I like them apples

One of my favorite things about Washington is the abundance of fresh seasonal fruit.  During early summer I gorged on cherries (and learned a valuable lesson about eating too many cherries all at once).  Then it was peach/pear season.  I'm generally not a big fan of either, but what I've had were pretty damn tasty.  Now we're into apple season.  There are literally a gazillion different variety and flavors to choose from.  Tonight Kristen and I picked up a half-dozen Pink Ladies, just to try 'em.  I'm open to suggestion, if anyone wants to recommend their favorites.

Speaking of pink ladies, I finally got around to watching "X-Men Origins:  Wolverine."  I give it a solid "meh +":  worth renting, but really nothing spectacular.  Better than the first and last X-Men flicks, but a far cry from X-Men 2, the benchmark of merry mutant movies.

Some of the fights were kind of cool, and I really liked the relationship between Logan and Victor.  Like the first three X-films, I love trying to spot the established characters and see how they're (mis)represented on the big screen.  Gambit and the Blob, for instance, were great.  I'm not sure who the Will.i.Am character was supposed to be (a teleporting Maverick, maybe?), but he was cool.  Now that I think of it, he was a dead ringer for Stretch from Vertigo's "The Exterminators."

But they really screwed the pooch on Deadpool.  Traditionally Deadpool has almost always been a mentally unhinged badass who literally can't stop making constant Spider-Man-esque quips at the most inappropriate times.  It's his thing.  Hilarious and batshit crazy, generally with a sword and a machine gun.  This Ryan Reynolds monstrosity is more like a mute version of Darth Maul, but with lazer beam eyes.  Not good.

Just for reference, here's a visual comparison for those of you unfamiliar with the conflicting versions of the Merc with a Mouth himself, Mr. Wade Wilson.

This is the real thing.

And this is Lazereyes McNo-mouth.  There's no com-parison.