Monday, December 15, 2008

Classic James Bond-villain scheme

Bilk people out of their money and throw the world's economic markets into chaos! Via Yahoo. The only thing is, he neglected to have his escape rocket ready to take him to his secret moonbase. Duh.

Friday, December 12, 2008

No estoy muerto!

Truly.

But I had a life-changing event when I watched The Daily Show with John Stewart on December 3rd. Really. I did.

See, up until then I thought that a blog would be a great way to use my time. Then I watched John Stewart chatting with Arianna Huffington. She's going on and on about the joys of blogging, how it will change your life, connect you with other people, get your voice heard, discuss your passions, etc. To which John Stewart kinda said, (and I'm paraphrasing) "If I'm blogging about stuff, won't it cut into my time creating stuff I'm passionate about?"

Pow!

I saw stars!

A shot to the forehead I didn't see coming!

And he was right.

So I've been creating stuff. Nothing to share yet, but it's a way better use of my time than, oh, I dunno, dog-piling in on the complaints about the latest Batman storyline.

Just remember, my friends...
Create, don't tear down.

And get yourself some of your favorite ice cream or something to chase away the winter blues. You deserve it.

Friday, November 28, 2008

The Bartimaeus Trilogy

Just finished listening to Simon Jones' excellent readings of Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus Trilogy. There's a lot of wonderful things to chew upon in this series, including some wonderful takes on magic and magical items that ought to satisfy many old fans of D&D. I won't spoil anything but many magical items are created by binding demons/spirits/djinn/etc. within them to create the appropriate effect. Nothing new, I suppose, if you're used to Michael Moorcock's Elric series, but it's all very logical and well-thought out. But there's a lot of stuff and meat in here for something that's supposed to be a "book for children".

EDIT -
One thing I do want to add is that Stroud effectively displays why the normal people in the story distrust the people with power. This has been something that's always fascinated me about UK superhero stories, how the writers are more willing to explore the possibilities of deluded and dangerous super-people, which seems so at odds with the American depictions of super-people who seem much more well-meaning and morally grounded. I guess I'm just another naive and dopey American, but this work of fiction has given me another means of looking at the world.

Friday, November 21, 2008

There are others like me out there

A site that might understand: Rebel Dad.

Unlike this one, which is trying to sell me on something.

I didn't stay home to be an entrepreneur. I started staying home six years ago because the daycare we had set up for our son would've matched us up with a teenaged girl who just didn't seem to have much enthusiasm for taking care of babies. We certainly didn't want to pay more than $1000US a month for that kind of care. So my wife tearfully asked if I might take some paternity leave and stay home for as long as I could. I think it ended up being about 3 or 4 months, and it worked out so well that I've been doing it ever since.

I like being home for my 3 kids. I may not be the best housekeeper in the world, but I'm there for my kids everyday. Now if only I could get paid for it somehow...

In the meantime, a video.

Out of the Closet

It's time I 'fessed up. I've been living a lifestyle that lots of people, particularly men, find quite offensive. I can feel their stares at the mall as I walk by. I can tell that they know there's something different about me. Something... unmanly.

Well, it's time to come clean. Time to declare to the world who and what I am. Time to stand on my own two feet and own up to what I really am.

I AM A STAY AT HOME DAD.

No longer will I hide behind the veneer of just being a nerd and using this as a platform to express my nerdiness. I've got things to say, anecdotes to relate, recipes to share.

...

Seriously, the posts will get better.

DOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!

It's not comics fans predicting the end of all that is; there's these people too.

Whatever will my mom do?

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Missing link discovered!!

...and it's a vicious little thing!



No doubt the Red Ghost will be adding the little creature to his army of attack primates...

Monday, November 17, 2008

ADVENTURE!!

Do these adventurers eat candy?

While at Newsarama I saw this article on the return of Adventure Comics. While the article talks about how the Legion of Super-Heroes may take up residence in the new Adventure, I remember how Adventure was the home of the Spectre, Black Orchid, Superboy, Deadman, Starman, and a whole slew of other characters.

While I'm glad to see this, I wish they'd taken a truly bold move and offered Adventure Comics as an online-only comic. A giant anthology of cool comics for the web with possible reprinting as TPBs later.

Guess I'll have to wait for the online All-Flash comics instead...

Brave and Bold!

Just wanted to link to this interview with Diedrich Bader on playing Batman for the new CN series. (I had some trouble finding it using Newsarama's own search engine. They're not trying to bury it, are they?)

I missed the premiere, but caught the online clip here.

As someone raised on the Adam West Batman, a couple of iterations of Filmation's Batman, the Super Friends and DC's own The Brave and the Bold series, I'm kinda glad to see a friendlier Batman. I hope this series does really well. And sells a bunch of cool toys where they're at it!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Crystal Caverns

Beautiful images from National Geographic of giant crystals in caverns in Mexico. Truly amazing.

The geeky part of me wants to file that away as reference for the Underdark movie Steven Spielberg and Guillermo DelToro will want me to direct. Because they admire my "unique vision" and all that...

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Sounds positively medieval...

Word from Yahoo that some chic beauty salons use snake venom to fight wrinkles.

Sounds like the setup for an episode of The X-Files or Supernatural. You know where this is going, right?

Do I have to spell it out? Maybe even offer a link or two?

No good can come from this...

Friday, November 7, 2008

Everybody's got a list

This from Yahoo: The 5 Most Scientifically Plausible Sci-Fi Movies.

I dunno. Maybe we should check in again on this list in 20 years or so to see how much of it comes true.

Lil' Nicky!

Check out the title in the jump!

"Nicky"? Sounds like someone wants a "Spy Kids"-like version of our Man from S.H.I.E.L.D. Despite the continuity conniptions this might cause, it'd probably do rather well.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Now THIS is a list!!

Who says you can't find anything useful on the web?

Now THIS is supremely useful. Evil-doers and family beware...

It's in Open Beta!!



Shields are coming to City of Heroes! I can hardly wait for all the not-Captain America clones!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Michael Crichton Obit

Word via Yahoo is that Michael Crichton has passed away from cancer.

My condolences to his family and friends.

Now it begins,,,

Training for the new job: This from Yahoo.

I suppose this won't involve info on UFOs, Roswell, or Atlantis. That'll probably be for tomorrow.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

MONSTERPOCALYPSE!!!

This looks like it'll be lots of fun.

I wonder if the fine folks at WizKids will respond by releasing figures based on the old Atlas monsters, like Xemnu or Googam. Or maybe figures based on DC's Bloodlines storyline. While this is the only set of images I could find, I know that the original parasites were designed by Arthur Adams, so they'd have a great geek appeal.

Although, this is a great start:

The Mighty ZZZAX!!

My God, I'm such a geek...

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Comic Dreamin'...

I guess Rick Veitch is not alone in dreaming about comics. I've been doing it as well.

Last night I had a dream that featured the Martian Manhunter. I dreamt there was a fiery explosion in the air which MM flew out of because, instead of draining his powers as it does in the comics, it boosted his powers instead. In fact, it gave him such a rush he was laughing as he flew above me to take care of whatever threat was occurring. In fact, I think he was going to fly into a burning building to rescue some people there.

Funny.

My kids dream about cartoon characters all the time. Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario and Luigi, Scooby Doo, Naruto... It's just now that I'm older and I see a comic character, there's a certain level of awe that might not have been there if I were younger. I remember one dream I had a few months ago when I saw Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman walking off on some mission, and I ran up to Batman (who wore the blue and grey costume, not the all-black movie costume) and told him that I used to idolize him with a tone that suggested that I couldn't anymore because of how he'd been depicted for the past x number of years. I remember seeing Superman smirk as I said it, and it made me wonder if there was some truth to the idea that fictional characters have a life of their own separate from our time-space existence as if the way they're thought of influences the aspect of their personalities that they display. If, for example, Mort Weisinger insisted that Superman act like a jerk to Lois Lane then that would be part of his persona from now on. I mean, this Superman didn't feel like Christopher Reeve's Superman, it felt like Mort Weisinger's arrogant Superman drawn by Neal Adams.

But there was a sense of awe to the Martian Manhunter I saw last night. He was big and strong and he was on the side of the people who needed him. Plus he looked a bit like he was drawn by Gene Colan...

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

I think I remember...

Valerie D'Orazio has a brief comparison of Crisis on Infinite Earths versus Final Crisis. I must confess that I don't recall all the details of Crisis, but I do remember where I was when I read about Barry Allen's sacrifice in Issue 10 (on a Metro-North train heading north to Croton-on-Hudson, if you must know). Now I'm curious and want to check it out again to see if it still holds up. I remember it as being very melodramatic with lots of teeth-gnashing and hand-wringing, with a cast of thousands upon thousands.

Maybe my memory of it is colored by all the weird continuity that's happened since then. Stuff that made the last 20 years or so less fun to really enjoy.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Palin for President!!

Tee hee!! Idea stolen from Len Wein. (When I steal, I try to steal from the best! Next: Alan Moore!)

Composite SuperGeek!!

Geek time!

I saw that DC has a listing for a new Superman/Batman Annual with a story by Len Wein and Chris Batista and a cover by Bernie Wrightson. The story has to do with a re-introduction of the old villain, The Composite Superman. Holy old school, Batman!

Truly, the Composite Superman is a creature that is sadly neglected because of its appearance. Despite having the quasi-Amazo-like abilities of the Legion of Super-Heroes, he's always been laughed off because of his ridiculous appearance.



I've always had a soft spot for this character. Powerful, yet ridiculous-looking. A foe worthy of the Justice League or the Avengers if it weren't for the fact that he looked like he was designed by a delighted 6 year old.

Maybe he'll get respect after someone makes song about him.

More cool artwork

Again, from my brother. Willy Pogany's sketchbook with a link for Drawing Lessons.

And this amazing Wyeth image from the same blog.


Finally it can be revealed. I maintain a blog so I can refer to cool stuff later. You're just looking at my Bookmark listing!

Amazing space images

From my brother, images of Saturn's moons. Simply amazing. I'm quite stunned.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Rats!

Word comes from Dave Morey that he'll be retiring from KFOG this December. I'm not a San Francisco resident, but I've been listening to him for close to seven years or so via the Internet and I've always appreciated him and his take on things. Plus he always sent me the best birthday emails I've ever gotten! He says no mushy stuff, but I'll still miss him...

Wonderful Mix-Ups!

Just finished listening to the audio version of Book 1 of The Bartimaeus Trilogy while I'm still in the midst of reading Emma Bull's Finder.

I love the way my brain/mind/whatever bounces back and forth between the two books so that details of each blend and merge but also stand distinct and separate. Add to that elements of the hardcover edition of the Ultimate Fantastic Four and I'm getting quite a stew brewing.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Aliens and Immigration

No, not those kinds of aliens. We're not talking AlienNation here.

I'm talking about human immigrants moving from one place to another. I came across this posting at Unknown Country (SOAPBOX WARNING! I always take stories from Unknown Country with a pinch of salt because they don't always reference any online links to their stories so I can't always verify for myself what was said. I love visiting them, but often their stories only have links to items in their online bookstore. I guess Whitley and Anne Streiber still read stuff on paper. How old school! But it's vexing sometimes when they come across something really interesting and I can't read up on it. Thankfully they do have a link this time. END SOAPBOX.)

On reading it, a couple of thoughts ran through my head, including the following in no particular order:
1) "Duh!"
2) "Why must studies be done to show something so obvious?"

As the child of immigrants I saw this everyday, whether it was in my own family or just walking through the neighborhoods of New York City. It didn't matter if the people were from Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Palestine, India, China, Mexico, Italy, Argentina, Puerto Rico or Germany, they still spoke with each other in their native language. Grandparents often spoke the language of their homeland and rarely spoke English. It'd often take a couple of generations for the kids to speak English only. Usually it comes from trying hard to fit in and not come across as different.

At least that's why I stopped speaking Spanish.

I guess I could go on and on, talking about my experiences and other boring stuff like that but the Internet is full of stuff like that. I forget sometimes that a study like this is often used to point out the flaws in someone's half-baked assumptions, so for that I am grateful.

Let's move on, shall we?

UFOs in the News!

This story from Reuters by way of Yahoo is pretty interesting. Interesting in the way that it's not classified under the old "Weekly World News"/"Weird News" heading, but as an actual not-crazy-but-it's-actual-news kind of story.

Some people might say that it's further evidence of the confusion between "actual news" and "entertainment" and cry about the downfall of standards, the further ruination of our great society, and more blah de blah.

I just find it really interesting...

Friday, October 10, 2008

Silver and Bronze are in my blood!

With all the brouhaha surrounding the recent release of Nightwing 149, it's made me realize just where my sensibilities lie. I grew up on Silver and Bronze Age books and that perspective, both good and bad, colors my choices and opinions about comics and their content. Generally speaking, I tend to prefer lighter and more upbeat stories that feature a good bit of drama (and sometimes even melodrama). In fact, Laura Hudson does a nice job of summarizing some of my feelings lately about comics purchases.

It's just interesting how hearing about something I don't want makes me realize what I do want.

Just one of those funny things about this Earth-plane continuum, I guess...

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

GOOD Comics for Dummies?

I was reading this article at the Beat and getting slightly depressed. Not because of the huge amount of mediocre comics out there (I knew that already! Sometimes that's part of the appeal.) But because I have aspersions about creating my own comics with my own characters (and maybe even some established characters someday), and frankly I don't want to create mediocre comics. I want to make good comics.

But when one is raised on mediocrity (with startling flashes of brilliance, to be fair), how does one create excellence?

If I'm raised on a steady TV diet of Scooby-Doo, "Gilligan's Island", "I Dream of Jeannie" and "The Brady Bunch", how do I create something better than that? How do I develop the sense to develop something of better quality when my senses have become acclimated to a certain level of quality? To be honest, I'm not being fair to the shows listed above; for each of them I could list several things when make them memorable and fun for me.

Let me check Amazon. Maybe they've got a listing for "How to Make Good Comics for Dummies"...

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

It's only a matter of time...

Before we have to defend ourselves from our robotic overlords:

http://web-japan.org/trends/07_sci-tech/sci080822.html

And seriously, what were the eggheads thinking by calling their company Cyberdyne? Isn't that just inviting disaster? Like calling your new ocean liner "Titanic"?

Wave of the Future!!

While listening to Jeff Parker's interview on Word Balloon, he hints that the current run of X-Men: First Class may be ending soon to replaced by... something else.

No hints as to what the new format might be or anything, but my Sphinx-Senses went off. Perhaps XMFC might be relaunched as a web-only comic...?

Time will tell if my Sphinx-Senses were correct or if it was just another bout of gas...

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Lemons into Lemonade

I was just over at Newsarama, reading about Sean McKeever's plans for the upcoming Terror Titans series. I've been a bit turned off by the violent turns in recent Teen Titans storylines (not that I've been picking them up, to be honest... I've been reading them when they show up at my local Borders!). Even though the artwork looks pretty good, my days of picking up a comic because it looks good (even though the story is yucky) ended a long time ago. They're just too expensive!



But I was looking at the cover art and wondering if a team like this will appear in the upcoming DCU MMO or in City of Heroes, especially with the upcoming Mission Architect release.

The closest I've seen to a COH villain team was in one of their promotional ads for Issue 8.



Which is why the upcoming Mission Architect seems so interesting. With it, I can create my own adventures and, possibly, my own adversaries. Right now the specifics on the Mission Architect are a little vague, but it looks like I might be able to manipulate mission adversaries to make them a bit less generic; how much manipulation is possible hasn't been revealed but it's got me speculating and planning. Maybe I'll be able to create my own "Terror Titans" to share with other players.

It'd be kind of nice to use a comic I don't read as the basis for something I'd want to play and share with other people.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Mighty Man and Monster Maker!!

I make characters.

I've been doing it for years. I did it when I was a wee lad. When I was a teenager I used role-playing game supplements from Dungeons and Dragons and Villains and Vigilantes to add more details and to get further inspiration. I never played with other people; I just used the books as reference.

Now fast forward to the present and I still make my own characters. Sometimes I do it using the character creation system for City of Heroes, but most of the time I use Poser and DAZ Studio. I have a couple of galleries here and there, but I think I'm going to start keeping most of my work here at Picasa.

This will be my main character gallery, but I'll organize my work as I go along. Hopefully.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Sequel-itis!

Word from Blog@Newsarama that M. Night Shyamalan is mulling a sequel to Unbreakable. I used to think that it would have been cool if Bruce Willis' character from "Unbreakable" teamed up with the kid from "Sixth Sense" as they work together to solve a mystery (maybe involving Mr. Glass and the aliens from "Signs"?). Holy World's Finest! I dunno. I wonder if maybe Shyamalan is running a bit dry lately. Of course, my idea is little more than and update of "Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman", so who am I to judge?

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Geoff Johns to wrte DCUO backstory

DCUO (or DC Universe Online) is Sony and DC's MMO project set to be released next year. Today Newsarama reports that Geoff Johns is set to write the backstory for the game: http://www.newsarama.com/games/090815-DCUOJohns.html

The more I hear about this game, the more geeked out I get about it. It's enough to make me question my loyalty to City of Heroes. Maybe there's room in my wallet for both games, but if I had to choose one over another I might lean towards DCUO. I dunno, the online community might skew younger (mentally and emotionally) with DCUO since it'll be on the PS3, but the graphics and screenshots sure look more exciting and vibrant.



Story developing...

Time to fire up the Blogamatic...

I've got it so I might as well use it. Kinda like that pasta maker I've got over here somewhere. And that treadmill to help with my weight... :P

Monday, April 7, 2008

Stunning Origin Issue!!

As usual, I jump on the bandwagon long after everyone else has moved onto something else. Perhaps now I'll finally get that VHS player I've had my eye on.