Since Mother's Cookies went out of business I decided to have some of my favorites before they're gone forever. I'm now hooked on the iced raisin cookies. Bad because I'm trying to eat healthier and they'll be gone soon.

I gotta say, when The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy was good it was freaking awesome. I watched a marathon of the show last night. Somehow I managed to miss the show through most of it's run. I only caught bits here and there and always thought it was pretty ok. But, good lord, there were moments of pure brilliance in the marathon. I just about fell off the couch during the bit were Mandy sings Somewhere Over the Rainbow and then tries to smile at the end.

I went ahead and watched the Underfist special after the marathon. Eh. It started, like, freaking bad ass and then kinda wandered. If it's going to be an on-going show, I dunno. I think there's only so much Fred Fred Burger a person can take.

I then watched the first episode of Clone Wars that I've managed to catch. Eh... yeah, it's ok. It looks neat. Not any worse than than the prequels. Better, to be honest. Problem is, the more of a good guy they make Anakin the harder it is to believe he becomes Darth Vader. Also, it just doesn't seem possible that this Ahsoka (worst Japanese inspired Star Wars name ever) character could have existed in the time line unless she was only around for, I dunno, a couple months.

I don't mind her character that much. Her design though... She seems to be almost entirely eyeballs and lips. Still-images of her didn't seem bad but something about her animated. Also, a tube top? Really? She's, what, 9? 10? Not that I'm a prude or anything but, I guess, it just bugs me that so often male characters, especially in sci-fi or fantasy settings, wear lots of armor and the female characters wear as little as possible. Which is fine except that it happens all the time, you know? It's so cliché. Besides, in the movies, the padawan all seem to be dressed in typical Jedi type robes. The other Togruta female Jedi we know of, Shaak Ti, (yes, I had to look these names up. I'm not as much of a Star Wars fan as this post is probably making me sound) wears robes. So, other than ratings, is there any reason why this preteen needs to be tarted up?

Anyway, just wasting time.

Wow.

The second installment! I list something I do or like or just something about myself and you tell me if it's weird or not.

I brush my teeth in the shower.

You already know about the wildfires. That's part one of why I often hate this town. Part two, Paradise is very Red State. Take for example a fellow employee. He seems ok. Big internet geek, plays online games, I've heard him use the term 'slash,' listens to sorta nerdy, gothy-ish, techo-ish dance music, likes Star Wars and Star Trek, calls out orders in a voice that's just one lisp short of a stereotypical gay hairdresser voice... Also, is a huge homophobe and says that if Obama gets elected we'll all be speaking Russian in ten years.

We have a male employee who's still in High School (I think), seems a bit effeminate and speaks with a somewhat feminine voice. If he's gay or not, I don't really give a crap any more than I care who's straight. He's just a fellow employee I treat like any other. However, the guy I was talking about above calls him 'Liberace.' I've even heard managers joking about him. I don't think they do it to his face but, hey, that's Paradise for you.

Yesterday, I went to Jack in the Box. I know, mistake number one. Anyway, some old dudes, regulars, come in. After chatting with the counter girl they take seats near me and one starts in on the whole Prop 8 thing. Loudly.

"So, if this Prop. 8 thing fails," note, he doesn't even know how he's supposed vote on it, "who'll be the daddy?" He kept repeating that as if that was some brilliant observation on his part. "Who'll be the daddy?" "If a man marries another man, who'll be the daddy?"

They went on to some stupid shit about "Well, I can't go in the woman's bathroom if I want to." Again, brilliant logic on their parts. Then it moved on to prisons. "It should be just like prison. Some one goes to prison they pull down their pants and check. Bump in, they go one way. Bump out they go the other."

"What about women who act like men? Should they go to male prison?

"Shoot 'em."

"Ha ha! They could be the hookers there."

"No. They should just shoot 'em."

. . .

There's a church every other block up here.

What do you do when you've been butting heads against a project for years and not making headway? I've got this thing I really want to do (see LJ icon) but I can't seem to figure out some of the real important bits. Tone, setting, finalized character designs, a nailed down complete story not just bits of dialog and a vague idea of what happens.

From my very first sketch of her I was like 'this is it.' Not, like, 'this will make me the moneys' but 'this is what I really want to work on.' Then for the years after I've just been asking my brain, "And?"

So, yeah, how do you work though project block?

It's so obnoxious that when I'm out and about and I hear any man talking about the Moose Queen all I every hear them say is something about her being a MILF or hot or 'one good looking woman.' Hey, dumbshits, how about finding out something about her and what her views are on topics you might care about. After all, McCain's on his way out and Moosey McSeesrussia will wind up being prez. Also, dudes, if you vote for her she's not going to fuck you. At least, not in a good way.

Besides, she has man-face.

I might do this every Wednesday. I might not. Feel free to do it yourself if you want or whatever. I'll say something true about myself and you tell me if you think it's weird or not.

I like peanut butter and maple syrup on my waffles and pancakes.

I use a PC but I am not a PC. Microsoft's new commercials are stupid, trying to make PC users feel insulted by the 'Mac and PC' Mac commercials. Mac and PC in those commercials represent the computers not the people who use them. I'm smart enough to understand that and refuse to let Microsoft convince me that I should be insulted.

Besides, the new PC commercials are heavy on Deepak Chopra and that, to me, makes me want a Mac more than ever.

I was looking up the words to that Oscar Mayer baloney song last night to see if I remembered them (I did) and because I was very bored (still am). I got to 'my bal' and Google Chrome tried to help me with my search.



No, Google Chrome, my balls don't hurt. My balls don't itch. But, gee, thanks for assuming they do.

There's this guy at work who sounds just like Obama. I say creepy in the title because it's so strange to hear, almost exactly, some one else's voice coming out of some one who isn't that person. Like, at all. Hearing him ask me if there's any orders to be delivered is like watching Rick Astley sing.

I totally agree that comics is still mostly a boys club and I totally agree that should change. I completely agree there there aren't enough female comic creators and I think there should be many, many more. I also, wholeheartedly agree (see previous posts) that there needs to be more comics, good comics, geared toward female readers and more good comics geared toward people in general (as opposed to just teen boys). I just don't get this one thing I keep seeing over and over in Minx fallout discussions. I keep seeing posts along the line of "We need more comics for women by women."

Now before anyone thinks I've gone Sim, I haven't. I understand that a female creator will understand what it means to be female more than a male creator. However, you have to admit there are plenty of male creators out there who are making some damn good, female friendly, even directly aimed at the female market, books. It just seems like that comment I keep seeing sort of, I dunno, poo-poos their work. 'Oh, it's not really a female friendly book. It's written by a guy.'

And again, see the first paragraph above. I agree with you. I do. I just don't think a book has to be by a woman for it to be appealing and enjoyable to women any more than I think a book has to be by a male to be appealing and enjoyable to men. At least, I don't think it should have to be. I remember reading a post somewhere by Aaron Alexovich where I think he said something along the lines that so many of the female fans of Serenity Rose were disappointed to find out he was a guy.

Why? Was the book not good? Did you not enjoy it? It's just, I dunno, my brain hurts thinking about the fact that people, men and women, will enjoy a book not only because of the work itself but because of the sex of the person who created it.

I dunno. Am I making any sense here or am I just expressing myself poorly and making enemies?

At least I won't have to hear the annoying name 'WaMu' anymore.

In my post about Minx, I'm not saying that marketing books as 'for girls' and by default 'not for boys' is why the Minx imprint was shut down. I don't know the inner workings of the decision making process and would not claim to know. I was really just trying to say that of we want more female readers, and more readers in general, we need to make better comics.

And I realize, it's an uphill fight. Where would the money come from to pay the creators of these new better comics? What incentive is there for people to take chances in such a low profit industry? How could quality be sustained when it could take untold number of years for the general public to notice that comics aren't just crap anymore?

I don't know the answers. All I know is that when we, as an industry, produce mostly garbage we're not going to grow, especially now with so many other and cheaper forms of entertainment.

Say a girl read Chiggers and really liked it. She's goes to the comic shop (hopefully not one of those dirty, dark, boys only club, comic shops that, thankfully, I've only heard about) and asks, "I just read Chiggers and I really liked it. What can I read next?" I'd rather the clerk look over his shelves of quality books and have many comics to recommend instead of looking at rack after rack of adolescent boy, big booby fight comics and say, "Well, I guess you should just read it again."

As found on smccloud's journal,

The problem is, when you say a comic or comic line is 'for girls' you're also saying it's 'not for boys.' You're limiting your audience. Reminds me of Japanese comic shops where you have the male comics on one side and the female comics, nearly all bound in pink, on the other side. And, unless you want people to think you're a weirdo, you don't shop in the section not geared to your sex.

In Japan, this can work. The comic industry is huge. Seems like everyone reads comics. But here, the comic market is tiny. If you cut off part of your potential audience you're shooting yourself in the foot. Consider the popularity of Japanese comics brought over here. Many when translated are stripped of their original pink or not pink covers and released just as plain ol' comics. Boys will read them and girls will read them and if the comic is well done with a good story and good art it will be popular with both girls and boys or one or the other.

The solution is, companies need to look for, be able to recognize and be willing to publish quality comic books. There have been many comics that have been successful with a large female and male audience. Books like, I dunno, Bone or Scott Pilgrim come to mind. To me, it seems, these books tend to focus on the characters and have engaging stories. I know when I was a teen reading X-men I was more interested in characters and character interaction than I was in how small they could make Phylock's costume or what new growly sound Wolverine would make when attacking some one. Eventually, there just wasn't enough story and character and I stopped reading the series.

I think comic companies underestimate their audience. So much seems to be boobs and violence. There's nothing necessarily wrong with boobs and violence. To each their own. But, there's no reason, other than lack of talent or just plain laziness, why even lowly booby comics can't have interesting, well written characters and stories. I know many women who really liked some of the Marvel mutant books like X-men and New Mutants because they liked the interesting characters and the good stories. Just like I know many males, like myself, who like comics like Kimmie66 and maybe more would have read them if they weren't marketed as "For girls."

Basically, I guess I'm saying, make good comics and market them to people.

Be honest. Do you really think the polls would be as close as they are between Obama and McCain if Obama were white, had a first name like 'John' or 'Robert' and had a last name that wasn't mostly vowels?

My country, so often you disgust me.

I've noticed lately that in my area (Northern California) I can't find Golden Crisp cereal anywhere anymore. It's not at any supermarket. It's not at Target. There isn't even the bags of the store brand versions. It just seems to be gone. Anyone know anything about this? Seems strange.

Is it just me or is Smash Lab consistently some of the stupidest crap on TV?