Save the Earth...

Is it too much to ask to get some recyclable dispensers at every major gas station?

I spend a lot of time on the road, and I don't know about you, but I do a lot of emptying the trash out of my car at gas stations or other pit stops on the road. I happen to notice that all they have at these places is garbage cans and nothing to dispose of recyclables. And most of the trash in my car is plastic or aluminum soda bottles/cans and various types of paper (receipts and whatnot).

Is is that hard to implement a scheme to allow one (only one, that's all I really ask, I'll walk over to one in any parking lot or gas station) recyclable dispenser in these areas? I don't think so. Who do I have to punch to get this thing started?

My first comic convention experience

Okay, so today I experienced my first comic convention, the New York Comic-Con. I'm 27 years old and an avid comic book lover, and I've never been to a convention. Sad? Depends how you look at it, I guess.

Anyway, here's a step by step process of how my day went:

5:15am Woken up to some generic classic rock song. Can't even remember.

6:00am Nearly missed the bus to New York. I shit you not, we ran up to the bus as the door was being shut and I could hear the driver shifting gears. I literally knocked on the door to get in. Cue semi-rude remarks from bus driver who was having none of my early morning jokes. Good start.

6-8:00am (roughly) Bus drive. Passed the time with twitter and iPod.

8:00am for the next hour and a half or so, we just passed the time until the convention opened. We went to Times Square, got some breakfast, spent some time in Virgin Megastore.

10:00am (again, roughly) Saturday's NYCC 2009 opens. We waited in line for a while, but pretty much from 10:30ish to 12:00, we just wandered the show floor. Perusing random booths, taking in the scenery, getting our bearings. To be honest, I was a tad overwhelmed at first. It's a pretty big show with lots of exhibitors and things to see. We hit some of the bigger booths and areas, DC, Marvel, Artist Alley. There were panels and seminars and signings all day. Now I'm not much for someone writing their name on a piece of paper or comic for me to have, so I didn't hit too many of the signings. That being said...

12:00pm Got Brian Wood to sign my copy of Local #1. It's the only signing I went to all day. Thank you, Brian. Swell guy. As is Jason Aaron, who was signing with him.

12:30pm Cup O' Joe panel. I'm sure you can read about it on Newsarama. They announced some things. There were fan questions. The usual.

1:30pm Wildstorm After World's End panel. I'm a fan of the Wildstorm books. Didn't get a whole lot of new information at this panel, but I got to ask Jim Lee what was happening with the Grant Morrison revamps of Wildcats and Authority. Good news, they actually plan to finish them at some point. That made me happy.

2:30pm The panel ends and it is desperately time for some lunch. Found a local Subway a few blocks up the street. Sandwich artist, my ass. My friend's 17-month old baby could make a better sandwich than the guys at this Subway. Still, sustenance was needed.

3-3:15pm We head back in. We wander the floor some more. Checked out the CBLDF booth. Had a little chat with Livio Ramondelli (sic), a concept artist for DC's MMO game coming out in the near future. He used to shop at the comic shop I worked at in State College. He didn't remember me, but I wouldn't have expected him to. I only met him once while I was working there. A really nice guy, and a great artist. I wish him the best of luck.

Around 4:00pm We're bored with the floor and need time to kill until the 5:15 panel I wanted to go see. So we went down the area where the panels were held and sat in on Marvel's digital comics panel. It ended up being one of the most interesting panels at the show. Brian Bendis, Alex Maleev, and Joe Quesada all showed up. Discussions were held over their webcomics subscriptions, piracy issues, and a new announcement was made for motion comics (based on the original artist's real art, and when I say "motion comics" I mean just that... these things are like mini movies complete with real movement and voice acting). They showed a trailer for their Astonishing X-Men one. Pretty cool looking. The new Spider-Woman series is involved with this motion comics initiative as well.

5:15pm Vertigo Crime panel. This was actually the panel I was most looking forward to in the day and am now subsequently most excited about. DC/Vertigo are doing an entire line a original graphic novels devoted entirely to the crime/noir genre. Well, that is right up my alley. They announced the first six or seven they're planning, all of which sound really cool, including work by Brian Azzarello (on-panel), Christos Gage, Peter Milligan (both also on-panel), Ian Rankin, and Denise Mina among others. An entire line a crime comics, hardcover, digest-sized for under $20. It's like someone at DC is reading my mind. Thank you Will Dennis and the other editor guy whose name I cannot remember. John something? Maybe?

And at 7:00, we caught the bus back to Allentown, PA. A Memorable experience, if I must say. Something I'd like to do again in future years. Learned a few things about what not to do. Example: NYCC has this whole online show planner thingie to help you plan out which booths and panels you want to attend. So I spent some time in the weeks leading up to the con to do just that. Needless to say, I had a complete iPhone shutdown once I got inside the convention center and could not access anything I had saved to this nifty little planner. So, I won't do all that again.

But the show was pretty cool. Weirdos dressed up as different comic/video game/anime/cosplay/film characters, hot chicks in next to nothing promoting some booths, one-on-one interactions with some of your favorite comic creators. Everything a comic convention should be.

We arrived at home a little after 9:00, slightly exhausted. I decided to unwind with some whiskey and an episode of Heroes on the DVR.

A good day, I'd say.

Grrrrr...

I'm pulling out of this parking lot right near where I live. I'm taking a left onto a busy road (particularly at rush hour), but it's one of those parking lot exits that bear to the right. There's no sign telling you it's illegal to turn left, it's just assumed everyone turns right. Well, it's out of my way to go all the way around the parking lot to the other exit, which has two lights on my way home too, so I turned left out of this other one. Wrong choice? Maybe, but screw it, nothing saying I can't.

Now, I don't even make a complete stop yet, and this asshole behind me lays on his horn. I look in my mirrors and these two guys are giving me all sorts of hand motions to turn right and whatnot (while on the horn, I might add). I do nothing. As is my nature, I'm naturally a pretty nice guy and non-confrontational. They waited maybe, MAYBE two minutes. At the most. Until I could make my turn and they could go right. And they would've had to wait at the next light anyway.

On my thirty second drive home, I am just fuming. I'm all anxious. About them being assholes, thinking about what I should've done (like flipped them motherfuckers off), whatever. These two insignificant motherfuckers nearly give me a panic attack. I get into my house and my heart is racing, I'm all shaky 'cause I'm nervous or anxious or something. From what? Two dipshits in an SUV. Well, fuck that. I wasn't going to allow it. I haven't had one in a while and these two jackoffs were not going to be the catalyst for my discomfort. I went straight to the fridge and chugged a beer. Now I'm writing this post.

I'm good now. I feel better.

Christ, why do I let this kinda shit get to me so much?

New no. 23!!!

Arsenal signed Andrei Arshavin. He'll be wearing the no. 23 shirt.

No Arshavin deal... yet.

Well, I must have been a little drunk when I posted that last entry because I contradict myself all over the place.

Alas, the transfer window is closing in about 25 hours and still no progress on the Arshavin deal to Arsenal. Speculation abounds, but we'll just have to wait and see if anything develops overnight or tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Midfield help...

I tire of this transfer saga for Arsenal to sign the Russian playmaker Andrei Arshavin. I really just wish it would happen so we (the fans) could be done with it. I know Arsene Wenger thinks his squad is complete as is, and is really only looking to strengthen at this point in the season, but we all know that's bullshit. The injuries to the frist team squad have taken too much of a toll, and we need some help to get back into the Premier League title race.

Can Arshavin be our savior? Surely not. But with Fabregas, Walcott, and Rocicky out in midfield, we need some creative spirit at the heart of this team. Arsenal's midfield is depleted, and although it's against Wenger's tendencies to sign experienced players rather than develop youth players, now is the time to bring in some real talent. It's been too many years since any silverware (Carling Cup, FA Cup, league title, or Champions League) has been won, and the fans are becoming restless.

They will shatter their transfer record if a fee is agreed for Andrei Arshavin (believed to be in the region of 15 million British pounds at this point), but something must be done to save the season. The Gunners currently sit 5th, behind Aston Villa in the table. I, as a fan of one of England's top four teams, just will not be happy with anything less than a fourth place (and Champions League qualifier) finish. The club needs to focus on being in that tournament next year, among other things.

Now personally, I'm not entirely sure another creative midfielder is just the thing Arsenal needs at the moment, what with Fabregas, Denilson, Nasri, Ramsey, Walcott, and Rosicky all filling that role. A quality holding midfield player could be the key to the future for the club, but with key playmaker Cesc Fabregas ruled out until April, maybe an experienced attacking midfielder is the correct decision. If only Arsene could sign Arshavin AND Miguel Veloso in the January transfer window, I'd feel comfortable closing out the season with that team, considering the injuries already. But there's just no way the club can afford both top talents in this market, especially with Zenit St. Petersburg's inflated asking price of Andrei Arshavin.

I just want all the speculation to be over. I understand the widespread dislike of the January transfer window, but as a fan, it really is an exciting time of the season. Sure, there are entirely too many unfounded rumors of players switching clubs that never materialize (Kaka to Man City?), but it can be exciting. And with a club like Arsenal, with the injuries incurred this season, the transfer window is in place to bail them out. So all I really would like to see is some move, any move, on the transfer market by Arsene Wenger. Lord knows we can can use some help in defense (with constant knocks to Gallas, Toure, and Silvestre, who are all less than impressive) and like I highlighted above, in midfield (with the many injury problems and Flamini, Hleb and Gilberto Silva leaving this past summer).

The Gunners need help. The Champions League will miss us next year if we don't improve.

Thanks for reading. Even if you don't have any clue what I just went on about.

PS I apologize for the excessive use of parentheses.

Internet connoisseur?

I'm in danger of becoming someone who actually knows what they're doing on that interweb thing.  Just joined blip.fm and linked it to my twitter account.

Heh... what?

Some random thoughts...

I just downloaded the new version of iTunes (can't be arsed to remember what the actual numbers are), and I've got to say, at first look, I'm less than happy with it.  I like the new album view option.  I don't like a few other features that seemed to have changed.  Most recognizably the even worse communication with the iTunes store for retrieving album artwork.  Just bought 3 cd's today (all of which are available for purchase from the iTunes store), and only one cover art came back okay. Feh.

Apparently it is just acceptable for health insurance companies to raise your premium by almost 14% without even letting you know about it.  With per-month payments, that's quite a substantial amount of money per year they're just "taking" from me.

Bringing my anger down a notch, I'm considering following a few blogs on a regular basis.  It's something I've been considering, just did not want to waste any more daily time on the internet.  Beginning to think, who gives a shit?  It's my time, I can do what I want with it.  These blogs are:

Aquarium Drunkard - for its kick-ass music knowledge and info

Product Shop NYC - for its political leanings and slightly rare musical offerings

WarrenEllis.com - because he's a mad scientist in a comic book writer's mind

Apparently there's some place in Ohio called Huber Heights.  Must make it a point to check out this little gem once I finally decide to take that cross-country road trip I keep talking about doing.

My team Arsenal drew 1-1 to Dynamo Kiev in yesterday's Champions League match (first round of group play).  A point is a point, but they should really be able to beat the Ukrainian side, as they are the weakest in their group.

And in closing, congratulations to friends of mine, Matt and Cristina.  They've just welcomed a child into this world today.  It's a girl (we told you, Matt)!!!  Last I heard they were naming her Kendall.

Love is Noise, my friend

So, I'm not sure what to think about this new Verve record that (I believe) came out today.  I'm really digging the new single and everything else I've heard so far.  Just... can I get into an entire album of it?  That's what I'm asking myself.  

Now I loved "Bittersweet Symphony" just as much as the next guy in the mid to late nineties, but do I need to get back into that mindset ten years later?  I understand the band has progressed since their lapse into limbo the past decade, but I'm wondering if a whole album of new Verve tracks will really grab me by the balls and have me take notice of them again.  But at the same time, I don't really want them being that next "pop sensation" turned "one-off indie darling" bands.  They are entirely too talented for that.  In fact, they were better than that back then for just the opposite.  

Decisions, decisions.

Other songs/bands I'm currently into:

The Virgins - Rich Girls  

The Wombats - Let's Dance to Joy Division 

Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire

Bon Iver - Skinny Love

Bloc Party - Mercury

The Walkmen - In the New Year

Wolf Parade - Language City

MGMT - Kids; Electric Feel; Time to Pretend

Black Keys, Black Kids, Black Lips.  All kick-ass bands with kick-ass new singles.  Just wish I knew which was which.

The new Santogold song with Julian Casablancas and Pharrell.  Now that is a damn fine track.

The new Hold Steady album, Stay Positive.  Everything on it.  Just brilliant.

Digging the new Conor Oberst solo effort too.  Favorites so far include Sausalito and Moab.

That's everything I can think of at the moment.  I'm sure there's more.

Re: my last post

Holy shit, that IS cool!

Arsenal team widget

This seems pretty cool. If this works, feel free to check out all of my team's latest exploits with this little bugger.

Just spit in my beer next time, bartender.

So, went to a bar tonight, put $2.00 in the jukebox.  Gets me six songs (not one of those shitty electronic wallet suckers that give you 2 songs for a dollar).  Play some Creedence, Zeppelin, ELO.  Highly recognizable classic rock songs.  

My fifth song is The Beatles - Norwegian Wood.  Not one of their more popular songs, but I still feel like people know it when they hear it.  

Fuckin' bartender turns the song off.  

I'm a customer who pays money to hear this song, and he picks up the fuckin' remote and turns the song off.

Heard him specifically say to another customer, "Play some rock and roll, and I'll keep it on.  But I can't hear that."

My cousin and I ask him about what happened to the last song, and he comes up with this bullshit story about some songs on the jukebox just shut off and go right to the next song.  

I watched the asshole pick up a remote and intentionally turn it off.  The Beatles.  A bartender intentionally turned off the Beatles because it was not "rock and roll."  The Beatles.

You can't even imagine how much this fucking blows my mind.

Needless to say my tip was suspect.

Fuckin' asshole deserved it.  

"Your music's no good here... paying customer."  Go fuck yourself.

Last time I put money in that jukebox.

Kimbo Slice fight = laughingstock

So I caught that EliteXC mixed martial arts fight CBS aired on Saturday night in prime-time.  What an utter embarrassment.  

I'm not sure what CBS was thinking really as they clearly don't have any clue how to run an MMA fight.  They know how to hype it, but that only works when the payoff is better than all the talk.  

The first few fights only lasted a minute each, but the show had logged about an hour and a half of airtime.  There was just too much time between fights, and that dead air just bores people... myself included.  The editing as a whole was awful.  At one point in an interview with Kimbo Slice, he wishes good luck to Gina Carano, a female MMA fighter.  Only she had been in the ring and out already.

The main event was the previously mentioned YouTube street-brawling sensation Kimbo Slice versus some ogre from England named James Thompson.  It was a joke.  Neither of them could last past the first round, and had just started hanging on each other like amateur heavyweight boxers, wildly flailing a punch here and there.  It was embarrassing.  Eventually the fight was called because Thompson's cauliflower ear had been popped open by one of Slice's punches.  I think it was for the best as nothing eventful was really happening anyway.

Also, for whatever reason CBS decided to give the commentary to March Madness play-by-play man, Gus Johnson.  While I like his basketball work, he just was out of his element in MMA.  Excessive use of hyperbole.  Getting unnecessarily excited.  He just was not comfortable doing an MMA bout and it showed.

CBS dropped the ball here.  I'd much rather pay for the Ultimate Fighting pay-per-views because at least in those I know I'm getting some quality man-on-man-punching-in-the-face-jiu-jitsu-mixed-martial-arts.  And that's what we like.

Kickass weekly webcomic

I've been instructed.

www.freakangels.com

Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield.  Weekly.

A future flooded London protected by a gang of telepaths.

Go read.  Now!

John Cusack interviewed on SuicideGirls.com

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

"I'm gonna kiss you on the mouth and blow chunks while I'm doing it."

That was a line uttered by one of the characters (Jessie) in Mike Carey and Jock's latest graphic novel, FAKER.

What a mindfuck that was.  Truly spectacular work from both contributors.  Honestly, I've loved Jock since I first saw his work on The Losers a few years ago.  But Mike Carey has always been one of those hit and miss guys with me.  I'd check out his work from time to time (all his Hellblazer work, some Lucifer, My Faith in Frankie, etc), and not really get into some of it (particularly his superhero stuff).  But he's shown me some real writing prowess with Faker (and his slightly less recent RE-GIFTERS).  He's shown he can write some angsty scifi psychological horror thrillers involving teen drama and activism.  Which, when I really look into the core of what comics interest me, is exactly what I'm looking for.  Please pardon the abundance of grammatical issues in that last sentence.

The story involves four characters who live together in a house at some insignificant college in the American midwest.  It's just after Christmas break and the students are slowly shuffling back into their college lifestyles and coming back from home (and their parents).  Obviously the first night back is going to be some kick-ass party.  Four go in to the party, five come out.  One of them's not real/alive, but who?  And just what the fuck happened?

Mike Carey does an excellent job of dealing with perpetual issues of identity and teenage rebellion, while concocting an emotionally resonant story involving four very different young adults.  I can't lie to you, there are certainly aspects of this story, especially the characters of Jessie Kidby and Yvonne Latimer, that appeal to the faux artistic, teenage rebel still inside me.

I really really liked this new offering from Carey and Jock (and quite frankly, surprised the hell out of me), and should be on the bookshelves of anyone interested in liquid digital technology, geek culture, suicide prevention, the bisexual community, sexual revolution, social activism, questioning authority, lying as a way of life, backstabbing, hacking, extortionism, hustling, friendship and well... just a goddamn kick-ass four-color world of adventures and shenanigans.

I could not turn the page fast enough.  Highly recommended.

Offer made for Samir Nasri

In a weird sort of "I must be telling the future" moment, ESPNsoccernet is reporting that Arsenal has made an offer for Marseille's young playmaker midfielder Samir Nasri. The French International was one of two midfielders I was hoping Arsene Wenger would sign in the transfer market, considering his penchant for signing young French superstars. I really hope this works out.

And my other signing was slightly hinted at in an earlier post, Barcelona's Portuguese (via Brazil) international Deco. He is 30 years old and bucks Wenger's trend of signing stellar young talent, but they really need a force in midfield to complement Fabregas' creativity.

Although I still think they need a strong force in the back as well. Toure and Gallas are excellent center backs, but Wenger has to stop pushing Toure out to right fullback and insisting to play Emmanuel Eboue in midfield. He's playing out of position there and it shows. Sagna and Clichy are both strong defenders and are still growing. Maybe even a proven center forward could help the club, especially with Robin van Persie and Eduardo's injuries this past year.

Whatever happens, it should be an exciting offseason for Arsenal fans. As long as Wenger makes some moves.

Now Hear This! 2

The Hold Steady's new single is out now.

Sequestered in Memphis.

Click here to listen to the track.

You can't even imagine how excited I am right now. New album's out July 15th.

Now Hear This!

M83 - Graveyard Girl

I just can not stop listening to this song. This atmospheric pop band from Antibes, France has written one of the catchiest singles of the year so far. When I hear this song it just makes me want to get in a car with the top down and drive fast... thinking about ex-girlfriends or something equally futile.

Check them out on their MySpace page. Right now the song is first on their list.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming...

Okay, so I've been gone a while.

Arsenal did not win the Premier League.  The season is over and Arsenal finished once again without any trophies.  But third in the league and reaching the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League is still a pretty damn fine season.  The month of June brings the transfer window, and the Gunners are in serious need of some top talent, especially since Mathieu Flamini said he's leaving.   Did someone say Deco is going to be available?

I was right about No Country For Old Men being the best movie of the year (at least according to the Academy).   You can look that up in my mini review of the film back in a previous post.  A damn fine film, but not my favorite of the year.  Juno would have to take those honors.

I'm planning to start a regular weekly(?) segment here about what I'm currently listening to, what I've read recently, or what interests me in the world of television and film.  Watch this space.

I have every intention of checking in more often, but I say that now with no knowledge of what interest this blog will hold for my future self.

And maybe someday soon, someone will actually read this shit I sputter out.

Cheers!

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