BuysNo time for shopping these days, but Amazon has graced me with a couple more pre-Christmas purchases. In 1999, I had to give up comics because they were ruining me and when I got back on my feet years later, I only started buying stuff I could put on a shelf - graphic novels, trade paperbacks, that kind of thing. I almost immediately finished my collection of Grant Morrison's JLA, but I just (finally?) got Mark Waid's run in three volumes. Looks promising.
"Accomplishments"
Managed to craft a dozen WhoCCG cards, running through 2½ seasons of Tom Baker's later years (one card per story).
Flipped the tape on a couple of TV series, including Quantum Leap Season 5, otherwise known as the Season that Leaped the Shark. UFOs, big foot, evil leapers, fathering children back in time, leaps to the 19th century, leaping into famous people, meeting God... They were throwing everything at the wall to see what stuck because evidently, they thought the original concept had played itself out. Still some really good moments, but the plots just aren't as well thought-out.
Clocking in at much
fewer episodes (six!), I easily flipped the tape on Clerks Uncensored. Only two episodes were ever aired and the commentaries are hilarious, as we find out just what went wrong at the unnamed network (ABC). Kevin Smith and friends don't mince words either, one lawyer-type being referred to as an animal child rapist at some point. If you Googled here because of those three words, I don't think I wanna know you.Also flipped some audio plays, finishing the Excelis Saga with Excelis Rising (a disappointing finale with Sir Anthony Head sounding all effete and bubbly) and Plague Herds of Excelis (my first Bernice Summerfield audio and really, a much better finale that also stars Iris "can-do-no-wrong" Wildthyme). Ah yes, and the audio-only version of Real Time too. It's on the BBC website as webcast with purty drawrings. I'll check it out some day, but I find audios more practical as actual audios. I do most of my listening in bed, doing the dishes or cooking. Real Time is a pretty cool Cyberman story with a neat time paradox starring the 6th Doctor and Evelyn "can-do-no-wrong" Smythe.
Remember last week when I told you I
gave one of my improv players some ACME Novelty Library? Well, he did his homework and brough them back safe and sound. Better yet, we used the books as a template for creating a pathetically humorous stories and to create interesting transitions. I plan to use ACME again in the classroom to see how comic book transitions can be used in instantaneous theater. Hey, if you're gonna use Chris Ware stuff to do improv, you gotta be ready to be a little uppity about it, right?And speaking of being uppity, the big news this week is that I've won a contest over at Mark Engblom's excellent Comic Coverage blog. On Blue Monday, he asked the internet community to name 16 superheroes with the word "Blue" in their names based on picture alone. One look and I probably only knew the three Blue Beetles, Blue Devil and Blue Power Ranger, so I didn't try out. When he put up a reminder 3 days later, I thought, what the hell. How I managed to be the only one that got all 16 correct, I don't know. I mean, I'm used to being the King of Geeks in my immediate viscinity, but I'm really a generalist. I was sure the blogosphere had the necessary specialists to beat me to the punch. So it seems I have now assured my title on a global scale. Of course, I can't take all the credit. My trusty Encyclopedia of Super-Heroes was an invaluable help. Not many pictures, but it at least had names, and Google Fu did the rest. All the Mini-Heroes sites with detailed costumes for all those Golden Age heroes that seem to LOOK EXACTLY THE SAME, thank you!
This is the last time I'm gonna gloat about this, so BOW BEFORE MY GEEKY MIGHT! Are you done? Ok, let's move on and never speak of it again (until I get my t-shirt, of course... Speaking of which, check out Mark's really cool merchandise.)
Website finds
Wanna RPG over the net, but don't know how to roll dice? This Dungeons & Dragons Dice Roller should give you every dice permutation you might need. Used it this week to run a lottery between 100 people at work and had left my percentile dice at home, but that's only how *I* roll.
Movie-a-Minute is an amusing collection of condensed movies for people who don't have the time to watch them all. You know, all that repertoire junk that is supposed to be important, like The Bicycle Thief, which I slept through in film history class, but you'll also find popcorn movies which I wouldn't soil my eyes with, like Roland Emmerich's Godzilla or Interview with the Vampire.
I know some of you are just getting into Doctor Who now because of the new show, and you might be confused about what has gone before. Then I'm pretty sure you need the Dalek Spotters Guide. Now you can tell which of the many Dalek stories you're watching... at a glance! Oh, and the site has plenty of Doctor Who stuff besides.Ok, you've got your homework. I'm off!
Comments