Random Access

Thursday – 05 April 2007
Another bright, sunny day in the valleys of the Land of Zion.  I actually got more than a couple hours’ sleep last night, which definitely comes under the heading of “a good thing.”  Getting up and out the door wasn’t too much of an ordeal, either.  The road monkeys weren’t flinging poo.  And, the path to caffeination zen has been a smooth one.  Not a bad way to kick off a Thursday, I must say.

On the way home, last night, I picked up my weekly dose of four-color crack – more on that below. Then, I headed home to decide how best to spend the evening.  Apparently, that translated into “Take a forty-minute nap.”  I can’t say that it wasn’t needed.  I also needed to eat.  Post-nap, and I went to Fascist Place to assault the food court.  (I never said that I wanted something “good for me.”)  Then, we wandered around the mall.  Here’s a question for those of you who are familiar with See’s Candy: Does anyone remember a candy that they (used to) sell that fits this description:

• Chocolate base, about 1″ square
• A thin layer of marshmallow on top of the chocolate
• A green mint “jelly” on top of the marshmallow

Someone sent me a box of them many, many rains ago… but I haven’t seen them since.  I seem to recall that they arrived somewhere around Easter, or at least in Spring.  If anyone remembers this candy and/or knows what they were called, I’d appreciate any information on it.  Thanks.

After the mall, it was off to Borders.  I really wanted to finish the drawing that I’ve been working on.  And I did.  Finally.  It’s not necessarily a masterpiece, but I’m happy with the way it turned out.  I was going to scan a picture of it last night… but that didn’t happen.  I’ll try to get to it tonight.

Four-Color Coverage
As I mentioned above, I picked up this week’s offerings from my local comics emporium.  I don’t know what happened or who kicked people in the pants, but the books this week were all pretty good… even the one title that I wasn’t planning getting – Avengers: The Initiative, a Civil Bore aftermath title – was good.  Here’s this week’s breakdown:

• 52: Week Forty-Eight – This was a Renee Montoya issue.  She finally comes into her own as the new Question.  We all knew that it was coming, but it’s been interesting to watch as she came to realize – and accept – that she the fact.
• Avengers: The Initiative #1 – What happens when the U.S. Government decides to license and train metahumans to use their powers safely and effectively?  And give them a chance to step up and be part of the senior team?  You find out here.  That’s right…. welcome to The Xavier Institute for Higher Learning.  Wait… wrong book.  Welcome to Camp Hammond.  Okay, there we are.  It’s not all fun and games, though.  Instead, think: “superhuman boot camp,” and you’ll get the idea.  There was even a Starship Troopers-like accident during one of the training exercises.  I was shocked… and a little impressed by the fact that they did that.  I’m not sure if I’ll continue to collect this – Marvel’s lost a bit of their luster for me, lately – but I’ll probably give it another couple of issues to see where it goes.
• Justice League of America #7 – For all my opinions about JLA #6 and that it was what the new direction was all about… I was wrong.  It was this issue.  The latest incarnation of the JLA finally – officially – came together as a team.  One member finally “graduated” to the senior class.  One potential member shared a possibly dangerous secret with a former teammate.  And there even may be a romance in the offing.  And, the last two pages seem to be tie-in with some pages from Justice Society of America, setting up the upcoming crossover: Lightning Storm – an arc that will unify the legacies of the JLA, and the JSA with the Legion.
• Supergirl #16 – Finally.  FINALLY!!!  We now see why it is that Little Miss Argo is so messed up.  It’s an interesting look at the introduction of the Phantom Zone, from the point of view of Zor-El, brother of Superman’s father, Jor-El.  There is still a little bit to go to unravel full mystery of Kara’s psyche, but we’re finally on the yellow brick road.  Next stop: Oz.  Or the Fortress of Solitude.  Or somewhere.  But, even with all of this… this is probably the weakest issue of the week.  The weak?  (The strangest of the strange?  The queerest of the queer…  Do do do do-do-dooo)
• Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #28 – The new/latest Dominator war comes to a head.  The Legion and the Wanderers square off against the Dominators’ armies.  The teams are splintered.  And battered.  And definitely on the thin edge of the wedge.  Not to mention Cosmic Boy and Triplicate Girl are both subjected to some fairly brutal torture – at one point, I wondered if Trip would be changing her name; it would have been a very interesting twist on the original story.  And, was that Polar Boy with The Wanderers (Threeboot)?!
• Superman #661 – A Superman/Wonder Woman story… featuring Lois Lane.  You’d think that with two of the three members of DC’s trinity in the story, Lois might get overshadowed.  Nope.  Granted, she doesn’t have a lot of “screen time,” but she does hold her own with Clark and Diana.  It was an interesting one-off story, but far from a “bad” one.
• Superman/Batman #33 – This issue was the wrap-up of what I’m referring to as the “Black Rock Invasion.”  I was a little surprised at how quickly/tidily the story concluded.  In fact, it included a plot hole that was large enough to pilot a Khundian battlewagon through.  And given that hole, one wonders if there’s a way to bring a certain Infinite Crisis villain back to the fore in the DCU…  Hmm.  Not a horrible story, but possibly the second-weakest of the week.  On the plus side, though, it did show an interesting side of the Bruce/Clark relationship and it also showed a more light-hearted Bruce Wayne than we’ve seen in recent years.

Scales of Justice
The Hand of Nefer-Tem took to the streets – and sewers – of Paragon City last night.  The objectives: Follow-up on the missing Kheldians… and hit Level 20.  Both objectives were accomplished.  It also turned out that the Kheldian mission was the last of that storyline.

I trained up to Level 20 and got my new power: Black Dwarf.  This means a new form and six new powers.  I didn’t test them out; I’ll do that this evening.

Stray Toasters

• I talked with the Matriarch this morning.  Things seem to be proceeding apace for Kris’ graduation preparations.
• Technical predictions from the grave
• I had a rather… unusual… conversation a little while ago with Brett and Paul about male and female villains and their motivations.  Brett used Darth Vader and Cruella DeVille as his case studies.  His argument: Vader simply wanted control and order, whereas Cruella just wanted a new coat.  Tell me:  Who is the more “evil” in that case?  Order… or a new coat?  Do the math.
• Population change in states’ top urban areas
• VA surgeon cuts off the wrong testicle – I’m almost sad to admit that and I are probably going to Hell (handbasket, gasoline drawers and all) because of the conversation that this article started.
• 
• Swap porn, leak defense secrets
• Welcome to my secret lair here on Skullcrusher Mountain…
• Legendary Grambling coach Eddie Robinson dies
• I want another BAF Sentinel for my collection.
• Top 21 Tech Flops
• 

Namaste.

Wednesday – 04 April 2007
Mittwoch!

Today marked Day 2 of “The Lack of Good Sleep Chronicles.”  I slept in until a little after 8:00, to try and offset the lack of pre-alarm sleep.  It helped.  To a degree.

Today has been quiet; I’ve been playing with …  I mean “testing!”… kubuntu Linux.   And reading.  And, despite an utter lack of caffeination, trying to avoid in-depth studies of my inner eyelids.  I’m trying to decide if I should go home and nap after work or find a quiet spot – with coffee – and do some drawing.  Despite the lack of sleep, I’m leaning towards coffee and drawing.

Last night’s Shadowrun game went pretty well – the group is set for their next mission.  In setting up the run, I managed to  have an NPC piss off Chris’ character.  That was one of three outcomes that I had predicted would result from the situation… and it was the most “neutral” of them.  But, everyone survived the encounter and I think that the NPC’s explanation of “Why” was sufficient enough to get the ball rolling.  For now, at least.

Stray Toasters

• I am having a late lunch today.
• Prefab Housing by IKEA
  Speaking of which, the local Temple of Sweden is nearing completion…
• Erase Rewind is now playing on my iTunes.  I liked (like?) The Cardigans; has anyone heard anything from them in the past few years?  I remember racing to My Favourite Game in Gran Turismo 2 (the game, not The Cardigans’ album of the same name).
• US Housing Prices Graph as a Rollercoaster
• Twizzlers or Redvines?  I’m going with Twizzlers, personally.
• : Legion Animated Triplicate Girl, from the DCG
• The Mummy Returns‘ Arnold Vosloo as Black Adam
• 
• How Pro Gaming Will Change World of Warcraft
• Goldfish.  They are still very damned tasty.
• Joss Whedon: A to Z

Lunch: Done.
Linux: Resumes.

Namaste.

What Would Jesus Drive?

Brought to you by
His Chocolate Holiness, Pope Groovalicious

Groove on, brothers and sisters…. Groove on.

Tuesday – 03 April 2007
Another bright, shiny morning in the Land Behind the Zion Curtain.  The morning begins – as all mornings should – with a cup of frozen mocha goodness.  Two shots.  Selah.  The race with the road monkeys wasn’t bad, but it was amusing: As I was getting onto I-15 from the I-215 interchange, I watched as four monkeys attempted the impossible (at least according to modern physics) – They tried to put themselves into the same space at the same time.  I noted this to coworker John and we came up with what I think would make good copy for an UCBD ad campaign on “How To Be an Ass-Monkey to Your Fellow Drivers”:

Drive offensively among others before they drive offensively unto you.

Of course, there would be ads for “How To Be a Sensible Driver,” as well.  Or we could just take it on faith that people have a modicum of common sense.  Or would that be giving them too much credit?

There was no game last night.  Instead, I hung out with Frankie and watched 24, an episode of Homicide and Hustle & Flow.  I hadn’t seen Hustle & Flow before… and I can’t figure out why I waited.  It was a good movie.  Very good.  Terrence Howard – and the rest of the cast – did an excellent job.  This is the second Craig Brewer movie that I’ve seen in the past month or so… and I have enjoyed them both.

The Scales of Justice
Last night,  The Hand of Nefer-Tem led a small team into The Hollows for a couple of missions against The Council and some Trolls.  Beatings were dispensed.  Justice was served.  The missions also advanced the missing Kheldians storyline.

…and I’m a short way from Level 20.  Which means that I need to start thinking about Costume #2, which will again be civilian clothes.  I haven’t settled on a look yet, but I think that I might go with something more casual and possibly a little more ethnic, in keeping with Nefer-Tem’s background.

Stray Toasters

• I got a trophy from .
• 50 Best Tech Products of All Time
• Eric Poulton has added to his Steampunk Star Wars collection: Sir Obi Wan Kenobi
• For: , and : This and this.
• Every breath a static charge
  A tongue that tastes like tin
  Steely-eyed outside to hide the enemy within…
• “The Difference” – from xkcd.com
  
• showed me this video… which was based off of this video, which is one of the banes of my existence.
• …and since we’re here anyway: The Internet is for PORN!!

Back to it.

Namaste.

In light of the upcoming Live Free or Die Hard,a new poll on IMDb which asks who is better at taking down terrorists: 24‘s Jack Bauer or Die Hard’s John McClane. I am a bit torn because both of them are damned good at what they do… but I lean towards Jack Bauer.
Opposing arguments:

• Jack Bauer, because of his job with CTU, has given up – and lost – A LOT in the process of catching the bad guy(s).
• One could argue that John McClane simply has the misfortune of being at the wrong place at the right time – I don’t think that any of his (mis)adventures came directly in the line of duty. Granted, in Die Hard 3, he he wound up on-the-job for part of the movie, because it happened in his back yard and on his shift… but Die Hard and Die Hard 2 both happened while he was on vacation.

I’m interested in seeing what the rest of you think, though. So…

To use the phrasing from the IMDb poll: “Who is the more bad ass for taking down terrorists?”
Jack Bauer (24)
John McClane (Die Hard)

Have at it.

Sunday – 01 April 2007
Okay, let’s go ahead and get this out of the way:  It was April Fools’ Day!  And, with that in mind: Top 100 April Fools’ Day Hoaxes of All Time.  There.  Now, we’re done.  Let’s continue…

Today was sunny and bright (for the most part).  I spent the first part of the morning/afternoon creating a giant mess of comics in the middle of my office floor.  I was boxing/reboxing some of my more recent acquisitions.  After that, I decided to get out and play in the sunshine for a bit.  First stop: REI.  Thanks, to the , I am now the proud owner of a set of golf clubs.  I think that he got a new set and rather than take the dual-wield skill, he gave me his old set.  Now all that I need to do is learn how to ruin a good walk.  Any takers?  From there, I headed to Jitterbug for lunch and chat with Bruce and company.  Next, I stopped at ‘ to drop off his paintball gear and to pick up some game books.

Back home for a bit before heading to catch a movie with .  Tonight’s fare:

…based on one of my favorite books, The Way of the Peaceful Warrior, by Dan Millman.  Being an adaptation, there were a number of things that the movie had to omit, but they left the heart of the book in it.  Scott Mechlowicz seemed to portray Dan Millman well and I felt that Nick Nolte was an excellent choice to play Socrates.  I recommend the movie almost as highly as I recommend the book; I plan to purchase the DVD when it is released.

 Four-Color Coverage
Yesterday, I mentioned the Legion of Substitute Heroes.  This afternoon, I came across the following while going through my collection:

Yesterday’s Legion toon episode did not include Fire Lad (on the left) or Polar Boy (second from the right), but it had the rest.  And they were played to just about the same amount of comic effect as they were in the books.

And now, for something not-so-different, let’s take a look at some of the highlights from the four-color press for the past couple weeks:

• 52: Weeks Forty-Six and Forty-Seven – Closing the “One Year Later” gap.  We’re shown scenes that set the stage for the upcoming crossovers “World War III” and “Countdown.”  The issues had a couple of good scenes, but on the whole felt just… mediocre.
• Action Comics #847 – This was something of a filler issue, I think to help Geoff Johns and Richard Donner get their finalè to their Last Son storyline finished up.  This was a “Kents in Spaaaaaace!” issue, featuring Clark and Jonathan.  I didn’t remember that Dwayne McDuffie was slated to write this issue… but I usually like his work.  This issue was no exception.  The issue also featured the artwork of Renato Guedes.  I am not familiar with his work; he drew a great cover, but it will take a while for his style to grow on me as interior art.
• Black Panther #26 and Fantastic Four #544 – Reed and Sue take a leave of absence from the team to work out their issues.  But, since “The Fantastic Two” doesn’t inspire the same feel as “Fantastic Four” – and since the remaining two would fight each other almost as much as they would fight bad guys -  they called in a couple of substitute members: The Black Panther and Storm.  The duo fit in nicely – T’Challa takes on the leader/scientist role comfortably while Ororo falls easily into the nurturing mother/voice of reason role.  It was also interesting to watch the New FF interact with Uatu, The Watcher.  The encounter reminded me of the  Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode, “Q-Less,” where Q came to the station and expected Captain Sisko to treat him the same as Captain Picard had.  (Hint: Sisko didn’t.  Likewise, T’Challa didn’t deal with Uatu as Reed had.)
• The Brave and the Bold #1 and #2 – DC returns this team-up title to its regular lineup after a LONG hiatus.  With Mark Waid on story and George Perez on pencils, they hit the ground running.  The first issue opens with Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) and Batman discovering twin alien corpses… with matching wounds.  One in space… one in the Batcave.  The trail leads to Vegas and then to outer space, so the heroes split up and take on new partners as they follow the leads.  Issue #2 opens with Green Lantern and Supergirl heading to Ventura (imagine a planet-sized Las Vegas), while Batman and the new Blue Beetle continue on the Earth-side investigation.  Waid’s writing is sharp (I’m going to miss him on LSH) and Perez’ artwork is as clean and crisp as ever.
• City of Heroes #18 – Ms. Liberty and her other-dimensional doppelganger, Dominatrix, Minx, and LuminarySwan go out for a night on the town.  And it’s not long before a fight ensues.  Being Paragon City, it’s a super-powered cage match.  We also see Ms. Liberty and Dominatrix learn something about each other… and themselves.
• Elephantmen #8 – This was a good story of a battle-hardened soldier who’s trying to adjust to life after war.  We are introduced to Trench, another of the Elephantmen, who is a no-nonsense, take charge and take no prisoners zebra.  We meet him in the middle of a gunfight.  And we get to watch him work.

Stray Toasters

• I just found out that Garcia’s Pizza will be offering online domestic ordering soon.  I am not sure if this is a good thing (I haven’t had Garcia’s since I left Indiana) or a bad thing (cost).
• If you haven’t seen it yet, take a look at the Halo 3 Announcement Trailer.  Selah.  *genuflect*
• Matt and Tyranist: Check out Comic Book Urban Legends #96, specifically the Wolverine-Magneto item.
• Moonlight Sonata
• Diodesex
• Derek, my acolyte/apprentice, made a picture of me as a South Park character:
  

  I was amused.

• chrisGcomics
• By way of Matt: 300, the PG-rated version
• I have a new supply of Cadbury Creme Eggs.
• and I were pondering the following: If Disney did an animated feature with Death, as a new “Disney Princess,” what would she look like?
• I need to buy a football and a Frisbee®.
• Pencils made from creamated humans

And that’s good for now.

Namaste.

Saturday – 31 March 2007
Today was nice. Sunny. Warm-ish. Blue skies with a few high clouds.

I woke up… and proceeded to find a comfy spot on the couch. I watched today’s episode of Legion of Super-Heroes. After that, I headed out to meet nyx hemsut for coffee, chat and drawing. I got more done on the latest drawing… but it still needs some work. However, I’m pleased with the progress. I’m not sure how detailed it’s going to wind up being, because one of the things I thought of would make part of the picture as (relatively) detailed as the brickwork and balustrade on this drawing. After a couple of quick stops, I came home to get a change of clothes and then headed to everydave‘s house to get ready for…

…asdf_cat‘s bachelor party shindig. Which included paintball. It was the first time that I’ve played paintball. It was more fun than should be allowed. During one of the games, I got tagged in the back of the head – thankfully, I was wearing a cap, but it still stung a bit – and in the lower back. That one still stings a little. Post-paintball, we headed back to everydave‘s for food, drinks, Wii gaming and poker. We played two games of poker: A free-for-all game and a “tournament.” I was the second or third person out of the free-for-all, but I hung in for third place in the tourny.

All-in-all, it was a rather good day.

Four-Color Coverage
As I’ve mentioned before: I am enjoying the Legion cartoon. Today’s episode, “The Substitutes,” introduced the Legion of Substitute Heroes. And the villain du jour was Starfinger, although I didn’t care for the spin they put on him; he came off as… much more of a buffon than he was in the comics. But, there was still a lot to like about the episode.

However, I was reminded of something that has bothered me about the cartoon since I started watching it: The show is called “Legion of Super-Heroes.” This is the logo for the show:

The “problem” I have is with the S-shield in the logo. That’s Superman’s logo/insignia, not the Legion’s. The Legion insignia is this (slightly stylized, but you get the idea):

I am fairly certain that I understand “why” they did it: Superman has greater name recognition in the general public than the Legion does. And as he, as Superboy, was a member of the Legion, they are hoping to use said public awareness to draw Superman fans to the Legion. It makes sense. But, the Legion is a team. A big team. It’s not “Team Superman,” however. Nor do I think that it should be treated as such. But, Superman – as he’s called in the series, due to a legal conflict over the rights to the name “Superboy” – features rather prominently in each of the three episodes that I’ve seen. He’s not the team leader, which is good, in my opinion… but he’s pretty much always there/around.

On the positive side: They are doing a good job of blending different versions of the Legion in the show. Case in point: Today’s episode featured the results of the Legion tryouts. The new inductees were Star Boy and Matter-Eater Lad (hey, I didn’t name them). The Star Boy they are using is the one from the v5 Legion, as opposed to the Bronze/Silver Age Star Boy. The episode also featured Blok, Sun Boy and Tyroc, who hasn’t been seen in costume since the 80s, if I remember correctly.

All-in-all, I shouldn’t complain too much. After all, there finally is a Legion cartoon. And, it’s not bad.

Namaste.