#stillbatman

[stillbatman14]

I’m back.

Hey

[stillbatman14]

People please read this. I couldn't not share this. Gives me hope. Read and reblog.

[stillbatman14]

Oil Pulling

Starting my first day of oil pulling on my teeth. Using coconut oil. Lets see how this goes.

[stillbatman14]

Move on from Arbeloa

I feel like we need to move Arbeloa along after this season. I actually like the guy and have been a defender of his for the past few seasons. But he's def lost a bit this year. I just don't think he's reliable at the top level. He's picking up cards, getting burned and making mistakes that frankly someone of his experience shouldn't make. One of my greatest fears is Carvajal getting injured right before we face Barca, Atletico, Chelsea or Bayern.... He's prob a great locker room guy, except for the Casillas beef, but it's time.

Is Nacho going to primarily be the back up RB or CB? If he's good enough to be second string RB then move him forward on the depth chart and move Arbeloa along until it's too late to get anything for him.

[stillbatman14]

Real Madrid lock up Silva, pursuing Asensio

This is great news. We just locked up a quality, young CM/DM in Lucas Silva. So rare to get a 21 YO that talented with a few years exp the the top Brazilian level for somewhere around $19mil.

Supposedly it's up to Ancelloti Whether he comes to Madrid now or next year so it good that it's the coaches decision. But it makes me wonder how true the news that Ancelotti wants to renews Khedira's contract is. Especially because Perez wants to bring Casemiro back as well.

We're also after lefty winger Marco Asensio from RCD Mallorca. The deal is agreed to for 3.5 mil. Probably would loan him back I'd think so he could keep playing on a regular basis. 

Barca wants him too and since he's yet to sign they are still after him. According to AS Asensio would rather go to Barca. If that's what he wants then that's fine. He'd probably play more there because Vermalen is out. But I will NEVER try to understand Barca's so called transfer ban. It's the most lax ban I've ever seen.

These guys are definitely talented but it remains to be seen how good they'll turn out to be. However it's always good to see my fav club spending the money at both ends: for Galacticos and younger guys. Been giving looks to homegrowns more the last few years or so too so it's all good. 

Hala Madrid!

[stillbatman14]

Great look at both consoles a year later and I was actually surprised by a few of their choices in some categories. I still don't have either and probably won't until next year. Gotta get that Wii u first for Smash and Mario Kart. But I'll def refer back to this article when making my decision even though I'm a PlayStation man at heart. However, I wholeheartedly appreciate the things Xbox is able to do better and have long past grown tedious at the fanboy wars. Grow up people and just enjoy gaming.

[stillbatman14]

Adventures of a Working Madridista

I'm working so to not spoil the result of the match I've been listening to old Real Madrid podcasts and reading/rereading articles. It's like working out. You gotta fit it in when you can. Not just when you have 90 mins to spend at the gym.

[stillbatman14]

MyTake TV Review: ARROW Episode 3.06 "Guilty"

Sorry for the lateness. Things have still been very busy on my end and I'm still learning how to balance real life and writing. 

ROY

I'm starting with the sidekick because I want to mainly. After last week's reveal his story was always going to be the most interesting. He still wasn't sleeping and I give him props for being proactive and going to Felicity instead of doing something stupid like trying to figure things out for himself. 

Thankfully there was no more Mirakuru in his system. It's not that I didn't enjoy that story device last year, I just don't want to go back to it. To be honest I'm not exactly sure about the explanation for why Roy dreamed he killed Sara. It seemed to be that he was repressing memories of his Mirakuru rampage and mixing that with the sorrow of Sara's demise. He actually did kill someone with an arrow so those too entities combined with each other to form the nightmares. 

I actually wonder if this is the end all be all or if there's more to this. When the dream was first shown I suspected mind control and if there's any possibility at all that Roy is still a culprit I suspect that's what it is. 

The threat of Roy being sent away never seemed like an actual possibility to me. It played out too fast to really settle in so it seemed extraneous. If they were going to really try and sell it along with the contrast of Ollie/Roy to Ted/Isaac it should've played out over at least one more episode. 

OLLIE

Once again he wasn't much of a focus this week and that's just fine. He's able to tie everyone else's story together because Stephen Amell is such an able performer in both the Ollie/Arrow personas. 

His scenes with Roy were a great blend of mentor and conflicted leader. Ollie got to impart some cool technique to Roy as a result of what he learned in the flashback. 

His interaction with Ted wasn't spectacular but it was the first time we've seen him paired up with a DC hero proper. Sara isn't Black Canary in the comics and Roy is a sidekick so it was a cool moment to finally see on screen. 

TED

Finally getting to know more about Ted Grant this episode greatly helped me appreciate the portrayal. While I haven't previously been sold on the actor, establishing his backstory went a long way toward helping. 

The guy still looks too young to have done any of the stuff he supposed to have. He doesn't look like the (former?) World Champion and he DEFINITELY doesn't look old enough to be mentoring anyone else. He scarcely looks older than his sidekick and plain looks younger than Laurel. I'm also not sure if he's still an active boxer or retired. It doesn't really matter but the fact that it's unclear bothers me.

LAUREL

Best episode for this character in awhile. Laurel was the least annoying she's been in quite some time. She looked much more capable in the training scenes and came across much more convincing in her drive to avenge Sara's death. For the first time Laurel seemed driven instead of whiny. Will it last? Maybe. Laurel has made progress before and then regress the very next episode. Crossing my fingers here.

MOMENT OF THE WEEK

Boxing. Glove. Arrow. Probably the only way they could pull it off in the show and get away with it but they nailed it. The fight was a bit lackluster, especially in portraying what's supposed to be Grant's near superhuman boxing skills, but it was capped perfectly by a moment equal parts cool and funny. 

VERDICT

Solid episode but not spectacular. The focus on characters besides Ollie is stronger than the previous season and that's a good thing. Sara's mysterious death has been the driving force of the early episodes yet things are starting to seem a little slow and stale. With the Cupid episode coming along with Flash crossover momentum will surely pick up.

SCORE

8.0