Merry Christmas, Kaleb!

Here's some cool holiday fun: Just minutes ago in Illinois our Great Nephew Kaleb opened a gift from Mary, Grace and me - stuffed Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore.

His mom, Best Niece Angela, snapped a pic on her phone, sent it to my phone here in Ohio and I placed it on this page:



Christmas + technology = cool!

Have a Merry Christmas!

More later,


Mark

Uh-Oh: Santa Knows If I've Been Bad Or Good

Breaking News from the North Pole: Santa Claus warns me I better shape up or I'm NOT going to be happy Christmas morning!

You can watch it here:

Santa's Message To Mark

If you want to make your own video message from jolly, yet judgmental, Ol' St. Nick, the fine folks at Portable North Pole have a very cool, free service here:

Portable North Pole

Enjoy!

More later,


Mark

We Went To A Fight And A Brawl Broke Out

Mary had to work so her mom, Grace, and I went to check out the Youngstown Phantoms vs. Chicago Steel hockey game at the Covelli Centre Saturday night.

It was Toys-For-Tots night so we brought toys and some members of the U.S. Marines gave us ticket coupons. I like to sit in section 205 just behind the penalty box so I can exhort forward Rich Young during his brawls. He's fun to watch and plays with a lot of spirit and doesn't shy away from a fight. He usually doesn't need any egging on from me.

Saturday night was no exception.

Mid-way through the third period, Chicago began to get a little chippy and and full-out melee broke out. Luckily, I had a video camera with me. As you are about to see, there were fights all over the ice and the penalty boxes were filled on BOTH sides. Young even had to be restrained from making his way into the opponents' box.



Some wild stuff! The Phantoms won 3-1. I normally hate cheering against a Chicago team – especially one with a Chelios on the roster – but the Phantoms are my home team and a heckuva lot of fun to watch. And Young seems to be an up-and-comer...

More later,


Mark

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like, Uh ... Damn!

Here is the scene that greeted us on the morning after the day after Thanksgiving:



Yikes! What's all this white stuff? What happened to the unseasonably warm, 50's/60's we've experienced for most of November? Can't it last a while longer?

Sadly, no.

Cruel, cruel winter is coming.

(Shakes fist at the sky.)

Winter!!!

More later,


Mark

Thanksgiving Is Hard Work!

Louis J. Cat is having a very busy Thanksgiving.



"Busy," is, obviously, relative.

Happy Thanksgiving all! I hope your day is every bit as relaxing!

More later,


Mark

First Me, Now Costas Blocked By Jay

I think I am sensing a pattern here...

First, Jay Cutler blocks me on Twitter. Then, he snubs Bob Costas...

Very little offense on the field, great defense off... Very defensive, in any case.

The Bears take the national stage yet again Sunday night. Mary, her mom and I get the enjoy the game in front of the home plasma. Well, maybe not "enjoy," but we'll make the best of it. However the Bears are not acting in a way befitting the national spotlight as they are not cooperating with NBC.

This is oh-so silly. I am embarrassed that the Chicago Bears franchise has been reduced to such pettiness. Not only is Cutler refusing to talk to NBC prior to the Sunday Night Football game, but so are Lovie Smith and Jerry Angelo.

Really? Way to keep it classy, Bears.

At least Bob Costas is a good sport. A good, tiny, little sport. Here are the details:

Costas: Bears' refusal not a personal snub

And I had such high hopes for this season. Now it's like a bad dream.

More later,


Mark

Mom and Dad Visit!

Our November of special guest stars continued last weekend with my parents who arrived from Florida to brave the 70-degree Ohio November weather.

We had a great time enjoying the fabulous Orbit Room, dining at Caffe Capri, watching football at Jillians and more football in the Rat Pack Tiki Bar. My Mom is the world's biggest Peyton Manning fan so she was here to witness the big Sunday night game against the New England Patriots.

Well, she KIND OF witnessed it. Convinced Peyton's team was going to lose, she went to bed with a couple of minutes left... Dad went to get her after the miracle finish was under way.

Here they are during dinner:


MOM AND DAD

Dad and I went out to check out HD TVs since my parents are threatening to enter the digital age. Dad also got a little plumbing in when our utility sink decided to act up. He is far handier than me.

Despite the impromptu plumbing adventure, we really had a great time!

They left Monday. Mary's Mom arrived Friday as our third house guest in as many weeks. Grace is a good sport as as soon as Mary left for work Saturday, we got the outdoor decorating under way. I chose a return to a more classic theme this year:


A VERY BRADY CHRISTMAS

Our goal every year is to surprise Mary when she turns down our street after work. I am hoping she will be pleasantly surprised!

More later,

Mark

We Owe It To WHO?

How do you tell when a football team has lost all focus and purpose?

It's easy. You talk to the players. You walk right up to one — say, the biggest, most trouble-making one who, perhaps, has under-performed thus making him more trouble than he's probably worth — and ask him a question.

So, on Monday, the media sidled up to good ol' No. 91. And Tommie Harris off the field is completely different from the Tommie Harris on the field: Off the field, he does not disappoint.

Harris says there is one big reason the Bears should win: They owe it to Lovie Smith.

I am not making that up.

"We owe it to him," Tommie Harris said. "That guy has been great to us from training camps to what he's done with the facilities. Different things that you see other coaches really don't care about, but this guy has come in and helped us out tremendously, and we owe it back to him."

So help me out here: You owe giving your best not to the franchise that employs you, the city for whom you play, the season ticket holders who spend thousands, the fans who spend millions, the league that provides a precious few athletes with a special opportunity to be a part of a special legacy ...

No, you owe your best to your coach cuz he's "been great to us." What? Lovie makes sure the facilities are swept up routinely?

I'll have to look up "Profiles in Courage" or "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" to find the chapter on: "He's Got Your Back (In Mediocrity) And You've Got His (In Mediocrity)."

Tommie: When all of those words tumbled from your brain into your mouth and off of your tongue, no red flags went off? No alarms or buzzers? Nothing said "Wait! Stop! This makes no sense! Even for a guy who got fined for punching out a helmet! Honest to god: You punched out an F'N helmet!"

Tommie Harris has not been known of late for acting on rational impulses. And "All for one and one for all" is the last refuge of someone bereft of any real answers, so, perhaps, it was unfair of the media to expect much more from Punchdown Tommie.

In any case, it is best that this addled logic is out in the open. This team LOVES LOVIE. They love the lack of contact tackling in practice. They love the low expectations. They love the lack of passion or emotion. They love the lack of initiative to, say, change schemes when "coaching philosophy" begins to Titanic. They love the unflagging support for bad play and the willingness of a mediocre coach to consistently take the blame for his mediocre team and his cadre of mediocre coaches.

These Bears are soft and they like their fluffy, marshmallow soft coach.

Even more of a reason to throw the bum out.

Lovie, I mean. But Tommie and everyone else on the Bears who's first name ends in an "ie" can go, too.

More later,


Mark

Which Demonstrates The Most Emotion?

This:



Or this:


Just saying...

More later,

Mark

Jon Stewart Destroys The Lunatic Glenn Beck

Got eight minutes or so? Take this is in as the sharp-witted host of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart, picks apart all of the faulty logic, red herrings, straw men and sacrificial goats that make up Glenn Beck's Looney Tunes "reality."

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The 11/3 Project
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Brilliant.

More later,


Mark

Holy Halloween, Batman!

TRICK OR TREATS?

We celebrate Halloween big-time here in Ohio.

The pop-up pavilion goes into the driveway and full-sized candy bars fill a giant bin, stuffed crane-game winnings fill a basket, beers for thirsty dads fill a cooler and ghoulish sounds fill the air, courtesy of a CD player.

Now there was a chill in the air and the rain didn't end until mid-morning. Still, our Halloween spirit was not dampened. Adding to the fun, my brother Eric and his fiance Jen were here to add to the festivities.

While we were busy setting up the big show, Eric and Jen snuck away and when they returned we were stunned to find them replaced by Batman and Supergirl!


STRIKING A HEROIC POSE

The number of trick or treaters was way down from last year, but we had fun anyway. It's great to have Eric and Jen here to add to the fun. Halloween night movies were "Valentine's Day 3D" and "Bats."

Today: The Bears vs. Browns on the plasma!

More later,


Mark

Happy Halloween!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

More later,

Mark

Last-Minute Halloween Costume Idea!

Found this one in the attic:



More later,


Mark

Jay, Ye Hardly Knew Me

Turns out, Jay Cutler has more in common with Greg Olsen than having good ol' No. 85 as a dinner companion...

He has also blocked me on Twitter.

Wow. It feels kinda like one of those pussified Bert Favrerer chop blocks.

For the record, I jumped all over Ochocinco last week. He never blocked me. Perhaps he's the real pro here...

Ouch. THAT hurt.

Hey, it's not like I am the one who stunk up the field Sunday. I sat there in front of the home plasma in my Urlacher jersey with my assorted Bears good luck items, beers in my Bears cooler, drinking from my Bears frozen pilsner glass, tuned into the Bears team home call on WBBM-AM via the Bears Internet and cheered. Until I started ranting. But, at least I didn't call anyone names, at least as far as I recall.

I did question the, ah, pluck of Hunter Hillenmeyer who checked in for almost a half Sunday. What's he got? Six quarters so far this season?

The closest ribs as tender as these should get to the football field is out in the parking lot on someone's tailgate grill.

Or in bed next to Elizabeth Hasselbeck. Or, the IR list.

Just sayin' ...

So, what have we learned? Apparently fans are not supposed to quit players, but in this crazy New Media world players can quit fans. Really? If only it were that easy...

Jay, I'm still a proud Bears fan and I will still cheer for you, even if you need to learn a thing or two about what it means to both be a Bear and to be a Bears fan. I will continue to teach you. I'm kinda hard to ignore (perhaps you're better aware of this now). And I have confidence you'll come around.

Meanwhile, thanks to all who have checked out my blog or my Tweet feed in the past week! Go Bears!

More later,

Mark

The Bears First Block This Week? Me!

I suspect there are very few more loyal, more emphatic, more true-blue Chicago Bears fans than me.

I became a true fan almost exactly 40 years ago, when my Dad took me to Father and Son night at St. Teresa Catholic Church in Kankakee, Ill. My 9-year-old eyes took in the enormous personality of Dick Butkus and I was hooked. My Dad wowed me by successfully answering Dick's trivia question – Q: Who put the hit on Gale Sayers to injure his knee? A: Kermit Alexander of the San Francisco 49'ers. – and a few weeks later a football arrived in the mail featuring the autographs of the 1969 team, including Brian Piccolo, et al.

That ball hangs this very day on a wall in my Bears room surrounded by 100's of pieces of memorabilia I've collected since that fateful night.

I think this is a point that many NFL players and coaches have a hard time grasping: We, the fans, are the constant. Players come and coaches go. We are forever. Our fandom pays the bills. You want great gobs of money? Great. With great gobs comes great responsibility...

So, when a team goes out and embarrasses the Bears nation like the Bears did Sunday and when the Bears coach admits he failed to get the team properly prepared for the second week in a row and a team with great potential falls to 3-3, fans get to have their say. We paid for it in money, time invested, fandom as well as in blood, sweat and tears.

You might be a Bear. But this is our team. Never, ever forget this.

This year, I started to follow some Bears players on Twitter. It's been interesting. But after the Sunday collapse, I sent a message to @ricknoach @alexbrown96 @JayCutler6 @D_Hest23 @gregolsen82 @chitownforte22 and @RealDeal91 (Tommie "Bad Attitude" Harris) explaining that it might be best to not Tweet this week. Save any messages for the field on game day.

I thought it was pretty good advice, especially for those guys who have not spent 40 years immersed in the Bears nation culture. We reward great play with never-ending support. We criticize overt stupidity very loudly (ask Wanny and Mauron). Our media coverage can be savage.

We are proud. We are loud. No B.S. is allowed.

So, the Bears players' Tweets were quiet, for the most part, this week. Alex Brown tried to post a feeble " :( that's a shame we have to play better than that" which was pounced on for its sheer insipidness of understatement. Matt Forte tried to share some awkwardly supportive tweets about "people who never played the game."

Lame. Those people are called "fans."

Tuesday night, Greg Olsen thought maybe we had all moved on and wanted to plug his latest sushi find. And Jay Cutler reminded us of his Web site. I gently reminded both it might be too early to Tweet.

Frankly, I thought this was smart coaching advice; perhaps something new in their Chicago experience.

Olsen, who I like enough to have on all four fantasy teams, responded by blocking me.

Really.

Is he going to block every upset fan? He couldn't even block against the Bengals.

Sorry. Cheap. But fun.

I used Twitter-speak to try to get him to understand my larger point:

"Not trying to be a jerk. Just letting u know: Nothing u could tweet in 140 words will make Sunday go away. Only better play."

In case that fails to get any traction, allow me to expand beyond 140 characters with some more advice for Jay, Greg and all the relatively new Bears players who do not have 40 years of Bears experience: Heed the friendly warnings.

When you suck, lay low. Re-earn your respect on the field; that's where you lost it, after all. Don't be surprised that we bleed Bear blue and orange. We wait all year for about 20 weeks of competition and entertainment. We spend the other 32 weeks dreaming of what might be to come. We understand that our expectations might be unreasonable at times. By the same token, we don't ever expect to have our heritage tarnished by the spectacle that unfolded this past Sunday.

Understand the game is bigger than you; that a team's legacy is built by an organization, players AND the fans. Fans are ultimately deserving of your best on-field – and off-field – performances. Failing that, our views deserve respect.

You might even learn something, especially if you waltz into town and don't even pause to consider why something like this was seen by many as so offensive even before the kickoff Sunday:



Bears don't consort with the enemy. We knock opponents in the teeth. Feel free to shake hands after the game, though.

Block me, Greg? I doubt it. You can't possibly understand the depths of the passion of Bears fans until you've been a Bear for a while. And you'll never learn anything along the way by blocking out that which you find a little harsh.

You have bigger things to worry about, in the end. Let's get it back together in time for the Browns Sunday.

More later,


Mark

Falcon Exposes Lie

Most of the media spent Thursday worried about whether a 6-year-old boy was aboard a runaway balloon. Turns out, it was a ruse...

Out of the mouths of babes:



Mom and Dad are publicity-seeking, reality-show wannabes...

More later,

Mark

What Victory Tastes Like

More later,

Mark

My Favorite Two Words: BEARS WIN!

Ah...

Tomorrow at work I will devour orange-and-blue doughnuts, drink free Diet Pepsi and generally rejoice in all of the obnoxious splender associated with the Chicago Bears victory over that Pittsburgh team that cannot kick.

One cool fan-cam I found shows Johnny Knoxville's awesome touchdown catch:



Me and one fellow Bears fan held down Jillians until Mary got off work in the fourth quarter. Because of stupid scheduling – the Browns were the late game – there was NO Steelers coverage on local TV, putting all of the Pittsburgh fans in a bar with me (Bears cap, Forte jersey). Were we nervous after the Stupiders marched downfield on the opening drive and scored an easy touchdown against the Bears? Sure. In the end, however, there was much rejoicing in our little corner of the bar.

That image of the Squealers kicker looking like he was going to cry is something I will not soon forget. I hope he has a day job...

It was a low-scoring affair, something you don't normally associate with Ben Roethlisberger. Allegedly.

With the Slackers losing, this was HUGE victory and I could not be happier...

More later,


Mark

That Darned Kanye!

Earlier today, I came to my site and wouldn't you know it but that kooky Kanye had to barge his way in...

It looked a lot like this:

Mark's World Interrupted

Someone has to get him under control!

Sheesh!

More later,


Mark

Obama Gives a Shout Out to The Vindicator

We were all a little impressed that the president worked us into his speech today at the GM/Lordstown assembly complex. It looked a little like this:



More later,


Mark

Directing Conrad Brooks

CONRAD BROOKS, LEFT, IN "PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE"

I was walking the Monroeville Exposition Center floor during Saturday's Pittsburgh Comicon when I saw a sign over a booth for "Conrad Brooks."

The name was familiar. Where did I know it from?

Turns out, it was THE Conrad Brooks, sole cast survivor from infamous movie director Ed Woods' classic bad film, "Plan 9 From Outer Space."

He portrayed "Patrolman Jamie," one of the two officers constantly dispatched to investigate the mysterious cemetery goings-on that somehow involved Bela Lugosi, Tor Johnson, Vampira and a chiropractor.

Just the previous weekend, in fact, Mary and I had enjoyed a copy of the recent RiffTrax send-up of "Plan 9," courtesy of co-worker Robert McFerren who learned of my love of truly bad movies. RiffTrax is made up of some of the cast of the old "Mystery Science Theater 3000" show who are famous for augmenting a movie's soundtrack with their own often outrageous commentary. The "Plan 9" riff was excellent.

Well, during my first visit to the booth, I obtained an autograph from Conrad and enjoyed talking to him for a bit. He's quite the character at 78 years old. And I promised to stop by later for a DVD. He has starred, it turns out, in quite a few productions since "Plan 9," and has even tried his hand at directing.

So, I returned three hours later, filled with the after-glow of meeting Stan Lee and Conrad had seemingly forgotten me in the interim. Heck, he's quite popular and the crowd was a fair size – and he's 78 – so I cut him a lot of slack.

What you will see next is the unedited video of that encounter. It turns out, the much-maligned Mr. Wood probably had his hands full, if the entire "Plan 9 From Outer Space"cast had a much energy – not to mention, technological skills – as Conrad.



He was attempting to say ...

ConradBrooks.Com

... but the camera stalled before he got it all out at the end.

Eerie, eh? If Criswell was still alive, he might remark, "My friend, you have seen this incident, based on sworn testimony. Can you prove that it didn't happen?"

That part you see when the camera moved early in the clip occurred when Conrad mistook the camera for, apparently, a tape recorder or something. Then he launches into a perfect Ed Wood spiel. Then promotes Mark's World. And then he sells me a DVD.

I found him to be endlessly entertaining to talk to and was glad that I had a chance to meet him. I kind of knew what to expect from the Stan Lee experience. Conrad was an unexpected, but fantastic, pleasure.

More later,


Mark

I (Kinda) Meet Stan Lee

THE HOLY TRINITY: STAN, ME, SPIDERMAN

I was thinking about this over the weekend: Living in Ohio has given me the opportunity to meet many of my childhood heroes.

Last year, I met Gale Sayers and Dick Butkus during the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction weekend in Canton and then had dinner with Adam West in Niles. Sayers and Butkus were the heart of the Chicago Bears team that first awed me when I was 9 year old; West starred on the TV show that captivated me when I was 6.

In many ways, that kid is still alive inside somewhere. Hence, less than a year after my dinner with Adam, the kid talked me into taking the opportunity to meet Stan Lee.

For the non-true-believers and the uninitiated, Stan is the creative genius behind Marvel Comics who, along with Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Roy Thomas and others reinvented the comic book genre in the 1960s. Their impact is still felt on pop culture even more than 40 years later.

Don't read comics? OK. Have you been to the movies lately? Ever hear of Spiderman, Iron Man or the Fantastic Four? Stan the Man had a role in the genesis of all of them. And the X-Men. Daredevil. You get the idea.

He is an icon and he was booked for the Pittsburgh Comicon at the Monroeville Exposition Center. Mary and I had toyed with the idea of attending, but her work schedule got in the way.

The kid inside kept reminding me: "Stan is 86 years old and what are the odds we'll ever get another chance to meet him? It's only 70 miles..."

So, I decided to hit the convention solo, snatching up two of the remaining Stan Lee autograph passes ($40 each which I thought was a bargain) and a one-day pass for Saturday, though I eventually upgraded to a Sunday pass to when organizers talked me into staying for the Saturday night auction.

The convention was a hoot. It is not one of the huge, corporate deals like the San Diego Comic Con run by the fine Wizard folks. The Pittsburgh event is homegrown and has all of the pluses – and minuses – such efforts entail. I won't go into a blow-by-blow evaluation (Like: The floor was big and featured many cool booths – but there was no map or guide to what was where) but suffice to say I had a great time and hung out with fellow geeks of all ages.

And the place was a geeks dream: Scores of artists were on hand to talk to fans and sell their artwork; tens of thousand of comics were on sale; every superhero toy you ever sought as a kid was there for a price.

I spent the first couple of hours walking the floor, staking out claims and comparing deals. At about 12:30 p.m., they started lining us up for the afternoon signing. Tickets were numbered through the 800's; mine were in the mid-600's.


IT'S A LONG LINE

For the better part of the next two hours, I stood in line bonding with my fellow fanboys. There were all ages there. Directly in front of me was a high school student/football running back who had called off of work and now fretted about what to give Stan to sign (the convention folks could have done a better job letting folks in line know there were no items like 8-by-10 pictures of Stan available to get signed). I tried to talk him into getting his cool Avengers-themed hat signed; he chose a blank piece of paper to get framed.

Behind me was a Cortland resident who manages one of the big Mahoning County bar/eateries. He agreed to shoot a pic of me when I got to Stan and did an awesome job as you can see aboved.

Now, they sold 900 passes which meant poor Stan's hand was going to be hurting after the five-hour signing. The actual signing was a precision-like assembly line: Items were taken, slid across a long table to Stan, an aid told him which color of Sharpie to use, he signed, mumbled, you moved on.

I chose, from my comic collection, two books from Marvel's early era that were penned by Stan: "Tales of Suspense" No. 47 from 1963 (featuring the last appearance of Iron Man's clunky armor and "Amazing Spiderman" No. 40. featuring the second part of the epic battle with the Green Goblin.

Now, after the signing, you could stand in another line to get a "certificate of authenticity" for $3 a piece. After trolling the floor and snatching my brother's Christmas gift, I got into that line just as Stan's signing duties had wrapped up. As he was whisked into his awaiting car, he came by and I reached out and got to shake the great man's hand!

"Hey Stan," I said.

"Nice to see you," he said as he shook and moved quickly along.

It was awesome! Excelsior!

Now I have videos which I will put up tonight. All in all it was a great weekend. And while Stan Lee was awesome, someone else stoled the show...

More later,


Mark

I Am A Rock Star!

Those who know me well know that I am a student of arcade/carnival games.

I like to watch the games, figure out the angles and excel. Hence we've won tons of watches, TV's, bikes and other items at the Mardi Gras on the Main Street Pier in Daytona Beach as a result of gaming during our many vacations. During our trip this past August, we snagged a power washer for my Dad.

We go, play and let the points accumulate. A couple of years ago, I picked up a Wii at Happy Days Arcade in Old Town in Kissimmee, where we celebrate our anniversary every year.

Plus, I am the Crane Master. Show me one of those prize cranes with stuffed animals and i will win. Every prize has a specific weight balance; a center.

All it takes to win arcade games, I often tell people, is patience and a total disregard for money.

So, last week, The Vindicator published a picture of an arcade game that caught my attention:


Michael Snyder, a vendor who runs a dart toss game at the Canfield Fair, waits for customers. © The Vindicator

If you look closely, you can see that if you play for $20, you can win an electric guitar. To me, the attraction was electric, frankly. And irresistible.

I sought out the booth after my Saturday morning shift at the Canfield Fair in The Vindicator booth. I snapped this picture of our cool booth during a rare lull in traffic:



I watched a few players at the game. You had to throw a dart and hit the colored section of a star with very thin points. Most players would aim for the star directly across from them; about a seven-foot throw. For some reason (Gimmicked? Too well-worn? Poor velocity?) the dart would stick in the white around the star and bounce off of the colored star. I decided that I would arc the darts up toward the top, gaining some velocity on the way down and choosing the stars less-often played.

I plunked $20 down and after three shots, I had perfectly and symmetrically surrounded a star. I hit no color. But all of the darts had stuck.

I plunked down another $20 and took better aim. The first landed well within the colored part of a star. Winner!

I still had two darts. Though the sign clearly limits players to just one prize per day, the guy running the game – who couldn't have been a nicer guy – let me continue on. The second shot: Winner! Other players took note. There was some amazement. The third just hit white.

So, I picked a black-and-white Crescent bass, that came with a gig bag, strap and accessory kit that includes a tuner and a pick. It looks like this:



You can find it for about $100 on eBay.com, so I figured $40 was a decent deal.

More importantly, I had won. And there were a few jealous stares as I walked through the fair, clutching the heavy, full-sized bass.

"Nice bass. Where did you get it?"

"I won it throwing darts."

"What? Really? Where?"

Now, I should point out I don't actually PLAY the bass. I have no musical talent whatsoever. None. But now I want an electric guitar to match...

More later,

Mark

Poor Sports In Denver

As you can hear on this FanCam, some Denver Brokens fans are upset that their former quarterback landed on an actual pro team after being backstabbed by a newbie coach who will be lucky to win four games this season:



And to think, a year ago, the biggest problem in Denver was whether then-coach Mike Shanahan would be able to break his playoff jinx. Now? Playoffs?? Don't talk about playoffs! Are you kidding me?? Playoffs??

More later,


Mark

It Bears Noting...

... the next four Bears games will enjoyed in front of the warm glow of the Rat Pack Tiki Bar's 42-inch plasma...

Ah, sit back and enjoy the colortinis, as Tom Snyder used to say...

On Sunday, we got back from Florida in time to watch the rerun of the Rev. Jay Cutler's spiritual revival and the dismantling of the New York Giants from Saturday night on the NFL Network. Eli Manning looked scared. Rich, but scared. The Bears looked awesome!

Some clips:



From here on, it's all live for the next month (sorry Jillians!).

Sunday night , the Bears stomp a mudhole in Kyle Orton and the Denver Brokens, I mean, Broncos on national TV. Really, I like Kyle, but I much prefer having a quarterback.

The following Thursday, the Bears close out the preseason against local punching bags, the Cleveland Browns. Local broadcast will be on the Browns network. Since the audio will be a joke, we will be watching the game but listening to the home team call from WBBM-AM via the NFL.com's Field Pass.

Then we have a 10-day break until the opening weekend when the Bears once again bask in the glow of the national spotlight Sept. 13 as they take on that Wisconsin team on the cheesy tundra of Moe, Larry and Curly Lambeau Field in the season opener of Sunday Night Football on NBC.

The week of Sept. 20? The Bears open at home to dethrone the soon-to-be former Super Bowl champs, the Pittsburgh Alleged-Whore-Chasers, I mean, Steelers. Since the game features another local team (really, no one in Ohio even watches the Browns including, oddly enough, people named "Brown" who's family members curiously had some relationship with the team) that game will light up the home plasma, too.

So, unless the Sept. 27 game against the Seattle Seahawks gets nationally telecast because swine flu wipes out the remaining NFL schedule, we will be soaking up beers at our favorite bar spot at Jillians. Ditto for the Oct. 4 blowout of Detroit. There's a bye week Oct. 11 and then we are back in front of the plasma for the Sunday night romp against Atlanta. Oct. 18.

The rest of the schedule:

• Oct. 25, outside chance to watch the Bengals game on the home plasma.
• Nov. 1, home plasma against the Browns, again.
• Nov. 8, Arizona, Jillians.
• Nov. 12, home plasma, Thursday night game against Mike Singletary's Youngstown-Debartolo-owned 49'ers.
• Nov. 22, home plasma, Eagles, Sunday Night Football.
• Nov. 29, Jillians, Viqueens.
• Dec. 6, Eric's birthday, St. Louis, Jillians.
• Dec. 13, Wisconsin team, Jillians.
• Dec. 20, the real Cleveland team, the Ravens, Jillians.
• Dec. 28, home plasma, Viqueens, Monday Night Football.
• Jan. 3, Detroit, Jillians.

Then we have the various playoff games, all nationally televised. And, finally, Super Bowl XLIV on Feb. 7, 2010 which, unfortunately, returns to the site and broadcast station of Super Bowl XLI: Miami and CBS.

But, wait, before you fuss: Maybe it's best to return to the scene of that unfortunate Rex Grossman flailing bad passes in the Purple Rain (Prince! Don't forget that horrible Prince!) if only to have the Rev. Jay Cutler exercise that demon from our souls.

Eh?

And the circle is complete...

Anyway, with the potential of 10 games in the comfort of our cool home, this season is gonna be great! Who knows: If the Bears get hot, with late-season flex scheduling, poor Jillians might go broke!

More later,


Mark

Last Day At The Beach

On the evening of our last full day of the beach, we shot this little video:




This has been a truly wonderful week on the Atlantic Ocean. We had sun every day and spent a lot of time reading and relaxing on the resort deck. I finished two Grisham novels ("The Last Juror" and "The Broker") and mastered Madden '09 on the PSP. Now, I need Madden 10.

Many stories to tell, but we gotta hit the beach and then decide what to do with 120,000 points at the arcade...

More later,


Mark

Letting My Geek Flag Fly

On Saturday, several hours before the whole Jon Favreau/"Iron Man 2" episode, my inner fanboy had a remarkable time as substitute guest/co-host of veteran Vindicator columnist Betram de Souza's Saturday morning radio show, The Valley's Talkin'.

Our topic was ostensibly about comic books' impact on popular culture, but we had a great guest, Youngstown's own talented artist and writer Chris Yambar.

Learn all about Chris here:

Yambar.Com

You can find Chris' work on the comic racks right now:



Bertram is terrific and a lot of fun to work with on Saturdays whenever his regular co-host, Doc Binning, takes a show off. However, he is not a comic book expert. I sent him home with "The Dark Night Returns" as homework.

The show was also captured on video by the talented Web genius Katie Libecco for Vindy.com. You can watch the video here:



More later,


Mark

Mr. Sweetwood, For The Defense

My respectful letter in response to Marvel's attorney's cease and desist order:

Michael:

Thank you for your letter.

As a long-time customer and supporter of Marvel Entertainment, it certainly was not my intent to infringe upon Marvel's copyright. To the contrary, I think the various fan sites on the Internet do much to build Marvel's brand and keep it relevant and economically viable in the marketplace.

Certainly, marketing efforts, like the one prior to "Spiderman 3" in which Marvel Entertainment encouraged fans to build blogs and Web sites featuring preview clips from that film, introduced many of us to different ways to freely distribute popular film works via social networking.

The majority of the 9,500 views of the "Iron Man 2" trailer embedded on my site came directly as a result of the various retweeting of my original Twitter message to director Jon Favreau. His support of fan interest for this film is as innovative as it is absolutely admirable and I think it separates the Marvel brand from its competitors. Do what you must to protect your brand, but I would caution against doing so in ways that will negatively impact your core of loyal customers.

Per your request, the embedded clip of "Iron Man 2" that was shown at the San Diego Comic Con has been deactivated from www.marksweetwood.blogspot.com.

For your further information, my site's "Fair Use Policy" can be found here:
http://marksworlddisclaimer.blogspot.com

Please contact me if I can be of any additional service.

Very truly yours,

Mark


A fascinating 48 hours, for sure...

More later,


Mark

It's All Fun and Games Until The Lawyers Get Involved

Not sharing director Jon Favreau's adventuresome excitement over Internet fan interest of "Iron Man 2" are the attorneys representing the Merry Marvel Marching Society (MMMS):



Sent Via E-Mail: Marksweetwood@aol.com

August 10, 2009

Attn: Mark Sweetwood

Re: NOTICE AND TAKE DOWN

Dear Mr. Sweetwood:

Marvel Entertainment, Inc. and its affiliates and subsidiaries (collectively, “Marvel”) are the owners of the copyrights, trademarks and other intellectual property rights to the Iron Man 2 movie, including its footage and characters, among other things, and such rights are protected under the law worldwide.

The Iron Man 2 movie trailer available on your website at:
(http://marksweetwood.blogspot.com/2009/08/iron-man-2-sneak-peek.html), contains video, audio, images and likenesses of the Iron Man 2 movie that are being used without Marvel’s consent and infringes upon Marvel’s copyrights and other intellectual property rights. Please remove this content from your website immediately.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this matter, my contact information is as follows:

Michael Sapherstein
Deputy General Counsel
Marvel Entertainment, Inc.
417 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10016
Fax: (646) 403-3177
msapherstein@marvel.com

I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above is not authorized by Marvel, its agent or the law.

I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the above information in this notification is accurate and that I am, or am authorized to act on behalf of, the owner of the exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

Please act expeditiously to remove the material identified and contact me at
msapherstein@marvel.com if you have any questions. Please also provide me with the number of downloads and/or plays this movie trailer received.

Marvel reserves the right to take all available remedies available at law and in equity to protect its interests, and nothing in this letter shall be construed as a waiver or relinquishment of any rights or remedies available to it.

Sincerely,

Michael Sapherstein

Animal Stories

(Cue: wolf howl)

It's time once again for "Animal Stories" with me, your charming and delightful ol' Uncle Mark, and you, little snot-nosed reader.

Hello reader.

Saturday night we were on the phone with my sister, Karen when Mary noticed the cats were agitated by something they were watching from our large picture window off of the living room. That window faces our backyard.

She looked out the window and exclaimed something like "Oh my god, there's a deer right by the house!"

What a gut-wrenching nightmare, little reader. I grabbed the camera and that's when we noticed the second deer.

Now I shot this picture through the sheers that cover that window:



That's the fawn that the neighbors had told us about a few weeks ago, little reader. As we watched, the big doe emerged from the side of the house.

I began to slide open the screen door off the dining room to shoot (a picture of) momma, who had closed to within a few feet of our deck. As I got the door open, she stopped and stared at me.

She stomped the ground, snorted a warning and then she and the fawn took off to the woods near neighbor Tony's yard. It was an amazing adventure, little reader. Yes, I am sure the deer are going to be alright...

In other animal news, it appears the owl has moved on. Coincidentally, or not, I saw the first gopher in several weeks scampering away as I was mowing today.

That's gonna do it for today's "Animal Stories." For those who have no idea what "Animal Stories" used to be, I share this clip of the once-charming and delightful ol' Uncle Lar and his sidekick, little snot-nosed Tommy.



More later,


Mark

And Now, The Rest Of One Fanboy's Story...

DIRECTOR JON FAVREAU AND TWO "IRON MAN" CAST LOOK-ALIKES

So, Saturday afternoon, I was waiting for Mary to get home from work and doing some Web surfing. At this site, I stumbled into something I have sought for weeks:

WorstPreviews.Com

Yes, the clips from "Iron Man 2" that director Jon Favreau and cast had shared at the recent San Diego Comic Con. Some cool fanboy had apparently captured most of it on a cell phone and it had finally found its way to the Internet

What's more, the site allowed me to embed the clip so within minutes it was a part of Mark's World.

It was pure happenstance, but at about that exact moment, from the TweetDeck, I could see that Favreau (@Jon_Favreau on Twitter) had just tweeted to his many followers (I am one).

"Thanks for filling me in about the leaked Comic Con trailer online. I'm told it's not up anymore. Did anyone see it? Thoughts?"

So, I took a chance that he would not be pissed off that I just embedded purloined images from his film that won't be released for another nine months and tweeted directly to him:

"@Jon_Favreau I was blown away, especially by (Garry) Shandling! It's gonna be a long nine months, man! Just embedded it: http://tinyurl.com/n9o9yr"

Now, what happened next must stand as some testament to the confidence of someone as talented as Favreau.

He retweeted my tweet to his 120,000-plus followers.

Boom. Mark's World was on fire.

The next thing I know, the counter on my blog goes crazy. I had more than 1.200 visits in the next hour. Almost as many in the next.

Now, in about four years, Mark's World had amassed – if such a term can even apply – a little more than 17,000 unique visits. In just a couple hours, we had about 6,000 more. Then e-mails started. And new Twitter followers joined. And more messages came in and were retweeted. Comments arrived at the Web site.

"Very cool that you embraced @sobeditor embedding it, Jon. VERY cool," one person tweeted. "Thanks for the embed @sobeditor," another followed.

It was amazing. There is so much positive energy for this movie and for the folks behind it.

On his Twitter page Favreau was getting a lot of feedback from those who had just viewed his work on Mark's World. Within a couple of hours, he posted:

"Thanks for all the encouraging feedback. Will let you know if/when official clean version goes up."

Now, this all has been a blast. But in surfing for a quality photo to use with this post, I came across this enlightening article from The Washington Post:

'Iron Man 2' Director Jon Favreau Shares Twitter Aims

The article explains: "Sure, Favreau's Twitter account has lots of intra-celeb chatter. But there are also the "Iron Man 2" responses that he says allow him pure, unfettered access to fans' thoughts and opinions."

There ya go: He's a smart guy and one heckuva director. And this fanboy is solidly in his corner and very appreciative that he allowed me to share in a small part of all of the "Iron Man 2" hoopla.

I cannot wait to see it. The next nine months are gonna take forever...

More later,


Mark

I Have Been Totally Ready For Some Football For Months!

And just because you've been thinking about it, too:

Super Bowl Bound Bears!

More later,


Mark

MyMovieMoment.com

Here's another clip from the fine folks at MyMovieMoment.com. It's me as "Robocop."

Enjoy!



More later,


Mark

A Wonderful Wedding

Mary and I had a great time last weekend during a trip to the latest family wedding. First, we picked up her mom in Corning, N.Y. where I was able to score some great Market Street Bewing Co. beer. Then, the three of us headed to the Scranton, Pa. area for the wedding of Deanna DePietro and Chris Lemoncelli.

It was great seeing everyone again. Deanna has great taste: Chris is a Chicago Bears fan. The entire trip, whenever at least three guys got together, the talk was all about football... At Mary's godmother's house. At Mary's best friend's party. At the wedding...

Football season is coming...

Anyway, here are some of the photos we took (and Mary did an excellent job helping with the captions):


Amanda DePietro, maid of honor, comes down the aisle of St. Patrick's Church, Olyphant.


The newly married couple, Deanna and Chris, exit the church.


Mary and her Aunt Eliza (Isabella) at the reception.


Mary's cousins, Linda Walsh and Terri Valvano.


Aunt Eliza (foreground) shows the youngsters you are never too old to hit the dance floor.


Proud papa, Henry DePietro, dances with his daughter Amanda.


Cousin Frank Amato snapped this pic of me and Mary.


The aforementioned Frank Amato and his lovely wife Mary Ann.


Me and my favorite mother-in-law, Grace (Incoronata).

The reception was wonderful and featured that rarest of reception features these days: A live band! We were serenaded by classic rock hits all night long. A great time was had by all.

More later,


Mark

Turns Out...

I was born in Kenya, too!



If you want to create your own fake Kenyan birth certificate, like some nutty "birther" broad tried to use to prove that President Obama was not born in Hawaii, just go here:

Kenyan Birth Certificate Generator

More later,


Mark

MyMovieMoments.com

One More Nice Video From The Concert: Good Riddance!

Mary found this on YouTube.com:



More later.

Mark

One More Pic!

My best Green Day concert image that I e-mailed to myself late last night that for some Verizony reason didn't show up until after 8 a.m. Thursday morning....



More later,

Mark

The Reviews Are In!

Check out what Pittsburgh's newspapers said about Green Day's performance at the Mellon Arena:

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

More later,

Mark

The Mellon Arena Set List

Edit this setlist | More Green Day setlists

More later,

Mark

Best. Concert. Ever.

GREEN DAY ROCKS PITTSBURGH

Well, Green Day rocked for more than two-and-a-half hours Wednesday night. It was, without a doubt, the best concert I've ever attended.

When I say "better than," I mean better than: The Who (ninth row), Clapton (too many solos), Dylan (three times). R.E.M. (seats right behind the ban), Santana (first rock concert) Farm Aid (the first one with Neil Young, Dylan, Petty, et al and way too much Willie Nelson), Billie Joel, Jimmy Page, Jimmy Buffett and everyone else I am forgetting. Heck, better than Manilow! They all take a backseat to the staging, showmanship, performance, energy and catalog that makes up Green Day's show.

Our seats were "Igloo" club seats at Mellon Arena, stage left, and close enough to allow me to snap decent pics from my camera phone. The club seats gave us access to our own bar and restrooms! The only negative was the 35 minutes it took us to get out of the parking lot...

Here's a taste of the show from YouTube.com:


FROM YOUTUBE.COM, SHOT FROM ABOVE OUR SEATS


THE WILD FINALE FEATURING CONFETTI BAZOOKAS


BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG CLOSES WITH "GOOD RIDDANCE"

Someone on the floor posted this after the show:



I am exhausted and yet still too wide awake to sleep. I'm gonna be wrecked for work Thursday!

More later,

Mark

Walter, Apollo and Robots

My weekend took a decidedly nostalgic turn. Due to circumstances – some related, some not – I had a few intersections with the boy still wandering around somewhere deep inside my memory.

At the end of it, I can't decide if I ended up feeling way old or way young...

It started, of course, with the death of Walter Cronkite Friday night. Walter might have been the first media person – short of a cartoon character or kids' show host – who''s name I knew when I was still a tyke.

A child of the 1960s, I was enamored with news accounts of the space program. After one of the Gemini launches, probably in 1966, I piled up some of the lawn chairs in my attempt to build a rocket.

It seems, at least in my memory, like every time there was a launch, Walter was there to explain what was going on to me. I am sure he had some influence in my eventual career.

By the time of the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, I was deeply immersed into the moon program. The family had to drink Tang at breakfast because of the many moon mission tie-ins. The legions of Army men were eschewed for mini spacemen. A large moon mission poster replaced Batman on the bedroom wall. I kept busy building models of Saturn V rockets and the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM),

And I will never forget watching Walter and Wally Schirra anchor that first moon walk. I sat wide-eyed with the family in the basement of our Kankakee, Ill. home taking it all in on that wonderful, old, black-and-white Zenith TV.

The broadcast looked a lot like this:



That we live in an age now when I can just call that up and plunk it into something that I am writing is truly a marvel. I have spent a considerable part of the weekend reviewing old images and video from that era.

Everything seemed possible back then.

Suddenly, 40 years flies by... Walter passes on, man has done little else to capture a 9-year-old's imagination and I am dangerously close to becoming 50 years old.

Who the hell wants to be 50 years old? Yeah, I know: Someone in their 80's. Yikes.

Now, there was something else that captured our imagination back in the 1960s: Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots. Our desire was mostly fueled by this TV ad:



Now, Santa, for whatever reason, never blessed us with one of these holy grail presents. But other kids in the neighborhood had it and it was pretty fun. Violence is often the best pastime.

Sunday night, we hit Jillian's for dinner and after playing a bit in the arcade – doing my damnedest to stave off old age – I was turning in some tickets at the counter when I saw it: Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots! Only 3,000 points! Heck, we had more than 15,000 points saved up.


ROCK 'EM SOCK 'EM ROBOTS TODAY

Walter might be gone, Apollo and meaningful space exploration might be over, but damned if Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots hasn't somehow lived on – even if Mattel had to take over Marx to get the robots to the 21st century.

We only clear the pub table in the family room of day-to-day paraphernalia for special events, like when company visits. But Sunday night we cleared the table and my partner in silliness, Mary, and I proceeded to take part in hilarious Rock 'Em Sock 'Em battles. I knocked her block off. She knocked mine off. We laughed hysterically.

I'm not sure it made me feel younger. I guess I felt better. If robots can be taught to survive for decades and make people feel good, maybe there's hope for us all.

More later,


Mark

Countdown to Green Day!

Mary and I will make our way down to Pittsburgh's Mellon Arena Wednesday to catch Green Day on tour!

We have been big fans since the early 1990s when I stumbled onto the very punky "Kerplunk" cd. Or, was it a tape? The early 90's are kind of a blur...

By the time Billie Joe, Tré and Mike signed for a big-time label, Reprise, and set the world on fire with "Dookie,"I was a total fan. I have pretty much everything they've recorded (and brother Eric keeps me in the loop with bootlegs). Their stint as the "Foxboro Hot Tubs" generated my favorite album since "American Idiot."

You can't beat three-guy punk. Adding the Jasons really gives them an edge on tour as witnessed in "Bullet in a Bible."

So, Green Day is on tour for "21st Century Breakdown," an excellent album that manages to NOT be a simple rehash of "American Idiot" while being bold and creative in its own right. Hunting around online, I found some set lists for the current tour. Check this out:

Edit this setlist | More Green Day setlists

"I'll Be There?" Really?? Can't wait!

More later,

Mark

My Michael Jackson Story

In 1979, I was editor of The Bradley Scout at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill. The entertainment editor, I believe the section was called "D2", was Bart Chaney and he announced during our weekly meeting that he was going to review the new Michael Jackson album.

I was taken aback. "Michael Jackson?"

Now, as a white guy living in the Midwest, the last I heard of Michael or the Jackson 5 was that cheesy Saturday morning cartoon featuring such "bubblegum" tunes as "ABC."

So, I was stunned that a college newspaper would feature such a review and even more stunned that a college student would even raise such an idea. And, as was my wont all those years ago, I began to mock Bart.

"Who will we review next week? Donnie Osmond?"

Bart was quick to defend he album (a large, 12-inch-round vinyl disc that was about four times the size of a CD which was that thing we oldsters used to listen to music on before iTunes) and stuck to his guns. The review ran and, of course, "Off the Wall" is considered Jackson's best album and it set the stage for his next 30 years. It was a seminal moment in popular music.

Apparently, I was wrong to mock.

I was just thinking of that meeting and the good-natured mocking and I was once again reminded how quickly time has flown. It doesn't seem possible that it has been 30 years. Now, THAT truly seems off the wall...

More later,

Mark

Karen And Bud Make The Fourth A Blast!

KAREN AND BUD VISIT!

My sister Karen and my brother-in-law Bud left their Wisconsin vacation Friday, drove back to Illinois and then departed for Ohio early Saturday morning for a whirlwind Fourth of July weekend visit to the Brady Bunch compound.

What do you get when you mix Tiki Punch and fireworks?

We had a great time!

In fact, by Sunday morning, people might have argued we had TOO much of a great time. But a walk through Fellows Riverside Garden, some greasy Jillians cheeseburgers and a quick nap recharged our batteries for more fun Sunday night on the deck and then down in The Orbit Room.

I am so lucky to have such a great relationship with my sister. And Bud is such a terrific guy. They are always busy and we don't get to see them as often as we would like so when we get them all to ourselves, it is especially fun!

I have refined my backyard fireworks display - as my "premiere" buying status will attest. The aerial show Saturday night concluded with a fitting finale and then we adjourned to the deck for the ground display.

There was only one real mishap: Earlier in the evening, I wanted to test the ground display and a "free" bonus kit was not clear as to what exactly it did. So, I lit and it started out as a fountain, as I suspected, but quickly morphed into an aerial and the tree limbs started bouncing the mortars every which way, too close to the deck. One spent cartridge actually hit the deck.

Karen screamed; we laughed.

The we adjourned to The Orbit Room until the wee hours.In fact, I distinctly remember Frank singing "In the wee, small hours of the morning..." during the wee, small hours of the morning.

One official tradition at our house is the "best guest" award which began during all of those Christmases Mary and I hosted back in Illinois. Traditionally, the award is won by Bud, though Karen always tries her best. One year, my niece Angela won. This year, we celebrated the award – after judges carefully contemplated the matter – with an actual trophy!

Bud won, per usual.


THE BEST GUEST AWARD

Karen and Bud also have the distinction of being the first official guests to enjoy The Orbit Room. They took a picture of us:


HAMMING IT UP IN THE ORBIT ROOM

It was a great weekend and we can't wait to see them again!

More later.


Mark

BREAKING NEWS

The Death Trilogy Commissioner has an important announcement:

Death Trilogy Commissioner

More later,


Mark

Doh! A Deer!

Wednesday morning, I was getting ready for work when Clyde the Cat started to make a commotion near the picture window facing the backyard. Then I heard the dogs barking next door.

I looked out across our freshly stained deck and there she was: The giant doe we had spied briefly last week. She was under our apple trees, getting ready to check out the salt lick in neighbor Joe's yard. Mary grabbed the camera and I got the first shot with the door closed.



When I slid opened the door to avoid the screen/glare, I attempted one shot, below, but Clyde tried to rush out, hence the blur.



Then, when I looked up again, the doe was gone.

Our neighbor on the other side, Tony, has apparently seen the companion buck. No little fawns have been spied, yet. We first spotted the doe while enjoying a beer on the deck after mowing last week. I always feel like I am being watched when I mow the back 40. Turns out, I guess I was.

Joe's wife Janet reports that she has seen some raccoons near our deck. We can add them to the stray cats, groundhogs, chipmunks, rabbits, squirrels, assorted birds and an owl who prowl the Brady House compound's giant yard. All of the creatures keep our cats entertained.

More later,


Mark