A good thing

So I was accused of taking some poetic license with the recollections reflected in my last entry. OK, maybe the blood was “stretching it” a little bit. But otherwise, I stand by my story. …. Well, maybe I stand off to the side of it:)

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Had an interesting visitor in my office today. Well, let me preface this story by explaining the events that led to yesterday’s visit. A little over a year ago I did a story about a man from my local area who had died in Ohio. A medical examiner from a city there had contacted me and asked me to put something in the paper about this deceased individual, mainly in order to find some of his family and let them know of his passing. I wrote the story and the next day received a phone call from this medical examiner, telling me that the story had resulted in the man’s family contacting him (the medical examiner). Apparently the family of the deceased individual had fallen out of touch with him about 20 years ago and were sent the article by friends of theirs that still lived in my area.

That same day I had received an e-mail from the deceased gentleman’s brother, thanking me for the story. I used that e-mail in a follow-up story that I printed the next day. A few months later I received a letter from the deceased individual’s sister, who also thanked me for printing the stories on her brother.

Fast forward to yesterday, when the deceased individual’s brother and his wife stopped by my office (they were visiting the area from Mesa, Ariz.) to meet me personally, show me a scrapbook that he had created on his brother’s life (which included my two stories) and to thank me again for those stories as well as tell me a little bit about his brother.

I had tears in my eyes after the pair left because I so touched by what these two people shared with me.

You know, after 14 years in this business, and at some times being ridiculed, insulted and threatened (with lawsuits, not physical violence …. yet) it was really nice to hear from someone about what a good job I did.

Now I don’t want people to think that I’ve never received compliments from people on the stories I’ve written before. I’ve received many, but what these people did and the raw emotion that was etched on their face when talking about their late brother and how much the stories I published meant to them and their family, it brought tears to my eyes. I was really touched by their kindness.

That visit yesterday reminded me that, regardless of the garbage that I sometimes have to deal with because of my job, it is still something that I love to do even after 14 years.

Keep smiling folks:)

With apologies and musings on the toddler’s b@&*^

First I want to apologize to anyone who read yesterday’s blog and was offended that I used the “F” word significantly in the first paragraph. It was the only word that I could think of to describe my mood. And yes, I did get chastised by my wife. So I’m making a trip to the jewelry store and the candy store for chocolate on my way home….:)

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Anyway … on to the real subject of today’s entry which is my brother-in-law or, as I refer to him as, “the toddler’s b*&^%.”

Now let me get a couple of things out of the way. My brother-in-law is a nice guy — he just has his “moments,” such as when his early on-set alzheimer’s sets in and he forgets that he shouldn’t buy toy swords for a 2-year-old.

Let me set the stage for you - it is a Sunday afternoon at my in-laws house. It is a beautiful day. After eating a fantastic meal (cooked by my mother-in-law, who is the nicest person you will ever meet), I decide to do my Sunday ritual and fall asleep on her couch for a couple of hours.

Two hours later, I’m awaken to a sobbing noise. I look over the couch arm and notice my brother-in-law curled up in the fetal position, rocking back-and-forth. And he is continuing saying, “he just wouldn’t stop. he just wouldn’t stop,” while blood trickles out of his nose and his left eye begins to swell shut.

From what I was told later by my wife, my brother-in-law took my son outside to play with him. He had brought my son a set of plastic swords and decided to play with my son with these items. And here’s where the memory lapse happened - he forgot that he was dealing with a 2-year-old BOY and promptly got the living hell beat out of him.

I mean, this beating was biblical in nature. It was brutal (I know … my wife videotaped it for me, and yes it was the funniest thing I have ever seen).

So the swords are now safety under my in-laws’ bed, never to be seen again. My brother-in-law has healed, but he still jumps whenever he hears my son walk into the room:)

Keep smiling folks:)

This blog is rated R for tasteless language and observations

So the Dodgers swept the Cubs: fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck…….

If you can’t tell, I’m a Cubs fan:(

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So I was looking at the information for this blog — such as which entry gets the most traffic, how many people log in on a day and the such — and I noticed that the blog in which received the most traffic was the one I wrote about an encounter with my high school crush.

And that got me wondering — do people really want to read something like that? I mean, I lead a pretty boring life. My wife is good. My son is good. I’m going bald. There really isn’t interesting that I could write about from that kind of personal perspective.

Now I could write about what kind of idiot I was when I was younger (and trust me, ‘idiot’ is the nicest term that I could come up when describing what I was like when I was a teen-ager. Ugh), but I figured that I would either be too hard on myself or I would try to gloss over just how much of a twit I was.

Then I thought, “why don’t I write about my past relationships?” I could, but considering how I’ve only been with two women in the past 12 years (I’ve been with my wife for nearly 10 of those), I figured that I might bore some people.

Then I remembered that the woman I dated before my wife was a raving psycho-bitch and that detailing the ups-and-downs of that huge pothole in my life might make for entertaining reading for people who need a good laugh. I get a laugh out of it today when I remember just how stupid I was back then.

But that’s a post for another time. Now it’s on to the musings …….

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Caught an interesting movie called “Bully” Sunday night on IFC. It stars Nick Stahl and Brad Renfro, and is about a group of kids that decide to kill a bully. It is really a dark film that I just couldn’t turn away from. The film is based on the 1993 murder of Bobby Kent in Cooper City, Florida. I will recommend it, but it is not for the faint of heart.

So The Shield is going to end, Burn Notice won’t be back with new episodes until December and Rescue Me and Battlestar Galactica won’t be back until next year. These sad facts led me to search for a new show that I could burn an hour a week watching and not have my intelligence insulted. Which brought me to FX’s Sons of Anarchy. This show, about a biker club in Northern California, is fantastic. It is essentially a modern version of Hamlet. Ron Perelman and Katy Sagal are both fantastic. I highly recommend this show.

Just read the second volume of Scalped, which contains the next six issues of the series (6-11) and focuses on the perspective from six different people on the opening of the casino on The Rez. Jason Aaron is crafting a fantastic series here and I am truly looking forward to the third volume.

Finished reading The Wheelman by Duane Swierczynski and LaBrava by Elmore Leonard. The Wheelman was a fantastic read and led into Swierczynski’s other novel The Blonde. LaBrava was actually one of Leonard’s weaker novels in my opinion. The first two-thirds of the novel were kind of bland, but it picked up for the final act. Not his best work, but not the worse novel I have ever read (that award still belongs to Nelson Demille’s By the Rivers of Babylon).

Well, that’s it for now folks. Keep smiling:)

So I was thinking…

I mentioned last week that I was hoping that my wife enjoyed her birthday. Well, she did. She got spoiled by me and we enjoyed a nice dinner at a nice restaurant, just the two of us.

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Just finished reading “The War Within” by Bob Woodward. This book is the fourth volume in his “Bush at War” series.

Now I am a big fan of Bob Woodward’s books — I have All the President’s Men, The Final Days, Shadow, The Secret Man and the previous three volumes of his “Bush at War” series (Bush at War, Plan of Attack and State of Denial) in my library. His latest book provides yet another fantastic look at the Bush White House and the continued state of the Iraq War from 2006-2008.

Now I’ve moved from that to Duane Swierczynski’s The Wheel Man and I’m hopeful that this will be just as good as The Blonde.

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Got a request from a reader who is just starting to get into Ring of Honor and asked what DVDs I would recommend for new viewers. So to anyone who is looking to give Ring of Honor a try, here’s my top 10:

1) Joe vs. Kobashi. The first full ROH show that I got on DVD and it was worth every penny. The entire card is fantastic and the main event is one of the best matches I have ever seen. Throw in a raucous New York City crowd (which started chants of “This is Awesome” a minute into the main event) and you have one of the best events ROH has put on.

2) Manhatten Mayhem II. This is a great card that is highlighted by two match-of-the-year candidates: The Briscoes vs. Steen and Generico, two-out-of-three-falls for the ROH World Tag Team Titles; and Brian Danielson versus Takeshi Morishima for the ROH World Title. It is amazing that Danielson finished this match after his retina was detached by a Morishima punch five minutes into the match (the whole match went a total of 18 minutes).

3) World Title Classic. The first match in the Joe-versus-Punk trilogy that is credited with saving the company in 2004. This match alone is worth the price of the DVD.

4) Man Up. Features a rematch between Morishma and Danielson and an absolutely insane Ladder War match between the Briscoes and Steen/Generico for the ROH tag titles. (This match was so brutal that ROH officials banned any future ladder matches from taking place).

5) Punk: The Final Chapter. Punk’s farewell match in his hometown of Chicago. Also featured an insane match between Samoa Joe and Jay Lethal against Homicide and Low Ki that went all over the arena.

6) Supercard of Honor 1. Features the first Dragon Gate Six-Man match (which was rated five stars by the Wrestling Observer); a 56-minute match between Roderick Strong and Brian Danielson for the ROH World Title; a Shimmer six-way match; and yet another bloodbath between Homicide and Colt Cabana. A great show that spans two discs and clocks in at around four hours in length.

7) Glory by Honor V Night Two. There is not a bad match on this entire card, which is universally called one of the best ROH shows in history. Features Danielson against KENTA for the ROH World Title; Naomichi Marufuji vs. Nigel McGuinness for the Pro Wrestling NOAH GHC Heavyweight Title (the first time this title has been defended in the U.S.); and Samoa Joe and Homicide against the Briscoes.

8: Sixth Anniversary Show. Just one of the best booked shows in ROH history. The world title match between McGuinness and Danielson alone is worth of the price of this DVD.

9) Supercard of Honor III. The best show ROH has put on this year. Features another fantastic Dragon Gate six-man match and a great match between McGuinness and Austin Ares for the ROH World Title.

10) Joe vs Punk II. The second match between Joe and Punk, which is an absolute classic. The rest of the card sucks, but the main event alone is worth purchasing this DVD.

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Immortal Iron Fist is fast becoming one of my favorite comics. I came onto this title late (Issue 16) and had to pick up the two trades in order to catch up on everything. Now I’ve never been a fan of the Iron Fist character, but the work that Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction did in reinventing this character (and the history behind it) was fantastic. Brubaker and Fraction ended their run with issue 16 which saw Danny Rand (the current Iron Fist) discovering that of the 66 people who have been Iron Fist before him, all but one has lived past their 33rd birthday … and guess what birthday Danny Rand just celebrated. It’s from there that Duane Swierczynski picks up the title, and he is keeping the storyline and the action flowing.

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That’s it for now. Keep smiling:)

So I’ve been busy ….

Ok, I’m back. I know - it’s been a month, but I’ve been busy. Sue me:)

Anyway before I start getting into my thoughts at this time, I need to ask for a moment to remember everyone who lost their lives on Sept. 11.

Thanks:)

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So Raw’s rating for this past week dropped to a 2.6, which is the lowest rating in over 10 years. Have you gotten the message yet, Vince? Raw sucks. How doing something different, maybe something that won’t make me ashamed to be a wrestling fan.

However, it is not like TNA is much better these days. Sting is in the main event at Bound for Glory for the third straight year, despite not actually wrestling for much of this year. I’m trying to understand the logic behind putting a guy, who has not drawn a damn dime during the three years he has been on the roster, in the main event of what is supposedly the company’s biggest show of the year. And if they make Samoa Joe put him over, I’ll literally shoot my TV set.

And as if that wasn’t bad enough, I’m pretty sure TNA will load up the undercard with even more stupid gimmick matches — cage match, Monster’s Ball match, ladder match, stripper on a pole match (sorry, went off on a tangent there). The sad thing is this is what they believe will draw in viewers. No - all it is does is beat the viewers over the head with gimmicks. Let me ask you a question — do you remember the big gimmick match at the Hard Justice PPV for TNA? How about the main event at Summerslam? Hard Justice had four gimmick matches on the card — four! And they couldn’t make their fans care about any of them. Meanwhile the WWE puts on a Hell in the Cell match - the first in a year - and that is what they sell their PPV on. Guess which effort probably resulted in more PPV buys.

The funny thing is TNA has, in my opinion, a better talent roster than WWE. If the bookers at TNA actually had a clue as to what the fans wanted, they might actually put on a hard-hitting, no frills, logical show that would not insult their fans, instead of attempting to be WWE-lite. However that concept seems to be lost on the powers that be in TNA.

Now onto wrestling companies that actually give a damn about entertaining their fans: I had an opportunity over the last couple of weekends to get through a few ROH DVDs and the last Shimmer volume that I purchased (vol. 18). And while the production quality of these companies is not on par with say TNA or WWE, the effort these companies — and its wrestlers — puts into entertaining their fans is amazing.

Shimmer Vol. 18 had a great series of matches on the card, highlighted by Wesna against Amazing Kong (this is a hard-hitting, brutal match) and the Shimmer title match between MsChif and champion Sara Del Ray (which is one of the best women’s matches I’ve seen this year). The difference between Shimmer and say WWE is that these women look different (in WWE most of the women there look like supermodels) and they actually, *gasp*, wrestle. It truly is different than what the majority of mainstream wrestling fans are used to. On a sidenote, women’s wrestling is one thing that I — and apparently a good section of TNA fans (since these segments get the highest ratings) — enjoy watching in TNA. The company’s Knockouts division is filled with great women’s wrestlers who can actually perform.

This brings me to Ring of Honor.

I’ve been a fan of Ring of Honor since 2006, and I have many of their shows on DVD. The majority of those shows are very, very good (several are in the fantastic range) and not one has disappointed me. Recently I just watched the Sixth Anniversary Show (which contains the greatest booking that Gabe Sapolsky has ever done), Supercard of Honor III (which was a fantastic show from top to bottom), Take No Prisoners (a PPV which featured a great example of how to create a new star that WWE and TNA officials should take notes on) and A New Level (the company’s first show in the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City). And while there may be some low quality matches on these cards (anything that has Jack Evans in it usually makes me shudder), the majority of these showers featured great action and logical storylines. And TNA take note — none of these matches were marred by outside interference (something that TNA loves to do to make sure that nobody in their company actually loses cleanly and elevates someone in the process).

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I’m proud to be a Chicago Cubs fan. Hopefully this is the year they finally win it all. Of course, I thought this back in 2004 and had my heart broke then.

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My wife’s birthday is this Friday and either two things are going to happen to me — she’s going to love me even more because I spoiled the hell out of her or she is going to yell at me because I spoiled her.

I like to spoil my wife. She truly deserves it. She is a loving and caring person, who always puts other people’s needs ahead of her own. And she’s married to me, so that’s worth at least some jewelry each year, right?

Besides, I’ve been saving for the past couple of months so I can properly spoil her with a few extra gifts and dinner at a nice restaurant. Trust me, she really does deserve it.

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I love being a dad. Every day that I get to make my son smile is a great day in my book. He is just a great kid. Now if I can just get him to stop coloring on the TV….:)

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Just finished Brad Meltzer’s The Book of Lies last week. In fact, I finished it in two days because I could barely put it down. It was that good. I encourage anyone who is looking for a new author to try out to give this book a read. Some other works by Meltzer that I can recommend include The Tenth Justice, The First Counsel and The Book of Fate.

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That’s all for now. Keep smiling folks:)

Rants and raves …

A couple of months ago I actually watched WWE Raw, mainly because CM Punk won the world title. However, in the last few weeks, apparently the WWE’s creative team (if you could call them that because nothing they have done with Raw has actually made them look creative) are afraid to make him a major star and are too concerned with protecting their big names — Chris Jericho, Batista and John Cena.

Since Punk won the world title, he has been treated like someone who is undeserving of it. Now that could come with the way he won the belt — a 20 second match with Edge after Edge got creamed by Batista — and the fact that the only person that he has beaten decisively has been JBL — who is perceived as mid-card talent. And of course, those wins have come with a price, since JBL seems to dominate the matches and then Punk wins with a surprise move.

Now I don’t know if Punk is being treated this way because creative is scared to have him replace one of their top dogs on the Raw brand — again, Cena and Batista — or if because creative is really that incompetant that they don’t understand that the main champion of a particular brand needs to be treated as if he is the most important person on the show, i.e. when he loses, it is a major event which therefore elevates the opponent who beat him.

That hasn’t been the case with Punk. He is booked that he is undeserving of the belt — that he is at a lower level than Cena or Batista — and that he is lucky to even have the title.

However, it doesn’t need to be like that. In fact, if WWE creative actually lived up to their name, they could make Punk one of the biggest names on Raw — similar to Cena and Batista.

How do they do that? Simple — turn him heel.

In fact, they should have done that from the beginning, and for the sake of this argument, let’s say they actually did. In fact, let’s pick up the timeline from the Raw where Punk won the world title.

At this point, he is being told he doesn’t deserve the title by every person he comes in contact with — JBL, Batista, Cena and other wrestlers. He is headed into a big showdown with Batista at the Great American Bash and you can see the chinks beginning to show up in his self-confidence.

At the Bash, the match is developed where Batista is dominating. Punk is being stymied every chance he gets. Finally he snaps and delivers a low blow to Batista. The referee calls for the bell and disqualifies Punk, which means he retains the title. He takes his belt, hangs his head and starts to walk to the back. Now comes the key part — as he begins his walk, he stops and, provided the cameraman on hand knows what he is doing, zooms in on Punk’s face (remember his back is turned to the audience) and picks up a small smile forming.

Cue the next night on Raw. Batista comes to the ring and he is pissed. He demands a rematch. Punk comes out and begins apologizing. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that — I just got frustrated. I never wanted to disrespect the title like that. I snapped.” At this point, the footage of Punk with his small smile is shown and Batista demands to know what that is about. Punk doesn’t even acknowledge it. He just agrees to the rematch and leaves, leaving Batista in the ring with a pissed off look on his face.

Now comes the main event. This time Batista is mad — and he is taking his frustration out on Punk. He is just beating the hell out of him. So Punk resorts to the low blow. The referee refuses to call for the bell, forcing Punk to continue the match. He pleads his case and then stops — he smiles, raises his hands and proceeds to stomp on Batista. After that, he leaves the ring and grabs a chair. He tosses the chair into the ring and promptly gets into another debate with the ref. So he kicks the ref in the groin. At this time, Batista has recovered and spears Punk out of his shoes. Punk is on the mat and so is the ref. So after looking over the situation, Batista decides to end the match by putting Punk in the Batista Bomb. He gets Punk in position, and Punk drops and again low blows him. From there Punk throws Batista shoulder-first into the ring post and picks the chair back up. Batista turns around and gets plastered with the chair. The ref calls for the bell.

However, this story doesn’t end there. Punk freezes and looks down at Batista, who at this point should have been busted open. He looks at the chair and looks down at Batista again. Then he looks back up — with a wolf’s grin on this face — before just pounding Batista over and over with the chair. The back empties out, the referees get Punk under control and he grabs his belt before heading to the back. But before he gets there, he turns around, holds the belt up high and screams “So I’m undeserving, huh?” before smiling widely.

Now comes the next week. Punk comes out — in his street clothes, with the belt over his shoulder. Now it is important he comes out in his street clothes, not a suit (I’ve seen him in a suit once and it was the funniest thing ever). The reason being is that he doesn’t look like your typical WWE superstar. He is not jacked up. He is not 6-foot-5. He is basically a misfit — and his attire should reflect that.

He grabs the mic and after quieting the crowd, launches into this tirade —

“For the past two years, I’ve been treated like I was expendable. I’m not good enough. I’m sloppy in the ring. I’m only here because Paul Heyman liked me. Well, I’m done. I’m through coming out here and acting like the cheers that you rain down on me matter. I’m through being a mindless peon in the back, basically doing the same crap week-after-week. I’m through being treated like I’m second-best. I’m sick of doubting myself.

Batista, you’ve said time after time, that I’m not on your level. Well guess what? I kicked your ass last week. I made you bleed. I made you forget your mother’s name. Am I on your level now?

You people think that I’m the second coming — well guess what? I am. I am better than everyone back there, but have I had a chance to show that — NO! I’m forced to put a goofy smile on my face and wrestle down to the abilities of those steroid-embracing monkeys in the back. Well, no more.

I’m the world heavyweight champion now. Instead of me kissing your ring (pointing to the back), you should be kissing mine. This belt proves something that I already knew when I came into this company — that I am better than anybody back there.

As to you brain-damaged chimps in the audience, well as far as I’m concerned, I’m better than you too. I don’t need to drink a beer or smoke a joint to feel better about my life. My life is great. I am the world heavyweight champion and you’re not.

So everyone in the back, everyone here tonight and everyone watching at home, it is time for me to basically reintroduce myself — I’m CM Punk. I am the world heavyweight champion. I am the best wrestler in the world today and there is nothing — nothing — that you idiots can do about it.”

From there, you could have Punk wrestle matches with all the faces on the Raw roster — working good competitive matches with guys like Batista, Shawn Michaels, Rey Mysterio and even elevate some of the younger talent, such as Kofi Kingston. But you book him in a way that he will do anything to retain the title and he continues to be overly self-confident in his promos.

Heck, if done right, he could have such great heel heat that when he finally dropped the title — say at Wrestlemania — it would end up making the guy who beat him even bigger in the fan’s eyes.

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For some great Punk moments, here are some recommendations:

Full Impact Pro: The Best of CM Punk Vol. 1 and 2

Ring of Honor: World Title Classic (this dates back to 2004 and was the first of the acclaimed trio of matches he had with Samoa Joe that year over the ROH World title. These matches are basically credited with saving the company following the Rob Feinstein scandal. In fact, it is interesting to note that this match wasn’t even the main event — a four-team tag scramble match was the main event of the night. But the placing of the title match on the card does not take away from the absolute classic that Punk and Joe put together.)

Ring of Honor: Expect the Unexpected. His first match against Raven. Watch the fans in this match. They start out sitting down, but by the end, they are on their feet and making Punk into one of the biggest heels in the company. Great psychology in this match.

Ring of Honor: Joe-Punk II. The second match in their trilogy. This match was named as a five-star match by The Wrestling Observer. It was actually the first five-star match — as determined by the Observer — in the United States in seven years. (Trivia: The last prior five-star match was Undertaker-Shawn Michaels, Hell in the Cell in 1997).

Ring of Honor: Nowhere to Run. The final match between Punk and Jimmy Rave and it was in a cage in Chicago — Punk’s hometown. This match was great and the crowd was fantastic.

Ring of Honor: Death before Dishonor III — Punk versus Austin Ares for the ROH World Title and after the match, Punk cuts one of the best heel promos ever.

Ring of Honor: Sign of Dishonor — Punk comes out in a suit and tie. Just that image alone was worth the price of the DVD.

Ring of Honor also has three best of’s dedicated to Punk — Better than You; Straightedge; and the Legacy Continues.

All of these DVDs are available at rohwrestling.com. Enjoy.

Keep smiling folks:)

My wife’s thoughts and some musings

So I got a phone call from my wife tonight and she decided to impress upon me her thoughts about Brooke Hogan.

Now I was thinking that my wife was going to bring up the things that I already know about Ms. Hogan — she’s talentless; she’s dumber than a brick; and apparently she and her father have a relationship that is probably illegal in most states (with the exception of Georgia — cue the dueling banjo music).

I mean, come on! Her father is basically dating her twin and during a recent episode of that trainwreck that is her “reality” show (I caught two minutes of it before diving to find the remote and change the channel before my brain exploded from the amount of stupidity that was emanating from my television screen) her father basically stalked her around the beach. What the ?*&^%#!

Anyway back to my wife’s craziness — she wasn’t calling to tell me any of this; she was calling to tell me that Brooke is not the most attractive of people out there.

“She looks like a man. I mean look at her — she looks like a caveman!”

I fell out of my chair laughing. Thanks Honey — I needed that:)

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Just got Secret Invasion #5 and was tremendously impressed. Brian Bendis is creating one hell of a Marvel epic. This issue is worth it just see to Hawkeye snap and Reed Richards start his trek toward getting his revenge against the Skrulls for kidnapping his family and torturing him. If you are not reading this series yet, do so now. It is better than Civil War.

Really getting into the current Batman RIP storyline that Grant Morrison has been writing. But if you’re a new reader coming onto the main Batman title and are currently confused, you’re not alone. I had to go back to Morrison’s first issue on the title and reread everything from there. Once you do that, everything will make sense as Morrison has been building up to this storyline since his first issue.

Saw one of the funniest movies ever recently — Thank You For Smoking. It came out a couple of years ago and focuses on a spokesman for the tobacco lobby. Aaron Eckhart is fantastic in this role. If you can find it on Netflix or at Blockbuster, I encourage you to pick it up. It is a great flick.

Speaking of great flicks — saw The Dark Knight the weekend it came out and was totally blown away. I highly recommend it. I will say that I was hesitant about Heath Ledger being cast as the Joker, but his performance made me forget about Casear Romero and Jack Nicholson. Ledger was completely terrifying in his film.

“See, I’m not a monster…I’m just ahead of the curve. “
-The Joker, from The Dark Knight (2008)

However it is interesting to note that while everybody believes the Joker was always a psychotic killer — he wasn’t always that way. When he debuted back in the 40s, he was actually the Clown Prince of Crime — a gangster who happened to look like a clown. It wasn’t until the 1970s when Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams came onto Batman that the Joker started to become what he is now.

And for the three scariest Joker moments that I have seen in comics:

3) The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland. This comic focuses on one possible origin of the Joker and his ensuing crippling of a person who had been a major character in the Batman mythos for the past three decades.

2) Batman #663 — The Joker returns after getting shot in the face by a Batman impersonator. The artwork by Jon Van Fleet is fantastic and the story by Grant Morrison — which is written in a dense prose style — is tremendous.

1) DC/Elseworlds The Nail — Imagine the Joker with Kryptonian weaponry and he has caused a breakout at Arkham Asylum. Imagine going against him and being frozen against your will. Imagine the Joker casting a field over Robin and Batgirl, keeping them immobile. Now imagine the Joker forcing you to watch as he tears them apart limb from limb while they beg for your help. And that’s just in the first issue of this three-issue series written and drawn by Alan Davis that came out about 10 years ago. Truly terrifying.

Anyway that’s it for now. Keep smiling folks:)

Does the past matter? And apologies if necessary

A couple of months ago I established a MySpace page. I don’t know why, because I’m not really that much into the Internet. But its up and it has provided me with a forum to connect with either people that I’ve either fallen out of touch with or those who I’m getting to know better.

Recently I got into contact with some of my fellow high school graduates. And I was enjoying an e-mail conversation with one a couple of nights ago when a comment that she said started making me think about my past.

To give a brief synoposis, the person in question noted that my wife sounds a nice person to which I replied that she is and she is better than I deserve. The person in question replied ” dont say that she must of found something she loved about you she married you and I remember you being a really nice guy.”

This comment — specifically “I remember you being a really nice guy.” — caught me off guard. It also got me thinking about the person that I was all those years ago (I won’t give an exact number, but let’s say that it has been over 10 years since I was in high school).

I was not the nicest guy back then. To put it bluntly, I was a giant asshole. I was arrogant, rude, mean, stand-offish, insulting — if you can think of a bad adjective, I could probably use it to describe myself back then.

Now I can make all the excuses in the world - a bad childhood; spending five straights years in five different schools back in California before moving to Pennsylvania; brutal emotional competition between my sister and I; feelings of inadequacy; a lack of social skills; a desire to be liked by everyone (wow, this is a long list) — but truth be told, I cannot excuse the person I was. Simply put, I was an immature child back then. I didn’t know when to say “enough” when it came down to my behavior. I tried so hard to be what I thought other people might like that I ended up insulting everybody around me.

Since then I have come to terms with how I was back then and I don’t look back on those years fondly. There were more bad times than good times back then. It should have been reversed — the good should always outnumber the bad — but I was too stupid to realize it back then.

Now I’m a husband and a father. I have a loving family, a good job and a house that I can call my own. My sister and I have made peace, and are continually working to improve our relationship. I’m an uncle to five beautiful little girls that my sister and her husband brought into this world. I’m also working to better my relationship with God, which is thanks to my wife and her family who are devout Christians.

For the first time in my life, I don’t need to be ashamed of who I am. I don’t need to try to impress people. I’m happy. I’m still not the most sociable of people, but I’m working on that:)

Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is, while I remember myself to be a horrible person back then, it was nice to hear that not everybody thought that badly of me back then.

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Now for those few individuals who got done reading my just completed rambling and are wondering why I didn’t include an apology to anyone as noted in my title line — well, now we come to that.

Let first start by saying, I don’t have a lot of friends. My wife is my best friend and probably one of the only friends that I have. Truth to be told, I’m not really good at making friends. I’m trying to get better at it, but you know the old saying about an old dog and new tricks.

Anyway this part of the story focuses on the aforementioned person that I was e-mailing back-and-forth earlier this week. At the end of the conversation I added “Hey, I know that you probably have lots of people to talk to, but if you need someone else to listen, please don’t hesitate to call me. My cell phone is …”

I’ll pause for a minute to let everybody come to the realization that I may have made a probably large snafu.

…. OK then. Now, let me explain my state of mind at the time. Through my continuing education as a Christian, I’ve learned that one of the best things that I can do is help other people, whether it be through volunteering, making donations to charities, helping those in need or even providing an ear to listen to someone who may be having a bad day.

That last sentiment was what was going through my mind when I made my last statement in that e-mail. I was not trying to do anything else. In fact, I don’t believe that this person in question will ever use that number. She is a great person who has a lot of friends. She doesn’t need to talk to me. All I was doing was offering another set of ears if she needed someone else to talk to.

Of course, in doing so I may have offended this person. If I have, I am truly sorry.

Now this isn’t the first time that I’ve gotten myself in some trouble — if I did get myself in trouble — with giving my cell number out to someone.

The other person that I gave my number to was the subject of a blog posting that I wrote a couple of months ago. I had e-mailed her and offered my cell number if she wanted to talk. I didn’t think she would ever use it. Again because this person is also a great person who has a lot of friends (I’m kind of noticing a pattern here …) So I put it out of my mind.

Then one morning my phone rang. I looked at the number, didn’t recognize it and let it go to voice mail. Then I turned back to paying attention to my son. A couple of minutes later I checked my voice mail. It was the person in question.

I was a little surprised. So I called her back. We ended up having a great conversation. However, there was one thing that this person said that stuck in my head and is actually the reason why I am responding to the other individual. This person — who is a female, just like the person I was communicating with earlier in the week — said “I usually don’t talk to married men.”

I was a little taken aback by the statement and after I got off the phone, I began thinking about what she had said.

Yes, I am married — happily in fact. I’ve been married to my wife for six years and we’ve been together as a couple for nearly 10. I have a beautiful son with my wife. Truth be told, I have no romantic feelings for any other woman — mainly because I keep falling in love with my wife more every day.

But there are other married men who are not as content in their marriage as I am in mine. These are the guys who call up single women and tell them all sorts of things — my wife doesn’t understand me, my kids hate me, I’m thinking about getting a divorce and so on and so forth. Why do they do this? Because these guys using a woman’s sympathy in an attempt to get laid. They don’t care about their wives or what kind of damage they may cause to their families. They’re basically thinking with the second head that they were given.

Let me be truthfully honest — when I reach out to these people, I’m not looking for someone that I can have an affair with. I take my marriage vows very seriously. I said “I do” in front of God and my family. I promised to be with my wife “until death do us part” and that is how it is going to be.

Now does that mean that I can’t attempt to strike up friendships with women who are not my wife? I don’t believe so. Because I know that nothing is going to come of it other than friendship — and to be truthful, that is all I have offered.

In fact, this person who contacted me — well, we text each other probably once every couple of weeks. I usually either say “Hi,” wish her a good weekend, or offer an encouraging word and she has done the same.

Now I can understand the hesitation by some women to call a married man — it does have the hint of impropriety. But, in my case, all I’m offering is an ear for listening. I have nothing else in mind.

However, if I ever did cheat on my wife, she has threatened to cut off parts of my anatomy in retaliation. And I believe her. She may be tiny, but she does know where the cutlery is:)

I had to throw that last paragraph in there because I know that she reads this blog:) I love you sweetie:)

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So anyway that’s about all for now. I promise to select a little lighter topic next time. Keep smiling folks:)

Just blogging

So I’ve been tearing out what is left of my hair for the past couple of days trying to come up with a subject to write about. And then I realized - why don’t I just make some random comments? Then I realized that that’s all I do now. Yeah, I’m feeling really swift now ….

Anyway ….

I was looking at myself in the mirror the other day and came to a dreaded realization — I’m getting old. This shocking realization came to me when I took notice that not only is my hair leaving the top of my head on its own free will (when I don’t shave it), but some of the remaining hair has the audacity to turn gray as well. See, Mother Nature has decided to punish me twice. And if that wasn’t bad enough, my son — who is about to turn two — has a full head of blonde hair … and he doesn’t hesitate to rub that fact in when around his old man. AARGH!!!!!

I made mention that I love really bad horror films and I came across a doozy the other night — Madman. This 1980s piece of garbage — which takes place at a summer camp (surprise, surprise) — centers on a group of camp counselors that are being picked off by a crazy man with an ax. But that’s not the best part — when they finally show us the killer, I burst out laughing. The killer looks like a friggin’ garden gnome. Just the thought of it makes me giggle now. It was a sight to behold.

Was goofing off on the Internet the other day and found something that will either make you laugh or cry. I mentioned the movie “Sleepaway Camp” a few weeks ago. Well I discovered they made two sequels to the movie — and the killer in these films is played by Bruce Springsteen’s sister, Pamela. Scary, isn’t it?:)

Just finishing reading the first graphic novel collection for the comic book series Scalped, and I am hooked. The story in the trade is brutal, but fantastic. It keeps you hooked on every page. The series focuses on the seedy underbelly of an Indian Reservation and it is written by one of the best new writers in the comic industry, Jason Aaron. I encourage people to pick this one up — there are two trades currently available. However, I will warn you, it is a DC/Vertigo title and it is for mature readers. As I said it is quite brutal, but if you can get past that, it is a great read.

I’ve been listening to Shelby Lynne’s “Just a little lovin’” CD a lot lately. Another CD that I’ve been enjoying is Sugarland’s “Love on the inside.” Both albums are fantastic.

Decided to expand my literary collection a little bit by trying the works of two new authors — Duane Swiercynzski’s The Blonde and Christopher Moore’s A Dirty Job. The Blonde is the story of a man who meets a blonde in an airport and then is told by that person that he has been poisoned and has 10 hours to live. A Dirty Job focuses on a man who has been chosen as a death merchant who harvests the souls of dead people and then transfers those souls to the living. The Blonde was a great thriller, while A Dirty Job was a laugh riot. I give both these books high recommendations.

I think that is about it for now. Keep smiling:)

More than I deserve

So a couple of weeks ago — before I went on vacation — I made a notation about a blog post that was written by my wife that I read when I need to be cheered up.

However being completely computer-illiterate — shocking, isn’t it — I didn’t place a link to my wife’s blog site, which she decided to inform me about later, chuckling.

Anyway I still can’t put the link up — people are probably catching on that I’m not really that bright here — so I’ve decided to copy her post into my blog.

Let me warn you ahead, I do not deserve this woman. She is way too good for me and the following post definitely proves it:

The toddler’s dad rocks too

Sunday I mentioned how much “my dad rocks”, now I will talk about how much Jonathan’s dad rocks.

Hubby was worried about being a dad. He didn’t really have a father figure growing up, with exception to his grandfather. His parents split when he was two or three and his mom moved her children thousands of miles away to California. He reunited with his grandfather years later, but still does not have contact with his real father.

His grandfather is a stubborn man, who makes us want to scream in frustration at times, but he was also a good father-figure who taught Hubby to honor women, respect family, and most of all to keep his word.

Hubby took my word when I told him we were having a girl the entire nine months of my pregnancy. So much for women’s intuition. We had a boy.

Hubby didn’t care if we had a girl or a boy. He didn’t talk about playing ball with a boy or taking him fishing or hunting or any of that stuff. Maybe that was because 1) he doesn’t hunt or fish and 2) he has nieces and has learned that they like to do that “boy stuff” too.

My labor was fairly long and Hubby was there through it all. He barely ate or slept for 23 1/2 hours straight, right along with me. At one point, standing in the shower attempting to pee (the nurse told me it might relieve some pressure, but I don’t care how hard I tried I could not pee for anything! Every time I would relax enough to do so another contraction would hit), Hubby approached me and I put my arms around his neck and leaned into him. I sobbed and sobbed.

I hope he doesn’t mind me writing this, but he cried right along with me, telling me he hated to see me in so much pain. We were both exhausted basket cases. I remember thinking, in between the contractions, how glad I was that he was there with me.

Of course, there was part of me who also wished he wasn’t there seeing what I felt was the worst side of me — weeping, making ugly faces and covered in blood, urine and sweat. Real attractive. Probably made him want to marry me all over again. Ha. Ha.

When Jonathan finally decided he could pull himself away from whatever he was doing in my womb, the midwife first handed him to me and then, once the umbilical cord was cut and Jonathan was cleaned off a little, he was in his dad’s arms. Hubby was exhausted, sick to his stomach from all the stress and probably starving. Despite it all, the look of amazement on his face as he stared into the eyes of his son was priceless.

And the way he now interacts with his son — kissing him, lifting him in the air, taking him for walks, holding him on his lap during Veggie Tales DVDs, tickling him until they both collapse in laughter on the floor — melts my heart and makes me fall in love all over again with the man who caught my gaze with his beautiful blue eyes and even more beautiful heart.

I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have to worry anymore if he’s going to be a good father or not. The absolute delight that crosses our son’s face when he sees his daddy is proof enough of what a good father Hubby is.

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See what I mean. I totally don’t deserve this woman, but I fall in love with her even more each day I’m with her. We just celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary last week, and I’ll be totally honest, the time I have been with her - which has been nearly 10 years altogether - has been chock full of the happiest moments of my life. I love this woman very much and I try to tell her that at least 85 times a day.

And yes, I am going bald. But I shaved my head this past weekend, so it all balances out in the end:)

Keep smiling folks:)