The funny thing about asthmatics is that when you say "almost died laughing," it's potentially true

~ Crowley

Welcome baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack to the latest edition of the Mustard all you true believers. And to those of you who are not believers but random people who found their way to this blog by an accidental click of the button, hey, what’s up, thanks for coming.

It’s been a fun old week for Mr. Snow. I’'ve been hard at work putting up a few new chapters of the strip. I got on a bit of a roll and cranked out a hefty chunk of Episode II. So check out Episode II of the strip here.

So we'’re at T-minus 4 days until the make or break game of the season for Notre Dame. Personally I think our season is pretty much decided. It didn’t hurt that I got the ticket application for bowl games from Notre Dame today giving me the option of such highlights as the Insight Bowl and the Continental Tire Bowl. Seriously, this is such a crock of shiatsu. You basically have to guess which bowl game the Irish will get to (probably the Insight Bowl) and if you don'’t guess right, you don’'t get tickets. You can always send in a ton of money for all 3 bowls but the always frugal Notre Dame will not return your money to you until after it has collected as much interest as possible with it. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me... well for one side. Look I appreciate that they do give us the option of getting tickets to a bowl but what'’s wrong with them just sending an application that also gives people the option of asking for a certain number of tickets to whatever bowl game the Irish end up in so that we don’t have to pay $145 to ensure we get a ticket to the correct bowl game?

Ok, so that’s my little rant and I'’m done with it. You know me, sometimes Bitter Snow peeks through the clouds. Alright so couple of quick book reviews for those of you are who currently without a literary companion:

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay:
I randomly came upon this book one day while walking through Barnes and Noble and it was on the summer reading table. I’'d never heard of it before (I didn'’t keep up with the major novels put out in the past few years, especially while I was at Notre Dame) but the title intrigued me. Then I saw the big notice of it being a Pulitzer winner. When I came across the book while in Saratoga for Labor Day I decided to borrow it from my mother. I won'’t lie, it'’s a long book. But it is also a damn good one too. It begins with Joseph Kavalier, a young Jew who recently smuggled himself out of Nazi Prague during WWII, finding his way to his aunt in New York City. There he meets his cousin Sam Clay and together they combine their talents to create a successful comic empire. Yes, this is a really quick summation which absolutely fails to capture the spirit of the book. The author does an amazing job of writing the character of Joe Kavalier, capturing the guilt he feels whenever he feels an ounce of joy or happiness in New York because he feels he should be spending every second working towards figuring out a way to bring the rest of his family, still trapped in Prague, over to the United States. There is also the wonderful portrayal of Sam Clay as a young man chasing the American Dream of becoming something bigger than his current status in life while trying to figure out his own confusing personal life. Most impressive is the scene of 1930’s and 40’s New York City both in the sense of the wartime atmosphere as well as showing the climate during the rise of the golden age of comics. The author, Michael Chabon, knows and loves his comics and their history (he was one of the writer’s on the superior Spider-man 2 and he also wrote the novel on which the excellent movie Wonderboys was based). The only problem I had with the book was I felt the pacing was thrown off about 2/3 of the way through with the sudden adventure in Antarctica (yeah, you'’ll just have to read the book). While it’'s well written and certainly fits with the mood the book is trying to create, at the same time it just seems to suddenly slow things down too much only to have it suddenly pick up again in a mad rush to the end. But in the end the qualm is minor and like I said, well-written, so that I did still enjoy the part. Overall the book was excellent I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good read. If you'’re a fan of comics or any of the current plethora of comic-based movies (which these days is about one in five movies), this book is an absolute must-read.

America (the book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction:
I won’t spend too long on this because, let’s face it, if you'’re a fan of the Daily Show, you already have this book. If you don'’t then I can only imagine it’'s because you managed to fall into a coma the past few months and therefore missed the fact that Jon Stewart and the Daily Show team put out a book. If you'’re not a fan of the Daily Show but looking for something along the lines of either sharp political satire or just something to read that also happens to be funny as hell, then go get the book already. Honestly I don’t think I'’ve ever laughed so hard at a book in my life (if you don'’t believe me, just asked the people sitting next to me on the airplane who had to listen to me laugh out loud repeatedly during the flight (to any of those poor souls who are reading: I’'m sorry.)) But yes, this book is just, to quote Peter Griffin, “freaking hilarious”. But don’t take my word for it, just listen to the Amazon.com preview of the book:

Alright you Kwazy Klowns, that’'s all for now, I hope all is well in your lives. Rather then leave you with my own words of wisdom, I’'m going to leave you where I started, in the capable hands of Mr. Dan Crowley:

DrC 64 25: for some reason, i'm wishing i still had senior bar available to me
DrC 64 25: and since i don't have any killian's to hoist to senior year, i just cracked open a guinness for last year
DrC 64 25: to hell with midnight, class tomorrow, and potential alcoholism... here's to senior bar.

It's Thoughts Like This That Catch My Troubled Head

Greetings and salutations lovers and haters alike. Welcome back to the blog so nice I'm updating it twice... in a week that is. Ok, I know and you know that I'm not much for the exceptionally witty writing so lets just move past that last comment and get on with the Mustard.

First off: DAMN YOU NOTRE DAME!!! I didn't know it was actually possible to blow a game 17 times in the final 2 minutes! Of course if you read my last post you know what comes next: the biggest upset ever over USC. Do I realistically think that'll happen? No. But then I never thought we'd lose to BC, beat Tennessee and lose to Pitt either so why the hell not?

Just got back last night from a fantastic 4 days in New York with the family. If I can take a trip back every few months to get a little relaxing in, it's all I need. Had a great time up there with the engagement party and the fundraiser. I'm a lucky guy and I know it.

As promised I did catch The Incredibles. Very interesting movie. I wasn't sure right after seeing it. It's completely different than any Pixar movie before it. After thinking about it I realized that it's a good Pixar movie but not my favorite. But on the other hand this is probably in my top 3 favorite superhero movies of all time. See there's a difference between this and other Pixar movies: Nemo, Toy Story, Monsters Inc, they were all Pixar movies. They're cute, funny, touching family movies. The Incredibles is a superhero movie. It has the Pixar humor and is cute and touching at some points and whatnot but this movie would've been a good superhero movie if Pixar hadn't made it. By Pixar making it, it turns into a great superhero movie. It's not wall-to-wall humor like say Toy Story or Monsters Inc (and that's not to say it isn't funny: the whole exposition on why Mr. Incredible doesn't have a cape with his new costume is hilarious and in a classic Pixar moment Elasti-girl manages to get stuck in 3 doors at once). Instead it puts the humorous parts exactly where they should be so they never feel out of place among more serious parts. The characters are great. The family's personalities are perfectly lined up with their powers. Mr. Incredible is this huge strong man who is forced to hold it all in and pretend he's an average guy to just give his family a normal life. Elasti-girl ,who can twist and stretch her body in any direction finds herself having to figuratively do that while trying to keep her family together. Violet can turn herself in visible while all she really wants to do is be noticed by the cute boy in school. And Dash is the typical energetic little kid who just wants to run around at a hundred miles an hour like all young boys except he has to hold himself back because he literally can run that fast. And Jack Jack is a slobbering drooling baby. Good for him. Samuel L Jackson, while not in the movie that much shows he's Mr. Cool both literally and figuratively as Frozone. And Jason Lee plays the evil villain Syndrome not as an evil bond villain bent on world domination cause world domination is what villains do, but rather as a bad guy that, while he crossed the line long ago, still can be sympathized with somewhat as all truly good villains can be. The director of the movie, Brad Bird (who did the animated movie The Iron Giant a few years back which is also a really good movie starring a pre-movie stardom Vin Diesel) also puts in a hilarious cameo as the voice of Edna (essentially "Q" to you Bond fans). I highly recommend this movie for all ages. It's not the same type of family film Pixar normally puts out but it's still a great movie. And for all you comic book fans you'll find some sort of homage to just about every superhero type created at one point or another.

Ok, I could probably go on discussing the different aspects of the movie for a while... but I won't. Instead I will let you go on your merry way. I've got a couple book reviews I've been meaning to dish out at some point not to mention a few takes on other foibles of life. A huzzah to Crowley for making his voice heard loud and clear on the comment section (not to mention eerily foreshadowing the use of "huzzah" on the Simpsons this week) as well as that anonymous girl who's got me wrapped around her finger. Well, I won't linger any longer.

Until next time: keep on waving from such great heights.

Esoteric Means Delicious!

Bonjour you cheese-eatin’ surrender monkeys. It’s a new installment of the Mustard. I know it’s been a long time but hey, it’s worth it right? Cause otherwise how else would you keep up with my long-winded inane banter that rolls out on an almost weekly basis. Ok, so I’ve been bad about it lately but it’s been a few busy weeks.

First off, Episode II of the strip has begun again! Yay for that. I told you I was gonna take a few weeks off to rest my weary mind after putting out the end of the first one in like a week. So I rested and brainstormed and I’m back and better than ever. Well at least I hope so. Either way, you wanted it, you got it. Episode II of the strip found here.

Been an exciting couple of weeks with the engagement and all. I’ve talked to family members I forgot I even had. But things are falling into place thanks almost entirely to the tireless work of my wonderful fiancée. I’m doing my part by trying not to get in her way and doing whatever she tells me to do. It’s like we’re already married!

Notre Dame continues to be a constant source of anxiety for me. I mean come on! We can beat Michigan and Tennessee IN Tennessee but we can’t take BC or BYU? Geez, at this rate we’ll beat USC but lose to Pitt. Ah well, the important thing is we’ve clinched a winning record with that game and are bowl eligible. And our schedule right now is as good as we could want with Pitt next week (which should be a relatively easy one knock on wood) and then a bye week which’ll give them 2 weeks to prepare for USC. Hopefully that’ll allow them to give the Trojans a good game. Naturally, of course, USC also has a bye before the game. So here’s hoping. And all you people calling for Ty to be fired: please shut up. Thank you.

Ladies, do you wish your man would go see more romantic comedies with you? Fellas, do you wish you could get your girl to a horror flick or two? Well, people look no more. Someone finally made a movie for the both of you. It’s called Shaun of the Dead and with a tagline reading: A Romantic Comedy. With Zombies, how can you go wrong? Seriously, this movie was absolutely hilarious. Think Hugh Grant meets George Romero. And the funny thing is that about halfway through it I thought, “You know, take out the zombies and this would still be a pretty funny romantic comedy.” But come on, you don’t want to take out the zombies. They only make things better! The premise centers around a lazy Londoner who is perfectly content to remain working as a sales manager at a crappy appliance store and spend his free time playing video game with his loser best friend and taking a few pints at the local pub. His girlfriend wants him to put more effort into the relationship but he fails every time he tries. Oh and then the dead start to come to life. Shaun decides that he can make things up to his girlfriend by becoming a hero. Of course he can’t even make a dinner reservation let alone fend off the oncoming hoards of the undead. Hilarity ensues. Yes, there is your standard horror movie gore in there but it’s definitely not nearly as bad as the straight up horror flicks. And half the time it’s part of the humor. The movie does a fantastic job of subtly introducing the zombies into the movie. Think about that last sentence: zombies and subtlety? Yet that’s how it happens and it’s fantastically funny. Overall I give this a high recommendation as the best of both worlds date movie of the year. Oh, and look for nice nods to such classic horror/zombie fare as Romero’s Dead trilogy, Evil Dead and 28 Days Later.

Looking forward to seeing the Incredibles this weekend. No, amazingly enough, the Pixar lover that I am, I didn’t make it opening weekend but I will, never fear.

Headed back to New York for a nice 4 day weekend starting Wednesday night. Can’t wait to see the family. I only hope Erin doesn’t get completely blown over by the inevitable multitude of engagement/marriage questions from my family.

Until next time faithful reader….


…. take care (what you thought I was gonna be deep or something? This is me.)