Northern Reflections – A Bunch of Quick Hits 2: The Winter Soldier

I’ve decided to try to blog more frequently. The one I wrote about my night out with Stella Ella Ola got 175 reads. Thanks to everyone who read it. I hope you enjoyed it, and more importantly, I hope you downloaded and enjoyed the music and will support these bands by buying their music when it’s available.

I’ll probably wind up doing mainly “Quick Hits” blogs, as I rarely have a lot to say about any single thing. Let’s get started on this one.

The Bane/Bain Capital Thing

For those who haven’t heard, there’s a conspiracy theory out there that the makers of the new Batman movie chose Bane as the villain to make Mitt Romney’s company Bain Capital look bad. First off, in this type of economy, financial companies don’t need help looking like the bad guy. Secondly, the character was chosen for the movie well over a year ago – long before Romney was the Republican candidate. Third, this conspiracy’s loudest supporter is Rush Limbaugh, so you can pretty much dismiss it out of hand as an attention-whoring move. (And if that's not enough to convince you, the two guys who created Bane are conservatives, and they're saying this is ridiculous.)

It’s ludicrous. I’m sure you know that, but I figured I’d say it anyway.

The Newsroom

Aaron Sorkin’s new show. It’s really really good. I mean, it has its problems – it’s a bit heavy-handed in its anti-FOX News, most notably – but the banter is what you’d expect, the characters are likeable when they should be and detestable when they should be, and Jack McCoy says “fuck” a lot. What more can you ask for?

Well, if you’re Michael Wilbon from ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption, apparently, you can ask for more black characters. For some reason, Wilbon is pissed that Sorkin “couldn’t find one black actor” for his show. There’s a very prominent Indian character and three very strong female characters (which is great, if you’re keeping score on this sort of thing), but no black characters. There are also no Native Americans, no Chinese, no Koreans, no Japanese, no handicapped, no Jewish, no Muslim, no Inuit, no Brazilian, no canine, no Norwegian – you know what? Fuck Sorkin and his non-inclusive show. I’m boycotting it until he has every race, religion, gender, and species represented. (No I’m not.) It’s ridiculous that he doesn’t. (No it’s not.) I’m outraged. (No I’m not.)

Hey Wilbon: stick to sports. Leave the social commentary to social commentators.

Chick-Fil-A

Something that I am actually pissed about is the Chick-Fil-A news. I had heard maybe six months ago that the company was donating vast sums of money to anti-gay institutions. I was disgusted. Today, there’s an article on the Huffington Post wherein the owner of Chick-Fil-A comes right out (not that way) and says that he believes in the Biblical definition of marriage and that people have no right to redefine it for themselves.

What he doesn’t say is what marriage (gay or otherwise) has to do with chicken sandwiches. I mean, he’s as entitled to his opinion as I am to mine, but what he’s basically doing is turning his business into “Bigot Burger.” He’ll definitely lose sales from people who find his stance morally reprehensable, but he’ll likely gain twice as many sales from those who share his belief.

I realize I’m generalizing and speculating and that I have no data to back any of this up, but that’s what I see as the game plan here: hate speech = money. It’s sickening.

Fantasy Football

On a muuuch lighter note, it’s almost draft time. My Canada RoughRiders are preparing to defend the Cupcakes & Bananas title with keeper options such as Fred Jackson, Mike Wallace, and the 49ers Defense. Seriously.

After looking at my final roster from last year, I have no idea how I won. In fairness, I had Brady (not keepable, sadly) and Jackson (who played way above his pay grade), but that shouldn’t have been enough. I remember a couple of weeks where my opponent tanked or I got big numbers from unexpected places, but what an amazing perfect storm for me to win a league with these guys.

Congrats, me.

ComiCon News

ComiCon happened last weekend in San Diego. I haven’t heard anything bad about the event that wasn’t related to waiting in lines, but that’s just part of the deal. Here are some of the Marvel highlights:

•    Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier – This is exactly what I was hoping for. The Winter Soldier is an awesome character, and they’ve already set the scene for this movie to take place.
•    Thor 2: The Dark World – No idea what this one’s going to be about, but I’ll be there opening night.
•    Guardians of the Galaxy – I’m really excited about this one, too. I’ve seen the teaser art, so I know it’s the most recent iteration of the team, which is great. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a talking raccoon and the king of the tree people on the team. No, seriously. And it’s going to be awesome.
•    Deadpool video game – there’s an adults-only teaser trailer here. You’re either excited or you’re not. I think it’s going to kick all of the different kinds of ass.

But DC had the announcement of the weekend: Neil Gaiman is going to write more Sandman. There are no words to describe how awesome a thing that is. I’ve been thinking about it for almost a week, and I still can’t describe it. If you haven’t read Sandman, you should. I can’t give it a higher recommendation. It’s literature with pictures. Read it.

Huge NHL News

In absolutely huge NHL news, I’ll be doing a hockey podcast with Fred “Solly” Solomon, likely starting in late August or early September. What qualifies us to host a hockey podcast? Absolutely nothing. Really.

That said, it should be a lot of fun, and I expect that it will deviate quite a bit from the core subject (hockey), so even if you’re American, you might enjoy it.

And that’s all I’ve got for now.

As always, I’m open to “Blog-on-demand.” If you’ve got something you want me to spout off on, just let me know.

Have fun. Play safe.

Your pal,

~Hodgey