Still Drifting a Bit

The days are starting to blur together. My normal weekend appointments were called off and that has only served to further confuse my head. Tomorrow I'll be out of the house and that should help realign things. Hopefully I'll have some fun as well.

Haven't played Guitar Hero in months and today I found out I'm still okay at it. At least I'm no worse at it than I was months ago. I'm probably not any better. My hand won't curl to allow for comfortable play on medium so I lamely rock on easy. I still managed to get through 'Raining Blood' and that's not bad after all that time.

In the past few months, Time/Warner has been meddling with the television scheduling screens. I dislike the changes. Screens are slower to respond in general, to the point where bringing up the guide can lead to a break in the audio/video feed. This never happened before the updates. This failure is part of the reason for the change I mentioned yesterday. Today I found that, at the very least, they made the 'on demand' channels work better. I could never consistently get them to work properly before. Today they're working. I've been recording some shows to DVD, stuff I wouldn't normally record. The lack of commercials or minimal commercials in the 'on demand' feed is very attractive. This way I got the first three episodes of 'Wolverine and the X-Men', which I had previously missed. It's a pretty good show so far.

I also got some 'new' Muppet stuff today. This is exciting!

So there's reason for hope.

I got nothing

Feels like I've done nothing but type this past day or so. That's not a bad thing as such but it's not all directly related to the current project so it's as much keeping the momentum going as anything else. Watched a movie last night but it walked a line between 'okay' and 'not bad enough to be funny' so there isn't much to walk about there. Getting rid of Time/Warner for the AT&T version of television but that won't kick in for a little while yet. Once it does, that'll be something to talk about. Played the last level in a videogame that I haven't touched for months. That was weird and fun at the same time.

Just...meh.

A Few Thoughts on Comics from This Week

After a couple smaller weeks at the shop, this week was heavy duty in comparison. Wow.

I found New Avengers #50 to be enjoyable, despite the fact that the cover image never really happens within the book. This Avengers team is in flux and is trying to stabilize. As with last issue, Clint's speech at the end of the book makes it. I do look forward to the day when the 'new' can be dropped from the title. I understood its purpose at once point but is feeling increasingly lame.

Hulk #10 was interesting, a Defenders reunion that's not a Defenders reunion. As Jeph Loeb stories go, this could be interesting. That said, I'm tired of waiting on the identity on the Red Hulk. C'mon Jeph! It's getting old.

Mighty Avengers #22 also shows an Avengers team in flux. The storyline gets serious this issue and I'm very interested. Traditional Avengers villains show up and are causing some major problems. I wasn't sold on the art at first, but I'm liking it now. It's not my favorite style, but its a reasonable mix of stylistic and realistic.

Fantastic Four #564 starts a vacation story for the FF which is clearly not going to let them rest. The team's in Scotland to stay with Reed's minister cousin. Millar and Hitch have been doing a great job with the book. I'll admit that when they were announced I was concerned it would be too 'ultimate' in nature but I believe those fears to have been unfounded. It may not be Stan and Jack, but it might be Mark (Waid) and Mike (Weiringo).

Incredible Hercules #126 shows Herc's origin, details that we didn't have before that are explaining some of the storylines going on now. Better than I expected and the backup story isn't bad either.

Savage Dragon #145 starts the book over. Sorta. Not really but yeah. It's a good jumping on point for new readers and has quite a shock ending. Thumbs up.

Fear Agent #26 feels like it's preparing to end a series rather than be the penultimate issue in a storyline. A good chunk of the book is a knock-down drag out bare knuckle fight. It's mean but makes sense given the history of the book.

Transformers - Maximum Dinobots #3 continues my Generation 1 Transformers comic book joy. Simon Furman's Transformers work has never left my wanting. I'm not sure how we writes giant robots so well but I'm glad he can.

War Machine #3 continues the launch of a book for which I had very low expectations. It's been very interesting instead. I'm still not completely sure what happened to Rhodey but I'm willing to wait until they're ready to lay it all out. What they've revealed so far is pretty Deathlok but I'm sure there's a bit more to it. Actually, the way his character is currently seems like a mix of Deathlok and Terror Inc. This is good stuff.

As normal, there were others I enjoyed but these are the ones that I felt like commenting on.

'Into the Wild Green Yonder' review

I'm not completely sure why I didn't like the new Futurama 'Into the Wild Green Yonder' when I watched it yesterday.

Perhaps it was because it didn't seem to link up much to the end of the last movie. Normally that would be no big deal but since the other movies felt more connected to each other, I expected it to happen again.

Perhaps it was because it seemed to change it's own rules. I don't recall women being treated as such second-class citizens during the series so that point here felt like it existed just to feed the story. Perhaps it was due to legislation that Earth-President Nixon introduced? Then why not bring it up before it's a critical story point? Before it feels like a cheat?

Perhaps it was because it felt like there was an extra episode attached to the beginning that had little to do with the rest of the story? Normally that wouldn't be a big deal either. Seen as individual episodes it may have worked better. As a 'movie' expected to be a whole, it felt odd when the storyline and characters with it disappeared.

Perhaps it was too preachy. Perhaps the jokes weren't funny enough. Perhaps it wasn't clever enough. All I know is that I was disappointed. I got bored halfway through and started flipping through other things, like I do with normal television. Stuff not worth directing my entire attention upon.

This might be the end of the series. Again. If they wanted to leave me unexcited, not chomping at the bit for more episodes should none materialize, they succeeded. It felt incomplete somehow.

I'm sure I'll watch it again and maybe I'll like it more then as I won't be expecting what I don't receive. For now, I expected better.

Thumbs way down.

I Still Miss Someone

My friend, I know it's been awhile since we last saw each other and I'm sorry about that. I know you've missed me as I've missed you; that is clear to me.

It's not as if I've been avoiding you, well, its not as if I didn't want to see you. I do. You know how things are at the moment.

I know our recent meeting was brief. We had so much to catch up on and it felt like all we got to do was say 'hello' before we were separated again. I promise, I'll do what I can to be back soon.

I miss Best Buy.

At least I managed to keep myself to the items I chose before walking into the store. It wasn't easy.

Now I'm all Hungry

I try to control the amount of fast food that I eat. I know I don't have the healthiest eating habits in general so I figure limiting fast food is a step in the right direction. However, there are certain times and circumstances that just scream 'fast food' to me and it doesn't seem right if I don't go with the flow.

Generally I gravitate to Wendy's as I am a fan of the Spicy Chicken Sandwich they have on the menu. Hardee's was once a favorite of mine but there isn't one nearby, not close enough that I would go regularly anyway. I prefer Burger King to McDonalds but don't like Burger King as much as I used to do. McDonalds stopped being interesting to me somewhere in my late teens. There are things on the menu I know are 'safe' for me to eat but I don't have an excitement for the place. I think I've had all of one Big Mac in my life. I saw a commercial for a Quarter Pounder the other day and pondered whether or not I'd ever had one. Can't remember. Don't think so.

Of late, I've had a taste for Taco Bell, which seems ridiculous as that's even worse. It's dangerous, evil stuff but a weird yearning for nacho cheese draws me there. It doesn't hurt that they're open late and there's one right off the freeway, not far from where I live. It's a weird self-loathing that brings me there, great heaps of hot sauce, and far too entertaining with beer with which to wash it down.

The other part to me that seems ridiculous to me is that I like watching cooking shows. I see proper food getting made, occasionally get keen to try something, but have no skill in that regard. I can bake after a fashion, barbecue a little, but not really cook. Gordon Ramsey would hate me I'm sure.

December 27, 1992

The tape is labeled 'Museum - December 27, 1992' and I find no reason to doubt that date. It can't be much earlier as it's clearly winter and I'm wearing the Ramones concert T-shirt I got October 30, 1992. It would make sense that I'd wear it later that year in an effort to show it off to my friends, some of which I wasn't seeing regularly anymore after I'd graduated from high school in June 1992.

I watched the tape a few years ago in order to pull off some interesting moments for a 'home video' type collection DVD. In doing so, I cut the 40-50 minutes down to about 7. The camcorder gets passed around a lot so there's a great deal of really shaky cam and messing around. The messing around was good for the other project but last night I watched it/skimmed it in an effort to see if there were any images I could pull from it in order to compare and contrast the Museum as it appeared then to how it looks now. The messing around is less good for this project.

The good news is that there's some areas captured that have changed drastically from then to now. I don't know if there are any decent stills I can pull from the tape to show this, but I'm interested in trying. Two areas in particular would be good for this: the main area on the first floor and the Temples, Tells and Tombs exhibit on the second floor.

The main area on the first floor held the entrance to the building at that time, along with two gift shops and a coat check area. It was a very open area at that time. Now, the entrances are on the ground floor. The area that used to be the entrance on One holds a butterfly exhibit. The once open area is very crowded with new exhibits. Big change.

Temples, Tells, and Tombs was new (to me anyway) in 1992 and was removed in 2007 to make way for the enlarged traveling exhibit space where the Titanic relics are currently. The bulk of the items from that exhibit still on display are currently on the third floor and the wikipedia article for the Museum says they will be there permanently come next year. There are some signs that this is starting to occur now but, if the plan is to accomplish this in the area those items are currently located in, it will be a greatly cut down version of the exhibit. Still better than nothing.

I also have proof that the humpback whale skeleton was on the ground floor at the time. I'm not misremembering.

Some of my entertainment in watching it last night came from listening to myself. In a number of ways, I have not changed. Upon seeing the mummy in Temples, Tells, and Tombs, I immediately start telling my friends where he used to reside in the Museum, down on the first floor, in the Rise to Civilization exhibit. Some of my jokes are even the same from then to now. Some of my jokes were created by my friends that day and are stuck in my head. We must have had fun.

Good deal.

I gots nuthin

Since I have spun a plate, Now I must sit and wait.

Yeah, I got nothing. I blogged twice yesterday so I figure that makes up for this.

A Few Thoughts on Comics from This Week

Light week this week.

My favorite this week is Amazing Spider-Man Family #4. Don't like Brand New Day and its effects? Spidey Family features mostly fun stories and has very little bearing on mainstream 'continuity'. This issue has a short story based in the mainstream, reprints Spidey issues 97 and 98, a story set in the Spider-Girl continuity, an Aunt May story that's cute... and the return of Spider-Ham! Yes! One of the first comics I got when I started intentionally getting comics. It's a fun story, nothing earth shattering but fun.

Simpsons Comics #151 introduces Moe's family. He has family?

Dark Avengers #2. I have to believe this is a storyline type book, the sort of thing designed to run for a year or two before ending. It's too much like Thunderbolts to continue much longer than that. More of an interesting idea than anything else.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #60 is the last issue of the book. Does it wrap anything up? Nope. There's a miniseries to do that. Not a bad issue but the lack of closure annoyed me.

Marvel Adventures - The Avengers #33 made me laugh out loud at one point. If you don't like how 'dark' the mainstream books are right now, then get some of the Marvel Adventures books. They're designed for a slightly younger audience and can be a hoot. Generally good art and good writing that doesn't take itself too seriously, in a way that works more often than not.

As normal, I got more books that just this but this is what I felt like talking about.

A little detail regarding yesterday's post

Yesterday's story segment originates from the incomplete Season 32 Doctor Who story 'Psychotic Reaction'. Some looking into the notebook it was being written in displays the problems that lead to the end of the Season 32 project.

The second story of the 'Season', another rewrite of a 'Teen Doctor' story, 'Relative Power' was completed. It was started after the Reaction, which was meant to launch the Season. A note inside the cover of the notebook states 'Season 32 must begin!' and dates the beginning of the writing process as December 14, 1995.

During this time, I tended to date the beginning and ending dates of episodes. This was a way to track the timing of my writing process. Considering I wrote sequentially at this time (I hadn't learned how to write in fragments and piece a story together yet), this worked.

Episode One was completed on May 12th, 1998. Ages later. Generally an episode, about 30 written pages, should have taken me a couple months at worst. This was forever. A little note next to the completion date states 'This took too damn long!'

Episode Two was started immediately after, finishing the cliffhanger. It wouldn't be completed until June 6, 1999. 'Too slow still!' the accompanying note states.

Episode Three started on June 17, 1999. It would never be completed. 9 written pages exist for it, as well as a couple pages from Episode Four written after I started figuring out how to write out of order.

I started typing the story up this week, what exists of it anyway. It's weird editing words I originally wrote over a decade ago but I am.

I don't expect to finish the story, just preserve what exists, kind of like the incomplete Tom Baker story 'Shada'. It does explain why I had to officially 'cancel' the Season. When it takes three and a half years to write half the story, well, that's not a good pace with which to go forward.

It's okay; I've other things to focus on now.

A scene from a never completed story

“What's a kipper?” Julie asked as she searched the menu containing her breakfast choices.

“It's a fish,” answered the Doctor, currently engaged in scanning a similar document.

Julie made a face. “I don't think the idea of fish for breakfast would sit very well.”

“It doesn't with me either. This incarnation doesn't seem to tolerate seafood very well. Not that I'm all that hungry in general.”

“You rarely are.”

“True, true,” he murmured.

The owner of the small hotel they were staying in approached their table. He was a tall man with an expressive face, long legs, dark thinning hair, and a tidy mustache. “Ah, Doctor.” That title, 'Doctor', was savoured by the gentleman speaking it, carefully forming it in his mouth before daring to utter it. When they had checked in, he'd been clearly impressed by the title. The Doctor's youthful appearance did not appear to hinder the owner's enthusiasm in any way given the amount of fawning over them he'd done. “I trust you slept well last night.”

“Actually I did, thank you for asking.” At an hour and a half, he felt that he'd overslept a bit, but they were on holiday, so that was acceptable. “How comfortably were you wrapped in the arms of Morpheus this past eve?”

A grin played about the mouth of the owner, evidently pleased by the intellectual reference. “Comfortably enough, when I wasn't being roused by my wife's nocturnal rumblings and roarings.”

“I'm sorry to hear that.”

“As I am when it wakes me.”

The Doctor laughed politely. Seeing that the Doctor had been amused by his minor jest, the hotel owner laughed as well, with considerable more energy than the Doctor had shown. The Doctor patiently waited for the jester to complete his boisterous laughing. This event was not soon in arriving but arrive it did. Once the owner noticed the patiently quiet look on the Doctor's face, he recovered quickly. “Ah, yes, well, nevermind all that. Are you prepared to order your meal?”

“I am, Julie?” She nodded. “I'm not all that hungry this morning. Perhaps a bowl of porridge, some toast, and a glass of milk.”

“Very healthy no doubt,” he gushed as he jotted this information down. “And you miss?”

“I'll try the house omelet, with a side of bacon and toast, and a glass of orange juice.”

“Very good. I'll go and tell the chef.”

As he left to do so, Julie smiled. “What an odd man.”

“Indeed. Fancy a walk after breakfast?”

“Sounds nice, especially since we won't be hunting evil robots or evading energy blasts to do so.”

“It'll be different, that's for sure.”

I See Weird Things

I've been dubbing footage from old tapes to DVD again. I see Weird Things.

- Hulk Hogan with Mean Gene Okerland cutting a promo in front for a Wrestlemania VI sign about how he won't fight Bugs Bunny (as part of a 50th Anniversary to Bugs show).

- Honey Nut Cheerios commercial with Godzilla in it.

- Levis commercial directed by Spike Lee featuring writer/artist Rob Leifield.

- Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue - a half-hour anti drug cartoon featuring Smurfs, Alvin and the Chipmunks, ALF, Michaelangelo from the TMNT, Garfield, Muppet Babies, Winnie the Pooh, and others. Bugs Bunny talking frankly about marijuana is mind-altering in itself.

The True Terror of Friday the 13th

Friday night was full of fun as well as terror. There was also some rage and that's mostly what I'm planning to talk about today.

I don't really get angry very often. I get annoyed, I get upset, I get frustrated, but not really angry. Angry is special and impressive. All the other emotions tend to fade away as soon as the cause for that emotion is gone, and then I fade back slowly to relaxed. Angry leaves me too short tempered to relax so immediately and tends to get compounded too easily. I have to concentrate a bit to start the process back to relaxed. Angry has led to violence in the past; not much mind you, I can count on one hand the times that's occurred, but there's been some punches and scuffles from being pushed a step too far.

Friday night we were heading for the movies. We had pre-bought our tickets, so there were no concerns about being able to get into the movie or finding seats. We did start to worry about getting into the theatre though. You see, Friday night it started snowing. It was a bit on the slippery side and caution was called for but there's caution and then there's fear and then there's stupidity. Add the snow and the listed reactions to it with a busy Friday night at the theatre with the fact that the theatre in question has only one access point to the parking lot and you get traffic that doesn't move for five minutes because people are clogging the interchanges in the lot and can't get free because the traffic light didn't change and no one thought to just make a right turn instead and break the jam. This annoyed and frustrated me. I was not driving but my friend that was driving was also annoyed and frustrated so we didn't help each other relax very well. We fed each others anger.

Finally we got into the lot and parked, fussing and fuming as we walked. One of our party was meeting us there and was stuck in the traffic. His normal five minute trip took him a half-hour. As part of our tickets, we had a five dollar vouchure for the snack bar and I was encouraged to go instead and make use of it. As I entered, I bumped into a different friend of mine and chit-chatted with him for a minute. This chance meeting relaxed me a little and then I headed to the snack bar.

Mistake!

I picked what felt like the shortest line and decided what I wanted. The line didn't move for ages and my annoyance started to build back to anger. When the people in front of me didn't step up to the front when the opportunity presented (I'm not saying that they didn't rush the counter as soon as the gap presented itself, I'm saying that they were having too much fun for a moment to step forward and I wasn't in the mood to see that) and then didn't have an order ready to place, I got more mad. I had no way to take it out without being the bad guy so I just stood there and fumed. Once they finally got their stuff and moved on, I got to the front, made my simple request, and it was quickly granted. Thank you! A step in the right direction.

A few things then went right. I bumped into my buddy again, which wasn't that much of a shock as we were going to the same movie, and then I saw that my other friend had made it through the traffic so that was settled. We got in the theatre, got in our seats, and I tried to relax a bit as I starting eating my candy and watching trailers for films that didn't make me want to see the films in question very much.

Then the film started. The lights were still on in the theatre. This caused a couple comments from the audience but nothing changed. I was not relaxed enough to take another bump in the road and quickly grew irritated again. The desire to throw my Junior Mints at the screen was strong but I resisted. As the credits continued and nothing changed, my buddy got up to talk to someone about this. When he returned he noted that the individual he spoke with was 'going to talk to someone about it'. What? It's the lights in the theatre! It's probably just a dimmer switch. Does the manager have to make a decision about who's responsible enough to touch the dimmer switch? I got a little explosive but tried to settle down for the benefit of the rest of the audience. It's not like they were happy about this either. Let's just try to ignore it and watch the movie. About five minutes later, as my buddy rose to complain again, the lights finally came down.

Okay. Deep breaths. Just get into the movie and relax a little. Everything will be fine by the end of the film. Just relax.

Then a couple rows behind me, someone's phone goes off. Seriously? And they pick up and start talking without leaving the theatre. Seriously?!?

At that point, I was done. The theatre going experience was well and truly dead to me. Almost everything I'd ever predicted about the death of theatres was happening to me. All I needed was damage to the print of a new film or a problem with the sound system and my night would be complete.

Thankfully no. That was it. I could finally relax and get into the movie. I laughed a little, reacted to the scary scenes, and, despite my distaste for doing so, applauded from amused joy at one point. I know, it's not a play and they can't hear me, but it wasn't at the end of the film as if to say 'that was a good movie', it was a spontaeous 'oh wow!' sort of thing that others joined in on.

By the end I was okay again. I'm still not keen to go back to the theatre though. It may cause me to skip a film or two that I'm not sure on. Or maybe that's just fall-out from one of the trailers I saw. It just didn't feel right. We'll see.

New Simpsons Titles

I liked them.

Today was the first appearance of the new title sequence for the Simpsons, mostly for HD. I was pleased that it was, by in large, the same basic sequence as the original, but updated with other characters and items. It made me laugh a bit out of joy.

Haven't watched the episode yet. After the title sequence I left for bowling.

'Ah Luv Yew!'

"Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh lllllllluuuuuuuuvvvvvvv yyyyyyeeeeeeeeeewwwwww!" announced the pudgy man to the crowd. Despite this declaration, the crowd did not respond in kind. Indeed, their reaction was almost the exact opposite as they vigorously booed the pudgy man with the bright white suit. He did not seem to notice that their reaction wasn't particularly friendly or perhaps he was just actively ignoring them. He beamed a wide smile at them with his round face that was heavily coated with red makeup. The makeup matched the red colour of his shirt. It was a very red shirt. This meant that his face glowed in a rather unhealthy looking sort of way. He just smiled and listened to the gentle sound of a church organ as it played, doing his best to pick that sound out from the sea of boos.

"Friends," he continued in a heavy Southern drawl that I'll no longer attempt to duplicate, "I love you. I have a great deal of love for all the creatures in this world. So I love to help any creatures who may be having a tough time. I have for you today a man who has lost his way in the world. Perhaps more importantly he has lost his way here in the World Wrestling Federation." His face curled into an expression of disdain. "My guest tonight is the man known as Smasher."

The crowd's boos instantly turned to cheers at the mere sound of their hero's name. The cheers grew louder as his music started to play and peaked when he emerged from behind the curtain at the rear of the little interview stage. Smasher wasn't the biggest of men nor was he the tallest but he had a presence that was undeniable. He wore a dark coloured t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. His face was obscured by a black mask with a red lightning bolt style pattern. A pretzel rod was clamped between his teeth like a cigar. Even with the pretzel where it was, he managed to grin at the crowd. He also decided to wave, an action they seemed to appreciate. Causally he made his way to the pudgy man, who looked quite displeased with Smasher in general. Smasher seemed unconcerned with this facial expression. "How's it goin' there Brudder Love?" When he spoke he did so with a low rumble. It was the sound of a voice that had been through a lot in its time.

"Let's not worry about that, what I wanna know is..."

Smasher gave him a look and removed the pretzel rod from his mouth. "Hey! I asked you a question like a gentleman here. How's it goin'?"

Brother Love gulped visibly. "I'm, I'm well."

"Glad to hear it." He returned the pretzel to his mouth.

"Now that that is settled, the reason I asked you here is..."

"Ain't you goin' ask me how I'm doin'? That would only be polite." Once again the pretzel left his mouth. He smiled cooly at Brother Love. "After all, you wouldn't want me to ferget me manners now, would ya?"

Brother Love quivered not unlike some sort of gelatin type dessert. "How have you been?"

Smasher smiled widely. "Sue-per-ba," he responded grandly. The crowd cheered in appreciation.

Brother Love tried to resume control. "Now that the pleasantries have been taken care of?" Smasher nodded slightly. "The reason I asked you here is to discuss why you've become such a coward!"

Smasher turned calmly, rolling the pretzel around in his mouth while he considered this. "Excuse me?" He laughed gently. "I know I ain't getting any younger here and my hearing may not be what it used to be, but I coulda sworn you called me a coward there."

"I did!" He did his best to remain defiant. "You've been ducking the challenge of Rhythm and Blues for weeks now. They have been out here over and over again challenging you and you refuse to accept. You sir are a coward!" Brother Love became so worked up that he forgot himself. He ended this declaration in Smasher's face, accidentally spitting on him.

Calmly Smasher wiped the spittle from his mask and face. "You seem to have fergotten that my tag team partner Cowboy Bill Watson has been injured and that dey will not let me rassle a tag team by meself." He smiled patiently and spoke calmly, as if to a child. "Did ya perhaps ferget that?"

"I have forgotten nothing! With all the friends you claim to have here in the World Wrestling Federation you can't find a suitable replacement partner?"

"Well, it ain't as easy as..."

Brother Love interrupted. "It's been weeks since Cowboy Bill hurt himself..."

Smasher got hot. "Hurt hisself?!? He was jumped by Rhythm and Blues. That no-good turkey neck bum Jimmy Hart hit him in the knee with that megaphone of his and bust his knee."

Brother Love remained undeterred. "Cowboy Bill went to kick poor little Jimmy Hart and caught the megaphone instead. It was his own fault."

"Why you!" Smasher paused, took a deep breath and smiled. Casually he leaned out and brushed some dust from Brother Love's shoulder. "Not ta change the subject or nutthin' but do ya know how they kick a bum outta a saloon in the South side a Milwaukee?" He smiled again. "No, course ya wouldn't. Ya see, they grab the bum by the lapels." He did so to Brother Love. Brother Love looked very afraid. "And den they hoist the bum up!" He went to do so but was hit in the back by a guitar wielded by the Honky Tonk Man. Surprised and staggered, Smasher released Brother Love who gratefully scurried away. Smasher turned around, only to come face to face with the other half of Rhythm and Blues, Greg 'the Hammer' Valentine. Greg Valentine hit Smasher atop his head with an elbow strike, staggering him further as well as breaking his pretzel rod. He spun around and was punched by the Honky Tonk Man. The impact from that spun him back to Greg Valentine who also took the opportunity to hit him. Smasher finally fell. Rhythm and Blues began kicking him mercilessly while Jimmy Hart screeched encouragement to them through his megaphone. The crowd booed this activity.

Their boos turned suddenly to cheers as a figure stormed down the aisle towards the interview area. He was a small fireplug of a man with a mighty, mighty beard. He wore jeans and a Harley-Davidson t-shirt. Jake 'the Milkman' Milliman pushed past Jimmy Hart, spun the Honky Tonk Man around and started punching him, much to the delight of the crowd. This activity distracted Greg Valentine to the point that he stopped kicking Smasher. Once Honky Tonk was sufficiently staggered, Jake swung at Greg. Greg ducked and swung back at Jake who also ducked.

This brief rest provided Smasher with an opportunity to regain his feet. He stood, grabbed Greg Valentine, spun him around and hit him with the bolo punch. Greg bounced to the floor and scrambled to his feet, clutching his jaw. Since neither Brother Love nor Jimmy Hart were likely to help fight back, the odds were now even. This was not in their plans. Rhythm and Blues, along with Jimmy Hart and Brother Love beat a hasty retreat.

Now there was only Smasher and Jake Milliman. Smasher looked at Jake. Jake stood there with his hands on his hips, puffing slightly from running down the aisle. The crowd cheered at them. Smasher looked to the crowd and had an idea. He scooped up the microphone that Brother Love had left behind. "I owe them two bums a beating but I need a tag partner to do it in the ring. Whadya say?" Smasher extended his hand. The crowd cheered wildly. Jake grinned and accepted the handshake.

"Those two bums and all de udder bums in the World Wrestling Federation better look out cause I gots me a new tag partner and we're gonna smash it up!"

For their part, the crowd continued to go wild.

(I don't think I've posted this here before. If so, I should have saved it for today.)

Not quite a review, more of a brief discussion

I watched 'Color Me Blood Red' again last night and was struck by how close it is to being an underrated almost classic. In the event you're not familiar with the film, it's the third in a cycle of films known as the 'Blood Trilogy'. These low budget films made in the early 1960s by H.G. Lewis are considered to be the first horror films to feature prominent gore. In a number of ways, they recreate the earlier horror styles and prepare them for the slasher films of the 1970s and 1980s. Normally when I watch the films, I watch them in order of their release in the Trilogy, despite the fact that the stories aren't connected in any way. 'Color Me Blood Red' usually comes across as extra poor as the middle film of the Trilogy, '2000 Maniacs', is my favorite. After watching everything come together well for the middle movie, it's disappointing to see how the final film doesn't improve on that.

Watching them out of order, it was easier to see what 'Blood Red' does well. It's the story of frustrated painter Adam Sorg, who discovers that the color of blood is the red he's looking for his art (I know that scientifically that makes no sense and there's a lot of that in the movie, but it's a movie and we're just letting that go, okay?). The basic 'art through death' plot was nothing new at the time either (see 'House of Wax' and 'A Bucket of Blood' so the entertainment comes primarily from the gore effects and watching Adam Sorg's torment grow. He transforms from obnoxious artist to tormented, increasingly crazed killer as we watch but never reaches a truly mad for the sake of being mad character. He explains his twisted, justifying logic near the end of the film and his desire to not sell this line of art shows that, on some level, he knows there's something wrong with what he's doing. There's also signs that he has to 'talk' himself into these things. This makes for an interesting character and it's performed well.

Him being interesting is vital as his character is almost constantly on-screen for the first half-hour or so of the movie. I found that it flies by. Oddly enough, despite some other interesting characters, the movie starts to drag without Adam on-screen. Even with some fun dialogue and (surprising in retrospect but wouldn't have been at the time) chastity, things start to get old until we begin the end sequence. Nothing gets horrible in that twenty minutes or so and it's only about 80 minutes long in total but the stretch without Adam drags.

The ending has a character totally acting in character and some nice moments of dark humor. I enjoyed it more than I expected last night and yet remember why I don't like it as much as I should. '2000 Maniacs' is almost a really good movie if it's not and 'Blood Feast', the first movie in the cycle, is so horrible it's fun. 'Color Me Blood Red' is never really horrible so it doesn't get that quality to it. It sits as an oddity in the process, almost half a step incomplete. Still worth watching but not quite there.

A Few Thoughts on Comics from This Week

Light week this week.

Thor #600 is the big book for this week, literally and figuratively. Loki's machinations pay off in big ways causing a change to the status quo. The issue also features a short story written by Stan Lee, the good-natured parody of Chris Giarrusso, and some reprints of 60's Tales of Asgard stories. A few good 'wow' moments. I enjoyed it a lot.

Marvel TV: Galactus - The Real Story was fun. Not outrageously silly fun like I think they hoped, but fun. An interesting look at how people in the Marvel Universe might see the events around them.

Amazing Spider-Girl #29 - It's a pity this book ends with the next issue because it's always been entertaining to me. The character is scheduled to continue in the Spider-Man Family book and that's better than nothing. This is a busy issue, starting to pay off story-lines that have been building for years in some cases. Some exciting moments and a lot of me wondering how they're going to get themselves out of this corner. Good stuff.

The 3 Geeks - Slab Madness #2 - I don't often laugh out loud when I'm by myself but this made me chuckle a few times, so that's an excellent sign. I have a lot of love for Rich Koslowski's work. The fact that's he's been a nice guy the couple times we've met hasn't hurt any either. Go Rich!

The few other items from this week were enjoyable, apart from Eternals #8 which I found tedious. Some of it is the change in artist not sitting well with me and the rest was the X-Men's guest appearance. I'm pretty full as regards X-Men and this crossover felt like all the horrible 90's X-Men appearances I read in my younger days. Not a fond look back.

Went to the Museum again today

And why not? Made for a busy day. Took one of my friends along who hasn't been before with me and he soon discovered that adding me to your trip to the Museum tends to make it very different indeed. Tried to look at some things from different angles, learn a thing or two, and, as always, have fun doing so. Didn't quite finish everything and would have stayed longer but they were closing. We spent about three and a half hours going through it without seeing an IMAX movie or going through the Titanic exhibit. Good stuff.

Food and Froth (mostly a beer tasting in the Museum) is next Saturday. Am VERY excited about this night. Upon requesting access to the Museum today in Member Services, the young lady behind the counter looked at me. 'You ordered tickets for Food and Froth, didn't you?' After I agreed, she noted that they were getting ready to mail them and would I like mine now? Certainly save on the postage, I offered. She sheepishly reported that she'd handwritten the envelope for my ticket and the name had stuck in her head. I thought that was awesome.

I took myself to the Museum today

I was wandering around the third floor, taking notes for a game that might be worth playing or might not. I headed over to the Africa wing to check on the location of a couple items and look in on the Decapitated Director Dummy in Morocco when... something moved. I was just stepping into the courtyard when something clearly moved in the exhibit. I gasped slightly and my hand lept to my chest in surprise.

Then I heard a giggle. A guard sat by one of the doors to the 'building'. It was open and was clearly an access point into the exhibit window. I could now see that a couple of museum workers were in the exhibit. The guard smiled and said hi.

I muttered something about that being different, glanced at the dummy, and stepped away, heart pumping like mad.

I should have known better; I'd seen someone vacuuming an animal in the Rain Forest exhibit a half-hour before. That was weird too.

Scientific 'Creepy Jesus' count for the European Village = 34. It seems like there should be more than that but they did take the Christmas decorations down so maybe there were more the last times I went.

There was more

I remember what else I was going to mention today. IDW will be reprinting all of 'Bloom County' in five hardcover collections. Can't wait!