Saturday, May 15, 2004

Some artists are painters, and have a horror vacui that expresses itself on the page. Brian Snoddy is best known as a painter of Magic Cards, but that's only a small part of his body of work. In any case, I met him at the first con I was getting sketches in my sketchbook at. He was surprised by the request for Aquaman, but happily obliged me and turned in this Aquaman of the deep. At the time, the sketch reminded me of Peter David's character Kordax, and even now I sometimes think that Snoddy caught PAD's Aquaman better than anyone else, despite the lack of beard, and even if it was unintentional. I'm proud to have a piece by Snoddy in my collection.

AQUAMAN
by Brian Snoddy
19 Sep 1999
(permission to post given 29 Feb 2004 in person)

by Tegan at 10:19 PM Seattle time - Permalink

Today the Oogaboos invaded the pugless house of not-so-many horrors.

Oogaboos are people who live in the Northwestern part of Oz, and are ruled by the gracious Queen Ann. Well, the bored Queen Ann, at least. Anyway, in the corresponding area of the United States are a group of Oz fans who call themselves Oogaboos and meet three or four times a year to celebrate with each other. And today was one of those times... and I got to be the hostess.

As parties go, this was a good one. There was plenty of food (so much so that I had to stop myself repeatedly from eating), and lots to drink. The group toasted L. Frank Baum, who was born May 15th 1856. There was an Oz quiz, and the winner got a free T-shirt from my shop at Zazzle.

I wore my "I'm blogging this." T-shirt and explained what a blog is to several of our guests. Eric wore his very, very cool Winged Monkey Airlines T-shirt, which I'm just more impressed with every time I see it. We also did a group order on T-shirts to get a good discount.

There were a couple of "field trips" during the party. Since the pugless house is across the street from both a bookshop and a collectibles store, everyone had to go check them out.

One of the folks brought a cake from Borracchini's bakery (which is the classic Seattle place to get good cakes). I had to force myself to not eat more than one piece. In fact, a recurring theme with this party was me preventing myself from eating.

Moving on to another subject entirely...

This article in the Seattle Times is of great interest to me. Why, you ask? Well, because the church mentioned in the article, St. Brendan Catholic Church, is literally within spitting distance of my home. My home, not the place I'm house-sitting at.

I went down there today to pick up some stuff for a party I'm hosting at the pugless house of not-so-many horrors. There were newsvans all over, and they were clearly trying to make the issue out to be something big. I guess tents really do indicate circuses.

As for my opinion on the tent city... well, I don't know. I don't know if the tent city is simply a political statement, or if it's actually doing any good at all. I don't know if the people in the tent city are good neighbors, or if they stay up all hours partying. Without that knowledge, I don't really have much of an opinion.

As hubby-Eric put it, the church itself has generally been a good neighbor... so if they want to host the tent city, I won't complain unless there's actually a problem.

First we have a Methodist church trial (and get mentioned on The Daily Show, even if they did pronounce the town's name wrong), and now the tent city. Bothell is becoming a happening place to live if you like controversy.

And finally, some links for you to have fun investigating...

When TV Shows Collide. Another photoshop contest. Via Boing Boing

Neat potted history of Pitcairn Island. Via MetaFilter.

When did Doctor Doom get his Doctorate? Polite Dissent asks the hard questions.

by Tegan at 7:22 PM Seattle time - Permalink

JLA #98: I'm almost scared to ask, but can this book get any worse?

JSA #61: It seemed to me, and I could be mistaken, that this was the first coherent JSA story in ages. There was a beginning, a middle, and a cliffhanger. The characters all seemed to be in the same book. And while it didn't start off great, it rapidly started to make sense and fit together, unlike the last few issues. It was focused. I actually enjoyed it!

I dipped into the now infamous AIT/Planet Lar box and pulled out a whopper of a book. A hardcover collection of the Astronauts in Trouble stories. I confess that this was the item in the box that most blew me away. I've been looking forward to reading it since I got the box, but with a little trepidation. I admit I feared that I was playing it up too much in my mind, and that I'd be disappointed when I read the actual thing. Was I? Read on:

Astronauts in Trouble: Master Flight Plan by Larry Young, Charlie Adlard, and Matt Smith: This book is a collection, and after some thought, I decided to cover it by series instead of all at once. It all hangs together well, and each story supports the others, but I found I had different experiences reading different tales, so my review should reflect that.

First up is Live From The Moon. This was probably the story I enjoyed the least, because I kept missing key bits. That may have something to do with the reduction of the artwork, but more likely is due to my quick reading. With most comic books, reading very quickly is not a liability. With this one... I had to re-read to catch a couple of things. The biggest thing I missed was the final fate of Hayes. I thought Archer was holding part of the robot. Oops. I'm also not sure I understood the whole terrorist angle. This was a bit confusing, and not deeply satisfying.

After the successful completion of the first mission, the story goes back in time to Space: 1959. This one I loved. From start to finish it was a pure thrillride, with characters at the dawn of TV news running around getting themselves into wonderful scrapes. And there is more to establish Channel 7. They were practically the first. And that final haunting image, of the rocket and the man, did a lot for me. A very strong story.

The last full-length tale in the book is One Shot, One Beer, which is set in a bar and involves people telling stories. This is really what Larry Young appears to be the master of: people telling stories. He's a guy telling stories about people telling stories, and he does it well. You get drawn into each little tale, and you want to know the ending. You feel for the other characters as they say, "and then what?" This one fills in some bits of the overall storyline, too, making the whole tale more solid and interesting.

Lastly, there were some short tales and pin-ups in the back. Along with the various essays lauding the books, it all amounted to a pretty good package. No, I don't think my anticipation was disappointed. This is a pretty cool book. For the whole thing, overall, I'll give it a recommendation... Four Solid Starfish.

Still to review: Fallen Angel and H-E-R-O.

by Tegan at 7:55 AM Seattle time - Permalink

Friday, May 14, 2004

Still at the pugless house of not-so-many horrors. It occurred to me the other day that I'm not entirely sure when Nancy, Jerry, and the pugs are going to return home. "Five weeks" was the estimate. All I know for sure is that they are headed to the East Coast in a camper and will be taking their time going there and coming back. And the heatwave continues. You all now know that if you are planning a trip to Seattle, make sure I'm housesitting during the time you plan to be here.

I woke up this morning exhausted. I thought I'd slept, but I felt like I hadn't slept at all. When I checked the clock, it was 4:45, and I wondered what had woken me. Then I heard it. Someone trying the front door, trying to get into the house. When the person realized it was locked, they knocked rapidly. I swear it sounded like they were annoyed. Whoever it was tried the door again, then silence. I got up and put a robe on, then headed down the stairs, checking the side door as I went. Nobody there. Nobody in the garden, no sign that anyone was ever at the front door. I wondered if I'd dreamed it somehow. I briefly thought about calling the happy campers and asking who would be likely to think they could enter their house at 5 am and then knock when they found the door was locked. I wondered if maybe the sound was from next door. My brain wasn't working right, and I felt simply awful, so I went back to bed.

I didn't sleep well. My mind was working on the problem of who might have been trying to enter the house. Everntually I gave up trying to sleep, and had breakfast and read the newspaper. After returning upstairs from delivering the newspaper to the grandparents, I felt suddenly very sick. I decided to try to nap a little.

I had the most vivid dreams. I'm glad I can't remember any of them now, but right after I woke up I was in a cold sweat. Real nightmares, only it was daytime. However, it did the trick. I felt oddly rested after the nightmare-ridden nap. It was like my body needed some REM sleep desperately. I wonder if I've been sleeping lightly because of the noise, and I finally hit the wall?

As long as I'm writing just to write, and not review, I think I'll post this image from Aquaman #18.

I've been trying to figure out what appeals to me about this, because when I saw it in the book it hit me like a punch in the stomach and for the first time I realized that I actually love Gleason's artwork on Aquaman. Not just "like" it, LOVE it.

There's a strange and beautiful sense of motion in this image. Your eye follows the form of the character, and it's clear where he just came from and where he's going from there. As an Aquaman fan, I also like the fact that the punch is not coming from his water-hand.

But, overall, I think it's the implied movement that this piece shows that really gets to me. I'm thrilled by it. It reminds me of Mike Mignola's work on Hellboy, and yet it's smoother. I'm really scrambling to find the vocabulary here...

It works. It works in its spot in the story, it works as a standalone little pin-up here on my page. It works. It's freakin' gorgeous, and it works. That whole page this panel is from is a wonderful piece of art, and this panel in particular works.

I know I've failed to get my feelings about this one across. A picture is worth a thousand words, but it's in a different language, and I can't translate. Not this time.

The more I see of Gleason's artwork on Aquaman, the more I like it. Both Pfeifer and Gleason have won me over completely (Alan Freakin' Davis didn't have to, he already had), and I'm enjoying Aquaman like I haven't in a very long time. Perhaps I'm even enjoying it more than ever.

Thanks guys.

Well... here's some links so this entry isn't a total waste of your time...

Dark Horse solicits for Jun/Aug are up at Comics Continuum.

An eBayer realizes he's being scammed, and scams the scammer. Absolutely hilarious.

Boing Boing links to a bit about women in gaming. Here's a hint: same things apply to female comic book fans.

by Tegan at 5:37 PM Seattle time - Permalink

Aquaman #18: Wertham's nightmare cover... talk about "injury to the eye". Ahem.

I liked the three-page intro to the story, with the dogs waking up and trying to go to the surface. It seemed right to me that people would be there to throw the dogs back into the water so they wouldn't die. But that begs the question, were any of the animals in the zoo converted to water-breathers also? C'mon Will, answer THAT one.

I'm more and more impressed by Gleason's artwork the more I see of it. There's one panel in this issue, where Aquaman is about to punch the "monster", that's almost poetic in its layout. I think I may have to scan that bit and try to explain why it hit me so good.

The story is moving, but there's a disconnect here. If this were any other writer, I might find myself whining about it, but I'm learning to trust Pfeifer's instincts, and although I don't know where he's going with it, I'm very eager to find out.

To sum up: Great Alan Freakin' Davis cover, solid interior artwork, strong story. This one's a keeper.

by Tegan at 10:56 AM Seattle time - Permalink

• Weight = No Reading
• Change From Last Week = No Reading
• Met Exercise Goal? Yes
  Goal was ten minutes a day on bike or treadmill at least six days.
• Current Exercise Goal = ten minutes a day on bike or treadmill, at least six days.
• Kept food diary? Yes.

by Tegan at 9:12 AM Seattle time - Permalink

Thursday, May 13, 2004

Neo Dawn #1: I bought this because it's a local company (Committed Comics) whose artists I have often managed to get sketches from, though I don't have sketches from the artists on this book. I also wanted to complain to them about the font used, but felt that I couldn't justify complaining unless I bought the book. And Carol, who works at the shop, said it was pretty good. That said, this wasn't half bad. Which means it was more-than-half good. Decent artwork, somewhat intriguing storyline, and a trio of characters that start out seeming to be one thing, then turn into something else. I have a lot of nits, which I'll mostly save for my e-mail to the company (if I get around to writing it), but one thing that bothered me more than any other was the font used by the corporate guy in an information dump. It was hard to read, and there was a little too much telling without much showing. For the purposes of a three-issue mini I'll forgive that, but it seems like a rookie mistake that Committed shouldn't be making. I'm afraid I can only mildly recommend it, but the unexpected quality of it has made me consider getting another Committed title, "Java!" again. This company might be one to watch.

El Cazador #6: This book has an aura of doom hanging over it. No, not within the pages themselves. The artwork is gorgeous and carries the story. And the story is adequate, if not as thrilling as I'd like. No, the doom is from CrossGen's situation and the certainty that Steve Epting won't be on the book much longer. Someday, a few years down the line, I'd like to re-read all the issue of El Cazador without the worry and anger hanging over it and see if I like it better. Until then, though, I can't really enjoy this book. And it's a shame, because part of me really thinks I'm selling this book short, and that it's a lot better than I'm giving it credit for. I wonder why I don't have the same problem with Abadazad?

Thieves & Kings #44: Might as well finish up my first Rapid Review post of this week's comics with another book from a non-major publisher. Anyway, this is another strong issue. Mark clearly has his muse back and is running with it. This issue focuses on one of the supporting characters, and Rubel, who is arguably the main character, doesn't appear at all. After I read it I had to go back and read it again, as the conflict in the issue is almost all within dialogue, and yet I found it amazingly compelling. I'm very interested to see where this story goes next, as it's been pretty much unpredictable right from the start.

Still to review: Aquaman, Smallville, Fallen Angel, H-E-R-O, JLA, JSA, and Green Arrow. I want to point out that we also got Doctor Who: Iron Legion this week, but I don't have any idea when I'll get a chance to (re-)read it, much less review it. It's HUGE. And it's a very nice reprint of some very cool old stories.

by Tegan at 7:35 PM Seattle time - Permalink

Via Fanboy Rampage comes some news that makes a sort of sense, but I certainly never expected to hear. Mike Allred's latest project is called "The Golden Plates" and is a comic book adaptation of the Book of Mormon. Nothing short of bankruptcy could stop me from getting this.

An all-new blog started by some Usenet veterans, including the unforgettable Mike Chary, is up... welcome the Howling Curmudgeons to the blogosphere. I strongly recommend Mike's Arrogant Guide to Reviewing to any and all people who might be inclined to review anything. And I should probably make myself re-read it each time I'm about to start on my Rapid Reviews.

Polite Dissent discusses buying comics on eBay. I sold a handful of magazines on eBay once, and graded them about the way I would expect someone to grade them. I was very surprised to get responses from everyone who bought them that ranged from "This was in so much better condition than I expected" to "I can't believe you parted with such a gem!" I realized then that I'm a pretty hard grader... which is odd, because I've never been disappointed with a book I've gotten from eBay.

Larry Young lists his 22 must-read comic book blogs and asks if there are any others he ought to know about. Looks like a pretty good list to me. Everyone who has an RSS feed is already in my Blogline.

Another first-time reaction to Hellboy from Graeme. I had about the same reaction, too. It's really good, isn't it?

Oh dear. The Onion nails one aspect of females attending male-dominated conventions. Via Monitor Duty.

I'm honored that my little "Da Vinci Code" review got some attention. Thank you, Jeremy from Australia.

Update. Here's a couple more links I don't feel like saving for tomorrow:

Scott at Polite Dissent posts another winner: 10 Reasons I Like Comic Blogs.

The Modulator points us to this Photo Essay of Modern Ruins. Definitely worth a look. Or two.

by Tegan at 4:15 PM Seattle time - Permalink

Smallville [3-21]: Forsaken: Ah, the return of Emily. We knew she'd come back some day, didn't we? We just weren't sure when or how. (spoilers)I still think, that despite Pete's comments in the heat of the moment, Clark should have told Lana the truth. However, telling her to try to keep her in Smallville was the wrong reason, so I guess it came out for the best.(end spoilers) I've tried, desperately, to avoid information about next week's episode. Unfortunately, I've stumbled across a few tidbits. Still, I'm eager to see what happens. At the moment, the show's cast seems to be shrinking, so it'll be interesting to see how it all plays out in the season finale.

Angel [5-21]: Power Play: So it all comes to a head... more or less. Angel has decided how he's going to finish playing the game, and now he's acting on it. There was a nice bit of misdirection at the start of the episode, and the villains of the piece came across as appropriately frightening. I just wonder how it's all going to wrap up.

Comics to review this week: Thieves & Kings, Aquaman, El Cazador, Smallville, Fallen Angel, H-E-R-O, JLA, JSA, Green Arrow, and Neo Dawn.

by Tegan at 9:18 AM Seattle time - Permalink

Wednesday, May 12, 2004

Nancy, the pugs' other parent, predicted that Seattle will have a heat wave for the next five weeks, as every single other time I've come to housesit for them, Seattle has had a heatwave. So far, so good. Yesterday cleared up and got sunny about the time the pugs and owners left, and today has been mostly nice. This means I have to pay extra attention to watering Nancy's garden (which was featured in a book!). But luckily I'm not taking care of pugs, so it doesn't mean I'm going to have to deal with long walks in the hot sun.

I've been watching some guys down the street re-roof a house. They started this morning by tearing off the old roof, then they put down new materials, looks like plywood sheets. Now that are covering the wood with rolls of tarpaper (I think). If they were to keep going, I think they'd finish easily by sundown. In the meantime, the guys working on the house across the street either took a very long lunch or already quit for the day.

I have a small dilemma... I want to read my next AIT/Planet Lar book from the box, but I also just got today's comics and want to read them. And I've got two more books from the series that I'm starting to review in this blog entry, and two books out from the library! What to read, what to read?

Am I the only person in comic book fandom who doesn't care who is going to die in DC's upcoming "Identity Crisis"? Even Neilalien seems intrigued.

The bit about Namor in the last blog entry reminded me of one of my pet peeves. I get this a lot, actually. People assume that because I like Aquaman, there is no way I can possibly like Namor. It happens all over in fandom. If you like "Star Wars", you must hate "Star Trek". If you read Marvel comics, you must hate DC. It's like people think that no one can possibly be open-minded enough to enjoy a whole bunch of things in the same genre. For the record: I liked both Star Wars and Star Trek most of my life, as well as Doctor Who and a dozen other science fiction shows. I don't read much Marvel, but I have nothing against them and actually enjoy the Spider-Man book I'm reading quite a bit. I like Namor. He's different than Aquaman in a great many ways... Aquaman has never attacked New York for one thing, and Namor has those pointed ears... but that doesn't mean either one is superior in general. I don't get where the "either your with us or against us!" attitude in fandom comes from. It seems rather counter-productive and silly to me.

And now for something completely different:

Sidekicks (hardcover) by Dan Danko and Tom Mason: Guy Martin is just a normal kid... well, until he got his power last year, then he could run 92.7 miles per hour... faster than Fastest Man Alive Man! And three weeks ago, Guy became a Sidekick, joining the other sidekicks in Sidekick Clubhouse. And it didn't take him three weeks to realize that being a sidekick isn't all it's cracked up to be. That's the premise. And the execution is quite funny. The book is written first-person with Guy as the narrator. He's down-to-earth and long-suffering, facing situations that are quite silly and sometimes dangerous. This is a fun book, definitely worth a look for superhero fans, particularly ones who like to read silly books. Amazon recommends it for ages 9 to 12, I recommend it for anyone who is young at heart.

by Tegan at 3:54 PM Seattle time - Permalink

Didn't sleep much last night. The buses coming by every half-hour or so woke me up until around 4 am when I finally got used to it. But around 7 am the traffic got heavy again and people started honking at other people and sleep fled. Plus I think there's a nest of birds right above the bed on the roof, because once the morning light started shining the chirping started up and still hasn't stopped. I'll also note that there are two constuction projects happening on the street at the moment, both started work promptly at eight am. I suspect I'll sleep ok tonight, but for the moment I'm a little woozy.

Here's some nice links for you:

The Demo contest is Ov-ah!

According to The Comic Treadmill, Heidi MacDonald thinks there are too many comic book bloggers. Ok. Whatever. That's enough on that topic.

A great look at Namor at Movie Poop Shoot. Yes, Namor came before Aquaman by two years. Yes, he's got a way more interesting origin and initial appearances. I still prefer Aquaman, but I've done enough research to know that Namor is no slouch. Link via Thought Balloons (thanks, Kevin!)

Another Randompixel camera is up, this one named Rick.

Welcome to Polite Dissent. Another political/comics/other blogger.

Scary looking Japanese food. Hubby-Eric will want to look at the last one, in particular. Via Boing Boing.

Hybrid cars aren't as good as advertised. I still want one, but it'll be a few years before we need a new car, so maybe they will have improved by then. Via /.

The Seattle Times published an AP article on Unruly Students today. One reason I will never be a teacher is because I have no patience for children who act up in class. I'd tell them to take a hike. No doubt I'd then be sued by the parents for denying their brat an education, or at the very least be forced to take the little snot back into my classroom so they could disrupt class some more. So I will never teach. That's probably for the best.

by Tegan at 11:00 AM Seattle time - Permalink

Tuesday, May 11, 2004

Writing from the pugless house of not-so-many horrors, it's been a quiet day. I arrived early, and the pugs were still home. They saw me and the older pug immediately drooped... he thought he knew he was going to be stuck with me. After the pugs and pug owners left, I settled in and relaxed... five weeks...

After an uneventful day, Jerry called to check in. They'd made it to their first destination on the five week road trip. During the drive, the pugs decided very quickly that they didn't like being strapped into the nice harnesses that Jerry got for them, and both of them apparently performed great stunts of contortionism to get out of said harnesses and wander the camper. Eventually the pug owners decided to let them, as the pugs weren't interfering with driving, and they would just contort themselves out of the harnesses again.

Grandma and Grandpa seem pleased to have me around. That's a good sign.

I made the mistake of drinking some of the water here. Yuck. Bottled water or water from home for me. Seattle water is just icky.

It's going to take some getting used to, living here. I'm on a major road, and the traffic is constant during the day. Earlier today an ambulance went by and honked at some idiot blocking the road just as it passed the house. I jumped out of my skin. Took me some time to get back into it, too, let me tell ya.

I've also had to get used to going up and down stairs. When I unloaded my bags from the car, I had to go up one flight of stairs to get to the main level of the house, then another to get to where I'm staying. And I need to go up and down frequently during the day to check in on the grandparents, water the plants, get the newspaper and the mail, make my food... I keep telling myself it's worth it because of the hot tub.

Here's a couple of links to tide you over until I blog again:

Kevin Drum writes an ode to blogs. Well, that's what I'd call it, anyway.

The 2004 Hugo-Nominated fiction, complete with links to on-line versions. via Boing Boing

by Tegan at 8:44 PM Seattle time - Permalink

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown: There's nothing really new in this book. Heck, the book itself makes that pretty clear. But unlike most of the other places you could find the ideas, this book is really easy to read and presents the information quickly, simply, and in a very engaging way. It's a "popcorn" book, quick to read, light on the facts, with a lot of simple puzzles that make the reader feel smart. The story moves along at a reckless pace with all the events happening in less than a day. Overall, it's not a bad read. Nothing special, but not bad.

The real spat of publicity from this book comes from the ideas that it advances. As the book itself points out, the concepts it promotes aren't exactly popular within the Catholic Church. In fact, they are outright heresy. When I searched for this book on Amazon.com to link to it, I found a long list of books that form a response. It's actually quite hilarious to read the titles of the books, most of which imply in their titles that The Da Vinci Code isn't the truth and needs to be challenged. Um... it's a work of fiction. Duh. Ok, so the ideas are real, and there are a great many people in the world who believe some or all of them. But the reaction to this book seems almost hysterical in its intensity. Almost as if this book is as threatening as the "secret" it pretends to reveal.

I don't have a problem with the ideas in the book. I think some of them have weight, and some of them are simply ridiculous. And I think the crazed reaction to the book has only propelled it to higher sales, not convinced anyone who might be inclined to believe those ideas that they are false. Of course, any Christian who reads this and suddenly doubts Christianity ought to wonder why they are a Christian in the first place. I can't highly recommend this book, but it's a fun little story.

by Tegan at 5:15 PM Seattle time - Permalink

So I'm starting my five week sojourn at the Pug House of Horrors (minus the pugs) today. For five weeks I'll be living in Seattle proper, away from my husband by a half-hour drive. I've been gathering all the books I want to read while I'm there, and pulling together stacks of clothing. I'll have the ability to return home at any time, but with gas prices as high as they are (topping $2.15 at the cheap stations) I'd rather avoid driving when I can. So I've got lots to do today, and hopefully I won't forget anything I need for the first night. I guess I'd better go get started...

In the meantime, here's a couple of links for you:

A novel without verbs? Um, whatever. Via Gallimaufry.

Idaho Does Not Exist. Also via Gallimaufry.

From Unqualified Offerings, let's see the Book of Revelation as a Pokemon adventure. Mature readers only.

Interesting interview with Madeleine L’Engle on MSNBC. I particularly like her answer to whether or not the 'Wrinkle in Time' movie met her expectations: Oh, yes. I expected it to be bad, and it is.

Update: Just saw this on the comic art list: Joe Linsner's Missing Artwork Returned! Complete with an apology note. That's great news for Joe, the charity the artwork was for, and the comic book community at large. Now, if only more missing artwork could be recovered...

by Tegan at 7:37 AM Seattle time - Permalink

Monday, May 10, 2004

Don't forget to enter the Demo Contest. It ends on May 12th. "If you could have one superpower, what would it be? Why? What would you do with it -- good or evil or amoral?"

Fascinating questionnaire trying to answer the age old questions about who reads Manga. If you haven't put your answers in this one, go for it. It'll take a few minutes, but the results should be very interesting. Via Worlds within Worlds

Everything you wanted to know about the Comic Weblog Updates page (but were too lazy to ask).

Hubby-Eric will be happy to hear that 'Wicked' Dominates Tony Nominations With 10 (NY Times, registration required). Says the article: "Wicked," the musical inspired by "The Wizard of Oz" that delves into the past of the Wicked Witch of the West, captured 10 Tony Award nominations this morning, burying its competition somewhere under Auntie Em's house.

Slate has an article on Jock Blogging. Professional athletes blogging instead of facing the press.

Political Bit: Why didn't we tear that prison down? It was a symbol of everything wrong in Iraq under Saddam, and we not only left it up, we used it. There's evidence that people put into a situation like that will act the way they did. Mistakes were made, once again by the people doing the planning... if there was any planning done at all, which I'm doubting. You can't win over hearts and minds when you are beating the bodies. What idiot is in charge in Iraq? He needs to be punished, just like all the soldiers involved need to be punished, and their immediate superiors. The lot of them should be court-martialed on live TV in Iraq, then the US should destroy the prison completely, turn it into rubble, and put up a monument with a promise that it'll never happen again. Then we should keep our word, for once. End Political Bit.

I'm still experimenting with "new blogger", so don't be surprised if things change around a bit. And I apologize in advance to anyone who has gotten a whole lot of extra posts in their RSS feed since yesterday from this blog. All these "republish" options have made it hard to not republish.

by Tegan at 1:05 PM Seattle time - Permalink

I thought I would start to switch over, but then I noticed the big problems with Blogger Comments as compared to Haloscan.

You can open Blogger comments to anyone (which I have), but when you post, you seem to have only two choices. If you are a registered user of Blogger, it allows you to put your name, but if you aren't, you are anonymous. In addition, there's no options to enter e-mail or, more importantly, website address. I visit a LOT of the websites because of the comments on my blog, so not having an easy way to enter a website address is just stupid. Every single commenting system I've seen up 'til now includes websites.

Now, I figured if you are a registered user of blogger, the link it puts in will go back to your website. But it doesn't. It goes to some "profile" crap that most of us haven't set up and probably don't want to. Another pointless layer of complication put in for no good reason.

So I've put the Haloscan comments front-and-center again, and would prefer if people use those. The Permalinks are good, and I like that change (it's nice to have a little page for every post), but until they fix the commenting, I think I'll stick with Haloscan.

Update: Another advantage to Haloscan I forgot, I can set up an RSS feed for my comments from Haloscan and be able to see any new comments in Bloglines. I can't seem to do that in Blogger Comments. Yeah, Haloscan does go down a bit, but I'm also a paying customer of Haloscan, and I bet if everyone who really liked Haloscan had paid for it, they wouldn't have as many server problems, if any at all.

by Tegan at 10:43 AM Seattle time - Permalink

Sunday, May 09, 2004

This is going to take some getting used to. Most of the changes are behind the scenes, but if you see some odd stuff appearing on the main page, don't be surprised...

by Tegan at 6:47 PM Seattle time - Permalink

Don't forget to enter the Demo Contest. "If you could have one superpower, what would it be? Why? What would you do with it -- good or evil or amoral?"

A cool and odd science fiction story in CGI: Rockfish. via Metafilter.

I don't know what to say. Via Eat More People.

Photoshop celebrities into different times, and this is what you get. Via Boing Boing.

"This is a job for Aquaman" - Gear on Static Shock: Wet and Wild

Kaja Foglio reports that the next issue of Girl Genius is due out on May 26th. I can hardly wait!

by Tegan at 1:14 PM Seattle time - Permalink

To all the moms, soon-to-be moms, eventually will be moms, and whatnot. And a special hurrah to my mom, Lynnae, and to hubby-Eric's mom, Nancy, and to Grandma Katy and Grandma Helen.

by Tegan at 9:45 AM Seattle time - Permalink