Avatar: The Last Airbender
by Mike Agnew Jr.A few weeks ago, after watching Avatar: The Smurf Ferngully, Amanda and I found this original Avatar cartoon on Netflix. I say original because it ran during 2004-2008 whereas Avatar just came out in 2009. But, I'm sure James Cameron would put up a fuss that he thought of it first. Whatever. He can have it. He'll never let go. Anyway, we are not talking about tribal people with plug and play dreads. We are talking about the Last Air Bender. I had heard of this TV show before but wrote it off as another Pokemon/YuGiOh regurgitated kid-hypnotizing crap. I could not have been more wrong.
From the first episode I was hooked. Here's the gist of the story.
Sokka, Katara, Aang, and Prince Zuko
Avatar starts off as many stories do. There is great unrest and a chosen leader is born and must lead the people of the world to rise up and overthrow a great evil. Avatar takes place in a world that is split into 4 different nations: Earth, Air, Water, and Fire. Goooo Planet! But before you go looking for 
Matee and his useless heart power ring, this show is no Captain Planet remake. There is a power called "bending" that allows the people of these different lands to control their elements. It is also important to note that not everyone has these powers. It is just a random occurrence in the different tribes. This bending power is awesome, it really is. Sure, it starts off with throwing rocks and balls of water but as the characters learn and train, their bending becomes way more advanced. Take water bending for instance. Sure, you can move water but what about freezing someone running at you in mid-step? And how much water is in your body? What would happen if a water bender started to bend the water inside you? I like to think of myself as a creative person but some of the inventive bends even made me go, "I would never have thought to do that. Even the Green Lantern would have been put to shame.
Avatar State = Run Away
As far as the writing goes, we all know that no show can compare to LOST, (this has been scientifically proven) but Avatar definitely has a very LOST-like/Star Wars-like storyline. The main character, Aang (sounded out Fran Lang), is a young boy who, as the Avatar, is destined to bring balance to the force. As the Avatar he is the only that has the power to bend all 4 elements. Each season of the show, referred to as Books, cover Aang's journey to learn and master these abilities.
Although the show is named after the Avatar, he is not the main character. No one really is. It would be like saying Captain Kirk is the main character of Star Trek or Jack is the main character of LOST. We root for who we root for. And like LOST, each character has their own back-story, some even with their own flashbacks. The stories come together by the end of the 3 book series very nicely. Along the way, there are many twists and turns and just when you think you have got the story figured out, you will be wrong.
Right now all 3 Books of Avatar are available on Netflix and Netflix on Demand. I give them 5 out of 5 stars.
.
The poster and previews got me excited to see the movie. An 8% rating on Rotten Tomatoes did not.
Now, there is a movie that has been released called the M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Air Bender that is supposed to be based on the cartoon series. Yea... right! This movie is based on the cartoon like a Steak and Cheese Sub is based on a Philly Cheesesteak. M. Night took something that was great and original and desecrated it. This post could be pages long if I felt like getting into everything wrong with this movie. Instead, I will just list them off and then address M. Night directly. All the characters names are pronounced wrong. All the dialogue is monotone and makes no sense. The movie is dark like Terminator and the Matrix. The humor is misplaced and trite. These are kids learning to fight not 4 Neo's stomping through bad guys. And what actually made me walk out on the movie, they exposed secrets, through narration, that should not be uncovered until the later books.
.
Dear Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan(adingdong),
You gave us the Sixth Sense and for that, we thank you. It was a shocker and one of the first movies to have such a Planet of the Apes type twist at the end that we all rewound our VHS tapes to find what our eyes had missed the first time. But, you persisted and decided to make a genre for yourself. You wanted to be the reincarnation of the great Alfred Hitchcock. Well you, sir, are no Alfred Hitchcock. You have proven time and again that you are short-sighted to what the audience wants and, still, you drag them through the most boring and vain story-lines ever to hit the silver screen. You add your name to the title of movies like it's a gold star, like it has somehow ascended to your divine status. But again, I say to you... You are no Alfred Hitchcock. As your final twist you took a beloved and complete story and removed all the mystery and emotion. You stole the essence. You missed the point. But all is not lost. The Last Airbender, at least, took you down with it. You will never make another film, Mr Shyamalan, and I think you owe everyone an apology. Get out of my sight.
Mike Agnew, Jr.
El Apartamento
by Mike Agnew Jr.With Bill leaving the greatest bachlor pad known to man due to this wedding business, I have turned on my animal insticts and have started to prepare for the hunt. I followed the normal route: start from the bottom and work your way up. In other words craigslist back to a legitimate website. As with all hunting you must get to know the beast you are tracking. I am limited by the second income but will not take up much ground on my own so I don't need to land a very large kill.
A good deal is easy to find but I found something so humorous in the reviews of the local apartments I had to share them. Some of them were so back and forth...completely polar opposite reviews....and some were just funny responses.
Garner House
"Its not every day that you find a peaceful quiet place to live in apartment living. Garner House definitely lives up to this and is well maintained."
"New mgmt took over year ago. Since then we have had a murder here in the bldg. Police are here at least two times a month for fights and drinking. Drug needles found in parking lot."
"Thanks for giving my mom the best of everything, safety, cleanliness and friendships!"
Studio apartments for $775/mo.
Robert Bruce West Apartments
"With drug sales going on in the hallways, husbands beating wives, and property damage happening weekly, I could not escape quick enough from RBW. The first few years were OK, but then a change in management and tenants and the place became very unsafe. Having known pyromaniacs starting fires or setting off fire alarms a few times a week, or drug sales being done in the hallways and the people running up and down the steps at all hours of the night - you would think management would want to respond - no they did not."
Studio apartments for $1,969/mo.
Apartments at Rosewood
"Gang activities everyday. Noise, prostitutes... No parking, no lights, smell on urine in the hallways. Old garbage disposal dumpsters with broken doors..."
"I'm reading some of the reviews online and I wonder about them. I live here now and I love it. Eileen has been incredible and my neighbors are awesome!"
"Later I heard that she wanted to get rid of all of the "white trash" that lived there, and that the complex was turning into section-8 infestation. She is completely unprofessional and needs to be removed from the property. By the way, nothing that goes on in the home that does not cause a problem IS NOT ANY OF HER BUSINESS, BUT SHE WILL MAKE IT HERS. Don't rent here if you value your privacy!!!!!!"
"Where should I start..Let's see Eileen the lanlord was some kind of monster (THE MOVIE) and had no life outside of "ROSEWOOD" one would say. After 3 months of being there she started banning my friends and started to tell me how I should live my life. Yes, it was cheap to live there if you wanted to live like a caged animal."
Studio apartments for $1,034/mo.
And my personal favorite...
The Livingstone Apartments
"overpriced, gross, awful staff support, mean landlords, put together extremely poor. bad paint, laundry facilities, unsafe basements, no locks on basement doors leading outside, broken heaters, an inch of space underneath apt doors, letting out heat, mold issues like crazy."
"this place is nasty a@$ dirty.The maintenance man "sammy" is an ugly flirting no nothing piece of you know what."Tom the manager knows nothing about good bussiness which is probally why he was kicked off the condo association board.The apartments smell like crap and attract the kind of people who smell the same.Also extreamly overpriced."
Studio apartments for $1,235/mo.
Continue reading @ Apartment Ratings dot com
Hi, My Name is Mike Agnew.
by Mike Agnew Jr.Well I have been busy and left this blog to dwindle in the wind. With work, school, videos, a little brother, and a girlfriend, I have been stretched quite thin. Not that I am complaining, but this is a formal apology. A formal apology that will hopefully stop the Hassinger's Mind jokes. Even though I don't mind them at all because all of my friends pretty much make up my mind. 
I wouldn't think the way I think if it wasn't for them. So it's all part of the same thing.
It's a remix...shut up.
So I think I got stuck when it came to writing the DC University. I got all caught up in getting everything exactly right and became consumed by the research. In the next few weeks you can expect to read articles on The Spectre, Booster Gold, The Death of Bruce Wayne, and, my favorite topic, The Origin of the Joker.
Along the lines of comic books, I will also be posting all the reasons why Heroes had all the potential of becoming a great show and threw it all away to become a prime time soap opera.
I will take some time to brag about my Motorola Droid and what it actually does. I will give my opinion on the best apps and also what the greatest annoyances are. Eventually Bill and I will switch phones for the weekend and give a real showdown comparison of the Droid vs. the iPhone.
Finally I will be building the SDAND website with Flash. I will post about my progress and find ways to explain working with flash and photoshop in plain english. I will also be posting updated information on the Summertime SDAND event set for July 24th.
P.S. There are a few other side projects I plan to work on. One of them being turning one of my previous posts into a book, a novel of sorts. Wait. Wait. Ok now that all the eye rolls have finished....you know you will read it if I do write it.
Also thanks to Jon for keeping this slumbering bear of a website alive. I'm calling all the baby daddies out. Where's the Fatherly Advice?
Facebook Infected with Magarity Virus
by Mike Agnew Jr.
E.R.I.N., seen here strangling a puppy
It seems that Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, is "faced" with a new problem. It turns out his numbers are wrong. There are not the 300 million users thought to be on facebook but actually 3 Magarity sisters and a handful of their friends. Somehow these three have been able to comment, post, and tag everyone and everything on facebook. At first Facebook webmasters thought it to be some sort of phishing virus. They initially thought that one of the "Magarity 3" had her password stolen by a virus and was able to instantly comment on all posts of her friends simultaneously. Zuckerberg held a press conference on Monday where he had this to say:
"When we found out that this was a normal person doing this we just could not believe it. She must have had several windows open and been clicking and typing faster than anyone we have ever seen. It was the first time comments have been posted before the actual post. We dubbed her E.R.I.N. which stands for Extremely Responsive Impulsive Notificationer. This is similar to a case we saw last October where a single user we have labeled L.E.V.I.N.S. was able to post 10,000 Phillies updates in 3 microseconds."
Authorities at Facebook have been expanding their server base in order to support these three. E.R.I.N alone took out half of the eastern seaboard with her SDAND attendance emails alone. The other two sisters seem to be focusing on reporting army intelligence pictures and what appear to be Mexican soda ads. Until we get more word on these three, all we can do is sit back and watch them reak havoc on facebook, their digital playground. Zuckerberg went on to say:
"This is just the tip of the iceberg, just imagine if they get smartphones like the iphone or droid. They could comment on anything anywhere anytime. God help us all."
Bill and I make the Inquirer
by Mike Agnew Jr.Check out the second page of the World Series sports section of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The paper actually cuts off our heads completely, but online had this picture up. Here is the link to the website in case you shant believe me. Click here and go to picture 19.
Look at the top right....
Game 5 and still ALIVE!!!
by Mike Agnew Jr.I went to bed on Sunday night angry...very angry. I didn't watch the bottom of the 9th. I turned off the tv. Brushed my teeth. Got ready for bed. And right before closing my eyes, I checked phillies.com to see if a miracle happened. To see if Santa had come and left a present under the tree for me. A tiny match lit in the middle of a dark field and then pffff... everything went dark. The Phillies had crumbled again. My head hit the pillow just a little bit harder.
Then at 6:30AM I get a text from my dad. He and my mom were at the last two games which, in turn, made them get home late two nights in a row which, in turn, led them to be run down by lack of sleep and lack of wins which, in turn, made the tickets available to me... my turn.
Now, I went to the World Series Game 4 last year. The Blanton Home Run. It was an amazing night. It brought me back to being 11 again and all the awe that was the Series of the World, the Classical Autumn. This time around I didn't get caught up in the bells and whistles. This time the perks that come with a World Series game didn't phase me. I wanted baseball pure and simple. I wanted the American Pastime versus the almighty dollar. I wanted heart and integrity versus performance enhancement. I wanted David versus Goliath. Link versus Ganon. Rocky versus Apollo. That's it. That's the match up I wanted. Phillies versus Yankees... Balboa versus Creed.
Sunset at Citizen's Bank
Bill and I got to the stadium before the gates were open... in fact, nothing was open but the radio station stands giving away pieces of plastic to herds of cattle. We went in as soon as they opened and caught both the Phillies' and Yankees' batting practices, a feat I have never achieved, ever, in my baseball watching career. Pre-game we caught a few glimpses of familiar faces.
The fans eventually piled in and the game was under way. And thus began one of the most complete games I have ever seen.
It had controversy: Victorino's beaning in the first inning, Posada's dilly-dalying strike, A-Ro(i)d
It had Huge Philly Scores: Utley's 3 runner, and Utley's whoops I hit that foul... let me straighten that out for ya, Lee's single, Ibanez's Jeep sign dinger, and Lee's overall pitching
It had funny quotes from Section 137: "Oh hey, you guys made it. Good. Sit down. Let me fill you in on what you missed." ~ Joe, a fellow season ticket holder, to the Yankees fans who showed up in the seats next to him in the 4th inning. The same quote was used when they returned from a bathroom break in the 7th.
It had funny quotes from the Men's Room: "Focus, focus." ~ A Phillies Fan reacting to a group of fans starting to sing "Fly, Eagles, Fly"
It had the Phanatic:
It had Classic Phillies Drama: A 9-inning looming Yankee threat, Damon little crappy dinker to keep the game alive, as well as the rest of the drama you get with Ryan Madson.
It had Celebs:
Mitch Williams and the World Series Trophy
Peter Gammons walks through our Section
Hugh Douglas and John Bolaris
Robin Roberts and Jim Bunning drove down from Horsham.
And, most importantly, it had the strike-out to ended the game with full screaming and rally towels.
WE WIN
By the way, I am now 3 for 3 in World Series Game Victories. '93 Game 2, '08 Game 4, '09 Game 5
Arizona: A to Z
by Mike Agnew Jr.So I recently took a trip to Tuscon, Arizona. Pronounced Too-sawn... not Tus-can... that's in Italy... or so I learned. Amanda's friend was getting married and so we figured it would be a good idea to bring a bit of Philly charm to the Copper State. Also, Amanda was in the wedding so I had no choice either way. I joke. I was happy to go. However, the trip coincided with some of the NLCS Playoff games. This was the same case as last year. I had to take a trip for work which led me to watch Games 1 and 2 of the NLCS alone in a hotel in Denver, CO. Luckily both the Phoenix and Tuscon airports were lined with HD flat-screens all tuned to TBS. Arizona... you had me at hello.
I would also like to thank Bill and Rocco for the 15 text messages I received once we landed. (I could only wait for 10 before checking. Sorry for the blurriness.)
So here are some of the things you notice about Arizona right from the start:
It's Hot. It was 40 degrees in Philly the day we left. It felt odd gaining 3 hours and 48 degrees just like that. The sun is intense....the angry sun from Super Mario Brother's 3 comes to mind. The difference between being in the sun and in the shade is about 10 degrees...no lie.
.
It's Dry. Now, this dryness counteracts the heat....a bit. Let me be clear. It's still very hot but it's not that humid hot that makes many August days in Philly unbearable. But the dryness gets you another way. I noticed during my first daytime drive on Friday morning. I was talking to Amanda and suddenly I gagged. The back of my throat was instantly dry. I reached for the bottle of water she said I would "need". (I immediately regretted the scoff I gave her earlier when she purchased the bottle.) You know that feeling that you get when you do a somersault in a pool and you get water up your nose? You come up for air and have to do that weird back-of-the-throat cough. Well, this is the exact opposite feeling. It feels like your nose is drying from the inside out.
It's the Desert. Don't let the Walgreen's at every intersection fool you. Behind that shopping center is the desert. It's right there. On many of our drives, I imagined the situation where we would run out of gas or break-down. In every simulation, I died. The threat was real. You would find me just like they found Jin in Season 5 of LOST... sun-burned, dehydrated, and Korean.
I also realize that it's mid October. Not the hottest time of the year but I can barely survive in the moments between turning the car's AC off and opening up the car door. Amanda caught my preparation tactics...
So we flew in Thursday night. We had Friday and Saturday mornings to spend sight seeing. We decided to visit Mount Lemmon and Sabino Canyon.
Mount Lemmon is the highest mountaintop in the Santa Catalina Mountains. The best part about this Mount is the climb: the Catalina Highway. This windy road takes you all they way to the top of Mount Lemon. There are several places to pull over and take pictures or just admire in the view. If ever there was a day I wish I had owned a cool motorcycle, this was that day. I envied all the harleys tearing up the snaking road but my Mazda 5 did just fine. We never made it to the top (a little over 9,000 ft). We had to turn around to have enough time to make the rehearsal. We made it to 8,000 feet and 6 miles from the town of Summerhaven, at the top. But I was able to create a few panoramics from the pictures I took.
About 6,000 feet up
Closer to 8,000 feet up, notice Amanda on the right
Sabino Canyon or as I pronounced it, Zhivago Canyon, is the canyon that runs between the Catalina Mountains. It 's about about 3.8 miles long... or at least the road in the state park is that long. Lots of people were walking, running, and hiking in the park by the time we got there. There are trams available that give you a guided tour, about a 45 minute round trip. We took the tram to the end and then hiked for about 3 miles (1.5 up and 1.5 back down). The cool thing is that there are tons of paths to hike. The one we were on would lead you all the way back to the entrance but you would be walking right along the mountains' edge. Very cool. Wish it was around the corner. Funny thing happened in the middle of our hike. We realized we were all alone and out of yelling distance to anyone. It was dead quiet. We started to recite the "What to do when confronted with a Mountain Lion" speech that the tour guide had given before dropping us off. Don't bend over. Don't run. Maintain Eye contact. Make yourself as big as possible. Make deep slow sounds. Luckily I'm half Italian and most of these things come naturally. Luckily the only animal to cross our path was some 3 inch lizards.
Here are some pictures and clips from the trip.
A view of the Canyon
Can you thread the needle?
A little piece of home found in Arizona... look closely
At the reception...
On the flight home...
Interesting note: The Philadelphia Airport did not have one flat-screen tuned to the Phillies Game... instead... Sunday Night Football... 500 travelers were quite pissed.
Letters from Section 137
by Mike Agnew Jr.So I was sitting in my seat in section 137 after today's game and I was trying to figure out how to put together all my thoughts of different events that occurred during the game. So I figured I would address those involved or those interested directly in letter form as to be as sarcastic and sincere at the same time....so let's begin...
---------------------------------------------
Dear Cole Hamels,
I told you at last Saturday's game that you would need to show up to the playoffs. I noticed you dragging your feet right from the get go. Now I know we had locked in the NL East a couple games before but that is no reason to stop playing baseball. You let the runners steal bases on you like it was a pee-wee league game. But I digress. Today's performance was more of the same and to have that press conference this morning complaining about the timing of the game and how the world champs deserve more respect. Maybe you are right but that is something for the fans to complain about not the ball players. You just focus on the game.
Oh, ......and congrats on the kid.
Love,
A Guy from the Stands
---------------------------------------------
Dear Third Base Umpire,
You are horrible.
Hate,
Mike
---------------------------------------------
Dear Left Field Umpire,
Please advise the third base umpire and correct him when he is blatantly wrong. Teach him that everyone makes mistakes. Please also tell him that I was a little harsh in my letter to him and for that I am sorry. I got caught up in the moment and my emotions got the best of me.
See you at dinner,
Michael
---------------------------------------------
Dear Larry-the-Cable-Guy-Looking Guy in Section 136,
I felt horrible watching your aluminum bud light pounders get knocked over not once, not twice, not thrice, but a grand total of FIVE times. Thirty-five bucks spilled onto the concrete below. Wasted...and evaporated. Your Utley jersey fell into that puddle of beer a total of eleven times and your rally towel....well...you couldn't even wave it like all the fans around you because it was saturated with your lost possessions. I recognized the culprit behind this repeated occurrence early on and believe it all stemmed back to the rich bastards sitting in your row. They put all their beers in the cup holder to the left when they should be using the one to the right which, in turn, left 
you, at the end of the row, without a cup holder to call your own. You managed by sticking it under your seat or even between your feet but the rich bastards wouldn't have it. They wanted to break you. So they would get up to go to the bathroom, make you get up from your seat, make you move to the aisle, and in the process kick your ice cold boodlight under your chair where it's gold nectar would return to the earth whence it came. I cry for you, oh sleeveless warrior, because even after all these tragedies you still prevailed. At last call, in the bottom of the 7th, you not only got yourself an ice cold chalice of golden wheat but you also attained a holding sheath for said bruski and force those Armani-wearing losers to shift their beverages one holder to the right. And on top of it all, you tipped the beer-man a buck on top of the already over-inflated price of Seven dollars.
You are my Hero,
A friend
---------------------------------------------
Dear Dewitt,
I saw Woodland on the Fanavision during the "Bongo Cam" part. She is the ring that binds us.
Pleasants,
the one
---------------------------------------------
Other Notable Quotes:
Beer Man (handing me a beer for a guy down the row): "Here man, take a sip and pass it down."
Guy on a Cell Phone on the way out:"No we lost............Hamel (pooped) the bed."
Guy behind me: "WHAT ARE YOU SWINGING AT!....I mean....I'm not yelling at you...I'm just saying what are you swinging at....I want to know and you are really far away from me and that makes me yell."
Another guy behind me: "Don't get me wrong I love Jimmy. I do. I just love hits more."
---------------------------------------------
And finally, my favorite part of the night:
3 guys standing in the aisle, waiting to get back to their seat. These are the rich guys from the letter above. One looked like Chuck Bass.
.
.
Guy in seat in front of me: "Hey guys can you sit down while you are waiting to get back to your seats. No one can see."
Chuck: "I'll sit down as soon as I'm back in my seat. Until then, I'm fine right here."
.
(Let the games begin....)
.
Various guys in our section, there was a huge roar of comments but these were the ones I could make out and remember:
"Hey prissy boy, how 'bout you sit down where you are ... or would that rip your sister's pants that you're wearing."
"In here you are just row 4 seat 12, buddy. Move it."
"I'm gonna steal your BMW and (kiss) your girlfriend in it."
Chuck - "I wasn't talking to any of you, I was talking to him"
"If you are talking to him then you are going to deal with all of us."
"You shouldn't be talking to anybody, pretty boy."
Chuck walks back to his seat, sits down, and looks over at us and says, "You talking to me."
"I'm going to (respect) your girlfriend!"
.
.
......and finally a moment of Zen:
This was a real coat...not a trash bag
Delve into Agnew’s Mind
What you think?
Loading ...Recent Comments
- Mike Agnew Jr. on Avatar: The Last Airbender
- Jon Hassinger on Avatar: The Last Airbender
- Jon Hassinger on Avatar: The Last Airbender
- Mike Agnew Jr. on Safe-Time Continuum
- Amanda on Safe-Time Continuum
