Thursday, October 16, 2008

Well, I have no choice now...

Well, pretty clearly Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain have both been after my vote all year long. But how did Mr. Obama seal it up today?

From this article:

Said Obama: "Contrary to the rumors you have heard, I was not born in a manger. I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father, Jor-el, to save the planet Earth," a reference to Superman.




Really, it's like McCain hasn't even been trying to appeal to me as a geek. Where's invocation of The Force? His reference to his Spidey Sense? Oh, wait...

I believe McCain served on the USS Enterprise.

Well played, sir. Well played.

Politiks for 2Day

I did not watch the debate. Instead, Jason and I got swept up in a rousing meal at "Chinese Super Buffet" and then some Sci-Fi Channel. I think Jason knows my tolerance for the presidential debates is pretty low thanks to crippling ADD.

We did, however, watch Post-Game on CNN, MSNBC and Fox.

The most hilarious moment was not the punchiness of the CNN assembled reporters and analysts (who obviously all need a week off), but Fox declaring John McCain a winner by 89% of its viewership and trying to get Geraldine Ferraro to put some stock in the Fox viewership Text vote as a telling sign. I'm not saying CNN or MSNBC don't have bias, but sometimes I wonder what its like to work in a place dedicated to and serving a particular constituency where you constantly are trying to angle for Your Guy.

It DOES certainly make me wonder about the scientific basis for polls on CNN and elsewhere. But I assume CNN, etc... have a stake in working with 3rd party polling in order to maintain credibility. It would also be interesting to see a breakdown of how the news organizations manage the different candidates, and what would happen if they gave ALL of the candidates equal time in the debates. There are, like, seven candidates on the sample ballot I looked at online for Austin/ Travis Co.

I'm never really sure why we tend to consider anyone running in a party other than Dem or Republican to be insane. But we sure do. And that's too bad. It sort of reminds me of what they call "conversation enders", such as describing an idea to be "a no brainer", as if questioning the idea is simply beyond logic. Is what these 3rd, 4th and 5th party candidates have to say really any more less legitimate than the highly compromised platforms and big-tent appealing ideals of the big 2?

It just doesn't seem like its a good way to do much but fight to reinforce the attitudes of a constituency rather than driving new thinking.

I'm not 100% on board with any party these days, and I'm not particularly convinced My Guy is a prince in need of a coronation. If you can't question your own candidate in a democracy, and THEN hold them to the highest of standards when in office, it seems to sort of miss the point of having elected leaders.

I'm also in a weird position where I'm tired of the election coverage (the primaries made this election extra-long, it seems), but I also am curious to follow election coverage on a daily basis, hoping to hear something new that isn't just mud-slinging. I'm mostly curious to hear more on how each candidate is planning to deal with the economy at this point (my other major issues: international relations, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and healthcare have been covered pretty well). And, I want to hear from people with experience how those models could play out. However, guessing from how well anyone dealt with financial models the past few years, my guess is: they don't really know.

Here's some helpful reading material on economic plans:

McCain - lookout, this section has audio that kicks in
Obama - lookout, this is some logical but dull web design

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Not Exactly a Crisis on Multiple Worlds



So one of the things that makes DC Comics a bit tough to get used to is the fact that the stories of DC Comics don't take place on just one plane of reality. In Flash #123, it was revealed that there was a parallel world to Flash's own where time was running slower. This enabled Barry Allen to team up with the original Flash (Jay Garrick).

Later, it was revealed that there were an INFINITE number of other earths that Superman, Flash and Co. could visit. One Earth might be a place where Superman and Co. are evil villains. Another might be a world where everyone is a cute, talking animal. Another might be a world where the Nazis won. Pretty typical sci-fi boilerplate by today's standards, I think...

That idea was kicked to the curb for about twenty years, but recently made something of a comeback as, really , hopping between dimensions and discovering evil images of yourself, (a la Star Trek's "Mirror, Mirror") is an idea comics just love coming back to, as well as just throwing our heroes into worlds where things are a bit off from the everyday.

Anyhow, I bring this up because any time Jamie is out of town for more than a day, I am sort of left wondering "what if"? What if, for some reason, I were left to my own devices?

At this point, I've now been with Jamie my entire adult life. We started dating 13 years ago this month. At 33, that's officially more than 1/3rd of my life. So I really have no perspective on what life would have been like had Jamie and never started dating.*

So, what is Ryan of Earth 2 like?

Would I be living in Austin? Would I have followed my current career path (such as it's been the last year)? I can say that I made a decision to stay in Austin when graduating college rather than heading to NYC or LA (with film degree in hand) based partially on a sudden disinterest in film (I had visions of historical documentary and wanted to try for grad programs), and partially because Jamie and I were making long-term sorts of plans.

So unless you can peer into the crystal ball, it's impossible to know what would have become of me. Obviously when Jamie goes away for a few days, she's still coming home again (I hope) and, tellingly, we call each other multiple times each day when we're apart. So I don't think about some imaginary lady or something who would be around if Jamie were not (but I think it's safe assume I would now be Mr. Lynda Carter).

Left with no Jamie or Lynda Carter, what would Ryan do with his time?


Mrs. League of Earth 2?

Even that is difficult to determine. After all, I've got our joint dogs and a cat to contend with who are especially needy when Jamie isn't around to dole out an endless stream of attention and hugs. The TV I watch when she's around or not is pretty much the same as Jamie DVR's anything she thinks I might not be interested in (ie: Project Runway).

I think, were Jamie not around, I'd be a lot grouchier. Jason was always happy to comment on my surliness through my teen and early college years, and I think Jamie puts me in a much better place. I know Jamie has made me a better person in many, many ways. She's given me something to focus on outside of myself, and shown me what real strength can be in the face of incredible challenges, all while never becoming bitter. That's no mean feat.

But as I say, there is no Ryan of the past 13 years without Jamie. So who knows... Ryan of Earth 2 could easily have been a hobo drifter, a Dell tech support rep, a frustrated gaffer working on the latest Hilary Duff movie... Possibly a pirate. I've always been interested in starting a piracy (see: Mirror, Mirror). But we're pretty pleased with how things turned out on Earth 1.

This time around while Jamie's out of town, I actually have a pretty busy schedule. Mini-golf tomorrow. Then possibly catching up with a friend in town for a festival Saturday afternoon and the game Saturday night. My time to get the house back in order is a bit minimal.

*A quick qualifier: Jason will bring this up, because he can never leave well enough alone... It is true that I had been dating a great girl just prior to starting to date Jamie. It is most likely that was about to end for various reasons had Jamie entered the picture or not.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Things That Make Me Sad

1) Beverly Hills Chihuahua has been #1 at the box office for two weeks. It has earned $55 million domestically. here

2) There is a line of Beverly Hills Chihuahua stuff at Petsmart. Just say no. Dogs are not dolls.

3) Spoiler: Jonathan "Pa" Kent died in Action Comics #870 last week.

4) No matter how much time you have, it's never enough

5) This year when watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown", I will know that both Charles Schultz and Bill Melendez are no longer with us

6) I talk a lot of smack about the future of comics being online, but I still only read Achewood and re-runs of Calvin & Hobbes and Peanuts online for the most part. Other than that, I depend on Leaguers sending me funny strips. I never made it through Zuda's "Bayou", as I decided I'd rather wait to see if they printed it. They did not. I never got around to spending $60 this year to read back-issues of Marvel.

7) I will never read 99% of what I probably should, and, that roughly translates to option paralysis

8) Movies like Ratatouille get forgotten in favor of lesser films

9) Sometimes I don't know what it is that Lucy would like when she obviously wants something....

10) Too much of the time, I am not the change I am looking for

The Neverending Story of the Floors and Not-Living in Your House

Our furniture is back in the house, but I am now struck with the realization that I (and mostly likely I alone) will be putting all the stuff back on the shelves, etc... while Jamie is in Berkeley yukking it up with Douglas.

No worries. I'm just glad to have the furniture back in the house so I can sit on something other than cement.

My blogging has been a little light lately, I suppose, at least from a content perspective. Probably a product of a busy schedule and that I haven't been thinking "what shall I blog about?" so much as "what's on the agenda today that I need to get done?".

Things should be slowing down considerably for the next few days, and I admit that I'm looking forward to less-to-do. But I am not excited that Jamie will be AWOL until Sunday. Ryan sort of go crazy when Jamie go out of town...

Happy B- Day, Funky L



You'll note we already had a bit of a celebration, but happy birthday to Lauren.

May this next journey around the sun be greater than the all those before, but be just the first of many, greater journeys to come.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Weekend and Whatnot

Lauren's B-Day at the Salt Lick

I have no photos, but on Saturday evening we headed out to the Salt Lick to celebrate the birthday of Lauren. Unfortunately, Jason and I took the "all you can eat" option as some sort of physical challenge, and so when Letty presented us with rum cake and Lauren with Pumpkin Pie, we could only have a bite of each. Jamie ALSO took the thing as a challenge, but I don't think she walked away with the same food-baby that Jason and I wound up with.

Anyhoo... this week is Lauren's B-Day, so everyone wish her the best as she turns... I'm not sure. 39? 17? Something in there.

We saw some friendly faces, caught up with Letty and Juan G. who recently visited Yellowstone, met some friends of Lauren's I'd not met before, and all-in-all, had a swell time.

In-Laws Now 100% More Texan

In the madness this week, I failed to mention that my in-laws, Judy and Dick, have moved to San Marcos, just south of us by about 30 minutes.

They've lived in Lawton, Oklahoma since the 1970's. Judy grew up in Central Houston (by the Bell building, if you know it), and then they did a stint in San Antonio when Dick was in the service (the Fighting 101st Dentists, I believe). Now they're safely tucked into the edge of the Texas Hill Country, not far at all from Wonder World Drive (if you know the area).

We are, of course, thrilled to have them here. I think it's safe to say Jamie and I are pretty close to both sets of parents, so not having to drive six hours to see them will be a welcome change.

My folks are actually closing on a house next week, I think, in Steiner Ranch, with plans to move out there in 2011 or so.

Wow, that sounds so futuristic.

Saturday - Day

The dudes finished at our place on Saturday, painting the living room and kitchen. It looks very, very different.

I've long wished for something other than white walls (a major issue for me in our house in Arizona), but it's pretty clear the builder assumed you were going to paint, and only put up the cheapest of white paints around the house to begin with.

So that's done. Sort of. We need to get the base-boards touched up.

We then watched the Red River Rivalry game at Jason's house while the guys painted, grabbed lunch with my parents at Central Market, then headed back to pay the guys.

We are moving everything back into the house on Tuesday morning. Then we'll probably have to move things so we can put down rugs later, but we need to save up for a while before that happens.

Sunday

We picked up a water-splatter mat for Lucy and Mel's waterbowl, then headed to Taco Express (aka: Mary's, Maria's), which in true Austin Institution fashion has mediocre service, decent food, and a horrible layout which is all but a people-mill.

But, as with most places with decent food, once you sit down, you sort of forget about the hassle.

Last night Jamie and her mom went to the "So You Think You Can Dance?" tour. Which, you know, I'm not judging anyone... They seemed to have fun. Jamie's dad (who is devoid of a cool nickname, so we'll need to come up with one) and I did some stuff around the house, then hung out til Judy and Jamie returned.

Return of Dogs

A special thank you to Jason for housing my dogs since Monday night. They're a handful, especially with Mel's stubbornness and Lucy's endless energy, so my kudos to the man.

They came home yesterday, and were obviously terribly confused by (a) the lack of furniture, and (b) the new slidy-ness of the floors. Mel took a few minutes to adjust. We'll have to put some rugs down for Cassidy, I'm thinking.

Last night Lucy came and slept in bed. I woke up this morning with Lucy sprawled out near me and Mel on the floor (he rarely comes upstairs). Neither came down with me when I left for the day. I think they're sticking to familiar territory and carpeting.

UT Hits #1 in rankings (this week)

I'm not talking academics, I'm talking about what really matters for alumni: Football.

Mack Brown's kids soundly defeated OU, and for some reason, the AP Poll vote talleys placed them at #1. A dangerous place to be, as this now changes the game to "who can knock the #1 team off their pedestal?"

And the UT season is really just heating up. We've now got to face other competition such as Tech (always a hard opponent) and Missouri.

I'm happy as heck if we stay high enough in rankings to end up in a BCS game. To me, that far exceeds a winning season. As every Texas fan knows, the games that matter are OU and A&M, so we're now 1 for 1. But A&M also always goes nuts on UT in that game (see: last year).

Anyway, UT has already exceeded my expectations all year. Hopefully they can win the rest of the season, too.

Hook 'Em.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

UT wins (a big surprise)

So, I had gone into today's UT game believing that #1 ranked Oklahoma would surely rack up about 45 points, and we'd get, maybe 35. It was a test not to see if we could beat Oklahoma, which we surely could not, but to see how we would stack up against the rest of the teams we would be playing.

As you probably already know, UT won the game 45 - 35. And if the refs hadn't made that horrendous "roughing the kicker" call (which was really just the kicker cramping up again after his ill-advised running play), who knows what the final outcome would have been.

"At least it's a good game" we were saying well into the 3rd quarter, pleased that UT was keeping pace with OU. And then UT took the lead, and... well... 2008 just got better in a lot of ways.

I have no idea where UT is headed BCS-wise, but I know Colt McCoy and Co. now have a huge target painted on their backs for the remainder of the season. I am now believing we could very well end up in a real BCS bowl this year.

Whoo-hoo!

Oh, and a very special welcome to Texas for my in-laws, who just moved to San Marcos from Oklahoma this week.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Happy Birthday to Meredith B.

The League figures we won't remember to do Meredith B. the solid next year, so a happy birthday wish to Meredith B.

I met Meredith, originally, in elementary school when we both attended Haude Elementary. Mere and I were in a play together, "How the Sea Got Salty" (or something along those lines). I played "The Poor Boy" who goes mad with power when he steals a magic salt shaker from elves (I feel like I've taken crazy pills even as I describe the play), and Meredith played "Gabby Goblin".

We later went on to be several plays together in high school, and were sort of bossy to lower classmen together as Seniors. We were in:

The Crucible
You Can't Take it With You
Watch on the Rhine
Rhimers of Eldritch
Rumors
All My Sons

And probably something I'm missing. But we spent a LOT of time together backstage and in and outside of school. Sometimes with The League's own Jill H-W. I know we also had Junior year English together, because I think Jill was in there, too... And so was Denise...

Wow... there's a lot of Ms. Richard's 1991-1992 Honors English class represented at LoM. If only David Parajon, Laura A. and that Beth girl who sat in front of me would show up...

Meredith and I were supposed to go to summer drama camp together, and then she headed off to North Carolina for drama camp and I went to UT for camp. Not so surprisingly, she headed off to NC for school. But before that, we hung out quite a bit.

Meredith is also the only person I know who has almost, literally, crashed into a bus full of nuns (I doubt she remembers this, but I remember the looks on the faces of those nuns as if it were yesterday).

Younger readers will be shocked to learn that people once sort of lost touch with one another as e-mail and Facebook did not exist. But, now that they do, I am happy to be back in touch with Mere and hear she and the Family B. are doing well in NC.

You can keep up with Mere at her blog
.

This Moment in History - Financial Armageddon



At least nobody is panicking

Thursday, October 09, 2008

10 Things to Do to Prepare for Halloween

1) Watch Thriller Video

Is anything more Halloween-o-rific than the full video for Thriller? It's scary, campy, has a werewolf movie within the movie, has dancing and singing and a horde of zombies. Really, if you're going to be attacked by zombies, I hope its of the dancing variety.

Here's the full version.

I can't embed the full version of the video, so here's a version from India:



By the way, Austin is participating in some worldwide, synchronized Thriller dance on October 25th. They're going to shut down 6th street to make way for the dancers. From what I saw on News 8, Austin Mayor Will Wynn is participating.

Somehow, I regret not getting me, Steven and Mangum involved in this...

2) Caramel Apples

This year, I want to skip the wax sheet, pre-cut caramel and do the full, heated dipped caramel apples.

Dizzam. I love a good caramel apple. Especially tart green apples.

3) Watch "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"

I hate to think how much this cartoon affected me as a kid, but I think the mix of hilarity and disappointment that marks "Great Pumpkin" is something every kid can sort of relate to.

I got a rock, indeed.



4) Do the Time Warp



Ah, Columbia.

They're looking to remake The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I cannot imagine this movie without the original cast, but if they DO choose to do it, hopefully they can get Tim Curry to play The Criminologist.

5) Get Super-suit squared away.

Yup, I'll be the Man of Steel again this year. That costume wasn't cheap last year, and I'm not ready to go back to being Green Lantern again for Halloween.

6) Hang up decorations

Due to our displacement, we haven't managed to get the decorations out yet for Halloween. Maybe on Sunday.

7) Watch a full-length scary movie or ten

We watched Ghost Hunters last night to get in the spirit, but we haven't gotten around to a scary movie yet...



8) Decide on Halloween candy for the kiddies

This is always a much bigger deal than it sounds. We have to figure out how much we want to pay for, and this year, I'm assuming we'll have a ton of kids with Halloween landing on a Friday. We'll probably do a mix of chocolate and sugary-type stuff, and be more sparing in how much we give out.

9) Consider hitting 6th Street Halloween



If you haven't been... it's usually 80,000 people who mill about, with a sort of informal constant circling of a blocked off portion of the street. It's a lot of people watching.

You see all manner of costumes, from the incredibly elaborate to the frat boys who get drunk and show up wearing saran-wrap diapers (that was Halloween 1996, if memory serves). My favorite is still the guy who came as the Grim Reaper, stood about nine feet tall, and would just point at random people as he passed by. Truly creepy.

It's been probably 10 years since I've been down there on Halloween. I miss it, but I also don't know if I want to go downtown in a Supersuit.

10) Invite Apartment-Dwelling pals down to hand out candy

If anyone wants to help us hand out candy this year, we'd love to have you. Maybe we can have an impromptu Halloween party of sorts?

Just wear a costume and come hang out. It'll be fun.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Displacement - Day 3

So today is day 3 of displacement, and already I think I'm starting to lose it a bit.

And poor Jason is okay with playing host to dogs, but I'm not sure he can put up with me and my passive-aggressive "I don't care what we watch" as he tries to find something on cable.

They have successfully scored the floor (cut grooves into it) and stained the concrete. Tomorrow is a "finishing coat". Then, on Friday, they'll paint the walls. The whole thing is going okay, I guess. It's not even a long process when you see what they're doing. It's just a LOT of stuff going on and you hope it worth it.

Right now, it seems like it will be. Especially if you'd seen the state of the carpet they pulled up.

Then, we have to move furniture back into the house from the garage, followed by bringing all our stuff back downstairs that went upstairs. Which is just a reminder that you own too much stuff.

I think we'll be done with the important stuff by Monday or Tuesday. Then, gradually, we can bring the stuff back down, which will be probably less hassle than bringing it up (I love books. I just don't love hauling them upstairs in stacks).

I guess I should take some pictures when we finish things up...

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Investing for the Future?

Here's an interesting column from Newsarama.

It seems that as stocks are plunging, somebody is investing in back-issues of comics.

Here's the sort-of interesting thing about Back-Issues. Theoretically, there's a limited and dwindling supply. There are only so many copies left in existence of, say, "Jimmy Olsen #134". Unless someone finds a comic miser with an endless warehouse where he's keeping literally hundreds (maybe thousands) of copies of the comic, the rarity of the comic is part of the price point. You cannot grow or mine more Jimmy Olsen #134. You cannot manufacture more Jimmy Olsen #134. One thing that can decrease is the number of people who want a copy of Jimmy Olsen #134.

And, of course, copies of Jimmy Olsen #134 are deteriorating. They are being kept off the market by Jimmy Olsen collectors. They are being destroyed as comic shops suffer damage in hurricanes and floods (Houston's Westheimer location for the superlative "Bedrock Comics" took a huge beating during Hurricane Ike, in which a HUGE portion of their back issue stock was destroyed.)

In theory, then, Silver Age comics, in particular, hold value pretty well despite tumultuous economic times, and are much more likely to go up than down in value.

What we know now, versus what we thought in the mid-90's, is that not every issue is a collector's item. No matter what sort of holographic cover, or trading card is stapled inside, a bagged and boarded comic is only a bagged and boarded comic of, at best, dubious value. Only time will decide what is a collector's item.

But, before you throw a stack of comics in the recycling, as I did circa 1999, check to make sure none of them are worth $100, as I later learned one of my comics was valued(Lady Death #1). Go figure.*

Anyway, its interesting to hear investors are making a run on Silver Age comics. I don't have much in the way of a Silver Age collection as its very cost-prohibitive, but compared to a single share of, say, Initech, it's not that bad. It's just not going to make you a profit so much as be a fairly safe place to put your money for a while. Off the market, the comics will probably retain value (especially Silver Age, which is a very different market than modern or Bronze). Like anything else, however, if the investors re-flood the market... it's going to drive costs down. Which is nice for the collector, but for the dealer, its not going to be great.

That's not to say that those misers aren't out there with warehouses full of comics. They darn well may be. You hear a lot about estate sales where comics come up, and it can be anything from a shoebox full of moldy Archies to a storage space full of Silver Age classics. And, I hate to say it, but as collectors die, need a cash influx, etc... those collections will continue to rotate to some degree.

I don't lose a lot of sleep over it, but I do worry that if I croak tomorrow, Jamie and my parents are going to just drop off my whole collection in a dumpster behind Target. At minimum, I'd hope they would drop everything off at Austin Books so SOMEBODY could make a profit off the collection (note to Austin Books... that's a respectable run on New Gods and Mister Miracle... throw them a few bucks in the case of my untimely demise, okay?).

Unlike stocks, T-bills and pork bellies, there's not too much of a regulatory commission for the value of comics. So its something of a pure economic model. Find the price point of a back-issue by whether or not you can actually sell it to somebody (anybody) at that cost. Supply and demand in its simplest form. And maybe that's why so much of the back-issue market has gone to eBay, where you can see the transaction in real time. Kind of fascinating. But, as a total pain for the retailer, its done on a literally comic-by-comic, or run-by-run basis. And that's a lot of work to manage. Thus the built in S&H fee on so many comics.




*The comic is no longer worth that amount, but hit that selling point about seven years ago.

Monday, October 06, 2008

It seems redundant these days to announce that change is afoot at League HQ, but, yes, once again, it seems to be the case.

My professional life seems to have zagged and then zigged, but that's stuff I don't want to talk about until the dust settles, so pardon my silence on that for the time being.

Meanwhile, we're tearing up all the carpeting and linoleum on the first floor tomorrow, which means I'm sitting in the middle of an empty room on the floor. Local Leaguers will know the League HQ living rooms couches, coffee table, etc... all of that is in the garage.

Thanks to the power of dogs, we've made an executive decision to go stained concrete. And to paint.

Anyhow, by this time next week, I expect the place will look completely different, and no more will I look at the carpet and weep. Instead, I'll endlessly be sweeping up dog-fur clusters.

A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO KAREBEAR

Jamie and I had some scheduling difficulty today... so you want to know what kind of person KareBear, my mother, is?

She got up at 4:30 AM, hopped in the car and drove all the way to Austin and helped oversee the movers who were moving our junk into the garage. That, people, is insane. And for anyone who ever wonders who they should pick to have on their side when push comes to shove...? You pick who you're going to pick. I pick my mom.

I owe her so huge, I can't get my head around it.

Anyhow, I got up at a respectable hour today, so I'm tired and am cashing in my chips.

Art Spiegelman in Austin

Austin readers may be interested to know that Art Spiegelman, creator of the award-winning Maus and In the Shadow of No Towers (a stunning piece of work, whether you agree with Spiegelman's politik or not), will be appearing Tuesday at Book People.

He's got a new book out and he's there for a signing. I'm not expecting a reading because, you know... comics.*

7:00 PM at Book people on the 7th.




*I once narrated an entire issue of Superman to a co-worker via closed-circuit head-sets. The funny part was when I had mercy and stopped half-way through, there was this pause, and then she asked "...so then what happens?" So I finished the comic and describing the pictures therein. A terribly gratifying moment.

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Superman on the Church Organ

Steven sent this:



From the YouTube page:

Organist Sean Jackson plays the theme from Superman on the organ at Trinity Church Wall Street in New York City.


There are some themes so well known, you just can't mess with them. Superman, Star Wars, Star Trek, Bond, Pink Panther... when you remake the movie, you better consider how you're going to fit the theme in.

Superman Returns re-used Williams' Superman score, as has Smallville to tremendous effect in the episodes featuring Christopher Reeve before his death. And while not everyone is a huge Superman nut... 30 years on and people still know that theme. And it warms the heart to see folks give it up for the organist and Williams' music.

Something for WB to consider.

I don't want to dismiss Mr. Jackson's work here. Wow! That's a lot of music to translate to the organ, and he did it with the right spirit.

I should mention: When Jamie, Steanso, Peabo, Randy and I met up with JimD in Beaumont for a screening of Superman at the Jefferson Theater, THEY had an organist who, I believe, also gave the Superman theme a whirl. We wound up talking to the guy for a while after the movie. Terrific gentleman.

Thanks, Steven!

Four Super-Films For Super Cheap!



I was looking at something unrelated on Amazon and I stumbled across this.

You can order a 4-pack of the Chris Reeve Superman movies for $14.00. If you've got kids who haven't seen any Superman movies, or if you've just never bothered to add the Superman movies to your DVD library... this seems like a heck of a deal. (That's 492 minutes of Superman awesomeness... quite a bargain if you ask me.)

My guess is this is WB's way of clearing their warehouse full of Superman DVD's as Blu-Ray takes over, but why not let WB's overstocking be your super windfall?

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Legos

You know what I miss? Legos.

Technically, plural for Lego is still Lego, but in 33 years of my life, I think I've pulled that off, maybe, five times. So, we shall refer to lots of Lego as Legos.

The Admiral made a comment to me not too long ago that I played with Legos right up through high school, and I was all "oh, that's crazy, no I didn't."

But, everytime KareBear had kids in the house, she'd haul out my Legos, and I'd find myself sitting on the ground assembling Legos into space ships right through graduation.

I understand there are adult collectors of Legos who make magnificent Lego sculptures, but I find them sort of cost-prohibitive, and I threw in with Action Figures v. Legos long ago (I have shelves and shelves of Super Friends, for those of you who don't know). And moving Legos is a total pain. But I sort of miss sitting on the floor and trying to build an intergalactic star cruiser.



We never had Legos like some other families who would roll out these amazing piles of pieces, but we had a pretty good set up. I would make whatever the kit suggested once or twice, and then make my own stuff. That always seemed the point to me... to follow the basic instructions so you could understand how it fit together, and then go off and do your own thing with the parts.

With Star Wars, Batman and Indiana Jones Legos out there these days, I bet kids have a field day. Add in the standard moon-scapes, rockets ships, airports, etc... Well, it's a slippery slope before you're living in a house constructed on tiny pieces of plastic.

And some of the other options... I mean, look... Build the Taj Mahal from Lego. How cool is that? Or the Death Star?

This set called "Star Justice" is pretty close to the kind of stuff I liked as a kid. But, look how totally expensive that is... Man, I feel for you parents trying to properly outfit your kids with Legos. No wonder The Admiral and KareBear were always working so hard... to keep us knee deep in Legos, it seems.

Anyway, no Legos for me. I don't think Jamie wants a million plastic pieces scattered everywhere. But whenever I see ads in print or on TV, I do start thinking of what you could build with the pieces to the new sets...

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Not Much to Report

Went down to Somnio's this evening to see the Mono E rock out. They sounded pretty darn good, and I was pleasantly surprised by the menu and food at Somnio's.

Aside from that, today was pretty busy with work-related stuff. Perhaps more on that next week.

I did not watch the VP debate. If you did, goody for you.

Anyhoo, it'll be Friday when you're reading this, and people always seem to disappear by end of week, so...

I dunno.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

This Week

This week has been exhausting.

This weekend will get worse. We have to basically move all the stuff out of the first floor and into the garage. We're re-doing the floors and that means... nothing on the first floor.

Thursday Night

Jason's band is playing at Somnio's at 1807 South First tomorrow, around dinner time.

I can't speak for the food, as I haven't tried it yet, but I can guarantee that you'll be happy enough just seeing Jason rock out. I promise you, if you show up, he will totally windmill Townsend style.

Tropic Thunder

As I haven't really been able to entertain Jamie properly in over a week, I acquiesced and took her to see "Tropic Thunder" at the Alamo.

It's a good renter or HBO movie. Reasonably funny, I guess. I could see how certain interests groups took umbrage, but I can also see, from a Hollywood point of view, what their point might have been. Unfortunately, the two met in a certain point where it could be taken either way.

The Departed and Cable

I finally watched "The Departed" last weekend. I can't tell you how much that was exactly my kind of movie.

We currently have some premium movie channels as well as Netflix, and it led to a discussion between Jamie, Jason and myself that Jamie always wants for me to cancel the channels, but I've seen about six movies in the past month that I've meant to watch and missed, one way or another.

Jamie was insisting that I should get the same out of Netflix, but Jason pointed out "when he has the movie channels, he doesn't need to overcome his cynicism regarding the movies that keeps him from putting them in his queue or committing." And there are bibles of truth to that statement. I've also just NOT watched a few movies I recorded, and I think I like that freedom.

I think subscription based pay-per-view could definitely be up my alley. They kind of have those services now, and my digital cable offers movies for $1.99. It's increasingly how I want to partake of my media.

But, yeah, I really enjoyed The Departed.

October is Here

Help Jason and I come up with some movies to watch this spooky holiday season! Send in your recommendations!

Appaloosa

I want to see the new movie. It's been a month or so since a movie piqued my interest, but this one has done it.