90210 Confession

In the Fall of 1993, Peabo and I shared a 10x10 cell in Jester West. My TV viewing habits were significantly different from Peabo's prior to college. Essentially, I never watched TV after 5:00pm. I was not someone who felt they grew up with the Huxtable Family, or who knew every beat of every episode of Cheers. In fact, the KareBear had pretty firm rules regarding TV consumption on week nights when I was a kid, and I consequently never got into the habit of watching "prime time" programming until Peabo introduced me to Seinfeld that same year.

That is not to say I didn't watch TV. In the summers I watched hours and hours of Beverly Hillbillies reruns on KBVO, The Price is Right, and Sale of the Century. I was 12, but I had the viewing habits of a man 7 times my age.

I still think Ellie May is kind of funny.

I remember being vaguely aware of 90210 coming to TV. At the time I remember looking upon the program with the same suspicion that I looked upon any show I felt had pigeonholed me as a demographic. Plus, who could relate to the characters and storylines of a bunch of kids doing very un-High School-like activities, rolling in cash, and for whom life was pretty much already set?

A few kids at KOHS started sporting sideburns in tribute to Luke Perry or Jason Priestly. Fashion dolls found their way to the shelves of the toy aisle at the grocery, and I found out my prom date was a closet 90210 fan.

Now, to be honest, I wasn't exactly free from being hit as a target demographic. I watched more than my fair share of "Saved by the Bell", thanks to my pre-Show Girls interest in Jessie Spano. But when I completed high school, it was my plan to put all of that behind me.

So when Peabo announced it was 90210 night in my first fall of college, and that he would be watching 90210 whether I liked it or not, I packed my bag and headed to the library for a few hours to study for an Oceanography quiz. I was a serious college student with no time for the bobble-heads of the 90210 universe. Where was their angst? Where was their genuine human drama? To my dismay, Peabo was joined by my pals Beno and Julio, who both confessed to knowing quite a bit about the show.

I did not yet understand the genius behind "Donna Martin graduates."

It was a few weeks later that I had studying that could be put off and not wanting to leave my own dorm room when my friends were hanging out that I watched my first episode.

What I had not understood was that 90210 was a soap opera. Whether you liked the characters or felt any sympathy towards a single one of them was incidental to putting the characters in the most abso-ludicrous positions possible and then react with a straight face while making decisions that were (a) absolutely repugnant, but (b) created the most room for TV-soap drama.

Soon the crowd grew to include a few other folks from our floor, and Peabo began to keep a stack of disposable plastic cups on hand. At some point someone (I think Julio) had become so disgusted with the characters, he threw a cup at the screen. And so it came to pass that we all were armed with plastic cups with which to voice our displeasure in a manner approximating physical violence toward the characters for their boneheaded decision making.

What I recall most from those episodes was that character Kelly Taylor was positioned as the heroine of the program, but either because actress Jennie Garth was a passive-aggressive jerk in real life or because Jennie Garth wasn't much of an actress and thusly defaulted to angry at every opportunity, Kelly spent her episodes pouting every time another character disagreed with her. And because the show invariably vindicated Kelly Taylor, it seemed the longtime viewers of the program could not see through her veil of lies, when to eyes unfamiliar with the show she whined until the whinee could not longer stand it and gave in. (Oh, how I hate Kelly Taylor...)

Recently, Jamie figured out that 90210 runs for two hours every day on Soapnet. So there's been a LOT of 90210 viewing going on at my house of late. We're about 2/3rds of the way through the first year of college (the last season any character was seen to crack a book or go to class). And what I've realized is that all of the characters of 90210 are complete sociopaths. These characters inflict untold harm upon each other, and coccasionally complete strangers. They're elitist, snobby bastards who all seem completely put-out when any work is written into the show for them, and they join and drop campus-causes on a bi-episode basis.

In order to create drama, items like the school newspaper are blown up to NY Times proportions, and second semester freshman are seen as a plausible and persuasive voice within the university infrastructure. The show is absolutely awful, and embarassing. And yet, I cannot look away.

Part of the allure of the game now is that I did follow the program for two or three seasons, plastic cup in hand, and I know what drama befalls the characters. So, when the characters (such as Kelly Taylor) get up on their moral pedestal and preach down to the lowlies, you can remind them "hey, you develop a horrible coke habit in two more seasons. How about a little compassion?"

The "teens" of the show are absurdly old, in absurd situations faced by no prior college freshman in the age of man, and are far less worried about academics than even the guys who didn't come back after Christmas freshman year in Jester.

Jim and Cindy Walsh are supposedly successful corporate something-or-others, but theire really there to salute the two Walsh-children characters and to appear bemused but concerned. A thankless role, the two departed towards the end of teh college years.

And, of course, there's always Nat, played by fourth-string central casting bench warmer, Joe E. Tata. I am sure Mr. Tata has lots of credits to his name, but that poor dude had more humiliating scenes bowing and scraping before the teens of 90210 than I am sure he likes to think about.

That, and it's fun to say "Joe E. Tata" every time he appears on screen.

Upon re-watching the episodes, it seems that the writers were alternately not really trying, or had a mountain of contempt for their own characters. And who can blame them? Why not send the whiney DJ/ wanna-be hip-hop Beverly Hills dork on a whacked out Crystal Meth spree? Why not let the eye-brow wiggling Kerouac-dork get ripped off by his former step-mom? It's a soap opera, and nobody stays happy for long on a soap.

So I say, huzzah for 90210. You set out to fulfill a certain vision, you set the bar incredibly low, and you still failed to in many regards. But you did bring the world Tori Spelling, and for that, we are all eternally grateful.

Comic Posts

I know you care, so I thought I'd share...
There's some comic reviews up which are beyond compare.

Thanks to Jim D.'s suggestion I went ahead and posted on the Action Comics Annual released yesterday.

Also, see Part 1 of my amazing, rambling series: A Masters in DC Universe, a Minor in Wildstorm

End of an Era

As of Monday, The League returns to the drudgery of the work force. My status as a hobo has been rescinded.

Alas.

No more staying up until 3:00 AM reading funny books and teaching Jeff the Cat how to Flamenco dance. That's gonna have to happen between 10:00 and 11:00 from now on. Nor shall there be any more getting up and watching News8 and Headline News throughout the morning as I eat my Grape Nuts, check e-mail and hit the job boards. (I confess, I am not going to miss hitting the job boards.)

The position is one heck of an opportunity. Longtime Leaguers will know that, as a rule, I don't talk about work. But is it okay to say really good things? I can say the job is outside of the realm of public institutions of higher education. It's relatively close to League HQ. The folks seem really nice who I'll be working with, and I'm going to be only a small hop from Rudy's BBQ. The job let's me do what I like to do, with an eye on growth. I know who my customers are, and there's no question of how I'm reaching them. The organization does something I think serves the public interest, so I get to be a tiny cog in that machine.

In short, I'm really looking forward to my role as a lion tamer at the Austin Zoo.

(are there lion tamers any more? How do you train for that? There seems to be little room for error.)

So, you know, a job. That's the dream, isn't it? I like money, and it turns out that you really need it to get by in our post-industrial society. Apparently the city of Asutin talks a good game, but at the end of the day, they want for me to pay for water and trash collection. So much for them being MY representatives.

Stupid money.

Anyway, it was a good run of unemployment, and I really fulfilled my Office Space dream of doing absolutely nothing. Unfortunately, my dream was somewhat hampered by the NBA not playing daytime games during the week. Nor was the World Cup on. And baseball doesn't start until late spring.

Still, it was a good run.

So, yeah. I got a job.

space love

Coming up, find out how Lisa Nowak went from operating a robot arm in space to driving 900 miles in a diaper. - what I woke up to this morning on CNN.

Ah, love.

This is just one more reason we should consider using more robots for space exploration.

Robots do not know the pain of love. Or do they? Do they, indeed?

Updated Terror Threat Color-System

found at The Beat

weekend

Yesterday was kind of kooky. Jamie is finally feeling better after a few weeks of being down. It was nothing too serious, but I think we're both glad she's back up on her feet and peppy again.

We did some tidying in the morning, then grabbed lunch with Jason at Jason's Deli (no relation). It's becoming kind of a thing to make sure Cassidy gets some face time each weekend with Mel and Lucy, so we got the dogs in the car (Dog is my co-pilot) and released the hounds to the backyard.

The Admiral and Karebear are considering moving to Austin when they retire (which will only enhance the power of The League), and so were in town to think a bit about their future plans and look at homes. We grabbed a quick drink at Trudy's, then went and looked at a development they'd checked out on 71. Neat stuff, but I have no idea if that's what they'll end up doing.

Saturday night we headed over to Juan D's place for a grown up dinner party. I made excellent friends with Juan's bat-eared dog, Levi, by feeding Levi pieces of bread and ham all through the night. Got to see Beta-Juan Garcia, his lovely wife Letty, Matt and Nicole, Candian Sarah and her Canadian friend. We're now apparently too old to just show up, start drinking beer and get in vicious debates over operating systems as we did in years of yore. Now it's civilized. Sort of.

Woke up, had brunch with Cousin Sue and the folks at Hyde Park Grill South. Said our good-byes, then Jamie and I came home and tidied-up some. Did some minor yard work and stood around in the front yard with the other guys on the street, all of us in awe of the amazingly good weather (it was 70, sunny and a bit breezy). I think I committed to going in on a bunch of grass pallettes with a few of us, but that's okay. We need new grass for the backyard.

We did our Superbowl Shopping Trip (I bought frozen White Castle burgers for the first time). We were invited to a Superbowl Party, but I knew Jason was en route and probably didn't want to sit in my neighbor's garage to watch the game.

Steven and Lauren joined us after the Prince half-time show, and we chatted through the second half and into a repeat of Puppy Bowl III.

Anyway, it's been a long, good weekend.

Inbetween all that, I talked to Jim D on the phone, talked to RHPT via e-mail (it's a long story, but I now own www.leagueofmelbotis.com... I just can't make it work with Blogger until Blogger updates some features. nonetheless, RHPT gets mad props.)

I was cheering for the Colts, so the game was fun for me. Jamie cheered for "points", so she cheered when someone almost scored or did score. I don't think anyone else had much invested. Except Cassidy, who loves The Bears.

Weird game. That one will probably have Superbowl Committees looking toward domed stadiums for future selections. What a wet, icky mess of a game for the first half.

I have been staying up working on my weekly reviews for Comic Fodder (now! With pictures!).

It is late. I am tired.

Hope you had a good weekend.

May The League recommend...

The Sarah Silverman Program

It's not often I feel uncomfortable watching a program, but still really enjoy watching it.

Actually, that's not entirely true. That's sort of how I feel watching most of the Adult Swim line-up.

And I also felt miserably hypocritical watching the the new Comedy Central show "The Sarah Silverman Program". I'm pretty sure the "Sarah" of the show is supposed to be on meds. And I'm pretty sure this show can't air before 10:00 on basic cable.



Also, there should be more singing on TV outside of American Idol.

It's not so much one moment or two moments that made the first episode particularly good, it was more the feeling of people who had an idea able to get their weird, half-ass'd show on the air and do whatever they wanted to do without a lot of fuss from the outside.

Portions of the show are probably not as funny to me as they might have been once, but I look forward to seeing what the next few episodes are like.


30 Rock

I have a semi-long-standing crush on Tina Fey. And have harbored a deep admiration for Alec Baldwin ever since The Shadow (yes, I love The Shadow. Shut up).

So, yes, of course I tuned in to 30 Rock. NBC has let this show grow and find it's way. And this week, the episode fetaured guest star Paul Reubens (a man who knows how to committ to a part) and Isabella Rossellini, who still is doing an excellent job of maintaining what her mother's genes gave her.

There's enough of a cast to mix things up from week to week, and its not turning into a comedy that is going to hamstring itself with a "Ross & Rachel" type scenario that always makes me go running from shows both comedy and drama.

Some folks are going to keep pointing to Studio 60, but as Studio 60 re-creates itself as a romantic dramedy to fend off cancellation, I'll continue watching the show that I believe is probably far closer to the truth of how things work back stage at a comedy show.

Mooninite Enablers Address the 4th Estate

I wish I had the presence of mind to do this sort of thing when my entire future is in the balance.

The League tells you about love

Hello Leaguers. It's that magical time of year once again when young love blossoms, roses are in bloom, cherubs fill the air and everyone is but one magical evening away from romance.

I've been married for some time, and as such, I think I have a pretty good idea regarding how love works. So, here's some unwarranted advice I have for all the single-folk out there when it comes to how you can make Valentine's Day better:

Stow it.

Seriously.

Every year the blogosphere and work-time lunch conversations are filled with the nattering of the dateless and unmarried making as if their Totino's-For-One Valentine's Day should somehow be equated with the plight of an oppressed peoples. There's invariably a lot of talk about how the valentine cards and expensive dinners are but reminders of how others are blissfully in love, while the single-folk dwell in loveless solitude.

Look, I am very sorry you miss out on this holiday. I imagine it must be horrible, all the not spending money on gifts that will never see the light of day again, or waiting in line for two hours at some mediocre Italian place. Or the watching of whatever you want to watch on TV. The lack of "constructive" criticism from a mate, and all the nobody telling you that you don't look awesome in your homemade Hawkman outfit.

If you really want a Valentine's Day that's not going to make you feel all squooshy inside, then, for God's sake, cowboy up and ask someone out. Quit your crying and find some movie times and ask someone out. But do it well before Valentine's Day as that holiday is NOT a good day for a first date.

Keep in mind: The worst they can do is say no.

Well, the worst they can do is say "maybe", then string you along for a while so they have a chance to tell all their friends what a pathetic loser you are so all their friends can watch as you fumble along behind them, believing they might like you when, really, they think you're a worm. But if you picked a girl who was going to do that, your date selection needs some work.


this sort of flower is about to get stupidly expensive

Bear in mind, nobody ever had a great Valentine's Day by deciding nobody was going to go out with them. And crying about it doesn't exactly make anyone feel particularly sorry for you. Certainly not me.

I've been married seven years, and been associated with Jamie for more than eleven years. The truth is: Valentine's Day is for High Schoolers. It's a time to give Peggy Sue a teddy bear she can keep on her pink bedspread (until she dumps you two weeks into Freshman year of college), and to play grown-up when you wear your church pants and go all by yourself to the Olive Garden.

My hard-gained wisdom tells me that most folks on the other side of your Hallmark-laden nightmare do not care too much about Valentine's Day. I think we usually exchange store-bought cards on Valentine's Day, watch a re-run of "Scrubs" and then go get a Gyro or something some other day.

And here's the real deal for why I'm never too psyched about Valentine's Day: For dudes, Valentine's Day is a one-way gift street. This evening I saw a Zales commercial wherein a gentleman was examining a $500 trinket he'd purchased for his lady-love and smiling coyly to himself. Here's my issue: I am betting the lady-love did NOT spend $500 getting him a PS3 or new rims for his El Camino. One way gift street.

Many will object at this point and wish to sheepishly point out that supposedly there's snugglebunnies involved. Look, Leaguers... there's a name for that kind of transaction. I don't care what day it is.

When I was but a lad and working one of my three amazing summers at The Disney Store Willowbrook Mall, a family would come into the shop on a regular basis. Dad was a bald, chubby dude with a nicely trimmed mustache, and he'd be walking behind three kids, lined up like ducklings. At the front of the line was Mom. Mom was obviously born with some severe birth defects as her legs and arms had not fully developed, and, thusly, she was confined to a motorized wheel-chair.

Upon seeing the family, I remember thinking: That lady probably grew up thinking she may never meet someone who would see her for who she was. She may have cried herself to sleep after her own mother, hoping to be helpful, told her that nobody would ever want to really get to know her. You know, like in a Sir-Mix-A-Lot-XXX-Throwdown sense. But, somehow, these two crazy kids had found each other and raised a brood of miserable little hellspawn who would knock all the merchandise off the shelves.

The point is: Sure, you probably know it's a lot of self-loathing on Valentine's Day which has kept you from getting around to asking out that lady at the coffee shop or that guy who puts luggage in the bottom of the plane. But nobody is going to do that for you. Except for me. If you ask, I'm happy to do it. Or even if you don't. Really, it's best I never know if you're interested in someone as I'll just make you miserable until you get a date or they shoot you down. That's just how I roll.

But as we enter February, and I see the cards at Target and I reflect upon this completely made up day of romance... it's mostly the energy spent on the lonely-guy/gal nattering that drives The League insane. Nobody is persecuting you. Nobody but geeky teenagers is really enjoying Valentine's Day. Many of us are dreading spending this much money when we just paid off the Visa from Christmas. And nobody is stopping you from asking anyone out. Cowboy up.

And if they do turn you down, have a choice B and choice C lined up.

Multiple Things (Updated)

RIP Molly Ivins

Your voice will be sorely missed in the Lone Star State.



Boston Powerless before scourge of the Mooninites

It seems that electronic ads featuring the Mooninites were mistaken for bombs or something.

CNN story here.

Hilarity here.


can you see this? because I'm doing it as hard as I can

The devices displayed one of the "Mooninites," outer-space delinquents who make frequent appearances on the cartoon, greeting passersby with a raised middle finger. Nine were reported around Boston on Wednesday, sending police bomb squads scrambling and snarling traffic and mass transit in one of the largest U.S. cities.

Boston police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll called Wednesday's incidents "a colossal waste of money." She had no immediate comment on whether any laws were broken but said police would investigate further.

Thanks to an erratic schedule and my love of anthropomorphic food, I'm more than a little familiar with Aqua Teen Hunger Force. So, perhaps the APD would do well to keep me on staff for just such an Aqua Teen-related emergency, or emergencies related to Space Ghost or Sea Lab 2021.

And now, an example of someone taking out their personal embarassment as rage:

Scaring an entire region, tying up the T and major roadways, and forcing first responders to spend 12 hours chasing down trinkets instead of terrorists is marketing run amok," Markey, a Democrat, said in a written statement. "It would be hard to dream up a more appalling publicity stunt.

Curiously, not a single stoner, geek or insomniac felt threatened. Go figure.

Luckily, I am sure everyone will maintain a level head about this.

oh, wait... They've actually arrested someone in relation to the rogue electronic signs.

I am unclear WHY the Boston police thought the Mooninites were a threat (well, I am sure the Mooninites would like to believe they are a threat). These are pretty clearly signs. I do not stop and believe every metal box I see is a bomb, but I also have not been through terror-response training.

I am sure there's a lesson here that probably could be summed up with the fact that our nation has a color-coded terror threat scale.

It's good to know that we're all now one poorly placed sign away from being charged with terrorism.

And for those of you still living in a world where you do not know what a Mooninite is:




Action Comics Annual #10

I wasn't all that excited about DC's fill-in for February's Action Comics miss (this is after no new Action Comics in January OR February). But DC wisely put out a preview for the Annual, and it looks pretty cool.

It should be a good one for your pull list. The format of the comic follows the format of traditional "giant" Superman annuals and issues from years past, with all the different stories highlighted on the cover. (Also used in "Superman Family").


Comic Fodder

Apparently I was one of many who got bent out of shape about DC editor Eddie Berganza's DC Nation column last week.

Still, it got me some much needed traffic on Comic Fodder.

Since then I've done two days worth of DC reviews and a post on when weekly comics go wrong.

I don't think Jamie actually ever reads what I write on Comic Fodder. I saw her reading it, like, a week ago. But I think that's the first time she'd ever checked it out. It's probably good that way. I take what everyone else says as constructive criticism, but when Jamie offers me anything, I feel like I totally screwed up. I don't know what the difference is.

And it's also been a reminder that the interweb is a public place. Some guy out there refered to me as a "goon", even after agreeing with me. Apparently my prose style can use some work.


Mom and Dad, i heart you

Apparently my parents are concerned that I no longer call as often as I once did. A few factors:

1) I no longer have a 45 minute commute. I'm unemployed. I don't have a period in my day when I know I will be on the road listening to you or "Marketplace" on NPR. When I am on teh road, it's no longer a completely straight line as it was in AZ. Plus, driving and talking = dangerous.
2) I am actually busier here than in Arizona. I no longer spend Friday, Saturday and Sunday watching VH1's celeb-reality proigramming, hoping someone will call to break up the boredom. I now DVR the celeb-reality programming and watch it while you're at work.
3) You people are never home. Did you know that?
4) I am unemployed. I have very little to discuss aside from what Jason has usually already told you about. He was there for most of it.

So if I'm not on the phone all the time, I'm sorry. If I'm not here when you call, I may actually have left the house, unlike AZ.

It does not mean your younger son does not think the world of you.

No Post

Nothing happened today.

Lucy is driving me insane.

Update:

I have posted reviews to last week's comics at Comic Fodder.

Is Carolina lurking at my blog? Say hi. Send an e-mail. Call. Something. It's been a while.

The last two movies I watched were: Jesse James meets Frankenstein's Daughter, and The Punisher. Something has gone very wrong in my life.

I am sort of excited about Windows Vista. You know how you get excited about the new TV season because you sort of hope that THIS year they'll come up with something you can watch? Even though they usually don't? It's sort of like that. It's like birthdays when you reach middle school and you quit getting Transformers and start getting Knights of the Round Table shirts in weird colors you never would have picked out yourself. I guess I'm always up for anything new.

That said, I'm not buying anything with Vista on it for six months, minimum.

I have an underbite. Sometimes it bothers me. When I close my mouth, my top teeth touch my bottom teeth. I could probably get it fixed as my father-in-law has been known to straighten a tooth or three, but 99.5% of the time, I don't think about it. But I bet he stares at it, knowing exactly what he'd do to fix it. Well, I shall be the teeth that got away.

Lucy is now asleep.

Jason has gone into radio silence since Saturday. I need to fit him with a bell.

Mel is usually asleep. Sometimes he chases the ball. Down the stairs. Add the cat to the stairwell, and hilarity ensues.

Arden Snow Prep

the indignities of the snow suit

Billy Bush is a PodPerson

We've had a lovely weekend at League HQ.

Friday night I headed over to Pat's for HD Movie night. Of course, Pat lured me over with an HD copy of "Superman II: the Richard Donner Cut". We also watched a few minutes of SuperPup (provided by yours truly), a few Superman cartoons, and a couple of HD programs. "Three Sheets" is a travel show following a lush as he goes from lovely vacation spot to lovely vacation spot sampling local booze. The guy is clearly in need of an intervention, but that doesn't mean the show isn't a lot of fun. It also reminded me I haven't been to the beach since November '01. Damn. They also have a show which is just swimsuit models on the beach.

This sort of shortcuts a business plan my former co-worker, Tom, once pitched to me: The Beach Channel. 24 cameras pointing at beaches, one in each time zone, and we rotate beaches once an hour. Sure, it's more of a screen saver than a show, but we'd also license steel drum music or something to make it work.

Saturday we had brunch with Jason at Maudie's, then re-grouped at his place with the dogs. The Austin weather was perfect. Sunny, breezy, and cool, and I wanted to do something outside. I had throwing a frisbee around in mind, but Jason reminded me that there was a march going on downtown, so we got all political and went and did that.

Then we wrapped up the night at Mandy's with Jason, Greg Johnson, a smoking chiminea and some decent beer.

When I got home, I finished my week-ending column for Comic Fodder, then went to bed.

Today was very pretty out, but a LOT colder. We've mostly been running errands, cleaning up a little and hanging out today. I did some maintenance work for Comic Fodder as per JimD's wise suggestion (no, I am not done), and tonight I need to do at least 1/2 of my DC Comic Reviews.

So I sat through 2 hours of "Grease: You're the One That I Want", NBC's Broadway-themed American Idol rip-off. It's hosted by TV gadfly Billy Bush, who I once tee'd off on in these very pages.

I finally figured out what creeps me out about Billy Bush (aside from the fact that he is, in fact, a member of the Presidential Bush family, and does, in fact, look a tad like Bush POTUS 43). What creeps me out is that all Billy does for a living is read from a teleprompter. And not particularly well.

Ryan Seacrest may be a parasite, but he's a highly successful, lamprey-like parasite. I've had occasion to see American Idol dozens of times, and I can give him credit where credit is due. Seacrest at least seems comfortable improvising and talking to the contestants.

Every single word from Bush's mouth is coming from the teleprompter, to his eyes and then out of his mouth in a bizarre, snappy patter that bears no resemblance to actual human speech patterns. It's almost as if Bush doesn't actually understand the words he's saying, or ever consciously process those words. He's a human vo-coder that merely blurts out sounds based upon some barely sophisticated programming.


it walks among us

And that may well be the truth. Take the vo-coder, add a head of LA-wet-moosed-windblow hair, blank/dead eyes and a zombified grin, and there's no real evidence to prove that Billy Bush ISN'T an alien being walking in our midst. A star-struck, semi-coherent alien with a lot of skin creme at his disposal.

I have decided, while watching this show, that I have a pitch Maxwell and I need to put together for a "reality" show. Our show would have to be on Bravo or A&E, and it would follow the process of bringing a show (TV, movie, Broadway, whatever) together, but not in a game show format. I think people would be interested in a documentary about the whole process.

Only our show would also have sharks.

Netflix Pals

This is how I got to 2000 posts.

If anyone wants to be my NetFlix Pal, click here.

I tried to set up my friend account with Maxwell, and it doesn't look like it worked, so please try it here.

I have no idea how this would benefit you.

Schrodinger's Bath

Oh, sweet Christmas...

You kind of have to have a mean streak to enjoy this, so this should be perfect for a lot of you.

Automated Cat Bath.

Thanks to Jamie for the link.

Titles are hard

Huh

Apparently, there used to be Love Boat action figures.

I have a new life quest. I will own an Isaac action figure. Oh, yes. I will.


Blogging

So I had dinner with Pat, Jeff and Keora this evening.

1) Polvo's is good, but it's kind of weird that it's still such a huge hipster hang-out. If it's about being seen, who wants to be seen cramming their face with moderately priced enchiladas? La Reyna, half a black down was kind of empty, as was El Mercado, another block down. Sure, those places aren't quite as good (especially after I discovered the Burrito Gigante [translation: Giant Burrito]), but they also has inside seating.

I will never understand this city and it's celebration of seemingly random restaurants. This includes the Olive Garden on S. Lamar.

2) Pat is against blogging. Or at least he thinks it's pretty silly. I can support that. Heck, half the time I have no idea what I'm going to say when I start writing, and suddenly I'm two pages into some inane monologue about how I hung shelves in the garage.

The whole blogging thing is NOT something you can explain to someone, or convince them is a good idea, if they're already pretty much convinced you shouldn't be doing it, anyway. Like scrapbooking. Or brushing your teeth.

Pat sort of kidded about starting his own blog, which, he said he would fill with "all my interests that nobody I know cares about". But when pushed, he eluded the question. All the more mysterious.

He did ask me discuss here either the cover-up of surrounding the death of 60+ birds on Congress Avenue a week or so ago. Now they're saying it was cold weather and parasites, but, I am told, I am to begin to say this is obviously NOT true, and there's something sinister at work.

or else I am supposed to speak in praise of "The Day After Tomorrow".

I forget.

Shoemaker, here's that blog I mentioned: Lady, That's My Skull


Shelves

So I've long had a theory that when I finally finish with the garage, which I've never really unpacked, I would get a job within a week. This has gone from a lingering suspicion to a bit of fatalistic thinking I've decided to take the lead on.

I've delayed and delayed putting the garage together, mostly because the garage is cold. And lonely. And there are spiders.

Yesterday I finally went to Lowe's and bought my melanite shelves, brackets and other assorted doo-dads. Now, an oddity of our garage is that it's exactly big enough to accomodate two cars, but not a lot of space for other stuff, such as lawnmowers. In fact, most of my neighbors have at least one car in the drive-way to accomodate their junk.

The icy weather last week reminded me that if we're hit with ice again, and I DO have to go to work or whatever, I'm going to go out in the rain or ice to get to my car. SO... Luckily our garage is really tall inside (our house sits on an incline). So I'm putting all the shelves up really high.

Not a lot of quick access with stuff sitting that high up, so items finding a home up there include things like Christmas Trees, etc... that we can afford to forget about most of the time.

I am very proud of how handy I've been today. But I also have a long way to go (maybe another two days in the garage) before I'm done.

Then, voila, I should have a job waiting for me next week.

Except that I still haven't finished organizing our books upstairs. That could be a project...

2004th Post

Hey, Leaguers!

Hope everyone is doing well.

Things are slow on the home front. Jamie's off one of her meds, and it's got her feeling a bit lowly until her body gets used to not having that particular med (withdrawal isn't as much fun as they made it look in "Trainspotting"). So we've mostly been sticking to the house and trying not to think too much about what kind of lousy weather we've been stuck with.

Really, I'm enjoying the rain and cold. After all, PHX has many things, but weather is not one of them. It's mostly the dogs who are making me feel bad. Poor doggies have been stuck inside for days.


Books

I finally finished "In Cold Blood", a book I started some time ago. I know this because I have one of Jamie's business cards which reads "Human Code" as a place holder. I loved the book, but found it relentlessly depressing, so I would put it down for years at a time, and then have to start over. That, and I always read books in bits and spurts, and I started this one again right after we moved here, so... yeah.

Next up is "The March" which I received for Christmas. I also have "The Time Traveller's Wife" which JimD, Steven and Lauren all recommended to me, although Lauren said "It's a little pulpier than I thought it would be." Luckily, The League lives for pulp, so let's hope Lauren's reveal rings true.

Also, I'm reading a metric ton of comics. I just wish the Superman books were back on schedule.


THANK YOU'S

I wanted to say thanks to all Leaguers. I enjoyed writing my 2000th post hoo-hah, but it was quite nice to get so many comments.

Hopefully we'll still be doing this in a few years, and we'll see where we are on posts at that time.


NetFlix

I'm back in.

Leaguer OH e-mailed me to ask my opinion of NetFlix, and it got me thinking about their service.

We'll see what happens this time, but a few things contributed to my decision

1- Talking in movies. There's less distracting talking at my house.
2- At $14.99 a month, rather than $16 for two people to hit the theater, I'm practically making money
3- My post office box is much closer here than in PHX, making the whole movie-by-mail thing less daunting.
4- I am now willing to manage my NetFlix queue to balance the "quality" movies with the very stupid. My first two movies? "The Grapes of Wrath" and "Manos: The Hands of Fate"
5- I no longer have forty movie channels. In Phoenix, we would subscribe to whole packages of movie channels. Couple that with the DVR, and I never really felt like I was at a loss for a movie to watch.
6- I do like movies. I have a degree to prove it.

Read Checkmate

Up on Comic Fodder


Coming to Trade Paper Back soon.

Other Pictures

Ah, extra pictures. These are some extra pictures left over from the past several weeks.



The Bros. Steans enjoy some quality time during the Holidays.


Our loverly Christmas lights


Jamie enjoys our Christmas lights.



I pose with Dave the Somewhat Animated Christmas Deer.

Cousin John, his wife Julie, Mandy, Ellie Gamble

Elf Rami

Mandy, Ellie Gamble, Feral Andy

Mel.

Lucy in her lovely Christmas collar.

Ice Day Flashback

Last week we were hit with some ice. Believing the gods were angry with us, The League was terrified. We cowered inside our home, and emerged to take only a few photos.


Mel zips around the front yard, enjoying the ice crunching uder his feet.



Icicles hung from the front of the house. I don't remember ever getting icicles like this before in Austin. The window on the left is the window to the Fortress.




Icilces in the backyard hanging from the porch. I kept one of these. It's in the freezer.




Ahhh... the firepit. The firepit filled with rain. And then the rain froze. And now it's melted, and it's gross, but the yard is all muddy, so I haven't cleaned it out. You can see icicles beneath the firepit.



Ah, the front yard. Yes, the front steps did ice up and become a deathtrap. As did the sidewalks.

2000th Post!!!

Son of a gun. 2000 posts. That's what Blogger is telling me.

I'm not sure if this includes the "draft" posts I never bothered to post nor delete. It also doesn't include the first week of posts Jim D. had to salvage when I committed blogocide early on, then JimD convinced me to have a change of heart. But, according to Blogger, this is big 2000.

Great googildy moogildy.

When I think of the time I've spent working on this blog, I realize I could have obtained a masters degree, written several novels, or dug a tunnel between here and Guadalajara. It's kind of pathetic. Instead, I've spent countless hours navel gazing, performing haphazard self examination and generally wasting everyone's time. I'm glad to see so many of you who've chosen to stick with me every miserable step of the way. After all, I already know what I think, so you keep coming back, I suppose to see what nonse will appear here as part of my permanent record.

League of Melbotis has been instrumental in my ability to locate old friends, make new friends, and keep up friendships in ways I never would have predicted. We've been linked to from USA Today, have made appearances in some odd blogs, and can proudly state that we've become the number one destination for folks looking for pictures of "supergirl + naked" using Google. I am so proud.

We've traced my dissatisfaction with Chandler, Arizona straight through to my final, crucial decision to skip town and return to my beloved Austin in my beloved Texas. I'm not sure that move would have happened as soon as it did, in the way that it did, had I not had LoM as a communication tool between myself and some other parties. Nor do I think my leap would have made as much sense to friends and family had I not chronicled my dissatisfaction with such excrutiating detail.


The assembled Justice League of America looks back on 2000 posts

It's my hope I've been able to somehow pique your interest in the sequential art form known as "comics" with my unending diatribes which I shall qualify as my "enthusiasm" for the subject. Comics were always my bag, but with very few entertainment options and fewer social outlets with my arrival in PHX, comics became a great source of distraction and amusement for me during some pretty tough times over the past few years. It's been my hope that you guys might hit your local comic shop once in a while to see what's available, and maybe find something you can enjoy.

I've spent no small amount of time dwelling upon all things Superman, and will continue to do so. It's my hope that I've dragged you kicking and screaming from seeing Superman as a silly man ina cape to a pop-culture icon and symbol for modern mythology. I also hope I conned you into seeing this summer's "Superman Returns".

Some of this enthusiasm you've shared with me, some less. I've taken my desire to blog upon comics and tried to do something with it. I hope you're either checking out Comic Fodder or breathing a sigh of relief that every third post isn't about the genius of Justice Society of America. Without years of practice here, I sincerely doubt I would have made the decision to throw my hat in the ring and give such an effort a try.

We've dwelt upon all things pet-related. I confess, the blog was much heavier in pet-related posts in the first year. Honestly, the pets sort of have their patterns, and I'm not sure how much of their daily activity to cover which won't start to make me the "crazy dog guy".

In the past few years I've also become much more interested in sports, so I appreciate everyone humoring me as I waxed rhapsodic upon the 2005 Lonhorns, the Phoenix Suns, the lowly Diamondbacks, and my occasional bursts of enthusiasm for various NFL teams. Sports is the great equalizer.

And League of Melbotis has given me my rooftop from which I get to regularly proclaim that I am, indeed, a lucky guy. Not too many people get to meet someone who can be their high-fiving best friend and get to marry them. Nor do I know of anyone else who is married who has a spouse as patient, understanding and as much fun as Jamie (sorry, rest of the world. It's true.). And she's given up a lot of quiet hours while I've sat and click-clacked on a laptop, in order to post as regularly as possible. So thanks, Leaguers, for letting me try to get you to know Jamie, just a little.


It seems like just yesterday I was telling JimD I didn't think I had enough to say to sustain a blog. And I was right, but that hasn't stopped me.

There are no plans for League of Melbotis to disappear anytime soon. I know I occasionally whine about a lack of readership, or that I feel as if I'm whistling into the wind here, but by-and-large, this has been a phenomenal experience for me, and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Thanks to all of you for making 2000 posts not just possible, but something I wanted to do.

We'll see you at 3000.


The entire Superman Family wishes you a happy 2000th post

Post for Monday Morning

SHAME

Leaguers, only a small fraction of you bothered to wish Reed a happy birthday. I am ashamed of you.

Reed has been a vital part of this blog for many years, and all you had to do was post a birthday message. But, apparently, you're too busy. Apparently, you're too good for Reed. I had no idea this was the sort of snobbish audience the League had grown to cater to.

I shame myself and I shame the good name of The League if I can't get you to post a "Happy Birthday" message to Reed.


SUN

We finally got some sun today. It's been cold and wet since last week sometime, so a little break in the weather was a welcome change. We didn't manage to take as much advantage of the weather as I would have liked, and I didn't make it home until after dark, so I didn't go running, which I'm feeling sort of badly about.

We've got another wintery blast scheduled to come through (cold, but not a freeze), and then we should have sunshine again on Thursday. So, right now, I'm holding out for Thursday.


PLAY-OFFS

We're not even done with the 1st quarter of the NE/IND game as I watch this, but I did see the end of the Bears/Saints game. I suppose I must now make Superbowl plans. No matter what, I suppose I shall cheer for the team that is NOT the Bears, unless I am given a compelling reason why the Bears should curry my favor.

I've been fairly dispassionate about pro-Football this year, and have already snuck over and watched a few NBA games (although I am reminded that the NBA coverage in Austin is abysmal in comparison to what we had in Arizona. My kingdom for an NBA Season Pass on Time Warner Cable).

Peabo was right about one thing in life, and that's about the inherent superiority of College Football over Pro Ball. I cannot get onboard with the anti-NBA plank of his platform, although I understand his argument.

***UPDATE***

Holy SMOKES, man!!! Was that ever a game! Holy cow!!! COLTS are AFC CHAMPS!!! Whoooo!!!!

(sorry, we like Peyton Manning at League HQ and have been waiting for him to have his shot at a ring for a while.)


GHOSTRIDER

I've never been a huge fan of the Ghost Rider comics. I sort of think the idea begins and ends with character design, and you can get more out of an 80's-era Iron Maiden poster than you can out of the average Ghost Rider comic. GR's not actually terribly scary or anything, so I'm not really clear on the point of the guy. I actually think he would be handled better as a DCU Phantom Stranger/Spectre-type character, but that's just me.

Now it's a movie. So far, the most interesting thing in the trailers has been Eva Mendes. And my deep love for paying to see very bad movies.

Who am I kidding? I'm going to see this movie. I sort of wish I could figure out a way to see it with Randy, because I bet Randy is going to love this flick. Somehow the idea of dragging Harms to such quality, low-brow entertainment is equally appealing.


Norbit

Is this movie just about making fun of fat girls? Am I really supposed to pay money to see that?

Eddie Murphy.... You used to be beautiful, man.


John Wayne

So the other day I watched all of "The Sons of Katie Elder", which I had never seen before. Darn good Western, and one could clearly see where they'd lifted some moments for Silverado. I did not know this, but 2005's "Four Brothers" was a sort of homage to "The Sons of Katie Elder". Only, with Marky Mark instead of John Wayne.

Last night, after watching "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", I watched a good chunk of "The Undefeated". I've got "Rio Grande" in my DVR queue. Either I, or TCM or AMC am on a John Wayne kick. Given the amount of John Wayne on TV everyday, I am inclined to think it's me.

Sure, me and Mr. Wayne might not have agreed on too much had we ever met each other, but I love a good John Wayne movie. I think, partially, because I respect Wayne's ability to make any nonsense that comes out of his mouth sound like God's own truth. And he's not above having a good laugh at other people getting slugged in the head in many of his films.

Oddly, I've not seen too many of John Wayne's non-Westerns, such as "The Green Berets", "Donovan's Reef", or "The Flying Leathernecks". Luckily, I have DVR and basic cable, so it's just a matter of time.


Hope everyone had a good weekend.

Make sure you wish Reed a happy birthday.

DC Reviews for 1.17.2007 are up

Hey all, I've done my Comic Fodder duty and reviews are up for DC Comics released last week.

Please come on by and check it out. Click on some ads, and then take a look at some of my other DC commentary.

And, also, I'd love some comments. It's always nice to get a discussion going.

I could certainly use the support, and, if nothing else, it keeps me from posting lots of comic stuff you're not going to read at LoM.

That is all.

Happy Birthday, Reed!

It's Reed's birthday. So everyone post a happy birthday wish to Reed-o.

Go. Do it now.

The League has been associated with Reed longer than most Leaguers. He was in band with Jason back in middle school, shortly after we moved to Austin. At the time, he was known as "Weed Saw".

Ahhhh... after all these years, that's still gold.

Anyway, Reed and Jason probably don't remember this, but the first time I met Reed, I came home and Jason and Reed were in my room for reasons that I still am not clear on. I think they were going through my comics. At any rate, my privacy had been well invaded.

So it's been two decades I've known the man. He's now an engineer, a drummer, a husband and father. Quite a growth curve for Reed-o. He no longer dwells upon Trek the way he once did. Instead, he's replaced that geekdom with a tremendous mental database of all things Rock 'n Roll. Seriously. It's frightening.

Sure, the days are long since past of hitting comic shops together and going over the happenings in Batman comics, but we still see quite a bit of one another, and Reed is still the same good guy he was when he first invaded my room.

Happy B-Day, Reed. Go eat some cake.

Football PodCast

hey all,

Friend of the League, Sigmund, has begun a fulltime career as a sports journalist. He's focusing on a Football themed podCast called "The Audible", I believe.

You can sign up for Sigmund's podcasts at the Applestore, here.

2 things

Comic reader appears in TV show The League enjoys

The League doesn't watch too many one-hour dramas on TV. But we do hunker down once a week to watch NBC's Friday Night Lights.

If you haven't watched the show, it's based upon the award winning book from circa 1990, and produced by Peter Berg who handled the feature film version from a few years ago. The show is framed by a small-to-medium sized Texas town that lives and breathes for the local high school team.

One of the characters is former quarterback Jason Street, played by actor Scott Porter. Street was injured in the first episode and is now confined to a wheel chair.

Apparently, Porter is a big geek and reads quite a few titles. Read more here.


John Kelso is a moron.

In his column for today he argues that Austin was perfectly safe during the recent ice storm, and that the newscasters had brewed up a conspiracy to keep us off the roads and watching their news stations rather than going to work.

Kelso has lived in this town long enough to know better. People in Austin can't handle the ice. They tend to do things like cause 60 car pile-ups on I-35 (which occured in Dec. 1998), drive off of roads into ditches and each other. And, apparently, the number of emergency calls for the elderly escalates tremendously as some fairly frail people slip and fall on icy patches.

Kelso has made a career out of being a grump, and it's occassionally difficult to tell if he's being serious or not as he stays in character. I think, in this case, he's throwing in with the folks who would like Austinites to cowboy up and just keep on with business as usual when the ice hits. And, yes, some of the reports were flat out dumb. But apparently he missed the part of Amy Hadley's news8 story that he makes fun of that remarked that the trucker he mentions was, in fact, stuck. (It's not the trucks which are the problem here, it's our inability to sand and salt our roads). I guess Kelso missed the footage of trucks jack-knifed all over I-35 on his voyages.

Look, we suck at this ice thing. We're very bad at it. So quit whining and watch some movies or get ahead on your columns, Kelso.

I totally guessed it, and more

I knew from his first appearance the true identity of "Supernova" in DC's 52. Sure, I had a few moments of doubt, and I wasn't sure what details would get us there, but I guessed right.

I apologize to anyone who has now read 52 who I might have intentionally thrown a curve ball as late as last week. If I was right, I wanted to do my "AH HAAAAA!" here. so here it is:

AH HAAAAAA!!!!

If anyone has cracked the code in Didio's column (I assume it's every 52nd letter, but I am not sure I am ready to go to the photocopier and highlighters yet), let me know in an e-mail.

Now I must review my Animal Man collections.

Also, I found it amusing that the Bottle City of Kandor they showed in this issue (that shouldn't give anything away, Leaguers... it's just in a few panels) was based on the Kandor prop DC Direct put out a few years ago, and which The League proudly displays each day at home.

Kandor!


Smallville:

Smallville suckered me in this week with a new episode which shows the earliest formation of the Justice League according to Smallville.

The episode was entitled "Justice" and featured Green Arrow, Flash/Impulse, Aquaman, Cyborg and Clark Kent.

I'm not sure if the episode was great, but it was certainly much better than the lowly levels Smallville had reached when I gave up on the show two or more seasons ago.

Now, the original members of the League did not include Green Arrow or Cyborg. In fact, Cyborg has never been in the JLA. Not to mention their "Flash" is Bart Allen, who has never been in the JLA.

But whatever. it was kind of neat from a novelty standpoint.

American Idol viewing comes to an end

I guess Rosie O'Donnell beat me to the punch on this one, but, once again, despite telling Jamie "I will not watch this season of American Idol", I have seen three hours of the show already.

It may be the producer's knowledge that America loves to watch people fail, no matter who they are and as long as they quickly disappear from the screen (see: America's Funniest Home Videos). Or, it may be because of the saturation of American Idol into the zeitgeist, that American Idol is now attracting more applicants than ever of all stripes... And, perhaps after six seasons, no matter how grueling the humiliation the judges dish out, contestants are smart enough to just keep their mouths shut.

This season, American Idol's audition episodes seem to be showing nothing but mildly deranged, somewhat mentally challenged and functionally autistic contestants. Apparently it's not enough to just bring in the kids who think they can sing but have delusions of grandeur (which is how Idol reps classify their contestants). It seems that Crazy Mary from a few seasons ago really lit a fire under the producers to let through and broadcast the judges haranguing folks who the producers SHOULD have the common courtesy to excuse from the auditions. Instead, it's sort of the TV equivalent of laughing at the special ed kids in high school. Nice.

Of course, because the show lasts somewhere in the neighborhood of 87 weeks each season, the audience sort of forgets the folks who maybe should never have been paraded in front of the camera. But it's unlikely those folks forget, if they're ever even aware of how they were presented.

If someone put on a show where they pitched itself as: we promise to make fun of the mildly deranged, the somewhat mentally challenged and the functionally autistic, I would not tune in.

That's why I don't watch "Carlos Mencia" and "The Blue Collar Comedy Tour".

Anyway, I'm done. No more Idol.

@#$% them.

The real tragedy of all of this is that longtime readers will know I love it when bad things happen to good people. Somehow this TV show is taking away my love of the schadenfreude. And that's just not fair.


I DVR "Friday Night Lights" on Wednesday nights, so I have but one live-TV option:

It's "Armed and Famous" for me on my Wednesday nights. Go Officer Estrada!

Shut up. That show is awesome. While you were watching your fiftieth contestant butcher a Celine Dion song (as if Celine Dion songs should be encouraged, anyway) and Simon's 1000th eyeroll, I saw LaToya Jackson assist in the delivery of a baby.

That, Leaguers, is TV magic.

The Sons of Katie Elder

Texas is a woman, she used to say. A big, wild, beautiful woman.

You raise a kid to where he's got some size, and there's Texas whispering in his ear and smiling, saying, "Come and have some fun."

It's hard enough to raise children, she'd say.

But when you've got to fight Texas, a mother hasn't a chance.

Obama courting the Superman fan vote?

Barack Obama visits Metropolis, Illinois

Obama is wisely doing more than any prior candidate in US History to draw the vote of myself and my fellow Superman fans. Now, if Hilary will just put on a Wonder Woman outfit... Or maybe not.

Obama's locked up the Superman franchise. It's not too late for Republicans to grab Batman or Green Lantern. You hear me Frist? McCain?

Found at The Beat.

PS: The League is planning a spiritual journey to Metropolis, Illinois for the Summer 2008 Superman Festival in honor of The Man of Steel's 70th Birthday. Be there of be square.

Back and comics

We're back.

About two of every three years Austin shuts down for a day or three as old man winter moves into town. The roads ice over, ice accumulates all along the rooftops and in patches on lawns.

The weather folks on basic cable were warning us all about such an occurence as early as last week, and the rain began on Saturday. That didn't stop us from having some folks over to amuse Cassidy. It was Juan D's birthday, and so I made a cake and hung a "Happy Birthday" banner, which I should probably take down at some point. But it's so festive. Matt, Juan, Nicole, Steven and Lauren stopped by. The dogs were pleased.

Sunday we headed out to see "Pan's Labyrinth" with Steven and Lauren at Alamo South. Excellent movie. Not quite what I expected, but somehow still met or exceeded expectations.

And here be spoilers

But I was taken out of the movie in the final moments by a certain parallel to Henson's "Labyrinth". "Give me the child. Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child that you have stolen, for my will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom is as great. You have no power over me." It's nowhere close to a 1:1, but my brain began filling in all sorts of slots. That said, Henson's Labyrinth is a cute family movie with some themes about growing up. This film (note how I didn't say movie) explores far deeper corners of the human heart and certainly comes up with better answers.

End Spoilers

When we left the movie the winter weather had begun in earnest, right down to the four of us realizing "it is very cold!" and quickly parting ways, now capped to the brim with some great nightmare fuel.

Snowed-in

So for two days we've been as snowed-in as Austin gets. The roads are exceedingly dangerous, right up to the point that Jason returned from Mexico last night and is not allowed to come get his dog until the roads thaw out. It doesn't matter. We're happy to have Cassidy here. We're really enjoying her as a little addition to the usual chaos. Plus, she gets some serious points with her little shovel nosed underbite that gives her a constantly quizzical look and makes you forgive her for EVERYTHING.

There's a layer of ice on everything. I've taken a few pictures, and am sort of hoping for the ice to really take hold before the thaw late tomorrow as I'd like some pictures of the yard completely white.

So I've been applying to jobs, reading and writing. Not here, obviously. Over at Comic Fodder. And as I suspected, I'm already hitting bumps along the way as I grow on my learning curve. I posted again within the past 36 hours (this ice bound stuff has me forgetting what day it is), and will post DC solicitation opinions by tomorrow morning.

Comic Blogging

Lessons I already knew but which have been reinforced:
a) people are actually finding this thing. This is not The League and its usual band of folks who skip over the comic reviews (yes you do).
b) cite, cite, cite. No more cutesy throw aways and asides without hyperlinks or listing stories by name or issue numbers. These are comic geeks, and we leave no source unturned. Those walls of comics and graphic novels have to come off the shelf every time.
c) if you are quoted elsewhere (as I was today at The Beat), that doesn't mean that readers of the popular blog are going to actually click that hyperlink and jump over to see what you actually said. However, they will comment.
d) and you can also be curious all day long about what Heidi thought, but she's a working blogger, and little busy for Comic Fodder comment conversations.
e) Picking fights in every column may not be the smartest way to go. After all, I'm not shy about my mad DC love. Writing is easier when you go for the throat every time (or when you blow sunshine every time, I suppose). I need to learn the definition of balance. But I also think that if DC is asking for $3 a comic, they have to meet my expectations as well.

It's a cruel, cruel circle, Leaguers.

That said, I'm enjoying the comic blogging. You guys are phenomenal, and you make this blog worthwhile, but this is just one of those things I'm ready for (I hope). And so it may occassionally get in the way of a detailed account of my trip to the grocery or whatever you come here to read. For that, I apologize.

I confess to having one of those moments this weekend where I realized I have no idea who my readership is, how many folks hit the site daily (I've abandoned SiteMeter as all it told me was how many hits came from folks looking for images of "supergirl + naked". It was a lot.), or who really cares at this point. Yes, I know Mom and Dad care. Thanks, guys!

So, anyway, unintentionally, The League is in a bit of a state of flux. Bear with us.

In the meantime: I've been reading my Enemy Ace Archive Edition, and I am loving it. I love the the airplane-museum-geek level of detail in the descriptions and Von Hammer's running monologue and the clear way Kubert executes the aerial scenes, which could have been very confusing. Honestly, I don't know how he does it, and I'll be looking at that for a long time.

Also, Superman Greatest Stories Ever Told Vol. 2 was good, but reprinted a LOT of stuff I'd previously read elsewhere. Caught up on a few piles of titles I'd let stack up, watched some more "Flash" DVD's and the supplement disc to "Pandora's Box" (there's not enough Louise Brooks stuff out there on DVD).

I need to crack open the books I was given for Christmas. "The March" keeps falling off the coffee table as if to attract attention.

Ah, this rambling is why I hadn't posted.

Hope you are doing well. If in Texas: Stay warm. Stay safe. Stay home.

Hiatus!

We're on hiatus. I literally cannot think of anything to write about. So when I can think of something, I shall return.

In the meantime, why don't you try leaving a comment when you come on by, just to say "howdy." We'd certainly appreciate it.

We'll be back soon.

***update***
Please say who you are if you're commenting "anonymously". Unless you really want to keep it a secret. And I can appreciate the shame of visiting LoM, so it's not required.

2 dogs + 3/4 dog = chaos

Oh, Cassidy.

We adore Cassidy. Jason's dog is little and cute and her tail is a perfect 2/3rds of a circle. She clearly leads a happy life at Jason's house as she appears continually gleeful. Really, gleeful, confused and asleep are her three working states.

I stayed up until almost 4:00. This was post-visitation with some folks, when I found myself watching a show about the Spartans of ancient Greece. It was like a well produced short history class, or maybe a sub-section of what you'd get in Greek History in undergrad. Odd timing as I had been discussing my lack of knowledge of Greek history just a few hours prior.

Last night we sort of celebrated the birthday of League-pal Juan Diaz (he is 3?). Juan, Matt Mangum, Nicole, Lauren and Steven were all in attendance. A lovely evening, and we wrapped up mercifully early. I do not think anyone saw Jamie drifting off on her end of the couch.

I was still all pumped up when folks left and so did some internet'ing (Jim D should check his e-mail box, and you can see my recently posted DC Comic reviews for week January 10th at Comic Fodder). And then the Spartans thing on PBS.

So now I have been awake again since 7:45 thanks to the howling call of Cassidy, who is not on my schedule and had to eat and pee.

The feeding schedule is odd with three dogs as one is constantly trying to keep my two dogs out of Cassidy's food, as Cassidy is prone to share and is also a slow eater. And, since Cassidy's arrival, my dogs will not actually do their morning duties until after they've eaten. So you can kick them outside first thing, but they will only stand by the back door, staring at you.

Add in the rain and cold we've got, and it's been doggy chaos about three or four times a day as dogs go in and out in short bursts.

But the dogs seem to like this "pack" thing of having three dogs. It's just not much of a pack with 2 and 3/4's dogs.

Rorbert Anton Wilson merges with The Infinite

I read very little RAW. In fact, Illuminati! still sits unread upon my shelf.

I associate the name more with a time in my life and a culmination of tiny, tiny little events which led to...

It was a different time and, possibly, a different League (if I were to still buy the same things I bought back then). But I'm glad I read some of him, but somehow the day-to-day of these days has overwritten what it was I read, by and large.

I wonder if he'll get those answers now...?

Painfully cute

Mei Lan, the Atlanta Panda


Mei Lan's first steps


Makes her public debut

Lots more Mei Lan

Beckham

Whoo hoo!

David Beckham is headed to the US to join the LA Galaxy. I just watched a softball interview with him on CNN and he is coming. For $250 million. Pretty good for a guy on the downside of his career.

It's honestly a little weird to see a guy like this slumming in US soccer, but he sees it as an opportunity to grow American soccer, and that ain't a bad idea. Further, there are some good players coming to the end of their pro careers who could really add a lot to the MLS (Ronaldo, my fellow weight-fightin' brother, the Dynamo needs you).

As Leaguers might guess, this is a bit of a novelty, and, honestly, The League doesn't know much about soccer. But, as Mary Jo Mitchell has said, Beckham could "bring it to the big stage".

Mission: Judy Morrison

When the League was in high school, he was a fair-to-middlin' student, gaining access to the NHS and all that great stuff. Despite a "C" in Pre-Calc one semester, I was also inducted into the AABBIT society (All A's and B's Because I Try. No, really.)

But we never would have made it through High School Physics if not for our charming lab partner, Judy Morrison.

There are a lot of folks I would like to track down from Klein Oak High School and just see what happened to them. Just to name a few: Travis Breaux. Chris Shaw. Vince. Julie Simmons. Camilla. And Scott Wiser, until I had lunch with him last week. (He's doing great. Thanks for asking. And he has remarkably good hair.)

But for some reason it always comes back to my old lab buddy, Judy.

I think part of that comes from my near-psychotic obsession with trying to entertain people who clearly do not find me remotely amusing. You could juggle three chihuahuas while riding a unicycle and be hard pressed to see Judy crack a smile. To me, that was my license to try all the harder. Who cares about the folks you've already won over? I knew one day I would find a way into Judy's good graces. Alas, our time together was all too brief, and I never did convince Judy I was amazingly great.

Judy was friends with my lady-friend from High School, so I already knew her before Physics I. But it was sitting next to her for a whole year that made me really appreicate Judy's almost misanthropic take on each and every event. I don't know if Judy meant to be funny, so I really hope I was laughing with her.

Also, like our own Denise, Judy worked at the Randall's bakery. Denise really made the little flatcap her own, but Judy never looked very happy to be wearing the hat. Maybe she just didn't like peering over glass pastry displays. We may never know. Denise might provide some insight.

Upon Shannon L-C's request, I took a look for Judy. Turns out the names Judith and Judy Morrison are fairly common when Google is applied. Further, I am sure a fine young lady like Judy Morrison may have married, so she may have taken another name.

So if anyone has any information about what became of Judy Morrison, Klein Oak High, Class of '93, e-mail me. I'd love to know. I know I can win her over this time.

And then we'll hunt down Chris Shaw. That guy borderline despised me.

News Bits

Lily Munster actress, Yvonne De Carlo dies at age 84.

One of my earliest memories is of our house in Canton, Michigan and sitting in front of the TV watching The Munsters. Like most kids, I was a big fan of Hermann and Grandpa Munster, but even then, I always thought Yvonne De Carlo brought a certain grace to the screen as Hermann's consummate straight man.

Also, I adored how Lily Munster was semi-obsessed with how "ugly" her niece Marian, the Donna Reed clone, appeared to be in her eyes.

Yvonne De Carlo also plays a supporting part in "McClintock" as John Wayne's friend and ranch house manager whom Maureen O'Hara believes to be Wayne's mistress.

So long, Lily Munster. You were one of the greatest TV moms of all time.


Jim sends in this bit about an episode of Naked City which just happens to feature a copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 displayed at a news kiosk.

Amazing Fantasy #15 is, of course, the first comic to feature The Amazing Spider-Man. It's an eight page, story, I believe, in true Ditko style.

wrong

I just took this quiz, based mostly on how inaccurate the last person who took it claimed it was (grammar).

Brainy Kid

In high school, you were acing AP classes or hanging out in the computer lab. You may have been a bit of a geek back then, but now you're a total success!

Who Were You In High School?

I was IN AP classes. Acing them? Not so much. Further, I was lucky I knew where the computer lab was. The computer class I did take (Micro Computer Applications) turned out to be a vocational class for teaching the future hourly employees of the world how to use a 10-key. (I might add, I was awesome at 10-key).

I was not the only one duped by the title of the course. All of the non-vocational kids would peer over the top of their CRT's at each other, wondering what we were doing in this class which had a description hinting at some cool stuff. But we all became fairly good at Minesweeper, which is what we were told to do when we finished an assignment.

As per success? Oh, yes. It's hard to blog with all these stacks of money falling on my keyboard.

But... the Brainy Kid? I can tell you there were at least 81 kids brainier than me in my class. And they even got a special luncheon.

No, I think I was, and remain, The Bitter Kid.

your blog for today

Happy Wednesday, Leaguers.


Sometimes you can handle individual people fine, but when you combine them, they're trouble? Such as, a few friends who, individually, are fun to talk to, but when they get paired up, it spells trouble for everyone else? In college, we called these people "Voltron". Individually, they can be handled, but together, no force can stop them.

Tomorrow, Jason takes off for fun in the sun in the Yucatan, so this evening we will be taking in Jason's three-legged pup, young Hop-a-Long Cassidy, for a few days. What chaos awaits? Only time will tell. But I'm putting all of our breakables up on a higher shelf. My dogs are going Voltron for a few days.


The comic blogging thing is fun, even though my readership is currently floating somewhere near zero. I think I had more genuine comments on my re-direct from The Beat than on the actual post, but, hey... I am hoping there will be some growth at some point. This week I will be contacting several folks who own comic blogs and try alerting them to the fun at Comic Fodder. I felt I needed a few posts up to demonstrate I was serious before trying to get some attention.

I spoke with JimD last week regarding expectations for Comic Fodder, and, unlike here at League of Melbotis, I'd like to see readership grow. At some point, LoM turned into a one-way conversation with family and friends, and at the time, I think I jettisoned any notions of expanding the basic premise of what you see here. LoM is what it is, and hopefully you might find reasons to come back once in a while. It's free, after all.

Maintaining two blogs is a bit taxing. I knew that from back when we made an attempt with Nanostalgia last year. In the end, if it doesn't work out with Comic Fodder I can always circle the wagons and bring the comic reviews back here to be ignored.


Life is a still life here at League HQ. Today I have a few errands to run, such as purchasing an anti-Cassidy perimeter. Lucy is literally sprawled across my feet and snoring (which is nice as I don't have slippers or socks on, and my toes had been cold). Jeff is curled into a ball somewhere upstairs and Melbotis is snoozing on his big bed. Jamie is also crashed out in her post-dialysis nap.

My workless schedule has me all crazy.

***update***

I have changed the schedule, not to make myself look better, but because Jason pointed out a certain timeframe which was totally inaccurate and would give my parents a conniption. I look for a job every time I sit down at the computer. I do not block off a full chunk of several every day the way I do on Mondays when perusing the job boards. Instead, I break it up. For those of you who have ever been unemployed, looking for a job is dispiriting. I like to break up that soul-crushing experience throughout the day, so I can feel that pain all day long.

That said, there is always a concentrated period of time when I look for a job in the AM and PM. So, Mom and Dad and Dick and Judy... relax. I'm awake 18 hours a day. I don't spend all that time reading comics.

***end update***

10:00: Wake up
10:05: Make coffee
10:07: Give Lucy allergy pills
10:10: pour cereal into bowl
10:11: turn on TV. Watch Headline News.
10:15: Check e-mail
10:45: Check blog comments
11:00: Look at job postings. Apply to jobs.
11:15: Switch to News8 Austin
12:00: Check other blogs, look at CNN.com, comic websites, etc...
12:45: Wander house.
1:30: lunch.
2:15: Run some errands.
4:30: Try to go running.
5:45: Check e-mail. Check comments.
6:45: Begin coordinating for dinner.
8:00: Check e-mail. Look for a job.
9:00: Try to blog some.
11:00: Look in odd places for a job and watch horrible TV.
3:00: Realize it's 3:00 AM. Go to bed.
10:00: Repeat.

It's not a bad schedule, but you do find yourself watching programs like "I Love New York" and "The (white) Rapper Show" on VH1, and feeling kind of bad about yourself and the state of humanity. On the other hand, there aren't too many TPS reports to wrestle with and it doesn't require a tie.

YouTube Tuesday

This will not be a regular feature, but, hey... It's Tuesday and I needed a title.

Either Jim or Randy sent this in. I forget. But it's... It's... It's abso-ludicrous. And it reminds me so much of my own high school experience.




Nathan demonstrates that he knows me all too well with this clip. Old Timey Star Wars.



And Jamie found Office Space Superfriends. It's sort of PG-13, but nothing you haven't seen on Superfriends or Office Space.

two things

Congrats to Univ. of Florida. They played an absolutely great game, dominating OSU for the vast majority of the game.

Also, about a week ago Jamie and I were driving past an empty shell of one of the Albertson's grocery stores that had pulled out of Austin. "We should open something in that," Jamie said.
"Okay."
"What could we do with superheroes?"
"Well," I said looking at the decaying grocery. "I have no idea. It's about 20 times larger than a comic shop."
"We could do, like, a superhero place," Jamie said. "Like, we could throw superhero birthday parties and have a super hero restaurant, and sell superhero stuff. Like capes and shields and other superhero gadgets."
"Wow. Well, that sounds pretty good for kids, but..." the idea of running something that complicated sounded like a bit of a nightmare.

But maybe these guys in Brooklyn have done it right. Maxwell, I'm dispatching you to check it out.

Thanks to RHPT for the link.

Nothing to Report

It would be shameful for me to let a Monday pass without much in the way of blogging, I suppose.

Today your League is tired. League HQ pal Heather Wagner is on winter break from the grad program which she is currently enrolled in, and has come back to Austin to touch base with family and friends. Last night Wagner stayed in the guest quarters here at League HQ, and we had a lovely dinner followed by a firepit in the backyard.

Long story short, by the time Jamie and Heather had both retired, it was 1:45 AM, and The League was due to post DC Weekly Reviews at Comic Fodder. Sure, I managed my usual genius, but it was 3:55 AM when at last I crawled into bed. I was up again at 9:15, ran for a good distance this afternoon (I'm starting to love the hills) and am now coming down from whatever energy boost I previously enjoyed.

Normally, I caffeinate until I'm shaking like a chihuahua on a chilly day, but today I am low-key and droopy.

Plus, when I woke up, I thought maybe Pat Robertson's vision of mass deaths in 2007 may have come to fruition.

Yes, the mysterious "gas" fumes in NYC left me a little twitchy, but when the NEXT story on Headline News features dozens of dead birds near the state capitol, we start seeing boogeymen all sorts of places.

So I'm running about town and lovin' a ricin free life.

I still think Gov. Perry snuck out of the Governor's Mansion and poisoned those birds because they pooped on his Geo Metro.