Watchmen

AMAZING! ASTOUNDING! TOTALLY KICKASS!

Words cannot describe the awesomeness that is Watchmen. For those who don't know, Watchmen is a graphic novel (bigass comic book) written by the great Alan Moore, who is hailed as one of the most innovative comic book authors of all time. His most famous graphic novel is, without a doubt, Watchmen.

The plot begins right after a former superhero named Edward Blake is thrown out a window. He falls and splatters all over the pavement. Great opening, I know. The police think it was probably a robbery, but another superhero, a vigilante named Rorshach, has a different idea. He believes somebody is targeting and murdering superheroes, so he goes off to warn all his other superhero friends, like this big blue teleporting guy named Dr. Manhattan, this hot superwoman called The Silk Spectre, this nerdy dude called Night Owl II (yes there was one before him), and this smart guy called Ozymandias.

Great. Now that all the characters have been introduced, lots of crazy stuff happens. Seriously, the scope of this thing is enormous. Rorshach, since he is a vigilante, kills, maims, and tortures a lot of people. Lots of people die, and lots of people get rescued. There's also a little subplot about a pirate escaping from an island by using the bloated corpses of his shipmates to build a raft (it makes sense in the book, I promise).

Wow, what a crappy summary, but seriously, don't let that stop you. Watchmen is literally the most amazing book I have ever read. It's even on Time Magazine's top 100 novels!!! Don't believe me? Check it out: http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/the_complete_list.html

Well this was a pretty vapid post, but I hope whoever reads this checks out Watchmen before the movie is released. You guys have plenty of time because a lawsuit will probably delay its release, which was initially set to be March 9th 2009.

USA water polo gets silver

USA fell to Hungary 14-10. That's a reasonably close score, but it tells the reader that Hungary was indubitably the better team. The US played a good first half, but they were unable to come back like they needed to. Azevedo had 4 goals, bringing his total tally to 17, the fourth highest in the tournament. The biggest disappointment of the game was our goalie, Merrill Moses. It's not really his fault though; the Hungarians shot pretty much flawlessly. Brooks did a slightly better job in the fourth quarter, but Hungary was still able to get 3 goals by him. In short, we were outplayed fair in square.

Still, it's a major accomplishment to have medalled, despite being ranked 9th. We also kept the game pretty close until the fourth quarter, so props on that. Overall, CONGRATS TEAM USA!!!

Olympics

I must say, the Olympics KICK ASS! It's not every day you can catch speedwalking on tv, watch water polo matches live online, feel the intensity of table tennis, and awe at the abilities of the white water rafters. There are so many amazing athletes, each who are superb in their own right. Everyone raves about Michael Phelps (and for good reason, since he is an amazing swimmer), but would he be able to wrestle the likes of Adam Wheeler or Henry Cejudo? or go up against Rafael Nadal in a tennis match? or outdo those amazing male gymnasts on the rings or parallel bars? or shoot a target 50 meters away with a bow and arrow with deadly accuracy? or be able to clean and jerk 400+ pounds over his head? Most likely not. Every single athlete has been working their butts off for years and years to get to the Olympics, and I for one admire their efforts.

There's also the patriotic factor that I've begun to embrace. It doesn't matter how bizarre or stupid I think the sport is; if the USA wins a gold in it, I'm happy. The perfect example is rifle shooting. I have never seen it before and thought it was kind of silly when I was watching it, but I totally felt the intensity the American finalist in the woman's 50 meter when she ALMOST medalled. The concentration required to do that is astounding...I don't think I could even hit that target! Oh and it might be just me, but I take great pleasure in seeing China lose because they've been winning WAY too many medals for my taste.


Oh and GO USA WATER POLO!!!