The Last Random Thoughts of 2005

Well, I meant to finish all my reviews and do a retrospective of the year before heading off to the New Years parties... heck, I intended to get all my writing done earlier this week. But time snuck up on me, and I ended up busier than expected with "real life". So I don't have any reviews for you, just a final linkdump. I plan to be home before the new year hits us with a loud thwack, and I may post again before the end of 2005, but if not: Happy New Year! May 2006 be a much better year for everyone.

New Heroclix Previews: Black Lightning, Geo Force, and Katana... And more previews: Mary Marvel, Manhunter, Speedy...

Local Cover.

Iron Chef Godzilla against challenger King Kong. Via Querldox.

Kaja Foglio has found the move to webcomics to be good all around.

If you haven't already, you can add yourself to my Frappr map.

Another edition of There's No Such Website!

Doctor Who writer, both TV and books, and the guy who wrote me into a book, Paul Cornell is now blogging.

The tortoise and the ... Hippo?

The mystery of Dinner for One.

Steve Martin joins Huffington Post with a rather odd post about leap-seconds.

The Million Dollar Homepage is almost full.

Diane Duane finds Statler and Waldorf on the balcony.

Wil Wheaton apologizes to his parents.

Mt St Helens continues to burble.

A first-person account of the depressurization of flight 536. KIRO TV also has a video taken in the cabin, after the initial panic, that shows the Alaska employees keeping everything calm.

How not to spend your winter vacation. I have to wonder at any 16-year-old who has enough money (that according to the article, his parents had given him) to not only get a flight to the Middle East, but then pay for taxi rides and a flight from Lebanon to Baghdad, along with hotels along the way.

For my mother-in-law, a picture of a pug.

The RIAA commits racketeering in Michigan. I have no desire to ever buy an album from anyone associated with the RIAA again. If it means I must go musicless, I think I'd prefer it to letting scum like the RIAA bully people.

And to kick off the celebrations: New Years Superstitions.