Capricorn/Dragon

Main Entry: disrespect
Part of Speech: noun
Related Adjectives: affrontive, aweless, contumelious, derisive, disparaging, disregarded, disrespectful, insulting, irreverent, rude, sarcastic, scurrile, scurrilous, subderisorious, supercilious, unenvied, unregarded, unrespected, unsaluted, unworshiped

I've been going through the old com posts lately because 6 years of canon is a lot of things to record and you have to mine rocks to get gems. Going through this collective project reminds me of so much. There's a lot of remembering where my head was at when this plot happened or that line was delivered. More then that though, I remember other actor/writers and what we would all talk about in late night chats. Gordon's managed to survive though 6 years of this. My first post was in February of 2005 and I had no clue what I was doing. I'm not sure I know now.

Reading on particular writer in the com though - and I'm sure people who were there will know who I'm thinking of - made me come to an epiphany I've been trying to explain to myself for years. It made me realize what sets me off.

If I am actively unhappy with you it is because I feel you have disrespected someone or something close to me. In the process you have disrespected yourself. Even when I'm mad at myself, that's why - disrespect.

It has nothing to do with what it is. Treat teachers poorly. You'll get it. Endanger someone's life so you can get a ride right now when the driver is almost falling asleep? Yup. Molest or seduce a child? Yes, I will be on the phone with the DA's office and watch you get sentenced with a death glare on my face. Insult or try to exploit my community? May Hera and Great Zeus on High Help You.

Yeah. My temper's bad and I should come with a warning label. My brain will take over and the degree of "how angry should I get here?" will kick in. I'm intense, not a unreasonable. Disrespect is disrespect though regardless of source. And you know what? Stories count. If they don't then explain copyright law. Hell, explain fandom. They might count more then anything else to me because they define and allow us all to share experience.

Lemme see:

It's been a busy week. As most of you know I had a week where I worked a PGA event. I can say very nice things about golfers and pro-football people. Talking Rain and Nature Valley have won me to their brands for helping the stuff stay upright. I cannot say nice things about the people who ran this thing and the working conditions they made security, trash, and parking go through so...next.

Proof that M does know everything: I ran into a guy in Steelers gear who made polite conversation and smiled when I made a "Steelers, cool" comment. Hey, Jeff and Shawn like 'em and I trust their opinion on most other things. It turns out Mr. Swann was one of the keystones in the "steel curtain" who I have even heard of and ran for governor of PA. Must have been a really good platform because Kiko voted for him as a Republican and it doesn't exactly get uniquely family valued then that household.

Still on a Journey bender. Thanks Zippy. It's gotten to the point where a Journey fan on YouTube is helping us by posting "Only Solutions.

Kerri and Stacy's visits were like getting two halves of a comedy team on different weeks. Kerri is the straight man in the show. I think the fun parts involved Kerri, Irish margaritas, and cheesecake. Stacy's highlights involved LOTS of plotting which we'll inflict on players be rolling out later on the games. Both involved comedy as we watched them handle phone calls from offspring.

The interview for college went well. They asked me to write about a book I recently read that was really enlightening. All stories are - even the bad ones. Or they asked me to write about a teacher I had that should receive an award. There were two of them. Details on request. Otherwise, it looks like everything is in order for school and the special ed coursework.

The more I think about it, the more I'm probably going to actually use my BA in event work and community networking type stuff on a teaching job. Kent school district has a union who it's apparent hasn't knocked on doors for too long. The immigrant community wants more teacher and student focused education, but getting these folks out voting is a problem. The "I raised mine" crowd then votes down the taxes. This also screws area libraries and other community service that might help some of these kids and their overworked, underpaid families. If I get into a school, I'm probably destined to be a union rep. Wow. Considering how anti-union Mom and Tom were that's almost funny. Oh, well. They thought teachers only worked 9 months a year and only for 6 hours a day. Nice joke that.

One more small note for people I do not know posting here. (People I do know are excused.) Please don't leave hearts on your comments unless you actually mean you "<3" something. It makes you look 12.

And that's the news.

Dorsol Plants is running for Seattle City Council.

Great Hermes, your best acts are ones I have to process and this one...

I am so done with this horse shit.  You've cut off most of my other conversation pieces.  Just admit you're scared shitless of most for what I do already.

I was watching Dave Carrol and one of the best customer service complaints in modern memory. Something odd struck me amongst the nearly 10,000 comments on the video.

thats crap. he didnt notice it was broken until the soundcheck the NEXT day. Read his account. and why didnt he open the case when he arrived in Omaha???? go read his story carefully. Oh "he was tired" horseshit

And other creative "oh it was his fault, stop bitching" comments. Hundreds of them. All the while just as many, if not more people are commenting in with airline horror stories. It's like the mere at of saying "this is not fair" brings the misery junkies out of the woodwork to insist we with the broken guitars, cold food, or even those of us in mortal peril somehow should just lump it and let the guys who probably had more then a fair share of causing us loss of time, effort, and energy have their way. Worse, they always make it somehow the other guys fault for daring to complain.

I've had many examples of this "you should just go and self-loath quietly now" in life. Nothing will ever top the most reprehensible one. Freshman year of college I had a professor from hell and he had this book all about Jewish leadership and their appeasement efforts in WWII during the Holocaust. I've read worse, but not by much. That wasn't the topper though. The topper was when professor from hell brought us all in to seminar and started arguing the Jews were in part responsible for their own 6 million deaths "why couldn't they just accept responsibility" in front of Jewish students with grandparents who were in the camps. ::sigh:: The guy with a gun to his head isn't exactly consenting to bad treatment, though it's within the realm of normal to try to minimize how much pain he's going to get. The law has a clause for that called "under duress." It's not consent anymore then forcible rape would be. They used to blame the victim there most of the time too until social pressure came from enough people who open and actively "complained."

What is up with these fuckers and why do they keep insisting they are more right and rational then the guy with an actual problem? Are they just that in love with authority? A wise friend said, "Guilt is what you do to yourself. Shame is what other people try to put on you." It's like these guys are Amway peddlers of shame and just as annoying when they're on your porch.

This is the heavy one, so I've hesitated writing it.

As you know, I have a twin sister. This twin has been writing stories since she could pick up a pen. Sometime around when I was 11 year old I figured out something was not right about her. She'd always been spacy and somewhat anti-social, but there were days she'd threaten to disappear off the face of the Earth and no one would miss her. When I think of anti-bullying policies in school districts, I keep things of Jess and hoping it prevents some kid with deep depression or other mental health issues years of problems or even just keep them alive. Mom being mom didn't believe in mental illness, was a firm believer in image and popularity as a panacea, and basically did more harm then good at almost every turn. I was halfway lousy at it and did some things of my own which were harmful, but I was my sister's keeper to the best of my ability because someone had to be.

What kept Jess going was stories. The next story from her favorite show or the next one she had to write down in her notebook didn't much matter. Stories gave Jess - and later, other friends of mine - the power to see the next day. I started to figure if someone had a story of some kind to work on I'd see them tomorrow. This sense only grew when I discovered fandom's collective memory, role-playing games, and Jungian psychological theory. People often talked about contributions, especially in art, outlasting their creators. Stories not only saved lives. If you did them right they were a kind of collectively shared immortality. If I'm helping you write, it means to me that you'll be okay - maybe even better off - until I next see you. Nope, this not rational in the least. Sorry.

Hang in there, Shawn. Before the accident, you were coming home to talk about story stuff online and I'd like nothing more then to hold you to it.

As many of you know, I just invited years of people's bad feelings about me to come and vomit on my lawn. This isn't a complaint. It's a comment, and to an extent, it's interesting to know I'm a source of strong feelings among people. Another comment to make is that even among people willing and able to put up with my uncompromising approach to "happy fun time" geekery is that I'm a drill sergeant. I get them up, make them run the mile, and get on them if they don't bring the best they can do. They also understand the drill sergeant is up an hour before they are, runs two miles, and that I hold myself to the same standard of quality. This takes a lot of energy.

So why do I do it?

Every once in awhile, the History Channel wheels out this documentary on the history of comic books. O'Neil, Gaimen, Quesada, Smith, Miller, Stan...Whether they think they do or not, they bring characters with them. Some of those characters, well, versions of them, landed in my head. (If not them, certainly their friends, spouses, teammates, etc.) Sometimes through choice. Sometimes through study. Often it was due to a "Can you cover >blank?"  That alone wouldn't be enough. Here's what is:

I got a text message from Zippy awhile ago. Zippy has recently come to comics and is taking to them like a fish to water. She's taken on two characters, but if I were to hedge my bets I would guess the much-abused character of Jericho moved in to her mind and has proceeded to become a very vocal mute man. She was in a used shop and came across some comics we used in a scene. I remember her mentioning that it was weird for her to see and feel this 20 year old comic and feel like it all happened yesterday. The way she described it, it wasn't a story. It was an event. To see someone writing an event she was there for and involved in yesterday written as a 20 year old comic today?

This is at least one of the reasons I do it. Because that feeling of amazement can be someone else's.

Unknown fact for many of you: I signed up years ago to sponsor a child in the Philippians. Carmela wrote me today and told me she's graduated! She's been accepted into a university where she's taking accounting.

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I try to sign up for e-services from my very hippie "protest everything Republican" alma matter, I got the following notice.
_____________________________

Dear Community Member:

During the last few years there has been a significant increase in the number of copyright infringement suits filed against higher education institutions and individual members of those institutions. In addition, recent changes in federal law have placed increased responsibility on institutions of higher education to enact policies and procedures related to copyright infringement. The College's Copyright Committee has chosen to address this issue with an approach that is consistent with College values; focusing on education, information dissemination and personal responsibility as opposed to implementing more active control measures that may limit legitimate Internet activity. This notice is provided as part of this effort.

Federal copyright laws and the College’s policies prohibit downloading, sharing, or copying of copyrighted materials including files, music, and books. Violation of these provisions could result in corrective action by the College as described in its policies. Furthermore, the College is required under the College Opportunity and Affordability Act (H.R. 4137) to annually provide notice that unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material, including unauthorized peer-to-peer file sharing, may subject individuals to civil and criminal liabilities. More information on copyright law is available on the U.S. Copyright Office Web site or consult any member of the Evergreen Copyright Committee.
________________________________________

Dear Evergreen,

There was only a "accept" button on that? Nice guys.

You raised me better than that and all your buildings are concrete for a reason. I'm not much of the protesting sort compared with many of your alumni, but asking me to sign that is hilarious. It's the kind of corporate babysitting drek I know full well is unenforceable, damaging to intellectual freedom, and is also national law and you have no choice. See, I do have a choice though. Agree that schools have the right to snoop on student computers for the benefit of companies like Viacom and EMI? ::laughs:: You obviously have me mistaken for someone that graduated from a normal college. Even if all I will ever do on your network is get my transcript it's the principle of the thing.
________________________________________

I know they're trying to enforce it the least amount possible. I have the right not to sign something like that which feels counter to my politics, which is professionally dubious as a proposition, and which I've had to debate at Evergreen before regarding Geocon which is what cemented my intellectual property stance in the first place.
_______________________

Update:

Called Evergreen. I had to have a debate with Reg and Records about the policy just to get their hours. I cannot help but love this school and as I type, I'm laughing. Note to self: Don't call Evergreen while hungry. Political debates on an empty stomach suck.

I'm sorry, Sam. It's been another bad weekend.

I tried. We all have. Your son has so much love around him but he's scared of it all. Maybe it's because he lost you. It's gotten to be that the only way I can show the kid that I love him is to be an absolute, uncompromising hardass. Even then, he's 15 this month and slipping back to about 8. He didn't bother putting shoes on today, and then tried to blame it on Gavin and I being in a hurry. He slipped out of his seatbelt because he was trying to lay down while I was driving in Ferndale - land of 1,000 bored cops. Then, he snapped at me for asking if he was indeed in the seatbelt and I snapped back about $500 fines. He wandered in stocking feet all over his great-grandmother's 90th birthday party - in church - and talked to no one. That's not a full report. Game at our house was spilled soda and breaking even more stuff, including a wedding gift. It's just stuff, Sam, but the way he flails I swear he's going to break his own neck and not even care when he does.

I have this horrible feeling about tonight. His largest moments are after gatherings where he's not the focus.

M

Great Athene has given me a sign. I mean very literally a sign. I am staring at it right now as I type in sheer awestruck wonder as it holds brochures. If I describe what I am looking at I will sound more nuts then usual.

Okay, Great Lady, I know the battle plan. How does it get implemented, because right now I'm sort of feeling like the 300 Spartans?

The SLIS faculty have completed review and grading of your revised Final Examination Portfolio. I am pleased to inform you, on behalf of the faculty, that you have passed the final examination. The School is forwarding the Certification of Final Examination to the Graduate School.

Congratulations!
Final Exam Committee
Dr. Akin, Dr. Hoffman, Dr. Hilbun


Thank you to the crew.

Cons

• Not nearly enough people came to see Gavin and I in Hospitality.
• Getting out of Hospitality was damn near impossible. Seriously, cons run on volunteers. If you're bored at some point at a con, volunteer.
• There is a concern about getting people under 40 involved with organizing cons.
• There were less people at con - 2400 this year - but proportionality more people I felt comfortable seeing.
• Hotel maintenance had to be called twice for sink malfunctions.
• We all staggered out of there sore and tired.
• Jess lost her crackberry.

Pros

• Everyone LOVED the food. We got amazingly high praise.
• Laura, the Hospitality head, recommended me and Gavin for heads of the department next year.
• Tyler got involved in two D&D games of extended length.
• Kayleigh was an absolute trooper and wore great costumes.
• You know, I still love the fact that food makes everyone happy. It's such a simple comfort and joy to all who partake.

Nope. Not the usual one. The angry lemur on LJ that I used to game with who would occasionally have a point buried in her sexist bullshit.

Soooooooo...rape is a problem men inflict on women. 9 times out of 10, sure. But then there's cases like this. Yes, it's not the norm, but...::sigh:: Look, I get it. You were raised with a lot of knowledge about injustices perpetrated by the majority on the minority or just women in general. You're not the only person like this I have met and talked to at length. Just admit you're a female chauvinist already, would you? I feel embarrassed to call myself a feminist in your presence.

As for the rest of people reading this: I strongly believe any dialog about one gender's problems should include some perspective from the other gender. It doesn't have to be right. It just means feminism should be more then educated white women talking about gender issues and to have them stop feeling affronted when someone poor, black, or (Athene forbid) male shows up trying to engage the discussion. It just keeps us all running in place and keeps creepy people from being noticed because they don't fit the profile.

Death is supposed to be final. It's supposed to be attention-getting because it's final. It's supposed to make things feel more real because it takes characters living normal lives and shakes the idea that life is going to go on just the same has it has been. More often, it's used in series where people live extraordinary and dangerous lives to illustrate just how dangerous the situation they are actually is.

Lemme just say that reason is a cop-out. If you've been illustrating how dangerous things are though other story means then character death solely for this reason is automatically cheap and should get an author mocked. Don't tell me it can't be done either. Rod Sterling and Ray Bradbury managed it just fine. In fact, all you need to know about character death can pretty much be illustrated by their work - but I digress.

Example set one: V

The first death I remember on TV was amazingly well done. I am a fan of the show "V." There was one character, Harmony. She was this hippie from Fresno when the aliens came. There was one nice, over-his-head alien vegetarian who talked to her at her lunch wagon and these two bumbled their way into being madly in love with one another. Even when she found out his people were here to rape the planet and he was a lizard under is gawky appearance, Harmony loved Willy. Even as the world dissolved into war, Harmony remained a pacifist up until the do or die end, where she decided to go with the man she loved to try to save the world from his people. She was shot. She died in Willy's arms after saving him, smiling at him and whispering his name with her last breath while the world dissolved in gunfire. I still tear up thinking about it 25 years later.

The second death I remember was from the same universe, but...if the 7 year old notices you punked a character then you have fucked up. This time it was a character named Elias Taylor. He'd turned his life around from petty criminal to successful supply runner and then businessman. His death is something I remember clear as a bell. He stood in front of a laser canon - like straight in front - took his time aiming, and then got predictably vaporized. Now...lemme count the ways this doesn't work: Does a seasoned resistance fighter and LA street punk stand in front of a giant canon and aim a pea shooter gun at the well armored alien? Not generally, no. If there's cover, the street punk generally takes it and starts shooting. He sure as hell doesn't square himself in clear view of the canon and wait 3 seconds for the shot. If you don't think 3 seconds is very long, count it down next time you are driving on the freeway. It's long enough.

Second example: Tasha

Third memorial death is oddly enough related. The second episode of Star Trek: TNG I became captivated by this strong, knowledgeable tactically brilliant blonde security chief named Natasha Yar. I knew enough to know that what I was watching was an alternate universe unfold and it was unfolding badly. Then I discovered the hook of the episode. I was looking at a ghost. The rest of the universe should be at peace, and by the end of the episode, it promised to be. The problem was this character I'd fallen in love with wouldn't be there and she had died a death completely unworthy of her - "a empty death...a death without purpose."

Because of this episode, I became a Trekker. Eventually, I saw how she died.

It was sexist as hell. The good girl Troi suffers through being talked to, but ultimately lives. Worf goes onto a career of making really dumb comments about women. Yar role before this was diminished more and more - and she's now mostly known for sleeping with Data and a very bad death (and then a very bad resurrection. I'm getting there.). What that death did was show that life was cheap in the universe, being a good little hostage is apparently rewarded, and that Star Trek, at least at one point in time was not serious about assertive women - that even in death they would be disrespected. Later, when on Firefly Wash was killed, I felt much the same way. While the point was supposedly to show how dangerous the universe was what I came away with was that the non-traditional sweet, nurturing loyal guy with the warrior woman he was absolutely nuts for was killed without any regard. I felt this was done because some suit - maybe even Joss - felt he was disposable and he was disposable because he was different and he challenged what is acceptable in our cultural folklore. (Oddly enough, the same writer who wrote "Skin of Evil" was the story editor who oversaw Elias' death on "V" - which leads me to believe only a handful of writers of popular serials used to think this sort of thing was a good idea to inflict on characters - especially those who were female or black.)

Tasha also taught me about resurrections. Her alternate universe version went back in time to set right all which had gone wrong - including her own worthless death. This should have remained. Instead - and I do not know who thought this was a good idea - they say she was captured and agreed to become a Romulan's consort. She then had a daughter, tried to escape, and was killed.

Lemme count the ways this doesn't work...A woman who was likely gang raped at some point in her life (watch the episode "Where No One Has Gone Before"), who raised a young sister away from drugs and tried to avoid affiliating herself with powerful street thugs, who always cut her hair short to keep opponents from using it against her, the women who struggled with her powerfully obvious sexuality and who found comfort only in the arms of a doomed man and an artificial one...this woman agrees to become a sex slave? Huh? Okay, and if this is the case, then why didn't Starfleet - who according to Ron Moore has all this badass secret service guys - go and find and free these POWs - especially one with knowledge of - granted - alternate future tech? We have only Sela's word she was caught and executed, which frankly, is killing the goose with the golden eggs as far as learning Starfleet's advanced tactics. Also, if there's someone out there that heard bedtime stories about Picard and his tactical genius, wouldn't it behoove someone to brief the captain of Starfleet's flagship that someone like this is likely to find him on the boarder? Finally, what's up with all the getting in Picard's face? Why did we never see a real conversation between Sela and Data? Even if you buy the line about Data being incapable of love Tasha was the closest he got.

If you're going to kill someone or bring them back - plug your damn plotholes. Which brings me to...

Example 3: Donna and Sue

Holly shit. Where do I start here? I got these characters dead. Both had dramatic deaths. Sue's death was turned into a punk death by the rest of the story. Donna's was banal, which is almost worse.

First Sue. ID Crisis started out great. Ralph schooling a young hero...talking about being married and how in love he is with the wife...how they met...This would be all perfectly wonderful storytelling, if it was not deliberately setting us up to care. All storytellers are manipulative, however all storytellers are obligated to keep their manipulations as invisible as possible. That's worth repeating:


Why is this important? Because the reader reads to be taken to another place and in the heads of other people and sometimes even into a world that does not resemble our own. We do this to learn, to be entertained, to gain empathy and understanding, to create bonds with others who have shared the same world with us. If we see the stagehands at the show. If we see the boom mike in the shot, if we see the artificial smile on the photograph we are forced out of the story and back to ourselves - kinda rudely. We realize we're being played and we have to make the choice to go back and play along or not. By that time, we go back in aware of the fakeness of it all or worse, we as readers go somewhere else. After technical issues, nothing feels more fake then a bad death. But I digress.

So Ralph is singing Sue's praises. With him having one of the happiness, most stable, and longest marriages in comic-dom he's not just speaking for his marriage either. He's speaking of the possibility of normalcy, partnership, and happiness within the cape life which is notoriously a loner's business, especially in DC. Ralph and Sue whisper to us of alternatives to the "big 3" model.

Then it's crudely, brutally taken away. Her body not just deprived of life, but deprived of the classic beauty Ralph so prized. Then she was pregnant - just in case all that stuff on the previous pages wasn't enough drama for you. It was so over-the-top we're taken out of the story again. It too coincidental. It's shocking, visually gross, and it is the death not just of a character but of possibility. Is the death "realistic?" Yes and no. Yes in the fact that a gross, over-the-top death for wives and girlfriends of cops and others in dangerous lives does make sense in the grand scheme of things. Examples happen. Her just happening to be pregnant after all these years? This just happening to occur after Ralph tells a newbie such happiness is possible? The boom mike is in the shot and the stagehands are in the panel.

This foolishness is compounded by three things Sue's death directly triggers in the story. One is the witch hunt of a baddie, who, yes, earned a witch hunt. However, the two best detectives in the whole of DC comics don't check phone LUDs in a "investigation" story? If you're going to shock us into attention then plug your damn plot holes for the love of the 9 Muses! Second is that the story then proceeds to make the story about Sue's rape - as if killing her was not enough - and then transfers that outrage to a rape of Batman by his friends. Now, I know men get raped and I am actually as much a masculinist as a feminist. What happened to Batman was dead wrong, but it's crass to take a character who made the universe feel more connected and transfer her pain onto just another one of the the big stand-alone three. Third thing was that they used one of the only other marriages in DC comics from the Silver Age to kill Sue off because Jean Loring wasn't getting enough attention. Can madness be expected after all Jean and Ray have seen and done? Oh hell yes. But it's still sexist as hell since apparently women can't take the heat their husbands bring home. It drives a stake in the idea of long term commitment into a universe that already lacks that idea which is insulting to the idea of comic characters and by extension, comic fans, having lasting and mature relationships.

Then there's Donna...First we had her as a Mary Sue sex object for Marv Wolfman who could write her at least somewhat well and then we had Devin the Mad using her as a poster girl for passive-aggressive confused sexuality. Her time with Kyle at least was well written even if I like the characters with other people, but I digress again.

Donna's death overall was well done. There was a grand dramatic fight where she died in the company of two people she loved more then almost anyone. there's one false note that threatens to pull me out of the story - Lilith. A death should never, ever be allowed to upstage another death. Lilith might have only been one of those characters long-term Titans junkies knew and loved well, but not showing her funeral and making her death seem like a quick throwaway would never be something Donna herself would endorse in a story about her death. Reading it as Donna's handler for four years makes me feel downright embarrassed to look at.

The fall out of Donna's death felt overall real - more real then most comics. There was a lot of saccharine, but when I think of Roy talking to his little girl about his lover being part of the stars or I see Diana break down crying into Batman's arms while Dick - alone - watches the sister of his sister silently, unable to come in from the cold and share his grief they are perfect moments of what death should be in a story - powerful, final, utterly changing to those involved.

We knew she wasn't going to stay dead because her power set is designed a certain way. How she was brought back in DC though makes you wonder if these people think at all. So she rises from the dead and is married off to a Titan of Myth? Um, these are the people who raised her supposedly. Yes, Greek Pantheons are wacky, but the Greeks did have taboos against daughter/father sexual relations. Her mind repeatedly shredded of any thoughts or feelings regarding her old life, making the time she's spending with this guy repeated mental and sexual assault. (Why should we think this is weird though after what keeps happening to Dick Grayson? ::sigh::) After that we get the Titans to the world she's on. There are four issues of fight scene, a moment where Roy Harper charge to her rescue - and takes a hit he should not have walked way from - then ::poof:: resolved. Next time I see Donna, she punks Green Arrow and is flirting with Kyle again while Roy is off with Hawkgirl. What happened to happily fucking ever after when we see a giant fight for the princess like that? Oh, yeah, right, Sue. Nevermind.

Resurrecting a character should leave you slack-jawed in sheer wonder that such a thing is possible. In Nation canon we had Roy challenge a God of the Dead to get the woman he loved back from the dead. He gave up hook-ups, did his homework, mouthed off to Gods, got his friends involved, lead the team, died, came back, overturned the cosmic order, and grew up - just for the chance the woman he loved could come home and just maybe love him back as much as he realized he loved her. Now THAT'S a story!

Years of feeling on the run
Scattered among private jokes and endless cups of my coffee and his tea
Friends that came, friends that went
Family that went too soon and those who had to stick around well past good sense
Broken cars and backs, but never a soul
Not with you, beloved.

How do I explain
A perfect state of imperfection
Other then to pray for its continuance?

After some serious thought, we conceded that we could give up eating, sleeping, and any sort of serious social interaction, and maybe squeeze out just a few more Titans stories.

- Len Wein, DC comics editor who along with Marv Wolfman and George Perez re-launched the team into modern comics in the 1980's.

This sounds eerily like "Friday night chat," only working in a team environment helps ease that social interaction problem.

The whole commentary he offers is...mirror-ific. I may post it.

Star Trek Fans Put Kirk's Command Chair in Their Homes

Serious Trekkies have long fashioned copies of their favorite costumes and props, and, back in the ’70s and ’80s, a few even put together homemade knockoffs of the captain’s chair, using reference materials like the “Starfleet Technical Manual” and “U.S.S. Enterprise Bridge Blueprints.”

But lately fans like Mr. Veazie have been building or buying more sophisticated versions of the command module from which James T. Kirk, played by William Shatner, ordered “Ahead, warp factor six.” Moreover, they are making them the centerpiece of their homes, thus conquering what is for them a final frontier of domestic décor. ...

The current wave of interest seems to have started after the original chair was auctioned for $305,000 in 2002 and subsequently displayed at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, where “Star Trek” loyalists could view it up close. (Not coincidentally, perhaps, the chair’s devotees tend to be clustered in the Northwest.)

I LOVE my people!

Art Spiegelman is still a guy in comics I'd love to schlep some whiskey for. Here's my favorite bit:

He hates the word “graphic novel” because he claimed it's misleading. “I’m called the father of the modern graphic novel. If that’s true, I want a blood test,” he said. “’Graphic novel’ sounds more respectable, but I prefer ‘comics’ because it credits the medium. [‘Comics’] is a dumb word, but that’s what they are.”

Thank Hermes! Someone with sense!

I hate the term "speculative fiction" for that matter as a way to pigeon-hole science-fiction and fantasy. If you cannot embrace the cheese and the history of what you are doing while trying to make it the best work you can do then get the hell out. It's a kind of thought-crime that shaves away words people like me use to define the books and other materials in our personal and professionally-maintained archives.

A GOLD Dragon Lies Beneath!

Your Inner Dragon is the most honorable of all. Golds are the third rarest of all the dragons (after Platinum and Chromatic dragons) and have a station in society that reflects their rarity. You are what one might call a Draconic Knight. Golds live by a strict code of chivalry and commitment. Remember Draco? Yep, Gold Dragon. Your appearance is fearsome and all-mighty but you'd never stoop so low as to bring any harm to a human. As a matter of fact, that's strictly contrary to your code of conduct. You're one of only two dragon types that is aligned "Lawful Good" and is proficient in the use of magic and spells. If you're curious, the other is Platinum, the King of the Dragons. Your piety, beauty, wisdom, and inner strength are absolutely without parallel.

But of course, being a Gold Dragon isn't all high ethics and codes. You like to fly around scaring things, advise humans in their affairs, and shapeshift. Strike that, you LOVE to shapeshift. And you're great at it. In fact, if you're a Gold on the inside, you might be a Gold on the outside, too - just in human form. Your favorable attributes are honor, chivalry, truth, kindness, gold, mining, protection, wisdom, bravery, and trustworthiness. You might be a bit too trusting of humans at times, but they're just kids compared to you. If anyone threatens your humans or tries to kill you, you could strike back with your breath weapon - Fire. But then, no one's tried anything that stupid in the last couple thousand years. After all, you're about 54 feet long.


My inner dragon is the most honorable of all. I enjoy shape-shifting, humans, and the occasional crusade to save the world. I'm what you might call a Draconic Knight. Click the image to try the Inner Dragon Online Quiz for yourself.