push the pull door

Sarah Palin Debate Flowchart

2008-10-07T21:38:52Z

Funny stuff.

The First Debate, in a Minute

2008-10-02T14:05:00Z

Let's see how many videos we can post on this page in one week, shall we? And this one is from the same site as the last video. How many can I post from one site before I'm considered a syndicator?

Nevertheless, I missed the debate and found this to be a great recap. Enjoy!

This Week in Fricking Football

2008-10-01T15:20:00Z

See what a coward I am? I had "This Week in Fucking Football" entered above, but I changed it at the last minute. Not too straight-laced to curse in a post, I suppose, but too straight-laced to scream curse words in the header text. I wonder what that really says about my personality.

Anyway, I felt like talking football, but none of my friends are fans of the same teams as me, and everyone I know is already sick of all of the Fantasy Football talk. So, to the blog, I go!

Notre Dame: I was at the North Georgia State Fair a few weekends ago when one of the booth employees noticed my Notre Dame t-shirt and exclaimed, "Yer boys is gettin' worked over today by Michigan State." I told him that didn't really surprise or bother me all that much. "But Michigan State ain't no good, are they?" he asked. "Hey, neither is Notre Dame," I replied. I do get frustrated with how biased people in this region are against the Big Ten and Notre Dame--neither gets any mention on sports radio unless it's to say how shitty they both are and how they pale to even the bottom-feeders of the mighty SEC. But this dude was right, ND got worked by MSU. And it didn't really bother me at all.

My expectations for this year's Notre Dame team are for them to go 7-5, make a mid-level bowl against a very beatable third-tier team from a BCS conference, and end their season with a win for the first time in many moons. To get to 7-5, in my opinion, they only needed to beat either MSU or Purdue, not both of them. So with their win over Purdue this past weekend, they remained exactly where they needed to be.

No game is a given for ND this season, but almost all of the games remaining on their schedule are winable, even by the current class of overrated or underachieving Irish. Here's how I see it coming out:

W San Diego State
W Michigan
L @ Michigan State
W Purdue
W Stanford
L North Carolina
W @ Washington
L Pittsburgh
L @ Boston College
W @ Navy
W Syracuse
L @ No. 9 USC

Like I said, every game (except USC) is winnable, so there may be some upsets there that I haven't predicted. They could end up beating UNC, Pitt and/or BC. But at the same time, I could also see them losing against Stanford, Navy and/or Washington. So if you assume they'll upset someone but also lose one they shouldn't, 7-5 seems pretty reasonable, right? And 7-5 may be enough to get them to the Liberty Bowl against a 6-6 Virginia team or the Copper Bowl against a 8-4 Baylor squad. (I totally made up the bowls and matchups, but you get the idea.)

What ND haters don't realize is that ND didn't just choke against LSU two years ago and against every team last season, they've choked in every bowl game they've played in since the early nineties. Notre Dame hasn't won a bowl game since the 1993 Cotton Bowl. That's going on sixteen years of bowl losses. I've been wishing for years that ND would make a smaller bowl that they could actually win, and the silver lining to last year's meltdown and this year's struggles is that they should get exactly the kind of mid-range bowl they need.

Anyway, hope is still alive for the Irish. My expectations are low, and so far, they're right on track. We'll hope for the 9-3 or 10-2 season next year. For now, let's get to .500 or better and win a bowl.

The Colts: Indy didn't play this past weekend, which was probably the best thing for everyone. They're so beat up this year that they need the rest, and Payton needs some practice time with his squad. It didn't help Indy's cause that Tennessee (4-0) and Jacksonville (3-1) both won on Sunday. But one of the Monday Night Football announcers made a good point last night, which is that the top dogs in the AFC seem to currently be winning with defense, but before they can make a playoff run, these teams will have to learn how to score some points. And in that regard, I'd put Indy before the Titans and Jags, and even ahead of Pittsburgh and New England. So Indy isn't out of the picture yet, despite a 1-2 record to open the season. I can still see the team going 10-6 and then making some noise in the postseason.

Of course, it won't be easy. Check out their upcoming schedule:
Sun, Oct 5 @ Houston
Sun, Oct 12 Baltimore
Sun, Oct 19 @ Green Bay
Mon, Oct 27 @ Tennessee
Sun, Nov 2 New England
Sun, Nov 9 @ Pittsburgh
Sun, Nov 16 Houston
Sun, Nov 23 @ San Diego

Even Houston is no softy this year, despite their record (they've had a difficult opening schedule, as well). If the Colts can go 5-3 over the next eight weeks, they'll be in good shape. That will put them at 6-5, with games remaining against Cleveland, Cincy, and the Lions--all of which should be easy wins. The Colts do close the season at Jacksonville and home against Tennessee, but if they split those, they get to 10-6. And just like with the Irish, every game is winnable for this team. They could win more than I predict--but shouldn't really lose many more. A 10-6 record should be a wild-card spot, and could even be a division winner (anyone who has faith in the Titans power trio of Kerry Collins/Chris Johnson/Justin Gage staying undefeated is a moron).

The Colts are still alive, my friends.

Indiana Hoosiers: The loss to Michigan State was unfortunate, but predictable. The Ball State loss the week before was worse, as it means IU now needs to pull an upset or two to get to bowl-eligibility. And Northwestern and Minnesota are looking good--two teams IU would normally count on for a few wins. So IU is 2-2, with no guaranteed wins left on the schedule. I was hoping for 3-1 right now, and for Northwestern, Iowa, Minnesota and Central Michigan to all look like absolute doormats. If all four of them sucked, IU should be able to beat at least three for the required six wins, right?

IU's remaining schedule isn't bad, by Big Ten standards. They don't play Ohio State or Michigan, and they get Wisconsin (a team they've upset in the past) at home. But with the team underachieving at the moment, nothing is guaranteed.

October 4 at Minnesota
October 11 Iowa
October 18 at Illinois
October 25 Northwestern
November 1 Central Michigan
November 8 No. 18 Wisconsin
November 15 at No. 6 Penn State
November 22 at Purdue

This weekend is huge--if IU beats Minnesota, bowl eligibility is still within reach. If they lose this game, it's all over. Whatever they do, I hope they play Ben Chappell more. I think he's much better for the team than Winslow, despite the fact that Winslow's the more exciting player and better NFL prospect (as receiver, not QB).

Fantasy Football: Okay, I lost all three games this week, bringing my standings to 0-4, 0-4 and 3-1. But there's an upside. For one, all of my teams endured serious bye weeks this past weekend. So I won't be missing that many players from here on out. For another, some of my underachievers have started to perform (at last) and others have finally gotten the boot. But the biggest thing I have going for me is that most of my leagues allow the top eight to make playoffs. So I may be in 10th place in one league and 12th in another, but both of those let the top eight go to the postseason--and I'm not out of that running, yet.

I haven't been sitting on my hands--I'm making moves and trying to improve my roster. If a few players start to come around, I'm confident I can still make playoffs in all three leagues. And once you make playoffs, anything can happen. So I'm trying to keep my chin up. One thing I've decided is that I'm not going to listen to the folks at ESPN, anymore. I occasionally listen to a few Fantasy Football podcasts on my iPhone on the way home from work. But this past week, they were wrong on pretty much every prediction they made, costing me mega points. So no more input from those guys--they're guessing just like I am, so I may as well live and die by my own gut.

Anyway, that's the marathon update of Football news, according to me. If anyone actually made it down this far in the post, send me an email and I'll send you a free t-shirt! Kidding, of course. The only free t-shirts I have are for the female skewing shows on TNT, and if you made it this far in a football post, you're not the right demographic for those shows.

More Political Embeds

2008-09-30T14:20:00Z

I don't necessarily think the Democrats campaign any different than the Republicans, so I'm not sure I agree with the message of this clip. But I definitely think it's funny.

They freeze-framed on the perfect expression to get the laugh.

Something for Seth

2008-09-29T17:53:19Z

You've probably already seen this, but it was new to me:

I'm not the biggest Twitter user, though I've had an account for a while. Based on a recent presentation we attended at work, though, I'm guessing I should give it another try.

If you use it, let me know: pushthepulldoor on twitter

Video of the Week

2008-09-28T03:40:17Z

This makes me laugh.

Diesel's SFW XXX Party Clip - Watch more free videos

A Political Aside

2008-09-25T18:03:32Z

I was of the opinion yesterday that McCain pulling out of the debates to "save the economy" was a brilliant political move. At a time when his poll numbers are dropping, he basically plays yet another wild card and puts Obama in a no-win situation. If Obama says, "WTF? We're doing the debate!" he comes off as a guy who doesn't want to help the economy and save the common man. If he says, "You're right, Johnny, let's go into session and get 'er done," he's then following McCain's lead and admitting McCain is the voice of wisdom in a time of crisis. There's nothing he can do without the Republicans spinning this to make Obama look bad.

Then again, there's always the mass media to contend with. Already liberal-skewing, according to the conservatives, and not restricted to saying what the Republicans want them to say, McCain now risks comments like Dave's, below:

So wait, McCain should keep campaigning, even though the nation's in crisis? Is that sort of like how I keep coming to work, even when the tiles have fallen off the wall in our shower at home and our house needs a ton of work before we put it on the market in a few months? Or how my wife still takes the girls to ballet class even when she has a cold? Or how both of us do the day-to-day stuff that needs to get done, even when we have other emergencies pop up, like cars breaking down, illness, etc.?

I know I'm oversimplifying things, but dude needs to learn to multitask if he's going to lead the free world. If you need to be in Washington to work on saving the nation, I can get behind that. But maybe you could do the debate that night, from DC? Or maybe the debate now becomes a perfect opportunity to present your economic plan to the nation? After working on a bailout plan behind closed doors with Congress and the Pres, why not discuss it on network television Friday night? Sounds like a great opportunity to talk about real issues while you work to fix them.

Come on, McCain. You can do better than this.

Bill vs. Velociraptor

2008-09-19T21:12:17Z

1 minute, 32 seconds

Borrowed from Mostly Muppet. (And Seth, I only beat your time because I cheated. I most likely would NOT use the velociraptor's eating of my arm as a distraction to lure him into my trap. But it sounded cooler than "I would run and cry like a sissy.")

Is this for real?

2008-09-14T17:05:00Z

I can't believe it. There's really a video of a Ben Folds/Regina Spektor song that stars Tim and Eric? It's like they took a bunch of my favorite foods and mushed them all together to make something super delicious.

Next, you're going to tell me there's a Glenn Phillips/Jack Johnson duet with a video featuring the cast of Battlestar Galactica.

Hang on, I'm gonna go do a Youtube search, just to be safe...

Bill Had a Bad Sports Week

2008-09-13T18:36:58Z

1. Yes, Notre Dame won against San Diego State, but could they have looked worse doing so? It's not a good sign when your new blitzing defense never gets to the QB. Neither the offensive nor defensive line played well, which doesn't give me hope against Michigan. And we NEED to beat Michigan this year.

2. Seriously? The Bears really beat the Colts? Okay, I'd chalk this one up to Peyton and company being rusty, since Peyton couldn't really practice much over the last month and since their line is entirely retooled, but it's hard to blame the game on offensive rust when the defense looks so bad. They made Matt Forte look like a Pro Bowl back, and made Kyle Orton look like the better QB in the game. Add in the early dings Dallas Clark and Joseph Addai endured (that guy is so fragile), and there's not much to trumpet. At least the new Lucas Oil Fieldhouse looks amazing. I have got to see a game in that place.

3. I didn't have any Bears on any of my fantasy football teams, but I did have the Colts kicker and Defense on more than one, which probably had at least a little to do with my 1-2 start this past weekend. The worst thing is that one of my teams that lost was the one that I'd easily call my best drafted team in years. Who would've expected my starters--which included Torry Holt, LaDainian Tomlinson, Derrick Anderson, Ryan Grant and Maurice Jones-Drew--to account for only one TD between them? It sucked. I renamed that team "The Underachievers" after the game. The only upside, from a fantasy perspective, is that I didn't lose anyone to injury (as long as LT's toe is okay), and that there are still plenty of games to play. And I did take at least one of the games. Oh, and one of the two that I lost was against a record-setting 120-point performance. If you're going to lose, you may as well lose to the best, right? Anyway, let's hope my starters actually play like starters this week. I was in the championship game of both my leagues last year, winning one of them. I need to represent better than this.

4. Not only were the Nigerian players that my men's outdoor team faced off against on Wednesday way faster, more skilled and much better scorers than we were, but they also broke my finger. The bastards! Actually, I broke it myself, getting it caught in the jersey of a lightning-fast striker who was streaking towards what should've been an easy goal. Breaking a finger fouling someone who's about to beat you to the ball is sort of stupid, but in my defense, he didn't score the damned goal.

5. I wish I could use my broken finger as an excuse for why I sucked so bad in my volleyball game on Thursday night, but I can't. I've always said that I never want to play for on a team on which I'm the best player, and I've always--somewhat arrogantly--thought that to be the case for this volleyball team. Over the past three seasons, I've played some of my best games since moving to Atlanta, and have done everything in my power to make this a better team. But on Thursday, I was easily the worst player on the court. I passed so bad that we actually had to reorder our lineup to get me out of serve receive. And then I hit so badly at the net that I had to start rolling and dinking just to keep the ball in play--which was so easily read by the other team that they turned half of my "attacks" into free balls. We didn't play well as a team, but I was the biggest stinker. Especially frustrating considering we lost two games 20-21 and 19-21. A few decent plays from me, and we win the night. What a taste of humble pie.

6. I was hoping for redemption when I raced from my Thurs. volleyball game to go sub in the second half of my friend's soccer game. When I showed up, the team I was subbing for was up 3-1...over my little brother's team. After getting razzed a little by my brother and his teammates, most of which I'd played with before, I went in and played some pretty good defense. My passing was solid, and I made at least a couple of saves in front of the goal to keep them in the lead. There was a scary incident where my brother--playing forward--made a run across the goal and caught me totally flat-footed. But he didn't score. So you'd think it was a good experience, right? Sure, except for the fact that they ended up tying the game 3-3. Neither comeback goal was scored with me on the field, but it still sucks that they were up 3-1 in the half in which I didn't play, but lost 0-2 in the half for which I was there. I just wish I hadn't come from a long volleyball game--I think with more steam left in me, I could've played more minutes and maybe kept one of those goals out of the net.

With ND/Michigan today, Indy/Minnesota tomorrow, another soccer game Wednesday and a volleyball doubleheader on Thursday, let's hope this week is a better sports week than the last. It can't get much worse, right?

Comic Movie Wrap-up, Part Two

2008-09-09T14:34:42Z

Some people may prefer to post every day. But I find that the "start a topic, then abandon it for a month" strategy provides much more suspense. That being said, here's the long-unawaited conclusion to my too-late-to-be-of-any-use review of this summer's comic book movies.

I saw Hellboy II: The Golden Army while I was at Comic-Con in San Diego. You'd think that would be the perfect environment in which to watch such a film. Unfortunately, it was at 10pm on Friday night, when every other person at the Con was out partying with their friends, co-workers, or significant others. I was all alone and was getting bored with walking the streets like a homeless person, people-watching, so I decided to take in a show. The theater was almost entirely empty--not what you'd expect for a comic book movie at Comic-Con, and more than a little depressing for Mr. Lonely Guy. But the empty theater actually worked in my favor--they had movable armrests, which I pulled out of the way so I could lay across three seats like I was on my couch at home. Now you know: I have no shame.

So far, this isn't much of a review, but there's really not much to say about Hellboy II. Visually, it was wonderful. Guillermo del Toro is a visual genius--his character design is amazing, and he really knows how to frame a scene. The action in this film was well-choreographed, and his choice to use puppets over CGI in some of the scenes paid off, in that it gave the characters a weight that a lot of comic book movie characters just don't have. But as good as this film looked, the writing was awful.

For some reason, del Toro decided to position much of the film as a romantic comedy. Every scene with Liz and Hellboy came off too cutesy, and the slapstick around Abe Sapien was a little over the top. Normally, I push for more character development, but in this case, I would've liked more of the action and the primary storyline, and less of the BPRD residents. More of Prince Nuada plotting against humanity and less of Hellboy plotting to help more around the house. Also, the ending was way too abrupt. While it looked like they were trying to leave things open for a sequel, I'm not sure I care about the characters enough to stick around.

If you liked the first Hellboy film, you should give this one a try. It wasn't terrible, and was pretty too look at. But I also found it pretty disappointing, perhaps because I loved the first one so much. I thought this would be like the first film on steroids, but it was more like the first film after a few too many Rum and Cokes. Sadly, it was probably the worst comic book movie I saw this summer. Not surprising if you compare it to Dark Knight and Iron Man, but maybe a little surprising once you know I also saw Speed Racer.

Wanted, on the other hand, was in contention for the title of "Best Summer Action Movie," in my opinion. I'd read the comic book years ago, but found it to be fairly unimpressive. And knowing they'd taken the superhero elements out of the film, I thought that would be even more boring than the comic. I had no plans to see it, but started to reconsider once the reviews started pouring in from my friends and coworkers. None of them had anything bad to say about the film. Every one of them recommended I see it. And since Friday wasn't my only bored and lonely night at Comic-Con, I did go see it--the Saturday 10:30pm show, to be exact.

Put simply, my friends were right. This film was good. It's no Godfather, but it was a solid, well-directed, well-acted action film. From the first scene, they establish that the laws of physics are a bit different in this film's world, and that they're taking a slightly tongue-in-cheek approach to the subject of assassination. But if you can suspend your disbelief enough to accept this universe, you're in for a fun ride.

The cast of this film was solid, from top to bottom, but I think it would've worked even better without the big name talent like Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie. The writing and directing were really the stars of the film. It had the workplace humor of an Office Space perfectly balanced with the action of a Die Hard film, and shot in a style that give it some indy texture. It was pretty impressive how it all came together.

Although some people are calling this movie "gun porn" (much like Shoot Em Up and other recent "more bullets than brains" action fare), I think this movie takes a more intelligent and witty approach to the genre and can be enjoyed by people who don't necessarily attend films for the body count. It's definitely a film you should see in high def or at the theater, and you may even be able to find it at the dollar theaters soon. That way, you won't say I owe you money on the off chance you don't agree with my review.

Finally, I wanted to include a movie that's actually based more on a cartoon than a comic book--though there are now comics out based on the series. I saw Speed Racer at a sneak preview screening sponsored by the Asian-American group at my company, which meant it was free and during the workday. I have to admit that may've biased my opinion favorably toward the film. Either way, despite this being a very unpopular opinion, I have to admit I enjoyed the movie.

I've already reviewed the film here, so I won't go into more detail about it. I just wanted to throw it in this list, as I consider it one of the "comic book movies" of the summer, and can't discuss the other movies I saw this year without including it. I can understand how some people were disappointed in Speed Racer, but I think this film will have a good run on DVD. It may not have made its money back at the box office, but it will do well once in-store purchases and rentals are factored in. And I don't think history will remember it as badly as some other modernizations, like Godzilla or The Flintstones. If you can catch it at the dollar theater, you should do so. And that's the last I'll say about that.

I haven't really planned my winter movie viewing, yet. Once I saw the extra Watchmen footage at Comic-Con, I already started looking forward to 2009. That's my favorite book/series, and the footage makes me think it will soon become my favorite feature film. I'm more amped about this movie than I've ever been--this may be what Star Wars fanboys felt about The Phantom Menace. Anyway, if you have some winter/fall recommendations, let me know. Besides The Spirit and maybe Land of the Lost and The Wolfman, I'm not even that aware of what geek-oriented films will be in the market at that time.

Fantasy Football 2008

2008-09-06T05:45:00Z

This weekend kicks off the 2008 NFL season, which means it's also the first weekend for Fantasy Football. This year, I'm in three fantasy leagues: my little brother's, my college buddy's, and a work league for which I'm the commissioner.

I didn't have a great draft in any of the three drafts. In my brother's league, I totally forgot about the way-too-early draft date, so I had an autodraft without ever adjusting my pre-draft rankings. In my college buddy's league, I had to miss the live draft due to a volleyball game, and again neglected to adjust my pre-draft rankings. Finally, in the league I'm running at work, I was so busy trying to keep everyone else on track during our first-ever live and in-person draft, that I neglected my own team and ended up picking guys at random, not following the one list I did take the time to arrange.

Anyway, my teams are below. Already, in the first week, I have some questions I can't answer. Should I play Kevin Smith against the pitiful Falcons or high draft choice Larry Johnson against the awesome Pats? Should I go with Philip Rivers and injured TE Antonio Gates or stick in Brett Favre in his Jets debut along with one of my old, old, old WR backups? It's 2am Sunday morning, and I have no clue what to do. But you know what? That's what I sort of love about Fantasy Football: dwelling for days on decisions that are really meaningless in the grand scheme of things. I'm good at useless timewasters like that.

MY 2008 FANTASY FOOTBALL SQUADS:

League: Frazier's Fantasy Football (Yahoo!)
Team: THE CHAMP!
1. (1) LaDainian Tomlinson
2. (20) Ryan Grant
3. (21) Maurice Jones-Drew
4. (40) Wes Welker
5. (41) Roddy White
6. (60) Calvin Johnson
7. (61) Derek Anderson
8. (80) Adam Vinatieri
9. (81) Indianapolis
10. (100) Kevin Smith
11. (101) Fred Taylor
12. (120) Patrick Crayton
13. (121) Reggie Brown
14. (140) Mason Crosby
15. (141) Jason Campbell (dropped for Derrick Mason)

League: League of Pain (Yahoo! Plus)
Team: Big Mac's Marauders
1. (14) Marshawn Lynch
2. (15) Larry Johnson
3. (42) Plaxico Burress
4. (43) Wes Welker
5. (70) Chris Cooley
6. (71) Chris Chambers
7. (98) Jay Cutler
8. (99) Pittsburgh
9. (126) Ryan Longwell
10. (127) Kevin Smith
11. (154) Drew Bennett
12. (155) Ted Ginn Jr.
13. (182) Philadelphia
14. (183) Randy McMichael
15. (210) Kurt Warner (dropped for Chad Pennington)

League: Digital Gridiron (EA Sports)
Team: Hoosier Daddy
1 8 Clinton Portis RB
2 5 Ryan Grant RB
3 8 Torry Holt WR
4 5 Antonio Gates TE
5 8 Hines Ward WR
6 5 Joey Galloway WR
7 8 Philip Rivers QB
8 5 Julius Jones RB
9 8 Reggie Brown WR
10 5 Indianapolis DST DST
11 8 Brett Favre QB
12 5 Jerry Porter WR
13 8 Antwaan Randle El WR
14 5 Isaac Bruce WR
15 8 Josh Scobee

Already, I've made both good and bad decisions. Dropping Jason Campbell for Derrick Mason was most likely a solid decision. Dropping Kurt Warner before he got named the starter was a bad one. I hope that doesn't come back to bite me on the ass.

Work is Funny

2008-09-04T19:42:03Z

I know I try not to talk about work on this blog, but I'll try to keep this mostly anonymous.

1. I was on my way to work this morning when I got an email on my blackberry. It was from the person in charge of tracking our traffic on the websites. She had one question:

"Are there any viral videos on tbs.com?"

Seriously? Are there still people out there who don't know that a "viral video" is an organic happenstance, not a category you assign during digitization? I've been getting the "we need to make a viral video" request from marketing for years, but even that noise has died down by now. We've had to explain a million times that "viral" just means that people like it and pass it around--it's not something you can force onto a video with marketing mojo. It's much the same as the term "hit show". You can make a good show. You can even make a great show, but you can't make a hit. Only the fans can do that.

It's sad to hear a person who actually works in the digital field showing such lack of understanding of such a familiar concept. I expected the next question to be, "Is there anything funny on tbs.com?"

2. With as much traffic as the Family Guy videos on our site get, I'm amazed nobody's written in about this, yet. You tell me: Is this a good thumbnail to use for a video on an "all audiences" site?

We had to let our video guy go last week due to financial and structural reasons, and I was absolutely sure he must've done this to get back at us. I was starting to worry that there may be a whole bunch of pornographic thumbnails buried in our video player. But then I checked the "submitted by" tag on the image. It came from a former coworker who's now a designer for an agency that does websites for major studio movies, and who happens to occasionally read this blog.

Hey, Eugene, thanks a lot! If I find images of Peter naked on our site, I'm coming to LA and tracking you down, man! ;)

Yearning for My Youth

2008-08-13T22:04:59Z

I can't watch videos like the one below without thinking back to my younger days, when it was easy to get a group of people motivated to do something crazy and creative with no real endgame or profit in sight. Remember when we wasted time in a way that actually added something to the world? Now, when I waste time, it's truly wasted. Videogames, TV shows--I even waste time arguing. And believe me, nobody's smiling over my timewasting activities like they are over this video. It's sad.

University Lipdub (HS Furtwangen) from DASKAjA on Vimeo.

Comic Movie Wrap-Up, Part One

2008-08-13T04:08:38Z

I know this is much delayed, and fairly useless. After all, either you've already seen them, or you never will. But I still thought I'd do a short wrap-up of the big comic book movies of the summer, if only to get back on the blogging horse. And also because I saw most of them BY MYSELF, and thus haven't had much of a chance to talk to anyone about them.

Iron Man was the first to come out, and really kick-started the summer season for me. It was actually my favorite comic movie in years. First off, the casting was ridiculously good. Robert Downey Jr. was a great choice as Tony Stark, as was Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane. Even Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts and director Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan were okay. Terence Howard didn't have much to do, but he was really just in place for the sequel. Speaking of which, I hope we do see more of James Rhodes, as I worry Robert Downey Jr. is a little old to do another six or seven years as Iron Man without starting to look a little silly. Transitioning the armor to another actor should help the staying power of the series.

Beyond the good casting, solid acting and obviously top-notch special effects, my favorite thing about Iron Man was that it was the first comic book movie I've ever seen where I said, "You know, all of this could actually happen." I mean, every other movie seems to either have heroes with superpowers or normal humans doing superhuman things (such as when Batman falls eight stories and walks away, or leaps thirty feet in a single bound). But Iron Man had normal humans living under normal human limitations. Sure, the armor did some crazy things, but it's not all that far-fetched. The Army has been working on body armor and jetpacks for years, but can never get past the problems of weight, cost and fuel consumption. Well, Tony Stark figured out all three in the movie. If someone could do that in real life, we could actually see something like the Iron Man armor. More realistically, we could see something like the Iron Monger.

Hey, it's all still just superhero science and suspension of disbelief. But compared to the other movies on this list, and cast with Oscar-winners, it came off as very believable. It was easy to get totally engrossed in the world of the film.

The Incredible Hulk was next on my summer watch list. I enjoyed this one a lot, too, though not as much as Iron Man. It had equal acting strength with Edward Norton (one of my all-time faves), Tim Roth and William Hurt, while Liv Tyler was adequate as Betty Ross. I was amazed at how stocky she looked, but she sort of looked like a woman who would actually pine for a middle-aged scientist. I also liked how they threw some solid actors into sequel-capable roles, like Tim Blake Nelson as the future Leader and Ty Burrell as the eventual Doc Samson. I'd love to see a sequel just to see if they'll bring those two forward a bit more.

The plot of the movie was very simple, but none of these films tried to be much more than what they were, which was one of the good things about all of them. This one was simply meant to establish the dual identities of this legendary character, and it did an admirable job at that. Like you'll hear me say for at least one of the other movies on this list, I thought the best parts of The Incredible Hulk were the parts that had no superheroics or CGI--Edward Norton on his own is more fun to watch than any green giant. But they did tone back some of the cartoony aspects of the Hulk and made his actions have a bit more weight, which was an improvement on the previous film. Overall, it was a fun ride, and left me wanting more. Which is exactly what Marvel intended when they rebooted the franchise. It didn't make any more money than the last Hulk movie, but it's definitely in better position for big-money sequels.

I should have less to say about The Dark Knight than the other movies I saw this summer, if just because everyone else has already said it all. I definitely enjoyed it, but it wasn't perfect. The writing was all over the place--some of the scenes were brilliant, while others were filled with Bat vs. dog combat or long-winded speeches about justice. The film was intense enough to keep my eyes glued to the screen for the entire three hours, but should have been shorter by almost half. And I really wish we'd seen less of the hero in costume and a little more of everything and everyone else. I love Christian Bale, but the worst parts of the movie were when he was the bat--his movements looked too choreographed, his costume was too elaborate and bulky, and his voice...well, I think everyone's already weighed in on that.

Anyway, the only thing I should be talking about in regards to The Dark Knight is Heath Ledger's performance. I was sympathetic towards his family and friends when he died, but I won't confess to feeling any great sadness for myself. As shallow as it sounds, however, watching his performance in this movie did make me a bit sad that he won't be around for a sequel. He was so good that I wanted to see much more of that character. I don't think there was enough meat in the role to make it Oscar-worthy, but there was definitely enough to get him some minor awards and even more recognition as a versatile actor. Gary Oldman and Aaron Eckhart were also good in this film, and when you combine them with Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman, you have as solid a cast as any other summer blockbuster. But the movie was definitely Heath Ledger's showcase, and all future Bat-villains will pale in comparison.

Finally, though I wasn't a fan of the way The Dark Knight ended, I had no problem with the fate of Maggie Gyllenhaal's character. I've never really been bothered by writers killing off the wife/girlfriend to incite heroic action. Not because I'm a misogynist, but because it's motivation I can immediately understand. There's nothing that would incite me to violence like losing my wife. It's one of my biggest fears in life. As overused as it is, it almost always works to get me to feel for the hero and root for him.

I just wish it'd been done in the previous movie, when Rachel Dawes was played by Tom Cruise's baby maker.

Next Time: Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, Wanted, and a bonus film for which I forgot to make an image!