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The season’s officially over for us Stars fans.  Bummer. 

I am not sure exactly how it works, but this is amazingly accurate. Read the full description before looking at the picture.

The picture to the left is a link to a photo that has 2 identical dolphins in it. It was used in a case study on stress levels at St. Mary’s Hospital.
Look at both dolphins jumping out of the water. The dolphins are identical. A closely monitored, scientific study revealed that, in spite of the fact that the dolphins are identical, a person under stress would find differences in the two dolphins. The more differences a person finds between the dolphins, the more stress that person is experiencing.
Look at the photograph by clicking on the photo of the dolphin, and if you find more than one or two differences you may want to take a vacation.

As if any of us has any spare time!  But if you are among the lucky few that does, here’s a place you can go draw your very own Picasso!  Here’s my Picasso-ized self portrait.

Ok, I forgot to add yesterday that I’m hoping, big time, that The Incredible Hulk winds up on my Top 10 list of comic book hero movies. I think Edward Norton is an amazing actor and I’m optimistic that this flick can help us all forget that other Hulk movie.

So with the hubby reminding me what a comic book hero fan/geek I am, and us discussing what the best paper superhero turned movies have been, I figured I’d post my top 10. Not to disagree completely with other lists like this one from David Fear (The Rocketeer, really?) and this one from Zach Lawrence (Daredevil, just no), mine is completely biased, and of course, the only ‘right’ list. Well, at least keep in mind that even with my serious crush on Hugh Jackman I managed to try not to go too X-Men crazy. Oh, and I’m starting with number one, cause suspense is overrated.

1. Spiderman -with this I think Sam Raimi raised the bar so high, few movies will be able to come close.
2. Iron Man - this one had it all, great action, a believable cast and awesome special effects from the ILM team, my favorite movie of the year so far.
3. The Punisher - he’s just a badass. And while John Travolta was over the top, it was still good, even if it did piss off a lot of original ‘Punisher’ fans.
4. Batman - I thought I would hate it, since I was imagining Adam West meets Edward Scissorhands, but it was great! Very dark, and surreal.
5. X-Men - Oh shut up, you knew it would make the list. And Singer did a helluva job, even with Halle Barry as Storm.
6. Batman Begins - more darkness, this time from Christopher Nolan, but also an interesting look at what shaped the man in the suit.
7. Hellboy - what a cool movie! Next time I hope they spend less time on all the relationship babble and more time fighting demons.
8. Blade 2 - Snipes pulls it off and the vamps he fights with are really cool!
9. Spiderman 2 - Please, don’t let her sing anymore, ever.
10. X2 (X-Men 2) - cause I finally got to see Nightcrawler!

Almost ran: Spawn. If Martin Sheen hadn’t been so damned goofy, I would find this a lot more watchable. And if I had been including graphic novels, instead of strictly comic books, I would have included Darkman and Sin City.

If you can read this whole story without laughing then there’s no hope for you. I was crying by the end. Note: Please take time to read this slowly. If you pay attention to the first two judges, the reaction of the third judge is even better. For those of you who have lived in Texas, you know how true this is. They actually have a Chili Cook-off about the time Halloween comes around. It takes up a major portion of a parking lot at the San Antonio City Park.
Judge #3 was an inexperienced Chili taster named Frank, who was visiting from Springfield, IL.

Frank: “Recently, I was honored to be selected as a judge at a chili cook-off. The original person called in sick at the last moment and I happened to be standing there at the judge’s table asking for directions to the Coors Light truck, when the call came in. I was assured by the other two judges (Native Texans) that the chili wouldn’t be all that spicy and, besides, they told me I could have free beer during the tasting, so I accepted”.

Here are the scorecard notes from the event:

CHILI # 1 - MIKE’S MANIAC MONSTER CHILI…
Judge # 1 — A little too heavy on the tomato. Amusing kick.
Judge # 2 — Nice, smooth tomato flavor. Very mild.
Judge # 3 (Frank) — Holy shit, what the hell is this stuff? You could remove dried paint from your driveway. Took me two beers to put the flames out. I hope that’s the worst one. These Texans are crazy.

CHILI # 2 - AUSTIN’S AFTERBURNER CHILI…
Judge # 1 — Smoky, with a hint of pork. Slight jalapeno tang.
Judge # 2 — Exciting BBQ flavor, needs more peppers to be taken seriously.
Judge # 3 — Keep this out of the reach of children. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to taste besides pain. I had to wave off two people who wanted to give me the Heimlich maneuver. They had to rush in more beer when they saw the look on my face.
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Yes, I’m always jonesing for a good comic book movie, but this one is really good, even if you’re not half the geek I am.