text:
SDCC: Marvel: Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends Panel
Comic Books
With the recent discussion of company-wide crossovers, and with the blog's two-year anniversary, I thought it would be neat to share this interesting piece Joe wrote two years ago, soon after the blog began, about his thoughts about Crisis on Infinite Earths. Enjoy!
I thought I'd finally type out why exactly I don't like one of my all-time pet peeve comics, especially since a sequel is rumored to be in the works. Now, this blog isn't always going to be negative, but this was something I think I needed to get out of the way. Saying this usually causes shocked silence, loud rage, or a quiet "Yeah, me too." Here goes: I think Crisis on Infinite Earths was an awful, awful comic book. It was awful in regards to its effects, its story, and its art. And if you listen up, I'm going to tell you why.
The DCU used to be like, say, Angelina Jolie: a hot girl . . .crazy, but the fun kind of crazy. Crisis removed those amazing lips, changed her eyes to something smaller and more close-set, added a hundred pounds or so and scarred up her face. It took something that was awesome as it was, and in some weird attempt to "fix" it, turned it into a boring piece of crud. First off, by consolidating all the multiple universes (yeah, it gets real nerdy here) it severely limited storytelling potential. No longer was anyone allowed to tell an "alternate earth" story. No more alternate versions of characters or timelines. The previously established Earths, all gone or combined. In doing this, another complication arose. Earth S had its own tone and feel. So did Earths 1 and 2, X, C, etc. By combining them all, these worlds had to find a common ground of tone. Now the Fawcett characters had to work in the same world, under the same rules as the modern DC, as the Charleton, as the Quality, etc. There was less room for individual voice. This paved the way for grim and gritty Elongated Man stories; when the shared universe became this absolute and this monolithic, there became less and less room for anything different. Mary Marvel gets molested. Sgt. Rock lived in a world of spandex. Uniformity trumped creativity.
On a side note, Crisis also paved the way for the rather lackluster revamping of the DCU. Byrne's boringization of Superman, more and more writers misunderstanding Miller's DKR, the Wonder and Hawk families making zero sense, and Hal Jordan becoming a drunk driving jackass. Now, I don't blame DKR for stuff like this. It's not Miller's fault other writers and readers didn't get the point (Batman being happy in the end). But Crisis was made expressly as a guidepost for the DCU. DKR and Watchmen were one-offs, special projects. Crisis was a company-wide directive.
Secondly, the story was sub-par at the very best. It substituted flash for substance, like a crap summer blockbuster starring Vin Diesel, but without the beautiful homoeroticism (well, with less of it). Anti-climax after anti-climax piled up as the heroes ONCE AGAIN set off after the Anti-Climax, I mean, Anti-Monitor. You can only pull that trick so many times. "The princess is not in this castle." That's why I stopped playing Mario brothers. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, eat shit.
What story was there made little sense. So we've got this multiversal problem, just the biggest thing to ever hit existence. So, let's recruit a team of interdimensional heroes to solve this. OK, first on the list: Blue Beetle. Yeah, Blue Beetle. After him, I want another powerhouse like, say . . .Cyborg. How about Firebrand II? There is nothing wrong with these characters inherently (other than ugly, ugly design for Cyborg). But an all-powerful godlike being picking these guys and freakin' Obsidian as the UNIVERSE SAVING TEAM is a huge case of what I've seen called "Plot-Induced Stupidity." Why were these characters picked? Because Marv Wolfman wanted to write them, or something, I guess.
The third problem I have with the story in Crisis is that, really, the heroes lost. I mean, this is a huge fucking failure. We must save the multiverse! OK, we didn't. But we managed to combine a few of the worlds in a way that makes all of them lamer! Wow, that's great. It's not that the heroes have to win every battle. They completely don't. But this HUGE failure was treated like a great success. Imagine if the JLA was supposed to save the world, but instead managed to take pieces of West Virginia, Latvia, Egypt, and Thailand and smoosh them together. What kind of vitory would that be? That's what happend in Crisis.
Lastly, I'd like to talk about the art. Now, I realize that George Perez has his fans. I may not care for his art, but I do see that. But from what I can tell, his popularity is based on the fact that he draws a lot of details. Take Neal Adams (please!), add a lot more little lines all over the place, remove the distinction between background and foreground, and instill the worst design sense possible and BOOM you've got yourself a Perez. All those lines! Liefeld puts them in too, but it's acceptable to make fun of him on the internet. But George Perez is like unto a god! Have you ever looked at his art in black and white? It looks like a combination of a really hard maze in a coloring book and spaghetti. Very little is distinguishable. I will admit that the best part of Crisis (other than the two emotional punches of Supergirl's and Flash's deaths) is the art. I would add, however, that's akin to saying was the best part of being beaten up by a professional football team was they didn't use their elbows very much.
That's my take on Crisis. But I want to hear yours. Do you like it? Give me reasons, other than "It's BIG!" That doesn't count. Show me how it makes sense. Show me how it made the DCU more interesting rather than less interesting. Show me how to get away with weird Angelina Jolie metaphors in a blog about comic books. Show me the way.
Joe said: Saying this usually causes shocked silence, loud rage, or a quiet "Yeah, me too."
I think I'd fall into the me-too brigade, but with a couple of provisions…
1. I like George Perez' art here, especially after Ordway took over the inking. Sorry.
2. I came to the conclusion with the benefit of hindsight, and after seeing what a train wreck the RAMIFICATIONS of it became. When it was happening, it was all very exciting. You have to remember, this was one of the first BIG! CROSSOVER! EVENTS! and not only that: fans of my generation, especially, had very fond memories of the old JLA-JSA Crisis stories. This was one of those, turned up to eleven on the nerd-o-meter. So we tended to get kind of caught up in it. Only after it was all over and the dust settled did we all start saying, hey, wait, that doesn't make sense. At the time we were all "MAN, this is SO much better than SECRET WARS! Rawk!"
But it really didn't age well, especially after everyone kept picking at it and picking at it.
While a lot of your points have merit, I kinda like the George Perez 'lots of heroes stand around and look confused scenes.' Some might call it Where's Waldo for Vibe fans, but it's fun to see the Warlord, Sgt. Rock, and Jonah Hex rubbing elbows with Batman, the Creeper, and the Metal Men.
Of course, it was fun once. Once. After Crisis, none of those characters needed to come near a superhero universe, ever again. That way lies Power Girl in Skartaris, senior citizen Rock in the Suicide Squad, and Hex.
Then there's the inherent not-smartness of destroying or condensing an infinite number of alternate universes down to 6 or so, then 1. Infinite means infinite! The Anti-Monitor could destroy a million alt-realities a day and still not get anywhere. Grrr.
I must concur with what Greg said.
"MAN, this is SO much better than SECRET WARS! Rawk!â€
Ha! That was me, 20+ years ago.
I also tend to like Perez art.
But COIE wasn't a well-told story, really, and it the feel of a bad retrofit. The Monitor debuted as a connector of hitmen and their clients, and an arms dealer. This was explained as a necessary way to get resources, but it doesn't make much sense.
And the removal of the multiverse was just as bad for DC as Joe says. TOO many supercharacter in one earth, and all the fun of the wacky universes (Freedom Fighters on a world where the Nazis won, a world where nobody much noticed a talking tiger in a business suit, an alternate universe inhabited by funny animals) is gone.
I agree; I miss the DCU where Wonder Girl could just exist all of a sudden and all Superman's friends took turns getting super powers every issue. As much as I love that fast, loose, "let's try anything and everything and see what sticks" attitude, I always felt that alternate reality versions of characters, like future versions of characters, was lazy. It's one step in the lazy ladder above evil twin or clone. If not being able to do an alternate reality story means you have no ideas then you have no ideas.
Granted it was a little different with DC because of the JSA and Seven Soldiers and Freedom Fighters and Captain Marvel and blah blah blah but you still have a lot of the same problems. Where was Captain Marvel when Superman was getting killed by Doomsday? I don't know. Same time, a quick hop to Earth 2 and Earth 2 later and you've got two Supermen AND Captain Marvel beating up Doomsday. Neither sounds much better to me. Not to mention how insane things get when Doomsday teams up with Earth 2 Doomsday and forms a Doomsday Duo, then the Legion of Supervillains brings Future Doomsday back in time to make it a TRIO….
Wonder Woman had a secret origin for her shoes. Flash got his powers from the 5th dimension. And let's not forget Martian Manhunter's brother. I'm not saying the current DCU doesn't have a lot of problems- a shared universe has problems inherently, having about eight shared universes in one universe is ridiculous- but I don't think everything was necessarily better when the universes were "Shared But Not Really" and all it took was waiting a few months before Wildcat could show up to help fight.
I'm not a huge fan of the way Perez's characters look. There's this kind of more-defined-than-reality-dipped-in-plastic thing to 'em.
But the man has some serious design skills. He's one of the best in the medium in terms of page composition.
When I was 16 and Crisis was first being published, I loved it. Mainly I loved the attention to detail (and not just in the art), seeing all these characters at one time (having "every character in the DC universe" in one series was kind of a dream come true for comics-geek teenagers in thos days), seeing a bunch of new characters I was barely familiar with (such as the Charlton ones), it was just cool.
I don't agree that the 'victory' of the heroes was treated as a "great success"; my impression is that it was treated (by the characters) as a pyrrhic victory, only a victory in that they were able to save something. But Crisis doesn't have much denouement, so we don't get to see much depth there.
Beyond that…
20 years later, the story doesn't hold up well. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, really. And structurally it's basically a "the villain tries one thing, that doesn't work; he tries something else, that doesn't work; and finally the heroes catch up to him and get him" sort of story, which is not very deep.
To the extent that the story works, it's the characters which carry it, especially their reactions to how everything changed after the multiverse collapsed. So it's still an interesting curiosity, perhaps a bit overwritten, as some of Wolfman's cliches show through a little too much.
And, of course, I loved the multiverse and feel that it was a mistake to get rid of it, no matter how much fun Crisis was. I think it completely destroyed the Justice Society, for instance.
All that said, I can't maningfully relate to your comments about Perez' artwork. I think he's the best artist in comics today, with an unbelievably imaginative design sense while still drawing completely readable layouts. His ability to render different faces, a wide variety of expressions and costumes, while having a strong sense of anatomy and a strong ability to draw settings and objects is unequalled among today's comic book artists. His ability to add details to his panels is really just gravy; he'd be a terrific artist with or without that.
He's gotten even better since Crisis. I think his best work ever was his run on Avengers with Kurt Busiek.
And yes, I've seen his work in black and white, and find it only slightly inferior to his colored work, but that's only because I prefer colored art to B&W art in general. It's still perfectly readable.
Clearly you and I just see Perez' artwork completely differently, and there's not really any point in arguing about it. I only wrote the above to demonstrate how my opinions are just diametrically opposite from yours. No doubt you don't understand my point of view either.
Was Crisis a success? Well, it was a fun read in its day and is still kind of fun today. And Perez' artwork is (to me) fantastic, which is worth the price of admission all by itself. But ultimately I do agree that it was a mistake, as I think DC's characters and universe have been the worse for it since it came out.
Also I think comparing Perez to Rob is pretty ridiculous, as if Avengers #1 and Captain America #1 reflect the same amount of effort and detail and attention. I know Rob is a byword for "I think this artist is a hack" online but you can hate Perez, perhaps not without reason, without getting nuts about it. I think it undercuts some of the valid arguments you make here when you descend into that kind of associative hyperbole.
I'm not comparing Liefeld to Perez. Clearly Perez is MUCH MUCH MUCH better. I just hate the little lines in both cases.
In an industry with Eisner, Miller, Clowes, Cooke, Williams, Quitely, and the like, I just can't see how Perez merits much of a mention. It's like the people obsessed with story minutae are also obsessed with drawn minutae.
Well said. As someone who didn't get into superheroes in my youth and instead discovered them through their rich history, few things dismayed me more than seeing how DC tried to throw everything into the toilet with the Crisis. In fact, I think you can trace most of the problems the comic industry and general and superheroes in particular have been having in the last 20 years to Crisis–dismantling history for the sake of an uninvolving new direction, a desperate uncertainity as to whether they're writing for kids, teenagers, or undeveloped adults, and a "clubhouse mentality" that focuses on stuff like continuity at the expense of accessibility for new readers. At this point, the concept of a "multiverse" is a much simpler, easier to grasp idea for anyone who doesn't read comics than what's been done since. So why the resistance to bringing it back?
I do like Perez's art, though…
I think Titans more than anything is what secures his legacy in the minds of most but I haven't made a thorough survey of the run, so I can't say if it's warranted or not.
Good list, by the way. Still, shout out to all the people who brought up KB's Avengers so far:
"Ultron. We would have words with thee."
In an industry with Eisner, Miller, Clowes, Cooke, Williams, Quitely, and the like, I just can't see how Perez merits much of a mention. It's like the people obsessed with story minutae are also obsessed with drawn minutae.
Perez has a particular skill none of those you mention have; he has a ridiculous amount of talent for composing scenes with a huge number of different characters, and far from simply making it not be confusing, Perez makes it not only easy to follow but allows the story to flow through his visual progression. There's a reason all his best and most famous work has either come in huge crossovers (Crisis, JLA/Avengers) or team books (like his various runs on "Avengers").
No other artist excels at this like Perez does. Honestly, it's not even close. Go look at the composition of the fight scene between the Charlton heroes and Blok/Flash/Katana/Martian Manhunter in Crisis #6; Perez cuts back and forth between half a dozen individual fight scenes and does it absolutely flawlessly, allowing the various subfights to progress in turn.
Perez combines this with a design sensibility that's just incredibly strong; he's not a groundbreaker like Eisner or Miller, but he steals from the best and uses their ideas in ways they never would have, and that's good enough for me. If occasionally his human mouths look a little too knobbly on the page, I can deal with it to get that design and composition.
Not to sound like a suckup, but I pretty much agree with everything that Joe said about COIE. I didn't get a copy of it until last year, and it was a pretty big mess.
That said, the story rocks from the viewpoint of an 8 year old kid, as it pretty much follows the formula of any animated movie or "event" at that time.
And I dug Secret Wars way more back then, for that very reason.
My favorite Perez book is Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect. I love how he communicates the hustle of the market scenes, the despair of the wasteland survivors, and the Maestro revelling in his power. Add in some excellent chase- & action-sequences and a dark sense of humor, and you have a hell of a good super-hero comic.
No, Perez isn't Eisner, etc. For that matter, Pearl Jam isn't the Beatles, and Casino Royale isn't Casablanca.
Re Crisis: I didn't read it until it was released in paperback. Ugh, was it hard to get through. Wolfman's dialogue, the sheer amount of crappy characters, and the nonsensical plot made reading Crisis a chore.
Meh. DC was never, EVER a hot girl. And definitely not a Angelina Jolie-like wildcat. What hot girl sits around waiting for her phone to ring while another girl is getting all of the attention? Because that was basically the state DC comics was in pre-Crisis as Shooter's Marvel Comics was getting all the critical and fan attention and DC was just languishing as an also-ran, a relic from the past. Sure the hardcore comic fans that are into comics enough to read about them online may wax nostalgic about how nothing was wrong with them pre-Crisis and how they were more exciting, but growing up in the Shooter era I remember how no one in my school..and I mean NO one…read DC books. Among the casual young comics fan, they represented stiff and boring characters and stories. Marvel was the hot girl, DC was the homely older sister.
The only thing that kept DC alive was emulating Marvel…Grell and Cockrum giving the Legion a makeover that made them resemble Marvel characters more. Englehart doing Batman in Marvel style, Wolfman and Perez doing a comic in a watered down Marvel style called New Teen Titans, Miller revitalizing Batman and Byrne revitalizing Batman. The most enduring DC epics are those where they emulated the Marvel style or used Marvel creators. Post-Crisis DC was smart in that it took the Marvel emulation even further by abandoning the goofiness of multiple earths.
Other than that, alot of your other claims simply don't hold up, since DC combined incompatible characters from different worlds long before the multiple earths concept was abandoned. There were plenty of stories of Sgt. Rock meeting superheroes during pre-Crisis DC. And the complaint about lighthearted heroes becoming grim and gritty because of the combined earth is also not true. They became gritty because DC was desperate to recreate Marvel's success and went overboard in the imitation while missing the inspiration. They thought the key was the grittiness, so they decided to get even MORE gritty. They would have done this even if the multiple earths stayed separate, it would have just been gritty stories on separate earths instead of one shared one.
pre CRISIS I read far more Marvel than DC, after it gradually reversed. CRISIS streamlined and helped make DC coherent.
HOWEVER–it also ruined 2 of my favorite books-All Star Squadron & Infinity INC–neither were the same, and Young All Stars wasn't that good.
Good column, Joe. I may not agree on Perez's art — like most people here, it would appear — but overall I find Crisis extremely lacking, few redemptive bits aside.
I understand DC's desire to streamline its universe and make it more accessible and modern, but the elimination of the Multiverse is still kinda silly — I mean, alternate universes are one of the most commonly-used ideas in comics and DC was fooling themselves if they thought they could have avoided them. All Crisis did was give us years of stories with parallel Earths being called "pocket universes", which doesn't even make sense as a term. I think the more reasonable thing would have been to just start fresh with a new Earth in 1986 and go from there — kind of like what Marvel eventually did with the Ultimate books, only line-wide.
I have no problem with the Crisis as a loss for the heroes. The real shame is that there's so little denouement that there's no opportunity to play up the sense of poignancy that should accompany that. That, and most of the heroes don't actually remember the Multiverse, so they have no idea how spectacularly they failed.
Had DC played their cards right and brought the Multiverse back this year, with Infinite Crisis serving as the victory that eluded the heroes twenty years ago, it could have served as a fantastic meta fictional device signaling the end of the dark-and-gritty age. Oh well.
Also worth noting is how crappy a villain the Anti-Monitor is. He's eeeeeeeevil! Why? Who knows, that's just the kinda guy he is. Total plot device.
I think the first Crisis would have been a fine, typical, crazy comic book story if it was self-contained. Destroying ideas in comic book land seems to be, in general, a bad thing. The prime example seems to be the explicit reduction of the Superman mythos after Crisis, which, I agree, made him pretty boring. It seems much better for writers to just ignore ideas they don't like so that future writes can return to them later after they like. I would liken DC less to Jolie and more to a young, carefree girl you enjoy spending time with during Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis I would liken DC to a grim and gritty old prostitute. This, of course, being an exaggeration.
I liked the characters, Harbringer and Pariah, that were sort of fleshed out in Crisis. In particular, I really enjoyed the ending where they find themselves stranded on (basically) our world. That was a nice human touch that complimented the general insanity.
Perez's art is also to my liking. I know the enjoyment of art is subjective but I think one of the things you can use to measure an artist's ability is his/her consistenty in a project. Do you agree that George demonstrates a very high degree of consistency in his distinctive, detailed style in Crisis as well in the numerous other projects he has undertaken?
Patrick wrote: Also worth noting is how crappy a villain the Anti-Monitor is. He's eeeeeeeevil! Why? Who knows, that's just the kinda guy he is. Total plot device.
I can't believe I'm about the defend the Anti-Monitor, but actually he wasn't just plain evil: He was the embodiment of the anti-matter universe and wanted to destroy the positive-matter multiverse so that only his domain would remain. Considering that matter and anti-matter just don't coexist all that smoothly, his motivation seems understandable.
Considering Wolfman hit us over the head with plenty of other things in the series, it's strange he didn't whack us with the Anti-Monitor's motivation on a regular basis.
That said, an understandable motivation doesn't make him a good villain.
I can't believe I'm about the defend the Anti-Monitor, but actually he wasn't just plain evil: He was the embodiment of the anti-matter universe and wanted to destroy the positive-matter multiverse so that only his domain would remain. Considering that matter and anti-matter just don't coexist all that smoothly, his motivation seems understandable.
Oh no, I understood that, and it certainly makes sense from a certain angle, but it's not an interesting motivation for a villain…
Really, it's essentially the same as saying he's evil because he's the embodiment of evil, and that sort of self-evident reasoning can sort of work if you do it right (Darkseid being an example) but with the Anti-Monitor it's just not compelling.
I'll say this for COIE though: it always felt like it was really trying, and like both of its creators threw everything they had into it. It's a far-cry from most crossovers, which generally feel half-assed, lazy, or not well-thought-through.
I always considered the real villain of Crisis to be Pariah whose power was bitching a lot. And before you say that's not evil I defy you to read through crisis without thinking at least once per issue "Damn, dude, shut UP…"
I find it interesting that at 12 issues the story STILL feels like they're rushing through things. There are so many odd details and fiddly bits, like Superman-2 and Superboy-Prime not merging with Superman because they were present at some battle and also they need to do a big sacrifice scene at the end (which is actually the one really moving passage in the story, and of course is the one that INFINITE CRISIS pisses all over.)
The art is good, though. One thing I've noticed about Perez is that he draws costumes well. Not designs them, so much, as draws them in such a way that you don't notice that the characters are wearing stupid multicolored tights for no good reason. It's just their livery.
Wow, that Doomsday Duo and Trio idea sounds SO much better than the original Death of Superman! I'm a sucker for characters from the future, though, like Kang/Immortus/Rama-Tut. Guess it happened on Earth-8 in an "alternate multiverse."
Two things.
1- I agree with the hate for Perez art. His art just never really clicked with me.
2- I know a lot happens in the issues, but I think the overall mini is way way way way too long. Some of it just felt like padding.
I'm pretty sure I said I basically agreed last time and I still basically agree, but T has a point.
DC from 1980-'86? Not that good. I mean there's some decent stuff written by Robert Loren Fleming, but other 'en that it was in post-implosion re-hash, re-use, re-cycle mode. Not a helluvalot going on, and lots of the cool crazy diluted by years of use and lack of creative nourishment.
I think the creative shake-up was a good thing, mostly.
I mean, sure you Wolfman/Byrne Superman which was, at it's best, one/seven billionth as good as Elliot S! Maggin's. But the Flash and Wonder Woman got instantly less bad, and you got neat books like JLA/I/E and Suicide Squad outta the deal.
The point is not how good DC superhero comics were immediately preceding the Crisis dumbness. The point is the inherent potential it once carried within, and how much of that potential was editorially mandated out with one big crossover. The cool crazy wasn't being used well, no, but that in no way meant they should have just chucked it out permanently.
Imagine the best writers and artists around today with access to that kind of, well, infinite storytelling potential, and then try to tell me Crisis was a good idea. I mean, really, is there anyone who can read but is confused by alternate earths? I know my second graders never were.
Weirdly, I know a bunch of younger comic readers who aren't confused by the multiverse concept, but just absolutely hate it. They think the idea of two Supermans or different worlds with different timelines able to cross over all the time is ragingly stupid. They don't seem to mind self-contained what-ifs like DKR or Kingdom Come or what have you, but don't like it when that stuff then shows again in a "regular" book.
In retrospect, Crisis wasn't necessary to my mind, so much as it might have been time to draw a moratorium on stories where the different Earth timelines mingled. I mean, toward the end of the Bronze Age, Earth-2 characters could apparently just bop on over to Earth-1 to hang out whenever they wanted. I like the multiverse and that's really a bit much for me.
As a crossover I found Crisis basically readable, and that's more than I can say for 90% of its ilk. I'm not sure it's an editorial decision I would've agreed with had I been a fan at the time; and in general I'm not a fan of turning editorial housecleaning into a storyline.
As an editorial decision, the continuity restructuring really has its ups and downs, and I'm kind of ambivalent about it in retrospect. Not happy it happened, not exactly sure it didn't need to happen. I'm not old enough that I was a reader at the time, so I've only seen its effects in back issues. I know a bunch of series I grew fond of via dollar boxes just went all to crap once they hit their post-Crisis issues. LOSH to this day has never really recovered. Had Infinite Crisis brought back the multiverse, I would've been quite happy, as I am rather fond of Earth-2 stories.
This being said, there's a bunch of post-Crisis stuff I enjoyed that would not have been possible if not for the multiverse being done away with. Suicide Squad, Giffen/DeMattheis Justice League, and a host of other books were specifically possible because of the opportunity for a full continuity restructuring that Crisis posed. I definitely don't think you would've gotten stuff like Sandman, Swamp Thing, or the other Vertigo forerunners if not for the experimental attitude fostered in DC's first five years or so post-Crisis.
I don't think experimentation needed a nerd puzzle story to begin.
It really shouldn't, but that's long since been the score with superhero books (and superhero readers). The fault for this may lay with CoIE's considerable influence, since previous house-cleaning revamps tended to happen after characters had gone out of publication for awhile and nobody was likely to give a damn about prior fiction. Certainly in modern superhero comics, sweeping editorial mandates are often accompanied by some sort of much-hyped maxi-series that fictionalizes the desired changes.
I have to vehemently disagree here. I was a Marvel fanboi in the pre-Crisis era, and was wholly uninterested in DC. Crisis cleaned up a lot of cruft which had built up – it could have done so without ending the multiverse, true, but I remember it being the first time I ever saw a big ultra-mega-mega event where things actually changed afterwards.
I, for one, find and found Byrne's Superman to be far more compelling than the Silver Age one, who could move planets with ease and whose only limitation was the deus ex machina du jour.
And Perez's art is phenomenal, IMO: after characters have been through fights, their costumes are damaged in ways which actually make sense.
So everyone's entitled to their opinion, but I'd have a hard time agreeing with pretty much anything you wrote in this case.
Crisis made DC a much more fun version of the Marvel universe in a lot of ways, and certainly something i'd much rather read about.
I hate, hate, hate reading DC comics from the 60s. They make me want to stab my eyes out. But I love almost everything DC put out from 86-90 or so. And I love DC in the second half of the 90s. And I love DC now (though I'm increasingly wary about some things).
T. wrote: And the complaint about lighthearted heroes becoming grim and gritty because of the combined earth is also not true. They became gritty because DC was desperate to recreate Marvel's success and went overboard in the imitation while missing the inspiration. They thought the key was the grittiness, so they decided to get even MORE gritty.
Have to disagree with this.
If anything can be credited with sparking the "grim and gritty" era of superheroes, it would probably be the success Moore & Gibbons' Watchmen rather than any attempt to emulate Marvel.
(sure, DKR also bears mention here, but I'd say Watchmen was probably more influential in this particular case)
Also, it's pretty reductionist to suggest that the only successes DC had pre-Crisis derived from emulating Marvel or using "Marvel creators" (a term which is problematic in of itself).
There's no denying that Marvel definitely was more popular than DC during the Shooter era, but offerring the fact that nobody in your school read DC really isn't much of an argument since that was probably more of a function of the "Make Mine Marvel" propaganda machine than of the actual quality of the comics.
I found Maggin and Bates Superman stories very meandering and dull. The conflict was minimal to nonexistent, and way too much story time was dedicated to constantly fawning and reminding the reader what an important and inspirational icon Superman was, even though most of the time he was fighting mundane and pedestrian threats. I did like his confidence and willingness to trash-talk though.
"Certainly in modern superhero comics, sweeping editorial mandates are often accompanied by some sort of much-hyped maxi-series that fictionalizes the desired changes."
If I had a magic wand and could undo ONE particular weirdness about superhero comics as a whole, that would be it.
It's not just Crisis — it started with Marvel, particularly Secret Wars and the black spider-Man costume — but it was Crisis that really codified it and made it THE way of doing things.
Really a lot of the comments I'm seeing here are making me feel very old. The actual reason DC was trying to look like Marvel back in the 80's? Because suddenly they WERE Marvel, as far as staff was concerned. In very quick succession, Steve Englehart, Jim Starlin, Gerry Conway, Marv Wolfman, George Perez, Gene Colan, Roy Thomas, Steve Gerber, Doug Moench, Gene Day, John Byrne and Frank Miller had fled Marvel for the creative freedom of DC. Not to be outdone, Denny O'Neil and one or two others had left DC for Marvel. The conventional wisdom of the time was that Marvel had the better books but DC had the better characters. Now we were going to see the Marvel style and excitement applied to the great iconic DC characters at last!
A couple of times we actually did: you could tell Roy Thomas had been waiting his whole life to write a book like Infinity Inc., and that passion came through. More often we got pale imitations of successful Marvel books, like Night Force from Wolfman and Colan. And Crisis was the ultimate expression of that whole We-are-going-to-do-for-DC-what-we-did-at-Marvel kind of thinking. That's where it was coming from. There really wasn't anybody working there at the time to raise their hand and say, "Y'know, DC's NOT Marvel, we shouldn't completely submit to that style."
I really, really hated Crisis on Infinite Earths. The story was just so stupid. I mean, if you have three Supermen, The Spectre and Firestorm, do you really need 457 more superheroes to face the threat?
And the art was just so bad. Tiny little panel after tiny little murky panel of 345 heroes running towards some big goofy-looking tower. Oh, I can't wait until next issue when 254 other heroes run toward some other big goofy-looking tower! Ooo, is that Halo? Wait, I think it's Nightwing. Who is that little dot there in the corner under Red Bee's elbow? You shouldn't have to use a magnifying glass to read a comic book.
50 years from now when historians try to figure out why comic books went the way of the dodo, they will trace it back to one event: the Death of Barry Allen.
Really a lot of the comments I'm seeing here are making me feel very old. The actual reason DC was trying to look like Marvel back in the 80's? Because suddenly they WERE Marvel, as far as staff was concerned. In very quick succession, Steve Englehart, Jim Starlin, Gerry Conway, Marv Wolfman, George Perez, Gene Colan, Roy Thomas, Steve Gerber, Doug Moench, Gene Day, John Byrne and Frank Miller had fled Marvel for the creative freedom of DC.
You're right that DC started recruiting ex-Marvel staff in quick succession, but that just bolsters my point…they were doing it in order to imitate Marvel. They consciously wanted to imitate Marvel, and many people on their staff were simply incapable of doing that. Curt Swan is an excellent artist, but he isn't able to recreate that dynamic Kirby style that "pops" off the page. Even alot of Marvel alumni couldn't originally do the dynamic Marvel style when they first started working at Marvel until Stan had Kirby teach them via storyboards and sit-down sessions. So if DC wanted to be more like Marvel to compete with Marvel, what better way to do that than to use Marvel creators?
The conventional wisdom of the time was that Marvel had the better books but DC had the better characters. Now we were going to see the Marvel style and excitement applied to the great iconic DC characters at last!
Again, I disagree. The conventional wisdom in my opinion was that DC had more iconic characters than Marvel due to their age, but Marvel's characters were actually more interesting AND more exciting.
For those of you who wonder about DC's sales success vs. Marvel's during the period immediately preceding 'Crisis': Marv Wolfman said sales at DC were somewhere around a third of what they were at Marvel at the same time. (IIRC, he cited 100,000 at Marvel to 30K at DC.) That's a pretty significant gap, more than just "everyone at my school read Marvel" territory.
Personally, I think that discounting "It's BIG" as an appeal of Crisis is like saying, "Tell me what's impressive about the Statue of Liberty, and don't say, 'It's BIG'." Crisis is big. It's bigger than big, it's genuinely epic on a scale that I don't think anyone has successfully matched before or since. Hundreds of super-heroes fighting the most powerful villain imaginable–a villain so powerful that he wipes out a whole universe on page one. An alliance of super-villains the likes of which the world has never seen, demanding three entire universes of their own as ransom. The death of the Flash, the passing into the light of the original Superman and of Superboy, Supergirl's funeral…and the knowledge that this wasn't a bluff, it wasn't a wink wink "epic of the week" that would be retconned away in next year's "event", it was massive and permanent change. The disgusting part is that they've been undoing bits of it lately.
(And while we're on the subject: What purpose would really be served by bringing back the multi-verse now? It was always intended to explain away how these heroes who we've never seen co-existing could co-exist…but we do see them co-exist now. There's no need to involve parallel universes in an explanation of how the JLA and the JSA could meet when they're sitting down to dinner together.)
i just finished reading the Essential Super-Villain Team-Up, which is good dumb seventies Marvel fun.
in it are a few Avengers issues by George Perez, and they must be really early work by him, cause writer Gerry Conway makes a point of writing CAPTIONS just about how great his art is.
and you can tell it's at a moment where he's really expanding his thinking about page layouts; one page in particular, with a recap of the story so far in panels down the middle while break-off fights between various heroes and villains are set up on the side with no panel barriers, is just amazing.
and that is why I don't think perez is overrated, something someone's already said, but it's worth sayin again: his page layouts are genuinely creative, innovative, and fresh. and that's a consistent thing from pretty much every moment of his career. he certainly spawned plenty of creative children for his art style, but he's probably got his own little subsect of descendants based just on his approach to laying out the page.
I don't know about confused by alternate realities but I don't like them. If I can keep up with Kang's chronology, the strange history of Bishop going to the past then to AoA then back again, or any of the maddening X-history, figuring out who Power Girl is no problem. A second grader could do it. I'm just saying I haven't been digging on "A story with TWO Supermans!" since about the fifth.
Superman's really the center of this though. Superman had a lot of stupidity in his stories, oh God yes, at the same time looking at Whatever Happened To the Man of Tomorrow? and Man of Steel, or Death of Superman, or Return to Krypton, or the wedding issues, or Our Worlds At War, or the Elite story, or really anything except maybe All Star which is so much larger the comparison might not be fair…Which is better? Which is the most inventive, which is the most daring? Don't say Death Of either, Superman "died" so many times he got a free sandwich from Subway back in the day.
Insano adventures, wacky adventures and artifacts, the Superman family, the dog, the Legion, they were part of Superman. They helped make Superman. Nothing stopped Superman, he did whatever he wanted and went wherever he wanted and so had these far out, fun adventures. Sometimes they were extremely stupid. In fact I would say about 50% of them were and that may be being charitable. But they were very, very fun. And to an extent I think losing that killed him as much as moving from Whiz Comics killed Captain Marvel. This is not the same character, to me. That's literally what Crisis did, it made a new universe with fresh characters. On one level, that can be really enjoyable. I've enjoyed the hell out of JSA for its run and Justice Society before that and so on. But in a real way, this is not the Justice Society of America. And if a story was going to cut all these characters off at the knees and eliminate the possibility for their unfettered future adventures, it's reasonable to expect that story to be at least as good as any of those bygone stories if not better. Not only do you not get that with Crisis (though it has virtues), I don't think you CAN get that from Crisis.
Besides, dude, look at what happened to Superman.
I admit that growing up in the 80's, I was one of those fan boys that was absolutely blown away by Crisis. Thinking back then I remember anxiously waiting every day for the next issue to come out. I re-read each issue so many times that Im suprised that my copies are are still in top-notch condition.
And to this day, I still absolutely love the Crisis. As many have said above, it was the first time in comics history that worlds stayed erased. That heroes sacrificed life and limb for the sake of others. And that they stayed dead. How many big event since have been able to capture the feel of Crisis? None.
I do agree that the plot devices in Crisis were a bit unexplained and dragged out. But that didnt matter to me. It never did, and it sill doesn't. What mattered to me then was the not knowing of what was going to happen to whom in which issue. Supergirl? No Way! Flash! Aww man! Huntress? Robin? Wonder Woman devolved? Are you serious? One Earth! With both a JSA and a JLA?
Looking back in the mid-80's, DC only had a handful of very succesful titles: New Titans, Legion, All-Star Squadron, Infinity Inc, Swamp Thing. But look at the flagships. Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash. Blah.
It was do or die time. And Crisis made it a do time. It gave DC the ability to revamp and refresh their entire line. It gave DC the media coverage that they so sorely needed. And lets face it, the only super heores that really ever get media coverage are Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man.
By turning the DC Universe upside down, it made way for Doom Partrol, Vertigo, even Watchman. Would we have the Ultimates line today from Marvel without a Crisis? Civil War? Witchblade, and Spawn, and Wildcats, ad naseum…. Who knows. I think in many ways, the Crisis SAVED the comics industry, not take away from it.
I think that the Crisis showed us and the creators that it was okay to pass the torch on to someone else. That a hero can stay dead, and not wake up in the shower and realize that it was all just a dream. That it was okay to take a risk, to try something different. That not everyone wants to read about spandex. That men in trenchcoats can be just as interesting as those in capes.
Anyway, the whole point Im trying to make is that, good or bad, the Crisis changed the industry. And from my point of view, thats a good thing.
"Anyway, the whole point Im trying to make is that, good or bad, the Crisis changed the industry. And from my point of view, thats a good thing."
It changed the industry all right. Crisis marks the point where the industry decided not to make comic books for children anymore. Now, 21 years later, they wonder where the new fans are. Well, duh!
Even now, I find it hard to judge Crisis, because of what it was for me at the time: basically a kind of crash introduction to various corners of the DCU. At the time, I had grown out of my blind company loyalty to Marvel and was starting to give DC a try (I had given Teen Titans a chance, but somehow it hadn't grabbed me). The exodus of people from Marvel hadn't escaped my notice either, and the idea of following creators was starting to really sink in, as well as the fact that Marvel was starting to decline in my eyes.
I had never had any problems with DC's multiverse (I wasn't totally unfamiliar with or blindly hostile to all things DC before then; there were comics read at other kid's houses, comics bought by well-meaning adults, comics bought when no others were available, etc.), so I probably would have done just as well with a similarly expansive, high-speed, throw-in-
everything-and-everyone-we-can series that didn't even do away with them.
And finally, as much as I usually scorn "Oh, yeah? well this other thing was worse!" arguments, at least its ending doesn't leave you going "That's IT??" in terms of hyped-up supposed "big changes" like the ending of IC. Whether you liked the changes or not, at least they approached the hype to some extent (unlike the changes after IC, which lived up to their hype basically not at all).
Perez is great at designing pages. Costumes, not so much. Dave Cockrum was the costume guy. Perez is the "fit a hundred distinct characters into a single panel" guy. Tragically, most excuses for putting a hundred characters in a single panel tend to be stupid.
I find it wierd that nobody questioned Alex's statement that "the Multiverse has to be a Universe again!" or tried to figure out the consenquences of a move like that. But the ending is philosophically bleak since people were ERASED, not merely dead.
And that is my problem with Crisis On Infinite Earths
For what it's worth, you can mark me down as a long-time comic reader who had little interest in the DC Universe before Crisis. After Crisis, I bought a LOT more DC titles, so I'd have to say that Crisis did exactly what it was designed to do, and all others have been pale and unsuccessful imitations.
My problem is that now DC and Marvel rely on regular crises, and I find that irritating. Once is fine. Every year is annoying.
If a title is more than peripherally involved in a major crossover event, I'm out. I very much resent being forced to buy a miniseries to read about events that have a major effect on the title that I've been faithfully reading. I deserve to have those events unfold in the comic that I've been paying for, and if I don't get that consideration, then I don't buy the comic any more. It's like following a weekly television series only to be told that I have to go see a movie to find out how things end.
That's why no major company "event" since the first Crisis has inspired me to buy more titles. Invariably, I've cut titles after almost every single major event at either company. I no longer buy any flagship titles from either Marvel or DC — only "secondary" ones.
For what it's worth, I also vastly prefer Byrne's retooled Superman to the older version. Omnipotent Supes held no appeal for me as a child, and still doesn't. I'll grant that the old stories have a certain charm, but I don't care for them on an ongoing basis. I followed the Super titles until they started seriously undoing the reboot, and then I dropped them all and haven't ever looked back.
Personally I find all those stories where vast crowds of superheroes and villains run around plugging continuity holes and trading overwritten dialogue turgid beyond belief.
Comics Should Be Good accepts review copies. Anything sent to us will (for better or for worse) end up reviewed on the blog. See where to send the review copies.


text:
Prues request new lawyersMay 11,2013
ST. JOHNSBURY — A Vermont couple charged in the killing of a popular St. Johnsbury teacher last year want new lawyers.
Allen and Patricia Prue have been charged in the death of 33-year-old Melissa Jenkins in March 2012. They are accused of luring Jenkins from her Danville home, beating and strangling her and dumping her body in the Connecticut River. They have pleaded not guilty.
The Prues will be tried separately and have different lawyers.
Patricia Prue has asked the state for a new court-appointed attorney to replace Marc Eagle, of Lamoille. Eagle filed a motion to withdraw as her attorney, citing "ethical and professional" reasons.
Allen Prue also has asked for a new lawyer.MORE IN This Just In
WESTMINSTER — A new Vermont State Police dispatch center in Westminster... Full StoryBARRE A Granite City man already facing multiple burglary charges is now facing more charges... Full Story
COLCHESTER — Police in Vermont have identified a Milton man who died after... Full Story
- Most Popular
- Most Emailed

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Mid range, low range, powerful, authoritative, african american, bass, baritone, big, deep, sexy, smooth, soothing, silky, buttery, velvet, elegant, seductive, dynamic, versatile, dramatic, real, natural, soft-sell, hard-sell, professional, corporate, contemporary, intense, subdued, sophisticated, mature, conversational, guy-next-door, warm, clean, crisp, clear, fresh, comedic, paternal, hip, high tech, upscale, rich, cool, dark, bright, urban, genuine, friendly, sincere, knowledgeable, compassionate, believable, fun, confident, enthusiastic, easy going, pleasant, intimate, playful, informative, raspy and lilting.
English (North American)
North American, US South (Deep South, Dixie, Delta)
Middle Aged, Senior, Young Adult
Special Skills
Audiobooks, Business, Cartoons, Documentaries, Educational, Internet, Jingles, Movie Trailers, Music, Podcasting, Radio, Telephone, Television, Videogames
Over 15 yrs voice over experience .... all kinds of ads, narrations, hard and soft sell
6 years announcing at college halftime shows
BA Communications, Broadcasting....
AKG C414 mic
Computer & Software
Custom PC optimized for audio
Special Equipment
A variety of professional digital and analog effects and software
Delivery Methods
Email, FTP, Mail....access to ISDN
Turnaround Time
Quick turnaround (usually 2 hours for 30 and 60 second ads...available 8 AM to 7 PM EST)
Service Description
My voice is suitable for narrations...its deep and warm with appropriate inflection to keep the client or customer interested. It's cool and smooth for the right ad..ie radio promotions, cd promos, club ads...etc. It's powerful and forceful for hard sell ads...ie car ads, store promotions, events....
I'm an award winning producer and create custom music in my project studio....I've created original music for Brendle's, Partner's Insurance, Volvo, Cricket Phones, Wachovia......as well as record production...work heard on MTV and HBO. I've performed with Kirk Whalum, Ronnie Laws, Dannie Richmond, Tom Browne, Barbara Weathers, Buff 'n T, Clark Terry, Jean Carne, Norman Conners, The Coasters, Shirelles and more.
I offer quick turnaround and quality audio in a variety of formats.
Turner -Video Perceptions, LLC - Rick McLaughlin
Thanks for the great job on the COIN video voiceover. As always, it is good to work with you again and I look forward to doing so again in the future.
Also, just FYI, the video has started garnering some attention and has been mentioned in two law enforcement newsletters in the last couple of weeks. Both had high praise for the video and the message that it conveys. Of course, part of the success is due to the great voiceover work you did on that project.
Excellent and creative work from Turner Battle. His personalized audition tape had us hire him on the spot. The first reads were wonderful, the follow-ups with the few minor tweaks were better than originally intended. Great timing and delivery. Tom gave us different options so that we could match other voices' interpretations. He was also very quick to respond and deliver, a complete, professional joy.Double Image Studio, LLP - Susolas Timgado
A pleasure to work with. Turner is fast, professional and a top notch voice talent.Ryan Martinez
Posted by: Ryan Martinez
Turner Battle did a great job for us and we definitely will be looking to use his talent in the future.Winford Williams
Client List
Dr Pepper, Sealy, Time Warner, Coke, Chevrolet, Cars Dot Com, Harley Davidson, McDonalds ....
Payment Terms
Hire TURNER for voice-over work. Payment is made through Voices.com SurePay, an escrow service that guarantees your work is done to your satisfaction. Send payment securely by Visa, Mastercard or PayPal through Voices.com then download your files from the website.
Watch a video to see how to make a payment
Next Steps
To contact TURNER BATTLE about your project, request a quote today. We'll walk you through the process step-by-step. It's fast and easy.


text:
Time to get ordering seeds, plants for spring
Published: Monday, January 3, 2011 at 4:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, December 31, 2010 at 6:36 p.m.
Once the calendar turns the page to January, I find myself all excited about what is to come. Of course, I spend a lot of time reading the stack of books beside my easy chair where I try to relax. If you're wondering what's in that stack, let me share it with you.
Cobb is a Master Gardener and can be reached at 864-574-8493 or email@example.com. Visit her website at www.mygardenersguide.com
There are several issues of English Garden magazine, Gardens Illustrated magazine, Fine Gardening magazine and The Garden magazine (the monthly magazine I get for being a member of the Royal Horticulture Society). In addition, "A Country Woman's Notes" by Rosemary Verey and Ken Druse's "80 Great Collector's Garden Plants" are a couple of books I want to read.
By now, the seed and plant catalogs are rolling in by mail. Let's spend a few minutes talking about where to go and what plant catalogs are great. First, if you are looking for great clematis vines, some rare hostas and great perennials, your first stop should be Klehm's Song Sparrow online at www.songsparrow.com.
Oftentimes when a plant order comes in the mail, you unwrap it and are disappointed at the small plant in the box. This will not happen with Great Garden Plants. Chris Hansen and Mary Walton are experts at what they do. They work hard to provide you with the biggest and most mature plant they can lay their hands on. They are also very cutting-edge on offering you the very latest plants available. You will find them at www.great
For roses, you should check out David Austin Roses out of Tyler, Texas. The Austin people have been in the business of producing the most alluring and exquisite-smelling roses around. Their color spectrum alone is enough to drive you mad. You will find them at www.david austinroses.com.
If you are searching for a bulb of any kind, there are two websites that are the only places to look. First is Brent and Becky's Bulbs (www.brentandbeckys bulbs.com) and then there is Old House Gardens (www.oldhouse gardens.com). They have everything, and Old House Gardens specializes in heirloom and rare bulbs.
For an unusual plant you cannot find anywhere, go to Digging Dog Nursery (www.diggingdog.com). This family-run business features hard-to-find perennials, vines, grasses and trees. I can always rely on them to have the one weird plant I want.
For standard perennials and just about anything, I also buy from White Flower Farm (www.whiteflowerfarm.com) and Spring Hill (www.springhill.com). White Flower Farm works hard and keeps up to date with great plants, pot combinations, bulbs and vegetable plants.
Let's not forget one of the most important got-to-haves for the garden: seeds. There are two seed suppliers that I rely on for everything from seeds to plants. The first is Renee's Garden (www.reneesgarden.com). You can count on Renee's to have all of the standard varieties, as well as the new varieties you had not even thought of yet.
The second is Burpee Seeds (www.burpee.com), where I usually buy my tomato seeds and occasionally a few plants. Any way you slice it, these guys have the best seeds.
Now that you are educated and feel empowered to find any weird plant, elusive vegetable seed or impossible-to-find perennial, it is time to hit the armchair and wait for those catalogs to roll in.
Remember to place orders right away. If you wait, it's likely they will run out of the variety you wanted. So no procrastination is allowed. Also, remember our eyes are bigger than our stomachs, so don't over-order either.
A note about the birds
Now is the time that garden birds need us to supply them with birdseed to help them survive winter. We tend to forget our feathered friends right about now, as it is so bleak outside.
But remember to keep those bird feeders clean and full of fresh seed. Check them now and then because the small holes that the seed comes out of sometimes get clogged or wet and hard.
The water in the birdbath needs to be free of ice. A great addition to any birdbath is a de-icer or heater, which will keep the birdbath free of ice and prevent it from cracking in cold weather.
By providing nutritious food, clean water and ample shelter such as roosting and nesting boxes, you help our friends make it through one of the toughest times of the year. Theresa McLeod from Wildbirds Unlimited is in favor of feeding the birds suet because it is high in fat and protein, which will help keep them warm during the winter months.
You can press birdseed into the suet to remind the birds that the suet is food.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.


text:
ODT Online
ODT /directory
United States President Barack Obama has spent the last few
days touring Republican heartland states selling his message
that everyone should stand to gain from an economy that has
all but recovered from years in the doldrums.
United States President Barack Obama adopted a tough tone for
his State of the Union speech this week as he sought to
rebuild his presidency and prepare to leave a lasting legacy.
US President Barack Obama believes smoking marijuana is a
"bad habit" but thinks legal penalties now fall
disproportionately on minorities and that states legalizing
pot should go ahead with their plans.
United States President Barack Obama is facing a situation
that may yet define his presidency.
US President Barack Obama, in a visit to the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to spotlight the loss of
government services because of the shutdown, has urged
Congress to reopen government and raise the debt limit
President Barack Obama has outlined plans to limit the use of
US drone strikes against extremists abroad and has taken
steps aimed at breaking a deadlock on closing the Guantanamo
Bay military prison.
The FBI have arrested a Mississippi man in connection with
letters sent to President Barack Obama and two other
officials that are believed to have contained the deadly
poison ricin, the US Justice Department says.
A senior pro-Kremlin Russian lawmaker says Washington's
publication of a "minimal" list of 18 alleged Russian human
rights abusers shows US President Barack Obama does not want
to aggravate tensions with Moscow.
President Barack Obama has urged Americans to pressure a
reluctant Congress to pass new gun control legislation - one
of his top domestic policy priorities - as he traveled to
Connecticut, where December's school massacre took place.
Without the pressure of facing re-election in four years,
United States President Barack Obama can afford to be more
deliberate and aggressive in his last term as he seeks to
step over Republican opposition.
Submit your news & photos - Login or
Opinion? Have your say - Login or Register
Submit your
event or notice
Add a photo
Bookmark ODT
Make ODT my
Otago Daily Times print and digital edition, The
Star - Dunedin, The News - Central Otago, The
Ensign - Gore, Southland Express -
Invercargill, Southern Rural Life - Otago and
Southland, The Courier - Timaru, Courier Country - Canterbury and
West Coast, Queenstown Times - Queenstown, Mountain Scene -
Queenstown, The Oamaru Mail - Oamaru, The
Greymouth Star - Greymouth, Hokitika Guardian - Hokitika,
West Coast Messenger - West Coast, The Ashburton Courier -
Ashburton, The News - North Canterbury, Extra! schools
publication, Property
Times South Canterbury


text:
Welcome To 李柏毅 LelandLee.com
Where You Can See 李柏毅 Leland's Life & Art!
Leland is currently a world-class artist.
Leland's parents first noticed his interests in arts when he was about two years old. While his drawings looked typical, he would make them large numbers of them. Over a few months, several hundreds of these drawings were made. No two were exactly alike.
展期:2016/05/25至2016/06/21 展出時間:09:00 – 17:00 地點:新北市藝文中心 藝文館、特展室、藝廊(新北市板橋區莊敬路62號)Read More


text:
Style Is Substance for New Fidelity
It was the early 2000s, and George W. Bush was sending troops to Iraq for a war that we sometimes forget is still taking place. But for Daniel Perkins and Roberto Escobar, a recording session for a tune called "Soldier" was coming straight out of London circa 1960. They hadn't planned on starting a band, but an off-the-cuff remark from a friend regarding their "new-fi" sound quickly morphed into a full-fledged mod/power-pop hybrid called the New Fidelity. Once equipped with a name, the Long Beach duo expanded to a quintet (guitarist/vocalist Perkins, bassist/vocalist Escobar, drummer/vocalist Billy Parkinson, keyboardist R. Scott and guitarist/vocalist Shawn Malone) and threw on snazzy suits. They've since had their music played on the television show Parenthood and on KROQ-FM's influential radio program Rodney On the Roq.
OC Weekly: Where do you get the snazzy suits?
Dan Perkins: We've been collecting suits and accessories for years. Many of them are custom-made or mail-ordered from the U.K. The key to a good suit is a good tailor—even if it's custom-made, you need to have a good tailor to fit it perfectly!
Upcoming Events
Beach Bums
TicketsFri., Jul. 29, 8:00pm
The Joshua Tree- U2 Cover Band
TicketsFri., Jul. 29, 8:30pm
Voodoo Glow Skulls
TicketsFri., Jul. 29, 9:00pm
Flex Friday with DJ Amac
TicketsFri., Jul. 29, 10:00pm
How did you meet Rodney Bingenheimer?
Perkins: He invited us to meet him at Canter's on Fairfax in LA for dinner, and we've been friends ever since. He's played us a lot on KROQ and even chose us as one of his favorite bands for a piece done on him for NPR.
Tell me about your new single.
Perkins: Our new 7-inch was recorded by Billy in his apartment and mastered at Capitol Records. "California Summer" is about living in New York during the winter and longing to come back to California, and "Never Go Away" is a cool, syncopated '60s/'80s power-pop song on the other side of the white vinyl. We had some money from when one of our songs was on Parenthood, so we decided to release it ourselves.
Billy Parkinson: We'll ship it to whoever wants to PayPal us $7. As far as stores go, we haven't told them yet, but we're going to take a bunch over to Fingerprints and sneak them onto the rack. We hope they don't mind us keeping the ones we replace, though. Any other stores can take this as an open call for orders.
I've heard vinyl is making a comeback. Do you hope this is true?
Shawn Malone: There is definitely something really real about holding a vinyl record in your hands. You can actually feel the grooves that make the sound. Everyone you know who is a true tastemaker, a real listener, has a phonograph and records.
Parkinson: The CD seems to be going the way of the dodo, so we decided to bypass that format completely and release a vinyl record and include a download card with bonus tracks. Besides, we have yet to see an autographed MP3.
Don't you find it funny that you are in a band and your name kinda/sorta suggests monogamy? I mean, that's not rock & roll, is it?
Malone: We don't think it has anything to do with women. It's a fidelity to the kind of music we want to make. It's being true to that, not what's cool. We sorta tried to be what's cool, but it didn't work for us. Devo said it best: "We're through being cool." Or maybe the Descendents: "I'm not a cool guy anymore, as if I ever was before."
This column appeared in print as "Style Is Substance."
Get the Music Newsletter
Keep your thumb on the local music scene each week with music news, trends, artist interviews and concert listings. We'll also send you special ticket offers and music deals.
Related Location
17115 Pacific Coast Highway
Sunset Beach, CA 90742
In Case You Missed It
Upcoming Events
DJ Kaboom and DJ Erickson
TicketsThu., Jul. 28, 10:00pm
Dirty Heads
TicketsFri., Jul. 29, 6:00pm
Julieta Venegas
TicketsFri., Jul. 29, 7:00pm
Los Rios Rock School
TicketsFri., Jul. 29, 7:00pm
Popular Stories
Sponsor Content


text:
There's no shortage of space in our Executive Suites which offer flexible living in a contemporary and relaxing space. Decorated with warm Moroccan tones our one-bedroom Executive Suites are located on the Executive floor making them suitable for long staying guest, executive travellers and families.
Executive Suites offer 55-70m sqm of living space, a 40-inch HD LCD TV in the bedroom as well as the living room, a seating area, a writing desk, a minibar and air-conditioning. All rooms feature a king-size bed, complimentary tea and Nespresso coffee as well as a hairdryer and iron. A luxurious bathroom includes both a bathtub and eco-friendly walk-in shower.
Complimentary high speed internet, breakfast, afternoon tea, evening cocktails plus return transfers to and from Dubai Airports are also available from the Executive Lounge.
Executive Suites can accommodate 2 adults and 1 child or a maximum of 3 persons with a chargeable extra bed subject to availability. Interconnecting rooms, smoking or non smoking options are available on request.
- Air conditioning (controlled in room)
- Interconnecting rooms
- In-room safe
- Complimentary high-speed Internet in room
- Wireless Internet connection
- Choice of non-smoking or smoking room
- Separate tub and shower
- Large desk
- King bed
- Sitting area
- Hairdryer
- Iron
- Ironing board
- Cable television
- Coffee/tea maker
- Minibar
- Trouser/pant press


text:
Nobbys Beach Surf Cam & Surf Report
@ 13 sec
11 min ago
L 5:20 PM (0.6m)
H 11:36 PM (1.7m)
L 6:06 AM (0.4m)
H 12:27 PM (1.6m)
Regional Surf Report
Surf Report Info
Region: Shoal Bay to Swansea
Reporters location:
Coastalwatch surf reporters are the saltiest locals around. Part fish, part shark, part human, they live for the waves and are usually more local than the locals. They'll be up before dawn waiting for first light to reveal the days surf conditions and can sense a change of wind from a sparrows fart. Each reporter covers a region of coastline which includes many number of surf spots and beaches. Please consider there may be possible variations between this report and your local spot due to differences in orientation to the coast and any local idiosyncrasies that may also effect the swell and weather patterns.
by Daniel Mason
24/07/2016 6:17 AM | Report
Today's rating - Average
S swell 4-5ft @ 13 seconds. WNW winds 9 knots. Clean with new south swell plenty of closeouts on the open beaches, right hand points early will be the pick and high tide reefs later in the morning when the tide starts to push back in. Strong west winds will plague us again.
Today's Outlook
Swell: 1.5m
Wind: WNW 20-30 kts
Best at: Open beaches
Conditions: Clean
Swell: 1.5m
Wind: NW 20-30 kts
Best at: Open beaches
Conditions: Clean
Sponsor recommended for today
Best board :
Best wetsuit :
Best fin :
Tomorrow's Surf Forecast
@ 16 sec
Marine Outlook
Forecast for Sunday 24 July until midnight
Winds: West to southwesterly 15 to 20 knots tending west to northwesterly during the morning and early afternoon. Reaching up to 25 knots offshore in the evening.
Seas: 1.5 metres, decreasing to 1 metre during the morning, then increasing to 1 to 2 metres by early evening.
Swell: Southerly 2.5 to 3 metres. Weather: Partly cloudy. Caution: Large and powerful surf conditions are expected to be hazardous for coastal activities such as crossing bars by boat and rock fishing.
Now Clear.
Monday Sunny.
Tuesday Mostly sunny.
Wednesday Mostly sunny.
UV Index : 4 (Moderate)
Sponsor recommended for today
Best board :
Best wetsuit :
Best fin :
There are no user media in this location.
Some Quality Time In The Shade
The best of Summer 2016
Is This The Gnarliest Barrel Of Winter?
Matt Dunsmore's death wish
The WSL's Inspiring New Ad, Meet Mad Grom Dakoda Walters, & Tai Graham Scores Rare Left – This Week In Surfing
Ten Things From Surfing & The Internet On The Week That Was July 22, 2016
Barton Lynch Is Frothing!
BL's Blast Off is back!
COASTALWATCH FEATURE FILM: The Biggest East Coast Swell Of A Generation
The waves, the people and the stories
The Barrels From Burleigh On The Weekend & Bede Durbidge Is Back!
Swell for the Goldy including Bede Durbidge back in the water
Is This The Gnarliest Barrel Of Winter?
Matt Dunsmore's death wish
The WSL's Inspiring New Ad, Meet Mad Grom Dakoda Walters, & Tai Graham Scores Rare Left – This Week In Surfing
Ten Things From Surfing & The Internet On The Week That Was July 22, 2016
Barton Lynch Is Frothing!
BL's Blast Off is back!
Weekend Surf Forecast 22 - 24 July, 2016
Long Sunday sessions are the call this weekend.
Surfing World Magazine: Issue 375
Finding Solace
Bali, Indonesia Surf Forecast 20 - 31 July, 2016
About to head to Indonesia? Don't forget your pintail.
Taj Burrow, Rob Machado, Bethany Hamilton & Areef Head To The Maldives
World's most luxurious surfing contest gets bigger
RMS Surfboards
RMS Surfboards is a fully in-house surfboard manufacturing facility on the NSW Central Coast.
Nee Pro Knee Boards
Nee pro knee boards is the brain child of surfer and shaper, Michael Watkins.
Weapon Surfboards
Over the past 8 years Weapon Surfboards has established itself solidly amongst the hub of Northern Beaches breaks.
Warner Surfboards
Warner Surfboards started in 1996 after 5 years shaping and learning from Greg Clough at Aloha Surfboards in Brookvale.
Bennett Surfboards
Bennett Surfboards is one of Australia's longest owned and run Surfboard company's, established 1956.


text:
our mailing list. It's so wizard.
by Pizzo
15 August, 2013@9:44 am
0 comments
15 August, 2013@9:44 am
0 comments
Paul White drops another video for the song "Minus" from his recently released EP "Watch the Ants" via One-Handed Music.
Similar to previous videos, Plastic Horse provides stellar animation for the "Minus" video that takes viewers onto another world of syncopated hand claps and ball drops, with an ever present all-seeing eye that reminds us that we're constantly being 'watched.'
Pau White's "Watch the Ants" EP showcases brand new instrumentals from the UK producer while featuring vocal tracks featuring long-time collaborator, Danny Brown, Sean Price, Homeboy Sandman and others.
Related Articles
Facebook comments:
Leave a Reply
Search HipHopSite.com
News on the D.L.
- Raekwon Sets A Release Date For "F.I.L.A." Album
- BUSH: A Snoop Odyssey Produced By Pharrell Williams [Preview]
- Drake – "If You're Reading This It's Too Late" Surprise Album on iTunes Now
- Action Bronson "Mr. Wonderful" Cover Art and Tracklist
- Juicy J "Blue Dream & Lean 2″ Mixtape Cover Art & Release Date Revealed
- MF Grimm "MF Love Songs" Cover Art + Tracklist
New Joints
- Lord Hakim – "Brass Knucklez" (feat. Vast Aire & Phizz Ed)
- IAMSU! – "Hella Good" (feat. Tyga)
- DJ Kay Slay – "I Declare War" (feat. Styles P, Sheek Louch, Vado, Raekwon, & Rell)
- Maverick Sabre – "We Don't Wanna Be" (feat. Joey Bada$$)
- Cannibal Ox – "Blade: Art of Ox" (feat. Artifacts & U-God; prod. Black Milk)
- Asher Roth – "Blow Your Head" (prod. Nottz)
Recently Commented On
- It's Time To Say Goodbye...
Commented on by Yungplex
- It's Time To Say Goodbye...
Commented on by geedubbleyoo
- Fat Trel - "In My Bag" (feat. Wale)
Commented on by Katae
- Kanye West's "Runaway": What Does It All Mean?
Commented on by fidgar
- Sole Vs. El-P: Part One - Sole
Commented on by Reno Yakavetta
- It's Time To Say Goodbye...
Commented on by Atom


text: Giant Rubber Duck Sails Into Hong Kong Updated May 14, 2013 11:56 p.m. ET fullscreen A tugboat pulled the Rubber Duck by Dutch conceptual artist Florentijn Hofman in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor on May 2. Bobby Yip/Reuters … The rubber duck was deflated for maintenance reasons Tuesday. Tyrone Siu/Reuters … The duck, flattened in Victoria Harbor, Wednesday. Jerome Favre/European Pressphoto Agency … People in Hong Kong are already starting to plan for when the giant duck leaves on June 9. Jerome Favre/European Pressphoto Agency … The inflatable art installation is 16.5 meters (54 feet) tall. Kin Cheung/Associated Press … The art installation is called 'Spreading Joy Around the World.' Jessica Hromas/Getty Images … Since 2007, it has traveled to various cities, including Osaka, Sydney, Sao Paulo and Amsterdam. Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images … People watched the Rubber Duck float near Ocean Terminal. Bobby Yip/Reuters … Mr. Hofman posed with his creation at Ocean Terminal. Bobby Yip/Reuters … The Hong Kong Police band held a welcome ceremony for the Rubber Duck. Jessica Hromas/Getty Images … A children's dancing group performed during the welcoming ceremony. Kin Cheung/Associated Press … Visitors can get a close-up look at the duck from a pier. Rosa de Acosta/The Wall Street Journal … Visitors took pictures of the Rubber Duck. Kin Cheung/Associated Press … Meanwhile, locals, including this man selling rubber ducks in the neighborhood, are making the most of the visit. Rosa de Acosta/The Wall Street Journal … Visitors attended the welcome ceremony, where various rubber duck paraphernalia was available. Kin Cheung/Associated Press … People posed with smaller versions of the duck. Li Peng/Xinhua/Zuma Press … Floating on the Kowloon side of Victoria Harbor, the duck is visible from many towers in Hong Kong's glittering skyline. Lui Siu Wai/Xinhua/Zuma Press … An artist painted the scene. Li Peng/Xinhua/Zuma Press … Shopping mall Harbour City's Strawberry Forever Grand Dessert restaurant is serving a special menu of duck that's smoked, roasted, used in salad and doused with black truffle sauce. A duck-shaped dessert, pictured, is also included. Harbour City … Harbour City's Super Star Seafood Restaurant is serving deep fried mashed taro in a duck shape. The duck-inspired food is being served while the duck stays docked on Victoria Harbour. Harbour City … Replay Giant Rubber Duck Sails Into Hong Kong More Slideshows Photos: Democrats Convene for Second Day in Philadelphia A 1955 Buick and Reruns of 'Highway Patrol' of SHOW CAPTION HIDE CAPTION fullscreen RELATED: In Hong Kong, Giant Duck Makes a Splash Show More Archives


text:
You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience.
Popular iPhone And iPad Apps On Sale For Valentine's Day
Hopefully last week's barrage of pre-Valentine's Day app sales didn't wipe your bank account clean, because we still have quite a few fantastic deals for you to take advantage of today.
Tyler Tschida
| February 14
Catan HD Arrives In The App Store For iPad
Catan HD, an official remake of The Settlers of Catan, has finally arrived in the App Store for iPad.
Tyler Tschida
| September 29
Review: Catan - The First Island is The Best Island
Catan is one of the most awarded board games to come out of Europe. The iPhone version is a completely faithful port of the original, but only the original. What about the expansions?
Michael Jeans
| June 17


text:
The new Easy CSV Importer screen is a simplified interface with a step by step approach on a single screen. There are clear notifications for the user to understand their progress and each step in the process has been made as simple as possible to help get users started.
The screen is coming in version 6.7.4 along with many improvements for WordPress 3.5
This feature is almost ready for release as a beta. One of the things we will need to perfect is how advanced we should make each step. The free edition of Easy CSV Importer is aimed at making very quick posts with no bells and whistles.
Hack CSV 2 POST Free Edition
Whatever the average user thinks of CSV 2 POST, a developer can see something different. If you look close you will see that the structure is in place to hack the plugin and adapt it to your needs. The potential in our core plugin is huge and getting better every week. The Easy CSV Importer screen in the free edition is a great service for anyone with the skills and desire to make the plugin do as they want. Each step is simply a HTML form and it is easy enough to find the functions that process form submissions.
Some users won't feel the Easy CSV Importer individual steps in the paid edition would suit their project, no matter how advanced. It is hard to cover all possibilities and requirements. That is where our free plugin here on WordPress.org with this new ECI screen comes in. It would not cost a lot to hire someone to adapt the ECI steps to suit your needs if you feel both our free and paid edition is not ready for you.


text:
College Addresses Long-Overdue Problem By Offering Degree in Brewing Beer
Students torn between hitting the books and hitting the bottle can have the best of both worlds at one college.
Students torn between hitting the books and hitting the bottle can have the best of both worlds at one college.
Meet the meanest boyfriend ever.
While the world continues to try and wrap around its collective head around Corey Feldman's music video that may be the worst thing in the history of history, David Hasselhoff has come around to show us some celebrities can actually be quite cheeky.
We've all been there – the breaking point when it's time to unfriend someone on Facebook.
We have another comedy/action pairing of flicks hitting theaters this weekend. The first is a reunion of sorts between the director and co-star of the summer 2011 hit 'Bridesmaids,' and the second should sound oddly familiar to anyone who caught 'Olympus Has Fallen' back in March.
If you are afraid of snakes, what you're about to read isn't going to make you feel any better.
Unless there are politicians arguing, you won't see more 'round and 'round without actually getting anywhere.
LeBron James scored 37 points, and the Miami Heat won their second straight title by beating the San Antonio Spurs, 95-88, in a thrilling Game 7 of the 2013 NBA Finals in Miami on Thursday night.
Car designers are hard at work coming up with some incredible, futuristic-looking automotive designs, some of which may be racing down your street in the years ahead.
The Chicago Blackhawks face the Boston Bruins in the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Finals beginning on Wednesday night in Chicago. Here's a preview of the series that will decide the NHL's championship:
The price was definitely not right.
LeBron James scored 32 points, and the Miami Heat beat the Indiana Pacers, 99-76, in the seventh and deciding game of the Eastern Conference finals in Miami on Monday night.


text:
Find a copy in the library
Finding libraries that hold this item...
|Graphic novels
Comic books, strips, etc
|Document Type:
|All Authors / Contributors:
Joe Sacco; Edward W Said
|OCLC Number:
|Introduction by Edward Said.
" ... [A] major success in its original two-volume collection. Palestine has now finally been released in a new one-volume format, with a new foreword by Edward W. Said"--Page 4 of cover.
|vi, 285 pages : chiefly illustrations ; 28 cm
|Other Titles:
|Palestine (Seattle, Wash. : 1993)
|Joe Sacco.
In late 1991 and early 1992, Joe Sacco spent two months with Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, traveling and taking notes. Upon returning to the U.S., he started writing and drawing Palestine, which combined the techniques of eyewitness reportage with the medium of comic-book storytelling to explore this complex, emotionally weighty situation.
User-contributed reviews
Similar Items
Related Subjects:(14)
- Gaza Strip -- Race relations -- Comic books, strips, etc.
- Jewish-Arab relations -- Comic books, strips, etc.
- Arab-Israeli conflict -- Comic books, strips, etc.
- Middle East -- Politics and government -- Comic books, strips, etc.
- Palestinian Arabs -- Comic books, strips, etc.
- Israel -- Politics and government -- Comic books, strips, etc.
- Arab-Israeli conflict.
- Jewish-Arab relations.
- Palestinian Arabs.
- Politics and government.
- Race relations.
- Gaza Strip.
- Israel.
- Middle East.
User lists with this item (22)
- To Read(374 items)
by eiratansey updated about a month ago
- UMD Libraries Comics & Graphic Novels(211 items)
by email@example.com updated 2016-02-02
- Graphic Nonfiction(17 items)
by mccarthys updated 2015-09-25
- Graphic Novels(74 items)
by beckiejean updated 2015-06-16
- graphic novels(56 items)
by ssiehtakata updated 2015-05-21


text:
Sims Middle School student accused of bringing BB gun to school
Published: Wednesday, November 27, 2013 at 9:14 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, November 27, 2013 at 9:14 p.m.
A 14-year-old Sims Middle School student is accused of carrying a weapon on school property. A school administrator was notified that the student had a black BB pistol, which was found in the student's book bag, according to a Union County Sheriff's Office incident report. The student was arrested and later released to the custody of his mother. No charges had been filed at the time of the report.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.


text:
Hello all,
I need some WordPress Kung Fu. I have a conditional loading various sidebars depending on the category. So I don't have to update this when adding new categories, I'd like to just pull the children of a category and have that fill the array instead of manually putting all the children in.
Can someone help me out with some PHP? Thanks!
if(in_category(array('cat1','cat2','cat3')) {
include(TEMPLATEPATH . '/news-sidebar.php');
} elseif( in_category(array('training','ask')) ) {
include(TEMPLATEPATH . '/training-sidebar.php');
} ?>


text:
There are several of us on East Antietam Street that walk 1 1/2-2 miles every day at lunch. Usually from 12:30 to 1p. Anyone is welcome to join us. Start at EJ Fennel building. We are looking to add a Sat morning longer walk most likely at Fairgrounds after WW mtg. We plan to do a 5k in end of June and a 10 k in Sept. If interested call 301-491-9069 - Chrisie
ACTIVE is the leader in online event registrations from 5k running races and marathons to softball leagues and local events. ACTIVE also makes it easy to learn and prepare for all the things you love to do with expert resources, training plans and fitness calculators.


text:
Tommy Castro & The Painkillers At The Belly Up
- When Friday, February 8, 2013 at 9 p.m.
- Where Belly Up Tavern, 143 S Cedros Ave, Solana Beach, CA Map | Website
- Age limit 21+
- Categories Blues, Rock
- Cost $20
Above: Image of Tommy Castro & The Painkillers who will be performing at the Belly Up Tavern on February 8th, 2013. Photo by Dana Curley and Brett Colvin.
Come to the Belly up Tavern on Friday, February 8th at 9pm for the performance of Tommy Castro & The Painkillers, featuring the performance of Paul Thorn.
Award-winning guitarist/vocalist/songwriter and Alligator Records recording artist Tommy Castro has been playing his signature brand of rocking rhythm and blues professionally for over 25 years, thrilling fans around the world with his incendiary live performances. With his new, stripped-down, turbo-charged band The Painkillers, Castro has embarked on the next phase of his storied career.
Cost: $20 General Admission
Location: Belly Up Tavern, 143 S Cedros Ave Solana Beach, CA 92075 Google Map


text:
Let's chat a bit about Garry's Mod, which I'll refer to as Gmod for the remainder of this entry. For those unfortunate souls who have yet to have the pleasure of playing Half-life 2 (and you really have no excuse anymore), allow me to explain a few things about the source engine. Source is the brains and brawn behind Half-life 2, as well as Counterstrike: Source, Day of Defeat: Source and a game called Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. I'm sure there are at least a couple other titles in development using this technology, but I haven't been following games as closely as I usually do. Anyway, Source implements a lot of concepts in game design that have been attempted at before, but never to such a satisfying degree. Just about everything you can see in the environments is its own model which can be picked up, thrown around, rotated in the full spectrum of motion and (as far as I know...I've never actually been able to launch cars off cliffs using an energy gun in real life) they behave as things in real life would. We're talking everything from chinese takeout boxes, to glass bottles, to milk crates, to cars, to train boxcars and so on. I mean, throughout the first 1/4th of the game you see these train cars cluttering up the joint everywhere but never once think "wow, I bet they let you lift those things with a gigantic crane" until you actually are lifting one up with a gigantic crane and dropping it on a pile of mindless drones blindly firing machine guns in your general direction. I digress, but that was a really eye-opening moment in the history of video gaming for me.
On top of all of this, and thanks to a heavily modified version of the Havok Physics Engine referenced in my previous entry about Max Payne 2, Source has ragdoll physics like none that I've ever seen before in a game. We're talking down to being able to move joints such as the knees, the wrists, the ankles and so on. And as if all that weren't enough, there is even a very tiny skeletal structure contained behind the facial textures that allows for extremely subtle adjustments to the facial features. For Example.
Now, back to Gmod. It was created by Garry, the guy who runs the site I linked to at the beginning of the post, and regular poster on The Awful Forums. What Gmod does is opens up the game to you and allows you to do whatever the fuck you want with every single feature of the source engine that I just explained. Every one. EVERY SINGLE ONE. AND THEN SOME. If you've ever dreamed of returning to the days of dicking around in a sandbox with your hot wheels and GI Joe figures and don't want to worry about sitting in a pile of cat dung or little kid pee, I strongly encourage you to buy Half-life 2 for your PC and download this modification for it. And for those of you who already have Half-life 2 and haven't at least tried this mod, please kill yourself. Or just try the mod. Whatever you think would be funnier.
To give you a decent idea of what can be done in Gmod with a little time and practice, here are a few screenshots of things that I have made. Linked because they look like shit if resized, and they'd fuck up the formatting of my page if I posted them outright.
Now let's get back to the other mod I mentioned. SMod is made by a group of Japanese folks, from what I understand, and what it does is allows you to go through the original version of Half-life 2 but with various console tweaks to the engine that affect physics settings and even the speed of movement. That's right, Half-life 2 with bullet time. Also, this mod adds in an absolute arsenal of new and pretty much insane weaponry, such as a PSP that launches explosive UMD cartridges, a Duke Nukem 3D style kick and a banana bomb that behaves just like the ones found in the Worms games. It also adds the ability to chunk corpses up into delightfully messy gibs, and it's possible to "use" the bits and pieces of your fallen foes to gain health. And it's beautiful. Oh god yes.
The Source Engine has an incredible amount of potential yet to be realized, and I honestly feel that it's one of the most notable achievements in video game technology in recent years. Second only to the release of faulty hardware to the public by Microsoft, of course (BAHAHA I'M USING TOPICAL HUMOR, ISN'T THAT CLEVER?).
Other than that, I purchased Peter Molyneaux's company Lionhead's most recent release, The Movies, but as I've been spending most of my time actually watching movies lately, I haven't really put much time into it. I've played the campaign for about two or three hours, and as usual with these kinds of games, I fucking suck at micromanagement. The real draw for me to this title was the option to create my own films using a cast of people who I don't have to pay or be nice to. I think it has a lot of potential to allow a lot of nerds who are too frightened to go out and network with actual human beings for the purpose of making real life films to realize their dreams of becoming a filmmaker. Once the modding community gets on top of things and starts creating custom skins and models, things should get really interesting.
Sorry for the lack of purty pictures, for those of you with ADD. Till next time, kids.


text:
Every team in the NFL has played at least eight games. Each year since 2000, there has been at least one team (27 overall) that was .500 or worse at the halfway point of the season and made the playoffs. In fact, in each of the past four seasons, at least three teams started 4-4 or worse and rebounded to make the playoffs.
Currently, there are 17 teams that are no better than .500.
• Not only is Michael Vick on the verge of passing Steve Young for the second-most rushing yards by a quarterback in NFL history, but his passing numbers have been spectacular. He has the highest passer rating in the NFL on attempts between 11-20 yards. No one else in the NFL has a passer rating above 118. And on deep throws (at least 21 yards), his 120.0 passer rating is currently third behind Vince Young and Ben Roethlisberger.
Most Rush Yards by QB NFL History
• From the Elias Sports Bureau: Terrell Owens has 41 receptions for 618 yards and seven touchdowns in the last five games, all of which have been Bengals losses. Seven other players in NFL history have had at least 40 catches for 600 yards and seven touchdowns in a five-game span, but Owens is the only one who's done it on a team that lost all five games.
• More from the Elias Sports Bureau: The Cleveland Browns' Colt McCoy is the only quarterback whose first three starts all came against former Super Bowl winning quarterbacks. (The Browns lost to Ben Roethlisberger in McCoy's first start, then beat Drew Brees and Tom Brady in his next two starts).
• Peyton Hillis is averaging a league-leading 9.3 yards per rush when running to the right this season; however, only 12 percent of Hillis' rush attempts have been to the right side. Two-thirds of his carries have been up the middle, where he's averaging four yards per rush.
• The Tennessee Titans' Chris Johnson will play his 40th game on Sunday against the Miami Dolphins. Johnson has rushed for 3,955 yards and averaged 5.03 yards per carry. The only players in NFL history to rush for 4,000 yards and average at least five yards a carry in their first 40 games are Jim Brown, Clinton Portis and Adrian Peterson.
• Even when he's isn't carrying the ball, Johnson has a huge impact on opposing defenses. Vince Young has a perfect passer rating (158.3) on play-action throws of at least 15 yards this season. On throws downfield of at least 15 yards when he does not use play action, Young's passer rating is just 55.4.
• Last season, Sidney Rice was the Minnesota Vikings leading receiver on passes thrown outside the field numbers, catching 39-of-59 passes and four of the Vikings 12 touchdowns. In eight games thus far, Minnesota has not had an outside threat, posting just three touchdowns on 92 targets.
• The Denver Broncos are the only team that does not have a rushing play of at least 20 yards this season; conversely, the Pittsburgh Steelers are the only team that has yet to allow a 20-yard running play. The Steelers opponent this week, the Patriots, have four players who have had at least one 20-yard running play this season.


text: Google Gives It Up The court ruled, Google ( GOOG) caved and the Supermodel got her way. Former Vogue cover girl Liskula Cohen was granted a court order this week forcing Google to reveal the identity of an anonymous blogger who trashed her online. A Manhattan Supreme Court judge ruled that she was entitled to the information and ordered Google, which ran the offending blog, to disclose it. On Good Morning America Wednesday, Cohen said she called her online tormentor and told her "If I've ever done anything to you to actually deserve this, that I'm really very sorry." Not as sorry as Google is going to be now that this identity-revealing precedent is set. In a filing back in January, Cohen said that comments posted on Google' s Blogger.com were defamatory, malicious and untrue. "I would have to say the first-place award for "Skankiest in NYC" would have to go to Liskula Gentile Cohen," wrote "Anonymous" in one posting. Anne Salisbury, a lawyer for the blogger, argued that the crude attacks on Cohen were merely "youthful, jocular, slangy" terms that are protected by the courts. Justice Joan Madden, however, rejected that view, saying that the blogs "serve as a modern-day forum for conveying personal opinions, including invective and ranting". We here at the Five Dumbest Lab may not be legal scholars, but we say the whole thing is just a silly elementary school catfight spun out of control and is now unfortunately clogging our courts. That said, the big loser in this unseemly affair is not the thin-skinned supermodel or the jealous blogger but Google. The Web services giant will now be on the hook to divulge the identity of every anonymous poster with an Internet connection and an ax to grind. Google spokesman Andrew Pederson claimed no such worries saying the company would "respect privacy concerns and will only provide information about a user in response to a subpoena or other court order." Sorry Andrew. But Google has already started down the slippery slope. Get ready to drown in a sea of litigation. Dumb-o-meter score: 90 -- Somebody Google up the First Amendment. Prev 0 of 5 Next


text:
Skylight presents intimate take on 'Porgy & Bess'
In the summer of 1926, George Gershwin returned home from rehearsals for a new musical. Wired and needing to clear his head, he picked up a recent bestselling novel as bedtime reading. He didn't put it down until he had finished it the following morning. The novel was DuBose Heyward's "Porgy."
In "The Life and Times of Porgy and Bess: The Story of an American Classic," Hollis Alpert describes what happened next: Gershwin was so excited "by the story and its author's apparent musical sensitivity" that he immediately wrote Heyward and suggested they collaborate on an opera. Nine years later, it made a now-legendary Broadway debut as "Porgy and Bess." »Read Full Article(1)
Last day for Crocus; closing dates set for Venice Club, INdustri Cafe
A reminder that Crocus Polish Restaurant's last day is Saturday. It's the last chance for diners to visit the 31-year-old restaurant; the Polish buffet is served 4:30 to 9 p.m. Saturday. Crocus is at 3577 S. 13th St.
Also, the Venice Club — which got its start in Milwaukee in 1947 and has been in Brookfield for the past three decades — will serve its final dinner May 9. It will continue to operate its stand at Summerfest, as it has for 40 years this year. It will be open regular hours until May 9, serving its Italian-American menu. The Venice Club is at 1905 N. Calhoun Road. »Read Full Blog Post
Windfall's 'Storefront Church' preaches compelling message
What economic recovery?
Behind Friday's ostensibly rosy decline in the jobless rate, the grim reality — job creation featuring low-wage or temporary work, while growing numbers of discouraged Americans stop looking for work altogether — makes clear how little we have to celebrate. »Read Full Article(1)
Cafe Blue, a coffeehouse, proposed for east Tosa
A small cafe called Cafe Blue that would serve espresso drinks and pastries is planned for 6428 W. North Ave. in Wauwatosa. »Read Full Blog Post
Things to do in Milwaukee this week
Tiptoeing through
The tulips have arrived! Some of the more winter-burned among us might want to run, rather than tiptoe, through them laughing hysterically. Once we, I mean the rest of you, settle down you'll want to take a trip out to the Boerner Botanical Gardens, 9400 Boerner Drive, Hales Corners, on Wednesday for its first Walking Garden Class of the season. Jessica Cloninger, a Milwaukee County horticulturist, will lead the way through the tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and other flowering spring bulbs. The class begins at 6:30 p.m. in the gift shop inside the Education Center. It costs $5. »Read Full Article


text:
The Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham Lodi/North Stockton is located off i-5 at highway 12, five miles from Downtown Lodi, Lodi Lake, Lodi Winetrail, Sacramento
Welcome to the BEST WESTERN PLUS I-5 Inn and Suites.
The Econo Lodge® hotel is conveniently located off Highway 99, within walking distance of the Lodi Grape Festival and Harvest Fair. This Lodi, CA
In the heart of Californias wine country, this Lodi hotel is perfect for relaxing after exploring the areas shopping, dining and recreation options.
The Hampton Inn and Suites® hotel in Lodi is located off Highway 99 and Kettleman Lane in the heart of the Lodi-Woodbridge Wine Region.
The hotel is centrally located within two hours of California's capitol city of Sacramento, bustling San Francisco, the sunny shores of Santa Cruz and
Experience history in the heart of the Gold country. Since 1857, our hotel has served many famous travelers (Mark Twain, John Studebaker, Ulysses S Grant, Elvis Presley,...). We have a banquet Room & ivy covered courtyard for special events.
The Americas Best Value Inn and Suites Royal Carriage offers the convenience and charm of a classic Inn with beautiful Victorian features, warm gardens
The Embassy Suites Sacramento hotel is located on the Sacramento River across from historic Old Town Sacramento and near the California State Capitol.
Select your destination in Lodi California. Browse thousands of listings for accommodations, adventures, tours and travel services.