When Last We Saw the Dynamic Duo…

…They were facing one of the most hideous fates known to humanity!




Holy Betty Crocker, Batman!



That’s right, old chum. The Joker has unleashed the horrible mounds of the Cake Batter of Doom headed right for us!


What can we do, Batman? This tunnel is too narrow to dodge the batter, and the only way out is on the other side of it!




There’s only one thing we can do, Robin.



You mean…?





Exactly!

Quick, Robin!

The Giant Bat Handheld Electric Mixer!

Get behind me, youngster! If you have dessert now, you’ll spoil your dinner!

TV show pics from 1966 Batfan.

The Discs Are In the Mail!

For those of you in the Mixed Bag exchange this time, this is your word that my discs are finally on their way! Now your life can truly be called complete....or maybe not...or something....

Whatever! (That's an in joke you'll get after you listen to it.)

Roger--I sent one to the new work address and one to your home address. Surely one of them will meet up with you somewhere down the line.

There is one "fuck" in one song that also happens to be about a particular controlled substance. There is also one song that makes some loose jokes about certain sexual practices between two men. You can judge for yourself whether that makes it work-safe or not.

I'll get my commentary up in a couple of days, as soon as I finish it.

My apologies again for the delay, and I do hope you all enjoy it! Feel free to leave comments, critiques, etc.

Oh yeah, Dorian, I sent a copy for you to Mike. Make sure he gives it to you.

Gotta run! Keith's photographing a wedding and I'm sitting in the hotel where it's taking place trying to blog inobtrusively.

In Which Your Eddie-tor Babbles on a Tuesday

Spot checking

What color is the background you’re looking at right now? It’s supposed to be black, but when I checked for new comments when I was at work yesterday, it was white, which made everything else look awful, as the fonts are too light for a white background.

It made me look as if I know even less about what I am doing than I do, and I didn't think that was possible.

I think it’s back to the drawing board.

FBCD Wrap Up

Mike has some words on FBCD 2006 here.

The Absorbascon deconstructs the Archie FBCD book, and the results are hilarious. "Are they ambitextuals?"

Comics Reporter has one of Spurgeon's usual comprehensive lists of links to various sites with FBCD reports, plus some commentary of his own.

I actually made it to the local shop on Saturday. The crowd was light, but it was pretty early, not to mention Derby Day. I picked up my holds, got a few of the free books, chatted with the manager, and left. As in year’s past, they are actually running the promotion all week, to try and counter the drain that Derby has on business. I got the Owly and Scott Pilgrim books, since those are titles I’ve been meaning to check out for a while. My plan is to read them this week and then go back on payday (Friday) and buy the complete books, if I like the freebies. That way, FBCD has created a couple of purchases for my shop.

We also stopped in at Half-Price Books, where they had their own twist on FBCD going. The guy who manages their comic section really knows comics and is always creating little displays and such to tie in with what’s going on at the moment. He’d pulled some of their stock, left it in a short box at the counter, and made a couple of signs for their own Free Comic Book Day. It was a pretty cool idea! I like the idea of a non-Diamond customer finding a way to get in on the fun and promote the store's own comic section!

Finally, Roger made my day a little brighter today by opening his post with a picture of the Goddess of Music. Thanks, man! I needed that!

Fine Art Photo Studio Presents...

Still Life with Scooby Doo and Sprig of Grapes with Spoon

What Took You So long?

Well, I finally got my Mixed Bag CD’s burned last night. Now all that’s left is to finish the covers and get them in the mail. I may never get asked to this party again. Sigh!

Honestly, I really did have the best intentions of getting this one out on time, but there’s probably only so much one can expect from a guy who can’t even seem to blog regularly.

I’d been keeping a loose running list of songs I might use in my next mix ever since the first of the year. I figured I’d either do one and just send it to some folks or jump in one of Lefty’s next mixing parties. When lefty came along, I signed up, and then everything went downhill.

Parts of the problems were technological and parts of them were personal. When I started gathering CD’s together to rip, I realized that my CD drive was completely shot. I ended up getting around that problem by buying a laptop from one of Keith’s friends. I’ll still need to get a new CD drive for the PC, but I had been wanting a laptop, and this guy’s wife had won one as a door prize at an event. They didn’t need it, and they were willing to take a reasonable offer and let me make payments, so I couldn’t pass that up.

That was actually the easiest part of the whole process. My real problems started about a week before the CD’s needed to go into the mail. I started reading the blogs of folks who were going to APE this year and wishing I could go too. Then I remembered what happened last year when I got back from San Francisco, and all of a sudden it dawned on me that I’m basically in the first anniversary of my father’s last two months of life.

I think that awareness had been lurking around in the back of my mind somewhere, but consciously, I was thinking that I wouldn’t really have to face anything until the actual anniversary of his death. I hadn’t really thought that the weeks before that would bring up anything for me.

It’s not that I’ve fallen totally apart or anything, but it seems like everything reminds me of something that happened last year: APE, Derby, starting the garden, Keith’s birthday—they all fell in that time frame last year. Emotionally and physically, I feel like I’m reliving everything from that time period all over again. I’m tired, listless, and cranky. I’m not eating right or exercising. And I just can’t seem to get my head around starting anything more complicated than watching TV.

Up until this Spring, I thought I had pretty much processed everything, even though I’ve always known that grief is a pretty tricky thing. I guess knowing that and actually experiencing it are two different things.
Anyway, I’ve really had to focus what energy and concentration I have on work lately, so the mix just had to wait for a bit. I hope you’ll think it was worth the wait when you get it.

Those who can, do. Those who can't, review.

Mixed Bag 4 Reviews

Well, if I can’t get mine out on time, I can at least give those who did some feedback.

It’s Not That Hard Bein' Green by Roger Green

According to his commentary, Roger used a lot of songs with some personal meaning or attachment to them.

I really like every song on this CD. The opening cut, 45 Men in a Telephone Booth by the Top Hatters is one of the most fun songs I’ve heard in a long time! One can never go wrong with selections from Etta James, Lyle Lovett, and Bonnie Raitt, that’s for sure. And the Johnny Cash/Nick Cave version of Cindy is probably my favorite cut on the disc. The only cut that didn’t grab me right off the bat is the Earth Wind and Fire tune, but it did grow on me, after a while.

As a collection, however, it took a while for the disc as a whole to grow on me. I’m not sure why or how, but the individual pieces were a lot stronger to me than the sum of their parts ended up. It didn't gel completely for me right off the bat, largely because the flow felt disjointed in places. I think if some of the more “novelty” songs were shifted around a bit, then it might help some. I would move the Roger Ramjet theme to the opening track and close with the Spider-man theme, for example. That might make for a smoother listen.

In the end, though, after many repeated listens, it’s a disc that has grown on me as a collection, and one that I think I will be turning to in the future. Nice job, Roger!

In One Ear: My Own Chapter from Thom Wade

So far, this is one of my favorites, a fun mix of pop, rock, folk, country and a bunch of other stuff. Two cuts, Queensrcyhe and Erik B and Rakim, leave me a little cold, but that’s mainly because they represent genres I have never warmed too. The Over the Rhine cut knocks me flat every time. (They are practically local after all), as does the Ramones song that follows it. That could very well be my theme songs. I’m also awfully fond of the Wonder Woman song and the Hollies song. And the last three songs on the disc just knock me out every time I listen to them. The Bee Song in particular just cracks me up! This one’s a winner! Great job, Thom!

I just don't like Mondays...

I decided to try a new blog template and lost my sidebar links in the process. I'll try to get those back this week. I'm still not happy with it, but don't really know enough about what I'm doing to just create my own, which is what I really want to do. Sigh!

Scooby! No!

Not on the desk! Bad dog!

Fine Art Photography Studios Present....

Still Life with Ronald McDonald and Peanut Butter Crackers

Get Ready!

In case you're planning to hit the comic shop for Free Comic Book Day tomorrow, Comics Worth Reading and Postmodern Barney have reviews of some of the freebies that will be handed out.

Foto Fun!

Spider-men.....

Spider-men....


Friendly key-chain fob Spider-men!

In Which Your Eddie-tor Rambles Aimlessly About This and That

Happy Derby Week!

If you don’t live in Louisville, you probably think of the Kentucky Derby as a famous horse race that takes place on the first Saturday in May. You don’t have a clue about the rest of what is called the Derby Festival: two weeks of madness events leading up to race day. This town really does go crazy this time of year.

Since we are now in Derby week proper, that means I have a little extra time, since we get off work early two days this week. I decided to put the time to use by finally finishing my Mixed Bag CD and by doing some long-overdue blogging. (It’s either this or mow the yard…)

First off, some blogiversary wishes! A couple of my favorite blogs recently celebrated milestones. Happy Blogiversary and thanks for all the good reading to Rambling with Roger and belatedly to Comics Worth Reading!

Speaking of CWR, I finally got its link on my sidebar fixed. I also added a couple of blogs a while back, but never mentioned them: Beaucoup Kevin and Various and Sundry. I’m also adding Blockade Boy, Crocodile Caucus, and The Absorbascon today. Good reads, every one of them. I really need to do something about my template.

Free Comic Book Day is this Saturday, proving that nobody in comics has any idea about Derby Day in Louisville. It’s not exactly the best time to be doing any special promotions that don’t involve horses running in circles in this town. On Saturday, no one is going to be interested in comics, free or otherwise. As the day wears on, there are fewer and fewer people out, as those who aren’t at the track start attending Derby parties and cook-outs. By race time, the streets are practically deserted.

It’s kind of a shame, because I’d love to see FCBD do really well here. It’s not practical to try to change the whole system at this point, just for one mid-sized city, but every year I do kind of wish it could fall on another weekend, just once.

My own LCS has compensated in the past by doing Free Comic Book Week, and just giving the things away all week. I’m not sure how effective that’s been for them. Seems to me like it dilutes the impact of the promotion, but they gotta do something. One year, they did get some coverage in the paper. I think Don Rosa (local guy) was a guest there for on FCBD. Not sure what they’ve done this year. I haven’t been to the shop in a while.

Just got tickets to see Doc Watson here in June. I’m really psyched because he’s one of a dwindling number of musical treasures that still remain with us. Years ago, I passed up the chance to see Bill Monroe do a free show in a park a few blocks from our apartment. He died a couple years afterwards. I’ve regretted not going that night ever since.

Since then, I’ve drug Keith to see Jean Ritchie three or four times and insisted that we make time to see Hazel Dickens the year we went to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. I also made sure we got to see Odetta when she was here in January. (And it was an AWESOME show!) I’m not going to pass up the chance to see any more musical legends!

When we missed HSB last year, we missed a chance to see Doc Watson, so I was excited to see him scheduled to come to Louisville. The tickets had been on sale a little while before I was able to order them, so I was pleasantly surprised that I got front row seats!

Speaking of music, first new release I’ve bought this year: Garrison Starr, The Sound of You and Me, which I like a lot! I’m so behind in my musical pursuits! It’s a good CD though. I need to get the Mark Knopfler/Emmylou Harris disc!

Eddie’s one comic question of the post:

Is there any place online where I can find a copy of Previews every month? Text is fine. I don’t necessarily need the images. I used to rely on CBR for it, but they don't update as regularly as they used to. I don’t want to pay for the thing, and my web searches aren’t turning anything up. I’ve been going to Westfield’s site and using their listings, but they don’t offer everything that’s in Previews. Honestly, I hate the whole pre-ordering thing, but do play the game from time to time to make sure I get what I want to read. Although, honestly, I haven’t placed an order since well before Christmas!

Let’s see….what else? How about some comic book linky-goodness? This is supposedly a comic blog, after all!

Courtesy of Comics Reporter: A book I’d really like to have! This is the kind of stuff about comics I love to read!

Not comics, but still fun: pranking Best Buy (link from Augie).

Courtesy of Bully Says: Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about comic book logos. Fun stuff.

From The Absorbascon sometime last week: Robin vs Surrealism. Reminds me of one of my favorite episodes of the TV show!

To quote the esteemed episode guide at 1966 BatFan:

91 - POP GOES THE JOKER
92 - FLOP GOES THE JOKER 3/22/67 3/23/67
Starring Cesar Romero as The Joker
Written by Stanford Sherman. Directed by George Waggner. Joker joins the world of pop art when he disfigures paintings in a gallery with twin guns of spray paint, leading to a plot to steal the Renaissance art collections of imprisoned millionaires, including Bruce Wayne. Robin attmeps a rescue but ends up in a giant rotating mobile of deadly palette knives that will slice apart the Boy Wonder-bread. A fantastic pair of episodes that shows the staff's creativity at colorful lighting and design at its best. Some knowledge of art history will enhance and enjoyment and understanding of some of the less-obvious gags such as Jackson Potluck and Vincent Van Gauche. What knocks a piece of the ear off these episodes is perky overacting by Diana Ivarson as Baby Jane Towser, whose art contest helps launch the winning Joker on a new career as art instructor to the millionaires. BatBits: Dialog coach Milton Stark played several small roles in the series including the second browser in #92, as well as the second zoologist (#72), Mr. Tamber (#76) and Irving Bracken (#89).

Free stuff: Graphic novels from Comic Book Galaxy and comics from Yet Another Comics Blog. I saw some of the First Second gn's at the bookstore last night, and they look really sharp. The production values and book designs are fantastic, and some quick flip-through's tell me the content will be too.

It figures Roger would manage to get his pic snapped with a green-skinned comic character!

And finally, speaking of the Batman TV show, here’s the commercial announcing the introduction of Batgirl in the third season.

"In the guise of a noble, flying rodent and a common backyard bird!"

(I need to learn how to make the fancy links to YouTube like Mike and Dorian do.)

I am so going to Hell for this....

Art by Rina Piccolo. Taken from Kicking the Habit.

But, hey, Gordon started it!

A Little Eddie-ting

Not much time for more than a few quick notes. Subtitle this post as follows:

"YES ROGER! I AM STILL ALIVE!"

I updated the link to Lefty's blog to reflect his new url.

I also went back and added credit for the Hothead scan. I can't believe I forgot to do that and
just now noticed it. Bad Eddie!

Speaking of Lefty, he's got the info for the next Mixed Bag exchange up.

Valentine's Day Quickie!

It's not too late to send an e-card!

Environmental Defense Fund:

North Shore Animal League:

Happy Valentine's Day to you and your teddy bear!

When Mr. Gallopalooza Horse Met Mr. Swamp Thing

Dedicated to Mike Sterling.* Special thanks to Keith, for help with the photo editing in this and the previous post.


One day, Mr. Gallopalooza Horse























met Mr. Swamp Thing




















in front of the Kentucky Center for the Arts.




Mr. Gallopalooza Horse said:




















“My eyes are my ears!”




To which Mr. Swamp Thing replied:








“I’m chalk!”

And then they both went on their merry separate ways!

THE END

*Honestly, Mike, I'm not trying to be that gay cyber-stalker from Kentucky you always wanted. (You have always wanted one, though, right? I mean, doesn't everyone?) I did borrow the "I'm Chalk" pic from you, though, so some credit was due somewhere. I promise to go for at least a week before I mention you again! I'll stalk, uhm, Roger for a while, instead! OK?

My Eyes Are My Ears!

Last year, I ordered tickets to several shows at the Kentucky Center for the Arts, including for a performance by Kinsey Sicks, the acapela drag troupe from San Francisco. A few weeks ago, I got a letter from KCA stating that Kinsey now had a regular gig in Las Vegas and couldn’t make their Louisville show. The center replaced them with someone named Ant, whom we had no desire to see. So, I made the trek downtown on Saturday to turn in the tix for a refund.

On my way to the Center, I was surprised by a rather large head.

Several of these creations have been installed around town to raise awareness of psychological health issues. There are all kinds of placards around the base with all kinds of info about mental and emotional health and taking care of yourself.



Many of them are interactive, so that passersby can push a button and see something happen. It was cold, snowy and windy, so I couldn’t stay and play, but I did think she should have her picture taken. The title of this one, I believe, is “Lightheaded.”



Last year or the year before last, there was an exhibit of horse statues all over town called Gallopalooza. Different businesses and organizations sponsored the horses, which were decorated by artists, according to the sponsors theme. They were all over town, and it was a lot of fun running into them at unexpected places. Late in the year, most, if not all, of the statues were auctioned off to raise money for a local charity.

The horse theme comes, of course, from the fact the Louisville is home to the Kentucky Derby. Several of the horses are still around town, including this one, which is by the door to the Kentucky Center for the Arts.


It’s a surrealist inspired design, capped off by this great sign across the face.

My eyes are my ears!

And indeed they are!

I think that’s going to become my new motto: My Eyes Are My Ears!

I want a t-shirt and a bumper sticker printed up.

I may even start using it to respond to others:

Keith: Will you take the trash out?
Eddie: My eyes are my ears!

Boss: Is your report done yet?
Eddie: My eyes are my ears!

Aerobics Instructor: Step to the left!
Eddie: My eyes are my ears!

Pastor: Let us pray!
Eddie: My eyes are my ears!

Okay, that last one will never happen, since I don’t go to church, but you get the idea. Try it out on your friends and loved ones! Maybe we can start a trend.

I love public art!

My Eyes Are My Ears!

My!

Eyes!

Are!

My!

Ears!

Always Remember!

Okay, I think this thing is cooling off, but since Lefty* just did his on Friday, and Dorian posted yet another addition Monday, I don’t think it’s too late for a handful more, although the trend seems to be moving to valentine cards featuring people from movies I haven't seen.

It may have started as a simple paean to the virtues and neverending love of one Ted Grant, but the whole thing has to have taken on a life of its own. Dorian seems committed to keeping the list of new creations up and has put a link to it on his sidebar. Wonder how long it will keep going?

Like some other folks, I’ve found that once you start doing these, it’s hard to stop. Characters kept popping into my head and I just HAD to come up with something for them. I’ve resisted putting anything else up, but I think I need to get it all out of my system, once and for all.

Reading what others come up with has been a real trip. Like Mike, I’ve been impressed with the range of creativity, coupled with the feeling of both homage and biting wit that’s on display in so many of them. And, hey, it pulled me back to my blog this year!

Anyway, I did my first one because I felt there weren’t enough non-mainstream characters being used. I kind of continued in that spirit, so this latest creative spurt of mine ended up turning into a romp through some of my favorite (including a few bygone) independent and alternative titles.


So, what else is new? Bitchy is from the late Naughty Bits by Roberta Gregory.

I miss Bone. It was one of a trio of titles that saved me as a comic reader several years ago. (Naughty Bits and Stray Bullets were the others.) Now all these years on, two of them are gone. Sigh! By the way, I am looking for Bone collections to fill out my set. I’m looking for the hardbacks (because I started buying them in hb and have this maddening consistency thing), in black and white (because I just don’t care for the color versions and there’s still that consistency thing to deal with), hopefully second-hand for around 10 or 15 bucks a pop (because I’m cheap). That’s right: I’m a tightwad snob with OCD. You read it here first.

So please try again later, won’t you?

From Eric Shanower’s Age of Bronze. Well, somebody had to up the homo content a little! I actually wanted to use the panel of them kissing, but didn’t want to hunt for the issue. I don’t have the trade that collects that issue yet, but do have the first one, so I was able to find a sort of substitute. That’s the difference between pawing through a long box and going to a bookshelf for you. (What? You think I’m Mike Sterling or something??) Anyway, taken out of context, the expression on Achille’s face gets at what I was going for. Scan is a little warped because I didn’t want to crack the spine of the book, which, of course, would be the advantage to working with the floppies on something like this.

But you all already knew that didn’t you? If not, check out the Dark Horse Little Lulu reprints and see why! This is probably my favorite comic being published right now.

From Carla Speed McNeil’s awesome Finder, which has now retreated to the web to continue the story. And, by the way, I do mean the part about sexy!

Switching to some anime:

Wedding Peach is one of my favorite anime series. Part parody, part rip off, it’s like Sailor Moon on girly-steroids! It’s chock full of all the delirious, over-the-top craziness that I love in magical girls anime. This line is a nod to the excellent fansub from the TechnoGirls. Like Sailor Moon, Peach is prone to making long speeches in the midst of the fight scenes in which she outlines the offenses of the villains and declares her opposition to their evil. On the TG fansubs, these speeches always ended with something like, “and I, Wedding Peach, am severely perturbed at this.” (Click the link above and scroll about halfway down for a more in depth explanation of this.) Then she would attack. Needless to say, I loved it. I haven’t had a chance to get the WP commercial US releases, so I don’t know if that aspect was preserved or not, but when I started thinking about creating little graphics that start “CHARACTER NAME is doing or feeling something,” well, it didn’t take long for Momoko and crew to leap to mind.

And speaking of Sailor Moon. And fight speeches. And catchphrases. The first US dub release used the “I will punish you” line more than the original Japanese version did (or at least that seems to be the way I recall it), but it certainly works well in this context. And once WP came into the picture (so to speak) it was only a short hop to Sailor Moon herself.

Nuff said! (At least I know Mike agrees with me.)

Okay, so she’s not a comic character. She is, however, the goddess of music, and that’s good enough for me.

And on that note:



It’s been a lot of fun, but it’s time to move on to other blog topics. (hopefully)

*Speaking of Mr. Brown, Mike** was kind enough to provide the link to where his blog is currently residing, until he gets things straightened out. I updated the links in my earlier post to reflect this. Lefty also gives an update in the comments section for that same post and at his log. Roger Green also did excellent work as part of the "Find Lefty" patrol and left notes in various places.

**Did I actually just name-check Mike Sterling four times in one post?

Images copyright their respective holders, of course.

Quick Takes From Last Week

COMICS

Some corners of the comics world are reeling from the news of Seth Fisher's death. I met him once, kind of by accident. For a couple of San Diego con's. I helped out at the NBM booth to pick up some extra spending money. Fisher approached the booth one afternoon to talk with their sales rep about some work. I think he was wanting to see how they decided what books to publish or something. He had a copy of Willworld with hi, which impressed their sales guy. I don't remember a lot of the details of the conversation, because it was business that really didn't concern me. I was just a bystander. Or, maybe, I don't remember much else because I was staring at his chest the whole time. His shirt was unbuttoned about halfway down, providing a great veiw of his chest hair, which had been shaved into the shape of a star! That part, I do remember, quite clearly. (On his site, there's a photo of him with heart-shaped chest hair, so apparently, he was also a chest hair artist as well.)

RIP Seth, you'll be missed.

POLITICS

Factcheck.org has the real story behind the State of the Union address.

Locally, the Courier-Journal had one of the best political cartoons in response to the SOTU.

You just have to know that the name-calling isn't over yet. The Republican idea of bipartisanship seems to be "let's all get together and agree to do what we say." It's only a matter of time before someone gets called an 'obstructionist.'

One of the CJ columnists also had a really touching euology for Coretta Scott King.

(The CJ links will expire at some point, not sure when, as they move their older stuff to their paid search part of their site.)

MUSIC

Nice, if a little breezy, article about a performer I wish would come to Louisville: Candye Kane.

When the Roll is Called Up Yonder

A little while ago, I started working on a blogroll for the sidebar. My goal is for this to evolve into a nice, rambly list of places I like to go on the web, if I can stop visiting them long enough to work on the list. I need to something to the blog template first, though. I really don’t like the way any of this looks any more.

Still, for better or for worse, I’ve started one, which gives me a chance to give some overdue recognition to some folks whose web presence has really meant a lot to me over the past year.

Ramblin’ With Roger (Roger Green)

I want to be Roger when I grow up. I envy his ability to reliably turn out well-written, well-thought posts on a variety of topics. He has a memory for detail and a way of expressing himself that makes his stories come to life. Roger has also reached out to me with sympathy and an occasional kind word in private that have been really helpful in the aftermath of my father’s death.

Plus, he’s got a really cute young ‘un.

Blog This Pal! (Gordon Dymowski)

If I can’t be Roger, then growing up to be Gordon would be just fine too. He’s a real model for posting on a regular, but not necessarily daily, basis but making it count with fun, readable, worthwhile posts. Anyone who can come up with 100 reasons he loves comics is worth reading. There are just too many joyless comics sites around. Having left a job or two without anything lined up, I can appreciate his stories of his hunt for new employment, which has happily come to an end. I’ve also done lots of work for non-profits.

Gordon had some really nice things to say about my Mixed Bag CD, which I’ve never properly acknowledged until now. Thanks, man. You made me blush.

Plus, he lives in St Louis, which means we could potentially get together for coffee next time I visit my brother.

Lefty’s Corner (Chris “Lefty” Brown)

Chris is the man behind the Mixed Bag CD exchanges that brought so much good music into my life this year. I really appreciated being let into the fun and games, despite the irregularity of my blogging. Working on the mix gave me something to concentrate on that was fun and a nice distraction from all the other stuff. I just wish I had been able to do the Halloween Mixed Bag too, but the timing was bad due to the work conference.

I really enjoy the musical posts he makes in his blog, and appreciate it when he talks a little about the challenge of integrating his political beliefs and faith in today’s polarized society. I’ve pretty much given up on organized religion because I wasn’t able to do what he’s attempting to do (or at least I wasn’t able to deal with the inherent frustrations).

Lefty had a really eloquent post a few of weeks ago about the death of childhood dreams. It’s one of the best things I’ve read on the web in ages! He also had an enthusiastic, unashamed comics fanboy moment a while ago that was so warm and sincere that it really made me smile.

Plus, I’m a lefty (handed) too and we gotta stick together. (And, yes, I'm a political lefty too!)

Progressive Ruin (Mike Sterling)

I had a moment of panic over the holidays, when Mike said he was clearing his sidebar of anyone who hadn’t posted in a while. Fortunately, I did manage to have a post in November, which was his cut-off month. I was very nearly freaked out about losing my coveted spot among his links, especially after he said nice things about this blog. Not freaked out enough to sit down right away and, you know, start posting more or something, but I was disturbed enough to think seriously about my lack of posting activity. You gotta start somewhere.

Anyway, should I start slacking again, I figure this post ought to buy me a few more months, especially since I’m name-dropping and all. Hey, it beats trying to do this every day.

Speaking of such, Mike’s another one of those who makes this blog thing seem so effortless. I’m constantly and consistently entertained and amazed at the stuff he can dredge up from a dusty long box of comics.

Plus, he’s another lefty.

Postmodernbarney (Dorian Wright)

I never can remember if the title should be one word or two, but I never miss reading it. Where else can you find the Bat-Buddy and Objectifying Men Week, plus commentary that really makes you think? His take on Brokeback Mountain made me even more eager to check the film out for myself. His general take on gay novels and film, and the whole GLAAD awards deal, laid out some stuff I’ve been thinking for a long time now, but in a much more organized and eloquent fashion.

One the highlights of the summer for me was going to PMB and reading the following:

“Go read Eddie-torial Comments.” Totally made my week. I should have said this before now, but thanks.

Plus, where else can you find the phrase, "gayer than a gay thing that's gay"?

Comics Worth Reading (Johanna Draper Carlson)

She renovated her site not long ago, and I’m still adjusting to the new look. I'm afraid it’s got a few too many boxes for my tastes. Cosmetics aside, though, the content has taken a big step forward (and it was already pretty daman excellent) now that she’s bringing many of her longer reviews from the old CWR site and incorporating them with the kinds of reflections and responses to comics news she does in her blog. I always knew there was a lot of good content in the old site, but didn’t want to take the time to search through everything to find it. This new approach puts everything front and center, especially now, as she reposts items from the old version of the site. (I wish she would note somewhere that the material is a repost, though.)

I think she does her best work when she writes longer pieces, and I have greatly enjoyed reading series overviews like this one for Maison Ikkoku. Another one of her strengths lies in looking at topics other folks aren’t talking about, like this thoughtful piece on pdf review copies.

She covers a broad spectrum of material on her reviews, which I appreciate, since I read a broad spectrum of material. I don’t always agree with her, and I like that. She’s praised stuff I have seriously disliked, but she always does a fine job of explaining what it was she saw in the work. It hasn’t changed my mind, but I appreciate her take on things. On the other hand, she also expresses her dislikes clearly enough that I can tell whether or not I might find something of interest in a comic she didn’t care for. And at times, her negative take on something I like has made me pause long enough to try and express, at least to myself, exactly what it was I saw in the work or exactly where I disagree with her. Maybe one of these days. I’ll get better at putting it into writing.

Like many others, I have made purchases based on her recommendations. Recently, at Half-Price Books, I picked up a couple of manga volumes that she has praised.

Plus, this is the place where I start my blogreading every day. It was through her that I discovered some of the guys above, who in turn led me to some of the others. In other words, this post is all her fault!

Comics Reporter (Tom Spurgeon)

For me, this one fills the void left behind when Journalista ended. Spurgeon doesn’t approach things exactly the way Dirk Deppey did, but I appreciate the wide net he throws in his searches for material. Inevitably, there is a link or a post every day about someone or something that I find really interesting, which I otherwise would have missed, because no one else was covering it. At the same time, he does such an excellent job of distilling and analyzing other topics that are making the rounds that I often read his pieces about topics I would normally have no interest in.

Keith's Spam-Catching Little Blog

And, finally, last, but certainly not least, we have Keith’s Spam-Catching Little Blog. Okay, so that’s not the real title, but that’s essentially what it is and I do believe in truth in advertising.

Some time in 2005, when I did my run down of the top concerts we attended the previous year, he was appalled that I had rated Kris Kristofferson at number 6! I told him that it was a great show, but that I thought there were several that were better, and number six isn’t so bad really, and anyway this is my blog which about my opinion not his, and if he really wanted to disagree with me he was free to do so and could leave me a comment or better yet get his own blog. (Deep breath!) So he did. Get a blog, that is. Where he posted exactly once and then abandoned to the spammers. I have a feeling that if my top show and top CD for 2005 list comes out, and John Prine is not in the top spot on either list, that his blog will pop out of retirement. I’m actually kind of looking forward to it. It’s the kind of thing that keeps our life together from becoming too boring.

Good lord, maybe if I weren’t so long-winded, maybe I would post more. I’m worn out after all that! How does Roger do it? Maybe I ought to rethink this sidebar thing…

Here's Looking At You!

So I Was Sitting in the Car the Other Day, Feeling Bored, When I Suddenly Realized....

....Hey! I've got a camera phone!

PRESENTING:

The Fickle Hand of Fate!

The Delirious Thumb of Destiny!

The Futile Fist of Fury!

Random Ramblings

Missed Holidays

Happy Belated National Gorilla Suit Day! Thanks to Mike Sterling and Roger Green for pointing out that I missed it. I need to make a note to mark my calendar for next year, I guess. I do so hate missing out on festive occasions when one can wear hairy apparel.

One of our program managers retired a couple of years ago and insisted on having his retirement party on Halloween, so everyone could come in costume. He wore a gorilla suit.

Music Note Addendum

I couldn’t get the link to this story to work yesterday, so I cut it out of the post, but it seems to be working now:

I’m pretty bummed with the way the whole deal with Nellie McKay and her label went down. I hope that she can manage to get the rights to the songs back and take them elsewhere. Reminds me a lot of the struggle Patty Griffin went through over one of her albums. The results were pretty much the same, but she managed to go on with another label, more freedom, and released awesome CD a couple of years ago. I’m guessing the same thing will happen to McKay. She’s pretty talented too.

(Thanks to Augie de Blieck for the link.)


Saw This in A Parking Lot Last Night

Posted without comment

And Finally

Got this in email a while ago, so probably most folks have seen it. Still, I’ve been wanting to post it here for a while. So, in honor of the many Oscar noms for Brokeback Mountain and last night’s State of the Union address:


Now that I’ve finally seen BBM, I’ve got some thoughts rolling around I need to sort out and post. I can say this: I was moved on many levels. I need to read the original short story. And I need to re-read Dorian’s post on the movie. Something he said kept sticking in my head while I was watching it, but I couldn’t remember it clearly enough to process both it and the film at the time. It’s been a while since I’ve seen something that gave me something to grapple with afterwards.

But Wait…There’s More

Apparently Dad needs a cell phone.

This and That

Personal Notes

Happy Birthday Fred Hembeck!

Congratulations Gordon Dymbowski!

Glad you’re feeling better, Chris Brown!

Oh yeah, Roger Green, if you hadn’t noticed it yet, Lydia is completely adorable. I love the growth/development updates in Ramblin’ with Roger.

Music News

Rhett Miller (of the Old 97’s) has a solo album coming out soon. His first one, The Instigator, was an addictive strummy, power pop concoction that I just LOVED, so I can't wait for this one.

Roseanne Cash’s latest CD is out. After reading some of her comments about it, I can’t wait to get a copy. In the space of a couple years, she lost her dad, mom and step-mom (June Carter Cash), and this release is one way she tried to make sense of it all.

Our concert calendar for the first part of the year is filling up pretty quickly.

The library has a bunch of new CD’s and is doing a series of free concerts to promote the expansion of their music library. The list of artists that performing is astounding: Loudon Wainwright III, Iris Dement, Dar Williams, Ladysmith Black Mambazo! All for free! It’s almost mind-boggling.

We went to the Wainwright show a couple of weeks ago. I was a little underwhelmd, given the praise that I've seen heaped on him as a songwriter. I found him to be mildly entertaining at best. Iris Dement is Saturday and I know that will be a good show. She holds an audience like no one else I've seen and has the most wonderful dry sense of humor.

There’s a group in town trying to fill the void created when IBMA pulled their awards show out of Louisville with a brand-new bluegrass festival. For a brand new festival, the line-up is pretty impressive, with newer national acts like Mountain Heart and Cherryholmes mixed with local favorites like Hog Operation mixed with legends like Doyle Lawson and JD Crowe, topped off with nationally known, Kentucky-based folks like Michael Cleveland and Dale Ann Bradley. I’m looking forward to it.

We’re also going to see Kris Kristofferson in Nashville in March!

Miscellany

I’ve got the makings of a lengthy post on comics rumbling in my head, but I’ve as yet been unable to get it all worked out enough to finish it. I may just post it anyway, as is, because I think it’s going to be a work in progress. The gist of it is this: I’m not sure there’s a place for me in comics any more, and I have mixed feelings about that. That doesn’t mean, however, that I’m giving up comics or planning to do so any time in the future.

Oh yeah, and my dad won a contest:

I've lost my mind!

I'm actually going to try and do this.

Not as a runner, mind you. All three races take walkers as well. I've signed up for a training team with the Y. I'm hoping it'll be the boost my fitness routine needs.

I'm not bothered at all by the thought of the first two events, but the 10-miler scares me a little.

I Get Mail Too

Of course, sometimes it makes me wonder what the folks at the Post Office think about me.

The other day, I pulled both of these out of the box:

More Mail for Dad

The YMCA sent my dad some mail:

Apparently, they're worried that he might be leading a sedentary lifestyle.

Seriously (and a little less tacky perhaps), this is the kind of thing that really would have helped him. If he had taken something like this up years ago, he might still be with us today. Follow through on that resolution to get more fit. Your loved ones will thank you for it.

Always Remember

Okay, it the meme wasn't dead already, then this certainly did kill it. But it was fun!