PardonMyFrench

Go See The Amazing Spider-Man Now

Long time friends of mine know that I have a huge Amazing Spider-Man comic book collection.  I am only missing 15 books - 9 of those are from the first 15 books.  I do have my own copy of Amazing Fantasy 15 (the first appearance) show in this post.  Now before I give a small review, here are a few parts of the movie that don't exist in the Spidey mythology...

1) Curt Connors does not work for Oscorp.  He develops the serum on his own.

2) Gwen Stacy does not know Peter Parker is Spider-man 

3) Capt Stacy does figure out that Peter Parker is Spider-man

4) Capt Stacy is killed by Doc Ock, not the Lizard

5) Peter Parker's parents are not scientists, they are American spies

6) Uncle Ben is shot at his home, not on the streets of NY

7) Gwen Stacy while probably a good student is not a scientist

However, this movie is awesome.  Even with those changes, the movie stays true to Spider-Man and I do like some of the changes especially with Oscorp and Norman Osborn being behind the scenes directing things.  That part of Normal Osborn shows up many, many years later when Marvel decides to resurrect Norman after his death in Spider-Man #122.

The 3D effects are a lot of fun.  I saw the Avengers a few days earlier and while I liked the Avengers, Spider-Man was 10 times better. Why?  The reason I like Spider-Man so much is that he is just a nerdy high school kid that turns into something special but he still maintains all of the social issues that high school and college kids have.  Also, Emma Stone is an awesome Gwen Stacy whom I always thought was the best girl friend for Peter Parker.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

 

Artie Lange for Mayor of Hoboken - Now That's Funny

I love the fact that Bob Abouey started an Artie Lange for Mayor of Hoboken campaign (http://twitter.com/MayorArtie and http://www.mayorartie.com/ ).  Since I went to high school with Artie and they might need someone with political experience, I'll be happy to help.  I guess the biggest problem if I worked for Artie is this post I made on him a while back.

Al Franken Wins MN Senate Seat - Who's Next Artie Lange?

Yes my wife will tell me that I've run out of Artie jokes here, but then again she bought me Too Fat To Fish.  Anyway, the Associated Press has reported that comedian Al Franken has been certified the winner of the Minnesota Senate Race. Norm Coleman will of course fight this in court, but thanks to the people of Minnesota and a little Barack Obama coattails we in this country have to deal with this clown in the Senate.  I did a little work in this race and I can tell you that of all the races that I've worked on that lost, this is the craziest one. 

Al Franken has no business being a US Senator.  He has no real policies, but he made it in by bashing President Bush.  His company failed to pay taxes or carry workers compensation.  The guy is a clown and broke the law, but the people of Minnesota overlooked that and elected him anyway.  When Minnesota elected Jesse Ventura a lot of people snickered, but not me.  That's their state and they can do what they want but the US Senate effects all of us.

Seriously, that's awful.  That's like New Jersey electing Artie Lange to the US Senate.  Heck, I think Artie would make a better Senator than Al Franken and here's why....

TEN REASONS WHY ARTIE LANGE WOULD BE A BETTER SENATOR THAN AL FRANKEN

1. Like a lot of members of Congress Artie has already been arrrested
2. Sure Artie has a drug problem, but at least you know that going in and won't find that later on.
3. Writing of drug problems, who better to help fight drug abuse then someone like Artie?
4. Artie is a true rags to riches to on the rag and back to riches person.  He never attended a classy place like Harvard to get his education
5. Artie is a true working class person - driving a cab, working as a long shore man in Newark NJ.  He understands the working man.
6. Unlike other Senators, you're pretty sure Artie won't get caught soliciting a male police officer in the men's room of an airport.
7. According to Artie he already has a long history of dealing with prostitutes but unlike Spitzer he won't need to transport them across state lines or overpay for sex.
8. You already know he will work with labor Unions and is very liberal.  That makes him attractive to NJ's most influential voting group the CWA which if it isn't already, will be representing the largest pool of workers - the NJ Government payroll.
9. No need to worry about ties to organize crime; although Artie can help represent the gambling and casino groups since he can explain what a vig is...
10. Finally, Artie has a huge following especially in the youth voting segment making it easier for Artie to get elected in NJ.  You won't have to worry about long recounts because the youth vote will go in mass for him, plus the Unions, gamblers, drug addicts, pro-legalization of pot people, prostitution, Italians, the arts and entertainment, casino and horse racing industry, cab drivers.  Heck he'd probably carry NJ by a much larger spread than Obama.

So since I'm pretty sure that Artie could win a US Senate Seat if he can survive until 2012 or until Frank Lautenberg goes on life support, I've bought the URL http://www.artielangeforsenate.com.  You can email me now if you want to help.

PardonMyFrench and my joke,

Eric

Feb 3 - Feb 4 2008 - Giants and John McCain in NJ

Wow - that was two awesome days for me.  First, watching the Giants beat the Patriots for my third Super Bowl win as a Giants fan and then to Hamilton NJ with my son Jacob to watch history being made with John McCain in Hamilton, NJ.  So let's take my weekend in order

1. Giants Game - what more can I say but it was the greatest football game I've ever witnessed.  I thought the 1990 Super Bowl was my best game but this one topped that game.  BTW - my wife bought me an Eli Manning jersey during his first season with the Giants and I NEVER STOPPED WEARING IT even after his 6 interception game versus the Vikings
2. Tiki Barber - This might be sour grapes, but I think every Giants fan should donate their Barber jerseys and buy Eli Manning jerseys.  Tiki showed his lack of class when he became a distraction last season, bad mouthed Coach Coughlin, and then ripped Eli Manning at the beginning of this year.
3. Super Bowl commercials - finally a year when these ads were shown to be what they always were - not entertainment but commercials.  For the most part they were not very good.  I thought the Bud and Bud Lite ads were very well done and I liked the Doritos mouse ad, but I question the value of buying an ad on the Super Bowl at $2.7 million per 30 seconds for a snack chip.  I thought the E*Trade baby ad was not funny at all and a step back for them.
4. John McCain in Hamilton NJ - It was a really great event today.  Jacob got a seat right on the stage with a home made sign that Kaela and my wife made; we were the only ones who were able to bring a homemade sign in.  I was all the way on the right with a spot right below Rudy.  The event was a who's who in NJ and National politics and had the energy of a Springsteen concert.  Tom Kean Jr, Gov. Tom Kean, Rudy, John McCain, Joe Lieberman, Phil Gramm, Lindsey Graham, Gov Crist, Cindy McCain, and Roberta McCain, plus more.  Jacob was patted on the head by Gov Crist, Senators Lieberman and Graham which caused Jacob to ask "why do they always pat me on the head?".  If you watched the event on TV you had to look for Jacob because he was blocked by as he said (I'm not making this up) "a bunch of celebrity butts!". Enjoy the Flickr photos below.

It doesn't get much better than this in the Frenchman household.

www.flickr.com

This is a Flickr badge showing photos in a set called John McCain GOTV in Hamilton NJ. Make your own badge here.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

What Happens When You Mix Google, a Dwarf, and a Vacuum Cleaner?

Thanks to my friend Ryan, he turned me on to popurls a few months back and when I need a break I check it out (sadly I don't have a blogging career).  In the middle of the day this article called Dwarf's <insert term for male private part> stuck to vacuum cleaner was one of the top Diggs of the day.  Basically Captain Dean the Demon Dwarf was supposed to appear in a circus with a vacuum cleaner attached to his member, but he had some problems with glue and the vacuum and had to be taken to a hospital (honest Dr, this was part of my act). BTW - why do these crazy things always happen in England.  Anyway the article is funny, but what really makes it are the Google ads found at the bottom of the page.  See this screen shot.

Now, you readers know how much I love Google and I am starting to grow to love the reach and targeting abilities in their content networking, but this is too funny.  Serving up vacuum cleaner parts ads tied to the content in this article is really funny.  On a somewhat serious note, Google actually did a decent job matching 2 out of the 3 ads to the content in the article (guy has problems with his vacuum cleaner breaking down); what I don't understand is how Google decided to map a newspaper print quote ad to the article. 

Anyway, funny stuff and if my Google friends keep funniest content matches this has to be near one of the best.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

World of Warcraft Inflationj

A while back I wrote a post called Working Through World of Warcraft's Burning Crusade in which I wrote about how much better the game is since the expansion pack.  One of things I've recently noticed is the inflation of all the prices of items within the game itself which I've found very interesting,  Every item in the auction house seems pricier now and it is due to all the level 60+ in the Outlands getting enhanced equipment and the easy flow of gold from the quests and drops.

Just last night one of my guild friends gave me an unbelievable helmet for free even after I told him the one I had on was much better.  He didn't care and said I could sell it.  If you aren't too careful, you could drop a few gold pieces out of your armor if you do a complex move and sadly you wouldn't notice; that's how easy it is now to get gold.

Instead of having a tough time getting gold, I now find myself hovering in the high 100s and wouldn't think about twice dropping some serious coin.  I wonder if Blizzard realized that this would happen.  It definitely causes issues for new players who don't have an alt that sends gold down to them.  Now, prices in the auction house are much higher which means it takes you longer to get items that you need.  I wonder if anyone else realizes the inflation....

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

Working Through World of Warcraft's Burning Crusade

A little fun for Friday....I saw this article over at CNET this morning called Warcraft: A world in transition and I found it a great read, especially for a WoW players like myself.  You can read the article for yourself, but if you aren't familiar with World of Warcraft, it is probably the single best game ever invented.  It is played online with other players of the 8 million worldwide ones - the best description I can give you is Dungeons and Dragons set in a beautiful, 3-D online world where you can socialize while you do quests to get experience, treasure, and fame.  Most of my gaming occurs after 9PM and has totally replaced my TV viewing and sometimes posting here.

The article talks a lot about how Blizzard, the makers of WoW abandoned the "older" version when they released their expansion pack last month called Burning Crusade. I think CNET is making too much of a big deal about the release leaving the original game behind; however, they do have a point at level 60 and above.   Here's  my take:

• Between levels 1-60 
  
  1. the game is pretty much the same.  My son wanted to play with me and the two of us started new characters in the old version, and it is still VERY enjoyable and I noticed no change in playability
  2. there are still plenty of players in the non-BC areas
  3. while there was a great rush in the new low level areas, it has finally leveled off
• Levels 60+
  1. The game has changed.  The older high level areas are now pretty much empty.  I visited one that used to be packed and it was EMPTY
  2. There is better treasure, better graphics, and plenty of players in the new area; the story line is also a lot more interesting
  3. The guild I'm a part of has been surprisingly barren since the start of January.  All of the original players are still there, they just haven't been online with the characters in the guild
  4. I haven't checked the player versus player areas, but I'm guessing the older areas are a little thinner too

Personally, I'd like to finish some of the older instances because I got to level 60 only 2 months back, but everyone is in the new area.  One of the happier changes to the older areas when BC was introduced, is a lessening of the lag that would occur in heavier populated areas. 

As a whole, I don't think they abandoned the old game because from 1-60 you have to spend your time there unless you want to play one of the two new races.  Things have changed, but if you hit level 60 and don't pay to upgrade, well then you are really missing out and the game is really over for you - stop complaining and drop the $30....

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

Some Hall of Fame Voters Don't Get It

I know this is a little outside my normal subjects, but if you haven't guessed by now I'm a huge baseball fan and my favorite team is the Yankees.   I've been strictly a Yankee fan ever since the Mets traded Tom Seaver and broke my heart as a 9 year old.  Anyway, I woke up this morning to see who made the Baseball Hall of Fame, but what surprised me the most was not that Mark McGwire didn't get in, it was the bottom tier of former players that actually got votes.  The baseball writers who voted for the following players should have their right revoked for not caring enough about who gets in or doesn't get in.  Forget about what their opinion is on McGwire, how can you seriously pay attention to following votes:

• Jay Buhner (1)
• Ken Caminiti (2)
• Eric Davis (3)
• Dante Bichette (3)
• Tony Fernandez (4)
• Jose Canseco (6)
• Bret Saberhagen (7)

The morons that voted for these players need to take their job more seriously.  Jay Buhner?  A good player but how do you put him in with Babe Ruth?  No Hall numbers and not even a top 3 finish in MVP voting.  Even if you are his Dad, you can't vote for him.  Tony Fernandez?  Why?  Ken Caminiti?  Sure he won a MVP but admitted to steroid use.  You can't vote for him.

The most memorable thing about Jay Buhner is his mention in a Seinfeld show, but that doesn't deserve a Hall of Fame vote.  In the words of Frank Costanza "How could you (trade) vote Buhner? He had 30 homeruns, over 100 RBIs and a rocket for an arm."  Sure, nice stats, but hardly worthy of the Hall.  Show some integrety will you?  And, if you can't get removed from voting, you should never, ever complain when the fans vote a favorite player into an All Star Game that you don't agree with you.  At least when we vote for an under-deserving player, we do it because we want to see them on TV, not to be enshrined with the immortals of the game.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric