Union Pacific's Great Excursion Adventure

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Saturday
(…even though it’s really Sunday morning…)

LiveJournal is finally back.
I’m back from Moab.
(Okay… I got back Friday afternoon, but let’s not quibble on the details.)

And I’m tired.
I have something or some things that I want to jot down.
But they’ll wait.

At least until tomorrow.

And if they don’t, they must not have been that important.

Namaste.

Quick hit from Southern Utah

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Tuesday
Wow.

We made it to Moab.
It was snowing like nobody’s business at the top of Soldier’s Summit, but we made it. I’ve heard the term “whiteout” with reference to snowfall, but I’d never really experienced it until 9:30 this morning. There are probably… five (if that many) people I would trust to make that drive; , as it stands, your father is in the #1 spot. Once we got past the Soldier’s Summit and headed down into Price, it wasn’t so bad… although, the Highway Patrol closed Route 6 Northbound just as we were getting to Price.

The weather here in Moab has been… crappy. It’s been raining, intermittently, for most of the day. That doesn’t make outdoor work very pleasant. But I muddled through it. Until it started to hail. At that point, I went to the other site (the inside job) and did a few things until the storm passed.

I’m tapped. I believe that a hot shower is next on the agenda.

Not sure if I’ll update again before I get back to SLC (hopefully on Friday). Hopefully, the ride back won’t be as slow/snow-filled as the ride down.

Namaste.

“Clouds surrounded the summit, the wind blew strong and cold…”

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Monday
I slept horribly last night.
This morning.
Whatever.

I’m not sure why. Hopefully, tonight’s journey to The Dreaming will be less fitful.

We got on the road to Moab this morning around 8:00. It was rainy in both the Salt Lake and Utah Valleys. Traffic was bad. Wait… I’m talking about Utah morning rush hour. Make that: “Traffic was worse than usual.” I caught the tail end of something about an accident at Soldier’s Summit (which is on the route to Moab) as Jess dropped me off this morning – a semi went off the road. That made for less-than-auspicious thoughts about taking a chance in going today. So, we’ll try again tomorrow.

So, today became “Errand Day.” Tonight, we’re having dinner with a couple of friends and then it’s “Poker Night.”

News
Morning Edition: Mossberg: PC Industry Needs to Address Security Issues
Morning Edition: Cancer Risk Seen in ‘Green Earth’ Dry Cleaning
Morning Edition: Father and Son Prepare to Ship out to Iraq (When I listened to this, I was reminded of the end of Starship Troopers – the book, not the movie – but I also wondered: “Doesn’t this remind anyone by me of Saving Private Ryan and the potential problems therein?”)
Day to Day: Slate’s How They Do It: Paper or Plastic Money
All Things Considered: New Jersey Struggles with Overburdened Foster Care System
All Things Considered: Taking Lessons from a Guru of Listening
All Things Considered: Guinea’s Kantè Highlights Traditional Roots on New Album
Fresh Air: Actor and Musician Ice Cube: Are We There Yet?

BBC News: Mass DNA test for US murder town
BBC News: IT support for your parents
BBC News: Alert over Harry Potter web scam
BBC News: Singer Seal hits out at rappers

Stray Toasters

  • I need to start considering names for the soon-to-be-built computer.
    Sidenote: While perusing the list of ship names on startrek.com (My computers are named for ST ships… *DUH* ), I discovered that there is at least one episode of DS9 that I haven’t seen. Oddly, it looks as though I have seen every other episode from that season.

  • Speaking of computers: According to this article “The Commodore 64 sold more than any other single computer system, even to this day.” I had two of them (and a C-128, too). I still have one of the 64s; it’s hiding in a box in North Carolina.
  • “Charlie, how your Angels get down like that?”
  • posted an entry containing a link to an article entitled: Vatican Offers Course in Satanism and Exorcism. My inner anarchist, not to be confused with “inner Anti-Christ,” compelled me to respond.
  • Welcome to Cudgels ‘R’ Us
  • Tori Amos as Delerium
  • A few years ago, before I moved to Utah, a friend gave me a copy of Eeyore’s gloomy Little Instruction Book. I’ve been looking for it for a while and just relocated it this afternoon. It makes me laugh because it reminds me of an odd story about getting in contact with the REC here, when I was trying to transfer my position:

    Shortly after getting the book, I picked out a couple of quotes and used them for my home voicemail:

    Nobody tells me. Nobody keeps me Informed. I make it seventeen days come Friday since anybody spoke to me.

    Owl flew past a day or two ago and noticed me. He didn’t actually say anything, mind you, but he knew it was me. Very friendly of him, I thought. Encouraging.
    … a couple of seconds of dead air and then the *beep*.

    I got a call from the the REC’s HR office.
    And another.
    And a third.
    In a row.

    The first call was someone who was unsure if they’d dialed the right number and, after hearing the message, hung up. The second call was the HR supervisor, who still sounded unsure as to whether or not it was the right number, but decided to leave a hesitant message anyway. The third call was the supervisor calling back and in the background, she was telling someone, “You’ve gotta hear this…”

    This makes me smile because the same supervisor who kept calling became the manager that I made cry a few years later.

  • I need another computer case and power supply.
    Well, I don’t really need it, but it would be really nice to have it.

  • posted an entry in asking for someone to explain the meanings behind four songs. Ô.õ I decided to take a look at her LJ to see if I could figure out how old she was. I went nearly blind before making any determination. Here’s why. After my vision cleared, I checked her user information page and found that she is only Sixteen. (Sorry, couldn’t resist the No Doubt reference.)
  • By way of Broken Frontier: In Search of Joe Madureira
  • By way of Comic Book Resource’s “Lying in the Gutters” column: When the Chinese news media reported the death of Will Eisner, in his obituary, they used a photo of Michael Eisner.

And that’s my 2¢ worth.

Namaste.

“And I think it’s gonna be a long, long time…”

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Sunday
Since I didn’t get to bed until nearly 6:00 this morning, I slept in until after noon. Again, the cats were cooperative and allowed me to enjoy the respite.

I lazed about the house for a bit and then headed to Borders to get in some drawing time. I did one piece from a business reply card as a warm-up of sorts. Then I looked through a couple of photography magazines for something. I found it in the January/February 2005 issue of American Photo. Inside is an article about XXX: 30 Porn-Star Portraits by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders. The article’s lead picture in the article was of Gina Lynn… and that’s what I drew. (Thanks to for the use of her scanner!) The scan didn’t pick up some of the more subtle shading, but you get the general idea.



Home for dinner and the first half of the season premiere of 24. I’d almost forgotten how much I like this show. Hopefully, I’ll be able to catch tomorrow night’s continuation.

I headed over to visit and for a little while this evening. Tea and talk are always a good way to end an evening.

News
Weekend Edition – Sunday: Sunday Puzzle: Roundabout Phrases and Savings
Weekend Edition – Sunday: Jill Sobule: Singer, Actress, Crossword Addict
     (see also: jillsobule.com)
Weekend Edition – Sunday: Rebuilding Iraq’s Once-Prized Library
Weekend Edition – Sunday: For Sale: One Biosphere, Gently Used

New York Post: Columbia House Plans Porn Club

Stray Toasters

  • For reasons that I have yet to determine, snippets of Billy Joel’s Allentown and The Beach Boys’ Wouldn’t It Be Nice have been running through my head for the past couple of days. In a couple of odd bits of serendipity, I heard both of them today.
  • : Frank Miller will be writing All-Star Batman and Robin
  • It seems as though the voice actor for Marvin the Paranoid Android, from the upcoming The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy movie has been selected. A few of you might recognize this person.
  • has drawn another Rocket Mouse picture. Go! Now!
  • From PBS’ I, Cringely: Betting a Billion: Bob’s Predictions for 2005
  • The Digital Media Winners and Losers of 2004.
  • Bullies for Hire
  • How good are you – or do you think you are – at U.S. Geography? Try Place the State and see how right you are. Be warned: It’s very picky about being precise about where you place states: I got 48 perfect out of 50 turns with an average error of 6 miles.
  • : This should put a smile on your face.

I should hit the rack soon. Very soon. I have to get up early so that I can increase Moab’s African-American population by at least 50%. We are doing a couple of installations: One sub-grade and one inside. I don’t think that there’s a bike ride planned this trip – which is good, since I don’t feel like wrestling the bike into the car.

And with that… I’ll be back Wednesday or Thursday.

Namaste.

“We hear the playback and it seems so long ago.”

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Saturday
First off, Happy Birthday to January-born LJers:

  • (belated)
  • and

Today, I took a page out of ‘s book and slept in. Way in. And the cats even cooperated and let me sleep. Who would’ve thought that possible?!

It was a mostly lazy day. We headed to the VF Factory Outlet to pick up a few things. That place is dying. By inches. Some of the stores with big names behind them are holding on, but I don’t know how some of the smaller ones are making it. Still, if you’re in the SLC Metro area, you might want to head down to Draper and check it out. You can still find good bargains there. And, if you’re a man who wears a size 7 or 7½ shoe, the Bass Shoe Outlet should be your new best friend.

Tonight’s bowling was all right: Out of seven games, my high score was a 162. and bowled as well, while watched… and did a henna tattoo on one of the boys from the lane to our south… as his girlfriend watched… and fumed. It was amusing. From there it was on to breakfast. met us in the parking lot; was waiting for us inside. People drifted in over the next half-hour or so. We didn’t leave until after 3:00 AM.

News
Weekend Edition – Saturday: Customer Service in the Age of the Web
Weekend Edition – Saturday: The World’s Love Affair with Caffeine
Weekend Edition – Saturday: BBC Remakes Canterbury Tales for TV
Weekend Edition – Saturday: The Donnas Graduate to a New Class of Rock

Wired News: Laser Wielder Faces Big Penalties

Random Access
Everything old is new again…
I was listening to the radio while out and about this evening and heard the Goo Goo Dolls’ cover of Supertramp’s Give A Little Bit. I don’t really mind covers… IF the cover band can do something to make the song “better” or at least add something new to it. There was nothing “unique” to the GGD version that I could discern. On the flip side, Rush released Feedback, a CD of cover songs, in the Summer of 2004. I was familiar with most of these songs as done by their original artists, but the way that they are performed on this CD… they “feel” like Rush songs. They put their own spin on them. And that’s a “good” thing.

Likewise, while I don’t have a problem with sampling an old song for a new hit, do something to give the song a little bounce. I think that ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic, Will Smith, George Michael and even M.C. Hammer (before he went gangsta and definitely before he went broke) are all good at this. However, I have yet to forgive Garth Brooks for what he did to Aerosmith’s Fever.

Now that I’ve gotten all of that out of the way…

What is it with the latest trend of simply trotting out someone else’s old song? I realize that the musical scale limits you to twelve notes and that you have a limited number of octaves with which to work, but come on… Has so much been done in the world of music that there’s nothing new to be written? Somehow, I doubt it. At least, I’d like to think not. In the case of the aforementioned Feedback, the members of the band said that these are the songs that they played when they first started practicing together, still enjoy playing when they are in the studio and that they wanted to share that with their fans. I can respect that. And, as I mentioned before, the covers come through with a Rush “signature” that not so much “breathes new life” into the old favorites as it “puts a fresh face” on them. And, speaking of “putting a fresh face” on a song, according to NPR’s All Things Considered had a story in which the question “Can a band plagarize itself?” In the story, a Canadian music fan accuses Nickelback of doing just that.

Maybe Barenaked Ladies weren’t too far off the mark when they sang It’s All Been Done, after all, it’s been said that there are only eleven or twelve original plots for stories and that everything else is just a rehash of something that came before. The Spirit of Radio proclaims “One likes to believe in the freedom of music.” There are those of us who still believe that there are still new and different songs to be sung, as well.

Stray Toasters

  • Gateway’s new “Stampede” commercial is amusing and makes me laugh.
  • I discovered PopCultureShock this afternoon. I like it. And… they have plethoric buttloads o’ neato-keen wallpapers, too. In fact:
  • It’s pretty well-known that Sissy the Wonder Kitty doesn’t like “people food” (unlike the twins, who will eat almost any and every thing that you put before them). Although I’m not quite sure how, discovered that Sissy likes peach juice.
  • Y’know… I enjoy listening to bagpipes playing Amazing Grace. I’m not sure whether or not it is solely due to Star Trek II: Electric Boogaloo Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, but I’m pretty sure that has a little something to do with it.
  • Battousai the Manslayer.
  • If you don’t know some secret way you can check on,
    You’ll break your neck on
    Naughty Number Nine.

  • I understand that some stories require a bit of exposition to help advance the plot, but I get tired of just how much exposition that there is in some anime stories. Case in point: Any of the Dragonball series. DBGT is a current guilty pleasure, but like Megatokyo, the long and overly drawn-out stories are causing my interest to wane.
  • Megan Mullally, possibly best known as Karen on Will & Grace, can be seen – and heard – in the latest M&Ms commercial: “Nothing Rhymes with Orange.”

It’s much later than I had planned on being awake.
I am going to rectify that.
Right now.

Namaste.

“Shadows on the road behind, shadows on the road ahead. Nothing can stop you now.”

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Friday
I got home around 1:00 AM.
For the first time since 10:00 Friday morning.
I’ve been out and about all day… and it was great.

I started out with breakfast at one of the local IHoP restaurants with , her husband and one of their sons. It was nice. The food wasn’t bad and the company was good.

From there, I was off to pick up Perry and Max. I gave Perry the copy of Green Lantern: Rebirth #2 that I picked up for him and he gave me a bunch of his extra Heroclix figures (and a CD with miscellaneous gaming stuff). We went on a tour of some of the city’s gaming shops. We also hit The Gateway – Perry had never been there. On the way back to their house, we wound up sitting on the Great Salt Lake Parking Lot (or “I-15,” as it is more commonly known). Utah drivers. I love it when it takes a half-hour to go less than five miles.

I picked up and we headed off to Friday night coffee. We had a good-sized crowd tonight: , , , , , Perry, Max, Steve, Leah and myself.

And ! This is the first time that she’s been back behind the Zion Curtain and, if I remember correctly, the first time that I’ve seen her since “The Great Moving Trailer Load-Up of 2004,” this past summer. And, even after ALL of that, she wouldn’t let me tackle her when I saw her. (A Special Merit Award goes to for setting up a pretty solid body block just before I got to , too.)

We had good – and typically strange – conversations over coffee, tea and other beverages. Most of tonight’s group might be getting together for 2-D Physics tomorrow night, too.

News
Morning Edition: Preacher Arrested in 40-Year Old Murder Case
Talk of the Nation: Deflecting Near-Earth Space Hazards
All Things Considered: Rethinking the Word ‘Jihad’

Stray Toasters

  • Thanks to Perry, I have the Heroclix counterparts of the Teen Titans, both the Cartoon Network and the long-running New Teen Titans lineup: Changeling/Beast Boy, Cyborg, Raven, Robin and Starfire.
  • LEGO® case mods
  • A friend on IRC showed me a URL for Akiane, a child prodigy. She paints and writes poetry. And all that I can say about her work is “Wow.”
  • Neil Gaiman’s Mirrormask is set to premiere at Sundance this year. I would like to see it. I should probably see if there are any tickets available for it.
  • And speaking of Mr. Gaiman, I have no idea to whom I loaned my copy of Smoke and Mirrors. And I’m wanting to read it again. Although, in the meantime, I am enjoying the book that sent me: made in america: an informal history of the English language in the United States
  • Stardust for All Ages – Broken Frontier’s take on Stardust Kid
  • Jeph Loeb on his plans for the summer debuting Supergirl series
    Although this picture, by Michael Turner, still shows her with the Torso of Doom©, Ian Churchhill will be the regular artist on the title.
  • From Something Awful’s “Photoshop Phriday” – Mechs in Art
  • Does anyone else remember NPR’s Schickele Mix, hosted by Peter Schickele (also of P.D.Q. Bach fame)?
  • A Knight’s Tale. I never saw the movie, but for those of you who did, would it be fairly safe to say that it could have been renamed 2 Medieval 2 Furious?

Namaste.

“She said, ‘There is no reason and the truth is plain to see…’ “

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Thursday
We awoke to yet more snow.
And that means…

Shoveling!!!

I shoveled the entire driveway and sidewalk and part of our neighbor-to-the-north’s walk. The whole thing took about twenty minutes. And, that even includes the time it took to walk down a couple of houses and ask one of our senior neighbors if she needed help with her driveway; she declined, saying (with a smile): “I’m only pushing the snow.” But, I had to offer.

I spent the late hours of the evening enjoying a mocha latte and a powdered sugar and cinnamon crepe in the company of , and .

News
Morning Edition: Soldiers Set Up Makeshift Tattoo Parlor in Baghdad
Day to Day: Slate’s Moneybox: The Gift Card Blessing, Curse

USA Today: Appeals court throws out Andrea Yates conviction
USA Today: Magazine names Seattle as fittest city, Houston as fattest
USA Today: Warnings about toilet brush, scooter win Wacky awards

BBC News: Mandela’s eldest son dies of AIDS
BBC News: Physics goes in search of ‘cool’
BBC News: Poverty fight ‘neglects science’

Stray Toasters

  • For a few years, I’ve toyed with the idea of making a chess set. Not from scratch, mind you. Well, not totally from scratch – I want to make the board out of wood and ceramic tile. For the pieces, I have considered using fantasy RPG miniatures to do a “good vs. evil” kind of set.

    This afternoon, I was thinking about the Heroclix figures that I am collecting and I had an apostrophe epiphany: I can make a comic book geek’s dream chess set: The Justice League vs. The Avengers. It made my inner nine-year-old smile. It even made my outer thirty-four-year-old smile, too!

  • I looked under chairs.
    I looked under tables.
    I tried to find the key
    To fifty million fables…

  • : I’m not sure if you’re still a fan of theirs, but Bowling for Soup will be in concert at In The Venue on Wednesday, 26 Jan 05. Tickets are $13.50 in advance and $15 the day of the show.
  • The Rolling Stones’ Beast of Burden came on the radio the other day. At some point, I started only half-paying attention to the song. When the chorus came up, instead of hearing

    I’ll never be your beast of burden

    … I heard …

    I’ll never be your Easter Bunny

    It made me laugh a lot.

  • I dislike getting forwarded emails with eleventy-seven sets of headers in them. Sure, I know that you’re forwarding that “cute” or “fun” or “neat” or… “something” email that someone sent you. That’s fine. What I do not need is the name and/or email address of every monkey-squeezin’ person that they sent it to or from whom they received it originally.
  • , I have to admit that you were on to something a few months ago: Joss Whedon does a good job with everyone’s favorite children of the atom.
  • …and speaking of the Marvel’s Merry Mutants: Phoenix: Endsong #1 Sells Out
  • forwarded me this link of before and after pictures of areas where the southeast Asia tsunami struck. Wow.
  • The Stepford Missionaries. (…with a GMTA *nod* to )
  • For

  • Kevin Spacey has been named to play Lex Luthor in Bryan Singer’s upcoming Superman movie. I can (easily) live with that. The only question now is will he be the classic criminal scientist/mastermind or will he be the wealthy industrialist? And… will Singer make any moves to show Luthor as the President of the United States?

Quote of the Day

We are the custodians of our life’s meaning.
    – Unknown

Namaste.

“The more that things change, the more they stay the same…”

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Wednesday
I don’t know what my body does while my mind is in The Dreaming, but whatever I did last night hurt. I woke up this morning – and not for the first time – with a painful knot in my upper back. tried massaging it out, but she said that it feels like one of my vertebrae is slightly out of alignment. Joy. She said that I have a VERY tight muscle cluster near my right scapula and that it might be nudging things out of their proper alignment.

Other than that, the day was good. And it included coffee and a bite to eat at Jitterbug (that’s 1855 S 700 E, for those of you in the SLC Metro area) with Nyx. She, and I headed to Trolley Square to check out a game store. It’s a pretty decent place. And they had Heroclix® singles. I picked up a Booster Gold (“Thank you, Green Lantern…!”) figure along with a Checkmate medic.

And tonight was Game Night. The game was a bit disjointed, so there wasn’t a lot of progress. Hopefully, our next session will prove more fulfilling. After the game finally broke up, Chris and I got into discussions about what’s gone wonky with the Star Wars series (George Lucas + crack = bad), comic book-based movies, gaming and a few other topics of geekdom. We also gave Nyx a crash course in a couple of comics-related topics. And her head didn’t go all ‘splodey. At least, it didn’t while we were there.

News
Morning Edition: Sing Sing Seeks Temporary Guests
Morning Edition: The Hidden Costs of Rooting for the Yankees
Talk of the Nation: Beginnings of the Calendar
Day to Day: Tabla Master Aloke Dutta

USA Today: Wreck costs three Tennessee salt trucks

The Ledger: Washington Judge Nixes Pregnant Woman’s Divorce

Stray Toasters

  • I had planned on recording tonight’s season premiere of Alias. But, I got so engaged in a couple of things that I wound up spacing it off. To be honest, I’m not sure that was such a bad thing. I’ve missed the last season and a half of the show. Maybe I should catch up with what’s going on in Sydney’s World (Party time! Excellent!) before trying to jump in at this point. *shrug* Then again, I might just try to play “Guess WTF’s happened while you weren’t watching.”
  • “What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?”
  • : I have a 6/12 Amp battery charger, if that would help. Let me know if you could use it.
  • : legionnaires.com
    Not all of the year links (top of the page) work, but the ones on the left side of the screen do.

  • “Okay, I think I’m drunk enough now…
  • In today’s “Resistance is futile…” news: It seems as though LiveJournal has acquired by Six Apart. People have been archiving their journals as though the Seventh Seal1 has just been broken. Here’s a novel idea: Rather than quiver with fear, why not wait until the dust has settled and then decide whether or not LiveJournal is still for you.
  • For

  • From National Geographic Magazine: Caffeine
  • “nucular Toonami”
  • Comic Book Goddess: The World of Comics, Through the Eyes of a Girl – A new column from Broken Frontier

Quote of the Day
Two quotes, two sources.

Quote #1:

Once upon a time, history was made on the battlefield.

Heroes chose to fight for justice… for honor…

…for glory and for faith…

…for survival. And, in time…

…all the fighting was done.

With the help of interstellar alliances, the Earth entered a millennium of utopian peace.

Now, at the dawn of the 31st century, all we, our parents, and their parents have ever known is security, stability and order.

We’re so sick of it, we could scream.
   – Introduction from Legion of Super-Heroes #1 (v6)

Quote #2

Life is a diamond you turn into dust.
Some people can’t deal with the world-as-it-is, or themselves-as-they-are, and feel powerless to change things — so they get all crazy. They waste away their lives in delusion, aimless rage, and neuroses, and in the process they often make those around them miserable too. Strained friendships, broken couples, warped children. I think they should all just stop it. That is called wishful thinking.
   – Neil Peart from Rush’ Roll The Bones tour program

Namaste.

1 – Those of you familiar with The Book of Revelation will be one-up on the kids who skipped school that day.

“I feel the sense of possibilities…”

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Tuesday
There’s something about waking up a few minutes before it’s time to actually roll out of bed and just lying there and enjoying the warmth of the bed, covers pulled up to your chin. Knowing that you’re stealing those last few moments of bliss before joining the race.

Semi-cocooned.
Impervious, if only for a short while, from whatever exists outside your door.
Outside your bedroom.

Then, in seemingly too short a span, it’s time to get moving.

A couple of highlights of the day included dinner with , and . And a Heroclix® figure of The Shade (complete with top hat).

Stray Toasters

  • I am out of cotton candy and caramel popcorn. I shall have to remedy that. I do, however, have pistachios. And Toblerone white chocolate. So all is not lost.
  • The spell-checking function wants to be your friend. You should let it.
  • Neurotica
  • Will Eisner, best known as the writer/creator of The Spirit, passed away on Monday. Neil Gaiman had this to say (excerpted):

    I interviewed my friend Will Eisner a few year ago, at the Chicago Humanities Festival. At one point I asked him why he kept going, why he kept making comics when his contemporaries (and his contemporaries were people like Bob Kane — before he did Batman — remember) had long ago retired and stopped making art and telling stories, and gone.

    He told me about a film he had seen once, in which a jazz musician kept playing because he was still in search of The Note. That it was out there somewhere, and he kept going to reach it. And that was why Will kept going: in the hopes that he’d one day do something that satisfied him. He was still looking for The Note…

    Will Eisner was better than any of us, and he kept working in the hope that one day he’d get it right.

    You can read the rest here. Wizard Universe had this to say about Eisner’s passing.

  • In a related note: Former science fiction, MAD Magazine and comic book illustrator Frank Kelly Freas passed away on Sunday. More information here.
  • Just weeks after Todd McFarlane Productions filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, Dreawmwave Productions announces that they will be shutting down operations.
  • : Broken Frontier’s review of Legion of Super-Heroes #1
  • An artist on the C2F Digital Concept Gallery came up with a manip of Colm Meaney (ST: TNG/ST: DS9) as Banshee. Interesting concept. I could actually buy him as Mr. Cassidy.
  • I’ve posted images of Image Comics’ Ultra in here before. You can read the entire first issue here, courtesy of Newsarama.com.
  • Extreme Ironing. I… don’t know what to say.
  • By way of Backwash: Switch Zoo.

Quote of the Day
I mentioned yesterday that I was rather taken with the newest incarnation of the Legion of Super-Heroes, as writtten by Mark Waid. Here are a couple of examples of why:

Science Police Officer: This won’t cheer you up. A team of Legionnaires has just been spotted in the A.I. District. They’re fighting an experimental macrobot gone wild.
Science Police Chief: Then get our men on it! Tell them I want them to assess the scene, give me projected alpha and beta strategies, compute a valid situation contingency, and await my orders!
Officer: Right awa– Hmm. Its’… taken care of, sir… The Legionnaires nullified the threat.
Chief: HOW? What did they do?
Officer: Apparently, they… they hit it, sir.

…and after defeating the macrobot and facing down a squad of Science Police officers…

Shadow Lass: Think the Science Police will bill us for their weapons?
Star Boy: They’re free to pick them up whenever they like. They’re right here. They’re in plain sight.
Shadow Lass: You gave them the mass of a white dwarf star.
Star Boy: They might need a crowbar.
(The team flies off, back to headquarters)
Star Boy: Hey, let me be the one to tell Cosmic Boy we won this one, okay? I’ve been on his bad side ever since the Fusionstrike case.
Shadow Lass: If I were leader, you’d be on my bad side, too.
Star Boy: It. Didn’t. Look. Like. A. Bomb.

…and…

A team of Legionnaires has beaten back an army that has been “punishing” (read: “attacking with their full force of infantry and weaponry”) teens who espouse the Legion philosophy.

Victory plus one day.
Star Boy and Invisible Kid are standing atop Legion HQ looking out over a plaza full of 31st Century youth.
Invisible Kid: What happened to you?
Star Boy: Macrobot head.
Invisible Kid: Ow. What are your powers, again?
Star Boy: Increasing an object’s mass and ignoring bombs.
Invisible Kid: That would explain the pit in the east plaza. How far did you sink it before it detonated?
Star Boy: To about natural-gas-pocket level.
Invisible Kid: That would explain the fire in the east plaza. Hey, you’ve been with the team a while. I have a question about all the kids down there. All the time. Living outside our headquarters. Why don’t we just let them inside?
Star Boy: Let them–? Do you not remember, like, six months ago? Aaah. I probably shouldn’t be shocked that ther was no newslink to it on the infogrid. It made us look too good. The Science Police had reached the end of their extremely exhaustible patience with us. They were past the point of caring who had a right to be where. They just wanted the Legion gone.

So we woke up one morning to the sound of grav-impact bulldozers headed for this building. I’m talking about machines that could level a moon. There was no way that even we could have taken them down in a fight.

But we didn’t have to.

Those guys down there stood up — I mean to a one, they stood up — and they marched forward and they formed a human shield around the whole plaza. It was the second-most amazing thing you can imagine.
Invisible Kid: What’s first?
Star Boy: That they’d do it again if it came to it. They’re free to come inside whenever they like. They choose not to. There are a lot of cool things about being with the Legion, my friend, but never forget the coolest…

They’re not here because of us…

…we’re here because of them.

And that’s all there is from Lake Saline today.

Namaste.

“X-Men, Avengers, Fantastic Four, I wanna be like them.”

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Monday
Land stopped by this morning. He was out trying to find a replacement DVD-ROM drive for his laptop and was in the area. We sat, had coffee and tea and chatted for a while.

Errand day. Although, today also included “Comics Day.” I (finally) picked up my copy of Legion of Super-Heroes #1. And it was definitely worth the wait. I really like what Waid and Kitson have done with it. Earth of the future, as Kitson draws it, looks interesting. And I like the fact that there seems to be some serious thought given to the political aspect of the 31st Century DCU. The Legion. It’s not just a group of kids anymore. It’s a movement. I haven’t been this excited about waiting for the next issue of LSH for a long time.

Poker night was tonight. And we actually played poker. *stunned* , Matt and Dave came over. We played until somewhere around midnight, and then we just sort of drifted away from the game.


News
Morning Edition: Dave Barry Calls It Quits, Unless…
Morning Edition: Detroit Struggles to Overcome Urban Blight
Morning Edition: Shirley Chisholm, First Black Congresswoman, Dies at 80
Morning Edition: Moral Values Seemingly at Odds with Popular Culture
Day to Day: A Celebration of Boston’s Unique Accents
Day to Day: The Marketplace Report: Delta Air Lines Fare Changes
All Things Considered: Harvard Law Professor Draws Crowds to Class

BBC News: First Black US Congresswoman Dies


Stray Toasters

  • I just picked up a new (and long overdue) hard drive for DS9. Which means that there’s going to be a lot of file shuffling going on. Maybe I’ll finally get rid of some of the files and folders that I haven’t used since God was a boy. Other bonuses include, but are not limited to:
      a) Consolidation from two HDs in DS9 to one
      b) Replacing the Enterprise‘s HD with one of DS9‘s old drives (more space).
      c) Still having two drives available for “whatever.”
  • LEGO® GOOOD! *gesture*
    LEGO® movies AMUUUSING! *gesture*
    BrickFilms and Oblong Pictures

  • Three words that I would have never expected to hear together:
    Indoor. Tropical. Island.
    Leave it to German engineering to come up with it. and , did either of you ever hear anything about this during your time in Germany?

  • By way of Broken Frontier: Red Sonja Returns
  • From the Comics2Film DCG: Mr. Incredible and Dash as Batman and Robin
  • “Orca colon” and “It always hurts later.”
  • Here’s a little behind the scenes peek at the upcoming Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Quote of the Day
From Astonishing X-Men #7: The X-Men are returning home from a mission when a large subterranean creature decides to do its best Godzilla impression in midtown Manhattan. The X-Men are in the process of beating the creature into painful submission and a hasty retreat when the Fantastic Four arrive on the scene:

The Thing: See! I told you they wuz in our soup!
Mr. Fantastic: Sorry to break into your frequency, Mr. Summers, but I’d be grateful for a sit rep…
Cyclops: Big monster came out of the ground. Thought we’d send it back.
The Thing: We do big monsters! Big monsters in Manhattan, that’s our signature piece!
The Invisible Woman: Ben…
The Thing: Well, perhaps we can lend a hand…

Thus, the FF and the X-Men proceed to teach the creature a lesson about stepping on other peoples’ property. After all was said and done…

Mr. Fantastic: Probably one of the Mole Man’s creations. They pop up from time to time, head straight for the Baxter Building. Still not sure what brought you people out here — this is a little off your beat, isn’t it?
Wolverine: Oughta be grateful.
The Thing: Grateful?
Wolverine: Monstro was practically capped ‘fore you bothered to show.
The Thing: Didn’t they come up with a cure for your kind?
   (referring to a current plot running through the X-books…)
Wolverine: You got a problem with mutants?
The Thing: I meant Canadians.
Cyclops: — just trying to get out there more, do the work we should be doing.
Mr. Fantastic: Your team’s saved the world more times than they know.
The Invisible Woman: But not with the Fantastic Four at your side and dozens of news cameras running.
Cyclops: (smiling) Well, that wasn’t exactly a drawback, no…
The Invisible Woman: That came out wrong. Of course we’d be nothing but pleased if this helps the mutant community.
The Human Torch: But what if it backfires? What if the press brands us a menace?
Wolverine: Then you’ll get a much more interesting bunch of groupies, kid.
The Human Torch: *thinks* Reed? Can we be evil now?
Mr. Fantastic: Maybe after dinner.

One thing that wasn’t shown in this exchange, however, was the fact that the FF and the X-Men are “off-duty” friends, as well. Mr. & Mrs. Richards have consulted with Professor X about their son, Franklin, and his (not always) latent mutant abililties and the X-Men’s Wolverine and Angel are semi-regulars at The Thing’s poker games. But, there was only so much space for the story… and I liked how the guest appearance was handled otherwise. The X-Men seem to be in very capable hands with Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator and scribe Joss Whedon.


That’s it.
I’m ghost.

Namaste.

“Another Pleasant Valley Sunday…”

everyday glory No Comments »

Sunday
I woke up this morning a little after kickoff. I quickly got myself out of bed, down the stairs and into a comfy chair for the game.

The early part of the afternoon was spent being rather lazy. After that, it was off in search of a new XBox. What neither and I were aware of was the latest XBox shortage. We checked a few stores and came away with the same answer from each: “Yes, we have no bananas XBoxes.” Nor did they know when to expect any new ones. So, we went grocery shopping. We were far more successful in that endeavor.

News
Weekend Edition – Sunday: N.H. Adoption Disclosure Policy Draws Fire
Weekend Edition – Sunday: Sunday Puzzle: World Capitals
Weekend Edition – Sunday: ‘Like We Care’: Marketing to the MTV Generation

Washington Post: Finding a Home for Old Computers
Washington Post: Same-Sex Couples Get Legal Boost

Football


Miami at Baltimore
23 – 30

The Dolphins came to Baltimore with nothing to lose and gave the Ravens more of a fight than I expected. The Ravens went into halftime with a 20 – 7 lead… and let the Dolphins chip away at it in the Third Quarter. Throw in an almost-touchdown by the ‘Fins in the Fourth (it was reversed)… but led to a safety on the Ravens and you will understand why my blood pressure was rather high around 1:30 PM MST.

A couple of highlights: FS Ed Reed had his NFL-leading ninth INT in four games and RB Jamal Lewis had his fourth 1000+ yard season. And despite a fractured wrist suffered two weeks ago, ILB Ray Lewis seems to have more or less escaped the “Madden curse” (1, 2, 3) – he sat out today’s game, but did play last week.

There was a mathematical way for the Ravens to get a Wild Card spot, but it didn’t pan out. However, this was still a winning season – the team was 9 – 7 and there will be five (5) Ravens on the AFC Pro Bowl team.

Stray Toasters

And that’s going to do it for now.

Namaste.

“Ceiling unlimited, windows open wide…”

everyday glory No Comments »

Saturday
Good 2005 to you.

As snow fell in Salt Lake City, we spent a quiet and fun New Years’ Eve at and ‘ place with a few other friends. We sat around, chatted, drank a little, played games and had an all-around good time.

I slept in like a (crypt) fiend this morning. It was very nice. Even nicer was to find that someone had apparently shoveled our driveway this morning or that last night’s snow had melted. Either way, there’s no snow on the driveway and that makes Rob verra happy.

and I went out for lunch… only to find the place that we wanted to go to was closed for the day. Fine. There were other places. We’d choose something else. We called Land and Catherine to see if they wanted to go with us. They said that they would need a little prep time, but that they would otherwise be up for joining. This worked well because it afforded us a time to look at printers; the one that I have is about eight years old. Yeah, I’d say that it’s time for a new one… We checked a couple of places and now have a couple of front-runners. We met Land, Catherine and their friend (and ‘s coworker), David for late lunch/dinner. A long dinner. I think that we were there for close to two-and-a-half hours. But the company and conversation kept it from feeling that long. We headed back to Land and Catherine’s for a bit; they had a networking problem that they wanted me to look at.

Next on the agenda: Bowling. I opened with a 167 but couldn’t match it in any of my next eight games. From there it was on to breakfast. and met us at V.I. We were later joined by , Matt, Dave, Brent and Pat. A few weeks ago, ‘ sister gave her a huge wall scroll with Marvel Comics characters to give to me. I got it tonight. This thing is massive; it’s going to take some time to figure out where I’m going to put it or if I’m going to find an alternative use for it, like turning it into a blanket.

Stray Toasters

  • : I’m sorry that I missed you this evening. Give me a call and we’ll try to get together sometime this week.
  • Top 20 Gaming Lows of 2004
  • Former G4TechTV employee Dan Huard blows the whistle on G4.
  • has been talking about getting another XBox. w00t!!! She wants one so that she can play DDR without having to commandeer mine. (: I’m sure that you will immediately recognize the added benefit of this: Cooperative (or competitive) Covenant eradication… at full screen for both of us!)

Namaste.