Think the worst thing you can encounter at an airport is ebola? Think again!

The Associated Press recently reported that the deer's war on humanity continues unabated. It looks like the Great Deer Uprising has taken to the air!

Whether driven by hunger or just crazy for love, deer will do seemingly anything to get onto airport grounds and runways, including leaping over tall fences or squeezing under them. Once there, they like to warm themselves by sauntering on runways, which hold heat longer than bare ground. But put a deer and a plane together on a runway and both can have a very bad day.

The article gores on to note that there have been 29 injuries and one death in recent years. So next time you see a deer near the runway, do the safe thing and run away. Your life may deer-pend on it!

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I spent Saturday lying on the sofa with my poodles, napping while football was on TV. That's three of my favorite things at once! I've set the bar pretty high for next weekend.

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From the Imaginary Friends Department:

Hit Comics #4, October 1940

It only took four appearances, but now the Red Bee's bee has a name: Michael. The Red Bee is so careful to protect his own secret identity (psst: it's Rick Raleigh) that I have to assume that Michael isn't the bee's real name, but an assumed nom de guerre. His real name is probably Buzzy or Bert. Given that the average bee lives only about a month, maybe it's just easier for the Red Bee to call all his sidekicks "Michael." Less time getting to know one another means more time fighting "mugs"!

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With September comes football, but I still managed to watch a bunch of movies! Here's the first half of the bunch.

154. (691.) The Children's Hour (1961)
This movie deserves extra credit for trying to tackle a subject it refuses to explicitly describe. (The "L" word.) I was lukewarm on this predictable suspense/melodrama, but the final scene sold me. Also, I'm not much of a Shirley MacLaine fan, but she was a hottie in her youth!

155. (692.) Pillow Talk (1959)
Ugh. Rock Hudson: "Me man. You woman. Me take you to my cave!" Doris Day: "Oh-kay!" Ugh. Seriously, everyone involved in making this film — including the audience — should be embarrassed.

156. (693.) Fourteen Hours (1951)
We spend the entire movie waiting to see if a man will commit suicide by jumping off a building. The best part isn't the drama on the ledge but the bystander's reactions. (This film reminded my of 2002's Phone Booth, but for the life of me, I don't know why.)

157. (694.) Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
Ah, John Carpenter can do no wrong. No, I take that back: Ghosts of Mars, which borrows too many elements from this earlier, far superior bit of fluff.

158. (695.) 36 Hours (1965)
This was a G.I.Joe episode! Part suspense, part thriller, all good.

159. (696.) Darby's Rangers (1958)
Part bio-pic, part propaganda, all boring.

160. (697.) The Split (1968)
I love heist films, but not this one. I mean, it's okay, especially the footage of the Atlanta Falcons playing the L.A. Rams in 1968, but the protagonist — one Jim Brown — is very hard to like. I got the impression that when Gene Hackman arrived very late in the picture, he was the real hero.

161. (698.) Mister Buddwing (1966)
This movie felt like a rejected Twilight Zone script, as James Garner wanders around New York in search of his true identity. It's not an especially memorable film, but there are some pretty girls, including Suzanne Pleshette, Katharine Ross, Jean Simmons, and Nichelle Nichols. New York is apparently populated exclusively by beautiful people. Who knew?

More to come.

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Remember last year when Vanderbilt ended UGA's season with that last minute comeback in Nashville? Revenge accomplished.

I cannot tell a lie: we left in the 3rd quarter when Vanderbilt, down by 24 points, punted on 4th and 1. If Vanderbilt was willing to give up on the game, I didn't see any need to stick around for the 17-44 final.

No more home games until November, when Auburn comes to town. If the Tiger's 7-41 romp over LSU today was any indication, that's going to be a pretty good game.

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When I saw Captain America: The First Avenger in 2011, I hated it. For an action movie, it's ugly, plodding, and there is far too much talking. It's more video game than movie. I disliked it so much that I vowed on the spot not to watch any sequels.

Fast forward to this year as several of my friends insisted that the sequel was far superior to the original, correcting most of its predecessor's flaws. Naturally, I resisted, at least until my father and I were looking for something to do one evening last week. So now I've seen Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Let me leave no doubt about what I thought: I hated it, too.

165. (702.) Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Just like the original, it takes far too long to get moving. So many — too many! — characters are introduced, briefly sketched out, then forgotten about for the next hour. I know that the last film considered character development to be optional, but that doesn't mean that this movie needs to devote its first hour to correcting that mistake. We also don't need to see minor characters in their own action scenes just so that we can judge how much trouble they are going to be for our hero later. The good Captain spends forever moping about the past, but I can't really blame him for that. He doesn't seem to be the focus in his own movie.

The Black Widow is around because the Marvel movie universe only has one female hero. And if you have Black Widow, you have to give her screen time (and a potential romance!). Ditto Nick Fury. Ditto Falcon. Ditto Sharon Carter, Maria Hill, Crossbones, Arnim Zola. Captain America is a supporting character in his own movie!

Instead of watching Captain America and his giant supporting cast battle AIM or the Flag-Smasher or the Serpent Squad (although we do get a tete-a-tete with an inexplicably durable Batroc the Leaper), we have to wait for a conspiracy to develop slowly within SHIELD, the movie's fictionalized NSA analogue. This turns good guys into bad guys and bad guys into good guys and, aw, who the hell cares. Captain America is no spy! The man wears a bright red, white, and blue costume and carries a metal shield that definitely will not fold up to be hidden in a briefcase. With Captain America, what you see is what you get. So by all means, let's squeeze him into a movie about the ethics of spies!

Speaking of spies, the worst part of the movies is the Cold War cast-off Winder Soldier. This character is in the title of the movie, but don't let that fool you. He's not important to the plot. He only takes up space so that Captain America has something personal to fight for when the spy movie devolves into a disaster movie. It's not enough to devote 2 hours to the juxtaposition of Captain America's antiquated 19th-century morality against the ethical quicksand born of Cold War gamesmanship and muddied by post-9/11 paranoia. No, for Captain America to have to make the hard choice between defending the public welfare and securing personal liberties, he has to fight his own family! What a cop-out.

Most of these flaws could probably be overlooked if the movie was fun, but it simply isn't. Like everything DC is making these days, it takes itself far too seriously while ignoring illogical character behavior. It doesn't help that there are as many locations as there are characters — seriously, there are scenes in three different character's kitchens — all apparently a thin excuse to justify why the other Avengers aren't called for support between action set pieces. Given that so much time is spent on character development, there's not even any suspense that Captain America and all of his friends won't live to save the day for capitalism! Yawn.

So I made a vow and I broke it. Shame on me. But I will not make the same mistake again. When Captain America 3 comes along, I'll spend my time on something entertaining instead.

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Documenting my 38th year of life, from September 24, 2013, to September 23, 2014, I took a selfie almost every day. Back in 2013, the "selfie" wasn't quite as ubiquitous as it is now. I'm going to take the credit for the huge surge in popularity.

I thought that looking back over the pictures, I'd see myself getting older or balder or fatter. However, all I can see is that I got much better at taking selfies.

If you're so inclined, I've put them online here.

Now I have to figure out what I'm going to do with myself for 2015.

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Well, that was closer than it should have been. Tennessee 32, UGA 35. Early in the 4th quarter, I marveled that the UGA defense had held an SEC opponent to 17 points. Then the Bulldogs reverted to form.

There were plenty of celebrities at the game. Peyton Manning was reportedly present, and several PGA golfers and actress Chloë Grace Moretz were introduced to the crowd. However, the guest of honor was Vince Dooley, who took over as head coach 50 seasons ago. Vince looked good and pleased to be back on the field. At halftime, the band spelled his name, and he mugged for the cameras with his family, friends, and former players.

I've never met Dooley myself, but I did know a student who in 2002 decided to walk into his office as Athletic Director to meet him. He got as far as Dooley's secretary who told him that Mr. Dooley was far too busy to meet anyone who didn't have an appointment. However, before the student could leave the office, Dooley stepped out of his office and signed the student's hat on the spot. Dooley didn't have to do that, and I think it says a lot about why Georgians like the man.

To honor Dooley, the Bulldogs won by the skin on their canine teeth, surviving a game of terrible play by quarterback Hutson Mason (I begin to worry that he's not very good: a qb who only looks at one receiver from snap to throw will not win many games) and some bizarrely self-imposed wounds. For example, UGA sent 13 men on the field for a punt return in the 4th quarter. Coaches noticed the overage and removed one man. Tweet! Illegal participation. The 5-yard penalty didn't give Tennessee a first down, so they lined up to kick again. This time, Georgia over compensated, sending only 10 men out on the field. Ouch.

It wasn't just Georgia making boneheaded decisions. The weather forecast called for overcast skies, so naturally I chose to forego my sun hat for the game. Two words: sun burn. Sigh.

But we won in the end, and that's what counts. Bring on Vanderbilt!

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