My Week In Comics 8-25-10

Since I may take a day trip to either Wildwood or Atlantic City tomorrow, so I can have a walk along a boardwalk before the summer ends, I need to crank this out.

Action Comics 892: Part 3 of "The Black Ring," in which Lex Luthor finds a piece of an energy source for the Black Lantern rings -- in Antarctica -- but the energy has strange effects on anyone who gets near it. While this Superman-less Luthor tale is intriguing, of more interest to me is a few pages at the end: a preview of the new ongoing Superboy series (to debut in November), which looks to be really fun and weird.

Superman: Secret Origin 6 (of 6): This miniseries was beset by delays, so it's been some time since the last one. It finishes on a good note, and it will probably be more enjoyable to sit and read the entire thing from start to finish, even if in a few years they make yet more adjustments to Superman's origin story.


Superman/Batman 75: It's a milestone issue, they've decided. Not issue 100 or 500 or (in the case of Action Comics in 8 months or so) 900, but important enough to add extra pages. The main story, I think, just might tie into the most recent storyline, and guest-stars the Legion of Super-Heroes. The rest of it consists of nine two-page spreads, paying homage in various ways to the World's Finest heroes. One that's really clever features

Stewart Bradley, Scissor Sisters and Me

What a nice day on my Twitter feed. I got a reply to my tweet to the Eagles' Stewart Bradley (I've written about him before)...

Then, a few minutes ago, I checked the list of my followers and found a new addition. You may recall that the other day I got to see the Scissor Sisters do a half-hour free concert for radio. That night, I found them on Twitter -- I had been following Jake Shears already but not the group -- and, sadly, found out that they held a Twitter giveaway for tickets to their show here. If only I had followed them 24 hours earlier! D'oh! Despite that, I decided to follow them -- and they're now following me back! I have another celebrity follower!

Okay, there are probably PR people or something doing a lot of the tweets, but still, it's the band's Twitter and it's a Verified Account, so it counts!

My iTunes Fits This Definition

In lieu of an iTunes shuffle baker's dozen, I give you a word of the day!

ca·coph·o·ny / kəˈkäfənē / Noun: A harsh, discordant mixture of sounds: "a cacophony of deafening alarm bells"; "a cacophony of architectural styles"

Being a bit frustrated by the lack of variety that the iTunes shuffle comes up with, I tried something different. I made a playlist of all the tracks that I haven't played this year (since I reset the count at the beginning of 2010). While I am listening to songs that haven't played before, within that playlist there still is a lack of variety -- songs from the same album or artist are still being played fairly close together. Right now, on a whim, instead of the shuffle mode I'm playing them in order of track length, from shortest to longest.

So basically it's things such as sound bites from cartoons (Bugs Bunny asking the immortal question, "What's Up, Doc?"), various spoken interludes from Janet Jackson albums (and others), quotes from "The Osbournes" TV show that were included on the "Osbournes Family Album" CD -- who can forget Ozzy saying "I love you all, I love you more than life itself, but you're all f--king mad!"), very short instrumentals in a handful of cases, some comedy bits from Joe Conklin...I ask you, is this not a cacophony?

I'm almost up to the tracks that are at least a minute long now. Eventually, if I continue to play the tracks in this order, it will be just a bunch of short songs. Somehow, that's a little sad.

Random Insomniac Ramblings

I'm up late (and will probably be up all night since I had major trouble dragging myself out of bed today), so...

• If you haven't seen the links I posted on Twitter and Facebook, check out Jersey Circus -- a hilarious melding of "Jersey Shore" lines with the "Family Circus" comic strip. Here's a sample:

• The weather is heating up again. It's supposed to be in the 90s all week. The humidity isn't supposed to increase until around Wednesday, which may be a problem. I fear my central air system needs maintenance, since the last time I had it on the air blowing from the vents didn't seem very cool at all. Problem with this is I can't afford said maintenance right now. Luckily, we've had a stretch where it's been nice enough that, at worst, I've had to use a fan. This coming week concerns me, though. It's good that summer is almost over, except that means winter's coming, and you know how I hate winter cold.

• I've watched very little of the Eagles exhibition games. I planned to watch the first three quarters of Friday's game at Kansas City, because the next-to-last exhibition game is the one where the starters get the most playing time. In the early games they don't play much; in the final exhibition they may be on for a handful of plays at most. So this is the one game where you can get some sense of where things stand for the upcoming season. Plus, with the game starting at 8 and the Phillies' game in San Diego not starting until 10, it set up the evening perfectly.
  
  Unfortunately, I fell asleep in front of the TV not long after 8 and missed a good chunk of the football. (This explains my off-kilter sleep schedule.) From what I've read, though, the defense seems much improved from last year but the offensive line is something of a mess, which is part of the reason for the struggles by Kevin Kolb and the first-team offense. It will be an interesting season nonetheless. Maybe not a great season, but interesting.

• Speaking of football and interesting, ex-Eagle Shawn Andrews has signed with the Giants and is posting to Twitter for the first time in months. How we've missed entries like this:

• Yes, I am still thinking of the podcast idea I've mentioned. That's another money issue. There's a site that I would use to host it but the plan I figure I would need would cost $15.00 per month. (See above reference to centrail air re: affordability.) So, until I feel comfortable with the expenditure or I had a sponsor (and how cool would that be? "The Joe in Philly Experience: The Podcast! is brought to you by..."), it's on hold for now.

• Coming attractions: I do need to write up this week's comic book purchases. (I ended up with 7 after doing some browsing at things I wasn't expecting to buy.) I haven't seen any movies in over a week. I hope to see one or two this week. Other than that, who knows? Something will inspire me, I'm sure.

I'll leave things there for now. As always, I'd love some feedback on my blog -- some suggestions or some requests or something. Or ask me a question.

Scissor Sisters: Free At Noon

Local public radio station WXPN has a free concert series. Fridays at noon, at their cool little World Cafe Live venue, an artist does a half-hour show which is broadcast on WXPN (and the shows are archived by NPR at their website). Today's show featured the fantastic Scissor Sisters, who were in town for a concert tonight, when I learned about this Free at Noon show, I signed up to be in attendance. All I had to do was not oversleep. If you know me, you know that this is a problem occasionally.

I didn't oversleep. YAY!

I was surprised when I got there because the room wasn't full. It never completely filled up, though there was a decent crowd. The band performed seven songs, starting with "Any Which Way" from their new album "Night Work." I used my phone's camcorder to record the next song, "Laura." Quality's not really good, though.



"Whole New Way," "Take Your Mama," "Fire with Fire," "Comfortably Numb" and "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'" finished off the show. From what I've read, the full concert is much wilder. Wish I could've seen that, but at least I got a little taste. You can listen to today's show here.

Some Phillies Stuff

See the seats at the top of this picture, the ones above the Ashburn Alley area of the concourse at Citizens Bank Park? Those are the Rooftop Bleachers, so named because they're inspired by the bleachers people had on top of their houses on 20th Street in order to see inside the old Connie Mack Stadium.

And I'll be sitting up there on September 3rd when the Phillies play the Milwaukee Brewers. A while back they posted a link to a special "Social Media Night" promotion on their Twitter feed: buy a ticket in this section for $20 (normally they sell for $28) and not only would they throw in a $10 food/souvenir credit, but you get a Phillies t-shirt with the phrase "Life is Tweet." Ha. I couldn't resist.

So if you're going to that game be sure to let me know. We can meet up, and I'll be sure to post to Twitter and Facebook and maybe blog about it. ;-) I don't know if that Social Media promotion is still running, but that night is also Latino Family Celebration night as part of Hispanic Heritage Month, and there's a discount available at Phillies.com.

I took that picture on Monday, when I was at the game as part of the Gay Community Night contingent.

Oh, Waiter... (NSFW?)

The photo below contains rear nudity, so if you're squeamish or can get in trouble for looking at it, be forewarned...

GOP Honcho: Yep, I'm Gay!

Good grief...

Ken Mehlman, President Bush's campaign manager in 2004 and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, has told family and associates that he is gay.

Well, yay for him. After doing damage for years to the cause of equality, he gets to benefit from the shifting tides that are leading to it. Maybe it'll help change some of the minds of his powerful Republican friends. Even one or two would be nice, though I won't hold my breath. Still, I'm not going to throw him a coming-out party.

Have to love the...diversity...in the comments by two of my friends who posted links on Facebook to the Towleroad story on this topic. Point-counterpoint! First up:

Oh for fuck sake...what, are we supposed to cheer and forget about how he used homophobia and gay marriage as wedge issue to win elections? Fuck this prick!

On the other hand:

(I'm) thrilled that Ken Mehlman has chosen to live openly.

California Math = Lindsay Is Free

Answer the following question:

90 is equivalent to:

a. 13 (as in, Lindsay Lohan was released from jail after serving 13 days of a 90-day sentence)
b. 23 (as in, Lindsay Lohan was released from court-ordered rehab after 23 days of a scheduled 90-day treatment)
c. All of the above

The correct answer is, of course, c.

Thanks, California! My kids will never be able to give the correct change at McDonald's! (Except when the register tells them the amount to give, which is all the time unless the computer system's down. Plus, my kids don't go to school in California. Or anywhere else.)

My Week In Comics 8-18-10

Perhaps it was because I sat on a bench in Rittenhouse Square reading these books on an overcast but not unpleasant afternoon (and finished them all just before it began to shower, ending my stint on the park bench). But I was at least reasonably pleased with all of these...

Supergirl 55: The battle between Supergirl and her Bizarro duplicate continues. The biggest problem with writing Bizarros is consistency. Sometimes it's clear that when they're talking Bizarro-speak, what they're saying is a complete opposite: "Me am ugly" means "I am pretty." Other times, they're speaking and there's no opposite meaning, although the language is still pretty fractured, as in a scene on the first page of this book, going back six weeks to a situation on Bizarro World where Bizarro Lois says, "You am greatest hero of Bizarro World, Bizarro #1, and now am your time to shine!" Anyway, Bizarro World is in great danger and that's why Bizarro-Girl ended up in Metropolis, and Supergirl has her hands full.

Batman Beyond 3 (of 6): The murderer who's attacking old Batman villains has been dubbed Hush, and we don't know if he's somehow connected to the original Hush, but he sure seems to know a lot about Bruce Wayne and Batman. In this issue, Bruce and the new Batman, Terry McGinnis, are really at odds, and Bruce has an unusual solution. Meanwhile, we see a bit of Terry's life out of the costume, and it's not going so well either.

Simpsons Comics 169: Meet Brad, a new kid in Bart's class. Bart takes Brad under his devilish little wing, but soon things take a bad turn...for Bart. Remember "Single White Female"? Sort of like that...

Comic Book Guy: The Comic Book 2 (of 5): Comic Book Guy is dead! And his eulogy is delivered by Stan Lee, who's in a rush: "I have to be on the set of 'X-Men 5: X in the City' in an hour!" (That's a movie I want to see!) That means there's a new owner of his store, and lots of changes. Also, suddenly the Internet is rife with "full, interesting conversations" instead of "mean sarcastic remarks." That's a crisis that is addressed by two characters not seen since "The Simpsons Movie" -- Russ Cargill and President Schwarzenegger!

Why Aren't My Softball Games Like This?

I soooooo loved this the first time I saw it...



Oh, Scott Thompson...which reminds me, I did finally watch the first two episodes of the new Kids in the Hall miniseries, "Death Comes To Town." If you like KITH you'll enjoy it. The first episode was a bit slow but it picked up in the second. (The series is eight half-hour episodes. Two air each Friday at 10 pm ET on IFC.)

True Blood: Too Gay? Or Not Gay Enough?

It seems that the "controversy" over Eagles offensive lineman Todd Herremans and his Twitter comment on the "barrage of homosexuality" on the HBO show "True Blood" has died down. These things generally do go away when a person issues an apology in a situation like this. Whether or not the apology is sincere, when it's issued -- and especially if it's issued quickly, as Herremans did -- the public and the media runs off to other stories. Only Twitter seems to want to keep the story alive in my mind, as it keeps recommending I follow him, and I keep ignoring it.

Those who took no offense whatsoever and became indignant at anyone who did, or who blamed the media, usually made the point that Herremans was only expressing his opinion about the show. So when I read this column at AfterElton.com the other day, I couldn't help but wonder if the writer and Todd Herremans were watching two different shows.

Again I have to point out that I've never watched "True Blood," so I can only go by what was written in the column. I'll quote the section that specifically refers to "True Blood," as the column discusses a number of topics. It begins with a discussion of full-frontal male nudity in films (the topic in question referenced in the first line of the quote)...

Quick Review: Vampires Suck

These spoof movies are so hit-and-miss. "Meet the Spartans," "Date Movie," "Epic Movie," "Disaster Movie," "Superhero Movie," etc. are cheaply made, mostly featuring a bunch of no-name actors, and there are usually jokes and sight gags about almost anything, not just the genre they're spoofing. The latest, "Vampires Suck," a lampooning of the "Twilight" movies, also lacks production values and acting prowess (the biggest "stars" are Diedrich Bader as Bella's...I mean, Becca's father, and Dave Foley as the school principal. (Speaking of Dave Foley, the new Kids in the Hall miniseries "Death Comes To Town" premiered on IFC tonight. I'll let you know what I think after I watch it.) The humor, however, isn't quite as unfocused. It takes square aim at all three "Twilight" movies, with only a couple of references to other vampire-related entertainment, and some jokes at the expense of other current pop culture attention-getters. There are moments when I laughed hysterically, and others where the jokes fall flat. Here's a clip of one scene that could've been really funny but is so cheesy (and stereotyping) that it ultimately was annoying:



On the whole, however, the fact that they focused so closely on "Twilight" helped. If you hate all things "Twilight," or are just confused by the popularity of it all, you may get something of a kick out of this. My grade: B-minus.

Quick Review: Eat Pray Love

I sooooooo wanted "Eat Pray Love" to be a complete disaster, worthy of nothing but utter disdain and contempt, so I could write a three-word review such as "Barf Scream Stab" and be done with it. Alas, it was not to be. Not that it's all that great. "Eat Pray Love" is based on a memoir by Elizabeth Gilbert, and she's played by Julia Roberts. Poor Liz is unhappy in her failing marriage (husband played by Billy Crudup); then she's unhappy with her younger rebound guy (played by James Franco) so she decides to take off for a year. She goes to Italy (to eat), then to India (to pray) and then to Bali (not with the explicit purpose to love, but she finds it anyway with a fellow divorcee played by Javier Bardem). Even with voiceover narratives I couldn't quite figure out exactly why Liz was so unhappy. Maybe the book spells it out more clearly. Instead of being an insightful journey of self-discovery, it all seemed a bit trite. At least there's a variety of male eye candy in the film, including a gorgeous Italian man named Luca Argentero, who posed for a 2004 calendar. He actually looks better now then he did back then. One of the calendar shots is below; if you do a search, you can see a full rear nude shot as well. You're welcome. My grade: C-plus.

Quick Review: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

This is probably one of those movies that younger audiences will get, while the elders who dare to go might sit there scratching their heads. I think "Kick-Ass" had a similar problem, which is part of the reason it didn't do as well at the box office as some thought. And the same thing has happened to "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," which is, like "Kick-Ass," based on a graphic novel series. Fortunately, as I am sometimes (but not always) more able to adapt to the ways of the youth than other cranky 48-year-olds, I rolled with it. It was like watching a cartoon, a video game, an action flick, a comedy and a romance all rolled up into one. Scott (Michael Cera) is the slacker 23-year-old bass player for the band "Sex Bob-omb" and, while he's all Michael Cera-y with that soft voice and gawky boyishness, he's also kind of a cad. An ex-girlfriend is the band's drummer, and he's currently dating a 17-year-old girl, and then starts cheating on her when he meets, and falls for, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Then Scott learns that Ramona has seven evil exes -- among them, movie heroes Chris "Human Torch" Evans and Brandon "Superman" Routh -- and that he must defeat them in battle in order for Ramona to keep dating him. Throughout the movie, but particularly in the fight scenes, there's a variety of graphic additions on-screen, from little pop-up notes about characters to TV-Batman "K-POW!" blasts during the fight scenes, to video game graphics and sound effects. It's funny and moves quickly, although there's a bit of a lack of logic now and then that even I can't completely overlook. And then there's the fine performance by Kieran Culkin as Wallace Wells, Scott's sarcastic (and gay) friend and roommate -- Wallace may be the funniest part of the movie. He's not the typical gay best friend by any means. He's a much more fully-formed character, and he has a love life. Which is interesting, since Wallace's and Scott's small apartment has only one bed. My grade: A-minus.

Quick Review: The Other Guys

In "The Other Guys," Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg are NYPD detectives Allen Gamble and Terry Hoitz, who don't get to do anything exciting, while other cops (Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson) are in wild car chases and shootouts, and get all the hero worship and media fawning over them. Allen doesn't care, but Terry wants the action. (His career derailed after an unfortunate -- at least if you're a Yankees fan -- incident involving Derek Jeter.) Allen and Terry stumble upon a huge financial fraud scheme in progress, and try to prevent the crime before it takes place. Basically, "The Other Guys" is a somewhat smarter version of "Cop Out." It falls into the action-comedy-mismatched partners genre but plays around with the formula a little. It also has Michael Keaton as the precinct captain, whose name is...Gene Mauch (baseball fans will get it); and Eva Mendes as Allen's wife, and a running joke about how she's incredibly hot while he insists she's not. Will Ferrell can be annoying when he goes really gonzo, but he was a good fit here. I'm not quite yet sold on Mark Wahlberg as a comic actor, particularly compared to his small role in "Date Night," but perhaps he'll develop  more comedy chops. My grade: B.

Quick Review: The Kids Are All Right

Well, I now have four movies to write about. I really should start using the camcorder on my phone to record instant video reviews and put them up on YouTube...oh, wait...

So, "The Kids Are All Right." Annette Bening and Julianne Moore are Nic and Jules, partnered lesbians. They each gave birth to a child, using the same anonymous donor's sperm. Nic is a doctor but kind of uptight, Jules sort of goes between "careers" and is more the crunchy-granola earth-mother type. Their daughter Joni (Mia Wasikowska) has just turned 18 and is headed to college, and her 15-year-old brother Laser (Josh Hutcherson) has a request for her: he wants to meet their dad, the anonymous sperm donor. Joni can get the records because she's now 18. She isn't really interested but decides to do so for her brother, and thus the kids' father, Paul (Mark Ruffalo) comes into the lives of this family. It's a sweet, funny little film, it's well-acted (particularly by the kids) and Mark Ruffalo is dreamy. (And briefly naked! Yay!) There's some relationship drama but it doesn't get too overwhelming except near the end. I especially liked the fact that a lesbian couple with two kids isn't made into a big deal. They're just a family dealing with family stuff. My grade: B-plus.

Let's Talk About Twitter

Since I seem to do my best work in the early morning hours -- to be more precise, since I tend to post in the early morning hours -- here's a blog post. My original intention (since I keep putting off the posts about the three movies I've seen in the last 2 weeks) was to just write about some random stuff in my head at 2:30 a.m (the time I began this). However, it's turned into a whole Twitter thing.

As of now I follow about 275 Twitter accounts. (I have about 180 followers of my own and am always looking for more, so tell your friends!) While I really like Twitter, there are things about it that I dislike immensely, and it's not posts about the weather or people's lives that some get worked up about -- they see tweets (or Facebook status updates, for that matter) like "Going out to dinner..." as boring. I don't mind them, though. They're little looks into people's lives.

Following 275 accounts, though a few aren't really active at all, it takes time trying to read through the timeline. That makes me want to try and save time by dropping some of those I currently follow. I don't want to unfollow anyone who's following me back, though, and of those who don't follow me back, I always seem to find various reasons to keep them, whether they're really entertaining or just because they're a favorite of mine (like Annie Lennox).

I finally dumped a couple today, one being ESPN's Jayson Stark. Why Jayson?

My Week In Comics 8-11-10

Another pretty light week. Of course, if I stopped buying some of the series I seem to be complaining about regularly, every week would be a lot lighter...

Superman 702: The Superman Across America walking tour continues. This issue has him, according to the very first caption, "somewhere in Detroit..." -- so he walked from Philadelphia to Detroit and nothing of importance happened in between? Anyway, he gets to Detroit and, without giving away much of the plot, manages to get some long-closed factories reopened, help save a dying man's life, deal with some aliens (bonus: this plot features a couple of jabs at both the illegal immigrant issue and the finale of "Lost"), and help out a kid whose friends won't let him play basketball with them because he's not good enough. Oh, and there's a cameo by Metropolis Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent! Haven't seen him in forever!


Rawhide Kid: The Sensational Seven 3 (of 4): Our flamboyant hero and his group pick up the final member of the posse -- Billy the Kid, who doesn't exactly go along voluntarily -- and the Sensational Seven head to Mexico to rescue the Earp brothers from Cristo Pike. But Pike has seven counterparts to deal with them. Plus we have a flashback to the Rawhide Kid's childhood that, if it doesn't lead to a certain revelation in the final issue involving the old man in the cell with the Earp brothers...well, if it doesn't I'll eat my hat. (Disclaimer: no actual hat-eating will occur.)

Our National Anthem (And Why YouTube Blows)

Back on the 4th of this month my friend Kurt sang "God Bless America" during the seventh-inning stretch at the Camden Riversharks game. Today, before the game, he sang our national anthem. Both times I used the camcorder on my phone to record his performance. Both times I uploaded it to YouTube, seemingly successfully -- except that the video has no sound when played in YouTube. The sound exists, and you can hear it, but for some reason when it's on YouTube it doesn't work. This was not a problem with the previous videos I posted on YouTube -- the ones from the Riversharks' Gay Community Night and my report on the feeding habits of local ants. Suddenly the videos I upload to YouTube don't include the sound, I have no idea why -- and there seems to be no way to contact any kind of tech support at YouTube.

This is truly pathetic. If you have a website, you should have a way for people to submit reports of problems. I've searched and searched and can't find anything. YouTube has support staff of some kind -- they're certainly quick to pull videos because of copyright issues. I want to be able to upload videos to YouTube with audio included!

So here's the video, uploaded to Facebook -- with audio...

The Not-So-Perfect Fit

Yesterday I had an emergency. I went to the multiplex at Franklin Mills Mall to see a movie and, before the show started, went into the restroom. As I was finishing up, I was adjusting my pants because the buckle had gotten caught up in one of the loops on my shorts. Suddenly, the buckle broke apart. It is...or was...one of those reversible belts, and the screw (or whatever it spins around) somehow snapped. The belt became useless.

Now, this was an emergency because the pair of shorts I was wearing was one I had from before I started my diet in 2007 and lost weight. They're a 48 waist. My waist is closer to 42 now (my size-40 waist pants are a bit snug, since I've gained back some of the weight I had lost). The shorts were not staying up on their own -- they nearly fell down once when I wore them the day I was flying somewhere and had to take the belt off before going through security. So I had to hold my pants up while I was standing or walking.

After the movie ended, I went out into the mall, intending to go into the Marshall's or J.C. Penney outlets. I really didn't want another belt. I have belts here at home. But I wasn't holding up my pants all the way home. Then, I spotted the store that sells all of the "As Seen On TV" stuff like the ShoeDini and the Slap Chop...and the Perfect Fit buttons.

Phillies Are Oscar-Worthy

Websites such as Philly.com need to be a little more careful when they update their home page for breaking news -- or breaking sports, in this case...

Perhaps it was intentional, though. Tonight's comeback win would make for one epic movie. (No, not Epic Movie. God forbid.) Down 9-2 going into the bottom of the 8th the Phillies scored 4 runs in the 8th and had the potential tying run at the plate before the inning ended. After Danys Baez pitched a scoreless 9th (that's a shock in itself) the Dodgers brought in their closer, Jonathan Broxton. You may remember Broxton from such spectacular choke jobs as 2008 NLCS Game 4 and 2009 NLCS Game 4. Broxton proceeded to hit a batter and walk the next two to load the bases. Two runs scored on an error by Dodgers third baseman Casey Blake, and Carlos Ruiz hit a two-run double off the fence in deep left-center -- the only base hit of the inning -- to win it.

The Phils have now won 16 of their last 20 to move within 2 games of Atlanta in the NL East and 1 game of San Francisco in the NL Wild Card race (although a fourth straight division title is greatly preferred). Shane Victorino is back from the disabled list. By the end of the month both Ryan Howard and Chase Utley should be back as well. They still need better work out of the bullpen (Brad Lidge's recent resurgence is very important) but things continue to look up.

Really, Twitter? Really?

Twitter has copied a page from the Facebook playbook and has begun recommending other accounts for you to follow. Here's what just popped up on my page:

Ironic? (Alanis?) Or just an example of some dumb computer using keywords and such?

Eagle Todd Herremans' "Barrage Of Homosexuality"

If you believe that beautiful people or jocks are generally stupid, here's one example to support both theories. Eagles player Todd Herremans (this is the "jock" part), a 2008 Philadelphia Daily News Sexy Single (here's the "beautiful" part, although that is, of course, a matter of taste), had this to say about the HBO series "True Blood" on his Twitter feed:

"So ... caught up on Trueblood last night .... Not a fan of how they get u hooked with the 1st 2 seasons then bring on a barrage of homosexuality."

The original post has been deleted, which is why I don't have a screen capture, but the text was quoted by both Philly.com and CSN Philly.com. As for the rest of this, as far as I can tell, this is the correct chronological order. First, Philadelphia Inquirer columnist John Gonzalez tweeted at Herremans:

Herremans' reply is not on his feed, but was quoted by Philly.com: "I have no issues with homosesxuality, to each his/her own... Its just not for me.. #jussayin." Gonzalez' nest tweet:

My iTunes Shuffle Baker's Dozen 8-9-10

Again, using the "iTunes DJ" feature because I can copy and paste the song titles so easily. Unfortunately, it doesn't prevent songs by the same artist/from the same album from being shuffled in so close together, as you can see from the two Erasure songs (from the same "greatest hits" album). But hey, today's date is 8/9/10. That's got to be worth something...

Platinum Blonde Life - No Doubt
Hold Me - Fleetwood Mac
She Is A Diamond - Mandy Patinkin, Patti LuPone, Bob Gunton (Evita/Broadway Cast)
You Ought To Be Dancing - People's Choice
Dirty Ol' Man - Faithless
Tangled - Maroon 5
I Get Around (Mick’s String Edit) - 2Pac
You Surround Me - Erasure
867-5309 - Mark Weigle
Mickey - Toni Basil
In The Name Of Love - Rick Astley
Sometimes - Erasure
I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Marvin Gaye

To All The Parks I've Loved Before...

Apologies to Willie and Julio for the title...

I thought I'd dig up something from the archives of the Outsports discussion board. A thread was started in 2002 about favorite major league ballparks. At the time, I had only been to six. I ranked them thusly: Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Dodger Stadium, Yankee Stadium, Veterans Stadium (I made a note that the Vet ranked ahead of the others because of good memories as much as anything else), Qualcomm Stadium and Candlestick Park.

From 2003 through 2008 (during those happy years when I still had spending money) I managed to get to a lot more parks, and updated the list each time. So I thought I'd share my current rankings here on the blog. Ballparks listed in italics have been vacated by the teams that once called them home. Some have been torn down and replaced, others still stand.

I Think I'm Right About Brad Lidge

Remember last week when I wrote about the Phillies' issues, one of them being the struggles of Brad Lidge? I pointed out that he hasn't gotten regular work: just 3 appearances in 13 days from June 20 through July 7, and 2 appearances in 13 days (including the All-Star break) from July 12-24. I wondered if that wasn't at least part of the problem.

Let's look at what's happened since then. In the 6 days from July 25-31 Lidge pitched 4 times, struggling to get two saves vs. Colorado, pitching a scoreless inning against Arizona in a tie game in extra innings (after Ryan Madson and J.C. Romero combined to blow a 9th-inning lead), and giving up the walkoff 3-run homer to Washington's Ryan Zimmerman to lose a game in the 9th. His totals: 3 1/3 innings, 6 hits, 5 earned runs, 5 walks, 5 strikeouts.

However, after that walkoff homer, Lidge got to pitch again the very next day, and three more times in the next 5 days (including tonight's game). Look at the difference in the numbers: 3 1/3 innings, 1 hit, no runs, no walks, 4 strikeouts, 3 saves in 3 opportunities.

It seems pretty clear to me now: as long as Lidge is healthy, if he gets regular work he'll have the command of his pitches he needs to be successful. I hope Charlie Manuel realizes this, because no one else on the roster except Brad Lidge has the ability to be a consistent closer right now.

Just one note on the offense: they're doing a nice job manufacturing runs without Ryan Howard, especially during tonight's 8th-inning rally to beat the Mets (and move to within a game of Atlanta for the NL East lead): seven singles (one on a bunt), a walk and a sacrifice fly produced six runs. This bodes well, and anything they get from the just-acquired Mike Sweeney will be a bonus (Sweeney got the first and last singles in the 8th, scoring a run and driving in another).

My Week In Comics 8-4-10

Hey, it's just one book this week. If I can't knock this post out instead of procrastinating, shame on me. Besides, there's something special about this...

Superman: The Last Family of Krypton 1 (of 3): DC has brought back the "Elseworlds" label for the first time in a few years. The concept of "Elsewords" according to their tagline: "In Elseworlds, heroes are taken from their usual settings and put into strange times and places — some that have existed, and others that can't, couldn't or shouldn't exist. The result is stories that make characters who are as familiar as yesterday seem as fresh as tomorrow." For example, in one such Superman/Elseworlds miniseries, "Superman: Red Son," baby Kal-El's rocket landed in the Soviet Union instead of in Kansas, and became the champion of the USSR. Here, the story is that Jor-El and Lara arrive on Earth along with their son. They immediately begin averting catastrophes and endearing themselves to the people of the world. Using Kryptonian technology Jor-El builds a futuristic tower in Metropolis for the family, and establishes a corporation that will apply Kryptonian science to Earth's technology to make the world a better place; Lara writes a best-selling self-help book based on ancient Kryptonian religious beliefs. Everything seems to be great except there's a bit of tension in the Els' marriage, in part over how to raise young Kal-El. And I'm sure there will be trouble related to the artificial intelligence system referred to as "B." I suspect that "B" will become some version of...well, you can guess at that.

God Bless America

On the same day that California's Proposition 8 was declared unconstitutional and equality won, it's entirely appropriate and fabulous that my friend Kurt got to sing "God Bless America" at the Camden Riversharks game. Enjoy! And celebrate -- for now, because the bigots and teabaggers and other assorted scumbags will keep fighting against same-sex marriage, so we'll have to keep fighting all the harder.
(YouTube is having issues, so I had to post it to Facebook. Also, that's me screaming "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" at the end.)

My Week In Comics 7-28-10

We start with the bad, and work our way up...

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne 4 (of 6): I alluded to this last week in my comment on the first issue of "Time Masters: Vanishing Point." This series has turned into a train wreck. Bruce Wayne has gone from prehistoric-era Gotham to witch trial-era Gotham to high seas pirate-era Gotham, and now he's jumped through time again and is in the Wild Wild West-era Gotham. And this story involves Jonah Hex. You may remember there was a Jonah Hex movie earlier this summer. It was a huge bomb. So is this book. In the first issue Bruce was incoherent, then was able to speak normally (for the era he was in). In this issue he doesn't say a word. I barely have any idea what's going on and I'm not sure I care.

Gotham City Sirens 14: This book is losing me as well, although more slowly. The last few issues have been tightly focused on one or two of its three stars, meaning the interplay between the three that was so entertaining is mostly missing. Here, Poison Ivy is checking out something interesting at her job at S.T.A.R. Labs, something that turns out to be dangerous. Meanwhile, back at the home they share, Catwoman and Harley Quinn haven't heard from Ivy in a while. They decide to give her a little more time. Then, separately, they get into costume and go looking for her at S.T.A.R. So at least they're all in the same place...

Action Comics 891: We get a look at a few of Lex Luthor's dreams...contrived as they are, as they've been placed into his mind by Mister Mind, an alien telepathic bug. So it's sort of like "Inception" without the different dream levels and Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. There's even a cameo by Superman, sort of. It's nice to see some version of Superman in his own book. Suffice to say, Luthor is still on his quest for the power of the Black Lantern rings, and his robotic substitute for Lois Lane is by his side.

Phillies Causing Mood Swings

Maybe it's the age we live in, where information is constant and reaction is instant and both pour in from  multiple sources -- 24-hour sports on TV and radio, websites, blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds. But the 2010 Phillies have turned into even more of a roller-coaster ride. The slump followed by the 8-game win streak is nothing compared to the daily developments since Thursday: the trade for Roy Oswalt, Oswalt losing his first Phils start, Brad Lidge blowing another save, a comeback win with a Lidge 1-2-3 save, Ryan Howard hurting his ankle and being put on the 15-day disabled list. The ups and downs are tough enough to take for well-adjusted people, but for rabid fans? Insanity.

Once again the Phils have three members of their starting lineup currently on the DL -- Chase Utley, Shane Victorino and now Howard. And Howard has probably been the most consistent hitter of the three, and probably the most important. Besides those three, Jimmy Rollins, Placido Polanco, Carlos Ruiz, Brian Schneider, Joe Blanton, J.A. Happ (traded in the Oswalt deal), Jamie Moyer, J.C. Romero, Ryan Madson, Chad Durbin, Antonio Bastardo and Lidge have all spent time on the DL.With all the inconsistency and underachieving and slumps and these injuries, after tonight's win at Florida (behind Roy Halladay) the Phils are just 2 games out of first place. How is that possible?

The thing I like about tonight's game: of their 13 hits, nine came from Ben Francisco, Carlos Ruiz and Wilson Valdez. They still need Jimmy Rollins to get back to his form of the opening week of the season and for Raul Ibanez to keep up his recent resurgence. But they need as much offense as they can get from these other guys as well, especially with Howard out.

Yarn Bomb!

While I was doing the Mural Mile tour last month, I happened upon an example of yarn bombing. I'd never heard of it before I read some posts about it on the Philthy Blog, which focuses on the local scenes in art, music, fashion, etc. Yarn bombing is like graffiti or street art, except instead of paint, the artists use yarn. There are a number of examples of local yarn bombs in these archived Philthy Blog posts.

I took these photos on South Street. That is quite a way up that pole. I wonder how the artist managed to do this without being stopped by the police or someone else? I would think a ladder would be needed. I also wonder how well these yarn bombs can last, between the rain and the hot sun and idiots who can't resist yanking at it. This one's been up since at least mid-May, when it was featured on a Philthy Blog post. Hmmmm...maybe I should make a return trip and check it out?

Philly's Mural Mile

During all of the Independence Day weekend festivities, I went downtown on the 2nd of July and actually participated in one of the events. That is, if you consider getting a free hot dog as participation. My actual purpose on this trip was to take the Mural Mile walking tour. We have a great thing here, the Mural Arts Program, through which local artists create murals on the walls of buildings with input from the community. They've now put together a walking tour of 17 of the murals in center city as the Mural Mile. It's actually 2.5 miles if you walk the entire length of the tour, but there's an abridged one-mile version including 12 of the 17 murals.

I downloaded podcasts to my iPod and listened to descriptions of the program, the individual murals, some of the creative processes and commentary from some of the artists and others. It was very interesting, particularly the story of the mural that wraps around Dirty Frank's bar. There's also a LGBT mural called "Pride & Progress."

I took a bunch of photos and have put them into a Flickr set. You can go here to see it. I've added a few photos below as a sample.

A Letter To Batman

Dear Batman,

I need to tell you something very important. Please don't get mad, okay? Here goes: you need to do a better job hiding the Philly entrance to the tunnel leading to the Batcave.

I won't even go into where you've located it -- right around the corner from Philadelphia's Magic Gardens on South Street. Do you know how many tourists head for South Street? If I could find it, I can't help but think that sooner or later one of them will stumble upon it.

I tell you this for your own good.

Love, Joe

(P.S. You can read about the artist who created the mosaic seen on this wall, and in many other locations, here.)