Ticket To Ride

1994,University of Hartford.The first of two times I got to see Tribe live that year.I loved them back in the day,great rap trio.I remember the auditorium they played in was really small,and they played for a little less than an hour.Me and my homie Dave Foo went to this,and despite the brevity of the show had a great time.17 years ago,damn!

Smallville

I haven't watched Smallville since season 1,which was disappointing to me.Typical villain of the week stuff.I have heard that the show has in the last 5 or so years,really pulled together and has featured many characters from the DC canon.I ran across this on the net and figured I'd post it,this week's episode centers around a fave character of mine,Booster Gold.I think the suit,right down to the corporate logos is pretty good too.

Stains the dog has cupcakes on the brains

I saw this years ago and ran across it again tonight and just about pissed my pants laughing so hard at this alien dog's crazed cupcake gaze.

Cover To Cover

Ah Y The Last Man,how I miss thee.Easily one of my favorite series ever.The story of the last man on earth,his monkey and a world full of women,some good,some bad.Cover artist Massimo Carnevale uses a simple white background to showcase what this story was really about in the long run,it's not where your going,it's how you got there.The interlocked hands of Yorick,355 and Ampersand forming the letter Y is to me a striking image.Brian K Vaughn where have you been?

30 Second Movie Review:Faster

I really wanted to like Faster.I like Dwayne Johnson,I want to have a true action movie star out there again.He seems to have staved off of the kid friendly films he had started to exclusivley make.In the end,this just isn't the return to form of the action film I was hoping for.Driver(Johnson)is an ex-con just sprung from jail after 10 years who is going to kill the people on a list he carries.In short they are behind his brother's murder,and part of the reason he is in jail.The movie starts off immedietly with the payback,with a very cool scene of Driver killing his first victim in the middle of the day in an office building.We are then introduced to Cop(Billy Bob Thornton)-see how we don't give characters names here,just their occupation.Cop is a dope fiend,and he is after Driver.Next up we are introduced to Killer,a billionaire,genius hitman who takes a payment of one dollar for his work because he likes the challenge.Killer is hired to take out Driver by a mysterious voice on a phone,but he is having second thoughts about being a hitman anymore.These three characters all feel to be from different films,and that sense of disjointedness really doesn't help.Overall 2.5 stars out of 5.

Don Ferguson

Second week in a row I have been forced to break the nonsensical tone of this blog to honor a great passed soul.Don Ferguson of Wallingford,owner and operator of Colony Radiator passed on Monday and I went to his wake tonight.I have known Donny since 03,when I first started at my current job.I have spent about 5 years at this particular store,and must say that dealing with him was always a true pleasure.Dedicated dad,husband,hunter,and workaholic.Donny started early and finished late,and never had an attitude,or wasn't willing to share a story or talk for a bit.He was diagnosed with cancer a bit over a year ago,and in the end it got to be too much.This is truly an example of a guy who would give you the shirt off of his back.Truly my favorite customer,and a great man.I grew up a Yankees fan but got disinterested in baseball many years ago.Donny was a lifelong and hardcore Red Sox fan.This year I know I'll be pulling a bit for Boston for the first time ever.As a side note I never saw Donny without a baseball hat on,most notably the maroon Yalesville Little League hat he is wearing in the above picture.I wondered as I walked in the funeral home if he would be wearing it in the coffin.He was in a suit,no hat though,then I looked up and it was perched in the coffin lid,displayed proudly.That made me smile.

Ticket To Ride

1993 NFL preseason game at Foxboro.I mentioned in the first T2R segment I would only feature sports events of some importance or memory.NFL preseason barely rates that.Unless it was one of Joe Montana's first games as a Chief,and the only time I got to see the greatest QB the game has had to offer play live.This was also Drew Bledsoe's first season with the Pats,and although he never got the job done in his era,the excitement was high for this supposed saviour of the then pitiful Pats.Bill Parcells was the new coach,so everything looked up.Except the new uniforms.I clearly remember the crowd booing as the Pats took the field,having abandoned the red,white and blue of Pat the Patriot for what was being called

the"Elvis"helmet,and the gawdy design scheme.At halftime a plane flew over the stadium with a tail message reading something along the lines of  "Bring back the old unis",and the crowd went nuts.Over the last 17 years the once terrifying uniforms have been refined to something more eye pleasing.I honestly don't remember the outcome of the game,nor the date which was not on the ticket,but I do remember it was August of 1993.

Cover To Cover

Daredevil is easily one of my favorite books,and characters as well.The volume that just ended and was begun by Kevin Smith stands out to be one of the greatest complete runs of all time.Brian Bendis really laid the groundwork for the central plot thread which was that Daredevil's secret identity of Matt Murdock had been compromised.The search for hard evidence was always going on,but the FBI believed it was him.This cover is my favorite because it really gives you the essence of that idea in one panel.Black and white newspaper photo of Matt with a red costume,horns and DD marked around and on him.Alex Maleev did all of the covers for the run as well as the art,and his is a talent almost unmatched in creating gritty landscapes filled with mostly unpleasent characters.

Ticket To Ride

Lollapalooza 3.Awesome day.Drove out to Rhode Island with about 10 friends on a hot summer day,and spent the next 10 hours seeing some amazing bands.The ticket was dirt cheap,but the food,drinks and merchandise made up for it.I remember they made a friend who brought bottled water toss it before entering.Two of the first bands up were then unknowns Rage Against The Machine and Tool.Rage were so good I bought their first album just about the next day.Tool was a revelation to me as well.The day also consisted of sets by Arrested Development(so many people on stage for that band),Fishbone(awesome),and a ton of other bands,mostly little known.The two headliners were incredible,first up Alice in Chains.It was the only time I saw them,mostly due to their inconsistent touring because of Layne stayley's addiction.They played their set behind a rope "cage fence"and blew the doors off.After their set I was walking around and ran into Mike Inez,the bassist as he and several security guards were walking his dogs thru the field.I told him that I loved their music and they rocked,he was very cool and gracious.Bass player #2 met,and here we are only my second concert.As it got dark we awaited the headliner,and all of a sudden the opening bass riff to "Here Come the Bastards"started thumping and the stage lights came on to reveal Primus.I don't know if they topped AIC that day,but they at least equaled it.Great day,great show,great time.

30 Second Movie Review:Battle:Los Angeles

Black Hawk Down meets War of the Worlds.Noisy action scenes,little plot,cookie cutter character templates.Loved every second of it too.Too many action films today try to take it to seriously,or make it too artsy fartsy.This thing is built for action,and it delivers it for 2 hours.Aliens invade Earth,begin attacking major points around the globe.We learn that they are most likely here for our water,but their reasons are never dwelled on.That is fine because this movie is about a small platoon of Marines and their plight to get out of their situation alive.There is no greater concern than that,and the movie does a great job of making you forget that even if they get out alive,the rest of the world is still F'ed.Really enjoyable,4 stars.

Jeff Dubois

I went to my old friend Jeff's wake last night,and I am bummed that it took that for me to see him again and not a party,or a happenstance bumping into.I went to school with him from 7th thru 12th grade,and will always remember him as one of the truest,nicest people ever.I reconnected with him thru Facebook within the last two years,and it was nice to get to catch up a bit.There really isn't much more to say,it just kind of hits hard when someone your age,who had so much life left is taken early.

Conan,what is good in life?-not this!

I give this trailer a 10 on the wet fart scale.I had no hopes for this movie,now they are in the negative.

Cover To Cover

52 was a really ambitious book,and a great read.Every week for a year I waited to read what had transpired during the DC universe's "missing"year.Two of my favorite aspects of the story,were the importance of characters like Booster Gold,and the rejuvenation the story gave his character.A great cover,with Booster,the ex football hero,holding his robot companion Skeets like a pigskin mid juke.Over his head,all various years signifying the character's travels through time.Fantastic JG Jones cover.

Ticket To Ride

First NFL game ever,at the old Foxboro Stadium.Back when the Pats were one of the worst in the league.The Bills womped them,and as it seemed throughout most of the early 90's went on to the Superbowl(to lose of course,to the Dallas Cowboys!)The flat bench style seats were uncomfortable and cold at that stadium.Football,being my favorite sport,is in my opinion much better on TV than live.It is cool to go to games,but it is hard to tell whats going on on the field.Good time overall.

Ticket to Ride

New segment!For years I have saved all my ticket stubs,from sporting events to concerts.I will start to repost them here with brief descriptions of the event.I plan to post all concerts,only notable sporting events though.This ticket is from my first concert ever,at the tender age of 17.Huey Lewis and the News,at the old Oakdale in Wallingford,when it was in the round with a revolving stage.Laugh if you want,but I love Huey and his live shows always rock.Besides being memorable for being my first concert,days away from my senior year in high school starting,I also met my first celebrity that day.As I waited to use one of the port a potties before the show,the door opens and out comes Mario Cippollina,the News' bass player.He said hi to me,I told him I was a fan and he thanked me.To this day I can't figure out why he would use the shitty outhouse when I'm sure the bathrooms in the backstage area had to be nicer.Still memorable though.

Don't F with the Earp

One of the manliest damn scenes in any movie ever,Kurt russell as Wyatt Earp just made me pee my pants a little.

30 Second Movie Review:Machete

Alright so this one is a conundrum.I enjoyed it to an extent,but it confused me tonally.This is basically a faux exploitation film made whole from a fake trailer made for director Robert Rodriguez's "Grindhouse".It has plenty of the things you would look for,cartoonish violence,action,humor,villains galore.I just think it was 25 minutes too long,and struggled with it's tone.At times it is aware of the fact that it is just a fun excercise in story,and at other times it seems that the filmmakers think they are making a serious movie.Danny Trejo is great as a bit player,but really is best in short doses,and I think that's why the cast consists of some good actors like Robert Deniro,Jeff Fahey and Don Johnson too equalize Trejo's inability to completly buoy this thing.3 stars overall,I did expect more.

Cover To Cover

Another great Greg Land cover,this from the too short lived Crossgen series "Sojourn".He drew all 34 covers to this series and it was hard to pick a favorite,this just stands out,classic beauty and the beast contrast.

30 Second Movie Review:The Runaways

I came across this one on Netflix streaming and decided to give it a shot.This is the story of how a young Joan Jett formed the short lived 70s band The Runaways.It focuses mainly on the relationship between Jett(Kristen Stewart) and the groups 15 year old lead singer Cherie(Dakota Fanning).Both actresses were quite good,Fanning is grown up and it was weird to see her in a role that focuses on her sexuality so much,and Stewart was really good too,helping erase my memories of her in a certain other film I hated(Vampires and Werewolves!)Success comes relatively quickly for the band,and thats when the film takes the obvious turn that all music biopics take,the drug fueled downfall.Cherie starts to use more and more,and at her age has a hard time dealing with the band's popularity,and the other girl's jealousy over the focus the media is giving her mostly.There is a reason most people know of Joan Jett and the Black Hearts,and that's cause The Runaways imploded after a few years.Not the best music biopic out there,but pretty good.3 Stars.