Friday, April 21, 2006

SECRET WARS RE-ENACTMENT SOCIETY

Were you a Marvel Comics fan in the 80's? Sweet. So was I. Sadly I came in at the tail-end of the original Secret Wars limited series and/or sort of the beginning of Secret Wars II, which was equal parts stunning and goofy.

Mostly, I remember the awesome toys that spawned the whole series to begin with. I used to have a Secret Wars Wolverine, Captain America and Dr. Doom. I have no idea what happened to them.

Are you interested in CosPlay (if you have to ask, don't. You'll be happier)? You are? Well, The League is stunned to find an even greater dork than himself. Prepare for an atomic wedgie when next we meet.

Unless you're Lynda Carter and willing to try on the ol' Wonder Woman outfit again. Then you're my favorite person. But then I think we've crossed some line from CosPlay into some sort of territory that means I have to start shopping at Planet K.

At any rate, Leaguers, I've revealed too much already.

The point of this was:

Secret Wars Re-Enactment Society

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Can these two people find wedded bliss?
I'm asking, because I often question Richard's ability to find his car in a parking lot




This is Richard and Laura. They've been dating since like 1984 or something. Richard apparently realized he wasn't getting out of this one, and now they are getting married just before Halloween.

For those of you going, I am here to mislead you into believing that costumes are required. So, Shannon, we expect you to dust off the Princess Leia costume. I guarantee, if you wear it, you will be the hit of the wedding.

I'm excited about Dick finally tying the knot. Sure, he's found the love of his life and whatnot, but he's also sure to spring for a decent bar.

Honestly, I don't know Laura very well. I think I met her once and she saw me eat a squash and then get drunk. I've left better first-impressions. We don't know why Laura decided Richard was a great catch, nor why she's stuck it out all this time. Maybe she really likes Dick's lengthy explanations of economics (maybe Dick was the right man for TST all along), or she can't get enough of his crazy mad dancing skills. We may never know.

Honestly, I'm hoping Dick breaks down and cries like a baby while giving his vows.

The one thing I know, if this wedding hopes to be anywhere as good as Shannon's, we're going to have to release a dog into the middle of the ceremony. Josh, it's your responsibility to find the dog.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Nanostalgia.com update

Hey, all. If you want to see some seriously geekish behavior, check out my commentary on DC Comics' July solicitations.

Go to Nanostalgia.com now.

Or, for my quick reviews of a few DC Comics from the week of 4-12-06, go here.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

It's X-Men week at Dave's Longbox!

If you never heard of the X-Men until the movies came out, this won't be for you. Or, if you think Gambit is the coolest part of X-Men (a) you suck, and (b) this might not be for you, fake X-Fan.

Few items will make me geek out like 80's era X-Men. Uncanny X-Men was THE comic which made me a comic geek (thanks Uncanny X-Men #210), taught me about hunting for back issues, gave me some colorful ideas about race, class and gender in my formative years and taught me Steanso would probably make a better member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants than the X-Men.

Dizzam. Those were comics. Shaped for, what, more than a decade? by a single writer... Chris Claremont. Damn, now that's how you do a run on a comic, Brian Michael Bendis. You make up new phrases, you give people ridiculous nicknames and you turn the ultimate villain into a good guy.

The best part of X-Men was always the completely bizarre dialogue which Claremont made his trademark. In fact, I had no idea as a kid that most of the cliches of Uncanny X-Men were coined by Claremont himself, exclusive to Claremont, and appeared nowehre else in the entire world in either conversational english or the written word. It took me years to realize I should quit trying to use them in term papers and whatnot as it always ended with me having to explain my sentence structure to my teachers.

Anyway, if you were around for the Chris Claremont run (I'm talking to you now, Reed-o), you have to jump from the hyperlink. Then make sure you review the comments section. It's pure X-Men gold.

Oh, and making Psylocke a Japanese Assassin was, possibly, the most nonsensical moment in comics history. I don't care what Jim Lee felt like drawing.
Coke Blak Taste Test Update!

Yes, Nathan, we DID try adding ice cream to Coke Blak at the League HQ Kitchen Laboratory. We bought a pint of vanilla, put on our goggles and safety equipment and went to work.

At first I thought this was going to be a roaring success, but the taste of the Coke Blak largely overwhelmed the ice cream addition. That said, you can never really go wrong with a scoop of vanilla. Like most floats, the ice cream melted rapidly and the concotion became a sort of frothy, extremely sweet mess. But I do think Coke Blak has found a home as a dessert as I think I'd be more likely to have Coke Blak again as a float than just popping open a bottle and pouring it over ice.

That said, the 4th bottle of Coke Blak remains untouched atop the fridge.

I guess this means The League has opened itself up to possible suggestions for Taste Tests. Please bear in mind, The League is not the weird kid on the playground who will eat pill-bugs for a nickel. If you have a new product you're curious about, consider The League to be a bit like Consumer Reports, but for questionable foods.
Babies, Ahoy!

Hey, ya'll. If you hadn't noticed, if you send me a picture of your kid, I will probably post it.

I guess Cousin Jim and his wife Michelle had thier kid yesterday! Everyone welcome little Walker Bridenstine to the world.


The guy on the right is Jim. Right now he is hoping the baby is less accident prone than he was between the ages of 1 and 15.


Hey, it's Arden Hermann-Wilmarth!

Arden considers the years of therapy it will take to recover from this hair-style

Monday, April 17, 2006

CrackBass gets a blog.

hey, ya'll go check out CrackBass's blog over at Blogo de Wilson. It's sure to be a good read.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Melbotis Mailbag!

Jim D. writes:
Dear Ryan, why don't you write a book? Not a novel, but a collection of personal essays and/or observations, not unlike Chuck Klosterman? Or even something like Sedaris or Eggers? Why not?

Jim,

Writing is very hard and time consuming, and unless I had a really good idea and a six-figure advance, I find it unlikely I would or could devote the necessary time. I am not sure who this Chuck Klosterman fellow is, but from his name it sounds like he might be an elder in a Lutheran church. Sedaris and Eggers I HAVE read. Unlike Sedaris or Eggers I have not really lived a life full of anecdotes that are print-worthy and/or are in any way relevant to the general public. I think if you reflect upon it, there's no justification for the sort of supply chain needed to get my bright ideas from a helpless tree to people's airport travel bags.

I will say this: if I am ever published, I hope I can hire Samuel L. Jackson to do the book on tape.

For those of you who really think I'm awesome and want to give me money, I can set up a PayPal system for you to start sending me dough.

Okay. Dipping back into the Mellie Noms:

Peabo writes

a) Why does the League obsess about NBA basketball? College B-ball is where it’s at.

Good question, Peabo. I think this is easier to couch in terms of why I don't watch college ball. The quick and dirty answer is that aside from our stint of catching UT games in the late 80's, I never paid much attention to college basketball. Then I ceased paying attention to sports from about 1991-1996. Then I started watching UT Football, some pro-football, the Spurs and a handful of other teams. To me, that was always a lot.

College ball is fun. But as occasionally as I've been able to see teams of any note in college ball (bear in mind, I get a lot of exciting ASU basketball here), versus several nights a week of Suns basketball, plus TNT's coverage... Well, it's a matter of odds who is going to keep my interest.

That, and in the late 80's when we were going to UT Basketball Camp I paid like $25 to have my picture taken with Tom Penders and he was a jerk.

b) The League needs to cover: The madcap hijinks of his suburban neighbors

I don't really know my neighbors. The guy who lives next door is okay. He's like 7 feet tall, but his wife decided we weren't worth talking to when we didn't accept their invitation to go to church. It felt like Texas all over again.

I've never seen one of the families across the street. We DO have flag-guy across the street who looks exactly like Squidward from SpongeBob. He's been dubbed "Flag-Guy" as each holiday he places literally dozens of flags in his yard. I lost count at 75 two 4th of July's ago.

Aside from that, I have no idea who the people are who live around me. Nobody goes outside in AZ.
HAPPY EASTER, LEAGUERS!!!!

Hope everyone is having a festive Easter Sunday. I'll be back to post more this evening.

Jamie and I went to the Diamondbacks/ Astros game last night, and it was quite a game if you were an Astros fan. We're impartial, and thus decided to root for our hometown team so as not to draw the ire of our fellow ticket holders.

Baseball is a great spectator sport, and not just because nobody cares if you throw peanut shells all over the place. We had fairly good $10 seats and spent most of the game reclined and taking in the open-air stadium.

It was also Jackie Robinson Night, which was pretty cool. As a kid I had a book on Jackie Robinson that I read over and over (where IS that book?). MLB or the D-Backs had put together a nice video package for the Jumbotron and the D-Bakcs trotted out a former owner of the Kansas City Monarchs (which meant that guy knew Jackie in the Negro Leagues prior to moving to Brooklyn) and a couple of local dignitaries.

And here's a cool thing about an open-air stadium (but has little to do with Jackie Robinson): four F-16's tore over in formation at the end of The Star Spangled Banner. Unfortunately, they flew over at an angle that must have been amazing from the other side of the stadium, but I couldn't see anything but one wing.

C'est la vie.

We left during the seventh inning stretch when we were down 9-0 and had earned 2 hits all game. I know baseball can turn on a dime, but neither our batting nor our pitching staff looked remotely awake last night (as evidenced by the 10-0 final score). And I think we had two or three errors as well. Blech.

I did get a nice D-Backs cap.

The next game we'll go to will be the March 4 game vs. the Chicago Cubs, so I am torn about who to cheer for. Cubs, I guess. Just know this: I've never been to a baseball game where the team I've cheered for has won.

This morning Jamie woke me up and we had our big Easter breakfast of bacon and sweet rolls. This was preceeded, however, by an exchanging of Easter baskets. Mine is pretty fly, emblazoned with the Superman logo.


The Easter Bunny's lesser-known cousin, The Terror Bunny

At some point last night I was visited by the Easter Bunny (who is apparently pals with Jamie). Before I'd even had a cup of coffee I was on an egg-hunt, lurching around the house trying to find both plastic and real eggs. Apparently my egg-finding skills are a bit rusty as Jamie had to use the tried-and-true "Warmer/colder" method to help me find 90% of the little potential stink bombs.

Anyhoo, hope everyone is having a fantastic Easter.