Slightly Off-Topic

When Brittany was younger, she always used to complain that she never got any mail. We’d tell her that you have to send mail to receive mail, but she didn’t think she had anyone to whom she could write.

As it happens, we were wrong. You don’t need to write anyone to receive mail, you just need to enter your senior year of high school. That’s when the mail really starts to roll in. We’ve heard from colleges we didn’t even know existed until now. One college (Marietta) sends three or four letters a day. In fact, if they stopped sending letters, I’m sure the savings would allow them to offer Brittany a full scholarship! Not that I’m sure she’d take it as she’s never heard of Marietta either… go figure. In any case, the mail keeps rolling in.

So much mail, in fact, I’m starting to wonder why I never receive any mail. I’m starting to look forward to the bills just so I have a sense of validation once I open the mailbox… the thrill of sifting through the mail and finding that someone is looking for someone other than Brittany or Occupant.

Lucy Lyall is coming back tomorrow, and it would probably be a nice thing to check out her work and welcome her back!

Don’t you just love it when all the kids come to the UN to play. So many puffed chests and so much propaganda… it’s bloody brilliant! Haven’t heard anything new or earth shattering (or earth repairing) yet, but we’ll see.

Oh, to those of you who read these from one of the mirrors, you missed Tuesday’s exciting conclusion to our latest bit of continuity. You can catch it on the main site, here.

You know, I’m ecstatic about the rise of video games and the mainstreaming of geek culture, but try and tell someone you’re into tabletop gaming, and they still look at you as if you’re a carrier for some particularly dingy sort of plague. All I, and apparently Jane and the News Guy, want to do is a play a simple game of Dungeons and Dragons. Heck, I’ll play by whatever rule set you want. Trust me, I have them all…

Lord Pandar agreed to hide the clue today. Hide is a very good word for what’s been done. All I can say is don’t be too literal…

I think in the end it would be a lot easier if people would just talk to their parents honestly and openly about their lives.

It would probably be best if she burned that suit while he was showering. Ripe really is an understatement…

You know… Arbor Woods is actually an apartment complex, and the News Guy is a home-owner, but I like the name and it works for basing the ongoing storyline on a Torchwood riff.

…and speaking of which, have you seen Torchwood: Children of Earth yet?!? I’ve been holding off on this to give you all a chance. If you haven’t, the dvd is available, so you have no excuse. It is fabulous! Gripping, tremendously sad, but fabulous. I was quite surprise by it, though, as I hadn’t expected them to be ending the series so soon. Well, I suppose it doesn’t have to be ended, but yeah… the plug is pulled.

Can you believe it’s apple-picking season, already? Where did the summer go? I’m about to pick up the phone and see if I can find any orchards with Honey Crisps ready. The orchard is always a good way to spend an afternoon.

Hey, Jynksie is going to do extra updates this week. Be sure to check it out!

So, as is apparent, Jane has moved in with the News Guy. She probably never thought about the fact that her parents might want to come visit and actually meet her boyfriend, but what are you going to do?

And I know what you’re thinking… what’s with the continuity?!? Well, as you know I’ve been working up a buffer, and it occurred to me the other night that the strips I had written really worked together as a story… well… more of a vignette, anyway. All that was missing was today’s strip which, as you can see, has been inserted. Don’t worry, though, it won’t last long and we’ll be back to our standard random view of quasi-reality before you know it!!!

As per RockBand, I actually only got to play for about an hour last night (we’re about to enter the Budokan), but thus far, I like it. It has a very different feel than the other Rockbands, and it allows for up to THREE singers to allow for the harmonies which is cool. What I don’t like is its definite standalone feel. For instance, it has its own music store. Now when I buy a song from the RB music store, I can play that song on RB 1 or 2. If I can only play the Beatles downloads on The Beatles: RockBand, that will annoy just a wee little bit. I’ll have to pop in the RB2 disc tonight and check that.

It’s also interesting to note how many Beatles songs I’ve never actually heard. Makes getting a good score a bit more difficult, but it’s fun, none-the-less!

Oh good God, I am just so much more excited about tomorrow’s release of The Beatles RockBand than I should be, but I can’t help myself!!! I believe I’m driving my family nuts, and my daughter has already made it very clear that it is a school night, and she will have homework to do.

What kind of kid would rather do homework than play RockBand?!? I just don’t understand these young kids…

For those that spent yesterday living under a rock (or otherwise occupied), Disney is buying Marvel Entertainment for a whopping $4 billion. I’m feeling some mixed emotions about this. On the one hand, we’ll likely see a lot more Marvel Comics movies… the kind that are made with serious funding… which is, in theory at least, a good thing. On the other hand, Disney is already so very, very big.

…and while they have historically happily harvested harrowing tales and humorous homilies (Excelsior!!!) from the public domain, they are the fire-breathing, flesh-rending leader of the battle against the public domain with their never-ending battles to extend copyright terms here in the States and abroad. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a firm believer in the concept of copyrights to allow the artistically inclined to be able to profit from their works and support their families, but Disney’s extensions have reached the point of obscenity and far exceeded the original intents of copyright law. Oh well, the battle rages on, I suppose…

So, I’ve not read any comics since the story was announced, but I strongly suspect there will be a lot of these sort of strips today. I almost passed, but my sense of whimsy got the better of me. The moment I read the story, I had a picture of a bloody Mickey/Wolverine rending flesh from the bloody corpse of Jeffrey Katzenberg… and it made me giggle. Had to tone it down a bit though, as I try to keep Slightly Off-Topic family-friendly.