a blast furnace, so I basically ate whatever I wanted without having to worry about my weight. Well, those days are over. There's also a particular habit I used to have that I've broken. Those who have put up with the habit for years and fairly glad to see it go, but it was one that benefited me. I used to pace. I mean seriously pace. I'm talking affect the airflow around me pace. I'd march in my little OCD circle for sometimes well over an hour as my mind ran wild extrapolating story ideas and considering projects. I could probably march from here to Tokyo with the amount of steps I've taken pacing. But that habit got broken, mainly because it annoyed the hell out of people. Unfortunately, pacing the floor as I did burned a lot of calories. Now that I'm not doing it, those calories are hanging around.
