7/16/03
PSA- Act now to voice your opposition to changes in federal overtime rules, which could deny overtime pay to at least 8 million people by sending a message to your U.S. senators with a copy to your representative and President Bush. Please add your own words to the letter linked to explaining why overtime is so important.

stream of thought at the crack of waking -
I woke up remembering the trailer on Marathon Key. We'd go down to Bahia Honda and camp there during the winter, before we moved to Florida for good. The white, sandy beach at loggerhead was a long, shallow sandbar just a couple of feet offshore, and there was a place to have a campfire circle, with talks or ghost stories at night. The water was glass-smooth, unfit for surfing, but wonderful for wading and plain swimming. I remember the talks actually being pretty neat; about local history...I still recall some of the bits about Henry Flagler, and the Railroad Empire he was trying to build. Federal Highway was the remainder of his last rail attempt that was wiped out by a hurricane, back in the 30s. We stayed at Buttonwood most often with tents (and a popup camper for the parents.) It wasn't totally roughing it, they had hot showers there. I remember my dad saying that we were going to get tropical fish out there, but I didn't see many, and caught none. I think the barracuda ate well, though. It was there that I learned how to play a conch horn, and it's to my parents' credit that it wasn't taken away 2.5 seconds after playing the annoying thing. It must've been some party or something, because a great number of people (at least a dozen) each had them, and it was being blasted over and over. You could hear it really well out over the water... If I ever own a big patch of land, I think it'd be a fun way to call the kids in for supper. It must've been when I was about 10 years old, so my brother was 6. /stream

We need more Giant-Size comics in doctor's offices. There really aren't enough cool comics in the doctor's office waiting rooms. I've got half a mind to drop a 20, and play Johnny Appleseed, albeit comic book style. (Of course, I'll have to read them over first, to make sure they're suitable.)

Newt's curious about squirrels. He doesn't look at them like prey, or a playmate, but as a curiosity.


Wanna see my Giant-Size Man-Thing?



Speaking of that issue, Gorko was a typo... Note he calls himself Garko. The man known only as Garko sat on a fourth floor window ledge of an apartment in Cleveland, Ohio. He sat there for days (at least), staring at a funny jar containing the Juice. Sometimes he would shout out "I'm gonna conquer the world! You hear me?" Anyway, Garko debated whether to drink the Juice and conquer the world, primarily because he wasn't sure if he wanted to conquer it. Finally he decided it would be worth it to be able to get rid of his enemies.

So, Garko drank the Juice, and transformed into the Man-Frog. He rampaged briefly (very briefly), before encountering Howard the Duck, who whacked him with a board with a nail in it. About that time, the effects of the Juice kicked into overdrive, and Garko went from the Man-Frog to just plain frog. Howard was mistaken for the rampaging humanoid animal that had been reported, and arrested by the cops, who unwittingly ran over Garko the frog with their car...SPLAT.

For , (especially this post) I tried to think of all the cartoon characters in bow ties I could in 60 seconds or less. These are who I thought of.

















1 year ago - newt in sink, bro gets viper fins sponsor, pesky security, badly drawn images on a bumpy road, punquin finds my 125 item list.

2 years ago - Evil News, bad joke, crux, random journals, nice thing poll, designer's lament, laptop space bar weird, hatt-baby, email plain text

3 years ago - Enjoyed the X-men movie, 1974 memory visiting Florida, reprint of Scooby & the occult, insomnia

Comic Books Digests I'll probably get, over time.(These things aren't being released until October.)

SGT. ROCK, along with the third ANIMAL MAN trade DEUS EX MACHINA...Not to mention Ennis and Dillon's final HELLBLAZER arc


Watchmen the Movie info
IGN FilmForce recently caught up with Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life producer, Lloyd Levin, again, but this time we asked him about his plans to bring a much anticipated comic book adaptation to the big screen: Alan Moore's Watchmen. And we're pleased to report that Watchmen is moving toward production and will be in front of the cameras, as Levin says, "The sooner the better."

IGNFF: The League of Extraordinary Gentleman has just opened, and you're currently working on another big project based on work by Alan Moore, Watchmen. How carefully will you be watching what has been done with LXG in terms of adapting Alan Moore's work? Because the biggest decision with that film is that they dumbed-down a comic book to make a movie, and Watchmen is one of the seminal comic book works, ever.

LLOYD LEVIN: I think that with something like [Watchmen], if I've learned one thing, it's just to approach whatever you do with as much seriousness as possible and give it as much dignity as it deserves. So as soon as you start to dumb something down you're doing the opposite.

IGNFF: Terry Gilliam has been involved and he couldn't crack it because he wanted to do something like a 12-hour version. But now David Hayter is on board writing a new script. Is it completed?

LEVIN: We have a script. And we have a great adaptation by David Hayter that absolutely celebrates the book. It's a great adaptation of it. It's very faithful.

IGNFF: With the script completed, who are you thinking about for directing the film?

LEVIN: We're talking to David about directing the film.

IGNFF: Do you have a timeline that you'd like to go with? You know, a general idea as to when you'd start casting and, hopefully, principal photography.

LEVIN: I can't say right now, but hopefully, as a fan, the sooner the better.

While looking for Exta auditions for the Coming Man-Thing Movie I found that, Saturday from 1-4 pm at the Florida Aquarium in downtown Tampa, they're casting the extras for the movie "Punisher." Bring a snapshot of yourself.

I'd be tempted -- I mean, sure, it's cheesy, but why not? Unfortunately, I'm not up for the travel, but I think that maybe my Bro, tarpo, twinstar, drakainai, mskaren911, eschient, mimi, or sophiegoodchild might be near enough to the region to do it.

Worker's comp is being very problematic... they seem to be faxing "leading" questionnaires back and forth to my doctor, asking about stuff, and not mentioning some other elements, in order to get me to report back in to work. I've got a call in for my doctor to call me back tomorrow afternoon, so he and I can discuss this in a rational manner, since WC seems less interested in my health care, and more concerned with sitting me down behind a desk despite my healing not being as complete as it should be.

I'm beginning to think that it's time to call in the attorney.

I'll wait and see what happens with the doc tomorrow, and take it from there.

In more health news,

Masturbating Lowers Prostate Cancer Risk - Study

LONDON (Reuters) - Frequent masturbation, particularly in the 20s, helps prevent prostate cancer later in life, according to new research.
Australian scientists have shown that the more men masturbate between the ages of 20 and 50, the less likely they are to develop the disease that kills more than half a million men each year.

They suspect that frequent ejaculation has a protective effect against the cancer because it prevents dangerous carcinogens from building up in the gland.

"The more you flush the ducts out, the less there is to hang around and damage the cells that line them," Graham Giles, of the Cancer Council Victoria in Melbourne, told New Scientist magazine on Wednesday.

In a survey of 1,079 prostate cancer patients and 1,259 healthy men, Giles and his team discovered that men who ejaculated more than five times a week in their 20s were a third less likely to develop an aggressive form of the disease.

The findings contradict previous studies which suggested that having a variety of partners or frequent sexual activity could increase the risk of prostate cancer by 40 percent.

But Giles said the earlier research concentrated on intercourse, whereas his study focused on masturbation. Infections caused by sexual activity could account for the different findings.

"Men have many ways of using their prostate which don't involve women or other men," he added.