Annual Feast of Ice and Fire: A Game of Thrones Season Premiere Tradition

My favorite part of Game of Thrones Season Premiere night is the feast and gathering that preludes it. Waiting until 9pm in the final stretch of the long AGOT drought can be a daunting task so I resolved years ago to eat my way through it and hence, the annual Feast of Ice and Fire was born. Throw in great company, games, food, and tons of tasty drinks, and the countdown to showtime flies by.

We followed the tradition that all guests would bring a Westeros themed dish. As usual our friends and family didn't disappoint. However, my sister Alexandra was the real MVP in helping put the feast together. She is as obsessed with all things ASOIAF  as I am so the feast was bigger (and tastier) than it's been in previous years. She is a fantastic cook and baker. We used some recipes from the Feast of Ice and Fire Cookbook and tried to represent the regions of Westeros and Essos in our dish selections.

Our delicious table

Our menu included (I subjectively categorized the dishes brought by our guests):

The North:

Honeyed Chicken

Lemoncakes  (SO DELICIOUS-My sister outdid herself with these)

The Riverlands:

Miniature Meat Pies (Frey pie, anyone?)

The Reach:

Fresh Fruit 

Buttered carrots

Dorne:

Grape Leaves Salad

Spicy Chicken Dip

Kings Landing:

Cheese and crackers

Heads on Spikes

Spinach and Strawberry Salad

My son rolling heads and my favorite neighbor delivering an awesome pose

The Iron Islands:

Pillaged Sour Ale  

Westerlands: 

Ommegang 'Bend the Knee Honeyed Ale'-Lannister sigil

The Wall:

Lord Commander Mormont inspired Spiced Wine

Dothraki Sea:

Fermented Mare's Milk (White Russian)

Meereen:

Mint Green Tea with Honey

Mint Green Tea, Cheese, Lemoncakes, and Frey Meat Pie made for a fantastic second breakfast the next day

The Feast was a success and ran all the way until showtime. When we finally sat down to watch the show, I couldn't believe the wait was finally over (stay tuned for my review). Next year for the final season, I am going to try making an Iron Throne and the Painted Table of Westeros...Ambitious, I know, but I have the luxury of that ambition at this point. Whether or not my vision will be fully realized, only Bran can tell. One thing I can say for sure, each feast has been more delicious than the last and next year will be no exception.

Awesome Con Review: Washington D.C. June 2017

It has taken me a while to post a review about our time at Washington D.C.'s Awesome Con because of life and summer...and perhaps a little bit of hope that time would lessen the level of frustration the event caused me.

To be fair, I prefer smaller conventions to larger ones. I have gone to PAX East and NYC Comic Con in the past and the crowds were overwhelming; that was my biggest complaint but was to be expected. Awesome Con had a large crowd but my biggest issue was the disorganized organization. I know that sounds contradictory but that's how it was. There were plenty of nice volunteers, there were plenty of lines, but it didn't seem like anyone you asked knew exactly what was going on.

When we first got to the Convention Center early Saturday we took our place in a very long line but it moved rather quickly so I had high hopes for the rest of the day. This feeling quickly changed after we picked up our registration badges. Having arrived early to see a panel discussion with David Tennant (my 8 year old son is a huge fan of the Tenth Doctor and Barty Crouch, Jr.) we were told we needed to wait in the long snaking line that occupied a majority of the registration floor. After noticing the time for the panel was about to start I started getting anxious when the line hadn't moved much. I asked a volunteer if we were in the right line for David Tennant and was told we were and that there were 5000 seats and we should get in no problem. So we waited. As the line snaked around, I began to feel optimistic that we would be seated soon and asked another volunteer to confirm we were in the right place. I was again told we were and that they were sitting VIP patrons first and that once they were seated the rest of us would file in after. So more waiting...

After checking the time again and realizing David Tennant's panel should be halfway through, I asked another volunteer and was told we were NOT in the right line and that there was ANOTHER line for David Tennant's panel against a far wall. At this point I was extremely disappointed that we'd been assured we were in the right line since he was a deciding factor in attending the convention, but I kept my cool. I asked the same volunteer what line we were standing on if it wasn't for David Tennant and was told it was for Stan Lee. I thought, 'Great, that will be a fine alternative and should please my Marvel-loving 8 year old just fine.' So we waited. We were let in to the vendor floor, not a panel room, and chaos seemed to escalate from there. Thinking perhaps the panel room was somewhere on that floor (despite my map contradicting it), we paced the enormous floor to find where Stan Lee's panel might be and we were directed to an autograph area for people who purchased tickets. The autograph and photo-op session was still hours away so I was confused about why 7 different volunteers couldn't direct us to the right line for any panel. We had literally walked close to two miles of convention center to not get to any of our intended destinations. I was frustrated but still determined to have a good time. I decided to buy a ticket for a photo-op with John Barrowman (Doctor Who and Arrow) as a consolation to missing David Tennant's panel discussion. Before getting on line, I asked if I needed cash or a credit card for the photo and was told a card was fine, then was told cash. So my husband waited while I looked for an ATM.

I went to the information booth set up in the middle of the convention floor and asked about the location of an ATM. She pointed me to one that was 30 people deep. I asked if there were any others available and was told she didn't think so. So I got in line and felt my frustrations grow. I then get a text from my husband saying they could take credit cards for photo-ops so I returned to him only to learn that this wasn't the formal photo-op session and that I needed cash after all.

So back to the ATM.This time however, an attendee told us about at least 2 other ATMs nearby and I was able to secure my money quickly and get my photo-op ticket. I was still seething that we had been at Awesome Con for 3 hours and hadn't done anything productive or had any real fun yet. The volunteers were entirely well meaning but unfortunately didn't have a lot of knowledge when asked basic questions about the set up and locations of events.

John Barrowman definitely cheered us up though. He was warm and affectionate during the photo-op and had fantastic energy. Our pic came out awesome too!

Jeremiah, my sister Lexi, John, Jonas, and me

Later, we attended John's panel and it was the BEST. June is Gay Pride Month and John came out wearing white heals and a TARDIS romper. His husband Scott made an appearance too in John's Captain Jack Harkness trench coat and they were great, though a family in front of us with older teenage kids must not have expected John to be openly gay and they decided to leave as his panel was just beginning.  John was forthcoming, vulgar, hysterical, open, honest, and engaging. Much of it went over Jonas' head (Phew!) and he played his Nintendo 3DS but he listened too. We have raised him to know love is love and he has always been very accepting and as supportive as he can be of the gay people in his life. We didn't see any reason to shelter him from John's panel for that reason. John ended his panel with a song, 'You're Too Good to Be True' and it was evident he really loves his fans. He was the best part of the convention for us and afterwards I felt re-energized and continued to have a great time. We took a walk and purchased some posters on the vendor floor, played some games in a vintage and modern video game room, and closed the convention. When we weren't at the convention, we were walking around Washington D.C. taking in the sites and landmarks of our Nation's Capital and getting stamps for our National Parks passport book.

I am glad we went Awesome Con but we will not be returning again. I am going to stick to smaller conventions from now on.

American Gods-A Guide to the Gods Episodes 1& 2

Book cover art by: Robert E. McGinnis

*Before reading, know that spoilers will be forthcoming so read at your own risk if you have not yet watched the first two episodes of the show*

American Gods, the new series on Starz based on Neil Gaiman's book of the same name, is the best thing on TV. A bold statement but it is 100% true. Reading the book, there were times that my visual perception of the beautiful open roads of the Midwest made me feel sad and empty, yet cozy and engulfed in the fantastical mysteries that were unfolding before me. The show maintains that integrity with neon signs, roadside bars, strange shops, and dirty hotel rooms but they added a bit more blood and gore for the gratuitous among us. I absolutely love it.  Go watch it and if you don't love it, you already think I'm a freak for enjoying it, and I can live with that.

The gist of the plot: A man named Shadow Moon is released after serving 3 years in prison. Upon his return to the free world, he learns that life as he once knew it and the best-laid plans lined up when he got out, had been irrevocably changed when he learns his wife, Laura, had died in a car accident prior to his release. Shadow had a job lined up with his best friend Robbie, but learns he died in the same accident with Laura. He now had a sudden need for a job and a new start...again.

He meets an enigmatic man named Mr. Wednesday who provides a solution to these new holes in Shadow's life by offering him a job. Shadow accepts, drinks Wednesday's mead and thus begins the spiral into a new and surreal world...a world on the brink of an existential war between the old gods and the new gods. The old gods powers are waning as less people remember, worship, and fear them. The new gods of technology are gaining traction and are looking to eradicate the old gods from memory by making society more dependent on the technical age. A bit prophetic on the part of Gaiman since the novel was written in 1991 and presently almost everyone has a phone/computer glued to their person at all times. 

The show follows a three part format similar to the book:

Coming to America-The gods of the world came to America on Viking ships and slave boats. They came with the stories and the cultures of people from hundreds of places, over thousands of years. The gods were powerful then because they were worshiped and their people still prayed and sacrificed to them. In short, the gods were not only remembered and revered, they were feared and spoke of often.

Somewhere in America-Depicts the fate of the gods in modern times when they lose their relevance as a result of society finding more solace in technology than in dogma. Instead of being offered worship, gifts, and sacrifice, the forgotten gods are now found in seedy motel rooms, drunken brawls, and dead in ditches.

Present Day-A war is brewing between the old gods and the new gods. It follows Shadow's perception of the unbelievable turn his life has taken since getting our of prison and meeting Mr. Wednesday. Shadow, ever likable and mostly trustworthy, is important to the recruitment of old gods as he and Wednesday make their way through America pleading the case for war, the struggle to remain relevant, and the right for the gods to exist.


So who are these old gods we have seen so far in episodes 1 & 2? 

Odin: Mr. Wednesday didn't just choose this name because that was the day of week it happened to be when Shadow asked him. Wednesday comes from Wodensday, which was so named in Odin's honor. He is the All-father of the gods in Nordic mythology (like Zeus in Greek myth) and famously gave one of his eyes to drink the water of all wisdom. He is of the Aesir of Asgard which is located in the Tree of Life or Yggdrasil.He is a god of war first but also of magic, wisdom, and poetry. He has been known to be fickle in deciding outcomes for battles and often requires great human sacrifices in order to win his favor. He has two ravens, Huginn (Thought) and Muninn (Memory) that scout the world over to bring information to Odin. He is the father of famous Nordic gods such as Thor, Baldur, and Hod. He is said to have sacrificed himself to himself in the Tree of Life or Yggdrasil, the ultimate sacrifice of a god to a god which only made him more gifted as a result.


Bilquis: aka Queen of Sheba (of Ethiopia), Makeda was a  biblical figure and rumored to be half human and half demon. It is the demon inside of her that was said to have a ravenous vagina. There are a lot of conflicting stories about her origins and life that vary from culture to culture. All agree, she was considered a powerful woman equal to any man. She was wise, entrancing, and magnetic. She may or may not have been a consort to  King Solomon, which resulted in a son. Bilquis in the book found her *worshippers* via prostitution. Bilquis on the show was empowered, sexual, and beautiful. A Goddess worthy of worship...men and women both were only too happy to be eaten by her vagina.

Loki: A Norse trickster who is both a friend and thorn to the Nordic gods. It is debated whether he is of the Aesir (like Odin, Thor, etc) or the Giants but I don't subscribe to the notion he is a god. God-like, perhaps but definitively a trickster in my humble opinion. Many of his tricks backfired and it always seemed one god or another was looking to blame or kill him for something. He seems to *right* his wrongs by causing more conflict and bargaining his life. He always narrowly escapes death with trickery or shape-shifting skills but eventually his deeds seal his terrible fate and start the beginning of the end of days known as  Ragnarok. The book and the show refer to Loki as Low-Key Lyesmith. He was a friend of Shadow's while they were both in prison.


Anansi: A west African trickster. He is a spider and like many mythical tricksters, he is also a shape-shifter.  He isn't a god but is a liaison to the sky god. He can be deceptive and tricky but is also wise, quick tempered, and a smooth talker similar to Loki of Nordic myth. According to my 8 year old son, Anansi doesn't like to share and likes to eat be invited to feasts so he can eat lots of food. He is invited to a feast by a turtle who tricks Anansi by bringing all the tasty food beneath the water where Anansi the spider can't get it. The book and the show will refer to Anansi as Mr. Nancy.


Mad Sweeney: Depending on the source, Mad Sweeney was a leprechaun that guarded an ancient rock in Ireland for thousands of years and his madness gave him power. In other stories, he is based on the legend of Buile Suibhne, or the Frenzy of Suibhne/Sweeney. Suibhne, is the son of the king of Dal Riada (a kingdom in northern Ireland) and is driven mad by a curse. In the book and show, despite the usual depiction of leprechauns as small creatures, Mad Sweeney is very tall. He is a drunk with a bad temper and is tethered to a gold coin that he accidentally gave Shadow after a bar fight. Shadow tosses it in his wife Laura's grave and the plot thickens as Mad Sweeney realizes getting the coin back will be no easy feat.


Zorya Sisters: The 3 Slavic goddesses charged with watching the chained dog in the stars that is always trying to escape and devour the constellation, Ursa Minor (the Bear). If this should happen, it will be the end of the world and the universe itself. The Zorya sisters are Utrennyaya, the morning star, Vechernyaya, the evening star, and Polunochnaya, the midnight star. In the book/show the sisters live with Czernobog in Chicago and in between their shifts, they earn money telling fortunes.

Czernobog: A Slavic god of death and darkness. Violence and chaos surround him. His name is Russian for *black god*. He is related to Bielebog the god of light and life who is opposite to Czernobog in every way. Sometimes they are considered two aspects of one person but this varies from story to story. In the book and show he lives in Chicago with the Zorya sisters and kills cattle with a sledge hammer for a living.
 

Spoilers-I want to revisit this in more detail at a later time but wanted to touch on it on a surface level but it may lead to some connections (i.e. parentage, etc.) that you might not want to make yet.

Shadow: I didn't actually know that Gaiman confirmed he had based Shadow on the Norse god, Baldur. A friend of mine read the novella, 'Monarch of the Glen,  a short sequel to 'American Gods' and she said it was confirmed in that story (which was published in a short story anthology by Neil Gaiman called 'Fragile Things'. While I have read several of the stories published in the anthology, that one surprisingly escaped me. So I was actually a little proud of myself that I made the *Shadow=Baldur* deduction on my own even if it wasn't generally a new idea. Granted, the idea came to me while reading Neil's version of 'Norse Mythology' and not from the more classic Nordic tales I have read, but I digress. While I was reading 'Norse Mythology'  I thought of Shadow whenever I read a Baldur tale, though I wasn't sure why. When I started to think about it, it made perfect sense. But I will revisit those ideas in a future post since this one is long enough already.

More guides to the gods and thoughts on the show/book to come as season one progresses (and I have the time to post about them). Feel free to expand past my brief descriptions too...there are so many wonderful stories, myths, and legends to explore.

Also, if you haven't already read Neil Gaiman's 'American Gods', you should.

The Death of My Father: An Estranged Daughter's Remembrance

 Robert "Boogie" David Napolitano

12/18/47-4/26/2017

My favorite recent picture of my father.

My father had his demons. He had his light and he had his darkness. Like anyone worth remembering and talking about, my father was so damn interesting. He loved to sing and dance so everyone called him Boogie. He was a Golden Glove Champion Boxer and  a founding member of his Doo Wop group, The Embury's, who attracted the attention of the New York Times and have thousands of views on YouTube (my dad sings bass).

I remember hearing a quote once, I think it might have been Barack Obama referencing his own relationship with his father but I can't be sure, it said (paraphrasing a little), 'I was more defined by my father's absence than I was by his presence.'  That always resonated inside of me as I got older and I tried to piece together the enigmatic legend that my father was. Growing up, I knew my mother left my father because of his drug addiction. I also knew that anytime I wrote a poem or a story, my mom would be sure to tell me that I get those abilities from my father...she would tell me I got all the good qualities my father had and I built that up in my mind when I needed to feel connected to the magnitude the DNA code has in the creation of every human being. It made me feel closer to him somehow in the years my brother Michael and I didn't see him or speak with him much.

My father lived in Florida during my childhood and came back to New Jersey when I was around 19 or 20 years old. I would waiver petulantly in my readiness to have a relationship with him when he returned. It has always been difficult for me to let people into my life and I had an even more difficult barrier to get past when it came to my father. He seemed like a familiar stranger that I loved and resented in no particular order. I preferred the legend, the stories passed down from my mother and my father's family. The truth was so much more complicated. I had grown accustomed to my estrangement with my father and did not know how to get what I thought I was looking for in his company.  My inability to be in the present was my greatest shortcoming when it came to my relationship with my dad; I wanted him to be something he wasn't. I was envious of my brother Michael's ability to embrace people as they are and not what he expected them to be. I've realized, as I have gotten older, that the heart of unhappiness is expectations...expectations nurture and fertilize disappointment.

Portrait of my father

After my son was born, I used to bring him around to see my father. Jonas called him PopPop. My brother Michael was living with our dad then and I used to love walking the boardwalks of Ocean Grove with them. It felt like, through Jonas, I was able to achieve the connection with my dad that I always felt lacked in reality. The first time my husband met my father, he was singing with his Doo Wop group, The Embury's in a park in Ocean Grove. I felt ridiculously proud of the amount of people that showed up to see my father sing his signature bass. Still, between visits we didn't talk regularly. I always sent him updated pics of Jonas and our family and my brother used to tell me my father kept our pictures by his TV where he could always see them. My mom used to tell me that my father loved us 'in his own way' and I always struggled with what that meant and the mystery of it haunted me throughout my entire life.

I wasn't at my father's side when he passed. I was in denial, despite my brother informing me, of how grave my father's cancer had become. I anticipated regret but somehow I found acceptance. I realized that in spite of everything and because of everything, that I was still my father's daughter. During the times we spent together (especially after Jonas was born), there was real joy there. This man had planted the seed that would become my life. My beautiful, tormented, complicated, and amazing life. He is a definitive part of me despite all the things we never resolved. I'm so grateful for that now.

I was nervous to attend my father's memorial. After all, I hadn't seen many people from that side of my family in a very long time. I needn't have worried. It was a great celebratory gathering and my father's legendary status has been immortalized through SO MANY awesome stories that described the best of who my father was. He knew everyone. He embodied the very essence of 'the good ol' days' and the aura of nostalgia in the room was not lost on me.

RIP Boogie, you deserve it.

(Re)Generation Who Convention 2017

I didn't get around to making a timely review of the fantastic time we had at the (Re)Generation Who Convention in Baltimore, Maryland on March 24-26th so read the best recap over at my friend Josh's superior blog

(Left to Right) Josh, Jen W., Jen A., Dave, Me, Jeremiah

I am going to highlight my favorite parts of the convention in a list of no particular order with pictures where applicable.

1. Josh W.'s panel about his story, Forever Fallen, which was the winner of Big Finish's Short Trip story contest. Josh explained the concept of the story from it's origins to it's completion and his presentation was well received by attendees. It was a great panel for storytellers in general, both made and aspiring. 

   

   Josh during his Panel

2. The Doctor Who dance party. Dancing with strangers and friends. I love that my friend Jen W. still came down with me on Saturday night despite being exhausted from her work event and long solo ride to the con. Also, many people do the Time Warp wrong and that was sad.
   
3. The Sylvester McCoy panels. He is so energetic and entertaining and my bold and incredible husband Jeremiah, was lucky enough to get to speak to him.

   

   Sylvester McCoy and Jeremiah

4. Going to Fort McHenry with Jen and Dave. A lot of cool history to be appreciated though my weirdness about the smell of old things kept me from fully enjoying the indoor barracks. 
   
   
   

   

   Jen and Dave

   
   
   
5. Meeting our friends, Ryan and Rob, out for dinner on Saturday night.
6. The times we spent drinking and laughing in our hotel rooms. 
7. Jen W.'s Weeping Angel cosplay. Josh jokes that she stole the show from him, a published Big Finish Author with his own convention panel, and he isn't wrong. I mean, look at her!
   
   
8. More times we spent drinking and laughing in our hotel rooms.
9. Playing Heads Up, learning about each other's guilty pleasures (erotica, Riverdale, Jeremiah's homoerotic hair, and many more interesting points of discovery came up). 
10. Being in Baltimore for an adults-only weekend with my favorite friends and the best husband in the world by my bias definition, Jeremiah.

    

    Love this man to bits!

    

How do you Zelda?

The open world of Hyrule is more vast than ever and the versatility of doing things your own way has never been better. My particular game play is slow. I like games to be a journey, not a conquest. Beating the game is important to me on an eventual basis but what makes Breath of the Wild so great is that you get to choose the difficulty level you are ready for and go from there. For me, I have poor hand/eye coordination so I always struggle with timing, defending myself against attacks, and direct combat with mini-bosses and dungeon bosses. The more I play and the more I approach minor foes on the dangerous roads of Hyrule, the better I become with the controls, setting me up with the skills to defeat those bigger bosses. But my favorite part of playing Zelda has always been the puzzles, figuring things out, and the sense of discovery I get just by walking around. After talking with a few people who are as consumed with playing Breath of the Wild as I am, my favorite discovery is that there are no two gaming experiences that are alike.

This is how I Zelda....

I open the game and decide, based on where I left off, what I want to accomplish.

Am I one or two Shrines away from 4 Spirit Orbs so I can get more stamina or another heart container? If so Shrines might be my focus. There are 120 of them so your Shrine detector should go off fairly often.

Have I learned about some awesome new clothes to protect myself against high heat and blistering cold? Then I might make the treacherous trek to Goron City or Rito Village.

Am I in the mood to feel *accomplished*? Then I go to the Villages and treat myself to some simple side quests that are easily finished in a short amount of time. I also like to work on my cooking skills when I visit the villages. A good dish could be the difference between life and death on the treacherous  roads ahead.

Are the uncharted parts of the map causing me to forget my way? If so, finding and climbing Towers might be my focus so I can unlock more of the map. This is actually my favorite thing to do. I have a full color version of the map that came with the walkthrough book I bought for collecting purposes, but I rarely consult it. I love figuring this stuff out for myself and I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment when another area of the map is revealed to me.

Am I trying to earn more rupees for buying better armor, such as ancient armor from Akkala Tech Lab? Then a scavenger game might be my goal...climbing mountains to find precious ore, fighting minor foes to get monster parts, selling cooked dishes, etc. The high cost for ancient gear will help you better protect yourself against those pesky Guardians. I always try to have a few ancient arrows to better destroy the difficult Guardians from a distance (these helped A LOT on the road to Death Mountain).

Do I want to work on the main quest without committing to it? I might try exploring the map to find locations of Captured Memories, an optional main quest that helps Link, through a series of pictures, remember who he is after his 100 year slumber. I found 5 or 6 so far. Hint: Talk to the painter, Pikango, in the villages and stables around Hyrule and he will give you clues on how to find nearby Captured Memories (this optional main quest unlocks via Impa in Kakariko Village and a trip to the Hateno Tech Lab).

.

Then there are the times that I open the game and I don't have specific plan but just let it lead me wherever. This has led to countless happy accidents such as visiting Rito Village and defeating Divine Beast Vah Medoh. I had originally planned to gear up and then make my way to each Divine Beast and defeat them before facing Calamity Ganon but I decided to just go with this Divine Beast quest since I was already there and those Rito folk are just so persuasive. This was a relatively easy dungeon once you figure out that tilting the aircraft is essential to help solve puzzles that unlock the Sheikah terminals. Windblight Ganon is the dungeon boss and from someone with game control issues, I didn't find him to be too difficult despite his menacing appearance.

Another accidental discovery was the Fang and Bone Shop. I kept hearing about this shop through the Hateno Village/Stable folk. It is a shop that is only open at night, and sells cool things in exchange for Mon currency (which is attained by selling monster parts). I couldn't seem to locate the Fang and Bone at first but eventually I followed some clues to Skull Lake and talked to Kilton the shop owner which then 'unlocks the shop'. Now I can take advantage of Kilton's cool wares any night I'm near a village. Some cool purchases I have made so far are a Bokoblin Mask and a Moblin Mask. These allow me to blend in with the monsters and get close enough to attack while these monsters are off guard.

As Takuhiro Dohta of Nintendo said:
"This game had a lot of technical strong points, such as the vast and seamless world, but what I most want players to notice is how each player has their own unique game play experience. When we were creating the game, we created it so that the player can do almost anything that they want to do. There is no 'correct' way to play this game, so I hope that you all find a play style that you enjoy."

I couldn't agree more. Zelda has always been as much a game based on discovery as it has been about the puzzles, bosses, dungeons, etc. Whether it is finding Korok seeds or discovering a new way to do something, this game has enchanted me and I look forward to sharing more of my gaming experiences and hopefully  learning more about how other game fans *like to Zelda*. Feel free to contact me to share your stories.



Note: Photos are not my own and are used for reference only. 

Logan: A Very Spoilery Recap and Review

Wolverine has always been my favorite mutant, and while my comic knowledge for X-men is surface level, I really love (for the most part) the direction Marvel has been going with their films and original series. I can't get enough of the gritty, dark, and tortured protagonists that live in morally gray areas. Hugh Jackman as Logan has delivered this criteria for 17 years and doesn't disappoint in the newest installment. The 'R' rating was appropriate and refreshing though my 7 year old would adamantly disagree, always hating to miss anything Marvel.

It's set in the near-future and Logan is a chauffeur trying to live under the radar near the Mexican border after the mutant race faced near extinction. This was largely due to Dr. Rice's, head of the Weapon X program, genetic tampering through food and water to ensure no new mutants were born. His plan was to create his own military-styled mutant weapons that could be controlled and sell them to the highest bidder.

The movie opens with Logan napping in his car when some Adamantium-claw-fodder start trying to steal Logan's tires. He gets out of the car and warns them to stop and this leads to generic criminals doing what generic criminals do and Logan makes quick skewers out of them (so much for staying under the radar). Logan goes home where he sullenly hands Caliban (a surviving albino mutant played by Stephen Merchant) a necessary seizure medicine for Charles (Patrick Stewart) that controls his degenerative brain disease, before pouring himself a drink. A few years prior,  Charles (Professor X) had a seizure that, due to the power of his mind, killed mutants and many humans in Westchester, NY and was cause enough for the government to label his brain a weapon of mass destruction. Logan and Caliban have been on the run or in hiding ever since while taking care of a crotchety version of Charles (Professor X), who reminded me of the ornery old man most of us have in our own families. Except when Charles has a bad day and doesn't want to take his medicine, he ends up paralyzing and killing people by accident.

To complicate matters, a young girl Laura (Dafne Keen) born in the Transigen Corporation as a mutant of the X-23 experiment, lands on Logan's doorstep .She had been smuggled out of the program by a compassionate nurse who was appalled to learn the child mutants were going to be killed as a result of a "failed experiment". The nurse died as a result of her interference. Dr. Rice, head of Transigen Corp, sends his Reavers, led by a cyborg named Pierce (Boyd Holbrook), to track and capture Laura so she can be eliminated. They find her in Logan's care.

Things become even more complicated when Logan discovers Laura is a *Girlverine* and shares his DNA, essentially making him her father. While the Adamantium in his own body is poisoning and weakening Logan, the use of it was perfected in Laura and she is every bit as lethal as her *father* used to be without the long term effects. Logan hasn't embraced father-of-the-year status and is gruff and put out by Laura's presence while Charles is much kinder and develops a special bond with her. Logan, while trying (and not trying) to stay sober, bears the weight of keeping Charles and Laura alive and safe while they are being hunted nonstop by Reavers with lots of big guns.

Logan is tasked with getting Laura to *Eden*, a place in North Dakota near the Canadian border that she believes will be a safe stop for her and the escaped children of X-23 to stay before they seek approved asylum in Canada. When Logan finds that Laura discovered the coordinates for this place in an old X-men comic book, he tries to convince her the story was widely exaggerated and her journey is futile, but to no avail. So they continue on their quest.

Comic was designed as a movie prop and doesn't correlate with the actual comics but was an awesome inclusion

The Reavers are always hot on their trail but Logan, Laura, and Charles stay a step ahead because of Caliban (he was taken hostage because of his tracking abilities) providing *faulty* intelligence to the cronies of Transigen Corp. The 3 of them end up having dinner with a family they helped on the road and are invited to stay for the night. Logan doesn't want to but Charles insists it will be good for all of them and this leads to the tragic death of the family and Charles. Pierce and his Reavers bring Dr. Rice's new mutant "Wolverine" who is stronger and devoid of any human emotions to kill anyone who got in the way of capturing Laura (and he does) but Laura and Logan get away and Charles dies from the injuries he sustained. 

After Laura and Logan bury Charles, they get back on the road and it is clear that the connection between them is beginning to unnerve him and he wants to get her to safety and then abandon her. Logan has lost everyone he has ever cared about and the feelings he has for his daughter are reminding him of that.  They reach Eden and the X-23 children are there and preparing to run to the Canadian border. Logan is in a  healing sleep and Laura enjoys a moment of childhood with her friends as they shave Logan's beard to resemble the traditional Wolverine mutton chops and it is actually kind of hysterical.

Of course Dr. Rice and his Reavers discover the children and it becomes a new kind of battle as the mutants use their awesome gifts to defend themselves against the heavily armed cyborg men and get to the Canadian border where they cannot be harmed. Logan decides he can't abandon Laura after all, and when he sees drones tracking the kids he drinks a elixir that gives his weakening body temporary strength and resolves to go down in a blaze of glory to save his daughter and the remaining mutant children. We are spared the cliche 'I love yous' as Logan dies in Laura's arms but are given a more tear-jerking 'So this is what it feels like?' as Laura sobs with the knowledge that her father sacrificed himself to save her. While this was a predictable outcome, the effect was not lost on me. Perhaps the most poignant moment of the movie was when Laura eulogized her father with a fitting quote from the 1950's Western "Shane" that she connected with after watching it on a hotel television:

“There’s no living with a killing. There’s no going back from it. Right or wrong, it’s a brand, a brand that sticks. There’s no going back. Now, you run on home to your mother and tell her, tell her everything’s alright, and there aren’t any more guns in the valley.”

With that, Laura tilts the wooden cross that marks Logan's grave to make it an *X* and she and the children of X-23 walk away to continue their journey to Canada. Laura is just fantastic and I absolutely love the idea of a spin-off of the X-23 kids and her rising as the new Wolverine. Closing credits roll and Johnny Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nails, "Hurt" plays and I'm unhinged and crying my eyes out. Jeremiah and I talked about it for the rest of the night and hands down,  "Logan" is my all-time favorite Wolverine movie ever...perhaps even my favorite X-Men movie ever. It's a must-see, a solid 9/10!