Keeping up with the Joneses

Here's another new photo from "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."

Colbert smash!

Although I'm still a little annoyed at Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada for the way he ended Spider-Man's marriage, I did enjoy his appearance on last night's Colbert Report to plug the debut of the new Captain America and talk about Stephen's presidential campaign in the Marvel Universe...

Tater of the Lost Ark

The Indiana Jones merchandising machine continues to ramp up.

Add this to the list of toys a 36-year-old man is far too old for, but wants anyway. How cool would this look sitting on my desk at work?

A few weeks ago I was watching TV with the kids when a commercial came on for a LEGO Indiana Jones set. Nolan looked at me and said, "I know you want that, dad."

Studio Singers flashback

I recently dug up a VHS tape of a Studio Singers performance from my senior year in high school.

This was on Feb. 14, 1990 at Craig School. Normally we wore tuxedos for our gigs, but we were dressed like this because it was 50s day at the school (just ignore the fact the medley of songs we're singing in this clip are actually from the 60s).



We did a number of songs on our own (yes, many actually from the 50s) and then were joined by the Craig School Chorus for a couple of songs -- including this rendition of "We Go Together" from "Grease."

This was also only a few months after the choir performance I posted last year.

Randomness

I never really got into doing memes, but I’ve been tagged twice with this one, by Sweetpea and Wendalicious. So I feel obligated share some random, obscure facts about me that I’m sure you could care less about.

When I first got tagged with this, I had no idea what random items to list. But then once I got started I came up with a whole bunch and had a hard time deciding which ones to edit out…

The rules:
* link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
* share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
* tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
* let them know they are TAGGED by leaving a comment on their blog.

The five bits of random-and/or-weirdness:

1. My career ambition in the 3rd grade was to be a stand-up comic.
   
2. I go through cycles where I really enjoy beer and will often drink one at night after work. But then I’ll go through long spells where I can’t be bothered to touch the stuff. Currently I still have 3 bottles left from the Saranac 12 Beers of Winter 12-pack that I got before Christmas. I plan to drink one during the Super Bowl.
   
3. I made my TV acting debut during my senior year in high school in a 30-minute special on teen drinking and drug abuse produced by WRGB. During a re-enactment of a teenage keg party in the woods (which was actually taped in WRGB's parking lot) I got to play the part of "guy-making-out-with-girlfriend-on-hood-of-car."
   
4. I have all 6 episodes of the classic TV series “Police Squad!” on VHS somewhere in my attic.
   
5. I’ve been to four big league ballparks: Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, U.S. Cellular Field (back when it was New Comiskey Park) and Olympic Stadium. I stood outside of Wrigley Field, but the Cubs weren't in town at the time. I regret that I probably won’t make to Shea Stadium, just to say I’ve been there.

Tagged:
PLANET3RRY, Aaron Hull, Joe Video, Mike Sussman, Lycidas512

NOTE: I've only tagged people with their own blog. If you don't have a blog or you would just like to get in on the fun, feel free to leave your own random items in comments.

Mortal Kampaign!!!

If you're sick of all the debates, primaries and election coverage, then maybe you'd prefer to settle the race for the White House this way?

Check the game out. It's worth it just for the theme song at the beginning. Here's a sample...

Remembering Gen. Hemstreet

If you haven't already, take a moment to read the write-up in the Times Union on Brig. Gen. Stanley Hemstreet, who passed away this week.

He was the base commander at the 109th Stratton Air National Guard Base when my dad was serving as a flight engineer (my family still thinks of his as "Col." Hemstreet).

He was good man who was liked by many, including my dad.

Side splitting

My rib still hurts from my cross country ski wipe out over the weekend. That makes watching "The A Daily Show" hazardous. The last few seconds of this clip had me in pain...



I also enjoyed this discussion of the media's coverage of the campaign with Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham...

Heath Ledger found dead

BREAKING NEWS: Actor Heath Ledger, who co-starred in Brokeback Mountain and will be playing the Joker in this summer's "The Dark Knight," has been found dead.

Nobody saw this coming.

Courting the fat vote

As Obese Population Rises, More Candidates Courting The Fat Vote

Upgrade

I think the blog is overdue for an overhaul...or at least some maintenance.

My random photo gallery hasn't worked for a long time. Does anyone know of a good photo gallery widget? I like the one I had before that would display six random thumbnails. I know Picasa lets you embed a slide show, but that's not what I want. I liked that there was a group of photos displayed at once and that every time you visited the page you saw different pictures.

Flickr has something that's kind of like what I'm looking for. But I already have a Picasa account. It's a hassle to have to upload pictures to Flickr too.

Any suggestions?

Cross country couple

It had been a while since Kris and I had a "date." So this morning we packed up our cross country ski gear, dropped the kids off at my mom's and spent the morning outdoors.

We went to Indian Meadows Park, just up the road from the Glenville YMCA. It was the first time I had been on my skis since before Thomas was born.

Unfortunately, the conditions weren't that great. It was warm yesterday. So a lot of the snow had melted off. When we were out in the open it wasn't too bad. But when the trail took us into the woods the skiing became much worse. There was little snow on the ground. We were basically hiking over roots and rocks with skis on our feet. But it was still fun.

Our car was parked near a small hill. When we got back the car, I decided it would be fun to try to ski down it. There is a very good reason why I don't downhill ski. Everything was fine until I got to a little bump at the bottom. It was quite manageable. But I decided to hot dog it and try to get some air. Instead, I hit the ground...hard. My side still hurts. I think I may have bruised a rib or something!

The plan was to go to the Y after and soak in the hot tub. But the Y was hopping with what appeared to be a swim meet.

So instead we went out for coffee at Samuel's, a nice coffee shop in Alplaus. It was great. We relaxed in some comfy chairs and I did not want to get up when it came time to go.

It was a great morning, bruised rib and all.

Tense negotiations

I'm not a big fan of Seth MacFarlane. As a fan of shows like "The Simpsons" and "South Park," I just don't get "Family Guy." I don't find it funny. And I pride myself on the fact that I've never seen "American Dad."

However, I have to give him a well done on this sketch he wrote, which gives us a peek behind closed doors at negotiations in the writers strike.

Be warned...some language is definitely NSFW.

Under Construction

Here's a view of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 while under construction. This is most likely an image from the teaser trailer for J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek," which will be playing tomorrow before "Cloverfield."

Spidey Split

Allow me to geek out for a moment here...

Marvel Comics has announced their intention to break up the marriage between Spider-Man and his wife of about 21 years, Mary Jane.

It’s been no secret that comic book creators for years now have thought it was a mistake marry these two. Many thought having Peter Parker married to fashion model spoiled a key aspect of the character – that the super hero was really a nerd who had trouble paying the bills and was awkward with girls.

Although I don’t agree with that assessment, I understand where they’re coming from. But the storyline they’ve come up with for ending the marriage is ridiculous!

After Peter Parker's beloved Aunt May was wounded in an attack, Spider-Man and Mary Jane reluctantly struck a deal with the devil-like Mephisto in which he erased everyone's memory of the couple's time together in exchange for May being restored to good health.

Apparently, as much as they don't want a married Spider-Man, they also don't want a divorced Spider-Man. So they came up with this ludicrous story that amounts to what Star Trek fans refer to as "the instant reset button." This is like Bobby Ewing showing up in the shower on "Dallas" -- it was all a dream, it never happened!

I was collecting comics when Spidey and MJ got married. In fact, I actually own two copies of Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 (it was released with two versions of the cover). At the time I thought it was cool, and I didn’t at all think it took away from that “real life” aspect of the character. If anything it enhanced it, by adding a new source of stress to Peter Parkers life. He now had to hold his marriage together while fighting crime. More importantly, it allowed the characters to grow and evolve.

If you want to read stories about what the character used to be like, isn’t that what the Ultimate Spider-Man series is for? Or can’t readers pick up a back issue or a reprint?

Meanwhile, the AP article I read about this quoted a user on a Marvel message board who summed it all up:

"Considering I have been reading Spider-Man for exactly 20 years now, and that seems to be the amount of time [Editor-in Chief Joe Quesada] has decided to rip from Spider-Man continuity, can I simply return all of my Spider-Man comics for a full refund?"

Woohoo for Hulu

I've been enjoying my Hulu account since I got it about a month ago. If you don't have one yet, you should sign up.

Hulu is the joint online video site from NBC Universal and 20th Century Fox.

Besides having a ton of great TV shows at your disposal to watch in pretty good quality with limited commercials, you can also embed entire shows on your own site or create your own custom clips.

After watching last week's "30 Rock," I had "Midnight Train to Georgia" stuck in my head for a few days. So here's a clip of the Gladys Knight classic, "30 Rock"-style...

Wigglemania

Thomas and Kris had a close encounter with some of the Wiggles friends yesterday.

The Great Escape is adding a Wiggle World section this year. As a promotion, Dorothy the Dinosaur, Wags the Dog, Henry the Octopus and Captain Feathersword arrived at the Albany Airport before heading up to Queensbury. They were greeted by a horde of happy children.

Thomas admired the characters from a distance. Other kids were posing for pictures with the characters, but Thomas chose to enjoy them from afar.

He enjoyed seeing the characters, although he was not fooled by the fake Captain Feathersword. The actor dressed up in that costume was very obviously not the same guy from the Wiggles videos and TV show.

However, word is the real Wiggles will be performing at the Great Escape this summer to help kickoff Wiggle World.

Ad of the week

Placed by an Iowa mom unhappy with her son's behavior...

"OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don't love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for three weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet."

The Towering Snowman

Kris took the kids outside to play today, but she couldn't get them interested in helping to build this snowman. So she gets all the credit!



At least Nolan enjoyed this tunnel long enough to pose for this photo -- then he ran into the house!

Wokka Wokka

What do you get when mix Roger Clemens, steroids, Pac-Man and a basement full of my nieces and nephews?



This was made during the holiday week and my brother and sister were both visiting for the holidays. These are all of the Rooney grandkids except my niece Meghan and our own kids.

The Not-So Dark Kinght

"Batman Begins" was so good (and I believe "The Dark Knight" will be too) precisely because it was nothing like this...



All the same, you have to admit, that was kind of fun to watch, wasn't?

Indiana Jones and the Vanity Fair Photos

It's been far too long since my last post. The holiday vacation threw off my blogging mojo.

There are plenty of things that have tranpired in the last week and a half worthy of my attention here. I may or may not get to them eventually.

But let's start with what's really important...Vanity Fair has an article on "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" with some nice set pics by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz. Note that familiar looking warehouse in the background of the Shia LeBeouf-Karen Allen shot...





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