Random Thoughts

The Beat's Last Videoblog from San Diego 2007.

HighWater Line.

Ooh, I remember this ad somehow. Ok, the music at least.

Doctor Who character South Park-ized.

An Evening At The Kwik-E Mart

Despite my incredibly sore ear, I was determined to go out and have some fun tonight. Hubby-Eric had scored us preview tickets to the Simpsons Movie down at the Cinerama on 4th Ave. In addition, one of the Kwik-E Marts was open just a few blocks down from the Cinerama over on Denny Way, so we decided to visit that as well.

As you can see, there was a great spot across the street to take a picture for the complete effect. If my camera had been set on panoramic view, the Space Needle would be just to the right a ways. The arches in the background of this shot are the Pacific Science Center.

Eric attempted to figure out what the Comic Book Guy was reading.

Some stuff you could buy in the Kwik-E Mart. We bought all three.

A very gracious and long-suffering employee of the 7-11 Kwik-E Mart. Seriously, the poor employees clearly had been under siege since the promotion began, but took it all graciously and posed for images. The place was packed with camera-wielding tourists snapping pictures of everything... can you imagine working in a place where everyone is taking your picture for one month, when usually they ignore you?

Anyway, we picked up our goodies, including a couple of donuts to hold us over until the movie ended, and headed back to the car and dropped everything off. Then over to the line for the Cinerama. It was a good line. Lots of people. Pretty calm for the most part. I took my medication and was seeing lots of interesting things that weren't there. Eric kept me grounded. The edge was off the medicine by the time we went inside.

As it was a sponsored preview by a radio station, we got the usual trivia before the movie. As it was a preview that happened just before opening day, we also got the movie previews before the movie... including the teaser for the new Batman movie. Yes, I saw the teaser on the big screen already. Score one for me.

As for the movie itself... if you like the Simpsons, you will like the movie. If you are ambivalent about the Simpsons, you will probably not feel like you've wasted any money. If you don't like the Simpsons, DON'T GO SEE IT. As for me, who can handle the Simpson's in small doses, I was beginning to squirm by the time the movie entered its final act, although for the most part I enjoyed it.

Of note, when the Simpsons get to Seattle, there was a great cheer from the hometown crowd.

There were lots of in-jokes and winks to the audience, including a framing sequence involving a movie theater. If you stay and watch the credits, you'll see more of that sequence. At the very least, stay until you hear the Springfield Anthem (*I* found it funny). The Comic Book Guy has a very life-affirming line towards the end of the movie, as well.

All-in-all a pretty good flick, especially at the price we ended up paying for it. I can't recommend it to everyone, but people who will like it already know who they are.

Randoms for the Day

Linda Medley discusses WonderCon and Fantagraphics.

While I'm very happy with our current eBay auction results, I'm kind of surprised that no one is giving the Alan Scott Green Lantern soft toy any love. C'mon, eBayers, where's the Golden Age love?

Mike Sterling on Captain America and Marvel, and ordering comics.

Leonard Kirk amuses me yet again, this time with the instructions for Kraft Dinner.

Beware the Ides of March.

Mark Evanier asks an obvious question. Having something like that in cars would be really handy.

Roombonkers! via Garrett.

R2-D2 Mailboxes.

Ask An Applied Mathematician.

Stopping Stock Spammers by stopping transactions on spammed stocks. Could it work? I sure hope so.

Saying vagina will get you suspended?

I generally don't care at all about American Idol, but I've been checking in on this one because Blake Lewis is from Bothell, where I live. I still haven't bothered to actually WATCH the show, so I don't know if our local rep is any good. But I'm keeping an eye on the news to see how far he goes.

Linkdump

Illusive Arts has updated their website. Oh, and BUY TONY LOCO.

Heidi is angry at the news organizations that spoiled a comic book before she could even get to the store. If I was a Marvel reader, I'd be upset too.

Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #93. What will they do when they hit the big 100, I wonder?

Grumpy Old Fan speculates on a Justice League movie.

Young Adults and Comic Books. Things are looking up?

Ooooh, I like this. I have lots of junk that could be displayed with them.

What has the most perks, Google or the local prison?

Pi Day Is Coming. I need to go get some ingredients, I think.

I think I would actively avoid any gas station that installed video ads in the pumps that turn on as soon as you start pumping your gas.

For hubby-Eric: You Don't Know Jack Online.

This is almost enough to make me remove my link to the Red Cross.

Pug for the in-laws. I have to wonder if the in-laws ever read or notice all the pug links I put up for them. It's just that, every single time I see a pug on-line I think of them. And this one is pretty cute, too. Un-pug that drain!

Announcement and Linkages

Well, I've done a lot of behind-the-scenes work on my new domains over the last couple of days, and it's now time to officially announce that I have a new home on the web! Yep, if you visit Gjovaag.com you'll find a list of links to my and Eric's various websites, which will grow as we finish migrating sites to the new host. Heck, poor hubby-Eric hasn't really even had a chance to start migrating his site over yet. In any case, the Aquaman website is now moved to aqua.gjovaag.com, which might be a little easier to remember than the old URL, but harder to spell!

You can also now e-mail me at my name. Heh. That's the most fun bit of all. And yes, I'll be switching over to that e-mail for personal correspondence. My excite.com e-mail will stay active, as will my gmail account, and I'll continue to check both of those daily.

I'm also going to point out the donation link on Gjovaag.com. At this point, with the amount of space and bandwidth we need, if someone donates $10 through that link, they've paid for a FULL MONTH of our web hosting. That's really cool! I'm hoping that once Eric has migrated his Oz website over to the new host and puts up a donation link there that enough grateful Oz fans will donate to keep us up and running for a few months extra each year.

Anyway, that's my news... on to the links at large...

You may have noticed a little link on the bottom of my Haloscan comments. It goes to CoComment.com, which tracks comment threads you have participated in. I didn't think I would be all that interested in the service, but it's come in amazingly handy for keeping track of comments I'm making on other people's blogs (who use Haloscan, at least). Anyway, I thought I'd point it out and explain what it is for anyone who might have missed it.

That's where my boss is at. And Peter Fries gives me the first look at an Aquaman toy to be shown off there. Ooooooh!

Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #89.

Mike Sterling is also a sinner.

Without copying would we have any culture?

Get free sourdough starter. I like sourdough, but I'm not much of a connoisseur, so I'm not sure if I want to go through all the steps to make this stuff work. Still, it's tempting.

Breaking news: Young Woman Dead in her Prime. Another complaint about the news media in this country. Via filkertom.