My Sports Tees And Miscellaneous Caps, Part 2

First cap-only edition!

I think these speak for themselves. Official replicas of the locker room editions (at least the 2008 ones).

Left: a giveaway the San Diego Padres' triple-A team in Las Vegas (a different team is there now) held at a game I attended in 1999. Right: the bucket hat. Given away at the Phils-Padres game I attended in 2005.

I'm pretty sure I bought this at the old Warner Bros. Studio Store which was at the Shops at Liberty Place. That was once a tremendous store for everything Looney Tunes. Then corporate mergers (such as Time Warner/Turner) happened and the store became watered down with Scooby-Doo, the Flintstones, etc. and it was never the same. The whole chain went under and the Liberty Place spot has largely been unoccupied. After many years, there are now plans for a new store: a Bloomingdale's outlet.

While I've always been a Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes fans, I was in a phase for a while there where I was buying a number of t-shirts and other memorabilia. Why? This...



Originally airing during Super Bowl XXVI in 1992, this led to a followup during SB XXVII. Like many sequels, it was longer and inferior. And, of course, it eventually begat Space Jam. (Note: in none of these projects did Michael Jordan show even an ounce of acting talent. If LeBron James does star in Space Jam 2, it can't help but be better.)

Oh, and it also led to what is very close to the oldest cap I own...

Quick Reviews: Hope Springs, Premium Rush

As I sit down to write this, it occurs to me that this might be a good pattern: two movies in one post. That way I won't feel too pressured to get a post done immediately after I see a movie, but at the same time I don't get too far behind. Of course, if I disciplined myself I'd post right away anyway.

"Hope Springs" had a much more serious tone than I expected. Either that or the attempts at humor fell way flat. It was odd to me. A long-married couple, Arnold and Kay (Tommy Lee Jones, Meryl Streep) are so set in their routines that Kay becomes unhappy and, against her husband's wishes and using her own money, books a week-long trip to coastal Maine for intensive couples' counseling with a therapist (Steve Carell). Much of the movie I felt like it was more of a drama (again, maybe I just didn't connect with the jokes or something). I also felt like Arnold was a total jackass and his wife should've just dumped him. But hey, this was meant to be a comedy, or a comedy-drama, and that just wasn't going to happen. I didn't really start laughing until we got to the point where Kay was about to practice oral sex by using a banana, and the real reason I laughed was because, let's face it: MERYL STREEP WAS ABOUT TO GO DOWN ON A BANANA. Still, it was well-acted, and if I ever need couples' counseling I want Steve Carell to be the therapist. My grade: B-minus.

Never feeling serious at all, despite the action and violence, is "Premium Rush," in which the always-awesome Joseph Gordon-Levitt is Wilee, a bike courier racing against the clock in New York City to get a very important envelope delivered, while a corrupt police detective (Michael Shannon) is after him, intent on getting the envelope himself. It was interesting to see the slo-mo technique used to see how Wilee (yes, that's how it's spelled and yes, there are references to Wile E. Coyote, although it's not an apt comparison considering how the bike courier is actually more like the Road Runner) instantly calculates the safest way to zip through crowded intersections. It might be interesting to see someone use this technique and show what's going through the mind of Peyton Manning as he makes his reads before firing a pass. Anyway, this is another example of mindless summer movie that's easy to sit through. My grade: B.

A Couple Of Things...

I guess this is like a MixBlog, but shorter. (Mainly because I want to put something up without starting the posts on the four movies I got to see in the last week.)

• The (C)rapture didn't happen yesterday, so I want the fraud who claimed it would occur behind bars. Since I know the government won't do it...

• I watched last night's Saturday Night Live. The only parts of the show I enjoyed were those featuring Lady Gaga -- both her musical performances and a couple of sketches. No fault of Justin Timberlake's, but this show is unwatchable. It takes a very special reason (Betty White last year, or last night's host/musical guest combo) to get me to tune in. (Speaking of Gaga, her new album will finally be released -- after at least four single releases in advance of it -- and it's apparently going to be available on iTunes, Amazon, etc. at midnight.)

• I'm debating whether or not to play in this year's Liberty Bell Classic softball tournament. My team has a spot for me if I want to play. There are pros and cons, so I'm undecided. There's a block party on Saturday night on Camac Street as well. There's lots of stuff swirling around in my head right now...

• Chase Utley is expected to be in the Phillies' starting lineup tomorrow night. Maybe his presence will help the offense somehow. They've scored 3 runs or fewer in nine consecutive games. Of course, it could be worse: besides the fact that they're still in first place in the NL East, a year ago today they were shut out 5-0 by Boston, beginning a stretch of 12 games in a row with 3 or fewer runs (including 3 straight shutouts by the Mets).

• I posted this on Twitter/Facebook last night...just feeling the need to emphasize how much I want those (C)rapture nuts arrested. Fraud, incitement to riot, something. Child endangerment charges for any parents who quit their jobs and got rid of their possessions.

My Week In Comics 10-6-10

About a week ago in this space I teased about picking up just one comic book for the week, "unless I get the second printing of something recent that I somehow missed." As it turned out, it wasn't in the comic book store I frequented (although perhaps I just missed it somehow on the shelves). However, I went into the Borders in Center City after that and, lo and behold, they have one of those spinning magazine racks full of comics. Double lo and behold, they had the issue I was looking for. Triple lo and behold, it wasn't from the second printing but from the first run that sold out. Then I had a really stupid dilemma. But first...

Who is this guy, and why was he such a problem for me?

Superman: The Last Family of Krypton 3 (of 3): I think I mentioned before -- sorry, but I don't feel like going back through my prior posts and confirming this -- that although the Elseworlds books DC has put out may take characters and put them in wildly different circumstances, eventually the status quo often wins out. Superman is still a hero. Villains are still villains. So it is with this series, which started with Jor-El and Lara coming to Earth along with baby Kal-El. This issue starts with the premise that the others destined to become Earth's greatest heroes never did so because of the Kryptonians' influence, and there are consequences for the El family as a result. But by the end of the series, a familiar character who started out good shows his true colors (and as a result, a prediction I made at the start turns out to be partially true), and his evil plans are thwarted by...well, you know...

That brings us to my strange problem...