Exciting Last Unicorn News!

Back in July I decide to roder the 40th edition of The Last Unicorn and get it personally signed by the author Peter S Beagle himself. I just recieved notification that there has been a delay, which makes me happy because it means it did not get lost, haha.

Second, the last two issues of The Last Unicorn comic are going to be 10 pages longer than the other comics. I wondered how they were going to fit the whole story into only 6 issues, when they haven't even done half the book yet in the first three issues.

Third, there's going to be a perfume line based on The Last Unicorn. Totally silly but I think I might order one haha.

Batman

I've posted about being a nerd a couple of times on this blog, but I just wanted to reinforce the image onto you all.

One of my favourite nerd loves is Batman. I am currently subsceibing to "The Return of Bruce Wayne" and picking up Batman Trades. I have a list of them I wrote down that I am still aiming to get like the Knightfall Trilogy, Haunted Knight, Hush, Batman RIP. Also I'm going to be subscribing to the new Batwoman when it comes out in November, and picking up the one shots of Batman's return from RoBW and Final Crisis.




To here is what I have to date:
Batman pillow plus, Batman: The Animated Series plush
Baman logo t-shirt
Batman logo belt buckle
Seasons 1-4 of Batman:The Animated Series
Final Crisis
Return of Bruce Wayne Issues 1-4
Batman: Year One
The Dark Knight Returns
Red Rain: Batman VS Dracula
The Long Halloween
Dark Victory
Batman Vs Mr. Freeze: Subzero
Batman and the Mask of the Phantasm
Batman and the Mystery of Batwoman
The Batman Anthology (Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever and Batman and Robin)
Batman Begins
The Dark Knight

No shown:
World's Greatest Detective (Bob Kane collection)
A red Batman pillow
The Batman Collection (which is all the movies in the Anthology but the Anthology DVDs came with an extra disc each with special features. Batman Anthology came out a few months after I bought the Batman Collection, sigh)
Batman Keychain
Batman Christmas Ornament
Batman Logo Hoodie
Old School Batman Logo shirt
Batgirl symbol shirt

Can a Comic Book Be a Good Movie? A Look at "The Watchmen"

(Cross Posted to Scooter's Ordinary, Healthy Blog)

I have to start off by saying that I was a late comer into comics. Since I lived in the country, our shopping was pretty limited to groceries and whenever my mom would drag us to a mall. I never got to browse downtown shops and discover comics on my own. My first introduction to Batman, The X-Men and Spiderman were all through visual media. The only comics I actually saw and bought until I was 20 was Archie Digests that you could pick up at the check out line.

With that, I probably bought a few trades when I was 20 and never really got back into it. Only this year did I begin to seriously build a trade collection and subscribe to comics. I dated a few guys who liked comics and suggested I read some. Watchmen was always on their list, and was something I did want to read. When the movie came out, I knew for sure I wanted to read it. Whether it was before or after I saw it, it didn't matter.

When Watchmen came out, I was working in a different city. My friends saw it without me and said they didn't like it. I ended up not seeing it theatres.

I tried borrowing the graphic novel from some friends, but it never came around. I finally borrowed it from a friend that I met in University, shortly after we started hanging out again after 5 years. I read the comic in a night. I was up until 2 AM. I bought myself my own copy a few months later.

I mentioned I wanted to see the movie, but the only person I knew with it had it on Blue Ray. I meant to rent it but it never came around to it. Only yesterday when I mentioned to that same friend I still had not seen The Watchmen while we were at the comic book store, did he bring it over for us to watch.

I didn't have any expectations for the Watchmen. I heard it was bad from friends and critics alike. I heard that Alan Moore was not impressed that anyone was making a movie on it. I heard that there were some issues with the studio and it almost wasn't released.

We watched the Director's Cut, and my god was it long. I hadn't realized it was the Director's Cut until he told us two hours into the movie when I remarked it was quite long, longer than I had imagined. Once I finished the film, I loved it. I went out and bought it the very next day. I ended up getting the theatrical release but I would like to get the Director's Cut at some point. Tonight I watched the theatrical version.

What I liked:
(Spoilers likely)

1) For the most part the film, ESPECIALLY the Director's Cut, followed the graphic novel fairly well. The ending was different, but it was an ending I didn't think was too bad. It really did emphasize some of the major themes of the graphic novel, such as the price of peace. Sure, we would have all like to have seen the octopus alien but I found using Dr.Manhattan instead to be a smart move. Since you cannot count on every person actually reading the graphic novel, a general audience would have a better time accepting Ozymandias blackmailing Dr.Manhattan. He already had screwed over his other fellow Watchmen to execute his plan to save the world, so why not the big blue man?

2) The soundtrack was amazing. I kept mentioning how much I loved the use of the songs in the film, such as Bob Dylan's "Times Are A Changing", Hendrix's "All Along The Watch Tower", Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" (my personal favourite) - I could go on!

3) The opening credit sequence. I think that an opening sequence sets the mood, narrative and the expectations for a film. If you cannot grab an audience in those first few minutes of a movie, then you've lost them. How many times has a movie started off so slow, you wonder about the quality of the film. I thought Watchmen's credits started off with a bang.The way that scene opened up, flowed and packed in so much detailed information in such a short period of time blew me away. It really set the film and explained how we got to where are when we start the experience.

4) The characters were true to their graphic novel counterparts. I found each actor and actress casted for their roles to be well suited. Billy Crudup was excellent at being the emotion-free sounding Manhattan. Jackie Haley's Rorschach had a better Batman voice than Bale. Patrick Wilson and Jeffery Dean Morgan were hands down my favourites, but they also did play my favourite characters in the graphic novel so that is a bit biased.

5) The attention to detail. Some of my favourite scenes from the graphic novel was in the movie, and done so well. One of my favourites is when Silk Spectre and Nite Owl are on Mars, and peel away each other's naked skin to reveal their costumed selves. Other well done scenes from the graphic novel: Manhattan's sanctuary on Mars, The retelling of Rorchach's past through the therapist, Ozymandias' Egyptian obsession.

6) The costumes were great. It's one thing to see super hero costumes in comics, another to see them in film. With disasters like Batman and Robin, it was great to see how these costumes turned up for this film. I also loved how Adrian's costume mocked B&R.

I could say more, but I don't want to get too repetitive here. I really liked Watchmen. But why would other people not like it? Well, I think I get it. First, hardcore purists will never like it. It's not exact. But how many movies are? Not many by my count. Even my favourite movies based on books are still not 100%, even if the screenplay is written by the author themselves (Such as The Last Unicorn for example). Some things just cannot be done through visual media as well as it can in the written or illustrated form. I get that. I really do. But for what its worth, Zack Snyder tried. He even hoped that Alan Moore would watch it and give it his approval. And if Moore is against it, then his biggest fans are going to be too, even without seeing it. And even if they did see it, I am sure they are picky enough to find the smallest problems and blow them up to justify why they didn't like the movie.

And then there's the general public, the ones that haven't read the graphic novel. Watchmen is a pretty long graphic novel, and there's a lot too it. Obviously it all cannot be condensed, and there are slow parts that are important to the film. I think a lot of people went in expecting an action film with super heroes, as they are lead to believe through the trailers. If they don't know anything about the Watchmen, then to them it is boring, and slow. And the Director's Cut is pretty friggin long. It's a lot to take in. Heck, the theatrical version clocks in at 2 hours and 45 minutes. The Director's Cut is about 24 minutes of footage. But after watching both the versions, those extra 24 minutes added into the story's depth. I was sad to see some scenes cut out, some lines missing. In the end, I think the Director's Cut is a better choice to watch if you love the story.

But yet, looking at Internet Movie Data Base, the first couple of reviews are positive. The User Rating for it is 7.8/10 with 23% of the votes at 10, and 3.6% at 1. 87% of the votes are above a vote of 5. So clearly this movie couldn't have been that hated.

Even though I have read the novel, I think I'm going to read it again. One of my friends who turned me on to it said "It's one of those books that you can read over and over again and find something else, that you missed the first time". Hell, I think it is the same with the movie. I personally am watching the movie for the second time, albeit a different version because I think I missed something, even with already knowing the ending!

This leads me back to my original reason for writing up this review. Can a comic book be a good movie? This is something rehashed over and over again, and I am sure what I am saying is nothing new. It's pretty difficult to make one it seems. Directors have to appeal to two different audiences and make it so they can both meet in the middle. Fans of comic book series are so obsessed with the attention to details while the general audience wants something they can follow without having to know any of the background before they watch the movie. Obviously this has caused a great deal of criticism from comic book enthusiasts who feel a movie should be a true form. For something that had to appeal to both those crowds without leaving anyone behind, and carefully selecting what had to be there, what had to be cut and what needed to be added, I think the Watchmen did an excellent job. So, my apologies to Alan Moore, please don't hurt me, but I thought this movie was as close to the graphic novel as you can in this media, and did a damn good job of pulling it off.

Also, that sex scene... totally blew my socks off.

The Joltess Out.

Some House Keeping

I've been neglecting my blog lately, and that is not something I want to get into a habit of doing. However, I have a couple of updates related to this blog that I thought everyone should know about.

First up, I am a contributer to another blog called "Scooter's Ordinary, Healthy Blog". It is a get-together for the commenters of Topless Robot to go to for some general wackiness as to not overload TR with comments (which we are all quite good at).

It was with this gang that two of us were able to win shirts at TR for our contributions at last week's weekend contest. I will be posting pictures of me in said shirt as soon as it arrives.

Next, I have enrolled in a blogging course hosted by Kludgy Mom. It is a 6 week course called "Back to School, Back to Blogging" that will cover a lot of blogging basics and how to improve your blog. My good friend Linnie tweeted about it a few days ago, and so we're both going to be attending this course. It is a read-write-share formula so a lot of my 'homework' is going to be posted here I imagine. That means more bloggy goodness, and hey, maybe even more readers. But my main goal for this course is to just make a better blog and figure out what direction I want to go with it. I am also hoping to put my skills to use over at Scooter's.

The course runs from September 12th to October 22nd. It will utilize a lot of other social medial tools like Twitter, TweetDeck (which I just got and love a lot better than just refreshing Twitter all day), BlogFrog, and Stumble Upon.

I hope to be bringing you a few posts in the future both on MLCP and SOHB. However, taking off this weekend so there won't be anything until Monday maybe.

In the next few days, when the mail cooperates, there will be some reviews. I am still waiting on my Eco Bag from Etsy that is coming from Japan, and The Last Unicorn #3 will be arriving sometime in the beginning of October. I also have a couple of movies arriving soon to be reviewed.

Scott Pilgrim VS The Joltess

On Friday Night, I was invited out by a bunch of friends to catch the first night of Scott Pilgrim VS The World. I have to admit that I have not read the graphic novels prior to the movie. Maybe I will read them in due time, but we shall see.

Since I didn't know anything about the graphic novels, what I knew about the movie was based on posts at Topless Robot, Word of Mouth and commercials. Some doofus needs to defeat 7 Evil Exes in order to date a girl who supposedly looks cooler than he does.

The people I went with laughed every 5 minutes. The movie was not that funny. Sure, there were some funny moments, and some funny lines but not that damn funny. There wasn't even any humor at all at some of the things they were laughing at.

(Spoilers!)

I found that the plot was weak to me. He had to defeat 7 Evil Exes. Okay, I get it. But why were the Exes evil? Ramona explains that she was the one who had dumped the Exes. How did they get powers, and why do they have them? Why is it that Ramona has the ability to travel through dreams to make deliveries? None of this was really explained in the film. Maybe it's discussed in the graphic novels.

The characters themselves were unlikable. Scott Pilgrim is a slacker doofus with nothing going for him, yet he has two chicks. The band mates are paperthin. They only exist to be a band in this movie. There's nothing else about them. You learn their names, their position in the band and that's about it. Ramona was dull. I don't quite understand the connection between her and Scott, because there was no chemistry between the characters. Ramona seems disinterested in everything around her, even Scott but she takes him back to her place to fool around after one night of hanging out. You don't get any idea of why these two like each other, or why Ramona is worth fighting 7 even Exes for. The Exes themselves were slightly interesting only because they were the villians. Their backstories were short. You don't really get an idea of the last four Exes get their powers. Gideon was especially disappointing because as the head of the Evil Exes, you'd think his background story would have been the most indepth. Instead we learn that Ramona had been obsessed with him, and he rebuffed her until she left. What is in this League for the rest of the Exes? Gideon formed it to get Ramona back, but nothing is really stated about the benefits for the rest. And if there isn't any, why did they agree to become part of the League?

The music was pretty good. I found myself thinking I'd probably get the soundtrack, except I didn't really like the numbers by the Sex Bob-ombs. Everything else was pretty good.

The style of the film was interesting. The videon game references were a nice touch, and the fight scenes were pretty well done, as well as the special effects but they didn't really make up for what was lacking.

I found the best part to be the room mate Wallace. Almost every line he had was a good one. I wanted more scenes with him.

The locations were fun if you lived in Ontario and knew Toronto very well, especially if you lived there. I've been there enough times that I knew all the locations and was excited to see the city in the background. I loved that the coins were all Canadian currency.

At the end of the day, I didn't think it was a bad movie - I just didn't care about the leads. I just felt that the two main characters were douchebags and I really didn't care whether they died, or got together, or lived happily ever after, or split up forever. They both seemed like jerks. Would I watch it again? I don't know. Maybe. Would I read the graphic novels to see what was missing? Another maybe. Did I have a nerdgasm like all my friends who saw it that night with me? Absolutely not.

Nerdy Friday

I am going out for a nerd night tonight. A bunch of friends of mine are going to be catching the 10:15 PM showing of Scott Pilgrim VS The World.

We were going to go out for Thai good but someone doesn't like Thai so that idea has been nixed. I am not sure where we are going, but I do know that we are meeting up at a comic book store.

I don't know how excited I am about SP. I never read the comics, even though I probably should since it's Canadian and does feature Toronto, Ontario which I live close by to. I'm not really a big fan of Michael Cera. I liked him in Arrested Development but I've hated him in everything since, rspecially Super Bad. I'm also not too crazy about going opening night but that's the way these guys are sometimes. I mean, the movie will be there tomorrow, and next week and probably for a whole month.

I can't decide if I want to wear my Star Wars Burnout Tee or my Old School Batman shirt.

Review of Final Crisis or Some Comics Are Not Newbie Friendly

While browsing the comic book store a few months ago, I came across a couple of isses of The Return of Bruce Wayne. I love Batman, and I couldn't resist covers with Batman as a cave man, a puritan and a pirate. I snatched them up and took them home to read.

After I read issues #1 - 3, I felt that I was missing a part of the story. Why was this happened? I felt I couldn't really get the whole story without knowing. I asked one of the guys at the store and he told me ROBW followed Final Crisis (and incidently, Battle for the Cowl which I should also read). He told me the premise and mentioned there was a copy in the store. After looking at the picture of Superman holding the corpse of Batman, I was sold. I asked if there was anything else I should read before Final Crisis and he said "pretty much the entire DC Universe". Figuring I knew enough about DC from watching Justice League, I left it at that.

I spent the entire night reading it, and when I got to the end... I was confused.

I didn't know who some of the characters were. I didn't understand the plot. When Ross at the comic book store explained it, I understood it better. He told me a part of the story that I didn't even read in the comic. Unless I missed it from being confused. I didn't know what was going on. At one point there was a Nazi Superman. The Superman went to some other dimension with a bunch of other Supermen and fought vampires. I think. The only thing I got from the trade was that Batman died. I didn't even figure out who won. Did the bad guys win? Did Superman stop Darkseid? I have no idea. But Batman died and his funeral rocket was sent back in time where he would become Chief Man Of Bats.

Due to this, I started to think that some comic book universes are not noob friendly. If I wanted to start reading Marvel Universe (Like Civil War or House of M, of Avengers), I feel like I couldn't start there. How far back would I have to go? Same with DC Universe. I felt lost looking at this series. But where would I have started to know the full story? I realize that comic industries rely on repeat customers who follow huge story arcs and have been reading for a very long time, but at one point do they make something noob friendly? If they want me to be a loyal fan and continue to pick up series and follow along, I have to start somewhere and sometimes it's not very inviting. Half the series I have ever picked up have been because a cover has caught my eye. Or the premise of a story. But if I need to know the entire DC or Marvel Universe to understand and enjoy that story, I'm not there yet.

I would like to start reading comics and following a series, but as a newb in the comic world, it's all too overwhelming.

New Comics!

I went to get my hair done, and stopped by my comic book store to pick up The Return of Bruce Wayne #4. I told one of the guys working there that I felt that I was missing part of the story when I first started reading #1. Why was Batman back in time? What was going on? What was this machine all about? He told me that Final Crisis was the series before RoBW. I decided for $20 I'd pick it up. So in the next few days, I think I'll review it.

To my surprise, they had The Last Unicorn #2 Cover A waiting there for me. Me being stupid, thought that the comic book store would have called me to notify I had comics in, but I remember the conversation we had awhile back that being on file meant they would save me a copy and I could come in at my leisure. However, while waiting for #1 of the series, I was told it was back ordered and I found out that #2 was sold out on IDW. When I talked to another guy who worked there, he said that there was a chance #2 was not ordered for me because I had not recieved the first issue. I asked today if I would get #3 and #4 and after causing much confusion to myself and frustration to him, it was determined that yes, they would be ordering #3 and #4 for me. Now, I've already placed my order for #3 and #4 from online, so I will have two copies of each. Maybe I will get a variant cover. Either way, I'm not too upset about it. Maybe I'll sell a copy if I get a double. If #3 and #4 comes to my local comic book shop just fine, I'll just get #5 and #6 from them instead of ordering online.

Also in my travels today I picked up more yarn (most of it free!), a free copy of X-Men Curse of the Mutants, Previews August 2010, an audio book of Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett for my up coming trip to Nova Scotia where I will be driving 5 hours so I thought I'd get something to listen to that wasn't just the radio, a do-it-yourself crochet book to help me with my techniques and recommended by my expert crochetter Sharyl, amd Michael Crichton's Congo. I want to hold off on Congo so I can read it on the plane but I doubt I will. I'd like to read more Crichton. I've read Jurassic Park, and I want to read Timeline (I had it from the library but took out way too many books and not enough time to read), Pirate Latitutes, and Next.

I am also borrowing a couple movies from my friend that I may or may not review depending on how I feel, haha.

Visual Proof of Nerd Status

This weekend I was bored and decided to take a couple of pictures that demonstrate how proud I am to be a nerd. I wish I had my own house where I could dedicate a room to my collection. A lot of my action figures, tiys and books are packed away in a small closet, and this is only the tip of the iceburg. It also only showcases books that I dug out recently because I think that they'll be needed in the up coming future, or I feel that they are closest to my heart. I do have boxes and boxes of books and wish they could be showcased.

I also have a couple of pictures of my DVD collection. A lot of movies I own are actually still on VHS, including my all night favourite "The Flight of Dragons" that hasn't gotten DVD release yet. I'm also missing a couple since they're on loan, or they're my CSI collection which got packed away.



Top of my book shelf, from Left to Right: Pictorial History of Horror Films, Star Watch, Evolution text book, Primate Behavior text book, Introduction to Anthropology, Standards for measuring bones, William Bass's Field Guide to Osteology, The Growth of Humanity, The Archaeology of Disease, Forensic Anthropology, Concepts in Anthropological Thinking, Here There Be Dragons, The Princess Bride, Whale Music, The Three Musketeers, Articles for Medieval Military Technology, Medieval Warfare, The Royal Book of Horsemanship, Jousting and Knightly Combat, Under The Black Flag, How the Horse Shaped Civilization, An Anthropologist on Mars, Horse Treats and The Ultimate Guide to Pampering Your Horse.


Second row on the bookshelf, from Left to Right: The Archaeologist's Laboratory, The Archaological Workbook, Pottery in Archaeology, The Archaeology of Aninal Bones, Understanding Stone Tools and Archaeological Sites, A Brief History of Archaeology, Archaeology and Anthropology, Archaeology, The Peopling of Bandelier, North American Archaeology, Archaeology of South America, Death by Theory, World Politics in a New Era, Microbiology, Clear, Correct and Creative, Echoes of the Past, The Art of Ancient Egypt, General Chemistry, Embalming, Human Anatomy, The Cell, and the Flight of Dragons. Also, my sad collection of McDonald's Happy Meal Toys of The Last Airbender.



Top Shelf - various horse figurines and a Captain Morgan glass, books from Left and Right: Le Morte D'Arthur, yearbooks, Dungeons and Dragons books in Second, Third and Fourth edition, Encylopedia of Mythology, Body Worlds, Mutter Museum, The Beatles Anthology, The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics, A Hard Day's Write, Last Mysteries of the World, Mysteries of the Unexplained.

Another top shelf with Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles (I was young and vampire were kinda cool unlike today), Celtic Mythology, Lord Byron, A vampire book, Dune
Second shelf: Le Morte D'Arthur, Mists of Avalon, Canterbury Tales, The Myst Series, Body of Evidence, Uther, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, Sleepy Hollow, Macbeth, The Dragon and the George, Frankenstein, Peter Pan and A Streetcare called Desire.




My Dune books, not in order at all. I know someone reading this will appreciate this photo haha.

My comic shelf with the entire Sandman series, Endless Nights, The Watchman, Batman: Red Rain, The Dark Knight Returns, The Long Halloween and the first three issues of The Return of Bruce Wayne.

Bottom shelf: Tarot books, The Penalty Killing, American Gods, The Tick: The Complete Edlund, July previews, Fragile Things, Domiknitrix, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Big Book of Canadian Ghost Stories, The Very Best of Fantasy and Science Fiction 60, The Last Unicorn, St John's First Aid (Haha) and The Life of Pi... oh and some previews.


My DVDs, with some interesting titles.


A close up so you can see my hidden Batman collection!

Indiana Jones is hiding in there too.

Jurassic Park, Dune, Star Wars, Willow, Van Helsing, Young Frankenstien, Krull, Stargate... jsut to name a few....

Comic Hell

In all of my life, I never thought I would be one of those comic collectors. By that I mean, I never thought I'd be hunting down comic books. As mentioned before, I like trades. Trades just make everything so much easier. The story is all there, composed in book form. There's no fear of missing issues - even though you still have to buy them in volumes. They are easier to find and order than a single comic book (or so my experience has lead me to believe).

I previously explained my dilemma about The Last Unicorn comic. When I called to order it, I never dreamed I would have a problem. Even Sharyl mocked me, when I expressed a worry that the comic may sell out. "I really don't think people are clamoring to buy a comic on The Last Unicorn" she remarked. Oh how we were all wrong!

After not hearing anything for a month from my comic book store about the progress of my order, I decided to check IDW and was perplexed that Issue #1 was still available. Digging around the site a week later, I was even more surprised that Issue #2 had been released on June 30th, and was completely sold out in less than a month. I tried contacting my local comic book store but didn't really get an answer.

Instead I immediately tried to search down the first two issues online. I found that websites either had one or the other, or were completely sold out of both. I ordered Issue #1 from IDW directly, and ordered Issue #2 from My Comics Shop. The next day I received confirmation and shipping emails from both companies, within half an hour of each other. I didn't feel like springing on a huge amount for shipping, so I went with standard. My Comics Shop covered their ass by saying "up to 21 days" due to customs. I am hoping they both arrive next week sometime. I also hope that they don't get lost, or I don't have any problems, as I have decided to subscribe for the other issues and pre-order them with My Comics Shop.

Of course, after I placed the order, I found a Canadian website that had them both. I've booked marked them just in case.

But that brings me back to my first point, which is, I can't believe I've become so obsessed with finding this comic. After some research I found that the comic was being published in small quantities as they weren't too sure how popular it was going to be. Clearly IDW knows nothing about three things; Women, Female Nerds and Peter S. Beagle.

In my experience, a lot of women love The Last Unicorn, and women who especially love it, are nerds. Nerds like to collect things. I myself want this for my Last Unicorn Collection. I have the anniversary publishing of the book, the VHS, the first release DVD, the 25th anniversary DVD and the SF&F collection with Beagle's short story follow up to the original story: Two Hearts. I'd love to get the soundtrack, and the deluxe version of the book containing both stories but I'm not that willing to part with my money... yet. The first publishing of this comic will just fit nicely with my collection and the other comics I own. I don't have a large collection of comics, and most of them are just trades. For someone who loves Batman so much (more about that in the future), you'd think I'd have more.

For a final attempt, I went to the popular Silver Snail in Toronto while there for other reasons (Miss Saigon!). I spoke to someone at the store, who tried looking for Issue 2, but told me he was sold out of Issue 1. He said he was surprised it went so fast. He told me that there was a good chance that IDW will release the comic as a trade. I hope so, because you can bet your ass, even if I manage to get Issues 1-6, I will be getting the trade as well!

Summer Plans

Everyone knows that the best things always happen in summer. There's always so much I want to do, but I never seem to have the time. This summer, I will attempt to accomplish most of my plans!

1. Go the Toronto Zoo
I haven't been to the zoo in three years, and before that, I can't even remember. The Polar Bears are back, and going to the zoo is such a summer event. I hope to accomplish this sometime in August, or even in the first two weeks of September when the weather is still warm.

2. Go to Fan Expo (August 27th to 29th)
Being a nerd, I have always wanted to go. But Barrie Fair has ALWAYS fallen on the Saturday of the expo and I have never been able to go. There wasn't any reason for me not to go on the Sunday other than the Sunday has never been the best day. Barrie Fair was cancelled last year, but I was out of the country so I couldn't go. Barrie Fair is still cancelled this year, but I will be in Nova Scotia until August 28th. I am going to try to get to Expo the Saturday or the Sunday. I booked my flight back from Nova Scotia really early on Saturday so I have the option of going on the 28th. More on that...

3. Go to Louisbourg, Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia for an Archaeological Field School at the Louisbourg Fortress. I would like to get some experience in archaeology to help me get a job in the anthropology field. I didn't go to field school when I was in University, but I was suggested to go to this week long field school. I am very excited about it. I am staying at a bed and breakfast that has a room looking out at the harbor. I'll be digging at an old french fortress part of Canada's history. And I'll be travelling out east - something I have never done before! I am going to trya nd catch a few events in the evenings. I'm renting a car to get around, as my plan is to fly to Halifax, drive to Louisborg and then drive back to Halifax Friday night, sleep in the airport and take an early morning flight back to Toronto where I will either take the TTC downtown to the expo or the Go Train to Oshawa. This is going to be a crazy week.

4. Go to the Royal Ontario Museum and see the Terra Cotta Army
I've been to the ROM many times, but they were redoing the dinosaur exhibit the last time. I really would like to see the Terra Cotta Army but they're going to be there until January so there's no rush yet!

The Frustraion with Comic Books!

I started to collect comics. I don't actually like collecting comics because I am a very impatient person. What I do like doing is buying the trades. Trades for those who are not comic saavy are graphic novels containing the entire comic series in one handy book form. This makes it a lot easier than collecting each issue. I have the entire Sandman series in trade form.

I learned that The Last Unicorn was getting a comic book form. I had to get it. So I decided to give my local comic book store some business and order it through there instead of ordering it online. Besides, I thought, it would save me money as I'd be paying in Canadian dollars at the store, instead of US and I wouldn't have to buy any shipping. I ordered around the end of June. I'm still waiting!

I talked to one of the guys at the store, and I had myself put on file so they would order me the entire series. I assumed it would take about a week or so for my comic to come in. Wrong. I was told I would probably be waiting 4 weeks, as the issue was back ordered. I wanted to know if that meant it was sold out, because I would cancel the order and just buy it online. I was told it was a matter of shipping, as the publication would be shipped from one location, to another, back to another and then to the comic book shop. I figured I was okay with this. I'm still waiting.

I decided to check on the status of the comic on the publisher's website. The first issue was still in stock. But the second issue has come out... and it isn't in stock! How did it get sold out so quickly!? It was released last week! I am floored. I hope they get more, or that I was on some automatic list and I'll get issues 1 and 2 together. I might have to speak to my comic book store sometime soon.

I have also started ordering The History of Bruce Wayne, where Batman gets transported back in time and lives through an incarnation through each century he turns up in. So far he has been a caveman, a witch hunter and a pirate. Next up is cowboy!

Websites and Blogs I thoroughly enjoy

I'd like to raise some traffic for some sites I really enjoy visiting everyday. They keep me entertained and thus should do the same for you!

Humor Sites

Most of all, I love funny sites. Here are a couple that you should check out if you enjoy a good laugh. If you don't enjoy a good laugh, then there's probably something seriously wrong with you.

List Of The Day is a wonderfully funny site that re-posts some funny lists from other websites without actually having to visit those websites (like Maxium, for example). Full of funny photos, some which readers contribute, Craig List postings, videos and Engrish, this is a place that I check regularly throughout the day. I have found other funny sites through this blog as well.

White Ninja is a comic that follows the adventure of White Ninja. As described by its creators

"White Ninja Comics are not for the weak of mind. They are a brilliant satirical commentary on controversial worldly issues. They can be enjoyed on many levels. Scholars, Philosophers, and the like, who possess the intellect to analyze and break down the comics to their hidden, and often devious, roots, will enjoy White Ninja to its fullest degree. Others, like you and I, however, can still enjoy the comics for their light-hearted surface humour and funny drawings."

Cake Wrecks should be a household name by now. A showcase of some magnificent looking cakes, as well as some very sad, sad looking attempts - many from bakeries.

11 Points is a blog of lists, all which go to 11. Ranging from sports, to pop culture, to the obscure, there are some interesting facts amongst these lists!

The Oatmeal mostly consists of comics about grammar. And T-Rexes.

Mudtown is another comic without continuity. It is hard to describe as it has no theme, except a lot of references to pop culture. The Beatles and Jim Henson tribute comics are a must see.

Awful Library Books proves that not all books are for the academic and smartsy type people.

Hyperbole and a Half is a blog full of new product ideas, market strategies, a spaghetti noodle with a speech impediment and the childhood stories of the author. Also, a wonderful post about Cake Vs Pie (Pie is the winner by far).

Cracked is hit or miss. Some articles are geninuely hilarious, others not so much. The biggest highlight is Wednesday for their lame version of a photoshop contest.

Don We Now Our Gay Apparel highlights the colourful wardrobe of the Canadian National Treasure, Don Cherry. This blog is only active and valid during hockey season.

Nerdy Sites

Nerdy sites and humor sites go hand and hand. A lot of these sites are actually really funny as well, but are more geared towards nerdy persuits!

Topless Robot is my favourite stop for nerd news. With weekly contests, daily lists, apparel, and Fan Fiction Friday, it is one of my staple sites throughout the day.

Superdickery reminds us that Super Man, and other comic book heroes are, indeed, dicks. It also showcases some strange, and non sensical comic book covers.

Epbot is a blog by the wonderful blogger who brings us Cake Wrecks except this blog is all about her geeky pursuits.

Kindertrauma reminds you of all the movies that scared the hell out of you as a kid.

The Great Showdowns are drawings of the showdowns faced in a movie. Very witty!

College Misery is a newer blog that stemmed from Rate Your Students, where professors laid down the smack to their students. A lot of it is about academic complaints, but every once and awhile it has some great rants.

Great White Snark is another website for nerd news.

Nimoy Sunset Pie is exactly that.

Girly Pursuits

These are sites that are read by both men and women, but tend to be geared more towards women.

Jezebel is a blog site with interesting news stories and encourages discussion. A lot of topics are women orientated.

Bakerella has step by step receipes for baking delicious desserts. I haven't tried one yet but I will... one day!

Misc.

I couldn't really think of a category for these!

Sociological Images is a thought provoking site that explores gender and race construct in images we see everyday.

Escape To The Movies With Movie Bob is one of the places I go for movie reviews. Other than Rotten Tomatoes.