This is not an update

I am updating today because Jeffrey Rowland updated his Wigu webcomic today. The last time he ran a new comic was the same day I last posted here, February 3. I am not a good blogger, but apparently I would make an excellent webcomic artist.

I have nothing else to add, despite the Oscars having occurred last night. I said I was not a good blogger.

Merry Whatever Your Bag Is!

Hey folks, as is kind of the norm around here these days, I'm taking a little pause from blogging, what with shopping and holiday travel plans and such and so. Sadly, that means a delay on my Monday GrimJack post as well. Look for the next one to appear in the New Year, as well as, oh, so very much I've been trying to get to and haven't (such as Golden Globe nominee reactions and my TV year-end wrap-up). Doesn't mean I definitely won't post again until 2009, but it's not looking good right now.

Apologies to those few of you still following this blog for my lackadaisical approach to blogging of late. Please be assured that I continue to love and cherish you all. In a manner of speaking.

"Because I Got Depression"

Once again, Achewood strikes an uncomfortably resonant chord:


Hey, did I tell you about meeting Chris Onstad at the book signing for The Great Outdoor Fight at Austin Books? I didn't? Well: it was sweet. That's the second book signing I've attended in Austin at which the author could not have been a nicer, friendlier, funnier, humbler, more appreciative dude. Also, it's the second book signing at which beer has been available for free. I'm sensing a pattern, and I dig it.

Onstad was very understanding and apologetic about the long wait (it took me, I shit you not, three hours to get to the front of a line of about fifty people), and he volunteered a character sketch to everyone with a book (I got Roast Beef, naturally). He even tolerated my banter about college rivalries (he went to Stanford -- BOO! HISS! -- and I went to Cal -- YAY! HOORAY!). The publishing schedule for Achewood has been spotty at best over the past month or so while Onstad's been on this book tour; hopefully, now that he's finished, it'll get back to regular updates. Which would be nice, since Achewood is not only my favorite webcomic, it's one of my favorite comic strips of all time (up there with Peanuts, Calvin & Hobbes, and Doonesbury).

P.S. Keep guessing at my music quiz! Still a lot of unidentified songs!

Also: Go Cowboys

HAPPY TURKEY DAY, AMERICA!

Happy Thursday, everywhere less awesome!

'Sack Fest '08

I would like to announce the commencement of 'Sack Fest '08, a two-day film festival celebrating all things John Cusack!

Tentatively scheduled for viewing today:




And, subject to last minute changes, here's what's on tomorrow's docket:





Suggested topic of discussion between films: COO-SACK or CYOO-ZACK?

Happy 'Sack Fest to all!

Happy Halloween

So much for being back to blogging on Wednesday. Here it is Friday, and Halloween to boot, and I got nothin. Sorry.

I'm going to shop for my costume now (Hawkeye from M*A*S*H, have I mentioned that yet?). I also buy gifts on Christmas Eve. I am not a plan-ahead holiday kind of guy.

Have some good clean shenanigans tonight, folks. Make sure you eat so much candy you get sick, because how else will you know you had fun?

Tweet this.

Yeah, as you can see over on Ye Olde Sidebarre, I signed up for Twitter. And there was much rejoicing.

It's gonna take me a while to figure out who all of you folks have Twitter and that I should be following. Let me know if I miss you. And please feel free to sign up to follow me. At least my Twitter updates should be more frequent than my blog updates.

Miss Me

Gone till Tuesday. Let's see if anyone notices.

My First Album(s)

Once again, I steal an idea from the AV Club. In this article, the AV Club staff discuss the first albums they ever purchased with their own money. (Oh, and while I'm thinking of it: Noel Murray! Donna Bowman! Nathan Rabin! Where are your entries?) So I thought I would share mine. You're welcome.

I have a very clear memory of that day. It was at Blue Sky Music in Ojai. It was early '84, which means I was 13. And I bought two tape cassettes at the same time. That's right, tape cassettes: not as cheesy as 8-tracks, but equally as dead, the all-but-forgotten stepping stone between the retro-cool record album and the high tech CD (which itself is being driven to obsolescence by the mp3 -- damn you, change!!!).

The first:


ZZ TOP: ELIMINATOR
And the second:


"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC IN 3-D
I regret nothing.

I got Eliminator because ZZ Top was everywhere that year. I don't know if you can recall back that far, you young folks, but when Eliminator came out, MTV was blanketed with ZZ Top videos, all of them featuring that car, those spinning guitars, and scads of hot, hot ladies. (Well, almost all of them, the exception being "TV Dinners," which was just weird as hell.) I don't think I'm exaggerating by saying these videos helped establish the identity of the still fledgling music channel and set the template for a generation of music videos to follow. I mean, just check 'em out:


Gimme All Your Lovin'


Sharp Dressed Man


Legs
Great videos, great album, great band.

I got the "Weird Al" tape because I was then, am now, and always shall be a huge nerd. I used to stay up late listening to Dr. Demento on the radio, hoping to catch a new "Weird Al" tune, and I was thrilled every time MTV would play the video for "Eat It," or "I Lost on Jeopardy" (which, back in the day, was a lot). I'm still a "Weird Al" fan, and 3-D is still entertaining as hell. So there.

---

So what about you folks? What was the first album you ever bought with your very own cash? Tell me in the comments!

Nerd Heaven, R.I.P.

Sad news this week: Star Trek: The Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton shut down on Sept. 1 after an 11-year run. This is sad not only because it indicates how weak the whole Trek franchise has become, unable to sustain a once wildly-popular attraction despite that J.J. Abrams reboot waiting around the corner, but also because ST:TE was one of the highlights of my first trip as a grown-up to Vegas, and one of my earliest entries at this here blog.

In honor of its passing, I here rerun that entry on Star Trek: The Experience (although I kept calling it The Star Trek Experience, which I guess is non-canon). I updated the broken link to Quark's Bar; it now leads to a PDF of the menu. From November 29, 2004, this is my tribute to Nerd Heaven.

---

Just back from my four-day weekend in Las Vegas*, my first visit there in my adult life, and let me tell you what: it is tremendous.

But let me skip for now the gambling, the drinking, the dinner at Wolfgang Puck's, the sighting of Wayne Newton (seriously!), the drinking, the George Carlin show, the half-naked ladies (one showgirl was wandering around the casino in a bikini bottom so small, you could see her birth control patch), and the drinking, and get straight to the highlight of the weekend, Nerd Heaven: The Star Trek Experience.

Conveniently located in the Hilton, where I was staying, TSTE is composed of two attractions, the Klingon Encounter and the Borg Invasion 4D. (And no, I don't know what the fourth D is. I only counted the usual three.) Both of them have live action performances in which actors lead the visitors to various areas for various scenes, finishing in a spacecraft-shaped auditorium with some incredible filmed sequences taking you into the action (much like Star Tours, if you've ever been to one of the Disney parks). The Borg one was better, I thought, mainly because it's more recent, and more technologically advanced; it's based around the Voyager series. The Klingon Encounter was still pretty damned entertaining; it's based around The Next Generation.

But neither show would've been as much fun if we hadn't visited Quark's Bar and Restaurant first. Did I say I was going to skip the drinking? Guess not. Oh my good lord was it fantastic. It's modeled after the bar from Deep Space Nine, of course, and the drinks, oh the drinks! Little ol' nerdy me had a James Tea Kirk (which was basically an Electric Tea, if you know what that is**); my two nerdy friends had Mind Melds, which were some kind of peach-flavored rum concoction. Then we had a round of Harry Mudds (a shot of kahlua, Buttershots Schnapps, cinnamon liqueur, and Bailey's, I think, which my friends claimed tasted like an Oatmeal Cookie, and I had no reason to doubt them), then two more Mind Melds and for me -- I can't recall the name (something nerdy), but it was Vanilla Vodka, Godiva Chocolate Liqueur, Buttershots, and cream; tasted like chocolate milk, with a hell of a kick. And then we got crazy. Two women from our group joined us, so we ordered the Warp Core Breach. This goddam thing is served in a fishbowl. A chunk of dry ice at the bottom of the bowl created a cloud of smoke pouring out of it. Kind of like this:


In fact, exactly like that, only purple. And don't let the scale of that photo fool you; that glass is big as a bowling ball. Then all five of us got straws about two feet long, and we got to business. What's in it? It was delicious, and had a blackberry taste to it; I couldn't really tell you more about it than that. It's in a goddam fishbowl. What more do you need to know?

We also got a visit from some of the in-character employees; two Ferengi had an argument next to us at the bar, and then a Borg came by, saying that he was on the station "for observation purposes only". We took some pictures with him, and he stayed totally in character; when one of the women commented on his lack of a smile, he said, "I am familiar with 'smile'." When we thanked him for the pictures, he said, "Acknowledged." Neeeerrrrrrrrd Heaven.

Then we three nerdy guys went back upstairs to go on the rides. Shows. Whatever you'd call them. The entryway was lined with an insanely detailed Trek timeline on one side, and a Trek museum (biggest in the world, they claim) on the other, filled with costumes, props, photos, etc. Normally the line would be so long, you'd have plenty of time to absorb it all; that day, there was hardly any line at all, and we were staggeringly drunk, not quite in the frame of mind to appreciate it all, so we zipped right through it (except for some reason my friend Scoot kept pointing out Guinan's costume).

The Borg Encounter was first. It started with a costumed crew member leading us into a room and showing us a video on the wall screen; it was the Doctor, from Voyager, telling us some malarkey about how we had all been summoned because something unique in our DNA was highly resistant to Borg probes. His spiel was mercifully interrupted by a Borg attack. Our crewmember escort summoned security, and we were ushered through various other areas, in which Borg appeared, and engaged in battle. We three drunken nerds were highly wrapped up in it all, laughing, screaming, telling them to shoot the Borg! Annoying? Possibly. But our thinking was, if they're going to go to the trouble of pretending there's a Borg attack, why not be courteous*** enough to pretend we believe it?

Then into the seating area. It was an impressively large set, with a giant front viewscreen, two smaller screens to either side, and a "hatch" on the ceiling. With our 3D glasses on, we were treated to a spectacular movie sequence, involving the section we were seated in being carved out of the space station by the Borg, and being brought aboard the Borg ship. The Borg then injected us with their nanoprobes, simulated by blasts of air on our faces and pokey-crawlies in our seat backs and seat bottoms (which made me giggle like the Pillsbury Doughboy). We were confronted by the Borg Queen (whom I suspected was played by Alice Krige, the actress who originated the role in First Contact; when I looked up her name on IMDb, I found that not only was it indeed her, but also that the Borg Invasion actually has its own entry, as does the Klingon Encounter).

Captain Janeway and the Starship Voyager eventually came to our rescue, after five or six minutes of the most realistic 3D effects I've ever seen. A final debriefing by the Doctor, and we were released back into the real world. Which we immediately abandoned for the Klingon Encounter.

This was more of the same; the story hinged on the Klingons abducting our group of tourists because one of us was supposedly Jean-Luc Picard's ancestor. We were rescued by the Enterprise, and taken aboard the ship's main bridge, which was so beautifully reproduced it made me as happy as a little girl. On the viewscreen, a filmed bit with Riker and Geordi appeared, to fill us in on the blah-blah-blah, and then we were taken into the turbolift and sent to a shuttle pod. When the door closed on the shuttle pod, Scoot began poking all the fake buttons on the wall next to him, prompting one of the employees spying on us to announce over the intercom that we shouldn't bother touching the console controls, because they were DNA-encoded to respond only to Enterprise crewmembers. We loved that. Neeerrrrrrd Heaven.

Then began the filmed sequence (non-3D this time), in which our pod alternately tried to escape from, and engaged in battle, various Klingon vessels, with the Enterprise by our side. We then got zapped back to Las Vegas, and the battle continued over the Strip, zooming over and around various Vegas landmarks. So cool. At the end, as we exited the shuttle pod, an employee directed us onto an elevator that would take us to the exit. All three of us drunken nerds cheerily engaged him in conversation, right up to the second the elevator doors closed, at which point one of the other tourists asked us, "Do they pay you to be here?" which cracked up the rest of the group. It seems our unbridled enthusiasm actually helped the other people to have a good time; everyone was laughing and smiling at the end. Which was nice. Ah, sweet, sweet alcohol: makes everything better.

*I started writing this post on the 22nd. So now I'm just back, plus a week.
**Even if you don't know what that is; frankly, your mixological knowledge has no effect on the drink, one way or the other.
***I.e., "drunk".

Misty May's Ass, Au Revoir

Ever since that picture above started making the rounds, in which it looks like Dubya is about to smack Misty May right in her Olympically-toned posterior, my Google hits for the phrase "Misty May's ass" have dropped off the cliff. For four years, I was permanently in the top ten, at times even the #1 Google search for those three words. Seriously, four years. Take a look at the date on the post in which I first began making jokes about how many hits I was getting for that phrase. Most blogs don't even last four years. I've been running one joke into the ground for that long.

Anyhoo, because of that picture, and everyone posting it and commenting on it, I've been bumped from #1 on Google all the way to page 12. (And still falling.) Sheesh!

It was amusing when I first noticed all the Google hits I got from that phrase, and it's amused me to revisit Misty May and her rump every once in a while over the ensuing four years. But now... man, I just don't have the energy or will to keep up. If I'm going to have to refer to Misty May's hindquarters every other day in order to reattain my first page position on Google, I just can't be bothered. And compound this with the fact that May is going to appear on the next season of Dancing with the Stars (as Augie has recently alerted me), and you can see I'll never be able to talk about her sit-upon enough to keep pace with all those wonderfully perverted Google searchers out there.

So today, with sadness in my heart, I announce that I am officially retiring the "Misty May's ass" joke from this blog. No more shall I blog about Misty May's ass, or show pictures of Misty May's ass, or make meta references to hit counts generated by Misty May's ass, or in any way exploit Misty May's ass.


Okay, one last time.

Farewell, Misty May's ass. And good luck to you in all your future endeavors. A new era has dawned here at Tom the Dog's blog! Misty May's ass... is dead.


Long live Kerri Walsh's ass!

#1 With A Bullet Birthday Cake

Okay, here's one more meme thing I can do for every year I've been alive. This site can tell you what Billboard's #1 song was on the day you were born. So, counting backward, here are the #1 songs on my birthday, August 8, every year since my birth, with a few notes on how much I enjoy (or don't) each song.

2008 ... "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry
Kind of a dopey song, packed with insultingly tawdry and shallow sexuality and the cop-out "hope my boyfriend don't mind it" line which plays like a reassurance to any homophobic men who might be listening: "Don't worry, I'm still actually into guys like you -- but isn't two girls kissing hot?" That said... the video is pretty hot. Hey, I never said I wasn't insultingly tawdry and shallow!

2007 ... "Beautiful Girls" by Sean Kingston
Don't think I've ever heard it. I just looked at the video on You Tube... still doesn't ring a bell. Didn't really like the song.

2006 ... "Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado featuring Timbaland
I'm pretty sure the video for this is the one that partly takes place on a helipad which made me change the channel whenever I saw it -- not because of the helipad, just because I didn't like the song. (Checking You Tube, I appear to have been thinking of the video for "Say It Right." Well, I don't like either song. So there!)

2005 ... "We Belong Together" by Mariah Carey
I've probably accidentally heard this song at some point, just via pop culture osmosis, but I assure you, I have never listened to it intentionally.

2004 ... "Slow Motion" by Juvenile featuring Soulja Slim
Never heard of it.

2003 ... "Crazy in Love" by Beyonce featuring Jay-Z
Don't care for it.

2002 ... "Hot in Herre" by Nelly
Dumb fun if I happen to catch it playing, but nothing I would actively seek out.

2001 ... "Bootylicious" by Destiny's Child
Hey, I don't think that's a real word! Don't care for the tune.

2000 ... "Incomplete" by Sisqo
Sisqo had a second hit? Who allowed this to happen?

1999 ... "Genie in a Bottle" by Christina Aguilera
Hey, remember the '90s? Christina was always to me the least objectionable of the blonde pop starlets who began proliferating at about this time (such as Britney and Jessica Simpson), but still, I wouldn't choose to listen to this or any of her songs.

1998 ... "The Boy Is Mine" by Brandy & Monica
No thank you.

1997 ... "I'll Be Missing You" by Puff Daddy & Faith Evans featuring 112
God no! Puff Daddy is pathetic. Funny that he's ripping off a song that was also #1 on my birthday, back in 1983.

1996 ... "Macarena [Bayside Boys Mix]" by Los Del Rio
It is only acceptable to listen to -- and dance to -- this song at a wedding. A wedding with an open bar. I decree it!

1995 ... "Waterfalls" by TLC
"Don't go chasing waterfalls...." Are waterfalls really that elusive? They seem fairly stationary to me. Also, I don't like this song.

1994 ... "Stay (I Missed You)" by Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories
The first song on this list I actually enjoy wholeheartedly! Wow, we have to go all the way back to my 24th birthday for it. Got overplayed -- a lot -- to the point where I got sick of it, but it's been long enough now that I can listen to it again.

1993 ... "Can't Help Falling in Love" by UB40
Never liked UB40.

1992 ... "This Used to Be My Playground" by Madonna
I've liked a few songs from Madonna, here and there. This is not one of them.

1991 ... "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" by Bryan Adams
I'm embarrassed to admit that I loved this song and owned the album. Hell, I'd probably still enjoy it if I listened to it again.

1990 ... "Vision of Love" by Mariah Carey
No.

1989 ... "Right Here Waiting" by Richard Marx
Just looked him up on Wikipedia -- dang, I didn't realize this guy was quite so popular back in the day! Probably because I switched channels whenever I heard his voice.

1988 ... "Roll with It" by Steve Winwood
I honestly could not remember this song until I watched the video on You Tube. It's okay.

1987 ... "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2
Brilliant song! Probably my favorite of theirs.

1986 ... "Glory of Love" by Peter Cetera
In addition to Bryan Adams, I once also liked Peter Cetera. Oh, the shame! Wasn't this from the Karate Kid 2 soundtrack? I really liked this song back then. Wow, sad.

1985 ... "Shout" by Tears for Fears
Great song.

1984 ... "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker, Jr.
Oh, man, you could not escape this song in the summer of '84. Good thing I really like it. Or I did, at the time. I've heard it so often it's almost painful to listen to now -- especially when a commercial appropriates the music for some random product. Stop it!!!

1983 ... "Every Breath You Take" by The Police
Love this song.

1982 ... "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor
When I was 12, I was ridiculously into this song, and everything Rocky-related. I still get a kick out of it.

1981 ... "Jessie's Girl" by Rick Springfield
Awesome '80s cheese! Come on, who doesn't love this song?

1980 ... "Magic" by Olivia Newton-John
I barely recall this song, but I think I liked it as a kid.

1979 ... "Bad Girls" by Donna Summer
The Queen of Disco! I remember hating disco at the time, because I learned from older kids that it was cool to hate disco. But this is actually a pretty good tune!

1978 ... "Three Times a Lady" by The Commodores
We used to taunt one of the kids on the school bus by putting his name in this song: "'Cause you're once, twice, three times Delaney!" Children are vicious. Good song, though.

1977 ... "I Just Want to Be Your Everything" by Andy Gibb
I don't think I know this song, but I'm sure I must've heard it on the radio back when I was 7. I am not now, nor was I ever, a fan of Andy Gibb.

1976 ... "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" by Elton John & Kiki Dee
Fun song! I still like it.

1975 ... "Jive Talkin'" by The Bee Gees
Now we're at the age where I don't recall what music I might or might not have heard on the radio or on TV. It's the Bee Gees, so I'm sure I've heard it, but right now I can't imagine what it sounds like at all. (Okay, just checked it out on You Tube -- still don't recognize it. Don't much care for it.)

1974 ... "Feel Like Makin' Love" by Roberta Flack
Don't think I know this song, either. (Again, You Tube didn't help. Kind of pretty, though.)

1973 ... "The Morning After" by Maureen McGovern
This song won an Oscar for The Poseidon Adventure, and I've seen The Poseidon Adventure, but I still don't have the slightest idea how it goes. (Okay, I listened to it on You Tube... ugh.) All I knew of Maureen McGovern (before looking her up on Wikipedia just now) was that she recorded the single for "Can You Read My Mind" from Superman: The Movie, which I liked.

1972 ... "Alone Again (Naturally)" by Gilbert O'Sullivan
The title sounds familiar, but again, I can't call this song to mind. You Tubed it and... hey, I know this song! It's all right, mildly enjoyable fluff.

1971 ... "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" by The Bee Gees
Nope, don't know this song either, and listening to it on You Tube made me dislike it. Pretty much any song by the Bee Gees that's not "Stayin' Alive," I'm not going to like.

1970 ... "(They Long to Be) Close to You" by The Carpenters
Super cheesy, but you know what? I love it! I always liked the Carpenters.

---

And there you have it, another easy-to-produce but still substantial-appearing post. Blogging is a snap!

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Holy craparoni. Chris Sims linked to me in his big Previews post yesterday night/early this morning, and I literally have gotten five million more hits than I usually do. Literally five million.

Literally.

Okay, not literally. You know how much I hate to misuse that word. But it was a lot. Thanks, Chris!

And it's only led to one ignorant homophobe leaving a comment on that post so far. (The same one who trolled in Chris's comments.) But... fingers crossed!

---

Edited to add:

Here is an illustration of what scholars now refer to as the Sims Bump.

Joe R. Lansdale

Joe R. Lansdale is one of my favorite writers working today. Two of my very earliest posts on this blog were about his books. On Sunday afternoon, I attended a book signing for Lansdale's newest book, Leather Maiden. And I'm happy to say, he could not have been a nicer, cooler person.

He took some questions from the audience, which was about 25-30 people. He let us know that the next Hap and Leonard book, Vanilla Ride, will be out next year, with two others ready to go in fairly rapid succession after that, which is fantastic news for Lansdale fans. He told us about the various film adaptations of his work which never quite made it to the screen, such as a Hap and Leonard film which would have starred Josh Lucas and Don Cheadle which fell apart at the last moment. He told us Bill Paxton was looking to direct the film version of one of his books (I forget which, but it was either The Bottoms or Cold in July, I think). And he told some crazy, hilarious stories, illustrating that some of the weirder things he writes about have a basis in real life.

He then read from the first three chapters in the new book, which I can't wait to get started on -- equally funny and intriguing, as usual. And finally he invited people to get their books signed.

I brought two of his novels from home for him to sign, plus the new book which I bought that day, as well as about twenty of his comics (primarily his work with Timothy Truman -- all the Jonah Hex stuff, and The Lone Ranger and Tonto mini-series). I didn't expect he'd have time to get to all the comics; in fact, I was just hoping he'd have time to sign three or four key issues. But he grabbed the whole bundle and signed everything. He loved signing stuff, he said -- that's what he was there for! (And yes, I waited until everyone else had gone first, so I didn't tie up the line. I'm considerate!)

During the Q&A, I had mentioned how hard it was to find some of his earlier books. For example, I've been searching for ages, but his first Hap and Leonard book, Savage Season, is just impossible to find, new, used, or even at a library. He said that Vintage would be reissuing the first six books starting next year -- again, great news for Lansdale fans. But then he also said if I wanted to stick around after the signing, when his wife came to pick him up, he had a whole trunk full of his old books for sale. (And no, he doesn't just drive around with a trunk full of books all the time -- at least, I don't think he does; he was stocked up because he had been at ArmadilloCon earlier that day.)

Sadly, it turned out I didn't have any cash on me at the moment. And here's how cool this guy is: he said, "Tell you what, I'll give you my address, and you can just mail the payment to me later." Who does that? Who would trust a random fan like that? That blew my mind. How incredibly generous. Too bad he's never getting his money!! (Actually, I ran across the street to an ATM. As much as I appreciated his offer, I felt it would be impolite to make him wait on a check from me like that. I'm considerate, damn it!)

So, with the help of his very sweet wife, and his lovely daughter (country singer Kasey Lansdale), we dug through the boxes in his car and found hardback copies of the first three Hap and Leonard novels, two of which, Savage Season and Mucho Mojo, I've never been able to read before. I also picked up a copy of the aforementioned Cold in July, another of his best I could never track down. And I got to pick up all four for well under the cover price. I call that a bargain. I also call it a belated birthday present to myself. I'm worth it.

Great writer, great guy, great day. If you haven't read anything by Lansdale yet (or, at the very least, watched Bubba Ho-Tep, which is based on one of his stories), you're missing out.

Sidebar Update!

Hey, it's time for the beloved (and originally weekly, then monthly, now whenever I get around to it) Sidebar Update! It's only been four months or so since the last Update, so I'm right on schedule.

As always, we lead off with the current Object of My Affection: Maggie Gyllenhaal. Certainly I admired her in The Dark Night, but I've been infatuated with her for a good long while, most especially since her funny, lovely, sexy performance in Stranger Than Fiction. Here's a bonus picture for you to enjoy:


Reading Fred Hembeck's massive Omnibus, as I recently mentioned. This should keep me occupied for quite some time, which is just fine by me.

Watching the first season DVD set of Adult Swim's hilarious Squidbillies. The animation is crude, and the humor is even cruder, often resulting in hideous violence and mutilation, but that's just part of the show's charm. Kind of like Metalocalypse, with country music instead of heavy metal. And more squid creatures.

Listening to Weezer's new album, Weezer (or, as it's come to be known, the Red Album). This is Weezer's third self-titled release. Geez, what are they, in a competition with Peter Gabriel to produce the most eponymous albums? Anyway, this was part of my birthday gift from my sister, and it's quite excellent.

Hating: I give up. There's no one and nothing more deserving of my contempt than the monkey running this country into the ground. So I'm not going to bother trying to find a different target of hatred to put in the sidebar until Dubya is forcibly ejected from the White House next January. For the next five months, President Duh gets the dishonor of remaining under the "Hating" heading full-time. And as a feel-good extra, I've included a countdown timer ticking away his last days in office.

And finally, the Lyric of the Moment is from Weezer's "Pork and Beans," off that new album. Turns out, behind the goofy title, it's a song about rejecting advertising and peer pressure and being fine with yourself the way you are. What a surprisingly sensible message for a pop song!

"I hammer war"

Hey, I know that guy! In issue #1 of the comic Fall of Cthulu: Godwar from Boom! Studios, fresh on the stands this week, there is a brief interview with pal Ian about his new position as an editor for the company -- complete with photo! Very cool, Ian. Congrats once again! Guess they haven't discovered you can't read yet. (Oops!)


Here's a scan of the full page. I'm sure Ian was very pleased to have been included on the same page as a tribute to the late comics retailer Rory Root, whom Ian (and I) regarded with great esteem.


Here's Ian's bit on its own. Click to biggie size so you can read the interview, and admire what a dashing young devil Mr. Brill is.


And click here if you'd like to read the tribute to Rory at full size.

Baghdad by the Bay

Jeff of Stuff Running 'Round My Head is currently posting a series of photos from his recent trip to the San Francisco Bay Area.

As I have often mentioned and demonstrated on this blog, such as in this series of posts (the last three of which were written in the style of a Zagat's Guide review of my last visit there, for reasons that seem less hilarious to me in retrospect), San Francisco is my favorite city in the world. I wish on that last trip I had had an adequate camera to capture the beauty and oddness of The City and its surroundings, but since I didn't, you'll have to check out Jeff's photos instead. And maybe you'll get an inkling of what makes S.F. so wonderful.

For example, here's a shot of the outside of Vesuvio, a weird and cool little bar in North Beach (the exterior of which was also featured as the beatnik-poetry club in So I Married an Axe Murderer, though the interior was a set). Here are a couple of posts on Chinatown. (Forget it, Jake... oh, wrong Chinatown.) Here's the Stockton Tunnel, at the top of which is the Tunnel Top bar, which I "reviewed" in this post, and which was great. Here's Union Square, the setting of the crucial conversation in Coppola's The Conversation. This is a beautiful shot of the Transamerica Pyramid, and these are a couple of other very nice middle-of-the-street pictures. And this one includes a shot of Top Dog in Berkeley, at which I purchased countless bratwursts and Polishes and so forth late, late at night during my college days, since this was the only place to get food after the bars closed. Yum!

Man, I'm missing that city again. Nice photos, Jeff! Keep 'em coming!

To the internet!

Okay, the city we used to call Peking we now call Beijing.

So what should we now call Peking Duck?

P.S. I could look this up on the internet, but I don't want to.

Happy Crazy Eights Day!

Hey everybody. Happy Crazy Eights Day! Today, 8/8/08, I turn 38 years old! Yikes. I plan on buying 8 lottery tickets, and then probably drinking 38 beers.

Weather for my barbecue later today should be a little rough -- hot and muggy, probably around the 100-degree mark. In fact, we have now had something like 88 consecutive days of 90-plus degree temperatures. Knock it off, Austin! Try something new.

No other content today, I plan on celebrating! With perhaps some napping in there as well. Naps are awesome. But feel free to comment on one of my recent posts if you haven't yet. Better late than never!

TV: Smallville

A couple thoughts about this week's Smallville. Definite spoilers ahead -- this means, you, Mike! -- so I'll put some filler space in with this picture of all the Smallville babes.



Wasn't that nice?*

Okay, spoilers:

Chloe lost her virginity -- to Jimmy Olsen??? What the fuck! That's quite a bombshell. And quite a plot contrivance. I mean, if this episode weren't all about givin' it up (complete with teen pregnancy PSA at the end), do you think Chloe's little character development still would've happened? I doubt it.

And what was up with Ma Kent's freak-out? "I'm so disappointed," "sanctity of marriage," "you should know better," blah blah blah. Bitch, chill! Red kryptonite, remember? Red kryptonite! What are you, new? It was completely out of Clark's control. Alicia dosed him with red kryptonite and for all intents and purposes kidnapped him. And yet Ma Kent still berates Clark for it. But clearly, the message wasn't intended for Clark's ears. She might as well have turned directly to the camera and delivered that speech to the home audience. This episode was one big mixed message: "Look at how hot and sexy all these youngsters are. Are you getting horny? Are you? Yes? BAD! WRONG! DON'T DO IT!!!"

And was there supposed to be a political message in Ma Kent's "sanctity of marriage" rant? That's a loaded phrase to use, these days; it's pretty much interchangeable with "I hate gay people." Is that really the message Smallville is trying to convey? If so, that's very disappointing. And also, does that mean Clark and Lex can never consummate their love?

---

*Is that picture too big? Does it mess up my site on your browser, and squeeze the sidebar to the bottom of the screen, below all the entries? It's hard to get pictures to fit properly in this template. I'd change templates, but I'm afraid I'd just mess everything up even worse. Does anyone have any ideas how I can fix it so I can show any size pictures on a Blogger template, without losing all my sidebar links, comments, etc.?