Iron Man 2

I remember when the first Iron Man was released a couple years ago. I remember thinking that I wasn't too thrilled to go out and see it. And that was just because I didn't know much about Iron Man in general. I've said it before, I'm a DC, so when it comes to the Marvel super heroes, I'm usually at a loss. Sure, I've seen enough Spider-Man and X-Men growing up that I get the gist of their stories. But to me, Iron Man was just never one of those more popular characters.

And then I saw the movie and was pretty much blown away. I'm not sure I can say that it was better than the first couple Spider-Man flicks. Those were really good. But Jon Favreau did a great job directing and Robert Downey, Jr. was the perfect fit for Tony Stark. So when the inevitable sequel was being made, I had to fight back my excitement.

See, I don't like to get excited over sequels anymore. More often than not, I end up being let down. Because, let's face it, for every Godfather Part II you have a Godfather Part III. That is to say, for every great sequel, there is inevitably the sequel that is just as horribly disappointing.

Iron Man 2 did not disappoint. I won't sit here and claim I thought it was better than the first, but it may have been just as good. It may help that I'm not familiar with much of Iron Man's history or stories, so any potential movie plot would be a complete surprise for me. I don't know how Tony Stark is supposed to interact with Pepper Potts or Colonel Rhodes or Nick Fury. So any of his actions and reactions are completely new to me.

This time around we're introduced to a new villain, Whiplash. I don't think he's ever actually named that in the film, he may only be known as Ivan Vanko, a typical bad guy with a typical rationalization for his villainy. And this time, Tony gets a little help from his friends at SHIELD and from Col. Rhodes, who dons an armored suit to become War Machine.

If you enjoyed the first movie, you'll like this one. It's packed with the same kind of action and humor that made the original a success. And there are little hints at things to come. We catch sight of Captain America's shield and (if you stay until after the credits) Thor's hammer. I think it's safe to say that the Avengers will be assembling at a theater near you soon enough.

Courage

Oz had been facing some dark days for quite some time. It had been 12 years since little Dorothy Gale dropped into Munchkinland. 12 years since she took that fateful trip down the Yellow Brick Road, meeting friends and enemies alike. It had been 12 years since the Lion first began to face his fears in order to help a stranded little girl.

Even now, 12 years after receiving courage from the Wizard, the Lion was still occasionally referred to as "Cowardly." He couldn't understand it. Of course he knew that the Wizard had been a fraud all along. He knew that what he had given to the Lion was no more useful as courage than the brain he had given the Scarecrow, or the heart he had given the Tin Woodsman. But the Lion had since proven himself again and again. He was far from cowardly.

And though the Lion was a modest creature, he thought it would have been nice for the nickname "Courageous" to catch on. But it's not as if he could start something like that himself. Nicknames are given by the people around you, not by oneself.

But it's not as if he surrounded himself with many people these days. It was difficult to know who to trust. It's not that he was afraid to trust anyone. But he was smart enough to heed the words of the Scarecrow, who was much wiser than he. "You must be careful who you trust, Lion," the Scarecrow had said. "You're out there in the jungle, among all manner of creatures. They can't all be trusted to fight for what's right in Oz."

And so the Lion kept to himself. He heard whispers over the years. He knew that Ozma was no longer on the throne. He knew that the Nome King had finally usurped her rule and was now acting as a tyrant in the Emerald City. He knew that the good people of Oz had been living in fear for several years. They feared what would happen if they tried to revolt. The good people of Oz feared what would happen if they tried to find Ozma and restore her to her rightful throne.

The Lion knew that he and his friends would not be enough to remove the Nome King and his dark army. Sure, they had plenty of good people on their side: the Scarecrow and Tin Man, of course, the Hungry Tiger, Tik-Tok, the mechanical man, and Jack Pumpkinhead. Most importantly, this small band of rebels were being secretly led by Ozma herself. But he knew the key to their eventual success was Dorothy Gale.

Dorothy had not been seen in Oz in nearly a decade. He knew that the little girl must have grown up and forgotten about her friends in this magical land. But she was needed. The Lion had to find that girl and remind her about just how real the Land of Oz really is. It was a mission that would take a great deal of courage, something that this Courageous Lion certainly did not lack.

He stared into the darkness of the jungle... his jungle... and he set his feet on the path that lay before him. He was walking the path that would eventually lead him to Kansas. There was so much riding on finding Dorothy. He knew that if he failed, all would be lost.

Don't Stop Believin'

I saw this a few days ago and thought it was cool.

Question of the Week: Favor

Do you usually make a special effort to thank someone who does you a favor? How do you react when you aren't thanked for going out of your way for someone?


I'm pretty sure I generally thank someone several times if they've done me a solid. But if I'm not thanked for something I've done, I don't really think of it as that big a deal. There have been times when I've internally scoffed at a lack of gratitude on someone else's part, but I get over it pretty quick.

*Question of the Week comes from The Book of Questions by Gregory Stock, Ph.D.

Legends of the Bank Teller - Episode LXXVII

There are a number of things that I'd rather be doing today. The easiest and most obvious choice would be to just be sitting at home doing nothing. I have a very comfortable overstuffed sofa that I could easily go right back to sleep on. I have a pretty substantial television, on which I could enjoy any number of daytime programs, including but not limited to: reruns of sitcoms, cheesy judge shows, The Price is Right, and, of course, soap operas. I also own a Playstation 3 and recently bought the latest Final Fantasy installment, a game that I have had no time to really play.

But there are other things that I would rather be doing today. Things that have nothing to do with being at work. Things that have nothing to do with being at home. As my assistant manager mentioned, having my eyeballs scooped out with rusty spoons would be one of them. True, it would be one of the less pleasant options, but it would be a good option nonetheless. Other activities include having elaborate dental surgery, being tortured for information that I don't have by none other than Jack Bauer, being given thousands of paper cuts over most of my body and then being forced to bathe in lemon juice, or going to a circus and being subjected to the terrors that are clowns.

Instead I'm here. I'm dealing with customers that don't care that I'm here to help them. They're only interested in complaining whenever something goes wrong. I'm dealing with ridiculous expectations that are coming down from the powers that be, adding to the stress of a job that I'm already underpaid and overqualified for. I know there will be moments in my day where I will want to not only destroy my sometimes-inoperable-computer, but will also be tempted to find a sledgehammer and just start taking down the building brick by brick.

However, there may be one bright spot in my day. It's something that I try to look forward to each day that I'm forced to make my 45-minute commute. That would be the Girl in the White SUV. Though I realize she doesn't come to my drive through window on a daily basis, the chance that today is one of those days is sometimes, if not always, just enough to keep me coming back here. And so I chain myself to my window for my daily sentence of 8 hours in hell. All for the hope of a smile and an awkward feeling at some point between 2 and 4 in the afternoon.

The Single Guy and the Business Card

Another week had passed since the Single Guy chickened out. The Girl in the White SUV hadn't been by the bank in all that time, so he had time to think. Really, it was more like he had time to dwell.

In that time, the Single Guy consulted friends and co-workers on what the best course of action would be. It was mutually decided upon that it would be inappropriate to just ask her out at the drive through window. In his initial letter to the Girl in the White SUV, he had told her that he didn't want to put her on the spot or embarrass her in any way.

So the Single Guy took one of his business cards and flipped it over. On the back, he simply wrote, "Would you like to have coffee with me sometime? My treat..." and then he left instructions to call or text, followed by his cell phone number. And then he waited.

She finally came by the bank. They exchanged the normal pleasantries while the Single Guy ran her transaction. Once the work was done, he took her receipt and attached the altered business card using a paper clip. He passed her the receipt and card and wished her well as she once again drove away.

And then the Single Guy waited again. He had placed the ball right back into the court of the Girl in the White SUV. It was up to her now to decide if picking up the phone and calling or texting would be worth the cup of coffee. It was time to learn if she was truly interested in the Single Guy or if she was merely flattered by the letter he had sent so many weeks ago.

Button Button

I'm not a big believer in having an over-abundance of clothes. In fact, I'd really like to get my closet down to a point where I have enough short and long-sleeved shirts to get me through two weeks. I run my dress shirts for work on a constant cycle. And my pants? Well, I have a limited number of those.

I'm about to admit to something that a few of you out there will think is odd or even disgusting. But see, I don't think it is. I absolutely do not believe that a pair of pants needs to be washed after only one wearing. Thus, I only have two pairs of jeans. I only have two pairs of khakis. And I have one pair of black slacks. That's it. Oh, and a variety of shorts. We are approaching summer, after all.

On a side note, I also use the same bath towel for a full week before ditching it in the hamper. I'm clean when I use it to dry off. What's the point of using multiple towels?

Anyway, pair my adherence to the recycling of pants with my dislike of spending money on pretty much anything, I wear my clothes until they wear out. And this is what happened to me last week.

For a while I had noticed that the material in one of my pairs of khaki pants had begun to wear thin. But I figured I could still get some good usage out of them since the thin parts were in unnoticeable places. Then, on Friday, the unthinkable occurred.

The key button that held the pants together popped off. This is not a comment on my waistline. In fact, I've lost weight since the first of the year, thank you very much. No, the thread holding the button had just deteriorated and lost its hold on that important plastic disc.

So I spent the better part of Friday wearing pants that were held in place only by a belt (which has also seen better days).

We have a sewing kit at work. It has plenty of thread in it. Six spools of various colors. However, there are no needles in said sewing kit. Not a lot of help when one loses and important button.

Guess it's time to buy some new pants.

Event

There's no one still alive that witnessed the catastrophic event that took away our planet's moon. Believe me, plenty of the witnesses died that very day. The rest went on to lead normal lives and die of old age. Well, it was as normal as things could have gotten after such an apocalyptic tragedy.

I've seen pictures of what the moon once looked like. Full, round, bright, and scarred with craters. I'm sure to most of the people at the time, staring up into the night sky and finding the moon staring back at them was just a commonplace thing. I'm sure people took it for granted that their nights would be lit up by that pale glow. I'm sure they took for granted that the oceans' tides would continue to rise and fall with the lunar cycle.

The truth of what happened so long ago is lost to us now. The plain truth of the matter is that no one was prepared for what happened. The old ones still tell the stories that have been passed down, but even they don't know all the facts. They can't possibly know all the facts. Even they are generations removed from the event.

But they say that something collided with the moon. They say that whatever it was was so large and so powerful that it shattered the moon upon impact. They say that large pieces of the lunar surface eventually rained down on the earth. The panic that set in was immediate. The people ran for shelter from the storm of lunar rocks, but still they knew it was futile. Cities, even nations, were utterly destroyed, either by the debris or by the numerous tidal waves caused by the impacts with the oceans.

Over time, the handful of people that survived picked up the pieces. Civilization started over again, at first, clinging to the remnants of what had gone before. But eventually, the early survivors realized that too was futile.

I'm just a kid who wanders from village to village. I was born into a family of explorers. Like my fathers before me, I search for evidence of the past. I search for pieces of a puzzle, trying to determine exactly what life was like on this planet before the moon was destroyed.

At night, as I walk along our broken roads, I look up at the darkened sky. I see the stars. I see the cloud of dust and debris that encircles our world in the orbit that was once traveled by the moon. I wonder how different my life would be today if that orb still hung there silently shedding its pale light.

The Lightning Thief

Many months ago I remember seeing a trailer for Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and I thought it looked interesting. Of course, it was just a teaser sort of trailer that really didn't give the viewer much of an idea what the movie would be about. However, just having the word "Olympians" in the title made it intriguing for me.

For as far back as I can remember, I've found the stories of Greek mythology to be fascinating. It could stem from the first time I saw the original Clash of the Titans. I'm honestly not sure where it began. I just always thought the stories were exciting. At some point in high school, we were required to read Edith Hamilton's "Mythology." Of all the required reading that I refused to appreciate at the time, that book may have been the only one I genuinely devoured.

And now, Rick Riordan has introduced the world to a series of new myths. I realize he's not the first to do so, as ancient Greek legends can be found intertwined with a great deal of the culture throughout Western Civilization. This is actually a springboard for Riordan in the first book of the Percy Jackson series, The Lightning Thief, a story that introduces us to the idea that the immortal Greek gods of ancient myth never went away, and that they continued to lend a hand to civilization and influence culture throughout the centuries.

I mentioned seeing the trailer for the movie because that's what got me to pick up the book. It may be a mistake, but I'm generally the type of person who likes to see the movie after reading the source material. I'm sure that just leads me to be disappointed once I pay the price of admission, but it's how I tend to operate. So I got the book. And it sat on my coffee table for several weeks. The film has since left theaters and I now have to wait for the DVD to truly be disappointed.

With the book, there is no disappointment. Riordan does a great job of updating ancient Greek stories to mesh with a modern world. You know how the gods would mingle among the mortals and randomly sire illegitimate children that would become the heroes of many stories? Turns out they still do that. Of course you have your classic names: Hercules, Perseus, George. That's George Washington, by the way, son of Athena. Add to the list another Perseus, or Percy for short.

Percy Jackson was just a typical problem kid with ADHD. He had been expelled from six schools in as many years. He adored his mother and hated his oaf of a step-father. He never knew his real father, who disappeared across the sea not long after his birth. And that was all the 12-year-old Percy really knew about his life. He seemed to have gotten a raw deal. Add to it the fact that suddenly he was being attacked by his algebra teacher on a field trip, who seemed to turn into some kind of leathery monster.

Turns out Percy Jackson was anything but an ordinary problem child. Percy was a demigod (half god/half human). With the help of his protector, Grover (a satyr in disguise), he makes his way to Camp Half-Blood where he's taught how to be a proper hero and discovers for himself that he is a son of Poseidon, the sea god. He forms an unsteady friendship with Annabeth, a daughter of Athena, and Luke, a son of Hermes. Soon after he is claimed by his true father, he is sent on a quest, with the aid of Grover and Annabeth, to stop a war among the gods over the theft of Zeus' master lightning bolt.

It's not an easy thing to do as Percy soon realizes. They meet several of the great monsters of myth: Medusa, Cerberus, the Furies. They even tussle with Ares, the god of war. Percy performs his quest and uncovers more than a few secrets along the way. All in all, it's a good read with plenty of action to keep the pages turning.

I won't sit here and say that it's another Harry Potter to keep kids coming back to books, though I think that's what the people at 20th Century Fox would like it to be. But it does contain a lot of the same sorts of pulls that J.K. Rowling's book series had. You've got a group of young kids risking their lives for the greater good. You've got some magic and intrigue. And in the background you have a dark puppet master pulling strings who remains hidden from the view of the reader.

I think it's great that young readers have these kinds of books to keep them interested in something other than television and video games. Not that I'm knocking TV or Playstation, they're fine in moderation. I just don't remember having stories like this to read when I was in that "young reader" age group. Maybe I wasn't paying attention when I was that age. Those of you out there who are my age, did we have books like this 15 or 20 years ago? I look at the young adult section at the bookstore and come across the Harry Potters, the Twilights, and the numerous clones of these phenomena. What did we have back in the day?

Anyway, The Lightning Thief was a good read and I look forward to the next book in the series, The Sea of Monsters. Apparently Percy goes looking for the golden fleece. Didn't Jason and the Argonauts already find that?

Question of the Week: Belittled

At a meal, your friends start belittling a common acquaintance. If you felt their criticisms were unjustified, would you defend the person?

Honestly, I probably wouldn't at first. In fact, I'd probably join right in with the belittling, especially if it's the kind of thing where we're having a laugh at that person's expense. However, I'm sure it wouldn't be long before I felt guilty about it. But by then, it would really be too late to say something about it. At that point, it would just be hypocritical of me to tell the others we need to stop making fun of someone who isn't even there. But I know I'd feel bad about it. It's happened before.

*Question of the Week comes from The Book of Questions by Gregory Stock, Ph.D.