T-shirt #315 - The National Air and Space Museum

T-shirt #315 - The National Air and Space Museum - The Smithsonian, Washington DC

I am a space junkie. I can't get enough of books, movies, TV shows, TV news, written news, and especially museums that have to do with outer space, the exploration of space, and other related subjects.

This shirt is a companion to T-shirt #310: Tropical Rainforests as both have a listed copyright of 1988 on the shirt, and I suspect that both were purchased at the same time. Though I am guessing that these were gifts, as I wrote in the previous entry, purchased by my mother and father on a trip they took to Washington DC, a few days has improved my memory. I may have been with them on this jaunt. I was still going on trips with my parents in 1988 as I recall a trip to Milwaukee with them the year When Harry Met Sally came out, which was 1989. I remember a trip to Washington DC, in which I had dinner with my friend John Locke in the Takoma Park neighborhood, and I must have been with my parents. So, it's likely that these shirts came from such a trip.

Pictured to the right, the shirt features a picture of the earth and a caption: "The sphere of the Earth as photographed from Apollo 17 spacecraft during the final lunar landing mission in the Apollo program. The photograph extends from the Mediterranean Sea area to Antarctica south polar ice cap."

I would amend that caption, explaining that the Mediterranean is visible at the very top of the Earth's sphere but the dominant image is Africa and part of Asia. Madagascar looms very large in this perspective. Antarctica is at the bottom of the sphere as it always is and as it is always visible from this angle.


Though I love this and the rainforests shirt, I think both are destined to become pajamas as I have worn neither in years, and with constant wear and washings, the current pajama shirts are growing more worn and thin.

The picture above depicts the The Southern Pinwheel-spiral galaxy M83. I cannot remember where I snagged the picture. I think it was Reuters pic of the day, and it's been sitting in my T-shirts Blog folder for months.

I divulged my love of space and things to do with space science and exploration in the first ten blog entries I posted. T-shirt #5: Do you want to move to Mars? featured a shirt Liesel bought for me after I asked her if she wanted to move to Mars once the Mars One Project gets underway. I was half-serious. I used to fantasize about space exploration when I was a kid and a young man. Not so much as I got older and more settled. After all, I like too many of the comforts of Earth and our life here that would be missing in a move to Mars, where we would not even be able to go outside. If I am feeling cabin fever now with the dangerously cold temperatures this January, I can only imagine how much more intense would be the cabin fever on Mars and enroute to Mars. I should amend my former comments. It's not that I could not go outside the spacecraft or domed-living-environment-pods, but I could not do so without a space suit.

I also mentioned space stuff in my post devoted to Spektrmodule, the Warren Ellis podcast, in T-shirt #75.


I am surprised that I have not written more about space and associated topics given my love the subject. Obviously, my love of science fiction comes from my love of space. The love of space came first. One of the first sets of things I learned were the planets of our solar system in order. I may have known these before I knew the alphabet. Though the "science" category only has three entries currently (and now this one) and none of them really to do with "space" (obviously the two I named already should be grouped there), the science fiction entry contains 29 posts (one of which is still a draft). These contain all the Star Trek  and Star Wars entries as well as ones focused on other print or multimedia science fiction.

APOLLO SPACE PROGRAM

My last point today (and I could make many but I am Grading Robot and I have to keep it short) concerns an apocryphal story I tell. I am not sure if this story is actually true or not. But I have told it so many times that I have made it true. I was about to start second grade in 1969 when the Americans sent the three most famous astronauts in the history of space exploration thus far to land on the moon for the first time (Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins).

My affection for the Apollo Space Program and science fiction surely kept me hoping to explore "brave new worlds and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before." But instead I settled for being an English teacher, an ultimate player, a husband/father, and a writer. Wait... maybe I am going there, to that place the no one has gone... you tell me. :-) But in the summer of 1969 if you had asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would have probably said a superhero, which you would have rejected and made me pick something real and attainable, so my real answer would have been an ASTRONAUT.

Apollo 11 landed on the moon in July of 1969, not long before my sister was born, when my family was moving from Schoolcraft, just south of Kalamazoo, to Richland, just northeast of Kalamazoo, and before I started second grade at Richland Elementary in the Fall of that year. However, there were several Apollo missions after the first moon landing, two of which, Apollo 12 (November of 1969) and Apollo 13 (April of 1970), took place during my second grade year of school. For some reason that still puzzles me today, my teacher was more interested in teaching us subtraction, basic spelling, grammar, and other useless bits of knowledge when AMERICAN ASTRONAUTS WERE LANDING ON AND EXPLORING THE MOON!!!!!!!!

I mean, really, what was she thinking? Her name was Mrs. Tuttle, and she was a strict, disciplinarian. And yet, I was a precocious child. I insisted that we have  a television in the classroom showing the news broadcasts of the Apollo landings. Here's where my memory is a bit murky, and I just have always made up the details to make the story work, much like any good writer of fiction.

For accuracy sake, let's say this is in November of 1969 and the advent of the Apollo 12 project. In my usual version of the story, Mrs. Tuttle cannot do anything to comply with my request, and so I bring my own family's TV to the class to watch the orbits and landing. This is the part that is probably not true. I have a clear vision of television atop a big metal cart in that second grade classroom with Mrs. Tuttle presiding in front of it, attempting to make deals with us for our right to watch: so much subtraction, so much spelling and grammar, so much time watching the TV. I remember the principal also in attendance as this was the first time there had been a television in a class room at Richland Elementary. It was historic.

This was also the year that due to my obsession with the soap opera Dark Shadows that I sold a case or two of plastic fangs to all the students in my classes and others. The fang sale was my first business enterprise as a primary school student though not my last. But that's off topic. More on this one some other time.

I like my version of the story best. We brought in the family TV. It's probably not true, but it shows my overriding focus on the space missions that year, when I was not watching Dark Shadows that is.

Okay, so reprinting T-shirt #5 because it fits this subject, it's short, I am not sure it was widely read, and I like it. :-)

T-Shirt #5: Mars One: Funny thing, my wife bought me a T-shirt. It's not really funny as in laughter evoking by itself. But it's quirky and cute.

One morning last year, I asked my wife Liesel: "Would you like to go live on Mars?"

I was just checking. I wanted to see what she would say. I have always liked the idea of going into space. Moving permanently to Mars is a neat idea but maybe not realistic.

This subject came up because of Ray Kurzweil.
"Raymond "Ray" Kurzweil is an American author, inventor, futurist, and director of engineering at Google" (Wikipedia). 

If you like science, Ray Kurzweil runs a great Twitter feed of science news here:

KurzweilAINews

@KurzweilAINews

KurzweilAI is a newsletter/blog covering nano-bio-info-cogno breakthroughs in accelerating intelligence

California/Mass · http://kurzweilai.net

Google has hired Kurzweil to work on AI, which is an exciting proposition.

There is also a great website: Kurzweil Acclerating Intelligence.

I like to follow Kurzweil and watch the news he shares. He sends A LOT of Twitters, and they are always entertaining and informative.

Late last year (2012), he sent this
Mars One plans to establish human settlement on Mars in 2023

No return ticket

Liesel called me a "dork" for asking about going to Mars, but then, she searched the Internet and bought me a T-shirt from the Netherlands based Mars One project and gave it to me as a birthday present.

Kuzweil has updated the search for people to colonize Mars here:

WANTED: MARS COLONISTS TO EXPLORE RED PLANET

At this time, we have no plans to move to Mars, but I do like the shirt.
- 1303.26 7:46


PLEASE NOTE: WHY T-SHIRTS: I am taking a day off from the WHY T-SHIRTS? series as I am at full power as Grading Robot, and this shirt is very much a continuation of yesterday's item, the proof I did something and the promotion of it: I went to this museum, and I love space science.


HIATUS TEXT: I am taking a short hiatus. A "hiatus" for the 365 T-shirts Blog does not mean that there will not be shirts or that I will skip posting on any forthcoming day. There will be shirts. But the shirts will not be exciting or the featured shirts will not require me to write a small novel to properly generate the content I feel is sufficient. I created a category for my hiatus so as to group together those "easy" shirts that I consider to be "hiatus shirts." The goal of the hiatus is to fill in many blog days with easy shirts in order to complete longer love letters to beloved popular culture icons on more special shirts and to write more complex entries AHEAD OF TIME. The daily grind is becoming too much and causing me to fall behind and to be forced to post incomplete entries. I am hoping that a series of hiatus shirts will allow me to catch up, get ahead, and stay ahead. Ideally, I would like to be writing the bulk of each entry three days ahead while always working on at least one other. I have a lot of great shirts to share before the end of my blog year (after all I was just given SIXTEEN shirts for my birthday). Stay tuned. I promise to post the more interesting and longer T-shirt entries as I finish them. Thanks for reading. BTW, this is the standard HIATUS TEXT that I will include in every "hiatus shirt" entry.

COUNTDOWN TO END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 50 shirts remaining

- chris tower - first pubished - 1401.30 - 20:07
final publication - 1401.31 - 9:58

T-shirt #307 - TPTA Corporate Olympics 1995

T-shirt #307 - TPTA Corporate Olympics 1995

Today's shirt is similar to ones you will see frequently in the hiatus, and I think this one is the best of the lot.

This shirt comes from my father's company, TPTA (Tower, Pinkster, Titus, and Associates) and its annual participation in a local corporate Olympics competition. I do not recall ever participating myself, but there were always extra T-shirts, and I got one (or sometimes two or three).

During the hiatus, I have decided to spread out what will be a longer essay on "Why T-shirts?" which is a topic that I have not really explored yet. I plan to start this exploration tomorrow with one item at a time.

As for today, I want to share one thing.

I started re-reading Stephen King's On Writing today as an audio book. This may be my third time through, maybe even fourth. I have lost track.

I am experiencing the book as an audio book, which is narrated by Stephen King. I like that he has done his own narration here. Not only is it a personal touch, since, after all, he wrote the book in first person, HIS voice, but also King has the chops to pull it off and make it work. Not all authors have the right voice, tone, inflection, and diction to make this kind of thing work. Neil Gaiman sounds good on audio as does Orson Scott Card. I am sure others do, too, but I have not heard too many.

I am not very far into the book yet, so I am likely to have some more observations to share before I am done with it. But one thing struck me. In his "Second Foreword," King claims that "most books about writing are filled with bullshit." He goes on to recommend Strunk and White's Elements of Style, which is never far from my desk, because "there is ... no detectable bullshit in that book." King tells his reader that he went with a shorter book for On Writing to strive for less bullshit (though not as short as Elements of Style).

As I revealed something in yesterday's blog entry that I have historically kept close to the vest if not outright lied about to cover my own shame and regret, I have a renewed determination and commitment to a "no bullshit" rule on this blog. I know I can go on at length and can be quite self-involved, but that's part of The Blog Journey. In fact, "no bullshit," which is my wife's number one motto, may take a place in the developing Rules of Chris.

As a side note, I have Rober McKee's Story in the bathroom and I am chipping away at it for the third time, too. Can you tell that I am gearing up for the actual "writing" (fiction) come the end of the blog year?

Yup.

No bullshit.

HIATUS TEXT: I am taking a short hiatus. A "hiatus" for the 365 T-shirts Blog does not mean that there will not be shirts or that I will skip posting on any forthcoming day. There will be shirts. But the shirts will not be exciting or the featured shirts will not require me to write a small novel to properly generate the content I feel is sufficient. I created a category for my hiatus so as to group together those "easy" shirts that I consider to be "hiatus shirts." The goal of the hiatus is to fill in many blog days with easy shirts in order to complete longer love letters to beloved popular culture icons on more special shirts and to write more complex entries AHEAD OF TIME. The daily grind is becoming too much and causing me to fall behind and to be forced to post incomplete entries. I am hoping that a series of hiatus shirts will allow me to catch up, get ahead, and stay ahead. Ideally, I would like to be writing the bulk of each entry three days ahead while always working on at least one other. I have a lot of great shirts to share before the end of my blog year (after all I was just given SIXTEEN shirts for my birthday). Stay tuned. I promise to post the more interesting and longer T-shirt entries as I finish them. Thanks for reading. BTW, this is the standard HIATUS TEXT that I will include in every "hiatus shirt" entry.

COUNTDOWN TO END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 58 shirts remaining

- chris tower - first published - 1401.22 - 21:26
final publication - 1401.23 - 7:52

T-shirt # 295 - Simple Elements ... Hard to Understand

T-shirt # 295 - Simple Elements ... Hard to Understand

"Il n'y a qu'un bonheur dans la vie, c'est d'aimer et d'être aimé."
- George Sand
(There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.)

Five years ago today, my wife Liesel and I went on our first date. I wish to share the story of our meeting, re-meeting, and falling in love.

I shared about marrying my wife in T-shirt #279, in which I reproduced our wedding ceremony script and included some choice pictures from our wedding. At that time, I wanted to relate the story of how we met, re-met, started dating, and fell in love, but the post had already grown quite long, so I decided to save that story for today, the anniversary of our first date.

Liesel and I originally met in 1990. She was dating a friend of mine, John Kasdorf. I was the host of a thing I called Cafe, which was an open mike night music and poetry (mostly poetry) wine and cheeser that I held in the English Department's lounge in Brown Hall at Western Michigan University. Around the time that John brought Liesel to some of these Cafe events my relationship at the time was ending, and I was giving up hosting the Cafe events, being replaced by the very man my girlfriend left me for, which I find a bit ironic (and not just in an Alanis Morrissette way).

Liesel developed quite a crush on me and kept an eye out for what I was doing in the years that followed. Now, Liesel does not believe the next part, but it's true. I had a little bit of a crush on her, too. I remember feeling the same thing I felt when I re-met her as when I met her originally. I thought to myself: "she's perfect for me. How come John got to meet her and date her first? Why couldn't I meet her first?" Unlike Liesel, my crush was less memorable. I did not remember her name. But from time to time over the years, I would wonder what happened to John's hot Hawaiian girlfriend who seemed so perfect for me. Heck, for years, I wondered what happened to John Kasdorf as we had lost touch.

text reads: sun, moon, earth, water, mountain
man & woman
Simple elements... hard to understand

Liesel reminded me of a hug we exchanged during one of these Cafes. I did not remember it until she recalled it for me, but I did recall it once she described it. I remembered where in the hall it took place and had a sense of what she was wearing, though I am not sure I could describe it. I felt her energy, which was a strong feeling and felt a connection with her. I also believe that may have been the moment that I thought most strongly how perfect for me she was and how disappointed I was that she was "off-limits" as she was dating and living with my friend John. In discussions about our history, we may have figured out which night this hug took place. I believe it happened after my break-up with my then girlfriend, at a time when I was either no longer host of the Cafe or in my last hosting, when I had written a story called "600 Cows" about a couple getting a divorce, drawing on my experiences with my recent break-up. I was a bit drunk that night, which may have heightened all my emotions. Whether the hug with Liesel took place that night or not, she had her crush from back then, and I had my feeling that she was perfect for me, though I forgot her name and only thought of her from time to time as that woman who seemed so perfect for me who was lost in time.

Fast forward 18 years. December third 2008. I am in Sawall health food store, and I am wearing my suit. I had just helped Chris Dilley give a presentation to the Kiwanis to raise awareness about the good work of the People's Food Co-Op. I was on the board at the time, and I was helping to gain more owners as part of our ownership drive to lead up to the PFC's expansion. I had met my friend Ryan Walters after the Kiwanis thing, and we were enroute to his place to hang out and talk comics. I had planned to change out of my suit there as I had a PFC meeting to attend in a few hours. But first, we stopped at Sawall because he worked there and needed his pay check, and I needed to buy a few things.

Liesel 2008

As I walked the aisles, I saw this BEAUTIFUL woman, and she smiled at me. I guessed she was a college student shopping with her roommate though really it was Liesel shopping with her thirteen year old daughter Piper. She looked almost exactly like she looks in the picture to the left, which I took from Facebook, printed, and carried around to show people this amazing woman I had met.

As I saw her shopping, I thought the exact thing I had thought when I met her all those years ago during the Cafe hostings: "She's perfect for me. Why can't I be dating her or someone like her?" Kicking myself all the time in the store, I bought my purchases and was waiting for Walters when she bought her purchases and prepared to leave. I was kicking myself because I knew she was about to walk out the door, and I would never see her again. I wanted to go up to her and say "Excuse me, you are absolutely perfect for me. I can tell. I have a feeling that we will be madly in love and I would like to take you out to dinner." But how do you tell someone something like that? I knew I wouldn't even have the courage to speak to her let alone try to make the kind of contact that would be useful (like an exchange of emails or phone numbers or even NAMES).

another picture of Liesel
and her kids circa 2008

So, I am standing by the door, when she is about to exit, and I hear her say: "you're Chris Tower." Not a question. A statement. SHE KNOWS ME!!! If my heart had wings, at that moment, it would have sprouted them, burst from my chest cavity, and soared to the sun and back. I felt such elation. I can't even properly describe it. With Piper averting her eyes and clearly radiating intense embarrassment over her mother talking to a man in a grocery store, Liesel explained who she was and how she knew me (see previous text). She introduced her daughter. I am not sure if she mentioned that she was divorced, though I left the store knowing she was single. She mentioned that she was back in touch with John, and I was unsure if she meant as friends or something more, so I remember feeling some doubt and worry that she and John were "together," which turned out to be the case. The conversation ended with us both discussing that we were on Facebook and could get in touch there. Piper really did an "Oh geez, Mom" when she mentioned being on Facebook, and we both laughed at the angsty thirteen-year-old.

this is Liesel with her mom

I went flying out of Sawall and flew through the rest of my day. I was high as a kite. I was heels over head in love at first sight. Ryan Walters can attest to this fact as I could talk of little else when we left the store. Later in the day, the entire board of the PFC, especially my good friends Chris Dilley and Hether Frayer saw me coming out of my skin with joy and excitement. I wrote my best friend Tom Meyers soon after who will relate that I was completely nuts about this woman I met in Sawall. Luckily for me, I had bumped into John Kasdorf outside Fanfare sometime that year, and we had become Facebook friends. I searched all his friends for a Liselle or a Liesel or actually any woman whose name was close to that spelling. Nothing. It took Liesel 26 hours to send me a friend request via Facebook. Meanwhile, I am dying in agony every second. What if she never makes contact on Facebook? How will I find her? Do I ask John? Are they dating? I was not even sure how to spell her name.

Liesel and Piper - 1998?

With Facebook contact initiated, flirting began. The courtship began. But there was a snag. She WAS dating John Kasdorf, again. Ten days later, I attended a KAPOW event, John's improv group: Some Kind of Pretty Woman at the Whole Art Theater. Liesel said she would attend as well but could not go out after. I had several other friends in the audience, one of whom knew what was going on with Liesel. I showed up with her and a crew of her friends because I did not want to walk in and sit alone. The other was just someone I had not seen in some time, who actually was brought on stage for the improv. Aftewards, the other friends bailed, and I was left chatting with Liesel and John. Liesel agreed to go out, but she had to take her daughter home first and make sure Ivan was all right. We all agreed to meet at the London Grille. John made it clear that when Liesel showed up that she would want to sit next to him, which did not happen. However, despite a nice time of drinking and laughing and conversation with a bunch of folks from the improv group, it was clear that Liesel and John were "together." I felt like a third wheel when they invited me to go with them as they moved the party to Sushiya, which stayed open later than the Grille. I excused myself and went home. Oddly, as I walked back to my car, I saw my friend Chris Dilley in Old Burdicks. I was feeling dejected and low. Once again, years later, this woman who was perfect for me in every way (I was more convinced of this than ever) was dating someone else, and it was THE SAME GUY.

In a weird twist of fate, I actually started dating someone else, thinking that I had lost out with Liesel. However, the Facebook communication continued. Flirting continued. And eventually there was some discussion of getting together for drinks. I could not figure out this woman, who was supposedly dating a friend of mine, and yet still paying attention to me. I was not committed to the woman I was dating, so Liesel and I made plans and had our first date on January 10th 2009. We mat at Fandango. It was a Saturday. On the way to meet Liesel, I had a conversation with my friend Elizabeth Hughey, who can also attest to how out of my mind excited I was. I did not realize that people could pre-drink before a date. When Liesel stopped at two glasses of wine, I wondered if she was a light-weight, as I wanted a third glass. I did not know she had drank before the date. Just one of the many things I learned from this amazing woman.

To say that the date went fabulously would be an understatement. I had fantasized that I might kiss her that evening, knowing that first dates did not usually go this way. I will not disclose all the details of that first night, but let's just say that my fantasies were more than realized. She was no longer dating John Kasdorf. She was free. We had a wonderful time.

I was completely and madly in love with her from the very start, really from the time I first set eyes on her. Liesel doesn't believe me, but it's true. I tried to safeguard my heart at first. I confessed to love much later only because I was afraid of being hurt. Though in this story "much later" is only ELEVEN days after that first date.

On March 11th, we decide to get married. On April 4th, I ask her to marry me, officially proposing. On October 3rd, 2009, we get married.

Now, I cannot imagine my life without her. Liesel is the love of my life and confirms every day that she is and always has been (and always will be) the perfect person for me to spend the rest of my life with.


I chose this shirt for today because I wanted something that would embody our spiritual connection. From the start, we felt a spiritual bond with each other, which is something we shared about at our wedding. It has to do with AKA CORDS, which is a concept of HUNA mysticism (see link).

If anything has changed, it is only that I love Liesel even more today than I did at first sight or when we got married.

Our spiritual connection has grown and strengthened, cultivating a deeper and richer experience with each passing day.

AND not only is John Kasdorf still a friend of ours, each of us, but he played drums in our wedding! Thanks John!

Here's a very select and small gallery of photos, mostly from 2009.

Liesel and I on St. Patrick's Day 2009

Liesel and I at her step-dad's wedding 2009

Liesel and I on Halloween 2009

Liesel and I at a wedding Dec. 2012

Liesel and I outside
Olde Penninsula
1312.17

COUNTDOWN TO END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 70 shirts remaining

- chris tower - first published - 1401.10 - 17:34
final publication - 1401.12 - 11:59

T-shirt #284 - Doctor Whisky!

T-shirt #284 - Doctor Whisky! via WarrenEllis.com


Nothing like whisky for breakfast.


Hey, isn't that the name of a local band and a song?


Our kitchen may look dark as night, and it was dark outside, but these photos were taken early this morning, December the 30th of 2013 by my dear wife Liesel, who also gifted me this shirt for Christmas as originally seen in T-shirt #278 - Three wise men? Be serious.

It is due to the morning hour that there's so little whisky in the glass. The picture was taken at 6:45 a.m. after all.

Today's blog post is about whisky but not all about whisky as I will exhaust the subject of this divine beverage rather quickly. I have a whisky category (see sidebar), though there are only four posts in it -- T-shirt #77, T-shirt #108, T-shirt #82, and today's -- there has been more whisky than that in my life these last nine months.

I plan to round out today's blog with a little blog recap and some reviews of books, movies, and comic books, though nothing like the extended and seriously overlong post on The Uncanny X-Force from Saturday's blog. I have a schedule to maintain after all.

In the post for T-shirt #82, you will find Warren Ellis Twitter diatribe on the excellence of single malt scotch and how it is "uisge beatha, the water of life." Find there the difference betwee "whisky" and "whiskey" as well as bourbon, which I like very much more than he seems to.


In the post for T-shirt #108, I share a toast for my Robert Burns scotch, gifted to me by my wife as I am named for the great Scottish poet: My dad is actually Robert Burns Tower and I am Christopher Burns Tower.

And lastly, in the post for T-shirt #77, in which I first revealed on these pages that I had prostate cancer and how this diagnosis prompted the blog into being, I shared a little of the Glenmorangie, seen in the photo above, which I bought immediately after my doctor's appointment in which I scheduled my surgery.

Those who know me via social media have seen me call in prescriptions from Doctor Whisky on many occasions. This is borrowed with credit from Warren Ellis, who coined the phrase, and thus has created and sells the shirt seen in the photos. I also have a Warren Ellis category as he's one of my favorite authors. He calls for prescriptions from Doctor Whisky all the time.

Wikipedia is not a bad place to start to educate yourself about whisky (or whiskey) if such is your desire.

The Whisky entry is valuable as is the Scotch Whisky entry and there are many more pages accessible from those two.

I have not been a lifelong whisky drinker. This is a relatively new thing. I preferred vodka and gin in my college days and for my period of drowning in my cups from around 2000 through 2005, a time during which I favored the flavored vodkas and 7Up or Sprite as a nightly beverage, something my doctor urged me to cease and desist when it seemed like I was destroying my liver.

this text appears on the
back of today's shirt
near the collar

Whisky hit my radar because of Warren Ellis and his frequent prescriptions from Doctor Whisky sent via Twitter and/or posted to his website, WARREN ELLIS. It is fitting that my wife gifts my whisky because there's history to our whisky sharing. In our first outing, after her then boyfriend John's improvisation group performance -- Some Kind of Pretty Woman -- we all set to drinking at Kalamazoo's London Grille pub. We shared a whisky flight, a sampler of several single malt scotches assembled by good friend Jeremiah "Miah" Newhouse, who was the manager at the time and a serious whisky connoisseur. This is not the first date for Liesel and me, but it was our first sharing of uisge beatha, the water of life. I began sampling scotch more often, and now it's my alcohol drink of choice along with Irish Whiskey and Bourbon.

Though I plan to share some reviews of movies, books, and comic books today, I am not going to share much in the way of whisky reviews. I do not feel qualified to write about the tastes, and even if I did, I am not home at the moment where I can sample them all. Plus, in the picture above, four of the bottles are finished: Glengoyne, Pig's Nose, McClelland's Lowland, and McClelland's Speyside. Of the scotches, I like the Glenmorangie the best. It was recommended to me by my friend and ultimate teammate Ian T. Smith just two days before I scheduled my surgery and then bought myself a bottle. It's smooth and delicious. I gifted a bottle to my father from Christmas as seen in T-shirt #280. My friend Ed Kenny recommended the Lagavulin, which I like, but its taste is sharper and more medicinal than the Glenmorangie. I bought the Isle of Sky at my father's suggestion, but I prefer the Robert Burns over it, though it is a blend, Of the finished bottles, the GlenGoyne is definitely my favorite, and I will have to get another bottle sometime. I did leave out my bottle of Buffalo Trace bourbon, and some others, like Bulleit bourbon, I finished an recycled.



I feel like I am connecting with my Scottish ancestry by drinking scotch, and of course, the pure single malts are the very cream of the scotch crop.

I love that scotch whisky has a legal definition, which I think bears repeating from the Wiki entry.

Legal definition

As of 23 November 2009, the Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009 (SWR) define and regulate the production, labeling, packaging as well as the advertising of Scotch whisky in the United Kingdom. They replace previous regulations that focused solely on production. International trade agreements have the effect of making some provisions of the SWR apply in various other countries as well as in the UK. The SWR define "Scotch whisky" as whisky that is:

• Produced at a distillery in Scotland from water and malted barley (to which only whole grains of other cereals may be added) all of which have been:
• Processed at that distillery into a mash
• Converted at that distillery to a fermentable substrate only by endogenous enzyme systems
• Fermented at that distillery only by adding yeast
• Distilled at an alcoholic strength by volume of less than 94.8% (190 US proof)
• Wholly matured in an excise warehouse in Scotland in oak casks of a capacity not exceeding 700 litres (185 US gal; 154 imp gal) for at least three years
• Retaining the colour, aroma, and taste of the raw materials used in, and the method of, its production and maturation
• Containing no added substances, other than water and plain (E150A) caramel colouring
• Comprising a minimum alcoholic strength by volume of 40% (80 US proof)

Historically, Scotch whisky evolved from a Scottish drink called uisge beatha, which means "lively water" or "water of life." The earliest record of distillation in Scotland occurred as long ago as 1494. Distillation was well-established by the late 15th century (as cribbed from the Wiki entry).

These words are true.

Try scotch. Keep a bottle or twelve on hand. Sample frequently. Drinking scotch is health-smart. This advice would be an addition to the Rules of Chris. Heed the prescriptions of Doctor Whisky. DRINK SCOTCH.

A TASTY BIT OF BLOG RECAP

As a point of order, I wan to share with you my list of other Blogger blogs that I follow, soon to contain one more as a friend of mine, who shall remain anonymous until I have his permission to reveal his work, is creating his own blog and claims to be inspired by me, for which I am very honored. Here's the list of blogs I follow on Blogger in case you care to investigate:

adrian tomine news
Bully Says: Comics Oughta Be Fun!
DAMN Good Coffee...and HOT!
Diversions of the Groovy Kind
I Am Walter
lieseltower
life and opinions of andrew rilstone
Linda Dick's Inkblot365
Lit and Life
Maira's Books
No Hurry in J.C.
Pencil Ink comic book artists blog 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s
Pulp Sunday
Retreat To Write - A Writer's Retreat
That'll Do
The Aquaman Shrine
To Read it? Or NOT!

As for my own blog, my page views have spiked near 100 or over three times in the last week. Thank you for your interest. The Hogwart's and thirtysomething posts are neck and neck for most popular this week followed by the posts from Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the various Marvel heroes post (though so far no one has helped identify the heroes on the t-shirt). The volcano post continues to be the top post for the month, and though I copied similar content from the overview for Spamalot to see if I could replicate the results, the latter is not generating as many page hits. There's something in the volcano post, which I could identify it. The Spamalot post comes in second, followed by the Serenity/Firefly post, the Starman post, and just now, the Hogwart's post. The all time list remains the same since the last time I reported.

The Blog Journey goes ever onward as I discover new things about myself, reconnect with old things, and clarify those things that are important to me, like whisky, comic books, and the love of my wife and family. If the blog has done nothing else, and it has done a great deal and so many things, it has helped me to define who I am, who I have always been, who I was at different times and have given away those masks and identities, and who I will be going forward. There's still more work to do on my process of individuation, but with good whisky, good books, good comic books, and great love, I will figure it all out and report with WAY TOO MUCH text about on these pages. As always, thank you for reading.

REVIEWS

I always have such ambitions, and then I just cannot meet my own expectations. Still I want to jot down some quickie reviews, but there's more in my stack, and I won't get to everything, so check back throughout the week.

Pick and choose as you will because all my reviews contain spoilers. Beware and skip if you do not want plot surprises spoiled.

First up, my review of Dune Messiah. I read this long ago, while in high school, and I copied my entire page with the review from Good Reads (seen below). I re-read the book via the audio edition narrated By Scott Brick, Katherine Kellgren, Euan Morton, and Simon Vance and running a brief 8 hours and 57 minutes. I am now on the version of A Christmas Carol narrated by famed Harry Potter audio book narrator Jim Dale. I passed over many versions (Patrick Stewart, Tim Curry) for Jim Dale, who I find excellent but also familiar and comforting as I have listened to the Harry Potter books so many times. I will move on to the third Dune book, Children of Dune, some time soon, though I was not wholly enthusiastic about Dune Messiah.

MOVIES - Liesel and I did something unusual, for us at least, Friday and Saturday just passed (December 27th and 28th), we went to two movies, one each day, trying Kalamazoo's new Alamo Drafthouse. We saw The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and American Hustle. As movies go, despite my love for Tolkien, I think the latter is a better movie. I really enjoyed the Hobbit, and I am eager to see it again and see the first one again as well, but American Hustle is a better movie in terms of acting, directing, and as an organic whole. Or maybe I just think this because I did not know what was going to happen, where with the Hobbit, despite the additions, I knew the story very well.



I know that many geek purists do not like the changes to The Hobbit, but I do like them. Tauriel is a great character and a much needed female character. The use of the orcs in pursuit of the dwarven party is a good addition as are Legolas and Tauriel to aid the dwarves. The pursuing orcs, which were not pursuing in the novel, also tie in well with Gandalf's investigations of the Necromancer and Dol Goldur in the south, a story told in the Lord of the Rings as happening around the time The Hobbit takes place. So to see all of this dramatized is very gratifying for Tolkien fans or at least this one.

I expected this Hobbit movie to end before Smaug's death, saving the slaying of the dragon and the last big battle, which is resolved very quickly in the book, for the third movie.

American Hustle is a great story of con artists in the late 1970s disco era with excellent performances by a high octane cast as seen in the poster above and left. I did not even recognize Jennifer Lawrence until half way through the film. Fantastic story, fantastic acting, great directing, and a wonderful twist ending. The story is plausible and true to the time period. It is also suitably long clocking in at a little over two and a half hours.

It's also wonderful to see movies at the Alamo Drafthouse. Not only are we supporting local, downtown Kalamazoo business, but I like being able to eat and drink good food and beverages while watching a movie in relative comfort. I also like the attention to detail in the pre-film trailers and clips from vintage film and television as well as the obvious love of the ownership for movies as a genre. There's some nice paintings with homages to classic films in the lobby, some old movie posters, and a giant Barbarella display.

The next two reviews are from Good Reads.

EAST OF WEST volume one review

Once again, I fall prey to the recommendations of the employees of Fanfare. This one from Andrew Boehme. I really liked it, but I hesitate to give it five stars. It's good, but it's not great. There's something missing, and it will take more thought on my part to figure out what is missing. But it's very good stuff. Great writing (Hickman), great art (Dragotta/Martin). I highly recommend it for people who like apocalyptic, Judeo-Christian tweaked alternate histories. Back story. Character. Premise. There's elements missing in these aspects. In a comic book, like a novel, but more forgivable due to its genre, these completions and connections may be forthcoming in future issues. This is an enjoyable read, but I am left a teensy-bit dissatisfied.

NOTE: I was going to deliver an extended review of East of West here, explaining many of the comments I make in the text above, but my content is growing over long. Expect more on East of West, The Hive, and God is Dead in future blogs, possibly as soon as tomorrow.

THE HIVE REVIEW

Charles Burns is a genius. Black Hole ranks highly on my list of favorite comics. Apparently, I got a bit turned around as I just read this volume because Liesel gave it to me for Christmas without reading the first volume Xed Out. Still, Burns is amazing in his merging of story lines, fantasy and reality, creepy and sweet. If anything captures the spirit of a nightmare, which is more complex than being simply horrific, it's this volume.

I included a couple of pages below. ADULT MATERIAL! :-) But then I figure that most if not all of my readers are adults.

Burns' renderings of the girl, Sarah, are very lovely. But even in the "normal" sequences, there's a strange nightmarish quality. Notice the other pedestrians, especially panel #5 of the page below, which is an odd shot between other people with non-story characters in the foreground. This comic is very much worth reading as is Black Hole.

GOD IS DEAD

Read this last night and loved it. More to come in a future blog.

Jonathan Hickman Talks Infinity, Thanos And God Is Dead




COUNTDOWN TO END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 81 shirts remaining

- chris tower - 1312.30 - 14:05

T-shirt #278 - Three Wise Men? Be Serious

T-shirt #278 - Three Wise Men? Be Serious.

Happy Christmas Eve.

Today is the day I celebrate Christmas with my wife and kids.

If you have landed here before my update, you will see just one picture. I plan to update this after our Christmas celebration with pictures of me and of my family on our special day.

Merry Christmas! (If that's your thing, that is... I never assume that everyone celebrates Christmas, so I usually say "Happy Holidays" but even that seems off for some people because of the use of the word "holy" with days.)

The joke of this shirt should be self-evident. It was a gift from a former T.A. though I am not sure which one. It's a "feminist" joke. Get it? Huh? Do you?

Liesel, the kids, and I must celebrate on Christmas Eve because Liesel works on Christmas and the kids spend Christmas with their Dad, step-mother, little brother, and paternal grand-parents.

Our Christmas Eve was a bit unusual this year as Chris (the kids' Dad is also Chris), his wife Lisi, their son Fiver, dogs Jethro and Cofi, and three cats all spent the night because they had no power as explained in Liesel's status below. We all managed happy Christmas cheer as they packed up this morning, leaving us to our Christmas holiday gift fest. I have posted pictured below to our grand fun.

Love to all and to all a good night.

"God bless us everyone."

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE CELEBRATING!

Liesel with stocking stuffers
especially her eau de toilette
from Chanel No. 5

Me with my stocking, starting
with a special Kentucky bourbon.

Ivan with a Magic the Gathering deck.

Liesel super excited to receive her
gift card for laser skin care!
The blurry photo emphasizes the excited flurry.

Piper with a new sweater.
She may not look excited, but
she does love it. She's wearing it
as I type.

Piper cradling with love her
new iPad!

Liesel cherishes her Chanel No. 5 lotion.

Ivan received a big desktop, so
he can play League of Legends
as often as he wants (and we allow).

Ivan continues to open the computer
and monitor.

I am posing with a CD for the Jam.
A special edition of The Gift.

Ivan is still opening
his desktop and all its parts.

Piper receives make up.
Piper loves makeup.

A smidge blurry
but I am happy to receive
the Captain Action re-issue figure!

DR. EVIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dr. Evil - Captain Action re-issue

DOCTOR WHISKY!!!
Before the end of the day
a prescription will be in order.

COUNTDOWN TO THE END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 87 shirts remaining

chris tower - original creation - 1312.22
first published - 1312.24 - 08:00
Final publication - 1312.24 - 11:40