email me: chris@chris-karath.com
December 2007
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Sun 12/30/07 11:14pm # Spider-man, One More Day Well after seeing a little bit of it talked about online the last couple days, I got a hold of all four issues of the Spider-man, One More Day story.
WARNING SPOILERS BELOW!!!!!
Enter Mephisto, Marvel's answer to the Devil. He'll save Aunt May but Peter and MJ have to let him take their marriage away, as if it never happened. That's the devils bargain, Peter can save Aunt May but he has to lose his wife MJ (she doesn't die, but they don't end up together.). It's brought up several times that Aunt May is old, but Great Power ,Great Responsibility etc. etc. Peter can't let May go and MJ who has to agree to the Devil's bargain too, can't bear to let Peter, in his own mind, be “the cause of Aunt May's death like his Uncle Ben's”. So MJ agrees to Mephisto adding some extra conditions into the bargain and whispering another condition that the reader doesn't get to hear, Peter agrees and just like that, Mephisto waves the magic pixie dust and more or less 20 years of comics continuity are just disappeared away. (Assuming this stays permanent of course) Mephisto delivers an interesting line in the story to Peter and MJ: “You will not consciously remember the bargain or this moment, or the life you've lived to this point. But there will be a very small part of your soul that will remember, that will know what you've lost. And my joy will be in listening to that part of your soul screaming throughout eternity.” I think that line would be better read as a line delivered by Marvel Editor In Chief Joe Quesada (the architect of hitting the Peter/MJ relationship reset button) to Spider-man fans. It's a pretty heavy thing they layed on the character, and having JMS, the writer, pen the tale, gave it quite abit of weight as well. I think whatever lighter fun situations they put Spider-man in going forward, there is going to be a little part of the fans feeling the “loss” for the character as well. I don't know how much escapism you can find in a character that's been turned that tragic if that plot continues too long. It's mostly depressing watching the “happily ever after” part of the book get ripped out. For the comic fans out there I'll also add: Quesada has had Superboy hit a wall in the Marvel U. now too. |
Sun 12/30/07 10:34pm # Random Non-Sequiters
Let's Go Surfing
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Sun 12/30/07 1:26pm # You're not taking a picture are you?
![]() Picture of my friend Chris last week who is stateside for a couple weeks. It was taken with my EeePC's Webcam in an Ann Arbor Coffee Shop. I found the scene a little comical as he has this massive powerhouse of a laptop and sitting next to him I had the diminutive Eee balanced on one knee, I wish I had a picture of the both of us at that moment. |
Sun 12/30/07 12:31pm # Random Non-Sequiters
Apple, Microsoft and Linux are seen as three different brands: Hip, Functional or Geek. Even if that isn't exactly true anymore, there is alot of marketing still out there reinforcing that. Surfed
Also ToyOtter has 5 Classic Super Powers Commercials posted in there too. So what are you waiting for? Get to clicking. Let's Go Surfing
Videos
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Fri 12/28/07 9:04pm # DC Universe Wave 1
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Fri 12/28/07 5:56pm # Random Non-Sequiters
More Billy Batson Photos
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NCW # New Comic Picks for 12/28/07 ACTION COMICS #860 $2.99
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Thur 12/27/07 10:06pm # Random Non-Sequiters
And away we go.... DC Direct Wonder Woman Wave
![]() Billy and Hoppy the Bunny. Hoppy the freaking Bunny!
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Thur 12/27/07 9:23pm # DC Direct Wonder Woman Wave
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Thur 12/27/07 9:13pm # Marvel Legends Brood Queen Wave
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Thur 12/27/07 8:44pm # Babylon 5 Londo and G'Kar
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Wed 12/26/07 9:31am # Knight Rider 10 Second Teaser Commercial I don't car for the car choice... but they got the red sweep light, voice and music. It's hard to pass that up.
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Mon 12/24/07 5:32pm # eBay I currently have eBay bidder's remorse. I just bid on a gadget on eBay and then imediately had second thoughts about the device. If I win the item, it will be half what it costs new and not terribly expensive. There are 17 other bidders and I only bid $5 more than the last guy, so I might get outbid, but it is Christmas Eve, so who knows. I'm kindof hoping I lose. 2 hours will tell. |
Sun 12/23/07 7:38pm # Random Non-Sequiters
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On Face the Nation Bill Schiefer interviewed Obama and Huckabee. Obama got a fairly even handed, if an uninteresting, interview treatment by Schiefer. There was a little back and forth, but it was essentially a free ad spot for Obama. Schiefer went after Huckabee pretty hard at first, almost approaching Russert's intensity, but Huckabee unlike Paul has more traditional political skill, he refused to be ruffled, never let his tone get elevated and Scheiffer backed down from each question as it became apparent the candidate would only answer the answers he had prepared. I don't mean to imply any endorcement or any thing about Huckabee above (far from that), he's just better "on camera" as a politician than Paul is. Let's Go Surfing
Human History
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Fri 12/21/07 1:12pm # Random Non-Sequiters • I saw Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Seville at a free pass showing last night. Johnny Depp plays the title role in the Tim Burton film. Alan Rickman and Helen Botham Carter also round out the cast. It's a very dark movie occasionally lightened by even darker comedy. There was less gore, but more blood than I had anticipated. The majority of the movie is a musical, yet despite that, I found myself quickly involved in the tale. If you are on the fence about Tim Burton, then this is not the film for you, but if you're up for a dark bloody tale of murder set to song, then this is the film for you. Good Stuff. • I also saw I am Legend this past Sunday. I throughly enjoyed that film, I especially loved the faux Superman/Batman, Teen Titans and Green Lantern movie posters that got snuck into some of the background set decoration. Overall, good take on the zombie/end of the world genre. Unconventional pacing. Good Stuff. Go see on the big screen. • I read online today that the Daily Show and Colbert Report will return on January 7th without their writers (presumeably since it seems unlikely that the strike would be resolved by then.) I have mixed feelings on that, on the one hand, the Daily Show seems a vital part of what passes for journalism on television in this country and to have the show off the air during the primary season weakens our democracy. But for "writers" such as Stewart and Colbert to cross a writer picket line does not set well with me either. I'd much rather see the two of them create some sort of "Youtube" based show together once or twice a week that comments on the important issues of the moment, rather than help the networks sell commercial time. • How about that Journeyman finale this past Wednesday? I really hope it comes back, and I'll probably send in a box of rice-a-roni next week towards that effect, but if it doesn't come back at least they gave the audience a nice place to leave it at. Really good stuff, go download on iTunes or buy the DVD set when it comes out (hopefully). It's a very good show. |
Thur 12/20/07 1:58pm # Short Rant I hate to rant as word police, but indulge me for a second. It bothers me that any comic book that is square bound in book form instead of pamphlet form gets labeled as a "graphic novel". I guess I prefer the old school Graphic Novel understanding that described an original long form comic story debuting in the book form. The comic collections in tradepaperback and hardcover that Marvel and DC are putting out, in general, to me, do not seem lofty or focused enough to actually be called "graphic novels". I believe most of them should be refered to as Comic Collections or Tradepaperback Collected Reprints or something along those lines. To me, using the term "Graphic Novel" for some random collection of Superman or X-Men issues is just laying it on too thick. Your milage may vary. |
Thur 12/20/07, 10:20am # Google tiene muy fresco de la traducción de este sistema de robot que puede añadir a su lista de amigos de Google Chat. También puede invitar al robot al grupo de chat y que se encargará de traducir sus conversaciones en tiempo real. Es muy fresco. Es como el tipo de vida en Star Trek. Leer sobre esto aquí. |
Wed 12/19/07 12:08am # Random Non-Sequiters
Unfortunately most people don't have a comic book reader program installed. What I wanted to do was quickly convert a CBZ to a PDF. Now you could just take the Jpegs and combine them in Acrobat, but that takes several different steps and a bunch of clicking. I thought, "there must be an easier way". I did a little searching around the Google, and found Comic Rack a freeware CBR/CBZ reader that also can SAVE TO PDF. I still plan on using CDisplay on Windows and Comix on Linux but if you want to quickly convert a CBZ (or even a pack of JPEGS to PDF) Comic Shack looks to do the trick.
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NCW # Comic Picks for 12/19/07
BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #3 $2.99
According to Diamond Comics Shipping List |
Sat 12/15/07 5:27pm # Random Non-Sequiters Two things I saw this morning.
You can find the “Friends Shared Items” link above the “add a subscription” box in the left navigation pane. |
Fri 12/14/07 9:05pm # Attack of the 1987 Show Today's Attack of the Show on G4 was pretty good. They did the entire show as if it was taking place in 1987 without breaking character or even explaining what they were doing. They discussed whether Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles can make the jump to Kids TV in the Loop. Layla Keighlie had all the news about Windows 2.0 in The Feed. They took viewer questions from their answering machine and reviewed a new wire-free cellular phone you can use outside of your car!. The newest laser discs were reviewed, and they had a cheat code that let you go directly to fighting Mike Tyson in Punch-out. All the titles and graphics were sutibly 80s styled and the phrase Whubba Whubba Whubba was also uttered. Try and catch the replay at 11pm tonight or their Attack Stack this weekend. Rad stuff. |
Fri 12/14/07 3:41pm # Hooray
Mine is no longer a topsy-turvey cellphone camera'd world. Hooray! |
Wed 12/12/07 7:40am # The Journey Ends? According to Sci-Fi, NBC has effectively cancelled Journeyman, which really sucks, because Journeyman was very good. There are still 2 more episodes left, so hopefully things get tied up a little. I hope there will be a comic or a novel that will explain where the series was going. No word on whether there will be a DVD release, but if there is one, I highly reccomend people who haven't watched this show to grab it on DVD as I think it will play even better in two or three sittings than as weekly episodes. |
Tues 12/11/07 10:45pm # Eee PC and HP Photo Scanner
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Love the Linux and the Eee. (Added bonus: the mini-scanner and the mini-laptop look cute together.) |
Tues 12/11/07 9:00pm # Random Non-Sequiters Google has added "Street View" to the suburban Metro Detroit Area. I just virtually "bicycled-around" my old neighborhood I grew up in as a kid.
![]() Above: What my old house looks like today. We had different bushes in the front when I lived there and didn't have the Flag pole, but other than that not much different.
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Tue 12/10/07 11:54am # Random Non-Sequiters • Journeyman was good as always last night. • I saw that Battlestar Galactica is now delayed until March 2008. • Weekly TV watching is getting sparse and looking to stay that way for the next few months. Let's go Surfing • Dell Latitude Tablet PC is $2,500. Wow, I don't know who researches the markets for this stuff, but that's insane. Way to continue to keep tablet's niche Dell! |
Sun 12/9/07 10:54am # Let's Go Surfing
I might keep my eye out for another bargain on this.
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Sun 12/9/07 7:02am # Google Chart API Google has an API that allows you to automatically create chart graphics on the fly. The explanation is a little confusing, so here's a simpler example: <img src=http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=p3&chco=523431& chd=t:1,2,3,4&chs=500x200&chl=Label1|Label2|Label3|Label4> If you want to make simple pie charts, then the only 4 values you probably care about are:
The above image looks like this:
You can make bar charts, pie charts, scatter plots etc. etc. but really it's all about the pie isn't? |
Sat 12/8/07 6:45pm # Random Non-Sequiters • I saw the Golden Compass this afternoon. While it looked neat, there really wasn't much to it. The movie takes place on an "alternate" earth that looks like how a Victorian might have imagined the 1950s. All the human characters have these animal avatars that serve as their personal Jiminy Crickets. At one point in the film some armored Polar Bears fight. Other than that, the whole movie is pretty pointless. There isn't really even an ending to the film. It plays like the first act of a larger movie. The first act of a long tedious movie. Skip the theatre, skip the DVD, skip it entirely really. • I saw the movie at Rivertown Mall. Every parking spot was filled, the inside of the mall was wall to wall people. Completely insane really. |
Sat 12/8/07 11:07pm # Let's Go Surfing
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Fri 12/7/07 7:34pm # Ramblings There's a small window where the narrative is fluid, the plot isn't predetermined and the actors aren't typecast. But then the narrative solidifies, the plot structures and the actors are placed into their roles. The audience expects the play to run a certain way. Woe to, the director that doesn't fufill that expectation, the script that goes astray or the performer that breaks character, because then the sequel or the series is done. (And remember, although they don't necessarily know what it will be, the audience expects the twist too.) |
Fri 12/7/08 4:43pm # Random Non-Sequiters Let's do some true random non-sequiters shall we. No links either. But Google is your friend. I saw that Ray Park (Darth Maul, Toad) has been cast as Snake-Eyes in the G.I. Joe Movie. That's the first good thing I've heard about the film. I saw that there are still 3 more episodes of Journeyman! Hooray. It is very gray, very winter in Michigan right now. The new Speed Racer Trailer looks a little like Speed is stuck in a Sonic the Hedgehog game. (Still looks like it could be fun though) I got the Diana Prince and Circe DC Direct figures this past Wednesday. Thankfully I didn't order the Wonder Woman, not that it's a bad figure but it's very similar to the one with the cape that came out a few months back and my wallet was due a rest on these toys. Currently planning to do a bunch of toy pics this weekend. Debating seeing a early showing of Golden Compass this weekend. Rotten Tomatoes reviews were kindof mixed, but a lot of the negative reviews seemed interesting to me. (Still have to see Hitman too.) They painted the hallways of my complex different colors yesterday. When coming home, it feels like I'm in the wrong building. It's nice, but a jarring change to a long standing familiarity. I saw that Apple's UMPC is expected to be $1,500. That's too bad. I think the cheaper UMPC's like the Eee are going to be the wave of the future in that product space. Sounds like Dell will announce their Tablet PC officially next month. I still haven't seen a price on that but I'm still interested in a low priced tablet (if it is that), fingers crossed. Did a Rock Band night again this past week. We may have reached a level in that game that has outstripped my “rocking” capabilities, I'm not that good at Medium and now the game wants us to go to the Hard setting. Next week will be Heroclix again, so there's that break at least. Brought the Portable Apps version of Open Office into work this week. I like it. It's much cleaner looking then MSWord. I've gotten accustomed to OO on the Eee as well. There's another 3 episodes of 30 Rock left too. I haven't watched last nights' yet though. (I watch them on Mondays usually.) One of the best shows on TV. Good Stuff. So far on my RSS Poll from a couple days ago, the results are: 1 person has subscribed, 1 person has not, and 1 person likes Cake and Ice Cream. Polls have never proven to be very popular on this blog. Heroes this past week seemed fairly anticlimactic to me. I think the overall problem is that the characters have become completely unrelateable, the plots and pacing has become sloppy, and there was no mystery and too much familiarity with the villains. It's an ok show, but not as good as the first season by any stretch. All for now. pics, links and the sorts of things blogs are for this weekend. |
Sun 12/2/07 6:02pm # Why do we even pretend to live in a democracy at this point?
from freep |
Sun 12/2/07 9:11am # Hey, I just thought up a Rudy Giuliani joke:
Q: What time does Rudy Guiliani get up every morning?
Thank you, thank you very much, I'll be blogging here all week! |
Sat 12/1/07 9:18pm # Random Non-Sequiters
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I plugged it into my computer, copied over a couple songs and photos. Works well. Voice Recorder and FM Radio recorder worked well too. I got it primarily to listen to audio books and podcasts. It seems to work well for that as it remembers what track and position you were on last time you were listening when you turn the device back on. I found the big “REFURB” letters on the back interesting though. I guess they didn't want me to forget that part of it. No biggie though, it's kind of punk that way. ![]()
Because a fair ammount of my blog is still created manually, my RSS feed is only updated a couple times a month. But because it's manual, I also don't currently have any idea how many people might be subscribed to it either. So if you are subscribed let me know. Let's Go Surfing
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Sat 12/1/07 2:48pm #
If you have enabled the Full Desktop mode on your Eee you can type: krandrtray into the run box or at the terminal and a screen rotate icon will be added to your task tray. It works best in Full Desktop, but it also works (a little awkwardly) in Easy Mode too.
You can sit back in a chair with the Eee in your hand sideways like a big open paperback, plug in a mouse to scroll with and web browsing larger passages of text is very nice indeed. |