Its true sportsfans...there could be some dark days ahead.  No, I'm not talking about the swarm of illegal immigrants invading this country or the gut feeling our idiot homeland security director has of another attack here in America...I'm talking about a sick joke I made several weeks ago that may actually come to be truth.  After work on Friday, I went to the Gamestop store right around the corner from where I live because a guy I work with was talking about something in the videogame "The Punisher".  Usually movie-based games or comic games suck.  Yes, there are a few exceptions, and those exceptions have been phenomenal, but usually they blow.  This guy was telling me how good the game was, so I got online at work and looked it up.  Seems he wasn't the only one who thought it was good as many users gave it great reviews.  Now I had to have it, of course.  So I call Gamestop and they had one used copy for $7 (its a couple of years old).  I go, sift through a mound of "$9.99 and under" games packed into this huge bin, and find that golden nugget.  Oh man, this game is awesome.  You can grab any bad guy and interrogate them in a number of ways which results in a lot of pain and sometimes death.  Frank Castle doesn't take crap off anyone and doesn't have time for lengthy Q&A sessions.  Oh man, remind me in a few about an interview I read the other day with Uli what's his name...the director of "Hostel" and what a moron he is regarding torture.  Anyway, the game is everything I could have hoped for with this character.  Yes, my favorite superhero of all-time is The Hulk, but my favorite comic character is The Punisher.  The Punisher has no genetically altered powers or anything like that, he's just a guy.  And remember, as Frank Castle would say - "Its not revenge, its PUNISHMENT".  I read TONS of Punisher comics through the 80's into the early 90's, and the stories, characters, everything rocked!  If you're a red-blooded American male, the character and story of Frank Castle has to appeal in some way.  Ok ok, I know you're going "jeez Bo, would you get to the point???"  I wrote about what a bummer it was that Thomas Jane won't be playing The Punisher in the next movie  a few weeks back due to budget issues and a bad script...and then I made this joke -

"There is nothing like watching a superhero movie where the lead actor has a true appreciation for the character, and he definitely was Frank Castle in "The Punisher".  I can't picture anyone else taking over this role.  I won't be surprised if Vin Diesel is cast just to completely ruin it for me."

Well, I got online late Friday after playing the videogame to see if there was any news on the sequel.  I read an article that gave me nightmares and ruined my weekend.  It seems Vin Diesel was the original choice for the lead role in the first movie, and now may be brought in for the sequel.  I feel sick to my stomach...this can't be happening.  I see Vin Diesel as the action star for people with no brain.  Oh, and the comedic one-liners would just flow, and the theater would be packed with hordes of morons laughing.  At least when Thomas Jane delivered some wisecrack after wasting someone, it had a callous edge to it, and really wasn't supposed to be funny...just cool.  Like in the comics when Castle was about to kill a bad guy and the dude is going "Please...no...I'm about to be a father" and Castle goes "Not anymore" and then blows his head off.  Vin Diesel would probably deliver it like "Oh yeah?  Well it looks like your kid is gonna be an orphan buddy"...see he'd get all wordy thinking it's clever and it would just be stupid.  Maybe I should go to Hollywood and tell the studio I'll star in it for half of what they're going to pay Vin.  Oh, I couldn't do it?  Please.  With my piercing eyes, square jaw, chiseled good looks, and a voice that can sound like I mean nothing but business...I know I could.  Plus, now with my martial arts training and proficiency in handguns, I'm a perfect candidate.  I'll make a few calls and see what I can do.  Seriously though, if this happens with Diesel playing Frank Castle, I'm going to enter a severe state of depression.  You couldn't get a more ridiculous casting for this role...it would be like Freddie Prinze Jr. playing Wolverine, or Ben Affleck playing Daredevil....oh wait a second...

But life sometimes has a way of turning around when you least expect it.  As I type tonight, I am jamming...oh yes I am.  You see, I had a bit of a surprise today.  A month ago I got online to check when the double CD containing the lost tracks of Danzig was going to come out, and the release date was moved to late July.  This morning at work, I decided I'd check Best Buy's website for the heck of it and see if maybe some sample clips had been posted.  What did I see?  I saw the release date was last week!  I took an early lunch and drove to FYE which replaced Tower Records on West End, ran a few cars off the road and nailed some pedestrians who were trying to cross when everyone knows a car should always have the right of way...especially when I'm driving...found a parking place...shoved an old lady out of my way at the door...grabbed the double CD...and then roundhouse kicked a lady in front of me at the register.  Ahhh....sweet new music.  You have NO idea how badly I needed a fix of something new and decent to listen to.  Now not every song on it is a masterpiece considering they're all songs that were scrapped for various reasons on all his CD's, and some sound like polished demos, but there are definitely some gems on it...and it is Danzig.  It is an unreal feeling to be able to sit here and listen to new stuff by one of my favorite bands/singers/musicians.  And just when I thought it couldn't get any better...while I was about to roundhouse the lady in front of me, I spotted some action figures on the wall.  So I held off on the kick momentarily, elbowed some dude out of my way, and spotted the holy grail of action figures at this present time - Kratos from "God of War".  Yes, I am a dork sometimes, but I had to have it.  So I grabbed it, went back to the counter, and that's when I roundhouse kicked the lady.  Some dude was about to get mad at me for doing it, and when I showed him the Kratos figure and the Danzig CD, he just backed off and said "oh man...I had no idea..."  I could tell he was jealous too.  He knew how cool the stuff I was buying was, and he knew he wasn't cool enough to own such things so he hung his head in shame and walked away wishing he could be like me.  He's probably at a bar right now having a few drinks while crying...explaining to those around him that he saw someone today who just oozes cool and machismo, and he wished with everything in him he could be even 10% of the man I am.  So Kratos has taken his rightful place in my bookcase...wielding his Blades of Athena and standing next to the figures of the cast of "The Devil's Rejects", The Incredible Hulk, The Thing, and the one and only Snake Plissken.  That figure alone upped the badass factor in my house by at LEAST 15%, and with the new Danzig stuff playing right now...I don't know if modern technology can measure it.  Especially considering to get back to my studio/computer room you have to walk down a hallway with framed pictures of Elvis on one side, and the other contains the movie posters for "Bullitt" starring Steve McQueen and "Escape From L.A." with Snake Plissken on a motorcycle.  Yep, if only Jill Wagner would stop by one night.  Once she walked down the hallway of cool, she'd melt into my arms...hahahaha.

My 20 year high school reunion is this weekend.  I can't believe it...20 years.  Am I going?  Well the mighty NoiseCult has a gig in Kentucky Saturday, so sadly I won't be able to attend the semi-formal deal...but I'm torn about going to the Friday night casual get-together at some bar/club.  Honestly, about the only reason I want to go is to see what really hot girls I went to school with got fat and ugly.  I know that's horrible, but it's the truth.  I hated high school...I really did.  I'll probably show up for a little while just for the heck of it.  If anything I can see what hot girls got fat and ugly...hahaha.  I still can't grasp that 20 years has passed since I graduated high school.  Yeah...I'll probably go for a little while just so I can have some stories to tell...haha.

And finally...time to talk about Michael Vick.  Seeing how I love the Atlanta Falcons and even named my German Shepherd "Vick", it's safe to assume I'm a HUGE fan of his.  A couple of months back news broke about dog fights happening on property he owned.  It was property in Virgina he bought and let his cousin basically have.  Well after a raid and investigations, it was determined dog fights were going on there.  I didn't say anything about it because I'm one of the types of people that's likes to wait for facts to come out.  Oh yeah, sports talk shows and ESPN were ready to put Vick away for life...but I waited to see how it would unfold.  Now if he was really responsible for this, I would want him rotting in jail...I really would.  I LOVE dogs, and I think that's pretty obvious considering how much I talk about mine.  But something was telling me he didn't have anything to do with it.  He has always struck me as a pretty good guy.  Yes, I'm sure he has his flaws as we all do...but to be in charge of some dog fighting ring?  I really didn't think it was possible.  Now indictments are being served, and Vick isn't named in any of the paperwork.  Just as I thought from the facts I read...he owned the property but was never there.  A neighbor said he saw Vick maybe twice in the six years that Vick owned the property.  Plus, when the news broke, Vick was telling reporters he needed to cut some people out of his life no matter how painful it might be.  When I saw that, he honestly looked like a guy who had no clue this was going on.  And now the feds have even said they have nothing to tie him to this.  Another example of why I hate most media.  Facts get dismissed just so a story can be sold.  Like the Duke lacrosse rape charges that were bs...the news is ready to crucify these guys...and then it turns out to be a bunch of crap.  I always look to stuff like this as just some idiot "journalist" trying to make a name for themselves.  Did you hear about the Falcon player Jonathan Babineaux being charged in killing his girlfriend's dog?  I doubt you did...and the reason is because he isn't a "name" like Michael Vick.  How about when Carolina wide receiver Ray Carruth had his pregnant girlfriend killed and was found hiding in the trunk of a car a few years back...don't remember that one?  And how many casual football fans knew who Ray Lewis was until he was arrested over a murder that took place in Atlanta during the 1999 Super Bowl...probably not many.  Yet Vick is being dragged through the dirt and should be given the gas chamber.  Now I'm not defending him because I'm a fan...the facts so far have shown he had nothing to do with it and the only reason the media is jumping on it is because it will sell.  I swear...here in Tennessee we have Pacman Jones who was present at a shooting in Las Vegas that left someone paralyzed and is being charged with some kind of coerscion...yet Vick is all I ever hear about.  Vick isn't being charged...DROP IT!  Just like the Duke lacrosse players...LET IT GO!  I can't wait for football season to start so the only thing I'll have to hear about Michael Vick is that he isn't a good pocket QB...hahaha.  Seriously...anyone that puts Vick down is a moron.  All the players and all the coaches in the NFL do nothing but say how incredible he is...so when some fatso sports writer wants to trash him as a QB I just laugh.  To me, it's the equivalent of Al Gore saying that global warming is the single greatest threat the world faces.  Flaming idiots...all of them.

Ok...I'm going to enjoy some more of my Danzig CD's and then go play with the kids.  Perhaps a story or two of my high school reunion next time?  Perhaps sportsfans...perhaps...