Captain America The First Avenger

I went to the movies to see Captain America The First Avenger last night. As Marvel movies go, it was pretty good. The Steve Rogers characterization was fantastic, and at it's core the movie had alot of heart. When you break it down by the numbers and the beats, the movie gets most things right.

Also this movie does more to tie-in to the greater Marvel movie universe than any of the movies that came before it, and it really shows thru. If you've seen Incredible Hulk, Iron Man and Thor, there are so many little nods to those films in this one that I found myself continually impressed at the tightness of the tie-in.

Here's my issue though, Captain America is as much a symbol of the United States as Uncle Sam and his origin is as rooted in WWII as any character could be. Yet this movie takes every opportunity not to just run away, but ROCKET away from America at every turn.

And then there is the issue of Nazis. Captain America the movie, exists in a Nazi-less (or incredibly incredibly Nazi downplayed) WWII alternate reality where Red Skull's anonymous Cobra soldier looking Hydra agents are the real threat to humanity. Hittler is at best referred to a comical inconsequential villain the couple passing mentions he gets.

Japan and Pearl Harbor aren't even mentioned in the film to my recollection.

I can understand that Germany and Japan are two major allies to the US now, and also large movie markets, and the impetuous to downplay them as villains, but for me this movie skipped like a stone over the water that was the time period. It hit a couple spots to signal that it was in the past, but it never lingered on the water long enough to cause the slightest ripple or splash up any unpleasantness.

It's the sheer fright of actualy embracing the time period and actually embracing the real human emotions at play during the period that kept this from being a great movie and left it only as yet another 2011 superhero action flick with an above average hero character of moral integrity.

It's the fact that a studio like Disney can get away with, and mainstream audiences can embrace a vanilla rewrite on this scale of WWII history that left me really bothered and on edge though.

I want to hear your

Social media fail - or 'anyone, anyone, anyone?'

Monday I heard that the new Dark Knight Rises trailer was out, so I looked it up on Youtube and then tweeted it, with two tweets. No comments back.

No big deal, but here's the thing--what I thought was the new Dark Knight trailer was actually a very well crafted fake. It wasn't real. And noone in my geeky twitter list pointed that out. There have been other similiar situations where being on Twitter feels like being Bueler's teacher saying anyone, anyone, anyone?

Twitter had a couple good years where people were getting their news from other people, but lately it's looking more and more like people really are following their interests and not other people. It's the interests that are taking over at the moment I think.

I've also been using a great app on my iPad called Flipboard, it aggrogates blogs ad twitter feeds. An interesting thing about the app, when it pulls from twitter, it prioritizes the linked content over the actual twitter comment. The interest comes through, but the person who sent it's comment is pushed to the side as if a wrapper on a piece of candy.

I've been playing abit with Google+. It's at 10 million people right now. When Twitter was at 10 million, it was a party. Google+ with its circles is a set of closed enclaves. When I do a local scan of the public stream, I get almost nothing around me. Everyone is posting to Limited Circles.

I'll toss this idea out there-- I think we were living in a few big bustling Social Media cities, but I think were now in the process of building Social Media Suburbs made up of dozens of cul de sacs.

It's a suburbanization of social media if you will. Everything you want from the Blog or News source hypermarket, but you aren't going to know but a few if any of the shop owners. And you're only going to talk to the handful of people in your work circle, or your church circle, or some tiny neighborhood association maybe. You'll have a club or two, maybe your Fantasy Football League etc. But with The greatest connectivity known to man, mass mainstream is going to create social media suburbia.

Paper or Plastic? The clerk doesn't really care the answer, but isn't it nice they asked? What are those Woot Monkeys up to today? I wonder what Ashton thinks about the Rupert Murdock issue? Did Lady Gaga just release a new video? The Henderson's vacation photos look nice, I don't think I've spoken to them in 6 months-- I think I'll press the like button.

I want to hear your

Let's Go Surfing
Combination of Twitter and Flipboard Favorited/Stared Items.

- GOOD: To tweet or not to tweet that 'dick pic'? This #flowchart has the answer. (Hint: it's not yes). http://su.pr/74RoFV
source: Twitter Favorites

- GOOD: Elevating the open government movement to new heights, Iceland will crowdsource its constitution #gov20 http://su.pr/1gVVSY
source: Twitter Favorites

Can you imagine how terrifying a crowd sourced Constitution would be in the United States?

- _laughingsquid: Steve Jobs and Bill Gates Hanging Out http://dlvr.it/W8qN3
source: Twitter Favorites



Obviously Bill Gates looks intense because he can't find Steve.

- TheNextWeb: How to create a custom Facebook Landing Page in 5 minutes or less http://tnw.to/196s8 by @MountainDan on @TNWsocialmedia
source: Twitter Favorites

- AppAdvice: Visiting the windy city any time soon? Live in Chicago? We've rounded up our fav. Chicago apps - http://bit.ly/jayo1Z
source: Twitter Favorites

Cool.

- RWW: Mozilla Working on pdf.js, Will Render PDFs in HTML5 http://rww.to/kRf7mo
source: Twitter Favorites

Interesting

- greencapt: My comic friends- THIS is why you need to come to #DragonCon http://flic.kr/p/9E2vd1
source: Twitter Favorites

Ha

- _laughingsquid: Whats Your Cell Number? http://dlvr.it/WmtqQ
source: Twitter Favorites

- RWW: ReadWriteMobile: iOS 5 Brings Native-Style Scrolling to Web Apps http://rww.to/iyjDJA
source: Twitter Favorites

Cool

- TheNextWeb: The browser wars, illustrated http://tnw.to/19d2K by @Alex on @Shareables
source: Twitter Favorites

- emilychang: RT @ryancarson Our CSS3 training library is now free. 50 videos! http://t.co/4J5DYrM
source: Twitter Favorites

Nice.

- TheNextWeb: Facebook for Every Phone, a low cost, data-sipping app for Java phones http://tnw.to/19wvH by @mpanzarino on @tnwfacebook
source: Twitter Favorites

Nice. Not as nice as Android and iPhone, but in alot of places there are still alot of feature phones out there, and this is something cool.

I want to hear your

Let's Go Surfing

- pen & paper Catan - for emergencies
source: Instructables: exploring - featured

- How LeBron James Broke the Golden Rule of Sports
source: ill doctrine

Video.

- Peel Microcars
source: Likecool

Want.

- Boring Magazine design contest winner!
source: Boing Boing

Nice.

- P:R Redesign: Ferd Pobletes Hipster Heroes!
source: Project Rooftop

Lots of pics at the link.

- [UPDATE] X-Inkscape V0.48.1-2 [rev11]
source: The Portable Freeware Collection

Alternative to Adobe Illustrator.

- The Muppet Lantern Corps
source: Bleeding Cool

Neat.

- Plastic Heroes
source: RIPT Apparel

Nice 80s inspired Action Figure shirt.

- Pencil Dice lets you roll a saving throw with your writing utensil
source: The Red Ferret Journal - gadgets, cool sites, freeware and tech trivia

I made these once as a kid and once years ago when the power was out. Hard to imagine as an adult not just using a dice rolling app on my phone though... but I suppose, if you were trapped somewhere long enough without power. The link is to a UK store. Would be neat to find some of these in the US.

- Quickly Recreate Instagram Filters with Photoshop Actions
source: Unplggd

Nice free set of actions.

- Curt Deck Chair
source: Likecool

- The First World Problems Rap
source: Likecool

- Party in the CIA by Weird Al Yankovic
source: Super Punch

A little more political than Weird Al's usual fare. Cool video.

- Geek Toys : Cubebot
source: ThinkGeek :: What\'s New

Wooden Robot transforms into a cube.

- Thwipster Expands to Offer an Additional Daily Product for the Collectible Geek Enthusiast
source: Action Figure Insider - Best Toy News on the Web!

Cool. A comic geek type Woot site.

- 5 Hilarious Google Parodies [VIDEOS]
source: Mashable!

A bunch of Google+ parody videos, this was my favorite: Google-

- Best Sources for Food Eye Candy on Tablets
source: Unplggd

- $35 microSD card turns your Nook Color into a full Android tablet
source: The Red Ferret Journal - gadgets, cool sites, freeware and tech trivia

- Self-Stirring Mug keeps your drinks swirling all day
source: The Red Ferret Journal - gadgets, cool sites, freeware and tech trivia

Cool.

- Bergmönch lets you hike uphill, and bike back down
source: The Red Ferret Journal - gadgets, cool sites, freeware and tech trivia

- At Home Chip Maker lets you make your own healthy potato chips
source: The Red Ferret Journal - gadgets, cool sites, freeware and tech trivia

Neat.

- Travel around the airport in style with this Micro Samsonite Scooter
source: The Red Ferret Journal - gadgets, cool sites, freeware and tech trivia

Luggage that is also a scooter. Nice.

- Star Wars Fleet Commander and Tron Game Grid
source: Super Punch

Two videos at the link of some massive video wall games.

I want to hear your

Let's Go Surfing

- Angry Birds Bagel Sandwiches...
source: Randomness from Rob.

I wonder if you could make these out of ham?

- Final Frame: Step Down Into My Office
source: Unplggd

Very cool. Computer pits!

- Unboxing Ultimate Spider-Man #160 (VIDEO)
source: Bleeding Cool

Here's a guy that flips thru the Death of Ultimate Spiderman issue and films it for a Youtube video. First time I've seen somebody do something like this.

- The Fold
source: Likecool

I need to get some leather and try my hand at making one of these. I think I'll go for black though.

- ‘Hes all white, and covered in spots, thats why hes called The Spot
source: Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources - Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment

Do you remember the Spider-man villain, Spot? Then you'll love this...

- A Brief History of the Corporation: understanding what an attention economy is and where it comes from
source: Boing Boing

The back third of this article that focuses on attention is the most interesting part.

- Captain Collectors Collection
source: Toy: AFHub.com

This is sortof an insane ammount of toys. The photos are really just a blur there are so many figures.

- Catman? CATMAAAAAAAAAN!
source: thefwoosh.com

Cool a Catman figure is coming.

- Googles Swiffy Converts Flash Files to HTML5
source: Mashable!

Haven't tried it yet.

- Hipster version of Lord of the Rings
source: Super Punch

Amusing

- Google says less is more: Gmail and Google Calendar to sport a more spartan look
source: Engadget

I've been using the new look and for the most part, like it.

I want to hear your

Let's Go Surfing

- Redbox starts renting out video games nationwide, charges $2 for your Xbox 360, PS3 or Wii pleasure
source: Engadget

Has anyone done this yet? At $2 a day this seems like a bargain over a weekend to beat some short games.

- Build Your Own IKEA Planter Laptop Table on Casters
source: Unplggd

Very neat, simple to make unit.

- How to Make a Hot Dog Fairy
source: Neatorama

That's pretty awesome.

- DCUC Review Black Vulcan
source: thefwoosh.com

Some very nice Black Vulcan Action Figure action shots.

- New Custom Tuesday 6/7/11
source: thefwoosh.com

Very nice custom GL.

- Illustration roundup
source: Super Punch

They should not have done a Conan the Barbarian movie remake. What they should have done was a live action Thundarr the Barbarian. Let's face it, you basically have Conan with a light saber + a Wookie + a sorceress in a post apocalyptic, post nuclear war, world. That sounds so so much cooler than a Conan remake doesn't it?

- Recruiting poster for The Foot
source: Super Punch

I'm not a major TMNT fan, but that's kindof neat.

- The game theory of discovery and the birth of the free-gap
source: Seth\'s Blog

Click above, often Godin just puts out crap, but when he isn't just trying to fill his daily quota of posting something, when he actually has something to say, you get the occasional article like this one.

1. As more commercial activity involves digital goods (websites, ebooks, music, etc.), the temptation to spread the idea for free (to aid discovery) is actually economically possible--if you believe that the free spread will lead to more revenue in the long run. The cost of a single copy is zero, so you can choose to set the digital item loose without bankrupting yourself.

2. A culture of free digital consumption has evolved and is being adopted by a huge segment of the most coveted consumers (teenagers, the educated, the upper middle class).

The bet a creator makes, then, is that when she gives away something for free, it will be discovered, attract attention, spread and then, as we saw in radio in 1969, lead to some portion of the masses actually buying something.

What's easy to overlook is that a leap is necessary for the last step to occur. As we've made it easier for ideas to spread digitally, we've actually amplified the gap between free and paid. It turns out that there's a huge cohort that's just not going to pay for anything if they can possibly avoid it.

Radio thirty years ago was simple: everyone hears it for free and a few buy it.

For a time, one could use free to promote an idea and have leverage to turn that attention into paid sales of a similar item (either because free went away or because the similar item offered convenience or souvenir value).

I think that might be changing. As the free-only cohort grows, people start to feel foolish when they pay for something when the free substitute is easily available and perhaps more convenient.

- Wired article on comics and iPad.

Good overview article on the state of comics retail.

- Lytro's light field camera captures 'unprecedented' images, lets you choose focus later
source: Engadget

The promise of this new technology to allow you to refocus a photo AFTER you have taken the picture is one of the most interesting things I've seen to hit the graphic desing world in some time.

- Matt Smith as Batman doing 24 hour plays...
source: Randomness from Rob.

Doctor Who dressed as Batman!

I want to hear your

Let's Go Surfing

Up to about June 17th on my Starred Google Reader list.

- Could Game Mechanics Turn Work Into Play? [INFOGRAPHIC]
source: Mashable!

Not sure this would work. I'm pretty sure you'd just be stuck on the same level day after day constantly fighting the same mini-boss.

- Magic Hour: Better Than Hipstamatic? We Think So!
source: Unplggd

Haven't tried this on iOS, but I installed the Android version. It's well worth the $2 price since not only do they give you the tools to create and save your own filters, they also allow you to download filters other people have created. And there are ALOT of filters in their free download library. Plus bonus, the App actually looks nice on Android.

- Famous People With Vinyl
source: zzz Chipsta\'s Prints and other relevance......

Some neat pics.

- Photoshop-To-FTML: Convert PSD Files To Flash Without Any Coding
source: MakeUseOf.com

Actual download site

- Look on his works, ye mighty, and despair: Frank Quitely draws Alan Moore
source: Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources - Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment

Great drawing.

- SASAN / Magic Carpet
source: Likecool

- Green Lantern fan comic sends Jordan and Stewart on patrol
source: Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources - Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment

Not a bad fan drawn short comic story.

I want to hear your

Let's Go Surfing

Made it up to about June 13th.

- DIY Backyard Scrabble project from Sacramento...
source: NOTCOT.ORG

Seems like a neat idea, but I think I'd be too lazy to constantly be bending over to the ground to play this.

- Photo
source: Welcome to Sweet Home Style

Neat reading and napping nook.

- Google Calendar Gets Appointment Slots
source: Mashable!

Pretty Cool. This seems like it would be useful if you were a freelancer.

- Darth Vader Has a Lovely Time at Disneyland [VIDEO]
source: Mashable!

Cute Video.

- Looxcie 2 wearable camcorder slims down, adds some accessories
source: Engadget

Much sleeker and smaller than the last one. Now that I have the Android phone, it's tempting.

- 9 Beautiful One-Page Websites for Design Inspiration
source: Mashable!

Think Green and Head2Head are nice.

- Figure Drawing For All It's Worth: prized instructional art book by Andrew Loomis back in print
source: Boing Boing

If you are an artist or designer, pick-up this book and any old books by Andrew Loomis that you can find!

- How to Maximize Fun in Minimal Space with the Nyko Zoom Kinect attachment
source: Unplggd

Probably will get one of these when it's released on 8/23. Promises to reduce the space you need in front of your TV by half.

- The Best Green Lantern Themed TV Commercial Of All
source: Bleeding Cool

Amusing.

- 9 Well-Designed User Registration Pages To Learn From
source: Mashable!

- Han in carbonite paper toy
source: Super Punch

Ha.

- Those 52 Issue One DC Solicitations In Full…
source: Bleeding Cool

DCnU starts next month.

- Autodesk 123D solid modeling software hits beta, hobbyists cheer $0.00 pricetag
source: Engadget

Download the software

- Useful HTML-, CSS- and JavaScript Tools and Libraries
source: Smashing Magazine Feed

Layer Styles is useful.

I want to hear your

Green Lantern Stuff at the Mall

One nice thing about the Green Lantern movie, there's been alot more Green Lantern stuff at the mall. And while I really really like the character and at one point used to buy pretty much everything with the GL symbol on it, there's just too much constantly coming out to get everything now.

One thing that's been neat to see, are store endcaps like this one in Barnes and Noble. After years of Batman endcaps and displays, it's fun as a fan to see this sort of stuff.

As for this item. It's only mid July, but Hallmark has their Christmas ornaments out starting today. And among their number, there is a Green Lantern ornament. I didn't buy yet. I have a 60s style hallmark ornament (black shoulders) from some years back already, so I didn't quite leap on this (yet).

I came a little closer to almost getting this Green Lantern backpack at Spencers Gifts. It was $30 (50% off $60 - Which really let's face it is sort of a scam pricepoint. $30 is still a little high.) Lots of classic GL covers from the 80s and 90s. Each backpack is slightly different in the way the pattern lines up with the logo too. Wasn't quite sure though where I'd need to use such a nifty little item though. (plus I just bought a new bag recently).

Oh to have infinite geek cash and infinite space to display such things.

While out, I also saw Green Lantern hats, belt buckles, shirts, and entire manequin outfit at JCPenney and a bunch of interesting preschool toys (One of which is pictured on the blog below this post.)

The only thing I actually bought while out today though was a Green Lantern lanyard at Hot Topic (not pictured) which should be fun for the next convention Jenn and I attend.

I want to hear your

Let's Go Surfing

More Link Blogging. Most of this stuff, is stuff I starred in Google Reader in early June.

- Where to draw the line?
source: Contrast | The Blog

Application Development.

- Dunbar's Number proves that you can't realistically follow more than 150 friends on Twitter [Psychology]
source: io9

Dunbar's Number!

- Barnes & Nobles Touchscreen Ereader Now Shipping
source: Mashable!

I've played with this device in store a couple times now. I think it would be really great at a $60 to $70 price point. At the price it is, I'd probably go for a Kindle though, still, it's a very interesting device form factor.

- Ubuntu to hit Eee PCs, take on Microsoft
source: Engadget

You know, I'm not sure I've touched my netbook once in the month I've had my iPad 2. i could see possibly needing a Windows netbook for some particular use, but I'm not sure I can see a need for a Linux netbook over an iPad.

- Handheld inkjet print gun
source: Boing Boing

Unique device.

- Why Flip Videos Inventor Is Starting a High-Tech Grilled Cheese Empire
source: Mashable!

While, I'm sure there won't be one anytime soon, I'd love one of these to come to Grand Rapids.

- JSON Activity Streams Spec Hits Version 1.0
source: ReadWriteWeb

- Summarize your data with pivot tables
source: Official Google Docs Blog

At somepoint I need to get deeper into some of this stuff.

- New Green Lantern Movie Masters Coming Soon
source: thefwoosh.com

I'm going to buy this entire action figure just to get the Bzzd insect Green Lantern.

- This 1986 He-Man toy display would've blown your young mind to smithereens [Video]
source: io9

Nice.

- Green Lantern Lego Cubedude (and more)
source: Super Punch

Pretty cool.

I want to hear your

Let's Go Surfing

Some Link blogging, alot of this stuff is stuff I starred back in May/early June.

- Why The Valley Wants Designers That Can Code
source: UIE Brain Sparks

Startups, however, try to run as lean as possible, so they look for talent with a broad set of skills. The thinking among the Valley folk is, if they can get someone who does both, they can get their product from concept to ship with an ideal set of resources. Otherwise theyd have to hire two people. Or do without one.
Weve proven for years that you can ship a product without a designer. Many companies have done that, and while it doesnt make for a great result, it does ship. However, its much harder to ship a software product without a coder, if not near impossible.
Thats why, right now, there are dozens of startups looking to pay big bucks to find the coding super designer. The demand is high and those designers who have proven, practiced coding skills can demand a higher salary than those who dont.

Palm to forhead, sigh.

- Use freeware to clear up some disk space on your computer
source: The Red Ferret Journal - gadgets, cool sites, freeware and tech trivia

This is a really nice piece of windows freeware if you need to hunt down and retrieve extra space from your harddrive.

- Your video of the day | How to letter by Scott McCloud
source: Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources - Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment

Video.

- Color palette of glorious hues of the golden age of comics
source: Boing Boing

Has a PSD file too.

- Robotech transforming motorcycle roars into the real world
source: DVICE

I'm not a bike guy, but if I were, that'd be the bike to ride.

- Video of a boy playing with an otter
source: Super Punch

Cute video.

- Interview: Brian "Ziggy" Liloia on How to build your own Hobbit House
source: Boing Boing

- Indy 500 Warmup: World Record-Setting 332-foot Truck Jump [VIDEO]
source: Mashable!

Pretty cool jump video.

- Home & Office : Batman Money Clip
source: ThinkGeek :: What\'s New

A little too pricy but neat. I like the idea of a money clip, but in practice the few times I've tried them, they've never worked well for me.

- Marvel Select Hawkeye is the First Avenger� at the Disney Store
source: Action Figure Insider - Best Toy News on the Web!

Neat that Disney is starting to carry exclusive Marvel stuff like this. Bummer there is no Disney Store even close to Grand Rapids. (Although in this case, I already have a nice ML Hawkeye figure)

- Kirby Krackle goes green in �Ring Capacity video
source: Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources - Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment

I tweeted this at the time it came out, but it's still cool.

- The Dark Knight vs. Wolverine in stylish Batman Deliverance
source: Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources - Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment

Also previously tweeted, but cool.

- Jedi A-Holes Strike Back
source: Likecool

Ha.

I want to hear your

Random Non-Sequiters

Touchpad – I played with a Touchpad in Best Buy today. I like WebOS, and it worked well on the Touchpad tablet. But the apps folder on the thing looked awfully empty. Unless HP can find a way to undercut Apple drastically on price, or attract massive developer interest, I don't see the them making much headway with the Touchpad. In many ways the WebOS UI is more refined than Android's UI. But even while I was playing with it, there were apps that seems to hang and take awhile to launch. Android may have a terrible UI, but it feels snappier than WebOS. Speed beats elegance and Apps (functionality beats speed and elegance. iPad, has speed, elegance and functionality so, it's way ahead of the other two.

Google+ Hangouts – Roped Adam and Comfort and Jennifer in to try Google Hangout's group video chat. I was very impressed with it. Web video conferencing has been around for eons, but I think Hangouts has a real opportunity to make it work. I think it's going to be really be useful in the workplace. Small classes and lectures would be a natural. And while I don't play roleplaying games, I could see it being very very useful for something like that too. If you're not on Google+ yet, the Hangouts video chat would be a very good reason to sign-up for it.

I'm still not sure about Google+ overall. I like it better than Facebook. But I don't really use Facebook except to read other people's stuff, and there's not a much posting going on in Google+ quite yet, and if there were, part of me still thinks that twitter is a stronger more flexible format. But the Video Chat in Google+, that's stellar.

Hands on clock may be moving slower or faster than they appear - You ever notice how much different days can vary in speed? Saturday went really fast, Sunday went very slow. Sunday was better than Saturday though. Go figure.

Fulton Street Artisans Market - Went to the Fulton Street Artisans Market again this week. I like art fairs and such, and this little art market is like a tiny mini art fair every Sunday. It's always interesting to stop by for 15 minutes and see if there is anything new or clever.

The Ann Arbor Art fair (a seriously larger and proper art fair vs. Fulton's Market) is in a couple weeks, and I'm looking forward to checking that out as well.

Digging scribbling on the iPad. Probably doing myself somewhat of a disservice publishing such rough scribbles to the internet. I'm a designer though, and not an illustrator, although I'm not sure most people really know the difference, people tend to equate the two. The more I do these rough quick scribbles tho, the more I feel like I should sit down for an hour or two and do an actual well crafted drawing, just to go “I *can* draw real nice, but I'd rather scribble is all”. Maybe sometime I suppose, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for me to do anything much nicer than these, anytime soon.

Brickroad Pizza - Had an absolutely fantastic Cclzone at Brickroad Pizza today. Fantastic. (BTW This and the above picture, snagged from Jenn's blog)

Tomorrow is Monday - And that sortof sucks.

I want to hear your

So excited!

See that picture up there? Those are two Harvey Award Nominated Comic Creators creating a Harvey Award Nominated comic on my couch. By the properties of transference, I now have a Harvey Award Nominated Couch! (I mean, I haven't checked the rules or anything but that sounds logical doesn't it?)

In all seriousness though, I'm very excited for my friends Adam and Comfort, two of the hardest working people in comics!

They were nominated for Most Promising New Talent for Rainbow in the Dark. And their Uniques Tales was nominated for Best Anthology!

For my non-comic friends not familiar with the Harvey Awards:

"The Harvey Awards are the comic book industry's premier award show. The awards for comic book professionals by comic book professionals."

"Nominations for the Harvey Awards are selected exclusively by creators - those who write, draw, ink, letter, color, design, edit or are otherwise involved in a creative capacity in the comics field. They are the only industry awards both nominated and selected by the full body of comic book professionals. Thank you to all that have already participated by submitting a nomination ballot."

As Vice President Biden might say: "It's a pretty Big F*ckin Deal"!

Again I'm very excited for them. The actual award ceremony is August 20th, 2011 in Baltimore, They are up with some amazing talent too... take a look at the awards list

And if you haven't yet, check out their books: Rainbow in the Dark, The Uniques and read The Uniques Tales. The first issues of Rainbow and Uniques are available to download for Free. And You can read all of the Uniques Tales online for free. All other issues are 99¢ downloads as PDF or CBZ (and if you like printed issues or trades, those are available too!).

I want to hear your

The DC Comics Guide to Digitally Drawing Comics

Just got this book in the mail today and spent the last couple hours or so going through it. There's some really neat working tips in this book. 3 or 4 of which are well worth the $15.63 it is currently going for on Amazon

I believe this is the 5th book in "The DC Guide to..." comic creation series. I'd recommend all of the below. They're a great series.

I want to hear your

HTC Evo 4G One Week In

I've had the HTC Evo for one week now, and here are my thoughts.

The Evo 4G is not my first Android device, I've had a couple of 7" Android tablets before it, so I haven't found myself lost in the UI or having to work too hard to figure out what I need to click to get it to do various things.

Some of the phone aspects are new to me though.

Biggest gripe, the notification system. Now, coming from WebOS which has a stellar notification system,there's really nowhere to go but down, but the notification system on this device is pretty useless for anyone who get a normal amount of communication. The phone tells me I have an SMS messages, but only their number, why not just put the message in the notification system? Also, I'm not someone who keeps my inbox at zero, so this phone basically tells me I have 785 new messages. So, the notification system compared to webOS, is sortof useless, except in the most base, basic way.

Once inside email or SMS, things aren't so bad, the apps still feel more like desktop clients than connected devices, but they work fine enough. Overall, Android has some pretty chunky/clunky unrefined UI elements/graphics, but generally they get the job done. So while they aren't going to win any design awards when compared to WebOS, or iOS, I'm slowly getting accustomed to the ascetic.

The camera works well. Easy to use, starts up fast (which is a bonus for me, because the last couple upgrades to the Pre slowed it's camera down to the point of virtual unusability.) The camera has a very wide screen aspect ratio (mostly an issue when you shoot a vertical shot), but I found a couple apps that I can use to get a more standard aspect ratio, so I've worked around that issue that was more of a pet peeve than really being an issue.

The web browser is really really quick and a delight to use.

Tweetdeck works great on Android.

The keyboard is ok. I turned off autocorrect and predictive text. Honestly I really don't understand why iOS and Android have those on as defaults. On neither device have I felt they were worth the problems they cause. The stock keyboard is a little crowded with secondary and tertiary key markings, but installing Swype took care of that. (I don't actually swype to type, but I do like pecking away on their keyboard better)

Voice to text input is pretty slick. I've only used it a few times, but I like it.

Autoswitching between 3G and Wi-Fi networks etc. 90% good. I'd say that iOS and WebOS were 99% good at this as I rarely had issues autoswitching between networks. Evo has been pretty good, but I've had a couple times where it seemed like I needed to restart to get it to play nice.

On the topic of restarts, the Evo restarts very very quick, a HUGE improvement over my Palm Pre experience.

I installed a nifty little program: Widget Locker that I'm digging. Instead of one slide to unlock, my lock screen now has a slide to unlock for both of my emails, the camera and my messages. That's very useful for getting straight to those urgent apps in one swype.

That's the snapshot thoughts so far. The handful of other apps I've used have worked fairly similar to their iOS counterparts. Only in the camera and video apps have I noticed a significant advantage of iOS over Android, the rest so far have been fairly comparable.

I'm happy with the purchase. Given that I have an iPod Touch 4th gen, and an iPad 2, it's nice to also have a device running Android 2.3.3 to play with.

If you aren't techy like that and are looking for an overall recommendation, I'd recommend going with iPhone 4 over Android, but if like me you already have a handful of other Apple devices and are looking for an Android phone to help balance your mix, the Evo isn't a bad way to go.

I want to hear your