Marvel Comic's The Nisei Squadron

On Tuesday, the wife and I watched the second season premiere of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series on ABC. The episode began with a World War II flashback featuring Agent Peggy Carter of the Strategic Scientific Reserve (the predecessor to S.H.I.E.L.D.) accompanied by Captain America's compatriots the Howling Commandos, represented by Dum Dum Dugan and Jim Morita.

Out of curiosity, I looked up further details on the Jim Morita character, played onscreen by Kenneth Choi (who coincidentally is also from the Chicago area and appeared in the Red Dawn remake I worked on, though we shared no scenes). To my surprise, I discovered here that Morita did actually originate from the classic Marvel Comic books, and even headed up his own group called the Nisei Squadron.

Jim Morita as he appeared in Marvel comics

Jim Morita as played by Kenneth Choi in Captain America: The First Avenger

ガーディアンズ・オブ・ギャラクシー

Recently saw a posting on io9 of the Japanese trailers for Guardians of the Galaxy. As a little public service to geekdom, I spent a little time this afternoon translating and subtitling the Japanese portions in English. Enjoy (at least until Marvel or Disney hunts me down and removes it).

Recreating a First Memory

I have this old, old, old image in my head of Buckingham Fountain at night. All around me is darkness, except for the multicolored streams of water dancing on the fountain: bright reds and yellows, cool blues and purples, a shock of yellow gold here and there. I'm a tiny little infant being held in my mother's arms as she walks about the fountain accompanied by my father.

I consider this image my first memory. I think it's my first memory. But how can I really be sure? And given that visits to places like Buckingham were a pretty regular activity for my parents back then (the mid-1970s), it's possible that it's not really a first-hand memory but a story that was told to me, and that I subsequently committed it to my mind as my first memory.

Anyway, today (Sunday, September 7, 2014) proved to be a bright and sunny day with warm comfortable weather. Not something you always get in Chicago (we only just had a week with some extremely humid days followed by destructive storms). So, I asked my wife if she would indulge me in taking our son Jack to Buckingham Fountain to "recreate" this memory of mine (which may or may not be true). However, given that we are both still chronically tired from the normal sleep-challenged cycle of baby diaper changing-feeding-sleeping-pooping every two to three hours, both day and night, I decided we wouldn't wait until the evening.

All in all, it was a perfect albeit brief family outing for the three of us. Here's to hoping he remembers it. And if he doesn't, I have definite photographic proof.