T-shirt #145-StereoLab-Red

T-shirt #145-StereoLab-Red: Colors and more roundup

More roundup!

No, not the weed killer.

Various and Sundry. Geek and Sundry (this is a You Tube Channel). Today's blog will explore a variety of subjects though, as for the T-shirt, today is dedicated to a great band: STEREOLAB.

It is a red shirt. This is a significant fact.

After THE COCTEAU TWINS broke up, I was bereft. The Cocteau Twins are one of my favorite bands of all time. Easily, they are in my personal top ten with The Jam and 10,000 Maniacs. For years, I searched for music that would replace the melodic beauty of Cocteau Twins in my life. Eventually, I found Stereolab. In 2006, I had the pleasure of going to Chicago to see Stereolab live in concert. I bought two T-shirts. Today I feature the red one.

MORE CATEGORIES AND BLOG ROUNDUP

Yesterday, I explored my blog work so far by subject-based categories. But there is another set of categories that I must work to employ: shirts by color.

Several years ago, despondent after a bad break-up from a relationship, I decided that it was time to exert some control over the chaos in my life. I pulled all of my clothes out of my closet and organized them by type and color: all the pants together, long-sleeved dress shirts, short-sleeved shirts, polos, and T-shirts all sorted by color. I have kept my closet more or less organized this way ever since with few exceptions.

Originally, my T-shirt selection was smaller and the colors less varied. I owned very few red shirts and for a time no shirts in yellow (which is something I have discussed previously). Mostly, I owned black, blue, and white shirts. Though now I own more red shirts and quite a few more yellow shirts than my core three for spring, I still find that I have very few orange, green, pink, and/or purple T-shirts. These colors are among the least represented in my ownership.

I thought it would be interesting, at least to me, to set up categories for the blog by color and examine the most popular color of the T-shirts I have featured so far. I am not going to make fine distinctions between shades of certain colors; for instance, I am grouping light blue with darker blue. I also have a couple shirts that are more gold than yellow, but I placing them all together in the "yellow" category. Likewise, "White" contains shirts in off-white and more of a beige color. And so, now, I have created (as of this date) categories for shirts by color, just like my closet. Like yellow and blue, the grey shirts vary in hue from a very light grey to various shades of dark grey or even greenish-grey. I have these separated in my closet more effectively. Here, I include all of these shirts in one grey category for ease of data collection and fewer categories.

In all, I created NINE color categories: Assorted, Black, Blue, Grey, Green, Grey, Purple and Pink, Red, White, and Yellow. Here's the statistics as of today (1308.13), reorganized by frequency

• White = 36
• Black = 29
• Blue = 21
• Grey = 19
• Yellow = 10
• Assorted = 6
• Green = 5
• Purple and Pink = 4

For someone who thought he only had three yellow shirts for spring, I have TEN, which surprises even me. I think I have shared all of yellow shirts I own so far. Also, I have shared all my purple (2) and pink (2) shirts, as I have so few. The Assorted category consists of Brown, Orange, Tie-dyed, and colors that I cannot classify any other way. Since I tend to wear White shirts in the summer, I am not surprised that White has taken over the lead for most shirts so far.

I have no idea why I am capitalizing the colors.

ABOUT STEREOLAB

Sadly, by the time I saw Stereolab, original member Mary Hansen had died (in 2002) and so was not with the group.

I was lucky to see the band in 2006 as they have chosen to go on indefinite hiatus in 2009.

The WIKI for STEREOLAB is pretty good.

A few quick reasons that I love them:

• Stereolab lists the Surrealist and Situationist cultural and political movements as influences.
• Stereolab's music is sometimes sung in French giving it a very European flair.
• I am going to love any band that has a rock and pop sound with "lounge instrumentals" and sing-song female vocals.
• The band uses various organs, including the MOOG.
• My Stereolab smart playlist contains almost 18 hours of Stereolab music and 230 songs.
• Stereolab has been called "one of the most fiercely independent and original groups of the Nineties"[1].
• Stereolab was one of the first bands to be called "post-rock."
• Sometimes the Stereolab lyrics are sung in English, but they still have a Euro-flair.
• Stereolab started its own label: Duophonic Records.

I am including three videos (all from my favorite album) at the end of today's entry.

• [1] Peronne, Pierre (13 December 2002). "Obituary: Mary Hansen". The Independent (The Independent).

RED (the movie)

Last night, Liesel and I decided to watch Red, the movie, for the second time. The film is very loosely based on a comic by Warren Ellis and Cully Hammer, and it stars Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Mary Louise Parker, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Karl Urban, Ernest Borgnine, and Brian Cox.

This movie inspired my post today. Lying in bed thinking about the color red, I decided to share today's shirt and put together a hodge podge of blurbs: dribs and drabs as I am pouring my way through final grades for one of my schools. GRADING ROBOT NEEDS POWER!

Liesel and I both wanted to see Red again before we go see Red 2, which may not be doing as well as other films in box office and is already in reduced showtimes here in the greater Kalamazoo area. Still, I expect to enjoy it. I really enjoyed Red, especially the second time. It's brilliantly funny.

Red is an acronym for "Retired-Extremely Dangerous," which is a clever designation for a former super agent (played by Bruce Willis in the movie). I am not planning on writing  a review of the film as there are plenty online if you wish to read one. Though the film is only loosely based on the Warren Ellis comic, the story and script capture his unique sense of humor very well. If you have not seen this film, and you like action films, especially ones that vary from the usual model, this film is very much worth your time.

MY FRIDAY DATE WITH LIESEL

Usually Liesel and I have a date night (or afternoon and early evening) every other Friday.

We started Friday the 9th early as she needed to get the heck out of dodge, which derailed my plans for a surprise flower delivery, the arrangement seen here. I ordered from POLDERMAN'S in Portage, which I highly recommend not only because I know the owner, Linc Polderman, but Polderman's is a long-standing, local business, and I believe in supporting long term, local businesses.

I have enormous gooey gobs of fun with my wife. Our day ended up being completely random, which is something that often happens around Liesel. She is unpredictable. This is one of the ten thousand reasons that  I love her as much as I do.

View from below covered bridge
walkway at Nature Center

We started our day at the Cupcake Zoo in Otsego. We bought some highland beef in a local market. We wandered around the Otsego Antique Mall and resisted the urge to buy anything. Then, as we drove, Liesel suggested we go to to the Nature Center, which we did. I took a couple of photos that I have included here. I was blown away by how overgrown and sheltered the walkway to the main building has become since my last visit, which could have been over a decade or more ago. We ended our evening with dinner at Fricano's. Not one to complain, a dining experience has to be pretty awful before I say anything. I did not complain at the restaurant, but I will share here. We will not go back. Terrible food, awful service, a horrible view from the deck, and we were surrounded by people with a yucky vibe, yucky energy. I repeat: we will not go back. Still, we had a wonderful day. We were together and that's all that really matters.

Owl at Nature Center

I owe her another dinner, though. I had meant for that dinner to be her birthday dinner as I will not be able to take her out on the 17th because of my aforementioned "milestone." She does not want that dinner to qualify as her birthday dinner and neither do I.

PEDs and BUD SELIG'S MAFIA

Yesterday, I spotted an article about Mark Cuban's reaction to Major League Baseball's decision to attempt to ban Alex Rodriguez from the game for life but instead levied a ban of 214 games, which A-Rod is appealing.

MARC CUBAN HAS CHOICE WORDS FOR MLB AND SELIG

Stereolab

I know I am in the minority when I say that I have always liked Alex Rodriguez and that I hope he wins his appeal. I know that in part my feelings are my tendency to "go the other way." I tend to take the opposite view of public opinion. Since the prevailing public opinion is so much against the PED (Performance Enhancing Drug) users and Alex Rodriguez in particular, this just inflames my passion for the opposite view and siding with Alex.

Still, I would be lying if I tried to claim that I have not always liked A-Rod because I have. He is well spoken and appears humble. It may be an act, but his act is good. LeBron James is another case. I have never liked him, and I still don't, but I have to admit that his humble act is REALLY GOOD (and it may not be an act).

With A-Rod, I am pretty sure he is all PR and spin doctoring, and I just don't care. I like how well spoken and articulate he is. And he has been one of the best Baseball players in the history of the game, so it is difficult to ignore that fact. Did he succeed because of help from PEDs? Maybe. Still, I don't care. I want to see him on the field, so if PEDs help him heal faster, I am supportive. As for power, it's the same case as with Barry Bonds: the player still has to hit the ball. Hitting major league pitching is about the most difficult thing to do in all of sports, and so very few people can actually do it or do it well. Do PEDs help with the hand and eye coordination, the bat speed, and the power? Maybe. I really do not care. I like seeing the players on the field, and PED use does not strike me as "cheating" any more than my taking of Motrin before a game of Ultimate gives me an advantage and helps me play better.

I know many people do not agree with me on this subject. But I don't care. I am not trying to convince anyone. This is not a persuasive argument. It's just my opinion.

Nothing really can sour me on Baseball.

As for the article, Cuban's words hit home. I do think Bud Selig has a vendetta against Alex Rodriguez. Cuban makes a good point that Selig is making up his own rules where A-Rod is concerned. It's despicable.

Bud Selig's Mafia. I would like to see Bud Selig suspended for 214 games. I would enjoy Baseball much more if he was not a part of it (that is assuming whatever follows is better).

TIGERS WINNING STREAK

Speaking of not being soured about Baseball, how could I? Even Peralta's suspension did not lessen my passion for the game and the Detroit Tigers.

Stereolab

The Detroit Tigers put together an impressive set of winning streaks lately. And now with two losses in a row, the streak is over.

First, the Tigers won four straight from 7/21-7/24, but then, the team put together an amazing streak of TWELVE consecutive wins from 7/26-8/8.

The team had some monster wins, scoring 38 runs in a four day span from 7/27 through 7/31, winning from behind on home runs in the 8th and 9th innings, and though the streak is snapped, Miguel Cabrera, while injured, has hit four home runs in four consecutive game, a feat last accomplished by the great Willie Horton.




Though the Tigers have lost two in a  row now, and only took one of three games against the Yankees, they have a night game tonight and a day game tomorrow against the lowly Chicago White Sox, after seeing that team's best pitcher (Chris Sale) last night.

It's a good day to be a Tigers fan.

GO TIGERS!!

The Sandlot in 5 Seconds

TWO MORE REASONS TO LOVE BASEBALL

"You're killing me, Smalls." - The Sandlot

"I wish my father could have seen me... God, I love Baseball." - The Natural

NEW TRAILER FOR UPCOMING THOR MOVIE

My go-to blog guy writes about the new Thor Dark World Trailer:

Loki Steals New THOR: THE DARK WORLD Trailer

I have to say that I am growing very excited for the new Thor movie. This trailer definitely increases that excitement. Good stuff on the Thor horizon: Sif, Heimdall, Volstagg, Malekith the Accursed, and a glimpse of THE DESTROYER. Very cool mix of the old classics with new twists and new visions.

Thor: The Dark World trailer UK - OFFICIAL Marvel | HD

STEREOLAB VIDEOS

Here are three Stereolab songs. A great introduction to the band.

This is my favorite Stereolab song from my favorite Stereolab album Dots and Loops (1997).

Stereolab - Tickertape Of The Unconscious [Original Ver.] 

Stereolab - Miss Modular

"All you need for a movie is a girl and a gun". - Jean-Luc Godard 

Music: Stereolab - Miss Modular

Stereolab - Rainbo Conversation

Also from Dots and Loops with cool imagery.

VAGUE

CHECK OUT - the Sub-Machine Gun blog.

This is the link for the "Vague" post. Dial back to home if you want to scan them all.

The blog uses movie stills with text overlays each day. I think the text comes from the actual film being featured. It's very clever, and a blog that's much quicker to take in than mine.

This one struck me yesterday as representative of my mood.

Grading Robot suffers, which is why this blog entry took all day to write.

- chris tower - 1308.13 - 19:50

T-shirt #144: The Teen Titans

T-shirt #144: The Teen Titans and a roundup of bloggy stuff and other nonesuch

Happy Monday!

I say "Happy Monday" on purpose because "happy" is the operative word today. Stay tuned.

As I wrote yesterday, KUDL's summer season is over, and so I am taking a break from KUDL and Ultimate shirts in general for some time.

I felt it was time for some roundup and reflection. For some readers the blog can be overwhelming. I do have a category devoted to what I think is my best work, entitled "Lists-My Ten Best Blog Entries," which contains 11 blog entries. I could not stick to ten.

One of my good friends and a dear reader spoke to me this past weekend wishing me well. I was deeply touched by this expression of good will by a dear friend and a reader. Thanks. You know who you are.

Part of my intention to do a roundup today is to recap as I close in on 150, which feels like a milestone. Also, I am approaching another milestone. If you don't know what milestone I am talking about, read T-shirt #77: Narcissism. My personal milestone takes place (begins and ends) on August 16th, which also happens to be my parents' 55th wedding anniversary, and the day before my wife's birthday (her number of years I am not at liberty to disclose). Starting August 16th, I have scheduled four days of pajama T-shirts. I may not use all four days in a row to show pajamas but that's the current plan in case I need that much time.

THE ROUNDUP

I promised roundup today. And, so I present, first, some bloggy roundup. I expected to do a whole bevy of roundup today but that's not going to be possible. Bloggy roundup, happiness, and one happy thing (George Pérez) is all I will have time to accomplish.

I had a reader praise my blog but admit disinterest in much of it: "too much about comic books," he said.

Though I explore a lot of subject matter with this blog, it would make sense for comic books to be the number one subject. So far, I have devoted 44 of the 144 posts to comic books: DC Comics (20), Marvel Comics (11), and Other(13). I do not have an "other" category, so I derived that number from subtraction. You can see these categories listed on the right side of the blog page. The Sports category takes second place with 36 entries, mainly because I include all of my Ultimate shirts in sports. I have featured 19 Ultimate shirts and 16 KUDL shirts, and though this may seem like a lot, the category for Just Logos and Symbols carries the third place rank with 29 entries, and I did not include sports logos in this category. The Logos category consists of comic book, SF, and other related logos, such as Star Trek,  Mad Magazine, and The Comics Code Authority.  Shirts I have been given as gifts takes fourth place with 27 entries, so NO, I am not buying them all myself!! Thus, TV and Movies takes fifth place with 25 entries, as many of these overlap with comic books. Some may feel I am cheating here as the shirts for several entries in this category have nothing to do with TV or movies, such as T-shirt #99: Moby, but since I wrote a little review of Iron Man 3 in that entry, I added it to the TV and Movies category, and so it serves double duty.

TOP TEN CATEGORIES FOR THE 365 T-SHIRTS BLOG AS OF TODAY
For those who like lists, here's the top ten for the blog so far.

1. Comics Books = 44 entries
2. Sports = 36 entries
3. Just Logos and Symbols = 30 entries
4. GIFTS = 27 entries
5. TV and Movies = 25 entries
6. Music = 22 entries
7. DC Comics = 20 entries
8. Science Fiction = 20 entries
9. Ultimate = 19 entries
10. KUDL = 16 entries

ABOUT HAPPINESS

I have been thinking a lot lately about what makes me happy. This is surely a theme of this blog. Why would I wear a shirt displaying something that makes me unhappy? Obviously, if I am going to wear a shirt, which sits close to my heart, the thing depicted will also be close to my heart. This entire blog is one long journal about the things that make me happy outside of the obvious things, such as family and friends. I could probably complete a blog about 365 people or memories and not run out of material, much like the T-shirts.

But because of the aforementioned milestone, I have been thinking about things that make me happy, why they make me happy, and managing what my therapist and I call "self-care," which means making sure I get enough of those things that make me happy. I did discuss this subject some in T-shirt #103: Aloha, dedicated to the concept of Aloha from my wife's native land of Hawaii, which someday I hope to visit. In that blog entry, I began a subject that I plan to expand and explore often in the second 100 entries, of which I am halfway complete: THE RULES OF CHRIS. Though I did not name the "Rules of Chris" in the post, I added T-shirt #64 to the category because of the subjects I explore therein. Subjects of T-shirt #64 will connect very directly to several future blog entries.

I cannot make a list of happy things because the list is this blog. In the end, I hope to have over 365 happy things, and maybe room for more. In fact, some of the happy things, such as the very first entry: T-shirt #1: Son of Satan, deserve further exploration. I did not know what I was getting myself into when I started back on March 22nd. I could surely explore the very interesting Damion Hellstrom in more depth, but I will save that investigation and reflection for another time.

For now, today's happy thing: George Pérez and the Teen Titans.


ONE HAPPY THING: George Pérez

If I had to select one favorite comic book artist, I do not even have to think about it. I would select George Pérez.

I have struggled with this issue of listing my favorite comic book artists. I started my thinking on this subject in T-shirt #27: Iron Fist, when faced with writing about Gil Kane. At that time, I made a very preliminary list, which, of course, contained George Pérez. I made the list just off the top of my head, which five artists sprung to mind first. By the time I reached T-shirt #43: Deadman, I realized that I had left Neal Adams off the list, and so I had to correct my oversight, and so I decided to organize the artists by era, which saves George Pérez for the 1970s and 1980s, even though he is still working today. In fact, the height of his career is arguably the 1980s, and he is probably best listed then. I decided to divide by era only because I have too many favorite comic book artists to keep to a simple top five or even a top ten. I have not even written about all of my favorites yet. More are still to come. But if I were to choose one artist as my all time favorite, I would unhesitatingly choose George Pérez.

I have the pleasure of being Facebook friends with George Pérez. In the 1990s, when my friend Neil Southwell and I were trying to sell a Teen Titans comic book idea to DC comics, we had the privilege of going to George's house (then in Queens) so he could critique Neil's art, which was an amazing learning experience. I am proud to say that we were able to meet with the editor of the Teen Titans books of the time, but DC declined to hire us to create a new Titans book. I am amused by the current All New X-Men book at Marvel Comics because this was essentially our idea with the Teen Titans. We wanted to bring back the original Titans (Robin, Speedy, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Wonder Girl), though I planned to leave in doubt HOW they came back to the, then, mid-1990s DC landscape. Were they clones? Was it time travel? Were they brainwashed? Maybe they were aliens? What if they were brainwashed, alien, clones from the past? I had many plans for fun revelations and mysteries. Too bad we did not get our shot. If I had scans of the art, I would share it. The first page splash showed the original Wonder Girl's fist slamming into the then Robin's (Tim Drake) face in extreme close up, blood and teeth spewing forth. It was a great idea for an image and Neil drew it beautifully, though as George showed us her pointed wrist bracelet would not have allowed her to bend her wrist without goring herself.

Back to George and the Titans.

This shirt commemorates a more recent edition of the Teen Titans and a spanking new logo. But any time, I think of the Teen Titans, I think of George Pérez (check out the Wiki).

In fact, I think about George Pérez every day because his lithograph for the Avengers 41st anniversary hangs directly above my computer desk in the place of ultimate honor (see photos).

I spotted George Pérez from his very first published art work in the Deadly Hands of Kung Fu magazine in 1973. Soon he was illustrating many of my favorite comics, to which I subscribed to ensure I would have all of George's great work, such as Avengers and Fantastic Four. 

In 1980, George hopped to DC with Marv Wolfman to do the New Teen Titans book. Though I bought the first issue, I was off to college and my comic buying was spotty for a few years as I distracted by girls, girls, music, more girls, okay and maybe a little with academics (especially my classes with beautiful women). I loved the New Teen Titans book, but I missed a lot of issues. It was early 1984 before I started making regular treks to the local comic shop (a used bookstore that is now out of business; it would be another year before I would find Fanfare) and started buying the Teen Titans issues on a regular basis (and any back issues I could get my hands on). My love of comics renewed, I followed George's work avidly as he created the world-shattering and pivotal comic maxis-series Crisis on Infinite Earths with Marv Wolfman and then later a complete re-definition and a wonderful re-envisioning of Wonder Woman.

I have been an avid follower of George Pérez's work for most of my life (and his). I think his art is the most gorgeous in the history of comic books. I also love that he is an oft-imitated artist, such as by Phil Jimenez, who is a great artist in his own right but surely lists George as his number one influence. George's career is well chronicled in the Wiki devoted to him. He is still at work today, involved in DC's New 52 launch.

In 2010, DC finally agreed to publish the graphic novel we Titans fans had been waiting for since the 1980s. I actually owned a photocopy of the art that was distributed to our APA TitanTalk way back in the late 1980s. I wrote about my involvement with the APA in T-shirt #62: Nightwing. The graphic novel Games is a beautiful masterwork and a testament to the excitement of those 1980s Titans stories. Back in the late 1980s, George had asked my friend Neil to do some drawings that would appear on cards in the finished product. The cards are included on the pages of the finished art work, but I am not sure if these are Neil's drawings. He is not credited, in any case. Nevertheless, George has always been a huge supporter and a regular communicator with the fan community, much more so than many of his standoffish colleagues. It's one of the things I appreciate about the man. Not only is he a great artist, but he is a wonderful and gentle human being. I feel honored to say I know him, even a little.


Games is a wonderful graphic novel, and I highly recommend it. Maybe in a future post, I will review it and offer up more of a love letter to those 1980s Teen Titans issues and why I am such a huge fan. (And, no, it's not just because I have a huge crush on George's Donna Troy, Wonder Girl, and consider her my favorite woman character in all of comics... but that's surely part of it.)

Meanwhile, I will close with some more George Pérez art, including an image from the other, long-awaited master work: the JLA-Avengers book, which finally saw print in 2003.

Also, no entry about George Pérez can exist without mentioning his ingenious Hulk: Future Imperfect (written by Peter David) and George's run on AVENGERS with Kurt Busiek.

Enjoy this image gallery tribute to the great George Pérez. Surely, it is incomplete, and I will be forced to cycle back to this great artist again before my 365 days are at an end.

A FEW FUN LINKS

MOST ANTICIPATED COMICS OF 2010: GAMES

GEORGE PEREZ ON TEEN TITANS

TOP TEN MOST INFLUENTIAL COMIC ARTISTS: GEORGE PEREZ

CACHED COPY OF A REVIEW OF GAMES

GEORGE PEREZ IMAGE GALLERY

page from the "Who is Donna Troy?" comic (Titans #38).

 

All art (I hope) is posted here with permission of George Pérez, DC Comics, and Marvel Comics.
With all love and respect to and for George Pérez.

- chris tower - 1308.12 - 16:48

T-shirt #143: KUDL 2013 - Green

T-shirt #143: KUDL 2013 - Green wins championship!!

Quick post today as there is a lot going on in the wake of yesterday's tournament.

I know I have overdosed on Ultimate and KUDL shirts lately. I promise that this is the last one for some time as KUDL summer season is over.

I want to congratulate the Green Team named Team Hulk as our 2013 KUDL champions.

Congratulations to Team Hulk (Green) led by captains Jeremy Welter and Kathy Williams!! For our dear "Peaches," another longtime KUDL captain is on the trophy, joining myself, Kent Elliott, Ed Kenny (our only two time winner), David Mandrick, Matthew Frayer, and Stu Gulliver (not on Facebook).

Green team played a hard fought game against the Orange, Not Aquaman, team, but Green's lead was too much for Orange to overcome.

GREAT KUDL season everyone!! Possibly our best ever. Watch for Fall League registration opening very soon and our special "retro" shirt offer.

Happy Hucking. See you on the fields.

KALAMAZOO ULTIMATE DISC LEAGUE RECORD OF CHAMPIONS
(Listed by Captain and team color)
2006 - Matt/Crimson
2007 - Ed/Black
2008 - Kent/Black
2009 - Dave Mandrick/White
2010 - Tower/Marina Blue
2011 - Stu/Royal Blue
2012 - Ed/Light Blue
2013 - Jeremy "Peaches" Welter and Kathy Williams

I think it's interesting and fortunately coincidental that of the shirts I bought of our leftovers from 2013, I bought a green one.

However, in trying it on for today's pictures, I have discovered it is not large enough for my big belly, and I will be giving it back to KUDL.

Does it still count in my 365 even though it is passing out of my possession at this time? I think so. I am going to count it.

Also, I do not have time for much else.

Jeremy "Peaches" Welter deserves this win. He is one of the best people and the nicest of all human beings whom I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. He is also a great captain. Kudos "Peaches!"

Summer season has ended.

And now, Fall...?

- chris tower - 1308.11 - 18:54

T-shirt #141: Centrals 2002

T-shirt #141: Centrals 2002

Plans and changes. Once again, I had a shirt all planned for the blog today and other things happening in my life derailed it.

Yesterday, I took an extended work break to go to the Kalamazoo County Fair with my dad and my brother-in-law, Noel.

It's always nice to spend time with my family, my Dad and Noel in this case. We had a nice time at the fair, though a bit short. I ate half an elephant ear and drank some lemonade. My Dad had a soft serve ice cream. Noel drank a Coke. Not that these facts are exciting, but I am making note of them for my own permanent record.

We were all tempted by several rides and games, but we did not take advantage of any. We toured the 4H exhibits and all the livestock. We walked the midway, had our snack, and then I had to get back to work.

I decided to wear one of my favorite Ultimate shirts, one I designed, using a swiped and "unofficial" Calvin and Hobbes as the logo (drawn by my friend Neil Southwell). This was the shirt for the 2002 Centrals Ultimate Tournament that I used to host here in Kalamazoo. It was our best ever with almost two dozen teams and with women's and co-ed divisions to go along with the usual open division. It was a lot of fun.

I am keeping this entry short and sharing photos because I want to get ahead on other posts for future blogs, as I have a busy week running up until my next "break" from the blog, which will hit on August 16th.

WEEKLY COMIC LIST

I have found more time to read comics lately. I have needed this down time to recuperate energy from some busy weeks and demands on myself and my schedule. Green Arrow jumped to the top of my stack last month after I caught up on the title and started enjoying the Lemire run. The Fanfare boys also convinced me to buy Lemire's new book Trillium, which has an interesting double-sided effect (more on this in a future post). All New X-Men stays high on the list, and I am starting to see Bendis' master plan in running out a different pre-history for the original X-Men characters. This issue truly sets forth that intention quite well in regards to romance with Jean Grey ('Nuff Said!).

I have a weakness for Howard Chaykin and for Buck Rogers, so I had to try the first issue of that series. Almost missed buying Sheltered, which was a pick of Andrew, who works at Fanfare, and so far I do like it. I might re-order these as I read, which I often do because I may be eager to read Kick Ass and Daredevil: Dark Knights before those Avengers books. The special buy comes along because I am stock-piling for some rest and relaxation, which will start on August 16th when I intend to post easy and very brief dedications to my pajama T-shirts for as much as a full week, though maybe less. I love hiding these little previews deep in my daily text. Did you read to this point and catch my secret preview? Good for you.

Comics from 1308.07

Green Arrow #23
All New X-Men #015
Avengers #017
Avengers A.1 #002
Kick Ass 3 #2
Iron Man #014
Detective Comics #23
Daredevil: Dark Knights #003
Superior Spider-Man #015
Hunger #002
Buck Rogers #1 (Chaykin - Hermes Press)
Sheltered #2
Trillium #1
Sidekick #1

BACKLOG
Green Lantern #23
Earth 2 #15
Action Comics #23
Fairest #18
SPECIAL BUY - MIND MGMT VOLUME ONE: The Manager by matt kindt

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LORI MARIE!!!

Today is my sister's birthday. Just wanted to give her a shout out on my blog.

Me at the KALAMAZOO COUNTY FAIR August 8th, 2013

On the midway and ready for action

Me and "Score," who is
hoping to score some sugar!

Considered riding the big wheel
but ate a snack instead

me and Noel

me and Noel and Score

My dad by the big wheel 

- chris tower - 1308.09 - 12:14