Saturday, 8 March 2008

Phony Wedding, Real Marriage

I’ve been away from the blogometer for quite a while and for good reason. The Crazy Half-Nekked Wife and I journeyed across the continent of our birth to the West Coast where comedy, chaos and cocktails ensued.

First stop, San Francisco. My comedy shows at the Purple Onion were both sellouts -–ticket-wise, not content-wise– and Johnny Steele was brilliant. Only an idiot would follow that guy on stage but I was up to the task.

Did another show the next night at a vegan medical conference up in Santa Rosa and met some terrific folks. It’s always fun to chat with people who don’t have shreds of dead animal carcasses dangling from their teeth. (insert smiley face with wink here)

I also signed books at WonderCon, a comics convention in SF that same weekend. Here is a shot of me with Stormtrooper Elvis, a foreshadowing of things to come later in this blog. Just like a Bergman film.



After such a far out weekend of grooviness, we unwound by hiking in Marin County with a group of friends and followed it with some hot tubbing and a massage. Go here for a short video of our friend Anne and me enjoying our hike.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4OEm5k7Om4

It was an extremely pleasurable day with the exception of the hot tub. Anne's boyfriend, Nemo, for reasons yet to be determined by local law enforcement officals, assaulted our eyes with a tiny, black, shiny strip of fabric stretched across his reproductive organ. He called it a bathing suit. We called it the recurring centerpiece of future nightmares.

While in SF, we also went to the studio of my good friend and eminent Rock & Roll photographer, Pat Johnson, for some new publicity shots. He’s the coolest daddio who ever stroked a goatee and we always have fun at his place. Here’s one of the shots he took. In my mind, I’m BB King.



From SF, we flew like naked apes strapped inside a metal tube to Las Vegas for a reenactment of our wedding of six years ago, when I surprised Ashley and a few of her family members with a wedding by an Elvis impersonator. (Yes, I am a classy dude.) Since so few friends or family were at the original shindig, we decided to throw the whole dang thing again. Here’s the pic the chapel provides for only a huge amount of money. Incidentally, there is something funky about the color here. In real life, Ashley's hair is approximately 100% less red than this.



Simultaneously hysterical and touching, the wedding etched its image in the minds of all in attendance for who knows how long. At least until they got wasted at the after party.

Vegas is one of those places that you can’t believe exists outside of the Old Testament, just moments before God obliterates it with a flaming tower of vengeance. But that’s not why I like it. Even though I don’t gamble, it’s one of the last places on earth where you can walk around with a cocktail in your hand and smoke cigars indoors. It’s the little things in life that make me smile.

Here is a shot of me and my good friend, Lance hanging out in a casino. He’s a porn star or something, I think.



Here is a shot of my wife, Ashley, and her bevy of hot babe friends. I'm never too busy for a trip to the beach with her and her gal pals.



I hope you enjoyed this tour of my memory of the last two weeks. Another installment in a week or so.
Smooches.

Wednesday, 5 March 2008

That Sense of Wonder

Remember that sense of wonder you had when you read comics as a youngster. I can remember going to the spinner rack at the newsstand, being presented with so many choices and having to narrow it down to just one or two comics. Then getting home, cracking it open, and reading it cover-to-cover--the story, the letters pages, even the ads--over and over; pouring over it like a Talmudic scholar.

Where is that sense of wonder now? What made it leave? Is it age and experience? Have I just read too many comics?

Were the comics of my youth better in some way? By most objective measures today's comics are overall better--better writing, better art, better production values. And there are certainly many more choices in both types of material and in sheer number of comics being published. But is that 'wow' still there for a new comics reader?

Forgive me, I'm just feeling a bit melancholy today.

Does today's eleven-year-old kid who cracks open a new volume of Naruto have the same feeling of excitement, wonder and possibility that I did when reading an issue of DC Comics Presents?

I certainly hope so.

Tuesday, 4 March 2008

Gary Gygax

As you may have already heard, Dungeons & Dragons creator Gary Gygax passed away today at age 69. While this of course is sad news, I had to laugh when a co-worker, upon sharing the news, remarked that "we will now have 1D6 minutes of silence in his honor." :)

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons #1

I began playing D&D back in 1980 at the ripe young age of 10. Although I haven't played and significant D&D in about twenty years, it began a love of role playing games that continues to this day. I suppose, like a first love, one always fondly remembers one's first RPG rules system.

Saturday, 1 March 2008

Silver Age Vertigo

Just in case you haven't seen it yet, this is a work of brilliance.

YAMR: Cover Songs 5

Now playing on Yet Another Music Radio: Cover Songs 5! Another compilation of over 100 songs by the artists who didn't make them famous!


For nearly seven hours you'll be able to listen to:


Adrienne Young covers Joni Mitchell
Alison Krauss & John Waite cover John Waite
Allison Crowe covers Leonard Cohen
Allison Moorer covers Johnny Cash
American Music Club cover The Mamas and the Papas
Angela Kaset covers Suzy Bogguss
The Be Good Tanyas cover Prince
Bebel Gilberto covers The Eurythmics
Beth Nielsen Chapman covers Billy Jonas
The Bird and The Bee cover The Bee Gees
Blue Man Group & Venus Hum cover Donna Summer
Celtic Fayre cover The Waterboys
Celtic Woman cover Bobby Darin
Daphne Rubin-Vega covers Kermit the Frog
Dar Williams covers Pink Floyd
Deana Carter covers Roy Orbison
Deanna Kirk covers Leonard Cohen
The Derailers cover The Crystals
The Detroit Cobras cover The Flirtations
Diana DeGarmo covers Melissa Manchester
Dolly Parton with Judy Collins & Rhonda Vincent covers Joni Mitchell
The Duhks cover Randy Newman
Dwight Yoakam covers Little Eva
Elizabeth Mitchell covers The Velvet Underground
Elizabeth Mitchell & Lisa Loeb cover Bob Dylan
Emm Gryner covers Ozzy Osbourne
Emmy Rossum covers The Carpenters
Emmylou Harris covers The Everly Brothers
Falco covers Steely Dan
Farmer's Daughter cover Bobbie Gentry
George Strait covers Bruce Robison
Gwyneth Paltrow covers Kim Carnes
Hayley Westenra covers Kate Bush
Hem cover Natalie Wood & Richard Beymer
Il Troubadore cover ABBA
Ivy cover The Carpenters
James Mercer covers The Pixies
Jane Monheit covers Bread
Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins cover The Traveling Wilburys
Joan Osborne covers Sara Evans
Joaquin Phoenix & Reese Witherspoon cover Bob Dylan
John Legend & Stephen Colbert cover Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney
John Paul White covers Electric Light Orchestra
Johnny Cash covers Soundgarden
Jonatha Brooke covers The Beach Boys
Jonathan Coulton covers Sir Mix-a-Lot
Joss Stone covers The Drifters
June Tabor & The Oyster Band cover The Velvet Underground
Karrin Allyson covers Joni Mitchell
Kelly Sweet covers Aerosmith
Kris McKay covers The English Beat
Kyrsten covers Bad Company
Ladysmith Black Mambazo & Des'ree cover Bill Withers
Lori McKenna covers Peter Gabriel
Lorie Line covers Cat Stevens
The Lucksmiths cover The Bee Gees
Lucy Kaplansky covers Roxy Music
Luna covers Paula Abdul
Madeleine Peyroux covers Patsy Cline
Maire Brennan & Michael McDonald cover Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush
Mandy Barnett & The Jordanaires cover Hank Williams
Mary Chapin Carpenter covers Bruce Springsteen
Mates of State cover David Bowie
Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs cover The Who
Michael Carpenter covers Jeff Lynne
The Muppets cover Harry Nilsson
Mutual Admiration Society cover Toad the Wet Sprocket
Natacha Atlas covers Matt Monro
Neko Case covers The Shangri-Las
Nichole Nordeman covers Bob Dylan
Nichole Nordeman covers Cyndi Lauper
Nickel Creek covers Pavement
Nicole Kidman & Hugh Jackman cover Prince & Elvis Presley
Norah Jones & Adam Levy cover Elvis Presley
Ookla the Mok cover James Kochalka Superstar
Patty Griffin covers Bruce Springsteen
Paul Anka covers Survivor
Peter Gabriel covers Magnetic Fields
Pink Martini cover Doris Day
The Puppini Sisters cover Blondie
The Puppini Sisters cover Beyoncé Knowles
The Raveonettes cover The Angels
Red Molly cover Elvis Presley
Reel Big Fish cover The J. Geils Band
Richard Shindell covers Bruce Springsteen
Ricky Scaggs & Bruce Hornsby cover Rick James
Rilo Kiley cover The Velvet Underground
Rogue Wave cover Buddy Holly
Ronan Keating covers Keith Whitley
Sammy Kershaw covers James Taylor
Sarah Blasko covers Crowded House
Sarah Brightman covers Kansas
Seal covers Echo & The Bunnymen
The Section Quartet cover Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Seven Nations cover The Church
The Softies cover Rick Astley
Something For Kate cover Christina Aguilera
Student Rick cover Belinda Carlisle
Suzy Bogguss covers Chicago
Thrice cover Real Life
Tok Tok Tok cover Paul Simon
Tori Amos covers Boomtown Rats
Vitamin String Quartet cover Flyleaf
The Wailin' Jennys cover Neil Young
Willis cover Cameo
Wyclef Jean & Eve cover The Outfield
Yellowcard cover Michelle Branch


It's all free, so tune in now!

Friday, 29 February 2008

Friday Night Fights: Superman vs. Earth-Man

Don't Tug

Earth-Man probably spits into the wind too.

(From Action Comics #862. Story by Geoff Johns. Art by Gary Frank & Jon Sibal.)

Round Nine? Darn Skippy!

Thursday, 28 February 2008

Must Be the Last Week of the Month

Point of interest to probably no one but me: Every week as I catalog the new comics I've purchased I stack them in three piles: 'DC,' 'Marvel,' and 'everything else.' This week the 'everything else' pile was just as tall as the 'DC' pile, which included the massive Showcase Presents: Superman Family vol. 2!

I seem to recall that Diamond considers a comic late and therefore returnable if it arrives more than a month later than it was solicited for. Thus this was the last week for anything that was solicited for shipping in January 2008 to not be 'late.' Thus my shipment this week included the January 2008 issues of Rex Libris, Ninja High School, Nexus, Misericordia, The Engineer, and Doctor Who...