Wednesday
I slept in this morning. A little more than I had intended, but I can’t really complain since it was restful.

We met with the home inspector this afternoon. He gave it a pretty good bill-of-health. There are a few minor things that he pointed out, but nothing that made us wince. I was able to get a few measurements that I had been wondering about, too. The new HALO Command Center will be a little smaller than the current one (by maybe five square feet)… but it will be all mine.

I headed to work for a bit after that, but my head wasn’t in “work mode.” And I wasn’t about to try and force it. So…

Jess and I headed to Home Despot(!) to price out some of the things we noted during the inspection review. I think that we hit a new record for “Least Amount of Time Spent in a Home Improvement Store Since Deciding to Buy a House.” We were there for thirty minutes, if that long.

And, tonight is a coffee night. Selah.

Stray Toasters

  • By way of : RPG Session…
    (It’s roughly 00:45:00 long… but she said it’s worth it).

  • From : Overclocked Remix
  • Tony Whitt, a columnist for Cinescape, wrote an editorial last week entitled: Comicscape – Superman: Out of Date or Timeless? In it, he looked at whether Superman is something of an anachronism or if he, without changing the character, is “viable” in terms of America and the world today. Apparently, it sparked a lot of responses – he will be breaking them into two categories:
    • This week: “Superman is Timeless: The Arguments Against Change”

      Frank Sinatra (no, not that one) writes, “I have to admit I’m a little torn on this one. I do believe that “Big Blue” should have more character development. As the majority of comic book readers move into their 30s and 40s, there is a growing demand for newer directions in comics; more plot and story substance is clearly what sells today (look at the growing popularity of writers like Brian Michael Bendis, Geoff Johns, and J. Michael Straczynski). However, I do not feel that the ideals he stands for should be wiped away so quickly…I love the fact that Superman has developed into a hero whose motivation for doing good lie in his roots in Kansas; that he is not a strange visitor from another planet, but a citizen of Metropolis and the world. This sense of duty and responsibility – the good that he does – helps to give him substance, not make him obsolete for our times. In comics, he is the ultimate role model, calling us to greater things in our own lives and having us reach beyond our grasp.

      “Regardless of the state of our nation and the world, there still needs to be people willing to aspire to truth, justice and the American way. Superman is the symbol of all those things. While these ideals were developed in our past, they should also be the goals of our future. They are what made our country great and while things change, we cannot truly abandon them, nor should we stop striving for them.”

      On a different note, Britton McDonald writes, “As a bit of a comic historian, I find it interesting that people always comment on what Superman ‘is’ rather than what he became. When Superman was first published, he never fought supervillains; he would use what many would say were questionable tactics (including threats of physical harm) to catch or interrogate criminals, and was more concerned about crime that affected ‘the little people.’ Surely this was a comic book hero leftover from the progressive era. So when people talk about Superman being the symbol of America, they are really talking about what the character became.”

      Mark Onspaugh, who writes, “I’m one of those baby boomers who read DC in the Silver Age (and only DC, mind you – tho’ I’m reading Marvel now). Superman was one of the easier books to read – it offered a lot of fantasy for a kid of eight, and who wouldn’t have wanted that array of powers?”

      “I don’t want Superman in a new costume, or Krypton to be intact, or the fortress designed by someone smarter than Superman – Superman is comfort food – and if you can spice up the mac and cheese once in a while, so much the better…

      I like Superman the way he is – you can redecorate your house, but never to the extent you are uncomfortable. For me, reading Superman’s adventures is like coming home… And I may be 50, but I still wish I could fly.”

      M. Ali Choudhury: “SUPERMAN requires only the sweep and invention and vision that myth demands, and the artistry and directness and clean hands that Romance requires. SUPERMAN is about someone trying their best to save the world, one day at a time; and it’s about that person’s love for that one whose intellect and emotion and sheer bloody humanity completes him. It’s about Superman, and it’s about Lois and Clark. And that’s all there is. That’s the spine. That must be protected to the death, not lost in a cannonade succession of continuing stories. That’s what, in the continuing rush to top the last plotline, I see getting lost. I understand, accept and even to an extent agree with what’s going on; the SUPERMAN creators are trying to keep the books vital, keep them moving, keep those sales spikes coming. But they seem to me to be getting away from the sheer wonder of the Superman myth.”

    • Next week: “Superman Is Behind The Times: The Arguments For Change”
  • Extra Ugly: Shirts with Attitude
  • I actually updated my Backwash journal.
    For the first time since the beginning of May.
    Who would have thought it possible?!

  • Trickle Up
  • The Toymaker

And with a tip of his hat and a wave of his cane, he turned and walked away.

Namaste.