Quiz

This is the answer to a quiz on what type of sixties character would you be?



You are a Radical. Right on!

Show is Friday!

Mistake in the last blog....the show is Friday night, not tonight. Sorry about that. But it still goes, come by and see me. The show is from 7 to 10.

Antigravity Show Tommorrow Night

Tommorrow I'll be at the Alternative Media Show sponsered by Antigravity Magazine. I'll have a table, selling just about anything you would want...copies of my comics, t shirts, mugs, bumper stickers...like I said, just about anything you could want. It's at Twiopera on Tchopetulas in New Orleans. Come by and say hi!

Haircut

Whoops, another in a line of amusing but dumb efforts on my part.

I've been cutting my own hair now for the past year. I cut it pretty short, using the smallest guide on the trimmer. Last night I decided it was time to cut it again. I picked up the trimmer and started cutting...only to realize that I had removed the guide and had no guide on it now. I was cutting straight from the trimmer.

And let me tell you, that cuts really really short. Kinda like almost nothing but a fine stubble.

I wasn't leaving much hair on my head before, but now....well, all I can say is that it's about as close as it can get and still have something you can call hair on it.

Web Page

You'd think it wouldn't be so hard to create a webpage, not with the software. I'm trying to get my webpage back up and running, but everytime I get very far in creating it, the whole thing just clicks off. I don't mind spending hours working on it, if at least at the end I have something to show for it, but this way after working on it for hours I end up right where I began. It's frustrating. I just want to get the web page finished, or better than it is now. Not this blog, but my web page, twopenguinscomics.com, which right now sucks. It shouldn't be that difficult, not with the software, it's all pretty much drop and drag, but for some reason it just doesn't seem to work.

Ok, just take a deep breath and keep going.

Dog Day

Well today was an interesting day.

Buffy was scheduled for grooming this morning at eight and than she had a vet appointment at two in the afternoon. Now neither are things that Buffy gets excited about, but she's always been fairly good at them.

The morning started off good. I didn't even have to pick up her leash, I just said "Want to go out, Buffy" and she was at the door, tail wagging. She loves riding in the car. She sits up in the seat and just watches the scenary pass by. She was fascinated by an eighteen wheeler that passed us on our right, she kept staring at it as it passed us by.

She was good until we got in the back where the groomer was. When it was time to go in the back room, she tried to put her feet down and not go, but she ended up following the groomer. I left her to come pick her up in a few hours.

When I got to pick her up one of the groomers said Buffy had bit her. Nothing serious, no skin broken, but still it wasn't good. She never did anything like that before. Now I forgot to mention that Buffy has been having problems with her right ear. She keeps shaking her head and pawing at her ear. That's one of the main reasons for her vet appointment later today. All I could think of was that her ear was causing her problems. They also told me that they were a lot busier and things were a lot nosier than normal.

So brought Buffy home and the vet called, suggesting I bring Buffy in early and drop her off. They said ear swaps take some time and it would be easier if I just dropped her off. So back I go again. I was afraid Buffy wouldn't be as excited to get in the car this time, after her earlier experience. But as soon as she saw the leash she was ready to go and hop in the car.

After an hour or so the vet called. Buffy wouldn't let anyone near her. They suggested I come back and we would see what we could do.

I got there and was able to calm Buffy down and put a muzzle on her. The doctor tried to look at her ears, but Buffy wouldn't let her. She trashed around so much that it wasn't going to work. The doctor didn't want to give her a sedative because Buffy was too worked up and excited, she was afraid it would effect her blood pressure. So we decided to re schedule and they would give her something to knock her out when I brought her, she wouldn't have the whole morning at the groomers to get her excited beforehand.

I felt really bad. Buffy was having such a bad day. She never acts like that. She's never bit anyone. Sometimes she's a little shy around people, but once she gets to know someone she is ususally all over them. After we got home she's been great, sleeping on the floor right under me on the couch. Right now she's laying by the side of my chair as I type this.

Help!

I'm trying to add a picture to my profile, but I seem to be having problems as you can no doubt see...or in this case not see. Everytime I try, using Hello, I end up with a picture in the posts for the blog. What am I doing wrong? This is my secret shame, how computers and me don't get along, please don't hate me, just pity me.

Wilco Cap

I got my new Wilco cap in the mail today. Actually my only Wilco cap, sounds like I had an old one. They haven't offered one through their website before, so when I saw they had one now, I had to grab it. I know, I could have bought it when I see them next month, but this way I can be wearing it when I go to their concert. And I can buy other things from them. I've been running around work when I came back from lunch, showing everyone my new cap (I've told you before, it doesn't take much to make me happy) and most people's reaction is "Who's Wilco?"

And my answer is "One of the best bands in the world!"

What's New?

What new music came out today? What new DVDs? I normally know what's coming out every Tuesday. After work my first stop is Best Buy, to check out the new arrivals. Today I skipped it and came home. Now I'm wondering if I missed something that I need. New music, new dvds...hard to live without them.

Wallflowers Show

The show last night was terrific. In fact my right ear is still ringing. I was up front at the side of the stage, right next to the stack of speakers. It was a great show. They did all their old hits and some new ones from their unreleased but upcoming cd.

One fun moment: A fan was taking pictures and Jakob smiled and brushed at his hair and made some comment about looking good. Well one of the security people saw the camera, pushes through the crowd and tells the girl that she can't take the picture. Jakob tells the security person that it's ok, let her take the picture. Which makes others pull out their camera phones and cameras to start taking pictures. One guy next to me had a digital camera, the security guard comes up to him and tells him to put the camera away. Again Jakob says it's ok. She says that it's club policy....he tells her he has a band policy. In the end the security guard went away and people took their pictures.

Now I understand that the security person was just doing his job. And most performers don't want people in the auidence taking pictures, they're afraid that the pictures will just get re sold, or that they can't sell their own offical versions. But if the performer doesn't mind, I don't understand why the club should mind.

It was a fun show. Jakob interacted with the crowd a lot. He caught two young girls smiling at him while he was singing and asked them what was so funny. That just set them off, the fact that he noticed them.

He looked like he was having a good time. I hate seeing shows where the performers look like they're having a bad time, like it's just a job. It's more fun when they're enjoying themselves.

Before the show we tried to find someplace to eat. We wanted to try Bubba Gumps, but when we got there it was packed so we figured just to go down to the HOB and eat there. Well, there was at least a forty five minute wait. So we decided let's go see what the wait at Bubba Gumps is. Walked down there...it was an hour and a half. Across the street was the Hard Rock Cafe. Two hour wait. By this time we were getting hungry. We tried Jax's Brewery, but it was a Sunday night and everything was closed. Than we saw a sign for Fatburgers. It was a little hamburger place off to the side. It was kind of expensive but it was pretty good. And Heather ate all her hamburger.

WALLFLOWERS tonight!

Going to see the Wallflowers tonight. I think I'll wear my Bob Dylan shirt.

Report on how the show was later.

Surfing the Blogs

I've just wasted an hour of my life surfing the blogs. Trying to find some that are interesting and that I might even leave a comment or two on. I found one. So many are company blogs or blogs in langauges that I would not even attempt to speak without sounding like an idiot. I like the idea of talking to people on here, maybe even making a few new friends. So anyone reading this leave a message!

Kings of Leon

Last night was the House of Blues and the Kings of Leon. Very good show.

I thought I wasn't going to be able to go, the night before I did something to my back and I could barely move. But I wasn't going to miss it...even though my back was spasming thoughout the concert I enjoyed it.

Very crowded and I was surprised by how well known they were by the people there. Half of the auidence sang the words along with the group. I think this group is poised for breakout, after this month they're opening for U2.

Only regret is that they didn't play Holy Roller Novaciane.

NYPD Blue

Ok, I know, I haven't posted anything on here for awhile and now I'm posting like crazy. Sorry, but the last week or so I just haven't felt like writing anything. Now I'm trying to make up for it.

Just a quick post: The final episode of NYPD Blue aired last Tuesday. This year was a good year for the show. It has rebounded from a slump that almost drove me away over the last few years. This year wasn't as good as the first four years, but it was close.

The ending of the show was perfect though. No killing anyone, no blowing up the building. But it completed the growth of Andy. I see this series as the redemption of Andy Sipitowiz. Anyone watching this show at the start would never had guessed that Andy would end up where he did at the end.

I'm going to miss this show. And now there's nothing to watch on Tuesday nights.

Hollywood Animal

This weekend I was visiting my brother on the Westbank and we went to Borders and Barnes & Noble (I know two book stores in one day, I'm a nerd) and I picked up Hollywood Animal by Joe Eszterhas. It was in the bargin book section and I got it in hard back for $6.98. Nowdays you can barely find a paperback for that price.

Ok, the point of this entry is the book. Eszterhas is a screenwriter for Hollywood. He's probably one of the few screenwriters who most people outside of Hollywood might have actually heard of. Everyone has heard of Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Mel Gibson and this list could go on and on. But most people don't know who the screen writers are. Think about it, you might know who directed your favortie movie, but who wrote it?

Eszterhas wrote F.I.S.T., Basic Instinct, Flashdance, Jagged Edge, Telling Lies in America, Showgirls, Sliver, Jade, Music Box, Betrayed and An Alan Smitee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn. Probably a few movies there you might have heard of.

Eszterhas was the highest paid screenwriter working in Hollywood when he was at his prime. More than that he was a star in his own right. People knew who he was.

This is an interesting book, full of lots of inside information about the stars. But it shows a writer fighting to keep his words as they were written. As he tells one director who wants to change his script, "I'm not telling you how to direct, you dont' tell me how to write." He wasn't going to change his words just to make a sale. In a world where the written word doesn't mean much anymore it's nice to know that he believed in what he wrote. I'm not going to debate the merits of his work, some of his scripts I enjoyed a lot, some I've never seen and others are all that great.

Also the story of his Father and how it reflected the movie he wrote but did not realize at the time it was about his Father, Movie Box is interesting reading.

He's not above showing the world his bad side either. He took enough drugs and drink and smokes to almost kill him in the end.

He's living in Ohio now, with his wife and three boys. He doesn't smoke, drink or do drugs. He's become a middle class dad, something that you would never imagine as you read this book he would end up as. He doesn't say if he's writing scripts still or not. His name hasn't been on any movie in a long time, so maybe he's retired.

I have to say I enjoyed the book. It was a quick read, I finished it a few days. If you see a copy I think it's worth picking up and reading.

New Day, Same Stupid

Sometimes I can't believe how dumb I am. I purchased the first season of The West Wing on Ebay last week. I received it in the mail a few days ago. I checked it out and discovered it was missing the second disk. I emailed the buyer. No answer. I was getting ready to email Ebay and report my problem, when I went back to the orginal buyer's page to check for the information and discovered down at the bottom of the page (you guessed it!): This set is missing the second disk. Why would someone sell the set without the second disk. It's not like you can buy the disk by itself. I never even thought to look for something like that. I know it's my fault for not reading all the details, but it just wasn't something I would have thought to. The ad reported how like new this set was, how great it was, not mentioning that it was missing the second disk until the end of the page. So now I have the first season of The West Wing on DVD, without a second disk. Which means I'm going to end up buying the whole thing again soon. It was just like throwing money away....sigh.

Out Today!

Friends Season Nine is out today!
(see it's the little things in life that make me happy)

No New Post

Ok, now that I've actually had a few people comment on my site what do I do? Nothing. No new posts...sorry, been busy with work and stuff. In fact I think I've slept a total of about four hours in the last 3 days. I have to get the new week in media up and there are some other things I want to post about. I did just buy the new Randy White book, Tampa Burn. This is the newest in the series of Doc Ford novels. If anyone is the "heir" to John McDonald and his Travis McGee books, Doc Ford and Randy White are it. And if you don't know who John McDonald is you need to rush right out and buy some of his books. Anything, the man never wrote a bad word.

Ok, I'll try to write more later tonight or tommorrow, I'm off to eat now. I owe Heather a birthday dinner cause I couldn't make it out with her last night when they all went out to celebrate her birthday...I wanted to but was just too darn tired. Happy birthday Heather!

Random Blogging

Ok, today I conducted an experiment. Instead of sleeping like I should since I've gotten about three hours sleep in the last forty eight hours (which may explain this post) I've been surfing these blogs and leaving random comments to people. I've tried to leave comments to people that might actually want to comment back to me, but I apologize in advance if I've left words to anyone that would rather me not have (left words to them that is). This is all in a hope that someone, somewhere will leave a comment on this site so I know that it is possible and that it does get read once in awhile. On a related note, is there anyway to surf these blogs by any type of order, like maybe look for people that all list something in their profile like they have two headed dogs or like blueberries or you get the idea.....or is it just like life, a series of random events.

Site Ring

Ok, I just added a site ring to this page. From what I understand anyone that wants to can connect to this site and it creates a ring, from which others that are just checking pages out can see this ring and jump straight to the other sites. This is good for sites that are familar in content or want to connect together. Anyone out there interested?

Why do I get dumber as I get older?

I was looking through some old magazines and stuff and came across some old issues of SHOPTALK. SHOPTALK was a fanzine devoted to the comic industry. The members were all professional or semi professional, with at least some sort of presence in the field. Actually it wasn't a fanzine, it was what is called an apa. Bascially what this means is that all the members have to contribue something to it whenever it comes out, Shoptalk was once every three months, and than this was collected together by the central mailer and sent out to all the members. We talked about getting ahead in the biz, showed samples of what we were working on, commented on what was done in the last issue....all in all, pretty interesting.

In one of the issues I was looking at I wrote about my purchase of an old car of mine. I found it to be somewhat humorous so I thought I'd include it on here.

You think you reach a certain level of, if not wisdom, at least a certain amount of intelligence with the passage of time. Why do I have to get dumber as I get older?

I know better, I really do. Even at the time I knew better, but I went ahead and did it anway.
Why you ask? Because my super power is that I lose brain cells when I really need them and I become a completel idiot.

What am I babbling about? Since the last entry I went out and bought a new car. Not actually a new car, a used car, but to me it was new, so that makes it a new car, right. Or at least a new used car. Or maybe a used new car?

My faithful Subaru was on its last legs. Almost 150,000 miles and I figured it was time to put it out to pasture. There was at least a thousand dollars of repair bills I was looking at, so I figured maybe it was time to start seeing what I could find in the way of a newer vehicle. I thought if I could find a used car for around a thousand dollars or even fifteen hundred I would do better buying it than getting the Subaru fixed.

My Subaru was something of a legend where I used to work. The back seat was lost in the pile of trash, clothes and who knows what else back there. I kept a rack of ties hanging from the back window so when I went to work I would always have a tie. Once while I was at work the soles of one of my shoes fell off. What was I to do? I went out to my car and dug around in the back seat and lo and behold! What did I find? An old pair of shoes!

Still it was time for something different. And this is where I made my mistake, this is where my brain cells went south for vacation. You know those little used car lots that you find by the side of the road? I can hear everyone crying now: Oh, no, anything but that! Yes, that.

I have found a form of life lower than a lawyer. There can't be a form of life lower than a used car salesman. I would put pond scum higher up on the evolutionary scale than a used car salesman.

The salesman that came out was about as wide as he was tall. I explained what I was looking for as far as price range went. He showed me a few cars and than I saw it. A red Fierro. A Fierro for those who aren't familar with is a two seater sports car made cheaply by Ponitac. I asked how much it was? (There goes more of my brain cells. Who needs them anyway?) He said the best he could go on it was eleven hundred.

The sales office was a small two room building. On the wall was taped an article from a local newspaper. It showed my salesman, along with what I assumed to be his brothers, all built along the same lines as he was, and all three were standing above a pond or lake with their shirts off. The caption read something about these brothers being the belly smashing champions. Why didn't I flee than? (I just received a post card from my brain, they're enjoying the sun in Mexico.)

Does anyone see where this is going? I bought the Fierro. A few days later I was at a book store and I was looking at a book about the value of used cars and I flipped it to the section on Fierros. Guess what it said? I would have been better off buying tickets on the maiden voyage of the Titanic.

I remember the day, about in the second week, the car had already been to the shop the week previous and I assumed that it would run fairly well now. I was coming down the ramp from the elevated expressway and had to cross three lanes of traffic to turn at the coming corner. As the car left the ramp it died. I was coasting to a stop. And I thought I was going to die, because looking in the rear view mirror what do I see? A bus, heading right towards me. For the bus I wouldn't be much more than a speed bump. Luckily it managed to stop before it made me experience life as a pancake.

There was one bit of luck in the spot where it died. On the corner of the road was a gas station.
It was a self service station, so there were no mechanics, but I figured I could push it in and than shoot the car and put it out of my misery. I waited till the light turned green and proceeded to push it. I had to make the turn and than turn once more into the gas station. I don't know how many of you are familar with New Orleans. One prominent feature of the land around here is that it is flat. The highest area in monkey island in the zoo. There are no hills in New Orleans. At least no natural occuring ones. So why did I have to be pushing my car up one of the few man made hills.

It wasnt' a big hill, most of you would consider it a mere bump, but when you have to push a car up a three foot slope it loses its hill status quickly and becomes a mountain. I managed to get it half way up and than couldnt' go any farther. I couldnt' let go or it would roll back out into the street. I was stuck. I might still be there today, holding that car, a new local landmark. "Yes, that's our one hill in the area, and that's the dumb man that bought a Fierro from a local used car lot. I apologize if there are any small children along on the tour, I know how frightening that sounds."

I was lucky. A passing motorist took pity on me and gave me a push with his car. Did I mention that a Fierro is made out of plastic? His pushing the car up the hill gave it a few new bumps and curves.

There was the time I was driving over to my parent's house and coming down the bridge when it died again. All these small deaths were all different causes. I ahve to give the car an A in ints ability to come up with a completely new and different problem every week. It never bothered me with the same problem more than once. It was early, so at least I didn't have traffic to contend with. I can tell you the best thing about a Fierro, they're small and light, so they're not that hard to push. I rolled my window down so I could reach in and steer as I pushed. I got out and proceeded to do just that. One simple word of advice to anyone else that might find themselves in the same predicament, always make sure that your foot is out of the way of the tire. That's right, I rolled over my own foot with the back tire. Has anyone seen any spare brain cells?

I'll spare you all the details. Let's just say I became good friends with the lady at the local Firestone. She knew my voice form the first word on the phone. Too bad she was married, at least the car might have served some useful purpose.

After about a month more of this and finding out that the car had more problems that I could ever hope to compete with I decided it was time to put it to rest.

Ok, there you have it. Not a time when I was using my head for much more than a hatrack. I kind of liked it when I read it though. I could actually write for pages and pages more about that car, but we'll let it rest where it belongs...at the bottom of the ocean hopefully.