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.