Monthly Archives: August 2013

The Goon and the Pink Backpack

Last year, I wrote about my youngest son- aka The Goon- and his selection of a pair of purple-with-silver-sparkles Dora the Explorer sneakers. I shared my reaction to my son’s very clearly articulated desire for the things that we would normally describe as “girly”. A lot of folks read that blog post and I’m genuinely humbled by the reaction. For me, the events I wrote about are all good. I came away from them believing that my son is a wonderfully unique little boy who knows who he is. As a father, that’s about all I think really matters.

So about a year and a half later, we’ve moved into a new house accompanied by my father (Papa), who’s still living in our basement, and welcomed the addition of my mother-in-law (who will be known as Nonni in my writings), into our crazy, loving household. (Yes- my father and my wife’s mother both live with us. No- they are not together. Yes- it is just as crazy as you might imagine. Nonni and I are going to write a sitcom. See you in Hollywood…)

My boys are now 14, 6, and 4. They are smart, considerate, sweet young men. I’m a lucky Dad. Life is good.

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The Greatest [Wolverine] Story Ever Told…

… surprise- won’t be found in the latest movie!

A few days ago, I saw The Wolverine with my two comrades-in-geekdom. As I mentioned a while back, I had high hopes for this movie. From an early perspective, it looked like the newest movie’s story was based on a four issue mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 1982 written by Chris Claremont and pencilled by Frank Miller. These two guys are geniuses. Chris Claremont wrote X-Men for 17 years. Seriously. “Days of Future Past”- the storyline that the newest X-men movie is based on- that’s his, among a bunch of other equally epic ones. (The Brood, anyone?) Frank Miller was one of the artists that brought the pre-Giuliani grit of New York City to comics. Along the way, he also redefined Daredevil, cemented Batman’s eternal coolness in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, and brought to life the epic last stand at Thermopylae in 300.

Sadly, the movie only skims the surface of the 1982 mini-series. It takes some characters and scenes but ignores the theme of the story. It is that theme that makes the story epic and the topic of this post. This is not a review of The Wolverine. A few moments on Google will find you a boatload of those reviews. Instead, let’s take a look at what Hollywood chose to ignore in that 1982 mini-series.

Fair warning- some minor SPOILERS for the movie below.

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Filed under Geek 101