My Top Six Favorite Superheros!

These are in no particular order, my 6 favorite superheros, like it or not.

#1. Spider-Man
In the comics, the science nerd Peter Parker, was bitten by a radio active spider giving him super powers. Those powers include; Super strength, super agility, spidey-sense and corrected vision. The spider also passed to Peter the knowledge of certain chemicals and enzymes that create webbing which he utilizes with web cartridges in his web shooters. What I like about Spidey is that he uses his intelligence that he already had. Also he is quirky and has a great sense of humor and constantly belts out great one-liners. He represents all geeks and nerds and defies stereotypes almost on the same level Frodo did in LOTR.

#2. Thor

Marvel comics adapted the mythical Norse god of thunder and transformed him into their own hero. He wields the mighty hammer Mjolnir which harness the powers of a storm and good for just plain bashing the bodies of bad guys. There have been several background stories for Thor throughout the years, but the one I'm most familiar is that he was so arrogant that his Father Odin banished him to our Realm. The way Odin did it was storing Thor's memories and spiritual body into a disabled medical student named Donald Blake. I can't remember what else happens but I know that through this Thor learns humility and Wisdom and later on he gets restored back to his original self. Thor is also a founding member of The Avengers and there will be a film version of that coming out next year.

#3. Bea Arthur

Her powers are "Keepin' it real" and telling it like it is! You go girl!

Ma, ma ma, Maud!

#4. Batman

I think we're all pretty familiar with this guy. Billionaire Bruce Wayne dedicated his life to fighting crime after witnessing the death of his parents right in front of him. This guy doesn't have super powers but he does have a genius level I.Q. and tons of money to create the gadgets he uses to fight crime. He has also mastered the art of hand to hand combat which many of his enemies have come to learn the hard way. Batman was also one of the founding members of the Justice League. The Justice League is a now large network of DC comic's superheros that look after the protection of Earth from domestic or intergalactic threats. He pretty much represents normal humans among the people with superpowers and keeps them in check. He is said to have extensive files on all of the JL members. Quite the cynic.

#5. Green Arrow

With Batman being a huge hit during "The Golden Age" of comics, DC comics wanted another hero like him. Enter Green Arrow, just like Bruce Wayne, Oliver Queen was another Billionaire who fought crime. Obviously he was inspired by Robin Hood, with the way his costume is and he too is also an Archer with a variety of special arrows, mostly non-lethal. DC comics did pair him and Batman up in a few issues along with their dorky side-kicks "Speedy" and "Robin", but later on they paired Green Arrow up with Green Lantern and gave them their own comic series. Batman recruited Green Arrow to the Justice League to help keep it real.

#6. Superman

Of course he's on here, I can't leave Supes out, he's the most Iconic superhero out there. Born Kal-El on the planet Krypton his parents stuck him in a space ship as a baby and sent him to Earth just before their planet exploded. John and Martha Kent found his crashed ship and raised him as their own, Clark Kent. His powers include; near invincibility, super speed, flight, laser vision, x-ray vision, cold freaking breath, and super outrageous strength. He has three downfalls though; he is powerless under a red sun and his two weaknesses are Kryptonite(radioactive shards of his home planet) and Lois Lane, but she's also a part of his strength too. He is awesome because he fights for Truth, Justice, and the American way!

Honorable mentions include; Wolverine, Green Lantern, Silver Surfer and Captain America

Photos by Me

Occasionally I know how to take a great photograph and so I'll be posting several of the ones I like the most and I'll be giving short descriptions underneath them.

This photo above is at Stage Fort Park in Gloucester, MA. Stage Fort was utilized during the war of 1812 against the British. It had a great strategic location being on the side of the harbor, also across the other side of the harbor was another Fort but unfortunately that one was not well preserved. What I like about this photo is the color contrast between the sky and earth and also that I took the picture right as the schooner on the water passed in front of the canon.

These two photos I took in the desert outside of Las Vegas in a national park called The Valley of Fire. It was April around the time I went and as you can see spring was just starting in the desert and it was very beautiful. If you every get the chance to see the desert in the spring, I recommend it.

This picture might not be the best in quality but I love it because of the movements that it captures. This picture of the boys Smoke Dance was taken in 2005 at the 6 Nations Pow Wow in Salamanca, NY. Like I said in my Facebook description it was the first real pow wow that I've been to. It's called the 6 Nation Pow Wow because of the six Indian nations that made up the Iroquois Confederacy which are; Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora.

For a brief time I live in Jamestown, NY and apparently their claim to fame is being the place where Lucille Ball was born, that's right, I Love Lucy. Anyways this photo was taken in an alley way between third and fourth street, it looks rad in black and white, glad I chose that film.

Speaking of Black and Whites, here are two more of my favorite. The top one is of the stairs going up to the top of the Lynn T-stop in Lynn, MA. I posted it on some contest site once and the people said that no center of frame or focus but I blew them off because I like the contrast between light and shadow. I had another Gloriously awesome photo of the outside of the Lynn stop that I took with a black and white disposable camera, can you believe it? It was unsanctumoniusly deleted from my parents computer! But I digress. The bottom photo was when I was just starting out with black and white photography in my senior year of high school. It's a playground at Eastside Park in Oakdale, MN. On the top right hand corner I needed to "dodge & burn" but for the most part I like it, again because out the light and shadow play.

Well that's it for now I guess, until I come across more.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Chest Shaving Panzies

That's right Jerry, you did do something stupid! To borrow a phrase from Family Guy "It really grinds my gears" whenever I hear about some dude shaving his chest or see it on TV. I mean come on! Chances are if you have a hairy chest that it's that way for a reason. Granted there are some men that don't grow chest hair and have little facial hair and that's ok because it's genetic, you can't help it. But if you can help it, take a page from Tom Selleck's life and embrace your hairiness, it never stopped his success, did it? No! And I'll tell you what, if a woman can not accept you for the way God made you, than she isn't worth your time.

That leads me to another arguement that might be brought up. You might hear "Well if women have to shave than why can't men?" You know what I have to say about that? Shut up! First of all, we shave our faces so we don't scratch women's faces off when we kiss them, unless they're rebels, some men just are, like guys who own motorcycles or mountain men, you can't tame them. Secondly genetically women grow less hair on their bodies than men except on the legs or if they live by a power plant. So why not just get the rest of it out of the way? You can't argue with that logic can you? Because I just blew your mind. Your welcome. Thirdly, it may take only 10 minutes for women to shave their legs, but dudes have alot of hair! Do you know how long that would take? We could spend that time doing other important things like lifting heavy things or building awesome structures of awesome-ness. We could even be helping our spouses around the house with chores (keep dreaming ladies).

Lastly, what I'm trying to say is, real men don't shave their chest, they embrace their hair! They find a mate that hold their chest hair in glorius wonder! And they share these values with their offspring so they too know that real men don't shave their chest!

Tom Selleck!

Yesterday as I was surfing netflix for something to watch I stumbled upon a movie I haven't seen in maybe ten plus years called Mr. Baseball. The film starred Tom Selleck as a struggling major leager who gets traded to a team in Japan. The fact that his film contained two things I love, Asian culture and Baseball, was a bonus but what hooked me was Tom freaking Selleck. I can't believe how awesome that master of moustaches is
As I recall from my youth my first experience with Tom Selleck was through watching Magnum P.I. with my grandparents. In the show he played a cool, suave, yet tough as nails private detective who lives in Hawaii and drives a red Ferrari, who would love a show like that? Plus the show had a freaking sweet theme song, check it out.


Magnum P.I. really showcased how versatile of an actor he is, he can be serious, funny, tough, a ladies man and so on. But television could not contain him for too long. The next thing I remembering seeing was an awesome flick called Quigley Down Under. In that film he played a "cowboy" from the U.S. who was hired by an Austrailian land owner (Alan Rickman, also awesome). Quigley's speciality was shooting stuff far away with an awesome feaking rifle.



Selleck is the most BA cowboy ever. But this next scene really proves it.



See. What'd I tell ya?

Ok, he is seriously BA, but he can also be really funny and he is confident enough in himself to be able to make fun of himself and his legendary moustaches. As evidence here is a clip from the Conan O'brian show he did a while back.


Genius! I strongly recommend checking out all of the stuff that he has been in, you won't be disappointed!

Commentaries Lost

There use to be a day when a film buff/geek, such as myself, could rent or buy a DVD and and listen to the Crew or Cast commentary that went along with the film. It was a great source of information and dare I say education of how films are made or the process an actor goes through to prepare for a role. Today it seems that Commentaries are dwindling if not all together disappearing. I started to notice this trend over the past year or so through renting movies I had hope to have commentaries on. No such luck. I don't think there was one film that a commentary or a behind the scenes special that last for more than five minutes. What gives?
Are film-makers just not caring about what they do anymore? Or is it the studios that don't want to shell out the extra cash to add a commentary? Either way it takes a lot away from the experience of watching a movie that inspired us or a story that we care about. I at least thought that the DVD versions of films coming out these days would still have them, we all know that blu-ray fails epically at offering any special features but it seems they are following suit. I for one think it's a mistake. Sure maybe not as many people followed the commentaries as the studios would have like but at least some did and I can garauntee that those people appreciated it. If Hollywood or the major studios want to regain some credit back with the general public I think this would be a good way to start. We are not after all not mindless consumers, we take the time out of our schedules to stop and watch their films, it's the least they could do.

Don't delete my soul!

Poetry, the thing a lot of people don't like to admit they like. Well I like it, and I write it. Sure some of just plain sucks but a lot of what I write I like. It's also nice to look at a poem that I wrote and remember what inspired it and how that inspiration made me feel at the time. It just so happens that I found, or should I say re-discovered, some of me earlier poetry and I am posting the two I like the most.

The Bird

by

Tim Tschida

I shot an arrow into the sun

I must admit it was all in good fun

The son spoke and asked

"Do you know what you've just begun?"

The Arrow came back as a bird

It had a voice I swear I heard

It flew down and landed on a tree nearby

I looked up and saw a tear drop from his eye

It flew away and left me a-stray

I yell hey don't go and leave me alone

Don't make me grab my things and go home

I met a stranger on the road

He stuck out a hand for me to hold

He said

"Hey man I'm your future self,

its so nice you wanted to share your wealth"

We walked on for a while

It seemed like it was many a mile

Before I knew it he stopped in his track

He reached around and gave me a slap on the back

He said

"Hey man this was only a preview,

there is a lot more for you to continue."

Soldier

by

Tim Tschida

To see your face

would be like granting

my last wish

before I die

But you are like sand

blowing in the wind

always slipping through

my fingers, yet scratching

the surface of my heart

I am the embattled

soldier in an

endless war of

missed chances, searching

for a land to conquer,

And sanity will never

know my name thanks

to the slightest

glimpse of you.

Like it, or not like it is fine by me. It may be a bit sloppy too but I am no prize winning author so it satifies me just fine.

Georgia

There were many things I was uncertain of when I went down to Georgia to visit my brother. I wasn't sure how I would like the south and southerners, there was also a certain girl that I wasn't sure where things would lead with her and I wasn't sure how hot it would be. Needless to say all things listed surprised the snot out of me.
Firstly Anna, with her cute impatience on whether or not I had feelings for her, cornering me at night and determined to find out which I am glad she did because now we are together. I don't think the way I feel about her is because we are in the "new" phase but because we seem to balance each other out on some mysterious and Cosmic level. I actually find it strange how right she seems for me, don't get me wrong I am happy about it, but it's weird too. She definitely made my three and half weeks that much sweeter. Her family was great too, her brothers and cousins are hilarious and seem like really good people.
Secondly people in the south in my opinion are a lot more polite than people up north. Let's face it we are all snobs up here. The food down there is great too and they know how to BBQ also which is not the case up here. Food is cheaper and I mean fast food and you get a larger meal for it too, I didn't understand it but I didn't complain either. The humidity however was like a punch in the face and I did not expect it to be that intense. What was funny about the humidity was that everyone but me was immune to it. Here I was feeling like I stepped into a sweat lodge and everyone else just walking around normally, thank God for Josh's A/C. On the plus side I got a nice farmers tan. Six Flags Atlanta was like a furnace but I had so much fun I didn't care. I never thought I'd go on a Roller Coaster but I pretty much let Anna cast a spell on me to get me to go on one and I'm glad she did!
Lastly the south charmed the pants off of me with its scenery and simplicity. The hospitality and generousity of my Bro and his fiancee were classic staple of southern life too. It felt like I should have been born down there, it had the right balance of progress and nature for me and that was something I didn't expect. The whole time I was down there I had this other worldly feeling that I couldn't quite grasp. I look forward to going down there again sometime soon and spending more time with my brother since he'll be done with school, as well as Anna and her family. Looking forward to making many more great memories.