Kaertos

In general, I believe that it is better to give more freedom than to take it away. Do I believe life begins at conception? Irrelevant. I'd rather that abortion be an option than outlawed in the same way that I'd rather gay marriage be legal than illegal. The more freedom of choice we have taken away, the easier it will be to take away the big freedoms.

Wait a second... you mean to tell me that a politician lied about something? That's just outrageous! Now that the sarcasm is out of my system, I'll just say this: In the last election, both candidates were losers of epic proportions. Neither one showed me genuine leadership qualities, any sense of what was best for the country (as opposed to what was best for them and their rich donors) or any concept of how important a position President of the United States is. Now we're stuck with this guy and hoping that the Congress can get its act together long enough to do something about it? Good luck. Congress is filled with, and after midterms will be replenished with, career politicians who care more about their next election and the number of tax dodges they can weasel their way into than any concept of improving the country or helping anyone.

I didn't know she was looking at a pilot. That does change things. If it gets picked up, then I say she comes back for a few guest appearances before breaking it off with Ted in a permanent way. So I think the Mom is either Victoria or someone we haven't met yet, depending on if she can be a regular character. As far as getting cancelled, my guess is that they have an "emergency out", a show that is written as far as outline form that introduces a woman, closes some plot holes and fades out with "And that, kids, is how I met your mother."

I expect that Victoria is still part of the long-term plan a show like this has to have. My guess is that she'll go to Germany and be gone for all of next season, then show up at Ted's door at the end of the 2nd season finale.

I ran by the local Suncoast that is closing thinking I could pick up a couple of DVD's at a good price. I didn't really find anything I wanted except Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. I was almost ready to nuy it when I realized that, with the 30% off, it was still a buck more expensive than I had seen it at Best Buy the week before and decided against it for the time being. Can't imagine why they are going out of business.

At the end of last night's episode, my wife is convinced that Barney is the one who bought the new doormat for Robin. Great episode overall.

Good for you man. My doctor put me on an 1800 calorie a day diet and 30 min of aerobic exercise per day to control my type 2 diabetes. I was around 280 during Thanksgiving / Christmas, but I'm down to like 258 now.

having been forced to recently switch from regular to diet sodas, I have a great fondness for the Black Cherry Vanilla Diet Coke as the additional flavors cover up the nasty plastic "diet cola" flavor.

32. There is no point in your life where, if you were to stop and ask "what if?", would result in a better life for you, anyone around you, or the world in general. 32a. If your name is "Peter Parker" you die in 99% of those cases.

Vyce, I agree. The movie is, in many ways, a total clusterfuck. However, once you read the book, you can fill in the gaps and understand the move. Not that I'm suggesting you need to read the book to understand this great movie, I'm saying you need to read the book to understand the badly flawed movie.

I know I went to many movies before this (my parents were huge movie buffs at the time) but the first movie I remember wanting to see and seeing in a theater was Star Wars. My dad went to the midnight premiere and I was supposed to go with him, but I had an ear infection and had to stay home, so he took me to see it a few days later with my mom. I was 4 years old.

I went out to my local Best Buy last night to get a copy of Dune and they were sold out. When I asked the guy working there if there were any more in the back or hidden on some cardboard stand somewhere in an aisle, he told me that they only got in 14 copies and they sold out in like 5 minutes. I was annoyed.

"Quack damn you!"

Short List: John Romita Jack Kirby Neal Adams Steve Ditko Alex Ross Mark Bagley

Honestly? The most fun stip matches I ever wrote were: - Hell in the Cell - Stables Matches

What's this Civil War thing they're talking about?

Yeah, I think my annoyance for fair-weather fans and bandwagon jumpers comes from living near Dayton. More fans like that than not. And really, if you come right out and say "I'm a front-runner" or "I like jumping on bandwagons" I'm really OK with that. It's the guys that were walking around Kroger in head-to-toe Bengals gear that insisted they were fans since they were sperm and have no idea who David Klingler or Jeff Blake or Carl Pickens were that drive me nuts.

Well yes. :-) There is that. Hey, as a long-term Bengals fan, I am thrilled to see that there is a bandwagon to jump on. We had some fun teams to watch before (heck, even managing a couple of 7-9 and 8-8 seasons before Marvin Lewis) but there is something special about this team. I'm already looking forward to next season.

I agree about the hit. In general, I think it was a terrible concurrence of things that caused the injury. I posted the article because it was applicable and because it makes a good point about the Bengals. They were soft in that game and panicking far too early. Two reasons Bengals fans have increased: - Guys who lurked here the last few years thinking "Someday I'll get to talk about my team" finally getting the chance. - Fair-weather fans and bandwagon jumpers coming out of the woodwork, all of whom claim to be fans from birth even if the've been wearing Steelers and Patriots jerseys for the last ten years. And finally, the biggest reason Bengals fans (and I include myself in this one to a certain extent) are upset about the hit is pretty simple. We want an excuse other than "couldn't, and then didn't, run the ball" and "Ben Rothlesburger managed to make the entire defense go right, then threw left all game". Carson being hurt is a great reason.

To be fair, I've been a Bengals fan since I was a kid (my dad was a Browns fan and at the time there was none of the "The Steelers are our greatest rival" nonsense on either side) but, frankly, there hasn;t been much to talk about until this year. besides, this gives me a place to complain about the hit where people are actually intelligent. Just read this, thought it was interesting:

That should read: "Pittsburgh's Kimo von Oelhoffentore ligaments in The Cincinnati Bengals quarterback's left knee when he was hit on his first pass during the Steelers' 31-17 playoff victory Sunday." Say what you want about the hit, but Palmer didn't do anything to tear the ligaments himself, it was all Kimo. I wantched the game, and I still think the hit was, if not dirty, then certainly not legal. He was not blocked into Palmer's knee, he lunged for it. Was he trying to take him out of the game? Probably not, but he was trying hard to hit him below the waist.

I had almost forgotten about Shadows of the Empire. That was a fun read, and one of the few EU things that I thought actually felt like Star Wars. The biggest issue I had with it was, and I know this will make me unpopular, Dash Rendar. It's like the author said "Well, I can't have Han in this one, so I'll make a character just like him, but edgier, more nineties." Then

I'm not defending TJ's comments. I'm just saying that the officiating was not the best I've seen and it was on both sides. There were questionable calls all around. As a Bengals fan, I feel like more of them went against them, but I know we got away with at least a couple of things. Besides, I think it's unfair to judge these guys based on what they said a half hour after a playoff loss in their first winning season, well, ever. Add in their leader and franchise QB got taken out after two plays and I think they have a right to be upset and frustrated by the loss. Frankly, I'd be worried about their competitiveness if they weren't.

While I won't debate the wisdom of players mentioning it in the post game interviews, I will say that I watched every down of the Steelers-Bengals game and there was some sketchy officiating all around. It was almost like they couldn't decide to stick to the "Let it be decided on the field" edict from the NFL higher-ups", or go with "These are the playoffs, we need to call everything." Very frustrating for both teams I'm sure. On the Palmer injury: I don't think Kimo meant to blow out Palmer's knee. No way. But it should have been a penalty. He was not blocked into Palmer, he scrambled after him on the ground and hit him below the waist a full two seconds after the ball had left his hand. I read Yahoo's football guy this morning, and he said that even with Palmer in the game, the Bengals would have lost. Well, maybe. But it certainly would have been closer. Kitna is a good QB, but the timing routes and deep routes (which the Bengals live on) get totally screwed when you change QB's on the fly. Did you watch the same 11-5 season I did? These are not the "Bungles". Not even a little. Next season, assuming they address some of the defensive issues in the offseason and Carson Palmer is able to rehab and be ready for kickoff, this should be a good team again.

Most of the EU strikes me as "gimmick storytelling". Chewbacca's death is a perfect example. I have no doubt it was written as a heroic and noble death, but you know it didn't come organically out of the writing process. The entire situation was arranged so that one of the "main" characters would die. However, by picking one of the "main" characters that wasn't one of the "big three", all they were saying was that they were not killing off Luke, Han or Leia. I would love to think that, while writing the novel, the author saw the situation develop and didn't see any way to avoid killing off Chewie. But, as I said above, I doubt that was the case.