Author Archives: Doc

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #4

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February 16

“Replacements”

“Replacements” details the events for Easy Company undergoing Operation Market Garden in Holland, which was a failure. The high-risk operation saw Easy Company retreat from the fight with the Krauts and showed how dangerous this situation could be.

It also featured a group of replacements to the company and how they were accepted (or hazed as the case may be) into a group of men who had been together for going on two years.

We had a return from David Schwimmer’s Captain Sobel, now as the newly appointed Regimental S-4. His facial expressions told more than any lines of dialogue could have from this returning character.

The story was told from the perspective of Sgt. Denver “Bull” Randleman. He gets wounded by some tank shrapnel and winds up spending the night in a barn with Germans all around him. He received help from a Dutch farmer and his daughter in a tense moment. Bull had to fight a German soldier hand-to-hand to keep his presence hidden.

There was also a cool scene where Private Webster gave a Dutch child a chocolate bar. The child had been with his father in an air raid shelter and came out when the Americans went past. The father had said the boy had never had chocolate before and the joy on the boy’s face after tasting the chocolate was a wonderful bit of life included within the horrors surrounding everything.

Horrors such as the Dutch people, who were greeting Easy Company as “liberators,” taking women and cutting their hair and drawing swastikas on their faces. These were women who had slept with German soldiers and were now facing consequences from an angry mob. This was a disturbing scene and you could tell that the soldiers were bothered by it as well.

This show does a really good job of these smaller moments tucked inside the overall dramatics and violence of the war scenes.

Invincible S3 E4

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“You Were My Hero”

Episode four of the third season of Invincible was really good, if not split into two distinct parts.

I want to get this out of the way first. When this episode started to use a narrator, like a voice over guy for movie trailers, I HATED THAT! That was the worst. I thought the second half of the show was going to be absolutely brutal because of this horrid technique.

However, as soon as Alan found Battle Beast, the second half picked up dramatically. I am not a fan of Omni Man, but seeing how he has a soft spot for Alan was a cool thing and watching them battle against two Viltrumites was fun.

I really enjoyed the first part of the episode where Mark was taken into the future to confront the king who had enslaved earth. I was sure that the king was going to turn out to be Nolan, Mark’s father, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was the Immortal instead.

Then, with the Immortal basically crazy, the struggle Mark had to face with whether or not to do what the Immortal wanted, to kill him, was a major character beat. It reminded me somewhat of Superman in Man of Steel when he broke Zod’s neck. Mark had no real choice and had to do it (although ripping off Immortal’s head was a little more drastic than breaking his neck).

I hope the beginning of the episode does not turn out to be just a throw away bit in this series, because I liked this and Mark was battling inside on his choice. I wonder if this will be forgotten considering it led to Mark and Eve having sex for the first time.

With the exception of the voice over guy, this was my favorite episode of Invincible in awhile. I hope it isn’t just forgotten (as there were some intriguing things mentioned in the future that could be hints about what is coming).

Cobra Kai S6 E11-15

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The final five episodes of the final season of Cobra Kai dropped on Netflix, bringing the series to a satisfying conclusion.

The tragic ending to episode 10 did not really play a piece in these final episodes very much. But the Sekai Taikai coming back to the Valley to complete the tournament was weird, yet worked.

There were a lot of great character moments in this last five episodes where we saw more of the development of these characters than what we saw in the first ten episodes. Moments between Johnny and Creese, Sam and Tori, Tori and Robbie, Dmitri and Hawk, and Johnny and Daniel.

Highlights included Johnny and Carmen’s wedding, both of the final matches in the Sekai Taikai with Tori and Miguel, the return to Cobra Kai, the moment when Daniel LaRusso walked out in Cobra Kai gear, the boat explosion, all the callbacks to the previous seasons and the Karate Kid movies.

My least favorite part of these episodes were the part in Korea with Kim Da-eun and her grandfather. This was a big thing is episode 11, but meant nothing after that.

Mixed: When the tie happened in the Sekai Taikai and it was announced that the tie breaker would be a battle of the two sensei. I literally laughed loudly at the silliness of that twist. Yes, the results in episode 15 turned out epically, but the very idea is just stupid and made no sense.

I thought there was so much more emotion in this block of episodes than previous ones that it was such a strong conclusion to the series. I did like how, in the end, it circled back to having Johnny front and center. This show did start off with Johnny as the main character and Daniel as a supporting character, which changed as the seasons progressed. The turn back to the Cobra Kai roots worked really well and made a lot of sense.

Even more, I was please that they did not make Johnny do the crane kick in that final battle to win the match. I really thought that is where they were going with that match, but the way they did it was so much better and felt far less forced than the crane kick would have felt.

We do not learn anything more about Miyagi’s past, and I actually think that worked well too. That felt like a side story that did not matter in the long run. Once they dealt with it in this episode, Daniel was able to accept the unknown and move on.

So after six seasons Cobra Kai had some really cheesy moments and some that were so far over the top, but it formed together with some excellent storytelling and character development. It also introduced us to a group of characters that we truly liked watching and provided a wonderful conclusion. I wondered if season five should have been the series conclusion, but after seeing these last five episodes, I am glad that they took it one more season.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #139

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February 15

Welcome once again with the EYG Comic Cavalcade. I was able to finish reading my books, even though I was only able to get them after school Friday. I drove through a blizzard to get the books, and I thought I wouldn’t be doing this post late to the weekend. But I was able to read comics all night on Friday, and finished them up this morning.

So here we go…

One World Under Doom #1. “The Exercise of Power.” Written by Ryan North and art by R.B. Silva. Ben Harvey did the cover art. Doctor Doom stole the mantel of Sorcerer Supreme from Dr. Strange during the Blood Hunt. Everyone was worried about where he would take it. Now we know. Doom stepped up to start his domination of the planet. I have loved Ryan North’s run on Fantastic Four, so this is an exciting arc.

Amazing Spider-Man #67. “Nothing Stops.” Written by Justina Ireland and penciled by Andrea Broccardo. Patrick Gleason & Richard Isanove did the cover art. The X-Men have stepped up in Peter’s place as champion for now, but how long will it last? I am not a fan of the way Peter is being written in this arc. I understand the thinking, but Spider-Man’s dedication to life and responsibility would not allow him to act in this manner. I don’t like it when someone does not seem to understand the character of Peter Parker. We’ll see where this goes.

New Champions #2. Written by Steve Foxe and art by Ivan Fiorelli. Gleb Melnikov & Edgar Delgado did the cover art. This has been a fun start to this series. I loved the compilation of this group of heroes as potential New Champions. I am intrigued by which ones of them will stick around and join this new team.

Feral #10. Written by Tony Fleecs and art by Trish Forstner and Tone Rodriguez. Cover art was done by Tony Fleecs and Trish Forstner. This issue really took a step into horror. This comic has always had a horror feel to it, but the scene with the lady in the basement with the hungry cats was just next level.

X-Men #11. “Live Capture.” Written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Netho Diaz. Cover art is done by Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer & Marte Gracia. The X-Men find a surprise when they go to investigate a spaceship. Corsair!

Eddie Brock: Carnage #1. Written by Charles Soule and art by Jesus Saiz. Cover art was done by Iban Coello & Frank D’Armata. The Carnage symbiote faces off with Eddie Brock. Can they work as a duo, or are they simply incompatible? This is a new look at Brock and a very intriguing book. I have never been a huge fan of Venom/Carnage as heroes, but this has a bizarre twist to it.

Sam Wilson: Captain America #2. Written by Greg Pak & Evan Narcisse and art by Eder Messias. Taurin Clarke did the cover art. This felt very much like the newly released Captain America: Brave New World movie. Right down to the fight with Red Hulk.

Spider-Boy #16. “Bonus Level” Written by Dan Slott and art by Paco Medina. Paco Medina and Edgar Delgado did the cover art. Thanks to Daredevil, Spider-Boy jumps back into the Dragon’s Challenge tournament along with Spider-Girl. I’m glad this arc is over.

All-New Venom #3. Written by Al Ewing and art by Carlos Gomez. Adam Kubert & Laura Martin did the cover art (Silver Medalist). Another of the suspects is eliminated from the “Who is All-New Venom?” story. It is not Madame Masque (thank god).

Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #10. “Haunted” Part 10. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Von Randal. Cover art was done by Mark Brooks (Gold Medalist). The mysterious Black Tarantula is revealed and the person behind him steps up too.

Standstill #7. Written by Lee Loughlin and art by Alex Riegel. Cover art was done by Andrew Robinson. Ryker and Jack Knife are together and Ryker is not in best shape. However, there are more problems on the way. Will they survive?

The Immortal Thor #20. “Into the Dark.” Written by Al Ewing and drawn by Jan Bazaldua. Alex Ross did the cover art (Bronze Medalist). Thor spends some time with his mother, Freyja, until the return of Torantos brings him back for a final confrontation… but not as one would expect.

Transformers #17. Written by Daniel Warren Johnson and art by Jorge Corona. Cover art was done by Daniel Warren Johnson & Mike Spicer. The final page saw the debut of Shredhead. More Autobot and Decepticon action both on earth and Cybertron.

Deadpool/Wolverine #2. “Badlands” Written by Benjamin Percy and art by Joshua Cassara. Joshua Cassara & GURU-eFX did the cover art. Deadpool and Wolverine fight some boned up dinosaurs. Wade and Logan’s relationship comes through in these pages very well.

Deadpool Team-Up #5. Written and drawn by Rob Liefeld and the cover art was done by Rob Liefeld and Juan Manuel Rodriguez. How intriguing this is. Rob Liefeld has recently fallen out with Marvel over perceived slights during the premiere of Deadpool & Wolverine and he has come out against them. It seems like this is most likely the final issue with Rob Liefeld involved for the foreseeable future. This is the final issue of this Deadpool Team-Up.

Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #5. “Scars.” Written by Jed MacKay and art by Devmalya Pramanik. Variant cover art (Torch cover) by Emilio Laiso & Mattia Iacono. Marc Specter takes on Fairchild inside the square circle. Perhaps it does not go the way one would expect.

Deadpool #11. “Pools of Blood Part One.” Written by Cody Ziglar and art by Andrea DiVito. Cover art by Taurin Clarke. Deadpool and his daughter have a special contract. It was a contract for Miles Morales Spider-Man. Miles is not going to go easy.

Batman: Dark Patterns #3. “We are the Wounded Part 3.” Written by Dan Watters and art by Hayden Sherman. Cover art by Hayden Sherman. I really love the Wound Man and the story that is behind this character. He is one of the more interesting new villains you are going to find.

Absolute Batman #5. “The 200 Part Five” Written by Scott Snyder and art by Nick Oragotta. Cover art is done by Oragotta & Martin. We get more present day/flashback with Batman and a young Bruce Wayne.

Geiger #11. Written by Geoff Johns and art and cover by Gary Frank & Brad Armstrong. Nate is out to try and help Mr. Geiger control his power. How better to do that than find the Glowing Woman?

Other books this week: Psylocke #4, The Lucky Devils #2, The Moon is Following Us #6, Marvel Mutts #1, Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #4, and Magik #2.

EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week

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February 14

So I am a couple of days late with the EYG Favorite Comic Covers post. Wednesday on NEW COMIC BOOK DAY, there was a bunch of snow. We had around 8″ here and Dubuque was around 6″ so I did not venture out. Then, Thursday night, I already had tickets for Captain America: Brave New World in Davenport. That took a trip to Dubuque out of the cards for Thrusday.

I headed to Dubuque today after school and, about halfway there, suddenly there was snow everywhere. It was getting bad, mainly because of the wind, but I made to Comic World and got home as quickly as I could. It felt like I was coming home through a blizzard, but it may be that I am just not as used to driving in weather any more. Still, I am home safe and ready to award some medals.

Bronze Medalist

Immortal Thor #20

Cover art by Alex Ross

Last year’s champion, Alex Ross, returns to the medal podium this week with one of his classic Thor covers. It is an action packed cover with Thor dead center.

Silver Medalist

All-New Venom #3

Cover art by Adam Kubert & Laura Martin

The image of the All-New Venom on the cover, with that creepy grin, stands before the red background, causing the character to stand out even more. The reflection in Venom’s eyes are a cool extra feature.

Gold Medalist

Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #10

Cover art by Mark Brooks

More red background this week and Spider-Gwen is looking awesome in this web. The web itself knocked the title off its place at the top. When I was going through my pile of books this week, this one jumped out at me. I had this one picked and the other two were the debatable one.

Captain America: Brave New World

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The fourth film in the Captain America franchise debuted this weekend from Marvel Studios. It has been a film that has had its struggles dating back to Covid, multiple reshoots and delays. Finally, it has arrived in theaters. As with other struggles, this film has had some middling reviews from critics. All of this made me a little nervous about the movie. I am pleased to say that I enjoyed this a great deal.

Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) was still facing challenges of assuming the mantel of Captain America, but the new president of the United States, Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) reached out to Sam with an olive branch and an offer to reform the Avengers.

Ross, who had done plenty of horrible things over the years, was trying to turn over a new leaf. However, an unexpected assassination attempt changed everything for the new POTUS.

Sam was completely confused when one of the attempted assassins turned out to be his friend and invitee Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), one of the original soldiers who was given the Super Soldier Serum and then experimented on by the government for years. Sam believed in Isaiah’s innocence and it created a chasm between Sam and the admnistration.

This film works well as a sequel to the Disney + series Falcon and the Winter Soldier and also, oddly enough, the Incredible Hulk. There are elements in the film that tied it to The Eternals as well.

Anthony Mackie is tremendous as the lead in this film. He showed that he was an excellent choice to take over the role of Captain America. He is charming and does a really great job with the dramatic moments as well. Harrison Ford, who took over the role of Thunderbolt Ross from the late William Hurt, looked to be having a ton of fun as President Ross who eventually turned into the Red Hulk. Harrison Ford is always exceptional, and he and Mackie have great chemistry. They are the standout of the movie.

You can tell at times that this film has been stitched together from reshoots, but it does a decent job of blending them together. With as many reshoots that this film had, it is amazing that this film is as coherent as it is. The film is a political thriller, but I would have liked even more of that.

The inclusion of Giancarlo Esposito as Sidewinder had been added later. Esposito was great and cool, but he was not in the film very much. I hope that he has more to come down the road in the MCU because the little bit we get of Sidewinder in Brave New World is wonderful.

I loved Tim Blake Nelson returning as Samuel Sterns from the Incredible Hulk. He is another character that could have had more screen time. I loved the look of this character.

No spoilers here, but there is a cameo in this movie that I absolutely loved!

I thought the action scenes were really solid. The aerial action with Sam and Joaquin (Danny Ramirez) was a lot of fun as was the eventual Sam and Red Hulk showdown that we have seen in the trailers.

There are some moments where the film is a little messy, but none of that bothered me. I understood with all of the challenges this movie faced that it may not have been the most polished of films. Some of the first act exposition may have been too much, but there was a lot of material that the film had to provide to those who may not have watched the corresponding films/series.

In the end, Anthony Mackie and Harrison Ford were great together and they carried this film. It may not be the best of the Captain America franchise, but, to me, it is a welcome addition.

4.3 stars

Invincible S3 E1, E2, E3

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I did not finish season two of Invincible. I was not loving the show at that time. It felt to me that the show was just falling back on the blood splatter as the story. It was going too far for my taste. To be fair, I did not see the second half of the season so I do not know what it was like.

I had considered not watching season three either. It kicked off with three episodes dropping and they were longer episodes, so I just wasn’t sure if I wanted to get back into it. I decided that i would give it a chance.

I found these first three episodes of season three pretty good. There was still blood, but it did not feel as over-the-top as the last episodes that I watched.

I am not much of a fan of Mark’s new costume. I preferred the first one, but perhaps the new one will grow on me. The whole Invinci-Boy stuff was funny. Oliver is an interesting hero and kind of plays with Mark’s hypocrisy. His conflict with Cecil was based on basically the same idea, especially with Oliver killing the Mauler Twins.

The conflict between Mark and Cecil was rough and we saw how Cecil came to be with a backstory. I am not sure if any of them are in the right with this. Mark does seem to be overly erratic at times, but Cecil is totally condescending. We’ll see where this goes from here.

I did enjoy the arc of the Guardians over these first three episodes, with the conflict between Mark and Cecil splitting the team in half. I found this Guardians storyline to be a worthy addition to the stories going on.

I also liked the Mark-Eve relationship and how they have started to date. Admittedly, date might be a bit of a relative term, but I do like them together.

After watching the first three episodes, I feel as if I will keep giving the show another episode until I find myself feeling as I did during season two. So far, I would say, so good.

Dark Matter S1 E5

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“Worldless”

Dark Matter’s fifth episode was another banger.

Between this, Silo and Hulu’s Paradise, sci-fi television is hot again.

Jason and Amanda moved through different universes, learning along the way about what they need to do to try and find their way to Jason’s original world. Meanwhile, they are encountering a variety of worlds where that world’s Jason had something tragic happen.

One world was filled with a deadly disease, and Jason found Daniela sick and dying, after they took away her Jason. Another world, Daniela and Charlie reacted to Jason in a terrible way because their Jason was supposed to be in prison.

As they met Blair, from Amanda’s reality, they learned more about the Box. Blair had gone through so much inside the Box that she simply could not go back into it at that moment. She could not face the differing universes and the stress that built on her inside the Box. She warned Amanda that she needed to know what she wanted for herself, instead of just following Jason.

meanwhile, Jason 2 has been moving in and out of the Box easily, including returning to his home universe to grab some more of the drug. He told Leighton that, after he leaves the reality, Jason planned on sealing the Box’s entrance, essentially preventing anyone from coming into the universe. He knew that Jason and Amanda had made it into the Box a few days before and he is looking to keep Jason from finding his way home.

Four more episodes to go for season one.

The White Lotus S2 E1

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“Ciao”

I started the second season of The White Lotus on HBO MAX and we found ourselves in Italy. I discovered that the White Lotus is a franchise across the globe. And, just like last season, we started off with a dead body. Actually, several of them in an apparent drowning.

Once again, the show started off in present day and then flashed back a week in the past to show how they got there.

We get a whole new crew of guests arriving on the boat. Well, not completely new as Jennifer Coolidge resumed her role as Tanya McQuoid, who was meeting her husband, Greg Hunt, who was also reprising his role from season one, at the hotel. Tanya does not seem happy with her life.

Audrey Plaza joined the cast this season. She is always great so I am excited to see where her character goes.

Much of this episode was spent just slowly getting to know this group of people. The hook at the beginning with the bunch of dead bodies definitely is a strong start. We’ll see how things go from here.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man S1 E6, E7, E8

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“Duel with the Devil”

“Scorpion Rising”

“Tangled Web”

The next three episodes of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man dropped on Disney + today and, boy, they were epic. I really liked how the three episodes worked together a story seeing Spider-Man get his butt kicked a couple of different times.

Daredevil showed up… and voiced by Charlie Cox. Spidey and DD fought, with Daredevil showing the inexperienced Spider-Man what a real fighter was like.

Then the arrival of Scorpion led to Spidey getting beaten so bad that he was nearly killed.

Lonny kept his downward spiral towards Tombstone going as he imbedded himself into the 110 Street gang even more. Pearl discovered his involvement and things went poorly.

There were some great scenes with Nico and Harry as they begin to show some signs of a connection. The whole Nico drag racing scene was a lot of fun and teased the powers that Nico have.

Otto Octavius is arrested… by Iron Man? We get a hint at his future with the octopus arms working separately from Ock.

Having Norman Osborn do the “Great Responsibility” line and switch it around to make it “Great Responsibility – Great Respect” fits the character well. It is a really awesome, unexpected turn.

And we are just about to have the actual Spider-Man suit, as we got a giant tease at the very end of episode 8.

There are just two more episodes remaining in season one and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has been an excellent Spider-Man animated show. It is well written and blended together well.

The X-Files S8 E4

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“Roadrunners”

I have to say that so far, I have been enjoying the second watch of John Doggett in the X-Files. My memory of these episodes when they first aired was that I simply was not a fan of them because he was not Mulder. I think that I was really being a hater toward Doggett because this was an awesome episode.

It was creepy as hell. It was so good that I was able to ignore how Doggett seemingly teleported from Washington DC to Utah during a commercial break. I have no idea how he made it across country so quickly. But the fun episode allows me to ignore the little things.

And this story was one of the creepiest X-Files episodes in quite a few years.

I believe the idea was to help solidify John Doggett as a good guy, and to help the audience accept him more. There is no doubt that I have that same issues.

I enjoyed the work from Gillian Anderson as she was just awesome. I was yelling at my screen when she gave her gun away. There is no way I was giving up my gun, if I were her. Her frustration of the events which changed to utter anger was fabulous. When she was threatening the cult members and calling them SOBs, it was tremendous.

So far season eight has been more consistent than season seven. The first four episodes I liked to loved. I am hoping that this continues in this manner.

Paradise S1 E5

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“In the Palaces of Crowned Kings”

What an intense episode. I love this show so far.

Paradise dropped its fifth episode on Hulu last night and I watched it this night, and it is just exceptional. Just when you think everything is clearing up, the show twists away from the story and takes the tale in a different direction.

Lots of flashbacks in this episode back to prior to Cal’s death, including a potential motive for the death of the president. We see his relationship with his son Jeremy and his father Kane Bradford. Gerald McRaney is fantastic as the president’s father, slowly succumbing to dementia of some form. His mistaking Jeremy for Cal lead to some powerful moments… including a huge WTF moment when it seemed as if Xavier’s daughter Presley was involved in everything.

I did not see that one coming.

Nor did I see the big cliffhanger… a message across the “sky”- THEY’RE LYING TO YOU.

That is because there is the possibility that there were survivors above ground. We know now that this is the reason “Sinatra” sent Billy Pace to the surface to kill the group of investigators.

I am not sure how many more episodes there are for Paradise, but I will be here for them moving forward. I even have a hope for a season two, especially with the possibility of survivors from above.

Dark Matter S1 E4

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“The Corridor”

The Apple TV + series Dark Matter episode four was on the docket tonight and we get a very cool display on the multiversal travel. It felt as if the corridor where Jason and Amanda found themselves after their harrowing escape from Leighton. They found their way into the Box and were transported to the corridor, with an infinite number of doors, and an infinite number of possibilities.

I was really wondering how they were intending on finding their way anywhere without it feeling random and coincidental. It seemed as if this was never going to have a reasonable answer to how to navigate the multiverse.

And then Jason figured it out.

So far, this has been great. I am still working hard to keep in focus on which Jason is which, and when they brought Leighton into the situation, I was even more confused (though I think I worked my way through it). The concepts here really work well and feel very tightly scripted. It had to be otherwise it would feel like a major issue.

The story of Charlie’s twin brother was very emotional and how his family honors him (Max) is quite lovely. It is also something that I am not sure if Jason 2 knows about and could be something to trip him up eventually.

Jason 2 is taking some big life changing steps as he occupies Jason’s life. Quitting a job and going full in on the Box, with Leighton’s help, of all people. It was interesting how Charlie had been picking up some vibes from Jason 2. Charlie knows something is not right, but he would never in a million years be able to come up with a theory of why.

Dark Matter is some outstanding sci-fi so far, even if it is a slow burn. I am loving it so far.