DuWayne Steurer

I want to play a good shooter that's NOT an FPS. (PS3 by the way). Any reccomendations? I've played Haze (not bad, WAY too short), Resistance (awesome, somewhat short), but I can't play FPS for more than 20 minutes at a time or I get motion sickness. That really bites, because most of the good shooters/action titles on the PS3 are FPS. Also, I can NOT get my PS3 to recognize my internet connection. Honestly, it's really bugging me. I don't play online a lot, but not being able to utilize it at all really pisses me off. It's probably something simple that I'm doing wrong, but I can't for the life of me figure it out.

What's the franchise mode like on THe Show?

I think this is a pretty fair critique of the films. And I still think they can fall back on this on occassion. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I get the impression from most people that the reason they think those films were so shallow was because the source material was. That the movie didn't dumb down the comic, but the comic dumbed down the movie if you will. I'm just wondering if people have that general impression of comics? Because if they do then comics really have to work on changing public perception.I think the films were shallow because movie makers were catering to the general movie going public. It's exactly the same thing that happens to book to movie conversions. Whenever I'm at work or with friends and discussing movies, and movies that were made based on books, I ALWAYS say "the book was better" and I'm staggered by the amount of people who say "Why should I spend the time to read a book when I can just watch a movie and get the full experience in two hours?" I guess what it comes down to is taste. I hate to make a sweeping statement about what people in general like, but I guess it's no surprise that movies like Transformers, The Mummy, or Die Hard are usually the box office beasts. Not to say those movies aren't enjoyable, and you can't blame the Michael Bay's and Peter Jackson's of the world for making movies that they know will sell tickets. That's what they're in it for, after all.

Alright, I get what you're saying, and I see how my comments could be construed as "standard", regarding comic movies. To put it another way, I'm thinking more along the line of "standard" comics, the DC and Marvel news-rack stuff that we pick up on a monthly basis. Most of which are based on people and characters with supernatural or extraordinary powers and abilities that we mere mortals can't comprehend. The first Batman series of movies definately went along those lines, and while not strictly supernatural (Mr. Freeze? Please......), it was so far out in left field (especially by the end) that it was much more Fun House than Crime Drama. There was nothing engrossing or intelligent about it, there was no "problem solving" and you never felt like there was true danger to the characters, because they were built to such extremes that it was tough for a person to feel any attachment to them. With the new Batman series, while the characters are still somewhat over the top, they've been much more "humanized", and therefore a person can maybe empathize with them a little bit. That's not to say that I feel that characters with extraordinary abilities can't be compelling, deep, intelligent and thought provoking. I've been at times, even recently, an avid comic and graphic novel reader. I have 2 shelves dedicated to Alien(s) graphic novels and comics. It's just my opinion of course, but I feel that most movies made on *standard* comic fare in the past relied more on action sequences and big explosions to tell the story rather than let the story tell the story. It seems to me that in the past decade or so (Daredevil and Elektra notwithstanding) that most movie makers have figured out that comic book movie watchers DO want to see the full spectrum of these charcters, rather than just how good they put up in an action sequence. And in my humble opinion, The Dark Knight did it better than most. That's all I was trying to get across. I don't know, maybe my standards were just set too low by the original 4 Batman films.

If it's 2 east coast teams, I have to wonder how much too many people in California would actually care. When 9 inning games are ending at 1 am or later local, that's just nonsense.

I think maybe starting the games (and therefore ending) at a reasonable hour is the first and biggest step that needs to be taken.

More or less off topic, but watching on tv, Ueck just didn't look like he was doing really well.

I don't know if you're referring to my posts on the subject, but I'm pretty sure nowhere did I refer or even imply that I thought comic movies were "mindless drivel". I think you're looking for something that isn't there, quite frankly. Reading some of this thread, I feel like I'm being told I can't appreciate comic movies the way readers of the graphic novels and comics (of which I read plenty) do. I'm sorry I liked The Dark Knight, and to me, it didn't feel like watching a Super Hero movie.

Across the bottom line last night it said that Jason Varitek is considering either retiring or sitting out 2009. Who would have thought there would be no market for 37 year old .672 OPS 15 million dollar catchers?

MLB has higher operating costs than any other sports. Saying "ticket prices" and employees at the park is oversimplifying it to a staggering degree. Travel costs for 81 road games (or, if you will, roughly 27 road series), not to mention the associated cost of having 6 or more minor leage teams, scouts, advertising, and everything else that goes along with running a major leage team take a hefty bite out of profit. Calling anything over ticket sales as "pure profit" is simply not true.

No doubt "comic book" movies have taken a gigantic step forward over the last several years. I'm not going to argue that (though apparently I alone didn't care for Sin City) I guess it's hard for me to put into words why to me, at least, TDK stands above the rest of the very fine comic book movies that have come out over the last decade or so. I thouroughly enjoyed Iron Man, 300, and the first Spider Man. X-Men, not so much. I think it strayed way too far from the comics. I liked Tom Jane's Punisher (again, it seems I stand alone on that point). I eagerly await watchmen, Wolverine, and (eventually) the Avengers. And no, I don't think a comic movie not "feeling" like a comic movie makes it better, just different, which can be good or bad, depending on the context.

But I still honestly believe that Dark Knight was the best film of the year. They took a super hero, a comic book, and turned it into a gritty, powerful, and completely engrossing crime thriller. This is exactly my thoughts on this film. At no time did I feel like I was watching a comic book adaptation or super hero movie. It was as you say, a crime drama, albeit with a few over the top characters.

Ryan Theriot is not Tony Gwynn. Prior to last year, he had 42 doubles in 684 career at bats. I think it's at least reasonable to assume that a guy who had 35 XBH's in '07 and 17 XBH's in 134 AB's in '06 would bounce back from an ISO power number of .052 in '08. Even if his Babip number regresses, I would also expect his ISO power to swing back towards his career numbers as well, which would be an improvement.

Did the Twins make the playoffs last year with that luck? They made it to game 163, which is farther than all but 8 other teams. You can't really call getting to a one game playoff for the division title a bad season.

I think if Rickie came out and did only as much as hitting .270 with 20+ homers with his usual walks and HBP, people would be mighty pleased.

I was contracting at a place in Madison, doing fairly well, but temping is never anything to make a person feel secure, especially in this climate. 2 months ago the parent company asked a group of about 60 contractors if any would be willing to make a temporary departmental shift because of over staffing. Of 60, only 5 of us volunteered. The shift was not really desirable, and the pay scale in that department was also a slight downgrade from where we were at. The irony is that as of next week here, the 5 of us that took the temp shift are now being hired on full time permanent, and we're being trained to work in a department that's more or less one step UP the ladder from where we were to begin with. Of the 55 that chose to stay where they were, about 15 have been let go, and the rest are still contracting indefinately. Long story short, it doesn't hurt to take one for the team once in a while. It might actually get you somewhere. I guess the moral of the story here is, I can't understand people turning down ANY kind of work right now. Just about everybody is cutting back. One person I know turned down a new position over a difference of 50 cents an hour.

I have a friend who works in management at the Wal-Mart in Janesville. With the GM (and Lear, and Jatco, and many others) closing, they're all applying at Wal-Mart. He said probably 30-40% of his hires each week are former GM employees.

My Shiba does look a lot like a fox, though a little taller and stockier maybe. He's built like a brick........crap-house. All muscle. I've come to find, pound for pound, it's a very strong dog for it's size. He's also a real snowy white, with just a hint of buff coloring on his back, so he's an oddball as far as the AKC is concerned (not that I care).

That much I'm sure of, that dogs carry their pack mentality into domestication. The thing about this is, this isn't a "eating off the carpet" preference, and it doesn't matter when we eat, before or after. He's eating out of his bowl. He just makes sure he doesn't eat everything, and he brings the last 5-6 bits into our bedroom and leaves them. If I'm sitting on the floor, he makes sure he lays it right in front of me. He does this with treats as well. If it's a little snack pack type deal, he'll eat most of them, but he'll give the last 1 or 2 to me.

As with most questions I pose here on Brewerfan, I'm sure the answer I'm looking for is easy enough to google, but that's just not nearly as enlightening and entertaining as the answers and posts I read here. So my dog question is this. I have a puppy, (well, 14 month old) of a different breed than I'm familiar with. I've had labs and collies and labs and labs, and now I have a Shiba-inu. We've had him since he was 6 weeks old, and he has a quirky behavior that I've never seen before. Whenever the dog gets fed, he makes sure to bring the last 5-6 pieces of food into our bedroom and "present" them to us. We can put them back in his bowl, but he refuses to eat them. If we leave it lay, he won't eat it. If we feed him less, he still makes sure he brings food into our room. Now this may be not that uncommon, but I personally have never seen a dog do this. Is this just a pack behavior, where he's trying to "show his worth" as a hunter/gatherer?

At this point, I have to believe McClung is a better starting option than Bensen or Fogg. If we're bringing them in as retread tryouts to add some AAA depth, I understand. These are not guys, outside of maybe Perez, who should be pushing other guys down on the depth chart.

How many *good* hitting reserve middle infielders are out there? A guy who can play any infield spot competently, get on base at a .350 clip and only costs 1 million dollars is a valuable piece of any puzzle. If you're counting on him to get 500 at bats and slug more than .375, you'll be disappointed. That's not what he's being brough on for. As long as he is left in the role that he *should* be in, he's a bargain.

As long as Counsell gets less than 250 plate appearances, I'm more or less ok with this. Backup middle infielders as a general rule aren't going to be .750+ OPS players.

In many many ways Prince's words, mannerisms and actions kind of hint at "angry young man". I don't know the guy, I don't spend time around him, it's just one person's opinion based on the very limited exposure. Prince always seems to have a chip on his shoulder. Some people can use that as fuel to light their fire, but Prince seems (to me) to just carry a grudge towards life in general. Obviously he's a great physical talent, I'll be sad when he leaves Milwaukee. I don't begrudge anyone the desire to make as much as they humanly can. I just think that comments like "I'll get mine", along with his demeanor in general hint to me that he still has some growing up to do. Now, I don't care about any of that, I'm just a baseball fan and fan of the Brewers. But I'm bored at work and the topic sparked me to post.

The past 3-4 years, I have a bonfire on Friday and Saturday nights, more often than not. It's tough to beat a bonfire, red meat on the grill, a few cold brews, and the Brewers on the radio on a saturday night in July, and it won't be quite the same without Jim.