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« October 2009 | Main | December 2009 » November 30, 2009They never fail to disappoint The White House and conservative Democrats want to set up a special commission that can gut "entitlement" programs in order to reduce the deficit. I know another program that is a much better candidate for cuts. By fnord12 | November 30, 2009, 2:09 PM | Liberal Outrage| Link
How to ensure someone never looks at a comic again Mightygodking's How to start reading comics is just... wrong. It's not that his list is full of bad comic, but it's a list of exceptions. It's like a list of books you would give your librarian. By fnord12 | November 25, 2009, 3:49 PM | Comics | Comments (4) | Link Suave By min | November 25, 2009, 11:16 AM | Ummm... Other?| Link Except, you know, for 9/11, the Anthrax attacks, and... do you count the DC Sniper? I wouldn't count the DC Sniper. But she's making the case that the Fort Hood shooting should be considered a terrorist attack. So by her logic, the DC Sniper would count as well. Except it doesn't. Because there were no terrorist attacks during Bush's presidency. Just as a reminder, Obama just hired this liar to be on the Broadcasting Board of Governors. Good idea! By fnord12 | November 25, 2009, 9:04 AM | Liberal Outrage| Link Why do we get all the Big Heads? Lou Dobbs considering running for Robert Menendez's Senate seat: So, yes, Dobbs may run for the presidency. But as a warm up, as it were, he might run for senate against Menendez. Admittedly, Dobbs v. Menendez would have some iconic oomph in the Dobbs Universe, with the whole white guy taking a job back from a Hispanic angle. But there is the problem of Menendez being up for reelection in 2012 rather than 2010. So I'm not sure how that's an intermediate step for running against Obama in 2012. Or maybe I just don't understand the math. By fnord12 | November 25, 2009, 8:59 AM | Liberal Outrage| Link
Put to shame Check out this guy's collection of Marvel 5" figures, including tons of well done customs. By fnord12 | November 24, 2009, 11:08 PM | Comics| Link Cranky old man says you kids don't know what you're missing. The problem, of course, is that I had devoted most of my 20s and 30s to collecting discs. I had worked as a music critic and haunted used record shops and scavenged from yard sales and college radio stations. The result was an "archive'' of 4,500 CDs, which filled most of the shelves and closet space in my apartment. Full disclosure: a significant portion of this archive resided in the trunk of my car. I am not about to argue for the psychological health of my conduct. I realize I'm a nut. But we're all nuts when it comes to our obsessions. We all go overboard. That's what makes us human, as far as I'm concerned. The problem - again - is technology. Five years ago, I bought an Apple computer and fell under the spell of iTunes, which offered me the chance to transfer my entire collection onto my hard drive. That's certainly what my wife hoped would happen. But every time I head downstairs to the basement room that now houses the Almond archive the same thing happens: I start browsing the discs, and inevitably find one I haven't heard in years and slip it onto the crappy boom-box I keep down there and pretty soon the record has transported me back to the exact time and place where I first fell in love with it. The physical object, in other words, becomes a time machine. And who in their right mind would throw away a time machine? The younger generation has no romantic attachments to records as physical objects. To them, music exists as a kind of omnipresent atmospheric resource. And it's not that I begrudge them their online treasure troves or bite-size iPods. But I still miss the way it used to be, in the old days, when fans had to invest serious time and money to track down the album or song they wanted. What I'm getting at here is a deeper irony: technology has made the pursuit of our pleasures much easier. But in so doing, I often wonder if it has made them less sacred. My children will grow up in a world that makes every song they might desire instantly available to them. And yet I sort of pity them that they will never know the kind of yearning I did. I'd get rid my my CDs in a second if the task of putting them up for sale on Amazon marketplace or whatever wasn't so daunting. But i get what he's saying, even if it's a bit sappy and pretentious. By fnord12 | November 24, 2009, 9:03 AM | Music| Link
Surprising animosity amongst co-workers  Moon Knight got his start in the Hulk's magazine. I guess Hulk figures he's done enough to help the guy out. He's on his own now. By fnord12 | November 23, 2009, 8:37 PM | Comics | Comments (1) | Link Might be worth a try... (and before the Secret Service shows up, let me be clear: i mean the kamikaze primary challenge) Ezra Klein, quoting Steve Benen: For progressive Democrats, the response would be, "That's an unacceptable outcome, which we have to avoid." For conservative Democrats, the response would be, "We can live with failure." This necessarily affects negotiations. One contingent wants to avoid failure; the other contingent considers failure a satisfactory outcome. Both sides know what the other side is thinking. That's Steve Benen, describing the dynamic in the Senate. As I've said before, I think a lot of folks imagine this as a negotiation, in which both sides want to get to yes, and so everyone is involved in a complex game to signal their comfort with failure in order to strengthen their ultimate bargaining position. But that's not an accurate depiction of the process. If this is comparable to any form of negotiation, it's a hostage negotiation. The hostage-takers might not prefer to kill the kid, but there's definitely some upside to killing the kid, as it strengthens them in future negotiations. Conversely, the people on the other side of the phone don't want the kid to die, but also don't want a situation in which hostage-taking is encouraged. Generally, you try and resolve that by killing or capturing the hostage-takers, but that's not really an option here, with the closest analogue being a kamikaze primary challenge against Blanche Lincoln, which would come too late to affect health-care reform anyway. By fnord12 | November 23, 2009, 7:47 PM | Liberal Outrage| Link On the filibuster And the increasing use of it, to the point where it is now assumed to always be on. By fnord12 | November 23, 2009, 5:49 PM | Liberal Outrage| Link Robert Reich explains it away Link: So the compromise was to give all Americans the option of buying into a "Medicare-like plan" that competed with private insurers. Who could be against freedom of choice? Fully 70 percent of Americans polled supported the idea. Open to all Americans, such a plan would have the scale and authority to negotiate low prices with drug companies and other providers, and force private insurers to provide better service at lower costs. But private insurers and Big Pharma wouldn't hear of it, and Republicans and "centrists" thought it would end up too much like what they have up in Canada. So the compromise was to give the public option only to Americans who wouldn't be covered either by their employers or by Medicaid. And give them coverage pegged to Medicare rates. But private insurers and ... you know the rest. So the compromise that ended up in the House bill is to have a mere public option, open only to the 6 million Americans not otherwise covered. The Congressional Budget Office warns this shrunken public option will have no real bargaining leverage and would attract mainly people who need lots of medical care to begin with. So it will actually cost more than it saves. But even the House's shrunken and costly little public option is too much for private insurers, Big Pharma, Republicans, and "centrists" in the Senate. So Harry Reid has proposed an even tinier public option, which states can decide not to offer their citizens. According to the CBO, it would attract no more than 4 million Americans. It's a token public option, an ersatz public option, a fleeting gesture toward the idea of a public option, so small and desiccated as to be barely worth mentioning except for the fact that it still (gasp) contains the word "public." And yet Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson mumble darkly that they may not even vote to allow debate on the floor of the Senate about the bill if it contains this paltry public option. And Republicans predict a "holy war." By fnord12 | November 23, 2009, 9:13 AM | Liberal Outrage| Link
SuperMegaSpeed Reviews X-Babies #2 - I don't know what they're trying to accomplish here. All anyone wants is some little scenes with the X-Babies being cute and funny. Should have gotten Chris Giarrusso to write it. All this Star Characters stuff is pretty uninteresting, even by the standards of my low expectations. X-Men Origins: Iceman #1 - Why did i buy this? I'm not saying it was bad, but... why did i think i needed an origin of Iceman comic? Psylocke #1 - I guess i'm a little disappointed that they're even getting into Psylocke's bizarre origin/history, but it's being handled well enough so far. Sword #1 - The art was pretty bad. The Beast looked nothing like anything we've ever seen before. And the very distinctive Death's Head was just barely recognizable. Thank goodness for his distinctive speech patterns, yes? But writing-wise, i thought this was pretty enjoyable. Daredevil #502 - Yeah, that's what i thought. Daredevil's just running the Hand in order to neutralize it. More or less. It looks like there may be a slight twist to that. But it's not nearly as interesting as we thought it might be. Astonishing X-Men #32 - A meat-sentinel that shoots Brood as missles? Yeah, that's Warren Ellis. Nice touch having Wolverine call the Brood "sleazoids", too. And good character moments, like when Wolverine comments on Cyclops' overly-stoic nature after they were both injured. And, of course, nice Jimenez art, although i didn't really like the faces. But, um, re-animated dead mutants being raised and sent to attack the X-Men? Anyone doing any coordination over there in the X-Offices? Reborn #4 - Maybe they wouldn't have had to extend this into 5 issues if they hadn't been dithering about for the past 3. But this issue was pretty good. Things are happening. And Dr. Doom is awesome. Imperial Guard #1 - I guess a 5 issue series about the Imperial Guard, never my favorite, may be pushing the limits of what i can tolerate even if Abnett & Lanning are writing it. But we'll see where it goes. Doctor Voodoo #2 - Kind of unmemorable. I liked the first issue. But this seemed a bit of going through the motions. And Nightmare is a difficult character to write correctly. But again, we'll see. Deadpool Team-Up #899 - Nightmare again! This was fun, though. I wish Van Lente was writing all the Deadpool Team-Up issues. X-Force #21 - Big fight issue! I enjoyed the art. This is a fun cross-over. Simple enough. Nova #31 - Abnett & Lanning may not be able to get me to love the Imperial Guard, but they've got me enjoying a comic plot about Darkhawk. So they are obviously very talented. X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas #2 - Clearly, this is awesome and the Agents should get their own book back and everyone should read it. I did think that the psychic dream sequence, introduced as a back-up last issue and now integrated into the main story, was a little strangely done. But that's a quibble. Assault on New Olympus #1 - Nice. Very good, actually. All the best elements of the Hercules series - myths, comedy, great super-fights... and these guys write a good Spider-Man. But, the Agents of Atlas back-up was a little too short to be satisfying. If they're going to be that length, i don't think they'll be successful in reviving interest in the series. I did like the art, though. By fnord12 | November 22, 2009, 4:59 PM | Comics| Link Fire up some attack ads In order to get health care reform passed in the Senate, three steps must occur: #1 - the Senate must agree to debate the bill. This requires 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. #2 - the Senate must vote to end the debate on the bill. This also requires 60 votes if it is being filibustered. This is the phase in which amendments to the bill may be voted on, each of which individually requires these same three steps. #3 - the actual vote on the bill. This requires 51 votes. The Senate accomplished step #1 on Saturday night. It was done with a straight party line vote, 60-39, with both independents (Sanders and Lieberman) voting with the Dems, and one Republican not present. Not a single Republican voted to simply allow debate on the bill. How is this not being spun as "Republicans don't want to solve our health care problems"? The vote to start the debate should have been 100-0. Republicans would have a legitimate leg to stand on if they voted for the bill and then offered a bunch of amendments that tried to modify the bill to include more of the solutions they are in favor of, and/or to remove the elements they don't like. But by not even voting to allow the debate to begin, it's clear they have no interest in passing anything. Republicans do have some vaguely serious proposals for reforming health care. I don't think they'd be very effective (and could be quite harmful), and almost all experts, including the CBO, seem to agree. Their biggest solutions are tort reform and allowing insurance to be purchased across state lines. Despite their limited value, both are included in the bill in some form. So there's a groundwork for Republicans to expand upon during the amendment phase. But they clearly have no interest in doing so. It's pure obstructionism. Why aren't the Dems loudly proclaiming it so? It's also worth noting that some conservative Democrats had to be bribed into voting to allow debate. Mary Landrieu demanded additional Medicaid funding in her state for Katrina victims. I'm fine with that in its own right. It's a bit odd for Landrieu to claim to be against a public option while at the same time wanting more money for public health programs. But whatever. And Ben Nelson demanded that an insurance monopoly-busting measure be removed. Which is completely outrageous. It's very clear that Nelson isn't 'conservative' so much as beholden to his campaign donors. It's not conservative to allow monopolies. But the larger question is, why do we have to bribe Democrats to vote to just allow the debate to begin? By fnord12 | November 22, 2009, 4:32 PM | Liberal Outrage| Link
Victory in auditing the Fed More from Glenn Greenwald. Note this has only passed committee at this point. More Democrats need to get behind these populist type issues or they'll be rightly held accountable for the economy in the 2010 elections and beyond. By fnord12 | November 20, 2009, 1:31 PM | Liberal Outrage| Link Autocomplete Me By fnord12 | November 20, 2009, 12:12 PM | Ummm... Other?| Link
Taking "Team of Rivals" beyond too far Link: Dana Perino, the first Republican woman to serve as White House press secretary, was appointed late Wednesday to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). By fnord12 | November 19, 2009, 3:59 PM | Liberal Outrage| Link Good Name For A Band Machine That Goes Bing By fnord12 | November 19, 2009, 11:20 AM | Good Name For a Band | Comments (1) | Link Our Parties Are All About Having the Good Times
By min | November 19, 2009, 10:26 AM | My stupid life| Link Don't forget! NJ Proghouse sponsors Lead Singer Syndrome at Rockin' Joe's Coffeehouse + Bistro. By fnord12 | November 19, 2009, 10:21 AM | Music| Link You may think I look sad Would you like to be sad? You must follow directions Well there are those who are happy By fnord12 | November 19, 2009, 8:49 AM | Music| Link
Is it true? Link: Most of the guys who ask and answer "how do I get my girlfriend to read comics?" don't really mean it. What they're really asking is "how do I get my girlfriend to like the comics I like?" So of course they're not recommending manga - they don't read it themselves. And they don't want the girl they like to know about comics they don't understand. By fnord12 | November 17, 2009, 2:28 PM | Comics | Comments (1) | Link
Nerds Cereal Apparently it wasn't very good. By fnord12 | November 16, 2009, 4:39 PM | Ummm... Other?| Link
So Unnecessary Twilight-themed Burger King non-kid's meal meal By min | November 13, 2009, 12:11 PM | Movies| Link
You told me that it just couldn't be yeah, that's right I didn't like you anyway You thought I would be broken hearted I think that nasal spray got to your brain By fnord12 | November 12, 2009, 9:07 AM | Music| Link
Marvel Sales By fnord12 | November 6, 2009, 11:15 AM | Comics| Link
Mixed Meteor rocks the drum machine He'd probably not appreciate me referring to the MPC 2000xl as a mere drum machine, but how else am i going to explain it to you? By fnord12 | November 5, 2009, 5:25 PM | Music| Link Idiot or liar? Mary Landrieu (Dem - LA): "The public option, because of the moderates, and because of what I've been helping to do and other moderates, has been shaped, in our view, 100 percent better than when it started out," she said, adding,"it's already shaped to be a public option that is supported by premiums," before being whisked away into a vote. The Public Option has always - always! - been designed to be supported by Premiums. Does she really not know this? Or is this just some weird kabuki dance she needs to perform in order to change her position? It amazes me that she can get away with such a statement. I guess our media is no smarter than her. I'm happy to have her come around on the issue. But i'm not happy that she's pushing some 'moderates made it better' agenda when that's clearly not true. By fnord12 | November 5, 2009, 12:14 PM | Liberal Outrage| Link Well she was sensitive She cracked, I'm sad, but I won't Well she cracked, I won't She cracked, I'm sad, but I won't that's right Well she cracked, I won't She cracked, I'm sad, but I won't By fnord12 | November 5, 2009, 8:38 AM | Music| Link
 By fnord12 | November 4, 2009, 9:34 AM | Comics | Comments (2) | Link
SuperMegaSpeed Reviews - the one week deluge Lots of books came out this week! I don't mind. I happen to like comic books. Dark Reign: The List - Punisher #1 - It seemed like things were going pretty well once the Punisher knocked out the annoying kid on the flying skateboard and left him in a dumpster pretty early on. (For what it's worth, when i saw that the kid's name was Harry and that he rode a flying skateboard, i was wondering if it was Osborn's son now that he's back from the dead. Which would have been kind of interesting, i guess. I suppose the Spider-books are dealing with the Harry/Norman relationship?) I liked seeing the Punisher clearly outmatched. I loved the idea of HAMMER agents flying around on modified goblin gliders. And it was a real "holy crap!" moment when the Punisher got chopped to pieces. Really? Not an LMD or an exploding robot dummy? They just killed the Punisher?! Then i turn the page and see an ad for Franken-Castle. HAHAHAHAHA! These are truly the end times. Dark Reign: The List - Wolverine #1 Or rather, Dark Reign: The List - Fantomex #1. I tell you, this is what I was expecting from Jason Aaron on Ghost Rider. The crazy collision of two wacky Morrison-esque ideas mixes with Van Lente style irreverence. Zombie troops (tied in to the Deathlock program!). Religion-stimulating diseases. Team-up jokes! Exactly what i expect from a writer endorsed by Chris Sims. I liked the art, too, but i'm sure Esad Ribic is an anagram for something. Basic Red I? Sir Bad Ice? The back-up story was just terrible, though. Fantastic Four #572 - Glad i stuck with this. I really liked Hickman's explanation in the back about why he started with an All-Reed arc. I hope he'll continue to scale Reed back. Let's see how Hickman handles the full team now. But please, get rid of those short sleeved shirts. And Valeria. Dark Avengers: Ares #1 - Er, i enjoyed the book quite a bit, but what's this about Ares' son being dead? Models Inc. #3 - It's too bad this is such a mediocre book. Because it ought to be good. The MU can use more books that are only tangentially related to super-heroes. It's just falling a little flat. The zombie story was cute, though. X-Force #20 - Not what the cover promised, but this was a good conclusion to X-23's solo story, i thought, although i still had trouble keeping track of which of the identically drawn women was which (despite that, i will concede that the drawn art arcs are better than the computer-generated arcs). The Necrosha crossover is going to slow down what looks to be some planned character development with Wolverine and X-23, as well as the Frost Giant plot, but that just means we have something to look forward to. X Necrosha #1 - Someone said this is just Blackest Night for Marvel/X-Men, but i'm more than happy to see all of these old X-Characters returning (except, you know, Senyaka). Especially since i don't know nuthin' about Blackest Night. I enjoyed this and am looking forward to the crossover. The X-Men Legacy lead-in was the weakest bit, but i was still intrigued by the resurrection of Destiny. New Mutants #6 - Keep this up and i'll have to keep getting this after the crossover. Guess that's the point, eh? I really enjoyed Doug's "interpreting" the New Mutant's body language as they interacted with Professor X. And, of course, the return of Warlock! Secret Warriors #9 - See? Phobos is still alive. What are they talking about in Ares? Apparently this takes place before Dark Reign: The List - Secret Warriors, too. One day, i'll get to read all these comics in the right order. Probably in 2030, based on my current rate. New Avengers #58 - I like Bendis' writing. I like Immomen's art (a lot). I like Bucky shooting Ares in the face. So, i like this comic. And i think the whole reason they decided to do these Days of Marvel Past features is so they could re-run the John Romita Jr Hunk of the Month picture. Divas #4 - Yeah, this was a great little mini. Really liked the art. Enjoyed the characterization. Paul O'Brien described the last issue as a bit "disease of the month". But we could use more drama in the Marvel line. And it was still light-hearted and fun. Hopefully we'll see more from this creative team. Nova #30 - So wait, does that mean it's not really Monark Starstalker? I bought Marvel Premiere #32 for nothing? If true, i'll forgive them, only because this book was great. Just to make it clear, in case you weren't paying close attention, you've got a baby Fin Fang Foom fighting a bunch of Mindless Ones led by a super-evolved "Minded" One, and then the Ones all get teleported into Ego the Living Planet's brain cavity, which causes him to get a headache. Hercules #137 - Honestly, Zeus' motivation for sending Hercules to Earth in Thor #124 was indeed extremely vague. And the fact that Van Lente (I'm assuming Van Lente, and not Pak) felt the need to create an explanation for that 44 years later is awesome. Overall, yeah, this was good, but i'm looking forward to Cho reuniting with Herc. Guardians of the Galaxy #19 - Good story, but... whoever decided that killing off Cosmo was a good idea doesn't live in the min household. Ohboy. Not thrilled about Mantis dying either (you can keep Phyla). In a story involving time travel, multiple dimensions, and a cosmic cube, i can hold out hope that they aren't really dead. For a little while. But pleeease, Abnett & Lanning.... don't break up my happy home. By fnord12 | November 3, 2009, 9:15 PM | Comics | Comments (1) | Link
 By fnord12 | November 2, 2009, 9:51 AM | Music| Link |
