So, I know I've gotta just stop doing these out-of-context comic book panels. I mean, yeah they're nothing but a cheap laugh. I know that. But sometimes I'm just reading something and along comes a panel like this:



Now that's just cold. I mean, come on. Canada's not so bad. And this is their very own super team even. Heh, of course they're talking about something else but I see that kinda thing and it makes me laugh. (Plus Lynnea keeps telling me that I don't post enough, which is odd considering she didn't even read my blog for like, 6 months or something there.)

But anyway, for some odd reason (masochism?) I've been reading through old Alpha Flight comics lately. For those that don't know, the 'Flight (I can't believe I just typed that...) is Canada's very own number one super-team. The original lineup was a guy in a superpowered maple leaf suit who couldn't decide on a good super-name (Weapon Alpha/Vindicator/Guardian), another guy who could turn into a sasquatch (Sasquatch), two mutant twins with speed and light powers (Aurora who is both neurotic and schitzophrenic and her gay brother Northstar who is both a former ski champion/radical seperatist and an asshole), a rather annoying Canadian nature goddess (Snowbird), a rather likeable doctor-turned-shaman (Shaman), and a dwarf - not the mythical kind, the normal kind (Puck).

Wow I sure do miss the original team (who are, as of issue 71: dead, dead/a robot/dead/a tiny little man/a robot again/a woman/and back to normal, elf, elf (don't ask), dead, a jerk/back to normal, an aged non-dwarf/and presumably dead). Yep, it's a comic book that started with the premise above and yet still found somewhere downhill to go. It's really an amazing study in bad comic-bookery.

Um, no. I don't have better things to be doing. Shut up. Maybe you have better things to be doing than judging me! Back off, you hear me! Heh, anyway I gotta go see if they survive this encounter with some guy who looks like a vampire with a 90s skater haircut (you know, shaved sides long on top. pretty much the only other haircut despicable enough to be in a league with the mullet?).

Matt on 08.17.05 @ 01:04 AM PST [link] 

...could something like this be in context:



I really, deeply wish that I had more occasion in my life to shout out "Spirit Fish!" If you don't know why I wish that, then I really can't explain it to you. I'm sorry.

Anyway, I haven't been posting much lately because there's really nothing to talk about. Work has been painfully stressful and busy and I got to see my siblings over the weekend (plus get repeatedly tackled by my 5 year old niece) and hang out with some friends but that's about it.

Oh, and I finally got around to finishing Final Fantasy a few days ago and moved on to Final Fantasy II (the Japanese FFII, not the American one which is actually FFIV) and man, that game is freaky-weird. At least, in comparison to the other Final Fantasys I've played. No leveling up? What were they thinking?

Matt on 08.10.05 @ 06:46 PM PST [link] 

I don't actually have anything partictular to post about tonight, so this is just on of those catching up with... type of posts though hopefully unlike the Depeche Mode album of the same name, it won't suck. But then again, [obvious obligatory self-deprecating remark].

So then, what have I been up to lately? Well, obviously I haven't been writing (in fact according to my weekly checklist I'm almost three weeks behind). But other than that I've mostly been working what seems like an obscene amount. Maybe it isn't actually any more than usual, but if not it's at least been extra taxing the last couple of weeks. And I finally did some more work on one of the side jobs I (not-so-brilliantly) picked up. They sounded like a good idea at the time, I mean, as much as I try to not be too materialistic I can hardly pass up the opportunity to pick up a little extra scratch here and there, eh? But summer is really not a time of focus for me.

Speaking of my nonmaterialism... I'm rather pleased that the copy of Curious Myths of the Middle Ages by S. Baring-Gould that I ordered showed up in the mail today. The cool part was that for about $5-6 more than the current edition I got a copy of the 1894 London edition, which is in remarkably good condition considering the age. Some of the pages are a bit stained and it's obviously had a good bit of use, but the binding is in great shape. There's just something about a book that was already rather old when your grandparents were born. I mean, it's an actual Victorian book. I imagine that whoever originally bought this had a tophat and a monacle. Or at least a ruffly shirt. Anyway, so I'm looking forward to reading it, from what I've heard it should be pretty interesting.

The other thing I can think of that's been occupying me the last few days is Minna no Golf... er, Hot Shots Gold: Open Tee I guess is the actual American name. I like the Japanese title way better. I picked it up on sale at Target on Sunday because I'd read good things about it, and basically... well, I pretty much hate all sports, golf included, but this game is just fun. And addictive. And while some people have complained about how you have to unlock all sorts of tiny wearables for your characters (that is, items to customize their appearence), for some reason I really dig it. I was all excited when I unlocked an emo haircut the other night.

Anyway, I think I'll throw out a few links before I close up the post. Links to sites more entertaining than this. First of all, one of my new favorite sites: hack a day. Also for some incredibly entertaining reading I must suggest a couple of blogs by a guy named Dave Campbell (from Bainbridge Island of all places): Dave's Long Box and the amazingly good Velvet Marauder. And finally, my new favorite freeware Japanese shooter: Warning Forever (by the by, Shooters Solitude on there is quite good too).

Alright, that's it for me.

Matt on 08.03.05 @ 08:38 PM PST [link]