Saturday, July 24, 2004

Just because I'm on the road doesn't mean I'm likely to avoid posting, right? Here's this week's Saturday Sketch ™.

Another San Diego 2000 Comicon sketch, drawn a little over four years ago. When I got this sketch from Al, I also bought five "Tiny Toons" pages, pencils only, from him for hubby-Eric. Eric wrote a piece of fanfic many years ago based on "Tiny Toons" and "Quantum Leap" which has become something of a classic among those who pay attention to such things. Anyway, I knew Eric would love the pages, so I got them. And Al drew this awesome sketch of a tooney Aquaman.

AQUAMAN
by Al Bigley
22 Jul 2000
(permission to post given 26 Apr 2004 via e-mail)
albigley.com

by Tegan at 8:45 PM Seattle time - Permalink

What is amazing is that, despite being at a convention, I still have time to review comics and to find links...

The convention has been restful and relaxing today. After a nice long session of 'netting last night while the evening program was going on, I retired rather early and had a really good night. The rooms at Asilomar have some nice advantages... No phones, no televisions, just a clock radio. I couldn't access the wi-fi from the room, which was just fine. Very restful.

I did have to leave the sliding glass door to the room open for much of the afternoon to get the room down to a bearable temperature. For some reason the heat was on in the rooms when we arrived. While Pacific Grove isn't as hot as, say, San Diego, it's still warm enough that heat wasn't just unneeded, it was too much.

I had only one real goal with my digital camera during the convention. Asilomar is known for its wildlife, particularly the deer, and I wanted to "catch" a deer. On the way to breakfast this morning, I spotted a couple of beautiful deer in a wild area between parking lots. As I paused to take a picture, hubby-Eric pointed out a few more sitting nearby, almost invisible. In fact, there were six total, though as they moved around they were hard to see in the morning gloom. One of the folks headed down to breakfast with us seemed convinced that there weren't any there at all.

In addition, I also caught a racoon, but the distance was enough that I can barely see it on the picture, even though I used my full zoom.

After breakfast we got ready for the costume contest/parade. It's a neat event every year, although the turn out at this convention was so low that we weren't sure what sort of costumes there would be.

The Oogaboos, the Oz group centered in the Pacific Northwest, did a group costume. Eight participated, including myself. We got shirts from Zazzle that had the name "JO" on front and an image of marching Oogaboos from one of the books on the back. All the people in Oogaboo except for the queen are named "Jo". And they have neat trees upon which they grow all kinds of stuff. I was, not surprisingly, "Jo Comic Book", so I handed out comics from Free Comic Book Day. Eric was "Jo Sandwich" and handed out sandwich cookies (nutter-butter and oreos).

There weren't many other costumes. There was a generational costume, in which Grandpa dressed as the Gnome King and his two graddaughters dressed as Dorothy and an egg respectively. Why an egg? Eggs are poisonous to the Gnome King...

We had another Dorothy, dressed as the movie version, and her brother dressed "in character" as the tornado. Another kid dressed as Jack Pumpkinhead. There was also an excellent Polychrome (daughter of the rainbow) who danced her way into the costume area and charmed everyone. Unfortunately, that was it. But then, out of 60+ people who attended this year (one of the lowest turnouts in a long time), 15 got into some sort of costume (eight of them Oogaboos).

As in other years, some people from other groups here the same weekend stopped by to watch the costume parade. It tends to be popular, mostly because no matter what happens everyone has so much fun.

Later today, or tonight, I plan on posting my Saturday Sketch™ which is made so much easier by having wi-fi in the local forum instead of only down at the registration building. In the meantime, here are so nice links for you to follow.

Shane at Near Mint Heroes pointed out this news item about filming Aquaman. Thanks Shane!

Fascinating on-line comic strip called Fleep. Well worth a read.

The construction company that took down Seattle's Kingdom has video of the demolition on its website. An ignoble end to a very cool building. Via Boing Boing.

Slashdot points us to Apollo 11 images newly scanned and posted online. Wow.

Marvel comics solicits are now up officially.

The one thing I'm NOT trying to do is get through the comic book blogs and check out all the San Diego news. Should anyone notice San Diego Aquaman news, feel free to e-mail me. But I may just have to pass on trying to learn about most of it until I get back.

by Tegan at 3:41 PM Seattle time - Permalink

Well, as promised, I am guest blogging this week end for my sister. Right now my friend and I are house sitting by having a marathon of Buffy and Angel. I think my sister's house is one of the cooler places to be, right now we are in a heat wave of 90+ heat. So we are enjoying their house.

Lisa

by Lisa Ann Dunham at 12:06 AM Seattle time - Permalink

Friday, July 23, 2004

So I'm blogging from the conference center during the talks and presentations. Yes, the Oz convention has talks about Oz... I'm not as interested as hubby-Eric, though, so here are a few comic book reviews for your enjoyment.

Simpson's Classics #1: This is a reprint of the original Simpson's comic book, in oversized format. My husband jumped at the chance to collect the older books, and it's a quarterly so it doesn't overburden the order form at all. I don't really have much to say about it. The stories are very Simpson-y, the production values are good, and it's a nice package all told. We'll keep getting it, but it's really more of Eric's thing than mine.

Plastic Man #8: Hmmm. In JLA, Plastic Man had a wife and son with whom Batman assisted him in one little memorable story. In this issue of Plastic Man's own book it seems that we're finally going to get that strange little problem addressed. Then it turns into the usual farce. There was some promise there, and it might return in future issues, but ultimately I'm just neutral on this book again.

Batman Adventures #16: I loved the back-up story. Anyone who liked the old Poison Ivy will know why. The main story wasn't too bad, but it was the back-up that really made this book for me.

Still to review: Birds of Prey, Smallville, DC Presents Green Lantern, Outsiders, Seaguy, Demo, and Ursula.

by Tegan at 8:20 PM Seattle time - Permalink

We drove about 700 miles the first day, stopping in Olympia and Salem for some capital pictures. We ended up spending the night in Red Bluff, California, at a Motel 6 with a pool and wonderful wonderful air conditioning.

This morning we drove down to San Jose to pick up Eric's co-author and fellow Oz fan, then on down to Asilomar Conference Grounds. I'm now sitting in the main lobby and registration area blogging our presence.

More later, when I've got a little more time.

by Tegan at 3:04 PM Seattle time - Permalink

Thursday, July 22, 2004

Too busy for a full random thoughts post, so here's a tiny bit before I go:

Happy birthday, Grandma Helen!

And a picture from Nancy's Garden:

The mirror in this image is from my bathroom. It's actually the old mirror that hubby-Eric and I replaced soon after getting this house. Eric's parents framed it and hung it on the inside fence where it reflects the garden nicely.

by Tegan at 6:48 AM Seattle time - Permalink

• Weight = X-5
  
• Change From Last Week = -3
  
• Met Exercise Goal? Yes
  Goal was fifteen minutes a day (walk/bike/swim) at least six days.
  
• Current Exercise Goal = fifteen minutes a day (walk/bike/swim) at least six days.
  
• Kept food diary? Yes.

Since I won't have a scale tomorrow morning, I figured I would check my weight today, a little early. And to my immense surprise, it appears I've lost the weight I apparently gained back. Don't you just love weigh ins? Anyway, being down by three pounds is a nice change. I think I'll celebrate by taking a long road trip.

by Tegan at 6:45 AM Seattle time - Permalink

Wednesday, July 21, 2004

Packing packing packing, and cleaning... Trying to get ready for our nice little road trip down to central California. Once again, no, I'm not going to San Diego this year. And after hearing some of the horror stories about hotel rooms, I'm just as glad. Eric and I had trouble last time we went, with the Clarion, and I'm not eager to ever relive that experience.

I am headed down to Asilomar for the Winkie Convention, which is a gathering of Wizard of Oz fans who live in the Western United States. I'm not an Oz fan like my husband, but I'll have fun anyway.

We also got this week's comics, though we aren't sure when we'll have time to read them. We'll throw them in the backseat and hope to get some reading done along the way, I guess. We got Batman Adventures, Birds of Prey, Smallville, DC Presents Green Lantern, Outsiders, Plastic Man, Seaguy, Demo, Ursula (yay!), Simpson's Classic, Previews, and Superman Birthright. Birthright is due out next week. We could have also snagged Green Lantern and JLA, but we had so much already we didn't bother.

Lisa, my sister, will start guest-blogging and Buffy-marathoning sometime Friday afternoon. Tomorrow is likely to only have my morning blog entry, unless the hotel we stop at on the way down ends up having wireless in the rooms.

For those of you going to San Diego: If there is any free promotion for Aquaman at the DC booth, please pick it up for me. I'll pay you shipping and something extra for your time. Since I have serious doubts that there will be anything, this is a pretty safe request... Also, if you have time, stop by Eric Shanower's booth (Hungry Tiger Press, #2008) and say hi for me. If you've got money, I recommend getting Age of Bronze.

There's a mystery hanging out in Harford Count, Maryland. Boing Boing has a theory as to what it is, but no one seems to know for sure. Yet.

Via Boing Boing, a crazy animated GIF background. Worth a stare or two.

Hubby found a hilarious page of suggested responses to people who constantly ask "When are you going to have children?" It's on Annie's Mailbox, in the July 19th column. I particularly like the one from the SciFi Fan: "When are you going to have kids?" Answer: "You mean you can't see them?"

There was an Aquaman reference on Jeopardy on Tuesday. One of the challengers was introduced as a comic book fan, like KenJen. Only the poor guy collected "Howard the Duck". When Alex got to KenJen, he asked about an undersea hero with a pointy head maybe called "Aquaman or Aqua-marine?" I'm pretty sure he was talking about Namor. Figures that Alex would be a Marvel fan.

Via Tom (Thanks Tom!) from the Jeopardy message boards, here's a transcript of the important bit. Christopher was a sacrificial vic-- er, challenger who was a "Howard the Duck" fan:

Alex: "Now, help me out on this. When I was growing up, I remember a comic book featuring Aquaman or Aquamarine, a guy who had a pointy chin and solved crimes. But he was always in the water. Do you recall that?"
Ken: "Could've been Aquaman ... was he blonde?"
Alex: "No".
Ken: "Dark hair. The Sub-Mariner?"
Alex: "Sub-Mariner?"
Christopher: "Maybe."
Ken, gesturing toward Christopher: "We'll have a little nerd conference and get back to you."
Alex: "He's taken over the show, you notice? All right, pick up your signaling button and -- when you're ready -- at your leisure, make a selection. I'm here for you, remember."

If you live in the Seattle area, remember to bring your camera and go to the Ballard Locks on Sunday, August 1st, at 1 pm for a peaceful (and perfectly legal) protest against the abuse of Ian Spiers and Homeland Security laws.

Speaking of Ian, here's a link to A Legal Handbook for Photographers. This gives the basic rights of photographers under the current laws of the United States.

And lastly, here's a picture from Nancy's Garden.

by Tegan at 2:50 PM Seattle time - Permalink

X2: X-Men United: Finally saw this, now that hubby-Eric is insisting on a movie night to get through our backlog of DVDs. I'm never in the mood to watch a movie until ten minutes into it, so when he says, "let's watch a DVD!" I'm always unethusiastic. So we're working it into our schedule. And so we finally watched the DVD of X2 we've had sitting around for a long time. Let's see... I really like the character of Nightcrawler, and I think they did a great job of bringing him to life. Wolverine is always a fun one to watch. It's actually remarkable, having seen Hugh Jackman in other things now, how well he plays Wolverine. The plot moved along nicely... maybe even better than the first movie, yeah. Overall, very enjoyable.

by Tegan at 7:17 AM Seattle time - Permalink

Tuesday, July 20, 2004

The Wide Window (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 3) by Lemony Snicket: On the one hand, you have to laugh at the sheer unlikeliness of the unfortunate events happening to the children. On the other hand, it is mildly depressing that, despite their intelligence and skill, they keep having unfortunate events happen to them. But then there's the author warning us to stop reading if we want a happy ending. There's also a tiny bit of foreshadowing -- the word "foreshadowing," when it is used here, means "blatantly giving away some future part of the plot" -- that leads to the reader being a bit more informed than the characters. There's also a tiny hint of a larger picture revealed right at the end of this book that may or may not have significance. We'll just have to see... by reading all the other books.

by Tegan at 8:16 PM Seattle time - Permalink

Things are getting exciting in the world of Doctor Who. Gallifrey One's New Series Page has lots of information about the new Doctor, including images of Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper supposedly in costume (although that could easily be a gag or misunderstanding). The Official Doctor Who Site is putting up images from the set, the first one being the first clapperboard for the first scene shot of the new series. I'm holding my opinion until I see the new show, but I'm starting to actually believe this is going to happen.

And here's a picture from Nancy's Garden. Yes, Eric, the gnome will show up. Patience, Grasshopper.

by Tegan at 4:21 PM Seattle time - Permalink

Angel [2-07]: Darla: Nasty. This one has a mix of flashbacks to set the tone, and has a lot of moral questions in it. Basically, what makes a person evil? Darla was brought back from the dead (Wesley states in one of these episodes that Angel staked her three and half years ago) as a human. She has a soul. But Angel is still a vampire. Which one is evil? When the pressure starts, the pain from the knowledge of what they did, look at how each of the pair reacted. Angel tried to redemn himself, though it took him quite some time. Darla wanted the easy way out. And yet... it's not so clear cut. The scenes that show Angel following Darla to China then trying to get on with being the same old vampire illustrate that simply having the soul isn't enough. It's a strange philosophical puzzle that's been presented by this show. Very, very strange.

Angel [2-08]: The Shroud Of Rahmon: Something was off in this episode, and it was the first one so far that made me uncomfortable to watch. The whole plot seemed annoyingly wrong somehow. It was redeemed a bit by the ending, how the threat was dealt with, but not completely. I think I can say that this is the first episode of Angel that I didn't really enjoy.

What is redemption? Do you have to want it, or is it ok to have it forced upon you? Darla has been forced into facing herself, just as Angel was. Can either of them really be saved considering how they were forced to confront their evil, or is it hopeless for both of them because they had no choice in the matter? Speaking of hopeless, just what happens to the human soul when a person is "turned"? It's very clear that vampires have memories of their past lives, but they no longer have souls. Are the souls taken, lost... or is there hope for them? What happens to a vampire's soul?

by Tegan at 8:47 AM Seattle time - Permalink

Monday, July 19, 2004

A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1) by George R.R. Martin: When I first read about this universe in the Legends Anthology, I assumed I'd never read anything by Martin before. I was wrong, as I found out when I went searching for this book. I read Tuf Voyaging, back in college at the recommendation of a boyfriend. I liked it a lot, and in fact only a month or so ago I was thinking about how nice it would be to hunt that book down and read it again. Another strange case of synchronicity in my life.

Anyway, I got this one from the library so I could read more about the world that The Hedge Knight lived in. I was not disappointed. This is a great book, although tough to slog through because of its length. The point-of-view jumps from character to character, and there are enough twists and shocks to keep the reader on the edge of the blade. There is no conclusion, this is definitely the first book in a longer series. In fact, I'm kind of annoyed at the cliffhanger for my favorite character in the book. But that's ok, the library already has the second book on the way...

A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 2) and A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 3) by George R.R. Martin: I wasn't very far into the first book when I realized this was going to be a long series. But it was the kind of series that draws you in and makes you want to read more. I found myself trying to guess what would happen to certain characters, and getting slightly impatient when their chapters ended without resolutions. Then I would get into the next chapter and get interested in another character, and the whole thing would start all over again. I'm reviewing the second two books together because I read them together and I honestly don't think I could remember where one book ended and the next began, because the series fits together seamlessly. I would call these a tough read, in that the hardcover edition of Storm of Swords is 924 pages long, and that's about typical. The story is fine, the length should make many readers think twice before trying to tackle the series.

Also, according to the author's website, the series will be at least six books long, with the next book due out later this year. Keep that in mind before digging in. But overall, it's a good series. Worth a look, but only if you like long fantasy epics.

by Tegan at 10:09 PM Seattle time - Permalink

You can make iPod speakers from Altoid tins.

Oh, to have this problem. Heh.

Thought Ballons has more on Graphix, the new graphic novel line from Scholastic. I met a fellow fan in the comic shop today (the comic shop is right next to the camera shop, so I stopped in) who was looking for "the big book" that collected all of Bone. I mentioned that I was thinking of getting the Scholastic reprints, and he said it was just too weird an idea to him, having them in color... and that a lot would depend on how good the colorist is.

Speaking of the camera shop... I stopped in to check out the possibilities of batteries, and stepped out with a charger and two sets of rechargables. Add in the 256MB SD card we got for it earlier, and we're pretty much set for any picture-taking I might decide to do.

If you live in the Seattle area, remember to bring your camera and go to the Ballard Locks on Sunday, August 1st, at 1 pm for a peaceful (and perfectly legal) protest against the abuse of Ian Spiers and Homeland Security laws.

And lastly, here's a picture from Nancy's Garden.

by Tegan at 6:49 PM Seattle time - Permalink

Aquaman #20: Back to the action, in some ways. We have the resolution of the initial plotline, but there is still a mystery villain in the background. Nice bits of action, nice bit of misdirection, and a nice little montage at the end... but lots of unresolved questions needing answers. Yes, I enjoyed it. A lot. But there are a lot of things I can nitpick. Still, it's recommended.

What, you don't see it? I know, I know, you're busy looking at that gorgeous bod of Aquaman's... here's a closer look:

If you have a copy of the book, look on the next page, at the two page splash. You can see the columns of the convention center in the image. It's a far cry from Comicon.

Noble Causes: Extended Family #1 & 2: When we went to the comic store last week, the second issue of this mini was in our box. See, I pre-ordered the new on-going, but I wasn't aware that there was another series happening. After a flip-through, I decided to get it... and hubby-Eric found the first issue, too, so we ended up with both. This is what I get for picking up freebies at the comicon.

These books are both anthologies of stories set in the Noble universe. The quality of the stories is, on average, much higher than usual in an anthology. And, while most of the stories focus in on the core family, there's a couple of stories that break the mold a bit. These are both very interesting collections... just the contrast of artwork from story to story can be fascinating to look at... and since most of the stories also fall into the "excellent" category, it's well worth checking these out if you are into the Noble family saga.

by Tegan at 2:54 PM Seattle time - Permalink

Sunday, July 18, 2004

Now that I have a camera, going to The Locks for a peaceful protest is going to be more exciting. I mean, it's much better when you can actually take pictures when that's the whole point of the exercise. I wonder if I can get a tripod before then?

If you haven't heard the story, Ian Spiers, a photography student, was harassed by police when taking pictures for a photography assignment. Even though he had proof of identity and details about his class assignment, he continued to be harassed. Even though he had permission to take photos, he was still harassed. His story has been picked up by the media, with even The AP covering it.

A bunch of Seattle residents are going to meet at the Locks on August 1st, at 1 pm, with cameras. Hopefully we'll get some press, and remind the city that we don't accept either racial profiling or abuse of the Homeland Security laws.

So, two weeks from today... Ballard Locks in Seattle... bring a camera...

by Tegan at 7:18 PM Seattle time - Permalink

PS238: With Liberty and Recess For All: Go get it. I'll wait. Go on. Buy a copy. Your local store doesn't have it? Go here. Order it. This collection has issues 0-5, and a couple of very small extras. If you already have the individual issues, there isn't a lot to entice you... except the nice sturdy format that will make lending it out to friends easier. And it reads just as well on the twentieth reading as it did on the first. If you haven't been introduced to this school for the children of superheroes, then you are missing out big-time. The clean art and the fun sense of humor make for one of the best books currently on the market, if not THE best. Go get it. Go on. It's worth it.

Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures Vol 1: We picked this one up for reasons which are lost to me, but I'm glad we did. There are three stories in this one, including one that made me think "Aquaman? Aquaman is in the Star Wars universe?" I'll let you guess which story that was. These are solid little tales, nothing super special, but certainly fun, and far superior to the recent movies, sad to say.

Seamonsters & Superheroes #5: A friend put this in front of me when I walked into the store the other day, opened to the last page. That would be the "Thanks" page, which I managed to get onto through no effort of my own except perhaps blogging about Cells. This is an adult tale that switches around between two couples very poor relationships. I can't say I was impressed with the sex, but the dynamics of the relations were an oddly compelling read. And even when the subject matter isn't something I enjoy, Scott Mills artwork is easy on the eye. He puts in just enough detail to tell the tale and convey all the information you need. Worth a flip through, though you might want to find something else by Mills first.

Still to review: Aquaman.

by Tegan at 3:41 PM Seattle time - Permalink

You've heard about them, time and time again. Now that I have a digital camera, you get to meet the pugs for the first time. The one on the stairs trying to figure out what I'm pointing at him is Buddy. Buddy is the older pug with the most mournful howl you've ever heard, which he only brings out when I'm stuck pug-sitting him. The one leaning up toward the camera, barely able to stop himself from sniffing it, is Buster. Buster is the younger, hyper, and often annoying pug with a high pitched bark and an attitude problem.

Coming soon: pictures of Nancy's city garden.

by Tegan at 8:51 AM Seattle time - Permalink