Some stuff I did this winter.

So I left Knights of the Old Republic II and the Xbox at home for Christmas. I was determined to read and watch some stuff from the monumental backlog of crap I had bought but never found time for. Driving to San Diego and back and hanging around my mother-in-law's provided a great opportunity to read some long-overdue comics.

Way back in October, I blabbed about picking up the Wong Kar-Wai DVD boxset. I finally got around to watching Days of Being Wild, Wong's breakout film about a shiftless love-'em-and-leave-'em type in the Sixties and the women he seduces, then drops like a bad habit when they get too attached. It's a good movie, sort of the anti-Chungking Express. Both films feature heartbroken characters, but where CKE was about people moving on with their lives, the characters in Days don't seem to be able to let go of the past, or are unable to connect with the ones they long for. This film seems to be a prequel of sorts for In the Mood For Love, as Tony Leung appears in the last scene, which has nothing to do with anything that preceded it. 2046 is a sequel of sorts to that film, so something tells me a back-to-back-to-back viewing of these three films is in my near future.

Fables: March of the Wooden Soldiers was the best story arc to date. I had started to give up on Fables, as I thought it was an original concept but a little slow, but this was a great read and I'm still on board for future collections.

Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo's Fantastic Four, Vol. 1 was, well, fantastic. I was a little leery since I've always thought the FF were a little dull (something Waid attests to in his notes at the back of the book), but this is a great story with humor, suspense, pretty art, and, of course, Dr. Doom. But it also conveys these characters as family, something other books often try but few succeed at.

The Losers: Double Down is the second installment of the stylish action thriller about CIA operatives presumed dead who return to settle a score with the shadowy figure who left them for dead. Robert Ludlum and Tony Scott got together to make a comic, this would be it. Very satisfying.

I also went old-school Marvel with Essential Tomb Of Dracula Volume 1 and Volume 2. These are reprints of the great '70s Marvel horror series by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan. Having a thing for vampires, I have to say these are a lot of fun, if a bit dated at times. Can't wait to move onto Volume 3.

I took a shot at Dave Gibbons' The Originals, you know, from the other guy who created The Watchmen. It wasn't too bad, sort of a Blade-Runner-meets-Rebel-Without-A-Cause, retro sci-fi tale. It was an enjoyable read, but nothing too memorable.

Queen and Country: Operation: Dandelion is the latest story arc of Greg Rucka's excellent espionage series, with art by Mike Hawthorne. This one's all office politics, but it's no less gritty or suspenseful than previous stories. Seriously, this is a fantastic read. If the BBC produced 24 and then made it into a comic, it would be Q&C.

Supreme Power Vol. 2: Powers and Principalities continues Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski's take on Marvel's Justice League knockoffs Squadron Supreme. Imagine if Superman had been raised by the government at the height of the Cold War and not Ma and Pa Kent, and you get the idea. I thought the first six issues were just okay so I stopped buying it, but this collection really picks up the steam (not to mention the violence, nudity, and profanity). Gary Frank's art is great, the story is building momentum, and this is a series to keep an eye on.

On the manga front, Ray was pretty enjoyable. It has a great premise, about a nurse who performs surgery without a license on the black market, and an intriguing backstory. I read about this in Newtype and liked the look of the art, and I'm glad I took a chance on it.

See? I told you I was busy.

Aaron Rodgers, we hardly knew ye

Cal's fantastic, Montana-esque quarterback Aaron Rodgers is heading for a crappy NFL franchise near you. I would love to see him with the Niners (although I would feel really sorry for him), but I'm not sure he's a number one pick (unless the Niners trade down, which is always possible). Although when Cal played USC at Southern Cal, Rodgers clearly had a better game than Matt Leinart, the Heisman Trophy winner.

Anyone who cares knows by now that Texas Tech smoked Cal in the Holiday Bowl, prompting Rhonda to want to bomb Texas off the map and forcing me to regret buying a Holiday Bowl shirt before the game. Rough month for California, getting shafted by the BCS (but prompting clever "BCS - C = BS" shirts), getting their butts handed to them by a team their BCS nemesis Texas beat by 30, and finally, watching Michigan choke down the stretch at Pasadena to the hated Longhorns.

I was scared about Texas Tech but in denial, because I knew two things. Geoff MacArthur's injury against Southern Miss was the beginning of the end - of his Cal career (sadly, injured for both the Insight and Holiday Bowls), of the Rose Bowl hopes, and effectively, Cal's season. Without MacArthur or Chase Lyman, Rodgers wasn't likely to have anyone get open against Texas Tech. And having seen Cal all season, I knew the secondary was their weakness. I'm incredibly surprised no team had exploited that all season, but looking at Texas Tech's stats I knew it was a bad match-up.

How would Cal have done against Michigan and their freshman quarterback? We'll never know. Cal still deserved that Bowl, regardless of the outcomes - bowl games are awarded for season performance, not for which team is better at the end, an injury-ravaged California or a relatively-healthy Texas.

Wait till next year!

Back from hiatus

Sorry I haven't had an update in a month (!), but life keeps getting in the way.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas (or whatever it is you celebrate, or at least maybe some time off) and a Happy New Year. Mine was not bad, but not particularly good. It's been a rough month - Lou's mom passed away after a battle with lung cancer, the tsunami hit the Indian Ocean, and then, a couple days after Christmas, I went to a funeral to bury a friend.

Rhonda and I weren't real close to Gonzalo; she staffed his retreat, and for both of us our memories of him are from World Youth Day in 2000. It didn't really matter, when I read the news of his death at twenty-two the week before Christmas, I could only sit there at my desk, stunned. I remember driving home that evening, reminiscing on that summer in Europe four years ago, and trying to think when I had seen him last.

Gonzalo's untimely passing has had me thinking about my own mortality. This is the first time in my life someone I know my age or younger has died. It's too difficult to comprehend - how it happened, why it happened - and it has forced me to rethink what I have done with my time on this earth. I don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon, but this just shows it's not my call.

The night I learned of his death Rhonda and I went to Oakridge to do some Christmas shopping. We ate something at the food court, and I went to fill up my drink, and they had Orange Fanta at the beverage bar. Aranciata Fanta. I thought of Gonzalo and swallowed the lump in my throat.

Sigh of relief

Cal gave Jeff Tedford a five-year contract extension today, a glimmer of sunshine in an otherwise dreary weekend for Cal fans. I was really, really worried the millions of dollars lost because of the BCS debacle were going to cost Cal their new facilities, and ultimately, their head coach. I'd much rather lose the Rose Bowl berth and keep Tedford than to sink back into the inevitable mediocrity we'd suffer if he left. Remember when Steve Mariucci left (both Cal and San Francisco)?

ESPN also has some comments from my boy Aaron Rodgers about Texas coach Mack Brown. It's the #2 most-emailed message on ESPN.com right now, so maybe I'm not the only one uber-pissed about this. Now if we can just Rodgers to stay another year...

Maybe the Niners will get him. (It just occured to me the Raiders could end up with him, and that absolutely sickens me.)

Screw the BCS

Every year the Pac-10 gets screwed by the BCS. First Oregon, then USC, and now Cal. Every. Year.

I'm sick of hearing about how screwed Auburn got because they can't play for the title. Boo hoo. I can't understand why that's the story that dominates ESPN. Oh wait, yeah I can, it's because Auburn is on the East Coast, and we know those are the only sports that matter.

Screw ESPN and the broadcast crew they sent to Southern Miss. Screw their incessant commentary about how Cal did not look like the number four team in the country. And screw those Texas fans who drove to Mississippi (I guess truancy is okay, as long as it's in the name of school spirit!).

Screw the Conference USA officiating crew, who blew a pass interference call in the end zone in the first quarter and called a non-existent clip on the Arrington TD in the fourth. That cost Cal their so-called "decisive margin of victory", which isn't even supposed to factor into the voting.

How do you win six in a row and lose votes in the polls each of the last three weeks? I'm waiting for Texas coach Mack Brown to pull off his mask to reveal himself as Karl Rove.

Screw Texas and their whining. It seems like in America, whining works. Worked for Terrell Owens after he got traded to Baltimore, worked for Mack Brown and Texas. I hope Michigan beats their asses.

Fact is they got their asses handed to them on a platter by #2 Oklahoma on a neutral site, whereas Cal's only loss was at #1 USC in a game they dominated except for four plays at the end of the game.

This is a pretty bitter pill to swallow. I didn't feel like going to work or even leaving the house after the latest BCS punch to the Pac-10's gut. Thanks to Marv and Jess, for having us over yesterday for a few hours to watch football and talk about comics and video games, anything except college football.