Rollerderby flick, Wednesday Comics, Vaycay, Facebook Fans, Dance Show, Wolfman

Rollerderby on the Silver Screen

So League-Pal, Shauna C., has a movie scheduled to arrive in October. Shauna wrote the original novel "Derby Girl", and the screenplay for 'Whip It!". The cast on the movie is sort of amazing, with folks like Ellen Page and Marcia Gay Harden signed on.

I should also point out that my current favorite of the SNL cast, Kristen Wiig, plays a major role as Maggie Mayhem. Maggie Mayhem was, not coincidentally, Shauna's nom-de-derby when she wore her quad-skates. Alas, I think Shauna was pregnant when the movie was being shot, so don't expect to see her on skates in a cameo.


Story in USA Today.

Here's an article/ images at slashfilm about the feature.

I sincerely hope The Alamo has the foresight to team up with TXRD to make an event out of the film's Austin debut.

It all makes me miss AZRD's Surly Girlies.

Wednesday Comics

I was looking forward to DC's newest venture, Wednesday Comics, for quite some time. Not only did the comic not disappoint, but it surpassed my elevated expectations.

Generally I shudder at the idea of the art winding up as the focus of a comics from American superhero comics, as this tends to lead to temporary fan-favorite artists relating tedious stories while pouring their all into work that simply doesn't deserve it (see Image comics circa 1994 - ignoring The Maxx, which was actually sort of interesting).



Wednesday Comics managed to avoid becoming an exercise in artistic overindulgence. I'll attribute the success to a limited scope and story, told one page per week over 12 weeks, which tends to make one use the economy of haiku. Some pages were written and drawn by the same person, most were not. By and large, the writers were wise in their limited use of narration and dialog, and got out of the way so that art, page layout, etc... could tell the tale.

The format, by the way, is a full newspaper-sized page, printed on newsprint, suggesting that the comic in an oddly temporary thing. In a writer-driven environment that the superhero market has become, its great to see the craft of the comic page take over and be celebrated for itself. While I deeply enjoy the gestalt of something like Rucka/ Williams III on Detective, and would love to see Williams III get a chance to play in such a massive environment (I have the Promethea posters, but Jamie has not allocated space for them), there's something unique about this project that people will be discussing for a while.

There's an oversized "Little Nemo" book I've always wanted that collects Winsor McCay's sprawling, page wide cartooning, which was quite the deal about 80 years ago. That sort of cartooning has become a lost artform. Here's a sample at Google books.

As much as I love my pamphlet comics, its always fun when something new/old comes along/returns to shake things up.

If You're Going to San Francisco

you may just run into Jamie and myself, July 15-19. We're going out to visit The Doug and K. and get into an exciting car chase. So expect The League to go dark for a few days next week.

Also, if you have suggestion for activities (not just places to eat), let me know.

They tell me I am not allowed to saddle a sea lion and ride it around the bay. I say they just lack imagination and the right hat.

To prepare, I sort of want to watch Bullit and Vertigo. What's another San Fran/ Berkeley-based movie I should catch? (I just watched Milk, so that's kind of out...)

Be a Fan (at least on Facebook)!

So, I've updated the left menu bar of the site proper to include a Facebook badge that will alert you to some of our "fans" and make it easy to become a "fan" of LoM on Facebook.

If you haven't joined Facebook, well, get with the program. But if you are on Facebook, and haven't become a Facebook Fan, now is the time.

I've set up the Fan Page so you can set up your own discussions, load your own content, etc... You will also receive LoM messages via Facebook, be it a status update or a special Facebook update. You'd also get posts sent straight to facebook, so if you're already in there...

The Hard Sell on this is coming from my desire to secure a unique Facebook user name, which I can't do until I have 100 "fans". So why not go ahead and become a Fan?

So. You Think You Can Dance.

I always wonder what these gameshows would be like if anyone displayed legitimate cynicism. Not Simon Cowell's manufactured jerkiness and disregard for humanity, but sort of suggested that maybe the whole enterprise were a waste of time.

However, the fans of these programs follow them with religious fervor. Even if they can admit that "judge" Mary Murphy is a ridiculous, mindless air raid siren of a human being, they can forgive it in order to see the dancing happen.

It seems so obvious. How did we not put dancing on TV before?

While I'd never watch the show on my own (despite host Cat Deeley, who is a pretty good idea), at least the contestants are on their way to professional status. It's less likely that the votes will have an oddball result based upon things that won't translate well in the actual industry (see: Taylor Kicks and American Idol).

Anyhow, I've been watching this show again, like it or not, and so if you want to talk "So You Think You Can Dance?", I'm your huckleberry.

Wolfman

When the hell is that Benicio Del Toro Wolfman movie coming out? Isn't dumping it into November sort of a bad sign?

I had hopes, but Joe Johnston as director always sounded very iffy.

Taking the Night Off

I'm going to read tonight. Have a lovely evening.

I'm at a conference/ Tank Girl/ Twitter

I should mention, I was at a conference here in Austin today, will be so tomorrow until quite late, and then again on Thursday. My usual blogging and comment section maintenance is going to be less than perfect.

Also wanted to say: Tank Girl is a deeply flawed movie. I'm trying to watch it on cable, but it's pretty bad. Comic folk and Hollywood could learn some lessons regarding what not to do with Tank Girl. So much potential, and it sort of sputters around like they had no idea what they really wanted out of the movie while they were making it. Add in a layer of early-90's sheen, and TV-style directing, and it feels not entirely unlike one of its contemporaries in the Pauly Shore wacky-movie genre.

I find it odd that I often hear folks defending the movie. It may be that I felt Lori Petty's reading of the titular character mistook blaring every line in the same cadence for sassiness. Plus, the kangaroo dudes just don't work. I don't care what was in the comic.

Oh God, Malcolm McDowell... did you ever have any shame?

On Twitter

A week ago The League posted one word in a post about things that drive you nuts on the internet. I dropped one word: Twitter

Its unlikely I'll do so again. Friends and Leaguers know that I don't use the application for my personal use, preferring Facebook as my personal poison. Also, blogs, e-mail, etc...

I think we basically hit a point at which the folks who are enthusiastic about Twitter and those of us who are less so were just sort of squawking uselessly at one another. We clearly use, used or would use the technology in different ways, and do not share the same perspective on how we engage in the communication cycle. Different technologies are going to expose these things in different ways.

The bottom line is that we are in a world where instant communication is possible on a massive scale, and in the hands of anyone with an e-mail account, a username and password. As NTT would point out, that's an incredibly important thing in events like the Iranian election or a natural or other disaster.

I confess that it is deeply hypocritical to walk away from Twitter for the reasons I did when I maintain a personal weblog. And I honestly feel that, if Facebook Twitterfeeds are any indication, that we've passed through the goofier stages of people figuring out what to do with Twitter and not just informing you of every time they have a meal, hit the head, what-have-you...

For all the good it can provide, Twitter has a ways to go, and people will need to be very careful in how they use it once it becomes part of expected types of communication. We all need phone lines, and they're also good for passing emergency information, etc... but if the phone rings off the hook from telemarketers, we taken them off the hook. Heck, I confess that even if the phone rang all evening from friends and family, I'd keep it off the hook.

And that's where I am with Twitter right now.

I don't expect this will come remotely close to closing the book on Twitter in the comments section or at this blog or elsewhere. But I'm shelving the topic for a while.

We are, of course, all over Facebook. We're in the middle of working on incorporating Twitter into our professional life, and, in fact watched part of a panel of archivists discussing how the Tweets from Iran would be preserved for future generations (using the near complete loss of record of how Tiananmen Square played out.

I think it also raises some questions regarding expectations of one another not just in ownership of devices that can handle and manage these modes of communication from a financial standpoint, but the fact that we're now so attached to our devices that instant messaging at all times from any direction doesn't seem unreasonable to many. That may be overstating it a bit, but I'm not sure its by much, whether you're spending time managing your communication or not (and it is, in my personal and professional experience, a tough thing to explain that most people prefer their tools do this for them. They do not wish to spend their time monkeying with and tweaking their tools).

So that's that.

I gotta go to bed.

Old Home Week and Facebook Fans

Facebook Fans

Hey, Facebook Fans (and RSS fans, and the rare few of you who seem to actually click on the URL these days). At last count, we were up to 38 fans. And that's good stuff!

I was asked today why I'd set up League of Melbotis to feed into Facebook. Well, I sort of senselessly resisted setting up an RSS feed a while back, and now realize that wasn't just an exercise in futility, it just wasn't very forward thinking. And, of course, I know we're living in Twitter and Facebook these days, and I figured I would make it easier on LoM readers who were already checking Facebook (and you have the option to either read or not, and that's the way it should be).

Also, Facebook's very nature makes it a little easier to reach out than the conventional means. The very integrated nature of Facebook, such as those "Ryan is a Fan of League of Melbotis" things you see on the sidebar, mean its a bit easier for folks to stumble upon our doings here at The League.

And while I don't mind writing this for just NTT and Randy's amusement, it'd be nice to have a few more folks chiming in. I am, of course, concerned about managing comments both at the site proper and at Facebook, but we'll see how it goes.

Laura and Robb in Austin

So, this week has had an unusual bit of fun. As I mentioned, League-Pal Robb and his wife Neda drifted into Austin. We wound up having dinner with Robb, Neda, Jeff and Keora last night. This evening we caught up with League-Pals Laura "Cowgirl Funk" M-S and her husband, Eric and their cute-as-a-button kid, Sophie.

Laura I've known since high school. She was a few years behind me at good ol' Klein Oak, but thanks to the power of Klein Oak Drama and me having a driver's license, I got to know her a bit both hanging about backstage during productions and then heading back to our neighborhood. She was a swell dame then, and we caught up online here several years ago. She attended UT as a drama major, and somewhere along the line, met up with Eric, who happened to go to the same high school I went to my Freshman year, before moving to Spring. He's a couple years older, so we didn't happen to know each other.

They've recently returned from New York/ Brooklyn to our fair city. If moving back from Phoenix after 4 years was an adjustment for us, their return to Austin after 10 years (and Austin's seismic changes in that time) must be a massive change. And, of course, they've got 2.2 year old Sophie in tow, who wasn't around when they departed.



The internet has made it so easy to keep up, I sort of hope I don't ever take it for granted. But its great to reconnect and not have horrible, awkward silences, as we've been chatting on and off for much of the duration of League of Melbotis.

So, if you Austin-Area Leaguers start seeing Laura and Eric around, that's who they are. Be nice.

Robb I met when I drifted into the men's room in my dorm late on a Saturday night my Freshman year. He was down visiting Jeff and Patrick, who I'd gotten to know well at that point, but all I knew was that there was a guy I'd never seen before at the next urinal. I formally met him minutes later in Jeff and Pat's room. Mostly what I remember was that he played us the most recent Black Dog album.

The next year Robb transferred to UT, and was a part of the usual herd of folks who circled around one another. He was a musician and drummer, audio engineer, and always seemed to have a few other projects going on. Also, he was the person who sat me down and got me to watch "Stalker" and innumerable other movies in college, so my hats off to the guy.

In 2000, a good chunk of our crew packed their bags and moved up to Seattle for reasons which were never abundantly clear to me. Robb lived there, went to Berlin and other locations in Europe for a while, and then back to the US. While in Serbia, he met Neda, and it seems they were quite fond of one another as they are now hitched.



Anyway, its always a blast when these guys come back to town. I don't ever get up to Seattle (where they're all still at), and they only occasionally come back. So, yeah, its a little sad, too. I miss those guys.

Robb came into town in his usual style, alerting folks he was coming less than 24 hours in advance, and departing by Amtrak. I salute Neda for jumping into Robb's nomadic lifestyle. They're a good fit.

But that's the way it is with Leaguers. You come, you go, you come back again either to visit or to raise a darn cute kid. And, heck, as I write this, Letty is bringing a new Leaguer into the world. And Steven and Lauren are planning to make good their escape from the Capital City. Just know the door is always open here at League HQ.

An End to Hate

For a few hours today I had up a post that was part of a meme started by Calvin. It detailed 18 things I "hated".

I've made the decision to pull the post.

The bottom line is that I don't really "hate" most of those things. I don't "hate" bands, cities, people, TV shows, etc... I dislike them. I find them unpleasant or not to my taste, but I'll keep "hate" in my back pocket for things upon which I feel a certain passion.

They asked the question "What technology do I hate?" I hate the technology that allows the NSA to listen to my phone calls without a warrant. I hate that we're in a place where intelligent people feel that its necessary to do their job, and that if something akin to 9/11 happened again, they would be held responsible. I hate that. I don't "hate" the little switch box and recorder server farm.

I do, however, hate brussell sprouts. God intended them as food for rabbits and garden moles, but not for people. At least not for this people.

So if you saw the "hate" post here, and you're wondering where it went... I hope its okay that a better nature prevailed.

I think NTT, who commented upon the post, will understand.

A few scattered items

Conference is Done

So I don't know why I hadn't thought much about it until last week, but I suddenly realized I was going to MC the conference I was "running" this week. So I more or less spent the past day and a half intro-ing all kinds of presentations.

Luckily, my team is super-awesome, so I was able to let them handle the administrative stuff this week while I wore a tie and ran around hoping nothing went wrong.

That's more or less over now, so now tomorrow is making sure I follow up with everyone who wanted to chat.

I guess we'll be doing this again next year.


I know how Ray feels



the strip.

Not Clear on the Concept

ABC is creating a sort of future-looking faux-documentary that portrays Spaceship Earth in the year 2100. Probably to save money, ABC has employed Flash cartoons.

In an attempt to be hip/ edgy/ what-have-you, they're describing what they did as a graphic novel. See here.

I find it hard to believe that nobody at ABC knew that a cartoon isn't the same thing as a graphic novel, and I think if they didn't think that the term carried some sort of cache of legitimacy vis-a-vis some mistaken notion regarding "grittiness", they would have... not done that.

The term "Graphic Novel" is largely considered to have been coined by master of the comics medium, Will Eisner, when he began putting out his first long-form work, such as "A Contract With God". Yes, it was intended to add legitimacy to work in a medium usually considered to be for children and the illiterate. Eisner was by no means alone in his efforts, but I'd focus on him here as what ABC has missed that Eisner knew, that the comic page/ sequential art is not the same thing as the animated program or the cut between scenes in film or video. It is its own medium with its own tools for expression.

A graphic novel is a complete comic work (often with multiple chapters) told with a beginning, middle and end. It is, basically, a novel in the sequential art form. And that basically means a series of static images, in which multiple actions are understood to occur in a single panel, or it may capture a single moment in linear or non-linear time. The space between panels (and this is the difference between comics and cartoons) is part of the storytelling, as the reader fills in the space or makes connections between the panels on their own. It isn't moving pictures with voice over and music.

A comic (or graphic novel) is not, ABC, a cartoon. Nor is it, WB, a Motion Comic.

Nor are, Hollywood, all comics a graphic novel. While it works terrifically well as such, Watchmen isn't even really a graphic novel. Its a collected, 12-issue series.

I understand the impulse, but I don't call your TV shows "a moving picture" or "talking painting" or "acted out book". So, you know... just try a little harder.

It looks neat, though. Depressing, but worth checking out.

Nothing on TV

Seriously. At least the Spelling Bee is on. And at this stage, how bad can you feel for the kids who lose? They're at the nationals for, chrissake.

Mom in Kenya

So... The KareBear is off to Kenya. She's with a church group, and they're going to be fitting people with glasses.

No, I have no idea how it works, but there you go.

I'm incredibly proud of KareBear as she's wanted to take part in some sort of mission work since high school. Sure, it could be argued that she's more than fulfilled that goal in her own backyard, but I think this was a particularly specific way she wanted to do it.

Most impressive is that she's decided to do it alone. The Admiral and KareBear are two peas in a pod, so I was a bit skeptical about how this would work if The Admiral remained at base, but so far, so good.

Wishing her the best of luck.

Friday Linkage and Heads-Up

I really don't have a whole lot to discuss. Sorry, kids.

The long Memorial Day Weekend is coming up, so I hope you've got a BBQ or two planned. And, of course, will observe the day with the utmost respect, attending your local parade, etc... All you leaguers are good citizens, so I'm sure you'll hit three or four local events.

Not sure what we're up to, but I am certain we'll make the most of our precious weekend hours.

Next week will probably be very, very quiet here at The League. I (wait for it) am running a conference. There's a tale there, and one day when I'm not still recovering, i shall share that tale. For it is a cautionary tale, and the many lawyers in the League's readership would be doing some serious forehead slapping as described what happened. But we'll put that aside for right now.

But NEXT week, I'll be playing host/ MC/ and event coordinator to 125 of the rowdiest, craziest librarians you're likely to see in this life or any other. (I got them free padfolios and flash drives! Suck on that, SXSW!)

Anyhow, my assumption and game plan is that from Tuesday at 7:00 AM until Thursday evening when I flop into bed, I will be a bit pre-occupied for the blogging. Perhaps you'd like to follow our Tweets? No, really. We're maybe going to Twitter this mutha'.

Links

So...


Here's a link to a preview at Newsarama for JackBart's Poe comic.

Here's the trailer for JimD's movie.


As you can tell, its a lot like Weird Al's "UHF" in spirit.

Here's a link to an especially magical site called "Awkward Family Photos". I welcome you to view the images and put that one away in the 'ol memory bank for the day when you have family photos to take of your own.

Hat tip to Calvin's Canadian Cave of Cool, which, if you haven't bookmarked it, then you probably should.

For some reason I received a catalog in the mail this evening from design Toscano. I have something of an inkling of how I might wind up on such a mailorder list, but I'm not really sure. I highly recommend browsing their website and purchasing all that you can afford.

There's even a very special lawn ornament that I might need to get for Jason.


Only $90 before S&H!

And for some reason, I'm now receiving Architectural Digest in the mail. I have no idea why.

Also, I'm already sick of the new Green Day song. But I've also been sick of Green Day since 1996, so...

FYI: Comic Fodder No More

As an FYI, I am no longer contributing at Comic Fodder.

That's no political statement, I've just not had time to write about comics lately AND actually read them. Each CF post took around 3-4 hours, and finding that time in a week had become increasingly difficult, as well as feeling jazzed enough about some minor point of comic-minutia to get revved up to write on it in the manner needed.

In the end, I was writing more about comics than reading them. And that, Leaguers, is just wrong. I want to enjoy my comics, not look at them as a "to do" list.

So... part of why I returned to Comic Fodder was to side-bar my in-depth comic discussions which usually received no feedback, whatsoever, here at League of Melbotis. I would alert you guys... that's probably coming back in some shape or form. I probably won't be avoiding the topic, and without CF as a platform...

I'd like to thank Tpull (Travis Pullen) and Mac Slocum of the Fodder Network for being a great Publisher and Editor. And, of course, CF contributor Simon for having such great insight.

That is all.

3000 Posts

yeah. Roughly 3000 posts. How messed up is that?

At this point, we should be 1-5 posts just over 3000 total. With drafts, etc... its tough to tell.

Rather than put myself in a mood by trying to be reflective, I sort of want to pop the cork on a bottle of the bubbly.

So here's Barbarian Sarah Palin attacking the Barbarian Commander in Chief. With an elephant.


From the upcoming series,( I am not making this up) "Barack the Barbarian".

Its this kind of stuff that keeps me going, Leaguers.

It's been absolutely fabulous thus far, and I guess, for good or ill, there's no real end in site.

Sometimes its tougher to find ways and reasons to post, sometimes its easier.


after a hard day at the office, The League ponders his next post.

So for those of you who bother to pop in any more, and especially to those of you who take part in the interactivities, etc..., I can't thank you enough. The sense of community and general palling around is incredible.

You guys are the best, and its no secret I wouldn't be doing this at all if it weren't for the e-mail, comments, etc... I do secretly really like keeping up with all of you, and my life is but a hollow shell when I do not hear from you.

I'd planned to do a post celebrating the Man of Steel for my 3000th, but I'm not going to do that tonight. But if it makes you feel better about the lack of lack of a Super-Post, I'll peel back the curtain a bit. I'm wearing a Superman T-shirt and Superman flannel pajama pants as I write this post. No, seriously.


The current unofficial emblem of League of Melbotis.

I also want to take the moment to remind you Leaguers of our pal, The League's own namesake: Melbotis.

Buddy, we love you and miss you so, so much.

Cardinal Sin

is to blog about blogging.

But I'd feel remiss if it were Monday and there was nothing to greet you in your Reader or when you clicked over to The League and found I'd last updated on last week's news.

For shame.

I did finally blog over at Comic Fodder for, really, the first time since Watchmen was released. I have not said as much, but its been increasingly difficult to blog on comics of late. Some of it is time related, and part of it is the let down of the Watchmen film, mixed with the conclusion of "Final Crisis", which I am remaining silent upon until I read it all, all over again (but which left me drained). Part of it is that I don't like commenting upon ongoing stories, because its a bit like writing a new review of a movie at every fifteen minute point of that movie. And my favorite DC titles are now embroiled in year-long storylines. So... maybe in the fall?

I also am having a hard time finding time to read comics. Work is busy, and life has been busy. I'm stunned when I realize that people with kids and a job find time to not just read comics, but to write about them.

I am not sure I'm ready to give up the ghost on the column at Comic Fodder quite yet, but I'm fairly certain the Signal Watch column sort of put me off the whole thing for a while. It was making me worry too much about other blogs, and I felt like the whole thing just wasn't worth the time.

And, occasionally, I feel badly that League of Melbotis strayed so far from its original, comic-book themed roots so I could devote those columns to Comic Fodder. I always felt that there was something fun in tying the daily journal bit with the comic and movie stuff, and getting everything in once place.

But that's not really how blogs work anymore, if they ever did. They're on a theme, and you stick to that theme, or people aren't going to read. Which is why we're at about 45 readers a day here, and that includes about 40 hits from people looking for pictures of Supergirl Naked.

Actually, we get a lot more people looking for Rachael from Bladerunner and Bonnie from Knight Rider these days.

Not much to report. It was beautiful here today. We cleaned the garage. I went through a box of work stuff from ASU, much of which is actually not winding up in a landfill. Walked Lucy for a while. Watched an episode of "Cheaters" on G4, which is sort of the television equivalent of huffing paint (if "Rock of Love" is, indeed, TV crack).

Off To Wacky Waco

Short (practically non-existent) post.

I'm heading to Waco for about 36 hours or more.

I have to get up early, so I don't have time to pen my usual musings if I want to get some shut-eye before my big drive and whatnot tomorrow.

Oddly, this is really the last driving I plan to do for work for a smidge, so hopefully I'll be homebound for a few weeks.

No plans for my evening in Waco. Hopefully I'll just find a place to grab a drink and maybe do some dancing on campus.... Oh, right.


I hope I do not come face-to-face with an angry Baylor Bear

I actually really like the good folks at Baylor, and not just because their facilities are a jump better than ours and they fed me well last time I was there. I haven't spent the night in Waco since high school when our drama team was there for regional competition (and lost). I didn't actually sleep that night, and almost threw-up on the way home thanks to a steady diet of sugar and blue-colored sodas while out from under my parent's watchful eye.

Makes me wonder whatever happened to a lot of those crazy kids.

Anyway, I'm doing some training stuff, including LEADING some training, which is no good for anyone. But if you really, really want to know about open journal systems, meet me Waco on Thursday (but not tomorrow. I'm not leading anybody, anywhere tomorrow).

I Can Only Apologize for Chuck E. Cheese Post/ SITC

Sorry about the lengthy Chuck E. Cheese post. I'd started writing it a while back, and thought i would release a few bits every other day, but then I thought "No, just get it over with. You don't want to punish people for coming back to the site on a regular basis."

Sometimes posts just form, and you go with them.

Day 1 of the conference is good. I couldn't sleep last night until late, and that was on top of getting 4 hours of sleep Saturday/ Sunday... so I sort of paid for it today. I'm going to bed very early tonight and will try again tomorrow.

Last night my freak bout of insomnia led to me accidentally watching the entirety of the the "Sex and the City" movie. I believed I was tuning in to watch the ending, which was actually the beginning. And the next thing I knew, it was very late and the credits were rolling.

I guess I'm glad that if we're going to co-opt the romantic comedy formula for Seth Rogan, Paul Rudd, et al., and their Bromance movies, that I'm comfortable in the knowledge that the SitC movie and show are squarely not aimed at me. Which makes some of my beefs with the movie irrelevant (such as the fact that men, both straight and otherwise, appear as little but plot points in the series or movie). Like a photonegative of the Apatow-esque dude comedies, the men of SitC are there to reinforce the notion that we all love these characters, even when you want to scream "run away!" at the screen. (Be free, Big! BE FREEEEEEEE!) I suppose this must be how many people feel at the prospect of, say, Seth Rogan writing himself a part where Katherine Heigl falls for anyone approximating Seth Rogan.

Curiously, my feeling during the run of SITC, that the characters are largely completely self-absorbed, awful people, was sort of addressed in the movie. I believe it was largely tackled in part as the closed narrative of the movie forced actual character development to occur instead of the cyclical nature of the TV show. The show hung on the characters' inability to really move on or progress as humans, which would end the show.

I didn't love it, but it was okay, and I couldn't sleep and it was on.

Just want to apologize for Chuck E. Cheese again.

I am tired already and am off to bed.

6 Years. Almost 3000 posts.

Well, holy shit.

March 30, 2003 I wrote my first blog post here at LoM. We're dangerously close to 3000 posts (the counter says 2995, but that's misleading), so that should give a good indicator of our rate of posting.

Six years. 3000 posts. Where's my gold watch from Blogger.com?

In blogging lifespans, I'm a frikkin' methuselah. I've not raised and lowered the boom on a number of blogs. Its just been six straight years of the same-old-same-old.

It's been a great run. When I decide to start a new blog, you people will be the first to know.

THE END

APRIL FIRST: Be Prepared for Swears

I've decided we've all become too civil and we're beating around the bush in social media. My social media of choice are pretty much Blogger, Facebook and Twitter.

At one point in my life, I had the mouth of a sailor's friend that the sailor looked down on for his poor language. I always managed to clean it up around the folks and whatnot, but left to my own devices, I made Andrew Dice Clay look classy. I admit it. Sometimes I really, really miss feeling okay about just letting whatever pops into my heads come out my mouth and/ or keyboard. You know, when someone comes over to your table at your restaurant to let you know how offended they were by listening to you for the last twenty minutes?

Ahhhh.... good times.

Well, for one day, I'm bringing it back. If, in fact, I've still got it in me.

April 1, 2009, will not be a family-friendly day at League of Melbotis. It will be Freedom of Horrendous Speech Day here at League HQ.

I hereby solemnly pledge that for April 1, 2009
Any blog made the evening of March 31, intended for April 1, 2009 will be rife with horrible, horrible profanity. Seriously, you're going to need to wash your monitor clean after reading it, and maybe keep those Clorox wipes nearby.
Similarly, any Facebook or Twitter updates belonging to me (but not to metacomics or comic Fodder) will also be full of ear-searing naughtiness.

Mom... Judy... Admiral.... I am totally not kidding about this. Steer clear on April 1. You've been warned.

The content will otherwise be the same, but we're going to use swears. Lots and lots of swears.

I plan to go unfiltered for one day, and on the following day, will edit the post to be free of any naughty words. But I have to do it. Just this once.

And I ask you to join me.

if you maintain a twitter account, a Facebook page, etc... join me in returning to that same manner of frank speaking we all employed around age 19 or so (or which my wife carries on to this day...)

My Crystal Ball: Light Blogging Ahead

Tomorrow through Thursday should be fairly busy days. I may not have much time for posting here at The League. I have work and other obligations.

So:

1) Please wish Jamie a happy birthday. Her birthday is Wednesday.
2) If you are lurking and not commenting, please pop up and say "hello" in the comments section, or, better yet, shoot me an e-mail. I can see you on Sitemeter, but I don't know who you are. We've got a big tent here and we're happy to have you. Say "howdy".
3) Let me know if you have any old features you'd like to see me do again. Its always fun to get ideas from you guys.
4) Why not pressure Jamie into additional blogging?
5) I was talking to Doug. We may try to get another domain name or something going here. I dunno. It all seems like a lot of bother.

Comic Fodder

If you're wondering why I didn't have a post last night, I did. It was just over at Comic Fodder. Topics include: More on Watchmen, DCU Animated movies, Joker inspired crimes, Sterling at 40, Moving from Online Ordering Back to the Comic Shop

Birthdays

Also, not too much to discuss. We went out for dinner for Jason's birthday the other night and had a lovely time. We'll be having a few folks over for Jamie's birthday on Saturday, so if you're around, feel free to drop by after 8:00 or so.

Longtime Leaguers know I'm not crazy about my own birthday, but I do enjoy other people's birthdays. I suppose it's pretty typical to want to enjoy the party not feel like you have to be "on". Although last year turned out very nicely when we all just headed down to Artz.

I feel I've been a bit overtly cynical of late, which is fine for me, but I don't want to get my pals down, too. I made mention on Facebook of easing off the throttle a bit for a while, and Meredith suggested giving it until my birthday, which seems like a do-able timeframe. I'm not making a pledge or anything, but I am going to make a concerted effort to not automatically make expressions of assuming the worst for a few eeks. We shall see how that goes.

I will probably fail.

Digital Libraries

I've been increasingly thinking about digital distribution lately. (A) I work for a Digital Library initiative, (B) Many are hoping that comics will take a leap into the digital realm this year with the color Kindle and a rumored larger iPod Touch to be announced in 2009. Throw in the Google Scholar/ Google Books efforts, and we're looking at a brave new world of distribution. Which... no kidding, right?

I guess I was thinking this week that it's kind of cool that we're heading ever closer to the endless library of material on demand that Star Trek promised us in the 1960's. While you can currently find some information at this point about virtually any topic, its been tough to find complete works or the sort of scholarship that used to collect dust on library shelves.

Sure, we're not getting flying cars or hovering skateboards, but its nice to know some part of the sci-fi future is becoming true. And its fun to be a part of it in some miniscule way.

See, that was positive as hell, yo.

Achewood takes on Constructivist Learning Theory

And History as a commodity.

Here.

Emergency post: Change of URL

Hi all.

Looks like my relationship with GoDaddy is over with. We're now back at publishing at: www.melbotis.blogspot.com

Please update your links.

This post is pretty much going to end whenever Leaguer Nathan shows up at my door. Nathan comes into town every year for SXSW and stays at my house while he attends the film portion of the conference. Its after 10:00, and once again, I'm pretty tired. For some reason the time change this spring really, really jacked me up. That was true last year, too, actually. And it makes me sort of afraid to do any serious intercontinental business travel, lest I walk around like a zombie for a week afterward.

I also have a nexus of physical symptoms that all feel relatively the same to me of tired/ nauseous/ headache. I often cannot tell one from the other, because when I have one, I usually have one of the others. Or else I can tell its coming.

Last night we watched "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", which RHPT had recommended a long time ago. And, hey, it was pretty darn good. The Apatow school of romantic comedy has finally found a way to step outside the hideously formulaic world of junk like "Two Weeks Notice" and give me junk like "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" that at least isn't utterly, painfully adorable and predictable. And often finds its humor in the painful trainwreck of real life rather than in "ha ha ha... Sandra Bullock fell down".

Oddly, it did manage to stir up a weird set of memories as I broke up with my first real girlfriend on the same day I took her to see "Dracula: The Musical" at the Alley in Houston. And, no, I did not react much better than the lead in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", but then lump in the sort of emotional reaction you'd expect out of a 17 year old.

Yeah. I was awesome. I am just really, really proud of that time in my life. (Give self slow clap).

Anyhoo, I don't know that its ever really necessary to see these sorts of movies on the big screen, which is an odd position to put the movies in. I don't think I'm missing a whole lot by watching the movie DVR'd from cable.

And while we were watching the movie, btw, Nielsen called and asked me to do a survey. Upon completion of the survey, I will receive $15.

At last, my opinion is worth something. And it is worth roughly what I'd make working at Chick-Fil-A.

Today we didn't do much but tidy. Between Jamie and myself, we aren't the best housekeepers, and in addition to our cement floors, we probably should have added a drain in the middle of the floor so we could just hose everything down once a fortnight.

Cleaning usually means I disappear into my office for about three or four hours where I basically play with action figures under the auspices of "straightening up". I'll download some podcasts. Stuff like that. But I think I'm more or less moving away from action figures as a collectible. My JLU stuff is finding its way into boxes, which means in 6-12 months, I'll be looking to unload it on some poor, unsuspecting kid.

This is why I wish I had a niece of nephew who was into this stuff. If I could put it in the hands of some kid I knew would appreciate it, it would be no big deal to let it go. But just handing it over to Goodwill in a box makes me think some kid is going to melt my precious, precious Kilowog figure with a magnifying glass on the first sunny day.

This week is Spring break at UT, which should be interesting as that means my fellow employees will probably scatter to the four winds. We've also hired this guy from Mexico who I was informed I need to help find a place to live. Which... ok...? But now some poor jerk is going to have to depend on what I think about Austin neighborhoods, and Lord knows that's not fair. I'm suggesting we find something in Hyde Park on a bus route. Yes, it will be expensive, but it will also be super convenient for him as he's arriving without a car.

I think I am going to try to duck out of the Waco trip I had planned for Wednesday.

Jason's birthday is on Tuesday, so everyone should begin planning their big birthday wishes for my brother now. After much consideration, I know exactly what present I would like to get him. Something he can really use, you know?

SXSW has returned, which means that unless you can afford a wristband, you might as well not bother going anywhere near town for a week. Or any restaurant of note within 5 miles of town. JimD keeps trying to get me to go to a Pop Candy meetup, but I confess I completely do not see the attraction in going to some place I'd never normally go, to meet people I'd never normally talk to, where our only common bond is that we all read the same USA Today columnist. Especially a pop culture columnist that pretty much just points out stuff you might want to watch/ buy/ and/ or listen to.

Leaguers will note that I get a bit grumpy about SXSW. There are a few reasons.

1) SXSW pretty much stakes out Austin every year for a week. People come into town, stay in a hotel, go to clubs that locals can't get into that week, and then talk about how great Austin is. Which is sort of like visiting EPCOT and using that to form your opinion of living in Orlando. It's also made it impossible to go out and celebrate Jason's birthday in town every year since he came back for law school.

2) Its tough to get excited about a festival in which you have no professional reason to participate. And yet every year everyone asks (including locals) are you going to SXSW? The answer is: no. I can't afford the wristband and I sort of trust that if any of these movies/ bands/ etc... are any good, we'll hear about them later when it will cost me $8 to see them.

3) I find Austin's ankle-grabbing for SXSW terribly embarrassing. In college, in particular, friends would give up their entire spring break to volunteer, and their big reward would be "I got to see Horatio Sanz walk by" or some such. Its a grim reminder of the lengths we'll go to hoping that a little of that Hollywood magic will rub off on us. I'm well out of school and I still hear colleagues mention that they're stage managing places for a week for no pay while the SXSW folks rake in the cost of all those badges and wristbands. We're 1 degree away from lining up for tryouts for season 2 of "Tool Academy".

It's not as glamorous as tearing ticket stubs, but it seems like if you're going to donate your time, there's a lot of options in town that might be able to use you...

4) The SXSW web conference, which I think is now SXSWi or some such, actually seems far more relevant than either the film or music conference, but gets none of the attention. Unfortunately, the year I went, half the presenters lost their cool dotcom jobs (circa 2001) and were talking about how sad they were that their BS companies built on a BS premise with BS VC were no longer in existence. Except for interweb Adult Site entrepreneur Danni Ashe, who was making a killing.

5) Somehow either my financial picture or my work schedule hasn't meshed well with SXSW, and so, no... I've never been able to afford to go. So I'm sure a lot of its sour grapes. But I also just don't get a huge charge out of the idea of staying up all night and seeing new bands anymore, if I ever did. The movie side is probably more appealing, but the cost for seeing a bunch of movies seems a little crazy to me. And I honestly don't know how engaged I'd be by the third movie. My suspicion is that I'd have my critic hat on pretty hard by that point.

I would actually really, really like to go to the SXSW Interactive next year. However, convincing my bosses its a good thing to pay for may be a bit complicated. Which means I'm using my dollars and my vacation time for something work related, and that's just something I need to sort out.

And, I do have to admit... I am unsure about movies at SXSW, but SXSW does seem to be able to make bands these days. And that's good. It just has nothing to do with me or my current interests (sorry. I have neither the time nor energy to pretend I'm up on music these days). And I'd like to believe that a younger, less cynical me would be far more pumped about the wide offering of independent film at SXSW. But I don't see 90% of what comes out to the mainstream theater anymore, so... there you have it.

I'm not sure I'm saying that I'm doing anything better or more worthwhile, but I'm not terribly invested in the proceedings.

Well, Nathan still isn't here. Hmmm...

You kids have a good night.

Lovely Out

It is freakishly beautiful in Austin today. 70 degrees, clear sky, low humidity, a stiff wind. Went to Auditorium Shores with the dogs. Lucy was like a little black comet, flying all over the place in large elliptical orbits.

It is a Maxfield Parrish kind of day.



Despite what I understood to be a general snobbery concerning Parrish's work, I used to keep this poster on my wall in college. It was nice to have a bit of Parrish sunlight to remind you of days like today.

Blogging will recommence when it is not sunny and/ or very, very nice outside.

No post this evening.

I'm actually kind of tired and want to turn in early.


Here's an Alex Ross interpretation of The Amazing Amazon.



Because I don't want to leave you with nothing to read:

You have just won a sweepstakes and, after taxes, will have $20 million dollars.

Let's assume that, as a great humanitarian, you've already given a truckload to charity. After paying off your house, loans, bookie, etc...

1) What are the three luxuries that you would allow yourself in the first week?

2) What are two items you would never buy, even with all that dough?

3) Would you keep showing up at work?