 | I am:Olaf StapledonStanding outside the science fiction "field", he wrote fictional explorations of the futures of whole species and galaxies. |
Monday, January 29, 2007
Test!
I do believe I've found an author to keep a look out for.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Today Was Another Day
I have yet to do any work today. I've been here for almost two hours. I really don't want to do anything. I mean, why bother. If I do the work that I have now, I'll be finished by two, at the latest. By then, I'll be given more work that if I start doing I'll get a large portion finished by the time I leave this evening, which means Monday morning, I'll have less to do then and everyone will be here and take it upon themselves to find me work to do that I normally wouldn't have to do, like taking the bag from the shredder that's too full of paper and put half in a new bag, trying not to spill the shredded paper all over the floor, and taking the two bags downstairs and trying to find someone who can tell me where to put the bags and then be told it's not my job to take the bags downstairs and I should have left them up in the office to be picked up by the maintenance guy (although I won't understand why they call him a maintenance guy when all he does is clean stuff up, shouldn't he be called a janitor, that's what he does, after all) and when I ask if I should just take the stuff back upstairs I'll get an eye roll and a huge sigh and the bags taken from me and then as I ride the elevator back up I'll remember that I didn't put a bag into the shredder and I'll get back to the machine I find that some jackass closed the door without checking to see if there was a bag and after I open the door the shreddings go all over the place and I'll sigh and I'll pick up the paper bits and put them in the bag which I'll put in the shredder before going back to my desk to be given more work that I normally wouldn't have to do.
And now it's around 10:30. I've been playing that game I wrote about the other day. Honestly, it's not that great of a game after playing it for a couple of weeks, but it's a good distraction from all the stuff that I'm supposed to be doing right now.
I keep thinking that I should have called in sick today, but what good would that have done me. I'd just be sitting at my apartment in my underwear watching Star Trek. What a waste of a sick day. A sick day should be used when you're actually sick or when you're going to be doing something interesting. Like go to an amusement park or friends are visiting or sex is being had all day long or all three at the same time. Not to sit and watch TV.
About 366 days ago, things looked a little better. I described them as, "Right now my outlook is bright and bleak, sunny and stormy, half-full and half-empty; you choose the metaphor."
And then there's the fog here. I'm one of the few people I know who likes fog, but the fog here is weird. In the morning, as I walk to work, the fog is really high up. Visibility on the ground is nearly perfect. When I get to work and look out the windows on the fourth floor, the visibility is still nearly perfect, this is at 8 AM. By 10AM, the fog, from the fourth floor, is so think I can barely see the parking garage across the street. I don't know what it's like at ground level because I'm, usually, working. Around 11 AM sunlight starts streaming through. At noon, when I go on lunch, it's clear out. I miss the farmland fog that just seeps out of the ground and then sits there all day long.
I got a call last Thursday after four from one of the places I sent off to saying I was interested in an interview. The lady on the other end asked me if I could be in Cowcity for an interview the next morning at eight. I told her that it was too far away and not enough time to ask for the next morning off. She said don't worry about getting the morning off because they may not actually get to the interview until the afternoon. I said I was sorry, but couldn't make it because it was such a long drive and I needed notice to get the time off. She said not to worry because they have plenty of other candidates.
And now it's around 10:30. I've been playing that game I wrote about the other day. Honestly, it's not that great of a game after playing it for a couple of weeks, but it's a good distraction from all the stuff that I'm supposed to be doing right now.
I keep thinking that I should have called in sick today, but what good would that have done me. I'd just be sitting at my apartment in my underwear watching Star Trek. What a waste of a sick day. A sick day should be used when you're actually sick or when you're going to be doing something interesting. Like go to an amusement park or friends are visiting or sex is being had all day long or all three at the same time. Not to sit and watch TV.
About 366 days ago, things looked a little better. I described them as, "Right now my outlook is bright and bleak, sunny and stormy, half-full and half-empty; you choose the metaphor."
And then there's the fog here. I'm one of the few people I know who likes fog, but the fog here is weird. In the morning, as I walk to work, the fog is really high up. Visibility on the ground is nearly perfect. When I get to work and look out the windows on the fourth floor, the visibility is still nearly perfect, this is at 8 AM. By 10AM, the fog, from the fourth floor, is so think I can barely see the parking garage across the street. I don't know what it's like at ground level because I'm, usually, working. Around 11 AM sunlight starts streaming through. At noon, when I go on lunch, it's clear out. I miss the farmland fog that just seeps out of the ground and then sits there all day long.
I got a call last Thursday after four from one of the places I sent off to saying I was interested in an interview. The lady on the other end asked me if I could be in Cowcity for an interview the next morning at eight. I told her that it was too far away and not enough time to ask for the next morning off. She said don't worry about getting the morning off because they may not actually get to the interview until the afternoon. I said I was sorry, but couldn't make it because it was such a long drive and I needed notice to get the time off. She said not to worry because they have plenty of other candidates.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Untitled
I have... well, not much today.
Other people seem to have things on their minds that they put forth, but not me... well, not today, at least.
I just keep thinking about how much I want to get out of here. This job. This city. This state. This country. This ____. I don't really want to move on to the job I'm trying to move on to and I don't know if that city is the right place, either.
Then, as usual, the whole question becomes "What?" doesn't it? Because if I could just answer that "What?" it would, hopefully, give a direction to a where that could define the city, state, and country. And having all that figured out should lead to a ____, which could lead to so many other things.
Today is a day when I don't want to be me. It's a day when I'd like to try being this guy just to be not me for a while. Well, maybe not that guy, but, how did The Great Gonzo put it, "But most of all I wish that I was someone else but me."
Have you ever seen people like that? People who adjust all their mannerisms whenever a new person enters or leaves? People who speak differently at every occasion? Those people astound me. I have three settings: alone, comfortable with the people around me, and uncomfortable with the people around me.
Other people seem to have things on their minds that they put forth, but not me... well, not today, at least.
I just keep thinking about how much I want to get out of here. This job. This city. This state. This country. This ____. I don't really want to move on to the job I'm trying to move on to and I don't know if that city is the right place, either.
Then, as usual, the whole question becomes "What?" doesn't it? Because if I could just answer that "What?" it would, hopefully, give a direction to a where that could define the city, state, and country. And having all that figured out should lead to a ____, which could lead to so many other things.
Today is a day when I don't want to be me. It's a day when I'd like to try being this guy just to be not me for a while. Well, maybe not that guy, but, how did The Great Gonzo put it, "But most of all I wish that I was someone else but me."
Have you ever seen people like that? People who adjust all their mannerisms whenever a new person enters or leaves? People who speak differently at every occasion? Those people astound me. I have three settings: alone, comfortable with the people around me, and uncomfortable with the people around me.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Too Long?
I went to get my hair cut yesterday.
I walked up to the barbershop, after driving across town, and saw an oldish man cutting the hair of another oldish man. Both had gray hair and were probably drafted into a war. I think Korea. I don't think either one was old enough to have been drafted for WWII.
Anyway, I opened the door and said, "Hi." and sat down on a chair.
"What's up?" asked the guy doing the cutting, giving me this nasty look.
"Um," I said, "can I just walk in, or do I need an appointment?"
"I don't cut long hair," said the guy.
"What?" I asked.
"I don't do long hair."
"Really?"
"I pretty much only do regular haircuts here," he said, showing the clippers to me.
"That's all I want," I said. "A regular haircut. Short. It's just gotten a little shaggy."
"Still," he said, "I don't cut long hair. You'll have to leave."
I left.
I walked up to the barbershop, after driving across town, and saw an oldish man cutting the hair of another oldish man. Both had gray hair and were probably drafted into a war. I think Korea. I don't think either one was old enough to have been drafted for WWII.
Anyway, I opened the door and said, "Hi." and sat down on a chair.
"What's up?" asked the guy doing the cutting, giving me this nasty look.
"Um," I said, "can I just walk in, or do I need an appointment?"
"I don't cut long hair," said the guy.
"What?" I asked.
"I don't do long hair."
"Really?"
"I pretty much only do regular haircuts here," he said, showing the clippers to me.
"That's all I want," I said. "A regular haircut. Short. It's just gotten a little shaggy."
"Still," he said, "I don't cut long hair. You'll have to leave."
I left.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Car
Tomorrow (or today, for those of you reading this on Tuesday after midnight PST), I will be going to the DMV to register a different car in my name. My car (adventures found here) has hopefully been towed away to be auctioned off at a later date for a price I will be able to take off of my taxes next year.
Have I mentioned anything about changing cars here? I can't remember. I don't think I have.
What happened was that my parents offered to give me one of the cars that they have but rarely (*cough* never *cough*) drive, the Ford Aerostar. Pretty much the car I learned to drive in, which means I'll probably never think of it as mine, but that's okay. It's a stick. It gets okay mileage. It whines a bit in any gear but fourth. I've only driven it twice since I got it, but it doesn't make me think it's going to catch on fire on a trip for groceries.
Looking toward the long run, or at least as long as I ever do, I'm hoping that I'll only keep this car for a yearish and by then I'll have a different job that pays a little more and I'll be living in a different town and I'll have saved enough money to actually buy something nice-ish.
Have I mentioned anything about changing cars here? I can't remember. I don't think I have.
What happened was that my parents offered to give me one of the cars that they have but rarely (*cough* never *cough*) drive, the Ford Aerostar. Pretty much the car I learned to drive in, which means I'll probably never think of it as mine, but that's okay. It's a stick. It gets okay mileage. It whines a bit in any gear but fourth. I've only driven it twice since I got it, but it doesn't make me think it's going to catch on fire on a trip for groceries.
Looking toward the long run, or at least as long as I ever do, I'm hoping that I'll only keep this car for a yearish and by then I'll have a different job that pays a little more and I'll be living in a different town and I'll have saved enough money to actually buy something nice-ish.
The List For 01-17-07
Powers #22
Girls #21
Wonder Woman #3
Ultimate X-Men #78
Justice League of America #5
Squadron Supreme: Hyperion vs. Nighthawk #1
52 #37
Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Space Between #1
The Helmet of Fate: Detective Chimp
Ultimate Vision #2
Green Arrow #70
Phonogram #4
Ultimate Spider-Man #104
Castle Waiting #4
Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #48
Justice Society of America #2
All Star Superman #6
Jack of Fables #6
Notes:
It seems like everything came in the mail this week, which makes so much stuff out of date, but so much good stuff anyway.
Powers #22
I haven't read this one yet. While I was re-reading the series (and noticing some connections to Marvel's Civil War) I discovered that I'm missing #19. Yeah, it's been a couple of weeks, but I forgot to pick it up last time I was at the shop.
Squadron Supreme: Hyperion vs. Nighthawk #1
I don't understand what's going on here. Is this mini supposed to explain how Nighthawk joins the team? He is on the team in Ultimate Power, right? I wish the powers over at Marvel had just put this in under the regular title. Why do we need it to be a separate mini?
Green Arrow #70
Am I the only person who's enjoying this book? I like how Winick took advantage of the one year jump and really changed the status quo in Star City. I also like that in this book he has a real outlet in both Green Arrow and Ollie to vent left-wing rhetoric. It seems a good fit. I only wish the art didn't grate on me like it does.
Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #48
*sigh* I like Aquaman, I really do, and I really want to like this title. I want it to be great. The problem is that the book isn't focusing on what I want to know about. I've given up on finding out the truth about Arthur/Orin, it doesn't really interest me now that I know he's the Dweller. What I want to know about is how the people of Poseidonis and Tritonis and all the other cities of Atlantis are dealing with the magic being stepped out of existence. And what's going on in Sub Diego? Is Lorena there defending the people?
Wonder Woman #3
I'm grabbing the first arc because I really want to like a Wonder Woman book. I want it to be good. I want it to be interesting. I want it full of great Greek mythology, not comicized mythology, Marvel has done enough of that, thank you. In the three issues here, I haven't seen any of that. I've seen a lot of whining, though. Maybe Nightwing can show up and he and Diana have a whine-a-thon.
Ultimate X-Men #78
Wow. So. Wait. What happened? Was it just me or did this issue seem like, except for the last couple of pages, a huge jumble of images that were thrown up in the air and picked out at random? The end was sort of a shocker, but since I actually read the solicits for a future issue, I knew what was going to happen. 'Course we all know it'll be undone because, as the regular universe titles have shown, you can't really have the X-Men with out the "X" man.
Girls #21
Wonder Woman #3
Ultimate X-Men #78
Justice League of America #5
Squadron Supreme: Hyperion vs. Nighthawk #1
52 #37
Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Space Between #1
The Helmet of Fate: Detective Chimp
Ultimate Vision #2
Green Arrow #70
Phonogram #4
Ultimate Spider-Man #104
Castle Waiting #4
Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #48
Justice Society of America #2
All Star Superman #6
Jack of Fables #6
Notes:
It seems like everything came in the mail this week, which makes so much stuff out of date, but so much good stuff anyway.
Powers #22
I haven't read this one yet. While I was re-reading the series (and noticing some connections to Marvel's Civil War) I discovered that I'm missing #19. Yeah, it's been a couple of weeks, but I forgot to pick it up last time I was at the shop.
Squadron Supreme: Hyperion vs. Nighthawk #1
I don't understand what's going on here. Is this mini supposed to explain how Nighthawk joins the team? He is on the team in Ultimate Power, right? I wish the powers over at Marvel had just put this in under the regular title. Why do we need it to be a separate mini?
Green Arrow #70
Am I the only person who's enjoying this book? I like how Winick took advantage of the one year jump and really changed the status quo in Star City. I also like that in this book he has a real outlet in both Green Arrow and Ollie to vent left-wing rhetoric. It seems a good fit. I only wish the art didn't grate on me like it does.
Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #48
*sigh* I like Aquaman, I really do, and I really want to like this title. I want it to be great. The problem is that the book isn't focusing on what I want to know about. I've given up on finding out the truth about Arthur/Orin, it doesn't really interest me now that I know he's the Dweller. What I want to know about is how the people of Poseidonis and Tritonis and all the other cities of Atlantis are dealing with the magic being stepped out of existence. And what's going on in Sub Diego? Is Lorena there defending the people?
Wonder Woman #3
I'm grabbing the first arc because I really want to like a Wonder Woman book. I want it to be good. I want it to be interesting. I want it full of great Greek mythology, not comicized mythology, Marvel has done enough of that, thank you. In the three issues here, I haven't seen any of that. I've seen a lot of whining, though. Maybe Nightwing can show up and he and Diana have a whine-a-thon.
Ultimate X-Men #78
Wow. So. Wait. What happened? Was it just me or did this issue seem like, except for the last couple of pages, a huge jumble of images that were thrown up in the air and picked out at random? The end was sort of a shocker, but since I actually read the solicits for a future issue, I knew what was going to happen. 'Course we all know it'll be undone because, as the regular universe titles have shown, you can't really have the X-Men with out the "X" man.
Is It Just Me?
Am I the only one having trouble with Heels's blog?
It's been coming up with a white page since last Thursday.
It's been coming up with a white page since last Thursday.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Manhunter 27
By Andreyko, Pina, and Riggs, according to the cover, for DC.
I'm to blame for Manhunter being cancelled. I never bought an issue before this one. And the only reason I bought this issue was because someone dressed in the Ted Kord Blue Beetle costume was on the cover and this person appeared on the last page of the issue.
For me, this whole issue was absurd. Why was Wonder Woman on trial for the death of Max Lord? Wasn't she exonerated? Why is this trial in the US? Wasn't Max killed in Switzerland? Shouldn't that be where the trial should be held? Why in LA? Wasn't Checkmate a federal agency? Shouldn't that place the venue in Washington? Why did Wonder Woman even decided to put herself through this? To show the world she's a good person?
I don't get it.
And I'm probably not the only one.
Anyway, Kate and Wonder Woman go to court. Everyone sees video of Wonder Woman snapping Max Lord's neck. Kate pulls some shenanigans to sneak her point into to jury's minds. Wonder Woman and Kate go out to eat and Kate tells Wonder Woman that it's all about the razzle dazzle, but with way less singing than Billy Flynn. They go back to court for more exposition. Eventually they exit the courthouse and Kate talks to the press on the steps and Blue Beetle drops down from the Bug.
I'm betting that this issue wasn't a good representative of the rest of the series, or maybe I really should have bought #26. The book was boring. Plot was advanced, but nothing seemed to happen. (And I'm a big fan of lawyer nonsense usually, but it didn't work well in this issue, or else I haven't spent enough time in front of a Grand Jury to see how accurate this issue was.)
I'll be picking up the next issue, if only to see Blue Beetle again. I may finish off the arc just to say I was there.
I'm interested in why this book has such a strong following. Anyone want to suggest issues that I should pick up to get a real taste of how the series was run?
I'm to blame for Manhunter being cancelled. I never bought an issue before this one. And the only reason I bought this issue was because someone dressed in the Ted Kord Blue Beetle costume was on the cover and this person appeared on the last page of the issue.
For me, this whole issue was absurd. Why was Wonder Woman on trial for the death of Max Lord? Wasn't she exonerated? Why is this trial in the US? Wasn't Max killed in Switzerland? Shouldn't that be where the trial should be held? Why in LA? Wasn't Checkmate a federal agency? Shouldn't that place the venue in Washington? Why did Wonder Woman even decided to put herself through this? To show the world she's a good person?
I don't get it.
And I'm probably not the only one.
Anyway, Kate and Wonder Woman go to court. Everyone sees video of Wonder Woman snapping Max Lord's neck. Kate pulls some shenanigans to sneak her point into to jury's minds. Wonder Woman and Kate go out to eat and Kate tells Wonder Woman that it's all about the razzle dazzle, but with way less singing than Billy Flynn. They go back to court for more exposition. Eventually they exit the courthouse and Kate talks to the press on the steps and Blue Beetle drops down from the Bug.
I'm betting that this issue wasn't a good representative of the rest of the series, or maybe I really should have bought #26. The book was boring. Plot was advanced, but nothing seemed to happen. (And I'm a big fan of lawyer nonsense usually, but it didn't work well in this issue, or else I haven't spent enough time in front of a Grand Jury to see how accurate this issue was.)
I'll be picking up the next issue, if only to see Blue Beetle again. I may finish off the arc just to say I was there.
I'm interested in why this book has such a strong following. Anyone want to suggest issues that I should pick up to get a real taste of how the series was run?
Alphabet Meme
Like Jazz said, "Because I'm just too lazy to be original."
A=Available--For what? And probably, but I'll make an excuse to not do anything
B=Best Friend--Not at this moment.
C=Cake or Pie--Depends on the kind of cake and the kind of pie because I don't like some of either. And then it depends on whether I want frosting or filling. Unless the cake is an ice cream cake, then I get both!
D=Drink of Choice--Water.
E=Essential Item You Use Everyday--My butt.
F=Favourite Color--Blue, from so light it's practically white to so dark it's almost black.
G=Gummy Bears or Worms--Worms.
H=Hometown--Cowtown is where I grew up, although I do have memories of living places before that.
I=Indulgences--Books, Movies, TV shows on DVDs, and recently CDs.
J=January or February--I'll pick January because it's closer to my actual favorite month.
K=Kids and Names--Have none. Don't really want any right now. However, if I had a boy and a girl who were twins they'd be named Chlora and Phil.
L=Life Is Incomplete Without?--Air? Carbon? Water? Other elements and compounds found in all natural beings and living creatures so far known?
M=Marriage Date--I doubt I'll have one.
N=Number of Siblings--Two brothers. I'm not pointing the way to them, though, because they both seem fixated on MySpace and I don't want to encourage anything about MySpace if I can help it.
P=Phobias or Fears--Sometimes I think I'm agoraphobic or anthropophobic, but mostly I think people are idiots and I just don't want to be near them or places they are. I do have an irrational fear of knives. I can use them, but every time I look at one or pick one up I can feel it slicing into my finger down to the bone. I'm sure there are others, but that's the one I've been fixating on recently.
Q=Favourite Quote--"Never let your schoolin' interfere with your education."~attributed to Mark Twain, but who knows, really.
R=Reason to smile--Schadenfreude.
S=Season--Winter.
T=Tag 3 or 4 people--Thanks, no.
U=Unknown Fact About Me--I prefer mittens to gloves, but own neither.
V=Vegetable You Don't Like--I'm going to say beets, even though they're not.
W=Worst Habit--Apathy.
X=X-rays--Teeth, jaw in the panoramic vision, and lungs.
Y=Your Favorite Food--Whatever I'm eating at that moment.
Z=Zodiac Sign--Aries, but I don't think I fit the profile very well.
A=Available--For what? And probably, but I'll make an excuse to not do anything
B=Best Friend--Not at this moment.
C=Cake or Pie--Depends on the kind of cake and the kind of pie because I don't like some of either. And then it depends on whether I want frosting or filling. Unless the cake is an ice cream cake, then I get both!
D=Drink of Choice--Water.
E=Essential Item You Use Everyday--My butt.
F=Favourite Color--Blue, from so light it's practically white to so dark it's almost black.
G=Gummy Bears or Worms--Worms.
H=Hometown--Cowtown is where I grew up, although I do have memories of living places before that.
I=Indulgences--Books, Movies, TV shows on DVDs, and recently CDs.
J=January or February--I'll pick January because it's closer to my actual favorite month.
K=Kids and Names--Have none. Don't really want any right now. However, if I had a boy and a girl who were twins they'd be named Chlora and Phil.
L=Life Is Incomplete Without?--Air? Carbon? Water? Other elements and compounds found in all natural beings and living creatures so far known?
M=Marriage Date--I doubt I'll have one.
N=Number of Siblings--Two brothers. I'm not pointing the way to them, though, because they both seem fixated on MySpace and I don't want to encourage anything about MySpace if I can help it.
P=Phobias or Fears--Sometimes I think I'm agoraphobic or anthropophobic, but mostly I think people are idiots and I just don't want to be near them or places they are. I do have an irrational fear of knives. I can use them, but every time I look at one or pick one up I can feel it slicing into my finger down to the bone. I'm sure there are others, but that's the one I've been fixating on recently.
Q=Favourite Quote--"Never let your schoolin' interfere with your education."~attributed to Mark Twain, but who knows, really.
R=Reason to smile--Schadenfreude.
S=Season--Winter.
T=Tag 3 or 4 people--Thanks, no.
U=Unknown Fact About Me--I prefer mittens to gloves, but own neither.
V=Vegetable You Don't Like--I'm going to say beets, even though they're not.
W=Worst Habit--Apathy.
X=X-rays--Teeth, jaw in the panoramic vision, and lungs.
Y=Your Favorite Food--Whatever I'm eating at that moment.
Z=Zodiac Sign--Aries, but I don't think I fit the profile very well.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Tired
Been boxing files most of the day. Still feeling iffy and now very tired.
I have nothing interesting, right now, that I want to say. Can't think.
Can others out there help?
I have nothing interesting, right now, that I want to say. Can't think.
Can others out there help?
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Yuch-a
I think I'm getting sick. My stomach is still achy, my head is a bit spinney, and my skin is a bit prickly. I don't really want to be sick, since being sick is never any fun, but better now when I don't have any interviews than during a week that I do. Hope the rest of you are feelin' better than I am.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Mish and Mash, Both General
I'm sitting here, sucking of a fakegrape Life Saver trying hard not to concentrate on my queasy stomach. Have you ever dreamed about having an upset stomach an then had a queasy one when you woke up in the morning? I have. Just this morning, in fact. I think that it was the salad dressing I had last night. Does Zesty Italian dressing go bad? I don't think it's been open that long.
Monday was Martin Luther King, Jr Day, so I had the day off. Holidays like this leave me with mixed emotions. Yes, having a day off from work is nice, but is it the sort of think that Martin Luther King, Jr would have wanted? Would he have wanted us to celebrate his date of birth, after he died, of course, by sitting in our home listening to speeches he gave forty years ago or, even worse, going out just to buy things? It seems to me that the best way to celebrate him would be to actually do something about the rights of humans. Something that promotes an equality among people. Something more than what we normally do.
I don't know, though. I just sit around and thing about these things, I don't actually get up and do anything about it, but what are the chances that the minorities would accept a WASPy guy like me to try and lead the way to something, hopefully, better? Pretty slim, I'd say.
Did anyone else see that episode of Boondocks with Martin Luther King, Jr? In it, he wasn't killed he was just put into a coma for thirty years. He experienced September 11, 2001 and after that day he appeared on a show, much like Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect, and said that he didn't support the US invading Afghanistan or anywhere else. The audience turned on him because he continued to hold on to his pacifist beliefs. It was an unfortunate, but very true moment.
My parents came to visit over the weekend. It was nice. They brought me a car so I can get rid of my car and we had yummy French toast made by yours truly and we went to a movie and I showed them where I was hit by the cop car and took them by the parking garage where a guy was killed a few months ago (but I found that out just before Christmas, I thought he had just be seriously beaten) and other things.
We went to the Charles Schulz Museum. It's really close to where I live, but in the past year I hadn't visited before Sunday. I kept hoping that my brother would come and visit so I could go with him because, even though I know my parents appreciated and enjoyed the museum, my brother would have really been able to grok it.
Still, it was a good visit, with them and to the museum.
Monday was Martin Luther King, Jr Day, so I had the day off. Holidays like this leave me with mixed emotions. Yes, having a day off from work is nice, but is it the sort of think that Martin Luther King, Jr would have wanted? Would he have wanted us to celebrate his date of birth, after he died, of course, by sitting in our home listening to speeches he gave forty years ago or, even worse, going out just to buy things? It seems to me that the best way to celebrate him would be to actually do something about the rights of humans. Something that promotes an equality among people. Something more than what we normally do.
I don't know, though. I just sit around and thing about these things, I don't actually get up and do anything about it, but what are the chances that the minorities would accept a WASPy guy like me to try and lead the way to something, hopefully, better? Pretty slim, I'd say.
Did anyone else see that episode of Boondocks with Martin Luther King, Jr? In it, he wasn't killed he was just put into a coma for thirty years. He experienced September 11, 2001 and after that day he appeared on a show, much like Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect, and said that he didn't support the US invading Afghanistan or anywhere else. The audience turned on him because he continued to hold on to his pacifist beliefs. It was an unfortunate, but very true moment.
My parents came to visit over the weekend. It was nice. They brought me a car so I can get rid of my car and we had yummy French toast made by yours truly and we went to a movie and I showed them where I was hit by the cop car and took them by the parking garage where a guy was killed a few months ago (but I found that out just before Christmas, I thought he had just be seriously beaten) and other things.
We went to the Charles Schulz Museum. It's really close to where I live, but in the past year I hadn't visited before Sunday. I kept hoping that my brother would come and visit so I could go with him because, even though I know my parents appreciated and enjoyed the museum, my brother would have really been able to grok it.
Still, it was a good visit, with them and to the museum.
The List For 01-10-07
Civil War #6
Manhunter #27
52 #36
Runaways #23
Notes:
I didn't get my stuff in the mail on Friday or Saturday. I'm hoping it comes today, or at least by this Friday.
Runaways #23
I don't want to go all entitlement on this, but I wish that Joss Whedon would leave Runaways set in LA or some other city in the Marvel U. I like that they're the only super team around, it makes their work as superheroes and as people that much harder and more interesting. Also, it adds to there character that they can't just go out and wave down a hero on the street so they can learn a lesson by listening, rather than doing. Still, I'm going to be there reading the adventures of my favorite teen super team when the change happens. I just hope for a logical reason and not having Nico just say "We should move to New York because that's where all the other superheroes are and I bet we can learn a lot from them." If she does, I hope Molly hits her.
52 #36
So, I guess my hope of having Ray Terril being Supernova is gone. It must be the Atom, Ray Palmer. Although I'm sort of surprised that if it is Palmer he hasn't taken more interest in a kid using his technology. Ah, well, here's hoping Ralph Dibney isn't already dead and comes out of this book mostly intact and kicking ass in Opal City, since Infinite Crisis took out that city's main superhero.
Manhunter #27
52 #36
Runaways #23
Notes:
I didn't get my stuff in the mail on Friday or Saturday. I'm hoping it comes today, or at least by this Friday.
Runaways #23
I don't want to go all entitlement on this, but I wish that Joss Whedon would leave Runaways set in LA or some other city in the Marvel U. I like that they're the only super team around, it makes their work as superheroes and as people that much harder and more interesting. Also, it adds to there character that they can't just go out and wave down a hero on the street so they can learn a lesson by listening, rather than doing. Still, I'm going to be there reading the adventures of my favorite teen super team when the change happens. I just hope for a logical reason and not having Nico just say "We should move to New York because that's where all the other superheroes are and I bet we can learn a lot from them." If she does, I hope Molly hits her.
52 #36
So, I guess my hope of having Ray Terril being Supernova is gone. It must be the Atom, Ray Palmer. Although I'm sort of surprised that if it is Palmer he hasn't taken more interest in a kid using his technology. Ah, well, here's hoping Ralph Dibney isn't already dead and comes out of this book mostly intact and kicking ass in Opal City, since Infinite Crisis took out that city's main superhero.
Friday, January 12, 2007
Powers via Civil War
Way back in September, The Fortress of Soliloquy had this great post about how Marvel could have, and probably should have, set up Civil War to show reason for shifts in character personalities and the change in public opinion toward superheroes. He's absolutely right that to really show these changes things needed to be different. There needed to be something over time to show the major change in the public's opinion from cheering at television during the deadly antics of the X-Statix around the world to the loss of life caused by the New Warriors and that group of villains in Stamford. Maybe it did happen and I just missed it.
During the past eight months, I've had the nagging feeling that I've already read something that could have been the lead-up to Civil War, but just wasn't published by Marvel. Yes, people have compared the idea behind Civil War to Watchmen, but that's not where I found my lead-up. I found it in the first 37 issues of Powers.
Powers establishes a world where super humans have been around for at least as long as humanity. (For all I know, Bendis plans on revealing that there were super powered dinosaurs who have survived, hidden, for millions of years.) It was a world that loved its heroes. It cheered them. Lots of people wanted to have powers.
And slowly, everything changed.
Heroes started to get murdered. People associated with heroes started to get murdered. Heroes started going mad and killing people. And there was nothing that the police could do about it. Until it got so bad, so unbelievably violent that the only choice the people thought they had was to outlaw powers.
Specifics: Retro Girl was killed, shattering the illusion of invulnerability.
Kids pretending to be superheroes are killed, showing how dangerous wanting powers can be.
That whole Olympia debacle spreads from the shattering of illusions to a reason not to trust them.
Schizophrenic Boogie Girl goes on a rampage through the city and Walker tells the world that the government was behind everything.
And then comes the moment when the most powerful superhero in the world loses faith in the other heroes and in humanity and decided to take action by killing other heroes, killing the Pope, and pretty much destroying all of the West Bank.
Now that's the way to change a society from one that trust super-powered beings to one that doesn't. That, in my opinion, is how the lead-up to Civil War should have been done, could have been done. Of course, it takes time and planning, which would have been hard to do. (And delayed the series for a while so it never could have started just as Infinite Crisis ended and 52 started.)
Wasn't World War Hulk supposed to be the event of last year, but they delayed it to do the "Planet Hulk" and set up the company-wide cross over better? Wouldn't Civil War have made more sense if it had taken place after World War Hulk?
Who knows?
During the past eight months, I've had the nagging feeling that I've already read something that could have been the lead-up to Civil War, but just wasn't published by Marvel. Yes, people have compared the idea behind Civil War to Watchmen, but that's not where I found my lead-up. I found it in the first 37 issues of Powers.
Powers establishes a world where super humans have been around for at least as long as humanity. (For all I know, Bendis plans on revealing that there were super powered dinosaurs who have survived, hidden, for millions of years.) It was a world that loved its heroes. It cheered them. Lots of people wanted to have powers.
And slowly, everything changed.
Heroes started to get murdered. People associated with heroes started to get murdered. Heroes started going mad and killing people. And there was nothing that the police could do about it. Until it got so bad, so unbelievably violent that the only choice the people thought they had was to outlaw powers.
Specifics: Retro Girl was killed, shattering the illusion of invulnerability.
Kids pretending to be superheroes are killed, showing how dangerous wanting powers can be.
That whole Olympia debacle spreads from the shattering of illusions to a reason not to trust them.
Schizophrenic Boogie Girl goes on a rampage through the city and Walker tells the world that the government was behind everything.
And then comes the moment when the most powerful superhero in the world loses faith in the other heroes and in humanity and decided to take action by killing other heroes, killing the Pope, and pretty much destroying all of the West Bank.
Now that's the way to change a society from one that trust super-powered beings to one that doesn't. That, in my opinion, is how the lead-up to Civil War should have been done, could have been done. Of course, it takes time and planning, which would have been hard to do. (And delayed the series for a while so it never could have started just as Infinite Crisis ended and 52 started.)
Wasn't World War Hulk supposed to be the event of last year, but they delayed it to do the "Planet Hulk" and set up the company-wide cross over better? Wouldn't Civil War have made more sense if it had taken place after World War Hulk?
Who knows?
Earthquake Advertisement
See the earthquake that woke me up at 3:30 this morning!
Marvel at the colors on the map!
Wonder when the next will occur!
Believe that you can feel the earth under your feet!
Marvel at the colors on the map!
Wonder when the next will occur!
Believe that you can feel the earth under your feet!
Thursday, January 11, 2007
A Prayer
Oh Great Celery God, whose colossal leafy stalks leave all the other gods green with envy, but not as Green as You are, for You are the greener than the greenest of giants, be they jolly or surly.
Great Celery God, in the past week I have sacrificed many unbelieving stalk in Your name, Your Greatness:
For each of the sacrificed, I have performed the rite of the rinse and the removal of leaves and blemishes with the utmost care.
I doused many in the Butter of Peanuts, but with and without chunks, before sacrificing them between the enamel covered dentin, as is the ways You require.
A few of the unbelievers I covered with the white Cream of Cheese for variety because, as You have decreed, the Butter of Peanuts, while better than the Cream of Cheese, sticks to the roof of ones mouth and ones back teeth and much time has to be taken to produce enough saliva to remove the Butter of Peanuts from the roof and sometimes one must use ones finger to remove the Butter of Peanuts from ones back teeth because ones tongue is occasionally not firm enough, the Cream of Cheese does not require such effort.
The last of the unbelievers I chopped into bits and boiled in the broth of chicken, with chicken chunks and carrots and noodles in the shapes of spirals, to create a soup that may be worthy of Your stupendous flavor.
In doing all of this, Oh Leafy One, I ask that, in Your low calorie, high fiber wisdom, one of the many agencies that I have sent a response to call me soon to offer me a job interview which will lead to me getting out of this place where what little, compared to Your Glory, I am is slowly getting crushed.
In Your name, I go in peace and await Your answer.
Amen.
Great Celery God, in the past week I have sacrificed many unbelieving stalk in Your name, Your Greatness:
For each of the sacrificed, I have performed the rite of the rinse and the removal of leaves and blemishes with the utmost care.
I doused many in the Butter of Peanuts, but with and without chunks, before sacrificing them between the enamel covered dentin, as is the ways You require.
A few of the unbelievers I covered with the white Cream of Cheese for variety because, as You have decreed, the Butter of Peanuts, while better than the Cream of Cheese, sticks to the roof of ones mouth and ones back teeth and much time has to be taken to produce enough saliva to remove the Butter of Peanuts from the roof and sometimes one must use ones finger to remove the Butter of Peanuts from ones back teeth because ones tongue is occasionally not firm enough, the Cream of Cheese does not require such effort.
The last of the unbelievers I chopped into bits and boiled in the broth of chicken, with chicken chunks and carrots and noodles in the shapes of spirals, to create a soup that may be worthy of Your stupendous flavor.
In doing all of this, Oh Leafy One, I ask that, in Your low calorie, high fiber wisdom, one of the many agencies that I have sent a response to call me soon to offer me a job interview which will lead to me getting out of this place where what little, compared to Your Glory, I am is slowly getting crushed.
In Your name, I go in peace and await Your answer.
Amen.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Puberty is Frightening
Especially if you're thrown into an isolation chamber and go through it all in a few minutes, as this animation shows.
via Table of Malcontents
via Table of Malcontents
The List For 01-04-07
Stan Lee Meets Silver Surfer
52 #35
newuniversal #2
Superman Confidential #3
Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #25
The Boys #7
Notes:
Nothing in the mail last week, so it was a small load.
Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #25
Couldn't find #24 last week, I'll probably have to look elsewhere for it. Still, I saw how Mon-El returned, that was pretty nifty. And the "introduction" of Ranzz as a man with a mission who thinks he's doing good for the galaxy is nice. I wonder how he's going to screw it up. I mean he's Ranzz, he has to.
52 #35
Best week yet.
Superman Confidential #3
Art's nice, but the story's boring. The breathing in the lava thing in #2 was cool, but when are we going to get to the Kryptonite vs Superman? I don't care for the history of the Kryptonite on Earth. Does it really matter where it's been since it crashed? And is that a moutian with a giant key hole in it on page 12? At the north pole? I thought that Superman's fortress was in Antartica, where there are no polar bears.
52 #35
newuniversal #2
Superman Confidential #3
Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #25
The Boys #7
Notes:
Nothing in the mail last week, so it was a small load.
Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #25
Couldn't find #24 last week, I'll probably have to look elsewhere for it. Still, I saw how Mon-El returned, that was pretty nifty. And the "introduction" of Ranzz as a man with a mission who thinks he's doing good for the galaxy is nice. I wonder how he's going to screw it up. I mean he's Ranzz, he has to.
52 #35
Best week yet.
Superman Confidential #3
Art's nice, but the story's boring. The breathing in the lava thing in #2 was cool, but when are we going to get to the Kryptonite vs Superman? I don't care for the history of the Kryptonite on Earth. Does it really matter where it's been since it crashed? And is that a moutian with a giant key hole in it on page 12? At the north pole? I thought that Superman's fortress was in Antartica, where there are no polar bears.
Monday, January 08, 2007
Useless
Trying hard not to think about bad things. Thinking about the guy in the city smiling at people as they passed by who was masturbating through his pants. If he can be happy, can't anyone?
Friday, January 05, 2007
Avoiding Things
I've been avoiding work and thinking about my... *sigh* ...car by doing two things:
1) I visited craigslist.org and looked at apartment prices in Cowcity because, due to the overwhelming amount of mail I've received from that area, it's probably where I'll end up working. I've sent back six or seven forms saying that I'm interested in an interview and I hope that they come back soon. Even with The Supervisor leaving (And now, not only are they having a pizza luncheon two days before her last day, they're passing around a collection so we can buy her something. The collection was started TMSV who doesn't seem to realize that she no longer has to kiss The Supervisor's ass.) I'm ready to move on. There's no mobility here. None at all.
I bookmarked some sites of places that, online at least, seem desirable and fairly close to where I'll most likely be working, downtown. Rent there, even downtown, seems to be comparable or better than here. I saw a lot of 1 bedroom places going for between $600-$700 a month and I saw lots of 2 bedrooms up to $800. Right now I'm paying $750 for my lone bedroom, so it looks like the move may save me some money.
2) I ordered a whole lot of music. There goes a healthy chunk of the money I got for Christmas. Ah, well, it'll be nice having more music to listen to.
I honestly can't say that doing either thing was helpful, but I now have some things to look forward to.
1) I visited craigslist.org and looked at apartment prices in Cowcity because, due to the overwhelming amount of mail I've received from that area, it's probably where I'll end up working. I've sent back six or seven forms saying that I'm interested in an interview and I hope that they come back soon. Even with The Supervisor leaving (And now, not only are they having a pizza luncheon two days before her last day, they're passing around a collection so we can buy her something. The collection was started TMSV who doesn't seem to realize that she no longer has to kiss The Supervisor's ass.) I'm ready to move on. There's no mobility here. None at all.
I bookmarked some sites of places that, online at least, seem desirable and fairly close to where I'll most likely be working, downtown. Rent there, even downtown, seems to be comparable or better than here. I saw a lot of 1 bedroom places going for between $600-$700 a month and I saw lots of 2 bedrooms up to $800. Right now I'm paying $750 for my lone bedroom, so it looks like the move may save me some money.
2) I ordered a whole lot of music. There goes a healthy chunk of the money I got for Christmas. Ah, well, it'll be nice having more music to listen to.
I honestly can't say that doing either thing was helpful, but I now have some things to look forward to.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #23
By Waid, Kitson, and Gray, according to the cover, for DC Comics
I've been, well, iffy about this whole new Legion of Super-Heroes since the beginning. I wasn't a huge Legion fan before the reboot, true, but I had recently become of fan of the Abnett and Lanning books. I missed out on Legion Lost (still don't have it) but I started with Legion Worlds because M'Onel (which is how he was known in that series) was on the cover. I knew him as the first person to be taken over by Eclipso in the Darkness Within cross-over, which I happen to like, and from the first issues of Valor, which I eventually had to drop due to being a poor kid and wanting the Justice League books more than anything else.
Anyway, Legion Worlds was my gateway into the Legion universe (Although, now that I think about it, my first real Legion exposure was in the Secret Origins issue about headquarters. It show the origin of the JLA cave the Titan Tower and the Legion clubhouse.) and I was hooked on DnA's Legion once that started. When it was gone I was sad and angry, but since I wasn't a long time Legionnaire I thought I could survive.
When the most recent reboot came I picked up the first issue with mixed emotions. To me, this was too much silver age Legion. Sure, there were some new things in there, but it was mostly trying to be about how much better people think the old stuff was. I was there through issue 12 or 13, I'm not sure which, and it was fun, but when I started reading rumors about Supergirl showing up and my favorite Legionnaire had sort of dropped out of the book and my second favorite hadn't made an appearance and knowing the the chances ever seeing Ras al Ghul were slim, I stopped picking it up.
Then came #23. (Yes, it came out a couple of months ago and I tried to ignore it because I don't want to support this new Supergirl, even if she is just a possible creation from Dream Girl's mind.) Here was the first appearance of my second favorite Legionnaire in this new continuity. I resisted and was just going to buy his first full appearance, but when it wasn't at my LCS last week, I had to buy it the first one I saw, which was this issue.
So, the issue: Supergirl wakes up under a red sun on what she thinks is on Krypton and all the Legion stuff was a dream. She's not, though, she's on some planet around a red sun in the formerly bottled city of Kandor and she's sad because she's still in a very lucid dream. On Earth there's some rooting through broken robots. (Did Robotica show up in this continuity?) Umbra clobbers her brother in a shadow so Kitson didn't have do draw the pounding on her home world, Talok III. There's a break in at a museum in Kandor and the Legion is blamed for it, even though they weren't there when the alarms went off and they got they're asses handed to them by the people who actually did the breaking in. And finally, on the last page, Mon-El (or M'Onel or Valor or whatever he's going by in this book, probably Mon-El, though, it fits in with the silver age themes better) shows up all ghostly, like he's trapped in the Phantom Zone, again. That boy just has to learn to stay away from lead and things that open doorways to the Phantom Zone.
Overall the issue was alright. I don't really understand what's going on with Supergirl and I'm not sure if I want to. (Although the completist in me wants to rush out and buy the issues I'm missing.) Once her name was put into the title, the focus was taken away from the Legion and put on her, as seen by how many pages she appears on compared to how many she doesn't. I would have rather had more Umbra story to learn more about her world. She has shadow powers, but the place she was fighting looked like a bright desert, did she take the shadow from her world? (And then there's the whole question about how Mikaal Tomas fits into this revamp, if he does at all.) That's what I want to know. Well, that and when Supergirl's going to leave so the focus will be on the Legion and not on her.
Still, when I stop off to buy my comics today, I'll be looking for #25 and #24 so I can get all of Mon-El's return.
I've been, well, iffy about this whole new Legion of Super-Heroes since the beginning. I wasn't a huge Legion fan before the reboot, true, but I had recently become of fan of the Abnett and Lanning books. I missed out on Legion Lost (still don't have it) but I started with Legion Worlds because M'Onel (which is how he was known in that series) was on the cover. I knew him as the first person to be taken over by Eclipso in the Darkness Within cross-over, which I happen to like, and from the first issues of Valor, which I eventually had to drop due to being a poor kid and wanting the Justice League books more than anything else.
Anyway, Legion Worlds was my gateway into the Legion universe (Although, now that I think about it, my first real Legion exposure was in the Secret Origins issue about headquarters. It show the origin of the JLA cave the Titan Tower and the Legion clubhouse.) and I was hooked on DnA's Legion once that started. When it was gone I was sad and angry, but since I wasn't a long time Legionnaire I thought I could survive.
When the most recent reboot came I picked up the first issue with mixed emotions. To me, this was too much silver age Legion. Sure, there were some new things in there, but it was mostly trying to be about how much better people think the old stuff was. I was there through issue 12 or 13, I'm not sure which, and it was fun, but when I started reading rumors about Supergirl showing up and my favorite Legionnaire had sort of dropped out of the book and my second favorite hadn't made an appearance and knowing the the chances ever seeing Ras al Ghul were slim, I stopped picking it up.
Then came #23. (Yes, it came out a couple of months ago and I tried to ignore it because I don't want to support this new Supergirl, even if she is just a possible creation from Dream Girl's mind.) Here was the first appearance of my second favorite Legionnaire in this new continuity. I resisted and was just going to buy his first full appearance, but when it wasn't at my LCS last week, I had to buy it the first one I saw, which was this issue.
So, the issue: Supergirl wakes up under a red sun on what she thinks is on Krypton and all the Legion stuff was a dream. She's not, though, she's on some planet around a red sun in the formerly bottled city of Kandor and she's sad because she's still in a very lucid dream. On Earth there's some rooting through broken robots. (Did Robotica show up in this continuity?) Umbra clobbers her brother in a shadow so Kitson didn't have do draw the pounding on her home world, Talok III. There's a break in at a museum in Kandor and the Legion is blamed for it, even though they weren't there when the alarms went off and they got they're asses handed to them by the people who actually did the breaking in. And finally, on the last page, Mon-El (or M'Onel or Valor or whatever he's going by in this book, probably Mon-El, though, it fits in with the silver age themes better) shows up all ghostly, like he's trapped in the Phantom Zone, again. That boy just has to learn to stay away from lead and things that open doorways to the Phantom Zone.
Overall the issue was alright. I don't really understand what's going on with Supergirl and I'm not sure if I want to. (Although the completist in me wants to rush out and buy the issues I'm missing.) Once her name was put into the title, the focus was taken away from the Legion and put on her, as seen by how many pages she appears on compared to how many she doesn't. I would have rather had more Umbra story to learn more about her world. She has shadow powers, but the place she was fighting looked like a bright desert, did she take the shadow from her world? (And then there's the whole question about how Mikaal Tomas fits into this revamp, if he does at all.) That's what I want to know. Well, that and when Supergirl's going to leave so the focus will be on the Legion and not on her.
Still, when I stop off to buy my comics today, I'll be looking for #25 and #24 so I can get all of Mon-El's return.
Good News Tuesday
At about nine AM on Tuesday The Supervisor, with tears in her eyes, told the three of us who were here that January 12th would be her last day. My first thought was ding dong the witch is dead, but I didn't think that was the right time to say those words. I don't know if working here will get a lot more bearable, but I know I won't miss her hovering around our desks and rooting through our stuff. Starting on the 16th, SUSM will be handing out our work. I'm pretty sure she'll be more hands off.
Next Wednesday, apparently, were' having a "pizza party" for The Supervisor's good-bye. So, it looks like I'll be continuing my fight against SFS.
Next Wednesday, apparently, were' having a "pizza party" for The Supervisor's good-bye. So, it looks like I'll be continuing my fight against SFS.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Why I Am Now Much More Afraid of My Car
Monday, New Year's Day, for those who care, I woke up, eightish again, with three things on my mind: 1) haircut 2) brownies and 3) pee. They weren't necessarily in that order. I think I thought of the brownies first, actually.
I rid myself of the thought of pee in the usual way, with a sigh of relief.
After washing my hands, I went to the tray of brownies to rid myself of that thought as well, but it branched off into another though: What if I scooped some ice cream on top of the brownies and ate the two things together? Somewhere deep in the dark pit that is occasionally my mind something screamed that it wasn't a good idea to eat the combined power of pure vanilla ice cream and moist brownies for breakfast. All of my taste buds and my stomach cheering for the sweets drown out that small voice, but I think there may have been the echo of a gunshot in there somewhere.
Brownies were quickly placed into a bowl and ice cream was carefully placed on top. (It was Breyers ice cream, for those who may be jealous. It was on sale last week.) I sat in front of the TV, turned on another episode of TNG and began to eat. At first I started out trying to eat the brownies and the ice cream in a way that brought them together, but still kept them separate, I didn't want my brownies to get soggy. Eventually, I got tired of that game (and my hand holding the bowl got cold) and I chopped and I mixed the two things together. It was wonderful. The only thing that could have made it better would have been some chocolate syrup, but I didn't have any of that.
Eventually, the bowl was empty and the episode had run its course and the only thought left in my brain was haircut.
As I showered, I considered the possible places I could have my tresses chopped. SuperCuts is obvious and easy and close by, but I don't like the place. They always try to sell me "product" (whatever that means) for my hair. I just want my damn hair cut. And no, I do not want to spend twenty dollars on a five ounce container of hair gel. Did I come in with gel in my hair? Do I look like to sort of guy who gives a damn about how his hair is "styled"? You don't need to try to make me feel bad because I don't have "in" hair. Does it make you feel better to make me feel worse so I'll buy some gel from this store? You don't even get a commission, do you? What do you want from me? You already have my DNA being swept up and processed so you can crack my personal genome so you can better market things to me. Why can't you leave me alone? I gave you my fifteen dollars and a tip for an only so-so haircut because you only know how to do the cuts from the posters and ripped magazine pages that are on the walls, but not a simple cut-it-pretty-short-but-leave-enough-on-top-for-me-to-play-with cut. Just stop it. Please, just take my money and leave me alone.
I thought a real barber would be a good idea, this time. There isn’t any downtown that I know of. Lots of places with "stylists," but no plain, simple barbers. Where to go, though? There are a couple over that way, but that's a lot of driving, and one by a laundromat, which is much closer. I choose the closer one, got dressed, and headed out the door.
I turned left instead of the usual right and decided instead of turning around I'd use the highways. It's about the same distance and I got to drive faster. After a few minutes of driving I pulled into the parking lot near the barbershop and pulled up in front of it. There was a clock that said they'd be back at 9:30. The clock in my car said 9:35. Then I saw a sign on the window. I parked my car and went to investigate. The barber wouldn't be back until Wednesday, as in today. I turned around to my car and saw smoke rising from under the hood.
I've known about the oil leak in my car since I bought it from my uncle and aunt. It's always been there just slowly dripping. It's the reason I check the oil in my car every time I drive more that 100 miles in a day, even if I just changed the oil the day before. I don't remember, though, the engine ever smoking. Even when I burned one up entirely (not because of the lack of oil, but because a water hose melted). I don't ever remember smelling burning oil before the last time my car died. After I got it back from the place and drove it from Cowtown to here, I noticed a burning oil smell when I'd come to a stop and I'd especially notice it when I'd stop and the heater was on. The more I drove it, the worse the smell got.
The Sunday before Christmas, after I met with a friend for coffee (she says Hi to those who she knows and she'd probably say Hi to those she doesn't since she's that kind of a person), I drove the windy road back to my parents. When I got there, I noticed smoke coming out from under the hood of my car and that the stink of burning oil was stronger. I popped the hood and looked. I grabbed my dad so he could look. We took of the spare tire (you'll remember where the damned spare tire is located from this post) and looked some more. All I saw was a dirty, dirty engine. We poked around a little. He got greasier than I did, but I figure why grab things in there if I don't know what they're for. We filled fluids. (It looked like the oil was empty so three (I think) quarts went in, but when we backed the car up to a more level position (the car was leaning forward, toward the dip-stick (not me this time)) it was over flowing, go figure.) We tightened hoses. My dad couldn't think of anything else to do.
After letting the car sit for a while, I took my mom up the hill so she could get bacon for broccoli salad for Christmas. (Mom, I forgot to tell you at Christmas and since I'm thinking of it now I'll put it here: some feta in the broccoli salad would be really good.) I could smell the burning oil. My mom could smell the burning oil. When we got back to their house, the engine was smoking, again. Dad's only suggestion was to clean the engine at the self-serve car wash place on Tuesday so we could get a better look at what's going on in there on a clean engine. So we did.
All it looked like, to me, was a wet, clean engine.
I drove my car back from Cowtown that Tuesday night. The whole time I was wondering how quickly I could get out of my car and grab the fire extinguisher if I needed to. I made it back safely and the car only smelled a little like burning oil. It probably didn't help that I had the window cracked almost the entire time, though.
That Wednesday, before I went to work, I popped the hood to take a look. All I saw was a dirty, dirty engine.
On Monday, I popped the hood and the car was smoking like it had that first time I noticed it happening before Christmas. The engine looked just as black. I have no idea where the leak is coming from. The whole time I drove my stinky car back to my apartment, by SuperCuts, which was closed for the day, I thought it was going to go up in flames for sure.
Will I be driving to the laundromat this weekend so I have clean underwear next week? Yeah, but I won't like it.
I rid myself of the thought of pee in the usual way, with a sigh of relief.
After washing my hands, I went to the tray of brownies to rid myself of that thought as well, but it branched off into another though: What if I scooped some ice cream on top of the brownies and ate the two things together? Somewhere deep in the dark pit that is occasionally my mind something screamed that it wasn't a good idea to eat the combined power of pure vanilla ice cream and moist brownies for breakfast. All of my taste buds and my stomach cheering for the sweets drown out that small voice, but I think there may have been the echo of a gunshot in there somewhere.
Brownies were quickly placed into a bowl and ice cream was carefully placed on top. (It was Breyers ice cream, for those who may be jealous. It was on sale last week.) I sat in front of the TV, turned on another episode of TNG and began to eat. At first I started out trying to eat the brownies and the ice cream in a way that brought them together, but still kept them separate, I didn't want my brownies to get soggy. Eventually, I got tired of that game (and my hand holding the bowl got cold) and I chopped and I mixed the two things together. It was wonderful. The only thing that could have made it better would have been some chocolate syrup, but I didn't have any of that.
Eventually, the bowl was empty and the episode had run its course and the only thought left in my brain was haircut.
As I showered, I considered the possible places I could have my tresses chopped. SuperCuts is obvious and easy and close by, but I don't like the place. They always try to sell me "product" (whatever that means) for my hair. I just want my damn hair cut. And no, I do not want to spend twenty dollars on a five ounce container of hair gel. Did I come in with gel in my hair? Do I look like to sort of guy who gives a damn about how his hair is "styled"? You don't need to try to make me feel bad because I don't have "in" hair. Does it make you feel better to make me feel worse so I'll buy some gel from this store? You don't even get a commission, do you? What do you want from me? You already have my DNA being swept up and processed so you can crack my personal genome so you can better market things to me. Why can't you leave me alone? I gave you my fifteen dollars and a tip for an only so-so haircut because you only know how to do the cuts from the posters and ripped magazine pages that are on the walls, but not a simple cut-it-pretty-short-but-leave-enough-on-top-for-me-to-play-with cut. Just stop it. Please, just take my money and leave me alone.
I thought a real barber would be a good idea, this time. There isn’t any downtown that I know of. Lots of places with "stylists," but no plain, simple barbers. Where to go, though? There are a couple over that way, but that's a lot of driving, and one by a laundromat, which is much closer. I choose the closer one, got dressed, and headed out the door.
I turned left instead of the usual right and decided instead of turning around I'd use the highways. It's about the same distance and I got to drive faster. After a few minutes of driving I pulled into the parking lot near the barbershop and pulled up in front of it. There was a clock that said they'd be back at 9:30. The clock in my car said 9:35. Then I saw a sign on the window. I parked my car and went to investigate. The barber wouldn't be back until Wednesday, as in today. I turned around to my car and saw smoke rising from under the hood.
I've known about the oil leak in my car since I bought it from my uncle and aunt. It's always been there just slowly dripping. It's the reason I check the oil in my car every time I drive more that 100 miles in a day, even if I just changed the oil the day before. I don't remember, though, the engine ever smoking. Even when I burned one up entirely (not because of the lack of oil, but because a water hose melted). I don't ever remember smelling burning oil before the last time my car died. After I got it back from the place and drove it from Cowtown to here, I noticed a burning oil smell when I'd come to a stop and I'd especially notice it when I'd stop and the heater was on. The more I drove it, the worse the smell got.
The Sunday before Christmas, after I met with a friend for coffee (she says Hi to those who she knows and she'd probably say Hi to those she doesn't since she's that kind of a person), I drove the windy road back to my parents. When I got there, I noticed smoke coming out from under the hood of my car and that the stink of burning oil was stronger. I popped the hood and looked. I grabbed my dad so he could look. We took of the spare tire (you'll remember where the damned spare tire is located from this post) and looked some more. All I saw was a dirty, dirty engine. We poked around a little. He got greasier than I did, but I figure why grab things in there if I don't know what they're for. We filled fluids. (It looked like the oil was empty so three (I think) quarts went in, but when we backed the car up to a more level position (the car was leaning forward, toward the dip-stick (not me this time)) it was over flowing, go figure.) We tightened hoses. My dad couldn't think of anything else to do.
After letting the car sit for a while, I took my mom up the hill so she could get bacon for broccoli salad for Christmas. (Mom, I forgot to tell you at Christmas and since I'm thinking of it now I'll put it here: some feta in the broccoli salad would be really good.) I could smell the burning oil. My mom could smell the burning oil. When we got back to their house, the engine was smoking, again. Dad's only suggestion was to clean the engine at the self-serve car wash place on Tuesday so we could get a better look at what's going on in there on a clean engine. So we did.
All it looked like, to me, was a wet, clean engine.
I drove my car back from Cowtown that Tuesday night. The whole time I was wondering how quickly I could get out of my car and grab the fire extinguisher if I needed to. I made it back safely and the car only smelled a little like burning oil. It probably didn't help that I had the window cracked almost the entire time, though.
That Wednesday, before I went to work, I popped the hood to take a look. All I saw was a dirty, dirty engine.
On Monday, I popped the hood and the car was smoking like it had that first time I noticed it happening before Christmas. The engine looked just as black. I have no idea where the leak is coming from. The whole time I drove my stinky car back to my apartment, by SuperCuts, which was closed for the day, I thought it was going to go up in flames for sure.
Will I be driving to the laundromat this weekend so I have clean underwear next week? Yeah, but I won't like it.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
What Did You Do For New Year's?
Woke up on Sunday some time after eight. But not too much after eight. That would have been too much like sleeping in and since when is Sunday a day a person who wants to sleep in can actually sleep in. At least when that person is me.
Ate some left over pot roast for breakfast, watched part of an episode from the final season (also the last I needed to complete my collection) of TNG, showered, and considered getting a haircut. What would it take? Where should I go? Why not just let it grow really long?
Instead of walking to the SuperCuts I played Zelda. (Not the new one. The one for the last Nintendo. I'm not even considering buying the new one until a) it goes on sale for a pretty reasonable price or b) there's a new Mario Cart released.) I played for a long time. If I actually told you how long, it would turn into an embarrassingly long time. That time was interspersed with me pacing around my apartment and reading comics (Powers, for those who may be interested. I finished all the issues of the first series I have/can find in my apartment and I'm ready to start on the second series.)
Made brownies as I watched the rest of the TNG episode. Played Zelda as the brownies baked and cooled. Ate some brownies after the cooling and started a new TNG. Saw the time and decided that I should make dinner. While watching the episode I grilled some cheese sandwiches. (I like the processed, fatty, salty, pre-sliced singles for my grilled cheese sandwiches. Can they still be called "grilled" if I don't use a grill to make them? It's more of a fried sandwich with cheese, isn't it?) Along with the cheese, the sandwiches also had tomato and ham.
By the time the sandwiches were ready, and I had covered the brownies in a thin plastic film to keep them from drying out, a new episode had started and I ate and watched and then wandered to the fridge for some root beer and then plopped back in front of the TV to eat and watch and drink.
When the episode was over, I shuffled my dishes off to the sink for a rinse and then set them on the counter (where they still sit) and headed off for my toothbrush, which I promptly used along with a healthy portion of toothpaste. As I brushed, I wandered around the apartment and thought about flossing and how I should have done it, but figured that missing one night out of the week wasn't so bad and besides I had flossed that morning because no matter how I cook it post roast is a bit stringy and gets caught between my teeth and isn't being expected to floss twice a day a bit overkill since, in the future, I'll be able to have bionic teeth that can bite through steel? As I spit and rinsed, I figured my teeth were safe for the time being.
I headed to my bed, climbed in and started reading comics. Around ten-thirty, I yawned a big yawn that made my eyes water so much I couldn't read the print anymore and decided that it was time to sleep. Lights off, I pulled the covers to under my chin and fell asleep a lot quicker than I normally do.
Sometime after midnight, I'm sure, I heard firecrackers going off. I didn't look at the time though, I didn't care. I rolled over, put my pillow on top of my head, and fell back to sleep.
It was pretty close to what I think of as the perfect New Year's.
Tomorrow, probably: I am now much more afraid of my car.
Ate some left over pot roast for breakfast, watched part of an episode from the final season (also the last I needed to complete my collection) of TNG, showered, and considered getting a haircut. What would it take? Where should I go? Why not just let it grow really long?
Instead of walking to the SuperCuts I played Zelda. (Not the new one. The one for the last Nintendo. I'm not even considering buying the new one until a) it goes on sale for a pretty reasonable price or b) there's a new Mario Cart released.) I played for a long time. If I actually told you how long, it would turn into an embarrassingly long time. That time was interspersed with me pacing around my apartment and reading comics (Powers, for those who may be interested. I finished all the issues of the first series I have/can find in my apartment and I'm ready to start on the second series.)
Made brownies as I watched the rest of the TNG episode. Played Zelda as the brownies baked and cooled. Ate some brownies after the cooling and started a new TNG. Saw the time and decided that I should make dinner. While watching the episode I grilled some cheese sandwiches. (I like the processed, fatty, salty, pre-sliced singles for my grilled cheese sandwiches. Can they still be called "grilled" if I don't use a grill to make them? It's more of a fried sandwich with cheese, isn't it?) Along with the cheese, the sandwiches also had tomato and ham.
By the time the sandwiches were ready, and I had covered the brownies in a thin plastic film to keep them from drying out, a new episode had started and I ate and watched and then wandered to the fridge for some root beer and then plopped back in front of the TV to eat and watch and drink.
When the episode was over, I shuffled my dishes off to the sink for a rinse and then set them on the counter (where they still sit) and headed off for my toothbrush, which I promptly used along with a healthy portion of toothpaste. As I brushed, I wandered around the apartment and thought about flossing and how I should have done it, but figured that missing one night out of the week wasn't so bad and besides I had flossed that morning because no matter how I cook it post roast is a bit stringy and gets caught between my teeth and isn't being expected to floss twice a day a bit overkill since, in the future, I'll be able to have bionic teeth that can bite through steel? As I spit and rinsed, I figured my teeth were safe for the time being.
I headed to my bed, climbed in and started reading comics. Around ten-thirty, I yawned a big yawn that made my eyes water so much I couldn't read the print anymore and decided that it was time to sleep. Lights off, I pulled the covers to under my chin and fell asleep a lot quicker than I normally do.
Sometime after midnight, I'm sure, I heard firecrackers going off. I didn't look at the time though, I didn't care. I rolled over, put my pillow on top of my head, and fell back to sleep.
It was pretty close to what I think of as the perfect New Year's.
Tomorrow, probably: I am now much more afraid of my car.
They'd Probably Say Rand, But I'd Rather Be Perrin
| What Fantasy Archetype Are you? | |
  The Unlikely Hero You are the Unlikely Hero! Others like you are Frodo (Lord of The Rings), Young Aurthur (arthurian Legend), Luke Skywalker (Star Wars), Peter/Susan/Edmund/Lucy (Narnia), Richard Mayhew (Neverwhere), Harry Potter (Harry Potter) and Richard Cypher (Wizard's first Rule). You were happy to just live out your life as a peaceful schoolboy/farmer/wood's guide. But alas, greatness was thrust upon you. Don't let the hordes of The Totally Wicked Villain get you down, you have your Seasoned Veteran Friend to protect you and you almost always end up with the Pillar-of-Strength Love interest. Heed you Mentor well and keep your chin up, hero! You are simple, humble and kind but possess great potential for truly inspirational heroism, bravery and strength in dark times. | |
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The List For 12-28-06
52 #34
Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #23
Connor Hawke: Dragon's Blood #2
Astonishing X-Men #19
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #13
1st Issue Special #12
Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #47
Ultimate Fantasic Four #37
Ultimate Spider-Man #103
Fables #56
Justice #9
Quick Notes:
A pretty good week. I didn't pick up much new stuff at the LCS, so I grabbed the first appearance of phantom Mon'El or M'Onel or Valor or whatever he's being called in this post crisis.
The 1st Issue Special was a Christmas gift from my brother. It's the first appearance (and last until Starman #4) or Mikaal Tomas in his v-neck tights and groovey sonic jewel on a gold chain. Awesome.
The Ultimate Spider-Man "revelation" about Peter's father I saw coming from the beginning of the arch. The Doc Ock stuff was great, though.
My hopes for Connor Hawke: Dragon's Blood have been high. The two issues have been okay, but not enough to meet my expectation. Although, I have been wondering if sex with a ghost is really sex?
The newest issue of 52 had the best ending yet.
I didn't get my copy of Justice League of America #5 in the mail with Justice, which also came out last week. I didn't see it at the LCS when I went there on Thursday. What happened? Am I the only person who didn't get it?
Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #23
Connor Hawke: Dragon's Blood #2
Astonishing X-Men #19
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #13
1st Issue Special #12
Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #47
Ultimate Fantasic Four #37
Ultimate Spider-Man #103
Fables #56
Justice #9
Quick Notes:
A pretty good week. I didn't pick up much new stuff at the LCS, so I grabbed the first appearance of phantom Mon'El or M'Onel or Valor or whatever he's being called in this post crisis.
The 1st Issue Special was a Christmas gift from my brother. It's the first appearance (and last until Starman #4) or Mikaal Tomas in his v-neck tights and groovey sonic jewel on a gold chain. Awesome.
The Ultimate Spider-Man "revelation" about Peter's father I saw coming from the beginning of the arch. The Doc Ock stuff was great, though.
My hopes for Connor Hawke: Dragon's Blood have been high. The two issues have been okay, but not enough to meet my expectation. Although, I have been wondering if sex with a ghost is really sex?
The newest issue of 52 had the best ending yet.
I didn't get my copy of Justice League of America #5 in the mail with Justice, which also came out last week. I didn't see it at the LCS when I went there on Thursday. What happened? Am I the only person who didn't get it?
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Who Will Win Marvel's Civil War?
I don't read much Marvel. When it comes to Civil War, I only get the main series. (Although I really wanted the one with Howard the Duck. My LCS only bought a few and they sold out that Wednesday. Ah, well.) So, all my opinions here are based on what I've read in those five issues, the stuff often found at Newsarama, and my view, ignorant though it may be, of the Marvel universe. So, here I go:
Let's face it, Captain America's side will win.
Why?
Let's start with the obvious:
He's Captain Fucking America.
He's Marvel's representation of the American ideal. He represents, or at least tries to represent, all that is good about the USA. He fights for freedom and justice. He supports honesty and strong morals. He believes in the ideals on which America is based. And he probably bakes a spectacular apple pie. In other words, Captain America is what we (or at least I) want the USA to stand for in the world.
If Captain America's team loses, then it'll be like Marvel telling us that the ideals of America have failed, too. Sure, he'll probably keep trying to fight, but Captain America a fugitive from the country that made him that he took his name from, and a long term terrorist against that country just can't work.
If his team loses, what are the story possibilities for all the characters who joined him? They all become outsiders hounded by the law? They all move to France to sip wine with the Thing and gripe about how America was better once upon a time? They all go underground and their books get cancelled? They all get arrested and "rehabilitated" by Iron Man? They move to Latveria and join Dr. Doom in his constant quest for revenge against that fool, Richards?
It seems to me that if Marvel has the pro-registration side win, half of their heroes will become criminals and that will make for a boring line of comics.
When Captain America wins, though, his group can go back to being superheroes sort of like before, and Iron Man's side can continue being government lackeys, or whatever you want to call them.
Just because, after Civil War ends, the government won't be drafting all the superhumans, doesn't mean that they'll close down the programs they created. Why would they? They already have a, probably, large number of people registered and trained, why would they want to let them out just because Congress decided to repeal the Superhuman Registration Act? That would be like dismantling the armed services just because there's no draft, stupid.
In the newest Wizard, Dan Slott talked about something called The Initiative and suggested that this is where the registered heroes, who wanted to stick with the government, will be. Once the new Thunderbolts break out of their collars, the government's going to need someone to track down all the murdering psychopaths they allowed Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic to use.
Having the anti-registration side win won't limit story possibilities like having the pro-registration side win.
If the anti side wins traditional superhero with secret identities stories can be told. Stories about the government training a next generation of super powered people can be told. There can be a book about a government task force of superhumans who police the activities of those who aren't registered. And the few mutants can die in peace.
Let's face it, Captain America's side will win.
Why?
Let's start with the obvious:
He's Captain Fucking America.
He's Marvel's representation of the American ideal. He represents, or at least tries to represent, all that is good about the USA. He fights for freedom and justice. He supports honesty and strong morals. He believes in the ideals on which America is based. And he probably bakes a spectacular apple pie. In other words, Captain America is what we (or at least I) want the USA to stand for in the world.
If Captain America's team loses, then it'll be like Marvel telling us that the ideals of America have failed, too. Sure, he'll probably keep trying to fight, but Captain America a fugitive from the country that made him that he took his name from, and a long term terrorist against that country just can't work.
If his team loses, what are the story possibilities for all the characters who joined him? They all become outsiders hounded by the law? They all move to France to sip wine with the Thing and gripe about how America was better once upon a time? They all go underground and their books get cancelled? They all get arrested and "rehabilitated" by Iron Man? They move to Latveria and join Dr. Doom in his constant quest for revenge against that fool, Richards?
It seems to me that if Marvel has the pro-registration side win, half of their heroes will become criminals and that will make for a boring line of comics.
When Captain America wins, though, his group can go back to being superheroes sort of like before, and Iron Man's side can continue being government lackeys, or whatever you want to call them.
Just because, after Civil War ends, the government won't be drafting all the superhumans, doesn't mean that they'll close down the programs they created. Why would they? They already have a, probably, large number of people registered and trained, why would they want to let them out just because Congress decided to repeal the Superhuman Registration Act? That would be like dismantling the armed services just because there's no draft, stupid.
In the newest Wizard, Dan Slott talked about something called The Initiative and suggested that this is where the registered heroes, who wanted to stick with the government, will be. Once the new Thunderbolts break out of their collars, the government's going to need someone to track down all the murdering psychopaths they allowed Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic to use.
Having the anti-registration side win won't limit story possibilities like having the pro-registration side win.
If the anti side wins traditional superhero with secret identities stories can be told. Stories about the government training a next generation of super powered people can be told. There can be a book about a government task force of superhumans who police the activities of those who aren't registered. And the few mutants can die in peace.
One Thing...
One thing that I really like living by myself is that I know, most probably, that any pubes found on the soap in the shower are mine. I can't say the same thing at my parent's house.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Friday, December 22, 2006
That Monkey's Gone to Heaven
Just found out that we get to leave today at three! And those of us who were planning on staying until five don't have to use any vacation time! HAHAHAHAHAH!
And since, because of this small change in fortunes, I find myself in a good mood, I'd like to put a quote one of my favorite Allan Sherman songs, "One Hippopotomi":
And since, because of this small change in fortunes, I find myself in a good mood, I'd like to put a quote one of my favorite Allan Sherman songs, "One Hippopotomi":
One hippopotami cannot get on a bus,Thanks you and have a really nice weekend.
Because one hippopotami is two hippopotamus.
And if you have two goose, that makes one geese.
A pair of mouse is mice. A pair of moose is meese.
A paranoia is a bunch of mental blocks.
And when Ben Casey meets Kildaire, that's called a paradox.
When two minks fall in love, with all their heart and soul,
You'll find the plural of two minks is one mink stole.
Singulars and plurals are so different, bless my soul.
Has it ever occurred to you that the plural of "half" is "whole"?
A bunch of tooth is teeth. A group of foot is feet.
And two canaries make a pair--they call it a parakeet.
A paramecium is not a pair.
A parallelogram is just a crazy square.
Nobody knows just what a paraphernalia is.
And what is half a pair of scissors, but a single sciz?
With someone you adore, if you should find romance,
You'll pant, and pant once more, and that's a pair of pants!
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Ultimate X-Men
Originally, I was just going to write about issue 77, but as I sat thinking about the issue, I realized that my problems with this issue are endemic to the whole series since Millar left way back when.
The biggest problem is that since he left the longest time a writer has been on the book was Vaughan for twenty issues, so there hasn't been a long, consistent voice on the book for a while. (This has been an even bigger problem with Ultimate Fantastic Four, and many comics out there as a whole.) A long term, consistent voice can once again add to the characterizations of the team. Every time a new writer comes onto the series they pick certain bits out of the last one's run and drastically change others.
One of the things that I really liked about Millar's run was that the book wasn't just about the X-Men, but it was about the place of mutants in the world. Millar never forgot that the X-Men and Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants were how the world saw all mutants. He showed them being violent. Even the good ones, the ones, supposedly, trying to promote understand between the two species, were out there smashing property and getting people killed. Who, in the eyes of the public, are the heroes? Millar also showed explored the mob mentality of the scared normal people through out the Sentinel and the public's reaction to learning that Magneto wasn't dead.
There were big ideas about the world and about the different people who live there in Millar's run along with some great characterization.
Then came Bendis and what should have been an Ultimate Wolverine mini, rather than a run in this book. Bendis took away the focus on the big ideas and wanted to focus on the characters during his ten issue (I think) run. That's a decent goal, but after him, the larger world was forgotten. What happened to the regular humans? Where were they? What happened to the consequences of the fighting? Gone, to the best of my recollection.
For me, Vaughan's run had the highest point since Millar with the Longshot story because it showed, as opposed to just telling me, that normal humans hate mutants. Still he seemed to want to focus on the people on the team rather than the team’s purpose in the world.
And now there's Kirkman and I'm still not sure about his stuff on this book. It's been merely okay. Nothing's wowed me. The "Phoenix?" storyline just sort of petered out. Who are right? Lilandra's people of the Hellfire club? I still don't know. I hope it get's better soon because I don't know how much longer I want to hold on to lackluster just because I used to like this book.
The biggest problem is that since he left the longest time a writer has been on the book was Vaughan for twenty issues, so there hasn't been a long, consistent voice on the book for a while. (This has been an even bigger problem with Ultimate Fantastic Four, and many comics out there as a whole.) A long term, consistent voice can once again add to the characterizations of the team. Every time a new writer comes onto the series they pick certain bits out of the last one's run and drastically change others.
One of the things that I really liked about Millar's run was that the book wasn't just about the X-Men, but it was about the place of mutants in the world. Millar never forgot that the X-Men and Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants were how the world saw all mutants. He showed them being violent. Even the good ones, the ones, supposedly, trying to promote understand between the two species, were out there smashing property and getting people killed. Who, in the eyes of the public, are the heroes? Millar also showed explored the mob mentality of the scared normal people through out the Sentinel and the public's reaction to learning that Magneto wasn't dead.
There were big ideas about the world and about the different people who live there in Millar's run along with some great characterization.
Then came Bendis and what should have been an Ultimate Wolverine mini, rather than a run in this book. Bendis took away the focus on the big ideas and wanted to focus on the characters during his ten issue (I think) run. That's a decent goal, but after him, the larger world was forgotten. What happened to the regular humans? Where were they? What happened to the consequences of the fighting? Gone, to the best of my recollection.
For me, Vaughan's run had the highest point since Millar with the Longshot story because it showed, as opposed to just telling me, that normal humans hate mutants. Still he seemed to want to focus on the people on the team rather than the team’s purpose in the world.
And now there's Kirkman and I'm still not sure about his stuff on this book. It's been merely okay. Nothing's wowed me. The "Phoenix?" storyline just sort of petered out. Who are right? Lilandra's people of the Hellfire club? I still don't know. I hope it get's better soon because I don't know how much longer I want to hold on to lackluster just because I used to like this book.
Not About Next Monday, I Promise
The last several days, it's been cold, for here, in the mornings. I think 25 was the coldest it got, which isn't too bad. You can still use water to defrost your windshields at that temperature, at least you can when it warms up to the fifties during the day.
Yesterday, as I was pulling some stuff off the gigantic and old dot-matrix printer when The Supervisor asked me, "Was it warmer out there today?"
To me, the difference between 24 degrees and 28 degrees is pretty indistinguishable. "Not that I could tell," I said.
"Yeah, I guess," she said.
I said, "Uh-huh." and went back to fiddling with the printer.
"I sorry," she said.
I looked over at her, furrowed my brow, and said, "About what?"
"That you have to walk in this weather."
"I don't have to walk in this," I said. "I choose to walk to work. I have a car."
She gave me this long look at me and seemed like she wanted to ask me something, but she didn't. I went back to work on the printer.
"I guess," she said, frowning, "that you save money by not driving."
"Huh?"
"You save money."
"Yeah," I said. "I guess."
"Good," she said and turned away from me.
I went back to my desk and I'm still confused about the whole conversation.
Yesterday, as I was pulling some stuff off the gigantic and old dot-matrix printer when The Supervisor asked me, "Was it warmer out there today?"
To me, the difference between 24 degrees and 28 degrees is pretty indistinguishable. "Not that I could tell," I said.
"Yeah, I guess," she said.
I said, "Uh-huh." and went back to fiddling with the printer.
"I sorry," she said.
I looked over at her, furrowed my brow, and said, "About what?"
"That you have to walk in this weather."
"I don't have to walk in this," I said. "I choose to walk to work. I have a car."
She gave me this long look at me and seemed like she wanted to ask me something, but she didn't. I went back to work on the printer.
"I guess," she said, frowning, "that you save money by not driving."
"Huh?"
"You save money."
"Yeah," I said. "I guess."
"Good," she said and turned away from me.
I went back to my desk and I'm still confused about the whole conversation.
Lyrics for Today
It's Not My Birthday from They Might Be Giants just seems right.
Especially the first two stanzas, or verses, or whatever.
Especially the first two stanzas, or verses, or whatever.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
More Christmas Bile
I don't hate Christmas. I really don't. I like seeing my family. I like watching people open gifts. I like the food, even if the turkey gives me a headache and the mashed potatoes are from a box. On Christmas day, I have a good time.
Leading up to Christmas, though, I'm sort of a Grinch or a Scrooge or some other grouchy character associated with Christmas.
When I was little, decorating the house was a family affair, sort of. It was my mom, my brothers, and me, my dad was usually off doing his own thing, on an afternoon, after school, after Thanksgiving. We'd bring the boxes of stuff up and staple or tape pictures of Santa and Frosty and snowflakes up on walls. (We had this great one of Santa's sleigh that had the reindeer connected to the sleigh and each other by yarn so you could decide how they were flying.) We'd clear a spot on a shelf to put up a great carved, but small, nativity scene. (I had no idea what the nativity scene was until I was in junior high. I only knew it was in the Christmas stuff.) We'd hang up an advent calendar that was made out of felt and had a tree on it and then twenty-five different things with a bit of velcro on them that could be removed from the day and then placed on the tree. The actual tree usually didn't come for another week or so and then all of us would decorate it together. I can only remember one year when we had lights on the outside. My mom put the up. I remember helping to take them down, though.
Sixth grade, I think, I started bringing the boxes of decorations up and harassing my brothers and mother into helping decorate the house. At this time, I also took some lights to string up around my window so something could be seen outside to show we were celebrating Christmas.
In high school, I stopped harassing people and started just hanging the stuff up myself, when other saw me doing it they'd pitch in. By then it was a week or two after Thanksgiving had passed. Some of the decorations that had once decorated the walls for everyone had found their way onto the walls in my room. One year, when no one else was home, I tried to hang lights and fell off the ladder. I decided, after that, not to bother.
My first year of college when I came back, just a few days before Christmas, the walls were bare and the tree was sitting in a bucket on the back deck. The next day I brought the boxes up and started decorating again. The tree was brought in and the whole family decorated it.
The next two years, I was living with my family, again and I fell back into the high school habits, except I didn't bring up the wall decorations and I didn't put lights up in my window. I didn't see any point. And this time I had to harass people to get them to help with the tree.
The next two years I was away at college again, when I got back, nothing was set up and there was no tree. (The first of these two Christmases I used MS Paint to draw a tree, which I printed and taped under the TV and then placed my gifts to the family under it. The next year, I didn't.) When the tree was finally bought, it sat for a few days. Eventually, I dragged up the tree decorations. Everything sat for a day. I put lights on the tree and asked people to help me. They said they'd help that night. I waited. No one wanted to help that night. The next afternoon, I just started decorating. I got most of the way done when one of my brothers noticed what I was doing and asked why I didn't ask him to help and then he grabbed everyone else and we all finished the tree.
Things went on like that and then I was living with my parents, again, I said fuck it. I didn't do anything and I wasn't going to do anything. I thought about it, a lot. I felt bad that nothing was happening, but I just let nothing happen. Three days before Christmas, the tree was finally brought in off the deck and set up by someone. Two days before Christmas, my mom brought up ornaments and lights. The night before Christmas, I was getting yams ready for us to take to Christmas at my aunt and uncle's, when finally a brother asked me about decorating the tree. I said go for it. He sort of stared at me and wandered away. A little while later the other brother asked me about decorating the tree and I told him to go for it. He gave me an odd look and then wandered away. After a while, my mom got my brothers and dad together and they started decorating and then came to ask me to join in. I told her no and explained why. She said she understood, but I've never been sure if she really did. When I was finished with the yams, I went to my bed and read until the others were done decorating the tree, which was like 10PM or something. It seemed awful late when it was done.
That's pretty much when I gave up on the idea decorating for Christmas. When I lived in Cowcity, I decided not to do anything to liven the place up. (My roommate probably saw plenty of Christmassy colors, though; he was so high that Christmas.) Last year I lived here and thought about getting something to decorate but decided that there was no point, I wasn't going to enjoy it, why bother? Same this year. Why bother?
Giving up on the decorating thing made it so it didn't affect me like it used to, the thing that really gets me is one of my brothers, and it's a constant thing, not just a Christmas thing. It's just that it has been going on for so long and this fucking Christmas time and my other brother is flying in from Maryland for Christmas that I'm just really being bothered. Anyway...
A few years ago, my brother and his girlfriend moved to SF. At Christmastime he's asked if the two of them will be coming to Cowtown to be with family. The answer was "I don't know" or "maybe" or "probably" or "We're going to try" or something like that. I can't remember if either one of them were up three years ago. I don't think they were. I know they weren't in Cowtown last year. They had to watch a bird or something that can't be left alone for one day, and their car didn't have a window, or it did and it just wouldn't start and they didn't do anything to fix it, I can't remember. They didn't get their Christmas gifts from us until Easter.
This year, there was a moment when my brother said he was going to be there because an uncle was laying on the guilt. Around the first of this month his story changed to they may be there. A week or so ago I e-mailed to find out if they were going to be there or if I should mail their gifts so they'll get them before April. He wrote back and wrote back, "I'm looking for 'Boxing Day' with the fam if I can rent a car..." I don't live in England or any other of the commonwealth nations. I don't get Boxing Day off. I'm supposed to be at work that day.
Monday, I e-mail my mom, my brother, and his girlfriend and asked them all if they knew, with 100% certainty if people were going to be up the day after Christmas.
That evening, my mom wrote back to say she had no idea, but that she'd call my brother and ask him on Tuesday.
According to a message left by my mother on my machine while I was in the shower this morning, she spoke with my brother and they'll probably be up the day after Christmas.
According to the girlfriend in an e-mail I got today, there's 87% certainty that they'll be up.
I have asked for the day off. I have received the day off.
If they don't show up for Christmas Day or Boxing Day, I'm through with them. I've rearranged my schedule and taken days off to spend time with them. I even fucked up my Easter weekend in April to get them to come to the Bash. I like them. They're fun and smart. But if, after using a vacation day, they don't show up this year, I'm never going to do it again. They can rearrange their schedule if they want to see me. They can take time off work.
If they don't show up this year, the only way I'll ever rearrange my life or use a day off to see them is if they get married and I'm invited to the ceremony. Other than that, there's no fucking way. I'm tired of being the one who's always accommodating. I'm not going to be anymore.
And now that that bit of bile is out there, I feel angrier than I did at the beginning of this post. Right now, I wish that I wasn't going to Cowtown because even though I know I'll enjoy myself this weekend, right now I feel like dog shit that was eaten by a different dog and then vomited up on the sidewalk and then stepped in by some pedestrian.
So, like I said in the last sentence of yesterday's post, "Merry Fucking Christmas."
Leading up to Christmas, though, I'm sort of a Grinch or a Scrooge or some other grouchy character associated with Christmas.
When I was little, decorating the house was a family affair, sort of. It was my mom, my brothers, and me, my dad was usually off doing his own thing, on an afternoon, after school, after Thanksgiving. We'd bring the boxes of stuff up and staple or tape pictures of Santa and Frosty and snowflakes up on walls. (We had this great one of Santa's sleigh that had the reindeer connected to the sleigh and each other by yarn so you could decide how they were flying.) We'd clear a spot on a shelf to put up a great carved, but small, nativity scene. (I had no idea what the nativity scene was until I was in junior high. I only knew it was in the Christmas stuff.) We'd hang up an advent calendar that was made out of felt and had a tree on it and then twenty-five different things with a bit of velcro on them that could be removed from the day and then placed on the tree. The actual tree usually didn't come for another week or so and then all of us would decorate it together. I can only remember one year when we had lights on the outside. My mom put the up. I remember helping to take them down, though.
Sixth grade, I think, I started bringing the boxes of decorations up and harassing my brothers and mother into helping decorate the house. At this time, I also took some lights to string up around my window so something could be seen outside to show we were celebrating Christmas.
In high school, I stopped harassing people and started just hanging the stuff up myself, when other saw me doing it they'd pitch in. By then it was a week or two after Thanksgiving had passed. Some of the decorations that had once decorated the walls for everyone had found their way onto the walls in my room. One year, when no one else was home, I tried to hang lights and fell off the ladder. I decided, after that, not to bother.
My first year of college when I came back, just a few days before Christmas, the walls were bare and the tree was sitting in a bucket on the back deck. The next day I brought the boxes up and started decorating again. The tree was brought in and the whole family decorated it.
The next two years, I was living with my family, again and I fell back into the high school habits, except I didn't bring up the wall decorations and I didn't put lights up in my window. I didn't see any point. And this time I had to harass people to get them to help with the tree.
The next two years I was away at college again, when I got back, nothing was set up and there was no tree. (The first of these two Christmases I used MS Paint to draw a tree, which I printed and taped under the TV and then placed my gifts to the family under it. The next year, I didn't.) When the tree was finally bought, it sat for a few days. Eventually, I dragged up the tree decorations. Everything sat for a day. I put lights on the tree and asked people to help me. They said they'd help that night. I waited. No one wanted to help that night. The next afternoon, I just started decorating. I got most of the way done when one of my brothers noticed what I was doing and asked why I didn't ask him to help and then he grabbed everyone else and we all finished the tree.
Things went on like that and then I was living with my parents, again, I said fuck it. I didn't do anything and I wasn't going to do anything. I thought about it, a lot. I felt bad that nothing was happening, but I just let nothing happen. Three days before Christmas, the tree was finally brought in off the deck and set up by someone. Two days before Christmas, my mom brought up ornaments and lights. The night before Christmas, I was getting yams ready for us to take to Christmas at my aunt and uncle's, when finally a brother asked me about decorating the tree. I said go for it. He sort of stared at me and wandered away. A little while later the other brother asked me about decorating the tree and I told him to go for it. He gave me an odd look and then wandered away. After a while, my mom got my brothers and dad together and they started decorating and then came to ask me to join in. I told her no and explained why. She said she understood, but I've never been sure if she really did. When I was finished with the yams, I went to my bed and read until the others were done decorating the tree, which was like 10PM or something. It seemed awful late when it was done.
That's pretty much when I gave up on the idea decorating for Christmas. When I lived in Cowcity, I decided not to do anything to liven the place up. (My roommate probably saw plenty of Christmassy colors, though; he was so high that Christmas.) Last year I lived here and thought about getting something to decorate but decided that there was no point, I wasn't going to enjoy it, why bother? Same this year. Why bother?
Giving up on the decorating thing made it so it didn't affect me like it used to, the thing that really gets me is one of my brothers, and it's a constant thing, not just a Christmas thing. It's just that it has been going on for so long and this fucking Christmas time and my other brother is flying in from Maryland for Christmas that I'm just really being bothered. Anyway...
A few years ago, my brother and his girlfriend moved to SF. At Christmastime he's asked if the two of them will be coming to Cowtown to be with family. The answer was "I don't know" or "maybe" or "probably" or "We're going to try" or something like that. I can't remember if either one of them were up three years ago. I don't think they were. I know they weren't in Cowtown last year. They had to watch a bird or something that can't be left alone for one day, and their car didn't have a window, or it did and it just wouldn't start and they didn't do anything to fix it, I can't remember. They didn't get their Christmas gifts from us until Easter.
This year, there was a moment when my brother said he was going to be there because an uncle was laying on the guilt. Around the first of this month his story changed to they may be there. A week or so ago I e-mailed to find out if they were going to be there or if I should mail their gifts so they'll get them before April. He wrote back and wrote back, "I'm looking for 'Boxing Day' with the fam if I can rent a car..." I don't live in England or any other of the commonwealth nations. I don't get Boxing Day off. I'm supposed to be at work that day.
Monday, I e-mail my mom, my brother, and his girlfriend and asked them all if they knew, with 100% certainty if people were going to be up the day after Christmas.
That evening, my mom wrote back to say she had no idea, but that she'd call my brother and ask him on Tuesday.
According to a message left by my mother on my machine while I was in the shower this morning, she spoke with my brother and they'll probably be up the day after Christmas.
According to the girlfriend in an e-mail I got today, there's 87% certainty that they'll be up.
I have asked for the day off. I have received the day off.
If they don't show up for Christmas Day or Boxing Day, I'm through with them. I've rearranged my schedule and taken days off to spend time with them. I even fucked up my Easter weekend in April to get them to come to the Bash. I like them. They're fun and smart. But if, after using a vacation day, they don't show up this year, I'm never going to do it again. They can rearrange their schedule if they want to see me. They can take time off work.
If they don't show up this year, the only way I'll ever rearrange my life or use a day off to see them is if they get married and I'm invited to the ceremony. Other than that, there's no fucking way. I'm tired of being the one who's always accommodating. I'm not going to be anymore.
And now that that bit of bile is out there, I feel angrier than I did at the beginning of this post. Right now, I wish that I wasn't going to Cowtown because even though I know I'll enjoy myself this weekend, right now I feel like dog shit that was eaten by a different dog and then vomited up on the sidewalk and then stepped in by some pedestrian.
So, like I said in the last sentence of yesterday's post, "Merry Fucking Christmas."
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Lots of Cursing
I locked myself out of my apartment last night when I took the trash out. Had to call a locksmith. It cost $105 to get back in.
Merry Fucking Christmas.
Merry Fucking Christmas.
Sandman Mystery Theatre: Sleep of Reason #1
By John Ney Rieber and Eric Nguyen, according to the cover, for Vertigo Comics
The first thing I have to do is confess that I haven't read many issues of the original Sandman Mystery Theatre. I think that the number of issues I have read can be counted on two fingers. One of those two issues may have been a special. I'm not sure because I don't own any of them. (I'm not counting the brilliant "Sand and Stars" storyline from Starman.)
That out of the way, I'll start with what disappointed me about this first issue: no Sandy Hawkins. I don't remember any of the solicits saying anything about Sandy appearing in the mini-series (although I can't remember if I actually read all the solicits for the mini), but he's what I expected. He's going to be called Sandman in the new Justice Society book now, isn't he?
Still, that disappoint didn't affect me while I was reading the issue.
It starts in 1997 in Afghanistan with, what I assume will be, Wesley Dodds and Dian Belmont's last adventure together. Dian gets kidnapped and Wesley fights, as best a ninety year old man can, to get her back. It flashes to Afghanistan today where an embedded journalist, named Marshall, is trying to snap pictures during a fire fight. Later, Marshall gets a "meeting" with Masad, the leader, apparently, of the men the US troops are fighting. The "meeting" is cut short with Marshall being dragged to a balcony where he's going to be shot. Flash back to Wesley fighting after, literally, being stomped on to rescue Dian, and failing. Back in the present, Marshall gropes around in a box, where a gas mask can be seen, and grabs a gun. It looks like Wesley's sleep gas gun. Marshall fires saying "Sleep" in wavy letters surrounded by a wavy word balloon. He jumps out the balcony saying "Sleep" again and firing the gas gun.
The art in this book is wonderful. Nguyen's art is a bit scratchy. Almost all the lines waver a bit, which helps to heighten the confusion in the story. The color pallet in Wesley's story is muted yellows showing the heat and blinding sunlight in his time. During the fire fight when Marshall is introduced, the predominate color is red which changes to an orange as the fight moves away and then to the same yellow as in Wesley's story and then back to read when there's some violence don to Marshall. Color is hard to talk about without being able to show what I'm talking about, but trust me, the coloring is outstanding.
Next month, I'll be picking up the second issue. I want to see Wesley and Dian's last moments together and I'm curious about what Marshall's going to be doing.
The first thing I have to do is confess that I haven't read many issues of the original Sandman Mystery Theatre. I think that the number of issues I have read can be counted on two fingers. One of those two issues may have been a special. I'm not sure because I don't own any of them. (I'm not counting the brilliant "Sand and Stars" storyline from Starman.)
That out of the way, I'll start with what disappointed me about this first issue: no Sandy Hawkins. I don't remember any of the solicits saying anything about Sandy appearing in the mini-series (although I can't remember if I actually read all the solicits for the mini), but he's what I expected. He's going to be called Sandman in the new Justice Society book now, isn't he?
Still, that disappoint didn't affect me while I was reading the issue.
It starts in 1997 in Afghanistan with, what I assume will be, Wesley Dodds and Dian Belmont's last adventure together. Dian gets kidnapped and Wesley fights, as best a ninety year old man can, to get her back. It flashes to Afghanistan today where an embedded journalist, named Marshall, is trying to snap pictures during a fire fight. Later, Marshall gets a "meeting" with Masad, the leader, apparently, of the men the US troops are fighting. The "meeting" is cut short with Marshall being dragged to a balcony where he's going to be shot. Flash back to Wesley fighting after, literally, being stomped on to rescue Dian, and failing. Back in the present, Marshall gropes around in a box, where a gas mask can be seen, and grabs a gun. It looks like Wesley's sleep gas gun. Marshall fires saying "Sleep" in wavy letters surrounded by a wavy word balloon. He jumps out the balcony saying "Sleep" again and firing the gas gun.
The art in this book is wonderful. Nguyen's art is a bit scratchy. Almost all the lines waver a bit, which helps to heighten the confusion in the story. The color pallet in Wesley's story is muted yellows showing the heat and blinding sunlight in his time. During the fire fight when Marshall is introduced, the predominate color is red which changes to an orange as the fight moves away and then to the same yellow as in Wesley's story and then back to read when there's some violence don to Marshall. Color is hard to talk about without being able to show what I'm talking about, but trust me, the coloring is outstanding.
Next month, I'll be picking up the second issue. I want to see Wesley and Dian's last moments together and I'm curious about what Marshall's going to be doing.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Today's Obsessive Song
"Jane"
By The Barenaked Ladies
It was the third or fourth song on my walk to work this morning and, even on my walk at lunch, I still haven't moved on to the next song.
By The Barenaked Ladies
It was the third or fourth song on my walk to work this morning and, even on my walk at lunch, I still haven't moved on to the next song.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Time Waster, the series continues
I have two goals for this weekend:
The first is to see For Your Consideration. I think that any movie that has people celebrating (sort or) Purim in the deep south has to be worth watching.
The second is to eat at the barbecue place that's right by the theater. I think I've been to the theater at least once a month since I moved here, but I still haven't tried the Q. It sure smells good, though.
I've been trying to go to lunch, since I hate going out when actual people are out, at places I haven't tried yet. I did the sushi place last week. It was good, but expensive, very expensive. The biggest problem I have with sushi places is they keep wanting me to order things with shrimp or octopus or squid in it. I can't handle those foods. I don't like the way they taste. And they make me vomit (or maybe there's just something out there that's totally unrelated to ingesting those creatures that makes me vomit after I eat them, I just don't know). So far my favorite place is the Mexican food place my mom and brother and I went to when I we came here to look for an apartment.
For next weeks place, I need some help. I want to try the Indian food place, but I've never had Indian food before. The one time I asked my brother about it, he told me it was good, but I might want to eat it on a night when I don't have anything to do the next day because I wouldn't want to be too far from the toilet. I also know about the Gilmore Girls suggestion of, when you order Indian take-out, burning down the house is the only way to get out the smell. So, I want to know, what should I order? Please remember that creatures with shells, creatures with shells and tails that swim or scuttle, and creatures with tentacles make me vomit, and not in the figurative sense.
And, just for the hell of it, here's a comic about cereal characters.
The first is to see For Your Consideration. I think that any movie that has people celebrating (sort or) Purim in the deep south has to be worth watching.
The second is to eat at the barbecue place that's right by the theater. I think I've been to the theater at least once a month since I moved here, but I still haven't tried the Q. It sure smells good, though.
I've been trying to go to lunch, since I hate going out when actual people are out, at places I haven't tried yet. I did the sushi place last week. It was good, but expensive, very expensive. The biggest problem I have with sushi places is they keep wanting me to order things with shrimp or octopus or squid in it. I can't handle those foods. I don't like the way they taste. And they make me vomit (or maybe there's just something out there that's totally unrelated to ingesting those creatures that makes me vomit after I eat them, I just don't know). So far my favorite place is the Mexican food place my mom and brother and I went to when I we came here to look for an apartment.
For next weeks place, I need some help. I want to try the Indian food place, but I've never had Indian food before. The one time I asked my brother about it, he told me it was good, but I might want to eat it on a night when I don't have anything to do the next day because I wouldn't want to be too far from the toilet. I also know about the Gilmore Girls suggestion of, when you order Indian take-out, burning down the house is the only way to get out the smell. So, I want to know, what should I order? Please remember that creatures with shells, creatures with shells and tails that swim or scuttle, and creatures with tentacles make me vomit, and not in the figurative sense.
And, just for the hell of it, here's a comic about cereal characters.
Justice Society of America #1
by Geoff Johns, Dale Eaglesham, and Art Thibert, according to the cover, for DC Comics
Dear everyone who was involved in the first issue of the new Justice League of America,
This is how you do it.
This is how you create an exciting first issue and pull the entire team together in only one issue. Sure, the JSoA team had five more pages to do it in, but I'm sure you could have asked for them as well, but they wouldn't have helped with my problems with the book.
Good luck next time, fellas.
Anyway, as I declared in my opening statement, I'm a pretty big fan of the Justice Society. I even like the "old men in tights" era of the team. I was, to put it mildly, upset when I found out that JSA was being canceled. I didn't see any reason to do it because the book hadn't lost its way like JLA had. It could have, and I think should have, continued on with a name change. It could have, and should have, been able to hit 100. The only reason, that I can think of, that it was cancelled was because DC didn't want a Justice Society book to have a higher number than the Justice League.
But that's not really what I'm supposed to be talking about, is it?
What I really liked is how, even though the collecting teammates was, at times, kind of boring (albeit important characterization), it was surrounded by the new Mr. America's mystery. So there were the introductions and then there was this mystery that, literally, came crashing down on the Justice Society at the end of the book.
Maxine Hunkle seems to have been the one character that everyone was most surprised by in this book. I was surprised, too. I had no idea what to expect, but everything I expected led me to cringe. She was called the team’s cheerleader and that just took me to a bad place. Like just about everyone else out there, though, I was thrilled with her character. The moment she said it was time to defy gravity, I was sure that there's no way I can dislike her. (Unless a really unskilled writer comes along and turns her into an evil slut. But Geoff Johns has enough clout to keep that from happening for a long while, right?) Her babbling may fill up panels with lots of words, but it makes so much sense for who she is. I can't wait to see what she'll become.
It seems that the new Starman will be Thom Kallor from the Legion of Superheroes. But which one? Seeing Dawnstar's fringe suggests that he'll be from the Silver Age or Earth 2 or where ever, not the current Star Boy. (Oh, that was a spoiler, by the way.) And if he takes off his mask revealing a white guy, they we can all be sure which one he is. Will he go by the name Danny Blaine, though? That's what I want to know. I like how his mind is fractured, too. Time travel in comics always seems to be too easy and, I'm assuming here, I like the idea that traveling through time may have hurt his mental capabilities. Eventually, it'll be fixed, but for now I can enjoy it and I look forward to his first meeting with The Shade, unless they've already met and we all missed it.
The only thing about the issue that I have the slightest problem with is the art. Eaglesham is competent, but his characters don't have much weight to them. And I'm not talking about waist and hip size. (Although there is a picture of Power Girl where I thought it's lucky she has a super strong spine or else her breast would be down to her hips because her spine would compress until it practically doesn't exist any more.) What I'm talking about is a sense of gravity. Like the characters are standing solidly on something. In this book, gravity seems to have a low effect on all the characters and if the wind blows too strong even the ones who can't fly will be blown away.
Of course, part of my problem is comparing Eaglesham and Thibert's work with work of Stephen Sadowski and Michael Bair's first issue in the last book incarnation of the JSA. Sadowski and Bair are probably my favorite penciling/inking team to touch the JSA, ever.
One more art thing before I wrap all this up: To the colorist, whose name escapes me since I didn't bring the comic with me to work, your use of the big color dots in this book was far superior to their use in the first issue of Justice League of America, but I want to remind you for the next time you use it that from the dawn of comic book until the sometime in the '80s, the shading on characters was pretty much non-existent or done with lines from the penciler and inker. So, when you do the initial color pass be sure to block those panels in solid colors and leave the shading out of it. It just looks wrong.
Overall, this book was so spectacular that the grade shoots up the scale into letters that have yet to exist in those higher planes of existence magical character are always talking about. The next issue can not come out soon enough for me.
Dear everyone who was involved in the first issue of the new Justice League of America,
This is how you do it.
This is how you create an exciting first issue and pull the entire team together in only one issue. Sure, the JSoA team had five more pages to do it in, but I'm sure you could have asked for them as well, but they wouldn't have helped with my problems with the book.
Good luck next time, fellas.
Anyway, as I declared in my opening statement, I'm a pretty big fan of the Justice Society. I even like the "old men in tights" era of the team. I was, to put it mildly, upset when I found out that JSA was being canceled. I didn't see any reason to do it because the book hadn't lost its way like JLA had. It could have, and I think should have, continued on with a name change. It could have, and should have, been able to hit 100. The only reason, that I can think of, that it was cancelled was because DC didn't want a Justice Society book to have a higher number than the Justice League.
But that's not really what I'm supposed to be talking about, is it?
What I really liked is how, even though the collecting teammates was, at times, kind of boring (albeit important characterization), it was surrounded by the new Mr. America's mystery. So there were the introductions and then there was this mystery that, literally, came crashing down on the Justice Society at the end of the book.
Maxine Hunkle seems to have been the one character that everyone was most surprised by in this book. I was surprised, too. I had no idea what to expect, but everything I expected led me to cringe. She was called the team’s cheerleader and that just took me to a bad place. Like just about everyone else out there, though, I was thrilled with her character. The moment she said it was time to defy gravity, I was sure that there's no way I can dislike her. (Unless a really unskilled writer comes along and turns her into an evil slut. But Geoff Johns has enough clout to keep that from happening for a long while, right?) Her babbling may fill up panels with lots of words, but it makes so much sense for who she is. I can't wait to see what she'll become.
It seems that the new Starman will be Thom Kallor from the Legion of Superheroes. But which one? Seeing Dawnstar's fringe suggests that he'll be from the Silver Age or Earth 2 or where ever, not the current Star Boy. (Oh, that was a spoiler, by the way.) And if he takes off his mask revealing a white guy, they we can all be sure which one he is. Will he go by the name Danny Blaine, though? That's what I want to know. I like how his mind is fractured, too. Time travel in comics always seems to be too easy and, I'm assuming here, I like the idea that traveling through time may have hurt his mental capabilities. Eventually, it'll be fixed, but for now I can enjoy it and I look forward to his first meeting with The Shade, unless they've already met and we all missed it.
The only thing about the issue that I have the slightest problem with is the art. Eaglesham is competent, but his characters don't have much weight to them. And I'm not talking about waist and hip size. (Although there is a picture of Power Girl where I thought it's lucky she has a super strong spine or else her breast would be down to her hips because her spine would compress until it practically doesn't exist any more.) What I'm talking about is a sense of gravity. Like the characters are standing solidly on something. In this book, gravity seems to have a low effect on all the characters and if the wind blows too strong even the ones who can't fly will be blown away.
Of course, part of my problem is comparing Eaglesham and Thibert's work with work of Stephen Sadowski and Michael Bair's first issue in the last book incarnation of the JSA. Sadowski and Bair are probably my favorite penciling/inking team to touch the JSA, ever.
One more art thing before I wrap all this up: To the colorist, whose name escapes me since I didn't bring the comic with me to work, your use of the big color dots in this book was far superior to their use in the first issue of Justice League of America, but I want to remind you for the next time you use it that from the dawn of comic book until the sometime in the '80s, the shading on characters was pretty much non-existent or done with lines from the penciler and inker. So, when you do the initial color pass be sure to block those panels in solid colors and leave the shading out of it. It just looks wrong.
Overall, this book was so spectacular that the grade shoots up the scale into letters that have yet to exist in those higher planes of existence magical character are always talking about. The next issue can not come out soon enough for me.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
My Favorite Lines
From my favorite Monkees songs:
Oh, I could hide neath the wingsJust thought I'd share a little more of my Monkees infatuation.
Of the bluebird as she sings.
The six o'clock alarm would never ring.
Whoops its ringing and I rise,
Wipe the sleep out of my eyes.
My shavin' razors cold and it stings.
Up, up, come on get up off your street.
If you can only make it from your hands to your knees,
I know you can make it to your feet. wooah!
Floatin' down the river
With a saturated liver
And I wish I could forgive her
But I do believe she meant it
When she told me to forget it
And I bet she will regret it
When they find me in the morning wet and drowned
My pappy taught me how to float
But I cant swim a single note
He threw me in to teach me how
I stayed there floatin' like a mama cow
Creature comfort goals
They only numb my soul
and make it hard for me to see
My thoughts all seem to stray,
to places far away
I need a change of scenery
You cant begrudge her style, your Auntie Grizelda,
She couldn't budge a smile and do it for free.
So righteous making fudge, your Auntie Grizelda,
So proper judging others over her tea.
She used to bring me my newspaper
cause she knew where it was at.
She used to keep me so contented.
But I can teach a dog to do that.
Now they've darkened all the windows
And the seats are Naugahyde
I've been waiting for an hour
I can't find a place to hide
The being known as wondergirl
Is speaking, I believe
It's not easy trying to tell her
That I shortly have to leave
newuniversal #1
by Warren Ellis and Salvador Larroca, according to the cover, for Marvel Comics
My first thought, after I finished reading newuniversal, was, "So, that's where the idea for Rising Stars came from." I don't know much about the original New Universe stuff, but I do know that it came out in the mid 80s, long before Rising Stars and I'm assuming that the flash from space was part of the original story. (I remember reading somewhere someone comparing this book to the TV show Heroes. Well, I've never seen Heroes, so I can't make that comparison. How accurate is that comparison?)
when I pick up a first issue, I always hope for something to happen. newuniversal sort of had something happen with the flash of light, but like so many number ones out there today there wasn't much beyond setup. (The ultimate example, in recent memory is the first issue of Justice League of America. Not much has actually happened in the first three issues (I don't have the fourth, yet). Hell, the team hasn't even been brought together, yet. But that has nothing to do with this issue.) The people who I assume are going to be the main characters are introduced.
There's the goth girl (Woman? She looks like she's in her mid to late twenties in the artwork. And maybe she's not really a goth and the coloring was off in that first picture. I don't know.) who lives in San Francisco who talks to, what looks like, Brother-Eye in her dreams. There's the guy from Oklahoma who, probably, put the newuniversal symbol in a field, and burned his girlfriend up. There's the cop that comes back from almost dead with the power to pull his penis into his body so the audience can't see it and won't be offended by it. And there are the scientists digging around in Latvia and discover a skeleton with the newuniversal symbol in its skull (which immediately made me think of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials books with the people who chiseled holes in their heads to gather more pixie dust, or whatever it was).
Salvador Larroca's line work is wonderful. I've always like the way he draws and it's interesting seeing how he inks his own work. The line doesn't look as crisp as it did the Ultimate Daredevil & Elektra or X-Men, but it's still nice. The coloring, though, doesn't work for me. I like, and I'm sure I'm in the minority here, the way his art looked with the flatter color that was used in those other comics mentioned. The digital painting (I assume Corel Painter is what's been used) is nice, but I think it would better serve the story if it was used to separate the moments of the woman's dream from the real world. How great would it be if her dreams were hyper real compared the real world? I think it would be wonderful, but I'm not in charge here and I don't work in the comic industry, what do I know?
Some mystery is set up: What was the flash or white event, which is what it's being called in the comic? Does the symbol that appeared on the woman's face create scanty magic armor or at least that tight black number in the real world? Should "Dueling Banjos" start playing in the jail scenes? How long before these people get together? And is Brother-Eye trying to create a new version of OMACs in this book?
I'm not sure if I'll be picking up the second issue because I wasn't excited at the end of the first issue. I like the art, I like Warren Ellis, and I trust that the story will get interesting, eventually, but I'm not sure if I want to wait for three or four issues before it does. I guess we'll see when the next issue comes out.
My first thought, after I finished reading newuniversal, was, "So, that's where the idea for Rising Stars came from." I don't know much about the original New Universe stuff, but I do know that it came out in the mid 80s, long before Rising Stars and I'm assuming that the flash from space was part of the original story. (I remember reading somewhere someone comparing this book to the TV show Heroes. Well, I've never seen Heroes, so I can't make that comparison. How accurate is that comparison?)
when I pick up a first issue, I always hope for something to happen. newuniversal sort of had something happen with the flash of light, but like so many number ones out there today there wasn't much beyond setup. (The ultimate example, in recent memory is the first issue of Justice League of America. Not much has actually happened in the first three issues (I don't have the fourth, yet). Hell, the team hasn't even been brought together, yet. But that has nothing to do with this issue.) The people who I assume are going to be the main characters are introduced.
There's the goth girl (Woman? She looks like she's in her mid to late twenties in the artwork. And maybe she's not really a goth and the coloring was off in that first picture. I don't know.) who lives in San Francisco who talks to, what looks like, Brother-Eye in her dreams. There's the guy from Oklahoma who, probably, put the newuniversal symbol in a field, and burned his girlfriend up. There's the cop that comes back from almost dead with the power to pull his penis into his body so the audience can't see it and won't be offended by it. And there are the scientists digging around in Latvia and discover a skeleton with the newuniversal symbol in its skull (which immediately made me think of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials books with the people who chiseled holes in their heads to gather more pixie dust, or whatever it was).
Salvador Larroca's line work is wonderful. I've always like the way he draws and it's interesting seeing how he inks his own work. The line doesn't look as crisp as it did the Ultimate Daredevil & Elektra or X-Men, but it's still nice. The coloring, though, doesn't work for me. I like, and I'm sure I'm in the minority here, the way his art looked with the flatter color that was used in those other comics mentioned. The digital painting (I assume Corel Painter is what's been used) is nice, but I think it would better serve the story if it was used to separate the moments of the woman's dream from the real world. How great would it be if her dreams were hyper real compared the real world? I think it would be wonderful, but I'm not in charge here and I don't work in the comic industry, what do I know?
Some mystery is set up: What was the flash or white event, which is what it's being called in the comic? Does the symbol that appeared on the woman's face create scanty magic armor or at least that tight black number in the real world? Should "Dueling Banjos" start playing in the jail scenes? How long before these people get together? And is Brother-Eye trying to create a new version of OMACs in this book?
I'm not sure if I'll be picking up the second issue because I wasn't excited at the end of the first issue. I like the art, I like Warren Ellis, and I trust that the story will get interesting, eventually, but I'm not sure if I want to wait for three or four issues before it does. I guess we'll see when the next issue comes out.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
A Spattering of Thoughts
So, I passed the test and I can't really think of anything to say, but because I don't want to work and I want to look busy and I like practicing my touch typing (crazy, I know) I'm trying to write something any way.
Just read that Peter Boyle died this afternoon (evening in New York, I guess). He was the monster in Young Frankenstein. He was the only reason to watch Everybody Loves Raymond. He seemed like a funny man.
Is it odd that when people die (so far, even the people I know) I don't feel bad about it? I just sort of think, "Well, there it is, then." and move on. Maybe I'll react different when a grandparent dies, but I don't know. Last Thanksgiving, when my grandpa was sick and in the hospital, my parents and the one brother who came to Cowtown all sort of prepared for the possibility of him dying. I didn't feel bad about that. He's in his 80s. He's had a long life. I didn't see anything wrong with a man that age dying, even if he is my grandpa.
What else, what else?
I like listening to The Monkees. Have I ever written that here? I can't remember. I like their music and I like their logo.
Okay, it's nearly time to go and I'm ready.
Just read that Peter Boyle died this afternoon (evening in New York, I guess). He was the monster in Young Frankenstein. He was the only reason to watch Everybody Loves Raymond. He seemed like a funny man.
Is it odd that when people die (so far, even the people I know) I don't feel bad about it? I just sort of think, "Well, there it is, then." and move on. Maybe I'll react different when a grandparent dies, but I don't know. Last Thanksgiving, when my grandpa was sick and in the hospital, my parents and the one brother who came to Cowtown all sort of prepared for the possibility of him dying. I didn't feel bad about that. He's in his 80s. He's had a long life. I didn't see anything wrong with a man that age dying, even if he is my grandpa.
What else, what else?
I like listening to The Monkees. Have I ever written that here? I can't remember. I like their music and I like their logo.
Okay, it's nearly time to go and I'm ready.
Monday, December 11, 2006
The Next Day
On the next day (or this day, if you're reading this on the next day), I will be in Cowcity taking a test. I don't know how prepared I am for this test, but I'm not really worried, either. I just hope I pass it and can move away from where I'm at.
That is all.
That is all.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Fruity Oaty Bars Make a Man Out of a Mouse
Been pretty much ignoring this place this week, haven't I?
The week did start off with me having actual work to do since I had several hundred files at my desk that needed to be boxed and shipped to storage. I got them boxed, but the state's (or the department's) contract with UPS expired so I wasn't able to ship them. Now they just sit in the back in a pile waiting for the state (or the department) to get all up in DHL's face and get a new contract so we're not using a service that cost three times as much as we used to.
Been singing certain songs over and over again in my head. Beatles's "Girl" has been going through my head a lot lately. As has the Fruity Oaty Bars song from Serenity. There's no logic to any of it, they're just there on alternating cycles.
Been thinking a lot about what a waste going to college was. My job isn't dependent on having gone to college. I'm still more than ten thousand dollars in debt. I didn't make any lasting friendships. I was told by someone, who I had a huge crush on, that talking to me was just like talking to her sister, right after I asked her out. (Up until that point, I thought that line was just made up by John Hughes or some other teen angst writer.) The moments of academic enjoyment were few and far between. I think, if I had the chance to, I'd stop my high school self from going to college. I'd encourage the younger me to sign up for the test that I took 18 months ago and go work for the state. I'd tell me that I could go to a JC part time and eventually work my way to a university if I wanted to. I doubt I'd be any happier or healthier, but I wouldn't be so paranoid about money and maybe I'd have done some interesting things in these past nine years. Also, I can't see how me making a decision like that would negatively effect anyone around me.
That's one of the two points in my life that I can look back at and see that if I had just made one simple choice, things would be different. There's no way for me to know if they'd be way better, but I know that a couple of things would be better. Not going to college/university right out of high school would make money better. The other point would make a different thing better, but money would probably be pretty much the same.
Everyone can see moments like those, right?
We all think like this sometimes, right?
The weirdest thing is that I don't want to go peeking into those two worlds in the MWI because I'd hate to know if there's another me who's worse off and I'd hate to be the me that's worse off.
Does that make sense?
The week did start off with me having actual work to do since I had several hundred files at my desk that needed to be boxed and shipped to storage. I got them boxed, but the state's (or the department's) contract with UPS expired so I wasn't able to ship them. Now they just sit in the back in a pile waiting for the state (or the department) to get all up in DHL's face and get a new contract so we're not using a service that cost three times as much as we used to.
Been singing certain songs over and over again in my head. Beatles's "Girl" has been going through my head a lot lately. As has the Fruity Oaty Bars song from Serenity. There's no logic to any of it, they're just there on alternating cycles.
Been thinking a lot about what a waste going to college was. My job isn't dependent on having gone to college. I'm still more than ten thousand dollars in debt. I didn't make any lasting friendships. I was told by someone, who I had a huge crush on, that talking to me was just like talking to her sister, right after I asked her out. (Up until that point, I thought that line was just made up by John Hughes or some other teen angst writer.) The moments of academic enjoyment were few and far between. I think, if I had the chance to, I'd stop my high school self from going to college. I'd encourage the younger me to sign up for the test that I took 18 months ago and go work for the state. I'd tell me that I could go to a JC part time and eventually work my way to a university if I wanted to. I doubt I'd be any happier or healthier, but I wouldn't be so paranoid about money and maybe I'd have done some interesting things in these past nine years. Also, I can't see how me making a decision like that would negatively effect anyone around me.
That's one of the two points in my life that I can look back at and see that if I had just made one simple choice, things would be different. There's no way for me to know if they'd be way better, but I know that a couple of things would be better. Not going to college/university right out of high school would make money better. The other point would make a different thing better, but money would probably be pretty much the same.
Everyone can see moments like those, right?
We all think like this sometimes, right?
The weirdest thing is that I don't want to go peeking into those two worlds in the MWI because I'd hate to know if there's another me who's worse off and I'd hate to be the me that's worse off.
Does that make sense?
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Deliberate?
 | | Deliberate Gentle Love Dreamer (DGLDm) Your focus is love, not sex, and for your age, you have average experience. But you're a great, thoughtful guy, and your love life improves every year. There's also a powerful elimination process working in your favor: most Playboy types get stuck raising unwanted kids before you even begin settling down. The women left over will be hot and yours. Your ideal woman is someone intimate, intelligent, and very supportive.
 ALWAYS AVOID: The Battleaxe CONSIDER: The Maid of Honor or The Sonnet |
For the Love of Doug
As long as Doug isn't on the receiving end, that would just be inappropriate.
And now, the art's for sale.
And now, the art's for sale.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
AAAAAARRRRRRRRRRG!
I was just handed a card to sign for someone who is going to have a bunion taken out.
WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!?
WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!?
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Monday, December 04, 2006
Test!
Friday, December 01, 2006
Ends 'N Odds
I forgot to go on my break this morning. It's no big deal because I was sitting here reading Websnark's thing about Goats and playing Dice Wars.
Yesterday, after I wrote the post, I found it hard to concentrate on anything for a long time. I tried to read on my break, but couldn't focus. It was like I was excited because I had written something that seemed important and relevant and interesting, to me at least. I felt like I should have kept going. I just didn't have anything else to say, though.
Does anyone who's read Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon know why he uses the term "Nipponese"? To me, it makes sense to have the guys in WWII say it, but, honestly, how many people use it now? Don't most of the people in the US today say "Japanese"? Do the Japanese call themselves Nipponese? If I wanted to be correct, should I be calling Japan Nippon?
I don't know when it'll be on the air, but you can watch one of the songs over on YouTube right now. It's called Guy Love.
That's all I have today. Be well, peoples.
Yesterday, after I wrote the post, I found it hard to concentrate on anything for a long time. I tried to read on my break, but couldn't focus. It was like I was excited because I had written something that seemed important and relevant and interesting, to me at least. I felt like I should have kept going. I just didn't have anything else to say, though.
Does anyone who's read Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon know why he uses the term "Nipponese"? To me, it makes sense to have the guys in WWII say it, but, honestly, how many people use it now? Don't most of the people in the US today say "Japanese"? Do the Japanese call themselves Nipponese? If I wanted to be correct, should I be calling Japan Nippon?
I don't know when it'll be on the air, but you can watch one of the songs over on YouTube right now. It's called Guy Love.
That's all I have today. Be well, peoples.
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