Thursday, October 05, 2006

What it is

-If this were Steanso's blog, I'd talk about how last night I went to Mandy's house to watch Project Runway. How we ate dinner before we went over but other folks enjoyed some food from Central Market prior to the show, and then how we all ate a cake and watched the show. I'd mention that Elie, Donna Rene and Kellie were there, as well as Mandy and Steanso.

But I'm not Steanso, so I won't.

- I want to help out Team Bridenstine with their Amazing Rocket Racing Team. How? Leaguers, send in ideas.

- So I finally watched a pilot I DID like the other day, NBC's "Friday Night Lights". Sure, Peter Berg already worked through this material once from a well-received movie based on an extremely well-received book based on a successful real-life team, but... heck. And if you missed Mack Brown's 20 seconds of "acting" (Mack Brown played a local who looked and acted suspiciously like Mack Brown) you missed 20 seconds of the finest TV this season.

No idea how they will pull the show off for a whole 22 episodes when that's about 5+ more episodes than games played for even championship teams, but I'll watch for a while longer.

- I was cleaning today and left the TV on CNN while performing various tasks about the house. The Mark Foley scandal was taking up a pretty good amount of time, but even more so was Hastert's accusations that the Democrats and ABC News were somehow to blame for the flap. The logic is that ABC News has a liberal bias and the Dems (specifically Clinton somehow...) pulled the trigger on the story leading up to the November elections. Possibly. This may possibly be true (though I think the Clinton connection is dubious at best). But what Hastert isn't mentioning is that this doesn't really change the line of details coming out regarding the Foley scandal.

As much as I'm disgusted by Foley's behavior, it's not a national emergency. Properly arming and equipping US Troops and giving them the tools they need to successfully defend themselves in an increasingly volatile conflict (20 US troops dead in October) is important. North Korea supposedly about to test nukes is, to me (and this is just me) what Americans should be far, far more concerned about. American jobs, education...

I am not suggesting the Foley story be swept under the rug, but we have hundreds of thousands of cases like this in the US on a routine basis. We KNOW what the course of action should be, and we KNOW what should happen to those who covered it up (if that can be proven in the investigation we KNOW should occur). There isn't even a questionmark floating over this one.

I did find the comments of former US Rep JC Watts (R - Oklahoma) on CNN to be interesting. He was much more concerned (and maybe this is the unspoken story) about the culture of the Congress when a cover-up is what people can expect, not to mention a constant, ongoing line of scandal on both sides of the aisle.

And, honestly, I'm still not certain why this scandal should pertain to any voting (which is the big threat played up by the talking heads) for local reps. And I doubt Ma and Pa Kettle in Goober Springs, Alabama are going to see any connection between their local rep and Foley, or even Hastert. Nor is there a solid reason that they should.

Just my opinion. Take w/ 1 grain salt.


- This evening the in-laws arrived for a three day visit. I am quite pleased that (a) they are here, and (b) the house isn't a TOTAL wreck.

No idea what's on the agenda for the weekend, but we may be doing some painting. We'll see. It's all about a lot of blue when we paint my office. And maybe some red and gold stripes. We'll see how fancy we can get.


- No word from Harms. Donde esta?

-I still haven't seen Hollywoodland, Black Dhalia, Flyboys (not supposed to be too good, but when's the last time you saw tri-planes in a dogfight?), Idlewild, The Illusionist, The Science of Sleep... I probably never will. Odd. You'd think being unemployed that I'd have more freetime.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Infrequent Blogging

Howdy, Leaguers...

Yes, it's been a while once again since I've hunkered down and dreamed up a decent post. We've been enjoying our return to Austin and visiting with friends, etc... But also we are still unpacking.

Last week my new shelves from Neal's Unfinished Furniture arrived. We primed them Thursday, put on one coat Friday and a second coat on Sunday (which Steanso happily participated in). Lesson #1: I am a bad, bad painter. Lesson #2: Check your feet before walking across the carpet after painting.

I am now enjoying my shelving which has allowed me to unpack my comics and some of Super-collectibles. I'm not entirely done, but I feel like we're making progress. It's funny how things sort of have to happen in order so that we can fully unpack and finish moving in. Next we will paint my office, and possibly Jamie's office. When the paint is dry, then we can put that furniture away and I can move my comics and crates of other stuff from the dining room. And Jamie can square away her office.

Saturday night I grabbed dinner with irredeemable Matt Mangum, the irreplaceable Juan Diaz and the irrepressible Nicole. I honestly didn't recall caring too much for Castle Hill Cafe, but maybe my palate has changed in the desert heat. We came back to the Fortress and chatted for a few hours until Jamie was ready to be put back in her stasis chamber. Sunday we got up at the crack of 11:00 and drove to Central Market for a coffee and pastry. I ran into Chris and Kelly C., whom I had seen at the same Central Market just over a month ago when we'd come to look at houses. Long ago Chris was in my employ. He was a good worker, but perpetually tardy. Unwilling to fire Chris for his tardiness, I tried negative reinforcement. Push-ups for each minute late didn't work as Chris was in good shape, so I began to force Chris to eat circus peanuts, one for every minute he was late. Oddly, I have no recollection regarding whether or not this method was effective in increasing Chris' punctuality.

No sooner had we seen Chris and Kelly than John and Glen, some old pals from work/ outside of work made an appearance.

Today I was scheduled to have lunch with my former manager. Not two minutes on campus and I ran into our networking specialist, who immediately recognized me. I even stopped off to check my grafitti in the restroom, and, sure enough, parts of it are still legible 8 years later. I am glad to report, my grafitti is exactly as hilarious today as it was when I had not yet graduated.

It's good to be back, Leaguers.

Oh, by the by... Steven, how's Tuesday or Wednesday evening?

Sunday I went to the Alamo Drafthouse to see Mike Judge's latest, "Idiocracy". The movie is funny, I am happy to report. Unfortunately, some of the best gags in the movie fall in the first twenty or thirty minutes. A lot has been said about "Idiocracy" receiving no wide release (it's playing in 7 theaters nation-wide) and having received no studio build-up or marketing.

FOr those looking for goblins in the shadows, I don't see a studio conspiracy, but I also don't think the movie was going to play well in Goober Springs, Alabama. Some folks who eventually see the movie will get a little irritated with the basic premise, so I'll be curious as the movie reaches wider release to see if there's any negative backlash. My guess is that "Idiocracy" will wind up a cult movie with a smaller audience than "Office Space". Most likely, the studio just wants to see if Judge's cable and video-release success from "Office Space" can be duplicated once the DVD hits the market.

To the point, the movie satirizes the culture of instant/ mindless gratification, and everyone but subsistence farmers is going to, in some way, recognize themselves as willing participants in Judge's vision of the future. Some folks may take more umbrage than others at the steps that will lead us all there. But I think that's the nature of decent satire.


The Fall TV season is upon us.

I know that I, as a warm blooded mammal, am supposed to like "Studio 60". I have covered this with RHPT and Jim D.

I watched the second episode of "Heroes" (a first episode for me) and felt as if I had been dropped mid-way through the second season of "Lost". I didn't know who anybody was or what was going on. This is a very, very bad way to grow an audience. To comic-fans, all of the bigger and smaller story-arcs will have a certain ring of familiarity. A little from X-Men, a little from Rising Stars, a little from this comic or that comic... add in shadowy organization who knows absolutely EVERYTHING already... I dunno. I guess I was hoping for more of a Misfits of Science that would develop a mythology, not a show which is so locked down that the predestination feels like a heavy weight over the whole show. To my eyes, the show doesn't even qualify as episodic, it's chapters in a longer narrative that I'm being asked to buy lock, stock and barrel.

"Lost" has been a huge phenomena for ABC, despite it's required "pay attention to the details" mythology and narrative demands on viewers (thank God for DVRs, huh?). Unfortunately, for every "Lost" there are five "Invasion"s and other "mystery" shows which hope to hook the viewer and create a cult phenomenon.

Oh, and just from a narrative standpoint from a mystery show that asked viewers to be similarly engaged... remember in Twin Peaks how we found out Bob was living in Leland Palmer, so it was creeeeeeepy when we found out the dad was a bad guy? Remember how well that worked? Well... mayhaps the writers of "Heroes" could take a page from that kind of storytelling and less of the "Ha Ha, what a bastard am I!" sort of drawn out thing they've got going on with the cheerleader and her dad.

Also, lighten up a little, for God's sake. Your characters are super heroes and villains and they all look and behave like mopey models who couldn't land a "Gap" ad.

I'm not sure I buy all of the characters and all of the storylines. I just wanted to follow that Hiro guy around and see what he was up to. Somehow the guy who basically couldn't speak English was five times more believable than any other character/actor, which isn't a good sign for either the writers or the actors. I sort of liked the "mind reading Cop" guy, but you could see that coming from a mile away...

Honestly, it's going to take quite a bit to get me to watch "Heroes" again next week. But, heck... maybe... I've said it before and I'll say it again, I've never been a "weekly episode" show kind of guy, and I doubt that's likely to change in the future. But I'm also only batting about .500 on criticizing new shows before they prove me wrong. So I want to give it another chance, but I can't shake the feeling this is a hokey cable show (ie: The 4400 or any regular series on Sci-Fi) with better production effects.

So that's about it for tonight. Hope that helps you guys out.



In case it's a while before I blog again, here are a bunch of videos courtesy of YouTube...


Is it just me, or could Luthor's diabolical genius be better spent doing something other than trying to discover the source of peanut buttery goodness (especially at such a low, low price...)?



I don't want to hear anything else about the "Can You Read My Mind?" scene...



More Superfun from our friends overseas

I don't know what's going on in this scene, but with his mask off, Spidey's cuter than I remember him being...


How I should have abruptly ended my employment at my last job...



Weird Al is back... discuss.

Portions of this are all too accurate.


Better than Episode II!!!

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Random Comments: September

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

I believe I've made my new LCS manager a very happy man. He was all too excited to see me today when I came in the door.

It didn't hurt that this week was a big haul for DC. I walked out with a nice stack of books and a decent discount. All told, I'm fairly happy thus far. I admit that I find the lack of back-issues disheartening, but I'm getting used to the idea, and it should make my weekly Wednesday trip go a lot faster if I'm not digging into piles of old issues of The Atom.

I had two 2nd interviews today. Thusly, I never removed my tie from 9:00 until 3:00. I know the lawyer-Leaguers will tut-tut me for not tolerating the tie, but The League only likes to wear ties when presenting to a group of strangers or when he's trying to make everyone else uncomfortable at the dinner table at Christmas. "You didn't find Christmas Dinner to be an occasion worthy of looking nice? Well...." I've sort of quit doing that in recent years. At work I prefer a sort of casual-everyday style. but I am well enough aware that wardrobe will be dictated by the office. Both jobs are great opportunities, and both have something different but equally appealing to offer, so... anyway. We'll see what happens. Someone has to want to hire me first.

We also finally got our gas turned on, so that's a plus. We can now take a hot shower or bath. We can cook. It's no longer 1863 in our house. We also have cable, our own internet and will soon have a land-line phone. When they connected the phone, we dialed the number that came up on caller-ID and we got some couple elsewhere in Austin. It was awkward. Time Warner is trying to fix this.

For those of you who may not have dug around in the comments of late, Cousin Jim of the US Navy has recently joined up with the upstart organization: The Rocket Racing League.

Jim had this to say in my comments:

Hello Leaguers,

Thought you might be interested in my new venture into the Rocket Racing League. Here are a few news articles regarding the announcement of my team, the Bridenstine Rocket Racing Team:
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/a...09/18/ 4275.aspx
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/0609...m079.html? .v=67

Here is the Bridenstine Rocket Racing Team website:
http://bridenstinerocketracing.com/

Here is the Rocket Racing League website:
http://www.rocketracingleague.com

Of course, Jim being Jim, he offered me some vague opportunity to help out a while back and I couldn't take him up on it. It's too bad, because I've long dreamed of launching Jim into space, but most folks assure me he would find a way to come back. In addition to thinking working with/for Jim sounded good, I've always dreamed of somehow working with jets or rockets in some capacity. In my office I've always kept pictures of spacecraft and astronauts nearby to remind me I was working with engineers, and those guys might be helping to launch folks into the air.

Well, I don't know what Jim had in mind for me, but I had visions of The Right Stuff dancing in my head. I could foresee cold, crisp desert mornings on the flightline, the crew standing around the rocket while Jim jumped into the pilot's seat, said something hilariously dark to get us to laugh off the jitters. When the others dispersed, I'd give Jim a stick of Beemans and then signal the crew that he was ready (I might have to use my own wad of gum and some duct tape to lock the cockpit door down). Jim would go and break some speed records while I wore cool aviator sunglasses and listened to the flight radio out on the tarmac.

Needless to say, you may note that this imaginary sequence (that sounded so cool in my head) in no way includes Jamie. So. Anyhoo, Jamie wasn't too nuts about my dream of moving further out to the desert while I ran around all day smelling like rocket fuel and chewing on matches (cool guys chew on matches. and stylishly out-of-style gum. I promise you.). That and I have absolutely no practical skills of any sort which could assist Jim or his team. So, my dream of joining Jim's team evaporated like a vapor trail on a clear, blue afternoon.

Alas.

So, I'm pretty sure working at a computer all day managing eLearning projects is exactly as cool as shooting Jim into the stratosphere. Right?

Ah, well. Maybe some day Jim will give me the grand tour.

elearning is so not Alan Shepard.

Monday, September 25, 2006

What goes on

-Not a hoax! Not a dream! Maxwell and Motolove are going to bring life onto this fragile marble. I cannot wish them more luck. Maxwell is completely fit to be a mother. Especially when you get past her lengthy criminal record. I hope little Maxwell II is half the earthling as his/her mother.

-Sort of took today off and saw Jet Li's "Fearless". Supposedly based on a true story, but seemed oppressively formulaic. Also, this is the second Jet Li movie I've seen in recent years where it seemed the Party leaders wrote the dialogue toward the end of the movie. Still, a good afternoon martial arts film with a good narrative arc. But mostly eye-popping fights.

-Why are all horror-movie trailers the same, and why do they try to give me a headache? And why does none of the non-strobing effect look remotely frightening? Why did they make a second Grudge movie? Why a remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Why? Why? Why?

Why can't someone take the Creature from the Black Lagoon and update it? Oh, yes... because nobody fills out a swim suit like Julie Adams...

Wait, IMDB tells me there may be a new Creature movie... sweet! Still, no Julie Adams.

-We have an insane number of framed pictures. Big. Small. Medium. I am not sure I want to hang them all or find flat surfaces for them. The question becomes: What do you do with a nice framed picture of Theodore Roosevelt on the campaign trail when you can't find a good place for it in the house? Help me, Leaguers.

-I think I've found my local comic chop. It will be a nice, new shop named "South Side Comics", about two miles from the house. It's run by a chipper guy named Ty who seems to really have his act/ shop together. I'm excited. One oddity: no back issues. Apparently this is one of four shops and they've centralized all back-issues in North Austin at a shop called "Thor's Hammer". "Thor's Hammer" sounds less like a comic shop and more like a punchline to a joke I might have dreamed up in college. I am told the shop is huge, so i may beg Jamie to go with me this weekend and look for "New Gods" back issues.

-I need to test paint colors tomorrow, plus iron a shirt and bring Jamie's car in to the shop to get the alignment checked out.


That's it for me. I'm going to bed early. I went from AZ time to central and adjusted already to getting up early central time. C'est la vie.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

So it's been intermitten blogging, as promised. But I thought a lot of you might feel your Monday was not complete lest you get an update from The League.

As previously mentioned, as of Wednesday, we're in the house. Of course we welcome anyone interested to pop on by. Say hi to Mel. He'd love to meet you.

I have to take time out for a special thank you to the KareBear.

As many of you might not know, The KareBear heard we were planning to abandon our digs in Chandler and immediately volunteered to be a part of our madcap scheme. She offered to assist in packing and many of the other painful duties of moving, and, good to her word, wehn I was looking for someone to jump in the car and drive cross country with me with two smelly dogs, she didn't hesitate to sign up to be Chewbacca to my Han Solo. She flew herself into Phoenix the day before we left town, then jumped in the car the next day and chatted with me, keeping me frosty for the 16 hour trip (no, she did not drive. Nobody is allowed behind the wheel of the Krypton Kruiser but The League and Jamie. It is far too formidable of a vehicle for an amateur to handle with its four valves of earth-shattering power). The KareBear saw us to Austin safely. She was willing to spend a brief evening in a hotel room with two smelly dogs and her equally smelly son.

This weekend, a mere five days after leaving, she returned to assist in the unpacking, did some significant house-shopping with us (yes, we all agree... when it comes to a guest bath you cannot go wrong with monkeys...), and assisted us in our duties from morning until evening from Friday midday until late on Sunday. Thsi is not to mention the many small and not-so-small financial contributions the KarteBear helped with, picking up the tab for some meals and a very nice house-warming gift I hope to highlight in the near future.

KareBear, we salute you at the League of Melbotis, and we hope that you will accept your honorary membership as a reserve member of The League.

What else...

Oh, heck, Leaguers... it's mostly been all about the move. Poor Jeff the Cat didn't get to leave Matt the Human's apartment until Saturday night (and in the middle of the nasty storm which delayed the UT game). Matt the Human deserves mad props for hosting Jeff the Cat for such an unexepcted amount of time, but, Leaguers... that's how things fall out when you agree to pet sit for the League. We might say four or five days, but we really mean four or ten days. Besides, Matt the Human loves cats. Or at least he used to. Jeff has that effect on people.

Doug the McBride gets wild applause for his handling of Jamie during the car ride and subsequent hanging out with Jamie and The League as we went through the rigamarole of moving in. He was here right up until the last box was delivered, and then was whisked away to the far off land of Berkeley where we will now count the whiskers on his cats and plot his next move. Thank you, Doug, for your over-and-above-the-call-of-duty role in our little drama. Now get K out here for a visit. I think there's a house for sale on the next street over.

Speaking of McBride's... Thanks to Judy and Dick for their not-so-small role in all this.

Thanks to The Admiral, not just for double-checking my proposed solutions to the refrigerator, washer & dryer, and doorbell issues, but his implementation of said plans while I stood idly by. Also, for killing the very large spider.

To Steanso, who opened his house to me, my wife and our two smelly dogs. And who didn't mind that I made coffee in his house, drank his bottled water, tried on some of his clothes and put them back on the hangar, and didn't mind that I used his toothbrush for four days. On Mel. Thanks, Steanso.

I knew when we started this madcap plan that the League reserves would come out of the woodwork. That's what superheroes do during a huge summer-time crossover event. There are a lot of people who aren't listed here. Folks who offered moral support (which, believe me, we needed), folks who offered to help us move, folks who scrambled to get their contacts contacted and handed them my resume when they heard I was coming, folks who told me it was time to get out of Dodge...
And, of course, to Jim D., who managed to pull off his own miraculous escape.

I hope all of you know who you are, and know that I thank you.

And special thanks to Jamie. For keeping us on track and keeping those detailed notes on each and every thing that needed to happen, from bank transfers to calling moving companies... Jamie worked more than 40 hours per week on the move. Now that we're here, I expect her to turn that energy to making sure all three pets can read and write by the end of '07.



Today we stepped out the front door to go grab some breakfast items at HEB and the temperature had dropped abruptly (just another Central Texas weather change), and we could stand in the cool wind, smiling at each other, knowing we had made the right decision.


It was all worth it. Every bit.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

We are in our new house. Surrounded by boxes.

Actually, we're currently at Steanso's house surrounded by dogs. It turns out we can not get gas (and thus heat, hot water or be able to cook), nor any Time/Warner services until next Wednesday (internet, cable, phone). So it's all a bit odd. We are camping in our own home.

My biggest dilemma is unpacking versus seeing people. I want to see all of you. I want to not live out of a box.

I want a job.

Hope everyone is well.

I slept in my own bed in my own house in Austin last night, and that's got to count for something. Unfortunately we couldn't find the comforter, so it's kind of like that right now...

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Today we met with the title company and our realtor, Kerry. We are now proud owners of a lovely two-story abode. It is teal. Not green. Teal.

When I was at my former employers' offices, co-worker Juli would pop into my office as my time grew increasingly short and ask, "Does it even feel real?"

"Yeah," I'd answer, rolling my eyes a bit inwardly. After all, we spent most evenings packing or doing something moving related. All of that tape, cardboard and other accessories seemed pretty darned real. As well as the hassles of buying one house and selling another.

But she was right, of course. It was when I emerged from my office last Wednesday where I'd holed up with Jeff the Cat while the movers collected our goods, and walked out into the now-empty house that it suddenly shifted into the dream-like quality that in a year I will barely remember. The house was empty, and rather than the collection of colors and semi-organized chaos which had defined all of our recent homes, the place was a bare shell, ready to be filled by someone else.

Of course the days in a hotel in your own town are a little off, especially when your time is filled with a lot of sitting and planning your next meal. Add in a two day car-ride through the empty hills and praries of the Southwest, plus a stay in my brother's semi-occupied house...

It was in Southern New Mexico when I saw the endless line of billboards advertising a road-side attraction/shop where I had no intention to stop that it really hit me: The last time I saw these signs was when I drove into Phoenix. I may never pass this way again. How did this happen?

I wasn't entirely sleep deprived when we rolled into Oak Hill, but we were past Dripping Springs and safely within Austin, as most folks would define it. The mishmash of Oak Hill is both Austin of my childhood (we'd drive out to a shop called ZooKeeper where we'd buy rats for Jason's snakes) and much changed from the days when Oak Hill was almost its own sleepy little town. That, and they've plowed down the diner that stood on the corner.

I had to remind myself every hundred feet that, for good or ill, there is no house in Phoneix we will return to with all of our worldly possessions and our usual routine. Everything is a blank page. And every once in a while the idea hits me like a sledge hammer all over again, leaving me a bit stunned, like I'm looking back at the tank of water I've just managed to free myself from and I'm still dripping wet and I can't believe I'm alive.

This happens every few hours, and new things trigger it. I've been in our hosue three times since we've arrived. A total of four times. How is it that I will live here forever, maybe? How did this happen? When will I walk on the floor with bare feet and treat it like it's mine and not some stranger's house in which I feel obliged to tread lightly?

Though I have no intention of doing so, there's no turning back, and while I've always laughed about folks who fear change, when everything is new, the caveman part of your brain that worries about what might be creeping at the edge of the campfire starts to work overtime.

In a month the feeling will be gone. In the meantime we'll adjust.

But, yes, Juli... you were right. None of it seems real. But that's okay. This is one dream I can ride for quite a while.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Well, I am tired. And I don't feel particularly great. Sure, I partially blame that on eating curry when I haven't had curry in a few months, but my internal clock, digestive track and sense of time and space is all pretty out of whack.

At least the jabbing feeling behind my left eye went away with some Tylenol.

We moved our stuff out of the house in AZ on Wednesday. One of the movers broke the nozzle seal on the hot water for the clothes washer, so we ended up turning off all the water to the house and then cleaning. We finished with the plumber at 8:30 PM and left our house for the final time.

KareBear arrived Thursday. We ran a few errands and then spent a nice hour by the pool, ate dinner and then got some shut eye.

We left Friday around 1:30 after picking up Doug from the airport and the pets from PetsHotel. Before even leaving PetsHotel we got a phone call from our realtor telling us that when they moved our refrigerator, they didn't properly close off the water to the fridge. This meant that when we turned the water main back on, water slowly dripped out of the wall and seeped into the carpet in the next room rather than pool in the kitchen. This, Leaguers, is why you hire the companies listed as "bonded and insured".

We drove out of town, passing through Tucson and Tombstone, and wound up staying in El Paso for the night. By this point Lucy was going berserk in the back seat, and I didn't really blame her.

We got up at 7:00 and walked the dogs, trying to convince them to go patty. By 8:00 we were in the car. There's honestly not a lot between El Paso and Junction, Texas. So KareBear and I mostly chatted and drove, occasionally yelling at the dogs to lay down. We had to stop about every three hours for gas, to let the dogs out and stretch our legs.

Last night we rolled in around 6:30. Steanso is, of course, partaking in ACL Fest and is, thusly, not around. That hasn't stopped us from setting up The Hop-a-Long Lounge as a center of operations.

Jamie dropped off Jeff the Cat at Matt Mangum's apartment, grabbed Matt, brought him back down to H-a-L Lounge. Literally just off the plane from Paris and then immediately on the road, The Admiral arrived shortly after we did. Cousin Sue appeared and we all went for dinner.

After dinner Jason showed up at 10:30, played me his new Doctor Octagon record and we chatted until fairly late as he came down from his day at ACL Fest.

This morning I had breakfast with JAL and CBG. I don't think all three of us have sat down together since the late 90's. It was fun. I really missed those guys.

Jamie and Doug came from the hotel and we all jumped in the car to see the new house. We couldn't get in today, but we're scheduled for a walk-through tomorrow.

So we're back. It's a new chapter, I suppose.

Despite the curry-related upset stomach and the stabbing pain behind my eye, I'm feeling good. I did some driving today while Jamie and Doug went to a movie, and I still know this town. It's like what they say about not seeing a good friend for years and when you run into each other, no time has passed.

But time has passed. They've torn old houses to build new ones in the neighborhood I used to live in just north of Hyde Park. It's new architecture. Fun architecture. I'm glad to see the neighborhood is a living, breathing, thing.

This morning at The Omlettery our granola waitress butted into our conversation to let us know Backstreet Boys was one of her favorite bands (yes, Backstreet Boys had come up).

This is why I missed you, Austin. I missed your trees and your ridiculous signs up and down Burnet. I missed the Frisco. I missed your hills and your twin devotions to live music and football. I missed the weather changing five times in 7 hours. I missed kids in shorts and cowboy boots and hats walking with their moms up to Central Market. I missed knowing that my loan officer was secretly an aspiring film-maker with a deep knowledge of kung-fu films and what makes Bruce Campbell just work, dammit. I missed knowing Thursday night is (was and always shall be) Mariachi night. I missed people lining up in the rain to show tribute to a one-term fire brand governor as she lays in state. I missed bats under bridges and overgrown oak trees. I missed getting right on 35 to get onto the ramp and knowing that turning onto 290 from Loop 1 is a left exit. I missed picking up the phone and asking a friend to watch my cat for a week and him saying to come by whenever and paying him back with an enchilada and a margarita. I missed rickety metal stairwells and wall-units. I missed an orange tower on Saturday nights and the hope of hundreds of thousands embodied in that edifice of an arena just off the freeway. I missed couples standing in the ice-cream aisle at 10:30 at night looking like they just rolled out of bed and knowing that they've looked like this all day. I missed your gentle hills and your white limestone faces where they cut you to make way for the roads. I missed a million, tiny little details that whisper to me and say "that was where you learned to drive," "That was where you learned to love learning," "That was where you kissed her for the first time," "that was where on that one Tuesday afternoon you cut out early and you and Justin tied one on because it was sunny out, but it was too early in the year to be hot," "That was where you jumped in the water and you thought your eyes would pop out," "that was where you decided you were coming back here to go to school", "that was where you figured out this was forever, and over there by the peacocks is where you made it official."

I missed you, Austin.

You change but you never do. For the third time you welcome me, and for the second time you treat me like we can pick up where we left off. Just put down your bag and grab a drink. And how's all that been going...?

I am glad I am home.

No limits.

No limits.
We made it. We're here.

It's raining. We will move into our house later this week, so in the meantime I'm at Steanso's Hopalong Lounge.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Uhhhh...

I guess we know how Marvel's Civil War event ends now.

Do not... I repeat, DO NOT... go to this link if you don't want to know how it ends. This isn't a joke. I accidentally stumbled on this today, and, uh... yeah.

Official League warning: You cannot unsee something. This is an image which gives a lot away.

Also, if you want to comment on the image, fine, but...

THE COMMENTS SECTION IS OPEN FOR DISCUSSION ABOUT THIS IMAGE. DO NOT GO TO THE COMMENTS SECTION UNLESS YOU WANT TO READ ABOUT THIS IMAGE.

here. But don't blame me.

Marvel needs to learn to be a spot more careful in how they release images. Of course, you know, this is probably a red herring (so Marvel can drop a FOOLED YOU! later). But, uh... yeah.
Schedule

Hi all... here's our current schedule.

Tuesday: Go sign house papers. Finish packing. Clean some.

Wednesday: Movers arrive around 8:00. Move stuff out. Check in to hotel. I think we're taking the pets to Petshotel on Wednesday.

Thursday: Pick up Mom. Sit in Phoenix. Stay at hotel.

Friday: Dialysis for Jamie. Go pick up Doug and pets. Leave Phoenix. Drive to El Paso.

Saturday: Drive to Austin. Try to find Matt Mangum. Go to Jason's house.

Sunday: Jason at ACL Fest. So, I dunno.

Monday: I think we're doing something house related.

Tuesday: I think we close on the house.

Wednesday: Movers arrive. Move in.

Thursday: Curse the poor job I did of marking boxes. Give up. Go to Taco Cabana and gorge on tortillas and queso.

Friday: The world is our oyster.

I assume that as of Wednesday we'll be on hiatus, internet permitting. I'll do what I can.

If you want to get ahold of me, feel free to e-mail me. If you want my cell number for any reason, e-mail me ASAP.

Thanks, ya'll.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Comics Comics Comics

Okay: here's the tally

18 long boxes and 10 short boxes.

Plus around 15 boxes of collections/ trade paperbacks/ graphic novels.

It is my sincere hope that Austin based Leaguers will feel free to check out certain volumes from the library at the House of El. What good are all those comics if I can't share them with you good people?

Now, all of that is going to take some organization and time, so bear with me.

Last week's comics were okay.

Some comics I liked:

Mystery in Space #1: Nice art. I love detailed sci-fi space faring comic art. I need to learn more about this Shane Davis guy. The name Jim Starlin should ring some bells as the writer.

52 Week 18: Dr. Fate. Ralph Dibny. Black Adam. The Question. Renee Montoya. Dead Booster. Live Clark Kent, reporter.
This little experiment is rapidly becoming one interesting title. But give me Steel. I was sold on the comic thanks to the promise of a lot of John Henry Irons.

All New Atom #3: Bang! Zap! Comics are for kids! Or maybe not.
Anyhoo, I'm three issues in to The All-New Atom, and it's still a fun comic with an affable hero. I understand that John Byrne won't be offering pencils anymore after this issue, but I think that the book is not so defined that someone else can't come in and have fun with it.

It's an odd thing to see some of Grant Morrison's ideas realized by Gail Simone. At least I have to assume that a Cancer God sounds like something Grant would have dreamed up, but Gail has spun the idea in a way which is probably a little more accessible.

Detective Comics 823: Pini manages to flesh out Poison Ivy in a way I haven't really seen since the animated cartoon. I don't think enough writers ever get past the cheesecake factor with Ivy, but Dini gives us a true villain. Joe benitez's artwork is well matched for the story, even if Robin was drawn four years younger than most artists are portraying him.


Anyway, that's that. I'm off to go seal up my long boxes with packing tape in preparation for the long haul.

Up, up and away.
5 Years On

Check the date.

I've already told my "where was I?" story. I leave it to you to dig through the archives. It's not a great one.

I'm not sure what else to say, but to point to the date and remind you that we all said we'd remember.

There have been a lot of documentaries since then. Some of them better than others. Some of them biased. Some of them based on some odd theories.

Two big-budget narrative films have been released (United 93 and World Trade Center).

We've had a flood and more or less lost a city and seen a region devastated.

We've got a war going in two countries and seem to be on the verge of drawing in a few more, depending on the day and the week.

I don't mind the secruity measures at the airport. But I seem to be the only person who has to look for a chair in order to put on his shoes after passing through security. How can that be?

The first responders and the people who cleaned up Ground Zero are developing chronic health problems.

I don't know what the point was supposed to be of this post.

We lost a lot of people on that day. And we've lost a lot more since then. We're probably going to lose more.

Juan was right.

We're now 5 years into the 21st Century.
Football on Sunday

Despite Peabo's warnings, I went ahead and checked out a few NFL games this Sunday.

As mentioned, I did not have time to read up on the NFL standings this year going into the season. I was a little more aware of what was happening with the Cardinals than in prior seasons, mostly due to the local fervor regarding the new stadium plus the addition of Leinart to the Card's line-up. And this may sound odd, but it was also the first home game I'd seen on TV. All prior games would take place in the open-air Sun Devil Stadium, which meant that you were asking joes like The League to shell out a minimum of $60 to go sit in the nosebleed seats and bake in the sun.

I like football and all, but, you know... No. The Cardinals are also one of the clever teams that erroneously believes that blacking out the game is a good way to sell seats. What the organization failed to understand was that nobody was interested in paying $200 to see a mediocre/bad team lose a game in 100+ degree heat. But we might sit through commercials which would generate revenue.

Anyway, The Cards have a stadium with a roof and HVAC system. It is sold out for the entire 2006 season. And the games are on the air. Everybody wins.

Including the Cards, who looked like a great team for 30 minutes. Not so much the second half, but the first half was stellar.

Looking at some scores around the NFL:

Philadelphia bests Houston 24 -10, proving that the good people of Houston may have been on to something when every single person in town suggested that they should dump their current QB and try for a new recruit in the draft, VY or otherwise. Plus, McNabb is back.

Seattle squeaks past Detroit 9-6, both teams looking pretty bad. And, man, this was a boring game. Seattle apparently forgot that they were ten times better than this last year.

A lot of commentators are going to have to retract early predictions regarding the Panthers this season if the 20-6 loss to the Falcons is any indication.

Frikkin' Jets. I really was hoping for something more from the Titans. Ah, well.

Dallas lost. I didn't see the game, so I have no idea what happened.

And, yeah, Tampa Bay lost. The NFL is taking a while to learn the lessons that any UT fan could have told them: This is Chris Simms, not Phil. Go find Major Applewhite to get someone who can finish a game for Chris.

Sweet mother of murgatroid, how I despise that interception throwing, clutch-choking hoser.

and....

Dear Mr. Favre,

How can I miss you if you won't go away?

Love,

The League

The other oddity of the NFL season: Getting used to the network shake-ups and commentators.

Where the @#$% is James Brown? How am I supposed to understand what Terry Bradshaw is saying if JB isn't there to decipher his hillbilly nonsense? I like Joe Buck. He's a top notch commentator. But Where is JB?

Oh, wait... wikipedia says:

He left Fox at the end of the 2005 NFL season to rejoin CBS Sports, and also to call NCAA basketball.

The NBC Sunday Night team was okay. I like the idea of bringing in everybody's favorite veteran/wacky neighbor with Jerome Bettis. Costas and Sharpe are great, but Collinsworth? Eh.

I guess I'll be curious to see what the Monday Night Football line-up is on ESPN.

Oh, and I confess that I was happy to see Bonnie Bernstein on the sidelines the other day at the Oklahoma game. I think she'll be at the Monday Night football game as well. Bonnie has been haunting the peripheray of the sports casting world for a long time (and haunting my dreams... Say, this just turned into a mini "DITHMTLOD"...) , never really becoming a Michelle Tafoya, while showing ten times the chops of, say, Melissa Stark.

That lady really knows how to nod earnestly while simultaneously holding up a microphone to a sweaty football player.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

If you were around former League sister-site Nanostalgia.com a while back, you may have stumbled across a discussion about online comics that accidentally/ fortuitously drew in one of the foremost creatprs in the online comics, Lea Hernandez.

Well, a few days ago I read that Lea's house in the Central Texas area had been lost in a fire. In addition, she lost several pets. There is good news in that she, her two kids and her husband all made it out of the house (and I believe two cats survived as well). In addition to the loss of the pets, house and worldly possessions, Lea's artwork was also lost.

Anyway, as I've recently had luck with a house and relocating to Central Texas, I've been feeling lucky/ guilty about the story. I've been largely focused on League business (what with the move and all) and thusly I fell down on the job and didn't relate the story.

So, anyway, please read....

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=83100

From the Gail Simone penned article:

Read what Lea had to post on a neighbor’s computer while wearing her pajamas at: Livejournal.com/users/divalea

Donate (PLEASE) to her paypal account at: divalea@gmail.com

Finally, if I understand the story correctly (as told to me by Lea’s good friend and current Girl-a-matic editor), it was Lea’s daughter hearing the smoke alarm that allowed the family to get out in time, so for God’s sake, do everyone you love a favor and CHECK YOUR SMOKE ALARMS.

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Well, we lost our game to Ohio (by we, I mean the UT Football team). I am down about it, but not entirely surprised. I've been walking around for weeks saying "Yes, Limas Sweed is great, but why are we ranked number 2?" Well, today's game unfortunately may have people asking that same question.

Here's the good news: I think we can go otherwise undefeated.

And we're playing Rice next week. I don't think We've lost to Rice in forty years. In a way, I kind of feel sorry for Rice next Saturday. The Longhorns are going to be looking to rebuild their self-esteem, and they're going to be happy to use Rice's skulls for that self-affirmation.

Oklahoma woke up and looked like Oklahoma in the 2nd half. And, hey! A&M look like they're back to playing like A&M.

What else...?

Packing, packing, packing.

Silly dogs.

Sold sign in the front yard.

Do not (I repeat: do NOT) pick up the cat and swing him around and sing songs to him.

And I had a really, really nice send-off happy hour after work. Faculty, staff and all kinds of folks were there. Juli McG from my office put it together and we had a good turn out. You know, sometimes you think "I'm going to walk out of here after four years and that's going to be that." Well, sure a lot of people are always happy to show up just for the possibility that somebody is going to pay for a round, but, man, it was nice of so many people to come by and say a heart-felt adios.

So if any of you folks from my former-employing University are reading this: Thank you all. It's been great.

Take care of yourselves and stay out of the sun.

Friday, September 08, 2006

1 Hour Left

In an hour, I will be unemployed. I have nothing to do for the next hour. Perhaps I will go bother Eric.

Boy, I hope I get that job I interviewed for.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

24 Hours

So after work on Tuesday I had Octavio drop me at the airport.
"What did you pack?" he asked, eyeing my suitcase.
"My suit. Underwear. A t-shirt."
"A suit?"
"Yeah, I figure short of a tux, you can't be overdressed. Especially in Texas."
"You know," he said, being very Octavio, "This week in eWeek, they had interview tips, and one of them was that companies will now not hire you if you overdress for the interview."
"The heck you say."
"Apparently they think that if you overdress, you don't understand their corporate culture and won't fit in."
I thought long and hard about my suit and decided I was going with the suit, anyway. After all, it was wear a suit and hope that was okay or buy all new clothes when I hit Austin. And these people might not have read the article in eWeek, nor bought into that particular philosophy.

Nonetheless, it was not exactly what I wanted to hear.

The flight went well. I read my Superman/Doomsday collection which literally had the lady sitting next to me looking at the pages and then looking up at me repeatedly. She was, I assume, trying to guess how a 12 year-old got so large.

I arrived at Jason's around 11:30 CST, ate my Wendy's value meal, chatted some and hit the hay. I couldn't sleep so I stayed up reading "Wasted", a true crime book based on a case Jason worked on years ago. There's something odd about a book that portrays real people in what I assumed are imagined conversations. I know it's not exactly journalism when one writes a sensationalistic crime book, but... I dunno. I'm more of a "stick to the facts" sort of guy.

I panicked at 1:45 am when I realized Jason didn't have an alarm clock. Well, he DOES have an alarm clock, he tells me, but I didn't see it. Anyway, I lay in bed desperately trying to pre-program my brain to wake me up as soon as the sun came up. This didn't happen.

I did get up at 9:10 AM Central, which is a repectable 7:10 AM Arizona time. I realized I had nothing to eat, no coffee or hairspray, jumped in my sweet rental car and saw a warning in the LCD display.

"Oil 0%: Oil Change"

I sort of freaked out. I was not willing to pay for an oil change for a rental car, but I also didn't want the engine block freezing up on MoPac. Nor did I want to miss my interview.

I ran to Target, got my goods, ate some breakfast bars, made some coffee, reviewed the company's website (which had been completely redesigned since I'd looked at it the week before), drank the coffee, showered, put on my SUIT and headed off.

I think the interview went well. Anyway, I do like their approach, and the job is almost exactly what I was looking for coming back to Austin. It's project management for a computer based training company that has solid clients. Really, it's probably a little too good to be true, which means if I don't get the job, I'm going to feel pretty blue.

I then called Kerry (our long suffering realtor) and was told to cool my jets for a while until she finished some appointments. I drank some coffee, read three sections of the Statesman, then headed to CVS to get a disposabel camera to take some shots of the house. Instead of a still camera, I found a disposable video camera.

DISPOSABLE.
VIDEO.
CAMERA.

For $29.99.

Do you know how @#$%ing crazy that is? I love technology. I love that in two years a disposable video camera will be something you get in a box of cereal. I already saw a still digital camera for sale for $4 at Walgreens.

So the camera holds only 20 minutes of video, and the lens is a cheap, fixed lens. But you can review the last "scene" you shot and you delete it if you don't want it. At the end of the process you bring the camera to CVS where they "develop" the video to DVD. That sort of irked me because the cost was $12, but in a way I feel like the $42 I spent today means that I'm supporting an industry that I think is a good idea and will drive the price down in the future (for those of us who constantly forget our cameras and won't pay out the money for a video camera in our phone).

Smaller, faster, better.

And Jamie now has a narrated DVD of the house we're going to get.

So, anyhoo, Kerry picked me up and we went and saw the future House of El (my choice) or Hall of Justice (Jamie's choice). I'm pretty excited. It's a cool house. Lots of space for us to spread out and do our own thing. A usable front porch and a balcony porch upstairs where I shall be placing a rocking chair for Jason to sit upon and play me country tunes while we all drink lemonade and throw rocks at passing cars.

All in all, a decent place. Come on over. We'll leave the porch light on.

Wound up my appointment with Kerry, drove to Austin books, picked up a few items and headed back to Jason's. I abandoned my suitcase and suit, put on a t-shirt, jammed a few items into my travellin' Man-Purse and headed for the airport.

My car still hadn't seized up on me with the 0% oil efficiency notice, and when I pulled in to refill my tank: I could not. The gas kept "splashing back". Luckily the good folks at Enterprise completely understood I was verging on being an unhappy customer and gave me a pass on the cost of gas, etc...

I checked in, changed my seat to a window seat, had nobody between me and the guy on the aisle, and settled in with a comic and my iPod for the duration.

A succesful 24 hours, I like to think.

We're scheduled to drive out of here next Friday. Wish us luck!
Dave's Long Box presents us with his point of view when it comes to Fandumentalism.

Whether you're a genre-geek or you want to understand a little bit more about how insane the genre-geeks truly are, I highly recommend his essay.

Because, honestly, as a comic-geek, and particularly as a Superman Fan who has believed he was looking at the end times based on WB casting rumors, this essay speaks volumes to me.

Read here.

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Well, my three day weekend passed in a blur of packing, watching VH-1 Celebreality programming (which is awesome if you want the TV on, but do not care at all what is on), occasional bouts of napping, dog rangling, Animaniacs viewing and generally being anti-social.

Last night I started the portion of my comics packing that means I really am drawing to a close here in PHX. I only partially organized the remaining comics left out in my room. I did not bag nor board them, and did not place them exactly where they need to go in the correct long box. That sort of sorting will need to take place in Austin. I put the comics in the Comicspriceguide.com database, and breathed a sigh of relief.

One nice thing: I located my Justice League of America #0 special edition cover in the process. I had been looking for it for a week, as it cost me $6.00. I was half convinced some kid had grabbed it for the shiny superheroes on the cover while his parents were looking at our house. The other part of me knew it was in there somewhere. I was also convinced a week ago that ruffians at the Austin-Bergstrom airport had stolen my work Blackberry. They had not. It was in Jason's guest room. So I need to quit assuming people are trying to steal from me or else I'm going to turn into the weird old guy who won't answer his door anymore because he thinks those Girl Scouts are up to no good.

In watching Flavor of Love, Season 2, I've decided that Jason needs a show on VH-1 where ladies compete for his affections. I really want to see 20 fame-hungry LA-dwelling club rats talking about what a great guy Jason is and how he's their "man". Mostly I want to see Jason wearing a crown and floating in a pool while girls try to impress him.

Also, I have decided I want my own show on Home and Garden network called "Man, I Have No Idea". It would star me, Mel and Lucy, but I'd wear a tool belt and some flannel. People would bring Mel, Lucy and myself into their home and point out some repair they'd like done or some other home improvement project. I would then pause awkwardly as I looked at what they wanted done. They would say "Do you know how to do that?", to which I would respond, "Man, I have no idea."

That's pretty much it. That's my big concept. Oh, and then Mel, Lucy and I would play fetch for the last five minutes of the show while contractors completed the work. Occasionally I would bring in Jeff the Cat and play with him using a laser pointer.

I could also have a spin-off show called "How Hard Could it Be?" in which I would attempt the repair myself, and THEN bring in the general contractor to repair the damage.

Tuesday night I am off to Austin for a job interview. The total trip will be less than 24 hours. Wish me luck.

Monday, September 04, 2006

RIP Steve Irwin
The League will really, really miss you, Crocodile Hunter

Monday morning, Australia time and late Sunday evening AZ time, I started seeing reports that Steve Irwin, better known as The Crocodile Hunter, had died.

You can read more here.

I guess it should come as no huge surprise to anyone familiar with Irwin's television program that he died in the field while taping a new program.

I remember first hearing about Irwin from college-pal Manzo, who tried desperately (despite having indulged in one too many cans of "Sportz") to explain that there was this new guy on cable who tackled live reptiles. A few months later I remember spending hours and hours on Jan. 1, 2000 watching a Crocodile Hunter marathon as I tried to get over Dec. 31, 1999. I was already hooked on the how.

Early on I lost track of how many hours of television I watched of Steve leaping into the water after man-eating crocodiles, wrestling them and then moving them either to safer environs or to the Australia Zoo.

Irwin wasn't just a thrill-seeking adventurer. His program was educational, and he was always most interested in ensuring his audience understood the complexities of the animal kingdom and the wonders of nature. His boyish awe in the face of everything from a walking stick to a brown bear was contagious, and I found myself tuning in week after week for years.

As much as I'd been a "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" fan as a kid, Steve was the logical extension of the school-book lectures, explaining the wilds to his viewership as he handled animals himself.

If you watched long enough, you knew Steve was the enthusiasm, but long-suffering wife, Terri, was the patience that balanced out the act. Terri became more and more integral to the show, narrating and stepping in from time to time (usually to handle cuddlier animals or remind Steve NOT to handle the deadly cobra, etc...). And, just when I moved to AZ, Steve's tiny daughter began making appearances in episodes taped at the zoo. And, of course, Jamie and I went to see "Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course".

The world didn't just lose a great TV personality when it lost Steve Irwin on Monday. We lost a terrific conservationist and a spokesman for a greater balance of man and the rest of the beings with whom he shares his planet.

So long, Steve. I'm going to miss you. Hopefully you can work out a deal with The Man Upstairs to corral animals up there.


From CNN: He is survived by his American-born wife Terri and their two children, Bindi Sue, born 1998, and Robert (Bob), born December 2003.

Sunday, September 03, 2006

FOOTBALL IS UPON US

We've been busy enough around League HQ that I completely missed the entire WNBA season. I never paid attention to the WNBA before last year, so its not exactly killing me that I lost track of this season.

What IS bothering me is that I guess I didn't pay enough attention to the pre-season coverage of both NCAA football and the NFL pre-season hoo-hah. Why is it bothering me? Leaguers, that's a hell of a lot of reading and pre-season analysis that I will need to have at my fingertips should Reed and I sit down to watch a few games when I return to Austin.

I have no idea who the quarterback is at A&M or Oklahoma, let alone what the predictions are for the season. I even thought Snead was UT's starting quarterback. I feel so out of the loop.

I only watched half of the UT football game yesterday... the second half. And while I felt good about the dominating defeat of NTU, Game 2 of the season is the real test, isn't it? I mean, who didn't start seeing the possibility for greatness after UT's stunning victory at OSU last year? Well, maybe Randy, the Doubting Thomas of UT Football.

Sure, it helps that UT is playing OSU at home, but... Well, it's pretty much going to set the tone for the rest of the season. Here's to hoping The Horns do a little better than the Cotton Bowl this year. And then, after the usual stomping of Rice, UT faces Iowa State. My co-worker's nephew is their field goal kicker. I can't help but read something into that.

Turning to the NFL, I'm excited to see what TO brings to the Cowboys. I know, I know... but we're a Cowboys household.

I've actually been paying a little attention to the Cards this season. With Kurt looking healthy, Leinart already looking comfortable in pre-season play, Berry, Boldin and others looking sharp... dare I predict a winning season for the Cardinals?

So... how are your teams looking? How's Vince looking in Tennessee? What the #$%@ is going on in Minnesota? Is it worth tuning in to my once beloved Packers?

Anyone, football...? speak up...

Friday, September 01, 2006

Poll Position
Results: WWIII POLL


Howdy, Leaguers. It's the start of a new month. That means a few things around League HQ.
a) time to give the dogs their heartworm pills
b) time to post a new months worth of random comments
c) which means Jim or RHPT will post with a "first post!" post
d) time to put up a new poll
e) time to take down the old poll
f) time to review our results from last month's poll
g) time to call Steanso and remind him to take his monthly bath

Last month the poo was hitting the fan on the international scene. Well, not much has changed in that regard, but, hey... if we're about to turn the earth into a smoldering, lifeless sphere, we might as well do it with a giggle...

So what did Leaguers think? Only 15 of you voted...



2 of you will be happy to don your hockey mask, replace your shirt with bandoliers and don leather pants as you race your muscle car across the wastelands

2 of you plan to emerge from your subterranean layers to take advatange of the chaos and assert your rule over the lowlies, scrambling for the precious resources you may (or may not) distribute, based upon loyalty

Sadly, nobody seems to think that Kid Rock and Pam Anderson will find wedded bliss, tiptoeing through the fallout. Or that the Candaians stand a darn chance of finally letting the people decide the fate of their own nation.

Nor do any of you worry too much about the fate of your dear old grannies. You lousy jerks.

Rather, a surprising 1 in 3 of you crybabies were worried about finding drinking water after the initial atomic exchange.

1 in 5 of you have plainly had it with Lohan.

1 of you got my Star Trek reference. Thanks, Steanso. You may now hang your head in shame.

1 of you fears the mutants.

And only one of you is prepared for the coming age and to live under the banner of the Nefarious Perry. You shall all pay for your insolence.
TWO THINGS


One

Apparently some new BBC program is going to be a faux-documentay which takes place in the not-so-far future, detailing the (obviously) fictional 2007 assasination of President Bush and the aftermath.

Read here.

The CNN anchors put on their somber faces this morning when reporting about the program, reassuring the audience that it was a British film-maker and not an American who would dare have the audacity to even think of a world in which someone might touch a hair upon Fearless Leader's head.

Apparently, only a monster could imagine the president being assassinated. How many movies do we watch which use the assassination (or attempt at the assassination) of the president as the plot? Yes, yes... those presidents are fictional, but it IS still the President, is it not? One of the top rated shows on TV is 24 which regularly depicts conniving and murderous members of government and routine presidential assasination attempts. The BBC program happens to use Photoshopped images of Bush instead of Dennis Haysbert.

Never mind the other 10's of thousands of other murders depicted on television (not to mention movies) people are now supposed to see before they turn 18. Or the hundreds of thousands of acts of violence on television.

We don't really care about this.

I'm irritated that CNN (a Time/Warner subsidiary, and thus responsible for creating and broadcasting much of that programming) is playing this up as if the filmmaker has somehow performed a voodoo ritual which is dooming the President. The concerned, knitted eyebrows appeal to our dumbest jingoistic nature. Is the President no longer a mortal American citizen (of whom we don't think about twice as they're blown up nightly on television), but our own duly elected Sun God we can somehow murder with a TV show?

I don't want the President dead. Neither do you. Well, yes, you in the back in the army surplus coat with the scraggly beard and crazy eyes... but you also think your house cat is trying to take over your mind.

Of course it took a person in the UK to create the show. Since the 1960's it's been illegal to even think about killing the actual President in the US. A passing comment to a co-worker could be enough to have the Secret Service putting you in the cooler for a few weeks while they dug through all of your personal laundry. In a way, it's not worth the personal and financial risk.


Two

So apparently the MTV Video Music Awards sucked because they weren't "shocking enough" and the artists were boring.

Let's see if we can't run this down

1) MTV quit showing videos in 1993, choosing only five videos which it will show in repetition for months at a time between detailing teenager's cars and throwing them extravagant birthday parties
2) record sales are off by millions of copies not as much due to filesharing as because nobody seems to care enough about pop music to actually pay for it anymore
3) the FCC is suing CBS and its affiliates for millions after the Janet Jackson fiasco which was supposed to be "shocking". Really, CBS should have sued the pants off of Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson for actually executing that little stunt(not to mention MTV, who produced the infamous half-time show)
4) Your headliner was Justin Timberlake. I still have never met a human being who liked the guy's music
5) Basic cable and reality TV have so far blurred the lines about what's shocking and par for the course as to what appears on TV that you'd pretty much have to turn the show into a public execution in order to raise an eyebrow
6) Putting a microphone in front of most entertainers and asking them to speak in complete sentences is no longer possible
7) Xtina and a few other performers apparently had a moment of clarity and realized that being thought of us the town tramp for the entire country is no way to maintain a sustainable career
8) I'm only 31 and I have no idea who 80% of the people on the show were
9) And I'm going to get crucifed for saying this, but maybe Jack Black's rocker-schtick has run its course


The problem isn't the VMA's. The problem is the state of the assembly-line music industry and MTV's belief that the people they promote are actually interesting enough to warrant the reputations they foist upon their viewership.
random comments - August
Day Off:

In theory I took the day off to perform a task that I thought would be both monumental and expensive. It was neither.

When our house was inspected, the inspector wrote that the patch of burned out dirt on the west side of our house (between the house and the cinderblock wall) needed soil. Erosion had apparently taken its natural course and the inspector made a note that continued erosion could get water under the foundation, which, of course, would mean the house would float away. Or something.

We were to add soil, angled away from the house. Technically, a professional was to add the soil, but I figured I'm as professional as the next guy when it comes to moving dirt around with a shovel, so I dubbed myself a landscape architect for the day (and while I was at it, I was also a master geologist) and got to work.

So Wednesday night, after I sold my post-1998 Star Wars figure and vehicle collection to my LCS-owner, I headed to Lowe's where I bought 15 bags of "all-purpose top soil". At $2.43 a bag, I figured that if 15 bags wasn't enough, it wasn't a big deal to come back and purchse more soil, but I also had done no math before leaving the house, so I wasn't sure if the 15 cubic feet would be enough.

This morning I woke up at 6:00, ate a Power Bar, and, at the inspector's direction, laid soil at an angle in order to keep the water from flowing under the house. The entire job, plus time at Lowe's, took maybe an hour. So by 8:00, I was using the remaining five bags of dirt to add soil to my cactus garden, fill Mel's trench (Mel dug one hole in this yard. We do not know why it was a single hole, or why he dug it next to the porch. It's been there for three years. We filled it once and he dug it again), and generally put dirt in places that I thought maybe could use a little all-purpose top soil. Add water to settle the soil, and voila! I had the whole day ahead of me.

I spoke to my neighbor of six months for the first time. We're both moving out in mid-September. Go figure. Our new house has a front porch (two of them, but who's counting?), so I hope this means I might actually meet a neighbor or two if I go outside to read or whatever once we're settled in.

I also got to watch single-Mom across the street chase down her kid for day 2 (I had seen her do it on Wednesday, too) as he made a mad break for the park rather than get in the car for day-care. That is one kid who wants to go the jungle gym.

We did some packing and whatnot in the morning and, as we're a bit ahead of schedule (we have two more weeks and I think we'll be done packing by Monday night), we went to go see Little Miss Sunshine.

At the risk of being called Satan by all the folks who adored this movie, I thought it was okay, but it wasn't something I particularly want to own on DVD. It was funny. The actors were all very good (especially the titular star of the film, who I suspect was mostly playing herself). I more or less liked the flow of the script, but I thought the actors mostly overcame the directing more than they were guided by the directing.

I'd be curious to know what bits were cut from the movie. Toni Collette was good, but it seemed as if her storyline had mostly been excised from the film except as a few throw-away lines about a messy divorce (it's only insinuated but never stated that Kinnear's character is not Dwayne's father) and issues with personal finance.

MAJOR, MAJOR SPOILER

The story also makes an abrupt turn to the absurd in the Scottsdale/ Phoenix portion of the film that went from daffy family road trip into riffing on one of the "National Lampoon's Vacation" films. Not only did they lift the "let's drive with the dead relative" gimmick, but it happened in the same damn city as in "Vacation". The movie shows every weekend on some cable outlet, and its inevitable that the viewer would draw comparisons (or at least this viewer who has seen Vacation almost as many times as "Empire Strikes Back"). I'm not sure how that scene made it into the film, or why they felt it was necessary in an otherwise fairly grounded movie.

The family's inability to grieve what would be a considerable loss put the whole structure of the film in jeopardy, reminding this viewer that these are characters, and not people. Real (sane) people do not decide to continue on to a talent show when they're dealing with their dead father. Or at least they'd send part of the party along and leave one person behind to deal with the paperwork. It just felt unnecessary and inserted purely for the following scene with the police officer.

END MAJOR, MAJOR SPOILER

Is the movie worth seeing? Sure. Go nuts. Is it phenomenal..?
You know what? I liked Superman Returns a whole lot, so what the hell do I know?

I don't feel it's as fresh and new as everyone is claiming. For long stretches the movie felt like little bits lifted from other movies. But it also isn't bad. I don't want anybody to think that. I guess maybe I saw a lot of potential in the movie and it stopped frustratingly close to where I think it could have gone, and that's usually the kind of movie that elicits the longest posts from me. Again, I wonder how much of that wound up on the cutting room floor.


WWTBaS

We wrapped up the night by watching the conclusion of "Who Wants to be a Superhero?", and I mean conclusion and not climax. Anyone who didn't see that ending coming needs to take some remedial courses in "reality" television.

I more or less suspected Feedback or Major Victory had it in the bag from day one. If you pegged it from how these programs work and what they needed to be be able to do for the Sci-Fi original movie, I think everyone got what they needed out of the show. I will be picking up my Feedback comic as soon as it hits the shelf. I'm curious to see what they do with the character and if Matthew, the guy who dreamed up Feedback, will be involved in actually writing the comic in any way. After all, he dreamed up the character, but surely made the classic comic creator mistake of signing away the rights to a franchise when he signed the form to appear on the show at all.

Thursday, August 31, 2006

RIP Pa Kent

Actor Glenn Ford who portrayed Jonathan Kent in Superman: The Movie has passed away. The first Superman film was just one of dozens of movies the veteran actor had appeared in.

From the Superman Homepage.

From CNN.

Mr. Ford may only have been in a few scenes, but like Marlon Brando, Ford had a huge presence in the film, re-defining the portrayal of the Kents in the comics for the next thirty years as well as TV series Lois and Clark and Smallville.

Thank you, Mr. Ford. Godspeed.

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

BUFFET

So today was one of the most stressful days of my life. Steanso knows all about what's going on. The stress is (thankfully) not Jamie health related, but rather housing related. But we knew when we decided to split from AZ that moving would not be free of its obstacles and traps.

Mister Miracle, Leaguers.

So yesterday we realized that the folks we were two signatures away from buying a house from had decided they didn't want us in their house. The why's and what's will always remain a mystery, but as of 10:30 this morning, we had no place to live or drop our stuff at when we got to Austin.

We're now in a race against time trying to find a place to hang our hats when the truck arrives in Austin in mid-September. But we may have already found a place. Jamie is taking point and is heading to Austin this weekend, and with trusty realtor Kerry R. at her side, we may be doing better than ever when we put down our sorry-selves in A-Town once again.

So...

Last night I was exhausted when I got home, and Jamie declared she had a "mystery" destination in mind for dinner. I was very hungry and too tired to really care where we wound up. Jamie isn't usually so mysterious, but unfortunately for her, I was a bit too punchy to be intrigued so I just loaded myself in the car.

Even more unfortunately Jamie had remembered the wrong major street that our mystery destination was supposed to be, so as we wandered around the Gilbert/ 60 intersection, she revealed we were going to Golden Corral.

We all have our little dining quirks. Mine is that I love a good diner, hamburger stand, or anyplace where there's a lunch counter and hot coffee in clear view. Jason refers to this sort of place as being "Marge", a term coined in the 1990's defining tome "Generation X". I especially love independently owned and run diners, but that's a fast dying breed. So I usually settle for a Denny's when i'm out in the burbs.

Jamie has a secret love of the food-trough buffet. She probably won't even really cop to it, but she does enjoy the food-under-a-heat-lamp environs and the ability to be picky as she wants to be and just toss whatever food she selects but doesn't like. Or something. I also am partial to some buffets, mostly out of nostalgia for hanging in line with Grandma at The Bonanza on Sundays after church, and, of course, hitting the Luby's with the blue-hairs. But those places didn't really invite you back to the trough the way Golden Corral welcomes you, extending an open-armed invitation to gorge yourself until your eyes fall out of the sockets.

And so it was that we wound up at the Golden Corral last night after a twenty minute delay of circling the wrong intersection.

It was 7:40 by the time we parked the car and I saw a contingent of retirees hanging out by the front door.

"Oh, crap. The line is out the door!"
"No way."
"Yes!" I pointed. "The freakin' old people are swarming the Golden Corral!"
We got out of the car to check the situation. The old people were, in fact, swarming the front door, but they were fat and sated and just having some chit-chat before they went their separate ways for the evening... free to go home and watch Matlock or whatever.
But the line extended directly to the door, and it curved around a bit inside.
"The people are crazy for the Golden Corral!" Jamie excalimed. "It's 7:40. This isn't even the rush time."
Jamie knows my patience for waiting in lines is short, indeed. Especially for food. Her dream of a meal at the Golden Corral was over. No dessert bar for her, not when we had fifteen other resaurants to go to at the same intersection.
"Where do you want to go?" the dinner question which plagues any couple who has been together more than two weeks.
"I don't care," I sighed. I was really hungry. I'd had only a few minutes for lunch and had a pretty slim lunch between real estate issues and a meeting.
And then, like a beacon in the darkness, Jamie looked across the road and saw "The Old Country Buffet".

There is a law of nature that states that you can place two identical restaurants side-by-side and one will ahve a two-hour wait and one will have immediate seating and a bunch of staff hanging around looking bored. Locally, I often think of "The OG/ Pomodoro Paradox". In our neck of the woods, Olive Garden sits across the street from a fairly decent pasta place "Pasta Pomodoro". The food is similarly priced and probably a little better, and definitely better for you. Olive Garden seats probably four times as many people at once, and usually has an hour wait on weekends. Pasta Pomodoro usually has immediate seating.

Old Country Buffet was mostly empty. At the door I was greeted with multiple card board cut-outs of the not-quite-in-the-cultural-lexicon mascot of the Old Country Buffet, The Old Country Buffet Bee. I think it used to be the Hometown Buffet bee. I'm not sure why Hometown Buffet would change it's name and nothing else, but my mind whirled at the notion of the corporate shenanigans which no doubt took place to merge several similar family buffet-style resturants and keep the identity of the bee intact.

Go, bee.

There's not a lot of screwing around at The Old Country Buffet. There's no menu of specialty meat items for you to select from, or a Luby's-like line to pass through. You hand the dude at the door a surprising $11 a head, and after that: It's Thunderdome.

Oh, and they were playing "Do the Hustle" when we entered, so I started doing The Hustle, but Jamie asked me to stop. I love familiar dance tunes played completely out of context.

There was enough food to feed a battalion on the buffet, both healthy and deeply unhealthy choices. Rather thant describe what was available, I'll just state that it didn't seem like a good place to take a kid who'd recently been diagnosed as diabetic, so I hope nobody was there putting their little diabetic kid through torture.

But I guess the point is that, really, this was exactly the same place (more or less) as Golden Corral, located just across the street, and Old Country Buffet was clearly not going to make a profit this evening. Just in required staff alone to prepare the mountain of chow, I couldn't see how they were keeping the doors from being shuttered if this was their usual take on a weeknight. What is the allure of Golden Corral that Old Country Buffet was clearly lacking to the line of eager diners across the street?

Is the food actually better? Is the music selection more appropriate (this I doubt as my last voyage to Golden Corral in 2001 all the kids at the table behind us stopped mid-meal to listen to Celine Dion's "The Heart Will Go On" after a hushed exclamation of "Titanic!" "Titanic!" "Titanic!" rippled down the table)? Are the chairs more comfy? The lights appropriately dim?

I don't know. I may never know.

The folks at the OCB seemed happy enough, both staff and customer. A family was having a fairly anti-climatic birthday party for one of the women identified as "Mom", but I wasn't sure who she was. All in all, a fairly harmless place.

But God bless you, Old Country Buffet. I have never seen a finer array of fried and carb-heavy goods on display.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Warren Jeffs... BUSTED!

Not all supervillains wear a cape.

Those of you who do not live in Arizona probably saw a story on this a-hole on 48 Hours or 20/20, watched with some morbid fascination and then promptly forgot about it.

Warren Jeffs is leader of a cult in northern Arizona that makes the Branch Davidians look like a Sunday School picnic. The cult is an off-shoot of Mormonism and does not just fill a compound, but an entire town in the farthest reaches of the state. The town is mostly walled off and is a sort of black box as far as what's actually going on. The police, the school system, the city council and the whole operation are all part of the cult.

Warren Jeffs was finally picked up by the cops last night in Nevada.

What we know: The cult is centered around polygamy and, surprise, surprise... believes Jeffs to be some sort of messiah figure. The polygamy includes a lot of thirteen and fourteen year old girls who are barely literate being placed into marriage with guys in their 40's and 50's (as wife number five or so). Girls who were recently "rescued" from the town didn't know who the President was, where they were in the United States, or, in fact (if memory serves) that they were in the United States. To them, the world was Warren Jeffs and his teachings.


Cult Leading Jackhole

With just about as many boys as girls being born, in order to make the operation work the popular story is that the cult kicks a lot of boys out of town at a very young age.

In theory.

If I were the FBI I'd be looking for shallow graves around the town. I find it difficult to believe that dozens (or possibly hundreds) of boys could have been kicked out of town and only a handful would have gone public.

Traditionally, Arizona's culture has been to let people do as people do. It's a big state, and, culturally, it's had a very laid back atmosphere that boiled down to "if you don't bother me, you can do whatever you want on the other side of the hill." Resources have long been scarce, and nobody has had the political will to bother with things like kooky cults that don't effect the business of the two big cities which are both hours away. Add in one fiasco in Waco, mutiply that by a cult which dwarfs the Branch Davidians, and you've got a pretty handy stalemate.

Well, lately Jeffs has been on the run after being indicted for arranging a marriage between sixteen year old girl and married older man (one of many, many of these marriages). I heard that he'd bought some land near Alpine, TX and planned to move the whole shooting match to West Texas. Unfortunately for Jeffs, (and I heard this only fourth hand) the good folks of West Texas heard what these guys were up to and did their best to use that grand Texas gentle persuasion (ie: threatening to burn his compound down) to convince him that maybe he shouldn't think Texans were going to turn a blind eye to his activities. For once, I'm totally behind the pitchfork and torch wavers.

There are a lot of lessons to be learned from the stories you hear about the Jeffs cult. As citizens of a 1st World nation, we all like to think we're pretty clever and above falling for some line of malarkey. But, in a way, we're also in our own little fenced town where the cops are part of the operation. We hear what we hear growing up, and we assume that because we heard it growing up and we're comfortable with it, it must be The Truth. Anyway, it's always good to look at the folks trying to sell you The Truth with a healthy dose of skepticism. They could be your Governor or your Ultimate Frisbee captain, and they may even believe what they say, but that doesn't mean they don't want you sitting in your own little compund in the desert without the slightest notion there's a world outside.

Monday, August 28, 2006

Just Say No:

Leaguers, I admit I got a little squeamish this weekend when it came to another taste test and never pulled the product off the shelf.

Jamie and I went to get a sno-cone last night. I got a "Batman" flavored sno-cone. I queried why they had a Popeye and a Batman flavor, but no Superman or Wonder Woman flavor... the jughead teenager behind the counter responded with "Huh huh huh huh huh... I dunno."

How did Batman flavoring taste? I tell you Leaguers, it was the delicious taste of justice. And that is exactly what I told both Jamie and the kid behind the counter.

At the sno-cone shop they have candy, which is where last week's Mallow Dog was discovered. This week they also had Mallow Burgers and Mallow Fries. I was going to have another mallow meal, but I think I've already done my due diligence on mallow shaped into a form resembling foods which I enjoy in their natural state.


Move Update:

I think we're on a good pace for packing and being ready to go on the 14th. That's when the movers are showing up. We've now gotten to packing pots and pans and whatnot, so we can't easily cook anymore, so most of my meals will be sandwiches, cereal or out of the microwave.

I also think we've reached a point where we're just a day away from agreeing on our closing on a house in Austin.

Now... to find a job.


Animaniacs:

I've never made a secret of my love of the mid-90's cartoon Animaniacs. Most people remember Pinky and the Brain and the Warner Siblings, but the show was more or less a variety show with a rotating bunch of shorts. Rita and the Runt (a singing cat and a Rainman inspired dog), Mindy and Buttons (a play on the classic "baby in trouble" cartoons), Goodfeathers (a Goodfellas inspired pigeon cartoon), Slappy Squirrel (a retired cartoon star and her nephew), Mr. Skull Head, Katie Ka-Boom, the Hippos, Minerva Mink, Hello Nurse, Doctor Scratchnsniff, and, of course, Chicken Boo.

The show worked off the theory that if you tell a joke every ten seconds, it doesn't matter if 2/3rds of them are groaners or stinkers... it's all about keeping pace with the dialogue and visual gags.

Anyhoo, as Nathan pointed out in the post with video below, there's really nothing like it on TV today. Kids cartoons are mostly poorly animated, cheaply produced (and generally unfunny) stuff that relies on lots of screaming and gnashing of teeth in a diluted 3rd generation Ren & Stimpy fashion. Or, of course, the imported anime stuff. Some of which is okay. Other shows are inexplicably popular, like Yu-Gi-Oh, which is a cartoon about people playing a dungeons and dragons-like card game and doing a lot of smack talking.

Whatever the kids like, I guess.


Randy fails to step up

So, Randy had pitched the idea of a "Friends of The League" site. I asked last week what you guys might do with such a site as I wasn't clear on what Randy was getting at. I think the comments section pretty much covers the necessary territory. Also, honestly Leaguers... my life is not a TV show. I'd like to think I'm thick-skinned, but I'm also not sure I'm comfortable with the idea of a forum for people to critically analyze my life. That's creepy.

But, hey... what the heck... if it all went to heck I could tell you guys exactly where you could stick your @#$%ing website, right?

So, Friday night I went on to Blogger.com and spent the prerequisite ten minutes to establish a new blog, dubbed it "Hall of Melbotis", and invited a few Loyal Leaguers to join. I had no idea what would happen.

Well, nothing happened. Of the seven or so folks I asked to respond, only Steanso showed up, and that was more or less to insult me and then disappear. Which is sort of how he was involved in my life from 1991-1995. It was like old times.

Leaguers, thus ends the "We should set up a website for Friends of The League!" experiment. Randy, you really, really, really, really just disappointed all of us.


A Show for Peabo and JMD

There's a good documentary show that's been running on Sunday evenings on the History Channel. It's about the Revolutionary War, and is aptly titled "The Revolution."

You guys would dig it.

Here


Comics:

For the first time in weeks I actually got a chance to read all of the comics I picked up on Wednesday. Well, all of the new ones. It's been that kind of busy at League HQ.

I'm also busily putting comics in long boxes in the right place for the last time before I move. After the boxes get closed and taped up, that's it until we hit Austin and unpack fully. All new comics will go in a single longbox for a while until I can sort through them and re-organize.

I've come to the sorry realization that my genre/character/ publisher organization system is no longer realistic nor adequate. I may actually have to alphabetize. It doesn't probably seem like a big deal, but the genre/character/publisher system is how I've been sorting comics since I was 13 or 14 and got my first long box. (I still have that box. It says "Ryan's comics! Keep your mits off!" in fat black ink).

My weekend reading did give me a list of at least three titles I think I'm dumping:

Supergirl
Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes
Hawkgirl

It's too bad, because I was looking forward to those series in the OYL jump. But I'm basically not enjoying any of the three series. I have pedged to pick up the NEXT issue of Supergirl as they appear to finally be getting down to brass tacks and establishing some sort of environment for her to operate in. I really, really don't understand how they've gotten 10 issues in (and something like 3 years since her debut) and nobody has noticed that there's no character established yet.

I'm iffy on:

The Creeper
Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters
anything written by Steve Englehart
Robin
Firestorm
Blue Beetle
Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis

I'm a little peeved about the Steve Englehart thing as I appreciate that the guy was important to DC 25 years ago, but his Batman story last year was mediocre and his runs on JLA: Classified and JSA: Classified were pointless, dull, and reminded me of why I didn't read DC in the 80's. And if he keeps popping up in comics I collect on a subscription basis, then I have to think about things like breaking a run on a series and cancelling and restarting a subscription.

Blue Beetle was on the chopping block until issue #6 when someone finally DID something. This book needs to have a better editor or else someone needs to explain to Keith Giffen how to establish a story before you drop your reader into the middle of the action.

I'm not sure why, but the insistence to get to the action without establishing why we're there seems to be a pretty common flaw in a lot of comics, even by veterans like Giffen.

Which brings us to Meltzer's Justice League of America #1 which I said nice things about last week and I'll say nice things about this week. I read one review which stated that the comic was already detouring into a "soap opera" with the Red Tornado storyline. I'm not sure when fleshing out characterization and giving characters motivations became a "soap opera", but I thought that was a pretty poor reading of what was a pretty darn good comic. Of anything done since the end of Infinite Crisis, this series is impressing me the most, and we've only had two issues (there was an issue #0... it's sort of tough to explain). The point being is that there's a conflict being presented before we come to fisticuffs.
It's a great big universe...