Here's a review to cap off the week:

Another classic tale from the Silver Age. This one introduces a new villain to the comic, Black Manta. Manta's history isn't known, although bits of it were explored in the Shaun McLaughlin Aquaman series. As you might be able to see from the cover, another character made his return in this issue. Yes, the mighty Orm... also known as Ocean Master, who is Aquaman's half-brother. Not at all obvious, though, is the first appearance of my favorite Aqua-character after Aquaman himself: Vulko. Doctor Vulko is primarily a scientist in this issue, though as the stories progress he becomes everything from King to midwife to returned-from-the-dead.

Ha. No mimmoths in this post...

Comments (2)

But the mimmoths are eating your spaghetti...

Hubby | Email | Homepage | 03.16.03 - 10:23 am

And another one snuck in after I'd finished editing.

Laura | 03.17.03 - 1:19 pm

The father of my hubby-Eric is celebrating another year passed successfully on this planet today, so Happy Birthday to him!

JSA #46: I've not been terribly impressed with JSA lately, but this issue wasn't too bad. I finally liked the way the action moved, and was finally hit with a cliff-hanger that I not only understood, but was impressed with.

Superman: Last Stand on Krypton: I guess this one falls somewhere in the middle. I liked it, an ok story, with twists we haven't yet seen in the Superman mythos... but... the enormous amount of Superman Elseworlds make even the best blend into one. If there was more a variety among DC's Elseworlds, this would shine even brighter.

Amelia Rules #9: I actually cried. Yup, I felt the tears, they were real. I truly felt for Amelia and Sunday. The Oz bits had added resonance thanks to my hubby-Eric's obsession with Oz. And the comic strip inserts were just wonderful tributes to the various original artists, while still moving the story along.

Age of Bronze #16: Shanower's incredible run continues with yet another fantastic installment. While keeping away from the mythic parts of the story, he still manages to show how the gods and goddesses affect the people in his story. Anyone who has the least bit of interest in the story of Troy should be buying and reading this book.

Next Week: Birds of Prey #53, Smallville #1, Supergirl #80, Green Arrow #22, JLA Scary Monsters #1, Power Company #14, Truth #5, Crossovers #3

Happy PI day everyone! I'd offer you pie, but apparently the mimmoths got into the refrigerator and ate all the pie (how can you tell if a mimmoth has been in your refrigerator? Footprints in the jello.).

Here's a nice text page of pi. Up to 10,000 digits, I think. Anyone know how many digits have been computed so far?

And here is a page of pie.

3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923
078164062862089986280348253421170679821480865132823066470938446095
505822317253594081284811174502841027019385211055596446229489549303
819644288109756659334461284756482337867831652712019091456485669234
603486104543266482133936072602491412737245870066063155881748815209
209628292540917153643678925903600113305305488204665213841469519415
116094330572703657595919530921861173819326117931051185480744623799
627495673518857527248912279381830119491298336733624406566430860213
949463952247371907021798609437027705392171762931767523846748184676
694051320005681271452635608277857713427577896091736371787214684409
012249534301465495853710507922796892589235420199561121290219608640
344181598136297747713099605187072113499999983729780499510597317328
160963185950244594553469083026425223082533446850352619311881710100
031378387528865875332083814206171776691473035982534904287554687311
595628638823537875937519577818577805321712268066130019278766111959
092164201989380952572010654858632788659361533818279682303019520353
018529689957736225994138912497217752834791315155748572424541506959
508295331168617278558890750983817546374649393192...

Comments (2)

The current record seems to be: 1,241,100,000,000, so over 1 trillion digits of pi have been computed.

Deepak Ramani | Email | 03.14.03 - 1:43 pm

Here's a poem that I learned in High School which has somehow stuck with me over the years. The number of letters in each word are the first 31 digits in pi.

Now I will a rhyme construct
By chosen words the young instruct.
Cunningly devised endeavour-
Con it and remember ever.
Widths in circle here you see,
Sketched out in strange obscurity.

farsider | Email | 03.17.03 - 4:36 pm

Justice League Adventures #17: The high point was seeing The Flash in drag. Which, I'm afraid, isn't much of a high point.

Superman/Batman Generations III #3: Better than the last issue. Which probably isn't saying much, but hey, it wasn't bad. I think this will be one that should be read all the way through once the entire series is done. The monthly format doesn't flatter this series.

Witch and the Jackal #3: While this isn't the most fantastic book around, it certainly is shaping up to be a strong fantasy tale. The artwork is improving with each issue, and the storytelling has always been strong in this book. Still a good read, and still worth buying.

Aquaman #4: My blog, so I'm allowed to do a second review of Aquaman. Basically, it reads better on the second and third and fourth readings. I think this might be because the storytelling in the artwork is weak. After reading it a couple more times, I caught exactly what Veitch was trying to do with the story. I won't change my initial rating, but this book improves with multiple readings, especially for a hard-core Aquaman fan. My full review is on my website, click on the image of the cover.

Still to read: Amelia Rules, Superman Last Stand on Krypton, Age of Bronze, and JSA.

Comments (2)

Though I rarely read comics, fo' some odd reason, I'm addicted to your site. Neato! Heh. Remember Ren and Stimpy comics?

Agatha | Email | Homepage | 03.14.03 - 12:21 am

I try not to. Remember Ren and Stimpy, that is...

"It rolls down stairs, alone or in pairs, and over your neighbors dog! It's good for a snack, it fits on your back, it's LOG LOG LOG!"

Laura | 03.14.03 - 11:02 am

Bad news from the blogsphere as Rick Veitch's news blog, The Splash, is going on indefinite hiatus because of burn out (and Veitch's current crushing workload). While it's not a surprise to long-time readers who may have noticed the lack of daily updates, it is the end of an era. Sort of. As a substitute, Veitch suggests The Pulse, Newsarama, Journalista!, ICv2, Comic Book Resources, and the Comicon.com Message Boards, all of which I was already plugged into. Another poster suggested Egon, which I haven't linked yet, but I'll go ahead and add it to my next update.

I also took the Which Political Stereotype Are You? quiz like a whole buncha people I link to, and I'm apparently a Green. No surprise, truth to tell, as I was leaning a whole bunch of different ways with the questions and could have just as easily been any of the provided stereotypes.

Ok, so mimmoths are genetically engineered mammoths that are about the same size as mice, according to the Girl Genius Secret Blueprints, but it doesn't explain how to get rid of them once they've infested your blog. The things are as bad as tribbles! At least they haven't started eating my words yet. That I've noticed.

Comments (2)

Haha, I'm a socialist.

Matt | Email | 03.13.03 - 3:37 pm

News blog? Oh dear, now I know I'm old, when suddenly message boards (which predate blogs) are being referred to as blogs.

Elayne Riggs | Email | Homepage | 03.13.03 - 3:53 pm

Dear Folk who read my blog,
I got called into work early today, and raced off with no time to write a blog. Although I came home for lunch, I was in such a rush that I couldn't come up with anything to say. Then, when I got home, I was so tired (and stressed from nearly being hit by a car whose driver didn't see me) that I just couldn't summon up enough creativity to blog. I promise I'll blog some tomorrow. Thanks.
-Laura

Often at work, a person (customer or employee, it hardly matters) will start to whistle or hum a familiar tune. If it's catchy enough, it'll get stuck in your head, and nothing will dislodge it. The not-so-technical term for a song stuck in your head is "earworm". Or so my manager informed me that she'd learned recently. This naturally led to a discussion of what would it take to get an earworm out of your head. The receiving clerk decided that we needed "shoulder robins", songs that don't tend to get stuck in your head, but can drown out the earworm long enough to stop you from singing it.

Apparently, the worst of the earworms is "It's a Small World". I tend to get the Brady Bunch theme stuck in my head. Or the "Ballad of Bilbo Baggins". Today it was the Chiquita Banana song. My manager uses "Mairzy Doats" as a shoulder robin, but that song doesn't work for me.

So, at the risk of becoming the most hated person on the blog-o-sphere for the day, what are your worst earworms, and your favorite shoulder robins?

Comments (4)

Funny thing, it just happened to me today, and it was all my fault.

I work in a group of 5 designers, with about 5 other people that work with us, and we are constantly talking about movies. A while back one of my friends mentioned how much she liked the Bowie/Muppets film Labyrinth, which of course I can't stand. Today I was downloading a couple of mp3s, and ran across an mp3 of the "What About The Babe" song which makes me cringe and want to stick knitting needles in my ears, but I thought Ruth would like it so I downloaded it for her, and the unintended side effect was that the frigging song was playing over and over and OVER in my head all day today. Is right now, as a matter of fact, since I'm typing about it!

There are many others, which I'm afraid to mention, but this was the most recent.

Johnny Bacardi | Email | Homepage | 03.12.03 - 12:42 am

Country pop songs are the worst. Thanks to my wife setting our alarm to the country station, I'm plagued by them most mornings. I especially hate "I Feel Like A Woman."

Speaking of earworms, does anyone remember the Night Gallery episode about the earwigs? That was one of the few movies or TV shows that ever scared me when I was a kid.

farsider | Email | 03.12.03 - 8:43 am

I've been informed that "The Girl from Ipanima" is the perfect shoulder robin (or anti-earworm).

Elayne Riggs | Email | Homepage | 03.13.03 - 3:54 pm

Today's earworm: Godley & Creme's "Cry".

Fortunately, I like that one.

Johnny Bacardi | Email | Homepage | 03.13.03 - 11:35 pm

I found the website for the Washington State Firefighter Calendar, a bit late, I admit, and ordered a copy of this year's calendar. It's a good project, supporting burn victims. And the firefighters are nice to look at, too.

Real horrible joke right here. Definitely worth reading.

You have Neil Gaiman to blame for this link to What they didn't teach us in library school. Not a page for the faint of heart.

Comments (2)

RE: "Real horrible joke right here. Definitely worth reading."

Apparently they don't teach about logic, history, or the electoral college at Timmy and Joey's school.

RE: Firefighters calendar. Let me know if they are lady firefighters. Otherwise I think I'll pass.

farsider | Email | 03.11.03 - 3:23 pm

I'm of the "so bad it's good" school.

As for the firefighter calendar, at least one picture of a female firefighter in every calendar I've seen so far. But the guys are always wearing less.

Laura | 03.11.03 - 10:12 pm

Once upon a time, Richard Biggs and Jason Carter of Babylon 5 came to Anglicon. Richard Biggs played Dr. Stephen Franklin. Jason Carter played Ranger Marcus Cole. And Anglicon is an annual convention, with a focus on British media, that supports a local PBS station. This event happened at Anglicon XII. I think that sets the stage for the following story...

While there are a lot of fun activities, often the most amusing is the casino, where players use play money to bet on such fun games as Psychic Poker and Pop The Haggis. At this particular casino I even used play money to bribe another guest, Maggie Egan, to sneak up on Hubby-Eric and give him a kiss. However, it was another event at this casino that nearly got us into a lot of trouble, sort of, and gave those present a story to talk about for years afterwards.

"Pop the Haggis" is an amusing game in which you get a 'haggis' (actually a balloon) and pop it to get a little card inside that tells you what activity you can do to earn some play money. Richard and Jason were sitting playing poker, when Richard decided to check out the rest of the casino. He was drawn to the Haggis, as people were acting fairly bizzare and drawing attention to themselves over there.

He popped one, pondered it a moment, and then told everyone there (including hubby-Eric and myself) to watch. As he walked back to the poker table, everyone asked the judge what he'd pulled. It said, "Do a death scene". We got quiet and watched as Richard sat back down at the table next to Jason, and was dealt back into the game. After a few moments, Richard took a sip from his water-cup and choked a little. He then choked again, and stood up coughing. He gasped for air, while Jason and the other players reacted in horror, and then Richard fell to the floor and lay still.

To say it was convincing would be a massive understatement.

Richard then quickly stood up with a "Ta-da!" and bowed to the cheering people by the haggis. Jason almost did the deed for real. We thought we might have to go over there and hold him back.

Later Jason came over and popped multiple haggis, looking for inspiration to fool Richard as badly as he'd been fooled, but found nothing worth doing... although he did a slightly tipsy Vorlon impression at one point.

Just thinking about it, I'm overcome with amusement at the joke, horror at how utterly real it looked (and how horrified the people at the poker table were), and amazement at how good an actor Richard Biggs is. And what a good sport Jason Carter eventually turned out to be (he just wished he'd popped that haggis first so he could've pulled it on Richard).

Comments (1)

And for those of you not keeping score at home, Maggie Egan was the ISN newscaster on Babylon 5. After meeting her in person, I think she was SADLY underused on that show...

Hubby | Email | Homepage | 03.11.03 - 12:32 am

Now that I've actually got my bookshop up and running, I thought it might be fun to promote some of the cool books I'm putting in the shop (if nothing else it ought to get me to write up notes about the books on the shop page). If you choose to buy this book through the link to Amazon I provide, I'll get a tiny percentage in the form of credit. If you don't choose to buy it that way, I urge you to check it out anyway, because these are NEAT books. First up: Amy Unbounded.

Amy Unbounded: Belondweg Blossoming

This is a collection of the second six Amy Unbounded mini-comics. Despite that, it's the perfect jumping on point for Amy, and well worth the measly $17 cover price. This is one of the best comics out there right now. In fact, my only complaint is that it doesn't come out quite often enough for me. I wish it was monthly, or even bi-monthly. Heck, I'd settle for quarterly!

Anyway, this is the first on-going tale of Amy of Eddybrook Farm. Go visit the website to get the first six issues.

If you are curious whether or not some of the less fantastic things that happen in comics could happen in real life, there's a great site that covers those questions: www.footnotecomics.com. Link from Newsarama.

There's another piece on the Iraq war from Terry Jones of Monty Python fame. People who are for the war probably won't find this article nearly as amusing as I did. Thanks to Mark Evanier for the link.

There's a neat thing from the Census, but it tells me that I don't have cookies enabled on my browser (even though I do). In order to investigate it, I had to open it in Internet Exploder instead of Mozilla. Still, it has some interesting stats if you can get past the clumsy interface. Again, thanks to Mark Evanier for the link.

It's that season again! The season in which we get to bait little girls trying to sell cookies!

Ok, you might think me mean, but we never bait them unless we are buying. The first question, and it must be directed at the youngest girl selling cookies, is "Are these made from real girl scouts?" The parents who watch will generally laugh, but the little girls' reactions range from utter horror to a disgusted, "No!" with that 'what are YOU on?' tone. Very few of them realize that it's a joke, if you say it seriously enough. A variation is, "Are these made with fresh girl scouts?" You have to ask the youngest Girl Scout, because the older ones have already heard it already.

It's also good to ask for advice on what to buy, even if you know full well what you are getting. After all, this is a learning experience for the girls, so it is good for them to get a little practice in the art of the sell. They are supposed to have some patter memorized, so make them work.

I always get Tagalongs, as those are my absolute favorites. Hubby-Eric gets Thin Mints, and a variety of other ones (aside: I can live with one flavor for a long time, but he needs variety. I had the same breakfast every single day of classes in college and never got tired of it. I could, seriously, eat the same thing every day and never get bored with it, but most people seem to prefer different foods).

This year, we bought a box of Thin Mints for a friend who has been sent to the Gulf for the Iraq attack. As soon as we get word that we can send packages, he'll get the cookies from us, and possibly a few other Aquaman list members, as we've all adopted him for the duration (since he's a fellow Aqua-fan, I'm also sending him the newest issues of Aquaman as they come out). I've never been one to criticize the troops just for being troops. My Uncle died in Vietnam as a medic. My father was in the Navy during the Korean War. My older brother is in Army intelligence, now in the reserves. I may not support the war itself, but I will support the troops. Especially the one who belonged to my Aquaman list until he got shipped away.