Friday, September 16, 2005

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers - Cool art for volume 1!

I'll confess to having a bit of a soft spot for this show. (The day I found plush toys of the chipmonks in their Rescue Rangers costumes at Disneyland was an exciting day indeed... Okay, I'm a total puss.) But for a collection of TV cartoons, this DVD cover is actually pretty classy looking.
Due South - Artwork for final season

And so completes another collection of another favorite show. (And this time, with commentary tracks... Too bad they couldn't have managed that for any of the first three seasons...)

Britney Spears guide to Semiconductor Physics: semiconductor physics, Edge
Emitting Lasers and VCSELs

Monday, September 12, 2005

Preview of Brian Wood's Local #1

Last week, when I was talking about ordering new Brian Wood comics without hesitation? Here's an example of the sort of thing I was talking about.
ICv2 Talk Back - Confessions of a Comic Book Guy--Giving People What They Don't Want: "What I propose here is that we may finally have to accept the notion the super-hero comic book is a 'niche' genre; not because this vast mass audience rejects as silly our cherished adolescent power/revenge fantasies. From the way Hollywood has steadily been 'borrowing' from us over the last few years its clear America has developed a taste for the fantastic.

But as currently written and drawn, the super-hero comic book is just too overwhelmingly dark to appeal to them."

Leave it to my friend Steve to say what I was thinking better than I could myself...

Sunday, September 11, 2005

National Park Foundation: "The Flight 93 National Memorial, located in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, will be a place to learn about the events of September 11 and find meaning and inspiration in the experience of the passengers and crew."
So I wrote this earlier tonight, just for myself. Didn't intend to post it, since it more than slightly touches on one of those things I haven't been wanting to talk about here. But I wrote it while watching The Flight That Fought Back on Dicsovery, and the more I watched the movie, the more I thought I ought to post something here remembering the victims of September 11, 2001. And I was afraid that if I tried to come up with something else, it would descend into some sort of political finger-pointing rant. And that's not right. That's for tomorrow, maybe, but today is for the victims.

So, here's what I wrote:

So there’s this woman at a local cafe whose company I enjoy, and the feeling seems to be mutual, only she’s incredibly busy: works full time, goes to school full time, and has a four year old son. So we haven’t gone out, and we can’t go out, because she’s too busy with everything else, and all we do is have these quick conversations on the phone when we can. And on the one hand, it’s frustrating, but on the other, it’s fine, because before I met her, I wasn’t looking for anything else anyway. So if all we can do is talk when we can, then that’s what we’ll do, until things change one way or the other.

But I’m in the middle of a TV show about the passengers of United Flight 93 on September 11, 2001, and I’m watching them all calling their families to say goodbye. And I can’t imagine ever making a phone call like that, knowing that this is the last time I’d ever speak to my parents, my children, my wife, my husband, any of that. Knowing that this person that I’m talking to right now could very well be the last person that I ever speak to, ever. And I’m watching this, and I as much as I can’t imagine making that call in the first place, I absolutely cannot having to end that call, having to say goodbye.

When I talk to the Girl in the Cafe, it’s too often when we’re at work, or I’m on my way, or whatever, and the conversation could end at any second, without warning. And even though I know that moment will come, I want to put it off as long as possible. Because while I’m not trying to force my way into her life beyond what she has room for, I know that every time we say goodbye, it makes room for something to happen that might end the tenuous relationship we have. And that’s nowhere near the same thing as the people on flight 93, but it brought things home for me in a completely new way.

And if I can’t easily say goodbye to her, I can’t even conceive of how the folks on that flight were able to do it that day.

Unquestionably, what they did to stop that plane from reaching its target was an act of incredible bravery. But so was just saying goodbye and hanging up those phones.
UltimateDisney.com Forum :: View topic - Sin City: Recut, Unrated and Expanded 2-Disc Set News

And this would be why I haven't bought Sin City on DVD yet. (And apparently it comes out the same day as the Fantastic Four DVD, so that'll be twice as Jessica-Albatastic...)
THE ENGINE

Warren Ellis (about whom I've written many times before) has started a new comics discussion forum specifically focused on non-superhero comics. Mostly to promote his own non-superhero work (which is the only stuff he does these days that interests me much anyway), but there are plenty of other favorite creators on the board also.
Got back from Oregon last night. Actually a pretty good trip, considering the business-not-pleasure circumstances. Will write more about it later.

Appointment with the Car Smasher's (she chose the nickname) insurance adjuster tomorrow morning. Hopefully, this won't be a long, drawn-out process... but I'll bet it will be. We'll see.

Arrived home to find the three new Doctor Who books based on the new series, just in time for me to not bring on the trip, of course. Haven't had much interest in the books or CDs based on the original series since the new one started up, but I'm a sucker for stuff about the current show. That's me, slave to the current fashion. Not much of a true fan, I guess.

And I also received the DVD sets of the first season of Lost and the long-awaited second season of Once & Again. So here's my open letter to TV-on-DVD producers:

Obviously, extra features are a selling point for DVD sets of TV shows. Otherwise, why do them? After all, they cost money, and if they didn't reward the companies with increased sales, they probably wouldn't bother. Same goes for those little booklets that list all the episodes and credits and plot summaries and so forth. So why, oh, why must it be such a secret how to find the special features, particularly commentary tracks? Lost apparently has a whole bunch of episodes with commentaries, and I guess I'm just supposed to hunt through the disks until I find them. (Yes, I know I could just watch all the episodes in order, and listen to the commentaries as I get there. I saw the show as it originally aired, though, so that's of slightly less interest than checking out the extra features first.)

Oh, and I watched the first episode of Fox's new show, Reunion. That's the one that follows a group of friends over a period of 20 years, one year per episode, with the whole thing framed by a murder investigation in the present day. I've read some online criticism of it, but I liked it. Enough to want to see how it progresses, anyway. And TV Guide liked it, too, for what that's worth (which, to be honest, isn't much).