Monday, March 18, 2024

Book Review: She-Hulk Vol. 2 by C. Soule et al.

She-Hulk Volume 2: Disorderly Conduct written by Charles Soule, storytelling by Javier Pulido, and colors by Muntsa Vicente

See my review of Volume 1 here.

The legal and action adventures of She-Hulk, aka Jennifer Walters, continues. A scientist friend who is not a superhero has developed a shrinking and enlargening ray but is having trouble monetizing it because his partner doesn't want to. The partner has also disappeared, presumably having shrunk himself. She-Hulk calls on Hank Pym, aka Ant-Man, for consultation but he insists on joining in the adventure. After that's resolved, Captain America comes to Jennifer's office with a case he needs help with. Steve Rogers is being sued for a wrongful death dating back to the 1940s. He needs representation. Too bad the lawyer for the other side is Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil. If that wasn't bad enough, Cap doesn't want to settle outside of court or get off on a technicality, making things more challenging for Jennifer. This volume concludes with a wrap-up of the "Blue File" storyline.

The "Blue File" story goes very quickly, I think because the series was ending before the creators were ready. The other stories are a good blend of fun and drama. Soule does a good job with the legal situations and language. He also captures the spirit of adventure and goofy charm of She-Hulk. The art isn't great as drawings but some of the layouts are very well done.

Recommended.

Friday, March 15, 2024

Movie Review: The Miracle Club (2023)

The Miracle Club (2023) directed by Thaddeus O'Sullivan

The local parish in Ballygar, Ireland, is sponsoring a talent show whose first prize is two tickets on a trip to Lourdes, France. The show's organizer died just before the event but they keep it on in her memory. The organizer's estranged daughter Chrissy (Laura Linney) has come from America for the funeral, a surprise to everyone in town, especially Chrissy's childhood best friend Eileen (Kathy Bates). Chrissy finds an envelop from her mom with an apology for what caused their division and a ticket for the Lourdes trip. Initially, Chrissy does not want to go and the ticket winds up with Eileen, who secretly thinks she has breast cancer and hopes for a cure. A young mom (Agnes O'Casey) with a mute son has won the tickets and wants to take him to the shrine hoping to find a miraculous cure. Her husband does not want her to go, just like Eileen's husband. They both head off anyway along with Lily (Maggie Smith), an old lady still mourning the loss of her dead son who had a relationship with Chrissy. The story of their lives, their angers, and their regrets slowly unfolds during the trip to France and at Lourdes where things aren't quite what they expected.

The charming and intriguing premise is squandered as the movie moves along. Ballygar looks very stereotypical mid-1900s Ireland (the movie is set in 1967) as are the attitudes of most of the characters. They have a lot of anger underneath that comes out occasionally for dramatic effect. A lot of issues and old hurts are eventually resolved through the hardships of the journey more than from any miraculous occurrence in France. None of the characters (including the priest) have a genuine faith, they are just more or less nice people trying to satisfy their own needs, which may wind up helping others. The movie has some funny bits (the trailer falsely sells this as a comedy) but the story is not very inspiring. The actors are good in their roles. I just wish their characters were less superficial. They are in a better place when they return home without really earning it.

Not recommended.

Thursday, March 14, 2024

TV Review: Reacher Season 2 (2024)

Reacher Season 2 (2024) adapted for television by Nick Santora based on the novel Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child

Before Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) was a wandering do-gooder, he was in the US military heading an investigative unit. Some of his buddies from the unit have been found dead. Their bodies were discovered in the middle of a New York State forest with injuries that indicate they had been tortured and then thrown out of a helicopter. A member of the unit finds out and alerts everyone else to come to New York City for one last investigation. A third member of their team is also missing but no body has turned up. Their investigation leads them to a shady military technology company whose security is headed by Shane Langston (Robert Patrick). Viewers discover immediately that Langston is the mastermind behind the killings. He's trying to cover up some pending deal he's got going. The conflict gets hot and heavy as the conspiracy gets bigger.

This series has a much bigger supporting cast for Reacher. A lot of flashbacks to the military unit fill in the characters' relationships (and pad out the eight-episode series). Viewers see some of the bad guy's plans but not enough to fill in all the gaps that Reacher's team struggles to discover. Reacher has a testy relationship with a New York City cop, Guy Russo (Domenick Lombardozzi). Russo is caught between corrupt cops (including his higher ups) and Reacher's outside-the-law shenanigans. Russo is the most interesting and most sympathetic character in the show. Sure, Reacher is fun to watch but he has plot armor and his physique, while amazing to look at, seems like it would be a hinderance to running, jumping, being stealthy, and other action hero attributes. The show throws in some sex scenes for him just because that's expected though they are more implausible than usual and unnecessary to even minor subplots. 

The main plot moves along at a good pace though it is impossible for viewers to guess where it is going because the answers are a bit improbable. The action scenes get over the top, especially in the final episode, where he does some things that don't seem likely for even the most capable normal human being. The show feels a bit like a mild version of Fast and Furious, with its Road-Runner-like action sequences that are enjoyable but also laughable (interesting trivia from wikipedia--the first Road Runner cartoon was called Fast and Furry-ous). The show is enjoyable but it is eye-candy not soul-nourishing. The show has too many unbelievable moments to be taken seriously like it wants to.

Mildly recommended.

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Book Review: Socrates' Children Vol. IV by Peter Kreeft

Socrates' Children Volume IV: Contemporary Philosophers by Peter Kreeft

See my review of volume I here, volume II here, and volume III here.

Kreeft concludes his survey of philosophy with thinkers from the past 150 years. The philosophers are grouped topically rather than ordered chronologically. Existentialists, pragmatists, phenomenologists, and analytic philosophers are presented in sets, making them a little easier to understand with their similar (though often contrasting) ideas. This scheme works well since modern thinks have more complicated philosophies that are easier to understand in their immediate contexts.

This book is not as good as previous volumes. One difficulty is his struggle to resist just quoting the thinkers rather than explaining their theories. Sometimes he intersperses his own comments, other times he just leaves the reader with a core dump. After excellent summaries and commentaries in the first three volumes, this one is occasionally disappointing. Sometimes Kreeft provides a list of recommended books by an individual thinker, sometimes he does not, in a seemingly haphazard manner. 

Kreeft concludes with five philosophers in the Thomistic school. They follow Thomas Aquinas, but like Aquinas, build up from previous foundations, incorporating knowledge and ideas from other thinkers. Obviously Aquinas had no access to modern existentialism or phenomenology, so using the best from the new fields is certainly a plus. The final thinker covered in the book is G. K. Chesterton, whom Kreeft readily acknowledges is not thought of as a philosopher. Chesterton was an essayist and pundit in the early 1900s and is known for his witty style and commonsense insights into all sorts of topics. Chesterton is another thinker who gets more quoted than commented. Kreeft provides enough to justify Chesterton's joining the ranks.

This volume ends with a nice call to action by readers to take on these great ideas and discern which ones are true and applicable in life.

Recommended.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Geocaching February 2024

I started the month off planning to find a mystery/unknown cache every day, a goal for a challenge cache nearby. My first was OCCT #6: Cached in 1/2 of United States Challenge. I've actually cached in 26 states, so I was overqualified! The Odenton Cooperative Challenge Trail provided a lot of finds for this month.

Part of the OCCT trail

A house that still has Christmas decorations!

The second day I found Random Wiki Puzzle: Falcon Stakes, which was easy to solve and find in the field.

Then I found OCCT #10: Globetrotter Challenge, which requires the cacher to have a distance of at least 100,000 miles between all caches found. I guess the honeymoon in New Zealand and visiting Europe helped out a lot!

A part of the OCCT trail

Continuing with the alternating pattern, I found Random Wiki Puzzle: Kuroda Seiki, again in Odenton. I found it on a Sunday afternoon at a dead end next to a busy intersection with no sidewalks. Amazingly enough, a muggle came walking by, forcing me to wait a bit before I returned the cache to its hiding place.


Filling one of my last empty days on the calendar, I found OCCT #27: Traveler Apprentice 3 Country Challenge, Strays Series 1: Cats Cat Name: Ziggy, and the Monday morning coffee meetup, in reverse order. The cat was very cute.

Ziggy

To switch things up, I found a challenge not on the OCCT. ZIP Code Region Challenge requires a cacher to have finds in all of the ten major ZIP Code zones in the United States. We've traveled enough to qualify!

On a day I didn't need a mystery cache, I found a multi-cache called Dorsey Cemetery. After finding how old someone was when they died, I was able to find the final cache. Unfortunately, the final cache was out in the open and had a block of ice inside...a pyramid-shaped block of ice! I was unable to sign the log but made the report to the owner.

Dorsey Cemetery

Open Cache

A hard log to sign

Afterward, to fill in my year calendar of traditional caches, I found Mad City Cache, which is near an independent coffee shop not too far from the Dorsey Cemetery.

My mystery cache run continued with Whirling Wonder - A Pi Day Problem. The puzzle was about helicopter blades on Mars (there's an atypical subject) which I had solved last month, thanks to help from the internet and a calculator. The find was not too hard and was near the observatory at Alpha Ridge Park.

A small observatory

Also nearby and also by a coffee shop was Cinnamon Cache, a traditional I needed for, you guessed it, filling in my traditional calendar. The cache location was a little creepy thanks to a skull (non-human) that was right next to the cache.

Yikes!

The next day I found another Random Wiki Puzzle: Doug Baldwin (Ice Hockey) to keep my calendar going. Then I found another Random Wiki Puzzle: 2016 Wheelchair Doubles Master, another Odenton find. I also found the nearby Feel the Power, a traditional cache to fill another day.

Powerful path

I took most of the family to Annapolis for ice cream and a cache, the CAM 2023-King William's School (St. John's College) mystery cache. We wandered around the campus gathering information and made the find in an extra-special hiding spot.

Gathering information

My reward

I went back to alternating Random Wiki Puzzles and OCCT caches with RWP: Oscar Jacobson, OCCT#28: Traveler Intermediate 10 Country Challenge, and RWP: Sheridan Snyder.

Hidden benches in back of a building

Beaver dam along the OCCT

Mixing things up, I found Gots me a knew souveneer (sp?!?) and HC Soccer Series: Blandair Park (which avenged an earlier DNF!). The soccer cache was near some soccer fields but I went on a snowy morning and there were no players even though it was a Saturday!

Unused fields

I am not the only one crazy enough to wander through the park

The next day my youngest had a birthday party in Eldersburg, Maryland, which was new territory in my geocaching adventures. I found nine caches in two hours, it would have been eleven if I hadn't had two DNFs. All We Wanna Do Is Eat Your Brains (!), HTML King 2, Celebrate 100 TIE Events (that's Tuesdays In Eldersburg), Power of Caching, 10 Eats (with a jammed container), Standard typical ordinary parking lot cache, Time to Play IV & Read (at the local library), Frustrating (which was not), and Heat Streak #1 (I will have to do more of this series next time I'm in the area). 

Jammed container

View from the cache to the library

Part of a DNF

I continued my mystery month with Sudoku Series #3 which was fun to solve and to find. The next day I discovered HC Soccer Series - Troy Hill Park and Bonny&Read which had a tight log that needed tweezers for extraction.

Another pair of non-traditional finds were Shark Attack! and HHHC: Waverly Tenant Farm Ruins. The later is the remains of a house behind some condos, an amazing discovery in suburban Maryland. 

Tenant house in ruins

Waverly Mansion still in good shape

This was not a boating accident!

MD Wells Run Restoration Project Earthcache is in College Park, Maryland, near the main campus of the University of Maryland. Wells Run doesn't look that great, maybe since it's February, but the water is good enough for ducks! Nearby, I also found Little Walks, and Talks about University Park which is also on Wells Run.

Not sure I would swim in that water...

I went back to Gorman Park for more of the Alpha Redux series, finding Redux-Y and Redux-W on the same day that I found the mystery cache Gilford Park Knapsack Problem. The view from the final part of the mystery cache was great. I finished of Redux-X and Redux-Z the next day.

Nice trail markers

View from Guilford Knapsack finale

Later, I went back to College Park to find a mystery called Bridge Budget Buster and a traditional called My Black History Cache... (placed in honor of Black History Month).

A path by caches

I found another OCCT cache, #8 Virtual Find Challenge, which only requires one virtual cache to qualify. I achieved that long ago. The next day I logged #11--Unknown/Mystery Challenge Novice 100 for another mystery and Cenosillicaphobia #3 for a traditional on the bigger calendar. Cenosillicaphobia is the fear of an empty glass, so naturally there's a brewery nearby.

I don't think I've tried any of their brews

Since this year is leap year, I was planning on doing a variety of caches on the 29th. Geocachers consider it a bit of a high holy day, since often challenges are based on calendar days and this day is only once every four years. I went to a morning kick-off event that had a raffle (I won a travel bug tag). Then I headed off on my own to Masonville Cove by Baltimore harbor, which has an earthcache and a traditional cache by the water. Then I headed south to BWI which has a virtual cache that requires a photo by the airport with something that identifies it. I chose the Thomas Dixon viewing park which has a nice sign and little traffic to deal with (and no tricky parking). Then I drove to the Odenton Library for a CITO event, which is Cache-in, Trash-Out. We picked up garbage in the parking lot and around the perimeter of the library. The woods contain an older mystery cache that requires a hundred-day caching streak. The container was gone (six people looked for it while they gathered trash). One of the cachers knows the owner and said it would be alright to make a replacement cache. I took credit since I made the hundred-day streak back in the summer and fall. Then I found a multicache at a church nearby the library, teaming up with another cacher who had come from the CITO event. I struck out on my own to find a Wherigo cache that was solvable from home (usually a cacher needs to be out in the field to get the solution). The same street has one of the Adventure Labs I've been working on, so I found that as well. My tenth and final cache was a letterbox in White Marsh Park (but not one of the Simpsons ones). 

At the meetup

Soon to be in the field, once I attach it to something

Vernal pool at Masonville Cove

Trash collector at Masonville Cove

Eagle nests, also at Masonville Cove

Credit for the airport virtual

CITO success

Cool house between the library and the church

Adventure lab location

Old-school caching for the letterbox!

I end the month with a full calendar and 1093 caches in total.

No white boxes!

My new project is to find a traditional cache on every day of the year. Currently, I need about twenty or thirty spread out over the next nine months (January and December are already covered!). It won't be too hard, I hope!

Monday, March 11, 2024

Book Review: Justice League Dark Vol. 2 by J. Lemire et al.

Justice League Dark Volume 2: The Books of Magic written by Jeff Lemire and Peter Milligan and art by Mikel Janin, Lee Garbett, Daniel Sampere, Cam Smith, and Admira Wijaya

See my review of Volume 1 here.

After a quick visit to a vampire apocalypse that ends all too quickly, the story shifts as the magic-powered version of DC's Justice League is drawn into a new ultimate, world-ending problem. Several baddies are looking for the Books of Magic, four legendary tomes that were thought lost for centuries. John Constantine has some information about it and wants them badly. Madame Xanadu has had visions of Constantine acquiring the books and causing the world to end. She works behind the scenes while Constantine is recruited by Steve Trevor (yes, Wonder Woman's boyfriend) who works for a shadowy government agency. It sent agents into the Peruvian jungle to check on Felix Faust, a wizard with a scheme involving the books. Constantine cons the rest of Justice League Dark into going south to investigate, setting him on the path to acquire the Books of Magic.

The main plot has a lot of little twists that are more or less believable. Since the characters and story are so magic-dependent, the storytelling does jump erratically from time to time. Some people get short shrift, like Zatanna whose backwards magic never seems to work against any of the bad guys. The book has a lot of characters so there isn't enough space for everybody. I enjoyed it enough to keep going with the story for volume 3.

Mildly recommended.

Friday, March 8, 2024

Movie Review: Dune: Part Two (2024)

Dune: Part Two (2024) co-written and directed by Denis Villeneuve based on the novel by Frank Herbert

See my review of Part One here

The story picks up with Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) and his mom (Rebecca Ferguson) integrating themselves into the Fremen society on Arrakis. She wants him accepted as their new messiah who will kick out the off-worlders; he just wants revenge on the Harkonnens for the death of his father and the rest of the family. One way for him to get revenge is to help the Fremen fight the Harkonnens, so he is partially fulfilling his mother's ambition. He has nightmares that uncountable numbers of people will die if he goes down the path to messiah-hood, so he wants to avoid that. The Fremen/Harkonnen conflict boils over into much larger issues and much larger, longer-term plans by various factions in the galactic empire, including plans by the Emperor (Christopher Walken) himself.

The movie continues on in the tone and style of the first part. The epic sweep is grows as more of the story happens off of Arrakis, other planets including the emperor's home world and the Harkonnen planet are featured. Actions scenes become expansive with both large-scale battles taking down spice harvesters and smaller-scale (though more important plot-wise) hand-to-hand combats. The characters grapple with a lot of political issues and being in the hands of fate. Paul is especially worried about his supposed destiny as Dune's messiah and struggles to fit in with the Fremen, especially his girlfriend Chani (Zendaya). The actors do a great job and aren't overwhelmed by the epic scope of the storytelling. The movie is very entertaining, beautiful to look at, and tells an interesting story.

Highly recommended--I liked it just as much as the first film.