Tuesday, July 22, 2003

I have a new hero.

Look out, RHPT...

It appears all of us working in the tech sector may soon be in for a replacement. Unfortunately, I've seen how this plays out, and it ain't pretty...

NERD ALERT!!!!

The Batman fanfilm which caused such a ruckus at the San Diego ComicCon can be found here. People have apparently been going batty over the thing. Batty... ha ha ha... ahhhhhh, me....

(update)

Well, I watched the Batman thing (it's a Quicktime download). The video looks really nice, and if you're an Alex Ross fan, Batman and Joker actually look really, really cool. The dialog is really terrible, and the "twists" they add in are... I don't know what they are...

Honestly, I don't know what this is. It reminds me of something I would have dreamt up in 8th grade, but I assume adults are behind it. Anyway, give it a shot, but don't break your arm trying to download the thing.


Monday, July 21, 2003

This afternoon I called the good folks at ADOT to figure out what I was supposed to do about my license plate. "What did you want on your plate?"
"Krypto. K-R-Y-P-T-O. Krypto."
"It's coming up as a drug reference."
"You computer has file of drug references?"
"Yes sir."
"And Krypto was one of them?"
"Yep. Ice, Special K, all this stuff I never heard of. All drugs."
"And Krypto?"
"You never know."
What was not clear was that anyone has ever actually called anything Krypto. But a quick web-search turns up that Krypto is a specific breed of marijuana. Who knew?!!

according to the DOJ: "Krypto," short for kryptonite, is hydroponically grown marijuana that is supplied by Philadelphia-based criminal groups who transport the drug to Atlantic City.

So because some idiot in Philly has decided to call his dope "Krypto," I may not get my license plate. I will find out after the "committee" reviews my request the 2nd Thursday in August. I am thrilled to know I get no rebuttal. Further, I wonder if DC comics knows the name of their beloved character has been co-opted for what sounds like some scientifically enhanced bud?

And can't the state of Arizona accept the fact I like to get groovy and just let the license plate slide? I suppose not. The ultimate irony being that this hydroponic weed is so potent, they named it after the stuff which takes down Superman. So the Superman connection comes full circle. I wonder if there's any "Ace the Bathound" wonder weed?
SUH-WEEEET!!!!

First teaser image of Doctor Octopus as played by Alfred Molina in the upcoming Spider-Man 2 (Amazing Spider-Man).
Part of my morning routine is checking the mail while Mel and I do our little lap around the neighborhood. This morning I received a letter from the Arizona Dept. of Transportation.

A few weeks ago it came time to renew the tags for my car, and like a good little netizen, I jumped online and took care of it immediately (I also took care of Jamie and registered her to vote). One of the options in renewing your tags was to get "vanity" plates for your auto. There's a lot more folks out in Arizona with vanity plates than what you see in Texas, and I discovered that these personalized plates are fairly inexpensive. So, without thinking clearly, I popped in my personalized info. and sat back to reap the benefits of high-speed bandwidth and a check card.

At 5:30 this morning, I got Saturday's mail. Despite the fact I filled in the little box on the form explaining what I had chosen for my plate to say, someone in the ADOT doesn't believe I had the best of intentions when putting "Krypto" on the back of my car. I don't know what they THINK it means, but it's pretty clear that "Krypto" was kind of freaking them out.

Instead of a performing a 30 second web-search to verify my claim, this government monkey sent my request to some review board. No time line has been given as to when I can expect to see whether or not "Krypto" has been approved, but the letter insinuated that the word or phrase had connotations which the state of Arizona did not like.

The thing which concerns me is that I have a tag which I must put on my car by the end of the month. This tag set me back no small amount of green, and I don't want to have to buy a new one if and when they do send me my plate. Lousy bastards.

I won't cry if the state won't allow me to put this on my car (although I think I will be vindicated). In fact, the decision to put Krypto on my car was one I kind of questioned about five minutes after I quit giggling as I sent off my request. This was the same sort of decision making which led me to wear a shirt in middle school which read: Vote LV-426 Planet-Con in '86! (if you can determine what that statement refers to, bonus points.) Nonetheless, it was a bad decision, but it was MY bad decision, and I am sticking with it.

I'll keep you posted as to how this pans out. I need to call ADOT tomorrow to see what I'm supposed to do about this tag +/- plate debacle.
Ann Coulter Nude

Well, I may have doomed myself to an endless hell of popularity with folks looking for nude photos of Ann Coulter.

8 of my last 20 hits came from folks looking for Ann Coulter pics or other... 24 of the last 100 hits.

Anyway, I promised to print results, but I have no idea what this means.

The truth is, right now I'm watching the new Teen Titans show on Cartoon Network, and it's not very good. Oh, well. I did like the first issue of the re-vamped comic by Geoff Johns, though. The cartoon is kind of anime style, a style which I have always not been very interested in because I assumed there was a lot lost in the translation from Japanese to English. I don't see the point of an American cartoon lifting the style, including goofy cultural shortcuts which are fairly meaningless to American viewers, and which are really kind of cutesy (even for a kid's cartoon). I guess the point is to use someone else's tools to fool kids into thinking this somehow fits in the Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, etc... But here's the deal, Yu-Gi-Oh has toys and cards which go along with the show. It's all interconnected. As an intrepid comic fan, I know that no Teen Titans toys are en route (retailers feel there are too many girls on the team (2 of 5) and the toys would never sell.

The rumor turning on the Superman mill is that Cartoon Network will next be launching a cartoon based around Superman's Silver Age canine pal, Krypto the Superdog. It will be geared at very young kids. I look forward to it. BTW, Krypto doesn't talk in the comics. I don't know what's up with this issue.

Jamie and I joined Sam's Wholesale Club this weekend. Mostly, I just wanted one of those big barrels of pretzels because I was hungry. I'm not sure that the "wholesale" costs will help us. There are only two of us, we had to pay $30 to join, and we bought enough stuff that if we actually go back to Sam's before November, I'll be shocked.

Anyway, fairly boring weekend. Hope yours was better.

I hope to post my "In Defense of Megatron" think piece over at Jim's site this week. Hope you guys tune in. I posted there this evening. Go take a peek.