Face Space Book Race! Home Grown Edition

Look alive, Sunshine! It's Sunday, October 10, 2010, and I have begun the annual six month process of raking my yard. This time might go a bit quicker as I intend to skip the whole bag them up and set them on the curb thing this year. I will miss creating considerable walls of bags of leaves every weekend, but its time to move on.

And by moving on I mean taking a book of matches and some gasoline to metric ton of crunchy brown that'll inevitably cover the yard.

I clear yard with FIRE!!

As such things should be done.

NWA, GO GO GO!!

Wandering over the NWA (Neighborhood Watch Association)HQ last night, I came across our fearless leader in the midst of a dilemma. He had a toothache. He's had it for a while now and he was determined to solve this problem. Going to the dentist was, of course, out of the question. So, he and his partner in crime were in a garage looking for some good pliers and some zip-ties.

Yes, its true. I'm the sane one in the neighborhood.

Take a moment to contemplate that one. Roll it around for a bit.

I'm the sane one.

The zip-ties of course were to restrain our fearless leader as his tooth was removed so he doesn't kill everyone he lays on. I had just gone over there to say "Hi", but obviously I couldn't leave now. Unfortunately, not enough alcohol had been consumed to go through with the deed, but tomorrow is another day.

TO INFINITY AND *POP!*

If you haven't seen this yet, then you've probably been away from your computer this week, and in that case, welcome back. Pleasantries aside, let's go into space.

Homemade Spacecraft from Luke Geissbuhler on Vimeo.

I am actually a little disappointed that they found the thing themselves. The notion of some random person coming across it or it landing in someone's backyard hundreds of miles away and them sending it back would, first, better a better story and, second, be the weirdest moment ever for the person who finds it.

Unless they were just greedy, ignorant bastards and just hollered "LOOKIE HERE, I'S GOTS ME A iPHONE! GOD SENT IT TO ME! My's prayers done been answered."

THE REAL REASON FOR FACEBOOK

It seems that Facebook founder likes to touch young boys inappropriately. That must be the case since he certainly doesn't look like Marlon Brando. He probably started that website just to lure in young boys so he could get weird over him. Yeah, ignore all that stuff in that there movie. Otherwise why else would he join NAMBLA on his own site.

Oh wait, he didn't join NAMBLA.

Someone created a Facebook group called NAMBLA and stuck him in it without his permission.

Oh my word, how could someone do such a thing? How could someone put you in a group without your permission that can be viewed online? Well, pretty easily, because it's Facebook. And Facebook makes it really easy for people to do things to your reputation, like sticking you in groups you don't belong in, or posting candid and embarrassing pictures or you complete with your name that you never wanted to see the light of day, or "signing you into" places when you don't want people to know where you are or you might not even be to begin with. But all that is OK, because Facebook is oh so nifty and all your friends are on it, right?

This NAMBLA prank happened to the creator of the site. What could people do to you?

TOURNEY TIME!!

Time again for my monthly Tourney over on Google Buzz. This time around I've got Monster Hunters squaring off and battling it out for supremacy. Just the thing to get us fired up for Halloween. You can check it out here, and if you have GMail don't forget to get on in there and vote for your favorites.

MUSIC!!

Am I alone in wanting Sid Vicious to rise from the grave and taint-punch Justin Beiber?


That's the whole ball of wax for today. See y'all Wednesday. And don't worry about the whole clearing my yard with fire thing. If I burn my eyebrows off again, I'll make sure to take pictures. All because I love you.

Its really still all about Batman

It Sunday, July 11, 2010, and in typing up all this stuff I kept finding Batman references in every item I discussed. He's speaking to me, I just know it.

BAT-CODE?!

One of my three-year-olds got a hold of my latest issue of BATMAN AND ROBIN and was examining it. I knew if I tried to take it away she'd throw a fit and it was far too early to deal with that. And she had something to offer.

"See? Batman. See?" And she offered me the comic, which I accepted and thanked her, but that wasn't all. "No. Upside down." Now this struck me as odd, but not much odder than much of the stuff that comes out of her and her twin sister's mouths. After all until very recently they referred to zebras as "Douglas". But I looked at the Frank Quitely drawn cover and it was right side up. "No. Upside down" She insisted, and yet again in order to avoid a meltdown before eight in the morning I obliged her and turned the issue upside down. "See?" I wasn't sure what she was on about, but that's not unusual. All I saw was Robin standing over a kneeling Joker ready to bash his head in with a crowbar as Batman was diving to stop him, but of course inverted.

"See what, honey?" I asked.

"F." And suddenly it snapped into focus. When inverted the figures of Robin and Joker form the letter 'F'. So like any rational human being I immediately dove through my comics hunting down every issue of BATMAN AND ROBIN I could lay hands on turning them in multiple ways in order to try to divine the secret message that Quitely has been sending to the readers over the part year. No luck so far.

I may have finally snapped.

RETRO TV!!

The great thing about technology moving forward is that I can get stuff I missed the first time around pretty cheap. And to make matters even better is the good old $5 DVD bin at Wal-Mart. Hot damn, but I love me some Wal-Mart. That bin is a treasure trove of crap, but if you dig deep enough you can find some real gems buried in there.

Now, a while back Kristie, in all her awesomeness, did an online group viewing of the first season of THE X-FILES, which I started off doing really well in keeping up, but eventually fell hopelessly behind the rest of the group in the viewing schedule and frankly did not have a prayer of keeping up. I am truly sad and pathetic like that. Now that show is a classic and it held up in some regards and was horribly dated in other ways. So when I spotted the first season of 21 JUMP STREET for $5 I knew I had to check it out.

This show was THE show when I was a kid. It started this new guy Johnny something, oh yeah, Johnny Depp. I think he had a modest movie career after the show. It was also the launching point for Holly Robinson Peete who recently was a finalist on THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE. I watched the two part pilot yesterday. The sound quality was a bit lacking as its a pretty bare bones package. Still the show itself was pretty good. Sure the fashion and the pop culture references were VEEEEERY dated as a kids was pissed off and bitter that his folks won't let him go to a Eurhythmics concert, obviously because they are a horrible influence. It was also a riot to see cops have to use pay phones. Even the rich crooks didn't have cell phones, not even the big brick ones that you could club a man to death with.

Irony and snark aside, it was a fun viewing. Yeah, a lot of it was contrived as hell and kind of dumb, but at the center of it was a solid concept. It was a cool show when it wasn't trying to be a 'kool' show.

ACTION STAR TOURNEY!!

July's Google Buzz tourney is going strong. This month Buzzards are picking their favorite action movie stars.

Chow Yun Fat terminated Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Samuel L Jackson shot down Tom Cruise.

John Wayne took out Liam Neeson.

Bruce Willis barely got by Jackie Chan.

Brad Pitt kicked Sylvester Stallone out of the Fight Club.

Christian Bale beat Charles Bronson in a battle of coolest guy with the initials "CB".

Clint Eastwood dropped Mel Gibson faster than Gibson's management.

Jet Li proved there is someone that can beat Chuck Norris.

PRINCE OF LIES!!

Its all over, folks. I might as well shut down the blog, take down all the short stories, and get rid of all the webcomic pages, the internet is all over according the reliable source formerly known as that little purple dude with a weird symbol instead of a name. Pee on the fie. Call in the dogs. Its time to hang it up. Who am I to argue with the artist that gave us "Batdance".

I like Prince's music, a lot of it anyhow, but ultimately this statement is sore grapes because his website didn't do as well as he thought it would. Its a pretty lame statement and the type I'd expect from someone a lot less mature. Its like a kid doesn't make the football team and declares that "football is stupid anyways".

MUSIC!!

No particular reason. Enjoy some Fratellis, because I do.

POP QUIZ!!

1: What could possibly make the internet 'over'?

2: What's the last older TV show you watched online, on Netflix, or however you watch older TV?

That's it for this time around. Prepare for the work week, and I'll talk to y'all Wednesday.

May's Google Buzz Champ!!

The Ladies of Science Fiction and Fantasy battled fiercely all throughout the six character single elimination tourney. We had plenty of upset and a lot of really close matches and it culminated in a barn burner of a finale.

Nyota Uhura had bested Buffy Summers, Ellen Ripley and even Princess Leia to make it to the finals.

Dana Scully battled for redhead supremacy dispatching 7 of 9 and Leeloo and met with upset queen Wilma Deering in the semi-finals, but strong support saw her through.

Two different eras of Sci-Fi met head-to-head as these ladies vied for votes. With a tie score at the end of regulation voting, we went into overtime. The match remained tied in overtime sending us into Sudden Death!

Finally a winner emerged: Nyota Uhura!

And right now, a very nice woman in Hawaii is cursing as she reads that. Sorry Kristie. <3

May's Google Buzz Tourney: On to the finals!

The quarter finals were both close matches with one one vote separating the winners from the losers.

Nyota Uhura settled the Star Trek versus Star Wars debate by besting Princess Leia.

Dana Scully proved the superiority of pants suits over spandex by besting Wilma Deering.

The Championship match is underway. Who will reign supreme?

May's Final Four!

The Google Buzz Tourney for May has completed its quarter final round and the Ladies of Science Fiction and Fantasy are down to the final four. These matches were all complete shut outs except for the first one. Ripley got a shot it.

Nyota Uhura beat Ellen Ripley.

Princess Leia beat Zoe Washburne

Dana Scully beat 7 of 9 and thus is the Queen Redhead of the Tourney.

Wilma Deering beat Neytiri.

And I do get the feeling that a certain young lady in Hawaii is quite pleased to know that Dana Scully is kicking ass and taking names. The final four are having it out including a much anticipated Star Wars/Star Trek match-up. Who will go to the May Finals? Got a favorite? Head over to Buzz and vote!

May's Google Buzz Tourney

This month the ladies of science fiction and fantasy are battling it out. Voting based on general hawtness is discouraged in favor of their individual influence to popular culture. Most the round 1 was really close.

Nyota Uhura phasered Buffy Summers.

Ellen Ripley beat out Aeryn Sun.

Princess Leia dominated Sharon Valerii.

Zoe Washburne bumped off Bella Swan.

7 of 9 assimilated Xena.

Dana Scully proved to be the superior redhead than Leeloo.

Wilma Deering squeaked by Padmé Amidala

Neytiri beat Arwen Undomiel

The Quarter Finals are up and running.

Buzz Tourney Winner!

After four rounds of competition the field of 16 has been narrowed down to one hero. The championship bout was indeed epic with debate and even betrayal. Ultimately, only one character can be named Google Buzz's favorite superhero and that character is:

THE INCREDIBLE HULK!

Buzz Tourney Championship Bout!

Not much voting over the weekend up the results are in!

The Hulk beat Hellboy.

Wolverine took Thor.

That's right, kids. Our championship bout is a rematch between two characters who seem to really like to beat the crap out of each other.

"r u a raper?"

We hear a lot that the kids nowadays are a lot more computer savvy and more equipped to handle life in the internet age. I actually just saw an AT&T ad saying that people who have the internet are somehow made smarter. This makes me wonder if the people who have made these claims have spent any time at all online.

Having information accessible to you does not make you smarter. If you sit in a library all day long and play Rock Band on your cell phone, you will not become smarter. If anything the internet just makes it easier to appear smarted. Nothing like a little cut and paste from Wikipedia onto a forum to make you seem intelligent, right?

Which brings us right to what's got me annoyed. Kids on social networking platforms. There are forums that are designed specifically for kids. Facebook is not one of them. In fact its quite amusing to see kids trying to be cool online only to have their parents "friend" them thus utterly destroying their reason for being on that site.

But I've been away from Facebook for a quite while, so what has me annoyed? Google Buzz it seems has had growth in the number of kids using it. Buzz is handy because to can feed in things like this blog, twitter or other sites into one easy to follow bundle. People can follow you for your content and of course you can follow other people. You can also post things independently on there, like Twitter, but without the character limit. So with people able to feed in things like articles, artwork and the like into Buzz its a handy tool for growing a fanbase and getting your work out there.

Now, there's two ways of going about this. First is leaving comments on people's posts that are interesting and maybe they'll decide to follow you. That's my method and I'm just shy of 100 followers. The other method is to follow as many people as you can. When someone new follows you, you get a message and the option to follow them back. So, if you follow 2000 people and half of them follow you back... well, you get the idea.

Well, the problem with mass following people is that you don't really know what you're in for. So when someone who was networking out her movie reviews site over Buzz started following me and I followed her I stumbled upon something truly stupid: kids freaking out, wondering who this person is following them. "Who r u? Y r u following me? Stop following me? R u a raper?"

Now, here's why it's stupid:

First: if you are followed on Buzz, you can follow them back, meaning you can see each others posts, not follow them so they can see your posts but you don't have to see theirs, or you can just block them and they can't see your stuff. Its not hard the stop someone from following you.

Second: Odds are these kids actually followed the person back to leave the comments.

Third: Google profiles are easily accessible through Buzz, so wondering who a person is is pretty pointless when the answer is a click away.

For a demographic that's supposed to be internet savvy, they aren't showing it. In fact, I'm really starting to give credit to the people lobbying for better means of protection for kids online. Ultimately, its about being smart, which these kids aren't. If someone follows you and or friends you that you don't know and can find information about, or just seems sketchy, almost every social networking site has easy means to block those people. The first thing I do when I get a new follower on Buzz is check their Buzz Roll, and then probably they're profiles. I have not had an instance yet where I felt I needed to block someone on there, but I've done it on other sites. So far on Buzz my only decision was whether or not to follow them back.

For parents, if your kid is on a social networking site, then you need to be on there as well. Yeah, giving children their own space is all well and good, but that's why they have a bedroom. If parents don't start monitoring what their children are doing, then Big brother will eventually do it for them, and that's just one big load of bad. "We're doing it for the children." will be the battle cry and then the internet gets boiled and homogenized.

And if that happens I'm blaming every parent who was too busy and/or stupid to know that their 10 year old was sending dirty pictures out on the internet.

Sometime you get that reminder that kids are still kids. And most kids ain't that bright.

Superhero Buzz Tourney quarter final results!

Had quite a few upsets in there and it looks like the DC participants are completely out. We've still gout our lone Dark House hero slugging away though!

Quarter finals!

The Hulk smashed Superman

Hellboy stopped The Flash

Thor dropped the hammer on Captain Marvel

Wolverine beat Batman

The Semi-finals are underway!

The Tourney makes it to Round 2.

So my little e-experiment on Google Buzz has picked up a bit of steam. Enough at least to make it to a second round. This was actually in doubt has with less than sven hours to go in round one not all the match-up had a received any voting. However, upon getting up Tuesday morning I found that all the matches had received some attention. This leads me to believe that Google Buzz is a bit quieter o the weekends than during the weekdays. At least my followers are, which is interesting and good to know.

Round two is off to a much stronger start with all the matches receiving votes and it looks like none of the characters in question are going to coast through.

Round 1 results.

Superman breezed by Ironman.

The Hulk overcame Wonder Woman.

The Flash defeated Spider-Woman.

Hellboy upset Captain America.

Thor overpowered Storm

Captain Marvel squeaked past Green Lantern

Wolverine put the skint on Aquaman

Batman was too much for Spider-man.

Round 2 continues.

Buzzing about Buzz

I'm still getting acquainted with Google Buzz, but I'm liking it a bit better than Facebook. There's no "pieces of flare" getting sent at me and no one has tried to get me to join a cause. It like that it's "followers" and not "friends". While do have a few e-friends, this isn't something I'm doing to keep track of people. This is more professional networking than social, although any friends of mine who wish to follow me on there are welcome to do so.

It's pretty stripped down and easy to use, so I'll be there for a while unless it becomes a pain in the ass.