Check your local listings
Austin City Limits is now broadcasting a few episodes recorded during ACL Fest this September. This doesn't mean they're showing the live shows from Zilker Park (which I seem to recall them doing in the past). However, they are showing sessions recorded during the festival while the bands were in town.
I watched the Wilco episode and am waiting to watch Arcade Fire for a time when other folks who might want to watch that episode might be around.
Nova recently had an interesting episode about the American space race, and that maybe we weren't as behind as we led the public to believe.
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace seems to be broadcasting during Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. Not a cartoon, but highly recommended by us here at LoM.
I think I am done again with Smallville.
Friday Night Lights, unsurprisingly, seems to be struggling in its second season. Two of the main plots seem simply too far fetched for the realistic spirit of the show.
Meanwhile, 30 Rock managed to handle the "green week" on NBC the best of any of the programs I caught. It also gave us Al Gore and restored some of my respect for David Schwimmer.
Football
UT soundly defeated the Red Raiders of Texas Tech on Saturday. It was actually a great game, even if the Horns defense allowed 40-odd points. Colt McCoy played, possibly, the best game I've seen him in. Charles, Cosby and Nate Jones all looked really good. I hope Colt can remember how this works when he hits the field again next year.
Cowboys beat the Giants, which is always a welcome victory. I only really don't like the Giants when they play the Cowboys, but I am annoyed with Shockey every day of the year. Man, that guy is annoying. He's awesome, but something about him is so... very... irritating.
And, man... Green Bay clobbered Minnesota. Sorry, Reedo. Brett Favre is playing so well, one can only assume he's drinking again. No idea what happened to the amazing Adrian Peterson. Someone had his number.
Cook-Out
Special Thanks to the Shoemakers for Meatfest 2007. Holy cow, not only was the meat fantastic, but there was more of it than the entire assembled party could possibly consume. I need to go get some of those sausages from Whole Foods.
I am also horrible at Guitar Hero III. You know things have gone south when someone tells you "Wow, after you did so bad the first time, that really took courage to get up there again and do just as bad."
In-Laws
Officially much more together on this whole "retirement dreamhouse" thing than my parents, Jamie's folks were in San Marcos this weekend working on their new place. It sounds like they're enclosing the porch to add what should be a really nice sun room, and adding a raised porch elsewhere off the house. The Father-in-law is still not biting on my idea to add an observatory.
Anyway, we saw them Friday night.
OCD and Comics
This is going to sound weird, but I sorta like bagging, boarding and inventorying my comics. I missed my calling by not working at that big warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark where you seal stuff up and lock it away forever.
The huge downside to the bagging and boarding of comics is that, I think, most people assume it doesn't take that long to deal with. Also, most folks don't realize that in order to accomplish the task, you need (a) space, and (b) time. While space is important, in order to get things really sorted, getting a few hours uninterrupted to just knock out the various portions of the task (yes... hours), its also hard to get the task done when other things are vying for your attention. Worthwhile, fun things.
The problem, of course, if that if you don't handle the task on a routine basis, you have just made the process take that much longer. You have that many more comics to deal with.
With our Holiday party coming up, its sort of imperative I not have piles of comics just strewn across the living room, so the day of reckoning is at hand. Now is when I have to tell people "No, I cannot go to Slippy Village or whatever fun place you're headed off to. I have to sit on the floor and put comic books into polymer bags with non-acidic backing boards. I must then place each individual comic into my database where I may track the value of the comic and size of my collection. After that, I will place each comic in publishing release order in a specialized box which will help preserve the integrity of the comic. These will be placed in a (a) by publisher, (b) by character arrangement of my choosing. No, I am not completely OCD."
So, I apologize to everyone in advance if I drop out of site for a few nights while getting this task completed. I am not being a misanthrope, I am trying to clean up the living room.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Norma Rae!
Not much content being generated of late here at League of Melbotis. It is time to reveal that my writers are on strike.
Yes, when contracts were originally negotiated here at the League, nobody anticipated the gold mine that League of Melbotis would become. Especially not the basement full of elderly Philipino women I keep who write most of my posts. I tell you Leaguers, when you want to write musings on the Man of Steel, you can do no better than to hit the canasta parlors of Manila. Those ladies like nothing better than playing games while chatting about Superman's latest adventures.
Unfortunately, the contracts we negotiated never took the internet or merchandising into account. Neither they, nor I, ever really guessed that downloading LoM from iTunes or selling full seasons of LoM on DVD would become so very profitable. I'd like to say that I was paying more attention to the wants and needs of all the gals, but, really, when you're distracted with the multitude of needs that an operation like LoM brings to your attention on a daily basis, soothing the fears of the investors and Board of Directors, sometimes the most important people of all get lost in the shuffle.
So it was that last week, while I was putting out fires, Norma Rae Sarmiento, one of our staffers (she usually covers super-hero related movies), put out her cigar, stood atop her folding chair beside her Smith Corona type-writer with the words "UNION!" typed out in an 11-pont font. Eventually someone wandered over and saw what was typed on her page, and word spread like wildfire. Indeed, it seems Norma Rae had brought in the WGA. And the WGA was on strike. Thus ended production on League of Melbotis.
As a responsible CEO, I took the only step I could to try to find middle ground with the folks on strike. I immediately set a gang of toughs upon Norma Rae to soften her up.
Nonetheless, it seems my erstwhile gang of writers has gone on strike, so I'll be stepping up to the old keyboard to take over until the strike comes to an end.
In the meantime, can someone tell me who this Randy person is?
Yes, when contracts were originally negotiated here at the League, nobody anticipated the gold mine that League of Melbotis would become. Especially not the basement full of elderly Philipino women I keep who write most of my posts. I tell you Leaguers, when you want to write musings on the Man of Steel, you can do no better than to hit the canasta parlors of Manila. Those ladies like nothing better than playing games while chatting about Superman's latest adventures.
Unfortunately, the contracts we negotiated never took the internet or merchandising into account. Neither they, nor I, ever really guessed that downloading LoM from iTunes or selling full seasons of LoM on DVD would become so very profitable. I'd like to say that I was paying more attention to the wants and needs of all the gals, but, really, when you're distracted with the multitude of needs that an operation like LoM brings to your attention on a daily basis, soothing the fears of the investors and Board of Directors, sometimes the most important people of all get lost in the shuffle.
So it was that last week, while I was putting out fires, Norma Rae Sarmiento, one of our staffers (she usually covers super-hero related movies), put out her cigar, stood atop her folding chair beside her Smith Corona type-writer with the words "UNION!" typed out in an 11-pont font. Eventually someone wandered over and saw what was typed on her page, and word spread like wildfire. Indeed, it seems Norma Rae had brought in the WGA. And the WGA was on strike. Thus ended production on League of Melbotis.
As a responsible CEO, I took the only step I could to try to find middle ground with the folks on strike. I immediately set a gang of toughs upon Norma Rae to soften her up.
Nonetheless, it seems my erstwhile gang of writers has gone on strike, so I'll be stepping up to the old keyboard to take over until the strike comes to an end.
In the meantime, can someone tell me who this Randy person is?
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
League of Melbotis Holiday Heckstravaganza 2007!
Yes, Leaguers... I'm not ready for it, and neither are you, but it's that time of the year again. We're hurtling toward the Holidays like a comet towards Dinosaur-infested Earth. So it's time for ordering that Hickory Farms basket, pretending someone else sent it to you, and then eating the whole thing in one sitting.
It's also time for The League of Melbotis 2007 Holiday Heckstravaganza!
Needless to say, you're all in invited. Yes, even you.
So hire a baby-sitter, contact your parole officer and free up your calendar for the night of December 8th, 2007. For that night, mi amigos... we ride upon the Federales!
There's a small possibility that from 9:00 - 9:30, we will be entertained by the smooth, Holiday sounds of Jason's band, CRACK.
Further, there will be Wii. And snacks. And booze. Really, rum and egg nog sorta make my memories of last year's party kinda hazy, but it seemed we all had a good time. And the cops who showed up were real swell guys.
This party is BYOB, so bring a bottle of your favorite libation and we can all join in the merriment. There will be carols, and Ritz crackers and bum fights.
We're hoping you can come on down!
If you're planning to show, shoot us an e-mail or request a link to the Crusher invite. We'd like some sort of tally.
It's gonna be a good one.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Get Out the Vote
I went to vote on a few ballot measures last night after official work day and before dinner/ night work.
For once, nobody was running for office, so it was entirely voting on propositions, 3/4's of I had not done any research. So I skipped a few items and tried to understand what they were asking for on a few others, some of them fairly straightforward, like bonds for road work.
The controversial issue on the ballot was the request for state money for cancer research. Like most folks, I have a beef with cancer. Like most folks, cancer has touched my family and friends. I also know cancer is not a single disease but a blanket term to describe a plethora of conditions. I am also concerned about the distribution of money, and understand that there are many diseases to worry about. Take kidney diseases like FSGS. That one is much less fun than it sounds.
I guess my reasoning came down to: in 500 years, what will we have done? Will we have spent our vast resources building giant robots to kill people who do not have giant robots? Will we have chipped every person on Earth and spent money to make sure we were keeping a close watch on them? Will we have made any inroads to actually stopping the causes of grief and people raising their hands against one another? Or will we have insisted that the fight to heal the sick is someone else's mission?
I am not a doctor. I am not a nurse, or even much of a caretaker. I am not a researcher, and I am not able to help people much in my day to day life (and this is something I am considering in depth these days). There is very little I can do out there to help more people than myself and my family and friends. But there is a lot WE can do to help each other.
Without passing judgment on the rightness or wrongness of the current wars, I would rather live in a country at war with cancer, diabetes, heart disease and many other killers than with other nations or peoples. I don't see the two as mutually exclusive. One of the number one things any candidate could do to make me feel safer would not be to promise me endless war against any enemy or outside threat. They could promise me they would dedicate their term to the eradication of disease and hunger. In the end, I doubt I'll die from a dirty bomb. That may be naive, but I am certain diabetes, cancer or heart disease will kill me.
These things seem simple enough at face value, but they aren't where the people we elect put our money or our priorities.
As I mentioned, I am concerned about the use of the money. Government agencies are run by people, and people make ridiculous decisions. But I'm not sure that doesn't mean we shouldn't try, or that nothing will come out of the research, even if it isn't a cure.
So I voted for Proposition 15. And against getting rid of the office of taxidermy or whatever that wacky bill was.
For once, nobody was running for office, so it was entirely voting on propositions, 3/4's of I had not done any research. So I skipped a few items and tried to understand what they were asking for on a few others, some of them fairly straightforward, like bonds for road work.
The controversial issue on the ballot was the request for state money for cancer research. Like most folks, I have a beef with cancer. Like most folks, cancer has touched my family and friends. I also know cancer is not a single disease but a blanket term to describe a plethora of conditions. I am also concerned about the distribution of money, and understand that there are many diseases to worry about. Take kidney diseases like FSGS. That one is much less fun than it sounds.
I guess my reasoning came down to: in 500 years, what will we have done? Will we have spent our vast resources building giant robots to kill people who do not have giant robots? Will we have chipped every person on Earth and spent money to make sure we were keeping a close watch on them? Will we have made any inroads to actually stopping the causes of grief and people raising their hands against one another? Or will we have insisted that the fight to heal the sick is someone else's mission?
I am not a doctor. I am not a nurse, or even much of a caretaker. I am not a researcher, and I am not able to help people much in my day to day life (and this is something I am considering in depth these days). There is very little I can do out there to help more people than myself and my family and friends. But there is a lot WE can do to help each other.
Without passing judgment on the rightness or wrongness of the current wars, I would rather live in a country at war with cancer, diabetes, heart disease and many other killers than with other nations or peoples. I don't see the two as mutually exclusive. One of the number one things any candidate could do to make me feel safer would not be to promise me endless war against any enemy or outside threat. They could promise me they would dedicate their term to the eradication of disease and hunger. In the end, I doubt I'll die from a dirty bomb. That may be naive, but I am certain diabetes, cancer or heart disease will kill me.
These things seem simple enough at face value, but they aren't where the people we elect put our money or our priorities.
As I mentioned, I am concerned about the use of the money. Government agencies are run by people, and people make ridiculous decisions. But I'm not sure that doesn't mean we shouldn't try, or that nothing will come out of the research, even if it isn't a cure.
So I voted for Proposition 15. And against getting rid of the office of taxidermy or whatever that wacky bill was.
Some Additional Super Costumes
Halloween has come and gone, but I feel that I would be negligent if I didn't post some additional pictures of some super Halloween costumes.
Below is SuperXan and CB. More here. And, here.
CB proves she is a person who knows how to raise a child the right way.
My parents live next door to some great folks who have taken on the unlikely task of producing substitute grandchildren for my grandchildless parents. It's a great arrangment as my parents get grandkids and I get to continue to spend money on comics.
I always said Jonathan and Kelsey were sharp kids, and it appears that they really know how to pick out a costume.
Below is SuperXan and CB. More here. And, here.
CB proves she is a person who knows how to raise a child the right way.
My parents live next door to some great folks who have taken on the unlikely task of producing substitute grandchildren for my grandchildless parents. It's a great arrangment as my parents get grandkids and I get to continue to spend money on comics.
I always said Jonathan and Kelsey were sharp kids, and it appears that they really know how to pick out a costume.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Hello
I may go see Fred Clause. Just to annoy other people.
Jeff the Cat had a few teeth pulled this week. He is doing very well and doesn't seem to miss them.
Carla made very good cupcakes. I bring this up not just to say Thanks!, but to point out that she's launched a new site, Dessert Lounge!
My folks were in town this weekend once again looking at property. This time, they may have even found something.
I slept a lot this weekend.
We walked the dogs. That was very nice.
I also read comics.
I ran into a co-worker at Austin Books.
Jason bought an X-Box and Halo.
I didn't watch the UT game and am regretting that decision. I did watch the Colts game and the Dallas game.
I briefly did some work.
The weekends are too short.
SOME COMICS I ENJOYED
Action Comics 858: After Infinite Crisis, DC decided that it was a good time to join the past/ future of Superman together with the Legion of Superheroes once again. A great set-up, wonderfully drawn, and for those (like me) with a gap in their DCU knowledge regarding the Legion, this is a great read.
Batman 670: You can't keep a good Demon's Head down. I didn't like the loss of Bat-villain Ra's al Ghul, as al Ghul was always one of the more complex characters in the Bat-Rogues Gallery. Morrison is doing the most to redefine Batman's world of any writer since the post DKR-era.
Justice Society of America 10: Do you like Superheroes? Did you enjoy mid-90's DC project Kingdom Come? Do you like Superman? Can your brain handle the multiverse? I don't know why this volume of JSA is so much better than the previous volume, handled by the exact same writer, but... man. Every month when this title comes out, this is the first comic I read from the stack.
Crime Bible: The Five Lessons of Blood (1 of 5): Montoya is back as The Question. Cult conspiracies, hard-boiled detectives, Greg Rucka, Tom Mandrake... Worth a look.
Tales of the Sinestro Corps Presents: Superman-Prime: Uhm. Look, this just isn't going to necessarily be a great first comic for anyone to read, but it is a good read as it basically ties together the entire past of the once Superboy of Earth Prime.
Jeff the Cat had a few teeth pulled this week. He is doing very well and doesn't seem to miss them.
Carla made very good cupcakes. I bring this up not just to say Thanks!, but to point out that she's launched a new site, Dessert Lounge!
My folks were in town this weekend once again looking at property. This time, they may have even found something.
I slept a lot this weekend.
We walked the dogs. That was very nice.
I also read comics.
I ran into a co-worker at Austin Books.
Jason bought an X-Box and Halo.
I didn't watch the UT game and am regretting that decision. I did watch the Colts game and the Dallas game.
I briefly did some work.
The weekends are too short.
SOME COMICS I ENJOYED
Action Comics 858: After Infinite Crisis, DC decided that it was a good time to join the past/ future of Superman together with the Legion of Superheroes once again. A great set-up, wonderfully drawn, and for those (like me) with a gap in their DCU knowledge regarding the Legion, this is a great read.
Batman 670: You can't keep a good Demon's Head down. I didn't like the loss of Bat-villain Ra's al Ghul, as al Ghul was always one of the more complex characters in the Bat-Rogues Gallery. Morrison is doing the most to redefine Batman's world of any writer since the post DKR-era.
Justice Society of America 10: Do you like Superheroes? Did you enjoy mid-90's DC project Kingdom Come? Do you like Superman? Can your brain handle the multiverse? I don't know why this volume of JSA is so much better than the previous volume, handled by the exact same writer, but... man. Every month when this title comes out, this is the first comic I read from the stack.
Crime Bible: The Five Lessons of Blood (1 of 5): Montoya is back as The Question. Cult conspiracies, hard-boiled detectives, Greg Rucka, Tom Mandrake... Worth a look.
Tales of the Sinestro Corps Presents: Superman-Prime: Uhm. Look, this just isn't going to necessarily be a great first comic for anyone to read, but it is a good read as it basically ties together the entire past of the once Superboy of Earth Prime.
Thursday, November 01, 2007
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