Springfield might not be the most beautiful city in the world, but God has smiled on us nevertheless! For the moment, we’re hosting our very own miracle! It seems that the BVM (Blessed Virgin Mary) has made an appearance in a window of Mercy Hospital!

Check that out! That’s TOTALLY Mary! It’s a sign, I think, that Springfield has been forgiven for unleashing Staind upon the world.

As you can imagine, the image has brought out all kinds of people to see its holy miracleness. At one point 500 people were gathered to look at the blessed window.

On Friday some experts (in windows, not miracles) came into examine the apparition and concluded that the image was caused by “the buildup of a mineral deposit in the sealed area between the window’s two panes of glass” but they did not say that building up minerals in that very shape was beyond the magical powers of the Queen of Heaven.

The comments on those articles are great, as are the comments on this one (yes, this miracle has been covered for multiple days in the local paper). Many of them are straight out of the Protestant Reformation and give wonderful insight into why Europeans spent several hundred years killing each other over doctrinal differences in the same basic religion.

And, as contrast, some intentional comedye.

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Tags: human_lightning_rod, local_news

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I was going to talk about last night’s debate, but I’m tired of that woman and her shtick. So instead it’s Previews time. Yes, I would rather look at a pile of useless and stupid Japanese crap than her.

Right out the gate we have the PICK OF THE MONTH:

Beanworld! Folks, you gotta get this. It’s unusual and funny and thoughtful and not like anything else on the stands. I say this only having read a single BEanworld book, but that one book I’ve read over and over and wished I had more. So I’m getting both the Beanworld Trade Vol 1 (p. 26) and the Beanworld Holiday Special (p. 27).

I’m also VERY excited about Mister X: Condemned (p. 28). I have both the Mister X trades and really enjoy this saga of madness, obsession, and architecture. When this new series is inevitably collected in trade, I’ll be getting it.

Gantz Vol 4 (p. 42) is solicited and thank goodness volume two comes out this week. Or was it last week? Either way, I’ll finally get to read a second volume before having to commit to a fourth one.

Jump to page 162. Jack Staff #20 is resolicited. Well, that was a nice monthly schedule while it lasted.

Okay, I don’t want to speak ill of the departed, but really:

Come on.

Fight or Run #1 (p. 242) — “The first issue of a brand new series by Kevin Huizenga. Using a minimalist approach, abstract and virtually wordless, Huizenga tackles the age-old theme of fight or flight. Two characters meet, ten fight — or run.” Okay, but only because I love you, Kevin Huizenga.

The Quest for the Missing Girl GN (p. 292) — I loved Taniguchi’s The Walking Man and this sure sounds good but man, the price. We’ll just have to see.

I’ll continue with Doctor Who: The Forgotten #5 (p. 305) and I’m really glad to see Doctor Who Classics Vol 2 (p. 305).

Miss Don’t Touch Me (p. 314) looks like a book I’m willing to gamble on.

Atomic Robo: The Dogs of War #5 (p. 322) is really something of a maverick.

I like Jeffrey Brown, so Sulk vol 2 (p. 336) is an easy choice.

On page 369 there’s a book offered: Creators of the Superheroes. My experience is, the less you know, the better.

The “Katchoo” action figure on page 413 comes in three variants: lesbian, not lesbian, possibly lesbian.

All of the merchandise for the Spirit movie — even more than Frank Miller’s name on it — convinces me it will be so very Not Good.

A quote from the solicitation text for some Star Wars action figures: “Sith. Jedi. Republic. Separatist. Empire. Rebellion. the struggle for the galaxy spanned generations…” Yes. Generations. Specifically, two of them.

Since the John McCain Action Figure (p. 453) doesn’t look anything like him, you’ll still be able to use it for years to represent any old rich white Republican politician! It’s not available in Germany, though, which I imagine is disappointing for so many Germans.

“OH HI I HEARD THERE WAS AN AUDITION HERE FOR STUPID USELESS JAPANESE CRAP AM I TOO LATE?”

Suicide Girls Playing Cards (p. 482) — Cause sometimes you need to jerk it in a place that doesn’t have wi-fi.

And now I’ll end with something good:

That is one of the funnest games ever.

You betcha!

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Tags: previews

Man, I nearly didn’t make it to two books this month. I was bad about reading, electing instead most nights to do Kakuro (Cross Sums) puzzles. But ultimately I got my requisite two books done, and here they are!

The Ten-Cent Plague by David Hajdu

This is a history of what went down with comic books in the forties and fifties, when hysteria over them was at its peak. As a result, it’s largely the history of two entities: Fred(e)ric Wertham and EC Comics. And ultimately, I would have rather just read a good collection of EC Comics and Wertham’s book (which, incidentally, I really think should be in print, as it’s essential for anyone interested in the history of comics. Specifically, I believe the CBLDF should publish it.) I found this account of a fascinating history to be somewhat dry and tepid, which was part of why it took me so long to finish it.

With three days to go in September, could I really find anything of value that I could finish in such a short amount of time? Yes I could!

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

A slim book, a series of short vignettes, yet incredible depth and poetry. I’d not read any Calvino before and I believe my buddy Al tipped me off to this one. A beautiful read, full of evocative imagery. This is a new favorite.

Got some fiction on my plate for October!

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Tags: monthly_reading

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Tags: bus_off_a_cliff, homemade_comics

“If you didn’t think [The Lord of the Rings trilogy] was the best book ever written when you were 10, there was something wrong with you. And if you still thought it was the best book written when you were 20, there was something wrong with you.”

– Tristan Brightman, via BoardGameGeek.

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Tags: quotes

I’ve been in the market for a notebook computer for some time. I’d like something portable that I can work on so that I can go to Louisiana or Illinois or wherever and be able to do work for my employer and have all my tools and email and porn with me.

I wanted a Macbook, and was looking to save my pennies for one. For my birthday, Becky said, “Hey, I don’t know if you want a notebook or a Lego Death Star or an Xbox 360 or a Crokinole board more, so here’s $500 to put where you’d like it!” Shortly afterwards I sold some comics and trade paperbacks to my comic store for a nice $250. And then I sold some games on Boardgamegeek and cleared almost $200 more. A notebook was in my reach!

When I looked at the Macbook, however, I just couldn’t ignore the cost. I was looking at at least $500 more, easily, that I just couldn’t justify spending. I don’t doubt they’re great machines, but nobody opts for the Hyundai over the Mercedes because they think the former is the superior car.

So now I have a Dell-brand MacBook, called the “MackBoop”. Here are some of the stats on it:

Studio 1735, Intel Core 2 Duo T5750, 2.0GHz, 667Mhz, 2M L2 Cache
Ruby Red
3GB, DDR2, 2 Dimm
Hi Resolution, glossy widescreen 17.0 inch display (1440×900)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerate
250G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 Home Premium Edition, English
8X Slot Load CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
Integrated High Definition Audio 2.0
Dell Wireless 1397 802.11g Half Mini Card
Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam
56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery

Yeah, 17″ means it’s a Big Boy, but it’s going to be my main computer, so I wanted it to not be tiny. And I’m not going to be toting it to the coffee shop every day, just on a plane every now and then.

And here I am surfing the net…WHILE IN BED! WHAAAAAAA?

It has Vista on it, which I was a little leery of but decided I’d just get over. Microsoft rewarded my trust with having Vista crash within 6 hours of first turning the machine on — so hard that the only cure was to unplug the computer AND remove the battery. And also Vista comes with this awesome security feature that warns you if you’re about to do something that will change your system in an alarming way, such as creating a new folder. Yes, it warned me I was about to create a new folder.

It took me a long time to find out where to turn off this idiotic safety feature and even then it whined about how disabling it would allow Al-Qaeda operatives to set up dangerous new folders on my machine, but I finally killed it. I had to mute the volume to avoid hearing this feature sing “Daisy” as I confirmed the seventeenth dialog box asking if I REALLY wanted to cause untold devastation on my machine.

Since then I’ve had no problems at all, and things are more or less working. I’ve gotten used to the different keyboard and the touchpad (I still use the mouse at my desk) a lot faster than I thought I would, and I’m getting everything set up and settled in.

And yes, it plays Diablo II just fine.

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Tags: mackboop, technology_makes_our_lives_better

Here are the rules.

Take a picture of yourself right now.
Don’t change your clothes, don’t fix your hair…just take a picture.
Post that picture with NO editing.
Post these instructions with your picture.

It’s actually from yesterday morning, but I followed the rules when I did it.

But…why the odd point of view? And what does the enigmatic phrase “mack boop” mean?

All will be revealed tomorrow…

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Tags: enigmas_wrapped_in_conundrums, meme