Random Access

Things that help make for a great Sunday morning:

• Having your cousin find your “missing” Disneyland jacket.
• Getting back from the airport in time to say “Goodbye” to family you haven’t seen in years… many, many years.
• Coffee.
• Conversations with (by way of ):

[09:33] shadorunr: Would you relay a message to Mr. zeeke?
[09:33] shadorunr: I am.  😀
[09:33] paize: I certainly could!
[09:33] paize: He’s actually sitting next to me if you’d like to chat with him.
[09:33] shadorunr: Indians: 2    O’s: 8
[09:33] shadorunr: That’s all.
[09:33] shadorunr: I don’t think he’ll have much to say to me after that.  😀
[09:34] paize: zeeke says ‘Blow me’

Priceless.

…there’s a new lawyer in the family.

Kris graduated from North Carolina Central University School of Law today.

04 May 2007
Greetings from the Right Coast.

Red eye flights… not necessarily my favorite way to travel, but they do serve the purpose. Because, God knows, airlines don’t serve much else.  A cup – maybe a can – of a soft drink or juice, if you’re lucky. Food? Forget it.  Unless you want to pay for it. Um… yeah. No, thanks.

But, Jessica Hagy at Indexed made a good observation…

…and I have to agree.  Especially at  McCarran International Airport (LAS). Sweet traveling monkey-squeezin’ Jesus!  Let’s see… we had:

• First there were the “Gotta get my last fix” monkeys, playing slots at the gate. Keep feedin’ them machines!!! Keep the quarters coming!!! Yeah.  Them.
• Then, there was the young lady who decided that rather than sit next to anyone, she would just… pull out a mini-blanket, throw her duffel bag on the floor and just… stretch out.  And she did. With the quickness.
• But, the best people were the ones who couldn’t stop staring at the lying-down girl. It was like it was some oddity/novelty. And I do mean full-on stare.  Mouths open. Eyes wide. You would have thought that they were codfish.

Those were the prime examples. The rest of the people were fairly run-of-the-mill. But, they were still fun to watch.

The flights were uneventful.  I read from SLC to Vegas.  I slept most of the way from Vegas to Charlotte. And dozed from Charlotte to Raleigh – short flight. When I got to Raleigh, I went to the baggage carousel to get my bag. I watched it go around.  And around.  And around. And no bag.

 *braincramp*

  The first thing that I thought of was the Christmas baggage debacle.  That did not fill my head with happy thoughts.  I walked into the Baggage Service Office to see if someone could figure out what happened to it… and there was my bag.  Apparently, there was a direct flight LAS – RDU flight that left a little before my flight did.  My bag – being smarter than my ticketing service, apparently – took the non-stop flight.  *sigh*
And, so, in the words of Queen: “Now I’m here…”  And, it sounds like the day is going to be… busy.  Oh, boy.

Stray Toasters

• I didn’t even eat any of my snacks on the flight.  Oh, well… that means more for later!
• Gallery of 1970s Kirby covers
• I’ve put decent dents in Specter of the Past and Pattern Recognition
• I think that Don and I are going to try and catch Spider-Man 3 in Sunday.
  
• Celebrating Alice Day with the finest Wonderland edition I’ve seen
• has been on something of a cat picture kick of late.  And it’s been funny cat pics, including this one:
  
• sent me a link to this flickr page.  First picture made me laugh.
• How to Open Things
• : It’s not “anal bleaching,” but I figured that you’d appreciate this.

And it looks like we’re about to start doing stuff.  Which means a lot of running around. Wahoo.  Yippeeki-yay.

Namaste.

GameBoy: Check.
iPod: Check.
Sketchbook: Check.
Reading material: Check.

Snacks: Check.
Bags: Check.

Ticket: Check.

Yep… I’m a vapor trail.  I’ll talk at you from the Right Coast.

Up out!

Thursday – 03 May 2007
Down to the hours now.

Someone asked if it’s hard being at work, knowing that I’m going to be on the Right Coast tomorrow morning.  Nope.  It’s not.  “SSDD,” as my father would say.  Just another day in Paradise… this is the Land of Zion, after all.

Yesterday ended quietly.  Me, sitting at home… avoiding packing through modern technology.  That’s right, boys and girls: City of Heroes.  More importantly, Issue 9: Breakthrough went live yesterday.  There are now crafting skills and auction houses in Paragon City and the Rogue Isles.  So, the Hand of Nefer-Tem went to the University to learn about making new toys.  I still need to take Corvus Nox and Indi through the course, but that will wait until next week.

After leaving Paragon City, I decided to distract myself with a little poker.  That was a joke.  My game was off.  Way off.  Far enough off to be measured in astronomical units.  It wasn’t pretty.  Fortunately, the Fates decided to stop using me as their whipping boy and show me a little favor.  Things turned around.  Quickly.  I decided to stop while I was ahead.

Then, I packed.  Zaz!

I also wound up at The Clone’s V.I. last night.  This time, she was there.  It took her a moment to recognize/remember who I was – you could almost see the disk access light blinking.

Stray Toasters

• I had I Don’t Need Anything But You, from Annie, running through my head a little while ago.  I don’t know why.
• News about Jon Favreau’s upcoming Iron Man movie here and first look at the official site here.
• Redirect your animal instincts with a French letter
• From boingboing.net – Petition to restore habeas corpus
• 
• Design a Counterstrike mod, get expelled from school
• So, maybe he wasn’t quite as tarnished as we were led to believe: A look at the upcoming Booster Gold series from Wizard.
• Cover art from 52: Week Fifty-Two… which makes a nice bookend piece with the art from 52: Week One
• For , and – Faces of Guitar Heroes

Namaste.

There was no way that I could not post…
I couldn’t not…
I had to…

Oh, Hell… just click: LOLTrek.

By way of Derek:

1. Hi, I’m a Marvel… and I’m a DC
2. Social Networking (from The John Stewart Show)

And, at no extra cost to you: A non-sequitur, out-of-context Stray Toaster

• A steampunk crocodile, a giant fly swatter and Kenneth Branagh

And that’s that.

Wednesday – 02 May 2007
Yesterday wound up being a fairly quiet day at work.  Not about to complain on that score.  The lunchtime workout was good; Eric and I decided to do some exercises that we don’t usually/often do.  “Good training… Builds character.”  Of course, in the words of Mary Prankster: “I’ve built up so much character, I’ve got an alter-ego.”

Post-work, being both hungry and lazy, I fixed spaghetti for dinner.  Simple and quick.  And I still had sauce left over from last week, so that was easily taken care of.  The night wrapped up with and I watching a couple more episodes of The West Wing‘s second season.
Stray Toasters

• I have discovered a new amusement:
  
• For , Tyranist and whomever esle is interested: The Complete Works of H.P. Lovecraft
• Note to Self:  Convince Don and/or William that Sunday evening would be the perfect time to see Spider-Man 3…
  
• By way of : Paleo-Future
• David Oakes’ LEGO Art Page (check out the gallery)…
• …which included a dead link to Dennis Chidley’s old LEGO figure page.  However, Google was able to find a new URL for Mr. Chidley’s handicraft.
• An American Pantheon
• 
• I will be out of town for Free Comic Book Day… but I sent an email to my local purveyor of four-color crack and asked that some of the event’s free titles be placed in my hold box for pick-up when I return.
• Counting Crows – Hanginaround

Zoom!

Namaste.

…oh, never mind.

Just click.

• Item One
• Item Two

Tuesday – 01 May 2007
Last night’s D&D game set many wheels in motion.  We finally remembered to ask some of the important questions that we had neglected.  We also made some decent in-roads to accomplishing some of the major campaign items that have been looming over our heads for months.  And, we didn’t get eaten by a dragon.

Stray Toasters

• Note to Self: Call Bret.  Today.
• Justice League: Countdown – an animated parody of DC’s Identity Crisis
• Since won’t play along when I say “Mahna Mahna…”
• Big Mac, Filet-o-Fish
  Quarter Pounder, French fries
  Icy Coke, thick shakes
  Sundaes and apple pies!
• Dell wil pre-install Ubuntu Linux
• 
• Steampunk Mouse
• The Refreshments – Banditos
• Wizkids is showing more of the upcoming Legion of Super-Heroes HeroClix set.  They’re going with the v5 Legion, to boot!
• – Catwoman Vinyl Statue
• Date Night – Nightwing and Batgirl, by way of the Comics2Film DCG
• Tyranist, this one is a fastball down the plate for you: Three screams for these stars
• USPS Star Wars Stamp Pre-Orders

Namaste.

A couple of quick things that have put a smile on my face:

1. I have a Blow-Pop.  (And, I have more in my desk drawer!)
2. There are no ordinary moments.

That’s it.

As you were.

Monday – 30 May 2007
And so, another week begins.

Fortunately, it’s a short week… and a week that will end with me on the Right Coast – Kris (Sib3) graduates from law school this weekend.  Of course, that also means that it will be a busy weekend.  Oh, well… no rest for the wicked.

Yesterday, I made it to the second game of Patryck’s double-header.  The umpire was ludicrously inconsistent with his calls – one pitch would be a ball; another, in the same spot would be a strike.  It wasn’t pretty.  But, Patryck’s team won, so I guess that’s all that really matters in the long run.  After that, I stopped in to see and Matt.  Enchiladas!  Homemade enchiladas, at that!  TASTY homemade enchiladas, even.  Then, home to take care of a few things… including making a mess of my kitchen, because it’s much better to pour rice all over the stove and floor than into the pot of near-boiling broth.  *sigh*

Stray Toasters

• I just caught myself humming the theme to Spider-Man.  The 60’s cartoon theme, that is.
• The Spidey saga suits Sam Raimi
• I’m still taking suggestions for the next lyrics-to-drawing and webcomic I should be reading.
• How the Internet took over
  (“Skynet is now online…”)
• Tyranist is/was right: There are no more – or at least very few – big surprises in comics anymore.  Publishers just seem to give away the big reveals… sometimes, even before the series is released.  Although, I will admit that DC has done a good job of leaving some mysteries in 52.
• Pro-coffee tee tweaks Mormon Church, Church responds with trademark threat
• I unintentionally started a mini-flame war yesterday.
  …and then fiddled while Rome burned.
• One more day until Snakes & Arrows is released.  Officially.
• The Black Crowes – Sometimes Salvation
• I am actually starting to look forward to Jon Favreau’s Iron Man.  Weird.
• I am looking forward to Spider-Man 3 and FF2.
• Other Heroes: African-American comics creators, characters and archetypes

Namaste.

Sunday – 29 April 2007
Coffee…? Check.
Honey Bunches of Oats…? Check.
Interweb connection…? Check.

Let’s get this thing moving, then.

So far, it’s been a quiet morning. I’ve been up a little longer than I would have expected – since a little before 9 AM. Yet, miraculously, I haven’t done much. Oh, sure, I have observed the rituals d’hygiene and made a pot of coffee, but other than that…? Bupkis. And I’m okay with that.

I’ll be getting out of here shortly to check out Patryck’s team play some baseball. That will get me out in the sunshine for a while. Gotta work on getting a good base for my tan, after all. Beyond that, I’m not sure what kind of trouble I’m going to get into. But I’m pretty sure that I can find something.

Stray Toasters

• For the first time in a LONG while, I actually went top-to-bottom through the list of webcomics in my bookmarks… and read them all. I need to eighty-six Megatokyo, I think. I haven’t read it with any regularity in at least six months. On the converse, I need to go back and fill in the gaps in my The Gods of Ar-Kelaan reading. The Tao of Geek? Hit or miss.If anyone has a suggestion of a good webcomic that I should check out, please let me know.
• From the City Paper: Social Studies: “Ho Down” and The Cool of Birth
• May the Farce Be With You – a look at the upcoming Robot Chicken/George Lucas collaboration
• Silly song? Yeah… maybe.
  Silly video? Yeah.
  But, damn and a half if I still don’t like Walk the Dinosaur. It makes me bum wiggle.
• OldSuperstitions.com – The Largest List of Superstitions on the Web
• By way of The Guardian Unlimited: Fascist America, in 10 easy steps
• Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! is coming to Salt Lake City in June. Details here.
• To seek the sacred river Alph
  To walk the caves of ice
  To break my fast on honeydew
  And drink the milk of Paradise…
• Steampunk guitar
• From the “Things that make you go ‘Hmmm’ ” file: Satan responsible for illegal immigration, saysUtah delegate

Out-of-Context Quote of the Day

: You don’t need lube for grab-ass.

Namaste.

This post is going to be full of comic-related items – and a few other things – so, if that’s not your particular cup of tea, roll on.

• Two words: The Brood.
  Five more words: “I think I covet this.”
  Additionally, Tyranist thinks that X-Men 4: The Brood would be a good idea.  I agree… as long as they don’t let Brett Ratner helm it.  When I asked him who should direct, he said, “[Bryan] Singer.”  When I mentioned that I thought that Mr. Singer’s plate is a little full at the moment, he suggested Joss Whedon.
• For and Tyranist: Zombie Stilts
• Zeroes
• 18 September 2007.  That’s the release date for Superman: Doomsday (trailer), the animated adaptation of “The Death and Return of Superman,” from the early 1990s.  Given a couple of scenes in the trailer, I don’t know how – if at all – this is supposed to tie in with the rest of the DCAU; hopefully, that will be answered in time.
• And since I’m on the subject of Superman: How It Should Have Ended Comics: “Frustration“
• For , and : “I challenge you!”
• From Campbell’s Condensed Newspaper – First Look: Downey forges a bond with Iron Man role
• ::: INTERMISSION :::
• Who is Ronin?
• Derek: Do you know anything about Matt and Kim?
• Peter the Pirate Squid
• Fruit snacks!
• Gail Simone talks about Wonder Woman and Birds of Prey

And that’s a wrap… for now.

Namaste.

Saturday – 28 April 2007
“Sundown”

It’s both the name of a Gordon Lightfoot song and today’s episode of Legion of Super Heroes. But, since this is my blog – and it’s a Saturday morning – it’s a fair bet that this post will have very little to do with the song (even though it is a pretty decent song).

This was the first of a two-part episode. It opened strongly, with the Legion taking on the Fatal Five… and getting trounced. While newly-elected leader Bouncing Boy is still reeling from this, an emergency alert is broadcast: The Legion is called to a weapons depot to keep a weapon from being released. No one, not even the guards, know what the weapon is; they just know that it can’t get out. The LSH arrives on the scene and searches for the weapon – which is trying to break free of the facility. Artificial intelligence, go figure. After the weapon goes a couple of rounds with various Legionnaires, Brainiac 5 identifies it: A sun-eater. The sun-eater breaks free and begins a journey towards a nearby star to feed. One problem: It’s a red star, meaning that Superman will be powerless. Undaunted, the LSH pursues and takes on the sun-eater again. The fight was well-choreographed and the characterizations were pretty solid, too. We also got to see Sun Boy in action – for the first time that I’m aware of.

The conclusion airs next week; the previews show a LOT of LSH-related characters engaging the even more-power sun-eater.

As long-time Legion fans know, the sun-eater crisis also involved the death of a Legionnaire: Ferro Lad. In the original comic story, Superboy was going sacrifice himself to detonate a bomb in the sun-eater’s core. He was subdued by Ferro Lad, who carried the bomb to the sun-eater. I will be interested to see if the next episode follows through with this and, if so, how they will treat it.

Long Live the Legion!