So Early It's Stupid

Unscripted NFL Predictions 2013

Football doesn't start for another 3 months. Free agency is still underway and the draft is barely over. But it's time to pretend I have enough enough information to predict that huge event that occurs in February - the Superbowl. That's right, it's time for so-early-it's-stupid NFL predictions.

* In fact, it's so early, I reserve the right to make more serious picks later if one starts to look utterly ridiculous, but I'm going to try to keep them the same!

** Last year I predicted a Patriots-Packers Superbowl, and while that didn't pan out, I did guess 6 of the 8 Division Champs correctly! I'm going with a few more underdogs this year, so we'll see how it goes...

Words in My Mind

I can’t clear my head. I’m sitting here and I want to write, I want to tell a story, I want to say something worth saying and I know it's there, I know I have it in me but I don’t know how to get to it. How do I make what is inside come out. When I imagine myself writing something truly great and truly powerful and truly impactful, the words come bursting out of my chest like some pulsing geyser, frothing about all over the place, all over the page and the computer screen. A mess at first, but then the words arrange themselves in a way that is so perfect and logical and illogical and fun and oh so beautiful.

Oh so beautiful. It reminded Alec of that line from the musical Sweeney Todd. His thoughts interrupted, he once again began to listen the older couple next to him. The man was going on about his genetically deficient extended family who lived south. Apparently other than himself, the man’s family was filled with people who were either stupid or fat or lazy. Sometimes all three. Alec literally jerked his head back and forth to shake out the distractions. I came here to focus; to write something that I believe to be true, Alec reminded himself. It’s what I promised I would do, what I need to do. Okay, I wish that the words inside would erupt up and outwards, messy at first, but beautiful. Right, onward…

Flying High

Review: Iron Man 3

"You'll never see me coming."

You likely already know from the trailers this line is uttered rather menacingly by the villain of Iron Man 3. What you may not know is how prophetic that line is of not only that character, but the film as a whole. You'll never see it coming.

Robert Downey Jr. (Sherlock Holmes) is back as Tony Stark/Iron Man, most movie-watchers' favorite Avenger. But this hero just can't seem to get over the impending sense of doom the alien invasion from The Avengers seems to have left him with. He spends all his time in his workshop, relentlessly preparing for any unknown threat and begins to suffer anxiety attacks, perhaps even post-traumatic stress disorder.

The character arc of Stark is Iron Man 3's strongest quality. This is a guy still growing, still grappling with fears, and is brought to life perfectly by RDJ. In many parts of the film there is an exhausting overabundance of weaponized technology, but there's also a great middle section where Tony is left with no suit, only his wits. It's an engaging return to the idea of what a man can accomplish in a cave - or a shed - with a box of scraps.

2013 Summer Movie Trailers - May

May 3rd

Iron Man 3

Get Excited: Is it even really necessary to spell it out? Robert Downey Jr. is back as Tony Stark in a sequel that looks just as good as the first film and has all the momentum from The Avengers. Re-team RDJ with his Kiss Kiss Bang Bang director Shane Black and we've already forgiven Marvel for Iron Man 2.