Ah, New Year... Time for Drunken Calls from Complete Strangers...

At 9:44pm Seattle time, I got a call from New Jersey. I know a couple of people in New Jersey, but this was not one of them. She slurred out a name that I think was Carol. Can't be entirely sure. I said hello a couple of times, and the third time she slurred out the name, I realized it might be a name, and suggested to her that she had a wrong number. She politely, very slurred, apologized and wished me a very happy New Year. I wished her a happy New Year as well, and hoped she got home safely as she hung up...

CameraPhone Zen

A Grand Day Out

Hubby-Eric and I are on the Seattle-side of the mountains today, and took a day for ourselves. We went to see Avatar in 3D (quick thoughts: gorgeous movie, pity about the plot), then wandered around a mall a bit and had a late lunch, and stopped at a grocery store on the way "home" to see if we could find some stuff unavailable on our side of the mountains (still no chocolate oranges, *sigh*).

I also got to play with a couple of netbooks at Best Buy long enough to figure out that I won't have any trouble adapting to the keyboards if I get one. And I may do that if circumstances continue the way they are now. The current crop of netbooks are as powerful as my laptop and have more hard drive space! I'm at Dell's website putting together my dream netbook every other day it seems.

It was good fun, and I'm glad we had a little time to ourselves today. Originally we had other plans, but they got changed and gave us some together time. Life is good when that happens.

A Sunday Review

TV this week:

• The Prisoner: "Arrival" - The opening bit with the tribute to the old series was neat. If I thought of this as a remake of the original series, I think I'd probably be very disappointed. As it is, I consider it more of a tribute based on the original.
• The Prisoner: "Harmony" - Convincing Six he belongs by producing his brother. The soap opera is pretty funny. This show is very different than the original. Children, for example.
• The Prisoner: "Anvil" - Dreamers and holes. Lots of symbolism there. I thought the pace was as slow as it could get, but it somehow is getting slower in this episode. Nice bit of a subplot involving 2's son.
• The Prisoner: "Darling" - The woman in New York is matched with Six in the Village. This story is actually getting intriguing. Very odd and stylish. Almost as incomprehensible as the original, but I'm beginning to see glimmers of sense.
• The Prisoner: "Schizoid" - The opening to this episode provided the clues needed to figure out what the Village is. I think I've got it. And there's two of six. Er. Now I'm confused again.
• The Prisoner: "Checkmate" - Ok, I know for sure this isn't The Prisoner, because it actually makes sense at the end. Morally ambiguous, but there is definitely some sense there. To sum up my reaction: If you compare it directly to the old show, you may be disappointed. If you take it as a tribute, you may enjoy it if you can handle the exceedingly slow pace during some parts.


• Ghost Lab: "The Blue Ghost" - Pretty cool that one of the Klingons actually served on the USS Lexington. I don't know that it gives him any special access to the ghosts, but I'm sure the ship itself is less daunting to him. The second location looked like fun, but was definitely less impressive as a place. But then, how do you beat the USS Lexington in sheer scale? Ah well, fun episode.
• Robin Hood: "The King Is Dead, Long Live the King..." - This is a very funny version of King John. I admit, after seeing the previews from the last episode, I looked up the succession to find out how Richard had died... and when. So I wasn't surprised at what this episode turned out to be.
• Robin Hood: "A Dangerous Deal" - No king in this one, but Isabella gets to show lots of true colors. Admittedly, I don't really blame her for going crazy with a husband like that. This show is getting interesting as it comes to an end.
• Doctor Who: "The End of Time: Part 1" - No spoilers, but this wasn't what I was expecting. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. I was slightly disappointed by the pacing and the *ahem* hammering home of the theme. The action, when it happened, was fine. And I'm really squicked out by the cliffhanger. Euuwwww!

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Regarding comic books... I've been informed by DCBS that, due to Diamond's change of schedule that is putting Previews out late, I won't be getting my next shipment of comic books *sent* until the week of Jan 6th, which means I won't have my hands on the books until the 12th at the soonest. My last shipment arrived on Dec 15th, so this is going to be almost a month without comic books! Unusual for me, to say the least. While it's tempting to blame DCBS, I've opted for twice a month shipping and they are determined to make sure I have Previews in time to do orders for January. So December's second shipment, which should contain Previews, will contain Previews. But it's really rather annoying.

So here's a moral quandry for you. I have already purchased and paid for the comic books in the shipment. Would it be immoral for me to hunt down scans of those comics from the nasty scan traders and read them on my computer ahead of receiving them at my house? I'm not inclined to do so because it hurts my eyes to read comics on my computer, but I wonder how many think it would be moral versus immoral?

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My library book this week was Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations by Al Franken. I was mildly interested in this book when it came out about 15 years ago, but the title put me off reading it. Now that Franken is a Senator, I thought I'd go back and take a look at it. I've read one Franken book before, I can't remember which one, and was very impressed by the sheer amount of research he'd done. The book substantiated every fact with notes on where it came from, and made clear when Franken was joking versus when he was serious. This book is the same. Franken has a lot to dish out, and makes sure you know the sources of his tidbits. While he may take things out of context, it's impossible to tell, he usually gives enough that the evidence he presents seems fairly damning to those he's quoting. There's an index in this book, and footnotes that aren't all silly (although a lot of them are). The jokes are mildly funny, even being a decade stale. And I'm surprised at just how much of the book applies to what is happening in politics today. Again, this book is silly. It's a comedian's take on politics... but then, jesters were said to be the only ones who could speak the truth. I think Franken proves it here. I may just have to seek out more of his writing, and probably will have to look up some of the quotes he includes in here to see if he gave enough context. But then, some of those quotes are pretty damning in any context. Note: Yes, I am aware that he made up some quotes, but he's pretty clear on which ones are fake and which are real, if you have an IQ over 10 and any level of reading comprehension.

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Past Sunday Reviews -- Comics at Amazon.com -- Previews -- My Wishlist

Just An Aqua-Christmas

Happy Christmas!

That's really all I've got to say today.

Ok, Now I've Got the Christmas Spirit

Because of this article about NORAD tracking Santa, particularly how it started.

LEGO Advent Calendar Day 24 - Final Day!

I was correct, it was Santa... with a fireplace including stockings hung by the chimney with care. Apparently the chainsaw is for cutting wood for the fireplace.

And so, here's my final set of crappy pictures! First up is today's, yesterday's, and the previous two days. So we have utility worker with axe, now holding the chainsaw and sawing a log. We have the Christmas tree from yesterday. And Santa along with the hearth.

And the next two pictures are two angles on the entire lot of this year's LEGO Advent Calendar.



That's it for this year. I hope to be able to do this again next year, and maybe I'll actually be prepared and get the Advent set before it's sold out all over. And maybe I'll dig out my baseplates so I can pose everything a little easier.

'Twas the night before Christmas...

...read by Stan Lee! Check it out right here. Excelsior!

LEGO Advent Calendar Day 23

Final pictures tomorrow, but today's item was a Christmas tree. Not a bad one, but not the best one I've seen. I wonder what tomorrow's item will be? My bet is on Santa Claus, but I've been wrong many times before.

Happy Festivus!

Have you put your aluminum pole up yet? Have you aired your grievances? Good! Because it's time to look ahead to that other holiday as well. I thought I'd share a couple of goodies that turned up in my inbox this morning. First up is a great little short story by J. M. DeMatteis. And to counteract that, the Twelve Days of Pirate Christmas, courtesy of Wil Wheaton.

LEGO Advent Calendar Day 22

A chainsaw with a log sitting on a very poorly designed sawhorse that will be cut through if you cut through the log. The chainsaw is interesting, as it is a *made* chainsaw, not a shaped one-piece minifig tool.

LEGO Advent Calendar Day 21

Day 21 gives us a maintenance man in an orange vest holding an axe. The look on his face is slightly crazed, as well, so I'm not sure what he's supposed to be up to. Maybe he's tired of being run over by remote control cars and is going to smash 'em up?

Sorry that my photo quality is still so bad. But here's a pic of all the items so far, with my added giant Christmas tree:

LEGO Advent Calendar Day 20

Another remote control car along with some orange cones and a checkered flag to make a course for it. I really need to take a picture, but I can't be bothered trying to deal with it now.

A Sunday Review

TV this week:

• Ghost Lab: "Alcatraz" - The Klingons go to Alcatraz! I liked the historical recap at the beginning: I don't recall hearing the bit about how the native tribes considered the island to be haunted before Europeans even arrived. If I have heard it, it never sunk in before. Imagine being one of those soldiers stationed on a haunted island! This episode again emphasizes how much money this team has to play with. They chartered a ferry to take their equipment over? Anyway. Once again the woman is sent as bait. They got EVPs, but none of them were even slightly convincing. The talk with a former guard from Alcatraz was very cool. I could've listened to him a bit longer. Oh well, cool place, ok events.
• Ghost Hunters: "American Legion" - The first place was kind of neat, especially with the events happening during set-up. You always have to wonder if things happen in truly "haunted" places while you are just setting up to hunt ghosts. The second place was way cool (even Eric was interested) because of the historical significance of the Old State House in Hartford, Connecticut. The stories weren't much, but I would have loved to have a tour of that place. Nothing special ghostie-wise this episode, but nice locations, as usual.
• Ghost Hunters Academy: "The Blame Game" - I really don't like the contestants. None of them come across as particularly personable or interesting. And adding in yet another generic young person at this point doesn't impress me. At least the location is interesting. The worst of the crew is definitely Jane, though. I don't like her at all. I think the best would be Ben. Well, I didn't like who left this episode, but I understand completely the reason that person was picked. One reason I wouldn't dream of entering a contest like this would be due to the same reasons.
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold: "The Long Arm of the Law" - Plastic Man is funny, but I'm not really that fond of him. So this turned out to be a very funny episode, but not one that I really enjoyed. Needs more Aquaman.
• Ghost Lab: "Ghost of Blackbeard" - I really hope they got permission before digging under that walkway! Again, I don't really hear much out of the EVPs, certainly not as much as they are hearing. The reaction of the captain of the boat at the second location was unexpected, maybe. They kind of set him up to hear something, and he was already emotionally charged when he listened to the static. In any case, another episode with some good ghost stories but not enough proof.
• Ghost Hunters: "Hindenburg Crash Site" - Fascinating place, and not one that could be properly explored in one night. I'd want at least a week there, and I'd want to do a lot of checking during the day as well. Too many noises in a building that big to say that their evidence was worth anything, but boy it was fun!
• Robin Hood: "Too Hot to Handle" - King John gets to chew the scenery. Much fun. The contrast between Guy and John makes for an amusing episode. As for Isabella... you know what they say about a woman scorned. She's impossible to figure out.
• Ghost Hunters Academy: "Final Exams" - All I could think going into this was "I really hope Jane goes away". I didn't have any strong opinions about the rest of the crew, but I really didn't like Jane. She's the kind of person who would do very well in a reality show where you need to backstab the others, but Ghost Hunting has to be cooperative or else it can get dangerous. The end results were very satisfactory to me. I thought the guys came to the right conclusions about the team members and now I'm actually looking forward to GHI.

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Here are reviews of the DCBS comic book shipment that arrived this week, of books originally released Dec 3rd and 9th:

• Incredibles #3 - The nice moment in this one where the entire family goes on the attack is lovely.
• Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #1 - I got this because of the cover to issue #2, which shows Mera. No Mera in this, but it's not a bad issue despite the lack of aquaness.
• JSA All-Stars #1 - I'm still having trouble keeping the entire team straight, and I'm just not sure about how this split is going to work. Maybe the next issue of JSA will make things more clear?
• Doctor Who Classics Series 2 #13 - I seem to recall part of this storyline, but I'm not sure.


• Muppet Show #0 - A Pigs in Space movie? I found the rat hand-washing jokes to be bland. The executives... well, I should have guessed who they'd be.
• Mangalicious Tick #4 - It's over, and only three issues too long. There were a couple of good moments in this series, but most of it was subpar fanfic.
• DMZ #48 - I really don't like Matty anymore. Sheesh.
• DC Holiday Special 2009 #1 - Good stuff overall. Needs more Aquaman. Of course, the Atlanteans don't celebrate Christmas, but a story setting the Sub-Diego folk that are left against the Atlanteans might have been fun.
• Super Friends #22 - This issue made me cry. Particularly Superman's reference to his actor friend.

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My library book this week was Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd edited by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci. Anthologies are always a mixed bag. I figure if I like more stories than I don't like, the anthology is a win. I'd love to find a multi-author anthology where I love every single story, but I'm not sure such a thing exists. This anthology is very solidly on the "win" side, though. There weren't any truly bad stories in it, although a couple of them just weren't my cuppa. There are fifteen stories in the book, each with an author box at the end of the story. In between each story is a one-page comic strip by either Hope Larson or Bryan Lee O'Malley. The first story, and the one that triggered the anthology, is the tale of a Jedi and a Klingon who wake up together after a wild night at the con. The stories go on from there, each of them having a theme of "being different" and what that means. Definitely a fun book, well worth getting from the library and even a decent book to have on your shelf permanently.

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Agatha Christie this week was Mrs. McGinty's Dead from 1952, also published as Blood Will Tell. An old charwoman is murdered, but months later the policeman in charge of the investigation is not satisfied by the verdict his work produced so he calls in Poirot to find the truth. This is an annoying one. There is so much there to work with that I didn't have a chance of figuring it out. Give me ten months to think on the clues and I still wouldn't have worked it out. Well, maybe. There were some good clues for the reader toward the end. But the case hung on a fact I didn't know. Still, you can't win 'em all. Next up is another Westmacott novel, so I'm bracing myself for a depressing read.

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Fortean Times #254, November 2009. I got this quite awhile ago, badly damaged thanks to the crappy plastic sleeve they are shipping it in now, and put it under some heavy books for awhile to flatten it out enough to read. My complaints about the shipping problems have fallen on deaf ears. I was offered replacement copies, but haven't received any, nor any responses to my latest e-mails. I'm very disappointed in the US distributor of this mag now.

Ahem. The cover story on this issue was mermaids. And the articles do a decent job covering the existence of mermaids in culture and art. As always, I enjoyed the historical sighting reports. The speculation on what might have actually been seen was also fun to read. Overall, a nice look at the history of mermaids and their impact on our culture. And yes, the "reverse" mermaid of Red Dwarf is mentioned. The mermaid coverage also includes details on how to make your own fake mermaid like the Feejee mermaid. I think I'll pass. The thing is hideous.

Strangedays was great, as usual. The variety of topics covered combined with the sheer joy of the subjects makes this section a good read every issue. It's always a testament to the remarkable silliness of humanity.

More silliness is included in the article about the Muggletonian sect of Puritans. The early infighting of the sect is impressive to read about. It makes one wonder how any consensus can ever be reached on matters of faith.

Lots of good book reviews, but nothing I wanted to run out and buy or even put on hold at the library. Ok, maybe the Celtic Myths book by Bill Price that rated a very high 9, but that would be about it. And I loved the other reviews (including reviews of Heroes Season 3 and District 9) and the letter column. Just another good fun issue.

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Past Sunday Reviews -- Comics at Amazon.com -- Previews -- My Wishlist

LEGO Advent Calendar Day 19

At first I couldn't figure today's minifig out, but eventually it came to me. He's a kid (cuz he has the short legs) and he's driving a remote control car.

Pictures tomorrow, I think. Monday if not tomorrow.

I'm watching this one!

As much as I enjoy Mythbusters, I don't go out of my way to watch it. If it's on, I'll gladly watch one I haven't seen before. The nice thing about that show is that you can watch it at any time, in small doses. But the new episode coming up after Christmas...well, just take a look at the preview:

Yup, gonna watch that one!

Comments Are Down?

Apparently Haloscan has been purchased by a company that didn't bother to test their new code before converting old Haloscan users against their will (and charging them money as well), so my commenting is apparently down for the moment until I bother to update my code to Blogger's commenting system. All old comments appear to be lost somewhere in the transfer... and even if I could get at them I cannot upload them into Blogger's system, so they are gone.

So if you have something to say... well, it may take awhile before I can get that working again. I wasn't planning on doing any coding over the holiday, but the new owners of Haloscan seem to prefer hitting people with crap just when they haven't got the time for it. All the more reason to finally give in and go to Blogger's comments. Unfortunately, this means I've got to update at least four, maybe five or six, blogs to get rid of Haloscan. *sigh*

UPDATE: I think I've got Blogger's commenting system working now. Please feel free to comment a bunch to see if I'm right. I'm trying to keep moderation on due to the amount of comment spam I get, but maybe the "new" system will keep some of it away. So... comment, people!

LEGO Advent Calendar Day 18

It's a fountain! Joy! Maybe an ice-fountain in the weather we're having.

LEGO Advent Calendar Day 17

Today was the sanitation worker's wheelbarrow. And he's apparently cleaning up snowballs that that one dude is throwing.

LEGO Advent Calendar Day 16

Today we finally got the sanitation worker. Nothing says "Christmas" like a sanitation worker! Here's the last few days of items:

And here's an overhead shot of everything so far (except for the tree, that's one of our standard decorations that I just added for the heckuvit):

CameraPhone Zen

LEGO Advent Calendar Day 15

A nicely elegant park bench. I shall take pictures tomorrow, I hope.

Yay, Simon's Cat vs Snow!

Appropriate, since it finally started snowing here last night after teasing us with overcast skies and freezing weather for a week.

I Love Improv Everywhere

Read about the mission here.

LEGO Advent Calendar Day 14

Apparently the chef-dude's chef-y stand. It has another mug and some nice flowers.

No Sunday Review

I read a book, watched a little TV, but nothing so important that it cannot wait until next week.

LEGO Advent Calendar Day 13

A guy in a chef's hat holding a mug. I wonder if he's bringing out some hot cocoa to the policeman?

LEGO Advent Calendar Day 12

Picture time again! Today's item confirmed that man-purse guy is actually the postman, as he's got a BIG present to deliver that he is using a crate to carry.

MacGyver Cat for Laura

Laura likes MacGyver. Laura likes cats. Therefore, Laura will like this little video.

LEGO Advent Calendar Day 11

It's a little car, apparently for the man-purse guy/mailman to use!

LEGO Advent Calendar Day 10

Today is a LEGO minifigure with a cap and a man-purse.

The World Is Just Awesome

Spirals Above Norway

Not photoshopped, not faked:

More here, but be sure to check out Phil's Blog for a good guess as to what it is.

LEGO Advent Calendar Day 9

Today we get a traffic light. Yay! Here's a pic for the last three days:

And just for kicks, here's the haul so far:

Ghosts and ... Animal Planet?

It's no mystery to you if you read this blog that I enjoy the ghostie shows, like Ghost Hunters. My own philosophy allows for ghosts, but I'm not convinced that the things people claim to see are spirits of the dead. I'm willing to be convinced, but I've yet to see evidence that could not be faked. I've seen some fairly convincing stuff on Ghost Hunters, but whether or not you believe them to be real depends on whether or not you trust the people doing the show. And that, unfortunately, is just not enough. Nor is the approach of most ghost shows scientific. So I'm always on the lookout for new shows that might have more science.

What you may not know is that I'm also fond of Animal Planet. My favorite reality show is Animal Cops, and I've been watching it somewhat religiously while working at home. It's really good background for my writing.* I love seeing puppies rescued. And seeing cat hoarders always reminds me why I don't need to get a pet for myself. Anyway...

It only seems natural, then, that I'd check out the new ghost show on Animal Planet, called "The Haunted". It features ghost tales that involve animals reacting to ghosts. Happily, I wasn't expecting much because I really didn't get much from it. This show is basically Discovery Channel's "A Haunting" with pets. And if you've ever seen "A Haunting"... well, it's basically an anthology show with poorly acted dramatic re-enactments of ghost stories that purport to be real. And while I don't doubt that the people recounting the tales actually experienced what they described, the overly-dramatized way the stories are presented makes them ... well, ghost stories. Entertaining, but not enlightening nor useful in figuring out what hauntings really are.

"The Haunted" isn't much better than "A Haunting", but has a bit less of the dramatic recreations and more historical footage, particularly when ghost hunting groups got involved. Again, it's not bad per se, it's just got to be thought of as entertainment, not education.

So I'll probably not bother to watch it unless it happens to be on.


* Ok, I need to explain my creative process a little here. I have background noise on partly to keep me from concentrating too hard, and sitting at my computer for too long. When I'm in the groove, really writing hard, though, I do not hear or see the TV. So if I talk about shows that help me write, they just distract a part of my brain for a little until I get into my writing, at which point they are irrelevant.

Linkdump

I'm way behind on links...

Comic Book Legends Revealed #221: Forbush Man's Face, back to the drawing board, John Byrne's Next Men. Comic Book Legends Revealed #222: Five Two-Faces, Fantastic Four #1, Insidious Six. Comic Book Legends Revealed #223: DC Lawsuit, Gerrymander, Warner Bros and DC. Comic Book Legends #224: Josie and the Pussycats, Cheap Trick, and a band called Pogo.

The Deal with Disability.

NASA's Colbert press release.

Molds on Food: What's safe to eat?. Basically, high moisture means don't eat it.

Ten Weirdest Places to be Born.

More Darryl Cunningham.

Placebos are Getting More Effective.

Ah, chocolate.

The best Muppet covers of Beatles Songs. I could watch these all day.

Pugs for the in-laws: Pug's Chair. Oscar Pug. Monday Pug.

LOL Theology.

LEGO Advent Calendar Day 8

It's an over-complicated street barrier! Apparently for the parade that the cop with the megaphone is directing.

LEGO Advent Calendar Day 7

It's the old standby: A cop with a megaphone.

Cameraphone Haiku Zen

Baseball field backstop
Leaves, garbage blown against it
Didn't take picture.

A Sunday Review

TV this week:

• Ghost Hunters Academy: "Back to Basics" - These guys really aren't doing the set-up very well, are they? I suspect they haven't been practicing it, which, frankly, is needed with that kind of tech. I'm not a fan of the reality TV side of this, with the whole someone getting kicked off the team thing. However, I expected the one who got booted to be the first who would get booted. Not much ghost hunting in this show, just team building.
• Ghost Lab: "Watery Grave" - They are testing a theory that weather may affect hauntings. Another one that would be difficult to test. They go to Galveston and visit a hotel built on a beach where many hurricane victims washed up after the big storm of 1900. Of course, the weather was perfect. Then they visit the Presidio La Bahia, where Texas soldiers were massacred in 1836 after being promised safe passage for surrendering. This was a good history lesson for me, although the dramatic reenactment was very strange. On the third day they get a massive storm and are able to measure the changes in EMF that they consider "food" for ghosts. There's still a huge leap from high EMF readings to paranormal activity, but at least that seemed slightly more scientific than some of what they do.
• Ghost Hunters Academy: "Drama Queen" - Still annoying interpersonal interaction. But hey, the set-up went well! I liked Steve and Tango's tricks. I also like how it was presented on the show, with it first being shown as unknown, then the split-screen showing them pulling their trick. No ghosties in this one, though.
• Ghost Hunters: "Mark Twain House" - I want to visit that place. Very nice. As Grant says at the end, just visiting the house was awesome, it didn't matter if they caught any evidence or not. And, as it turned out, they may have caught something... but their DVR drive died completely and they lost a lot of data. Oh well, things happen. I really don't think ghosts can be proven to the satisfaction of science anyway, but it's still a sad loss. And this is a fun show to watch.
• Heroes: "The Fifth Stage" - Claire and Gretchen at the carnival was fun, but I absolutely don't trust Samuel. I think Gretchen has the right idea. Noah's adventure was interesting and bad. And Peter... poor Peter.
• Robin Hood: "Do You Love Me?" - What an utterly nasty version of Prince John. I mean, this guy is a sociopath. And I'm liking Isabella more in some ways. Her utter disappointment when her brother appears instead of the sheriff was lovely.

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Here are reviews of the DCBS comic book shipment that arrived this week, of books originally released November 18th and 25th:

• Justice Society of America 80 Page Giant #1 - That was a confusing mess. But hey, we get a new Ma Hunkel story, so I think I'll tolerate it.
• Super Friends #21 - I love the Aquaman on the cover. As for the interior story, well, it's cool to see the Queen of Fables, and the mythic match-ups were decent.
• Tiny Titans #22 - Introducing Offspring! Who eats Aqua-Oh's for breakfast! I love this book even when Aqualad isn't in it.
• Powers Encyclopedia Vol 1 - I want to emphasize that I have not fully read this. It's very very wordy. But I think it'll come in handy as the new series begins. Definitely something that can help readers remember characters in a complex series like this.


• Blackest Night #5 - A little bit of Mera, not enough, but a little. That final splash is what I'd call "not good".
• Green Lantern #48 - This clearly needs to be read before Blackest Night #5. Where's the checklist that tells you what order to read these in? Grrr.
• Justice League of America #39 - Vibe. Really. Vibe. Actually, the most creepy bit of all was what Doctor Light was doing when Kimiyo approached him.
• Justice League: Cry For Justice #5 - What happens to Roy is a bit brutal, and I'm not even going to pretend I understand that final splash.
• Justice Society of America #33 - I think I'd figured out what was coming with the team, but the story along the way is still very good. I want to know what's up with All-American Kid. Seriously, what did I miss there?
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold #11 - Oooh, the Terrible Trio! I'm afraid that Green Arrow isn't my favorite guest in this book (or the show), but it was an okay story.
• Northlanders #22 - Brutal. And I get cold just reading it.
• Powers #1 - And yup, the Powers Encyclopedia helped to figure out what had happened before. Very useful. Good issue, but I really don't want to read the letter column... too dangerous.
• The Tick: New Series #1 - Well, it's better than the so-called "manga". Which really isn't saying much, so I guess I'll say it was halfway decent.
• Usagi Yojimbo #124 - A good start to what promises to be an interesting little tale. I wonder, a little, what Usagi is up to... in that I wonder at his method, not his motive nor his heart.

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Agatha Christie this week was They Do it with Mirrors from 1952, published in America as Murder with Mirrors. An old school friends asks Miss Marple to check in on her idealistic sister, and soon murders start to happen. I am proud to say that I figured this one out. Early, too. My initial guess was right, though based on a non-story reason. As the story progressed I just got more and more sure I was right, and expected a complete turnaround at the end. But instead of a turnaround, my guess was confirmed... but I got the motive just a bit wrong. If I'd stopped before the end of the book and thought it through for a week or so I would have got the motive right as well, because I had all the pieces. So, I haven't really solved an Agatha Christie 100% before the reveal, but I can at least say I've come pretty darn close a couple of times, now.

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Past Sunday Reviews -- Comics at Amazon.com -- Previews -- My Wishlist

LEGO Advent Calendar Day 6

Well, it didn't help identify yesterday's item, but it's freaking exquisite. Today's item is a lamppost with a holiday decoration, and I'd love about fifty of these to line my LEGO town streets in my train layout. Beautiful design, wonderfully simple, and didn't involve too many special parts, either.

Now if I only had a place to put my LEGO train layout, I think I could make at least of few of these to line my streets... *sigh*

LEGO Advent Calendar Day 5

Ok, I'm not really sure what this is. Here's a picture of Day 4 (on the right) along with Day 5 (the stand-thingy):

If I had to say, I'd guess it's a stand for selling/renting skates to the skaters in the park. But it's kind of difficult to guess. Maybe tomorrow's item will shed some light on it.

Sorry about the low quality picture. I'm still figuring out how to take LEGO images with my cameraphone, since the regular camera doesn't have batteries at the moment.

LEGO Advent Calendar Day 4

No picture, I'll try to take them at regular intervals. But today's item was ... well, I think it's an ice skater.

LEGO Advent Calendar Day 3

Well, I tried to take a picture, but I couldn't get a good one of the three items out so far. But you can see them clearly on the back of the Calendar box itself:

The third item is a sled!

The odd thing about the picture on the box is that the advent doors open the opposite direction than the real thing. But otherwise it's a good quick way for me to show you what days 1 through 3 look like.

I'll try to take better pictures as the calendar progresses.

Now, I told you I got this one last-minute? I went to eBay out of curiosity and found this sucker is selling for over $60. Apparently they did sell out, and I was very very lucky to get the one I got. I also notice they had a pirate themed one this year, but I didn't get it (obviously, it wasn't even available in the States) and it also sold out. ARRR! I need to plan ahead for next year!

LEGO Advent Calendar Day 2

It's... a snowman! Tomorrow: Pictures!

LEGO Advent Calendar - Day 1

I got my LEGO Advent Calendar last minute this year. Just a couple of days ago. And because the store I went to get it at was actually sold out, I ended up buying one that has a severely beat-up box. Luckily, the contents seem intact, even if the box is so badly damaged as to prevent the display.

And LEGO outdid themselves this year with the display. Most years the flap opens out to the side. This year it folds down and makes a base for your LEGO Winterland scene. Very cool!

The first day is, as usual, a LEGO minifig. This one is a guy wearing a snowboarding helmet with a bunch of "snowballs" for him to throw at unsuspecting passers-by.

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