tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37188432009-11-10T17:26:00.096-06:00A blog about comics, movies, cartoons, family, football, and whatever catches my attention.Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08584620469528165451noreply@blogger.comBlogger4152125This is an XML content feed. It is intended to be viewed in a newsreader or syndicated to another site.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718843.post-53734161408389791362009-11-10T17:26:00.000-06:002009-11-10T17:26:00.164-06:00

I think it is fantastic that my godmother/aunt continues to send me a birthday card with a cash money gift enclosed equally how old I am turning. This year I received a card with $37 included. Considering my aunt’s personality, love of life, and her own parents (my grandparents) longevity, I’m thinking I will celebrate my 60th birthday by receiving a card from her with three twenties inside.

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08584620469528165451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718843.post-88925865028155806552009-11-09T17:01:00.000-06:002009-11-09T17:01:06.663-06:00

Kevin Huizenga drew these fictional nemeses for the Famous Fictional Villains show in St. Louis. See the larger piece on Huizenga's blog.

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08584620469528165451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718843.post-38638438390617134172009-11-09T16:52:00.000-06:002009-11-09T16:52:02.238-06:00

I don’t even want to talk about the Bears. If it wasn’t obviously from the last two weeks that the Bears coaching staff – namely Lovie Smith – is unable to prepare the team to play football each week, then yesterday’s sad little performance should have made it painfully clear. I’m considering jumping on the bandwagon and becoming a New Orleans Saint fan for the rest of the season. Instead,

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08584620469528165451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718843.post-74222482571620049712009-11-08T16:00:00.000-06:002009-11-08T22:23:00.083-06:00

"Mommy has to make Dad a birthday cake tomorrow, If she doesn't, Dad will kick her butt." - Zoe, making up her own song to sing to Heather before bed the night before my birthday.

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08584620469528165451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718843.post-21621003021084993752009-11-06T12:11:00.000-06:002009-11-06T12:11:20.972-06:00

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08584620469528165451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718843.post-63306610625752286292009-11-05T12:45:00.000-06:002009-11-05T12:45:11.869-06:00

Apparently the New York Yankees won their MLB-record 27th World Series last night when they finished off the Phildelphia Phillies 7-3. I say apparently because until I saw the headline online this morning, I was completely oblivious to the fact that the Yankees were on the verge of winning the series. I never considered myself a Yankees hater, like so many other people I see out there who spit

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08584620469528165451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718843.post-39075112369124070542009-11-03T15:32:00.000-06:002009-11-03T15:32:14.213-06:00

First thing I thought of when I saw the title to this article in the Chicago Tribune: "I wonder if 'get a new offensive line' counts as 5 or 1?" Chicago Tribune: "Top 10 ways for offense to improve" I don’t think I'll ever understand kids. For weeks Ian and Emma begged and pleaded with me to not put up the giant inflatable Scooby-Doo wearing a witch hat at Halloween. They were "so

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08584620469528165451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718843.post-69660281638010907752009-11-01T21:19:00.001-06:002009-11-09T16:53:31.868-06:00

He turns Lady Gaga lyrics into comedy gold.

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08584620469528165451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718843.post-16027094919024648372009-11-01T16:00:00.000-06:002009-11-01T19:16:59.993-06:00

"You don't give fruit snacks for Halloween!" - Ian, age 4, venting his frustration with one of our neighborhoods who he apparently didn't believe understood the rules of trick-or-treating.

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08584620469528165451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718843.post-79445571932680311662009-10-31T08:03:00.000-05:002009-10-31T08:03:33.759-05:00

In case you don't make it over to our neck of the woods, here's a picture Emma took last night of Heather and I trying out our costumes. I think I pull off the angry duck pirate look quite nicely.

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08584620469528165451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718843.post-69668037813207505612009-10-30T16:50:00.000-05:002009-10-30T16:50:03.574-05:00

Pretty much from the moment I met Heather I knew she was a talker. While I would be overwhelmed by it initially, I have grown comfortable with her gift for gab. In fact, I like to sometimes joke that she can carry the conversation for both of us. So it was only natural that our children might inherit Heather's talkative streak. Ian certainly has. He can – and will – talk your ear off on whatever

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08584620469528165451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718843.post-39840242318349994032009-10-30T09:02:00.000-05:002009-10-30T09:02:27.455-05:00

I know everyone is talking Autumn, Halloween and all, but I am already thinking past that to the real fun season. You know it's just around the corner.

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08584620469528165451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718843.post-61588664187630098032009-10-29T16:56:00.000-05:002009-10-29T16:56:51.039-05:00

Even though I'm not much of a Halloween fan, I still enjoy the themed artwork/comics the holiday can inspire. Following on yesterday's post on Chris Ware's Halloween cover for The New Yorker, today I've got a splendarific comic from Cul de Sac creator Richard Thompson. I can so relate to what goes on in this comic. via [The Beat].

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08584620469528165451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718843.post-45343326469084712902009-10-28T16:49:00.000-05:002009-10-28T16:49:58.528-05:00

Chris Ware did a wonderful cover for this week's issue of The New Yorker He also contributed a comic inside that is equally well done.

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08584620469528165451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718843.post-8312068157068351862009-10-28T13:20:00.000-05:002009-10-28T13:20:58.277-05:00

Is Chicago Tribune columnist David Haugh on the Chicago Bears’ payroll? I ask because for years the guy has seemed hard pressed to write anything negative about the team. If he does, it is something weak like, "The Bears need to work harder at establishing their running game early." Great. Instead, we get what usually reads like fluff pieces that started from a Bears press release. For

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08584620469528165451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718843.post-70655028578066118792009-10-27T22:07:00.000-05:002009-10-27T22:07:24.959-05:00

Don’t tell Heather, but the only reason I will stop and watch Project Runway with her is to see Heidi Klum. I think the use of the term "truly" has reached an over-saturation point. It shows up everywhere. In people’s speech. In their writing. And it doesn’t make sense to me. Do you have to say, "I am truly happy for this development?" Isn't the fact that you are expressing your happiness

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08584620469528165451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718843.post-40299266723220882232009-10-25T16:00:00.001-05:002009-10-25T19:06:59.559-05:00

"Twinkie-Town" - Ian, giving CVS a new name

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08584620469528165451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718843.post-21910004741793127382009-10-25T11:23:00.000-05:002009-10-25T11:23:30.524-05:00

Then I would have a reason to buy me one of these:

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08584620469528165451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718843.post-13303147412894473412009-10-23T23:07:00.001-05:002009-10-23T23:07:00.718-05:00

Ian asked me the other day when the radio station in Chicago that plays 24/7 with Christmas music makes the switch. He wanted to make sure to avoid listening to Christmas music until December 1. Apparently he doesn't believe you should listen to Christmas music until the month of December actually starts. I didn't know the answer but thought I might learn it on their website. All I found there

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08584620469528165451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718843.post-66034254592319677962009-10-23T13:20:00.001-05:002009-10-23T21:14:26.304-05:00

Time may have tampered with my memory, but the way I remember things is that when I was in third or fourth grade I asked my mom if I could play football and she was adamantly against it. Feared I would be crippled or blinded or victim to some other horrible physical tragedy. So I stuck with soccer and learned you could hit people almost as hard as in football, and you didn’t have any of those

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08584620469528165451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718843.post-13369860439511711752009-10-22T22:19:00.000-05:002009-10-22T22:19:36.319-05:00

I was re-watching the Tim Burton directed Batman Returns last week when a thought occurred to me. If you look at the arch of Batman films that have been released since 1989’s Batman (also directed by Burton) through last year’s Christopher Nolan helmed The Dark Knight, they follow the same evolution in character depiction that the Batman comics have moved through over the years. When the

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08584620469528165451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718843.post-80587285967581004372009-10-20T18:44:00.000-05:002009-10-20T18:44:00.529-05:00

I thought this was unintentionally funny and this was intentionally hysterical Try as I might to not get wrapped up in the H1N1 news, I think it's starting to taint my ability to think rationally. I'm in the middle of a particularly nasty head cold – and I know it's just a head cold – but that didn't stop me worrying on the first few days if I didn't have H1N1. Even though I have no fever,

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08584620469528165451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718843.post-19837584894484437302009-10-19T16:49:00.001-05:002009-10-19T21:04:27.105-05:00

It was an exciting – yet ultimately horribly disappointing – weekend of football. First up was Ian’s football game on Saturday. Two evenly matched team played their best football of the season. And with time running out, and Ian’s team behind on the scoreboard, the Hillmen managed to drive the ball down to their opponent’s 5 yard line. With literally 3 seconds left to the game, on fourth down

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08584620469528165451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718843.post-15018091582153887532009-10-17T11:21:00.001-05:002009-10-17T11:21:00.093-05:00

And there's more fun at the website. Mr. Talking Badger is there.

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08584620469528165451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718843.post-35680486909755643942009-10-16T23:05:00.000-05:002009-10-16T23:05:00.737-05:00

And there's a whole bunch more lampooning the balloon kid here

Brendanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08584620469528165451noreply@blogger.com