Saturday, January 29, 2005

Here's an unusual one for you. David Goyer is more known for his writing than artwork, but when I met him in the company of the JSA guys. I showed off my sketchbook, and they all wanted to take a stab at Aquaman. This one is the most watery of the bunch, in my opinion.

AQUAMAN
by David Goyer
21 July 2000
(permission to post given January 2005 via e-mail)

The Saturday Sketch ™ is brought to you by the letters "D", "G" and the number "83", 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.

I have no more permissions at this time. We'll see what happens in the next couple of weeks...

by Tegan at 10:08 PM Seattle time - Permalink   

So...

I got to work this morning a bit before opening time. Nobody was around, so I couldn't get in (I have no keys to the building). I heard laughing from the front of the store, and walked around to check it out. Somebody had changed our sign, which originally said "SALE ANNEX" to something naughty. I was stunned, and not terribly amused, and wanted to remove it, but I had no way of reaching the boss.

As it turned out, the boss was remarkably amused by the incident, saying that it was the first time something like that had happened in the eight years we'd been at that location. In addition, none of the letters were stolen (an "NE" was at the end of the naughty bit). No harm, no foul.

Still, I was reminded once again that I don't have a mobile phone. I've been very uncomfortable since I got rid of mine because the trip into Seattle is just long enough to make me want to have that extra security a cell phone provides.

So when I got home and noticed a flyer from AAA about a deal with cell phones, I brought it up again with hubby-Eric. To my amazement (and yes, I admit, delight) he was receptive to the idea. So we went down to the local Car Toys to find out what a good plan would cost us.

So, there are two of us. We each want a phone with our own number. Eric wanted to keep our land line number for his phone. I wanted a Seattle number. We didn't want fancy phones. We ended up getting the phones for a bit cheaper than I expected, and the service for cheaper too. But the end result is that we've both got new cell phones and will soon be cancelling our land line.

by Tegan at 5:47 PM Seattle time - Permalink   

Friday, January 28, 2005

Arana: Heart of the Spider #1: "Freshman Flu": I had no idea what was happening in this issue, and less idea why I was reading it. Not impressed.

Futurama Simpsons Crossover Crisis II #1: "Slaves of New New York!": The citizens of Springfield, fictional characters, are materialized in New New York. The cliffhanger is very promising.

Marvel Age Fantastic Four #12: "The Fantastic Four Meet The Incredible Hulk!": The title of this one pretty much says it all. I have been enjoying this series. It's a shame it's going away.

JSA: Strange Adventures #6: "Thunder and Lightning": And the series finally ends. It was corny, and Silver Agey, and I'm still not sure what was supposed to be happening in the first few issues. I guess all's well that ends well.

Still to review: a buncha stuff.

by Tegan at 10:49 PM Seattle time - Permalink   

D&D Turns 30.

Victorian Robots, including a special section on the Robots of Oz.

Zorb.

Blogs Rule.

Preview of Bizarro World.

And lastly, to my vast amusement, I got a letter printed in issue #192 of Fortean Times. A subscriber to the mag at my shop who loans her copies to me pointed it out. I've only ever written the one letter... and they printed it.

by Tegan at 9:28 AM Seattle time - Permalink   

Thursday, January 27, 2005

So Eric said, from across the room, "What the...?" in a rather perplexed voice. After a moment, he asked me to come and read the e-mail he'd just gotten, as it was one of those wonderfully odd ones that only the really lucky people get...

So was the hanging man actually the real deal Neil Osborne you know the original guy lead-singer whatever behind the rock group 54-40? NOT the robot version who looks just like him?

As I'm sure you all know, Eric started his Wizard of Oz Website in order to debunk the stupid hanging man rumor. He still gets e-mails about the hanging man, and usually deletes any that start out like this one. But I think when he read the line about "the robot version" of Neil Osborne, he was hooked. It goes on...

I don't have an email address but if you're who I think you might be - or maybe you can pass this email along to you-know-who - it/he/she Jerkdump or whoever was controlling Jerkdump before it/he/she disappeared

If the writer doesn't have an e-mail address, then how did Eric get this note?

which I think may have been recently but how the heaven would I know even though I did help the Almighty Father - you know the real supernatural guy who actually may be hanging around or I should say lurking around in disguise as the sun you know the big ball of fire you see clearly in the sky when it's not cloudy (talk about someone able to generate incredible magnetic fields and laser light and sending them not just throughout a planet such as Earth but an entire galaxy!!!)

Oooh, I think he's trying to say that God and the Sun are the same thing! I wonder how he helped the sun? I'm sure that's a story that just begs to be told...

- anyways, back to what I was originally typing (yeah pretty good eh how I seem to be able to type just as well as I was able to over 2 years ago before I was gassed at work in the Big Smoke T.O.)

Yeah, I'd say typing is definitely not a problem for this guy.

- I helped the Almighty clean up on the stupid game - the whole galaxy is now his torritery (territory the way my best friend, Lucky, puts it - he and Jaroo being the leaders of the Slippery Fish Team of which I am honored to be member, courtery of the Almighty). And now I've forgotten the original point I was trying to make.

I wanna join the Slippery Fish Team!

Yes, I will admit I have memory problems but that's because the likes of YO! are screwing around with my and no doubt other good people's brains with your fudging laser technology which is not working so well these days leading to the new common usage of the term "theoretically" by the likes of YOs though I will admit that as I continue to type I can tell there are considerable efforts being made to shut me down or disengage in some way the powers of my brain which as far as I know, are an original brain made by the Almighty Father and protected by Him from the likes of YO monsters which will all soon be gonsters!

Just who does this guy think Eric is, anyway? Laser technology? The Almighty Father? What's a "YO"?

I still can't figure out why, but I, since I am lazy and would rather be not thinking too much but rather drinking beer, listening or playing to rock music, and/or most of all making love to someone of the opposite sex who actually is capable of love and is not just wanting to kill me,

The result of too many bad dates...

I'm used to living without answers and don't really need to know too much of anything other than I know though I can't prove it that the Almighty Father does exist and He has a poofer which He uses to make all unnatural things such as insect brains running around pretending to be humans and birds and squirrels and everything else under the sun that they're not, and/or robots that are all metal and computer chips and wires under their fake skin - disappear literally into thin air.

He has a poofer!!!!

Which reminds me of the original thing I was going to say which is that although you may have been becoming increasingly unaware of everything I am doing and thinking since you can read minds and use tracking technology,

I really want to know who this guy thinks Eric is. And if Eric has a poofer too.

you know that I am typing up this email hoping that this lovely computer's lasers coming out of her (I tried to hear, I think the friend I'm on is female) will finally drop me, and you may have in fact also compelled me to come to this computer to get on the net as another set-up to try to get me out of the way, to no avail since you can also control people's minds with your stupid technology.

Hrm. The computer, which is female, is shooting lasers that will drop the writer of the e-mail, who thinks Eric can control minds. Awesome!

Well, all you have to do is believe in the Almighty Father and you will be saved. But even better, you'll be in on the joke.

You know, that should be the new mantra for spreading the gospel... you'll be in on the joke. I love it.

Cause it is the funniest think I have ever been aware of in my life to know all this high technology all around me everywhere literally on this planet is being used all the time - and I almost feel I really should get off the computer RIGHT NOW! but I haven't finished this email yet 'cause the feeling in my head is quite noticeable - to kill me to no avail, but IT WON'T WORK, NOTHING WORKS, IT DOESN'T WORK, YOU STUPID JERKS!

To be honest, if you really think the computer is trying to kill you, you probably shouldn't sit there typing a long rambling letter to a guy you don't know about how he controls minds...

The members of the Slippery Fish Team came up with that chant. I'm still around - and it's been over 2 years, no kidding - because the Almighty Father DOES exist. So please even just think about believing in him if you're a real human flesh and blood under your skin or even if you're not, He can do anything and can make you normal again. He controls time, He's the original geneticist, you have to have blind faith, just like love is blind.

God will even save the robots in the final days. Amen.

Since I don't understand your final goal for what you're doing, I can't offer more advice than that. And my advice is sincere. NO ADVICE PLEASE ESPECIALLY NOT FROM LIARS, MURDERERS AND THEIVES!

Um ok. Calm down, already.

Certainly insect culture is completely opposed to the Almighty Father's culture. We may have to just leave it at that. It is written "no place was found for them". That's why there's no raptors around, and Trexes can come and go without a trace. And why the last week in particular I spend most of my days laughing.

Wait, is this guy calling Eric an insect? Or maybe a raptor? Or a trex? Why! Them's fighting words! My hubby isn't a trex!

Thank you if any credit can be given to anyone reading this for your at this point pretty much complete inability to screw around with my mind when I'm practicing on Can't Be Tamed, my bass guitar! But last week's lesson wasn't that trouble free, so I'm hoping for a better lesson next week. My headache lasted all day. Of course I shouldn't be surprised - after all I did go to considerable pains to break off two pieces of tape from the electrical tape I usually carry around in my old motorcycle bag that I now use to carry around all the members of the Slippery Fish Team - well almost all of them - and stick them over what's-her-name's face in the photo on my teacher's desk.

Huh. Maybe I don't want to be a member of the Slippery Fish Team if I have to be carried around in an old motorcycle bag. At least we can't screw with his mind.

Did I hear someone say, are you threatening me? What was that? LOUDER! No I can't add the next thing 'cause after all, I am on the net I think.

No, that's not what I was saying at all, actually.

Oh yes I do ride motorcycles. I'm hoping for a laser-free motorcycle riding season coming up but maybe that's a bit premature.

Yeah, dodging lasers makes riding motorcycles so much less fun. Maybe we won't have lasers this season, if we're lucky.

What was that about gunning me down with or without a sound? Yes, maybe some day you won't miss, but I leave that completely up to the Almighty Father.

If it's without a sound, maybe somebody is using those lasers. I don't think hubby has ever attempted to gun anyone down, though. He's a pretty peace-loving guy.

The chain will not, will not, will not

break.

All the best,
Evemarie Jan Tulloch
aka et

P.S. I am not a witch.

So, this guy is a gal, and isn't a witch, and wishes "all the best" despite accusing Eric of trying to kill her and control her mind.

Man. Eric gets all the good e-mail.

by Tegan at 8:47 PM Seattle time - Permalink   

Huh. Before I do this week's comics, I suppose I should review last week's. Here's the lot...

Outsiders #19: "Most Wanted Part 3": Enough to make you think, not so much to make it annoying. I can't say much more about this.

Samurai: Heaven & Earth #2: "Chapter 2: Slaves And Masters": Wonderful artwork. The story is also pretty good. I seem to have a soft spot for samurai stories.

Birds of Prey #78: "Hero Hunters Part Three: Moondance": This is quite a villain, if it's really a villain at all. And there's a bit of doubt about that at the end. A suprisingly engaging story. Recommended.

Plastic Man #14: Except for the twist at the end, pretty standard cartoony stuff. I'm just not impressed.

Spider-Man: India #3: I like the reinterpretation, and the way the villains had to change to make sense is particularly interesting. This is quite an interesting little series from a cultural perspective. It always fascinates me to see which parts make it through from the original when a book is translated to another culture. One thing that seems universal in the Spider-Man story is the idea of bullies. I'm still enjoying it quite a bit.

Powers v2 #8: A nicely convoluted story is forming up, and as usual I'm enjoying it. Nice bookending in this issue with the message boards. Goodness knows we can't avoid message boards in today's world. This issue focuses on the death of a power... sort of. It's quite a set-up. I'm looking forward to the rest of this arc.

Demo: The Twelve Original Scripts: As usual, AiT/Planet Lar comes through with an unexpected compliment to the series. Demo, as many of you know, stands alone quite well. In fact, pretty much each issue stands alone just fine. I didn't think this book could improve on the series at all. I'm happy to report that I was wrong. Just flipping through I noticed little differences in the way the scripts were written and what made it to the final page. Add in new character sketches, and we have yet another winner. If you enjoyed Demo and want to add another dimension to your reading of it, go get this.

by Tegan at 1:06 PM Seattle time - Permalink   

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

I've narrowed it down to six entries. Part of me thinks it would be way easier to just buy four more copies of the Colonia trade to give out, but I haven't got the money for it. Give me another day or two to decide. This is really tough.

by Tegan at 1:25 PM Seattle time - Permalink   

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

The Oscar Nominations. Of all the nominated films, I've seen The Incredibles, Shrek 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, and Spider-Man 2. And that's it. Not enough to judge any of it.

Will Pfeifer on Finals, and the original first page.

Real versions of Calvin and Hobbes' Gory Snowmen.

Ian Spiers is harrassed again, but this time it turns out ok. You might remember Ian as the fellow who inspired the Ballard Locks Photo Workshop after he was harrassed for taking pictures at the Locks.

So a kid in honors math is upset because he has school work over the summer. Fair enough to be upset. But then he sues the district. What a moron. Looks like this kid has no future ahead of him. If he can't handle honors math, maybe he should go back to pre-school and stay there.

And you have to wonder about the guy's dad. "Gee, Pop, I have an awful lot of homework!" "Well, son, maybe we should sue the school district and your teacher! Then you'll be the laughingstock of the nation and never get a good job because everyone will know what a complete lazy bum you are!" "Wow, Pop, that would be swell!"

You know, I might have a little sympathy for the kid if he was in a regular math class... but if you can't handle the heat of honors math, maybe you should just stay out of the kitchen. And a lawsuit? That shows a lack of personal responsibility bordering on the insane. What a pathetic spoiled child. No teacher will ever want to teach the little twerp again. I hope the judge throws the book at him.

by Tegan at 2:13 PM Seattle time - Permalink   

I made a mistake in my last Aquaman review. Not a huge one, mind you, but a funny one because I really should have noticed this.

When I was a kid, we had some very cool art books and illustrated stories. One of my favorite games was to find the signature of the artists in the books. I learned that certain artists signed all their pieces with the same symbol and I loved going through the books and finding them. I should have played that game with Patrick Gleason's covers.

This is not just any old skull:

If you look closely, you can see that it says "PAT" in it. And it's not the only one that's shown up...

In Aquaman #21, you can see it on the robber's duffel bag in the promotional cover, but in the final cover it's covered up by the word "Heist!" Note that the "P" is also being used as an eyepatch.

Aquaman #22 is even more interesting, as you can see it in the waves at the bottom of the promo image:

But in the final cover image, it's been moved to the left side of the action:

It took me quite awhile to locate the one on Aquaman #23, and I never could confirm it was in the promo cover. But on the final cover, it's right at the bottom of the image:

I only found it on the promo cover of Aquaman #24, it is on a bit that got cut off of the final cover. In this one, it looks like inker Christian Alamy's signature is also there. The same signature also appeared on the cover of Aquaman #22.

Aquaman #25 has nothing more than a suspicious looking shape, and the same N' that shows up whenever Christian Alamy's signature also appears. But the signatures themselves aren't evident.

Looking ahead, the Aquaman #27 and Aquaman #28 promos have it prominently in the lower right corner:

I cannot find it in the promo cover to Aquaman #29, though.

Anyone else spot it there? It's been on every other Gleason Aquaman cover in some form or another...

by Tegan at 1:20 PM Seattle time - Permalink   

Monday, January 24, 2005

Mario Batali vs Roberto Trevino
(spoilers)Catfish (live)(end spoilers)

As with last week, the show started into the action very very fast. The ingredient was a bit surprise to me. I was wagering that they wouldn't do a live ingredient for some time into the show, and certainly not in the second regular episode.

I really like Batali. He's got a lovely flair, and is fun to watch. His interaction with Alton Brown is fun. He also keeps breaking into Italian, which is also fun.

I also like the fact that we can understand the chefs in this show. It was something that we didn't get from the Japanese version. I think the coverage of the dishes is a little more to my liking in this episode. A very mild complaint: while I don't mind seeing the assistant chefs, I really wish the focus was on the main chefs more. It sometimes seems like the chefs are being ignored to show what the assistants are doing. Worse, I can't tell which side the assistant chefs are on half the time.

I wish there was no five dish requirement. The Japanese version had no minimum requirement, and it was fine. It seems kind of stupid and overly restrictive to require five dishes. And, again, we only see them plating one of each dish. I would prefer to see them show all.

Batali has some trouble finishing, it appeared. Did he actually finish? I couldn't tell. I like Trevino. It's nice to see a Puerto Rican chef.

All three judges are food experts. I like seeing the opinions of non-experts. That's what celebrities are for. I want some ditzy actress.

Just looking at the scoring... 20 points per judge, so each chef has a maximum of 60 points. Moving onward, I miss seeing the dramatic presentation of the dishes like in the Japanese show. There is a little of it, but it's right before the dish is served and if you blink you miss it.

This one wasn't even close... but I'm personally pleased with the result. And I think this one was better than the first one, if only because I prefer Batali to Flay any day of the week. I don't expect to do long reviews like this for any other episodes... in fact you'll be lucky to get one of my rapid reviews. For this one, four non-edible starfish.

by Tegan at 4:37 PM Seattle time - Permalink   

Sunday, January 23, 2005

Finding the first Golden Age appearance of Aquaman was easy, since it was also his first appearance ever. But finding his first Silver Age appearance is much more difficult. When did the Silver Age start? Did it start in November of 1955, with the first appearance of a unique Silver Age character, J'onn J'onzz the Manhunter from Mars? Did it start in September of 1956 with the first appearance of Barry Allen, the Silver Age Flash? Is it even fair to saddle Aquaman, who had continual appearances in Adventure Comics until well into the Silver Age, with a Silver Age starting point?

Originally, I started to use the Martian Manhunter cutoff date, November 1955, as my Silver Age cutoff. This would lead to the Aquaman story in Adventures Comics #218 as being the first Silver Age Aquaman. It doesn't make any particular sense as a narrative, but it makes more sense than using the much later date of May 1959 Adventure Comics #260, which features the first Silver Age origin of Aquaman. Fortunately for me, somebody with a better understanding of DC Comics has already tackled the problem and come up with a useful starting point for Silver Age Aquaman. Mike Voiles, the DC Indexer, argues that there are only three logical starting spots for the Silver Age Aquaman. The first is his origin story in Adventure #260. The second would be the change in the color of his gloves. The third one, though, is consistent with other Silver Age starting points - the introduction of a new character. Mike is able to eliminate the color change and the new origin as the switchover, which leaves the introduction of Topo as the first Silver Age Aquaman story. And, since his arguments make a lot of sense, I think I'll just go with that... and so, the first Silver Age Aquaman is...

Aquaman moved over to Adventure Comics at issue #103, along with Green Arrow and Superboy. By the time this story rolled around, they were the only three main features left in the formerly robust book. Adventure Comics was a fifty-two pager up until 1951, when it dropped to forty-four pages, then to a measley thirty-six pages in 1954 (this was, incidently, one of the methods DC used to keep the price at 10 cents for so long).

The cover date of this issue is October 1956. As usual, it was on the stands earlier than that, as the month and year is the date the book is supposed to be pulled from the stands. The Aquaman story in this issue is only six pages long, with the last page being a half-page (so a more precise count would be five and a half pages). The artwork is by Ramona Fradon, but the writer is unknown. The only writer confirmed to be working on Aquaman in 1956 was Jack Miller, but it may have been someone else. In addition, Charles Paris inked a few Aquaman stories during this time period. I haven't yet trained my eye well enough to tell Fradon stories inked by Paris apart from Fradon stories inked by Fradon or someone else, so I'm uncertain if Paris was involved in the creation of this story.

Historical Context: 1956 was an Olympic year. The winter Olympics were held in January in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. The Summer Olympics were held in November in Melbourne, Australia (except for the Equestrian events, which were held in Stockholm, Sweden in June due to strict Australian quarantine laws). Elvis Presley made the charts for the first time, Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier III of Monaco, and the Bikini Atoll was the site of the first airborne explosion of a hydrogen bomb. In short, a lot of things happened, but nothing that obviously affected this story.

The Other Stories: Looking through my copy of this book, the other two major stories in this issue are "Superboy: The End of the Kent Family" and "The Green Arrow: The Wildcat Archers". In addition, there's the usual number of ads, public service announcements, and short gag strips. There's also a fascinating text article on a "mechanical man" that checks for gas leaks (which brings to mind my link to combat robots) and a slogan contest with "5000 prizes" (sample slogans: "I buy when I see DC", "DC Comics are Decent Comics" and "Your Reading Key is the Symbol DC".

The Superboy story has the Kent house being struck by a meteor (!!!) and blowing up completely. Clark is able to save his parents, but can't reveal that he's saved them without giving away his secret identity. So he settles his parents in Centerville under assumed names to protect them while he thinks of an answer (Joseph and Mabel King and their son Charles). Luckily, there's an out and the Kents are able to return. The story is 10 pages long.

The Green Arrow story has Green Arrow and Speedy helping a town of people being driven out because their valley apparently has oil. The set-up is so complicated that it has to be narrated in text boxes by a local. But, in short, Green Arrow uses his trick arrows to find and drill for oil. The story is six pages long.

Aquaman's Tale: This six-pager appears in the middle of the book and was titled "Aquaman's Undersea Partner". The splash page shows Aquaman and three sea creatures beating up on four crooks. Aquaman himself is punching a crook, a whale is using its blowhole to splash the driver of the boat, an octopus has tentacles wrapped around his crook's face, body, and leg and is pulling the guy into the water, and a swordfish has somehow managed to spear the seat of his crook's pants.

The story starts in the two panels at the bottom of the splash page, as we see two Mounties watching their prey escape into the open ocean. They radio Aquaman, who cracks a little joke:

At least, I think it's a joke, as Aquaman has every creature of the deep as a sidekick, so why would he need a horse? But the Mountie takes his comment seriously, and Aquaman apparently takes the suggestion to pick just one sea creature equally seriously. And so a contest begins... whatever sea creature serves Aquaman the best in the next 12 hours will become his regular sidekick.

The first contestant is the Octopus. While he seems to do well at first, he apparently gets tangled up in a nearby ship's propellers, and Aquaman chastises him for it:

Note how sad the Octopus looks in this picture.

With the Octopus eliminated, Aquaman calls in another contestant, the Swordfish. This contestant does fine, but Aquaman sends him back to the Mounties with another captured crook and calls in his third creature, the Whale. The whale mainly uses his spout to help Aquaman, only using his strength after the battle is won to push the crook's boat back to the Mounties.

As Aquaman starts to make his decision on which animal to choose, he remembers that the captain of the ship that the octopus got tangled in wanted a word with him, so he goes to chat with him first. Good choice, as the information the captain had was crucial to Aquaman making his decision.

It turns out that the octopus had not "pulled a boner" (as the Mountie put it), but had instead been helping the ship get out of the way of an iceberg. Since the Octopus was thinking independently and saved the ship without explicit instructions, Aquaman chooses him as his new partner.

Observations: Aquaman seems predisposed to choosing the Octopus, and is very disappointed when it apparently fails.

There are a total of six crooks. The octopus helps take out two, the swordfish takes out one (and disables their boat), and the whale takes out the other three. Other characters include the two Mounties and their horses, and the captain and crew of the unnamed ship.

We have no idea what the crooks did, as the only reference to their crimes is that they escaped from prison. This is pretty typical of the Silver Age. The superheroes often go after criminals for crimes that are unmentioned or undefined. Perhaps they didn't want to give their readers any ideas.

There is an iceberg in the waters in this story. I'm not sure how long the Swordfish could survive in such cold water.

The whale, like virtually every whale in classic Aquaman stories, is apparently a small sperm whale.

The Mounties know about the contest, but could the captain of the ship have also known? Is that why he wanted to talk with Aquaman? If so, how did the news of Aquaman's contest spread so quickly? And for that matter, how did the Mounties know that the Octopus had apparently screwed up?

Aquaman has green gloves in this story.

Body Count: Nobody dies.

Named Characters/Places/Ships: The only named character is Aquaman himself. Even the Octopus does not get a name until Adventure Comics #232, despite appearing in both intervening stories.

Loose Ends: We don't know if Aquaman helped to fix the ship that his Octopus saved, but they weren't in too much trouble.

Concluding Thoughts: A typical Silver Age story. The addition of the Mounties is a nice touch, as it indicates that Aquaman works with law enforcement around the world. The art is very solid, and the coloring works well with the story.

Lastly: I thought I'd just point you to my wantlist again. You know, in case you've run across any of the stories I'm missing.

Next up: Duplication.

by Tegan at 7:42 PM Seattle time - Permalink   

Steve Jackson Games is getting into the digital distribution game, offering PDF files of many of their books on-line. In addition, these books don't have any annoying DRM that might make them difficult to use. Once you buy the file, you don't have to worry if you lose your download, as they will keep a record of your purchases and you can download them at need.

Q. Are the files in e23 copy protected?
A. No. That would interfere with your use of them. We just have to hope that we can sell enough to honest people to make up for what gets stolen by the kiddies and cheapskates.

Q. Can I repost these files so others can use them?
A. No. Please don't. The only way we can afford to do this is if people are honest, and don't "share" (that is, steal) our files, or use files posted by the "sharers."

Via Boing Boing.

Speaking of sharing, the Supreme Court will hear the case against P2P on March 29th. This will decide if P2P software is legal in the United States, or if the fact that it can be used illegally will make it illegal.

If you want to travel in Norway, don't go to MapPoint for directions.

Yahoo reports that we're robot-izing war. I'm for things that keep our guys out of the line of fire. Surely it's safer to operate a remote unit for the really dangerous missions, and our own soldiers are less likely to be trigger happy if their own lives aren't on the line. These aren't really autonomous robots, by the way, these are remote controlled drones. Via Warren Ellis.

A nice transcript of a Blackadder/Shakespeare skit. I wonder if anyone has this on tape? Via Various and Sundry.

I'm really looking forward to seeing Girl Genius #14 after reading this: "Phil has finally got to the page in Girl Genius issue 14 that he's been waiting for, so he's having quite a time. This would be our first view of some "wild" Jagermonsters, and it's a scene that he's been looking forward to drawing for a while."

In addition, on the Girl Genius mailing list, Kaja said "In Aaron's comic book, Zodon's rival, Victor von Fogg, is based on my real-life kid, who was taught very early on (by Cheyenne and Savannah, as a matter of fact) to say "Fools, I will destroy you all!" Very cute from a two-year-old. Putting references to our colleagues in our work is kind of how cartoonists say "hi." Apparently Aaron plans on saying "HI" in a big way next issue, and then hiding somewhere safe for a while. I'm wondering what he's up to." Which means I'm also really looking forward to the next PS238. You can see a picture of Experiment #1 on my Troll page, or here (direct link to one picture of him). Hmmm, Victor von Fogg = Experiment #1... I think I can see it.

Polite Dissent's contest is still going. I'm just not sure how to fit Spiro Agnew in... As for my own contest, I've got the entries in a file without the names and I'm trying to make decisions. This is going to be really hard for me to decide. I may have to call in some expert help.

by Tegan at 2:54 PM Seattle time - Permalink