Being Weird

This was almost the view I had Saturday night, minus the waterfall....I took a trip north, higher elevation, clearer skies, in order to watch the meteor shower. It was so much better than expected.

After driving a long ways, I found a spot, in the middle of the dark, under some tall pines with plenty of openings between them. I piled blankets in the back of my truck to stay warm, laid back, and waited. It wasn't long before the first one zoomed across the sky, orange and fiery. It left a trail. Many more streaked across the sky as I stayed warm under the covers, staring up. After each pause I told myself "one more, then I'll go to sleep", but I kept wanting to see more. I finally fell asleep, surrounded by warmth and tangled in blankets.

Honestly one of the best nights of my life. Very thankful and hopefully get more chances to do it again in the future.

Open Heart

Something I drew a long time ago. Some feelings stay with you a long time...

Wheatfield With Crows

This is one of my favorite paintings. I like Van Gogh as much as the next person, it becomes a little cliche' I guess, so maybe I avoid being a big fan and hanging Starry Night over my desk. But its the "other" paintings that make Van Gogh so interesting. The ones that most people don't consider. This is one of them, actually, this is THE one. It is supposed to be the last painting that Van Gogh made before his death. It's simple, but it's powerful. It's symbolic. It contains all of his emotion. This was Vincent's way of expressing himself and how he felt, problem is, no one got to see it until after he was gone.

I'm thankful for Molly. She's a piece of me and keeps me centered sometimes. For the last month, I've basically ignored her, which makes me feel really bad. I've been caught up in my own stuff and haven't been any good for anyone. Tonight she asked me about Vincent Van Gogh. Out of the blue, she wanted me to tell her the story about him cutting off his ear. Why? I don't have a clue. I told her that it was a long, complicated story. She wanted to know why he would cut his ear off for a girl. I explained that it wasn't 100% positive that he did, but, Vincent was a very passionate person, but always seemed a little off. There were a lot of reasons why he cut off his ear, but yes, one of them was that he cut it off and gave it to the girl he loved as a gift. "Who would want an ear?" Great question. It wasn't the ear, it was the fact that he wanted to give a part of himself to someone. But, being Vincent, he went a little overboard, actually a lot. Maybe he really thought he was doing something "good". Or maybe he felt like he had already lost and this was a last ditch effort, a final gesture, one that he knew would end badly, but he had to do anyway. No one knows.

Sometimes you get a feeling like nothing else matters. Like after all of the shielding and protecting, that it wasn't worth it and you give everything up to fate. What happens, happens, but hopefully things end up in a good way. The opening scene from the movie Dances With Wolves shows this perfectly. Costner's character has had enough. He's worn out, done fighting, he puts himself in the hands of Fate. In the scene he gets on his horse and rides out in front of the lines of soldiers, daring them to shoot him. Some people see this as giving up. I see it as a leap of faith. Instead of "trying"and forcing things, sometimes you just have to open it all up and see what happens. If you're accepted, then so be it. If not, then I suppose it wasn't meant to be. I am of the belief in greater good though, meaning that good things should happen or be. I believe in happy endings. It might take a while, and go through some questionable spots, but in the end, good things should remain. Costner's character goes on to better things, a life 100 times better than what he had. Because he gave himself up, things worked out miraculously. The movie would have sucked if he had gotten shot and killed in the first scene. Thats not the way things should work.

I'm working on opening things up, instead of forcing them. I want things to end up better than before. I have a lot of Van Gogh traits, which I hold on to. I admire him and his intensity. But, I don't want to end up with a Wheatfield With Crows feeling, even though I relate to the way he felt. Leaps of faith aren't easy, they're scary. But I suppose thats what makes faith such a powerful concept. Whether or not I get shot off my horse remains to be seen......

The "Mog"

Its been near impossible to get on here and post lately, between school, football, online school and no sleep, blogging has been bumped way down the list of priorities. But, its still here, electronic immortality.

I stopped by the comic shop to pick up two weeks of books. I got a little surprise sitting in the parking lot as D-Money rolled up next to me in his G-town pimp ride. After chit chatting, i picked up my books and cruised home. I was excited to get my hands on the "0" issues from DC. Wasn't sure what to expect, but they seemed like a nice break from the storylines. A big surprise was the new #1 issue of The Massive, the start of a new series. I was hoping that they would continue this series and it looks like it will go on for another mini run.

The book follows the same format, most enjoyable is the almost total lack of advertisements, just full comic story. In this issue we track Israel Callum's predicamant in Mogadishu, Somalia. It seems like this chaotic location has become a hub of trade, albeit blackmarket, in the new world. Callum needs supplies for his ship, the Kapital, most notably fuel and water. He gets the fuel, not the water, and has to agree to running guns with a Somalian warlord. Kind of an odd proposition for a pacifist eco warrior.

The art stays the same, muted colors, clean design. The story bounces a little, focusing mainly on Callum, but also flashing back to the ship. Its a good start to another arc in the story, adding a protagonist and sets the Kapital up for its continued search for the Massive. Looking forward to reading more.

RIP Neil Armstrong

On Saturday a personal hero of mine passed away; Neil Armstrong, space explorer, self pronounced nerd. My connection with Armstrong is my birthday, I was born the day he landed on moon. That small coincidence has always made me feel special. I've always been interested in the stars and adventure. Neil Armstrong accomplished something that less than a handful of human beings ever have, he walked on the moon. Someday, I'm sure it will happen again, but I'm doubtful it will be in my lifetime. The slowdown in manned space exploration has kept humans landlocked ever since the 60's. Now robots probe nearby planets, the need to send humans seems to be unnecessary.

Armstrong's death is very sad to me. It dates me. It's like part of me is gone also. This weekend was sad overall, lots of things changing, lots of things ending and passing on.

Anyway, I wish Neil the best. Hopefully he's exploring another kind of space now.

Reaper Minis Kickstarter

Since Jim alerted me to this kickstarter, I've been paying close attention to what they are offering. They had a goal of raising $30K, they CRUSHED that and have close to $930,000, nearing the million dollar mark. Pretty cool. Especially seeing how they are giving supporters a screaming deal and each time a level is reached, they add on to the package. At this point, the vampire level, $100, gets you this:

I believe that its around 178 minis for $100. TONS of stuff, and possibly adding more if they raise a few more bucks in the next 5 days. You can also add on, upgrading your level and get some other cool figures; giants, dragons, orc hordes, and even Cthulhu and friends.

I am tempted, extremely tempted. I've been thinking about starting an RPG club at school, this would be an instant help. I may hold out for a few days and see if the package bumps up.

The Massive

Whew, ok, I'm finally getting a new routine and finding time for things. School starting, football, classes full of actual human beings, all have disrupted my recent cubicle life. No worries though, slowly I will get back into it.

I have a stack, a stack, of comics that I haven't been able to read. I've fallen out of the loop on a few storylines. Slowly, I try to read one or two when I have a few minutes. One book that I picked up on a whim has become an underground favorite in my stack; The Massive.

The Massive is a different kind of book. I liken it to a 60's spy thriller / Johnny Quest sort of style. The art is clean, very stylish. The characters are strong and recognizable. The story is mysterious, leading, going forward and backwards at the same time. The basic premise is that not far in the future, a series of catastrophic ecological events causes a "crash" in the world, effectively creating an apocalyptic setting. The Massive is a ship, one of two vessels that cruised the pre-crash oceans defending the earth's resources from commercial destruction. The Massive is now lost. It's sister ship, the Kapital, and it's small crew, are on a mission to re-locate the Massive; at the same time avoiding pirates and environmental changes.

I really like the style and feel of the book. This is not a superhero book, it is more like a mystery set in a slightly recognizable world, all the while you have this feeling of dread looming in the background. The art in this book is new. It feels like a combination of clean pencils and inks and some computer/photo generated images. The colors are what really set the stage for the story; many of the layouts and arcs are done in monochromatic tones which really help with the flow of the story. Flashbacks and scene cuts are easily followed because of the shift in colors.

One thing that is REALLY amazing about this book: NO ADS!!! When you read The Massive you will notice that you are flipping page after page of comic book, not advertisements. It's weird, but in a great way. I'm not sure how Dark Horse is doing it, but every publisher should figure it out.

The Massive is a three part introduction. No questions were answered, no Massive was ever sighted. Hopefully interest was good enough that it becomes a regular series. I could see a lot of possibilities with the Kapital chasing the Massive's signal, always just over the next horizon, criss crossing the Earth's oceans, exploring a new world.

Happy Coincidence

One good thing about living in the desert, stars. Almost every night I can go out and see thousands of stars, satellites, and a few meteors. Its a bright point in an otherwise hellish heat.

Last night, by chance, I was just hanging out, looking up. Not just one, but several streaked across the sky. They weren't the small flashes, caught out of the corner of your eye, these were globs of sparks, slowly falling out of the sky. This morning I read that last night was the Perseid meteor shower, one of the best of the year. Pretty cool.

To add to the "cool" factor, I spotted a tarantula crossing the road, a snake, and a scorpion running for cover under my fridge. Who says the desert isn't cool?

I Should Be In Japan

So, yesterday I should have boarded an airplane and flew 10-12 hours to Tokyo. Right now, I would be sitting in the fancy Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku, listening to boring meetings, and looking out of the windows to see the neon metropolis; thousands of Tokyo-ites going about their daily business.

I was selected for the JET Program. I had one of the sweetest assignments, a small beach town on the western coast of Japan. I gave it up though, for a teaching/coaching position close to home. I've tried to put it out of my head since I had to decline the position, but I cant help feeling it today, since I would be in Japan right now had I gone through with it. Its hard to swallow. It was something I really wanted. It was a struggle all spring and summer, trying to figure out what I was going to do.

So close, yet so far.

Road Trip!

Im on my yearly trip to montana. This year i decided to drive, since plane tickets were pretty high and dog sitters cost more than intensive care nurses. So, Bodi and i hopped in the truck and took off. This is the first big trip for Bodi, she did ok but i think she was worried i was taking her to the desert........for a long time.

Batman, with a twist!

Sometimes I am dense. I've never been good at mysteries, or riddles, or chess really. I don't see ahead well enough. Today was just more evidence of that. 

I finally got around to reading Batman #10. I had heard Scott Snyder talking about a big "reveal" in this issue, and I was excited, but I didn't really give it much thought. I don't like trying to "figure things out" ahead of time. I'd rather enjoy the surprise. 

Well, Batman definitely surprised me. I should have known it. It seems so easy. A few weeks ago I wrote about another issue of Batman, one in which the Court of Owls assassins succeeded in killing the mayoral candidate, Lincoln March. I was shocked and a little depressed by this. I really thought there was something more to Lincoln. Why was he being introduced? Why did he look so similar to Bruce Wayne? Why did he die so easily? Well, all questions are now answered. 

Snyder has been pulling out some pretty dark secrets in his run on Batman. The Wayne family isn't as squeaky clean as we've always been led to believe. In this issue, Batman goes after the one person responsible for all of the chaos caused by Owl Talons running amok in Gotham. What he finds is a surprise even to him. Lincoln March isn't dead. He's been brought back to "life" by ingesting Mr. Freeze's living dead serum. March is breaking away from the Owls. He's figured out that the Owl's were trying to turn on him so he struck first. What Batman doesn't understand is that Lincoln March also has a BIG beef with him. A classic case of sibling rivalry, especially when we all realize that Lincoln Marc, aka Thomas Wayne Jr., was given up and forgotten as a newborn. So while Bruce was brought up in a loving environment, given everything he could ever want or need, Thomas was tucked away in what essentially became an mental institution, full of abuse and neglect. Thomas has a bone or two to pick with Master Bruce. 

What makes me feel even slower, is that DC announced a series of #0 issues recently. As I looked through the previews I noticed that there is going to be a new book starting, taking a character from the Court of Owls storyline. Immediately I thought, "Jeeeez, how silly is that?". DC was already trying to cash in on the success of the first big "event" of one of their books. I didn't plan on buying the new book, Talon. 

Well, that might change. My guess is that Lincoln March, Thomas Wayne Jr., will be starring in his own book soon. Hopefully this will add some tension to the bat-books, as there will be a new playa in town. March is neither bad, nor good, he's outside of everything. The Court of Owls will be after him, as well as Batman and the Gotham authorities. This adds a great balance to the Gotham world. All this, and Batman hasn't really introduced any of the classic villains yet. More good to come. 

Prometheus!!

Yesterday I finally got the chance to see Prometheus. Right before the movie started I think I realized that although my interests are varied; comics, superheroes, fantasy, D&D, my true love is science fiction. Good science fiction. Maybe thats because I was born the day the first man landed on the moon, maybe not. Regardless, I like science fiction because its limitless. You can imagine anything being possible. So with that thought in mind, I was ready for an amazing science fiction movie.

The movie itself was good. Visually it was amazing. The scene where the ship Prometheus was descending onto the planet's surface was beautiful. An almost identical scene, except reversed, showed up at the end of the movie as Dr. Shaw takes off in an alien vessel and leaves the planet. Nice touch. This movie was a subdued prequel to Alien, or at least it used some of the key points in as a framework. One difference in this film was the heavy reliance on H.R. Giger's work. Giger is one of my favorite artists and his designs were some of the basis for the original movie, although they sort of remained in the background. In Prometheus, Giger is everywhere, they celebrate his work. I thought that was a good choice, as his work is sometimes overlooked because of it's gruesomeness. They even went so far as to "steal" from his other movie work, most notably "Dune". The tombs on the alien planet were actually designs for Spice Carriers on Arrakis.

The story is taking a while to sink in. Maybe thats by design, maybe I'm just dense or overthinking it. I really liked the opening scenes, where you flyover a desolate, volcanic landscape, only to focus on a strangely human figure performing some sort of suicidal ritual. Lot's of symbolism. My thought was that he sacrificed himself in order to create mankind. A "God", killing himself, so that a lesser race may evolve. Very fitting. From there we jump from a quick archaeological find to outer space, in a ship full of hibernating crew members save for the creepiest android every created.

I hated David, the android. I immediately had the sense that I wanted him destroyed. He was different, quirky, creepy, arrogant (which is strange because of an android's lack of emotion), and carried a tinge of English mannerisms that bordered on being dandy. His calm, cool, demeanor in any situation gave him a sense of being dangerous, which he ultimately ended up being, or was he? One BIG question, was how he seemed to have pre-knowledge of the alien WMD virus. It seemed like he knew what the alien vases contained, and used it specifically to poison one of the crew. Strategically knowing that he would then sleep with Dr. Shaw, and thus impregnate her, spawning the first facehugger. I don't know, plenty of questions.

I did some research on Prometheus, just to get some perspective. Yes, he gave fire to humans, but did you know that he was responsible for CREATING humans, out of clay? Not Zeus, Prometheus. He was a champion of humankind. He stole and manipulated the Gods in order to help humans. For this he was punished. He was chained to a mountain (the chains were made of adamantium, yes, Wolverine adamantium) only to have an eagle perch on him everyday and eat his liver. Each day was torment and pain as his liver grew back, only to be eaten again the next day, and the next. Why was Zeus so angry? Without humans, Zeus would never have had any fun. In the story, Prometheus is doubly used. It is the name of the ship the humans use to find the planet. It is also inferred that the "Aliens" are our creators, thus, Prometheus. So many more questions.

For example, the Aliens are destroyed by a virus that they had engineered to destroy mankind. Why? That question is left unanswered, apparently opening the door to another movie. But this doesn't fit with the Greek mythology. Why would our creators turn on their creations. Even more strange is that the Creators left clues as to where to find them and their WMDs. Only when humans were advanced enough to travel to the stars would their destruction be necessary. Why? Why would the Creators set their creations up for ultimate failure? The virus is also interesting. It destroys but also creates. It is a recycling mechanism, it kills but it brings life. The original Alien that sacrificed himself, broke down into DNA, that supposedly mixed with whatever else was in the environment to create humans. In the scene, it happens in a waterfall, then you see the DNA swirling around in the mud. CLAY? A reference to the original story? Possibly. In the end, the sole surviving Creator alien turns out to be a dick and kills anything human in arms reach. He's angry. Not nice. It was like he met his illegitimate stepchild for the first time and wanted to get rid of the evidence. He gets his in the end as a strange, Cthulhu-esque creature gets its tentacles on him and implants it's alien seed. As it lays there, dead on the floor, we see a version of the "Alien" alien burst through it's chest. This was sort of a problem though, as it didn't appear as a chest-burster a la the "Alien" series, but came out fully formed, although slightly stylized. Was this meant to explain the original "Space Jockey" from the first "Alien" movie? If so, the setting is completely wrong. He should of been sitting in his navigator chair, not on the floor of some lifepod. Misinformation that doesn't jive with the first movie.

Overall, a good movie, some great visuals, and some huge questions. Not a "10", but a really good scifi movie that didn't rely on cliche storylines. Maybe the bonus is that we get another set of movies that tells the rest of the story. I hope so.

Oh, one more thing. Charlize Theron ended up having a minor role in the movie. She started out power-beeeyotch, but ended up being a crybaby and running away. So be it. Who cares? Charlize Theron looks good in ANY movie you put her in. Period.

Surprise Event

It's funny how fast your mind notices things that are out of place. Last night I slept on the trampoline outside. For me it's sort of like a mini camping trip, a closet adventure. It's still cool outside at night and I want to take advantage of that before REAL summer hits and its still 95 at night. As it is, I can lay on the trampoline, stare at the stars, and need a sleeping bag to feel comfortable.

Last night, I got comfy, read a little, then decided to hit the sack. Right before I closed my eyes I looked at the moon and thought "supermoon" as it was just about a month ago and last night the moon was full.

Well, around 330-4 am, I woke up. I needed to go to the bathroom. I sat up, a little blurry eyed, and got my bearings. There didn't seem to be as many stars in the sky, I looked real close to see if it was cloudy, it was not. Then I saw the moon, or at least, I saw part of the moon. Again I kept trying to see if there were random clouds hovering in front of it, but didn't see any. I kept staring because it didn't seem right. When I went to bed it was full, round, and bright. Now it there was a bite taken out of the bottom quarter of it. The bite was round and made a perfect arc. Then the gears in my head started turning and I thought to myself, "the sun will be coming up from directly behind me...."

LUNAR ECLIPSE! Very cool. Even more because I didn't know it was going to happen. Total surprise.

Death of a Friend

Last night I lost a friend. I've only known him for about a year, and lately, I haven't spent a lot of time with him, but he was dear to my heart. What makes his death even harder to stomach is the manner in which he died, a horribly violent death. It pains me to even speak about it.

Knand al-Shalabi was a wanderer. He came from the barren deserts of the East, but had managed to find his way to "civilization" in hopes of finding a better life. Not the most graceful of people, Knand used what talents he had in order to get by. What he lacked in social graces, he made up for in loyalty. That loyalty is most likely the reason for his demise.

Knand wasn't my first character, in fact, he wasn't even a character that I created. Knand was a third rate henchman, found naked and sweaty, rotting in a cage high above a dark cavern. He was rescued by Hanuman, after making a greedy pick from the Deck of Many Things; DONJON: Imprisoned. To show his thanks to Hanuman, Knand swore loyalty to the monk and promised to follow and protect him at any turn. In reality, Knand most likely had no choice anyway and figured he could earn a free meal ticket by hooking up with Hanuman. But let's not split hairs, Knand's decision will be remembered as noble.

After many adventures, Knand sort of became my most beloved red headed step child. He was a henchman, a hired hand, but of my three characters, I felt Knand had the most personality. He was gruff, greasy, and unmannered. He made selfish decisions and blundered through any adventure he was in. He progressed slowly compared to the other characters, but that didn't stop him from jumping into any fray (or running away at the first sign of danger). Probably his most memorable moment was blowing the surprise attack that Hanuman had devised in order to escape an evil cult. Knand slipped and fell out of a boat, just as Hanuman was sneaking up on a pair of guards, blowing his cover, and ultimately getting them both captured and imprisoned, again. Last night topped that, in spades.

The above picture illustrates the epic sequence of events that led to Knand's horrible death. Knand, brave Knand, had entered the fight against some vicious gargoyles. Putting himself in harm's way, be went toe to toe, taking a lot of damage from the beast. So much, that he went negative, on the verge of death, stunned by an attack from the stony creature. Thats when Hanuman stepped in to help. With all of his martial arts training, you would think that a 6th level monk would be quite accurate with his blows. Thats not true when I'm rolling the dice. As you can see, the two black 20 sides above came up snake eyes, TWICE. This isn't the first time I've done this, in fact I had already done it earlier in the night. So, fumbling, Hanuman rolled on the critical miss chart, a 7. Seven ended up being a broken bone. Basically, Hanuman pulled a spinning backfist, completely missing the gargoyle, hitting Knand, who was standing there, stunned, with -2 hit points, basically standing dead anyway. I rolled the big "body part" die, before I did, I asked Jim jokingly, "Hey, is there a 'head' on this die", not knowing how horribly prophetic that would end up being. Of course, I rolled 'head', another perfectly bad roll. This meant I had broken Knand's skull. How broken you ask? MAXIMUM DAMAGE! Hanuman rolled the d12 for damage, rolled a 12, and added 2 for strength. Crushing blow, destroying Knand's face in a spray of blood and gray matter. Absolutely not coming back from that.

Slumping over in a mound of grease and gore, Knand fell lifelessly to the ground. Hanuman completed the move with a powerful KI-AIIIII!!! before realizing what he had done. The party was silent. There was nothing to be said. Knand lived his life proudly, selfishly, for himself. He enjoyed cheap ale and loose women, although the latter didn't enjoy him. He had no aspirations beyond today, he lived life moment to moment. We can only hope that he now rests with a harem of 999 virgins in the cloudy heavens of paradise above. Knand, we will miss you.

Breaking Lent

For Lent this year I gave up beer. Seemed like a good thing to do. I pretty much made it, except for the week my friend Jeff came down from Colorado and we ended up drinking like fish. But, after he left, back on the wagon I went. You know, I never realized how long the Easter season really was. I figured a month was a general length, but then it went on for a couple more weeks. Anyway, once I was on the wagon, there wasn't much reason to jump back off. Things have been pretty slow, my friend Todd had a nasty night out at a bachelor party and his wife basically banned him from drinking. So, I haven't really drank since Lent.

Today I found this little gem. I love Shiner Bock ever since I took a trip to San Antonio. Its good stuff, but really, all I've ever had is the "regular" flavor. This goldmine has all of the different types that Shiner brews and apparently the only way you can get the "Kosmos". Reason enough for me.

Nerdvana! Phoenix Comicon

Memorial Day is usually spent camping or having friends over for a bar-b-q. For some odd reason, the organizers of the Phoenix Comicon decided that it would also be a great weekend for a convention. Seems like that was a good idea.

I had thought about going for a while, but I didn't really have anyone to go with, plus it started on Thursday night, graduation, so there were some conflicting schedules. Instead I had planned on hiking Rogers Canyon since the weather was supposed to be unnaturally cool, 80s. At the last minute, some family friends called, wanting to know if Molly and I would want to go to the comic book convention. Hmmm, of course we would.

I haven't been to a convention for a long time. The last one I went to was a Star Trek convention and Leonard Nimoy was the star guest. This weekend THE ultimate guest, William Shatner was appearing, but, I didn't feel like spending 500$ just to sit and chat with the captain. Plenty of other stars were there too, since it is the 15th anniversary of the Next Generation, but really, we were more interested in the artists.

This was Molly's first time and she was a little hesitant. BUT, the minute we walked in, a sea of people, most in costume, changed her mind pretty quickly. Everywhere you looked; super heroes, star wars characters, Doctor Who, and just some weird people in general, all geeked up to be there.

Once we plotted our course though, we had a blast. We met a few artists, went to a debate about whether zombies were fast or slow, gawked at people wearing "inappropriate" costumes (molly shaded my eyes a few times), and picked up a few freebies.

Two high points: Molly "commissioned" her first sketch from an artist, Tom Hodges. He works on Star Wars animated series and webcomics. He does some awesome stuff. Molly liked his style and he drew a wide variety of characters. She asked for Thor, her favorite character, and got it. On the second say we went to listen to Steve Rude "The Dude". Steve's an interesting character. He lives in Phoenix, is mildly famous in comic circles, and has been in trouble with the law, namely Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Anyway, he was doing a talk on drawing dynamic figures. Molly grabbed front row seats and we got comfy. First he drew a generic "Kirby" figure to illustrate basic dynamics. Next he took a simple line drawing of Snow White and added "embellishments". He made a simple figure into a wonderfully shaded portrait. At the end, he said, "Well, I'll have to give this away, but there are two little girls in the audience. What should I do? Who likes Snow White?" Molly started giggling. So he handed her the Snow White and gave the Kirby copy to the other girl. COOL!

In all, it was a great time. Molly had a blast and wants to go again. It was a great way to spend the weekend. I picked up a cool Batman print from Scott Godlewski, Molly got a couple of other small sketches. Next time their in town, we'll check it out.

Go to Ohi cho

So, I still haven't gotten "official" notice of where I might be placed in Japan, but unofficially, it will be a small coastal town called Ohi-cho. I know this because I saw my name being thrown around on the forums by the teacher that is in the position now. She's let me know all kinds of stuff about my possible future home and so far, it sounds great.

As I said earlier, I wanted something near the ocean. I've never lived near the ocean, I've always been landlocked, but I imagine it being relaxing. Ohi is located on the northwest coast of Japan in the Japan Sea. That being said, it is sheltered by a few peninsulas so I am imagining small waves.

I'm not too far from a little town named Obama, which means "little beach". They became slightly famous during the last election and have since faded, just like their American counterpart. One of the better things about Ohi is that it is not too far from places like Kyoto and Osaka. I'm pretty happy about it, the exact type of place I had hoped for.

I've gotten a lot of info about my placement from my predecessor. She says there is no downside, I'll get to that in a second. She teaches kindergarten through junior high, with a weekly night class thrown in. Previously she had said that I would get all breaks "off", compared to other teachers who had to go in during spring, winter, and summer breaks. She took that back, but said that I could build up enough comp time to make up for it. The schools are spread out, so a car is necessary. I was hoping to do without, but maybe I can pick up a nice compact cheap. She says the apartment is big, Japanese standards big of course, but best of all, FREE. No rent. The Board of Education foots the bill. I even get a small stipend just for living in the town. $$$ is good.

All sounds great. How is this possible? Well, nothing is perfect. The dark secret of Ohi's financial generosity is KEPCO Reactor #3 & #4 located on a peninsula north of the town of Ohi. The small fishing town reaps the benefits of hosting a nuclear powerplant within its borders. Schools have AC and heat, compared to most other places that do without. Residents receive a kickback for living within the shadow of the reactors. What do I think of this? Well, I don't think it bothers me. One, they all got turned off this year. Ohi may start theirs up, but since last year's earthquake, I think they have gone over it with a fine toothed comb to make sure it's safety first. Plus, I don't think lightning will strike twice.

Overall, it sounds like a great placement. I'm looking forward to hopping on a fishing boat and catching my dinner. The countdown has begun.

Placement Patience

It's been almost 7 months now of waiting. Deadlines and waiting. Waiting and deadlines. Each period of waiting is marked by a climactic hurdle, followed by another phase of waiting. Each hurdle offers a glimmer of hope, a carrot on the end of a very long stick. I am almost there. The last hurdle is in sight.

What am I talking about? The JET Program. JET is an exchange teaching program that brings native English speakers to Japan to promote "cultural exchange". I had the pleasure of working for JET a long time ago, in fact, it was my first teaching job. I had a great experience for the three years while I was there. So great, in fact, that I've decided to give it another try.

I applied way back in November. I was fed up with the educational environment I was working in. I was burned out with coaching football. The exchange rate made working in Japan very lucrative and I definitely wasn't getting any younger. So I applied. In my mind, I was at a distinct disadvantage. I wasn't right out of college. JET likes to promote a younger image. I had also been on the program already. I thought they might want someone "fresh"and hip. In the back of my head, I tried to make myself believe that I had positives; I was familiar with the culture, I can speak Japanese, I have teaching experience, and my age would make me a little more "mature". Haahahaaa

Anyway, I waited to see if I would get an interview. I did. Then it was a wait until the actual day of the interview. I bought a CK suit just for the occasion. Stress built in the days before the interview. What would they ask? Would they play good cop/bad cop? Would they ask me things I knew nothing about? Lots of phantom worries that I ended up not needing to even stress about. Afterwards more waiting to see if I was selected. My consulate, Los Angeles, was one of the last to announce. It was painfully frustrating. But I was selected and now the wait for placement is almost at an end.

Where will I go? I'm still not sure. As of today, LA hasn't been notified. Maybe tomorrow? Next week? Who knows. I know where I would like to go. I made the following requests:

1) Fukui
2) Niigata
3) Kagawa

Why? Well, priority #1 was coastline. I wanted somewhere near the ocean. I think that would be cool and a nice change from the dry dusty desert. Priority #2 was snow. The first two places get a crap-ton of snow. Another nice change. Finally #3 was location. Each place is out of the way, but close enough to major cities for convenient travel. Other important factors were things like good food, zen, dinosaurs, art, and the best rice in Japan.

It's been a long wait. I'm tired of waiting. My job is ending, happily. Summer is coming up. I need a direction. Knowing where I might end up will give me a purpose. Then I can start stressing and waiting for take-off.

A Good Deed Gets Rewarded

The other day a package showed up on my doorstep. I didn't remember ordering anything. It was addressed to someone else, but the address was nearly identical. The house number was the same, just the street name was a little off. I kept the box and decided to locate the owner today.

The GC (Gold Canyon) is quite eccentric. I live on Rising Sun Place. Just one street over is Rim Rock Loop. Like I said, the house number was exactly the same, I just had to go one block north and VOILA, there was the house. Incredibly stupid house numbering system by the way.

I knocked on the door, stood there for a minute or two, then laid the package down to leave. There was another thin package already laying by the door, so I figured maybe the owners were out of town or something. Just as I was at the driveway, the door opened. I walked back and explained that I had gotten his package by mistake. I picked both packages up and handed them to him. He was thankful. As he looked at the packages, he noticed that the thin one was addressed to someone else. He showed it to me. IT WAS MY PACKAGE! Wow, no wonder our postal system is going to hell. I laughed and thanked him, we traded packages and I drove home.

Ended up being the module U1: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, that I had scooped up on ebay about two weeks ago. I was starting to get antsy about it not arriving yet. Now I know why! Pretty strange, how that all worked out. But I'm glad. I owned U1 a looooong time ago. I dumped it at a used book store, along with a bunch of others after cleaning out some boxes and deciding that I would probably never get back into the game again. Little did I know that D&D is once again fashionable. I've been slowly rebuilding my collection ever since.

Just goes to show, good deeds DO get rewarded.

Night of the Owls

I'm not a huge crossover/event type person. I actually got out of comics for a while, mainly because of it. Most of the time, these events are nothing more than a way to force you to buy a bunch of books that you normally wouldn't, in order to keep up with the story. Thats underhanded sales, which I understand the business end of things, but I choose not to participate.

That being said, DC's launch of the New 52 has done a few things differently, as well as followed the same old pattern. I read Animal Man and Swamp Thing and I like the fact that both books are tied together. Maybe I don't mind the "crossover" aspect of these books so much because they were on my list before they even came out. So far, they have tied in perfectly with each other, while running with their own storyline. This kind of "event" I like, they support each other in a meaningful way. A while back I was reading Marvel's Fear Itself. I was interested in it because I loved the Civil War, although I only read the main series, not all of the spin-offs. As that series neared it's end, I almost didn't finish it. I felt compelled to buy the last issue, even with it's outrageous pricetag, to complete the set. The story dragged and there were so many "tie in" books that I didn't even care to keep up. DC's Flashpoint was in between. I read the main series, hoping to get some insight in where the New 52 was going. There were spin-offs that I didn't read as well, although I really liked what they did with Superman; skinny goth kid, afraid and without powers due to being hidden from the sun. Great reverse character.

Batman has been an amazing run so far with Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. The story has been tight, and the art has been amazing. It really seems like Snyder and DC had a definite, long term direction for the book. The "Night of the Owls" event reflects that direction. It's exploded into Gotham and the books that are associated with the Bat, although strangely, Batwoman is not included. I wonder why? Anyway, this event feels "good" because of the unity of everything. I'm not buying all of the issues, because that would bankrupt me, but I am reading Batman and Batman & Robin. The others I might pick up at a later date, because so far, Night of the Owls has been good. It has a sense of urgency.

While I was reading Batman #9, I was honestly shocked to see that Lincoln March, Bruce's identical twin (figuratively) and Gotham mayoral candidate, was killed by the Talons. My heart dropped, mainly because this character was introduced with such mystery, I was looking forward to seeing what direction he would take. I guess we'll never know now. After thinking about it, maybe they killed him off because of his resemblance to Bruce Wayne?? Who knows, but there were some interesting possibilities that are now kaput. The additional story about Alfred Pennyworth, illustrated by Rafael Albuquerque was well worth the additional $1 price hike. It has a creepy feel and I like the history thats being built in the entire Bat-Universe.

Batman & Robin is another one of my favorite books. I didn't start with it on my list, but it has become one of my top reads, mainly because of Robin. The title should really be "Robin & Batman, because Batman takes second seat to the Boy Wonder. In issue #9 Batman doesn't even appear in the book, it's all crazy killer Damian, commandeering a group of soldiers to fight off a Talon assassin.

This was the second week for "Night of the Owls". I am only reading two books out of the multi-book event, but I think I'm getting a good grasp of the story. I toyed around with the idea of grabbing the other books, but then did some addition. The second week of the event is 7 books, totaling about $22. If NotO continues for another week or two, the total run could cost upwards of $100. Not sure I could handle that. But, then again, marketing strategies are good for business. I like what I've seen so far, so if I was still selling pop tarts to hungry students, I would definitely jump on the Bat-wagon.

Fury, Confused

I had planned on continuing my rant about hijacked superheroes with my views about Nick Fury. The more I researched though, the more I started to realize how funny and ridiculous this really is.

I don't mean Nick is ridiculous, far from it. Nick Fury holds a special place in my heart. He embodies all that was "cool" and manly from the 60's. He is a stud, tough as nails. There is just something legendary about the character and the way he was drawn. Iconic. No superpowers, he's a hero from our "Greatest Generation" is the embodiment of a decade. There are so many things wrapped up in the original Nick Fury, that I feel a connection.

Skipping all the detail, original Fury is like my grandpa's friends that I grew up around. WWII vets, a little older and grizzled, tough as nails and able to endure any kind of hardship. Add to that the 60's feel of what it meant to be a "man", straight out of the James Bond stereotypes. Fury though was a little more underground, more of the cloak and dagger, not so much of the chick magnet. The way Steranko drew him was not only representative of the character, but an art movement. Check it out.

He wasn't so much superhero as much as super spy. He had a rather believable backstory that felt "right". The new generation Nick Fury is completely different. He's not clean, he's a bastard child, seriously. In order to fit Samuel L Jackson into the mold, they had to create an entire nutty story to explain his existence. Nick Fury Jr. is the result of 60's Fury hanging out at the Playboy Club too often. A forgotten love child. Such a sad end to such a black and white (forget the pun) character. Now, it's a given that Samuel Jackson is tough, and therefore lends his bad assery to the new Fury, but tough in a completely different way. He's gangster tough. Street tough. He's smooth, he's a trash talker. It's a different generational take on the original character. If Original Fury is the 60s, Jackson Fury creeps out of the 70s.

This picture locks it. The leather and turtleneck, he reminded me of something, someone. I never lived in the city, but I imagine this is what street tuffs from NY City looked like in the 70s. With that thought in mind, I scoured my brain for what was bugging me.

Then I found it. The music in my head, the slang one liners, honkey. John Shaft!!! This is him! It's such a rip off. Just take away the eye patch and add a little afro. The Avengers are led by Shaft, who once said, " When you lead your revolution, whitey better be standing still because you don't run worth a damn no more." In fact, SamJ played Shaft in the 200 remake.

After seeing this, there is no believability to the "new" Fury. It just doesn't fit. It's not the same character. They are two different beings. While I am loyal to the original, I do love Samuel L Jackson, his lines in Pulp Fiction are some of the greatest. I had been a little upset by his appearance in the Avengers, until I started thinking, "Who would play the original Nick Fury? The white one?" Well, all it took was a little more research. My personal choice would be Kurt Russel, of the Snake variety. I think he is perfect, maybe missing a touch of Clint Eastwood. But I did find this little gem. Apparently a movie has already been made, and gladly, I missed it. This image ended the debate. Nick Fury should stay on the pages of comic books, there is no real life representation possible.

Yup, that's Knight Rider Baywatch Drunk Hasselhoff as Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD. Blasphemy.

The Avengers, Supermoon, and Free Comics

First UGH!!!!! I hate missing the extra scenes. But it seems that whoever I go with, they feel the need to leave early and skip the credits. Anyway, it looks like I missed the last couple scenes in the Avengers, one that introduces the next possible villain (who will remain unnamed). This weeked was full of highlights. The Avengers was an awesome movie. It put together all of the bits from the other movies, which by themselves, weren't AS good. This movie tied it all up, and even introduced a few little cool tidbits, like the SHIELD Heli-carrier. Cool. Hulk stole the show, actually Bruce Banner did. Of the three versions, I like Mark Ruffalo the best. He had a quirkiness to him that seemed to fit. That made the Hulk more likeable also, especially after his comic relief moments during the film.

So Saturday I had to shell out $400+ on my truck for a big service appt. I'm gonna be happy not putting so many miles on the blue beast next year. She's treated me well though, so think of this as a luxury spa treatment for the engine. As I waited I walked a mile or so to the theater, met Molly, and we watched the Pirates movie. Sort of good, not great, lots of "adult" references if you paid close attention. Then it was off to FREE COMIC BOOK DAY. We had specifics to go after; Molly wanted The Avengers and Diary of a Zombie Kid. She got the Zombie book, but the Avengers were all gone at the first store we went to. I was interested in the Dinosaurs versus Aliens book, and the New 52 preview because of the 4 gate fold out poster inside. Both of those were gone too. I picked up my weekly books and we took off for the new store in the Junction, Hot Ace Comics. Sort of nice having a store so close. There we hit the jackpot; Avengers, New 52, and Dinos v Aliens. Problem was, store policy was one per person. So, we snagged the Avengers and 52, had to leave Morrison's Dino/Alien book. Too bad, the art looked great. One REALLy irritating thing: I needed bags and boards. I picked up a set of each. When I got home, I figured out that the boards are the exact size as the bags, which doesn't work as you know, because they wont fit inside the bags by 1/8th of an inch. SUCK. Gonna have to trim them I guess. DUMB.

Finally, the supermoon. I watched it rise. It was big, but I'm not sure it lived up to the hype. Seeing it rise over the desert mountains, with saguaro silhouetted in front of it was pretty cool though. Bad thing about it was that it wiped out any and all meteors that were supposed to show up that night. I didn't see any. I did sleep outside on the trampoline though, nice and cool.

Hijacked Heroes

A while back I dumped Action Comics from my pull list. I've never really been a Superman fan anyway; he's too clean cut,  goody goody for my tastes. With the new start up at DC, and Grant Morrison writing the series, I figured I would try it. The first couple issues were alright, but it quickly faded and lost direction. I dropped it after #5 I think. Today I saw a preview for #9 and was let down. For whatever reason, Action Comics is going to explore an alternate universe, one where Superman is black.

I don't get this, I never have. Why does this make any sense? I have trouble enough with ret-con, and restarts that change a hero's origins or backstory, but to completely change who that hero is, just for the sake of pandering to political correctness, I believe is wrong. It's cheap. It's a cop out. I think its a quick and lazy way to piggy back off of the success of an established book just to promote a philosophy.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am not against good, African American characters, but this sort of hijacking of already popular heroes is lame. It's like saying that black characters aren't good enough on their own, they need the name recognition for people to actually like them. I was only casually into comics until Todd McFarlane's Spawn came out in the 90s. I bounced around and read random books until then. That was my first regular "pull". It didn't seem contrived at all. Al Simmons was a strong character, with his own story, that has lasted. He might not be as popular now, but there was a big rush when Spawn came out. There have been plenty of other characters also, Luke Cage, Storm, Bishop, and Black Panther to name a few. These were all independently created, and successful characters on their own. They didn't need to be "plugged in" to another character's story.

Miles Morales, the new Ultimate Spiderman, has become wildly popular. I haven't read any of the series, mainly because I don't usually read Spiderman, but once they put out a TPB, I will probably get it. But, I still think using Spiderman to create a second Spiderman is a cheezy attempt to sell double the books. At this point there are plenty of diverse writers and artists who should be jumping at the chance to create a new, original character. The major publishers are definitely willing to support this, someone just needs to create it. Leave Superman alone. He is SOOO completely white stereotyped in the first place that plugging in a different ethnicity would basically make him a completely different character anyway. The interest is there. The support is there. Someone get busy and start a new book, its time!

SECOND WAVE ART!

The new, second wave of DC's New 52 is almost here. I'm pretty excited for the Batman Incorporated series. It will be written by Grant Morrison, hopefully done better than what is going on with Action Comics Superman, which I dropped because it was losing me. Better yet though, it will be drawn by Chris Burnham. I like Burnham's art; it reminds me a little bit of Frank Quitely, a little bit like Seth Fisher. It's hard to describe the style, realistic, but still the tiniest bit of "cartoon" or animation feel to it. I really like the way Robin has evolved. No longer the whiny sissy B lister, now he's angry and brooding, with enough martial arts know how to kick yer booty.

I'm gonna add this book to my list and really cross my fingers that it's a hit. I hope Morrison gets his thoughts straight and tells a good story. Even if he doesn't, I might still keep it if Burnham is a regular.

Hungry Games

Ahhh, the Hunger Games. The movie based on the hottest teen fiction series since Harry Potter got too old. This flick has been at the top of the charts since opening a few weeks ago. I finally got out to see it last night and I was surprised.

I was excited to see this because of all of the hype. Even moreso, just before entering the theater, I heard a news report about a couple of idiots in Utah that had set some booby traps on a hiking trail. Apparently they were inspired by the movie. Now I'm not a promoter of planning senseless physical harm to random people, but there must have been a very strong scene in the movie that gave these two turds the idea. Something "Rambo" except with inexperienced teens.

Let me start by saying, I haven't read the books. Maybe I should. The movie seemed to assume that we knew a lot more than they were telling us. Basically, the movie is set in a bizarre post apocalyptic future. This I gathered from the clever pre-lottery informational film. Beyond that, I was left guessing about the motivations and the background of the entire plot. In any case, my biggest gripe with the entire movie is that I'VE SEEN IT BEFORE!! I've seen this movie in slightly different variations at least 5 or 6 times. Random people are selected to play in a cruel, survivor-esque duel to the death. Of course, televising it adds a "shocking" sense of sensationalism. The plot is so worn out. There isn't much you can do with it to make it original. The Hunger Games does nothing. It follows it to its plodding, predictable end. Good guys win, bad guys lose, and the "red shirts" find ways of dying so as not to incriminate the main characters.

More than this was the weak attempt to make this "world" an over the top version of a retro future. Low budget costuming reminiscent of early sci-fi movies such as Farenheit 451, or Soylent Green. The people of The Capitol were SOOOOOO extravagant with their cheezy style hairdos and wildly steam punkish fashion. It all seemed so unoriginal. This movie was a Frankenstein copy of several older, less popular, science fiction B movies. Maybe its so popular now because kids in school have never seen any of these low budget flops.

Overall it was a so so movie. It was slow, predictable, and no surprises. I'm only mildly interested in what happens next. If I had to guess, there is a love triangle conflict, Prim is going to get chosen for one of the next games, and the President is going to find a way to punish District 12. Not much else that could happen. Oh, and by the way, those two goons from Utah? They must have read the books, because I saw nothing in the movie to inspire anything they could have come up with. FAIL

Rewards for Harley Painting

So, I finally finished. My brother came back from Afghanistan and came down to pick up the last piece for his bike, the rear fender. I simplified the metal part because I did more detail on the larger skull on the back. It's a pretty wide surface, so I decided to do one, large skull instead of 4 smaller ones like I had planned before. 

I changed the way I painted this piece also. Instead of doing a lot of masks, I mostly freehanded this piece.  The other two pieces showed a little bit of cutting, where I had used the xacto knife to cut the masks. It also gave the pieces a really hard edged look. Freehanding the whole thing gave the edges a little softer feel, and it wasn't so stressful. I wasn't worried about the masks and it sped the whole process up. 

I had crossed my fingers that the seat wasn't going to cover any of the skull. I searched the internet for pics of a V-Rod Muscle. NONE of them had a friggin luggage rack on the back. BUT, my brother's does. See that fourth while in the center, right above the skull's forehead? Yeah, a little metal rack attached right there. Good thing is, it's raised and you can see through the rack, so it worked pretty well. You can still see the entire skull. 

I saw the finished pieces, on the bike. My brother, impatient as he is, brought the whole bike down in the back of his truck. They look GOOD with a final clear coat on them. Makes it look professional, doesn't even look like my work anymore. He's a little anxious to get this piece coated and put together. When he does, I'm using it as an excuse to go to Vegas to take pics of the real thing. 

As payment, I made a deal. 100$ for the supplies, which didn't really cover everything, and two guns that little bro has vultured from my dad. The .357 Magnum was technically already mine. It was a birthday present a long time ago, but dad figured since I wasn't using it he would give it to my brother. It's a hog. As soon as I get a cleaning kit, I'm gonna take it out and shoot it. The other gun is a High Standard Supermatic Trophy. These things are golden. Super accurate, made for competition target shooting, older ones like this are hard to find and expensive to buy. This is one of a pair. My hope is that somewhere down the line, I'll pick up the other one to make the set. 

So, a pretty good deal all around. My brother got a kick ass custom paint job, and basically paid 100$ for it, since the guns were given to him. I got two sweet guns out of the deal and a little walking around money. Plus I can walk into any biker bar now and feel like I'm one of the guys.