T-shirt #180: Sand Castle Competition 1990

T-shirt #180: Sand Castle Competition 1990

So, I was walking home from teaching my classes at WMU yesterday, half-paying attention to my audio book, and thinking about my blog, when a thought struck me so hard and fast that I felt it was warranted to take out my phone and email myself a reminder while I was walking. This may not have been the safest thing to do. But I kept my eyes peeled for hazards, and nothing came of it, though I did actually walk under a ladder that a Charter service person had left propped to a utility pole, unoccupied.

This description is all just to set the scene. Flavor. Savory.

What was I thinking about? Narcissism.

I created a whole category for narcissism, but so far, I have only addressed this subject in any depth once in T-shirt #77, which may have the distinction of being the single most often referenced blog post on my blog. Referenced by me, that is. I am not going to count, but it seems to me that I have referenced this one more than any others. And this makes sense, as T-shirt #77 was a pivotal blog post. I turned a corner at that blog post. I also used it to bury my confession that I had cancer and was going to have my prostate out, which some people actually read. Thank you!

The subject of T-shirt #77 is integral to the blog. Originally, I dismissed the idea of doing the blog as overly narcissistic and self-indulgent. Who would care about the meaning behind my t-shirts? Even more strange, would anyone care to read so much about comic books, 1960s and 1970s nostalgia, the episodic narrative, my top 100 albums, and other subjects I care to explore (and exploit).

A great deal of my thinking and development for the blog culminated in T-shirt #77. I realized that I needed to provide more content to readers than just some thoughts on why I like my t-shirt for that day. I wanted to make my blog a conversation starter, a place to learn things, or to be reminded of things worth thinking about that you already know. I wanted to try to escape the inherent narcissism of the occupation and provide relevant, thought-provoking, and frequently entertaining content for regular readers, occasional readers, and those who just Stumble Upon the blog.

In T-shirt #77, I questioned how quick we are in our culture to brand someone as ADD or ADHD and now how quick we are to cast stones for NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder). These ideas are similar to my criticism back in the late 1980s of the self help book The Men Who Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them. Though misogyny is very real and though abuse (both physical and emotional) is also very real, I felt that The Men Who Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them could be applied unscrupulously and too easily. In an effort to help women realize that they may be in an abusive relationship with a misogynist, the author defined many different types of women haters, especially those who are very good at hiding their hatred of women, so much so that many of these men may not even be aware that they are misogynists. I thought the book was a bit reckless as the author defined so many types and described behavior in such a way that the book may be able to convince every woman that she may be involved with a misogynist. Nowhere in the book did the author engage in a disclaimer that some men are not misogynists nor did she ever caution readers to be careful in leaping to conclusions based on her descriptions. I remember giving my essay on the subject to a woman I wanted to date at the time, and she ripped me a new asshole, wrongly accusing me of trying to skirt a real and dangerous issue and unfairly criticize a book that could help women escape abusive relationships. I did not understand her ire, and I felt that she misunderstood my main argument. Needless to say, we did not have a romantic relationship. But just as our culture breeds attention deficit behaviors and narcissistic behaviors in people, it also breeds behaviors that may be abusive or seem misogynistic; however, just as not everyone suffers from Attention-Deficit Disorder or Narcissistic Personality Disorder not all men are misogynists. We need to be careful about how we apply labels.

So, these are the thoughts I had on my walk home about narcissism and where ruminating on narcissism took my brain. I think my blog is narcissistic. But I do not feel that I have Narcissistic Personality Disorder. It's true that what I am doing is inherently arrogant, just as producing any art is arrogant in its assumption that other people--that anyone--will care about what I think, what I feel, and what I care about. I accept these assumptions. Okay, there's inherent arrogance and narcissism here. Neither is a good reason to abandon the project nor never attempt it in the first place.

I am grateful for your readership whether you are regular, occasional, or stumbled in. If inspired, share these thoughts in a conversation with someone. Let me know how it goes.

Today's shirt was given to me by my father. His company (TPTA = Tower, Pinkster, Titus Architects and Engineers) competed in an annual sand castle designing and building competition. They felt it was a fun thing for architects to do, being architects and all. I believe my father and my sister always participated, but I do not recall that I ever did. Still, the whole family received shirts. I have written about my family before, and I will again, so I will leave off on that subject for now to instead close with something geeky and about science which I want to share, which is that inherent narcissism and arrogance again, but I think it's worth it.

Stumbled Upon this great comic strip via Stumble Upon .

This comic comes from THE OATMEAL: it's about TESLA. That's the Stumble Upon link.

Enjoy.

- chris tower - 1309.17 - 8:56

T-shirt #179 - Mystery White Shirt and Lunchbox Museum

T-shirt #179 - Mystery White Shirt, To-Do Lists,  and Lunchbox Museum

Hello and happy Monday.

Today, I am going back to relatively short entries in an attempt to work ahead. I am also presenting some material I have found and saved just for your edification and amusement.

First subject is work and to-dolists. I did write about to-do lists and my work process (with pictures of my office) a little in T-shirt #111: Atom Ant.

Right now, I am experimenting with different ways of working on both my jobs and my blog. I am not by nature a true multi-tasker. Because of my jobs, (yes, plural jobs), I have to multi-task. But I much prefer to work project to project, one thing at time, bear down, put all my focus on finishing, before I move on to the next thing. But life and work and opportunity do not always allow me to be so project fixated.

To best accomplish my goals each week, I have developed the matrix grid to-do list as seen in the photo below. The first photo is an older matrix, so, I am also posting this week's matrix right below it. See how the matrix has evolved? This may be only interesting to me, but I am fascinated by process and how people do their work. I am always trying to learn from others to refine my own process. My matrix has evolved tremendously over 65 iterations since last summer.

Many concepts are the same. There are tasks that I must do every day, and others I must do every week. Then there are long term goals that may stay on the matrix for weeks. I have refined my process to eliminate other to-do lists, trying to use the matrix for everything I have to do, plan to do, or wish to do in a week. I adopted this method from a friend of mine who mentioned making daily to-do lists. When I found that I was wasting time writing the same things over and over, and when I put off the making of the list for days because I was not done with all the items on the list from three days ago, I refined my method. Saving the files to my computer and editing them each week based on what I have to do was the most logical method.

This is another short week for posts in which I have to get ahead on my work. As such, I am trimming back other things that may eat my time as my best friend and his son will be here on Friday to check out Kalamazoo College, and I want to take off the entire day.

Matrix 10 from June 12 2012

Matrix 75 from Sept. 16 2013

TODAY'S SHIRT: the MYSTERY WHITE SHIRT

I have no idea where this shirt came from.

I am a little embarrassed that I cannot identify the source of this T-shirt as I believe it was handmade by the person who gave it to me as a gift.

I may put some more thought into this as time passes, and if I hit on an answer, I will update here and possibly reference this in a future entry.

But for now, the shirt is a mystery. Where did it come from? Who made it for me? I do not remember.

And so, this seems like a great opportunity to write about memory.

As I have shared before (in T-shirt #77 and T-shirt #171), I am big fan of Ray Kurzweil. I receive Ray's daily email newsletter. The other day he had two things on memory: current researching in creating memories and other current research in removing memories. Check these links to the stories on Ray's site.

SELECTIVELY ERASING UNWANTED MEMORIES

CREATING NEW MEMORIES BY DIRECTLY CHANGING THE BRAIN

Neither research would help me recover the lost memory of the origin of this shirt (perhaps hypnosis?), but these are interesting articles that I wanted an excuse to share.

Also, in sharing mode, the very cool (after all it comes from the Cool Hunting site via the Daily Mail in the UK) Lunchbox Museum. I actually own several of the lunch boxes pictured here. Check the site and the very short accompanying video. I think CBS Sunday Morning also visited the Lunchbox Museum.

What's up with that tree in the middle of the showroom?

From WWI to the Beatles and Bee Gees: The world's largest LUNCHBOX museum takes visitors on a trip down memory lane with   2,000 vintage models

- chris tower - 1309.16 - 11:15

T-shirt #178 - KUDL2009PLAY - Introversion

T-shirt #178 - KUDL2009PLAY - Introversion

I am still in Detroit. Troy, actually. Liesel and I did a lot of driving around Detroit suburbs yesterday. Friday night in Ferndale for dinner. Yesterday, we had lunch in Royal Oak and drove to the Sign of the Beefcarver to get our pictures (see far below). Then after I finished a set of grades, we were off to the Meadowbrook festival site, taking Rochester Road up to stop at an Old Navy enroute. Rochester is cute. Easy in and out at the Laneway Festival.

We ended up getting there just in time to see Sigur Rós.

I was hoping that Pavilion seating would be first come/first served, and it was. We showed up at the end of Solange's set and snagged two seats, which would have been perfect if the stupid, bumpkin, uncouth, insensitive, privileged, "I am the center of the universe and I don't give a fuck about you" Detroit "fans" of Sigur Rós did not stand in front of their lovely and comfy seats for the entire show. I tried to release the anger and rage out my pores and not dwell on it. But, really, if I had wanted to stand through the whole concert, I would have moved up front to the standing area!!

Next time, I am not going to be passive, and I will ask these dickheads to sit down. Do I sound bitter? I am mostly over it, but I am still a little bitter. I want to love everyone and suspend judgment, but some people make this so difficult. I want to be a loving, accepting, and easy-going person, free of judgment, and treating others as I want to be treated (BE NICE), and yet I want to sit through my Sigur Rós concert and SEE THE FUCKING STAGE; AND so I have a long way to go to forgive people for being so insensitive because they think they are the center of the universe. Or perhaps they just don't think at all.

Oh yeah. Remember T-shirt #168, and the PLAY & NO PLAY tags on two identical shirts both hanging in my closet? This is the second "PLAY" one and seemed a good way to get into other subjects.

INTROVERTS - INTROVERSION

This is a good place to share a few thoughts on Introversion and introverts.

I shared the video that Liesel had introduced me to in T-shirt #161. You can either dial back and watch the video or search You Tube for Susan Cain: The Power of Introverts, if you want to watch it and have not yet done so. It will take about 20 minutes of your time.

Susan Cain's video is very thought-provoking. As I explained in T-shirt #161, I am more introvert than extravert. ("Extravert is Jung's spelling, and he created the words.) And yet, I am often mistaken for an extravert. I often play the role of the extravert because our society and culture glorifies and enables extraversion while it denigrates, admonishes, and fails to understand introversion. In our culture, there is something wrong with people who want to be alone, who like to read and have quiet time, who need solitude to work on one project at a time, who do not always feel like collaborating or being a team player, who do not spend all their time out and about being social.

Why are introverts so misunderstood? Why are introverts pressured to change their ways? Why are introverts seen as damaged, sad, or in some other way deficient?

Susan Cain makes several astute observations in her video about the importance of introverts and the contributions they have made to the arts, to science, to world cultures.

According to Jung, we all fall on a spectrum. Each of us is some part introvert and some part extravert. We are yin and yang, light and dark. And yet many people want to homogenize. They want pasteurization. Difference is what is interesting. Conformity is not.

Enjoy the wonderful comic reprinted below (and linked) that makes this point more effectively than my rhetoric.

GOOD LINKS

Susan Cain - The Power of Introverts - Cain's main site.

Introversion Cartoon - Link to the comic strip re-published below, without permission but with due credit.

French Fries and Waffles - Link to main site of Luchie's cartoons, artist of the strip below.

INTROVERSION COMIC STRIP

PICTURES FROM THE DETROIT - LANEWAY ADVENTURE - 1309.14

Liesel and I at Laneway Pavilion
shortly before the Sigur Rós performance

Liesel 's "Breaking Bad"
Detroit City shot
Is she scary?
Is she cool?
Scary cool?

Liesel enjoying the melon margarita
at a Cantina in Royal Oak.
We both enjoyed our drinks.

Classic cafeteria style restaurant
on Woodward Ave near Birmingham

Why settle for one Beef Carver sign picture
when one can have two?

Sigur Rós creates the paradigm shift

By the time, I finished this blog, we were back home after a brunch at East Lansing's El Azteco. No pictures.

- chris tower - 1309.15 - 14:43

T-shirt #177 - KUDL2009Green-Seeing Sigur Rós

T-shirt #177 - KUDL2009Green-Seeing Sigur Rós

I know this is another KUDL shirt, and I am not writing about KUDL. But what's the good of having all these Ultimate shirts if I cannot use them to write about other things? After all, I want to write about Sigur Rós, but I only have just one Sigur Rós shirt (seen again here just for fun because I happen to be wearing it today as I work on this blog).

Liesel and I are at the Laneway Music Festival today seeing a whole bunch of bands, culminating in seeing Sigur Rós for the second time this year. What can I say? We love them.

I originally blogged about Sigur Rós in T-shirt #12.

I am hopeful that the experience is as transforming and paradigm shifting as the one in April.

Did you investigate Sigur Rós last time I shared? Are you new to my blog? I will share a sample of just three videos, but you could also dial back to T-shirt #12 and check out the video there, which is one of my favourite Sigur Rós songs.


No videos yet. First, food.

Liesel and I had dinner last night (Friday the 13th) at an Ethiopian restautant: the Blue Nile in Ferndale (545 Nine Mile Road). There was a funky art fair going on (literally, the Ferndale Funky Art Fair). This was not the full platter. This is the second helping of a single serving just for me. I loved the green lentil salad and the cabbage. The meal was very enjoyable as was the visit to Ferndale. We both agreed we got a good vibe.

Sigur Rós VIDEOS

The first video is from the new album Kveikur, and it features more of a hardline, heavy metal style, unlike some of the other Sigur Rós music.

Sigur Rós - Brennisteinn

The second song/video (sorry for the Vimeo advertisement that precedes it) comes from the band's fourth full-length studio album Takk... and one of the band's best songs. The video is also wonderful and worth watching. I am not going to ruin Sigur Rós with a lot of text on the blog. I am going to let the music and the imagery of the videos speak for themselves.

Sigur Ros - Glósóli

The last video comes from the band's third full length album and 2002 simply entitled ( ), which is just genius.
This is officially track #1 with no name, but the Wikipage for ( ) gives the name as "Vaka," named after one of the band member's daughter. The album ( ) is song entirely in "Hopelandic," a made-up gibberish language.

Can't embed this one.

Sigur Rós - Vaka (Untitled) Álafoss

A FEW MORE RANDOM THINGS TO SHARE TODAY



THE BIG IDEA: PAOLO BACIGALUPI: ZOMBIE BASEBALL BEATDOWN

I love John Scalzi. Previously on this blog, I have promoted his book Redshirts, which just won the Hugo Award for Best SF Novel, SF's most prestigious award as it is voted on by members of the WSFS: World Science Fiction Society, and it is th eoldest of the two SF awards. It's a peer award and not a public award, like the difference between the Academy Awards and the People's Choice Awards.

For more on Scalzi's Redshirts (which was even worth reading before it was legitimized by the Hugo), check out T-shirt #13 - The Unlucky Red Shirt.

I came across this "goofy middle grade book" via Scalzi's blog WHATEVER. Scalzi is very active with his blog, which daily draws thousands of readers. One of his regular features is something he calls THE BIG IDEA, in which authors discuss the big idea behind their latest works in their own words. Scalzi uses his notoriety and popularity to give lesser known authors a platform and increase sales of their books. Again: THE BIG IDEA: PAOLO BACIGALUPI: ZOMBIE BASEBALL BEATDOWN

I already knew about Paolo Bacigalupi because I had read The Wind-Up Girl on the advice of my good friend Chris Dilley (see T-shirts #54   and #136). The Wind-Up Girl is a fantastic novel that won both the Hugo and the Nebula because of how excellent it it. I have linked several reviews below plus an article about the upcoming Hollywood film and a great Deviant Art site featuring original art by a fan related to the The Wind-Up Girl. It is great to find good fan art on the Internet. I have included one image below.

The Wind-Up Girl is so dense and complex that I plan to read it again at some point, though right now I have two other books on my re-read stack: Dune by Frank Herbert and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

In the post on Scalzi's blog (he uses Word Press not Blogger, just felt I had to point that out as a loyal Blogger/Google user), Paolo Bacigalupi describes WHY he wrote a zombie book for kids when he is so well known for writing "serious" books. The explanation is really edifying and thought-provoking, especially for writers, especially for writers like me who are currently at work on BOTH serious books and humorous books (in secret and yet this is a subject that I will continue to turn to on this blog because it's my ultimate destination).


Paolo Bacigalupi work is definitely worth checking out. I plan to read his other books -- Ship Breaker and Drowned Cities -- soon as well as Zombie Baseball Beatdown, which looks immensely fun and enjoyable. Plus, I like zombie stories, though not as much as vampire stories... well, SOME vampire stories. Twilight did not really "grab" me.

If you wish to know more, check these links.

See you tomorrow.

INTRIGUING WIND-UP GIRL LINKS

THE WIND UP GIRL -Hollywood Adaptation

SHARKS DEN - DEVIANT ART

LITTLE RAVEN'S REVIEW OF THE WIND-UP GIRL

ONE METAL REVIEW OF THE WIND-UP GIRL

STRANGE TELEMETRY REVIEW OF THE WIND-UP GIRL

- chris tower - 1309.14 - 11:34 - from the Mariott in Troy, Michigan
edited 1605.06

T-shirt #176 - Isher Artifacts

T-shirt #176 - Isher Artifacts

Today's shirt was produced by Isher Artifacts, a company I found by attending science fiction conventions in the 1990s. The proprietor, Tullio Proni, created energy weapons of various kinds that he sold at cons. The name Isher Artifacts comes from A. E. Van Vogt’s science fiction novel Weapon Shops of Isher and is not
to be confused with the terrible movie named Ishtar because of its similar sounding name. Below is a link to an article about Proni's work. According to Proni's own site, linked in a previous sentence, he is no longer producing new ray guns at this time (last updated in 2010).

Strange New Worlds Article

I felt that my Isher Artifacts shirt was a fitting way to collect some random stuff that I want to share today, much of which is science fiction based, as well as this week's weekly comics list.

Today is dedicated to hodge podge.

I am Higgledy-Piggledy.

Time for some nonesuch.

WORD OF THE DAY - I love page-a-day calendars. At the height of my obsession for page-a-days, I had five. Now I have reduced my fixation to two. One gives me a word of the day. Today's word?

Triskaidekaphobia - fear of the number 13

Isn't that great?

My brief review of Dimension of Miracles by Robert Sheckley

I just finished reading Dimension of Miracles by Robert Sheckley as part of the Neil Gaiman Presents audio book series and as narrated by John Hodgman. It was a wonderfully rich and rewarding experience. The book was specially selected by Neil Gaiman for his special Neil Gaiman Presents series featured on Audible, the Amazon owned audio book service to which I subscribe. As such, Neil selects his favourite books to share with those fans who choose to download the audio files in his series. As Neil explained in his preface to Hodgman's narration, the book is one of his favourite's though arguably not Sheckley's best (which he claims is Mindswap also on Audible).

The book was everything Gaiman promised. It's smart, sharp, and very funny. It's also quite obviously one of the key inspirations for Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I am not as insane for Hitchhiker's as almost everyone else I have ever spoken to whom has read the book (or books, since it's first in a series). I think Adams is very witty and entertaining, but he is prone to absolute ridiculous silliness and self-indulgence whereas Sheckley (and also Vonnegut) is more focused on social commentary.

Dimension of Miracles is quite obviously a satirical look at our environmentalism, our culture, our politics, our science, and most everything about our human social construct and consciousness. It's a short book and a fun read. The audio version is brilliantly narrated by John Hodgman, and in addition to Neil's preface, the audio file closes with a dialogue between Gaiman and Hodgman about the creation of the audio book, which is quite delightful.

Even non-SF fans would like this book. If he were still alive, I would recommend it to my friend Bob Russell, though I would not be surprised if he had already read it way back around the year of its publication, which was 1968. It's socially relevant much like John Brunner and Philip K. Dick but without all the dark and dire moodiness. It's definitely worth a read/listen.

For those interested in Dimension of Miracles, I think the text featured on the Audible page is very illuminating, and I plan to share it below. But first, a word on why I love audio books, which I do not believe that I have yet explored.



From the Audible.com page (reprinted here without permission but with credit given, so please don't sue me):

Audible Editor Reviews

Editors Select, March 2013 - "With audiobook narration, there are certain voices that fit perfectly with a genre. John Hodgman may now be the go-to guy for the droll-everyman-navigating-his-way-through-the-universe story (already nailing it in 2012’s hilarious Year Zero). Hand-picked by Neil Gaiman (whose charming audio introduction perfectly sets the stage for what’s to come) Hodgman lends the right amount of nerd-cred to this adventure, which was originally published in 1968 and is a clear forerunner to Douglas Adams’ classic The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.I’ve had a chance to hear an advance excerpt of the audio, and I just have to know how Carmody, the unsuspecting winner of a Galactic Lottery, makes his way back to Earth in one piece." —Chris, Audible Editor

Publisher's Summary

Award-winning author, narrator, and screenwriter Neil Gaiman personally selected this book, and, using the tools of the Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX), produced this work for his audiobook label, Neil Gaiman Presents.

A few words from Neil on Dimension of Miracles: "Dimension of Miracles is probably not [Sheckley's] most famous book…. but I think it's probably his best-loved book. It's about the joys and tribulations (mostly the tribulations) of winning the lottery—the galactic lottery—accidentally. And wrongly. Tom Carmody is awarded a remarkable prize, is taken half way across the universe to collect it, finds himself hopelessly lost, and needs to find his way home again to Earth…to this Earth, not an alternate, weirdo Earth. He's got to get back. And the price is high.

In its style of humor—and even in some of the jokes—Dimension of Miracles is very obviously a precursor of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Douglas actually hadn't read Dimension of Miracles until very shortly afterHitchhiker came out, when people pointed him to it, and he told me that he found the experience almost shocking—it was like reading himself. He was a huge admirer of Bob Sheckley and a huge admirer of this book, and in later life, I had the privilege of introducing both of them.

Now the challenge for me with a book this funny, this strange, this perceptive was to try and find a narrator who was as iconic, somebody who could deliver the goods, somebody who could give you a book like this as it deserved to be given. And the first, and the last, and actually the only person to come to mind was John Hodgman. So I asked John, and he said yes! And he did it; he pulled it off. Listening to John—not just the suave, sensible, sane narrator of this book, but all the peculiar accents and incarnations that he is forced to adopt through here—he does it delightfully, he does it brilliantly, he's really, really funny. And so is this book. Enjoy your journey through a Dimension of Miracles."

Dimension of Miracles is a satirical science fiction novel first published by Dell in 1968. It's about Tom Carmody, a New Yorker who, thanks to a computer error, wins the main prize in the Intergalactic Sweepstakes. Tom claims his prize before the error is discovered and is allowed to keep it. However, since Tom is a human from Earth without galactic status and no space traveling experience, he has no homing instinct that can guide him back to Earth once his odyssey begins - and the galactic lottery organizers cannot transport him home. Meanwhile, his removal from Earth has caused a predatory entity to spring into existence - one that pursues and aims to destroy him. Carmody is on the run, and he ends up transporting from Earth to Earth - different phases and realities of the planet, which of course is not the time or condition he expects.

Learn more about Neil Gaiman Presents and Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX). 

©1968 Robert Sheckley (P)2013 Robert Sheckley

What the Critics Say

"Hodgman, probably best known to geeks for his appearances on The Daily Show and his role as the PC in those Apple commercials a few years back, has a dryly intelligent deadpan that wonderfully counterpoints the absurd adventures of Thomas Carmody, a mid 20th-century New York everyman who’s invited to a galactic center to collect a sweepstakes prize." (Locus)

COMIC BOOK BLURBY REVIEWS FROM LAST WEEK'S STACK

When it comes to being a geek, to getting my geek on, then comic books are my dominant theme. This is just how it is. I think I have achieved a great deal of variety on the blog in terms of content. It's not all comics. But it's a lot of comics, and I make no apologies. Comic books are a major part of my life. With this disclaimer in place, I feel confident proceeding with a few short reviews of comic books from last week before listing comic books from this week. I will attempt to deliver these reviews in pithy little blurbs. Whether I actually achieve "pith" or "blurb" is yet to be seen.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SKIP THE FOLLOWING REVIEW SECTION IF YOU WISH TO AVOID SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!

Forever Evil #1 (DC) - As I already shared, I was wholly unimpressed by DC's Trinity War. In fact, Marvel has been kicking DC's ass lately as evidenced by the three-one review advantage here. As much as I love DC, the mediocre stuff far out weighs the good stuff. And this month with the gimmicky villains books, my level of unimpressiveness has sunk to a new low. But then there is the Forever Evil mini-series.

In part, the success of this comic so far is owed to Geoff Johns, who is definitely my favorite writer at DC (see my lauding of Aquaman repeatedly) and the art of David Finch, who has a lot in common with Jim Lee and his thin, clean line work. I love the return of the evil Justice League from Earth 3. I am concerned of what may become of Nightwing as he's not in a good place in the clutches of  Superwoman. As you may recall, I made clear my adoration for Nightwing in T-shirt #61. He was also unmasked before the world, which is never a good thing. Of course, I doubt Batman's identity will fall with this unmasking, but it really should. In fact, the entire Bat family should quickly be compromised. But I will be shocked if the story goes that direction.

Best of all, perhaps, is the four page fold-out of the Crime Syndicate standing before the collected villains of our earth. It's beautiful (seen here, below).

Infinity #2 (Marvel) - Many fans find Hickman's work too dense. I happen to love it. But his books do not always hit the top of my stack each week because they are not easy to read, and I want to take my time. One of the best things about Infinity  is the design. Fonts, page layout, cast page, flow chart of the series, and all the other elements that fall into the graphic design arena are ultra-modern and smartly chosen. Art by Opena, Weaver, & Ponsor (as one must add the colorist in a book like this) continue to prove rich and surprisingly cinematic. I love seeing the Inhumans featured in books as they are one of my favorites elements of the Marvel Universe, and they are not often seen on the canvas. Likewise, seeing the Shi'ar Warriors used well is very enjoyable for long-time Marvel fans. I love the Illuminati idea started by Bendis of the secret cartel of Marvel heroes holding the Infinity Gems and trying to decide what to do with them. But like any book, especially a mini-series, it is best judged by its escalation and its cliff-hanger. When Black Bolt reveals at the end that Thanos has come to earth to kill his son, this raises many questions and makes me eagerly await the next issue.


X-Men Battle of the Atom - chapters one and two - X-Men Battle of the Atom #1 and All-New X-Men #016 (Marvel) - As I wrote last week, Frank Cho art alone will draw me to book add an Arthur Adams cover and Bendis' writing (which lately has been beyond superb), and I am hooked. Yet another future group of X-Men coming to the past seems gimmicky and a gimmick that's been used before, but I remained open-minded as the story unfolded. I like that the cause of the time-travelling is the young X-Men who, must at some point, return to the past. The art is gorgeous, and in many ways, a love letter to Neal Adams (whom I have made clear that I adore: see T-shirt #83).

The first chapter featured a good story depiction of the natural complex of two different Cyclopses from two different times existing in the same time. If something happens to young Scott, older Scott will cease to exist. The second issue ends with the revelation of the identity of the person wearing the Xorn mask (Xorn having killed the last incarnation of Jean Grey). And then, no surprise, it's Jean Grey in the mask!! Does this mean Jean Grey will return to the canvas? A tortured future version? With Scott no longer involved with Emma Frost, this is a distinct possibility. Consider me hooked.

Avengers A.I. #003 (Marvel) - I have always been a huge fan of the Vision. Ever since he was ripped to pieces by the She-Hulk in the House of M prelude story line. Though Vision has been back in many forms and returned officially in the Fear Itself story line, he has played a small role.

If not for the Vision, I may not have decided to start buying the new Avengers A.I. comic, but I am glad I did. Written by Sam Humphries and art by Andre Lima Araujo, I am enchanted with a high-tech milieu and an updated Vision as a collection of nanobots. In issue #3, after being seemingly vaporized, the Vision A.I. awakes inside a virtual world known as the Diamond, the housing of A.I.s born of the self-replicating virus that Hank Pym created to defeat Ultron.

This issue confronts the Vision with a choice between his A.I. brethren or the Avengers. Is he Avenger first and A.I. second or the other way around?

This book is smart, sharp, and tech-savvy. Pick it up!!

Cover from the third issue above left, a variant cover to the right, below I am including the panel where She Hulk ripped the Vision in two, and then the sequence years later when they reconciled.

Good stuff, Maynard!

WEEKLY COMIC LIST

Of course, Walking Dead takes the top spot. Somehow, I either missed ordering it or it was not set aside for me. Luckily, there were plenty of bagged issues in stock. I may review it next week even though I read it last night. But I am going to run a week behind on reviews. I LOVE Fantastic Four, and this Fraction/Bagley run continues to earn top spots the week it comes out.  I have also been enjoying Kick Ass so much that this one moves up in the stack along with its enjoyable Jupiter's Legacy preview (a book that is slow to arrive and behind schedule, obviously). We shall see how the order shakes out the rest of the way. I did not get to last week's DC villains comics and so those are still in back log near the ones from this week, which take the bottom of the stack. Avengers Arena and Red Sonja both move up as I caught up on each and enjoying them very much.

COMICS FOR THE WEEK OF 1309.11

Walking Dead #114
Fantastic Four #012
Kick Ass 3 #3
X-Men #005 (Battle of the Atom Chapter Three)
Captain America  #11
Avengers #19
Mighty Avengers #001
Clone #10
Avengers Arena #015
Red Sonja #3
Fearless Defenders #009
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Season Nine- #25
Aquaman - Black Manta #23.1
Justice League of America - Deadshot #7.1
Flash - Reverse Flash - 23.2
Batman & Robin - The Court of Owls #23.2
Superman - Brianiac #23.2
Teen Titans - Trigon #23.1
Sidekick#2

Back Log

Ultimates #30
Uncanny X-Force #011
Wolverine #009
Dean Motter's Mister X Eviction #One of Three
Satellite Sam #2
Astro City #4
Indestructible Hulk #013

Special Purchases
Locus magazine - Vo. 71 No.3
DC Showcase Presents Collected Edition - Aquaman - Volume 1

PS: Coming soon AQUAMAN (hence the special purchase) and also what I think of ULTRON being the Villain of the second Avengers movie and of James Spader as his voice. HUZZAH!

- chris tower - 1309.13 - 10:18

T-shirt #175 - Radiohead-2006

T-shirt #175 - Radiohead-2006

I have two Radiohead shirts, so this will be the short entry because I can expound on the wonderfulness of Radiohead another time.

When I discovered Radiohead with the release of Kid A (I was a bit late to the party), I read everything I could get my hands on about Radiohead.

Do you think I remember very much of it?

This is a problem with me. Faulty memory. I am not sure if I have always had this problem. Since my memory is now faulty, I cannot remember if I used to have a good memory. I should have a better record of my brain scans. Again, this would be a reason for the nanobots.

Weird, I am experiencing a peculiar and undefinable Déjà vu.

Soon after discovering Radiohead in 2000, I became a huge fan. I quickly bought the band's entire back catalogue, and I listened to it all, though especially Kid A, which became one of my favorite albums of any band of all time.

Radiohead ties in with my theme for the week. I mentioned Radiohead (possibly for the first time in the history of the blog so far) with T-shirt #171: The Neahtawanta Inn: Goodbye Bob Russell.

Indulge me in repeating that portion of T-shirt #171:

I shared a lot of music with Bob and Sally over the years. Bob often kept CDs I made for him or recommended in his car. Our tastes aligned in many ways. Sally told me that after the 2001 attacks, 9/11, they were listening to a CD I made called "How to Disappear Completely" from a song by Radiohead. The lyrics "I'm not here; this isn't happening" struck a chord.

Lots of things are going to remind me of Bob Russell for a very long time until I adjust to the fact that I am never going to see him again, which is a weird displacement of reality.

In keeping with my short entries in an effort to get ahead, I am just going to accumulate a few key thoughts on Radiohead. I had the pleasure of seeing Radiohead in 2006 in Chicago as per the ticket seen here. They played a great deal of material that they then released on In Rainbows, which at the time I did not like very much, and I still would not rank that music and album highly among favorite Radiohead albums.


I have adopted Radiohead's second album, The Bends, as my walking through airports album. It's a great album for dodging through traffic but in airport terminals with that faux-modernism and disconnection from the real world that travel and terminals provide., like drifting through a movie montage with a soundtrack and no other ambient sound.

I sat in the balcony at Auditorium Theatre for the Radiohead show, and I almost came all the way out of my seat and over the railing when they launched into "The Bends," the song, during one of their encores.

"The Bends" is the second song on the album The Bends, which paired with the first song, "Planet Telex," and the third and fourth songs--"High and Dry" and "Fake Plastic Trees"--make for the best terminal-to-terminal ambulatory music that I know. Give it a try next time you have to cross through an airport from one end to the other.

For those who have always wondered about the signs on my office door seen behind me in many of my pictures, here they are up close and legible in the photo above.

Much of my music constitutes of good music therapy, but one of the best therapies is Radiohead. As I mentioned already, The Bends is my walking through airports album.

Kid A is my favorite Radiohead album and one of my favorite albums of anyone for all time and GREAT therapy. Though my lists of favorite albums was more aptly titled ALBUMS I HAVE LISTENED TO MOST OFTEN as I blogged in T-shirt #97: KRAFTWERK, Radiohead's Kid A would make both the favorite list and the most listened to list. Because it's newer than others in the list, it ranked in the top twenty but in the 10-20 group for albums most often listened to. However, if I were to re-frame the list as favorites, it would surely be in the top ten, possibly replacing Laurie Anderson's Mister Heartbreak, which makes a list of top ten most listened to albums because of how many times I listened to it (daily) from about 1983-1985.

When it was released, Kid A baffled many Radiohead fans as it was such a departure from The Bends and OK Computer, the latter of which has often been voted by British music fans as the single greatest album of all time. Late to the Radiohead party, my entry came with Kid A, mainly due to my fascination with British music magazines.

One of the best of these magazines, Mojo, hit my radar when I was reading an interview with one of my favorite authors, and another author I shared in common with Bob Russell, William Gibson, most famous for Neuromancer, but Bob and I both loved Pattern Recognition, which remains the only book listed on Bob's Facebook account. Gibson described how he walked to his local news shoppe monthly to purchase his copy of Mojo, which is much less expensive than attempting to subscribe and pay International post from the U.K. Even though Gibson lives in Canada, the expense is just as great as for us Americans.

Radiohead came to my attention reading Mojo, which prompted me to buy Kid A, which then prompted me to buy every magazine and read every interview I could find promoting Kid A.

The Wikipedia Radiohead entry describes Kid A as an evolution in the band's music style, fusing experimental electronic music with krautrock and jazz, which is a description that would surely turn off some potential listeners. Kid A was immensely popular, going Platinum in its first week in the United Kingdom, winning the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album, and a nomination for Best Album (which it should have won, losing to Steely Dan's Two Against Nature, and as much as I love Steely Dan, that's a travesty).

The Kid A Wikipedia page linked here is a great tribute and investigation of the greatness of the album. It's well worth reading if you're keen to know more. For now, I am keeping this short, especially since I bought another Radiohead shirt when I saw them in concert last year (2012) on tour with The King of Limbs and will expand and expound with a future post.

To close, some art from the limited edition Kid A release and two videos of my favorite Kid A music, which is difficult to select as I love the whole album as one continuous piece of music. In fact, bless You Tube. I will share my one favorite song, already mentioned, "How to Disappear Completely," and also the full album of Kid A. If you have never listened to this album, treat yourself to at least the one song if not the full eight tracks of music.

Radiohead - How to disappear completely LIVE

Radiohead - Kid A (Full Album)

Kid A (2000) (Times listed are the start of each track in the total You Tube video).

1. Everything In Its Right Place (0:00)
2. Kid A (4:10)
3. The National Anthem (8:55)
4. How To Disappear Completely (14:45)
5. Treefingers (20:43)
6. Optimistic (24:25)
7. In Limbo (29:41)
8. Idioteque (33:13)

- chris tower - 1309.12 - 10:12

T-shirt #174: KUDL 2007- Black

T-shirt #174: KUDL 2007- Black

Time for some more Ultimate.

After a hiatus of almost exactly a month during which I had my prostate removed, a catheter removed, and learned to pee again, I hope to return to the Ultimate field today for at least some light running, which, arguably, at my advanced age, is about all I do anyway.

I have some throws, though I am far from being a Handler God.

In fact the term in our league for what I am was invented for me: Handler Savvy. I make good throws generally. I get a few big throws, and I have a pretty wicked forehand. If all goes well today, I can run a little and start to get my wind back, make some throws, and help my team win its game. I am proud to be on the white team for KUDL's 2013 Fall League. I was drafted by captains Matt Fraaza and Saral Allard, both whom I respect and enjoy immensely. So, I think it will be a fun season.

Also, playing today means just that much sooner that I can get back on my bike, and if I can get in some good training between biking, walking, and Ultimate, I may be able to play at HUCKFEST on November 2nd. More on this HUCKFEST in a minute.

I have been walking most every day since the surgery. Yesterday was the second day (first day for class) that I walked to WMU (and back), which is keeping me in pretty good shape (at least as walking goes). I had always tried to make some movement a daily priority, but even with the puppy, I let work take a greater priority and did not always get my exercise into the day. This is why I like biking to WMU for class because at least I would log two miles twice a week, which is not a lot, but it's something. Ultimate also gives me a weekly outlet to run and around and stay in some kind of shape. This is why I am hoping to be able to get out on the field today and run, though maybe not at full tilt (that is full tilt for me). I also probably should not lay out, which I am known to do, if only gratuitously.

In the pictures, you see me at HUCKFEST 2007. In the first picture, I am guarding Eric Geile, long time captain of Michigan's best men's (Big Ass Truck) and now best Master's team. In the second picture, you see me having fun with friends David Heimberg, Kim Sabo, and with Matt Frayer (a young Dumbledore) enjoying our antics as he walks by in the background.

HUCKFEST is an annual Ultimate tourney of beer, hot soup, and Ultimate in Grand Rapids with weather that ranges from 34 degrees and spitting sleet with 30 MPH winds, which was the weather of Huckfest I, which my team won, to weather of near 70 degrees and sunny as we enjoyed one year when Matt Love brought donuts and the frosting began to melt. Ah memories... But usually it's cold. In 2007, you can see I was pretty bundled up but some, like Geile, were freezing their asses off in shorts.

I LOVE THIS GAME!!!!!!!! Ultimate is a great sport that everyone should try, especially with the availability of public leagues with varying ages and skill levels.

Keeping with my short entries for the week (still trying to bank ahead some longer work), I am concluding with three videos.

The first video is actually from HUCKFEST in 2008 in which my alma mater's Ultimate Buzz team (Kalamazoo College) moved the disc well against the home team, (Huckfest hosts) East Towne Entropy, with whom I have been known to play from time to time. The second video is aerial footage by Ryan Rittenhouse taken with his tricopter from our recent KUDL summer tournament in August of 2013. The last video is a collection of top plays in Ultimate from March of 2013. Apparently, Everything Ultimate posts these once every month. It gives a good idea of why the sport is called Ultimate and why I love it so much.

Ultimate Buzz Drive

KUDL Summer Tournament 2013: Airborne Highlights

Top 10 Ultimate Frisbee Plays | March 2013

- chris tower - 1309.11 - 7:26