Yahoo! News - Woman Knocked Unconscious While Shopping: "ORANGE CITY, Fla. - A mob of shoppers rushing for a sale on DVD players trampled the first woman in line and knocked her unconscious as they scrambled for the shelves at a Wal-Mart Supercenter. "
Can I just say, once again, how embarrassed I am for America?
Friday, November 28, 2003
Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Me, I had dinner with friends, which was nice. Before that, though, I watched the Adam Sandler cartoon Eight Crazy Nights, and I'm not recommending it to anyone. Now, I'm not the biggest Adam Sandler fan in the world, but I usually get a laugh or two out of most of his movies. This one... Got it for free from the library, and I still feel like someone owes me something.
Thursday, November 27, 2003
Adding to the revivals mentioned last night: the comics company 88 MPH Studios is bringing back, in comic book form, two more childhood favorite movies: Tron and Ghostbusters...
BBC - Cult - Doctor Who - Scream of the Shalka
Just a reminder that the third episode is available.
And a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
Just a reminder that the third episode is available.
And a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
Wednesday, November 26, 2003
It's apparently Nostalgia Month for me. DC Comics is putting out ElfQuest comics again (just reprints for now, but I don't have them any more, and some of this stuff I never read, and there's new stuff coming...). There's a new Sgt Rock graphic novel just out from DC/Vertigo, and it's drawn by Joe Kubert, written by Brian Azarello, and it's really, really good. Dark Horse Comics is starting a new Conan series, and it looks like it'll be pretty good, too. The BBC is bringing back both Doctor Who and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. And the SciFi channel is bringing back Battlestar: Galactica, a show I was a huge fan of as a kid. Tonight, I caught the "making-of" special on SciFi, to get a taste of what the upcoming (December 8) miniseries would be like.
Apparently--and I already knew this--the new show is a complete reimagining of the concept, starting from scratch instead of continuing where the original left off some twenty-plus years off. Judging from what I've seen online and comments from the show, this has really upset about six people. Me, I'm okay with the changes. When I was a kid, buzzing with excitement from Star Wars and looking for anything similar, the original Battlestar: Galactica was the coolest thing. I've seen reruns of the show more recently, and while I guess I can see where my adolescent mind would have been excited back in the late 1970s, when there was nothing else like it, the show just doesn't seem to have aged well. (Not compared to the timeless qualities of, say, good Doctor Who...) So something that slavishly duplicates the original show wouldn't appeal to me, because the original no longer does. No, I want something that'll excite the mid-thirties me the way the original did the ten-year old me, and it's quite possible this new version might. (Or, at least, it'll be a couple of hours of fun TV, with cool spaceships flying around blowing stuff up and crap like that. And they're continuing the Battlestar: Galactica tradition of Hot Chicks in Space, so I'm all okay with that.)
Apparently--and I already knew this--the new show is a complete reimagining of the concept, starting from scratch instead of continuing where the original left off some twenty-plus years off. Judging from what I've seen online and comments from the show, this has really upset about six people. Me, I'm okay with the changes. When I was a kid, buzzing with excitement from Star Wars and looking for anything similar, the original Battlestar: Galactica was the coolest thing. I've seen reruns of the show more recently, and while I guess I can see where my adolescent mind would have been excited back in the late 1970s, when there was nothing else like it, the show just doesn't seem to have aged well. (Not compared to the timeless qualities of, say, good Doctor Who...) So something that slavishly duplicates the original show wouldn't appeal to me, because the original no longer does. No, I want something that'll excite the mid-thirties me the way the original did the ten-year old me, and it's quite possible this new version might. (Or, at least, it'll be a couple of hours of fun TV, with cool spaceships flying around blowing stuff up and crap like that. And they're continuing the Battlestar: Galactica tradition of Hot Chicks in Space, so I'm all okay with that.)
Thanksgiving in a bottle: Turkey and Gravy soda: "A new Turkey and Gravy Soda tastes, well, pretty much like you would imagine. But that's not stopping people from buying it.
Even the producers of the Thanksgiving-themed beverage at Jones Soda Co. were surprised by the demand. They sold out all 6,000 bottles online within about two hours last week. "
Okay, I'll try just about anything, but...
Gross!
Even the producers of the Thanksgiving-themed beverage at Jones Soda Co. were surprised by the demand. They sold out all 6,000 bottles online within about two hours last week. "
Okay, I'll try just about anything, but...
Gross!
Tim Truman, of Odin the Wanderer, Interview
Always nice to hear that artists I like are working on new stuff...
Always nice to hear that artists I like are working on new stuff...
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
The TV Drones On -- In a Library, No Less (washingtonpost.com): "The TV Drones On -- In a Library, No Less
By Bob Levey
Thursday, November 13, 2003; Page C11
I hope the hinges on your mouth are in good shape, because your jaw is about to drop open -- wide.
The scene was a public library branch in Silver Spring. As Cathy B. Johnson entered, she was 'astounded' to see a television set in the main lobby. It was muted, but it was very definitely on, and it was spewing pictures as only a TV set can.
Cathy saw red. She marched over to a librarian and asked why library patrons -- and young patrons in particular -- 'couldn't have one place in the world where they were not bombarded by TV.'
According to Cathy, the librarian pointed out that the set was aimed at a waiting area, where people sit until they get a crack at a public computer terminal.
The TV was on, Cathy says the librarian told her, so that those lying in wait 'would have something to do.'
Open mouth.
Gape in astonishment.
As Cathy promptly said to the librarian: 'They couldn't read a book?'
Sorry, your gaping isn't done.
Cathy quotes the librarian as replying: 'Internet users don't like to read.' "
So many possible things to say... I want to believe that nobody in a library would be so stupid and tactless as to say something like that to a patron, but know in my heart it's possible. And who says it was a librarian that this Cathy woman spoke to, anyway? Not everyone who works for a library has their library degree, you know? (I worked hard for mine; let's not just let any circulation assistant claim the same status...) But finally, once again, this is the sort of article written by rich white folks for rich white folks who have computers and the Internet at home, who have probably not set foot in a public library for the last ten to fifteen years, and don't realize what they've become. We aren't the quiet places for books and research and nothing else any more. We're Blockbuster Video for people without money and internet cafes for people who don't shower. You don't like a TV set in the library for people waiting to use the computers? The solution isn't writing a newspaper column bemoaning the fact; the solution is writing a newspaper column urging the rich white voters in your comunities to vote to support their libraries, so they can build more computer centers and buy more computers, so people don't have to wait, and they don't have to find something to do while they're waiting like watch TV. Pay attention and use the goddamn brain in your head, or shut up and go away.
Jeez.
By Bob Levey
Thursday, November 13, 2003; Page C11
I hope the hinges on your mouth are in good shape, because your jaw is about to drop open -- wide.
The scene was a public library branch in Silver Spring. As Cathy B. Johnson entered, she was 'astounded' to see a television set in the main lobby. It was muted, but it was very definitely on, and it was spewing pictures as only a TV set can.
Cathy saw red. She marched over to a librarian and asked why library patrons -- and young patrons in particular -- 'couldn't have one place in the world where they were not bombarded by TV.'
According to Cathy, the librarian pointed out that the set was aimed at a waiting area, where people sit until they get a crack at a public computer terminal.
The TV was on, Cathy says the librarian told her, so that those lying in wait 'would have something to do.'
Open mouth.
Gape in astonishment.
As Cathy promptly said to the librarian: 'They couldn't read a book?'
Sorry, your gaping isn't done.
Cathy quotes the librarian as replying: 'Internet users don't like to read.' "
So many possible things to say... I want to believe that nobody in a library would be so stupid and tactless as to say something like that to a patron, but know in my heart it's possible. And who says it was a librarian that this Cathy woman spoke to, anyway? Not everyone who works for a library has their library degree, you know? (I worked hard for mine; let's not just let any circulation assistant claim the same status...) But finally, once again, this is the sort of article written by rich white folks for rich white folks who have computers and the Internet at home, who have probably not set foot in a public library for the last ten to fifteen years, and don't realize what they've become. We aren't the quiet places for books and research and nothing else any more. We're Blockbuster Video for people without money and internet cafes for people who don't shower. You don't like a TV set in the library for people waiting to use the computers? The solution isn't writing a newspaper column bemoaning the fact; the solution is writing a newspaper column urging the rich white voters in your comunities to vote to support their libraries, so they can build more computer centers and buy more computers, so people don't have to wait, and they don't have to find something to do while they're waiting like watch TV. Pay attention and use the goddamn brain in your head, or shut up and go away.
Jeez.
Microsoft fires worker over weblog: "Michael Hanscom began keeping an online journal, commonly known as a weblog, several years ago. He started his job as a contract worker in Microsoft's print shop last year. Last week, he mixed the two.
This week, he's looking for a new job, after becoming an unwilling case study in the fine line walked by corporate employees who write about work in their personal weblogs."
And this would be why I don't usually talk about work (or my personal life) here...
This week, he's looking for a new job, after becoming an unwilling case study in the fine line walked by corporate employees who write about work in their personal weblogs."
And this would be why I don't usually talk about work (or my personal life) here...
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Misleader.org: Daily Mislead: "Bush Drops Push for Energy Bill Provision That Would Help Solve Long-Term Reliability Issues
President Bush praised Congress for passing his long-sought energy legislation, saying, 'America will be safer and stronger with a national energy policy that will help keep the lights on, the furnaces lit, and the factories running.'1 But the energy legislation now moving toward final passage is viewed by many experts as 'minuscule compared to what needs to be done to have any impact.'2 "
President Bush praised Congress for passing his long-sought energy legislation, saying, 'America will be safer and stronger with a national energy policy that will help keep the lights on, the furnaces lit, and the factories running.'1 But the energy legislation now moving toward final passage is viewed by many experts as 'minuscule compared to what needs to be done to have any impact.'2 "
Monday, November 17, 2003
Yahoo! News - ABC's 'Sisco' Sits as 'Mole' Digs In: "LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - ABC is doing the midseason shuffle, putting struggling freshman drama 'Karen Sisco' on hiatus to make room for 'Celebrity Mole Yucatan' and 'Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital.' "
Okay, the news of WB canceling Tarzan didn't break my heart, but this is disappointing... but not unexpected. (And the Stephen King thing will probably be worth checking out, anyway. But I'd rather they kept Karen Sisco on the air.)
Okay, the news of WB canceling Tarzan didn't break my heart, but this is disappointing... but not unexpected. (And the Stephen King thing will probably be worth checking out, anyway. But I'd rather they kept Karen Sisco on the air.)
Sun-Sentinel: Features: "Drunken sailor may have gone a little overboard"
A follow-up to the guy selling his "ex-wife's" beanie babies on eBay... (see the October 30 entry for that link, which may be dead by now)
A follow-up to the guy selling his "ex-wife's" beanie babies on eBay... (see the October 30 entry for that link, which may be dead by now)
Thursday, November 13, 2003
BBC - Cult - Doctor Who - Scream of the Shalka
Okay, it's not going to be back on TV for another year at least, but it's nice to see some sort of new broadcast Doctor Who--not a novel, not an adventure on CD--for the 40th anniversary. And that it stars Richard E. Grant is icing on the cake. And that the first episode is pretty good is even better.
Okay, it's not going to be back on TV for another year at least, but it's nice to see some sort of new broadcast Doctor Who--not a novel, not an adventure on CD--for the 40th anniversary. And that it stars Richard E. Grant is icing on the cake. And that the first episode is pretty good is even better.
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
UPN
Go here to fill out a survey for a free DVD of episodes of the UPN series Jake 2.0. I saw the first episode of the show when it aired, and it was just okay. I hear it's gotten better, but it's on when I'm at work, and when I'm taping Angel. All things being equal, I'd rather see Angel, since I love it so, and I've been watching it for the last four years. Still, free DVD...
Go here to fill out a survey for a free DVD of episodes of the UPN series Jake 2.0. I saw the first episode of the show when it aired, and it was just okay. I hear it's gotten better, but it's on when I'm at work, and when I'm taping Angel. All things being equal, I'd rather see Angel, since I love it so, and I've been watching it for the last four years. Still, free DVD...
reviewjournal.com -- News: INTERNET DIARIES: School discipline questioned: "'Kill Alaina!'
The throwaway comment about an irritating friend is one that former Valley High School senior Wesley Juhl wishes he had never recorded in his blog, a personal Web site he used to chronicle daily life.
At the end of September, a month after he first posted it on his personal computer while in the privacy of his home, Juhl found himself sitting in the dean's office facing disciplinary action.
That journal statement, and another that included a vulgar comment about a teacher, earned Juhl an in-school suspension and a required parent conference. The disciplinary action also brought to light the fact that Juhl did not have a current zone variance to attend Valley. As a result, Juhl was sent to Chaparral High School, which is the school zone he resides in.
Juhl, 18, is still wondering what authority allowed the Clark County School District to punish him. His journal was not a school assignment and was not posted using a school computer or a school message board. "
I heard about this on the radio last week. On the one hand, according to one of his fellow students who called in, he was a stuck-up bullying little poop, and that's why his fellow students turned him in to the administration. On the other hand... well, there doesn't seem to be another hand, really. He's not being punished for what he wrote, he's being sent to the school he's supposed to go to. Is it a free speech issue? Maybe. As someone who writes fairly regularly in his own blog, often critical of a government that could very easily be reading those selfsame entries, I'm interested in news about people receiving negative consequences for what they write in their blogs.
Ultimately, though, let's be real: post-Columbine or not, expectation of anonymity or not, joking or not, if you're stupid enough to make something that sounds like a death threat against someone in a forum as private as the freaking Internet, you're a complete moron, and you pretty much deserve whatever happens to you. And if you go around whining about it, then you're just a baby.
The throwaway comment about an irritating friend is one that former Valley High School senior Wesley Juhl wishes he had never recorded in his blog, a personal Web site he used to chronicle daily life.
At the end of September, a month after he first posted it on his personal computer while in the privacy of his home, Juhl found himself sitting in the dean's office facing disciplinary action.
That journal statement, and another that included a vulgar comment about a teacher, earned Juhl an in-school suspension and a required parent conference. The disciplinary action also brought to light the fact that Juhl did not have a current zone variance to attend Valley. As a result, Juhl was sent to Chaparral High School, which is the school zone he resides in.
Juhl, 18, is still wondering what authority allowed the Clark County School District to punish him. His journal was not a school assignment and was not posted using a school computer or a school message board. "
I heard about this on the radio last week. On the one hand, according to one of his fellow students who called in, he was a stuck-up bullying little poop, and that's why his fellow students turned him in to the administration. On the other hand... well, there doesn't seem to be another hand, really. He's not being punished for what he wrote, he's being sent to the school he's supposed to go to. Is it a free speech issue? Maybe. As someone who writes fairly regularly in his own blog, often critical of a government that could very easily be reading those selfsame entries, I'm interested in news about people receiving negative consequences for what they write in their blogs.
Ultimately, though, let's be real: post-Columbine or not, expectation of anonymity or not, joking or not, if you're stupid enough to make something that sounds like a death threat against someone in a forum as private as the freaking Internet, you're a complete moron, and you pretty much deserve whatever happens to you. And if you go around whining about it, then you're just a baby.
I was a little bored yesterday...
You must like to spank or be spanked, because your
romance is remeniscent of Secretary. A truly
modern love story, it shows that you don't need
to be conventional to be normal. You're
probably the type that owns a whole lot more
leather than what's upholstering your car or
sofa. Yeah, you know what I mean.
What Romance Movie Best Represents Your Love Life?
brought to you by Quizilla
You must like to spank or be spanked, because your
romance is remeniscent of Secretary. A truly
modern love story, it shows that you don't need
to be conventional to be normal. You're
probably the type that owns a whole lot more
leather than what's upholstering your car or
sofa. Yeah, you know what I mean.
What Romance Movie Best Represents Your Love Life?
brought to you by Quizilla
Sunday, November 09, 2003
TheStar.com - Denmark to recognize worshippers of Norse gods: "'To me, it would be wrong if the indigenous religion of this country wasn't recognized,' Tove Fergo, the minister for ecclesiastic affairs and a Lutheran priest, said this week."
I smell an official US Government-sponsored "Protection from Pagans" week coming up.
I smell an official US Government-sponsored "Protection from Pagans" week coming up.
Friday, November 07, 2003
ComiX-Fan Forums - COMIX-FAN NEWS BRIEFS - NOVEMBER 2, 2003: "NEWSFLASH! The November 2003 issue of Maxim magazine featured a tidbit that will interest Masters of The Universe fans. According to the mag, Daredevil star Jennifer Garner is apparently up for the plum role of She-Ra, Princess of Power, in a planned live-action Masters of The Universe movie."
See, this is sort of a litmus test for how big a Jennifer Garner fanatic I am, and I think it proves I'm not a complete lost cause. Because, much as I love her, nothing could get me to see a Masters of the Universe movie.
See, this is sort of a litmus test for how big a Jennifer Garner fanatic I am, and I think it proves I'm not a complete lost cause. Because, much as I love her, nothing could get me to see a Masters of the Universe movie.
Thursday, November 06, 2003
BBC - Cult - New radio Hitch-Hiker's - News story: "Production is under way on the Tertiary Phase of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, with episodes due to begin airing on Radio 4 in spring 2004. "
And another childhood favorite returns...
And another childhood favorite returns...
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