The Bull Pen #11

Over the weekend, I decided that I would go to the ballpark for the first time in almost three years to watch the local Major League Baseball team play. In case you did not know, I live near Cincinnati so I hauled my butt out of bed early on Saturday in order to make the 1:15 game time between the Houston Astros and the Cincinnati Reds. It was the most enjoyable time I have had at Great American Ball Park, not only because it was the first time they have won a game I have attended at GABP but because I was sitting in my new favorite section, the Sun/Moon deck out in right field. I was five rows off the outfield fence with an excellent view of everything, including the scoreboard. Of course, my seat location was so good because I was by myself when I bought the ticket. The Sun/Moon Deck is an excellent section to watch the ballgame from because of the fact that there seems to be a sense of community among the regulars. If any of my clan mates should ever come in to town and want to go to a Reds game with me, they had better go to http://reds.com and check out the views from that section because that is likely where they will be sitting.

The summer movie season kicks off this upcoming weekend with the release of Mission Impossible III and this year has much more appeal than last year’s mixed bag of releases. I will see MI3 this weekend so it kind of takes it off a priority list for me but here are the summer movies I am most looking forward to, in order of preference: Cars, Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest, X3 – The Last Stand. I have not quite got a handle on some of the other movies I might want to see but I know that Superman Returns is that just has not drawn me in yet. You will notice that my order of preference starts with a Pixar movie. In my eyes, these guys have not made a bad movie yet. In fact, their “worst” movie, A Bug’s Life, is still better than such self-referential nonsense as Shark Tale. I am one of the rare people who found Monster’s Inc to be better (albeit just slightly) than Shrek thanks to a wittier and more timeless sense of humor displayed in Monster’s Inc. Toy Story 2 is still the pinnacle though and will be tough to top as it is both funny and emotionally engaging at the same time. Cars is coming out at just the right time as John Lassiter’s talents have been missing for a while and the idea of computer animation and anthropomorphic animals is being beaten to death. An animated movie that harkens back to the old WB and Disney cartoons about cars, boats, trains, and even hats having human personalities and qualities should be an enjoyable romp. The great Pixar tradition will continue this summer with Cars.

Custom Game of the Week: I have been creating all sorts of new crazy games lately (probably much to the terror of folks who scream when they see me have party leader) and a new one I got to play last evening was Snot Bombs. Simple enough rules for this game as it is a multi-bomb game played to a time limit with your starting weapons (and only weapons) being a sniper rifle and a shotgun. The idea was to have it be a multi-team game run on either Warlock or Foundation. Boy, did the craziness level ratchet up with 3 teams on Warlock. A ten minute time limit was tested but 5 minutes may be more appropriate on Warlock. I suppose you could also play it with 2 teams on Beaver Creek but the idea is to have the super long range weapon and the super shot range weapon for various situations. Needless to say, a team that has a guy who can no-scope snipe is going to be very successful. I think it has the potential of being a winner with the proper feedback and proper team balancing. I also recommend that the game be closed upon start because that extra guy can make all the difference. An extra 5-10 minutes cannot be too much to ask of those wanting to get in? I may also ask for comments on games of mine you have liked or not liked in the near future.