In case you didn’t know: I’m a comic geek, and the X-men – my first love – extends to our cat named Logan. Unfortunately the last chapter of the X-men movie really ruined that franchise, to the point to where they couldn’t make any more sequels.  I’m not quite sure how X-men First Class fits into all of this. Is it a prequel, or is it a franchise reboot. Nonetheless it rectifies the monstrosity that was X-men 3 and brings this franchise somewhat back.

[Warning: Possible Spoilers Ahead]

Of all of the comic movies,X-men has the ability to venture into some political and philosophical discussion – how do people deal with persecution and prejudice. The battle between the ideals of Xavier and Magneto have always been intriguing, and I love how this movie explored their friendship, their commonalities, and how their falling out occurred. I love that the movie used the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis as the foundation of this movie.  The Missile Crisis is one of the few times in our history when we humanity (from a US point-of-view) was genuinely threatened, and it gave the X-men a plausible way to save the world. I love how the US and Soviets – enemies that only minutes ago tried to destroy each other – agreed that mutants were so threatening that they had to band together to take the mutants out.

Other things I loved about First Class:

• One of the best training montages in a super hero movie.  One could make an argument for Batman Begins, but I love how Xavier helped each one of the students develop their powers and learn how to grow their abilities.
• The performances by James McAvoy as Professor X and Michael Fassbender as Magneto. These guys did a wonderful job playing young versions of these characters without trying to look like caricatures of Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan.
• Young Nazi-killer Magneto was badass
• During the movie, my wife Bethany pointed out that Michael Fassbender looked like a younger Jon Hamm.
• I loved the imagery that was used with the “Magneto” helmet.  It of course had the very practical use of blocking telepathy, but I loved how it served as the mantle of the leader of the mutant superiority movement. That moment with Magneto put on the helmet had a Darth Vader-like approach of embracing the villainy
• I really liked Kevin Bacon’s acting in this movie, he made a pretty good villain
• That cameo with Wolverine was fantastic

Things That Bothered Me About First Class:

• I didn’t like how Mystique turned out at the end. The dots that brought her to Magneto’s side didn’t connect, and especially the timing of her turning was bizarre. Somehow we were expected to believe that she would walk over the crippled body of (essentially) her brother over to the guy who caused the incident. I don’t know if the writers felt compelled to have her switch sides by the end of the movie, but I felt like people would have accepted a switch in the sequel or even off-screen.
• The Hellfire Club was a little misused and came across a little one-dimensional. In the comics they were originally this secret society, but the movie portrayed them as this hodge-podge group of super villains.
• Some of the choices they made for characters were a little strange. There are definitely better mutants out there that could have been used rather than Angel and Darwin (who ultimately were really one-dimensional).  This comes down to whether this was a prequel or a reboot. I wish it would have been a reboot, because then you could have gotten away with using some characters that were used in other movies.

It’ll be interesting to see where the X-men franchise goes from here. Part of me wishes they didn’t pack so much into this movie and reserved it for a sequel. My guess is that this movie has been acclaimed enough and has made enough money to continue down this story, so now the question is “Where do they go here from now?”. Do they introduce new characters, and do they introduce the ones we know?  How does this tie into the previous movie canon and the Wolverine movie?  I would love them to take the “Reboot” route that was done with Star Trek, then they could introduce some of the stronger characters that we grew to love in previous movies.

What do you think of this movie?  Where do you think it compares with the other movies? Not counting the Wolverine movie, I would say that this movie probably is second to X2, beating out the first first movie (all of which are miles above X3).

We have come down to three finalists: The names are Eden’s Favorite Apple, Ken & The Action Figures, and Hey Man Nice Bus.

Eden’s Favorite Apple

To me this name sits in the “this name has deeper meaning” camp, where the name itself can invoke a lot of different imagery.  Earlier when we solicited feedback for this name, one description really drew me: “I would expect a band with this name to push the envelope a bit, to be edgy yet grounded, to have depth.” I feel like that’s what our band is aspiring to be, and that this is a name we could definitely grow into.  While this name definitely conjures up a lot of different imagery, there is definitely a lot of religious connotation with this name, and it could give people the first impression that we are in the Christian music genre, or invoke imagery that people aren’t necessarily comfortable with.  At the same time, the vast array of imagery allows for a lot of great marketing opportunities.

Ken & The Action Figures

Where Eden. lies in the “deeper meaning” camp, this name and Hey Man Nice Bus sit in the opposite side of the spectrum.  This name invokes a much more specific image. This name good pretty favorable feedback amongst our friends, with most of them saying that they found this name intriguing.  The memorable point of feedback we got was “This name implies that if you’re going to check out this band, you’re going to have a good time.”  There is also a vast array of marketing opportunities as well.  The fact that our singer is named Ken gives this added benefit.  A downside to this name is that it doesn’t really offer a deep meaning, and may be a barrier to be taken seriously as a band – after all would you say to your friend, “This song really spoke to me, the one by Ken & The Action Figures”.  Somehow that has a hard time being constructed into a serious sentence.

Hey Man Nice Bus

This name is in the same vein as “Ken & The Action Figures” where the connotation is much less serious.  The feedback we got, while limited (as this name was a late-comer), was also very positive.  This name has a personal tie to our singer Ken, as he owned a VW bus and heard that line for quite a while.  This name could also bring about a fun logo, and some great imager as well. The possible downside is that it could carry a “hippie” stigma – one that may be reserved for more of a “jam band” than we are.

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So those are our three finalists.  I’d really appreciate your thoughts on this.  Which name attracts you the most amongst these three?  Is there anything about any of the names that bothers you?  Is there something else we should consider in naming our band?  If hearing our music would help, give us a listen.  Please feel free to comment below, or contact me on Twitter, Facebook or Gmail.  I’d really appreciate your thoughts, even if you just want to support a specific name.  Thanks again for your feedback!

I’ve been bummed about the jerseys ever since they switched to the blue in 1997.  Of course the new uniforms brought about some Super Bowls by coincidence, but it’s time that the Broncos right things and switch back to using the beautiful orange as the primary jersey color.  No other team in the league embraces orange the way we do (the Dolphins and Bears have orange in their team colors, but don’t make significant use of them).  In face, as Andrew Mason points out, 40% of the league uses blue as a primary color, while almost 30% of them use Navy Blue – same as the Broncos.

I could go on about the convincing arguments about orange, but I’ll leave it to the Pro’s:

• Andrew Mason, MaxDenver.com: Bring Back the Big Orange
• Dave Krieger, Denver Post: Broncos should become agents of orange

I know this isn’t ending world hunger or anything of that magnitude, but this is an easy cause to get around and support.

There are three ways you can support:

• Visit BringBackBroncosOrange.com and sign the petition
• Join the Bring Back Broncos Orange Facebook group to get updates
• Write an email to the Denver Broncos public relations at public.relations@broncos.nfl.net – or better yet, write them a letter at: Public Relations Dept., Denver Broncos, 13655 Broncos Parkway, Englewood, CO 80112

The test drive experience has been an interesting one. The environmentalist winds have blown into the auto industry, pushing fuel efficiency standards.  Unfortunately the result of that is that 4-cylinder engines rule the crossover class of cars, bringing fuel efficiency at the cost of power.  However, as Coloradoans know, the terrain of the Rocky Mountains isn’t very friendly for 4-cylinder engines.  If you’ve driven in Estes Park in a 4-cylinder car full of people – you know what I mean by being underpowered.  With our V-6 requirement, we’ve apparently limited our select – this is why we went 8 places and only got to drive 3 cars.  There was no shortage of 4-cylinders for us today, one of them which we drove.  I’ll admit that there was decent acceleration when I slammed the gas, but it still felt underpowered, especially when you consider going up a mountainous hill.

We don’t seem to be the only Coloradoans who think this, because the dealers for these cars that have V6 engines – they don’t have any of these cars in stock – yet they have plenty of 4-cylinders of that model on hand.

One pleasant surprise (at least or us): the salesmen weren’t as pushy as I remember from 6 years ago.  I’m not sure if it’s because they’ve unfortunately been beat down in this economy that they’re now changing their tactics, but it was nice to not have to fight our way out of the dealership. There were a few Jedi Mind Tricks thrown at us, but they were more comical than stressful.

We think we have it narrowed down, but we’re going to let some time and another test drive pass before we draw a conclusion.

…and of course October 1st goes by and I’ve already failed at posting for that day.

I do have a good excuse (at least for me) for not blogging on Friday.  After putting in a full day of work, I spent the afternoon helping my wife get our house ready to host some good friends over for a game night – and I’ll never trade in good experiences with my friends for anything, thus no blogging.  Besides, by the time we finished with game night, it was already October 2nd.

So here is my first post for October 2nd: explaining why I missed October 1st’s post.  If I keep this pattern up of explaining my blogging delinquencies, I’ll have 31 posts before I know it – by November 2nd.

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Last Sunday T.O. broke his streak of 185 games with at least when catch, when he went absolutely stat-less against the Saints.  Obligated to go to the Press  Conference, tried to be as short as possible, repeatedly saying “I just go with the plays that are called.”  Owens was pissed, and whether that is right or wrong Rodney Harrison lashed out at him on NBC’s “Football Night In America”, with this gem of a quote:

"He’s a clown. He’s all about the circus show and the cameras, and it’s all about that. But you best believe he’ll have Shawn Springs in his grill and Brandon Meriweather will be putting his helmet down his throat. So I’m excited about seeing that on Monday." [From USAToday]

I think Rodney Harrison is the perfect example why players should have a TV waiting period, or spend a year in purgatory (aka the NFL Network) before they get these National Network TV Gigs.  Harrison has a right to speak his mind, and I’m not going to argue that it should be taken away from him.  However, for him to make remarks that disparaging on “Football Night”, with his national platform, shows pretty poor judgment.  I really have no idea what NBC was thinking when they hired Harrison.  Throughout his career he was continually voted the dirtiest player in the NFL, and he doesn’t seem to have that charisma that other former players possess when they’re on TV.  It seems Harrison is only engaging when other commentators ask him a question, and when he responds it looks like the other commentators are hoping Harrison won’t punch them out.

T.O., through his Twitter account fired back, in pretty hilarious fashion:

"I could less about Rodney Harrison! Anybody tht using steroids, yes STEROIDS rodney, is a cheater & cheated the game! … Is tht Y u used steroids b/c u were worried about ur stats or ws it b/c u were losing it? Lol! U’re a loser & a cheater? Got any steroid … Hey rodney! Send me sum steroids 2 the Bills facility next week!" [From USAToday]

Owens is talking about Harrison’s 4-game suspension for using HGH in 2007, which was a pretty classic response.  How did Harrison fire back? By completely ignoring the Steroid fact:

"When it comes down to it, I’m a champion. He’ll never have that on his resume. He’ll never be a champion. He’ll look at his stats and say I was a great football player, but I was never a champion. You always have to stand up and be accountable for your actions. As a football player you have to be accountable. Regardless of whether you had 10 catches or zero catches.” [Dan Patrick Show]

Classy Rodney, in the same phrase that you completely ignore the HGH comments, you talk about need to be accountable for your actions.  As much as it pains me to say it, T.O. looks like the guy on top of this one. It was great that he followed up that phrase by demonstrating that he’s more of a Patriots mouthpiece than he is a studio analyst.

With these analysts booths growing as large as they are, is it too much to ask to put some kind of standards in choosing who they put in front of a national audience?  Give players a year or two to get out of the player mentality and shift towards a better analytical contributor.

We were both lead to our respective spa areas (they had guys & girls sections), each which had their own set of amenities.  After our tours and changing into our robes, we met back up at this relaxation room that had comfy chairs overlooking the beautiful scenery.  While we sipped our tea and waters, our masseuses greeted us and led us back to our own hut where we would receive our massages.  Bethany chose a relaxing massage, while I asked for one that helped relieve knots.  After about an hour of being massaged, we headed back to the spa to enjoy the other amenities for the rest of the afternoon.  We both enjoyed the Jacuzzi, as well as the private pool (for spa folks only).  We swam a little then laid out in the sun and relaxed.  We even ordered lunch to be brought to the spa.  After enjoying our lunch and more relaxation, we both went to our respective areas and used the sauna, steam room, and the twelve-headed shower.  We left the spa relaxed, refreshed and clean!

This was basically our only night in Hawaii where we didn’t have a dinner reservation, so we took this as an opportunity to grill out.  We stopped at the fish market and grabbed some Ahi, then went to the other local market and grabbed some steaks.  We picked up a nice Malbec from the Wine Shop, as well as some seasoning for the meat.  While we waited for the dry rub to season, we took a stroll to the ocean rocks down by the ocean and took some pictures.   While we were watching the waves come in, we actually saw a sea turtle by the shore (we unfortunately did not get a good photo of the turtle).

The grill was located by the hot tub pool, so in between meat flips we enjoyed the hot tub.  We ate well and drank well, then grew tired from our long day of relaxation and turned in early.

Next Up: Long drives, tide pools

In the fall of 2007 we went though a lineup change.  Getting a new member up-to-speed is always difficult, especially when you only have a 3 piece band.  We were back in the basement for seven months getting up-to speed on all current material (essentially re-writing many of our songs), working on some new material and getting the lineup comfortable enough to play out again.  In the summer of 2007 we were finally on a roll, playing over a dozen shows and getting our name out there.  That all came to a grinding halt during the lineup change and we basically disappeared off the face of the Earth.  When we finally re-emerged in the spring of 2008, we basically were starting fresh.  We didn’t do a good job of maintaining contacts with booking agents – especially when we didn’t have anything to offer them (ability to play show). With the live music biz being what it is, many of our contacts had changed as well.  It took a lot of work to try to get part of that momentum that we had before the lineup change.

Now Greenfoot is currently on a 5 week break from rehearsing or playing any shows due to our bass player traveling, as well as our lead singer welcoming their second child into the world.  While this break was much-needed, it also has come at a time where we again had strong momentum.  We were playing a steady stream of shows, writing new material and making good progress towards our goals.  Being off the radar for 6 weeks would be another significant blow for our progress.

This time we’re trying something different, using these new songs to our advantage. Over the spring and summer we recorded these four new songs, with the typically “as soon as we get them done” release date in mind.  When we realized we were going to be out over a month, we sat on these songs for a while, with the idea that we can at release something new and have some exciting developments at a time when we’re not playing shows or rehearsing.  These songs aren’t tied to a new album, so rather than releasing these all at once, we’re putting one out each week to get people back to our web site, as well as checking out the new and songs we have posted.  Hopefully we’re now able to “disappear” correctly, with fans not realizing that there’s no one behind the curtain.

We were fortunate enough to have these songs in our back pocket, but looking back at where we were a year ago I’m wondering what we could have done differently when we disappeared.  Is there a right way to disappear, especially when it’s something as unexpected as a lineup change?  Is there anything that bands on hiatus can do to keep contacts fresh, as well as maintain interest from booking agents?  I’d be anxious to for any ideas people may have.