Taking the Night Off

I'm going to read tonight. Have a lovely evening.

Superman on a Boat, Wednesday Comics, Elvira at the Alamo, etc...

Working on some e-mail interviews for upcoming projects by Loyal Leaguers. More to come on that. In the interim, here's some other stuff.

Superfans: On a Boat?

Apparently someone is putting together a cruise for Superman Fans. A Cruise. I don't even know what to make of this.

Should The League be on a cruise with with other superfans? What would that be like? I can scarcely begin to guess.

Here's the promotional website.

From the Superman Homepage.

Sadly, a cruise is probably out of the question, anyway. Jamie can't do a cruise, so it's unlikely I would abandon her for several days of fun and super-snorkeling, etc... without her to go hangout with complete strangers. Even if they could land Noel Neill for the cruise.

I also have some questions about whether or not a cruise is the right way to express our Super-fandom. I'd think maybe something a bit more selfless would be a good way to stand up for Truth, Justice and the American Way (although taking a cruise in the name of a fictional hero does seem terribly American).

It's all very strange. Then again, I've never been on a cruise.

Wednesday Comics

This week sees the debut of DC's project "Wednesday Comics". If its been a while since you stepped foot in a comic shop, this would be a great week to do so. For a mere $3.99, you can get a tabloid-sized comic featuring the best and brightest in the genre/ industry.

I think Busiek is on GL. Stuff like that.

This week also sees a new issue of Superman: New Krypton and the fist official issue of the Green Lantern Mega-Event, "Blackest Night".

My nerd radar is going crazy.

USA Today is running the Superman section of Wednesday Comics online. View it here. (Flash is required)

A little forewarning: I'm kind of suspecting that these strips are more about the art than the content in some cases.


Rumble (by Ross)

Art for the upcoming Absolute Edition of the Jim Krueger/ Alex Ross comic "Justice".

I've been waiting something like four years for this Absolute Edition.


click for big screen awesomeness


Post from the DCU blog with info on the book.

Elvira in Austin

So.... DITMTLOD, Cassandra "Elvira" Peterson, will be at the Alamo in July.

I need your help. You all know I adore The Mistress of the Dark, but I don't see myself getting to both Elvira screenings.

Should I go to see Elvira on Tuesday (the show with the better location and showing time)? Click here.

Or should I go to see Elvira on Wednesday at the Ritz for a late show, but with the movie I prefer of her two starring vehicles? Click here.

And... Who wants to join me on this adventure? Let me know which flick you want to catch!


I do not see any reason here why I would not wish to attend

OH MY GOD: Speidi plus Alex Jones = The greatest thing I've ever seen

Oh.

Oh wow.

Cavender had this on Facebook.

"The Hills" stars, Heidi and Spencer, have apparently decided to join up with local Austin-area conspiracy/ ultra-libertarian guy, Alex Jones.



Alex was a local legend (still is, I guess) who was on Austin Access Cable about 10 hours a day while I was in college and until I moved on 2002. Right about then he got on the radio, and his show was being listened to outside of Austin on the internet. These days he has a TV show off of Access, I think. His reach is now international.

If you want to know who one of the major voices was behind the 9/11 conspiracy stuff, look no further. First time anyone saw inside The Bohemian Grove and put the footage on TV? Here you go.

Now, Alex DID figure out the US Military was conducting illegal training in East Austin in the mid-1990's, spraying an unknown white powder on the neighborhoods, etc... And all of it was confirmed. Which, you have to imagine, is sort of like finding out that the guy who tells you the UFO's are trying to control his mind is RIGHT. But there you had it.

Jones is an interesting guy, partially because he does, in fact, occasionally dig up real dirt. Just enough to give him some semblance of credibility. And I wouldn't trade his brand of anti-establishment for the world (even if I often think he should probably think about more logical conclusions rather than assuming the Illuminati are behind everything).

But now he's got SPEIDI. His power KNOWS NO BOUNDS.

It would help if he knew who Spencer and Heidi actually are, but whatever.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN THE TRUTH

Monday Evening Round-Up: Ro-bama, Beer, Dune

The Robo/ Disney Conspiracy

It seems Disney has joined with the robots to work against us.




Beer Surplus Jettison Cooperation

Leaguers will know that my one regret about opening the doors to League HQ in celebration is that we often wind up with a great deal of undrunk beer and beer-like items (Mike's Hard Lemonade, etc...). Well, this is a problem no more.

We have a house full of recently graduated Lutherans living across the street who, upon my offer, seemed more than willing to take the surplus off our hands. Once again, our fridge is free for the storage of leftovers and numerous tupperware items of indeterminate storage points.

I salute you, Lutherans, for your readiness to consume that which we could not.

Dune

So, Leaguers, I have a confession. I've never read Frank Herbert's Sci-Fi classic, "Dune". Nor have I seen the movie in its entirety. I think i watched the entire original mini-series on Sci-Fi (or, SyFy, as they've rebranded themselves this week), but since I can't recall how it ended, I can't say for certain.

Its embarrassing to have a weak point in my nerd-armor, but there you are. I've no real excuse, but I've also always been a much bigger fan of sci-fi movies than I have been that of books. I read a lot of Asimov and Bradbury at one point, and some other stuff, but sort of lost interest in bothering to read the actual books.

But during our celebration of independence from the bastards in England, I got caught in a 30 minute conversation on the subject of "Dune" between Steven, Lauren, Eric and Patrick. And I figured... oh, hell. I might as well.

So posts may be short for a while, because I'm actually going to read a book.

Yeah, I know...

round-up

Jason documents the 4th. That's a lot of pontificatin' hats.

Jamie posts on Team Swizzlebeef's latest.

There's a Facebook Page up for JimD's movie, Pleadings.

By the way, I failed to mention that last week was Jamie's one year anniversary at Troubles McSteans.

If you like comics, and you like superheroes, and ou aren't reading Mark Waid's Irredeemable, you are making a mistake.

One More Dead Celebrity, Coffee Talk, Torso Pillow

McNair

Man, if it hasn't been a couple of weeks to be a celebrity.

Now McNair? I'm not surprised the man wasn't exactly faithful to his wife (I know they're not reporting any romantic entanglements quite yet, but... As a mid-30's sports superstar and millionaire, I'm betting he wasn't just in the same book club with the 20-year-old "friend"). I'd guess the wives of pro-athletes aren't completely clueless and ask for discretion more than honestly expect much in the way of fidelity from their husbands.

And call me a cynic, but I'm assuming this is a murder/suicide.

After Jon Gosselin, Governor Sanford and now McNair, it is a bad time to be a philanderer.

But, hey, wow... Poor McNair. He was one of my favorite atheletes for a good while there.

Like Native Americans

Last night around 11:30, post fireworks, sparklers and cocktails, people started grumbling about being hungry. Sure, we'd had a cook-out, but we ate around 5:00, so I understood if they didn't want to go in for round 2 on the Tostitos and whatnot. I didn't want to volunteer to fire up the Weber again, so we headed to the IHOP at Slaughter and Manchaca.

In high school, I wasn't averse to the late-night trip to the Denny's (1960, east of Kuykendahl) for coffee and chatting. I learned the waitresses didn't care if you didn't order anything, as long as the tip was okay, and so my habit became dropping $5 to rent the seat and enjoy the coffee until I got the shakes.

The IHOP we visited last night wasn't littered with high school kids, but we were seated close enough to hear one table debating stem cell research. It was a surprisingly cogent and unheated debate, even if voices did rise loud enough for me to begin listening to them.

I tuned out for about 45 seconds to actually pay attention to the folks at my table, only to hear one of the high schoolers at the next table blurt out: "we'd all be a lot better off if we lived like The Native Americans".

Indeed, sir.

I'd say I miss that sort of just-enough-information-to-be-dangerous proselytizing one feels compelled to do at 1:00 AM at a chain diner, but I'm not sure it ever really goes away. There's just a certain way one goes about it at that age as you're beginning to be able to think for yourself, and a little Discovery Channel goes a long way. Declarations are made, and utopia often seems well within grasp. If only we (fill in terrific idea here).

His friends gave up too easily. There was no "how's that? How would things be better, and what Native Americans are you talking about, Mr. Cultural Anthropologist?" Perhaps the guy took challenges to his assertions poorly and they didn't want to provoke him. Maybe he was easier to deal with if they didn't prolong the conversation. Maybe they agreed. Sadly, they were wrapping up, so I never heard how we'd be better off with teepees, or if he meant modern Native Americans (who I worked with at former job. Here's a secret: they had no magical powers, unless you think accounting is a magical power.).

As they were walking out, the kid was insisting that "we'd all live to be 173 if we lived more like The Native Americans." I wanted so badly to see this 173-year-old Native American. But, man, it's nice to know that bored suburban kids are still sorting these things out in low-cost chain restaurants. It's a largely undiscussed artifact of suburban middle-class culture. You're not going to see kids wrestling with the moral issues of the day, debating the politics of their parents, what-have-you on "90210". And those shows sure as hell aren't going to be shot in a Denny's between 10:00 and 1:30 in the morning.

And, of course, we were having our own, barely-more-informed discussion on some other political topic at our own table. But, mostly these days, we rely on pontificatin' hats and a cocktail.

Give me 17 years and I will make no progress.

If it comes to this...



I will work something out for you with JimD.

Happy Post 4th of July

I'd say the Fourth was a success. Lots of folks came by. We started around 4:00 and wrapped up around 1:00. There was cooking out (over the hottest fire since Mt. St. Helens), there was standing around, there were cocktails, there was neil Diamond, and there was singing. And IHOP.



Thanks to all who came by. We had a blast.