Linkdump for Wednesday

Dozer the dog finishes Half-Marathon without bothering to let his owners know.

Er, women in comic shops and how to, er, treat them.

A Dialogue between Teach and Cheat. Teach is a philosophy instructor at a public university, while Cheat ghost-writes student papers for pay. I read some of these articles and think that I was an idiot to do all my own work back when I was in school. Then I kick myself for thinking that.

Reusable grocery bags don't make you sick. BONUS: How to wash reusable grocery bags.

A different Salvador Dalek. Cool.

Are they terrorist turtles?

Need to fix something? Here you go!

LOLCat Theology.

Best! Horse Race! Ever!

Those folks at Improve Everywhere have done it again! Take a look at this!

For more about this mission, especially the behind-the-scenes fun, go to Improv Everywhere's website.

A Sunday Review

Two weeks in which I'm traveling more than staying at home, so two Sundays without a Sunday Review. How did you people survive without me? Very well, no doubt. Get ready for another break in reviewing while I go off to Oz in a couple of weekends. Ok, here's some of what I watched and read over the last three weeks.

TV this week:

• Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: "Nightfright" - I love the Vincent Price tribute. Eric called the villain in this one as soon as the person showed up not in costume. This one felt like an old-fashioned episode from my childhood. It was goofy, pointless, and the villain had way too much power. Loved it.
• Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: "The Siren's Song" - A siren begs for Velma's help in solving a mystery, and the crew take up the challenge. I love the reference to Scrappy-Doo. The ongoing plot is nicely advanced by Velma in this one.
• Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: "Menace of the Manticore" - More about Hot Dog Water, and lots of fun spooky stuff. I definitely get the feeling that Fred's dad is not only the Mayor, but something else as well.
• Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: "Attack of the Headless Horror" - Early on in this one we both correctly guessed the villain of the piece, but it was still a great deal of fun. I really liked Charles.


• Batman: The Brave and the Bold: "Scorn of the Star Sapphire!" - Lots of women in this one. The pre-credit sequence with Wonder Woman made me giggle uncontrollably. The rest... well, good enough. I enjoyed it.


• Primeval: "Season 5 Episode 3" - Nice art gallery. Nice to see Emily being kick-butt in her own time, pity about what was going to happen to her. I'm worried about Abby and Connor's relationship, and also about what Connor has accomplished. Yikes.
• Primeval: "Season 5 Episode 4" - Connor's new invention endangers all the gang, and nobody is happy about it. Jess reveals that she's got a serious problem. This one is really really creepy. In lots of ways. Double Yikes.


• Young Justice: "Targets" - During tense negotiations between two warring countries, Red Arrow saves the mediator but gets into deeper water, and calls Aqualad for help. In the meantime, Miss Martian and Superboy start school and meet a bunch of people (Snapper Carr, Wendy and Marvin, Mal Duncan and Karen Beecher, lots of homages and/or potential teammates). I really like Aqualad. Yum.


• History Detectives: "Yakima Canutt's Saddle; The Ni'ihau Incident; Civil War Cannon" - Ooh, a good one. The cannon was something I think I heard of once, it was nice to get a little more detail on it. The Zero crashing during Pearl Harbor wasn't something I knew about. It's a sad story, but fascinating. The saddle, on the other hand, wow. The name caught my attention immediately, and the story behind Yakima Canutt was a nice relaxing one after the previous two. Another great episode.

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This week's movie was Green Lantern in 3D. Some caveats: I watched the trailers and clips, and virtually every time I saw one my expectations for the movie got lower. The lead, Ryan Reynolds, just completely turns me off. The more I saw of him in the role, the less I wanted to see the movie. And so I went into the theater expecting something that would not impress me. And I got what I expected. Oh, it wasn't bad for a superhero movie. It just never pulled together and made me interested. Heck, the most alive character out of all of them was Amanda Waller, and she was both in a minor role and not trying to outshine the rest. The special effects were great, but we expect that now. The story tried, but it never really pulled together well enough. It needed a few more drafts by an expert hand to line it all up. So I wasn't really disappointed, as I wasn't expecting much, but I am sad that DC can't seem to make a blockbuster movie that isn't Superman or Batman.

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Here are reviews of the DCBS comic books that I've gotten around to reading and reviewing, sorted by the original shipping date:

• May 18th
• Justice League of America #57 - Er, nice cliffhanger? But we like the moon!
• Power Girl #24 - Wow. That's one way to get you into the story and really supporting the guy. I think I like Rayhan. I hope they don't kill him.
• Zatanna #13 - That's one annoying cat. And Spectre is a twit. Not sure what to make of Detective Colton and his little revelation.
• Tiny Titans #40 - This issue was a load of Kroc! *giggle*
• Young Justice #4 - A pretty sobering reminder that this is still a new team and they make mistakes. Aqualad gets to show off his powers a bit.
• Fables #105 - Not sure the cover has much to do with anything else there. As for Ozma... ouch. That had to sting a little.
• DMZ #65 - Wow. We're coming up on a bit of a bleak ending. How is Matty going to be able to pull anything out of this mess?
• Doctor Who: Fairytale Life #2 - That's kind of a severe sort of quarantine, isn't it? Getting into this one.
• Stan Lee Soldier Zero #8 - Not really sure exactly what's happening with this book, nor I'm am sure why we're still buying it.
• May 25th
• Action Comics #901 - My interest in Doomsday is just about zero, as is my interest in this book.
• Justice Society of America #51 - The main story, showing how Fate and the rest are fighting for Lightning, is very good. The ongoing plot with the city and Flash is surprisingly well done for just a few pages. And have I mentioned that I really really hate those Super 8 inserts?
• Green Lantern #66 - I'm really beginning to think the Indigo rings are more about redemption than compassion. Otherwise, pretty standard stuff.
• Green Lantern Corps #60 - Speaking of redemption, John's going to need a lot of it now, isn't he? As for Mogo, he's already been dead once, right? Right?
• Green Lantern Emerald Warriors #10 - And finally we get down to the final battle. About time.
• Doctor Who Ongoing V2 #5 - Neat little bit of history, well two bits of history. Fun standalone story.
• June 1st
• Flashpoint: Abin Sur the Green Lantern #1 - Well, this certainly suggests fairly different histories in the Flashpoint universe than in the regular DCU. Wonder how this will work out. Lots of good hints, at least.
• Flashpoint: The World of Flashpoint #1 - Another look at the Flashpoint Universe, more clues as to what is happening, and a pretty decent story besides. Glad I got this one, even if Aquaman isn't on the cover like the preview showed.
• Batman Beyond #6 - Terry really needs to pay attention when Bruce tells him to go invisible. And Max... whew. Getting exciting. I hope this book isn't gone for long during the relaunch.
• Doctor Who Classics #5 - I'd read the first story once, long ago, but not the second. Both of them are pretty good.
• Ozma of Oz #7 - Ah, Billina really gets to show off in this one. Love it!

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

Stepford Plants Report

Not a lot to say this time, I guess. Well, yes, there is some news. New plants and such. But for the most part everything is going along the way I hoped. My soaker hoses are actually soaking instead of spraying randomly, and even the plants I thought weren't growing appear to be growing if I compare them with last week's pictures. So I guess I just need a little faith and a little patience.

The big news for us, I guess, is that I'm getting ready to go to the Winkie Convention down in California the first weekend in July. My house-sitter and her Rotweiller "Snuffy" will be monitoring the place while I'm gone. No pictures of Snuffy, I'm told he ate the last person who tried to take a picture of him. I'm sure that was a joke. I think. Anyway, with the soaker hoses apparently working, I hope to make it dead easy for my house-sitter to water the plants that aren't covered by those hoses. We'll have to see if I succeed.

Linkdump

I guess I'll post about the plants tomorrow...

Nominate your favorite fantasy world at If You Lived Here.

Speaking of fantasy worlds, on his Wonderful Blog of Oz, my husband is remembering past Winkie Conventions. Today he's forcing me to guest post.

Kindles are Awesome.

I liked this Flat Earth Map. Goofy, but cool.

Extreme low-calorie diet might cure type 2 diabetes. It sounds incredibly difficult (only 600 calories a day for two months?), but the possibility of being free of diabetes might make it worth it for some people. I think the follow-up diet would be almost as crucial as the initial two months.

This one requires a little explanation. A woman was arrested for standing on her own front lawn recording a police stop. At a meeting to support the woman, police used the law to harass her supporters. The first incident might have been a mistake, heat of the moment, or even forgivable stress. The second incident makes the police look really bad.

Tiny Pug for the in-laws.

They've Done It Again... New Kindle App

The same guys that gave us Kindle Notepad and Kindle Converter have now put out Kindle Calendar.

Calendar is a scheduling tool and daily planner for Kindle. Calendar lets you see events and to-do lists quickly and easily with day, month and week views. It lets you create events (including recurring events) and daily to-do lists. You can set reminders that show up when you start Calendar; and copy/paste, sort and search tools make working with your data a breeze. US Holidays are included, but you can turn them off if you want to do so.

Check out the help page for more information. But if I had a current Kindle, this app would already be on it.

CameraPhone Zen

Time for a Start of Summer Linkdump!

The kids are alright. It's the adults who need some work.

A tornado path can be clearly seen on this satellite image of Massachusetts.

Lifeboat at World's End.

You think your parents are embarrassing? How about dad waving at the bus each morning in a different costume? First Day. Last Day.

WANT.

Want.

WANT. Seriously. These would be really useful around here.

A DC Cyclist has a run-in with an idiot and lives to write about the whole thing in detail.

The Springfield Shopper (click the top link to go to the image, then check out the comments).

PugsM&M's for the in-laws.

Stepford Plants Report

I have managed the impossible. I killed a zucchini plant before its time. I'm sure it was a combination of the location, the watering, and the cats. But it's dead, Jim. You grab its tricorder and I'll get its wallet. In the meantime, the Plum Stick continues to grow.

I was actually on the road last week, and I took these pictures on Wednesday but I'm only getting around to posting them now. Sorry.

A Conversation on the Road

"Hey, Laura, what's that oversize load there?"

"Huh, I dunno, Lisa. Looks like a little house..."

"Ha, yeah, a really little house. Maybe it's an outhouse!"

"Yeah, right! Seriously, I wonder what it is..."



"..."

"..."



"I didn't know they came prefab."

"EVEN THE FREAKING ROCKS! EVEN THE ROCKS IN THE WALLS! THEY'RE ALL PREFAB! THE RESTSTOP IS A LIE!"

The Personal Situation

Anyone who doesn't want to read me whining, just ignore this post. You've been warned.

No Sunday Review This Week

I was on the road for a long time at the end of this week, and have decided that the one show I watched isn't enough for a Sunday Review post by itself. Check back next Sunday.

In case you were wondering, yes, I did go down to Salt Lake City on a slightly unexpected trip with my Evil Twin, and I did take Torvald and do the tourist thing. I also met a whole bunch of cousins-once-removed and saw cousins that I hadn't seen in over a decade. And I made paper frogs for lots of little ones. And was in a car for over 22 hours in a 3-day period. So I'm tired. So I'll post something that's actually interesting later.

CameraPhone Zen

CameraPhone Zen

Printer error messages

I found this set of printer error messages (probably from Aaron Williams, who has some of the best linkdumps around), and they made me chuckle, with the occasional guffaw. I hope you like them, too. It seems you can hack your printer and alter some of the messages in there...

Deep Thought

One of the last things I like when I get out of the shower is grabbing my towel and having a spider immediately run over my hand. Fortunately it was a tiny spider, but still! I suppose it's better than a scorpion, or a rattlesnake.

Calls From Jamaica

We've been getting spammy phone calls from the 876 area code recently. To my vast amusement, some of them actually leave messages. One I listened to included a person explaining in a deep slow voice that attempted to hide his accent that I had property that needed to be claimed at the National Register and I should call to claim my property. Another was a guy who didn't even bother to hide his thick Jamaican accent telling me that I'd won the Las Vegas lottery and to call to claim my winnings.

While I really don't like nasty spammy phone calls, I'm kind of happy to get ones this amusing.

It's My Biz...

Today I took the first step to starting my own business. I'm still not certain it will happen, but at least I've made the first real effort and had my first real job.

So, the business is computer repair/clean-up/installation and tutoring. I'm not an expert on computers, but one thing I am good at is fixing them when they go wrong. With a couple of painful exceptions, I've been able to fix any computer I've sat down at and seriously worked on. Plus, I know enough of the details of computer usage that I can teach people, including seniors who have a computer phobia, how to work their systems and fix minor problems themselves.

Today I had my first paying computer repair job. I went out to the house of a couple who have a desktop that was working fine and a laptop that wasn't. They needed me to install some software, figure out why Quickbooks was being bad, and figure out why the wireless on the laptop refused to connect to the router. The installation and Quickbooks went fast, then I spent another two hours troubleshooting the laptop until I found a driver update to the wireless card and fixed the problem that way (it wasn't an obvious solution, I had to manually update because Windows incorrectly thought it was on the latest version). I got paid, and I left my customer satisfied. Not bad for a first try.

Now I have to see if the valley of Churchville has enough demand to keep me busy, and find more customers. Thank goodness the start up costs are pretty low, and the work is something I find fascinating and fun.

A Sunday Review

TV this week:

• Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: "Dragon's Secret" - An exchange student, a bunch of rings, and some spooky ghosts. Another fun one, particularly to see Velma getting jealous while trying to not be. And Fred's continued development with Daphne was good.


• Primeval: "Season 5 Episode 2" - Oh, THIS episode deserved to be in high definition if any episode ever did. The team goes on a submarine to close an anomaly in dangerous waters. And there are some really good scary underwater monsters in it. And the cramped and terrifying confines of a submarine with a horror onboard stalking the crew. Overall, lots of fun.


• Doctor Who: "A Good Man Goes to War" - Ah, the secret behind River Song is revealed. And, thanks to my extreme efforts to avoid spoilers, I was completely surprised by a lot of things in this episode, much to my delight. This is not nearly as much of a cliff-hanger as some episodes have ended on, but it's still going to be a long wait until the second half of the season airs.

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This week's movie was Young Indiana Jones: The Perils of Cupid (Vienna and Florence, 1908). Still from the DVD set we borrowed from a friend (thanks Ian!). In the first half, Indy falls head over heels in love with Princess Sophie, and goes to great lengths to say goodbye to her. A side visit with Freud, Jung, and Adler don't help him deal with his lovesickness, but do add to his determination. Another jump in age for Indy sends him to Italy, as usual the timeline is messed up. The second half is much more intense, as Indy's mother has love trouble.

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Here are reviews of the DCBS comic books that I've gotten around to reading and reviewing, sorted by the original shipping date:

• May 7th - FREE COMIC BOOK DAY
• Green Lantern/Flashpoint Special Edition - Changing GL's origin yet again? Or something else? I'm getting tired of all the variations, and wish they'd just stick to new stories. Flashpoint, now... definitely involves lots of Aquaman, so I'm really curious about it.
• Young Justice/Batman BB Super Sampler - Two fun stories in one little book. With Aqualad front and center, this is the best FCBD book for me this year. And it helps that it's just a pretty good couple of stories, too.
• Mouse Guard/Dark Crystal Flip Book - The title lies, there are actually four pieces in this book. Well, three and a promo for a big project of great interest to Jim Hensen fans. The Mouse Guard side was excellent, a done-in-one bedtime story. The Dark Crystal side was dark and disturbing. There was also a four page Dapper Men prelude. One of the best this year, I think.
• Baltimore/Criminal Macabre Flip Book - I read the Criminal Macabre part first and wasn't impressed. Oh, it was ok, but not my cuppa. Baltimore was freaky and atmospheric and a little tiny bit predictable.
• The Intrepid Escapegoat and The Stuff of Legend - The Stuff of Legend was an intriguing concept with no actual comic to back it up. The Intrepid Escapegoat was funny, goofy, and even a bit clever.
• The Tick: Free Comic Book Day 2011 - Eh, it's the Tick. I'm not a big fan, but I'm sure people who like The Tick will enjoy this.
• Bongo Comics Free-For-All 2011 - Amusing first story, mildly amusing Krusty single page gags, funny second story (I understand the frustration of trying to open some DVD cases), and a disturbingly Sergio final tale.
• Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse - A nice completely story featuring Mickey and Pluto. I really liked this a lot, and suddenly wish I had money to buy all these older strips.
• Top Shelf Kids Club 2011 - A fun little sampler with some fun, if very strange, stories. I like how the back cover lists all the collections so people know what to look for if they liked a story.
• May 11th
• Birds of Prey #12 - Yikes. New mission, new villain, and the Question shows up. This could be a good storyline.
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold #7 - The first three pages nearly made my year. That first page, with baby Aquaman, is an all-time classic. Nice to see Aqualad, too. Oh, and the main story, a flashback to Batman's early years, was also good.
• Northlanders #40 - A very good little done-in-one that says a lot about this book. Worth picking up and reading if you are curious (although it's a bit less gory than usual).
• Doctor Who Classics Series 4 #4 - Two solid little stories, one with a scavenger helping the Doctor despite himself, and one with the seventh Doctor meeting old dead companions and previous incarnations of himself. Slightly spooky, but not hard to figure out.

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

Snooze Sings

I'm afraid this one demands some explanation. And I don't have much...

Snooze is a cat friend of mine who was unhappily living in an apartment for some time but recently moved into a house. Deep into the night, Snooze can now be heard singing happily while playing with a glitter ball in the spacious upstairs hallways. Snooze's pet humans secretly recorded the wonderful little cat song, and it amuses me so much that I'm now inflicting it on you.



By the way, you can see a picture of Snooze in this blog entry.

Stepford Plants Report

Well, the zombie zucchini continues to make me wonder. Will it survive? Will it die? Have I succeeded in the impossible: killing a zucchini plant before it produces too much fruit for a family of 9 to eat in a summer? I'm not sure, and I'm sure I won't know for a few more days yet. In the meantime I'll keep watering it and see what happens.

It was dark and stormy today, which is one of the problems I'm having in figuring out how much to water my plants. It seems like it must be rainy, but it's not. The storms mostly just pass over the valley. But being a Seattle gal, I see the clouds and somewhere deep inside I have the sense that it's going to rain or it has rained, and I don't have to worry about watering. Which is totally wrong. It's very strange to go outside with grumpy clouds hovering over town and still water my plants, but it's what I have to do. If I can get that into my head, perhaps my more picky plants will survive.

Link Post

This isn't going to be of interest to most of you, but I'm really freaking proud of my sister, who has been working on an internet project and got a tiny bit of assistance from me. Apparently her adviser loved her work, so I gotta say, CONGRATS, OH EVIL TWIN!

In case you didn't know, DC is rebooting the entire DC Universe. I HATE that they are restarting Action and Detective with #1s. The rest I don't mind, that I despise. At least this promises plenty of Aquaman for me.

Daleks-of-the-day offers us some awesome Dalek pottery. Want.

Surprised to find myself watching the Stanley Cup with interest because a local team is in. I like the current uniforms. Hated that ugly yellow variation, but the Northwest colors of blue and green work for me.

Maids in NYC Hotels getting Panic Buttons after a series of high profile assaults.

Nuclear fission in an animated GIF.

Do my in-laws even want a puggerfly?