email me: chris@chris-karath.com
February 2007
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Wednesday February 28, 2007 5:48:30 AM #
» It's disappointing to see that CompUSA is closing 128 of it's 229 stores. Even more disappointing that the Grand Rapids location will be one of the closing stores and that the only store in Michigan will be one unit in Lansing, an hour or so away.
It's understandable somewhat, as computers have become commodities and the interesting niche items that CompUSA carries, which have been diminishing in number anyway, have become even more niche lately . There's also the problem of CompUSA devoting half their store to HD TVs which seemed like a waste of space to me; computers you buy every few years, how often do most people update their TVs? The enthusiast for CompUSA's merchandise seems less enthusiastic of late too and probably all too likely to look at the merch at CompUSA and then go home and find a lower price on the internets; a reality that probably hasn't helped their sales.
This closing will, pretty much, leave Best Buy and Circuit City the only games in town for computers, gadgets and electronics on the superstore level. Also, both of these retailers have been running away from niche computer items for awhile, as they become ever more focussed on the mass consumer end of the spectrum, and less interested in the hobbyist.
First, Media Play and Suncoast left Grand Rapids, and all the Media/Movie merchandise went away. Now CompUSA is closing. Geek shopping continues to be on the downturn in GR :(
Sunday February 25, 2007 5:46:32 PM #
New York Comic Con
» Action-Figure.com has New York Comic Convention Photos of alot of upcoming Action Figures. Much of this was seen at Toy Fair, but in general these shots are much much better.
Marvel Legends, 7 pages worth. Including: BAF Brood Queen, Black Knight (full), Rachel Marvel Girl (full)... looks very good for a ML female figure, Astonishing Cyclops, and more.
Superhero Squad, 4 pages, including Doom Jr., Baby Namor and Super Toddler Skrull.
Toy Biz Indy Legends,9 pages, Some great turn arounds. Pitt is fantastic. Should be amusing to see that Witchblade at retail. Nice Judge Dredd. Conan!
Goonies Action Figures Goonies action figures, wow.
Alex Ross John Stewart (basically a Hal Jordan redeco with a new head.) Lots more DC Direct by set
» From the House of (out of) Ideas comes New Avengers vs. the Transformers. "Assemble and Roll-out"
Saturday February 24, 2007 5:25:50 PM #
Video
» Stan Lee and "Hiro", behind the scenes of Heroes.
» Heroes parody: Zeroes: Ordinary people, with Ordinary Abillities. Funny.
» Mark Millar Documentary
Random Non-Sequiters
» Some Food:
Lays Staxx has new packaging and a new decas, cSunflowery oil taste. Not bad, but neither is as good as the original. (Also how can the new one still be "Original"?) |
Breyers Double Churned Extra Creamy Ice Cream: Good, but so rich it'll make you sick. One churning is probably enough. I'll probably buy it again only to use in small doses, but you don't want to have an entire bowl of this stuff with hot fudge, unless your seriously looking to self-induce a sugar coma. |
» You know why I'm excited that DC is creating another 52 series? (Head writer of 52 v2=Paul Dini!), besides the fact that it's been a very good comic and the fact that I like the pacing of the weekly serial. 52 also makes a great divider in my stack of unread comics. Whenever I get to 52, I know I've finished one week and have moved onto the next week in my stack of "to reads" (cause I read them chronlogically). It's a very useful title.
» "Grumpy Old Fan" on Blogorama, muses about DC truely rebooting the Universe at the end of 52 Countdown. It's a good read, but honestly I have no interest in a reboot. What I would prefer, would be some sort of Generations type thing where there was a Batbook, a Supesbook, a JLUBook and a more General book that existed in a universe designed to run 7 or 8 years, Ideally with a rough begining, middle and end preplotted, that focussed on new legacy inspired characters to carry-on the tradition in a post COIE DCU where all the big guys have moved on or mostly off the stage. That would be the way I would go. Tackle a 15 year span during that 7 or 8 year run. With 4 books you'd have essentially a weekly dose of a DC-type universe, where characters could live and die, and things could actually happen in a DCU. That would be what I'd like to see.
» My best friend moved to China today. He also now lives in the future too? Beijing, China is 13 hours in the future from me. It's tomorrow morning there already.
Let's Go Surfing
» Wheel of Lunch. Web, Flash application that you enter your Zip code into and then it adds a bunch of local resturaunts to a Wheel of Fortune style wheel that you can "give a spin" with your mouse. Neat.
» Use your Wii Remote instead of a mouse for your Windows PC. Software and Demo video here.
» Eraser in the shape of a delete key. Cute.
» Iconize - Freeware program that lets you send any open program to the task tray. Once you click on it, the program returns back to the task bar, so it's only useful for hiding background programs you don't touch much really.
» Nice idea on decluttering all those cords and power supplies from above and below your desk.
» An I'm a Mac, I'm a PC video that was filmed for a Mac Developer conference. Even harsher than normal against Vista.
» 19" LCD Monitor connects to computer via USB. Add a second monitor without needing a second video card. Neat.
» Why Humans (and Baboons) Stress So Much. Interesting short article.
» Smallville (with a few isolated exceptions ie: this season's Justice Episode and some of the Green Arrow stuff last year,etc.) has pretty much been beyond it's good point for a few seasons now. Apparently Michael Rosenbaum, Lex Luthor, is leaving the show after this season. Here's hoping they cancel the show and give us another fressher take on a TV DCU instead of keeping the show creeping along without it's best character.
» Beautiful and adorable Flash-based Bunny game, Click the mouse and make the bunny jump onto the bells.
» Gallery of Frank Miller's 300 Movie stills.
Yesterday morning the heavy fog was frozen as a thin coating of snow and ice on everything.
For sometime now there's been a Liberty Ninja on the corner trying entice people to get their taxes done. There's one on Alpine and 28th street too. Liberty Ninja!
No Heroclix yesterday. Instead, we played a game called Zombies!. I used a, not-actual game token, the Batman for my piece.
Above, friend Jeff made the above Mii's on his Wii. He's in blue, I'm in Red (normally I'd be green, but the above is from Wii Play which forces the players to be Blue and Red.)
Speaking of Wii Play. It's a fun game (or actually a fun set of Mini, games). Jeff reviewed them on his site last week. I particularly enjoyed the Cow Race, Tanks, and especially Billiards. Laser Hockey was ok and although Ping Pong wasn't bad, it's not nearly as fun as Wii Sports Tennis.
Above, 1967 Avalon Hill Game, Feudal. Feudal is Chess on a map, and is a primitive evolutionary step between Chess and Heroclix. Very fun game that I played hundreds of hours of as a kid. Last week was the first time I played in years. I found it to still be a very fun game. You can find it on eBay going from $10 to $30.
» Steve Irwin Crocodile Hunter Action Figure. Crikey!
Friday February 23, 2007 7:28:46 AM #
Thursday February 22, 2007 7:46:18 AM #
» A few pictures.
» Adam and Comfort are back from Florida. They've got their Florida Mega-con report up, which includes fan costume photos of a pack of Green Lanterns, the Venture Brothers and a mildly disturbing Superboy. (There's a nice sketchbook self portrait cover posted too.) Go check those out.
Wednesday February 21, 2007 7:20:32 AM #
» Here's the second part of that 1983 MTV recording I found online yesterday. It's pretty good.
Tuesday February 20, 2007 7:37:02 AM #
» I haven't watched much of this (so proceed with your own risk), but it appears that this is just a random hour of MTV, circa 1983, that someone found on VHS and uploaded. Interesting. (Link)
» Forget 40W or 60W, this Plasma Bulb is the way to go when changing your lightbulbs. It's only $10, but you've got to find the polish nightclubbers to screw it in yourself.
» Cat and Ferret taking a nap Awww, Cute.
» I haven't played with it yet but this FREE PC or Mac 3D modeling software looks cool.
Monday February 19, 2007 6:41:14 AM #
» I don't like to do dishes, but even I think this is going to far, plus you still have to clean these too right? Interesting but dumb.
» This Sea Phantom Jet Boat, however, is a future I can get behind. da Da Dada Da Da Dada Jet BOAT!
Sunday February 18, 2007 9:37:48 PM #
» A few pictures from last week.
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» No "Super Drama Monday" tomorrow. My "Super Drama Monday" friends are out of town, so I'm going to wait a few days and watch Battlestar, Heroes, Studio and Rome with them. (Well maybe I won't wait on Heroes... too many people to talk to at work with about that one. So, no Super Drama Monday, just Super Heroes Monday!)
Sunday February 18, 2007 12:30:50 PM #
Random Non-Sequiters
» The internet can eat up as much time as you want to let it nowadays. Text, pictures, video (OMG, there's so much video out there now). Use a link manager, an RSS tool or two and every morning or evening it's like walking down to the beach as the tide comes in. There's just a torrent of information, entertainment and communication to be absorbed in.
Another change I'm still marveling at is the one that is presented in my new cellphone. My old cellphone cound get on the web in a rudimentary way, but it was slow, rendered HTML poorly and was largely more of a novelty than something of use.
My new phone, I just recently bought, surfs the web at a very workable speed, renders HTML very nicely and allows me to update content on the web as well as view it. The data imersion that was limited to computers at work and home has now turned into a twenty-four seven experience. Sure, there are still going to be advances in usability but forgoing surf-while-sleeping technologies, all available time is now available for the web, and that's an intriguing status change. A status change that I'm still processing and determining everything I can do with it.
Outside of, yet connected to the web, there are interesting things of note. It seemed to me several years ago that cellphones were contributing to the death of plans. Now the impact of cellphones has been absorbed and people have used them to more densely contruct plans. Now you catch-up with a friend on the phone while driving to or waiting to meet another friend. Instead of making one set of plans for an evening people make one "solid" set of plans and a "tentative" back-up plan for when the first ends or is cancelled. Because of all these interconnecting commitments and the speed with which they can be adjusted via phone and web. Plan density has increased. Most people I know don't seem relaxed about their weekend unless they have plans three levels deep, ie: unless there's a back-up for their back-up plans. I don't think these are neurotic people really, I just think they've absorbed technologies available to follow this natural result.
The Friends Coffee Shop effect. The most romantic notion in the television show Friends, in my opinion, was the idea presented in "Central Perk", the coffee shop the character's hung out at. In a post-college environment, there was this cozy place with coffee, danishes and couches that a group of Friends randomly ran into eachother at and hung out at. The characters did not usually plan to meet at this shop, their group was just large enough and the location agreed upon with enough prominence that when one character showed up there, you could guarantee that some of the others would be there. What a neat concept, the abillity to just at a moments notice to join a group of friends without making plans.
The above can't happen today though. Most people would call a friend or two and realize that they weren't in the shop, and then they would never swing by there. Since no one swings by the shop, no one is there for someone else to randomly swing by and find. Never finding anyone randomly there, people of course stop going to the shop without making plans first.
Two people make plans to go to the shop, but with the density of plan scheduling today, the shop visit never rises above the 2nd back-up plan level for the rest of the group. With the connectedness of phones the shop never reaches the 1st plan level and in today's environment, the "Central Perk" experience goes unfilled as there are never more than two friends there at the same time.
There are some possibilities where this could change. GPS buddy lists might make the "Friends Coffee Shop" a reality again (if it ever truely was, outside of TV or college). It sounds weird now, but in the future, you might put people on your buddy list and let them track your movements all day or for large portions of the day. (When you think about it, people do this today with AIM, it's just limited to knowing that a person is at work, school or home.) You'd notice that friends of yours were two blocks away, call them and spontaneously get together for 10 minutes ala "The Friends Coffee Shop".
How that ends up getting absorbed into peoples routine, I haven't thought out yet. My guess is that knowing you're likely to be near people you know will allow plans to go four levels deep instead of three. :(
» As a side note (literly), I'm making my "unread" "to read" Google Reader list item available in the sidebar. Some of those articles will make it into the main blog, alot of them will just disappear. But if you want to get a glimpse at what I'm likely to blog about before I blog about it, go ahead and start reading there. Currently the list is up to 288 items dating back over a period of 3 weeks. It's not unusual to get 500, 600, or more items in that list by the weekend. Since I toss so many of those links out I figured there was probably no harm in putting them out there for others to persue on a slow news day since Google makes it so automatic to do so. Enjoy.
Saturday February 17, 2007 11:00:00 PM #
» Previews Solicitations Picks for May 2007
DC Comics Previews Solicitations for May 2007 BATMAN #666, and Batman's in "Hell" on the cover DETECTIVE COMICS #832 CATWOMAN #67 NIGHTWING #132 ROBIN #162 ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN, THE BOY WONDER #5 ACTION COMICS #849 ACTION COMICS #850 SUPERMAN #663 SUPERGIRL #17 SUPERMAN/BATMAN #35, Metal Men AMAZONS ATTACK #2 THE ALL-NEW ATOM #11 and the BIRDS OF PREY #106 BLUE BEETLE #15 THE FLASH: FASTEST MAN ALIVE #12 GREEN ARROW #74 GREEN LANTERN CORPS #12 GREEN LANTERN #20 HAWKGIRL #64 JLA CLASSIFIED #38 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #9 JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #6, not sure I've ever seen an issue with Two Covers in which Alex Ross is one of the covers but is the main and NOT the variant cover JSA CLASSIFIED #26 JSA PRESENTS: STARS AND S.T.R.I.P.E. VOL. 1 TP MYSTERY IN SPACE #8 OUTSIDERS #47 THE SPIRIT #6 SHOWCASE PRESENTS: THE ATOM VOL. 1 TP SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #30 TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED #8 TEEN TITANS #47 WONDER WOMAN #9
DC Direct
BATMAN AND SON ACTION FIGURES - Joker, and Robin/Damian, JUSTICE: ACTION FIGURE BOX SET - Alex Ross: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern.
Marvel Comics Previews Solicitations for May 2007 MS. MARVEL #15, M.O.D.O.K NEWUNIVERSAL #6
Image Comics Previews Solicitations for May 2007 INVINCIBLE #43
» Someone on Raving Toy Maniac's Buzz Board asked the forum what their jobs were... there were many replies. I thought the the list itself was interesting
Saturday February 17, 2007 8:23:36 PM #
Random Non-Sequiters
» I just discovered this word: reactance. Apparently besides be an electrical term it is also a psychological term.
Reactance: a person's tendency to resist social influences that they perceive as threats to their autonomy.
Nice word. Such a very useful word.
At the Movies
» I saw Ghost Rider Last night (which if you watch my blog alert section you already knew, since it was my first blog post about a movie, from the movie theater, oh the amazing march forward of technology.)... in any case, I enjoyed it. I'm not familiar with the Ghost Rider character beyond the basics, so I can't say that they were or were-not faithful to any part of the comicbook lore, but as a silly comic book movie I really enjoyed it.
In my eyes, Ghost Rider was unapolegeticly a comic book movie. There were several parts of the movie that you could see as nothing more than splash page cliffhangers between issues, and I'm ok with that. Had they tried to play up this character and these themes in some super-serious manor, I think it would have failed miserably, but they didn't and for me the movie was fun because they didn't.
I won't get into the plot, because, well there wasn't much of one, but I will say that I really hope there is a sequel because I'm definently up for more of those fun silly Nic Cage gravelly one-liners. Comic fans and fans of fun light popcorn movies. Go See.
(Oh and one last thing, if that speech at the end wasn't *really* about Nic Cage missing out on Superman and doing Ghost Rider instead, then well... I don't know, because it so was.)
»While we're on the topic of Comic Book movies, the previews for Grindhouse got me thinking. Marvel, should do some Marvel Team-up movies. Do two 45 minute movies with two very different characters and contrive a reason for them to team-up for the last half hour of the movie. That could be spectacular! Dare I say, Marvelous.
Let's Go Surfing
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» According to this list of upcoming McFarlane action figures there is going to be a Jon Bon Jovi 6" Action Figure. Think that over in your head for a minute: Jon Bon Jovi 6" Action Figure. Yes, that odd tingling feeling is your brain stringing together words it never thought it would put together.
Also at the same link:
How the Grinch Stole Christmas 6-inch Figures
- Too Sizes Too Small - The Grinch
- You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch - Santa Grinch
- Cindy Lou Who
- All I Need Is a Reindeer - Max
Those sound cool.
» Nicely lit M.O.D.O.K. Action Figure pic on Assylum Collectables Flickr stream. While you are there, checkoout this display case just for R2 Droids (Warning alot of the non-toy stuff in that stream in NSFW)
» Kevin Smith and Mark Gordon (Grey's Anatomy) are working on a Supernatural show for the CW The Reaper. Seriously? Seriously? Snootchie Bootchies.
» Some guy entertainingly translates for the guy-on-the-street Macrovisions response to Steve Jobs anti-DRM comments.
» Computer Desk Porn. Yeah, that's right, click the play button nice and slow.
Gravitonus Product Page (video via Gizmodo and Gravitonus)
» His boots SHOULD BE GREEN! Attention all comic book artists and colorists. Green Lantern has: White GLOVES, Green BOOTS, White GLOVES, Green BOOTS, White GLOVES, Green BOOTS, repeat it with me now: "White GLOVES, Green BOOTS". Thank you.
» Here's a program that supposedly lets you download from iPods, without using iTunes. Foola.
» Mouse Guard Action Figures Cute!
» Very nice iPod Photo.
» Gizmodo's got a pic of a Rubics Cube for the Lazy. I think even I could solve that one.
» Bill Gates and Steve Jobs fight with lightsabers Go ahead, try not to click on that link. Just try not to, I dare you. You can't do it can you. You MUST click on it.
» Batman style rope climbing device
via Gizmodo
» Fruit Snack Legos from Kellogs
» Nintendo roles out a Consumer Data Profiling Application, calls it a game and everyone gets excited to play it. Oh and how do you win? Why being as much like everyone else as possible. Don't play it, and stop answering those 20 question things on Myspace too. (Yeah, I'm ranting, so?)
» Computer maker people: "STOP" we don't need memory cards that are small enough to fit into SD cards. Small enough has been reached. Please no smaller, I don't want to lose my memory card when I sneeze.
» These Mr. Deity video shorts are pretty funny. (found this via Freewaregenius.com of all places.)
» Another, Really nice Dean Trippe Supergirl Drawing
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» Al Franken for US Senate, Minnesota.
» Nice design for a tilt activated switch.
» DIY Remote Controlled Lawnmower with video.
» Top 10 Reasons Why Movie Downloads Suck. Nice article about that current state of affairs.
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Formerly a Blog Alert#
Friday February 16, 2007 1:26:20 AM #
» Ghost Rider Friday Night, can you feel the excitement? Can you, well can you? (I really look forward to good, bad event pictures) Nic Cage with his head on fire! Do you think he got Lisa Marie to get him in touch with Michael Jackson to discuss that aspect of the role?
» Ok The Office tonight. One of the things I like about that show and tonight's episode in particular is that whenever they show Michael as a complete idiot, they generally manage to redeem him in some small way by the end of the episode (ie: Pam's Art showing). Grey's was very good today too, shades of Six Feet Under in future episodes maybe?
» Not alot of new toys in January, so there hasn't been much cause for pictures. Based on the looks of my to get list, things might be pretty sparse for awhile on the toy pic front. (Which is a bummer, because with no new toys, I might fall off Mike's List. Look there at #49! Mikes Comic Valentine list, It's like the comic blogosphere version of making one of those VH1 I love the Countdown shows!)
» I did this web tutorial on using T9 on my cellphone today. It's a much faster way of typing messages on your cell, once you get the hang of it.
» You can be as honest as possible about things but it's amazing the motivations people make up.
Tuesday February 13, 2007 7:53:35 AM #
Gonna buy everyone of them....
Flash Gordon 7" action figures
Sunday February 11, 2007 9:14:47 PM #
» DCSH Clayface Very cool.
» Another odd Spidey vehicle, this time a Spidey plane?
Sunday February 11, 2007 6:15:50 PM #
» Marvel Toys: Legendary Comic Book Heroes (aka Indy Legends). Page after page of pics, a few are standees but they all look fantastic. I have my doubts about this line's mass appeal. But I have no doubt that there will be a very focused collector fanbase on this line (How many Marvel/DC Zombies will get these, however, I have no idea). Real Good Stuff.
EDIT: 2/12/07 3:40am: Video from Action Figure Insider
Sunday February 11, 2007 10:53:14 AM #
» It's been awhile since I've linked to my friend's Adam and Comfort's Sketch blog, and they've been busy posters, so here comes the drawing goodness (click on any picture to go to their post.)
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There's lot's more I've missed so, check out they're blog. It's good stuff.
Sunday February 11, 2007 2:03:43 AM #
» Did a little running around KZoo today. Hit Fanfare, such an incredibly nice comic store. I could stand around in there for hours. While I was there I got the Invincible Heroclix box set (maybe pics of that later). Also did the toy run around there, nothing much to report, but you can read my forum comment (which has a picture of DCSH Black Shield Superman).
» Also in Kzoo, I ate at CiCi's, an All you can eat buffet Pizza place. Very filling for $5 plus $1.30 pop. Their Brownie batter squares are still setting solid in my stomach. Decent Pizza, Cheezy Cheezy bread. All around good stuff.
On the way back a friend of mine played Brianiac's Daughter by the Royals(?), odd little Beatlesk-Supermany pop tune that's been bopping around in my head all evening.
» Got a new Cellphone today. A Samsung A900M. Slim, Sleek little flip phone. Nice Screen, 1.3 megapixel plus it takes videos. I've been playing with the darn little thing all night.
Installed the Mobile Gmail app on it, messed around with the web browser, watched some movie trailers, even some of a short "Smallville" Green Arrow 3D Computer animated series they have on it. The little thing gets a Sirrus 1 pop radio station and it has a slew of music videos you can watch on it. I even beamed some files back and forth between it and my Dell Pocket PC over Bluetooth. Slick device.
» Read the Jeff Smith Shazam book today. I liked it. It's not a perfect book, and it's a little bit of a fast read, but it's better than average from DC. Nothing really new here, so far it's just a rehash of Captain Marvel's orgin with a minor update here and there, but I'll probably get the rest of the series.
After reading the Jeff Smith Book, I pulled out the Tabloid Shazam! Power of Hope Alex Ross book. Comparing the two, I'd say that Smith understands how the Shazam *story* should work (as well as the character, Billy), but Ross/Dini understand how the *character* Captain Marvel works. Does that make any sense?
» Read Newuniversal #3, really enjoying it. It's not the New Universe, but it is a nicely done book so far. It would be better as a trade, but I don't want to wait for it that long, so I'll keep getting it monthly anyway. Good Stuff.
» Friend Jeff has some pictures up of Monsters Menace America an Avalon Hill game we played last week. Risk meets Godzilla. Nice four player game (probably would be fun to customize and add a few more players too.) Good combination of strategy and dice rolling. Not too complex. I'd reccomend it for those into board games of this sort.
Let's Go Surfing
» Had some of these links up earlier... still don't have all the bugs worked out of my "Blog Alert" section (my laptop seems to be reposting to it and truncating the post text when Firefox's Session Saver tabs come up. Yeah, I know that doesn't seem to make any sense.)
Here's the links from that earlier lost blog alert plus more!:
Futurama ain't my thing, but I got some friends who like it. 6 inch figures at the link.
Anime Porn Style figures of DC Heroines Wrong on several levels.
DC Direct Shazam Wave Looks really nice: Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel Junior, Billy and Hoppy the Marvel Bunny!, Dr Silvana and a tiny Mr. Mind, as well as yet another Big Red Cheese.
DC Direct's 52 Wave Animal Man and booster Gold look like very nice figures.
7in Marvel Zombie Spider-man and Zombie Captain America There are some Zombie Marvel Mini-mates at that link too.
6" Battlestar Galactica Six looks fantastic. Great looking wave.
Marvel Toys, formerly known as Toy Biz's Savage Dragon as well as the line-ups for their first two indy waves.
Fantastic Four Movie 2 figures 1 and 2 Fantasticar as posted earlier looks great. SS's board looks too think though, Nice packaging though.
Spider-man 3 Movie Figures 1 and 2 and a Movie Scorpion?, Decent Sandman but the earlier Classics one was really good. Harry Osborn "Ninja" looking Goblin, Movie Venom, What up with this Venom?
Spidey Car Spidey's ride is pimped!
DC Battle League ??? Hal Jordan
JLU Figures Shots of Fire and Ice together.
More pics of The preschool DC Superfriends line Adorable.
DCSH Kryptonian Head, shiny suit Superman, NICE looking Manbat, Yet another Bizarro but this one's got his #1 necklace.
Marvel Select. Skrull and Brood, Mephisto and throne
There was a link to 6"-8" McDonaldland action figures earlier too, but I can't find that one. Wave included: Ronald, Grimace (Nothing Can kill the Grimace!), Hamburglar, Mayor McCheese and the Filet-O-Fish stealing Captain Crook (I had to look that one up in Wikipedia to rember who he was.) Must get Grimace! (Actually, I'll buy all of these if they are close to DC Direct/Legends Scale. I know, crazy but too cool if they're in scale with the Marvel/DC Figs.)
» Found this article on Blogging at Progressive Ruin. Good Article if you're thinking of starting a blog.
Friday February 9, 2007 11:40:47 PM #
Toys Toys Toys
» Did a little toy searching after work today. Didn't really find much. You can read my forum post with Spidey Origins Mego style Captain America and Iron Spidey Pics here. There's a pic there of the "variant" packaging Ultimate Iron Man with his helmet off too.
Also had my first post in my forum by someone that wasn't me today. Whoo hoo. (Not really that big of a deal, but neat since up until now I thought I, myself, was my only audience for my forum posts.)
Just goes to show that, "If you build it they will come", at least one or two people every month or two anyway ;)
» In other Toy News, Toy Fair is this weekend, and some new pics are already starting to surface! And there's stuff I'm going to need to get!
Kneel Before Zod and Ursa! (more incl: Bizarro and yet another Supes)
BatBrat and Joker! (more incl: Robin, a Manbat and yet another Batman)
And the Dodge (*sigh* the toy has the Dodge logo) Fantasticar. (more)
Toy Biz is now "Marvel Toys" but they can't make Marvel Action Figures (since Hasbro has that license), but they are going to make Independent Action Figures like this awesome Madman. ( more)
DC Superfriends (DC's preschool toy answer to Marvel's adorable Spidey and Friends Line) (more)
Figures.com usually has excellent Toy Fair Photo Coverage keep checking that link over the next few days for lots of pics! (Julius Marx ActionFigureInsider.com has dedicated coverage going on too.)
Wednesday [9:39am] #
Don't upset illusions.
Sunday February 4, 2007 10:43:22 PM #
Random Non-Sequiters
» I watched the Superbowl commercials. Can't say that any really jumped out at me. Here's a few notes though:
Bud light rock paper scissors - good
Blockbuster mouse - Cute
Seirra mist beard comb over - odd
FedeX Space - odd
SnicKers kiss - dumb
Bud light mencia - no
Late show -dave and oprah - funny
Go daddy everyone wants to work in marketing - eh
Coke grand theft - seen it b4
Bud dalmation - dumb
Garmin ultraman - ok
carrearbuilder jungle - eh
Budlight fist bump slap -cool
GM robot - points for all by myself song
Coke never had one - makes no sense
Taco bell lions - ok
Emerald nuts goulay - good odd
FedeX can't judge by name - cute
Nationwide federline - ok
Bud holo football - cool
Here are the commercials
Let's Go Surfing
» Cast of The Office done as Miis
Sunday February 4, 2007 9:06:42 PM #
» Green Lantern reference on last weeks' Studio 60 (the show I love to hate)
Sunday February 4, 2007 6:01:07 PM #
Random Non-Sequiters
» Saw an article that showed me how to add an icon to my site (little picture of me in your address bar and on your tabs.) Neat.
» Watched two more episodes of Rome yesterday. Memorable quotes: "Die screaming you pig spawned trollop" and "You want my money and I want to see a [edit] by baboons". Fantastic. It's not TV, It's HBO.
» UK Preschool show, Pocoyo. Cute. via Drawn
» I like this simple wine rack.
» Avril Lavigne manga Comics. Really. Seriously. wow.
» So there's this site DigitalCharity.com where people put up their hard luck stories and ask for money. Begging 2.0.
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» If you bought any Sony CDs lately you might have $150 due you from the Sony rootkit settlement
» 23 ways to find new readers for you blog
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» Picnik.com let's you edit your photos in your webrowser. Works with Flickr too. Not sure why you'd do this, but it is kindof neat I suppose.
» Heroes beat 24 in ratings last week Hooray!
» Steven Grant article on Comic Creator/Publisher relations. Lengthy.
» Google Maps for Pocket PC, download the CAB file. Freeware.
» Audacity Voice Recorder for Pocket PC. Also Freeware.
» Free! Full Screen SIP screen keyboard for Pocket PC. Very useful.
» 2007-2008 genre TV Pilots
» Life on Mars at ABC, remake of a BBC time travel cop show
» The Bionic Woman at NBC, Cha Cha Cha Cha Cha! (from one of Battlestar Galactica's Executive Producers.)
» New Amsterdam Hundreds of year old cop
» Twilight, CBS, Private Eye Vampire
» Mr. And Mrs. Smith Based on the Movie
» Pushing Up Daisys About a guy who brings people back to life.
» Babylon fields Where the dead are resurrected and try to resume their lives.
» Demons Priest who fights demons.
» Journeyman Quantum Leap type thing.
» Sarah Connor Chronicles um, Terminator the Series.
» Them extraterrestrial sleeper cell
» Reaper 21 year old slacker/devil's bounty hunter.
» Thanos' Marvel Encyclopedia entry should not be smaller than Flash Thompsons'
» Dean Trippe Mary Marvel Drawing
» Cool 8.5' x 11' Micro Apartment design
» Flickr Leech is a very fast way to pull up all of someones photos by User ID or name.
Saturday February 3, 2007 6:37:19 PM #
» It's Wintery Days like today that it's good to have friends a block or two away... because nobody (smart) is driving anywhere in West Michigan tonight.
Below are LIVE Web Cams (from various places that I grabbed from WoodTV. The links will take you to larger versions of these images.
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Grand
Haven Beach from Lake Michigan Cam |
Grand
Rapids from Bridgewater - WOOD TV8 |
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Rapids from Plaza Towers - WOOD TV8 |
Grand
Rapids from Heritage Hill - WOOD TV8 |
(Since these are live webcams, this post is going to look pretty silly in June when it's sunny outside)
Saturday February 3, 2007 4:28:02 PM #
Random Non-Sequiters
» Friend Dan, has a very prolifically pictured recap of our Heroclix game at my place, last Wednesday. Find all the details over on his new blog. (BTW: I'm now officially jealous of his new digital camera, as mine would *never* take pictures of itty bitty Heroclix that sharp in my dimmly lit living room.) I've posted pictures of my board before, but they look much nicer on Dan's site.
» If you're not into the Superbowl tomorrow, but still not adverse to a little bit of a sports connected entertainment, TBS is running a My Boys marathon Sunday from 5pm to 11:30pm. It's a cute milder Sex in the City type show, about a female sports reporter and her ensemble of guy friends set in Chicago. Good Stuff.
» You MUST watch this insane video of the Uberlift TV thing. OMG! Crazy.
Saturday February 3, 2007 2:47:16 PM #
» West Michigan is truely a winter wonderland this week. Below some video I shot on Thursday on the way to work and Saturday morning just before noon.
» Jeff's got pictures of Iron Man vs. Mandarin and they're great, yet not what you think! Also on KneelBeforeBlog, Jeff's overview of Marvel Super Dice.
Friday February 2, 2007 7:02:48 PM #
[1:35pm] #
» When Harry Met Sally, remixed as a Horror Movie Trailer. (some language in the clip)
[1:01pm] #
» Weird, Johnny Storm song on Youtube. via Blog@Newsaramma
[12:26pm] #
It's like Hoth-type winter out there in West Michigan today. I saw a pack of Tauntauns race by a polar bear in a parka.
[9:26am] #
» PVP the animated series "Office"
Friday February 2, 2007 6:58:20 AM #
» Dean Trippe has another stick figure journal comic up. I really liked this "Wii" panel. (at right)
Looks like there is quite the response to their Hourly Comic Project yesterday too. I'm going to have to spend some time digging through those posts I think. Good stuff.
» So, um, Buffy and the gang are flying with ray guns in the Jos Wheaton Buffy the Vampire Slayer Comic. I wasn't going to get that book, but (it looks like) Flying Jet Pack Buffy with Ray Guns? Well, I might pick-up at least one issue if they're going to do that, 'cause I mean, jet packs and ray gun Buffy y'know?
Thursday February 1, 2007 10:39:12 PM #
[10:25pm]
Random Non-Sequiters
» I know people that are trying to achieve. I know people that are trying to organize. I know people that are trying to make peace. I know people that are trying to please. I know people that are trying to analyze. I know people that are trying to control. I know people trying for security. I know people trying to impose order on their world.
Religion, knowledge, logic, honesty, persuasion, deceit, wit, ignorance, guile, virtue and many other methods.
Mostly destinations, fewer experiencing "states".
Assured of ascertaining certainty in these pursuits.
On or off, right or wrong, up or down. Binary beliefs in a world of 6 billion people on a single rock amidst 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars.
» They keep coming up with the awkward stuff on The Office don't they? Good Stuff, (squirmy abit tonight, but good stuff)
And how about Grey's? Some goofy stuff, but some really good stuff too. They can really write some characters and invent some wild situations on that show can't they?
[7:00pm]
Is it Friday yet?
Fun ride today... "not fun", "fun", "not fun", "fun", "not fun", "fun". Stayed interesting though, so that's something...
I was going to blog, and code a little, but now I think I shall watch The Office and a little Grey's, maybe finish up the evening with a little light reading and call it a night.
So have a good rest of your Thursday Internets... maybe more tomorrow, but for sure more on Saurday as I unleash the great weeklong back-logged list of finds.
(...here's one to tide you over though, sent to me by a co-worker, enjoy the breakdancing baby if you haven't seem him yet.)
Thursday February 1, 2007 12:07:51 AM #
» Watched the remainder of the Animated Iron Man movie tonight. No point to that whatsoever. Not awful, but not good either. Two thumbs down. Go to your local comic store dollar bin and grab yourself a fistful of old Iron Man comics and then get your self a Marvel Legends Iron Man Action figure. It will be $15 better spent and a far better way to entertain yourself. Bla.
