7.31.2007

Comic-Con 2007

Okay I didn't go to San Diego but I did stay at a holiday inn express (like 80 times...but that is another story). I have often wanted to go but just haven't gotten around to it. I think it might make my head hurt. Way too much too see...anyway since I didn't go, I did go onto flickr and try to catch what happened. No one really seems to give a good synopis of what transpired so this is what I learned by looking...

Karen Allen is going to be in Indiana Jones IV! Old school...best Indy girlfriend of them all.

The comic-con is really no longer about comics :-(

Lego is coming out with Indiana Jones sets...just like Johnny Adventure

Indiana Jones will have a lego video game just like Star Wars

Blade Runner Deluxe Director's "I'm Finally Done Editing" Version is due to hit stores December 18 with a 5 DVD set! Like 5 versions....oh and Sean Young looks old

Watchman movie appears to be happening from the director of 300.

Dressing up as a stormtrooper appears to be the thing to do...other costumes not so much

7.30.2007

Colorado Rockies - Week 17

A 4-2 week against our division rivals. A good week for the Roxs who are still hanging around. Still comfortably in 4th place, 3.5 out of first and 3.5 out of the wild card race. The Roxs currently stand at 53 - 51. Currently 30-21 at home and 23-30 on the road, the Roxs have finally moved to outscoring its opponents 509-500 (expected wins is 53 versus historical wins at 48). On pace for 83 wins. A winning July! Exactly what the Roxs needed to keep in that pennant chase. A good couple of series wins against SD and LA certainly helped too. Plus those pesky D-Backs just don't seem to be going away. A real race to the finish with 58 games to go. Tough East coast swing for the Roxs this week. Still no word on any trade rumors. At least we're buyers this go around. Big game of the week was Cookie's masterful 10 - 2 win against SD. Took only 74 pitches (vs 91 pitches for that game against Seattle with Fogg pitching 6/30/06). Here is the inning by inning pitch count:

1st - 13
2nd - 7
3rd - 9
4th - 10
5th - 6
6th - 7
7th - 9
8th - 5
9th - 8

Was trying to determine some history on this. The stat I thought would mean something was James Game Score which is defined as:

Start with 50 points.
Add 1 point for each out recorded, so 3 points for every complete inning pitched.
Add 2 points for each inning completed after the 4th.
Add 1 point for each strikeout.
Subtract 2 points for each hit allowed.
Subtract 4 points for each earned run allowed.
Subtract 2 points for each unearned run allowed.
Subtract 1 point for each walk.

The highest game score for a nine inning game in the history of baseball was Kerry Wood's one-hit, no walk, 20-strikeout shutout performance for the Chicago Cubs against the Houston Astros on May 6, 1998. His game score was 105 (50 + 27 + 10 + 20 - 2). So Cook's masterful game was...67 (?). Well nothing spectacular there but it was the lowest pitch count this season. So what about game score? Here is Cookie's game scores for this season.













He actually pitched three "better" games earlier in the season. His average is 48.8. What about the other Rox's starters?





Francis has the best average and Cook has the highest game score this year at 77.0 (against the Padres again, but he lost this game on April 8, 2007). The Fogg has the lowest at 7.0!

Roxs graphical wins (home in Purple, away in grey)


Weekly WPA Leaders:

7.27.2007

Guitar Heroes Encore

Long live 80s rock! Had to buy this cheesy version just because I'm a product of 80s music. Great fun rocking out to this. Trying to move to the medium level...can't get the pinkie going. Must try harder...need to be a hero...

7.26.2007

This Week in Comics

Captain America 28
Another good story line. Had to go to wikipedia to figure out what exactly is the story behind all of this and I quote, "the Red Skull was assassinated by the Winter Soldier under the orders of Aleksander Lukin, and one of the Skull's henchmen, Crossbones, broke into the facility and kidnapped Synthia (Skull's daughter). Crossbones tortured Synthia to break S.H.I.E.L.D's conditioning. After he succeeded, she entered into a relationship with him, and - with Synthia now calling herself simply Sin - the two went on a killing spree. They later reunited with the Skull, now living inside the mind of General Lukin (However, before he died, the Skull used the Cube to transfer his mind into Lukin's body, leaving the two men stuck together "like rats in a cage." Well there you have!






Ultimate Spider-Man 111

Filler issue...although we do get a sneak peak of Stuart Immonen's pencils starting in issue 112.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer 5

Must be filler issue month. Joss does a one shot. Not really my thing...enjoy continuity. Vaughan starts his mini next month.









New X-men 40
I want to love this book...but the characters are too diverse and the art makes it difficult to determine who is who. Have to hand it to Claremont...he was lengthy but he always tried to write a book as if this was someone's first. A fine line for most comic book writers but they need to remember that every issue could be someone's first so ensure you give a little background so we don't get lost. Anyway love the characters but there are so many it is difficult to figure it all out. And this is my 4th issue...aghhhh

7.25.2007

Haiku Wednesday

Haiku Entry - Heat

Hot blistering sun
The blacktop hot to the touch
Want to fry an egg?

7.24.2007

J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Well it's the end...no more to read...the saga complete. Heck of a last book...great conclusion to a very good series. Where does Harry rank? I have to admit I wasn't all that impress with Harry to begin with. The first couple of books were good but nothing really memorable. As things become darker for our wizard the stories get a bit edgier. Book 5 is where things really started for me and then ending of Book 6 cemented things for me. I normally don't run out and buy a book but for this one I wanted to discover the ending before I heard about it. This book has closure in a big way. The story is nicely wrapped and as the last page unfolds it is very satisfying how J.K. wraps things up. Did she cop out with the ending? I don't think so...she certainly could have gone darker but the wrap up twist is satisfying. More than Harry though, I think Rowling did a wonderful job with Snape. The character you love to hate gets the treatment he deserves. I found it interesting that Ron and Hermione don't get a final triumph that you would expect. I somehow wished the book ended about 60 pages earlier then it did. At this point with Harry seeing his loved ones (a tear welled up inside me) and his final confrontation I really thought it was a good place. I wonder how hard Rowling thought about continuing? Are there two endings...one for Rowling and one for the rest of us? I wonder....anyway great book. I am glad Harry is done. His character will go down as a magical one up there with Strider, Garet Jax, and Belgarion...for me at least.

7.23.2007

Colorado Rockies - Week 16

A 4-3 week and a 5-5 roadtrip for the Roxs as they prepare to do battle against their division rivals. Still comfortably in 4th place, 5.5 out of first and 3.5 out of the wild card race. The Roxs currently stand at 49 - 49. Currently 26-19 at home and 23-30 on the road, the Roxs have been outscored 470-475 (expected wins is 49 versus historical wins at 45). On pace for 81 wins. Well they didn't bury themselves which is good. A good sweep in Pittsburgh but then lose 3 in DC? Come on and to get goose eggs on two of those loses. Did we forget that runs are needed to win? Well if the Roxs look back at this season and they miss out on a few games then they will look back at their 8-8 record against the Reds, Nats, D-Rays, and Royals and say there is at least 4 wins they gave away. For the Roxs to start looking like a playoff contender then they have got to win series against the worst teams. Someone once said, every team wins and loses 60 games it is what they do with those 42 that count. Right now the Roxs aren't winning those 42! Some other interesting items...since O'Dowd became GM every team in the NL West has been to the playoffs twice...hmmmmmm except for us. And we signed him for an extension why? Let's see his magic this week...Farnsworth ain't the answer...how bout another bat.

Roxs graphical wins (home in Purple, away in grey)


Weekly WPA leaders:














Seasonal WPA leaders:

7.20.2007

Harry Potter - The End

Stopped by a bookstore tonight and wow...pandemonium. It is like a concert or a movie opening. I mean it was still 2 1/2 hours away from the release and there were people all over milling about...it was crazy! So how does it all end? What is the "hook"? Does Harry survive...I think he does. I think Ron and Hermione also survive. My guess is that Harry has to make some decision...like save his friends but lose his wizardry...or something about his parents. Supposedly there have been clues in the previous 6 books...we shall see! Will there be a cry of "Save Harry" or "Bring Back Harry"

Hard to believe it has been 10 years. Quite a span of time. Think that there are 9 - 10 year olds who first read Sorcerer's Stone and now they are freshman in college reading the fate of Harry. Heck my oldest is almost 10...yikes!

7.19.2007

Malcolm Gladwell - Blink

Gladwell's second book was a must after reading his first (see my posting!). This book is much like the first. Couple of studies, ante dotes, and a general review (outline) of what Gladwell is trying to get across. The basis behind this book is that we have two decision making tools in our brain. One is the conscious thinking part and the quiet unassuming unconscious one. Blink is the theory that the unconscious one can be a useful tool if you learn to listen to it occasionally.

Things I found interesting:

page 56: Priming - A professor performed a test asking one group to think about smart people or teachers and the other asked a group to think about hooligans. The professor then asked the groups trivia and the ones thinking about the smart people answered 55.6% of the questions while the other group only 42.6%! By preparing the mind or priming it you can make it work for you. While a more mortifying result of this priming is that if African Americans are asked to put their race down on the GRE vs another group that is not asked then the group having to choose a race were shown to not perform as well on the test due to stereotyping. Wow!

Gary Klein Sources of Power

Page 111: A quote, "Conducting a thoroughly rational and rigorous analysis that covered every conceivable contingency yet that analysis somehow missed a truth that should have been picked up instinctively" When I read this I thought of baseball managers. Especially that argument between playing the numbers vs. playing a gut feel. Are managers who do the gut thing better off? Are the statheads so concerned with numbers they lose sight of that unconscious thought? How would one test this? Gut vs Stats - is their some way to look at games and determine when a manager used a stat matchup vs a gut matchup?

Page 141: Successful decision making relies on a balance between deliberate and intuitive thinking. In good decision making, frugality matters (i.e. not too much data!)

Page 218: Interesting talk on autistics and the fact they can't read faces...wonder why sometimes I have trouble looking at people when I talk?

Page 264: Quote of the book..."Have we come to confuse information with understanding?"

Page 268: Freud had it right...minor decisions should have the pros and cons looked at but for the vital stuff we should go with our unconscious gut feel.

7.18.2007

Haiku Wednesday

Haiku Entry - Swimming

Suddenly sweaty
Simmering summer sunshine
Splish Splash, Ahhh smile!

7.17.2007

Frank Miller - Complete Spider-Man

This compendium collects the works of Frank Miller on Spider-Man. Let's be frank this is like reading Hemingway's chicken scratch when he was in grade school. Nothing really spectacular in this body of work. Some hints of what Miller will become but really nothing compared to his later work. But really spider-man really isn't a Miller character. Miller strives for those dark brooding characters, batman, elektra, and marv to name a few so maybe we shouldn't really expect vintage (pre-historic?) Miller on these books. Oh well good read but not the Miller we've come to expect.

7.16.2007

Colorado Rockies - Week 15

A 1 -2 short week for the Roxs as they prepare to do battle in the second half. Still comfortably in 4th place. The Roxs currently stand at 45 - 46. Currently 26-19 at home and 19-27 on the road, the Roxs have been outscored 442-450 (expected wins is 45 versus historical wins at 42). On pace for 80 wins. Another auspicious start to the road trip. Another tough close loss but a good win. Another 7 games ahead. I (like many other Rox fans) have often wondered if the July meltdown is a truism or just circumstance. Below is a graph of the Roxs win percentage in each of the months they have played.













Over the years they have played 0.423 baseball in July totally 161 wins to 220 losses. So graphically there is a bit of a drop but they also don't play all that well in May either. Notice what they do when it hasn't matter and the Broncos are in full swing. If the Roxs could get into contention now then traditionally they play well in August/September.

First half expectations? Well WPA states that Hawpe, Matsui, and Tulo have led the way with Francis anchoring the Mound. What did the stat experts think back in March/April? Using the predictions of Chone, ZiPS, Marcels, and the Forecaster and averaging these gives the first column (expected wins 83). Next is after 82 games and then projecting these to 162 games (projected wins is 76). Well Helton needs to score more runs as well as Atkins. Matsui and Hawpe are playing well and Tulo is kicking butt. Cook is having a disastrous first half and Francis and especially Lopez are helping out.










Roxs graphical wins (home in Purple, away in grey)


Weekly WPA leaders:















Season WPA leaders:

7.13.2007

Lego Set 7658

A new feature! Yes every few months I get the urge to relive my childhood and get some legos. Obviously the advent of the star wars lego created much excitement. So the Y-wing as always been my favorite...it was soon supplemented by the B-wing but regardless it was my favorite ship in the first film. This is a rework of an earlier release. I find these new releases to be interesting. I have the original "Slave I" and my son got the newer "Slave I" last christmas and they have about as much in common as the original lego I built back in the 70s! Plus it is twice as big...it is wacky. Anyway the bloated new models are a bit more detailed. The new Y-wing comes in at 454 pieces. The nacelles are a fascinating build. Overall a good model and fun to play with!

7.12.2007

This Week in Comics

Runaways #27
Decent issue...interesting take on mutants from the past. Gaslight Mutants! Whedon is doing a decent job moving the 'Ways away from Vaughan's cover. Although I'd prefer they'd stay in LA...too many books run around NY.









X-Factor #21

Honestly I only got this because I wented to read the back story, "Endangered Species" Chapter 3. X-Factor just seems like a mutant soap opera...not terribly interested but am curious about the Hank McCoy adventure or walk about.

The New Avengers #32

Okay besides the art this is a really riveting plot. Again the rough looking art which I suppose is giving this book some real "edge" just looks to me like its unfinished. Yeah I can't keep up with Bendis so here's a rough sketch of what I hope it to look like. I mean you can't even tell who is who in the plane? Anyway the who is an alien and who isn't will surely be a big buzz this summer and make legion of Bendis worshippers even more crazy but have to admit he makes it interesting.




Omega Flight #4

OK the continuing saga of how to kill a decent ideal...this was such a disappointment...oh please end it so it doesn't hurt anymore. Where did the characters come from? What are they doing. Where did Bill stroll in from? What did he hear a job posting while he was flying around the universe and decided, gee let's be a canadian superhero....ughhhh




7.11.2007

Haiku Wednesday

Haiku Entry - Baseball

Blue sky and green grass
Diamond shimmers in the heat
The bat smacks, glove pops


Sunny day, green grass
Magical diamond shimmers
Boyhood dreams come true


Crowd is on its feet
Ninth, bases loaded, full count
The pitch, win or lose?

World Series at stake
Sandlot King steps to the plate
Mighty swing, home run


7.10.2007

Fantastic Four 2

I think the traditional comic book movie first popularized way back with Spider-Man and the X-men is officially dead! Marvel movies hit the apex with Spider-Man 2 and since then have just slowly died. The formula needs refreshed. Fantastic Four 2 pretty much sums up what has gone wrong with comic book movies. Forced laughter, dumb jokes, Stan "his cameos just get worst" Lee, plots going in the direction of characters more exciting then the main characters, boring fights, and just not the comic book. The industry is just looking for that box office receipt but frankly you can only fool audiences a few times before they catch on that the movie is just a pathetic attempt for you to give the studio your cash. Back to this movie, while it is an slight improvement over the first one, the bottom line is the movie just doesn't have the right chemistry. Should have gone with a CGI Thing, Johnny hits it pretty well but his humor gets old and becomes forced, Alba just never figured out Sue Storm and plays here terribly. What was with the clown makeup? On the big screen she looked like she was plastered, too bad she wasn't more invisible. And finally Reed is about the only believable character but if you were hoping Reed would carry the movie...well you never read Fantastic Four. He is simply the plot support...his wacky science is what makes the comic book move and gives the devices to move the book forward. And has mentioned with the latest and greatest comic book movies it seems we need a cooler and plot centered villian. Spider-Man 3 was ruined with too many villians and this one is basically showcasing the Silver Surfer which is really just a B-list marvel character who really isn't a villian. Oh and who allowed the Star Trek to get into the movie...tachyon pulse???? Come on....anyway so much for this franchise. Another burned out!

7.09.2007

Colorado Rockies - Week 14

A 5-1 week...the Jekyll and Hyde season continues. After going 1-9 on the road trip they come home and sweep the Mets (hey only team in baseball history to sweep both the Mets and Yankees in one season) and then win a series against the Phillies. Obviously consistency isn't in the Roxs vocabulary this season. The Roxs are again comfortably in 4th place with San Diego only 5.5 games ahead. The Roxs currently stand at 44 - 44. Currently 26-19 at home and 18-25 on the road, the Roxs have been outscored 428-438 (expected wins is 43 versus historical wins at 41). On pace for 81 wins. Decent close out to the first half. With the way the Roxs are playing a .500 record is the best you can hope for at this point in the season. Not great but they haven't written themselves off yet and still have the chance to play meaningful games in August.....IF.....they are competitive on the next road trip. The next 10 games is the Roxs season. Tank the trip and even with the next 7 games at home against SD and LA it won't matter. Stay within striking distance and those 7 home games can put you into contention and spring you into August having a chance. No Broncos talk yet but go 1 - 9 on the road again and your back page news sharing "dead' lines withe Rapids.

Roxs graphical wins (home in Purple, away in grey)


Oh yeah, "The Herd" on ESPN had a nice chat about Todd Helton. Basically saying he is the best player no one has ever heard of. Nice to hear the Roxs get some love. They think he is a HOFer, what to you say?




1,794 hits through age 32, a career BA of .332! An OPS above 1 at 1.017. Great start lets hope he can continue on for another 8 years. By the way do the Roxs give him a chance with a postseason this year? Or does he hang on hoping for glory in the Purple?

Weekly WPA leaders:














Seasonal WPA leaders:

7.06.2007

Magazine Wrap Up

- Entertainment Weekly

Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon artist for Umbrella Academy and Casanova (?)

Haruki Murakami - Have heard fabalous things with this writer but have never read his work...have to fix that

OK where have I been...Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet were (are) married and they have an 18 year old? What the heck!

Another space movie plug - In the Shadow of the Moon

Quote of the Year from Shia LaBeouf, "Everyone turns 21, not everyone gets to be in Indiana Jones."

-NY Times July 15

Average career for rookies in the big leagues is 5.6 years. If you can stick around for 3 years then you have an additional 6 years (Richard Rogers and Jarron Saint Onge, University of Colorado)

DC Comics opening an online imprint that accepts public submissions...check out Zuda Comics

-New Yorker

MediaPredict, a predicative market for determining best selling books

-Outside

Interesting article on hybrids, a pizzly, a cross between a grizzly and polar bear.

7.05.2007

Matthew Pearl - The Dante Club

Heard of this book but wasn't too sure what it was about. Back cover seemed interesting...kind of historical fictional mystery. Was kind of hoping that maybe it fell into the Caleb Carr mold. Unfortunately it wasn't as captivating as a Carr book but was an interesting period piece detailing Boston in the 1860s. I do believe history is terrible at teaching "complete" history. What I mean is, in history class we all study what led to the Civil War, the war itself, reconstruction, blah blah but what we don't study is what was going on socially, intellectually, or scientifically. Take 1865 for instance, Lewis Carroll publishes Alice in Wonderland, the Salvation Army is established, the Matterhorn in the alps is first climbed, Mendel formulates his genetic inheritance traits. Lot more went on in 1865 then just the Civil War ending. Anyway my point in all of this was beside the "whodunit" the book was interesting in that Longfellow, Holmes, Lovell, and Greene were all part of the novel. Basically the story revolves around Longfellow completing the first Americanized English version of Dante's The Divine Comedy. Wrap this into a fictional murder spree in Boston and you get this book. Overall okay just not riveting and kind of slow in places.

7.04.2007

Haiku Wednesday

Haiku Entry - Bar-BQ

Hot embers aglow
spatula and tongs in hand
Where is my cold beer?

7.03.2007

G.I. Joe A Real American Hero - 25th Anniversary

I see a trend...suddenly I am transported back to 1982 (seems alot of things happened this year!)...although I don't think I found myself on the GI JOE bandwagon until 1985 when I was a freshman in high school. Not for sure which came first, the cartoon or the comic, but I believe it was the cartoon. Soon after that I found the comic...

Actually well before I started collecting superhero type comics I was a big time GI JOE comic book collector. It was only when I was at the supermarket and couldn't find any JOE books that I gave ol X-factor 9 a chance...gee know where that went! Any was reading something somewhere about how the GI JOE A Real American Hero was coming out with some 25th anniversary figures. Anyway I think Larry Hama just did an outstanding job of putting together the mythos of the JOEs. How he integrated the teams and came up with special talents. My favorite JOE was Outback...loving the wilderness and teaching survival training one summer was all I needed to collect this JOE

Anyway loved the JOEs especially the comic book and the special mission books. One thing I have to say is where is the nostagia? With the Transformers coming back what about the beloved JOE. Talking about a franchise? I have often wondered with the excellent games like Metal Gear Solid and Tom Clancy's video games why they don't come out with a game where you can set up JOE teams to complete missions. The obvious success of the mission being using the correct JOEs to complete the level. Then with succeeding levels you gain new JOEs. Anyway just a thought...YO JOE!

7.02.2007

Colorado Rockies - Week 13

A 1-6 (ughh!) week getting swept for the second time since sweeping the Yankees and only winnng one of four from the Astros. The Roxs are not so comfortably in 4th place with San Diego 8 games ahead. The Roxs currently stand at 39 - 43. Currently 21-18 at home and 18-25 on the road, the Roxs have been outscored 377-409 (expected wins is 38 versus historical wins at 38). On pace for 77 wins. Well what can one say? Emotions were running high after sweeping the Yankees but then the dreaded late June/early July road trip. This one had started in Toronto, went to Chicago, and then to Houston. 10 games in all and a whooping 1 - 9 record. So much for doing okay on the road! A "cursed" trip unlike any other. The ups - Tulowitzki had three home runs to put the Roxs ahead in the Top of the 9th, the downer - Fuentes blew the lead in all three of those games and also blew a fourth. Notice Fuentes WPA below. So assuming the law of averages were catching up to us (after going 21 - 7) then realistically the Roxs are basically playing like they have been all year. Hopefully they can limp into the all-star break with a reasonable record so that July and August are within reach. Of course they start a 10 game road trip after the break beginning in Milwaukee, on to Pittsburgh, and closing with a 4 game series in DC. If they can't go 7-3 then forget about it...The Roxs do stand second in average among NL teams (have moved into 6th with HR, although they are only on pace for 81 HR at Coors!)and 11th in pitching, although SD, Dodgers, and Arizona are all in the top 5.

Roxs graphical wins (home in Purple, away in grey)


WPA for the week (Fuentes took a major nose dive!) Biggest weekly change this year.















WPA Seasonal Leaders