bookshelves, zen, Johnny Clambake's

Hey Leaguers. Not much to report. As Steanso might say, its been an uneventful week.

Over the weekend Jamie and I began my long-dreamt-of plan to get shelving up in the hallway/ open area at the top of the stairs. The League is actually very excited about this turn of events as it means: organization. Based on evidence of my life, ages 12-18, KareBear would probably not believe I actually really, really like self-imposed organization. I like knowing exactly where things are, and setting up organizational systems. In a way, what i really wanted to do was build my own "built-in" bookshelves, but if I wanted to do that, it would take weeks, and I couldn't guarantee the shelves would be, oh... flush to the wall and all sit level. I am no carpenter.

So we've Ikea'd it. We're putting in shelves from the Billy system. The system which is going to look much better with books on it, than sitting empty.

We also sort of screwed up, and I neglected to pick up the "corner hardware" which would actually make the whole "corner" bookshelf thing work. There's also an additional, small bookshelf I think i need to make it work, but... anyway.

Tonight I intended to continue on with the great bookshelf build, but we wound up going to Austin Asian-style-food-bistro, "Zen". Which has good food, but it's claims to being "Japanese" are pretty dubious. The reality is, if the food is okay, I could care less about its authenticity or pedigree.

What struck me was how utterly unrelaxing "Zen" is as an environment. There are TV screens with 3D animations flying around, they aren't shy with the volume of music, and the art design, while interesting, is sort of aggressive. Not exactly like a stone garden.

But, again, the food is good and priced reasonably.

Speaking of reastaurants, it's been almost a year, so I thought I'd repost the Johnny Clambake's post from last year, with names removed to protect the innocent.

Johnny Clambake's 1

Johnny Clambake's 2

Johnny Clambake's 3

Johnny Clambake's 4

And Steanso's raging response to me pulling down the post.

For those of you who weren't around this time last year, the Johnny Clambake's incident was the oddest, most controversial escapade of all the escapades at League of Melbotis. Not only was I contacted at home by a business owner, some Loyal Leaguers felt my deicison to remove my post was highly questionable. Just check out the comments sections for the free-for-all that ensues.

I guess The League had strayed too far from its punk-rock roots, but hell, I was a little sensitive to unemployment issues at the time, and I stand by those crazy kids and their meatball manufacturing ways. And, hey, Johnny Clambake's has wound up making a go of it in spite of anything I thought. Bully for them.

In the end, the woner of the place extended an olive branch. Heck, a whole olive tree, but I was too tired of dealing with the issue to take him up on his offer.
Thus, we never did claim that free meal. Nor have I been back, pretty sure that I would be taken out back by guys named "Tiny" and "Chuckles" who would see how far backward my knees would bend.

Honestly, it was a pretty unhappy event for me at the time. But if you can't look back and laugh, well, hell... you shouldn't be writing inflammatory restaurant reviews or keeping a blog at all.

5th Anniversary of League of Melbotis

Well, holy $#!%.

The League of Melbotis turns 5 on Sunday. Our first post went out on Sunday March 30th, 2003. I had no plans for League of Melbotis at the time, short of keeping up with JimD and this Randy fellow.

In many ways, League of Melbotis has become a chronicle of my life that I never really anticipated. And while possibly originally conceived as some soapbox, its become a doorway into a community/ family of its very own in a way that on March 30th, 2003, I never would have expected.

In the past five years I've been able to find folks who dropped off my radar, have met new people, made new friends, been able to announce births, celebrate birthdays, ring in the Holidays, share our little victories, announce the arrival of our own little puppy, track our move back to Austin, tracked relationships into marriage, and, sadly, had to wish a few good people good-bye.

We've had some weird moments, like when Meco showed up in the comments section. We've had some fun contests, entirely too much about Superman, enjoyed UT's National Championship, and all kinds of stuff.


The League of Melbotis welcomes all like-minded individuals willing to use their unique abilities for the betterment of mankind.

The blog has changed, I am sure, since I left Arizona. I've changed in the past five years, too, I'd guess. I see things in older posts I miss doing. I see things I think that maybe work a little better now. It's no longer a tool to keep me attached with friends and family back home, but it now lets me keep tabs on friends and family all over the place.

And, hey, I've had an opportunity to get on my little soapbox and talk about the comics, movies, cartoons and stuff that I love, and love to hate. Thanks for being a part of that discussion.

So... Thanks again for making this worth doing. We've enjoyed it. We hope you've enjoyed it.

In the next week few weeks, I should be hitting 2500 posts. 2500. That's kind of unreal.

And God help you if you read them all.

Thanks for letting me be a part of your life. Jamie and I thank you. Mel thanks you. And Lucy and Jeff, too.

Don't forget, the party for Mel's birthday is April 19th, sometime in the afternoon after 2:00. We'd love it if you could be there. E-mail me if you need directions.

If you can't make that... April 27th, The Alamo Drafthouse at LakeCreek is showing Superman at 1:00 and 7:30. You know the League of Melbotis will be there. We're going to the 1:00 show.

Thanks to all of you once again. Here's to five more.

Easter/ birthdays/ tomfoolery

Friday my folks came into Austin. They were supposed to be going to the design center for the hourse they're going to build in Steiner Ranch (a planned commnity/ suburban enclave off 620, sort of out by The Oasis). Apparently that didn't happen. I'm not really clear on the whole story.

I was wrapping up another week at the office, but managed to wrap up before 6:00, so I could join the family, plus Heather, plus the Neely family at Fado's, down off 4th. The area is much changed in the past few years. What was once a fine but not terribly upscale area has become a somewhat silly and cost-prohibitive area. For God's sake, there's a bar which may or may not have sharks living under the dance floor.

Austin is a changing town. Unfortunately, sometimes it seems like its changing to favor those with more money than brains. Yes, I am passing judgment.

Saturday we took the dogs to the park with Mom and Dad. Cousin Susan showed up with her dog, Pierre. Pierre is a tiny corgi, who most recently was saluted for his alerting Susan to an unwanted visitor of the rodent variety.

Saturday night we met up at Fonda San Miguel. I think we were all pretty impressed. I know I enjoyed my dinner and cocktails.

Today we went to church, then to lunch. In the afternoon, Jamie and I went to see "The Bank Job". The "Bank Job" is not a great movie. It is a better movie than i was expecting. The first quarter is pretty much what you'd expect: The Asphalt Jungle by way of Guy Ritchie. It's supposedly a true story, and if it is, its kind of exciting. If its not... well, it still makes for an interesting crime drama. Especially as the story is very wrapped up in concerns Americans might not have dreamt up (or handled differently) the movie is a bit off-kilter from what I expected.

Also, aside from the fact that it was identified as 1971 or so, the movie apparently didn't really have the budget to actually appear as if it took place in 1971. Especially with star Jason Stratham looking as if he walked off another cars & kung-fu epic.

I also don't understand why, when I got to the Westgate theater, all of the trailers are for post-J-Horror low budget slasher or horror flicks. There's nothing particularly horrific about The Bank Job, but it seemed that before the movie, that was all they advertised. including the almost ubiquitous trailer for The Ruins. Which people say is a good book, but... this looks like a typical horror movie, most likely fetauring gruesome deaths and the virginal heroine being the only one to escape at the end. Am I close? Who knows... I will most likely never see the movie.

The winner for best movie title of 2008 will have to go to "Midnight Meat Train". I don't know what its about. A guy killing people on the subway, I think, but the trailer was dark, loud and intended to scare me. But it sort of made me feel, instead, like I was sitting there with the sort of anticipation one feels when you're 8 and you and your friend agree to hit one another in the face, just to know what it feels like. And you already hit your friend, and it looked, just, really awful. So now you're sitting there with your eyes shut, waiting for him to pop you one... It's not a real sense of dread. It's a sense of the antiicpation of meaningless violence. And if I ever thought that was okay, old age and weariness with the torture-porn genre has made me numb to the whole thing. Even if they did stunt-cast Brooke Shields.

But, really, I am not sure you can beat that title.

League weekend

Hey ya'll

This weekend was surprisingly busy. And it doesn't look like things are going to slow down any time soon.

Friday night we went to Juan "Beta Juan" Garcia's birthday get-to-together at the Flying Saucer. Basically like a less-dark Gingerman, and apparently part of a chain, it's located in the nuevo-hipster locale of the Triangle, just north of 45th street on Lamar (just before Austin Books).

Saturday we jumped out of bed and straightened some for the somewhat surprise arrival of Doug. Wednesday or so Doug decided to come to town, so... come to town he did. Saturday we hung out with Doug, went to Rudy's BBQ, and then I gave in to my allergy attack and passed out for an hour or so.

Saturday night was Mandy's Fiesta. Honestly, I was expecting decent food, but the food was really, really good. Add in seeing all kinds of folks, from Kraber to JenShaw, and it was a nice night.

I don't know if you guys are familiar with RiffTrax, but it's a web project by the former MST3K guys. Anyhow, Doug and some of his friends had submitted to part of a fan-competition to submit jokes for 1997's "Batman and Robin". Which is, maybe, the worst movie ever. It's... Anyway, Doug & Pals gota few jokes in. And while I enjoyed watching what of the movie I caught with he and Jamie... man... that's just not a good movie.

Today we got up, fed Doug, took him to the airport, and Jamie got pulled over by a cop. Of course, cops look at Jamie and refuse to actually ever ticket her lest she burst into tears. And NOBODY wants Jamie to cry. So, Jamie once again got a warning.

That's not really fair. Jamie rarely gets pulled over, and today was kind of a fluke. But, again, she never gets a ticket.

This evening Leaguer Nathan C. is in town for SXSW, so he's staying at our house for two nights. Its great to see him again.

Anyhow, I'm tired and am off to bed.

Weekend Round-Up

It was a quiet weekend, for the most part.

Thursday we went to Ballet Austin. It was an interesting show, but I had no business being there. Ballet Austin is searching for a new choreographer, and so was having a weighted competition. Three choreographers were being given a shot, and so it was three separate short pieces and a vote. I, of course, know nothing about dance.

I wound up voting for a gentleman from Russia. He seemed well aware of the challenge and opportunity before him, and so asked his dancers to kill themselves for twenty-odd minutes of some proabably over the top choreography. He picked a universal, straightforward theme he could abstract from (the weather), and completely filled his timeslot.

The second choreographer put together a program that included a track of music which seemed too distracting (it was a re-mixed C-Span audio clip of some statesman discussing failure of the super powers in the middle-east and Afghanistan). It was intended to get you to think, but I wound up listening to the pre-recorded voice and analyzing the speaker's comments, and wound up ignoring what was on stage.

The third was similar to the first choreographer, but less focused. It was a tight decision, but, again, I voted for the first guy.

There were also judges whose opinion counted heavily. I will be watching to see who gets the job. Here's a note, Ballet Austin: I will actually pay to see the first choreographer's work again in the future.

Friday night we did our usual bit of staying in. It seems we went out to eat, maybe... Honestly, I don't really recall. It was a long week at work, and I'm wrapping several things up.

Saturday was rainy and awful. We went to see Persepolis, which I highly, highly recommend. It directly captured the graphic novel and used the animation of the images from the comic incredibly well. My hat is off to the director and Sartapi.

Later, we met up with Letty, Juan, Matt, Nicole and Jason at Habana on S. Congress. We had fun, but the drinks were ridiculously expensive, which... well, the League ran up a tab. And nobody liked my impression of Arnie on the side of the mountain in Total Recall (you know, his eyes bugging out and tongue waggling as he gasps for air).

Sunday we had our first rehearsal with our new power trio. Jason on guitar and vocals, Lauren on drums, myself on bass. We are ready to play SXSW. I also bought a new and amazing strap for my guitar. I have to salute Lauren. She sounded great, and it was doubly fun to play with a drummer keeping the beat.

We aren't going to be sent to get any Kennedy Center Honors quite yet, but I'm looking forward to our next practice.

Anyhoo... hope everyone had a good weekend and President's Day.

Oh, yes. I had to work today. Hope you had President's Day off and made the most of it.

Hey Leaguers, long time no post.

It's been a fairly busy weekend here at League HQ.

Friday night we met up with team Harms-Roth at Eddie V's down on 5th. It's definitely a sight nicer than the usual run to Casa Garcia's we might have on Friday, and the swordfish I got was fantastic. I'm a big fan of fish, but living in land-locked Austin, I'm frequently skeptical of most seafood at restaurants. You're always one bad clam away from a really tough 24 hours. Eddie V's delivered on food, drink and dessert.

More important than the food was the company, and as always it was great to catch up with Lauren and Steven. We're all fairly busy folks, and it was the first time we'd seen each other since the Holidays. I neglected to ask Steven about his experiments with Ruby on Rails, so that gives us an excuse to catch up for drinks in the near future. Lauren's been learning to sew. Like, really sew. She made a dress for herself. Then re-made the dress for herself. I Look forward to seeing what she cooks up. Also, I think she should start making all of Steven's clothes. And only use houndstooth and tweeds.

Saturday we ran an errand or two and took Mel and Lucy to the dog park at Riverside and I-35. Mel's getting up there, and he's not as healthy as we'd like, but... man. Set him loose at the dog park and he's as energetic and tough as any of the puppies out there. And not to brag, but Lucy is faster and more accurate than any other dog at the park when it comes to fetch. I know not everyone is a dog person, but there's a genuine pleasure in taking your dog down to the park and seeing them run with other dogs, but still wanting to keep near you, keeping the pack intact. I'm not ready yet for summer heat and swimming holes, so the dog park is a good substitute.

Saturday night we met up with Matt and Nicole at Maudie's on Lamar where Matt and I had the Rockin' Ruthann's and a few margaritas. Luckily, Jamie drove.

I should also mention Jason and I squeezed in not one but TWO practices this weekend. Our two-man band is on its way. We're trying to get a drummer, and so far two people have volunteered, my pal Julia from work (who didn't flinch when I said "well, you'll have to grow an afro..."), and Lauren, who I visualized in an afro, and I'm not sure it will work. Perhaps those novelty antenna deely-bobbers?

At any rate, Jason is incredibly patient with me, and I'm having a huge amount of fun. I must learn something called "12 bar blues". I'm also practicing from a book Cousin Sue gave me for Christmas. I think both Jason and Jamie are disappointed that I've named my bass "Lois", but... c'mon. Who couldn't see that coming a mile away?

Jason's been in a few bands, but since its him and me, and I have no idea what I'm doing, and so by default, he's sort of singer and guitarist. I think we're going to recruit Jamie to sing, at least harmonies. She's skeptical, but if we play Radiohead's "Karma Police", I think we can get her onboard. Now, she may need to hide in a box or something if we ever play out somewhere, but maybe not. She's got some stage-fright issues.

Today I went down to Reed's to get a look at his recently unearthed comic collection. It had been in a closet in his house for a while, and he was curious as to the value of the collection. Really, he's got a lot of key-80's era stuff and if he ever decided to sell, he could do pretty well. Stuff like "first appearance of Spider-Man black suit", "first Black Cat", and some Batman stuff that's worth something.

I really don't know what comic collections mean to folks to who don't hit the Ye Olde Comick Booke Shoppe anymore. I know what I'm doing to augment my Superman collection. If I quit buying comics, what would I keep? What would I sell? It's something to ponder.

This evening we met up with Stuart and Hilary at their place, roughly half-way between Jason's house and our place. Carla and David were supposed to make it, but unfortunately Carla wasn't feeling well, so they had to scrub plans to join us. While we missed them, we had a good time, ate some great food (I hear an exchange of recipes is imminent) and more promises were made that our living room will be painted at some point.

All in all, its been a busy, busy weekend.

Now Jamie's retired for the night, I've got our gas fire going, the dogs are asleep (Lucy sleeps inverted), and its back to work for a new week. Egads.

Hope your weekend was good.

2007 Wrap-Up Part Two

Comics

Last year I think I swamped you guys with a lot of unfortunate year-end reflecting regarding comics. Well, this year I have a job, and am no longer reviewing comics. Also, I honestly had a lot less time to spend thinking about comics.

MARVEL

Civil War, Death of Captain America, World War Hulk, One More Day... and I'm sure there's tons of stuff going on in the X-Books, but I haven't read those very much in the past several years.

Mainstream Marvel saw a year of chaos, and, generally the storylines were intriguing. Recognizing that an adult audience is looking for character development and plot development (often if they do not realize it or will admit it), Marvel took the liberty this year of actually changing the status quo in the Marvel Universe.

Masks and capes are now either federally regulated or outlaws, Captain America was taken down by a sniper's bullet and the Hulk took mainstays of the Marvel U to task for their perceived crimes, and there was nothing cute about it. One More Day is turning out to be Marvel's big goof of the year, and I foresee the results being reversed within a calendar year or two. Daredevil continues to be the most interesting "super hero" comic on the stands, but I recommend picking it up in collected formats. Strictly for adults, and the only title I can think of that seems to have a fully dysfunctional but believable super hero in the lead... Anyway, Daredevil continues to be a hell of a comic.

Add in Annihilation, and my faith in the Marvel U is once again piqued. (Especially since one of the post-Annihilation books featured Rocket Raccoon.)

I believe Quesada and Buckley are doing their best to make sure that when you buy a Marvel comic, you get something beyond "fight, chase, fight", and I'm not sure either DC or smaller publishers are painting their universes with such a diverse set of brushes right now.

DC COMICS

After a few good years, this was the year DC seriously shook my faith. The "One Year Later" event of 2006 collapsed back into a status quo by early 2007 in virtually every title. "52" had a satisfactory ending with a world of promise for the DCU as a whole, which editorial seemed to take in exactly the wrong direction. "Countdown" was simply unreadable from Week 46 to Week 26, and still, week 18, shows almost no signs of actually going anywhere. (I'm still not sure what I;m supposed to be getting out of the Piper/ Trickster storyline.)

Didio pretty clearly had a slate of writers who were willing to follow his mandates and hand in multiple scripts per month. The unfortunate part is that many of them (Bedard, Gray, Palmiotti) can't tell an intertesting story to save their lives, even with an outline in hand. Further, Didio's friends Bilson, Matteo and Green handed in stories that had a tremendous impact and were simultaneously DOA. The horrendous reboot of Flash ended with issue #13 this year and the pointless aging and death of Bart Allen (from Kid Flash to Flash in 13 easy issues). Meanwhile, Green decided he could outdo "The Killing Joke" and wrote an awkward and somewhat pedestrian re-imagining of the origin of The Joker.

Several key DC titles were running behind at the beginning of the year, including Action Comics, Batman, Wonder Woman and others. It does seem DC managed to get these titles back on track for the foreseeable future, and with the exception of the "Return of Ra's Al Ghul" storyline, they're some of the first books I read out of the stack.

Kudos this year go out to Geoff Johns (and Tomasi) for his work on the spectacular "Sinestro Corps War" in Green Lantern and the always engaging Justice Society of America.

The oddest bit of 2007 was that DC seemed to realize Things Are Not Working, and they semi-publicly seem to be taking steps to clear that up. Tony Bedard is no longer writing half of the DCU books, Countdown suddenly seems to be going somewhere, books are coming out monthly (even if storylines are wrapping up in annuals), and all titles are no longer beholden to Countdown. Furthermore, Didio saw a genuine success with the Sinestro Corps War, and I expect more events like that will be the status quo rather than Universe Wide events.

Oh, and while Supergirl still isn't very good, it's a hell of a lot better now that Berganza is no longer editing the books.

In 2008 I will be clearing a lot of titles off of my pull list. More announcements about that later.

In the meantime, go read Blue Beetle. He's the teen-age protector of El Paso! It's a darn fun comic.

Superman

2008 will be the 70th anniversary of Superman's publication, and so we may see some small events in publishing, etc... I'd expect 2013 will be the big year, with 75 years of Superman. And I'll be 38. Christ.

Anyway, 2007 saw Geoff Johns' work on Action Comics with the not-quite finished "Lat Son" storyline, the Bizarro Worls three-issue run with Eric Powell (a fun read. Highly recommended.) and the Legion story currently taking place in Action. Johns' work is fantastic, and while some of the folks who came to Superman in the Byrne age might be put off by the Bronze-Age flair the comics have, I'm really enjoying them.

Kurt Busiek has been writing his own mini-events in the oft-overlooked "Superman" title. What's intriguing to me about Kurt's run is that he's making a conscious effort to establish the elements of Superman's life and tell stories in a manner which went out of fashion about ten to fifteen years ago. In short, while he's writing self-contained stories, there's a general backdrop that doesn't seem linked only to six-issue stories aimed at a trade collection. He's in it for the long-haul, and its helping out the mainstream Superman books immeasurably to have that context.

Mr. Busiek is telling engaging stories with a greater thematic vision than "Superman meet bad guy, Superman fight bad guy" and taking a look at Superman's place within his universe in a way that other writers have tried to do (including Azzarello) and haven't necessarily succeeded. I did feel the "Fall of Camelot" storyline had a satisfactory ending, but felt it had been cut a bit short.

Looking forward to upcoming issues.

That said, Kurt... more Subjekt 17.

"All Star Superman" is a critical darling for a reason, and if I were to recommend picking up one Superman comic, this would be it. From Quitely's refreshingly metitative art work to Morrison's larger-than-life scripts, it's a comic that seems to have a bit of something for anyone. It does feel a bit like the Superman comic you always wanted to pick up and read, but just never existed until now.

I don't foresee All Star Superman making it past issue 13 or so as Morrison moves on, but I imagine it will live on in collected formats for some time.

Superman also starred in the straight-to-DVD movie "Superman Doomsday", which has little to nothing to do with the original Death of Superman comics from the early 90's. As DC's first PG-13 animated feature, it was a lot of fun to see Superman cut loose on the screen the way he occasionally does in the comics. Unfortunately, I'm not sure the second half of the movie lives up to the promise of the first half.

That said, it also doesn't seem to go off in the "all-action, no logic" direction of the original "Return of Superman" comics.

DIGITAL COMICS

Two big stories wrapped up the year in digital comics.

Firstly, Marvel launched Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited. Their service, for $60 a year, would give readers access to a partial library of Marvel comics. The project has been widely criticized for the lack of completeness, as runs of series currently available as collections are not available as part of the site. In short, Marvel seems to be asking readers to pay for a marketing tool.

At $60 a year, I'm not sure this is a bad deal or worth complaining about. After all, the cover price on most Marvel comics is $3, and trades run about $18 for around siz issues worth of comics. But as I have as of yet to pay $60 myself for the service, I can't say whether it's worth the money.

DC is watching Marvel closely, but they seem content to continue to publish printed collections of older material. I suspect DC's marketing research has told them that their audience is older and seems willing to pay for printed collections. As DC spent 2006 and 2007 ramping up their trade collections department, they've done a great job of bringing collections to their audience, and that audience has been happy to pay the fairly low prices associated with the collections.

One day, perhaps, DC will have a stronger online effort. I've heard in 2008 the Archives Editions may disappear in favor of another model. I'll be keeping an eye open for what they'll do next. But I suspect it won't be online.

The other big story was that DC and Marvel jointly began asking the sites which were illegally carrying scanned copies of comics to knock it off. Honestly, I have no idea what the sites were thinking. Their activity was pretty clearly illegal, and they were getting a lot of hits.

There is an argument in the comic community that the free comics online were nothing but great marketing for the print collections. From an informal poll I took at work (and we have lots of guys and girls at work who read comics), this is sort of true, but not really. The truth seems to be that the $3 cover price for comics is simply too steep for what they're willing to pay for comics they'll read once. And I'm increasingly in agreement. What they do not do very often is actually purchase any comics whatsoever.

What I personally found ludicrous were the voices online who were outraged that the free comics sites had been shut down. For people who read comics every day about de facto law enforcement, the understanding of legal v. illegal and what is stealing and what is not is a little shakey. If you're going to illegally download comics, at least know what you're doing.

2007 saw the rise of popular web strips such as Achewood and Perry Bible Fellowship, which give me a lot more hope for comic strips (in print OR online) than, say, Fred Basset. And I continue to enjoy the hell out of Daniel Fu's action comic "The Retriever" (bookmark it and check weekly for updates).



That's it

No list of my favorite comics. This went on way longer than I expected. Hope you kids enjoy. More comics in 2008!

2007 Wrap-Up Part One

I'm not going to monkey with top 10 lists. Inspired by Jamie's random Top 10 list, I'm just going to highlight several things I found to be of import in 2007.


Movies:

I didn't see 95% of what came out this year. I'm moving into a period in my life where trailers tell me nothing about why I should drop my hard-won clams on a movie, movies aren't aimed at my demographic, or I feel like I've already seen the movie before.

My favorite movie of 2007: No Country for Old Men

It's probably Cormac McCarthy who deserves the real praise here, as from what I hear, the movie's greatest achievement was sticking close to the book. But for once, a movie managed to surprise me, have uniformly excellent performances, stark but fantastic cinematography and told a story with no fear. Still, adaptations are difficult at best, and to truly do the source material justice may actually be more difficult than creating a movie from the ground up where the audience has no foreknowledge and/ or no expectations.

Moreover, it's no secret that the Coens were a huge part of why I was enamored enough with film when I started college and remained a tremendous influence throughout much of my teens and 20's. Unfortunately, of late, I had felt they were no longer making movies I really cared about. This movie proved me wrong.

The movie took a plot that could have been a standard "package" movie, and, instead managed to make a coherent statement upon the nature of evil in the world and what becomes of good men who spend their lives fighting something they can't ever really understand.

Anyhow, it did lead to me buying a three-novel collection of McCarthy's work I'm going to crack here before the New Year.


Least Favorite Movie of 2007: So many to choose from!

Probably the most cynical and bankrupt of the movies I watched this year was "High School Musical 2", which I watched half of one night with Wagner. Calculated and intentionally stupid, but bright and shiny as a 52" Plasma Screen's demo disc, this movie was intended to give elementary and middle school kids who think high school is going to be AWESOME something to aspire to. Made Saved by the Bell look nuanced. Heck, it reallyw asn't any different than "From Justin to Kelly", except that this movie was somehow even more chaste. But, then again, it is for little kids.

Also, "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" was... it was just a failure on so many levels, I don't have the time. Pair it with the nuttily bad "Ghost Rider", and Marvel had a rough year at the movies. Both will have sequels, I am sure.

As I mentioned, we really didn't see a lot of movies this year, and while many of them didn't do much for me, I can't say it was that the movies were bad, per se. They just weren't that great. But I think that's pretty typical.

True standouts:

Had we not had tickets to see Robosaurus after Transformers at the Alamo, I would have walked out. It was that bad. Oh, yes it was. The entire center thirty minutes of the film was embarrassing and nigh-unwatchable. If you weren't bored and squirming in your seats during the "Transformers sneak around Spike's backyard" sequence, I cannot help you.

But above all stands Tarantino's "Death Proof", the second half of the Grindhouse double feature. Yes. I do, in fact, get it. I am not against paying homage o exploitation movies, bad movies, etc... I think it can be nifty. But I do think that believing that whatever dialog you put in the character's mouths is interesting and needs no editing is a fallacious assumption. Tarantino's post "Pulp Fiction" career seems to be a test to see exactly how much he actually does need Roger Avary as the years go by.

Whatever Tarantino once added to the movies he made by recycling old bits from cheap movies and polishing them up has drained away. Now we're left with endless, pointless dialog and modestly directed action sequences. The movie was not (a) exciting, (b) funny. And it was easily thirty minutes too long.

Bleh.



Television

My favorite TV show of 2007: 30 Rock

For probably snooty reasons, TV reviewers (who have absolutely no ground to stand on being snooty) thought Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was going to be the winner in the contest between the shows about a comedy sketch show. After all, Studio 60 was moody and joyless and featured alcoholics and other staples of the TV landscape of adult programming. But a show where absolutely nobody is funny or even cracks a smile about a sketch comedy show?

30 Rock stepped up to the plate and gave a writer's-eye view of working on a sketch comedy show owned by a mega-corporation and the goofiness the disconnect between the two worlds creates. Like all good jesters, Tina Fey is able to comment by making a joke, on everything from politics to star theatrics to the very suits who have made her career possible. The show may not be for all tastes, but with every episode a bit different, and without getting bogged down in any pointless "will they or won't they?" romantic plotlines, it's been a standout show that seems to get better all the time.

Also, due in large part to Alec Baldwin, it's possibly the most quotable show on TV any given week. Thanks to JAL and a certain sketch featuring "Paul Schwetty", I was quite glad to see Baldwin take on the role of Jack Donaghy, and they show has found it's voice in the schizm between the idealistic Liz Lemon and corporate shark Donaghy.

Add in Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski and Jack McBayer (as well as any of the rest of the show's multitude of characters) and it's a lot of fun.


Honorable Mention: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

The premise of the show: people are awful, especially when they're looking for an advantage.

There's no real story here other than a bar run by family and friends and their various misadventures from starting a band to trying out for the Eagles. In the current trend set by HBO programming, basic cable is waking up to the fact that shows with characters who are more morally ambiguous are inherently more interesting. And, in this case, a lot funnier.

This is the show that made me like Danny DeVito for the first time in more than a decade, made me want to join a band, and gave us Kaitlin Olson as Sweet Dee (a tie for my favorite female character in TV, right there with Liz Lemon).


Least Favorite Show of 2007: Any show that asked me to get invested (while providing nothing in return)

Dear TV,

I have only so many hours in my week. I know most people now seem to love getting wrapped up in the complicated mythologies of hour long dramas. I am not one of them.

There was a time when TV shows were good first, and then lasted long enough to build up a backbone and larger plots. These days, you take a fairly benign concept like "The Bionic Woman" and load it down with fifteen tons of dead-weight in the first two episodes with massive conspiracies, fractured families, precocious teenage sisters with criminal records, huge San Francisco apartments owned by bartenders and overly complicated backgrounds for Harvard-bound future bionic women.

Thanks to shows like X-Files (which eventually built a mythology), and the break-away success of shows like "Lost", every show has to have a built in mythology. This ignores the fact that probably, at some point, a better idea could come along but the show will be locked into whatever angle they put in the pilot. And trying to write around whatever was in the pilot will just make things even more awkward.

I dunno.

I wonder if I am not a bit jaded regarding the "instant mythology" bit from seeing too many comics that believe they need to cram potentially interesting ideas down your throat in the first issue or two, but when you get down to it, there's nothing there beyond the mythology. The characters don't behave from an area of honesty, they become walking plot devices or behave in ways that serve plot while providing no real motivation of their own that I can buy.

In the deepest, darkest places in my heart, I am secretly hoping that the writer's strike and lack of programming for a year or so will mean that in 2008 I will no longer see the look of shock on people's faces when I admit I am not interested in Show X, or that I have no plans to watch Show Y, no matter how good it is. Especially if I have 40 episodes to watch in order to catch up.

Where do you people find the time?


Sophomore Slump 2007: Friday Night Lights

Formerly a show about the pressure cooker of kids growing up in the spotlight of high-school football, as well as the strain on a coach in a town where football is king... this year Friday Night lights became a show about inappropriate relationships between those above and under the demarcation of high school graduation.

This is not what I signed up for.

Last year, even when the show had a bad week or flimsy plotline, it would be wrapped up quickly. This year, it seemed as if they brought in the writers from Felicity and set them loose upon formerly interesting characters.

Once the plotlines were used up from the Peter Berg movie (and the book? I've not read it.), the writers knew too little about their own subject to know what to do. Even the potentially interesting "finding Jesus" storyline started for one of the characters was dropped without comment, while the implausible "murder" storyline took up an inordinate amount of screentime when the ending was really never in doubt. And while Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler both deliver great performances each week, the TMU coaching storyline was awkward and somewhat unbelievable. Probably too believable was Julie's storyline about a high school girl acting out and feeling misunderstood. It just wasn't interesting.

It'll be curious to see what happens when/ if the show returns.



Music

I really didn't buy many albums this year. I think the real story for 2007 was that fissures in the music industry became visible cracks as Radiohead tried it's own distribution experiment and pretty much proved that whatever labels once offered (especially for established artists) is no longer relevant. The interwebs have compltely repainted the picture as of two or three years ago, and effects are now becoming obvious.

Musical Celebrity of the Year

Suck it, Steve Jobs. I know you wanted this, but it ain't happening.

I choose Amy Winehouse. It's not often we get a musician who is such a public trainwreck as part of the package BEFORE they've really taken a toe-hold on the American music scene. But Winehouse was already a celebrity in the UK, and came to our shores pre-packaged as a bee-hived chanteuse who was so deep in the sauce, she might just pass out at any time.

We didn't even need to watch the inevitable rise and crash of a starlet. Winehouse came to us in "Britney, Career Year 6" mode, so there was no suffering through the peppy teen-years, awful movies or ghost-written books.

Nope, we went right for the "I have to cancel my ACL Fest appearance because I'm drying out" phase shortly after I'd downloaded Rehab to iTunes.

Plus, her album isn't half bad, IMHO.



ACL Fest

Surprisingly lived up to the hype. It was a perfect way to watch music for those of us with attention deficit problems, and I saw a lot of good shows. And walked away from a lot of shows I just wasn't interested in.

I will definitely be attending again in 2008.



What the @#%$??? goes to the Hannah Montana phenomenon and all of the psychotic parents raising a generation of entitled sociopaths by dropping thousands of dollars on tickets to watch a modestly talented little girl lip-synch.

Just imagine if those parents, instead, wrote checks to Doctors without Borders, Habitat for Humanity, the Red Cross or some other worthy organization and told their children what they were doing with the money, and then bought their kid a Season 1 DVD set of the TV show.

Yes, I am judging. It's what I do.




I also liked the LCD Soundsystem album



That's it for this post. Next time we'll get into some other items of import. Maybe the news, politics, comics and space travel. Who knows?

Jamie's Top 10 of 2007

Hi, Leaguers! I've asked Jamie to come up with a list of her Top 10 of 2007. Here it is. Enjoy!


Totally Random Top Ten 2007 List

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

2. Superbad

3. Holiday Heckstravaganza '07

4. Swimming at Gus Fruh

5. Robosaurus

6. LOST season finale

7. In Rainbows

8. My new CR-V

9. Starting dance classes again

10. My awesome game at Peter Pan Golf

**Extra special bonus item: Mom's medical scare was a false alarm. We love you, Mom!!

Christmas Wrap-Up

Hey, Leaguers

Well, we had a small hiccup in our plans and Jamie's dialysis unit sort of had a problem with the dialysis she was supposed to have in Houston/ Spring. So, we returned this afternoon/ evening.

I am a weird sort of tired.

Mel came with us on our trip, and he is sacked out now, taking up the whole couch. Poor little Lucy spent Christmas away from the family at doggy resort Austin Pet Ranch, and Jeff stayed home to keep guard over our valuables. Luckily, Cassidy was also able to make the trip, so we had her eager little face following us around during our stay in Spring.

We arrived in Spring on Sunday afternoon, the last folks to show up at my parent's house. Jason had taken point and gone in on Friday, and my grandparents got into Houston an hour or so before Jamie and I arrived. My grandparents live in Florida, and as we don't travel much, and as we didn't make it it home for Christmas the last few times my grandparents were in Houston, it had been a few years since we'd seen each other. Luckily, ain't none of us change too much, so it wasn't too tough to pick up where we left off.

Christmas Eve day the Bridenstines came over as Wayne and Jane were in town, and it was my first chance to see Cousin John and Julie's baby, Brandy. She is cute and babyish, but still very tiny and not yet up to much other than looking at you with big eyes and occasionally sticking her tongue out. Christmas Eve was lovely, with a dinner we ran out and grabbed from Rudy's BBQ. We hit one of the 5 Christmas Eve services at my folk's church, then came back and had some egg nog and played Cranium. Yes, Team Steans Bros. won.

Christmas morning we enjoyed Jamie's famous roll-wreath, and then the gifting of loot began.

Here's the big news, I suppose: I received a bass guitar and amp for Christmas from my folks and Jason. So, really, the clock is ticking on me quitting my job and Jamie getting used to being the wife of a musician, what with me touring and rocking all the time. It's a lovely, shiny blue Yamaha, and I plan to be rockin' out on the thing under Jason's tutelage. Really, I'm very excited. It's something totally new for me that I've always wanted to try. So if anyone wants in NOW on joining the Ryan Steans Bass-heavy Experience, let me know.

From Jamie came the big surprise present. I got a copy of Superman #199, the first race between Superman and The Flash (before Randy asks: they tie). This is one of maybe five comics that I've always wanted a copy of, and I had no idea it was coming. Well done, Jamie.

Jason had to leave to be back at work for today (your tax dollars at work, Travis County tax-payer), and so he left after watching me down about two pounds of ham at Christmas dinner. Not much else happened.

Anyhoo, this morning we had a trip to IHOP with the family, loaded ourselves into the car and were home by evening. Jamie had dialysis tonight, and aside from that, we laid low. I also just saw I missed a call from JAL, and we WERE supposed to meet up tonight. Sorry, man. My phone turned off and I didn't notice. It's been doing that. Hope you and Gene had fun.

So... that was Christmas. I could also talk about how I worked with the Admiral to hook-up the wireless router in their office, or the walk I took with Mel, but, you know... who cares?

I did not make it to Bedrock City, but I am headed down to Austin Books on Saturday, if anyone wants to go. I'm going to limit myself strictly to cheap Superman back-issues, so we'll see what happens.

Oh, and when we got home, a present was waiting in the mail for me from Jamie's brother, Doug. Somewhere, somehow, he'd found a lunchbox with images "Superman: The Movie" on it. It still had the thermos and none of that weird lunch box smell you sometimes find in vintage lunchboxes. So, yes... I now have a lunchbox with an image of Marlon Brando on it. Where's your Streetcar Named Desire luncbox? Hmmmmmm?

Hope you had a good few days off, and, if you celebrated the day, I hope you had a good Christmas. Also, Merry Christmas to Judy and Dick, who are currently in Portugal. Live it up, in-laws. Next year we're in San Marcos.

I'm sort of off for a few days, so I'm hoping to have time to read comics and maybe crack this Cormac McCarthy book I picked up.

I have nothing to write about

Hey, Leaguers!

I have ABSOLUTELY nothing to report. Last night I ate catfish for dinner, some slaw and baked beans. Then I read comics while Jamie did crosswords.

Whoopdie-doo!

Hope you Leaguers had an exciting evening.

I think, if anything, I was a bit confused by the ending to JLA #15, which seemed like it should have been just Superman opening a can of Super Whoop-Ass on the In-Justice League. Instead, McDuffie and Benes let the rest of the JLA do all the lifting.

Also, I KNOW that back in the day the evil equivalent of the Justice League was called the In-Justice League. But even the writers of SuperFriends, a show meant for 3-8 year olds, knew that name was too hokey and re-named them The Legion of Doom.

Luthor is supposed to be one of the smartest guys on Earth. I think he could cook up something a little better and perhaps more menacing.

I dunno. I'm sort on the fence about the whole thing. After all, I do like the legacy aspect to DC Comics publishing and iterations of various ideas. And it does add a certain zest of fun to the JLA title when your villains are just jerks enough to declare themselves your evil opposites.

Next we'll see the resurgence of the Superman Revenge Squad. Or the Anti-Superman Gang. All great ideas for their time and audience, but...

Anyhow, once Firestorm was back (and I am so glad to see McDuffie handling the new Firestorm once again), I sort of thought Superman + heat vision + fast than speeding bullet + more powerful than a locomotive might have been able to clean that mess up. But that would have denied me the enjoyment of a good chunk of the rest of the issue.

Sounds like Firestorm is now on the team, and that's a good thing. They need some newer characters.

And as an aside... The Rebirth of Ra's Al Ghul storyline in the Batbooks? Not so good. Good idea. Questionable execution.

Check your local listings

Austin City Limits is now broadcasting a few episodes recorded during ACL Fest this September. This doesn't mean they're showing the live shows from Zilker Park (which I seem to recall them doing in the past). However, they are showing sessions recorded during the festival while the bands were in town.

I watched the Wilco episode and am waiting to watch Arcade Fire for a time when other folks who might want to watch that episode might be around.

Nova recently had an interesting episode about the American space race, and that maybe we weren't as behind as we led the public to believe.

Garth Marenghi's Darkplace seems to be broadcasting during Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. Not a cartoon, but highly recommended by us here at LoM.

I think I am done again with Smallville.

Friday Night Lights, unsurprisingly, seems to be struggling in its second season. Two of the main plots seem simply too far fetched for the realistic spirit of the show.

Meanwhile, 30 Rock managed to handle the "green week" on NBC the best of any of the programs I caught. It also gave us Al Gore and restored some of my respect for David Schwimmer.



Football

UT soundly defeated the Red Raiders of Texas Tech on Saturday. It was actually a great game, even if the Horns defense allowed 40-odd points. Colt McCoy played, possibly, the best game I've seen him in. Charles, Cosby and Nate Jones all looked really good. I hope Colt can remember how this works when he hits the field again next year.

Cowboys beat the Giants, which is always a welcome victory. I only really don't like the Giants when they play the Cowboys, but I am annoyed with Shockey every day of the year. Man, that guy is annoying. He's awesome, but something about him is so... very... irritating.

And, man... Green Bay clobbered Minnesota. Sorry, Reedo. Brett Favre is playing so well, one can only assume he's drinking again. No idea what happened to the amazing Adrian Peterson. Someone had his number.



Cook-Out

Special Thanks to the Shoemakers for Meatfest 2007. Holy cow, not only was the meat fantastic, but there was more of it than the entire assembled party could possibly consume. I need to go get some of those sausages from Whole Foods.

I am also horrible at Guitar Hero III. You know things have gone south when someone tells you "Wow, after you did so bad the first time, that really took courage to get up there again and do just as bad."



In-Laws
Officially much more together on this whole "retirement dreamhouse" thing than my parents, Jamie's folks were in San Marcos this weekend working on their new place. It sounds like they're enclosing the porch to add what should be a really nice sun room, and adding a raised porch elsewhere off the house. The Father-in-law is still not biting on my idea to add an observatory.

Anyway, we saw them Friday night.




OCD and Comics

This is going to sound weird, but I sorta like bagging, boarding and inventorying my comics. I missed my calling by not working at that big warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark where you seal stuff up and lock it away forever.

The huge downside to the bagging and boarding of comics is that, I think, most people assume it doesn't take that long to deal with. Also, most folks don't realize that in order to accomplish the task, you need (a) space, and (b) time. While space is important, in order to get things really sorted, getting a few hours uninterrupted to just knock out the various portions of the task (yes... hours), its also hard to get the task done when other things are vying for your attention. Worthwhile, fun things.

The problem, of course, if that if you don't handle the task on a routine basis, you have just made the process take that much longer. You have that many more comics to deal with.

With our Holiday party coming up, its sort of imperative I not have piles of comics just strewn across the living room, so the day of reckoning is at hand. Now is when I have to tell people "No, I cannot go to Slippy Village or whatever fun place you're headed off to. I have to sit on the floor and put comic books into polymer bags with non-acidic backing boards. I must then place each individual comic into my database where I may track the value of the comic and size of my collection. After that, I will place each comic in publishing release order in a specialized box which will help preserve the integrity of the comic. These will be placed in a (a) by publisher, (b) by character arrangement of my choosing. No, I am not completely OCD."

So, I apologize to everyone in advance if I drop out of site for a few nights while getting this task completed. I am not being a misanthrope, I am trying to clean up the living room.

Hello

I may go see Fred Clause. Just to annoy other people.

Jeff the Cat had a few teeth pulled this week. He is doing very well and doesn't seem to miss them.

Carla made very good cupcakes. I bring this up not just to say Thanks!, but to point out that she's launched a new site, Dessert Lounge!

My folks were in town this weekend once again looking at property. This time, they may have even found something.

I slept a lot this weekend.

We walked the dogs. That was very nice.

I also read comics.

I ran into a co-worker at Austin Books.

Jason bought an X-Box and Halo.

I didn't watch the UT game and am regretting that decision. I did watch the Colts game and the Dallas game.

I briefly did some work.

The weekends are too short.

SOME COMICS I ENJOYED

Action Comics 858: After Infinite Crisis, DC decided that it was a good time to join the past/ future of Superman together with the Legion of Superheroes once again. A great set-up, wonderfully drawn, and for those (like me) with a gap in their DCU knowledge regarding the Legion, this is a great read.

Batman 670: You can't keep a good Demon's Head down. I didn't like the loss of Bat-villain Ra's al Ghul, as al Ghul was always one of the more complex characters in the Bat-Rogues Gallery. Morrison is doing the most to redefine Batman's world of any writer since the post DKR-era.

Justice Society of America 10: Do you like Superheroes? Did you enjoy mid-90's DC project Kingdom Come? Do you like Superman? Can your brain handle the multiverse? I don't know why this volume of JSA is so much better than the previous volume, handled by the exact same writer, but... man. Every month when this title comes out, this is the first comic I read from the stack.

Crime Bible: The Five Lessons of Blood (1 of 5): Montoya is back as The Question. Cult conspiracies, hard-boiled detectives, Greg Rucka, Tom Mandrake... Worth a look.

Tales of the Sinestro Corps Presents: Superman-Prime: Uhm. Look, this just isn't going to necessarily be a great first comic for anyone to read, but it is a good read as it basically ties together the entire past of the once Superboy of Earth Prime.

Catching Up

Hey Leaguers,

The past few days have been kind of busy.

Wednesday my company (well, the company I work for) had an Oktoberfest. Yes, I too think it odd to schedule Oktoberfest on a Wednesday if you want functional employees on a Thursday. Jamie, Jason and Matt joined me at the Zilker Clubhouse and met several of my co-workers.

On Thursday I met up with my former employee/ co-worker, T-Tine. T-Tine is doing very well and is close to getting his PhD in human/ computer interaction. It's amazing to see this skinny kid who wandered into my office years ago about to become a serious researcher. Well, he's a serious researcher now, but he's not got the PhD behind his name quite yet.

Friday after work I grabbed a beer with Julia from my office, then met up with David, CB, Hilary and Stuart at CB's house. It was no holds-barred Uno (plus wine). CB will soon be launching a web project I, personally, think sounds like its going to be really fun. I don't think I should unveil the name here, as it will reveal quite a bit, but when she launches it, I'll be sure to make a big deal of it.

And, lest I forget, CB and David made some killer pot-stickers and Pad Thai. There are benefits to having friends who are excellent cooks.

Hilary and Stuart are talking about a website re-design for their band. They're very talented musicians, and on a good trajectory with the number of shows they're playing and the kind of shows. You can check out their site prior to the site redesign here.

CB, David and I also gave them the hard sell on an PowerMac, so we'll see what decision they make as they upgrade (get the PowerMac, Hil).

By the way, they're playing between 12 and 3 on Sunday at the Salt Lick if anyone feels like going. And, next Friday evening if you can't make that.

Today I signed up to get a security system. I, too, find the idea that someone might break in and find nothing but comics to steal totally awesome. But...

As much as I would like to have faith in other people not to rob us, I'm enough of a skeptic that I'd just as soon give a burglar reason to move on to another house.

Unless Texas goes Mad Max post-Apocalyptic, it's unlikely I will ever own a gun. I do not trust myself to properly maintain a gun or to use it wisely. And, hell, if it came to that, they could just have the damn comics, anyway. I'm not shooting anybody. So I go with deterrents.

Anyone whose been here knows the dogs are no help once people are actually in the house (I assume they'd just hide in the tub if frightened), and while I think Jeff the Cat could take on two or three burglars (no, really), four or more would have him outnumbered.

So, we will soon have a security system.

The code is: 1-2-3-4-5

What's Up at League HQ

The answer is: Not much.

But, Matt's girlfriend, Nicole, has recently moved into League HQ.

We want to be a house where the doors are open to friends and family (and maybe the occasional foe, but they'll get a bill). Nicole's brother is currently undergoing treatment for leukemia up in Dallas, and that's made her living situation a bit oddball, so... anyhoo, we've got a person living in our guest room.

If Matt and Nicole break up during all of this, so help me...

Nicole is small and fun, and this should all work out nicely.

Anyway, work has been okay lately. I saw two interesting projects coming down the pipe at the office, so I will probably get the third one... But, whatever. It beats digging ditches and people really seem to like the fake aquarium I recently bought at CVS for $10. Here's a picture of a similar one I found online. I am also letting co-workers name fish after themselves, and its amazing how long they take to select a fish they feel represents them somehow.

I'm productive at work, i swear to God.

I also found my Frenchman on Facebook. Long ago I worked at UT, and an international student came into my office, lost and looking for a job interview elsewhere. I, of course, hired him on the spot and put him to work that afternoon. No, really. I ran a tight ship in those days.

T-Tine (not his real name) was a good guy, and the first Frenchman I'd ever spent so much time with. T-Tine was also really, really smart. He was at UT to study satellite technology at the time, and is now getting his PhD in human computer interaction stuff.

Anyway, for some reason T-Tine and I hit it off. Mostly because he would let me intorduce him as "My Frenchman", but he also did confirm my suspicions regarding the French and their love of bagettes. He was absolutely hilarious, and I assume he still is, so I'm thrilled to have found him.


Oh... and the Cubs have been a soul crushing disappointment. Ah, well. Not really. They're the Cubs. If I had my hopes up, I could be considered legally insane.

weekend round-up

Well, the weekend was okay, if brief. I worked on Saturday, which was interesting as I was testing a simulation for one of our clients. Sometimes I really dig what we do at my company, and Saturday was one of those days.

Next weekend we are boarding a plane to attend Jamie's cousin's wedding in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, which should be fun, if a bit of a whirlwind trip.

But this weekend I had my ass handed to me by allergies.

I did not have allergies growing up, and after college, I misdiagnosed my allergies I'd developed for years, believing I was picking up a series of colds. But it seems that the allergies I had before we left Texas in '02 have come back to slug me in the head.

My poor mother called me last night all the way from Michigan, where she's currently visiting friends, and I was no kind of conversationalist. She was all chipper and wanting to talk football, and I was grouchy and disappointing.

Yesterday was also "catch up on errands" day, as we've had stuff going on for literally weeks, and will be gone next weekend. Unfortunately, this meant a trip to the mall, a place which has lost all luster and allure for me as a consumer. So much junk to buy, and maybe 1% of 1% is something I would ponder buying, and most of those items are in the power tool section at Sears.

Even the Build-A-Bear Workshop is only mildly amusing until you realize you're imitating the work of a Peruvian sweatshop worker, sorta like when they used to have the questionable chain of "make your own steak!" restaurants scattered around. (I know I can make my own steak. It's called staying home and firing up the grill. Advantage to restaurant: No dishes to wash). However, rather than be paid $2.00 per day for my bear-making wages, I would be paying Build-A-Bear $20 for the privilege of performing manual labor.

All of these complaints are minimized, of course, if there's a Superman Bear. In that case, its money and time well spent.

UT had its annual lambasting of the Rice Owls. 58-14. One TD never should have happened, and the other one took place when the scrubs were in for the fourth quarter. We abandoned the game to go see "3:10 to Yuma".

As little as I ever wanted to actually visit Yuma while I was in Arizona, this move makes the trek even less appealing. Or at least the trek to the train station to catch a train to Yuma. The stark Southwestern landscape did nothing to make me yearn for the deserts of Arizona.

Christian Bale continues to cement his position in my mind as one of the finest actors of his generation, making interesting choices for his character and managing to make the hero, a dully virtuous character, into an interesting, three-dimensional person. Russell Crowe also handles his character well, and mostly refrains from going standard Hollywood over the top in his portrayal.

The movie itself reminds me of some of the later Westerns, such as "High Noon", which used the environs of the expanding frontier as a petri dish for people free of enforceable law, and relying upon their own sense of right and wrong, damn the consequences, often in the face of desperation and profitable lawlessness. Other movies such as "Winchester '73", "Sons of Katie Elder" and others play with the same territory. The Spaghetti Western galvanized the concept, and movies like "The Wild Bunch" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" often crossed over to seeing things even a bit more from the traditional antagonist's point of view. Which is part of why I find it interesting that the Western genre, much like superheroes, is often tagged with what is considered to be an adolescent belief in black and white morality.



Speaking of Cowboys, the Pokes won another one, stomping last year's Division Champs into the ground with a 34-10 victory over the Bears on NBC's Sunday Night Football. It's a good year once again to be a Cowboys fan.

A nice, slow weekend.

I needed a slow, quiet weekend this weekend, though. Having a job, I find, does that to me.

Friday night we never made it out of the house except for an early dinner. I'd managed to leave work at a reasonable time, so it was a nice change of pace, given how the rest of my week had gone. We watched "Batman Begins", and after Jamie went to bed, I watched "When Worlds Collide". I think it's an interesting movie, but I somewhat question some basic premises of the film.

"When Worlds Collide" is a 1950's movie about what happens when astronomers figure out a huge planetoid is headed towards Earth, and when it hits, we're all gonna die. The gameplan is to put people on a giant rocket and shoot them out into space to find a habitable planet.

Now, there's some talk of the financing that would need to occur to make this work, and that strikes me as something sort of odd. I suspect that with the world about to blow up, somehow money really wouldn't be a huge focus. I suspect some folks would try to do the right thing and do everything they could to assist the space ark to give humanity one tiny chance at survival, and a whole lotta other people would go berserk and do a lot of really despicable junk. Because the movie takes place in the 1950's, everyone stands around in suits and talks things through with a lot of product in their hair.

Saturday Jamie went with Carla to a dance class somewhere. I believe they did a lot of arm swinging and hopping, but I'm not sure. All I know is that Jason and I headed to Gus Frugh and floated with Mel and Cassidy (Lucy has an ear infection, so no swimming for her). It was really nice out, and the $10 floating fisherman's hat I recently picked up at Academy worked like a charm. Plus, I could throw it and Mel would retrieve it out of the water.

Late Saturday we saw "Superbad", which was better than I expected. I don't recommend it for the parents, but I thought it was funny, and the story was a good "one night in the life of high schoolers" first spawned with American Graffiti. While as raunchy in its way was "American Pie", the characters feel far more believable than the Tommy Hilfiger models of American Pie (that Apatow touch of casting believable looking actors) as well as not dumping too many over the top stereotypes on the audience (ie: No Stifler, no sexy foreign exchange students).

Today I was worthless. We ran some errands and ate lunch at the charming French stereotype, La Madeline over in Brodie. I don't really get la Madeline. It's incredibly complicated just ordering your food, and then it's kind of expensive for what you get. And, of course, where there was a field a few weeks ago, you're now in a rustic French cafe. Manned by surly high schoolers who take an insane amount of time putting together a cup of French Onion soup. Seriously. Speed it up.

I came home from errands and promptly fell asllep on the couch for over an hour, got up and FINALLY got to the task at hand (which I had planned to do all weekend), and began sorting comics from my downstairs bins in order to bag and board them for entry into Comicpriceguide.com and then filing in a long box.

This, sadly, was the task which was why I asked Steven and Lauren to meet us for dinner Tuesday rather than this evening. I'm a sad, sad dorky man.

Speaking of:

Thursday at work we were working on a course which features a "wizard" who guides learners through a lesson. A media developer, who is a long-time acquaintance of mine, said, "Ryan, you know the difference between a wizard and a sorcerer, right?"
"Man, I don't know." I paused and considered the question. "Why," I finally asked, "do you think I know that?"
"Because you're the dorkmeister."

I am the dorkmeister. Even at work.

I actually brought it up again Friday, and Pat was able to explain that my dorkiness falls into very specific areas, and that my dorkiness doesn't spread to area involving wizards and warlocks. Actually, it kinda/sorta does, but Dungeons and Dragons was long, long ago.

I then found myself talking about how cool Nova is in front of this guy later, and I realized that my reputation is all too well earned.

Sunday Night Post

Folks were here this weekend. Hi Mom and Dad!

Here's a creepy video.

Here's a fun video, thanks to JimD. Requires sound.



My advice that I learned this evening... avoid the Steak 'n Shake on I-35 when headed south out of town. I still feel queasy.

I thought the Steank 'n Shake would be small, cheap steaks (crazy me) and maybe steak fries, but no. Instead it's a chain of lo-fi, incredibly greasy burgers teamed with shakes featuring fake banana flavoring.

Apparently Steak n' Shake is some mid-western transplant that has decided to become even more of a corporate giant and so has set up shop in the new ginormous shopping area that has taken over the land once oocupied by music venue "Southpark Meadows". As goes Austin, Soutpark Meadows is now a huge strip mall with BOTH a Wal-Mart and Super Target. But it has a Jason's Deli, so I forgive it (mmmmm... Bird to the Wise...)

Sigh.

Anyway, Steak 'n Shake is not too far from our house, and I was sort of glad to be trying a new place with only Jamie and myself as the victims. But... It's been 3.5 hours and I still don't feel well.

And I'll eat anything. Seriously. I'm like a goat.

I salute the folks who ate there and didn't feel funky afterward. It was packed, so I assume Steak 'n Shake is going ot make it. It's just unlikely they'll get any more of my shekles.

I honestly think we do a little better than the actual burgers in Texas at places you think of as a last resort such as Shortstop. And, honestly, Shortstop's fries are better. I think I'm just used to a better cut of meat. And Californians who love them some In 'n Out Burger would be more than slightly appalled.

The weird part if that this place is basically a fastfood joint with waitresses. There seems to be no real reason this place isn't an order at the counter sort of joint, but you have to be seated, which seriously raised my expectations for the quality of meal I was going to have. The really weird part is that the price of the food is low enough that I had to round way up to feel okay about the tip I left our waitress (who was hustling, man).

Anyhow, it seems unlikely Steak 'n Shake will see the likes of the League once again. Until some night when I decide I really want a banana shake.

I am weak.

Hey, Leaguers.

Well, it's been a magical weekend here at League HQ.

Friday at work got seriously Twilight Zone weird at the end. I'll be curious to see how that pans out. When it does, I will re-cap here. We either had some serious corporate espionage, or else my boss was pulling an elaborate hoax for reasons I cannot begin to fathom.

Friday night Jamie and I stayed home and relaxed. I watched "Elvira's Haunted Hills", which was extremely silly. But, as a completionist of sorts, I felt I had to see it. And, hey... it featured Richard O'Brien, too.

Saturday was pretty good. We met up with Jason to go see "The Simpsons Movie". If you were ever a Simpsons fan, its definitely worth catching the movie and seeing the characters back in classic form rather than the by-the-numbers, often saccharine stuff you see on the show these days.

I popped by Matt's new place (in the same place he was living, but in a new unit, and now he actually owns it as a condo), and visited with he and Nicole. After popping by Austin Books seeking a comic that has not yet been released (no worries, I still found some stuff) we wound up at Nicole's last night for some drinks. May the League recommend: Not trying Mike's Hard Lemonade: Mike-a-rita's. Unless you really like the taste of cheap margarita mix, the Mike-a-rita's might be worth skipping.

Today Jason came over for breakfast, and then we headed down to Gus Fruh swimming hole. Man, had I remembered some suntan lotion and lunch, we certainly could have stuck it out a lot longer. It was very nice down there, and Lucy was having fun. Until she got tired. Then she was crying a lot. She's actually dead asleep on my foot right now.

I've long been a fan of a good swimming hole, and today was lovely. Sun, wind, water with a slow current. Dogs, good folks, and no cops to hassle us about our lack of respect for leash laws.

Jamie is now tired, the dogs are tired. It's been a good weekend. Hope yours was swell.

In-Law Weekend

Hey everybuddy!

It is true that Jamie's folks are here this weekend. In fact, they're here to look for a house and relocate to the Central Texas area in the next year or three. Friday, Judy and Dick hit the road with a realtor, and I'm not sure, but they may have already found something.

So take that, Mom and Dad (aka: those who like to look at houses but have no idea what they want).

The League: Action Hero


My desk has a keyboard tray, which means my bulk will not always fit properly under my desk. Anyway, I was in a weird position, and my foot fell asleep at work. I was maybe fifteen feet from my desk before I realized I was getting that pins and needles feeling. Just as quickly as it decided to get tingly, my foot decided to turn in (I could see it, but didn't feel it) and the next thing I knew I belly flopped in the middle of the floor in the open area where all the multimedia people work. It was awesome.

You don't really think about it, but as an adult, you rarely actually fall over. Sure, you might trip, but you don't just flop over on your face. Anyhow, you see kids fall over and have this totally confused expression on their face, and for maybe the first time since I was 4, I totally had that feeling. Luckily, most folks had gone to lunch, so there weren't too many people around, but those who were seemed a little wigged to see the largest dude in the office go over like a sack of bricks.

I thought maybe I'd jacked up my ankle, but, for good-or-ill, I twisted my left ankle so many times growing up that there's a piece of bone where there shouldn't be, so I'm not sure I can actually twist that ankle anymore. So, all's well that ends well.

Anyhow, I am the raddest guy in the office.

Lady Bird

As some of you might know, the Johnson family had a viewing (I guess you'd call it) on Friday and Saturday at the LBJ Library on UT campus. The viewing was closed casket (which makes it not a viewing, but there was no booze, so it wasn't a wake, either) and was going on through the night, so, after Jamie and Judy went to bed, Dick and I jumped in the car and drove down to the library to pay our respects. Lots of folks were there, and, of course, the grounds of the library were lit up.

Anyhow, I was glad we went. I wasn't sure what to expect, but there were all kinds of people of all different ages, some dressed for a funeral, others who obviously had come on a bit more of an impulse. But for 10:30-11:00 at night, there was a fairly steady line of foot traffic.

Today

Today we drove all the way to Steiner Ranch, out to Lakeway, down to Wimberly, and then to San Marcos. Let us just say that the area in which Judy and Dick are pondering a house search is fairly wide.

I realized I had never been to downtown Wimberly, which was touristy, but nice. Really, with Karebear and The Admiral visiting so often, it's nothing short of a miracle that we hadn't been to downtown Wimberly as it seems like exactly the sort of destination we would normally hit for something to do.

We also went to Fonda San Miguel and played some Wii. I also slept for like two hours this afternoon, which is why I'm up at 2:00 AM blogging. I need to go to bed.


Hope everyone is well.