YAFL2: Week 5

Here are the results from Week 5 of Yet Another Fantasy League 2:


Flex Mentallo 56
Kickers Inc. 62

Power Pack 66
www.rickgebhardt.net 68

The Defenders 50
Star City Archers 72

Delphi Oracles 86
Superteam 26


Current Standings:

   Team                 Record  Pct    Points  Streak
   -------------------- ------  -----  ------  ------
1. Kickers Inc.         5-0-0   1.000  357.00  W-5
2. Star City Archers    3-1-1    .700  346.00  W-1
3. Delphi Oracles       3-1-1    .700  292.00  W-1
4. Flex Mentallo        3-2-0    .600  280.00  L-2
5. www.rickgebhardt.net 2-3-0    .400  286.00  W-2
6. Superteam            2-3-0    .400  203.00  L-1
7. The Defenders        1-4-0    .200  306.00  L-3
8. Power Pack           0-5-0    .000  278.00  L-5

Week 6 Games:


Superteam (2-3-0)
vs.
Kickers Inc. (5-0-0)

Flex Mentallo (3-2-0)
vs.
www.rickgebhardt.net (2-3-0)

Power Pack (0-5-0)
vs.
Star City Archers (3-1-1)

Delphi Oracles (3-1-1)
vs.
The Defenders (1-4-0)


Good luck to all!

In my other leagues: I lost 68-62 in my friends and family league, dropping to 3rd place (3-2-0); Lost my third straight--63 to 58--in my pulib league, falling to 5th place (2-3-0); and scored 254.85 points in my Pass & Kick league (now in 5th place).

Fantasy and Science Fiction/Theory Reading Group

Last night was the book selection meeting for the Fantasy and Science Fiction/Theory Reading Group to which I belong. Once a year we meet to decide what the books will be for the coming year; basically everyone brings a few recommendations, makes pitches, and then we vote.

It's become a tradition to use one selection for a graphic novel; two years ago we did The Dark Knight Returns, and last year we did Seaguy & We3. This year at my suggestion the group has opted for Charles Burns's Black Hole, which I think will make for a very interesting discussion.

The other (non-graphic) novel readings for the year are:

Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
Kim Stanley Robinson, The Years of Rice and Salt
Toni Morrison, Beloved
Italo Calvino, If on a winter's night a traveler
Maureen F. McHugh, China Mountain Zhang
Philip K. Dick, Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (also my suggestion)
Russell Hoban, Riddley Walker
Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Kelly Link, Magic for Beginners
Clive Barker, Weaveworld

Looks like an interesting mix of books.

New This Week: October 11, 2006

Based on the NCRL list for this week's comics shipping from Diamond, here are a few things to look for at the local comic shop tomorrow:


The Pick of the Week is Dork #11 by (who else?) Evan Dorkin. Issues of the very funny Dork come around about as often as presidential elections, so each one must be savored.


In other comics:


Arcana have the third (and final) issue of Koni Waves.

Boom! have the third issue of X Isle.

DC have the first Desolation Jones collection; the big-ass Absolute Sandman vol. 1 hardcover; the debut of Gail Simone's Gen13; and new issues of 52 (week 23), DMZ (#12), Fables (#54), and Firestorm (#30).

D.E. have the second issue of Battlestar Galactica.

GRaphix have the second Baby Sitters' Club volume.

Image have the seventh Invincilbe collection; and a new issue of The Emissary (#5).

Knopf release the mainstream-attention-getting Cancer Vixen to comic shops.

Marvel have the third collection of The Pulse; the debut issue of Ultimate Power; and new issues of Civil War Front Line (#7), Powers (#20), The Punisher (#39), Thunderbolts (#107), and Ultimate X-Men (#75).

Pantheon have a graphic novel version of A Scanner Darkly, which would appear to be a 'cinemanga' type of book that uses frames from the animated feature. I like the movie and all, but if you're looking to read A Scanner Darkly, I'd strongly recommend going instead to Dick's original novel instead.

TokyoPop are all about the OEL manga this week: they have the highly anticipated second volumes of both Dramacon and Steady Beat (eoither of which could have been picks of the week had it not been for Dork...); plus the second volume of Peach Fuzz and the first volumes of Earthlight and Snow.

Too Hip Gotta Go Graphics have the collected edition of Wahoo Morris (fans of BEck may want to check it out...)

Viz might have new volumes of Nana and Banana Fish (not on the NCRL, but they're on my DCBS shipping list...)


Lots of stuff to spend your money on this week. Enjoy your new comics!

The Nietzsche Family Circus

Take random Family Circus panels, pair them with random quotes from Friedrich Nietzsche, and hilarity ensues in The Nietzsche Family Circus.

(What is it about The Family Circus that inspires this kind of stuff?)

(link via Wired)

New Library Comics: Week of October 2, 2006

Here are the comics we added to our library collection last week:


Barry, Lynda, 1956- Come over, come over /New York, NY : HarperPerennial, c1990.

Barry, Lynda, 1956- Girls and boys /New York, NY : HarperPerennial, 1993, c1981.

Clowes, Daniel. Pussey! /Seattle : Fantagraphics, 2006.

Feiffer, Jules. Boy, girl, boy, girl /New York : Random House, c1961.

Giard, Luc, 1945- A village under my pillow /Montreal : Drawn & Quarterly Books/Petits livres, 2005.

Sakurazawa, Erica. Angel /Los Angeles, Calif. : Tokyopop, c2003.

Sakurazawa, Erica. Between the sheets /Los Angeles, Calif. : Tokyopop, c2003.

Suehirogari. Sexhibition /Seattle, WA : Eros Comix, [1997], c1996.

Takahashi, Rumiko, 1957- Ranma 1/2 /San Francisco, CA : Viz Communications, c2003- vols. 33-34

Torres, Daniel. Opium /Barcelona : Norma Editorial, 2006.

Utatane, Hiroyuki. Countdown : sex bombs /Seattle, WA : Eros Comix, c1996.

Monkey Covers

Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover.

Here's Brian Bolland's cover to 1987's Swamp Thing Annual #3 featuring Congorilla, from a story by Rich Veitch that featured not only Congorilla, but also Angel & Ape and Grodd.

(Standard disclaimer about golden gorillas not really being monkeys applies.)

Image courtesy of the GCD. Click on the image for a larger version.

YAMR: Halloween Spooktacular 2006

It's October, and that means it's time for our second annual Halloween Spooktacular on Yet Another Music Radio!

Tune in and listen to more than eighty-five tracks, including music by:

The 5 Browns, 16 Horsepower, Adam Sandler, Aqua, Austin Lounge Lizards, Ben Colder, Bing Crosby with Victor Moore & Boris Karloff, Bob Ridgely, Bobby "Boris" Pickett & the Crypt-Kickers, Bobby Please, The Bonzo Dog Band, Boris Karloff, The Born Losers, Carl Orff, Castle Kings, Charlotte Martin, Chris Kevin & The Comics, Christophe Beck, Chubby Checker, The Crewnecks, Danny Elfman, The Daylighters, Don Hinson & The Rigamorticians, Earl Patterson, The Edgar Winter Group, Edvarg Grieg, Evanescence, Frank Sinatra, The Friars, The Fuzztones, Gene Moss, The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, Inkubus Sukkubus, Jack & Jim, Jack Marshall, Jimmy Dee, Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins, J.S. Bach, John Carpenter, John Ford, John Williams, John Zacherle, Juliana Hatfield, The Keytones, kidneythieves, The Legendary Invisible Men, Leroy Bowman, Little Richard, The Mancini Pops Orchestra, Mark O'Connor, Martinibomb & The Coconut Monkeyrocket, Matt Pond PA, Matthew Sweet, Mike Oldfield, The Modernaires, Modest Mussorgsky, Natacha Atlas, Neko Case, Nicole Blackman & John Van Eaton, North American Halloween Prevention Initiative, Otis Redding, The Phantom Five, Phantom Planet, Poe, Ralph Marterie & His Marlboro Men, Rasputina, Ray Lewis, Roy Clark, Sarah McLachlan, The Scattered Pages, Sheb Wooley, Soupy Sales, Southern Culture on the Skids, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Steve Martin, The Swingin' Neckbreakers, Tarantula Ghoul and The Cryptkickers, The Tarantulas, Tegan and Sara, They Might be Giants, Thought Gang, Vic Mizzy, Vince Guaraldi Trio, & Wojciech Kilar.

Over four-and-a-half hours of music to get you in the trick-or-treating mood!