Monday Musings...

Welcome to another fun-filed week...depending on how YOU define "fun".
The Hoosierland weather today will be a lot more seasonal, with today's high ONLY reaching the upper 50s!
We're starting our mostly cloudy, and we may get a slight shower, but the rest of the day promises to be better and we should be seeing the sun sooner or later (it's always shining at 30,000 ft).
So, let's get busy and get this show on the road, okay?
*** First up...as is becoming tradition around the Summit City Ghettohood, we manage to have ONE shooting during the weekend, and last Friday we were given HOMICIDE NUMBER 34.
Here's the story:
http://www.wane.com/news/local/police-respond-to-shooting-on-hobson

This took place at the Baldwin Creek Apartments (what, again?) around 1400 hrs (yes, in broad daylight).
The victim was ID'ed as Johnny Lee Upshaw, 21 of Fort Wayne.
I heard part of this on the radio, and police were looking for a suspect vehicle, a black Charger, which they later found not far from where the killing took place.
This is the SAME apartment complex where FWPD officers chased a man armed with a semi-auto AK-style rifle and killed him in a stairwell, when he ran into a dead ended on the stairs and confronted officers. The dead end was because of a previous FIRE at the same building.
Seems we can't get a "clean" weekend going these days, does it?
Always have to have some drama.
*** And that brings me to a story that unfolded LAST night.
Here's the link to this one:
http://www.wane.com/news/crime/police-respond-to-shooting-less-than-a-mile-from-parkview-field

This happened in the 300 block of Melita St (just SW of downtown) around 2355 hrs.
Apparently a burglar was trying to practice his "trade", and came up a bit short...and dead.
See, he happened into a home where a Vietnam Vet in his 70s had a gun...and didn't flinch when it came time to use the damn thing.
Police found the suspect on the front porch of the house and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police believe that this is not related to similar burglaries in the area (let's hope it is - one less perp to worry about).

The FWPD has not released information about where the perp was shot or how many times., but I figure of the vet had a shotgun , and it as a close proximity shot at center mass...game over.
THIS is what deters criminals...not more gun laws.
You are always your FIRST, BEST defense when trouble comes along.
Police did say the victim appeared to be in his 20s. The coroner will determine the C.O.D., and then the name will be released.
And yes, technically, this can be called a homicide, so we might be looking at homicide number 35, but at least in THIS case...it was JUSTIFIED.
Think of it as REAL "urban renewal"...like I do.
Moving on...
*** Well, so far the TV viewing season isn;t off to a bad start...for me, anyway.
THE BLACKLIST is a keeper (so far), an the new season of BLUE BLOODS has begun (some of the best writing on network television), and since AMC is rerunning eps of THE WALKING DEAD, the new season MUST be just round the corner.

ARROW begins a new season THIS Wednesday, after last week's marvelous season one "compilation" ep that brought you up to speed.
I can't wait until they bring THE FLASH onto the show (as hinted at).

There is talk about getting a separate SERIES, too.
MARVEL'S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. is also a good watch, and the references to former movies and comic characters is great for any enthusiast.
Samuel L. Jackson even made a guest appearance (as Nick Fury) at the end of last week's episode.

This week, after Arrow, we have a revamp of an old 70s U.K. show called THE TOMORROW PEOPLE...think of the Matrix meets the X-Men.
I look at it like the Mutant-X show, and that old Brit series was decent for it's time.
Homo Superior is the tagline, and think about having powers you don't understand and also WHY you have them.

FX had the premier of the 2011 movie GREEN LANTERN, and I really like this flick.
Ryan Reynolds does a great job of bringing test pilot Hal Jordan to the screen as the Emerald Knight
Mark Strong plays a wonderful Sinestro (who you might remember as playing Lord Henry Blackwood in Downey's Sherlock Holmes, and was also in Zero Dark Thirty) , who succumbs to the power of a YELLOW ring, forged by the Guardians of the GREEN power lantern - the power of the WILL.
Yellow is the color of FEAR, but with THAT power comes a price, an Sinestro has the "cash" on hand, if you get my drift.
There is definitely room for a sequel, and I hope they do make one. 
Green Lantern shouldn't be a "one-off".

And, I finally got myself a copy of IRON MAN 3 (on eBay, where America shops) for LESS than retail...still SEALED.
Can't beat that with a stick (or a repulsor beam).
*** Lastly today...the realm of fiction and fantasy is something we ALL enjoy growing up (unless you're Amish...lol), and it's been the stuff of dreams for young boys and girls for a long time.

In my day, it was Roy Rogers, The Lone Ranger, Superman...and many more. Girls had the Girl from U.N.C.L.E., Honey West, and more than a few others. But we KNEW what was real and what was not. Our parents so much as told us so,...(except for Santa..we usually found that out on our own).
I was and still am a comic fan. The notion of having powers beyond belief and doing GOOD with them was always a cool thing.
Today, with so many video games taking the place of sitting down and perhaps READING such things as comics, or even the classics like Moby Dick, The Red Badge of Courage, or even The Martian Chronicles, there is little for the "mind's eye" to take in, and I think that becomes part of society's problems when these kids think LIFE is a video game and all they have to do is hit the "reset" button.
There must always be that distinction BETWEEN what is real and what is not. Blurring the lines serves to confuse and deceive.
Now, you can always use sports as a convenient "fallback", and that works to a degree, as long as decorum, teamwork, and sportsmanship is at the top of any list.
None of this knockdown-drag out crap we are seeing more of will suffice.

And again, that's where the mind's eye becomes important.
That helps us to perceive and comprehend things other people do (when we read about them), and we formulate perceptions and opinions based on those characters...sadly, the same can be said for video games, but it's not the same.
If more kids were reading instead of smart-phoning their butts off, and spent more time between the pages of GOOD literature or maybe even a comic now and then), they might be better prepared as they mature...to handle the things that life will toss at them, and I would have to say that true interpersonal skills has to rank near the top there.
Know what is fact...and know what is fantasy, and be able to distinguish between the two.
Therein lies the lesson for today.

Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay SAFE out there, America.