It's Free Comic Book Day!

As most of you already know today is Free Comic Book Day. If you're a fan or not, you should check it out. I plan to go to my favorite shop, Secret Headquarters, and get a few. Then I'll be seeing X-men Origins:Wolverine.

Earlier in the week the film was getting mixed reviews but as of yesterday, the reviews have gotten worse. I just block them out. Honestly the trailer has been kind of lackluster to me except for a few cool moments. Then again the Batman Begins trailer wasn't all the spectacular and that film ended up being awesome. I think a problem today is that film trailer pack to much of the good stuff from the movies, so when you end up seeing the film you get the "been there done that vibe".

I'm still excited about Wolverine, though. I loved the first two X-men films. The 3rd wasn't great but had a lot of cool little moments. I'm hoping for that with Wolverine as well. I like that some mutants that weren't used in the other films will get a chance to shine here. In particular Gambit and Deadpool. Two of my favorites. These two seem to be polarizing between long-time X fans. I'm not sure about Deadpool's following, I know that Gambit is either loved or hated.

I'm looking forward to see how they are in the film. So far the casting for both characters seem to be good. I've been a big fan of Ryan Reynolds since his Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place days. He's very funny and has proven to be able to handle action scenes (Blade Trinity and Smoking Aces). The combination of comedy and action is exactly what Deadpool is about.

Then there's Taylor Kitsch who plays Gambit. So far Kitsch's biggest role has been Tim Riggins from the Friday Night Lights TV series. Of all of the characters on the show (which I haven't watched since early in the show's second season) he was one of the best. The character is when I think of it very Gambit-esque. From the scenes I've seen, he looks like he was a good choice.

Finally, I might as well talk about the star of the show, Wolverine. A lot of comic readers feel like he is overexposed. He might be. For a while the character was in a lot of comics. I was among those who were tired of him. But you know what, he's a good character. He has that mysterious past factor going for him. He's also a bit of an outsider. He is a good guy but with an edge. His solo adventures are always fun. His stories with the X-men are great too. When he's teamed up with non-mutant heroes like Spider-man, well you're in for a treat. As far as the movies go, Hugh Jackman has really made this character his own. I can't think of another unknown actor who has taken a hugely popular character and just deliver an amazing performance. For that matter be able to carry an action movie of a popular franchise.

I've just psyched myself up. I'll be posting a review later.

Shock of the day

Today was pretty normal except for one thing. I got a shock early this morning. My friend's sister's ex-boyfriend passed away recently. They had dated for a few months and just broken up about two weeks ago.

I don't know the details other than he had diabetes and was a pretty private person. Apparently he had some set backs in his health over the past week and hadn't really brought it up. My friend's sister went to check on him last night or this morning because no one had heard from him in a while. He didn't answer the door so she called the sheriff's department to open it up. I'm assuming she was still there when they found him. I can't remotely imagine what she's going through right now.

I met this guy about three weeks ago, briefly at a spring football game at FSU. I had no idea he had severe health problems. He was also 27, my age.

I have known people who've died before but it was always expected. I wouldn't say I "knew" this person but it was still a surprise.

My day has been good but every now and then my mind drifts to this young man and his family and my friend's sister. Apparently he was not real communicative with his family either.

I'm not going to go into the whole "life is short" or "make sure you tell your family you love them" speeches. We've heard that countless times. This is just the one event/story that has stuck with me today. It's given me quite a bit to think about and consider.

Cupcakes!

At the end of the day my brother sends me a link to a place he wants to visit when we go to Chicago, Molly's Cupcakes. Looking at the menu throws a craving on me like no other for a cupcake. It was major.

I never think about it but I love cupcakes. Sure it's like a regular cake but better. It's really just the right amount and if you have one more you won't be considered a pig. At least I don't consider it to be an act of gluttony. Now if you went for a second piece of cake, forget about it.

I got off work right at five and headed straight for the one place I knew I could get an above average cupcake, The Cake Shop. I was under the gun here. They close at 5:30 and since I had downtown traffic I knew this was a close to impossible mission. With the windows rolled down and the music blaring I navigated my way through the bumper to bumper traffic. I made touchdown at exactly 5:25 p.m. I got my cupcake, well two.

Then I remembered I needed milk. So a quick stop at the grocery store and I had it. I told myself I should eat dinner first and then I could indulge. Well after getting dinner started, unloading the dishwasher, making a sandwich for tomorrow and talking to my brother on the phone, I had to have one. I did and it was breathtaking. As a result I didn't eat much of my spaghetti which is ok because I don't really like spaghetti. It's just something easy to make and there's usually enough for leftovers.

I was going to write about playing golf on Saturday. But who wants to hear about how I had a great time and still shot a 124? I'd rather hear the story about the guy who raced time and got a cupcake.

Quick hits

I've slacked off on blogging. No particular reason. I have stuff to blog about just didn't feel like it. So here's some quick hits of what's been going on.

This Legislative Session has been weird. Not too many late nights. I've still been busy during the day. It also seems to be going by fast. It might be that everyone if focusing on the budget and not other issues.

I've been out to an actual club a few times now. It's not something I did in college. I have had some fun experiences and some not so fun experiences. Fun experience: random girl buying me a shot for no reason- twice! Not so fun experience: Driving two really drunk friends home. Both of who could barely walk straight and are twice my size. That was a new experience for them too.

I'm planning on taking a vacation to Chicago in May with my brother and his girlfriend. I'm looking forward to it. We've got our hotel and flight reservations already set.

I got excited about the Master's tournament this past weekend so I went to the driving range twice. I'm playing golf with some friends this Saturday.

Out of sheer boredom this week I made a twitter site. It's been fun though.

This weekend is the Tallahassee Film Festival. I plan to kill a lot of time there this weekend.

It's only Tuesday!

Tuesday is typically a throw away day. But I'm having a great time. The work day was typical. I pulled my weight when I had to.

My friend called me to go have Mexican food for dinner. Which I was already thinking about. We tried a place that was under new ownership. It was good but just like every other Mexican place in town. Another friend met us there. It was good times.

We're back at my place just the one friend and I. I have to go to work tomorrow but I'm already drinking more than I should. I'm having a good time. We're watching Sideways which is about wine and an indie film but it's totally a guy movie. I relate to the main character, Miles. It feels like a Friday. But it's not. Anyways, I'm having fun. I'm also looking forward to work tomorrow. The one day of the week I should be there.

Get Lost!

One of the best shows on television returns tonight. That's right, Lost is back. We get two hours of weirdness. Three if you count the recap special which I have on as background noise.

If you don't remember what's happened the past four seasons you can also read this recap: http://jgoat.blogspot.com/2009/01/lost-023-refresher-updated.html.

I'm No Gamer

The past few days I've been playing some video games. Not many just a few. Let me start by saying that while I have been known to play until my brain turns to jelly and my thumbs go numb I am not what you call a video game expert.

I own a Wii and only 3 games, Guitar Hero 3, Guitar Hero World Tour and Wii Sports. Sadly I don't play as much as I like. I get distracted by other things. Plus I've beaten both Guitar Heroes and well those and the Wii sports are more fun to play with other people. Also as I get older I have to be in the mood to play. I'll get in a video game mood and play for about a week. After that I'm through.

This weekend I got the chance to play some games at my friend, Trey's house. He bought a used PS2 and has numerous games. Plus he has four controllers which means good times. Saturday I played Marvel Ultimate Alliance with Trey, his wife and their nephew. That was a lot of fun. I've been wanting to play that game for a long time now. It was cool that we got to each be a different hero with different abilities. Plus it has all sort of cool things right from the comics, that makes it even that much more fun for a geek like me. Sunday I went back over and played some Tekken Tag and Twisted Metal. Both were fun. I realized video games are more fun when you play with others. Usually people that are about as good as you are better. I've played with people who are experts and well the fun runs out quickly.

Last night at another friends house I played some Grand Theft Auto 4 which is fun and then I played Conan the Barbarian. I believe GTA was on PS3 and Conan was for Xbox 360. Conan isn't a great game but it's fun. It's pretty simple. All you do is hack people up and save half naked women. What's not to like? Also my friend was playing some rock music in the background that went well with the action. In particular Here I Go Again by White Snake and Carry on Wayward Son by Kansas are great Conan songs if you know anything about Conan.

Today I haven't done much. I rented Iron Man for my Wii. It's pretty cool and easy which is good for me. I'll probably play some more after I finish this post. There wasn't much of a point except to talk about my experience with video games.