Saturday, February 28, 2004

Alan Davis doesn't really need any introduction. This sketch was sent to me by Elayne Riggs in thanks for my short stint guest-blogging for her while she went to MidOhio Con.

AQUAMAN
by Alan Freakin' Davis and Robin Riggs
December 2003
(permission to post given at time of drawing)
Alan Davis Messageboards
Soulmate Productions

This is it for the Saturday Sketches... except that I'm going to the Emerald City Comicon tomorrow and I may get more permissions and more sketches. And an artist has actually e-mailed me offering to send a sketch for me to post. So while this is the last sketch I currently have permission to post, I think next Saturday I'll be posting something new... and it might not even be Aquaman. Tune in next week...

To see all the sketches I have permission to post so far, check out my Sketchbook Page. If you have any contact information for any of the other artists I'm trying to contact, please e-mail me. Click for a random Aquaman sketch.

by Tegan at 6:26 PM Seattle time

It's been only a couple of days since I heard about it, but now the Comics Weblog Update-A-Tron 3000 (as named by Mikester) is already my top referrer. I don't know about you folks, but I'm impressed.

For any comic's blogger that isn't on the list, there's a handy e-mail on the main page to alert Dave of your presence on the blogosphere. I sent him a list of some of my favorite comics bloggers that weren't already listed, and he added them all then sent me an Aquaman song I'd never heard that was incredibly amusing. That's what I call service!

If you are on the list, make sure you ping blo.gs every time you update. I've got my pings set up as a bookmark set that I click on when I've updated. Just go to blo.gs ping form and enter your information, then they will give you a bookmark for future pinging. In addition, Neilalien has linked to a handy rundown of pinging services that you may want to look at. I personally only ping the top two.

by Tegan at 9:12 AM Seattle time

Friday, February 27, 2004

Green Lantern #174: Is it over yet? No? Curses. Why do I even read this? I haven't enjoyed it in months.

JLA #93: Ug. This is one of those "If you can't say something nice..." issues. And I'm not looking forward to Byrne and Claremont's run, either.

Adventures of the Escapist #1: This is exactly what I was expecting from this book, nothing more, nothing less. I don't know whether I'm disappointed by that fact or not. This is jam-packed with stuff, and the text articles are fun to read too. A scholar of comic books might find some of this annoying, but for the most part it's a nice little jaunt into a once-removed fictional world. And yes, I'm still irked about the collection thing.

Still to review: Amazing Spider-Man, El Cazador, and Usagi Yojimbo.

by Tegan at 9:49 PM Seattle time

Every comics blogger needs to link to this handy list of comics blog and when they were last updated.

by Tegan at 5:39 PM Seattle time

Conan #1: I'm hooked. The artwork is just amazing. And since I've never read any Conan before, this is all new to me. I'm already convinced that this is a book I will like a lot.

Hedge Knight Collected Edition: This follows the original story from the first Legends anthology fairly closely. If you haven't read the story, I think it works pretty well in introducing the hero. The visuals add a lot to the story, as the heraldry is described in the story well, but here you actually get to see it. Egg looks exactly as I envisioned him from the story, while Dunk ought to be even taller. He's nearly seven feet tall, for goodness sakes. He should tower over everybody. In any case, this is the first half of the original story, and it's done quite nicely. I look forward to seeing the rest, and I wonder if there are any plans to do the Hedge Knight story in Legends II?

Still to review: Adventures of the Escapist, Green Lantern, JLA, Amazing Spider-Man, El Cazador, and Usagi Yojimbo.

by Tegan at 8:58 AM Seattle time

Thursday, February 26, 2004

Since I've driven all my readers off with a bunch of long posts about networking and such, I think it's time to pull together some random thoughts.

First off, everyone who requested a copy of Lion's Blood from me now has a copy of the book on the way. I still have a couple of copies left if anyone else wants one. I sent the books the cheapest rate possible, so hopefully you'll all get yours this century (I'm not sure about the one going to Canada, it could take longer).

Oh crap! Happy Blogaversary to Neilalien. I guess I can still miss birthdays despite the Outlook calendar. Ok, so Mr Mysterious Palindrome isn't a family member, and it's not actually a birthday... but still! Sorry I'm late, oh Doctor Strange fan! Four years! You rock!

Elayne Riggs has a nice quote that I relate to: "I've officially decided that I'm going to care more about baseball this year than politics, since the Red Sox can always be depended upon to break my heart, while both Democrats and Republicans only confuse me." Change that "Red Sox" to "Mariners" and I'm right there.

Elayne also links to a joke waiting to be written. Yeah, Elayne. That one is kind of frightening how perfect it is.

Franklin Harris gives 'Comic Book: The Movie' a bad grade. It still sounds like something I wouldn't mind seeing sometime.

I'm sure everyone has heard the great news in the Gaiman case against Todd McFarlane. But if you haven't, follow the link and read about it. You can also read about Fred the Cat's latest antics. And you really ought to read the PDF file of the judgement of the court case. It's long, but very interesting and quite funny in places.

Old news via The Friends of Lulu: the comic strip LuAnn is going to be made into a cartoon. While I generally like the comic, I don't particularly like the title character. A cartoon could be interesting, or utterly boring.

Why Superheroes Work by Sean Collins is well worth reading. As is most of his blog. But this one I found particularly good. So there.

Here are the results of The Captain's Caption Competition.

As much as I disagree with ADD in general, I hate the idea of anyone being sick, having gone through so much of it myself lately. So get well, dude. Don't overdo it and have a relapse, either. People would be very upset if you stayed sick, you know. Then who would everyone argue with?

Speaking of arguing, I think it's no argument that Tim O'Neil is currently doing the best Dirk Deppey impersonation at the moment. Can he keep it up? That's always the question, isn't it?

Yeah, Aquaman #15 sold out at DC, and e-mail reports I've been getting indicate it sold out at a lot of stores too. This just isn't good news. If people can't get a copy, they won't try the book. If they don't try the book, they can't get hooked. So no new readers. So, no, I'm not happy about it.

Really cool, old postcards. Link via Modulator.

One of these days I'm really going to have to see Blade Runner.

I agree with Mark Evanier's comments on seeing "Passion". It sounds like a really violent movie. I don't much like violence. In addition, for me, it focuses on the entirely wrong portion of Jesus' life. Between that and the violence, I have no desire to see it.

On a serious note, here are some unanswered questions about what happened on 9/11. These involve known reports directly from the planes, and missing information that should have been routine. Yeah, this one is via Atrios, why do you ask? Your mileage may vary.

by Tegan at 9:47 PM Seattle time

NOTE: If you aren't interested in my Previews overview (I know it's very long), you can skip to my reviews of Smallville and Angel.

Yes, it's that time again... time for "Things in Previews That Look Interesting But I Can't Afford To Get (with a list of things I am getting just for contrast)". I'm going to start with the bulk of the book, and then come back and cover the "big four" at the end. Please remember, I'm listing what looks interesting. My actual purchase list is going to be much smaller. The numbers after each title are usually the page number in Previews, so you can follow along at home.

As usual, I'll start with the Splash Page (8-9). There are only two items of interest here. The first is the Clone Wars trade paperback. Considering how much better than the movies the Clone Wars cartoons were, I'd be tempted to get this. Not so much that I will, but tempted nonetheless. The other is the "Wacky Packages", and the only reason I'm mentioning them is because hubby-Eric, flipping through Previews last night, made an "oooo!" sound when he spotted them in the trading card section. I don't really remember them, myself, though this article says they were in production from 1967 to 1992.

Jumping on past the big four, nothing of interest in the Wizard section, so we'll start in on the main comics section.

As usual, the first company to have a book that jumps out at me is About Comics (203). In this case, the book of interest is Comics Prose which promises short stories by writers of comics, including Dennis O'Neil, Peter David, and Kurt Busiek. I may have to have a chat with hubby-Eric about getting this one. Ten dollars for ten stories isn't too bad. I'll also note that the Superfolks reprint appears to still be available. I still kind of want to read that one.

Abrams Comics (203) has two apparently European books to take a look at. One is Auschwitz, a fictionalized tale of the WWII concentration camp. The solicitation says that the creator, Pascal Croci, interviewed survivors to get the detail for the book. This is one that I doubt I could read. Maus was hard enough for me to get through. I will mention that I find the cover image Previews shows to be very disturbing... all too much like images of models and such, a pretty woman. I'm not sure whether this is because modern models are too depressing, or because the character image chosen for the cover is too pretty for the subject matter. Whatever, it bothered me enough to mention. The other book by Abrams is Voyage Into The Deep which appears to be a mix of historical fiction and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It sounds a little forced in concept to me, but intriguing enough to mention.

AIT/Planet Lar (208) has nothing I want this month, but they do have a nice listing of all the issues of Demo so far (209). I still keep hrming over them every month. Just not enough to actually put them on the list.

Alternative Comics has two books promoted on page 211, and it's worth reading the mini-interviews. I'm slightly intrigued by Salmon Doubts (210).

Amaze Ink/Slave Labor always seems to get in Flipping Through Previews for something or another. In this case I'm mentioning Pirate Club #2 (214), a book I first mentioned back in the Dec/Feb edition of FtP.

Another publisher that I always seem to mention is Antarctic Press. The first book I'll note is Dictators: Hitler #2 (214), the second issue covers "The Soldier", covering Hitler's WWI years. I was also going to mention I Hunt Monsters #3 because Rod Espinosa is working on it, but the solicit is making it sound a bit bizarre.

AP Comics is trying a APC Preview Book #1 (218), which will be quarterly and feature pages and artwork from their series. At $1.50 a pop, this is a good way to try and get the word out about their work. I'm tempted to get it even though none of their series appeal to me.

Ape Entertainment (220) kicks off the year of the monkey with an anthology about... apes. No, not really. This one features "fantasy, sci-fi, comedy, super-heroes"... it just has an ape on the cover to assure good sales. Ape Omnibus is planned as a quarterly 64 page book, to which upcoming artists and writers can contribute. See their website for details.

Arcana Studio is soliciting Ant #2 (222). Check out the website for artwork samples and more information.

If you don't know this already, I'm sure you must read only my blog for comic book news. Avatar Press is putting out Rich Johnston's Holed Up (232), which looks like a depressing black comedy. Yes, that Rich Johnston. From my readings of Lying in the Gutters, I can say I probably wouldn't enjoy this book. Your mileage may vary.

Bloodfire Studios solicits Kindergoth #3 (236), which I plan on ordering after getting the first two issues to review from the publisher. I liked it enough that I'm mildly peeved that another Bloodfire book that I have zero interest in says that it will have a Kindergoth short story in its ad on page 233. However, I'm only mildly peeved because Bloodfire has been a pretty cool company so far, and I'm sure the story will show up in another format somewhere.

Bongo Comics is putting out Futurama Comics #17 (236), the book that we can't seem to get off our pull list.

Checker Book Publishing is reprinting classic Star Trek comics as a trade. The Star Trek Key Collection (242) is quite tempting. I wonder if hubby-Eric wants it, too?

The CBLDF is reissuing the Hellboy T-Shirt (244). A few months ago I wouldn't have been caught dead in a Hellboy T-shirt, now I kind of want to get it.

And BAM! We're into CrossGen (248). I just hope they keep publishing. I keep wondering when each book we get from them will be cancelled. I think I heard somewhere that Way of the Rat is gone. And Abadazad isn't being solicited this month, so all we're getting this month is El Cazador.

After reading and enjoying the first collection of The Hedge Knight, I find myself somewhat interested in another Devil's Due Publishing adaptation of a story from Legends. The Wood Boy (270/276) by Raymond E Feist is part of the Riftwar saga. I can't help but wonder if this one will adapt as well the The Hedge Knight did.

Whoa! I almost missed it! Devil's Due is also adapting The Seventh Shrine (269/276) from Legends! Now I know I want to get both of these, but I think, because they are both two-issue minis, I might wait for a collection on both of them. Well, this gives me a little more reason to work on my review of Legends and Legends II. And I'm going to have to keep a closer eye on Devil's Due in the future.

Moving on after that moment of surprise, Dork Storm Press has a new book: Dr Blink: Superhero Shrink #0 (277) I'm not terribly interested, but it does merit a mention, as it will no doubt be hilarious. I'm tempted to get the Fairly Goth Parents T-Shirt for hubby-Eric, but although he would find it funny, he wouldn't have anywhere to wear it.

Fantagraphics is going to get some more of our money. The Lizard of Oz (290) is a graphic novel that "pays playful homage to, and parodies, the classic L. Frank Baum fairy tale". Yeah, hubby-Eric will want it. That's a no-brainer.

I Box Publishing has Thieves & Kings #45 (302). Recently this book has taken a turn for the better. Let's see if the quality stays up.

Moonstone Books has The Phantom #3 (310), which my friend will be wanting to order, and I will read.

And that gets me past the main comic book section. Moving on...

On page 366 there is a "Hello Kitty" reusable sticker book. I'm almost tempted. I wonder if I could get a thought balloon that says "I have no mouth but must scream"?

Two cool Justice League t-shirts show up on page 398. Both of them have classic Aquaman. I wonder if Super Hero Stuff will have them in stock soon? I might just have to get them.

I like this... Meddling Kids RPG (464): "Designed to help young children grasp the concept of roleplaying... a stand-alone game that allows novice players to take on the role of a group of teenagers who stumble upon a Wild Card - an anthropomorphic companion - and bad together to solve mysteries." Rooby-Roo!

In the Video section, there's a Lone Wolf and Cub DVD. I wonder if it's one of the good ones, or one of the edited ones?

And here's some frightening developments (494-495): Flintstones Season One DVD Set, Jetsons Season One DVD Set, Jonny Quest Season One DVD Set, and Scooby-Doo Where Are You? Seasons 1 & 2 DVD Set. I can't figure out if I'm interested in them or just frightened that they are going to be so easy to get.

Ok... hit the end of the book, so now it's time to bounce back and visit the big four publishers.

Just for kicks, let's do Marvel Comics (176) first. Let's see... Amazing Spider-Man #67 (#508) and Supreme Power #10. My friend David will be getting Thor #78 and Thor #79 (why two issues a month on so many Marvel books? It's getting really annoying.. Iron Man even has *three* issues out in May. Ridiculous.), so I'll probably read those.

Let's move on to Dark Horse, just to shake up the order even more. I've already mentioned the Star Wars: Clone Wars trade (18). This appears to be a digest. Could be fun.

There will be a Hellboy story in The Dark Horse Book of Witchcraft (24), but that's not enough to get me to buy it.

Conan #4 (28) makes the list. I haven't read issue one yet, so that could change. But I'll probably stick with it.

There's a new Usagi Yojimbo collection (31), but no new issues this month. I need to catch up on the collections soon. And keep loaning them to my sister. She seems to like the series almost as much as I do.

Continuing to jump around, let's move up to Image Comics. The second Age of Bronze hardcover is being solicited (135). I need to write to Eric and ask if he prefers me to order it through Diamond or directly from him. In any case, I'm getting the hardcover. It'll match my hardcover of the first collection. Which is available as a trade still, if you haven't got your copy yet.

Other than that, we'll be getting Powers Vol 2 #3 (153) and Common Grounds #5 (162). If you haven't been getting Common Grounds, you might want to check out an issue. All stand-alone stories, so you won't get stuck in an eternal story-arc.

And so I'll finish off this month's Flipping Through Previews with DC Comics. Another big month, as the bulk of our order is always DC superheroes. I may like variety, but I also like my monthly dose of lowbrow spandex, durnit.

In the Direct Currents section, Sea Guy (56) certainly jumps out at this Aqua-fan. Yeah, no chance of Aquaman, but it still intrigues. The art/story preview just makes me more interested in it. Firestorm (60) however, interests me almost not at all. The only interest I have in it is to find out if this will sort out the status of Earth's fire elemental, or if it will just add to the confusion. I think I'll pass. Richard Dragon (66) also interests me. The six-page preview on DC's site just made me more interested. This one is certainly a possibility.

There was never any question about us getting Justice League of America: Another Nail (78). I hardly even need the preview pages, though seeing more great Alan Freakin' Davis artwork is always cool.

I'm going to mention the new Batman toy line tie-in: Batman: Cyber Revolution (86). I'm mentioning it because the mini will include Oracle. Does this mean we'll get a solo Oracle action figure? I've been tempted to get the Birds of Prey set, just so I can have an Oracle figure. Moving on, I wonder if hubby-Eric will want the Empire Trade (87) because it includes a five-page preview and sketchbook? I do know that hubby wants Green Lantern/Green Arrow Vol 1 (90), and I want the DC 100-Page Super Spectacular (90). I'm torn by the New Teen Titans Archives Vol 2 (91), because I know that Aqualad shows up in it, but I don't know how much. What disappoints me is that they are reprinting 80s stories when there are plenty of tales from the 60s that are much harder to get ahold of that I, personally, would rather have. I was surprised when the first volume of this archive came out, I'm even more surprised it sold well enough to merit a second volume. Ah well, DC has the sales numbers, and I'm not an everyfan.

Getting into the main listings, here's what will make the list. From the Batman Section: Batman Adventures #14 (96), Batman: Harley & Ivy #2 (97), and Birds of Prey #67. In the Superman section we're getting Superman: Birthright #10 (98) and Smallville #8 (99). In the regular DCU section, we'll be getting Aquaman #18 (99), DC: The New Frontier #4, DC 100-Page Super Spectacular (100), Fallen Angel #11, Green Arrow #38 (101), Green Lantern #177 (102), Green Lantern/Green Arrow Vol 1, H-E-R-O #16, JLA #98, JLA #99 (103), Justice League of America: Another Nail #1, JSA #61, Justice League Adventures #31 (104), Outsiders #12, and Plastic Man #6 (105).

Hubby-Eric also mentioned that he's tempted to get The Powerpuff Girls #50 (107) because he wants to see them sucked into a mirror universe and meet the Powerpunk Girls.

So that's it for this month's "Things in Previews That Look Interesting But I Can't Afford To Get (with a list of things I am getting just for contrast)". Comments? Questions? I don't know about you, but I'm beat. This is always a long effort. But after I finish I generally have a very good idea of what I want to buy, and I get to give a little promotion to books that otherwise might get ignored. Yeah, it's worth it. And hey, if I missed something, please make comment on it. You might find something I missed. It happens. I almost missed the Majipoor comic from Devil's Due this month. I could easily miss something else.

by Tegan at 6:55 PM Seattle time

Smallville: Resurrection [3-15]: Thanks to various previews, I had a decent idea what was going to happen in this episode before seeing it. I wish the previews wouldn't give so much away. In any case, it turned out to be a bit of an intense episode, with a few eye-rolling moments (don't tell me the sharpshooter didn't notice Clark's vanishing act). About on par with regular episodes.

Angel: A Hole in the World: I like the photography when the "guys" are comparing notes and determining who is going to do what. The use of moving camera angles at that point made the episode seem a little more harrassed and hurried, which was the effect needed. Spike outdoes himself in this one, from the "annoying other people" quip to his determination that Fred won't die. As for the astronauts vs cavemen, do the astronauts have training in the martial arts?

Now that I've scared away all my regular readers with blogs about networking and LEGO, it's time to go to this week's Rapid Reviews! Books being reviewed this week: Adventures of the Escapist #1, Conan #1, Usagi Yojimbo #73, Green Lantern #174, JLA #93, Amazing Spider-Man #63 (504), El Cazador #5, and the Hedge Knight Collected Edition. All reviews will be posted in the next couple of days. I'll also be doing my "Flipping Through Previews" post sometime today/tonight/tomorrow, so you've been warned.

by Tegan at 2:38 PM Seattle time

Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Rapid reviews of this week's comics start tomorrow. In the meantime, check out this draft of a comic book for Adult Fans of LEGO by Greg Hyland, courtesy of Jake McKee. Following are two sample panels, if you click on them you will be taken to a PDF file of the comic so far.

              

I picked the first panel for the fact that it's an introduction. The second panel reminds me of train shows, in which we sometimes try to use the crossing tracks to cause the worst LEGO train disasters ever imagined. The comic book itself is set up in four panel gags, and if you laugh at most of them, chances are that you are an Adult Fan of LEGO (or live with one).

by Tegan at 4:29 PM Seattle time

Long posts ahead. Click here to get past all the networking blogging.

Ok, in part one I configured my router, and made it look a lot more complicated than it really is. Most people would only need to physically connect their router, then run the setup wizard, and they'd be good to go. But no, I have to get my hands into the guts of the machine and set things manually. I like to understand how things work, and why they do what they do. That way, if something goes wrong, I can fix it. But I understand completely if you were lost by my explanations.

In order to wirelessly connect to the router, I needed to configure my wireless card, in my case the Netgear WG511 Card.

Like the router, this has a software upgrade on the Netgear site, which I downloaded. It's always good to have the latest. Before chucking the card into the slot, I ran the software. It installed a nifty configuration utility and all the proper drivers. Then I put the card in, let XP recognize that there was new hardware and installed it. So far, so good.

Now, if your network is just "out of the box", at this point you should be able to connect to the router, maybe even browse the web. Because I chose to configure stuff manually, there were a few more steps for me to do.

Oh yeah, and if you aren't running yet, make sure you restart your computer. It might just need the old on/off.

To set my IP addresses I went to "My Network Places" --> "View Network Connections" --> select the card, right-click and choose "Properties" --> Select "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click the "Properties" button. I selected "Use the following IP address" and put the IP address that I wanted my computer to be in the first box. I already had two computers on my network, and they were "2" and "3", so this computer would be "4", or it's full IP: "192.168.55.4". The subnet mask isn't important. I just put it to 255.0.0.0. The Default gateway is the router: "192.168.55.1". The DNS server addresses were given to me by my ISP, Comcast. They are different for every ISP, so if you set those, you need to talk with your ISP. Again, if you didn't do this before, you probably don't need to do it now.

Now it's time to add some security. For this operation, I needed to have access to my desktop in case I screwed up a setting and locked my laptop out of the network, which I did more than once. Then I'd have to go back to the desktop and reset it. Annoying, but a nice learning process.

To configure the card for security, first thing is to go into the Windows Network option for the card. "My Network Places" --> "View Network Connections" --> select the card, right-click and choose "Properties" --> then click on the "Wireless Networks" tab. Make sure that the "Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings" option is UNCHECKED. You don't want Windows to configure it, that's what the software that came with the card is for.

Run the configuration utility for your card. There should be an option in your start menu, or a little computer icon sitting in your task tray. Whichever method, just open it. If you are running out of the box, it should be connected, probably to a network called "NETGEAR" with a string of numbers and letters grouped in two after it. That string is the MAC Address of the router. More on MAC addresses in a bit.

You'll be changing security settings in two places. First in the Router, then on your card. So fire up your browser and log into the router too.

The first thing you need to change is the name of your network. In the router, click on "Wireless Settings". The name of the network is called the SSID. Change it. You don't want it to be the default. It doesn't have to be a super-secret name, but it does need to be unique to your area. Set the region, then hit apply. Now, go to your card's configuration utility, click on the configuration tab and change the Name(SSID) to the router's new name there. Hit Apply. Make sure you can still connect to the internet.

Go back to the Router set-up. Make sure that "Enable Wireless Access Point" is checked, and that "Allow Broadcast of Name (SSID)" is unchecked. Hit apply. That's the most basic level of security. In order to access your network, people need to know what SSID to connect with, and you've just hid it.

Next go to Setup Access List and check "Turn Access Control On". This allows you to limit your wireless network to only certain network cards. Note that you need the MAC address of your network card for this one. If it doesn't find it automatically, you can find the MAC address of your card on the "About" tab of the configuration utility. Put in the numbers and letters without dashes. Once you've added your card to the list, click the Apply button. Make sure you can still connect to the internet. Congrats, you've got a second level of security on.

A note on MAC addresses: MAC address is short for Media Access Control address. It's a series of numbers and letters that identifies a piece of hardware on your network. Every network card has its own MAC address, as does every router. Whenever you enter a MAC address, you are pointing to a specific piece of hardware on your network.

A last level you might want to turn on is the WEP. Change "Encryption Strength" from disable to one of the other levels. Down below, select a key and put a word in the "Passphrase" field and hit generate. I generated four keys using random words. Do the same. Don't use obvious words. Once you've generated the keys, hit the Apply button, then go to the card configuration. Under "Security", click "Enable Encryption", and put in the key length you put into the Router. I then copied and pasted my keys from the router configuration window into the spots on the card utility (using the "manual" option). Pick a key and click the radio button next to it. That's the active key. Click Apply. Make sure you can still connect to the internet. Now you've got some decent security on.

Lastly, click on the "Profiles" tab on the card configuration, and type a name in the "Profile Name" box. Like "Home Network". Click the Save button. Congrats, you've got your first profile saved. If you go and use another network, you can set up a new profile, and just use the utility to switch between the two when you go back and forth. Nice, eh? I expect I'll have a different profile to use for the Pug House of Horrors, just as I'll need a different profile for my Mom's house if I take my computer down there to set up her network. Being able to have multiple profiles makes the card more useful.

Despite how confusing all this sounds, my setup was actually very easy because the card and the router were the same brand. I made it more confusing by insisting on manually setting certain things, like the IP addresses, and by adding lots of security. In 90% of the cases of setting a wireless network up, you should be able to get it running very quickly by making the physical connections then just running the default configuration for the router.

In other words, follow the instructions on the installation card.

I probably just scared away anyone who wants to do this and isn't at least moderately familiar with networking. But I'm glad I wrote it all down anyway, as now I'll remember what to do when I set up my Mom's network, and when I need to add my sister's computer to my network. I would call myself an experienced beginner in networking, not quite at the intermediate level. If you have a better knowledge of networks than I, please feel free to correct anything I've written. It might help me, and it might help others. Who knows?

by Tegan at 12:12 PM Seattle time

Long post ahoy. Click here to skip to the next one.

So I've gotten an e-mail asking me to explain in a little more detail how I set up my wireless router. This is from a person who is thinking about it, but is a little frightened of the process. So I figured I had better write it now, while everything is fresh in my mind. And, by posting it to my blog, I'll keep a good record of it and maybe help someone else. If you have questions about any of this, feel free to comment on it, or drop me an e-mail.

To start with, I chose my router almost entirely on price. The Netgear MR814 was listed at about $25 after rebates ($45 if the rebate never comes). I don't know about anyone else, but considering that I paid nearly $200 for my first router, getting one for $45 didn't sound bad. The reviews for the thing on Amazon and elsewhere were generally positive, also. I don't need speed in my wireless connection, otherwise I would have picked something else. This router uses the "b" standard, which is slower than the more recent "g" standard (but both standards work together fine).

Everything I read indicated that getting a good wireless card was very important. In many cases people reported that after troubleshooting their routers, they would find out that the card was the problem, not the router. So I found a basic, high-rated card. This one I went for the "g" standard on, because "g" works with "b" and has the potential to be faster if you plan on using other networks, which I do. Because I was getting a Netgear router, I decided to stick with the company (my first router is also Netgear) and got a Netgear WG511 Card.

Ok, so you know what hardware I'm discussing. Now on to the set-up!

One of the things I learned about the Netgear MR814 while researching it is that they changed the product mid-through the run, resulting in a "version 2" which does not have the same features as the original. While I was relatively sure that I would get v2, I had to wait until I had the box in my hands before I was sure. As their support page indicates, there is no way to specify which version you want if ordering over the web.

In any case, I was told that the first thing I would want to do when I got the router would be to upgrade the firmware. The versions that shipped had bugs, and the upgrades help you to avoid a few annoying problems. So once I was sure I had v2, I went to their support page and downloaded the upgrade and the manual. The manual actually comes on the CD, but I found it easier to leave the CD in its package and use the downloaded one. Note that I did the downloading on my OLD connection... I hadn't actually touched the router at this point.

If you go to the download page and look at the installation guide, you will note that it is tiny. That's because router installation has been made as simple as possible by the manufacturers. They want you to be able to quickly set up and use their products.

The initial physical set-up was easy. I used the cable included with the router to link it to my laptop, fired up my browser, typed "192.168.0.1" for the URL, and I was logging in. The default user is "admin" and the default password is "password". I ignored the setup wizard, and went to "Router Upgrade" on the sidebar. I browsed to the file I'd downloaded, then installed the new firmware. Pretty simple.

After a restart on the router, I logged in again, and reset the password. Then, heeding the advice of my network savvy friend Andy, I went to "LAN IP Setup" and changed the IP address from the default 192.168.0.1 to a set of numbers that I won't post here. Instead, I'll say that I changed it to "192.168.55.1". There are standards to indicate what ranges you can set home IP addresses to. The ranges are as follows: 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255, 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255, and 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255. You can use any of the numbers in those ranges to set up your home network.

Ok, once I changed the LAN IP, I had to use the new IP to log in. I also had to inform my ethernet card (I was not using the wireless yet) of the change, because I had manually set the IP on the card for my old router. In Windows XP, it's just a matter of finding the network connection ("My Network Places" --> "View Network Connections") and resetting the properties (right-click, "properties", select "Internet Protocol", hit properties button) to have 192.168.55.1 in the IP address box instead of 192.168.0.1. If you've never had to set the IP address on your computer, you probably don't have to reset it.

The next step was to connect the router to the cable modem. It's a simple enough process, and there are nice diagrams in the installation guide to show you which bits need to be connected.

After the physical connections, it was time to go back and configure. I logged into 192.168.55.1 (remember, that's the new name of the router) and clicked on "Setup Wizard". Steps were easy. My internet connection doesn't require a login, but has an account and domain name. Everything else fit the defaults. After hitting Apply, I hit test and was sent to the Netgear website. All's good.

Next step was to physically connect and configure the two desktops (Box and Xoanon) to the router. This was actually the biggest hassle, because I had to move a bunch of wires which are still clogging up the doorway to my room. That's job one over the next few days: clean up the wires on my wireless network! Configuring wasn't hard either. Box, because it runs XP, was simple to set up. I just needed to change the IP address in its ethernet card and I was set. Xoanon, being an early iMac, required a bit more mental effort on my part as I didn't realize I needed to set the name servers manually when I set everything else manually. Once I figured that out, it was happy.

A quick note about IP addresses: When you have a home network, the router is the "1" of the address, and each computer claims another number. For instance, in my network, the router is 192.168.55.1, and Xoanon is 192.168.55.2, while Box is 192.168.55.3. In a non-manually configured network, the IP address gets assigned according to what computer connects to the router first. So if Box connected to the router after a restart before Xoanon, Box would be 2 and Xoanon 3. I wanted the IPs stable within my network, so I configured each computer to claim its own IP. This is a lot of trouble for some people, and isn't strictly necessary, but it's how I set up my own network.

Ahem. At this point I had a router with three computers connected to it using ethernet cable... exactly the same thing that I had before buying the new router. All three computers worked, but I wanted one of those computers to go wireless. Next installment: Configuring the Netgear WG511 Card. I gotta take a break for now.

by Tegan at 9:26 AM Seattle time

Tuesday, February 24, 2004

The first lesson of troubleshooting computers is the title of this blog entry. When in doubt, hit the on/off switch. I forgot that earlier today, and had some troubles. But I get ahead of myself.

It's about 10:30 pm. We I checked out the UPS this morning, it said my router was on the way - "Out For Delivery". Ah, the joy! The rapture! The annoyance of being sure that the packages would arrive while I was at the doctor's office. Well, it didn't come while I was out, and so after I returned I cleaned much of the house while waiting. Finally I heard someone on the porch, and happily walked out to pick up my new hardware... and found a box for hubby-Eric there instead. It was the post office, not UPS. ARGH!

So I brought in Eric's box, and, grumbling, cleaned dishes, put laundry away, then read some of the stories in Legends. And waited. And waited. And finally, about 5:15, I heard a truck outside and heard someone on the porch. And there it was, my router and card!

The first thing I did was set up the router to talk with my laptop, so that I knew that both the router and the card worked. I spent a couple of hours going over the security settings, and figured out how I wanted to place the router to get the best coverage in the house (the instructions say that it has a range of about 500 feet, so it doesn't matter too much). I waited until hubby-Eric got home before starting to move wires around, so he at least had a chance to get on-line before I messed with it.

Getting my desktop (Box) to communicate with the router was easy as pie. But then, it's connected with a standard ethernet cable. The iMac (Xoanon) was much more difficult. I didn't know how to set up the TCP/IP settings, and so I got a crash course in configuring Macs. Eventually I figured out that I hadn't set the DNS settings. Once those were set... no problem! So Box and Xoanon were both chatty with the router and with the world outside, last thing to set up would be my laptop. And since I had checked it earlier, I knew for a fact it would work.

Of course, it didn't.

I tried everything I could think of to get the thing to reconnect. I even turned off virtually all the security... nothing. The router couldn't see the laptop (Abe), and the laptop couldn't connect to the router (although it kept claiming it could see it). I finally hooked it up with the ethernet cable to the router to troubleshoot, and found that it still didn't connect. At which point the troubleshooting lessons I learned so long ago came back to me. I turned off the laptop. I turned it back on. Everything worked like a charm.

So my last step it putting the WEP back on. I've got most of the security set up now, and everything is working very nicely. I guess the next step with my laptop is to visit the pug house of horrors and see what sort of hoops I have to jump through to add it to the network there. In the meantime, I can 'net from just about anywhere in the house. And I like it. A lot.

by Tegan at 11:11 PM Seattle time

I first mentioned Kindergoth in my Nov/Jan Flipping Through Previews. I then mentioned when the second issue was solicited in my Jan/Mar Flipping Through Previews, even though I didn't buy the first issue. I was scared off by the "Mature Readers" label, mostly. I also wasn't convinced that goth humor would work for me, but it was mostly that label.

After finding my comments, the publisher of the book, Dennis Greenhill, wrote to me and explained that Diamond had put the Mature Readers label on the books, and offered to send me the first issue to give it a try. Hey, free stuff! I agreed, and after a slight delay he sent me the first two issues to read. Now that I've read them both a couple of times, and tried to sort out how I feel about them, I'm ready to give them a review in their very own blog entry.

Quick review: Funny and intriguing, but the characters often act jarringly out of their age level. The first issue didn't hold together well, and didn't have enough of a hook. The second issue had the hook, and gave a better presentation of the characters. I'll be ordering issue three.

Longer review: The language and social skills don't fit with the kids' ignorance of crosswalks and warning signs. It was a bit jarring to go from their casual discussion of Mrs Tiedeman's therapy to the "magic paint". The first half of the first issue was hard to get through, in part because of the size of the eventual cast and also because there was no plot. The goal seems to be introducing the characters, but you don't learn about them all, and what is there is scattered and confused. As soon as they leave the school and gather to go look at crop circles the story improves dramatically. Mainly because they have a goal, but also because they begin to act like children ought. Um, within the parameters of the book, at least.

The second issue is a vast improvement over the first, with a strong plot and more on-target humor. The plot moves along nicely, despite the kids going to school again, and the cast begins to shape up much more nicely. A very strong point about both issues is the artwork. It's distinctive and clean. You can tell the characters apart very easily, despite the large number of them. Ok, the aliens are a bit harder to tell apart, but at least one of them always has a rubik's cube on him.

While the first issue got off to a false start, the second issue made up for it. I do plan on ordering the third issue, which will be in the Previews out this week. If you have any goth in you at all, this is worth a peek at the website, which includes pages from the issues so you can check out both the art and the writing. As for a rating, I'll give both issues a collective 3 1/2 starfish. A bit above average.

by Tegan at 8:05 AM Seattle time

Monday, February 23, 2004

Education Secretary Rod Paige called the nation's largest teachers union a "terrorist organization" during a private White House meeting with governors on Monday. I don't know about you, but hearing that the Secretary of Education has such a poor grasp of reality that he would call the NEA a terrorist organization gets my blood at the boiling level. Excuse me Mr "cook the books" Paige, you have NO RIGHT to smear teachers like that when the administration you belong to still hasn't brought the real terrorists behind 9/11 to justice. You can disagree with the NEA all you want, but you went way over the line by putting them in the same category as people who murder thousands of innocents. I think this joker needs to resign, now.

Resign, Rod Paige. You've proven that you have no business being part of the government.

This shocking development in our pathetic excuse for a government was brought to my attention by the ever watching Atrios. I thought that nothing Bush's administration could pull would surprise me anymore, but this insult just proves that there are no depths to which Bush and co won't stoop.

by Tegan at 6:28 PM Seattle time

First off, a shout out to Elayne, who mentioned several days ago that Haloscan had added trackback. When she mentioned it again, I got up off my duff and added the functionality to my blog. I don't know that I really care about it one way or another, but it's nice to have a shiny new toy to play with on the blog.

And just a reminder for everyone who uses Haloscan. For a small donation, you get premium service (which isn't a lot more than what you get free, really) and you support them. I strongly recommend donating if you have the free money to do so.

I'm notoriously disorganized, despite my ability to project an appearance of being "together". There have been a couple of improvements in my life recently that I'm sure everybody else already knew about but have just made my existence easier... I'm sure I've mentioned that I now use Outlook as my mail service? It was a "path of least resistance" thing, as I had five accounts to check everyday, and Outlook was willing to pull them all together for me. I was a bit ... disgruntled ... that I was using the evil empire's software for mail instead of my preferred Pine, but I needed to get into this century someday. Anyway, I've discovered that two of the tools that come with Outlook are designed for disorganized idiots like me.

First off is the calendar. I was somewhat less than enthused about it, because you have to leave Outlook open all the time. But a friend sent me a little program that drops Outlook to the System Tray instead of the Task Bar, so it's not taking up space on the bar (my understanding is that later versions of Outlook have this function built in, but I've got Office 2000). So I set it up to remind me about every family member's birthdays... we'll see if I still forget to mention them now! I also discovered that I could import the Mariners baseball schedule. So I've got it set up to have Dave Niehaus yell "My Oh My" at me an hour before each game starts. And just for kicks, I put in my next few doctor appointments, too. Hopefully it'll keep me from being typically late.

The second is the Task list. I have a thing about writing lists. I write them, then promptly lose them. So I have a handful of "to do" lists that my room that surface every once in awhile to make me feel guilty for forgetting stuff. With the Outlook task list, I just write the entry and check the list every hour or so to see what I have left to do. To my surprise, it focused me this morning, and I accomplished a LOT more than I expected to. And I keep adding things to it. I've got about twenty entries now, but I've also managed to check off a few.

All is well and good... and I just checked on the progress of my wireless router and card. They finally reached the west coast from Memphis, and started up the road from Portland to the Seattle area about two hours ago. I'm betting I'll get them tomorrow. Today, if I'm really lucky, but more likely tomorrow or later if the regional UPS office isn't at top par.

And lastly, I'm sure you all want to know how I'm dealing with my fibromyalgia. I can't say I'm handling it well. I can't sleep at night, and when I do sleep I have rather bizarre dreams that wake me up, often involving alternate reasons for the pain in my muscles. My subconscious mind is apparently intent on providing its own reasons for why I hurt. In any case, the pain is slowly lessening. I'm told that people have good days and bad days. It's been mostly bad days for me since that night I woke up in agony, but I'm making progress. The treatment that I'm under right now is one designed by Dr Jacob Teitelbaum. It involves vitamins and an energy drink powder, and I think it's working. Only time will tell, I'm afraid. If I can actually make "to do" lists and keep up with them, then I'll be happy.

by Tegan at 2:32 PM Seattle time

DC: The New Frontier #2: This seems like a lot of jumbled Silver Age stories attempting to come together. I didn't think that my knowledge of the Golden Age and the Silver Age was poor, but I had a lot of trouble linking some of the names to heroes. The art also put me off, keeping me confused as to who was who. In short, it's good, but not as good as the first one.

Outsiders #9: Attack of the killer guest stars. The bad guy is pretty bad, yeah, but it's a sad thing when he's the best part of the book. Hubby-Eric likes it, and I don't actively hate it anymore, so I guess we'll keep getting it.

Coming Soon: Reviews of Kindergoth #1 & 2, some of the stories in Legends II, and some thoughts on Filk. And comics this week, which should include Conan, Usagi Yojimbo, Green Lantern, JLA, Amazing Spider-Man, El Cazador, and my massive Flipping Through Previews post. I just know you're thrilled.

by Tegan at 11:55 AM Seattle time

Sunday, February 22, 2004

New comics group blog: Insult to Injury. Worth a peek. Some good Hellboy coverage, and lots of raving about the just-announced Sea Guy from Vertigo comics (which I may have to get just because).

And I ought to mention When Will The Hurting Stop and Tim's pretty good efforts to emulate Dirk Deppey while Journalista is on hiatus.

Neilalien responds to folks asking if he knows about Dr Strange's recent activities in 1602, and I've gotta say that our favorite Mysterious Palindrome has the right idea. I think the series will read MUCH better in one sitting than monthly, although I did enjoy the cliff-hanger to the most recent issue. I do plan on re-reading the entire thing once the last issue comes out. I think it'll be worth that, at the least.

Yes, I've heard the news about Erik Larsen taking over Image. So what? I may not like Larsen's work, but his support of Age of Bronze shows he has good tastes, so I doubt it'll impact any of my reading of Image books. Have I mentioned that I liked the second issue of Common Grounds yet? Anyway, the Larsen thing is not a big deal to me.

Peter David has finally returned and blogged about the latest Angel and such. I loved Smile Time. It was incredibly funny.

The Comic Treadmill reports that people are buying things at Amazon through their site. I'm jealous. In the entire time I've had my links to Amazon up, I don't think anyone except hubby-Eric has bought stuff at Amazon through them. And no, nobody has bought me anything from my wishlist either. Especially not the first season of Buffy or Angel. Heh. Oh well, such is life.

I've been impatiently watching the progress of my wireless router and card via UPS ground shipping. How long does it take for a truck to get to the west coast from Tennessee, anyway? The wait is killing me. I hope it doesn't lead me to be overly impatient when I start to set the network up.

Toy Fair is over, and Figures.com has the LEGO news. I want those sets...

I still have a few copies of Lion's Blood that I'm willing to send to people if anyone wants one. Again, I'll send it the cheapest rate, and you can reimburse me for shipping when you get it. Just drop me an e-mail with "Lion's Blood" or the name of the blog as the subject and give me your address. I've only got one taker so far (and yes, Aunty, I'll send it out soon).

Check out Dewey's World for opinions on recent comics (including Aquaman and Abadazad) and for an answer to the age-old question "How long does it really take to read a comic book?"

Via Legomancer, a list of what W has accomplished as President. This link is not for Republicans, since you already have your own view of what W is.

Via Various and Sundry, we get a look at comments in the leaked Microsoft Code. Note that the article doesn't reproduce any of the code itself, just the comments. Also note that programmers are potty-mouths, and there is a bit of swearing early in the article.

Hey, I'm actually mostly through my blogroll... and I've still got a functioning (mostly) brain! Time to go relax and play another video game or something.

by Tegan at 5:04 PM Seattle time

Afghan women clear out village's bombs by hand. Basically, when a couple of children in the village were killed while playing with the bombs, the women, who were tired of stepping around the US cluster bombs to do daily chores and whatnot, collected them carefully and set them off in a safe place.

The women, Khairulnisah, 50, and Nasreen, 40, started to gather the dangerously volatile yellow canisters after the bombing in 2001 and after they had witnessed the explosion that killed the two boys and badly injured another child as they played with the 2-pound bombs that littered the village.

Think about that. They knew exactly what the bombs could do, they witnessed it first-hand in the deaths of two children, but they started to clean them up anyway.

The cluster bombs were dropped during the U.S. operation against Taliban forces occupying the village in October 2001. They are armor-piercing missiles that scatter in the air from a larger bomb and can shred both humans and tanks. Up to a third of the bombs do not explode on impact, but lie on or just below the surface of the ground, and detonate with the slightest vibration or increase in heat, mine removers at the Halo Trust said.

How are these bombs different than land mines? Why are we dropping this kind of bomb on villages? Yeah, it says that Taliban forces were occupying the village, but that means we can leave explosives lying around to kill innocent children? It's a horror that Khairulnisah and Nasreen felt they had to remove the bombs themselves. Can you imagine having a dozen unexploded bombs sitting in your front yard, endangering your family and children? I only hope that if/when the day comes that I'm tested as these women were, that I can live up to the challenge.

by Tegan at 2:36 PM Seattle time

Birds of Prey #64: I'm liking the two plots about equally now. I'm not sure what to make of Oracle being imprisoned. Is it just me or do the main characters in this book spend a lot of time locked up? I want to like it more, but it's just a little above average.

Superman: Secret Identity #2: Yeah, seeing him caught was very neat, and seeing the possibility that others have his power was also cool. I also enjoyed his troubles trying to decide whether or not to tell his girlfriend. All in all, pretty cool.

Still to review: New Frontier and Outsiders.

by Tegan at 1:37 PM Seattle time