Would you believe I received this morning, as a result of having my résumé on online job boards, an email from an Army recruiter? "Administrative Positions Available!" it screamed. My response: "My God, you have NO IDEA how much this offends me. You're actually trolling career boards looking for cannon fodder for George Bush's ill-conceived and illegal war? With all due respect, sir, go to hell." Robin surmises I'm now on all sorts of fun government watch lists as a result. Maybe I just should have sent him to the Masturbate for Peace website and had him check out the propaganda posters thereon (via Ann at Sivocracy)...
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
I've been spending much of my time sending out résumés and prepping for the major life change I will soon be undergoing, as well as trying to get back up to speed on ComicMix news reporting now that the moot-point Huge Ass Project is done and the Phase II launch is imminent, so I haven't been able to keep up with my blog reading as I'd hoped. I'm now all caught up and plan to do a blogaround as soon as I return from shopping for interview clothes. I'm kind of dreading it, I'm not really a clothes-horse, but I realize that the first impression most potential employers are going to note has nothing to do with my vast admin experience or superior secretarial acumen, but with how I present myself physically. It may not be right or fair but it is what it is. While I think I carry myself well, and there's nothing I can do about fatphobia, I do recognize that my attitude about clothing amounting to "it's neat and comfortable? fine" isn't necessarily appropriate for all types of situations. Did I mention I'm not looking forward to clothes-shopping? And I can't even find an avatar maker that does larger sizes so I can imagine what I might look like in various outfits. Even the more complex ones like the Portrait Illustration Maker (via Gerard) are head-shots only. Very frustrating...
Friday, September 28, 2007
Friday Cat Blogging (™ Kevin Drum)
Time to play Kitty in the Box!
Look, it's a kitty in a box!
Look, it's another one!
G'night all.
Look, it's a kitty in a box!
Look, it's another one!
G'night all.
Silly Site o' the Day
This video comes to our attention from composer Richard Einhorn, aka Tristero at Hullabaloo:
I am majorly crushing on Daniel Pi now. I will never hear that Britney Spears song the same way again, for which I thank Professor Pi profusely.
I am majorly crushing on Daniel Pi now. I will never hear that Britney Spears song the same way again, for which I thank Professor Pi profusely.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
Hey lookie, Google is nine years old!
Googlism is a site that tells you "what Google thinks of you." The first two results on my name were:
elayne riggs is a perceptive critic of the comic book scene
elayne riggs is evil
I'm not sure if that bodes well or ill for potential employers.
Googlism is a site that tells you "what Google thinks of you." The first two results on my name were:
elayne riggs is a perceptive critic of the comic book scene
elayne riggs is evil
I'm not sure if that bodes well or ill for potential employers.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
I've been sharpening my secretarial skills some more in preparation for interviews. It's so nice that I can do this openly now! Robin suggested I push my résumé link further up my sidebar, which I've now done. Said résumé is updated with my ComicMix info, and I've moved that link further up as well. My newest ComicMix column is up, all about tech toys. Speaking of which, I'm also playing around with Fingerjig, a typing game I found via Digg. It helps slow down my typing speed (which usually hovers around 100 wpm) in favor of greater pinpoint accuracy. At present I can self-correct mistakes faster than most other people can type the words in the first place, but with games like this any mistake slows down speed, and accuracy is never a bad thing! Anybody got any good links to online Excel and PowerPoint tutorials? I need them at least at the intermediate to advanced level. Thanks in advance!
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
Thinking positively! It's a lovely day, the leaves will be changing any week now, I have my health and my husband and kitties and mom, all WILL be well in the end! In a way my current situation is what I've wanted for awhile. It's only scary in the short term. I'm essentially an optimistic, proactive, adaptive person. This is a great time of year to be doing what I'm doing. No more restrictions! I'm a star, baby!
RedKid's Hollywood star generator via skippy.
RedKid's Hollywood star generator via skippy.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
Weird work day, of which I will not speak. Things are changing, faster than I'd bargained for. This both delights and terrifies me. I'm handing things over to the Blog-o-Matic (via Gerard) until further notice.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
Well, the Simpsons was cute (nice to see Colbert doing voice work) but fairly pedestrian, and of course I didn't get the jokes in the opening having not seen the movie. Nonetheless, I figured I'd give BK-sponsored the Simpsonizer one more plug; here's what Robin came up with.
I will say, though, that the Family Guy version of Star Wars is bloody brilliant.
I will say, though, that the Family Guy version of Star Wars is bloody brilliant.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
Ready for the new TV season? Here's your handy dandy Reality TV Show Generator (via Gerard), all but guaranteed to sound more interesting than the "real" thing.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Friday Cat Blogging (™ Kevin Drum)
No more video until either my computer or Blogger gets its act together. 'S okay, I feel more comfortable with still photos anyway.
A nice close-up profile of Amy.
And Datsa deigns to actually give me his attention.
A nice close-up profile of Amy.
And Datsa deigns to actually give me his attention.
Scared of Horses Blogaround
Silly Site and Friday Cat Blogging coming later, but those "keep as new" posts are starting to accumulate again:
• The title of this blogaround comes from a revelation in a new book by former Mexican president Vicente Fox (so expect him to be making the talk show rounds soon) that our current president, as if you couldn't guess, is not only a "windshield cowboy" (i.e., a cowboy who prefers to drive) and "the cockiest guy I have ever met in my life," but when he offered Bush a ride on a "big palomino" he recall the latter immediately "backing away" from the animal. Now, part of me is a bit surprised at this, not because of what it says about Bush's fake cowboy stuff but because a blueblood like him must surely have grown up around the horsey set (there's an equestrian centre in my neighborhood right at the exit from the highway, and I love spotting "horthies!" on my commute home), but part of me isn't that surprised because -- with the exception of cats and dogs -- Bush seems to have had a fairly negative relationship with animals during his life.
• Remember yesterday's happy dance? Well, seems the stomach bug isn't quite gone. It's very much like what Colleen says in the tragically hilarious recounting of her trip to the World's Worst Irish Pub: "So the day started out great, and we were riding the crest of success and happiness. And then were were sent crashing back to Earth, humbled and human... When you are flying high, sometimes you fly too close to the sun, and God decides to make you eat skanky food, and give you a flat tire in the middle of the highway nearly 100 miles from home to teach you a lesson about getting uppity." Well, two can play at that game -- if my stomach doesn't straighten itself out by tonight, God may not get a fast from me tomorrow, if he or she existed.
• Speaking of which, remember Ernie Chambers, the Nebraska legislator who decided to sue God to make a point about frivolous lawsuits or somesuch? Well, apparently God has responded (via Angie). This one's starting to be a lot of fun.
• Because of the aforementioned stomach probs, I didn't get to do this blogaround yesterday, when a number of momentous events occurred. The one which deserved the most coverage, in my opinion, was the Jena 6 National Day of Action. Coverage I appreciated included two outstanding comprehensive posts from Pam, here and here; a photo series from Benjamin Chaneles at Huffpo; the Virtual March by Blackamazon (although she skirts the edge of Solitarity which Steven Colbert satirized a couple days ago, it ought to be remembered that not all of us have the means to just pick up and go to every march we'd like to attend); Susie's musings on mainstream media coverage of the events; and Scout Prime's reaction to hearing Kyra Phillips report that "one family I tried to approach, the family of one of these boys that hung the nooses, two big men came out with their shotguns and told me I'd better leave." And they expect people to believe they don't know what the nooses symbolized? Yeah, right. Like Kevin says, we're far from a post-racist society. I'm amazed folks can even claim with a straight face that we are, given how in that same state of Louisiana, officials with shotguns blocked escape routes for New Orleanians because they didn't want "that kind" encroaching on lily enclaves. The Rude Pundit isn't surprised either that these backwater attitudes still exist.
• Melissa reports on another horrid and inhumane incident, this one over in Hartlepool in County Durham. This disturbs me on so many levels I can't even express it. I was raised to always call for help right away when injustice was being done; it probably came from seeing so many traffic accidents on the corner (they happened so frequently it became a neighborhood meeting place of sorts, just ask Rachael) and our family always being among the first to call 9-1-1 to report them.
• Among other things that happened yesterday was the shameful and scary "symbolic" Senate vote against freedom of speech, even though the speech was a paid-for ad. As Mark Evanier notes,
• Over at the Group News Blog, Sara Robinson has some good observations about how, whenever the US takes it upon itself to help African countries, we always seem to botch it up and make things worse. Her suggestion is along the lines of the old proverb about teaching men to fish for themselves (or, in this case, women to excel educationally) rather than feeding them fish for one day. This will go unheeded by the current people in power, one of whom can't even remember that Nelson Mandela is still alive.
• Also yesterday, the president of Iran expressed interest in visiting the WTC site, and the press smelled controversy and ratings and jumped right on it, bothering Kristin Breitweiser, who refused to play their outrage game and instead opined that "Real statesmanship would be a presidential candidate with the courage to encourage potentially dangerous, misinformed leaders like Ahmandinejad to visit Ground Zero, in the hopes that they might learn something."
• Remember how angry comics fans were over alleged remarks made by San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders around the annual Comic-Con? Well, he's back in the news, only this time it's a good thing, as he holds a press conference to talk about wrestling with his conscience over a gay marriage bill, then doing the right thing (via John at AmericaBlog). It's fascinating how thoroughly homophobes can become enlightened once they come to terms with their own child being gay. Trish passes along another wonderful example of this from a Dear Abby column, which she employs in discussing her late cousin.
• Have I mentioned lately how much I miss working in Manhattan? The Mike Wieringo Irish wake charity event is one reason. Val D'Orazio covers it. Val's also the newest responder to my "Assemble the Squad" challenge, but I'd expect an ex-editor to notice art more than the average reviewer, as that was once part of her job.
• Snopes is being all coy and like that in insisting that the emoticon isn't really only 25 years old, just its use online. Split hairs, why don'tcha? Some of us were using smileys way back in the days of zines and apas. (Damn it, now I have that Pearly Spencer song stuck in my head again, only with the lyrics "the days of zines and apas"...)
• That Pearly Spencer ref must have caught Robin's eye. It's so hard to catch his eye with a blogaround, but I keep trying. HEY ROBIN, read this post from Stephen Fry about his love for all things electronic! It's Fry, it's bright shiny stuff, it's right up your alley. Yeah, I know, you've probably already read it...
• The new network TV season begins next week, which means Lance begins live-blogging. Given his astuteness over all things Ugly Betty, I wish that were the show he'd chosen, but he's going to try live-blogging Heroes instead, which I guess means I have to watch it now to join in on the fun.
• Some interesting news on the public transit front, as Lindsay reports that NYC subway stations are finally getting wired for cell phone use. Not the tunnels, just the stations, but it's a great idea and should help make those areas a lot safer during the wee hours. And Ginger reports on plans for Park(ing) Day El-Lay, part of International Park(ing) Day.
Well, that's it for now, so let me leave you with a bit of tinfoil-hat numerical stuff from Becky at Preemptive Karma. Batten down those hatches, and have an easy fast if that's the way you're going tonight and tomorrow...
• The title of this blogaround comes from a revelation in a new book by former Mexican president Vicente Fox (so expect him to be making the talk show rounds soon) that our current president, as if you couldn't guess, is not only a "windshield cowboy" (i.e., a cowboy who prefers to drive) and "the cockiest guy I have ever met in my life," but when he offered Bush a ride on a "big palomino" he recall the latter immediately "backing away" from the animal. Now, part of me is a bit surprised at this, not because of what it says about Bush's fake cowboy stuff but because a blueblood like him must surely have grown up around the horsey set (there's an equestrian centre in my neighborhood right at the exit from the highway, and I love spotting "horthies!" on my commute home), but part of me isn't that surprised because -- with the exception of cats and dogs -- Bush seems to have had a fairly negative relationship with animals during his life.
• Remember yesterday's happy dance? Well, seems the stomach bug isn't quite gone. It's very much like what Colleen says in the tragically hilarious recounting of her trip to the World's Worst Irish Pub: "So the day started out great, and we were riding the crest of success and happiness. And then were were sent crashing back to Earth, humbled and human... When you are flying high, sometimes you fly too close to the sun, and God decides to make you eat skanky food, and give you a flat tire in the middle of the highway nearly 100 miles from home to teach you a lesson about getting uppity." Well, two can play at that game -- if my stomach doesn't straighten itself out by tonight, God may not get a fast from me tomorrow, if he or she existed.
• Speaking of which, remember Ernie Chambers, the Nebraska legislator who decided to sue God to make a point about frivolous lawsuits or somesuch? Well, apparently God has responded (via Angie). This one's starting to be a lot of fun.
• Because of the aforementioned stomach probs, I didn't get to do this blogaround yesterday, when a number of momentous events occurred. The one which deserved the most coverage, in my opinion, was the Jena 6 National Day of Action. Coverage I appreciated included two outstanding comprehensive posts from Pam, here and here; a photo series from Benjamin Chaneles at Huffpo; the Virtual March by Blackamazon (although she skirts the edge of Solitarity which Steven Colbert satirized a couple days ago, it ought to be remembered that not all of us have the means to just pick up and go to every march we'd like to attend); Susie's musings on mainstream media coverage of the events; and Scout Prime's reaction to hearing Kyra Phillips report that "one family I tried to approach, the family of one of these boys that hung the nooses, two big men came out with their shotguns and told me I'd better leave." And they expect people to believe they don't know what the nooses symbolized? Yeah, right. Like Kevin says, we're far from a post-racist society. I'm amazed folks can even claim with a straight face that we are, given how in that same state of Louisiana, officials with shotguns blocked escape routes for New Orleanians because they didn't want "that kind" encroaching on lily enclaves. The Rude Pundit isn't surprised either that these backwater attitudes still exist.
• Melissa reports on another horrid and inhumane incident, this one over in Hartlepool in County Durham. This disturbs me on so many levels I can't even express it. I was raised to always call for help right away when injustice was being done; it probably came from seeing so many traffic accidents on the corner (they happened so frequently it became a neighborhood meeting place of sorts, just ask Rachael) and our family always being among the first to call 9-1-1 to report them.
• Among other things that happened yesterday was the shameful and scary "symbolic" Senate vote against freedom of speech, even though the speech was a paid-for ad. As Mark Evanier notes,
...the Senate (or the House or any government institution) has no business voting en masse -- and using the bully pulpit that we entrust to them -- to criticize how Americans exercise their Freedom of Speech. Everyone can all say whatever they want on their own time but it isn't the job of our deliberative bodies to pass judgment on how tasteful or accurate a political ad may be.Read his other reasons why this was so wrong. Then read Avedon's post where she's spitting nails over the high-pocracy. Then check out Joe Sudbay's fury at Bush's bait-and-switch when he just happened to (uh-huh) address this at his news conference. Then you'll be ready to read Keith Olbermann's special comment from last night about the needful separation of politics and the military. (Keith's return to form from his recent emergency appendectomy was, for me, the other big event yesterday.) Lastly, check out Unconfirmed Source's turnabout-as-fair-play.
Secondly, the whole thing's a cheap political stunt. You introduce a resolution like this to try and put your opponents on the spot and force them to vote. If they vote to condemn it, they pretty much have to condemn the whole thing, including portions with which they might agree had those sentiments been more graciously expressed. If they don't vote to condemn it, then their opponents will try to hold them as responsible for it as if they'd written it themselves...which is another distortion of reality. Just because you don't condemn something doesn't mean you agree with every word of it. It's all a trick to move the debate off of whatever legitimate issues the ad raises and make it instead about the manners and ethics of people you're running against.
• Over at the Group News Blog, Sara Robinson has some good observations about how, whenever the US takes it upon itself to help African countries, we always seem to botch it up and make things worse. Her suggestion is along the lines of the old proverb about teaching men to fish for themselves (or, in this case, women to excel educationally) rather than feeding them fish for one day. This will go unheeded by the current people in power, one of whom can't even remember that Nelson Mandela is still alive.
• Also yesterday, the president of Iran expressed interest in visiting the WTC site, and the press smelled controversy and ratings and jumped right on it, bothering Kristin Breitweiser, who refused to play their outrage game and instead opined that "Real statesmanship would be a presidential candidate with the courage to encourage potentially dangerous, misinformed leaders like Ahmandinejad to visit Ground Zero, in the hopes that they might learn something."
• Remember how angry comics fans were over alleged remarks made by San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders around the annual Comic-Con? Well, he's back in the news, only this time it's a good thing, as he holds a press conference to talk about wrestling with his conscience over a gay marriage bill, then doing the right thing (via John at AmericaBlog). It's fascinating how thoroughly homophobes can become enlightened once they come to terms with their own child being gay. Trish passes along another wonderful example of this from a Dear Abby column, which she employs in discussing her late cousin.
• Have I mentioned lately how much I miss working in Manhattan? The Mike Wieringo Irish wake charity event is one reason. Val D'Orazio covers it. Val's also the newest responder to my "Assemble the Squad" challenge, but I'd expect an ex-editor to notice art more than the average reviewer, as that was once part of her job.
• Snopes is being all coy and like that in insisting that the emoticon isn't really only 25 years old, just its use online. Split hairs, why don'tcha? Some of us were using smileys way back in the days of zines and apas. (Damn it, now I have that Pearly Spencer song stuck in my head again, only with the lyrics "the days of zines and apas"...)
• That Pearly Spencer ref must have caught Robin's eye. It's so hard to catch his eye with a blogaround, but I keep trying. HEY ROBIN, read this post from Stephen Fry about his love for all things electronic! It's Fry, it's bright shiny stuff, it's right up your alley. Yeah, I know, you've probably already read it...
• The new network TV season begins next week, which means Lance begins live-blogging. Given his astuteness over all things Ugly Betty, I wish that were the show he'd chosen, but he's going to try live-blogging Heroes instead, which I guess means I have to watch it now to join in on the fun.
• Some interesting news on the public transit front, as Lindsay reports that NYC subway stations are finally getting wired for cell phone use. Not the tunnels, just the stations, but it's a great idea and should help make those areas a lot safer during the wee hours. And Ginger reports on plans for Park(ing) Day El-Lay, part of International Park(ing) Day.
Well, that's it for now, so let me leave you with a bit of tinfoil-hat numerical stuff from Becky at Preemptive Karma. Batten down those hatches, and have an easy fast if that's the way you're going tonight and tomorrow...
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
I'm doing a happy dance. We got yet another DC comp box yesterday, only a couple weeks after the last one which I've barely touched. The books within, which I alphabetized and otherwise organized this morning before taking off for work, seem to go to up maybe last week, so when I get through reading all those comics I'll finally be almost caught up to most other comics bloggers. My Midtown box also arrived on Monday so I'm current through last week on the non-DC comics as well, at least once I start reading everything. I love having lots of stuff waiting for me to read, about as much as Robin likes having pencilled pages waiting for him on his drawing board. It's like a feeling of security and purpose.
The rest of the Phase III info has been printed, and the Huge Ass Project now consists of just the data entry, which I will definitely be able to knock off by next week. I'm in good shape with my blog reading, my stomach bug seems to have run its course, thanks to continuing therapy I can finally lift my left leg without pain and stiffness (as I did a couple times yesterday before I even realized I was doing it), and did I mention this is my absolute favorite time of the year? Of course, I'm still awash in sorrow at this year's losses, and part of me feels like the Alistair Sim version of Scrooge when he observes "I don't deserve to be this happy" after his redemption dream, but if you refuse to latch onto joy when it appears then what's the point, you know?
So laugh when you can. Laugh out loud. In fact, read some LOL Books (via Terry). And breathe deeply the promise of autumn and fullness.
The rest of the Phase III info has been printed, and the Huge Ass Project now consists of just the data entry, which I will definitely be able to knock off by next week. I'm in good shape with my blog reading, my stomach bug seems to have run its course, thanks to continuing therapy I can finally lift my left leg without pain and stiffness (as I did a couple times yesterday before I even realized I was doing it), and did I mention this is my absolute favorite time of the year? Of course, I'm still awash in sorrow at this year's losses, and part of me feels like the Alistair Sim version of Scrooge when he observes "I don't deserve to be this happy" after his redemption dream, but if you refuse to latch onto joy when it appears then what's the point, you know?
So laugh when you can. Laugh out loud. In fact, read some LOL Books (via Terry). And breathe deeply the promise of autumn and fullness.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Not Talking Like A Pirate Blogaround
As previously mentioned, it's Talk Like A Pirate Day. Bully gets into the act with some fun comic covers, Scott at Polite Dissent lists all the pirate comics he can think of, Lis Riba provides your alphabet for the day, and Laura Gjovaag has been celebrating this entire Holy Pasta Week like a trouper. Let's see, on Saturday I had leftover penne, on Sunday I had soup with rotini, on Monday I had lo mein which I'm counting as Chinese pasta so there, and no pasta yesterday as I've been dealing with a bit of a stomach bug and I just didn't feel like doing anything pasta-ish besides. Should have had more soup. Oh well. Onward!:
• Lest we forget what Holy Pasta Week is really all about, Teresa has a meaty post all about how some Intelligent Design schemers lie when creating their documentaries, and have even caught the intelligent Dr. Myers in their web of deceit. To be fair, I've seen these tactics from "our" side as well, as I mention in, for instance, my review of The God Who Wasn't There.
• Today is not only Talk Like a Pirate Day, but it's the 25th anniversary of the smiley face, the first emoticon. I can't believe emoticons have been around for a quarter of a century!
• My new column is up at ComicMix. "Lactivists" everywhere may never speak to me again, which I would consider a shame since this is probably the one subject on which I am in rather complete disagreement with them and in pretty much full agreement with Bill Maher (except for the unfortunate example he cites wherein he gets some facts wrong).
• Speaking of ComicMix, I wanted to thank Val D'Orazio for her effusive praise of the upcoming Phase II launch. By that point the Huge-Ass Project will be finished and I should be back to news blogging as time permits, but with this job one never knows. And by the way, as I've now made a promise to Robin and to myself, that's the last bit of "day job" whining you're going to see here for awhile. Take it as a given that I have not been happy with my situation for some time for a myriad of reasons and I'm still seeking an executive secretary position in Manhattan and my resume is clickable from the sidebar and have done with it, and I'm sure you're all very grateful now.
• Remember my "Assemble the Squad" challenge? So far I've seen three reviewers actually mention the art in the book, including a pleasant surprise from Johanna at Savage Critics given her dismissive remarks to Chris Mautner, so if she, Heidi Meeley at Comics Fairplay, and Corey Henson at Newsarama want their free autographed copies of Suicide Squad: Raise the Flag #2, please send me your snail mail addresses! To reiterate, my ultimate objective here is to get reviewers thinking about both aspects of a comic, the writing and the art, since a comic without art is, well, a prose book, innit? For those who believe I only have an intrinsic interest in this subject because I'm married to an artist, if you look at my old Pen-Elayne For Your Thoughts reviews from the '90s you'll see me cultivating a vocabulary with which to discuss comic art (not that difficult to do, honest!) long before Robin and I ever met. But speaking of intrinsic interest, the December DC solicitations have been posted; here's the solicit for SS: RtF #4. End of plug.
• Bibi has published all her animation video links in one handy post on Bibi's Box. You should bookmark this one, it's a really impressive list.
• Mario Batali is food-blogging! Here's the link to all three of his posts so far (hey, who knew he had a Mexican nanny?). Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to just subscribe to "Unclogged" without subbing to the entire Serious Eats blog feed.
• Food that isn't: Bacon-flavored chocolate is just wrong, okay?
• Woo-hoo, Jamal Igle's going to be a daddy! Congratulations, Jamal and Karine!!
• Kate Harding pens another beautiful post, this one about sabotage in the form of real-life concern trolls and advertising designed to make you hate yourself.
• Karen catalogs the "Leave XXX Alone!" viral videos. My favorite is from Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog (doo dah, doo dah), which appears to be a Middle English transcription of the original, more or less.
• Lance Mannion explains why Quantum Leap was aimed at 12 year olds. Do all adults always sit there and analyze the science behind fantasy shows? Does nobody else have the reaction I do, a willing suspension of disbelief and a hand-wave of "it's magic" so I can enjoy the darn show? Although I'll admit I didn't remember the whole religious underpinning of the series, maybe because they dropped it fairly quickly.
• I think what happened to Andrew Meyer was horrid -- I have no great love for taser technology to begin with -- but Attytood (via Josh Marshall) does a bit of reading up and notes that "Every piece written by Meyer, mostly intended for the Alligator student newspaper and one or two published in a daily newspaper, the Sun-Sentinel, is an angry diatribe against someone, no matter what the subject matter." He definitely struck me as obnoxious and unhinged, which again is no excuse to taser him, although it's probably a good reason not to invite him to parties.
• Also on Josh's site is a good reminder of why Democrats aren't pushing the anti-war platform more vehemently, given the theory that "all hell really will break loose once US troops leave -- a not improbable assumption. And you come up with the conclusion that a Democratic president comes into office in early 2009 just in time to oversee Iraq's descent into anarchy." The Republicans get to have it both ways, once again -- they can blame 9-11 on the people in power before them rather than on their incompetence, and Iraq on the people in power after they illegally invaded and occupied. No mistakes are ever made on their watch; how convenient! This pervasive lie must be countered time and again in order for people to finally get it. 9-11, Their Watch. Iraq, Their Watch. Katrina, Their Watch. Tanking economy, Their Watch. Unsafe food, Their Watch. They Are At Fault, not the people who came before or after them. Their Watch, Their Responsibility.
Lastly, I hate to leave you with another warning, but Wayne reports that the price of your daily bread might be rising soon.
• Lest we forget what Holy Pasta Week is really all about, Teresa has a meaty post all about how some Intelligent Design schemers lie when creating their documentaries, and have even caught the intelligent Dr. Myers in their web of deceit. To be fair, I've seen these tactics from "our" side as well, as I mention in, for instance, my review of The God Who Wasn't There.
• Today is not only Talk Like a Pirate Day, but it's the 25th anniversary of the smiley face, the first emoticon. I can't believe emoticons have been around for a quarter of a century!
• My new column is up at ComicMix. "Lactivists" everywhere may never speak to me again, which I would consider a shame since this is probably the one subject on which I am in rather complete disagreement with them and in pretty much full agreement with Bill Maher (except for the unfortunate example he cites wherein he gets some facts wrong).
• Speaking of ComicMix, I wanted to thank Val D'Orazio for her effusive praise of the upcoming Phase II launch. By that point the Huge-Ass Project will be finished and I should be back to news blogging as time permits, but with this job one never knows. And by the way, as I've now made a promise to Robin and to myself, that's the last bit of "day job" whining you're going to see here for awhile. Take it as a given that I have not been happy with my situation for some time for a myriad of reasons and I'm still seeking an executive secretary position in Manhattan and my resume is clickable from the sidebar and have done with it, and I'm sure you're all very grateful now.
• Remember my "Assemble the Squad" challenge? So far I've seen three reviewers actually mention the art in the book, including a pleasant surprise from Johanna at Savage Critics given her dismissive remarks to Chris Mautner, so if she, Heidi Meeley at Comics Fairplay, and Corey Henson at Newsarama want their free autographed copies of Suicide Squad: Raise the Flag #2, please send me your snail mail addresses! To reiterate, my ultimate objective here is to get reviewers thinking about both aspects of a comic, the writing and the art, since a comic without art is, well, a prose book, innit? For those who believe I only have an intrinsic interest in this subject because I'm married to an artist, if you look at my old Pen-Elayne For Your Thoughts reviews from the '90s you'll see me cultivating a vocabulary with which to discuss comic art (not that difficult to do, honest!) long before Robin and I ever met. But speaking of intrinsic interest, the December DC solicitations have been posted; here's the solicit for SS: RtF #4. End of plug.
• Bibi has published all her animation video links in one handy post on Bibi's Box. You should bookmark this one, it's a really impressive list.
• Mario Batali is food-blogging! Here's the link to all three of his posts so far (hey, who knew he had a Mexican nanny?). Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to just subscribe to "Unclogged" without subbing to the entire Serious Eats blog feed.
• Food that isn't: Bacon-flavored chocolate is just wrong, okay?
• Woo-hoo, Jamal Igle's going to be a daddy! Congratulations, Jamal and Karine!!
• Kate Harding pens another beautiful post, this one about sabotage in the form of real-life concern trolls and advertising designed to make you hate yourself.
• Karen catalogs the "Leave XXX Alone!" viral videos. My favorite is from Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog (doo dah, doo dah), which appears to be a Middle English transcription of the original, more or less.
• Lance Mannion explains why Quantum Leap was aimed at 12 year olds. Do all adults always sit there and analyze the science behind fantasy shows? Does nobody else have the reaction I do, a willing suspension of disbelief and a hand-wave of "it's magic" so I can enjoy the darn show? Although I'll admit I didn't remember the whole religious underpinning of the series, maybe because they dropped it fairly quickly.
• I think what happened to Andrew Meyer was horrid -- I have no great love for taser technology to begin with -- but Attytood (via Josh Marshall) does a bit of reading up and notes that "Every piece written by Meyer, mostly intended for the Alligator student newspaper and one or two published in a daily newspaper, the Sun-Sentinel, is an angry diatribe against someone, no matter what the subject matter." He definitely struck me as obnoxious and unhinged, which again is no excuse to taser him, although it's probably a good reason not to invite him to parties.
• Also on Josh's site is a good reminder of why Democrats aren't pushing the anti-war platform more vehemently, given the theory that "all hell really will break loose once US troops leave -- a not improbable assumption. And you come up with the conclusion that a Democratic president comes into office in early 2009 just in time to oversee Iraq's descent into anarchy." The Republicans get to have it both ways, once again -- they can blame 9-11 on the people in power before them rather than on their incompetence, and Iraq on the people in power after they illegally invaded and occupied. No mistakes are ever made on their watch; how convenient! This pervasive lie must be countered time and again in order for people to finally get it. 9-11, Their Watch. Iraq, Their Watch. Katrina, Their Watch. Tanking economy, Their Watch. Unsafe food, Their Watch. They Are At Fault, not the people who came before or after them. Their Watch, Their Responsibility.
Lastly, I hate to leave you with another warning, but Wayne reports that the price of your daily bread might be rising soon.
Silly Site o' the Day
Avast! It already be Talk Like A Pirate Day again? Which as many of us know is actually "Talk Like Ye're From Da West Country" Day. Anyway, here's the TLAPD schedule for this year's celebration to get you going. Aye, right off that plank, arr arr arr! Sorry. Back soon with a blogaround!
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
So much to blog about, so little time! I need to talk about Holy Pasta Week, and my Suicide Squad challenge, and Mario Batali blogging, and so much other stuff, and that blogaround is coming, oh I swear it is, but I just don't know when. I just need to get through my blog reading catch-up and my workday and making dinner and... *sigh* In the meantime, via Karen it's Famous Poems Rewritten as Limericks; enjoy!
Monday, September 17, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
Feeling kinda blah, which may be attributable to the fact that I didn't eat lunch until about 2:30, when I had to order over $10 worth of Chinese food by myself in order to get them to deliver (have I mentioned how much I miss working in NYC?); at least now I'll have leftovers for another day. Had an interview inquiry last Thursday and asked her to call back this afternoon, which she hasn't yet so I guess that's gone up in smoke. Not that I can plan interviews anyway for the foreseeable, as either my boss or his wife will be coming in just about every day (today was a wife day, saw her twice) so I need to be at my station. Maybe that's why I'm kinda blah. That and a full stomach at 3:30 with no siesta in sight. Here's a link to something definitely not-blah, the Sarcasm Society (via Arthur). Blogaround coming as soon as I have the energy and a reliable enough connection again (router problems at home, in the process of being fixed).
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
It's an absolutely gorgeous day out there, and I plan to do nothing, as enthusiastically as possible. I schlepped around in the car for the last three days, time to let it rest a bit before resuming my commute tomorrow. The e-cards have all been sent, the car's oil has been changed and the quarterly safety check performed, the Woolite wash is done, the weekend washing up (at least Round One) is done, Robin's catching up on his sleep from having been woken up by Datsa at 4:30 AM (I went back to sleep right away for another three hours while he stayed up with the insistent feline) and my ComicMix column is all written. (Within the next couple weeks I hope to finish the Huge Ass Project at work and begin to get back into news reporting in time for the Phase II rollout, but we'll see how things go at ye olde Day Job...) So really nothing to do today but read and watch TV, preferably both if I can manage it. Lots of blogs to get through, as usual! And sites to pass along, such as the following video:
That was via Arthur.
That was via Arthur.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
Waiting for Robin to wake up so I can make French toast for us and get dressed and take the car for an oil change before coming back to work on sending out my Jewish New Year cards (technically they have until Yom Kippur to reach their destination but I think I've waited long enough already). At least Rob left me a cute silly site before going back to bed: Patently Silly, the humor of invention. All real patented inventions, most very silly indeed.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
Sleep caught up with me today, but it didn't refresh me. It's been a very blah day. At least I picked up and dropped off dry cleaning, an excuse to try this out, which works well except we can't plug it in when the car's in Park mode, as the shift knob comes too close to the cigarette lighter (and the other plug wherein we usually plug in the GPS base doesn't logistically work either). But still, hey, not a bad buy for $15, and whilst Robin's looking for a possible adapter he's also been seeking a Silly Site for me, and he's come up with Attack of the Sprouts game. I love the accompanying soundtrack.
Friday Cat Blogging (™ Kevin Drum)
More (silent) video, this time of Datsa on his shelf looking out the window. Not sure why it doesn't quite seem to work okay. It always hangs on the "Processing Video" part. And I mean, hangs. Like for half an hour or more. Then I give up.
Silly Site and other stuff coming later.
Silly Site and other stuff coming later.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
Posting from Mom's, where we had a lovely Rosh Hashanah dinner. Did a bit of shopping beforehand, including getting shorn to within an inch of -- well, I don't think it's even within an inch long anywhere any more. My hair hasn't been this short in ages. Feels very weird. Not entirely expected, but not unpleasant. And hey, it'll always grow out again. And both Robin and Mom like it, so there you are. Being at Mom's, of course, makes me reminisce about growing up and such, and I remember when we were kids my brother Jay was particularly fond of the Garbage Pail Kids. When Gerard mentioned there was a GPK Generator at their official website, naturally I couldn't resist. Okay, actually I could; like way too many corporate sites, this one won't let you play with their toys unless you register, so feh to that. Gorgeous day to start the Jewish year, by the way; hope the lovely weather holds out for the drive home.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Assemble the Squad
So you know when I mentioned earlier that Robin got his comps of Suicide Squad: Raise the Flag #1? I didn't realize that, because of last week's holiday, the comps arrived a week later than they normally would have. And since the creators usually get their comps from the printer the week before the book arrives in stores, that means -- yes, Suicide Squad: Raise the Flag #1 is now available at your local comic shop. Here's a nice preview to whet your appetite. Talk has already begun on DC's message boards. Please let me know if you see reviews of this, particularly ones that talk about the art. I adore my ComicMix colleague John Ostrander, as he well knows, but a comic is more than the writing.
Yes, I know I sound like a broken record. And yes, I have an intrinsic interest in reviewers discussing the art on a book on which my husband is one of the artists. But I'm putting his money where my mouth is now: I'm issuing a challenge to all the comics reviewers and bloggers out there. If you've bought SS:RtF #1 and plan to review it, please talk about the art, at least enough to mention what you liked or didn't like about it. Send me the URL of your review, I'll post it here and perhaps drive some traffic to your site, and you will receive a free copy of SS:RtF #2, autographed by one of the artists, as my thanks (obviously this entails you giving me your snail mail address too). I can guarantee the inker's autograph, and possibly the writer's as well depending on when I next see John.
I look forward to reading your reviews, and I hope comics fans reading this challenge will spread the word. It should be important to all comics aficionados that reviewers look at a comic as a whole, not as just writing and plotting and dialogue. Let's see some good discussion about the characters that includes how they're presented visually. Thanks so much!
Full disclosure: My husband did not work on this cover, only on the interior.
Yes, I know I sound like a broken record. And yes, I have an intrinsic interest in reviewers discussing the art on a book on which my husband is one of the artists. But I'm putting his money where my mouth is now: I'm issuing a challenge to all the comics reviewers and bloggers out there. If you've bought SS:RtF #1 and plan to review it, please talk about the art, at least enough to mention what you liked or didn't like about it. Send me the URL of your review, I'll post it here and perhaps drive some traffic to your site, and you will receive a free copy of SS:RtF #2, autographed by one of the artists, as my thanks (obviously this entails you giving me your snail mail address too). I can guarantee the inker's autograph, and possibly the writer's as well depending on when I next see John.
I look forward to reading your reviews, and I hope comics fans reading this challenge will spread the word. It should be important to all comics aficionados that reviewers look at a comic as a whole, not as just writing and plotting and dialogue. Let's see some good discussion about the characters that includes how they're presented visually. Thanks so much!
Full disclosure: My husband did not work on this cover, only on the interior.
Silly Site o' the Day
Let's see, I'm about halfway through Phase III of the Huge-Ass Project which I think will finally be done by the end of September, I straightened out much of the house so I don't keep tripping over Elayne-made obstacles, Robin's going to take care of the rest of it now that he's "between deadlines" again, I've placed my Midtown order for the last couple weeks' worth of non-DC comics, our DC comps arrived including the two dozen or so creator copies of issue #1 of the Suicide Squad miniseries, my physical therapy's coming along well, and my latest ComicMix column is up. Yeah, I think I'm in good enough shape to drive to and from Mom's tomorrow for the new year. L'Shana Tova, Ramadan Mubarak and, for non-Jews and non-Muslim religious adherents... well, only 104 or so days till Christmas, I guess. I hope everyone, including the majority of my readers whom I suspect are secular, enjoys this Ten Commandments "remix":
Via Christopher at After School Snack.
Via Christopher at After School Snack.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Anita Roddick, RIP
She was a personal hero of mine, and her death was sudden and unexpected. Thanks to Echidne for alerting me to this.
She was a personal hero of mine, and her death was sudden and unexpected. Thanks to Echidne for alerting me to this.
Silly Site o' the Day
My late best friend Leah Adezio, who created the Silly Site concept, would have been 48 years old today. I miss her more than words can express. This one's for you, Leah: The Secret Society Generator (via Gerard). The one I generated was the Knights of Philanthropic Obese Reality TV Stars. That's actually pretty cool except for the reality TV part...
Remembrance Day
Remember the administration on whose watch this tragedy happened.
Remember how they have systematically and deliberately dismantled the one thing that can protect citizens from its recurrence -- a functioning, competent, intelligent, compassionate, proactive, diplomatic government.
Remember, they're the ones that have no use for government. They outright disdain it. The only reason they're in power is to have power, not to govern. Power for them means nothing more than enriching themselves and their friends. It does not mean protecting and caring for their citizens. That never was, and never will be, a priority or even a consideration to them at all. If 9-11 didn't prove that, the Katrina aftermath in New Orleans surely did.
Remember how many times, and in how many ways, you and your fellow citizens of the United States, of the world, have been abused and spit on and even murdered by these radical reactionaries.
Today we mourn the beginning of the end of the American dream. Today we remember who killed it as they cynically and purposely played right into the terrorists' hands. Today we strive once again to reclaim it, as we have for over half a decade. Perhaps by this time next year we'll see a light at the end of this dark, dark tunnel.
Remember how they have systematically and deliberately dismantled the one thing that can protect citizens from its recurrence -- a functioning, competent, intelligent, compassionate, proactive, diplomatic government.
Remember, they're the ones that have no use for government. They outright disdain it. The only reason they're in power is to have power, not to govern. Power for them means nothing more than enriching themselves and their friends. It does not mean protecting and caring for their citizens. That never was, and never will be, a priority or even a consideration to them at all. If 9-11 didn't prove that, the Katrina aftermath in New Orleans surely did.
Remember how many times, and in how many ways, you and your fellow citizens of the United States, of the world, have been abused and spit on and even murdered by these radical reactionaries.
Today we mourn the beginning of the end of the American dream. Today we remember who killed it as they cynically and purposely played right into the terrorists' hands. Today we strive once again to reclaim it, as we have for over half a decade. Perhaps by this time next year we'll see a light at the end of this dark, dark tunnel.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
It's a good feeling, being more or less caught up with things. Not with my ComicMix stuff, mind you, but with the Phase II rollout on everyone's minds I'm not liable to be chased for news stories (not that I ever was, they're nice and laid back that way) and I can whip out the rest of my column when I get home tonight. For those keeping track, I'm on Huge-Ass Project Phase III letter "K", hoping to complete the alphabet by the end of the month, and after that who knows. Maybe I can finally file away all those client papers and folders sitting in that other office since the people in charge of them got let go in the last couple purges. Of course, that's dependent upon me being able to be away from my desk for more than a couple of minutes. But at least by that time my legs and hip should be in much better shape thanks to the physical therapy. Today Augie's blog led me to Sproing, but I like Seekadoo (which appeared as a clickthrough ad while Sproing was loading) a lot better.
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Belated Blogiversary Blogaround
Well, I'd initially planned to do this on Friday to celebrate my fifth year of blogging and to wish The Truffle a happy birthday while I was at it, and I didn't even do it in time for Cookie Jill's birthday yesterday. Oh well, at least I made it in time for Kath's birthday today, so that's something. I'm glad I'm finally closing all those "keep as new" posts, I have some saved up from last month! Onward, then:
• Over at Mahablog, Barb has another terrific post among many, this one about how the people currently in power hate government so much that they not only seek to dismantle it but to render it functionally ineffective so they can point and say "See, we were right, it doesn't work!" This makes a good companion piece to Avedon's from last week about how Democrats keep flinging themselves into that same Republican-generated briar patch of fear.
• Speaking of Mahablog, Moonbat posts there and links to a George Carlin video which garners much praise, but the minute I read the Carlin quote that AlterNet chose in its intro -- "It's a big club and you and I aren't in it" -- my reaction was, "what do you mean you and I, kemosabe?" Like Stewart, Olbermann, Colbert, Maher et al, Carlin does indeed speak truth to power, but please, people, let's remember they're all millionaires and stop falling for their faux populism. We don't like it in our politicians, we shouldn't accept it in our satirists, no matter how otherwise beloved they may be.
• Like Michael Palin, for instance. I'm extremely jealous of Space Cowboy at Shakespeare's Sister, who attended a discussion with Palin in between the comedian-travel writer's sojourns. And in the category of what other famous people are doing, Julia Sweeney dishes about Phyllis Diller's outspoken atheism, and Alan Alda contemplates the three minutes he spends daily while microsaving his oatmeal.
• We Are All Meg: Two popular writers of young adult books, Cecil Castellucci and Tamora Pierce, pay tribute to the late Madeleine L'Engle. And Moi pens a very well-worded farewell to Pavarotti.
• Cat's back in Vancouver, and this time he tries the dungeness crab.
• Have you heard of diacetyl? It's a chemical used to make the "butter flavor" for microwave popcorn because it's, you know, just too much trouble to zap a few pats of actual butter in the microwave and pour it over the popcorn yourself. Anyway, popcorn lover Wayne Watson visited Dr. Cecile Rose to find out why he was having all kinds of breathing problems, and she happened to be an expert on this ("she and several colleagues have spent four years consulting with 16 U.S. manufacturers of buttery microwave popcorn or butter flavoring," the article says, "trying to figure out how to keep dangerous fumes away from workers") and figured out that the chemical was the likely culprit that led to his broncheolitis obliterans. Okay, the real culprits actually include ConAgra, another factory "farm" corporation putting lots of real farms out of business while it poisons workers and consumers in the process. Chris at Americablog reports that they promise to drop their use of the toxic chemical, in what must be sheer coincidence, shortly before the release of an EPA study done two years ago and hushed up since then. Not only that, skippy notes the investigations into diacetyl began in 1999 and finished in 2001. But I guess the administration at the time had more important things to ignore...
• Zuzu's back posting at Feministe, but not for everything; she deems some meta-posts like this one best expressed on her own blog. She and Kate Harding, another blogger whose writing I really respect, are also having an interesting discussion about fat acceptance. Go to Kate's post in Shapely Prose to get caught up. Speaking of fat acceptance, Zed is profoundly disappointed in Glamour magazine's retouching of America Ferrera, and the Hathor Legacy's BetaCandy rips apart a Baskin Robbins ad.
• Of course, some ads are worth watching. Terrance invites us to "Name That Innuendo" and see how many double-entendres we can find in the following ad that's run in New Zealand:
I challenge... my husband! King of the double-entendres! At least in this house.
• Congratulations to Mikhaela Reid and Makesha Wood on their wedding day, and congrats to their fellow Cartoonist with Attitude August Pollak for having his 'toons run on HuffPo!
• What can you add to Jedi squirrels in training?
• Like Val D'Orazio, I get the joke, I just don't find it funny. Wishing death on anyone, even in jest, because you don't like the entertainment they provide is so far beyond the pale that it's no wonder fanboys have the kind of immature rep that they do. And as Jill points out, of course we treat our beloved pets differently than we treat other family members. Animals have no agency, and some PETA people who don't get this are as much around the bend as death-threat-sponsoring fanboys.
• When I read things like Digby's marvelous account of anti-racist activism in Knoxville, I think maybe society is finally headed in the right direction. Then I read the Group News Blog's Jesse Wendel on Oakland and GNB's Lower Manhattanite on how little has changed from NC in '93 to Jena in '07 and my heart breaks all over again.
• Should we worry? Hilzoy reports that China is withdrawing funds from US banks, Christopher at After School Snack talks about Russian cyberhackers almost shutting down Estonia's IT infrastructure, and Ian Welsh at HuffPo notes that, when it comes to broadband, Japan's totally kicking ass, to use some idiot's recent expression.
• Chris longs for pragmatic honesty. I'm not so sure we'll see that until the people currently in power are gone for good. As Atrios-who-needs-the-hits notes, there's a big problem when the guy in charge talks about crying on the sky fairy's shoulder. "The point is that Bush can only cry on the shoulder of, and get comfort from, someone more important than him. The only name on that list is God."
• Lastly, Mike Gold announces ComicMix Phase II. This is the phase in which I am not (yet) directly involved, so please don't ask me anything about it.
Whew! Told you I had a lot of "keep as new" links. Glad to finally get through them, and my blog reading! Next up, feeding the cats, then starting on my ComicMix column for Wednesday...
• Over at Mahablog, Barb has another terrific post among many, this one about how the people currently in power hate government so much that they not only seek to dismantle it but to render it functionally ineffective so they can point and say "See, we were right, it doesn't work!" This makes a good companion piece to Avedon's from last week about how Democrats keep flinging themselves into that same Republican-generated briar patch of fear.
• Speaking of Mahablog, Moonbat posts there and links to a George Carlin video which garners much praise, but the minute I read the Carlin quote that AlterNet chose in its intro -- "It's a big club and you and I aren't in it" -- my reaction was, "what do you mean you and I, kemosabe?" Like Stewart, Olbermann, Colbert, Maher et al, Carlin does indeed speak truth to power, but please, people, let's remember they're all millionaires and stop falling for their faux populism. We don't like it in our politicians, we shouldn't accept it in our satirists, no matter how otherwise beloved they may be.
• Like Michael Palin, for instance. I'm extremely jealous of Space Cowboy at Shakespeare's Sister, who attended a discussion with Palin in between the comedian-travel writer's sojourns. And in the category of what other famous people are doing, Julia Sweeney dishes about Phyllis Diller's outspoken atheism, and Alan Alda contemplates the three minutes he spends daily while microsaving his oatmeal.
• We Are All Meg: Two popular writers of young adult books, Cecil Castellucci and Tamora Pierce, pay tribute to the late Madeleine L'Engle. And Moi pens a very well-worded farewell to Pavarotti.
• Cat's back in Vancouver, and this time he tries the dungeness crab.
• Have you heard of diacetyl? It's a chemical used to make the "butter flavor" for microwave popcorn because it's, you know, just too much trouble to zap a few pats of actual butter in the microwave and pour it over the popcorn yourself. Anyway, popcorn lover Wayne Watson visited Dr. Cecile Rose to find out why he was having all kinds of breathing problems, and she happened to be an expert on this ("she and several colleagues have spent four years consulting with 16 U.S. manufacturers of buttery microwave popcorn or butter flavoring," the article says, "trying to figure out how to keep dangerous fumes away from workers") and figured out that the chemical was the likely culprit that led to his broncheolitis obliterans. Okay, the real culprits actually include ConAgra, another factory "farm" corporation putting lots of real farms out of business while it poisons workers and consumers in the process. Chris at Americablog reports that they promise to drop their use of the toxic chemical, in what must be sheer coincidence, shortly before the release of an EPA study done two years ago and hushed up since then. Not only that, skippy notes the investigations into diacetyl began in 1999 and finished in 2001. But I guess the administration at the time had more important things to ignore...
• Zuzu's back posting at Feministe, but not for everything; she deems some meta-posts like this one best expressed on her own blog. She and Kate Harding, another blogger whose writing I really respect, are also having an interesting discussion about fat acceptance. Go to Kate's post in Shapely Prose to get caught up. Speaking of fat acceptance, Zed is profoundly disappointed in Glamour magazine's retouching of America Ferrera, and the Hathor Legacy's BetaCandy rips apart a Baskin Robbins ad.
• Of course, some ads are worth watching. Terrance invites us to "Name That Innuendo" and see how many double-entendres we can find in the following ad that's run in New Zealand:
I challenge... my husband! King of the double-entendres! At least in this house.
• Congratulations to Mikhaela Reid and Makesha Wood on their wedding day, and congrats to their fellow Cartoonist with Attitude August Pollak for having his 'toons run on HuffPo!
• What can you add to Jedi squirrels in training?
• Like Val D'Orazio, I get the joke, I just don't find it funny. Wishing death on anyone, even in jest, because you don't like the entertainment they provide is so far beyond the pale that it's no wonder fanboys have the kind of immature rep that they do. And as Jill points out, of course we treat our beloved pets differently than we treat other family members. Animals have no agency, and some PETA people who don't get this are as much around the bend as death-threat-sponsoring fanboys.
• When I read things like Digby's marvelous account of anti-racist activism in Knoxville, I think maybe society is finally headed in the right direction. Then I read the Group News Blog's Jesse Wendel on Oakland and GNB's Lower Manhattanite on how little has changed from NC in '93 to Jena in '07 and my heart breaks all over again.
• Should we worry? Hilzoy reports that China is withdrawing funds from US banks, Christopher at After School Snack talks about Russian cyberhackers almost shutting down Estonia's IT infrastructure, and Ian Welsh at HuffPo notes that, when it comes to broadband, Japan's totally kicking ass, to use some idiot's recent expression.
• Chris longs for pragmatic honesty. I'm not so sure we'll see that until the people currently in power are gone for good. As Atrios-who-needs-the-hits notes, there's a big problem when the guy in charge talks about crying on the sky fairy's shoulder. "The point is that Bush can only cry on the shoulder of, and get comfort from, someone more important than him. The only name on that list is God."
• Lastly, Mike Gold announces ComicMix Phase II. This is the phase in which I am not (yet) directly involved, so please don't ask me anything about it.
Whew! Told you I had a lot of "keep as new" links. Glad to finally get through them, and my blog reading! Next up, feeding the cats, then starting on my ComicMix column for Wednesday...
Silly Site o' the Day
Yes, I know, I haven't done the promised blogaround yet. This afternoon for sure, if I don't decide to go shoppies, which I probably won't because my boss just called me on a Sunday at home asking what time his dental appointment is tomorrow, which info I informed him and emailed his wife during, you know, working hours on Friday. So now I'm in a bad mood, and it's a good job I was able to accomplish so much this morning like marinating the meat for dinner and doing the washing up from yesterday and finally catching up on finances and almost catching up on comics organization and actually spending time with my husband. But now it's afternoon, and the baseball games are starting shortly, so I'll hurriedly leave you with the vague promise of a post-game blogaround and a link to Statetris (via Eszter), at which I amazingly suck.
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
Man, I can't seem to shake off this inability to breathe, lethargy, dizzy spells... it's either September allergies or a September cold. Either way, yuck. A morning shower seems to have helped a bit, lending credence to the former theory. I have no idea if I'm going to get out of the house to do my errands today, it may wind up being a "crash" day after all. But hey, with so much to read (our latest DC comp box arrived yesterday) I'm pretty well set for the weekend. I'm glad last night's video uploaded (it hung at first for almost half an hour, then I copied the code, cancelled the post which wiped the code, pasted the code back in, hit Publish Post and it worked; I think I'm finally getting the hang of workarounds), but all in all I'd rather pass on YouTube videos like this one, just for Robin so he can get his Hal Blaine and Meatloaf fixes in one place (like I know what that means):
That was via Budgie, who doubtless does the Time Warp to Star Trek clips all the time.
That was via Budgie, who doubtless does the Time Warp to Star Trek clips all the time.
Friday, September 07, 2007
Friday Cat Blogging (™ Kevin Drum)
I wanted to celebrate my blogiversary by doing something special, and it doesn't look at this point as though I'll have enough energy to complete my promised blogaround, so I've decided to try and upload a video, now that Blogger apparently has that capability. Bear with me. No sound, by the way, this little movielet was taken with my camera.
Hope it worked. It's the cats running for dinner, as if you couldn't tell.
Hope it worked. It's the cats running for dinner, as if you couldn't tell.
Silly Site o' the Day
Well hey, since today's my blogiversary I figured I'd make the Silly Site "All About Me." Gerard noted that the Mars candy folk now have an M&M character generator, so I played around with it and this is what I came up with. However, it wouldn't let me save the picture without registering on the site, a favor which I have tried to withhold from Corporate America, so I printed the page to a PDF and converted the picture (much reduced) to a JPG in Photoshop. Almost doesn't seem worth the trouble.
Well hey, since today's my blogiversary I figured I'd make the Silly Site "All About Me." Gerard noted that the Mars candy folk now have an M&M character generator, so I played around with it and this is what I came up with. However, it wouldn't let me save the picture without registering on the site, a favor which I have tried to withhold from Corporate America, so I printed the page to a PDF and converted the picture (much reduced) to a JPG in Photoshop. Almost doesn't seem worth the trouble.
A Full Heart
Five years ago today, I began this blog with a bit of an introduction to who I was then. It wasn't really anything new for me, I'd been doing one-to-many writing for at least three decades by then. But this was the first time since high school that I didn't have to lay out any cash to have my own forum. Not that I'm complaining, I happily laid out money to print and mail INSIDE JOKE and apazines all those years ago; it's what you do with hobbies. The financial loss is more than made up for by the intangibles of having a readership and expanding a circle of friends.
But to have the means of communication already in place (from having been online since I first got email) and not to have to lay out any additional money to blog -- that was a godsend. And I set as my goal a readership the size of INSIDE JOKE and achieved that pretty quickly, although I now appear to have dipped below 100 visits per day. Which is probably nobody's fault but my own, as my job has taken over more and more of my energy each year to the point where I'm just not blogging as often as I used to, and when you don't write a lot there's less incentive for people to visit. But you know something? IJ came out hexaweekly, and this here blog still gets far more visits in six weeks than the number of IJ subscribers.
So my heart is full of gratitude to all of you for being my readers and my friends all these years. And as that same heart finds its strength being tested now more than ever, as I approach my half-century mark without my father, without my best friend, without even the potential of children, without a more optimal job situation, without as much mobility and health as I would have liked... sometimes I feel absolutely overwhelmed with loss.
And then I regather, because you just can't spend your life in mourning for the things you'll never have or never regain. And I note that it's September again, the start of the season that makes me feel the most alive and has always held the most potential. And I look around and the air smells fresh, my daily commute is still pleasant and will become lovelier as the leaves turn, I get to come home to a loving and intelligent and talented soulmate who loves me unconditionally and two cats whose lives are now in double digits and they're both still bright-eyed and energetic, I get to partake of all the entertainment I could possibly want and more, I'm mobile enough to visit my very vital and very loved Mom and lots of relatives a lot more than I used to, and there are still wonderful things to read, everywhere.
Thank you all so much for being a part of my reading, and a major part of my life. I hope Pen-Elayne continues to be a part of yours.
But to have the means of communication already in place (from having been online since I first got email) and not to have to lay out any additional money to blog -- that was a godsend. And I set as my goal a readership the size of INSIDE JOKE and achieved that pretty quickly, although I now appear to have dipped below 100 visits per day. Which is probably nobody's fault but my own, as my job has taken over more and more of my energy each year to the point where I'm just not blogging as often as I used to, and when you don't write a lot there's less incentive for people to visit. But you know something? IJ came out hexaweekly, and this here blog still gets far more visits in six weeks than the number of IJ subscribers.
So my heart is full of gratitude to all of you for being my readers and my friends all these years. And as that same heart finds its strength being tested now more than ever, as I approach my half-century mark without my father, without my best friend, without even the potential of children, without a more optimal job situation, without as much mobility and health as I would have liked... sometimes I feel absolutely overwhelmed with loss.
And then I regather, because you just can't spend your life in mourning for the things you'll never have or never regain. And I note that it's September again, the start of the season that makes me feel the most alive and has always held the most potential. And I look around and the air smells fresh, my daily commute is still pleasant and will become lovelier as the leaves turn, I get to come home to a loving and intelligent and talented soulmate who loves me unconditionally and two cats whose lives are now in double digits and they're both still bright-eyed and energetic, I get to partake of all the entertainment I could possibly want and more, I'm mobile enough to visit my very vital and very loved Mom and lots of relatives a lot more than I used to, and there are still wonderful things to read, everywhere.
Thank you all so much for being a part of my reading, and a major part of my life. I hope Pen-Elayne continues to be a part of yours.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
So I'm trying to decide if I should do anything special here tomorrow for my fifth blogiversary. Maybe just a blogaround to catch me up on things, if I don't get that done today. My backache is easing up a bit, but never fast enough for my liking. Still, I'm managing the stiffness without having to resort to painkillers, and my physical therapy session is tonight so that should help, as should a quiet weekend (Robin's working so my big plans so far consist of taking the car in for its quarterly oil change).
Meanwhile, what the heck was going on in the local Staples parking lot yesterday? I went to take in my dry cleaning in the same strip mall, and run across the street to shop at Garden Gourmet whilst Robin browsed the Staples -- but he couldn't even get in the store! Navigating in and out of that strip mall parking lot was a real trip.
(Chalkboard message generator from GlassGiant via Gerard, natch.)
Now, I know it's back to school (I think yesterday was the first school day in NYC), and Staples has all sorts of promotions, but that parking lot and store were jammed to nightmare-level. The weirdest thing, Robin said, was that he estimated about 98% of the store traffic seemed to be non-white. The Kingsbridge section, where the store is located, is a mixed-income and -race area skewing Latino, and Riverdale itself is very predominantly white, so we're used to seeing a fairly racially balanced consumer base there -- but not last night. So I have to wonder what specifically was going on to attract black and Latino folks but not white folks who also have school-aged kids. Can anyone clue me in?
Meanwhile, what the heck was going on in the local Staples parking lot yesterday? I went to take in my dry cleaning in the same strip mall, and run across the street to shop at Garden Gourmet whilst Robin browsed the Staples -- but he couldn't even get in the store! Navigating in and out of that strip mall parking lot was a real trip.
(Chalkboard message generator from GlassGiant via Gerard, natch.)
Now, I know it's back to school (I think yesterday was the first school day in NYC), and Staples has all sorts of promotions, but that parking lot and store were jammed to nightmare-level. The weirdest thing, Robin said, was that he estimated about 98% of the store traffic seemed to be non-white. The Kingsbridge section, where the store is located, is a mixed-income and -race area skewing Latino, and Riverdale itself is very predominantly white, so we're used to seeing a fairly racially balanced consumer base there -- but not last night. So I have to wonder what specifically was going on to attract black and Latino folks but not white folks who also have school-aged kids. Can anyone clue me in?
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
My latest ComicMix column is up; please go over there and comment. All the cool kids (including Ann at Feministing) have been linking to Art Is Not A Scam, a photo-and-Photoshop blog that invites comments (of which, surprisingly there don't appear to be any, particularly considering how many folks have passed along Realisticats).
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
Very busy at work today (billing day), experiencing a bit of middle-back pain that's just now starting to ease, and haven't really had the wherewithall to blog that much. I don't even have the presence of mind to figure out why I like the Random German Name generator (via Gerard), I just do.
Monday, September 03, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
Well, my post a couple days ago about never trusting anyone over thirty who makes more a million dollars, because millionaires will always hang with each other before they'll hang with you, seems to have garnered a few protests in the comments section. Good. I'm sticking with that theory, today more than ever. My posh twin may disagree, but I'll never know; that silly site(via Gerard) won't even load for me on a day dedicated to non-posh people, which I think is a good sign. Have a good workers' holiday, folks, before entering the world of wage slavery again tomorrow.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Silly Site o' the Day
Insomnia is the perfect time to post something before I try again to fall asleep, as I'll be driving for four hours tomorrow. In England, of course, many folks are waking up just about now. And it's a very special day indeed. This is for Robin's Dad, care of ImageChef:
HB, Dad Riggs. I'm glad you read this blog. Birthday cake generator via Gerard.
HB, Dad Riggs. I'm glad you read this blog. Birthday cake generator via Gerard.
Saturday, September 01, 2007
The Great Divide
Last night we were watching Keith Olbermann, and I couldn't believe how much he and, I think, Dana Milbank were praising the heck out of Tony Snow. Granted, the guy has cancer, and moral people wouldn't wish that on their worst enemy -- but they weren't treating this formerly FOX-based sycophantic enabler as their worst enemy, but as a colleague. From everything I've seen, Snow has been the opposite of an actual journalist, he was a Bush admin apologist long before they hired him to work the other side of the same aisle, but Olbermann couldn't have been sweeter to the guy.
"What did you expect?" Robin said. They're in the same profession. As good and insightful as Olbermann can be, this is going to be one of his blinders. He's not going to speak ill of someone he considers a professional peer.
This is the essence of the Great Divide that separates the actual elites from the rest of us. The people who make millions of dollars performing on TV, whether it be as a keen political observer who occasionally speaks truth to power or a down-home-boy professional athlete -- they're not us any more, if they ever were. They've graduated to a different world to go with their increased income. Their social life consists of other millionaires, with whom they will always have more in common than they do with folks who, for instance, might share their overall political views. That's where their loyalties lie first and foremost. And that probably goes double or triple for politicians.
That's worth remembering on Labor Day, a day initially set aside to honor people who actually produce goods and services rather than those who oversee and reap the rewards off others' toil. Heck, it's worth remembering all year 'round, as we train a skeptical eye and ear on everything that emerges from the mouths of millionaires.
"What did you expect?" Robin said. They're in the same profession. As good and insightful as Olbermann can be, this is going to be one of his blinders. He's not going to speak ill of someone he considers a professional peer.
This is the essence of the Great Divide that separates the actual elites from the rest of us. The people who make millions of dollars performing on TV, whether it be as a keen political observer who occasionally speaks truth to power or a down-home-boy professional athlete -- they're not us any more, if they ever were. They've graduated to a different world to go with their increased income. Their social life consists of other millionaires, with whom they will always have more in common than they do with folks who, for instance, might share their overall political views. That's where their loyalties lie first and foremost. And that probably goes double or triple for politicians.
That's worth remembering on Labor Day, a day initially set aside to honor people who actually produce goods and services rather than those who oversee and reap the rewards off others' toil. Heck, it's worth remembering all year 'round, as we train a skeptical eye and ear on everything that emerges from the mouths of millionaires.
Silly Site o' the Day
White Rabbits! No bunny-related silly sites this time, but I really like this video that PZ Myers found:
I've never played Second Life, so I'm sure some of the humor escapes me, but I got enough of it to appreciate it.
I've never played Second Life, so I'm sure some of the humor escapes me, but I got enough of it to appreciate it.
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