Author: everythingkidchris

My Favorite Games Right Now

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game animated GIF

Not a creative title, I know. Look, sometimes you have to sacrifice wit for SEO.

Well, fine, I didn’t know you felt that way. Then go! No one’s stopping you!

Sorry you had to see that, guys. They’ll be back. They always come back.

Anywho, imaginary conversations with invisible people aside, I wanted to today share  some of my favorite tabletop board/card games that I have played so far. I’ve been addicted to games lately and working in a gaming/comic shop hasn’t helped. I have collected a bunch of games over the past… year… wow, it’s really only been about a year or so that I’ve been buying up games… I have a problem…

I don’t necessarily own all these games and some I’ve only played once but had a great time doing so. I’ll list pros and cons of each and give a brief review of my experience.

Here goes. My Top 6 Games I’ve Played (in no particular order):

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Awesome Fun Time Over: Now Returning To Real World

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Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. Last week was eventful mainly because…

I got hitched!

Yes, yes, someone finally made an honest woman out of me.

er… uh… man…

Thank you to everyone who came and braved the sunshine to be with Tee and I. It really meant a lot to see everyone who came down to Saint Augustine and had fun with us. We had a blast and are so very tired and sun-burnt.

Also, I finally no longer have to call Tee my “fiance” which is just an awkward word.

Yep, she’s my “ball and chain” now. Much better.

Admittedly, though, it’s very bittersweet that the wedding is over. Tee and I have been living together for almost a decade before even tying the knot, so there isn’t a lot of the “newlywed” mystique. We gave ourselves a long engagement and spent the better part of a year planning and saving for this shindig, and now it’s just over. Kind of bumming me out.

That’s the worst part of vacations, though: The week back. It always seems rainier/ cloudier/ busier/ more boring than any other week. It’s like you spent so much time looking forward to something, and then it’s over and the future looks like this gray mass of monotony that will never end.

That is, until you plan something else.

See, I feel like life should be about adventure. Call it escapism, call it wanderlust, whatever, but travel, adventure and spontaneity blended together all make life enjoyable, in my opinion. I feel like life should be lived from adventure to adventure. Give yourself something to look forward to. When that fun vacation ends, plan a new one! Like me, for instance, awesome week with my closest friends and family in Saint Augustine is over, and that bites, but already I am planning:

  • My Honeymoon Roadtrip for April
  • A weekend in Daytona at the end of summer with my friends
  • A Vegas trip for next year (co-planned by my bud/best man Ryan)

Now, I’m sure there are a lot of live-in-the-moment peeps that are thinking “if you live only in the future, you miss the present,” and honestly, I agree. The planning just helps the day by day seem worth it. It isn’t to say that you should live your life only looking forward to what comes next, but having something to be excited about makes the harder days/weeks/months seem a little easier to cope with.

But we should live in the moment as well. Adventure doesn’t have to be planned or follow itinerary. Sometimes it’s as simple as doing something out of the ordinary. Take a quick daytrip to somewhere an hour or so away. Go see a movie late at night even though you have work in the morning. Check out a new restaurant or bar on the other side of town. Check out a shop you’ve never been in before even if it maybe doesn’t sell things you necessarily care about. Just mix things up.

Routine is good, when it involves accomplishment and making yourself better. When it consumes every hour of your day by making each passing moment identical to its predecessor, then it becomes deadly. Don’t waste your life doing the same thing day by day until you realize there is not time left. Mix it up. Live by living.

Anywho, thanks again to everyone who joined us for the wedding. It was a beautiful day and I am glad to have shared it with everyone who came.

Now, back to work.

~C

How hard is it to not be a slob? (Part 2)

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The epic saga continues.

Seriously, though… People are gross. Like, have you ever been in close proximity with someone you know did not bathe and probably hasn’t for days. Don’t get me wrong, you shouldn’t bathe every day, but good Lord, bro… how do you not smell yourself?

BO bothers me… and bad breath… pet peeves, I guess. Just try to smell nice… please.

Totally unrelated rant…

Tip 1

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How hard is it to not be a slob? (Part 1)

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So, I was a property manager for two years, and the one thing I noticed across the board with multiple residents from multiple different backgrounds is this: People just generally don’t know how to clean ANYTHING. Their bathroom. Their kitchen. Their bodies. It’s gross. People are gross. You are probably gross. Shame on you.

Apartment living sucks ass, let’s just get that out of the way. Sure, on site maintenance and pest control are fantastic things to have, but the negatives stack up. You are surrounded by strangers that can turn into different strangers right around the time you get to know them. There are noises everywhere, worse if there are many kids in your neighborhood. It’s nice having a pool and gym, but it would be nicer if everyone in the community wouldn’t try to use these amenities at the exact time you wanted to use them. Then of course there is the ever-present horror demon known as the “LandLord,” a fat, conniving piece of garbage who wants nothing more than to come up with reasons to take your money (I’ll cover property manager stigmas in a different post).

I can’t tell you how many people I levied cleaning charges to that came back with a firm “but we cleaned!” Okay, champ… you swept and maybe vacuumed one room. Cleaning goes beyond surface wiping and getting all your stuff out of the cabinets (which typically wasn’t done anyway). Around this time they’d claim they tried to clean the caked black mold from around their tub but it was too haaaaaard or ask if they could have another hour/day to clean the things I listed. Tough titties, sport! Give me my money!

Now, I’m not seeking charges and fees, quite the opposite. In my time as a property manager, I would like nothing more than to inspect a wonderfully clean apartment. It saves me time and money if I only have to send carpet cleaners in or have my team do a quick wipe down. But that was rarely the case. Reason being that dirt builds up, even if you’re only in a place for a year. And most busy, working individuals see regular cleaning as just another thing taking up their precious time (especially true with college kids). What most people don’t realize is sustained cleaning is remarkably easy. Granted there will be things that take time, a la vacuuming and doing the dishes. But there are quite a few simple things you can do to cut down on some of the harder cleanable areas.

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A Guide to Comics: Marvel Women Part 2

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Choo Choo! Everyone on the Lady Train!

[What the hell is wrong with me…?]

Anywho, here are links to previous versions, if interested:

Marvel Men Part 1, Part 2

Marvel Women Part 1

Black Cat

  • Character Summary: Felicia Hardy; Femme Fatale and Spider-Man lust bait; Very much aware of and in control of her sexuality, Felicia has utilized certain… traits to get the jump on superheroes and supervillains alike; Originally just a well-trained thief, she eventually underwent a treatment to give her probability altering powers (a la bad luck); She also has a specially designed suit that gives her peak strength, speed and agility of a human in excellent physical condition (even though she is obviously portrayed as being in excellent physical condition; Felicia’s main weakness is her reliance on relationships, as she tends to fall head over heels FAST and doesn’t recover well from break ups (she holds grudges… like the “turn to a life of crime just to spite you” type); Unfortunately, ladies, Felicia is not really a feminist ideal, which will become apparent in the “themes” section below; She is typically very overly sexualized and though she often uses her body to get what she wants, she can equally be seen throwing it at Spider-Man because he’s a strong, mysterious male figure; In other words, she’s not a strong female character in the Captain Marvel capacity, but more in a “Sex in the CIty” capacity; To her merit, however, she does succeed in being an excellent foil to Spider-Man’s “Power and Responsibility” motto.
  • Common Themes:  Power without Responsibility; Identity and who defines it; Sexuality; Looking after one’s self first; A gray moral spectrum vs a black and white one
  • Good For: Femme Fatale lovers; fans of “Cheesecake” comic characters; People who appreciate a woman who DOES use her body as an asset; People who think Spider-Man is too uptight; People who hate Mary Jane Watson; Fetishists (leather, claws, furry suit… come on…); Catwoman fans
  • Go To Series: Any Spider-Man, really; Heroes for Hire (vol 1); Claws and Claws II; Hawkeye Vs. Deadpool; I do NOT recommend Marvel Divas if you want to take the character seriously…
  • Stand Out Stories: Amazing Spider-Man (vol 1) 194-195, 204, 226-227; Spectacular Spider-Man (vol 1) 74-76, 89, 100; The Evil that Men Do
…
Angela
  • Character Summary: Aldrif Odinsdottir; Angela was essentially born to Odin, taken by Angels, and later brought back into the main Earth realm against her will; This parallels her real world origins to an extent, wherein she was born to Spawn creator Todd Macfarlane and writer Neil Gaiman, taken by Gaiman in a series of legal battles and sold to Marvel; Angela had originally come into the world as a Spawn antagonist and now found herself as a displaced daughter of Odin; She is still very new to the Marvel Universe, but they have done some cool stuff with her, including letting her beat the tar out of Thor; Angela very much shares the Thunder God’s knack for battle and war-like persona, but takes that to a further extreme by being more stoic and reserved than her brother; She is a badass, warrior princess in every way and it’s exciting, in my opinion, to watch what she does as the Marvel Universe continues to expand
  • Common Themes: Power and Battle; Justified Bloodshed; Displacement and Confusion; Chaos vs Order
  • Good For: Red Sonja fans; Xena fans; Badass, Magical, Super-Strong, Sword-Wielding Female Character fans; Fans of Mythology and/or the Thor comics specifically; People who like Space-Opera type stories; Fantasy fans
  • Go To Series: Angela: Asgard’s Assassin; Guardians of the Galaxy (vol 3)
  • Stand Out Stories: The Trial of Jean Grey; Original Sin: Thor & Loki;

…

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A Guide to Comics: Marvel Men Part 2

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Been long enough, better continue the series.

I would like to clarify one thing: what I mean when I say “volume.” In comics, a new “volume” of a title begins whenever that titled is re/launched at a #1 issue. This means different titles have different amounts of volumes based on how many times they were launched as a new series. This does not mean that more volumes makes for a longer series or a better/worse character. For instance, Amazing Spider-Man is just now on volume 2 while a title like Daredevil is currently on volume 4. However, Amazing started in 1963 and Daredevil started in 1964. It just boils down to how many times the characters are restarted due to creative or editorial decisions. This is also confused with the Trade Paperback use for the term “volume,” which refers to a sequential addition in a group of collections. The confusion gets exacerbated when you realize that each volume of a title contains multiple volumes of trade paperbacks. Why they didn’t decide on a different term for the collections, who knows.

Ultimately, all you need to understand is that “volumes” in these posts refer to the specific runs. If you have specific questions about how to hunt down the stories or series, shoot me a message.

Anywho, here we go:

Marvel Men Part 1

Marvel Women Part 1

Captain America
  • Character Summary: Steve Rogers – Boy Scout with a sometimes gruff exterior; Driven and mission oriented; Tactical and Careful; A super soldier in both ability and personality; Old-fashioned, has always maintained a sort of tragic element about him, really getting across the “displaced” feeling, especially in the hands of talented writers.
  • Common Themes: The line between duty and what’s right; Freedom vs. Oppression; ‘MURICA!
  • Good For: People who like Tom Clancy books/movies; People who really liked the Cap movies, honestly; People who are looking for a healthy balance of espionage, city destroying action, and the occasional wholesome moral.
  • Go To Series: Captain America (Volumes 1, 3 and 5, imo); The Ultimates
  • Stand Out Stories: Civil War; The Hero that Was; The Secret Empire; Captain America No More; Operation Rebirth; The Death of Captain America; Man Out of Time
…
Luke Cage
  • Character Summary: Carl Lucas; Sometimes called Power Man; NYPD cop, wrongly imprisoned, volunteered for an experiment to shorten his sentence; Thanks to some racist redneck jerkwad Georgia prison guard, the experiment went haywire and granted Lucas super strength and impervious skin; He then breaks out, moves back to NY and changes his name to Luke Cage; Founding member of Heroes for Hire, Cage deals with a lot of the street-level crime with the likes of Iron Fist, Spidey-Man, and others; Due to Luke’s history dealing with gang violence, he is typically seen running against crime syndicates and cleaning the streets of larger gangs; Luke was also a member of the New Avengers and the Mighty Avengers for quite some time, and has helped the Avengers on several occasions, including fighting the X-Men during the Avengers vs X-Men crossover and aiding Captain America during the Civil War story-line
  • Common Themes: Racism (duh); Life on the Mean Streets; Tough can be nice; With Great Power come Great Bad-Guy Butt-Kicking; Don’t judge a book by its huge muscles and tiara
  • Good For: Fans of Street-Level heroes; Fans of cop shows/movies; People who like the “tough guy with a heart of gold” trope
  • Go To Series: Power Man (vol 1); Heroes for Hire (vol 1); Mighty Avengers (vol 2)
  • Stand Out Stories: Pulse 11-14; New Avengers (vol 1) Annual #1; New Avengers (vol 1) 1-5; Luke Cage: Noir

The Most Important Post I Will Ever Make

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Seriously, the world is a messed up place.

Plane crashes.

Terrorists.

Nuclear Meltdowns.

The Patriots winning the Superbowl.

Political and Economic discord in Europe.

The ongoing struggle for Equal Rights in America.

Charli XCX

This is a hard time to be alive for sure. In addition to all the above tragedies, the media makes a parade of panic and fear, igniting outrage and ignorance at every turn in an attempt to fuel the fire of public discord all in the name of ratings and advertising revenue.

We could talk for days about the problems of the world and what we could do to fix them.

Instead, here’s a completely crass, childish review of the original Muppet Movie:

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A Guide to Comics: Marvel Women Part 1

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This one is all about the ladies.

NOTE: Unlike my Marvel Men segment, this will contain a few female heroes who are more often than not a part of a team. There just, unfortunately, are not enough Super Gals to choose from otherwise…

You can check out my Marvel Men guide HERE

Captain Marvel (Prev: Ms. Marvel)

  • Character Summary:  Carol Danvers; Air Force Officer (?) who is caught in the explosion of a Kree weapon and eventually develops a set of awesome powers and a knack for not wearing pants (oh, 1970’s comics…); Was pretty much fetished and abused in the 70’s, unfortunately, and had a horrible downgrade as a character for decades (dealing with alcoholism, depression, etc.); Was brought back into the light in the 00s, and played powerful roles in many of the big story arcs of that era. Recently has very much become what her creators originally said she was supposed to be, which is a strong female role model who isn’t defined by being a woman.
  • Common Themes: Women as powerful and important as men; sexuality vs respect; cool blonde mohawks; space, deep space and deeper space; sudden changes; weakness vs strength; The ridiculousness of female super hero costumes (Writers would often use Ms. Marvel to make jokes regarding the silliness of female costumes).
  • Good For: People looking for a female super hero that isn’t defined by being a woman and doesn’t really use her sexuality to get ahead [NOTE: this applies most prominently to the most recent series]; people who like the space-opera style superheroes found most predominantly in DC; Barbarella fans [70’s series applies here]; People who just generally like watching a woman who can overpower just about anyone and anything (Seriously, Carol is strong like DAAAAAAMN)
  • Go To Series: Ms. Marvel (vol 2); Captain Marvel (Current Ongoing); Mighty Avengers (vol 1)
  • Stand Out Stories: Carol and the X-men (Uncanny X-men VOL 1 150-164ish [gaps]); Live Kree or Die (crossover); Civil War: Ms Marvel; Not NOT NOOOOOOOOT DONOTREAD Avengers (vol 1) #200

…

Misty Knight

  • Character Summary: Mercedes “Misty” Knight; Sassy, strong, independent and various other words white, male writers often attribute to black female characters, Misty Knight came about as very much a play on Blaxploitation characters from the 70s; She is a cop who lost her arm to a terrorist attack and was instead given a bionic arm by Mr. Tony of Starkland for her bravery; Over the decades, Misty has moved slowly out of the “we need more black characters” sidelines and into more mainstream fair; Though not YET having her own solo series, Misty has been seen alongside many of the A-List marvel stars, but tends to keep to the streets, dealing with more alleyway criminals and less Mutant Alien World Exploders; Misty’s experience as a detective and proficiency with weapons gives a nice play on the character, making her story arcs akin to those of traditionally male protagonists like Batman or Daredevil; Much like Ben Grimm, Misty is one of those people that other Marvel characters just know; She lived with Jean Grey, has/had an on again/ off again relationship with Iron Fist, and has come into contact with other Marvel Superstars; As stated, Misty shines when working out street-level crime, whether that is tracking down murderers or stopping drug cartels; Her work with Heroes for Hire is some of the best from that time, in my opinion, even compared to the days of Luke Cage and Iron Fist
    • NOTE: This is one character I’d like to see have her own ongoing, honestly. Could be a super gritty look at what goes down in New York while all the heroes are off saving the universe and gangs, crooks and upstart supers are running amok on the ground.
  • Common Themes: The dirty side to Urban life (New York); Never giving up, no matter what; Law and Justice; Pride in one’s work; Women who prioritize a lot of things over having a man
  • Good For: …Women who prioritize a lot of things over having a man; People interested in Detective stories; Fans of “Street-Level” supers, like Daredevil or Luke Cage; Pam Grier fans
  • Go To Series: Heroes for Hire (vol 2 & 3); Daughters of the Dragon; Fearless Defenders; Immortal Iron Fist
  • Stand Out Stories: Marvel Team-Up #1; Civil War: Heroes for Hire; Shadowland:Blood on the Streets

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