Verily, thine milkshake tis not so divine

I knoweth not from which this doth originate. However, I snaggethed it from yonder. I hadeth to, for tis hysterical, verily:
Yeah, I know, I massacred the Old English or whatever-the-hell...but, y'know, deal.

Sudoku

AAUUGGGHH!!! Today a "friend" of mine at work introduced me to the most evil thing I've ever seen in my life. Sudoku. Wikipedia claims that in Japanese it means "single number in an alloted place!" HA! I say, it obviously means "evil, evil, EVIL!" It's far too addictive to be anything less!!
The object of the game (well, "puzzle" more accurately, but "game" sounds better in the phrase ... oh, get over it!) is to fill in the blanks so you have the digits 1-9 going across in each row, 1-9 going down each column, and 1-9 in each square. Talk about a brain exercise!!!
It's just so much fun, and I can't stop!!!
You can Google Sudoku and finds lots of info and places to play.
My favorite place to play in WebSudoku.com.
Okay, bye, I've got some...uh...important things to take care of.
Yeah...
important...

....

Well, I guess I didn't have anything to say today.
Actually, I'm under the weather and forming coherent thoughts hasn't been something I'm up for today.
But I don't want to whine about it.

Although...I guess I just sorta did.

Oh well, get over it.

Teen Titans #27 - Come On...

...You Know You Want To Vomit!

It's taken me a while to finally be able to get through this. It's hard to follow a story which relies on visual clues for things like which direction to read and who is speaking. But with this issue, the art affects your gag reflexes...so it's really hard.
And even if you aren't totally repulsed by Rob Liefeld's art, you absolutely cannot deny he's has no clue when it comes to sequential storytelling. Here are 3 examples (and I wasn't even looking for them, they just lept out. After looking, I found many, many more.):
On page 6, how exactly does Robin's batarang get through the chick's gun and into her hand? If it had knocked the gun out of her hand, wouldn't it have bounced off in some other direction? How did it maintain it's forward momentum?
On page 10, panel 4, a close-up of Robin shows Cyborg putting his hand on Robin's shoulder (it's even mentioned in the writing). It's quite obvious that Cy is standing to Robin's right. But in the next panel...Cy is on Robin's left...and he's not touching him!
On page 12, panel 2, we see Robin picking up a bowling ball. In panel 3, we see him holding the ball as if he's getting ready to throw it. In panel 4, he's sitting down...no ball in site. WTF!?
And I'm not picking on Rob's idea of what passes for human anatomy. I'm not saying a word about his obvious unawareness of what perspective is. I won't even start on how all his faces look exactly the same.
But can't he at least try doing some continuity from panel to panel!?

Okay, but as for the story...well, it was written by the incredible Gail Simone, so it probably is very good. But I'll never know for sure. It was hard to follow. I don't buy comics drawn by Rob Liefeld for a reason, they are unreadable. I really wanted to like this. And tried hard to give Rob a chance. But it's just bad. The art work is so distracting and all over the place, I kept being drawn away from the writing.
I know generally what's going on in the story...and it seems well written, but the art just took so much away from it. And I have absolutely no idea what happened at the end. On minute Kestrel is holding Raven, the next she seems to have disappeared, altho the written word indicates that he somehow has control over her...I don't know.

It was basically unreadable. Maybe Gail was on her game or maybe she was off, luckily no one's ever gonna know, she had the "get out of jail free" card -- art by Rob Liefeld.

Prices Gone Wild

I love this!!!

You really need to visit T-Shirt Humor more often. They have some killer stuff.

Barbra Streisand - Guilty Pleasures

In 1980 Barbra Streisand teamed up with Barry Gibb for the album "Guilty." Which, arguably, was one of her best albums.
25 years later they try to strike lightning again with "Guilty Pleasures," coming Sept. 20.
From the few tracks I've heard, it's a step up from the sleep-inducing stuff Barbra's had on her last few albums. But I don't think it'll be nearly as big as the original. Partially because it's Barbra, which is a stigma that'll probably keep her off Top 40 radio. And partially because it sorta has a dated BeeGee's sound to it. It's not bad, just not very fresh.
That said I kinda like "Night of My Life." Who'da thunk that we'd ever hear Barbra sing anything even resembling a dance track again? It's no "Main Event" (and what could be?), but it's servicable...even if at the beginning it seems Barbra has forgotten this isn't a "Broadway Album." Could've done with out the BeeGee-esque backing vocals, though. I would like to see that lyrics. Can't quite figure out what roller coasters have to do with it.
If you have any interest, you can hear "Night of My Life, " "Stranger in a Strange Land" (the first single) and 3 other tracks at AOL Music. [If that link is outdated, try this one.]
I've also heard that there will be dance mixes of "Night of My Life." Something to look forward to.

Randomness...

The 4400 (TV): Most definitely the best show you are not watching. I missed the first season/mini series when it first aired, although I remember seeing it advertised. On a whim, I picked up the DVD. It was fun and interesting! So I started DVRing the second season. It just kept getting better and better. The season finale rocked! I don't know when the third season starts...but it's too far away for my taste. Check it out!
Justice League Unlimited (TV): Thank goodness there's another season coming up (starting Sept. 17!)!! This past season just tore it up! Unfortunately, the season finale (Justice League who? This is Batman Beyond) was lame. I guess great for BB fans, but after the previous episode (which was all kinds of goodness) the "finale" was *pffft*. A really sour note to go out on...but they're not going out! And the Legion of Super Heroes make an appearance this season!! Check it out and especially here and here!
Crazy Frog presents Crazy Hits (CD): So one day, by chance, I hear "Axel F" on the radio. And for absolutely no reason that I can discern...I am head over heels in love with this song. It tears me up one side and down the other. I'm unreasonably obsessed with it!! I even want to get a new cell phone that plays real music, so my phone can ring "Axel F!" What the hell is wrong with me!!?
So anyway, I go to CDWow to buy the CD (based in the UK, but really about like buying a CD in a US store pricewise, and you get all the extra tracks that the lame US record labels leave out, grrrr). I'm so excited to get it with (I'm thinking) amped up versions of "Dallas" and "The Pink Panther." It arrives, I rip it open, throw it into the computer....
I wish I'd bought the remix single for "Axel F" instead.
As insanely supreme as the "Axel F" song is, is just about how extremely uninteresting the rest of the entire CD is. I was kinda bummed. Check it out!!!!!
DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy (Comics): There was nothing DC Comics could do to hype me up more for this than just announcing the title of the book. I was so down when they "killed-off" Donna a couple years ago. More so because it was such a lame-ass death thAn just the fact that they killed her. If she'd gotten a decent/heroic send off like Supergirl did in Crisis 20 years ago, I probably woulda handled it better.
Anyway, the first issue came out and I was all kinds of excited. Except for the coloring (which left more than a lot to be desired), it was an okay start to a story. Mostly set up and exposition with a not-very grab-ya-by-the-balls "cliffhanger" ending (the story just kinda stopped). But, it was Donna Troy and that was enough for me.
Then the second issue came out. O.M.G. The art and coloring were lush and beautiful. The Titans characters were all spot on. The new Wonder Girl never looked so pretty. It was just gorgeous to look at.
The third issue didn't do a whole lot for me. It was all right. But the art didn't seem at "tight" as it did in the second issue. I just want the fourth issue to come out, so I can sit and read the story in one swoop. And then Donna will be back full force in the DC Universe!! Check it out!

DING DING!

arrrgh! blogger is frustrating!!

Blech.
I tried to put a black background behind the text (so you wouldn't have to try and read through the stars, kinda like you're doing right now). And it worked every single time in preview mode. But when I publish, it's just not there! I can't figure out why!!??
GRRRR!!!
I finally just took out all the code where I called for it, cuz I figured why have extra stuff there that is useless.
But why did it work in preview mode...I just wanna cry.


Okay, not really.

the dc comics universe. hmmm....

I'll tell ya. Things have not been this exciting in the DCU (or comics in general) in a very long time. I can't wait for the next issue of just about anything! Not that I agree with the overall Marvelization of the DCU, but I guess we gotta give and take. (And don't get me started on the whole rift between Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. What a contrived bunch of bull!)

That said -- they seem to be telling the same story over and over this past year:
How many alternate reality/time travel stories were there? Teen Titans did it. JSA did it. Superman/Batman did it.
How many "here's the where-fors and why-hows of this character"? The Return of Donna Troy. JSA Classified starring Power Girl. Golden Eagle in Hawkman.
How many returned-from-the-dead characters? Donna Troy. Jason Todd. Golden Eagle. Lilith.
How many big space wars? Adam Strange. Rann-Thanagar.
How many epic "we gotta keep the big powerful machine out of the hands of the bad guys" stories? Adam Strange (the Omega Beam). The Return of Donna Troy (Sun Eater machine).

Still, I'm enjoying almost all of it. I just hope that Infinite Crisis pays off. I'm afraid I'm getting myself too hyped up for it and will be let down.

I guess time will tell...