Childhood... and Captain America

I've been a fan of Captain America since childhood. I was a fan of him at a time when almost every other comic book fan my age was obsessed with Spider-Man and the X-Men. I was even Captain America for Halloween in 3rd or 4th grade. My mom made an UNBELIEVABLY awesome costume simply from looking at one of my Captain America toys and putting something together from scratch. She's so skilled it's scary.

All in all, I'm a fan of Captain America. In fact, I probably rented the AWFUL (seriously...awful) 1990 Captain America movie (if you can call it that) a dozen times growing up.

Needless to say, I have been increasingly excited about the upcoming (and slightly higher budget) Captain America: The First Avenger film that Marvel will release in a few short weeks. And while I was happy to see one of my all-time favorite heroes getting his own feature film, I was a little concerned that, from the look of the early trailers, it might not be what I was hoping it would be (especially with the recent success of the Iron Man and Thor films).

Then I saw this trailer. And I was suddenly reassured that everything would be ok. And if that scene from the 0:32 to about 0:51 mark doesn't almost bring a tear to your eye, then you're tougher than I am.

I'll be there opening weekend. Hope to see you there too.

Fighting The Flood in Pierre, SD

As someone who lives in Sioux Falls, SD, I've mostly only been indirectly affected by the intense flooding happening in the central part of the state (specifically Pierre and Fort Pierre). One of the ways I've been indirectly affected comes as a result of my friendship with Andrew Kightlinger, who is directing a movie called Dust of War. The movie itself will be filmed in Pierre, and that means they will inevitably be affected by this flood. And since I'm helping him a little bit with the movie, I'm affected by the flood.

Here's a great video from Andrew giving a tiny DoW update and then mostly focusing on some fantastic video footage of how residents of Pierre are coming together to fight this flood. It's amazing what people can do when they unite to fight a common problem that is affecting all of them. Definitely inspiring stuff.



I know I'm getting crazy with two updates in a row. Hopefully I can keep up this frenetic pace (or at least get back to once-a-week at most). Thanks for watching the video, and don't be afraid to pass it along to others. The more people who get a chance to see how great South Dakotans are when they work together, the better.

Thanks again!

-Mike

How To Create Amazing Stuff

My former professor (and, I'm confident in saying, friend) Julia Pachoud Bennett posted this on Facebook and I very much thought it was worth sharing. Definitely has inspired me to share a bit more of my writing with confidence rather than reluctance. I hope it manages to move you to do something amazing as well...





So...what amazing stuff are you going to do? Leave a comment and let me know.

-Mike