Cloudy Days: The Fall of Khart Haddas

... she asked me "how's the air up there?

The image you see is the view from my office in Pasadena. I just moved into a new office, and I'll admit that it looks pretty good. I even made my own whimsical version of Megadesk.

This is not what we're here to discuss.

The day has come, as was foretold with prophecy even in the light of delays and hold ups. Google's Blogger service is canceling their FTP support, and I'm out.

I've had a privately hosted website for many, many years (since 1999, if memory serves) and I love the privacy and freedom it allows. Set up a password-protected directory for information about a party, and then tons of embarrassing photos from said party? Done. Upload musical tracks for people to use as the theme for their fresh new web show? Easy peasy. Keep decades of writing and showcase my experience in multiple industries with an information architecture that borders on the pristine? I'm all over it.

Blogger wants me to come have my site hosted by Google. Now, you know I believe Google is reaching too far with their cloud concepted shenanigans. I don't want that much of my information in Mountain View, held secure by people who can't even get their own phone right. I have worked with my hosting company for years, they're as reliable as death and police oppression, and I'm not inclined to go with an entity that's clearly on the wrong path.

So my wonderful wife and her delicious design company are reformatting a Wordpress theme and I may be able to freak that ... or I may go back to manually FTPing HTML files and making my own RSS. I can't say today.

What I can say is that The Hundred and Four as you know it will be undergoing its latest transition. First it was an "online symposium and writing journal" for what I thought would be the next generation of brilliant voices, taught to be professionals by the likes of me. That failed miserably. Then I revamped it as my own window into the world, taking my own personal, more introspective blogging to my Soapbox, where I've had plenty to say about plenty since 2000 (yeah, I've been blogging that long, at least).

Now? Well, the main page (which will get a redesign as of, oh, let's say Bastille Day, its original launch date) will become a kind of aggregate -- my linkroll, (it's not ironic that I use Google for that, I don't mind them knowing what I look at, I just don't want them having what I create), an RSS feed for my CBR column and my Twitter feed when I get back to it, links to people I believe need to be linked to ... it's ultimately gonna be my experimental area, where I'll create and destroy worlds that most of you will never see (freeing up precious disk space on my main website).

But in a way, we'll be saying goodbye to this, at least together. I'm not deleting any files here, so it'll all (sooner or later) be searchable again. But for now, for today ...

Shade and sweet water, traveler. See you on the other side, or maybe one day you'll come visit me where I live, in the day after tomorrow.

Playing (Music): "My Hood" by GemStones

Commentary Track for April 28th Buy Pile Reviews

Every week I do a column full of comic book reviews as I've done since March 2003 and currently published at Comic Book Resources. Then, after the reviews post, I try to come over to my blog and expand on the thoughts and ideas listed there. Sometimes it's profound, sometimes it's gibberish, but it's always about comics ... let's see what we get this week!

What? This week's reviews ...

This week I wanna talk about Wonder Woman.

Sure, there's tons of interesting things going on with gods of Greek (Phobos, son of Ares) and Norse (Loki, master of mischief) origination, there's chuckles with Deadpool (the last two pages are still funny, later in the week, and "White Lightning" is just a freaking scream) and even, finally, a reveal on the new, weirder Cobra Commander (horrible visual design, incredible characterization in how he's been built up). Even Optimus Prime and Ultimate Frank Castle were of interest.

However, Diana of Themiscira's plight haunts me. She's part of DC Comics' trinity, relentlessly powerful (remember when she couldn't fly?) and capable of amazing feats. Unfortunately, her supporting cast is at best uni-dimensional (quick: name three character details about Steve Trevor ... thought not) and her rogues gallery wavers between laughable (Dr. Psycho, a homeless man's Hector Hammond), bland (Veronica Cale, a poor man's Lex Luthor in high heels) and (again) uni-dimensional (Genocide).

She actually suffers a lot of the same problems Marvel's T'challa does as a character: dangerously powerful, not a white male (thanks to Tom Brevoort for going on the record about that), from an isolated warrior culture that could probably be a serious threat to the established order if they were so inclined, often considered too much of an outsider by factions of their own people, historically unlucky at love (Ororo notwithstanding), a member of the royal class, dancing a delicate line between politician, ruler and hero. However, T'challa has at least style on his side: if he shows up with two hot girls, a limo, a black suit and sunglasses, he can play on the sensibilities of Blaxploitation movies or even Avery Brooks. Diana, by the very nature of her "mission" to "man's world" is mostly a solo act, and if she gets into a good looking ensemble, all people will think is "cheesecake" and "that'd be impractical in a fight."

One afternoon, with just a smattering of help from Tax Hitler (we didn't know him as such back then) I came up with a pretty good Wonder Woman arc with Comics Waiting Room columnist Vince Moore. It wasn't even that hard -- once we settled on the fact that we could be as much West Wing (we can take a smart, talky comic) as V.I.P. (I liked the girl with the shoulder holsters, shut up) we were on a role, creating a real means for Diana to experience conflict for a reason, bringing in two under-utilized DCU characters as secondary antagonist of very deep complexity, and even involving Giganta, Oracle, Donna Troy and even Wonder Girl without making any female character a victim, a moron, a pin-up or a damsel in distress. Maybe one day we'll pitch it, but even spitballing, we theorized that (our "nobody" status notwithstanding), DC would never go for it. Too ambitious, too far from fanboy sensibilities, too Aaron Sorkin for its own good.

We may pitch it anyway some day. Who knows?

That notwithstanding, I'm bothered that a writer I've met and know is freaking brilliantly talented -- Gail Simone -- can't make Diana interesting (to me). According to some figures, the title pulls down a none-too-shabby 25,000 sales per month, however that still ranked 78th and even there below Catwoman, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, tyro Joe the Barbarian, Batgirl (not even cool Babs Batgirl or "I learned to communicate with violence" Cassandra Cain Batgirl, but Stephanie Brown Spoiler blonde Batgirl) and an inch above Archie.

If Archie almost kicks your butt and you're one of DC's top three most recognized characters, it's time to figure something else out.

Maybe the new Chief Creative Officer (I swear I don't have anything against the guy, even though I was told he had the idea he was gonna shove me, laptop in my bag and all, into the waters behind SDCC a few years ago, which would have ended in gunfire) has some overwhelming plan and will one day make some changes. Maybe Gail Simone (who has literally never missed for more than a couple of pages on Secret Six ... which also ranks way above Wonder Woman in sales, by the way) has some secret reserve of ideas that'll bring the character into something that's not so lame (she pals around with teenaged talking gorilla commandos, dude).

I'm not holding my breath.

So that's what was on my mind this week. Enjoy.

Playing (Music): "A Capella" Maximus Baxter dub step remix by Kelis (courtesy of First Up

Ask Away (Super NSFW)

If you can find something online today that's funnier than this ...

... then you can hush my mouth and call me an African American. I'm not just saying that because of the role I played in its creation.

Today my wondrous wife launched her ... what could you call it? Web show? Advice column? Window into whimsy? Whatever -- Ask Supasista is completely NSFW and it's a freaking scream. I figured that if I was still laughing at things after hearing them over and over while she edited this (she refuses to wear headphones ... you'll see why), then that's hitting the mark.

Feel free to check it out and let her know what you think.

Playing (Music): "Set Me Free" by Lloyd feat. Mystikal

Snark: Where It All Started From

Courtesy of the fine folks at GeekWeek ...

Whoa

Try to behave yourselves this weekend ... or not, you know, whatever ...

Playing (Music): "I Can't Wait" by Mary J. Blige

Commentary Track for the Buy Pile, April 23, 2010

Every week I do a column full of comic book reviews as I've done since March 2003 and currently published at Comic Book Resources. Then, after the reviews post, I try to come over to my blog and expand on the thoughts and ideas listed there. Sometimes it's profound, sometimes it's gibberish, but it's always about comics ... let's see what we get this week!

What? This week's reviews ...

Heavy metal: I want all of the accumulated Marvel handbooks online and searchable, or at least all on CD-ROM and searchable. I want this yesterday. Honestly, I want it on my phone so I can settle stupid arguments in the wild, like this week when some poozer who didn't even buy anything came in to debate why Superman could be naturally well defined in muscle tone despite the fact that there's little that could give him enough resistance to resemble a workout. Let's just move on, as I don't have much to say about the Iron Manual that I didn't already say. Okay ... seriously, 330MB for the brain of a Dreadnought? Really? Those things are supposed to have pulled off bipedal locomotion, and they're almost as dumb as a Nokia 6010. Wow.

Uh oh, it's magic ... I introduced a new verb into the comics lexicon this week -- "Supergod." Definition: when a single narrator sits down and yammers, attempting to illuminate story points while revealing elements of his own character through asides and dialogue. Example: "I liked it when Lloyd kept Supergodding his story in that Phonogram issue because the meta-meta textual visuals were blowing my wig back." It can be done well or badly. Oddly enough, in Supergod, it's not done so well. Ironic, perhaps. Anyway, Gravel does a bit of that with his "war stories" as did Shuri in "Doomwar" and it worked ... well, better than it does in Supergod because the characters have had some time to settle in to the readers' consciousness in previous issues. It's also funny that Elephantmen tried this, as with chances of a movie adaptation heating up I believe a celluloid treatment would do a Wanted here, making a film that works better than its comic source material.

Speaking of magic (sort of), apparently the words "Felicia Day" and "The Guild" mean something to somebody. Or so I was told as I read this week's issue. No idea what that's all about. Probably doesn't matter.

TV good, microwaves bad: Here's the thing about the Honorable Mention section: if this stuff were even 75% cheaper, I'd buy most of it. Really. I pick up every single issue of every single comic book I review, wanting to like it. The high failure rate there is all the more tragic, but whatever. So yeah, I'd totally even watch the likes of Azreal, Transformers, Guardians of the Galaxy, G.I. Joe, R.E.B.E.L.S. and Ultimate Comics Avengers on Hulu. But the cost's too high for anything more, in my mind, and if I stopped doing my column, I'd just buy fewer comics.

Maybe its the "classic" LSH fan in me, but the embers of emotion between the relentlessly jerky Braniac 5 (which I love about this generation's depictions of him, it fits so well) and the relentlessly clueless Supergirl (seriously, she's loathsome) kind of made me go "aww" a little. I honestly felt the same way about Peter Parker and Carol Danvers, who would be the next stupendously gorgeous girl to fall into his arms (even Betty Brant was okay by 616 standards). He can't complain so much when he can honestly say he bedded MJ, Gwen Stacy, et cetera, et cetera, ad infinitum. But yeah, you can weave that kind of actual emotional tension into a book and still have punching. Just handle the balance better (Spidey's punching was parenthetical, Supergirl's punching was ineffectual) and it can go home with me.

Firestar, Jade ... I'd be okay if they took dirt naps. Long, eternal dirt naps, not this Piotr Rasputin madness. If they went over the cliff while riding in Prowl, that'd be fine as well. If they ran down the Forbush Man on the way, it'd be heavenly. Just saying.

It's okay, I'm drunk too: Apparently last week, I completely hosed Secret Six #20. My bad. Here's the review I should have written ...

Secret Six #20 (DC Comics)

Catman is going off the reservation. With his baby being hung off a balcony like he was called Blanket, he's at the mercy of criminals and millionaires ... or is he? In his rage, a whole new level of Catman is shown, stepping farther away from the Oliver Queen-beaten shlub of the past into a standard where he can stand next to your Bronze Tigers and Creotes comfortably. Once again a rift splits the team along surprising lines and it's hard to believe Gail Simone can write this brilliantly while still turning in those tedious Wonder Woman scripts. This is more of the mean-spirited good times that put this series on the map.

There ya go. Sorry for the delay.

Bed now.

Watching (CBS.com): How I Met Your Mother, "The Home Wrecker"

Blog Fu: Wire Work

Flyin' high on 4/20, even though I've never imbibed in my life. Intoxicated with freshness, fool! Let's go!

- I read this article at Computerworld which made me believe I needed to write a counterpoint. I'll give you a sneak preview, in case I forget and never get to writing it: what Mike Elgan is talking about is essentially a hip hop paradigm and aesthetic. The question is, "what do people need to create content?" The answer, of course, is "a chance." Sure, you can create content on an iPad. There's just considerably better ways, and to wit, I will (should I get this thing done) counterpoint using my Nokia N900 for content creation (some of the blogs you see here and on my main website, plus a decent number of poems and two or three chapters on my new novel were all written on that phone) and making ROI comparisons. I always laugh when people make top down comparisons, because no matter my white-collar job, I still have a very "from the bottom up" perspective on things, comfortable with and understanding the oft-forgotten viewpoints of the "flyover states."

- Speaking of Computerworld, one of their pieces was repurposed for The San Francisco Chronicle where they talked about how few rules there are to govern the security of cloud computing. That, of course, further reinforces my screed against the technology.

- When I was rocking shows, this was how I viewed myself ...

Yes, I miss Sully's sometimes ...
Image courtesy of Geekweek

- Yes, National Poetry Writing Month is kicking my behind quite effectively. However, I have yet to fall off and have a few pieces I could be proud of and/or improve. I like the discipline of it, and I like creative output -- NaPoWriMo may be the cause of most of the poetry I wrote in 2009. With my fiction focus, 2010 could be the same, and I know many, many people who don't write 30 pieces (good or bad) in a year. So, kicked butt or not, I am happy to proceed.

- I had a fantastic evening last Friday, as the family was joined for an Indian food dinner by Brig Feltus, her husband Andreas and their son Max. I kept checking in on the teenager, as I remember being the bored kid around the grown ups, so I hooked him up with the Wii and a MacBook Pro hooked up to the wi-fi. This is maybe the third or so guest appearance we've had at our dinner table, and it made me think that I really should start filming these dinners, as there's fascinating stuff happening there.

Also: Brig made me an apple pie the size of a biplane. I'm still eating it. Nothing wrong with that. My wife took pictures, maybe she'll post 'em one of these days.

- Could the United States Postal Service go out of business? I think the concept scares me a little, regardless of how much I love Fed Ex (pricey bastards that they are, we're both from Memphis).

- Speaking of scary ideas, here's an example of your tax dollars at work: the military is working on a real, honest to goodness, flying car that'd be the size of two Humvees end to end and would carry four operatives and all their gear. Yes, I'm deeply worried about a consumer grade version of this, as people dialing or putting on make up scares me badly enough in two dimensions. Oy.

- Did you know The Empire Strikes Back turns 30 this year? The platinum standard for sequels and inspiration for generations of geeky jokes, I still think of the scene where Vader entered with the snow troopers as one of the best examples of production design in film, ever. I celebrated by coding while watching it with my wife, baby sleeping nearby and absorbing all that goodness.

- Whatever your struggle in life, remember, it can always get worse. Be good to each other.

Tabu out.

Playing (Music): "How High?" by Method Man and Redman

The Denzel Washington Venn Diagram

I think I'm going nuts for venn diagrams ...

I want something like this for Robin Williams

... and yes, I am a crazy person. Carry on. Image courtesy of Geekweek (and I may post another from there).

Playing (Music): "Hot Night" by Meshell Ndegeocello feat. Talib Kweli

Commentary Track for the Buy Pile, April 15, 2010

Every week I do a column full of comic book reviews as I've done since March 2003 and currently published at Comic Book Resources. Then, after the reviews post, I try to come over to my blog and expand on the thoughts and ideas listed there. Sometimes it's profound, sometimes it's gibberish, but it's always about comics ... let's see what we get this week!

What? This week's reviews ...

It's tricky: The more I think about Siege: Loki from Gillen and McKelvie (and Fairbairn), the more I like it. The casual way Loki sat, one leg hanging down, on a bank of clouds. His theatrical flair for sweeps of his cloak or bows. His smirk in the reader's direction as he plays Goblin. Outstanding character work Branagh and company would do well to study.

Also, did he boink Hela? Well played, sir.

Mecha Move: Hellcyon is more serious than it looks and more fun than it should be. The kineticism is almost enough to carry the book on its own (loved the part with the trains). I might get called on for its literary credibility, but a) I think Jack McKinney's Robotech novels are works of genius and b) shut up.

Cibopaths, barbarians, the not-so-immortal bard and white power: I'faith, I really wanted to love Kill Shakespeare, but it was too busy patting itself on the back for its own cleverness to move the narrative onward. It was more fun reading the website than it was reading the comic book. That's a shame. My ambition is that this picks up speed quickly (just like my dawg Craig says of Lost, "I wanna see Juliet!") and never looks back. It's almost harder when I like the high concept, because wrong steps seem so much larger.

I'm actually very sorry I didn't have time to get to that Wolfskin book.

The Eisner nomination for Chew is well deserved (even though I don't regularly buy the book) and I want to say congratulations to Rob Guillory and my oft-times con archenemy/drinking buddy John Layman. I think part of my problem here is the same reason I had to drop out of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. I can appreciate the craft and the skill in the presentation, but the content makes my insides go wiggly. Hard to reconcile that, for me at least. Still great, creative, original comics ... even though I could do with more about the beets.

Let me be clear: the Human Target comic is as good as the show. However, I watch the show for free on Hulu. It's not good enough for me to spend my actual money on it.

If there were more of a story, "Brightest Day" could have been a "meh." I get that the people who work at DC are so insulated (from, say, Earth) that they don't see how a book promoting "white power" (both in terms of the actual story mechanism and the preponderance of the resurrected personages) could bristle some branches. Their history with diverse characters showcases that ("Atlantean" is not really a visually differentiated race, especially in DC). I just find Aquaman skinny dipping or Hank Hall (really? Just gonna brush past that whole Extant thing?) beating people up or Martian Manhunter unironically eating chocolate cookies with icing in the middle rather tepid. I also don't wanna be "that guy," which is why I let the "white power" jokes come from the store clerk Quislet (who's Jewish) instead of from me. I have enough problems.

Flash facts: Yes, there's been some slight jealousy over the nerd bling ...

For much girthier fingers than mine, apparently ...

Hey, hey, hey ... it's not what you think. I punched Tax Hitler in the face and stole his ring! You can't prove I paid for this! No, you shut up!

Also, yes, I'm aware of his many other names (Other Isaac, Earth 2 Isaac, M.O.D.O.I. and his preferred "Isaac Olmos"), but none of them have the sheer catchiness of "Tax Hitler." Der Taxenfuhrer marches on ... (no, I won't explain this joke any more, you really had to be there).

The mouse is used with my left hand largely due to too many hours playing Street Fighter during my wasted (and possibly wastrel) yout' in high school. Also, I don't use a mouse pad at work because I'm tired of having them stolen. Move on!

Off you go.

Playing (Music): "Hot Potato" by Freestyle Fellowship

The Wu-Tang Clan Venn Diagram

When I saw this, I laughed so hard I almost spit on my extra monitor. I love it.

More than a decade later, they still play an interesting role in our collective cultural (such as it is) consciousness. Also, I'm liking what I've heard off the new Wu Massacre album.

Playing (Music): "Our Dreams" by Meth, Ghost and Rae feat. Alicia Keys

Technophilia: The Nokia N900 Review

This header makes more sense down the road, trust me ...

What up? The Nokia N900 is a Linux-powered smartphone from Finland heralded for its idiosyncratic operating system. It uses a 3.5" resistive touchscreen (800x480 pixels resolution for 16 million colors), 5MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics on the dual LED flash, video recorder with WVGA, a MiniUSB power/data connection, Bluetooth 2.1, full QWERTY via a slide-out keyboard and a 3.5mm jack for stereo sound.

That's a good thing, right? No cloud computing necessary, 32GB of onboard memory (expandable via 16GB MicroSD card to a total of 48GB on your hip), completely open source OS which allows a wide variety of customization options, you can remove the memory card without taking the battery out, multitasking is available. Go on, install Firefox (Fennec or Icerocket), the code's fine. It can natively view virtually any media format you can throw at it, its web browser comes pre-loaded with Flash 9.4 (you can see almost anything on the web, like a real computer), wi-fi speeds are awesome, 3G speeds are pretty good, the application MaStory offers amazing integration with all leading blogging services, there's a built in FM Radio transmitter and receiver, tethering to a MacBook Pro is a 20 second affair with T-Mobile, you can have full MS Office emulation from OpenOffice with an optional installation of Turbo Easy Debian ... there's a feature list as long as your arm and a sense of freedom you can't find in any of the market leaders.

What's the problem? It costs between $530-$650 in cash with zero carrier subsidies available, and is extraordinarily rare in retail (Nokia has stores in New York and Chicago, outside of that you'll have to rely on having it shipped to you). The actual phone usage? Not so good in less-than-optimized reception areas (no call in Pasadena, CA has ever lasted longer than 30 minutes, sometimes dropping off as quickly as fifteen). The battery usage is intense -- keeping the phone plugged into a computer while on conference calls is a must. Outside of the phone itself, there's not much that works in portrait mode, not even the virtual keyboard (so forget about one handed texting unless you're blessed with intense dexterity -- 18+?) and sometimes the performance can be a little sluggish if you're doing way too much (downloading multiple channels) at once. The web browser, which is robust, can hang a little on the likes of Google Reader and Gmail, making for some frustrating delays (could be Pasadena connectivity again).

The full story: Let's start this way: I love this freakin' phone. I will also add that this love has virtually nothing to do with talking and hearing voices -- you know, the phone part.

After being a Palm user of ten years' standing and migrating out of a Treo 680 (ah, the love, the tragedy, oh the effervescent tragedy), I had a great deal of trepidation, moving my data allegiances to another continent, another platform, another world essentially. My fears were largely unfounded. I migrated all of my contacts (more than 700) over within five minutes and resolved all the conflicts within a day. After wrestling with a Bluetooth drama on a temporary phone I used for a while, I was able to get online and tethered so quickly that it was almost easier than my homebound wi-fi. Again, I love this phone.

Let's break that down into key areas ...

• Web browsing


• Word processing & productivity


• Blogging


• PIM/data management


• Entertainment/multimedia


• Voice calls

... and that way we can be systematic. Let's go!

Web browsing

In a word: wow. Thus far, there's only one thing I've browsed to that would not work exactly the same way as it did on my MacBook Pro, and that's Hulu's actual show pages -- the front page, subscriptions, preferences and the queue all work fine. Both of my websites (this one and The Operative Network) look pretty much perfect. YouTube? Flawless, and exactly as it appears on my MacBook Pro. Even the big test, Hulu, looks great right up until you try to play an actual episode. See the browser here (and Firefox, and until I prove otherwise, Iceweasel) only work up to Flash 9.4, and the main website for video runs on Flash 10.1 (so the ads can work and pay for the joint). I've never had a mobile web browsing experience like this, and it's freaking amazing. If you want it, Firefox gives you tabbed browsing too. I can't say enough good about the online experience with this device ...

... even though sometimes, depending on connection speeds, there can be some freezing based on Java load times and what not. OTOH, I get that at home and at work too, so it's not like it's a big deal. Plus, sweet spirit, let it connect to wi-fi and watch it go! No complaints whatsoever on the web browsing, likely the best mobile browsing experience available.

Word processing and productivity

Here's where things get tricky ...

The public word is that "there's no built in word processor on the N900." Okay.

So I followed a link or two (or seven) and installed something called Turbo Easy Debian on my phone. It essentially installed a different kind of Linux package alongside the operating system I'm running. Sweet. Guess what that automatically installed. Open Office in all its glory. Full support for M$ Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint, the whole shebang. Fantastic. A little slow, and the emulation of a mouse's effect on a cursor isn't so smooth, but it's in there like Prego, baby.

Then, for kicks, I tried something. I created a new "note" using the built in software, and pasted in my weekly comics list for my reviews. I saved it on to the SD card and then plugged the thing into the nearest computer around via USB 2. An HTML file was created that I could read anywhere. Interesting.

Then I got ambitious. I decided to try and use the "open" feature in notes to crack open one of my development files on my current novel. I write stuff in either plain text or HTML (often HTML code in a plain text file) to preserve my usages of italics and what not while still keeping things fairly universal in their application (as I go web first in many instances). However, the notes application on the Treo 680 could only handle 2000 characters. I didn't think this one would be much more robust ...

WRONG!

The built in, plain jane, Notes application on the N900 can open up huge (and I mean really large) text files, copy, paste, and do whatever you need. I've been cobbling on my novel ever since. Is it Word files? No. I never used those anyway, I just wanted compatibility. It is fast, it is accurate, it is readable on every computer I come across and it is -- in a word -- awesome. Go you Finnish bastards! So for flexibility and usability, I'm gonna give a big thumbs up to this section. I am so in love.

Blogging

This one deserves its own section, due to the wonder of MaStory. Let's say you run a blog. Wordpress, Blogger, Livejournal, Drupal, doesn't matter. You enter in your data (even if your blog uses FTP access, so get it together, Google!) for your account ... and start blogging. You can edit existing blogs. You can post. You can add images. You can add video. All from a client that is downloadable from the machine and works seamlessly. I've now posted three blogs, and aside from me forgetting a break tag, I haven't had to go on a desktop at all for any of them ... including this one! If I was a full time journalist, or trying to do live entertainment reporting, this would let me scoop almost anybody. The speed and flexibility of it are alarming. Outstanding work here, especially given that it's all open source work.

PIM/data management

Ah, finally some areas where all the skies aren't blue. Contacts are fine -- you'll never go into the cloud here. I exported my entire Palm database as a vcard and saved it on to the MicroSD card. I was then able to import it all -- more than 700 contacts, again -- and resolve all the conflicts within 10 minutes of looking around.

I will note that I have just barely tested IM, which is threaded into the "conversations" tool. I didn't notice them any differently from text messages, which pop up as a window in a corner that I can click or ignore and benefited from my skillful mobile typing skills. Don't try it in traffic, as portrait mode doesn't serve messaging and the on-screen keyboard is not so wieldy. Maybe fixable in upgrades.

Now my calendar ... that I haven't figured out yet. Most of the things I learned were done by others first. The Nokia Maemo community is super supportive and very quick to communicate their success. I haven't seen any word on Palm Calendars (or maybe my Google searching skills need some sharpening) so I'm slowly re-entering everything that wasn't a birthday or anniversary (all of which came through with my contacts). Moreover, the alarms for the calendar are silent when the phone is silent, so without vibration I can miss 'em. Not so cool.

I also miss being able to assign ringtones to different contacts and not having an incoming text message sound that's distinctive (the one here is very wishy washy and doesn't get my attention at all, even with the less-than-robust vibration), but given all I get in return, I'm coming to accept that. A solid "B" in this area, as I'm making it work and not complaining on a regular basis (and Palm had some world-beating calendaring going on, so that's tough to top).

UPDATED: As mentioned in another blog, with the amazing help of Dave Smith and the gang at talk.maemo.org, I now have all my calendar and contact information regularly synchronized with my MacBook Pro via the Unofficial N900 iSync Plugin, a work of love and community that makes me so happy I could wet myself. All done without ever trusting a single bit of data to the cloud. Eat me, Android! On the laptop side, it's sad that what Palm Desktop did in one application takes probably three to do otherwise. Still, upgrade that grade for the N900 to "A-" for PIM and compatibility!

Entertainment/multimedia

Okay, top ratings here. The built in browser handles YouTube and lots of other things like a champ. Being Flash 9.4 instead of 10.1 (which people keep saying is on its way any second now) is a bit of a limitation, in that I can look at what's in my Hulu queue, but not watch the shows themselves.

The machine natively runs lots of video formats, and I've been watching movies and video files formatted for my PSP with great success (I normally use Handbrake to rip DVDs and then convert the files into mobile-friendly mp4s with PSPWare). The music player, stock, is a little weird, and doesn't have much playlist support, but we'll see what GoGadget has to say about that.

The built in FM Radio is great, because now I can listen to the New @ 2 mix for the first word on new music every day and never interrupt anybody else. It's weird, because the phone uses the plugged in 3.5mm headphones (which took some getting used to, as they can block out a lot of external sound when you use both, but are pretty good) are the antenna for the darned thing, but I'll tell ya, it's great, preset stations and all.

Voice calls

Ah, now here's a problem. I work in Pasadena, and use this as my primary phone. The reception? She's no so good.

"Cellular data not available" is something I see a lot, when the numbers on the signal indicator change from "3.5" to "3G" to "2.5." I don't know why this phone doesn't like T-Mobile service in Pasadena (I was once on a four hour conference call on my late, lamented Treo 680) but I have yet to be on any call longer than 30 minutes while in the city of Pasadena before I get kicked off. In the LA legal limits, I've had better success, talking to my pal Craig for 42 minutes (one of the longest phone conversations I've had in months, but we hadn't spoken in some time, so we took a chance to get caught up).

Being a phone is not the strong suit of this machine. However, I'm an anti-social bastard anyway, and most of my calls are either to my wife to check in during the day or to food places to order something and say "I'm on my way." Coverage matters for this, so in this area I'd have to give it "B-" rating.

Overall ...

I am absolutely gay for this phone. I would make out with it if I could. From the desktop search widget I found (that can search Google, maps or search, Wikipedia and eBay) to the blogging and productivity tools to the relaxing ability to watch movies and listen to the radio to the great contact management to the wonderful presentation of contacts and apps on four big desktops ... this phone is fantastic. I like Ovi Maps for its GPS/directional steez, but I can just as easily use Google Maps in the browser and know my way around.

It is also not for the weak of heart -- the apps installs sometimes come from crazy places or are beta software, in worse case scenarios you may be encouraged to go into the command line, hearkening to the days of DOS. If you're afraid of getting your hands dirty, suffer on an iPhone. For the brave and determined, your persistence pays off so hugely.

I'm still learning it, and getting new things (FTP, P2P, et cetera) all the time. It takes screen shots and screen casts, and stays hooked up via USB or Bluetooth to whatever computer I'm using bringing me most of my home computer experience with me everywhere I go. I've written/posted blogs on it, worked on my novel, used its flashlight function (really) ... it's amazing. The overall grade is a "A-" which can be improved upon by ...

• PORTRAIT MODE, UP AND WORKING! Let's size down that on screen keyboard and free up my hand when I need directions.


• Better playlist management on the road through the device


• More robust documentation of the community resources and solutions by Nokia -- can we get a freakin' wiki, dude?


• More ways to stop the machine if something's holding up (installs, what have you)


• Better indicators of what's happening (processing)


• A backout DVD-ROM in case you hack it into doing something too crazy

My wife has clowned me because of the apps I've installed, after my heavy "apps are traps" rants that I've done. I countered: "These are all free" -- like on my Palm, I didn't install much that needed money. Here's my favorite Maemo apps so far ...

• GRR: Google Reader application, helps immensely on downloading and starred items


• MaStory: Makes blogging through multiple services a breeze (haven't checked the Wordpress or other blogging clients)


• Touchsearch: Search Google, WebMD, Wikipedia, eBay and more from your desktop.


• Notes: Everything you need in a word processor built in to the OS. Outstanding.


• FM Radio: Combined with the recording app I found? Excellent.


• Recaller: Record the call you're making? Excellent.


• Sketch/Xournal: Actual writing and drawing? Nice!


• LiveCast Mobile: Combined with Twitter, this could be the future of live reporting.


• ForecaWeather: Having an idea of the four day forecast every time I open my phone. Outstanding.

It ain't for everybody, but it's the best thing possible for me.

Playing (Music): "All I Do Is Win" by DJ Khaled feat. Ludacris, T-Pain, Rick Ross and Snoop Dogg

Commentary Track for the Buy Pile, April 8, 2010

Every week I do a column full of comic book reviews as I've done since March 2003 and currently published at Comic Book Resources. Then, after the reviews post, I try to come over to my blog and expand on the thoughts and ideas listed there. Sometimes it's profound, sometimes it's gibberish, but it's always about comics ... let's see what we get this week!

What? This week's reviews ...

Whoo! Had some fascinating meetings this week (gotta get that money, mayne), streamlined my process in terms of how I do my data management (on Friday, you'll see my review and why I love, love, love the Nokia N900) and -- oh yeah -- read some comics. Let's talk about that.

Oh, before we start, if you're looking for my admittedly harsh criticism of Blackest Night, there ya go. Let's move on.

Story Time; I can't believe people still ask me, "So, Fables, is that worth picking up?" Literally, yesterday, at a meeting with some entertainment industry types, a guy asked me that. To be fair, I also put him up on Transmetropolitan, a modern classic, so it is what it is. Anyhoo, despite the fact that Jack of Fables is drifting around like a car where the driver got tranq darted, this magical espionage mini might have scared you between issues 4 and 5 about where it was going, but it's freaking brilliant, a perfect self-contained story that leaves itself open to sequels, prequels and whatever else. Cinderella's one heck of a compelling character, with a Michael Weston-esque matter of factness mixed in with the horny irreverence of a Neil Caffrey. I'd love to see more applications of her, even though the current Fables storyline is writ a bit too large for her brand of intimate work.

Cherchez La Ghost: I know this dude Lalo Martins promised to email me about why this series is inaccurate in depicting everyday life in China, but I have yet to see him or anybody else do so. In the mean time, I'm completely enjoying Tony Bedard's work here, which is like a freaking instructional class on "how to introduce brand new characters and an environment the fans don't know." I'm engrossed in this story, these characters and the setting. Adding the political twist made it all the more delicious.

Sanguine Stuff: Sith, Spies and Shooting I really, really, really wanted to buy Star Wars Purge: Hidden Blade. Jedi-killing Vader one-shots. The promised depiction of how he almost singlehandedly extinguished the light of the Jedi from the galaxy. Vader never stepped up here, the coloring was too wishy washy ... there were problems. You should know how I tried to make it work, though, because I love the idea of Vader slicing through his problems. It's why I play the opening scene of Star Wars: Force Unleashed again and again.

Nemesis' interlude in crazytown was good in the first Impostors issue but is dragging things down now. You've gotta shake that off your leg and keep moving, Tom Tresser! Also: how does it feel to be the guy Wonder Woman was ready to give it to, but you said no? Dude! DUDE!

When Batman stood down to Red Robin, that was a moment I really enjoyed. More moments like that, please. If a comic can make me go "hh" or react emotionally (except, say, hatred or revulsion or sadness) thrice, I'll normally buy it. You hit me once, and maybe a half on Tam Fox. Work harder, please. Actually, I'll say the same exact thing for G.I. Joe: Origins, which almost made me forget the Wayans-osity of today's Wallace Weems.

Back it up: the same way I tried to love that Vader book, I put the same effort into Captain America/Black Panther: Flags of Our Fathers. T'chaka didn't get enough time to shine, the Americans got too much (using the Black soldier as a framing device was cute, but Wakanda's mystery is as elusive as Cavill's "plan" -- show us behind the curtain).

The line between Codebreakers and A-Team: Shotgun Wedding is super thin. A panel here or there goes differently and they could have switched places.

DC Comics, listen to me: you need to hire more editorial support. Before he was unceremoniously let go, Bob Shreck told me about how you kept piling on work and diminishing resources. Your editors are human beings. They need help. You can't blame "The Return of Bruce Wayne Begins Here" appearing on the cover of Batman and Robin #10 and #11 on Grant Morrison's drug problem. That happened in y'all's house. Clean it up, please.

Hope from Second Coming isn't interesting enough to talk about ... although the hair brush bit was a nice touch.

Also: Fun fact: I wrote an April Fool's opening of The Buy Pile last week, trying to write ... as Bizarro (the poem I was writing about him had me going). It didn't run. I'm not mad. Here it is.

WHAT IS THE SELL PILE?

Every week Hannibal Tabu (journalist/blogger/novelist/poet/jackass on Twitter) looks on the internet to see what comic books will come out that week, then avoids ever seeing them, instead deciding to review them based on his psychic impressions alone. Then his opinions are telepathically shared with thousands of people around the world, who go out and buy the books he believes in, and for kicks he prints reviews about them on this website for recordkeeping purposes. That farce goes a little something like this ...

THE SELL PILE FOR APRIL 1ST, 2010

Blackest Night #8 (DC Comics)
Jump from the Buy Pile. This am one of mankind's finest literary accomplishments. Ideas am making so much sense that it feels like hug from gramma. Developments for Hal Jordan, Sinestro, Nekron, Anti-Monitor and so many others were so not stupid that they should seem obvious to no one at all. Everyone in whole world will love this issue with no reservations, finding no inconsistencies at all ...

Okay ... it's April Fool's Day, and we tried. Bizarro comics reviews, ha ha ha ... there was just no maintaining this farce. Trying to review the worst book as though it were the best ... it's just not right. The joke didn't work, let's just do this the normal way ...

Behave.

Playing (Music): "Billionaire" by Travis McCoy feat. Bruno Mars

Remington derringer (comics smartphones)

Like the new "random stuff" "blog fu" styled header? Anyway, here's two thoughts I'd like to blast into your brain piece quickly (and there's a theme, see, a Remington derringer can only hold two shots, whereas the "revolver" blog I did had six ... oh never mind) ...

- BANG! I've had a lot of negative things to say about the negatively slanted numbers of people in color (in general) and Black people (in specific) in comics. However, I do wanna give a tip of my fedora (apologies to Stephen Colbert) to this week's batch. Captain America Black Panther Flags Of Our Fathers #1 (although Cap did need top billing to sell the book, T'chaka is a lead), Great Ten #6 (people of Chinese descent) and New Avengers Luke Cage #1 (a brother on the streets of Philly). Three whole books with leads of color from the Big Two. I won't say times are a'changin' -- and whether these books suck or rock is still a question mark -- but that's good to see.

- BANG! I have to publicly thank the wonderful, wonderful work of the members at talk.maemo.org for their outstanding work on the Unofficial N900 iSync Plugin, which gave explicit instructions (well, sort of, I had to figure out that Bluetooth PAN is Bluetooth DUN, thanks to a quick Google search) that helped me completely migrate all of my calendar and contact data out of my old Palm Desktop software and into my N900, synched up via Address Book/iCal ... all without ever touching the cloud (which again proved to be a terrible idea, even for the Dalai Lama). I got an email back from one of the programmers, Dave Smith (and remember, these are open source guys doing it because they saw a need, not for pay, although they're good enough to get paid for it) after I thanked them in an email, but just had to say that an open source community working towards solutions really, really rocks. I love this freakin' phone! Now, if I could just get portrait mode working right ...

Auf wiedersen.

Playing (Music): "Dancing Queen" by ABBA ... really, I love that song!

UPDATED: The Reign of the Mediocre (The Comics Edition) and Commentary Track for the Buy Pile, April 2, 2010

Two birds with one stone, then.

Every week I do a column full of comic book reviews as I've done since March 2003 and currently published at Comic Book Resources. Then, after the reviews post, I try to come over to my blog and expand on the thoughts and ideas listed there. Sometimes it's profound, sometimes it's gibberish, but it's always about comics ... let's see what we get this week!

What? This week's reviews

Last time, I wrote about a musical example of how mediocrity has become, in essence, the new standard for excellence. This time? Comic books -- in particular, DC's latest megacrossover Blackest Night.

"Damn, Hannibal, why do you have to go on like this?" I hear a lot. "Why can't you let well enough alone?" As a matter of fact, I got a fun piece of hate mail from ... well, it doesn't really matter who the guy was, let's get to what he said ...

Did Geoff Johns kill your puppy or something? You are so laughably, insanely WRONG with every single Blackest Night review you post in The Buy Pile, it borders on the surreal. "A crim [sic] against comics"?!? Really?!? What comic are you reading? I mean, I realize it's your opinion, but I think you should know that your opinion is wrong. I'm not really sure why CBR still publishes your ridiculous column.

My favorite part is that this is one of the more civil and reasoned pieces of hate mail I've gotten (which I don't mind, believe me). In any case, suffice it to say that the work has been polarizing, has made some money (selling no less than 130k comics per month at four bucks a pop, not counting tie-ins, despite a decline of 26.3 percent in sales over six months -- thanks to The Beat for that bit of data). Everybody's got an opinion and (factually speaking), everybody's wrong because there are no right opinions. I could easily be full of crap and Drake could easily become an American musical institution.

However, today on this blog I'm calling shenanigans ... and here's why ...

SPOILER ALERT! At this point the management wishes to warn you that the remainder of this blather will contain significant spoilers about the aforementioned Blackest Night crossover, and if you have any desire to avoid such, you should probably bugger off now ...

... fair warning ...

... last chance ...

... and off we go!

Taste the rainbow ...

Let's start at the foundation of things. The "Blackest Night" of Oan prophecy is a time when the energies of death will, for reasons that even Thanos would find shallow, "rise" up to try and exterminate all of life, bringing the sweet grasp of entropy to the cosmos. I am aware of the irony, me criticizing a comic book with such a focus given that I am a nihilist, but let's not get bogged down in digressions. Suffice it to say that the means of beating back the combined death energies is a combination of all of the "colors" of the "emotional spectrum" combining to form the "pure," "white" light of "life."

Hh.

Science first: If one is using what's called "additive" colors (like, say, your television) you can combine red, blue and green (and theoretically other colors) to get white. If one is using "subtractive" colors (like, say, crayons, or kids' finger paints), it's a different story -- mix them all together and get black (try it with a kid, they love that stuff). Given that the crossover works with light, one can theoretically allow a pass there ... even though technically (in that regard) black can absorb all such frequencies of light and "A black pigment can, however, result from a combination of several pigments that collectively absorb all colors. If appropriate proportions of three primary pigments are mixed, the result reflects so little light as to be called 'black.'" For more info, and some opinions, there's this to get you started. Suffice it to say that it's an arguable point, not the absolutist concept presented here, which already casts things in doubt ... especially given some of the other powers ascribed.

"... spring-time for Sin-es-tro, and Ko-ru-gar ..."

Culture next: When Sinestro ("Space Hitler," the clerk Quislet at Comics Ink calls him, because he's a fascist, he has a mustache and he's ... well, in space a lot) gained the "White Lantern" power at the end of issue #7, there were a lot of groans around said comics shop. I didn't even have to be the first guy to say, "Wait, the perfect white light is gonna kick the butt of the evil, black light?" Best of all, it wasn't even a Black person who said that. What was it MC Serch (another non-Black person, despite his behavioral mannerisms) once said? "Black cat is bad luck, bad guys wear black. Musta been a white guy who started all that." Sure, you can keep running those societal tropes ... but why? Being original is that hard? You're that incognizant of the effects of these kinds of things?

This is all before we get to the story itself, so let's get in there. For ... well, a lot of issues, you had these undead versions of (basically) everybody the characters know (it's never some random drifter) walking around and emotionally taunting the living to get emotional reactions from them. Seems that the emotions from the aforementioned spectrum made the Black Lanterns more powerful. Hh. Except the same colors and emotional spectrum also combined to allow "the entity" that encompassed all life (Marvel fans are saying, "Oh, Eternity") to manifest and empower a set of resurrected heroes to then spontaneously resurrect not just the one guy that the central villain needed to stay safe (he should have been watching this whole thing from Walla Walla or something) but every undead person standing around. How does that work? The same emotions that charges up Black Lanterns also severs their connection? Was the black ring technology ever explained? I'm calling shenanigans on that, dude.

This brings up an interesting point. In a recent CBR interview, Andy Lanning said that, when being brought back from the dead, cosmic demigod Thanos was "pissed." You're dead, you're all in whatever fate your spirit has gone too, and some shmucks yank you back to this wacky mudball filled with (in their case) spandex clad lunatics and wackjobs, half of whom are trying to kill you on days that end with the letter "y." There's some tint of that when Superman says to Martian Manhunter, "You're alive!" and J'onn responds, "It appears so."

Moreover in the last issue (which is freshest in my mind as I read and was disgusted by it just days ago), Hal made a point that (again) seems to contradict the value of these "rebirths." Hal yelled something Nekron saying, "You still want to take credit for bringing me back to life, Nekron? You might've opened the doorway, but I was the one who walked through it." If that's the case, then the new Arthur, the new J'onn, Whiterstorm (welcome back Ronnie Raymond, see ya Jason Rusch) and so on aren't as alive as they should be. Those people didn't "choose life." Their resurrections are diminished by reasoning mere pages before. Do we need another crossover to address that, or will we find out in a few dozen issues of navel gazing and whining?

Yes, I'm looking at you, Titans.

"Why isn't everybody reborn from the zombification?" Well, it seems only the zombies standing near Hal Jordan as he wielded his Jesus power made it back. Tim Drake's parents, all "connection severed" in Gotham? Yasemin with the flawless aim and weak constitution? Aqualad/Tempest? Sorry. "Yousa all bombad!"

Which reminds me: remember that scene where you saw all of the "entities" for each color of power ring? Also, note that the Anti-Monitor just shmucked off, alive and angry? How about the fact that Nekron's not gone, just his connection to this plane was disrupted when the Black Hand was Lazarused (a speedy application of CPR and emergency medicine could have stopped all of this, perhaps)? That's nine universe-class threats suited for crossovers right there. When Infinity Crusade popped up, sure, the seeds of it were in Infinity Gauntlet, but not in such an obvious, hamfisted way. Do I believe that (and note, this is the very, very first time I mention anybody on the creative team by name) the newly minted Chief Creative Officer is stacking the deck for himself and setting up a Crayola set of storylines for the whole company? Do I think that the Anti-Monitor, reborn and re-empowered, will be any less likely to attack in a humongous crossover than he was in 1986 now that he's super freaking angry?

Come. ON!

So far, in reverse order, I'm mad at the crossover-ready stunt casting and the science of it. What about the craft? Well, while I can appreciate the need for images for posters, how many splash pages with "billions" of enemies (two at least with John Stewart ... has anybody ever done a Daily Show joke around him?) and every Skittles-colored ring slinger heroically aiming their jewelry at something (at least three in the last two issues alone) are needed? When a planet full of Daxamites rose into the sky during The Great Darkness Saga, it caught your breath because it was rarified. When you pull the same visual gag issue after issue, it's a cliche. Overdoing the exposition in one issue (Sinestro right after he got the White Power) isn't something you can make up for with multi-page spreads (what did that fold out foolishness add to the story? Zip). That's wack, 'nuff said.

The Black Lantern strategy is hard to grok too. Get people worked up and get more powerful. Uh, okay. Then you have to whack the GL battery on Oa. Uh ... leaves the rest burning, but okay. Then billions of Black Lanterns (including, I sh** you not, an entire undead zombie planet) attack ... Coast City ... why? Oh, right, humans are self-aggrandizing shmucks who think a whole universe would find this world so important, all the way back to retconning Abin freaking Sur. Make it stop. Even a zombie would call malarkey on that plan.

Lex Luthor's dangerously out of character behavior (if he can get it together and help Superman in past stories, he shouldn't freak out and attack his allies with the whole world at stake). The Spectre getting housed by Black Lanterns diminishes the effect of his allegedly all-powerful "presence" (where was Zauriel in all of this?) Preposterous. The sheer volume of things logically wrong or editorially inconsistent boggles the mind.

How rapacious? DC has plans to sell two sets of these rings. Dude!

Most egregious of all, most insultingly, Deadman is alive. He had one job: be dead. Failed. Really? That was necessary? DUDE! When the last page rolls around, it's not even important which one of the yokels jabbering around the White Lantern picks it up.

Let's get more cynical. It's convenient to bring back heroes for a "brightest day" when the crosstown competition (who are still outselling DC, by the way) are launching their optimistic "Heroic Age." I'M JUST SAYIN'!!!!

I started reading comics in the early 80s, and have since read back to books in the '60s and '70s. I have a degree in creative writing from USC. I've studied craft and writing privately for years, in workshops and tomes. I can say, with all the experience and training I have been blessed to receive, that Blackest Night is not good storytelling by any objective standard I can recognize.

Let me also reiterate: I don't know any of the people who wrote, drew, lettered, colored or edited these works. There's no hidden enmity, no rejected pitch, no stolen bicycle. I don't think people should lose their jobs, I don't even think people should stop buying or selling these comics. I believe this is a bad story, period, and that's my whole stance.

Let me close with this piece of mail I got (and again, I get way more positive mail than negative, surprisingly enough, since people who have something negative to say, pro and fan alike, normally do so by posting on message boards I've never visited) ...

I read through your Buy Pile again and thought your critique of Blackest Night 8 was spot on accurate. I look forward to reading your column on why the series is a crime against comics.

I haven't been happy with the direction of DC Comics ever since Identity Crisis. There were spots of brilliance here and there, but the entirely of the DC universe degenerated into fan service battles, shock moments that hurt the overarching narratives, and pointless re-emergence of pre-Crisis characters and costumes.

Why the hell does Lex want to march into battles? He's not a scientist! He doesn't fight Superman hand to hand anymore! Scientists worked back in the 1950s due to the fear of the unspeakable weapons they could create. Businessmen makes far more sense as villains given the current political and economic climate. He's only a scientist because Geoff Johns can't let go of the Silver Age and allow characters to reflect the time period they currently exist in. It's insulting to read.

Can't Geoff even create a complete story? Infinite Crisis and now this one suffers from the same problem. There's no end to it. The storyarc comes to some sort of conclusion, but that conclusion is only seeds for new stories. It creates one giant story with no end. This is only done to sell more comics. The comic fan never gets a complete story anymore. Any dissatisfaction with the story will only be met with "oh, wait till the next issue" or "wait to see where the story is heading." I don't care where the story is heading. I want a complete story in the series. A beginning, middle, and end! ARGH!!!

Wow, I'm really venting here.

What's worse is all the fanboys. They don't realize Blackest Night is flipping them all the bird. There are lies like "dead is dead" and crap like bringing back Max Lord (I hated that Wonder Woman killed him because heroes don't kill, but to bring him back is to remove all the conflict built up since Infinite Crisis). Good lord...

Sigh.

Sorry for ranting :-) Hope you understand, though. Please keep up the awesome work.

I completely understand, and I appreciate hearing back. Your mileage, as always, may vary, standard disclaimers apply.

Playing (Music): "Ishmael" by Dwight Trible

UPDATED 100407: Blackest Night may have shone brightly for DC, but it's still under Siege ...