Ahoy!

I've climbed on board the Ahoy Comics team!

As I've mentioned about 50 times before, I saw this Facebook post and immediately thought of two stories I had been working on. Both were decent enough to be seen, so I spent an hour or so in final editing and sent both of them in. The page said to not expect a response for three weeks, so I was thinking I'd hear back in early August, if at all. I've submitted far too many pieces that I never heard back from to have any expectations any longer.

To my complete shock, I got a response back exactly one week later. I mean, San Diego Comic-Con was on. I didn't expect anything until well after the con was over! The response from the editors said one of my stories was too long, which I had suspected, and the other was under consideration. I was thrilled. I've been published, but this feels like a new step. I was really hoping the team would like the story enough.

This morning I got the news that they wanted to buy the story. I think I bounced around the house for a good hour afterwards, and then bounced when I got the contract, and bounced even more when I got a request for my bio and photo for the Ahoy Comics Creators Page.

What makes this even more sweet is that I was already planning on buying three of the four Ahoy books before I even submitted anything to them. I love the creators they've gotten, and the stories sound fun. And now my bio is up on a page with some of my comic book heroes, which is enough to make me run around the house scaring the cat with my dancing.

To be clear, my story is prose, not a comic book story. I will be able to tell you more as the publication date gets nearer.

And that, my friends, is Ahoy!

Some Catch-Up

When last I wrote, Androcon was about to start (the invasion of Doctor Who fans at the Gjovaag house) and I'd just had a couple of very nice weeks of writing for the newspaper again.

Ok, first off... Inkwell is very healthy, and in fact has been playing more often than before. He's a bit befuddled by all the people who have visited, starting with the Androgums, then my parents, sister and niece, then the appraisers looking at the house. Now he's in the habit of running upstairs and hiding behind the bed when anyone comes to the door, which was actually useful today because I knew when the newspaper arrived.

He's also back in the habit of announcing when he gets into his box. I find it really amusing every time and I don't know why.

The Doctor Who on Twitch marathon is ending today. While none of the other Doctors reached the heights of London 1965, it was an excellent and fun way to see other people's reactions to the show as some of them saw it for the first time. I didn't watch continually, but I caught enough to be amused.

I have put in a hold for Hope Never Dies at the library in the hopes that it will be as goofy as the cover illustration indicates.

I am absolutely convinced that someone made this San Diego Comic-Con graphic just for me:

I saw this Facebook post on Friday the 13th and immediately submitted two stories I happened to have written that only needed a little polishing. I did not expect any response at all until after San Diego Comic-Con, and so was surprised to get acknowledgement of my submission in only a week. Very cool.

I was able to see Doctor Who meet the Muppets thanks to people taking videos at the shows in London, but I'd really like to purchase an official DVD of the shows. I've heard they don't do that, which is a shame. I bet it would raise a bit of money for charity even with the production costs.

If you know about or have played the Uncharted games, Nathan Fillion did a MAGNIFICENT job in a short video based on the games.

Yes, this made me squee. A lot of the Aquaman news recently has made me happily squee away. I mean, the movie poster was fun, but the trailer... oh, the trailer...


I must confess that I laughed hysterically for about a half hour about this particular headline:

News from San Diego includes a new creative team for Aquaman. I'm iffy about the art, but there's nothing wrong with Kelly Sue DeConnick as the writer! And she's the first female writer to take on Aquaman, which is interesting, but I won't cut her any slack.

DC's new young adult books are going to include both Mera and Jackson. I'll be getting the Aqua-related ones for sure, but some of the others also look pretty good.

I have not had a major depressive episode in three and a half weeks. Some of it is all the awesome Aquaman news, some is certainly being able to write for the newspaper again. Sadly, while the depression seems to be holding at bay, the anxiety and fibro pain have been as bad and worse than ever. Ug. Still, no depression is a win!

Hey, a super-relaxed Inkwell!

I really like this starry night house and kind of want to paint our house like that, only with a TARDIS in it. But I've been warned that blue paint fades very quickly, so I'm not sure. Maybe someday we'll just get a nice TARDIS blue door.

Yes, I have pre-subscribed to DC Universe. I suspect I'll get my money's worth out of it. Yes, of course I pre-subscribed in time to enter the Aquaman sweeps, although there is almost zero chance of me winning.

At the same time, DC Universe Online, the game I play, announced their next "downloadable content" (DLC) will be Atlantis. As the game has already had a ton of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern content, it's nice to see a couple of DLCs (including the recent Deluge) featuring Aquaman and his friends.

If you haven't seen the winners of the Eisner Awards yet, here they are. I hate to admit I'm not familiar with most of them, but the ones I know I like.

I was happy to read this story about a kid and a hot dog stand. Someone called health inspectors on him, but instead of shutting him down they helped make sure he was up to code then paid for his license. Excellent news!

The moment Jason Momoa met the son of Aquaman's creator, Paul Norris.

Get your orders in for Ahoy Comics. I'm looking forward to most of their books, and I don't easily jump on new publishers.

Lastly, the Washington State primary is August 7th. We just received our ballots a few days ago, and last night both Eric and I voted. We dropped off the ballots in the drop box this morning. Now we wait and see.

Conundrum...

I have liked comic book characters since I was a child watching Super Friends. I started buying comic books in college, and one of my first titles was a Marvel book (Spider-Man 2099). But Aquaman is my hero, and I'm mostly a DC gal. That's the background for you.

I have no interest in Black Panther.

And it bothers me.

Oh, the movie looks exciting, and I'll probably see it once it's out on home video. Hubby-Eric and I have watched many of the Marvel Universe movies, and will watch many more before were through. Heck, I haven't seen Justice League yet because we can't afford to see it right now (I should probably go put it on my Amazon Wish List) and I only HOPE we'll have enough cash to see Aquaman when it's out.

But here's the issue... I read up on Black Panther, and he seems like the kind of character who ought to appeal to me. He's from a technologically advanced nation which he rules as king, that's basically hidden from/disregarded by the outside world. He's a superhero and ruler and has to balance between different goals and accomplishments while still staying true to himself. I mean, that description could easily apply to Aquaman. Just make him breathe underwater, and you've got my guy.

So why am I not interested in him? My fear is that it's my innate racism kicking in. I want to say it isn't, but I'm not sure. Just because I love Cal Durham in the DCU Aquaman-family doesn't mean I don't have some bias against other black characters. Is it my lack of interest in Marvel Comics? Or do I have something against a fantasy country set in Africa? I like Storm. I like Vixen. I adore Black Lightning and Static. But I cannot rule out a hidden flaw in my character, hidden even from me.

Racism is something that every living soul in our country has thanks to being raised in a racist society. Whether we acknowledge it or not, all of us are racist in some ways. Some of those are overt, many are subtle and some never show at all. My goal is to be a good person, and that means understanding when I am being racist, acknowledging the flaw and trying my best to correct it. I have done this over and over and will have to continue to do it my entire life. You don't simply stop being racist because you don't want to be - it's a process instead of a one-and-done thing. I have failed. Many times. I sometimes curse my mind for thinking racist thoughts without my permission, and I sweep those thoughts off the stage of my brain whenever I can. But they still exist and I will never stop fighting them.

I'm really not sure if my disinterest in Black Panther is racism or not. I've been struggling with it, because if it is a symptom of something bigger and bitter in my heart, I want to figure it out and work through it. But perhaps I just don't have any interest. Perhaps I've never given the character enough time or effort. Perhaps the little bit of comic art I've seen and read just didn't hook me. I just don't know, and for the moment I'm stymied on how to figure it out.

My best option, I think, is to read as much Black Panther as I can find to see what it does to me. Sadly, with finances what they are, that will have to wait. If anyone can recommend a jumping on point, I'll put it on my list of to-reads and someday get to it.

In the meantime, the worry will unsettle my mind. I hope the movie is fantastic and does well at the box office. And I hope I can see it soon. Maybe I'll fall in love with this character too.

It's been so long...

... so long since I've done a proper link dump, I can't even remember how to do it! I long ago stopped reading other blogs due to time issues, and cut down my online activity to the bare minimum of what I thought I could manage quickly. I'm not sure I know how to find all my sources I used to read. It's so strange to have time again!

Ok, don't panic. I still have interests. I just haven't been able to share them.

Let's start with Popular Science's article on better batteries that were made by accident. Sometimes I think all the best discoveries must be by accident, considering how many cool things are created by experiments not working like expected. I think it's important to realize that failure in science is almost as useful, sometimes way more useful, than "success". You come up with your hypothesis, you test it, and something is wrong... sometimes that's the moment real discovery starts. In any case, these batteries, with the potential to last 400 times longer than current batteries before needing a charge, are extremely promising.

Drones are the new UFOs. Apparently, lots of pilots who hit things now are thinking those things are drones. That's an interesting twist of perceptions. Having attempted to fly a drone and failed (with a long hike involved to find and collect the drone) I have my doubts that most small drones can get up high enough to threaten planes. Larger drones... you would expect the operators to have more of a clue. Then again, not all drone operators have shown off brains so far.

Southern Fried Science enjoys some Aquaman science. Love it!

Speaking of comics, this report of sexual harassment at DC is very depressing. But I'm hoping by spreading this information, more people will have questions and maybe something will be done about it. I can dream. Comics aren't exactly friendly to women, yet. Not quite as bad as some segments of gaming, but the sexism and boys club attitude is there.

I'll finish up with a piece from Atlas Obscura on pirated research libraries. In short, journal costs can be so high that, in order to cite other recent studies, some broke scientists are turning to pirated documents to get what they need to help science progress. Of course, read that last line to see that it's not all about research.

I still maintain that copyright has been extended so long that it is now meaningless to the current generation. If copyright lasts a lifetime or longer, and it does, then nothing produced today will ever go into the public domain. This makes things that were possible only a couple of generations ago impossible, including a new Disney producing movies using classic public domain stories. I think there should be copyright, and I think it should be renewable, but I don't think it should be automatic after the first term, say 10 years. And renewal should cost some fee to maintain the database of copyrighted works. That means that works that aren't making money for the copyright holder are more likely to fall into the public domain where they can be remixed and turned into new works.

But if we continue the way we have, copyrights are basically going to become a speedbump to cultural progress, bankrupting artists who can't afford obscene fees to use music that should be in the public domain. Corporations will own most copyrights and come down hard on people who violate them, while individual authors won't be able to protect their own work from pirates because of the costs of litigation. For a reason why eternal copyrights are stupid, read Melancholy Elephants by Spider Robinson.

Linkdump

My cold has hit... thank goodness for Labor Day. Maybe I can recover enough by tomorrow that I won't be miserable at work! Here's some links to keep you busy:

Do you want to wear a book? Try a litograph. I'm sure my hubby would like this one or this one. Personally, I wish the tattoos were smaller and a bit less expensive, because I'd love to put some literary quotes on the back of my hand, where I usually put my temporary tattoos (one of these days I need to figure out a way to get the Aquaman "A" logo from the current books as a temporary tattoo for my hand).

If you'd like to watch the Hugo award ceremony, there are four videos of it here to watch the ceremony itself, skip the first video entirely, it's just the annoying pre-Hugo show (although the guests aren't too bad) and start at 1:07:15 into the second video.

Also, if you want something strange, H.P. Lovecraft explains the Sad Puppies.

The final attendance for Sasquan was 5,171 people actually there and a total membership of 11,648. Last year's Loncon 3 had 6,946 people in attendance and a total membership of 10,718. Sasquan's total membership broke records. The attending membership was high, but not the highest, with perhaps eight other Worldcons having more attendees.

Another fun stat to look at is how many of those members each year voted in the Hugo Awards. There were 5,950 this year, but only 3,587 last year. There were only 1,848 the year before that and 1,922 in the year 2012. It's impressive how fandom reacted when a small clique attempted to take over the Hugo Awards - like antibodies after a virus, fandom swarmed and prevented the clique's nominees from getting awards.

Nerds don't understand politics.

These Vintage Computers aren't so old. I remember using a lot of them. They aren't old!

I don't read Detective Comics right now, but this has to be my absolute favorite non-Aquaman variant cover in a long time:

Linky-Dinky-Doo

The New York Public Library's Instagram Account has some really neat stuff on it, including reference desk questions from before the days of the internet.

"Please give me the name of a book that dramatizes bedbugs?"

The Internetest safety video on the Internet

Reports from a Medieval War

I wish I had the skills and tools to make this for my cat (and for me).

Justice League Unlimited: The Lost Episode. I don't remember if I've posted this link before. If I have, it's still fun enough to share again.

Stupid Google Tricks. A couple there worth remembering.

"What does it mean when you dream you're being chased by an elephant?"

I am not opposed to people using marijuana, and this article definitely suggests we should be studying the medical potential of pot more. I want to say I would never use the stuff, but if I were in a situation like Xeni's? Maybe. Just... maybe. I don't know.

I want more Battlebots. Apparently, the new series will be airing starting June 21st, 9 p.m. on ABC. Get out the popcorn!

I was unaware that The Wiz almost had a comic book adaptation by Mark Evanier. Huh.

I can't really listen to the song without cringing, but Rolling Stone had a great retrospective on the making of Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

Cliff Mass corrects the media on the notion that we're having a super-drought. Of particular interest is the fact that precipitation is normal, it just didn't collect as snow.

Source. T-Shirt.

Bleeding Cool noted not long ago that DC's latest campaign is really ripe for photoshopping. Ouch. You know, at first I was disappointed there was no Aquaman ad, now I'm just relieved.

Do Not Disturb.

Stress doesn't make rewards any better.

GunFail, which collects news stories of people who really shouldn't have had access to guns, is on Pinterest, Facebook, and Tumblr. The guy who collects these stories noted on Daily Kos that his Pinterest page was disabled for awhile, but he doesn't know why.

DuoLingo now has Norwegian.

Well, time to start learning the language that matches my name.

Linkdump

I've only read 23 of Amazon.com's 100 Young Adult Books to Read in a Lifetime, although some of the others are on my endless "to-read" list. I also haven't read many of these Captivating Short Stories Everyone Should Read, although The Yellow Wallpaper haunts me to this day.

This cartoon isn't fair to comic book fans. Hey, I found a guy!

Read Tony Lee's Pitch for a Doctor Who/Deep Space 9 Crossover and dream about what might have been.

Cliff Mass has more on the strange weather we're having here in the Pacific Northwest.

Boing Boing has a great story on how to buy secret cookies from cloistered nuns.

The Eisner Awards were announced a month or so ago... I still haven't really gone through it, but glancing through I see a few I've read, including Astro City, Beasts of Burden, Shanower's Little Nemo, I Was The Cat, Tiny Titans and Meteor Men, all of which are definitely worth reading.

While it was announced some time ago, I'm still gleeing over the idea of a new Cordelia book.

I kind of want this car shade.

More Links

Pepsi to stop using aspartame. Well, it won't get me to drink Pepsi, but it's nice to know that somebody is dropping that stuff. It tastes awful. I don't know how people can stand it. Yuck.

A hiker catches the start of a volcanic eruption. Yikes.

Hubby-Eric says he wants this book. Ok.

My former local PBS station, KCTS-9, has laid off most of its production staff. Yikes.

Pasta sauce so good you'll lose your head.

So apparently all the dinosaur toys we played with as children were actually of plucked dinos.

Like a good neighbor... State Farm ad fan fiction.

Why most "vaccine injuries" aren't actually vaccine related at all.

White Privilege is not generally something we notice... it's like being a fish underwater, we just live in it and don't think about it. Boing Boing has a cartoon that tries to explain it. It can't succeed, not fully, because there will always be people who say, "Well, I never benefited that way!" not understanding that it's more than just that. Still, I found the cartoon useful. Maybe somebody else will, too. I also found this article about reparations to be an excellent source of understanding the problem more fully. There's a lot that happened, and is still happening, that I was and am ignorant about. At the least, I hope to reduce my ignorance before talking about the subject.

Lastly... A video that's sort of Doctor Who related, as far as I'm concerned (hint: Gridlock). Plus I just like well-done hymns.

Link Time

Mark Evanier on trucking laws.

Privacy doesn't really exist on the internet.

New Picasso found! Sort of!

I wonder what the discovery that a centuries old drug reverses autism symptoms in mice means for the future, if anything at all?

There's an interview with Eric Shanower about Little Nemo: Return to Slumberland.

A 12-year-old trespasses in an apparently unoccupied house and finds a mummified body. That's quite an adventure.

Will anyone notice? What's 12 cents when gasoline is $4 a gallon?

More accidental shootings: gunfail.

A pile of links, cast off into the depths of the 'net

Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers are conducting an experiment to see if a computer can figure out which version of English you speak. Give it a shot and you can help improve the algorithms and stuff.

Boing Boing has links to artwork that depicts Game of Thrones, if done by Disney. Yikes.

Ever wanted to see what happens inside a dishwasher as it runs? Somebody thought to put a gopro camera in one and posted the result to YouTube.

A pretty solid debunking of all the anti-vax idiocy that won't be read, understood, or believed by the people who need it most.

Check out this infographic of the world's tallest, deepest, longest, largest volume and most expensive man-made structures. How many have you been in or on? I've visited the Everett Boeing plant, but that's it.

Well, there's a collectable comic book. Now, I wouldn't really want it unless it was an Aquaman title with the president sharing the cover.

GunFail. I'm not for banning guns, but I do wish we had reasonable restrictions on their purchase and that law enforcement could actually enforce the existing laws.

Links

A professor found an apparently unauthorized 1980 Chinese Star Wars comic book. Links in the post provide access to the entire book.

World's Oldest Marijuana Stash Found. No, it wasn't under somebody's bed.

A UFO hovering over an iceberg is most likely a mirage. It's still really cool. Pun intended. Cliff Mass, weather genius, explains the phenomena.

I await my regrown teeth.

Cleaning out collected links...

Here's some stuff that caught my eye on the 'net recently...

Movie moments made in LEGO form.

Previews has an interview with the creator of a comic book aimed at helping autistic children. I'm not convinced I like the art from the sampling, but the concept sound fascinating.

Want to know more about Game of Thrones? Check out this intense MetaFilter post full of links to lots more information and speculation. Wow.

Speaking of games, here's a tale of how a guy defeated Dragon's Lair.

Ooooh, a new crater discovered on Mars with landslides in the area and the ability to pin down the date of impact. COOL!

I've never, to the best of my knowledge, had Sizzler cheese toast... but after watching this video I think I'd be willing to try some. The use of parchment/baking paper to keep the bread from sticking while it was frying was interesting.

The sad story of how Will Vinton was ousted from the company he made.

Huh. I didn't expect some of the results on this chart of global morality.

So, driverless cars may have a downside for local governments. The loss of revenue from tickets could be a problem.

Does McDonald's really think giving Ronald a makeover is going to fix what's wrong with their food product?

A design history of triage tag, used by first responders to sort out who needs the most immediate help.

Some Links

Legends, and problems, of Oz. A nice MetaFilter post that sums up a lot of the history behind the recent movie.

Comics that can help you understand mental illness. Personally, Hyperbole and a Half definitely hit me hard.

Eight pseudo-scientific climate claims debunked. Of course, anyone who doesn't accept the reality of climate change isn't going to change their mind based on what science says because such people are probably too stupid to understand science anyways.

New Usagi Yojimbo... just tell me which is the new stuff and I'll go get it.

McDonald's Hot Coffee Lawsuit: deliberate, corporatist urban legend. In short, it's been distorted and joked about to the point that people don't even know what really happened.

After Mrs. Liebeck bought her coffee and breakfast, her grandson, who was driving, pulled over so she could add cream and sugar to her coffee. Since his Ford Probe had no cupholders, she placed the cup between her legs. When she fumbled with the lid and spilled the coffee on her sweatpants, she began to scream.

“All I remember is trying to get out of the car,” Liebeck later related. “I knew I was in terrible pain.” She went into shock and her grandson rushed her to the emergency room, where she would undergo surgery and receive skin grafts. She had third degree burns on 6% of her body; the pictures of her injuries are shocking.

...

Liebeck spent a week in the hospital, amassing hospital bills of $10,000.

Still, Liebeck did not sue. Her family wrote a letter to McDonalds asking them to pay her hospital bills and check whether its coffee machine was faulty. McDonalds rebuffed them, offering $800, so they found a lawyer. But even the outcome of the lawsuit -- a $2.9 million verdict that people saw as Liebeck hitting the jackpot -- was a fiction.

...

The jury decided to award Liebeck $200,000 -- less than the $300,000 recommended by a mediator in a settlement that McDonalds rejected before trial. The jury, however, decided Liebeck was 20% at fault since she spilled the coffee, so they gave her $160,000. In addition, they awarded her around $2.7 million (two days of McDonalds coffee revenue) in punitive damages. In civil cases, since there are no criminal sentences, punitive damages exist to ensure companies change their behavior. The judge reduced the punitive damages to $480,000, for a total of $640,000. McDonalds appealed and later settled out of court for an undisclosed amount believed to be between $400,000 and $600,000.

Linkity-link!

As a reporter, I sometimes need to be out where it's slightly dangerous. A neat safety vest is something I ought to get sometime. I just would want to put my company's logo on it.

The Cliff Mass Weather Blog reports on strange cloud lines. SCIENCE!

I wanna make some notebooks.

The BBC has posted some totally wonderful pictures of a 13-year-old girl using a golden eagle to hunt in Mongolia.

How the Muppets created Generation X. I still firmly believe that a person who has never worked with the Muppets is not a real star. Any so-called TV, movie or music stars that came along since the Muppet Show first aired but haven't worked with the Muppets? Not stars. They are all wannabes. Please note: working with the Muppets does not automatically make you a real star, but you cannot be a real star unless you have worked with the Muppets.

And now an unpleasant topic... women are being harassed for being comic book fans with opinions again. This is, sadly, nothing new. Fanboys of all types of things: comics, sports, science... whatever it is... often feel threatened when women start to intrude on the boys' clubs with a different perspective and new attitudes. While I tend to believe that the boys who are actually actively hostile are a vast minority, they tend to be vocal and nasty. A bigger problem is that many men have utterly no clue that the abuse is happening, even when they witness it. The result is that the stupid boys feel justified, or at least comfortable, in continuing to be aggressively horrible. Andy Khouri talks about the latest demonstration of idiocy, as does Brett White.

Look, I don't know the solution, if there is one, but I sure hope that the men out there will pay enough attention to recognize when the boys are acting up and call them on it.

Hey, more links! This is just like old times!

A statue of Jesus has stirred some controversy in a wealthy neighborhood. One woman even called the police on it.

People matching their bodies to book covers.

Mysterious floating black rings are cool. The world is full of neat stuff.

There's a real need for good microscopes in the developing world, but they can be expensive and hard to maintain. Enter the Foldscope. A paper-printed microscope that costs less than a dollar to make and could help doctors identify pathogens or just mean that kids can carry a microscope in their pockets... SCIENCE!

Focus testing the Green Lantern Animated Series, with a bit about why Bruce Timm thinks such focus groups are idiotic.

The Eisner nominees are up. I haven't read most of them, and a couple are in my to-read pile.

It's hard not to be a fan of a baseball team when they pull antics like this. Via Elayne.

That whole Nevada thing? The Atlantic explains it pretty well. In short, the guy stopped paying grazing fees that his family had been paying for generations and mooched off government-owned land, and now he has a bunch of fellow moronic traitors supporting his view that he can stiff the government of millions of dollars.

Links

If you aren't reading Love and Capes, check it out online. At Emerald City Comicon this year we went ahead and got all the trades. It's that good.

Science is also good. Here are 27 science fictions that became fact in 2012.

Speaking of science fiction, here's a heartbreaking essay about lack of reading in Mexico. I see this happening here, too. A culture that does not read for pleasure is a dead culture.

Pay up or have your life ruined. How a judge came down on a group of copyright trolls that threatened people who refused to pay with being associated with porn companies. Nasty stuff, and the account linked is amazing. UPDATE: Boing Boing posted a follow-up today.

Slate has posted a flowchart of How to win any climate change argument, but they should have included at the end "with a reasonable person" since most climate change deniers aren't going to be persuaded by mere facts.

People who seriously believe childhood diseases are "good for you" are mentally ill. An example is given by John Stumbles regarding the death of Roald Dahl's daughter from measles and a current book that actually promotes getting measles as a good thing.

What, more links?

I had an art history professor once say that you will see a news report about the Mona Lisa at least once a year. Here's one now...

Speaking of history, a hairdresser rocked the world of archaeology by figuring out how all those ancient hairdos actually worked. And even got a paper on the subject published!

Boing Boing has a time lapse video of "Nemo" the snowstorm hitting Boston.

Cracked.com gives us 5 reasons publishers rejected books that later became best-sellers.

What an awful headline to an otherwise decent story. Carol Tilley has proved that Fredric Wertham lied, not just misled but flat out lied, in his book blaming comic books for juvenile delinquency.

Here's a really disturbing story about the man who shot Bin Laden and what his life has become since then.

Stalker, an article about a man who was stalked and what it does to him. It's also about self-blame. My own experience with stalking indicates that you simply can't win in those situations.

Links!

Ways to make David Banner angry (so he turns into the Incredible Hulk). Based, of course, on the TV show.

I'd like to find a massive chunk of gold, but I don't have a metal detector and I don't live in Australia.

A simple card trick. The comments even explain why it works.

I was surprised at some of the 14 TV series that usurped their original film versions. I knew a lot of them, but some... nope.

I can just imagine this cat thinking, ok, you got your pictures, ha ha, now get me out!

The story behind Rubber Duckie.

Another website that lists free Kindle books. This one isn't too bad.

School vouchers being used to illegally teach religion. Look, I have no problem with Christianity and belief in the Bible's creation story, but I DO have a problem when you try to replace science with it. Creationism is religion and belongs in church, or in philosophy class if you must put it in school. It isn't science and cannot replace science. And, if you are smart, Christianity doesn't even conflict with science.

A Sunday Review

It's Sunday again? How'd that happen? I just got through with Monday...

With my new job, my Sunday reviews may get a little sparse for a bit. I'm not going to complain, and I hope you don't either. Once I'm fully back into the swing of things, I'm sure I'll get to reviewing more, because I'll get back to reading and watching TV again. In the meantime I guess I'll dip into my backlog of reviews.

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This week's comic book related review is Dragonbreath: Lair of the Bat Monster by Ursula Vernon, fourth book in the Dragonbreath series. Danny and Wendell find a bat drowning in a swimming pool and go on a Batastic adventure to help it. I love these books. They are funny, sweet, and have characters that are consistently amusing when they aren't downright funny. Now we can add "educational" to the list again with this installment, as the information about Bats in this book is almost comprehensive for a kids' book. Of course, then there's the bat monster... but still, worth it both for the fun and for the education. I know of two more books in this series already, and I've already put in for them at the library. My reviews of Dragonbreath #1, Dragonbreath #2, Dragonbreath #3.

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My Kindle book this week was The Alto Wore Tweed (The Liturgical Mysteries) by Mark Schweizer. Hayden Konig lives in a small town in North Carolina playing the organ at the local church and acting as the town's police detective, and has to solve his first murder as the Christmas season is starting. I got this book free; someone surprised me with it as a gift. I had put it on my wishlist after reading a positive review of it and hadn't really thought of it since then. But once I had it on my Kindle of course I read it. And it was a good, fun read. The main character, Hayden, is one of those unlikeable men who has enough of a sense of humor to redeem himself. His view of the world isn't the most comfortable and his ethics are a little questionable, but the humor that infects everything he does from his dreadful would-be detective novel to the silly events in the town makes the book worth it. The central mystery itself wasn't too difficult to solve as the clues were all around, but the way it was solved in the book was both hilarious and heartbreaking. Schweizer is no Agatha Christie, but he doesn't need to be with the characters and town he's created to work with. A fun story, worth checking out... especially if you love music and don't mind gentle jabs at church politics.

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Wanna see what I'm doing at my job? I want to reiterate that the opinions expressed on this blog and all my websites are my own and don't reflect those of my employer.

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

The New Justice League Dust-Up

Here's the new Justice League in a promo image released in June:

And here's another promo picture of them (click for bigger):


This was originally the cover to Justice League #1. But DC changed it. These are the covers they just announced. The one on the left may look similar, but look a little closer.


Wonder Woman has lost her pants! She's now wearing briefs... classic underwear, instead of the elegant leggings she was wearing in the original images.

So a reader of ComicsAlliance decided to rectify the problem, using that first promo image I showed:


Honestly, I don't mind Aquaman's look like that at all, though the boot tops need a little work. In fact, I'd love to see the whole Justice League run around like that for a few issues just to show how incredibly impractical it is. I mean, this whole thing with women not wearing any armor and always showing so much skin makes NO sense in a superhero world. At least Mera (in most of her incarnations) is smart enough to cover up.