Saturday, August 14, 2004

I'm running out of sketches that I have permission to post. In three weeks I'm going to have to stop, unless I can contact a few more artists. But hey, the sketches and permissions from the Emerald City Comicon lasted quite some time, and now I've got some more permissions from the miracle of e-mail...

This might be the longest delay between sending a note and getting any answer at all that I've got. Mark Crilley was rather busy when my e-mail reached him, so the response didn't get to me for over two months. But here it is! AquAkiko, the non-Aquaman sketch that at least gives a nod to my aquatic hero.

AQUAKIKO
by Mark Crilley
21 Jul 2000
(permission to post given 8 May 2004 via e-mail)
markcrilley.com

As a reminder: Almost every sketch in my sketchbook was non-commissioned and done on the floor of a con. These are not the best works of the artists. These are only representative of what the artist can do under pressure in a loud, crowded, and often stressed-out environment. Most of them were done as quickly as possible, to prevent huge lines from forming. Don't judge any of these artists negatively by the artwork you see, instead be as impressed as I am by what they accomplished in far-from-ideal conditions.

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.

The Saturday Sketch ™ is brought to you by the letters "M", "C" and the number "62", and also courtesy the fine artists who pour their lives into producing wonderful comic books, then come to conventions only to get asked by geeky fangirls for a sketch of Aquaman. Support an artist, buy a comic book.

by Tegan at 11:50 PM Seattle time - Permalink  

Scott at Polite Dissent discusses Aquaman.

Mike Wieringo is preparing for the hurricane. My heart goes out to everyone in hurricane country. Stay safe.

Wizard World Chicago is happening, and news is filtering out from the folks willing to take a break from fun. Check out Newsarama, Comic Book Resources, Comics Continuum, and Comicon.com for all the latest. And don't forget to check out the Comics Weblog Update-A-Tron 3000 for the latest blog entries, a good handful of which are covering the con. So far the news of the Bendis panel and the new Green Lantern series are the two bits that I found most interesting.

Cool pictures from the Opening Ceremonies. I would not want to be one of the guys wearing these pants. Those aren't statues, those are actors in statue pants. The history section was quite amazing, and I'm glad the CBC showed the whole thing. I just wish they had shown all of the march of nations instead of focusing on the Canadians once they came in. Yeah, I don't blame them... at least they showed it live.

Via Pacific Views, another article about E-Voting. Again, unless there is a human readable printout that can be used in a recount, e-voting might as well be throwing your vote away.

And as if that wasn't enough, here's a funny tale of an e-vote test. Basically proof that you can't trust voting machines, and it was provided by one of the few companies willing to provide paper trails. If the company that was confident enough to provide a paper trail had a serious problem in their e-voting software, how can we possibly trust the ones who refuse to provide back-up?

And, speaking of voting, the Electoral College guy has put together an animated gif that shows how the polls have changed the map day-by-day.

1,000 Reasons to Vote Against George Bush. I suppose it would be easy to come up with a similar list, if not so long, for just about any politician. Via MetaFilter.

Another shot of Methuselah the fish for you:

by Tegan at 12:49 PM Seattle time - Permalink  

Friday, August 13, 2004

Kiki's Delivery Service: A cute little tale. Every time I thought there would be a bad moment, I remembered the type of movie and relaxed, and I was right. This was a really tame movie with no scary moments. Very much a movie for the little ones to watch.

by Tegan at 11:04 PM Seattle time - Permalink  

Aquaman #21: Well, whaddya expect me to say? I enjoyed it. Larsen attempted to do a "crime underwater" bit in his run on the book, and it fell completely flat. This is a much better effort, with a nice lead-in and a real sense of menace. The nasty twist to the water-breathing, although it didn't make a lot of sense from a genetic viewpoint... I think... was at least a good plot device. And is it my imagination, or was there an indication that Aquaman is now using an lighthouse that sank in the disaster as his base of operations? Anyway, nice bit at the end. If you have a sudden organized crime problem, who should you call for advice?

Identity Crisis #3: Oh. My. ... Well, I don't know what to say about this one. I just don't know. Part of me hates this story with a passion. Part of me still isn't sure what to think. Part of me is enjoying the construction of the story, and admiring the craft that went into it. I just don't know what to say. So I won't say much. This one is mildly recommended.

DC Comics Presents: Flash #1: It's still doing nothing for me. This little series of books, I mean. I'm just not overwhelmed. I'm not even sure I'm whelmed. I noticed that both books used the cover actually in the story. But they were just ok. Neither one was particularly special.

Still to review: Bloodhound, Green Arrow, JSA, JLA, and Powers.

by Tegan at 2:56 PM Seattle time - Permalink  

• Weight = X-2
  
• Change From Last Week = -1
  
• 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.

Not much of a downward change, but at least it's a downward change. At this point, any bit of encouragement or good news helps. I'm glad I'm doing well with the exercising, as that's the single most important part of this plan. It sometimes takes a lot of effort to convince myself to start, but I never regret it once I do start.

by Tegan at 9:55 AM Seattle time - Permalink  

Thursday, August 12, 2004

Ok, I'm going to try to compile a list of all the Eleven Lists again. Hang on...
(updated 7:10 pm Pacific - added DeCloah's Eleven) (updated Aug 13 8:50 am Pacific - added Hurting's List) (updated Aug 13 11:05 am Pacific - added Kris and Bill) (updated Aug 14 9:45 am Pacific - added Nicklas) (updated Aug 16 9:35 am Pacific - added three more)

• Original Lieber Eleven
  
  • TangognaT's Master List
• Gjovaag's Eleven
  
• TangognaT's Eleven
  
• Steven at Peiratikos' Eleven
  
• Milo George's Eleven
  
• Rick's Eleven
  
• Bill Sherman's Eleven
  
• Trash Heap's Eleven
  
• Shane Bailey's Eleven
  
• Mae Mai's Eleven
  
• ComicGate's Eleven
  
• Rich Watson's Eleven
  
• Jim Ottavaiani's Eleven
  
• Sean Collins' List
  
• Broken Kode's Eleven
  
• Jenworks' Eleven
  
• Long story; short pier's Eleven
  
• Lea's Eleven
  
• Spatula Forum's Eleven
  
• Persistent Illusions' Eleven (in German, English translation)
  
• Chris "Lefty" Brown's Eleven
  
• J Pinkham's Eleven
  
• Navigator's Eleven
  
• DeCloah's Eleven
  
• The Hurting's List
  
• Bill Mudron's Eleven
  
• Kris Dresen's Eleven
  
• Nicklas' Eleven
  
• All Ages' Eleven
  
• Highway 62's Eleven
  
• David Carter's Eleven

Anyone know of any I missed? Please post a link in the comments.

I don't know if it's Comcast, something more widespread, or even something to do with my home network, but I'm getting a LOT more timeouts and "can't find ---.com" messages than usual. It seems like I have to try three or four times to get pages to load. But it's not consistently bad. It's like my service is cutting out every few minutes or something. Anyone have any ideas where I should check?

Shane is linkblogging again.

Old ads, new products. Via Boing Boing.

I watched the Portugal vs Iraq soccer match from the Olympics today. It was a great one to watch. The Iraq team surprised everyone by upsetting Portugal 4-2. Although the playing was excellent, the officiating wasn't. There were a number of dubious calls, particularly offsides calls, and one extremely dubious red card. Despite the problems (there was also some bad sportsmanship in the crowd) it was clear that Iraq was playing harder and smarter and deserved the win.

Speaking of the Olympics, big scandal is breaking even as I type. I'm sure by the time I post this, there will be much more on the news sites about it. And it gets stranger and yet even more strange.

Did Chinese circumnavigate the world in 1421? This site has the evidence. Via the Librarians' Index to the Internet.

More fun from the Librarians' Index to the Internet: Historical Maps On-line, Garlic Central, North American Mammals, and of course, Lots of Links for The Olympics.

A silly bit of political crap... the guy Bush wants to run the CIA? Michael Moore has Porter Goss on film saying he's not qualified for the CIA.

I didn't just take pictures of the boats while at the Ballard Locks. I also got a nice picture of some flowers. I liked the triple color contrast of these guys.

by Tegan at 5:28 PM Seattle time - Permalink  

Street Angel #1: The word "odd" is not adequate to describe this series. In fact, I checked my thesaurus and didn't find any word that really fits. I do understand why the blogosphere has gone nuts over it, but I'm not sure I'm with them. Ok, the bullhorn bit was really, really funny. And I like the awareness of the reader shown by the whole "in the time it took to turn the page" joke. And it has ninjas, so how bad can it be? (I trust that everyone spotted the ninja pirates in Nodwick?) Mixed feelings on this one, but I think it was fun enough to overcome any problems I had... so, recommended.

Justice League Unlimited: For the Man Who Has Everything: What do you get for the man who has everything? Maybe his most dear fantasy... or... maybe not. This was a good one, if a little disappointing in the sense that they've just introduced a ton of new characters but are making us wait to see more of them while they have a story with three old-timers. The story itself was excellent, and I enjoyed it a lot.

Captain America #30: Got to read this thanks to D. It's an ok story, I like Marvel's habit of recaps on the title page so you can follow the tale. I suppose I would like it more if I actually was interested in Captain America. As it is, it's just an ok tale to me.

Thor: Son of Asgard #7: Got to read this thanks to D. There is something seriously wrong with the art in this book. It's pretty, it looks good, but something just isn't right, and I can't quite put my finger on it. I don't think it's storytelling as I had no problems following the action. But it just didn't read well. But for the artwork, a decent little tale. Part of me rejects the whole "young Thor" idea, though, so I didn't really enjoy it much.

Hellboy Junior: Not what I was expecting at all. There were a couple of ok stories in there, maybe even a good one, but overall a disappointment. Good thing I checked it out from the library.

Still to review: Aquaman, Bloodhound, DC Comics Presents Flash, Green Arrow, Identity Crisis, JSA, JLA, and Powers.

by Tegan at 11:27 AM Seattle time - Permalink

Ok. Can we please finally admit that Bush is a failure? He started a war in Iraq on false pretenses, a war that has killed thousands of people and destabilized a region that we desperately need to be stable. He has destroyed the US economy by giving tax breaks to his rich buddies, leading to record unemployment and despair.

Don't give me some crap about me wanting Saddam to stay in power, I don't and didn't, but I'd rather have had the United States limited resources go toward actually finding and punishing those responsible for 9/11. If I "like" Saddam and wanted him to stay in power, then Bush likes al Qaeda and wants them to plan more attacks against us and anyone who supports Bush is also a supporter of Osama Bin Laden. See what kind of stupid logic that is? It was a question of priorities in the war on terror, and Bush's priorities are completely out of whack. He's left us vulnerable by putting our troops into the wrong country, going after the wrong person.

Look at how messed up Iraq is now. It's going to be a long time before we can take our troops out, and we never found those mythical Weapons of Mass Destruction that Bush made up out of whole cloth to justify his grab for oil. In short, the entire Iraq operation was a debacle. Poorly planned with no consideration taken for the people we were "liberating", badly managed from beginning to the current lack of organization, tainted by Saddam-like tactics on the part of some American traitors, and more concerned with war-profiteering on the part of Bush's business buddies than in actually helping the people of Iraq. For every good piece of news out of Iraq, there's two horror stories. Getting rid of Saddam is about the only good thing the illegal and immoral invasion did.

Add in Bush's incredibly poor management of the US during the time, leading to record unemployment rates, hoovervilles, and millions of people without health insurance or access to basic services. The deficit has ballooned to ridiculous amounts, making us a country of debt once again. Bush failed on the domestic front as well as on the international front, but he's done it deliberately in order to give maximum profits to his already obscenely rich supporters.

The situation in the United States is just about as bad as it has ever been. And the current "leadership" of the Republican party, represented by Bush, is responsible. I'm surprised that Republicans haven't wrested control of their party back from the extremists, and if I were still a Republican I know I couldn't vote for a man who cared so little about my country as to start an unrelated war at a time when he should have been hunting terrorists. While I wouldn't vote Democrat, I'd certainly be starting a write-in campaign to get rid of Bush.

And then there's the media. I've never seen this level of inability to follow-up on a story in the media before. I wasn't sure before, but now it's clear that the conservative media is in charge. Things that would have caused the media to spend hours of coverage under Clinton are being ignored when Bush does it. It's not a sex scandal: it's actually relevant to the governing of the country, so the media is ignoring it. It's gotten so bad that it's hard to believe anything reported in the news. They all seem to be "reporting" nothing more than whatever Rove tells them to report. I wonder if we will ever have a responsible and free media again, or if they will always be in the pocket of one party or another?

Speaking of campaigns, this is the nastiest one in a long, long time. Bush, a man who deserted during wartime after pulling strings to get a cushy assignment, is attacking the war record of a man who actually spent almost a year in Vietnam, four months of it in one of the most dangerous of duties. How ANYONE can stand to listen to war-deserter Bush attacking veterans is beyond me. But then, Bush has also sent American soldiers to their deaths for a false cause, so how anyone can stand to look at the man at all is beyond me. He's got a lot of blood on his hands.

Then the sheer gall of Bush using 9/11 imagery in his campaign after he failed to prevent 9/11 then failed to find the terrorists responsible. The sheer gall of the Republicans using Ground Zero for their own political purposes, after they wasted millions of dollars and years harrassing the former president then spent the first few months of their reign dismantling his policies which had already prevented one terrorist attack at least, out of pure spite. They are desecrating the dead.

In short, anyone who actually votes for Bush is either completely ignorant or simply doesn't care about America at all. You can't justify a vote for Bush to me. If you vote for Bush or any of his fellow nutcases who have taken over the Republican party, you are deluded, stupid, or rich enough to ignore the damage Bush has done. It's time for Republicans to take back their party. Until they do, voting Republican just isn't a moral option.

Well... I've already written too much. I've written ten or twenty rants about Bush. I've deleted most of them as being too nasty and not nearly as well-written as dozens of other rants about Bush's stupidity. This one makes it through. It isn't any better written, but I'm tired of censoring myself for the one or two people who actually read my blog that might be offended. And it'll be the last I write about politics for quite some time, I hope.

by Tegan at 10:56 AM Seattle time - Permalink

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

D decided to try out four Fantastic Four books, which I purchased for him today and then read just because I could (yeah, he's ok with me reading the books). So here's some FF reviews from someone who has never really read FF before.

Marvel Knights 4 #8: Are Watchers allowed to smirk? Not a bad little story. I like Namor in a general way, and having him pop in on Sue like that was pretty cool. I'm not sure about the rest though. Just how many kids do they have? The subplot with Johnny was a little different. It would be nice to see him truly humbled though. It's like the words got in but didn't make an impact on him. Still an impatient young man after all these years? In any case, mildly recommended.

Fantastic Four #87/516: Without the recap I would have been completely lost. Even with the recap I wasn't entirely sure what was going on. I guess it was just fate that I should read a Marvel book featuring Hydro-Man. Slightly over-complicated to jump into as a new reader, but I can see some potential there. Mildly recommended.

Marvel Age Fantastic Four #5: Way too silly for me. I know it's supposed to be a kid's book, but do stories written for children always have to talk down to them? On the other hand, it was sort of cute. The artwork fit the style well, and although the story was almost painful to read in it's silliness, it did evoke some of the feel of the Silver Age. As with the others, mildly recommended.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #9: This one I liked. Go figure. The completely new and different origin story as recapped at the beginning of the book makes more sense to me than the good old space one. Having younger characters is nice and works in this context. And the tale managed to focus on all four of the main characters in turn, emphasizing the strengths of each one. Very nicely done. And I like the art more than the other books. I could get into this book. Recommended.

Still to review: Aquaman, Bloodhound, DC Comics Presents Flash, Green Arrow, Identity Crisis, JSA, JLA, and Powers.

by Tegan at 11:02 PM Seattle time - Permalink

Happy Birthday Dad.

Elayne shows off her shelf of Oz books.

More Letters to DC. Should I write and ask about a collection of Atlantis Chronicles again?

Apparently D&D books are dangerous.

TangognaT is compiling the Eleven Lists into one big list for us to look at. I attempted to do this myself, but gave up, so my applause is loud and sincere for this effort.

More Eleven Lists: Broken Kode, jennworks, Long story; short pier, and Lea Hernandez. No doubt there are more that I don't know about, but for now just watch Mercury Studios for updated ones.

Stuart Hughes teases Olympics fans. Speaking of the Olympics, hubby-Eric and I watched the first women's soccer game (that we could watch) today. US versus Greece. The US won 3-0.

Here's a flower that is NOT from Nancy's Garden. This picture was taken from the boardwalk at Asilomar during the Oz convention. No, I don't know what kind of flower it is, but I liked the look enough to blog it.

by Tegan at 7:52 PM Seattle time - Permalink

Angel [2-13]: Happy Anniversary: I was already getting the impression that a lot of people know about demons in this universe. It's even more clear as you move along through the episodes. Demons are an open secret. Anyway, this was a kind of standard "save the universe" episode with Angel, with a fun little subplot of Sherlockian silliness from the trio. Again, I kept expecting an intersect between the two plots, and I noted that they played on that expectation in the final scenes. Very nicely done.

Angel [2-14]: The Thin Dead Line: Wow, zombie cops. This one was nice and moody from the start, and nice and zombie film-ish toward the end. It also finally marked the intersection of the trio's activities and Angel's activities. They have no idea that Angel saved them, of course. I wonder what happened to the girl with the extra eye, though. With Wesley in the hospital, it would be difficult for Cordelia and Gunn to figure out how to fix the problem, I would think. Overall, a strong episode.

Lorne states outright what has happened to Angel while attempting to help him. He says that Angel has gone from helping the hopeless to taking revenge on evildoers. That's a big jump. It may not seem like it, since in both cases Angel would be beating up the bad guys. But it cut Angel off from what was making him more human. And Angel was doing things that good Angel never would. I think it was Darla who said that what attacked them wasn't Angelus, but it wasn't Angel, either. It's a fascinating progression.

by Tegan at 8:24 AM Seattle time - Permalink

Tuesday, August 10, 2004

New book coming out, available from Buy Me Toys.com. It's an Oz/Wonderland thingy, so I ordered it for hubby-Eric immediately. Dorothy and Alice are college students who think their adventures in Oz and Wonderland are mere childhood fantasies. Only they weren't... Found via Comics Continuum.

As long as I'm talking about Oz, I should let you know that the second issue of Dorothy of Oz has a release date now. They'll start taking orders the first week in September for a September 25th release date. I enjoyed the first issue and I'm really looking forward to seeing what this version of Oz will look like.

A great series, Superman: Secret Identity, but it didn't even make enough to cover the advances. This was a four starfish series across the board. I wish more people had gotten it. This news, more than any other, makes me wonder about the future of comic books as a viable medium for storytelling.

Remember to pick up Aquaman #21 tomorrow!

No, not that. This:

This is the start of a new story-arc, with some continuing plot threads from the first Pfeifer story. It might be a good jumping on point.

This is Methuselah the fish. Methuselah lives in the pond in Nancy's garden, and has survived quite a long time. I noticed when house-sitting while the pugs were gone that the neighborhood cats seemed terribly optimistic and attempted to snag him. None of them came close.

by Tegan at 9:27 PM Seattle time - Permalink

I don't really watch much Doctor Who anymore. Although I found my husband thanks to the show, it doesn't have nearly the pull on me that it used to have. Still, hubby-Eric is still enthralled and I encourage him to buy the books and audio adventures. And every once in a great while, like on a 2000 mile road trip, I take the time to listen to the audios.

For our trip this year, hubby-Eric picked a story-arc that started with the fifth Doctor, played by Peter Davison, continued with the sixth Doctor, played by Colin Baker, and finished with the seventh Doctor, played by Sylvester McCoy. The special guest star for all three adventures was Anthony Stewart Head, better known to me as Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

In addition, former Doctor Who companion actress Katy Manning played the role of Iris Wildthyme in the first adventure then returned for a bookend fourth adventure which didn't include the Doctor at all, but instead featured Professor Bernice Summerfield (played by Lisa Bowerman, who had a small role in the original Doctor Who TV series but is now best known in fandom as the voice of Bernice).

Doctor Who: Excelis Dawns: This adventure, about 100 minutes long and spread over two CDs, is basically a romp. The Doctor stumbles into an adventure with a bloodthirsty warlord on a developing planet, which is then complicated by the appearance of another time traveller and a quest for a holy relic. Peter Davison sounds older, but it was nice to hear him again and Iris was just a riot to listen to. Anthony Stewart Head does a fine job as a roaring warlord whose answer to any problem is to hack it with his sword. All in all, quite a cool story.

Doctor Who: Excelis Rising: A thousand years after the fifth Doctor first visited the planet Artaris, the sixth Doctor arrives at a museum in the city of Excelis only to find the same old warlord still alive and working as a police investigator. In an adventure that swings between murder mystery and standard Who fare, the problem of the holy relic and the ancient warlord is apparently solved. This one is simply neat, but it helps a LOT if you already enjoy the sixth Doctor. ASH starts to sound more like Giles in this one and when you put this together with the other two you get a sense of his range as a voice actor. While all of them are undeniably the same character, you can feel the weight of the years coming through in his voice.

Doctor Who: Excelis Decays: As is usual with seventh Doctor stories, this one is much darker and depressing than the others. In fact, when you consider what happens at the end of this story, you have to wonder if this really is the same Doctor that we liked so much from the TV series. Anyway, the performances were fine, with ASH putting in a less sane appearance here that is distinct from his first two portrayals. Sylvester is... Sylvester. I'd give this one a higher rating if it weren't so depressing.

Professor Bernice Summerfield and The Plague Herds of Excelis: Just when you think it's safe to go back to Artaris... this story doesn't involve the Doctor at all, but it does feature the return of Iris Wildthyme and her goofy TARDIS. Benny, just looking for a good place to get a stiff drink, gets involved in the final stages of the history of the city of Excelis. In this story we learn what the deal was in the first story with Iris and the nuns, and we learn why the relic actually ended up where it ended up. We also get to hear Lisa Bowerman and Katy Manning chew the non-existent scenery. I would gladly get some more Iris/Benny tales just to hear the two of them ripping up the universe together! While the story isn't perfect, the voice actors are, and I give this one a strong recommendation, but only if you've listened to the first three tales.

Many thanks to The Doctor Who Reference Guide for jogging my memory for some of these stories.

by Tegan at 2:06 PM Seattle time - Permalink

These are all very rapid reads...

The Ersatz Elevator (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 6) by Lemony Snicket: When I started this book, I wasn't certain was "ersatz" meant, although I had a general idea. Instead of looking it up, I figured the book would give me a definition, probably in a very funny way. I was right, of course. It didn't only give me the denotation, but the connotation, as well. The cliff-hanger continues, and I have to wonder what will happen at the end. All that we've been promised is that it will be unhappy. And we've been promised an unhappy ending repeatedly. Over and over and over again. In this case, the kids seem to have a chance at happiness, but only if they forget about their friends.

by Tegan at 10:33 AM Seattle time - Permalink

Monday, August 09, 2004

More Eleven Lists:

Trash Heap
Shane Bailey
Mae Mai
ComicGate
Rich Watson
Jim Ottaviani
Sean Collins (only lists seven, but includes a few more in the commentary)

These are in addition to Lieber's Eleven, my own list, TangognaT's List, Steven at Peiratikos' List, Milo George's List, Rick's List, and Bill Sherman's List. There are also lists in the comments threads on Steve Lieber's blog. Did I miss any?

Neilalien shows us a neat tribute to Doctor Strange in the Sunday Comics page.

Hubby-Eric was doing some searches on Letterman's Top Ten Archive and found a couple of mentions of Aquaman. I wonder what other heroes I'll find if I do a search?

The Trash Heap does some reviews. Please note that the grade for Daisy Kutter is "A", not "C+". The C+ is for the back-up story, which I would have given a slightly higher grade but I agree, I would have preferred more of Daisy's story.

Read this: Mom's Cancer. It's an on-line comic strip, but just read it. Everyone. Now. Via Bugpowder.

Boing Boing tells us that Lewis Carroll's scrapbook has been placed on-line.

Rather incredible pictures of storms and clouds at this website. This guy chases storms, and even when he doesn't catch them he gets some amazing landscapes. Via Metafilter.

I'm apparently part of SquirelNation now, but I won't tell you my name since it's not parent-safe.

How's about some pug shots for a random picture. Or two. Or three.

by Tegan at 9:53 PM Seattle time - Permalink

Angel [2-11]: Redefinition: I'd already seen much of this episode thanks to reruns on TV. It plays a lot better in context. Particularly the bit in the bar with the trio singing their poor little hearts out. Angel is off his rocker, but then, he's a vampire with a soul, whaddya expect? Not a bad little installment.

Angel [2-12]: Blood Money: Angel is frightening here. He's headed over the edge, and Wolfram & Hart not only know it, they are banking on it. The whole stalking thing was very not-good. I did like the trio's independent activities during this episode, though I kept expecting them to intersect with Angel at some point. A solid little story.

One thing I really enjoy about this show is how the characters develop. Not only are the non-static, but there's always the threat that one might die (like, oh, Doyle) so you aren't really sure what will happen next. Anyway, I'm thinking at the moment of Cordelia. I haven't watched much Buffy, just the first four episodes, really, but she was shallow and pretentious in those episodes. By the time she gets to Angel, she's still shallow and pretentious, but she's also enduring a lot to try and get by in Los Angeles. The visions give her an added depth that no one could have imagined watching the first episodes of Buffy. She's still got the trappings of shallowness, but there's a lot more to her as the show moves along.

by Tegan at 8:11 PM Seattle time - Permalink

The Austere Academy (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 5) by Lemony Snicket: Well, for those few people who still think this series is somehow related to Harry Potter, this book is set at a boarding school. Of course, there isn't a bit of magic in sight, just nasty brats, bad food, and the ever-present villain. This is the first book in the series to have a definite cliff-hanger ending. Although it's not as severe an ending as some types of cliff-hangers, it does make a person want to read the next book as soon as possible. Lucky for me, the library has already provided the next book, so I can start on it as soon as I have another hour to read. The book also has some moments of genuine pleasure for the three heroic orphans. Well. Sort of. And we get some more hints about the life of the author of these tales, the legendary Lemony Snicket, and maybe even a small hint about his relation to the characters in his story. In any case, this is still the best kind of series for serious escapism. Escapism is a word which in this case means "getting away from your dreary existence into another dreary existence that is at least better written than your dreary existence".

by Tegan at 12:55 PM Seattle time - Permalink

Sunday, August 08, 2004

This is a wheelchair. It has just about given up the ghost from the rough ground in Tent City. The woman who owns it suffers from severe arthritis in the knees. A percentage of the people in Tent City are there because they lost their jobs due to physical problems of some sort.

The owner of this wheelchair would love an electric wheelchair. If any of you know how she might be able to get one, please let me know. Her lack of mobility has cost her at least one job. Please remember, she's technically homeless at the moment, and getting one through insurance isn't possible when you don't have insurance.

My latest visit to Tent City was inspired by Larry Osterman, who writes a brilliant defense of Tent City and the impending move to another town. I posted in the comments section, after a NIMBY popped up to offer some ignorance.

Tent City is about to leave Bothell. They've been here just about the limit of 90 days, and they are packing up. St. Brendan's is having a big farewell BBQ as I write this. After writing my last response to the NIMBY on Larry's site, I felt like I needed to go back over and visit Tent City, maybe for the last time in my neighborhood.

As before, I asked if I could take pictures. There really isn't a lot to take pictures of, as it's just an encampment of tents with dirt paths between. I spent a lot more time this time talking with residents about Tent City's purpose.

Here's an empty tent on "couple's row". It's meant for a married couple. The turnover rate at Tent City is fairly high. People usually don't stay much more than two months before they manage to save up enough to get into an apartment or house. Almost everyone is working, and if they don't have a job they are looking for a job or helping to run Tent City.

Here's a standard row of tents. As I was there, the security guys were quietly going down the rows waking everyone who had asked to be woken for the BBQ at the church. The security guy keeping an eye on me was new to the city. He lost his home two weeks ago and chose to come to Tent City because the emphasis is on finding a job and getting out, and he already has a line on a new job. Basically, he just needs a safe place to sleep for a few weeks until he has enough money to put back into getting an apartment. The shelters in Seattle are too far away from his potential job.

Safety first at Tent City. The place is laid out logically, and there are fire extinguishers on trees throughout the city as well as first aid kits. There have been a number of medical emergencies in the city, including one birth a couple of weeks ago.

The whole encampment is run smoothly. Near the entrance is an office tent at which donations are dropped off and where guests like myself sign in. It's also the place to go if any supplies run out... like coffee, which ran out while I was there. The office is also the place where problems are reported, from domestic disputes to more serious problems. All the incidents in which police were called in were instigated by Tent City. They did a fine job of self-policing.

I chatted with five or six different residents. I discussed the politics of Tent City, the crime rate, what it is like to live there... anything that came to mind. The residents I spoke with were all aware of the need to keep Tent City in the public eye. However, most of them said they preferred it not because they are making a statement but instead because it is much closer to the jobs they have or intend to get. One guy, who was in charge of security, told me that he's attending school and needed extra time on computers at the school. Since mass transit in the greater Seattle area is less than impressive, the timing of the bus schedules would leave him out in the cold more often than not. There is also a sense of community in Tent City that most shelters don't have. Instead of every man for himself, there's a spirit of pulling together to make life better. I felt it while I was there.

The neighborhood as a whole has benefitted from the presence of Tent City in the form of community litter patrols. One of the requirements of living in Tent City is putting in some service, and the litter patrols go around fairly frequently. I have noticed the difference.

I do hope to visit Tent City in its new home in Woodinville. When I do, I'll be sure to blog about it. Some of the residents of Tent City were a little fearful of Woodinville because of the loud cries of hate coming from that direction, and the fact that they've been told the land they will be living on is much smaller than the area they have in Bothell. If I can get pictures, I will. I also intend to take some pictures of the Bothell site once the group has left.

If you want to read my other reports about Tent City, go back to my last rant. There are links to all the other entries there. And if you can help with finding an electric wheelchair for my friend in the camp, please let me know. It would be one very good thing to come out of my visits.

by Tegan at 6:35 PM Seattle time - Permalink

Angel [2-09]: The Trial: Wow. Angel really would do anything to help Darla. And she was coming around, understanding what he wanted and why. So the ending... wow. I noticed that Angel was desperate to keep Darla from becoming a vampire again in part because he knew he'd have to kill her then. Wow. The ending was a nice shocker and reflected some comments made in earlier episodes. So, all in all, this was just wow.

Angel [2-10]: Reunion: That was surreal. I'd caught part of the episode following this one (I think) on TV, so as soon as we saw Holland in his wine room, I knew what was going to happen. I hadn't known who Holland was when I first saw him in the recap of the wine room sequence, but now I get the reference. This was pretty intense. I'm definitely curious about the next episode now, since I caught a bit of it before.

It just occurred to me how incredibly nasty Angel's curse is, as well as potentially stupid. I mean, Angel is cursed with a soul, right? Which makes him try to redeem himself for his rampage with Darla. But that's not the worst part... no, the worst part is that if he does manage to redeem himself and become at peace with the world, and have a moment of pure happiness, then BOOM! He's bad again. So the gypsy either didn't think this through, or really wanted Angel to suffer. I'm thinking the gypsy didn't think it through well enough. For a large part of the first years he had a soul, we learn that Angel tried to still be his nasty self. Had he somehow managed a moment of pure happiness, he would have become Angelus again. What kind of back-firing curse is that? And now, centuries later, if he does manage to redeem himself and get happy then he's just going to go bad again. How does that help anyone?

by Tegan at 3:14 PM Seattle time - Permalink

Finding Nemo: I was not really into the movie for the most part until the sequence in which the legend of Marlin's efforts to find Nemo starts to get passed around. At that point, I started to enjoy the movie. Sure, it was funny before then and continued to be funny after, but that was the moment in which I connected with the movie. It's a fun little one. I enjoyed the closing credits.

by Tegan at 10:59 AM Seattle time - Permalink