The Marvel Cinematic Universe

Now that I have seen Doctor Strange, and we have about 6 months until the next movie, I wanted to give my two cents about the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Let me state this upfront: I think overall it's very overrated.  Yes, there are a couple of good to great movies.  The majority, however, are average or worse.  The most interesting, for sure, have been the "different" ones.  The strongest aspect of it has been the casting.  Nearly all have been great.  Of course, there are two giant flaws.  First, as many people have said, the villains are largely forgettable.  Because they are forgettable, the final battles are all the same and not that interesting.  The second biggest problem, overall, is the music.  There are a couple of good themes (Captain America) and a couple of good scores (Ant Man) but most are disappointing.  That means a lot to me.

So let's look at the movies:

Bad:

Iron Man 2 (2010)

            The worst of the bunch.  It completely fell flat.  The villains were terrible.  Huge disappointment, especially after the first.

Thor: The Dark World (2013)

            One of those movies that is completely forgettable.  Another in a long line of "blue guy" villains and energy beams. 

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

            Blatant anti-Church themes aside, this was a total misfire.  Hey, I know, let's take a 15 minute pause for no reason in the middle of the story to hang out at a farm.  That's a great idea.

Ok:

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

            I'm a fan of the Ang Lee Hulk, so I was probably more disappointed than most with this one.  The same problem as the first Iron Man: watching a villain who is exactly the same as the hero slug it out is boring.

The Avengers (2012)

            Some people say this is the best, I say it's cliched and predictable.  The final big battle has no stakes because I knew exactly what was going to happen.  Only saving grace was Hulk Smash.

Iron Man 3 (2013)

            Definitely better than the second one, but still missing something that could have made it a lot better.  I wasn't too disappointed with the whole Mandarin thing, and I thought Guy Pierce was better than most villains (not surprising).

Good:

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

            I really wanted to like this movie.  I think the concept was good.  A traditional Captain America World War II story.  The problem is, I hardly ever think, "man, I really want to watch that."

Thor (2011)

            The first stretch for the MCU, it was done very well by Kenneth Branagh.  Perhaps the best supporting cast of any of the movies.  Plus, the introduction of Hawkeye.

Ant-Man (2015)

            A fun heist movie with a very good cast.  Michael Pena is probably the best supporting character of them all.  But again, the villain is "meh."

Doctor Strange (2016)

            Quite a ride.  The graphics are breathtaking in many scenes.  The cast is solid.  All around, a very good addition.

Iron Man (2008)

            The one that kicked it off, with the "real" Rhodey.  It's good it worked or this whole thing would have crashed on takeoff.  Robert Downey Jr. was, of course, perfect.

Great:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

            A great Cold War type spy movie.  People like to dump on Captain America for some reason, but his is one of the few (if only) trilogies that got better with each installment.  The only truly great non-Loki villain, and there's two of them.

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

            Just fun, and a complete shock to most.  It even gets over some of the usual bumps (forgettable villain, sky machine) because it's so fun.

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

            My pick for best of them all because it's the best overall.  The airport scene (yes, some people say there's no stakes because friends are pulling punches) is one of the best scenes in any superhero movie.

A brief look at the scores (not a great track record):

5 Good Ones:

Thor (Patrick Doyle)

Ant-Man (Christophe Beck)

The Incredible Hulk (Craig Armstrong)

Captain America: Civil War (Henry Jackman)

Doctor Strange (Michael Giacchino)

A Good Theme and Not Much Else:

Iron Man (Ramin Djawadi)

Captain America (Alan Silvestri)

The Avengers (Alan Silvestri)

Not Bad, But Nothing To Write Home About:

Iron Man 2 (John Debney)

Iron Man 3 (Brian Tyler)

Thor: The Dark World (Brian Tyler)

Captain America; Winter Soldier (Henry Jackman)

Guardians of the Galaxy (Tyler Bates)

Avengers: Age of Ultron (Brian Tyler and Danny Elfman)

2016 Season Review and Postseason Preview

Well, the 2016 regular season is over.  It was, without a doubt, the most disappointing season I can remember...ever.  At least as an Astros fan.  They've had worse years, definitely, but never one that fell so short of expectations.  But let's look beyond that.  First, let's see how I did with my predictions:

AL East

Toronto - building on last year

Baltimore - I liked their additions

Boston - Price was a good pickup, but too high a price (HA!)

New York - old men get older

Tampa Bay - still a year or two away

Well now, I was close.  The top three are all in the playoffs, just not in that order.  Not bad.

AL Central

Kansas City - love this team makeup

Cleveland (Wild Card) - a solid young team

Detroit - do they have enough?

Chicago - good pieces don't add up

Minnesota - not enough

Nobody saw that many injuries for KC.  Besides that, I was pretty much dead on.

AL West

Houston - too much talent not to

Texas (Wild Card) - a healthy year for a strong team

Los Angeles - somewhat of a mess

Oakland - always in the chase

Seattle - King Felix no more

Oy.  Freaking Rangers playing way above their stats.  Freaking Astros being the Astros.  This was way off.

So I successfully picked 3 of 5 playoff teams, though two division leaders I had in the Wild Card.  Not bad.

NL East

Washington - only Matt Williams could fail with this much talent

New York (Wild Card) - fantastic starting rotation and just enough offense

Miami - if Giancarlo can stay healthy

Philadelphia - rebuilding mode

Atlanta - blowup mode preparing for new stadium

Perfect!  Even the Mets in the Wild Card!

NL Central

Chicago - drinking the Cool-Aid

Pittsburgh - a tough division means they just miss Wild Card for first time in four years

St. Louis - because they can't keep winning

Milwaukee - trying to copy the Astros

Cincinnati - Votto is gone by the All Star Break

Again, flip Pittsburgh and St. Louis and this one is perfect, even with the second place team just missing the Wild Card!

NL West

Los Angeles - they eventually have to live up to the hype

San Francisco (Wild Card) - because it's an even year

Arizona - Pollock injury crushes them

San Diego - not much to see here

Colorado - even less here once CarGo leaves

Top two are perfect.  You know what that means?  I was 5-5 with NL playoff predictions!

ALCS - Houston over Toronto

NLCS - Washington over Chicago

World Series - Houston over Washington (complete homer pick, I hope it is not a jinx)

What a way to jinx!  Next year, I'll pick the Astros to go 0-162.  Yeah, that'll work.

Anyways, here's my look at the postseason:

AL Wild Card:

TOR over BAL

            A tough one to call, with Toronto's experience against a better starter for the Orioles.  Usually you go starter, but in this case I'm going with the home team.

NL Wild Card:

SF over NY

            Again tough, but this time I'm going with pitching.  How can you pick against freakin' Bumgarner?

ALDS:

TOR over TEX

            Somewhat wishful thinking, somewhat expecting the Rangers to play as they did against every team not named "Astros."

CLE over BOS

            Boston's offense is fantastic, but the Indians have a better team.

NLDS:

WSH over LA

            At some point they have to play up to expectations, right?  The loss of Ramos really hurts, though.

CHI over SF

            Mostly because I cannot abide another Giants playoff run.

ALCS:

TOR over CLE

            The Blue Jays get hot and keep rolling.

NLCS:

WSH over CHI

            What should be a great championship series comes down to the wire, and Harper plays hero.

World Series:

WSH over TOR

            I'm sticking with my Nationals World Series pick, and when it comes to the Series I have to go US over Canada.

Awards picks:

AL ROY:  Gary Sanchez

NL ROY:  Corey Seager

AL Cy Young:  Corey Kluber

NL Cy Young:  Kyle Hendricks

AL MVP:  Jose Altuve

NL MVP:  Kris Bryant

A Look at Stranger Things

This week, after hearing all kinds of good things about it, I finally watched Stranger Things.  If you haven't heard about it, don't worry, it's only the biggest series this summer.  Two episodes each day for four days.  Let me cut to the quick: there's a lot of good and some not so good in this series.

The Good:

One thing entertainment is supposed to do is hook you, leave you wanting more. Or in the case of a series, leaving you wanting to continue watching.  This had it in spades.  A lot of it had to do with the mystery.  Just what the heck is going on?  Then, once you pretty much know where it's going, the characters and the story are good enough to keep you coming back. 

Another thing entertainment is supposed to do is keep you thinking about it after you've finished.  Again, yes.  A couple of days after I finished it, I'm still thinking about it, still reading about it, still watching videos about it on Youtube, I even went back to watch the beginning of the first episode to see the introduction of the characters for a second time.  I'm not obsessed, but it did leave me thinking about it and wanting more.

The characters are pretty good and memorable as well.  Part of this is the writing, a lot of it is the actors.  In fact, I would say in general the child actors were better than the adults.  In recent memory, I can only think of Super 8 as a story with better children actors.

There was just enough comedy sprinkled in to make me laugh at times.  There were two things in particular that worked for me.  One was the interplay between the kids when they weren't yelling at each other, just being friends.  Especially when they're being nerds (remember kids, in the 80s nerds were not cool!) and quoting Lord of the Rings (Mirkwood) and Star Wars (Lando!).  Probably my favorite quote I won't get right but it was something like "going against that with a wrist rocket is like R2D2 fighting Darth Vader."  That really made me laugh.  Then there were the deputies reactions to the bully.  "She can...make you piss yourself."  "What?!?!"

Then there's the 80s nostalgia.  They pretty much hit on everything.  It felt like the 80s, and I especially loved the "vintage" look titles.

  But this is where the good starts to blend with the not so good.  There's a fine line between paying homage to a time, and relying on/depending on period clichés.  This came very close to crossing that line.

Another era, related to the last, that comes verges on transitioning to bad is the myriad of homages.  Again, some are good, too many are too many, and it's close.  I get that they were going for a Spielberg/Goonies/Stephen King feel, and they definitely got there, but it bordered on completely unoriginal and hackneyed.  At one point, (MILD SPOILER) when they're on the bikes riding away from the vans, I was waiting for the E.T. music to cue up.  But overall, it's ok.

The Bad:

One problem with these kind of horror shows is they can become to formulaic.  There were a couple of times when it fell into that trap.  There were a few too many times when I knew exactly what was going to happen because that's what happens.  It was especially apparent at the end of episodes, when you could tell they were about to wrap up but then had to throw in a mini cliffhanger to make you want to watch more.  Guess what: by the end of the second episode, I'm in.  You don't need to "shock" me for me to come back.  Never mind the end of the seventh.

Then there's the ending of the series.  I really don't know why horror feels like they have to have an open ending like that.  Maybe I'm in the minority, but I actually would have preferred if they ended the series, no cliffhangers, and then had a second series that was completely different.  No continuing story.  No continuing characters.  Like an Outer Limits or Twilight Zone or I guess American Horror Story  (I've never watched it so I'm just guessing there) where each series is independent.  The only common thread being some kind of weird supernatural/science fictiony mystery.

The monster/the upside down.  The concept in the end is not terrible, just at times it wasn't scary enough.  The monster itself wasn't that interesting.  By the end of the series I knew the main characters were going to make it.  I knew they wouldn't kill any of the kids.  I knew Wynona Rider and the sheriff were going to make it.  So while I was still interested in seeing what would happen, it wasn't as edge-of-your-seat as it could have been with higher stakes.

SO

In the end, it does what it's supposed to do.  It's entertaining, interesting, keeps you hooked, and makes you think about it.  But it's not perfect.  It relies just a tad too much on 80s nostalgia.  It sticks a little too close to horror genre clichés.  But I am definitely excited about a second season.

B+

RIP Astros 2016

The Astros are 75-70.  They are 4.5 games back in the Wild Card with 17 games left to go.  There are five teams ahead of them.  The West is much worse (11.5 games back).  It is time to put the final nail in the coffin.  It's time to pack it up and start thinking about next year.  2016 is done.

But let's be honest, it was done way back in April.  The dug themselves a huge hole starting 7-17.  Yes, they had a great June, going 18-8.  Everything was clicking.  The problem is, May, July, and August were all about .500 months.  September they are 4-8 so far.  It's hard to make the playoffs with one terrible month, one great month, and three mediocre months, especially in the tough AL.  It's darn near impossible to do well going 3-15 against a division opponent.  Speaking of that division opponent, the Astros just happen to be going up against one of the luckiest teams in baseball history (it's been documented elsewhere).  They are 33-10 in one run games, despite the worst bullpen in the American League.  They are 12 games over their pythagorean W-L record.  Don't give me the "they've overcome so many injuries," most of those injuries helped them (i.e. Prince Fielder).

Enough about the team that makes my blood boil.  What happened with the Astros?

Inconsistency is a big problem.  At the beginning of the season, the pitching was holding the team together.  Now that the offense is straightened out (June was the one month they were more or less together), the pitching has taken a huge dive.  Doug Fister went from a 3.55 ERA and 1.241 WHIP to 5.20 ERA and 1.609 WHIP.  Collin McHugh from 3.76/1.352 to 6.04/1.645.  Mike Fiers from 4.35/1.355 to 5.09/1.440.  Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers improved in the second half, but for Keuchel it for both it was hard to get worse and both have been injured.

  All that being said, the pitching staff totals are still Top 5 in the league.  So what else?

Nobody has stepped up to be that ace closer.  This is where I have to disagree with the Sabrmetric idea of "anyone can close."  Luke Gregerson has good overall numbers, but he is 14/19 in save opportunities.  Ken Giles, again good overall numbers, 10/14 in save opportunities.  Will Harris, gangbusters and deserved All Star as a setup man, 12/15.  The Astros are at 68% save percentage, just below league average but bottom 5.  18 blown saves ties them for third worst.  To show how it's closers only while the rest of the bullpen has been good if not great: they are second in the league with holds (89).

Oh yeah, and then there was the complete lack of anything at the trade deadline.  We need a bat in the outfield?  We need a closer?  Something?  Let's stand pat and just get rid of a couple of unnecessary arms (Feldman and Fields).  Meanwhile, let's watch our biggest rival fill our two biggest holes with a steal of a trade with the Brewers to get one of the best hitting catchers in the game and a closer.  Great job there.  Really proved to the fans and the team that we're in it to win it.  Though, maybe it was for the best given the trade history of our current front office (do I need to start the litany again of the Giles, Fowler, Gomez, etc. trades?)

I've ignored the offense to this point because, in general, they've greatly improved in the second half (though, unfortunately, Jose Altuve has been on a dreadful cold spell the last few weeks).  Much of this is because of fresh faces finally making a difference (remember my complaint about the young hitters in the first half?).  Alex Bregman, who I was ready to hang after a 1-22 start, has steadily improved and now looks like a solid 3B.

  Yuli Gurriel has been hitting since he was called up and finally added some power.

  Probably the best thing that happened was the two big minuses: Carlos Gomez off the team and a couple of lengthy injuries to Colby "Most Streaky Hitter Ever" Rasmus.  Oh yes, and again Evan Gattis hits like crazy when he catches.

So, some bright spots.  What to do?  Here are three keys for the off season:

1. Get a legitimate closer.  I would love to see them bring Mark Melancon back to Houston.  Of course Aroldis Chapman would be good on the field, but I don't love his price tag nor his off field problems.  Kenley Jansen would be another good free agent option.

2. Cut the deadweight.  I would have a hard time resigning any of the team's free agents.  Colby Rasmus has to go.  Luis Valbuena is definitely not needed.  We can find a replacement for Jason Castro (Gattis is not a full time answer.  Wilson Ramos, maybe?).  Doug Fister is the only one I would think about resigning, but only if cheap.

3.  Find an actual first baseman.  What is supposed to be the premier offensive position is one of the worst on the team, with .234/.300/.393 splits and only 18 home runs.  The OPS+ is a dreadful 87, 13% worse than league average.  That cannot happen on a team that wants to make the playoffs.  Heck, even Chris Carter was better than that last year (let's not talk about his 34 HR season this year).  Marwin Gonzalez cannot be the everyday guy.  Tyler White and A.J. Reed for whatever reason can't do it, at least not yet.  The best option might be having Gurriel go full bore this off season to play over there.  If they don't get a 1B replacement, they will need to get an outfield bat.

Right now, here's what I would like to see going into next season:

C: FA?/Gattis/Stassi

1B: Gurriel

2B: Altuve

3B: Bregman

SS: Correa

LF: FA/Teoscar Hernandez/Tucker

CF: FA/Marisnick

RF: Springer

DH: Gattis

Rotation: Keuchel, McHugh, McCullers, Feliz, Musgrove (Fister)

Closer: Melancon

Bullpen: Gregerson, Giles, Harris, Sipp, Devenski

There's always next year...

Teaching Parish Assignment

This weekend I was able to spend time in my new weekend assignment.  At St. Francis de Sales Seminary, we have a "Teaching Parish."  This will be our "home away from...seminary" for our four years of Theology.  To keep me in the Diocese of Madison, the powers that be chose for me St. Joseph's in Fort Atkinson.  It's a decently long 75 minutes away.

 Unfortunately it was difficult to get a good picture inside because the outside light streaming in makes it look darker than it was.

 This mosaic was in the "old" church behind the altar.  The "old" church was built in the 1960s and was praised as one of the "most modern" at the time.  So the new church is a great improvement.

The church is going through a bit of a transition with the new pastor (assigned last year).  He is a good man who cares for the Church, his people, and the Truth.  I think we will get along just fine.

I arrived around noon on Saturday.  Mass was at 5:00, with Confessions starting at 4:00.  We got there at 3:00 for a bit of a tour and to prepare for everything.  The new church is only 11 years old, so not so old that it's modern-ugly, but not so new that it's retro-beautiful.  Somewhere in between, and that's fine.  Sunday Masses are at 8:00 and 10:00.  A nice addition from the new pastor: they pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet after each Mass, with each of the five servers taking a set.

The pastor had me introduce myself after each of the Masses this weekend.  I gave a brief 1-2 minute history of myself and why I'm there.  The people all seemed to be excited to see me.  It's amazing how, even in this fairly small corner of the diocese, there were people with connections.  One family had a wife that went to that little school in Austin, and the husband went to University of North Texas.  They had lived in Houston, and asked me what part.  "Spring."  "Get out!  Which church?"  "Christ the Good Shepherd."  "GET OUT!  Our children had all their sacraments there!"  An amazingly small world.

One of the best parts of the weekend was after dinner Saturday, the pastor got a call by a family that needed a visit.  I don't want to go into details here, but it was a real experience to remind me why we are needed.

So this will be my weekend home for the next four years.  There are only two small difficulties.  One: the distance.  Two: the pastor is not a sports fan and has no television.  This means little if any Aggie football for the next four years (I was only able to catch the very end of overtime this Saturday, but at least it was a happy end).  I guess God has to teach me something.

Another Busy Month: August

It's been awhile since I really got to post much here.  What have I been doing?  Glad you asked.

August has been incredibly busy.

July ended with my move out of my summer assignment to my parents' house, temporarily of course.  The first few days of that week consisted of me packing, first for our Seminarian Gathering, then for seminary.  I had been helping to plan our Gathering all summer, so Wednesday was our last day to get ready before it started.  Mostly it was a trip to the store to buy a whole lot of drinks and some food.  We then had to move it from the van to the room where we would be meeting.  And, because I don't think ahead, I was wearing pants and a polo.  And it was about 90 degrees.  That was a fun day.

Our Gathering started on the 4th with a good talk by someone from the Tribunal, followed by a trip to paintball.  It was my first time paintballing, and it was a lot of fun, despite the heat and humidity and the long pants and shirt.  In fact, on our first "mission," I was the last one out, largely because I had no idea what I was doing so I just stayed in the back.  It almost worked.  I only got two bad hits, one on the top of my head, and one on the collarbone.  Overall, it was a good time.

Friday was a day of a few talks, one by our vocation director and one by our bishop, which is always a good time.  We also had a Jeopardy! game made by one of the seminarians focusing on the history of the diocese.  It was a lot of fun, though I was the judge of who raised their hand first so I was the enemy.

Saturday was our pilgrimage.  This year it was focused on Fr. Samuel Mazzuchelli, an Italian priest who founded a number of churches in southwest Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois.  He was a true pioneer priest, even drawing the plans for many of the churches.  First we went to St. Augustine in New Diggings.  Built in the 1840s, it was restored recently to look exactly as it had 170 years ago.  We had Mass there, Extraordinary Form, which was fantastic.  They even rang the bell for us.

Next, we headed over to Sinsinawa Mounds, home of the Sinsinawa Dominican Sister who were founded by Fr. Mazzuchelli.  In their heyday, they were the largest order in the United States, numbering nearly 2000!

 Painting of Fr. Mazzuchelli when he entered seminary, around age 17

 After he died, he was found wearing this penitential chain around his waist

The habit Sinsinawa Dominican sisters used to wear

We then trekked over to St. Patrick's Church in Benton, the final resting place of Fr. Mazzuchelli.  Holy Hour there was a treat, even if the A/C wasn't working.

 He had a great devotion to Our Lady, Queen of Sorrows

We finished the pilgrimage with dinner at the house of a major benefactor for the diocese.  His farm includes a nice chapel, Stations of the Cross, various statues, and a huge rosary.  What a great man.

Sunday brought us Mass with the bishop, a fantastic brunch, and then the priest/seminarian soccer game in Sauk City.  The seminarians won, of course, 4-2.

Monday was another big event for us.  We had a golf tournament with some of the priests from the diocese as well as some local benefactors.  This took place at the Janesville Country Club, which is the oldest country club in Wisconsin and something like the fourth oldest in the United States.  My group did not do very well, but we still had fun.

Tuesday was picture day!  Always a favorite day.  We also had an event with major benefactors of the vocation office.  And we finished on Wednesday with a talk on the importance of learning Latin as priests of the Latin Rite.  What a concept!

After a half day of "rest" at home, it was move-in day at the seminary on Thursday.  Busy busy busy, but the people here were great about helping make it feel like home.

 My new home

The seminary used to have a baseball team!  Of course, they also used to have 400 seminarians 

Friday the 12th began orientation.  Like most places, it's that "necessary evil" to learn the ropes.  One among many interesting facts, it was built in 1855, making it the oldest continually operated seminary in the United States.  So that was my next week.  One of the highlights was Monday, the Feast of the Assumption.  We went over to the cathedral to help out at the Open Door Cafe, a fantastic organization that feeds 5000 lunches every year at no cost.  We also got a tour of the cathedral.  The less said the better.

Milwaukee cathedral circa 1940s 

That afternoon, thanks to the feast day, we had our only real block of time free for two weeks (or three for me).  I took that time to see Suicide Squad, because I had to.  My short review: despite some great performances by Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, and especially Will Smith, it was one of the most disappointing movies in awhile.  The editing was horrific, and the villain was a Marvel-like throwaway villain, only more laughable.  I'm going to blame the studio for at least a little bit of that.

Our orientation ended with a trip to a lake house on Saturday.  It was a nice, relaxing time for some of us.  Others went crazy playing volleyball and soccer. 

Sunday morning we were free to attend Mass wherever we wanted.  I decided to head over to St. Stanislaus, where my great (great?) uncle was the pastor in the 1880s/1890s.  This former Polish church is now run by the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.  It was a Low Mass, and I have to admit to feeling a little emotional thinking that I was in the same space as my ancestor, listening to the same Mass that he would have celebrated.

Then Sunday afternoon we headed to our yearly silent retreat in Illinois.  It was a good retreat, focusing on the Beatitudes.  As always, the most important part of the retreat is the personal time with God.  I was able to finish Cardinal Sarah's book, which was inspiring.

And now I'm back in the seminary.  Classes begin Monday.  I'm ready to start theology!