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.