Comic Fodder

There's a new post up at Comic Fodder, where I wisely describe what DC needs to be doing for their movie projects, and why.

Here.

no morning post. I'm sure you'll somehow muddle through.

I'm off

Tomorrow Jason and I are off to Florida for my grandmother's funeral. We'll be meeting up with my Dad's side of the family in central Florida. The funeral is Friday. Saturday we're back on an aeroplane and should be home before too late in the evening.

So, you know, expect blogging until Monday to be pretty light.

In the meantime, you can visit Jamie's blog. Or Lauren's blog. Or Steven's, for that matter. Or any of the blogs in my "League Links" section.

No pressure to update your blogs, guys.

I'll also not be seeing "The Dark Knight" until after all the rest of you. So, you know, no spoilers, please.

And I'm not going to be attending the Astros v. Cubs game in Houston. Nor will I get to catch up with any Houston friends, like we'd planned. Sorry, ya'll. And sorry to the Astros, who really could have used my support vs. The Cubs.

I hope the rest of your week goes well.

The League gets linked

Well, I'll be...

Apparently interweb support for Final Crisis must be pretty slim, as somehow The League has been cited as voice of support for the mini-series at Newsarama.

Go here.

They took a pretty nice chunk for their article, too.

Always nice to get a nod, even if it usually means almost zero click-throughs.

But even if they come for the click-throughs, will they stay for the anecdotes and pictures of dogs?

You used to be beautiful, man!

It occurred to me, as it does every once in a while, that despite my considerable blogroll, there isn't much in the way of actual cross-pollination of the blogs. We don't talk at or to one another's blogs the way we once did.

Occasionally, I think you'll see me link over to Steanso's site, but the era of meme's, interviews, etc... seems to have evaporated. Perhaps that's because many of the blogs which would partake have evaporated. Or, those blogs have found their own content and voice, and no longer are seeking to fill the content beast.

I dunno.

I sort of miss it.

I also don't link like crazy like I once did, except to news sites, so that's got to be part of it as well. And just this evening I realized I'd never added Simon's blog to my blogroll, and so I shall.

Any dream I might have ever had of finding The League as any sort of voice in the comic blogging community, I gave up a while back. As challenging as it was drumming up readership when I was writing at www.filmfodder.com/comics, the massive proliferation of comics blogs in the past two years hasn't led to more people linking to one another, but rather to more insularity in the comic blogging world. As, really, who has the time?

I know that since I've been unemployed, I've blogged an obscene amount on actual comics rather than sticking to "look how cool" posts about superheroes or comics. And I sort of apologize for that. A lot of the time when I write those posts, I know a lot of the League's audience just clicks away and waits to come back the next day when, hopefully, I'm not discussing continuity problems and the minutia of Blue Beetle.

Anyway, I guess the point of all this is... Despite some lengthy articles, I sometimes become dispirited that the articles don't get linked back. But I don't link back, so... There you have it.

But I always liked to think of The League of Melbotis as more than just me on a tear. I hope lots of people feel involved. And part of that is e-mail, comments, and linking back and forth.

So I think I have to do a bit more of that, myself.

Ideas...?

Anybody have any ideas for topics for posts? Anything I can do here I haven't done of late? I'm feeling a bit tapped out.

The League Returns (from Costa Rica)

hey Leaguers. I'm back.

Well, it was a great trip. We had a great time, and saw a lot of the lovely island nation of Costa Rica, and saw a lot of ice and bears. Really, the whole place is just sort of a rock in some sort of icy waters. You can see the whole place from end to end, and there's, like, five buildings and a lot of rusty ships.

Honestly, I was surprised by the large numbers of penguins, and how much work they had me doing gutting fish in the hull of a ship for the first two or so days. But, you know, there's no sunlight down there, so after the first 36 hours, the best 20 or so just fly by.

Jason spent most of the week playing cards, dominoes and high stakes Russian Roulette with a bunch of sort of shady looking guys who kept thinking up little chores for me to do, like cleaning out the penguin pate masher and whatnot.

Interesting trip, but weird how those guys didn't want Jason to do work, but everytime I tried to get a little sleep they were barking at me in Inuit and shooting rounds off over my head...

More later. Hope everyone is well...

The League Goes on Vacation

Hey Leaguers.

As you may recall, I am going to be heading to Costa Rica for a few days. I don't want to leave you guys in a lurch, but as I have no idea what the story is with internet connectivity and the fact that I hope I have enough going on that blogging isn't really a priority, you're on your own until I get back.

Now, I'm a bit terrified of the traveling. After all, Costa Rica could be full of dinosaurs and tse-tse flies the size of a helicopter. So hopefully I'll survive this voyage into the unknown.

Jamie claims she's going to keep the blog up to date, so I leave this place in her capable hands until I return. So ya'll keep Jamie company. Give her a shot, and hopefull she'll be able to keep you amused in my absence.

I should be back and posting by next Thursday, at the latest.

I just hope my trip to the jungle will be this exciting:

Loss of Faith in Humanity/ Getting out of Town

Part of why I do not understand the world

I saw on TV the other day that Kim Kardashian, who has no skills and is famous only because of a 6th degree separation to the OJ Simpson trial (it's insanely complicated, but a quick check of Wikipedia whould clear it up) is making $25,000 a night "hosting" parties in LA.

If there were ever any time I would think God would be within his rights to smite a place from the Earth...

Gas is going to $3.60 a gallon, it costs $80,000 to get a graduate degree, the NSF is struggling for funding, schools are underfunded, and we're having food riots across the world... But somehow there's an economy in LA that says its reasonable and profitable to pay this person with a horrible "reality" show on basic cable $25K to show up and have a drink at a party. Which means, and this is the scary part, that people actually want to be at a party hosted by this person of no talent and no influence enough that the $25K will turn a profit.

The fact that the poor of LA haven't put the heads of the Kardashians and their ilk on spikes and redustributed their wealth tells me only that the American dream is mutated from work hard and it will pay off to instant wealth for becoming a personality.

Ladies and gentlemen... I ask of you... What kind of a world do we live in where Screech has to appear on Celebrity Fit Club to make ends meet and this person is making a dime?

Somebody give me my reality show, already. I'm ready to be rich. And I think America is ready to fall in love with Melbotis and his wise-cracking side-kick, Jeff the Cat.



Radiohead - Next week we're going to see Radiohead in Houston and do a bit of late Mother's Day celebrating. I'm excited.

Costa Rica - At the end of the month, The League and Jason are taking a two-man trip to lovely Costa Rica.

I'm a bit nervous. I've only ever been on one non-family oriented trip, and that was our honeymoon which was at Disneyworld. (Look, its tough coming up with stuff to do and still have access to dialysis, so shut up).

Jason and I are going to the rain forest for two days to see a large volcano and fight monkeys. The next day we're headed to the coast for a few days of drinking cheap whiskey by the shore and fighting beach monkeys.

As I mentioned, I haven't traveled much in my life and I haven't seen much of the world, so this will be very new to me. I've never even had need for a passport until this trip as I never made the college trip to Europe or went anywhere on spring break, and our "alternative lifestyle" doesn't lend itself easily to travel.

One thing that's always turned me off about vacations is that the second you mention you're even thinking of vacation, everybody comes out of the woodwork to tell you where to go, what to do, how to do it, and that no matter what you're thinking of, you're doing it wrong. And I get that. People have a good time on vacation. They want to relive their vacation by sending you on a duplicate of their vacation so they can verify that you had the same fun they had on their trip and feel that they're time away was well spent.

At least I'm now past the age where people went to Europe and came back (a) declaring how much better everything is in Europe from food to transportation to whatever, and (b) declaring how they were moving to Europe and leaving loser Americans (ie: you) behind for the greener grass of The Continent.

I confess, one of the big upsides of my trip to Disneyworld was countering this discussion with how much more ideal things are in the Magic Kingdom. The public transportation of Monorails and huge paddle boats and submarines where you can see mermaids. There's so many varieties of foods, time periods, and alternate realities. If America were more like Disneyland, things would be so much better here.

Anyway, my travel experience is extremely limited. The League has never been anywhere or done anything, and, we confess, it really gets us down sometimes, so the trip to Costa Rica is very welcome. And I am pretty sure my check from Uncle Sam intended to stimulate the American economy is going to be going to fruity, girly drinks in some cabana on a beach.

And that, Leaguers, is as close as you're going to see me sticking it to the man.

Apparently, people think I'm a moron

Technically, the "Compare People" application embedded in Facebook isn't officially part of Facebook.

But I signed up for it in the early days of getting on Facebook, and once in a blue moon, it sends me an e-mail.

Today, this is what it sent me:


Your friends have voted on your strengths and weaknesses:

STRENGTHS:

toughest
most outgoing
person with the best hair

WEAKNESSES:

most adventurous
smartest

So, apparently folks find me neither particularly adventurous, nor very smart.

That's what I needed in an e-mail today. I needed to know I have good hair (which I get from a Flobie-like device at Great Clips for $12.00). I'm somehow tough. And outgoing (where did that come from)?

But apparently, people don't find me very smart. At least compared to other people on Facebook.

Which, you know, does wonders for my self esteem.

Anyhow, I'm going to go stick my head in an oven. I will now be clicking on the link that says "disable e-mails here".

2500

Well, Leaguers... according to the counter, this is post number 2500.

I was going to link to an article about the Chicago Bulls mascot getting sued for a high-five gone bad, but then I said "oh, that's post #2500. Perhaps something a bit more dignified...".

Every time an anniversary comes up around here, I feel the need to do an Oscar aceptance speech in order to thank people. And I imagine, mentally, each of you begins playing the Oscar music in your head and is walking me off the stage by the second sentence. So I won't do that here. If you want to be thanked and feel you deserve it, you know who you are. Thanks. You're a peach.

I'm a bit stunned to have reached 2500 posts. Sweet Christmas, what have I been doing with my life?

Oh, yes... this:



Sigh.

Well, apparently when it comes to talking about myself, Superman, comics and other useless minutia, I have a surprising degree of stick-to-it-iveness. The Admiral would be both proud and ashamed, I think.

2500.

Melapalooza on SATURDAY

Hey all,

Everyone who reads this is welcome to attend Melapalooza '08. Please be aware that we open doors at 2:00. I think there's some confusion over what time the party starts, so I just want to make sure I make a final note about that one. As much as we love all of you, I'm kicking you folks out before midnight.

The League needs his beauty rest.

Anyway, hope to see everyone. If you need directions, etc... do not hesitate to e-mail.

Best,

Ryan

League of Melbotis in Yo Face(book)!

Hey, Leaguers!

I have a little extra freetime (cough... cough...), and so I've set up a Facebook group for all Loyal Leaguers.

Want to upload photos of your kid? Want to upload embarrassing photos of Randy dancing on the bar at Coyote Ugly? This is your forum.

Got a video of Jamie punching out a meter maid? Click "send".

Want to start a discussion board topic of your own? We're your huckleberry.

Some of you may have received an invite, courtesy of Facebook. If you did not, I think Facebook's search should be able to find us. If not, let me know and I'll see what I can do to help.

If permissions become an issue, let me know. I'll see what I can do to add you to the list of folks who can edit, alter, etc... the LoM Facebook group.

Why not go to Facebook now and sign up?

Well, that didn't work out...

Just an FYI:
The League's latest adventure in employment didn't wort out as planned. We regret the inconvenience.

It's nothing bad. Everything was 100% voluntary. It was, as they say, not a great professional fit. I now understand what that means.

Because I am now seeking other employment and do not want to moderate a lengthy discussion on "what happened", which was nothing, I am turning off comments on this post.

If you have a job and/ or sack of money you'd like to give me, I can be contacted via phone, text or e-mail.

We'll be back to regular programming ASAP.

bookshelves, zen, Johnny Clambake's

Hey Leaguers. Not much to report. As Steanso might say, its been an uneventful week.

Over the weekend Jamie and I began my long-dreamt-of plan to get shelving up in the hallway/ open area at the top of the stairs. The League is actually very excited about this turn of events as it means: organization. Based on evidence of my life, ages 12-18, KareBear would probably not believe I actually really, really like self-imposed organization. I like knowing exactly where things are, and setting up organizational systems. In a way, what i really wanted to do was build my own "built-in" bookshelves, but if I wanted to do that, it would take weeks, and I couldn't guarantee the shelves would be, oh... flush to the wall and all sit level. I am no carpenter.

So we've Ikea'd it. We're putting in shelves from the Billy system. The system which is going to look much better with books on it, than sitting empty.

We also sort of screwed up, and I neglected to pick up the "corner hardware" which would actually make the whole "corner" bookshelf thing work. There's also an additional, small bookshelf I think i need to make it work, but... anyway.

Tonight I intended to continue on with the great bookshelf build, but we wound up going to Austin Asian-style-food-bistro, "Zen". Which has good food, but it's claims to being "Japanese" are pretty dubious. The reality is, if the food is okay, I could care less about its authenticity or pedigree.

What struck me was how utterly unrelaxing "Zen" is as an environment. There are TV screens with 3D animations flying around, they aren't shy with the volume of music, and the art design, while interesting, is sort of aggressive. Not exactly like a stone garden.

But, again, the food is good and priced reasonably.

Speaking of reastaurants, it's been almost a year, so I thought I'd repost the Johnny Clambake's post from last year, with names removed to protect the innocent.

Johnny Clambake's 1

Johnny Clambake's 2

Johnny Clambake's 3

Johnny Clambake's 4

And Steanso's raging response to me pulling down the post.

For those of you who weren't around this time last year, the Johnny Clambake's incident was the oddest, most controversial escapade of all the escapades at League of Melbotis. Not only was I contacted at home by a business owner, some Loyal Leaguers felt my deicison to remove my post was highly questionable. Just check out the comments sections for the free-for-all that ensues.

I guess The League had strayed too far from its punk-rock roots, but hell, I was a little sensitive to unemployment issues at the time, and I stand by those crazy kids and their meatball manufacturing ways. And, hey, Johnny Clambake's has wound up making a go of it in spite of anything I thought. Bully for them.

In the end, the woner of the place extended an olive branch. Heck, a whole olive tree, but I was too tired of dealing with the issue to take him up on his offer.
Thus, we never did claim that free meal. Nor have I been back, pretty sure that I would be taken out back by guys named "Tiny" and "Chuckles" who would see how far backward my knees would bend.

Honestly, it was a pretty unhappy event for me at the time. But if you can't look back and laugh, well, hell... you shouldn't be writing inflammatory restaurant reviews or keeping a blog at all.

5th Anniversary of League of Melbotis

Well, holy $#!%.

The League of Melbotis turns 5 on Sunday. Our first post went out on Sunday March 30th, 2003. I had no plans for League of Melbotis at the time, short of keeping up with JimD and this Randy fellow.

In many ways, League of Melbotis has become a chronicle of my life that I never really anticipated. And while possibly originally conceived as some soapbox, its become a doorway into a community/ family of its very own in a way that on March 30th, 2003, I never would have expected.

In the past five years I've been able to find folks who dropped off my radar, have met new people, made new friends, been able to announce births, celebrate birthdays, ring in the Holidays, share our little victories, announce the arrival of our own little puppy, track our move back to Austin, tracked relationships into marriage, and, sadly, had to wish a few good people good-bye.

We've had some weird moments, like when Meco showed up in the comments section. We've had some fun contests, entirely too much about Superman, enjoyed UT's National Championship, and all kinds of stuff.


The League of Melbotis welcomes all like-minded individuals willing to use their unique abilities for the betterment of mankind.

The blog has changed, I am sure, since I left Arizona. I've changed in the past five years, too, I'd guess. I see things in older posts I miss doing. I see things I think that maybe work a little better now. It's no longer a tool to keep me attached with friends and family back home, but it now lets me keep tabs on friends and family all over the place.

And, hey, I've had an opportunity to get on my little soapbox and talk about the comics, movies, cartoons and stuff that I love, and love to hate. Thanks for being a part of that discussion.

So... Thanks again for making this worth doing. We've enjoyed it. We hope you've enjoyed it.

In the next week few weeks, I should be hitting 2500 posts. 2500. That's kind of unreal.

And God help you if you read them all.

Thanks for letting me be a part of your life. Jamie and I thank you. Mel thanks you. And Lucy and Jeff, too.

Don't forget, the party for Mel's birthday is April 19th, sometime in the afternoon after 2:00. We'd love it if you could be there. E-mail me if you need directions.

If you can't make that... April 27th, The Alamo Drafthouse at LakeCreek is showing Superman at 1:00 and 7:30. You know the League of Melbotis will be there. We're going to the 1:00 show.

Thanks to all of you once again. Here's to five more.

Firstly, I need to apologize to Simon. I have as of yet to send off the DVD. There are reasons, but they are largely excuses. I will take care of that post haste.

I have also been at work a lot. It's a new job, and I am still getting my head around a large organization with a lot of moving parts. My schedule has changed a bit, we've had daylight savings time, Jason's birthday, etc... and outside of seeing Doomsday, I haven't had a lot going on that usually sparks a blog post.

I was going to do a post about the weirdness of using the term "adult" to describe porn. But I sort of thought it sounded bloated, and I couldn't decide what my point was after a paragraph or two.

Honestly, I still haven't read my comics almost at all in two weeks. TWO WEEKS. I read Superman, Wonder Woman and Countdown. But that's about it. With my folks coming in this weekend, I suppose it will be a few more days.

So, I dunno. That's kind of where we're at. I suspect once my feet are under me at this new job, I will be back to the usual sort of nonsense on a regular basis.

Taking the night off

I'm not sure what's up with my comments. They don't seem to be working on last night's Looney Tunes-centric post.

Apparently Mary Ann was busted for weed. Little Bruce Wayne is out of print. Chronological Snobbery never updates. Or CBGblog. At least Jilly published.

Also... I'm more than a week behind on comics, Lucy has gas, and I want to check out these pictures of Spitzer's hooker ($4000? Seriously? It seems getting a mistress would be more frugal and more legal).

Ya'll discuss amongst yourselves.

Say Howdy

hey Leaguers and non-Leaguers alike!

I'm looking to see who the heck is still reading. If you pop by the site over the next few days, please leave a comment, even anonymously.

Thanks,

The Mgmt. (The League)

New Frontier DVD Contest Reminder

Hey, Leaguers!

I've received responses from a few folks (very few) on this whole New Frontier Give away deal.

If you'd like an opportunity to win, let me know via e-mail or comments section. If you want to double your chances, let me know the identity of your favorite Justice Leaguer, along with a sentence or two as to why.

Submit your request by March 7th, 2008.

The DVD is now on shelves! Go out and make the Ghost of Gardner Fox happy.