Looking ahead to 2019-a resolution re: social media When they go low, we go high…words to live by

Social media can be a wonderful thing…can easily keep in touch with lots of people at once and not just people you personally know. With me, I’ve connected with old friends from before social media, people from tailgating, and a lot of people through my work with the Jills and Bandettes. And that’s just Facebook. I’ve lost track of all the people of celebrity status like actors and actresses and pro athletes that I not only follow but follow me back on Twitter and/or Instagram.

Unfortunately, there’s a negative to social media as well…and I’m not talking about the addiction that some people have to it that keeps them from paying attention to the world around them. While you can easily connect and converse with people you want to, you can also get sucked into connecting and conversing with the dregs of society as well….the bigots and the ignorant hateful people. The last few years, with a career con artist and renowned bigoted moron in the White House, those types of people have come out of the woodwork, no longer hiding in the shadows and under sheets like they used to. Scary thing is, with social media, you find out that you know many of those people...it’s an eye opener to find out that the people you thought were great people have some ugly bigoted skeletons in their closets.

Anyway, I’ve become a lot more politically aware the last few years and have weighed in on social media…unfortunately, many of those dregs like to “weigh in” as well…but since they don’t have facts on their side, they generally just hurl insults. Now, while I’m generally bringing facts to the table, I confess I’ve hurled plenty of insults back in addition.

So for my New Year’s resolution, I’m curbing the insults as much as possible. Some will slip out, I know but I’m going to try to follow the mantra of 2018’s most admired woman, Michelle Obama. “When they go low, we go high.” Instead of hurling insults right back, when I’m tempted to, I’ll simply block them. They’re not worth the time to insult.

For example, over the weekend, I paid a compliment to a friend on a photo she posted on Instagram. Then yesterday, some clown with a private account made some stupid and stalkerish comments towards me after that compliment. Rather than point out his obvious issues, I simply blocked him. People whose only goal on social media is to be scumbags are likely just as bad away from social media and they aren’t exactly getting a heavenly reward when all is said and done.

2018 my year in review

2018 has been a big year with some a couple of major changes for me, both of which I wondered if they’d ever happen.

First, after 22 years, I dropped my Bills season tickets…a decision I didn’t make lightly and has been coming for a few years to be honest. Since 2012, going to games has gotten to be less enjoyable for me each year. In 2006, when my season ticket partner bailed on me halfway through the 1^st game, I started sitting alone. For the 1^st 6 years of that, it wasn’t an issue…between people I knew around me and my work with the Jills, I kept busy. In 2012, it got a little less enjoyable and in 2014, it got even less so.

The tailgating was a different story…it stayed fun a little longer but the last few years, all the effort put in with all the prep work on Saturday, getting there early on Sunday to try to save spots for people that take for granted that you can save spots forever, cooking food that started going to waste, trying to get everything put away so we can get into the game on time, and all the clean up the next day…it started taking its toll. Add into that the increased costs between tickets, parking, and gas as well as all the drive time, it just wasn’t worth it to me to continue more than a few games a season. Maybe one day I’ll get them again…though if the Bills move downtown where tailgating will be compromised, the odds will be against it.

Secondly, I bought a house…it’s nothing spectacular but it’s mine and unlike the way my apartment had started falling apart after my original landlord passed, it’s nice. I still have a lot of work I want to do with it but I’m happy when I get home…and not just because I’m getting home to my boys. Speaking of whom, they have their own room though they don’t spend much time there in the winter…the only heating duct upstairs is in the spare bedroom and they like to sleep on or near that lately lol. Beyond that, it’s so nice being able to take my laundry to the basement instead of a Laundromat and having my own driveway is incredible. When I got home from Erie this past Friday, the car has remained parked instead of having to move it at 10am every day. Hell, today was the 1^st day I even went to the car since Friday! There’s a bunch of stuff I want to do next year with it…get the gutters cleaned and guarded and filling the side yard so I can get it planted being the top ones. Right now, it’s all roots through much of the side yard so I’m figuring if I can get an inch or 2 deep of dirt in there, I can plant grass and make it worthwhile.

2018 movies---the year in review and the year ahead

It started off with Black Panther on Feb 16…outstanding from beginning to end and in all honesty, probably deserves a few Academy Awards

Avengers Infinity War was next up on May 4 and it really lived up to the hype

Solo on May 25 filled in some gaps from before A New Hope and while I thought it was better than The Last Jedi, it didn’t live up to the franchise

Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom DID live up to the franchise and I eagerly await the next film in the franchise

Ant-Man and The Wasp built on the success of the 1^st movie very well, I thought…and the tie-in with Infinity War was well done, I thought.

Sharknado 6 wrapped up the series nicely and I’m going to be disappointed not seeing Fin, April, and Nova kicking ass next summer. The scenes with the young Nova, played by Cassie Scerbo’s niece were incredible. I do wish more of the Shepard family had had bigger roles to play in the movie. They could’ve made the movie to fit in a 3-hour block instead of a 2-hour block and it would’ve felt less rushed. Now I just want to find the box set…with deleted scenes…not in a Blu Ray format. So far, I’ve only seen Blu-Ray available and I’m not buying a new machine for 1 set of discs.

Aquaman was the final film I saw in the theater and out of the DCEU films, the only one I would say was better was Wonder Woman and even then, by a small margin…easily blows away Justice League, Man of Steel, and Batman vs Superman. There was a little continuity issue seeing as how this was set after Justice League but it was a great flick, IMO…the cinematography might have even been better than Black Panther’s.

I saw a few others on TV that I passed on in the theaters…Rampage was great…Jumanji surprised me somewhat…lacked the gravitas of the original but The Rock and Kevin Hart together is a great pair…Game Night was funny…Deadpool 2 was funny but far inferior to the original...Blockers was pretty funny--Kathryn Newton is going to be big someday, mark my words

Looking ahead to 2019

March 8 Captain Marvel…I’m not incredibly familiar with the character other than the fact that in the comics, Rogue took her powers before going straight and joining the X-Men but it’s going to be a big movie in the Marvel Universe

April 5 Shazam…this one is kind of iffy…looks more campy and goofy than most superhero films but if it’s tied in with the DCEU, I may have to go see it

April 26 Avengers Endgame…obviously a must-see especially after what happened in Infinity War

June 7 Dark Phoenix…definitely seeing this X-Men movie but am hoping it’s better than Apocolypse. While I enjoyed Apocolypse overall, it had severe flaws…Magneto, Storm, and Psylocke as Horsemen? Hopefully Marvel gets the X-Men back soon and they can do some justice to the characters.

June 14 Men In Black International. No way can Hemsworth and Thompson replace Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, but they had great chemistry in Thor Ragnarok and this movie does fit into the MiB continuity

July 5 Spider-Man Far From Home…The 1^st movie in the next phase of Marvel movies. I enjoyed the 1^st one but it definitely had its flaws…still not a fan of Spidey being so close to Stark…he should stand on his own…and Zendaya’s character just doesn’t seem right. Plus, Flash Thompson was never an academic whiz in the comics.

August 2 New Mutants…delayed from 2018 and to be honest, I may end up skipping it. When it was first announced, it looked like an X-Men tie-in but it doesn’t seem to be much of one and it’s more in the horror genre than a superhero film

October 4 Joker…looks to be an origin story for the Clown Prince of Crime…I’ll have to wait for trailers and more info before I look into seeing it

December 20 Star Wars Episode IX…hopefully it’s more like The Force Awakens or Rogue One than like The Last Jedi or Solo. I’m sure some love everything Star Wars no matter what, even Jar Jar Binks, but the original trilogy was a masterpiece and a lot of what’s released since then just doesn’t measure up. Out of the 7 films in the series released since Return Of The Jedi, Rogue One was the best, IMO

There’s a few more I wanna see but nothing that grabs me enough for the theater…The Upside with Kevin Hart, Godzilla King Of The Monsters, Jumanji 2, and Masters Of The Universe