tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29532038949775554142024-03-05T23:03:25.607-08:00Project: B.H.A.M.Comics, politics, music, travel. There's no such thing as anything else.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger100125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953203894977555414.post-73756560192805697242011-02-22T20:59:00.000-08:002011-02-22T20:59:39.895-08:00Dwayne McDuffie, 1962-2011From CBR:
CBR News has learned that comic writer, animation producer and respected industry veteran Dwayne McDuffie passed away. The cause of death and specific details are unknown at this time.
A native of Detroit, McDuffie officially joined the comics industry as part of Marvel Comics editorial in the late '80s. While working on special projects for the publisher, he quickly made his name as Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953203894977555414.post-78895500990157334272011-01-28T18:58:00.000-08:002011-02-03T08:25:37.032-08:00Eric Powell's poignant and heartfelt reflections on the state of modern creator-owned comics (UPDATED)Well, so to speak.
The collective sphincter of the creator-owned comic book artists has been stretched to the size of Nebraska, thanks to the Galactus-sized member of the superhero monopoly.
It goes downhill from there. While The Creators Front for Diversity in Comics did valiantly try to bleep out the swear words, it's kind of like trying to blur out the boobs in "Human Centipede."&Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953203894977555414.post-14076586453876451732011-01-22T22:43:00.000-08:002011-01-22T22:43:11.585-08:00Bat-Jong Il!Is there nothing The Onion can't improve upon? Full disclosure; Batman is my favorite comic book character. And Kim Jong Il is my favorite crazy despot. A combination of the two would be glorious. Glorious!
Kim Jong Il Ends Nuclear Program For Lead In Next 'Batman'
Here are a few stills of the oil paintings (from Bleeding Cool):
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953203894977555414.post-70825752114863490602011-01-22T00:35:00.000-08:002011-01-22T00:35:30.584-08:00The Portugal EffectIn 2000, faced with enormous drug abuse and addiction rates, Portugal decided as a nation to decriminalize drug use of all kinds. Minor possession and use of drugs were no longer a criminal offense. Police focused on cracking down on dealers instead of users.
As the sweeping reforms went into effect nine years ago, some in Portugal prepared themselves for the worst. They Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953203894977555414.post-89454733036088159252011-01-20T23:05:00.000-08:002011-01-21T08:51:34.944-08:00Apocolypse WOW!I'm by no means an Armageddon enthusiast. But I'll be the first to admit the potential for dual suns in 2012 is pretty badass.
Earth could be getting a second sun, at least temporarily.Dr. Brad Carter, Senior Lecturer of Physics at the University of Southern Queensland, outlined the scenario to news.com.au. Betelgeuse, one of the night sky's brightest stars, is losing mass, indicatingUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953203894977555414.post-55215064459316467702011-01-19T15:54:00.000-08:002011-01-19T15:54:26.573-08:00White Lightnin'!So I'm a bit behind the times on this issue. Further proof, I suppose, that I should be reading Penny Arcade on a regular basis (and watching the weekly videos).
Because white actors need more roles! Ugh.
Anywho, on to the issue in question; Thor. As you probably know, there's a film version of the longtime Marvel comic book that will soon be hitting the big Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953203894977555414.post-36137194850593981132011-01-18T20:04:00.000-08:002011-01-18T20:06:12.147-08:00Rooftop gardensHuffpost ran a really interesting little piece about Ben Flanner, a New York resident working on establishing urban gardens on rooftops around the city. Motives behind the rooftop gardens, aside from being a great use of space, include growing organic crops locally and selling them to residents and restaurants, reducing carbon footprints by having a local source of Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953203894977555414.post-60699648478947505642011-01-16T20:43:00.000-08:002011-01-16T20:43:02.154-08:00A Disease of LanguageWe are insensate molecules, assembled from the accidental code engraved upon our genes.Mud that sat up.Chemicals mingle in our sediment and in their interactions and combustions we suppose we feel, suppose we love.We reproduce, mathematically predictable as spores within a petri dish.We function briefly, then subside once more to the unknowing silt.We are a blind contingency, an unimportant Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953203894977555414.post-60979045468329770182011-01-14T15:15:00.000-08:002011-01-14T15:15:45.802-08:00Sebastián and the CityAll the hoopla about shifting astrological signs has reminded me about a post I’ve been meaning to throw up since last fall.
Last year Bellingham got to play host to the sculptures of renowned Mexican artist Sebastián. Fourteen of his pieces were placed on display around the downtown area, forming a walking tour of both the artist’s work and Bellingham’s cultural district. The exhibit went up inUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953203894977555414.post-23747274041305746142011-01-07T18:46:00.000-08:002011-01-07T18:46:46.684-08:00Comics Industry Postmortems and PredictionsBleeding Cool's Rich Johnston posted an interesting look back on comic book sales trends from 2010, as well as a few predictions about the comics industry in the new year. "Interesting" might be a bit of a subjective term on this one, so I'll qualify it by saying that it's probably more interesting to those of us who read at least a half-dozen different comic book titles every month, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953203894977555414.post-66418508705625095922011-01-03T11:19:00.000-08:002011-01-03T11:19:11.695-08:00Pete Postlethwaite, 1946-2011From The Guardian:
The actor Pete Postlethwaite has died at the age of 64. Friends said he passed away peacefully in hospital in Shropshire yesterday having suffered from cancer for some time.
Postlethwaite was once described by the film director Steven Spielberg as "probably the best actor in the world today".
He worked with Spielberg on two films in 1997 – the fantasy adventure film The LostUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953203894977555414.post-52584525414687479582011-01-01T17:21:00.000-08:002011-01-01T17:22:56.852-08:00Favorite Reads/Listens of 2010As I've often said before, one of the joys of my day job (aside from bringing women flowers) is the time it affords to devote to listening to audiobooks. Since moving to Bellingham I have become an audiobook junkie. Big, small, I listen to them all. And aside from helping to pass the time, my audiobook addiction is doing its part to keep me pretty well-read. So here are myUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953203894977555414.post-36247070481065275162011-01-01T12:42:00.000-08:002011-01-01T12:48:57.909-08:00Batman and the RightwingersThe American Right is really weird when it comes to comic books. The Right is inclined think that since comic books and their respective characters are intrinsically American icons (a sentiment I'm inclined to agree with), and since the Right as a whole sees itself as the "Heartbeat of America" (a sentiment I'm inclined to laugh at), that therefore comic books and Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953203894977555414.post-59603244906938810162010-12-31T22:56:00.000-08:002010-12-31T22:56:46.167-08:00New Year Resolution # 2666: Seek Out ImperfectionThe mention of Trakl made Amalfitano think, as he went through the motions of teaching a class, about a drugstore near where he lived in Barcelona, a place he used to go when he needed medicine for Rosa. One of the employees was a young pharmacist, barely out of his teens, extremely thin and with big glasses, who would sit up at night reading a book when the pharmacy was open twenty-four Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953203894977555414.post-63077675068685126782010-11-27T10:57:00.000-08:002010-11-27T10:57:35.784-08:00Spider-Man: The MusicalNo, seriously.
My initial reaction upon hearing that U2's Bono and The Edge were working on a Broadway version of Spider-Man was pretty grim. While I love Spider-Man and generally get a kick out of musicals, the pairing sounded disastrous. Adding in a couple of pretentious sellout "rockers" was like adding stale croutons onto a shit salad (full disclosure -- I actually used to loveUnknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953203894977555414.post-7613257639068457872010-11-18T23:20:00.000-08:002010-11-18T23:20:26.712-08:00Auntie Matter's come to town!There were so many interesting news stories out there today in the collective consciousness we've dubbed the Internet. Briefly, here's the news that snagged my attention on this chilly November day:
Coolest news first; ladies and gentlemen, we have antimatter! Which, apparently we've actually been able to create for a while now, but never for more than an instant or two.
Scientists Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953203894977555414.post-29593697061680960892010-11-17T13:50:00.000-08:002010-11-17T13:50:01.034-08:00"Your Highness," the redband editionThe redband trailer to "Your Highness" is out, to mixed reactions. Personally, I can't wait to see this one. I mean, come on. A medieval action-comedy from the director of "Pineapple Express," and starring two of the three guys from "Pineapple Express." How can this be anything but incredible?
Again, this is a redband trailer, so you probably shouldn't watch it at work.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953203894977555414.post-34224086725478665742010-11-12T01:45:00.000-08:002010-11-12T01:45:22.738-08:00A People's History of Ada, OklahomaOne of the perks of my day job (aside from giving girls flowers all day) is I'm generally on the road driving all around the county for four to six hours at a time. And thanks to the magic of audio books, I've been catching up on all those huge tomes I've been meaning to read for years. Last Thanksgiving, it was Don Quixote. April was spent on Moby Dick, which was muchUnknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953203894977555414.post-38461850969564700772010-11-11T01:19:00.000-08:002010-11-11T01:19:35.372-08:00Theory v. Law v. HypothesesWhile verbally sparring with a friend online earlier, I stumbled upon a great little site that presents a very clear and concise definition of hypotheses, scientific law and scientific theory. As anyone who's had these kinds of arguments on a regular basis knows, creationists, climate change deniers and the anti-science crowd in general all love to argue that a theory is really just anUnknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953203894977555414.post-78291667720066318302010-11-05T15:18:00.000-07:002010-11-05T15:18:43.247-07:00'So if I own Mein Kampf I'm a supporter of Hitler?'I got an interesting comment from a post made about a month ago called "People of the Book." It was about an article written by Ted Widmer which explored the forgotten and/or ignored presence of Islam during the creation and infancy of our nation. It's a fascinating article with a lot of interesting information that I didn't know beforehand, such as:
Founding Fathers John Adams Unknownnoreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953203894977555414.post-19191130775316779372010-10-21T00:29:00.000-07:002010-10-21T00:29:39.472-07:00The 600 YearsI haven't had the best of luck embedding vimeo videos onto the blog, so here's hoping this works.
From Kottke, here's an awesome projection piece captured on video (he called it "video mapping," I have no idea what the correct term is) celebrating the 600th birthday of a clocktower in Prague. It's kind of long, but well worth sitting through. Also, you might have to slip your brower Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953203894977555414.post-55944243843615827582010-10-07T00:12:00.000-07:002010-10-07T00:12:30.811-07:00Finding (and Losing) a Whole New LanguageA National Geographic expedition to into northeastern India has made a pretty amazing discovery; linguists have unearthed a whole new and unique language. Sadly, it appears this newly-discovered tongue (called 'koro') is already on it's way out:
Only around 800 people are believed to speak the Tibeto-Burman language, and few of them are under the age of 20, according toUnknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953203894977555414.post-86352919274180576702010-10-05T21:18:00.000-07:002010-10-05T21:18:14.763-07:00Landing a Newspaper Job the Hunter S. Thompson WayI followed a link to the full story from Kottke, it's too good to not pass on.
Here's an excerpt from a letter written by Hunter S. Thompson, sent to the Vancouver Sun in hopes of landing a job writing for the paper:
By the time you get this letter, I'll have gotten hold of some of the recent issues of The Sun. Unless it looks totally worthless, I'll let my offer stand. And Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953203894977555414.post-90134715588211235642010-10-03T15:16:00.000-07:002010-10-03T15:16:26.077-07:00People of the BookBrown University's Ted Widmer had a piece published in the Boston Globe a few weeks ago focusing on the historic relationship between the Founding Fathers and non-Christian religions (and locally unpopular denominations at the time, like Catholicism). As the media circus from last month illustrates, religious tolerance is as much a powder-keg issue as it has ever been.
The Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953203894977555414.post-41293915294244604802010-09-29T21:37:00.000-07:002010-09-29T21:37:23.309-07:00Greg Giraldo, 1965-2010Long live the Roast King.
From Huffpost:
Comedian Greg Giraldo tragically passed away this morning, shocking the entire comedy community and prompting an outpour of sadness online. A genuinely hilarious and intelligent stand-up comedian, Giraldo had a degree from Harvard law, was a longtime member of the Comedy Central family and is leaving behind a wife and four children.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2