Random Access

Sunday – 17 June 2007
Again: Happy Father’s Day to the dads out there.

So far this morning I have:

• Fed the kids
• Observed the hygiene rituals
• Worshipped at the Temple of Sweden with and … for three hours!
• Talked with the paternal parental units.

…and it’s just a little after 2:00 PM. Still plenty of time to find some trouble to get into!

Yesterday was good. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was fun. They did a good job of retelling/retooling the origin of the Silver Surfer and making it mesh with the movie version of the FF. The characterizations were good… although, I felt that Julian McMahon’s Doctor Doom was a little “too” over-the-top in a couple of spots. But, he’s a classic character and there have been more than “a few” times when he’s been over-the-top in the comics. So, I can let it slide. While this movie was not on the same level as Gladiator or The Shawshank Redemption, in my opinion it did what it wanted/needed to do: Put a comic book on the screen in as believeable a manner as possible. And, as I said: It was fun. I give the movie a big ol’ thumbs-up with an okay.

I also went to The Gateway to check out…

I missed and the rest of Team Chalk-o-Licious – thanks to dealing with Sprint (more on that later), but I did get a photo of their piece and some of the other works.

I need to finish resizing the rest of the pictures; they should be up in the next few days.

Sprint. *sigh* I have just about had enough of them. Until roughly 10:00 PM last night, I did not have access to the Power Vision service (Sprint/Nextel’s internet). I kept getting an error message whenever I tried to connect. I have probably talked with more people at Sprint/Nextel in the past two days than more people talk with over the course of their entire service contract. For the longest time, no one could figure out what the problem was. Someone was finally able to tell me something late Friday evening: The two companies use different billing systems and they are in the process of merging them – My bill showed up as paid and up-to-date in one system, while it didn’t in the other. That system being the one that the Power Vision service is apparently tied to. Okay, great! Problem identified. Now, to solve it. Right… More time on the phone AND a trip to one of the local Sprint Stores. *grblsnrkx* Sidebar: Jennie, the Sprint rep who helped me in the store, did everything that she could to try and get through to someone to get the problem straightened out. And, I could tell that she wasn’t happy with the answers that she was getting from the people on the other side of the phone. AND, she maintained a pleasant disposition throughout the whole ordeal. I appreciate good customer service and she deserves recognition – I have NO complaints about her customer service skills and will go back to the store this week to make sure that her manager is aware of this. It still took me another… hour-and-a-half to two hours on the phone AGAIN to finally get someone to push whatever button needed to be pushed to get things up and running again.

After that, breakfast was a welcome respite. And, Patryck put in an appearance, too. That was a nice surprise.

Four-Color Coverage
This is just a (fairly) quick hit. I’m still enjoying “The Lightning Saga,” the crossover storyline in JLA and JSA. In Justice Society of America #6, they keep it coming. In this issue they throw in a bit of Legion trivia of which I wasn’t aware:

Timber Wolf: Thom’s still a couple planets short of a system. Is it the safety blocks?
Dream Girl: I’m afraid not, Brin. The medicine of this time period is unbelievably primitive. They still use pills to help schizophrenia.
Starman: I took my pills today.
Timber Wolf: I didn’t know he was schizophrenic.
Wildfire: He told me about it once. He said he spent years in a hospital after his gravity powers popped up.
Dawnstar: Brainiac 5 didn’t give him medical clearance to travel. That’s why Thom tricked Colossal Boy and took his place. Since the time beam wasn’t calibrated for him, something went wrong. I can only belive his unanticipated path to the past worsened his health problems.
Karate Kid: What unanticipated path was that?
Dawnstar: I can see it on him, Val. The mark of the multiverse.
Starman: Hi, Swamp Thing. (to a snake coiled around a tree limb)
Timber Wolf: The multiverse?
Dawnstar: Before he came to this time period, he was accidentally shunted to a parallel Earth.
Starman: Earth-22? Meh.
*cut to scenes from the Kingdom Come miniseries*
Starman: No one liked each other there very much!
Wildfire: Thom always did call himself the “unluckiest” Legionnaire.
Dream Girl: I should have seen this coming.
Karate Kid: You can’t dream up every event that’s going to happen, Nura.
Dream Girl: I’m not talking about my precognitive abilities. I know Thom better than anyone. Health problems or not, he would never hesitate to risk his life to help his friends.
Starman: You’re my dream girl. I did it because I love you.
Dream Girl: I love you, too.

Wait. Star Boy/Starman…? Schizophrenic?! Huh. Who knew? This is followed up with a great scene of the new Liberty Belle (formerly Jesse Quick) trying to play matchmaker for Wonder Woman…

Liberty Belle: You’ve never thought about marriage?
Wonder Woman: Marriage isn’t a concept I grew up around, Jesse.
Liberty Belle: What about Superman? You two were made for each other.
Wonder Woman: He’s unavailable.
Liberty Belle: How about Dr. Mid-Nite?
Wonder Woman: A little too quiet for me.
Liberty Belle: Wait! I got it! We just heard about him the other day. He’s cute, vigilant and your costumes would look so great together. *sly grin* Have you met the new Mr. America yet?

This is good stuff. And we learn the identity of the seventh Legionnaire. The storyline concludes in Justice League of America #10. Can’t wait.

Stray Toasters

• I am getting hungry… but I’m not sure what I want for dinner.
• Ten days to the new Legion ‘Clix set.
• Don, we may need to rename the scale…
• As much as I love playing City – and despite the fact that it’s Double XP Weekend – I am not motivated to play right now.
• I was just looking at JSA #6 again. I have an idea of who’s going to die. I think. I just noticed something about the group of Legionnaires that makes one of them a… “better candidate”… than the others to be sacrificed.
• 9% of cell phone users want the iPhone
  (I just want a cell provider whose system actually works the way it’s supposed to!)

• 

Namaste.

Thursday – 14 June 2007
Today is Flag Day.

Yesterday was Blog Like It’s the End of the World Day.

My last four posts – and ‘s comments and posts – were part of that. Salt Lake City has not succombed to “mass hysteria, dogs and cats living together” …. or even the zombie apocalypse. This time. C’mon, we’re talking about the Land Behind the Zion Curtain, after all. Do you think something like a zombie uprising is going to stop the faithful?

*ponders a missionary vs. zombie cage match*

As a result of yesterday’s little exercise, I recieved:

• Three comments
• Two IMs and
• One phone call

…to make sure that everything here was alright. That made my inner writer feel good. “Better than James Brown” good. And I didn’t want to come right out and say “Hey, look! Zombies!” I thought it better to slowly build up some suspense and tension – I hate it when they give everything away in a story or movie right after it starts. Where’s the reason to keep going, if you already know what’s up from the get-go?!

If you’re interested in seeing what others who participated wrote, click the link at the top of the page. Or click here. Or don’t. It’s your call.

Stray Toasters

• Last night, I went to a test/preview screening of Day Watch with Liz, Tyranist, Rish (the other contributer to the Horror Film Compendium), and . Interesting movie. This morning, Tyranist asked me what I thought, as I have not yet seen Night Watch. I told him that liked it and that it had enough “what came before” flavor to help fill in some of the gaps. One thing that was very cool about it: The subtitles were not just “static.” They did some rather interesting things with them that went along with what was happening on-screen. I would like to see both Night Watch and Day Watch, together, to see how the story flows as a more-or-less complete piece (there’s supposed to be a third movie, at some point).
• Screensaver of Old Comic Book Ads
• From Dwim: FlÅ“jte Hero
• Etched in Time
• 
• Steampunk Computing

Tonight: Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me… the taping!

Namaste.

Sunday (coda)
The day ended well.

• I picked up from the airport and delivered her home.
• Presto has apparently forgiven me for giving her cat treats that apparently didn’t agree with her. Eleven times.
• I hung out with Perry and the kids.
• I talked with Kris for a bit.
• I didn’t die while playing CoH.
• I had ice cream.

So, all-in-all, it was a relaxing way to end the weekend.

And it’s only four days till Friday. Apparently, Loverboy was right: Everybody’s Working for the Weekend. But, that then makes me wonder where Huey Lewis And the News’ Workin’ for a Livin’ fits in… We know that Kool Moe Dee is all about working, since he told us I Go to Work; and Big Daddy Kane said I Get the Job Done, so I’m not to worried about his work ethic. Geddy Lee is Working at Perfekt, so you have to admire his desire to get things done right… if not his spelling skills. And, he’s apparently been at it a long time – since 1974, in fact, when he told us that he was the Working Man, back from the days when he worked with Misters Lifeson and Rutsey.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm, now what’s a title to fit me?
A champ like Tyson, a Captain like Kirk, no
Employee of the Month, cause yo, I do work
The K-A-N-E is on the J-O-B
An expert, cause I get it D-O-N-E
So lights, camera, action – all hail the one!
That gets the job done

*blink*

Um… sorry about that. It slipped.

Stray Toasters

• I’m craving cotton candy again.
• : I’m not sure what possessed me, but I tried posting something on ‘Opinionated… and it ate it. All of it. Didn’t even leave seeds or stems. Besides that, where did everything else go?!
• Superhero Recipe
• I bought a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream ice cream last week. It’s not bad. Tasty, even.
• “…on a train.” (which is NOT to be confused with: “To. Your. DOOR!”)
• Day Watch. Wednesday.
• …speaking of which: Tyranist, if you acquired Night Watch, I would like to borrow it tomorrow, please.
• The Stardust movie website has been updated.
• Sometimes, songs get stuck in your head. When it’s something like Brian Wilson or Scotty Doesn’t Know or Chiron Beta Prime or Code Monkey, I’m okay with that. Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car? No problem. When it’s something like Pina Colada… it makes me want to perform a slow, painful frontal lobotomy on myself. You know the song…
  

  If you like Pina Coladas
  And getting caught in the rain
  If you’re not into yoga
  If you have half a brain

  That one. I had this song stuck in my head for three days once. Three. Days. Like I said, “slow, painful frontal lobotomy.”

• 
• Ed Brubaker on “The Rise and Fall of the Shi’ar Empire” – Conclusion
• Should the words “World’s cutest” and “goatse” ever be used together?
• 30 Days of Night (official site)
• M.O.D. are you out there?
  I can’t see your face
  But you left a trace on a data back-road
  That I almost erased
• : Legion Animated Cosmic Boy

Namaste.

Saturday – 09 June 2007
For some, as yet unexplained reason, I was up at 6:30 this morning. Six. Thirty. On a Saturday. *blink blink* Not cool. In fact, it was about as far from cool as Heaven is wide. (With apologies to Garbage…) I can’t even pin this one on the cats – unlike a couple of days ago, when Sissy decided that it was a good idea to use the wicker laundry basket as a scratching post… at 4:15 AM. I did manage to get back to sleep after a while.

I officially started the morning with a shower, “Legacy,” today’s episode of Legion of Super Heroes and a cup of coffee. It was an interesting episode: In the pre-credits opener, Superman saves a red-headed young woman in a powered armor flight suit from impending doom. After the save, she thanks him… and walks away. *roll intro* We later discover that her name is “Alexis” and that she’s functionally the… hm, I don’t want to call her “Paris Hilton,” but it’s the closest analogue I can think of at the moment… of the 31^st Century. And she has an eye for Clark. But, Alexis has a few problems that we learn about over the course of the episode:

The trouble with Alexis is: She’s a spoiled rich brat.

The trouble with Alexis is: She’s used used to getting her way.

The trouble with Alexis is: She has no friends… and is willing to do pretty much anything to make/keep Superman (as) her friend.

The trouble with Alexis is: Her last name is Luthor.

The reveal of Alexis’ last name is not revealed until the very end of the episode – and it’s only noticeable if you read Interlac.

And therein lies the rub. Clark doesn’t know anything of his future with Alexis’ ancestor, Lex; so to him, she’s just a pretty girl with whom he likes to hang out and have some downtime from his duties with the Legion. Over the course of the episode, Clark shirks his responsibilities as a Legionnaire in order to… just be a teenager. He misses patrols. He shuts off his communicator… and, in doing so, winds up missing a confrontation with The Scavengers, episode’s other villains (who also bore an interesting resemblence to Star Trek‘s Borg, although more human). And, that incident winds up costing Brainiac 5 an arm.

Alexis shows her true colors about two-thirds of the way through the episode. In a move that was very reminiscent of John Byrne’s Man of Steel #4, Alexis concocts a scheme to get Superman to “save” her. When the ruse is exposed, Clark flies off angrily, stating that he needs to spend time attending to his responsibilities to the Legion. This is something that does not sit well with Alexis. Thus, she decides to make Clark’s decision – spending time with her or the Legion – for him. She has him sent on a wild goose chase and then attacks Legion HQ in a new, and heavily-armed power suit… with the help – and numbers – of the Scavengers. Superman realizes that he’s been had and returns to Earth and the fight. In the end, Alexis’ power suit is destroyed; Superman flies in to rescue her. When the smoke clears, we see that the fight and explosion has cost Alexis her hair. She looks up at him and says, “What have you done…,” which was another nod to Superman’s past with Lex (1, 2).

All-in-all, it was a solid episode. And it explains Alexis’ appearance on Takron-Galtos in “Sundown (Part II).” There was even a cameo of Lobo, for the sharp-eyed observer.

Stray Toasters

• I finally upgraded to WordPress 2.2. Not bad. And, it was a far easier upgrade than I had feared it would be.
• Sissy, who likes to climb into drawers, has discovered a couple of empty ones in the master bathroom.
• sent a link to this picture, which amused me greatly.
• The creative works of Alfred Wong. ( and , check out his Sculpted Figures section.)
• An infomercial from a parallel universe – Steampunk Rayguns
• 
• , click here.
• , guess who’s “Today’s featured article” on Wikipedia. C’mon.. guess! Okay fine, it’s this person.
• 

Namaste.

Thursday (coda)
Despite a traffic back-up (from 126th South up to 114th South… because of an accident off to the side of the road), the evening hasn’t been bad. I’ve been playing with the cats and watching Game 1 of the NBA Finals. At one point, Lightning jumped up on the couch and curled up in my lap and watched part of the 4th Quarter. I have the fur all over my shirt to prove it.
I think that I might try to find some trouble to break up in Paragon City in a little bit. Or play some poker.

Four-Color Coverage
I haven’t picked up this week’s four-color goodness (or some of last week’s), but I saw a preview of Justice Society of America #6, the latest installment of “The Lightning Saga,” and it made me smile:

The JSA and JLA are trying to figure out where the six Legionnaires have gone. Their only clue is a duralim rod, from Wildfire’s belt. Superman explains…

Wildcat: Ya act like you’ve seen that thing before.
Superman: I have, Ted.
Wildcat II: What is it?
Superman: It’s a lightning rod.
Black Canary: A handheld lightning rod?
Superman: It’s 31st Century science, Canary, way beyond anything I could explain. Even Kryptonian science. Mr. Terrific’s trying to identify how it works, but…
Flash: You already know.
Superman: I know what it’s used for. One of the founding members of the Legion, Lightning Lad, was killed stopping an alien invasion. We searched the universe for a way to bring him back. We found one — but it was a bizarre game of Russian Roulette. By activating the rods with lightning, we could sacrifice one of our lives and give it to Lightning Lad. We all volunteered. We raised the rods around him. And we waited for lightning to strike one of us. In the end, Chameleon Boy’s shape-shifting pet, Proty, secretly took Saturn Girl’s place and gave its life for Lightning Lad’s.
Geo-Force: That is not only ridiculous, Superman, it is insane.
Superman: Our devotion to each other was unexplainable.
Batman: You were kids.
Superman: No, Batman. We were Legion.

The next two-page spread shows the missing Legionnaires flying through the night…

Dawnstar: We agreed before we left that we would complete our mission here in the past and return home. Superman and his teammates were never supposed to get involved… we’ll find the last Legionnaire this way.
Timber Wolf: If they hadn’t gotten involved, I’d still be racing dinosaurs with a bunch of talking gorillas.
Wildfire: I’m surprised you didn’t find a girlfriend, Brin.
Timber Wolf: ‘Least I didn’t think I was a statue. ‘Course, I like you better that way.

That’s just good stuff. And, the panel of the Legionnaires at Lightning Lad’s coffin was done in the style of the original story, way back in Adventure Comics #312. I need to ease on down the road and head to Dr. Volt’s and pick this up.

Stray Toasters

• I chatted with the rare and elusive this evening.  She is well.
• As usual, cracks me up. Today, he proved his mastery of the “Two birds, one stone” concept.
• Tom DeSanto Looking to Adapt City of Heroes
• : Legion Animated Ferro Lad from the Comics2Film DCG
• The kids are silly. Most cats like using scratching posts. Not these three. Instead, they love using my 12″x12″ LEGO base plates as scratching mats. I’m pretty sure that it has to do with the studs on the plates feel against the pads on their paws, but it’s still damned amusing to watch.
• 
• Secrets of Contrails
• Hmm… Ben & Jerry’s or ice cream sandwiches?  Decisions, decisions…
• UK physics teacher says British physics sucks
• I haven’t read Daredevil in a few years. But, I just read this article – Will Daredevil’s Wife Survive? – and it made me wonder exactly what in the Nine Hells is going on at the so-called “House of Ideas?”

  I know that Joe Quesada has never liked the fact that Peter Parker’s life got “easy” (steady job, supermodel wife), but come on, as the saying goes: “Every dog has his day.” Or, as I prefer to put it: “The sun shines on a dog’s ass, too.” Sure, in the time-altering “House of M,” Peter wasn’t just “a guy,” he was a superstar. And a publicly known one, at that. But when the House of M ended, so did that life for Peter. But the worst part: He remembered it. All of it. And starting with “Civil Bore,” Marvel proceeded to turn Peter’s life upside-down. Again.

  Now, it seems as if they are about to pull the rug out from Matt Murdock. Again. *sigh* “Everything old is new again.” But, they didn’t bother to dust it off or polish it or anything. I would like to be surprised and find out that they are actually giving someone in the Marvel Universe a break. Anyone. Hell, at this point, I’d be happy if it’s anyone but Tony Stark. Even Power Pack. Or the Great Lakes Avengers.

• This was so bad that I was compelled to include it:
  
  (from xkcd.com)
• “How do you circumcise an orange brick?”  (Bet that got your attention, didn’t it?)
• : I saw this and it reminded me of you.
  
• Nintendo creates new disease… “Wiiitis”

Namaste.

Wednesday – 06 June 2007
It’s the middle of the week.
It’s the first week of June.
And I’m actually wearing a turtleneck.

Because someone decided to turn down Utah’s thermostat again. By at least 30°. It’s raining here in the valley and there is some fresh snow on the mountain tops.

Did I mention that it’s June? I did? Well, I don’t think that I mentioned that I’m not in the Southern Hemisphere, because that does make a bit of a difference.

Aside from that – and the fact that I called the ‘rents to tell them the same – things are going well.

Last night was a game night: All Flesh Must Be Eaten. We attacked a cathedral. Well, not really the cathedral, per se; we attacked the people inside. For some reason, they weren’t exactly happy to see us… and they shot back. How rude. In the end, we took some bumps and bruises (and a couple of laser burns), but we kicked their collective recta. So far. We still have some places to explore and there is still the slight problem of having to find and rescue some hostages. “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread,” as the saying goes.

Stray Toasters

• Did I mention “turtleneck” and “June” before?
• At Tyranist’s behest – and because I can’t seem to get Scotty Doesn’t Know out of my head – I watched EuroTrip.    I had summarily dismissed it as “too stupid for the Cool World – Long Kiss Goodnight Scale” when it was released.  I was wrong.  VERY wrong.  I may actually have to buy this movie.

  I kept looking at the guy who played Scotty and trying to figure out why he was so familiar.  It didn’t come to me until I looked at IMDb and saw that he was the lead in this movie.  *duhr*

• Dwim pointed me in the direction of this, which included this picture:
  
• Script review: Wonder Woman
• “Just some oak and some pine and a handful of Norsemen…”
• By way of PC Magazine: 10 Wicked Awesome Webcomics
• 
• Interview with Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer director Tim Story

Namaste.

Sunday – 03 June 2007
It’s been a quiet day. The kids are… around. Somewhere. Sissy is curled up and asleep in the chair across the room; I’m going to assume that the twins are napping as well. There’s been some progress: Sissy isn’t hissing madly at the twins (especially Presto) when they cross her DEW Line. In fact, Sissy even let Presto sniff – and possibly lick – her a little while ago. I was shocked, but pleasantly so.

Stray Toasters

• I’ve discovered a new distraction:
• I’ve finished with the major work on ‘s pic; I got some decent time in on it yesterday. If I do the same today, I should be finished with it this afternoon/evening.
• Shoe Box
• 
• We come into the world and take our chances
  Fate is just the weight of circumstances
  That’s the way that lady luck dances
  Roll the bones…
• 
• HOWTO make an Aliens pulse rifle
• Sissy is snoring. Too bad my camera’s outside – the way she’s lying, with her head kind of lopped over, is cute.
• Does Marvel have an analogue for/of either Oracle or The Calculator?
• This looks interesting…
  
• and : Did you know about this contest?

“The night has a thousand saxophones. And nary a clarinet between us.”
(Bonus points for knowing where that comes from…)
Namaste.

Saturday – 02 June 2007
This morning started with another new-to-me episode of Legion of Super Heroes: “Timber Wolf.” From what I recall, they did a decent job in the retelling the basics of his origin; there were a few things that were omitted, but what are you going to do in a 22-minute format?

I’m not sure how much of this was intentional – or just me drawing connections between similar things – but there seemed to be a couple of nods to Legion of Super-Heroes (v1) #289:

Timber Wolf and Saturn Girl, along with three other Legionnaires, were trapped on an asteroid following a botched mission by the Legion Espionage Squad. (No, I didn’t make that name up.) In that issue, Light Lass (sister of Lightning Lad and, at the time, dating Timber Wolf) and a small rescue team found the lost Legionnaires… and found Saturn Girl and Timber Wolf in what seemed like an intimate moment. Shortly thereafter, Light Lass broke up with Timber Wolf.

In this episode, Timber Wolf leaps to Saturn Girl’s rescue a few times and there seems to be something of a bond between the two of them. Again, it could be something that I read into it from having read the comic for many years, but if it was something that the writers threw in there, the ‘toon just added another level of cool in my book.

Stray Toasters

• I continue to be amused by
• 
• 
• …and this one is for :
  

Up, up and… you know the rest.

Namaste.

Thursday – 31 May 2007
And so, another month draws to a close.

Yin: I overslept this morning.
Yang: The barista at the caffeine dispensary made a mistake and gave me a large frozen mocha… for the price of a medium.

Starting tonight, I have the kids for a week.

I talked with Mom. She doesn’t remember talking with me yesterday… which I pretty much expected. She ‘splained what was wrong and what the surgery did – including the addition of a bit of titanium. I’m gonna start calling her X-23 or Lady Deathstrike from now on. I don’t think they added claws, but to err on the side of caution I’ll make sure that I’m out of arms’ reach before I call her either of those names.

Stray Toasters

• I took my morning constitutional a little while ago. As I walked past a bird, it warbled and flew off. I had a Dr. Doolittle moment and wondered what it would be like to know what it was “saying.” That hyperlinked to a mental image of Tarzan. Then things took an even more odd turn, as the next mental image that popped into my head was NOT Shanna, the She-Devil or even Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. Those, I could have fairly easily explained. No, the first post-Tarzan thought was Jana of the Jungle. Whiskey Tango…?!
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’ opening date has been pushed up two days.
• Knowing his affinity for most things zombie, I pointed Tyranist in the direction of this item from Marvel’s website.

[11:16] Tyranist: Wow. I guess Zombies are marketing gold.
[11:31] shadorunr: Apparently so.
[11:31] shadorunr: Cold and (un)dead are the new “in” thing.
[11:31] Tyranist: And normally I like zombies. Just not Marvel’s version. They . . . uh . . . bite.
[11:31] shadorunr: *rimshot*

• 
• My weekly work commute just got 32.31% shorter. (Where’d I put that Ares Alpha with grenade launcher…?)
• scares me sometimes… such as when he shows me things like this.
• By way of boingboing.net: The Battle of Ham’s Deep – Helm’s Deep made with Muppets
• I was a big fan of Jonny Quest back in the day. While I get that it’s a parody/satire, I am not such a fan of Venture Bros. However, there are two things from the show that make me smile:
• Major Tom Dies
• Best Entrance Ever
• …and, speaking of Mr. Bowie: What in the Nine Hells is this?!

Time to pick up and put down heavy things.

Namaste.

Thanks to for sending a link to footage from the upcoming (new) Clone Wars.

And, Eric posted a link to One Two, One Two, a new Homestar Runner toon.
After the video is over, click “Mix Your Own Style” to use the Mix Mastah 800.

Tuesday – 29 May 2007
The first thing that went through my mind when I was typing the date was: “Tuesday is Blues day.” Bonus points if you remember what that meant.

A/another short week begins. Amen.

My mother’s going in for surgery this afternoon. From what I understand, it’s not a big deal, but it could/will prevent a much bigger deal. When I called her to say “Hi” this morning, she was in the salon, preparing to get her hair done. Before… going… to…. *sigh* Yeah. That’s Mom. Kris is going to call me, post-op, to give me the low-down on how it went and how Mom’s doing.

The commute was, for the most part, good. There were a couple of monkeys who made me wish that I had shock collars or a cattle prod, but the rest of the… huh, “a barrel” really is one of the names for a group of monkeys… anyway, the rest of them were fairly docile. This morning’s musical oleo came from my Rush playlist. (I’ll avoid making any other bad “Rush hour” jokes, other than that one.):

• Cold Fire
• The Spirit of Radio
• Tai Shan
  
• Grand Designs
  
• Animate
  
• Freewill

That made dealing with the road monkeys a little easier, too.

Stray Toasters

• I had a cinnamon roll and a frozen mocha… which I managed to get into the building without issue this morning.
• The Politics of Dancing
• 
• Go, Pacers!
  (Huh…? They aren’t in the playoffs? Oh. Nevermind, then.)
• “Less Human Than Human”
• Does anyone remember Gorf? I used to love that game.
• As His Chocolate Holiness, I think that Derek deserves elevation to a position above “Acolyte.” Possibly even something above “Priest.” My inner anarchist – which in this case may be “my inner Antichrist” – wants to make him “Bishop,” just because of the fact that we are in Utah.
• 
• Alter Ego: author’s audio slideshow of gamers and avatars
• Death by Pillsbury
• I have made references to satisfying my inner Kryptonian/Daxamite while taking my morning and afternoon constitutionals. This morning, I came up with a variation on that theme: Who are solar-powered heroes/villains in the MU/DCU? I came up with the following:
• Superman
• Supergirl
• Mon-El (M’onel / Valor)
• Andromeda
• Any other Kryptonian or Daxamite you’d care to name
• The brothers Summers: Cyclops and Havok (I’m not sure abot Vulcan, as his powers haven’t been fully explained.)
• Bizarro, I would assume
• SunspotI’m sure that I’ve missed a few, but those were the only ones who came to mind.
• ::: CLASSIFIED :::
• 777-9311

Namaste.

Sunday: coda
I accomplished one of the things I had intended earlier today: I made it to IKEA.

Also on the list were: drawing (, I’ll let you know when I get started on that pic… which should be tomorrow morning) and going to the grocery store.  Those two things went *pfft* because I decided to stop by and see Kate, Perry and the kids.  Time well spent… and I can still do the other things tomorning.  I also had dinner with at Sampan.

This evening, looking for something to do, I decided to check out Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.  I have to admit that it wasn’t the movie that I was expecting.  I felt that Dead Man’s Chest (or “Pirates 2: Electric Boogaloo”) was a decent movie… but it suffered from sequel-itis, to me.  And scenes like the swordfight-on-a-waterwheel – all forty-five minutes of it (yes, I know that it was shorter than that, but it just seemed to go on forever) – seemed like they were trying too hard.

I didn’t get that feeling from AWE.  The story actually moved.  And, I was especially taken with the opening scene: The subtle, somber-to-almost-uplifting defiance of the crowd was handled very well.  Yes, I can understand some peoples’ comments about too many interweaving plots, but I don’t feel cheated.  And, probably most importantly: The movie surprised me.  In more than one spot.  Just when I thought I’d come up with “viable solution x” to a problem in the movie, they pulled a Kobayashi Maru and came up with a different answer.  I’m not going to spoil the movie for those who haven’t seen it, but I will note that viewers should stay through the credits.  Additionally, there was a trailer for The Golden Compass before AWE that looked rather interesting.

Stray Toasters

• I have just confirmed (once again) my geekiness: In the new issue of LEGO Magazine, they have a list of winners of their LEGO Clubhouse Building Challenge.  Quite frankly, they had some good nice concepts.  My first thought after looking at it: “I wonder if I have enough bricks to do Legion HQ…?“
• Homework sucks: The case against homework
• By way of Derek: Top 15 Unintentionally Funny Comic Book Panels
• While web-crawling, I came across The Greatest Harry Potter Theory Ever?  It makes a couple of interesting points…
• LEGO.com Star Wars Homepage
• Since I’ve already indirectly referenced Mr. Shatner, I’ll go ahead and link to William Shatner: The Dancehall Remix
• Skidmarks 3: Burnin’ Assphalt – Silly, but amusing stop-motion movie.
• I thought that this was funny: Ten New Rock n Roll Ice Cream Flavors for Ben & Jerry
• Tyranist, click here.
• They should release Pirates of Dark Water (1, 2, 3) on DVD.  Wait… maybe not.  I remember how much I anticipated the release of Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers (1, 2, 3) on DVD and how poorly the animation and looping held up.  Maybe they should just redo both series.
• I’d buy a ticket to see this.
• and , click here.

Namaste.

Saturday – 26 May 2007
I just finished watching today’s Legion of Super Heroes episode, a rebroadcast of “Chain of Command.” Having already seen this episode, I could get past the “Wow… it’s an LSH toon” factor (a bit) and more fully appreciate the episode and some of its more subtle points.

The big one was a comment that Lightning Lad makes to Ferro Lad about not being able to trust him because he wore a mask. That got me thinking: How many Legionnaires have worn masks? Three… although, you could make a possible, though weak, argument for four:

• Ferro Lad
• Wildfire
• Sensor Girl
• Quislet (arguably)

Ferro Lad wore a mask because of horrible disfiguration. Wildfire’s “mask” was part of his containment suit – he was a being composed of energy and, outside of the suit, had no humanoid form. Sensor Girl’s mask was actually used to conceal her identity… from other Legionnaires and from enemies; she later revealed her identity to her teammates. Quislet was also an energy being, but his “mask” was actually a small “exploration vehicle.” And, in an interesting note: Although Quislet could not exist outside of his exploration vehicle for extended periods of time, he was able to teach Wildfire how to shape his energy into a humanoid form, without the need for a containment suit.

The rest of the Legion went maskless. Their identities were, as far as I can tell, common knowledge. They were not only deputized members of the United Planets’ Science Police – they were also seen somewhat as celebrities. I recall some issues showing panels of Legionnaires “out on the town” and being approached for autographs or holographic pictures. Legionnaires were also points of pride for their homeworlds. There were issues when a Legionnaire would lead a team on a mission to his/her home… and the world would roll out the red carpet, much in the way that Smallville (in DC’s original continuity) had sign at the town limits announcing it as “the home of Superboy.”

Another interesting point was how determined Lightning Lad was to save his homeworld. He was very take-charge and headstrong in his quest to see to it that Winath was saved… even to the point of ignoring all of the obvious signs around him. I don’t think that I had really registered the resignation in his character when his family farm was destroyed… and the only thing that he was able to save was one family “photo.” (It’s the 31st Century, it was probably a holo or some other digital image, but why quibble?)

I also liked the exchange between Superman and Lightning Lad, after Superman discovers that Winath is a farm world:

Superman: *surprised* “You’re a farm boy?!”
Lightning Lad: *indignant look and tone* “An industrial agrarian technician.”

I thought that it was nice to see Superman try to find some common ground with a teammate, only to have his comment sneered at because being called “a farmer” was insulting. As I posted in my previous look at this episode, some of Lightning Lad’s characterization was a little off… but I thought this was a nice – and amusing – touch.

All-in-all, I think that this was a solid episode.

Friday – 25 May 2007
Aside from dropping my mocha – 23½ ounces of pure frozen mocha goodness – on the way into the building this morning, it’s been a good day. Quiet. Only a couple of very small fires to put out. And, I got a headstart by starting the day in the SLC office.

But there is still that whole “I dropped 23½ oz. of frozen mocha goodness” thing. *sigh*

Last night, some of the Clitorati got together for dinner at Olive Garden. I had one of the new featured dishes: Stuffed Chicken Marsala. It was rather good. I recommend it. After dinner, I went home, with the intent of checking my email and then spending some time on the mean streets of Paragon City. I made it as far as checking the email and starting the CoH loader. While waiting for a new patch to be applied, I went into the bedroom and stretched out on the bed, ostensibly “just for a minute.”

Three hours later…

Yeah, the only thing left to do at that point was turn off the lights and go to bed. And that’s what I did.

Stray Toasters

• I have spread the Gospel According to IKEA to and onlyaly. They have seen the light. *genuflect*
• knows of my… affinity… for IKEA. We were talking yesterday and this came up:

[15:23] asdf_cat: so i’ve realized something that might be a serious problem.
[15:23] shadorunr: ?
[15:23] asdf_cat: you.. drive by IKEA twice every day.
[15:23] shadorunr: Yeah.
[15:23] shadorunr: I know.
[15:24] asdf_cat: that just doesn’t seem safe for you or IKEA.
[15:29] shadorunr: http://www.applegeeks.com/comics/viewcomic.php?issue=165
[15:29] shadorunr: It’s kind of like that.
[15:30] shadorunr: http://www.applegeeks.com/comics/viewcomic.php?issue=166
[15:30] asdf_cat: yeah. a problem!
[15:31] shadorunr: Potentially.

• Shortly after this conversation, I remembered that my weekly Status Report was due. And, since it has to go to Mr. , I attached the following to my report. And it took almost NO time to come up with. Apologies to Misters Lee, Lifeson and Peart…

We’ve taken care of everything
From food to eat
To sheets you clean
And hooks on which
Your wet linen can dry

Poäng for all, Amon for one
Put together
Groove and tongue
Lack – tables or shelving
Hung up high…

We are the priests
Of the Temples of Sweden
Our great furniture
Fills the hallowed halls.
We are the Priests
Of the Temples of Sweden
Sofas, beds and lights
Are held with in our walls

• Derek sent me a link to this story, with the following commentary, which made me laugh:

[16:44] Derek: the title made me laugh more than anything
[16:44] shadorunr: Wow.
[16:45] Derek: now we know who let those mother freaking snakes on that mother freaking plane

• just sent me a link to following “news story” (link below) from Utah ABC4. Could they sensationalize this any more?! Or researched it any less?! Monkeys.

[14:54] janietrain: You should be so rpoud of your locals.
[14:54] shadorunr: Hiya.
[14:54] shadorunr: Um…
[14:54] janietrain: http://www.abc4.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoId=65333
[14:54] shadorunr: MD or NC locals?
[14:54] janietrain: Utah locals
[14:54] janietrain: Check out that video.
[14:54] janietrain: You shall laugh until you pee.
[14:55] shadorunr: Very little that they do makes me proud.
[14:55] shadorunr: 🙂
[14:55] shadorunr: *watches*
[14:55] janietrain: hehehe
[14:55] janietrain: This is possibly the most out of touch, reactionary thing I’ve ever seen in the history of TV news.

• J.A.F.O.
• Eric sent me a link to a story on NPR called ‘Rethinking Thin’ and the Myths, Realities of Dieting. It’s about a book by Gina Kolota. When I read her name, the first thing that came to mind was…

If you like Gina Kolota
Getting caught in the rain…

• Demented kids’ book photoshopping contest
• 
• Steampunk turntable

And I’m going to hit “Publish” before Firefox decides to firmly insert its head up its ass. Again.

Namaste.

Monday: coda
And so, another day comes to an end.

…and at the end of that day, Jack Bauer [spoiler deleted] because the people involved with the [spoiler deleted] didn’t follow through with [spoiler deleted].
Stray Toasters

• For the past year or so, my camera has had a problem with the switch that controls the on/off and lens.  I fixed that today.  It was a mixed bag: I was happy that it was fairly easy to take care of and that I don’t have to rush out to get a new camera… but, I was a little torqued that it was such an easy fix and that I hadn’t thought of it before.
• Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Batmobile
• Sib-3 called this evening to inform me, and I quote, “Gears of War is the best game ever.”  I reminded him that he said the same thing about HALO and HALO2.  He said that they were good… for the time, but that this easily surpasses them.  And that he loved his 360.
• People are already camping out at the new IKEA.
• Passive-aggressive notes from roommates, neighbors, coworkers and strangers
• : Here’s a bunch of LSH-related items…
• Cover art to Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #32
  
• Legends of Lost Legionnaires – including some Sims skins
• Gone But Not Forgotten: LSHv4
• Legion of Super-Heroes Customs
• There was a song/video that I wanted to look up, but damn if I can remember what it was.
• Hot Chicks with Douchebags (some of the images may be NSFW)
• Pre-orders for Weta Collectibles Rayguns will begin on Friday, 25 May 2007.
• Glass Rayguns by Joe Blow Glassworks
• By way of boingboing.net: Threadless spoiler tee
• For , and the other Wii owners: Can’t Wait for the Wiikend

And now, sleep…

Namaste.