How I Met Your Mother: The Story of a Relationship; Mine #HIMYM

Well, kids, I have been married for ten years as of February 28th this year. That means my wife and I have been watching How I Met Your Mother for eight of those years.

You see kids, It was the Christmas of 2006, and my wife and I attended a party hosted by my best friend Joe. For Christmas, Joe gifted us the first season of How I Met Your Mother on DVD. That's really just where that story begins and ends. Joe spent the entire night telling us how great it was, because (despite loving Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and following the careers of the actors), we had never heard of the show. We took the DVDs home and finished them within a few days and waited to start watching the new season.

We've been on the hook ever since.

That leads us to two weeks ago. I saw the episodes slowly counting down until the series finale, and my wife kept laughing at inside jokes that I had forgotten over the last eight years. Jia and I were watching one of the last six episodes and I mentioned that she and I should watch the entire series over again.

Jia: I don't think that . . .

Me: Challenge ACCEPTED!

Jia: Its eight seasons. . .

Me: Xbox, go to Netflix!

Jia: It's like 75 hours!

Me: Closer to 72, and its a great time to start! I shall now decree that we will not watch anymore new episodes until we finish all eight previous seasons!

Jia: Shit. Lets do this.

Me: That's what she said. Don't worry it'll be Legen- wait for it because eight seasons takes a long fucking time to watch -dary!

So we are are thru seven seasons and a starting the first episodes of season eight. It's been really great to re-watch all these episodes again and remember all the great times with my wife watching the show.

Her constantly telling me that "we are so Lily and Marshal" (Being compared to one of the best and well fitted couples on TV is always a complement), to her always adding an extra "da" when she sings along with the theme song, to hating all of Ted's stupid exes, and talking shit about every girl that isn't Robin that Barney gets with.

So you see kids, sometimes a show is fluffy and funny at the beginning just to rope you in. That way you're emotionally damaged watching Lily break up with Marshall, or rip out your heart when you count down together the numbers that show up in an episode for some odd reason just to find out that you were unknowingly counting down to the death of Marshall's dad. Sometimes, a story that goes on for so long that it seems like it's taking forever - with tons of run on sentences - is because it's like life.

Life is full of bad decisions. Going blond, living with an ex, cheating on a girlfriend. But it's also full of great experiences like finding your "one," agreeing that not liking Star Wars is a valid reason to break up with a someone, spending eight years laughing, crying, loving a significant other, and high-fiving without looking, describing everything as "awesome" or getting into shouting matches at the Kinect to see who can get the episode to play first.

So bring on the finale! I'll be sad to see the end, but all things must.

Now can I pleeeeeease see how Ted met the mother? Or her name?!?

I can't wait.

How to Give a Whovian a Heart Attack

Today nerds everywhere (myself included) hold their collective breath (there is no inhaler shortage) to find out who the next Doctor is. My wife is also one such nerd and this happened this morning:

Me: Hey babe, I have a Doctor Who question for you. Do you know who Martin Freeman is?

Jia: Yeah he's Watson on Sherlock and Bilbo Baggins.

Me: Not anymore!

Jia: What? WHAT?!

Me: That was too easy! You weren't even sounding like you. You sounded like Gabriel Iglesias' version of you!

In fairness to her it's really early for us to be up so I did at least get to put a smile on her sleepy face, however fleeting, so it was worth it. . . For me anyway.

The Wolverine: A Nice Surprise

I have purposely been shielding myself from reviews and insights on The Wolverine because the hype machine really got me pumped for the last Wolverine film, and I've never been more disappointed in a Marvel movie than I was with X-Men Origins: Wolverine, (The video game though was actually quite good.) 

On a scale of Spider-Man 3 (lowest) to Avengers (highest),  X-Men Origins: Wolverine got a Superman Returns. The Wolverine on the other hand gets a cushy place between Batman Begins and The Amazing Spider-Man. And that's a good thing.

That said, The Wolverine was a breathe of fresh air in the tumultuous wave-like quality of the X-Men movies that plummeted with X-Men 3 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine but started an upward climb with X-Men First Class, (a movie in which Wolverine's cameo was a bright spot in an already good film.)

The Wolverine is basically a character study in "what's next for the hero?"

After the events of X-Men 3, Wolverine deals with the repercussions of being the hero and (spoiler alert) killing Jean Grey who had given into the Phoenix Force, becoming the X-Men's worst villain to date.

The movie opens with Wolverine dreaming and remembering the past; reliving actions taken during WWII, where he saved the life of a Japanese soldier. Decades later this soldier goes on to become a very powerful technology magnate and summons Wolverine to his deathbed in Japan. He tells Wolverine that his "curse" of healing and never aging can be transferred and that he wants to be the recipient. Wolverine declines, but regardless, his healing factor is ultimately compromised. From there Wolverine begins his adventures in Japan, wounded and pissed.

There is so much lore from the comics that my inner (mostly outer) geek was thrilled to see so much of the lore. Wolverine is described as a ronin; a master-less samurai. Somewhat romanticized in Japan and it's a perfect description. He's lonely, deadly, emotionally wounded, and drop dead fucking sexy, all elements from the comics that make his character so well beloved.

The lack of being faithful to the books has always been my biggest complaint with comic movies. The stories are there, they are already written. The writers who do the adapting should have an easy job, but they still needlessly change things (ie: the terrible characterization of Deadpool, Superman having a son, Rogue dating Iceman, Spider-Man's "organic" web-shooters, nipples on the Bat-suit, etc.)

There are still some changes made in The Wolverine, but not anything detrimental. In fact it's a short list: Wolverine has a very long Japanese history and speaks Japanese in the comics whereas in the movie he does not. Mariko has a step-brother (Keniuchio Harada) whom in the comics is the mutant, Silver Samurai. He is not in the movie, and they write around him using other family members for story elements. Ultimately Silver Samurai (as seen in the trailer) is an eight foot tall robot in the film.

Favorite Parts of the Movie, (though the whole film was quite enjoyable):

• Anything with Rila Fukushima as the red haired Japanese beauty, Yukio. Her character feels so honest and she simply elevates every scene she's in. 
• I love that the people at Fox and the overseers over the X-men franchise save their single use of "Fuck" in their PG-13 movies for Wolverine himself to say. It makes him that much more bad-ass, singling him out that way. 
• BONECLAWS!
• (Bit of a spoiler here) Jean Grey has a thru-line, not just a quick cameo. Her memory is Wolverine's mental reminder that he's put so many people in the ground and he continues to walk the earth. Jean Grey = Survivor's guilt

As a comic fan, (or as a good movie fan) I definitely recommend The Wolverine.

Also, stay through the credits. It's a Marvel movie and you don't want to miss who shows up, and for that matter why they show up.

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Disclosure: This is a non-sponsored review. All product was purchased by me and the purpose of this review is based solely on my love for the product/company. No product or monetary compensation was given to me by said company. 

Ch-Ch-Changes For The Amazing Spider-Matt and Blog

I've spent the last two months marathoning the last two seasons of Supernatural actively planning the future of my blog. I want my readers to be able to come here and feel welcome. I want my readers to feel like there can be a community of geeks (of all varieties) here. I hope to also get blog posts out with more consistency.

Enter the wife with OCD and a knack (and obsession) with scheduling.

The calendar is planned, and the future of The Amazing Spider-Matt is written (or typed to be more accurate). Here are some things to look forward to in the coming month for this site:

Retro Game Recap

Thank to the guys down at Gamers Anonymous, I am now the proud owner of an Two-in-One NES/SNES system and a growing stack of retro games from the days of yore (ie: 80's and 90's). Each Tuesday I'll be bringing you up to speed on the great games of the past that still exist in our hearts and eBay.

Comic Book Corner

Would you believe I've actually been requested by readers to talk about comics? Well it's true. There's a little True Believer in all of us and every Thursday I'll be sharing my favorite issues that week, in addition to helping the growing generation of comic book geeks learn their history.

Monthly Marathons

A few years ago I forced my wife to sit down and watch the Aliens movies all in one day. Since then we've made a tradition out of marathons, including the Saw movies and Paranormal Activity for Halloween, and Star Wars this past May the Fourth be With You. Because we got such a good response from people after our Star Wars celebration, we've decided to make this a monthly event. The first weekend of each month we'll be pulling out the great movie collections and live tweeting as we watch them.

Most of the movies will correspond with the theatrical release of the next in the collection, and we'll be letting everyone know ahead of time so you can all join in on the fun! To end July with a bang, today we'll be breaking out the Three Flavours Trilogy (also called the Blood and Ice Cream trilogy or the Cornetto trilogy). A series of films directed by Edgar Wright and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, consisting of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and to be released August 23rd in theaters, The World's End.

So tomorrow make sure you're following @AmzngSpiderMatt and @UntypicallyJia and use the hashtag #ThreeFlavours as we make our way through the first two installments of the trilogy (as well as Paul, for good measure).

Then get ready for next weekend (August 3-4) because we're digging into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles collection!

TV and Games and Life - Oh My!

I'll still be reviewing movies and games, and there's a list of catching up to do. Also, when The Walking Dead returns in October, you can bet I'll be there to recap and review my way through the herd of episodes.

In addition to all things geek and media, I really want to get more personally focused and talk a little bit more about me, after all, this is my blog. Since attending my first comic convention, I've really begun to examine my entire belief system as well as who I am as a person. It brings up how I was raised, how I've viewed others as a whole, how I have changed and how I would like to continue to change to ultimately not be so closed minded. In the end all it really took was introducing myself to one lone Gallifreyan, (a mad man with a box), to show me what acceptance could truly be like.

So when all else fails I guess I'll be asking, "What Would The Doctor Do?"

I look forward to the next few months, and with a massive amount of movie watching, comic reading and game playing on my schedule, I'll do my best to make blogging a priority. If there's anything you want to know, want me to review or recap for you, or if you just want to hang out on X-Box Live and shoot Locusts, my email is always open.