Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Oversatirization

We made it! Hopefully this silly little drawing reaches you in your powered home or cave if you're living off the grid.  I know that "Superstorm" Sandy really bled off the majority of her strength making her way inland to us, however New Jersey and New York really got a pounding.

As always, the Monday Morning QBs come out of the woodwork both before and after to offer their own opinions and advice on how people should react to these kinds of situations.  The funny thing is that if the newscasters hadn't prepared people for the possibility that the storm was coming, these same MMQBs would be calling for something similar to what happened to the poor seismologists in Italy (if you're interested).  What's worse, instead of being thankful that they weren't affected as negatively as the people in the coastal cities and states, they complain about the extra stuff they got or the annoyance of waiting for more storm.  They wanted more storm!  That does not make any sense to me, but then again I draw dumb little doodles twice a week for my own sanity.

Vent aside, everyone that I know of got through this with very minimal damage to their own selves and property and we're very thankful for that.  I also picked up The Walking Dead video game for my tablet the other day and I'm hooked.  The combination of simple point and click with tense split-second decisions makes for a very engaging experience.  Just don't play it when you're home alone.

Punch it, Chewie!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Eating For Two

When you typically do your food shopping for at least two at every meal, there's an interesting phenomenon that occurs from time to time.  If it's just one person that happens to be around, then a choice is presented: either you make all the food and only eat half, or figure out ways to portion it out and only make enough for just yourself.

However, when it's just me in the kitchen by myself a third option opens.  I pull back the third curtain and end up making all the food, and eating all of it.  And it's glorious.

This weekend, I had the opportunity to dim my intellect with a few action titles, B or C level at best.  The first was Lockout, the Guy Pearce badass space prison escape hostage rescue movie.  If you're willing to buy all that, they you very well may like this one, Snow (Pearce) has some great one-liners but he ends up not being on-screen enough to keep the action going and it ends in the most abrupt, odd way possible.  It's probably because it was a film by Luc Besson, crazy action movie director not big on story.  The masochistic piece of me ended up really enjoying the movie, but my expectations were simultaneously low and hoping for a bad movie.  Mission accomplished.

Punch it, Chewie!

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Murderous Heroism

I love a good hero story.  It's about overcoming your obstacles while holding yourself to a certain standard, no matter what the opposition chooses to hold themselves to.  So when I find myself drawn to the darker heroes that employ tools o' murder, I find it's time to dig deep and dissect that inclination.

My conclusion comes down to probably the most shallow it could: they just look cooler on the page or big screen.  I mean, some of my favorite characters employ this deadly violence.  Green Arrow isn't really in that hallowed mental pantheon, but others like Wolverine, Deadpool, Hawkeye, Cable, Nick Fury, the Punisher all fit that bill.  These are just the ones I like, not to mention the others that choose to strap a gun or sword to their hip or shoulder.

Don't get me wrong, Captain America is still at the top of the food chain and he usually only carries his vibranium shield.  He does everything that I feel a hero should and doesn't find himself in situations where he has to sacrifice his beliefs to get the job done.  That doesn't stop me from enjoying Wolverine dig those claws into the henchmen masses trying to get to the root of whatever problem is in front of him.

All this to say, I watched the premiere episode of Arrow this week and actually liked it quite a bit.  The production values were high, while the character was just as much of a bastard as Oliver Queen is supposed to be.  Regardless of how much I enjoyed the show, I found my grimace growing as the typical bad guy, who recently had arrow-ridden thugs in his employ, shouts at our protagonist "you put my guys in the hospital!"  Did he? Or did he in fact shoot them with arrows only to leave them not moving in the parking structure?  It is on the CW though, so while there may be blades, arrows and guns a'plenty, I doubt the body count is going to rise much at all in this early season.

C-c-c-combo breaker! Enough of this nerd talk, I'll talk at you all later.

Punch it, Chewie!

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Conspiracy Theory 101

It's that scene in movies we're all familiar with at this point.  Someone goes into a room and (gasp!) there's a huge collection of interrelated news clippings, pictures and artifacts connected to one another with some form of string.

We as viewers are then programmed to look at the character who created this room of mess as eccentric but maybe with a touch of genius.  The real thing of it is that we never really get the chance to take a really solid look at the materials being connected to one another.  Two thoughts come to mind for me.

First, there's absolutely no one there to check on this whackadoo's work and tell him whether or not anything is actually related to whatever shadowy thing he's investigating.  Without that check or balance, there's nothing stopping the train from pulling completely into Crazyville.  Second, all of these relational maps are gigantic, frequently taking up an entire wall or room.  I'd like to see a junior detective taking on a super easy case with four or five things all connected like I so expertly depicted this evening.

Well alright now, not much else to say other than power through this week so I can get back to my regularly scheduled nothing on the weekend.

Punch it, Chewie!

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Drive-Thru Dilemma

Everyone wants to stay active and feel healthy and happy.  Not ever work day seems to want to allow this same happiness to occur.  It's at times like these that you just have to push your chips to the center and find the nearest fast food establishment to really guilt yourself into moving the next time around.

There have been some minor renovations to the Manor!  When we purchased the estate, it has some masonry that was in need of some repair.  Throughout the course of this year, pieces of the mortar even began falling out some of the bricks were so loose.  We got lucky and within a week of agreeing on a price we've got a completely repointed/relayed brick chimney waiting for it's first fire to blaze up!  I think we're going to hold off on the mason to seal it all up and give us the thumbs-up that it's alright to let our inner firebugs loose for the coming winter months.

Speaking of, I know talking about the weather is a bit on the boring side, but it's not often that there's a forty degree drop in temperatures and it just stays that way.  Next thing you know, all the leaves will just fall off the tree in the course of one day, in the Spring all the flowers will pop up in the course of one day and it could go on and on.

Alright, let's go see what's going on in Guild Wars 2.

Punch it, Chewie!

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Monetary Trending

Wow, when it rains it pours!  The ideas for completely useful inventions just keep coming to me.  Tonight's solves the age-old problem: what do you do when you're out in the sun and need some light? Why, get our solar-powered lamps, of course!  They're the ultimate in portability, with only the slight downside of not being able to provide illumination on cloudy days.

Avengers vs. X-Men, published by Marvel Comics, finished it's run yesterday and I couldn't be more relieved.  The entire event has just felt like a doorstop.  It's been interesting enough (not nearly what was promised) but ultimately only serves to open the door for the Marvel NOW! initiative coming in this last quarter of 2012.

They shot themselves in the foot though, in that they released news about what was coming next early on in the AvX plotline.  This completely distracted the reader from what was happening and only made us start to read while we wait for the good stuff to come along.  I was less than pleased.  I am excited to see some of my favorite characters back out there.  Cable will make his long-awaited reappearance in his self-titled Cable and the X-Force and Deadpool will be written by one of my favorite comedians Brian Posehn.  Fingers crossed I don't get so jaded I give up on the medium altogether, but they've hooked me for one more ride.  Ball's in your court, Marvel.

Punch it, Chewie!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Self-Mailing Substitution

This is a legally-binding digital copyright for a fantastic idea... that would probably immediately electrocute people.  It would also probably lead to immediate need for physical therapy from dislocated shoulders or herniated discs.

Well, we're back!  I took a week or so off from the comic to try and cleanse the palate, and this is what we come up with?  Honestly though, work was to the point where I almost was driven to working over my usual 40 hours. Insanity!  Breathe a sigh of relief true believers though, I was still home before dinner every night, but was just not in a state for any witty, amazing, life-changing comics.

That being said, one can't just go from inactivity to a sprint! I need to pace myself after my ultra-short hiatus so that's all for tonight.

Punch it, Chewie!