Observations and Predictions... SuperBowl

I skipped over picking the Pro-Bowl, because who really cares. I guess I was cheering for the NFC as the Cowboys have a bunch of guys in the game.

My pick for the Super Bowl is the Indianapolis Colts. I expect a well played close shootout. Something like 35-31. I think the Saints will gamely put up points, but their defense relies on turnovers and mistakes from their opposition. The Colts simply don't make any mistakes on offense. It'll be close, but I expect Peyton to raise his second Vince Lombardi trophy.

Observations and Predictions... Championship Games

I went all C teams last week (Chargers, Colts, Cards and Cowboys)... needless to say I went an awful 1-3.

This weeks I'm going Colts and Vikings. Both games will be close. Vikings versus Saints will be a shotout, but I think the Vikings defense gives them a slight edge. Colts simply have too much for the Jets.

Observations and Predictions... Divisional playoffs

Its minutes before kickoff and I realized I forget to post my picks. Last week I went 3-1.

Here we go:

Cardinals over the Saints. Should be another high powered shootout.
Colts over Ravens. Tight defensive battle.
Chargers over Jets. Bolts are simply too hot right now.
Cowboys over the Vikings. The Boys D is playing too well for the Vikings struggling offense.

Slaying the Competition

Over the long New Year’s weekend, I reconnected with an old friend—Buffy Summers. With a Buffy The Vampire Slayer marathon playing on New Year’s, my wife and I settled in for a long day of viewing. It led me to remember what I loved most about this show: sharp writing, great acting, wonderfully played out teen angst and Charisma Carpenter’s Cordelia.

In the past few years, the vampire market has been oversaturated. From the Twilight saga to HBO’s True Blood to the CW’s Vampire Diaries, it seems like everywhere you turn there the fanged undead are. I’d like to take this opportunity to remind everyone where this craze originated and where it was handled best. Right there in Sunnydale.

In fact let’s compare all of the above franchises. Long before Bella pined for Edward (and vice-versa) you had Buffy and Angel. The more I think about it, the more I believe Robert Pattinson’s Edward is a pale imitation of David Boreanaz’s Angel. Non-human feeding, hunched posture, dark wardrobe, pale skin, ridiculous hair. Yep, Stephanie Meyer's Edward is basically Angel. As for a teen werewolf running mate… Oz was around long before Jacob. Plus Seth Green, who played Oz, has a ton geek cred for creating Robot Chicken while Taylor Lautner will always be Sharkboy. Evil vampires hunting our heroine? James, Laurent and Victoria had nothing on Spike and Dru. Even the vampire love triangle playing out on True Blood (Bill/Sookie/Eric) played itself out originally on Buffy, twice (Angel/Buffy/Spike and Angel/Druscilla/Spike).

While it’s easy to call Buffy a teen vampire show, you’d be doing it a disservice. It was quite possibly the most honest television portrayal of teens ever. It gave you just about everything you ever went through in high school. Starting in a new place, trying to fit in, being an outcast, the cliques, the camaraderie, and the relationships (see review on “Innocence”) all were deftly handled by series creator Joss Whedon. Simply put, Buffy is my favorite (and I think the best) teen show ever.
While throngs of fans may be on Team Jacob, Edward, Bill or Eric, I say make mine now and forever Team Buffy.


My Top 5 Buffy Episodes
Hush: My favorite episode of all time. The Gentlemen (above) are some of the creepiest characters to ever appear on network TV. This college episode introduces Tara who becomes part of the Scooby gang and starts dating Willow. Together they formed one of the most high-profile same sex couples on TV.
Once More With Feeling: The brilliant musical episode. Xander summons a demon who forces everyone in Sunnydale to burst into song and choreographed routines. Amazing!
The Body: Buffy returns from school to find her mother dead on the couch of natural causes. Buffy shows both her strength and frailty in this episode where there is no bad guy to blame. My favorite moments of this episode are of Anya (who is a former demon, now human) trying to make sense of the whole idea of death.
Innocence: Buffy (finally) sleeps with Angel and it does not bring them closer together. In fact, he turns out to be the complete opposite of who she thought he was.
The Wish: Cordelia, in a fit of jealous rage, wishes Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. An alternate reality plays itself out in a town overrun by vampires.

Observations and Predictions... The Wild Card

Oh, it's that joyous time of year again. January is here and it's time for the post season. So don your squads jersey (apologies to those whose teams have been eliminated) and get ready for the raucous ride that is the NFL Playoffs. This week provides us with a trio of games that are being replayed from a week ago, although all the games will be more hotly contested.

Let's start with my beloved Dallas Cowboys who host the Eagles in the house that Jerry built. The Boys looked dominant on both sides of the ball last week in blanking the Birds 24-0 last Sunday. That game decided the NFC East crowd as well as home-field for this game. Had the game been in Philly I would have picked the Eagles, but we all know I never pick against my Boys. While I expect the Eagles to blitz a little more (they only blitzed about 40% of the time last week) I think the Cowboys have their number. Romo has been using quick bubble screens, slants and check downs to get rid of the ball when the Eagles come with their vaunted Double A Gap Blitz. The Cowboys are simply bigger along both lines and should be able to wear the Eagles down with their 3-headed monster of a running game. Plus the Cowboys secondary can play man against the speedy Eagles receivers while the Ware, Spencer and Ratliff provide the pressure. A luxury not many teams have. Cowboys win 28-13.

In the other NFC matchup the Packers (who smoked the undermanned Cards last week) stay in Arizona and play the defensing NFC champion Cardinals. I think this matchup will be much closer than the drubbing the Packers placed on the Cards a week ago. Whisenhunt played it very close to the vest and didn't want to reveal any big plays a week early. The Cards have some injury issues, but I think they will blitz more and keep this game close. The sublime Aaron Rodgers should be able to keep the Pack in the game, but I think their lack of big game experience will hurt. Cardinals 27, Packers 24.

Over in the AFC there are two intriguing matchups. The Jets replay the Bengals. This time in Cincinnati. Nothing I saw in the first half (when the Bengals played all their starters) led me to believe the Bengals have a chance to beat the Jets. The Jets simply looked faster and more aggressive on both sides of the ball. Although not as big a blowout as last week, I have the Jets winning 21-10.

The last game on the slate features the Ravens coming to New England to face the Patriots. The Pats suffered a huge loss last week when they lost super-slot receiver Wes Welker for the season (and potentially next season as well). Welker is great at being Brady's security blanket. With that said, the once great Ravens defense is a little overrated. They've struggled all season against big name QB's and that won't change here. The Pats defense on the other hand has played better the last month of the season. They still don't get enough pressure on the opposing QB, but they do play the run well. That will help against the run heavy Ravens. Pats in a squeeker 24-21.

Adi Iron Man

About a month ago I posted an image of a Jack Kirby inspired Iron-Man. Realizing I didn't have a modern Iron-Man of my own (I had done one and gifted it to my buddy Steve the last I saw him) I had to rectify that.

While I think Salvador Larocca is a brilliant artist, my favorite Iron artist is Adi Granov. Adi is quite possibly the most influential Iron artist of all-time as his work has been used as the prototypes for the movie version. He draws very tight pencils which he renders beautifully with digital inks and colors.

The pencils on this piece were pretty quick. Around an hour. The inks were pretty quick as well. I actually worked on this while my Cowboys were beating the Saints, I was really nervous about that game and needed something to do in the second half of the game. After I put down the inks I thought the image was a little flat so I added in some gray tones and voila... the piece came to life. I love it.

I put together a few other pieces around the holidays which I'm hoping to toss on the site over the next few weeks.

SuperMen

I worked on this piece of art back in September. I finished inking it back in October and it saw print in ADW shortly thereafter. I put this together right before my son was born. I wanted to do a piece that had both Superman and Superboy. I was naming my son after Superman, so I wanted to do a piece that had both the man and the boy.

Right around that time the art for Adventure Comics #1 hit. It was drawn by Francis J Manapul and had Superboy flying through the middle of Lex and Superman. I simply cut out Lex and voila instant Superman/Superboy image. The pencils took me a little over an hour and a half. The inks about 2 hours. Needless to say I'm extremely thrilled with this piece.

On the subject of being thrilled, I wanted to talk about how much joy my son brings to my life. A simple smile or stare absolutely makes my day. It is absolutely the best feeling. I love that little guy so much.

Observations and Predictions... Week 17 (Happy New Year edition)

The start of a new year brings the end to a lot of teams seasons. That doesn't mean that week 17 has no drama, just that a lot of the games on the slate are being played for bragging rights. The AFC has 2 playoff spots up for grabs. The Jets and Ravens control their own destiny. If they win they're in. Texans, Broncos and Steelers need to win and get some help to get in. In the NFC, all the playoff positions are occupied. There is still some jockeying for position, but for the most part all is set.

Last week I went a very mediocre 9-7. Here are my week 17 picks. Colts over the Bills. Even with some starters resting, they should take care of the bumbling Bills. Browns over the Jags. I think the Browns play over the last month has saved Mangini's job. Niners beat the Rams. Steelers over the Dolphins. Vikings beat the reeling Giants. Falcons over the Bucs. Panthers over the Saints. Texans beat the resting Pats. Bears beat the struggling Lions. Ravens over the improved Raiders. Cardinals beat the Packers in a potential playoff preview. Chargers keep the streak alive over the hapless Redskins. Titans big over Seattle. I expect Chris Johnson to break 2,000, but not best Eric Dickerson. Cowboys in a close one over the Eagles. Broncos (without some big guns) beat the Chiefs. Jets over the resting Bengals.

There you have it. Its been a great regular season, I can't wait for the post-season.