Random Access

The ‘Clix tournament was fun, Keith came up with a scenario that he called “Dead Clix Walking!” I took a box full of ‘Clix that I thought would be fun to play. I finally settled on a martial artist-themed team:

• Bronze Tiger
• Elektra (Human), with the Infiltrate feat
• Gamora
• Iron Fist
• Ronin and
• Scandal Savage

It turned out to be a good team, despite the lack of figures with Telekinesis, which would have been VERY nice for advancing figures across the board. I went 2-1 for the day (one win, one loss and a bye – for a win) and got the Fellowship prize: Edward Nigma LE figure.

After the tourney, I hurried home to watch…

Baltimore Ravens at Tennessee Titans
13 – 10
The AFC #6 Seed Baltimore Ravens, following a short week – they played on Sunday – went to LP Field to take on the AFC #1 Seed, Tennessee Titans. I missed the first quarter, due to a scheduling conflict with a ‘Clix tournament. Fortunately, there were only two scores: A Titans’ touchdown, followed by a Ravens’ TD. The second quarter saw a little more action, including a helmet-jarring Ray Lewis tackle. Samari Rolle picked off a Kerry Collins pass three minutes into the quarter, but Baltimore wasn’t able to convert and turned the ball overs on downs. The Titans proceeded to march the ball downfield, all the way to the Baltimore 17 yard line… and then fumbled the ball. Baltimore held onto the ball and ended the quarter tied 7-7. After a couple of fruitless drives by both teams early in the third quarter, Titans’ kicker Rob Bironas missed a 51-yard field goal. This gave Baltimore good field position, but they were unable to capitalize on it. Again. The third quarter was also scoreless. The fourth quarter opened with a Ravens’ field goal, which the Titans answered, two drives later. Matt Stover tacked on another three points for the Ravens with 00:57 left in the quarter, putting Baltimore ahead 13-10. The Titans went four-and-out on their final drive, with 00:12 left on the clock, allowing Joe Flacco to take a knee… and the Ravens take home a win. This was fairly typical of a Ravens-Titans game – low score, lots of defense and a LOT of attitude. There were sixteen or seventeen penalties, between the two teams, most of them belonging to Tennessee. With the penalties, miscues and turnovers, the Titans effectively shot themselves in the foot and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. With this win, the Ravens will play in the AFC Championship against the winner of tomorrow’s San Diego-Pittsburgh game.

And now the Panthers are hosting and playing – if you can call it that – the Arizona Cardinals in Bank of America Stadium. I don’t know what happened to them since last week, but this hardly looks like the Panthers team I’ve seen in the past few weeks.

Saturday – 10 January 2009
After work, I came home and purchased and downloaded the CoH Mac edition. I set up the installer and then went off to coffee. When I got home, everything was ready for me to log into City. I opted to watch a little of The Late Late Show… which turned into The Late Late Show watching me. *sigh* I got into bed about 12:30.

And was up at 8:00 this morning.

That’s not an entirely “bad” thing. There’s a tournament this afternoon and this affords me an opportunity to figure out who I want to use in it. And, I can watch Batman: The Brave and the Bold while doing it. Win-Win.

Stray Toasters

• The Ravens-Titans game is at 2:30. I’m going to miss part of it, because of the tourney… but I’ll be watching as much of it as possible. And, I can always record the game, if I choose.
• put in an appearance at Clitorati last night. It was fun hanging out with him. In a not-so-odd twist, we started talking about football, while at coffee… and a guy at the next table joined in the conversation. The odd twist: He was from Cleveland and a Browns fan, too.
• Cars: Inside the Rocket-Proof Obamamobile
• Hotel 747 now boarding

Time for some Honeycomb and cartoonage, methinks.

Namaste.

Friday  – 09 January 2009
The weekend is within sight. Yesterday wasn’t a bad day, in accordance with NBN Thursday bylaws. There were a few issues, mostly resulting from some office/cubicle moves, but those were easy to deal with.

After dinner, Logan came over and watched Hellboy II: The Golden Army with us. Then he mopped the floor with me at Madden 09.

Stray Toasters

• I’ve had a couple people point out that CoH is now available on the Mac. (I don’t recall if I posted anything about it, but I’ve been playing the Open Beta for a few weeks.) The full City of Heroes Special Mac Edition is out… which means that the game is now playable on live servers. I’m still a little torn as to whether I want to spend $20 for the download (which comes with a few exclusive items) or just get the upgrade patch to go from the Beta to the Live version (no exclusive content).  Decisions, decisions…
• sent a link to the “I’m a Hero. I’m a Villain” parody ad:

• (who got it from ) sent a link to this picture and to this xkcd comic.
• Radical cheap: $1000 homes
• also sent a link to Henry Rollins: A Love Letter to Ann Coulter (some of the audio is NSFW)

• Dragon made of cake
• HDMI == good
• Yo-Yo Ma Brings Remix Culture to Music’s Ivory Tower
• EGM Magazine shutting down
• In today’s “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” news:
  • 6-Year-Old Says Grand Theft Auto Taught Him to Drive a
  • US man who gave kidney to wife includes it in divorce claim
  • Electric Batch Duckie

Namaste.

Thursday – 08 January 2009
I don’t think that I have ever been so glad to see the end of a workday as I was yesterday. Getting home, I flopped down on the couch for a couple hours of downtime – and dinner – before taking on more of the living room/dining room cleanup.

Four-Color Coverage
I read yesterday’s comic haul, which was laughably light: Four books. I picked up the Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits TPB, too. This week’s books included:

• Black Lightning: Year One #1 – The character Black Lightning debuted in April of 1977, DC Comics is now going back to look at his origin/history. This issue shows Jefferson Pierce returning to his hometown, a neighborhood of Metropolis… only to find that it has become less the place of his childhood – and the “City of Tomorrow” – and fallen prey to crime, gangs and an apathetic populace. What can one man do to take back his community? Here’s where we find out.
• Incognito #1 – Meet Zach Andersen, a criminal in witness protection who just met his new handler. To say that there is “friction” between them is a gross understatement.  We see what happens when Zach tries to “escape” the drudgery of his day-to-day life… and the possibilities it opens up for him.
• Superman/Supergirl: Maelstrom #5 – This issue wrapped up the mini-series, with the final showdown between Superman and Supergirl vs. Maelstrom and the Female Furies. It also showed some growth in Supergirl’s development from frustrated (though super-powered) teen to someone who wants to do more to protect her new home… even if she can’t save everyone.
• X-Men Noir #2 – I’m enjoying this take on the X-mythos, seeing the Brotherhood as a “secret society” within the NYPD and the X-Men as hoods and thugs. There were nods to a lot of names in the X-universe, even if the characters themselves didn’t appear.

Stray Toasters

• The American Gallery of Juror Art
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: US porn industry seeks multi-billion dollar bailout
• Obama, Bush and ex-presidents have ‘historic moment’
  
• Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators… or, as lj user=”m2ke” put it: Russian. Nuclear. Lighthouses.
• 
• Jan 8, 1790: Father Knows Best — Embrace Science
• America limps along after Bush, by the numbers
• FTC wants to hear from you about DRM
• HOWTO: Make an electrified steampunk Monopoly

NBN Thursday. Selah.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 06 January 2009
Another cold and snowy day in the Land Behind the Zion Curtain. “Snowy” may be a little bit of an exaggeration; there are flurries, though.

Getting back into the swing of things around the office.  And it seems that we’ve acquired a new team member, too.

Stray Toasters

• I’ve started watching – and enjoying – Planet Earth on the Discovery Channel. It looks amazing in HD.
• Understanding Islam Through Virtual Worlds launch in NYC, Jan 29
• MacWorld 2009 Keynote
  • ArsTechnica
  • Engadget
  • Gizmodo
• Atheist bus ads roll in London
• In “What’s Happening with LiveJournal?” news: The Russian Bear Slashes a Social Network
• Shanghai recreated in dice and poker chips
• Golf can be bad for hearing
• By way of – GOP senator wants to tighten alcohol rules

Namaste.

Sunday – 04 January 2008
It’s been a good – and busy – weekend… with a good bit of traveling thrown in, for good measure.

Yesterday, SaraRules went to her quilt club; I slept in a little. Then I remembered that I wanted to take the car in for an oil change and to finally replace the center cap on the front driver’s side wheel. So, off I went. They changed the oil. They replaced a burned-out tail light. They replaced the center cap… the $103 center cap. *blink blink* Wow. Knew it wasn’t going to be cheap, just didn’t expect it to be quite that much.

Back home to pack – we were heading to Cedar City for the wedding reception for Skott (brother of Tom Chandler) and Shannon (fiance of brother of Tom Chandler). It was a small affair, but nice. It was good to see Tom and Jo – the only people I knew there, although I met other members of the family. We also picked up a few more things from SaraRules’ storage unit, before the reception. In the dark. In the COLD. Oh so bitter cold. Something in the neighborhood of 6°F. Yeah…. That cold. We drove back last night.

This morning, we got up and headed to IKEA to pick up a MALM 6-drawer chest (medium brown). We got there about 9:50, thinking that the restaurant opened at 9:30 and the store at 10:00. WRONG. On Sundays, they open at 10:30 and 11:00, respectively. Verdammt!  I wanted to be home for kickoff. *sigh* So, we sat in the car for :40, while waiting for the store to open. We went in, had breakfast and shopped. On the way through the store, I decided to look for a yellow/amber MÄKTA sphere… and found one! That’s right, I’m going to have a Sinestro Corps shelf – as well as the GLC shelf – in one of the display cases. I needed another light, so I got a set of NON lights. They come in a two-pack, but that turns out to be good, as both lights are wired to a single switch – saving the need for another cord/plug. We picked up the chest of drawers and a few other items and headed home for…

Football! The Ravens-Dolphins Wild Card game. We got home about halfway through the second quarter. (Fortunately, Kris was watching the game and was texting me info about it.) The game was amazing:

Baltimore Ravens at Miami Dolphins
27 – 9
The Ravens went on the road to take on the Miami Dolphins in Dolphin Stadium. The last time they played each other this season, the Ravens came away with a 20-3 win. The first quarter was apparently a defensive struggle – both teams only scored one field goal. The second quarter saw a little more action. With 6:56 left in the quarter, FS Ed Reed picked off a Chad Pennington pass and ran it back for a 64-yard TD. Matt Stover kicked another FG, with 21 seconds left in the quarter, to give the Ravens a 13-3 lead going into the half. After a couple of fruitless drives by both teams early in the third quarter, Ravens’ DE Marques Douglas forced a fumble, which was recovered by Terrell Suggs. This wound up leading to RB Le’Ron McLain rushing TD. On Miami’s next drive, Ed Reed picked off another pass. Baltimore wasn’t able to capitalize on this, however. In the fourth, Pennington connected with Ronnie Brown for a spectacular one-handed TD catch. This seemed to put a little more wind in the Dolphins’ sails. Both teams had a couple of three-and-out drives, but Baltimore was able to seal the win when QB Joe Flacco ran in a 5-yd touchdown. With this win, the Ravens move into the fourth AFC playoff spot. Saturday, they take on the Tennessee Titans in Adelphia Stadium.

After the game, we went to the Utah Museam of Fine Arts to see Wrapped in Pride: Kente Cloth. It was a fascinating exhibit.

We went to visit SaraRule’s parents. We watched the end of the Philadelphia-Minnesota game. And then watched Day of the Dead, which I haven’t seen in many moons. SIDENOTE: The music at the beginning of the movie sounded familiar, but I couldn’t really place it… until Miguel started yelling “Hello…?!  Is anybody there?!” Then it clicked for me. Immediately. It is used at the start of Gorillaz’ M1A1, from their debut CD. It had never occured to me to see where it had come from and I hadn’t previously put two and two together.

Four-Color Coverage
Friday, I was chatting with Markyn Time, who recommended that I stop what I was doing, pick up my copy of Justice Society of America #22 and read it. Immediately. Because, in his opinion, it was one of the best JSA arcs he’s read.

I didn’t. Instead, I went to coffee.
I did read it after I got back, though. And he was right.

This issue tied up both the Gog storyline and the Earth-22 Superman storyline. And it did both wonderfully. And… AND… it also had not only a great tie-in to Kingdom Come, but also to what I think was the v2 (“Rebooted“) Legion. All of this… and an amazing last page, too.

I was glad that I saved this book for my last read from this week’s haul.
It was just that good.

Stray Toasters

• Obama Moves to Counter China with Pentagon-NASA Link
• Facebook’s War on Nipples
• The Exact Cause of the Zune Meltdown
• From Wizard: Best of ’08 – Best Hero: Captain America
• Opening titles of B-Movies
• Apple IIe Emulator Released for the Wii

Tomorrow, the grind begins again… but, I still have a few hours of vacation to enjoy.

Namaste.

Tuesday: Coda
Today was a very lazy, lie-about day.

Around 4:00, I finally got under way to change my cable box for an HD box. I headed to the Comcast office, figuring that the whole thing should take under ten minutes. What I hadn’t accounted for was the line of people who would also be waiting for service. I was there for forty-five minutes. But, when I left, not only did I have an HD cable box, I had an HD box with a built-in DVR. Welcome to the 21st Century.

This evening, Chris and I played ‘Clix. We’d discussed terms a couple of weeks ago: The Green Lantern Corps versus the Sinestro Corps, 1600 points. I played the GLC, Chris played the fear-mongers. The game wound up running nearly three hours. Chris won, but it was a win by attrition – I took out seven of his characters, while he took out nine or ten of  mine. I conceded the game when I was down to Kyle Rayner versus Superman Prime, Lyssa Drak, Cyborg Superman and Amon Sur. However, considering that most of my force came from older sets – their stats don’t *quite* match up to newer figures’ stats – I’m proud that I was able to hold out as long as I did. We’re going to have a rematch, but we’re flipping sides and will have a slightly different point value. I’m looking forward to it.

After the game, I stopped by to visit SaraRules for a while before heading home. I’d missed seeing her earlier in the day, thanks/no thanks to the line at Comcast… and my inability to get up off my lazy tuckus and get to Comcast.

I came home, turned on the TV and started flipping channels. I found Star Trek: Deep Space Nine on Spike. I stopped there, as they were showing one of my all-time favorite episodes: The Visitor. It is one of the few episodes – of any show – that can (and usually does) make me cry. Every time. It is definitely one of the most well-written episodes of the Star Trek franchise.

Tomorrow, 2008 comes to an end. What a year it’s been.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 24 December 2008
Christmas Eve.

For those of you who didn’t receive one in the mail, here is this year’s Christmas card:

(click image to see the inside of the card)

Last night, after she got off work, SaraRules came over and we set up the Christmas tree. (Thanks, again, to OnlyAly and !) We even took a few pictures of it.

Later in the evening, SaraRules’ sister, Meliko, flew into town. We went over to the parents’ to hang out with her for a bit, as she will be gone by the time we get back. While SaraRules and her folks went to the airport, , Logan and I hung out at the house and watched Time Warp. It was nice to hang out with the family, if only for a couple hours, before I had to come home and pack.

In a few hours, SaraRules and I will begin our trek eastward for the long holiday weekend. We should arrive on the Right Coast about 8:30 PM, just in time to get home to hang out with the family-unit for some “holiday cheer” before the arrival of St. Nick.

Stray Toasters

• Since it’s almost Christmas, that means it’s time for my favorite Christmas song: Bing Crosby and David Bowie – Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy
  David Bowie |MTV Music
• Both Bret and made the same “short end of the stick” comment. Hm…
• Will Obama Bolster Captain America?
• Zimbabwe: Tutu ‘Ashamed’ of South Africa over Mugabe
• Attack of the Fan Videos – WormyT’s homemade trailer for a Thundercats movie.
  (There’s a lot of work that went into this; it looks pretty good.)
• …and since we already have a flashback to one cartoon, why not throw in another, for good measure?
• 5×10-foot Hoth base diorama includes teeny tiny minifig footprints
• THREE CAMERAS!
• Remember when getting one of these was the sign of “a good Christmas?”  (With a nod to Lexus…)
• Joysticks as coat hooks
• ‘Wall of Water’ Traps Motorists on Maryland Road

That’s about it for now; time to take care of a few last-minute items.

Although I’ll probably touch base again before tomorrow, I’d like to wish everyone a “Merry Christmas,” I hope that it is both safe and fun for you and your families.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 23 December 2008
Vacation: Day 2.

I slept in again this morning… until a little after 9:00. told me that I’m “…not fully recognizing the depth of sleeping that [I] can attain…. true sleeping-in enlightenment can only be reached beyond the noon hour” I reminded him that sleeping in until 9:00 IS sleeping in for me and that I only really sleep past noon when I cross timezones.

Last night, SaraRules and I ran a couple of errands, including visiting Kate, Perry and the kids and dropping off their Christmas presents. We came back to the apartment with every intention of trimming the tree and whatnot. Never happened. We sat down on the couch and wound up vegging the rest of the evening away. So, we’ll be doing that this evening.

Four-Color Coverage
I finally read the final chapter of Fables (Volume 1): Legends in Exile last night; I was waiting to finish it so that I could review the whole book.

The story is set “in a fictional land called New York City.” It seems as though a member of the Fabletown community has been murdered. That, in and of itself, is not so unusual; the strangeness lies in the Dramatis Personae:

• Snow White, Deputy Mayor and Director of Operations of Fabletown
• Bigby Wolf, former house-blow-in’er and current Sheriff of Fabletown
• Rose Red, the victim of the aforementioned murder… and sister of Snow White
• Prince Charming, insouciant gadabout and womanizer (and ex-husband of Ms. White and Cinderella) and
• King Cole, Mayor of Fabletown

Bill Willingham, using these – and other characters – takes an interesting look at the lives of characters whom we all know from fables and folklore… out of their known realms and in “the real world,” while putting together the pieces of Rose Red’s murder. It’s an excellent re-imagining, if you will, of folklore characters, much in the same vein as Neil Gaiman did with many of his characters in The Sandman. I picked up the Fables Volume 2: Animal Farm TPB last week. I will most likely delve into it over the Christmas holiday.

If you’re looking for a solid read, with a few familiar faces, I recommend Fables.
And, thanks to Dwim for suggesting that I read it.

Stray Toasters

• By way of , who got it from shockpuppet: 11 Words That Sound Offensive, but Aren’t
• Glennz Tees



• I’m contemplating modding a Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) ‘Clix into a Shado figure.
• Micronauts
• Amid Recess/Depression/Whatever, a Boom for Crafting?
• Cake Wrecks

Time to go take on the day.

Namaste.

Friday – 19 December 2008
And it’s almost vacation-time. Amen.

I wound up not going to the gym yesterday… but I still got a workout (of sorts): All of the equipment that we moved last week?  We moved it to more permanent locations. In about 3 hours. It wasn’t an entirely pretty process, but the results don’t look half bad.

Last night, SaraRules and I went to Gardner Village to pick up a few Christmas gifts… and to stroll (briefly) around the grounds and look at the lights. Briefly because it was cold and windy. But, the trip was otherwise successful. After that, we had dinner at Olive Garden. I had the Chicken Carbonara with a glass of Kendal Jackson Riesling; SaraRules had the Apricot Chicken.

Last night’s sleep was… broken. Very broken. I woke up at least three times between 3 AM and 6:30 AM. For no apparent reason that I can discern. Oh, well. I don’t have to get up for anything tomorning, so I’ll try to make it up tonight.

Stray Toasters

• Sweet Game-loving Jesus: The CoH Mac client is in beta testing. *downloading*
• By way of SaraRules – The Sartorialist: On Zoot Suits, Baggies, Stacy Adams & 125th Street
• Since the Satorialist’s post references them…  Ladies and Gentlemen, I give to you… The Time
  Morris Day |MTV Music
• For Meliko: McCarthyism
• Help select the 100 greatest Looney Toons
• 
• Father punishes son with public humiliation

Namaste.

Thursday – 18 December 2008
It’s snowing. So far, I haven’t seen any driving issues that compare with the ones from Tuesday; let’s hope that it stays that way.

Last night, I went home and started reading some of yesterday’s four-color haul; more on that below. SaraRules came over a little later. She quilted; I read. It was a nice, quiet evening. Logan came over around 9:00 to hang out. We watched a show called Time Warp – which featured Cirque de Soliel – and MythBusters, which aired their Top 10 Viewer Favorite Myths.

Four-Color Coverage
I somehow neglected to grab a copy of Tiny Titans when I picked up yesterday’s haul. *shakes fist* Otherwise, the comics were something of a mixed bag. Among the standouts were:

• DC Universe Holiday Special 2008 – I don’t often pick up holiday special issues, but I was curious about this one. I’m glad that I picked it up. It contained eight or nine (maybe even 10, but I forget the actual number) stories, ranging from 4 to 8 pages. Among them were “the super secret origin of Santa Claus,” an Aquaman (yes, THAT Aquaman) story that reflected the nativity, an excellent Gotham City story, featuring Commissioner Gordon, a Nightwing and Robin story that touched on their family tie, and one of the better stories I’ve read featuring Dr. Light II.



• Justice League of America: The Nail – This is an Elseworlds title from 1998, yet I had never read it until last night. Its premise was simple: What would the DCU have been like without Superman.

  

  It was a good read – I found myself juxtaposing it with Marvel’s Civil War and Secret Invasion, as The Nail dealt with issues of fear and isolationism in a not too dissimilar manner than the Marvel series. There is a sequel, JLA: Another Nail, that I will have to look for.

Stray Toasters

• Maddox is expanding his empire: The Best SHOW in the Universe.
• ‘Nanny’ state: Fran Drescher seeks Clinton’s Senate seat
• 
  
• Timecrimes director Masters Creepy Sci-Fi on a Shoestring
• I was wrong – shortly after I typed the “no driving issues” comment above, the “fun” started. (Pictures) It took the black car almost a half-hour to get from the first picture to the fourteenth one.
• Want a retired space shuttle? They’re up for grabs
• Gingerbread Revolution, by way of

Meeting time!

Namaste.

Wednesday – 17 December 2008
The roads are/were much less treacherous this morning than yesterday. This is a good thing. After yesterday morning’s traffic snafu, you would think that UDoT would have made sure that the roads were well-salted. It just makes sense. Apparently, no one got the memo at UDoT, though. We saw a few slides and even a 360 around 3:30 PM, long after the morning lack-of-rush hour.

As a corollary, by way of : “Cars Sliding Down Icy Hill”

Last night, Chris came over to play ‘Clix. We decided to play a 600 point game, but I neglected to put a team together until a few minutes before game time. I wound up using:

• Bronze Tiger
• Captain America (Ultimates)
• Deathstroke
• Lex Luthor
• Marvel Girl
• Moon Knight and
• Nightshade

…against his X-Men themed team of:

• Bishop
• Magneto (Ultimates)
• Professor X
• Psylocke, with three Feats (which I don’t recall) and
• Wolverine, with Vault

Through attrition, I wound up winning. He said that I “…built a team to be mean,” (since I had two characters with Outwit) which wasn’t what I was trying to do at all – I just built a 600-point team. So, he said that he’s going to build Batman into whatever team he plays from now on… which I usually expect him to do. *shrug* I’ll just have to deal with (or get beat down by) The Bat when he shows up.

Stray Toasters

• By way of SaraRules: Laurence Fishburne’s Starring Role on CSI: Could Be a Boon for Black Actors
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Cake request for Adolf Hitler, 3, denied
• Steve Jobs Skips MacWorld; Apple Denies Health Rumors
• 
  
• By way of NPR Music:
  • NPR Listeners Pick the Year’s Best Music
  • The 10th Annual CD, er, MP3 Gift Guide
  • The Best African Music of 2008
  • Living Your Life with 2008’s Best in Jazz
  • Invoking Improv: Best Classical CDs of 2008
• Also by way of SaraRules: RuPaul: The Obamas Are a Drag
• FBI: Drunk flier forces diversion of JetBlue flight
• , I don’t know if you read Newsarama, but they have a Legion Blogpost

Namaste.

Tuesday – 16 December 2008
Happy birthday to

It was snowing when I woke up this morning. However, since I didn’t look out the window, I didn’t know it until I opened the door and walked outside. The morning commute roughly doubled in duration thanks to the still-falling snow. When I got in, a few of us looked out the window at the shenanigans on 215.

(click images for larger versions)

We didn’t see any accidents or injuries.

The Council for Better Driving: Utah would like to remind every to drive cautiously in the inclement weather.

Stray Toasters

• I like this picture of Dawnstar; it’s from the upcoming Legion of 3 Worlds #5
• By way of : Rare Snow in U.S. Deep South
• Pentagon Researcher Conjures Warcraft Terror Plot
• For those who haven’t seen it yet, here’s the trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine

• Kenneth Brannagh Talks Thor: Directing and Casting
• Marking a Milestone: McDuffie on Milestone Characters’ Return

Namaste.

Sunday – 14 December 2008
Quiet, lazy morning following a quiet, lazy evening. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that.

After running a few Christmas shopping errands in the snow yesterday, SaraRules and I came back to my place, put our feet up and vegged in front of the TV. We watched an episode of NCIS from a couple of weeks back; it was good… and it ended a little differently than I was expecting. That was followed by the middle third of The Year Without a Santa Claus – I switched over just as they were starting the Snow Miser song. WIN! After that, we flipped back and forth between Superman: The Animated Series (The Last Son of Krypton, Pt 3, A Little Piece of Home and Feeding Time) and Justice League Unlimited (The Balance). I am very lucky that SaraRules doesn’t mind me being a big kid sometimes often.

We also decided to skip heading back out for breakfast last night. (Something about being in… and warm… and comfortable vs. heading back out in the cold – kind of a no-brainer there.)

This morning, we’ve watched the CBS and Fox pre-game shows. And the early games have just started. But, what I’m waiting for is the middle game: Pittsburgh at Baltimore.

Stray Toasters

• Yesterday afternoon, a couple pieces of plastic crack arrived on my doorstep in my mailbox:
  • Clown Prince of Crime (1, 2, 3, 4)

    
    (Just for size reference, that’s a 4″ base that he’s standing on)

  • Wonder Woman (Justice Legion A)

    

• The Year 2008 in Lists: The 12 Biggest Douchebags of the Year
• From Comic Book Resources’ “Comics Should Be Good” column: Bloody Saturday – a look at why Punisher movies haven’t been so good.
• No Limit Texas Dreidel
• By way of Evil, Inc.‘s Brad Guigar: Sweetcheeks
• 30 Ways to Die of Electrocution
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” and Politics files: McCain-Palin campaign dumps Blackberries loaded with personal numbers, internal email

On with the show…

Namaste.

Saturday – 13 December 2008
Yep, it’s snowy. I’m not sure when it started snowing, but it dropped a few inches here in the valley and on the mountains.

This morning, I had a ‘Clix tourney: 900 points, unrestricted rules and no single figure under 150 points – although, you could add feats to characters to get them up to 150. I went with:

• Batman (Sinestro Corps)
• Crispus Allen LE (The Spectre)
• Dr. Strange
• Ms. Marvel (Skrull) and
• Sinestro

My first match was against Shane, who fielded three (3) Superman variants:

• Earth-2 Superman
• Kingdom Come Superman and
• Superman Prime.

Just looking at the table, I knew that was a loss waiting to happen. It was.

Next, I played against Ryan, who fielded four versions of Dr. Doom:

• Doom (2099)
• Doom (Secret Invasion)
• Doom (Supernova) and
• Victor Von Doom

I was able to take out both 2099 Doom and the Victor Von Doom… but lost on points in this one.

Last round was against Duane, who fielded a non-themed team:

• Batman (Sinestro Corps)
• Grodd (Sinestro Corps)
• Ms. Marvel (Skrull)
• Superman Prime

I lost this one on points, again, but it was a good fight. So, I wound up going 0-3, but I had fun. It seems that since I’ve changed my game strategy to “playing to have fun,” rather than “going to try to pummel someone into submission,” I’ve been enjoying the tournaments more… even when I lose.

Next up: Christmas shopping with SaraRules.

Later: Aside from trying to stay warm, who knows?

Namaste.