I warned you guys when i quit comic blogging at Comic Fodder that it would come back to haunt us all. If you make it to the end of this post, you get a gold star.
DC Comics have been around for 70 years, give or take. Superman himself has carried multiple titles for decades. Add in team books like JLA, hundreds of series that didn't quite make it, books that did make it, and tons of one-shots, mini-series, etc... And, anyway, multiple all that by comics coming out monthly, and you've got a whole lot of stories they've tried to tell over the years.
I'm not saying comics are creatively bankrupt, but there is a certain point at which story ideas are recycled. Unfortunately, in an industry where your writers are mostly lifelong comic fans, you tend to get a lot of similar plot elements woven into the fabric of comics. There seems to be a tendency to write to what you know. Unfortunately, sometimes this means that the fanboys writing the comics only know how to go to the well and tend to repeat themselves over and over.
There are just some odd conceits of comics that make me roll my eyes.
1) Mind-Control used against Superman. You aren't going to top "Sacrifice" in the foreseeable future. Busiek handled the tendency for the topic to get overplayed a bit in "Camelot Falls".
2) Prophecies. Seriously, you're giving away the ending, and if everyone is a "Chosen One", nobody is a chosen one.
3) Revolving Door of Death. DC claims to measure the importance of a death and if it was a good idea and was the impact severe on the DCU. And yet Jason Todd runs around the DCU, featured in Countdown. In some ways, I think it speaks ill of DC editorial's understanding of how death effects people in real life.
4) Third Person Descriptions of Batman's insane thirst for justice. I got it. He's a big, spooky guy. But it breaks the first rule of writing: Show, don't tell.
5) Time Travel (Legion excepted). It's too complicated and its rarely handled well. The Legion is just kooky enough to keep me from thinking too much about the ramifications. They get a pass, even if the whole Mon-El thing makes no sense.
6a) Female Superheroes and Villains in heels and improbable outfits. You can't fight in heels, run or do much but walk around. And, really, who decides their action suit means they need to show as much cleavage as possible?
6b) Female Superhero costumes that shred but leave tatters in convenient locations
7) Endless armies of anonymous henchmen in million dollar armor. I've never really understood how any supervillain was supposed to gets o many goons on their payroll and then outfit them better than the average US soldier.
8) Heists that appear to cost more than the take. If your technology is that good, you'll do far better selling the technology to the US government or a contractor than knocking over banks.
9) Teases for the return of Barry Allen, the Silver Age Flash. You're not bringing him back. Stop yanking my chain. That said, I can't say "No" to a whole army of speedsters. On this, Didio and I will just have to disagree.
10a) Two Superheroes meet for first time, immediately fight one another
10b) Two Superheroes who turn a disagreement into a reason for a fistfight. Both of these sceanrios make the hero look like a hotheaded idiot. You don't catch a well written JLA slugging it out over petty disputes. That's because there's an understanding that these guys are pros.
11) More muddling of Aquaman. Could a character be more mixed up? For the love of Mike, how little faith do you have in your own writers that you can't trust someone to just restore the original Aquaman to his place in the DCU? He doesn't need his own title, just... fix it.
12) Awkwardly written flirting scenes. It just reinforces that comics are written by dateless geeks for dateless geeks.
13) Another teen hero who gets picked on in high school. Was there ever an actual high school where things were so bad for quiet nerds who kept to themselves as the ones they portray in comics? Another sign that comics are written by geeks for geeks. Not everyone needs to be @#$%ing Peter Parker.
14) Writers who forget the meaning of the term "supporting cast". If all your hero does is heroey stuff all the time, and spends his life thinking in caption boxes, it can get dull pretty fast. A Lois Lane for your hero to talk to can do wonders. I think the dirty secret of why Blue Beetle is such as fun comics is that Jaime has a large, colorful supporting cast. Robin has... Robin.
That's my list...
What have you got?
Monday, September 10, 2007
Iron Man Trailer Now Online!
Iron Man trailer is up! And it looks like its going to be a heck of a popcorn movie.
Must have QuickTime or other Apple Media player.
Must have QuickTime or other Apple Media player.
Sunday, September 09, 2007
The Defuser, Football, the gym
Hey, Leaguers!
The Defuser Patrols Austin
Firstly, I want to congratulate a man I will probably never meet. Austin's own Police Detective Jarret Crippen was the winner of this year's edition of "Who Wants to be a Superhero?" Or, rather, Austin's own superhero "The Defuser" will now have an action figure, a comic, and may get to participate in a Sci-Fi original movie.
I was cheering for all three of the final four contestants (plus Basura, for less heroic reasons). Parthenon, Hygena and Hyper-Strike all seemed like good options and seemed to "get" the show much more quickly than the participants from the first season, which stands to reason.
While I was amused by Mr. Mitzvah, he disappeared sort of early on. However, the real story is the real life of Mr. Mitzvah. Google Ivan Wilzig. It's kind of fascinating. heck just check out his Wikipedia entry.
He really was a billionaire playboy trying to become a superhero...
Anyhow, it seems that my parents' visit this weekend stunted my chance to meet The Defuser in person when he appeared at Austin Books on Saturday (thanks for the tip, Jim D!) along with Ms. Limelight (she of the unknown powers).
Austin, being what it is, I suppose I shall have other opportunities to meet The Defuser and get his autograph. Perhaps when his comic debuts?
UT puts in a UT-like effort
Saturday UT played the TCU Horned Frogs, and while the first half of the game was mostly not shown due to a really, really good game between A&M and Fresno State, the part of the first half that was shown was kind of grim.
My folks were here, so we cooked out, Matt and Nicole popped over, and I saw less of the game than I would have liked as I got food together.
The second half, however, was a real game as UT's offense woke up and scored something like 34 points to TCU's 3. And that ain't bad.
McCoy simply isn't the same athlete as Vince Young, but, man, he's trying. And Charles and other players looked really good. It should also be noted that UT's defense played a pretty darn good game (with the one TCU touchdown scored as an interception return, I think. I was out cooking burgers on the grill.)
Anyhow, I have a little more faith in UT at this point. I don't ask for even a BCS bowl game, but... man, I want a good showing.
NFL Starts Up
Dallas is playing this evening. Now, I know most folks like to bag on the NFL, but I like it, even though pretty much everything about the presentation of the games is overblown and ridiculous.
It doesn't have the same joy as college ball, but its still fun, and, hey... its not exactly like the first two months of NBA play where folks screw around for about twenty games before they get settled down.
Back to the Gym
Jamie has decided to get in shape. I prefer my shape to be somewhat panda-like, but I do worry when I have to stick my finger on electric sockets every once in a while to get the ol' ticker going again.
Anyhow, I finally made it back to Gold's Gym for the first time since I signed on the dotted line a few months back.
I was pleased that my body was not in screaming agony, and that I rode the elliptical for forty+ minutes. My game plan is to do mostly cardio for a while, and then get on the weight machines in a month or so. We'll see. First things first is making sure I don't wear out on the weight machines ten minutes after getting to the gym.
Jamie's been really impressive lately. She went to the gym without me, she's been eating really well, she and Carla have been hitting some dance classes, and I know she exercises in front of her cd player at home sometimes.
Part of me was also watching The Bourne movies and realizing I couldn't win in a fist fight because I'd probably get winded. That's kind of an uncomfortable realization. So its back to the gym for me.
The Defuser Patrols Austin
Firstly, I want to congratulate a man I will probably never meet. Austin's own Police Detective Jarret Crippen was the winner of this year's edition of "Who Wants to be a Superhero?" Or, rather, Austin's own superhero "The Defuser" will now have an action figure, a comic, and may get to participate in a Sci-Fi original movie.
I was cheering for all three of the final four contestants (plus Basura, for less heroic reasons). Parthenon, Hygena and Hyper-Strike all seemed like good options and seemed to "get" the show much more quickly than the participants from the first season, which stands to reason.
While I was amused by Mr. Mitzvah, he disappeared sort of early on. However, the real story is the real life of Mr. Mitzvah. Google Ivan Wilzig. It's kind of fascinating. heck just check out his Wikipedia entry.
He really was a billionaire playboy trying to become a superhero...
Anyhow, it seems that my parents' visit this weekend stunted my chance to meet The Defuser in person when he appeared at Austin Books on Saturday (thanks for the tip, Jim D!) along with Ms. Limelight (she of the unknown powers).
Austin, being what it is, I suppose I shall have other opportunities to meet The Defuser and get his autograph. Perhaps when his comic debuts?
UT puts in a UT-like effort
Saturday UT played the TCU Horned Frogs, and while the first half of the game was mostly not shown due to a really, really good game between A&M and Fresno State, the part of the first half that was shown was kind of grim.
My folks were here, so we cooked out, Matt and Nicole popped over, and I saw less of the game than I would have liked as I got food together.
The second half, however, was a real game as UT's offense woke up and scored something like 34 points to TCU's 3. And that ain't bad.
McCoy simply isn't the same athlete as Vince Young, but, man, he's trying. And Charles and other players looked really good. It should also be noted that UT's defense played a pretty darn good game (with the one TCU touchdown scored as an interception return, I think. I was out cooking burgers on the grill.)
Anyhow, I have a little more faith in UT at this point. I don't ask for even a BCS bowl game, but... man, I want a good showing.
NFL Starts Up
Dallas is playing this evening. Now, I know most folks like to bag on the NFL, but I like it, even though pretty much everything about the presentation of the games is overblown and ridiculous.
It doesn't have the same joy as college ball, but its still fun, and, hey... its not exactly like the first two months of NBA play where folks screw around for about twenty games before they get settled down.
Back to the Gym
Jamie has decided to get in shape. I prefer my shape to be somewhat panda-like, but I do worry when I have to stick my finger on electric sockets every once in a while to get the ol' ticker going again.
Anyhow, I finally made it back to Gold's Gym for the first time since I signed on the dotted line a few months back.
I was pleased that my body was not in screaming agony, and that I rode the elliptical for forty+ minutes. My game plan is to do mostly cardio for a while, and then get on the weight machines in a month or so. We'll see. First things first is making sure I don't wear out on the weight machines ten minutes after getting to the gym.
Jamie's been really impressive lately. She went to the gym without me, she's been eating really well, she and Carla have been hitting some dance classes, and I know she exercises in front of her cd player at home sometimes.
Part of me was also watching The Bourne movies and realizing I couldn't win in a fist fight because I'd probably get winded. That's kind of an uncomfortable realization. So its back to the gym for me.
Friday, September 07, 2007
ROBBED!!!
Dang it!
This morning I was going out to my car and noticed something seemed off. I paused, looked around, and finally saw that the two very nice chairs we had on our porch were gone.
Now, last spring Peabo noted that he had some nice porch chairs stolen from his back porch, and i thought that odd. Porch chairs? Well, Peabo's stuff was of a certain look and feel, and I understand that it's fairly expensive to get the kind of furniture he had.
But The League is a trusting soul. Plus, honestly, that furniture has been there for 10 or 11 months. I just had given up worrying about it. We live on a street that is not really a through-way, so I suspect that someone who either works on our street or visits our street had been coveting our patio chairs. Because, honestly... I don't think my neighbors that I know are big enough jerks to come between midnight and this morning and take our damn chairs, and I get depressed thinking someone would visit our neighborhood in a desperate search for porch chairs. But what the heck do I know?
I HATE getting robbed. Everyone does. A little bit of larceny from a big box store or something I can almost understand, but when you start stealing other people's personal stuff, it just means you think you deserve their stuff more than they deserve it. It's a dickish move. I don't know if people think we're rolling in cash because we had decent porch chairs, or what... but, seriously, Leaguers... I can't afford new @#$%ing porch chairs.
I also am glum that, no doubt, someone will suggest we secure the chairs somehow.
No. That sucks. I am not chaining @#$%ing chairs to the @#$%ing railing. I don't want to live in a world where anything i don't have nailed down is going to walk off.
But I also have two patios. So... next time the furniture goes upstairs. It seems less likely that people will climb the front of my house to steal stuff.
Downstairs? Who knows? I don't want to clutter the porch with furniture so crappy that nobody will want it, but I also want to be able to sit out there.
I do know that it could have been way, way worse. We got mildly robbed when I was in high school, and it wound up with us getting a burglar alarm. I don't recall losing much but a portable CD player in the robbery, but my mom came home before I did that day, and that could have been bad had the crooks still been there. In PHX we got a burglar system right out of the gate.
This incident just reminds me that, despite our two dog security system, we should probably think about getting wired up. Which is a permanent, ongoing expense. Which sucks. And makes me that much further from obtaining new patio furniture.
But I also don't want to come home one night and find all my stuff is missing. Not that anyone is going to successfully steal a few thousand comics, but... Whatever I can do to keep the house from getting ripped off and kepe Jamie safe is a good idea.
Man.
Urgghhhh.
This morning I was going out to my car and noticed something seemed off. I paused, looked around, and finally saw that the two very nice chairs we had on our porch were gone.
Now, last spring Peabo noted that he had some nice porch chairs stolen from his back porch, and i thought that odd. Porch chairs? Well, Peabo's stuff was of a certain look and feel, and I understand that it's fairly expensive to get the kind of furniture he had.
But The League is a trusting soul. Plus, honestly, that furniture has been there for 10 or 11 months. I just had given up worrying about it. We live on a street that is not really a through-way, so I suspect that someone who either works on our street or visits our street had been coveting our patio chairs. Because, honestly... I don't think my neighbors that I know are big enough jerks to come between midnight and this morning and take our damn chairs, and I get depressed thinking someone would visit our neighborhood in a desperate search for porch chairs. But what the heck do I know?
I HATE getting robbed. Everyone does. A little bit of larceny from a big box store or something I can almost understand, but when you start stealing other people's personal stuff, it just means you think you deserve their stuff more than they deserve it. It's a dickish move. I don't know if people think we're rolling in cash because we had decent porch chairs, or what... but, seriously, Leaguers... I can't afford new @#$%ing porch chairs.
I also am glum that, no doubt, someone will suggest we secure the chairs somehow.
No. That sucks. I am not chaining @#$%ing chairs to the @#$%ing railing. I don't want to live in a world where anything i don't have nailed down is going to walk off.
But I also have two patios. So... next time the furniture goes upstairs. It seems less likely that people will climb the front of my house to steal stuff.
Downstairs? Who knows? I don't want to clutter the porch with furniture so crappy that nobody will want it, but I also want to be able to sit out there.
I do know that it could have been way, way worse. We got mildly robbed when I was in high school, and it wound up with us getting a burglar alarm. I don't recall losing much but a portable CD player in the robbery, but my mom came home before I did that day, and that could have been bad had the crooks still been there. In PHX we got a burglar system right out of the gate.
This incident just reminds me that, despite our two dog security system, we should probably think about getting wired up. Which is a permanent, ongoing expense. Which sucks. And makes me that much further from obtaining new patio furniture.
But I also don't want to come home one night and find all my stuff is missing. Not that anyone is going to successfully steal a few thousand comics, but... Whatever I can do to keep the house from getting ripped off and kepe Jamie safe is a good idea.
Man.
Urgghhhh.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Why for is an iPod not cheaper...?
So Steve Jobs came down from the mountain on Wednesday to announce the latest in Apple's line of i-Devices, an iPod which pretty much is the iPhone, but without a calling plan and a lot less memory.
Those who have seen the interface on the iPhone know its pretty jazzy, and like the Xerox iconographic interface, is probably the watershed for the future of interfaces, especially in the era of the computer that fits into your pocket.
That said, anyone who actually buys the new iPod Touch is a chump.
The thing has a fraction of the memory of the "iPod Classic", and while you can get Wi-Fi on it, it's still pretty darn expensive for something that will be outdated by January. Really, if you already have a calling plan and an iPod and don't need to spend your time at the grocery aisle blogging, there's not a lot of compelling reasons not to wait to see what comes next.
That, and the cost issue we'll get to shortly.
This is not to say there are not compelling reasons to WANT the new iPod... just... wait. Do not give in to the crushing desire to show all your friends how the screen stays level when you turn the iPod around.
What I find particularly irksome is that the lower memory (ie: cheaper iPods) are now disappearing from the line up, or becoming Nanos (ie: the iPod to small for my mitts). Perhaps a Nano is what's in my future.
But, add in the fact that they reduced the cost of the iPhone by $200 (more than the cost of most phones to begin with) within a few months of the initial offering, and... holy cow. Bad form, Apple. Why not just slap a "sucker" sticker on the forehead of your most faithful? I don't know if the iPhone isn't meeting expectations for sales or what, but it doesn't make me want to run out and drop $250 on an 80 GB iPod if its going to be $150 by April.
And that's kind of what's so vexing... When is the right time to get onboard with a new iPod? I don't know.
All I know is that a few years ago they released all those tests you could take to find out if you were an early adopter, cutting edge adopter, or whatever, and I always sort of thought that the folks who buy new technology of any kind when it first hits have either far more enthusiasm or money than me. I like to wait to see if the technology is going to get wide release (remember the mini-cd's we were all supposed to use circa 1996? No? Well, my point... But you could find albums in the format for a while). And, of course, after watching the PS3 just drop its cost, you kind of wonder exactly what the profit margin is on some of these doo-hickeys.
I'm not knocking the iPod. Fer chrissake, I'd love to have a new one. I just sort of question what, exactly, I'm buying from them, and if I shouldn't start looking at my options with other MP3 players. Mostly, I'd be fine with a 60 or 30 GB iPod, so must I carry a Nano?
Those who have seen the interface on the iPhone know its pretty jazzy, and like the Xerox iconographic interface, is probably the watershed for the future of interfaces, especially in the era of the computer that fits into your pocket.
That said, anyone who actually buys the new iPod Touch is a chump.
The thing has a fraction of the memory of the "iPod Classic", and while you can get Wi-Fi on it, it's still pretty darn expensive for something that will be outdated by January. Really, if you already have a calling plan and an iPod and don't need to spend your time at the grocery aisle blogging, there's not a lot of compelling reasons not to wait to see what comes next.
That, and the cost issue we'll get to shortly.
This is not to say there are not compelling reasons to WANT the new iPod... just... wait. Do not give in to the crushing desire to show all your friends how the screen stays level when you turn the iPod around.
What I find particularly irksome is that the lower memory (ie: cheaper iPods) are now disappearing from the line up, or becoming Nanos (ie: the iPod to small for my mitts). Perhaps a Nano is what's in my future.
But, add in the fact that they reduced the cost of the iPhone by $200 (more than the cost of most phones to begin with) within a few months of the initial offering, and... holy cow. Bad form, Apple. Why not just slap a "sucker" sticker on the forehead of your most faithful? I don't know if the iPhone isn't meeting expectations for sales or what, but it doesn't make me want to run out and drop $250 on an 80 GB iPod if its going to be $150 by April.
And that's kind of what's so vexing... When is the right time to get onboard with a new iPod? I don't know.
All I know is that a few years ago they released all those tests you could take to find out if you were an early adopter, cutting edge adopter, or whatever, and I always sort of thought that the folks who buy new technology of any kind when it first hits have either far more enthusiasm or money than me. I like to wait to see if the technology is going to get wide release (remember the mini-cd's we were all supposed to use circa 1996? No? Well, my point... But you could find albums in the format for a while). And, of course, after watching the PS3 just drop its cost, you kind of wonder exactly what the profit margin is on some of these doo-hickeys.
I'm not knocking the iPod. Fer chrissake, I'd love to have a new one. I just sort of question what, exactly, I'm buying from them, and if I shouldn't start looking at my options with other MP3 players. Mostly, I'd be fine with a 60 or 30 GB iPod, so must I carry a Nano?
Pavarotti Merges with the Infinite
Pavarotti, the only opera singer anyone knows outside of Placido Domingo and Jessye Norman, has been recalled to the Pearly Gates.
I own, I think, two CD's featuring Opera. Maybe three...? I'm not exactly an opera buff, but if you were paying attention in the mid-90's, Pavarotti was 1/3rd responsible for a resurgence in interest in the artform.
Plus, he looks like Vultan from Flash Gordon, which is ,in all ways, awesome.
He was bigger than life, had a huge appetite for life, and seemed to have a terrific sense of humor. And he gave chubby guys like me hope that we'd find some talent in ourselves.
Why not pick up Pavarotti in Pagliacci (it's about, as I was once ridiculed for summarizing it, a sad clown).
So long, Pavarotti.
I own, I think, two CD's featuring Opera. Maybe three...? I'm not exactly an opera buff, but if you were paying attention in the mid-90's, Pavarotti was 1/3rd responsible for a resurgence in interest in the artform.
Plus, he looks like Vultan from Flash Gordon, which is ,in all ways, awesome.
He was bigger than life, had a huge appetite for life, and seemed to have a terrific sense of humor. And he gave chubby guys like me hope that we'd find some talent in ourselves.
Why not pick up Pavarotti in Pagliacci (it's about, as I was once ridiculed for summarizing it, a sad clown).
So long, Pavarotti.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
A Few Items of Import
Lots of Jason Bourne
I'm not a huge espionage/ spy/ cloak & dagger movie kind of guy. But this week we watched both The Bourne Supremacy and Ultimatum. At some point I do want to have a Bourne-a-thon as, really, all three movies are one, long movie.
I may also actually check out the Ludlum books at some point. I'm a little curious to see how Ludlum handled the source material.
I did dig the last Bond movie a whole lot, but I think the Bourne movies probably informed the latest Bond more than the other way around.
The movies don't talk down to the audience, they move at a good clip and keep you engaged in the mystery surrounding Bourne. It's pretty good stuff. Jason will bemoan this opinion, but I wasn't a huge fan of the movie Ronin, and I generally feel my interest glazing over when it comes to spy movies and their trailers. Perhaps its the good casts in the Bourne movies (well, I'm a fan of Brian Cox, and I could watch Joan Allen tie her shoes for an hour), or the well choreographed fights and chases...
I dunno.
At any rate, one day they will put all three movies together in a DVD set, and I will buy them.
The Big Bang Theory
This fall CBS is bringing a sitcom to the airwaves featuring a guy I knew back the day, Jim Parsons. Leaguer Anne F. got all up in my grill about my lack of Big bang Theory coverage, and lately they've been placing ads for the show on Yahoo Mail, so I figure now is the time to mention Jim's latest venture in the world of TV.
Here's a link to some promo the show is running.
Here's a link to more info about Jim Parsons.
Here's the show's official site.
You may remember Jim Parsons from such shows as Judging Amy or movies like Garden State. Or that Quizno's commercial where he nursed from a wolf. Anyhow, we're wishing Jim the best of luck, even if his show is at least partially about making fun of socially awkward comic geeks (ahem).
It was good to hear from leaguer Anne F. Hi, Anne!
Jason on Skates
It seems that next Thursday, I shall be on skates. Jason's pals Eric and Stephanie have rented out Skateland for the night before ACL Fest begins.
I have not been on skates for many pounds and many years. Still, I am intrigued. Do my old skating abilities still linger in the back of my mind? Is Jamie still up for a couple's skate?
It's also important to note that Eric, Jason and Reed's band, the Mono E, will be playing hot, hot 80's tunes. Who knows what horrors await us...?
Toad in the House
This evening when we let the dogs back into the house after they had a potty break and treat, a huge toad came in with them. It was a fairly large toad, maybe three inches long and two inches wide, and it just sort of hopped in the back door and under a piece of furniture we have by the back door.
Obviously toads don't bite, and I've played with enough toads as a kid to know there's nothing less risky in nature than picking up our croaking friends, but they do pee all over you when you pick them up.
Anyhow, we got toads in our yard, which is great. They eat bugs. I must read up on how to cultivate a toad population.
Oh, and I got the toad out with an open door and a bit of encouragement with the business end of a broom.
I'm not a huge espionage/ spy/ cloak & dagger movie kind of guy. But this week we watched both The Bourne Supremacy and Ultimatum. At some point I do want to have a Bourne-a-thon as, really, all three movies are one, long movie.
I may also actually check out the Ludlum books at some point. I'm a little curious to see how Ludlum handled the source material.
I did dig the last Bond movie a whole lot, but I think the Bourne movies probably informed the latest Bond more than the other way around.
The movies don't talk down to the audience, they move at a good clip and keep you engaged in the mystery surrounding Bourne. It's pretty good stuff. Jason will bemoan this opinion, but I wasn't a huge fan of the movie Ronin, and I generally feel my interest glazing over when it comes to spy movies and their trailers. Perhaps its the good casts in the Bourne movies (well, I'm a fan of Brian Cox, and I could watch Joan Allen tie her shoes for an hour), or the well choreographed fights and chases...
I dunno.
At any rate, one day they will put all three movies together in a DVD set, and I will buy them.
The Big Bang Theory
This fall CBS is bringing a sitcom to the airwaves featuring a guy I knew back the day, Jim Parsons. Leaguer Anne F. got all up in my grill about my lack of Big bang Theory coverage, and lately they've been placing ads for the show on Yahoo Mail, so I figure now is the time to mention Jim's latest venture in the world of TV.
Here's a link to some promo the show is running.
Here's a link to more info about Jim Parsons.
Here's the show's official site.
You may remember Jim Parsons from such shows as Judging Amy or movies like Garden State. Or that Quizno's commercial where he nursed from a wolf. Anyhow, we're wishing Jim the best of luck, even if his show is at least partially about making fun of socially awkward comic geeks (ahem).
It was good to hear from leaguer Anne F. Hi, Anne!
Jason on Skates
It seems that next Thursday, I shall be on skates. Jason's pals Eric and Stephanie have rented out Skateland for the night before ACL Fest begins.
I have not been on skates for many pounds and many years. Still, I am intrigued. Do my old skating abilities still linger in the back of my mind? Is Jamie still up for a couple's skate?
It's also important to note that Eric, Jason and Reed's band, the Mono E, will be playing hot, hot 80's tunes. Who knows what horrors await us...?
Toad in the House
This evening when we let the dogs back into the house after they had a potty break and treat, a huge toad came in with them. It was a fairly large toad, maybe three inches long and two inches wide, and it just sort of hopped in the back door and under a piece of furniture we have by the back door.
Obviously toads don't bite, and I've played with enough toads as a kid to know there's nothing less risky in nature than picking up our croaking friends, but they do pee all over you when you pick them up.
Anyhow, we got toads in our yard, which is great. They eat bugs. I must read up on how to cultivate a toad population.
Oh, and I got the toad out with an open door and a bit of encouragement with the business end of a broom.
Monday, September 03, 2007
Ready to Talk About It
So... UT's first game wasn't so great.
We had a small crowd over for the game, and I did some cooking. I've also pledged never to invite people over and buy beer ever again. People are all too generous with beer (and, as it turns out, shrimp) and we still have quite a bit of beer left in the house.
But... okay, the game. I'm going to leave real analysis of the game to those who (a) know more football, and (b) watched more of the game than I did. Let us just say that while I am glad that we didn't lose to Appalachian State, I'm not exactly burning with confidence about our chances at a national or even conference championship. Both OU and A&M had much better games and didn't lose steam after the first quarter.
UT used to (when VY was there) bulldoze over a team so they simply couldn't keep up anymore in the third and fourth quarters. We gave up yard after yard, finally giving up a touchdown in the last minute.
Terrible.
We're ranked very high, I guess AP still thinking there's enough of the Championship team of two years ago in the team's DNA to put up a good showing. And as much as I think Colt McCoy has a good arm, the Greg Davis DNA in the offense is playing out just as it did during the gutless Chris Simms years.
It's going to be a long year for the Horns and their fans.
The OC and Pavlov
For years the dog's dinner time has been 5:00 PM on the nose. Around 4:30 they might start bugging us and hanging around the pantry, but that will win them no favors. 5:00 is as early as they are going to be fed.
Recently SoapNet moved the OC to 5:00, and Jamie has been watching. So much so, that now the opening piano keys of the OC theme song are now enough to get the dogs up and moving. In fact, with the SoapNet OC marathon today, we may have an opportunity to get the dogs riled up every hour just after the start of the hour.
Kind of sad for both the dogs and Jamie, I think.
Michael comes to town
I first met Michael in 9th grade when Justin Lincoln and I were working on a class project and Michael hung out with us and helped out.
Justin and Mike lived together Freshman year (actually, every year) at UT, and it turned out they were also on my floor (as I was cohabitating with Peabo and my pile of dirty clothes). Justin (JAL), CB, Mike and myself were all RTF majors and spent an inordinate amount of time hanging out.
Then, one day, Michael was graduating, and about that time, he met a girl. A girl in Oklahoma. And, poof, Michael disappeared.
He's been in touch. You'll see his comments here at the League, but I hadn't seen the guy in somewhere around 10 years. Also I don't think he'd ever met Jamie, and I hadn't ever met his wife. Anyhow, we all caught up at Hut's on Sunday. Justin (and his wife), Michael (and his wife), me and Jamie, and CB and Xander. 10 years on, and , for good or ill, it really didn't feel like that much had changed.
We're just one good death away from The Big Chill, I guess.
Anyway, Michael seems to be loving Oklahoma, so I wasn't littering him with questions about when he was coming back, but speaking of...
The In-Laws in San Marcos
Jamie's folks bought a place in San Marcos. It's very close to Wonder World, so its got that going for it.
We're actually pretty excited about them coming down. They won't be down here full time for probably two years or longer, but they now have a base sort of near Austin (and with easy access to the glass bottom boat tours of Aquarena Springs).
It's a really nice house, and I think it will suit them. We've already brought Mel and Lucy down to run in their big back yard. You can always tell when Mel approves of something because his tail doesn't just wag, it goes into a sort of gyrocopter spinning motion.
I have no idea what my own parents are doing in a few years when they wrap up this work business. There's been some talk about Austin, but I'm guessing they wind up in the Woodlands, just north of where I went to high school. We'll see. It's certainly the major topic of conversation whenever we're together.
At any rate, we're happy to know Dick and Judy will be close by soon.
We had a small crowd over for the game, and I did some cooking. I've also pledged never to invite people over and buy beer ever again. People are all too generous with beer (and, as it turns out, shrimp) and we still have quite a bit of beer left in the house.
But... okay, the game. I'm going to leave real analysis of the game to those who (a) know more football, and (b) watched more of the game than I did. Let us just say that while I am glad that we didn't lose to Appalachian State, I'm not exactly burning with confidence about our chances at a national or even conference championship. Both OU and A&M had much better games and didn't lose steam after the first quarter.
UT used to (when VY was there) bulldoze over a team so they simply couldn't keep up anymore in the third and fourth quarters. We gave up yard after yard, finally giving up a touchdown in the last minute.
Terrible.
We're ranked very high, I guess AP still thinking there's enough of the Championship team of two years ago in the team's DNA to put up a good showing. And as much as I think Colt McCoy has a good arm, the Greg Davis DNA in the offense is playing out just as it did during the gutless Chris Simms years.
It's going to be a long year for the Horns and their fans.
The OC and Pavlov
For years the dog's dinner time has been 5:00 PM on the nose. Around 4:30 they might start bugging us and hanging around the pantry, but that will win them no favors. 5:00 is as early as they are going to be fed.
Recently SoapNet moved the OC to 5:00, and Jamie has been watching. So much so, that now the opening piano keys of the OC theme song are now enough to get the dogs up and moving. In fact, with the SoapNet OC marathon today, we may have an opportunity to get the dogs riled up every hour just after the start of the hour.
Kind of sad for both the dogs and Jamie, I think.
Michael comes to town
I first met Michael in 9th grade when Justin Lincoln and I were working on a class project and Michael hung out with us and helped out.
Justin and Mike lived together Freshman year (actually, every year) at UT, and it turned out they were also on my floor (as I was cohabitating with Peabo and my pile of dirty clothes). Justin (JAL), CB, Mike and myself were all RTF majors and spent an inordinate amount of time hanging out.
Then, one day, Michael was graduating, and about that time, he met a girl. A girl in Oklahoma. And, poof, Michael disappeared.
He's been in touch. You'll see his comments here at the League, but I hadn't seen the guy in somewhere around 10 years. Also I don't think he'd ever met Jamie, and I hadn't ever met his wife. Anyhow, we all caught up at Hut's on Sunday. Justin (and his wife), Michael (and his wife), me and Jamie, and CB and Xander. 10 years on, and , for good or ill, it really didn't feel like that much had changed.
We're just one good death away from The Big Chill, I guess.
Anyway, Michael seems to be loving Oklahoma, so I wasn't littering him with questions about when he was coming back, but speaking of...
The In-Laws in San Marcos
Jamie's folks bought a place in San Marcos. It's very close to Wonder World, so its got that going for it.
We're actually pretty excited about them coming down. They won't be down here full time for probably two years or longer, but they now have a base sort of near Austin (and with easy access to the glass bottom boat tours of Aquarena Springs).
It's a really nice house, and I think it will suit them. We've already brought Mel and Lucy down to run in their big back yard. You can always tell when Mel approves of something because his tail doesn't just wag, it goes into a sort of gyrocopter spinning motion.
I have no idea what my own parents are doing in a few years when they wrap up this work business. There's been some talk about Austin, but I'm guessing they wind up in the Woodlands, just north of where I went to high school. We'll see. It's certainly the major topic of conversation whenever we're together.
At any rate, we're happy to know Dick and Judy will be close by soon.
Saturday, September 01, 2007
I need HBO
I haven't had much opportunity to catch Flight of the Conchords, but I need to see more of it.
From Nicole
And from Jim, I believe
From Nicole
And from Jim, I believe
HOT! HOT! HOT!
Hey, remember these guys? Famous for the worst promotional video everywhere?
They just beat Univ. Michigan. Ranked No. 5 Univ. of Michigan.
It all seems like fun and games, this business of bringing in a sucker team to stomp in in your first game to get the alumni pumped up for your billion dollar football program. Until the rubes from Appalachian State accidentally screw up and beat you.
Ah, this football season is already off to an interesting start.
They just beat Univ. Michigan. Ranked No. 5 Univ. of Michigan.
It all seems like fun and games, this business of bringing in a sucker team to stomp in in your first game to get the alumni pumped up for your billion dollar football program. Until the rubes from Appalachian State accidentally screw up and beat you.
Ah, this football season is already off to an interesting start.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Too Many Comics, once again
Sweet Mother of Moses.
I just got back from the "super secret sale" at Austin Books. Leaguers, $1 back issues are a dangerous, dangerous thing. Anyway, I think I just filled in a pretty good chunk of missing Detective Comics issues from the 80's by the Grant/ Breyfogle creative team, a bunch of 70's era Superman issues, some George Perez Wonder Woman comics and a few other gems. I also got some half-off issues of Jimmy Olsen. All in all, a successful venture in some ways, in other ways, its going to be embarrassing when I can't afford heat this winter.
Here's the kicker:
Jason and I were in line checking out and the owner/ proprietor of Austin Books, Brad, stopped me and said "Hey, you're the Melbotis guy." I am, indeed, the Melbotis guy. You may recall Brad has commented on this very blog before when I wrote about the hall of wonders that is Austin Books. Well, I guess he put my name on my credit card with my grinning face and realized the guy buying too many 70's era Superman books was yours truly.
So that was kind of awesome. Leaguers, the power of my golden retriever pal is the glue that holds this crazy world together.
Anyhow, Austin based Leaguers or mere hangers-on would be interested to know that the sale continues thru Sunday. I sort of thought that unless I got to Austin Books during the super-secret sale, a lot of good stuff might be gone. I'm not sure that's exactly accurate, but it was fun being there with all the rest of the comic geeks on the hunt for deals.
I just got home and the three stars of "Superbad" are on Leno. Jonah Hill was wearing an Alamo Drafthouse shirt with the tell-tale Pam Grier "BadAss Cinema" logo.
Huh.
And, seriously... WHAT?
I just got back from the "super secret sale" at Austin Books. Leaguers, $1 back issues are a dangerous, dangerous thing. Anyway, I think I just filled in a pretty good chunk of missing Detective Comics issues from the 80's by the Grant/ Breyfogle creative team, a bunch of 70's era Superman issues, some George Perez Wonder Woman comics and a few other gems. I also got some half-off issues of Jimmy Olsen. All in all, a successful venture in some ways, in other ways, its going to be embarrassing when I can't afford heat this winter.
Here's the kicker:
Jason and I were in line checking out and the owner/ proprietor of Austin Books, Brad, stopped me and said "Hey, you're the Melbotis guy." I am, indeed, the Melbotis guy. You may recall Brad has commented on this very blog before when I wrote about the hall of wonders that is Austin Books. Well, I guess he put my name on my credit card with my grinning face and realized the guy buying too many 70's era Superman books was yours truly.
So that was kind of awesome. Leaguers, the power of my golden retriever pal is the glue that holds this crazy world together.
Anyhow, Austin based Leaguers or mere hangers-on would be interested to know that the sale continues thru Sunday. I sort of thought that unless I got to Austin Books during the super-secret sale, a lot of good stuff might be gone. I'm not sure that's exactly accurate, but it was fun being there with all the rest of the comic geeks on the hunt for deals.
I just got home and the three stars of "Superbad" are on Leno. Jonah Hill was wearing an Alamo Drafthouse shirt with the tell-tale Pam Grier "BadAss Cinema" logo.
Huh.
And, seriously... WHAT?
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Superman/ JLA Rumors
I do not understand how Hollywood works. I don't. I'm an armchair spectator of the entertainment industry no more nor less than your average joe.
But one thing I do keep an eye on are rumors of Superman movies.
Recently, the Superman Homepage ran several items regarding a potential Justice League of America movie. Rumors ran from the notion that Christian Bale and Brandon Routh would not appear as Batman and Superman to the movie being an entirely CGI operation.
Now, whenever rumors like this begin to swirl, it can always be some ill-informed dork or some prankster pulling everyone's leg, but...
Superhero movies cost lots and lots of money. More than the GDP of most countries kind of money. When rumors as various as the ones I've been seeing flying all over the place begin to occur with no confirmation from the studio, it usually means one thing:
Someone is floating an idea to see how the fans respond
Hollywood's recent attention to events like Comic-Con and their slow realization that a reasonably close adaptation of comic book properties can lead to huge ticket and DVD sales has quickly led to the entertainment industry using message boards, websites, etc... as sounding boards for concepts before more than a few dollars are spent.
Now, sites like IESB.net seem to bite on these rumors hook, like and sinker, most likely knowing the rumors are false, but in this world, you have to drive up your hit count if you want ad revenue. There's, no doubt, a lot of mutual scratching of backs going on in there somewhere.
It's not necessarily diabolical. Before I spent $2 million dollars putting Jeff Goldblum into Joker make-up on the tip from the suits at my studio that Goldblum is HOT! right now, I'd want to see if anyone actually agrees. So, you float an unconfirmed studio rumor to IESB.net, and in 24 hours you have enough information to tell you how an audience is going to take to a person in a role. Or, indeed, how folks would like their JLA made up of polygons and gradients.
Alternately, some agents float similar rumors in order to get their client's name in the ring for a "coveted" role like Wonder Woman. (I can't tell you how many e-mails I get per year from various folks telling me who the next Wonder Woman is going to be in the not-even-in-pre-production WW flick).
Recently, the JLA and Superman camps have been floating rumors with an added sense of urgency to drum up some interest in their projects. This week rumors floated regarding the next Superman movie (supposedly titled "Man of Steel", probably to match "The Dark Knight"). Clearly the folks working on the JLA movie would like to just get going on their JLA movie and do not wish for a second Superman movie to get rolling, so wouldn't it behoove them to get folks talking about how absolutely great it would be to see a JLA movie?
There is a point to all this:
For the love of mike... unless you see something in an article with a studio exec going on the record regarding casting, start dates for filming (actors, producers and directors do not count as studio execs), do not believe the articles. People are attacked to projects all the time that never occur (I never got my mid-90's remake of "Harvey" featuring Tom Hanks or my "King Conan" with Gov. Arnold).
WB is trying to move carefully as they work on their potentially lucrative film projects. This includes Superman and JLA, as well as any member of the JLA in a spin-off flick.
So, you know... settle down. It's all hearsay until you see the first set picture.
But one thing I do keep an eye on are rumors of Superman movies.
Recently, the Superman Homepage ran several items regarding a potential Justice League of America movie. Rumors ran from the notion that Christian Bale and Brandon Routh would not appear as Batman and Superman to the movie being an entirely CGI operation.
Now, whenever rumors like this begin to swirl, it can always be some ill-informed dork or some prankster pulling everyone's leg, but...
Superhero movies cost lots and lots of money. More than the GDP of most countries kind of money. When rumors as various as the ones I've been seeing flying all over the place begin to occur with no confirmation from the studio, it usually means one thing:
Someone is floating an idea to see how the fans respond
Hollywood's recent attention to events like Comic-Con and their slow realization that a reasonably close adaptation of comic book properties can lead to huge ticket and DVD sales has quickly led to the entertainment industry using message boards, websites, etc... as sounding boards for concepts before more than a few dollars are spent.
Now, sites like IESB.net seem to bite on these rumors hook, like and sinker, most likely knowing the rumors are false, but in this world, you have to drive up your hit count if you want ad revenue. There's, no doubt, a lot of mutual scratching of backs going on in there somewhere.
It's not necessarily diabolical. Before I spent $2 million dollars putting Jeff Goldblum into Joker make-up on the tip from the suits at my studio that Goldblum is HOT! right now, I'd want to see if anyone actually agrees. So, you float an unconfirmed studio rumor to IESB.net, and in 24 hours you have enough information to tell you how an audience is going to take to a person in a role. Or, indeed, how folks would like their JLA made up of polygons and gradients.
Alternately, some agents float similar rumors in order to get their client's name in the ring for a "coveted" role like Wonder Woman. (I can't tell you how many e-mails I get per year from various folks telling me who the next Wonder Woman is going to be in the not-even-in-pre-production WW flick).
Recently, the JLA and Superman camps have been floating rumors with an added sense of urgency to drum up some interest in their projects. This week rumors floated regarding the next Superman movie (supposedly titled "Man of Steel", probably to match "The Dark Knight"). Clearly the folks working on the JLA movie would like to just get going on their JLA movie and do not wish for a second Superman movie to get rolling, so wouldn't it behoove them to get folks talking about how absolutely great it would be to see a JLA movie?
There is a point to all this:
For the love of mike... unless you see something in an article with a studio exec going on the record regarding casting, start dates for filming (actors, producers and directors do not count as studio execs), do not believe the articles. People are attacked to projects all the time that never occur (I never got my mid-90's remake of "Harvey" featuring Tom Hanks or my "King Conan" with Gov. Arnold).
WB is trying to move carefully as they work on their potentially lucrative film projects. This includes Superman and JLA, as well as any member of the JLA in a spin-off flick.
So, you know... settle down. It's all hearsay until you see the first set picture.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Reading Comics
Nothing is more dull than reading blogging about blogging, but...
So after six weeks or so of consideration, I've decided to pull the plug on my participation with the Fodder Network/ Comic Fodder.
You have to understand that Comic Fodder was a great experience, but... I love my comics. What with a job, friends and family I want to spend time with, and a whole lot of other factors, reviewing up to ten comics in a week can get to be a bit of a grind. I love my comics, and worrying about getting the blogging done every week was making me feel a bit guilty, which sort of makes reading the comics a commitment. And that's sort of always been the opposite of what I had in mind when it came to reading little stories about aliens with an overinflated sense of justice.
I think I gave it a good run. An article I wrote on "what do women want in comics?", which was really just a question more than an article, continues to get hundreds of hits per month. And that's kind of cool. It's nice to know you're giving folks something to read, and it certainly was getting more hits than The League ever receives.
But I was also losing a good chunk of every weekend writing about what a swell comic I find Blue Beetle. Life isn't quite the same here as it was in PHX. I actually have stuff to do here, and I kind of want to enjoy it. And my comics.
There's other stuff I want to try, too, you know. I once wrote some prose stuff. I'd like to finish that. I have stuff I'd like to try to draw myself and try out the Comic Creator software Jason got me for my birthday. I'd like to work on my choreography for "Steanso: A Rock 'n Roll Dance-Splosion!".
Anyhow, it was fun. I gave it a shot. Maybe someday again. In the meantime, you can probably expect to see an increase of comic-related blathering here at the League.
So after six weeks or so of consideration, I've decided to pull the plug on my participation with the Fodder Network/ Comic Fodder.
You have to understand that Comic Fodder was a great experience, but... I love my comics. What with a job, friends and family I want to spend time with, and a whole lot of other factors, reviewing up to ten comics in a week can get to be a bit of a grind. I love my comics, and worrying about getting the blogging done every week was making me feel a bit guilty, which sort of makes reading the comics a commitment. And that's sort of always been the opposite of what I had in mind when it came to reading little stories about aliens with an overinflated sense of justice.
I think I gave it a good run. An article I wrote on "what do women want in comics?", which was really just a question more than an article, continues to get hundreds of hits per month. And that's kind of cool. It's nice to know you're giving folks something to read, and it certainly was getting more hits than The League ever receives.
But I was also losing a good chunk of every weekend writing about what a swell comic I find Blue Beetle. Life isn't quite the same here as it was in PHX. I actually have stuff to do here, and I kind of want to enjoy it. And my comics.
There's other stuff I want to try, too, you know. I once wrote some prose stuff. I'd like to finish that. I have stuff I'd like to try to draw myself and try out the Comic Creator software Jason got me for my birthday. I'd like to work on my choreography for "Steanso: A Rock 'n Roll Dance-Splosion!".
Anyhow, it was fun. I gave it a shot. Maybe someday again. In the meantime, you can probably expect to see an increase of comic-related blathering here at the League.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Iraq, South Africa education suffers from U.S. Americans' lack of access to maps
Thanks to RHPT and Peabo
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Just some stuff
Wagner is in town, but she's headed for the Flugtag (sp?). I was not terribly tempted to show up. Anything before the 1st week in September is always dicey as per heat index.
In the meantime, here's some stuff.
The Top 10 Poor Man's Versions
Goth's Invade Disneyland.
From the "Bats Day at Disneyland" slideshow at LA Weekly: When the Happiest Place on Earth plays host to the saddest people on Earth and the line for the Haunted Mansion is longer than ever
I'm ditching MySpace as soon as I can bother to find a way to alert folks. I'm moving to Facebook. Hopefully I'll get less spam and fewer ads featuring girls giving me a come-hither glance.
Eric Trautmann, the co-writer on last week's issue of Checkmate, showed up to in the comments section at Comic Fodder and was incredibly gracious. Of course, I heart Checkmate, so it was a lot nicer than had many other writers shown up.
You should read Checkmate, btw. And Blue Beetle.
Josh sends along this:
Nothing better than Finn-language YMCA. Some Leaguers may know, the Steans boys are of 1/2 Finn stock. Watching this video, so much becomes clear.
And the following video is exactly like dinner time at JimD's house.
In the meantime, here's some stuff.
The Top 10 Poor Man's Versions
Goth's Invade Disneyland.
From the "Bats Day at Disneyland" slideshow at LA Weekly: When the Happiest Place on Earth plays host to the saddest people on Earth and the line for the Haunted Mansion is longer than ever
I'm ditching MySpace as soon as I can bother to find a way to alert folks. I'm moving to Facebook. Hopefully I'll get less spam and fewer ads featuring girls giving me a come-hither glance.
Eric Trautmann, the co-writer on last week's issue of Checkmate, showed up to in the comments section at Comic Fodder and was incredibly gracious. Of course, I heart Checkmate, so it was a lot nicer than had many other writers shown up.
You should read Checkmate, btw. And Blue Beetle.
Josh sends along this:
Nothing better than Finn-language YMCA. Some Leaguers may know, the Steans boys are of 1/2 Finn stock. Watching this video, so much becomes clear.
And the following video is exactly like dinner time at JimD's house.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, ADMIRAL
Happy Birthday to the greatest Dad. Ever.
Sorry I posted on it so late.
Thanks to Steven and Lauren for joining us this evening for dinner. I still need a mint.
Anyway, looks like we may be teaming up to watch the first game of the UT season. Any and all Leaguers are welcome to join us at League HQ for kick-off on September 1st at 6:00 PM. Well, come before that.
We won't provide dinner, but we will provide TV, chips and a maybe a six-pack of beer.
I shall wax rhapsodic upon the arrival of football season soon.
What else?
Oh, I watched this really depressing episode of Nova about Typhoid Mary.
It was an interesting look at the social conditions, class warfare, living conditions and emergence of science in America as a force which could now touch and greatly change people's lives in ways we're still struggling with today. In short, how much liberty DO you have to give up when suddenly confronted with the knowledge that you're a carrier for a disease? Is getting a disease a crime?
Anyhow, there were some re-enactments, which were brief enough that they didn't seem to repaint the picture, and which did a bit more for illustrating the points than a graying talking head re-telling the events. Plus, for some reason, they had Anthony Bourdain as one of the experts. Very odd.
Also did some comic blogging, but most of you guys arent dorky enough to read that, anyway.
Anyway, looks like we may be teaming up to watch the first game of the UT season. Any and all Leaguers are welcome to join us at League HQ for kick-off on September 1st at 6:00 PM. Well, come before that.
We won't provide dinner, but we will provide TV, chips and a maybe a six-pack of beer.
I shall wax rhapsodic upon the arrival of football season soon.
What else?
Oh, I watched this really depressing episode of Nova about Typhoid Mary.
It was an interesting look at the social conditions, class warfare, living conditions and emergence of science in America as a force which could now touch and greatly change people's lives in ways we're still struggling with today. In short, how much liberty DO you have to give up when suddenly confronted with the knowledge that you're a carrier for a disease? Is getting a disease a crime?
Anyhow, there were some re-enactments, which were brief enough that they didn't seem to repaint the picture, and which did a bit more for illustrating the points than a graying talking head re-telling the events. Plus, for some reason, they had Anthony Bourdain as one of the experts. Very odd.
Also did some comic blogging, but most of you guys arent dorky enough to read that, anyway.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Sleestak Art
Probably because I hit Lady, That's My Skull every day, I had the image of Sleestaks on the brain.
Anyway, hopefully this is something we can all enjoy. Especially candidate Sleestak.
Anyway, hopefully this is something we can all enjoy. Especially candidate Sleestak.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
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.
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.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Dark Knight Photos
Jamie randomly wanted to watch "Batman Begins" this evening. Which reminded me of a link Randy sent me earlier today.
Photos from the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight
go here
The photos reveal that the Batsuit may be the first functional looking Batsuit in any live version of Batman I can think of. For once, Batman can turn his head, and he's not wearing an ill-fitting unitard.
Add in an oddly pragmatic looking Joker, and... yeah. Sure, why not.
Photos from the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight
go here
The photos reveal that the Batsuit may be the first functional looking Batsuit in any live version of Batman I can think of. For once, Batman can turn his head, and he's not wearing an ill-fitting unitard.
Add in an oddly pragmatic looking Joker, and... yeah. Sure, why not.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Stuck@Work
I am stuck at work.
I am waiting for other people to do things so I can see that they are done. When they are done, I can go home.
In the meantime, here I sit. Alas.
My job is sort of unpredictable that way. It makes for long days sometimes. Especially when i came in early to address other issues and never managed to see daylight at any point. Because its been that kind of day.
Also, Steven Harms has gone dark.
Es Muy Mysterioso.
Just want to go home. Please, co-workers, quit screwing around.
It's been a long week.
And I have another day of it tomorrow. The job is okay, it's just moments like these that I miss actually being somebody else's manager and being able to give my co-workers a moment of pause when I ask if we couldn't be doing something faster or better. Or, at least, quit screwing around and just finish the darn thing.
I am paid to keep things in line. This is something my family is shocked by. They tend to think of me as sorta screwy, so the idea that at work my job is keeping the ball rolling gives them a moment of disconnect.
hey, good news. Jonathan just fixed something for us and he wasn't even on our project. That's rad.
Stuff like that is why I dig working here. Everything is sort of a team effort. Everything at my last office was also a team effort, but we were mostly working on the same projects, as it was a smaller office. Here, you never know when one of 60-odd people is going to wander over and say "Hey, I'm going to fix that. I've got a few hours" when they could totally be heading home.
Still sitting here though. I just want to release the project.
Release! Release!
I am waiting for other people to do things so I can see that they are done. When they are done, I can go home.
In the meantime, here I sit. Alas.
My job is sort of unpredictable that way. It makes for long days sometimes. Especially when i came in early to address other issues and never managed to see daylight at any point. Because its been that kind of day.
Also, Steven Harms has gone dark.
Es Muy Mysterioso.
Just want to go home. Please, co-workers, quit screwing around.
It's been a long week.
And I have another day of it tomorrow. The job is okay, it's just moments like these that I miss actually being somebody else's manager and being able to give my co-workers a moment of pause when I ask if we couldn't be doing something faster or better. Or, at least, quit screwing around and just finish the darn thing.
I am paid to keep things in line. This is something my family is shocked by. They tend to think of me as sorta screwy, so the idea that at work my job is keeping the ball rolling gives them a moment of disconnect.
hey, good news. Jonathan just fixed something for us and he wasn't even on our project. That's rad.
Stuff like that is why I dig working here. Everything is sort of a team effort. Everything at my last office was also a team effort, but we were mostly working on the same projects, as it was a smaller office. Here, you never know when one of 60-odd people is going to wander over and say "Hey, I'm going to fix that. I've got a few hours" when they could totally be heading home.
Still sitting here though. I just want to release the project.
Release! Release!
Monday, August 13, 2007
The New Flash Gordon on Sci-Fi
...totally sucks.
Wow. Monday evening I made poor Jason and Jamie sit through this no-budget train wreck.
Flash Gordon has successfully existed as a comic strip, 1950's TV show, radio serial movie serial, 80's camp classic, 90's cartoon, reprint series, whatever...
Yet somehow with a household name at their fingertips, untold hours of reference material and a public perception regarding the franchise, the geniuses behind this show decided that what they really needed to do was scrap all of that, make up a bunch of nonsense that's never plagued the concept before, and then spend most of the pilot in a Canadian suburb. It seems that, faced with a non-existent budget and a casting director with a pretty specific taste in women, the creators apparently had something other than Flash Gordon in mind and just borrowed the name of the property.
Seriously, nothing resembles anything you know about Flash Gordon.
A list of offenses includes:
-All of the women are thin brunettes with sort of almond eyes. I couldn't tell Dale, the princess or the bounty hunter apart in close-ups
-Flash's mom is, like, three years older than him and sort of uncomfortably attractive
-The show sorta takes a line on Latino immigrants that could be construed as racist
-Ming is the least threatening villain ever. Seriously. Ever. It's like having a record store manager mildly miffed with you.
-they've ditched the now well established, crazy, space opera look of Mongo for generic Sci-Fi channel BSG and Star Trek costuming rejects and bland hip design with no eye to the gilded age wonders of the comics and movies
-the pacing is glacial, nonsensical and meandering
-Flash is given a token black sidekick so someone can say "That's whack!" a lot
-The acting is uniformly awful
-Lines clearly intended to be played for laughs are played straight. Whether this is the director or actors' fault, I have no idea
-No Hawkmen
-No Lizardmen
-No awesome football game
-clearly filmed in a lush Canadian suburb
-Mongo: Also clearly the exact same suburb. Plus a water treatment plant possibly used in several "sci-fi" films from the 80's seen nowhere else but on MST3K
-Zarkov is now a quirky guy who will be play "The Professor" to Flash's "Gilligan"
-The girl who plays the princess seems puzzled as to what show she's on. Maybe the OC?
-absolutely no action to speak of
-And Flash can hop between a field near his house and Mongo at any time. pretty much defeating the point of the entire Flash Gordon concept
On every level possible, the program fails. If you're going to claim you're giving me Flash Gordon, Sci-Fi Channel, then give me @#$%ing Flash Gordon. Don't try to "update" a concept that's been honed and perfected over the better part of something like 70 years. You and your crappy budget are not smarter than the millions of folks who already passed judgment on the idea the way it was.
Leave it alone. Sometimes aliens just need to dress like color blind Prussian generals, weird Eastern stereotypes, pirates and barbarians.
The show is crap in a hat.
Wow. Monday evening I made poor Jason and Jamie sit through this no-budget train wreck.
Flash Gordon has successfully existed as a comic strip, 1950's TV show, radio serial movie serial, 80's camp classic, 90's cartoon, reprint series, whatever...
Yet somehow with a household name at their fingertips, untold hours of reference material and a public perception regarding the franchise, the geniuses behind this show decided that what they really needed to do was scrap all of that, make up a bunch of nonsense that's never plagued the concept before, and then spend most of the pilot in a Canadian suburb. It seems that, faced with a non-existent budget and a casting director with a pretty specific taste in women, the creators apparently had something other than Flash Gordon in mind and just borrowed the name of the property.
Seriously, nothing resembles anything you know about Flash Gordon.
A list of offenses includes:
-All of the women are thin brunettes with sort of almond eyes. I couldn't tell Dale, the princess or the bounty hunter apart in close-ups
-Flash's mom is, like, three years older than him and sort of uncomfortably attractive
-The show sorta takes a line on Latino immigrants that could be construed as racist
-Ming is the least threatening villain ever. Seriously. Ever. It's like having a record store manager mildly miffed with you.
-they've ditched the now well established, crazy, space opera look of Mongo for generic Sci-Fi channel BSG and Star Trek costuming rejects and bland hip design with no eye to the gilded age wonders of the comics and movies
-the pacing is glacial, nonsensical and meandering
-Flash is given a token black sidekick so someone can say "That's whack!" a lot
-The acting is uniformly awful
-Lines clearly intended to be played for laughs are played straight. Whether this is the director or actors' fault, I have no idea
-No Hawkmen
-No Lizardmen
-No awesome football game
-clearly filmed in a lush Canadian suburb
-Mongo: Also clearly the exact same suburb. Plus a water treatment plant possibly used in several "sci-fi" films from the 80's seen nowhere else but on MST3K
-Zarkov is now a quirky guy who will be play "The Professor" to Flash's "Gilligan"
-The girl who plays the princess seems puzzled as to what show she's on. Maybe the OC?
-absolutely no action to speak of
-And Flash can hop between a field near his house and Mongo at any time. pretty much defeating the point of the entire Flash Gordon concept
On every level possible, the program fails. If you're going to claim you're giving me Flash Gordon, Sci-Fi Channel, then give me @#$%ing Flash Gordon. Don't try to "update" a concept that's been honed and perfected over the better part of something like 70 years. You and your crappy budget are not smarter than the millions of folks who already passed judgment on the idea the way it was.
Leave it alone. Sometimes aliens just need to dress like color blind Prussian generals, weird Eastern stereotypes, pirates and barbarians.
The show is crap in a hat.
Slacker Cats
ABC Family, the network which was originally a religious network, then owned by Fox, before ABC bought it out.... is putting on a cartoon about two sex crazed, drug using cats. In prime time.
The League is no prude, but... I guess ABC means it when they brand their programming with "A New Kind of Family".
Anyhow, it appears to be in the mode of Family Guy or perhaps some of the Adult Swim programming on Cartoon Network. And it is on kind of late.
Nonetheless, there's something almost oddly meta-satirical in the commercials, as if these spots are meant to exist as part of the background in some film about a dystopian future more than actually pitching ABC Family's new Fall line-up.
I have a bad feeling about this.
Maybe it'll be great. Who knows?
The League is no prude, but... I guess ABC means it when they brand their programming with "A New Kind of Family".
Anyhow, it appears to be in the mode of Family Guy or perhaps some of the Adult Swim programming on Cartoon Network. And it is on kind of late.
Nonetheless, there's something almost oddly meta-satirical in the commercials, as if these spots are meant to exist as part of the background in some film about a dystopian future more than actually pitching ABC Family's new Fall line-up.
I have a bad feeling about this.
Maybe it'll be great. Who knows?
Child-Free American
So the other night we were at dinner with Steven and Lauren and were seated across from Steven's friends Forrest, Marina and their kid, Blaze. Blaze, you must understand, looks like he should be in grape juice commercials, is talkative without being annoyingly precocious and had not an ounce of bratty in him. In short, a good kid.
Unsure of what else to chat about, Blaze seemed like a good option. And in the course of the discussion someone accurately described Jamie and I as "childless". But that person was quickly shot down in favor of what must be a new term: Child-Free.
Apparently this term was cooked up to spare the feelings of those who would like to have children, but do not. I am both amused and horrified that, for the first time in my life, as a middle class white male I've had a PC label applied to me. My feelings must be mitigated through semantics. I am to be described in a way that suggests I have made a valid choice of alternative lifestyle, and that choice is recognized and appreciated by all.
Were Jamie and I the same age we were when we left for Arizona, the question of the number of children we had left behind with Gorton's fish sticks and Kraft Mac'n'Cheese would never be addressed. Young, recently married, we'd be expected to be having a great time, going to shows, travel the world, etc...
But now...
Now we are in our 30's. In March and April, it will be semi-accurate to describe us as being in our mid-30's. We are past the age when we've gotten our careers going, have had our youthful fun, and its time to bring the next generation of Leagues into existence. For the rest of my life, it will be presumed I'm hiding a couple of fishstick-eaters somewhere.
For anyone who has followed this blog, its not a secret that this is not going to happen. I like kids. Despite all the jokes I make at the expense of folks who are now wrestling with sleepless nights, dirty diapers and paying for college in 17 years... And as much as I like sleeping in, not having dirty diapers and spare money enough to buy Jimmy Olsen comics... Having kids just isn't in the picture. We didn't make the choice, but it's also never been in the cards, and so was never been given much consideration any more than "wouldn't it be neat if we had hands where our ears are".
I want to be very clear here: In no way am I offended by assumptions that we should have kids. I don't think folks who have kids are suckers. I was just left reeling at the idea that I had moved into a category which I had not been aware existed.
Now, here's what I dig about my valid lifestyle choice as a Child-Free American... It may keep me from going through the battery of questions all child-rearing folks (AKA: Breeders) have:
-when we plan to have kids
-why we don't plan to have kids
-why we don't press on and adopt, because, you know, we'd make swell parents (a topic which is sorely up for debate, and would require experiments that no western government would allow. Jason's hypothesis: Feral Children.).
As Child-Free Americans its like we decided on a different path in life. Like, say, we decided to live in a dymaxion home or done something else slightly unconventional, but, you know, it's just something you let slide.
As a Dog-Saddled/ Child-Free American, unfortunately, you have a great love for your pets. And people really, really do not like you matching their stories about how their kid smiles when he farts with how your dog wakes you up in the morning when she's hungry, or how your cat has figured out how to open the pantry door. Still, I must remind everyone that your kid will be in diapers for years and my dog learned to go to the door before she was six months old when she had to pee. I'm just saying.
Pretty sharp, my dogs.
Unsure of what else to chat about, Blaze seemed like a good option. And in the course of the discussion someone accurately described Jamie and I as "childless". But that person was quickly shot down in favor of what must be a new term: Child-Free.
Apparently this term was cooked up to spare the feelings of those who would like to have children, but do not. I am both amused and horrified that, for the first time in my life, as a middle class white male I've had a PC label applied to me. My feelings must be mitigated through semantics. I am to be described in a way that suggests I have made a valid choice of alternative lifestyle, and that choice is recognized and appreciated by all.
Were Jamie and I the same age we were when we left for Arizona, the question of the number of children we had left behind with Gorton's fish sticks and Kraft Mac'n'Cheese would never be addressed. Young, recently married, we'd be expected to be having a great time, going to shows, travel the world, etc...
But now...
Now we are in our 30's. In March and April, it will be semi-accurate to describe us as being in our mid-30's. We are past the age when we've gotten our careers going, have had our youthful fun, and its time to bring the next generation of Leagues into existence. For the rest of my life, it will be presumed I'm hiding a couple of fishstick-eaters somewhere.
For anyone who has followed this blog, its not a secret that this is not going to happen. I like kids. Despite all the jokes I make at the expense of folks who are now wrestling with sleepless nights, dirty diapers and paying for college in 17 years... And as much as I like sleeping in, not having dirty diapers and spare money enough to buy Jimmy Olsen comics... Having kids just isn't in the picture. We didn't make the choice, but it's also never been in the cards, and so was never been given much consideration any more than "wouldn't it be neat if we had hands where our ears are".
I want to be very clear here: In no way am I offended by assumptions that we should have kids. I don't think folks who have kids are suckers. I was just left reeling at the idea that I had moved into a category which I had not been aware existed.
Now, here's what I dig about my valid lifestyle choice as a Child-Free American... It may keep me from going through the battery of questions all child-rearing folks (AKA: Breeders) have:
-when we plan to have kids
-why we don't plan to have kids
-why we don't press on and adopt, because, you know, we'd make swell parents (a topic which is sorely up for debate, and would require experiments that no western government would allow. Jason's hypothesis: Feral Children.).
As Child-Free Americans its like we decided on a different path in life. Like, say, we decided to live in a dymaxion home or done something else slightly unconventional, but, you know, it's just something you let slide.
As a Dog-Saddled/ Child-Free American, unfortunately, you have a great love for your pets. And people really, really do not like you matching their stories about how their kid smiles when he farts with how your dog wakes you up in the morning when she's hungry, or how your cat has figured out how to open the pantry door. Still, I must remind everyone that your kid will be in diapers for years and my dog learned to go to the door before she was six months old when she had to pee. I'm just saying.
Pretty sharp, my dogs.
Mike Wieringo, RIP
The comic fan community was rocked today by the news that Mike Wieringo, age 44, has apparently died of a heart attack.
Wieringo's work has appeared for the last several years in DC and Marvel comics in titles such as Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Flash and many others.
Thanks to the DC title, "Impulse" and several issues of Adventures of Superman, I was familiar with Wieringo's work prior to his run on Fantastic Four (with Mark Waid writing), but that was when I grew to really appreciate his work. I loved his depiction of the the Richards clan, and his Von Doom.
You can read more here.
I'm really going to miss Wieringo's art and the spirit it brought to any title.
Thanks, Mike. You'll be missed.
Wieringo's work has appeared for the last several years in DC and Marvel comics in titles such as Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Flash and many others.
Thanks to the DC title, "Impulse" and several issues of Adventures of Superman, I was familiar with Wieringo's work prior to his run on Fantastic Four (with Mark Waid writing), but that was when I grew to really appreciate his work. I loved his depiction of the the Richards clan, and his Von Doom.
You can read more here.
I'm really going to miss Wieringo's art and the spirit it brought to any title.
Thanks, Mike. You'll be missed.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
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.
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.
Birthday for Harms
Happy late birthday, Harms!
Last night we wound up at Manuel's up on Jollyville in N. Austin. (I know! I can't believe they let people in N. Austin eat anything but Lonestar Cafe, either Well, time marches on.)
It was a celebration of Stephen moving into his 30th trip around El Sol. We met some nice folks, re-met Steven's sister and her newly minted husband, had a margarita or two and had a dandy evening.
All in all, a succeful evening for Steven, I think. Unless he was really unhappy, in which case he did a good job of disguising it.
Last night we wound up at Manuel's up on Jollyville in N. Austin. (I know! I can't believe they let people in N. Austin eat anything but Lonestar Cafe, either Well, time marches on.)
It was a celebration of Stephen moving into his 30th trip around El Sol. We met some nice folks, re-met Steven's sister and her newly minted husband, had a margarita or two and had a dandy evening.
All in all, a succeful evening for Steven, I think. Unless he was really unhappy, in which case he did a good job of disguising it.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
The League too old to rock?
So last night Jason and I went to see Ween with a herd of folks. It was my first rock show in several years, and, if memory serves, the first since I saw Bowie in Phoenix.
One seriously weird phenomena I suffered in Phoenix was that I would buy tickets to shows and something either health, work or miscellaneous would come up and I couldn't go. I missed shows by Beck, The Pixies, the Walkmen, Willie Nelson and others in the span of the four years I was there. It was sort of incredible.
I started going to shows as early as middle school thanks to folks who appreciated leniency in such matters, and continued going to shows past the first year or so when we were married. But when we hit Phoenix, the sorts of folks we wanted to see tended to go through Tuscon rather than Phoenix, or would skip AZ all togther.
if you ever wonder who the heck are all the people buying Goo Goo Dolls and Blink 182 albums, look no further than Arizona and its love of Clearstream Communications.
Last night was hot and humid. The heat index for the afternoon downtown was around 107.
It was also my first visit to Stubbs as a venue. Somehow prior to my departure, I'd kind of skipped shows at Stubbs, which seems odd now.
I sort of assumed that once the sun went down, things would cool off and perhaps a breeze would kick in.
Ween hit the stage comfortably early for a dude like me who just put in a week's worth fo work and was sort of uncomfortable with the idea of a two hour set starting at 10:30. Fortunately, they came on before 8:30.
By 9:30, I began to seriously ponder the fact that so many people still actually smoke. In some ways, I'm completely shocked. With the constant barrage of ads and scientific info floating around out there, smoking has sort of become something I expect for folks to do if they're my age or older and seriously addicted or just plain ornery. But not having been a part of any nightlife scene in years, I had forgotten the category of person who "smokes when they drink".
And drinking folks were doing. In vast, vast quantities.
It did occur to me that when I would go to shows in my prior life, I would get very close to the front, and stand off to the side so as not to block anyone else's view with my height or width. So I may not have been aware of the other 3/4's of the crowd who was there to get goofy on overpriced beer and talk with their friends, let alone even have elbow room enough to light up a cigarette without causing themself or someone else some bodily injury.
I was anticipating Ween would play until 11:30 (they payed three hours on Thursday at their first show), and so when it was 10:00 and standing on a sloping incline for an hour and a half started to fatigue me a bit, I realized there's really nowhere to sit down at Stubb's. I paid 30 bucks to stand in a dirt lot.
Add in the sorority girls in front of me who had one dance, the "raise the roof" hip-hop dance, in their repertoire, which they employed no matter how fast or slow the song (which also meant I had to stand a few feet back lest their constant string of Marloboro's might catch my face), and I moved to the edge of the crowd.
I had probably 6 years, if not 10, on a lot of the crowd. I am feeling old. The wackiness that was wacky when I was 18, 20, 22 is all old hat now. You sort of hope the kids will bring something new to the table, but instead it felt a bit like time stands still in the yard at Stubbs. There will always be a new crop of college and post-college folks to fill in the gaps when I'm so used to sitting at a computer all day that my legs start to hurt after standing around for two hours. Their lungs are pink and fresh and their stomachs don't turn as the dork in the ironic beard next to them blows smoke in their face.
It's not that Ween didn't put on a good show (although The League has never been a fan of solo'ing outside of jazz shows, and there was more than enough noodling at the Ween show). It was the realization that I left Austin at one age and came back at another, and I'm old and beat up now. I'm not cut out for standing in suffocating heat in a cloud of smoke anymore. I can't ignore the shooting pains in my legs from standing on a hill in one position for a few hours.
Is The League too old to rock?
Well, we've got ACL Fest passes for three days in the grueling Texas sun to figure that one out.
One seriously weird phenomena I suffered in Phoenix was that I would buy tickets to shows and something either health, work or miscellaneous would come up and I couldn't go. I missed shows by Beck, The Pixies, the Walkmen, Willie Nelson and others in the span of the four years I was there. It was sort of incredible.
I started going to shows as early as middle school thanks to folks who appreciated leniency in such matters, and continued going to shows past the first year or so when we were married. But when we hit Phoenix, the sorts of folks we wanted to see tended to go through Tuscon rather than Phoenix, or would skip AZ all togther.
if you ever wonder who the heck are all the people buying Goo Goo Dolls and Blink 182 albums, look no further than Arizona and its love of Clearstream Communications.
Last night was hot and humid. The heat index for the afternoon downtown was around 107.
It was also my first visit to Stubbs as a venue. Somehow prior to my departure, I'd kind of skipped shows at Stubbs, which seems odd now.
I sort of assumed that once the sun went down, things would cool off and perhaps a breeze would kick in.
Ween hit the stage comfortably early for a dude like me who just put in a week's worth fo work and was sort of uncomfortable with the idea of a two hour set starting at 10:30. Fortunately, they came on before 8:30.
By 9:30, I began to seriously ponder the fact that so many people still actually smoke. In some ways, I'm completely shocked. With the constant barrage of ads and scientific info floating around out there, smoking has sort of become something I expect for folks to do if they're my age or older and seriously addicted or just plain ornery. But not having been a part of any nightlife scene in years, I had forgotten the category of person who "smokes when they drink".
And drinking folks were doing. In vast, vast quantities.
It did occur to me that when I would go to shows in my prior life, I would get very close to the front, and stand off to the side so as not to block anyone else's view with my height or width. So I may not have been aware of the other 3/4's of the crowd who was there to get goofy on overpriced beer and talk with their friends, let alone even have elbow room enough to light up a cigarette without causing themself or someone else some bodily injury.
I was anticipating Ween would play until 11:30 (they payed three hours on Thursday at their first show), and so when it was 10:00 and standing on a sloping incline for an hour and a half started to fatigue me a bit, I realized there's really nowhere to sit down at Stubb's. I paid 30 bucks to stand in a dirt lot.
Add in the sorority girls in front of me who had one dance, the "raise the roof" hip-hop dance, in their repertoire, which they employed no matter how fast or slow the song (which also meant I had to stand a few feet back lest their constant string of Marloboro's might catch my face), and I moved to the edge of the crowd.
I had probably 6 years, if not 10, on a lot of the crowd. I am feeling old. The wackiness that was wacky when I was 18, 20, 22 is all old hat now. You sort of hope the kids will bring something new to the table, but instead it felt a bit like time stands still in the yard at Stubbs. There will always be a new crop of college and post-college folks to fill in the gaps when I'm so used to sitting at a computer all day that my legs start to hurt after standing around for two hours. Their lungs are pink and fresh and their stomachs don't turn as the dork in the ironic beard next to them blows smoke in their face.
It's not that Ween didn't put on a good show (although The League has never been a fan of solo'ing outside of jazz shows, and there was more than enough noodling at the Ween show). It was the realization that I left Austin at one age and came back at another, and I'm old and beat up now. I'm not cut out for standing in suffocating heat in a cloud of smoke anymore. I can't ignore the shooting pains in my legs from standing on a hill in one position for a few hours.
Is The League too old to rock?
Well, we've got ACL Fest passes for three days in the grueling Texas sun to figure that one out.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Opting for sleep
My blogging has been rotten of late. I apologize, sort of.
I just decided that, last night, I needed some sleep after pitching a fit because neither Jamie nor Jason would go to Target with me to buy $10 sunglasses. Granted, I needed sunglasses, but my reaction was greatly out of proportion to the very reasonable arguments for not going put before me.
Anyhow, I was sort of punchy while I was there, bought the wrong dogfood, bought some fairly cheesy 80's-looking sunglasses, came home, watched the Colbert report, read some Jimmy Olsen and then went to bed. I pondered blogging, but it didn't happen.
Going to see Ween tonight at Stubbs. I'm sorta pumped as I've never had opportunity to see them before.
I just decided that, last night, I needed some sleep after pitching a fit because neither Jamie nor Jason would go to Target with me to buy $10 sunglasses. Granted, I needed sunglasses, but my reaction was greatly out of proportion to the very reasonable arguments for not going put before me.
Anyhow, I was sort of punchy while I was there, bought the wrong dogfood, bought some fairly cheesy 80's-looking sunglasses, came home, watched the Colbert report, read some Jimmy Olsen and then went to bed. I pondered blogging, but it didn't happen.
Going to see Ween tonight at Stubbs. I'm sorta pumped as I've never had opportunity to see them before.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
comic post
Today was once again new comic day, as it is so often on Wednesdays.
The highlight of my DC selections this week is Green Lantern. There's a great story going on here called the Sinestro War, which is tying together elements from decades of DC Comics (but doesn't necessarily require a masters in DCU), while adding in new elements. It's just an absolutely huge story, and is infinitely better scoped and written than the ultra-dull Amazons Attack! in Wonder Woman and in its own limited series.
Countdown is rapidly becoming a huge disappointment. I'm beginning to wish the Jimmy Olsen storyline were just a back-up feature in Superman and/ or Action Comics.
Over at Marvel, I've picked up recent issues of Spider-Man, Hulk, World War Hulk, Thor and a few other titles. (Hey, Thor just moved to Oklahoma! Who knew?)
By and large, I think DC is having some serious problems with editorial driving things and rewarding Dan Didio loyalist writers with work they aren't qualified for. It's certainly harming Countdown as whatever scheme Dini is putting together keeps getting mired down in glacial pacing, clumsy dialog and the now grim reminder on the cover of each issue how many more weeks of this we're putting up with.
Further, the limited series tying into other editorial mismanagement, such as the Green Arrow/ Black Canary wedding stuff is leading into half-baked limited series.
I'm caught in a bit of a pickle as I'm the resident DC reviewer for Comic Fodder, and, right now, I'm about ready to give up on a whole bunch of DC. But I'm just tired of shelling out money for comics written by guys who don't deliver and seem to be responsible for huge portions of DC's output.
Meanwhile, guys like Morrison and Mark Waid have kind of disappeared to the sidelines, when DC should really be putting these guys front and center as the controlling factor in the DC Universe. Fortunately, Geoff Johns seems to have no problem maintaining his high profile, and is doing good thinsg with the GL Corps (with Dave Gibbons and Patrick Gleason making GL Corps a solid book).
Right now, though, I'd be putting my money on Marvel. World War Hulk is idiot simple with high concept, and seems to be delaying some ctastrophic event, but at least its interesting. Thor is just out there enough that even a guy like me who could usually give a flip about Thor is picking it up.
Spidey... well, we'll see. I'm just so curious about where this is going that that I really, really hope they don't totally drop the ball on me.
FF is okay, too. But I dig Black Panther. I'm not as crazy about the depiction of Storm, but I haven't been okay with Storm since she gave up the mohawk and leathers. Those were the days.
Overall, the Superman books are better than anything during the Berganza run, aside from maybe the initial No Limits stuff and parts of Our Worlds at War. Actually, no... this stuff is still mostly better.
Batman and Detective, wen not waiting through a fill-in artist, are both really sound Batman books.
And, personally, i've been really digging JLA and JSA, as well as their respective "Classified" sister series.
If anyone feels like going comic shopping, let me know. We may want to just save up for the big Labor Day blow-out at Austin Books.
All you back issues of Jimmy Olsen will be mine! MINE!!!!!
The highlight of my DC selections this week is Green Lantern. There's a great story going on here called the Sinestro War, which is tying together elements from decades of DC Comics (but doesn't necessarily require a masters in DCU), while adding in new elements. It's just an absolutely huge story, and is infinitely better scoped and written than the ultra-dull Amazons Attack! in Wonder Woman and in its own limited series.
Countdown is rapidly becoming a huge disappointment. I'm beginning to wish the Jimmy Olsen storyline were just a back-up feature in Superman and/ or Action Comics.
Over at Marvel, I've picked up recent issues of Spider-Man, Hulk, World War Hulk, Thor and a few other titles. (Hey, Thor just moved to Oklahoma! Who knew?)
By and large, I think DC is having some serious problems with editorial driving things and rewarding Dan Didio loyalist writers with work they aren't qualified for. It's certainly harming Countdown as whatever scheme Dini is putting together keeps getting mired down in glacial pacing, clumsy dialog and the now grim reminder on the cover of each issue how many more weeks of this we're putting up with.
Further, the limited series tying into other editorial mismanagement, such as the Green Arrow/ Black Canary wedding stuff is leading into half-baked limited series.
I'm caught in a bit of a pickle as I'm the resident DC reviewer for Comic Fodder, and, right now, I'm about ready to give up on a whole bunch of DC. But I'm just tired of shelling out money for comics written by guys who don't deliver and seem to be responsible for huge portions of DC's output.
Meanwhile, guys like Morrison and Mark Waid have kind of disappeared to the sidelines, when DC should really be putting these guys front and center as the controlling factor in the DC Universe. Fortunately, Geoff Johns seems to have no problem maintaining his high profile, and is doing good thinsg with the GL Corps (with Dave Gibbons and Patrick Gleason making GL Corps a solid book).
Right now, though, I'd be putting my money on Marvel. World War Hulk is idiot simple with high concept, and seems to be delaying some ctastrophic event, but at least its interesting. Thor is just out there enough that even a guy like me who could usually give a flip about Thor is picking it up.
Spidey... well, we'll see. I'm just so curious about where this is going that that I really, really hope they don't totally drop the ball on me.
FF is okay, too. But I dig Black Panther. I'm not as crazy about the depiction of Storm, but I haven't been okay with Storm since she gave up the mohawk and leathers. Those were the days.
Overall, the Superman books are better than anything during the Berganza run, aside from maybe the initial No Limits stuff and parts of Our Worlds at War. Actually, no... this stuff is still mostly better.
Batman and Detective, wen not waiting through a fill-in artist, are both really sound Batman books.
And, personally, i've been really digging JLA and JSA, as well as their respective "Classified" sister series.
If anyone feels like going comic shopping, let me know. We may want to just save up for the big Labor Day blow-out at Austin Books.
All you back issues of Jimmy Olsen will be mine! MINE!!!!!
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Randy takes it up a notch
Hey, Leaguers. You might notice that Randy is listed as a "host" on the site.
Randy is trying for round 2 of Operation: Domain Name.
This February I spent a few bucks buying a domain name from GoDaddy.com. Randy tried to get it to work then and failed. Just totally, simply, utterly failed.
I kid. I don't recall what happened, but it was one of those "well, why would Blogger do THAT?" sort of moments. Anyhoo, this week he got a bee in his bonnet about the domain again and he's taking a whack at getting that domain up and running again. Go, Randy.
Hope ya'll are having a good day.
Randy is trying for round 2 of Operation: Domain Name.
This February I spent a few bucks buying a domain name from GoDaddy.com. Randy tried to get it to work then and failed. Just totally, simply, utterly failed.
I kid. I don't recall what happened, but it was one of those "well, why would Blogger do THAT?" sort of moments. Anyhoo, this week he got a bee in his bonnet about the domain again and he's taking a whack at getting that domain up and running again. Go, Randy.
Hope ya'll are having a good day.
Sunday, August 05, 2007
New DC Animated Projects
I don't know how many of you have read DC's series "New Frontier". I'm a huge fan of the series, and don't think it's really gotten the appreciation it deserves, especially in comic geek circles. It's one of my favorite DC projects of the past ten years or so, and I sort of think it's what they should probably do if they ever want to make a JLA movie.
Anyhow, they went ahead and made a feature film of "New Frontier". It just happens to be animated. Luckily, it's animated by Bruce Timm's folks, with input directly from Darwyn Cooke.
Check out this promo video:
Also, here's a look at the new season of Batman on Kids' WB. Superman, Lois and Jimmy will be playing a part for at least a few episodes.
And, here's a promo for Season 2 of Legion of Super-Heroes. My understanding is that there are two Supermen this season. One is the one you know, the other is a clone from the 41st Century, I believe.
I also think Legion has a great theme song. But that's just me.
Anyhow, they went ahead and made a feature film of "New Frontier". It just happens to be animated. Luckily, it's animated by Bruce Timm's folks, with input directly from Darwyn Cooke.
Check out this promo video:
Also, here's a look at the new season of Batman on Kids' WB. Superman, Lois and Jimmy will be playing a part for at least a few episodes.
And, here's a promo for Season 2 of Legion of Super-Heroes. My understanding is that there are two Supermen this season. One is the one you know, the other is a clone from the 41st Century, I believe.
I also think Legion has a great theme song. But that's just me.
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.
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.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Hey, Leaguers. Sorry about the sad lack of posting. I've just had some busy days, and then, when I wasn't busy last night, I chose to roll over and go to sleep. I suggest you all write my bosses and tell them I'm entirely too busy and its preventing me from blogging, thus, denying the entire world a vital resource.
Minnesota Bridge Collapse
I keep turning the Minnesota bridge collapse over in my head. Of course thoughts and sympathy go out to those folks.
Part of what I find so depressing is that we know these things can happen and we still turn a blind eye. You hope as a kid that adults will make the right, obvious decisions, but...
If its not in the budget to fix the bridge, then we can't fix the bridge. Anyone who reads the paper might know that a vast number of bridges in our country are not considered safe, but there's an economic incentive not to touch the bridges as it would stop the daily commutes of millions of Americans if we were to actually bring those bridges up to code. That, and raising taxes to actually fix the bridges...
I cross an unknown number of bridges into work. I take at least one bridge over train tracks on William Cannon and, of course, I cross the South 1st bridge when I head over Town Lake on my way in to town each morning. For various reasons I took the Congress Avenue bridge leaving town this evening, but generally, it's the expansive S. 1st/ Lavaca bridge two times a day.
I may also pass over smaller bridges as I cross gullies and creeks on S. First, headed toward town. Certainly there's a dip that, when I think about it, certainly isn't flat with the ground, so that's most likely a small bridge.
Jason crosses the Lamar Street bridge twice a day or more.
I do not think about the possibility of the bridges collapsing. Never. Until
today, when suddenly you realize all those "1/3rd of bridges are considered unsafe" statistics apply to you. I am deeply saddened that the bridge collapse occurred. I think we can all see a bit of ourselves in the position of the commuters.
I wish the victims and families of the victims of the bridge collapse my best.
MAY THE LEAGUE RECOMMEND
Hey, it's not just time for a new season of "Who Wants to be a Superhero?", there's a new show on PBS. So, may The League recommend...
Nova ScienceNow
I know, Nova is a show for geeks. BUT... it is informative and very well produced. This new version is hosted by the astrophysicist guy who makes routine appearances on The Daily Show, Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Nova ScienceNow is broken up into shorter, roughly 20 minute segments, far briefer than the usual hour-long Nova shows. Each segment focues on a wildly different topic, with Dr. Tyson popping up between segments and then give you "the cosmic view" at the end. Sort of like "Springer's Final Thought", only... not a rambling bit of incoherence.
One of my life's great regrets was that because I struggled with math in grade school and middle school, I sort of gave up on math and the possibilities for a career in anything which required a strong math or science background. Other topics came more easily, or I could skate by. So, before I ever really understood anything about math or science I was vainly deciding that I'd prusue something a bit more abstract or artistic or something. I had good teachers, I think. I loved Physics and Biology in high school, and I took a boatload of Geology in college, as well as biology, anthropology and other stuff (knowing full well I'd be doomed in physics.) I sort of thought of science, at the time, as something completely out of my grasp. Which was kind of sad and dumb of me. But if it came down to getting low marks in a class or getting the easy A in theater arts, I was going for the easy A.
Nova ScienceNow manages to simplify things so that a brain as ill-functioning as my own can understand the concepts. They're going for the coolness factor and skimming over some of how stuff actually works, certainly, but... Hell, you get to see some really neat stuff and understand how science can make a better world. Plus, you know, robots and dinosaurs.
I was particularly interested in a story on the work of Cynthia Brazeal at the MIT AI labs. She's making social robots that are learning to react to human emotions at a certain level. It was one of those moments when you see a small part of the future, and all those Asimov stories don't seem so crazy. And, for some reason, when they showed the POV of the robot, I was profoundly sad. I don't know why. I guess the idea of the little robot's brain being brought into the world and trying to see and understand the world is that first step beyond being merely a machine. It's sort of a beautiful thing, seeing those silicon neural synapses firing, and wish fulfillment of generations of kids. But you can also almost see the thing struggling.
Sure, in fifty years when the robots have driven us all onto the coasts and we've got our backs to the water while the AI gunships are hunting us down, its not going to be pathetic and heartbreaking... But now... Well, let us hope we are kind to the things we bring into this world.
Anyhow, check out Nova ScienceNow. For us armchair science enthusiasts who are still bstunned by shiny objects and promises of a future full of flying cars and cloned dinosaurs, its a great show.
Christmas is coming...
I'm just saying...
Also just saying...
More Prison dancing action!
From Randy. And this time... QUEEN!!!
Astros Win in the 14th!
Of course I wandred off in the 11th thinking they'd lose...
I Am Popeye
Minnesota Bridge Collapse
I keep turning the Minnesota bridge collapse over in my head. Of course thoughts and sympathy go out to those folks.
Part of what I find so depressing is that we know these things can happen and we still turn a blind eye. You hope as a kid that adults will make the right, obvious decisions, but...
If its not in the budget to fix the bridge, then we can't fix the bridge. Anyone who reads the paper might know that a vast number of bridges in our country are not considered safe, but there's an economic incentive not to touch the bridges as it would stop the daily commutes of millions of Americans if we were to actually bring those bridges up to code. That, and raising taxes to actually fix the bridges...
I cross an unknown number of bridges into work. I take at least one bridge over train tracks on William Cannon and, of course, I cross the South 1st bridge when I head over Town Lake on my way in to town each morning. For various reasons I took the Congress Avenue bridge leaving town this evening, but generally, it's the expansive S. 1st/ Lavaca bridge two times a day.
I may also pass over smaller bridges as I cross gullies and creeks on S. First, headed toward town. Certainly there's a dip that, when I think about it, certainly isn't flat with the ground, so that's most likely a small bridge.
Jason crosses the Lamar Street bridge twice a day or more.
I do not think about the possibility of the bridges collapsing. Never. Until
today, when suddenly you realize all those "1/3rd of bridges are considered unsafe" statistics apply to you. I am deeply saddened that the bridge collapse occurred. I think we can all see a bit of ourselves in the position of the commuters.
I wish the victims and families of the victims of the bridge collapse my best.
MAY THE LEAGUE RECOMMEND
Hey, it's not just time for a new season of "Who Wants to be a Superhero?", there's a new show on PBS. So, may The League recommend...
Nova ScienceNow
I know, Nova is a show for geeks. BUT... it is informative and very well produced. This new version is hosted by the astrophysicist guy who makes routine appearances on The Daily Show, Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Nova ScienceNow is broken up into shorter, roughly 20 minute segments, far briefer than the usual hour-long Nova shows. Each segment focues on a wildly different topic, with Dr. Tyson popping up between segments and then give you "the cosmic view" at the end. Sort of like "Springer's Final Thought", only... not a rambling bit of incoherence.
One of my life's great regrets was that because I struggled with math in grade school and middle school, I sort of gave up on math and the possibilities for a career in anything which required a strong math or science background. Other topics came more easily, or I could skate by. So, before I ever really understood anything about math or science I was vainly deciding that I'd prusue something a bit more abstract or artistic or something. I had good teachers, I think. I loved Physics and Biology in high school, and I took a boatload of Geology in college, as well as biology, anthropology and other stuff (knowing full well I'd be doomed in physics.) I sort of thought of science, at the time, as something completely out of my grasp. Which was kind of sad and dumb of me. But if it came down to getting low marks in a class or getting the easy A in theater arts, I was going for the easy A.
Nova ScienceNow manages to simplify things so that a brain as ill-functioning as my own can understand the concepts. They're going for the coolness factor and skimming over some of how stuff actually works, certainly, but... Hell, you get to see some really neat stuff and understand how science can make a better world. Plus, you know, robots and dinosaurs.
I was particularly interested in a story on the work of Cynthia Brazeal at the MIT AI labs. She's making social robots that are learning to react to human emotions at a certain level. It was one of those moments when you see a small part of the future, and all those Asimov stories don't seem so crazy. And, for some reason, when they showed the POV of the robot, I was profoundly sad. I don't know why. I guess the idea of the little robot's brain being brought into the world and trying to see and understand the world is that first step beyond being merely a machine. It's sort of a beautiful thing, seeing those silicon neural synapses firing, and wish fulfillment of generations of kids. But you can also almost see the thing struggling.
Sure, in fifty years when the robots have driven us all onto the coasts and we've got our backs to the water while the AI gunships are hunting us down, its not going to be pathetic and heartbreaking... But now... Well, let us hope we are kind to the things we bring into this world.
Anyhow, check out Nova ScienceNow. For us armchair science enthusiasts who are still bstunned by shiny objects and promises of a future full of flying cars and cloned dinosaurs, its a great show.
Christmas is coming...
I'm just saying...
Also just saying...
More Prison dancing action!
From Randy. And this time... QUEEN!!!
Astros Win in the 14th!
Of course I wandred off in the 11th thinking they'd lose...
I Am Popeye
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Jiggity Jog
We're home.
Jamie's procedure was supposed to occur Thursday (it did), and, at most, we expected to go home Friday morning. Well, thanks to the miracles of modern medicine and a doctor who was being properly cautious as we adjusted some of Jamie's meds, we've been at St. David's South Austin on and off since Thursday. I am now properly worn out.
Here's the difference between going into the hospital in AZ and going in here:
Jamie's folks happened to be coming into town Thursday anyway (they're putting an offer in on a house in San Marcos. They shall be living ever so close to Ralph the Swimming Pig), so they were here. Friday Jason and Carla were able to come by. Saturday Wagner was here from Lubbock. Plus the return of Jason and Carla. Throw Matty into the mix, and voila! It wasn't just the two of us sitting there trying to figure out what show on basic cable at 2:00 on a Saturday is least boring.
Thanks so, so much to folks who came by. We really appreciate it.
Jamie is home. She's fine. She's happy to be able to dole out affection upon the pets once again.
Jamie's procedure was supposed to occur Thursday (it did), and, at most, we expected to go home Friday morning. Well, thanks to the miracles of modern medicine and a doctor who was being properly cautious as we adjusted some of Jamie's meds, we've been at St. David's South Austin on and off since Thursday. I am now properly worn out.
Here's the difference between going into the hospital in AZ and going in here:
Jamie's folks happened to be coming into town Thursday anyway (they're putting an offer in on a house in San Marcos. They shall be living ever so close to Ralph the Swimming Pig), so they were here. Friday Jason and Carla were able to come by. Saturday Wagner was here from Lubbock. Plus the return of Jason and Carla. Throw Matty into the mix, and voila! It wasn't just the two of us sitting there trying to figure out what show on basic cable at 2:00 on a Saturday is least boring.
Thanks so, so much to folks who came by. We really appreciate it.
Jamie is home. She's fine. She's happy to be able to dole out affection upon the pets once again.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Out of Pocket
Hey, Leaguers. The week started off busy with work. However, our attention now turns to Jamie.
Jamie had a small medical procedure this morning to look at her heart. So, anyway, I was up at 5:00ish, and I'm now really, really tired.
Jamie is spending the vening in the hospital, and, depending on how things go tomorrow, may be there for a few days. I don't really know. The good news is that she actually feels okay. This whole thing was about checking out her heart for a possible future transplant.
Hope you guys are well.
Jamie had a small medical procedure this morning to look at her heart. So, anyway, I was up at 5:00ish, and I'm now really, really tired.
Jamie is spending the vening in the hospital, and, depending on how things go tomorrow, may be there for a few days. I don't really know. The good news is that she actually feels okay. This whole thing was about checking out her heart for a possible future transplant.
Hope you guys are well.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Additional/ Supplemental
So Saturday evening we headed over to Carla's for "Bad Movie Night". Carla had rented the 1983 Australian produced Alan Arkin-starring superhero musical adventure "The Return of Captain Invincible". Somehow I'd missed it was a musical, and so when the president burst into song, I confess I was more than a bit surprised.
The movie makes some interesting choices, and there's a lot of gratuitous nudity to remind you that it's the 80's. Plus, the female lead somehow keeps getting the buttons to her blouse popped open to remind the viewer why she may have been hired.
If you want to see Christopher Lee participate in a Rocky Horror/ Bob Fosse inspired musical number... If you want to see a man with a salmon-gun... If you want to see a weird green little monkey man... Leaguers... This is your movie.
Anyhow, the story of the movie was actually stunningly close to the story of DC Comics' own Justice Society of America who ALSO disbanded after being called in front of McCarthy and being asked to unmask. This is a storyline DC fans take deadly serious, so seeing the same idea being taken lightly was... well, shall we say I have a different filter.
Carla also showed a film she'd made, "The Perfect Dress", which, apparently, I thought was better than she did. But I can understand being close enough to your own work that all you see are the things you wish you'd done different. Carla's film was actually fun and a musical for which she'd written lyrics. Good stuff.
In addition, she busted out our student film from Film I. All I can see now are the places where my cuts were all wrong, so its a tough one to watch. You kids and your fancy non-linear editing systems will never know the joys of the hand-crank Film 1 editing machinery. So shut up.
Lots of memories tied up in that film. It was fun to watch it with the two other folks who'd been there for the whole thing.
Thanks to Carla and David for having us over. The mini-burgers were excellent!
Tonight Jamie and I went to see the new Harry Potter, which was actually a good, all-ages (not kiddie) adventure movie. I've not read the books, so it's fascinating to see the world which started out being cute little moppets playing silly wizardy games turn into a life or death struggle of fairly epic proportions.
I don't know all what one can say about a Harry Potter movie at this point. Either you're interested or you're not. Daniel Radcliffe and Co. are blossoming into honest-to-God actors, and can easily handle the material being thrown their way.
There's some interesting commentary upon the nature of power in the film, especially of government. It's the sort of confusing lesson one might discover in high school when you begin to realize authority figures are all too often all too human, but that doesn't mean you're in any position to do anything about it. I think the solution in the movie is of the deas ex machina variety, but after time-reversing devices, etc... playing key roles in the conclusion of Potter movies, it's something I can live with.
Anyhow, worth a look see..
The movie makes some interesting choices, and there's a lot of gratuitous nudity to remind you that it's the 80's. Plus, the female lead somehow keeps getting the buttons to her blouse popped open to remind the viewer why she may have been hired.
If you want to see Christopher Lee participate in a Rocky Horror/ Bob Fosse inspired musical number... If you want to see a man with a salmon-gun... If you want to see a weird green little monkey man... Leaguers... This is your movie.
Anyhow, the story of the movie was actually stunningly close to the story of DC Comics' own Justice Society of America who ALSO disbanded after being called in front of McCarthy and being asked to unmask. This is a storyline DC fans take deadly serious, so seeing the same idea being taken lightly was... well, shall we say I have a different filter.
Carla also showed a film she'd made, "The Perfect Dress", which, apparently, I thought was better than she did. But I can understand being close enough to your own work that all you see are the things you wish you'd done different. Carla's film was actually fun and a musical for which she'd written lyrics. Good stuff.
In addition, she busted out our student film from Film I. All I can see now are the places where my cuts were all wrong, so its a tough one to watch. You kids and your fancy non-linear editing systems will never know the joys of the hand-crank Film 1 editing machinery. So shut up.
Lots of memories tied up in that film. It was fun to watch it with the two other folks who'd been there for the whole thing.
Thanks to Carla and David for having us over. The mini-burgers were excellent!
Tonight Jamie and I went to see the new Harry Potter, which was actually a good, all-ages (not kiddie) adventure movie. I've not read the books, so it's fascinating to see the world which started out being cute little moppets playing silly wizardy games turn into a life or death struggle of fairly epic proportions.
I don't know all what one can say about a Harry Potter movie at this point. Either you're interested or you're not. Daniel Radcliffe and Co. are blossoming into honest-to-God actors, and can easily handle the material being thrown their way.
There's some interesting commentary upon the nature of power in the film, especially of government. It's the sort of confusing lesson one might discover in high school when you begin to realize authority figures are all too often all too human, but that doesn't mean you're in any position to do anything about it. I think the solution in the movie is of the deas ex machina variety, but after time-reversing devices, etc... playing key roles in the conclusion of Potter movies, it's something I can live with.
Anyhow, worth a look see..
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Hey, all. I wish I had more to report, but since what I've mostly been up to is going to work, I don't have much to report. Jeff the Cat seems better. He's actually staring at me right now. And he hasn't been too sick since Monday. Logy, but not sick.
I don't even really know what's been going on in the news or anything. I bought a stack of comics this week that I've barely even had a chance to touch. Some of that has been that I haven't been going directly home after work this week, and part of it is being a bit logy myself.
Anyhow, hope you guys are okay.
I have to go shove medicine down Jeff's throat now.
I don't even really know what's been going on in the news or anything. I bought a stack of comics this week that I've barely even had a chance to touch. Some of that has been that I haven't been going directly home after work this week, and part of it is being a bit logy myself.
Anyhow, hope you guys are okay.
I have to go shove medicine down Jeff's throat now.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Super-Viewing
Thanks to Julia, Lauren and Steven for coming out on Sunday night to bask in the glow of Superman: The Movie on the big screen at The Paramount. If you couldn't make it, The League understands and does not hold it against you.
With apologies to JMD, it was nice to see the(ahem) entire film on the big screen for the first time in a decade or two. The presentation was the extended cut, so there was a bit more to the movie than the good 'old normal cut (which will probably be lost to time).
It was also exhilarating to see the movie with so many other people, when normally I see it with an audience of one or two. People seemed to genuinely enjoy the flick, catching most of the jokes, sitting in awed silence at the appropriate moments and giving in to peels of laughter during the "Can You Read My Mind?" sequence, which just doesn't work all that well now, if it did almost thirty years ago. Folks even took the scenes involving miniatures very well, considering that one gets the sensation that the audience has accidentally wandered into a Godzilla movie for a few frames.
Walking out of the theater, I was approached by a fellow Superman nut who had some trivia he was busting to share with me (I assume because I was wearing a Superman t-shirt), and I enjoyed chatting with him briefly. Nice guy, but I felt bad as he had no Loyal Leaguers of his own with which to see the movie.
Anyhow, stay tuned for future assemblages of Loyal Leaguers!
With apologies to JMD, it was nice to see the(ahem) entire film on the big screen for the first time in a decade or two. The presentation was the extended cut, so there was a bit more to the movie than the good 'old normal cut (which will probably be lost to time).
It was also exhilarating to see the movie with so many other people, when normally I see it with an audience of one or two. People seemed to genuinely enjoy the flick, catching most of the jokes, sitting in awed silence at the appropriate moments and giving in to peels of laughter during the "Can You Read My Mind?" sequence, which just doesn't work all that well now, if it did almost thirty years ago. Folks even took the scenes involving miniatures very well, considering that one gets the sensation that the audience has accidentally wandered into a Godzilla movie for a few frames.
Walking out of the theater, I was approached by a fellow Superman nut who had some trivia he was busting to share with me (I assume because I was wearing a Superman t-shirt), and I enjoyed chatting with him briefly. Nice guy, but I felt bad as he had no Loyal Leaguers of his own with which to see the movie.
Anyhow, stay tuned for future assemblages of Loyal Leaguers!
More stuff I don't need but want
DC Direct has decided to put out figures of the New Gods in classic Kirby style.
Here.
I will buy them. I will also hope they add a Kirby Jimmy Olsen, Barda, Black Racer, Detective Turpin, and the Forever People, complete with a Super-Cycle.
Here.
I will buy them. I will also hope they add a Kirby Jimmy Olsen, Barda, Black Racer, Detective Turpin, and the Forever People, complete with a Super-Cycle.
Simpsonsization continues!
The League's own Nathan Cone is Simpsonified.
CBG posts her image, plus, gives herself a plotline!
here
CBG posts her image, plus, gives herself a plotline!
here
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.
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.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Lady Bird Johnson
When I was a kid growing up in Austin, I recall it was a pretty big deal that Lady Bird Johnson still maintained an office in the LBJ Library. The rumor was that they couldn't build any structures higher than a story or two between her window at the library and the Capitol, lest anything obstruct her view. It wasn't that Lady Bird Johnson was supposed to be mean and bossy, but nobody really wanted to obstruct her view. I thought that must say something pretty nice about the lady.
At some point when I was 12 or 13 my folks were customers of The Bank of the Hills, which belonged to the Johnson family. I still recall my folks going to the opening of the new building out near 620 and 183 (when the area was a field) because they heard Lady Bird would be there shaking hands. Sure enough, my folks were just two of the rubes who Lady Bird shook hands with that night. I believe Lucy may have been there as well. I remember finding it mindblowing that she was involved with family business and would just meet any old person who wandered in to the bank that night. (I think i stayed home, watched an Arnie movie and ate fish sticks).
We have Lady Bird to thank in Austin for Town Lake Park, the LBJ Library, the control of billboard proliferation, the planting of wildflowers along the highway, and, of course, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. She was also involved with Austin's KTBC during its glory days. And, of course, she was also involved in her husband's campaigns in Texas and National races.
Finally, she was also a Journalism major at the University of Texas, and thus a fellow Longhorn. It is my understanding that she also was available as a guest speaker during the semesters in which Dr. Lewis Gould was teaching his "First Ladies" conference course for the History department. (Unfortunately, I found out about the course after it was no longer offered with Dr. Gould's retirement.)
Godspeed, Lady Bird Johnson.
At some point when I was 12 or 13 my folks were customers of The Bank of the Hills, which belonged to the Johnson family. I still recall my folks going to the opening of the new building out near 620 and 183 (when the area was a field) because they heard Lady Bird would be there shaking hands. Sure enough, my folks were just two of the rubes who Lady Bird shook hands with that night. I believe Lucy may have been there as well. I remember finding it mindblowing that she was involved with family business and would just meet any old person who wandered in to the bank that night. (I think i stayed home, watched an Arnie movie and ate fish sticks).
We have Lady Bird to thank in Austin for Town Lake Park, the LBJ Library, the control of billboard proliferation, the planting of wildflowers along the highway, and, of course, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. She was also involved with Austin's KTBC during its glory days. And, of course, she was also involved in her husband's campaigns in Texas and National races.
Finally, she was also a Journalism major at the University of Texas, and thus a fellow Longhorn. It is my understanding that she also was available as a guest speaker during the semesters in which Dr. Lewis Gould was teaching his "First Ladies" conference course for the History department. (Unfortunately, I found out about the course after it was no longer offered with Dr. Gould's retirement.)
Godspeed, Lady Bird Johnson.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Balloon Guy
I've received basically the same article from at least two people (thanks Peabo and Maria!).
The basic gist of the article is that a guy filled 100-odd helium balloons, tied them to his lawn chair and floated 193 miles.
There is a word for that, Leaguers: Totally awesome.
Also: Balls.
In this era of "pioneers" being defined by which CEO of a company which happened to build a nifty piece of software, give me a dude who straps 105 balloons to a lawn chair, packs a brown bag lunch and cruises 193 miles. Humanity has more or less lost its taste for adventure, so every once in a while it's up to a guy with a half-baked plan and a love of colorful balloons to really break the mold.
I swear, back in the 1920's this guy would have been a national hero and had a sandwich or something named after him. Even today we'd be like "Why do they call it a Couch Sandwich?" and your trivia-spouting friend would say "Oh, it's named after Kent Couch." And you would totally know what that means.
Mr. Balloon Jockey, I salute thee! It would take three or four times that many balloons to lift my XXXL-sized carcass (plus the thermos of coffee) across the sky, and I don't even know where to get big ballons, anyway. But I'm a lot jealous.
I suppose I'd also need a fairly durable lawn chair...
Anyhow, Thanks for accomplishing what they said probably shouldn't be done. And I think was a topic once on Mythbusters. So go figure.
The basic gist of the article is that a guy filled 100-odd helium balloons, tied them to his lawn chair and floated 193 miles.
There is a word for that, Leaguers: Totally awesome.
Also: Balls.
In this era of "pioneers" being defined by which CEO of a company which happened to build a nifty piece of software, give me a dude who straps 105 balloons to a lawn chair, packs a brown bag lunch and cruises 193 miles. Humanity has more or less lost its taste for adventure, so every once in a while it's up to a guy with a half-baked plan and a love of colorful balloons to really break the mold.
I swear, back in the 1920's this guy would have been a national hero and had a sandwich or something named after him. Even today we'd be like "Why do they call it a Couch Sandwich?" and your trivia-spouting friend would say "Oh, it's named after Kent Couch." And you would totally know what that means.
Mr. Balloon Jockey, I salute thee! It would take three or four times that many balloons to lift my XXXL-sized carcass (plus the thermos of coffee) across the sky, and I don't even know where to get big ballons, anyway. But I'm a lot jealous.
I suppose I'd also need a fairly durable lawn chair...
Anyhow, Thanks for accomplishing what they said probably shouldn't be done. And I think was a topic once on Mythbusters. So go figure.
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