Wow! Two new strips in as many days...I'm on a roll. Here's a somewhat mean spirited strip based on real events. The physical attributes of the object of my desire are somewhat exaggerated, and the warnings weren't as overt in most cases. I wasn't really in a good head-space at the time, and Slash certainly isn't to blame, but as a character in my strip, he's the chance taker, and the one most likely to say, "Sure, why the hell not?".
I've been reading An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories (Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, & True Stories)
Which inspired this:
There are some good strips and stories in the book, but there are also lots of strips that read exactly like the first five panels of the strip above, minus the sixth.
I finished 'Seventh Son of A Seventh Son' for my 'Maiden Bitstrips' series today:
I've also compiled some of my goofier strips into a new series called 'Context is Everthing'. Here's a sample:
And finally, a new 'Otter Disaster' #18 introducing Shinya: Last Call Ninja:
Bitstrips allows other creators to remix strips that you make, if you allow it. I did the strip below titled '...a little better', featuring the small things that make life a little better. It was remixed directly about 17 times, and then there were numerous remixes off those direct remixes. I counted 20 plus strips based off the initial strip here:
Then Bitstripper geokis32 remixed and made a strip called 'Freaky Things' with the little things in life that freak her out:
...so I (and many others) remixed that strip:
The community of creators is one of the really fun things about Bitstrips. For another really funny example of this remix-mania see this series of strips featuring a wickedly eternal staring contest between Dare and Kathi.
I participated yesterday/today in the 24 Hour Comic Challenge at Bitstrips.com and finished my story while also achieving my set goal of at least 144 published comic panels (I did 147) in 19 Hours 20 minutes.
The Comic is titled Perfect Gentleman: A 24 Hour Comic. The title was chosen at random by a Windows Media Player play list. On Friday night I assembled a 24 hour long play list to listen to during the challenge. I had already decided on randomly generating the theme/concept of the comic and while I was pulling together music, I decided that the first song to come up in 'shuffle' mode once the challenge had started would be the name of my comic. The winner was 'Perfect Gentleman' by Helloween from their album Master of the Rings. The strip (other than being a great title) has nothing to do with the song.
It was a great deal of fun to create, and a genuinely rewarding experience. I was pleased with the little romantic comedy story I told, and I was very surprised at how much affection I developed for the characters in such a short time. The biggest surprise was that the main characters I'd created (Sam and Lena) ended up getting pushed to secondary status as a pair of 'sidekick' characters (Nick and Melody) began writing themselves, taking over the focus of the story.
In Scott McCloud's original challenge he suggests 100 panels for a web comic, but Bitstrips automates a lot of time consuming tasks, letting you copy and paste elements so I bumped the panel count from 130-160. I easily hit that target with 4.5 hours to go. Next year I might suggest 140-175 panels, depending on what kind of story being told. All in all a really good time. I'm tired today, but it was worth it. Here now is Episode One of Perfect Gentleman: A 24 Hour Comic-Some Competition:
I am going to participate in 24 Hour Comics Day at Bitstrips.com tomorrow. I have attempted to draft other Bitstrippers to participate as well via a series of strips describing the challenge, giving some tips, and answering questions. A few people have show interest, but I don't know if there will be anyone joining me or not.
I managed an OK Bitstrips version of Somewhere in Time:
and I'm very pleased with my rendition of Aces High:
Based loosely on a recurring conversation I used to have with my buddy Kris.
I'm kinda proud of the motion in this one, with the characters swapping positions over the course of the strip.
So I've managed to do some more Eddie compositions at Bitstrips
My single most viewed strip)
I'm currently trying to figure out how to do 'Somewhere in Time'.
Made in honor of my good friend Kenyon's arrival at Bitstrips:
...and here is Kenyon's first strip:
I posted about the sci-fi comedy Quark, last year about this time, and now it's coming out on DVD. Matthew will be thrilled...
Today on the radio, I heard somebody talking about the possibility that Pilot Steve Fossett faked his own death. That reminded my of a weird conpiracy theory that I posted about on September 7th of last year.
Link to original theory at RMN.
Coincidence? Stay tuned.
Slash 'N' Otter's Curious Keywords is a new strip of mine on Bitstrips inspired by a very, very short series of radio shows(two, maybe three?) I did with Matthew during college, where all the song titles played during the show contained a 'keyword'. We called it Slash and Otter's Keyword Dance Party. The old Ripley's Believe It Or Not! strips provided the remaining inspiration.
Episode #1 Keyword - Paper:
Episode #2 Keyword - Meat:
This sequel to the ever popular OD strip 'Pop Culture Reference' is actually the 10th episode of the series, but due to a quirk in how I published it, it is numbered #9 on the bitstrips site while the previous strip, 'The Name of the Game' is numbered #10.
June has been a busy month, but found some time for a bitstrip today:
I built a reaper in Bitstrips and, with some help from Mrs. Disaster, wrote this strip:
Just to see how it would turn out, I built Iron Maiden's Eddie in Bitstrips. I then decided to create a Bitstripped version of the Number of the Beast album cover. Then I did Piece of Mind, Killers and yesterday I did the cover for Iron Maiden's 1980 self titled release:
Those are the easy ones. With Bitstrips' somewhat limited props, and poses, I'm going to have to get super creative to do Powerslave, Somewhere in Time, 7th Son of a 7th Son and beyond. Stay tuned...
Missle Command is one of my all-time favorite video games, so this is the coolest thing I've seen today:
I wish I had one of these in my living room.
My 2000 Kia Sportage turned over 100,000 miles on my way home from work today. It might not have been the best idea to take a camera phone photo at 60 mile per hour on Interstate 225, but that was when the moment occurred:
It's amazing how giddy you get when all those nines roll away to reveal that one followed by all those zeroes.
More on the Kia and some of my other cars HERE.
14 episodes (the complete series) of the totally awesome British comedy Spaced, are finally going to be released on DVD.
Speculation is that this is being done in advance an (ill-advised, in my opinion) American remake ala The Office.
If you liked Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz, then Spaced will be right up your alley.
I can't wait.
I changed my Blogger template to accomodate the full Bitstrip/Image as opposed to the embedded player. I just think comics should be seen in context with all the panels in their proper place...
Nerve.com and IFC have compiled a list of the 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time Lists like this are always subjective, there are Carol Burnett sketches I prefer over 'Went With the Wind'(#22)for instance, but all in all a good sampling of great sketches.
'$240 Worth of Pudding'(#47) was a source of much joy for me and friend Lee during our college years. I could often be heard saying, ". . .and I'm Barry, Sagittarius."
Charlton Heston died last night. I always liked him as an actor, and his role as George Taylor in Planet of the Apes is one of my favorite perfomances in one of my favorite movies.
Heston also appeared as 'Mike' Vargas in Orson Welles' 1958 noir classic, A Touch of Evil. Another great role in another one of my all-time favorite movies.
When I was very young (and Catholic) I remember watching The Ten Commandments with my family every Easter.
1980's The Mountain Men was one of the first 'R' rated movies I ever saw. My neighbors had a giant KU band satellite dish, and I saw the film on HBO. I don't remember much about the movie save for lots of course languange and a fight scene that (if I remember correctly) had Heston's character taking a bite out of the man with whom he was fighting. I remember loving it, but haven't seen it since.
Since announcing his affliction with Alzheimer's, he hadn't really worked much, but his impact was great, and he leaves a legacy of great films.
Bitstrips, which I blogged about the other day, allows you to create a series of strips under a title. I created Otter Disaster which seems to be a semi-autobiographical strip about my misspent youth.
Here is episode #1:
Via Boing Boing.
Bitstrips is a very cool web tool that allows you to create characters, pose them, and put them in your very own comic strip.
Here is my first strip, and a semi-autobiographical strip from my college years. Any resemblance to people living is entirely intentional:
Ron Paul destroyed Texas Congressional District 14 challenger Chris Peden, by about two votes to one last night. Paul will be unchallenged by a Democrat in November, so Paul will have two more years to be a voice of liberty and reason in the House. With his seat secure, I'm not sure where Paul goes from here, but there are still rumors of a possible Third Party Run.
In other news McCain acquired the necessary delegates to clinch the GOP nomination, and Mike Huckabee started making plans for Election '12.
Hillary won both the Texas and Ohio primaries to keep the Democrat Party nomination up for grabs. Obama looks poised to win the Texas Caucases though, which account for a third of the available delegates in that state. With the proportional distribution of delegates and the remaining primaries, it is unlikely that either Clinton or Obama will clinch the nomination, and the Superdelegates (Strange visitors from another planet?) will be the deciding factor. It will be very interesting to see how this plays out. It could come down to a fight in Denver at the Democratic National Convention.
Major Spoilers has indeed returned from the great beyond.
In their costumes, I'm not sure which one is Stephen and which is Matthew, but I'm glad these fine gentlemen have found their way back to Stately Spoiler Manor.
HERE is the tale of the return. Even though I don't read anywhere near the volume of comics I used to, I still enjoy them, and Matt and Steve's enthusiasm is infectious. Plus, now I know when to look for Nexus #100!
I haven't talked to friend Matthew in quite some time, but it looks like there is something happening with Major Spoilers real soon.
Stephen Schleicher's blog has no clues either. . .
I was always sceptical of Ron Paul's denials of his intent to run as a third party or independent candidate, and felt he was planning for that contingency once any GOP candidate aquired the necessary delegates to get the nomination. It seemed like the natural progression, once there was absolutely zero chance for even a brokered convention.
He announced last night that he will not go third party or independent so that he can run for, and maintain his seat in the House of Representatives. This makes sense to me. He can have at least some influence in the House.
Paul has always said that his movement was about the message and not the man. Part of his intent is to change the face of the Republican Party to truly embrace the principles of limited goverment, and staying in an elected position within that party makes a lot of sense. His presidential run has built a pretty good network of active people who really believe in his message of liberty, limited government, sound money and all the rest. Hopefully those people will stay with the party, move into positions of party leadership, run for office themselves and give liberty a true voice again.
Ron Paul made a deal to help Mike Huckabee win the West Virginia State GOP convention.
Paul was dropped after losing the first ballot(with no candidate getting 51% of the votes) Paul and McCain both threw their support to Huckabee to deny Mitt Romney the win.
In exchange for the votes that put Huckabee over the top, Paul will receive 3 of the 18 Delegates available from West Virginia.
That should bring his delegate total to 9 not counting those earned in Maine or Louisiana.
Reason Magazine's Hit and Run Blog has the details.
More Via the Lew Rockwell Blog
It's been almost three months since I've posted here at Otter Disaster. Work schedule and other real life responsibilities pulled me away from any blogging at all.
I'm once again hoping to blog on something like a regular schedule, maybe a couple of times a week at least.
Today I wanted to blog about Ron Paul again, because Super Duper Tuesday is coming on February 5.
Since I last posted about the election Paul had less than stellar finishes in Iowa, Michingan, South Carolina and especially New Hampshire where expectations were high.
He had two record setting 'Money Bombs' and respectable finishes in the Nevada, Maine and Louisiana Caucuses.
Paul also weathered a scandal concerning racist and controversial comments in a Newsletter from the 90s that bore his name.
He was the top GOP fundraiser in 4th Quarter of 2007, pulling in over $20 Million dollars, helping him outlast Sam Brownback, Duncan Hunter, Fred Thompson, and 'America's Mayor', Rudy Giuliani.
Paul's only hope for the GOP nomination at this point is probably a brokered convention.
Romney and McCain will need to split most of the Super Tuesday states(with a few upsets by Romney), with maybe a suprise win by Huckabee somewhere, and possibly a surprise win by Paul in the Montana caucus and some California districts (where delegates are partly distributed proportionally). Those delegates need to be spread far and wide so that no clear delegate majority exists by the GOP Convention in August. With McCain surging in most polls, a brokered convention is seeming less likely all the time.
In my opinion, Paul will begin to seriously consider a third party/independent run following Super Tuesday. I think he will have to make this decision soon, for fundraising and ballot access reasons, but I think he'll do it. Paul seems dedicated to continuing the fight for the message of his campaign, and once McCain locks up the nomination, Paul will be increasingly marginalized by the media. He can drum up lots of publicity with an indy/3rd party run, and if he polls well enough, he could even find himself in some debates.
I personally hope he makes an indy/3rd party bid, because there is no way I'll vote for McCain, Romney, Clinton or Obama. If Paul doesn't continue his campaign, I'll most likely vote for the LP nominee, as I've done since 1996.
For some reason today I thought of 2 different sketch comedy shows separated by nearly a decade (in my life).
The first was Almost Live! which was produced by KING-TV in Seattle Washington from 1984-1999. I watched it on Comedy Central where it aired from 92 to 93. I think it may have aired in syndication as well, but the Wikipedia article does not mention the show ever being syndicated.
Almost Live! had many memorable recurring characters and sketches including Bill Nye as Speed Walker, a super-hero who speed walks, but does not run, to fight crime.
I also fondly remember the Lame List, which featured Seattle area rockers, including members of Soundgarden, telling us What's Weak This Week.
Mind Your Manners with Billy Quan was a really funny Kung Fu parody. Remember kids, "Be Like Billy!"
But the sketch that summed up Almost Live! most for me was the High Five'n White Guys:
The other sketch comedy show, I recalled today was Turkey Television, which aired almost a decade earlier than the Almost Live! episodes I watched in college. It was on Nickelodeon for one season in 1985-86. I had hoped to find a treasure trove of Turkey TV sketches on Youtube, but I was only able to dig up the opens:
I fondly remember watching Turkey Televison along with the much beloved You Can't Do That On Televison when I would get home from school. This show was on during my 7th grade year, which coincided with the first time in my life I had Cable TV.
Here is the IMDB entry.
Here are a few screen captures.
When I was in college in the early 90s I worked at my college radio station KFHS (600 AM at the time, now you can listen online), at Fort Hays State University.
We used to run a series of PSA's called 'Tips on Life' that would talk about various uh, tips on life.
One unusual 'Tips on Life' PSA concerned a chimpanzee named Washoe that had learned some American Sign Language. The PSA described how Roger Fouts, a graduate student that worked with Washoe had taught her a sign for his name. When he would deny her requests for food, she would combine his name with the sign for feces and call him 'Feces Roger' as an insult. I found this PSA endlessly amusing at the time and played it as often as I could reasonably get away with. At one point I even drew a fake album cover featuring a band called Washoe and the Opposable Thumbs featuring their latest single Feces Roger, and pasted it up in the control room.
Washoe died on Tuesday of natural causes (she was 42).
More on Washoe at Friends of Washoe.
Cool-ass comic review site Major Spoilers is no more.
I don't read the volume of comics I once did, but this site along with the always entertaining Progressive Ruin were my window on the comics world.
I've known Stephen and Matthew since college, and both are extremely creative individuals and their daily perspective on the 4 color world will be missed.
I understand the pressures of a paying job and a loving family that can make daily blogging difficult. Since my schedule change at the end of September, my posts here have really tapered off. Major Spoilers had A LOT of daily content. Multiple reviews and news items were posted daily. I can't imagine the amount of time and energy required to put that site together day to day. An impressive feat by two impressive guys writing about what they love. I wish I could put together a quarter of the content in a week they managed in a day.
Hope to see something again from you guys soon. You don't have to be so amibitious next time, just give us something to entertain, and inform even if it's just a couple days a week.
The Cleveland Okie has a nice post with an interview of Mike Shea, the son of Illuminatus! co-author Robert Shea. The interview mentions the eight appendices reported to have been removed from the original appendices of Illuminatus!, as well as the book 'Bride of Illuminatus' which was an unfinished sequel to the original to be co-written by Shea and Wilson. Oh what might have been. . .
Speaking of Illuminatus! the always cool blog, Damn Interesting, has a nice post on the Assassins.
Via Reason Magazine's Hit and Run Blog:
Will Stephen Colbert's Presidential exploration poach Ron Paul supporters?
And Radley Balko warns that Hillary Clinton may be the best option for Republicans looking to continue the foreign policy of George W. Bush.
Denver is looking at freezing temperatures tonight and possibly snow tomorrow, so I picked the last of the veggies from the garden. Here is some of the harvest:
A few ripe tomatoes, the last two cabbages, a good bunch of jalapenos, a few radishes planted for fall harvest, and a really nice pumpkin. I also cut all the remaining tomatoes and left them on bits of vine hoping they will ripen and have a little flavor. Once they ripen, I'll quarter them and dry them in the oven. That is a pretty easy way to preserve them for long term storage while maintaining the flavor.
I still have some beets in the ground that I planted for a late harvest, but they really aren't ready. Friend Paul of the 5K Garden tells me you can cover them and they will winter over for spring, so I'm going to give that a try. Right now I have them covered with some cabbage leaves, but once I get the front yard raked I'll add some leaves to the coverage as well.
Aside from the beets, I've cleared both of the square foot beds and they are pretty well cleaned up for winter. Once I pull in all the pumpkins from my traditional beds I'll clean up the vines and try to get the compost pile ready to go in earnest.
All in all a fairly successful garden, especially considering the adoption of the Square Foot method for the first time, and a work schedule in mid-late summer that led to some neglect of the garden during some of the hottest periods of the year.
I was really pleased with my spinach, carrots, pumpkins, jalapenos, radishes, cabbages and onions. The cucumbers were also fairly successful. I didn't have much success with my green beans, and I think I've made my final attempt at growing green peppers. Year after year I end up with small, tough, and bitter peppers. I might give the green beans one more shot next year.
My attempt to get a second harvest of red radishes, icicle radishes, spinach and carrots was mostly a failure, again due to work pressures that led to late season neglect of the garden. I got a few radishes, pulled today, and the carrots never even sprouted.
My tomatoes were sort of a mixed bag. I didn't seem to have the sheer amount of tomatoes I've had in years past, and the fruit was smaller on average I think. I also had a problem in the SFG beds of large dark spots on the bottom of the fruit. I'd read that can be caused by calcium deficiency in the soil, but I specifically amended the soil for that because of the same issue last year in my traditional beds. It could be that I was overwatering, or there might be some other deficiency in my SFG soil mixture.
As for the Square Foot Gardening method as a whole, I was mostly pleased. It is a very organized way of putting the garden together and it does allow a lot of plants in a limited space. I may have used the wrong combination of compost or something, because while some plants flourished (Cabbages and radishes), others struggled as if they needed something extra (tomatoes, green peppers, beets). I will have to find a good compost, or amend the soil with some nutrients for next year. I'm also going to do a couple of deeper beds using the SFG method, specifically for potatoes, carrots and other root vegetables.
For the complete rundown on my Square Foot Garden for 2007 you can see all my posts on the subject HERE.
I finally watched one of the DVR'd episodes of ABC's Cavemen the night before last.
It was truly awful. I gave several segments the 'ol :30 second skip just to ease the pain. Not funny. Not at all. The commercials on which the show is based showed the Cavemen being discriminated against, and that was where a lot of the humor of those spots emerged.
The show has one caveman character(Joel) who has a good job as a middle manager type in an IKEA type store, and a really hot girlfriend. He actually convinces his boss to hire Nick, another caveman, to come work at the store when a couple of employees are fired for having intimate relations in the store. Nick gets himself fired for gross incompetence(with unknown assistance from Joel). Not thick-skulled caveman incompetence, but arrogant a-hole incompetence. Once fired Nick cries discrimination and tries to sue, but the true reason for his termination
Friend Suz set this email:
This quiz is pretty interesting. My top scorer wasn't who I thought it would be.
Now I have to find out who Dennis Kucinich is...
Ha!
SuzDon't know who to vote for? Check out this quiz.
This may not be the best way to select your choice for President, but it has one strong reason in its favor: it tells you which candidates support your own opinions, whether you are a Democrat or Republican. No political message here except your own. Of course, Presidential candidates have been known to change their minds after they win elections!
The following is an interesting exercise.... You answer a few questions then click the "find your candidate button" and the program selects the candidate who's position on the issues is most like your own... You may be surprised at what you find...Click the link below....
http://www.wqad.com/Global/link.asp?L=259460
 | |||
 | Sam Brownback Score: 38 | Agree Iraq Taxes Stem-Cell Research Health Care Social Security Line-Item Veto Energy Death Penalty | Disagree Immigration Abortion Marriage |
-- Take the Quiz! -- | |||
Interesting test.
My top candidate was Sam Brownback(Score of 38) whom I've actually met and think is a pile of crap!
Ron Paul was my number 2 choice in the test(Score of 33), but far and away my candidate of choice based on lots of issues that were not addressed in the test. My bottom candidates(tied)were Hillary, Edwards and Obama. I think that there were not enough questions to be completely accurate, but I guess my guy was in the top 2 so there must be a certain level of credibility to it.
I did notice that on a lot of the questions where I agreed with Brownback were issues where I put the importance as low(Energy, Line Item, Social Security).
Also it flagged me as agreeing with Brownback on Federal funding of Stem-Cell research(against), but his reasons are generally religious, while mine have more to do with government's role in things of that nature and my belief that private industry is better at that sort of thing anyway.
Plus, I don't like the idea of government essentially picking and choosing what research is valid or important, by granting or not granting funding. I have similar feelings about alternative energy research, but as a matter of national security(and possibly keeping us out of oil wars in the future) I feel energy policy is more in line with the responsibilities of government(general welfare and common defense from the Preamble of the Constitution).
Galactica's final season is almost here.
Check out the awesome Sci-Fi Channel teaser:
I'm really looking forward to this and hope that the creators can pull off a satisfying conclusion to a really great series.
Mrs. Disaster and I watched the first two episodes of NBC's Chuck yesterday. You can catch both eps online here.
Once again Mrs. Disaster was sold quicker than I was. Perhaps I've become jaded after numerous disappointments over the years, but I really need a show to prove itself to me these days. The wife thought it was charming, but she has a certain affinity for geeks(see her pop culture/gardening/metal/politics blogger husband).
The show was pretty funny, and the concept has legs. The lovable loser element, mixed with the super spy genre works well here. Chuck as a character(portrayed by Zachary Levi), is likable, and it's easy to root for him. The supporting cast is fun too, and any show with Adam Baldwin (as the murder minded John Casey) earns cool points in my book. Yvonne Strzechowski as the mysterious female lead/love interest, Sarah, hasn't completely sold me yet, but I don' hate her either. Joshua Gomez plays Chuck's sidekick, Morgan. He's playing an archetype, the even nerdier sidekick to a nerd, and reminds me a bit of the type of characters portrayed by Seth Green. That's not necessarily a bad thing though.
The Disaster family will definitely be catching episode 3(or at least DVRing it) on Monday. Jury still out, but looking pretty good.
I watched the premier episode of ABC's Pushing Daisies. I liked it, I guess, Mrs. Disaster was a bigger fan. It immediately reminded me of a Tim Burton movie, with the fairy tale narration, supersaturated colors, and of course the grim premise of a man who can bring the dead back to life.
The cast was fine and the writing was sharp and funny. I'm not sure what bothered me about it. Perhaps I'm not sure if the concept can stay interesting over multiple episodes, it almost seems like a better idea for a feature film.
I'll definitely watch again to see if I am right or wrong about the longevity of the show's premise.
No Series Record yet. The jury is still out on this one for me.
Representative Ron Paul, of Texas, continues to surprise his critics.
He raised $5.08 Million in the 3rd quarter of 2007. That amount nearly doubles his 2nd quarter take. Increased fundraising means a continued campaign and it also means growing support.
Paul remains a long shot contender for the White House, but he still has more money in the bank than "top tier" candidate John McCain(for the second quarter in a row no less).
With the amount of cash he has available he can continue to campaign, staying in the debates and frustrating the hell out of all of his critics. In debate after debate he is the only GOP candidate that truly stands out from the status quo supporting field.
Increased fundraising also means other people(and the press) will pay more attention to his campaign and the message it brings.
Reason Magazine's Hit and Run Blog has a really good roundup of Paul's Q3 fundraising success and what it means for his campaign:
The week's politics including fundraising news for both the Dems and the GOP.
Reactions to Paul's success.
The Five Million Dollar Man.
Well, I've had the DVR working overtime to catch as many new shows as I can. This post from a couple weeks back listed some shows I'd read about and was eagerly anticipating.
I have the first 2 episodes of Chuck on the DVR, but have yet to watch. I'll file a report as soon as I watch. Same goes for Bionic Woman (2nd episode airs tonight).
I apparently missed the first episode of Fox's Back To You, and DVR'd the second. It doesn't really matter though, because I doubt I'll watch this show again. Aside from a pretty funny gag about a series of unfortunate goldfish, most of the jokes were pretty flat, and Kelsey Grammar and Patricia Heaton have no real chemistry.
Aliens In America earned a Series Record on the DVR with it's pilot episode last night. I was truly impressed. I have a soft spot for underdog geek stories (I still mourn the loss of Freaks and Geeks), and this one is no exception. If subsequent episodes of this show hold up to the promise of the first episode this could become my favorite new show of the year.
Pushing Daisies premieres tonight, and I'm hoping to catch it as it airs(what a novel concept).
DVR'd Cavemen last night(in the 'to be watched' pile), and caught the pilot episode of Carpoolers. It was a decent single camera comedy with an ensemble cast, and nowhere near as bad as some reviews I've read(unless future episodes begin to suck out loud). Sliders' Jerry O'Connell is probably the show's weakest link among a pretty decent cast. T.J. Miller as Marmaduke Brooker(a character as big and dumb as his name implies)brought a smile to my face every time he lumbered across the screen.
Another show that is not as bad as some have reported is CBS' Big Bang Theory. I read one review calling this the worst new fall show, but it it leaps and bounds more entertaining than Back to You. Not a great sitcom, by any stretch, but it has it's strengths. Jim Parsons as the socially inept and hyper nerdy Sheldon is simply a blast. We're talking Kramer/Fonz level scene stealing here. If the show survives expect big things from Parsons. Johnny Galecki is not as enjoyable as Leonard, and the show's would-be romantic lead. Parson's geekiness is effortless on the part of the actor, while Galecki's performance seems forced. The rest of the cast is OK. We'll see if this one holds up over the season.
CW's Reaper has also earned a Series Record after it's second episode last night.
Via Tvtattle.com
Sci Fi Channel's wonderfully quirky Eureka has been picked up for a third season. Season 2 is just winding down. The first season was a little uneven at times, but this season has been great. The writers seem to have grasped all the characters and how they interact so that the show feels more natural. The show has been consistently funny, and the season long story arc has been told within the episodes, but hasn't overridden the stand alone stories of each episode. Glad to hear it will be back for another season.
If you watch NBC's the Office, like I know I do, then you've seen Creed Bratton who also used to be in 60s rock act the Grass Roots. The Scranton Times-Tribune has a nice profile of the actor and how he got involved with the Office.
Finally in some really good casting news, Cynthia Watros will be returning in some flashback episodes of Lost this season. I've been a fan of Cynthia's since she played the rather psychotic Annie Dutton on the CBS soap opera Guiding Light(I worked afternoons at a CBS affiliate and watched the show daily). She was great on Titus, and appeared regularly on the Drew Carey Show for a while. I felt the death of her character, Libby on Lost left a lot of unanswered questions about her relationship with Hurley. Hopefully her episodes this season will fill in some of the blanks.
I have all of the shows from this post that have premiered sitting on my DVR. I have yet to get to any of them (see previous post).
One new show that I did catch is the CW's Reaper. It's high concept(what if your parents sold your soul to the devil and now you have to work for him) with a pretty good cast, and solid writing(at least for the pilot) Ray Wise is delightfully evil as 'the Devil' and has the oily presence necessary to portray the Prince of Darkness. Zambonis will never be the same for me.
I DVR'd the pilot episode and I thought it was great. Mrs. Disaster enjoyed it a great deal as well. I'll definitely be watching this, and I recommend it to fans of Buffy/Angel.
Here is CW's 5 minute trailer for the show:
The Andi character was apparently recast with actress Missy Peregrym (the illusion caster from last season's Heroes) as a different girl appears in the role in the trailer. That happens sometimes I guess. . .
Due to a life changing, but very good, development at work Otter Disaster has been a bit neglected for several weeks.
I took a new position at work, so my weekly schedule has undergone a major upheaval. Instead of working 3pm to 11pm Wednesday through Sunday I am now working 6am to 2pm Monday through Friday (which means I leave my house by 5:15). While this is a much better schedule for spending time with Mrs. and Little Disater it is taking a little adjustment.
I am hoping once I get into the rhythm of my new job I'll be able to post on a more regular basis. I finally do have something in mind to replace Finntroll Friday, but with my new schedule it might be more a weekend thing. Stay tuned...
Via Hit and Run:
The Deseret Morning News reports that in a speech at a Utah fundraiser, Ron Paul reiterated that he will not make a third party bid for the presidency if he does not get the GOP Nomination.
I'll just have to write his name in, I guess.
The New Fall Season is nearly upon us once again. This used to be one of the high points of my year. I'd go out and buy the Fall TV Preview Issue of TV Guide, and survey the exciting new shows coming to my favorite networks.
This excitement has been diminished over recent years as Mid-Season Replacements, Late Premiers, Summer Series, Reality Shows, and various Game/Talent shows have peppered themselves all over the TV landscape along with myriad basic and premium cable series, that only run 10-13 episodes per season. Seasons don't mean what they used to.
Nonetheless, the OFFICIAL Fall TV Season is imminent, and I'm mildly excited about it. I haven't really heard buzz for any show that just demands that I check it out, but I'm sure(armed with my DVR) that I'll be sampling the numerous offerings.
Reading through TeeVee.net's list of premieres, I'm interested in:
Chuck, about a geek who gets involved in the spy game
Back to You, about Kelsey Grammar as a news anchor returning to his old station
(working in television, I have a weakness for tv shows about tv shows)
Bionic Woman, an update of the late 70s Lindsay Wagner vehicle, now starring Michelle Ryan & Katee Sackhoff(of Battlestar Galactica) Sounds like this show will have a government conspiracy undercurrent, which has become a really tired element to most current science fiction shows.
Aliens in America, about a Pakistani foreign exchange student.
Pushing Daisies, about a kid who can return the dead to life with a single touch.
Maybe I'll do some mini-reviews/commentary on these shows once they've aired.
In the 'I want to watch for the trainwreck factor' is ABC's Cavemen show, based on a mildly amusing series of Geico insurance commercials. I can't imagine how this show, allegedly about race, won't be a disaster, but I want to see just how big the crash will be. I predict it will be cancelled in five episodes or less.
For all your indispensable TV news and commentary check out TeeVee.net and tvtattle.com. Both are required reading a couple of times a week, especially during the new tv season.
It's been a while since posting about my SFG, but the Disaster Family has been enjoying fresh tomatoes and cucumbers for several weeks now. Fall radishes and beets will arrive shortly, as long as we don't have an early freeze. Might get a last harvest of spinach as well. Things will probably be moving into the cleanup/winterize stage very soon. I'm going to pull in a really nice harvest of pumpkins soon as well, and will be able to give some of them away I imagine. Once the first freeze comes, I'll probably do a nice long post-mortem post on my first year of Square Foot Gardening.
It's been much cooler here in Denver over the last week, and today it's overcast, rainy and cool. This weather presents the perfect late summer opportunity to throw together some of my harvest with some ground beef and pork, some spices, and a little chili powder to make a delicious chili soup.
Here's some of the harvest destined for the stew:
I always love that first batch of chili when the weather finally cools down, especially when I get to use my very own, home grown ingredients.
My recipe is fairly simple:
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1 or 2 onions chopped
1 or 2 green peppers chopped
2 or 3 Anaheim peppers chopped
2 to 6 jalapeno peppers (amount to your particular taste)chopped/sliced
5 or 6 small or 2 to 3 large tomatoes chopped (or a can of stewed tomatoes if fresh not available.
A spoonful or so of minced garlic
2 cans of refried beans (Mrs. Disaster can't stand whole beans, and this solution actually makes a nice smooth soup, which is really nice for using leftovers on chili dogs)
Salt, black pepper, crushed red pepper, cumin, and chili powder to taste (Or just throw in the store brand chili seasoning packet from your local grocer)
Throw the whole mess into a slow cooker and cook on low heat for 4-5 hours.
Eat.
Via the entertaining, weirdly cool, often bizarre, and oddly informative Rumor Mill News, comes a wild theory concerning the alleged hacking of the Pentagon by the Chinese and Missing pilot/adventurer Steve Fossett.
The theory suggests that Fossett is not missing, but merely hiding while the US Government searches for a missing nuke from the well publicized flight of 5 nukes from North Dakota to Louisiana. The theory suggests that Chinese Hackers, in hacking the Pentagon may have created the orders to get those nuclear weapons on that B-52 and that a 6th weapon may be missing.
The thread at Rumor Mill News suggests other possible dots to connect in this puzzle.
If Fossett shows up alive in the next few days, with a dramatic story of crash and survival my paranoia meter is probably going to redline, and my head might explode.
Via Neatorama
Internet People, is a song and video by Dan Meth and Micah Frank summing up ultra-forwarded and mega-linked Internet videos, animations, and memes.
Covers most of the bases (All Your Base Are Belong To Us), but leaves out personal favorites Kenya and Magical Trevor at weebls-stuff.com Plus no LOLCats?
Glenn Beck often talks about the 'fact' that he is a "libertarian at heart," but he is not. Today he said he, "wants to be a libertarian," but he does not. These statements come from someone who doesn't really understand the libertarian position.
He was going off about Ron Paul's debate performance, and he's a harsh critic of Paul's. Beck doesn't like Paul's approach to foreign policy and the war in Iraq, and that is fine. He's entitled to be critical of Paul, certainly, but he should really be a more informed critic when it comes to Paul's libertarianism.
Beck claimed Ron Paul said that he (Paul) would eliminate the CIA, FBI and the IRS. The debate moderator said those things of Paul. That doesn't mean Paul has never suggested eliminating them(he has said he'd like to eliminate the IRS, and has talked about reforming the CIA, I've never heard him talk about the FBI), but it was the moderator and not Paul saying them at the debate last night. Beck inaccurately put those words in Paul's mouth last night.
To Beck's credit he did say it was inappropriate for Giuliani to audibly laugh during Paul's responses, and I agree. I wasn't sure it was Giuliani, but whoever it was showed a real lack of manners and decorum.
After his discussion of the debate he went into his (oft repeated) shtick about how he likes libertarianism, considers himself a libertarian 'at heart, and 'wants' to be one, but just can't because the country lacks the morality(?). I guess he believes that 'morality' can be successfully dictated and enforced by government action (see Prohibition, Prostitution, the War on Drugs, and on and on).
His arguments tend to lean in the direction that all libertarians are essentially anarchists, and that if they were in charge(an oxymoron?) we'd have heroin addicts littering the streets (a very accurate paraphrase from a month or so ago). Beck is essentially, and commendably a free market conservative with Neo-Con leanings (especially when it comes to foreign policy and Israel), who, for some reason likes to associate himself with the term libertarian.
He obviously doesn't even remotely understand the arguments against the War on Drugs, or the idea that decriminalization and privatized treatment via charities, churches and other private sector solutions would probably take more heroin users off the streets than current government run solutions.
If he really 'wants' to be libertarian, then he should try to understand the libertarian position better, so he doesn't sound like such an ass when he talks about it.
Ron Paul finally showed some real fire in his belly in last night's New Hampshire GOP debate. It was nice to see him showing some passion about his war position, and reiterating that the American people are not at fault over 9-11 and the Iraq war, but that those problems are the fault of bad and/or failed governmental policy.
Ron Paul continues to be a refreshing voice as the only anti-war Republican, while the rest of the candidates seem to be fighting over the degree to which the 'surge' is, or is not working, but essentially all hold the same position: Let's Stay in Iraq.
He also seems to be losing patience with accusations, suggestions, and not so veiled jabs that he is more or less an al-Qaeda sympathizer. He is responding very passionately to these jabs, and making the point that an administration with tunnel vision, and a crappy foreign policy is to blame and not Joe Six-pack, average American.
YouTube user ScanningTheWaves, edited together Mr. Paul's responses and exchanges into a single clip (try not to pay attention to the lip sync problem):
Someone with an open mic laughed audibly a number of times at Paul, which I found rather curious.
Paul seemed to have some good support for his positions in the crowd and got some good applause and cheers. The crowd as a whole seemed pretty passionate, and he got a fair share of boos and jeers as well.
Reason Magazine's David Weigel has a rundown of the debate as it happened last night.
Following last weekend's Texas Straw Poll (Paul finished 3rd) he was interviewed by Neo-Con Talk Radio Host Hugh Hewitt.
I used to listen to Hewitt regularly, but over time, found him to be a Hannity-style apologist for all things Republican Party. He's a Bush guy, and from most reports is now firmly in the Mitt Romney camp. Hewitt was also a big supporter of the swiftboaters against John Kerry (I found the behavior of both sides in that brou-ha-ha equally repugnant), and railed against Kerry for his flip-flopping. One of the main criticisms of Romney is how he has flipped on numerous issues to position himself farther on the right.
Just wanted to give you a little background on the man with the mic. All of the above considered, he's reasonably fair with Ron Paul in this interview:
Hat tip to Reason's Hit and Run.
