Linkdump

Best License Plate Ever.

Ten Most Fascinating Natural Phenomena.

Way cool birthday treats to take to school.

Fair Trade Diesal Sweeties, with a link to a BBC article about how it's making life easier for women in Bangladesh. I don't even like the red robot, and I kinda want to buy one just because of the article.

Good for the students of Keswick High, who marched out in protest when a victim of bullying fought back and was punished for it.

Fantastic Photomontage Timeline, scroll to your right once the page loads.

I'm sure you've all already read about that guy who can walk again after being bitten by a spider. But I'm working my way through old links, so you'll just have to skip it if you've already read about it. But did you know he was arrested?

20 Ridiculous Complaints Made By Holidaymakers. I think the "thick soup" one was my favorite. Note: the pictures are only there to spice up the complaints. Be sure to also click on the 20 Stupid Questions Asked by Tourists.

Speaking of tourism, Agatha Christie's home is now open to the public.

WASH YOUR FREAKIN' HANDS!

Just a friendly reminder that washing your hands will reduce the chances of you getting or spreading any sort of sickness, including the pandemicky swine flu. So, wash your hands.

And if you are sick, stay home. Everybody else doesn't want your germs. You aren't being heroic by going to work sick, you are being obnoxious and, if your carry the pandemicky swine flu, possibly murderous.

Temp Fence Update

Oh well, it couldn't last forever. It's clear that the kids decided they'd had enough of being careful while slipping through my temporary fence, and they busted both upper lines on one of the lengths. So I was able to get some more twine (thank you, Mom!) and I'm going to work on reinforcing the fences over the next couple of days, including cross lines so the kids stop trying to just slip through the fence.

I really need a big ol' fence across the back of my property. The ideal fence would be a nice vinyl fence, but it would cost a minimum of $2000 just for materials, never mind installation. So I'm going to have to go with something uglier, but not until later in the summer.

In the meantime, at least the adults seem to have stopped using my yard as a shortcut, judging from the lack of beer cans and cigarette butts over the last couple of weeks.

I want to see one of these in action!

Imagine, if you will, going to a bookshop and finding that they don't have a copy of the book that you want. Not a problem, however! Let's just call it up on that big machine in the corner, and in a few minutes a brand new, freshly printed, bound copy pops out. You gleefully buy it and take it home. Sound like the replicators on Star Trek? Well, the future is here now! All we need now are the flying cars...

The Flu

Read this, or this.

I'll sum it up for you. There is a new strain of flu spreading. It hit Mexico City first, and seems to have transferred from birds to pigs to humans. Over 60 people are dead, and at least 800 more cases are confirmed, some in the United States (but apparently a less lethal strain). It is being spread human-to-human. The dead were young healthy adults, just like in the 1918 flu epidemic.

What can you do? Check out Flu Preparedness Websites and follow some simple guidelines:

• Wash your hands frequently.
  
  • Wash thoroughly with warm water and soap for 20 seconds.
    
  • Make sure to wash your hands before eating, or touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
    
  • If caring for ill persons, wash hands after providing assistance.
    
  • Always wash your hands after sneezing, blowing your nose, or coughing, or after touching used tissues or handkerchiefs.
    
  • If hand washing is not possible, use an alcohol-based hand cleaner.
    
• Avoid touching your mouth, nose and eyes.
  
• When coughing and sneezing, cover your mouth and nose with tissue, or cough and sneeze into your upper sleeve. Put used tissues in the trash.
  
• Don't share items such as towels, lipstick, toys or anything else that might be contaminated with germs.
  
• Don't share food, utensils or beverage containers with others.
  
• Stay home when you are sick.
  
• See your health care provider as soon as you can if you have a cough and a fever, and follow their instructions, including taking medicine as prescribed and getting rest.
  
• Use a mask when visiting your health care provider.
  
• Wash your hands frequently.

And, in case you didn't garner it from the above instructions, wash your hands and don't spread your freaking germs around. Cover your mouth when coughing or sneezing. Wear a freakin' mask if you have to. If you are sick, don't go out and spread it around, rest and follow doctor's orders instead.

It would probably be a good idea to cancel any non-essential travel plans to affected areas until we get some sort of "all clear" from the CDC or WHO. However, that's a personal opinion and not an official recommendation... yet. Watch the official websites of the Center for Disease Control or the World Health Organization for updates. Hopefully this will pass quickly and not spread further. Hopefully no one else will die. Hopefully this will be another "false" alarm of pandemic. But, just in case, be ready.

The Continuing M&Ms Challenge

I'm still collecting data for this, and will continue to collect for the foreseeable future, so if you feel like participating, please just:

1) Get yourself a bag of Milk Chocolate M&Ms.
2) Note the size of the bag (in oz or g or both)
3) Open bag. Do not eat any (yet).
4) Count the number of Green M&Ms. Do not eat any (yet).
5) Count the TOTAL number of M&Ms (including green). Ok, you can eat them now.
6) Post the size of the bag, the number of green M&Ms and the total number of M&Ms.
7) FUN!

Note: Counts for other types of M&Ms are welcome, but please indicate what the type is when you post the information. Silliness is fine, but please make sure the data is true.

POST RESULTS HERE

And, if you're really feeling up to it, you can have an M&M tournament to determine the fittest M&M for breeding purposes.

A Sunday Review

TV this week:

• Red Dwarf: "Back To Earth part 3" - Way too meta. Meta beyond meta. This is The Mind Robber. It's nice to know that I exist. Um... I think the ending makes up for the rest, but I'm going to have to think about it longer to be sure.
• Heroes: "1961" - So she had a sister. Depressing episode, and no Hiro. Lots of flashbacks, which is only to be expected with a title like "1961". The pace was a bit too slow and that made the depressing aspects worse. Not the best episode.
• Primeval: "Episode 16" - Helen is a piece of work, isn't she? And... how is this one NOT a season finale? It sure feels like one. And once again we get the cute monsters, which I prefer to the future creatures. I'll note that this episode was up against Doctor Who, which was insane scheduling. Didn't anyone realize they'd have exactly the same audience? And now there's speculation that the show isn't long for the world.
• Food Detectives: "Nightcaps?" - I used to drink warm milk when I couldn't sleep, I never thought it worked, but it was something I could do. Looks like the tea is a good option if you want better sleep. Perhaps I should give it a try. The blood-spotted eggs weren't appetizing, but it's nice to know they are safe. I knew about sugar already, because of the weight loss I've done. The raw foods segment seemed sort of wishy-washy with no real conclusion.
• Heroes: "I Am Sylar" - A bit of Hiro and Ando, but not nearly enough. I think all the current plotlines were touched in this episode. That made it a bit crowded.
• Ghost Hunters: "Crossing Over" - Wait, Ghost Hunters is calling in Ghost Hunters International? Funny. I like Jay and Grant's exit after the briefing. As for the evidence, it wasn't that impressive, but I'm sure the TAPS folks will love hanging out at a haunted inn.
• Dinner Impossible: "Casino Craziness" - No salt, no sugar? And they change the rules on him? The house always wins, but this one is crazy. And, due to the sheer size of the place, Robert is sweating more than he ever has in a challenge. I wanted to try that VIP soup.
• Smallville: "Stiletto" - A bit of a romp with some dark edges, mostly concerning Chloe. It's ok.
• Primeval: "Episode 17" - And we're temporarily caught up with the show, as the crew deals with the aftermath of that non-season-finale season finale in the last episode. Throw in a complication in love life to the grief and confusion, and add a dash of evil civil servant, and we've got a good one. Helen got the wrong person, methinks.

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Here are reviews of the DCBS comic book shipment that arrived this week, of books originally released Apr 8th and 15th:

• Noble Causes #40 - Final Issue. Well, the final issue of this particular run. I live in hope that there will be more. Especially after that ending.
• Green Lantern Corps #35 - At ECCC Patrick Gleason asked me what he could do to make me like this book. So I paid extra attention to the artwork this time. My conclusion? The art isn't the problem. It's just that I don't really like cosmic type adventures, and this book is one big cosmic soap opera. Ok, the son of Daxam plot isn't bad. And I like Soranik although I don't like what is being done to her now. But the whole red/yellow/green lantern battles? Not my thing. The story is well-told, both through the art and words, it's just not a story I'm very interested in. (If I were to be goofy, I'd say the book needs more Aquaman, but according to the previews, that's what I'm going to get so I wish I'd never thought it.)
• Green Lantern #39 - Orange and Blue, Blue and Green, Green and Orange. I'm still waiting to see the Indigo lanterns.
• Northlanders #16 - !!!
• Captain Britain and MI 13 #12 - Vampires bore me. Even Marvel Atlantean Vampires. Ok, that's a neat twist, but still. I just want the vampires to go away so we can have an interesting story.
• Sub-Mariner Comics 70th Anniversary Special - I've never found Sub-Mariner to be quite as compelling as Aquaman, which is slightly odd as Namor has a more interesting history and is older by a couple of years, but he just didn't catch my imagination like Aquaman. Possibly because he looks different, whereas Aquaman could be a normal person walking among us. I don't know. But my childhood imagination took to Aquaman, not Namor. Still, I like Namor, and I like seeing his history, so I couldn't resist a reprint of his first tale. This collection has three stories, all set early in Namor's career, but all very different. The reprint of Namor's first tale is nicely done, and a good addition to any collection.
• Supergirl #5 - It's part of a mini-series, but I'm not sure I want to forgive all the references to the previous issues. That's mostly because I just don't like this series much, not due to its actual quality.
• Super Friends #14 - Second page squee! Aquaman is in the UN representing Atlantis! SQUEE! And Topo! Double-Squee! More Topo action, please! (squee!)
• Tiny Titans #15 - After the Aqua-Ohs in the last issue, this one was bound to be a slight disappointment. Aqualad wasn't even at Pet Club! Oh well, it's still a very fun book.
• Wonderful Wizard of Oz #5 - The wolves and the bees! It's nice to see the whole story told for once, even if it's a little... vicious. And the emphasis on the fact that the monkeys can be only called three times made me happy as well. Flying Monkeys aren't evil!
• DMZ #41 - Wow, are we up to issue 41 already? This is something of a standalone that looks as Zee and what she's up to now that Matty is out of her life. Nobody's got it easy in the DMZ, but a healer like Zee has it worse than most.
• Northlanders #16 - Ok, maybe that wasn't enough. I'm just not sure how to react to this one. A bit confused, and yet... it makes perfect sense.

I've learned that I will be getting five of the Free Comic Book Day comics from DCBS. This is probably a good thing, as it has been difficult to get through the stack of all the comics in recent years and I know I never got around to even writing my one-liner reviews for most of them. I'm not sure when I'll get them, I presume it won't be in the next shipment, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

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This week's movie was Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End. Yeah, it was only a matter of time before we finally sat down to watch this one. I have to say, my first reaction, before even seeing the movie, was that it was WAY too long. It clocks in at 167 minutes, which is about 40 minutes more than I want to spend watching pirates in one sitting. Still, despite that, it wasn't a bad movie. Too many plot threads, too much arcane knowledge to keep track of from previous movies, but mostly internally consistent. A few good fights, of course, and I'm sure it looked marvelous on the big screen. The first movie was definitely the best, and this one doesn't come close I'm afraid. And this is one movie that you have to watch until the credits end. Right, verdict? It was ok, nothing special.

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My library book this week was Powers by Ursula K Le Guin. This is the third book in the Annuals of the Western Shore series, and takes place before and at roughly the same time as the second book, Voices. The main character, Gavir, was captured as a toddler and became a slave. He's never known any other life, and is loyal to his masters. But he's being trained as a teacher to the Masters' children and knowledge brings disturbing discontent. I think this is the best one yet, although all three books in the series have made me think hard on different issues. Gavir's journeys, literally and figurative, make for good, thoughtful reading. I confess, I want more of this series. I want more of Orrec, Gry, Memer and Gavir.

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Agatha Christie this week was Murder in the Mews, a collection of four stories first published in 1937:

• Murder in the Mews - A suicide on Guy Fawkes night doesn't seem quite right. I got this one shortly before the reveal, but not enough before for me to say I actually solved a Poirot mystery.
• The Incredible Theft - Dangerous papers are stolen, possibly by a spy, and Poirot is called in. I didn't even come close to solving this one. I had the whole thing figured out, but was utterly wrong.
• Dead Man's Mirror - Poirot is summoned to a house only to find the man who summoned him has committed suicide. And no, I didn't figure this one out, either. I should have, all the clues were there. They fairly jumped out at me once the reveal was made. It's even a method Christie has used before.
• Triangle at Rhodes - On vacation, Poirot watches in dismay as a love triangle that will end in a death develops. I didn't get this one either, but it made good sense once it was revealed.

Taken as a whole, this is a great collection with four strong stories in it. And hey, Mr Satterthwaite makes an appearance, so I'm even more happy with it.

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

CameraPhone Zen

Happy Pigs-In-A-Blanket Day!

It's Pigs-in-a-Blanket Day! Guess what hubby-Eric and I are having for dinner tonight?

Save the Marx place!

There's a big movement underway to preserve a historic landmark in New York City — the home where Mamma Marx raised Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Gummo, and even Zeppo. So go on over and take a look. And remember, in the immortal words of Groucho:

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside a dog, it's too dark to read.

Anthill

Temp Fence Update

Remember how I put up a very temporary fence nearly two weeks ago? And how we wouldn't take bets on how long it would last? Well, it's lasted. I had to make a couple of minor repairs that I'm fairly sure were weather and not human-related. But they are still up, and I haven't had to pick up any garbage out of my side yard since they went up. Apparently the people using our property as a shortcut got the message... and actually heeded it as well.

I still want a big ol' fence across the back of our property to give us (and our neighbors back there) a little privacy. But for now, I'm satisfied.

Linkdump

Oh, I'm way behind on these: Comic Book Legends Revealed #200 part 1: Marx Brothers (1900s), Bringing Up Father (1910s), Amos and Andy (1920s). Comic Book Legends Revealed #200 part 2: Superman (1930s), Captain Marvel (1940s), Simon and Kirby (1950s), The Prowler (1960s). Comic Book Legends Revealed #200 part 3: Steve Skeates (1970s), "Who Is Wonder Girl?" (1980s), Flying Horses (1990s), Mary Jane (2000s). Comic Book Legends Revealed #201: Cable. Comic Book Legends Revealed #202: art spiegelman, Mini-Marvels, Aquaman rescripted (I want to see this whole story). Comic Book Legends Revealed #203: Trademark, Magog, Bruce Wayne.

Evil evil evil (but fun).

Wow. The outpouring has been incredible, and I think Len Wein might get his entire comic book collection replaced just by generous fans. Wow.

Here's a good interview with Lois McMaster Bujold about writing the Vorkosigan Saga. Her words about the newest book in the series: "...I am, for various unavoidable reasons, already months past deadline and mired in the miserable middle, and still don’t have a title..." Yikes. Well, I can wait. I'll just reread Memory, Komarr, and A Civil Campaign again (and again, and again).

I just want to say, "Eeeuww!" Imagine people being able to hack your tattoos.

Bad Astronomy links to ways common sense lies. I agree with the points of the article, but I don't think most of those items are examples of common sense. Common nonsense, maybe.

I'm a teetotaller as well, but I agree with Penn Jillette. The Drug War is a waste of time and money, and destroys too many lives.

How We Signal Creeps that we're easy targets.

Oprah makes a good choice. Personally, I think we should erase the names of the Columbine shooters from the history books. If we bother to refer to them, they should be called "Those idiot murderers" and not by their names. In fact, any mass murdering scum like them should be called "idiot murderers" instead of using names. They should get no fame from their act, just scorn.

Don't Blink. Don't even Blink. Blink, and you're... catfood?

Need Cheering Up

I'm in a lousy mood at the moment, so if you could take a couple of minutes and think of something good that's happened to you in the last couple of weeks or so and post about it in the comments, it might help me a bit.

Thanks everyone, these helped!

A Sunday Review

TV this week:

• Heroes: "Turn and Face the Strange" - Hiro and Ando again! Yay! And a promised revelation of the start of the entire thing. I'm not that interested in the Sylar side of the story, except as it sets up conflict for Hiro to run from.
• Red Dwarf: "Back To Earth part 1" - It's like meeting friends you haven't seen for a long time, trying desperately to still be cool, but failing. Oh, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't nearly as funny as the first couple of series. The choice to not follow directly from the last aired episode was probably a good one, all things considered. Maybe it'll improve with the next two episodes?
• Ghost Hunters: "Titanic Terror" - What an incredible location! I wanna visit a haunted Aquarium! Ahem. The Titanic exhibit was interesting, even in the dark. The history of the second location nearly broke my heart. The family lost the house because of a tax bill. Ouch. The camera was definitely in the wrong place for the cabinet door opening. And they never mentioned if it closed.
• Food Detectives: "New York Pizza" - The food preservatives bit was disgusting, but expected. I always tap the sides of canned soda, because I knew before this piece that tapping on the top never works. I hate thin-crust pizza, I much prefer Chicago-style, so I don't think they picked the "best" pizza, just the New York pizza. But it was interesting that the water did make such a difference. The mineral piece was cool, particularly the iron-in-cereal experiment. Good ep.
• Dinner Impossible: "Yahoo Search Scramble" - That's an evil evil menu. I'm sorry, randomizing ingredients THAT much is insane. The two chefs had some ego-clashing, and the accidents and lack of good ingredients was also stressful. Add in Robert losing his voice, and this was an incredible episode.
• Numb3rs: "Animal Rites" - Larry gets a new love interest? The extremism of the animal rights activists was explained quite well, but I don't think all extremists can claim that excuse. Not sure of the math in this one, either the ethics or the reality.
• Primeval: "Episode 15" - A bit of a slow episode, with a nice haunted house theme. Lots of build up in this one with not a lot of payoff. But seriously, what is Helen up to? Her actions were very suggestive, but I don't like what they suggested.
• Red Dwarf: "Back To Earth part 2" - This show is in desperate need of a laugh track. The meta nature of this episode was almost overwhelming and VERY cringeworthy. Rimmer had a great moment after a discussion of the morality of killing holograms, and Lister chatting with fans was pretty good too. Still, the final episode will make or break this one.
• Supernanny: "DeMello Family" - Three young kids who never go out to play in their huge backyard, so much so that when Jo takes them out there they don't know what to do. This is the first time I remember Jo having to do the naughty chair method entirely by herself because the parents simply didn't understand it at all. And that father! He consistently underestimated his children, to the point of insanity. It was nice to see him realize just how smart his kids actually are.

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This week's comic book related review is Hikaru No Go Volume 14, which arrived in the last shipment of comic books, but I saved to savor it a bit longer. I've read it twice now, and will probably read it a few more times before I set it on the shelf with the other volumes. I really love this series. In this volume, the on-line Go game between Sai and the Meijin is concluded. A lot more happens in the volume, but if you want to know what it is, you'll have to read it yourself. I particularly like Akira's utter confusion about Sai's identity. Sai's self-realization is tough to read, and disturbing as well. I kind of like how Hikaru is staying true to his nature by just moving along, but I do wonder if he's headed for another humbling moment. I didn't like Kurata at first, but I admit he's growing on me in this volume.

I found fan-translated copies of all the rest of the series on-line. I decided not to read ahead, although the fan translations are often very good. I have sometimes gone through and compared the fan versions to the official, and found some interesting differences, but it's mostly been not too difficult to wait. After reading this volume, I'm finding it much harder to wait. And I really want to see the Anime too!

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This week's movie was Wonder Woman, the 2009 animated film starring Keri Russell as Wonder Woman and Nathan Fillion as Steve Trevor. This was a fun film, with lots of good moments. The opening was brutal, and seemed to get more brutal as the sequence went on. Yes, it was cartoon violence, but there were moments of "ooooo... ouch!" and even "yikes." The story was familiar, although Steve's opening battle seemed to not have enough impact on his emotions. I did like Steve's big rant about sexism in the hospital room. I also enjoyed the side story with Artemis and Alexa. Nice solid animation. This was a good one. I can only hope they produce an Aquaman movie like this some time.

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My library book this week was The Winter Prince by Elizabeth E Wein. I saw this recommended on a blog, but when I started reading it I found myself saying, "Not another take on King Arthur!" Well, yes, it is and yet it isn't. This book focuses on Medraut, the eldest son of Artos and a product of accidental incest. Medraut's longing for acceptance and legitimacy drive his actions throughout the story. Add in his love/hate relationship with his mother and his younger half-brother, and you've got a distressing story. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with a child reading this, as there is more than just "simple" incest being constantly alluded to in the text, but it's certainly a powerful book.

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Agatha Christie this week was Cards on the Table from 1936. The funniest part of this book is one Mrs Oliver, a mystery writer who can only be based on Christie's own experiences, who helps Poirot a little in solving this one. There is no way on earth I could've figured this one out: I don't play bridge. But I am still kicking myself for not realizing that everyone would get their comeuppance in the end. Can't leave a murderer loose in a Poirot novel! I was a little surprised to see the solution to Murder on the Orient Express casually revealed to a character at one point in the story, but that's one reason I'm trying to read these books in chronological order. I think, once I finish these books, I'm going to watch the Doctor Who episode that inspired me and see if I can catch any more references. I bet I will.

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

Linkdump!

I love this sequence from Tiny Titans so much, Art drew Inky into my sketch of Aqua-Ohs.

Why yes, he is OUTRAGEOUS! He'll call this one the adventure of the reviewer who got it right.

Classic letters to the Editor of the Silver Age.

The New Robin Revealed.

James Kolchaka invents videogame in nightmare, then fan makes the game in real life.

I only just heard about The Periscope Coup. It takes some effort to read, but it's really funny if you know the folks involved.

2009 Eisner Award Nominees. Yay everyone!

Mythbusters become window busters.

Top Ten Confusing Place Names.

Want.

Want to know what's on the other side of the planet from where you are? Check out the Antipodes Map.

LOLCat Theology.

Methinks they dost protest too much...

All this talk about the tea bag protesters all upset about all of the taxes that they have to pay, even though their boy George started many of them up and President Obama is giving most of them a tax cut, reminds me of this little scene from Monty Python's Life of Brian (don't worry, it's family safe):

Of course, there's also this David Horsey cartoon that sums things up pretty nicely, too.

Back From the Eye Doctor

Watch This

It's about 7 minutes long, and it's impressive. Watch the audience react to Boyle when she comes on stage, and then watch their faces and reactions as she starts to sing. But even if you don't want to watch the full song, jump to 4:30 and watch the judgments and how Boyle reacts to them.

Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent 2009.

CameraPhone Zen

Baseball Season Help

Ok, I want to have an RSS feed that only gives me the Mariners box scores. I haven't yet found anything that does just that. Everything I can find either gives me too much or too little. I just want the freakin box scores. Anyone know where I could find such a thing?

CameraPhone Zen

A Sunday Review

TV this week:

• Food Detectives: "Chewing the Fat" - So, green potato chips are indeed poisonous, but you'd have to eat an awful lot of them before they would make you sick. The Low-Fat label is dangerous to dieters (no surprise). But the real story of this one is about eating bugs. Those are three really really brave food techs. I could handle the ground crickets, but there is NO WAY I would try those eggs. Or the waxworms. I suppose the giant water bug isn't any worse than lobster or crawdads, but it was still not appealing.
• Smallville: "Eternal" - So, Doomsday gets a backstory. And Mercy is determined to force Clark to face himself. Joy. This show needs more Aquaman.
• Dinner Impossible: "X Food at the X Games" - No offense to Chef Symon, but Chef Irvine is the perfect man for this show, regardless of how he edited his resume to make himself look good. And hey, GEO DUCKS!!!!
• Ghost Hunters: "Soul Searching" - Reinvestigating a place they'd checked out before, this time with new equipment; it would have been nice to know more about what happened 10 years ago. I saw nothing convincing in that first place. The second place had a lot of great debunking. If EMF does have the effect theorized by the Ghost Hunters, then maybe they should have recommended getting that circuit breaker box shielded, instead of just reassuring the employees.
• Supernanny: "Porter Family" - Common sense common sense common sense. And how do you deal with a 9-year-old princess? By talking with her, of course. I think Supernanny should be required viewing for anyone with kids or who wants to have kids. Jo is incredibly sensible, which is what families need more than anything else. Still, I wish we could get a follow-up special that shows some of these families a few years down the line.
• Primeval: "Episode 14" - Oh yeah, they're back baby! And with an awesome new monster and a new member of the group. Hope to be able to watch the next episode soon.
• Doctor Who: "Planet of the Dead" - Not the most Who-like opening I've ever seen. Right up until the bus, I was wondering if we were watching the right thing. Then I saw his sneakers. I really enjoyed it. Old school in a lot of ways, plenty of camp and yet a real sort of threat. SQUEE!

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Here are reviews of the DCBS comic book shipment that arrived this week, of books originally released March 18th, 25th, and April 1st:

• Justice Society of America #25 - Shazam is a bit... vindictive. If I was more of a Marvel family fan, this issue might have interested me a bit more. As it is... well. Ok.
• Justice League of America #31 - All I could think of after reading this was, "I'm leaving the Fantastic Four!" "No, I'M leaving the Fantastic Four!" I'm not impressed.
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold #3 - The President trusting Batman like that was... funny. Very funny. Isn't Batman a vigilante? Sorry, felt a little loss of suspension of disbelief there. It's still a good book.
• Tiny Titans #14 - SQUEE! Love the cover. Love the bits inside. Fluffy being allowed on the ground because he's in a fishbowl was great. Aqualad's living underwater comment, followed by his "What?" was great. Love this book.
• Super Friends #13 - So. Aquaman's the clown. *sigh*
• Who Wants To Be A Superhero: The Defuser - Not half bad. Not particularly great, either, but readable.
• Incredibles: Family Matters #1 - Pretty darn good start! Looking forward to the next issue.
• Muppet Show #1 - This is just like an episode of the Muppet Show! Only there's no guest. And you can't actually hear the music. Well, it's worth a look, at least. I enjoyed it, but I'd prefer to have the real show back on the air with new episodes.
• Land of Oz Manga: Return to Emerald City #4 - Oh no, it's the end! I'm not sure I buy how quickly Tip accepts becoming Ozma, but then, I didn't buy it in the source material either.
• Usagi Yojimbo #119 - I admit that I half-expected Usagi to go with Sasuke at the end. In fact, I'm kind of surprised he didn't. I love the alternate/preliminary cover we see on the letters page. "GRAINS!"
• Age of Bronze #28 - Oooh, Shanower does NOT pull any punches when showing battle scenes, does he? Sweat, blood, gore, dirt, all shown. No sanitized battles here. And somehow, despite the chaos of war, the story moves forward still. Great book!

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This week's movie was Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D in the theatre with my family. It was a very amusing movie, with lots of nods to nerdism. It was basically a nice ride, a B movie with great effects and an attitude. I really enjoyed it, but I don't recommend it to anyone who wants high art. I really liked Colbert as the president, particularly the first contact bit. He was the perfect choice for the part. And Reese Witherspoon was great as Susan. In fact, the voice acting was spectacular throughout. It's fun, but there isn't much depth there.

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My library book this week was The Underneath by Kathi Appelt. Set in the Bayou, this is a dramatic and atmospheric story of a hound and some cats and a snake and an alligator and a man with a gun. It's told it short bursts, with a lot of repetition. It's a form of prose poetry. I can't recall where I saw it recommended, but I'm glad I read it. A very strange little book, but a powerful story. Definitely worth checking out of the library.

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Agatha Christie this week was Murder in Mesopotamia from 1936. This story is set right before my favorite Christie mystery (so far), Murder on the Orient Express. This one isn't nearly as good as that, but it did raise the question in my mind: Did Agatha Christie spend time on an archaeological dig? Oh yes, a little Googling will tell you all you need to know about that. You can tell from the writing that she really knows what she is describing. The story has the feel of the Middle East in it. As for the mystery... well, I forgot my number one rule of reading an Agatha Christie novel: the murderer can be ANYONE. And so, while I got the lesser mystery (as I sometimes do), I missed the big clues and didn't figure out the murderer until Poirot announced it. Argh. My little grey cells fail me again.

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

Emerald City Comicon Report 2009 - Part IV

I'm going to pause again in my reflections to go back to events that happened on Saturday with evil twin Lisa. She wanted to buy me an Emerald City Comicon t-shirt (which is her way of repaying me for the tickets I guess), so we found the ECCC booth and asked about t-shirts. They were busy, and the guy who talked with us said that they had no t-shirts this year, which surprised us a little. He looked around and said he'd give Lisa a free t-shirt if she came back a little later. She was confused, but we wandered off.

We passed the Sofawolf Press booth and I spotted something I'd been wanting for awhile. The first three volumes of Digger by Ursula Vernon. I made a little noise and rushed to the table, which amused Lisa greatly. Unfortunately, I'd already spent my money for the con, so I had nothing to buy any of the books with. Lisa, in a moment of clarity, got me volume one of Digger instead of that promised t-shirt. Heaven! Now I need to get the next two volumes, but I am patient and willing to wait until the opportunity arises.

Incidentally, I did go back to the ECCC table on Sunday and talked with the same guy, and he gave me a t-shirt from a previous year to make up for the fact that he had none for this year. The reason they had none was because the artwork they wanted to use originally for it featured Hal Jordan Green Lantern, and apparently DC protested or asked for a fee. They said it meant they'd finally "arrived" on the convention scene, but it also meant that they needed to be even more careful in the future.

Speaking of DC, on Sunday morning, hubby-Eric and I walked by the DC Booth. No, I wasn't able to get any of the GL buttons (they were quickly gone on Saturday) but I did score a couple of Wonder Woman tiaras. One for Lisa and one for me. Later I picked up another one for Heidi. One of my penguins is now happily wearing the one I kept, waiting for me to watch the movie it promotes.

Right... moving back to Sunday afternoon, it's time to talk about Art Baltazar and Franco again! Today they were wearing matching purple shirts with vests (if you'll note their Troll pic, they were wearing white with vests on Saturday). Art took off from his table to find some grub right before we got there, but Franco said he'd be right back and to wait. So we stood around talking until Art returned and I asked him for an Aquaman sketch in my third Aquaman sketchbook. He agreed for the price of $1, and asked what I wanted. Hubby-Eric, seeing the cover of Tiny Titans #14, suggested a box of Aqua-Ohs. And OH what a great sketch Art turned in for me! SQUEE!!


Hearing that I am a big Aquaman fan, Art told me that I had to wait while he found a piece of artwork to show me. He was trying out with Goldfish Crackers for a job, and drew a piece that will never see publication but is WONDERFUL. I snapped a pic of it with my cameraphone, and Art said I could post the picture on my blog. The piece was for sale, but was out of my range.


After Artman, I visited Franco's table and Eric said he would pay for me to get a $1 sketch from him as well! Ah, this is the life! The result was a distinctive version of Aquaman that I'm proud to add to my collection.


Well, let's see if I can remember what else happened... I visited and Trolled quite a few more people. Steve Niles, Barry Kitson, Jaime Hernandez, I kept my eyes out for costumes and other things as well. Spider-Man, Mojo Jojo, and a bunch of balloons (those were some freakin' cool balloons, by the way). Hubby-Eric spotted a sign for "Free Sketches" and we visited the artist Manny Trembley, who sketched one for both of us (Scarecrow for Hubby, Aquaman for me).


After a lot of walking, we sat in the Hero Initiative Booth and I attracted people to the booth by saying "hello!" as Dan Brereton sat next to me sketching. I put Torvald out on the table to people-watch. I helped sell a few buttons and prints, and talked with a few people about the goals of organization. I listened to a very long and involved discussion about the merits of Wild Dog while hubby-Eric snoozed in the back of the booth. Brereton was very convincing.

Eventually, hubby and I realized we weren't going to do much more at the con, so we headed out to Evil Twin's place for an excellent dinner. All told, a fantastic convention. I got 92 Torvald pictures, and 4 sketches. Eric got a sketch. I met several folks I'm currently watching in Battlestar Galactica. I renewed a lot of old friendships and teased Kurt Busiek (yay, more Arrowsmith!). I "ran into" Mark Waid. I got to do some Booth-sitting.

What can I say? I'm already looking forward to next year's con.

Emerald City Comicon reports: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006: part I, part II, part III, part IV, 2007: part I, part II, part III, part IV
2008: part I, part II, part III, part IV, 2009: part I, part II, part III.
All my blogged con reports and San Diego 2000.

Beware of Identity Theft on Easter

I guess it's not so unique to be a rabbit. Take a look!

Temp Fence Update

And 24 hours later... they're still up. Maybe they'll last?

Emerald City Comicon Report 2009 - Part III

A link to the annual survey is up at the Emerald City Comicon Website, so go put in your two cents if you attended. I suggested a LOT of guests, including Hiro and Ando from Heroes, and anyone related to Doctor Who. I also suggested Nick Cardy and Ramona Fradon. It would make my 2010 to see one of them again. Next year's con is going to be held March 13-14, 2010. I will be there unless disaster strikes.

A note from Saturday that I forgot to mention... Brad Guigar recognized me when I went by the Halfpixel booth, and even remembered that I had asked him for a higher resolution image of myself from last year. I've already e-mailed him to see if I can get that, but Brad, if you are reading, no sweat! Don't worry about it. We also discussed his book, "Phables" and I said I would buy a copy after consulting with my hubby. I walked away, but then went back and bought one anyway. Hubby-Eric got that print, I deserved a book!

Earlier on Saturday I also chatted with Scott Kurtz and his wife about moving to Seattle. I warned them that Seattle only has two seasons: The Rainy Season and The Construction Season. I also said that, having just left the area for the desert, I didn't miss the traffic at all.

Later on Saturday Lisa went with me to the Halfpixel booth and we bugged Brad Guigar again. I told him my Phillie Phanatic horror story from 2001 FanFest, and he offered to tear out the Phillie Phanatic page from my copy of Phables. I declined the offer. He told us about trying to get a good story out of the Phanatic, which was, in itself, a good story.

Eric and I got a decent start on Sunday, and parked in the garage again. Today the people who had badges were penned into a giant corral on the skybridge. The pros/guest/exhibitors walked by on the west side and folks who still needed badges got them on the east side. I snuck over and took a picture of Torvald with the view. It didn't come out nearly as well as I would've liked, but at least it came out.

I stood on the edge of the west side of the corral and chatted with pros as they went by. I gave Kurt Busiek a "terrorist fist bump" and talked with a couple of other people as they walked in, including Heidi. We also noted a couple of furries, and when they entered the corral, I Trolled them. Both had tails.

Our first mission for the day was to attempt to get the last two media guests that I had missed on Saturday: Ray Park (Darth Maul) and Jewel Staite (Kaylee). I hoped to get to their lines quickly enough to get in and take the pictures before the keepers got too determined to stick to the rules.

As Jewel hadn't arrived yet, I got in Ray's line. He was prepping for the day with music from Rocky, and he joked and chatted with the folks in line while he got ready. We kept assuring him that he could take his time, but he wanted to get us through the line, so he set up as quickly as possible. Then he said, "Let's crack this line open!" about ten minutes early. The guy at the front of the line said, "Really?" then moved forward and bought a couple of pictures. I was about 5 people back. The guy in front of me just wanted to show off pictures of his Darth Maul carved pumpkins from Hallowe'en, and the folks in front of him were just getting autographs, so the line moved quickly. Ray happily agreed to pose with Torvald.


After Trolling Ray, I moved over to Jewel's line, where I became either the second or third person in line, depending on who you asked. The same keeper from Saturday was there, but he was busy checking on arrangements and discussing security and such with another ECCC person. It looked like I might be able to get my picture after all. Hubby-Eric joined me in line when Jewel arrived, and sure enough, I managed to get the picture. The keeper noticed me about the time I took the picture, but said nothing. Whew!

On Saturday night when I looked through the list of people I had trolled, I was rather surprised to find that Stan Sakai wasn't on the list. I've met Stan, even gotten a fantastic sketch from him, but he'd never experienced Torvald. So after finishing off the media guests, Eric and I headed up to Artist Alley to find Stan. I had seen him on Saturday, he was opposite the Middle School Students. I've seen him at plenty of conventions, so it never occurred to me until I printed out that list that I'd never Trolled him! He was happy to oblige, and did a nice little pose with Torvald.

Since we were so near, I figured I would Troll Sunday's shift of Middle School kids, and did so:


After that, I consulted my list and decided to see if I could Troll Rob Liefeld. I won't say much about his art, but the man himself was ok. He seemed a bit taken aback at the request, but he posed nicely. We then walked around the tables and ran into Quenton Shaw who greeted me enthusiastically. We chatted a bit, then I Trolled Joe Jusko, who was just a little way down the line from QEW. And then hubby-Eric wandered off to "see who that big line is for" and didn't come back. Quenton, who is much taller than me, said he spotted him chatting with Heidi's husband, so I wandered over to them and learned they were in line for Humberto Ramos. Aw, what the heck? I stayed to Troll him, too.

After Trolling Ramos, I stuck around in Artist Alley for a bit and Trolled a few more folks... both folks I already knew and some I didn't. I was now able to check people's names against my list, and confidently Trolled them if they weren't on the list. Of particular note were Corey Lewis and Becky Cloonan, both of whom were great fun to chat with.

But the winner of the day had to be Gene Ha. One or two people have recognized the Troll when I wandered near them, mostly from seeing him around at past ECCC. But Gene Ha's reaction was both priceless and encouraging. He not only recognized Torvald, he immediately pulled out his phone so he could show me that he used Torvald's pictures to help him remember names and faces! He has trouble with remembering people's names, so he has a file on his phone that pulls up photos of people so he can zip through and be reminded of their names quickly. A great many of those photos also had Torvald in them. I need to get myself a phone that can do that... I'm really bad with names. Amusingly enough, Gene Ha's photo isn't likely to help people keep his name and face together:


After Gene's reaction, we headed back into the exhibitor's tables and met Doug Sneyd. Doug is a Playboy artist, and had many examples of his work at his table. I Trolled him, and met Heidi Hutson, the keeper of his blog, who insisted on a picture of Doug and I with Torvald for Doug's blog (pictures will be posted starting April 22nd, according to the blog). Doug was very sweet, and reminded me a bit of Nick Cardy. We spent a bit more time at Doug's table than I expected, but he was great.

Moving on, we went back to the Heroes Initiative booth and freed Heidi from her servitude long enough to go walkies about the con. She made me take my sketchbook, since hubby-Eric was determined to get me an Art Baltazar sketch regardless of that expensive $1 fee. First I Trolled Stuart Immonen, then we wandered over to Artist Alley and Heidi made me Troll Jennie Breeden of Devil's Panties. Then I visited Ben Templesmith and Trolled him. Heidi spotted Quenton, so we headed over there and chatted with him and artist Zeca Teixeira. Quenton saw my sketchbook and suggested that Zeca do a sketch for me, which he was more than happy to do. Halfway through his sketch, it occurred to me that I ought to Troll him, and he agreed to that as well!

Randy Kintz wandered by, and although he was sure he'd already been Trolled, and I was sure I Trolled him, he wasn't on the list so I Trolled him again. When I got home and checked I discovered several directories worth of Torvald images that I just haven't put up online yet, including the Tri-City Comic-Con. Randy was Trolled there. That's a situation I will have to rectify, but I want to finish writing this con report first, so I don't mess up my brain any more than I have to. But in the next few weeks Torvald's page is going to expand by quite a lot.

Ahem. Once Zeca finished sketching Aquaman, we moved on and got a few pictures with some costumes, including a wookie. About this time we also visited Franco and Art to get my $1 sketch, but that story is going to have to wait until the next report.

Emerald City Comicon reports: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006: part I, part II, part III, part IV, 2007: part I, part II, part III, part IV
2008: part I, part II, part III, part IV, 2009: part I, part II.
All my blogged con reports and San Diego 2000.

Don't Tread on Me

Stepford House is a lovely little place in Churchville, and hubby-Eric and I are pretty happy here so far. But we do have one minor problem that has been driving me bonkers since we moved in. We don't have a fence on the back of our lot, and a large family with lots of cousins who visit constantly live in back of us (to the West). That alone wouldn't be so bad, except they consider our "yard" to be part of their playground AND a useful route to get to the other side of the block. Which means that there are children, and a few adults, crossing my yard at all times of the day and night. Worse, some of them are litterbugs. Once a week or so I go out and gather up beer cans and cigarette butts and candy wrappers. It is a truly minor annoyance, but it has been a little like an itch that cannot be scratched. Eric and I simply do not have the money to get a fence put in.

Today while trying to write up the next part of my con report, I heard hammering from next door. I decided to put up my awesome Norwegian flag as an excuse to go outside and check out what was happening. It was the neighbors to our North putting up a picket fence along the border of our property. I started chatting with them (a nice elderly couple), and made it clear just how annoyed I was at the people tromping through my yard. They said that was the reason they were putting up the fence, as the kids would avoid the mud patches in MY yard, and go in their yard and kill the grass. ARGH!

The lady of the house mentioned that she'd ALSO been picking up garbage from the yard, and had even found a cell phone in the grass! Yep, one of the teenage girls who lived down the block had dropped her phone in my yard while cutting through. I told the neighbors how sorry I was that their grass was destroyed and explained that I wanted to put a fence up but couldn't yet afford it. The gentleman suggested that I take some aluminum poles he had and string twine or rope between them to make a temporary fence that should (in theory) keep people from cutting across. He didn't have enough poles for the back of the lot, but we could block the paths on the side of the house.

I was delighted at the prospect, I even had some twine left over from some projects when we first moved in. So he took eight short poles (garbage that he had planned to just throw away soon) and pounded them in strategic points between our house and the fences to either side. I wrapped twine around them at three levels, making something that almost appears to be a fence. Then we put some lighter yarn on them to make them stand out more clearly.

The first section is between the Northern neighbors' fence and our house. This is the main corridor of foot traffic, and the main reason for this project. Eventually, I want to cover all my "yard" on this side of the house with gravel and make this an extra parking space for visitors (I think the in-laws' camper might even fit in the spot). For the moment, though, it's been a pathway for people to travel from one side of the block to the other. Hopefully the temporary fence will clue them in that we don't like it.


The second section is between the South side of the house and our storage shed. I had to make this one even more temporary than the first section as I'll very soon need to get the lawnmower through here to chop the weeds down. Still, it looks substantial, and hopefully it will clue the kids in that they shouldn't go through here.


This little bit is the part I'm most worried about. The space between our storage shed and the Southern neighbors fence is a neat little path and I've seen some of the kids run through it. I just hope they notice the fence before they put on a burst of speed and knock it all down.

The neighbors and I decided not to take bets on how long the temporary fence would stay up. I used up all my twine, and if I can afford some heavier rope maybe I'll reinforce them later. My main hope is that the folks who considered my yard a path will now get the idea in their heads that I don't want them walking through. It may well be a vain hope, as the children are as wild as ... well, children tend to be. I fear some of them may just take it as a challenge. But at least I've done something about it. And it looks halfway decent as well.

In any case, now you know why I haven't written the next part of my convention report.

Emerald City Comicon Report 2009 - Part II

Let's see... where was I? Oh yes... standing in front of the Heroes Initiative booth with a dead camera, trying to decide what to do. Brian Randolph said he thought there was a store down on the ground floor that sold batteries, so I considered for a few moments then decided to go for it.

The exhibition halls are on the fourth floor. The retail space is three floors down, a nice group of escalator rides away. Each level of the North lobby was filled with tired fans sitting against walls. There was not enough seating within the halls for people to find a place to rest. It was, in fact, not a friendly convention for people who can't remain on their feet all day. In past years, the organizers seem to have made a special effort to make sure there was plenty of spaces where fans could sit and rest. This particular layout didn't really allow for it, so people were sitting where they could in the lobbies and even the restroom.

As I got off the last escalator and stepped into the retail space, I spotted a Kinko's and a couple of restaurants. I headed for the Kinko's, and sure enough found some batteries inside. They weren't cheap, but were close to what I figured I'd be paying for them, so I wasn't disappointed. I ripped open the package right there and replaced the batteries in the camera to make sure they worked. All was good! I thanked the Kinko's guy and headed back up to the convention. Whew! Disaster averted. Thank you, Brian!

Entering the lobby I spied a giant slice of bacon walking around. Well, naturally... have to Troll the Bacon! The thing that really really amuses me about BaconSalt is not the name, the concept, or even the giant walking slice of bacon. It's the fact that the stuff is Kosher.

Ahem. Moving on, I stopped briefly at the Dark Horse booth to Troll Lisa Petrucci, then back to the Heroes Initiative booth where I got Brian Pulido's attention again (he was in the booth next door) and finally got the cool shot of him! Yay!

I headed back to Artist Alley and stopped a Cthuloid with wings long enough to Troll her. Then I noticed that Mike Mignola's line was missing, so I wandered toward his corner to see if he was out. He was just leaving, sort of. He was still talking with a woman, and when he turned away for a moment I asked her if it would be rude of me to ask him for a troll picture. She was enthusiastic, Mike was ok with it, and so I managed to Troll Mike Mignola, who had lines half a mile long the entire convention.


An aside. Saturday morning as I skimmed Facebook, I came across a message from Kurt Busiek that said "Kurt Busiek slept like The Thing That Does Not Sleep But Badly Needs It. Bah. This will be a long day." I determined from this post that he needed a hug once we got to the con. Thus early in the con, Lisa and I went and offered him hugs at his table. He growled menacingly at us. We feared him and fled. Later we spotted him on the floor and I offered hugs again. He growled menacingly at me. I feared him. After Trolling Mike Mignola, I headed up to his table. He was eating lunch and MUCH more mellow. He did not growl, but then, I did not offer further hugs.

Another Kurt incident happened some time during that day. Kurt was sitting next to Gail Simone, and every once in awhile Gail's gorgeous husband was at the table. At one point I was standing there "making them look more popular" when Gail's husband suddenly said to me, "I just realized you always wear an Aquaman t-shirt!" Kurt and Gail both laughed, and I think I tried to explain that I'm the Aquaman fan, so yeah, I always wear an Aquaman shirt at cons.

After Mignola, the next five Trollings were all costumes, and most of them took place along section L. I trolled The Comedian, The Wonder Twins, Batgirl, a Warrior who I seem to recognize but cannot quite place, and Poison Ivy and Jade hanging out together.

I went back to troll the Middle School students again, and got a couple who weren't terribly enthusiastic about the troll. The young gentleman was fond of his Wonder Woman tiara, however, which was a very popular piece of memorabilia that I saw all over the convention floor on various heads of both genders. It wasn't until Sunday that I figured out where they were coming from and got one for myself.


I went down the line and visited Tony Harris, who did a lovely Aquaman cover that still makes me happy to think about years later. I told him so, and Trolled him.

Back at the Heroes booth I Trolled Daniel Way, who seemed more bemused than most and seemed to think the whole Trolling thing was some sort of exhaustion induced illusion. I then Trolled a Nightcrawler who happened to walk by. Heidi decided that she needed to learn how to use her iPhone to post images to her blog, so we headed over to Jimmy Palmiotti's table because Jimmy had helped her out before. When she got there, Jimmy had no idea, but suggested that the guy sitting next to/behind him was the guy to ask. I think it was Brandon Peterson. He and Heidi huddled over her iPhone and eventually figured it out, as you can see on her blog. She even posted a picture of me. For information's sake, the app that she installed is called Blogpress and worked well.


While they worked on the phone, I wandered to Siya Oum, who drew an Aquaman sketch for me but hadn't been Trolled yet. As I stood at her table, an INCREDIBLE double-costume came along, of Hellboy and Abe. The detail was amazing, and the girl in the Abe Sapien costume was clearly suffering but MAN it was a fantastic costume. The parents said it was the girl's idea, and that she'd had to convince her brother to be Hellboy. But they got a lot of attention.

Then I Trolled Mouse Guard creator David Peterson, and moved down the line to Jeremy Bastian. I'm not entirely sure who the next couple I Trolled are, but they made for a great picture. Then I headed over to the Girl Genius booth to troll Experiment #1 again. Experiment #1 is one of the first ever Trolled people. He's also probably in more Troll pics than anyone else. In any case, I decided to continue documenting his growth in the true spirit of a Mad Scientist. I swear he looks more like his father every year.

I stopped a Bat Family to Troll them, and headed over to the Heroes booth to Troll Brian Denham. While still near the booth, I also Trolled Nightwing and Huntress, then Clayton Crain... who just happened by. Got to be careful where you walk at a con, somebody might just shove a Troll in your hand and take a picture!

I decided to make one more effort at the three media guests I hadn't yet Trolled, so Lisa and I headed back to that area of the con. We spotted a battle royale between Captain America and an Anime-dressed guy that I swear I nearly recognized, but couldn't name if I tried. Even a Google search didn't help me much. I Trolled them both.

The lines for Jewel and Ray were overwhelming, but there was almost no line for Michael Hogan. I learned why when I got up to there, as he was about to leave for the day. The line keeper let me in when I said I just wanted a quick photo. The people in front of me had a baby in a stroller, and Michael shamelessly flirted with baby and ignored all the adults nearby, much to the adults' amusement. Finally, baby or Michael got tired of the flirting, and he signed the photos that the proud parents had gotten... of Michael and the same baby! The father suggested that Michael do a USO tour, which surprised Michael. The father admitted he was shipping out to Iraq in a few weeks. Michael said he'd see what he could do. He said that he and "Eddie" (Adama) could do a mean stand-up if they tried.


When I got my turn Michael got the best expression ever on his face for the photo. Then I handed him his "You've Been Trolled!" card and he decided to go a little over-the-top, shouting, "I've been trolled!? Why didn't anyone tell me I was gonna get Trolled!" Helo, sitting in the next booth, looked up and grinned, and I made my escape.

Lisa and I wandered back to the Middle School table, but the students had scattered to the winds. I got a picture of their artwork instead of them. Then I noticed that Bruce Timm had no crowd for once, and immediately went over and Trolled him.

We had about an hour left in the convention for the day, but both Lisa and I were completely wiped. So we headed out, slowly. We stopped by the Halfpixel booth on the way out, and also found the DC booth (far too late to get any of the GL buttons). The parking was way too expensive ($14 for the day, ouch) and we went the wrong way when we headed out, but we eventually got to Hotel Mom&Dad and got a nice comfort food meal (thank you again, Mom!). A nice night helped me to recover, and I planned for a new day with hubby-Eric along. Before I did anything else, though, I made and printed a list of everyone that I was sure had already been trolled. Armed with that precious knowledge, I was able to target my paTrolling a little better on Sunday.

Emerald City Comicon reports: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006: part I, part II, part III, part IV, 2007: part I, part II, part III, part IV
2008: part I, part II, part III, part IV, 2009: part I.
All my blogged con reports and San Diego 2000.

Emerald City Comicon Report 2009 - Part I

Whoa. Seven years. That's how long the Emerald City Comicon has been held. And I've been to every single one of them.

The first year was short and sweet. Year two allowed me to develop new friendships. Year three we hung out with the Dorothy folks. I brought Torvald the Troll to the con for the first time in year four, and wrote a four part convention report. In year five I trolled Margot Kidder and wrote another four part convention report. Last year I met and trolled Atlantis Chronicles artist Esteban Maroto and wrote yet another four part convention report. This is my report for this year (in case you already hadn't figured that out). As usual, I'll have forgotten the exact order events happened, and no doubt will forget people who I really ought to mention. I'm sorry in advance for any inaccuracies in this report, and please, if you see an obvious mistake feel free to correct me. This con report is more for me, so I can remember what happened, than for anyone else. You just get to peek at my thoughts.

Hubby-Eric and I moved away from Seattle since the last Emerald City Comicon, so the trip this year involved a three-hour drive to the Seattle area and several nights at Hotel Mom&Dad. Luckily, my parents had room for us and were willing to put up with us... er, put us up for the duration. We arrived in the Seattle area on Thursday, ahead of a storm in the passes that would've made driving difficult, and stayed with hubby-Eric's parents the first night. On Friday, we were treated to a birthday party for my niece which included dinner and a movie. Saturday morning, my evil twin came to get me while hubby-Eric wandered off to Oz. Lisa and I headed down to the Convention Center, and got there in good time.

This year the con was again held in the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, but in the North exhibition halls (4E and 4F) instead of the South (4A and 4B) like last year. This meant the convention used the skybridge as a registration area, so fans were treated to this gorgeous view of Pike Street while we waited to get in (click for full size):


The lines on Saturday to get in were pretty long. The problem was that the convention center staff decided to mix the lines of people who had already bought tickets with people who hadn't, which meant that those of us with tickets in hand had to wait just as long as people who didn't plan ahead. It was a minor annoyance, but an annoyance nonetheless. There needed to be three lines (Pro/Exhibitor, Pre-Paid, and No Tickets), but there was only room for two.

Lisa and I had one main mission to start the con, and that was to get a Lisner Dawn/Oz print for hubby-Eric. So our first action was to try and find Lisner... who was in section L. The problem was, we couldn't find section L on the map. Sections A through J were clearly marked, so we headed out to section J, figuring once we were in the area, we'd spot something that would lead us to L.

As we wandered, I spotted Bob Schreck, whose first Troll picture was... a little undignified. He saw me, saw the troll, rolled his eyes, but then happily took my offer of a better picture.

About this time, I overheard someone else wondering where section L was. Then I noticed that the map showed a section K along the North wall, and ... well, section L was along the West wall, it just wasn't as clearly marked. I told the folks I'd overheard, and all of us happily trooped over to find who we were looking for.

Joseph Michael Lisner had plenty of the prints, so I bought one for Eric, and then Lisa and I headed for the media guests. Having finally started watching Battlestar Galactica, I really wanted to get those guests. On the way, we passed the Suicide Girls booth, and I just had to Troll them.

The first media guest victim was Noel Neill, Lois Lane from The Adventures of Superman. She was bemused to be trolled, and gracious. She had a book for sale that I wish I could've gotten, and I noticed she was sold out by Sunday. She never had a huge crowd like Wil Wheaton, but she always had a few people hanging out with her.

Next up, Lisa and I got in line for Jewel Staite, but when I got near the front, the ECCC keeper of Jewel refused to let me take a picture with the troll. So we just said "Hi!" and shook hands, then moved along. I got in line for Aaron Douglas while Lisa hovered. Aaron was fantastic! He loved the troll, and was totally into getting his picture taken with Torvald. His keeper attempted to be stern, but couldn't manage with Aaron's upbeat attitude. I thanked him profusely, and moved on to see Tahmoh Penikett. I had to talk Helo into the photo, because he'd been cowed by another keeper, but he agreed when several other people in line behind me started to say, "do it!" and so we took a quick picture and I gave him his trolled card.


A quick aside about the "trolled" cards. They consist of a close-up of Torvald with the words "You've been trolled!" and Torvald's URL. I printed 60 of them before leaving Churchville. I didn't think I'd use all of them... but I really should've checked my previous years and done some math. I ended up with 92 pictures, and I probably could've handed out 100 trolled cards easily. Next convention I'll be more prepared.

Lisa and I looked at Michael Hogan's table, but passed by because another stern-looking keeper was sitting there and the line was huge.

So we wandered. Lots and lots of wandering. I checked with a couple of artists about sketches, but it looked like everyone was charging for sketches and even the inexpensive ones would add up too quickly for my strained budget. Technically, I shouldn't even have come to the con this year for our financial woes, but I did anyway because of tradition and my love of this convention. But I digress.

I'm skipping around a bit in time, because my only guide for when anything happened is my pictures. So sometime during our wanderings, we stopped by the Hero Initiative booth to see Heidi and get our Hero buttons. I got a hand button, and I wore my button on my lanyard for the entire convention.

We eventually ended up in front of Patrick Gleason's table, another Aquaman artist. I trolled him, but I didn't gather up the nerve to ask for a sketch. We chatted a little about Green Lantern Corps and the fact that I just don't like the book that much. I talked about Soranik's fate... as she's not long for the DC Universe if she's dating Kyle. Patrick disagreed with me. He asked what he could do to make me like the book, and I had to confess my problems are all pretty much with the writing and the overall status of the GLC, not with the artwork.


When Lisa and I entered the convention center, we ran into Greg Hatcher, who told me that I must get a picture of Rachel this year with the troll. So we headed over to the Madison/Aki Kurose Middle School booth and found Rachel and Aja and Trolled them.

In artist alley we visited Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti and Trolled both of them. Amanda drew an Aquaman sketch for me WAY back, but she'd never been Trolled. So I dealt with that discrepancy. It's a little odd. There are a number of artists and writers I know on sight, and to my surprise quite a few of them have never been Trolled because I was more focused on getting sketches back in the day. I've been doing what I can to rectify the situation, but as the day wore on it became increasingly clear that I needed a guide to who had been Trolled and who hadn't.


Two guys I knew for sure I hadn't Trolled were Art Baltazar and Franco, the tag-team dynamic duo behind Tiny Titans, one of my favorite books on the shelf. They were also sketching, but charging a steep $1 each for a quick sketch. I was tempted, but decided to just Troll the pair. They need to do a stand-up act together, the two of them were funny, gracious, and just plain neat to be around. I later directed some of the Middle School Students to them, but I don't know if they went or not.

About this time, Lisa was collapsing from the strain of a tough work and school schedule, combined with a hyperactive evil twin (me) and so she took a break from me. I went off and Trolled James Kolchalka. I mispronounced Eli's name (argh) then tried to explain myself (double-argh) and felt like an idiot. I'm a fan of Eli's Monster Attack comic and particularly pleased that Eli is an Aquaman fan, too. So, off into the ether of the internet: I'm so sorry Eli! I hope you'll forgive!

Right... in disgrace I tromped down to the lower lobby and met the tired Lisa, and we both went down to eat lunch in the car. The sandwiches my mom made for us were satisfying (thanks, Mom!) and we both felt a little better after chowing down. Lisa decided to stay in the car and nap while I paTrolled some more, so I headed back up.


I wandered to the Heroes Initiative booth and was cheered by being able to troll Alan Porter. Then I attempted to Troll Brian Pulido again, and something very annoying happened.

Hubby-Eric and I bought my current camera many years ago. At the time, we also purchased two sets of rechargable batteries to go with it. They've served us well, but I've noticed recently that the batteries hold less and less of a charge. The batteries that were in the camera gave out completely, and when I put in the batteries I'd freshly charged Saturday morning... they didn't work. I was up a Troll without a working camera. I figured that was it for trolling the con, but I didn't really want to stop.

However, I do want to stop for the moment in recounting the convention. So look for part II maybe as early as tomorrow.

Emerald City Comicon reports: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006: part I, part II, part III, part IV, 2007: part I, part II, part III, part IV, 2008: part I, part II, part III, part IV.
All my blogged con reports and San Diego 2000.

Emerald City Comicon Pre-Report II

Still haven't written up a real report, but all of Torvald's pictures are up now! All 92 pictures of confused people and things with the troll.

Watchlego

Laura's suffering from some post-con weariness and a long drive home this morning. So I thought I'd pitch in and bring you the trailer for Watchmen done in LEGO. Enjoy!

(Thanks, Michael-Sensei!)

A Sunday Review

TV this week:

• Heroes: "Into Asylum" - Whatever the producers have done, they've managed to recapture a lot of what made this show great originally. I wanted more Hiro and Ando, but even without them this was an ok episode.
• Ghost Hunters: "Club Dead" - The first location, the Cuba Club, was very nice. The flashlight evidence was (if not faked) nicely compelling. Sounds never convince me, though, so the other evidence was nothing. The clinic under renovation is spooky in the daylight. I like how the "meat grinder" turned out to be a sterilizer.

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This week's comic book related review is Girl Genius. I've been reading this one since it was a print comic, and enjoying it all along. I was delighted when it went to the web, because that meant I was certain to get it regularly. Three times a week instead of whenever they managed to produce an issue. And, to make it even better, we'd still get print collections.

My delight was not misplaced. The comic has been consistently excellent, and the story has continued to move along nicely. The collections are wonderful, particularly the hardcovers.

As for the story, it's about a girl named Agatha who has consistently failed at the university. But when a strange event causes her to duck down an alley, her life changes completely. The story slides through a steampunk Europe where geniuses are called "Sparks" and are able to alter reality. Throw in lost heroes, the remnants of a devastating war, and a talking cat... and you have everything a girl like me could want in a comic book.

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My library book this week was Lavinia by Ursula K Le Guin. If you already know the tale of Aeneas, you know who Lavinia is and why there was a war over her. If you don't know the Aeneid, don't fret. There's plenty of context in the story to give you all you need to know. This is a book from the point of view of a minor character in a poem, and the strange thing about it is that the character knows that she's fiction. It's a jolting kind of read, to recognize her spirituality is all about acceptance, including accepting that she isn't real. Not that her fictionality is a focus of the book. On the contrary, the reader is drawn into Lavinia's world, which is based on the world of Italy before it became Italy and before Rome existed. It's a very good telling of how people may have lived and worshipped in those days, and covers the way they dealt with their neighbors and strangers as well. And it's a love story, though we never really get to know Aeneas. Certainly a fascinating book. I checked out this book because of this review.

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Agatha Christie this week was The ABC Murders from 1936. This is a very different mystery, with what appears to be a straightforward solution. Christie plays well on the readers' expectations, and at the end we only want to know why. Again, I didn't see the reveal coming, and yet all the clues were there. I just don't think with my little grey cells like Poirot. I hate to say it, but I'm more like Hastings. *shudder*

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