10-31-06: Thoughts on this football season.

We all know I'm a big Notre Dame fan...but where's the love? Anyone out there that calls themselves a football pro is simply missing the facts...and here's where the problem TRULY lies...

Notre Dame lost to Michigan...NOW the #2 team in the BCS standings...USC, however, loses to Oregon State...who? Exactly. They aren't ranked in the top 25, and they are nobody special. Their record against USC in the last 32 years? 2-30.

Why then...is Notre Dame ranked lower, when they lost to the second best team in College football, and even beat a Penn State team by 24 that Michigan could not just put away even AFTER knocking TWO quarterbacks out...?

You see, this is stuff I don't understand. I was looking at the schedules for both Michigan and Ohio State...does anyone realize that in the next two weeks, both teams go up against opponents that are a combined 4-14? Sure, Notre Dame has some cupcakes in the next three weeks, too, a combined 7-17, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much, but come on. Look at the teams Notre Dame played already, and tell me their schedule wasn't tough?

Georgia Tech? They could win the ACC...

Penn St? They lost to Michigan by 7 with only having their 3rd string QB.

Michigan? yeah, they lost to them...but look at that team? Stacked.

MSU? They've lost to Michigan, Ohio State and Penn...without those three games on their schedule, they're 4-2, and then if they had teams like Oregon State, they're probably 6-2/7-2ish.

Purdue? 5-4 playing in the Big Ten

Stanford...okay boo them for their killing the opponent's record stat

UCLA? Weren't they top ten last year? Sure its rebuilding, but they are decent.

Navy? They were 5-2 facing ND

Forget the next three and look at USC...6-1, losing to a no-name, and for four straight weeks, having trouble beating ANYONE...yet they are the #9 team...

When you look at the records and the games...Texas got spanked by OSU, yet they are ahead of ND, and they had to rally from 21 down to beat Texas Tech...who?

Ultimately, you can ask ANYONE I talked to before the season this year...I FLAT OUT said that the team to watch was Rutgers. My buddy Arnie went there, and I said it after their bowl game victory last year, and I would LOOOOOVE for them to beat Louisville and West Virginia...why? Because then they deserve to play OSU for the National Champion...or Michigan.

Well, I'm tired of ranting about this topic now, but seriously...Notre Dame's schedule has two EASY games on it (and one is this week)...but So do OSU, Michigan, USC, WVU, FSU and every other team out there...All the haters need to shut up...the style Charlie brings to the game is this..."DID WE WIN? THEN SHUT UP AND MOVE US UP THE POLL..." And finally "If we continue to win...we deserve to be in the playoff to determine the champion..."

Thats right, I am talking 8 team playoff...

First round: Nokia Sugar Bowl
First Round: Rose Bowl
Second Round: Fiesta Bowl
Second Round: Orange Bowl

Championship game: NEW BOWL GAME...

How hard is that?! Christ.

10-29-06: Real World Wake Up call moment.

Who here is a manager at their job? At the same time, how many of them already put in 50+ hours of work per week and feel that it goes unappreciated? Now, couple that with an assistant manager who gets sick on the ONLY WEEKEND you can schedule yourself off, and due to the STUPIDITY of the company only allowing THREE keyholders, you suddenly find yourself having to sacrifice your own personal time for the company. Now how many of you suck it up and do it because you "have to" and how many just bottle it up?

Here's the problem with this situation. Apparently, said assistant manager has had this problem for over a week. I'm one for toughing it out, too, so this issue is something where I would probably end up being guilty of the same thing, but the problem lies here...if you are puking blood...see a doctor. If you are shitting blood, same thing. These are true words to live by. He waited...and waited...and waited...to the only time I had off, rather than going to the doctor/hospital when it first started, so that by the weekend, he should be well rested, and while I'd be cranky having to do this for anyone, I would have still had my day off, rather than having to pull at least another 6 day work week...

See, I don't mind having to work open to close...that's not a problem. I have a serious issue with not getting my time off. It isn't his fault, and mainly, it is the company's fault for not allowing a fourth keyholder, because it forces the manager to make UNHEALTHY LIFE DECISIONS. You find yourself asking questions like, "Can you come in anyway?" and "When will you be back?" But not getting the answers you want to hear, thus creating a void in work.

And who ends up the sickest? The manager that doesn't get to rest, is unappreciated for all his ass-busting hard work, and doesn't get to spend time with his wife and family because of the stupid fucking system.

Its a retarded world we live in, and forcing me to do things that I don't want to do because it hurts my livelihood is exactly why I hate retail and why if anyone would offer me $15 an hour to sell...I'd jump at the opportunity because I don't want the burden, and all I DO want is to do what I do best, but in my situation...that's just not possible.

10-24-06: Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe = buyrate...

Hey all, I'm sorry its been almost two full weeks since my last entry, and I have to say that I apologize for that. I know I'm not giving you comic content recently, so I should at least be giving you somehting to read, so here's a little bit...

I'm working over 50 hours a week and just plain exhausted by the time I get home. When I get there, I throw Splinter Cell: Double Agent into the 360 and pretend to be Sam Fisher. The guy has it all. He is a good guy, a bad guy and he's trying to kill a couple thousand people to save the lives of millions...all while trying to stay on the right side of the law. Its a terrific concept and one that NEEDS to be turned into a comic book (I'D WRITE IT! Hello?!)

With the comics, Eric sent me the whole penciled first issue of TAGGER, and he's outdoing himself on ever page. He's trying new things, making it work and really putting in a better effort than I've seen. Hopefully we'll be able to get something started with this project in early 2007 to start getting the LANDIS site updated again. I used to love watching the hits run in, and its a shame that it was only a miniseries...

I've not been able to letter any more of the pages of ARDY from JK, either, with all the work being done, but when I get some time to myself, I'll be doing it.

And I really hate this no online gambling act that got passed...that's ridiculous... give me back my freedom to lose money whereever I please...PLEASE!

I'll try to be more communicative, folks, sorry I haven't been :(

Rob

10-11-06: Tagger Pages.

Eric has sent me the first 22 pages of Tagger, fully penciled and they look good. I think everyone will like the change in art styles, but I have to admit, that with the time that it takes to produce the pages, I'm not sure I want to start until he has more completed pages. Sorry.

Dead Sonja is great. I have now seen all the art pages, and must say that Freddie Blatant III should be proud with what these artists did. This book looks GOOD.

They want me to do a Halo parody, next, so I'm doing research...however, with my job getting crazier for the holidays (yeah, its a little ways off, but it started yesterday with the pre-orders for PS3), I may have to pass on this assignment, whether I'd want to (which I don't) or not.

Well, gotta run...and no, we're not taking Nintendo Wii preorders, yet...though when we are, it'll be all over the net...just not on my blog :).

10/2/06: PS3, Wii, and much much more...

So guess who got to test out games like Wii sports, Zelda, and Resistance: Fall of Man this past weekend in Dallas, TX? That's right, me.

Working for Gamestop Corp, they sent all store managers to TX for a company wide training...which had 4500 managers, and 600 DMs and all the Corporate people there. This was a HUGE event, as vendors included EA, Vivendi, Activision, NC Soft, Ubisoft, Sega, THQ, Lucas Arts...and Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft.

Here's what we learned.

- There's a new Star Wars game that allows you to play as a CORRUPT side, and this means you can do crazy things like strap bombs to Ewoks and send them in and explode...

- Rayman: Ravin' Rabbids will be HUGE and you will ALLLLLL love the advertising for them. I actually suggested placing the ads ON THE DISC as unlockable content, so that'd be awesome.

- NINTENDO is READY with the Wii. Reggie (the Head of Nintendo of America) told us that Gamestop will be THE ONLY RETAILER with demo units for people to walk in and play. This is HUGE...

- Microsoft will have us selling the ZUNE, so expect Gamestop to go all out with this product, and I'd expect it to sell throughout Christmas with us, especially since they have noted that our top 1000 selling stores WILL RECEIVE A ZUNE AND A 360...wow! Peter Moore himself was there to let us in on all this info... and flew from Tokyo to Spain to Texas to get there for us...awesome.

- PS3 looks great, but Microsoft is ready with 60 new titles coming out towards the end of the year.

- There is SOOOO much going on to help poise Gamestop into the next couple years, and blowing away expectations once again.

Mainly for everyone wondering, the new TUROK game looks INCREDIBLE. Seriously.

Nintendo's Wii with Metroid, Zelda and Trauma Center will REDEFINE the gaming Genres... they are really good games and are VERY intuitive. These are really pushing Nintendo BACK into the limelight...this is huge news for the industry... and the Wii sports that will come in the package...Tennis is great, and Warioware is going to rock, as well.

GEARS OF WAR is JUST AS GOOD as you've heard. THIS IS THHHHEEEEE Shooter of the year, hands down. It's incredible.

DEF JAM rom EA is going to be a top notch fighter with environments that fight back, great shit.

Indiana Jones and all NEXT Gen Star Wars games are going to be great with the Immersion technology. It is software that is intuitive instead of pre-rendered... its really impressive to watch the characters and environments break more realisticly. This was a great piece of info that you should try to find online.

Best of Show:

- Wii...nuff said
- 360's upcoming plans
- Rayman (the Commercials MADE the weekend)
- Gears of War (Just gorgeous)
- Jamie Kennedy and Tom Green showing up.
- Our Scarface contest that will allow a manager to show up in an upcoming game.
- Lucas Arts presentation
- Resistance
- God of War II
- Def Jam
- ZUNE...you heard it hear first...let me know if you want to reserve one.

SO MUCH great stuff...and the fact that nintendo gave us $250 worth of stuff, Microsoft gave us another $350, Sony even jumped in this year giving us three games (they are afraid of losing market share)...

Lots of GREAT stuff coming...and I for one, am giggling like a school girl...

It was a great show, but the 18 hour workdays followed by getting sick were NOT on the menu...

Hope this lets everyone know why I hadn't logged any time in a while...have a great one.