Saturday, November 22, 2008

round-up for Saturday

Quantum of Solace

We met up with Jason, Andy, Rami, Mandy, Kelly and Ellie Gamble to see Bond this evening at the Alamo South. Jamie and I had stayed in last night to watch "Casino Royale" again on DVD, and I think the continuity really helped. The movies are so tightly wound together that it really helps to have seen both so close together.

We ran into old League pal Laura Ryan-Day, who is (oddly enough) now a very successful hypnotherapist. She married a great guy, Simon, who happens to not just be from the UK, but he's apparently a Meet-Up leader for Brit ex-pats living in Austin. They were gathering, of course, to see the greatest fictional government employee of them all. And, they had invited Jeff and Keora.

I actually really enjoyed Quantum of Solace. It wasn't as good as Casino Royale, and it could have used more of Carla Bruni (who, sadly, died in Casino Royale, but in real life went on to marry French President Sarkozy... so, you know, congrats Mr. Sarkozy!). However, the story was fairly tight, it expanded upon the story from the first film and opened things up a great deal for another sequel. Plus, Judi Dench is just perfect as M.

I feel like after decades of actors playing the roles in Bond movies with a wink and a nod, the movies feel populated with real characters. That may have been at the expense of devil-may-care fun that many associated with Bond movies, but the movies had become parodies of themselves to an extent.

Anyhoo, the movie has drawn inevitable comparisons to the Bourne movies, which I also enjoy. I feel the two franchises differ enough that it's not a distraction for me, plus the plots are divergent enough that I just don't get hung up on it. That said, its a certain genre told in a certain way, so I appreciate the comparisons. More good stuff for me, I say.

Christmas Photos

We headed down to San Marcos earlier today to go and meet up with Judy and Dick and get the family photo taken for Christmas. Luckily, it was a little chilly out this morning, so it was easy to get into the spirit of the thing. Plus, you know, Thursday being Thanksgiving, we're kind of moving into the Holiday Season, anyway.

When we get a copy of one of the digital pics, I shall post.

I also have to pen our Christmas letter this year. So if you want to get on the League Christmas Card mailing list, send me your street address or whatever. 'Tis always a treat.

Texas Tech vs. Oklahoma

In going to see Bond, we missed the first half of the OU/ Texas Tech game. We ran home with Jeff and Keora to watch the game at their place and saw the score at half-time.

Which... THAT is the Oklahoma UT fans fear and respect. And why we like to play the Sooners in a neutral location rather than in Norman, OK.

geez, man.

But now... how messed up will the BCS ratings be with this screwy set-up?

For those of you who don't follow Big 12 Football, UT, Texas Tech and OU all have one loss. OU lost to Texas. Texas lost to Tech. Tech lost to OU.

Wisely, OU ran up the score a bit to demonstrate to BCS voters how well their team is playing, so I expect OU to have a lock on the Big 12 South.

That said, I will be watching the OU/ Oklahoma State game with terrific interest next week.

My folks' new pad

Here's some pics of my parents' new place in N. Austin. Pretty nice, huh?

We look forward to sitting on their porch and drinking whiskey sours in the summer.

Owen Lowry has himself a blog

Josh and Shannon Lowry are old, old pals of all of us here at League HQ. We've been pals since back in The League's amazing days at Klein Oak High School where we did some plays with Shannon and had a writing class with Josh. And, in fact, Shannon is more or less how I met Jamie as she was Jamie's freshman year roommate (and junior and senior year), complete with Shannon taking Jamie to the hospital as needed.

Shannon and Josh partnered up in our college days, a few months before Jamie and I. And now they're parents to young Owen Lowry. Owen has had some health issues since joining us here on Planet Earth, and its been a tough time for him. He was born in Houston about a week before Hurricane Ike (and about a month before baby Ike), and he's had to already go through all sorts of procedures.

Anyhoo, we're proud of Owen, and we're proud of Josh and Shannon for their A #1 Parenting.

We encourage you to visit Owen's blog to see how he's doing.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Present Idea

I now totally know what I am getting Judy (the mother-in-law) for Christmas.

The Tomahawk Skull Gauntlet.



I can totally see Judy using these. It's good to get something that's both fun AND practical.

Which is totally awesome, because I know Dick (the father-in-law) is really going to enjoy his neoprene skull mask.



tip of the hat to Randy for the website. (How he finds these things, I don't know...)

Movie

You know what movie I am not embarassed to admit I want to see?

Bolt

That cartoon about the dog who THINKS he's a superdog. Yup. That one.



The animation looks very good, and the hamster and pigeons made me laugh during the trailer. It may not be Wall-E, but it looks like a good weekend movie for Jamie and me to take in and eat some popcorn.

I have to learn I can't pout about the fact that not every cartoon that comes out is by Brad Bird and/ or Pixar. And this looks like a good starting point.

But I already have tickets to Bond on Saturday, which I want to actually see more than Bolt. So there you go.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

The Limitations of Superheroes

Earlier this week I wrote a post over at Comic Fodder about my disappointment lately regarding the editorial direction at DC Comics (its an ongoing theme. So sue me. Wait. Scratch that idea.).

The next day I received an e-mail from a gentleman questioning why I would stick with comics. He expressed how he had given them up several years ago, and as our conversation continued, I learned he'd experienced terrible family tragedy. And so, maybe, the promise of masked and caped do-gooders righting wrongs and saving the world rings a little hollow.

At the same time, I saw a post from Leaguer Lauren over at her site discussing that most complex of superheroes, Wonder Woman, in light of the animated movie coming to home video this spring. Lauren describes the Wonder Woman she'd like to see on the screen and it sounds very appealing. She also pulls a quote that describes the ongoing issues of gender equality in comics (I kind of flinched at the broad strokes, but it doesn't mean the quote wasn't a little accurate).

Where Superman cannot step from the screen or comic page to save the day in our real lives and personal tragedies, just as much, Wonder Woman may not be enough to carry the weight of expectation put upon a figure who was, in fact, intended to carry a philosophy and ideal of a world in which women were seen as equals. She must be proud of her body, but she must cover it. She must be strong, but serene. She must be able to fight, but peace-loving. I can think of few male archetypes who have that burden placed on them.

The truth is, these very contradictions have gone from being a problem with writing Wonder Woman comics to become the essence of the character. By necessity, she's become an Amazonian, battle-axe-wielding warrior on a mission to "man's world" to preach the values of peaceful co-existence. And, occasionally, she has to go stab a Gorgon or something.

There's also an insinuation in the LA Times piece that poo-poo's the second-class status of the straight-to-video distribution of the Wonder Woman project, ignoring the current home video animation strategies of DC, Marvel, Dark Horse and others (bottom line, Wonder Woman actually made it to video faster than I would have expected from the DCU line of characters). The title does not sell terrifically well on newstands, and DC's prior animated efforts have surrounded tried-and-true material.

But as I've debated for years with friends who are not neck-deep in this thing of superhero comics, these fictional characters wind up fighting "public perception" rather than the actual content of the material in which they appear. Naysayers seem to have never actually lifted a comic or read a single story (at least from the last 20 years of relevant publication). They cringe at straight-to-video releases and, with no context but what success means in Hollywood terms, fail to see what bringing ANY comic property to video as a feature length film might mean. And bring their own definitions of everything from feminism to what it means to save the day to these figures.

It's an odd thing, because the trio of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are American cultural icons. They do, in fact, command a certain power in the popular imagination far beyond their intended purpose as pulp characters. They've expanded beyond their contemporaries of Zorro, Doc Savage, The Shadow, etc... The gentleman I'd spoken with was not the first I'd read about to funnel his tragedy into superheroes. That's sort of the unspoken message of the documentary "Confessions of a Superhero", and I've seen articles on others.

Poor, long-suffering Wonder Woman has had her image co-opted as a feminine ideal by Ms. Magazine and Gloria Steinem, and has had her name co-opted to describe the ideal of the modern woman (particularly, and somewhat oddly, mothers) who feels that they must be busy or appear entirely too busy, but always keeping things in check. Meanwhile, her costume has become a sexy Halloween staple, and the none-too-threatening outfit of her first appearances has become increasingly less modest over the years (though DC has recently made moves on that).

And, of course, being fictional, its kind of hard for superheroes to speak for themselves. Especially when their only mode of speaking up is in a medium 90% of people believe is irrelevant and/ or not as important as "public perception".

My interests lie in those superheroes, so I hear about the tragedies that fall into the very real lives of people who may wind up channeling their own stories through the prism of the comic page. I do not hear the stories of people who were Simpsons nuts, or naval history enthusiasts, or who maybe knew every pro football statistic that was worth knowing. I don't know if that same emotional attachment forms during a tragedy, or if they roll their eyes at the co-option and debate over the "image" of figures in their area of interest, as if the code-breaking of single images were all there was.

What I do know is that there is a strange place in fandom of any sort where an invisible line exists, and you do well to enjoy your comics, but know that to take them too seriously, to put Faith (with a capital F) in the heroes within and the storybook crimes they fight is not a replacement for the world outside the page.

Superman can't stop your loved ones from illness, or stop the everyday stories that make the news.

Wonder Woman can't be the voice of whatever it means to be a woman in 2008/ 2009.

But I do think, if we can agree that they are cultural icons, that there's something there we can see behind the the promise of the characters. Superman's use of his abilities for others, Batman's unbending resolve, Wonder Woman's mission of peace AND strength...

It's just a thought.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Batman + Braniff = Believe It!

I think if I were to tell you that at one point in the hsitory of DC Comics, Batman might hop in a commercial airliner, cape, cowl and all and enjoy a Sprite and bag of peanuts, even folks who never picked up a comic might find the idea sort of cockamamie. But there was a weird period in DC lore when such a thing was possible.

Anyway, the original dialog has been replaced, but there's a comic meme that's started featuring The Dark Knight flying commercial, seated with little-known 70's era, post-Bruce Lee Kung-Fu master Richard "Dick" Dragon.

Here's the first post (recall all dialog HAS been replaced).

Here's the second.

RING THE (DIGITAL) BELL FOR SALVATION ARMY

CALLING ALL LEAGUERS!!!

Do you have a blog, website, etc...? Do you want to participate in a worthwhile cause?

League of Melbotis has started a Kettle Team for the Salvation Army! You can join our team, and/ or give to a worthwhile charity!

Now I'm basically like one of those dudes hanging out in front of the mall raising money for worthwhile Salvation Army charities. All without the actual loitering and bell ringing.



HERE'S THE LINK

Or: http://give.salvationarmyusa.org/goto/melbotis

The 21st Century is truly a grand place for those of us who are lazy, but have an internet connection and wish to make a difference.

This year is going to be tough on a lot of your brothers and sisters in the family of humanity, so if you can spare a little yourself, we'd really appreciate it.

Also, if you want to join the League of Melbotis Kettle Team, please click the appropriate box on the website to sign up. Then publicize the heck out of the kettle! We're trying for only $300, so hopefully we can raise that amount this year.

If you can, please give!

We can watch Heroes, just for one day

So my only exposure to the program "Heroes" was watching about twenty minutes of the second or third episode of season 1. When I publicly said "Meh", everyone insisted I'd caught the worst twenty minutes EVER of the program and that I was missing out. But the whole "save the cheerleader, save the world" tagline made me burst into laughter the first time I heard it. I mean, really, out of context (or even with a bit of cultural osmosis context) it's the worst call to action for joining a TV show I can really think of.

So last night Jason and Jamie had both missed Monday's episode, which was waiting on our DVR, and so I figured I could sit through an hour of super-programming. After all, I made Jamie sit through Starship Troopers.

I have to say, that hour of Heroes was about the worst hour of TV I've borne witness to in quite a while, and I can see why producers are being shed from the show left and right.

Luckily for WB and NBC (and you, the lucky Leaguer!), I am happy to provide my analysis as a student of superhuman fiction.

1. Built in mythology - Sure, I'm coming to the show late in the game, but Heroes is one of the shows left-over from the post-Lost success that already had some multi-year mythology mapped out and is slowly, achingly revealing The Big Secrets. These shows/ comics/ what have you are painfully slow as they spend their energy pacing out the reveals like an antibiotic you have to finish.

Note that almost all of the shows depending on a mythology reveal but Lost have gone bye-bye. The format is unique to Lost. Do not attempt at home.

2. Robert Forrester as god-like corporate exec using business powers to manipulate everyone - I don't know if the "Super Old Man Potter" thing is really a creation of John Byrne and Marv Wolfman in their re-imagining of Lex Luthor as corporate mogul instead of super-scientist, but it seems like you see a heck of alot of this character, who threatens others, but nobody will just punch in the face. Even DC realized this was a tired trope and Lex is back to super-scientist, by the way.

Moreover, Robert Forrester just isn't very good. He sounds like he thinks he's playing a street-wise cop with every line. It's bizarre.

But I think the "evil corporation" bit has been so overplayed in so many ways that its tough to do anything new with it or buy into it at some point.

Terminator sort of has this problem, but they've really reigned it in.

3. The X-Men Internal Conflict Syndrome - What does Superman do? Superman saves the day. He interacts with mere mortals in his guise as Clark Kent. He plays at being one of us, so when the big action happens, we get what the threat is. A giant robot is trashing downtown, asteroids are headed towards Earth, and off he goes to save the day.

A while back, X-Men became a book not about mutants trying to co-exist with one humanity, but became this book where the X-Men were simply fighting one mutant group or another who wanted to kill the X-Men. Their agenda was not a threat to the general populace, it was, pretty specifically, the X-Men (which led to all sorts of questions about being more trouble than they were worth, but whatever...)

If a show is called "Heroes", it seems that the show might want to strive for more than "saving your own skin", which is great, but not exactly the heroic ideal. Heroes get out there and DO something for others. They do not skulk around worrying about magic formulas, etc... They use their blinky powers for the betterment of mankind.

Apparently this season, Heroes introduced some villains, which, you would expect would do the opposite. They would want to use their powers for taking advantage of the general populace. Instead, they spend their time skulking around trying to hassle the semi-heroes.

The bottom line, very little of what happens episode-to-episode seems to affect the world at large, and seems to hinge and circle melodramatically around this tiny group. The show should really expand its world-view.

4. What is the deal? - I could have spent three hours stopping and starting the show asking "what is the deal with this guy?" or "so what's their story?" as the show didn't see fit to fill me in with much in the way of exposition.

I don't want to tell NBC how to run their show, but if you're having a problem with viewership, maybe an impenetrable storyline and characters who are caught up in a bajillion plot lines isn't how you bring in new people to bring in viewers to replace those you lost.

X-Files knew that it had to spend a lot of time with episodic stories and building an audience, but that lesson seems lost on the producers of "Heroes".


Anyway, I probably won't be tuning in. Mostly for the same reasons I didn't tune in when the show started. I still find it derivative, the acting as hokey as any Sci-Fi original. It just isn't my bag.

For Randy

If this will please anyone, it will please Randy.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Jim Parsons interview thing

I'm still getting used to the idea that Jim isn't just appearing on TV, he's actually becoming a bit of a celebrity thanks to hsi role as Sheldon on CBS's "Big Bang Theory". Kind of bizarre, but well deserved, I think.

Here's Jim answering fan mail on the Variety.com website via streaming media. Now here's the weird part:

One of the letters Jim reads from is from Brownie High, who was a drama teacher at our high school my sophomore year. Ms. High actually left at the end of Jim's senior year amidst bad-blood and UIL drama scandal, which seemed like just a super-huge deal at the time. Meredith may recall the incident.

Anyway, I hadn't thought about that in years. And I am sure Jim had not either. But I would love to know what was playing in his mind when he saw she'd written him the letter and he had a camera in his face.

Weird Al and Shatner

I'm watching this thing on Bio that's an hour-long documentary on the life of Weird Al.

yeah. Go ahead and laugh. How many albums has your favorite band put out and how long has their career lasted?

I also have to admit that I've long been oddly fascinated by Judy Tenuta, who keeps showing up in this doc. And I don't know how I feel about having a crush on Judy Tenuta. I guess I just like a woman with an accordion shouting at me and calling me a pig. I guess its an acquired taste.

But to my point, it looks like Shatner is getting a talk show on the Biography network.

SHATNER!!!

The prospect of the minds of our time coming face-to-face with The Shat is, for me, equal parts mind-boggling and gratifying. I was the guy who actually watched Lauren Hutton's short-lived talk show in which I learned each show far more about what a freak Hutton was than anything about her guests (I use freak in the most loving way possible. Let's just say the woman is an enigma). And I hope to get even more of this out of The Shat.

He's named his show "Shatner's Raw Nerve". I am so there.

MUSIC

I FINALLY got around to downloading Girl Talk's "Feed the Animals". Thanks to JAL for the suggestion.

Of late I'm not too sure what I like and don't like in my music. But I do really like Feed the Animals. It may not be your bag, but here's the link to the site.

I'm not sure how they got around paying royalties, or expect to avoid lawsuits. Perhaps the sample used from each song meets some minimum sampling duration, but it doesn't seem like it. I just don't really know.

Comix

May I recommend "Tales Designed to Thrizzle"?

I can't guarantee it will be your cup of tea, but I find it funny.

For free online comix hilarity, try Achewood. And, btw, Chris Onstad will be at Austin Books on December 6th. I think I'm joining the Shoemakers for the signing, if you want to go. (That's "The Great Outdoor Fight" I'll be getting signed)

I checked our hits at Comicblogelite.com, and Comic Fodder did something like twice its normal traffic today following my admittedly negative critique of the state of things at DC Comics these days.

It's not too tough to see trends when you've done this for a while. I meant everything i said, and I certainly wasn't trying to just generate hits (after all, I don't make a dime from blogging). But usually when you go off on a bit of a rant, you seem to see a spike as folks check in to see what the freak is saying.
If you're wondering why there's no post today, I put my energy last night into my Comic Fodder weekly ramblings. You can read my post here.

Not much else to report. I think Jamie has a cold of some sort.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Trek could be awesome

Here's a pirated copy of the new Trek trailer, which I have not yet seen in good quality as I did not see Bond this weekend. Probably next week.

Be prepared for low-quality.



Awesome.

It will be up at the official site by lunchtime.
It seems like Jamie and I have been running around a LOT lately, and with the Holidays bearing down upon us, I think we're going to be pretty crazy until January 2nd, 2009 or so. That's okay. It's sort of what I expect out of the year's end.

For those of you keeping score, Thanksgiving is in only a week and a half, and I have not even STARTED on my Pilgrim suit, nor has Jamie finished her Green Bean costume.


I still think The Addam's Family movies are underrated.

The temperatures cooled a great deal yesterday, and I think it feels more like fall in spirit than a few days ago. All in all, its turning into lovely weather. Anyway, we watched the UT game yesterday and cooked out some nice items we picked up at Central Market (I recommend their chipotle marinated chicken).

UT played very well starting in the 2nd quarter, and pretty much ate Kansas's lunch. I was mistaken, however, that Tech was playing Baylor. A&M played Baylor and it didn't go terribly well. Sorry, Ags. Maybe next year.

Only one more regular season game for UT, and we ARE playing A&M on Thanksgiving, which sounds great in theory, but A&M somehow manages to summon SuperAg strength whenever they play UT. Out only discernible advantage going into the game is home field advantage. Should be a great game, so if your Thanksgiving evening looks like it's going to be a quiet night in, tune in.

Also, if you're a Leaguer and will be in Austin during Turkey Day and are lacking any plans, let me know. We can make room for you.

Today we actually started our Christmas shopping, which I think Jamie had some mixed feelings about. Sure, we're starting early and will hopefully be done with time to spare (which is an illusion. You always forget somebody and have to run out and buy an extra present for somebody you didn't account for). But I also started singing carols to Jamie as we drove around, which is bad enough, but in the past eight years, I've completely forgotten all lyrics to all carols.

I suspect she'd like for me to stop, but, you know, once you're moving into Christmas territory, I think you're morally obligated to squeeze in "Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland" as often as possible. Especially in 70 degree Texas.

Also, Barack Obama takes great delight in bumper cars:

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Fireside chats

There's an odd mix of admiration and fear in this report. Speaking to Jason recently, I said I thought Obama should learn from the problems that stemmed from the Bush administration's lack of communication and look to FDR's fireside chats as we face numerous challenges as a nation. I had honestly forgotten about Reagan's radio addresses, even though I have memories of sitting on the floor, playing with Legos and listening to the Gipper circa 1984.

Anyhoo, its kinda funny that you can hear the puzzlement in the report regarding this mysterious tool called the interweb.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Kickin' it up a notch on Smallville

Looks like Doomsday, the living plot device, has made his way to Smallville.

Curiously, it appears that this may be the first (and only) on model representation of a DC villain on the show.



With control of the show wrestled away from the show's originators this season, they're actually making in-roads back to some semblance of the comics and Superman. I'm not saying the show is great, because... Tess Mercer is a ridiculous character, almost nothing ever makes sense on the show, and just get to the Superman part already...

But its something.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

In my Element @ 10K

I was driving home the other night in Babar (my light blue Honda Element) and looked down to see my odometer was at 9999. I've been through four cars in my life, and I never, ever saw the odometer turn any kind of significant whole number.

I have hit 10,000 miles without a hiccup. That is all.

Yes, I love Babar. Some days I want to hug him, but that would be weird.

Meatgrimage, Day 3

Jamie's childhood pal and our mutual current pal, Rebecca, returned to Austin today with her mother, Dr. Kinslow, in tow. They took us to Flemings down by the convention center where we all enjoyed a wonderfully terrific meal.

I have always been a steak guy, and while I am a fan of the backyard grilled steak, I am also a fan of the white-table cloth, let-them-work-their-magic steak. I highly recommend this joint. Especially if the Kinslows are taking you out on the town.

There are many good restaurants down by the convention center which cater to folks with an expense account. However, as Jamie and I are rarely in Austin for a convention, we tend not to make our way to those restaurants or some of Austin's other finer establishments.

Places I would like to go:

Lambert's
Hudson's on the Bend
And of the places that opened on Congress during our four year Arizona sojourn

I am scheduled to hit Mesa Ranch this evening, provided nothing goes off-kilter. Which means: even more meat.

If you want to go see The Flyin' A's with me Thursday evening, give me a shout.

UT @ Kansas

I shall be watching with a mix of exhiliration and trepidation. Tech plays Baylor this weekend. Poor Baylor.

UT Basketball

I park about a block from the Erwin Center, so I am pondering going to some UT home games this year. If you want in on that, let me know.

Ghost Hunters

I am increasingly convinced that, based upon the 100 hours or so of Ghost Hunters I've watched, Jason and I could totally do this.

Anyone want to grant us $25,000 in start up funds? We need money for:

-team shirts
-motion detectors
-flash lights
-EMF detectors
-video equipment
-a FLIR
-Ghost Juice (ie: enough beer per ghostly investigation to limber up the mind)
-uniforms for the Lonestar Paranormal Club dancers

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Meatgrimage

Today I headed to Baylor for what I thought was a productive and instructive meeting. Liked the guy I met there, and I think its going to be good working with the dance-less folks of Waco.

Apparently there's an unwritten rule that lunch is involved in these trips, which is great for me. I get a little annoyed when I've traveled in the past and my boss, etc... decides we don't need to eat because they're on some crazy diet of water and carrot sticks or something. Not going to be a problem with this bunch as we headed to Waco's "Jasper's", a side-road BBQ joint that had all you can eat ribs for $9. Plus, Dublin Dr. Pepper, which I tasted for the first time. And, yes, Dublin Dr. Pepper is completely different and much, much better than regular Dr. Pepper (Dublin uses Imperial Cane Sugar rather than corn syrup). So I can confirm that legend.

Jasper's wasn't screwing around with its portions. Despite the "all you can eat" promise, I ate three ribs and was done. Maybe because I was still reeling from Monday's lunch and then winding up at Threadgill's for dinner.

It turns out that the meat at City Meat MArket in Giddings is supplied by a friend's meat company. I'm going to look into whether or not I can get a map of the place Mikey's company supplies meat to, and see if that isn't one way for this to play out.

Also, Jason and I are already talking about a short trip to Elgin for sausage.

Sadly, I am bypassing food and friends on Saturday. Juan and Letty e-mailed me to see about hitting Snow's BBQ in Lexington on Saturday. Now, here's the weird part:

Snow's was recently voted "best BBQ in Texas" by Texas Monthly, a publication that doesn't screw around when it comes to food. Especially Texas cuisine. But... supposedly they sell out of their meat by 10:00 or so on Saturdays. Which means you have to BE THERE before 9:00 to get a meal.

I love BBQ, but getting up at 7:00 to eat BBQ at 9:00 on a Saturday somehow robs the Meatgrimage of its joy.

Terminator

The Fox Terminator TV show (The Sarah Connor Chronicles) must not be doing very well in ratings. I hear its being shuttled off to Fridays.

I've been enjoying the heck out Terminator. As much as I dig sci-fi, I don't jump on too many sci-fi TV shows. Stuff like the Stargate franchise doesn't do anything for me, or the semi-popular "Highlander" series from the 90's. I think it helps that the Terminator premise is deceptively straightforward. Robots from the future are trying to kill John Connor.

Now you've inserted time travel, plus re-programmed robots, which all hangs from the central conceit of the first two terminator movies.

What really helps is that the rest of the world around our band of un-merry adventurers is very set in reality. Whenever a robot does start shooting, its not as if the populace is aware of what's going on, or would come to the logical conclusion that there are killer robots on the prowl.

Anyhow, I'm a little sad that the show is being moved to the death zone that is Friday night on Fox. But perhaps two really good seasons of a show is infinitely better than the bizarre, slow death spiral that we've seen out of "Smallville" (a show I quit watching for years, but came back to watching to revel in the badness).

Big Bang Theory

The show has taken a decidedly better turn this season, and I liked it last season. The decision not to further pursue the "it's a sitcom" romantic path of Leonard and Penny has been hugely helpful, and its given Kaley Cuoco a much wider range to play with instead of "pleasantly unaware of Leonard's affections".

Anyway, kudos to Jim and the cast of BBT.

One disturbing trend. It seems Jim is becoming a bit of an item of lust for nerd girls on the internet. See the comments on this post at Lady, That's My Skull.

Edit: The Office I should note that I have recently officially quit watching "The Office". As noted above, I do not find the "will-they-or-won't-they" romantic entanglements of sitcoms interesting or funny. They always stink of the suits forcing their way into the process. The Office has managed to drag the concept out, painfully, for several seasons. I was pleased they'd resolved the issue to some extent, and had hopes they were finally just going to @#$%ing move on with it. Last weeks episode proved that was not so.

I feel guilty, because Jamie and I really don't have that many shows we watch together, and The Office has long been one we can agree upon. That is no longer so. Worse yet, I lack the ability to just sit in the room on a laptop and quietly ignore a show. I must make comment upon it, which detracts from Jamie's enjoyment.

Anyway, we have a DVR. I guess we'll put it to use.

Snoopy: World War I Flying Ace

Here's a video game I would actually buy if it comes to Wii:

Monday, November 10, 2008

Pixar's latest: "Up"



Hey, it's like seeing The Admiral in animated form!

Many items

Football Update

Well, we can mark another win up for UT from this weekend. We're ranked #3, which is odd. Of course, we've only lost to Tech who seems headed for all kinds of glories this season.

Colt still looks great, but its clear someone or something is keeping him from running. And something has rattled him and keeps him from attempting passes further than a few yards at a time.

I am still rooting for my Horns, and I think we're set for a great bowl game this year, provided we can win our next two and do well if we're in the Big 12 Championship (if we so land). But I sincerely hope Mack brown has plans to build up our secondary for next year.

Good BBQ in Giddings

Today we met the A&M contingent of our office halfway between Bryan and Austin in Giddings where we ate meat. Leaguers, if you're on 290, I HIGHLY recommend the City Meat Market. That was some top-notch grub served in true Texas fashion.

And, hell, there were honest to god old school cowboys in there. The kind who could choke the life out of you if the notion so took them. Awesome.

It was one of those places where the smoke is cooked into the walls and you start salivating a bit just walking through the door. And the food totally matched the ambiance and first-smell guesses as to what you would get.

I need to use this winter to begin making BBQ pilgrimages around the state. Meatgrimages, if you will. I want to eat Elgin Sausage in Elgin. I want to eat ribs and beef in Lockhart. Shall I go to New Braunfels for Wurst? Or to Kerrville? What meats did our Czech forebears cook up? What about our Mexican forefathers?

So many meats. So little time.


Unfortunateness

Swedish dance bands from bygone eras.
For some reason I think I linked to an earlier version of this, like, four years ago.

Yeah, go ahead and laugh. Then ask yourself: who had better luck with swinging Swedish women, you or the dudes in "The Schytts"?

That, Leaguers, is the sound of the universe having a good laugh at you.


Beat it!

So I employ Technorati to help me track responses to blog posts. They track, somewhat imperfectly, whether or not someone has linked back to your posts.

A long time ago, I used to get linked around the net. When I don't post on comics, those links tend to dry up. But when I write for Comic Fodder, I notice that I get linked to a lot more often from sources of note (in the comics blogosphere, which is like being a big wheel on the island of misfit toys, I guess). Anyway, it gives me a little thrill to see myself linked elsewhere because (a) it lets me know others are going to come read whatever I wrote, and (b) it lets me know people I care about reading have actually read whatever I wrote. And that, Leaguers, is the blogging circle of life.

One of my fave-rave sites for YEARS has been Heidi MacDonald's "The Beat". So, I was thrilled to see in the links of Technorati that Heidi had linked back to a Comic Fodder article I'd written for last week about the economy and what comic publishers could do to save their skin in these troubled times. But at Technorati, when I clicked on the appropriate link... the article was no longer there.

I was sad. Heidi may have had good reasons for either pulling or never posting the article, but my fifteen minutes of Heidi-powered linked fame was gone, and I was left with nothing but a small reminder of what could have been.

Oh, Heidi... why hast thou removed my linky link?

Okay... yeah, the article was kind of weak.

That said, the guy who wrote the article that spawned my article DID link back (it's the line about "longish think piece"). Which is pretty huge in my world. Unfortunately, Spurge wasn't in the mood to elucidate on what he had in mind. Would have been interesting. Anyway, he's been covering comics and the economy for a few days and its good reading.


New Years Party Update

In case you missed it, here's the official flyer for the Melbotis New Years Hullabalunacy:



To see the invitation, go here.