The Briar Patch

I lied, it is clear I wont have a chance to get back to a travel blog this year 2025. Hell it might be 2026 before this is even up! So ending on some more random thoughts. Mostly unedited and well for real last one like this I am doing for a month. At least. New goal for 2026 travel blog out every 2 weeks until last trip is done. Want it to be done before I go to Spain this year!! Oh I am posting this January 2nd. A big chunk right in the middle is Stranger Things with some massive spoilers if you haven't watched final season be warned.  Hockey ended shitty. We finished 3rd in our div. For once it felt like the right div, winning as much as losing. We got a wild card round Bye, then quarter final single game elimination we played a team with only 2 wins. One we handled easily BUT no one showed up. Not figuratively, really. We had a tiny bench and they beat us. The legit season we could have made a good playoff run we lost. I can't say much, I didn't play I was working. I mi...

I started this before I decided I needed to concentrate on one thing. So this is my last focus pop culture / comic blog for a while. Pretty happy I have been doing travel writing, but I want to get this posted, so I have no distractions. Comics, I love them. I have loved them since grade 3-ish?? So, 8 years old, 35-year love affair. I mean, it started before that. What are comics besides still cartoons, and what kid doesn't like cartoons? I guess I am gonna go on about my comic history in this blog. (This was started before I decided to focus more on my writing. So for real, last non-travel blog for a bit) Saturday morning cartoons are the start of it. It is true that back in the 80s and 90s, we had Saturday morning cartoons. There wasn't just a network dedicated to cartoons; you had to slot them in! It was a treat to see them, and we all loved them. It would make sense that a generation raised on cartoons would enjoy comics, a physical copy to hold in your hand and reread anyt...

  The MCU hasn't been the same since Endgame. It has had a few decent TV shows, and let's be honest, Guardians 3 was terrific. Spidey and Doc Strange were alright, and also, a ton of crap has come out. Moving forward is looking iffy, even with a fantastic movie out and hopefully one on the way. Here are my mini highlights, and of course, there are spoilers, so be warned. So, let's talk about RDJ coming back to the MCU. It reeks of desperation. The most popular actor of the first 10 years has to come back to revamp the entire franchise. Have things really gotten that bad?? Is Cap coming back if Brave New World bombs? I will give it a shot; RDJ is a great actor. I know he can pull the roll-off, but there had better be one hell of a well-written plot to get there. I am making an assumption he is a clone? A variant? If they say he looks strikingly close to Tony and wears a suit of armor, I might lose it. Let's assume Dr. Doom will be a big bad and not wasted as a one-shot. ...

 So a quick pop culture blog, it has been a bit. I wanted to keep up to date. I mean soon part two of my trip will be up, just cant believe how long editing takes. Anyways here we go Ball hockey has been interesting. After an AWFUL last season they bumped us down a div. I played game 1, we won 7-2 and then I was gone on holidays. While I was gone we won all our games and got bumped back up. Since then we are 1-4. One of those is a forfeit since we had an Oiler game and no one showed. Maybe I am just bad luck... Actually I am having my best games ever. Most points per game I have ever had but we aren't winning. Here is the thing, a couple of our loses have been dramatic. Both times we were down 6-4. Both times we pulled our goalie and scored, then dominated for last 30 seconds. 30 seconds more and we would have tied the games. So I feel we are in the right div, just need to play harder. Would be nice to win a div again. Sadly still to low to get to provincials. I think I need to giv...

So this blog is unpolished, unedited. I just wanted to write some fun stuff between blogs on serious issues. I have been listening to audio books that are draining as well, interesting but not fun... Art of War, The Prince, 48 Laws of power. So this is just a quick fun one... Anyways I will start it Dear Mr. Feige.... With 3 or 4 streaming services, I still find myself falling back and watching classics like Daredevil and Punisher and starting the millionth rewatch of the Infinity Saga. Just watching the first couple Iron Man and Cap America 1, a person becomes painfully aware how bad the MCU phase 4 and 5 have been. Don't get me wrong, there has been a few highlights. Spiderman had cameos we all loved. Dr Strange I personally liked even though the working title should have been "No Wanda, don't! Bad!"  PAUSE. STOP. I was going to start bitching about how the overall product of the MCU has gone downhill. Then I started to think how many stinkers the Infinity Saga had ...

I am going to start out with how winning Edmonton is! Them Elks sure are doing good! Still no wins so far this season. Overall they are 7 - 33 since changing their name. I don't believe the universe works like this but it sure does seem go woke go broke.... They had more wins in their final season as the Esk than they have the entire time they have been the Elks. Also watching vids from K-days this year. What the hell Edmonton? While I have been writing a few entries to try and make this city and well the world in general a better place, then I watch videos from K days and think fuck it, its a damn cesspool just let it sink. Look out for number one and let idiots ruin everything for everyone. Like literally we can't even have a carnival without numerous fights and bear fucking spray. God damn we are embarrassing. Then I try and put it all aside and remember I have been to Kdays with friends when we were much younger and a fight broke out. Maybe these people that look like ass c...