Fastball Special

Certainly been an eventful few days for me - apart from the crazy door ringing salesman mentioned yesterday. Fortunately for him, I was much too sedated to contemplate violently wringing his neck and hanging him half naked from the lamppole as a stern warning to other hopeful travelling salesmen. Anyway, he was cute - and sad to say, in our shallow visuals are everything world, being cute does solve a lot of problems. :)

Of the three episodes the X-men trilogy, I would count The Last Stand as the weakest of the trio. With the sad loss of Bryan Singer - well known as an X-Men fan boy - as the director of the franchise, this particular episode has veered the farthest from comics continuity.

Though the action sequences rocked, it still came as a little disappointment to the comic fanboy in me. Too much plotlines have been packed into little more than an hour at the expense of the quieter moments that the X-men are famous for - excepting that little precious bit where Bobby shows Kitty that there's still a bit of home in Westchester.

Somewhere along the line, the Powers that Be have forgotten that the core of the franchise is the team ensemble, more of a family actually. Sure, we love Wolverine - and who doesn't love the mean, straight-talking bastard? - and the shirtless scenes of Hugh Jackman are always welcome but what about the rest of the team? The only other adult male on the team, Cyclops, is taken out of the picture early on and the rest of the cast seem to be one-dimensional supporting cutouts for Wolverine. What about Bobby? What about Pete? What about Kitty? Even Ororo, seemingly an important character, barely serves any purpose except to flash lightning from her fingertips and provide a convenient sounding board. Would any of the audience even know who I'm talking about?

Precisely my point. :)


Are you planning something?
And judging by the cavalier manner Jean displays as she literally shakes Scott off, the seemingly inviolate relationship between Scott and Jean seems to have vanished in the dust. Surely an unwelcome shocker for someone like me who has been following the turbulent relationship for years. Like Lois and Clark, the premier mutant couple has been practically woven into the fabric of comic legend and to have it just snuffed away like it never existed was quite a disappointment.

All that however doesn't make it any less than a damned good action movie that everyone who isn't a dedicated X-freak like me should be raring to watch! :) My gripes were pretty obvious though which is why Big Bicep Barry just had to lean over and ask...

Barry : What's wrong?
Paul : Grrr...
Barry : Not like the comics, huh?
Paul : Grrr...

Unfortunately the fact that the movie had degenerated into another episode of Logan and his Super Friends wasn't the only shock waiting for me that night since Barry had a fastball special just waiting for me. Just as we were finishing a late supper - a half hour of me was grumbling over the death of my loved one while he was raving over the admittedly fabulous fight scenes - just when we were about to tip the waiter, he suddenly stopped me and told me we had to talk.

Let's face it. No good can come from a talk. Any guy who says that in just that deadly quiet tone just wants to prepare you for something unpleasant. There was this sudden urge to just jet off running down the street screaming inanities but with his longer legs and his bigger bulk, I'm sure he would have me tackled and face-down in minutes.

Barry : We need to talk.
Paul : OMG.
Barry : Huh?
Paul : It's nothing. Speak.
Barry : Lately I have this feeling that you seem to want more than I'm capable of giving. I care very much for you. You are a wonderful person and I'll cherish this friendship but I'm not sure I can give you what you need.
Paul : Oh. Alright. Bill please.

Okay. That bill comment wasn't meant for him of course but for the desperate waiter since it was getting real late, the doors were literally closing on us - and at the last minute he had to surprise me with that shocking pronouncement ( which I actually hastily summarized since it was actually much longer and I hated myself for not having a recorder! ). He was just lucky I didn't hyperventilate and fall headfirst into my bowl of soup.