I never thought I would be this close to a major tragedy.

After spending most of my life in a small town in upstate New York, I never thought I would be in the same general area as a major tragedy. Imagine my surprise this morning when I opened up my browser and the first story on Yahoo was about a shooting in a movie theater in Aurora.

I'd just moved to Denver about a year ago, and the city is really nice. Denver and the outlying areas are really nice. I don't feel any anxiety no matter where I go. (Of course I haven't really felt that in any city I have visited.) It is a beautiful place with parks everywhere you travel.

Regardless of that, what I really want to talk about is the idea of hero worship, and how people can really miss the mark when they try to emulate their heroes. Now the man responsible for the shooting probably wasn't trying to be like Batman. The preliminary reports are saying he was trying to be like the Joker instead. However, there are lots of people that try to be like a certain hero, and so many times they do it wrong.

Think about that guy that puts on a Spider-man suit when he goes to climb a tall building. So many times, that is done in order to promote themselves. Spidey isn't about fame. He does what he does because it is the right thing to do.

• Superman is a boyscout because he can do so much, it helps him to stay humble.
• Batman strives to be the best because he cannot stand to fail.
• Captain America lived so long as the underdog that he can't stand to give up.
• Thor sees the nobility of others because he has spent his life surrounded by nobility.

So, I said all of this just to say that anyone who wants to emulate any kind of hero really needs to get to know that figure better.

What's missing with The Muppets?

Last night I watch The latest offering from the Muppet Workshop, The Muppets. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but I was disappointed at the end of the show. There were some good and bad points to the experience, so let me break it down.

The Good

• I really appreciated all the Muppet cameos. What do I mean by that? There have been a lot of Muppets over the years, and you have all of the main characters, but a lot of those creations have faded away. Everybody doesn't make an appearance, but as a viewer of the Muppet Show, I got to see some of my old favorites.
• The celebrity cameos were really good. It isn't as well done as the Muppet Movie, but I still enjoyed them.
• They did a great job of continuing the tradition of breaking the 4th wall.

The Bad

• Is it just me, or is the first Muppet movie that isn't mostly about the Muppets? I'm sure someone was interested in Walter and his family, but I wasn't one of them.
• The music wasn't inspired. I continually found myself wondering why these songs even existed.
• I hate to be an elitist, and I know it's hard to match someone else's voice, but a lot of the voices missed the mark. I often found myself wondering who was speaking because I have a bad habit of not actually watching a movie if I lose interest and just listen to the audio.

All in all, it wasn't terrible, but it could have been a lot better. Check it out if you are a Muppet enthusist.