Thoughts on ‘The Paterno Report’

We are all familiar with the pedophile’s playground that was Penn State. We gazed on in horror and disgust at the structural and institutional abuse that was allowed to go on. We downloaded the Freeh Report, an independent review that looked into the abuse of Jerry Sandusky, and read in shock as the details unfolded on how this was permitted to continue for so long. The report was the basis and rationale for the NCAA dropping an incredibly harsh penalty that was designed to severely punish the football program for creating a culture that, at a bare minimum, allowed this to occur and not be reported.

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In the roughly seven months since the release of the Freeh report, Penn State and the rest of us have been able to succeed on closing this chapter and begin healing some of the wounds. I will not speak to the damage done to the victims, because that is their own and no one can begin to understand what this all means to them. The Nittany Lions had a great football season (by B1G standards anyway) and the university took some steps to move forward.

Today the scab over that wound was picked off by the Paterno family (I bet they ate it) with the release of their privately commissioned report, “A Rush to Injustice”. While I understand the desire to protect the image of the disgraced and deceased football coach, there really is no good that can come of it. It comes off like a child trying to rationalize their bad behavior.

leave joepa aloneThe main claims of the Paterno Family report is that the investigation was done inappropriately and that JoePa never attempted to hide any information or hamper any investigation. First, the Freeh Report was by no means perfect, but attacking it for any deficiencies is like the pot calling the kettle black; the Paterno Report suffers from the same short comings such as lack of subpoena power and access to information. Secondly, nobody gives two craps that Joe did not hide information; it is that he did not scream it out while leading the charge to serve Sandusky up to the authorities.

Finally, saying he did not hamper any investigation is like claiming he did not pet any unicorns or that he did not visit Camelot. Those things do not exist and neither did any meaningful investigation.

The self-serving report does nothing to help or heal. It is stupid and simply serves to flame the fires that had died down. What the Paterno family should have spent their time, fame and fortune on was helping victims of abuse. They should have acknowledged the mistakes and flaws of JoePa, and then taken every penny they had and supported one of the national charities that helps victims of child abuse. That is the way they could have begun the process of rebuilding the Paterno name, not this attempt at blame shifting.

Arrow: 1.13 – “Betrayal”

Oh “Betrayal” how you kill me! So much happened in this episode, but first things first, let’s all take a moment and revel in how awesome this picture is.

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AAAGGGHHHH!!! Excuse me, there was no keeping the fangirl battle cry out of this one. Seriously though, how exciting is it that Captain Jack and River Song will be on-screen together? Well maybe not together, but they are in the same show, finally! There are plenty of Doctor Who/Torchwood fans who have longed for those two to meet up. This isn’t quite the same, but cool nonetheless. If you don’t follow John Barrowman’s twitter, you should because he is often posting fun pictures from the set. Of course while you are over there, might as well follow Grizzly Bomb as well.

Back to this week’s episode. Oh man, so much going on.  It seems like David Anders is everywhere these days. Granted I did just happen to inadvertently watch his episodes of Charmed and Warehouse 13 this week which plays a part in it but still, he’s on Once Upon a Time as Dr. Whale and then Arrow this week as the bad guy du jour, Cyrus Vanch. Of course he’s also been on Heroes and Alias which I watched quite religiously so maybe he’s just everywhere in my TV universe.

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It was nice of Vanch to remind us that there was a huge mafia presence in Starling City known as the Triad and that Huntress’ father, Frank Bertinelli was involved with, and his leaving prison provided a nice storyline involving Laurel, her father, and Arrow, but I think we can all agree his greatest contribution to the this week was the line, “Lose the bow, Merida.” If you aren’t one to keep up with Disney characters, Merida is the main character in this summer’s Brave. A very cute movie that leads to a very funny line.

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I’ll admit I really enjoyed Vance as the bad guy because he’s not a DC villain that will have his one episode and then be done. Also, he did a really good job advancing the story between Laurel, Detective Lance, and Arrow. One does have to wonder, did Lance really think Laurel would be okay with the bugging of the phone? Seriously? I mean come on, yea he’s a cop and he’s made Arrow his white whale, but there is no reason on Earth for Laurel to be okay with all his hijinks.

Speaking of Laurel, how long are they going to continue to allude to her being the Black Canary? They’ve mentioned her love of sushi numerous times, she’s mentioned the fishnets, her firm is called CNRI, and the martial arts badassery! I imagine to people who don’t know about Black Canary it’s just a little quirk (Oh she really likes sushi), but for those of us who do it’s like dangling a donut right in front of our face. Just give us the Black Canary already! I can only hope that with her mom (Alex Kingston) arriving soon they’ll wrap that into her storyline.

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‘Spartacus’ Alum Manu Bennett as Slade Wilson.

The island also provided quite a bit of advancement. So Yao Fei slips Ollie the map with someplace circled on it. He goes to the circled spot and finds a (extremely attractive Manu Bennett) man who promptly tries to kill him. In a move that I was not expecting, it appears as if Slade Wilson is on the island with a partner to rescue Yao Fei? Not only that but his partner is the guy we previously thought was Deathstroke, who beat the crap out of Oliver back in episode five. Yao sends Oliver to help Slade take the airstrip that’s going to get them off the island, but why is Slade not mentioned at all in the rescue? Not to mention that shot from the pilot with the “Deathstroke” mask that had an arrow through the eyehole. Okay, the island provided advancement, but really it just offered up more questions and no answers.

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Credit: The Nugu

I think we can all agree though, the Diggle/Oliver/book storyline was the best. Oliver decides to tell Diggle about the book his mom had, given to him by Felicity. Of course Diggle isn’t on board with just letting Moira be cagey about the book’s origins so he decides to go a super secret spy mission, as Moira’s driver. Of course “Lose the bow, Merida” wins as funniest line of the night, but Diggle walking in to the birthday party surely wins funniest moment. Just the look on his face! It was a winner. Of course things were a little bit more on the suspicious side when she met up with Malcolm again which led to the “That did not just happen” moment.

Before the episode aired, Andrew Kreisberg tweeted this.

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I’ll admit I sort of rolled my eyes. Seriously best cliffhanger ever? That’s stretching it a bit. While I still don’t think it was the best ever, it was pretty damn surprising. After Oliver had talked to his mom the first time about the book and SHE THREW IT IN THE FIRE!!!!, when he had no reaction I didn’t really expect him to do anything. Yea he told Diggle he needed to talk to her, but I figured it’d be another dinner at Big Belly’s Burger and nothing would come of it.

So imagine my (and apparently everyone else watching) surprise when this happened…

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Credit: starshipsandjets

Seriously?!?! I was stunned. Of course, as a cliffhanger, that’s where the episode ended. I’m not one who usually seeks out the next week’s preview, but I couldn’t help myself this time and now I can’t wait.

This episode was great and I think it is just going to build up from here. Going to have to go with a four out of five. About half of a star was for the ending alone!

grizzly rating 4of5

Until next time Arrow fans!

6 Fast 6 Furious Has a Longer Trailer; Also Defies Logic and Physics

That’s right people, just when you think you can escape Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, they decide to buckle up and give you Fast & Furious 6. Everyone saw the ridiculousness of the trailer that was done during the Super Bowl but you’re in for a treat. You think having a tank and a car exploding out of the nose of an airplane was all you were going to get before Memorial Day 2013? That would be wrong my friends, because they released the full extended look trailer on the internet. It’s below, so watch that and I’ll give my comments afterwards. Try not to run out and buy a 24-pack of Mountain Dew afterwards by the way.

This movie is basically caffeine and video games with a dash of tearing a physics book in half, wrapped up into one crazy movie. Admittedly, I enjoy the Fast & Furious movies. They are easy fluff that I can sit down and watch without having to think. Granted, mostly because the script never bothers to think at all but Fast Five was actually extremely entertaining. Anyways, we see the return of Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) as a possible villain and the addition of Gina Carano as well to beat up everything in her path as the new right hand woman to Dwayne Johnson’s agent character.

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So basically we get London, Luke Evans as the main baddie, the captain guy from The Raid: Redemption, planes, tanks, and automobiles. And a lot of stupidly awesome stunts that would wreck a person in real life. Luckily, in movie world, it looks amazing with what they are able to pull off. Justin Lin, who directed Better Luck Tomorrow, a great indie movie, before he became the go-to guy in destroying cars, is at the wheel again for this movie and now has directed the last four Fast & Furious movies. He has definitely got a great eye for set pieces and this movie is no different. Makes you wonder what he’d do with the Terminator 5 movie…

Anyways, this movie comes out on Memorial Day weekend 2013. Yeah, it won’t be poignant or deep but man, it’ll be a helluva ride. That’s right, I just about ended this article with a cliche. But hey, if the above picture can have Paul Walker playing white boy, the token asian character, the rapper/actor and his R&B singer/actor, with the model/actor and Vin Diesel crossing his arms not smiling, we should all embrace the cliche train.

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Behold the wonder that is the Diesel and exotic cars!!!!

Is Netflix’s ‘House of Cards’ a Game-Changer?

There was a time when people sat around and listened to shows on the radio. There was a time when silent films became “talkies”. There was a time when cable came around and all of a sudden you had hundreds of channels at your disposal. There was a time when The Sopranos premiered on HBO and changed the way premium cable was regarded. Netflix is hoping that someday the statement “there was a time where people didn’t watch ‘television’ shows on the internet” will find it’s way onto that list.  The upcoming Arrested Development may be getting all the news, and Lilyhammer may have been the first, but House of Cards is no shrinking violet by any means.

Continue reading Is Netflix’s ‘House of Cards’ a Game-Changer?

Marvel Teasers: ‘Age of Ultron’ Trailer, Teasers and Tie-ins!

In case you didn’t realize what you’re in store for, we are here to talk about Age of Ultron. Marvel has really been hyping this event, and with good reason. This has been in the works for a while now, and so far everything released has looked very interesting. Brian Michael Bendis has been hinting towards Age of Ultron for a few years, and helping him bring it to life will be Brandon Peterson, Carlos Pacheco, and Bryan Hitch, who is no stranger to the Avengers.

Continue reading Marvel Teasers: ‘Age of Ultron’ Trailer, Teasers and Tie-ins!

Chris Pratt Cast as Star-Lord in Marvel Studios’ “Guardians of the Galaxy”!

The search for Marvel Studio’s newest lead actor has ended, and the role of Star-Lord goes to… Chris Pratt! Just like the title says! Pratt will be joining no one in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, the next big franchise coming to us in Marvel’s Phase 2. Still pretty early in it’s development, GotG has yet to cast any other members of the team or reveal much about the story, but casting this role is a huge step forward.

Continue reading Chris Pratt Cast as Star-Lord in Marvel Studios’ “Guardians of the Galaxy”!