Random Access

just sent me a link to the following:

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Pon Farr Edition) from Darth Mojo on Vimeo.

Two disclaimers:

1. The audio is pretty much NSFW in 98.3% of work environments
2. You can watch the first… minute or so… and just skip to the 3:20 mark without missing anything.

What made this even more surreal was that a Goldfrapp’s Strict Machine (audio only) started playing on iTunes almost immediately after I was done watching the video.

Before I forget (again): Happy Hatching Day to !

The move went much faster than expected. I think that we were done with the lifting/shuttling in just over thirty minutes. We even got to use Forearm Forklift straps; different, but not bad. Nizlee’s folks fixed us a nice lunch in return for the elbow grease, which was very nice of them.

I had some time to kill before heading to Chris and Mary’s, so I thought I’d go by and play with the kids, since I was nearby. I called to see if she was at home; she wasn’t but said that I was welcome to stop by. And that’s exactly what I did. It’s been a few months since I’ve seen them. The biggest noticeable difference is that the fur on Presto’s lower back is developing more of an orange tint. But they’re all still very cute.

(click images for larger versions)

On to Chris and Mary’s to watch Diary of the Dead. It was a George Romero film, so of course there was a bit of commentary… but it was also a pretty good movie, too. It got a little campy for a couple of scenes near the end, but it did wrap up nicely.

Stray Toasters

• “I’m Samuel. Hello.”
• I picked up a pass to a sneak preview of The Incredible Hulk after the tournament yesterday. The screening is Monday night… at 7:00. I was actually looking forward to going… but then I remembered that I am going out to dinner with SaraRules’ family tomorrow evening.

  

  Oh, well. I’ll catch the movie when it releases. So, if anyone is interested in a free pass to the movie, let me know.

• I should play City tonight.
• Or Marvel Ultimate Alliance.
• Or go old school and play MechCommander, which I just got back from Chris.
• This is a cool picture of Wonder Woman.
• X2: X-Men United is on FX. I like this movie. And its predecessor. X3… not so much.

And with that… I’m a vapor trail.

Namaste.

Sunday – 08 June 2008
Last week, I mentioned going for a morning walk with , but I was too out of it Sunday morning. At Clitorati, we bandied about the idea of trying again today. said that he wanted to go to the Gay Pride parade… and I figured that we could kill two birds with one stone: Get in a walk and fly wingman for .

Great plan.

In theory.

I was up later than I had planned to be and slept in again this morning. I woke up to find that had been up working on a project until O’dark-thirty himself. I’m not sure if he wound up heading downtown or not. And I don’t know what wound up doing, either.

O, na.

In a couple of hours, I’ll be helping parents move some furniture. Nothing like some good, old-fashioned heavy lifting to kick off your day! And, I’m counting it as another (much needed) workout… of sorts. Today is also Chris’ birthday; we’re celebrating by watching a zombie movie: Diary of the Dead.

Stray Toasters

• posted this video earlier. I’m sharing the love:

• After watching that, I noticed that was still online, so I chatted with her for a few minutes. I may have possibly condemned her to a corner of Hell near mine as we wound up talking about dust bunnies, “cool beans” vs. “hot beans,” and the possible origins of the term “holy shit.”By
• My angels
  My devils
  Thorn in my pride
• By way of Esquire: Tips on Buying Denim and Three Ways to Wear Denim
• I should get my guitar back tomorrow or Tuesday.
• What Went Wrong? Twelve Experts on the Clinton Campaign
• No cure for the Summertime Blues? I find that hard to believe.
• hall != haul
• 
• I just heard from lj user=”tofer1977″, he didn’t go downtown, either.
• Tin Machine just played on Nomad. I’d forgotten how much I liked their second CD.

Time to get ready to face the day.

Namaste.

Saturday – 07 June 2008
Today is my mother’s birthday.

It is also Prince’s birthday.

I called Mom to wish her a happy birthday.
I did not call Prince.

Despite waking up late, it was a good day. There was another ‘Clix tournament at Far West today; I picked up Chris on the way to the store. I decided to try a different team, as I don’t want to become a one-trick pony with the Legion. I went with the Doom Patrol:

• The Chief
• Mento (yes, I received a lot of jibes referring to him as “The Fresh-Maker”)
• Rita Farr and
• Red Arrow

I know… I know… Red Arrow is not – nor has he been – a member of DP, but he filled a slot that I needed for long-range attacks.

As Fate would have it… I drew Chris as my first round opponent. Before the match even started, I was ready to chalk it up as an automatic loss. And, boy, was I right. He obliterated me. I think that I damaged one of his characters. Maybe.

Second round, I played a guy named Frank. He had a three-person team of X-related people:

• Archangel
• Emma Frost
• Jean Grey (Age of Apocalypse)

I won this game… on points. Frank played a defensive game and I was able to effectively set up a pincer offense. I lost The Chief in the gambit, but I was able to take out Emma and Jean (and was working on Archangel) before time was called.

Third round: Sean. He played with a mixed force:

• Accomplished Perfect Physician
• The Leader
• Unus the Untouchable

This was a good game. I kept trying to hit Physician, but his damned Super Senses let him keep dodging the attacks. Rita didn’t get close enough to do any damage. The Chief and Mento…? Well, let’s just say that they aren’t exactly damage cannons. In the end, I lost the team to attrition.

So, I was 1 – 2 for the day. On the up side, I won the “Fellowship” (think “Sportsmanship/Good Conduct/etc”) award, for which I got a Stardust figure. Stardust… Herald of Galactus. Nice! And… Chris was the big winner of the day. His prize: A spot in the HeroClix 2008 World Champioship at GenCon… with a first round bye. VERY nice!

There’s another tournament in a couple of weeks. 1,000 points… per player. Unrestricted, which means that if it’s EVER been a figure, it’s usuable. Ostensibly, this means that I could field both Galactus AND Phoenix. Of course, that would be ALL that I could field. And they would be targets. Big targets. Colossal targets, in fact.

After the tourney was over, Sean and Frank wanted to play some more, so Chris and I took them on. 400 points per player. We fielded a mixed team, as did Frank and Sean. We wound up taking out Frank’s part of their team and shortly thereafter – with most of their heavy-hitters gone – Sean conceded the game.

I stopped at Jitterbug to have a bite to eat. Uriah was there and we, along with the other folks in the shop, sat around and gabbed for a while.

From there, it was off to say “Hi” to SaraRules’ family. They were watching Amazon Women on the Moon when I got there. I had not seen it before, so they played a couple of scenes – featuring David Allen Grier as Don “No Soul” Simmons. I cracked up. Check ’em out:

…and…

Next up: Breakfast.

Stray Toasters

• By way of MarknTyme: AA-12: World’s Deadliest Shotgun
• By way of : Indian school names monkey god chairman

Namaste.

Friday – 06 June 2008
This morning started off with the alarm going off… and me waking up with a headache. I didn’t consider that the most auspicious start to a Friday morning, so I stayed in bed for a bit. I should have gotten up then, because I wound up in an odd, rather disturbing corner of The Dreaming.

The second go-round of waking up went considerably better. I hit B&B for a large cup of frozen, triple-shotted goodness and Einstein Bros. for a bagel sandwich. Add to that having some decent commuting tunes and Bob’s your uncle, as the saying goes.

The Best: Sugar Sugar
The Archies vs. Mary Lou Lord (with Semisonic)

This song was originally done by The Archies in 1969.
It was covered by Mary Lou Lord in 1995 for Saturday Morning Cartoons’ Greatest Hits.

It’s a bubblegum pop song at heart – and one that I’ve liked since I was a kid – but the edge that Ms. Lord gives it, pushes it ahead of the original in my book.

Winner: Mary Lou Lord

Stray Toasters

• Would LeVar Burton have had Windows Server 2003 books on Reading Rainbow? Should he have added them to the line-up?
• Cosby sweaters for auction
  I just want to know if you get Jell-O Pudding Pops and/or a TI-99/4A with each sweater?
• Jon Favreau on Iron Man 2 and Beyond
• Would X-Men: The Last Stand have been a better movie had Jon Favreau been the director, rather than Brett Ratner?
• All we hear is…

• New club drug: Preparation H?
• They were singing
  Back to back
  Belly to belly
  I don’t give a damn, ’cause I’m stone dead already
  Back to back
  Belly to belly
  A zombie jamboree
• Speaking of zombies: Blog Like It’s the End of the World Day is coming up next Friday.

Namaste.

Thursday: Coda

After work, I came home for a bit, read today’s four-color haul and then went to Borders to do some drawing. I’ve decided that I am entering Project: Rooftop‘s latest contest – “Superman: Man of Style,” in which the challenge is to reimagine Superman’s costume. I think that I have a decent idea with good reasons for the changes to the iconic costume. After settling on what I wanted to do, I tried some preliminary sketches. (And the fact that I haven’t really drawn anything in months really shows…) The deadline is 15 June 2008, so I do have some time to get things worked out. I hit a bit of a wall, so I switched gears and decided to work on the new piece I started last week. Progress was made.

Back home. I installed the light in the second display case. The two cases look good. I do think that I’ll be rearranging what is on the shelves though.

Four-Color Coverage
It’s been forever since I’ve done one of these, but it was a light week – I only picked up five books – and today’s haul was pretty good. So, on with the show!

• Avengers/Invaders #2 (of 12) – The Invaders, Marvel Comics’ WWII-era supergroup, have wound up in New York City of 2008. Having left the 40s in the middle of an attack on a Nazi stronghold, they aren’t sure what to make of their new surroundings… even to the point of thinking that everyone around them is a Skrull. I mean Nazi. On the other side of the coin, the Avengers have to find a way to subdue the Invaders and minimize their contact with the world of 2008, so that they don’t corrupt the timestream. Piece of cake, right? Riiiight.
• Justice Society of America #16 – I can’t say enough good things about this book. At the end of Issue #15, we were introduced to Gog. The being who gave Magog his power. A self-proclaimed god who was cast out of the Third World. What’s he doing here on Earth? Why does he know Earth-22’s (Kingdom Come) Superman? And what did he do to Damage?
• Secret Invasion #3 (of 8 ) – Skrulls. Everywhere. A couple of new reveals. And… who’s that guy with the eyepatch?
• Supergirl #30 – This version Supergirl has been… an uneven book during it’s fairly short span. Homicidal pawn of Darkseid. Rebellious teen. Super-smart heroine, out to save the world…. literally. DC has said that they are going to more fully integrate the book with the Superman corner of the DCU. They took a giant step in that direction with this issue. Kara, still feeling out of place, tries to find some answers and figure out what to do now that the baby she was sent to Earth to protect is now almost twice as old as she is. And she even has a bonding moment with a certain Dark Knight. I was on the fence about this book recently; it will be interesting to give it a few issues to see if it’s back on track or if this was only a momentary flicker of hope.
• Trinity #1 – When Diana Prince, Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne get together (in their civilian identities, no less) to compare notes about having variations of the same dream, it’s a pretty good indication that something is afoot. In their dreams, a powerful entity is trying to break free from some form of captivity. Sorceress Morgaine LeFey is also aware of the power… and wants it for herself. Kurt Busiek (Astro City) and company have kicked of DC’s newest weekly series nicely. I’m not sure if I’m up for yet another weekly, but I may give it a few weeks to see how it shapes up.

Stray Toasters

• I talked with the parental units today; all’s well in their respective parts of the seaboard.
• I neglected to mention something that I saw on Sunday at Borders: There was a woman, curled up in a chair in the cafe. Her cell phone rang; she answered it. When I looked up, there was a man standing outside the cafe window; he was on his phone. For a few moments, their conversations were synced to the point that you would have thought that they were talking to each other.
• There was a lone box of Mutations and Monsters ‘Clix in Dr. Volt’s today. I couldn’t just leave it there. I’m glad that I didn’t. In it was a rare figure: Omega Red
• I checked out a couple of movie trailers on Apple.com. Has anyone heard anything about City of Ember? I was intrigued by its trailer. I also saw the trailer for The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. This looks like it could be fun.
• Burn Notice. On USA. I’ve only seen a few episodes, but I’m enjoying it.
• WWDC. Monday.

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Thursday – 05 June 2008
I must really like Sting’s Shadows in the Rain at a very deep level.

Why do I think this?
Because I keep enacting the “Woke up in my clothes again this morning” line.

I have a rather comfortable couch. Last night, I watched the end of DS9. I felt fine, fairly alert. Seven Days came on, but it was an episode that I’m not overly fond of, so I switched over to Law & Order: SVU. I don’t even think I made it to “Law.” I may not have even made it past the “L.” Next thing I knew, it was 6:30. I didn’t think that I was that tired. Guess I was wrong. *shrug*

Got up. Did the rituals. Ran into two of my neighbors on the way to the car. Hit the B&B for an iced mocha. And started the day.

And so it goes.

And so far, it goes well. Besides that… it’s Sushi and Comics NBN Thursday. Win-win.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
Now that the Democratic Nomination Debacle seems to be over, I’m… somewhat intrigued… by some of the news media’s choices in whom to interview about the groundbreaking importance of Senator Obama’s campaign and nomination.

CNN interviewed Jesse Jackson a couple of days ago. I was torn about this. On one hand, it made logical sense, as Rev. Jackson has run for office in the past. On the other hand, it seemed as though part of the reason they chose him was because of his role as a so-called “Black leader.” That gives me some pause. I’m not sure that I would really bestow that title upon him today. Yes, he’s done good things in the cause of the advancement of Black – and others’ – civil rights… but, to me, he seems to have moved from that to be more of a demagogue (def. 1) than an actual leader. Or, dare I say it: A rabble-rouser.

Sometimes, he seems to just… magically appear… at whatever scene is getting the most coverage. He’ll say a few words that play to the crowd and/or are useful as sound bites, but I don’t often find myself agreeing with him.

I would also put Rev. Al Sharpton in this “Who can we interview to get ‘the Black perspective'” category. However – and this is a pretty big “however” – I have to admit that I’ve seen Rev. Sharpton jumping on the latest bandwagon far less often in the past few years. I don’t know if I would say that he has “calmed down in his own age,” but it seems as though he’s more judicious about which windmills he chooses to joust.

I would go on to say that I’m not sure that there is “a” Black leader… or even two or three of them. (Of course, I currently live in Utah, so they could be out there, but I just don’t hear about them from behind the Zion Curtain…) The leaders of the 60s through… 80s, I’d say, have a certain perspective that I’m not sure is completely relevant today. I don’t mean this to diminish any of their accomplishments; I wouldn’t have many – possibly ANY – of the opportunities that I have enjoyed had it not been for their struggles and the paths they trod. But, when listening to them, it sometimes seems as if some of their old biases and prejudices still tinge their opinions.

To be honest, I’m not sure that I really want a “Black leader.” The “Black Experience,” as it is called, draws from a common history, but has so many facets that I believe that no single leader would be able to bridge them all.

Besides I’d rather have a leader who can speak to all people and draw them closer, as a whole, while acknowledging and respecting their differences.

Stray Toasters

• While I like many versions of Ave Maria, I am particularly fond of the Franz Schubert version.
• The 31 Places to Go This Summer
• There’s been a shake-up at the top of the Air Force chain of command, due largely to the nuclear warhead-laden B-52 that flew from North Dakota to Texas last year.
• How Tech-Savvy Will the Next President Be?
• 
• New trailer for Hunter S. Thompson documentary
• Forty days and forty nights,
  Didn’t it rain, children.
  Not a speck of land in sight,
  Didn’t it, didn’t it rain.
• Photographers aren’t terrorists and vice-versa
• ST: TAS / Common People mash-up:

• The Picture of Everything

Conjunction Junction, what’s your function?

Namaste.

Wednesday: Coda
This evening, I saw Iron Man again; I went with Max and Perry. It was just as much fun this time as it was opening day. Perry and Max both enjoyed it, as well. And this time I was able to catch a glimpse of Captain America’s shield in Tony’s workshop.

After the movie, I headed back to Kate and Perry’s and hung out for a while. This translates mostly into getting some surrogate uncle time with the kids. And, as a new twist, the two youngest asked me to read them a bedtime story: Go, Dog. Go! That was both unexpected and fun. After the youngest kids went to bed, Perry, Max and I watched Justice League Unlimited; tonight’s episode was “Question Authority,” in which The Question discovers the truth behind the founding members’ secret concerning an alternate/future President Luthor and The Justice Lords. This episode also contained one of my favorite lines from the series: The Question confronts the contemporary Lex Luthor about his plans to run for President of the United States. Luthor laughs and responds:

“President?! Foolish, faceless man… my campaign is a farce! A small part of a much grander scheme. President. Do you know how much power I’d have to give up to be President?! That’s right, conspiracy buff… I spent seventy-five million dollars on a fake presidential campaign… all just to tick Superman off.”

(You can also listen to it – as Luthor smacks The Question around his office – here.)

Perry just looked at me askance as I quoted most of that line while Luthor was saying it. Kate just laughed and shook her head.

Stray Toasters

• I was (pleasantly) surprised to see a news item saying that Senator Clinton is (finally) ending her bid for the Democratic nomination… especially as Senator Obama got the magic number last night.
• I asked our HR guy if I could post A Different State of Race Relations – and a commentary – on our internal site or an internal email. He thought about it and then decided that it would probably be best to get some sort of go-ahead from corporate HR. So, I’m going to kick it up the chain of command tomorrow, I do believe.
• “Elitist.” *chuckle*
• Number Five… made of LEGO
• I caught the tail end of DS9‘s series finale, “What You Leave Behind,” tonight.

I think that there is a glass of milk calling my name. I don’t know if it’s chocolate or not. Yet.

Tuesday: Coda
When I got home, I turned on the TV and started surfing. I landed on CNN. As the Montana and South Dakota primaries were tonight, I watched the coverage. I missed Hillary Clinton’s… “No I’m not done, yet” speech. There’s a part of me that’s glad I did. I did watch Barack Obama’s speech. Once again, it was a classic. He didn’t bash Senator Clinton and there was only one jab (that I picked up on) at Senator McCain. Other than that, he seemed sincere and humble and appreciative.

After I watched a little more primary coverage, I flipped over to L&O: SVU. It was a rebroadcast of the season finale, which I didn’t see in first-run. It was a good episode, but it left a few questions about next season.

While waiting for dinner to cook (i.e.: “putting it the nukerator”), I installed a light in one of the display cases. It looks nice. I may move some things around to catch the light better. I may not. We’ll see.

Stray Toasters

• I chatted with Rana briefly this evening. She and Bit are back in the States and doing well.
• Liv Tyler is on The Tonight Show. She seems so… grounded. I find that odd/interesting, as her father is Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler. I guess that I was expecting her to be more Jack and Kelly Osbourne.
• , guess what character is getting a new action figure made. Here’s a hint:

  

• With Eric’s help, I was able to recover data from DS9’s former hard drive. After the process, I dismantled the drive – it was the first time that I had done that.
• I made the mistake of flipping to Boomerang a little while ago. Space Ace was on. That reminded me of the proliferation of video game-related cartoons that were part of the CBS Saturday morning lineup in the 80s.
• By way of Despair.com:



• AirPort Extreme. Hmm.
• A commercial for Burger King, featuring The Artist Formerly Known as Puff Daddy, was just on. In it, a BK marketing guy tells P. Diddy (as he is now known),”We need a new ad campaign.” Young Mr. Combs looks at him and, very simply says, “Tell ’em Diddy says ‘BK is open late.'” And then something FINALLY hit me: Something about the name “P. Diddy” struck me as both odd/ridiculous… but strangely familiar, however I didn’t make the connection until tonight:

  

  That’s right: Diddy Kong. He renamed himself… after a cartoon/video game monkey.

• Donkey Kong was adapted into a cartoon, too. Also on CBS. Also far from good.
• There’s a Utah Blaze game Monday night. That could be a nice change of pace way to spend the evening.

Time to figure out what I want for a pre-bed snack.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 03 June 2008
Last night, I got home to find that my Giants set of ‘Clix had arrived. As I had some errands to run, I took the package, unopened, with me. I’ll come back to that one in a minute.

One of the evening’s errands was to take my guitar to Acoustic Music. The bridge had… separated… from the body, rendering the instrument pretty much useless. They will reattach the bridge and restring the guitar; I should have it back inside of a week. I had asked Tom (SaraRules’ friend) and Bruce (from Jitterbug) where the best place to take it would be – both of them said Acoustic Music. First choice. No hesitation. (Well, there was a little hesitation from Tom, as he tried to recall the name of the place, but it was still his first choice.)

One of the other “errands” was to see if Chris was home and show him the Giants set. He was. I did. He laughed when I told him that I came by just to show him the figures, but he liked them. (The sculpts and paint jobs are really good, the pictures on the site don’t do ’em justice.) He didn’t recognize all of the characters, but he did know a few of them.

On to the store to pick up a few groceries and then home. I cooked dinner: Grilled chicken over angel hair pasta with a garden salad and a glass of Gewurtztraminer to wash it down. Aside from neglecting to turn on the range hood fan while cooking – and thus having a little too much smoke in the apartment and THUS setting off the smoke detector – it was good.

I even got to watch ST:DS9 and Seven Days. before calling it a night.

Workout
Back in the saddle again:

• Leg Raises: 3 sets/20 reps
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 185 lbs
• Pulldowns (close grip): 3 sets/12 reps, 120 lbs
• Shoulder Press (dumbbell): 3 sets/15 reps – 30 lbs (1 set), 35 lbs (2 sets)
• Bent-over Row: 3 sets/10 reps, 35 lbs
• Wrist Curls: 2 sets (each)/15 reps – 55 lbs (reverse), 45 lbs (forward)

Pre-workout weight: 172.4 lbs.

I don’t know what I did to lose two pounds over the last week, but I’m not going to argue.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules got to interview the Mayor of Aspen yesterday. Her recap of it made me laugh.
• Radio From Hell (known as “Radio from Heck,” in Happy Valley) has a LiveJournal account. Who knew!?
• “Secret Agent” and “Salmon”
• America’s Unhealthiest Drinks Exposed
• 
• Steampunk R2
• Interesting note: Jonathan LaPaglia, Seven Days‘ protagonist and his brother, Without a Trace‘s Anthony LaPaglia, are Australian; you’d never know from their accent… or lack thereof. Jonathan LaPaglia was a physician before switching to acting. He graduated with an M.B.B.S. degree from the University of Adelaide.
• Mel Gibson, however is NOT Australian; his family moved there from New York when he was a young boy.
• 13 Movie Mementos Lost in the Universal Studios Fire That No One Will Miss
• 
• Hugh Jackman is still Australian.
• Bardot fined for stoking hate race

/lunch

Namaste.

Sunday: Coda
I took the scenic route to Jitterbug this afternoon. About five minutes from the shop, I got a text message from Pat, saying that he wasn’t going to make it. A few minutes later, I got a call from , asking if I had gotten Pat’s message. I told her that I had and that I was going back to my original plan of heading to Borders to do some drawing.

And that’s exactly what I did. I picked up a couple of photography magazines and took about thirty minutes to see if I could glean any ideas. I found a few things that caught my eye. Then I got down to brass tacks. I’ve had something nagging at the back of my head for a couple of weeks, but wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with the idea. It finally came to me today. It’s probably going to take some time to to flesh out, but I’m really liking what I came up with.

After Borders, I headed down to Kate and Perry’s to hang out with – and play City with – Perry. We teamed up with a couple of members of my supergroup and a couple other people (Defenders!) to tackle some Rikti and Malta missions.

Next on the agenda: Over to Chris and Mary’s to play ‘Clix. Chris and I faced off against Matt and Emiliano, from Far West Comics. I tried out a variation on my tournament Legion team, while Chris played with a variant Brotherhood of (Evil) Mutants:

• My team:
  • Brainiac 5
  • Dawnstar
  • Dream Girl
  • Saturn Girl
  • Supergirl and
  • Ultra Boy
• Chris’ team:
  • Black Tom Cassidy
  • Fabian Cortez
  • Jean Grey
  • Juggernaut
  • Magneto
  • Mystique and
  • Sabertooth

Matt and ‘Mano brought an assortment of characters, with no particular theme in mind:

• Alex Luthor
• Captain America
• Deathstroke
  
• Flash (Justice Legion A)
• Hourman (Justice Legion A)
• Monarch
• Superman (Justice Legion A)

And… they beat us down. Hourman and Monarch both had Probability Control… you know, my new favorite power that Dream Girl has. It’s great when you have the power, but when your opponents have it – and have it on two characters with line-of-sight on your characters who have a snowball’s chance in Hell of doing anything with – it can be a royal pain in the ass. Between Probability Control and craptacular dice rolls on our parts, Chris and I were sunk early on. The first two characters that they took off the board were Supergirl and Ultra Boy, my two heaviest hitters. After that, it was just a matter of watching us bleed out.

But, it was fun.

And I still need to figure out who I’m using in this weekend’s tournament. 300 points and restricted to only sets in print since November of 2006. I’ll come up with… something.

Stray Toasters

• I just saw something really fun on TLC: Rock the Reception. I only caught the last two or three minutes of the show, but I came in during a couple’s first dance, done to Jet’s Are You Gonna Be My Girl? About halfway or two-thirds of the way through, the bridesmaids and groomsmen joined in. And it looked like they were all having a blast.
• Fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent has died; he was 71.
• I’m not sure what I want for a late-night dessert.
• There are a handful of people who grok why I find this so amusing..

  

  …and they are either shaking their heads or laughing (or both) as they see this.

• Project Rooftop has a new contest up: Superman: Man of Style.
• Action Comics #1 cover… redone in LEGO

Time to figure out what I want for a late-night snack.

Namaste.

Sunday – 01 June 2008
I wound up sleeping in later than I had planned this morning; going to bed at 4:00 AM *might* have had something to do with that, though.

Shortly after waking up, sent me this:

Whiskey Tango…?!
It was not the first (or second or thirty-fourth) thing to which one expects to wake up.

But, as far as using We Will Rock You in a commercial, this is still my favorite:

And, of course, I’m still waiting to see if Nintendo tries to come up with a “Wii Will Rock You” commercial/campaign.

Don’t know that I’m going to make it to Borders to draw, as a few of us are supposed to head to Jitterbug for lunch. Maybe I’ll just head there a little early and draw there.

Zoom.

Saturday: Coda
I had lunch with at Jitterbug. Then I headed down to hang out with Kate, Perry and the kids for a bit. I left with a few new (to me) ‘Clix – ones of which Perry had spares and I had none.

Around 7:00, I headed to Chris and Mary’s go talk about the new Dark Heresy game that Chris wants to run. We got the bare-bones basics of what our characters would know and then rolled up characters. Tomorrow evening, I’m heading back there to play ‘Clix with Chris and Mark. Hopefully, I will get some ideas about who I want to use in next Saturday’s tournament, too.

Breakfast with the usual suspects. There was some decent people-watching tonight. The conversations were good, too.

Tomorrow, assuming that I’m awake early enough, I intend to join for one of his Sunday morning meditational/inspirational treks. I also plan on getting in some drawing time – I’ve realized that it has been FAR too long since I’ve really done any drawing of note. It’s time to rectify that.

Stray Toasters

• I saw and Uriah while at Jitterbug today. That was a nice surprise.
• According to SaraRules: Aspen is ‘spensive.
• Steve Harvey, from The Original Kings of Comedy DVD:

  The part that always cracks me up about this starts about 2:45 into it… and the song that starts around 5:30 in.

• “Pubic Toupee” and “Black Hole of Misery”
• When I saw this article, it made me a bit sad. I realize that running for political office puts a candidate’s life under scrutiny, but come on… to drive a person out of their home church? That’s a bit too far.
• The upcoming “Secret Invasion” set of HeroClix will include a new Cloak and Dagger figure:



• According to this item, the new set will also see the debut of Power Pack in the game. Yes, Power Pack still holds a happy, warm spot in my comics-loving heart.
• Purple monkey dishwasher.

It’s early and I have to get up later.

Namaste.

I came home with no idea what I wanted to do for dinner. So, rather than decide immediately, I read this week’s four-color haul and did something I haven’t done in a rather long time: I watched an episode of Smallville. I should find the collected seasons of the show.

I finally figured out what I wanted for dinner: A chicken sandwich… from Jitterbug.  It was closed.

Curses!  Foiled again!
*shakes fist*
*twirls moustache*

I drove back towards home, still not 100% sure of what I wanted.  I wound up with fast food.  Better’n nothing, I suppose.  I ate dinner while watching Justice League Unlimited; tonight’s episode was “Doomsday Sanction,” one of the show’s strongest second-season episodes.

I am still not in a mood to do much straightening… so I think I’ll spend some time in Paragon City.

Stray Toasters

• The Joss Whedon-John Cassady run on Astonishing X-Men has come to an end.  They wrapped up the story in a way I never expected.  This was Wizard.com’s Thursday Morning Quarterback take on the story – it’s full of spoilers, so I don’t read it if you have any intention of reading Giant-Sized AXM #1 for yourself.  Warren Ellis will be taking over the writing chores this summer.
• Former Carol Burnett co-star Harvey Korman died today; he also appeared in a few Mel Brooks movies.
• The Star Trek world suffered two blows recently: Joseph Pevney and Alexander Courage both passed away.  Pevney, who died 18 May, directed many fan favorite episodes of Star Trek: TOS.  Alexander Courage, who died on 15 May, composed the theme for the original series.

Thursday – 29 May 2008
A couple of things that started the morning nicely:

1. I Am LEGO



2. Sent to me by CoworkerJG, who knows my proclivity for City of Heroes/Villains:

I think that these were good ways to kick of any NBN Thursday. And this morning’s coffee didn’t hurt, either. Nor did “The Boys in Brazil,” the behind-the-scenes movie from Disc Two of Rush in Rio, made during the Vapor Trails tour, playing on my port side monitor; it’s not only a cool look at what you might not otherwise see or know about putting together a concert and/or a tour, but it’s fun, too.

So, all together, I guess that it would be “No Bad News Sushi and Comic Book ‘Wednesday’,” too.

Stray Toasters

• I am “this close” to ordering a set of HeroClix Giants. It has Colossal Boy and Validus ‘Clix. Must have.
• Terminator Salvation: The Future begins principal photography
• principal != principle
• sent me a link to an article about Nepal abolishing it’s monarchy. In honor of that, I dedicate this Schoolhouse Rock! toon:

  No, it’s not entirely the same thing, but it’s as close as I could get.

• also (indirectly) had to deal with a monkey today:
  

  : there was a goddamn monkey in my yard today
  : O.o
  : while the movers were packing things up
  : Did it get packed into the truck?
  : you assume there was a moving truck
  : Oh.
  : the 9 crates are still in my yard
  : Right.
  Wait…. WHAT?!
  : they have to take them to the airport one by one in a tiny little jeep
  : …
  Wow.
  : yea
  so this little fucker is running around trying to bite the movers
  he climbed inside the crates while they were packing boxes into them
  i was laughing my ass off
  but admittedly
  i was laughing from behind the window inside
  those things are freaking mean

• NBC launches horror anthology series Fear Itself
• Does anyone else remember Tales of the Gold Monkey?
• Private Donor Saves Fermilab
• Update: I bought the ‘Clix Giants.
• Tyranist: James Bond Book Covers
• Ken Jennings, the man who holds the record for the longest winning streak on Jeopardy!, has written a blog post about Mike Allred’s Madman!, whose protagonist is apparently Mormon. I recall reading many rains past that The New Mutants’ Cypher was supposed to be Mormon, but the only other character that I knew was definitely LDS was Dr. Deseret (1, 2) from Will Shetterly’s Captain Confederacy.

/lunch

Namaste.