Sunday, August 30, 2009

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

Monday, August 24, 2009

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...

Image Hosted by ImageShack.usOn 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

Saturday, August 22, 2009

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

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

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:

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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

Monday, August 10, 2009

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):

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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

Sunday, August 09, 2009

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:

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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

Saturday, August 08, 2009

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

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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

Friday, August 07, 2009

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):

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

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

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

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Mary's cousins, Linda Walsh and Terri Valvano.

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

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

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Cousin Frank Amato snapped this pic of me and Mary.

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The aforementioned Frank Amato and his lovely wife Mary Ann.

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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

Thursday, August 06, 2009

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
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