That’s my boat!

Jeromey Balderrama

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As I’m approaching what’s likely my last week before parenthood, no one ever said that I’d have to go quietly.  I fell in love with kayaking back in 2004 during a visit to my Aunt & Uncle’s summer cabin at Lake Champlain in New York, where I would spend hours on end paddling along the shoreline.  At that point I went home dreaming of having a watercraft that I could take up to the various lakes on weekends.  Practicality put that daydream on hold, but with our house being a sanded path away from a beautiful Windsor lake, the seeds of that dream were returning.  It didn’t take much convincing for Bethany and the next thing you know, it was slated as an early birthday present.  Last weekend we found a deal we couldn’t refuse.

I took the kayak out for its maiden voyage on Monday, and was surprised how quickly it came back to me – just like riding a bike. I was going up and down the shoreline in no time.  Bethany encouraged me to take it for a spin around the island, and no sooner than after turning turning the corner, the wind kicked up the current.  A brief arm workout later, I made it back to the shore.  I went out again on Wednesday, this time with a canoe dolly to see if we can transport the kayak by ourselves – mission accomplished.

I’m excited for the opportunities the kayak will give us. Even with the baby, hopefully we’ll each be able to sneak out for a quick spin around the lake during naps.  Next time you come visit us, come out and take a spin!

The Superman we finally deserve

Jeromey Balderrama

They cracked the code, my friends. They finally have made a Superman movie that pays homage to the most classic of super heroes.  They finally made Superman right, making him a compelling character through an entertaining movie.

As a comics fan, Superman is a tough book to read (and I can only imagine writing him must be just as difficult).  Here you have a character from another time.  Many things don’t hold up well after 75 years, and at times Superman is hard.  Despite multiple reboots, modernizing of origins, various weaknesses introduced: most writers aren’t able to make Supes a compelling character in the 21st century.

I was too young to watch the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, so my first cinematic exposure to the Man of Steel was in Superman Returns in 2006: an awkward movie that seemed like it was paying homage to those 80’s movies rather than defining the next chapter. A reboot was all but necessary.

This movie accomplished what it needed to: make this invulnerable Boy Scout of a super hero relatable to use us mere mortals. They went ahead and leaned on two excellent angles: seeking purpose in your life, as most of us at one point or another have figuratively wandered around asking “why am I here?”. The second angle was the “father and son” angle, the sacrifices made by both his biological and adoptive father. A line that tugged at my heartstrings when Kevin Costner told young Clark Kent “You are my son”. I wasn’t adopted, but I can imagine the empathy that could have been felt during that conversation.

I realize that people were bothered by the gratuitous level of destruction, but given that you’re dealing with someone who is extremely powerful and invulnerable, the stakes of danger need to be pretty high. Even though I’m not a fan of destruction for destruction’s stake, I’ll give the writers a pass on this.

Overall, this movie has won over the casual comics fan, and perhaps even the casual fan into the DC movie universe, accomplishing something that Green Lantern wasn’t able to do. I do however remain skeptical that an Avengers-like Justice League movie will be able to happen. Even though it sort-of works in the comics, I don’t see Superman and Batman being able to exist in the same cinematic universe. Batman is my favorite super hero, but I don’t see him being able to stand up to this version of General Zod. I realize that a different version of Batman is going to exist in this Justice League version, but it’s going to have to be a pretty stark departure from Christopher Nolan’s interpretation.

A few other random thoughts:

  • Amy Adams was a great Lois Lane. Lois Lane is one of those characters that has a tough time holding up: from damsel in the wrong place at the wrong time, but rather someone who is capable who can help Superman out as well
  • I loved the depiction of the origin story, the jumping around during Clark’s first thirty years and giving relevant glimpses, rather than the standard chronological format that’s been done so many times before
  • I hate to sound insensitive, but I guess we’re officially far away from 9/11 that aircraft flying buildings (or buildings just collapsing) is now acceptable. It’s not just this movie, it happened in Star Trek as well. I’m not sure what the Man of Steel folks were thinking, but seeing Lawrence Fishburne running away from a collapsing was pretty chilling.

What did you think of the movie? Would you want to see a sequel? Are you bought into the DC Universe?

The ridiculous new NFL bag policy

Jeromey Balderrama

Reacting to this story on ProFootballTalk: League alters bag policy for safety, convenience

What an absolutely stupid rule change.  It only becomes more obvious that the NFL doesn’t give a crap about the fan experience.  I love how their primary reason for this change is to reduce the wait times for fans entering the stadium.

I realize that NFL brass are used to going through their VIP entrances, so let me enlighten them on the typical fan experience: there are already express lines for fans who don’t bring bags to the games! The fans that do bring back already choose to sacrifice their time by standing in a longer line.

There are good reasons why fans choose to bring a bag:

  • Trying to gear up for a cold weather game. In Denver, there’s always at least 1 game that requires a multitude of blankets, layers and hand warmers.
  • You somehow have an aversion to paying $4 for a bottle of water, electing to bring in the same bottle that costs 1/10th as much – same is to be said for snacks.
  • You have young kids that require a diaper bag

The NFL can hide behind “safety” they want, but the reality of the situation is that bags cost the NFL money: be it in the form of additional security that screens them and lost revenue from outside food sales.  For them to claim safety being the issue is deplorable – they just want more Coin.  Let’s be honest: anyone who is looking to bring or do something terrible would already be causing plenty of damage outside of the stadium, or find another way in – just like how two random guys managed to wander their way into the Super Bowl.

I don’t blame the NFL for wanting to operate like the business they are, but I do take offense when they do it in the guise of safety, showing little regard for their customers.  I wonder if their “Fan Conduct Committee” actually includes any paying fans. It’s only a matter of time before the NFL’s customers grow tired of repeatedly being kicked in the ass.

Dave loves drums

Jeromey Balderrama

As a drummer, you get used to gigs like this: You play out of your mind during a set, take a break and pretty much disappear in the room because no one watches the drummer and were likely focusing on the singer.  Luckily there are a few out there – like David Letterman – who spend their time watching the drums (if not the drummer).  Check this out:

The reason he asks if the drums are theirs is because a band will likely rent the larger equipment like bass stacks and drums if they had to fly in for the performance.  In other cases, bands will add these performance dates to their tours, and likely bring their own equipment.  I love how he comments on pretty much everyone but the singers.

I’m not buying an Xbox One

Jeromey Balderrama

The Verge (which is now my favorite tech news site) has some excellent write-ups for all of the video came console news that happened yesterday between the Playstation 4 and the X-box One:

Xbox at E3 2013: everything you need to know

Sony PlayStation 4 at E3 2013: everything you need to know

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I love my Xbox 360, so much so that I actually justified having two of them at the same time – largely due to the Media Center functionality. I’ve gone to great lengths to digitize our movie collection and offering them through the Media Center Extender My Movies plug-in.  I (begrudgingly) pay for an Xbox Live account to unlock features like Netflix, ESPN and my Xfinity content – content for which I feel I’m paying double for one thing.  I’m not a huge gamer, but over the 7 years I’ve owned an Xbox I’ve accumulated nearly 2 dozen games (1/3 of them being that year’s version of Madden). In all the hours the Xbox is on, I’m only playing games less than 25% of the time.

Given my love for streaming media through my Xbox, I was eagerly anticipating the reveal of the next-gen console. After digesting the reveal from a few weeks ago, combined with the data we learned in yesterday’s E3 announcements, I find myself more drawn to the PS4 rather than the Xbox One, boiling down to a few, key reasons:

          • Xbox One is going to require internet connectivity to authenticate the games.  I know we live in a connected world, but the Xbox is a device that I use for relaxation/recreation.  That doesn’t help when I want to take it up to the mountain cabin where 1x internet is spotty at best, or when I want to take my Xbox when I travel to blow off steam in the hotels. Internet is pervasive,  but unless the Xbox can navigate one of those quirky hotel WiFi interfaces, you’re hosed.  I realize Microsoft wants to appease the game manufactures (especially since they get a cut from game licensing), but this has been done at the expense of their customers.
          • XBox 360 games won’t be able to be played on the Xbox One.  Given that I have nearly 2 dozen games, I’m going to have to leave/put another box below the TV. In an era where I’m looking to consolidate devices, this is the last thing I want.
          • Xbox One wants to give you the full TV experience, but the best it can do is supplement your cable box, not replace it. So again it’s not helping me consolidate the number of boxes under my TV, and to make matters worse it’s going to use the crappy IR Blaster hack to navigate the cable box. The Blaster experience is barely tolerable on the Slingbox, but is absolutely unacceptable when I’m sitting in the same room.
          • They’re charging you $500!

          Over the years I’ve detested Playstation 3 for various reasons, but yesterday they made a very compelling case to reconsider them. They have a response for pretty much every problem I have with the Xbox for $100 cheaper. Even if the PS4 doesn’t deliver the streaming experience I want (and there’s no indication it doesn’t), I could get a Roku and PS4 and still save money. Given that Xbox is already saying “screw your old games” with the One, I might as well go out and get the cheaper next-gen box.

          So thanks for the memories, Microsoft. It’s been fun – but I think you’re learning the hard way that in the effort of being everything to everyone, you’re everything to no one.