Even though I’m registered as a Republican, I don’t think many of the views I don’t find myself lockstep with many of the planks in the Republican platform. Ever wonder where you political views would put you? Take the World’s Smallest Political Quiz and find out. Short but, fun.

Could the fall of the Mayans, the Incans, and the Roman Empire, the rise of Islam, the plague and the beginning of the dark ages all be somehow related?

I saw the most fascinating show on PBS last night.

It’s based around this book by David Keys and I have to admit it is a very interesting premise. This article by Ken Wohletz at Los Alamos National Laboratory provides some interesting insight as well.

Wow! Thursday already where does the week go?

I wandered through most of the week in a haze. I think I’m still recovering from doing the catalogs and trying to get myself on a more normal schedule (read - days as opposed to being up all night working and then napping a couple of times throughout the day when I can).

It was a busy weekend too.

We saw 28 Days Later (don’t waste your money). Lots of style but no substance and The Omega Man did it better in a slightly similar vein.

Sunday, we wound up at Jack and Stephanie’s wedding shower. I’m usually wary of these things but, I wound up having a great time. Everyone was so nice and friendly, there was no way you couldn’t have fun. Jack and Stephanie both have a real “joy” about them. They seem perfect for each other - it’s hard to believe I’ve known Jack for over 10 years now. It was a beautiful day and a wonderful time.

The car crapped out on me again on Tuesday (while doing laundry). So, I hadn’t had it back a week and it’s got to go back to the shop - it took some of the wind out of my sails. I thought the damn thing was fixed once and for all and now it has to go back.

I’ve got a pair of aces, what do you have?

I had the image of James Cagney at the end of Public Enemy, “Made it, Ma, top of the world!” Yeah, I know these guys weren’t nice (neither is daddy Saddam) but, kill or capture? Something just doesn’t sit right.

Plus all these world leaders are coming out saying how glad they are these guys are dead. I’m not a conspiracy buff, certainly not in this case but, if we go in to “liberate” a country, how is killing the leaders of the previous regime any different than the things the CIA was responsible for in Latin America? The question is whether or not we have come to a point in history where Exxon/Mobil, Chevron, BP and Shell have taken the place of United Fruit?

I haven’t written about the Mets in awhile. It’s been a tough season. Add to that, I haven’t been able to watch any of the games lately. I had started to write an entry about what I think the Mets should do in terms of trades and had meant to go back and edit it when I had the chance and there they went and traded pretty much everyone I had been talking about.

I was hoping they’d be able to make a deal with Kansas City sending Benitez and/or Burnitz out for a sign and trade with Carlos Beltran but, that wasn’t what happened. I still think they should trade Al Leiter before the end of the year (Boston would be a good fit). There’s a bunch of middle relievers that could go as well (Lloyd, Stanton - who I never have liked and Weathers).

I’d like to see them go after Beltran in the off-season and Andy Petite. I don’t think the Yankees will resign Petite (they just don’t seem to think much of him) and I have the feeling the Yankees will probably make a big push to try and sign Kevin Millwood (who looks like a good fit for them).

I’d be pretty happy if they could get Burnitz back too. Next years’ team would be:

Vance Wilson - C
Mike Piazza - 1b
Jeromy Burnitz - RF
Carlos Beltran - CF
Cliff Floyd - LF
Ty Wigginton - 3b
Jose Reyes - SS

I’d like to see them get Edgardo Alfonzo back as well. Maybe I’m a sentimentalist, but I always thought Fonzie was a great team guy and good in the clubhouse. You never know what the Giants would be willing to do to get out from under that contract. I think most of Fonzie’s problems this year have to do with him being homesick - he never really wanted to leave New York.

If Burnitz doesn’t come back I’d like to see them shift Jason Phillips over to RF. I’d keep Super Joe (another favorite).

Starting pitching would be:

Glavine
Petite
Seo
Trachsel

And I think you can fill in a decent fifth starter somehow.

As far as the bullpen goes, something from the group of kids should materialize.

I think that team could do pretty well in the division.

In the meantime, I’ll just suffer through the rest of the season and hope this team can string together two good winning streaks between now and the end of the season and keep from embarrassing themselves.

Fat Man came back from the printer yesterday! Wow! It looked good! I am very happy and so is my client.

“He said between me and the cats, I would go first,” Murphy said. “I was really sick. My lungs would swell up.”

Another example of the litigious society the U.S. has become. There’s a lot of really bad off color puns I could make in regard to this story but, I’ll save everyone the groans.

MET MAN'S PET PEEVE. This is one of those stories that seems like it should be accompanied by the headline being set in a “bleeding” typeface (a la Tales of the Crypt) accompanied by one of those dramatically lit worm’s eye views of someone engulfed by terror.

It’s Sunday night after a busy weekend so, what better time to do a quick wrapup of some of the things off the Spinner Rack (comics, folks):

Nightwing #83 - I was fortunate to lay my hands on a copy of this, either it’s being under ordered by Bishop or there has been a sudden upswing in the title’s popularity (I’ll have to check IVC2 to see where it has been placing in the top 300).

If it’s the latter, it’s not hard to understand why, the combination of Devin Grayson and Rick Leonardi is a hard combo to beat. Leonardi hasn’t lost anything from his days as penciller of the X-Men and Grayson has picked up right where Chuck Austen left off.

This is one of those books that’s fun to look at and fun to read. The pacing is perfect and characterization has been working really well with Grayson doing a good job filling out the supporting cast. I’d give this a solid 8 out of 10.

Catwoman #20 - This is one of those funny titles for me. I feel compelled to pick it up but, it usually winds up being one of the last things I read.

I heard they’ll be a new creative team on the title as of issue #25, which will probably wind up being a drop point for me (I don’t remember who is picking up the title but, I do remember being underwhelmed).

Issue #20 is a good solid effort. I’m really not sure what Brubaker is doing with the title and I have do finding myself getting lost during his stories as his narrative isn’t as strong as it should be.

Cameron Stewart’s art isn’t your traditional mainstream comic art (more in the vein of a Mike Alred) but, there’s a lot of good that can be said about it. Really nice feel for the brush is evident in the inking style.

If there is a knock on the art, it’s a tendency to go a little crazy on the page breakdowns (with the minimum panel count being 7-on a good page, more often than not the panel count soars to over 10 per page) which make the pages look a bit cluttered, add the dialogue and you’ve got very busy pages. Add a dark palette used by the colorist and things border on the murky. I’d give it a 5 on the ten scale.

Planetary/Batman - Night On Earth - So, I’ve already mentioned this title previously in the blog. This is the one book you should really pick up. I have an affinity for Planetary already so, I make no bones about being very excited about new material coming out.

The combo of Warren Ellis and John Cassaday is one of the best in comics today. There’s not much more to say than that simple statement. This is the book to pick up if you don’t normally buy comics.

Trinity - Another of those retelling of first meetings in Prestige format. Beautifully done by Matt Wagner with Dave Stewart. It’s a good looking book but, at a price point of $6.95 you can spend your money better elsewhere. Only for the hardcore comics fan.

Batman: Detective Comics #784 - Brubaker succeeds here where he fails in Catwoman. First chapter of what is looking to be a good storyline. The backup feature of Josie Mac (by Winick and Chiang) is equally good. For awhile now, the backup features in Detective have been exceptionally good. This one lands at 7 on the ten scale.

Teen Titans #1 - On the heels of the Cartoon Network’s new Teen Titans cartoon, DC begins a new series with the Titans. Old characters (Raven, Starfire, Beast Boy and Cyborg) are back and the four (sidekick) characters from the failed Young Justice are added to the mix.

Geoff Johns writes and Mike McKone handles the art. The art winds up being much better than the aforementioned Young Justice and Johns seems to succeed where Peter David failed, it remains to be seen if the series has “legs.” Surprising timing given DC’s resurrection of The Outsiders. Falls somewhere between a 5 and a 7 on the ten scale. I’ll be keeping a wary eye on further issues to see whether or not this is a boom or a bust.

Global Frequency #9 (of 12) - Are you on the Global Frequency yet? Warren Ellis and Lee Bermejo have a hit on their hands. The title has the flavor of the first couple of seasons of the X-Files. Nice sense of drama and mystery stirred together. Premise of 1000 people across the world on a “Global Frequency” being available in a time of crisis to help save lives in odd circumstance works really well. This could be one of those books which winds up as a film or tv series. Worth seeking out the earlier issues. Comes in at 8.5 on the ten scale.

A wonderful story by way of Transom.org, Rene Gutel‘s 1000 Postcards.

Today’s entry via the Blunt Youth Radio Project, Have you ever noticed that there is a Starbucks everywhere you turn? Kathleen Ross’ Coffee Shop in Hell

Just one more thing in passing:

This article came out today.

In a speech to the U.S. Congress, Blair said history would forgive the United States and Britain for invading Iraq, even if they were proved wrong about the threat from its weapons of mass destruction.

History might but, the question in the forefront of both Blair and Bush’s minds has to be whether or not the voting public of each nation does (forgive the politicos for going to war). Time will tell.

Some various news tidbits:

Kill Bill, Tarantino’s next masterpiece is getting released as two films (kick up the box office numbers).

Another brief news item about security issues with Windows. As much as I hate Apple’s way of marketing, their product just doesn’t show the glaring holes that the people from Redmond seem to let slide in theirs.

Someone sent me a link to this article about the deathknell sounding for Netscape which didn’t catch me by surprise since I had already read this article about Mozilla. The first article did have a good point (in that I still hadn’t upgraded from Communicator 4.7).

There’s a lot of bells and whistles in the newer versions of browsers - I come from the “if it ain’t broke” school (of course, Sensei Savage would probably take me to task for that statement).

And wrapping up, I was sent the link to this article by two different people. I guess it made the rounds yesterday. Which brought to mind these quotes by Woody Allen:

I'm such a good lover because I practice a lot on my own.

and...

Hey, don't knock masturbation. It's sex with someone I love.

and...

My love life is terrible. The last time I was inside a woman was when I visited the Statue of Liberty.

Needless to say? The article was forwarded to me by two men, ladies just don’t seem to want to brag about or justify their habits (or lack thereof).

Yesterday it was over to the Javits Center to take in MacWorld New York Expo with Paul. MacVillage would have been a better name. Really, it turned out to be a bit of an overstatement, either that or the world is becoming a much smaller place.

As early as March, the rumors were flying about this year’s Expo. Unfortunately, they proved true. No Adobe, no Quark, no Macromedia and no Microsoft (although there were people dressed up in those weird costumes featured on the Microsoft commercials these days). The Expo was smaller than I had ever seen it, being confined to just one “room” in Javits.

We were talking to one of the Apple guys and while he extolled the features of the G5. Even though I pointed out Apple’s diminishing share of the PC market, he commented Apple would always have “its niche.” Great! Companies innovate to niche markets (not!) - made me think of the Commodore Amiga which was supposed to be this great little machine you could do all kinds of stuff on (the visual effects for the TV series Babylon 5 were done on a gaggle of Commodores in a basement in the MidWest). Not too many of them around now though.

Apple has a history of developing great products and then marketing them like crap - Newton, the first pda - WebTV. If you pick up the book about Apple’s history, it makes you want to pull your hair out. I like my Macs, quite a bit actually but, I’m not blind to the fact that these Expo’s are getting smaller and smaller each year and companies are choosing not to attend - it isn’t a good sign.

So, I have to admit to seeing this image and just being floored. I usually try to repress my baser urges in good, guilty catholic tradition but, I couldn’t help but remark on how striking Angelina Jolie is. The last time a women wearing a bikini that covered so much did it so well had to be Ursula Andress in that first Bond movie Doctor No. The funny thing is you can read this article from USA Today about the campaign (your usual press release puff piece) or you can check out the anti dairy Not Milk homepage which says Angelina is off the white stuff and has made a habit of Soy Milk.

By the by...

...I know we’ve all been a bit busy lately. SARs, the whole Iraq thing, fighting with the French, higher taxes, the jump in the subway fare and the tolls, all that friggin’ rain this spring but...

...whatever happened to Afghanistan?

Weren’t we going in there to oust the Taliban, restore order and put the whole country on better footing (rebuilding the infrastructure, setting up schools, building hospitals)?

A year and a half after the U.S. military drives the Taliban out of power in Afghanistan, the country's foreign minister says the more than $4 billion in foreign aid pledged for reconstruction has not been fulfilled. In Washington, Abdullah Abdullah expresses concern that U.S. involvement in Iraq could mean less support for Afghanistan. Hear NPR's Bob Edwards talks to Abdullah.

So much for putting our money where our mouth is. It’s okay to spend billions to drop all the bombs we need on people though. Am I the only person who thinks this seems wrong for a country purporting to be the moral leader of the free world? High ideals are fine but they need to be backed up with compassionate action.

(then again, I look at the job we’re doing here at home and I can’t be surprised)

THEY’RE BAAACCCCKKKKKK!



Planetary makes it’s return in a special one-shot!

Planetary/BatMan, a one-shot with a high suck potential turns out to be loads of fun. Even non comics buyers should find this a fun ride. Find out why this is the hottest book out there (the series will return on a regular basis later this year). I can’t recommend it highly enough. The first batch of issues are collected into two trade paperbacks. Pick up the first and see if you can resist going out and getting the second, I challenge you!

I can’t get over James Earl Jones.

Here he is just a shade over 70 and he skydives, he dances, he water skies - when is Verizon going to just shoot him out of a cannon?

Today, was a busy day.

Up at 5 after an hour or two of fitful sleep. Into the city early (as early as I’ve been in in awhile) to put the finishing touches on The Fat Man. Sneaking into the office before anyone is there, printing out the decks and getting the disc ready for the messenger who is coming at 9:30. It’s called stealth freelancing.

Happy client as the job goes out the door, the brief relief of having finished a project and having outstanding receivables floating around the lands of the US mail.

Racing all across town, in a middle of the day mood while it‘s still people’s Monday morning. Running through Bryant Park in the middle of the morning and loving the calm oasis it is before the lunch crowds descend.



Back up on a quiet train after a short sprint. Looping around doing the usual errands (mail, comics, CostCo) and winding up the afternoon with the delicious treat of chili dogs from Pat’s Hubba Hubba where the chili never stops bubbling.

Where is Loud Jane?!?!?

Her site is down. Could it be she’s packed up the family and moved out to the MidWest where the living is easier? I hadn’t seen Jane’s alter ego in quite some time. I was going to compare her to a tornado but, I can’t remember there being a path of destruction in her wake - still, there was no doubt in my mind she was very much a force of nature.

Maybe she’s down at The Jo-Rae Motel. Route 30. Well, wherever your path has taken you Loud Jane, know we are thinking of you and wishing you well.

Three months! Three long, long months!

Three months since anyone has been able to smoke in a bar in New York City - get your butts out of here!

Good story today on All Things Considered on the smoking ban and how smokers are dealing.

Not being a smoker, I can only imagine it’s hellish for anyone living above a popular bar.