January 27, 2003

two 'hrm...'s

dumbest thing ever: my stupid cat running between my legs while i'm walking and making me step on its tail.

best thing ever: me getting into the Arthurian Legend in Film and Literature class.

note: this is not part of the ongoing awards show.

thecomicman spoke @ 02:07 PM |

and the winner is... part II

welcome back to the 2002 thecomicman awards!!

The Most Disappointing Sports Event Since Last Year's Super Bowl: This Year's Super Bowl
maybe one of the early playoff games should be the Super Bowl from now on, because those are some fucking exciting games and not at all one-sided. but at least Oakland lost. and hey, maybe next year it'll be something else... but don't hold your breath.

Best Writer I Just Discovered: Isaac Adamson
his stories follow a white guy in Japan who runs into geisha girls, Yakuza thugs, Japanese motorcycle gangs, and Sararimen brothels. tell me one bad thing about these books. his first two books, Tokyo Suckerpunch and Hokkaido Popsicle, are available in paperback, with the third Dreaming Pachinko, available soon.

Best Toy Of The Year: Kaiyodo's Nicholas D. Wolfwood and Meryl Strife (tie)
with more accessories than you know what to do with, both figures are faithful renditions of their 2-D counterparts on screen. two things of note: Wolfwood does indeed come with his big-ass Cross of Death, or whatever it's called, along with two automatic pistols when he has to kill normal-sized things; and, Meryl Strife comes with like a hundred Derringer pistols that can placed in the many pockets inside her coat, and then removed for the one-shot/replace-gun method of winning a firefight. i would very much like the Meryl Strife figure for my birthday (i already own Wolfwood).

Best New Comic Book Series Of 2001: Legion
i know, i know, but i didn't have an awards show last year, so deal. as much as i wanted to give this to New X-men, there were possible technical reasons for not being able to (New X-men was a pre-existing title that changed it's name), but Legion may have actually been a better new series. the first four or five issues all ended with amazing cliffhangers (warning: spolers: issue one ends with half the team getting blown up; issue two ends with the realizitaion that the real President McCauley is dead, and someone is posing as him; issue three ends with the faux-President McCauley turning out to be Ra's Al Ghul; issue four ends with three cliffhangers: M'onel gets shot, half the team gets arrested, and the other half gets blown up again on Legion World). plus the themes dealt with in the first two storyarcs (what constitutes sentience; genocide; how to deal with a species that used to practice genocide when following the mad god that created them, but no longer does; torture in the name of science; and the like) are intellectual subject matter usually reserved for books by Immanuel Kant, Bertrand Russell, Jean-Paul Sartre, or other philosophers. unfortunately, these issues have yet to be traded.

Best TV Series Of 2002: 'The Sopranos'
i haven't seen the final episodes of last season or any episodes of the current season, all airing in 2002, but i'm sure they were great.

Best Comic Book Series Of 2002: New X-men
Grant Morrison focuses more on the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters and its students instead of giving us the same mutant-on-mutant action prevalent in the other X-titles. Grant Morrison introduced the U-Men, humans that want to be mutants, so they kill mutants and extract the mutant parts to insert them into themselves. Grant Morrison killed Magneto. Grant Morrison has straight-laced Cyclops have a mental affair with Emma Frost. Grant Morrison gives Jean Grey the Phoenix power, but without the body change. Grant Morrison posits the theory of mutant weapons of mass destruction with Weapons XII and XIII. Grant Morrison creates X-Corp, a world organization where wayward X-men and other mutants can go for work. are you noticing a pattern? no, let me spell it out for you: Grant Morrison has made the X-men better than they have been in a very, very long time. one almost forgets the 'Outback years.' until they pick up an issue of X-treme X-men anyway.

Best Reason Why This Post Took So Long: My Lightbulb Blew Out And I Had To Replace It
it actually happened.

Best Foreign Slang Term: Struesbob
it means 'i am not lying to you, but i may be exaggerating."

more awards to follow...

thecomicman spoke @ 02:02 PM |

snookered

i'm not sure how it happened, but i ended up buying an issue of 'The Comics Journal,' specifically the one that explains the Spiegelman vs. Rall vs. Hellman fight-thing. i think it's issue number 216. anyway, i have to say that the writers of this thing are pretty fucking witty. they've got this deadpan humor that i employ in my writing sometimes, but am always afraid will never work. well, it worked in this publication so i can breathe a little easier now.

God help me, i think i like 'The Comics Journal.'

don't get me wrong, i still think the magazine avoids talking about 90% of comic books simply because they're 'mainstream,' and when they do talk about them, it's always in the context of "there are some okay things here, but it's a mainstream book, so avoid it." these guys, while pretty good writers, are still elitist bastards that think 'comix' are the Second Coming.

but fuck it, i get Wizard for free, so i'll probably be buying this when it comes out every month.

thecomicman spoke @ 12:31 PM |

January 17, 2003

and the winner is....

welcome to the 2002 thecomicman awards!!

Best Anime I Haven't Seen Yet: Cowboy Bebop
what the hell is wrong with me? i should have watched this the moment i saw the main character Spike, or heard the great theme song, or found my coworker owned it, or was told that the Yakuza was in it. the Yakuza! gah! i have to watch it!

Best Song I Can't Stop Listening To: 'Cumbia de los Muertos' by Ozomatli
this song is so good! but it's in Spanish so you guys probably wouldn't understand why it's so good.

The 'What The Hell Was I Thinking' Movie: 'Sweet Home Alabama'
i mean, really, what the hell was i thinking?

Best Reason To Go To San Francisco: Cool Fort Things Where The Military Shot At Fish Even Though They Were Supposed To Be Looking For The Japanese During World War II, Located Near The Golden Gate Bridge
...but AK living there is a very close second.

Best Book I Read This Year But Should Have Read A Long Time Ago: Dune
i apologize to Dan 'cause this book really did kick ass.

Best Fighting Move In A Video Game I Wish I Could Do: Tommy Vercetti's Drop-Kicking Of Unsuspecting Drivers Off Their Motorcycles So You Can Steal Them in 'Grand Theft Auto: Vice City'
if only it wasn't illegal...

Best Reason To Keep In Touch With High School Acquantainces, Or Better Yet, Have Your Friends Keep In Touch With Your High School Acquantainces: So You Have Somewhere To Crash While You're On A Road Trip
you save lots of money; plus, i got to kick someone's ass in a game of Marvel vs. Capcom.

more awards to follow...

thecomicman spoke @ 02:18 AM |

January 11, 2003

posting from a mac part II

okay, not really posting from a mac, but needed something to tie this post into the previous post.

Tuesday: after my previous post, watched about half of 'American Pie 2'; didn't get to finish. my brother still doesn't own a PS2, so ended whompin his ass in HeroClix.

Wednesday: finished 'American Pie 2'. then proceeded to do nothing for the rest of the day.

Thursday (day 1 of Road Trip): went to Modesto to visit Julie's dad who also happened to be a big comic book collector. has tons of Silver Age stuff that made me and Billy drool. he took us out to eat (thanks again!), then we proceeded to Sacramento. went to CSU Sac, where Julie will be going in the fall, then to Old Town, the part of Sacramento that looks like it did during the late 1800's, except for the Round Table Pizza and Subway. then went to Davis where we ended up sleeping over at a friend's place, but not before proving my worth in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and getting my ass handed to me countless times in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Friday (day 2 of Road Trip): woke up at 8am, ate a Campbell's soup breakfast, then headed for Frisco at 11am. went to Pier 39, where a bunch of cool shops and sea lions are. called AK, who gave us her address. we went to her place, she gave us tea (yay Chrysanthemum Tea!) and then showed us around town. saw some bathhouse ruins and places where big honkin' guns were placed during World War II to defens against the Japanese. accidentally went across the Golden Gate Bridge. had some burritos for dinner, took AK home, and then proceeded to our town.

note: on the Road Trip, i navigated Billy, our driver, up to Sacramento, around Sacramento, over to Davis, over to Frisco, around Frisco, and then back home. i very proud of myself that i didn't get us lost.

Saturday: went to the local Flea Market, visited my dad at work, and then went to the Visalia Mall. whee, mall!

Sunday (projected): fly to New York with one more bag than originally planned and try to plan a CyberPunk one-shot on the plane. then hug Sammie a lot.

and that there is my account of my trip to California.

now reading: JLA Vol. 7: Tower of Babel- Mark Waid

thecomicman spoke @ 08:40 PM |

January 07, 2003

posting from a Mac

well, helloooooo!

i am in California now, kicking back, watchng movies and forcing my brother to buy a PS2. my trip thus far:

Friday: i got home and and immediately met up with some friends while working on three-hours plane-sleep. went to bed at 2am.

Saturday: had four more hours of sleep, got up at 6am and went down to LA to visit relatives. hung out with a bunch of old people that i didn't know all that well. they all proceeded to ask me extremely personal questions about me and Sam that i defly avoided answering. tried to post from an AOL-ized computer and failed miserably. went to bed at 11pm after watching 'Falling Down' with Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall.

Sunday: slept for 13 hours, got up at noon, had some breakfast. watched some 1st season episodes of 'The Sopranos', then watched football games. very annoyed that the 49ers beat the Giants by a single goddmaned point, even though there was pass interference and Terrell Owens is the biggest dick ever. tried to ride my brother's skateboard. did an ollie successfully, then got extremely confident and tried an ollie while the board was moving. fell, fucked up my knee and hurt my shoulder, vowed to never again ride a skateboard... until the next time i'm feeling overly confident. went back to Porterville.

Monday: had eye exam in which doctor confirmed that my eyes have gotten worse. my prescription has been upped, but at least i get cool Buddy Holly frames for free. went to Fresno with my mom 'cause she was sick and needed someone in the car to keep her awake. i ended up falling asleep. then watched 'Mumford' with some friends.

Tuesday (so far): planned trip to Sacramento and San Francisco with Julie and Billy for Thursday and Friday. then went to Billy's house to check blogs and email. forced to used a freakin' iMac.

i hate iMacs, but still tons better than AOL.

hopefully able to post again after Sac-Frisco trip.

bye now.

p.s. i miss Sammie.

now reading: JLA Vol. 6: World War III- Grant Morrison, J. M. Dematteis, Howard Porter, Mark Pajarillo

thecomicman spoke @ 04:24 PM |