Saturday, June 11, 2005

Ha, bet you thought I wasn't going to post sketches anymore. Here's another sketch from the 2005 Emerald City Comicon. This one tends toward the Manga style, in my opinion... what do you think? Only two more sketches after this one, and I'm out of sketches I have permission to post.

AQUAMAN
by Edward Pun
6 February 2005
(permission to post given 6 February 2005 in person)
edwardpun.com

by Tegan at 9:57 PM Seattle time - Permalink   

Friday, June 10, 2005

The Dorothy folks go to Ozmopolitan.

Polite Scott lists Pregnancy in Comic Books.

A Dalek has been kidnapped... Fears grow for kidnapped Dalek. There's even a ransom note.

A dental miracle.

The Fortean Times, issue #197, page 14 has an article about a Merman recently spotted in the Caspian Sea. The article doesn't list sources, and is unfortunately not on the website, but I notice that Ananova reported it, which makes me doubt it even more... There's a lot more about it here.

Mah Two Cents links to a list of things children won't have lived with when they grow up.

Hey, even wondered who created the Star Wars logo? wonder no more. Via Various and Sundry.

Kids with Cameras.

I want one.

Photoshopped Escher.

If Bad Software Developers Made Houses.

Marine recruiters get desperate, kidnap teenager to force him to enlist. No, no, we won't have a draft. Instead, we'll pressure the kids constantly to sign up then kidnap 'em if they don't. Note: The follow up article has some reader opinions on the actions of the recruiters.

by Tegan at 11:07 PM Seattle time - Permalink   

Thursday, June 09, 2005

On May 27th I posted a link to the TIVO community's thread about a mysterious beeping house. The guy who posted the original plea said:

Something is beeping in my house and I cant find it for the life of me. I have tried everything. I have spent hours looking for it and I cant find the source.

Its not a smoke alarm. I have taken off each one. Its not the alarm system. I have completely disconnected it and taken it off battery power. The beep remains.

The power on my whole block went out a while ago. Nothing was working. Except the beep. I figured I would let whatever battery it is running on to just run out....well it has been beeping for about a year now...who do I call to help me with this?

It lets out a single beep once every 45-60 seconds. Its so annoying!!!

The folks in the thread had some suggestions, but one fellow actually went to the house. He was unable to find the source of the beep.

So a whole crew of beepbusters went out to the house, arriving on May 28th. They quickly found the culprit: "...an old, forgotten carbon monoxide detector buried under a pile of CDs in an end table with really squeeky drawers that nobody ever looks in."

The men were ready to tear up the floorboards or wall, as the sound detector indicated that the sound was coming from behind the TV set. The woman in the group just pulled open a drawer that nobody had looked in for over a year and left it open long enough to find out that the beep was coming from the drawer of the metal chest being used as a end table... which apparently has some pretty odd acoustic properties.

The monster thread on the subject has pictures of the offending detector, the "end table" and the folks celebrating the destruction of the beep. And from the guy who started it all:

The CO detector was placed in that drawer over 2 years ago by my old roommate at my old apartment. I never used that drawer and I had no idea that detector was in there. I dont know how I missed it when I was looking earlier.

by Tegan at 10:11 AM Seattle time - Permalink   

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

...and I may not be, but if I am counting right, I've got just $300 left to raise until I can walk in the 3-Day. That's just 20 people giving $15 each. I'm really almost there. I still have the drawing that people can participate in. But the deadline for donations is looming. If you want to mail in a check, you need to send it by June 14th, that's just six more days. If you want to donate on-line with a credit card, you've got until July 7th... under a month now. The Walk itself is just six weeks away. SIX WEEKS. AND THEN I'LL BE WALKING 60 MILES IN 3 DAYS. WHAT KIND OF INSANE PERSON AM I, ANYWAY?!?? Ahem. I'm almost there. Only $300 left to go.

by Tegan at 8:13 PM Seattle time - Permalink   

Since my last one went over so well, here are some more...

Alan Davis and Robin Riggs are auctioning off some original art. Check it out.

Pal Dorian (not my pal, Mike's pal, but I can't help but call him Pal Dorian, since it rolls off the tongue/taps into the keyboard so nicely) on Doctor Who.

Speaking of Mike, he gets a bit... Hawkish.

Entourage has an official page.

WikiZorkia. Uncyclopedia has a Zork Wiki that you can enjoy by following links.

A four day academic conference on superheroes and supervillains is being held in Melbourne.

Mark Evanier has an interesting statistic.

Boing Boing links to a blog with some excellent Bait Car videos. Of even more interest to me is the ensuing debate in the comments of the blog about whether or not Bait Cars are a sign of a totalitarian government, and if they will result it more dangerous car theft, like hijacking.

Download Beethoven. Legal and free.

China forces websites to register. After all, you can't have open flow of information, since that leads to freedom.

by Tegan at 9:08 AM Seattle time - Permalink   

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

I almost ordered this without the blessing of hubby-Eric. It's now the first item on my wishlist. I may still order it. I hope hubby-Eric agrees that this is an essential part of any DVD library.

by Tegan at 2:46 PM Seattle time - Permalink   

Time for real Aquamen? The comments about this on Slashdot are fascinating and informative as well.

Jeff Parker gets a new router and weighs in on the Rann/Thanagar thing as well.

Neil Gaiman explains how to make tea.

Shane Bailey is linkblogging again. Go check it out.

Polite Scott got to see Wicked. I'm jealous.

postmodernbarney posts a not real post that directs us to super masks.

A Senior Prank Gone Good. I just wish there were pictures... ah, here's a picture.

The Museum of Hoaxes has a copyright question.

The Ransom Model. A new way of doing "shareware" software. I personally like The Spriggan Experiment, in which Lawrence Watt-Evans is continuing a series that doesn't currently have a publisher by asking for donations from the fans. While I don't know for sure, it's apparently working really well. As a fan of the series, I know I want the book to be finished.

Variety.com likes movie blurbs, some for really rotten movies... Via Various and Sundry.

Legal signatures... in Japan, it could be a stamp. In the US, it could be anything. On that second story, I'll just point out that I work in retail and I always check the signature... most folks who notice me checking are very grateful that I am checking. Our store doesn't get much in the way of fraud, but we're careful anyway.

Artwork based on children's drawings. Considerably more neat than the description makes it sound. Via Boing Boing.

Um, didn't I see this in a Doctor Who episode once?

Dress up Steve Jobs. A Flash app.

How to assemble a graphic novel by hand. Via Boing Boing.

Our world is changing, and a new atlas shows examples of just how it is changing.

Space Spy Suits found. Maybe this is related to Jeff Parker's space ghost?

Opportunity is no longer stuck. Yah.

Los Alamos Whistleblower beaten up and told to shut up.

Listen To The Authorities And Die. A chilling reflection on what happened on 9/11.

It's started. Metafilter has a round up of bird flu links. It's not yet time to panic, but we should keep an eye on China. Perfectly healthy people died in the 1918 flu outbreak, it can happen again.

by Tegan at 10:39 AM Seattle time - Permalink   

Monday, June 06, 2005

Vince, a Hispanic actor, is hunting for a new role after some sort of success in the first season of the show. His buddy Eric is trying to get him a role in a big movie, but his agent Ari has already found him a role... in the upcoming Aquaman movie.

The show itself is fairly normal situation comedy about an actor who was doing ok for himself, but has to keep on top of the heap. Of interest to me was the Aquaman comic book prop used in the show. As far as I could tell, this was a prop made for the show itself, as I can't see any resemblance to any Aquaman story I can recall off the top of my head.

We get a couple of very quick looks at the cover, once when Ari tosses the book to Vince, and a moment later as Vince looks at it.

The cover doesn't appear to match any of the Aquaman covers that I've seen, though it's possible I've missed a few, and some foreign language editions of Aquaman have different covers (usually taken from interior artwork).

Of more interest is later in the story, when Eric is paging through the comic book just before he makes the comment I started this post with. We get several interior shots, at least one of which shows an unfamiliar character.

Who's the guy with the "V" on his chest? Anyone recognize him?

I find it difficult to accept that the show designers would create a whole new comic book, complete with interior artwork that has Aquaman, for the show. But for the life of me I can't recognize what little I see of the book. Maybe I'm short-circuited or something. But neither the cover nor interiors ring any bells. So if you recognize it, give me a shout out.

Update: Looking at the above screen caps, I think all three images of Aquaman are the same drawing, just reversed and cropped in the interior shots. Since you don't see much of the interior, it's possible that this is just a nice cut and paste job. I still want to know who V-Man is.

by Tegan at 8:26 PM Seattle time - Permalink   

Aquaman #31: "Kiss of Death part 2: The Nine": Ok. Let's start with the most obvious. What's the gun-thing on the cover? It doesn't appear to be much of a handheld, with those handles out to the side. Then there's the title. It's exactly the same as the first part. Usually writers tend to change the bit after the part number. Either this writer didn't, or there was some sort of production mistake. I can't tell which, as the writing has been pretty sloppy from start to finish on this fill-in.

Next problem is the "posse" that Aquaman and Chandra round up. What kind of loon wears a suit, complete with noose, underwater? By my count, there are four such loons on pages seven and eight. And one of them even follows Chandra. I can see clinging to the old and familiar, but who would waste time learning how to knot a tie around your neck underwater?!??

Then there's one of the main concepts of this storyarc. The police stopped being police during the disaster. Bull. I know one or two people who work in emergency services, and they would simply switch over and start pulling together a new system. That none of these cops did in the DCU is nearly unthinkable. I can see a handful of people being so shocked that they become useless, but every single cop in the sunken area?

Pet peeve with the artwork... more bubbles than on a Lawrence Welk special. Every single panel does NOT have to have tons of bubbles to indicate that the action is taking place underwater. If you need bubbles to show that the action is underwater, then you just aren't drawing it right.

There are other plotholes, some big enough to steer a whale through. As Absorbascon points out, this is better than the last issue. But considering that the last issue was utter gibberish, that's just not saying much.

by Tegan at 6:26 PM Seattle time - Permalink   

Four entries now. That's more like it. I still need just under $400 to be allowed to walk in the 3-Day. That's only 27 people donating $15 each, or 20 $20 donations. That shouldn't be a stretch. I'm almost there. And remember, if you want to be included in the drawing, please e-mail me after you've made the donation.

And if you want to donate but aren't sure how much you ought to contribute, Polite Scott has made a handy reference list.

• This will be a basic drawing. I will put the names in a hat and get a friend to draw them out.
  
• For every $15 that you donate to the Seattle Breast Cancer 3-Day for me I'll give you one entry.
  
• Mailed-in donations must be postmarked by June 14th, Online donations must be made by July 7th.
  
• In addition to your donation, you must E-Mail me (tegan@eskimo.com) with a subject line of "3-Day Drawing" and indicate that you want to be included in the drawing.
  
• There will be multiple prize packages, which haven't been set in stone yet.
  
• You can win multiple times (up to three times per person).
  
• I will be paying for all shipping charges within the United States. If you do not live in the US, please contact me before entering.
  
• The drawing will be held AFTER the 3-Day walk, probably on July 31st, to give me time to recover from The Walk.
  
• The decisions of the judge (me) are final and cannot be disputed.

Prizes so far (will be combined into prize packages):

• Street Angel 1-5, including an autographed copy of the mini-comic
  
• Egg Story
  
• Ninety Candles (thank you Erin!)
  
• Abadazad 1-3 Set
  
• Bricktop A1 Special
  
• The Dave Johnson Sketchbook
  
• Codeflesh
  
• Last of the Independents
  
• The Couriers 02: Dirtbike Manifesto
  
• Channel Zero: Jennie One
  
• The Annotated Mantooth
  
• Filler
  
• Brath 7-13
  
• Doctor Who #1 (Oct-84) and some other Doctor Who goodies
  
• Some Superman books
  
• A variety of Heroclix

The goal of this project is to get enough donations that I can participate in the Seattle Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk. I will still do the drawing even if I do not get enough contributions, but I'll certainly be happier about it if I do make my goal.

Please feel free to promote this drawing elsewhere, on blogs or message boards (as long as it's on-topic, darnit. No spamming!). The more donations I get, obviously the more happy I'll be.

by Tegan at 8:40 AM Seattle time - Permalink   

Sunday, June 05, 2005

by Tegan at 6:28 PM Seattle time - Permalink   

Oh dear. I'm not at all interested in this show, but according to the TV reporter of the Seattle Times, the overall storyarc of the second season of "Entourage" on HBO involves Aquaman. Here's the crucial bit of the Friday article from the Seattle Times, written by Kay McFadden:

Though the ultra-dudes of "Entourage" may appear emotionally and socially frozen in time, they're slowly learning to finesse that complex, wily place known as Tinseltown.

Back from three months of doing an indie film, rising star Vince (Adrian Grenier), business adviser Eric (Kevin Connolly), Vince's half-brother Drama (Kevin Dillon) and jack-of-all-trades Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) return to Los Angeles.

Some things are the same. Drama continues to reek of macho desperation, unable to forget his brief flirtation with fame. Turtle is still an inept wheeler-dealer.

The episode plots are loose and the overall story arc — about Vince being cast as "Aquaman" in a movie rumored to be directed by James Cameron — isn't high art.

And that's the pleasure of "Entourage." The series is pure situational humor, moving at the same pace and attention span as its testosterone-driven characters. The biting depictions of Hollywood are a mean thrill; as agent Ari Gold, Jeremy Piven makes us revel in his harassed cynicism and devious joy.

I am just imagining all the stupid lame Aquaman jokes that tired TV writers are likely to come up, and cringing. Yeah, I'm obsessed enough I'll probably hunt down the episodes, especially the third one, which TV Tome says is titled "Aquamansion".

I can't say I'm really looking forward to it, but it's there.

Update: The first episode of the new season has aired, and yes, the lame Aquaman jokes have already started. Joy.

by Tegan at 5:05 PM Seattle time - Permalink